cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Effects of training paradigms on search dog performance

Abstract Performance of scent-detection dogs might be negatively affected when they have been trained to discriminate between scents according to a handler-issued verbal cue, compared to dogs trained to only locate one scent. The performance of scent-detection dogs trained to locate only live scent (live-only dogs) was compared to that of scent-detection dogs trained to locate either live or cadaver scent depending on the handler's verbal cue (cross-trained dogs). Specifically, it was predicted that live-only dogs would be more successful than cross-trained dogs at locating live scent when cadaver scent was present. Twenty-three dogs (11 live-only and 12 cross-trained) were given handler commands to search for live scent in four search areas containing different combinations of scent: no scent, live scent, cadaver scent, and live/cadaver scent. Each dog ran each search area twice. Live-only dogs had significantly more correct responses than cross-trained dogs in the no scent, cadaver scent, and live/cadaver scent search areas. There was no significant performance difference between live-only and cross-trained dogs in the live scent search area, confirming detection abilities of the cross-trained dogs when presented with only live scent. The ability of cross-trained dogs to correctly indicate the presence or absence of live scent according to a verbal cue was compromised when cadaver scent or no scent was present. This strongly suggests that cross-trained dogs should not be deployed where cadaver scent is present and the desired target is live scent, for example, a disaster deployment of search dogs to locate surviving victims amongst possible non-survivors.
Requiem or New Agenda for Third World Studies

Thanks to the vigor of the dependency school's attack on the established “developmentalist” framework for studying change in the Third World, debates going on today in development studies are perhaps the most interesting and important in the field of comparative politics. The debates are interesting because, both methodologically and substantively, a wide range of new issues has been raised in a field that by around 1970 had become relatively moribund. They are important because, in the Third World especially, the mainstream developmentalist models earlier formulated in the United States—such as those sponsored by the Social Science Research Council (SSRC)—have been angrily discarded by many in favor of politically explosive explanations of underdevelopment that lay the manifold problems of these areas squarely at the feet of Western imperialism (and, in the case of the Latin Americanists heading this school, at the doorstep of Washington in particular). Thus, there are acutely perceived moral and political dimensions to this clash of paradigms for the study of Third World development, beyond the intellectual, or academic, interest that such controversy is sure to excite.
Ammonium Metabolism Enzymes Aid Helicobacter pylori Acid Resistance

The gastric pathogen Helicobacter pylori possesses a highly active urease to support acid tolerance. Urea hydrolysis occurs inside the cytoplasm, resulting in the production of NH3 that is immediately protonated to form NH4 (+). This ammonium must be metabolized or effluxed because its presence within the cell is counterproductive to the goal of raising pH while maintaining a viable proton motive force (PMF). Two compatible hypotheses for mitigating intracellular ammonium toxicity include (i) the exit of protonated ammonium outward via the UreI permease, which was shown to facilitate diffusion of both urea and ammonium, and/or (ii) the assimilation of this ammonium, which is supported by evidence that H. pylori assimilates urea nitrogen into its amino acid pools. We investigated the second hypothesis by constructing strains with altered expression of the ammonium-assimilating enzymes glutamine synthetase (GS) and glutamate dehydrogenase (GDH) and the ammonium-evolving periplasmic enzymes glutaminase (Ggt) and asparaginase (AsnB). H. pylori strains expressing elevated levels of either GS or GDH are more acid tolerant than the wild type, exhibit enhanced ammonium production, and are able to alkalize the medium faster than the wild type. Strains lacking the genes for either Ggt or AsnB are acid sensitive, have 8-fold-lower urea-dependent ammonium production, and are more acid sensitive than the parent. Additionally, we found that purified H. pylori GS produces glutamine in the presence of Mg(2+) at a rate similar to that of unadenylated Escherichia coli GS. These data reveal that all four enzymes contribute to whole-cell acid resistance in H. pylori and are likely important for assimilation and/or efflux of urea-derived ammonium.
The mechanochemical production of phenyl cations through heterolytic bond scission

High mechanical forces applied to polymeric materials typically induce unselective chain scission. For the last decade, mechanoresponsive molecules, mechanophores, have been designed to harness the mechanical energy applied to polymers and provide a productive chemical response. The selective homolysis of chemical bonds was achieved by incorporating peroxide and azo mechanophores into polymer backbones. However, selective heterolysis in polymer mechanochemistry is still mostly unachieved. We hypothesized that highly polarized bonds in ionic species are likely to undergo heterolytic bond scission. To test this, we examined a triarylsulfonium salt (TAS) as a mechanophore. Poly(methyl acrylate) possessing TAS at the center of the chain (PMA-TAS) is synthesized by a single electron transfer living radical polymerization (SET-LRP) method. Computational and experimental studies in solution reveal the mechanochemical production of phenyl cations from PMA-TAS. Interestingly, the generated phenyl cation reacts with its counter-anion (trifluoromethanesulfonate) to produce a terminal trifluoromethyl benzene structure that, to the best of our knowledge, is not observed in the photolysis of TAS. Moreover, the phenyl cation can be trapped by the addition of a nucleophile. These findings emphasize the interesting reaction pathways that become available by mechanical activation.
Studies on α-glycohydrolases (α-l-fucosidase, α-d-galactosidase, and α-d-mannosidase) in sera of diabetic patients and controls

