cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Assessing the Effectiveness of Surface Cleaning Methods in Intravitreal Injection Procedure Rooms

Purpose To assess cleaning effectiveness of room surfaces in an office-based intravitreal injection practice by using adenosine triphosphate (ATP) luminometry. Design Prospective, comparative case series. Participants A total of 792 intravitreal injection room surfaces were sampled (396 before cleaning, 396 after cleaning) using 3 cleaning methods. Methods Three cleaning methods were evaluated: baseline terminal cleaning, directed terminal cleaning, and enhanced terminal cleaning. For each method, residual ATP bioburden (relative light units [RLUs]/sample) was sampled from 9 high-touch injection room surfaces before and after terminal cleaning using the 3M Clean-Trace ATP System (3M Inc, St. Paul, MN). Surface ATP RLUs were used to compare cleaning methods and against an ATP benchmark of fewer than 250 RLU. Differences between cleaning methods were compared by using paired t tests with Bonferroni correction for 3 comparisons. Main Outcome Measures Surface ATP RLU levels. Results In baseline terminal cleaning and directed terminal cleaning, the median ATP level of all surfaces exceeded threshold when sampled after terminal cleaning (391 RLU and 264 RLU, respectively), and levels were increased significantly at the completion of the injection clinic and before terminal cleaning (780 RLU and 626 RLU, respectively; P P = 0.27), and was significantly lower than after the baseline terminal and directed terminal cleaning methods ( P Conclusions An easily adopted enhanced terminal cleaning program reduced surface ATP bioburden in intravitreal injection rooms to less than clean benchmarks used in nonophthalmologic healthcare settings.
A variability-generating circuit goes awry in a songbird model of the FOXP2 speech disorder.

FOXP2 mutations cause a monogenic speech disorder in humans. In this issue of Neuron, Murugan et al. (2013) show that knockdown of FoxP2 in the songbird basal ganglia causes abnormal vocal variability and excess bursting in a frontal cortical nucleus.
Invariant and orthonormal scalar measures derived from magnetic resonance diffusion tensor imaging

Abstract A diffusion tensor is a mathematical construct used to describe water diffusion in complicated biological structures. It describes a process which occurs in all directions simultaneously. It is difficult to comprehend or graphically display the information in the diffusion tensor. This paper describes a coordinate system approach for producing scalar measures which characterize key aspects of the diffusion tensor. The eigenvalues of the diffusion tensor are introduced as the three elements of a point in a Cartesian coordinate system. The Cartesian coordinates are then expressed in cylindrical and spherical coordinates. The orthonormal coordinates of the spherical system are particularly useful scalar measures of attributes of the diffusion tensor: One coordinate contains all the information about the overall magnitude of diffusion. Another contains all of the anisotropy information. The third coordinate contains all of the information about skewness. No information is lost when transforming the original eigenvalues to spherical coordinates.
Loss of contact between an elastic layer and half-space

The plane problem of smooth contact between an elastic layer and a half-space is analyzed. The layer is pressed against the half-space by a uniform load applied over its entire surface except for one region of finite length. The solution is given as the sum of solutions to two plane problems, one of which is known a priori. The analysis of the other problem leads to an inhomogeneous Fredholm integral equation for an auxiliary function that is related to the contact pressure. The boundedness of the contact stress at the end of the contact is used to determine the region of separation. The integral equation is solved numerically and the relevant physical quantities are computed and presented in the form of curves.
PARTIAL CHARACTERIZATION OF EYESTALK HORMONES CONTROLLING MOLT AND GONADAL DEVELOPMENT IN THE SPINY LOBSTER PANULIRUS ARGUS

ABSTRACT The eyestalk neurosecretory system of Crustacea contains several peptide factors affecting various important physiological processes. Gonad inhibiting hormone (GIH) and a molt inhibiting hormone (MIH) have been separated and partially characterized using Sephadex gel chromatography and polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. The eyestalks of the spiny lobster Panulirus argus were the source for these isolations, and activity was bioassayed in the fiddler crab Uca pugilator. Gonad inhibiting hormone has an apparent molecular weight near 5,000 daltons. Molt inhibiting hormone does not induce gonadal inhibition in fiddler crabs, but it does delay the onset of the molt cycle in eyestalkless crabs. Melanin dispersion in intact Uca pugilator was inversely correlated with gonadal growth.
Monomorphisms and epimorphisms in homotopy theory

A natural question to ask in any category ζ is whether a morphismf; X → Y in ζ which is simultaneously mono and epi is actually an equivalence. In this paper, we study this question for the category ℋ whose objects are pointed, path-connectedCW-spaces and whose morphisms are pointed homotopy classes of maps. We also continue our study of Hopfian and co-Hopfian objects of ℋ initiated in a recent joint paper with Peter Hilton.
Wave number shocks for the leading tail of Korteweg-de Vries solitary waves in slowly varying media

