cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Sorption-desorption behavior of strontium-85 onto montmorillonite and silica colloids

Strontium-90 (90Sr) is one of the major radioactive contaminants found in DP Canyon at Los Alamos, New Mexico, USA. Radioactive surveys found that 90Sr is present in surface water and shallow alluvial groundwater environments in Los Alamos National laboratory (LANL). Colloids may influence the transport of this radionuclide in surface and groundwater environments in LANL. In this study, the authors investigated the sorption/desorption behavior of radioactive Sr on Ca-montmorillonite and silica colloids, and the effect of ionic strength of water on the sorption of Sr. Laboratory batch sorption experiments were conducted using 85Sr as a surrogate for 90Sr. Groundwater, collected from Well LAUZ-1 at DP Canyon and from Well J-13 at Yucca Mountain, Nevada, and deionized water, were used. The results show that 92–100% of the 85Sr was rapidly adsorbed onto Ca-montmorillonite colloids in all three waters. Adsorption of 85Sr onto silica colloids varied among the three waters. The ionic strength and Ca2+ concentration in groundwater significantly influence the adsorption of 85Sr onto silica colloids. Desorption of 85Sr from Ca-montmorillonite colloids is slower than from silica colloids. Desorption of 85Sr from silica colloids was faster in LAUZ-1 groundwater than in J-13 groundwater and deionized water. The results suggest that clay and silica colloids may facilitate the transport of Sr along potential flowpaths from DP Canyon to Los Alamos Canyon.
Generalizing over lexicons to predict consonant mastery

When they first begin to talk, children show characteristic consonant errors, which are often described in terms that recall Neogrammarian sound change. For example, a Japanese child’s production of the word kimono might be transcribed with an initial postalveolar affricate, as in typical velar-softening sound changes. Broad-stroke reviews of errors list striking commonalities across children acquiring different languages, whereas quantitative studies reveal enormous variability across children, some of which seems related to differences in consonant frequencies across different lexicons. This paper asks whether the appearance of commonalities across children acquiring different languages might be reconciled with the observed variability by referring to the ways in which sound change might affect frequencies in the lexicon. Correlational analyses were used to assess relationships between consonant accuracy in a database of recordings of toddlers acquiring Cantonese, English, Greek, or Japanese and two measures of consonant frequency: one specific to the lexicon being acquired, the other an average frequency calculated for the other three languages. Results showed generally positive trends, although the strength of the trends differed across measures and across languages. Many outliers in plots depicting the relationships suggested historical contingencies that have conspired to make for unexpected paths, much as in biological evolution. “The history of life is not necessarily progressive; it is certainly not predictable. The earth’s creatures have evolved through a series of contingent and fortuitous events.” (Gould, 1989)
X-ray bursts and neutron-star thermonuclear flashes

A description is presented of a model concerning the production of X-ray bursts by thermonuclear flashes in the freshly accreted matter near the surface of an accreting neutron star. An investigation is conducted regarding the physical processes relevant to such thermonuclear flashes. It is concluded that thermonuclear flashes may account for some, but not all, of the observed X-ray burst sources. Attention is given to a neutron star undergoing accretion of mass from a binary stellar companion, aspects of energetics, nuclear reactions, and heat transport mechanisms.
Miniature Single-Disk Viscous Pump (Single-DVP), Performance Characterization

The development and testing of a rotating single-disk viscous pump are described. This pump consists of a 10.16 mm diameter spinning disk, and a pump chamber, which are separated by a small gap that forms the fluid passage. The walls of the pump chamber form a C-shaped channel with an inner radius of 1.19 mm, an outer radius of 2.38 mm, and a depth of 40, 73, 117, or 246 μm. Fluid inlet and outlet ports are located at the ends of the C-shaped channel. Experimental flow rate and pressure rise data are obtained for rotational speeds from 100 to 5000 rpm, fluid chamber heights from 40 to 246 μm, flow rates from 0 to 4.75 ml/min, pressure rises from 0 to 31.1 kPa, and fluid viscosities from 1 to 62 mPa s. An analytical expression for the net flow rate and pressure rise, as dependent on the fluid chamber geometry, disk rotational speed, and fluid viscosity, is derived and found to agree with the experimental data. The flow rate and pressure rise of the pump vary nearly linearly with rotational speed. The volumetric flow rate does not change significantly with changes in fluid viscosity for the same rotational speed and pumping circuit. Advantages of the disk pumps include simplicity, ease of manufacture, ability to produce continuous flow with a flow rate that does not vary significantly in time, and ability to pump biological samples without significant alteration or destruction of cells, protein suspension, or other delicate matter.
Natural History and Malignant Transformation in Recurrent Respiratory Papillomatosis: Human Papillomavirus (HPV), Dysplasia and an Autopsy Review

Introduction: Recurrent respiratory papillomatosis (RRP) is a human papillomavirus (HPV) related disease in both children and adults, characterized by recurrent benign squamous papillomas of the respiratory mucosa. Malignant transformation is rare. The present report concerns the natural history of RRP in two children. Materials and Methods: Clinical records, autopsy material and tissue from previous surgical excisions were reviewed in both cases. Select surgical and autopsy specimens were examined using p16 immunohistochemistry and in-situ hybridization for low and high risk HPV. Results: Both children had pulmonary involvement with incidental invasive keratinizing squamous carcinoma of the lung at autopsy. Low-risk HPV was present in the papillomas and carcinoma at autopsy in both cases. Conclusions: The autopsy examinations in these two cases emphasize the serious, if uncommon, pulmonary complications of this disease. In conjunction with previously reported autopsies, destructive lung disease may be as...
Short-term effects of estrogen and progestin on blood pressure of normotensive postmenopausal women.

