cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Line-shape analysis of resonant energy transfer collisions.

We have investigated the resonant collision process 26{ital s}+24{ital d}{r_arrow}26{ital p}+25{ital p} in K, which occurs when the 26{ital s} and 24{ital d} states are tuned by a static electric field so that the intervals 26{ital s}-26{ital p} and 24{ital d}-25{ital p} are equal. Resonant collision line shapes are observed and analyzed for three collision velocity distributions: a thermal beam, a small band of velocities in a laser-cooled beam, and two well-separated velocity groups in a laser-cooled beam. Collisions between atoms with a broad distribution of relative velocities produce cusp line shapes. In contrast, collisions occurring between atoms in two well-defined velocity groups produce approximately Lorentzian line shapes. {copyright} {ital 1996 The American Physical Society.}
Binaural interaction in the auditory middle latency response of the guinea pig

Abstract Binaural interaction in the guinea pig middle latency response (MLR) was studied using two stimulus paradigms: binaural click stimuli and monaural click stimuli with contralateral while noise. During monaural click stimulation, the MLR is largest in amplitude over the contralateral temporal lobe. Binaural click stimulation reduces the amplitude of this response. Monaurally evoked click responses are also altered by the presentation of continuous white noise in the contralateral ear. The addition of white noise results in an increase in amplitude particularly of components A (12 msec) and B (17 msec). These alterations in response amplitude are specific to the MLR with no change occurring in the auditory brain-stem response (ABR). These findings appear to reflect interaction between the generators of middle latency response.
Measuring Single-cell Blood Velocity in the Living Eye: Adaptive Optics Reveals Micro- and Macrovascular Function

We use adaptive optics scanning laser ophthalmoscopy (AOSLO) to image the motion of single blood cells in the retinal circulation. Automated software provides a new way to extract velocity information from thousands of capillaries.
Nested objects in a Byzantine quorum-replicated system

Modern distributed, object-based systems support nested method invocations, whereby one object can invoke methods on another. In this paper we present a framework that supports nested method invocations among Byzantine fault-tolerant, replicated objects that are accessed via quorum systems. A challenge in this context is that client object replicas can induce unwanted method invocations on server object replicas, due either to redundant invocations by client replicas or Byzantine failures within the client replicas. At the core of our framework are a new quorum-based authorization technique and a novel method invocation protocol that ensure the linearizability and failure atomicity of nested method invocations despite Byzantine client and server replica failures. We detail the implementation of these techniques in a system called Fleet, and give preliminary performance results for them.
Yellow Perch Dynamics in Southwestern Lake Michigan during 1986-2002

Abstract We examined the role of harvest in the collapse of the population of yellow perch Perca flavescens in southwestern Lake Michigan during the mid to late 1990s. After the great decrease in this population at that time, commercial fisheries in Illinois and Wisconsin were closed during 1996–1997 (and have remained closed), and stricter regulations were placed on recreational fisheries. Reproductive failure has been implicated as the primary cause of the population collapse, but the role of fishing in the collapse was not rigorously investigated in previous studies. We conducted an age-, size-, and sex-structured stock assessment of yellow perch to estimate population size and examine historical trends in fishing mortality in Illinois and Wisconsin waters of southwestern Lake Michigan. Model estimates indicated that yellow perch abundance in 2002 was less than 10% of the 1986 abundance in Wisconsin and about 20% of the respective population in Illinois. Annual mortality rates for females age 4 and old...
Self-assembly of aligned tissue-engineered annulus fibrosus and intervertebral disc composite via collagen gel contraction.

Many cartilaginous tissues such as intervertebral disc (IVD) display a heterogeneous collagen microstructure that results in mechanical anisotropy. These structures are responsible for mechanical f...
Molecular Control of Cell Cycle Progression in the Pancreatic β-Cell

Type 1 and type 2 diabetes both result from inadequate production of insulin by the beta-cells of the pancreatic islet. Accordingly, strategies that lead to increased pancreatic beta-cell mass, as well as retained or enhanced function of islets, would be desirable for the treatment of diabetes. Although pancreatic beta-cells have long been viewed as terminally differentiated and irreversibly arrested, evidence now indicates that beta-cells can and do replicate, that this replication can be enhanced by a variety of maneuvers, and that beta-cell replication plays a quantitatively significant role in maintaining pancreatic beta-cell mass and function. Because beta-cells have been viewed as being unable to proliferate, the science of beta-cell replication is undeveloped. In the past several years, however, this has begun to change at a rapid pace, and many laboratories are now focused on elucidating the molecular details of the control of cell cycle in the beta-cell. In this review, we review the molecular details of cell cycle control as they relate to the pancreatic beta-cell. Our hope is that this review can serve as a common basis and also a roadmap for those interested in developing novel strategies for enhancing beta-cell replication and improving insulin production in animal models as well as in human pancreatic beta-cells.
Five-dimensional Kaluza-Klein black holes coupled to massive scalar particles