Abstract The leading tail for slowly varying solitary waves for the perturbed Korteweg-de Vries (KdV) equation is analyzed. The path of the core of the solitary wave is obtained and shown to provide a moving boundary for the leading tail. The leading tail is predicted to be triple valued within a penumbral caustic (envelope of characteristics) caused by the initial acceleration of the core. A rescaling in the neighborhood of the singularity shows that the solution there satisfies the diffusion equation. The solution involves an incomplete Airy-type exponential integral, where critical points (significant for Laplace's asymptotic method) satisfy the structure of the penumbral caustic. A wave number shock develops, which separates two different solitary wave tails, one due to the moving core and the other due to the initial condition. The shock velocity is that predicted from conservation of waves.
rationalizing sex: family planning and the making of modern lovers in urban Greece

Family planning has been imported to Greece as a means of encouraging individuals to become modern adults by rationalizing their sexual relations and fertility-control efforts. But family-planning discourse neglects how such factors as emotion and so-alled traditional belief—including gender norms— guide people's reasonable actions. In this article, I examine how the purported gender neutrality of family-planning advocacy and its reliance on riskmanagement models fails to speak to women's experiences and undermines family planners' goals for women's autonomy, [family planning, abortion, gender, sexuality, modernity, risk, Greece]
Cognitive Processes during Instrument Landing

Applications of artificial intelligence (AI) in the cockpit require a deeper understanding of the cognitive processes of the pilot. This paper describes ongoing research concerned with developing cognitive models of pilot behavior that can support the development of expert systems and machine reasoning within the cockpit. An experiment is reported where the behavior of pilots within a flight simulator is observed. Verbal instructions given by the controlling pilot in a “division of labor” task are used to identify salient features of pilot cognitive models of the task. The results of this experiment are interpreted in terms of their implications for the development of future expert systems within the cockpit. Continued research on the cognitive models used by pilots should permit the development of a knowledge base that will assist display design, training programs, and research on mental workload within the cockpit.
Structural Insights into the Autoinhibition and Posttranslational Activation of Histone Methyltransferase SmyD3.

Abstract The SmyD family represents a new class of chromatin regulators that is important in heart and skeletal muscle development. However, the critical questions regarding how they are regulated posttranslationally remain largely unknown. We previously suggested that the histone methyltransferase activity of SmyD1, a vital myogenic regulator, appears to be regulated by autoinhibition and that the possible hinge motion of the conserved C-terminal domain (CTD) might be central to the maintenance and release of the autoinhibition. However, the lack of direct evidence of the hinge motion has limited our further understanding of this autoinhibitory mechanism. Here, we report the crystal structure of full-length SmyD3 in complex with the methyltransferase inhibitor sinefungin at 1.7 A. SmyD3 has a two-lobed structure with the substrate binding cleft located at the bottom of a 15-A-deep crevice formed between the N- and C-terminal lobes. Comparison of SmyD3 and SmyD1 clearly suggests that the CTD can undergo a large hinge-bending motion that defines two distinct conformations: SmyD3 adopts a closed conformation with the CTD partially blocking the substrate binding cleft; in contrast, SmyD1 appears to represent an open form, where the CTD swings out by ∼ 12 A from the N-terminal lobe, forming an open cleft with the active site completely exposed. Overall, these findings provide novel structural insights into the mechanism that modulates the activity of the SmyD proteins and support the observation that a posttranslational activation, such as by molecular chaperon Hsp90, is required to potentiate the proteins.
Pressure-tube and calandria-tube deformation following a single-channel blockage event in ACR-700

Abstract One postulated accident scenario for the Advanced CANDU Reactor (ACR-700™) is the complete coolant flow blockage of a single pressure-tube (PT). The flow is not monitored within each individual PT, thus during the early stages of this accident the reactor remains at full power and full pressure, resulting in rapid coolant boil-off and fuel overheating. Melting of the Zircaloy (Zry) components of the fuel bundle can occur, with relocation of some molten material to the bottom of the PT, which may cause failure of the PT and/or the calandria-tube (CT). We analyzed several key phenomena occurring after the blockage, including coolant boil-off, cladding heat-up and melting, dripping of molten Zircaloy (Zry) from the fuel pin, thermal interaction between the molten Zry and the PT, localized bulging of the PT, and interaction of the bulged PT with the CT. The main findings of the study are as follows: (1) Most coolant boils off within 3 s of accident initiation. (2) The Zry cladding starts to melt between 7 and 10 s after accident initiation. (3) The very high heat-up rate typical of the flow blockage accident sequence ensures that the molten Zry would drip to the bottom of the PT. (4) After contacting the molten Zry, the PT and CT bulge out radially under the effect of the reactor pressure. (5) PT/CT failure occurs only if the postulated mass of molten Zry in contact with the PT is sufficiently large, i.e., >100 g. The characteristic time scales for this 100-g case are as follows: - PT bulging starts within 3 s of Zry/PT contact; - PT makes contact with the CT in another 3 s; - CT bulging starts in approximately 1 s; - CT failure occurs within another 6 s. Thus, the duration of the PT/CT deformation transient is 13 s, which gives a total duration of the accident (from PT blockage to PT/CT failure) of 20–23 s. The relatively simple models developed in this study and the estimates generated with these models provide a solid physical framework for the key phenomena in the single-channel flow blockage event in ACR-700. As such, they can also assist in the interpretation and verification of future analyses of this event conducted with more sophisticated codes and tools.
RAB4a- and RAB11a-dependent recycling and resensitization of the neurokinin 1 receptor