Abstract The activity levels of three α-glycohydrolases (with regard to their 4-methylumbelliferyl substrates) were determined in sera of diabetic patients and controls. Normal activity levels were found for α- l -fucosidase and α- d -galactosidase but significantly increased ( P d -mannosidase were found in diabetic sera. The results of mixing, kinetic, and isoelectric focusing studies on diabetic and control sera α-mannosidases suggest that the increased activity in diabetic sera is due to increased amounts of apparently normal enzyme.
Understanding the roles of genome and envirome: methods in genetic epidemiology.

Background In order to understand studies of psychiatric epidemiology focusing on the ‘genome’ and ‘envirome’, basic knowledge of the logic and methods is necessary. Aims To provide a review of typical methods used in genetic epidemiology. Method Reviews of the research designs usually employed in quantitative and molecular genetic studies. Genotype—environment correlation and interaction are also discussed. Results Quantitative genetic studies indicate that genetic influences are important for both psychiatric disorders and behavioural traits. Specific gene loci can be tested for associations with both psychiatric risk and behavioural traits by means of molecular genetic techniques. There has been little examination of genotype—environment correlation and interaction, although the few reports that have appeared suggest that these complex relationships are important. Conclusions Advances in quantitative and molecular genetics now permit more careful examination of genotype—environment interaction and correlation. Studies combining molecular genetic strategies with measurement of the environment are still at an early stage, however, and their results must be awaited.
Thr373, Asp375, and Lys260 are in the coenzyme site of porcine NADP-dependent isocitrate dehydrogenase

Thr(373), Lys(374), Asp(375), and Lys(260) were chosen as site-directed mutagenesis targets within porcine NADP-dependent isocitrate dehydrogenase based on structurally corrected sequence alignment among prokaryotic and eukaryotic NADP-isocitrate dehydrogenases. Wild-type and all mutant enzymes were expressed in Escherichia coli and purified to homogeneity. These mutations do not alter the secondary structure or dimerization state of the mutants. The D375N and K260Q mutants exhibit, respectively, a 15- and 28-fold increase in K(m) for NADP, along with marked decreases in V(max) as compared to wild-type enzyme. In contrast, replacing Lys(374), which was previously proposed to contribute to apparent coenzyme affinity, does not change the enzyme's kinetic parameters. T373S exhibits similar kinetic parameters to those of wild-type while T373A and T373V mutations reduce the V(max) values of the resulting enzymes to 1 and 20%, respectively of that of wild-type. We conclude that a hydroxyl group at position 373 is required for effective enzyme function and that Asp(375) and Lys(260) are critical amino acids contributing to coenzyme affinity as well as catalysis by porcine NADP-isocitrate dehydrogenase.
Quandratic interpolatory splines

The projectional properties and associated global and local error bounds for quadratic interpolatory splines are studied, along with applications to the numerical solution of two-point boundary value problems via collocation.
Interactions of three inotropic agents, ASL-7022, dobutamine and dopamine, with α- and β-adrenoceptors in vitro

Three inotropic agents, ASL-7022, dobutamine and dopamine, were evaluated for their α-and β-adrenoceptor mediated effects in vitro in a variety of isolated organs and in radioligand binding studies. All compounds were α1-adrenoreceptor agonists in rat and guinea pig aortae, but the rank orders of potency were exactly opposite in these two tissues. Only the rank potency order of dobutamine>ASL-7022>dopamine obtained in rat aorta was consistent with the results obtained in radioligand binding studies to α1-adrenoreceptors in rat cerebral cortex and to previous results obtained in vivo in the pithed rat. The results obtained in guinea pig aorta did not parallel the radioligand binding studies in rat brain or our previous results in pithed rat, and suggests that species differences exist between postsynaptic vascular α1-adrenoreceptors in rat and guinea pig aorta, consistent with previous conclusions. ASL-7022 was found to be a potent α2-adrenoreceptor agonist in field-stimulated guinea pig ileum, and was approximately 10-fold more potent than dobutamine in this respects, which was also confirmed by radioligand binding studies to α2-adrenoreceptors in rat cerebral cortex. The β1-adrenoreceptor mediated effects of these compounds were evaluated in guinea pig atria, where the rank order of potency was dobutamine>ASL-7022>dopamine. An identical rank order of affinity was established for these compounds by displacement of 3H-dihydroalprenolol from β1-adrenoreceptors in rat cerebral cortex. The β1-adrenoreceptor mediated effects of dobutamine and ASL-7022 in guinea pig atria were completely direct in nature and not secondary to the release of endogenous catecholamines. In contrast, a major component of the β1-adrenoreceptor mediated tachycardia produced by dopamine in guinea pig atria was indirect in nature as evidenced by the marked attenuation in potency that occurred following catecholamine depletion with reserpine. All three compounds elicited β2-adrenoreceptor mediated inhibition of tone in rat uterus, with the rank order of potency being ASL-7022>dobutamine>dopamine. Again, this rank order of β2-adrenoreceptor potency was also reflected in β2-adrenoreceptor affinity as assessed by displacement of 3H-dihydroalprenolol from β2-adrenoreceptors in rat cerebellum. Based on these results, it may be concluded that for α-adrenoceptors, dobutamine is a selective β2-adrenoreceptor agonist, ASL-7022 is a selective α2-adrenoreceptor agonist, and dopamine is a nonselective α-adrenoceptor agonist. For β-adrenoceptor mediated effect, ASL-7022 is a selective α2 agonist, while dobutamine and dopamine are nonselective β-adrenoceptor agonists. It is likely that the complex inotropic and hemodynamic activities of ASL-7022, dobutamine and dopamine result from the sum of their individual effects at the α-and β-adrenoceptor subtypes.
Essay: Technology in the Classroom: Teaching Business Marketing in the 21st Century

