cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Generating single-copy nuclear gene data for a recent adaptive radiation

Recent adaptive radiations provide an exceptional opportunity to understand the processes of speciation and adaptation. However, reconstructing the phylogenetic history of recent and rapidly evolving clades often requires the use of multiple, independent gene genealogies. Nuclear introns are an obvious source of the necessary data but their use is often limited because degenerate primers can amplify paralogous loci. To identify PCR primers for a large number of loci in an especially rapid adaptive radiation, that of the flowering plant genus Aquilegia (Ranunculaceae), we developed an efficient method for amplifying multiple single-copy nuclear loci by sequencing a modest number of clones from a cDNA library and designing PCR primers; with one primer anchored in the 3' untranslated region (3'-UTR) and one primer in the coding region of each gene. Variation between paralogous loci evolves more quickly in 3'-UTR regions compared to adjacent exons, and therefore we achieved high specificity for isolating orthologous loci. Furthermore, we were able to identify genes containing large introns by amplifying genes from genomic DNA and comparing the PCR product size to that predicted from their cDNA sequence. In Aquilegia eight out of eleven loci were isolated with this method and six of these loci had introns. Among four genes sequenced for samples spanning the phylogenetic breadth of the genus, we found sequence variation at levels similar to that observed in ITS, further supporting the recent and rapid radiation in Aquilegia. We assessed the orthology of amplification products by phylogenetic congruence among loci, the presence of two well established phylogenetic relationships, and similarity among loci for levels of sequence variation. Higher levels of variation among samples for one locus suggest possible paralogy. Overall, this method provides an efficient means of isolating predominantly single-copy loci from both low and high-copy gene families, providing ample nuclear variation for reconstructing species-level phylogenies in non-model taxa.
The use of conversational repairs by African American preschoolers.

Purpose This study aimed to describe the types and frequency of conversational repairs used by African American (AA) children in relationship to their geographic locations and levels of performance...
Stress and Menstrual Distress

The relationship between stress and menstrual distress is considered in response to three questions: (1) How stressful are menstruation and its associated events? (2) What factors serve to make menstruation stressful? (3) What are the effects of stress upon the menstrual cycle? Included in the analysis are estimates of the incidence of negative symptoms associated with the menstrual cycle, other indicators of the stressfulness of the premenstrual and menstrual phases, adrenal factors, animal studies, and suggested directions for research and practice.
Game theory applications in humanitarian operations: a review

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to summarize ways in which game theory has been or could be utilized within the humanitarian sector and to identify future research opportunities in this field. Game theory is a tool for modeling systems in which multiple decision makers act according to their own objectives and where individual choices affect system outcomes. Humanitarian logistics systems are often characterized by the presence of many such decision makers. Design/methodology/approach – The authors synthesize literature from operations research, humanitarian logistics, and the political and management sciences that describes either game theory models or settings in which game theory has the potential to contribute practical insights. Papers are categorized based on the types of decision makers highlighted and the facets of humanitarian operations described. Findings – The review of literature indicates that applications of game theory to humanitarian supply chain systems are limited to date but tha...
The Effectiveness of Shamans in an Indonesian Ritual

Healing is the ostensible purpose of the mabolong, a shamanic ceremony of the Wana of Sulawesi, Indonesia. But the ritual serves political ends as well by providing an arena for performers to establish and maintain their reputations as shamans. Shamans' attempts to attract and to hold an audience can eclipse their efforts to heal. In light of this dynamic, the ritual's therapeutic potential for patients can be considered only when its symbolic and dramatic appeal for an entire community is understood. The interplay of symbolism, drama, and therapy is examined with special reference to theories of ritual and catharsis proposed by Levi-Strauss and T. J. Scheff.
Special representations of weakly harmonizable processes

This paper contains an account of orthogonal and general series as well as moving average representations of weakly harmonizable processes. Also oscillatory and periodically correlated second order processes, their relation to harmonizable classes and an operator representation are presented. Fur-ther, supports of the spectral functions of weakly harmonizable processes are considered
Cracked columns under compression fixed ends

Abstract The deflection, the load carrying capacity, the stress intensity factor, and the fracture load of a slender column with fixed ends have been calculated. The column has a single-edge crack at the mid-section and it has an initial deflection. A crack reduces the flexural rigidity of a column. It increases the lateral deflection and decreases the load carrying capacity of a column. The lateral deflection at the cracked section increases the bending moment there; thereby, it increases the stress intensity factor and decreases the fracture load.
Cavernous Hemangioma of the Liver: Assessment of Mr Tissue Specificity with a Simplified T2 Index

