cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Attention Shoppers: Executive Compensation at Kroger, Safeway, Costco and Whole Foods

Retail grocery sales represent a significant portion of the U.S. economy. The industry was highly competitive, with companies operating on low gross and net margins. As a result, grocery stores were generally under significant pressure to reduce their operating costs in order to maintain profitability. For the last several decades, the grocery industry grew roughly in line with gross domestic product and was considered a mature industry. In order for companies to succeed, they needed to find effective strategies to steal customers from competitors. Many sought to differentiate themselves through store format, store location, product mix, ancillary services, or quality of customer service. Strategies, however, could easily be imitated by competitors, putting grocery store chains under constant pressure to innovate and remain efficient. In general, growth also required the expansion into new store locations. Companies that failed to grow often went bankrupt or were acquired. This case explores executive compensation at four retail grocery stores: Safeway, Kroger, Costco, and Whole Foods. Consideration is given to each company's strategy and market position and corporate governance structure. Readers of the case are asked to evaluate in a critical manner the appropriateness of each company's compensation strategy and compensation levels, given company performance.
Modern Transceiver Architectures

This chapter contains sections titled: Overview Receiver Architectures Transmitter Architectures Transceiver Architectures
The After-Tax Yield to Maturity of a Premium Bond: Bias from a Simple Approximation

When finding the after-tax yield to maturity of a bond, it is customary to use the approximate relationship: after-tax yield = (1 - tax rate) × (before-tax yield). This paper provides a theoretical justification for this simplified formula by showing that, for premium bonds, it can be obtained from the complex implicit function defining the exact after-tax yield by using a first-order Taylor series approximation. Such simple approximations normally result in potentially large errors, and this is indeed what our simulation results show. Nevertheless, the approximation formula's error possesses the desirable properties that it is consistent in sign and bounded. Hence, the approximate formula, although easy to apply, should be used with caution.
Molecular beam epitaxy-grown AlGaInAs/InP distributed Bragg reflectors for 1.55 [micro sign]m VCSELs

Solid source molecular beam epitaxy with valved P cracker source is used for the first time to grow an AlGaInAs/InP distributed Bragg reflector (DBR). The DBR shows a measured reflectivity of 98.78% for 25 pairs with a stop band of more than 100 nm. Current-voltage study shows a low drop of 4 mV/pair.
Ethical Issues in Stroke Patients

Clinical ethics provides important resources for patients, surrogates, and health care professionals facing difficult decisions and dilemmas after a patient has experienced a stroke. Because of the significance of the ethical principle of respect for patient autonomy, wishes and preferences, assessment of a stroke patient’s decision-making capacity is an important first step for identifying goals of care and clinical management of the patient. Decisions to forgo life-sustaining treatment, including artificial nutrition and hydration, should be based on patient wishes and preferences as well as burden-to-benefit analyses.
Evolving GSM data services

The Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) already includes basic data services, but growing demand for higher bit rates and efficient bandwidth utilization has motivated a plan to introduce several new data services. These new high speed circuit switched data (HSCSD) and general packet radio service (GPRS) are described. An architectural vision has been created which introduces distributed packet data switching separated from the mobile switching center as a generation 2.5 network on the road to the third generation Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS).
Studies of ESD-related failure patterns of Agilent oxide VCSELs

Electrostatic Discharge (ESD) damage is considered to be the leading cause for IC field failures. With increasing integration densities, devices tend to become more and more sensitive to ESD events. This observation holds in particular true for 850nm VCSELs, as the quest for higher modulation frequencies calls for shrinking device dimensions and aperture sizes in particular. This publication is geared towards an understanding of the various factors that lead to ESD-related failures of oxide VCSELs. A broad variety of current VCSEL product lines at Agilent have been investigated in respect to their ESD resistance and related long-term reliability. Intentionally stressed devices have been characterized in terms of their electrical, optical and visual failure patterns as well as the medium time-to-failure. Cross-sectional and plan-view TEM have been employed to localize ESD damage and its propagation. For the first time, emission microscopy has been used to study the electroluminescence pattern of damaged VCSELs at very low currents. The paper will conclude by listing experimental signatures allowing for differentiation between ESD and other failure modes. Based upon these, effective screening methods are proposed.
Formation and maintenance of aggregations in walleye pollock,Theragra chalcogramma, larvae under laboratory conditions: role of visual and chemical stimuli

Although planktonic marine fish larvae are often distributed in aggregations, the role of behavioral responses to environmental factors in these aggregations is not well understood. This work examines, under laboratory conditions, the influence of visual and chemical stimuli in the formation and maintenance of aggregations in walleye pollock,Theragra chalcogramma, larvae. Larvae were exposed to a horizontal gradient of light (visual stimulus), prey scent (chemical stimuli: squid/copepod and rotifer) or prey density (visual & chemical stimuli: rotifers). While larvae did not respond to prey scent, they did respond to a gradient of light or prey, which resulted in the formation and maintenance of aggregations. Larvae moved into and remained in a zone of higher light intensity (0.56 versus 0.01 μmol photons m-2 s-1). Once encountering a patch of prey, larvae remained aggregated within the patch to feed. In nature, movement of walleye pollock larvae in response to selected environmental factors (e.g., gravity, light, temperature, turbulence) may serendipitously bring them into contact with prey patches, where they then could remain to feed as long as light intensity remained at or above levels necessary for feeding.
The uranium-isotopic composition of Saharan dust collected over the central Atlantic Ocean

