cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Experimental and Theoretical Investigation of the Nonlinear Dynamics of an Electrostatically-Actuated Device

We present modeling, analysis, and experimental investigation for dynamic instabilities and bifurcations in electrostatically actuated resonators. These instabilities are induced by exciting a microstructure with a nonlinear forcing composed of a DC parallel-plate electrostatic load superimposed to an AC harmonic load. Because of the dominant effect of the electrostatic nonlinearity, several resonances and nonlinear phenomena are induced. Examples of these are the excitation of secondary-resonances, superharmonic and subharmonic, at half and twice the natural frequency of the microstructure. Also, local bifurcations, such as saddle-node and pitchfork, and global bifurcations, such as the escape phenomenon and the homoclinic tangling may occur. These lead to undesirable jumps, hysteresis, and dynamic pull-in instabilities in MEMS devices and structures. The present work represents an attempt to explore these topics in more depth. The first part of this paper is focused on analyzing and studying the nonlinear dynamics of a capacitive device both theoretically and experimentally with a focus on the case of primary-resonance excitation (near the fundamental natural frequency of the structure). The device is made up of two cantilever beams with a proof mass attached to their tips. A nonlinear spring-mass-damper model is utilized, which accounts for squeeze-film damping. Long-time integration for the equation of motion is used to compare with the obtained experimental data. Then, global dynamic analysis is conducted using a finite difference method (primary resonance) and shooting method (subharmonic resonance) combined with the Floquet theory to capture periodic orbits and analyze their stability. The domains of attraction (basins of attraction) for selected data are calculated numerically. Experimental data revealing primary and sub-harmonic resonances, dynamic pull-in, and the escape-from-a-potential-well phenomenon are shown and compared with the theoretical results.Copyright © 2008 by ASME
Stepwise threshold clustering: a new method for genotyping MHC loci using next-generation sequencing technology.

Genes of the vertebrate major histocompatibility complex (MHC) are of great interest to biologists because of their important role in immunity and disease, and their extremely high levels of genetic diversity. Next generation sequencing (NGS) technologies are quickly becoming the method of choice for high-throughput genotyping of multi-locus templates like MHC in non-model organisms.Previous approaches to genotyping MHC genes using NGS technologies suffer from two problems:1) a “gray zone” where low frequency alleles and high frequency artifacts can be difficult to disentangle and 2) a similar sequence problem, where very similar alleles can be difficult to distinguish as two distinct alleles. Here were present a new method for genotyping MHC loci – Stepwise Threshold Clustering (STC) – that addresses these problems by taking full advantage of the increase in sequence data provided by NGS technologies. Unlike previous approaches for genotyping MHC with NGS data that attempt to classify individual sequences as alleles or artifacts, STC uses a quasi-Dirichlet clustering algorithm to cluster similar sequences at increasing levels of sequence similarity. By applying frequency and similarity based criteria to clusters rather than individual sequences, STC is able to successfully identify clusters of sequences that correspond to individual or similar alleles present in the genomes of individual samples. Furthermore, STC does not require duplicate runs of all samples, increasing the number of samples that can be genotyped in a given project. We show how the STC method works using a single sample library. We then apply STC to 295 threespine stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus) samples from four populations and show that neighboring populations differ significantly in MHC allele pools. We show that STC is a reliable, accurate, efficient, and flexible method for genotyping MHC that will be of use to biologists interested in a variety of downstream applications.
Kinetic studies of the effect of restoration of a required amino acid on post-irradiation DNA degradation and cell permeability

SummaryThe kinetics of formation of the inducible inhibitor of post-irradiation DNA degradation has been studied by amino-acid deprivation in four Escherichia coli strains: 15T–(555–7), B/r59, WP2 and B32. In the first three, the inducible inhibitor is absent if the required amino acid is withheld and DNA degradation following gamma radiation is considerable. After restoration of the amino acid, the inhibitor appears in 7 min and is at 50 per cent maximum in 14 min. In B32 there is no effect of witholding the amino acid. Strain 555–7 also exhibits cell leakage, probably due to the induction of a defective prophage. This leakiness appears at 14 min with a 50 per cent maximum at 22 min. Strains WP2 and B/r59 have very little post-irradiation leakiness yet show strong induced inhibition. The data suggest that there is no necessary connection between the inducible inhibitor and a prophage. Preliminary U.V. induction in WP2 produces nearly complete inhibition, yet confers very little survival potential.
Reduced Seeding Rate for Glyphosate‐Resistant, Drilled Soybean on the Southeastern Coastal Plain

