cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Venezuelan equine encephalitis virus vectors expressing HIV-1 proteins: vector design strategies for improved vaccine efficacy.

Abstract A live virus vaccine vector has been constructed from a molecularly cloned attenuated strain of Venezuelan equine encephalitis virus (VEE). High levels of foreign protein expression are regulated by an additional copy of the 26 S viral subgenomic RNA promoter. The position of this additional promoter and foreign gene in the VEE genome was predicted to have a major influence on expression level of the heterologous protein. Two sites in the genome were tested to determine the optimal site for expression of the matrix/capsid (MA/CA) coding region of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV-1). One vector contained the additional promoter and the MA/CA genes immediately downstream of the VEE E1 gene at the 3′ end of the genome. In the second vector, the additional promoter was introduced immediately upstream from the authentic 26 S subgenomic promoter. Significantly higher levels of MA/CA were expressed from the downstream vector compared to the upstream vector. However, the stability of expression for both vectors was similar following passage in baby hamster kidney cells (BHK) cells. In BALB/c mice, the two vectors elicited similar levels of cellular immune responses to MA/CA as determined by bulk cytotoxic T-lymphocyte assays and precursor frequency analysis, but the humoral response induced by the downstream vector was significantly stronger. At 11 months post boosting with the downstream vector, serum antibody levels against HIV MA/CA were undiminished, and MA/CA specific CTLp were detectable in all mice tested. These findings suggest that VEE vectors can be optimized to elicit strong, balanced and long-lived immune responses to foreign viral proteins.
Sintering of Ag paste for power devices die attach on Cu surfaces

The die-attach layer is one of the most critical elements for high-temperature power electronics applications. The increase in operating temperature requires new materials with higher melting points and suitable thermo-mechanical properties. Among the possible solutions, sintering of Ag pastes (nanoparticles, nanoflakes and particles near the nanosize range) is an interesting method, because it requires moderate (<300°C) processing temperatures. These lower processing temperatures are suitable for implementation in mass manufacturing and the equipment for doing so are readily available. The aim of this write-up is to detail the qualification efforts being done on the Ag sinter solutions, in particular on copper (Cu) surfaces. The literature work will cover reliability and manufacturing concerns which are of primary interest to the general engineering community. These concerns must be addressed from several view points; design, processability and equipment. The outlook for implementation of this technology is bright and is in-line with the lead free initiative being addressed by the RoHS and WEEE directives for power devices.
Effects of reduced uterine perfusion pressure on blood pressure and metabolic factors in pregnant rats.

Background Elements of metabolic syndrome (eg, dyslipidemia and impaired glucose metabolism) are often present in preeclamptic pregnancies. Currently it is unclear whether these metabolic aberrations presage preeclampsia, or if these manifestations result from placental ischemia and the ensuing proinflammatory state usually present in preeclampsia. Methods The present study employed chronic reductions in uterine perfusion pressure (RUPP) to generate a rat model of pregnancy-induced hypertension (PIH) for the evaluation of fasting plasma concentrations of triglycerides (TGs), glucose, resistin, insulin, and glucose tolerance in late-gestation rats. Results Mean arterial pressure was increased (130 ± 2.1 mm Hg v 100 ± 4.3 mm Hg; all values, mean ± SEM), and fetal weight decreased (1.93 ± 0.08 g v 2.19 ± 0.06 g), in RUPP dams compared with normal pregnant (NP) control dams. Maternal fasting glucose (4.2 ± 0.3 mmol L −1 v 3.1 ± 0.4 mmol L −1 ; P −1 v 2.45 ± 0.51 mmol L −1 ), insulin (9.9 ± 0.7 μU mL −1 v 8.5 ± 0.7 μU mL −1 ), resistin (46.25 ± 4.19 pg mL −1 v 49.71 ± 4.01 pg mL −1 ), and glucose area under the curve (650 ± 35 mmol min L −1 v 570 ± 34 mmol min L −1 ) were not different between the RUPP and NP dams. Conclusions Although these findings do not rule out the hypothesis that preexisting symptoms of metabolic syndrome may contribute to the onset of preeclampsia, these data clearly show that pregnancy-induced hypertension resulting from RUPP does not elicit manifestations of metabolic syndrome in late-gestation rat dams.
The operant, from rat to man: an introduction to some recent experiments on human behavior.

