cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Competitive vaporization and decomposition of liquid RDX

The thermal decomposition of hexahydro-1,3,5-trinitro-1,3,5-triazine (RDX) has been studied by thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). Activation energies as a function of the extent of conversion, α, have been determined by model-free isoconversional analysis of these data. In open pans, evaporation is a prevalent process with an activation energy of ∼100 kJ mol-1. Confining the system in either a pierced pan or a closed pan promotes liquid state decomposition of RDX that occurs with an activation energy of ∼200 kJ mol-1, which suggests scission of an N−N bond as the primary decomposition step. In such a confined environment, gas phase decomposition is a competing channel with an activation energy estimated to be ∼140 kJ mol-1. In a closed pan, RDX generates a heat release of ∼500 kJ mol-1 that is independent of both the heating rate, β, and the mass.
Relatively congruence distributive subquasivarieties of a congruence modular variety

We characterise the relatively congruence distributive subquasivarieties of a modular variety using the modular commutator. Our characterisation allows us to extend the results of Dziobiak concerning relatively congruence distributive quasivarieties of nonassociative R-algebras.
The syntheses and thermal rearrangement of some methiodides of s-triazolo[4,3-a]pyridines

It has been shown that the N-methylation, with methyl iodide, of s-triazolo[4,3-a]pyridines affords a mixture of the N-1 and the N-2 methiodides. The N-2 methiodides can be thermally rearranged to the N-1 methiodides. The 8-methyl N-1 methiodides exhibit peri interaction between the two methyl groups. This interaction is reflected in greater stability of the N-2 methiodide vs. the N-1 compound.
Unexpected reactivity of the 9-aminoacridine chromophore in guanidylation reactions.

The 9-aminoacridine chromophore is an important building block of DNA-targeted chemotherapeutic agents. The success of 1-[2-(acridin-9-ylamino)ethyl]-1,3-dimethylthiourea as a carrier group in cytotoxic platinum−intercalator conjugates prompted us to explore the synthesis of an analogous guanidine-functionalized acridine. In a successful effort to generate such a derivative, various methods of guanidylation were employed, which demonstrate that the acridine C9−N9 linkage is highly susceptible to electrophilic and nucleophilic attack. The newly established reactivities provide efficient pathways to novel cyclic and spirocyclic acridine derivatives.
Progress Towards the Development of a Highly Functional Anthropomorphic Transhumeral Prosthesis

This paper presents progress towards the development of a gas-actuated anthropomorphic arm prosthesis with 21 degrees of freedom and nine independent actuators. The system is designed to utilize the monopropellant hydrogen peroxide as a gas generator in order to power the nine pneumatic-type actuators. The design incorporates four actuators to provide direct-drive actuation of the elbow joint and three wrist degrees-of-freedom, while the remaining five actuate an underactuated 17 degree-of-freedom hand. This paper describes the prosthesis design, including the design of small-scale high-performance servovalves that enable implementation of the monopropellant concept in a transhumeral prosthesis. Video frame sequences of the prosthesis under closed loop control demonstrate its functionality in performing tasks representative of activities of daily living.
Total Dose Characterizations of CMOS Devices in Oxygen Implanted Silicon-on-Insulator

The total dose characteristics of CMOS devices fabricated in oxygen implanted buried oxide silicon-on-insulator (SOI) substrates with different post-implant annealing processes are studied. The threshold voltage shift, subthreshold slope degradation and mobility degradation of front channel SOI/CMOS devices are measured to be the same as those of bulk devices processed identically. Negative substrate bias lowers the threshold voltage shift of back channel SOI transistors, while not affecting the front channel characteristics. Under present processing conditions, the radiation characteristics of front channel devices are independent of the postoxygen-implant annealing temperature. Oxygen precipitates at the silicon/buried oxide interface enhance interface state generation of the back channel devices during irradiation.
Sandifer syndrome: a cause of torticollis in infancy

A case of Sandifer syndrome is presented. It is similar to previously reported cases. The diagnosis may be overlooked if symptoms are mild. Neurologic disorders are often suspected. Infants or children with torticollis, dystonic posturing or atypical seizures should be evaluated for Sandifer syndrome, Exhaustive and expensive neurologic examinations may be unnecessary. Early diagnosis allows prompt treatment and resolution of the problem. Medical management is usually successful.
The Noetic Turn in Jewish Thought

The noetic turn—perhaps the most important development in Jewish theological discourse after that from prophetic literature to apocalypticism—denotes the translation of the biblical and particularly apocalyptic ontological and epistemological categories, generally conceived according to the norms and categories of everyday knowledge, into noetic categories. God, his throne, light, angels and heavens are re-conceived from a noetic perspective. Noetic perception takes the place of direct vision, hearing and dreams in apprehending the heavenly mysteries of the apocalyptic literature. The noetic turn introduces new ontological layers and degrees in heaven, new doctrines regarding the levels of divine concealment and manifestation and new theories about human epistemic capacities. This turn exerts a momentous influence on philosophically educated authors of Jewish and Christian cultures, on such classics as Philo, Clement, Origen, Halevi, Maimonides and Gersonides and many other thinkers of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages.
Water bolus for electron irradiation of the ear canal.