Seeding-rate recommendations for narrow-row (<76 cm) soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] on the southeastern Coastal Plain are almost double those of more traditional, wider row widths. A 2-yr field study was conducted on a Dothan loamy sand soil to assess how main-stem and branch yield fractions of four glyphosate-resistant cultivars, ranging from maturity group (MG) V through mid-MG VII, would respond to a lower-than-recommended seeding rate for narrow-row culture. The cultivars Pioneer 95B32 (early MG V), Hartz 6255 (early MG VI), Delta and Pine Land 6880 (late MG VI), and Hartz 7550 (mid-MG VII) were seeded at 370 000 seeds ha -1 and at the recommended rate of 620 000 seeds ha -1 . Total seed yield of all cultivars was usually similar for the two seeding rates. Less seed yield from the main-stem fraction with the lower seeding rate was usually compensated for by a higher seed yield from the branch fraction, except when insufficient rainfall occurred during critical periods of the growing season. Branch seed yield was more closely correlated with total seed yield at the low seeding rate (r = 0.675) than at the recommended seeding rate (r = 0.453) while the correlation between total seed yield and seed yield from the main-stem fraction was similar for the two seeding rates (r = 0.579-0.613). In the absence of prolonged periods of drought stress, seeding rates for glyphosate-resistant soybean grown in full-season, narrow-row systems can be reduced below current recommendations, thereby lowering seeding costs without decreasing seed yields.
Schmidt's subspace theorem with moving targets

In recent years, due to work of Vojta, Lang, Osgood, etc., people have started to realize that there is a close relationship between Nevanlinna theory and Diophantine approximation. P. Vojta has compiled a dictionary (see Vojta [V1]) providing correspondences for the concepts fundamental to the two theories. The second main theorem for meromorphic functions is the most important result in Nevanlinna theory, and its counterpart in number theory, via Vojta’s dictionary, is Roth’s theorem. In 1929, R. Nevanlinna conjectured that the second main theorem remains correct if distinct points in P1(C) are replaced by distinct holomorphic maps ai : C → P1(C) with Tai (r) = o(Tf (r)), where Tf (r) is the Nevanlinna characteristic function of the holomorphic map f : C → P1(C) (see [RS 1] for the definition). After many attempts by various people, Osgood proved the conjecture in 1985, which is now known as the Second Main Theorem with Moving Targets. In 1986, Steinmetz gave another simple and elegant proof. Recently, Vojta ([V 2] and [V 3]) formulated and proved its counterpart in number theory: Theorem A (Roth’s theorem with moving targets). Let k be a number field and let S be a finite set of places of k . Let q ∈ Z>0, and let > 0. Then there does not exist an infinite sequence of distinct tuples
Windowless Wide Area Vuv Lamp for Energy Assisted CVD

A ring shaped cold cathode electron gun provides a large area disc shaped vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) light source up to 20 cm in diameter. The windowless disc plasma is also a source of radical and excited atomic gas species. VUV photons, excited species, and radicals can all assist dissociation of CVD feedstock reactants via volume photo-absorption and sensitized atom-molecule collisions, respectively. In addition, the excited radical flux and VUV impingement on the film may also assist heterogeneous surface reactions and increase surface mobility of absorbed species. Thin films of aluminum nitride, Si3N4, and hydrogenated amorphous silicon have been deposited at temperatures between 100°C - 400°C. The deposited films show significant improvement over other photoassisted CVD processes in the film quality achieved, the substrate temperature required and the maximum deposition rates.
Enhanced multi-level block ILU preconditioning strategies for general sparse linear systems

Abstract This paper introduces several strategies to deal with pivot blocks in multi-level block incomplete LU factorization (BILUM) preconditioning techniques. These techniques are aimed at increasing the robustness and controlling the amount of fill-ins of BILUM for solving large sparse linear systems when large-size blocks are used to form block-independent set. Techniques proposed in this paper include double-dropping strategies, approximate singular-value decomposition, variable size blocks and use of an arrowhead block submatrix. We point out the advantages and disadvantages of these strategies and discuss their efficient implementations. Numerical experiments are conducted to show the usefulness of the new techniques in dealing with hard-to-solve problems arising from computational fluid dynamics. In addition, we discuss the relation between multi-level ILU preconditioning methods and algebraic multi-level methods.
An Efficient Preparation of 4, 4′-Dicarboxy-2, 2′-Bipyridine

Abstract A convenient and high yield preparation of 4, 4′-dicarboxy-2, 2′-bipyridine from the oxidation 4, 4′-dimethyl-2, 2′-bipyridine with potassium dichromate in sulfuric acid is reported.
Collimated unidirectional laser beams from notched elliptical resonators

The whispering gallery is located in the dome of St Paul's Cathedral in London. If two people stand on opposite sides of the gallery and one of them whispers into the wall, the other can hear his or her words. The reason for this strange effect is that sound bounces along the wall as a surface wave with low loss, and so can be heard far away. This phenomenon, known as whispering gallery mode (WGM), was discovered by Lord Rayleigh in the 18th century. It has found new notoriety in the past few decades in the optics domain: ultra-high Q-factor, i.e., ultralow loss, optical resonators, based on WGMs have been demonstrated, opening up exciting new research frontiers in low-power nonlinear optics, optomechanics, optical processing, and sensing (1, 2). In PNAS, Wang et al. manage to demonstrate what eluded researchers for many years: a semiconductor microlaser emitting a unidirectional low-divergence beam based on optical WGMs (3).
AGING SENSORY LOSSES AND COMMUNCATION BEHAVIOR

The natural process of aging brings with it the diminution of selected sensory processes which may affect the behavior of older persons. This paper examines two of the most imponant sensory losses-vision and audition-and their effect on communication with and from the aged.
Elastic scattering at CERN collider energy and the geometrical picture

Abstract Recent UA1 and UA4 experimental results for p p collisions at 540 GeV center of mass energy are analyzed in the geometrical picture.
Natural and synthetic heat shock protein gene promoters assayed in Drosophila cells.