Neurokinin 1 receptor (NK1R) is an important mediator of depression, pain, and inflammation. Understanding the molecular mechanisms regulating NK1R trafficking is of importance because of the essential role of receptor transport in regulating cell function and probably disease. We examined NK1R trafficking and resensitization with regard to the concentration dependency of the ligand, substance P. NK1R trafficking was characterized using GFP-coupled β-arrestin, rab5, rab4, and rab11. NK1R resensitization was calculated by calcium mobilization assays. NK1R stimulated with 10 nm substance P (SP) rapidly internalized. NK1R and β-arrestin were sequestrated in the perinuclear location, as demonstrated by confocal microscopy. NK1R did not reappear at the cell surface 30 min after agonist stimulation. Expression of a dominant negative rab5a mutant impaired translocation from superficial to perinuclear locations at the stage of the early endosome. Similarly, β-arrestin and rab5a induced rapid internalization of NK1R stimulated with 1 nm SP. In contrast, 1 nm SP mediated transport of receptor and β-arrestin from the plasma membrane to only superficial vesicles. NK1R rapidly recycled after rab4 and rab11 activation. Stimulation with 1 nm SP did not induce sequestration of NK1R and associated proteins but resulted in receptor resensitization in less than 5 min. Overexpression of rab5a-induced NK1R transport to perinuclear compartments. Thus, while β-arrestin appears to be important for receptor endocytosis, the transport of NK1R seems to be regulated by rab5a. This study identifies a concentration-dependent trafficking and resensitization mechanism of NK1R, indicating a new function of rab5 as a control protein for directing NK1R into different intracellular compartments and suggesting a role of rab11 in GPCR recycling via early sorting endosomes.
Hyperkalemia in acute glomerulonephritis due to transient hyporeninemic hypoaldosteronism.

Hyperkalemia in acute glomerulonephritis due to transient hyporeninemic hypoaldosteronism. Transient hyperkalemia has been reported to occur in patients with acute glomerulonephritis, but the pathogenetic mechanism has not been investigated systematically. We studied the mechanism of hyperkalemia (5.7 to 6.7 mmol/liter) in four men with post-infectious glomerulonephritis. All four patients had clinical findings consistent with acute glomerulonephritis (edema, hypertension, proteinuria, hematuria, and an elevated ASO titer) and a renal biopsy performed in three of the patients confirmed the diagnosis. In comparison to normal subjects (N = 18), plasma aldosterone (5.4 ± 1.6 vs. 22.8 ± 2.6 ng/dl, P
Dietary γ-Linolenic Acid Modulates Macrophage–Vascular Smooth Muscle Cell Interactions Evidence for a Macrophage-Derived Soluble Factor That Downregulates DNA Synthesis in Smooth Muscle Cells

Macrophages and smooth muscle cells (SMCs) are two of the major reactive cell types in atherosclerosis, a disease characterized by uncontrolled proliferation of SMCs. The present study was designed to determine how dietary oils containing gamma-linolenic acid (GLA) (primrose oil [PO]) and long-chain n-3 fatty acids (fish oil) influence the ability of macrophages to modulate SMC DNA synthesis in vitro. Mice were fed one of four diets containing 10% (wt/wt) corn oil (CO), PO, fish oil-CO mix (FC; 9:1, wt/wt), or fish oil-PO mix (FP; 1:3, wt/wt) for 2 weeks. Resident peritoneal macrophages were isolated from these mice and seeded on a semipermeable membrane with a 30-kDa cutoff. Macrophages were preincubated with or without 50 mumol/L indomethacin (a cyclooxygenase inhibitor) or 50 mumol/L L655,238 (a 5-lipoxygenase inhibitor) for 30 minutes and subsequently cocultured with naive murine aortic SMCs grown on culture dishes. DNA synthesis in SMCs and prostaglandin formation in coculture supernatants were measured at the end of a 39-hour incubation period. SMC DNA synthesis was inhibited by 28% and 60% in PO and FP diets containing 10.1% and 8.2% GLA, respectively, relative to the control CO diet containing no GLA or long-chain n-3 fatty acid. A fourfold increase in the levels of PGE1, a potent antiproliferative eicosanoid derived from GLA, was observed in the PO and FP groups relative to the control CO group.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Retroperitoneal Trapdoor Endarterectomy for Paravisceral “Coral-reef” Aortic Plaque:

A 67-year-old woman presented to the emergency room with progressive claudication, chest pain, and flash-pulmonary edema. Her past medical history was significant for poorly controlled hypertension requiring multiple antihypertensive medications, renal insufficiency, and tobacco abuse. Diagnostic evaluation revealed an extensive exophytic plaque localized to the paravisceral aorta resulting in high-grade stenoses of the proximal aorta as well as the celiac, superior mesenteric, and left renal arteries. She underwent surgical revascularization through a retroperitoneal aortic exposure and trapdoor aortic endarterectomy, the technical conduct of which is described in this manuscript. The patient recovered uneventfully and experienced resolution of her claudication and pulmonary symptoms, improved blood pressure control, and normalization of her creatinine. Review of the medical literature pertaining to management of proximal occlusive disease of the abdominal aorta is discussed.
Xenopus bagpipe-related gene, koza, may play a role in regulation of cell proliferation.