ABSTRACT Ellis (1996) cites the Business Education Forum Policy Statement Number 53 (McDowell 1993) that states “… business educators must review their instructional goals and strategies in light of advances in technology to ensure that identified student outcomes encompass that technological skills need today and in the future …” To quote Judith Boettcher (1996) “… Providing technology classrooms on our campuses today means thinking substantively about the intersection of teaching and learning processes with the capabilities of information technologies. When you consider the infrastructure and organizational issues surrounding this intersection of teaching and technology, you find that implementing technology classrooms is not for the faint of heart; indeed, it takes deep courage.”
Effects of essential oils on rumen fermentation, milk production, and feeding behavior in lactating dairy cows.

Seven ruminally cannulated lactating Holstein dairy cows were used in an incomplete Latin rectangle design to assess the effects of 2 commercial essential oil (EO) products on rumen fermentation, milk production, and feeding behavior. Cows were fed a total mixed ration with a 42:58 forage:concentrate ratio (DM basis). Treatments included addition of 0.5 g/d of CE Lo (85 mg of cinnamaldehyde and 140 mg of eugenol), 10 g/d of CE Hi (1,700 mg of cinnamaldehyde and 2,800 mg of eugenol), 0.25 g/d of CAP (50 mg of capsicum), or no oil (CON). Cows were fed ad libitum twice daily for 21 d per period. Dry matter intake, number of meals/d, h eating/d, mean meal length, rumination events/d, h ruminating/d, and mean rumination length were not affected by EO. However, length of the first meal after feeding decreased with addition of CE Hi (47.2 min) and CAP (49.4 min) compared with CON (65.4 min). Total volatile fatty acids, individual volatile fatty acids, acetate:propionate ratio, and ammonia concentration were not affected by EO. Mean rumen pH as well as bouts, total h, mean bout length, total area, and mean bout area under pH 5.6 did not differ among treatments. Total tract digestibility of organic matter, dry matter, neutral detergent fiber, acid detergent fiber, crude protein, and starch were not affected by EO. Milk yield and composition did not change with EO. In situ dry matter disappearance of ground soybean hulls was not affected by EO. However, organic matter disappearance of soybean hulls with CE Hi tended to decrease compared with CON. Compared with CON, neutral detergent fiber disappearance (41.5 vs. 37.6%) and acid detergent fiber disappearance (44.5 vs. 38.8%) decreased with addition of CE Hi. The CE Lo had no effect on rumen fermentation, milk production, or feeding behavior but CAP shortened the length of the first meal without changing rumen fermentation or production, making it a possible additive for altering feeding behavior. The CE Hi negatively affected rumen fermentation and shortened the length of the first meal, suggesting that a dose of 10 g/d is not beneficial to lactating dairy cows.
Measurement of Hybrid III head impact kinematics using an accelerometer and gyroscope system in ice hockey helmets

Helmet-based instrumentation is used to study the biomechanics of concussion. The most extensively used systems estimate rotational acceleration from linear acceleration, but new instrumentation measures rotational velocity using gyroscopes, potentially reducing error. This study compared kinematics from an accelerometer and gyroscope-containing system to reference measures. A Hybrid III (HIII) adult male anthropometric test device head and neck was fit with two helmet brands, each instrumented with gForce Tracker (GFT) sensor systems in four locations. Helmets were impacted at various speeds and directions. Regression relationships between GFT-measured and reference peak kinematics were quantified, and influence of impact direction, sensor location, and helmet brand was evaluated. The relationship between the sensor output and the reference acceleration/velocity experienced by the head was strong. Coefficients of determination for data stratified by individual impact directions ranged from 0.77 to 0.99 for peak linear acceleration and from 0.78 to 1.0 for peak rotational velocity. For the data from all impact directions combined, coefficients of determination ranged from 0.60 to 0.80 for peak resultant linear acceleration and 0.83 to 0.91 for peak resultant rotational velocity. As expected, raw peak resultant linear acceleration measures exhibited large percent differences from reference measures. Adjustment using regressions resulted in average absolute errors of 10-15% if regression adjustments were done by impact direction or 25-40% if regressions incorporating data from all impact directions were used. Average absolute percent differences in raw peak resultant rotational velocity were much lower, around 10-15%. It is important to define system accuracy for a particular helmet brand, sensor location, and impact direction in order to interpret real-world data.
Characterization of an aging effect in high purity indium phosphide

