cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
An Oxyboration Route to a Single Regioisomer of Borylated Dihydrofurans and Isochromenes.

An oxyboration reaction that employs B–O σ bonds as addition partners to C–C π bonds to form borylated dihydrofurans and isochromenes has been developed. By nature of the mechanism, the reaction produces exclusively one borylated regioisomer, in contrast to and/or complementary to alternative routes that produce these borylated heterocycles via C–H activation. Access to the borylative heterocyclization route is demonstrated from alcohols directly or from a hydroboration–oxyboration sequence starting from the corresponding ketone, forming the heterocyclic core and installing the boron in one synthetic step. Catechol boronates were directly used as coupling partners in the in situ Suzuki cross-coupling reactions without transesterification to pinacol boronates.
Heme, whence come thy carbon building blocks?

In this issue of Blood , Burch et al addressed the challenge of how erythroid cells acquire sufficient carbon for heme synthesis during erythropoiesis. 1
Activation of rod input in a model of retinal degeneration reverses retinal remodeling and induces formation of normal synapses, circuitry and visual signaling in the adult retina

A major cause of human blindness is the death of rod photoreceptors. As rods degenerate, synaptic structures between rod and rod bipolar cells dissolve and the rod bipolar cells extend their dendrites and occasionally make aberrant contacts. Such changes are broadly observed in blinding disorders caused by photoreceptor cell death and is thought to occur in response to deafferentation. How the remodeled retinal circuit affect visual processing following rod rescue is not known. To address this question, we generated transgenic mice wherein a disrupted cGMP-gated channel (CNG) gene can be repaired at the endogenous locus and at different stages of degeneration by tamoxifen-inducible cre-mediated recombination. In normal rods, light-induced closure of CNG channels leads to hyperpolarization of the cell, reducing neurotransmitter release at the synapse. Similarly, rods lacking CNG channel exhibit a resting membrane potential that was ~10mV hyperpolarized compared to WT rods, indicating diminished glutamate release. Retinas from these mice undergo stereotypic retinal remodeling as a consequence of rod malfunction and degeneration. Upon tamoxifen-induced expression of CNG channels, rods recovered their structure and exhibited normal light responses. Moreover, we show that the adult mouse retina displays a surprising degree of plasticity upon activation of rod input. Wayward bipolar cell dendrites establish contact with rods to support normal synaptic transmission, which is propagated to the retinal ganglion cells. These findings demonstrate remarkable plasticity extending beyond the developmental period and support efforts to repair or replace defective rods in patients blinded by rod degeneration.
One Hundred Years of Agricultural Education at Virginia Tech

In 2018 the Department of Agricultural, Leadership, and Community Education (ALCE) celebrated one hundred years of agricultural education at Virginia Tech. The initial mission of the department, founded in 1918 as the Department of Agricultural Education and Animal Science, was to educate agricultural teachers to work in secondary education in rural communities. This mission has evolved and expanded over the decades to include preparation of Extension professionals while developing new programs designed to meet the ever-changing needs of rural and urban communities alike. The interviews presented in this volume tell this story through the unique perspectives of fourteen former and present students, faculty, and administrators. Taken together, these interviews bring the department’s history to life while also using the past as a springboard into a future that undoubtedly will be characterized by continued change grounded in ALCE’s ongoing commitment to excellence. The MARC records for VT Publishing books can be downloaded here .
Sex differences in the metabolic effects of the renin-angiotensin system

Obesity is a global epidemic that greatly increases risk for developing cardiovascular disease and type II diabetes. Sex differences in the obese phenotype are well established in experimental animal models and clinical populations. While having higher adiposity and obesity prevalence, females are generally protected from obesity-related metabolic and cardiovascular complications. This protection is, at least in part, attributed to sex differences in metabolic effects of hormonal mediators such as the renin-angiotensin system (RAS). Previous literature has predominantly focused on the vasoconstrictor arm of the RAS and shown that, in contrast to male rodent models of obesity and diabetes, females are protected from metabolic and cardiovascular derangements produced by angiotensinogen, renin, and angiotensin II. A vasodilator arm of the RAS has more recently emerged which includes angiotensin-(1-7), angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2), mas receptors, and alamandine. While accumulating evidence suggests that activation of components of this counter-regulatory axis produces positive effects on glucose homeostasis, lipid metabolism, and energy balance in male animal models, female comparison studies and clinical data related to metabolic outcomes are lacking. This review will summarize current knowledge of sex differences in metabolic effects of the RAS, focusing on interactions with gonadal hormones and potential clinical implications.
Finding and landing an academic position in materials science in the US