Hybrid genes containing mRNA encoding sequences for herpes virus thymidine kinase (tk), chloramphenicol acetyltransferase (CAT), orDrosophila alcohol dehydrogenase (Adh), ligated to truncatedDrosophila melanogaster heat-shock protein 70 (hsp 70) gene promoters or to synthetic sequences containing one or several copies of a previously defined heat-shock consensus sequence, were transfected into culturedDrosophila line S3 cells. Each construction was then assayed for gene expression at 25° C and 37° C, using a CAT enzyme assay, slot blot hybridization, or S1 nuclease protection analysis. In theDrosophila cell transient expression assay system, we found that deletions extending beyond position −97, or synthetic constructions containing a single heat shock consensus sequence, were not induced by high-temperature shock. In constructions containing deletions extending to position −186, −130, or −97, in the hsp 70 promoter, and in synthetic constructions containing tandemly spaced heat-shock consensus sequences mRNA transcription was greatly induced by high temperature.
A Constitutive Framework for Tubular Structures that Enables a Semi-inverse Solution to Extension and Inflation

Traditional constitutive frameworks for high-strain materials are ill-suited to solve extension and inflation, one of the simplest problems involving tubes, or more complicated problems. Moreover, it is experimentally necessary to minimize the covariance amongst constitutive response functions. We sought, hence, a constitutive framework that minimizes covariance and simplifies the balance equations for tubes, hoses, and arteries. Central to this theory are six objective scalars or strain attributes that decouple dilatation and distortion and succinctly define the strain. Because there is a one-to-one relationship between them and the components of the Right Cauchy–Green deformation tensor, these six strain attributes can be used to define the strain energy density function for hyperelastic materials. This approach yields mostly orthogonal response terms for high strain deformation (14 of the 15 inner products vanish). For infinitesimal deformation, the response terms are fully orthogonal. Further utility is demonstrated by showing how the governing equations are simplified for tubular structures and how response functions can be determined for the first time from the extension and inflation of thick-walled tubes composed of a homogeneous material with incompressible, hyperelastic behavior. This solution is applicable for materials with orthotropic behavior, and using the chain rule, this solution can be used for materials with isotropic behavior.
THE NUMBER OF ROUNDS NEEDED TO EXCHANGE INFORMATION WITHIN A GRAPH

Abstract In [3] Cederbaum proposes the problem of finding a labelling of a connected graph G which minimizes the number of rounds needed to exchange information between all the points, where a round consists of the vertices of G each broadcasting once in order of their labels. In this paper we give a complete solution to the problem.
A concept analysis of malnutrition in the elderly

A concept analysis of malnutrition in the elderly Purpose. Malnutrition is a frequent and serious problem in the elderly. Today there is no doubt that malnutrition contributes significantly to morbidity and mortality in the elderly. Unfortunately, the concept of malnutrition in the elderly is poorly defined. The purpose of this paper is to clarify the meaning of malnutrition in the elderly and to develop the theoretical underpinnings, thereby facilitating communication regarding the phenomenon and enhancing research efforts. Scope, sources used. Critical review of literature is the approach used to systematically build and develop the theoretical propositions. Conventional search engines such as Medline, PsyINFO, and CINAHL were used. The bibliography of obtained articles was also reviewed and additional articles identified. Key wards used for searching included malnutrition, geriatric nutrition, nutritional status, nutrition assessment, elderly, ageing, and weight loss. Conclusions. The definition of malnutrition in the elderly is defined as following: faulty or inadequate nutritional status; undernourishment characterized by insufficient dietary intake, poor appetite, muscle wasting and weight loss. In the elderly, malnutrition is an ominous sign. Without intervention, it presents as a downward trajectory leading to poor health and decreased quality of life. Malnutrition in the elderly is a multidimensional concept encompassing physical and psychological elements. It is precipitated by loss, dependency, loneliness and chronic illness and potentially impacts morbidity, mortality and quality of life.
978-120 Exercise Performance in Moderate Mitral Stenosis is Limited by Cardiac Output Reserve Rather than Maximal Pulmonary Capillary Wedge Pressure

