cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Economic Analyses of Sequestering Carbon in Loblolly Pine, Cherrybark Oak, and Northern Red Oak in the United States

Global concern over increasing carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations in the atmosphere leading to possible future climate changes have generated interest in offsetting CO2 emissions by storing carbon in forests. Carbon-sequestering forest activities may be one of the least expensive approaches to mitigate the build up of atmospheric CO2. However, the fact that forest management practices are species-, site-and management-objective-specific increases the complexity of using the forestry sector to mitigate global warming. In order to provide useful and timely information concerning carbon sequestration, this study investigated three forestry-based opportunities for sequestering carbon in the United States: conversion of marginal agricultural land to forests and reforestation of poorly stocked pine plantations in the South, afforestation of the Lower Mississippi Alluvial Valley (LMAV), and reclamation and afforestation of abandoned mined lands (AML). This study conducted economic analyses on three region–species combinations: loblolly pine (Pinus taeda L.) in the southern states, cherrybark oak (Quercus pagoda Raf.) in the LMAV, and northern red oak (Quercus rubra L.) on AML in West Virginia. The objectives of this study were to determine the profitability of managing these three commercial tree species for timber production only and for the combination of timber production and carbon sequestration and then calculate net tonnes of carbon stored during one rotation and net revenues generated from each tonne of carbon sequestered.
Technical considerations for dominant frequency analysis.

Introduction: Dominant frequency (DF) analysis of atrial electrograms has been used to characterize atrial fibrillation (AF). The aim of this study was to explore technical issues that may affect the estimation of local activation rate during AF using DF analysis. Methods and Results: Epicardial atrial electrograms recorded during AF from 10 dogs were used to evaluate the effects of unipolar versus bipolar recordings, bipolar electrode spacing, postrecording processing, far field ventricular depolarizations, ventricular template subtraction, and signal duration on DF analysis. Simulated electrograms were used to evaluate the effect of far field ventricular depolarizations and signal-to-noise ratio. DFs were compared with activation rates obtained by manual marking and the reproducibility of the DFs was evaluated. Bipolar electrograms were found to be preferable to unipolar electrograms. Preprocessing was a necessary step for bipolar signals, but also aided analysis of unipolar recordings. Ventricular far field depolarizations significantly affected DFs. Ventricular template subtraction helped DF analysis in signals with both minimal and significant ventricular components. A recording duration above 2 seconds was required for reliable DF measurements. Signal-to-noise ratios below 13 dB could also affect DF, particularly for signals with significant amplitude and frequency variation. Conclusions: Various factors affect DF analysis. Proper interpretation of DF analysis requires careful evaluation of the AF signals and robust processing techniques.
Oral Motor Control, Posturing, and Myofunctional Variables in 8-Year-Olds

One hundred thirty-three rural second graders were evaluated for diadochokinetic abilities and myofunctional variables. Single-syllable diadochokinetic rates were significantly correlated with open-mouth resting postures. Slow trisyllable diadochokinetic rates were significantly correlated with a dentalized resting tongue posture and dentalized swallow patterns. The implications of these relationships are discussed.
Pressure and normal stress effects in shear yielding

The classical yielding theory of Tresca is generalized to include the effects of both hydrostatic pressure and normal stress in the slip plane. The three-parameter theory is the most general for polyhedral yield surfaces. The new theory is applied to the yielding of polystyrene. Two modes of slip: a brittle mode in the form of coarse slip bands, and a ductile mode in the form of fine slip bands, are studied separately. All three parameters are determined for each mode.
Demonstration of innovative techniques used for real-time closed-loop infrared scene generation

Real-time infrared (IR) scene generation for Hardware-in-the- Loop (HWIL) testing of IR seeker systems is a complex operation. High frame rates and high image fidelity are required to properly evaluate a seeker system's designation, identification, tracking, and aim-point selection tasks. Rapidly improving Commercial-off-the-Shelf (COTS) scene generation hardware has become a viable solution for HWIL test activities conducted at the Kinetic Kill Vehicle Hardware-in- the-Loop Simulator (KHILS) facility at Eglin AFB, Florida. A real-time IR scene generation implementation for a complete closed-loop guided missile simulation test entry was accomplished at KHILS. The scenarios used for the simulation were Theater Missile Defense (TMD) exo-atmospheric hit-to-kill intercepts of a re-entry target. Innovative scene generation techniques were devised to resolve issues concerning scene content and rendering accuracy while maintaining the required imaging frame rate. This paper focuses on the real-time scene generation requirements, issues, and solutions used for KHILS test entries.
Nuclear data sheets for A=227

Abstract Available information on decay characteristics and level structure for all nuclei with A = 227 has been examined. A summary and eveluation of experimental data, including adopted values and comparison with theory are presented. The individual level schemes are discussed, and commments pertaining to adopted spin and parity assignments and to gamma-ray multipolarities are given. Any apparent discrepancies and inconsistencies are pointed out. Much of the level information in the A = 227 mass chain is obtained from the α-decay of line A = 231 parent nuclei. While a summary of these results is reflected in both the level schemes and in discussions under “Level Properties” and “Gamma-Ray Properties”, the actual data are presented under the respective A = 231 parent. Information concerning the decay of nuclei with A = 231 was taken from 71Art1, but the data were verified for correspondence with the more recent evaluation for A = 231, 77Sc15. Decay energies and separation energies have been taken systematically from the 1977 Mass Adjustment (76WaBo, 77Wa08). Detailed comparison has been made between the adopted α-energies and the input values to the Mass Adjustment.
Chondrogenesis: genotypic and phenotypic expression.

