cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
A Morse-Theory Based Method for Segmentation of Triangulated Freeform Surfaces

This paper presents a new algorithm for segmentation of triangulated freeform surfaces using geometric quantities and Morse theory. The method consists of two steps: initial segmentation and refinement. First, the differential geometry quantities are estimated on triangular meshes, with which the meshes are classified into different surface types. The initial segmentation is obtained by grouping the topologically adjacent meshes with the same surface types based on region growing. The critical points of triangular meshes are then extracted with Morse theory and utilized to further determine the boundaries of initial segments. Finally, the region growing process starting from each critical point is performed to achieve a refined segmentation. The experimental results on several 3D models demonstrate the effectiveness and usefulness of this segmentation method.
Estrogen and testosterone therapies in multiple sclerosis.

Abstract It has been known for decades that females are more susceptible than men to inflammatory autoimmune diseases, including multiple sclerosis (MS), rheumatoid arthritis, and psoriasis. In addition, female patients with these diseases experience clinical improvements during pregnancy with a temporary “rebound” exacerbation postpartum. These clinical observations indicate an effect of sex hormones on disease and suggest the potential use of the male hormone testosterone and the pregnancy hormone estriol, respectively, for the treatment of MS. A growing number of studies using the MS animal model experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) support a therapeutic effect of these hormones. Both testosterone and estriol have been found to induce anti-inflammatory as well as neuroprotective effects. Findings from two recent pilot studies of transdermal testosterone in male MS patients and oral estriol in female MS patients are encouraging. In this paper, we review the preclinical and clinical evidence for sex hormone treatments in MS and discuss potential mechanisms of action.
A general boundary condition for liquid flow at solid surfaces

Modelling fluid flows past a surface is a general problem in science and engineering, and requires some assumption about the nature of the fluid motion (the boundary condition) at the solid interface. One of the simplest boundary conditions is the no-slip condition1,2, which dictates that a liquid element adjacent to the surface assumes the velocity of the surface. Although this condition has been remarkably successful in reproducing the characteristics of many types of flow, there exist situations in which it leads to singular or unrealistic behaviour—for example, the spreading of a liquid on a solid substrate3,4,5,6,7,8, corner flow9,10 and the extrusion of polymer melts from a capillary tube11,12,13. Numerous boundary conditions that allow for finite slip at the solid interface have been used to rectify these difficulties4,5,11,13,14. But these phenomenological models fail to provide a universal picture of the momentum transport that occurs at liquid/solid interfaces. Here we present results from molecular dynamics simulations of newtonian liquids under shear which indicate that there exists a general nonlinear relationship between the amount of slip and the local shear rate at a solid surface. The boundary condition is controlled by the extent to which the liquid ‘feels’ corrugations in the surface energy of the solid (owing in the present case to the atomic close-packing). Our generalized boundary condition allows us to relate the degree of slip to the underlying static properties and dynamic interactions of the walls and the fluid.
Development of an Objective Measure of Rhythmic Motor Response

Abstract This study was undertaken to develop a test that would objectively measure the rhythmic element in dance, and one that could be used by teachers of dance. The resulting Test of Rhythmic Motor Response was administered to 92 college women enrolled in dance classes. Test reliability coefficients ranged from .90 to .91; validity coefficients with teachers' ratings, .49 to .51. An investigation of the relationship between this test and the rhythm imagery section of the Gordon Measures of Musical Perception yielded correlation coefficients ranging from .52 to .69. These findings are all statistically significant at the .01 level. The Test of Rhythmic Motor Response appears to have a substantial relationship with the rhythmic element in dance.
Can Tort Reform and Federalism Coexist

Critics of federal tort reform have usually come from the political left and its allies among the trial lawyers, who favor a state-based system that can be exploited to redistribute income from deep-pocketed corporations to deserving individuals. We offer a totally different criticism - constitutional in origin - that embraces the need for reform but reaffirms this principle: The existence of a problem, however serious, does not justify federal remedies outside the scope of Congress's enumerated powers. We begin with the Commerce Clause but find that interstate trade does not, by itself, justify federalizing tort law. On the basis of examples involving fast food, guns, and medical malpractice, we argue that substantive federal reforms are neither necessary nor proper. If states persist in imposing unjust rules on out-of-state defendants, federal procedural remedies are available. Next, we consider the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment and dissect the Supreme Court's recent State Farm decision covering punitive damages. We also discuss the controversies over judicial activism and substantive due process. Despite the limitations of substantive due process, we conclude that the Court was correct to rein in punitive awards. Most important, we recommend reforms that are compatible with the tenets of federalism. Some reforms can be implemented at the state level - including solutions to excessive punitive awards, curbs on joint and several liability, payment of attorneys' fees when government is the losing party in a civil lawsuit, the prohibition of contingency fee contracts between government and private lawyers, and restraints on litigation by government to recover expenditures made on behalf of private parties. At the federal level, we endorse two procedural reforms. The first involves state long-arm jurisdiction, which determines whether an out-of-state entity can be sued in a local court. Currently, out-of-state businesses find it exceedingly difficult to avoid oppressive state tort laws. A second federal reform concerns choice-of-law rules that determine which state's laws control a multistate suit. A federal choice-of-law rule would prevent states from exporting discriminatory tort regimes. Taken together, state substantive reforms and federal procedural reforms can curtail abuses while respecting time-honored notions of dual-sovereignty federalism.
Throughput analysis of input queueing ATM switches under imbalanced traffic loading

