cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
An Object-Oriented Systems Engineering Model Design for Integrating Spent Fuel Treatment Facility and Chemical Separation Processes

The mission of the Transmutation Research Program (TRP) at University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) is to establish a nuclear engineering test bed that can carry out effective transmutation and advanced reactor research and development effort. TRPSEMPro package, developed from previous project period, integrated a chemical separation code from the Argonne National Laboratories (ANL). Current research focus has two folds: development of simulation system processes applied to Spent Fuel Treatment Facility (SFTF) using ASPEN-plus and further interaction of ASPEN+ program from TRPSEMPro interface. More details will be discussed below. ANL has identified three processes simulations using their separation technologies. The first process is to separate aqueous acid streams of acetic acid, nitric acid, water and a variety of fission product nitric salts. Distillation separation method is used to remove the desired components from the streams. The second simulation is to convert plutonium nitrate to plutonium metal. Steps used for the process simulation are precipitation, calcinations, fluorination and reduction. The third process currently under development is vitrification of fission product of raffinate streams. During the process, various waste streams from the plant are mixed and fed to a process that converts them to a solid state glass phase. The vitrification process used by the Hanford and Savannah River facilities was selected as a guideline to develop the prototype simulation process using ASPEN-Plus. Current research is focusing on identifying unit operations required to perform the vitrification of the waste streams. The first two processes are near completion stage. Microsoft Visual Basic (MS VB) has been used to develop the entire system engineering model package, TRPSEMPro. Currently a user friendly interface is under development to facilitate direct execution of ASPEN-plus within TRPSEMPro. The major purpose for the implementation is to create iterative interaction among system engineering modeling, ANL separation model and ASPEN-Plus process that outputs optimized separation/process simulation results. The ASPEN-plus access interface from TRPSEMPro allows users to modify and execute process parameters derived from the ASPEN Plus simulations without navigating through ASPEN-Plus. All ASPEN-plus simulation results can be also accessible by the interface. Such integration provide a single interaction gateway for researchers interested in SFTF process simulation without struggling with complicate data manipulation and joggling among various software packages.Copyright © 2006 by ASME
Combined aprotinin and erythropoietin use for blood conservation: Results with Jehovah's Witnesses

Abstract Despite recent advances in blood conservation techniques, major risks persist for excessive bleeding and blood transfusion after open heart operations. We reviewed the records of 100 consecutive patients undergoing first-time coronary artery bypass grafting at our institution to define these risks and develop a multimodality blood conservation program based on the results. This program was subsequently applied on a prospective basis to a select group of patients who refuse blood transfusion on religious grounds (Jehovah's Witnesses [JW]) (n = 15). Encouraging initial results with coronary artery bypass grafting in this group (n = 8) led to the application of the program to more complex operations (n = 7), including repeat bypass grafting with use of the internal mammary artery, repeat mitral valve replace ment, aortic and mitral valve replacement with coronary artery bypass grafting, mitral valve replacement with bypass grafting, chronic type 1 dissection repair, aortic valve replacement, and atrial septal defect repair in 1 patient each. The blood conservation program employed in these patients included the use of (1) aprotinin (full Hammersmith regimen), (2) high-dose erythropoietin, (3) "maximal"-volume intraoperative autologous blood donation, (4) low-prime cardiopulmonary bypass, (5) exclusive use of intraoperative cell salvage, and (6) continuous reinfusion of shed mediastinal blood. There were no deaths in the JW group. Thromboembolic complications consisted of a transient posterior circulation stroke in only 1 patient (dissection repair). No blood or blood products were transfused compared with the transfusion of 5.1 ± 7.3 units (mean ± standard deviation) in the 100 primary coronary bypass patients in whom the blood conservation program was not employed. Postoperative hematocrits in the JW group were equal to or greater than those for the control group despite the absence of red cell transfusion and despite the significantly lower admission hematocrits and red blood cell mass in that group. Total chest tube output 24 hours after operation was 340 ± 140 mL and 880 ± 320 mL for the JW and control groups, respectively ( p
Preparation of tritium‐labeled Silybin—a protectant for common liver diseases

Silymarin, the seed extract of milk thistle plant, Silybum marianum, has been used traditionally for the treatment of liver diseases and bile duct infection. Silybin 1 is the main bioactive components of silymarin, consisting a pair of diastereomers: Silybin A and Silybin B. In this article, we report the preparation of tritium-labeled Silybin, which was accomplished by protection of Silybin as tritylated compound 2 and followed by oxidation of the primary alcohol to its corresponding aldehyde 3. Subsequent reduction with NaB[3H]4 and deprotection of the trityl group provided the tritium-labeled Silybin 4. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
The effects of hormones and morphine on both analgesia and the lordosis response produced by cervical probing in the female rat

Two experiments were conducted to assess the effects of sex hormones and morphine on the lordosis response and the analgesia produced by cervical probing in the female rat. Estrogen and progesterone were found not to affect responses to standard tests of nonciception (tail flick and tail pressure), but estrogen did increase the lordosis response. Cervical probing and morphine were both found to produce significant analgesia, but hormones did not alter the effectiveness of either. Thus, the pain-blocking mechanism involved is apparently not hormone-dependent.
Prioritizing software security fortification throughcode-level metrics