It is becoming increasingly evident that the in vitro induction of vertebral chondrogenesis may not be due to the acquisition of a new metabolic pattern, but to the stabilization of one that is already existing. The sclerotome region of embryonic chick somites will undergo chondrogenesis in vitro as a response to various stimuli, the most effective being the embryonic notochord. Before stimulation, the somites have all of the metabolic machinery necessary for chondrogenesis, as evidenced by the fact that they can synthesize chondromucoprotein. They cannot, however, accumulate matrix except under special circumstances, e.g., when they are stimulated by an “inducer” such as the notochord (induced cartilage) or when they are permitted to express their chondrogenic bias under suitable culture conditions, such as in enriched nutrient medium (spontaneous cartilage). A study of chondroitin sulfate synthesis in these tissues has shown that the embryonic somites utilize glucosamine differently when compared to cartilage tissue. Analysis of the metabolic steps between glucosamine and UDP-N-acetylgalactosamine indicates the possibility of a metabolic “block,” which would prevent the efficient transformation of N-acetylglucosamine-1-P to UDP-N-acetylglucosamine.
Ring exchange, the exciton Bose liquid, and bosonization in two dimensions

Motivated by the high-${T}_{c}$ cuprates, we consider a model of bosonic Cooper pairs moving on a square lattice via ring exchange. We show that this model offers a natural middle ground between a conventional antiferromagnetic Mott insulator and the fully deconfined fractionalized phase that underlies the spin-charge separation scenario for high-${T}_{c}$ superconductivity. We show that such ring models sustain a stable critical phase in two dimensions, the exciton Bose liquid (EBL). The EBL is a compressible state, with gapless but uncondensed boson and ``vortex'' excitations, power-law superconducting and charge-ordering correlations, and broad spectral functions. We characterize the EBL with the aid of an exact plaquette duality transformation, which motivates a universal low-energy description of the EBL. This description is in terms of a pair of dual bosonic phase fields, and is a direct analog of the well known one-dimensional bosonization approach. We verify the validity of the low-energy description by numerical simulations of the ring model in its exact dual form. The relevance to the high-${T}_{c}$ superconductors and a variety of extensions to other systems are discussed, including the bosonization of a two-dimensional fermionic ring model.
Stem Cell Therapy for Sickle Cell Disease: Transplantation and Gene Therapy

HLA-identical sibling hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) for sickle cell disease (SCD) has a strong track record of efficacy and there is growing appreciation that its benefits exceed its risks in selected individuals. In contrast, the clinical utility of replacement gene therapy for sickle cell disease remains unproven. Its challenge is to ensure viral transduction into hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) and to generate safe, stable, erythroid-specific replacement gene expression at a level that is sufficient to have a clinical effect. The clinical necessity for fulfilling all these criteria may make this genetic disorder among the most complex to treat successfully by gene therapy. But the experience of HCT for SCD has proven that eliminating the beta(S)-globin gene is curative when the transfer is stable. Thus replacement gene therapy for sickle cell disease remains a subject of intense interest and investigation.
Nonenzymatic Template-Directed RNA Synthesis Inside Model Protocells

Efforts to recreate a prebiotically plausible protocell, in which RNA replication occurs within a fatty acid vesicle, have been stalled by the destabilizing effect of Mg(2+) on fatty acid membranes. Here we report that the presence of citrate protects fatty acid membranes from the disruptive effects of high Mg(2+) ion concentrations while allowing RNA copying to proceed, while also protecting single-stranded RNA from Mg(2+)-catalyzed degradation. This combination of properties has allowed us to demonstrate the chemical copying of RNA templates inside fatty acid vesicles, which in turn allows for an increase in copying efficiency by bathing the vesicles in a continuously refreshed solution of activated nucleotides.
Nonlinear current-voltage characteristics of nanochannels.

Like ion channels, nanochannels are known to exhibit curious non-Ohmic current-voltage I-V characteristics with an approximate piece-wise constant differential resistance. Using a nanoslot model and a nonequilibrium ion transport theory, we attribute the nonlinear resistance to overlapping double layers inside and an extended polarized layer of space charge outside the nanochannel. The overlimiting current beyond a critical voltage is shown to develop when the polarized layer is destabilized by a microvortex instability at one entrance. By extending earlier nanochannel and polarized layer models to include this instability, nonideal ion permselectivity and field-focusing effect, quantitative predictions—together with explicit differential resistance expressions—are offered for the nonlinear I-V features of a nanochannel surrounded by microreservoirs from a simple pseudo-one-dimensional model.
Early life exposures and the occurrence and timing of heart disease among the older adult Puerto Rican population.