Virtually all psychologists accept the premise that human behavior is orderly. The order that they see, however, varies considerably from group to group, and the aspects of behavior in which these orders appear differ as well. The clinician and the personality psychologist observe their fellow men and see need-presses, repressions, and aggressive drives. The experimental psychologist finds his order in the rates at which nonsense syllables are learned, or at which conditioned eyelid reflexes are acquired. If he is physiologically oriented, he is apt to concern himself with muscle twitches and even with the secretion of saliva. It is in terms of such variables that psychologists have set their descriptions of, and their predictions about, the actions of people. All of us, whether psychologists or not, observe people acting. We learn rules of "practical psychology." Some of us, especially the novelists and playwrights, do a remarkably good job of giving plausible accounts of behavior, often in terms that seem pertinent. These writers, however, do not employ the language used by psychologists at either end of the spectrum. They describe ordinary, everyday behavior, and describe it well, but not by using the conceptualizations that psychologists seem to have found useful, nor even terms that can be readily translated into such conceptualizations. The psychologist's efforts tend to be limited in their usefulness to the description and prediction of the behavior of people whose behavior is awry, or of people who are engaged in the strange and unusual activities demanded of them in a laboratory of experimental psychology. Dale Carnegie, practical politicians, and, perhaps, everybody but psychologists, concern themselves with simple, ordinary, everyday behavior. One reason for this situation is, perhaps, the lack of methods of conceptualizing behavior, or of abstracting relevant aspects of behavior for study that are not clinic- or laboratory-bound. This lack of methods is due, perhaps, to a conviction that ordinary behavior is too complex and is determined by too many variables to make possible the discovery of any order except by the application of theory. What I desire to do here is to introduce some concepts, and to describe some experiments derived from them, that suggest that the orderliness of human behavior may be more accessible than has been hitherto assumed. These experiments may accordingly suggest new direction for research on human behavior.
Photons and lepton pairs from high energy nuclear collisions

Abstract High energy photons and lepton pairs are created by the interactions of quarks and gluons during the first, few fm c of a nucleus-nucleus collision when the energy density is the greatest. Advances ill the calculation of these electromagnetic signals are discussed. In particular, the parton cascade model allows us to compute Drell-Yan, pre-equilibrium, and equilibrium emission within a single dynamical framework.
Reversible resistance modulation in mesoscopic silver wires induced by exposure to amine vapor.

Ensembles of silver nanowires (AgNEs) with diameters ranging from 200 nm to 1.0 μm have been prepared by electrochemical step edge decoration. These AgNEs showed a rapid (<5 s), reversible increase in resistance upon exposure to the vapor of ammonia, trimethylamine, and pyridine. The amplitude of the resistance change was up to +3000% (ΔR/Ro)more than 2 orders of magnitude larger than can be explained based on boundary layer scattering effects. We experimentally probe the mechanism for this resistance modulation in the case of ammonia, and we propose a model to describe it. Conductive tip atomic force microscopy was used to probe individual sections of nanowires in AgNEs; these data revealed that the resistance change caused by NH3 exposure was concentrated within a minority (∼10%) of the 5-μm wire segments that were probednot uniformly distributed along each nanowire. All AgNEs showed a temperature dependence of their resistance, α, that was smaller than expected for silver metal. Highly sensitive AgNEs ...
Genetic etiology of behavioral inhibition among 2-year-old children

Abstract Inhibited behavior in 157, 24-month-old twin pairs was studied in a situation in which two pairs of twins, unfamiliar with each other, played together in an unfamiliar room. An intraclass correlation comparison between monozygotic (MZ) and dizygotic (DZ) twins showed that the heritability for inhibited behavior, for the entire sample, was significantly different from zero: r MZ = .82, r DZ = .47. The genetic influence on extreme inhibition was assessed using a relatively new technique which employs a multiple-regression model to predict the co-twin's inhibition score from the proband's score and the degree of genetic relationship (1.0 for MZ twins and 0.5 for DZ twins). The partial regression of co-twin's score on relationship, an index of the extent to which the deviant scores of probands are due to heritable influences, was large and statistically significant. This result provides evidence favoring a genetic contribution to behavioral inhibition in children.
Teaching the Teachers of Clinical Psychopharmacology

This commentary focuses on psychopharmacology teachers and their teaching. The authors offer broadly based pedagogic suggestions on how to deliver evidence-based and neurobiologically informed prescribing information to clinicians at all levels of experience. They argue that teaching essential psychopharmacology knowledge and practice must be up-to-date, accurate, and consistent with the reality of an individual patient’s life experience and beliefs. They stress that educators must teach that nonpsychopharmacological factors in a patient’s life may be as relevant to the treatment setting as the actual pharmacological basis of psychotropic drug therapeutics.
Inhibition by arylsulphatase A of Na-independent [3H]-GABA and [3H]-muscimol binding to bovine cerebellar synaptic membranes.

