cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Increasing the levels of ether-linked lipids in L-M cells by glyceryl ether supplementation depresses growth and choline utilization.

Abstract To gain insight into the role of alkyl-linked lipids in biological systems, we added hexadecylglycerol (a precursor of complex ether-linked lipids) to medium required for the growth of L-M cells in culture. L-M fibroblasts cultured through several generations in the presence of hexadecylglycerol grow at a reduced rate. Experimental cells at their sixth passage, with 2 μg supplement/ml, double at 50% the rate of control cell populations. Hexadecylglycerol (10 μg/ml) added 1 day after cell passage does not retard growth; however, within 1 h it decreases the incorporation of choline into the choline glycerophosphatide fraction. Inhibition is specific for choline; ethanolamine incorporation is not affected. The inhibition of choline utilization by hexadecylglycerol-treated cells is dose-dependent and reaches a maximum 12 h after supplementation. Cellular uptake of choline is reduced (approx. 17%) but not as much as the incorporation of choline into the phospholipids (approx. 60% at 12 h). The assimilation of ether lipid precursor into cellular phospholipids was followed by incubating cells with [1-14C]hexadecylglycerol. Incorporation of radioactivity into cellular phospholipids begins to plateau after 24 h, whereas the interference of hexadecylglycerol with choline metabolism could be detected as early as 1 h. The majority of the radioactivity recovered from cells incubated with labeled hexadecylglycerol is localized in the microsomal fraction (56%), where the label was distributed as free hexadecylglycerol, alkylacyl-phospholipids and alkyldiacylglycerols. These results show that the supplementation of a glyceryl ether to L-M fibroblast growth media selectively inhibits the utilization of choline for choline glycerophospholipid biosynthesis and causes a reduction in cell growth rate when cells are continually passaged in the presence of the glyceryl ether.
Generalized Davis-Putnam and satisfiability problems in mathematics

One of the main techniques in automated theorem proving (ATP) is the Davis-Putnam procedure and we offer a version that is independent of mathematical logic.
Nuclear-matter reaction matrix

Abstract Accurate numerical solutions to the Bethe-Goldstone equation are obtained for nuclear matter with different densities of neutrons and protons, starting with Reid's soft-core potentials. The lowest-order binding energy, with a phase-shift approximation for states of high J , is — 11.1 MeV at saturation density k F = 1.44 fm − . The symmetry coefficient is 31 MeV. A new density-dependent local interaction potential for use in finite nuclei is obtained from the calculation.
Activation of carbonhydrogen bonds by metal complexes: Mechanistic, kinetic and thermodynamic considerations

Abstract The activation and functionalization of carbon hydrogen bonds under homogeneous conditions continues to be an important and challenging objective. Only in recent years have a few examples of such C H bond activation, especially at aliphatic carbon centers, been reported and these involve, for the most part, stoichiometric rather than catalytic reactions; general approaches with widespread applicability still are lacking. Drawing upon the limited insights provided by these examples, and upon the pertinent information derived from related studies on the reverse process ( i.e. , metal complex-promoted C H bond formation ) and on the catalytic activation of other saturated molecules (notably H 2 ), as well as from recent determinations of metal carbon and metal hydrogen bond energies, the mechanistic, kinetic and thermodynamic aspects of C H bond activation at metal centers are analyzed. It is concluded that thermodynamic constraints, notably those associated with the characteristic weakness of metal carbon bonds, are of dominant importance in limiting the reactivities of metal complexes toward C H bonds.
Photoperiod-dependent effects of neuronal nitric oxide synthase inhibition on aggression in Siberian hamsters.

Abstract Many nontropical species undergo physiological and behavioral adaptations in response to seasonal changes in photoperiod, or day length. In most rodent species, short winter photoperiods reduce testosterone concentrations, which provoke gonadal regression and reduce testosterone-dependent behaviors such as mating and aggression. Seasonally-breeding Siberian hamsters, however, are paradoxically more aggressive in short-days, despite much reduced reproductive activity and testosterone concentrations. Nitric oxide (NO) signaling has been proposed as part of an alternate mechanism underlying this phenomenon. A reduction in neuronal nitric oxide synthase (nNOS), the enzyme responsible for synthesizing NO in the brain, is associated with increased aggression in male short-day hamsters. In the present study, we hypothesized that pharmacological inhibition of nNOS would increase aggressive behavior in long days, but not in short days because nNOS is already reduced. Adult male Siberian hamsters were housed in either long (LD 16:8 h) or short (LD 8:16 h) photoperiods for 8 weeks, then treated with either the selective nNOS inhibitor, 3-bromo-7-nitroindazole (3BrN) or oil vehicle, and subsequently tested for aggression in a resident-intruder test. Treatment with 3BrN increased attack frequency and duration in long days, but had no effect in short days. Short days also reduced testosterone concentrations, without any effect of treatment. These data provide further evidence linking reduced nNOS to elevated short-day aggression and support a role for NO signaling in this phenomenon.
Carcinoma of prostate in men less than fifty years old. Data from American College of Surgeons' National Survey.