Abstract Uranium isotopic compositions, 234 U / 238 U activity , are utilized by earth surface disciplines as chronometers and source tracers, including in soil science where aeolian dust is a significant source to the total nutrient pool. However, the 234 U / 238 U activity composition of dust is under characterized due to material and analytical constraints. Here we present new uranium isotope data measured by high precision MC-ICP-MS on ten airborne dust samples collected on the M55 trans-Atlantic cruise in 2002. Two pairs of samples are presented with different size fractions, coarse (1–30 μm) and fine ( 234 U / 238 U activity of mineral aerosols transported from the Sahara across the Atlantic. Our results indicate 234 U / 238 U activity above one for both the water soluble (1.13–1.17) and the residual solid (1.06–1.18) fractions of the dust; no significant correlation is found between isotopic composition and travel distance. Residual solids indicate a slight dependance of 234 U / 238 U activity on particle size. Future modeling work that incorporates dust isotopic compositions into mixing or isotopic fractionation models will need to account for the wide variability in dust 234 U / 238 U activity .
A comparison of techniques for assessing dispersal behaviour in gundis: revealing dispersal patterns in the absence of observed dispersal behaviour.

Knowledge of the dispersal status of group members is important to understanding how sociality may have evolved within a species. I assessed the effectiveness of four techniques for elucidating dispersal behaviour in a rock-dwelling rodent (Ctenodactylus gundi) with small group sizes (2–10 animals): genetic parentage assignment, haplotype data and kinship analyses, assignment testing, and F-statistics. The first two methods provided the greatest insight into gundi dispersal behaviour. Assignment testing and F-statistics proved of limited use for elucidating fine-scale dispersal, but could detect large-scale patterns despite low sex-biased dispersal intensity (1.9 : 1) because of moderate genetic differentiation among groups (FST = 0.10). Findings are discussed in light of current dispersal theory. In general, gundi dispersal is plastic, and seems to be dependent on body weight (for males), group composition, and scale of analysis (total dispersal events recorded within the population were almost twice the immigration rate into the population). Most groups were comprised of a single matriline and one immigrant male. Immigrant rather than philopatric males bred with group females. Dispersal among groups was male-biased, but dispersal or philopatry could occur by either sex. During a drought, both sexes delayed dispersal and cooperative social units formed. Whether such behaviour resulted directly from the drought or not remains unclear, however, since comparative information was not available from nondrought years. Combining fine-scale analyses with information on large-scale patterns provided substantial insight into gundi dispersal behaviour despite the limited movement of animals during a drought, and may prove useful for elucidating dispersal behaviour in other social animals.
Synthesis and characterization of sterically encumbered aluminum thiolato complexes with rare Al/S/halide structural motifs

Abstract The reaction of the bulky lithium terphenyl thiolates LiSArMe6 (ArMe6 = C6H3-2,6-(C6H2-2,4,6-Me3)2) and LiSAriPr4 (AriPr4 = C6H3-2,6-(C6H3-2,6-iPr2)2) with AlBr3 in PhMe or Et2O resulted in the formation of two new lithium aluminum thiolate salts LiAl(SArMe6)2Br2·PhMe 1, [LiAl(SArMe6)Br3]2 2, and the etherate Al(SAriPr4)Br2(OEt2) 3. Compounds 1–3 were structurally characterized and analyzed by 1H, 13C NMR and IR spectroscopy. In further investigations the reduction of 1 and 2 with KC8 or Rieke’s magnesium in different solvent systems afforded the compounds KAl(SArMe6)3H·2PhMe 4 and LiAl(SArMe6)Br0.36I1.64(2THF)·PhMe 5. All of the compounds described herein contain four-coordinate aluminum atoms with distorted tetrahedral geometries.
A High Current Injector for the Proposed SLAC Linear Collider

A new, high-current injector has been designed to yield the 7.5 × 1010e- per S-band bunch necessary for the proposed linear collider. The injector consists of two prebunchers at the 16th subharmonic, a 0.75 c traveling wave buncher, and a three-meter velocity of light traveling wave structure. The e- beam is confined by a solonoidal magnetic field in the buncher and capture regions. A computer simulation similar to that used by Mavrogenes et al., has been used to calculate the bunching. The calculation indicates it is possible to achieve ~l × 1011e- in 16° of S-band from a 15 amp gun pulse of 1.5 nsec duration.
Dicke narrowing of the polarized Stokes–Raman Q branch of the v=0→1 transition of D2 in He

Results are presented from calculations of several Stokes-Raman Q branch line shapes of the v = 0-1 transition of D2 in He in the low pressure regime where Dicke narrowing is observed. Consideration is given to five different approximations: a form of the generalized Hess theory (Monchick and Hunter, 1987), two high pressure asymptotes of Hess's method, the moment method of Corey and McCourt (1984), and a collision kernel method. It is found that the generalized Hess and the collision kernel methods have the best agreement with experiments.
Maximum operating temperature and characteristic temperature of a quantum dot laser in the presence of internal loss