Spherically symmetric solutions coupled to massive scalar particles in five-dimensional Kaluza-Klein theory are obtained. The solutions contain two event horizons. The inner horizon corresponds to the Schwarzschild black hole and the outer one is a new horizon which is produced by the massive scalar particles. It is found that the massive modes contribute an effective cosmological constant to the four-dimensional Einstein theory.
Why is my sales force automation system failing

Abstract Sales force automation (SFA) is the use of software to automate sales tasks, including sales activities, order processing, customer management, sales forecasting and analysis, sales force management, and information sharing. An SFA system is often part of an enterprise-wide information system that connects and integrates sales activities with the organization's other operations. Therefore, SFA software is not only a tool critical to the success of today's sales force, but is also vital to the entire organization. SFA has the potential to empower companies to more efficiently manage their sales force and sales processes, to automate and standardize sales activities, and to connect the sales force with the rest of the organization. The value of these potential benefits in terms of lower costs or increased revenues has encouraged businesses to adopt SFA. Once adopted, however, SFA systems often fail to deliver anticipated benefits. The leading cause of SFA failures has been revealed as low user acceptance, which can be attributed to such factors as the disruption of established sales routines, sales force perception of the system as a micromanagement tool, differences in sales force and managerial expectations for the system, and lack of managerial support for the system as perceived by the sales force. Given these circumstances, managers who are aware of the major issues surrounding user acceptance of SFA will be more successful in implementing such systems. This article explores the utilization of SFA, the benefits derived from these systems, and user acceptance issues. Herein, we offer suggestions that will help organizations succeed in adopting SFA systems.
A study of age at remarriage: The district of Columbia, 1960–61

Race, religion, and age appear to be the most influential variables in homogamy. This paper treats two questions. (1) How will the single, divorced, and widowed as brides and grooms express homogamy with respect to age when previous marital status is controlled? (2) How do white and Negro couples differ in their assortative tendencies?
Characteristics of nucleation and growth events of ultrafine particles measured in Rochester, NY.

Number concentrations and size distributions of particles in the size range of 0.010−0.500 μm were measured in Rochester, NY, from December 2001 to December 2002. The relationships between the numb...
Anchistropus sp. (Crustacea: Cladocera: Chydoridae): a New Distribution Record for Lake Erie

This note extends the known Great Lakes distribution of Anchistropus sp. from Lakes Michigan, Huron, Superior, and St. Clair to Rondeau Harbor in Lake Erie. Anchistropus sp. was collected in benthic samples where it occurred as epibionts on hydra. Previous studies, which are briefly reviewed, have noted the parasitic nature of Anchistropus. Although only one species of Anchistropus (A. minor) is known from North America, our specimens cannot be positively identified as that species: the structure of the postabdomen and first leg differs from the original taxonomic description of A. minor. Others have noted differences between the original description of A. minor and the morphology of specimens collected over the succeeding years.
Optimal observer model of single-fixation oddity search predicts a shallow set-size function

A common finding in oddity search, a search in which the target is unknown but defined to be different from the distractors, is that human performance remains insensitive or even improves with number of distractors (set size). A number of explanations based on perceptual and attentional mechanisms have been proposed to explain the anomalous set-size effect. Here, we consider whether the shallower set-size function for oddity search could be explained by stimulus information and task demands. We developed an ideal-observer and a difference-coding (standard-deviation) model for single-fixation oddity search and compared it to the ideal observer in the standard target-known search as well as to human performance in both search tasks. Performance for the ideal and difference-coding model in the oddity search resulted in a shallower set-size function than the target-known ideal observer and was a good predictor of human search accuracy. However, the ideal-observer model was a better predictor than the standard-deviation model for 10 of the 12 data sets. The results highlight the importance of using ideal-observer analysis to separate contributions to human performance arising from perceptual/attentional mechanisms inherent to the human brain from those contributions arising from differences in stimulus information associated with the tasks.
PREPARATION OF METHIONINE-FREE NATURAL LEUCINE.

In a recent note in Science, Mueller pointed out that commercial I-leucine is contaminated with methionine. The presence of a sulfur-containing impurity was recognized by Emil Fischer in 1900. Unsuccessful attempts to purify natural I-leucine have included: the amino-acid ester method, repeated recrystallization from water, electrodialysis, precipitation of methionine as mercury complex and recrystallization from acidified butyl alcohol. Recrystallization of the formylated amino-acid has now been found, however, to yield a sulfur-free leucine without appreciable racemization.
Low JAK2V617F allele burden in primary myelofibrosis, compared to either a higher allele burden or unmutated status, is associated with inferior overall and leukemia-free survival