Limited resources preclude software engineers from finding and fixing all vulnerabilities in a software system. We create predictive models to identify which components are likely to have the most security risk. Software engineers can use these models to make measurement-based risk management decisions and to prioritize software security fortification efforts, such as redesign and additional inspection and testing. We mined and analyzed data from a large commercial telecommunications software system containing over one million lines of code that had been deployed to the field for two years. Using recursive partitioning, we built attack-prone prediction models with the following code-level metrics: static analysis tool alert density, code churn, and count of source lines of code. One model identified 100% of the attack-prone components (40% of the total number of components) with an 8% false positive rate. As such, the model could be used to prioritize fortification efforts in the system.
Construction of a human X-chromosome-enriched phage library which facilitates analysis of specific loci

Abstract A human X-chromosome-enriched Mbo I-partial-digest recombinant library in phage λCharon30 has been constructed. Twelve out of the thirteen X-chromosome DNA sequences that were tested were present in the library. Most regions were covered in overlapping phage inserts; mean insert size was 13.7 kb. One phage from the library allowed detection of a 225-bp insertion of DNA into a region near the Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) locus. Another recombinant phage represents an expansion of a region which exhibits extensive and varying homology with other human chromosomes, including the Y, as well as with rodent DNA. The present library should have widespread use for examining DNA sequences on the human X chromosome.
On the theory of cannibalization

Abstract A continuum structure function is a nondecreasing mapping from the nonnegative orthant to the nonnegative real numbers which determines the state of a system from the states of its components. It is supposed that the various components can be divided into types such that only components of the same type may be interchanged. Such an interchange, called a cannibalization, is performed to increase system reliability when spare parts or repair facilities are not available. The cannibalization operation induces a new structure function whose properties are examined in detail; in particular, the Block-Savits decomposition is extended to such functions. Optimal cannibalizations are deduced for some special cases.
The muscle silent period: variability in normal man.

Abstract The muscle silent period has been statistically evaluated in the adductor pollicis of thirteen normal adults during monitored control of twitch and voluntary tension. The present study indicates that (1) no significant variations in silent period accompany alterations in twitch height, twitch duration or control tension, within the limits of this study, and (2) the normal range of silent period measured from the stimulus to the return of sustained EMG activity is 87–151 msec.
Rhinovirus type 14 persistence in HeLa cells studied by use of guanidine.

Guanidine at 2 mM completely prevents replication of rhinovirus type 14 (RV14) in HeLa cells and spares these cells from RV14-induced cytopathic effects. Three serial subcultivations of these cells in the continued presence of guanidine reduced infectious virus titers in cell lysates to undetectable levels. However, the capacity of RV14-infected guanidine-cultured cells to form infectious centers when cultured in the absence of guanidine was not completely abolished until the fifth serial subcultivation (14 days post-inoculation). Production of defective-interfering particles of RV 14 in HeLa cells was not observed. Thermal stability and transmission of uncoated RV 14 to daughter cells in the presence of guanidine can account for the persistence. Cells inoculated with RV14 and cultured in the presence of guanidine synthesized genomic RNA associated with a structure of 1.394 gm/ml density in CsCI, and these structures exhibited low infectivity by standard plaque assay. Nascent RV14 RNA did not appear in virions in cells treated with guanidine. HeLa cell lines (HeLaV+G), established following six serial subcultures of cells initially infected with RV 14 and continuously cultured in the presence of guanidine, were negative for RV 14 antigens by specific immunofluorescence tests. HeLaV+G cells were as efficient as normal HeLa cells in production of interferon; replication of RV 14 and mengovirus; and plaque assay of RV 14, rhinovirus type 2, and coxsackievirus B3.
Particulate Nature of Blood Determines Macroscopic Rheology: A 2-D Lattice Boltzmann Analysis

Historically, predicting macroscopic blood flow characteristics such as viscosity has been an empirical process due to the difficulty in rigorously including the particulate nature of blood in a mathematical representation of blood rheology. Using a two-dimensional lattice Boltzmann approach, we have simulated the flow of red blood cells in a blood vessel to estimate flow resistance at various hematocrits and vessel diameters. By including white blood cells (WBCs) in the flow, we also calculate the increase in resistance due to white cell rolling and adhesion. The model considers the blood as a suspension of particles in plasma, accounting for cell-cell and cell-wall interactions to predict macroscopic blood rheology. The model is able to reproduce the Fahraeus-Lindqvist effect, i.e., the increase in relative apparent viscosity as tube size increases, and the Fahraeus effect, i.e., tube hematocrit is lower than discharge hematocrit. In addition, the model allows direct assessment of the effect of WBCs on blood flow in the microvasculature, reproducing the dramatic increases in flow resistance as WBCs enter short capillary segments. This powerful and flexible model can be used to predict blood flow properties in any vessel geometry and with any blood composition.
SU-E-T-339: Universally Reprogrammable Automated Planning

