cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
The development of vegetative zonation patterns in restored prairie pothole wetlands

Summary 1 The spatial structure of plant communities can have strong impacts on ecosystem functions and on associated animal communities. None the less, spatial structure is rarely used as a measure of restoration success. 2 The restoration of hundreds of wetlands in the prairie pothole region in the mid-western USA provided an excellent opportunity to determine whether the re-establishment of abiotic conditions is sufficient to restore structure, composition and spatial patterning of the vegetation. 3 We mapped the topography and vegetative distributions in 17 restored and nine natural wetlands. We used these data to compare the composition and spatial structure of the vegetation in both wetlands types. 4 The composition of the plant communities differed between restored and natural wetlands; the restored wetlands lacked the well-developed sedge-meadow community found in most natural wetlands. However, the spatial heterogeneity was similar, although the zonation patterns were less well-developed in the restored wetlands. 5 Although the overall structure was similar, species distributions differed among wetland types, such that species were found more than 10 cm higher in restored wetlands than in natural wetlands. 6 Synthesis and applications. This study illustrates that restored plant community composition and spatial structure may converge on their targets at different rates. Evaluations of restoration success should consider spatial structure of communities along with compositional and functional metrics.
Secular Trends in the Presentation and Management of Functioning Insulinoma at the Mayo Clinic, 1987-2007

Objective: The objective of the study was to assess changes in the presentation and diagnostic and radiological evaluation of patients with surgically confirmed insulinoma at the Mayo Clinic 1987–2007. Methods: A retrospective analysis of patients with insulinoma was conducted. Patients with prior gastric bypass were excluded. Results: A total of 237 patients [135 women (57%)] were identified. Hypoglycemia was reported solely in the fasting state in 73%, the fasting and postprandial state in 21%, and exclusively postprandially in 6%. There was a predominance of men in the postprandial symptom group. Considering the period of study by quartile, outpatient evaluation increased from 35 to 83% and successful preoperative localization improved from 74 to 100% comparing the first to the fourth quartiles. Although the rates of localization by noninvasive techniques remained static at approximately 75%, the addition of invasive modalities has resulted in successful preoperative localization in all patients in the...
Neither the Purse Nor the Sword: Dynamics of Public Confidence in the Supreme Court

Systematic study of changes in support for the U.S. Supreme Court across time has not been undertaken. Armed with a time series of observations from 1966 through 1984, I provide a description of the ebb and flow of public esteem for the Court. Then I outline and test several plausible propositions about the dynamics of support. Statistical analyses compel the conclusion that apart from a relatively constant core of support, increases in judicial activism, inflation, and solicitude for the rights of the accused decreased confidence in the Court; the events surrounding Watergate and increases in presidential popularity and the public salience of the Court brought about increased popular esteem for the high bench. Previous scholars, based on cross-sections of individuals, have emphasized the public's ignorance of and disinterest in the Supreme Court and judicial policy making. The responsiveness of public support for the Court in the aggregate to political events and shifts in the behavior of the justices stands in stark contrast to the conventional image of United States citizenry as singularly out of touch with and unmoved by the Supreme Court.
Exposure to the Plant Compound α-Humulene Reduces Mating Success in Male Mediterranean Fruit Flies (Diptera: Tephritidae)

ABSTRACT The Mediterranean fruit fly, Ceratitis capitata (Wiedemann), displays lek mating, where searching females actively choose among aggregated males that produce visual, acoustic, and olfactory signals within the tree canopy. Recent studies demonstrated that treated males exposed to the aroma of particular plant compounds (α-copaene) or oils (orange, manuka, and ginger) gain a mating advantage over control, nonexposed males. The goal of this study was to assess the impact of another plant compound, α-humulene, on the mating success of male C. capitata. Prior work showed that α-humulene was not attractive to either sex but elicited a strong electroantennal response in males. Field cage tests showed that males exposed to the aroma of α-humulene obtained significantly fewer matings than control (nonexposed) males as long as 3 d after exposure. Exposed males exhibited lower signaling (pheromone calling) activity than control males, which presumably contributed to their reduced mating success. Despite thi...
Antagonistic interactions of an arsenic-containing mixture in a multiple organ carcinogenicity bioassay.

