cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Medium modification of the charged-current neutrino opacity and its implications

Previous work on neutrino emission from proto-neutron stars which employed full solutions of the Boltzmann equation showed that the average energies of emitted electron neutrinos and antineutrinos are closer to one another than predicted by older, more approximate work. This in turn implied that the neutrino driven wind is proton rich during its entire life, precluding r-process nucleosynthesis and the synthesis of Sr, Y, and Zr. This work relied on charged-current neutrino interaction rates that are appropriate for a free nucleon gas. Here, it is shown in detail that the inclusion of the nucleon potential energies and collisional broadening of the response significantly alters this conclusion. Isovector interactions, which give rise to the nuclear symmetry energy, produce a difference between the neutron and proton single-particle energies ΔU=U_n−U_p and alter the kinematics of the charged-current reactions. In neutron-rich matter, and for a given neutrino/antineutrino energy, the rate for ν_e + n → e^− + p is enhanced while ν_e + p → n + e^+ is suppressed because the Q value for these reactions is altered by ±ΔU, respectively. In the neutrino decoupling region, collisional broadening acts to enhance both νe and ν_e cross sections, and random-phase approximation (RPA) corrections decrease the νe cross section and increase the ν_e cross section, but mean field shifts have a larger effect. Therefore, electron neutrinos decouple at lower temperature than when the nucleons are assumed to be free and have lower average energies. The change is large enough to allow for a reasonable period of time when the neutrino driven wind is predicted to be neutron rich. It is also shown that the electron fraction in the wind is influenced by the nuclear symmetry energy.
Fused chemical reactions: The use of dispersion to delay reaction time in tubular reactors

Fused chemical reactions are delayed exothermic reactions. An axial dispersion model is used to simulate the flow of alternately injected pulses of reactants separated by an inert. There is a delay in reaction and heat release because the reactants have to disperse through the inert spacer to react. The feasibility of this technique is described for the reaction between ammonium chloride and sodium nitrite catalyzed by acetic acid. This technique can be successfully applied to the effective dissolution of wax deposited in subsea pipelines. The delay in the reaction is required to supply heat to regions further down the pipeline that are more susceptible to wax deposition. Simulation results show that the delay in the heat release depends on the width of the inert spacer as well as the catalyst concentration. However, the amount of heat released depends on the inlet concentrations of the reactants. Simulations can successfully determine the inlet concentrations of the reactants and catalyst as well as the ...
The RAM1 gene encoding a protein-farnesyltransferase β-subunit homologue is essential in Cryptococcus neoformans

Many small G proteins require post-translational modification to allow functional association to the cell membrane. This process often involves the enzymic addition of hydrophobic prenyl groups to a conserved cysteine residue near the C-terminus of the protein. The enzymes that catalyse these reactions include protein farnesyltransferase and protein geranylgeranyltransferases. The human fungal pathogen Cryptococcus neoformans requires functional Ras and Rho proteins in order to undergo normal growth and differentiation. Since farnesylation and geranylgeranylation are likely required for the proper function of these small G proteins, we hypothesized that inhibition of these prenylation events would alter the growth and cellular morphogenesis of this fungus. We cloned the RAM1 gene encoding the single protein-farnesyltransferase β-chain homologue in C. neoformans. Using a gene-disruption strategy in a diploid C. neoformans strain, we demonstrated that this gene encodes an essential function, in contrast to the case in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, in which the homologous RAM1 gene is not essential for growth. Pharmacological inhibition of farnesyltransferase activity resulted in dose-dependent cytostasis of C. neoformans, as well as prevention of hyphal differentiation. Simultaneous inhibition of farnesylation and calcineurin signalling results in a synthetic effect on growth. Protein farnesylation is required for the growth and cellular differentiation of C. neoformans and may provide novel targets for antifungal therapy.
Dosimetry of the Decommissioned High-Flux Beam Reactor at Brookhaven Lab

The high-flux beam reactor (HFBR) at the Brookhaven National Laboratory was a heavy water cooled and moderated reactor that achieved criticality on Oct. 31, 1965. It operated at a power level of 40 megawatts. An equipment upgrade in 1982 allowed operations at 60 megawatts. After a 1989 reactor shutdown to reanalyze safety impact of a hypothetical loss of coolant accident, the reactor was restarted in 1991 at 30 megawatts. The HFBR was shut down in December 1996 for routine maintenance and refueling. At that time, a leak of tritiated water was identified by routine sampling of groundwater from wells located adjacent to the reactor’s spent fuel pool. The reactor remained shut down for almost three years for safety and environmental reviews. In November 1999 the United States Department of Energy decided to permanently shut down the HFBR. The decontamination and decommissioning of the HFBR complex, consisting of multiple structures and systems to operate and maintain the reactor, were complete in 2009 after removing and shipping off all the control rod blades. The emptied and cleaned HFBR dome, which still contains the irradiated reactor vessel, is presently under 24/7 surveillance for safety. Detailed dosimetry performed for the HFBR decommissioning during 1996–2009 is described in the paper.
Bone lining cells of the mammalian cochlea.

