cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Introductory Note to the European Court of Justice: The Akzo Nobel EU Attorney-Client Privilege Case

This note, which was prepared for ASIL’s International Legal Materials, introduces and places in context the September 2010 European Court of Justice case known as Akzo Nobel. Akzo Nobel involves the intersection of competition (antitrust) law and lawyer regulation. In 1982, the European Court of Justice decided a case called AM&S v. Commission which involved an antitrust investigation by the European Commission. In AM&S, the European Court of Justice held that there was an EU-level legal professional privilege, but that two requirements would have to be satisfied for this EU-level legal professional privilege to apply. First, the communication must have been given for purposes of the client’s defense. Second, the communication must have been with an independent lawyer, which would not include in-house counsel. The European Court of Justice observed that many EU Member States view the employment status of corporate counsel as fundamentally inconsistent with lawyer independence and thus the legal professional privilege. Akzo Nobel, like AM&S, involved a European antitrust investigation in which documents were seized from in-house counsel. Because the Akzo case came before the European Court of Justice more than twenty-five years after AM&S, the corporate counsel bar, among others, had hoped that the European Court of Justice would take the opportunity to change its position on legal professional privilege. As this Introductory Note explains, the Court did not do so, but instead affirmed reaffirmed its prior AM&S approach. This Introductory Note provides contextual material for the Akzo Nobel decision, including information about European regulation of lawyers. It also explains why the case is relevant to U.S.-licensed lawyers and offers observations about the significance of the case.
Suppression of Fusarium oxysporum with recombinant polygalacturonase inhibiting proteins (BvPGIPs) extracted from sugar beet roots

Soil-borne fungus Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. betae (Fob) is the causative agent of Fusarium yellows in sugar beet. Leaf interveinal yellowing and root vascular discoloration significantly reduce root yield as well as sucrose content and juice purity. Fob, like other fungal pathogens, initiates disease development by secreting polygalacturonase (PG) enzymes to break down plant cell walls during early stages of infection. To protect themselves, plants produce polygalacturonase-inhibiting proteins (PGIPs). In our study of sugar beet root defense responses, several PGIP genes (BvPGIPs) were identified. To determine if BvPGIPs inhibit Fob PGs, genes BvPGIP1, BvPGIP2 and Bv(FC607)PGIP1 were fused with the CaMV 35S promoter and each was expressed individually in sugar beet hairy roots. We demonstrate that all three recombinant BvPGIP proteins inhibited Fob and F. oxysporum f. sp. gladioli (Fog) PGs. A comparable level of BvPGIP activity was observed against Fob PGs, while BvPGIP2 showed higher activity against Fog PGs. Similar results were obtained when recombinant PGIPs were used to bioassay effects on Fob and Fog spore germination and hyphal growth. This is a first report that documents F. oxysporum inhibition by overexpressing BvPGIPs that may lead to improved Fusarium yellows resistance in sugar beet.
Dietary Energy–Density and Adiposity Markers Among a Cohort of Multi-ethnic Children

Evidence suggests that the association between dietary energy density (DED) and body composition in children is different than in adults. The purpose of this study was to measure if DED differed by race/ethnicity and if DED was associated with adiposity markers in children. Dietary intake and body composition were measured in a multi-ethnic sample of 307 children aged seven to 12 (39% European American, EA; 35% African American, AA; and 26% Hispanic American, HA). Dietary intake was measured by two 24-h recalls, and DED was calculated including and excluding energy-from beverages. Body composition was measured by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry, and other measurements included height, waist circumference, and body mass index (BMI). Participants were evaluated by total sample and plausibility of reported energy intake. Analysis of variance, independence tests, and multiple regression models were performed. A total of 33.5% of the children in the sample had a BMI ≥ 85 percentile. Among plausible reporters, the mean DEDSF+EB (solid food + energy-containing beverages) was ~ 128 kcal/100 g and mean DEDSF (solid food only) was 211 kcal/100 g. Pairwise comparisons among children showed that the mean of DED was higher in AA children compared to EA and HA children (p < 0.005). Regression models showed significant association (p < 0.05) between adiposity markers and DEDSF in both the total and plausible samples. This study provides evidence of a significant difference of DED by race/ethnicity. Increased DED showed being a significant risk factor for adiposity among children. The associations were stronger when only plausible reporters were considered.
The Faust Legend: From Marlowe and Goethe to Contemporary Drama and Film

What do men and women desire? For what will they barter their immortal souls? These two questions have haunted Western society, and these persistent queries find their fullest embodiment in the Faust legend. This memorable story, told and retold in novels, prose fiction, and drama, has also profoundly influenced music, art, and cinema. Sara Munson Deats explores its impact, tracing the development of the Faust topos from the seminal works of Marlowe and Goethe to the large number of dramatic and cinematic adaptations which have fascinated audiences and readers throughout the centuries. Her study traces the durability of this legend and its pervasive influence on the literature of the Western world, in which it has adapted across time, languages, and nations to reflect the concerns of a given era or place. This is the first comparative analysis of the Faust legend in drama and film.
King of Spies: The Dark Reign of America’s Spy Master in Korea