Abstract Over an identical concentration range, both [3H]-GABA and [3H]-muscimol were bound to bovine cerebellar synaptic membranes through a sodium-independent and high-affinity process. Preincubating the synaptic membrane suspensions with arylsulphatase A inhibited [3H]-GABA and [3H]-muscimol binding. Furthermore, by using 4-nitrocatechol sulphate as a substrate for arylsulphatase A, a direct correlation appeared to exist between the amounts of SO2−in4 released and the degree of inhibition of [3H]-GABA binding to synaptic membranes. The inhibitory effect of arylsulphatase A was blocked by known inhibitors of arylsulphatase such as AgNO3. Scatchard analysis of specific [3H]-GABA binding to synaptic membranes showed that arylsulphatase decreased the number of [3H]-GABA binding sites from 2.65 to 1.75 pmol mg proteins without changing appreciably the affinity of [3H]-GABA binding to cerebellar synaptic membranes. These observations are interpreted to indicate that some components of GABA recognition sites may also contain sulpholipid(s) in addition to phospholipid(s).
Efficient Basis Change for Sparse-Grid Interpolating Polynomials with Application to T-Cell Sensitivity Analysis

Sparse-grid interpolation provides good approximations to smooth functions in high dimensions based on relatively few function evaluations, but in standard form it is expressed in Lagrange polynomials. Here, we give a block-diagonal factorization of the basis-change matrix to give an efficient conversion of a sparse-grid interpolant to a tensored orthogonal polynomial (or gPC) representation. We describe how to use this representation to give an efficient method for estimating Sobol' sensitivity coefficients and apply this method to analyze and efficiently approximate a complex model of T-cell signaling events.
Application of ethernet peer-peer communication to a mesh corner delayed auto-reclose scheme

The paper presents an application of the UCA2 protocol to implement a delayed auto-reclose (DAR) scheme. The mesh-corner plant topology requires coordinated control logic and DAR. Using the generic object oriented substation event (GOOSE) element of UCA2 it is possible to satisfy the demanding time constraints for passing the control information between relays via Ethernet. The relay provides the full control logic and input-output (I/O) required for auto-isolation and DAR of a single corner of the mesh. Combining several of these devices, communicating over an Ethernet link, it is possible to control systems ranging from a single switch (circuit breaker) to a six-switch mesh corner scheme. The paper focuses on the experiences gained from this practical application; including the configuration tools required for the system, consideration of testing issues and the impact of degraded communication links (to ensure 'failsafe' operation). A view of future applications will also be presented including the integration of other protection devices into the peer-peer scheme to provide the full substation information control and protection package. It concludes with a comprehensive summary of the benefits of the application of the peer-peer communications.
Combination chemotherapy for Human Immunodeficiency Virus-1

Combination therapy approaches are becoming the mainstay of treatment for a variety of neoplastic and infectious diseases, including human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-1 infections. The advantages of combination therapy include potentially additive-to-synergistic antiviral interactions, decreased emergence of or wider coverage against resistant viruses, and broadened effect both in terms of cell types and tissue reservoirs. However, combination drug interactions may range from synergy to antagonism. Both in vitro and in vivo studies have identified agents demonstrating additive-to-synergistic effects when used together and support the use of combination strategies in clinical practice. These will be reviewed in the context of their use in the setting of healthcare worker postexposure prophylaxis.
Cultivating Chlorella sp. in a Pilot-Scale Photobioreactor Using Centrate Wastewater for Microalgae Biomass Production and Wastewater Nutrient Removal

This study is concerned with a novel mass microalgae production system which, for the first time, uses "centrate", a concentrated wastewater stream, to produce microalgal biomass for energy production. Centrate contains a high level of nutrients that support algal growth. The objective of this study was to investigate the growth characteristics of a locally isolated microalgae strain Chlorella sp. in centrate and its ability to remove nutrients from centrate. A pilot-scale photobioreactor (PBR) was constructed at a local wastewater treatment plant. The system was tested under different harvesting rates and exogenous CO(2) levels with the local strain of Chlorella sp. Under low light conditions (25 μmol·m(-2)s(-1)) the system can produce 34.6 and 17.7 g·m(-2)day(-1) biomass in terms of total suspended solids and volatile suspended solids, respectively. At a one fourth harvesting rate, reduction of chemical oxygen demand, total Kjeldahl nitrogen, and soluble total phosphorus were 70%, 61%, and 61%, respectively. The addition of CO(2) to the system did not exhibit a positive effect on biomass productivity or nutrient removal in centrate which is an organic carbon rich medium. The unique PBR system is highly scalable and provides a great opportunity for biomass production coupled with wastewater treatment.
Effects of training with added difficulties on RADAR detection

Three experiments simulating military RADAR detection addressed a training difficulty hypothesis (training with difficulty promotes superior later testing performance) and a procedural reinstatement hypothesis (test performance improves when training conditions match test conditions). Training and testing were separated by 1 week. Participants detected targets (either alphanumeric characters or vehicle pictures) occurring among distractors. Two secondary tasks were used to increase difficulty (a concurrent, irrelevant tone-counting task and a sequential, relevant action-firing response). In Experiment 1, involving alphanumeric targets with rapid displays, tone counting during training degraded test performance. In Experiment 2, involving vehicle targets with both sources of difficulty and slower presentation times, training under relevant difficulty aided test accuracy. In Experiment 3, involving vehicle targets and action firing with slow presentation times, test accuracy tended to be worst when neither training nor testing involved difficult conditions. These results show boundary conditions for the training difficulty and procedural reinstatement hypotheses. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Biomarkers and Molecular Probes for Cell Death Imaging and Targeted Therapeutics