Throughput performance of an N/spl times/N ATM (for B-ISDN) switch with input queueing is examined. Two architectures are considered: shared input memory and dedicated input memory. Input traffic streams are mutually statistically independent, with identical output port distributions. Arriving cells are stored in the input memory. At any time slot, N cells residing in the memory are considered for transfer into the output queues. However, only cells with distinct output addresses can be transferred into the output queue. We define q/sub 0/ as a probability that 0 cells arrive at the input port during a slot. The probability that a cell is destined to an output port i is denoted as P/sub i/. Let us define P/sub M/=max(P/sub i/, i=1, ..., N). We show that the maximum normalized throughput per port is upper bounded by (1-q/sub 0/)/(NP/sub M/). The carried throughput levels per output ports are also evaluated. This new bound is shown to be very tight for P/sub M//spl ges/2/N. We also show, that for input queueing shared memory switch configurations, the same result holds also for a more general traffic loading model, under which traffic streams feeding different input ports may be correlated and governed by different output port distributions.
Cytoplasmic Structures Associated with an Arbovirus Infection: Loci of Viral Ribonucleic Acid Synthesis

Unique cytoplasmic structures, herein designated as type I cytopathic vacuoles (CPV-I), are found in chick embryo cells early in the logarithmic phase of Semliki Forest virus replication. High resolution autoradiography demonstrated that the CPV-I are loci of (3)H-uridine incorporation. This evidence correlates well with previous biochemical data and electron microscopy of the subcellular fractions active in Semliki Forest virus ribonucleic acid synthesis. Origin of the CPV-I within host cell cytoplasm is confirmed by the distribution of electron-dense tracer particles and sequential ultrastructural observations.
Investigating fungal outbreaks in the 21st century.

Publicattention hasbeendrawn torecent high-profile outbreaksofmycotic diseases,such asthoseoffungalmeningitis and otherinfectionslinkedtocontaminated steroids [1]andanout-breakofnecrotizing cutaneousmucormycosis linkedtoatornado [2].However,fungalout-breaksaremorecommon thanmostpeopleappreciate, and reports ofoutbreakscaused byunusual fungalpathogens areincreasing. TheMycoticDiseases BranchattheCentersforDis-easeControl and Prevention (CDC) investigates 3–6fungaloutbreaksperyear,manyofwhicharecausedbyrare fungiwith limiteddiagnostic and treatmentoptions. Thisisaconsiderableincrease fromthe 1990s,whenthe Branchinvestigated1–2hospital-based outbreaksperyear,generally caused byyeastandtracedtoasinglesource. Althoughthe exactreasons forthisin-creaseareunknown,theincreasednumberofpatients with impaired immune system mayhavecontributedtothistrend.Themajorityoffungaloutbreakscanbeattributedtoeitherenvironmentalexposureoracontaminatedproduct(Table1).Forexample,tworecentoutbreakswerelinkedtocontaminat-edmedications.In2012,twomedicationsproducedbyasinglecompoundingpharmacyinFlor-idawerecontaminatedwithFusariumsp.andBipolarissp.,respectively,shippedto15states,andinjectedintotheeyesofpatientsundergoingvitrectomies.Asaresult,47patientsdevelopedendophthalmitis,andmostlostvision[3].Inthe2012fungalmeningitisoutbreak,methylpred-nisoloneacetate(MPA)contaminatedwithExserohilumrostratumandseveralothermicroor-ganismswasshippedto23states,potentiallyexposingnearly14,000individualstothiscontaminatedmedication.Asaresult,752peopledevelopedmeningitis,arachnoiditis,orspinal/paraspinalabscesses,and64patientsdied,makingthisthedeadliestfungaloutbreaktodate[1].Environmentalexposureistheothercommoncauseoffungaloutbreaks[2,4].Forexample,arecentclusterofRhizopusdelemarinfectionsinachildren’shospitalinNewOrleanswaslinkedtocontaminatedlinens[4].Inthisoutbreak,fivechildrendiedfromcutaneousmucor-mycosis,andR.delemarwasisolatedfromlinens,linenshelves,andbinsatthehospital[4].Inanotherexample,13peopledevelopednecrotizingcutaneousmucormycosiscausedbyApophy-somycestrapeziformisafterreceivingpuncturewoundscausedbyflyingdebrisduringatornado[2].AlthoughA.trapeziformiswasnotrecoveredfromthelocalenvironment,wholegenomese-quencetyping(WGST)oftheisolatesshowedthatatleastthreedifferentstrainswereinvolved,suggestingenvironmentalexposure[2,5].Inaddition,manyotheroutbreaksandclusterscausedbydimorphicandotherfungalpathogenshavebeenlinkedtoenvironmentalexposure[6–8].
Reconciling Originalism and the History of the Public Use Clause