The clinical relevance of JAK2V617F allele burden in primary myelofibrosis (PMF) has not been previously studied. Bone marrow-derived DNA from 199 patients with PMF was subjected to qualitative (n=199) and quantitative (n=129) analysis for V617F. Mutational frequency was 58% and median mutant allele burden ratio in V617F-positive patients was 29% (range, 1–74%). Multivariable analysis identified older age, platelet count ⩾100 × 109 l−1 and peripheral blood blast percentage <3% as being associated with a positive mutational status. The mere presence of the mutation did not affect the incidence of thrombosis (P=0.78), overall survival (P=0.22) or leukemia-free survival (P=0.5). The 129 patients with allele burden information were divided into four groups: V617F-negative (n=53) and V617F-positive with mutant allele burden in the lower quartile (n=19), middle quartiles (n=38) or upper quartile (n=19) range. Kaplan–Meier plots revealed significantly shortened overall (P=0.0008) and leukemia-free (P=0.01) survival for the lower quartile, but not for upper quartile allele burden group; independent prognostic relevance was validated by multivariable analysis. We conclude that low V617F allele burden in PMF might indicate the presence of an overriding V617F-negative clone that confers a more aggressive disease phenotype.
Enzymatic cyclization of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NADP)

Abstract The ADP-ribosyl cyclase of Aplysia californica catalyzed the conversion of NADP, 3′-NADP and 2′,3′-cyclic NADP into their corresponding cyclic nucleotides (established by NMR, UV, and MS analyses). Cyclic-ADP-ribose-phosphate (cADPRP) was more potent than cADPR in mobilizing calcium in the rat brain microsomal system; the EC50 for cADPRP and cADPR were 9.2 μM and 22 μM respectively.
Some experience with transferring the MYCIN system to a new domain

The construction of an advisory system for psychopharmacology has revealed two problems in the use of backward chaining rule-based architectures for the construction of expert systems. The problems relate to the order of user interaction and to the use of metrics for combining evidence.
A note on line search termination criteria for collinear scaling algorithms

Ariyawansa [2] has introduced a line search termination criterion for collinear scaling minimization algorithms. However, he verified that this criterion provides sufficient decrease only in the case of objective functions that satisfy certain strong convexity assumptions. In this paper, we report results of our attempts to relax these assumptions. We present an example of a continuously differentiable, nonconvex function with bounded level sets on which the criterion of Ariyawansa [2] does not provide sufficient decrease. This example indicates that specifying line search termination criteria for collinear scaling algorithms is still an open problem. On a more positive note, we are able to show that the class of objective functions on which the criterion of Ariyawansa [2] provides sufficient decrease can be extended to include convex and strictly pseudo-convex functions.
Investigations on polyvinylpyrrolidone in mice given brucella endotoxin.

Summary and conclusionsBrucella endo-toxin was administered intravenously to groups of mice and survival rates were recorded at 24 and 48 hours post-injection. The effect of a synthetic polymer on such survival rates was evaluated in 2 genetically different populations of mice—ABC mice (hybrids of the A and C stocks) and DBC mice (obtained by mating DIFj hybrids to the D stock). The polymer, polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) was used, in the form of Periston N (PVPN), having a molecular weight about 12,600. The mortality rates induced by endotoxin were modified favorably by PVPN in ABC mice, but not in DBC mice. It may be concluded that PVPN beneficially influences survival from Brucella endotoxin in at least one population of hybrid mice. The observation that another population of mice did not gain appreciable benefit from the same dose of PVPN may deserve further studies aimed at elucidating the mechanisms of host response to this agent.
After the B5000: Burroughs Third-Generation Computers 1964&#x2013;1980

Although Burroughs experienced moderate success with its medium- and small-sized computers, the company's large-scale systems and supercomputers were plagued by product delivery delays and quality issues. These struggles with its large-scale commercial products left it at a serious disadvantage in the competitive market of the 1980s.
Quasi-stationary optical solitons with dual-power law nonlinearity

The multiple-scale perturbation analysis is used to study the perturbed optical solitons that are governed by the Nonlinear Schrodinger's equation, with dual-power law nonlinearity. We have considered the perturbations due to nonlinear damping and saturable amplification. A new definition of the phase of the soliton is introduced that captures the corrections to the pulse where the standard soliton perturbation theory fails.
Thyroid lobectomy for indeterminate FNA: not without consequences

Abstract Background Thyroid nodules are exceedingly common, and the cytologic interpretation of fine needle aspiration (FNA) findings has been the reference standard for diagnosing nodules as benign, atypia or a follicular lesion of undetermined significance, suspicious for follicular or Hurthle cell neoplasm, suspicious for malignancy, or malignant. Many patients undergo thyroid lobectomy for indeterminate FNA findings (atypia or a follicular lesion of undetermined significance or suspicious for follicular or Hurthle cell neoplasm), although the risk of malignancy is low. The general data have quoted a 20% risk of hypothyroidism after lobectomy. The purpose of the present study was to determine the risk of hypothyroidism after lobectomy in our diverse population. Methods The pathology records from a large county hospital were reviewed to identify patients with indeterminate FNA findings. The incidence of hypothyroidism was determined by the need for thyroid hormone replacement therapy. Categorical variables were compared using the chi-square and continuous variables using the Mann-Whitney U test. Results A total of 655 FNAs were performed during the study period, and 60 resulted in indeterminate cases. Of these 60 patients, 17 subsequently underwent diagnostic lobectomy. The mean age was 52.8 ± 16.5 years, 88% were women, and 67% were Hispanic and 22% were African American. Only 6% had a final diagnosis of cancer, and eight patients (47%) became hypothyroid postoperatively. Conclusions The incidence of hypothyroidism after diagnostic thyroid lobectomy in our patient population was much higher than previously reported. It is necessary to preoperatively counsel patients about this increased risk, in addition to the usual risks of nerve palsy and bleeding, with thyroid lobectomy. As testing of thyroid nodules evolves, the expense of preoperative testing should be weighed against the increased incidence for lifelong thyroid hormone replacement.
Repression and activation of arginine transport genes in Escherichia coli K 12 by the ArgP protein.