Abstract The data of the long-term survey on prostate cancer of the Commission on Cancer of the American College of Surgeons were analyzed to assess differences in stage of disease, diagnostic and therapeutic procedures, and survival in men with prostate cancer less than fifty years of age compared with older men. Of 20,156 patients, 168, 0.8 per cent of the survey group, were less than fifty years old. There was significantly greater incidence of metastatic disease in the younger age group, with a concomitant deficit in Stage A or occult prostate cancer in those less than fifty years old. Diagnosis was made most frequently by needle biopsy of the prostate in younger patients, while the older patients underwent transurethral resection of the prostate as a diagnostic procedure in the majority of cases. There was a more frequent use of radical prostatectomy and radiation therapy for all stages of disease in the less than fifty-year-old group, while transurethral resection of the prostate alone or hormone therapy alone was the predominant therapeutic modality in those fifty and older. Comparison of survival by stage of disease showed significantly better survival for younger patients with Stage B disease at five years (84% vs 68%) and at ten years (70% vs 48%). Survival was slightly better in younger patients at five years for other stages of disease. Although prostate cancer is more likely to be metastatic at the time of diagnosis in men less than fifty, there does not appear to be any significant biologic differences in prostate cancer in men less than fifty years old when compared with older men.
Chapter Three Class-Conflict, Political Competition and Social Transformation: Critical Perspectives on the Social History of the Russian Revolution

It is the purpose of this chapter to lend force and substance to these very general and abstract criticisms of the school of social history by examining, as thoroughly and systematically as possible, the clear and coherent perspective contained in Strikes and Revolution in Russia, 1917, by Diane p. Koenker and William G. Rosenberg. The author traces the empirical and analytical weaknesses created for the field of social history by Koenker and Rosenberg's exemplary decision not to investigate directly the various party-political organisations and programmes through which class-conflict was mediated. The chapter presents the labour-movement in Russia and in the West under comparative analysis, and furnish additional evidence and related arguments in favour of the irreducibility of political outcome to economic substrate. It discusses the main political conflicts between the Mensheviks and the Bolsheviks with a view towards highlighting their significance in determining the end result of the 1917 Revolution. Keywords:Bolsheviks; class-conflict; criticisms; Diane p. Koenker; labour-movement; Mensheviks; political outcome; Russian revolution; social history; William G. Rosenberg
Why silicon is and will remain the dominant photovoltaic material

Rising demands of energy in emerging economies, coupled with the green house gas emissions related problems around the globe have provided a unique opportunity of exploiting the advantages offered by photovoltaic (PV) systems for green energy electricity generation. Similar to cell phones, power generated by PV systems can reach over two billion people worldwide who have no access to clean energy. Only silicon based PV devices meet the low-cost manufacturing criterion of clean energy conversion (abundance of raw material and no environmental health and safety issues). The use of larger size glass substrates and manufacturing techniques similar to the ones used by the liquid crystal display industry and the large scale manufacturing of amorphous silicon thin films based modules (~ GW per year manufacturing at a single location) can lead to installed PV system cost of $3/Wp. This will open a huge market for grid connected PV systems and related markets. With further research and development, this approach can provide $2/Wp installed PV system costs in the next few years. At this cost level, PV electricity generation is competitive with any other technology, and PV power generation can be a dominant electricity generation technology in the 21st century.
Investigation of the Inhibitory Effect of Silica on the Degradation of 1,1,1-Trichloroethane by Granular Iron

Although iron-based permeable reactive barriers are gaining importance for treating groundwater contaminants, little is currently known about the effect of cosolutes on barrier longevity. Because of their corrosion inhibiting properties, dissolved silica species are of particular concern. This research investigates the effect of silica on the reduction of 1,1,1-trichloroethane by granular iron as a function of added silica concentration, pH, and duration of iron exposure to dissolved silica. Batch studies reveal that, at pH 8.5 and above, added silica concentrations as low as 0.17 mM cause a 30% reduction in the reactivity of iron. At higher silica concentrations, reactivity decreases by 65-75%. The inhibitory effect is greater at higher pH: 0.83 mM silica has no apparent adverse effect at pH 7.5, but leads to a 46% decrease in reaction rate at pH 8 and 90% at pH 9. This corresponds to observed trends in silica adsorption onto iron, which is low at pH 7.3 but increases at higher pH. Extending the duration of iron exposure to silica solutions also leads to a more pronounced inhibitory effect. This is in good agreement with the increase in silica coverage on the iron surface as revealed by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy.
Modeling atmospheric nitrogen deposition and transport in the Chesapeake Bay watershed

