cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Human islet isolation and allotransplantation in 22 consecutive cases.

Diabetes mellitus is the most common endocrine disease and is a worldwide public health problem, being the fourth leading cause of death by disease in Western countries (1). Estimates for insulin-dependent diabetes (type 1) indicate a prevalence of 0.26 percent by age 20 in the United States (2). There is evidence that the incidence of this disease is increasing in several world populations (3). Prolongation of life is achieved by current maintenance therapy with insulin, but an increased number of diabetic patients are treated for complications (4) including end-stage renal failure, now representing 10–40% of new patients on dialysis (5). Diabetes is also the leading cause of new cases of blindness in patients over the age of 20 (1). In patients with type 1 diabetes mellitus, insulin production by the pancreatic islets progressively declines and finally disappears, as the beta cells within the islets are destroyed by an autoimmune process resulting from a complex interplay between genetic and unknown environmental factors (6). Replacement therapy with exogenous insulin is imperfect and has been ineffective in preventing the chronic complication of the disease. Thus, alternative methods for total endocrine replacement have been explored, including transplantation of isolated islets as free grafts (7). 1990 was a significant year for clinical islet transplantation. In fact, almost a century after the first attempt to treat a diabetic child by transplantation of pancreatic tissue (8), reports of short-term (9) and prolonged (10–13) insulin independence following human islet allotransplantation indicated that it is possible to replace the endocrine function of the pancreas by an islet transplant in man. These encouraging results have been the product of recent improvements in isolation technology and immunosuppressive therapy. In fact, the procedures developed for the isolation (14) of rodent islets were ineffective to separate islets from the pancreas of larger mammals, including man. It is estimated that the human pancreas contains approximately 1 million islets, which are mainly composed of insulin-producing cells (15). The development of more effective procedures for islet isolation and purification from large animals (16–20) and human (21–26) pancreases have resulted in significant progress in both number and purity of the islets that can be obtained from each pancreas. In addition, the use of more powerful immunosuppressive agents such as cyclosporine A (9, 11,25) or FK506 (10) resulted in prolonged human islet allograft survival in some cases. This report provides our initial experience in islet isolation and intrahepatic allotransplantation in 21 patients.
Bounding errors introduced by clustering of customers in closed product-form queuing networks

Product-form queuing network models have been widely used to model systems with shared resources such as computer systems (both centralized and distributed), communication networks, and flexible manufacturing systems. Closed multichain product-form networks are inherently more difficult to analyze than open networks, due to the effect of normalization. Results in workload characterization for closed networks in the literature are often for networks having special structures and only specific performance measures have been considered.In this article, we drive certain properties (insensitivity of conditional state probability distributions and fractional-linearity of Markov reward functions) for a broad class of closed multichain product-form networks. These properties are derived using the most basic flow balance conditions of product-form networks. Then we show how these basic properties can be applied in obtaining error bounds when similar customers are clustered together to speed up computation.
Temperature and soil moisture content effects on the growth of Lumbricus terrestris (Oligochaeta: Lumbricidae) under laboratory conditions

Abstract The growth of Lumbricus terrestris was determined under varying temperatures and soil moisture contents under laboratory conditions. Our objective was to identify the optimum soil moisture or temperature that would aid in the reproduction of L. terrestris for inoculations in areas devoid of this species. A laboratory experiment using different growth chambers for temperature control with varying soil moisture contents was conducted at the National Soil Tilth Laboratory in Ames, IA. Five temperatures, three different soil moisture contents, and horse manure as a food source were selected and replicated 10 times. It was found that 30°C were fatal to L. terrestris after 14 d and 25°C after 182 d. Regardless of temperature, worms reared under high soil moisture content (30%) developed faster and increased in mass than those reared at 20 or 25% soil moisture content over 266 d. Optimum temperature and soil moisture content for mass rearing of L. terrestris was identified at 20°C and at 30% soil moisture content for these Iowa soils.
Eager, Reluctant, and Nonresponders to a Mailed Longitudinal Survey: Attitudinal and Substance Use Characteristics Differentiate Respondents1

Personality and attitudinal characteristics of eager, reluctant, and nonresponders to a mailed longitudinal survey focusing on substance use are examined through a series of logistic regression analyses. The characteristics that differentiate response patterns in men and women differ in terms of the relative importance of cooperation, behavioral low social conformity (substance use), and support of science/medicine. Socioeconomic status and attitudinal low social conformity did not differentiate among groups of responders, regardless of gender.
Expanding a Conversation: Is How We Live as a Culturally Diverse Society Congruent With Our Underlying Assumptions, Methodologies, and Theories Regarding Change?

