cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Alfred I. Du Pont: The Man and His Family

If Alfred I. du Pont was born to "the purple and ermine" of an American industrial dynasty, his life was far from peaceful, pampered, indolent. Beginning at the bottom as little more than a teamster and handyman, within fifteen years young du Pont was widely recognized as "the best black powderman in the nation" and the mechanical genius of the du Pont family. In 1902, upon the death of Eugene du Pont, Alfred was brash and confident enough to claim for himself the company his elders wanted to sell to their major competitor, Laflin and Rand. With two cousins, he formed a triumvirate which ultimately converted the old gunpowder company into the great chemical empire it is today. In this brilliantly written, in-depth biography, Joseph Frazier Wall ranges from Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours's spectacular rise in pre-Revolutionary France, to the family's migration to America and the founding of the Du Pont Company in Wilmington, to Alfred's death in 1935, charting the growth of one of America's great industrial dynasties. We meet Henry du Pont, the conservative leader of the third generation (he favored candles over electric lights in the office), who organized the entire gunpowder industry; Lammot du Pont, the crown prince of the third generation, who died tragically in an explosion at the Repauno plant; Eugene du Pont, whom Wall describes as "a director without direction"; and a host of other du Pont men and women. But Alfred du Pont remains the center of the narrative. Wall details his rejuvenation of the family company after Eugene's death, the bitter family feud that followed his marriage to his cousin Alicia, the fifteen-year battle that he waged with some of the family's most powerful members (leading to his ouster from the company in 1916), and his brilliant second career in Florida (where he pioneered the development of sound banking, transportation, and the paper industry). This is the first biography of Alfred du Pont to appear in half a century. In preparing it, Wall had complete access both to Alfred's own papers in Florida as well as the vast collection of the du Pont archives in Wilmington. The result is a compelling story of one of America's most creative businessmen as well as an inside look at one of our most historically significant families.
Restoration effects of exogenous luteinizing hormone on the testicular steroidogenesis and Leydig cell ultrastructure.

In the present study, we explored the restoration effects of exogenous LH on Leydig cell ultrastructure and testicular steroidogenesis in rats that were deprived of endogenous LH via treatment with testosterone–17β–estradiol–filled Silastic implants for 10 days. Exogenous LH was supplied continuously via Alzet miniosmotic pumps at the rate of 1 μg/h for 3, 6, 12, and 24 h or 1, 2, 4, 8, and 12 days. Testes were then perfused in vitro with medium containing 1) LH, 2) 20α–hydroxycholesterol, or 3) pregnenolone substrate, which allowed us to assess LHstimulated testosterone secretion, cholesterol side–chain cleavage activity, or the conversion of pregnenolone to testosterone, respectively. Other testes were perfusion fixed via the testicular artery for morphometric measurement of Leydig cell number and volume per testis and the surface area of Leydig cell cytoplasmic smooth endoplasmic reticulum (SER), inner mitochondrial membrane, and outer mitochondrial membrane. The results verified that Leydig cell smoot...
The World of Nonwork: Some Implications for Job Re-Design Efforts.

The compensatory and spillover models of adjustment to work are described. Data from a pharmaceutical firm and two different research and development organizations are examined to illustrate the operation of these two models. Evidence of both the compensatory and spillover models were found for several different groups of workers. Furthermore, some groups of workers displayed complex combinations of both compensatory and spillover adjustments to their work experiences. Implications of these results for job re-design efforts are described.
On-chip transistor characterisation arrays for variability analysis

A high-throughput on-chip transistor characterisation macro that can be used to efficiently and accurately characterise large, dense arrays of transistors for variability studies is designed. The prototype macro is used to perform current–voltage characterisation of a 2.8 mm2, 1600-transistor array with digital interfaces.
Metamorphosed Proterozoic Zn-Pb-Ag Mineralization in the Foster River Area, Northern Saskatchewan, Canada

Metamorphosed Zn-Pb occurrences (Fable Lake, George, Sito South, Sito Southwest, Sito West, Sito East, Robyn Lake, and Mackie Lake) with high Zn:Pb ratios occur in the Foster River area, northern Saskatchewan, on the southeast margin of the Paleoproterozoic Wollaston Domain. The Sito East prospect, the largest of these occurrences, contains ~50,000 tonnes of 4.5% Zn, with one drill intercept containing 11 m of 4.2% Zn and 0.6% Pb. Most prospects are hosted in a thin, areally extensive metaquartzite within a thick sequence of metasiltstones and metaquartzites in the middle of the Paleoproterozoic Wollaston Group. Occurrences in metaquartzites and metaarkoses, which locally contain gahnite, spessartine, and/or graphite, are spatially associated with metaexhalites (iron formation and quartz garnetite) and strata-bound metamorphosed hydrothermal alteration zones (nodular sillimanite rock). Post-Archean Australian shale-normalized rare earth element (REE) patterns of all three rock types are characterized by light REE enrichment, positive Ce anomalies, neutral to strongly negative Eu anomalies, and heavy REE depletion, consistent with an environment of deposition distinguished by a high (>30 wt %) continental detrital component and formation from or interaction with low-temperature (≤250°C), near-neutral pH and high fO2 fluids. Sulfur isotope compositions of sulfides at Foster River are highly enriched in 34S (δ34S = 26.2–38.1‰, n = 20) and resulted from microbial reduction of partially reduced seawater sulfate in a restricted basin. The spatial association of spessartine- and gahnite-bearing lithologies and silicate facies iron formation with Paleoproterozoic base metal sulfides in a psammopelitic host sequence implies similarities between sulfide mineralization in the Foster River area and Broken Hill-type Pb-Zn-Ag deposits. However, the markedly enriched δ34Ssulfide compositions, low Pb/(Pb + Zn) and Ag/(Pb + Zn + Ag) ratios, low Ag contents, and apparent absence of metavolcanic and metavolcaniclastic rocks in the dominantly clastic rock sequence hosting the sulfides in the Foster River area suggest that these occurrences are part of a metamorphosed sedimentary exhalative system with Broken Hill-type affinities, similar to that associated with the formation of the Gamsberg Zn (South Africa), Kanmantoo Group Pb-Zn (South Australia), and Sullivan Pb-Zn (Canada) deposits.
Rate-based active queue management with priority classes for better video transmission