The homeobox gene koza is a new member of the vertebrate bagpipe-related gene family. Embryonic expression of koza is observed at highest levels in the muscle layer of the somites and, during later development, is restricted to the lateral somitic cells, which correspond to slow twitch muscle tissue. Expression of koza is also observed in the myocardial layer of the heart and in the cement gland. In each of these tissues, koza transcription commences only after the expression of terminal differentiation markers. By injection of synthetic mRNA, we show that overexpression of koza leads to an apparent decrease in the number of cells in the somites. No reduction in cell number is observed when koza is present in neural tissues, suggesting that koza exhibits some tissue specificity in regulation of cell proliferation. Embryonic manipulations show that restriction of koza expression to the slow twitch muscle layer is independent of axial structures but is, at least partly, regulated by signals arising in ectodermal tissue. Finally, in Drosophila, bagpipe expression is regulated by the hedgehog signaling pathway. By using ectopic expression, we show that koza transcription is positively regulated by banded hedgehog. This result indicates that regulation of bagpipe expression by hedgehog signaling is evolutionarily conserved.
Union Presence, Class, and Individual Earnings Inequality:

This article attempts to expand our understanding of the effects of unions on the earnings of workers by examining several dimensions of union presence simultaneously. Specifically, the authors examine the direct effects of unions (union membership) and the indirect effects of intraindustry union threats (union density) and interindustry union threats (upstream and downstream unionization) on earnings inequality. The authors examine how these dimensions of union presence affect earnings of workers in different locations in the class structure using class distinctions developed by Wright (1985). They find that union presence has a complicated relationship to earnings of workers in different locations in the class structure. Although union membership positively affects the earnings of all workers, the positive effects of union density are confined to proletarians. Downstream unionization positively affects the earnings of both unionized and nonunionized managers and credentialed workers in a linear fashion....
Prototyping with GNU radio and the USRP - where to begin

In compliance with FCC regulations and in response to factors such as cost and consumer demand, many devices are engineered such that they can only receive or transmit in a specific mode of operation or in a fixed range of frequencies. This is the state of many radio peripherals, tuners, and television sets. It is naturally of interest to consider devices that can receive a variety of communications modes or waveforms. Fortunately, software defined radio (SDR) technology enables many waveforms to be processed by a single hardware platform by simply changing its programming. This paper discusses several applications that can be implemented using an open source software (OSS) digital signal processing (DSP) library and the universal software radio peripheral that was developed with GNU radio.
Crumpled glass phase of randomly polymerized membranes in the large d limit

Tethered phantom membranes with quenched disorder in the internal preferred metric are studied in the limit of large embedding space dimension d↦∞. We find that the instability of the flat phase previously demonstrated via ϵ-expansion is towards a spin-glass-like phase which we call the crumpled glass phase. We propose a spin-glass order parameter that characterizes this phase and derive the free energy which describes the crumpled, flat and crumpled glass phases is described by local tangents which vanish on average, but display a nonzero Edwards-Anderson spin-glass order parameter. From the saddle point equations at large d we obtain the equation of state, phase diagram and the exponents characterizing these phases. We estimate the effects of the higher order corrections in the 1/d expansion by utilizing previous results for pure membranes. We use Flory arguments to calculate the wandering exponents and discuss the relevance of self-avoidance in the crumpled glass phase.
A geometric approach to multiple-channel signal detection

The paper introduces the generalized coherence (GC) estimate and examines its application as a statistic for detecting the presence of a common but unknown signal on several noisy channels. The GC estimate is developed as a natural generalization of the magnitude-squared coherence (MSC) estimate-a widely used statistic for nonparametric detection of a common signal on two noisy channels. The geometrical nature of the GC estimate is exploited to derive its distribution under the H/sub 0/ hypothesis that the data channels contain independent white Gaussian noise sequences. Detection thresholds corresponding to a range of false alarm probabilities are calculated from this distribution. The relationship of the H/sub 0/ distribution of the GC estimate to that of the determinant of a complex Wishart-distributed matrix is noted. The detection performance of the three-channel GC estimate is evaluated by simulation using a white Gaussian signal sequence in white Gaussian noise. Its performance is compared with that of the multiple coherence (MC) estimate, another nonparametric multiple-channel detection statistic. The GC approach is found to provide better detection performance than the MC approach in terms of the minimum signal-to-noise ratio on all data channels necessary to achieve desired combinations of detection and false alarm probabilities. >
Applying a Developmental Approach to Injury Prevention

The epidemiology of unintentional injury and violence, including likely causes and individuals' abilities to respond to risks, are closely related to the stages of human development. The epidemiolo...
Précis of Foundations of language: brain, meaning, grammar, evolution.