Purpose: Automating treatment planning has recently become a subject of intense research. The current limitation is there is no way to get around the black box nature of planning. One way is know the components inside the black box, but this idealistic approach is rarely practical. The purpose of this work is to develop a generic framework that is capable of automating any existing black box planning environment without the need to know the details of the implementation inside. Methods: We used a record, playback, and validation mechanism to fully automate the treatment planning procedure. Varian Eclipse Treatment Planning and Coutouring were used for VMAT planning. Different actions were pre-recorded and played back with adjustable parameters calculated and inputted on the fly. The decision on which parameters to tune and how much to make the adjustment is based on previous results produced and saved. Results: We have tested our interface with four different head and neck VMAT patients. The system successfully ran and the results were in strong agreement with clinical requirements. Each iteration consists of tuning, decision making based on previous runs, optimization, and dose calculation. For each patient 20 iterations were sufficient and each iteration took on average 34.6 minutes. The DVH was exported after the dose calculation and the priority for all the organs were adjusted in the optimizer for each adjustment iteration. Conclusion: We have developed a generic framework that allows researchers to fully automate the treatment planning process. We have showed a proof-of-concept using Varian Eclipse. The automation does not require the user to know the details of the implementation of the treatment planning environment. It approaches treatment planning in a similar way as a manual planner would, by trying different adjustment strategies on the fly and deciding subsequently what the best action is.
Influence of energy drink ingredients on mood and cognitive performance

Sales of energy products have grown enormously in recent years. Manufacturers claim that the products, in the form of drinks, shots, supplements, and gels, enhance physical and cognitive performance, while users believe the products promote concentration, alertness, and fun. Most of these products contain caffeine, a mild psychostimulant, as their foremost active ingredient. However, they also contain additional ingredients, e.g., carbohydrates, amino acids, herbal extracts, vitamins, and minerals, often in unspecified amounts and labeled as an “energy blend.” It is not clear whether these additional ingredients provide any physical or cognitive enhancement beyond that provided by caffeine alone. This article reviews the available empirical data on the interactive effects of these ingredients and caffeine on sleep and cognitive performance and suggests objectives for future study.
Evaluating and Improving Existing Ground‐Water Systems

Considerable energy savings are available from improving well and pump efficiencies. One major problem is evaluating the well and pump inefficiencies over prolonged periods of time, because these efficiencies are erratic unless normalized. A new well should be tested at different discharges to construct a relationship between specific capacity and drawdown. Future well efficiency tests should compare the specific capacity with the original curve at the test discharge. The departure from the original curve indicates the loss in well efficiency. Similarly, pump efficiency needs to be normalized, so that the tested efficiency may be compared with the original efficiency at the test discharge.
CLOSTRIDIUM DIFFICILE TOXINS A AND B ARE CATION-DEPENDENT UDP-GLUCOSE HYDROLASES WITH DIFFERING CATALYTIC ACTIVITIES

Toxins A and B of Clostridium difficile are UDP-glucose glucosyltransferases that exert their cellular toxicity primarily through their abilities to monoglucosylate, and thereby inactivate, Rho family small GTPases. Toxin A also hydrolyzes UDP-glucose, although this activity is not well characterized. In this study, we measured the kinetics of UDP-glucose hydrolysis by toxins A and B and found significant differences in the catalytic activities of these two structurally homologous toxins. The toxins displayed similar Michaelis constants (K m) for UDP-glucose, but the maximal velocity (V max) of toxin B was ∼5-fold greater than that of toxin A. Toxins A and B exert their enzymatic actions intracellularly, and, interestingly, we found that each toxin absolutely required K+ for optimal hydrolase activity; Na+ was inactive. The toxins also required certain divalent cations for activity and exhibited a significantly greaterV max and lower K m in the presence of Mn2+ as compared with Mg2+. We conclude that C. difficile toxins A and B are cation-dependent UDP-glucose hydrolases that differ significantly in their catalytic activities, a finding that may have important implications in understanding their different cytotoxic effects.
Visual neurophysiology: a field-effect amplifier designed and built by R. L. De Valois.

In the middle of the last century, R. L. De Valois designed and built a unique and effective amplifier based on the newly developed field-effect transistor (FET). This amplifier has many beneficial qualities for amplifying the signals of neurons with minimal disturbance. We have used this amplifier successfully for more than three decades. We describe the circuitry of the De Valois amplifier and provide performance specifications. The FET amplifier is one of De Valois’s contributions to visual neurophysiology; we share the design in his honor, with the hope that it might prove useful to others.
Growth from a hypercooled melt near absolute stability