Carrier-density-dependent internal optical loss sets an upper limit for operating temperatures and considerably reduces the characteristic temperature of a quantum dot laser. Such internal loss also constrains the shallowest potential well depth and the smallest tolerable size of a quantum dot at which the lasing can be attained. At the maximum operating temperature or when any parameter of the structure is equal to its critical tolerable value, the characteristic temperature drops to zero.
Leadership ratings: Toward focusing more on specific behaviors

Abstract Current leadership rating scales emphasize assessing behaviors rather than other characteristics. Yet an examination of their content, as well as the current research literature, suggests that they tap much more. In the interest of increasing the utility of leadership ratings, a relatively narrow conception of “behavior” is advocated, and leadership-behavior is contrasted with leadership-perception and leadership-effectiveness. Recent discoveries in social-cognition regarding factors that influence encoding and retrieval of behavior episodes are reviewed. They suggest a number of steps that might be taken to increase the accuracy of leadership ratings as measures of leaders' actual behaviors.
Postmenopausal bartholin gland enlargement: a hospital-based cancer risk assessment

Objective To assess the risk of Bartholin gland carcinoma in postmenopausal women. Methods A referral patient population from a tertiary care cancer center and a hospital-based regional tumor registry was used in a case-control and retrospective cohort study. We searched for data on any discharge diagnosis or procedures involving the Bartholin gland, including excision, cystectomy, or marsupialization, and pathology reports confirming cancer diagnoses from a hospital-based regional tumor registry and a tertiary hospital's medical records department and operating room log. Results A total of 284 patients were identified, 161 patients from the hospital-based tumor registry and 123 from the tertiary hospital data bases. Pathology reports from 104 of the 161 patients with vulvar cancer were available and revealed two primary adenocarcinomas in postmenopausal women, one squamous cell carcinoma of the Bartholin gland in a postmenopausal woman, and two squamous cell carcinomas of the Bartholin gland in premenopausal patients over a 24-year period. Based on local New York State Department of Health census data, the incidence of Bartholin gland carcinoma was 0.023 per 100,000 woman-years in premenopausal women and 0.114 per 100,000 woman-years in postmenopausal women (incidence rate ratio 5.01, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.67–25.1). The overall incidence rate of squamous cell vulvar carcinoma was 0.42 per 100,000 woman-years in premenopausal and 4.72 per 100,000 womanyears in postmenopausal women (odds ratio [OR] 11.55, 95% CI 7.82–17.14). The ratio of Bartholin gland cancer to other vulvar cancers was two per 37 in premenopausal women versus three per 124 in postmenopausal women (OR 2.3, 95% CI 0.39–17.9). Of thirteen postmenopausal patients (mean age 65.4 years) with Bartholin gland enlargement admitted to the tertiary care center, only four (30.8%) had excisions, whereas the remainder (69.2%) had drainage or marsupialization. None of the patients treated with drainage or marsupialization were listed subsequently in the rumor registry as developing Bartholin gland cancer during a median surveillance of 10.3 years (range 1.7–14.4). Conclusion Bartholin gland cancer is exceedingly rare in all women, including postmenopausal women. We were unable to find evidence that would justify excision as the initial treatment of a Bartholin gland enlargement in postmenopausal women. Drainage and selective biopsy may be sufficient as initial management.
Hydrogen production over Ni/ceria-supported catalysts by partial oxidation of methane

Abstract The catalytic performance of Ni dispersed on ceria-doped supports, (Ce0.88La0.12) O2-x, (Ce0.91Gd0.09) O2-x, (Ce0.71Gd0.29) O2-x, (Ce0.56Zr0.44) O2-x and pure ceria, was tested for the catalytic partial oxidation of Methane (CPOX). The catalysts were characterized by Brunauer Emmett Teller (BET), X-ray diffraction (XRD), temperature programmed reduction (TPR) and temperature programmed oxidation (TPO). Ni/ (Ce0.56Zr0.44) O2-x showed higher Hydrogen production than the Ni/Gadolinium-doped catalysts, which may be due to its higher reducibility and surface area. By enhancing the support reducibility in Ni/doped-ceria catalysts, their catalytic activity is promoted because the availability of surface lattice oxygen is increased, which can participate in the formation of CO and H2. It was also found that Ni/(Ce0.56Zr0.44) O2-x showed higher catalytic performance after redox pretreatments. Similarly, a higher amount of H2 or O2 was consumed during hydrogenation and oxidation pretreatments, respectively. This may be correlated to re-dispersion of metallic particles and changes on the metal-support interface. In addition, it was observed that the ionic conductivity of Ni/(Ce0.56Zr0.44) O2-x had an effect on the amount of carbon formed during the CPOX reaction at oxygen concentrations lower than the stoichiometric required, O/C ratios lower than 0.6. Its high oxygen mobility may have accelerated the surface oxidation reactions of carbon by reactive oxygen species, thus, inhibiting carbon growth on the catalyst surface.
Admittance studies of surface quantization in [100]-oriented Si metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors

The behavior of charge carriers in the inversion layer under surface-quantized conditions was observed by small-signal magnetoadmittance ($Y$) and manetoconductance ($G$) experiments on $p$-type (100) Si metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect-transistor (MOSFET) structures. The two-dimensional character of the surface-quantized electron gas was further substantiated. The density of states was studied directly by the surface-capacitance technique. The dependence of $Y$ on a number of variables was investigated, including (1) $T\ensuremath{\le}4.22$ \ifmmode^\circ\else\textdegree\fi{}K, (2) magnetic field ($B\ensuremath{\le}12$ T), (3) electric field excitation, (4) frequency, and (5) substrate doping (${10}^{19}\ensuremath{\le}p\ensuremath{\le}2\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}\frac{{10}^{20}}{{m}^{3}}$). Comparative studies of small-signal surface conductance and admittance were useful in establishing the advantages and limitations of each technique. It was observed that $Y$ becomes frequency independent at frequencies below 500 Hz. Both the line shape and fine structure observed at $Y$ at threshold are attributed to a bound-state band overlapping the conduction band resulting from surface-potential fluctuation. Circuit modeling of the MOSFET structures was found to be important in the interpretation of the admittance.
Evaluation of the Xal-Ease latanoprost delivery system.

Abstract Purpose The purpose of this study was to compare drops of latanoprost dispensed using the Xal-Ease™ (Pfizer Ophthalmics, New York, New York) delivery system with drops dispensed manually. Methods Twenty-four 2.5-mL bottles of Xalatan® (Pfizer Ophthalmics) were evaluated with or without the delivery system. Individually dispensed drops were counted. The total volume dispensed was measured to the nearest 10 μL. Statistical analysis compared group means by analysis of variance. P values less than 0.05 were considered significant. Results The overall mean volume was 2,850 μL. Overall mean drops per bottle (n = 24) were 90.3 ± 6.3. Using the Xal-Ease, mean drops per bottle were 93.0 ± 3.4 and without it, 87.7 ± 7.5 (n = 12 each). Conclusions With Xal-Ease, mean drops per bottle (5) were statistically significantly greater when compared with standard dispensing ( P = 0.0393). This result is accounted for by more consistent individual drop volume and greater volume using the delivery system.
Determination of the effective transverse coherence of the neutron wave packet as employed in reflectivity investigations of condensed-matter structures. I. Measurements

The primary purpose of this investigation is to determine the effective coherent extent of the neutron wave packet transverse to its mean propagation vector $\mathbf{k}$ when it is prepared in a typical instrument used to study the structure of materials in thin film form via specular reflection. There are two principal reasons for doing so. One has to do with the fundamental physical interest in the characteristics of a free neutron as a quantum object, while the other is of a more practical nature, relating to the understanding of how to interpret elastic scattering data when the neutron is employed as a probe of condensed-matter structure on an atomic or nanometer scale. Knowing such a basic physical characteristic as the neutron's effective transverse coherence can dictate how to properly analyze specular reflectivity data obtained for material film structures possessing some amount of in-plane inhomogeneity. In this study we describe a means of measuring the effective transverse coherence length of the neutron wave packet by specular reflection from a series of diffraction gratings of different spacings. Complementary nonspecular measurements of the widths of grating reflections were also performed, which corroborate the specular results. (This paper principally describes measurements interpreted according to the theoretical picture presented in a companion paper.) Each grating was fabricated by lift-off photolithography patterning of a nickel film (approximately 1000 \AA{} thick) formed by physical vapor deposition on a flat silicon crystal surface. The grating periods ranged from 10 $\ensuremath{\mu}$m (5 $\ensuremath{\mu}$m Ni stripe, 5 $\ensuremath{\mu}$m intervening space) to several hundred microns. The transverse coherence length, modeled as the width of the wave packet, was determined from an analysis of the specular reflectivity curves of the set of gratings.
Noninvasive Ultrasound Elasticity Imaging (UEI) of Crohn's Disease: Animal Model

Inflammation occurs in episodic flares in Crohn's disease, which are part of the waxing and waning course of the disease. Healing between flares allows the intestine to reconstitute its epithelium, but this healing results in the deposition of fibrotic scar tissue as part of the healing process. Repeated cycles of flares and healing often lead to clinically significant fibrosis and stenosis of the intestine. Patients are treated empirically with steroids, with their many side effects, in the hope that they will respond. Many patients would be better treated with surgery if we could identify which patients truly have intestinal fibrosis. Ultrasound elasticity imaging (UEI) offers the potential to radically improve the diagnosis and management of local tissue elastic property, particularly intestinal fibrosis. This method allows complete characterization of local intestine tissue with high spatial resolution. The feasibility of UEI on Crohn's disease is demonstrated by directly applying this technique to an animal model of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Five female Lewis rats (150-180g) were prepared with phosphate buffered solution (PBS) as a control group and six were prepared with repeated intrarectal administration of trinitrobenzenesulfonic acid (TNBS) as a disease group. Preliminary strain measurements differentiate the diseased colons from the normal colons (p < 0.0002) and compared well with direct mechanical measurements and histology (p < 0.0005). UEI provides a simple and accurate assessment of local severity of fibrosis. The preliminary results on an animal model also suggest the feasibility of translating this imaging technique directly to human subjects for both diagnosis and monitoring.
The revelation effect: moderating influences of encoding conditions and type of recognition test.