Abstract Inorganic arsenic (As), 1,2-dichloroethane (DCE), vinyl chloride (VC) and trichloroethylene (TCE) are frequently identified as groundwater contaminants near hazardous waste disposal sites. While the carcinogenicity of each of these chemicals has been extensively studied individually, little information exists regarding their carcinogenic potential in combination. Therefore, we investigated the carcinogenic promoting potential of chemical mixtures containing arsenic, DCE, VC and TCE following multiple initiator administration in a multiple organ carcinogenicity bioassay (N. Ito, T. Shirai, S. Fukushima, Medium-term bioassay for carcinogens using multiorgan models, in: N. Ito, H. Sugano (Eds.), Modification of Tumor Development in Rodents, Prog. Exp. Tumor Res., 33, 41–57, Basel, Karger, 1991). Our results reveal a dose-responsive antagonistic effect of this four-chemical mixture on the development of preneoplastic hepatic lesions (altered hepatocellular foci and glutathione S -transferase π positive foci) as well as bronchioalveolar hyperplasia and adenoma formation.
The banded microstructure of sheared liquid-crystalline polymers

Abstract It has been widely documented that nematic and cholesteric liquid-crystalline materials can develop a one-dimensionally periodic microstructure subsequent to uniaxial draw, unidirectional shear, or injection moulding. This microstructure gives rise to a banded texture between crossed polars. A review of the literature, which contains many conflicting studies, identified several molecular and processing variables that may affect the rate of banded texture evolution. Our research focused on banded textures in three lyotropic systems of hydroxypropyl cellulose (HPC), a semiflexible polymer: HPC-water, HPC-methanol and HPC-acetone. Solutions were sheared unidirectionally with a motorized parallel-plate apparatus. The rate of band evolution after shear was quantified consistently in terms of the time taken for the average band spacing to reach a minimum, and was found to depend on a combination of prior shear rate, specimen thickness, solvent type and concentration. The dependence on solvent type is especially sensitive. The qualitative way in which these variables control the rate of microstructural change after shear is discussed in terms of (1) their effect on the ability of a sheared microstructure to store the energy that drives subsequent reordering and (2) their effect on the mobility of the microstructure.
One-dimensional Prestack Seismic Waveform Inversion Using Ensemble Kalman Filter

We propose an Ensemble Kalman Filter based onedimensional prestack seismic waveform inversion method for estimating elastic parameters. The basic idea is that the offset or incident angle dependent data are inverted sequentially, which is similar to the process of time dependent data being used sequentially in petroleum engineering or groundwater hydrology. The proposed method is tested with a synthetic data using both flat and good initial models.
Distinct Roles of P2X Receptors in Modulating Glutamate Release at Different Primary Sensory Synapses in Rat Spinal Cord

Using spinal cord slice preparations and patch-clamp recordings in lamina II and lamina V regions, we tested a hypothesis that P2X receptor subtypes differentially modulate glutamate release from p...
Neural Changes following Behavioral Activation for a Depressed Breast Cancer Patient: A Functional MRI Case Study

Functional neuroimaging is an innovative but at this stage underutilized method to assess the efficacy of psychotherapy for depression. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used in this case study to examine changes in brain activity in a depressed breast cancer patient receiving an 8-session Behavioral Activation Treatment for Depression (BATD), based on the work of Hopko and Lejuez (2007). A music listening paradigm was used during fMRI brain scans to assess reward responsiveness at pre- and posttreatment. Following treatment, the patient exhibited attenuated depression and changes in blood oxygenation level dependence (BOLD) response in regions of the prefrontal cortex and the subgenual cingulate cortex. These preliminary findings outline a novel means to assess psychotherapy efficacy and suggest that BATD elicits functional brain changes in areas implicated in the pathophysiology of depression. Further research is necessary to explore neurobiological mechanisms of change in BATD, particularly the potential mediating effects of reward responsiveness and associated brain functioning.
Fast neutron source detection at long distances using double-scatter spectrometry

Fast neutrons can be detected with relatively high efficiency, >15%, using two planes of hydrogenous scintillator detectors where a scatter in the first plane creates a start pulse and scatter in the second plane is separated by time-offlight. Indeed, the neutron spectrum of the source can be determined as the sum of energy deposited by pulse height in the first added to the energy of the second found by time-of-flight to the second detector. Gamma rays can also create a double scatter by Compton interaction in the first with detection in the second, but these events occur in a single time window because the scattered photons all travel at the speed of light. Thus, gamma ray events can be separated from neutrons by the time-of-flight differences. We have studied this detection system with a Cf-252 source using Bicron 501A organic scintillators and report on the ability to efficiently detect fast neutrons with high neutron/gamma detection ratios. We have further studied cosmic-ray neutron background detection response that is the dominant background in long range detection. We have found that most of the neutrons are excluded from the time-of-flight window because they are either too high in energy, >10MeV, or too low, < 10 keV. Moreover, if the detection planes are position-sensitive, the angular direction of the source can be determined by the ratio of the energy of scattered protons in the first detector relative to the position and energy of the scattered neutron detected in the second. This ability to locate the source in theta is useful, but more importantly increases the signal to noise relative to cosmic-ray produced neutrons that are relatively isotropic. This technique may be used in large arrays to detect neutrons at ranges up to 0.5 kilometer.
T-duality invariance in random lattice strings.

Preserving the {ital T}-duality invariance of the continuum string in its random lattice regularization uniquely determines the random matrix model potential. For {ital D}=0 the duality transformation can be performed explicitly on the matrix action, and replaces color with flavor; invariance, thus, requires that the color and flavor groups be the same. {copyright} {ital 1996 The American Physical Society.}
Direction of DNA replication in mammalian cells.