Abstract It is generally believed that all bone surfaces are covered by a nearly continuous layer of cells known as bone lining cells (BLC) which separate the general extracellular fluid (GECF) from bone and its fluid compartment. Within the cochlea of some manmmals regions of bone matrix are exposed to extracellular fluid. Within the scalae of the cochlea, perilymph is in contact with bone matrix; there is no evidence of a lining endothelium. Within the modiolus and subjacent to the spiral ligament, bone matrix is in contact with GECF. These findings may have importance in understanding calcium homeostasis within the scalae and may relate to the pathophysiology of labyrinthitis ossificans. Additionally, since BLCs probably represent a specific phenotype, the presence of a pure population of BLCs within the scalae may provide a source for the development of a pure culture of this cell.
Discipline-specific practica for international teaching assistants

Abstract A topic of continued discussion has been whether international teaching assistant (ITA) education is best done within academic departments, or within university-wide programs organized by English as a Second Language (ESL) specialists. This report describes a pilot ITA practicum which may potentially combine the best of both approaches: Academic departments which seek to help ITAs learn how to teach within their disciplines, and a university-wide ESL program which is committed to developing ITAs’ classroom communication skills. Through a cooperative effort, an ESL specialist and five academic departments paired 15 pre-service ITAs with experienced TA or ITA mentors, with the intention that over an entire semester, the ITAs would attend the mentors’ classes, observe and listen to them teaching, and interact with and teach students. Using a student- and response-based evaluation approach, the report investigated the extent to which ITAs’ participation in the practica generated significant opportunities for ITAs’ second language acquisition in discipline-specific settings. Data from ITAs and mentors suggested that participants found the practica to be worthwhile and that ITAs had some opportunities to attend to input, interact with US undergraduates, and engage in comprehensible output. However, observations of ITAs in two departments revealed that opportunities for second language development varied depending on the format of the classes (lab versus lecture), and on personal attributes of ITAs. Although the study is limited, the results suggest the need for continuing the practica with revisions, as well as an overall need to conduct investigations into ITA second language acquisition as constrained by sociocultural contexts and ITA choices.
Current status of the AbioCor implantable replacement heart.

Abstract Background . The AbioCor implantable replacement heart (IRH) has been developed as an alternative to transplant (ie, destination therapy). We report our experience with the AbioCor IRH in a bovine model at the University of Louisville. Methods . Male Holstein cows were used (85 to 115 kg). The internal controller, battery, and secondary transcutaneous energy transfer coil were implanted in the right flank. After cardiopulmonary bypass, the thoracic unit was implanted orthotopically. After removal of air and weaning from cardiopulmonary bypass, the AbioCor was connected to internal components and energy transfer through transcutaneous energy transfer coils was achieved. Results . Nineteen animals underwent implantation of the AbioCor IRH for a proposed 30-day duration. There were 6 deaths, none related to device malfunction. All animals demonstrated normal hemodynamics with normal pressures in the aorta, pulmonary artery, left atrium, and right atrium. There was no significant hemolysis and all animals demonstrated normal end organ function. The internal battery allowed for brief periods of untethered mobility. Conclusions . The AbioCor IRH has resulted in normal hemodynamics and normal end organ function without evidence of hemolysis in a bovine model.
Studies on isoproterenol-induced cardiomegaly in rats.

Abstract 1. 1. Isoproterenol (ISO) (5 mg. per kilogram, subcutaneously) induced maximal increases in the wet and dry weights of the four chambers of the rat heart when administered twice daily for 10 days. The degree of cardiomegaly was related to the duration of ISO treatment but was not greater, in most instances, after 20 to 80 mg. per kilogram than after 5 mg. per kilogram. The size of the heart regressed when ISO treatment was discontinued. Propranolol antagonized the ISO response. 2. 2. The cardiomegaly induced by ISO was accompanied by microscopic evidence of infarctlike cardiac necrosis. The severity of damage, although not quantitated, appeared to increase with the dosage of ISO or the duration of treatment. 3. 3. Total and extracellular cardiac water, Na+, Ca++, and Cl− increased in relation to ISO dose. Heart K+ increased after 1 or 5 mg. per kilogram but decreased after 80 mg. per kilogram of ISO administered twice daily for 2 days. Mg++ decreased to the same extent with all doses. 4. 4. The levels of cardiac protein, RNA, and DNA were augmented by ISO treatment with RNA increasing more than DNA. The incorporation of C14-labelled amino acids into the protein of the heart, but not of the skeletal muscle, was enhanced by ISO. 5. 5. Catecholamine contents (microgram per gram) but not levels (microgram per heart) decreased as the size of the heart increased with ISO treatment. 6. 6. ISO (5 mg. per kilogram) elicited prolonged tachycardia and hypotension in unanesthetized rats prepared with chronic, aortic catheters.
Solid Brønsted Acid Catalysis in the Gas-Phase Esterification of Acetic Acid