Atmospheric deposition of nitrate nitrogen and ammonium nitrogen has been identified as a major factor in the decline of water quality in the Chesapeake Bay. Reports have indicated that atmospheric deposition may account for 25 to 80% of the total nitrogen load entering the bay. However, uncertainties exist regarding the accuracy of the atmospheric deposition inputs, nitrogen retention coefficients, and in-stream nutrient uptake rates used in these studies. This project was designed to reassess the potential inputs of atmospheric nitrogen deposition to the bay through the use of a high-resolution wet deposition model, improved wet and dry deposition and nutrient retention estimates, existing soils and land use data, and geographic information systems software. Model results indicate that the methods used in previous studies may overestimate the contribution of atmospheric nitrate and ammonium deposition to the Chesapeake Bay watershed (CBW). Wet and dry atmospheric nitrate and ammonium nitrogen deposition estimates to the CBW ranged from 52.7 to 141.9 and 41.9 to 60.1 million kg/yr, respectively, between 1984 and 1996. Dry and total atmospheric deposition loads to the watershed are substantially less than previous estimates. Estimates of the percent contribution of atmospherically deposited nitrogen to the Chesapeake Bay represent between 20 and 32% of the total nitrate and ammonium nitrogen load to the watershed from all nitrogen sources. While these estimates are lower than many other published estimates, regression analysis of model parameters, nitrogen retention coefficients, output, and measured in-stream nitrogen loads indicate that the calculated nitrogen loads may still be too high.
The Problem of Untested Sexual Assault Kits: Why Are Some Kits Never Submitted to a Crime Laboratory?

Victims of sexual assault are often advised to seek postassault medical care to have a forensic exam, which includes evidence collection (termed a sexual assault kit [SAK]). After the exam, law enforcement personnel are supposed to submit the SAK to a crime laboratory for analysis. However, recent media reports suggest that in many communities throughout the United States, thousands of SAKs are left untested. Few studies have examined the rate at which law enforcement submits SAKs to crime labs or the factors that may predict them to do so. Thus, the purpose of this exploratory study is twofold: (a) to examine the percentage of SAKs law enforcement submits to crime labs in cases in which a sexual assault nurse examiner (SANE) performed the exam with adult victims and (b) to explore whether assault and law enforcement characteristics predict whether SAKs are submitted to a crime lab. This study found that only 58.6% of the SAKs were submitted to the crime lab within a large Midwestern county. Using binary ...
Can Environmental Services Payments Sustain Collaborative Forest Management

Abstract Collaborative forest management (CFM), where local communities and government agencies collectively manage forests, is anchored on the premise that the communities can protect and manage forests if their efforts in undertaking these tasks are compensated with resultant forest produce such as fuel, fodder, timber, and non-timber forest products. In marginally productive forests under such management, however, these benefits are meager. As a result, villagers' interest in CFM is short-lived. Although improved forest protection and ecological restoration are recognized as potentially delivering environmental services, there is little effort to assess them and little discussion on compensating local communities for rendering them. This paper documents the limited scope for on-site benefits to support CFM and explores opportunities for revitalizing it through a focus on payments for environmental services (PES). It concludes with the observation that PES is a promising alternative in view of its direc...
Expression of CD44 variant isoforms CD44v3 and CD44v6 is increased on T cells from patients with systemic lupus erythematosus and is correlated with disease activity

Objective To quantify the expression of CD44 and variant isoforms CD44v3 and CD44v6 on T cells from patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), and to assess correlations of the level of expression of these molecules with disease manifestations. Methods Information on clinical and demographic characteristics was collected, and blood samples were obtained from 72 patients with SLE and 32 healthy control subjects matched to the patients by sex, race, and age. Expression of CD44 and variants CD44v3 and v6 on T cell subsets was determined by flow cytometry, and Pearson's correlations of their expression levels with clinical variables, SLE Disease Activity Index (SLEDAI) scores, and presence of lupus nephritis were determined. Wilcoxon's rank sum tests and conditional multivariable regression analyses were applied to identify differences in the expression of CD44 between patients with SLE and healthy controls. Results Expression of CD44 was higher on CD4+ and CD8+ T cells from SLE patients compared with controls (P ≤ 0.03). Expression of CD44v3 and CD44v6 was also higher on total T cells and CD4+ and CD8+ T cells from SLE patients compared with controls (P ≤ 0.03). Cell surface levels of CD44v3 on total T cells, CD4+ T cells, and CD8+ T cells as well as cell surface expression of CD44v6 on total T cells and CD4+ T cells were correlated with the SLEDAI score (P < 0.05). The presence of lupus nephritis was associated with the expression of CD44v6 on total T cells, CD4+ T cells, and CD4−CD8− T cells (P < 0.05). Positivity for anti–double-stranded DNA antibodies was associated with the expression levels of CD44v6 on T cells (P < 0.05). Conclusion These results indicate that expression levels of CD44v3 and CD44v6 on T cells may represent useful biomarkers of SLE activity.
Calibration for extensive air showers observed during the JEM-EUSO mission

Abstract The Extreme Universe Space Observatory is a mission to investigate the highest energy cosmic rays by recording the extensive air showers they create in the Earth’s atmosphere. This will be done by observing these showers from low Earth orbit. These observations will be used to measure the flux, energies and arrival directions of these cosmic rays. This paper describes how the accuracy of these measurements will be tested and improved during the mission using the Global Light System (consisting of calibrated xenon flash lamps and lasers) located deep in the Earth’s atmosphere.
The associative relation underlying autoshaping in the pigeon.