Abstract Purpose: To demonstrate that water bolus in the external ear can decrease the dose inhomogeneity caused by auricular surface irregularities when the ear is in an electron-beam field. Methods and Materials: Three-dimensional (3D) dose distributions with and without water bolus in the external ear were calculated for a representative patient. The electron dose calculations were made using the Hogstrom pencil beam algorithm as implemented in 3D by Starkschall. To demonstrate the use of water bolus in the ear clinically, the case of a patient with squamous carcinoma of the concha who was treated with electrons is presented. Results: Water bolus markedly lessens the dose heterogeneity caused by the surface irregularities of the ear and the air in the external auditory canal. In the test case, the maximum dose was reduced by 25% using this technique. Conclusion: When the ear is an electron beam field, warm water should be placed in the external auditory canal and concha. This maneuver may reduce the incidence of auricular complications that occur after electron-beam therapy.
Lesser metatarsophalangeal joint capsular release utilizing the #66 mini-blade.

Lesser interphalangeal and metatarsophalangeal sagittal plane deformities are common pedal pathologies. The mechanical imbalances responsible for the development of these digital deformities have received much attention (1-3), but a complete discussion of these is beyond the scope of this article. In general, when conservative measures have failed to provide long-term satisfactory relief from symptomotology, surgical intervention is undertaken. To this end, a myriad of soft-tissue and osseous procedures have been advocated (4-6). The senior author (lB.R.) utilizes a 60° angled Opthamology #66 mini-bladef" (Fig. 1) in the following manner to surgically release the tendinous, capsular, and ligamentous metatarsophalangeal joint contracture component of the digital deformity. A standard longitudinal incision is performed extending from the base of the proximal phalanx to the head of the intermediate phalanx, and deepened to the extensor tendon complex at the level of the proximal interphalangeal joint (Fig. 2). The extensor tendon complex is then incised transversely at this level, with care taken to leave the medial and lateral collateral ligaments intact at the level of the proximal interphalangeal joint. Following this, the medial and lateral margins of the sling and wing components of the extensor digitorum longus tendon are incised vertically, parallel to the longitudinal axis of the proximal phalanx. The resultant extensor digitorum longus tendon flap is then grasped with atraumatic forceps and underscored through a combination of sharp and blunt dissection to the level of the corresponding metatarsal head
Aerobic and anaerobic bacteriology of intracranial abscesses

The bacteriologic and clinical findings of 39 pediatric patients with intracranial abscess are presented. Twenty-three children presented with brain abscess and 16 with subdural empyema. Predisposing conditions were present in all instances. Sinusitis was present in 25 children and 4 patients each had chronic otitis media, dental abscess, and congenital heart disease. The abscess was located in the frontal area in 14 patients, parietal in 13, and temporal in 12. Anaerobic organisms alone were recovered in 22 patients (56%), aerobic bacteria alone in 7 (18%), and mixed aerobic and anaerobic bacteria in 10 (26%) patients. There were 79 anaerobic isolates (2 per specimen). The predominant anaerobes were anaerobic Gram-positive cocci (29 isolates); Bacteroides sp. (12, including 5 Bacteroides fragilis group), Fusobacterium sp. (14 isolates); and Prevotella sp. and Actinomyces sp. (6 isolates each). A total of 17 aerobic or facultative isolates (0.4 per specimen), including 11 Gram-positive cocci and 6 Haemophilus sp., were recovered. Antimicrobial therapy was administered to all patients. Nine patients (i.e., 6 with sinusitis and subdural empyema, 3 with sinusitis and brain abscess) did not respond to antimicrobial therapy and aspiration of the abscess, and required surgical drainage of inflamed sinuses. These findings indicate the major role of anaerobic organisms in the polymicrobial etiology of intracranial abscess in children.
The asymptotics of heat kernels on Riemannian foliations

We study the basic Laplacian of a Riemannian foliation on a compact manifold M by comparing it to the induced Laplacian on the basic manifold. We show that the basic heat kernel on functions has a particular asymptotic expansion along the diagonal of \( M \times M \) as \( t \to 0 \), which is computable in terms of geometric invariants of the foliation. We generalize this result to include heat kernels corresponding to other transversally elliptic operators acting on the space of basic sections of a vector bundle, such as the basic Laplacian on k-forms and the square of a basic Dirac operator.
Alterations in the flow of one-carbon units affect KinB-dependent sporulation in Bacillus subtilis.