The history of the Fifth Amendment’s Takings Clause is virtually nonexistent. For at least the last century, the U.S. Supreme Court has interpreted its public use language broadly, allowing takings for the purposes of rectifying urban blight, facilitating land redistribution, and most recently, in Kelo v. City of New London, promoting economic benefit. In that case, Justice Thomas dissented vigorously, arguing that the Kelo Court had strayed from the original meaning of public use and urging it to return to requiring actual use by the public when property is condemned. In light of Justice Thomas’s argument that the Court had abandoned the original meaning of the Takings Clause, this Note considers whether historical evidence regarding original meaning provides a coherent limiting principle. Particularly in the area of property expropriations, the historical record does not indicate that the founding generation had a concrete conception of the extent to which the right should be protected. As a result, scholarship on both sides of the public use debate presents the best evidence supporting its particular thesis, but no piece satisfactorily incorporates all of the historical evidence. In light of these considerations, this Note concludes by proposing how to reconcile originalism as a method of Constitutional interpretation for a text with an essentially unattainable original meaning and over a hundred years of case law divorced from an originalist analysis.
Reduction in upper-extremity tone after lumbar selective dorsal rhizotomy in children with spastic cerebral palsy

Object Randomized clinical trials have established that lumbar selective dorsal rhizotomy (SDR) reduces lower-extremity tone and improves functional outcome in children with spastic cerebral palsy. Significant data exist to support a secondary effect on upper-extremity function in patients with upper-extremity spasticity. The effects of SDR on upper-extremity tone, however, are not well characterized. In this report, the authors sought to assess changes in upper-extremity tone in individual muscle groups after SDR and tried to determine if these changes could be predicted preoperatively. Methods The authors retrospectively reviewed 42 children who underwent SDR at Columbia University Medical Center/Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital of NewYork-Presbyterian between 2005 and 2011. Twenty-five had upper-extremity spasticity. All underwent pre- and postoperative examination for measuring tone (Modified Ashworth Scale) and assessing functional outcome. Follow-up examinations with therapists were performed at l...
Recognition of protein synthesis initiation signals on bacteriophage ribonucleic acid by mammalian ribosomes.

Previous work has shown that bacteriophage Qβ RNA is translated by cell-free extracts of Krebs II mouse ascites cells. The major product of the reaction is the phage coat protein (M orrison , T. G. & L odish , H. F. (1973) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U. S. A. 70, 315–319; A viv , H., B oime , I., L oyd , B. & L eder , P. (1972) Science 178, 1293–1295). Here we show that ascites cell extracts directed by Qβ RNA also synthesize Qβ replicase and, in addition, a polypeptide which results from initiation of protein synthesis in the interior of the replicase gene. This polypeptide is made in amounts equivalent to that of the replicase. Extracts of ascites cells directed by bacteriophage f2 RNA synthesize the phage coat and replicase, but the major products of the reaction do not co-migrate with authentic f2 protein. These major products are also made in reactions directed by f2 RNA which contain nonsense mutations in any of the three f2 genes. f2 RNA directs incorporation of initiator formyl[35S]methionine into authentic chymotryptic and tryptic peptides of the f2 coat and replicase, but formyl-[35S]methionine is also incorporated into several initiator sequences not found in authentic f2 proteins. These results indicate that ascites ribosomes initiate protein synthesis at both authentic initiation regions and at spurious regions. These incorrect initiations on bacteriophage RNAs by mammalian ribosomes are in marked contrast to the correct initiation by mammalian ribosomes on mammalian viral and cellular RNAs in cell-free systems.
Fast forwarding: the evolution of neurosurgery: The 2005 presidential address

Despite the major social and economic reorganization of medical practice that has taken place during the past 40 years, neurosurgery-the most fascinating specialty in all of clinical medicine-has grown and prospered. Today, this specialty is poised for an era of spectacular advancement and improvement in care; however, significant problems with the potential to retard this growth face neurosurgery. Among these problems is the medical liability situation, which has the potential to destabilize neurosurgical practices and the current health care delivery system. Other issues facing neurosurgery include the potential for loss of the unique nature of the specialty through a conversion to shift-worker surgeons and increasing reliance on profit-seeking institutions for financial stability and liability protection. Lifestyle choices are of growing importance and currently discourage women from entering the field. With a growing knowledge base, there is the recognition that it may not be possible for most individuals to master all aspects of the specialty. There is continued confusion about manpower needs. In addition, some neurosurgeons are choosing to practice in ways that fail to meet the neurosurgeon's obligations to society. There is a growing number of neurosurgeons who dislike providing trauma coverage and there is the potential for some neurosurgeons to give up intracranial neurosurgery. The author believes that it is not competition that will improve the delivery of neurosurgical care and allow for continued growth, but cooperation, and that it will be possible to alleviate many of our problems through increased regionalization of neurosurgical care delivery. This proposal has the potential to promote the formation of neurosurgical teams, ameliorate the problem of physician fatigue, allow greater development of subspecialty skills, and ease the burden of trauma call. It should allow satisfactory solutions to lifestyle considerations and encourage more women to enter the field of neurosurgery. Such a transformation would encourage advances in care to be brought rapidly into the clinical setting and allow neurosurgery to be practiced at the very highest level.
Using projection aggregations to support scalability in distributed simulation