This is a comparison of the ability of two quantitative magnetic resonance (MR) indices: (a) the second echo signal drop (SESD) (a simplified index of T2 relaxation times that we have developed); and (b) the previously described lesion/liver signal intensity ratio (LLR) to provide histologic diagnosis in hepatic lesions greater than 2 cm in diameter. In 55 patients 108 hepatic masses [31 cavernous hemangiomas (CH), 68 metastases, and 9 hepatocellular carcinomas] were scanned at 0.5 T. Statistically significant differences between CH and malignant lesions were obtained in mean SESD (p = 0.0006) and LLR (p = 0.0008) using repetition time (TR) 2,100/echo time (TE) 35, 60 ms. Application of cutoff values derived from receiver-operator characteristic analysis led to a correct diagnosis in 100 and 94% of lesions, respectively. Using TR 2,100/TE 35, 90 ms in a different patient population, CH and malignancies again displayed significantly different mean values, using the SESD (p = 0.0090) and LLR (p = 0.0024) methods. These measurements provided a correct diagnosis in 74 and 81%, respectively. Accuracy was increased in those cases in which the diagnosis by SESD and LLR were concordant. When compared with visual analysis, these quantitative methods appear to achieve near 100% accuracy in the differentiation of hepatic CH from malignancies.
Ion exchange and adsorption in layered phosphates

Abstract The events leading up to the discovery of crystalline α- and γ-zirconium phosphates are described, along with a brief description of their structures and aqueous ion-exchange behavior. The recent assertion that in the emphase the protons are present as hydronium ions is refuted. A description of solid-solid ion exchange between α-zirconium phosphate and anhydrous salts is presented, along with the implications of such reactions for soft chemical reactions. A brief description of solid-solid exchange applied to zeolites and to strong acid organic ion-exchange resins is also presented.
Illumination uniformity requirements for direct drive inertial confinement fusion

The requirements for laser uniformity are discussed in terms of the {ell}-mode spectrum. It is shown that the choice of smoothing methods can significantly alter this spectrum and that this choice should be made in the context of the target physics. Although two dimensional smoothing by spectral dispersion yields a high quality near field beam profile, it results in poor smoothing for low spatial frequency. The partially coherent light method (fiber smoothing) leads to superior smoothing at low spatial frequencies, but has very poor near field beam quality. As a result, it may be desirable to use partially coherent light during the driver pulse foot (at low intensity and when minimizing the laser imprint is critical) and smoothing by spectral dispersion during the main pulse.
NEAR-INTEGRATED RANDOM COEFFICIENT AUTOREGRESSIVE TIME SERIES

We determine the limiting behavior of near-integrated first-order random coefficient autoregressive RCA(1) time series. It is shown that the asymptotics of the finite-dimensional distributions crucially depends on how the critical value 1 is approached, which determines whether the process is near-stationary, has a unit root, or is mildly explosive. %In a second part, we derive the limit distribution of the serial correlation coefficient in the near stationary and the mildly explosive settings under very general conditions on the parameters. The results obtained are in accordance with those available for first-order autoregressive time series and can hence serve as an addition to existing literature in the area.
LASER-INDUCED BREAKDOWN SPECTROSCOPY OF LIQUIDS : AQUEOUS SOLUTIONS OF NICKEL AND CHLORINATED HYDROCARBONS

Spectrochemical analyses of aqueous solutions containing nickel or the chlorinated hydrocarbons (CHCs) C2Cl4, CCl4, CHCl3, and C2HCl3 were performed with the use of laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy. A Nd:YAG laser operating at 60 mJ/pulse was focused onto the surface of the liquid. Elemental line intensities were monitored in the laser-produced plume as a function of analyte concentration to determine detection limits. The limits of detection for nickel in water were 36.4 +/- 5.4 mg/L and 18.0 +/- 3.8 mg/L for laser irradiation at 1.06 mu m and 355 nm, respectively. Ablation of pure CHCs at 355 nm produced extremely intense plasma emissions that primarily consisted of spectroscopic features attributed to CN, C3, H, N, and Cl. The spectra were structurally identical for all the CHCs except for differences in the intensities of various emission lines. With the use of emission from neutral atomic chlorine as an identifier for CHC contamination of water, no detectable traces of these elements were observed in saturated aqueous solutions. The detection limits for the CHCs were well above the saturation limits of CHC in water.
Abstract 1958: Interrogating hedgehog pathway and smoothened inhibition by PF-04449913 in patient-derived acute myeloid leukemia models