In the revelation effect, slowly revealing a test item immediately prior to a recognition judgment increases the probability of an “old” response. Extant accounts imply that the revelation effect occurs for familiarity-based judgments but not for those involving recall or recollection. To assess this implication, the contribution of recollection was varied by encoding conditions and memory tests. Two manipulations of recollection, semantic encoding and context-item integration, both reduced the revelation effect on a standard recognition test. For the same encoding conditions, a perceptually driven memory test (rhyme recognition) exhibited no revelation effect whatsoever. In a second experiment, the rhyme recognition test exhibited a revelation effect under impoverished encoding conditions. The results document important limits of the revelation effect produced by both encoding and test conditions. Furthermore, the recollection-based limitations of the revelation effect are not restricted to conditions of enhanced semantic encoding.
Advanced tube-bundle rocket thrust chambers

An advanced rocket thrust chamber for future space application is described along with an improved method of fabrication. Potential benefits of the concept are improved cyclic life, reusability, and performance. Performance improvements are anticipated because of the enhanced heat transfer into the coolant which will enable higher chamber pressure in expander cycle engines. Cyclic life, reusability and reliability improvements are anticipated because of the enhanced structural compliance inherent in the construction. The method of construction involves the forming of the combustion chamber with a tube-bundle of high conductivity copper or copper alloy tubes, and the bonding of these tubes by an electroforming operation. Further, the method of fabrication reduces chamber complexity by incorporating manifolds, jackets, and structural stiffeners while having the potential for thrust chamber cost and weight reduction.
In vivo imaging polarimeter for oral precancer detection

The Mueller matrix describes all the polarizing properties of a sample, and therefore the optical differences between non-cancerous and pre-cancerous tissue should be present within the matrix elements. We present in this paper that a high speedpolarimetry system generates 16 full Mueller matrices to characterize tissues. Feature extraction is done on the Mueller matrix elements resulting in the depolarizance and retardance images by polar decomposition to detect and classify of early oral cancers and pre-cancerous changes in epithelium, such as dysplasia. These images are compared with orthogonal polarization image and analyzed in an attempt to determine the important factors for the identification of cancerous lesions from their benign counterparts. Our results indicate that polarimetry has potential as a method for the in vivo early detection and diagnosis of oral premalignancy and malignancy.
An embedded atom method potential of beryllium

We present an embedded atom method (EAM) potential for hexagonal beryllium, with a pair function in the form of a Morse potential and a Johnson embedding function with exponential electron density. The cohesive energy, elastic constants, lattice parameters and relaxed vacancy formation energy were used to fit the potential. The fitted-potential was validated by a comparison to first-principles and, wherever available, experimental results for the lattice energies of various crystal structures: vacancy cluster, interstitial formation and surface. Using a large cutoff distance of 5 Å, which includes interactions to approximately the eighth neighbor shell of beryllium, allows our potential to reproduce these quantities considerably better than previous EAM potentials. The accuracy obtained by our potential is similar to or in some cases even better than available modified EAM potentials, while being computationally less intensive.
Creating America's ‘Czech Capital’: ethnic identity and heritage tourism in Wilber, Nebraska

European American ethnic festivals play an important role in the maintenance of folk traditions and ethnic identity in America. Many of these festivals were established during a mid-twentieth-century period of diminishing Old World identity among second and third generation immigrants. The celebrations sought not only to revive ethnic identification by highlighting customs such as cuisine, music and dance, but also to boost the local economy by tapping into a burgeoning tourism destination market. Wilber, Nebraska, home to a large population of Czech Americans, resurrected such a festival in 1962 that had not been celebrated since 1937, and this paper explores a number of geographical, historical, cultural and political factors contributing to its initial and continued popularity as a regional ethnic festival. Also discussed are the commodified cultural items, including food, polka music, craftwork and traditional clothing that provide Czech Americans a means to engage in and maintain a satisfying level o...
SPECIFICITY IN THE COMBINATION OF FD FRAGMENTS WITH L CHAINS TO FORM HAPTEN-BINDING SITES