Fifteen pigeons were exposed to either response-independent or response-dependent schedules of water reinforcement, whereby water was injected directly into the unrestrained pigeons' mandibles. Key-contact responses were released by a lighted key correlated with water, but not by a lighted key uncorrelated with water. A negative response-reinforcer contingency suppressed autoshaped key-contact responses, resulting in responding directed away from the lighted key. In all pigeons, water injected directly into the mandibles elicited a consummatory fixed-action pattern of “mumbling” and swallowing. The lighted key correlated with water released a broader set of both appetitive and consummatory responses: approach to the lighted key, “bowing”, “rooting”, “mumbling”, and swallowing. Key-contact responses were “rooting” and “mumbling” motions of the beak on the surface of the key. Views of autoshaping based on stimulus substitution or stimulus surrogation do not fully explain the origin of autoshaped responses not previously elicited by the reinforcer. The present findings are consonant with views of conditioning that emphasize the large degree of biological pre-organization in conditioned response patterns, and the importance of associative factors in the control of such patterns.
Abstract IA23: The genomic landscape of acute lymphoblastic leukemia

Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) is the commonest childhood tumor and a leading cause of cancer related death in young people. The last decade has witnessed intense activity in the field of ALL genomics, initially with microarrays and more recently with next generation sequencing, with the goal of comprehensively identifying all genetic alterations contributing to leukemogenesis, treatment failure and relapse. These studies have defined new entities of ALL, and have shown that each ALL subtype is typically defined by constellations of recurring chromosomal alterations and sequence mutations that target key cellular pathways including lymphoid maturation, cellular proliferation, tumor suppression, and chromatin modification. Genomic profiling has also identified genetic alterations that have clear implications for leukemia diagnosis and therapy in several subtypes of high-risk leukemia, including early T-cell precursor ALL, hypodiploid ALL, and BCR-ABL1-like ALL. Several genetic alterations are associated with an increased risk of leukemia relapse, including IKZF1 , CREBBP , and NT5C2 . Moreover, studies interrogating germline genetic variation have identified common variants associated with leukemia susceptibility, including risk of specific subtypes of ALL and ALL in different ethnic groups, and inherited mutations in familial ALL. Ongoing efforts are completing the genomic characterization of the spectrum of ALL cases, dissecting the genetic basis of clonal heterogeneity of ALL, and expanding these studies into integrated analysis of structural variation with the leukemia epigenome and transcriptome. Citation Format: Charles Mullighan. The genomic landscape of acute lymphoblastic leukemia. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Special Conference on Pediatric Cancer at the Crossroads: Translating Discovery into Improved Outcomes; Nov 3-6, 2013; San Diego, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2013;74(20 Suppl):Abstract nr IA23.
Integrate-and-fire neurons driven by correlated stochastic input

Neurons are sensitive to correlations among synaptic inputs. However, analytical models that explicitly include correlations are hard to solve analytically, so their influence on a neuron's response has been difficult to ascertain. To gain some intuition on this problem, we studied the firing times of two simple integrate-and-fire model neurons driven by a correlated binary variable that represents the total input current. Analytic expressions were obtained for the average firing rate and coefficient of variation (a measure of spike-train variability) as functions of the mean, variance, and correlation time of the stochastic input. The results of computer simulations were in excellent agreement with these expressions. In these models, an increase in correlation time in general produces an increase in both the average firing rate and the variability of the output spike trains. However, the magnitude of the changes depends differentially on the relative values of the input mean and variance: the increase in firing rate is higher when the variance is large relative to the mean, whereas the increase in variability is higher when the variance is relatively small. In addition, the firing rate always tends to a finite limit value as the correlation time increases toward infinity, whereas the coefficient of variation typically diverges. These results suggest that temporal correlations may play a major role in determining the variability as well as the intensity of neuronal spike trains.
Adoptive Transfer of Umbilical Cord Blood-Derived Regulatory T Cells and Early Viral Reactivation

Two reports in a recent issue, by Arpinati et al. [1] and the body, every sample is likely to contain 1 or more. An Goldman [2], touch on how to interpret results of highsensitivity PCR testing for BCR/ABL1 mRNA transcripts in persons with chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML). The authors sensibly argue that an occasional positive test should not be interpreted as indicating clinical relapse and should not precipitate an intervention. They then offer intriguing, sometimes complex, explanations of this observation. Might I add another? Ten years ago, in an interesting, dense, and completely ignored report by Butturini et al.[3] we showed, using mathematical modeling, that when there are few residual leukemia cells in a person, say 10E4, test sensitivity, rather than sampling error, predominates. Namely, because there are many residual leukemia cells in
Inflammation and Cardiovascular Disease Role of the Interleukin-1 Receptor Antagonist

