cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Broadband X-Ray Spectra of the Black Hole Candidate GRO J1655–40

We present broadband (2 keV-2 MeV) X-ray spectra of GRO J1655-40, a luminous X-ray transient and occasional source of relativistic radio jets, obtained with the Rossi X-Ray Timing Explorer (RXTE) and the Oriented Scintillation Spectrometer Experiment. In one observation, the luminosity is found to be 18% of the Eddington limit, which is one of the highest luminosities ever observed from GRO J1655-40. For this observation, we find that an adequate fit is obtained when a broad iron line and a reflection component are added to a model consisting of a power law plus a soft excess component. The 95% confidence lower limit on the rms line width is 0.86 keV. The power-law component has a photon index of 2.72 and extends to at least 800 keV without a cutoff. After this observation, a significant drop in the (5-12 keV)/(1.5-5 keV) hardness ratio occurred on a timescale less than 2 hr. From an RXTE observation of GRO J1655-40 made after the hardness transition, we find that the power-law index is harder (α=2.415±0.011), the flux of the power-law component is lower, and the total luminosity is 10% of the Eddington limit. The change in the power-law component is consistent with the correlation between the spectral index and power-law flux previously reported for GRO J1655-40.
Women’s food work, food citizenship, & transnational consumer capitalism: a case study of a feminist food cooperative in South Korea

This article joins studies of food citizenship and feminist food studies to examine complex ways in which women’s food work as domestic carework is connected to food citizenship in the context of t...
Cardiac Contusions

Cardiac contusion has been one of the most discussed topics in the trauma community. The discussions are centered around appropriate nomenclature, screening mechanisms, diagnostic modalities, and ultimately management principles. Controversy over nomenclature exists because cardiac contusion has been used to describe an array of injuries ranging from a transient arrhythmia to free rupture of the myocardial wall. The mainstays of screening have been electrocardiograms and cardiac isoenzymes. Although there is a substantial body of literature, few other screening or diagnostic modalities have been widely accepted. Echocardiography has gained favor as a confirmatory test and to determine presence or extinct of structural damage. Management has traditionally been supportive including volume repletion, correcting arrhythmias, and repairing structural damage. Recently, there has been some promising alternative treatments including transcatheter closure of ventricular septal defects, anti-inflammatory agents, and post-injury therapeutic hypothermia. Although screening and diagnostic mechanism have remained relatively unchanged, it appears that innovative management of severe cardiac contusions has gained some momentum over the recent years.
Effects of calcium supplementation in post-menopausal women participating in the Curves® fitness & weight loss program I: Body composition & bone density

140 overweight post-menopausal women were randomly assigned to an exercise & normal diet group (E) or a high carbohydrate (HC) or high protein (HP) diet with exercise group. Diets consisted of 1,20...
Numerical Simulation of Atmospheric Mesoscale Convection

The amount of sensible heat and moisture supplied to the atmosphere from the sea surface is tremendous over the East China Sea and the areas off the east and the south coasts of the United States during the winter Many interesting and important meteorological disturbances on a variety of temporal and spatial scales develop or intensify in the regions. The Kuroshio flows northeastward through the East China Sea, resulting in a steep horizontal sea-surface temperature gradient (see Fig, 1). In winter, whenever a cold polar continental air mass moves out from the Asian Continent, it is modified rapidly as the cold dry air encounters the warmer sea surface. A similar situation exists off the east coast of the United States, where the Gulf Stream is a warm, north bound ocean current just like the Kuroshio.
Breaking down silos: Mapping growth of cross-disciplinary collaboration in a translational science initiative

The importance of transdisciplinary collaboration is growing, though not much is known about how to measure collaboration patterns. The purpose of this paper is to present multiple ways of mapping and evaluating the growth of cross-disciplinary partnerships over time. Social network analysis was used to examine the impact of a Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA) on collaboration patterns. Grant submissions from 2007 through 2010 and publications from 2007 through 2011 of Institute of Clinical and Translational Sciences (ICTS) members were examined. A Cohort Model examining the first-year ICTS members demonstrated an overall increase in collaborations on grants and publications, as well as an increase in cross-discipline collaboration as compared to within-discipline. A Growth Model that included additional members over time demonstrated the same pattern for grant submissions, but a decrease in cross-discipline collaboration as compared to within-discipline collaboration for publications. ICTS members generally became more cross-disciplinary in their collaborations during the CTSA. The exception of publications for the Growth Model may be due to the time lag between funding and publication, as well as pressure for younger scientists to publish in their own fields. Network analysis serves as a valuable tool for evaluating changes in scientific collaboration.
Tagging potassium ion channels with green fluorescent protein to study mobility and interactions with other proteins.