In the work reported here we have shown that light chains and Fd fragments can be separated completely in propionic acid and then recombined to form Fab fragments with antibody activity. This experiment indicates that in the recombination a correct alignment of the Fd fragments and the L chains occurs to give a competent antibody site, just as occurs with the recombination of separated heavy and light chains of the antibody; thus the Fc fragment is not required for correct alignment. Fd fragments of antibody alone show very low binding activity toward the specific hapten. As is the case for the combination of heavy and light chains, the combination of Fd fragments and light chains also requires that both components come from antibody from the same rabbit in order to give binding sites. When they are derived from different rabbits producing antibody against the same antigen, they still give Fab fragments as shown by immunoelectrophoresis but do not have competent binding sites. An important observation is that the subunits of the papain digest fractions, FabI and FabII, have the capacity to cross-combine to form active Fab fragments with competent binding sites. FdI from FabI combines with LII chains from FabII to give the composite (FdI-LII) with good binding activity. Likewise, the composite (FdII-LI) has good binding activity. The composites from the two types of antibody molecules yielding different Fab fragments have antibody activity although heretofore these molecules have appeared to be different on the bases of chromatography and amino acid analysis. There is also a preferential combination of the Fd fragments to combine with the correct L fragments to give binding sites since this combination takes preference over the combination of Fd fragments of antibody with light chains of normal globulin (or of light chains of antibody with Fd fragments of normal globulin).
C. elegans STK39/SPAK ortholog-mediated inhibition of ClC anion channel activity is regulated by WNK-independent ERK kinase signaling

Mammalian Ste20-like proline/alanine-rich kinase (SPAK) and oxidative stress-responsive 1 (OSR1) kinases phosphorylate and regulate cation-coupled Cl− cotransporter activity in response to cell vol...
Large-scale reliable multicast of small messages

Several applications could benefit from large-scale reliable multicast of small messages. For example, the problems of propagating invalidations for web-cache consistency, dissemination of stock quotes to traders, and propagation of information about web updates to search engines all require reliable multicast of small messages. While multicasting is itself an active area of research, and each of the problems mentioned have received attention in literature, there are no guiding principles for facilitating multicast of small messages. First, we outline a global rendezvous architecture (GRA)--an application-level architecture for large-scale reliable multicast of small messages. The main contributions of GRA are the global rendezvous point concept, the join protocol for client, and the facility for trust across AS boundaries. Second, we describe QuickFlow, an architecture for web cache consistency that utilizes GRA, and show the benefits of QuickFlow compared to previous approaches. Third, we show how FreshFlow, an architecture proposed for search engine freshness, follows GRA. We also present new results for FreshFlow that demonstrate the scalability of FreshFlow.© (2001) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
Wistar rats acquire and maintain self-administration of 20 % ethanol without water deprivation, saccharin/sucrose fading, or extended access training

Rationale Operant self-administration (SA) is an important model of motivation to consume ethanol (EtOH), but low rates of voluntary consumption in rats are thought to necessitate water deprivation and saccharin/sucrose fading for acquisition of responding.
19F MAS NMR quantification of accessible hydroxyl sites on fiberglass surfaces.

Solid-state 19F nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy is used for the quantitative investigation of accessible hydroxyl sites on low surface area glass fibers. Samples with surface areas as low as 0.2 m2/g are investigated through covalent binding of (3,3,3-trifluoropropyl)dimethylchlorosilane. 19F is an ideal nucleus for solid-state NMR, as it has a nuclear spin of 1/2 and a natural isotopic abundance of 100%. High-speed MAS techniques (with rotor spinning frequencies greater than 15 kHz) sufficiently average the CSA and any strong dipolar couplings to allow for superior resolution, especially from terminal −CF3 groups. Studies of two model silica gels with higher surface area, but different pore sizes, provide chemical shift and spin−lattice relaxation rate parameters for probe molecules bound within different environments: pores approaching the size of the probe molecule and pores much larger than the molecular size where intermolecular interactions are assumed to be at a minimum. Resonances a...
Subtotal colectomy for toxic and fulminant colitis in the era of immunosuppressive therapy.

Objective Prolonged use of immunosuppressive medication to avoid surgery is becoming more common in patients with inflammatory bowel disease, with severe or fulminant colitis. The effect of immunosuppression on postoperative outcomes was reviewed. Method Patients undergoing subtotal colectomy (STC) for fulminant or toxic colitis from 1992 to 2006 were studied to define the effect of immunosuppression (IS) on postoperative complications (POCs). Patient characteristics, diagnosis, operative indication, details of surgery, use of IS, and POC’s were reviewed and univariate and multivariate analysis was performed. Results Eighty-nine patients were studied (55 males). Seventy-two (91%) patients had fulminant colitis and 17 (20%) had toxic colitis. The preoperative diagnosis was ulcerative colitis in 74, indeterminate in 10, and Crohn’s disease in five patients. Eighty-two (92%) patients were on some form of immunosuppression, and 14 had a perforation at surgery. Thirty-nine (43.8%) patients experienced a POC. There was no operative mortality. Univariate analysis identified perforation (P = 0.048) and length of surgery (P = 0.002) as predictive of POCs, while multivariate analysis failed to identify a predictor of complications. Conclusion There was no association between immunosuppression and postoperative complications. Complications in this setting are a result of the severity of the inflammatory bowel disease.
The size of isometry groups on metric spaces

Abstract Limits on the dimension of the isometry group of a topological metric space homeomorphic to an n-dimensional manifold are given. Under suitable smoothness conditions the bound is n(n + 1) 2 .
The isotope geology of oxygen