Distributed interactive simulation systems are growing to include well over 100,000 dynamic entities for applications such as multiplayer video games, military and industrial training, and collaborative engineering. In these applications, each host receives updates (such as position and orientation) from remote entities, models and renders the scene, and performs other tasks such as collision detection. The number of entities places a heavy burden on both the networking resources and computational resources available to the application. To address these limitations, some systems have aggregated information about groups of simulation entities according to their organizational structure or their location within the virtual world. However traditional aggregation techniques are inadequate because remote hosts need to access entities based on both their organization and their virtual world position. This paper describes projection aggregations, a technique for grouping entities by both their organization and location. Remote hosts use projections to control which entities are represented locally and at what level-of-detail. We describe how projection aggregations are implemented in a networked environment and demonstrate how they reduce network bandwidth and computational requirements. Finally, we argue that projection aggregations represent a general-purpose framework for representing all simulation entities, thereby supporting evolution of entity models.
BASOPHIL DEGRANULATION TESTS IN ATOPIC ALLERGIC STATES: A PILOT STUDY OF RAGWEED POLLEN SENSITIVE PATIENTS.

Abstract Of 22 patients with clinically active hay fever and positive skin tests to ragweed pollen extract, 27 per cent gave positive basophil tests with the use of the same extract. One half of these positive test reactors had received hyposensitization therapy One of 12 nonallergic controls gave a positive basophil test with the same extract. The basophil test, as performed by the methods described, does not lend itself to practical application in the detection of the ragweed-sensitive patient.
Trends and patterns of playground injuries in United States children and adolescents.

Objective.— To determine the prevalence, trends, and severity of injuries attributable to playground falls relative to other common unintentional mechanisms that resulted in an emergency department (ED) visit in the United States. Design and Setting.— Data from the emergency subset of the National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey collected from 1992 to 1997 for children Methods.— Injury rates and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were estimated and injury severity scores were computed. Results.— There were 920 551 (95% CI: 540 803 to 1 300 299) ED visits over the 6-year study period by children and adolescents that were attributable to falls from playground equipment. The annual incidence of visits for playground injuries did not significantly decrease over the course of the study (187 000 to 98 000, P = .053). Injury visits for playground falls were twice as prevalent as pedestrian mechanisms, but they were less prevalent than visits for motor vehicle– and bicycle-related injuries. A larger proportion of playground falls resulted in “moderate-to-severe” injury than did bicycle or motor vehicle injuries. Children aged 5 to 9 years had the highest number of playground falls ( P = .0014). Playground falls were most likely to occur at school compared to home, public, and other locations ( P = .0016). Conclusions.— Playground injury emergency visits have not significantly declined and remain a common unintentional mechanism of injury. Injury visits for playground falls were proportionally more severe than injury visits attributable to other common unintentional mechanisms. Interventions targeting schools and 5- to 9-year-old children may have the greatest impact in reducing emergency visits for playground injuries.
Between-arm comparisons in randomized Phase II trials.

In a Phase II trial, we may randomize patients to multiple arms of experimental therapies and evaluate their efficacy to determine if any of them is worthy of a large scale Phase III trial. Usually...
The Psychology of Investments: An Overview of Emerging Insights

The author argues that interest in the psychology of investments has begun to intensify, even though associated issues are timeless. He suggests that the psychology of investments can be said to provide a rubric under which the apparently irrational behavior of both lay and professional investors are understood. He identifies a handful of trends creating urgency around the topic and briefly reviews them. Then, the authors offer three areas the investment community needs to monitor in the next several years for important insights about the psychology of investments: behavioral finance, marketing and sale of investments, and “lessons from the consulting room.”
Use of a recursive mixed-integer programming model to detect an optimal integration sequence for the mexican petrochemical industry