Changes in the characteristics of high-purity n-type InP samples with time have been studied using variable-temperature Hall effect measurements, photoluminescence, and photothermal ionization spectroscopy. The results indicate that the aging effect is a bulk effect and that it results from a major reduction in N/sub D/. The aging effect can be reversed by a short anneal at a temperature above 170 degrees C. The spectroscopy results show that the change in N/sub D/ is due entirely to a change in the Si shallow donor concentration. However, the mechanism of reduction of the shallow Si donor concentration with aging remains unknown. It seems probable that a limited concentration of unknown defect centers is involved and that the Si donors combine with these unknown defect centers to form inactive centers or to change the Si donor binding energy from shallow to deep level. >
Xerophthalmia, protein-calorie malnutrition, and infections in children.

All children with evidence of xerophthalmia who were admitted to an inpatient facility for treatment ofsevere protein-calorie malnutrition and its complications were compared to other inpatients with severe PCM but free from signs or symptoms of vitamin A deficiency. Xerophthalmic inpatients were older and had more severe hypoproteinemia than inpatients without eye signs, and were more undernourished by anthropometric criteria than a comparison group matched for age, sex, and type of PCM. Children with more severe eye lesions were more retarded in growth than those with minimal ocular signs. All inpatients had high rates of bacterial infections, regardless of their vitamin status. However, xerophthalmic children had a highly significant increase in the rate of positive urine cultures. Mortality rates were similar in all study groups.
Alternative linear predictive analysis techniques with applications to speaker identification

In this paper, various linear predictive (LP) analysis methods are studied and compared from the points of view of robustness to noise and of application to speaker identification. The key of the success of LP techniques is in separating the vocal tract information from the pitch information present in a speech signal even under noisy conditions. In addition to considering the conventional, one-shot weighted least-squares methods, we propose three other approaches with the above point as a motivation. The first is an iterative approach that leads to the weighted least absolute value solution. The second is an extension of the one-shot least-squares approach and achieves an iterative update of the weights. The update is a function of the residual and is based on minimizing a Mahalanobis distance. Thirdly, the weighted total least- squares formulation is considered. A study of the deviations in the LP parameters was done when noise (white Gaussian and impulsive) is added to the speech. It was revealed that the most robust method depends on the type of noise. A closed set speaker identification experiment with 20 speakers was conducted using a vector quantizer classifier trained on clean speech. For a modest codebook size of 32, all of the approaches are comparable when the testing condition corresponds to clean speech or speech degraded by white Gaussian noise. When the test involves speech degraded by impulse noise, the proposed approach based on minimizing a Mahalanobis distance which was found to be the most robust, is also the best for speaker identification.© (1994) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
Ultrafast Clock Recovery and Sampling by Single Parametric Device

We propose and demonstrate a new architecture that combines clock recovery and signal processing functions in a single fiber device. By using parasitic cross-phase modulation of idler wave generated within the parametric sampling gate, rate-variable self-synchronized demultiplexing was demonstrated. Rigorous measurements confirm stable, high sensitivity performance at a maximal rate of 640 Gb/s, even when the input signal is subject to a rapid transient.
Two-Phase Boiling Flow in Microchannels: Instabilities Issues and Flow Regime Mapping

The design, fabrication, and evaluation of forced convection boiling two-phase flow, micro scale heat exchanger are described. The micro heat exchanger consist of a heater, and 16 mm long multiple parallel triangular micro channels, with hydraulic diameter ranging from 50 μm to 200 μm. The system allowed simultaneously visualizing the flow regime, to measure the resistor temperature distribution, the pressure drop, and input power levels. Experiments were conducted using water with mass flow rate of 1–10 g /min and heat fluxes ranging from 10–60 W/cm2 in order to better understand the flow mechanism associated with micro scale forced convection boiling two-phase flow. The pressure drop, temperature, fluctuation and flow regimes map were obtained. The results are consistent with newly reported studies and show that flow fluctuation at that scale is exaggerated with respect to conventional size channels. A unique flow regime was observed and was named “rapid bubble growth”.Copyright © 2003 by ASME
[6] Pertussis toxin-catalyzed ADP-ribosylation of G proteins