The goal of this study is to reintegrate the theory of generative grammar into the cognitive sciences. Generative grammar was right to focus on the child's acquisition of language as its central problem, leading to the hypothesis of an innate Universal Grammar. However, generative grammar was mistaken in assuming that the syntactic component is the sole course of combinatoriality, and that everything else is "interpretive." The proper approach is a parallel architecture, in which phonology, syntax, and semantics are au- tonomous generative systems linked by interface components. The parallel architecture leads to an integration within linguistics, and to a far better integration with the rest of cognitive neuroscience. It fits naturally into the larger architecture of the mind/brain and per- mits a properly mentalistic theory of semantics. It results in a view of linguistic performance in which the rules of grammar are directly involved in processing. Finally, it leads to a natural account of the incremental evolution of the language capacity.
Effects of Botulinum Neurotoxin a on Protein Phosphorylation in Synaptosomes

The phosphorylation of presynaptic proteins was examined in the presence of chlorpromazine using synaptic lysates derived from rat brain synaptosomes that had been preincubated with or without botulinum neurotoxin A. Chlorpromazine increased the phosphorylated state of a number of phosphoproteins with apparent molecular weights (Mrs) between 40 and 60 kilodaltons. The drug’s most prominent effect was a 2.5–3.5-fold increase in the incorporation of phosphate into a peptide of Mr~43 kilodaltons (pp43), as determined by sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. After preincubation with toxin, the chlorpromazine-promoted increase in the phosphorylated state of pp43 was inhibited in a concentration- and temperature-dependent manner.
Fast concurrent lock-free binary search trees

We present a new lock-free algorithm for concurrent manipulation of a binary search tree in an asynchronous shared memory system that supports search, insert and delete operations. In addition to read and write instructions, our algorithm uses (single-word) compare-and-swap (CAS) and bit-test-and-set (SETB) atomic instructions, both of which are commonly supported by many modern processors including Intel~64 and AMD64.In contrast to existing lock-free algorithms for a binary search tree, our algorithm is based on marking edges rather than nodes. As a result, when compared to other lock-free algorithms, modify (insert and delete) operations in our algorithm work on a smaller portion of the tree, thereby reducing conflicts, and execute fewer atomic instructions (one for insert and three for delete). Our experiments indicate that our lock-free algorithm significantly outperforms all other algorithms for a concurrent binary search tree in many cases, especially when contention is high, by as much as 100%.
The Effect of Age at Lighting on Costs and Revenues in Production of Hatching Eggs in Large White Turkeys

Abstract This study was undertaken to determine the best age to initiate reproduction in turkey hens in order to obtain optimum returns from the production of hatching eggs. In Trial one, they were lighted at 32, 36 and 40 weeks of age while in Trial two, the females were lighted at 28, 32 and 36 weeks of age. Data were collected on body weight at housing and at end of production period, egg weight, egg production, fertility, hatchability and number of poults on two trials of Large White turkey females. Returns for the production of hatching eggs were calculated using variable costs (estimated placement value of hens at the time of housing and feed costs during the production period) and total revenues (value of fertile eggs produced and salvage value of hens at the end of the production period). The variable costs were highest for the oldest groups (36- and 40-week age groups). The total revenues were highest for 32- and 36-week age groups. The 32- and 36-week age groups had the highest net return per hen. In Trial 2, the eggs weighing 70 grams or less and 101 grams or more were classified as unsettable. Since the 28-week age group had a larger percentage of eggs being classified as small, returns from this group were reduced due to the production of a larger number of small eggs. Therefore, the best age at which to provide stimulatory light to stimulate Large White turkey hens into production from the standpoint of hatching egg returns is between 32 and 36 weeks of age.
Butyrate induces profound changes in gene expression related to multiple signal pathways in bovine kidney epithelial cells

Global gene expression profiles of bovine kidney epithelial cells regulated by sodium butyrate were investigated with high-density oligonucleotide microarrays. The bovine microarray with 86,191 distinct 60mer oligonucleotides, each with 4 replicates, was designed and produced with Maskless Array Synthesizer technology. These oligonucleotides represent approximately 45,383 unique cattle sequences. 450 genes significantly regulated by butyrate with a median False Discovery Rate (FDR) = 0 % were identified. The majority of these genes were repressed by butyrate and associated with cell cycle control. The expression levels of 30 selected genes identified by the microarray were confirmed using real-time PCR. The results from real-time PCR positively correlated (R = 0.867) with the results from the microarray. This study presented the genes related to multiple signal pathways such as cell cycle control and apoptosis. The profound changes in gene expression elucidate the molecular basis for the pleiotropic effects of butyrate on biological processes. These findings enable better recognition of the full range of beneficial roles butyrate may play during cattle energy metabolism, cell growth and proliferation, and possibly in fighting gastrointestinal pathogens.
Women in Parole Respect and Rapport