Cell death is a critically important biological process. Disruption of homeostasis, either by excessive or deficient cell death, is a hallmark of many pathological conditions. Recent research advances have greatly increased our molecular understanding of cell death and its role in a range of diseases and therapeutic treatments. Central to these ongoing research and clinical efforts is the need for imaging technologies that can locate and identify cell death in a wide array of in vitro and in vivo biomedical samples with varied spatiotemporal requirements. This review article summarizes community efforts over the past five years to identify useful biomarkers for dead and dying cells, and to develop molecular probes that target these biomarkers for optical, radionuclear, or magnetic resonance imaging. Apoptosis biomarkers are classified as either intracellular (caspase enzymes, mitochondrial membrane potential, cytosolic proteins) or extracellular (plasma membrane phospholipids, membrane potential, surface exposed histones). Necrosis, autophagy, and senescence biomarkers are described, as well as unexplored cell death biomarkers. The article discusses possible chemotherapeutic and theranostic strategies, and concludes with a summary of current challenges and expected eventual rewards of clinical cell death imaging.
Exploring the thermal impact on manycore processor performance

Performance of processors with many simple parallel cores is limited by the serial part of the workload, requiring an asymmetric core organization with one or more aggressive “primary” cores for better serial performance. A primary core introduces power-hungry microarchitectural structures and usually causes severe local hot spots. This paper explores the thermal impact on manycore processor architecture and evaluates its performance. Preliminary results show that thermal constraints reduce performance as expected, but also make performance almost insensitive to the complexity of the primary core across a diverse degrees of parallelism, which greatly reduces design complexity.
Cell Cycle Regulation

Progression of the cell cycle is a tightly controlled process that is governed by several overlapping regulatory mechanisms. However, during the onset of prostate cancer and progression to malignancy, these stringent controls are cast aside and cell proliferation continues unchecked. Among the factors shown to contribute to aberrant cell proliferation and progression to malignancy in prostatic carcinoma are those that directly influence the cell cycle, such as androgen receptor and CDK inhibitors, as well as others that indirectly influence cell cycle control such as PTEN and polyamines. Here we discuss the mechanisms by which these factors manipulate the cell cycle and their contributions to the progression of prostate carcinoma.
Dipaxin: 2-diphenylacetyl-1,3-indandione; clinical evaluation of a new anticoagulant.

In the course of development of new anticoagulants, an indandione derivative has been subjected to a clinical evaluation. The new agent is one of the most potent hypoprothrombinemic substance known but it is readily counteracted with vitamin K. The agent was administered to a large series of patients with thromboembolic diseases and control of anticoagulant therapy was observed to be simple, reproducible, with a good predictability of response as well as with absence of toxic phenomena and a low order of bleeding complications. It has been administered to 11 patients for ambulant anticoagulant care for periods up to 18 months with satisfactory results and it appears to be especially suitable for long-term maintenance therapy.
Conditions of low dimensionality for strongly interacting atoms under a transverse trap

For a dilute atomic gas in a strong transverse trapping potential, one normally expects that, in the ground state, the gas will populate only the lowest transverse level. We show, however, that for the strongly interacting gas under a Feshbach resonance, the ground state includes a large fraction of atoms in excited levels of the trap, even if the gas is in the dilute limit and the trap is very strong. This is because the effective atom-molecule coupling is typically enhanced to many times the trap mode spacing by an induced confinement along the untrapped dimension(s). Thus one cannot ''freeze out'' the transverse degrees of freedom except under certain conditions.
The persuasive impact of two-sided selling appeals for an unknown brand name

The persuasive effectiveness of message sidedness (one versus two-sided messages) and message structure was assessed in the context of a personal selling appeal for a new home computer to an unfamiliar target audience. Contrary to some prior research, two-sided appeals were found to be less, not more, effective in promoting seller credibility and message acceptance than onesided appeals. To some extent, however, this effect was attenuated by placing unfavorable product arguments at the end rather than the beginning of the selling appeal. To account for these findings, a disarming effect is proposed. People who have little or no, knowledge regarding a seller’s particular offering tend to be disarmed by two-sided appeals. As a result, they discount the seller’s product-related knowledge. This effect is thought to be more pronounced when the unfavorable information is presented at the beginning of the message.
Spatial heterogeneity reduces temporal variability in stream insect communities