Publisher Summary Mobility of channels in the plasma membrane can be studied in live cells once channels are fluorescently tagged. In the past, this has been accomplished by analyzing fluorescence recovery after photobleaching (FRAP) of fluorophores attached to channel-specific drugs. Two technical issues have hindered routine application of FRAP to the study of K + channels. First, there are few subunit-specific drugs. In addition to specificity, such drugs must have long residence times compared to the kinetics of channel movement. Thus, without appropriate labels for specific channels, meaningful FRAP experiments cannot be performed. This limitation has now been breached with the ability to tag K + channels with bright variants of the green fluorescent protein (GFP). Second, performing conventional spot FRAP experiments required a specially designed setup that is not typically available to channel researchers. This problem can be overcome by performing FRAP studies on scanning laser confocal microscopes that are now found in many departmental or university core facilities. The coupling of GFP-tagging and confocal FRAP approaches has already led to the demonstration that the structural requirements for clustering and immobilizing voltage-gated K + channels by PSD95 are distinct. It is likely that this approach will also be valuable in studying association of channels to regulatory proteins (e.g., G proteins) and the cytoskeleton. This chapter describes the way appropriate available GFP variants can be picked for generating GFP-K + channel fusion proteins and FRAP data obtained with a confocal microscope can be acquired and analyzed.
The BVLR Method

An alternative finite difference method for calculating steady high speed now past bodies of general shape was proposed by Babenko and Voskresenskii (1961) and applied to circular conical flows by Babenko, Voskresenskii, Lyubimov and Rusanov (1963). Gonidou (1967), in generalizing this application to elliptic cones, uses the shorter description, BVLR method, and this has now been generally adopted. The method was first developed for purely supersonic flows but was later extended by Rusanov (1968) and by Lyubimov and Rusanov (1970) to mixed subsonic-supersonic flows and applied to calculate a series of complex blunt body flow fields. This extension is discussed in Sect. 3.2.
Euphoria and Retrospective Voting

The extant literature generally presumes that voters who engage in retrospective voting are evaluating incumbents based upon their performance in office. Indeed, the empirical relationship between the health of the economy and incumbent reelection prospects is well documented. However, another explanation for this relationship is that voters are inclined to support the status quo when they feel personally satisfied or happy. We leverage a natural experiment to explore whether personal happiness unrelated to incumbent performance affects voting behavior: the outcome of the local college football team’s games right before Election Day, an event that government has nothing to do with and for which no government response could possibly be expected. We collected football scores from 1964-2006, as well as county-level election returns for presidential, gubernatorial, and senatorial elections. On average, a pre-election win causes the incumbent to receive about one percentage point more of the vote, with the effect being larger for teams with stronger fan support. We corroborate these aggregate-level results using a survey conducted during the 2009 NCAA Men's College Basketball Tournament. Voters' decisions depend significantly on events that affect their personal level of happiness even when those events are disconnected from government activity, a fact that has important implications for our conception of political accountability in democratic societies.
Priorities for Modeling and Verifying Distributed Systems

This paper illustrates the use of priorities in process algebras by a real-world example dealing with the design of a safety-critical network which is part of a railway signaling system. Priorities in process algebras support an intuitive modeling of distributed systems since undesired inter-leavings can be suppressed. This fact also leads to a substantial reduction of the sizes of models. We have implemented a CCS-based process algebra with priorities as a new front-end for the NCSU Concurrency Workbench, and we use model checking for verifying properties of the signaling system.
Brief of Amici Curiae Church-State Scholars in Support of the Government in Sebelius v. Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc. & Conestoga Wood Specialties Corp. v. Sebelius

This brief argues that permissive religious accommodations violate the Establishment Clause and conflict with Free Exercise Clause and Title VII accommodation decisions when they impose significant costs of practicing the accommodated religion on those who do not believe or participate in it. For-profit employer exemptions from the Affordable Care Act contraception mandate under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act would constitute congressional and federal judicial action that violates the Establishment Clause, by shifting significant costs of observing religious beliefs against contraception from the employers who hold them to employees who don't. The brief concludes that keeping federal government action within the structural limits set by the Establishment Clause is a compelling interest that justifies denial of for-profit employer exemptions from the mandate under RFRA.Amici on the brief are Frederick Mark Gedicks (Brigham Young University Law School), Vincent Blasi (Columbia Law School); Caitlin Borgmann (CUNY School of Law), Caroline Mala Corbin (University of Miami School of Law), Sarah Barringer Gordon (University of Pennsylvania Law School & Dept. of History), Steven K. Green (Willamette University College of Law), Leslie C. Griffin (William S. Boyd School of Law, University of Nevada, Las Vegas), B. Jessie Hill (Case Western Reserve University School of Law), Andrew M. Koppelman (Northwestern University Law School & Dept. of Political Science), Martha C. Nussbaum (The University of Chicago Law School & Dept. of Philosophy); Eduardo Penalver (The University of Chicago Law School); Michael J. Perry (Emory University School of Law); Frank S. Ravitch (Michigan State University College of Law), Zoe Robinson (DePaul University College of Law), Lawrence Sager (University of Texas at Austin School of Law), Richard Schragger (University of Virginia School of Law), Micah Schwartzman (University of Virginia School of Law), Elizabeth Sepper (Washington University School of Law), Steven H. Shiffrin (Cornell University Law School), Nelson Tebbe (Brooklyn Law School) & Laura Underkuffler (Cornell University Law School).Catherine Weiss, Natalie Kraner, Michael J. Hampson, Joseph A. Fischetti & Meg Slachetka of Lowenstein Sandler LLP served as counsel to the Amici.
Steam Reforming of Methanol in a Pd-Composite Membrane Reactor