Our world is very culturally and ethnically diverse. Although there is so much beauty in the diversity of our world, the multiplicity of cultures can be very challenging when working to evoke change. Therefore, in an effort to better serve the realities of our environment, this article examines the question, “Is there a need for a different awareness on the part of researchers and/or intervention strategists when working to evoke change within diverse cultures, organizations, and/or communities?” And, equally important, how do we gain this awareness as we engage in change processes? Within the contextual framework of this question, this article also discusses the consequences that can and do emerge when one uses intervention strategies that may be grounded in generalized theory and practice when working within culturally and ethnically diverse populations. It concludes with a posit that suggests the need to evoke a more culturally sensitive approach to change, which is built on the use of discourse strate...
Studies on Newcastle Disease X. Vaccination Studies with Newcastle Disease Vaccine (Intranasal Type) in Parentally Immune and Susceptible Chicks

Abstract THE results of intranasal vaccination with the Blacksburg strain of Newcastle virus were first reported by Hitchner and Johnson (1948). In this experiment only a limited number of chicks were vaccinated at 1-day of age; these chicks were completely resistant to intranasal challenge with California strain 11914 at 4 months. The effect of intranasal vaccination of chicks with parental immunity was not determined. Brandly, Moses and Jungherr (1946) observed that chicks hatched from eggs of Newcastle immune hens possessed a serum antibody titer and immunity which remained at a high level for 2 weeks, after which there was a rapid decline in titer and resistance. Congenital passive immunity interfered with the development of an active immune response of chicks to Newcastle disease infection with strain E virus, or to vaccination with formalin-inactivated virus. Intravenous challenge was used. Doll, McCollum and Wallace (1950) employed the intranasal route to vaccinate chicks, from . . .
Geochemical and carbon isotopic studies of crude oil destruction, bitumen precipitation, and sulfate reduction in the deep Smackover Formation

Abstract Crude oil generated by the Lower Smackover source facies migrated to Upper Smackover reservoirs where slow thermal cracking of crude oil resulted in the formation of gas-condensate and late solid bitumen. Ultimately, only pyrobitumen, methane, and nonhydrocarbon gases including hydrogen sulfide persist in the deepest Smackover reservoirs. The carbon isotopic compositions of crude oils became heavier during crude oil destruction. The carbon isotopic compositions of asphaltenes, NSO-compounds, and saturated hydrocarbons in late solid bitumen and the Lower Smackover source facies became isotopically lighter during crude oil destruction. It is suggested that some isotopically-light components from crude oils were incorporated in late solid bitumen by reactions involving thermochemical sulfate reduction. Thermochemical sulfate reduction and crude oil destruction occurred over a long span of geologic time at temperatures in the 120–150°C range.
Alumina-doped silica gradient-index (GRIN) lenses by slurry-based three-dimensional printing (S-3DP™)

Abstract The traditional slurry-based three-dimensional printing (S-3DP™) process has been used to fabricate complex structure materials by printing organic binders in selective positions of each printing layer. This process has been modified to fabricate functional graded materials, such as gradient index (GRIN) lenses, by depositing different concentrations of dopant into selective positions. Aluminum nitrate, which decomposes into alumina during heat treatment, is dissolved in deionized water and inkjet printed into the silica powder bed as the source of dopant. Continuous dopant jets and drop-on-demand (DoD) printing heads are used to control the dopant concentration profile in one dimension and two dimension, respectively. GRIN lenses with different concentration profiles are fabricated. The alumina-doped silica powder beds are then dehydrated at 1000 °C for 24 h and sintered to optical transparency at 1650 °C for 30 min in a vacuum furnace (5 × 10−6 Torr). The dopant distributions after sintering are measured and compared with the design profiles. The resulting optical effects are examined by measuring the effective focal lengths of the GRIN lenses.
Chemical Libraries via Sequential C−H Functionalization of Phenols

Phenols provide a useful template for diversification via sequential hydroarylation reactions. Specifically, a protocol has been developed that begins with the hydroarylation of cinnamic acids by 3,5-dimethoxyphenol to produce dihydrocoumarins. This activated ester undergoes facile ring-opening with amines to form a C−N bond and regenerate a phenol. The resulting phenol can be further functionalized via a second hydroarylation reaction. Thus, in 3–4 steps, a phenol is coupled with a cinnamic acid, an amine, and a cinnamic or propiolic acid.
Apparatus for the Determination of Mercury by Plasma Emission Spectrometry

Abstract A cold vapor introduction system has been developed for the rapid detection of sub-nanogram amounts of mercury by plasma emission spectrometry. Operational parameters affecting response have been evaluated and optimum values are presented. The system appears to be free of spectral interferences. It has been applied to the analysis of marine sediments and organisms and coastal seawater.
Numerical simulation of extended corona

A three-dimensional, time-dependent MHD model is presented for the study of coronal dynamics. The model, written in spherical coordinates, extends from the solar surface and was developed with two major issues in mind, namely for interpretation of various steady state and evolutionary dynamical structures in the corona. In order to achieve these objectives, two different numerical techniques are used to seek solutions for these two different, but related, problems; steady state structures and evolutionary structures. These two numerical techniques are: (1) relaxation technique for steady state structures; and (2) FICE (Full-Implicit-Continuous-Eulerian) technique for evolutionary structures. To illustrate this model, numerical results are given for examples of both the steady state and evolutionary structure of the corona which show the additional physical features which cannot be shown by a two-dimensional model.
Nutrition in the adolescent.