Abstract Developing countries are typically dependent on imports to meet their domestic demand for petrochemicals. Long-range as well as short-range development studies are needed to provide a proper integration sequence for the industry. We present a recursive mixed-integer programming model of the petrochemical industry. The model provides the sequence of short steps needed to achieve a specified long-range development plan. An application of the model to detect an optimal integration sequence for the Mexican petrochemical industry is presented. Scope —The integration of economic sectors such as the petrochemical industry is of major importance for developing countries. The problem involves the proper substitution of imports and an orderly growth of the industry. An investment planning model would assist the decision-maker to analyze the impact of alternate development policies. Several factors influence an integration program, 2 of those being the price structure of domestic feedstocks and the expected demand levels for petrochemicals. In a previous paper we have shown how different price structures for basic feedstocks promote different long-range development plans for the Mexican petrochemical industry, [1]. An equally important problem is that of detecting the strategic addition of production capacity to the existing industry in order to reach that target structure. In this work we use a recursive mixed-integer programming model to detect an optimum integration sequence for the Mexican petrochemical industry. Through a sequence of short planning steps, the model provides the yearly expansions necessary to achieve a given long-range development plan. Since the model takes into account economies of scale, an expansion is selected only when proper demand levels for the chemical products are reached. Conclusions and Significance —A recursive mixed-integer programming model for the petrochemical industry has been presented. The model is better suited for applications for developing countries. Driven by a specified price structure of primary feedstocks and forecasted demand levels for petrochemicals for each year of the development period, the model provides an optimum integration program for the industry. The results of the model also provide the basis for a further economic analysis of the resulting integration plan for the chemical industry. The decision-maker would then analyze the impact of a given development policy taking into account factors such as the reduction of imports, the potential export capability, the investment requirements, and the yearly cost of subsidies that would be required to meet that development program.
Effect on Heifer Feeding Preference of Adding Flavor or Pelleting a Dairy Meal

Abstract Operant conditioning procedures were used to evaluate animal preferences among commercial dairy meals and pellets (crumbles) with and without added flavoring agent Firanor-36, and each of these feeds was compared with barley. Five nulliparous Friesian or Friesian: Jersey cross yearling heifers were experimental subjects. Concurrent, variable-interval 90-s schedules allowed heifer access to each of the paired feeds once every 90s average. Daily sessions were for 20min, and an average feed comparison trial was 19 days. Preference ranking of feeds based on response proportions (left plate: total) was barley>plain crumbles>flavored crumbles>plain meal>flavored meal. Pellets were preferred over ground meal. Little preference was evident between barley and pelleted meals.
Exercise Performance of Polycythemic Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Patients: Effect of Phlebotomies

The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of phlebotomy on the exercise tolerance and right and left ventricular ejection fractions of polycythemic patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Ten patients with COPD (mean FEV 1 = 1.32±0.55 L) and polycythemia (mean Hct = 62±3 percent) were studied before and after their hematocrits had been reduced to approximately 50 percent. Post-phlebotomy the maximal oxygen consumption increased from 1.09±0.34 L/min to 1.26±0.43 L/min (p
Heterogeneity of leukotriene receptions in guinea-pig trachea

The selective leukotriene (LT) antagonist FPL 55712 antagonized the contractile activity of synthetic LTD4 and E4 on guinea-pig trachea. Schild analysis of the antagonism provided evidence for two distinct receptors for LTD4: one with significantly higher affinity for FPL 55712 than the other. LTE4 appears to interact preferentially with the high affinity receptor.
Contrasting role of antimony and bismuth dopants on the thermoelectric performance of lead selenide

For power generation through waste-heat recovery to become competitive, the conversion efficiency of tellurium-free materials needs to be increased. Here, the authors show the effect of dopant-induced nanostructuring on the thermoelectric properties of the promising lead selenide.
Effects of a juvenile hormone analog, pyriproxyfen, on Thrips tabaci (Thysanoptera: Thripidae).

Effects of a juvenile hormone analog, pyriproxyfen, on various developmental stadia of the onion thrips, Thrips tabaci Lindeman, were determined on cabbage leaves in the laboratory. Pyriproxyfen was applied at 0.064 or 0.128 g AI liter−1 on leaves (residual contact–ingestion), thrips (direct contact) and leaf–thrips (residue contact–ingestion–direct contact). Pyriproxyfen did not have any significant lethal effects on thrips pupae in any treatment. Lethal effects on thrips larvae varied depending on application method and dosage. In the leaf and the leaf–thrips treatments, few larvae and pre-pupae molted to the next stage, and none developed to adults. In contrast, in the thrips-only treatment, pyriproxyfen did not show any significant lethal effects. The developmental times of larvae and pre-pupae were prolonged when larvae were treated with pyriproxyfen, and those of pre-pupae and pupae were shortened when pre-pupae and pupae were treated. The longevity and survival rates of thrips adults were generally shorter when they contacted and ingested pyriproxyfen-treated leaves than those in water control. Significantly fewer progeny (0.22–1.15 larvae per female) were produced by females that had fed on and been in contact with the pyriproxyfen-treated leaves than by those in the water control (11.94 larvae per female). However, the number of progeny produced by the thrips females increased significantly (3.32–7.28 larvae per female) when the females were transferred to untreated leaves after feeding on treated leaves for 5 days; the daily larval hatching pattern was similar to those in water control, indicating that female adults were able to produce viable eggs when untreated food was offered. Copyright © 2003 Society of Chemical Industry
Utilization of a mini-mu transposon to construct defined mutants in Streptococcus mutans.