Few studies have examined the effects of early life conditions on the timing of the onset of heart disease. We use the remarkable example of a representative sample of the population of older Puerto Ricans aged 60– 74 who lived in the countryside during childhood (n = 1,438) to examine the effects of seasonal exposures to poor nutrition and infectious diseases during late gestation on the timing of the onset and the probability of ever experiencing adult heart disease. Cox and log logistic hazard models controlling for childhood conditions (self-reported childhood health status and socioeconomic status [SES], rheumatic fever, and knee height) and adult risk factors (adult SES, obesity, smoking, texercise, and self-reported diabetes) showed that the risk of onset of heart disease was 65% higher among those born during high-exposure periods compared with unexposed individuals. However, there were no significant differences in median time of onset for those ever experiencing heart disease. As a comparison, we found that there were no significant seasonality effects for those who lived in urban areas during childhood. We conclude that early exposures in utero have important ramifications for adult heart disease among the older Puerto Rican population. We show, however, that while exposure is associated with the probability of ever experiencing adult heart disease, it is not associated with the timing of onset among those who do experience it.
Visual documentation of ovine pituitary gland development with magnetic resonance imaging following zeranol treatment

The objective of the current study was to determine whether magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) could be successfully utilized to document the effect of an oestrogenic anabolic agent on pituitary gland growth. The experimental animals consisted of two 1/2 sibling Suffolk wethers (castrated rams), which received either no implant (control, n = 1) or a 24 mg zeranol implant at day 0 and day 42 (zeranol; n = 1). Animals were anaesthetized with propofol and supported with oxygen during the MRI procedure. A mobile MRI unit with a 0.5 tesla (T), superconducting magnet was used to obtain 3 mm thick, non-contrast enhanced, T1-weighted (TR 500-600, TE25) sagittal, transverse and dorsal images of the pituitary gland. Sagittal images were recorded only when the mesencephalic aqueduct and infundibulum were distinctly visible in the same image. Pituitary glands were imaged at 14-day intervals for 70 days to determine if and when the anabolic effects of zeranol on pituitary gland growth could be visualized using MRI techniques. Three separate measurements of the pituitary gland dimensions made with the on-screen cursor were averaged to calculate pituitary gland dimensions and volume. A computer-assisted image analysis system and laser film images were used to determine pituitary gland area. Increases in pituitary gland volume for control and zeranol-treated animals were evident within 14 days, and by the end of the 70-day study, the increase in pituitary volume for the zeranol-treated animal was three times greater than that of the control animal. Overall, our results indicate that MRI technology can be successfully used to document the development of the pituitary gland in vivo. Application of knowledge gained from this novel approach to study the growth, development and function of endocrine glands over time, and within the same animal, will enhance human and animal endocrine diagnostic procedures.
Folded chain crystallization of random terpolymer liquid crystal polymers from the nematic state

The morphology of the liquid crystal random copolymers [CO(CH 2 ) m CO] x [OPhCO] y [OPhO] z of (n= 4-7) crystallized from the nematic state in the form of thin films on glycerine by slow cooling and quenching has been characterized. In all cases a folded chain, lamellar structure is found. The electron diffraction studies suggest adjacent reentry, and despite a large ΔH, indicate no change in lateral molecular packing at the crystal-«liquid crystal» transition with a transformation to the nematic state at a higher temperature «liquid crystal»-liquid crystal transition. The results are interpreted as suggesting similar folded chain, lamellar morphology in the nematic state
LuxS-Mediated Signaling in Streptococcus mutans Is Involved in Regulation of Acid and Oxidative Stress Tolerance and Biofilm Formation

LuxS-mediated quorum sensing has recently been shown to regulate important physiologic functions and virulence in a variety of bacteria. In this study, the role of luxS of Streptococcus mutans in the regulation of traits crucial to pathogenesis was investigated. Reporter gene fusions showed that inactivation of luxS resulted in a down-regulation of fructanase, a demonstrated virulence determinant, by more than 50%. The LuxS-deficient strain (TW26) showed increased sensitivity to acid killing but could still undergo acid adaptation. Northern hybridization revealed that the expression of RecA, SmnA (AP endonuclease), and Nth (endonuclease) were down-regulated in TW26, especially in early-exponential-phase cells. Other down-regulated genes included ffh (a signal recognition particle subunit) and brpA (biofilm regulatory protein A). Interestingly, the luxS mutant showed an increase in survival rate in the presence of hydrogen peroxide (58.8 mM). The luxS mutant formed less biofilm on hydroxylapatite disks, especially when grown in biofilm medium with sucrose, and the mutant biofilms appeared loose and hive-like, whereas the biofilms of the wild type were smooth and confluent. The mutant phenotypes were complemented by exposure to supernatants from wild-type cultures. Two loci, smu486 and smu487, were identified and predicted to encode a histidine kinase and a response regulator. The phenotypes of the smu486 smu487 mutant were, in almost all cases, similar to those of the luxS mutant, although our results suggest that this is not due to AI-2 signal transduction via Smu486 and Smu487. This study demonstrates that luxS-dependent signaling plays critical roles in modulating key virulence properties of S. mutans.
Judging the accuracy of a likelihood judgment: the case of smoking risk