PIP: This article reviews the nutritional requirements of puberty and the clinical assessment of nutritional status, and discusses the nutritional risks imposed by vegetarian diets, pregnancy, and athletic involvement. Energy (calories) and protein are essential in pubertal development. Adolescent females require approximately 2200 calories/day, whereas male adolescents require 2500-3000 calories/day. Additional intake requirements include fat, calcium, iron, zinc, vitamins, and fiber. The clinical assessment of nutritional status begins with obtaining a good diet history of the patient and this could be offered by the body mass index. Nutritional deficiencies and poor eating habits established during adolescence can have long-term consequences, including delayed sexual maturation, loss of final adult height, osteoporosis, hyperlipidemia, and obesity. As for vegetarian adolescents, nutritional risks include lack of iodine, vitamin B12, vitamin D, and some essential fatty acids. In addition, substances in some grains reduce gut absorption, thus increasing mineral deficiencies. Pregnancy may also be a risk factor for poor nutrition during adolescence. A pregnant adolescent has different nutritional needs because she is still growing. Among adolescent athletes many are turning to nutritional supplements in an attempt to improve athletic performance. A balanced, varied diet provides adequate calories and nutrition to meet the needs of most adolescents. They also have greater water needs than do adult athletes. Details on adolescent health concerns are further discussed in this article.
Measuring abuse stress and negative cognitive appraisals in child sexual abuse: Validity data on two new scales

The validity of two measures assessing degree of stress associated with sexual abuse was examined in a sample of 48 girls who had been sexually abused. The Checklist of Sexual Abuse and Related Stressors (C-SARS) assessed negative life events that were part of or were related to the abuse, and the Negative Appraisals of Sexual Abuse Scale (NASAS) assessed negative cognitive appraisals of threat, harm, or loss associated with the abuse. Total scores for victim reports of both stressful events and negative appraisals were positively and significantly related to two other measures of abuse severity: therapist ratings of abuse stress and the number of types of sexual abuse reported. Stressful event scores were also related to aggressive behavior problems, sexual concerns, and total symptom scores on the Child Behavior Checklist. Negative cognitive appraisal scores were related to victims' self-reports of depression, anxiety, and posttraumatic stress symptoms, and to parents reports of child depression and total symptoms. Regression analyses indicated that there were significant effects of negative appraisals on internalizing symptoms when controlling for the level of stressful events experienced. The results suggest that negative life events and negative appraisals associated with sexual abuse are valid constructs that help account for variability in mental health outcomes among child victims. The implications of these results and future research directions in examining variable outcomes among sexual abuse victims are discussed. Language: en
ECONOMIC REFORMS AND SOCIALIST CITY STRUCTURE: A CASE STUDY OF GUANGZHOU, CHINA

This paper examines the impact of the 1978 economic reforms on the socialist nature of the Chinese city, using Guangzhou, one of the most open cities in China, as a case study. Despite a reorientation of Guangzhou's role as a trade center and port, labor is still predominantly engaged in the secondary sector with a strong emphasis on heavy industry. Tertiary activities have only recently attained an equivalent level of importance during the early Communist period and exhibit a noticeable dearth of the more advanced forms of tertiary activities, such as finance, insurance, and real estate. The spatial structure of the city of Guangzhou has developed according to a State-approved Master Plan with socialist influences and has evolved into three interdependent linear clusters separated by agricultural land and linked by west-east-running highways and railroads. Residential differentiation is based on occupation types which are related to the land use in the city. The city planners continue to practice the soc...
Serial aortography assesses stability of "atypical" aortic arch ruptures.

The victim of a high speed motor vehicle accident sustained an ascending aortic laceration as well as avulsion of the left subclavian artery. Initial management of the tears was conservative. The case is typical of “atypical” aortic arch tears except that the patient survived without emergent surgery. Serial aortography proved useful in assessing stability of the tears, providing opportunity to observe the natural history of these injuries angiographically. The distribution of aortic arch injuries following blunt trauma is reviewed.
Structural reassignment of the alleged 6-hydroxy-1,2,4-triazine-3,5-(2H,4H)dione

The reaction of 6-amino-1,2,4-triazine-3,5-(2H,4H)clione with sodium hydroxide or nitrous acid has been shown to give 5-hydroxy-1,2,4-triazole-3-carboxylic acid instead of 6-hydroxy-1,2,4-triazine-3,5-(2H,4H)dione as reported in the literature. The triazolecarboxylic acid was also obtained from the aminotriazine and hydrochloric acid.
Simultaneous sensor selection and routing of unmanned aerial vehicles for complex mission plans