The process of applying for a faculty position requires considerable preparation and thought. Seeking the advice and support of mentors will help during this rigorous and hopefully rewarding experience.
Two-dimensional hybrid-direct kinetic simulation of a Hall thruster discharge plasma

A direct kinetic (DK) simulation is capable of modeling the nonequilibrium state of plasma as it evolves in the discharge region of a Hall thruster without the numerical noise that is inherent to particle-based methods since the velocity distribution functions are obtained in a deterministic manner. In this work, a hybrid-DK simulation utilizes a quasi-one-dimensional fluid electron model in conjunction with a two-dimensional DK method to simulate neutral atoms and ions in a Hall thruster channel and near-field plume. Instantaneous and time-averaged plasma properties calculated using the hybrid-DK simulation are benchmarked against the results obtained from a two-dimensional hybrid-particle-in-cell (PIC) simulation with an identical fluid electron model. For both high and low-frequency oscillations, the two simulations show good agreement for time-averaged and dynamic plasma properties. Numerical noise tends to randomize plasma oscillations in the PIC simulation results, whereas the DK results exhibit coherent oscillatory behavior.
Provision of Differentiated Reliability Services Under a Market-Based Investment Decision Making

Along with the modernized grids, a transactive energy concept has been developed to enhance the efficiency in managing grids through a market-based approach. This paper proposes a market-based approach with the process of service price settling that is required only the necessary information in the form of bid functions to provide differentiated reliability service under the considered market structure. Decisions about investments and the prices to charge for services are made based on information from a service provider and customers by optimizing its objective with respect to its own interests. The numerical simulation shows that customers can obtain the higher reliability services according to their willingness to pay.
Estimating inundation extent using CYGNSS data: A conceptual modeling study

Abstract Mapping inundation dynamics and flooding extent is important for a wide variety of applications, from providing disaster relief and predicting infectious disease transmission to quantifying the effects of climate change on Earth's hydrologic cycle. Due to the rapid and highly spatially heterogeneous nature of flooding events, acquiring data with both high spatial and temporal resolutions is paramount, yet doing so has remained a challenge in satellite remote sensing. The potential for Global Navigation Satellite System-Reflectometry (GNSS-R) to help address this challenge has been explored in several studies, the bulk of which use data from the Cyclone GNSS (CYGNSS) constellation of GNSS-R satellites. This work presents a simple forward model that describes how surface reflectivity measured by CYGNSS should change due to flooding for different land surface types. We corroborate our model findings with observations from the Amazon Basin and Lake Eyre, Australia. Both the model and observations indicate that the relationship between surface reflectivity and surface water extent strongly depends on the micro-scale surface roughness of the land and water. We show that the increase in surface reflectivity due to flooding or inundation is greatest in areas where the surrounding land has dense vegetation. In areas where the land surface surrounding inundated areas is perfectly smooth, the increase in surface reflectivity due to flooding is not as strong, and confounding effects of soil moisture and water roughness could lead to large uncertainties in resulting surface water retrievals. However, even a few centimeters of surface roughness will result in several dB sensitivity to surface water, provided that the water is smoother than the land surface itself.
A polynomial-time deterministic approach to the travelling salesperson problem

We propose a new polynomial-time deterministic algorithm that produces an approximated solution for the travelling salesperson problem. The proposed algorithm ranks cities based on their priorities...
Prenatal maternal organophosphorus pesticide exposures, paraoxonase 1, and childhood adiposity in the Mount Sinai Children's Environmental Health Study