Endospore formation in Bacillus subtilis is primarily dependent on the phosphorylation of the key transcription factor Spo0A by two major kinases, KinA and KinB, thought to be activated by distinct signals. Using a strategy designed to detect mutations that specifically affect the signalling pathway to KinB, we have isolated a Tn10 insertion mutant in one of two adjacent lrp-like genes coding for homologues of the Escherichia coli leucine-responsive regulatory protein (Lrp) and another mutant in the glyA gene encoding the serine hydroxymethyl transferase (SHMT). SHMT catalyses interconversion of serine and glycine while transferring the resulting one-carbon unit into the C1 pool through methylene tetrahydrofolate. Sporulation experiments performed in a series of supplemented media indicated that the role of SHMT in the KinB pathway is to feed the pool of C1 units recruited for the biosynthesis of key metabolites, which include the methyl donor S-adenosyl-methionine (SAM). The results of experiments using l-ethionine suggest that SAM is involved in post-synthetic methylation reactions or biosynthesis of metabolites that serve to activate KinB. Truncated LrpA and LrpB peptides that have retained the DNA-binding domain but have lost the C-terminal half of the protein appear to act as repressors of glyA transcription and KinB-dependent sporulation. However, deletions of lrpA, lrpB or lrpAB have little effect on glyA transcription or sporulation through KinB, suggesting that other effectors, such as additional Lrp homologues, may act in conjunction with LrpA and LrpB. Our results indicate that lrpA–lrpB together with the biosynthetic glyA gene lie on a common signalling pathway meant to activate the KinB sensor kinase.
Research on enemy images: Present status and future prospects.

This paper comments on the approach and findings of the preceding papers on the psychology of enemy images, and presents numerous suggestions about needed and feasible research. The research cited mostly used the approaches of attitude measurement and of social-cognitive theories, including attribution and social identity theories, and it employed various research methods, including survey, quasiexperimental, and experimental methods. The main empirical focus of these studies was recent U.S. attitudes toward the USSR, which were found to bias the attitude holders' information processing, mostly in predicted ways. Nevertheless, available evidence suggests that most of the American public do not have extremely stereotyped, diabolical enemy images of the Soviet Union, its people, or its leaders, and furthermore, that U.S. attitudes toward the USSR are softening rapidly under the impact of events of the last few years. Determinants of anti-Soviet attitudes are discussed, and hypotheses and speculations are presented about the motivations and sources of enemy images generally, how they may be changed, and their larger implications from the standpoint of cognitive and ego-developmental theory.
Really troubled girls: Gender differences in risky sexual behavior and its correlates in a sample of juvenile offenders

Abstract Despite numerous studies on the myriad of psychosocial factors that affect youthful offenders, research on gender differences with respect to risky sexual behavior are limited. Using data on juvenile offenders in a residential facility, we analyzed impact of gender on sexual behavior (N = 227). Girls reported higher likelihood of diagnosis with sexually transmitted diseases, and injecting drug use including heroin and cocaine than boys. Multivariate analysis indicated that number of sexual partners, childhood trauma, and services received from emergency shelter and psychiatric settings were associated with risky sexual behavior. Discouraging, abusive and dysfunctional home environment with little support from parents/caregivers, or teachers, priests/religious leaders appear to dispose youth to a life of risky sex, drugs and delinquency.
Synthesis and characterization of compound-curved graphite

Crystalline graphite with compound curvature has been produced by precipitation of carbon from metal carbide solutions. Nearly spherical graphitic shells hundreds of microns thick have been synthesized on top of millimeter-sized spherical transition metal cores in high vacuum. Raman spectroscopy, backscatter electron diffraction and X-ray analysis shows the shell to be composed of highly crystalline graphite. Upon cooling, these graphite-like shells routinely undergo a reversible transformation in which the initially smooth surface forms striking geometric facets bounded by ridges of triangular cross section. Evaporation rates and other factors suggest that this transformation represents a phase transition from graphite composed of randomly oriented layers of graphene to fully crystalline graphite having layers in registry.
MULTIPLE REALITIES AND THE EXPERIENCE OF DURATION

This article documents an exploration of the following question: How does transition from one to another subuniverse of social reality shape the individual's sense of duration? That question is add...
The tuberous sclerosis complex and its highly variable manifestations.

ABSTRACTPurpose: Tuberous sclerosis is an autosomal dominant neurocutaneous syndrome affecting multiple organ systems and demonstrating highly variable clinical manifestations. Mutations in 2 tumor suppressor genes, TSC1 and TSC2, are linked to the evolution of the hamartomatous lesions. We describe the incidence and epidemiology, variable clinical manifestations and their relationships to renal pathology, and the management of morbid sequelae.Materials and Methods: Using the search term tuberous sclerosis, we performed a MEDLINE search of the literature identifying 3,196 articles and selected those from urological, surgical, oncological, genetic and pediatric journals. Special focus was placed on the incidence and management of renal lesions and on different clinical manifestations and how they relate to renal tumors.Results: Due to improved identification of the variable phenotypic expression, the reported incidence has increased. TSC1 and TSC2 mutations are related to various phenotypic manifestations ...
An fMRI study of imitation: action representation and body schema