The stability of a solid-liquid interface in a hypercooled melt is studied, taking into account attachment kinetics, surface energy, and surface energy in the heat balance. There is a basic-state solution with the planar interface moving at constant speed. Linear-stability theory gives a long-wave absolute-stability limit. Near this point a string model is introduced in which a thermal-boundary-layer approximation is used and an evolution equation for the interface is obtained. In a limiting case this interface equation reduces to a Kuromoto-Sivashinsky equation. Comparison with experimental and numerical results are discussed, and a conceptual picture of unconstrained growth for all undercoolings is addressed.
Hormonal Influences on Choline Concentrations in Rat Tissues

The concentrations of free choline and total lipid-bound choline in liver and kidney tissues of hormone-deficient rats were measured to test the hypothesis that the free choline concentration in tissues is critically related to the lipotropic and antihemorrhagic effects of choline. Hypophysectomized, thyroidectomized, adrenalectomized and gonadectomized male and female rats were used, as well as males which had been treated with antisera to β8-ICSH and FSH. Free choline and total lipid-bound choline were isolated from heated homogenates of liver and kidney tissue and determined spectrophotometrically as the periodides. The concentration of free choline in liver was increased, consistent with the hypothesis, in those hormone-deficient states, which have a lipotropic effect: hypophysectomy and adrenalectomy in males and females, and thyroidectomy in female rats. No increase in the free choline concentration in liver was observed in those states which do not have a lipotropic effect: gonadectomy in males and...
Cluster Formation and Growth in Flow of Dilute Particle Suspension in Microchannels

Microchannels are susceptible to blockage by solid particles. The lifetime of microfluidic devices depends on their ability to maintain flow without interruption, while certain applications require microdevices for transport of liquids containing particles. In this work, the phenomenon of interest is the formation and growth of clusters in the flow of a dilute suspension of hard spheres. Based on the present experiments, aggregation of clusters was observed for particle-laden flow in a microchannel with particle void fraction as low as 0.001 and particle diameter to channel height ratio as low as 0.1. The incipience and growth of a single cluster is discussed, and the spatial distribution and time evolution of clusters along the microchannel is presented. Although the cluster size seems to be independent of location, higher number of clusters is found at the inlet/outlet regions than in the microchannel center. Similar to individual cluster, the total cluster area in the microchannel grows almost linearly in time. The effects of flow rate, particle size and concentration are also reported.Copyright © 2008 by ASME
Electron Spectrum and the Time-Dependence of Initial State Population in a Model for Laser Induced Autoionization

There has been recently a surge of interest in laser-induced autoionization, motivated by the hope to observe experimentally strong field effects.1–7 Such features, in particular the existence of very narrow and substantially skewed line shapes in the electron spectrum are predicted by a simple, soluble, semi-classical model.1–3 The same model also predicts Rabi-oscillations (with decaying amplitude) of the initial-state population.2,3,6
Design of Matching Networks for Low Noise Preamplifiers

This paper discusses matching networks that minimize inductive coupling between the antennas within an array while simultaneously insuring minimum noise contributions from preamplifiers. Typical low noise preamplifier designs require a strong mismatch between the source impedance and the amplifier input impedance (reflection coefficient close to one) to achieve optimal noise performance. This is in contrast to the familiar impedance match known from communication theory where input and source impedances have complex conjugate values for maximizing the power transfer from source to amplifier. The high input reflection coefficient of low noise amplifiers can be exploited to reduce antenna currents by using lossless impedance transformations to create a high impedance at the coil terminals while simultaneously maintaining a low noise figure for the amplifier. The networks presented here constitute an improvement over previous work because they give additional freedoms regarding the values of the network components and the amplifier input impedance. The technique has been formalized and coded in MathCad, making the design of realizable networks a simple process.
It is Whether You Win or Lose: The Importance of the Overall Probabilities of Winning or Losing in Risky Choice

Imagine that you own a five-outcome gamble with the following payoffs and probabilities: ($100, .20; $50, .20; $0, .20; −$25, .20; −$50, .20). What happens when the opportunity to improve such a gamble is provided by a manipulation that adds value to one outcome versus another outcome, particularly when the opportunity to add value to one outcome versus another outcome changes the overall probability of a gain or the overall probability of a loss? Such a choice provides a simple test of the expected utility model (EU), original prospect theory (OPT), and cumulative prospect theory (CPT). A study of risky choices involving 375 respondents indicates that respondents were most sensitive to changes in outcome values that either increased the overall probability of a strict gain or decreased the overall probability of a strict loss. These results indicate more support for OPT rather than CPT and EU under various assumptions about the shape of the utility and value and weighting functions. Most importantly, the main difference between the various expectation models of risky choice occurs for outcomes near the reference value. A second study of risky choice involving 151 respondents again demonstrated the sensitivity of subjects to reducing the probability of a strict loss even at the cost of reduced expected value. Consequently, we argue that theories of how people choose among gambles that involve three or more consequences with both gains and losses need to include measures of the overall probabilities of a gain and of a loss.
Neighborhood Context and Police Vigor: A Multilevel Analysis