Donald F. Nichols spent a decade in Korea, running a massive spy station for the United States Air Force. Starting in 1947, his sprawling operation employed hundreds of agents who rooted out suspec...
A powerful subset-based gene-set analysis method identifies novel associations and improves interpretation in UK Biobank

Tests of association between a phenotype and a set of genes in a biological pathway can provide insights into the genetic architecture of complex phenotypes beyond those obtained from single variant or single gene association analysis. However, most existing gene set tests have limited power to detect gene set-phenotype association when a small fraction of the genes are associated with the phenotype, and no method exists which identifies the potentially active genes that might drive a gene-set-based association. To address these issues, we have developed Gene-set analysis Association Using Sparse Signals (GAUSS), a method for gene-set association analysis that requires only GWAS summary statistics. For each significantly associated gene set, GAUSS identifies the subset of genes that have the maximal evidence of association and can best account for the gene set association. Using pre-computed correlation structure among test statistics from a reference panel, our p-value calculation is substantially faster than other permutation or simulation-based approaches. In simulations with varying proportions of causal genes, we find that GAUSS effectively controls type 1 error rate and has greater power than several existing methods, particularly when a small proportion of genes account for the gene set signal. Using GAUSS, we analyzed UK Biobank GWAS summary statistics for 10,679 gene-sets and 1,403 binary phenotypes. We found that GAUSS is scalable and identified 13,466 phenotype and gene-set association pairs. Within these genes sets, we identify an average of 17.2 (max=405) genes that underlie these gene set associations.
MENTAL HEALTH ISSUES IN CARDIOLOGY: INSIGHTS FROM THE 2019 AMERICAN COLLEGE OF CARDIOLOGY GLOBAL PROFESSIONAL LIFE SURVEY

Data on mental health issues among cardiologists are lacking In 2019, the American College of Cardiology conducted an online survey of 5,931 cardiologists (1,347 women and 4,584 men) from across the globe Mental health issues ranging from psychological distress to attempted suicide are commonly
Procyon lotor (North American raccoon)

A pair of small subtelocentrics (pair No. 14) possesses distinctive satellite on the short arm, similar to pair El of domestic cat.
Acceptance and Commitment Training Within the Scope of Practice of Applied Behavior Analysis

Acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) is a contemporary behavior-analytic approach to intervening on verbal behavior for the purposes of bringing about socially meaningful overt behavior change. Although originally developed as a behavior-analytic approach to psychotherapy, the conceptual functional analyses and procedures that form the core of ACT have been disseminated broadly outside of clinical psychology, including within the field of applied behavior analysis (ABA). This article discusses the use of ACT within mainstream ABA practice and provides preliminary conceptual functional analyses and practical guidelines for incorporating ACT within the scope of practice of applied behavior analysts.
Reused cultivation water from a self-inhibiting alga does not inhibit other algae but alters their microbiomes

Abstract Economical production of algal commodities (food, feed, and fuels) requires reusing cultivation water to reduce operating costs. While some algae strains show growth inhibition in reused water, other strains appear unaffected. Reusing water to grow different strains (i.e., crop rotation) could potentially improve overall biomass production compared to water reuse with the same strain by reducing accumulation of strain-specific waste products, limiting carryover of population-specific pathogens such as viruses, and introducing bacteria that degrade residual organic matter. Here, batch culture experiments tested the effects of reused cultivation water from the self-inhibiting diatom Staurosira sp. C323 on the diatom Navicula sp. SFP and green alga Chlorella sp. D046, as well as their microbiomes. Navicula sp. and Chlorella sp. grew well in Staurosira sp. reused water, indicating that previously observed self-inhibition was likely specific to this Staurosira strain. While algal microbiomes were not significantly different between controls and reused water treatments, specific bacteria taxa were differentially abundant in reused treatments, suggesting that some taxa responded to compounds remaining in the reused water. Results suggest that algae growth responses in reused water may depend largely on strain-specific factors, and that crop rotation can support biomass production.
Identification of patients with sickle cell anaemia using restriction enzyme discrimination