Solid acid catalysts are attractive replacements for liquid mineral acids for esterification reactions, where ester products are important for end products that are as diverse as perfumes and biofuels. Although the mechanism of homogeneous esterification has long been known, the mechanistic pathways for esterification over heterogeneous catalysts are still being pursued. This paper presents the results of an investigation into the mechanism of gas-phase esterification in the temperature range of 90−140 °C for a simple carboxylic acid (acetic acid) and short-chain alcohols (methanol and ethanol) that have been catalyzed by a solid catalyst with only Bronsted acid sites (silica-supported Nafion, SAC-13). In this study, evidence from pyridine poisoning experiments suggests that the esterification proceeds via a single site mechanism on solid Bronsted acid catalysts such as SAC-13, as has also been concluded for reaction in the liquid phase at temperatures of ≤60 °C. Based on initial rate data for methanol re...
Who are the users?: an analysis of computer use in a university computer center

This is a study of how the users of the University of Washington computing center exercise its machinery. Our hope is to make an undramatic but useful contribution to knowledge. In a simpler day the distinction was made between "scientific" and "business" computing. Undoubtedly this contrast is still useful for many purposes, but finer distinctions are needed. We shall present statistics showing that, within a community which contains not a single "business" user, there are distinct groups with quite different machine requirements. Of course, nobody who is aware of modern computing would seriously dispute this. Our contribution is to provide statistics on the relative size of the different groups. We also offer this report as an example of methodology. The usefulness of our numbers to another center will depend upon the extent to which the other center is like ours. The ways in which we acquired and analyzed our statistics would be useful more generally.
A simple ILU preconditioning coupled to Orthomin method

Conjugate gradient type methods with preconditionings based on incompleteLU factorization (ILU) are known to be very useful for solving nonsymmetric linear systems of equations. In particular, the effectiveness of such iterative methods has been demonstrated on sparse linear systems which arise from discretizing non-self adjoint elliptic problems. In this paper, we present a simplifiedILU preconditioning coupled to a variational iterative method (Orthomin) on a model problem. It is shown that this simplified version ofILU is easy to implement and when coupled to Orthomin method, is as competitive or better than the standardILU with Orthomin method.
General relativity, thermodynamics, and the Poincaré cycle

An arbitrarily close return to a previous initial state of the Universe, such as predicted by the Poincare recurrence theorem, cannot occur in a closed universe governed by general relativity. The significance of this result for cosmology and thermodynamics is discussed.
Improved temporal resolution for in vivo microdialysis by using segmented flow.

Microdialysis sampling probes were interfaced to a segmented flow system to improve temporal resolution for monitoring concentration dynamics. Aqueous dialysate was segmented into nanoliter plugs by pumping sample stream into the base of a tee channel structure microfabricated on a PDMS chip that had an immiscible carrier phase (perfluorodecalin) pumped into the cross arm of the tee. Varying the oil flow rate from 0.22 to 6.3 μL/min and sample flow rate from 42 to 328 nL/min allowed control of plug volume, interval between plugs, and frequency of plug generation between 6 and 28 nL, 0.6 and 10 s, and 0.1 and 1.7 Hz, respectively. Temporal resolution of the system, determined by measuring fluorescence in individual sample plugs following step changes of fluorescein concentration at the sampling probe surface, was as good as 15 s. Temporal resolution was independent of both sampling flow rate and distance that samples were pumped from the sampling probe. This effect is due to the prevention of Taylor disper...
Semiclassical evaluation of quantum fidelity

We present a numerically feasible semiclassical (SC) method to evaluate quantum fidelity decay (Loschmidt echo) in a classically chaotic system. It was thought that such evaluation would be intractable, but instead we show that a uniform SC expression not only is tractable but it also gives remarkably accurate numerical results for the standard map in both the Fermi-golden-rule and Lyapunov regimes. Because it allows Monte Carlo evaluation, the uniform expression is accurate at times when there are 1070 semiclassical contributions. Remarkably, it also explicitly contains the “building blocks” of analytical theories of recent literature, and thus permits a direct test of the approximations made by other authors in these regimes, rather than an a posteriori comparison with numerical results. We explain in more detail the extended validity of the classical perturbation approximation and show that within this approximation, the so-called “diagonal approximation” is automatic and does not require ensemble averaging.
Effects of a 90° ply on matrix cracks and edge delamination in composite laminates

Abstract This study confirms the fact that a special toughened 90° ply, when serving as the core layer in cross-plied and angle-plied laminates, has a definite effect on matrix cracking and threshold delamination in the laminate. The 90° oly of the IM6/5245C graphite/epoxy and S2/5245C glass/epoxy laminates was hybridized into IM6/3501-6 graphite/epoxy laminates for this study. The results clearly indicate that the hybridized laminate can withstand significantly higher loads before the onset of laminate splitting, delamination, and final failure. The delay in splitting and delamination is attributed to a reduction in the mismatch of both moduli and thermal expansion coefficient in the direction normal to the free edge at the interface between the 90° ply and its adjacent ply.
Chemical vapor deposition of silicon dioxide barrier layers for conductivity enhancement of tin oxide films