Recent neuropsychological investigations of apraxia have led to new hypotheses about the representational defects associated with imitation impairments in neurological patients. This fMRI experiment investigated the relation between imitation and the body schema in healthy subjects. Experimental conditions were derived from a factorial plan, and participants were asked to watch a human model performing bodily gestures and then to execute either an identical or a different action, with the same or different limbs. Brain areas activated when subjects imitated the model were traced to the representation of the action (main effect of performing an identical action regardless of limb), to the body schema (using the same limb regardless of action), or to both. The first set of analyses yielded a network associated with visual perception, indicating that action representation is primarily visuospatial not motor, while the second analysis highlighted regions involved in body schema including the inferior parietal cortex and the insula. It is suggested that imitation of simple body gestures requires both a visuospatial description of the observed model, sustained by visual perception areas in the right occipitotemporal and superior parietal cortices and a visuospatial description of one's own body, supported by the left inferior parietal lobule. These results favor a model of praxis proposing that imitation deficits in left inferior parietal lobe patients with apraxia reflect primarily an impairment of the body schema, while deficits of praxis in right parietal patients are limited to gestures demanding in terms of visuospatial analysis.
Total and available soil carbon fractions under the perennial grass Cynodon dactylon (L.) Pers and the bioenergy crop Arundo donax L.

Understanding and quantifying the impact of bioenergy crops on soil carbon (C) storage is an essential component of crop management. Our objectives were to (i) compare total (TC), organic (OC), and inorganic carbon (IC) storage under Cynodon dactylon (L.) Pers and the energy crop Arundo donax L. along the soil profile, and (ii) determine the effect of these crops on available soil C (measured as hot water extractable C, HC) as an indirect indicator of soil C changes. The study site was within the Rio Grande floodplain in Quemado, Texas covered by A. donax and C. dactylon. Soil samples were taken from five soil depths: 0–10, 10–20, 20–30, 30–40, and 40–50 cm at 125 locations in a 34.5 ha field; TC, IC, and HC were measured and OC was derived. In all four C pools, soils under A. donax had higher C content (volumetric C or Cv, kg m−2) than soils under C. dactylon, except for IC at the top two depths. Larger soil C storage under A. donax as compared to C. dactylon was consistent throughout the profile. The effect was most pronounced for volumetric HC content (HCv) with 43% higher amount under A. donax than C. dactylon at 0–10 cm depth. In areas, where A. donax is considered an invasive species, the available biomass can be used for bioenergy production and the higher soil carbon under A. donax can provide additional economic return in a C economy.
Dividend Signalling Equilibria: Quantitative Evidence From The Brussels Stock Exchange

The objective of this research is to document the market reaction to dividend changes on the Brussels Stock Exchange and to relate it to information releases by the firms. The results show important differences between Belgian investors' behavior and U.S. investors' behavior. On the Brussels Stock Exchange, when companies use dividends as the usual way to remunerate stockholders, the market reaction to unexpected dividend changes is weak and statistically insignificant. The market reaction to dividend initiations is also quite insignificant. However, when companies both release information regarding their activities (commercial, financial, or social information) and initiate dividends, the market reaction is comparable to what has been documented in previous U.S. studies.
The 2012 Leona Tyler Award Address Constructing Careers—Actors, Agents, and Authors

Thomas Kuhn (1996), the historian of science, referred to a paradigm as a pattern of conceptual models and dominant practices that characterize a particular historical period. The present article traces the evolution and compares three major paradigms for career intervention, namely the formist paradigm of modernity’s vocational guidance for the actor, the organismic paradigm of high modernity’s career education for the agent, and the contextual paradigm of post-modernity’s life designing for the author. Each of these paradigms has a distinct discourse that engages clients with a standard rhetoric and skill repertoire. Vocational guidance, from the objective perspective of individual differences, views clients as actors who may be characterized by scores on traits and who may be helped to match themselves to occupations that employ people whom they resemble. Career education, from the subjective perspective of individual development, views clients as agents who may be characterized by their degree of read...
LF receiver designs for impulsive noise

Radio receivers are typically designed under the assumption that a white Gaussian noise process is the main source of trouble. Impulsive noise is usually handled by clipping in an attempt to make the noise look Gaussian again. The author explores alternative receivers designed specifically to combat impulsive noise. Digitized noise waveforms recorded at two million samples per second are the primary test probes for receivers implemented in software. It is shown that, in an environment dominated by impulsive noise, wide filters in the receiver improve performance more than enough to make up for the added difficulties with adjacent channel interference. Blanking appears to be far more effective than clipping, with the added advantage of not spreading adjacent channels into each other as clipping does. A receiver with wide filters and noise blanking will perform much better than a highly selective receiver during storm conditions. >
Attenuation of Allergen-Induced Responses in CCR6−/− Mice Is Dependent upon Altered Pulmonary T Lymphocyte Activation