Tracking down a mutation for Single-cell anaemia (SCA) is a full-day, inquiry-based biology experiment that has given scientist a lot to do in the field of medicine. Gene therapy as so far proved to be the own escape route through the use of Hematopoietic stem-cell transplantation (HSCT) although it is limited to the donor availability. Clinical trials have been conducted concerning testing manufacturing, optimization and characterization of transduction hematopoietic stem cell FCP (final cell product) and its degree of vivo toxicology to ascertain the method. This study aims at establishing a prenatal diagnostic facility through determination of PCR performance and sensitivity and gel electrophoresis that will help in decision making regarding the fetus affected with sickle cell anaemia. Several samples were taken from affected patients using the chorionic villus biopsy, DNA extracted and subjected to amplification refractory mutation system (ARMS-PCR), to identify a mutation in the GAG-GTG gene for sickle cell anaemia. Gel electrophoresis was done from which it was found out that out of the 41 cases analyzed, 26 [70.73%] had AS Hb genotype, 4 [9.76%] had AA Hb genotype and 3 [7.32%] had SS Hb genotype and the reminded of 5 [12.20] had either AA or AS genotype. It was concluded that the ARMS-PCR has a high performance and 75% sensitivity hence can be used to study and detect patients with SCA mutation as a prenatal diagnostic facility. Gel electrophoresis was done from which it was found out that out of the 41 cases analyzed, 26 [70.73%] had AS Hb genotype, 4 [9.76%] had AA Hb genotype and 3 [7.32%] had SS Hb genotype and the reminded of 5 [12.20] had either AA or AS genotype. Detection of sickle anaemia requires a lot of information about the restriction enzymes to be restudied. It is easy to detect an irregularity in the human genome whenever any alteration is done more especially due to mutation. Sickle cell anaemia is one of the most studied genetic diseases that can be treated if noticed in the early stage through gene therapy.
Law and Economics Against Feminism

This chapter analyzes feminism in legal theory in relation to the rise of “law and economics” during the late twentieth century. Building on other accounts, I trace how non-academic organizations invested heavily in developing and institutionalizing law and economics as a seemingly neutral methodology that could build academic credibility for anti-egalitarian ideology and legal change. Further, the chapter explains how the substance of this law and economics fundamentally undermines feminism in law by constructing the economy as a sphere best insulated from contested morality and politics. The central law and economics division between seemingly objective economic maximizing and subjective social distribution puts feminist law in a double bind, naturalizing a gendered baseline that generally makes feminist reforms appear costly, unfair, or ineffective. This core conceptual move closes off feminist legal efforts to question and redefine what counts as productive, legitimate economic gain. Finally, I explore how this core division of law and economics constructs an idea of liberty that makes feminist efforts to remedy gender-based harms appear illegitimate and oppressive. Law and economics identifies freedom with an economy imagined to remove individual self-interested choices from public support or accountability. That ideal of freedom closes off analysis of how law’s gendered assumptions and unequal protections pervasively limit individual agency and meaningful choice in the economy and in society. Law and economics cuts against legal feminism not because gender justice is a non-economic goal, but because law and economics promotes a misleading economic ideology steeped in gender and tilted toward those most willing and able to disregard and discount others’ well-being.
An Institutional View Of Algorithmic Impact Assessments

Scholars and advocates have proposed algorithmic impact assessments (AIAs) as a regulatory strategy for addressing and correcting algorithmic harms. An AIA-based regulatory framework would require the creator of an algorithmic system to assess its potential socially harmful impacts before implementation and create documentation that can be later used for accountability and future policy development. In practice, an impact assessment framework relies on the expertise and information that only the creators of the project have access to. It is therefore inevitable that technology firms will have an amount of practical discretion in the assessment, and willing cooperation from firms is necessary to make the regulation work. But a regime that relies on good-faith partnership from the private sector also has strong potential to be undermined by the incentives and institutional logics of the private sector. This Article argues that for AIA regulation to be effective, it must anticipate the ways that such a regulation will be filtered through the private sector institutional environment. This Article combines insights from governance, organizational theory, and computer science to analyze how future AIA regulations will be implemented on the ground. Institutional logics, such as liability avoidance and the profit motive, will render the first goal—early consideration of social impacts—difficult in the short term. But AIAs can still be beneficial. The second goal—documentation to support future policy learning—does not require full compliance to be successful, and over time, there is reason to believe that AIAs can be part of a broader cultural shift toward accountability within the technical industry. This will lead to greater buy-in and less need for enforcement of documentation requirements. Given the challenges and reliance on participation, AIAs must have synergy with how the field works rather than be in tension with it. For this reason, the Article argues that it is also crucial that regulators understand the technical industry itself, including the technology, the organizational culture, and emerging documentation standards. This Article demonstrates how emerging research within the field of algorithmic accountability can also inform the shape of AIA regulation. By looking at the different stages of development and so-called “pause points,” regulators can know at which points firms can export information. Looking at AI ethics research can show what social impacts the field thinks are important and where it might miss issues that policymakers care about. Overall, understanding the industry can make the AIA documentation requirements themselves more legible to technology firms, easing the path for a future AIA mandate to be successful on the ground.
Smartphone adapter time trial analysis: A low-cost, time-efficient method to disseminate quality photomicrographs at the microscope.