Palladium-based membranes are being studied for simultaneous production and separation of H2 from reforming reactions in a single-unit operation by equilibrium shift. In this work a Pd-composite membrane in tubular configuration as fuel reformer was used to study the steam reforming of methanol (SRM) over Zn/Ni catalyst on Al2O3 support. The Pd-composite membrane was fabricated by depositing thin Pd film on microporous stainless steel (MPSS) support by surfactant induced electroless plating (SIEP) method. The effects of steam to methanol molar feed ratio (S/M), temperature, and catalyst time factor on methanol conversion, H2- and CO-selectivity were studied for the SRM in the membrane reactor. A two-dimensional, pseudo-homogeneous membrane-reactor model for the SRM reactions was developed to study the membrane reactor performance. Experimental results show that a significant enhancement of methanol conversion is achievable in H2-selective Pd-MPSS membrane reactor by equilibrium shift. The S/M ratio has ma...
Phylogenomics. Ancestral primate viewed.

As techniques to sequence and map genomes and chromosomes improve, we should be able to learn more about our evolutionary history and what the genomes of our ancestors might have looked like. Three studies illustrate the potential of these approaches, comparing the genomes of 15 primate species with those of species from four non-primate orders to try and work out which are the ancestral mammalian genes.
Ronald Coase, the British Tradition, and the Future of Economic Method

Ronald Coase won the Nobel Prize in economics with an approach to doing economics that is distinctly old fashioned. In terms of method, Coase belongs to the late nineteenth and early twentieth century British tradition. To demonstrate this, we use the Appendix of this paper to juxtapose Coase’s views on method with those reflected in W.A.S. Hewins’ essay on economics in the classic 1911 edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica 2 For all intents and purposes Coase’s views are identical with those expressed in Hewins’ essay.3 This may seem a bit odd, given the close association of Coase’s name with the Chicago school. However, as Posner (1993b) and Medema (1994a,b; 1995b) have pointed out, it would be incorrect to associate Coase with the so-called Chicago view. In fact, Coase quite clearly identifies his own views with those of Alfred Marshall, and, given the important role played by Marshall in the establishment of the British approach to doing economics in the early 20th century, it becomes less surprising that Coase’s views coincide so closely with this British tradition.
The Attractiveness of Materials in Advanced Nuclear Fuel Cycles for Various Proliferation and Theft Scenarios

We must anticipate that the day is approaching when details of nuclear weapons design and fabrication will become common knowledge. On that day we must be particularly certain that all special nucl...
Nicotine metabolism and addiction among adolescent smokers

Author(s): Rubinstein, Mark L; Shiffman, Saul; Moscicki, Anna-Barbara; Rait, Michelle A; Sen, Saunak; Benowitz, Neal L | Abstract: AimsThe purpose of this study was to determine the association between the nicotine metabolic rate and smoking behavior, including addiction, in adolescent smokers.DesignBaseline data from a prospective study of adolescent smoking behaviors and nicotine metabolism.SettingThe setting was an out-patient university hospital in San Francisco.ParticipantsAdolescent smokers (n = 164) aged 13-17 years old.MeasurementsParticipants completed self-report measures of smoking behavior and nicotine dependence (modified Fagerstrom Tolerance Questionnaire: mFTQ). The nicotine metabolite ratio (NMR), a phenotypic marker of the rate of nicotine metabolism, was calculated using the ratio of concentrations of deuterium-labeled 3'-hydroxycotinine to cotinine-d(4) .FindingsParticipants reported smoking a mean of 2.86 cigarettes per day (CPD) [median = 1.78, standard deviation (SD) = 3.35] for 1.37 years (median = 1.0, SD = 1.36). Results from multivariate analyses accounting for age, race/ethnicity, gender and duration of smoking indicated that slower metabolizers smoked more CPD than faster metabolizers (the NMR was inversely related to CPD; P = 0.02). Slower metabolizers also showed greater dependence on the mFTQ (NMR was negatively associated with the mFTQ; P = 0.02).ConclusionsIn adolescence, slower clearance of nicotine may be associated with greater levels of addiction, perhaps mediated by a greater number of cigarettes smoked.
Photon avalanche effect in LaCl 3 : Pr 3 +

The phenomenon of photon avalanche, which involves both an excited state absorption process from a metastable level and a cross relaxation energy transfer process responsible for the large increases in population of this metastable level, has been investigated in ${\mathrm{LaCl}}_{3}:{\mathrm{Pr}}^{3+}.$ In this paper, we report on the intensity dependence of both the steady-state fluorescence and the temporal evolution of the avalanche signal as a function of temperature (80 K to room temperature). Comparisons are made between experimental results and mathematical models based on a six-level system described by a series of coupled rate equations combined with the propagation of a Gaussian beam. We develop a model with only one adjustable parameter, the excited state absorption cross section, which provides a good description of all of our experimental data. We have estimated values of the excited state absorption cross section for the various ${}^{3}{\stackrel{\ensuremath{\rightarrow}}{{\mathrm{H}}_{5}}}^{3}{\mathrm{P}}_{0}$ pumping transitions at different temperatures.
Interdisciplinary Innovations in Biomedical and Health Informatics Graduate Education