Blood pressure rises in women with increasing age, possibly related to the decrease in production of female hormones that accompanies menopause. Although estrogen or progestin administration alone consistently does not lower blood pressure in postmenopausal women, possible interactions of these two hormones in affecting blood pressure are not well understood. We studied 12 surgically postmenopausal, normotensive women, aged 51 +/- 2 years (SEM). Treatment for each subject consisted of 1 week each of placebo, estrogen (conjugated equine estrogens, 2.5 mg/day), progestin (medroxyprogesterone acetate, 60 mg/day), and combined estrogen and progestin, given in varied order. At the end of each week, auscultatory blood pressures were measured while patients were seated. Neither estrogen nor progestin alone either increased or decreased blood pressure significantly, whereas combined estrogen and progestin lowered systolic, diastolic, and mean blood pressures 6 to 7 mm Hg (P less than .05). Treatment order was unrelated to the change in blood pressure values. The authors suggest that administering progestin with estrogen may be more effective in lowering blood pressure than either hormone alone in postmenopausal women.
Application of Particle Swarm Techniques in Sensor Network Configuration

A decentralized version of particle swarm optimization called the distributed particle swarm optimization (DPSO) approach is formulated and applied to the generation of sensor network configurations or topologies so that the deleterious effects of hidden nodes and asymmetric links on the performance of wireless sensor networks are minimized. Three different topology generation schemes, COMPOW, Cone-Based and the DPSO--based schemes are examined using ns-2. Simulations are executed by varying the node density and traffic rates. Results contrasting heterogeneous vs. homogeneous power reveal that an important metric for a sensor network topology may involve consideration of hidden nodes and asymmetric links, and demonstrate the effect of spatial reuse on the potency of topology generators.© (2005) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
Behavioral effects of the novel tropane analog, 2β-propanoyl-3β-(4-toluyl)-tropane (PTT)

In vitro studies have demonstrated that a novel tropane analog, PTT, in which both of the esters of cocaine have been removed is 20 times more potent than cocaine and more selective than cocaine in binding to dopamine transporters. The present studies compared the ability of PTT and cocaine to stimulate locomotor activity in rats. The intraperitoneal administration of PTT and cocaine to male Fisher-344 rats produced dose-dependent increases in spontaneous locomotor activity and stereotypic behaviors. PTT was 10-20 times more potent than cocaine in this behavioral assay, closely paralleling its potency relative to cocaine in dopamine transporter binding and uptake assays in vitro. PTT, however, elicited a qualitatively different profile of stereotypic behaviors, and PTT had a longer duration of action than cocaine. These results show how changes in kinetics and selectivity of tropanes can affect stimulant-elicited behaviors.
More than Manners: Conflict Resolution in Primary Level Classrooms

A diverse sample of kindergarten and 1st grade students participated in a social-emotional literacy and problem solving program. Students and their teachers participated in seven one-hour training sessions which included concrete activities designed to increase affective vocabulary and social problem-solving. Effective communication strategies such as I-messages and paraphrasing were also introduced and practiced. Pretest data and responses to the activities revealed that students could easily articulate inappropriate and disrespectful behaviors prior to training; however they were unable to articulate behaviors that would be helpful in resolving conflict. Although students had been extensively exposed to manners curricula which emphasized respectful behavior, the posttest results indicate that the social-emotional problem solving curricula offers a distinct set of skills which enable students to constructively manage conflict, manifested through statistically significant decreases in verbal and physical aggression. Teacher and staff posttest surveys corroborated the student findings.
Cooling rate based on schreibersite growth for the Emery mesosiderite

Computer simulation of diffusion-controlled growth of the large Ni-rich grains of schreibersite found in the Emery mesosiderite indicates that exsolution from kamacite occurred during cooling at the rate of 0.1 C/Myr. This finding agrees with the mesosiderite cooling rate determined by Powell (1969) from taenite-kamacite data. The cooling rate is the lowest found for any meteorite group, and implications for the cooling history, with a possibility of reheating, are considered. The procedure for computing a family of cooling rate curves is based on Randich's (1975) method.
Semiotic circles: an inclusive methodology in HCI design