We have established a defect in CCR6 −/− mice in response to a cockroach allergen airway challenge characterized by decreased IL-5 production, reduced CD4 + T and B cells as well as decreased eosinophil accumulation. To determine the nature of the defect in CCR6 −/− mice T lymphocyte populations from allergen-sensitized wild-type mice were transferred into sensitized CCR6 −/− mice. The reconstituted response was characterized by an increase in IL-5 levels, eosinophil accumulation, and serum IgE levels in recipient CCR6 −/− mice. Analysis of lymphocytes from draining lymph nodes of CCR6 +/+ and CCR6 −/− sensitized or challenged mice demonstrated a significant decrease in IL-5 and IL-13 production in CCR6 −/− mice. In contrast, the systemic response in allergen-rechallenged spleen cells demonstrated no significant alteration in allergen-induced cytokine production. Transfer of isolated splenic T lymphocytes from sensitized CCR6 +/+ mice induced airway hyperresponsiveness in wild-type but not CCR6 −/− naive mice, suggesting that T cells alone were not sufficient to induce airway hyperresponsiveness in CCR6 −/− mice. Additional analysis demonstrated decreased CD11c + , CD11b + and CD11c, and B220 subsets of dendritic cells in the lungs of CCR6 −/− mice after allergen challenge. Using in vitro cell mixing studies with isolated pulmonary CD4 + T cells and CD11c + cells from CCR6 +/+ or CCR6 −/− mice, we demonstrate alterations in both CCR6 −/− T cells and CCR6 −/− pulmonary APCs to elicit IL-5 responses. Altogether, the defect in CCR6 −/− mice appears to be primarily due to an alteration in T cell activation, but also appears to include local pulmonary APC defects.
Aqueous Solvation Dynamics at the Anionic Surfactant Air/Water Interface†

Effect of the negatively charged carboxylate group of the stearic acid surfactant CH3(CH2)16COO- on the solvation at the surfactant air/water interface was investigated. A direct comparison is made...
An agent-based modeling system for travel demand simulation for hurricane evacuation

This paper presents an agent-based travel demand model system for hurricane evacuation simulation, which is capable of generating comprehensive household activity-travel plans. The system implements econometric and statistical models that represent travel and decision-making behavior throughout the evacuation process. The system considers six typical evacuation decisions: evacuate/stay, accommodation type choice, evacuation destination choice, mode choice, vehicle usage choice, and departure time choice. It explicitly captures the shadow evacuation population. In addition, the model system captures pre-evacuation preparation activities using an activity-based approach. A demonstration study that predicts activity-travel patterns using model parameters estimated for the Miami-Dade area for a hypothetical category-4 hurricane is discussed. The simulation results clearly indicate the model system produces a distribution of choice patterns that is consistent with sample observations and existing literature. The model system also identifies the proportion of the shadow evacuation population and their geographical extent. About 23% of the population outside the designated evacuation zone would evacuate. The shadow evacuation demand is mainly located within 5 km of the coastline. The output demand of the model system works with agent-based traffic simulation tools and conventional trip-based simulation tools.
Electron tunneling spectroscopy of a quantum antidot in the integer quantum Hall regime

Quantum antidot, a small potential hill introduced into a two-dimensional electron system, presents an attractive tool to study quantum mechanics of interacting electrons. Here, we present experiments on electron resonant tunneling via a quantum antidot on the integer $i=1$, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 quantum Hall plateaus. Several features are reported. First, as a function of magnetic field, we observe up to six quasiperiodic resonant tunneling peaks within the fundamental flux period: When flux $h∕e$ is added to the area of the antidot, there are $i$ peaks on the $i\text{th}$ integer plateau when $i$ spin-polarized Landau levels are occupied. Corresponding backgate voltage data show one peak per added charge $e$ on all integer plateaus. Second, we observe tunneling dips in four-terminal resistance (``forward scattering'') on the even $i=2$, 4, and 6 plateaus when the populations of both spins are nearly equal. We also report an internal structure observed within the $h∕e$ period: On the $i=3$ spin-split plateau, two of the three resonant tunneling peaks are higher and/or closer than the third. Puzzlingly, in this regime, when the backgate voltage is swept, the tunneling peaks are grouped in pairs. These results are attributed to the dominance of the electron-electron Coulomb interaction, effectively mixing the Landau level occupation, and to the self-consistent electrostatics of the antidot.
A Bicistronic Subgenomic mRNA Encodes both the ORF2 and ORF3 Proteins of Hepatitis E Virus

Hepatitis E virus replicons containing the neomycin resistance gene expressed from open reading frames (ORFs) 2 and 3 were transfected into Huh-7 cells, and stable cell lines containing functional replicons were selected by constant exposure to G418 sulfate. Northern blot analyses detected full-length replicon RNA and a single subgenomic RNA. This subgenomic RNA, which was capped, initiated at nucleotide 5122 downstream of the first two methionine codons in ORF3 and was bicistronic; two closely spaced methionine codons in different reading frames were used for the initiation of ORF3 and ORF2 translation.
A microstructural model of reentry arising from focal breakthrough at sites of source-load mismatch in a central region of slow conduction