Although all natural systems are heterogeneous, the direct influence of spatial heterogeneity on most ecological variables is unknown. In many systems, spatial heterogeneity is positively correlated with both microhabitat refugia and species richness. Both an increased number of microhabitat refugia and the effects of statistical averaging via increased species richness should lead to an inverse relationship between spatial heterogeneity and variability in community composition. To test this prediction, I measured diversity and temporal variability of invertebrate communities in a northern New Hampshire stream along a natural gradient of spatial heterogeneity formed by variation in stream substrates. On average, there was a 42% decrease in community variability along a gradient of increasing heterogeneity. This pattern was robust to changes in metrics of both heterogeneity and community variability. There was also a significant positive relationship between taxon richness and spatial heterogeneity with predicted taxon richness increasing c. 1.5× along the heterogeneity gradient. By resampling community abundance data, I estimated that statistical averaging accounted for only 4% of the observed decrease in community variability in this study. I concluded that the remaining decrease was very likely explained by a greater number of refugia from predation and/or flooding in high-heterogeneity habitats. The results of this study suggest that maximizing heterogeneity in ecological restoration programmes may promote temporally stable and diverse communities and may aid in responsible management of aquatic resources.
Using expert knowledge to satisfy data needs: mapping invasive plant distributions in the western United States

ABSTRACT. Lack of knowledge about the distributions of plant and animal species can severely hamper management efforts. For invasive plants, distribution and abundance data can inform early detection and rapid response (EDRR) programs aimed at treating initial infestations. These data can be used to create invasion risk models at landscape and regional scales. Further, regional maps of invasive plant abundance are useful for communicating the scope of the invasive species problem to the public and policymakers. Here, we present a set of regional distribution maps for 10 problematic invasive plants in the western United States, created from the expert knowledge of weed managers in over 300 counties. Invasive plant experts identified infestations on paper, and the results were digitized into a regional GIS. Over 40% of requests were returned, resulting in maps with good spatial coverage and distribution data suitable for assessing invasive plant abundance across the western United States. Cheatgrass (Bromus...
Gliding motility mutants of Myxococcus xanthus.

Abstract Two gliding motility mutants of Myxococcus xanthus are described. The semimotile mutant (SM) originated by high-frequency segregation from the motile FBt strain. Segregation was enhanced by acridine dye treatment. SM cells glide only when apposed to other cells in a swarm. The nonmotile strain (NM) originated by mutation from SM. NM cells neither glide individually nor cooperatively. FBt, SM, and NM are indistinguishable with respect to fine structure, vegetative growth rate, glycerol-induced microcyst formation, spheroplasting, bacteriophage sensitivity, and responses to light. The motility mutants are more resistant to penicillin and more sensitive to actinomycin D than is the gliding wild type. The NM mutant is also a morphogenetic mutant; it is unable to form fruiting bodies.
Metabolic hypothesis for human altriciality

The classic anthropological hypothesis known as the “obstetrical dilemma” is a well-known explanation for human altriciality, a condition that has significant implications for human social and behavioral evolution. The hypothesis holds that antagonistic selection for a large neonatal brain and a narrow, bipedal-adapted birth canal poses a problem for childbirth; the hominin “solution” is to truncate gestation, resulting in an altricial neonate. This explanation for human altriciality based on pelvic constraints persists despite data linking human life history to that of other species. Here, we present evidence that challenges the importance of pelvic morphology and mechanics in the evolution of human gestation and altriciality. Instead, our analyses suggest that limits to maternal metabolism are the primary constraints on human gestation length and fetal growth. Although pelvic remodeling and encephalization during hominin evolution contributed to the present parturitional difficulty, there is little evidence that pelvic constraints have altered the timing of birth.
Compensation Rigging by Powerful CEOs: A Reply and Cross-Sectional Evidence

Wan (2013) argues that the statistical inferences in our Journal of Finance (2011) paper are not robust, as we do not prove that it is powerful CEOs that rig incentive contracts. Wan makes the theoretical claim that the rigging results are consistent with ex-post optimal re-contracting. However, optimal re-contracting cannot explain the loss in firm value from contract switching we show in the paper. Nor do we know of a theory that would predict that ex-post realignment could be tested using our contract switching term in the wage function, like Wan does. On the empirical front, Wan’s critique has at least three flaws. First, his standardized performance measures — different than ours — result in accounting returns being 14 percentage points higher than stock returns. Consequently, switching between measures, necessary for identification, is infrequent and outlier-based, not surprisingly delivering regression estimates different from ours. Second, he interprets selectively among insignificant coefficients to make his claims. Third, regardless of interpretation, basic mathematics casts doubt on the premise of his estimation strategy. Wan makes one valid point: our original work could have provided more extensive cross-sectional empirical support for our rigging claims. We take this opportunity to present new cross-sectional (between-firm) evidence and conclude even more strongly that powerful CEOs sway boards to load their incentive pay on more favorably performing measures.
The Taste of Vellum

Abstract The author “reviews” the library with an eye toward haute culture and a gourmet palate.
Production and partitioning of organic matter during simulated phytoplankton blooms