A standard method for assessing whether people have appropriate internal representations of an event's likelihood is to check whether their subjective probability or frequency estimates for the event correspond with the assumed objective value for that event. When a person's estimate for the event exceeds its assumed objective probability or frequency, the person's expectancy for the event is concluded to be greater than warranted. This paper describes three lines of reasoning as to why conclusions of this sort can be problematic. Recently published findings as well as data from two new experiments are described to support this main thesis. The case of smoking risk is used to illustrate the more general problem, and issues that must be considered to avoid or contend with the problem are discussed. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Inferring subnets in router-level topology collection studies

Internet measurement studies require availability of representative topology maps. Depending on the map resolution (e.g., autonomous system level or router level), the procedure of collecting and processing an Internet topology map involves different tasks. In this paper, we present a new task, i.e., subnet inference, to advance the current state of the art in topology collection studies. Utilizing a technique to infer the subnet relations among the routers in the resulting topology map, we identify IP addresses that are connected over the same connection medium. We believe that the successful inclusion of subnet relations among the routers will yield topology maps that are closer, at the network layer, to the sampled segments of the Internet in router level topology measurement studies.
Homeless young people and living with personal digital artifacts

This paper reports on an investigation of how homeless young people hold themselves in relation to personal digital artifacts. Twelve participants, aged 19-29, took part in semi-structured interviews. Participants answered questions about the acquisition and disposition of personal artifacts, digital and non-digital, including mobile phones, music players, and wallets. The analysis of the interview transcripts reveals that young people often part with their digital artifacts in order to meet immediate needs, including the need to create and reciprocate goodwill. This contingent holding of personal artifacts illuminates both the ordinary and extraordinary circumstances of homelessness. The paper concludes with a discussion of constraints and implications for the design of information systems for improving the welfare of homeless young people.
Prevalence of Poxvirus in a Population of Merriam's Wild Turkeys in Oregon

An introduced population of Merriam's wild turkeys (Meleagris gallopavo) was examined for poxvirus when birds were trapped from January through April in 1981 and 1982. Poxvirus lesions were found in three of 113 (2.6%) turkeys. All infected birds were immature males.
What Videogame Making Can Teach Us About Access and Ethics in Participatory Culture

In “Confronting the Challenges of a Participatory Culture”, Jenkins and colleagues (2006) outlined three challenges in their participatory competencies framework that need to be addressed to prepare youth for full involvement in a digital culture – participation, transparency, and ethics. Expanding upon the framework of our earlier work, in this paper we examine more closely two aspects of Jenkins and colleagues’ challenges – the participation gap and the ethics challenge – as they apply to game-making activities in schools. We report on a four-month ethnographic study documenting youth’s production of video games in both an after school club and classroom setting. The growing use of videogamemaking for learning in schools offers youth the opportunity to no longer simply be consumers but also producers of technology. But as kids learned to contribute as such producers, both participatory and ethical issues arose in the ways they were willing or reluctant to share their own ideas and projects with their peers. Schools’ long-standing focus on individual achievement and traditional notions of plagiarism drew these issues of participation and ethics to the foreground, making them especially relevant considerations given on-going efforts to bring more game playing and making activities into schools.
Dynamic reconfiguration with I/O abstraction

Dynamic reconfiguration is explored in the context of I/O abstraction, a new programming model that defines the communication structure of a distributed system in terms of connections among well-defined data interfaces of encapsulated modules. We present a new module migration mechanism that avoids the expense and complication of state extraction techniques, minimizes the amount of code required for migration and confines that code to a separate section of the program. The migration mechanism is designed to permit migration across heterogeneous hosts and to allow replacement of one implementation by another, even if the new implementation is written in another programming language. The properties of I/O abstraction, particularly the clear separation of computation from communication and the availability of a data interface, help simplify the reconfiguration strategy.
Entecavir for the long-term treatment of chronic hepatitis B

Hepatitis B virus is a major cause of chronic liver disease worldwide and is associated with an increased risk of hepatocellular carcinoma, progressive hepatic fibrosis and end-stage liver disease. Suppression of HBV replication is recognized as the primary on-treatment goal of antiviral therapy, as reduction of serum HBV DNA to low or undetectable levels is highly likely to have a positive impact on long-term clinical outcomes in HBV-associated chronic liver disease. Entecavir is an oral nucleoside analogue that effectively inhibits HBV polymerase, resulting in rapid viral suppression. Long-term data on patients receiving entecavir for chronic hepatitis B have demonstrated high potency, a low incidence of antiviral drug resistance and good tolerability, making entecavir an ideal first-line agent for the treatment of chronic hepatitis B.
Slum health: from understanding to action.