Abstract We have re-examined the direction of DNA synthesis in mammalian cells by means of pulse-labeling with [3H]thymidine and DNA autoradiography. Our results show that, whether or not the cells are treated with 5-fluoro-deoxyuridine, and whether they are labeled first with high specific activity [3H]thymidine and then with low, or vice versa, most (⋍ 90%) of the unambiguous autoradiographic patterns can be explained by bidirectional replication but not by unidirectional replication. We also find that in autoradiographic experiments using two different specific activities of [3H]thymidine, obvious differences in grain density are obtained only when the difference in specific activity is threefold or more. Thus, the apparently contradictory findings of Lark et al. (1971) can be explained by the low difference in specific activity used by those authors.
Angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibition: a landmark advance in treatment for cardiovascular diseases

Angiotensin-converting enzyme-inhibitors (ACE inhibitors) were first introduced into clinical practice for the relief of hypertension (HT) more than a quarter of a century ago. Since that time, as the basic pathobiology of cardiovascular (CV) diseases has been increasingly understood, new applications for ACE inhibitors have been developed. Indeed, through their action on the renin–angiotensin system (RAS) and their local actions, ACE inhibitors have substantially improved the prognosis of patients with diseases over the entire continuum of CV disease, including HT, stable coronary artery disease, myocardial infarction (MI), and heart failure (HF), and have been applied specifically to prevent stroke, although also preventing diabetes and delaying or reducing renal dysfunction. The strength of available clinical data is such that guidelines developed for cardiologists by professional societies now recommend the use of ACE inhibitors for the management of HT, coronary and atherosclerotic vascular disease, MI, and HF. Newer ACE inhibitors with pharmacological profiles differing from those of older agents have added to the ease of application and relative safety of these drugs both for reduction of symptoms and for improvement of outcomes. Although other agents modulating RAS can provide some overlapping pharmacological effects and important clinical benefits, ACE inhibitors remain unique in the range of their proven benefits, justifying their central role in the armamentarium of the CV specialist.
Inter-State Water Disputes: a Case Study of India

: During the last 27 years of independence, a large number of inter-state water disputes cropped up over the use of rivers. Surprisingly enough, more disputes developed in this short period than in the earlier 200 years of the development of irrigation and so far none of the disputes has been permanently solved. The major rivers of India are all inter-state rivers and this is one of the more important reasons why some of them are not yet fully developed for irrigation or power production. The Union Government has set up, so far, only three tribunals to adjudicate inter-state disputes. But the problems do not end simply by setting up the tribunals. In practice, it has also proved a dilatory process. None of the tribunals has been successful in settling any dispute in the long years of their existence. There is no codified law prescribing rights and the notion of “equity” has come to prevail restraining the upper states from drawing such quantities of water as would injure the interests of the lower states. Though the general principle of equitable apportionment had been advocated many times, in practice each contending state had given this principle an interpretation that suited it. The basic principle would be to harness the rivers not for the benefit of a particular state but for the maximization of agricultural, industrial, and navigational potential in the areas served by the rivers.
Global symmetries in maximal supergravities from compactified superstrings

Abstract Maximal ungauged supergravities in ten or fewer dimensions can be viewed as field-theory limits of toroidally compactified type-II superstrings. The symmetries of the spectra can then be constructed in terms of vertex operators, and it is shown here how this can be done to obtain the global and composite local symmetries previously discovered in supergravity lagrangians. This formulation reveals the common origin of the symmetries in different dimensions and indicates possible extensions to Kac-Moody symmetries.
Infinitary model theory of abelian groups

The paper is a survey of results in the model theory of abelian groups, dealing with two sorts of problems: finding invariants which classify groups up toL λκ-equivalence; and determining whether certain classes of groups are definable inL λκ.
Etiology and Significance of Thrombocytopenia in Critically Ill Patients

Thrombocytopenia is common in critically ill patients and increases morbidity and mortality. A diagnosis of heparin-induced thrombocytopenia (HIT) is frequently considered in any ICU patient who develops thrombocytopenia in the context of ongoing heparin exposure. As the usual tests to diagnose HIT are often neither specific nor sensitive enough to be confirmatory, the intensivist must largely rely on clinical judgment in treatment decisions. Patients in the ICU may also develop thrombocytopenia resulting from non-HIT immune mechanisms, nonimmune platelet consumption, and from decreased platelet production due to preexisting disorders or as a result of their critical illness and/or drug therapy.
Dredging Oakland harbor: Implications for ocean governance