Regions of cardiac tissue that have a combination of focal activity and poor, heterogeneous gap junction coupling are often considered to be arrhythmogenic; however, the relationship between the properties of the cardiac microstructure and patterns of abnormal propagation is not well understood. The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of microstructure on the initiation of reentry from focal stimulation inside a poorly coupled region embedded in more well-coupled tissue. Two-dimensional discrete computer models of ventricular monolayers (1 × 1 cm) were randomly generated to represent heterogeneity in the cardiac microstructure. A small, central poorly coupled patch (0.40 × 0.40 cm) was introduced to represent the site of focal activity. Simulated unipolar electrogram recordings were computed at various points in the tissue. As the gap conductance of the patch decreased, conduction slowed and became increasingly complex, marked by fractionated electrograms with reduced amplitude. Near the limit of conduction block, isolated breakthrough sites occurred at single cells along the patch boundary and were marked by long cell-to-cell delays and negative deflections on electrogram recordings. The strongest determinant of the site of wavefront breakthrough was the connectivity of the brick wall architecture, which enabled current flow through small regions of overlapping cells to drive propagation into the well-coupled zone. In conclusion, breakthroughs at the size scale of a single cell can occur at the boundary of source-load mismatch allowing focal activations from slow conducting regions to produce reentry. These breakthrough regions, identifiable by distinct asymmetric, reduced amplitude electrograms, are sensitive to tissue architecture and may be targets for ablation.
Constitutive over expression of serine/threonine protein phosphatase 5 (PP5) augments estrogen-dependent tumor growth in mice

Serine/threonine protein phosphatase 5 (PP5) appears to play an underappreciated role in the regulation of cellular proliferation. In estrogen-responsive cells, PP5 expression is stimulated by 17 β-estradiol, and in a variety of p53 wild-type tumor cells the suppression of PP5 expression with ISIS 15534 inhibits growth. To further explore the relationship between PP5 and the development of human cancer, here we tested the effect of elevated PP5 expression on tumor growth using a mouse xenograph model and a stable MCF-7 cell line in which the expression of wild-type PP5 was placed under the control of tetracycline-off regulated transactivator and operator plasmids. In the xenograph model a modest two fold increase in PP5 protein levels significantly enhanced the growth rate of estrogen-dependent tumors, suggesting PP5 plays a positive role in tumor development.
The Irony of Humanism: How China's Authoritarianism Works Through the Humanly Mundane

Abstract: “We are all human, no?” This is what I heard most often among those who had been detained, harassed, or interrogated by the secret police in China. In the accounts of people who we usually consider to be victims, a reversal of roles is commonplace: the police, instead of being described as perpetrators, instead play the role of victims. This article therefore asks: In what way might this imaginary reversal actually make sense? What are the concrete social conditions that have produced this strange inversion? This article begins by laying out two influential theories of the state, both of which are contrasted with more mainstream liberal-constitutional approaches: Foucault’s critique of state phobia and Schmitt’s conceptualization of the “total state.” This article argues that neither of these theories is adequate in addressing the questions at hand. The article then moves to a structuralist discussion of the “exchange” that happens between the police and the policed. By examining the exchange of words and manners and gifts and favors, this article shows how exchange as a structural relation has rendered “good” police who practice generosity instead of bullying “truly and concretely human,” and how the recipient of this generosity would be a “social outcast” (not a political dissident) if he or she refuses to “help.” This leads to the key questions of this essay: how can we conceptualize the relationship between the social and the political in contemporary China? And how can we re-situate the authoritarian rule of Chinese Communist Party in light of this relationship? Keywords: humanism, ideology, police, authoritarianism, politics, China
Does atrial fibrillation cause dementia

We use this quote as a cautionary note for many a reader that might view the title of the review “Atrial Fibrillation and Dementia” by Jacobs et al. [1] with skepticism. In fact, this review is a thorough discussion that makes a compelling case for the significance of the association between atrial fibrillation (AF) and dementia, the two diseases that may well be epidemics of the 21st century. The two conditions frequently co-exist [2]. While this can simply be attributed to the age group that is affected by these two diseases, the timeline of their respective developments might be a reason to suspect “cause and effect.” The latter information is better gleaned from studies that look at these two diseases separately. Thus, the average age of patients participating in the majority of AF studies is typically under 70 years, whereas the age of patients included in dementia studies is typically over 75 years [3–7]. A logical inference of the difference in the age profile between AF and dementia patients is that the former precedes the development of latter. This then begs the obvious question whether AF is involved in the development of dementia? This, however, is challenging to answer for several reasons, foremost being the diverse mechanisms underlying dementia. Dementia is broadly classified into Alzheimer's dementia (AD, most common), vascular dementia (VD), senile dementia (SD), and idiopathic dementia (ID). In the majority of studies, a clear association has been found between thrombo-embolic stroke and future development of VD, SD, and AD [2,4–6,8]. Even in the absence of classic stroke, patients with AD have been found to manifest white matter disease that likely resulted from previous micro-infarcts. Another hypothesis that is postulated in the development of AD is the “neuronal energy
A Realist View of Aging, Mortality, and Future Longevity