Advances in technology have penetrated all aspects of our lives. Consequently, our interactions with devices and other users become ubiquitous, demanding well thought-out design approaches. In the last few years, several methodologies for HCI design have been proposed, which attempt to capture users' thoughts and other information from multi-layered user hierarchies [1-2]. However, these methodologies do not scale well in hierarchical situations, where participants can be of differing levels of expertise/authority. We have designed an inclusive methodology which acknowledges all participant perspectives and facilitates interaction between stakeholders. Semiotic Circles draws inspiration from well-established methodologies such as Paper Prototyping, Think-Aloud protocol and Object Labeling. This methodology combines visualization on paper with a tangible tagging system, enabling the final aggregated model to be genuinely inclusive, rather than the result of designers/researchers choices.
Proteasome inhibitors in progressive renal diseases

Proteasome (PS) is a sophisticated protein degradation machinery comprising a 20S proteolytic core particle provided with caspase-like, trypsin-like and chymotrypsin-like activities on ubiquitinilated proteins. The products of this selective, complex, controlled and strictly coordinated system play a crucial role in cell cycle progression and apoptosis; activation of transcription factors, cytokines and chemokines; degradation and generation of MHC class I-presented peptides. PS has recently emerged as a promising drug target in cancer therapy, and bortezomib has been approved for refractory multiple myeloma. PS proteolysis is crucial for the degradation of the inhibitory protein IkB of nuclear factor kB (NF-kB), and hence, an interesting field of research has been developed on possible benefits of drugs with anti-PS activity in disease conditions with hyper-expression of NF-kB. PS inhibitors are being adopted in pilot studies in antibody-mediated renal rejection and in AL amyloidosis, with increasing scientific interest in possible applications in lupus, IgA nephropathy, idiopathic nephrotic syndrome and renal fibrosis. The most often used PS inhibitor, bortezomib, has a severe peripheral neurotoxicity, and the search for effective and less toxic PS-targeted drugs is a challenging area also in nephrology.
High-sensitivity normal incidence triple-coupled quantum well IR photodetector for lower-background infrared detection

A high sensitivity triple-coupled quantum well infrared photodetector (TC-QWIP) based on high strain InGaAs/AlGaAs/InGaAs material system has been demonstrated. It consists of a high strain Si-doped In 0.25 Ga 0.75 As quantum well and two undoped thin Al 0.11 Ga 0.89 As/In 0.12 Ga 0.88 As quantum wells (QWs) separated by a thick Al 0.11 Ga 0.89 As barrier layer. We also investigate the performance dependence of this QWIP with two different numbers of quantum well periods (5- and 10-period). Two response peaks at 9.5 micrometer and 7 micrometer were observed under different negative bias conditions, which are attributed to the transitions from the ground state to the second excited states and the continuum states, respectively. Spectral responsivities of 2.77 A/W and 1.55 A/W and the BLIP detectivities of 2.24 X 10 10 cm-Hz 1/2 /W and 1.68 X 10 10 cm-Hz 1/2 /W were obtained at V b equals -3 V and (lambda) p equals 9.6 micrometer with 45 degree facet illumination and normal incidence illumination, respectively, for the 5-period device. As to the 10-period device, spectral responsivities of 2.7 A/W and 1.05 A/W and the BLIP detectivities of 2.21 X 10 10 cm-Hz 1/2 /W and 1.38 X 10 10 cm-Hz 1/2 /W were obtained at V b equals -5 V and (lambda) p equals 9.6 micrometer with 45 degree facet illumination and normal incidence illumination, respectively, for this device. This represents the highest normal incidence response ever reported for a QWIP operating at 9.6 micrometer peak wavelength. Based on the responsivity and detectivity data the minimum detectable photon flux for this new device is found to be 1.08 X 10 11 and 1.09 X 10 11 cm -2 s -1 for the 5-period and 10- period devices, respectively, at (lambda) p equals 9.6 micrometer, bandwidth equals 1 micrometer, and FOV equals 180 degrees. Thus, the HS-TC-QWIP reported here is capable for lower background IR imaging array applications.
Urban amenities, demand revelation, and the free-rider problem: A partial solution

This paper suggests a practical mechanism to mitigate problems of demand revelation and free riding that arise when efforts are made to create urban amenities such as parks or nature preserves through voluntary private purchase. Building on the work of earlier writers, the model provides a potential way to increase voluntary donations for local public goods, holding constant the incentive to free ride, while simultaneously introducing a mechanism — the refundable trust — that reduces the incentive to free ride. A case involving implementation of this mechanism is described.
Library collection of the psychosocial publications in consultation-liaison psychiatry.

Abstract Psychiatric oncology is a relatively new area, and few comprehensive reviews of related subject matter are available. Thus, the psychiatrists at North Carolina Memorial Hospital who provide liaison to oncology saw the need for a collection of pertinent psychiatric oncology materials that could be studied by faculty, residents, and staff. Such materials would be valuable for patient consultations, lecture preparation, and research background. Their bibliography and library system are discussed here, with a description of the methods of its compilation. The unique features are (1) referenced materials are filed in a centrally available location (departmental library), so that readers have immediate access to them, and (2) bibliographic entries are stored in a small computer in the library, and can be retrieved by topic, title, author. The file currently holds over 340 articles, and is continuously updated. It has been extensively utilized by professionals in this tertiary care teaching hospital as well as in programs across the state.
Protein and energy utilization by the insect, Argyrotaenia velutinana (Walker), fed diets containing graded levels of an amino acid mixture.