Video streaming on the Internet often suffers from high frame loss rates due to fragmentation of large frames and inter-frame dependencies needed for high compression. We propose adding lightweight, priority-based queue management to Internet routers to significantly improve performance of video streaming. We extend a Rate-Based RED approach to support three priority classes and apply it to MPEG. The performance of the mechanism on video streams is measured, analyzed and compared with Drop-Tail and RED in terms of transport layer throughput, system fairness, application layer throughput and goodput, and video stream quality. Extensive simulation shows that our approach improves MPEG video stream quality and network system fairness over traditional RED under a variety of workloads.
Investigation of efficiency and spatial resolution using pinholes with small pinhole angle

Pinhole collimators are well suited for small animal SPECT, in which high spatial resolution is required over a small field of view (FOV). Typical pinhole collimators have pinhole angles of 90/spl deg/ or more. If their full FOV is used, the trajectories of imaged gamma-rays can be up to 45/spl deg/ away from the pinhole axis, and form angles of incidence at the surface of a planar detector as large as 45/spl deg/. The large incident angle produces a depth-of-interaction (DOI) blur thus reducing spatial resolution for these off-axis locations. This loss of the detector resolution is masked by the accompanying improvement of the pinhole point spread function (PSF) due to the reduced effective aperture size. The magnitude of these effects as a function of the angle between the gamma-ray trajectory and the pinhole axis depends on detector absorption efficiency, and on the physical parameters of the pinhole collimator, including pinhole type, composition, and pinhole angle. In addition, the reduced effective pinhole size results in reduced efficiency for off-axis source points. In this paper we investigate the angular dependence of these effects for pinhole collimators with different compositions and pinhole angles. Results are compared to theoretical expressions that take into account gamma-ray penetration of the pinhole material.
An experimental investigation of two dimensional flame-vortex interactions

Experiments have been performed to study the interaction between a flame and a single vortex impulsively generated by the flame. The objectives are to investigate the amplitude of the cylindrically diverging acoustic wave produced by the interaction and to develop a quantitative approach to determine the degree of violence of the flame-vortex interaction. With the Reynolds number, defined as the ratio of the strength of the vortex to the kinematic viscosity of the unburned gas, characterizing the unburned gas flow condition quantitatively, the acoustic pressure Δ p(t) generated by the interaction has been measured at distances 1.5, 1.75 and 2.0 meters away from the interaction zone using a microcomputer-based data acquisition system and a storage oscilloscope. The dimensionless time rate of change in the heat addition rate, Q( t ), of the flame-vortex interaction, is deduced from the acoustic pressure data via the line source equation in linear acoustic theory. The Fast Fourier Transform has been used to perform the analysis. For the thirty experiments performed, the amplitudes of Q( t ) and Δ p(t) have been found to be dependent on Re, burning speed and two dimensionless geometric parameters. The results show that Q max increases with Re when the geometric parameters are fixed. An empirical logarithmic equation has been obtained to describe the variation of Q max for Re between 10 5 and 4.5×10 5 . The maximum Δ p max recorded was 72 mbar at 1.5 m from the interaction zone. The increase in the “violence” of the interaction has been found to be associated with an increase in the heat addition rate during the period of flame-vortex interaction.
The last two decades of multiparameter observations in radar meteorology: prelude to an even brighter future

The most important development in radar meteorology, since the introduction of coherent signal processing for Doppler velocity measurements of atmospheric motion in the 1960s, has been the application of polarimetry to hydrometeor characterization. Doppler measurements provide essential information on kinematics while polarimetry gives major insights into the nature of the hydrometeors within the radar scattering volume. The combined use of these technologies in radar meteorology has resulted in a new field of investigation termed 'multiparameter radar'. Related measurements are having a dramatic impact on our understanding of mesoscale meteorology and cloud physics, in addition to providing important new opportunities for operational meteorology. The latter include monitoring rainfall for hydrological forecasting, hail detection and microburst nowcasting.
Kiwifruit Cultivars Differ in Response to Winter Chilling

Cuttings from five cultivars of [Actinidia deliciosa (A. Chev.) C.F. Liang et A.R. Ferguson var. deliciosa] were excised following ambient exposure to chilling temperatures in 100 hour accumulated ...
The effect of lactation educators implementing a telephone-based intervention among low-income Hispanics: A randomised trial.