Silicon dioxide for use as a diffusion barrier between soda lime glass and fluorine-doped tin oxide is deposited uniformly by atmospheric chemical vapor deposition from silane. oxygen, and nitrogen using a simple single-slot injector head. With a sufficiently thick silicon dioxide layer, the conductivity of the tin oxide is greatly improved by reducing the diffusion of sodium into the tin oxide as it is deposited between about 500 to 600 °C. Based upon the conductivity of thin lightly doped tin oxide films, it appears that at least 250 nm of silicon dioxide deposited on soda lime glass are required to essentially eliminate the diffusion of sodium into the tin oxide. However, only about 10 nm of silicon dioxide are required to obtain almost the full benefit of 250 nm thick films for moderately doped tin oxide films approximately 500 nm thick, The silicon dioxide deposition process is examined between 350 and 580 °C. The activation energy for the deposition is about 27 kJ/mole. Peak and average film deposition rates greater than 50 nm/sec and 10 nm/sec, respectively, may be obtained. The dependence of the film growth rate on the silane, oxygen, and propylene (an inhibitor) concentration is examined. The deposition rate is found to be limited by the rate of gas-phase reactions. Deposition conditions which yield high silane utilization and good film uniformity are discussed. The origin of undesirable by-product powder is studied. At low silane concentration, powder is mainly formed as the gases cool due to condensation from intermediate species.
Laparoscopic Nephrectomy: Review of the Initial 10 Cases

Laparoscopic nephrectomy is a new procedure in which the kidney is removed via a laparoscopic approach using a surgical entrapment sack and a high-speed 10-mm electrical tissue morcellator. Herein, we report the initial clinical experience with this procedure in 10 consecutive patients. The average operating room time was 5.5 hours. The hospital stay averaged 4.9 days, and convalescence occurred over 12 days. Two patients received a blood transfusion(s). At present, laparoscopic nephrectomy is our method of choice for patients requiring a nephrectomy for benign renal disease. The technology developed for this procedure may be helpful to surgeons in other disciplines, as the method of organ entrapment and morcellation can be applied to the removal of other intra-abdominal or pelvic organs.
An attempt to understand the four color problem

Is the recently obtained, computer-aided proof of the Four Color Theorem an isolated phenomenon or is its combinatorial complexity typical for a significantly large class of mathematical problems? While it is too early to give a definite answer to this question, an informal discussion is undertaken in this article.
Solid state high voltage switching amplifier

An efficient, solid state high voltage servo amplifier was developed to drive capacitive loads. The amplifier uses novel circuit techniques to meet 3000 V p-p, 300 VAR, 400 Hz power bandwidth requirements.
One-Dimensional Chromatography of Plasma in Manchester

The Manchester experience of the amino acid screening programme is described. The Scriver test is simple and allows the detection of six amino acid disorders in one test. The cost is not great and ...
Influence of bubble size and blood perfusion on absorption of gas bubbles in tissues.

Abstract We have developed a mathematical theory to predict behavior of tissue gas bubbles such as those occurring in decompression sickness. According to the theory, rate of change of diameter of a spherical bubble is proportional to the sum of a) a factor that accounts for the divergence of the paths of molecules as they diffuse outward from the bubble, and b) a factor that accounts for blood perfusion of the tissues around the bubble. For bubbles of radius below 10 microns, the perfusion factor is negligible in comparison to the divergence factor. This finding and assumptions that unsteady-state effects and surface tension are negligible allow the rate of growth or decay of small bubbles to be approximated by a relatively simple differential equation. According to the epuation, rate of radius change is directly proportional to the inert gas partial pressure difference between the inside and outside of the bubble, inversely proportional to the pressure of the gas inside the bubble, and inversely proportional to the bubble radius.
Treatment Effects: A Bayesian Perspective

This paper contributes to the emerging Bayesian literature on treatment effects. It derives treatment parameters in the framework of a potential outcomes model with a treatment choice equation, where the correlation between the unobservable components of the model is driven by a low-dimensional vector of latent factors. The analyst is assumed to have access to a set of measurements generated by the latent factors. This approach has attractive features from both theoretical and practical points of view. Not only does it address the fundamental identification problem arising from the inability to observe the same person in both the treated and untreated states, but it also turns out to be straightforward to implement. Formulae are provided to compute mean treatment effects as well as their distributional versions. A Monte Carlo simulation study is carried out to illustrate how the methodology can easily be applied.
Scanning SQUID Microscopy.