BACKGROUND Within the field of pathology there is a need for a uniform low-cost option for securing high-quality photomicrographs. Advances in smartphone photography and 3D-printing technology allow for custom adapters to be designed for the purpose of photomicrograph capture. METHODS Photomicrograph acquisition was performed using four core modalities: a novel 3D-printed smartphone-to-microscope adapter, freehand smartphone-to-microscope technique, a commercial adaptor (LabCam Pro), and a microscope-mounted digital camera. Eight skin diagnoses were photographed using each of the modalities and time to image capture was measured. The photomicrographs were blindly reviewed by two academic dermatopathologists and one pathologist using a side-by-side comparison technique to determine the image quality. Cost assessments were evaluated by obtaining free pricing information on manufacturer websites. RESULTS The 3D-printed adapter was the most efficient method of capturing a high-quality photomicrograph in addition to being budget neutral. The microscope-mounted camera produced the highest quality photomicrographs followed by the 3D-printed adapter. CONCLUSIONS The 3D-printed smartphone-to-microscope adapter offers a low-cost, time-efficient method of capturing high-quality photomicrographs.
Jointly Minimizing AoI Penalty and Network Cost Among Coexisting Source-Destination Pairs

One main objective of ultra-low-latency communications is to minimize the data staleness at the receivers, recently characterized by a metric called Age-of-Information (AoI). While the question of when to send the next update packet has been the central subject of AoI minimization, each update packet also incurs the cost of transmission that needs to be jointly considered in a practical design. With the exponential growth of interconnected devices and the increasing risk of excessive resource consumption in mind, this work derives an optimal joint cost-and-AoI minimization solution for multiple coexisting source-destination (S-D) pairs. The results admit a new AoI-market-price-based interpretation and are applicable to the setting of (a) general heterogeneous AoI penalty functions and Markov delay distributions for each S-D pair, and (b) a general network cost function of aggregate throughput of all S-D pairs. Extensive simulation is used to demonstrate the superior performance of the proposed scheme.
Revealing the Brønsted-Evans-Polanyi relation in halide-activated fast MoS2 growth toward millimeter-sized 2D crystals.

Achieving large-size two-dimensional (2D) crystals is key to fully exploiting their remarkable functionalities and application potentials. Chemical vapor deposition growth of 2D semiconductors such...
Addiction curriculum design for medical students.

Background As mortality and morbidity due to substance use disorder (SUD) are increasing for women, especially during pregnancy and postpartum, it is imperative to equip medical providers with skills to identify SUD and initiate treatments. We designed a curriculum to provide third-year medical students with clinical exposure to SUD during pregnancy. Approach This novel, experience-based SUD curriculum was focused on providing adequate knowledge, skills and confidence to provide compassionate, patient-centred care to women with SUD. Obstetrics and Gynecology clerkship third-year medical students rotated 1 day through a clinic that provides Obstetrics and Gynecology and addiction medicine services. Congruent with COVID-19 limitations, students completed pre-clinic assignments and in-clinic tasks (e.g., screening, brief intervention, referral to treatment [SBIRT]) under supervision. Evaluation After implementation of this pilot curriculum, 20 students and 10 teachers completed surveys (100% response rate) with open-ended response items. Quantitative data and open-ended responses using electronic surveys were sequentially analysed to evaluate the curriculum's feasibility and acceptability. Implications We designed a novel curriculum that focused on SUD learning objectives and providing exposure to third-year medical students, and our findings indicate that it is feasible and acceptable to both students and teachers. In the future, we plan to provide this curriculum to both our third- and fourth-year medical students, and we encourage teachers and providers at other institutions to utilise it during their clinical training.
The Visual Evoked Response Latency in Optic Neuritis

One can estimate the degree of optic nerve dysfunction in optic neuritis, using the pupil as an indicator, by holding neutral filters of increasing density over the unaffected eye until the relative afferent pupillary defect can no longer be seen. We compared the pupillary defect, measured in this way, to the visual evoked response in 13 patients with recovered unilateral optic neuritis. We found that the afferent defect correlated with the difference in visual evoked response (VER) latency between the affected and unaffected eyes, but not with the change in VER amplitude. In nine of the 13 patients the difference in VER latencies between the two eyes was significantly greater than the latency delay induced in normal eyes by a filter equal to the afferent defect. We conclude that (1) balancing the pupil defect with filters in patients with optic neuritis does not balance the VER latency, and (2) in recovered optic neuritis the VER latency predicts the amount of nerve fiber loss more accurately than does the VER amplitude.
The cis-hexatriene electrocyclization : Attempted calculation of the transition state geometry