Objectives:To assess whether a telephone-based breastfeeding intervention delivered by lactation educators influenced exclusive breastfeeding rates among low-income Hispanic women in the USA.Design:Randomised two-group design.Setting:Pregnant low-income Hispanic women (298) were recruited from community health clinics in Los Angeles County (USA) and randomly assigned to either a control or an intervention group.Methods:Data relating to the factors associated with breastfeeding were collected during the third trimester. Breastfeeding outcome data were collected at 72 hours, 1 month, 3 months and 6 months postpartum.Results:There were no differences between the groups in rates of breastfeeding initiation. There was a significant difference in the duration of exclusive breastfeeding among participants during the infant’s first week of life. While not significant, after controlling for covariates and intent to breastfeed at third trimester, the duration of exclusive breastfeeding among all participants was, o...
The Process of Developing Patient Education Materials for Infertile Couples

Nurses, as health educators, have been instrumental in developing patient‐oriented materials for specific patient populations. Nurses and physicians who work with infertile couples have a particular responsibility to serve as health educators for this population. As a result, a nurse‐physician team has developed a patient education booklet for infertile couples. The process used to produce this booklet is presented.
The application of domain of danger in autonomous agent team and its effect on exploration efficiency

Prey animals in a group constantly face the trade-off between foraging gain and predation risk. The domain of danger concept was developed by ethologists to measure the predation risk taken by an individual within a group. In this work we make the analogy between information gathering for an autonomous agent team and food gathering for a group of animals to explore bio-inspired strategies for autonomous agent teams in an information gathering scenario. The sum of areas of domains of danger of the team is used as the measurement of risk taken by the whole team. Several movement rules that let an agent gather food nodes and/or shrink its domain of danger according to the current layout of the team and food nodes are proposed. The performance on foraging efficiency and team domain of danger of these movement rules are investigated by simulation. The results show that trying to shrink the domain of danger of each individual while no food can be gained in the near future doesn't degrade the foraging performance of the team and can effectively lower the risk taken by the whole team by prevention of over-spreading.
Servers for protein structure prediction.

The 1990s cultivated a generation of protein structure human predictors. As a result of structural genomics and genome sequencing projects, and significant improvements in the performance of protein structure prediction methods, a generation of automated servers has evolved in the past few years. Servers for close and distant homology modeling are now routinely used by many biologists, and have already been applied to the experimental structure determination process itself, and to the interpretation and annotation of genome sequences. Because dozens of servers are currently available, it is hard for a biologist to know which server(s) to use; however, the state of the art of these methods is now assessed through the LiveBench and CAFASP experiments. Meta-servers — servers that use the results of other autonomous servers to produce a consensus prediction — have proven to be the best performers, and are already challenging all but a handful of expert human predictors. The difference in performance of the top ten autonomous (non-meta) servers is small and hard to assess using relatively small test sets. Recent experiments suggest that servers will soon free humans from most of the burden of protein structure prediction.
Anthropology and Sociology on and About the Internet

Especially with the appearance of the World Wide Web, the Internet has had a major impact on scholarly activity in the fields of Anthropology and Sociology, although their principal scholarly records remain largely print-bound and continued access to and use of these print materials is crucial for study, teaching, research, and publication. However, the potential both to provide substantial resources in support of networked scholarship and to influence the shaping of these disciplines themselves is now acknowledged. Who and which organizations are taking the leadership in bringing these disciplines to the Internet, what reference and research resources are currently available, and what the prospects and consequences for research are if the current trends continue are all discussed. The focus is on discipline-specific resources and on the situation in the United States.
The LANSCE refurbishment (LANSCE-R) project

At the core of the Los Alamos Neutron Science Center (LANSCE) accelerator lies an 800-MeV proton linac that drives user facilities for isotope production, proton radiography, ultra-cold neutrons, weapons neutron research and for various sciences using neutron scattering. LANSCE is in the planning phase of a refurbishment project that will sustain reliable facility operations well into the next decade. The general goals for LANSCE-R are to (1) preserve dependable operation of the linac and (2) increase the cost effectiveness of operations. Requirements can be met for overall beam intensity, availability, and reliability with long-term sustainability and minimal disruption to scheduled user programs. The baseline refurbishment project consists of replacing the 201 MHz RF systems, upgrading a substantial fraction of the 805 MHz RF systems, updating the control system, and replacing or improving a variety of diagnostics and accelerator subsystems.
Applications of digital and analog holography in three-dimensional imaging