Although the number of females in law enforcement has increased in recent years, research suggests that the uniquely gendered contributions of females are minimized in favor of traditional modes of law enforcement, emphasizing physical presence, authoritative commands, and demonstrative control. This research examines women in parole, using in-depth interviews with a small convenience sample of female parole agents in California. Participants discussed their experiences as parole agents from the perspective of women in a predominantly male occupation. Overwhelmingly, they emphasized traditionally associated female traits of intuition, verbal communication, and relationships, over physical tactics. Participants emphasized the importance of building respect and rapport with parolees in multiple contexts, including in the parolees' homes, with the families of parolees, and at parolees' places of employment. Participants suggested that this approach ensures their personal safety and enhances parolee compliance, especially when considering their subjective account of experiences by male parole agents.
Scale Time Offset Robust Modulation for code division multiaccess

This paper introduces and analyzes Scale-Time Offset Robust Modulation (STORM) for use in code division multiaccess (CDMA) systems using spread quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK) to increase the capacity of a CDMA network. Since current commercial CDMA systems have dedicated spectrum, the capacity is primarily limited by the interference of other CDMA users; thus, power control and multiuser interference mitigation are the focus of CDMA capacity enhancements. Although extensive research in these areas continues, significant, robust, practical capacity enhancements have been difficult to realize for existing commercial CDMA systems such as Wideband-CDMA (WCDMA). STORM offers potential to practically enhance the capacity of CDMA systems by robustly realizing more rapid power control and more efficient multiuser interference mitigation.
Mediterranean Quaternary sapropels, an immediate response of the african monsoon to variation of insolation

Abstract In the subsurface of the East Mediterranean Sea, eleven discrete basin-wide, organic-rich, black sapropels were deposited during the last 465 000 years. They are dated by oxygen isotopic chronostratigraphy. The most recent sapropel has been shown to be the consequence of heavy Nile River summer floods due to increased monsoonal summer precipitation over Ethiopia, and not of Scandinavian ice-sheet meltwater influx into the East Mediterranean Sea as was previously believed. While most sapropels were deposited during interglacials, two thick sapropels formed during glacial periods, as shown by their position in the oxygen isotopic stratigraphy and by their pollen record in core RC9–181. The new evidence presented here is that the sapropel sequence in this core, including the two glacial sapropels, correlates on a one-to-one basis with the highest values of an index of insolation on top of the atmosphere. The concept of this index derives from an analysis of the African monsoon process. The index variation is computed for the last 465 000 years from the caloric northern summer insolation in the tropical latitudes, controlled by variations of the Earth's orbital parameters. It is conjectured that this index might be linked through the climate system to the monsoonal precipitation which in Africa produces the Nile River summer flood.
Role-based authorization constraints specification using Object Constraint Language

The purpose of access control is to limit the actions on a computer system that a legitimate user can perform. Role-based access control (RBAC) has generated great interest in the security community as a flexible approach in access control. An important aspect of RBAC is constraints that constrain what components in RBAC are allowed to do. Although researchers have identified useful constraints using formal specification languages such as RCL2000, there still exists a demand to have constraint specification languages for system developers who are working on secure systems development. The authors discuss another approach to specifying constraints using a de facto constraint specification language in the software engineering arena. We use a declarative language, Object Constraint Language (OCL) that is part of the Unified Modeling Language (UML) and has been used in object oriented analysis and design. We describe how to specify previously identified role-based authorization constraints, and the future direction of this work is also addressed.
Raman spectral probing of electronic transition energy Eii variation of individual SWNTs under torsional strain.

We present herein a rational approach to probe the torsional strain-induced electronic transition energy Eii variation of individual SWNTs by resonant Raman spectroscopy (RRS). When a SWNT was manipulated by AFM tip through a path perpendicular to SWNT axis, both torsional and uniaxial strain would be introduced in SWNTs. Under the torsional strain, resonant Raman spectral mapping along a SWNT detected an M-shaped frequency ( ˆ RBM) and W-shaped intensity (IS) variation of radial breathing mode (RBM) spectra, which were induced by the elastic retraction of the nanotubes in combination with the friction after the tip has been removed. The electronic transition energy Eii variation along SWNTs by torsional strain follows a family pattern based on q ) (n - m) mod 3: for semiconducting SWNTs, E33 S increases for q )+ 1, E33 S decreases and E22 S increases for q ) -1, and for metallic SWNTs, E11 M always increases.
Analog VLSI Circuits for Attention-Based, Visual Tracking

A one-dimensional visual tracking chip has been implemented using neuromorphic, analog VLSI techniques to model selective visual attention in the control of saccadic and smooth pursuit eye movements. The chip incorporates focal-plane processing to compute image saliency and a winner-take-all circuit to select a feature for tracking. The target position and direction of motion are reported as the target moves across the array. We demonstrate its functionality in a closed-loop system which performs saccadic and smooth pursuit tracking movements using a one-dimensional mechanical eye.
Overview of the LIFE fuel cycle