Military reconnaissance missions often employ a set of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) equipped with sensors to gather intelligence information from a set of known targets. UAVs are limited by the number of sensors they can hold; also attaching a sensor adds weight to the aircraft which in turn reduces the flight time available during a mission. The task of optimally assigning sensors to UAVs and routing them through a target field to maximize intelligence gain is a generalization of the team orienteering problem studied in the vehicle routing literature. This work presents a mathematical programming model for simultaneous sensor selection and routing of UAVs, which solves optimally using CPLEX for simple missions. Larger missions required the development of three heuristics, which were augmented by Column Generation. Results from a performance study indicated that the heuristics quickly found good solutions. Column Generation improved the solution in many instances, with minimal impact on overall solution time. The rapid nature of the overall solution approach allows it to be used in other mission planning tasks. A fleet sizing application is discussed as an example of its flexible usage.
Crack characterization by an inverse scattering method

Abstract Elastic wave scattering data is utilized to characterize a crack of arbitrary shape by an equivalent elliptical crack contained in an unbounded solid. The inverse method is based on an integral representation for the scattered field in the frequency domain. The proposed method is valid for both small and intermediate wavelengths as compared with the size of the crack. In particular for intermediate wavelengths and normal incidence a simple method is discussed. Its solution gives the location of the geometrical center of the crack, the crack size, and the crack-opening displacement.
Effects of cellular non-protein sulfhydryl depletion in radiation induced oncogenic transformation and genotoxicity in mouse C3H 10T1/2 cells.

Abstract A study was made of the effects of cellular non-protein sulfhydryl (NPSH) depletion on cytotoxicity, cell cycle kinetics, oncogenic transformation and sister chromatid exchange (SCE) in C 3 H 10T12 cells. Using DL-Buthionine S-R-Sulfoximine (BSO) at a concentration of 0.05 mM to deplete thiols, it was found spectrophotometrically that less than 5% of control NPSH level remained in the cells after 24-hour treatment under aerated conditions. Such NPSH depleted cells, when subject to a 3 Gy γ-ray treatment, were found to have no radiosensitizing response either in terms of cell survival or oncogenic transformation. In addition, decreased levels of NPSH had no effect on spontaneous or radiation-induced SCE nor were cell cycle kinetics additionally altered. Therefore, the inability of NPSH depletion to alter γ-ray induced cellular transformation was unrelated to any possible effect of BSO on the cell cycle. These results suggest that, while endogenous NPSH depletion has been considered to play an important role for most radiosensitizers in clinical or preclinical use, such depletion may result in little or no additional oncoaenic or genotoxic effects on aerated normal tissues.
Moving camera moving object segmentation in an MPEG-2 compressed video sequence

In the paper, we addresses the problem of camera and object motion detection in compressed domain. The estimation of camera motion and the moving object segmentation have been widely stated in a variety of context for video analysis, because they are capable of providing essential clues for interpreting high-level semantic meanings of video sequences. A novel compressed domain motion estimation and segmentation scheme is presented and applied in this paper. The proposed algorithm uses MPEG-2 compressed motion vectors to undergo a spatial and temporal interpolation over several adjacent frames. An iterative rejection scheme based upon the affine model is exploited to effect global camera motion detection. The foreground spatiotemporal objects are separated from the background using the temporal consistency check to the output of the iterative segmentation. This consistency check process can help conglomerate the resulting foreground blocks and weed out unqualified blocks. Illustrative examples are provided to demonstrate the efficacy of the proposed approach.
Isopycnal displacements within the Cape Basin thermocline as revealed by the Hydrographic Data Archive

Abstract The transfer of upper kilometer water from the Indian Ocean into the South Atlantic, the Agulhas leakage, is believed to be accomplished primarily through meso-scale eddy processes. There have been various studies investigating eddies of the “Cape Basin Cauldron” from specific data sets. The hydrographic data archive acquired during the last century within the Cape Basin region of the South Atlantic provides additional insight into the distribution and water mass properties of the Cape Basin eddies. Eddies are identified by mid-thermocline isopycnal depth anomalies relative to the long-term mean. Positive depth anomalies (the reference isopycnal is deeper than the long-term mean isopycnal depth) mark the presence of anticyclonic eddies; negative anomalies mark cyclonic eddies. Numerous eddies are identified in the whole region; the larger isopycnal displacements are attributed to the energetic eddies characteristic of the Cape Basin and indicate that there is a 2:1 anticyclone/cyclone ratio. Smaller displacements of the less energetic features are almost equally split between anticyclones and cyclones (1.4:1 ratio). Potential temperature, salinity and oxygen relationships at thermocline and intermediate levels within each eddy reveal their likely origin. The eddy core water is not solely drawn from Indian Ocean: tropical and subtropical South Atlantic water are also present. Anticyclones and cyclones carrying Agulhas Water properties are identified throughout the Cape Basin. Anticyclones with Agulhas Water characteristics show a predominant northwest dispersal, whereas the cyclones are identified mainly along the western margin of the African continent, possibly related to their origin as shear eddies at the boundary between the Agulhas axis and Africa. Cyclones and anticyclones carrying pure South Atlantic origin water are identified south of 30°S and west of the Walvis Ridge. Tropical Atlantic water at depth is found for cyclones north of the Walvis Ridge, west of 10°E and for stations deeper than 4000 m, and a few anticyclones with the same characteristics are found south of the ridge.
A computer-based methodology for matching polymer structures with required properties

Methodologie dans laquelle un ordinateur genere des structures polymeres et evalue leurs proprietes en utilisant des relations empiriques. Une methode d'optimisation est ensuite employee pour selectionner les polymeres candidats qui repondent le mieux a une serie de specifications
Mechanical experiments as moral exercise in the education of George III.