The defining physical and legal characteristics of slums profoundly affect the health of these communities and may also serve as potential targets for immediate intervention.
Heavy Tails and Long Range Dependence in On/Off Processes and Associated Fluid Models

On/off models are common inputs for a variety of communication network models as well as storage and inventory models. A stationary renewal process alternating periods of activity (active transmission, fluid buildup, etc) with periods of inactivity (silence, no transmission, inputs off, etc) induces a stationary indicator process which indicates if the system is active or not. Heavy tails for the on periods induces a covariance function for the indicator process which decreases slowly at a rate characteristic of long range dependence. This has dramatic consequences for fluid models where fluid flows in at constant rate and there is a constant rate of release.
Impaired reproductive fitness in mothers of children with juvenile autoimmune arthropathies

Objective. To assess the reproductive fitness of mothers of children with juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA). Methods. A mail survey assessing pregnancy outcome was carried out among mothers of children with JIA (JIA mothers) treated at a tertiary paediatric rheumatology centre. The best friends of the JIA mothers served as controls. Besides family history, sociodemographics and reproductive outcomes were measured, including the number of pregnancies, pregnancy complications and gestational age at the time of delivery. Results. JIA mothers (n ¼ 227) and controls (n ¼ 235) had similar sociodemographics and racial backgrounds. On average, JIA mothers reported a greater number of conceptions than controls (3.5 vs 3.1; P ¼ 0.01) but had significantly higher rates of pregnancy complications (25% vs 15%; P<0.001). Corrected for differences in the absolute number of pregnancies between groups, the chances of having a miscarriage [mean (S.D.), 0.12 (0.18) vs 0.09 (0.16); P ¼ 0.02] or preterm delivery [0.08 (0.21) vs 0.04 (0.15); P<0.02] were significantly greater among JIA mothers than controls. Conclusions. Mothers of children with JIA have impaired reproductive fitness. This phenomenon is unlikely to be the result of difficulty with conception but rather to be due to higher rates of pregnancy loss and premature delivery.
Near-IR mediated intracellular uncaging of NO from cell targeted hollow gold nanoparticles

We demonstrate modulation of nitric oxide release in solution and in human prostate cancer cells from a thiol functionalized cupferron (TCF) absorbed on hollow gold nanoshells (HGNs) using near-infrared (NIR) light. NO release from the TCF–HGN conjugates occurs through localized surface heating due to NIR excitation of the surface plasmon. Specific HGN targeting is achieved through cell surface directed peptides, and excitation with tissue penetrating NIR light provides unprecedented spatio-temporal control of NO delivery to biological targets.
Bone Loss and Fracture Risk Associated with Cancer Therapy

Background. Cancer patients experience osteoporosis resulting from accelerated loss of bone mineral density (BMD) caused by their treatment. Such bone loss greatly increases the risk for fracture and can have other serious effects on quality of life. Methods. In the current report, the author focuses
Expression of BfrH, a Putative Siderophore Receptor of Bordetella bronchiseptica, Is Regulated by Iron, Fur1, and the Extracellular Function Sigma Factor EcfI

Iron (Fe) in soluble elemental form is found in the tissues and fluids of animals at concentrations insufficient for sustaining growth of bacteria. Consequently, to promote colonization and persistence, pathogenic bacteria evolved a myriad of scavenging mechanisms to acquire Fe from the host. Bordetella bronchiseptica, the etiologic agent of upper respiratory infections in a wide range of mammalian hosts, expresses a number of proteins for acquisition of Fe. Using proteomic and genomic approaches, three Fe-regulated genes were identified in the bordetellae: bfrH, a gene encoding a putative siderophore receptor; ecfI, a gene encoding a putative extracellular function (ECF) sigma factor; and ecfR, a gene encoding a putative EcfI modulator. All three genes are highly conserved in B. pertussis, B. parapertussis, and B. avium. Genetic analysis revealed that transcription of bfrH was coregulated by ecfI, ecfR, and fur1, one of two fur homologues carried by B. bronchiseptica. Overexpression of ecfI decoupled bfrH from Fe-dependent regulation. In contrast, expression of bfrH was significantly reduced in an ecfI deletion mutant. Deletion of ecfR, however, was correlated with a significant increase in expression of bfrH, due in part to a cis-acting nucleotide sequence within ecfR which likely reduces the frequency of readthrough transcription of bfrH from the Fe-dependent ecfIR promoter. Using a murine competition infection model, bfrH was shown to be required for optimal virulence of B. bronchiseptica. These experiments revealed ecfIR-bfrH as a locus encoding a new member of the growing family of Fe and ECF sigma factor-modulated regulons in the bordetellae.
Antagonism of acute amphetamine intoxication by haloperidol and propranolol.