R. L. Greene's letter of 23 February (p. 1039) mentions the important contributions of F. Wellstood and his co-workers to our present understanding of the pairing symmetry of high- T c superconductors, as well as the Maryland group's involvement in the development of scanning SQUID microscopy. Readers should also be aware of the original pioneering work in the field of SQUID microscopy at the IBM T. J. Watson Research Center in the early 1980s. F. P. Rogers, then a co-op student from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, working with S. Bermon of IBM, developed the first scanning SQUID microscopy and demonstrated sensitivity to individual superconducting flux vortices ([1][1]). An integrated thin film version of the SQUID system used by Rogers and Bermon, from which all subsequent designs used in the recent IBM work were derived, was disclosed in the early 1980′s and was ultimately published in 1985 ([2][2]). 1. 1.[↵][3] 1. F. P. Rogers , thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1983. 2. 2.[↵][4] 1. S. Bermon 2. et al. , IBM Tech. Disclos. Bull. 27(10a), 5847 (1985). [OpenUrl][5] [1]: #ref-1 [2]: #ref-2 [3]: #xref-ref-1-1 "View reference 1. in text" [4]: #xref-ref-2-1 "View reference 2. in text" [5]: {openurl}?query=rft.jtitle%253DIBM%2BTech.%2BDisclos.%2BBull.%26rft.volume%253D27%26rft.issue%253D10a%26rft.spage%253D5847%26rft.atitle%253DIBM%2BTECH%2BDISCLOS%2BBULL%26rft.genre%253Darticle%26rft_val_fmt%253Dinfo%253Aofi%252Ffmt%253Akev%253Amtx%253Ajournal%26ctx_ver%253DZ39.88-2004%26url_ver%253DZ39.88-2004%26url_ctx_fmt%253Dinfo%253Aofi%252Ffmt%253Akev%253Amtx%253Actx
WHEN CRITICS DISAGREE: RECENT APPROACHES TO OSCAR WILDE

REVIEWING THE SCHOLARSHIP on Wilde in the last decade is a daunting task not only because of the large amount of recent work on Wilde, but because the ground is already occupied by two book-length surveys: Ian Small’s Oscar Wilde: Recent Research (which picks up where his 1993 Oscar Wilde Revalued left off) and Melissa Knox’s Oscar Wilde in the 1990s: The Critic as Creator. The reader, then, is referred to these volumes for their more comprehensive coverage. Here I will focus my discussion by borrowing what Small designates three “new paradigms” that emerged in the 1990s: the Gay Wilde, the Irish Wilde, Wilde and Consumerism — this last I will rename the Materialist Wilde. To these I will add a fourth category, again taking my cue from Small: Idealist Wilde. In each category I will use representative examples to reflect on the issues confronting these approaches to Wilde. Both Small and Knox evaluate as well as chronicle, though from different perspectives. Small believes work in the field should be better supported by empirical information — “facts” — about Wilde’s life, his career, and the period, and he thinks scholars need to consider whether the different “Wildes” they construct are compatible with each other (12–13). Knox favors a biographical approach to Wilde, saying explicitly that her survey “explores the forms of resistance to biography as well as its successful use in criticism of the l990s” (xv), and turning up more instances of resistance than success.1
Experimental study of the thermal expansion of yttria stabilized zirconia ceramics

Abstract The thermal expansion behavior of zirconia ceramics from a given powder type can be “tailored” within limits by varying the chemical composition and processing variables. This provides some physical property selection capability for engineering applications. The chemical history of the powders that are used in the ceramic fabrication processes are significant. It should be expected that the physical and thermal properties will not necessarily be the same for materials from different precursors even though their chemical composition and ceramic fabrication parameters are the same.
Negativity Effects in Impression Formation: A Test in the Political Arena

Negative information has a stronger influence on impressions of others than positive information, a tendency known as the negativity effect. The hypothesis that this effect would characterize impressions of presidential candidates was tested using National Election Study surveys from 1984 and 1988. Respondents rated the presidential candidates on a number of personality traits. Aggregate-level analyses revealed that personality characteristics that the nation, on average, judged to represent character weaknesses were more predictive of overall evaluations and voting than characteristics judged to represent strengths. At the idiographic level, it was found that a trait was significantly more predictive when it fell below an individual's average trait rating for a candidate than when it was located above this mean. Thus, character weaknesses were more important than strengths in determining the public's evaluations of the candidate and the ultimate vote.
Demonstration of Unilateral Absence of the Palmar Arch Without Collateral Circulation

A 27-year-old surgical resident from South America noticed occasional tingling in her right hand on awakening. She performed a modified Allen test1 on her own hands and noticed a subtle line of demarcation on the palm of her right hand accompanied by induction of similar tingling sensations. The demarcation was not seen on the left hand. We suspected an incomplete palmar arch, and to better demonstrate these findings, we wrapped the patient’s right hand with a latex bandage to exsanguinate the extremity. …
Understanding information observation in interactive 3D environments