Differences in methodology and philosophy have led scientists analyzing the same mortality data to arrive at very different conclusions about the behavior of mortality trajectories, the nature of aging, and the future of human longevity. This note describes the authors’views on these issues, which taken together can be termed a “realist” position. In this view, life expectancy is unlikely to exceed an average of 85 years absent significant advances in the control of aging. We identify a number of myths that have been attached to our work: 1) Reaching an average life expectancy of 85 years is a pessimistic outlook for human longevity, 2) Species possess an intrinsic mortality schedule that cannot be modified by human intervention, 3) Realist scenarios of the future course of human longevity are based on notions of biological determinism, 4) Realists assert that there is an age beyond which there can be no survivors, 5) Hypothesized biological barriers to longer life spans have been scientifically studied and refuted, and 6) Realists claim that life expectancy at birth cannot exceed 85 years. In dispelling these myths, we hope to provide a more accurate representation of our school of biodemographic thought.
A Simulation Study of the Switching Times of 22- and 17-nm Gate-Length SOI nFETs on High Mobility Substrates and Si

The switching times of ultrathin body semiconductor-on-insulator n-channel field-effect transistors with 22- and 17-nm gate lengths are simulated, and the results obtained for four high mobility substrates (Ge, GaAs, InP, and In0.53Ga0.47As) are compared to Si. Both intrinsic and extrinsic device structures are simulated, and a detailed accounting of device behavior is given. The most important assumptions in this paper are as follows: 1) All devices meet a 270-nA / mum leakage specification at VDD = 1 V, including band-to-band tunneling, and 2) an ideal gate insulator is posited which obtains negligible gate leakage and surface scattering for all semiconductors. From the extrinsic device results, it is found that, at a 22-nm gate length, switching times for the semiconductors considered vary, at most, by a factor of two, while at 17 nm, they vary by, at most, a factor of 2.5; in both cases, In0.53Ga0.47As provides the best switching time, and Si, the worst switching time.
FM-QoS: Real-time Communication using Self-synchronizing Schedules

FM-QoS employs a novel communication architecture based on network feedback to provide predictable communication performance (e.g. deterministic latencies and guaranteed bandwidths) for high speed cluster interconnects. Network feedback is combined with self-synchronizing communication schedules to achieve synchrony in the network interfaces (NIs). Based on this synchrony, the network can be scheduled to provide predictable performance without special network QoS hardware. We describe the key element of the FM-QoS approach, feedback-based synchronization (FBS), which exploits network feedback to synchronize senders. We use Petri nets to characterize the set of self-synchronizing communication schedules for which FBS is effective and to describe the resulting synchronization overhead as a function of the clock drift across the network nodes. Analytic modeling suggests that for clocks of quality 300 ppm (such as found in the Myrinet NI), a synchronization overhead less than 1% of the total communication traffic is achievable -- significantly better than previous software-based schemes and comparable to hardware-intensive approaches such as virtual circuits (e.g. ATM). We have built a prototype of FBS for Myricom s Myrinet network (a 1.28 Gbps cluster network) which demonstrates the viability of the approach by sharing network resources with predictable performance. The prototype, which implements the local node schedule in software, achieves predictable latencies of 23 µs for a single-switch, 8-node network and 2 KB packets. In comparison, the best-effort scheme achieves 104 µs for the same network without FBS. While this ratio of over four to one already demonstrates the viability of the approach, it includes nearly 10 µs of overhead due to the software implementation. For hardware implementations of local node scheduling, and for networks with cascaded switches, these ratios should be much larger factors.
Industrial Lift Truck Reliability

Material handling systems are designed to be repairable. There may be improvement in reliability early in equipment life and/or deterioration as the system is operated. Reliability is also a function of explanatory variables, such as operating environment or maintenance procedures. This chapter presents modeling approaches for reliability of repairable equipment including improvement or deterioration trends and/or explanatory variables. A case study is discussed for industrial lift trucks including modeling of reliability as stochastic processes. Time-to-first-failure for the lift trucks is shown to be distributed exponential with operational environment being an explanatory variable forming proportional hazards.
Editorial Commentary: Zoster Vaccine in Immunocompromised Patients: Time to Reconsider Current Recommendations

Reduced cell-mediated immunity (CMI) to varicella zoster virus (VZV) is associated with an increase in the risk and severity of herpes zoster (HZ) and its debilitating complications, including postherpetic neuralgia (PHN). This is true whether the reduction in VZV CMI is due to the age-related decline in CMI observed in normal older adults, or to immunosuppression caused by certain diseases or their treatments. Zoster vaccines containing the Oka strain of live attenuated VZV have proven to be safe and effective inolderadults, but currentrecommendations preclude their use in immunocompromised persons. In this issue of Clinical Infectious Diseases, Tseng et al [1] report that zoster vaccine, administered to adults ≥60 years of age, continued to protect against HZ when recipients subsequently underwent cancer chemotherapy. These findings underline the importance of administering zoster vaccine to immunocompetent older adults as currently recommended [2], and doing so as early as possible. In addition, the results of these and similar studies suggest that it may be time to review the current policy of excluding all immunocompromised persons from receiving zoster vaccine. The study by Tseng et al [1] was conducted among members of Kaiser Permanente Southern California (KPSC), an integrated healthcare system that pro
Neurophysiologic Aspects of Personality Disorders