This study provides a partial test of Klinger’s ecological theory of police behavior using hierarchical linear modeling on 1,677 suspects who had encounters with police within 24 beats. The current study used data from four sources originally collected by the Project on Policing Neighborhoods (POPN), including systematic social observation, in-person interviews with officers, census data, and police crime records. It investigates the effects of neighborhood violent crime rates and concentrated disadvantage on officer vigor, controlling for individual-level officer characteristics and situational factors. The analyses reveal that police vigor was significantly shaped by beat-level crime rates, with high–crime rate neighborhoods experiencing higher levels of police vigor in handling suspects. The findings are not consistent with the ecological propositions set forth by Klinger. Implications of these findings and suggestions for future research and theoretical development are discussed.
An approximation analysis for multistage production lines

Abstract In this paper, an efficient analytical approximation method is developed using decomposition for modeling and analyzing n -machine production lines with random processing times and interstage finite buffers. The results of the expected steady state throughput rate and expected steady state levels of buffers obtained using the analytical approximation method are compared with simulation results. The analytical approximation method works very efficiently and satisfactorily, giving results with an acceptable error level.
A Wideband Linear FM Ramp Generator for the Long-Range Imaging RADAR

This paper describes the linear FM ramp generator that provides the wideband transmitted signal and correlation receiver reference for the long-term imaging RADAR (LRIR) developed and operated by the M.I.T. Lincoln Laboratory. The signal generated has a bandwidth of 1000 MHz and a duration of 250 mu s. Because of its large time-bandwidth product, the signal is generated actively by sweeping a voltage-controlled oscillator. Special attention is given to the means for achieving linearity, reproducibility, and coherence of the generated ramps.
Paleobotanical evidence of Eocene and Oligocene paleoaltitudes in midlatitude western North America

Comparisons of the physiognomy of leaves from modern vegetation of known climates with that of Eocene and Oligocene fossil leaf assemblages from middle latitudes of western North America indicate paleoaltitudes comparable or higher than those at present. Using canonical correspondence analysis, a multivariate statistical approach that includes nonlinear relationships between characters and environmental parameters, we relate leaf physiognomy of fossil samples to modern vegetation of known environmental parameters, including moist enthalpy of the atmosphere, a thermodynamically conserved quantity of the atmosphere that varies with altitude. By estimating enthalpy values for both lowland leaf assemblages and coeval interior leaf assemblages, altitudes for the interior assemblages can be estimated to ±890 m. In northeastern Washington and southern British Columbia, the high Eocene altitudes indicate subsidence, or collapse, of an area undergoing crustal extension and may reflect an immediately preceding period of uplift that triggered the extension. Similarly, other areas that have undergone Cenozoic crustal extension appear to have been at least as high as they are at present. Three sites from the Rocky Mountains also indicate elevations at least as high as at present, and therefore suggest subsidence, either resulting from cooling of a hot upper mantle or erosion and isostatic compensation of surrounding terrain. High altitudes during Eocene and Oligocene time in western North America appear to have been normal, even in areas such as the Green River basin, and therefore cast doubt on the commonly inferred late Cenozoic uplift of that region.
Conserved Serine and Histidine Residues Are Critical for Activity of the ER-type Signal Peptidase SipW of Bacillus subtilis

Type I signal peptidases (SPases) are required for the removal of signal peptides from translocated proteins and, subsequently, release of the mature protein from the transside of the membrane. Interestingly, prokaryotic (P-type) and endoplasmic reticular (ER-type) SPases are functionally equivalent, but structurally quite different, forming two distinct SPase families that share only few conserved residues. P-type SPases were, so far, exclusively identified in eubacteria and organelles, whereas ER-type SPases were found in the three kingdoms of life. Strikingly, the presence of ER-type SPases appears to be limited to sporulating Gram-positive eubacteria. The present studies were aimed at the identification of potential active site residues of the ER-type SPase SipW of Bacillus subtilis, which is required for processing of the spore-associated protein TasA. Conserved serine, histidine, and aspartic acid residues are critical for SipW activity, suggesting that the ER-type SPases employ a Ser-His-Asp catalytic triad or, alternatively, a Ser-His catalytic dyad. In contrast, the P-type SPases employ a Ser-Lys catalytic dyad (Paetzel, M., Dalbey, R. E., and Strynadka, N. C. J. (1998) Nature 396, 186–190). Notably, catalytic activity of SipW was not only essential for pre-TasA processing, but also for the incorporation of mature TasA into spores.
Using physiological sensors to detect levels of user frustration induced by system delays

In mobile computing, varying access to resources makes it difficult for developers to ensure that satisfactory system response times will be maintained at all times. Wearable physiological sensors offer a way to dynamically detect user frustration in response to increased system delays. However, most prior efforts have focused on binary classifiers designed to detect the presence or absence of a task-specific stimulus. In this paper, we make two contributions. Our first contribution is in identifying the use of variable length system response delays, a universal and task-independent feature of computing, as a stimulus for driving different levels of frustration. By doing so, we are able to make our second and primary contribution, which is the development of models that predict multiple levels of user frustration from psycho-physiological responses caused by system response delays. We investigate how incorporating different sensor features, application settings, and timing constraints impact the performance of our models. We demonstrate that our models of physiological responses can be used to classify five levels of frustration in near real-time with over 80% accuracy, which is comparable to the accuracy of binary classifiers.
The response of intact guinea pigs to AC leakage currents