To assess the hemodynamic limitations of exercise in patients with mitral stenosis (MS), 29 patients with MS (mean age 49, mean valve area 1.4 cm 2 ) and 29 age matched controls underwent symptom limited upright bicycle exercise with simultaneous expired gas analysis, right heart catheterization and radionuclide angiography. Supine rest hemodynamics and left ventricular volumes were abnormal in MS patients compared to control. Despite maximal (MAX) exercise effort, MS patients achieved a lower MAX heart rate (HR) and oxygen consumption (VO 2 /kg) compared to control. With exercise. other intergroup differences were accentuated, especially for MAX cardiac index (CI), pulmonary capillary wedge pressure (PCWP), and end-diastolic volume index (EDVI) Rest and Exercise Hemodynamics VO 2 kg HR PCWP CI EDVI REST MS 2.6 75.8 19.1 2.4 51.5 Control 3.4 68.4 8.2 3.4 76.6 MAX MS 10.4 131.0 29.1 4.0 43.1 Control 23.5 162.3 8.4 7.8 65.2 Mean values shown (p ≤ 0.05 MS vs Control for all values) For the MS group, MAX VO 2 /kg was predicted by MAX CI (r = 0.6) but not by MAX PCWP. Exercise was limited by fatigue rather than shortness of breath in 18/29 patients in the MS group, suggesting a low output state as a reason for exercise termination. No difference was seen in MAX PCWP between patients stopping due to fatigue and those stopping due to shortness of breath (27.3 vs 32.0 mmHg, p = 0.4). Conclusion Exercise tolerance in patients with moderate mitral stenosis is not limited by MAX PCWP but by failure to augment cardiac output due to abnormal left ventricular diastolic filling and to chronotropic incompetence.
Use of molecular oxygen to reduce EUV-induced carbon contamination of optics

Carbon deposition and removal experiments on Mo/Si multilayer mirror (MLM) samples were performed using extreme ultraviolet (EUV) light on Beamline 12.0.1.2 of the Advanced Light Source, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL). Carbon (C) was deposited onto Mo/Si multilayer mirror (MLM) samples when hydrocarbon vapors where intentionally introduced into the MLM test chamber in the presence of EUV at 13.44 nm (92.3eV). The carbon deposits so formed were removed by molecular oxygen + EUV. The MLM reflectivities and photoemission were measured in-situ during these carbon deposition and cleaning procedures. Auger Electron Spectroscopy (AES) sputter-through profiling of the samples was performed after experimental runs to help determine C layer thickness and the near-surface compositional-depth profiles of all samples studied. EUV powers were varied from ~0.2mW/mm2 to 3mW/mm2(at 13.44 nm) during both deposition and cleaning experiments and the oxygen pressure ranged from ~5x10-5 to 5x10-4 Torr during the cleaning experiments. C deposition rates as high as ~8nm/hr were observed, while cleaning rates as high as ~5nm/hr could be achieved when the highest oxygen pressure were used. A limited set of experiments involving intentional oxygen-only exposure of the MLM samples showed that slow oxidation of the MLM surface could occur.© (2001) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
Effect of testosterone therapy on bone formation in an osteoporotic hypogonadal male

Osteoporosis has been reported to complicate androgen deficiency in males. Accordingly, we have evaluated an osteoporotic hypogonadal male with bone histomorphometry before and after 6 months of testosterone replacement. Androgen therapy resulted in increases in relative osteoid volum, total osteoid surface, linear extent of bone formation, and bone mineralization. The dramatic histological response to hormonal replacement confirms the importance of androgens in bone modeling and remodeling.
Aging and the kidney.

• Numerous anatomic and physiologic alterations occur in the kidney with aging. These changes affect the ability of elderly patient(s) to maintain homeostasis and alter response to medications, stress, illness, or changes in diet, mobility, or environment. Drug-induced illness and drug interactions are major problems in the elderly. Bone disease and fractures are associated with negative calcium balance and decreased production of 1,25-dihydrocholecalciferol seen with aging. The geriatric patient is not immune to the primary glomerular diseases that occur in younger patients, although the relative incidence of pathologic diagnoses may differ. The high incidence of membranous glomerulonephritis in the elderly, and the well-known association between malignancy and membranous nephropathy strongly favor aggressive evaluation of the nephrotic syndrome in the geriatric age group. Attention must be given to consideration of appropriate end-stage renal disease treatment alternatives for the geriatric population, which now comprises the fastest-growing segment of the endstage renal disease population. ( Arch Intern Med 1986;146:1790-1796)
Anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction: A literature review of the anatomy, biomechanics, surgical considerations, and clinical outcomes

Anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) ruptures are some of the most common knee injuries seen by sports medicine physicians. However, given the complex anatomy and function of the ACL, reconstruction of this ligament is anything but straightforward. The last decade has seen much advancement in ACL reconstruction, with an improved knowledge of the biology and biomechanics of graft incorporation, new choices for graft material and graft fixation devices, and more accelerated rehabilitation protocols. Although there are numerous studies in the literature on ACL reconstruction, there is yet to be a consensus among surgeons on the "best" graft choice and the "optimal" fixation device. This is generally attributed to the small sample size in most studies, which prohibits a definite conclusion of superiority of one technique over another. Additionally, it is difficult to directly compare the results from one study to another because there is tremendous heterogeneity between studies. This review is intended to examine the anatomy, biomechanics, surgical considerations, and clinical outcomes after ACL reconstruction that have been highlighted in the literature during the past 10 years.
Adaptive modular Laguerre non-linear model

Presents an adaptive nonlinear estimation technique (polynomial model-based) that has guaranteed stability and makes parsimonious use of coefficients, thereby achieving optimal, or close to optimal, performance with reduced computational complexity when compared to the adaptive Volterra filters. Additionally the suggested structure exhibits a high degree of parallelism which makes it suitable for VSLI implementation. >
EFFECTS OF CATECHOLAMINES ON URINARY CALCIUM AND PHOSPHORUS IN INTACT AND PARATHYROIDECTOMIZED RATS.