Aberrant activation of the Hedgehog (Hh) signaling pathway has been implicated in a variety of cancers and a small molecule inhibitor of Smoothened (SMO), Vismodegib, has been approved for the treatment of basal cell carcinoma, a disease frequently driven by Hh pathway signaling due to pathway mutations. SMO dependent Hh signaling has also been implicated in models of myeloid leukemia, primarily CML, where genetic loss of SMO or pharmacological inhibition limits disease progression in part through targeting the leukemic stem cell (LSC). Outside of BCR-ABL driven leukemia the role of Hh signaling and impact of SMO inhibition on disease progression and the LSC remains unclear. To explore the role of Hedgehog pathway signaling and interrogate responses to SMO inhibition in AML, a panel of primary AML patient-derived models was utilized to examine responses to PF-04449913, an oral small molecule SMO inhibitor currently in early phase clinical trials targeting myeloid malignancies. AML patient samples were characterized for Hh pathway expression levels and screened for responses to PF-04449913. Ex vivo treatment of AML bone marrow cells showed PF-04449913 was capable of inhibiting Hh pathway activity, reducing expression of key LSC regulators and decreasing populations of cells expressing LSC markers. Use of AML xenotransplant models to assess in vivo responses to PF-04449913 as single agent and in combination with Cytarabine have shown potential for combination efficacy of the two agents in select models suggesting patient selection strategies may be critical for SMO inhibitor-based therapies in AML. Citation Format: Amy Jackson-Fisher, Pamela Whalen, Mark Elliott, Melissa McMahon, Enhong Chen, Xianxian Zheng, Mark Ozeck, Donghui Huang, Paul Lira, Joseph Lee, Cathy Zhang, Justine Lam, Mary Spilker, Shibing Deng, Patrick Lappin, Penny Venne, Cynthia Heinlein, Annelie Schairer, Karen McLachlan, Todd VanArsdale. Interrogating hedgehog pathway and smoothened inhibition by PF-04449913 in patient-derived acute myeloid leukemia models. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 105th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2014 Apr 5-9; San Diego, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2014;74(19 Suppl):Abstract nr 1958. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2014-1958
The treatment of advanced cardiac allograft rejection

Severe cardiac allograft rejection remains a serious problem despite the advances of cyclosporine-based immunosuppression. This study analyzes our experience with 202 recipients of cardiac allografts who were treated primarily with cyclosporine and prednisone. Failure of such therapy in 86 patients (43%) resulted in 105 episodes of advanced cardiac allograft rejection as diagnosed by endomyocardial biopsy. Of 101 rejection episodes that were initially treated with intravenous pulse therapy, 48 (48%) were successfully resolved, yet 60% of these successes were associated with major infections. Patients in whom steroid therapy failed or was contra-indicated received intravenous antithymocyte globulin (ATG) or intravenous monoclonal antibody (OKT3). ATG and OKT3 successfully reversed severe rejection in 26 (81%) of 32 and in 13 (93%) of 14 episodes, respectively. Infectious complication rates were 54% and 21%, respectively. Because the majority (87%) of these rejection episodes occurred within the first 30 days after treatment, many of them may have resulted from inadequate immunosuppressive induction therapy. Based on our results, we believe that advanced cardiac allograft rejection may be managed best by individualizing immunosuppressive therapy, thus enhancing prevention, and by adding OKT3 to the regimen when rejection occurs.
Pulmonary and hematological inflammatory responses to intravenous cellulose micro-particles in broilers

When injected intravenously, cellulose micro-particles become lodged in pulmonary arterioles. The current study investigated the systemic and pulmonary inflammatory responses triggered by cellulose micro-particles at 3, 24, and 48 h postinjection in 6-wk-old broilers. Proportions and concentrations of circulating white blood cells were assessed in saline-injected (control group) and cellulose-injected (particle group) birds. Hematoxylin-eosin (HE)-stained cross-sections of the lungs were used to count the number of granuloma/lymphocyte aggregates, which is indicative of the severity of the inflammatory response to the trapped particles. The cellular components of the aggregates were identified by immunohistochemical staining of frozen cross sections of the lungs. Results showed that cellulose micro-particles trapped in the pulmonary vasculature initiated a dynamic, localized inflammatory response within the surrounding lung parenchyma. Monocytes and basophilic granulocytes closely surrounded the particles. CD4, CD8, TCR1, TCR2, and TCR3 subsets of T cells and B cells were present in the outer rim of the granuloma/lymphocyte aggregates. Circulating total white blood cell (WBC, leukocytes) concentrations were similar in both groups at all times postinjection, whereas at 48 h post-injection the percentages of eosinophils and basophils among circulating WBC were higher in the particle group than in the control group (P < or = 0.05). The circulating monocyte concentration also increased within 24 h postinjection (P < or = 0.05). These observations demonstrate that cellulose micro-particles trapped in the pulmonary vasculature initiated acute focal inflammatory responses in the lungs and that the proportions of WBCs in the blood are modulated within 48 h postinjection.
A comparison of two methodologies for selecting transit performance indicators

Two contrasting methodologies have appeared in the literature for selecting indicators to evaluate the performance of public transit firms. One methodology specifies the criteria that the selected performance indicators must satisfy. The other methodology requires the specification of operating objectives by the transit firm for the purpose of then selecting performance indicators. This paper compares the two methodologies and discusses the attributes of one methodology versus those of the other methodology. Also, a major difference in the premises of the two methodologies is demonstrated.
Minute virus of mice (MVM) mRNAs predominantly polyadenylate at a single site