Digital and analog holography, along with its many variations, viz., holographic interferometry, holographic microscopy, holographic tomography, multiwavelength digital holography, phase-shifting holography, compressive holography, coherence holography, etc., have become the methods of choice for various metrological applications in three-dimensional (3D) imaging. In this review, we discuss the basic principles of analog and digital holography and the various topics mentioned above, with selected applications to real-world problems. We also discuss other related topics such as dynamic holography, non-Bragg orders, and compressive holographic tomography, nonlinear holography, holographic TV, as well as a nonholographic technique for 3D visualization, viz., transport of intensity imaging. Finally, we expose interested readers to contemporary topics in the area, viz., nonlinear holography and real-time holographic TV.
Excess 210Po in the coastal atmosphere

Many researchers have reported the widespread occurrence of excess 210 Po in the global atmosphere and suggested probable sources such as resuspension of top soils, stratospheric aerosols, sea spray of the surface micro-layer, volcanic emission, and bio-volatile 210 Po species from the productive ocean. We have observed excess 210 Po on aerosols in the coastal atmosphere of the Chesapeake and Delaware Bays. On-board measurements in the Chesapeake Bay atmosphere show that the increase of this excess 210 Po is dependent upon wind speed. Simultaneously measured activity ratios of 7 Be/ 210 Pb and 210 Pb/ 222 Rn argue against either higher altitude air or continental soils as the source of this excess. We hypothesize that the excess 210 Po originates mainly from surface waters either by the sea-spray of the surface microlayer, or more likely, by gas exchange. We conclude gas exchange as the mechanism since the polonium excess increases linearly with wind speed over a threshold of 3 m s -1 (mean) similar to other gases (i.e., CO 2 , SF 6 , and DMS). In addition, higher 210 Po excess with lower 222 Rn is observed in on-shore marine air at Lewes, DE. This suggests sea-air exchange of volatile Po along with other bio-volatile species (i.e., DMS, DMSe, and MMHg) in the coastal productive ocean during high wind speeds. DOI: 10.1034/j.1600-0889.2000.00975.x
HETEROGENEITY OF MONTMORILLONITE SURFACE AND ITS EFFECT ON THE NATURE OF HYDROXY-ALUMINUM INTERLAYERS

A specimen montmorillonite (Arizona bentonite) was treated with hydroxy-aluminum solutions of various basicity. The cation exchange sites of this clay were found not to be homogeneous in their strength of retaining hydroxy-aluminum polymers; this strength varied from very weak, with which the A1 polymers were only loosely held, to very strong, with which stable interlayer AI-clay complexes were formed. When a large amount of clay was treated with a small amount of solution, the polymers were held only in positions of strong affinity; the polymers were difficult to extract with neutral salt solutions and did not change to crystalline AI(OH)3 during prolonged aging. When a small amount of clay was treated with a large amount of solution, the exchange sites were completely occu- pied by polymers; a portion of these polymers was easily extractable with neutral salt solutions and, during aging, changed to AI(OH)3. This contrast is significant in any attempt to compare results obtained under different experimental conditions and to correlate laboratory experimentation with the occurrence of gibbsite and interlayer AI-clay complexes in nature.
Laboratory Study of Premixed H2-Air and H2-N2-Air Flames in a Low-Swirl Injector for Ultra-Low Emissions Gas Turbines

The objective of this study is to conduct laboratory experiments on Low-swirl injectors (LSI) to obtain the basic information for adapting LSI to burn H2 and diluted H2 fuels that will be utilized in the gas turbines of the Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC) coal power plants. The LSI is a novel ultra-low emission dry-low NOx combustion method that has been developed for gas turbines operating on natural gas. It is being developed for fuel-flexible turbines burning a variety of hydrocarbon fuels, bio-mass gases and refinery gases. Adaptation of the LSI to accept H2 flames is guided by an analytical expression derived from the flowfield characteristics and the turbulent flame speed correlation. Evaluation of the operating regimes of nine LSI configurations for H2 shows an optimum swirl number of 0.51 which is slightly lower than the swirl number of 0.54 for the hydrocarbon LSI. Using Particle Image Velocimetry the flowfields of 32 premixed H2 -air and H2 -N2 -air flames were measured. The turbulent flame speeds deduced from PIV show linear correlation with turbulence intensity. The correlation constant for H2 is 3.1 and is higher than the 2.14 value for hydrocarbons. Analysis of velocity profiles confirms that the nearfield flow features of the H2 flames are self-similar. These results demonstrate that the basic LSI mechanism is not affected by the differences in the properties of H2 and hydrocarbon flames and support the feasibility of the LSI concept for hydrogen fueled gas turbines.Copyright © 2007 by ASME
Sleep and performance in simulated Navy watch schedules