Inflammation plays an important role in the development and progression of a variety of cardiovascular conditions, most notably coronary atherosclerosis and congestive heart failure.1,2 A number of inflammatory molecules have been implicated in these processes, including interleukin-1 (IL-1). The IL-1 gene family consists of 3 proteins, IL-1α, IL-1β, and IL-1 receptor antagonist (IL-1ra). IL-1α and IL-1β exert their similar effects by binding to the IL-1 type I receptor. The IL-1 type II receptor also binds IL-1α and IL-1β but acts as a decoy receptor and is not involved in signal transduction, thereby counterbalancing the inflammatory effects of IL-1α and IL-1β. IL-1ra is an endogenous inhibitor of IL-1α and IL-1β, which competitively binds to the IL-1 type I receptor without activating it.3 Article p 2662 Both IL-1 and IL-1ra are produced by endothelial cells, smooth muscle cells, and macrophages. IL-1 secretion is induced by microbial products that stimulate toll-like receptors and by certain endogenous triggers, such as uric acid produced during cell death. Both types of agonists stimulate a cytosolic complex of proteins termed the inflammasome, which activates caspase-1 to enable secretion of IL-1β. The potential of this IL-1β pathway for systemic inflammation is demonstrated not only by gout but also by the clinical effects of activating mutations in cryopyrin (also known as NALP3 or CIAS1), one of the inflammasome components, which causes familial cold autoinflammatory syndrome, Muckle-Wells syndrome, and neonatal-onset multisystem inflammatory disease.4 Circulating levels of IL-1 are associated with the presence of traditional cardiac risk factors, such as diabetes mellitus, hypertension, smoking, and dyslipidemia. Elevated levels of IL-1 result in secretion of chemokines and other cytokines (eg, IL-6), increased expression of adhesion molecules, activation of endothelial and smooth muscle cell proliferation, macrophage activation, and increased vascular permeability. This cascade promotes atherosclerosis and plaque destabilization. IL-1 and …
Lane detection for automotive sensors

The paper addresses the problem of detecting lane boundaries in color images of road scenes acquired from a car mounted visual sensor. It is shown that the lane boundaries in such images have to obey a set of global constraint equations. All images with such constrained lanes are modeled via deformable templates. The observed image is related to the underlying lane boundary features through a likelihood function which is based on the degree of match (in magnitude/direction) between the deformed template and the lane edges. The lane detection problem is formulated in a Bayesian setting, and it is posed as an equivalent problem of maximizing a posterior pdf which sits over a low-dimensional deformation space. This pdf is multi-modal hence a Metropolis algorithm is employed to obtain its maximum. Experimental results are shown to illustrate the performance of this algorithm.
Educational Attainment Has a Limited Impact on Disease Management Outcomes in Heart Failure

The objective of this study was to assess whether educational attainment moderates outcomes in the intervention group in a trial of disease management in heart failure (HF). Data were collected from a sample of 654 patients enrolled in the disease management arm of a community-based study of HF patients. The full sample was used to analyze two primary outcomes—all-cause mortality and cardiac event-free survival. Two other primary outcomes— rates of HF-related emergency department (ED) visits and inpatient admissions—and secondary outcomes (patient self-confidence in managing HF symptoms and daily dietary sodium intake in milligrams) were analyzed in a smaller sample of 602 patients who completed at least 6 months of disease management. One-way analysis of variance and � 2 tests were used to assess differences in baseline demographic and clinical characteristics. Survival analyses were conducted with proportional hazards regression, while negative binomial regression was used to assess educational differences in ED usage and inpatient admissions. Repeated measures analysis of variance models were used to assess whether secondary outcomes differed across educational strata and/or over time. All outcome analyses were adjusted for confounders. Patients with the least education fared the poorest for all-cause mortality, but education-related differences failed to achieve statistical significance. No education-related differences were observed for cardiac event-free survival, or for the rates of inpatient admission and ED usage. For secondary outcomes, sodium intake differed significantly by education (p � 0.04), with the largest drop (� 838 mg/day) observed in the least well-educated group. Confidence increased an approximately equal amount (2.1‐3.0 points on a 100-point scale)
Quantitative Surface Analysis by Fourier Transform Attenuated Total Reflection Infrared Spectroscopy

The Fourier transform infrared spectroscopic ATR (FT-IR-ATR) method has been applied to quantitative determination of chemical composition of thin surface layers. The powerful capability of the FT-IR-ATR spectral subtraction method was proved to determine poly(dimethylsiloxane) content in the surface layer of Cardiothane 51, which consists of poly(urethane) and poly(dimethylsiloxane) as a minor component, showing the detection limit of 0.2% of the content. An absorbance ratio of a selected band of poly(dimethylsiloxane) relative to a selected band of poly(urethane) was determined by FT-IR-ATR measurements on the pure samples of each of the constituting components that have the same area contacted onto the internal reflection element of Ge. Consideration was also given to the thickness of the surface layer that can be analyzed by the present method, and one half of the penetration depth dp was considered to better represent the thickness of the surface layer measured than dp.
Effects of low-density housing development on shrubland birds in western Massachusetts