In 1761, George III commissioned a large group of philosophical instruments from the London instrument-maker George Adams. The purchase sprang from a complex plan of moral education devised for Prince George in the late 1750s by the third Earl of Bute. Bute's plan applied the philosophy of Frances Hutcheson, who placed ‘the culture of the heart’ at the foundation of moral education. To complement this affective development, Bute also acted on seventeenth-century arguments for the value of experimental philosophy and geometry as exercises that habituated the student to recognizing truth, and to pursuing it through long and difficult chains of reasoning. The instruments required for such exercise thus became tools for manipulating moral subjectivity. By the 1730s there was a variety of established modes in which the Newtonian philosophy might be used to argue for the legitimacy of Hanoverian rule. The education of George III represents a less recognized iteration of this relationship, concerned not with public apologetics, but rather with the transformation of an ‘indolent’ youth into a virtuous monarch.
The acquisition of sociolinguistic knowledge: Some evidence from children's verbal role‐play

Psychological, sociological and linguistic research has often presented the young child as an egocentric being who is socially inept having not yet learned the variety of sociolinguistic and social interactional rules which govern language use. Some recent studies, however, have suggested this may be an underestimation of children's communicative development. The present study of twenty‐four children aged between four and seven explores young children's ability to contrast social roles through language. Using a technique of “controlled improvisation”; with puppets, each child play‐acted different roles in three specific settings: mother/father/child in a family home situation, doctor/nurse/ patient in a medical office, and teacher/student/foreign student in a children's classroom. The findings suggest that from an early age (3 or 4 years) children are aware of a broad range of social variation and are sensitive to the linguistic means of encoding this variation. The children in this study made subtle dist...
Production of custom microarrays for neuroscience research

Microarray chips produced by commercial vendors and academic laboratories are mostly generic in nature to facilitate wide applicability. With the sequencing of the human, mouse, and rat genomes, the thrust is to expand clone and oligonucleotide sets and increase the number of genes represented on a particular array. This is appropriate for discovery based investigations where microarray technology has been successfully utilized. However, array technology can also be employed to perform hypothesis based studies if optimized chips can be produced with relevant content. Existing array technology available at core facilities can be effectively utilized to produce a custom microarrays with genes that are most relevant to the research interests of individual investigators or research groups for use as a standard molecular tool. The power of this technology can be harnessed to further our understanding of specific biological problems without involvement in extensive data mining and analysis. The custom microarray approach is presented with procedural details for design and production in the context of neurobiological investigations.
PHYSICALISM COULD BE TRUE EVEN IF MARY LEARNS SOMETHING NEW

Mary knows all there is to know about physics, chemistry and neurophysiology, yet has never experienced colour. Most philosophers think that if Mary learns something genuinely new upon seeing colour for the first time, then physicalism is false. I argue, however, that physicalism is consistent with Mary's acquisition of new information. Indeed, even if she has perfect powers of deduction, and higher-level physical facts are a priori deducible from lower-level ones, Mary may still lack concepts which are required in order to deduce from the lower-level physical facts what it is like to see red.
Early Experience With Activated Recombinant Factor VII for Intractable Hemorrhage After Cardiovascular Surgery

Background Intractable hemorrhage after complex cardiovascular operations is a serious and potentially lethal complication. We report our experience with the use of activated recombinant factor VIIa (rFVIIa) as rescue therapy for patients with refractory postoperative hemorrhage. Methods From April 2002 through December 2003, 9 patients received rFVIIa for intractable hemorrhage after cardiovascular surgery. Patients underwent aortic surgery (2), coronary artery bypass graft surgery (4), double valve operations (2), and mitral valve replacement (1). Four of these procedures were reoperations. Intraoperative aprotinin was used in all patients. All patients underwent standard heparinization (300 IU/kg) before cardiopulmonary bypass and reversal with protamine. Results Five patients underwent reexploration for mediastinal hemorrhage before treatment; 2 were reexplored twice. The average transfusion requirement before rFVIIa administration was 9 U of blood, 7 U of plasma, 22 U of platelets, and 19 U of cryoprecipitate. rFVIIa was administered as an intravenous bolus at 68 to 120 μg/kg. Mean time of administration from the first operation was 10.9 ± 7.2 hours. At the time of activated rFVIIa administration, chest tube drainage averaged 640 mL/h. In all patients, chest tube drainage was dramatically reduced to less than 100 mL/h within 5 hours after drug delivery. None of the patients required reexploration after treatment. There were no postoperative neurologic or cardiovascular complications. Conclusions When used as rescue therapy for intractable hemorrhage after cardiovascular surgery, rFVIIa may be effective in promoting hemostasis, preventing reexploration, and reducing transfusion requirements.
Cooperativity of multiple kinesin-1 motors mechanically coupled through a shared load