Abstract In Escherichia coli K 12, arginine modulates the functioning of the arginine transport system. Cells grown in the presence of arginine show a 60 % reduction in the active incorporation of radioactive arginine. This regulation of arginine transport is independent of the regulation of arginine biosynthesis. Previously, a mutant was isolated with a 90 % reduction of arginine transport. The mutation affected also the transport of ornithine and lysine. It was mapped and assigned to a locus named arg P at minute 65 of the E. coli linkage map. Genetic studies showed that in argP/argP + merodiploids, the mutated argP allele is dominant. The argP + gene was cloned and sequenced. Analysis of the sequenced gene revealed that it is identical with iciA , an E. coli gene that encodes an inhibitor of chromosomal initiation of replication in vitro . The sequence analysis of the mutated argP gene identified a single mutation that led to the substitution of proline for serine in the C-terminal domain of the ArgP protein. This protein has homology with a large group of prokaryotic regulatory proteins known as the LysR family. Proteins from this family have been shown to function as transcriptional regulators. Here, it is shown that the ArgP protein activates the formation of the ArgK protein, an ATP-binding protein essential for the operation of the arginine transport system. In the presence of l -arginine, ArgP inhibits its own synthesis.
Pivoted-pad journal gas-bearing performance in exploratory operation of Brayton cycle turbocompressor.

Pivoted pad gas bearing performance in exploratory operation of Brayton cycle turbocompressor
Quality of life assessment in head and neck cancer patients.

Head and neck cancer and the therapies for head and neck cancer have always had a tremendous effect on patients' quality of life (QOL). Understanding the patient's perspective on quality of life and the degree to which the patient can tolerate disability is helpful when a patient and clinicians are making treatment decisions. Educating the patient on QOL issues, sharing expectations, and understanding the patient's value system, however, is a time-consuming and laborious process. Assessment of QOL issues, until recently, has also had technical difficulties because adequate instruments have not been available to assess health-related QOL. Growing interest in outcomes research and QOL assessment has resulted in a new set of tools that clinical caregivers can use to assess QOL issues that were previously difficult to measure. Now there are general measures of health status and disease-specific QOL instruments that are reliable, sensitive, and precise enough to make QOL measurement a useful and accurate tool to assess head and neck cancer patients. This article reviews basic definitions related to outcomes research and QOL assessment, summarizes major principles for QOL research, identifies commonly used QOL instruments, and summarizes some recent studies that include QOL assessment.
Turnover Analysis of Glutamate Receptors Identifies a Rapidly Degraded Pool of the N-Methyl-d-aspartate Receptor Subunit, NR1, in Cultured Cerebellar Granule Cells

Abstract The number, composition, and location of receptors in neurons are critically important factors in determining the neuron’s response to neurotransmitters. The functional expression of receptors appears to be regulated both generally, at the level of transcription or translation, and locally, at the level of the individual synapse. A key component in the regulation of any protein is its turnover rate, which, measured in half-lives, ranges from a few minutes to several days. In the present study, we measured the turnover rates of subunits of N-methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA) and α-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazole propionic acid (AMPA) receptors, the two major ionotropic glutamate receptors, using cultured cerebellar granule cells. Turnover rates for NR1, NR2A/B, GluR2/3, and GluR4 subunits were determined by pulse-chase labeling of cells with [35S]methionine. Half-lives were found to be 18 ± 5 h and 23 ± 8 h for the AMPA receptor subunits GluR2/3 and GluR4, respectively, and 16 ± 5 h for NR2A. The NR1 subunit showed a biphasic decay with half-lives of 2 and 34 h for the rapidly and slowly degraded populations, respectively. Splice variants of the NR1 subunit with different carboxyl-terminal cassettes, C2 and C2′, showed similar biphasic degradation patterns. To further characterize the rapidly degraded pool of NR1, surface receptors were labeled by biotinylation, and half-lives of the biotinylated proteins were determined. All surface NR1 was slowly degraded with a pattern similar to that of NR2A, GluR2/3, and GluR4, suggesting that the rapidly degraded pool is confined to the cytoplasm and not assembled with NR2 subunits. A significant amount of NR1 was not immunoprecipitated by NR2 subunit-specific antibodies after solubilization with deoxycholate. This unassembled pool, but not the assembled one, was greatly diminished following treatment of cycloheximide for 5 h, indicating that the rapidly degraded pool of NR1 is not assembled with NR2. These results show that NMDA and AMPA receptors have similar turnover rates, but NMDA receptors have a separate pool of NR1 subunits that is rapidly degraded and accounts for most of the intracellular pool.
Evaluation of emphysema severity and progression in a rabbit model: comparison of hyperpolarized 3He and 129Xe diffusion MRI with lung morphometry