Abstract In 1987, the Port of Oakland, California, having obtained a US Army Corps of Engineers permit, was poised to deepen its harbor to accommodate larger ships. But for the next five years, regulatory actions and lawsuits blocked dredging. Tangible economic damage to the community and the shipping industry accumulated while a complex regulatory system worried about possible environmental harms. Regulators still have not approved deep-water ocean disposal, the most environmentally acceptable, economically feasible alternative. The Oakland harbor story points to three weaknesses in the regulatory system for ocean uses: statutory demands for unrealistic levels of knowledge before permits can be issued; a fragmented, adversarial, legalistic decision structure that promotes excessive regulatory regimes, by virtue of specialization, to disregard the landside consequences of limiting access to the oceanic commons.
Surgical approaches to coronary artery disease

In this rapidly evolving era of coronary surgery, technologic advances have allowed the development of new myocardial revascularization strategies. Although conventional coronary artery bypass grafting is being challenged by other promising surgical procedures such as off-pump coronary artery bypass grafting, it remains the gold standard in patients with multivessel disease. Accurate evaluations of these new procedures are ongoing to assess their effectiveness and to define their role in the armamentarium of myocardial revascularization.
Primary palmoplantar hyperhidrosis and thoracoscopic sympathectomy: a new objective assessment method.

Background This study was conducted to establish an objective approach to evaluate symptoms and sweat production in patients with primary palmoplantar hyperhidrosis (PPH) and assess their response to bilateral thoracoscopic sympathectomy (BTS). Methods We conducted two institutional review board-approved studies. We performed a one-time evaluation of healthy volunteers (controls) with three questionnaires (Hyperhidrosis Disease Severity Scale, Dermatology Life Quality Index, and Short Form-36) and measurement of transepidermal water loss (TEWL; g/m 2 /h). We evaluated PPH patients with these same tools before and 1 month after BTS and compared them with controls. Results We evaluated 35 controls (mean age, 23.0 ± 3.3 years) and 45 PPH patients (mean age, 26.5 ± 12.3 years); 18 PPH patients underwent BTS and the 1-month postoperative evaluation. Hyperhidrosis Disease Severity Scale and Dermatology Life Quality Index scores were higher in PPH patients than in controls ( p p p = 0.011; plantar: 87.5 ± 28.8 PPH vs 57.7 ± 24.7 controls, p p p = 0.52). Conclusions PPH patients should be objectively evaluated with standardized quality of life measures and TEWL measurements before and after treatment. We believe that this objective practical approach provides a benchmark for clinical practice and research.
Relationship between effective and realistic interactions in 6Li

A variational trial wave function is used to develop a perturbation expansion for the effective shell model interaction in the case of a degenerate zero-order basis. The form of this trial function is suggested by the Brillouin-Wigner perturbation procedure, and the Moszkowski-Scott separation method. Application is made to the low lying levels of /sup 6/Li. The absolute binding energies obtained are 4 to 5 MeV short of experimental values. Acceptable agreement with experiment is found for the energy level spacing.
Deletion mapping of the T/t complex: evidence for a second region of critical embryonic genes.

Abstract The developmental effects of three different deletion mutations of the T t complex of the mouse have been studied. The three mutations, TOak Ridge (TOR), TOrleans (TOrl), and THair pin (THp), each produce a unique homozygous lethal phenotype: THp homozygotes fail to develop normally past the morula stage, TOrl homozygotes past the blastocyst stage, and TOR homozygotes past the egg cylinder stage. In compound embryos ( T X T Y ), the lethal phenotype observed corresponds to the shared length of deleted chromosome. This interaction allows the regions of chromosome 17, containing genetic information critical to early mammalian development, to be mapped.
The Mekong River Commission: transboundary water resources planning and regional security

The Mekong River Commission (MRC) was established in 1995 and represents a third chapter in the Mekong Project's organizational history. The MRC's predecessors – the Mekong Committee (1957–78) and the Interim Mekong Committee (1978–95) – operated under difficult circumstances, yet made many contributions to transboundary river basin planning and international diplomacy. The MRC's 2001 Work Programme represents a shift in Mekong basin planning from the era of the Mekong Committee. This shift is largely embodied by a change from a project–oriented focus to an emphasis on better management and preservation of existing resources. The MRC is in a position to help address the related issues of population growth, environmental preservation and regional security. In doing so, the MRC will benefit from the programmes and international collaboration established by its predecessors.
Nonlinear theory of type I irregularities in the equatorial electrojet

By taking into account the effect of wave electric fields on electron orbits, a nonlinear dispersion relation for Type I irregularities is obtained which predicts: (1) isotropy of the Doppler shift with elevation, (2) limiting phase velocity equal to ion acoustic speed, and (3) saturation amplitude which is maximum for horizontally propagating waves and decreases with elevation.
Microtopographic heterogeneity constrains alpine plant diversity, Glacier National Park, MT