There was a difference in the standard for leakage current in the US and Europe. This difference existed largely because there was very little data on AC stimulation of the heart in situ. In this study, we examine AC stimulation of the intact guinea pig. Nine male guinea pigs were anesthetized with isoflurane, intubated and monitored with the lead II ECG and optical plethysmograph. For AC stimulation, a stainless steel electrode was used The return electrode was applied to the right rear paw. Five seconds of AC stimuli at various frequencies was used The minimum VF threshold in these animals was found to be 558/spl plusmn/314 /spl mu/A at 100 Hz. Frequencies both below (20 Hz: 1584/spl plusmn/753 /spl mu/A) and above (160 Hz: 1355/spl plusmn/1007 pA) were found to be significantly different from 100 Hz (20 Hz: p=0.0017 and 100 Hz: p=0.0085). By contrast the minimum current required to have any effect on the heart only increased with frequency from 10 Hz (119/spl plusmn/53 pA), to 160 Hz (183/spl plusmn/50 pA, p<0. 0001).
Effects of chronic ozone and elevated atmospheric CO2 concentrations on ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate in soybean (Glycine max)

Ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate (RuBP) pool size was determined at regular intervals during the growing season to understand the effects of tropospheric ozone concentrations, elevated atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations and their interactions on the photosynthetic limitation by RuBP regeneration. Soybean (Glycine max [L.] Merr. cv. Essex) was grown from seed to maturity in open-top field chambers in charcoal-filtered air (CF) either without (22 nmol O 3 mol -1 ) or with added O 3 (83 nmol mol -1 ) at ambient (AA, 369 μmol CO 2 mol -1 ) or elevated CO 2 (710 μmol mol -1 ). The RuBP pool size generally declined with plant age in all treatments when expressed on a unit leaf area and in all treatments but CF-AA when expressed per unit ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase (Rubisco; EC 4.1.1.39) binding site. Although O 3 in ambient CO 2 generally reduced the RuBP pool per unit leaf area, it did not change the RuBP pool per unit Rubisco binding site. Elevated CO 2 , in CF or O 3 -fumigated air, generally had no significant effect on RuBP pool size, thus mitigating the negative O 3 effect. The RuBP pools were below 2 mol mol -1 binding site in all treatments for most of the season, indicating limiting RuBP regeneration capacity. These low RuBP pools resulted in increased RuBP regeneration via faster RuBP turnover, but only in CF air and during vegetative and flowering stages at elevated CO 2 . Also, the low RuBP pool sizes did not always reflect RuBP consumption rates or the RuBP regeneration limitation relative to potential carboxylation (%RuBP). Rather, %RuBP increased linearly with decrease in the RuBP pool turnover time. These data suggest that amelioration of damage from O 3 by elevated atmospheric CO 2 to the RuBP regeneration may be in response to changes in the Rubisco carboxylation.
FAST AND EFFICIENT COMPUTER MODELING OF FERROMAGNETIC SEED ARRAYS OF ARBITRARY ORIENTATION FOR HYPERTHERMIA TREATMENT PLANNING

Abstract Purpose: Effective hyperthermia treatment planning requires an ability to predict temperatures quickly and accurately from an arbitrary distribution of power. Our purpose was to design such a fast executing computer code, MGARRAY, to compute steady-state temperatures from ferromagnetic seed heating, allowing seeds to have arbitrary orientations and to be curved to permit more realistic modeling of clinical situations. We further required flexibility for the tissue domain, allowing inhomogeneity with respect to thermal conductivity and blood perfusion, as well as an arbitrary shaped boundary. Methods and Materials: MGARRAY uses multigrid methods and a finite volume discretization to solve the Pennes bioheat transfer equation in three dimensions. We used MGARRAY to compare temperature distributions that result from an array of straight, parallel seeds and from an array of seeds that were curved and tilted randomly by 13°. Results: On a personal workstation the Central Processing Unit (CPU) time of MGARRAY was under 4 min. We found that the median temperature in a predetermined target volume was ∼0.8°C higher in the straight array than in the curved array. At specific locations within the target volume temperature differed by ∼0.5−0.9°C, but could differ by up to several degrees, depending on proximity to a seed and the level of blood perfusion. Conclusion: These differences can impact on retrospective analyses whereby temperatures at a few locations are used to infer the overall temperature field and blood perfusion levels. The flexibility and computational speed of MGARRAY could potentially lead to a substantial improvement in both retrospective and prospective hyperthermia treatment planning.
Recombinant-derived modified-live herpesvirus vaccines.