Abstract A model has been developed to permit calculation of the energy changes associated with the electrocyclic reaction of cis-hexatriene to 1,3-cyclohexadiene. A novel method for solving the problems associated with calculations of the pi system energy and the energy of the forming single bond as the terminal carbons undergo rehybridization was developed. The result permits calculation of the total energy in terms of contributions from the forming sigma bond, the pi system, non-bonded interactions and bond energy changes resulting from rehybridization. The angle of rotation θ about the C2C3 and C4C5 bonds was used as an approximation to the reaction coordinate. Surprisingly the plot of energy vs θ showed no maximum for either the disrotatory or the conrotatory stereopath. Failure to produce a transition state was attributed to problems with assignment of a reasonable kcal equivalent to the Huckel gb, and an artificial device was proposed to solve the problem. The geometry of the disrotatory transition state achieved in this manner suggests that non-bonded interactions between hydrogens on the terminal carbon are not serious, but the dihedral angle between the p-orbitals at C2C3 (and C4C5) leads to a significant degree of isolation of C2 and C5 from the remainder of the pi system.
Performing elusive homecomings: Mobility, embodiment, and diasporic filipino youth

The Filipino global diaspora has precipitated the circulation of embodied modesof identification and belonging. This paper focuses on the experiences of Filipinoyoung people who were born and/or raised abroad, and who have returned to thePhilippines to seek fame and economic mobility in the entertainment industry.These migrant hopefuls, unlike older counterparts, enact the material tensionsand semantic contradictions that form part of popular discourse around lifeabroad. As such, institutional media practices and mass audience perceptionsmirror such conditions and create shifting systems of valuation around suchthings as skin color, accent, and bodily comportment. To respond and conformto these demands, these migrant returnees refashion cultural citizenship bydeploying performances of locality and authenticity with varying successes. Suchcorporeal revisions enable the displacement of attachments to and affinities forvarious expressions of home, citizenship, and selfhood. The main contention ofthis ethnographic and media study is that these experiences constitute what isbeing called an “aesthetics of mobility” where the shifts and travels of meaningsand value inherent among this group return migrants are embodied in ways thatunravel notions of class, gender, race and national belonging. The experiences ofthis youth group provide a distinctive narrative about the travails and travel ofbodies and generations of modern Filipinos in the world.
The 8 μm Phase Variation of the Hot Saturn HD 149026b

We monitor the star HD 149026 and its Saturn-mass planet at 8.0 μm over slightly more than half an orbit using the Infrared Array Camera on the Spitzer Space Telescope. We find an increase of 0.0227% ± 0.0066% (3.4σ significance) in the combined planet-star flux during this interval. The minimum flux from the planet is 45% ± 19% of the maximum planet flux, corresponding to a difference in brightness temperature of 480 ± 140 K between the two hemispheres. We derive a new secondary eclipse depth of 0.0411% ± 0.0076% in this band, corresponding to a dayside brightness temperature of 1440 ± 150 K. Our new secondary eclipse depth is half that of a previous measurement (3.0σ difference) in this same bandpass by Harrrington et al. We re-fit the Harrrington et al. data and obtain a comparably good fit with a smaller eclipse depth that is consistent with our new value. In contrast to earlier claims, our new eclipse depth suggests that this planet's dayside emission spectrum is relatively cool, with an 8 μm brightness temperature that is less than the maximum planet-wide equilibrium temperature. We measure the interval between the transit and secondary eclipse and find that that the secondary eclipse occurs 20.9^(+7.2)_(–6.5) minutes earlier (2.9σ) than predicted for a circular orbit, a marginally significant result. This corresponds to ecos(ω) = –0.0079^(+0.0027)_(–0.0025), where e is the planet's orbital eccentricity and ω is the argument of pericenter.
Lymphocyte activation gene 3 (LAG-3) regulates activation-induced CD4+ T cell metabolic transition (IRM6P.725)

LAG-3 negatively regulates CD4+ T cell proliferation and effector function by competing with CD4 for MHC class II binding. Others have demonstrated that loss of LAG-3 results in CD4+ T cell hyperresponsiveness and accelerated autoimmunity, further supporting LAG-3’s regulatory capabilities. In order for optimal CD4+ T cell activation, naive T cells must transition their metabolic program from oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS) to aerobic glycolysis (AG), a faster process that drives macromolecule production. We hypothesized that LAG-3 regulates the metabolic transition of CD4+ T cells from OXPHOS to AG, and in turn, loss of LAG-3 expression results in a faster transition to AG, promoting T cell hyperproliferation. At baseline, B6.LAG-3-/- splenocytes exhibited enhanced spare respiratory capacity as compared to WT controls, which correlated with increased mitochondrial mass and expression of the mitochondrial biogenesis transcription factor TFAM (2-fold), and mitochondrial complexes I-IV. Upon suboptimal Con A stimulation, LAG-3-/- splenocytes demonstrated greater upregulation of glycolysis-associated genes by 24 hrs (1.5 - 3 fold). These results correlated with increased Myc expression and mTOR signaling, both of which are crucial for driving AG. Taken together, these data indicate that LAG-3 regulates CD4+ T cell activation by controlling metabolic programing since the loss of LAG-3 results in a more metabolically primed phenotype.
THE EFFICACY OF DIVERGENCE HITCHHIKING IN GENERATING GENOMIC ISLANDS DURING ECOLOGICAL SPECIATION