Abstract The antidotal effects of a butyrophenone neuroleptic, haloperidol (HAL), and a β-adrenergic blocking agent, propranolol HCl (PRO), against the acute toxicity of d -amphetamine sulfate (AS) were determined. Alteration by such treatments of 2 biochemical changes implicated in the lethal mechanism(s) of AS also were examined. Male Sprague-Dawley rats (130–160 g) were injected ip with 64.8 mg/kg (1.5 × LD50) of AS. At 5 or 15 min after AS, sc injections of either PRO (10 or 20 mg/kg), HAL (0.5 or 1.0 mg/kg), or a combination of PRO (20) and HAL (1.0) were given. Both doses of PRO and of HAL afforded considerable protection against AS lethality compared to saline posttreated controls. However, the combination did not protect as well as did the more effective single agent, HAL. Hypoglycemia at 25 min after AS was prevented only by HAL (0.5 mg/kg) injection at 15 min post-AS. The 4–6-fold elevation of plasma lactate at 25 min after AS was prevented by posttreatment with PRO (20 mg/kg), but not by the HAL doses, which greatly reduced lethality. The data do not indicate that prevention of these biochemical effects of AS was critical to reduction of mortality. It is suggested that HAL and PRO deserve consideration as useful alternative or supplemental antidotes to those presently recommended for human acute intoxications from amphetamine-like drugs.
Phagostimulatory Sugars Enhance Uptake and Horizontal Transfer of Hexaflumuron in the Western Subterranean Termite (Isoptera: Rhinotermitidae)

Western subterranean termite, Reticulitermes hesperus Banks (Isoptera: Rhinotermitidae), workers fed more on paper disks treated with the carbohydrates xylose, ribose, and fructose than on untreated disks. This feeding behavior of termites for certain carbohydrates was used to demonstrate an increase in the uptake and transfer of the insect growth regulator hexaflumuron among termites. The addition of 3% xylose to paper disks significantly increased the uptake of [14C]hexaflumuron and its subsequent transfer to other termites. Similarly, there was a significant increase in mortality of termites fed on paper disks treated with [14C]hexaflumuron (0.1 and 0.5%) in combination with 3% xylose for similar time periods compared with termites feeding on [14C]hexaflumuron (0.1 and 0.5%) alone. Overall percentage of mortality of termites feeding on [14C]hexaflumuron in combination with 3% xylose during the duration of the study (25–30 d) was ≈70%.
Type 1 diabetes associated HLA-DQ2 and DQ8 molecules are relatively resistant to HLA-DM mediated release of invariant chain-derived CLIP peptides

HLA-DM is essential for editing peptides bound to MHC class II, thus influencing the repertoire of peptides mediating selection and activation of CD4(+) T cells. Individuals expressing HLA-DQ2 or DQ8, and DQ2/8 trans-dimers, have elevated risk for type 1 diabetes (T1D). Cells coexpressing DM with these DQ molecules were observed to express elevated levels of CLIP (Class II associated invariant chain peptide). Relative resistance to DM-mediated editing of CLIP was further confirmed by HPLC-MS/MS analysis of eluted peptides, which also demonstrated peptides from known T1D-associated autoantigens, including a shared epitope from ZnT8 that is presented by all four major T1D-susceptible DQ molecules. Assays with purified recombinant soluble proteins confirmed that DQ2-CLIP complexes are highly resistant to DM editing, whereas DQ8-CLIP is partially sensitive to DM, but with an apparent reduction in catalytic potency. DM sensitivity was enhanced in mutant DQ8 molecules with disruption of hydrogen bonds that stabilize DQ8 near the DM-binding region. Our findings show that T1D-susceptible DQ2 and DQ8 share significant resistance to DM editing, compared with control DQ molecules. The relative resistance of the T1D-susceptible DQ molecules to DM editing and preferential presentation of T1D-associated autoantigenic peptides may contribute to the pathogenesis of T1D.
Langerhans cell histiocytosis of the digestive tract identified on an upper gastrointestinal examination

Langerhans cell histiocytosis (LCH) with involvement of the gastrointestinal tract is rare and typically identified in patients with systemic disease. We describe a 16-month-old girl who initially presented with bilious vomiting, failure to thrive and a rash. An upper gastrointestinal (GI) examination revealed loss of normal mucosal fold pattern and luminal narrowing within the duodenum, prompting endoscopic biopsy. Langerhans cell histiocytosis of the digestive tract was confirmed by histopathology. A skeletal survey and skin biopsy identified other systemic lesions. Although uncommon, it is important to consider LCH in the differential diagnosis for gastrointestinal symptoms of unclear origin, especially when seen with concurrent rash. Findings of gastrointestinal involvement on upper GI examination include loss of normal mucosal fold pattern and luminal narrowing in the few published case reports.
Angular-Resolved ESCA Studies of Cadmium Arachidate Monolayers on Si (100): Inelastic Mean-Free Path and Depth Profile Analysis

Angular-resolved ESCA was used to study single cadmium arachidate monolayers transferred to Si (100) wafers by the Langmuir-Blodgett technique. We find the monolayers to be of high integrity with respect to those defects which enhance the escape probability of substrate photoelectrons through the overlayer. The inelastic mean-free pathlengths of Si (2p) and C (Is) electrons were calculated to be 49±6 A and 45±6 A for the kinetic energies of 1388 eV and 1202 eV, respectively. The overall ordering of the hydrocarbon chains is less than for alkane thiols assembled on noble metals. We find that the precision of the Tyler algorithm to deconvolute angular-resolved ESCA data into depth profiles is accurate within 10% for predicting the thickness of the hydrocarbon overlayer but less precise for intermediate layers.
Atomic Layer Deposition of Pt on Tungsten Monocarbide (WC) for the Oxygen Reduction Reaction