The effects of the catecholamines, epinephrine, norepinephrine and isoproterenol, on the renal excretion of calcium and inorganic phosphate have been studied in intact and 1-day-parathyroidectomized, fed rats. Urine was collected for the 2-hr period immediately following an oral water load and the subcutaneous administration of from 0.006 to 0.5 mg/kg of the catecholamines. In general, the responses to epinephrine and to norepinephrine were similar; isoproterenol gave responses which differed from those seen with the natural hormones. Whereas epinephrine and norepinephrine induced a hypercalciuric response both in intact and in parathyroidectomized rats, isoproterenol produced a hypocalciuric response in parathyroidectomized rats and caused no effect on urinary calcium excretion in intact rats. The phosphaturic response to epinephrine was variable, depending upon the dose and upon the presence or absence of the parathyroids; norepinephrine was consistent in producing hyperphosphaturia. Hypophosphaturia wa...
If software quality is a perception, how do we measure it?

For over twenty years, metrics have been being invented to measure software quality. And yet quantifying quality presupposes agreement on what constitutes quality. Quality has been portrayed as an absolute quantity, subject to objective measurements. We believe this effort has been misguided. We argue that quality, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder — that is, that quality is not absolute, but depends on the perspective taken by the evaluator. As such, any direct measure of quality must necessarily be subjective, summarizing the impressions of some particular class of people who interact with the product. Indirect measures of quality are less objective than they may appear to be — beyond the arbitrariness of the choice of measure, and any difficulty in its interpretation, there is always the tenuous link of the metric to the perception of quality by any specific group. The need for this novel point of view is especially clearly illustrated by mathematical software.
Location of stuck-at faults and bridging faults based on circuit partitioning

We propose a method of fault diagnosis at the chip level that reduces the number of simulations required to locate defect site(s) by logically partitioning the circuit into subcircuits. Candidate subcircuits that potentially contain the defect site(s) are identified and further partitioned until the defect site is located with the required resolution. Both stuck-at faults and nonfeedback bridging faults are considered as target fault models to represent defects. At the base of the fault location procedure is a procedure to identify subcircuits that potentially contain the fault site. This procedure is matched to the fault model being considered, thus allowing the same partitioning scheme to be applied to various fault models. The procedure presented here is applicable to combinational and fully scanned sequential circuits. Experimental results are presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of circuit partitioning in reducing the number of fault simulations required to locate a fault.
Distributed Inference in Dynamical Systems

We present a robust distributed algorithm for approximate probabilistic inference in dynamical systems, such as sensor networks and teams of mobile robots. Using assumed density filtering, the network nodes maintain a tractable representation of the belief state in a distributed fashion. At each time step, the nodes coordinate to condition this distribution on the observations made throughout the network, and to advance this estimate to the next time step. In addition, we identify a significant challenge for probabilistic inference in dynamical systems: message losses or network partitions can cause nodes to have inconsistent beliefs about the current state of the system. We address this problem by developing distributed algorithms that guarantee that nodes will reach an informative consistent distribution when communication is re-established. We present a suite of experimental results on real-world sensor data for two real sensor network deployments: one with 25 cameras and another with 54 temperature sensors.
From Media History to Zeitkritik

Wolfgang Ernst, Professor of Media Theories at the Humboldt University in Berlin, has become known through his work on media archaeology. Hence the inclusion of this translation represents an alternative take on cultural techniques. It places the legacy of cultural studies, or Kulturwissenschaften, in an interesting tension with the different epistemological demands that technical media impose. After Vico and Dilthey, argues Ernst, we need to investigate the specific modes of knowledge that technical media propose to cultural techniques. Ernst’s media archaeology and the slightly different approach to cultural techniques found in some other contributions in this issue can be seen as two of the most intriguing ways in which current German media studies has been developing in relation to Friedrich Kittler’s impact. For Ernst, this has resulted in a more technical focus and also in the development of critiques of temporality that go beyond media history. Ernst argues that media temporality is not to be under...
The SSC linac

Abstract The SSC linear accelerator will, in 1995, produce a 25 mA, 600 MeV, H − beam with transverse normalized rms emittance less than 0.3π mmmrad in 35 μs pulses at a 10 Hz repetition rate. By the time the collider is operational, the linac will have to operate with an availability for collider filling in excess of 98%. These stringent technical requirements have been translated into a very clean optics design, now in the final stages of hardware design. This paper will highlight some design features and review the status of design, procurement, fabrication and foreign contributions.
Generalized non-linear elastic inversion with constraints in model and data spaces