Abstract The polyadenylation sites for MVM (p) and MVM (1) mRNAs were determined by a quantitative hybridization-S1 protection assay. mRNAs produced by MVM (p) both early and late in infection of mouse A9 fibroblasts, and by MVM (1) and MVM (1) late in infection of human NB324K cells, polyadenylate predominantly at a single site, at nucleotide 4908 ± 2 for MVM (p) and 4843 ± 2 for MVM (1) shortly downstream of the final AATAAA in each viral genome. These results demonstrate that although the right-hand end of MVM has multiple AATAAA signals, and MVM (p) and MVM);) vary significantly within this region, 3′ end processing of viral mRNAs is not a prevalent mechanism for the regulation of MVM gene expression.
Observation of a Warped Helical Spin Texture in Bi 2 Se 3 from Circular Dichroism Angle-Resolved Photoemission Spectroscopy

A differential coupling of topological surface states to left- versus right-circularly polarized light is the basis of many optospintronics applications of topological insulators. Here we report direct evidence of circular dichroism from the surface states of Bi_2Se_3 using laser-based time-of-flight angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy. By employing a novel sample rotational analysis, we resolve unusual modulations in the circular dichroism photoemission pattern as a function of both energy and momentum, which perfectly mimic the predicted but hitherto unobserved three-dimensional warped spin texture of the surface states. By developing a microscopic theory of photoemission from topological surface states, we show that this correlation is a natural consequence of spin-orbit coupling. These results suggest that our technique may be a powerful probe of the spin texture of spin-orbit coupled materials in general.
Partial ionization cross-sections of C2F6

Abstract The dissociative ionization of perfluoroethane, C 2 F 6 , by electron impact has been measured under single-collision conditions using Fourier transform mass spectrometry. The total ionization cross-section rises to a maximum value of 8.9±1.3×10 −16 cm 2 at 70 eV. CF 3 + is the most prominent ion fragment at all energies, followed by C 2 F 5 + , CF + , and CF 2 + . C 2 F 6 + is not observed. The ratio of dissociative ionization to total dissociation increases from 27±5% at 22 eV to 89±11% at 70 eV. The total cross-section and the partitioning among the dissociative channels is examined in the context of the binary encounter Bethe (BEB) molecular orbital model.
Internet Traffic and Portfolio Returns

We examined whether traffic data on sites owned by publicly listed Internet companies provide information about the future of those companies that is useful in portfolio management. The study shows that when Internet companies are classified into portfolios according to above-median and below-median traffic data, the more popular sites provide significantly better stock returns than the less popular sites. These results may be explained by the superior ability of popular sites to attract advertising revenues and extract greater compensation from affiliated sites. They may also indicate investors' perceptions that the more popular sites have greater network externalities (in which the value of being a part of the network increases with the number of members already in the network) and have the ability to generate higher future profits and cash flows. These results carried through to offline companies with Internet sites in 1999 but not in 2000, possibly because the online operations of offline companies we...
Time, damage, and aging: what really matters?

This presentation was one of three short talks in the introductory session at the 2007 Edmonton Aging Symposium titled “The Damage of Aging: Present and Future Therapies.” This title implies that if we can document what biological damage occurs with increasing age, then by either preventing, reducing or repairing this damage, we could intervene to delay the onset and severity of the adverse age-related phenotypes that accompany aging, and perhaps increase life span as well. While this assumption seems quite reasonable, some recent results suggest that this approach is not as straightforward as it might seem.
Ritual Drama at the Little Big Horn: The Persistence and Transformation of a National Symbol

n 1926, over fifty thousand people gathered at the Custer Battlefield National Monument to celebrate the semi-centennial of Custer's Last Stand, and to reaffirm several key elements of America's public faith. These pilgrims came to hear martial liturgists declare again that Custer and his men sacrificed themselves to open the West, that the battle was a moral victory for the nation, and that the progress of civilization since Custer's time was undoubtedly a providential sign that God was well pleased with the American experiment. Pilgrims also heard that Americans die in battle heroically, and that cherished values, ritually revivified at commemorations like this one, must often be won through conflict.
Sources of behavioral variance: Implications for sample size decisions

Results from an intensive study of the sources of variance in a variety of chimpanzee behaviors are used to elucidate research design problems, and criteria for sample size selection are outlined. These results indicate that: (1) groups should be stratified (subdivided) only when the stratification factor is known to be strongly correlated with the behaviors of interest; (2) given a behavioral observation system with high reliability and well-trained observers, little will be gained from assigning more than one observer to each observation; (3) taking multiple observations per subject per time period substantially strengthens a research design, so that even very small sample sizes can yield generalizable results; and (4) observations should be spread as uniformly over the time period as possible, particularly for behaviors which change over time.
CPR challenges in pediatrics

The concept of the chain of survival for children has been extended to include prevention, bystander CPR, prehospital CPR, and acute care. Two clinical cases are presented as examples. The current status and possible weaknesses in each link of the chain are discussed, and suggestions are made for possible research initiatives.
Respiratory drive in nonsmokers and smokers assessed by passive tilt and mouth occlusion pressure. Response to rebreathing carbon dioxide.