Few studies have examined the partitioning of organic matter in upwelling systems, despite the fact that these systems play a key role in carbon and nitrogen budgets in the ocean. We examined the production and partitioning of phytoplankton-derived organic matter in deck incubations off Oregon during the upwelling season. During exponential growth of the phytoplankton, $78% of total accumulated organic matter was in particulate (POM) form. This suggests that dissolved organic matter (DOM) is a small fraction of primary production during the exponential growth of coastal phytoplankton blooms. After nitrate depletion, carbon-rich (C : N $ 16) DOM accumulated in incubations dominated by the diatom Chaetoceros sp., accounting for 38% (68.5%) of accumulated total organic carbon (TOC) and 24% (68%) of accumulated total organic nitrogen (TON). However, in a bloom dominated by the diatom Leptocylindrus minimus,a relatively smaller amount of DOM accumulated, accounting for only 15% of accumulated TOC and 7% of accumulated TON. On the basis of measured concentrations of nitrate and accumulated TOC, ;70%‐157% more carbon was fixed than would be predicted by Redfield stoichiometry (referred to as ‘‘excess carbon fixation’’), with 20%‐69% of the excess carbon fixation occurring after nitrate depletion. The accumulation of carbon-rich DOM and excess carbon fixation suggests that nitrate assimilation (i.e., new production) might not equate to net production of POM in coastal upwelling systems. Coastal upwelling systems are among the most productive marine ecosystems in the world. Although accounting for only 1% of total ocean surface area, coastal upwelling regions account for $10% of global new production (Chavez and Toggweiler 1995). New production is defined as primary production that is based on newly available nitrogen (Dugdale and Goering 1967) and is commonly determined from regional observations of nitrate-based primary production, because nitrate is globally the main source of new nitrogen to the euphotic zone. In coastal regions, the fate of new production is thought to be export through sinking of particulate organic matter (POM) or through the accumulation of higher trophic level biomass (e.g., fish production) (Eppley and Peterson 1979; Walsh 1991). However, earlier paradigms are now being revisited, because numerous studies have shown an accumulation of dissolved organic matter (DOM) after phytoplankton blooms and over the course of the growing season in a variety of marine systems (Ittekkot et al. 1981; Bronk et al. 1994; Williams 1995). Additionally, elevated carbon fixation relative to nitrogen assimilation has been observed in the surface ocean (Sambrotto et al. 1993). The fate of this excess fixed carbon is largely unknown. Mechanisms, such as aggregate formation resulting from transparent exopolymer (TEP) production by phytoplankton, are now being elucidated, and these might facilitate rapid export of the excess fixed carbon from the euphotic zone (Engel et al. 2002).
Incorporation of Linear Spacer Molecules in Vapor Deposited Silicone Polymer Thin Films

Poly (trivinyl-trimethyl-cyclotrisiloxane) or polyV(3)D(3) is a promising insulating thin film known for its potential application in neural probe fabrication. However, its time-consuming synthesis rate renders it impractical for manufacturing standards. Previously, the growth mechanism of polyV(3)D(3) was shown to be affected by significant steric barriers. This article describes the synthesis of a copolymer of polyV(3)D(3) via initiated chemical vapor deposition (iCVD) using V(3)D(3) as the monomer, hexavinyl disiloxane (HVDS) as a spacer, and tert-butyl peroxide (TBP) as the initiator to obtain nearly a 4-fold increase in deposition rate. The film formation kinetics is limited by the adsorption of the reactive species on the surface of the substrate with an activation energy of -41.5 kJ/mol with respect to substrate temperature. The films deposited are insoluble in polar and non polar solvents due to their extremely crosslinked structure. They have excellent adhesion to silicon substrates and their adhesion properties are retained after soaking in a variety of solvents. Spectroscopic evidence shows that the films do not vary in structure after boiling in DI water for 1 hour, illustrating hydrolytic stability. PolyV(3)D(3)-HVDS has a bulk resistivity of 5.6 (±1) × 10(14) Ω-cm, which is comparable to that of parylene-C; the insulating thin film currently used in neuroprosthetic devices.
Chronic L-arginine Prevents Cholesterol-attenuation of Vasodilation to Acetylcholine and Serotonin

Acute administration of the amino acid L-arginine has been shown to reverse cholesterol attenuated endothelium-dependent vasodilation. A role for chronic L-arginine as a protectant against cholesterol-induced endothelial dysfunction was studied in the rat cremaster muscle microcirculation. Pellets containing L-arginine (200 mg, 3 week release) and corresponding placebo were implanted subcutaneously in male Sprague-Dawley rats. The rats were then fed either a normal chow diet or chow diet supplemented with 1% cholesterol and 0.5% cholic acid for 3 weeks prior to in vivo experimentation. In vivo television microscopy was used to quantitate microvascular diameter changes. The third order dilator response to both acetylcholine and serotonin was significantly greater in the L-arginine treated group fed the high cholesterol diet compared to the placebo treated group on the same diet. There was no difference in dilator response between the L-arginine treated cholesterol rats and either L-arginine or placebo trea...
Making better Maxent models of species distributions: complexity, overfitting and evaluation