Summary The gtfB gene coding for glucosyltransferase-l (GTF-I) activity previously isolated from Streptococcus mutans GS–5 was insertionally inactivated with the newly constructed transposon MudE in an Escherichia coli background, insertion of MudE into various regions of the gtfB gene led to inactivation of GTF-I activity. The altered gene was introduced back into S. mutans GS–5 by transformation and produced mutants defective in insoluble glucan synthesis as well as the ability to colonize smooth surfaces in the presence of sucrose. Therefore, the MudE transposon can be utilized to produce specific mutants in oral streptococci as well as in other transformable Gram-positive bacteria expressing an erythromycin-resistance marker.
Substrate specificity of duckling hepatic and renal D-amino acid oxidase.

The substrate specificity of duckling hepatic and renal D-amino acid oxidase (DAAO; D-amino acid: O2 oxidoreductase [deaminating], E.C. 1.4.3.3) was determined using a method based on the combination of coupled enzyme reactions and a colorimetric procedure. When activities were averaged across tissues, D-proline was the most reactive substrate, followed by (in order) D-phenylalanine, D-alanine, D-methionine, D-leucine, D-isoleucine, D-valine, D-tryptophan, D-arginine, and D-lysine. Compared with D-alanine, duckling DAAO had minimal or no reactivity with D-asparagine, D-glutamine, D-histidine, D-threonine, D-cysteine, glycine, or D-serine. These results were in general agreement with data from other vertebrate species.
Plain Film Recognition of Pulmonary Agenesis in the Adult

The diagnosis of agenesis of one lung is suggested when the plain chest roentgenograms of an adult show marked compensatory increase in volume of one lung without signs of hyperaeration. Definitive diagnosis can then be established with a minimum of further procedures and the patient promptly reassured.
Identification of nuclear power plant states using the polynomial discriminant method

When a complex plant is operating, the output of the plant sensors form a pattern of readings that represent the state of the plant. When disturbances occur, the sensor outputs form patterns that represent different states of the plant, depending on the nature of the disturbances. For safety reasons, it is important to identify changes in the state of operation at the earliest possible time. In this study, we have applied a neural network technique to data from a commercial nuclear power plant to detect changes in operational states. The Polynomial Discriminant Method, PDM, was used to identify operational states of a pressurized water reactor nuclear plant. The data consisted of temperature, pressure, power level, and coolant flow readings collected in one of the loops of the plant. The network was trained to discriminate among data collected during normal, steady-state, operating conditions; data collected during start-up; and transient data collected during a shut-down. The network was able to classify correctly 89 % of the cases in which it was tested. The algorithm, although intensively computational during training, exhibits rapid matching and great interpolating capabilities during recall.
Price discrimination and free-entry markets: the case of gasoline

Abstract S. Borenstein has demonstrated the compatibility of monopolistic competition and price discrimination. This paper applies this model to an industry that is often cited as the epitome of monopolistic competition, namely retail gasoline. It derives a hypothesis regarding the price spread between unleaded and leaded gasoline from a monopolistic competition model and tests that hypothesis. The empirical estimates are consistent with the model's predictions.
FDTD analysis of plane-wave diffraction from microwave devices on an infinite dielectric slab

A 2-D (two-dimensional) Huygens surface is developed for the finite difference time domain (FDTD) algorithm, allowing the investigation of pulsed plane-wave scattering from arbitrary 2-D structures placed on or in an infinite dielectric slab. Example results are presented for scattering from a perfectly conducting strip on an infinite dielectric slab, and the results are compared with data computed via the method of moments. Additionally, the diffraction from a finite, saw-tooth dielectric grating on an infinite dielectric slab is investigated.
The use of cognitive methodology to identify, investigate and instruct learning‐disabled gifted students

This article reports research in progress. Summary results for the research investigation mentioned are not available at this time. For more information on the results, or other questions concerning the study, you are invited to write the author c/o Bruce Shore, Faculty of Education, McGill University, 3700 McTavish, Montreal, Quebec H3A 1Y2.
Signaling and regulation by a mammalian glucocorticoid receptor in Drosophila cells.

We demonstrate that the rat glucocorticoid receptor enhanced transcription in cultured Drosophila cells from Drosophila promoters linked to glucocorticoid response elements (GREs); promoters either containing or lacking a TATA box were rendered hormone inducible. Enhancement was dependent on the receptor, GREs, and the presence of an agonist ligand such as dexamethasone. The specific activities and relative efficacies of a series of potential ligands were generally similar in Drosophila and mammalian cells, except that dexamethasone mesylate, a potent antagonist in mammalian cells, was a strong agonist in Drosophila cells. A composite GRE, which mediates either positive or negative glucocorticoid regulation in animal cells depending on the presence and composition of the AP-1 transcription factor, conferred hormone-dependent enhancement, but not repression, in Drosophila cells. These results indicate that factors in addition to the receptor and GRE sequences participate as determinants of both signal tran...
Nematode Development: New Tricks for Old Genes

The evolution of novel features requires evolutionary change in gene function. New work in nematodes shows how conserved genes can nonetheless contribute to innovative traits.
Surface changes of human cells productively infected with human adenoviruses.