To operate Navy ships 24h per day, watchstanding is needed around the clock, with watch periods reflecting a variety of rotating or fixed shift schedules. The 5/15 watch schedule cycles through watch periods with 5h on, 15h off watch, such that watches occur 4h earlier on the clock each day - that is, the watches rotate backward. The timing of sleep varies over 4-day cycles, and sleep is split on some days to accommodate nighttime watchstanding. The 3/9 watch schedule cycles through watch periods with 3h on, 9h off watch, allowing for consistent sleep timing over days. In some sections of the 3/9 watch schedule, sleep may need to be split to accommodate nighttime watchstanding. In both the 5/15 and 3/9 watch schedules, four watch sections alternate to cover the 24h of the day. Here we compared sleep duration, psychomotor vigilance and subjective sleepiness in simulated sections of the 5/15 and 3/9 watch schedules. Fifteen healthy male subjects spent 6 consecutive days (5 nights) in the laboratory. Sleep opportunities were restricted to an average of 6.5h daily. Actigraphically estimated sleep duration was 5.6h per watch day on average, with no significant difference between watch sections. Sleep duration was not reduced when sleep opportunities were split. Psychomotor vigilance degraded over watch days, and tended to be more variable in the 5/15 than in the 3/9 watch sections. These laboratory-based findings suggest that Navy watch schedules are associated with cumulative sleep loss and a build-up of fatigue across days. The fixed watch periods of the 3/9 watch schedule appear to yield more stable performance than the backward rotating watch periods of the 5/15 watch schedule. Optimal performance may require longer and more consistent daily opportunities for sleep than are typically obtained in Navy operations.
The Mechanical Behavior of Short-Fiber-Elastomer Composites

Abstract The measured elastic and strength properties of angle-ply composites of short fibers and rubber depend on test-piece geometry. In general, higher tensile moduli and strengths are obtained when plies are both thin and wide. Once the effects of test-piece geometry are taken into account, elastic properties can be calculated as functions of the properties of a single ply. Classical compliance transformation equations can be used. However, because of the invariance of shear modulus in aligned composites, the tensor transformation equations are somewhat simplified. Tensile strengths of off-axis unidirectional composite plates and balanced-angle plies can be fitted by Hill's criterion. Unidirectional composites tend to fail in the weakest mode, depending on the angle of stress, but laminating causes all principal stresses in a ply to be near their ultimate limit at the time of failure.
Evangelical Life Style Concerns Expressed in Political Action

This paper extends and applies the theory of status politics, derived from Weber's conception of status group, to a non-economic political movement of conservative evangelical Christians. It is argued that a perceived decline in morals and a perception of legislative issues that symbolically support a more liberal element of American society motivated these evangelicals to political action. In the bid to place a candidate of like orientation in political office was seen the possibility to legitimate and thus protect the conservative lifestyle to which these evangelicals are committed.
Droplet Impacting a Cantilever: A Leaf-Raindrop System

Deciduous trees shed their leaves each autumn to survive cold weather. A first step in this process causes the leaves to lose their hydrophobic layer--a phenomenon that is hastened by pollution. Little is known about the physical details of raindrop-leaf interaction as hydrophobicity is changed, yet these details affect premature leaf loss and vulnerability to rainstorms. The authors model the dynamic response of a leaf to a raindrop as that of an elastic cantilever beam, and find that a hydrophobic surface can protect against raindrop impact better than a hydrophilic one. These results could also be used to optimize biomimetic piezoelectric devices for harvesting energy from falling rain.
Watershed Management and Community Building: A Case Study of Portland’s Community Watershed Stewardship Programtitle

AbstractLocal governments are increasingly turning to community building partnerships to enhance the quality of service delivery. This is particularly evident in new programs for urban stream protection which combine the ecological ideal of stewardship with the communitarian call for an enlarged citizenship. The questions posed by stewardship approaches are fundamental. Should stewardship programs replace or complement regulatory regimes? Do agency investments in participatory programs produce noticeable differences in watershed awareness? Does this awareness change individual behaviors and improve community capacity to monitor watershed health? The research described in this paper evaluates the impact of one of these stewardship efforts, Portland, Oregon’s Community Watershed Stewardship Program. Utilizing a quasi-experimental research design, we test our thesis that stewardship programs that enhance civic capacity significantly improve awareness of watershed issues and promote watershed friendly attitud...
Photoacoustic imaging of salivary glands

In this work, we utilized photoacoustic imaging (PAI) with co-registered ultrasound (US) to non-invasively assess salivary gland function in vivo. A significant increase in salivary gland oxygen saturation was observed on PAI within minutes after gustatory stimulation of healthy mice reflective of the hyperemic response associated with secretion of saliva. Good correlation was seen between PAI and Doppler sonography. Salivary adenoid cystic carcinomas showed higher oxygen saturation compared to surrounding salivary gland tissue. Our results demonstrate the potential clinical utility of PAI for visualization of salivary gland physiology and pathology.
Recalcitrant Proximal Pole Nonunions Reconstructed with Medial Femoral Condyle Osteoarticular Graft

A 27-year-old right-hand dominant male presented to the office with pain in the anatomic snuffbox and limitation in the range of motion and grip strength of the right hand. The patient was identified as having a proximal pole scaphoid fracture 2.5 years prior to presentation. He initially underwent 8 weeks of casting at the time of injury and was thought to have healed his fracture. Fourteen months later, he was found to have a nonunited fracture and underwent 1,2 intracompartmental supraretinacular pedicled vascularized bone grafting from the distal radius via a dorsal approach and screw fixation. Six months later, CT scan images demonstrated a persistent nonunion with cystic changes at the nonunion site. The patient was referred for the revision treatment of the scaphoid nonunion or salvage procedures.
Dematin and Adducin Provide a Critical Link between the Spectrin Cytoskeleton and the Erythrocyte Membrane Via Glucose Transporter-1.