Theoretical and empirical evidence exists for a positive relationship between environmental heterogeneity and species diversity. Alpine plant communities can exhibit exceptional diversity at a fine scale, which niche theory would suggest is the result of fine scale spatial heterogeneity of the environment. To test if species diversity of alpine plants is driven by environmental heterogeneity, we sampled vascular plant species composition, microtopography, and ground cover within 1 m2 plots with and without solifluction forms in Glacier National Park, MT. We analyzed the relationship between microtopographic heterogeneity and species richness at the plot and sub-plot scale with linear and quantile regression, respectively. Species richness does not differ between the plots varying in cover type. Species richness is negatively related to the fractal dimension (D) of the ground surface and non-vegetated ground cover within 1 m2 plots. At a finer scale, the standard deviation of elevation and slope appear to impose a limit on species richness such that more variable sub-plots have lower species richness. Contrary to our expectations, microtopographic heterogeneity does not promote the diversity of alpine plants. The negative relationship between topographic heterogeneity and species richness is contrary to the theoretical prediction that environmental heterogeneity generally results in greater species diversity. It is possible that microtopographic variability represents a measure of soil disturbance, which would be expected to have a negative effect on species diversity in alpine tundra due to its low productivity.
The relationship between gastrointestinal motility and gastric dilatation-volvulus in dogs.

Gastric dilatation-volvulus (GDV) is a devastating disease that most commonly affects large and giant-breed dogs. Though a number of risk factors have been associated with the development of GDV, the etiology of GDV remains unclear. Abnormal gastric motility patterns and delayed gastric emptying have been previously described in dogs following GDV. Work evaluating the effects of gastropexy procedures and changes to gastric motility after experimental GDV has not found the same changes as those found in dogs with naturally occurring GDV. Although the role of abnormal gastric motility in dogs with GDV will need to be clarified with additional research, such study is likely to be facilitated by improved access to and development of noninvasive measurement techniques for the evaluation of gastric emptying and other motility parameters. In particular, the availability of Food and Drug Administration–approved wireless motility devices for the evaluation of gastrointestinal motility is particularly promising in the study of GDV and other functional gastrointestinal diseases of large and giant-breed dogs.
On generalizing the Two-Poisson model

Utilisation des modeles de Poisson dans l'analyse de l'efficacite d'une indexation. Les modeles 2P et 3P sont compares
INFLUENCE OF SOIL AND SITE CHARACTERISTICS ON PALOUSE PRAIRIE PLANT COMMUNITIES

The structure of grassland communities can vary widely in response to heterogeneous habitat vari- ables. In this study we document plant communities, soil types, and site characteristics for 12 Palouse prairie rem- nants in southeastern Washington and northern Idaho. We used general linear models to test the predictive value of 6 biophysical variables (slope, aspect, distance from edge, edge type, vegetation structure, and soil type) on 3 plant community metrics: species richness, Simpson's diversity index, and the dominance of exotic species. From full mod- els including all variables, we used Akaike's information criterion (AIC) to select the best model for each metric. Aspect and vegetation structure were significant predictors of species richness (R2 = 0.08) and diversity (R2 = 0.09), while aspect, soil type, distance from edge, and edge type (type of adjacent matrix habitat) influenced the dominance of exotic species (R2 = 0.28). Additional soil sampling determined that the depth to a restrictive layer also had signifi- cant impacts on the dominance of exotic species (R2 = 0.31). This study confirms that biophysical characteristics influence Palouse prairie plant communities and may help set research and conservation priorities for isolated and uninventoried remnants.
A Continuous-Time Strategic Capacity Planning Model Based on the Minimum-Cut Problem

The semiconductor industry has been one of the driving forces of the “new” economy. It boasts of the exponentially growing performance of semiconductor devices, coupled with rapidly decreasing chip prices; however, it faces highly volatile demands, and copes with astronomical fab costs, most of which can be attributed to tool costs. The leadtime for purchasing tools is between 6 and 18 months, upon which tools quickly become obsolete. Thus, semiconductor companies need to recover their capital investment in the tools over a short period of time. We develop models and algorithms for strategic capacity planning, which is to determine the sequence and timing of acquiring tools. Strategic planning decisions are made in the presence of high uncertainty. Uncertainty comes from factors such as technology, the market, and its products, and becomes amplified by long leadtimes. Although capacity planning decisions need to be made in the presence of high uncertainty, early research and even some current practices overlook the stochastic nature of planning, with the exception of simple case analyses. An extensive review of literature can be found in Cakanyildirim et al. (1999) and Roundy et al. (2000). Typical methods of stochastic optimization include stochastic-linear programming, stochastic-integer programming, and Markov decisions processes; yet, they have not been able to solve real-world capacity planning problems on the scale faced by the semiconductor industry. This paper takes the stochastic-optimization approach, which explicitly incorporates randomness in the model. We assume nonstationary stochastic demand, with the expected demand for product families increasing over time. We also assume lost sales and no finished good inventory. As in Cakanyildirim et al. (1999), we continue to explore alternative approaches based on continuous-time models. The time at which a machine is purchased becomes a continuous-decision variable. These models are more compact than traditional stochastic-programming methods based on discrete-time models. It is hoped that the small dimensionality of continuous-time models will make the strategic capacity planning problem computationally tractable. In this paper, we model multiple resource types used for multiple product families. The resulting problem is related to the continuous relaxation of the lot-sizing problem. We present an efficient divideand-conquer algorithm that will find a locally optimal solution of this problem. A subroutine to this algorithm is the parametric minimum-cut problem.
Design and Evaluation of SensorSafe: A Framework for Achieving Behavioral Privacy in Sharing Personal Sensory Information