Atomic layer deposition (ALD) was utilized as a synthesis method to deposit monolayers of Pt onto WC substrates for applications as oxygen reduction reaction electrocatalysts. Samples utilizing various Pt ALD cycles were characterized using surface analytical methods and scanning electron microscopy, whereas cyclic voltammetry was used to determine whether the oxygen reduction reaction takes place on the catalyst surface. ALD Pt was found to deposit onto WC substrates following an island growth mechanism. When few Pt ALD cycles are used, discrete Pt particles first formed and dispersed over the WC substrate, but at least 100 ALD cycles is required for the WC substrate to be covered with Pt. Whereas Pt monolayers are not obtained, ALD Pt on WC still shows activity for the oxygen reduction reaction. Cyclic voltammetry conducted in an O2-saturated 0.5 M H2SO4 electrolyte indicate that as few as 20 Pt ALD cycles on WC is needed to produce oxygen reduction reaction activity that is comparable to Pt bulk. Effor...
Response to "Misconceptions of Capsular Contracture, Operative Times, and Complications in the Transaxillary Breast Augmentation Literature".

I would like to thank the editor for the privilege of writing a brief response to the Letter to the Editor by Benjamin Gelfant1 regarding “Utility of Video-Assisted Endoscopy in Transaxillary Breast Augmentation” by Roxo et al2 Dr Gelfant's letter also references my earlier paper published in this journal in 2012.3 Let me begin by complimenting Dr Gelfant on his enviable results and experience with what I presume to be his personal technique of video-assisted endoscopy transaxillary breast augmentation with smooth, silicone gel-filled breast implants. I would also add that I personally like this operation and certainly never intended to give it a “black eye”; far from it. However, I believe that …
Inverted-Rib Chalcogenide Waveguides by Solution Process

This paper studies the fabrication and characterization of solution-processed chalcogenide waveguides by a microtrench filling method. In this process, channels are etched on substrates and backfilled with solution-dissolved arsenic sulfide before being annealed. The waveguides are homogeneous in elemental composition and have good mode confinement. Both simulation and experimental measurements confirm a dominant fundamental mode covering 2.5–2.8 μm. We measure an optical loss of 1.87 dB/cm, which to our knowledge is the lowest among solution-processed waveguides.
Sex Ratio and Embryonic Mortality in the Domestic Fowl

Abstract RECENT papers by Landauer and Landauer (1931) and MacArthur and Baillie (1932) contain data indicating a higher proportion of males than of females among chicks which died during the first few weeks of postnatal life. Landauer and Landauer suggest that the same condition holds for pre-natal mortality. Now it is well known that in man and in some other species in which the male is the heterogametic sex, both prenatal and postnatal mortality among males is relatively greater than among females. Lenz (1923), Huxley (1924), Geiser (1924–25), and others have supposed that recessive sex-linked factors with a deleterious effect on viability account for the relatively greater male mortality. But if species in which the female is heterogametic, as is the case in the domestic fowl, also show greater male mortality, then the hypothesis of harmful sex-linked factors must be abandoned. Landauer and Landauer (1931) and MacArthur and Baillie (1932) . . .
Effective Evaluation on Parts of Community-based Methadone Maintenance Treatment Clinics for Heroin Addicts in Xinjiang

Objective To assess the effectiveness of community-based methadone maintenance treatment(MMT) clinics for heroin addicts(run for 12 months) in drug-related harm reduction and HIV/AIDS prevention and control.Methods Based on the evaluation plan on MMT,a baseline survey among heroin addicts participated in 12 MMT clinics were conducted at the beginning of the clinics,and the surveys of the HIV/AIDS related high-risk behaviors,criminal behaviors,functions in society and family and infective situation of relevant diseases among the heroin addicts were carried out respectively in the third months of 3 clinics and 12 months of 2 clinics.The effectiveness of MMT was assessed through comparing the results of the surveys.Results Times of illegal drug use and needle sharing behavior among the clients of MMT clinics reduced markedly;clients' condom use rate increased to some extent;contact with past illegal drug use group reduced to a large degree;relationships with family members and employment status improved;accordingly,the risk for HIV infection among the clients reduced obviously.Conclusions MMT not only reduces heroin use,injecting drug use and needle sharing and HIV spread,but also plays a positive role in reducing drug-related crimes and improving client's social function and life quality.MMT is an effective measure for harm reduction and HIV/AIDS prevention and control,and therefore the measure should be expanded on a large scale.
Deep contextual language understanding in spoken dialogue systems.

We describe a unified multi-turn multi-task spoken language understanding (SLU) solution capable of handling multiple context sensitive classification (intent determination) and sequence labeling (slot filling) tasks simultaneously. The proposed architecture is based on recurrent convolutional neural networks (RCNN) with shared feature layers and globally normalized sequence modeling components. The temporal dependencies within and across different tasks are encoded succinctly as recurrent connections. The dialog system responses beyond SLU component are also exploited as effective external features. We show with extensive experiments on a number of datasets that the proposed joint learning framework generates state-of-the-art results for both classification and tagging, and the contextual modeling based on recurrent and external features significantly improves the context sensitivity of SLU models.
Regulation of complement by membrane proteins: an overview.