Abstract Natural silicates vary in their O18/O16ratios by as much as 2–4%. This difference is largely due to an exchange reaction between silica and water during the processes of erosion and sedimentation, as a result of which sedimentary rocks are richer in O18 than are the igneous rocks. The temperature coefficient for the silica-water exchange has been estimated to be − 0·128%., per degree Centigrade. The O18 content of basic igneous rocks is low and confined to a narrow range (6·4 to 7·0%.). The alkalic and granitic igneous rocks are richer in O18, and their isotopic ratios are more variable (7·7 to 12·2%.). In granitic rocks, quartz shows a greater preference for O18 than does orthoclase; the distribution coefficient is 1·20 in favor of the quartz. The isotopic constitution of stony meteorites is identical to that of the basic igneous rocks, but tektites resemble the sedimentary rocks in their isotopic composition. The analysis of a granophyregabbro sequence revealed an isotopic gradient which suggests solid diffusion as the mode of origin for the intermediate rock. The mechanism of metamorphism has been studied from the standpoint of isotopic composition. The results are not conclusive, but suggest that metamorphism is associated with a depletion of O18.
Regulation of mopc 104e by T cells and growth factors induced by C. Parvum stimulation

Corynebacterium parvum, known for its ability to retard the growth of experimental neoplasms, was examined for its effect on the growth of murine plasmacytoma MOPC 104E in vivo and in vitro. Immunostimulation with C. parvum2 resulted in the accelerated growth of MOPC 104E in experimental animals, as measured by the tumor IgM production. The acceleration of plasmacytoma growth was seen in all cases where C. parvum was given before or at the time of tumor transplantation. Increased proliferation of MOPC 104E was also observed when MOPC 104E was co-cultured in the presence of spleen cells from C. parvum stimulated mice as compared to the normal spleen cells. Removal of T cells by in vivo anti-thymocyte serum treatment, followed by anti-Thy 1.2 and complement in vitro, resulted in the partial loss of stimulatory activity. Furthermore, the stimulatory activity was shown to be associated with soluble mediators, which were generated by splenic adherent cells and T cells, and were, at least in part, responsible for the growth of plasmacytoma. Normal spleen cells did not generate a significant amount of soluble factor, but were able to augment MOPC 104E growth in co-culture at high spleen to tumor cell ratio.
Metabolism of unique diarachidonoyl and linoleoylarachidonoyl species of ethanolamine and choline phosphoglycerides in rat testes

Abstract Selected molecular species of rat testicular 1,2-diradyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholines and 1,2-diradyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphoethanolamines were quantitated as their diradylglycerobenzoate derivatives, using a recently developed high-performance liquid Chromatographic method. Increased amounts of docosapentaenoic acid were found in glycerophospholipids containing ether moieties compared with the diacyl phospholipids (e.g., docosapentaenoate-containing species comprised more than 80% of the alkylacyl subclass of the ethanolamine phosholipids as opposed to 29.3% of the diacyl subclass). Within 2 h after intratesticular injections of [5,6,8,9,11,12,14,15-3H]arachidonic acid, the 20:4–20:4 and 18:2–20:4 molecular species of the diacyl subclass of both the choline and ethanolamine glycerophosphatides had the highest specific radioactivities. These unique molecular species (20:4–20:4 and 18:2–20:4) also exhibited the largest percentage decrease in specific radioactivity 24 h after the intratesticular injections of [3H]arachidonic acid, which indicates these two species possess a high metabolic turnover. Two of the arachidonate-containing molecular species (18:1–20:4 and 18:0–20:4) in the ethanolamine plasmalogens showed only a small decrease in specific radioactivity, whereas a third species (16:0–20:4) actually had a 44% increase in specific radioactivity 24 h after the intratesticular injections of [3H]arachidonate. These data indicate that the 20:4–20:4, 18:2–20:4 and 18:1–20:4 species of phosphatidylcholine and/or phosphatidylethanolamine are most rapidly labeled after administration of [3H]arachidonic acid and that they appear to serve as the source of the [3H]arachidonate that is ultimately transferred to ethanolamine plasmalogens.
Investigation of the Age-Dependent Constitutive Relations of Mortar

The stress-strain relation of cement binder is age-dependent and so is the behavior of mortar. In this study, we conducted a concurrent experimental and theoretical investigation into the effect of material age on the properties of both cement binder and mortar. First the stress-strain curves of the binder were measured over a wide range of aging time from 7 days to 18 months. Two types of binder—one with the cement paste alone and the other with the fly ash/cement combination—were chosen in the tests. The test results were simulated with a modified, age-dependent Burgers rheological model. Then measured were the stress-strain curves of the mortar that contains the same types of cement at three levels of aggregate volume concentrations: c1 ¼ 29, 38, and 49%. A micromechanics-based composite model making use of the secant-moduli was then introduced to predict the age-dependent behavior of mortar at various aging times and aggregate concentrations. Direct comparison between the measured data and the composite predictions is found to be in close agreement. It suggests that the proposed micromechanics model could be a viable approach to the estimate of age-dependent constitutive relations of mortar. DOI: 10.1061/(ASCE)EM.1943-7889.0000323. © 2012 American Society of Civil Engineers. CE Database subject headings: Stress strain relations; Cement; Aggregates; Mortars; Micromechanics. Author keywords: Age-dependent stress-strain relations; Cement paste; Aggregates; Mortar; Micromechanics.
Development and evaluation of a rapid and efficient electrolytic preparation of 99mTc-labeled red blood cells.