Objectives: Biomedical and health informatics (BHI) is a rapidly growing domain that relies on the active collaboration with diverse disciplines and professions. Educational initiatives in BHI need to prepare students with skills and competencies that will allow them to function within and even facilitate interdisciplinary teams (IDT). This paper describes an interdisciplinary educational approach introduced into a BHI graduate curriculum that aims to prepare informatics researchers to lead IDT research. Methods: A case study of the “gerontechnology” research track is presented which highlights how the curriculum fosters collaboration with and understanding of the disciplines of Nursing, Engineering, Computer Science, and Health Administration. Gerontechnology is a new interdisciplinary field that focuses on the use of technology to support aging. Its aim is to explore innovative ways to use information technology and develop systems that support independency and increase quality of life for senior citizens. As a result of a large research group that explores “smart home“ technologies and the use of information technology, we integrated this new domain into the curriculum providing a platform for computer scientists, engineers, nurses and physicians to explore challenges and opportunities with our informatics students and faculty. Results: The interdisciplinary educational model provides an opportunity for health informatics students to acquire the skills for communication and collaboration with other disciplines. Numerous graduate and postgraduate students have already participated in this initiative. The evaluation model of this approach is presented. Conclusion: Interdisciplinary educational models are required for health informatics graduate education. Such models need to be innovative and reflect the needs and trends in the domains of health care and information technology.
Practicing Law Online: Creating a Virtual Law Office

Virtual law practice is the online delivery of legal services through secure, online methods. Throughout this whitepaper the terms “virtual law practice” and “online delivery of legal services” will be interchangeable. This whitepaper will examine several models of online delivery within a law firm and provide a basic starting point for a firm to consider integrating online delivery into its existing business model.
Symbolic Heat: Gender, Health and Worship among the Tamils of South India and Sri Lanka.; Relocated Lives: Displacement and Resettlement in the Mahaweli Project, Sri Lanka.; Amiable Incoherence: Manipulating Histories and Modernities in a Batticaloa Hindu Temple.

Symbolic Heat: Gender, Health and Worship among the Tamils of South India and Sri Lanka. Dennis B. McGilvray. Ahmedabad, India: Mapin Publishing Pvt. Ltd., 1998. 72 pp. Relocated Lives: Displacement and Resettlement in the Mahaweli Project, Sri Lanka. Birgitte Refslund Sorensen. Amsterdam: VU University Press, 1996. 247 pp. Amiable Incoherence: Manipulating Histories and Modernities in. Batticaloa Hindu Temple. Mark P. Whitaker. Amsterdam: VU University Press, 1999. 302 pp.
Unforeseen and Unaccounted: the European Union, the Community Foundation for Northern Ireland, peacebuilding, and accountability

This article examines the case of the Community Foundation for Northern Ireland's (CFNI) experience as a primary recipient of peacebuilding aid from the European Union (EU) under the Special EU Programmes Body Special Support Programme for Peace and Reconciliation in Northern Ireland (SEUPB-EUSSPPR). The case serves as a lens into the tensions that such efforts create for community-based organizations as they seek both to honor their funder's accountability claims and their own needs to ensure legitimacy and efficacy with those with whom they interact so as to secure space and discretion to seek to catalyze social experimentation and learning. This paper argues the Foundation's experience and frustrations with EU accountability claims point up a difficulty with the SEUPB's comprehensive conceptualization of peacebuilding: It tends in practice to favor Union-prescribed aims and objectives over those its ‘partners’ derive from their daily efforts.
Constructs Assessed by the GARS-2: Factor Analysis of Data from the Standardization Sample

The GARS-2 (Gilliam 2006) is widely used for autism screening; however, the validity of its three conceptually-derived subscales has not been evaluated. In this study, exploratory (EFA) and confirmatory (CFA) factor analyses of data from matched subgroups of the standardization sample did not support the GARS-2 subscale structure. EFAs identified four factors in the model development subgroup (n = 496): stereotyped/repetitive behavior, stereotyped/idiosyncratic language, word use problems, and social impairment. CFAs supported this model in the replication subgroup (n = 494). Findings suggest that the GARS-2 subscales have limited clinical utility and that the Autism Index should be interpreted with caution. Although more research is needed, the clinical utility of the four empirically-derived scales may be limited by factors related to item content and test development procedures.
Modulation of solar irradiance by active regions

Hoyt and Eddy (1983) have modeled solar irradiance by accounting for active regions. It is presently noted, however, in contradiction to this model, that in active region modeling of solar irradiance care should be taken to not merely employ average contrasts of faculae. This caveat is especially applicable if the model proceeds to ignore the active region facular areas when their contrasts are low, since this doubly devalues the faculae contribution relative to that of sunspots.
Azeotropic graft polymerizations of dienes and acrylonitrile onto poly(propylene oxide)

Graft copolymerizations of isoprene or butadiene with acrylonitrile in an approximately 2:1 weight ratio onto poly(propylene oxide) are azeotropic. These products, when vulcanized with sulfur, yield elastomers with excellent tensile properties.
Methods for in vitro percutaneous absorption studies V: Permeation through damaged skin.