The purpose of the present investigation was to assess respiratory center function in smokers using (1) measurement of mouth occlusion pressure during carbon dioxide rebreathing and (2) noninvasive measurement of breathing pattern during passive upright tilt. The breathing patterns of 20 normal nonsmokers and 20 smokers without major obstruction of the airways were monitored noninvasively with respiratory inductive plethysmography for 15 minutes in the supine position and then after 90° head-up passive tilt to the standing position. In nonsmokers, significant increases from supine to standing positions included the following: (1) minute ventilation from 6.22 ± 1.47 to 7.32 ± 1.16 L/min (p
The onset of police misconduct

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the factors which contribute to, or mitigate against, both the likelihood and timing of the onset of police misconduct. Design/methodology/approach – Research hypotheses were tested examining the first personnel complaint filed against officers, using both all complaints and only substantiated complaints, from data collected on a large cohort of officers followed over a substantial portion of their careers. Findings – Black officers and those exhibiting poor academy performance were at an increased likelihood of onset when compared to white and Hispanic officers and those who did better in the academy, while having a college degree lowered this likelihood. Officers whose first complaints were filed by citizens, and officers working certain patrol zones had quicker onset times. Those officers whose first complaint was related to service, as well as officers with prior military service, had longer onset times. Research limitations/implications – This stu...
Group on earth observations community of practice for ocean observations (OO CoP)

GEO OO CoP established April 2011 Initial membership includes broad international participation by national organizations Future membership may expand Specific activities being identified First teleconference 20 October 2011 First meeting February 2012 at Ocean Sciences
Housework and social policy

Abstract We analyze the effects of social policy regarding women’s employment and work-family conflict on the division of household labor in 33 countries. We classify policies according to Chang’s (2000) equality of access (affirmative action and absence of discriminatory policy) and substantive benefits (parental leave and childcare services). Results show that countries without prohibitions against certain types of employment for women, and those with longer parental leave policies, exhibit a more egalitarian gender division of housework. Further, women’s fulltime employment and higher income have stronger effects on the gender division of housework in countries with greater equality of access policies. However, longer parental leave policy is associated with weaker effects of women’s full-time employment. The findings suggest that social policies affect not only the overall gender division of housework, but also the dynamics of micro-level negotiations. Such policies may contribute to the context in which gender roles in the labor market and in the family are defined.
Global variability in angina pectoris and its association with body mass index and poverty.

In the absence of a previous global comparison, we examined the variability in the prevalence of angina across 52 countries and its association with body weight and the poverty index using data from the World Health Organization-World Health Survey. The participants with angina were defined as those who had positive results using a Rose angina questionnaire and/or self-report of a physician diagnosis of angina. The body mass index (BMI) was determined as the weight in kilograms divided by the square of the height in meters. The poverty index (a standard score of socioeconomic status for a given country) was extracted from the United Nations' statistics. The associations of angina with the BMI and poverty index were analyzed cross-sectionally using univariate and multivariate analyses. The results showed that the total participants (n = 210,787) had an average age of 40.64 years. The prevalence of angina ranged from 2.44% in Tunisia to 23.89% in Chad. Those participants with a BMI of 2 (underweight), 25 to 29 kg/m 2 (overweight), or BMI ≥30 kg/m 2 (obese) had a significantly greater risk of having angina compared to those with a normal BMI (≥18.5 but 2 ). The odds ratios of overweight and obese for angina remained significant in the multilevel models, in which the influence of the country-level poverty status was considered. A tendency was seen for underweight status and a poverty index >14.65% to be associated with the risk of having angina, although these associations were not statistically significant in the multilevel models. In conclusion, significant variations were found in the anginal rates across 52 countries worldwide. An increased BMI was significantly associated with the odds of having angina.
Predicted effects of hemoglobin A1c assay precision on a patient population distribution of serial hemoglobin A1c difference values.

Abstract Background Interpretation of serial measurements of % hemoglobin A1c includes an assessment of differences from preceding values (DHbA1c). We examined predicted effects of different assay precisions on an observed population distribution for DHbA1c. Methods Primary data were 5260 DHbA1c values from sequential HbA1c measurement pairs obtained within 1 calendar year. Each DHbA1c was replaced by a distribution obtained from sampling each component HbA1c value according to a normal distribution characterized by a fixed coefficient of variation (CV) of either 1%, 3% or 5% (forming data sets A, B and C, respectively). Data sets B and C, with inferior precision, were compared with the reference data set A (highest precision). Results Using DHbA1c bin widths of 0.5% HbA1c, differences in assay precision caused significant redistribution of numbers within bins. For instance, for CV = 5%, there was a 7.2% decrease in the number of results within the DHbA1c bin = (− 0.5 to ≤ 0.0)% compared with the number for CV = 1%, and a 6.4% increase in numbers of results for DHbA1c > 0.5. Conclusion Different HbA1c assay CVs can significantly affect the fraction of patients within different clinical categorizations for DHbA1c and consequently may differently influence patient care recommendations.
Vicarious calibration of the ASTER SWIR sensor including crosstalk correction

The Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection radiometer (ASTER) sensor on the Terra spacecraft has been providing remote sensing data for the past five years. ASTER has three separate sensor sections including a sensor with six bands in the shortwave infrared section of the spectrum. The radiometric calibration of the SWIR sensor has been updated from preflight values based on the on-board calibration sources. The SWIR sensor shows evidence of crosstalk between SWIR bands which is probably optical in origin. The crosstalk was present during preflight calibration and is present in all data collected in-flight including calibration data. The effects of crosstalk can be partially removed by applying a crosstalk correction program. This correction changes the calibration of the system. In this paper we apply a vicarious calibration to crosstalk corrected ASTER imagery over high reflectance desert test sites using a reflectance based method. The updated calibration provides for better retrieval of spectral reflectance or radiance of ground targets in ASTER SWIR imagery.
Sample-spacings-based density and entropy estimators for spherically invariant multidimensional data

While the sample-spacings-based density estimation method is simple and efficient, its applicability has been restricted to one-dimensional data. In this letter, the method is generalized such that it can be extended to multiple dimensions in certain circumstances. As a consequence, a multidimensional entropy estimator of spherically invariant continuous random variables is derived. Partial bias of the estimator is analyzed, and the estimator is further used to derive a nonparametric objective function for frequency-domain independent component analysis. The robustness and the effectiveness of the objective function are demonstrated with simulation results.
Aortoesophageal Fistula Secondary to Reflux Esophagitis

Aortoenteric fistula is a rare cause of massive upper gastrointestinal bleeding and is in the overwhelming majority of cases due to erosion of a suture line of a prosthetic vascular graft into the bow
On the response of linear systems to periodic excitations

The problem of finding the periodic response of a linear system to a non-sinusoidal periodic excitation is of continuing interest.1?8 The following constitutes a brief summary of the existing methods of solving such problems: 1. The Fourier series. 2. Infinite series summation of transients. 3. Solution of a differential equation subject to matching conditions at the beginning and end of a cycle. 4. Computation of the periodic response in closed form, for the duration of the first cycle, by subtracting the transient part of the response from the total response. 5. Use of the modified Z-transform to obtain the closed form solution for one cycle of response, in the limit, as t approaches infinity.
A functional neuroimaging review of obesity, appetitive hormones and ingestive behavior

Adequate energy intake is vital for the survival of humans and is regulated by complex homeostatic and hedonic mechanisms. Supported by functional MRI (fMRI) studies that consistently demonstrate differences in brain response as a function of weight status during exposure to appetizing food stimuli, it has been posited that hedonically driven food intake contributes to weight gain and obesity maintenance. These food reward theories of obesity are reliant on the notion that the aberrant brain response to food stimuli relates directly to ingestive behavior, specifically, excess food intake. Importantly, functioning of homeostatic neuroendocrine regulators of food intake, such as leptin and ghrelin, are impacted by weight status. Thus, data from studies that evaluate the effect on weight status on brain response to food may be a result of differences in neuroendocrine functioning and/or behavior. In the present review, we examine the influence of weight and weight change, exogenous administration of appetitive hormones, and ingestive behavior on BOLD response to food stimuli.
Brent goose (Branta bernicla (L.)) winter feeding pattern and zostera resources at Scolt Head Island, Norfolk

Abstract 1. 1. Fluctuations in numbers of Brent geese in relation to their food supply is discussed. 2. 2. At Scolt Head Island, Norfolk, Enteromorpha species are the main food of Brent geese, and Zostera nana , although locally abundant, is not always eaten when the tides make it available. 3. 3. Study of feeding habits supplemented by analysis of food remains in the droppings of the geese suggest that there is a distinct seasonal pattern of feeding correlated with the main growth periods of the different food plants. 4. 4. Evidence is given which suggests that the diet of Brent geese may be much more restricted in Hampshire harbours than it is in Norfolk and Essex. 5. 5. A feeding trial carried out on tame Pacific Brent ( Branta branta nigricans ) at the Wild-fowl Trust, Slimbridge, showed that analysis of the droppings gave a good approximation (±10 per cent.) of the proportions of food actually ingested. 6. 6. Nutritional analyses of the main foods of Brent geese and of droppings derived from these foods are reported.
The reaction of thiouracil with β-lactoglobulin sulfenyl iodine

1. 1. The binding of [14C]thiouracil to β-lactoglobulin is stimulated by prior treatment of the protein with I3− or H2O2plus I−. The highest value are found when all of the thiol groups are converted into sulfenyl iodide groups prior to [14C]thiouracil treatment and when excess of the oxidant is avoided. The amount of radioactivity bound to the protein corresponds with the stoichiometry of the formation of a mixed disulfide. 2. 2. The product of the reaction of β-lactoglobulin and thiouracil is decomposed by azide, cyanide, H2O2, I−, I3−, sulfite, thiols, thiosulfate and thiourea derivatives. 3. 3. About 60% of the original thiol groups in β-lactoglobulin were recovered after treatment of the mixed disulfide solution with cyanide or mercaptoethanol. 4. 4. H2O2 alone does not stimulate subsequent thiouracil binding to β-lactoglobulin. 5. 5. The stimulation of thiouracil binding by I3− or by H2O2plus I− occurs also with ovalbumin but is not observed in proteins which do not form stable sulfenyl iodide derivatives. 6. 6[14C]Thiouracil can be used as a reagent for the detection of small quantities of sulfenyl iodide groups which have been generated in pure proteins or in tissues.
Head start and the intensification of teaching in early childhood education