Communicating information to the user is a vital part of the interactive experience. In order to better convey the information to the end user, we must know where to place this information and how to present it in a manner that it will be noticed. Subjectively placing this information is not sufficient since every user will interact with the environment in their own unique manner. Information value is a metric that provides us with the knowledge of which surfaces players looked at most in the environment in the form of an ordered list of surfaces. Using an empirical algorithm for discovering the information value of environmental surfaces from recorded player data, we performed a 150 subject information value study and found that placing information in the high value surfaces yields up to 60% improvement in user observation. However, most players did not recall the information that they had seen. We conducted another 150 subject study to investigate what factors improve information retention and found that popular images do improve recall by up to 28%. Finally, we conducted a 30 person study on the effect of changing the player's task (context) from search to exploration on information recall and found that recall increased by 38%.
Cardiomyopathy in Irx4-Deficient Mice Is Preceded by Abnormal Ventricular Gene Expression

To define the role of Irx4, a member of the Iroquois family of homeobox transcription factors in mammalian heart development and function, we disrupted the murine Irx4 gene. Cardiac morphology in Irx4-deficient mice (designated Irx4(Delta ex2/Delta ex2)) was normal during embryogenesis and in early postnatal life. Adult Irx4(Delta ex2/Delta ex2) mice developed a cardiomyopathy characterized by cardiac hypertrophy and impaired contractile function. Prior to the development of cardiomyopathy, Irx4(Delta ex2/Delta ex2) hearts had abnormal ventricular gene expression: Irx4-deficient embryos exhibited reduced ventricular expression of the basic helix-loop-helix transcription factor eHand (Hand1), increased Irx2 expression, and ventricular induction of an atrial chamber-specific transgene. In neonatal hearts, ventricular expression of atrial natriuretic factor and alpha-skeletal actin was markedly increased. Several weeks subsequent to these changes in embryonic and neonatal gene expression, increased expression of hypertrophic markers BNP and beta-myosin heavy chain accompanied adult-onset cardiac hypertrophy. Cardiac expression of Irx1, Irx2, and Irx5 may partially compensate for loss of Irx4 function. We conclude that Irx4 is not sufficient for ventricular chamber formation but is required for the establishment of some components of a ventricle-specific gene expression program. In the absence of genes under the control of Irx4, ventricular function deteriorates and cardiomyopathy ensues.
Counterillumination in the Hawaiian bobtail squid, Euprymna scolopes Berry (Mollusca: Cephalopoda)

The mutualism between the Hawaiian bobtail squid Euprymna scolopes and the luminescent symbiont Vibrio fischeri has been used extensively as a model system for studies ranging from co-speciation and biogeography to gene regulation and the evolution of pathogenesis. In this association, the luminescent bacterium V. fischeri is housed in a complex light organ within the mantle cavity of E. scolopes. Prior hypotheses have assumed that sepiolid squids in general utilize the bioluminescence produced by their V. fischeri symbionts for counterillumination, a behavior that helps squid camouflage themselves by matching down-welling moonlight via silhouette reduction. This assumption, based solely on the morphology of the squid light organ, has never been empirically tested for Euprymna in the laboratory. Here, we present data demonstrating that E. scolopes can modify the intensity of light produced by V. fischeri in the light organ as down-welling light intensity changes. Bacterial bioluminescence from the light organ is directly correlated with down-welling light intensity, suggesting that E. scolopes individuals utilize and control V. fischeri luminescence for counterillumination.
Age and sex differences in weight of pituitary gland in dogs.

Summary1. It is confirmed in the dog, as has been shown for other species, that the relative weight of the hypophysis is greater in adult females than in adult males, and that this difference does not exist before maturity. 2. The hypophysis weight-body weight ratio of puppies is greater than that of adult dogs, and in adult dogs decreases significantly with increase in body size. 3. Relative hypophysis weight was smaller in senile than in adult animals. 4. No sex difference in hypophysis weight existed within any weight-group of adult animals. 5. No differences between groups could be detected with respect to water content of the hypophysis.
Model extraction for fault isolation

This paper presents a simulation-based approach for fault isolation in complex dynamic systems. A machine learning technique is used to extract, from simulated data, models representing regularities in system behavior. A heuristic based on the degree of coverage of the model on the data is then applied to isolate faults. To test tolerance to incomplete models, our simulation model only requires I/O functions of relevant system processes that can be observed. We view our approach as an incremental filtering process, which is useful for diagnosis of large-scale systems. To illustrate the approach, we describe experiments in two examples including a well known three-tank system. Preliminary results show that, on the average, different types of faults at different locations such as a leaked tank and a blocked pipe can be isolated effectively more than 99% at a time. Results are promising but more in-depth study is required
Ship-Suspended Acoustical Transmitter Position Estimation and Motion Compensation