The permeation of compounds through skin damaged by different methods was compared because agents that are absorbed through skin are sometimes applied to a damaged barrier. The removal of the stratum corneum by stripping the skin with cellophane tape was the most effective method for enhancing absorption. A minimal increase in water permeation was obtained when one abrasion line was made with a hypodermic needle, but the absorption increased substantially when three to six lines were made across the site of application. Similar values were obtained with in vivo and in vitro techniques for penetration of cortisone and nicotinic acid through normal and abraded rat skin. Severe damage by UV irradiation to rats in vivo resulted in nicotinic acid absorption similar to that obtained in vitro through abraded or tape-stripped skin. Damage from mild irradiation could not be accurately duplicated by in vitro methods. The magnitude of the increase in absorption of seven chemicals through abraded human and rat skin was related to the extent to which the molecules were absorbed by the skin. The greatest increases in penetration were obtained with the compounds that were most poorly absorbed.
Influence of plastic deformation on hydrogen diffusion and permeation in stainless steels

Abstract Plastic deformation of ferritic stainless steel alloy AL 29-4-2 has been found to severely decrease the diffusivity and permeation of hydrogen and to increase the solubility somewhat. These changes are compared to the effects of deformation on these quantities in austenitic alloys. The differences in behavior of these classes of stainless steels are interpreted in terms of trapping and phase transformation behavior. The uniformly deformed material is studied in an effort to simulate the state of material at the tip of a hydrogen embrittlement crack. The observed differences in crack propagation behavior in the alloys can be rationalized in terms of hydrogen transport and solubility in the deformed state.
Serum transferrin receptor as a marker of erythropoiesis suppression in patients on chronic transfusion

In the management of patients requiring chronic transfusion, various parameters may be used to evaluate the degree of erythroid marrow suppression. The aim of our study was to assess which of these parameters provide the most useful assessment of erythropoiesis. We studied 27 chronically transfused patients, 19 with sickle cell disease (SS patients) and 8 with thalassemia. Thirty-one nonchronically transfused SS patients and 74 healthy children served as controls. We measured serum transferrin receptor levels, reticulocyte counts, hemoglobin (Hb) concentrations and erythropoietin levels. The serum transferrin receptor levels were very elevated in control SS patients and remained significantly elevated in those on transfusion therapy, but were normal in thalassemia patients, indicating a more complete suppression of erythropoiesis. The reticulocyte counts were elevated in all SS patients, even when on chronic transfusion, but were in the normal range in patients with thalassemia. Erythropoietin levels were elevated in patients with thalassemia and in all the SS patients. Hb levels negatively correlated with serum transferrin receptor and erythropoietin in all SS patients. In the transfused SS patients, a higher HbS level correlated with higher reticulocyte counts, transferrin receptor, and erythropoietin levels. In thalassemia patients, erythropoiesis was more completely suppressed, as reflected both by normal reticulocyte counts and near-normal transferrin receptor levels. Though the reticulocyte counts were not significantly different in the transfused SS patients, the serum transferrin receptor levels were less elevated than in SS patients not on transfusion. The serum transferrin receptor level appears to be the most useful marker of marrow erythropoietic activity in chronically transfused SS patients. We recommend that reticulocyte counts be integrated with periodic measurements of serum transferrin receptor levels.
Improved pertussis toxin production by Bordetella pertussis through adjusting the growth medium's ionic composition

Abstract Ionic composition and total ionic concentration of the growth medium were important factors in limiting productivities in aerated reactors used for the production of pertussis toxin and other antigens by Bordetella pertussis . Salt concentration has opposing effects on cell growth of wild-type B. pertussis and specific toxin formation. Sodium ion concentrations below 140 mM correlated with a precipitous decline in specific yields of pertussis toxin, an otherwise growth-associated product. High salt concentrations in the medium resulted in lower final cell concentrations but did not affect initial growth rates. A new medium is proposed that allows a 60 to 70% increase in both cell and toxin yields by replacing the sodium chloride in the “cyclodextrin liquid” (CL) medium with additional monosodium glutamate which provides both the sodium and the carbon and energy source.
XSTREAM: A practical algorithm for identification and architecture modeling of tandem repeats in protein sequences