Abstract 1. Isocaloric diets containing graded levels of a balanced amino acid mixture (AAM) were fed to Argyrotaenia velutinana from the age of newly-hatched larvae to day 18. Feed consumption and larval weight gain increased with increasing amounts of AAM up to 3·6% of the diet. 2. The % of the ingested dietary nitrogen and energy recovered in the carcass at 18 days was highest for the larvae fed the diet containing 3·0% AAM. 3. Carcass composition increased in nitrogen and decreased in lipid with increasing dietary protein: calorie ratio. Carcass composition changes are similar to changes in another uricotelic organism, the birds.
Inhibition of Chloroplasts by UV-Irradiation and Heat-Treatment

The site of inhibition in UV-irradiated and heat-treated chloroplasts was examined by using artificial electron donor compounds such as p-phenylenediamine and hydroquinone which donated electrons specifically to photosystem II. In both cases the electron donors restored the photoreduction of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate and the restored activity was inhibited by 3-(3,4-dichlorophenyl)-1,1-dimethyl urea. The fluorescence of variable yield was eliminated by both inhibitory treatments and was partially restored by the electron donors in the heat-treated but not the UV-irradiated chloroplasts. The results suggest that the sites of inhibition of UV-radiation and heat treatment are in the photosynthetic electron transport chain between water and photosystem II.
Systemic data infrastructure for innovation policy

Progress on the vision laid out in the Science of Science Policy Roadmap requires a move to system level thinking and analysis in the study of technology development. System level analysis will require systemic data infrastructure. The need for such an infrastructure is increasingly explicitly recognized at the national level. This paper will review infrastructure efforts including previous US-based infrastructure, national research documentation systems used in systemic evaluations, the Community Innovation Survey in Europe, Lattes in Brazil, the NRC ranking of US graduate programs. The strengths and weaknesses of each approach will be compared, and key issues will be identified.
Specific ion-pairing effects in weakly exoergic intramolecular electron transfer

Abstract A simple theoretical model of the effect of specific ion-pairing with a chemically inert counterion on the rate of intramolecular charge transfer reactions is presented. The counterion motion is treated as corresponding to a separate reaction coordinate on the two-dimensional free energy surface. For the limiting case of strong ion-pairing and low driving force, i.e. | E pair |>;|Δ G 0 |> k B T , the dependence of the effect on the donor-acceptor separation, r DA , and on the Δ G 0 of reaction are discussed in detail. In this limit the counterion dynamics effectively controls the rate of the intramolecular electron transfer over a broad range of donor-acceptor distances. For the limiting case of fast counterion motion the analytical relationship between the reorganization energy and activation energy along the Coulomb coordinate of the free energy surface has been derived.
Tatsidine, a norditerpenoid alkaloid from Delphinium tatsienense.

The isolation and structure determination of tatsidine, a new norditerpenoid alkaloid is reported. The structure is derived on the basis of spectroscopic data.
Biologic resurfacing of the glenoid with meniscal allograft: long-term results with minimum 2-year follow-up.

Background There is a lack of consensus in treating glenohumeral arthritis in younger patients. Hemiarthroplasty has historically been favored because of complications associated with total shoulder arthroplasty. Biologic resurfacing of the glenoid has been investigated as a potential treatment that would decrease glenoid erosion and pain, the major complications of hemiarthroplasty. Materials and methods We report on 19 shoulders treated with meniscal allograft glenoid resurfacing and shoulder hemiarthroplasty. All patients were followed up for a minimum of 2 years postoperatively (mean, 4.25 years) with Disabilities of the Arm, Shoulder and Hand (DASH), Simple Shoulder Test (SST), and visual analog scale (VAS) scores. In addition, we compared the outcomes related to preoperative concentric versus eccentric glenoid wear. Results At final follow-up, the mean score for the DASH questionnaire was 28; SST, 8; and VAS, 3.5. Whereas the eccentric wear group (DASH score, 19.4; SST score, 9.1; VAS score, 2.5) exhibited better shoulder function and pain scores compared with the concentric wear group (DASH score, 37.6; SST score, 8.4; VAS score, 4.1), the difference was not statistically significant ( P = .098, P = .647, and P = .198, respectively). There were 6 complications (32%), all resulting in repeat surgery. Three patients underwent total shoulder arthroplasty and one shoulder had revision hemiarthroplasty, whereas synovectomy was performed in another shoulder. The sixth patient underwent lysis of adhesions and capsular release. Discussion With long-term follow-up, we have observed that biologic resurfacing of the glenoid with meniscal allograft exhibits inconsistent results and high complication rates. Strong consideration should be given to performing total shoulder arthroplasty in patients in whom all conservative treatment options have failed.
Two‐day disturbances in the equatorial western Pacific