Abstract There is considerable interest in the elucidation of the mechanism that governs the linkage of elongated spectrin molecules to the erythrocyte plasma membrane. The mechanism by which the “head” region of the spectrin dimer, which participates in tetramer formation, binds to the membrane via ankyrin and band 3 has been reasonably well characterized. However, the mechanism by which the tail end of the spectrin dimer is anchored to the plasma membrane is not completely understood. Dematin and adducin are actin binding proteins located at the spectrin-actin junctions or “junctional complex” in the erythrocyte membrane. Individual suppression of their function in mice by the gene deletion exerts a modest effect on erythrocyte shape and membrane stability. In contrast, the combined deletion of dematin and adducin genes results in severe defects of erythrocyte shape, membrane instability, and hemolysis. Based on these findings, we proposed a model whereby dematin and adducin could function as a molecular bridge linking the junctional complex to the plasma membrane. Using a combination of cell surface labeling, immunoprecipitation, and vesicle proteomics, we have identified glucose transporter-1 as the receptor for dematin and adducin in the human erythrocyte membrane. This finding is the first description of a transmembrane protein that binds to dematin and adducin, thus providing a rationale for the attachment of the cytoskeletal junctional complex to the lipid bilayer via glucose transporter-1. Since homologues of dematin, adducin, and glucose transporter-1 exist in many non-erythroid cells, we propose that a conserved mechanism may exist that couples sugar and other related transporters to the actin cytoskeleton.
Low risk of hepatitis B virus reactivation in patients with resolved infection and chronic myeloid leukemia treated with tyrosine kinase inhibitors

The hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is a crucial issue for the management of patients with hematological malignancies, who often receive treatments that suppress the immune system with a conseque...
Synergistic Development of Biochips and Cell Preservation Methodologies: a Tale of Converging Technologies

Over the past several decades, cryopreservation has been widely used to preserve cells during long-term storage, but advances in stem cell therapies, regenerative medicine, and miniaturized cell-based diagnostics and sensors are providing new targets of opportunity for advancing preservation methodologies. The advent of microfluidic-based devices is an interesting case in which the technology has been used to improve preservation processing, but as the devices have evolved to also include cells, tissues, and simulated organs as part of the architecture, the biochip itself is a desirable target for preservation. In this review, we will focus on the synergistic co-development of preservation methods and biochip technologies while identifying where the challenges and opportunities lie in developing methods to place on-chip biologics on the shelf, ready for use. Emerging studies are demonstrating that the cost of some biochips have been reduced to the extent that they will have high utility in point-of-care settings, especially in low resource environments where diagnostic capabilities are limited. Ice-free low temperature vitrification and anhydrous vitrification technologies will likely emerge as the preferred strategy for long-term preservation of bio-chips. The development of preservation methodologies for partially or fully assembled biochips would enable the widespread distribution of these technologies and enhance their application.
Evaluación de los métodos de hidrólisis ácida, hidrólisis básica y extracción mecánica para la obtención de azúcares fermentables a partir de biomasa microalgal

The present work evaluates the obtaining of reducing sugars by (acid hydrolysis, base hydrolysis and ultrasonication) from biomass of Chlorella vulgaris. The respective microalgae grow is done with Foliagro cultivation medium, 0.2 VN and pH 6, with an agitation of 4L / min, 8 watt light intensity, 12 hours of light and 12 hours of darkness photoperiod and temperature between 23 ° C ± 3 ° C. Between the chemical and mechanical methods proven, the better results were obtained by acid hydrolysis, with 2N H2S04 concentration, using 0.5 9 of Iyophilized biomass, at temperature conditions of 120°C, pressure 1.2 bar, 30 min acid time exposure and neutralization with NaOH.
Humanitarian space and well-being: effectiveness of training on a psychosocial intervention for host community-refugee interaction

Social and fieldworkers face enormous challenges in assisting millions of Syrian refugees in Lebanon since the Syrian war in 2011. We sought to assess the feasibility and acceptability of an adapted version of the SMART-3RP (Stress Management Relaxation Response Resilience Training) training to address the emotional and physical burden on the humanitarian field. Data were collected using the Symptom Checklist-90 (SCL-90), blood pressure, pulse and a brief qualitative survey at months 0, 3, 6 and 9. We compared mean SCL-90 scores and physiological measures from these time points and subjected qualitative data to a thematic analysis. Mean values of all measures decreased from months 0 to 9, with significance in SCL-90 changes increasing at each visit. Qualitative themes included decreased stress, increased positivity and problem-solving skills, interpersonal and personal benefits of mindfulness practice and the need to continue and expand the programme. Qualitative and quantitative analyses showed a decrease in stress perception and blood pressure, demonstrating the physiological benefits of mind body approaches. We highlight the importance of self-care for humanitarian workers as the basis for the mission's success. We invite additional research to confirm these findings and their implications for the humanitarian field.
School Reform Movements: Tinkering with the System