Abstract Productive infection of human embryonic kidney (HEK) cells with a group C adenovirus (type 2) resulted in surface changes that were detected as increased agglutination in the presence of concanavalin A (Con A). Agglutination increased as the infection progressed, with maximum response to Con A occurring by 48 hr. Treatment with cytosine arabinoside either for the entire infection or beginning 8 hr after infection prevented the surface alterations. In contrast to the agglutination produced by adenovirus 2, infection with a group A adenovirus (type 12) did not cause a changed response to Con A. However, infection with two cytocidal mutants derived from adenovirus 12 resulted in membrane changes detectable by Con A. These findings demonstrate that specific viral gene functions are required for the surface changes occurring during productive infection of adenoviruses. Since the cytocidal mutants are nononcogenic, the ability to produce surface changes during productive infection seems to be unrelated to the oncogenicity of the virus.
Analysis of a growing dynamic length scale in a glass-forming binary hard-sphere mixture.

We examine a length scale that characterizes the spatial extent of heterogeneous dynamics in a glass-forming binary hard-sphere mixture up to the mode-coupling volume fraction ${\ensuremath{\phi}}_{c}$. First, we characterize the system's dynamics. Then, we utilize a method [Phys. Rev. Lett. 105, 217801 (2010)] to extract and analyze the ensemble-independent dynamic susceptibility ${\ensuremath{\chi}}_{4}(t)$ and the dynamic correlation length $\ensuremath{\xi}(t)$ for a range of times between the $\ensuremath{\beta}$ and $\ensuremath{\alpha}$ relaxation times. We find that in this time range the dynamic correlation length follows a volume fraction-independent master curve $\ensuremath{\xi}(t)~\mathrm{ln}(t)$. For longer times, $\ensuremath{\xi}(t)$ departs from this master curve and remains constant up to the largest time at which we can determine the length accurately. In addition to the previously established correlation ${\ensuremath{\tau}}_{\ensuremath{\alpha}}~\mathrm{exp}[\ensuremath{\xi}({\ensuremath{\tau}}_{\ensuremath{\alpha}})]$ between the $\ensuremath{\alpha}$ relaxation time, ${\ensuremath{\tau}}_{\ensuremath{\alpha}}$, and the dynamic correlation length at this time, $\ensuremath{\xi}({\ensuremath{\tau}}_{\ensuremath{\alpha}})$, we also find a similar correlation for the diffusion coefficient $D~\mathrm{exp}[\ensuremath{\xi}({\ensuremath{\tau}}_{\ensuremath{\alpha}}){}^{\ensuremath{\theta}}]$ with $\ensuremath{\theta}\ensuremath{\approx}0.6$. We discuss the relevance of these findings for different theories of the glass transition.
Specialized intercellular junctions in the intercalated disc of the bat heart.

The intercalated discs of the myocardium from the active and hibernating bat hearts were investigated by means of electron microscopy and use of lanthanum and horseradish peroxidase as tracers. The discs are composed of four zones: intermediate junctions, desmosomes, nexuses, and undifferentiated areas. Of particular interest are the two different types of nexuses. Nexus I without lanthanum displays a 150 A overall width and an apparent 80 A intercellular space, ranges from 0.5 to 4.0 μ in length, and is seen in the longitudinal segments of the intercalated disc. With application of lanthanum, however, nexus I shows that the tracer has penetrated a 20 A gap junction and resembles nexus II. Nexus II with and without lanthanum has a 200 A overall width and a gap junction of about 20 A, is generally less than 0.3 μ in length, and is found on the transverse or oblique segment of the intercalated disc. Both nexuses I and II seem to block the passage of peroxidase. The plasma membranes of nexus I may have a different molecular organization from those in nexus II as reflected by their contrasting response to fixation and/or staining. Combinations of the various junctions show that the zones of adhesions (intermediate junctions and desmosomes) are adjacent to the regions of possible lowered resistance (nexus I and II). These findings suggest that adhesion sites insure the proper connection and functioning of the nexuses and support the electrical observations that the heart forms a “physiological syncytium”.
A Nuclear and Sustainable Energy Reading List

Seminal texts that cover the merits, costs, and risks of nuclear power and also explore sustainable non-nuclear energy options.
Doppler echocardiographic evaluation of tilting-disc prosthetic heart valves in children.

Abstract To determine the Doppler characteristics of tilting-disc prosthetic heart valves in children, 22 children with mitral prostheses were studied 8 ± 2 months after surgery, and 10 children with aortic prostheses were studied 37 ± 26 months after surgery. All valves were thought to be functioning normally by clinical examination. Valve competence was interrogated and peak and mean velocities were measured by standard pulsed wave, continuous wave and color Doppler techniques. Prosthetic valve area was calculated and compared to the known valve area. Mild prosthetic valve regurgitation was present in 8 of 22 mitral and 7 of 10 aortic prostheses. For mitral prostheses, peak velocity was 192 ± 41 cm/s, mean velocity was 118 ± 37 cm/s and mean gradient was 7 ± 4 mm Hg. For aortic prostheses, peak velocity was 287 ± 88 cm/s, mean velocity was 197 ± 59 cm/s, peak gradient was 36 ± 21 mm Hg and mean gradient was 19 ± 11 mm Hg. Prosthetic mitral valve area, calculated by the pressure half-time and modified Gorlin methods, correlated well with the known valve area (r = 0.89, standard error of the estimate = 0.29 and r = 0.95, standard error of the estimate = 0.21, respectively). Prosthetic aortic valve area, calculated by the modified Gorlin method, correlated well with the known valve area (r = 0.89, standard error of the estimate = 0.18). Residual valvular abnormalities are common after prosthetic valve insertion in children. Doppler estimates of prosthetic valve area correlate well with the known valve area but have a large standard error of the estimate.
Axonal loss in the pathology of MS: consequences for understanding the progressive phase of the disease