From November 1992 to February 1993, westward-propagating disturbances with scales of 1000-1500 km frequented the equatorial western Pacific. They propagated at about 16 m s -1 and their passage was accompanied by a two-day oscillation in high cloudiness. Their convection was most intense when the lower troposphere was cool and the level of free convection was relatively low. The disturbances propagated westward at about 18 m s -1 faster than the lower tropospheric flow. This rapid propagation may have been the result of a coupling between the disturbance's convection and the 20 m s -1 vertical mode. The signal of this mode was apparent in vertical profiles of temperature and wind and the most intense convection began when the mode dynamically cooled the lower troposphere, lowering the level of free convection.
Crack propagation and fracture toughness of solid balsa used for cores of sandwich composites

To better understand the suitability of balsa wood as a core material for sandwich composites, this paper presents a detailed study of the fracture properties of balsa. The experiments looked at mode I, mode II, and mixed-mode fracture with crack growth both parallel and perpendicular to the wood grain direction. The experiments monitored toughness as a function of crack growth to record crack resistance or R curves. The mode I toughness was lower than most other wood species, but considering its low density, the toughness of balsa is higher than previously expected. The mode I toughness increased as a function of crack growth due to a fiber-bridging process zone at the crack tip. The mode II toughness was higher than mode I toughness, but was much less affected by fiber bridging. The mixed-mode failure envelope had an unusual shape, which could be explained by an influence of fiber bridging. Overall, the toughness of balsa is adequate for sandwich composite core materials and likely better than some alte...
Building customer relationships online: the Web site designers’ perspective

To date, most published work concerning effective Web site design has been based on personal opinion or experience, not on research. Uses 50 in‐depth interviews with Web site designers to identify key design considerations and online customer conversion and relationship strategies. A proposed model illustrates a direct relationship between Web site design and the online customer conversion process. Relationship marketing, integrated marketing communications, and segmenting, targeting, and positioning should guide both Web site design and customer conversion. Ultimately, a Web site should help to establish, build, and maintain long‐term customer relations. Managerial implications are introduced and discussed.
Experiences with UPC on TILE-64 processor

Partitioned global address space (PGAS) programming model presents programmers with a globally shared address space with locality awareness and one-sided communication constructs. The shared address space and the one-sided communication constructs enhance ease-of-use of PGAS based languages and the locality awareness enables programmers and the runtime systems to achieve higher performance. Thus PGAS programming model may help address the escalating software complexity issues resulting from the proliferation of many-core processor architectures in aerospace and computing systems in general. This paper presents our experiences with Unified parallel C (UPC), a PGAS language, on the Tile64™ processor, a 64-core processor from Tilera Corporation. We ported Berkeley UPC compiler and runtime system on the Tilera architecture and evaluated two separate runtime implementation conduits of the underlying GASNet communication library, a pThreads based conduit and an MPI based conduit. Each conduit uses different on-chip, inter-core communication networks providing different latencies and bandwidths for inter-process communications. The paper presents the implementation details and empirical analyses of both approaches by comparing and evaluating results from NAS Parallel Benchmark suite. The analyses reveal various optimization opportunities based on specific many-core architectural features which are also discussed in the paper12.
An Initial Performance Evaluation of Rapid PHY Selection (RPS) for Energy Efficient Ethernet

The IEEE 802.3 energy efficient Ethernet (EEE) study group is considering rapid PHY Selection (RPS) as a mechanism to quickly switch the data rate of an Ethernet link to match link data rate with link utilization. When switching the data rate, RPS causes a momentary disruption of the link. This disruption may cause packet loss due to buffer overflow in upstream switches. We emulate RPS using PAUSE flow control and experimentally study the possible effects of RPS on TCP and UDP file transfer. We show that RPS has little or no perceivable effect on performance, but has some subtle effects on TCP throughput if PAUSE flow control is enabled in the file server.
Glomerular Hyperfiltration in Hypertensive African Americans