The Laser Inertial Fusion Energy (LIFE) engine is a laser-driven inertial fusion energy system being developed with the goal to deliver fusion power in the next decade. A pre-conceptual design is being developed for the LIFE fuel cycle, with the purpose of maximizing the potential safety advantages of fusion energy. Some key features of the LIFE fuel cycle include a high tritium fuel burn-up fraction, a relatively high tritium breeding ratio, low tritium permeation from the coolant/breeder, and limited tritium inventories throughout the facility. The present paper offers an overview the pre-conceptual design of the LIFE fuel cycle, including a summary of the development plan for the delivery of the related tritium processing equipment.
Progression of alignment in stretched CNT sheets determined by wide angle X-ray scattering

Abstract Wide angle X-Ray scattering was used to measure the progression of alignment when stretching carbon nanotube (CNT) sheets. The nanotubes were grown by an aerogel chemical vapor deposition process and drawn onto a drum rotating at a draw rate of 15 m/min to form a sheet. Samples were cut from this sheet at 0°, 10°, 25°, 45° and 90° with respect to the drawing direction. Samples stretched along the drawing direction reached 28% elongation at failure, whereas samples stretched 90° to the drawing direction reached 44% elongation at failure. In spite of this, the 0° sample had 50% of its nanotubes aligned along the stretching axis, while the 90° sample had 40% of its nanotubes aligned within ±10° of the stretching axis. The strength and modulus of samples cut along the growth direction were 1.8× and 4.9× higher than those cut in the 90° direction, with a smooth drop in strength observed as the cutting direction increased from 0° to 90°. This work reveals the relationship between sheet scale deformation and micro scale CNT reorientation.
Bacterial Survival on Respirator Filters and Surgical Masks

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently developed recommendations for respirators worn to minimize exposures to Mycobacterium tuberculosis. These recommendations include criteria fo...
Densification of Ionic Liquid Molecules within a Hierarchical Nanoporous Carbon Structure Revealed by Small-Angle Scattering and Molecular Dynamics Simulation

The molecular-scale properties of the room temperature ionic liquid (RTIL) 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl) imide, [C4mim+][Tf2N–], confined in nanometer-scale carbon pores have been investigated using small-angle X-ray and neutron scattering and fully atomistic molecular dynamics simulations. [C4mim+][Tf2N–] densities significantly higher than that of the bulk fluid at the same temperature and pressure result from the strong affinity of the RTIL cation with the carbon surface during the initial filling of slitlike, subnanometer micropores along the mesopore surfaces. Subsequent filling of cylindrical ∼8 nm mesopores in the mesoporous carbon matrix is accompanied by weak RTIL densification. The relative size of the micropores compared to the ion dimension, and the strong interaction between the RTIL and the slit-like micropore, disrupt the bulk RTIL structure. This results in a low-excluded volume, high-RTIL ion density configuration. The observed interfacial phenomena are simulate...
An automated data analysis pipeline for GC-TOF-MS metabonomics studies

Recent technological advances have made it possible to carry out high-throughput metabonomics studies using gas chromatography coupled with time-of-flight mass spectrometry. Large volumes of data are produced from these studies and there is a pressing need for algorithms that can efficiently process and analyze data in a high-throughput fashion as well. We present an Automated Data Analysis Pipeline (ADAP) that has been developed for this purpose. ADAP consists of peak detection, deconvolution, peak alignment, and library search. It allows data to flow seamlessly through the analysis steps without any human intervention and features two novel algorithms in the analysis. Specifically, clustering is successfully applied in deconvolution to resolve coeluting compounds that are very common in complex samples and a two-phase alignment process has been implemented to enhance alignment accuracy. ADAP is written in standard C++ and R and uses parallel computing via Message Passing Interface for fast peak detectio...
Integrating Environment and Trade

John Jackson, with his prodigious knowledge and outstanding scholarship, was always intrigued by the intersection of international trade law with other areas of international law, whether environment, human rights, labor, or yet other areas. In fall 1999, we initiated a joint international law seminar on environment and trade, and coedited a book from the seminar, Reconciling Environment and Trade. John agreed to put the word environment before trade in the title for the seminar and for the book. John fervently believed in the power of dispute settlement and was intrigued with using it as a format for studying environment and trade issues. A growing number of cases before the World Trade Organization (WTO), and before the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) dispute settlement panels have dealt with environmental concerns in the context of international trade law. The disputes have primarily involved the GATT, the Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS) Agreement and the Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) Agreement. The seminar and the subsequent book focused on disputes involving public health, air pollution, food safety, endangered species, and environmental risks/biosafety. Together we authored the chapter, ‘The Framework for Environment and Trade Disputes’. John recognized that international trade law and other fields of law needed to be effectively reconciled so that legitimate measures were respected without compromising the integrity of international trade law and that measures taken under the rubric of other areas of law were not used as subterfuges for violations of international trade law. Both the 1992 Rio Conference on Environment and Development and the Preamble to the 1994 WTO Agreement recognize the goal of sustainable development, which provides an overarching framework for integrating both fields of law. The trade law distinction between product and process characteristics is important for sustainable development. From the environmental perspective, the process for producing a product is often more important than the product, e.g., harvesting shrimp by methods that kill turtles, and production processes that emit lots of carbon dioxide. The problem is not whether to adhere rigidly to the product–process
What Makes Siblings Different? The Development of Sibling Differences in Academic Achievement and Interests