ABSTRACT.Personality disorders are a varied group of psychiatric illnesses characterized by labile mood and maladaptive behavior. This paper reviews the evidence for biologic factors in personality disorders. Although these patients have been studied inconclusively with EEG, recent developments in electroneurodiagnostic technology may provide more answers. Changes in quantitative EEG, event related potentials, and sleep patterns are all reported in personality disorders, and suggest an organic basis for these illnesses.
Checklist of Standards Applicable to the Preservation of Archives and Manuscripts

Standards have become increasingly important as use of complex technologies influences all phases of archival work. The Society of American Archivists Task Force on Archival Standards has identified more than 150 standards related in some way to archival preservation. The checklist presents the standards (together with information about availability and cost), describes the organizations that developed them, and calls for increased archival participation in the standards-development process.
Intelligent routers

The authors describe a mechanism known as intelligent routers that provides a means to implement distributed applications in a heterogeneous environment. A router is a process that may explicitly request to migrate to another machine so it can avail itself of that machine's capabilities. The router environment supports the migration despite differences in the computer hardware, operating systems, and communication networks in the target set of computers. Three main goals are described for intelligent router systems: that the routers be self-directing; that the systems accommodate heterogeneity; and that the systems be robust. A description of the architecture of an intelligent router system is presented. Also presented is an implementation of a particular intelligent router system. This prototype supports simultaneous execution of multiple routers on a variety of hardware and operating systems; however, it is not yet robust. Finally, worm programs, Knos, and routers are compared and their differences are explored. >
STM analysis of copper thin films using hyperthermal copper ions

STM analysis of thin copper films grown on Cu(111) and Cu(100) at room temperature using hyperthermal ions reveals several morphological features not present in thermally grown films. Hyperthermal deposition of thin films has become a popular industrial technique due to observed decreases in film roughness and stress with increased grain sizes, but the link between incidence energy and these properties is poorly understood. Using a sophisticated molecular dynamics (MD) simulation, morphologies observed in experimentally grown films are correlated with the activation of hyperthermal atomistic mechanisms in the MD. Previous work has provided strong evidence for activation of adatom-vacancy pair production near 20 eV on Cu(111). Evidence will be presented here for the activation of sputter erosion near 40 eV. A proposal for quantifying the effect of energy on nucleation density by modifying the flux term in mean field nucleation theory will be presented. Other processes which directly contribute to smooth growth, such as atomic insertion near 10eV, have been proposed but are more difficult to correlate with the data due to their subtle morphological signatures.
Solid-State Phase Transformation as a Route for the Simultaneous Synthesis and Welding of Single-Crystalline Mg2Si Nanowires

A simple, but elegant, strategy for the simultaneous synthesis and welding of single-crystalline Mg2Si nanowires is presented. For the synthesis of Mg2Si nanowires, the solid-state phase transformation of presynthesized silicon nanowires was employed. For assembling the Mg2Si nanowires via the formation of Mg2Si bridges, the phase transformation of silica nanoparticle-decorated silicon nanowires was employed. To circumvent the formation of multiple Mg2Si nuclei and hence the phase transformation of single-crystalline Mg2Si nanowires into polycrystalline Mg2Si nanowires, solid-state reaction of silicon nanowire tips with magnesium foils at elevated temperatures of 350–400 °C was employed. In this procedure, the supersaturation of the sharp tips of the silicon nanowires with magnesium led to the formation of only one Mg2Si nucleus per nanowire. Growth of these lone nuclei led to the formation of single-crystalline Mg2Si nanowires. Extension of this procedure for the phase transformation of silica nanopartic...
Biophysical and Biochemical Studies on the Nature of Resistance of Pineapples to the Oriental Fruit Fly

The addition of 10 and 20% macerated pineapple or autoclaved vermiculite to the standard carrot-based rearing medium significantly increased recovery of pupae of Dacus dorsalis Hendel. Eggs hatched equally well in different artificial media with p H varying from 3.65 to 8.20. Pupal recoveries from whole fruits varied seasonally as well as between varieties and within varieties depending on fruit translucence or specific gravity. Significant negative correlations between pupal recovery and fruit translucence; pupal recovery and specific gravity were obtained in whole pineapple fruits. Pupal recoveries increased significantly as the number of gravid females was increased. No significant difference was obtained in induced oviposition studies with 100 gravid females with varying exposure time (6-48 hours). The highest percentage of egg hatch was obtained in pineapple with the shell-laid eggs. Much lower egg hatch was obtained in flesh-laid and surface-laid eggs.