SUMMARY Seismic data are non-linearly related to model parameters such as seismic velocities. However, seismic inversion is usually considered in a linear approximation. Such techniques as the Born inversion were recently applied to seismic data. Non-linear inversion is more complicated and involves extensive calculations. Non-linear inversion was developed in the frame work of an unconstrained optimization procedure. It uses as a priori information an initial model and probability distribution functions in the data and model spaces (This a priori information is called ‘soft’ bounds). In this paper, we propose a new technique for solving a constrained non-linear inversion. This technique will allow us to use a priori information not only in terms of ‘soft’ bounds, but ‘hard’ bounds as well (usually giving more stable and accurate solutions). Non-linear inversion is considered as an iterative procedure which involves a dual transform at each iteration. A dual transform allows for considering the problem in terms of the Lagrangian multipliers. The number of Lagrangian multipliers is equal to the number of available data and thus, significantly reduces the dimension of the problem (this is true for underdetermined problems only). However, the most important property of the dual transform is that it allows us to consider a constrained problem as an unconstrained problem. Another important property is that proper constraints incorporate small-wave numbers in the generalized inversion. It is shown that conventional (unconstrained non-linear inversion) is a special case of the constrained non-linear inversion developed in this paper if the truncation operator is represented by the identity matrix.
Pushing the Dead into the Next Reproductive Frontier: Post Mortem Gamete Retrieval under the Uniform Anatomical Gift Act:

In re Matter of Daniel Thomas Christy authorized post mortem gamete retrieval under the most recent revision of the Uniform Anatomical Gift Act. This article recommends that the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws explicitly address the issue of post mortem gamete retrieval for reproductive purposes; that legislators specify whether their states will follow the Christy ruling; and that ethics committees and consultants prepare for the questions about human identity and self determination that post mortem gamete retrieval raises.
Role of poly(ADP-ribosyl)ation in a ‘two-hit’ model of hypoxia and oxidative stress in human A549 epithelial cells in vitro

A preceding hypoxic insult can sensitize the cells or the organism to a subsequent, second insult. The aim of the present study was to investigate the molecular mechanism of this phenomenon (often termed 'two-hit' injury paradigm), in an in vitro model of hypoxia/oxidative stress injury in A549 epithelial cells, with special emphasis on the role of the nuclear enzyme poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase-1 (PARP-1) in the process. Pre-exposure of the cells to 24 h hypoxia significantly reduced intracellular glutathione (GSH) levels, reduced mitochondrial activity and adenosine triphosphate (ATP) levels. However pre-exposure to hypoxia failed to induce any change in PARP-1 expression and activation, DNA single‑strand breaks or plasma membrane integrity. Pre-exposure to hypoxia markedly increased the sensitivity of the cells to subsequent oxidative stress-induced DNA damage. Hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) induced a concentration-dependent increase in DNA breakage, PARP activation, depletion of intracellular ATP, inhibition of mitochondrial activity and two distinct parameters that quantify the breakdown of plasma membrane integrity (propidium iodide uptake or lactate dehydrogenase release). PARP-1 activation played a significant role in the H2O2-induced cell death response because PARP activation, depletion of intracellular ATP, inhibition of mitochondrial activity, and the breakdown of plasma membrane integrity were attenuated in cells with permanently silenced PARP-1. Based on measurement of the endogenous antioxidant GSH, we hypothesized that the mechanism of hypoxia-mediated enhancement of H2O2 involves depletion of the GSH during the hypoxic period, which renders the cells more sensitive to a subsequent DNA single‑strand break elicited by H2O2. DNA strand breakage then activates PARP-1, leading to the inhibition of mitochondrial function, depletion of ATP and cell necrosis. PARP-1 deficiency protects against the cytotoxicity, to a lesser degree, by protecting against GSH depletion during the hypoxic period, and, to a larger degree, by maintaining mitochondrial function and preserving intracellular ATP levels during the subsequent oxidative stress period.
Testing of a homopolar generator, energy storage inductor, opening-switch railgun system

The first homopolar-fired railgun system was operated in Canberra in 1972 [1,2]. Since that time two additional systems have been tested, the EMACK homopolar generator (HPG) built by Westinghouse and operated by Army Research and Development Center (ARDC) [3] and the joint effort by The Center for Electromechanics of The University of Texas (CEM-UT) and General Dynamics in 1982 [4]. This paper describes the homopolar railgun system operated by CEM-UT in 1985. The aspect that makes this system different from the previous experiments is the design of a fast opening switch (10 to 20 µs) that will allow operation of the HPG into hypervelocity launchers.
What Is Catholic about Catholic Charities

Sectarian social services agencies play an important and increasing role in contemporary social welfare. Among sectarian social welfare organizations, Catholic Charities USA has emerged as the largest private provider of social welfare services. This article reviews the history, services, and practice controversies of Catholic Charities USA and examines issues regarding the ability of sectarian social services organizations to provide nonbiased and fair services. Through an analysis of this organization, the authors raise and discuss questions of accountability and philosophical approaches.
Does the built environment relate to the metabolic syndrome in adolescents