The apparent diffusion coefficients (ADCs) of hyperpolarized (3)He and (129)Xe gases were measured in the lungs of rabbits with elastase-induced emphysema and correlated against the mean chord length from lung histology. In vivo measurements were performed at baseline and 2, 4, 6, and 8 wk after instillation of elastase (mild and moderate emphysema groups) or saline (control group). ADCs were determined from acquisitions that used two b values. To investigate the effect of b value on the results, b-value pairs of 0 and 1.6 s/cm(2) and 0 and 4.0 s/cm(2) were used for (3)He, and b-value pairs of 0 and 5.0 s/cm(2) and 0 and 10.0 s/cm(2) were used for (129)Xe. At 8 wk after instillation, the rabbits were euthanized, and the lungs were analyzed histologically and morphometrically. ADCs for the rabbits in the control group did not change significantly from baseline to week 8, whereas ADCs for the rabbits in the emphysema groups increased significantly (P < 0.05) for all gas and b-value combinations except (129)Xe with the b-value pair of 0 and 5.0 s/cm(2). The largest percent change in mean ADC from baseline to week 8 (15.3%) occurred with (3)He and the b-value pair of 0 and 1.6 s/cm(2) for rabbits in the moderate emphysema group. ADCs (all b values) were strongly correlated (r = 0.62-0.80, P < 0.001) with mean chord lengths from histology. These results further support the ability of diffusion-weighted MRI with hyperpolarized gases to detect regional and global structural changes of emphysema within the lung.
Imperfect Love, Imperfect Lives: Making Love, Making Sex, Making Moral Judgments

Psychoanalysis' judgments about patients' decentered sexual lives are often influenced by analytic ideals that are based on long-cherished cultural values and/or theoretical constructs. These analytic value judgments sometimes assume that all or most individuals are optimally fulfilled in the context of deeply intimate and sexually monogamous long-term relationships, where attachment love and sexual passion coexist in equal intensity. Such analytic aims may not at all correspond to the wishes of any given patient, nor do such aims consider the literature that suggests that what may be called attachment love is often difficult to integrate with intense erotic desire. As well, there is risk that analysts' aims for patients may be hypocritically more idealistic than the values that analysts themselves adhere to in their own personal lives. Analysts' acknowledgment and acceptance of their own imperfect sex lives and love lives may leave more room to respect the idiosyncratic compromises and adaptations of eac...
The morality of screening for disability

Many people object to preimplantation or prenatal screening for disability on the grounds that it is discriminatory, has pernicious effects on the lives of existing disabled people, expresses a hurtful view of disabled people, and reduces human diversity. I argue that if these objections are held to be strong enough to show that screening is wrong, they must also imply the permissibility of causing oneself to have a disabled rather than a non-disabled child. Indeed, those who object to screening on these grounds and also claim that it is not worse to be disabled than not to be, seem to be committed to accepting the permissibility of deliberately causing disabling prenatal injury, even for frivolous reasons. If we cannot accept these implications, we cannot accept that the objections to screening show that it is wrong.
Induction of Cardiac Insulin-Like Growth Factor I Gene Expression in Pressure Overload Hypertrophy

Molecular mechanisms regulating the cardiac hypertrophic response to increased hemodynamic load are understood poorly. Insulin-like growth factor I (IGF I) is a mitogen that is thought to play a key role in pre- and postnatal growth. To investigate a possible role of IGF I in the cardiac response to pressure overload, rats underwent banding of the ascending aorta immediately above the aortic valve using a hemoclip, or a sham procedure. An analysis of left-ventricular RNA by Northern hybridization using a 32P-labeled IGF I cDNA revealed four messenger ribonucleic acid transcripts of 7.6, 4.6, 1.7, and 0.9 to 1.2 Kb. Insulin-like growth factor I messenger ribonucleic acid was quantitated by ribonuclease protection assays using a rat exon 3 riboprobe. There was a sustained increase in IGF I mRNA levels that correlated temporally with the development of left ventricular hypertrophy. These results indicate that left ventricular pressure overload is associated with an induction of cardiac IGF I gene expression. Insulin-like growth factor I may play a role in the response to increases in wall stress and likely contribute to cardiac hypertrophy.
The detrital food web in a shortgrass prairie