Swine pseudorabies (PR; Aujezky’s disease [AD]) and infectious bovine rhinotracheitis (IBR) are important veterinary diseases, each of which cost American farmers over 30 million dollars annually. Killed and modified-live virus (MLV) vaccines have been used in the United States and in other countries for over 25 years to control AD and IBR, but these conventional vaccines have had numerous shortcomings with regard to safety and efficacy. First, despite the intensive use of the conventional vaccines, AD- and IBR morbidity and mortality have increased. For example, about 10% of the sixty million swine in the United States are now infected with PRV compared with about 1% in 1972. Second, animals vaccinated with conventional killed or MLV vaccines remained susceptible to infection at a later time with virulent field strains, and often shed virulent virus, thereby spreading infection in the herd. Third, the intramuscular (IM) administration of MLV IBR vaccines has been hampered by the hazards of vaccine-induced abortions. As an alternative, temperature-sensitive IBR vaccines have been used, but these specialized vaccines could only be administered by the inconvenient and laborious intranasal (IN) route. Virus replication in the deep tissues of the body to amplify the immune response was, by definition, restricted. Fourth, some of the conventional AD vaccines, though safe for swine, were unsafe for oother animal species.
A Simple Model of Exxon’s Zn/Br 2 Battery

A simple model of Exxon’s Zn/Br2 battery is predict the energy efficiency of the battery for resistivities and cell geometries. Efficiencies percent are predicted by the model.
InGaAs CMOS: a "Beyond-the-Roadmap" Logic Technology?

This talk will discuss the general issues associated with III-V CMOS that are enunciated above. It will also describe the authors' research activities in the area of InGaAs HEMTs for logic. In particular, we will summarize the findings of a recent scaling study of InGaAs HEMTs down to 60 nm in gate length [1]. In this work, we fabricated HEMTs with a 70% InAs composition in the channel and with varying gate lengths and InAIAs barrier thicknesses (from 11 to 3 nm). This study resulted in devices that have substantially more current drive than state-of-the-art 65 nm CMOS at a voltage of 0.5 V. It also showed that InGaAs HEMTs scale according to a simple electrostatics law similar to fully-depleted SOI MOSFETs. Our research reveals that HEMTs are excellent test vehicles to study topics of great relevance to future III-V MISFETs, such as self-aligned device architectures, scaling limit of planar devices, impact of strain on transport physics, and the consequences of a low density of states on current drive of deeply scaled devices..
Auxin Synthesized by the YUCCA Flavin Monooxygenases Is Essential for Embryogenesis and Leaf Formation in Arabidopsis

Auxin plays a key role in embryogenesis and seedling development, but the auxin sources for the two processes are not defined. Here, we demonstrate that auxin synthesized by the YUCCA (YUC) flavin monooxygenases is essential for the establishment of the basal body region during embryogenesis and the formation of embryonic and postembryonic organs. Both YUC1 and YUC4 are expressed in discrete groups of cells throughout embryogenesis, and their expression patterns overlap with those of YUC10 and YUC11 during embryogenesis. The quadruple mutants of yuc1 yuc4 yuc10 yuc11 fail to develop a hypocotyl and a root meristem, a phenotype similar to those of mp and tir1 afb1 afb2 afb3 auxin signaling mutants. We further show that YUC genes play an essential role in the formation of rosette leaves by analyzing combinations of yuc mutants and the polar auxin transport mutants pin1 and aux1. Disruption of YUC1, YUC4, or PIN1 alone does not abolish leaf formation, but the triple mutant yuc1 yuc4 pin1 fails to form leaves and flowers. Furthermore, disruption of auxin influx carrier AUX1 in the quadruple mutant yuc1 yuc2 yuc4 yuc6, but not in wild-type background, phenocopies yuc1 yuc4 pin1, demonstrating that auxin influx is required for plant leaf and flower development. Our data demonstrate that auxin synthesized by the YUC flavin monooxygenases is an essential auxin source for Arabidopsis thaliana embryogenesis and postembryonic organ formation.
Quaternary glaciation and volcanism, Metolius River area, Oregon

Evidence of three major Quaternary glaciations is recognized in the Metolius River area on the east flank of. the High Cascades. The latest glaciation (Cabot Creek glaciation) is multiple, with evidence of a late readvance (Canyon Creek advance) well displayed in cirques. Post-Altithermal glacial activity is restricted to a twofold late Neoglacial advance on Mount Jefferson and Three-Fingered Jack. Stone-weathering characteristics and soil development are used to differentiate and correlate the drifts throughout the area. The degree of soil development on the drifts suggests that there was a longer period of time between the oldest and intermediate glaciations than between the intermediate and youngest glaciations. Volcanic activity may have been restricted to times of little ice cover, since no evidence of intraglacial volcanism was observed. Tephra and lava flows were erupted during two Pleistocene interglaciations and during Holocene time at scattered locations. The High Cascade platform and probably the stratovolcanoes were largely constructed prior to the earliest recognized glaciation (Abbott Butte glaciation). Information on extent of ice cover during the Cabot Creek glaciation and the Neoglacial advance is sufficiently detailed to reconstruct past glacier margins and estimate former equilibrium-line altitudes (ELA). An accumulation-area ratio of 0.6 ± 0.1 was employed to calculate past ELAs. During the Cabot Creek glaciation, ELAs ranged from about 950 m lower than present at the maximum to 700 to 750 m lower than present for the Canyon Creek advance. Neoglacial ELAs on Mount Jefferson glaciers were lower than present by 200 to 250 m. ELA gradients across the Western Cascades during the Cabot Creek glaciation averaged about 5 m/km, increased to 14 m/km across the High Cascades, and were greater than 38 m/km farther east. This reflects a pattern of precipitation similar to that of the present.
Constrained Maximization of the Shapiro–Wilk W Statistic to Estimate Parameters of the Johnson S B Distribution