Continuous collection of sensory information using smartphones and body-worn sensors is now feasible with recent advancement of technologies. Sharing such personal information enables many useful applications such as medical behavioral studies, personal health-care, and participatory sensing. However, sharing such information along with inferences that can be drawn from the data increases user's various privacy concerns. This paper proposes SensorSafe, an application framework that enables users to share adequate amounts of their private data and supports obfuscation of sensitive information to protect user privacy. Our framework provides rule-based sharing with context-awareness and conflicting rule detection. In addition, our framework includes several optimization techniques for database processing of rule-based sharing and data obfuscation. We evaluate the optimization techniques with a large amount of accelerometer data from the fine-grained posture recognition application, which is about 6.25 GB.
Some observations on oral air flow during phonation

Reproducible intraoral air velocity measurements were made with a compact array of hot wire anemometers moved laterally within a vertical cross section at the rear of the mouth during sustained phonation of the vowel "I". The results indicate "separated" flow patterns at variance with laminar flow of vocal tract vowel models.
Organization Of Distributed Adaptive Learning

The growing sensitivity of various systems and parts of industry, society, and even everyday individual life leads to the increased volume of changes and needs for adaptation and learning. This creates a new situation where learning from being purely academic knowledge transfer procedure is becoming a ubiquitous always-on essential part of all viable organizations, systems, processes and human lives. The form of learning, which becomes an essential integral part of coevolutionary adaptive efforts of individuals and socio-economic entities in their attempts to cope with change, supplements the traditional learn-for-reuse forms. The rapidly evolving new features of learning discussed in this paper form a system determined by their mutual reinforcement and dynamic influence.
Practicing the Order of Widows: a new call for an old vocation.

This essay argues for a renewed institution of an ancient Christian practice, the Order of Widows. Drawing on the Roman Catholic tradition’s recent writings on the elderly, particularly the 1998 document from the Pontifical Council for the Laity entitled “The Dignity of Older People and their Mission in the Church and in the World,” I argue that we find within the Roman Catholic tradition advocacy for a renewed understanding of the vocation of the elderly within the Church. Building on this, I then trace in the broadest of outlines some elements of what a renewal of the Order of Widows might look like. In doing so, it becomes clear how this new ecclesial practice addresses health issues of older women (devaluation, marginalization, loss of voice, impoverishment, debilitation, loneliness, isolation, and euthanasia). More importantly, such a practice moves beyond principles to demonstrate a concrete alternative. As such it would provide a powerful witness to the very culture the Church seeks to transform.
Processing/Microstructure Relationships in Surface Melting

The development of predictive models for rapid surface melting and resolidification requires coupling of realistic heat flow models to emerging theories of rapid solidification processing. Attainment of unique microstructures and phases,for example through plane-front solidification and solute trapping, can be correlated to solid/liquid interface velocity,temperature and temperature gradients, and to theories of morphological stability. However, there are important limitations on achievable solid/liquid interface velocity depending upon the heating mode and heat flux distribution,melt thickness and location of the interface within the molten zone. An overview is given of the emerging guidelines for prediction and control of rapid solidification conditions and microstructures. Homogenization of the liquid by convection and diffusion is also discussed. Electron beam surface melting of alloy substrates is used as an example of these processes.
Managing Physician Resources: East and West

AIM To examine the current physician supply in western countries, Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), and the Newly Independent States (NIS) of the former Soviet Union. To assess the current management of physician resources in these regions and the potential for their future management. METHODS Description and analysis of current physician to population ratios, graduating physician to population ratios, and specialty distribution of physicians. RESULTS Maldistribution of physician resources, both by specialty and geographically, exists in the East and the West. The management of physician resources varies widely in the West, from virtually no attempts to manage the resources in the United States to increasingly regulatory methods in Canada. The CEE and the NIS face problems in managing physician resources as the movement to primary care continues. At the same time, changes in payment mechanisms create new and often perverse incentives for physicians, in addition to the problems inherited from the centrally managed systems. CONCLUSIONS Countries in the East and West face challenges in managing physician resources to overcome the current maldistribution of those resources. Efforts must be made to make the medical education system responsive to the future physician supply needs. This is especially true in the East where health systems continue the transition from centrally managed to more market based systems.
Secondary rise in plasma free fatty acids following glucose load.