Publisher Summary Pertussis toxin (also known as islet-activating protein) is an A-B type bacterial toxin produced by certain Bordetella pertussis strains. Like other A-B type toxins, it has two components, an enzymatically active A component and a B component that binds to the surface of a cell and enables the A component to enter the cell. The A, or active, component (also called S1) is a 28-kDa protein containing both nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD + )glycohydrolase and adenosine diphosphate (ADP)-ribosyltransferase activities. The B, or binding, component consists of five subunits. Inside the cell, adenosine-5'-triphosphate (ATP) and phospholipids bind to the B component and induce dissociation of the A and B components. Then, when a disulfide bond within the A component between Cys-41 (which is included in the binding site for NAD + ) and Cys-200 is reduced by intracellular reduced glutathione, the ADP-ribosyltransferase and NAD + glycohydrolase activities are expressed. Among the cellular targets for ADP-ribosylation by the active A component of pertussis toxin are several G proteins belonging to the G i family. Because ADP-ribosylation functionally uncouples substrate G proteins from receptors, sensitivity to pertussis toxin can serve as an indication of the involvement of a pertussis toxin substrate G protein in a signal transduction pathway.
How Are Safety-Net Providers Faring Under Medicaid Managed Care?

There are many reasons to believe that state Medicaid managed care reforms will improve the provision of medical services to Medicaid recipients. Nevertheless, there is growing concern that changes in the financing and delivery of Medicaid services may have unintended consequences for safety-net providers’ service delivery and financial viability. 1 Because the United States continues to rely on safety-net providers to care for the uninsured and other disadvantaged groups, it is important to understand how policy reforms intended to improve services may affect safety-net providers’ ability to care for those lacking insurance al
Identifying best practices and skills for workforce development in data curation

The nature of science and scholarship is being transformed by the ability to collect and integrate vast quantities of information. Some sciences such as ecology and environmental science are inherently integrative, requiring the combination of many types of information from many sources in order to answer more complex questions than has been previously possible. This new information and the information management tools designed to deal with this volume of data will help us make informed decisions that will impact human health and prosperity. To enable this cross-scale, interdisciplinary integration for the coming generations of scholars, data must be managed to facilitate interoperability, preservation, and sharing. This panel will explore best practices in data curation and models of education for new data curation professionals.
Religious fundamentalism and racial prejudice: a comparison of implicit and explicit approaches

We examined religious fundamentalism (RF) and racial prejudice (RP) using the implicit Affect Misattribution Procedure (AMP) and explicit Feeling Thermometer (FT). Ninety undergraduates (38 Blacks and 52 Whites) from a small southern USA university participated. We experimentally manipulated aggression/love Bible texts to study any influence on RP, but found that it had no effect on reducing pretest–posttest AMP scores. Analysis of AMP posttest data found that Black participants favoured Black over White Primes, but White participants did not discriminate between Race Primes. High RF did not discriminate between Race Primes, although low RF did, in preferring Black Primes. Analysis of explicit FT Warmness towards Whites/Blacks found an in-group preference for both White and Black participants. In this analysis, RF was not a discriminator among White participants in overall Warmness towards Whites/Blacks, although it was among Black participants. Most consistent across implicit–explicit data analyses was t...
The emergence of multiplicative thinking in children's solutions to paper folding tasks

Abstract Although children partition by repeatedly halving easily and spontaneously as early as the age of 4, multiplicative thinking is difficult and develops over a long period in school. Given the apparently multiplicative character of repeated halving and doubling, it is natural to ask what role they might play in the development of multiplicative thinking. We investigated this question by examining children's solutions to folding tasks, which involved predicting the number of equal parts created by a succession of given folds and determining a sequence of folds to create a given number of equal parts. Analyzing a combination of cross-sectional data and case studies from standardized clinical interviews, we found that children were most successful at coordinating folding sequences with multiplicative thinking when they used a conceptualization of doubling based upon recursion. This conceptualization tended to generate more sophisticated solutions.
FGF‐2 converts mature oligodendrocytes to a novel phenotype

Fibroblast growth factor (FGF)-2 differentially regulates oligodendrocyte progenitor proliferation and differentiation in culture, and modulates gene expression of its own receptors, in a developmental and receptor type-specific manner (Bansal et al., 1996a,b). Three FGF receptors (types 1, 2, 3) are expressed in postmitotic, terminally differentiating oligodendrocytes. Exposure of such cells to FGF-2 results in: (a) the down-regulation of myelin-specific gene expression (e.g., ceramide galactosyltransferase, 2′,3′-cyclic nucleotide 3′-phosphohydrolase, myelin basic protein, proteolipid protein), (b) dramatic increases in the length of cellular processes in a time- and dose-dependent manner, (c) re-entrance into the cell cycle without accompanying mitosis, and (d) the alteration of the expression of both low- and high-affinity FGF receptors. Compared to oligodendrocyte progenitors, the differentiated oligodendrocytes treated with FGF-2 incorporate BrdU at a slower rates, exhibit different patterns of both FGF high- and low-affinity (syndecans) receptors, and are morphologically very different. In addition, they do not re-express the progenitor markers A2B5, NG2 or PDGFα receptor. Therefore, although the FGF-treated cells lose their differentiated OL/myelin markers, they do not revert to progenitors and clearly represent a different, apparently novel, phenotype both morphologically and biochemically, which we have termed NOLs. These data indicate that terminally differentiated oligodendrocytes retain the plasticity to reprogram their differentiation fate under the influence of environmental factors. The possible significance of this response to FGF relative to normal and pathological physiology is discussed. In particular, on the basis of these data we predict the appearance of cells in and around multiple sclerosis plaques with the phenotype O4+, NG2−, A2B5−, O1−, MBP−. J. Neurosci. Res. 50:215–228, 1997. © 1997 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
Understanding the limitations of readability formulas