American education must redefine standards of excellence to make quality and equality of opportunity compatible. Past reform efforts have failed because of the lack of a cohesive structure. Reform efforts have tended to gyrate between calls for more basics and focus on the learner. Basic skills for the twenty-first century need redefinition. The focus must shift from knowledge to process, from acquisition to the access of information. Until we decide what to learn we cannot decide how to teach it. Technology can help. Staffing, organization, and curriculum all need transformation, not simple reform. A national curriculum and a national system of experimental schools provide new opportunities.
Abstract 19457: Pathogenic Role of p53 in the Development and Progression of Pulmonary Hypertension

Rationale: Idiopathic pulmonary arterial hypertension (IPAH) is a fatal and progressive disease characterized by pulmonary vascular wall hypertrophy and obliterative vascular lesions. The tumor suppressor, p53, is a transcription factor that regulates the expression of stress response genes, has been extensively investigated under malignant conditions, and its non-canonical functions have recently been implicated in pulmonary vascular disease. The purpose of this study was to examine whether p53 contributes to the development of pulmonary vasoconstriction and vascular remodeling. Methods: Western blot determined expression levels of p53 in the endothelium-denuded pulmonary artery (PA) or whole lungs isolated from normoxic and hypoxic mice. Ubiquitous MDM2 transgenic mice (MDM2 TG ), MDM2 mutant transgenic mice (MDM2 mut-TG ), and wildtype (WT) littermates (6-8 weeks) were exposed to chronic hypoxia (CH, 10% O 2 ) to induce PH. The isolated perfused/ventilated mouse lung was used to determine hypoxic pulmonary vasoconstriction. Results: Compared to controls, p53 was downregulated in PA (primarily PA smooth muscle cells (PASMC)) after CH exposure (0.43±0.11 vs. 0.17±0.02, n=4), but upregulated in whole lung tissue (primarily PA endothelial cells (PAEC)) (0.41±0.10 and 0.62±0.07, n=4). In MDM2 mut-TG mice, the CH-mediated increase in right ventricular systolic pressure (RVSP) (36±3.0 and 27±2.0 mmHg, n=3, p p TG mice, however, spontaneously developed mild PH under normoxic conditions. CH significantly increased RVSP (36±3.0, 29±2.1 and 27±2.0 mmHg, n=3, p p TG mice compared to both WT and MDM2 mut-TG mice. Conclusions: These results indicate that downregulated p53 in PASMC and upregulated p53 in PAEC both contribute to the development and progression of pulmonary hypertension. MDM2-p53 signaling may be involved in the transcriptional downregulation and upregulation of p53 in PASMC and PAEC, respectively. Targeting the MDM2/p53 signaling pathway may be an important strategy to develop novel therapies for pulmonary hypertension.
Torsion of a Cosserat elastic bar with square cross section: theory and experiment

An approximate analytical solution for the displacement and microrotation vector fields is derived for pure torsion of a prismatic bar with square cross section comprised of homogeneous, isotropic linear Cosserat elastic material. This is accomplished by analytical simplification coupled with use of the principle of minimum potential energy together with polynomial representations for the desired field components. Explicit approximate expressions are derived for cross section warp and for applied torque versus angle of twist of the bar. These show that torsional rigidity exceeds the classical elasticity value, the difference being larger for slender bars, and that cross section warp is less than the classical amount. Experimental measurements on two sets of 3D printed square cross section polymeric bars, each set having a different microstructure and four different cross section sizes, revealed size effects not captured by classical elasticity but consistent with the present analysis for physically sensible values of the Cosserat moduli. The warp can allow inference of Cosserat elastic constants independently of any sensitivity the material may have to dilatation gradients; warp also facilitates inference of Cosserat constants that are difficult to obtain via size effects.
“TRISTE REALIDADE”: CONSTRUINDO SOLIDARIEDADE EM REAÇÃO À DISCRIMINAÇÃO RACIAL NO FACEBOOK

Este trabalho analisa excertos de uma discussao no Facebook desencadeada pelo posting de um video no qual uma mulher dirige insultos raciais a uma outra. A analise da interacao que segue o video ilustra como 1) a linguistica socio-interacional e a analise do discurso suprem ferramentas uteis para se estudar a Comunicacao mediada por computadores, e 2) ajuda a compreender o alinhamento dos participantes contra o racismo e a discriminacao para construir solidariedade. Este estudo exemplifica como recursos linguisticos e extralinguisticos, disponiveis por meio do Facebook permitem aos participantes expressas suas opinioes sobre o episodio, construindo posicoes e identidades para si e o outro.
Psychosocial Influences and the Pathogenesis of Arteriosclerosis

A large body of data on the role of behavioral factors in the etiology and pathogenesis of coronary heart disease (CHD) has accumulated over the past few decades (Jenkins, 1976). Two promising variables have been identified: psychological stress and what has been called the Type-A coronary-prone behavior pattern (Rosenman and Friedman, 1974). Stress may be defined as an internal state of the individual when he is faced with threats to his physical and/or psychic well-being. Following Cox (1978) and Lazarus (1966), the perception of threat is believed to arise from a comparison between the demands on the individual and his assessment of his ability to cope. A perceived imbalance in this mechanism gives rise to the experience of stress and to the stress response, which may be behavioral and/or physiologic in nature.
Federal and state initiatives to recruit physicians to rural areas.