Recent experiments using single-molecule techniques have characterized the mechanical properties of single kinesin molecules in vitro at a range of loads and ATP concentrations. These experiments have shown that kinesin moves processively along microtubules by alternately advancing each of its motor domains in a hand-over-hand fashion, using Brownian motion and the energy from ATP hydrolysis. We have extended the theoretical analysis of kinesin through a mechanistic model that is capable of describing transient and steady-state behavior. Transient dynamics are needed to describe the effect of external perturbations (e.g. interactions with other kinesin molecules). Quantitative metrics are tailored to characterize the synchronization of nonlinear, nonsmooth systems such as kinesin. These metrics are employed to analyze the simulation results and to quantify the effect of the cargo linker stiffness, the load, and the difference in intrinsic velocity on the synchronization of two coupled motor proteins. Herein, the mechanistic model and the new analysis techniques are demonstrated for the case of two coupled kinesin motors.
Systematic evaluation of environmental factors: persistent pollutants and nutrients correlated with serum lipid levels

Background Both genetic and environmental factors contribute to triglyceride, low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (LDL-C), and high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (HDL-C) levels. Although genome-wide association studies are currently testing the genetic factors systematically, testing and reporting one or a few factors at a time can lead to fragmented literature for environmental chemical factors. We screened for correlation between environmental factors and lipid levels, utilizing four independent surveys with information on 188 environmental factors from the Centers of Disease Control, National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, collected between 1999 and 2006. Methods We used linear regression to correlate each environmental chemical factor to triglycerides, LDL-C and HDL-C adjusting for age, age2, sex, ethnicity, socio-economic status and body mass index. Final estimates were adjusted for waist circumference, diabetes status, blood pressure and survey. Multiple comparisons were controlled for by estimating the false discovery rate and significant findings were tentatively validated in an independent survey. Results We identified and validated 29, 9 and 17 environmental factors correlated with triglycerides, LDL-C and HDL-C levels, respectively. Findings include hydrocarbons and nicotine associated with lower HDL-C and vitamin E (γ-tocopherol) associated with unfavourable lipid levels. Higher triglycerides and lower HDL-C were correlated with higher levels of fat-soluble contaminants (e.g. polychlorinated biphenyls and dibenzofurans). Nutrients and vitamin markers (e.g. vitamins B, D and carotenes), were associated with favourable triglyceride and HDL-C levels. Conclusions Our systematic association study has enabled us to postulate about broad environmental correlation to lipid levels. Although subject to confounding and reverse causality bias, these findings merit evaluation in additional cohorts.
Seizure Potential of Concomitant Medications and Radiographic Contrast Media Agents

ObjectiveTo review seizure risk of concomitant medication administration and nonionic, water-soluble radiographic contrast media agents for myelography.Data SourcesClinical literature was identified through MEDLINE (1966–May 2003). Key search terms included metrizamide, iohexol, myelogram, myelography, seizure, and contraindications.Data SynthesisAdministration of myelography contrast media can produce rare serious adverse events, including meningeal irritation, seizures, or psychological disturbances. An evaluation of case reports and clinical trials concerning seizure risks of nonionic, water-soluble radiographic myelography contrast media and concomitant medications with potential to lower the seizure threshold was performed.ConclusionsAvailable data supporting the incidence of increased seizure risk with nonionic, water-soluble contrast media agents and concomitant medication administration that lowers the seizure threshold are anecdotal. However, because of product labeling and additive potential to ...
Invisibility at entire visible frequency using carbon nanotube carpet

Here we show a perfect absorption ground plane cloak that works at entire visible frequency. Such homogeneous perfect absorption carpet is made of low density carbon nanotube (CNT) "forest", and invisibility has been observed by naked eyes for unpolarized light at entire visible frequency with cloaking area 100 times larger than a wavelength.
QTL mapping under ascertainment.

Summary Mapping quantitative trait loci (QTL) using ascertained sibships is discussed. It is shown that under the standard normality assumption of variance components analysis the efficient scores are unchanged by ascertainment, and two different schemes of ascertainment correction suggested in the literature are asymptotically equivalent. The use of conditional maximum likelihood estimators derived under the normality assumption to estimate nuisance parameters is shown to result in only a small loss of power compared to the case of known parameters, even when the distribution of phenotypes is non-normal and/or the ascertainment criterion is ill defined.
Margaret Webster: A Life in the Theater. By Milly S. Barranger. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press, 2004; pp. 388; 18 illus. $39.50 cloth.