Biological sequence repeats arranged in tandem patterns are widespread in DNA and proteins. While many software tools have been designed to detect DNA tandem repeats (TRs), useful algorithms for identifying protein TRs with varied levels of degeneracy are still needed. To address limitations of current repeat identification methods, and to provide an efficient and flexible algorithm for the detection and analysis of TRs in protein sequences, we designed and implemented a new computational method called XSTREAM. Running time tests confirm the practicality of XSTREAM for analyses of multi-genome datasets. Each of the key capabilities of XSTREAM (e.g., merging, nesting, long-period detection, and TR architecture modeling) are demonstrated using anecdotal examples, and the utility of XSTREAM for identifying TR proteins was validated using data from a recently published paper. We show that XSTREAM is a practical and valuable tool for TR detection in protein and nucleotide sequences at the multi-genome scale, and an effective tool for modeling TR domains with diverse architectures and varied levels of degeneracy. Because of these useful features, XSTREAM has significant potential for the discovery of naturally-evolved modular proteins with applications for engineering novel biostructural and biomimetic materials, and identifying new vaccine and diagnostic targets.
Reversible depression of hippocampus by local injections of anesthetics in monkeys.

Abstract In 5 unanesthetized monkeys equipped with intracerebral electrodes and chemitrodes, 2.5–10% dibucaine was continuously injected into the amygdala or hippocampus at a speed of 8–14 μl/h for 1–4 days with the following results: 1. 1. The local spontaneous electrical activity was depressed for 1–4 weeks in the injected region with minor or no modifications in other cerebral areas. 2. 2. Thresholds for after-discharge in the injected structure rose from a control value of 0.5–1.0 mA to above 6 mA and then slowly returned to normal in 2–4 weeks. Dibucaine modified the pattern and diminished the spread of electrically evoked after-discharges, but had only a minor effect, if any, on thresholds for motor manifestations. 3. 3. A few hours after the end of dibucaine injection, various types of epileptiform potentials appeared, localized within the injected area, and persisted for several days. 4. 4. Injection of 10% sodium phenobarbital or 4% xylocaine into the hippocampal region also depressed the local spontaneous activity and raised after-discharge thresholds without being followed by seizure activity. 5. 5. Injection of local anesthetics into the hippocampal region produced a transitory decrease in aggressiveness of the animals, without modifying alertness, or appetite, and without producing other behavioral manifestations.
Strength of a Ceramic at High Temperatures Under Biaxial and Uniaxial Tension

A design is presented for a fixture to test concentric-ring loaded disks and four-point loaded plates at high temperatures. In this fixture the loading plunger is guided by flexure plates to determine the load path with accuracy. The uniaxial and equibiaxial tensile strengths of a brittle material were measured at 982°C with this fixture. For lapped surfaces, the equibiaxial tensile strength of dense, isostatically pressed, sintered alumina was 16.0% lower than the uniaxial tensile strength. The uniaxial strength at 982°C was 42.3% lower than the previously reported value for comparable tests at room temperature. The effect of frictional forces and lateral constraint, of specimen and loading geometry, and of local stresses on the nominal stress are discussed.
Age-dependent effects of glutamate toxicity in the hippocampus.

Abstract While prolonged seizures can cause brain damage at any age, the extent of brain damage following prolonged seizures is highly age-dependent. Seizures in the immature brain are followed by far less histological damage than seizures of similar duration and intensity in mature animals. The reasons for this age-related phenomenon are unclear. Since seizure-induced cell death may be due to the neurotoxic effects of excessive glutamate release, we tested the hypothesis that the immature brain is less vulnerable to glutamate-induced neurotoxicity than the mature brain. We administered equal amounts of glutamate (0.5 μmol in 1.0 μl) unilaterally into the CA1 subfield of the hippocampus of rats at postnatal (P) days 10, 20, 30, and 60. Equal volumes of saline were injected in the contralateral hippocampus. Rats were killed 7 days later and their brains were examined for hippocampal cell loss. The size of the resultant hippocampal lesion was highly age-dependent. Minimal cell loss was noted in the P10 rats; lesions in the P20 rats were smaller than those at P30 and P60, which were similar in extent. This study demonstrates that the extent of glutamate neurotoxicity in the hippocampus is highly age-dependent, with immature hippocampi relatively resistant to glutamate-induced cell death.
State disturbance and pointer shift in protective quantum measurements

We investigate the disturbance of the state of a quantum system in a protective measurement for finite measurement times and different choices of the time-dependent system-apparatus coupling function. The ability to minimize this state disturbance is essential to protective measurement. We show that for a coupling strength that remains constant during the measurement interaction of duration $T$, the state disturbance scales as $T^{-2}$, while a simple smoothing of the coupling function significantly improves the scaling behavior to $T^{-6}$. We also prove that the shift of the apparatus pointer in the course of a protective measurement is independent of the particular time dependence of the coupling function, suggesting that the guiding principle for choosing the coupling function should be the minimization of the state disturbance. Our results illuminate the dynamics of protective measurement under realistic circumstances and may aid in the experimental realization of such measurements.
Compiler techniques for data partitioning of sequentially iterated parallel loops