Aim Models of species niches and distributions have become invaluable to biogeographers over the past decade, yet several outstanding methodological issues remain. Here we address three critical ones: selecting appropriate evaluation data, detecting overfitting, and tuning program settings to approximate optimal model complexity. We integrate solutions to these issues for Maxent models, using the Caribbean spiny pocket mouse, Heteromys anomalus, as an example. Location North-western South America. Methods We partitioned data into calibration and evaluation datasets via three variations of k-fold cross-validation: randomly partitioned, geographically structured and masked geographically structured (which restricts background data to regions corresponding to calibration localities). Then, we carried out tuning experiments by varying the level of regularization, which controls model complexity. Finally, we gauged performance by quantifying discriminatory ability and overfitting, as well as via visual inspections of maps of the predictions in geography. Results Performance varied among data-partitioning approaches and among regularization multipliers. The randomly partitioned approach inflated estimates of model performance and the geographically structured approach showed high overfitting. In contrast, the masked geographically structured approach allowed selection of high-performing models based on all criteria. Discriminatory ability showed a slight peak in performance around the default regularization multiplier. However, regularization levels two to four times higher than the default yielded substantially lower overfitting. Visual inspection of maps of model predictions coincided with the quantitative evaluations. Main conclusions Species-specific tuning of model parameters can improve the performance of Maxent models. Further, accurate estimates of model performance and overfitting depend on using independent evaluation data. These strategies for model evaluation may be useful for other modelling methods as well.
The Roles of Research and Regulation

International, national, state, and local regulation of cannabis and cannabis-containing products presents a highly complex and in some instances contradictory picture that has implications for law enforcement, research, public health, and an array of downstream interests. Cannabis is legal or quasilegal (ie, tolerated) in some jurisdictions, and it may be illegal and render possession subject to prosecution and other liabilities in nearby jurisdictions. And while researchers encounter an administrative burden to gain legal approval and remain in compliance, especially if their work is funded by the US government, the public can in one way or another get access to a wide variety of cannabis products without fear of sanction. The situation badly needs rationalization.
Effect of Support Particle Size in Steam Reforming of Ethanol over Co/CeO2 Catalysts

Co catalysts supported on ceria supports with two different particle sizes, one in the micro- and the other in the nano-range, were investigated for their ethanol and ethylene steam reforming performance. Pre- and post-reaction characterization techniques, including high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, temperature-programmed oxidation, dispersion, pore size measurements, in situ X-ray diffraction (XRD) and X-ray absorption fine structure spectroscopy (XAFS) studies were performed to examine the reducibility of the catalysts. Steady-state-activity testing has shown nanoparticles to have a higher reforming activity for ethanol, but also high ethylene yields. In spite of the high ethylene yields, catalysts supported on nanoparticles proved to be highly resistant to coking while the catalysts supported on larger ceria particles suffered from coke formation. Reforming experiments performed with ethylene showed significant differences in activity and stability. Bare supports were also tested for ac...
Model for small-scale crustal heterogeneity in Los Angeles basin based on inversion of sonic log data

SUMMARY High-frequencyseismicgroundmotion(10+Hz),asneededforearthquakeengineeringdesign purposes, is largely controlled by the metre-scale structure of the earth’s crust. However, the state-of-the-art velocity models poorly resolve small-scale features of the subsurface velocity and density variation. We invert 35 sonic logs (up to 3000 m in depth) in and near Los Angeles basin, CA, to obtain a statistical description of the small-scale heterogeneities of the basin. Assuming a von Karman autocorrelation function, our analysis finds that Hurst numbers, ν, between 0.0 and 0.2, vertical correlation lengths, az, of 15–150 m and standard deviations of about 5 per cent characterize the variability in the borehole data. We report average parameters for Los Angeles basin of ν = 0.064(0.058, 0.069) ± 0.01(0.006, 0.012) and az = 54(51.1, 57.6) ± 5.9(1.79, 9.53)m with 95 per cent confidence intervals listed in the parentheses. Despite the large depth range of the logs, there is no significant variation of the statistical parameters with depth. Our analysis of 371 depth-averaged shear wave velocities in the upper 30 m, Vs30, provides only an upper bound of basin scale-length estimates due to the coarse sampling distance, with a Hurst number of about 0.3 and lateral correlation lengths, ax ,o f 5–10 km.
Modeling Turbulent Rayleigh-Taylor Mixing with Dynamic Interfaces

Variable-density turbulent mixing is found in a wide variety of applications, and modeling these effects is a continuing challenge. Reynolds–Averaged Navier–Stokes models remain the most common design tool in a wide variety of fields. This paper extends validation of RANS models for variable-density turbulence to a two-dimensional Rayleigh–Taylor test case. The combined effects of bulk fluid motion and turbulence model behavior are discussed and several metrics are shown to demonstrate the ability of four-equation turbulence model to describe this class of flows.
Empowered Consumers and the Health Care Team: A Dynamic Model of Health Informatics