Axonal degeneration has been identified as the major determinant of irreversible neurological disability in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS). Axonal injury begins at disease onset and correlates with the degree of inflammation within lesions, indicating that inflammatory demyelination influences axon pathology during relapsing-remitting MS (RR-MS). This axonal loss remains clinically silent for many years, and irreversible neurological disability develops when a threshold of axonal loss is reached and compensatory CNS resources are exhausted. Experimental support for this view-the axonal hypothesis-is provided by data from various animal models with primary myelin or axonal pathology, and from pathological or magnetic resonance studies on MS patients. In mice with experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE), 15-30% of spinal cord axons can be lost before permanent ambulatory impairment occurs. During secondary progressive MS (SP-MS), chronically demyelinated axons may degenerate due to lack of myelin-derived trophic support. In addition, we hypothesize that reduced trophic support from damaged targets or degeneration of efferent fibers may trigger preprogrammed neurodegenerative mechanisms. The concept of MS as an inflammatory neurodegenerative disease has important clinical implications regarding therapeutic approaches, monitoring of patients, and the development of neuroprotective treatment strategies.
Consumer Well-Being (CWB): The Effects of Self-Image Congruence, Brand-Community Belongingness, Brand Loyalty, and Consumption Recency

Consumer well-being (CWB) refers to the extent to which a particular consumer good or service creates an overall perception of the quality-of-life impact of that product. We developed a model that posits that CWB related to a specific product is heavily influenced by self-image congruence and brand-community belongingness. Self-image congruence is also hypothesized to influence CWB moderated by brand loyalty. Similarly, brand-community belongingness is hypothesized to influence CWB moderated by consumption recency. Our survey data of 275 undergraduate students reporting on their coffee consumption showed the following: (1) CWB was significantly predicted by brand loyalty and brand-community belongingness; (2) the effect of brand loyalty on CWB was moderated by self-image congruence, and (3) the effect of brand-community belongingness was moderated by consumption recency.
SU-E-T-484: Potential Clinical Impact of Dosimetric Uncertainties in Proton Therapy

Purpose: The analytical algorithms which are used widely for protontreatment planning in the current clinical practice may have significant dosimetric uncertainties in highly heterogeneous regions. The aim of this study is the assessment of the potential clinical impact of these uncertainties. Methods: A cohort of 8 patients with local (in field) recurrences, originally treated for lungcancer at our institution, was selected for this study. CT scans and treatment plans were used to assemble the input files for the Monte Carlo (MC) code MCNPX. The total energy deposition inside the patient volume was computed with statistical uncertainty of less than 2% and converted to dose‐in‐water. The results were compared to the dose computed by the clinical treatment planning system (TPS). The area of the recurrence was contoured on the follow‐up PET/CT study for each of the patients and registered to the planning CT.Results: While there is acceptable agreement between the TPS and the Monte Carlo dose in homogeneous regions, there are noticeable differences caused by heterogeneities. The regions of largest differences are the points around and beyond the distal edge and points around the lateral penumbra and in several patients the target has received lower then the prescribed dose. The area of the recurrence corelates well with the MC predicted underdosed area of the target. Conclusions: The uncertanties in analytical dose algorithms used in clinical TPSs may result in suboptimal target coverage increasing the possibility of tumor recurrence. Accurate Monte Carlo simulations can be used to predict and avoid the situations in which the analytical algorithms have high uncertanties providing for more robust treatment planning.
Mammalian Hormones in Microbial Cells

Hormones and hormone-binding proteins resembling those of vertebrates are widespread in fungi, yeast and bacteria. Functional responses of microbial cells to mammalian hormones have also been found. The evolutionary roots of the vertebrate endocrine system may, therefore, be far more ancient than is generally believed.
Relation between hydrogen embrittlement and the formation of hydride in the group V transition metals

The embrittlement of vanadium and tantalum by hydrogen has been investigated with the ultimate goal being to answer three specific questions concerning ductility behavior in different temperature ranges. Torsion pendulum internal friction and another technique using the torsion pendulum as well as visual observations have been used to establish the solid solubility curve in the V-H and the Ta-H systems. The primary variables studied in this work were tensile strain rate, test temperature and hydrogen content. The results have been analyzed and tentative hypotheses have been set forth to explain the ductility behavior of the hydrogen charged metals.