The complement system has evolved as the major humoral defense mechanism against infection, and complement activation products mediate many of the processes of inflammation (Muller-Eberhard 1988). For example, C3a and C5a are potent anaphylatoxins, C5a is the primary mediator of neutrophil Chemotaxis, and activation (C3b) and degradation (iC3b) fragments of C3 are critically important opsonins that are recognized by specific receptors on phagocytic cells (Ross and Medof 1985). The complement system can also mediate cell killing directly through formation of the membrane attack complex.
Use of geogrid in the construction of railroads

Over the last three decades geogrid has been used as a reinforcement in the construction of several earth- retaining and earth-supported structures. In more recent times it has been used as reinforcement of railroad beds to improve its performance and structural integrity. A review of several published field and large-scale laboratory test results relating to the reinforcing ability of geogrids is presented. Also included are a number of case histories from several countries where layer(s) of geogrid were used in ballast and sub-ballast layers and on soft subgrade to reduce track settlement and, hence, the frequency of maintenance.
Differential Patterns of Risk Factors for Early-Onset Breast Cancer by ER Status in African American Women.

Background: Given the disproportionately high incidence of early-onset breast cancer and aggressive subtypes, such as estrogen receptor (ER)-negative tumors, in African American (AA) women, elucidation of risk factors for early onset of specific subtypes of breast cancer is needed. Methods: We evaluated associations of reproductive, anthropometric, and other factors with incidence of invasive breast cancer by age at onset ( Results: Higher parity, older age at first birth, never having breastfed, and abdominal adiposity were associated with increased risk of early-onset ER− breast cancer: HRs were 1.71 for ≥3 births versus one birth; 2.29 for first birth after age 25 versus Conclusions: Differences in risk factors by ER subtype were observed for breast cancer diagnosed before the age of 45 years. Impact: Etiological heterogeneity by tumor subtype in early-onset breast cancer, in combination with a higher prevalence of the risk factors in AA women, may explain, in part, racial disparities in breast cancer incidence. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev; 26(2); 270–7. ©2016 AACR.
Complex and Composite Graphical Symbol Recognition and Retrieval: A Quick Review

One of the key difficulties in graphics recognition domain is to work on complex and composite symbol recognition, retrieval and spotting. This paper covers a quick view on complex and composite symbol recognition, which is inspired by real-world industrial problem. Considering it as a pattern recognition problem, three different approaches: statistical, structural and syntactic are taken into account. It includes fundamental concepts or techniques and research standpoints or directions derived by a real-world application.
Hayek, Arrow, and the Problems of Democratic Decision-Making

Both Hayek and Arrow provide arguments about the inability of the vote process to yield a coherent social choice. Hayek demonstrated that planning is incompatible with democracy; its coherence requires dictatorship. Arrow demonstrated that voting fails to produce rational social choices; social rationality can be assured only when there is a single will. In both, the substitution of a single will for many wills is ruled as incompatible with a free society. Because market socialism relies upon either the existence of a meaningful, stable social welfare function or democratic decision-making to allocate resources, the complementary arguments of Hayek and Arrow imply that market socialism requires dictatorship to achieve coherence.
Normalized frontal impact biofidelity kinematic corridors using post mortem human surrogates.

Abstract Due to reducing cost and powerful computing resources and the ability of finite element human body models (FEHBM) to predict human body response more realistically, they are gaining acceptance to be a substitute for mechanical surrogates. Unlike mechanical surrogates, FEHBM can realistically simulate human kinematics and kinetics. Moreover, an array of quantities can be directly measured from FEHBMs. However, similar to Anthropomorphic Test Devices (ATDs), in order to evaluate the biofidelity, these models must be validated using PMHS response corridors. Therefore, availability of such PMHS corridors that can be used to validate both ATD and FEHBM kinematics is of primary importance. The current study presents normalized biofidelity corridors of head CG, T1, T12, and sacrum accelerations using PMHS frontal sled tests that were previously conducted. In addition, rotational accelerations and displacements of the head are also presented. The experimental data were collected using four specimens. Each specimens were tested with non-injurious pulses using two different velocities (low: 3.6 m/s and medium: 6.9 m/s). These data were normalized using mass-based technique to represent mid-sized United States population. Using the normalized data, average and plus/minus one standard deviation response corridors were generated that can be used to evaluate the biofidelity of ATDs and FEHBMs.
A strategy for vactorization

Abstract The community of people using vector processors is growing rapidly. First, within the United States, the National Science Foundation has established several vector supercomputer centers, and a large number of scientists in academe will be using these resources. Second, IBM has added a vector capability to its high-end mainframe system, and the widespread use of these systems will dramatically increase the community of people using vector processors. Finally, host of minicomputer manufacturers have added vector capability to their latest systems. So, as a result, there will likely be a reveal of interest in vectorization and some exciting additions to the associated technology. The intent of this paper is to provide many of these new users of vector processors with a high-level discussion of some of the fundamental aspects of vector processing.