Abstract This article examines the influence of the neighborhood environment on blood profiles, percent body fat, blood pressure, and the metabolic syndrome (MetS) in adolescents. One hundred and eighty-eight adolescents (10–16 yr) agreed to have a fasting blood sample drawn in addition to measures of weight, height, percent fat, and blood pressure. A MetS cluster score was derived by calculating the sum of the sample-specific z -scores from the percent body fat, fasting glucose, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (negative), triglyceride, and systolic blood pressure. Geographic Information Systems (GIS) technology was used to calculate the distance to and density of built environmental features. Spearman correlation was used to identify significant ( p
Emergency department capacity and access in California, 1990-2001: an economic analysis.

ABSTRACT: Media report that hospitals are closing their emergency departments (EDs) and reducing access to ED services, raising concerns that EDs are not sustainable under competition and managed c...
Clinical assessment in the workplace: dermatitis

The clinical assessment of dermatitis in the workplace is put forward as a series of four decisions: (1) is it dermatitis and not psoriasis, tinea, scabies, etc? (2) Is it contact dermatitis and not atopic, seborrhoeic, discoid, stasis or unclassified eczema? (3) Is it irritant contact dermatitis or allergic contact dermatitis? (4) What is/are the probable cause(s)?
A modified p53 adenoviral vector is more potent than wild-type p53 in bladder cancer cells

Proc Amer Assoc Cancer Res, Volume 45, 2004 4596 Because some bladder cancer cells are resistant to the introduction of wild-type p53, one potential way to improve cancer gene therapy to this tumor type may be to modify the wild-type p53 gene. Our previous study has demonstrated Asp substitution at Thr18 and Ser 20 within an α-helical segment of the transactivation domain can markedly reduce Mdm-2 interaction, upregulate transactivation of cell-cycle and apoptotic regulatory targets, and decrease cellular proliferation (Jabbar and Zhang, Cancer Biol.& Ther.,1:277-283, 2002). We therefore generated an adenoviral vector (Ad-p53-P) in which T18 and S20 were substituted by aspartic acid. We then compared the cytotoxity and growth suppression of wild- type and modified p53 by both MTT and trypan-blue exclusion studies. We found the adenoviral vector expressing the modified p53 (50-100 MO1) significantly inhibits the cell growth and is cytotoxic to UC11 (wild type p53) and UC14 (mutated p53) cells compared to an adenoviral vector expressing wild-type p53 at the same MOIs (p=<0.001). It was equally cytotoxic in the UC3 cell line which has a deletion in p53 and expresses no p53. This modified p53 construct may therefore provide an improvement over wild-type p53 for the treatment of bladder cancer using various gene therapy strategies.
Cash Flow Accounting: is It Time For Increased Disclosures?

Cash flow reporting has attracted increased attention in the United States, especially in the past decade. However, despite the use of per share cash flow information by security analysts, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) has prohibited its disclosure. This article provides a historical perspective of cash flow accounting in the U.S., as well as a discussion of cash flow advocates. The final section presents arguments for increased disclosures in the area of cash flows, including operating cash flow on a per share basis and a schedule of free cash flows.
Inadvertent Endobronchial Intubation in a Patient With a Short Neck Length

Inadvertent placement of the endotracheal tube into the right bronchus during intubation for general anesthesia is a fairly common occurrence. Many precautions should be taken by the anesthesia provider in order to minimize the incidence of endobronchial intubation, including bilateral auscultation of the lungs, use of the 21/23 rule, and palpation of the inflated endotracheal cuff at the sternal notch. These provisions, however, are not foolproof; anesthesia providers should realize that endobronchial intubation may occur from time to time because of variations in patient anatomy, changes in patient positioning, and cephalad pressures exerted during surgery. A 58-year-old man with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease received general endotracheal anesthesia for a laparoscopic cholecystectomy. His height was 165 cm (5 ft, 5 in) and the endotracheal tube was secured at his incisors at 21 cm after placement with a rigid laryngoscope. Bilateral breath sounds were confirmed with auscultation, although they were distant because of his chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. After radiographic examination in the postanesthesia care unit, a right main-stem intubation was revealed to have taken place, resulting in complete atelectasis of the left lung. After repositioning of the endotracheal tube, radiography confirmed that the patient had an anatomically short tracheal length.
The histone H2A deubiquitinase Usp16 regulates hematopoiesis and hematopoietic stem cell function