ABSTRACT. The plasma free fatty acids (FFA) respond to glucose adminstration by decreasing. Four to 6 hours after glucose there is a rise in the FFA to values significantly higher than the fasting levels. This secondary rise in the FFA was studied in 28 subjects to whom a glucose load of 50 g had been given intravenously. A correlation of 0.86 was noted between the minimal blood sugar occurring after the initial glucose peak and the magnitude of the secondary rise in the FFA. Catecholamine response was studied during the glucose tolerance test by measuring the output of 3-methoxy-4-hydroxy mandelic acid (VMA) at hourly intervals. A significant increase in the VMA excretion over the fasting level occurred in all but one of the cases. The magnitude of the VMA peak showed a correlation of 0.55 with the secondary rise in the FFA. Control patients receiving no glucose showed no significant variation in the hourly excretion of VMA. Thus, those cases showing the least tendency to have a drop in the blood sugar t...
The Effect of Darkness on Active and Passive Transport in Chara corallina

Bisson, M. A. 1986. The effect of darkness on active and passive transport in Chara corallina.—J. exp. Bot. 37: 8-21. In Chara corallina, the membrane potential may stay much more negative than the equilibrium potential for potassium in the dark, indicating that the proton pump is operative. The high proton conductance which occurs at high external pH, as indicated by a high membrane conductance and a membrane potential near the equilibrium potential for protons, is not seen in the dark at pH 11. This effect is likely to be related to inhibition of photosynthesis since DCMU has the same effect. The effect is similar but not identical to the effect of a decreased internal pH. Key words—Light, dark, membrane potential, Chara. Correspondence to: Department of Biological Sciences, State University of New York at Buffalo, Buffalo, New York 14260, U.S.A.
Uniform convergence of the multigrid V-cycle on graded meshes for corner singularities

SUMMARY This paper analyzes a multigrid (MG) V-cycle scheme for solving the discretized 2D Poisson equation with corner singularities. Using weighted Sobolev spaces K m a () and a space decomposition based on elliptic projections, we prove that the MG V-cycle with standard smoothers (Richardson, weighted Jacobi, Gauss– Seidel, etc.) and piecewise linear interpolation converges uniformly for the linear systems obtained by finite element discretization of the Poisson equation on graded meshes. In addition, we provide numerical experiments to demonstrate the optimality of the proposed approach. Copyright q 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
ZIGZAG: an efficient peer-to-peer scheme for media streaming

A peer-to-peer technique called ZIGZAG for single-source media streaming is designed . ZIGZAG allows the media server to distribute content to many clients by organizing them into an appropriate tree rooted at the server. This application-layer multicast tree has a height logarithmic with the number of clients and a node degree bounded by a constant. This helps reduce the number of processing hops on the delivery path to a client while avoiding network bottleneck. Consequently, the end-to-end delay is kept small. Although one could build a tree satisfying such properties easily, an efficient control protocol between the nodes must be in place to maintain the tree under the effects of network dynamics and unpredictable client behaviors. ZIGZAG handles such situations gracefully requiring a constant amortized control overhead. Especially, failure recovery can be done regionally with little impact on the existing clients and mostly no burden on the server.
Detection of Intracellular Granularity Induction in Prostate Cancer Cell Lines by Small Molecules Using the HyperCyt® High-Throughput Flow Cytometry System

Prostate cancer is a leading cause of death among men due to the limited number of treatment strategies available for advanced disease. Discovery of effective chemotherapeutics involves the identification of agents that inhibit cancer cell growth. Increases in intracellular granularity have been observed during physiological processes that include senescence, apoptosis, and autophagy, making this phenotypic change a useful marker for identifying small molecules that induce cellular growth arrest or death. In this regard, epithelial-derived cancer cell lines appear uniquely susceptible to increased intracellular granularity following exposure to chemotherapeutics. We have established a novel flow cytometry approach that detects increases in side light scatter in response to morphological changes associated with intracellular granularity in the androgen-sensitive LNCaP and androgen-independent PC3 human prostate cancer cell lines. A cell-based assay was developed to screen for small molecule inducers of intracellular granularity using the HyperCyt high-throughput flow cytometry platform. Validation was performed using the Prestwick Chemical Library, where known modulators of LNCaP intracellular granularity, such as testosterone, were identified. Nonandrogenic inducers of granularity were also detected. A further screen of approximately 25,000 small molecules led to the identification of a class of aryl-oxazoles that increased intracellular granularity in both cell lines, often leading to cell death. The most potent agents exhibited submicromolar efficacy in LNCaP and PC3 cells.
A new method of injection sclerotherapy of esophageal varices