Abstract This paper reports a new, simple and reproducible method for routine preparation of 99 m Tc-labeled red blood cells (RBC). This method employs electrolytic generation of minute quantities of stannous ion to serve as the reducing agent for 99 m Tc-pertechnetate. The RBC are incubated with Sn(II), washed with saline, incubated with Na 99 m TcO 4 , and washed again with saline. The entire procedure requires about 45 min and consistently provides labeling efficiencies above 90%. The half-clearance time in the blood in humans is approximately 24 hr. Activity released from the labeled RBC in vivo is largely in chelate form which is rapidly excreted in the urine. High quality blood pool images can be obtained for many hours after injection. In a damaged form, 99 m Tc-RBC provide spleen images of diagnostic quality. This 99 m Tc-RBC preparation appears to have good potential for routine use.
An investigation of the relative presentation efficiency of computer-displayed graphs

Abstract Guides in the selection and use of graphs draw heavily on opinion and anecdotal information. Presentation research has provided little assistance to users of modern computer graphing software, due to the ambiguous and contradictory findings that characterize this literature. Furthermore, the majority of the presentation studies that address differences between basic graph types were conducted prior to widespread use of computers, and are therefore of questionable value in predicting efficiency of computer-displayed graphs. This paper presents the findings of an experimental investigation that ranked the efficiency of five computer-displayed graphs across a range of question types and question complexity levels. The study concludes that, in several key areas, the advice from guides for use of graphs do not match the observed efficiency rankings of the graphs that were investigated. Based on these findings, guidelines are proposed for selection and use of graphs for computer-display.
Fluorine-18 production for medical use by helium-3 bombardment of water

A method is described for the production of 18F as fluoride ion in aqueous solution. Pure water (10 ml) is irradiated with 22 MeV 3He ions from an isochronous cyclotron. The yield is 6mCi/μAh or 70 mCi in 30 min with a beam current of 25 μA. Impurities are so low (<10−5) that it is not necessary to remove them chemically. Saline is added to make the solution isotonic, it is then sterile filtered and ready for injection.
Metabolic engineering of Rhizopus oryzae: Effects of overexpressing fumR gene on cell growth and fumaric acid biosynthesis from glucose

Abstract Fumaric acid is a dicarboxylic acid used extensively in synthetic resins, food acidulants, and other applications, including oil field fluids and esters. The filamentous fungus Rhizopus oryzae is known for its ability to produce and accumulate high levels of fumaric acid under aerobic conditions. In this work, the overexpression of native fumarase encoded by fumR and its effect on fumaric acid production in R. oryzae were investigated. Three plasmids containing the endogenous fumR gene were constructed and used to transform R. oryzae, and all transformants showed significantly increased fumarase activity during both the seed culture (growth) and fermentation (fumaric acid production) stages. However, fumarase overexpression in R. oryzae yielded more malic acid, instead of fumaric acid, in the fermentation because the overexpressed fumarase also catalyzed the hydration of fumaric acid to malic acid. The results suggested that the overexpressed fumarase, encoded by fumR, by itself was not responsible for the over-production of fumaric acid in R. oryzae.
Site-specific effect of thymine dimer formation on dAn.dTn tract bending and its biological implications.

Abstract dAn.dTn sequences, otherwise known as A tracts, are hotspots for cis-syn thymine dimer formation and deletion mutations induced by UV light. Such A tracts are also known to bend DNA, suggesting that some biological effects of UV light might be related to the distinctive structure and properties of cis-syn dimer-containing A tracts. To investigate the effect of thymine dimer formation on A-tract bending multimers of all possible dimer monoadducts of a dA6.dT6-containing decamer known to bend DNA were prepared along with multimers of a dimer-containing 21-mer of heterogeneous sequence. The characteristic anomalous electrophoretic behavior of the phased A-tract multimers was essentially abolished by dimer formation at the center of the A tract and was only slightly reduced by dimer formation at the ends. These effects are attributed to disruption of the A-tract structure at the site of the dimer, resulting in intact A tracts of reduced length and, hence, reduced bending. This model was suggested by the ability to formulate the estimated bend angles of the dimer-containing A tracts as approximately equal to the sum of the bend angles induced by the dimer and the remaining intact portion of the A tract. Contrary to a previous experimental study that concluded that the thymine dimer bends DNA by approximately 30 degrees, the dimer was determined to bend DNA by only approximately 7 degrees. Reduction of the bending of a DNA sequence by dimer formation may have a number of unpredicted and important biological consequences.
Comment on "Force-Clamp Spectroscopy Monitors the Folding Trajectory of a Single Protein"

Taking advantage of major improvements in their atomic force microscopy (AFM) apparatus, Fernandez and Li were able to follow single-molecule refolding trajectories of the ubiquitin protein ([ 1 ][1]). They observed a rich variety of kinetic behavior. Using a polycistronic version of ubiquitin,