Housing development in rural areas is the fastest-growing type of land use in the U.S. For birds, development near natural habitats is a problem because it can reduce abundances and nesting success and increase brood parasitism by brown-headed cowbirds (Molothrus ater). In southern New England, populations of shrubland birds are declining rapidly while exurban development is widespread and increasing. We studied effects of landscape-scale low-density housing development on abundance and nesting success of birds in western Massachusetts shrublands. Study sites included beaver wetlands, utility rights-of-way managed as shrublands, regenerating clearcuts, and mechanically treated old fields. Of 14 focal bird species, four increased with development within 1 km of study sites whereas white-throated sparrow (Zonotrichia albicollis) decreased. Abundances of avian nest predators increased slightly with development, and abundances of brown-headed cowbirds decreased with development. Prairie warblers (Dendroica discolor) had lower nest success in more developed areas, but for seven bird other species and the community as a whole, nest success did not change with development in the surrounding landscape. Brood parasitism by brown-headed cowbirds was higher on sites with more development. Overall, only white-throated sparrow and prairie warbler showed negative impacts of development, but both of these species are declining rapidly in New England. Housing development in the surrounding landscape should be a consideration in management of these species. For other shrubland birds, however, low-density housing development at the landscape scale appears to have more neutral or even positive effects.
A Randomized Trial of Vascular Hemostasis Techniques to Reduce Femoral Vascular Complications After Coronary Intervention

This report details a prospectively randomized clinical trial comparing mechanical clamp compression to hand applied pressure for attaining vascular hemostasis after coronary intervention. Effectiveness was determined by comparing the incidence of femoral vascular complications resulting from each of the 2 techniques. Eligible participants included 778 consecutive patients scheduled for percutaneous coronary intervention over an 8-month period. An unselected cohort of the eligible patients (n = 592), determined by the availability of cross-trained clinicians, underwent follow-up serial physical examinations by blinded observers for the duration of their hospital stay. A second, similarly determined cohort (n = 390), underwent color-duplex ultrasonography within 24 hours of sheath removal. Baseline demographic and clinical characteristics, sheath removal parameters, and subsequent outcomes were collected prospectively. The primary end point was a composite of ultrasound-defined femoral vascular complications: femoral artery thrombosis, echogenic hematoma, pseudoaneurysm, or arteriovenous fistulae formation. Complications diagnosed by physical examination constituted the second fundamental end point and included: persistent oozing, ecchymosis, hematoma, bruit, and pulsatile mass. Compared to manual compression, mechanical clamp hemostasis reduced the primary adverse end point by 63% (p = 0.041). Physical examination detected ecchymosis, oozing, and hematomas at equally high frequencies in the two cohorts. Although 65% of the patients in both treatment groups encountered at least one of these cosmetic complications, the diagnoses made by physical examination did not correlate with ultrasound-defined pathology. Multivariable stepwise logistic regression analysis identified a relationship of advanced age and lower body weight to vascular complications. Utilization of a mechanical clamp rather than conventional hand pressure to attain vascular hemostasis significantly reduces ultrasound-defined femoral vascular pathology. Discrepancies between physical examination and ultrasound diagnoses challenge the utility of clinical assessment alone and establish ultrasound as the diagnostic modality of choice.
Comparison of effects of D-1 and D-2 dopamine receptor agonists on neurons in the rat caudate putamen: an electrophysiological study

Extracellular single-unit recording and microiontophoretic techniques were used to characterize the pharmacological properties of dopamine (DA) receptor subtypes within the rat caudate putamen (CPu), a striatal structure that receives a dense innervation from DA neurons originating from the substantia nigra pars compacta (A9 DA neurons). Similar to the action of DA, the DA D-1 receptor agonist (+)SKF-38393 generally potentiated the activation produced by glutamate (GLU) at low ejection currents (less than or equal to 5 nA); at higher ejection currents, it depressed 97% of the CPu neurons tested. By contrast, the D-2 receptor agonist LY-171555 (quinpirole) was much less effective in affecting the firing rate of CPu cells. The selective D-1 antagonist SCH-23390, administered either intravenously or iontophoretically, completely blocked the (+)SKF-38393-induced effects on CPu cells but failed to change the depressant effects produced by either quinpirole or 5-HT. On the other hand, the selective D-2 antagonist I-sulpiride, blocked the effects induced by quinpirole but not (+)SKF-38393. These observations suggest that the D-1 and D-2 DA receptor agonists elicit their effects via distinct DA receptor subtypes. A comparison of these results with our previous results obtained from the nucleus accumbens (NAc) indicates that NAc cells are more responsive to DA D-2 agonist, whereas CPu cells are more sensitive to D-1 agonist. Therefore, D-1 receptors in the CPu may have a critical role in mediating the effect produced by DA.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)
A Trust Model for Pervasive Computing Environments