Epigenetic mechanisms play important regulatory roles in hematopoiesis and hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) function. Subunits of polycomb repressive complex 1 (PRC1), the major histone H2A ubiquitin ligase, are critical for both normal and pathological hematopoiesis; however, it is unclear which of the several counteracting H2A deubiquitinases functions along with PRC1 to control H2A ubiquitination (ubH2A) level and regulates hematopoiesis in vivo. Here we investigated the function of Usp16 in mouse hematopoiesis. Conditional deletion of Usp16 in bone marrow resulted in a significant increase of global ubH2A level and lethality. Usp16 deletion did not change HSC number but was associated with a dramatic reduction of mature and progenitor cell populations, revealing a role in governing HSC lineage commitment. ChIP- and RNA-sequencing studies in HSC and progenitor cells revealed that Usp16 bound to many important hematopoietic regulators and that Usp16 deletion altered the expression of genes in transcription/chromosome organization, immune response, hematopoietic/lymphoid organ development, and myeloid/leukocyte differentiation. The altered gene expression was partly rescued by knockdown of PRC1 subunits, suggesting that Usp16 and PRC1 counterbalance each other to regulate cellular ubH2A level and gene expression in the hematopoietic system. We further discovered that knocking down Cdkn1a (p21cip1), a Usp16 target and regulated gene, rescued the altered cell cycle profile and differentiation defect of Usp16-deleted HSCs. Collectively, these studies identified Usp16 as one of the histone H2A deubiquitinases, which coordinates with the H2A ubiquitin ligase PRC1 to regulate hematopoiesis, and revealed cell cycle regulation by Usp16 as key for HSC differentiation.
How to Value an Urban Network

This article develops a simple model of an urban network by combining a graph-theoretic approach with basic micro-economic theory. Use value of the urban network is defined by total rents earned by economically independent rent-charging node-owners. In the equilibrium, the economic rent in the urban network is the dominant factor affecting the size and the core-periphery composition of the spatial economy. The marginal cost of transportation and production, and hence, location rents and producer profits, are weaker determinants of the spatial economy that are significant only in smaller economies and mostly vanish in larger ones.
Regulating the Administration of Mood-Altering Drugs to Juveniles: Are We Legally Drugging Our Children?

This paper will explore the interrelationship between violent juvenile behavior and juveniles taking a multiplicity of psychotropic drugs. Part I of the paper will discuss the history of children being treated with mood-altering drugs. Ritalin, one of the original drugs administered to children in the quest to control or repress behavior, will be discussed, as will Federal Drug Administration (FDA) action on the newer anti-depressants. Part II will address the issue of how adequately children are diagnosed with diseases that warrant administration of such psychotropic drugs.
Mentoring Experiences and Latina/o University Student Persistence.

This study examined the experiences of 17 Latina/o students who participated in a university mentoring program that included academic and cultural resources, involvement, and leadership opportuniti...
IDENTIFICATION OF LINEAR TIME-INVARIANT SYSTEMS BY THE METHOD OF POISSON MOMENT FUNCTIONALS.

This paper utilizes the method of Poisson Moment Functionals (PMF) to identify the parameters of increasingly complex time invariant linear structures in a noisy environment. Two formulations are given. The first provides identification of the first order state equations of the structure from measurements of generalized displacements, velocities, and forces. The second provides identification of the second order differential equations of the structure from measurements of only the generalized displacements .and forces. Both formulations identify the initial conditions of the sytem. Results of some parametric studies are given, and comparisons are made with a second order Auto Regressive Moving Average (ARMA) method.
Research in Information Systems Education: Scope and Productivity

Information systems (IS) education research is an integral part of the IS academic community. Research on timely issues such as techniques for innovative teaching, methods for addressing the recent enrollment crisis, and revisions to the IS curriculum are vital to the IS discipline. This paper defines the scope of information systems education research and identifies the top research journals that publish research related to information systems education. Ultimately, this paper reports on research productivity in information systems education at both the institutional and individual faculty levels for the period 2005-2010. The results of this paper suggest that IS education research is global in nature with several leading institutions outside of North America including universities in Australia, Belgium, Greece, Hong Kong, Israel, Taiwan, and the United Kingdom. In addition, several universities prominent in overall IS research productivity were also prominent in IS education research.
Brain aromatization of androgens.

Although the observation that the brain can form estrogens from androgens was made nearly 25 years ago, the details and implications of this autocrine/paracrine neuroendocrine system are still being discovered. The presence in the brain of the enzyme estrogen synthetase (aromatase) has been documented by biochemical, molecular biologic and morphologic techniques. The system has been shown to be autoregulating--i.e., brain aromatase is induced by the same androgens that it uses as the substrate for the formation of estrogens. Aromatase was first found in the hypothalamus and associated with reproductive neuroendocrine development (the aromatase hypothesis of brain sexual differentiation); however, recent immunohistochemical studies have indicated that aromatase is more widely spread throughout the brain. There apparently are two, separable brain aromatase systems in mammals, a gonad-sensitive hypothalamic system and a gonad-insensitive limbic system. These systems appear during prenatal development and are also found in adults. The aromatase is distributed throughout the neuron, including projective fibers: axons, boutons and synaptic vesicles. Thus, additional actions of locally formed estrogen in these areas of the brain and beyond are likely to be found in the near future.
Value Analysis for Small Manufacturers

The four-step value analysis process presented is designed specifically for smaller businesses. The purpose of the process is to provide a simplified, but practical, format for performing value analysis. The primary contributions of this approach include organization of tasks and providing a more efficient way of thinking about requisitions.