To illuminate processes that contribute to the development of sibling differences, this study examined cross-lagged links between parents' beliefs about sibling differences in academic ability and differences between siblings' grade point averages (GPAs), and cross-lagged links between differences in siblings' GPAs and sibling differences in academic interests. Data were collected from mothers, fathers, firstborn youth (M age at Time 1 = 15.71, SD = 1.07), and secondborn youth (M age at Time 1 = 13.18, SD = 1.29) from 388 European American families on 3 annual occasions. Findings revealed that, after controlling for siblings' average grades and prior differences in performance, parents' beliefs about sibling differences in academic ability predicted differences in performance such that youth rated by parents as relatively more competent than their sibling earned relatively higher grades the following year. Siblings' relative school performance, however, did not predict parents' beliefs about differences between siblings' competencies. Further, after controlling for average interests and grades, sibling differences in GPA predicted differences in siblings' interests such that youth who had better grades than their siblings reported relatively stronger academic interests the following year. Differences in interest, however, did not predict sibling differences in GPA. Findings are discussed in terms the role of sibling dynamics in family socialization.
Characterization of 1/f noise in scaled high-K NMOS transistors and SONOS nonvolatile semiconductor memory (NVSM) devices

The incorporation of high-K dielectrics into the MOS system addresses the issue of gate leakage current; however, the process gives rise to other issues such as an observed increase in the trap density near the silicon interface, which results in a one or two orders of magnitude increase in the 1/f noise than its SiO 2 counterpart. Noise, especially 1/f noise, becomes more important when devices are scaled, in analog design and both logic and memory areas. This paper presents our work on noise characterization of scaled NMOS transistors with composite gate dielectrics and metal electrodes and SONOS NVSMs.
Post-translationally modified human lens crystallin fragments show aggregation in vitro.

Abstract Background Crystallin fragments are known to aggregate and cross-link that lead to cataract development. This study has been focused on determination of post-translational modifications (PTMs) of human lens crystallin fragments, and their aggregation properties. Methods Four crystallin fragments-containing fractions (Fraction I [∼3.5 kDa species], Fraction II [∼3.5–7 kDa species], Fraction III [∼7–10 kDa species] and Fraction IV [>10–18 kDa species]), and water soluble high molecular weight (WS-HMW) protein fraction were isolated from water soluble (WS) protein fraction of human lenses of 50–70 year old-donors. The crystallin fragments of the Fractions I–IV were separated by two-dimensional (2D)-gel electrophoresis followed by analysis of their gel-spots by mass spectrometry. The Fractions I–IV were examined for their molecular mass, particle-diameters, amyloid fibril formation, and for their aggregation by themselves and with WS-HMW proteins. Results Crystallin fragments in Fractions I–IV were derived from α-, β- and γ-crystallins, and their 2D-gel separated spots contained multiple crystallins with PTMs such as oxidation, deamidation, methylation and acetylation. Crystallin fragments from all the four fractions exhibited self-aggregated complexes ranging in M r from 5.5×10 5 to 1.0×10 8 Da, with diameters of 10–28 nm, and amyloid fibril-like formation, and aggregation with WS-HMW proteins. Conclusion The crystallin fragments exhibited several PTMs, and were capable of forming aggregated species by themselves and with WS-HMW proteins, suggesting their potential role in aggregation process during cataract development. General significance Crystallin fragments play a major role in human cataract development.
Assisted automation: Three learning experiences in architectural robotics:

Fueled by long-standing dreams of both material efficiency and aesthetic liberation, robots have become part of mainstream architectural discourses, raising the question: How may we nurture an etho...
Conceptualizing an HIV Diagnosis Through a Model of Grief and Bereavement

For people living with HIV/AIDS, grief and bereavement typically refer to the loss of life felt in the HIV community. However, changes in HIV treatments allow care providers to view HIV grief in a way that considers physical, social, and emotional loss, as well as a loss of the life they had previously pictured for themselves. Kubler-Ross's (1969) model of bereavement is presented as a way to conceptualize clients living with HIV who are dealing with grief and bereavement. In addition, popular bereavement counseling approaches relevant to clients with HIV are discussed, and a case illustration is provided.
On the Scaling of Entropy Viscosity in High Order Methods

In this work, we outline the entropy viscosity method and discuss how the choice of scaling influences the size of viscosity for a simple shock problem. We present examples to illustrate the performance of the entropy viscosity method under two distinct scalings.
AP and Ca2+ alternans: An inseparable couple.

Cardiac action potential (AP) repolarization alternans is a risk factor for life threatening cardiac arrhythmias. At the cellular level cardiac alternans is defined as cyclic, beat-to-beat alternat...