With the growth of mobile and sensor devices, embedded systems, and communication technologies, we are moving towards an era of pervasive computing. Pervasive computing applications typically involve interactions between a large number of entities that span different organizations. Uncontrolled disclosure of information or unconstrained interaction among entities may have extremely grave consequences. Traditional security policies and mechanisms are inadequate for pervasive computing applications. Unlike traditional applications, pervasive computing applications have no definite security perimeters and are dynamic in nature. Pervasive computing applications may need to interact with entities that are not known a priori and therefore cannot be trusted. The traditional binary notion of trust where known entities are completely trusted and unknown entities are distrusted are not suitable for such applications. To fill this gap, we develop a trust model useful for pervasive computing applications and develop strategies for establishing trust between entities. The model must accommodate the notion of different degrees of trust, identify how to determine the trust value, and define how trust changes over time.
Firewall placement in a large network topology

Network security is an integral component of a multi-user distributed information environment. Firewall (FW) technology is a popular approach to build secure networks, and a plethora of FWs have been designed. Our research focuses on the placement of FWs (i.e. an operations research approach) in a large, complex network system, or a system of systems. A key contribution of this research is to propose the concept of a FW cascade, i.e. a chain of FWs, which could be placed in the path between a potential attack point and a network node with sensitive data. Among other benefits, the FW cascade offers two key benefits: (1) increased comprehensiveness (viz. address, port, service, user ID and direction) of security protection; and (2) most importantly, enhancing the degree of confidence that the network security engineer could expect from the underlying set of FWs and the overall end-to-end security protection that is achieved. This results in a novel capability, where a network security engineer can provide completeness and high confidence in the security attributes across the network. We propose a decomposition of the security characters of a FW and a suite of FW placement heuristics which allows us to place the FWs across the network while optimizing cost and maximizing security protection. Minimization of delay is another optimization goal. Performance is depicted using simulation.
N-Alkylation of tripodal iron(III) imidazolate complexes: Reactivity and structure

Abstract The N-alkylation of iron(III) complexes of the tripodal imidazolate complexes derived from the Schiff base condensation of tris(2-aminoethyl)amine (tren) with three molar equivalents of 2-imidazolecarboxaldehyde (2ImH), 4-imidazolecarboxaldehyde (4ImH) or 4-methyl-5-imidazolecarboxaldehyde (5-Me4ImH) was investigated. While each complex possesses three nucleophilic imidazolate nitrogen atoms, only the complex derived from 2-imidazolecarboxaldehyde, Fetren(2Im)3, was completely alkylated under the ambient conditions used in this work. Using methyl iodide as the alkylating agent, a correlation between spin state of the product and degree of methylation was observed. Low spin iron complexes were more nucleophilic than high spin systems. The structure reactivity relationship was exploited in the reaction of Fetren(2Im)3 with methyl iodide and allyl iodide to give [Fetren(N-Me2Im)3]2+ and [Fetren(N-allyl2Im)3]2+. The products are iron(II) due to reduction of the iron(III) by iodide ion which builds up in the reaction mixture as the alkylation reaction proceeds. These complexes were characterized by a number of methods including EA, IR, ES-MS, Mossbauer spectroscopy, magnetic susceptibility and X-ray diffraction.
The stability of ultra‐long waves on a mid‐latitude β–plane

The stability of a small but finite amplitude stationary baroclinic ultra-long wave associated with a constant zonal flow is considered. A trapped primary is found to be stable, but a propagating primary can be unstable with minimum e-folding times of two to four days for wavenumbers one and two. The amplifying disturbance is constrained to have the same north-south structure as the primary. It consists of a wave with the same east-west wavenumber as the primary and a zonal mean component. It is shown to grow directly at the expense of the primary by resonantly interacting with it. The wave component of the amplifying disturbance has a very large vertical wavelength such that it is almost barotropic. It propagates with a phase speed that is close to the basic westerly wind speed. The zonal mean disturbance component decays rather rapidly with height. The theoretical growth rates are found to compare favourably with those of growing ultra-long waves at lower stratospheric levels during November 1970. A crucial assumption in the analysis concerns the nature of the singular region for the potential vorticity equation at large enough heights. The region is assumed to be totally absorbing to upward-moving wave energy.
Minimum Interference Channel Assignment in Multi-Radio Wireless Mesh Networks

In this paper, we consider multi-hop wireless mesh networks, where each router node is equipped with multiple radio interfaces and multiple channels are available for communication. We address the problem of assigning channels to communication links in the network with the objective of minimizing overall network interference. Since the number of radios on any node can be less than the number of available channels, the channel assignment must obey the constraint that the number of different channels assigned to the links incident on any node is atmost the number of radio interfaces on that node. The above optimization problem is known to be NP-hard. We design centralized and distributed algorithms for the above channel assignment problem. To evaluate the quality of the solutions obtained by our algorithms, we develop a semidefinite program formulation of our optimization problem to obtain a lower bound on overall network interference. Empirical evaluations on randomly generated network graphs show that our algorithms perform close to the above established lower bound, with the difference diminishing rapidly with increase in number of radios. Also, detailed ns-2 simulation studies demonstrate the performance potential of our channel assignment algorithms in 802.11-based multi-radio mesh networks.
‘Enraged to the limit of despair’: Infanticide and Slave Judicial Strategies in Barbacoas, 1788–98