Several experimental approaches have been taken to demonstrate the importance of soil fauna in nitrogen mineralization, but there have been difficulties interpreting the results. We have supplemented the experimental approach with theoretical calculations of nitrogen transformations in a shortgrass prairie. The calculations incorporate a wide array of information on decomposer organisms, including their feeding preferences, nitrogen contents, life spans, assimilation efficiencies, productio:assimilation ratios, decomposabilities, and population sizes. The results are estimates of nitrogen transfer rates through the detrital food web, including rates of N mineralization by bacteria, fungi, root-feeding nematodes, collembolans, fungal-feeding mites, fungal-feeding nematodes, flagellates, bacterial-feeding nematodes, amoebae, omnivorous nematodes, predaceous nematodes, nematode-feeding mites, and predaceous mites. Bacteria are estimated to mineralize the most N (4.5 g N m−2 year−1), followed by the fauna (2.9), and fungi (0.3). Bacterial-feeding amoebae and nematodes together account for over 83% of N mineralization by the fauna. The detrital food web in a shortgrass prairie is similar to that of a desert grassland. The shortgrass detrital web seems to be divided into bacteria- and fungus-based components, although these two branches are united at the level of predaceous nematodes and mites.
Theoretical calculation of the CUAGAU coherent phase diagram

Abstract The Cluster Variation Method in the tetrahedron approximation is used to calculate the solid-state CuAgAu ternary phase diagram. The pair interaction parameters and the tetrahedron four-body interaction parameters used in the present calculation were estimated by producing the best possible fit provided by the tetrahedron approximation to the known CuAu, CuAg and AgAu binary phase diagrams. The calculated isothermal sections of the CuAgAu ternary phase diagram show complex two- and three-phase equilibria between disordered and ordered phases; the three-phase equilibria, although expected, have not been reported in experimentally determined phase diagrams. In addition, an instability analysis for the disordered solid solution is carried out and the clustering and ordering spinodals are determined.
Chrysomya megacephala (Diptera: Calliphoridae) Has Reached the Continental United States: Review of Its Biology, Pest Status, and Spread Around the World

Chrysomya megacephala (F.), an Old World calliphorid of considerable public health importance, was first discovered in Brazil in 1977 and is now widely distributed in Latin America. Reports that this species has become established in southern California, and the collection of a specimen in Texas, suggest that C. megacephala may be expanding its range rapidly in North America. The biology and worldwide spread of this pest are reviewed to alert entomologists and public health workers to this growing threat.
Effect of septal lesions on behavioral contrast

Rats with septal lesions and control animals were tested on a multiple schedule. When extinction was instituted in one component of the multiple schedule, septal-lesioned and control animals exhibited approximately equal amounts of positive contrast in the unaltered component. The results were discussed in terms of the situation specificity of the enhanced reaction to nonreward associated with septal damage.
Luminescence decay kinetics of Mn 2 + -doped ZnS nanoclusters grown in reverse micelles

We report the synthesis and luminescence decay kinetics of 1.2-nm ${\mathrm{Mn}}^{2+}$-doped ZnS nanoclusters grown in reverse micelles. The preparation method produces small particles with narrow-size distribution and fluorescence bands near 400--450 nm and 585 nm. Time-dependent fluorescence decay measurements using picosecond, nanosecond, and millisecond techniques reveal relaxation processes on all three time scales. In the doped sample, the red emission detected at 600 nm exhibits a 1--2 ms decay in addition to faster decays with time constants on the order of hundreds of ps, a few ns and tens of \ensuremath{\mu}s. While the slow decay is the same as that of bulk ${\mathrm{Mn}}^{2+}$-doped ZnS, the fast decays are present for both doped and undoped samples and are unique to nanocluster ZnS, which are attributed to deep trap-state emission. The blue luminescence near 400--450 nm is attributed to shallow trap-state emission of ZnS. These results help to resolve the controversy in the literature regarding the lifetime of the ${\mathrm{Mn}}^{2+}$ emission in Mn-doped ZnS nanoparticles.
Task analyzed masturbation instruction for a profoundly mentally retarded adult male: A data based case study

This report presents task analyzed masturbation instruction for a 29 year old profoundly mentally retarded male. This individual's sole method of masturbation was to rub his penis against the floor or bed mattress which resulted in very infrequent ejaculations and was potentially dangerous to his genitalia. It was decided to teach this individual a more safe and effective method of masturbation. This report explores these attempts and examines the task analyzed approach to teaching masturbation.
Residential Satisfaction of Elderly Tenants in Apartment Housing

Previous research has demonstrated the persistently lower residential satisfaction of tenants as compared to homeowners. However, analysis of data from 41,198 US households indicates that this gap is heavily age dependent. After middle age, the residential satisfaction of apartment housing tenants increases dramatically—eventually exceeding that of both single-family housing tenants and homeowners. Although elderly tenants are less likely to indicate dissatisfaction with building maintenance or the neighborhood, these factors are particularly important to elderly tenant satisfaction. These age differences in housing satisfaction may relate to the increasing difficulty of managing residential maintenance and the growing importance of nearby services.
Rehospitalization for respiratory syncytial virus among premature infants.