The U.S. federal and state governments are taking steps to ameliorate the physician shortage by offering scholarship and loan-repayment options to medical students interested in primary care practice in designated underserved areas.
Intergenerational Transfer of Biological Responses to Trauma: Impact of Psychosocial Stress in Fathers on Offspring

Maternal experiences and psychological disposition prior to and during pregnancy are associated with specific biological and behavioral phenotypes in their children. Less clear, however, is the contribution of paternal experiences to offspring disposition. Increasingly, animal models indicate that paternal experiences are as impactful to offspring development as are maternal experiences. Importantly, these experiences in fathers can precipitate biological changes that are concomitant with biological effects observed in offspring. Here, we examine the body of evidence across species that suggests paternal environmental exposures are associated with specific phenotypes in offspring and note potential mechanisms for the “transmission” of intergenerational experience. Finally, we acknowledge the caveats endemic to this line of research and suggest points of consideration for the field.
Abstract WP252: Mechanism of Secondary Thalamic Injury Induced by Focal Cortical Stroke

Remote secondary injury in the thalamus has been observed following rodent and human stroke and is associated with poorer recovery. However the mechanisms and resultant molecular changes whereby cortical infarction leads to remote injury in distant regions of brain are not well defined. The present studies utilize a mouse model of permanent distal MCAO (pdMCAO) with delayed secondary thalamic injury. We have measured time dependent molecular and cellular events, focusing on glial activation and neuronal death in the thalamus. These studies provide an important foundation for future studies aimed at reducing secondary brain injury. Methods: Cortical infarction by pdMCAO was induced by microcauterization of the distal MCA in male C57BL/6J mice (11-13 wks). Cresyl violet (CV), fluoro-jade C (FJC) and immunochemical staining were performed at 24 hours, 3 days, 1 week, and 2 weeks after stroke (n=5, each time point) and in shams (n=3). Results: First, we confirmed with TTC staining that the primary infarction ...
Snapshot channeled imaging spectrometer using geometric phase holograms.

In this paper, we present the design and experimental demonstration of a snapshot imaging spectrometer based on channeled imaging spectrometry (CIS) and channeled imaging polarimetry (CIP). Using a geometric phase microlens array (GPMLA) with multiple focal lengths, the proposed spectrometer selects wavelength components within its designed operating waveband of 450–700 nm. Compared to other snapshot spectral imagers, its key components are especially suitable for roll-to-roll (R2R) rapid fabrication, which gives the spectrometer potential for low-cost mass production. The principles and proof-of-concept experimental system of the sensor are described in detail, followed by lab validation and outdoor measurement results which demonstrate the sensor’s ability to resolve spectral and spatial contents under both experimental and natural illumination conditions.
The modeling of delayed-onset Rayleigh-Taylor and transition to mixing in laser-driven HED experiments

In this work, we discuss simulations, along with a benchmarking experiment, performed using the xRAGE code which demonstrate the ability of a laser model to predict laser-driven, high-energy-density shock hydrodynamics with good fidelity. This directly contributes to our ability to model hydrodynamic-instability dynamics produced by a laser drive typical of those available at OMEGA, OMEGA-EP, NIF, and similar facilities. In particular, we show how the laser model is essential for predicting deceleration-phase Rayleigh-Taylor arising from laser turn-off. We do this using the experimental case of a seeded single-mode perturbation. Then, we turn to a seeded multimode perturbation to show how the above result permits us to access the modeling of hydrodynamic mixing, a topic of interest for future work.In this work, we discuss simulations, along with a benchmarking experiment, performed using the xRAGE code which demonstrate the ability of a laser model to predict laser-driven, high-energy-density shock hydrodynamics with good fidelity. This directly contributes to our ability to model hydrodynamic-instability dynamics produced by a laser drive typical of those available at OMEGA, OMEGA-EP, NIF, and similar facilities. In particular, we show how the laser model is essential for predicting deceleration-phase Rayleigh-Taylor arising from laser turn-off. We do this using the experimental case of a seeded single-mode perturbation. Then, we turn to a seeded multimode perturbation to show how the above result permits us to access the modeling of hydrodynamic mixing, a topic of interest for future work.
Convex until proven guilty: dimension-free acceleration of gradient descent on non-convex functions

We develop and analyze a variant of Nesterov's accelerated gradient descent (AGD) for minimization of smooth non-convex functions. We prove that one of two cases occurs: either our AGD variant converges quickly, as if the function was convex, or we produce a certificate that the function is "guilty" of being non-convex. This non-convexity certificate allows us to exploit negative curvature and obtain deterministic, dimension-free acceleration of convergence for non-convex functions. For a function f with Lipschitz continuous gradient and Hessian, we compute a point x with ||∇ f (x)||≤ e in O(e-7/4 log(1/e)) gradient and function evaluations. Assuming additionally that the third derivative is Lipschitz, we require only O(e-5/3 log(1/e)) evaluations.