This article analyses the use of judicial spaces by slaves organised in a mining gang located along the Telembi River in Barbacoas (Colombia). I study their alternative uses of violence and legal tactics during one decade in the late eighteenth century, a time of changing juridical opinion in the Hispanic world. From my examination of six infanticide cases (or child killings) among slaves in the mining gang of the Cortes family between 1788 and 1789, I argue that slaves strategically used both violence and judicial spaces to escape the conditions of slavery in Cortes's mine. Evidence of legal reform in the Bourbon context and a plea for collective rights in court by slaves from the same gang in 1798 speak of the profound link between Bourbon juridical reform and the slaves' choice to reject violence. A comparison between slaves' violent strategies (the infanticides) and their concerted judicial claim a decade later, proves that slaves' understanding of their rights under the new law enabled a practical de...
The Puzzle Project: a case study in multimedia signal processing

The Puzzle Project is an interactive software system that solves jigsaw puzzles. The voice interface includes speech synthesis and word recognition. The attributes of the puzzle pieces are determined using image processing techniques and wavelet decomposition. Two algorithms are used to solve the puzzles: an expert system and fuzzy logic. This paper describes the steps required to find the solution to the puzzle from image processing to decision-making algorithms. It also explains the techniques involved in designing the voice interface.
Generation of human B‐cell hybridomas secreting monoclonal anti–myelin‐associated glycoprotein antibodies from a patient with neuropathy

Human hybridomas that secrete monoclonal IgM anti-myelin-associated glycoprotein antibodies were generated by fusion with cells from a patient with peripheral neuropathy and IgM monoclonal gammopathy. Karyotypic analysis of the hybridoma cells revealed no chromosomal abnormalities. The cells were positive for cell-surface idiotype HLA-DR and the plasma cell antigen PCA-1, and negative for the B-cell determinant B4 and for Leu-1, which has been postulated to distinguish a subpopulation of B cells that secrete IgM with autoantibody activity.
Coexisting endogenous lipoid pneumonia, cholesterol granulomas, and pulmonary alveolar proteinosis in a pediatric population: a clinical, radiographic, and pathologic correlation.

Benign pulmonary diseases that have been associated with the accumulation of endogenous lipids within the alveoli, bronchioles, and interstitial tissues include endogenous lipoid pneumonia (ELP), p...
Development of Mouse Hepatitis Virus and SARS-CoV Infectious cDNA Constructs

The genomes of transmissible gastroenteritis virus (TGEV) and mouse hepatitis virus (MHV) have been generated with a novel construction strategy that allows for the assembly of very large RNA and DNA genomes from a panel of contiguous cDNA subclones. Recombinant viruses generated from these methods contained the appropriate marker mutations and replicated as efficiently as wild-type virus. The MHV cloning strategy can also be used to generate recombinant viruses that contain foreign genes or mutations at virtually any given nucleotide. MHV molecular viruses were engineered to express green fluorescent protein (GFP), demonstrating the feasibility of the systematic assembly approach to create recombinant viruses expressing foreign genes. The systematic assembly approach was used to develop an infectious clone of the newly identified human coronavirus, the serve acute respiratory syndrome virus (SARS-CoV). Our cloning and assembly strategy generated an infectious clone within 2 months of identification of the causative agent of SARS, providing a critical tool to study coronavirus pathogenesis and replication. The availability of coronavirus infectious cDNAs heralds a new era in coronavirus genetics and genomic applications, especially within the replicase proteins whose functions in replication and pathogenesis are virtually unknown.
Automated conversion of structured documents into SGML

Intelligent document understanding (IDU) systems convert scanned document pages into an electronic format which preserves layout and logical document structure in addition to document content. MOst of the IDU experimental systems, however, lack the capability of full exploitation of recognition results. In this paper we present an integrated IDU system that processes documents all the way from recognition to full utilization using standard generalized markup language (SGML). The standardization and widespread use of SGML-based tools provides the means for filling the gap between document recognition and seamless document reuse. The conversion process involves OCR of a multipage document, document structure analysis, processing of tabular data and mathematical expressions, and generation of the final SGML description. Document structure analysis is reduce here to parsing OCR results and recreating document structure by performing fuzzy searches for standard phrases and format analysis. Tabular data processing utilizes OCR results with positional data, horizontal lines and heuristic rules to determine cell boundaries and contents. Recognition of mathematical expressions involves OCR on an extended symbol set, and equation structure recognition via transformations on a tree representation. The transformations are ordered and involve connecting of separated symbols, context-sensitive OCR correction, extraction of horizontally aligned subexpressions, subscript and superscript processing, and a general processing of symbols detected above or below the target symbol.
A Kalman filter theory of the cerebellum

A variety of evidence suggests that the cerebellum is directly involved in certain sensory tasks. The specific hypothesis developed in this article is that the cerebellum is a neural analog of a Kalman-Bucy filter, whose function is to estimate state variables of the motor system and of external dynamical systems.