Readability formulas are becoming increasingly popular as a tool that writers use to test and revise their material. Used appropriately, a readability formula can provide a quick and easy general measure of how difficult a text may be for its readers. Writers who use a readability formula, however, should do so with caution. Just as an engineer must know the specifications, uses, and limitations of any methodology or tool in the profession, the technical writer needs to understand the origins, uses, and limitations of readability formulas. In this brief paper, I want to give the readers of the IEEE Transactions some background on readability formulas, discuss eight aspects of writing that readability formulas will not help with, and explain why writers should not use readability formulas as a guide to rewriting.
Recrystallization at grain contacts in a sandy siltstone

Abstract The microstructures of a sandy siltstone show evidence for recrystallization of quartz localized at Hertzian stress contacts. This recrystallization was driven not by an elastic stress field, but by plastic strain energy induced prior to recrystallization so that new grains were randomly oriented with respect to the principal stress axes. New grains were preferentially oriented with c -axes -55° from those of their host grains.
Chemical vapor deposition of boron on a beryllium surface

Abstract For the chemical vapor deposition (CVD) of boron onto beryllium, thermal decomposition of diborane (B 2 H 6 ) was found to be far superior to the reduction of BCl 3 by H 2 in the temperature range 700–800°C. The presence of BeO on the beryllium surface prevents the boron film from diffusion bonding, necessitating an O 2 -free CVD environment. Considerable diffusion reaction was seen at 700°C. The CVD boron film was converted to BeB 6 by a post-deposition diffusion thermal treatment. The formation of BeB 2 should also be possible using this procedure. A new method of measuring the microhardnesses of thin hard films on soft substrates was devised; this was used to obtain the true microhardnesses of our films, giving values of over 3000 HK.
Age- and sex-dependent changes in pulse pressure in fowl aorta.

Chickens (males more than females) have higher blood pressure (BP) than most mammals and spontaneously develop vascular neointimal plaques (NP) and diffuse subendothelial thickening in the lower segment of the abdominal aorta (AbA, referred to as ‘NP-prone area’) that partly resemble atherosclerotic lesions in mammals. NP areas, which are larger in males, have a causal relationship with incremental increases in BP during maturation. We hypothesize that decreased wall distensibility and altered hemodynamic forces at the NP-prone area may contribute to the NP formation. We measured pressure pulse wave (PW) and systolic and diastolic BP along the descending aorta in anesthetized chickens at different ages using an intravascular microtip transducer and calculated pulse pressure (PP) as an indicator for artery distensibility. At all ages examined and in both sexes, the PW showed a sharper peak at the more peripheral locations and the amplitude of the PW increased as it descended the aorta. PP, expressed as relative increases from the PP in the aortic arch (%), was 40.4±12.6 and 71.4±18.6 at the AbA and ischiadic artery, respectively, in young males (24–27 weeks); 23.5±8.6 and 43.8±16.2 in adults (72–75 weeks); and 5.4±3.4 and 9.1±4.9 in chicks (5–7 weeks). Location-dependent increases in PP were significantly higher in young males (P<0.05). The PP increases in females were not different among the three age groups. The contour of the PW in the proximal aorta changes in older birds, exhibiting steeper increases in the ascending and descending limbs, suggesting that faster wave reflection from the periphery augments peak systolic pressure. NP was most frequently seen in the lower segment of the abdominal aorta in older males. These results suggest that: (1) site-dependent increases in PP amplitude are marked in young males, possibly reflecting a reduction in arterial wall elasticity enhanced by incremental rises in BP, and (2) NP formation may contribute to the stiffness of aortic walls in the NP-prone area.
Clinical evaluation of a minimal intervention meal replacement regimen for weight reduction

The purpose of this study was to evaluate a simplified weight loss program in which subjects were provided a widely available meal replacement product and its package insert information (Ultra Slim-Fast).Weekly follow-up visits were carried out by non-physician personnel for weight measurement, distribution of product, and completion of a subjective questionnaire. No dietary counseling was provided. A total of 273 of 301 subjects (91%) completed 12 weeks of study. Men lost 50% (from 119 to 108% of ideal body weight) and women lost 35% (from 122 to 111% of ideal body weight) of excess body weight. Thirty-five patients who lost < 9 lbs in 12 weeks were considered non-adherent and were excluded from the next phase of the study during which 238 subjects were followed biweekly.Despite a $25/week payment for participation nearly 44% of subjects dropped out or were judged non-compliant prior to the end of the study. At 116 weeks, 133 (97 females, 36 males) of 238 subjects remained in the study (44% of the initia...
A Method for Standardizing the Biacetyl Content of Creamed Cottage Cheese