The incidence of end-stage renal disease attributable to hypertension is 5-fold greater in African Americans than in whites. To determine whether glomerular hyperfiltration is an antecedent to renal failure, we compared responses of renal blood flow and glomerular filtration rate to graded infusions of norepinephrine (0. 01, 0.025, and 0.05 microg. kg(-1). min(-1) for 30 minutes each) in 29 African Americans and 33 age-matched French Canadian whites with essential hypertension. Renal blood flow and glomerular filtration rate were measured by using a constant-infusion technique of PAH and inulin, respectively. Studies were conducted on an inpatient clinical research center, and antihypertensive medications had been discontinued for at least 1 week. Based on 24-hour blood pressure monitoring, nighttime blood pressures decreased (P<0.01) in the French Canadians but not in the African Americans. Baseline renal blood flow was higher (P<0.05) in the African Americans (1310+/-127 mL. min(-1) per 1.73 m(2)) than in the French Canadians (1024+/-42 mL. min(-1) per 1.73 m(2)); baseline glomerular filtration rate was also higher (P<0.01) in the African Americans (140+/-4 versus 121+/-4 mL. min(-1) per 1.73 m(2)). In response to norepinephrine-induced blood pressure increases, renal blood flow was autoregulated and did not change in either patient group. In the African Americans, glomerular filtration rate increased (P<0.01) to 167 mL. min(-1) per 1.73 m(2) during the first norepinephrine infusion, without subsequent change. In contrast, glomerular filtration rate did not change with norepinephrine-induced increases of blood pressure in the French Canadians. In the African Americans, the elevation of baseline glomerular filtration rate, with a further increase in response to norepinephrine, may be indicative of glomerular hyperfiltration. Glomerular hyperfiltration and lack of nocturnal blood pressure decline may contribute to the higher incidence of end-stage renal disease in hypertensive African Americans.
Parameterization of Temporal Structure in the Single Dielectric Barrier Aerodynamic Plasma Actuator

We present the results of two measurements that describe the interaction of an aerodynamic plasma actuator (a dielectric barrier discharge plasma in which an asymmetric arrangement of electrodes leads to momentum coupling into neutral air) with the surrounding atmosphere. We show that the presence of oxygen in the Earth's atmosphere plays a substantial role in the efficiency of the actuator. We measure the time-resolved neutral air density in the vicinity of the actuator using a laser beam probe. We show that the effect of the actuator is to establish a region of increased neutral density in the vicinity of its exposed electrode's edge, and we show that the actuator couples directed momentum into the air by pulling air up this density gradient, against the corresponding pressure, and releasing it in the downstream direction when the plasma quenches, replacing it with air from the volume above the actuator. These measurements harmonize previously contradictory measurements of the actuator's behavior.
Seasonal dynamics of cereal aphids on Russian wheat aphid (Homoptera: Aphididae) susceptible and resistant wheats.

Field experiments were conducted in 1997 and 1998 to evaluate the impact of resistance to Russian wheat aphid, Diuraphis noxia (Mordvilko), on the cereal aphid complex in wheat. Two spring wheats were planted: the variety “Centennial” (Russian wheat aphid susceptible) and the advanced line IDO488 (Russian wheat aphid resistant). IDO488 incorporates the resistance found in PI 294994 into a Centennial background. Field plots were artificially infested with adult D. noxia and sampled weekly. The most abundant aphid species in 1997 were Metopolophium dirhodum (Walker), Sitobion avenae (F.), D. noxia, and Rhopalosiphum padi (L.). In 1998, the order of abundance was M. dirhodum, R. padi, S. avenae, and D. noxia. The resistant genotype had significantly fewer D. noxia than the susceptible one during both years. However, plant genotype had no significant effect on the other aphid species in either year. Both the initial density of D. noxia and plant growth stage, had a significant effect on D. noxia population development, but had no effect on the other aphid species. There was no interaction between D. noxia resistance and the population density of the other aphid species observed.
Suicide by Proxy: The Unintended Consequences of Public Executions in Eighteenth-Century Germany

On May 24, 1704, at about ten in the morning, Agnes Catherina Schickin, a thirty-year-old serving woman from the town of Schorndorf in Wurttemberg arrived at the village of Krumhard. After asking for and receiving a glass of milk from a local peasant woman, Agnes was on her way out of the village when she saw four, in her words, “beautiful little boys” playing together by the roadside. She approached the children and asked for directions to Schorndorf. When one of the boys, Hans Michael Furch, the seven-year-old son of the local cowherder, said he knew the way, she offered him a gift and asked him to walk with her. The three other boys wanted to come along, too, but she dissuaded them. Agnes and the seven-year-old walked off into the forest alone.
Heteromeric Kv1 potassium channel expression: amino acid determinants involved in processing and trafficking to the cell surface.

Kv1.4 and Kv1.1 potassium channels are expressed in brain as mature glycoproteins that are trans-Golgi glycosylated. When expressed in cell lines these homomers had very different trans-Golgi glycosylation efficiencies and cell surface expression levels with Kv1.4 > Kv1.1 for both parameters (Zhu, J., Watanabe, I., Gomez, B., and Thornhill, W. B. (2001) J. Biol. Chem. 276, 39419–39427). This previous study identified determinants in the outer pore region of Kv1.4 and Kv1.1 that positively and negatively, respectively, affected these events when expressed as homomers. Here we investigated which subunit exhibited positive or negative effects on these processes when expressed as heteromers. Kv1.4/Kv1.1 heteromers, by coexpression or expression as tandem-linked heteromers, were expressed on the cell surface at ∼20-fold lower levels versus Kv1.4 homomers but they were trans-Golgi glycosylated. The lower Kv1.4/Kv1.1 expression level was not rescued by Kvβ 2.1 subunits. Thus Kv1.1 inhibited high cell surface expression and partially retained the heteromer in the endoplasmic reticulum, whereas Kv1.4 stimulated trans-Golgi glycosylation. The subunit determinants and cellular events responsible for these differences were investigated. In a Kv1.4/Kv1.1 heteromer, the Kv1.1 pore was a major negative determinant, and it inhibited high cell surface expression because it induced high partial endoplasmic reticulum retention and it decreased protein stability. Other Kv1.1 regions also inhibited high surface expression of heteromers. The Kv1.1 C terminus induced partial Golgi retention and contributed to a decreased protein stability, whereas the Kv1.1 N terminus contributed to only a decreased protein stability. Thus a neuron may regulate its cell surface K+ channel protein levels by different Kv1 subfamily homomeric and heteromeric combinations that affect intracellular retention characteristics and protein stability.
Motivational interviewing and decisional balance: contrasting responses to client ambivalence.