We have described an endoscopic method of performing small intestinal capsule biopsy that offers several advantages over alternative biopsy techniques. In comparison with conventional capsule biopsy methods, incorporation of the capsule into the endoscope significantly reduces the time of the procedure and eliminates the need for fluoroscopy, while maintaining a high yield of suitable mucosal specimens. The combination of the Carey capsule and endoscope provides an apparatus less complex than the previously described endoscope/capsule technique? and more durable than the steerable biopsy apparatus, which has been reported to have a limited lifespan. ,10 Because of the small diameter of the PE 160 tubing (1.55 mm), both air and suction channels remain functional even when the thinner scopes (Olympus Q, ACMI TX-SLM) are used. Conventional biopsy forceps or brushings can be used simultaneously, only if a two-channel instrument like GIF-2T is employed. This technique should not be used routinely since localized lesions in the esophagus, stomach, and proximal duodenum are best approached by routine endoscopic forceps biopsy. However, patients in whom malabsorption or chronic diarrhea is suspected and in
Conversations with Mexican Americans Regarding Children with Disabilities and Augmentative and Alternative Communication

Focus groups consisting of seven family members of children with disabilities provided information for identifying and understanding issues influencing augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) practices within a Mexican American community. The authors used a content analysis of the conversations to identify seven general perspectives: (a) Children understand the nonverbal communication of persons around them; (b) aided techniques are useful outside of the home; (c) families have great respect for professionals; (d) there is a need to focus on the human condition; (e) there is a preference for shared responsibility between the extended family members and professionals; (f) emphasis should be placed on the performance of simple tasks; and (g) devices in Spanish are needed. Emphasis is placed on qualitative research strategies that can provide cross-cultural awareness for practitioners providing AAC services.
Environmental pathology: new directions and opportunities.

The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) supports a number of training programs for predoctoral and postdoctoral (D.V.M., M.D., Ph.D.) fellows in toxicology, epidemiology and biostatistics, and environmental pathology. At the Experimental Biology meeting in April 1997, the American Society of Investigative Pathology (ASIP) sponsored a workshop including directors, trainees, and other interested scientists from several environmental pathology programs in medical and veterinary colleges. This workshop and a related session on "Novel Cell Imaging Techniques for Detection of Cell Injury" revealed advances in molecular and cell imaging approaches as reviewed below that have a wide applicability to toxicologic pathology.
Microstructures of Rapidly Solidified Aluminum Alloys

An investigation was performed to study the origin and stability of microstructures in rapidly solidified aluminum alloys. Al-Ni and Al-Fe base alloys were rapidly solidified by means of laser surface melting and melt spinning techniques. Microstructures were studied using optical and transmission electron microscopy. The effect of microstructure on mechanical properties was also studied using microhardness measurements. The origin of the observed microstructural constituents will be explained in terms of features of the metastable phase diagram. The effect of ternary additions on stability will also be considered.
Flux: an adaptive partitioning operator for continuous query systems

The long-running nature of continuous queries poses new scalability challenges for dataflow processing. CQ systems execute pipelined dataflows that may be shared across multiple queries. The scalability of these dataflows is limited by their constituent, stateful operators - e.g. windowed joins or grouping operators. To scale such operators, a natural solution is to partition them across a shared-nothing platform. But in the CQ context, traditional, static techniques for partitioned parallelism can exhibit detrimental imbalances as workload and runtime conditions evolve. Long-running CQ dataflows must continue to function robustly in the face of these imbalances. To address this challenge, we introduce a dataflow operator called flux that encapsulates adaptive state partitioning and dataflow routing. Flux is placed between producer-consumer stages in a dataflow pipeline to repartition stateful operators while the pipeline is still executing. We present the flux architecture, along with repartitioning policies that can be used for CQ operators under shifting processing and memory loads. We show that the flux mechanism and these policies can provide several factors improvement in throughput and orders of magnitude improvement in average latency over the static case.
Purified and sterilized magnetosomes from Magnetospirillum gryphiswaldense MSR-1 were not toxic to mouse fibroblasts in vitro

Aims: To establish a criterion for measuring the purity of purified and sterilized magnetosomes from Magnetospirillum gryphiswaldense and to evaluate their toxicity for mouse fibroblasts in vitro. Methods and Results: The purification of magnetosomes involves disrupting bacterial cells with a French Press, washing directly with PBS buffer accompanied by treatment with low power ultrasonication, and using a magnet to collect the magnetosomes. Five characteristic peaks were displayed by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), which was used to detect the quality of the purified magnetosomes, at 3273, 2921, 1735, 1645 and 1531 cm−1. The purified magnetosomes showed no evidence of impurities when observed by transmission electron microscopy and energy disperse spectroscopy. The particles could be stored at −20°C after lyophilization and treatment by γ-rays. Purified and sterilized magnetosomes had no obvious negative effects on the viability of mouse fibroblasts by 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazolyl)-2,5-diphenyl-tetrazolium bromide assay. Conclusions: Purified and sterilized magnetosomes were not toxic to mouse fibroblasts in vitro. Significance and Impact of the Study: This study provides methods for evaluating the purity and safety of magnetosomes from M. gryphiswaldense. The magnetosomes have the potential to be used as novel drug or gene carriers for tumour therapy.