This article presents a constrained maximization of the Shapiro Wilk W statistic for estimating parameters of the Johnson S B distribution. The gradient of the W statistic with respect to the minimum and range parameters is used within a quasi-Newton framework to achieve a fit for all four parameters. The method is evaluated with measures of bias and precision using pseudo-random samples from three different S B populations. The population means were estimated with an average relative bias of less than 0.1% and the population standard deviations with less than 4.0% relative bias. The methodology appears promising as a tool for fitting this sometimes difficult distribution.
Landscapes of Santa Rosa Island, Channel Islands National Park, California

Abstract. Santa Rosa Island (SRI) is the second-largest of the California Channel Islands. It is one of 4 east—west aligned islands forming the northern Channel Islands chain, and one of the 5 islands in Channel Islands National Park. The landforms, and collections of landforms called landscapes, of Santa Rosa Island have been created by tectonic uplift and faulting, rising and falling sea level, landslides, erosion and deposition, floods, and droughts. Landscape features, and areas delineating groups of related features on Santa Rosa Island, are mapped, classified, and described in this paper. Notable landscapes on the island include beaches, coastal plains formed on marine terraces, sand dunes, and sand sheets. In this study, the inland physiography has been classified into 4 areas based on relief and degree of fluvial dissection. Most of the larger streams on the island occupy broad valleys that have been filled with alluvium and later incised to form steep- to vertical-walled arroyos, or barrancas, le...
Microwave-Induced Inactivation of DNA-Based Hybrid Catalyst in Asymmetric Catalysis

Abstract DNA-based hybrid catalysts have gained strong interests in asymmetric reactions. However, to maintain the high enantioselectivity, these reactions are usually conducted at relatively low temperatures (e.g.
(Invited) Strain and Phonon-Carrier Interactions in Ge-Si0.5Ge0.5 Core-Shell Nanowires Probed Using Tip-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy

Tip-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (TERS) is used to characterize nanoscale correlations between strain and nanowire dimensions in Ge-Si0.5Ge0.5 core-shell nanowires, and to elucidate phonon-carrier interactions that are manifested via shifts in Raman peaks originating from Ge-Ge vibrational modes within the quantum-confined hole gas formed at the Ge-Si0.5Ge0.5 interface. Two distinct peaks associated with Ge-Ge vibrational modes are observed – one arising from Ge-Ge vibrations in the nanowire Ge core region, and the other from Ge-Ge vibrations occurring within the quantum-confined hole gas at the Ge-Si0.5Ge0.5 interface. Both peaks exhibit a dependence of Raman shift on local nanowire diameter consistent with coherent strain in the nanowire, demonstrating that the TERS measurements provide the ability to probe strain at the nanoscale. The separation between these peaks is a consequence of coupling between intervalence band transitions and the Ge-Ge phonon mode leading to Fano resonance behavior and a shift in the phonon self-energy.
Aortic stiffness and left ventricular diastolic function in children with well-functioning bicuspid aortic valves

Aims Aortic stiffness and diastolic function are abnormal in adults with bicuspid aortic valves (BAVs). The goal of this study was to determine the relationship between aortic stiffness and left ventricular (LV) diastolic impairment in children with well-functioning BAV and no associated congenital heart disease. Methods and results This is a retrospective review of echocardiograms in children with isolated BAV (group BAV; N = 50) and healthy frequency-matched controls (group Control; N = 50). We analysed LV systolic and diastolic function, proximal and distal ascending aortic stiffness index (SI), distensibility, and strain. Age range was 0.2–20 (median 11) years. There was no significant difference in blood pressure, normalized LV size and systolic function between the groups. Several parameters of LV diastolic function were lower in group BAV compared with group Control (e.g. septal E ′: BAV 12 ± 2.3 cm/s; Control 13.5 ± 1.8 cm/s, P < 0.001). All parameters of proximal and distal ascending aortic elasticity were abnormal in group BAV vs. Control (SI proximal ascending aorta: BAV 4.2 ± 1.6; Control 3.0 ± 0.9, P < 0.001). There was no significant correlation between parameters of aortic elasticity and diastolic function. In a subgroup analysis of children with fusion of the right-non vs. right-left coronary cusps, there was no significant difference for any of the parameters analysed. Conclusion Even children with well-functioning isolated BAV have abnormalities in aortic elasticity and diastolic function when compared with the Control group. However, a relationship between the two could not be established.