This paper uses bottom-up, static program partitioning to minimize the execution time of parallel programs by reducing interprocessor communication. Program partitioning is applied to a parallel programming construct known as a sequentially iterated parallel loop. This paper develops and evaluates compiler techniques to automatically generate data partitions for sequentially iterated parallel loops that minimize interprocessor communication. These techniques could be included as a communication-reducing back end for existing parallelizing compilers.A multiprocessor model is defined to analyze program execution factors that lead to interprocessor communication. A model for the sequentially iterated parallel loop is defined to quantify communication patterns within a program. A vector notation is chosen to quantify communication across a global data set. Communication parameters used in generating data partitions are found and used within equations which are shown to generate rectangular and hexagonal partition shapes that minimize interprocessor communication.Experiments measuring the impact of communication on program performance and the improvements gained by using the automatically generated data partitions were conducted on a sixteen-processor Encore Multimax. The new method outperformed established data partitioning methods.
The temperature dependence of H + OH recombination in phosphorus oxide containing post-combustion gases

Abstract The temperature dependence of the rate of H + OH recombination is experimentally investigated using laser photolysis of high-temperature (1500–2500 K) water vapor. Parametric adjustment of reaction rate constants to fit a simulated OH signal with the experimental OH decay data gives a three-body reaction rate constant for H + OH + M → H 2 O + M that is larger than expected at low temperature and lower at high temperatures. This result could have negative consequences for hypersonic propulsion systems since much of the thrust producing radical recombination occurs at high temperature. When PH 3 combustion products are present in the photolyzed gas mixture at low concentration, the OH decay is much faster and dominated by catalytic reactions that include phosphorus oxides and acids. Parametric reaction rate analysis indicates that two reactions, H + PO 2 → HOPO and H + HOPO → H 2 + PO 2 are responsible for the increase in the overall rate of H + OH recombination. The temperature dependence of the phosphine catalyzed recombination reaction is adequately described by the rate constant estimates previously reported.
Conformational Changes in Protein Loops and Helices Induced by Post-Translational Phosphorylation

Post-translational phosphorylation is a ubiquitous mechanism for modulating protein activity and protein-protein interactions. In this work, we examine how phosphorylation can modulate the conformation of a protein by changing the energy landscape. We present a molecular mechanics method in which we phosphorylate proteins in silico and then predict how the conformation of the protein will change in response to phosphorylation. We apply this method to a test set comprised of proteins with both phosphorylated and non-phosphorylated crystal structures, and demonstrate that it is possible to predict localized phosphorylation-induced conformational changes, or the absence of conformational changes, with near-atomic accuracy in most cases. Examples of proteins used for testing our methods include kinases and prokaryotic response regulators. Through a detailed case study of cyclin-dependent kinase 2, we also illustrate how the computational methods can be used to provide new understanding of how phosphorylation drives conformational change, why substituting Glu or Asp for a phosphorylated amino acid does not always mimic the effects of phosphorylation, and how a phosphatase can “capture” a phosphorylated amino acid. This work illustrates how computational methods can be used to elucidate principles and mechanisms of post-translational phosphorylation, which can ultimately help to bridge the gap between the number of known sites of phosphorylation and the number of structures of phosphorylated proteins.
Contribution of Tropical Cyclones to the Global Precipitation from Eight Seasons of TRMM Data: Regional, Seasonal, and Interannual Variations

Abstract Based on the University of Utah Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) precipitation feature (PF) database, tropical cyclone PFs (TCPFs) are identified for over 600 storms that reached tropical storm intensity level or above around the globe during eight TC seasons from the period of 1998–2006. Each TC season includes 6 months yr−1. Six basins are considered: Atlantic (ATL), east-central Pacific (EPA), northwest Pacific (NWP), north Indian Ocean (NIO), south Indian Ocean (SIO), and South Pacific (SPA). TRMM 2A25- (precipitation radar) and 3B42- (multisatellite) derived rainfall amounts are used to assess the impact of tropical cyclone (TC) rainfall in altering the regional, seasonal, and interannual distribution of the global total rainfall during the TC seasons in the six basins. The global, seasonal, and interannual variations of the monthly rainfall inside TCPFs are presented. The fractional rainfall contributions by TCPFs are compared in different basins. The TRMM 2A25 and 3B42 retrievals...
Developmental Patterns in the Regulation of Chloride Homeostasis and GABAA Receptor Signaling by Seizures

GABA(A) receptors have dual functions during development. They depolarize immature neurons but hyperpolarize more mature neurons. This functional switch has been attributed to age-related differences in the relative abundance of cation chloride cotransporters, such as KCC2 and NKCC1, which regulate chloride homeostasis. Certain insults, such as trauma, ischemia, and seizures, if they occur when GABA(A)ergic signaling is hyperpolarizing, such as in the adult brain, can lead to reappearance of the immature, depolarizing synaptic responses to GABA(A) receptor activation. In certain cases, this has been associated with either reduced expression of KCC2 or increase in NKCC1. In epilepsy, the depolarizing effects of GABA(A) receptors have been proposed to be important for the acquisition and/or maintenance of the epileptic state. Using the kainic acid model of status epilepticus, we have studied the effects of repetitive neonatal episodes of status epilepticus on the expression of cation chloride cotransporter KCC2 in the neonatal hippocampus. In contrast to adults, seizures increased KCC2 mRNA expression in the CA3 region of the neonatal hippocampus. The contrasting patterns of regulation of KCC2 by seizures in mature and immature neurons may be one of the age-related factors that protect the neonatal brain against the development of epilepsy.
Differential forms and torsion in the fundamental group