Genes under divergent selection flow less readily between populations than other loci. This observation has led to verbal "divergence hitchhiking" models of speciation in which decreased interpopulation gene flow surrounding loci under divergent selection can generate large regions of differentiation within the genome (genomic islands). The efficacy of this model in promoting speciation depends on the size of the region affected by divergence hitchhiking. Empirical evidence is mixed, with examples of both large and small genomic islands. To address these empirical discrepancies and to formalize the theory, we present mathematical models of divergence hitchhiking, which examine neutral differentiation around selected sites. For a single locus under selection, regions of differentiation do not extend far along a chromosome away from a selected site unless both effective population sizes and migration rates are low. When multiple loci are considered, regions of differentiation can be larger. However, with many loci under selection, genome-wide divergence occurs and genomic islands are erased. The results show that divergence hitchhiking can generate large regions of differentiation, but that the conditions under which this occurs are limited. Thus, speciation may often require multifarious selection acting on many, isolated and physically unlinked genes. How hitchhiking promotes further adaptive divergence warrants consideration.
Photoelectron–Photoion Coincidence Methods in Mass Spectrometry, (PEPICO)☆

The technique known as photoelectron-photoion coincidence (PEPICO) in mass spectrometry is a procedure for selecting ions of a certain internal energy and investigating their reaction dynamics. Here the various methods of ion selection and analysis are reviewed, and some examples are given.
Un médico higienista buscando ordenar el mundo urbano argentino de comienzos del siglo XX

As part of the discourse of progress and the promises of science, hygiene as a discipline has been playing the role of a great advisor, a sort of expert in the art of observing, correcting, improving and trying to change the health of the social body and the modern nation. In that context hygiene even imagined alternative or utopian cities. Emilio Coni, perhaps the most distinguished Argentine hygienist of the end of the 19th century and the beginnings of the 20th, imagined one of such cities. The following notes aim at contextualizing his "Argentine ideal city". The original version of Coni's text, published in La Semana Medica on April 3, 1919, is also included.
Acoustic Peak Spacing, Cosmological Density, and Equation of State

The spacing of the acoustic peaks in the cosmic microwave background radiation anisotropy multipole spectrum has been claimed to provide the value of the total cosmological density overtly, ``written on the sky.'' Through a semianalytic analysis of the cosmological evolution of the sound horizon and the physics of decoupling we address the robustness of the relation between the peak spacing and the cosmological density. In fact, the asymptotic distance and horizon scalings often used are not good approximations, and the individual densities and equations of state of different components do enter the problem. An observed spacing could be fit by models with different total densities. We investigate the different regions of density-equation of state parameter space and also provide accurate fitting formulas for the peak spacing as a function of matter density, total density, and additional component equation of state (e.g. cosmological constant or cosmic strings). Limits provided by peak spacing measurements on the number of neutrino species and the baryon-photon ratio are also addressed.
Prostate selectivity of JTH-601-G1, an active metabolite of JTH-601, in dogs.

Objective To evaluate the effect of JTH-601-G1, an active metabolite and glucuronide conjugate of JTH-601 (an α1-adrenoceptor antagonist), on smooth muscle contraction in canine prostate and artery, and to examine the effect of JTH-601-G1 on prostatic urethral pressure and blood pressure in anaesthetized dogs. Materials and methods Male beagle dogs were used in both an in vitro and an in vivo study. In the former, the prostate and right common carotid artery were isolated, and smooth muscle strips from the prostate and open-ring strips from the carotid artery prepared. The effects of JTH-601-G1 on phenylephrine- and noradrenaline-induced contraction were assessed in these tissues. In the in vivo study, four dogs were anaesthetized and the change in urethral pressure, blood pressure and heart rate measured continuously. Vehicle (saline) and JTH-601-G1 were then infused intravenously in increasing doses (0.33–3.3 µg/kg/min for 30 min). In three other dogs, the effect of JTH-601-G1 infusion at a higher rate (25 µg/kg/min for 3 h) on blood pressure was evaluated, and the plasma concentration of JTH-601-G1 measured using high-performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry. Results Of the distinct metabolites of JTH-601, JTH-601-G1 had the most potent α1-adrenoceptor antagonistic effect in isolated canine prostate. JTH-601-G1 also antagonized α1-adrenoceptor agonist-induced contraction in common carotid artery, but the pA2 value in the artery was ≈25 times higher than that in the prostate. In anaesthetized dogs, JTH-601-G1 decreased urethral pressure in a dose-dependent manner; at the highest dose, urethral pressure decreased by 24.5% and blood pressure by 7.0%. However, there was no significant change in heart rate at any dose. The plasma concentration of JTH-601-G1 increased with the dose of JTH-601-G1, but the concentration of both JTH-601 and other metabolites was below the detection limit. The higher JTH-601-G1 infusion rate caused blood pressure to decrease by only 6–10% even at JTH-601-G1 plasma concentrations of ≈1500 ng/mL during the infusion. Although there was a negative correlation between mean blood pressure and plasma JTH-601-G1 concentration, the decrease in blood pressure was small compared with the reduction in urethral pressure. Conclusion JTH-601-G1 appears to be a major active metabolite of JTH-601 but with a higher selectivity for canine prostate than artery. The results also indicate that in addition to the α1A-adrenoceptor, the α1L-adrenoceptor plays an important prostatic selective role in smooth muscle contraction via the α1-adrenoceptor.
Recent advances in process systems engineering