Background: A recommendation in original descriptions of motivational interviewing (MI) was to “explore ambivalence”. Contrasting procedures for doing so have been clarified through the evolution of MI. Aims: This article describes two conceptually distinct methods for responding to ambivalence: decisional balance (DB) and MI's evocation of change talk, and reviews empirical evidence to recommend when each procedure is appropriate (and inappropriate) in clinical practice. Method: The authors summarize findings of clinical outcome research to examine how these two interventions impact the resolution of client ambivalence. Results: With ambivalent people, a DB intervention tends to decrease commitment to change, whereas evocation (a key element of MI) promotes change. When a person has already made the decision to change, evocation is unnecessary and may deter change, whereas DB may further strengthen commitment. Conclusions: DB is an appropriate procedure when the clinician wishes to maintain neutrality and not favor the resolution of ambivalence in any particular direction. Evocation is appropriate when the clinician intends to help clients resolve ambivalence in the direction of change.
Error spreading: reducing bursty errors in continuous media streaming

With the growing popularity of the Internet, there is increasing interest in using it for audio and video transmission. Periodic network overloads, leading to bursty packet losses, have always been a key problem for network researchers. In a long-haul, heterogeneous network like the Internet, handling such an error becomes especially difficult. Perceptual studies of audio and video viewing have shown that bursty losses have the most annoying effect on people, and hence are critical issues to be addressed for applications such as Internet phone, video conferencing, distance learning, etc. Classical error handling techniques have focused on applications like FTP, and are geared towards ensuring that the transmission is correct, with no attention to timeliness. For isochronous traffic like audio and video, timeliness is a key criterion, and given the high degree of content redundancy, some loss of content is quite acceptable. We introduce the concept of error spreading, which is a transformation technique that takes the input sequence of packets (from an audio or video stream) and scrambles its packets before transmission. The packets are unscrambled at the receiving end. The transformation is designed to ensure that bursty losses in the transformed domain get spread all over the sequence in the original domain. Perceptual studies have shown that users are much more tolerant of a uniformly distributed loss of low magnitude. We next describe a continuous media transmission protocol based on this idea, and validate its performance through an experiment performed on the Internet.
Studies in contact-dermatitis: VIII. The effect of feeding of antigen on the subsequent development of skin sensitization

Abstract Eleven adults ingested 24 ounces (710 ml.) of the tincture of krameria in teaspoonful doses (approximately 4 ml.) over a period of 8 weeks. Two weeks later patch-test applications were made with the fluidextract of krameria. In the absence of any reaction they were repeated at spaced intervals until evidence of sensitization was demonstrated. There were 10 control subjects in whom repeated patch-test applications were made according to the procedure followed in the prepared subjects. All test subjects and controls were sensitized. No difference existed in both groups, either in intensity of induced reactions or in the number of patch-test treatments required to provoke sensitization.
A six degree of freedom micromanipulator for ophthalmic surgery

Needs which have arisen in ophthalmic research have motivated the development of a six-degree-of-freedom parallel micromanipulator. The first application of the tool will be in the treatment of retinal venous occlusion, for which micron-scale spherical movement of a glass micropipette tip inside the eye is required. The initial operation mode will be open loop, while future operation will be in a force-reflecting bilateral (macro-master/micro-slave) arrangement. Presented here are some of the design criteria, the mathematical tools used in evaluating various parallel manipulator designs, and the final kinematic configuration. >
Regulation of acrAB expression by cellular metabolites in Escherichia coli

Methods: Deletion mutants, an acrABp-lacZ fusion and reverse transcription – real-time quantitative PCR experiments were used to study the role of AcrAB-TolC and metabolism in regulating gene expression of the acrAB operon and its transcriptional regulators. Results: Deletion of the acrB gene increased the expression of the acrAB operon. A similar induction of acrAB was found whenacrA ortolC was deleted, and when the pump function was inhibited using phenylalanine-arginine-bnaphthylamide. The induction ofacrAB in theDacrB strain was totally (AcrR or SoxS) or partially (SoxR or MarA) prevented when the genes for these acrAB regulators were also deleted. The expression of soxS and marA, but not of acrR, was increased in the DacrB strain, which also showed altered expression of many other genes related to different cellular processes, including motility. Deletion of the metabolic genes entA and entE (enterobactin biosysnthesis), glpX (gluconeogenesis), cysH (cysteine biosynthesis) and purA (purine biosynthesis) also prevented activation of the acrAB promoter in the DacrB strain. Addition of the enterobactin biosynthesis intermediate metabolite 2,3-dihydroxybenzoate induced the expression of acrAB. Conclusions: These results together suggest a model in which the AcrAB-TolC pump effluxes cellular metabolites that are toxic and/or have a signalling role. If the pump is inactivated or inhibited, these metabolites would accumulate, inactivating AcrR and/or up-regulating soxS and marA expression, ultimately triggering the up-regulation of acrAB expression to restore homeostasis.
A primer on using in ovo electroporation to analyze gene function