Objectives. New interventions to prevent respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) have recently become available. Clinical decisions about the use of these interventions require a better understanding of the incidence of and risk factors for RSV. We sought to characterize the epidemiology of severe RSV disease among premature infants and to identify high-risk subgroups. Design. Retrospective cohort. Setting. Kaiser Permanente Northern California, July 1992 to April 1996. Participants. One thousand seven hundred twenty-one premature infants born at 23 to 36 weeks who were discharged from a neonatal intensive care nursery (NICU) within 12 months before the December to March RSV season. A secondary analysis included 769 infants discharged during the RSV season. Outcome Measures. Hospitalization for RSV. Results. Of 1721 infants already home from the NICU at the start of the season, 3.2% were rehospitalized for RSV. In a multivariate model, risk factors for RSV hospitalization included gestation ≤32 weeks (odds ratio [OR], 2.6), ≥28 days of perinatal oxygen (OR, 3.7), and NICU discharge during September to November (OR, 2.7). Predicted risk of hospitalization varied by subgroup, ranging from 1.2% to 24.6%. Among 769 infants discharged from the NICU during the RSV season, 3.5% were rehospitalized for RSV during the same season; gestation and perinatal oxygen were not associated with admission. Conclusions. Most premature infants in this population were at less risk of severe RSV disease than previous studies in other populations have suggested. Preterm infants with a lower gestational age, a prolonged perinatal oxygen requirement, and NICU discharge within 3 months of the RSV season were most likely to require hospitalization for RSV disease. Cost-effectiveness analyses are needed to help define the role of available prophylactic interventions.
Cylinders in Riemann surfaces

Suppose S is a compact Riemann surface, with a metric of constant curvature 1 . Let 3' be a simple closed geodesic on S of length L~. Then for small d, the family of geodesic segments of length 2d, perpendicular to and centered on % sweeps out a region homeomorphic to a cylinder. As d is enlarged, it must eventually happen that two endpoints from this family of segments intersect. Let do> 0 be the smallest value of d for which this occurs. Setting d = do, and removing the envelope of the endpoints, we shall refer to the resulting set as the cylinder about 3/, and denote it by C~. Note that C v is topologically an open cylinder, and has the property that any curve emanating from 3' and of length less than do must lie wholly within Cv. Now it can be shown (cf. [3]) that given c > 0, there exists c ' > 0 such that Lv c ' . The techniques in [3] involve fine points in the theory of canonical fundamental domains and moduli for certain types of discontinuous groups, as well as substantial computation. Because of the interest of the result, it seems worthwhile to present an alternative, somewhat more geometric approach to the theorem, which at the same time leads to an improved result.
Achieving high output quality under limited resources through structure-based spilling in XML streams

Because of high volumes and unpredictable arrival rates, stream processing systems are not always able to keep up with input data - resulting in buffer overflow and uncontrolled loss of data. To produce eventually complete results, load spilling, which pushes some fractions of data to disks temporarily, is commonly employed in relational stream engines. In this work, we now introduce "structure-based spilling", a spilling technique customized for XML streams by considering the partial spillage of possibly complex XML elements. Such structure-based spilling brings new challenges. When a path is spilled, multiple paths may be affected. We analyze possible spilling effects on the query paths and how to execute the "reduced" query to produce partial results. To select the reduced query that maximizes output quality, we develop three optimization strategies, namely, OptR, OptPrune and ToX. We also examine the clean-up stage to guarantee that an entire result set is eventually generated by producing supplementary results. Our experimental study demonstrates that our proposed solutions consistently achieve higher quality results compared to the state-of-the-art techniques.
Interpersonal conflict tactics and substance use among high-risk adolescents

Adolescents who use aggressive tactics to handle interpersonal conflicts may be at high risk for substance use, while adolescents who possess coping strategies to avoid or manage interpersonal conflict may be at lower risk for substance use. This study examined the association between interpersonal conflict tactics and substance use among 631 continuation high school students. Items from a modified Conflict Tactics Scale formed three factors: Physical Aggression, Nonphysical Aggression, and Nonaggression. Logistic regression analyses revealed that adolescents' ways of responding to interpersonal conflicts were associated with their substance use. Use of physical aggression was associated with a higher risk of cigarette, alcohol, marijuana, and other drug use. Use of nonphysical aggression was associated with a higher risk of cigarette and alcohol use. Use of nonaggressive conflict tactics was associated with a lower risk of cigarette use. Adolescents who respond to interpersonal conflicts in an aggressive manner, whether physical or verbal/psychological, may be at increased risk for substance use, while nonaggressive conflict management skills may be protective. Possibly, teaching adolescents nonaggressive techniques for handling interpersonal conflict may be a useful strategy for preventing both interpersonal violence and substance use.
The Integration of Domains: Multidisciplinary Approaches to Strategic Communication Campaigns