A crucial success factor in a technology driven market is coupled with the ability to understand and interpret new technologies expeditiously and convert this knowledge into a competitive advantage. In the search for procedures to advance corporate know-how faster, mathematical modeling is becoming an indispensable tool. The new challenge for systems research is to create a new breed of computer-based technologies for assistance and/or partial automation of the creative modeling process. Meta-modeling is a modeling paradigm for rapid computer-aided model generation of large multi-scale systems in industrial practice. It proposes model building by means of phenomena-oriented modeling languages. Using the domain-specific language concepts, users compose process models by specifying the physical and chemical phenomena in a fully declarative fashion. Automatic interpretation of the high-level concepts of the model application leads to an equivalent set of system equations. Computer-aided model generation enables engineering teams to formulate highly structured process models in short amount of time. It also focuses the modeling effort onto the fundamental principles governing a process model without the need for explicit coding of all constitutive and balance equations. This article discusses recent advances and open challenges for computer-aided model generation.
The health of glaciers: Recent changes in glacier regime

Glacier wastage has been pervasive during the last century; small glaciers and those in marginal environments are disappearing, large mid-latitude glaciers are shrinking slightly, and arctic glaciers are warming. Net mass balances during the last 40 years are predominately negative and both winter and summer balances (accumulation and ablation) and mass turnover are increasing, especially after 1988. Two principal components of winter balance time-series explain about 50% of the variability in the data. Glacier winter balances in north and central Europe correlate with the Arctic Oscillation, and glaciers in western North America correlate with the Southern Oscillation and Northern Hemisphere air temperature. The degree of synchronization for distant glaciers relates to changes in time of atmospheric circulation patterns as well as differing dynamic responses.
A comparison of algorithms for polar-to-cartesian interpolation in spotlight mode SAR

We compare the performance of three algorithms for polar-to-cartesian interpolation in spotlight mode synthetic aperture radar. The original polar data in this case lies far from the origin in a region of very small angular extent.
Together, Forever? Correlates of Marital Well-Being

This main aim of this paper is to evaluate the predictors of marital instability among married individuals living in Northern Cyprus, by focusing on socio-economic, attitudinal, psychological, and relationship-specific factors. To fulfill this goal, the study analyzes survey data from 496 married individuals living in the major cities of Northern Cyprus. Using logistic regression analyses, this paper specifically considers the role of gender, education, presence of preschool children living in the household, native-born status, marital history, annual household income, depression, gender ideology, marital duration, marital interaction, marital conflict, sexual satisfaction, satisfaction with the division of household labor at home, and overall marital satisfaction. Our results suggest that relationship-specific indicators are the most important correlates of marital instability. Specifically, higher levels of marital satisfaction, sexual satisfaction, and less marital conflict are significantly correlated with higher marital stability among married individuals. In addition, those who are in longer marriages also report more stable marriages. Lastly, higher levels of depression and more egalitarian gender ideology are both significantly correlated with less marital stability, but these two effects are modest.
Conditioned facilitation of brain reward function after repeated cocaine administration.

Cocaine lowers brain reward thresholds, reflecting increased brain reward function. The authors investigated whether, similar to acute cocaine administration, cocaine-predictive conditioned stimuli would lower intracranial self-stimulation (ICSS) thresholds. Rats received a saline injection for 5 days, a cocaine injection (10 mg/kg) for 20 consecutive days, then saline for 5 additional days. Thresholds were measured immediately before and 10 min after each injection. The initial 5 saline injections had no effect on thresholds, whereas cocaine significantly lowered thresholds for 20 days. There was no tolerance or sensitization to this effect of cocaine over days. During the last 5 days when cocaine administration was substituted with saline, rats demonstrated a conditioned lowering of thresholds during the 2nd daily ICSS session. These data demonstrate that cocaine-predictive conditioned stimuli induce a conditioned facilitation of brain reward function.
Limits on fundamental limits to computation