An acoustical transmitter was suspended at multiple depths to 800 m from the research vessel R/V Melville at several stations in the North Pacific in 2004. The 3-D position of the transmitter varied with time due to ship motion and subsurface currents. The transmitter 3-D position and velocity were subsequently estimated using a cable dynamics model forced by ship position, as measured by high-precision global positioning system (GPS), and subsurface currents, as measured by the onboard acoustical Doppler current profiler. These estimated positions and velocities varied in the horizontal up to 10 m from the station “center” position, and 0.5 m/s from zero, respectively. Auxiliary measurements indicate that these estimates were accurate along either horizontal coordinate to better than 2 m and 0.05 m/s, respectively. Transmitter motion dilates the apparent time base of the radiated signal, producing time-varying Doppler effects. Simulation and analysis are used to determine when the induced Doppler effect is significant, and a technique is presented that “de-dopplerizes” a received signal for arbitrary interplatform motion. One example, involving the transmitter motion solutions determined here, shows that the transmitter motion induces a root mean square (RMS) variability of roughly for a 75-Hz ranging signal on time scales of several minutes: a 41-point de-dopplerizing filter reduced this to .
ANALYTICAL MODEL OF INCIPIENT BREACHING OF COASTAL BARRIERS

A mathematical model is formulated to describe incipient breaching of coastal barrier islands. The model is based on the assumptions of idealized breach morphology and is intended to describe the growth of breaches prior to possible closure by longshore sediment transport. The two coupled, non-linear equations governing breach width and depth are solved analytically for special cases. The analytical solutions explicitly exhibit an exponential behavior in breach dimensions and reveal that the macroscale process of breach growth is controlled by seven variables: initial width and depth of the breach, equilibrium width and depth of the breach, width of the barrier island, and maximum or initial net sediment transport rates at the bottom and sides of the breach. The literature is reviewed to compile general properties of coastal breaches, and sensitivity testing shows the model to be compatible with those observations. The model is applied to simulate the 1980 breach at Moriches Inlet, New York, and reasonable agreement is found.
β2 Integrins Control the Severity of Murine Lyme Carditis

Infection of C57BL/6 (B6) mice with the Lyme disease spirochete Borrelia burgdorferi can result in development of arthritis and carditis. B. burgdorferi induces expression of β2/CD18 integrins, adhesion molecules that mediate the firm adhesion of leukocytes to the endothelium necessary for cellular extravasation during inflammation. The important role of β2/CD18 integrins during extravasation suggests that these molecules play a role in the development of Lyme arthritis and carditis. The dependency of these inflammatory processes on the β2 integrins was investigated in CD18 hypomorph mice, which express low levels of CD18. The results indicate that CD18 deficiency did not abrogate development of Lyme arthritis or carditis. Moreover, it resulted in increased severity of Lyme carditis. B. burgdorferi-infected CD18 hypomorph mice showed an increased macrophage infiltration of the heart, while they produced lower levels of borreliacidal anti-B. burgdorferi antibodies compared to wild-type mice. In accordance with these results, we demonstrate that dendritic cells from CD18 hypomorph mice secrete higher levels of monocyte/macrophage chemoattractant protein 1 (MCP-1/CCL2) in response to B. burgdorferi. Similarly, we show by real-time PCR that B. burgdorferi-infected hearts from CD18 hypomorph mice express increased levels of MCP-1 RNA compared to wild-type mice. Overall, our results indicate that β2 integrin deficiency does not abrogate B. burgdorferi-induced inflammation; rather, it results in increased recruitment of macrophages into the B. burgdorferi-infected heart, likely due to the increased expression of MCP-1 in this tissue. Thus, β2 integrins may play a regulatory role in B. burgdorferi-induced inflammation beyond mediating adhesion of leukocytes to the endothelium.
MECA: an extensible, expressive system and language for statically checking security properties

This paper describes a system and annotation language, MECA, for checking security rules. MECA is expressive and designed for checking real systems. It provides a variety of practical constructs to effectively annotate large bodies of code. For example, it allows programmers to write programmatic annotators that automatically annotate large bodies of source code. As another example, it lets programmers use general predicates to determine if an annotation is applied; we have used this ability to easily handle kernel backdoors and other false-positive inducing constructs. Once code is annotated, MECA propagates annotations aggressively, allowing a single manual annotation to derive many additional annotations (e.g., over one hundred in our experiments) freeing programmers from the heavy manual effort required by most past systems.MECA is effective. Our most thorough case study was a user-pointer checker that used 75 annotations to check thousands of declarations in millions of lines of code in the Linux system. It found over forty errors, many of which were serious, while only having eight false positives.
Variation in tolerance to herbivory is mediated by differences in biomass allocation in aspen