Summary The addition of 0.15% citric acid to creamed cottage cheese held at 45° F. did not increase the biacetyl content; whereas, addition of Streptococcus citrovorus gave a slight increase and addition of both citric acid and S. citrovorus gave still more of an increase. No biacetyl was formed in a 12% fat creaming mixture containing S. citrovorus or S. citrovorus plus 0.15% citric acid. Considerable biacetyl was produced in a creaming mixture containing large numbers of S. citrovorus after it was adjusted to pH 4.2 with citric acid and held at 70° F. Cottage cheese creamed with such a preparation had a high initial biacetyl content. The most satisfactory method of preparing a creaming mixture which contains sufficient biacetyl and volatile acid to influence the flavor of creamed cottage cheese is the following: Heated skimmilk is inoculated with a pure culture of S. citrovorus and, after sufficient growth, adjusted to pH 4.3 with sterile citric acid. Further incubation at 70° F. results in the formation of considerable biacetyl and volatile acid. The skimmilk culture thus prepared is used to standardize the fat content of cream to about 12%. Standardization of biacetyl is accomplished by varying the fat content of the cream in the creaming mixture and, therefore, the amount of skimmilk culture to standardize the fat content. Cheese creamed with such a preparation has an appreciable amount of flavor immediately after creaming.
The eyes have it...

Christian Huygens (1629–95) the Dutch mathematician, and Rene Descartes, the French philosopher/mathematician who first “correctly” explained the rainbow (1596–1650), independently solved the problem of spherical aberration in a lens, with a doublet lens arrangement; a system that now bears their names. Unbeknown to them, though, evolution had already solved this problem millions of years earlier in small ancient creatures known as trilobites. This subtle, recently decoded, palaeontological tale reveals the microevolutionary principles continuously at work and capable of providing ingenious solutions to the physical problems of vision. Trilobites arose from the evolutionary crucible of the Cambrian explosion 535 million years ago and evolved for perhaps 300 million years, only to become extinct by the mother of all dyings—the Permian extinction, 235 million years ago. Nevertheless, much is known of these animals from the fossil record because these extinct marine arthropods had hard body parts, which included calcite lenses and allowed preservation in stone. Much remains in the fossil record to assist our understanding of the visual capabilities and experiences of these oldest eyes. From this fossil record, we know …
Iodine metabolism in thyroid slices: effects of TSH, dibutyryl cyclic 3',5'-AMP, NaF and prostaglandin E-1.

Preincubation of canine thyroid slices in KRP for 1–2 hr increased the organic binding of iodine by such slices and their response to TSH and other stimulators of iodination. TSH, dibutyryl cyclic 3′,5 ′-AMP (dbcAMP), NaF and prostaglandin Ei (PGE1) each stimulated organic binding of iodine and formation of thyroxine in preincubated slices and their effects were not additive. Anti-TSH rabbit serum blocked the effect of TSH on organisation, but not the effect of dbcAMP. Stimulation of organic binding by TSH, dbcAMP, NaF and PGE1 was still apparent in the presence of perchlorate. The presence of hydrogen peroxide in the medium enhanced organic binding of iodide and thyroxine formation in thyroid slices and this effect was not additive with the effects of TSH, dbcAMP, NaF or PGE1. Under conditions where organic binding by slices was blocked, T/M radioiodine concentration ratios after 30 min and 6 hr incubation periods were lower than controls in the presence of TSH, dbcAMP, NaF and PGE1. Adenyl cyclase activ...
Protein initiation without folate in Streptococcus faecium.

Abstract When grown with folate and a mixture of the low molecular weight products of one-carbon metabolism, Streptococcus faecium initiates protein biosynthesis with N- formylmethionine . [14C]Methionine is found in methionyl- and N- formylmethionyl-tRNA's about equally, and also in the initiating N-termini of cell proteins, which are still mostly formylated after 20 sec of incorporation. When folate metabolism is extinguished by the antagonist trimethoprim, growth continues with methionine incorporation into tRNA and protein N-termini at unaltered levels but completely without formylation. In Escherichia coli cell proteins in contrast, folate deficiency does not diminish the formylation of methionine N-termini. Folate-dependent and -independent initiations in S. faecium are readily interconvertbile without significant adaptation requirements. A by-pass is suggested to alternate with conventional polypeptide initiation by substituting for covalent amine modification of methionyl-tRNA. The high level of N-terminal methionine in mature S. faecium cell protein, although uninfluenced by general growth changes, falls to half normal in folate depletion, accompanied by other changes in N-terminal profile. The N-termini of many of the cell proteins would appear unfixed, and subject to variable maturative removal.
Carbide reinforcement in two directionally solidified alloyed nickel eutectic alloys