Abstract Head Start is the largest early childhood education program in the US. Echoing patterns emerging in ECE world-wide, Head Start has dramatically changed. Greater emphasis is now placed on kindergarten readiness, child and teacher assessment, professionalization, and increased competition for program funding. Drawing on a mixed methods research design, a case study was conducted that explores the nature and effects of these changes on teachers and the work of teaching within Head Start. Strong evidence of work intensification was found, a topic little explored within the wider ECE literature. In the light of this finding the authors question the model of professionalism that now dominates ECE reform.
Two-dose daclizumab induction therapy in 209 liver transplants: a single-center analysis.

Background. Patient and graft survival after liver transplantation are adversely affected by early posttransplant renal dysfunction. Therefore, our immunosuppressive strategies should be as “renal sparing” as possible. This is the largest published series to date using daclizumab induction therapy in a renal-sparing regimen. Methods. This is a retrospective, nonrandomized study comparing 209 adult liver transplants with daclizumab induction to 115 transplants with no induction. Results. Patient and graft survival were similar, despite higher pretransplant acuity of illness and older age in the induction group. Acute rejection within the first 6 months occurred less commonly in the induction group (25.4% vs. 39.1%, P=0.01), despite significantly delayed initiation and lower doses of a calcineurin inhibitor. Mycophenolate mofetil was used more commonly in induction patients, but the efficacy of daclizumab in preventing rejection was independent of this. Patients with a pretransplant creatinine concentration 1.5 mg/dL or less had less rejection if they received induction. Renal function worsened in noninduction patients but showed sustained improvement throughout follow-up in induction patients with a pretransplant creatinine concentration greater than 1.5 mg/dL. Induction therapy provided better rejection prophylaxis among those requiring temporary calcineurin inhibitor cessation because of renal dysfunction. The incidences of histologic hepatitis C recurrence and cytomegalovirus infection were similar in each group. Conclusions. Liver recipients with and without pretransplant renal dysfunction have less acute rejection with daclizumab induction therapy. This is not associated with an increased risk of over-immunosuppression. Sustained renal improvement in recipients with pretransplant renal dysfunction is possible with daclizumab induction.
Influence of ultrasonic vibration on micro-extrusion

Micro-forming is a miniaturization technology with great potential for high productivity. Some technical challenges, however, need to be addressed before micro-forming becomes a commercially viable manufacturing process. These challenges include severe tribological conditions, difficulty in achieving desired tolerances, and short tool-life due to inability of available die materials to withstand the forces exerted on miniature dies and punches. Some of these problems can be mitigated using ultrasonic technology. The principal objectives of this work were to investigate the possibility of applying ultrasonic vibrations in the micro-forming process, to design a set of tooling for ultrasonic micro-extrusion and to observe experimentally how ultrasonic oscillations influences the forming load and the surface finish. The test results showed a significant drop on the forming load when ultrasonic vibrations were imposed, and also a significant improvement in the surface of the micro-formed parts. Based on the preliminary test results, the study demonstrated high potential for using ultrasonic oscillations as a way to overcome the difficulties brought by the miniaturization.
Hydrodynamic characteristics of fluidization in liquid-solid tapered beds

Hydrodynamic characteristics of fluidization in conical or tapered beds differ from those in columnar beds due to the variation of superficial velocity in the axial direction of the beds. In the former, fixed and fluidized regions could coexist and the sharp peaking of the pressure drop could occur, thereby giving rise to a remarkable pressure drop-flow rate hysteresis loop at incipient fluidization. To explore these unique properties, a series of experiments was carried out in liquid-solid tapered fluidized beds with various tapering angles. Detailed visual observations of fluid and particle behavior and measurements of the pressure drops have led to the identification of five flow regimes. The tapering angle of the beds has been found to dramatically affect the beds' behavior. Other hydrodynamic characteristics determined experimentally included the maximum pressure drop, minimum velocity of partial fluidization, minimum velocity of full fluidization, maximum velocity of partial defluidization, and maximum velocity of full defluidization. Models have been proposed to quantify the hydrodynamic characteristics of liquid-solid tapered fluidized beds. The results predicted by the models compare favorably with experimental data. Naturally, the models are applicable to liquid-solid columnar fluidized beds corresponding to the tapered beds with a tapering angle of zero.
Hypolimnetic oxidation rates in Lake Superior: Role of dissolved organic material on the lake's carbon budget