This article presents a dynamic new model of health informatics. Within the model, the focus of health informatics changes from the provider to the consumer and incorporates the dynamic relationship of technological change to health care. Bioinformatics is the scientific discipline that is translated into care through the practice of health informatics. The loci of health informatics practices are the consumer (consumer informatics), the patient (clinical informatics), and the community (public health informatics). The continuum from individual to community interacts with and contributes to health care technology, which is represented as a constantly changing progressive wave.
The world's fare: food and culture at American World Fairs from 1893-1939

iv Acknowledgements v Introduction 1 Understanding the Study of American Diet 4 Dining in the White City: The 1893 Columbian Exposition 21 1899-1915: The World's Columbian Exposition Elaborated 41 The Food of the Future: 1933 Century of Progress Exposition and the 1939 New York World's Fair 54 Conclusion 71 Bibliography 77
Hip Dislocation Reduction

Displacement of the femoral head in relation to the acetabulum without concomitant femoral neck, head, or acetabulum fractures:
Loyalty to Social Ventures in Social Media: The Role of Social Cause Involvement, Identification, and Commitment

ABSTRACTRecently, more social organizations are engaging in market transactions to achieve financial self-reliance. In today’s highly competitive market, it is imperative for such social ventures to bolster long-term support from their consumers through every possible point of access, such as social media. Given the importance of social media in enhancing customer relationships, this study examines factors that promote consumers’ loyalty toward social ventures, focusing on intentions to participate in cause-related activities and opinion-sharing behavior via social media. Data obtained from 304 US consumers confirmed that consumer involvement, identification, and commitment were key determinants of consumer loyalty in social media. The results also showed that the effect of involvement was mediated by identification and commitment. The findings suggest that social ventures should not only attract interested segments through social media, but also engage and enhance their sense of belonging and commitment.
Using the 4 Pillars™ Practice Transformation Program to increase adult Tdap immunization in a randomized controlled cluster trial.

Abstract Introduction National adult Tdap vaccination rates are low, reinforcing the need to increase vaccination efforts in primary care offices. The 4 Pillars™ Practice Transformation Program is an evidence-based, step-by-step guide to improving primary care adult vaccination with an online implementation tracking dashboard. This study tested the effectiveness of an intervention to increase adult Tdap vaccination that included the 4 Pillars™ Program, provider education, and one-on-one coaching of practice-based immunization champions. Methods 25 primary care practices participated in a randomized controlled cluster trial (RCCT) in Year 1 (6/1/2013–5/31/2014) and a pre-post study in Year 2 (6/1/2014–1/31/2015). Baseline year was 6/1/2012–5/31/2013, with data analyzed in 2016. Demographic and vaccination data were derived from de-identified electronic medical record (EMR) extractions. The primary outcomes were vaccination rates and percentage point (PP) changes/year. Results The cohort consisted of 70,549 patients ⩾18 years who were seen in the practices ⩾1 time each year, with a baseline mean age = 55 years; 35% were men; 56% were non-white; 35% were Hispanic and 20% were on Medicare. Baseline vaccination rate averaged 35%. In the Year 1 RCCT, cumulative Tdap vaccination increased significantly in both intervention and control groups; in both cities, the percentage point increases in the intervention groups (7.7 PP in Pittsburgh and 9.9 PP in Houston) were significantly higher (P Conclusions An intervention that includes the 4 Pillars™ Practice Transformation Program, staff education and coaching is effective for increasing adult Tdap immunization rates within primary care practices. Clinical Trial Registry Name/Number: NCT01868334
A new graphene composite with a high coulombic efficiency

Abstract Zinc-graphene composite has been electrolytically produced for the first time using a graphene quantum dot (GQD) electrode. The electrochemical reduction of zinc ion at a GQD electrode is shifted to a lesser negative potential with the complimentary anodic peak due to the oxidation of the composite shifted towards a positive potential as compared to zinc ion reduction in the GQD bath. The coulombic efficiency of the composite represents a gain of nearly 10% over the conventional Zn/Zn2+ in the energy storage systems. In galvanostatic electrolysis, the deposition of zinc-graphene composite is carried out under neutral and acidic conditions. The X-ray diffraction of the electrolytically prepared composite shows distinct features of 2 theta reflection at 8° due to (001) plane of graphene, in addition to the characteristic reflections at 38.9°,43.2°, 54.3°, 70.1° and 90° arising from Zn at (002), (100), (101), (102) and (110). A large scale preparation of the zinc-graphene composite has been achieved at a zinc plate as the working electrode in the GQD bath. The composite is stable up to 250 °C. Scanning electron microscopic (SEM) and energy dispersion X-ray analysis (EDAX) shows a string like structure with peaks for carbon and zinc in EDAX.