Abstract A procedure is described which constructs a Lie algebra L(X) over the integers from an algebra of differential forms associated with a simplicial complex X. The algebra L(X) is an invariant of the fundamental group of X. For example, L(X) comes with a decreasing filtration whose associated graded Lie algebra is isomorphic to ⊕ k ≥ 1 ( G k G k + 1 ⊗ Q k ), where Gk is the kth lower central series subgroup of π1(X) and Qk is the smallest subring of the rationals containing 1 p for each prime p with p ≤ k. Hence L(X) contains information about torsion in the lower central series of π1(X). Thus L(X) contains the same information as a group completion of π1(X) defined by Lazard. Since the Lazard completion of a group is a stronger invariant than the Malcev completion, our results can be viewed as a strenthening of Sullivan's description of the Malcev completion of π1(X) in terms of differential forms.
Regenerative medicine: Of fish and men.

Stem cell therapeutics hold great promise, but obtaining optimal cell populations for transplantation remains a major challenge. High-throughput screens of zebrafish embryonic cells have enabled identification of small molecules that can direct the fate of pluripotent stem cells toward tissue-specific progenitors with high therapeutic potential.
THE NEUTRAL ORGANOPHOSPHORUS COMPOUNDS AS EXTRACTANTS

The properties of neutral organophosphorus compounds as solvents, in particular, solvents which form solvation complexes with inorganic molecules, were considered. Physical properties of the compounds are described. Phospnines, phosphine oxides, phosphinates, phosphonates, and phosphates were studied with respect to complex formation with inorganic compounds. The extraction of mineral acids by these compounds is discussed. (M.C.G.)
Use of Lowsley Tractor during Laparoscopic Prostatectomy to Reduce Urethrovesical Anastomotic Tension

We describe a technique to reduce the tension on the urethra while performing the urethrovesical anastomosis during a laparoscopic radical prostatectomy. A Lowsley tractor is passed through the urethral stump, and a single traction stitch is placed in the posterior bladder neck. The first anastomotic stitch is placed through the urethra and bladder neck at the 6 o'clock position but not tied. The traction stitch is then grasped with the wings of the Lowsley and retracted into the urethra, bringing the bladder neck and urethral stump into close proximity. While maintaining traction on the bladder neck, the previously placed 6 o'clock suture is tied. Before releasing the traction stitch from the Lowsley tractor and bladder neck, two additional stitches are placed at the 4 and 8 o'clock positions, completing the posterior anastomosis. Grasping the traction stitch with the Lowsley tractor relieves tension on the posterior urethra and places it on the bladder neck. This prevents urethral tears and gaps in the posterior wall. The anterior portion of the urethra and bladder neck remains open, maintaining vision. Creating a secure posterior anastomosis allows the remaining sutures to be placed under minimal tension. This technique uses an instrument readily available in the urology operating room and facilitates completion of the difficult anastomosis under minimal tension, resulting in a high-quality anastomosis with fewer gaps.
A Comparison of Software Fault Imputation Procedures

This work presents a detailed comparison of three imputation techniques, Bayesian multiple imputation, regression imputation and k nearest neighbor imputation, at various missingness levels. Starting with a complete real-world software measurement dataset called CCCS, missing values were injected into the dependent variable at four levels according to three different missingness mechanisms. The three imputation techniques are evaluated by comparing the imputed and actual values. Our analysis includes a three-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) model, which demonstrates that Bayesian multiple imputation obtains the best performance, followed closely by regression.
How Learning Disabled Adolescent Boys Make Moral Judgments

The purpose of this study was to investigate how learning disabled adolescents formulate moral judgments as compared to average achieving adolescents. Students were administered Kohlberg's Moral Judgment Interview. Compared to the average achieving adolescents, the learning disabled group showed less evidence of being able to view moral dilemmas from a community or societal perspective. Further, the LD group exhibited a substantial amount of reasoning from an egocentric perspective which focused on the needs and desires of the self. It is suggested that teachers implement strategies to facilitate the development of social perception and moral reasoning.
A trace compression algorithm targeting power estimation of long benchmarks

This paper presents an algorithm for compressing long traces generated using RTL or other fast simulation. The compressed traces can be used by power analysis tools to estimate power on the original traces. We show that the length of the compressed trace is independent of the length of original trace and is a function of circuit size (precisely, its active part) for which the trace was generated. Our experiments show up to 578× compression ratio on several long RTL traces (up to 320,000 clock transitions) used for power analysis on three industrial blocks (4K, 114K and 202K gates). This leads to significant runtime improvement, especially when the traces are reused over multiple power analysis runs. The dynamic power estimated using compressed traces is within 5% of the power analysis on original traces.