Summary 1. Herbivore damage can select for tolerance in plant populations where genetic variation for tolerance exists. The causes underlying variation in tolerance are not fully resolved. We assessed the importance of two potential mechanisms for tolerance by examining its relationship with leaf photosynthetic rate and relative biomass allocation across plant organs. 2. We monitored responses of 12 aspen ( Populus tremuloides ) genotypes, grown in a common garden under two levels of nutrient availability, to defoliation in two successive seasons. Tolerance of each genotype was calculated as the difference in growth between defoliated and undefoliated trees grown under the same nutrient conditions. 3. Although light-saturated leaf photosynthesis increased in response to nutrient addition and defoliation, it did not vary among genotypes and was not correlated with tolerance. 4. Tolerance was, however, correlated with patterns of biomass allocation. Under low-nutrient conditions it was positively correlated with the proportion of biomass in stems just prior to defoliation, while under high-nutrient conditions it was correlated with greater allocation to stems in response to damage. 5. Herbivores may select for specific patterns of biomass allocation in trees, and do so differently in different environments. The positive correlation between tolerance and relative allocation to stems, as opposed to roots, runs counter to reports from studies of herbaceous species and underscores the need for further exploration of mechanisms of tolerance in woody plants.
Reasons for the wide variation in Medicaid participation rates among states hold lessons for coverage expansion in 2014.

The Affordable Care Act will expand Medicaid eligibility in 2014 to adults with incomes of up to 133 percent of the federal poverty level. To maximize this opportunity, policy makers need to ensure that participation, or “take-up,” among eligible adults exceeds current rates. Using the Current Population Survey 2005–10, we estimated that the nationwide Medicaid participation rate was 62.6 percent among eligible adults ages 19–64 without private insurance. Take-up varied widely by state, from 43.0 percent in Arkansas and Louisiana to 82.8 percent in Massachusetts, after adjusting for population demographics. Participation was highest among disabled adults, 75.8 percent, and lowest among childless adults, 38.3 percent. Factors linked to higher take-up rates included low cost sharing for beneficiaries; more generous benefits; and greater use of managed care programs for Medicaid populations. Factors associated with lower take-up rates included the existence of asset tests in some states. Massachusetts’s heal...
Deployment of Safe Flight 21 enhancements

This paper discusses three significant issues that will shape the deployment of Safe Flight 21. It is not clear how these issues will be resolved, but it can be concluded that some of the applications will have to be significantly changed in order to meet the requirements of the many stakeholders involved in the use of the avionics, ground infrastructure and operational procedures. Therefore, it will be necessary for the various constituencies within the FAA, the manufacturing community and the air carriers to continue to work closely to address the issues. In addition, implementation of the enhancements will require focusing the limited community resources on resolving issues so that NAS-wide benefits of Safe Flight 21 can be realized as soon as possible.
"THE WRONG SIDE OF THE TAPESTRY": ELIZABETH GASKELL'S WIVES AND DAUGHTERS

ELIZABETH GASKELL'S Wives and Daughters, often considered her finest and most psychologically complex novel, tells its story through narrative indirection what Gaskell's heroine Molly Gibson identifies in a conversation late in the novel as telling a story with a "mental squint; the surest way to spoil a narration" (623; ch. 58). In this conversation, Molly is conscious of her audience her admiring and encouraging aunts and her less admiring and less encouraging stepmother. Like Gaskell, Molly is conscious of the presence of a "critical listening." Thus Molly selects which details of her visit to the Towers, the manor of the largest landowners in her town, she will relate. In examining the use of details, of particulars, in Victorian and Modernist poetry, Carol Christ makes clear that what is at stake is "not whether literature should contain detail but what the significance of the detail should be, and consequently what the criteria for its selection are" (4). Gaskell's realist domestic fiction delights in detail. Yet Gaskell has been taken to task by such critics as Virginia Woolf for an incidental and excessive use of detail, detail that for Woolf represents the mid-Victorian novelist's inability to select what is important in rendering reality. The aesthetic problem with detail, Naomi Schor explains, lies in the way that detail subverts internal hierarchic ordering by blurring the lines between the foreground and the background, the principle and the incidental (20-21). Schor's explanation of this internal subversion is useful for opening up Gaskell's use of detail in Wives and Daughters. Examining Gaskell's use of detail makes it clear that while Wives and Daughters does the ideological work of creating the proper English middle class,1 background details in the narrative subvert this ideological work, a work that relies on repressing desire in order to achieve social ends. This very detail reveals a subtext driven by desire. I argue then how background detail becomes meaningful for what it suggests about the incomplete and unnarrated plots of Wives and Daughters. For as we will see, Gaskell uses detail to indicate motivations that she leaves unexplained, thereby inviting the reader to formulate a critique of the very plot that she constructs. I first explore Gaskell's concern about the appropriate relationship between objects and feelings. Reading Gaskell's advice to an aspiring novelist in one of her letters can help us to understand how she viewed the novel as an aesthetic construct. For Gaskell, a focus on objects requires describing reality objectively, and background details create a surface texture
The Development of a Feedback Environment and Role Clarity Model of Job Performance

Researchers have recently begun recognizing the impact of contextual factors on important organizational outcomes. This study, involving 170 subordinate-supervisor dyads, develops a model that demonstrates that subordinates who perceive a supportive feedback environment display increased feedback seeking, higher role clarity, and higher performance ratings. Furthermore, the results show that effort costs moderated the relationship between the coworker feedback environment and feedback seeking from coworkers. Implications are discussed.