The chicken embryo has served as a classic model system for developmental studies due to its easy access for surgical manipulations and a wealth of data about chicken embryogenesis. Notably, the mechanisms controlling limb development have been explored best in the chick. Recently, the method of in ovo electroporation has been used successfully to transfect particular cells/tissues during embryonic development, without the production or infectivity associated with retroviruses. With the sequencing of the chicken genome near completion, this approach will provide a powerful opportunity to examine the function of chicken genes and their counterparts in other species. In ovo electroporation has been most effectively used to date for ectopic or overexpression analyses. However, recent studies indicate that this approach can be used successfully for loss-of-function analyses, including protein knockdown experiments with morpholinos and RNAi. Here, I will discuss parameters for using in ovo electroporation successfully to study developmental processes.
Population Genetic Structure of California Hazelnut, An Important Food Source for People in Quiroste Valley in the Late Holocene

California hazelnuts (Corylus cornuta var. californica) are abundant in the archaeological record of site CA-SMA-113 in Quiroste Valley Cultural Pre- serve, and hazel management on the Central Coast was recorded in late 18th century Spanish accounts. However, this species is currently absent from Quiroste Valley proper and rare in the watershed, though it is locally common elsewhere in the Santa Cruz Mountains. Because high California hazelnut abundance is associated with frequent fire regimes, we believe that its current low abundance could be due to fire suppression enforced in the region for the past two hundred years. We sequenced nuclear microsatellites from ten popu- lations of California hazelnuts to test the hypothesis that this species has experienced demographic changes in response to changing climate and land management practices. We found that all populations exhibited high levels of genetic variation and negative population growth consistent with large popu- lation sizes in the past with some decline over time. We also found subtle pat- terns of geographic structure suggesting that Quiroste Valley and neighboring Butano may have been important refugia habitats during past climate warming events. These results provide an important foundation demonstrating that
Joe Goldstein and Mike Brown: from cholesterol homeostasis to new paradigms in membrane biology

Abstract Joe Goldstein and Mike Brown have worked for over 30 years on the molecular basis of cholesterol homeostasis. Through the systematic use of genetics, biochemistry, molecular biology and cell biology, they have identified a complex set of interacting molecules that work coordinately to regulate cholesterol import and synthesis. Not only did they identify the crucial proteins in this pathway but also determined their function. An unexpected outcome of their work has been a new understanding of the structure and function of cell membranes. From the low-density lipoprotein receptor to sterol regulatory element binding protein (SREBP) to SREBP cleavage-activating protein to Insig-1, each protein has provided a new and fundamentally novel insight into how membranes function as molecular sensors that respond to changes in the metabolic condition of the cell by moving molecules between cellular compartments. ∗ ∗This article is part of the Pioneers series in Trends in Cell Biology. Pioneers articles feature researchers, experiments and concepts that forged the way to modern cell biology.
Progressive lossless image coding via self-referential partitions

In a given binary image, we identify two disjoint sets of image subblocks of varying size which we call range blocks and domain blocks. The range blocks form a partition of the image called a self-referential partition because each range block is represented via a pointer to a matching domain block. The encoder transmits encoded versions of these pointers together with one pixel from each domain block. This information, when decoded, allows progressive reconstruction of the image. On several archival images, our progressive lossless image coder gave better compression performance than that provided by the 2-D Lempel-Ziv (1986) algorithm, multi-window quadtree coding, and Huffman coding of runlengths. The progressive image coder is fast and has a worst-case redundancy performance better than the best currently known worst-case redundancy upper bound for the 2-D Lempel-Ziv algorithm.
Technique for effective evaluation of collocation interference designs in government solicitations

The most difficult technical challenge for the development of a single channel ground and airborne radio system (SINCGARS) shipboard segment is mutual interference due to collocated SINCGARS radios. The authors discuss the special steps taken by the government to ensure that a viable design is realized for this full-scale development program. As an aid in discriminating between competitors' solutions, a cosite interference test problem was generated by the Tactical Communications and Navy Systems and Technology Divisions of the MITRE Corporation. The problem was included in the solicitation instructions and conditions section of the request for proposals (RFP). It was found that the presentation in the RFP of a sample cosite interference problem proved valuable in eliminating nonserious competitors. Several interference mitigation methods were proposed by the bidders. >