Two directionally solidified carbide-reinforced alloyed nicel eutectics were evaluated; an alloy consisting of monocarbide fibers in a single phase matrix and one containing monocarbide fibers in a two-phase γ-γ′ matrix. The mechanical properties and microstructures of these alloys are compared to those of two directionally solified alloys having the same nominal matrix compositions, but not containing carbide fibers. The calculated strengths of the monocarbide fibers in the γ′-containing eutectic alloy are 1,400,000 psi (9650 mn/m2) and 243,000 psi (1680 mn/m2) at room temperature and 1000°C, respectively, while those in the single phase γ matrix eutectic at the same temperatures are 590,000 psi (4060 mn/m2) and 298,000 psi (2050 mn/m2). At room temperature, the lower strength of fibers from the γ matrix alloy is believed to result from stress concentrations induced by the presence of growth facets on the fibers. The lower apparent strength at 1000°C of fibers from the γ′-containing eutectic alloy is related to nucleation of needles believed to be M23C6 on the monocarbide fibers during deformation. These needles appear to act as stress raisers and cause early failure of fibers.
The Role of Ultrasound in Assessing Arterial Dissection: Location and Extension

Arterial dissections are life-threatening occurrences. Ultrasound is useful in identifying the presence of a dissection and evaluating its extent. Presented is a case of and extensive arterial dissecton extending from the carotid arteries througy the iliac arteries.
Government-funded ethics in the information economy: The effects of a federal grant on a technical communication graduate curriculum

In the information economy, students can benefit from exposure to theories of ethics that are pertinent to such concerns as corporate governance and worker safety. The wisdom of classical and modern ethicists can provide guidance as faculty help students apply the theories to graduate-level course content as varied as visual design, rhetoric, and project management.
On the lifetime of wireless sensor networks

We derive a general formula for the lifetime-of wireless sensor networks which holds independently of the underlying network model including network architecture and protocol, data collection initiation, lifetime definition, channel fading characteristics, and energy consumption model. This formula identifies two key parameters at the physical layer that affect the network lifetime: the channel state and the residual energy of sensors. As a result, it provides not only a gauge for performance evaluation of sensor networks but also a guideline for the design of network protocols. Based on this formula, we propose a medium access control protocol that exploits both the channel state information and the residual energy information of individual sensors. Referred to as the max-min approach, this protocol maximizes the minimum residual energy across the network in each data collection.
The Sex Ratio, Family Disruption, and Rates of Violent Crime: The Paradox of Demographic Structure

This research examines the anomalous « null effects » of the sex ratio on rates of violent crime in previous macrolevel research. The AA. propose a model wherein the expected positive effects on criminal violence of relatively large numbers of males is suppressed by negative indirect effects via family disruption. Several hypotheses are derived from the model and tested with race-specific data on robbery and homicide offending rates for a sample of 153 American cities. The results largely support our expectations. The sex ratio exhibits negative relationships with our indicator of family disruption - percent female-headed households - which in turn is positively related to the violent crime rates. Moreover, positive effects of the sex ratio on violent crime emerge only with controls for family disruption. The AA. conclude with some general comments on the difficulties of inferring macrolevel relationships involving social phenomena on the basis of individual-level correlations
Impact of Node Level Caching in MPI Job Launch Mechanisms

The quest for petascale computing systems has seen cluster sizes expressed in terms of number of processor cores increase rapidly. The Message Passing Interface (MPI) has emerged as the defacto standard on these modern, large scale clusters. This has resulted in an increased focus on research into the scalability of MPI libraries. However, as clusters grow in size, the scalability and performance of job launch mechanisms need to be re-visited. In this work, we study the information exchange involved in the job launch phase of MPI applications. With the emergence of multi-core processing nodes, we examine the benefits of caching information at the node level during the job launch phase. We propose four design alternatives for such node level caches and evaluate their performance benefits. We propose enhancements to make these caches memory efficient while retaining the performance benefits by taking advantage of communication patterns during the job startup phase. One of our cache design --- Hierarchical Cache with Message Aggregation, Broadcast and LRU (HCMAB-LRU) reduces the time involved in typical communication stages to one tenth while capping the memory used to a fixed upper bound based on the number of processes. This enables scalable MPI job launching for next generation clusters with hundreds of thousands of processor cores.
Social Structure and Social Control: Modeling the Discriminatory Execution of Blacks in Georgia and North Carolina, 1925–35

This research evaluates whether the distribution of racially discriminatory executions in the South during an earlier era in this century was affected by minority presence and other variables suggested by the conflict perspective. The contextual model used in this analysis of official killing in 261 counties considers discriminatory executions a function of minority presence, urbanization, culture, and the availability of other forms of social control. The model explains a reasonable measure of the variation in discriminatory executions. It is environmental variables such as urbanization and minority presence that seem to play the largest role in generating discrimination in official killing. Future research might do well to investigate, as this effort did, the impact of variables on two dimensions of discrimination-its presence and its intensity where it is present. The results also argue for the use of models that include forms of social control that might substitute for, or serve as a complement to, the control mechanism under investigation. The decades bracketing 1930 were part of a bloody era in twentieth century American political history. Between 1920 and 1940, approximately 3,300 Americans were either officially or unofficially executed. The bulk of those Americans were black: they constituted the vast majority of those executed unofficially (i.e., lynched) and something over one-half of those officially executed. The aggregate figures for the nation, however, mask a