To evaluate the promise of potential computing technologies, this review examines a wide range of fundamental limits, such as to performance, power consumption, size and cost, from the device level to the system level. Computers have evolved at a remarkable rate, with improvements over the past fifty years roughly in line with Gordon Moore's prescient observation that the number of transistors in a dense integrated circuit would double approximately every two years. The rate of 'Moore scaling' is slowing down and other physical limits are looming, but new technologies such as carbon nanotubes, graphene and quantum computation are on the way. In this Review, Igor Markov takes a fresh look at the fundamental limits at various levels, from devices to complete systems, and compares loose and tight limits. Markov argues that the study of the limits of fundamental limits to computation can lead to new insights for emerging technologies. An indispensable part of our personal and working lives, computing has also become essential to industries and governments. Steady improvements in computer hardware have been supported by periodic doubling of transistor densities in integrated circuits over the past fifty years. Such Moore scaling now requires ever-increasing efforts, stimulating research in alternative hardware and stirring controversy. To help evaluate emerging technologies and increase our understanding of integrated-circuit scaling, here I review fundamental limits to computation in the areas of manufacturing, energy, physical space, design and verification effort, and algorithms. To outline what is achievable in principle and in practice, I recapitulate how some limits were circumvented, and compare loose and tight limits. Engineering difficulties encountered by emerging technologies may indicate yet unknown limits.
Frequency-doubling of a CW fiber laser using PPKTP, PPMgSLT, and PPMgLN

Second-harmonic generation (SHG) in PPKTP, PPMgSLT, and PPMgLN crystals is analyzed by frequency-doubling CW light from a 1064 nm fiber laser over a range of powers up to 10 W. Data for fundamental powers less than 3 W is used to determine the effects of the fundamental laser linewidth on SHG and to identify imperfections in the periodicity and boundary sharpness of the crystals’ poled domains which can reduce SHG. Data for fundamental powers greater than 3 W is used to diagnose and model limiting effects on SHG such as pump depletion and thermal dephasing. Thermal dephasing was found to reduce second-harmonic power by 25% or more for input fundamental powers approaching 10 W.
Mn(II) oxidation by an ascomycete fungus is linked to superoxide production during asexual reproduction

Manganese (Mn) oxides are among the most reactive minerals within the environment, where they control the bioavailability of carbon, nutrients, and numerous metals. Although the ability of microorganisms to oxidize Mn(II) to Mn(III/IV) oxides is scattered throughout the bacterial and fungal domains of life, the mechanism and physiological basis for Mn(II) oxidation remains an enigma. Here, we use a combination of compound-specific chemical assays, microspectroscopy, and electron microscopy to show that a common Ascomycete filamentous fungus, Stilbella aciculosa, oxidizes Mn(II) to Mn oxides by producing extracellular superoxide during cell differentiation. The reactive Mn oxide phase birnessite and the reactive oxygen species superoxide and hydrogen peroxide are colocalized at the base of asexual reproductive structures. Mn oxide formation is not observed in the presence of superoxide scavengers (e.g., Cu) and inhibitors of NADPH oxidases (e.g., diphenylene iodonium chloride), enzymes responsible for superoxide production and cell differentiation in fungi. Considering the recent identification of Mn(II) oxidation by NADH oxidase-based superoxide production by a common marine bacterium (Roseobacter sp.), these results introduce a surprising homology between some prokaryotic and eukaryotic organisms in the mechanisms responsible for Mn(II) oxidation, where oxidation appears to be a side reaction of extracellular superoxide production. Given the versatility of superoxide as a redox reactant and the widespread ability of fungi to produce superoxide, this microbial extracellular superoxide production may play a central role in the cycling and bioavailability of metals (e.g., Hg, Fe, Mn) and carbon in natural systems.
Model for the Distribution of Aftershock Interoccurrence Times

In this work the distribution of interoccurrence times between earthquakes in aftershock sequences is analyzed and a model based on a nonhomogeneous Poisson (NHP) process is proposed to quantify the observed scaling. In this model the generalized Omori's law for the decay of aftershocks is used as a time-dependent rate in the NHP process. The analytically derived distribution of interoccurrence times is applied to several major aftershock sequences in California to confirm the validity of the proposed hypothesis.
The relationship between self-reported menstrual symptomatology and aggression measured in the laboratory

Abstract This study investigated the relationship between the severity of self-reported menstrual cycle symptoms and a laboratory measure of aggression. Two groups of women were recruited, one group reporting low and one group reporting moderate to high perimenstrual symptoms. Scores from the Negative Affect subscale of the Menstrual Distress Questionnaire (MDQ) were used to define groups. Each of 40 subjects (20 high symptom and 20 low symptom) participated in three testing sessions of the ©Point Subtraction Aggression Paradigm, an established methodology for measuring aggression in the laboratory. There were two significant findings: (a) the high symptom group emitted higher rates of aggressive response than the low symptom group independent of which menstrual cycle phase they were in when tested; and (b) rates of aggressive response were significantly correlated with the MDQ's Negative Affect and Behavior Change scales for the menses and premenstrual phases (but not for the remainder of the cycle). These findings indicate that self-reports of perimenstrual symptoms are predictive of an individual's tendency to respond aggressively when provoked, and suggest that retrospectively linking self-reported menstrual symptom severity with behavior is problematic because individuals endorsing or not endorsing these symptoms may differ behaviorally regardless of menstrual cycle phase.