As an emerging field of study, strategic communication is unique in that it requires integration of concepts, theories, and methods from diverse disciplinary domains. This integration is necessary to fully understand and explain the complexity of the phenomenon. As an observable manifestation of strategic communication, the campaign has received considerable attention across subdisciplines; however, no conceptualization of the strategic communication campaign as a distinct process has been forwarded, and no general theory has emerged to explain strategic communication campaigns or predict their outcomes. This article posits a definition of strategic communication campaigns that privileges the multidisciplinary capacity of the field and is distinct from other perspectives. In addition, an overview of current theoretical approaches that inform strategic communication campaigns is provided.
Novel Pathways and Molecular Targets for the Treatment of Sarcoma

Sarcomas collectively represent over 100 different subtypes of bone and soft tissue tumors of mesenchymal origin. The low response rate to cytotoxic chemotherapies has necessitated the need for development of either histologically driven or pathway-specific targeted therapies. As our understanding of the molecular mechanisms driving certain subtypes is rapidly advancing, the number of targeted therapies is also increasing. Recently identified novel druggable targets include the MDM2 amplifications in well-differentiated and dedifferentiated liposarcomas, the new translocation NAB2:STAT6 of solitary fibrous tumors, the angiopoeitin-TIE2 pathway in angiosarcoma, the suppression of Mcl1 in X:18/synovial sarcomas, the mTOR pathway in malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumors, CDK4 in alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma, cMET regulation in alveolar soft parts sarcoma, the metabolic abnormalities in wild-type/SHD GIST, and the lack of argininosuccinate synthetase 1 expression seen in most sarcomas. It is through a fundamental understanding of sarcoma biology that clinical trials based on molecular targets can be developed.
Speed control for a mobile robot

Automated guided vehicles (AGVs) have many potential applications in manufacturing, medicine, space and defense. The purpose of this paper is to describe exploratory research on the design of a speed control for a modular autonomous mobile robot controller. The speed control of the traction motor is essential for safe operation of a mobile robot. The challenges of autonomous operation of a vehicle require safe, runaway and collision free operation. A mobile robot test-bed has been constructed using a golf cart base. The computer controlled speed control has been implemented and works with guidance provided by vision system and obstacle avoidance using ultrasonic sensors systems. A 486 computer through a 3- axis motion controller supervises the speed control. The traction motor is controlled via the computer by an EV-1 speed control. Testing of the system was done both in the lab and on an outside course with positive results. This design is a prototype and suggestions for improvements are also given. The autonomous speed controller is applicable for any computer controlled electric drive mobile vehicle.
STM Fabrication of Platinum Disks of Nanometer Dimensions

We describe the fabrication and characterization of 5-36 mm radius inlaid Pt disks using scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) and tunneling spectroscopy (TS). Several recent reports have previously demonstrated the capability to deliberately modify the surface topography of conducting [1] and semiconducting [2] materials. The present report demonstrates that metal structures of namometer dimensions can be generated on the surface of a large bandgap, metal-oxide semiconductor and that these metal structures can be «electrically addressed» using the tunneling tip of the STM
A two-variable linear program solves the standard linear-quadratic formulation of the fractionation problem in cancer radiotherapy

The standard formulation of the fractionation problem with multiple organs-at-risk based on the linear-quadratic dose-response model requires the solution of a nonconvex quadratically constrained quadratic program. Existing literature therefore uses heuristic methods without any analyses about solution quality. There is no known method that is guaranteed to find an optimal solution. We prove that this formulation of the fractionation problem can in fact be solved to optimality by instead solving a two-variable linear program with a few constraints.
Case studies in developing and teaching continuing education courses at a university

Purdue University Calumet is a community based university located in an urban environment (greater Chicagoland region). It proclaimed itself a "partnership University", a university that promotes strong ties with the surrounding community, its institutions, and businesses. The administration of the University is very supportive of the continuing education activities and stresses the importance of courses for professional training that enhance the competitiveness of Indiana businesses and enterprises. The university has established a resource center for small business development and created excellent special facilities for continuing education and outreach activities. This paper describes experience in developing three continuing education courses. This experience spans a six year period. It is ongoing, and it the intention to invest more time and effort in this type of activity in the next few years.
Fuel Composition Effects on Emissions From a Spark-Ignited Engine Operated on Simulated Biogases

Measurements are reported for a spark-ignited (SI) engine burning natural gas and three simulated biogas fuels (natural gas, CO 2 , and N 2 mixtures). Exhaust concentrations of CO, CO 2 , O 2 , NO x , and unburned hydrocarbons, as well as brake power and brake specific energy consumption, were measured. Leaner mixtures, retarded spark timing and diluent addition (CO 2 ,N 2 ) yielded reduced NO x emissions. NO x reductions up to 50 percent were achieved at MBT timing through diluent addition. Reduced peak temperatures caused by diluent addition, lean conditions, and retarded spark timing reduced combustion quality slightly, as evidenced by small increases in CO and unburned hydrocarbons emissions.