On average, the water column of Lake Superior is undersaturated with respect to dissolved oxygen and supersaturated with respect to carbon dioxide during the summer-stratified period. On the basis of temporal changes in water column dissolved oxygen, we calculate rates of oxygen consumption that range from 0.19 to 0.75 mmol m 3 d 1 . These rates are a factor of 5–10 times larger than can be supported by the particulate carbon settling rates and benthic oxygen consumption rates. In addition, on the basis of the limited information available, dissolved allochthonous carbon inputs are insufficient to account for the calculated rates of carbon oxidation. Rates of nitrate and total CO2 (CO2) production are 0.019 0.012 and 0.13 0.06 mmol m 3 d 1 , respectively, and are consistent with the oxidation of a dissolved organic component that is similar in composition (C:N ratio) to the settling particulate material. Previously published estimates of total primary production were smaller but similar in magnitude to our integrated water column respiration rates. We interpret the observed imbalance between particulate carbon delivered to the deep lake and the calculated rate of carbon oxidation to be the result of the decomposition of dissolved organic carbon that appears to have both an autochthonous and an allochthonous component. A simplistic view of aquatic ecosystem carbon cycling is that photosynthetic production, limited by the availability of one or more major nutrients, generates a large pool of fixed (autochthonous) carbon in the euphotic zone. Most of that organic material is ‘‘recycled’’ within the euphotic zone with some, typically small, fraction being ‘‘exported’’ out of the euphotic zone. A portion of this export production is then remineralized within the deep water column or within the sediments, and the balance is permanently buried (e.g., Dymond et al. 1996 and references therein). The record of this buried ‘‘residual’’ production serves as the basis for paleoclimate studies. For these studies, variations in the accumulation rate of biogenic material in lacustrine systems are
Intracellular Growth of Legionella pneumophila in Dictyostelium discoideum, a System for Genetic Analysis of Host-Pathogen Interactions

Conditions were established in which Legionella pneumophila, an intracellular bacterial pathogen, could replicate within the unicellular organism Dictyostelium discoideum. By several criteria, L. pneumophila grew by the same mechanism within D. discoideum as it does in amoebae and macrophages. Bacteria grew within membrane-bound vesicles associated with rough endoplasmic reticulum, and L. pneumophila dot/icm mutants, blocked for growth in macrophages and amoebae, also did not grow in D. discoideum. Internalized L. pneumophila avoided degradation by D. discoideum and showed evidence of reduced fusion with endocytic compartments. The ability of L. pneumophila to grow within D. discoideum depended on the growth state of the cells. D. discoideum grown as adherent monolayers was susceptible to L. pneumophila infection and to contact-dependent cytotoxicity during high-multiplicity infections, whereas D. discoideum grown in suspension was relatively resistant to cytotoxicity and did not support intracellular growth. Some known D. discoideum mutants were examined for their effect on growth of L. pneumophila. The coronin mutant and the myoA/B double myosin I mutant were more permissive than wild-type strains for intracellular growth. Growth of L. pneumophila in a Gβ mutant was slightly reduced compared to the parent strain. This work demonstrates the usefulness of the L. pneumophila-D. discoideum system for genetic analysis of host-pathogen interactions.
An evaluation of fair packet schedulers using a novel measure of instantaneous fairness

A number of emerging Internet applications such as video-conferencing and live multimedia broadcasts from Internet TV stations rely on scheduling algorithms in switches and routers to guarantee performance and an acceptable level of quality of service. Fairness in packet schedulers is an intuitively desirable property with practical value; fair schedulers such as weighted fair queueing are a critical component of quality-of-service mechanisms that seek to guarantee end-to-end delay bounds, and thus provide end-to-end service differentiation. Popular measures of the fairness achieved by packet schedulers are based on bounds, such as the relative fairness bound which captures the maximum possible difference between the normalized services received by any two flows. In this paper, we argue that such measures do not capture the actual fairness achieved at most instants of time, and therefore, do not represent a true measure of the ability of a scheduler to successfully deliver end-to-end quality for real-time applications. In this paper, we borrow from the field of economics and propose a new measure of fairness based on the Gini index. This measure captures the instantaneous fairness of a scheduler and, unlike other measures based on bounds, also captures the fairness of the scheduler in its handling of flows during idle periods. We use this measure on real gateway traffic traces and present a simulation-based evaluation of several well-known timestamp-based and frame-based schedulers. We also present a qualitative analysis of the phenomena underlying the observed results.
New Roles for Osteoclasts in Bone

Osteoclasts have long been recognized as the cells that resorb bone in normal bone remodeling and in pathologic conditions in which bone resorption is increased. They are derived from precursors in the mononuclear phagocyte lineage, which arise in the bone marrow and fuse with one another to form the multinucleated cells that resorb calcified matrixes under the influence of osteoblastic cells in bone marrow. There is growing evidence that osteoclast precursors (OCPs) and osteoclasts have functions in and around bone other than bone resorption. For example, they modulate the differentiation of other cells, including osteoblastic cells; they regulate hematopoietic stem cell movement from the bone marrow to the bloodstream; and they are secretory cells that participate in immune responses. In this article, we review these findings, which support new roles for osteoclasts and OCPs in the growing field of osteoimmunology and in common pathologic conditions affecting bones and joints.