Margaret Webster's struggles and triumphs as a professional director in New York and London are not cited by theatre historians—especially feminist theatre historians—as often as they should be. Before her death in 1972, she had become the first woman director ever to work on Broadway, founded the American Repertory Theatre with her lifelong partner and colleague Eva Le Gallienne, directed a groundbreaking production of Othello with Paul Robeson in 1942, faced Joe McCarthy and the House Un-American Activities Committee, and she had published several wonderful books about theatre (the best known are Shakespeare Without Tears , The Same Only Different , and Don't Put Your Daughter on the Stage ).
Transformation-based reconstruction for real-time voice transmissions over the Internet

We explore the loss behavior encountered in transmitting real-time voice over the Internet and propose a new loss-concealment scheme to improve its received quality. One known technique to conceal loss is to send interleaved streams of voice samples and reconstruct missing or late samples by interpolation at the receiver. Based on this method, we propose a new transformation-based reconstruction algorithm. Its basic idea is for the sender to transform an input voice stream, according to the interpolation method used at the receiver and the predicted loss behavior, before interleaving the stream. The transformation is derived by minimizing reconstruction error in case of loss. We show that our method is computationally efficient and can be extended to various interleaving factors and interpolation-based reconstruction methods. Finally, we show performance improvements of our method by testing it over the Internet.
On the limitation of fluid-based approach for Internet congestion control

Fluid models have been the main tools for Internet congestion control. By capturing how the average rate of each flow evolves, the fluid model proves to be useful as it predicts the equilibrium point to which system trajectory converges and also provides conditions under which the convergence is ensured, i.e., the system is stable. However, due to inherent randomness in the network caused by random packet arrivals or random packet marking, the actual system evolution is always of a stochastic nature. In this paper, we show that we can be better off using a stochastic approach toward the congestion control. We first prove that the equilibrium point of a fluid model can be quite different from the true average rate of the corresponding stochastic system. After we describe the notion of stability for two different approaches, we show that a stable fluid model can impose too much restriction on our choice of system parameters such as buffer size or link utilization. In particular, under fluid models, we show that there exists a fundamental tradeoff between the link utilization and buffer size requirement for large systems, while in a more realistic setting with stochastic models, there is no such tradeoff. This implies that the current congestion control design can be much more flexible, to the benefit of efficient usage of network resources.
The Increasing Pay Gap for Women in Textile and Clothing Industries: A Reexamination

In the December 1980 issue of this JOURNAL, Paul McGouldrick and Michael Tannen analyze changes in the male-female earnings gap in the textile and clothing industries during the period 1910-1970.1 They attempt to standardize male and female wages by adjusting for differences in age, marital status, work experience, ethnicity, race, and other factors. Their results show a very small sex differential in earnings in 1910 after adjusting for these various factors. In contrast, a similar adjustment procedure for 1970 fails to explain much of the male-female earnings gap, and we are left with a rather large (33 percent) unexplained sex differential. McGouldrick and Tannen conclude that there was an increasing pay gap between the sexes in the clothing and textile industries during the period 1910-1970, and they suggest that this may have resulted from a relative decline in female human capital investment and changes in union and government benefits and taxes that discriminate against females. Based on an analysis of the sample used by McGouldrick and Tannen, it appears that these conclusions are not justified. In fact, the evidence indicates that the male-female earnings differential in the clothing and textile industries has not widened but rather has shown an amazing degree of stability since the early twentieth century. The major problem with McGouldrick and Tannen's work is that the data used for the early period are not representative and contain several sources of bias that lead to serious understatement of the actual sex differential. McGouldrick and Tannen's analysis for the early period is based on data presented in a study of employment and earnings in the manufacturing and mining industries conducted by the Immigration Commission in 1910, and this survey gives a very heavy weight to foreign-born employees.2 In the Immigration Commission report, 69 percent of the surveyed workers were foreign born and 31 percent were native born. At the time, immigrants comprised 20 percent of the total labor force. Foreign-born workers made especially high contributions to the total labor force in textiles (36.2 percent) and clothing (55.1 percent), but their share of total employment was not close to the 69 percent level found in the McGoludrick-Tannen sample. The heavy weight given to foreign-born workers introduces a substantial bias into the measurement of the sex differential in earnings. The male-female earnings gap for foreign-born workers was substantially lower than the male-female earnings gap for native-born workers. This was particularly true in the textile industry. Using data from the Immigration Commission study, we have calculated the ratio of female/male wages in the textile industry at .815 for foreign-born workers and .707 for native-born workers. In the clothing industry, both nativeand foreign-born females earned substantially less
CellGeo: A computational platform for the analysis of shape changes in cells with complex geometries

Cell biologists increasingly rely on computer-aided image analysis, allowing them to collect precise, unbiased quantitative results. However, despite great progress in image processing and computer vision, current computational approaches fail to address many key aspects of cell behavior, including the cell protrusions that guide cell migration and drive morphogenesis. We developed the open source MATLAB application CellGeo, a user-friendly computational platform to allow simultaneous, automated tracking and analysis of dynamic changes in cell shape, including protrusions ranging from filopodia to lamellipodia. Our method maps an arbitrary cell shape onto a tree graph that, unlike traditional skeletonization algorithms, preserves complex boundary features. CellGeo allows rigorous but flexible definition and accurate automated detection and tracking of geometric features of interest. We demonstrate CellGeo’s utility by deriving new insights into (a) the roles of Diaphanous, Enabled, and Capping protein in regulating filopodia and lamellipodia dynamics in Drosophila melanogaster cells and (b) the dynamic properties of growth cones in catecholaminergic a–differentiated neuroblastoma cells.
Precision of Estimation of the Treatment Contrasts and the Intra‐block Matrix of Block Designs

In many practical situations the experiment is conducted using a block design, and it is desired to estimate a given set of contrasts with variances none of which is greater than a corresponding set of specified variances: In the present paper the form of the intra-block matrix of a design is, therefore, derived for such situations. Usefulness of the results given is illustrated with the help of examples. The construction of two-plot block designs is shown to be particularly straightforward.
Implications of Ownership, Regulation, and Market Structure for Performance: Evidence from the U.S. Electric Utility Industry Before and After the New Deal

This study evaluates the impact of variations in regulation, ownership, and market structure in the U.S. electric utility industry during the period surrounding the New Deal, when considerable institutional variation provided a natural experiment for analysis. A simultaneous-equations model of electricity supply and demand is developed and estimated for the years 1930 and 1942 with firm- and market-level data collected on utilities serving cities of population 50,000 or more. The paper offers evidence that regulation, public ownership, and competition served to reduce electricity prices and enhance allocative efficiency during the period under examination.
Fasting-Induced Changes in Prostaglandin Binding in Isolated Hepatocytes and Liver Plasma Membranes*

The effects of fasting on hepatic prostaglandin E (PGE) receptor characteristics were studied in Sprague-Dawley rats. Plasma membranes were isolated from liver homogenates of animals after 0, 12, 18, 24, and 48 h of fasting. The changes observed in body weight, liver weight, plasma glucose, and plasma beta-hydroxybutyrate during the fast were consistent with those previously reported for a similar fasted rat model. During the transition from the fed to the fasted state there was a decrease in hepatic PGE receptor density (from 0.175 +/- 0.011 pmol bound/mg membrane membrane protein in fed rats to 0.060 +/- 0.009 in rats fasted for 24 h), with no change in binding affinity. This change was observed whether the data were expressed per mg membrane protein isolated or were corrected for total membrane recovery and normalized to initial body weight. Isolated hepatocytes prepared from fed and 24-h fasted animals also demonstrated a significant decrease in PGE-binding site density (from 0.98 +/- 0.05 pmol bound/10(6) cells in fed rats to 0.46 +/- 0.14 in fasted rats), with no change in binding site affinity. The change in binding site density in the hepatocytes was of a magnitude similar to that observed in the liver plasma membranes after the membranes were corrected for recovery and normalized to initial body weight (51% vs. 53%, liver plasma membranes vs. isolated hepatocytes). We conclude that fasting is associated with a decrease in the hepatic PGE receptor density and suggest that this decrease may reflect an increase in hepatic E-series PGs during starvation.
Body composition at vaginal opening in mice as influenced by food intake and photoperiod: tests of critical body weight and composition hypotheses for puberty onset.

To determine if photoperiod and food intake influenced age and body composition at vaginal opening (VO), 80 mice were exposed to either 18L:6D (LL) or 6L:18D (SL) and fed either 3.64 glmouse per day (HIGH) or 2.73 g/mouse per day (LOW) of Wayne Lab-Blox. Treatments began at weaning (21 to 23 days of age). Mice were killed at VO and analyzed for fat, water and protein content. Mice fed the HIGH ration were younger (P<0.01; 35.9 vs. 41.1 days) and heavier (P<O.001; 17.8 vs. 15.4 g) at VO than mice fed the LOW ration. Neither age nor weight at VO were affected by photoperiod. Fat content at VO was greater (P<0.001) for HIGH than LOW. Differences in fat percentage at VO between diet groups were greater for LL (9.7 vs. 7.0%) than for SL (9.1 vs. 8.6%), resulting in a photoperiod X ration interaction (P<0.01). Percent water and protein at VO were not significantly affected by photoperiod or diet. Within-group correlations between body weight and age at VO were not significant. Body water/body weight was inversely proportional to age at VO. This resulted from increased fat deposition in older animals of the LL-LOW group and increased percent protein in older animals of other groups. We concluded that dietary intake did not influence age at VO by affecting age at which a critical body weight or fat content were attained. A photoperiod of 1 8L :6D did not affect age at VO relative to 6L:1 8D.