Abstract Background Animal studies suggest that organophosphorus pesticides (OPs) may be environmental obesogens. While prenatal OP exposures have been associated with altered infant glucose metabolism, associations with pediatric adiposity remain unknown. Methods We summed concentrations of three dimethylphosphate (∑DMP) and three diethylphosphate (∑DEP) metabolites of OPs measured in third trimester spot urine samples collected from pregnant women enrolled in New York City, 1998–2002. We measured percent fat mass using bio-electrical impedance analysis and calculated age- and sex-standardized body mass index (BMI) z-scores from anthropometric measurements collected at approximately 4, 6, and 7–9 years of age (166 children, 333 observations). We assessed covariate-adjusted associations of OPs with repeated adiposity measures using linear mixed models and evaluated effect measure modification (EMM) by sex and paroxonase (PON) 1 –108C/T and Q192R polymorphisms measured in maternal peripheral blood samples. Results The geometric mean urinary concentration of ∑DMP metabolites (29.9 nmol/L, IQR: 105.2 nmol/L) was higher than ∑DEP metabolites (8.8 nmol/L, IQR: 31.2 nmol/L). Adjusted associations were null, with differences in fat mass per 10-fold increase in prenatal ∑DMP and ∑DEP concentrations of 0.7% (95% CI: −0.6, 2.0) and 0.8% (95% CI: −0.4, 2.0), respectively. Maternal PON1-108C/T polymorphisms modified relationships of prenatal ∑DMP with percent fat mass (EMM p-value = 0.18) and ∑DEP with BMI z-scores (EMM p-value = 0.12). For example, ∑DMP was modestly associated with increased percent fat mass among children of mothers with the at-risk CT or TT genotype (β = 1.2%, 95% CI: −0.6, 3.0) but not among those whose mothers had the CC genotype (β = −0.4%, 95% CI: −2.4, 1.5). Associations were not modified by sex or maternal PON1 Q192R polymorphisms. Conclusions We observed little evidence of a relationship between prenatal OP exposures and child adiposity, although there was some suggestion of increased risk among offspring of mothers who were slow OP metabolizers. Larger studies are warranted to further evaluate possible associations of prenatal OP exposures with child adiposity and differences by maternal PON1 genotype, which regulates OP metabolism and may increase susceptibility to exposure.
Purposeful Plans for Computer Science Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

Reaching diversity, equity, and inclusion in a computer science class requires planning and daily activity. This is not a one-size-fits-all model but is instead affected by the school's demographics, the individuals in the room on a given day, and the format of instruction (remote versus in-person, synchronous versus asynchronous). Administrators, teachers, guidance counselors and other parties must work together to foster diversity of enrollment, inclusive learning spaces, and inclusive instruction. During this Birds-of-a-Feather, participants will be supported through discussions that focus on these areas of diversity, equity, and inclusion. Participants will share their personal stories, successes and challenges from their classrooms and discuss ideas for future improvement with others invested in this worthy challenge. Participants will leave the BOF with a purposeful plan inspired by new allies to address these issues within their own classrooms. The Microsoft Philanthropies TEALS Program will also provide a guide used by more than 500 computer science educators this year (developed with partnerships from computer science education leaders Code.org, NCWIT, CSTA, and CSforAll) for future reference.
Increased short-term and long-term mortality in community- and hospital-acquired hypernatraemia and in patients with delayed serum sodium correction.

Background This study examined the short-term and long-term mortality of community- and hospital-acquired hypernatraemia in a large cohort of general hospitalised patients, and the impact of delayed serum sodium correction in hypernatraemic patients. Methods Adult patients admitted to Mayo Clinic Rochester from 2011 to 2013 were examined. The patients with admission serum sodium ≥138 mEq/L and at least 2 serum sodium measurements during hospitalisation were included. Hypernatraemia was defined as serum sodium ≥143 mEq/L. The patients were categorised into three groups based on serum sodium at admission and during hospitalisation: (a) normal serum sodium, (b) community-acquired hypernatraemia and (c) hospital-acquired hypernatraemia. Outcomes included hospital mortality and 1-year mortality after hospital discharge amongst hospital survivors. Results Of 25 781 eligible patients, 45% had normal serum sodium, 20% had community-acquired hypernatraemia and 35% had hospital-acquired hypernatraemia. In adjusted analysis, odds ratios (ORs) of community- and hospital-acquired hypernatraemia for hospital mortality were 4.91 (95% CI 3.47-6.94) and 4.11 (95% CI 2.94-5.73), whereas hazard ratio (HR) for 1-year mortality was 1.76 (95% CI 1.56-1.98) and 1.61 (95% CI 1.45-1.79), respectively. Hospital-acquired hypernatraemia had a higher hospital mortality but not 1-year mortality than community-acquired hypernatraemia. In patients with community-acquired hypernatraemia, 36% remained hypernatraemic by hospital day 3. Hospital mortality (OR 3.01; 95% CI 2.71-5.83) and 1-year mortality (HR 1.51; 95% CI 1.26-1.81) were significantly increased in patients with persistent hypernatraemia, compared with those with serum sodium correction into optimal range of 138-142 mEq/L. Conclusion Hypernatraemia, regardless of acquisition origin, is associated with elevated short-term and long-term mortality. Hospital-acquired hypernatraemia was more common and had a higher short-term mortality than community-acquired hypernatraemia. Failure to correct hypernatraemia by hospital day 3 is associated with increased mortality.
A Proposed Functional Analysis of Transmission Prevention Behaviors for a Respiratory Virus (SARS-CoV-2)

The coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic has had a global impact on lives everywhere and has led to the disruption of, and interference with, virtually every aspect of life. In response, leading experts, political leaders, doctors, and scientists have released guidelines that attempt to prevent and mitigate the exponential rate of infection. The response to these safety recommendations has produced tremendous behavior variability as a society. Although a plethora of factors are likely relevant, a more complete analysis of human behavior during this time might help explain this disparity. The principles of applied behavior analysis allow for a functional analysis of an individual’s use of transmission prevention behaviors (TPBs) during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. Thus, the purpose of this discussion is to provide a conceptual analysis for some possible explanations for why individuals might or might not engage in virus TPBs, as well as some recommendations to help combat the current pandemic, as well as those in the future.
Design, Analysis and Topology Optimization of a Landing Gear Strut for a Quadcopter Upon Impact

In this paper, a comprehensive approach for design, analysis, and topology optimization for a solid leaf spring landing gear of a quadcopter is presented. Landing gears are a critical structural part of an aircraft that support all up weight in static conditions and absorb kinetic energy in a form of impact loads during touch down. Complete designing along with the analysis of landing gear as per the governing principals and rules have been carried out such that it undertakes static load and impact load of the aerial vehicle having Gross Take-off Weight of 12 kg including the payload capacity of 9 kg. The work includes a comprehensive literature review, mathematical modeling of the strut, calculation of Impact force at static and dynamic conditions. Drop test dynamics has been explained thoroughly which is a prerequisite for experimental verification using drop test of the designed strut before its installation on aerial vehicle. Considering the maximum force encountered during landing, the design of the landing gear along with appropriate thickness has also been undertaken in SOLIDWORKS®. The numerical analysis of the model has been conducted using the continuum approach, considering continuous bodies. Similarly, to validate the proposed design and to determine the structural integrity of strut, finite element analysis has been carried out on landing gear assembly. The deformation, maximum stresses (Von-Mises, Principle Stress) and factor of safety have been computed using SOLIDWORKS®Simulation-Static. Moreover, three materials have been initially used, (Cold Rolled Steel, Al 7075- T6, Al 2024-T3). High strength to weight ration is a critical design consideration for any landing gear strut. The optimization parameter for the analysis is weight of the strut. Hence three optimum variants of the struts have also been proposed with 15%, 35%, 60% reduced weight of each without compromising the strength. The results indicate that the designed strut behaves efficiently meeting all the operational conditions.
Voice with Every Bite

AbstractThrough an examination of vegetarians' practical boundary-work, this paper not only highlights the significance of people's dietary identity but also accounts for how the triadic relationship among social groups complicates people's boundary-work. This paper illuminates vegetarians' strategies for managing cultural membership and identity in a triadic group relationship—namely, meat-eaters, vegetarians and vegans. In the triadic group constellation, I distinguish three types of hierarchical boundary-work from nonhierarchical boundary-work. Unlike non-hierarchical boundary-work, which merely marks and reproduces social differences, hierarchical boundary-work represents and reproduces unequal social categorizations. Focusing on the enactment of dietary identity, I argue that vegetarians conduct a type of hierarchical boundary-work to represent their selfidentification as “the second best” in the triadic constellation. I detail four ways in which vegetarians conduct the-second-best boundary-work ; mo...
The Bridegroom Messiah and the People of God: Echoes of Scripture, representative figures, and messianic exegesis

Echoes of Scripture in the Fourth Gospel We cannot begin the process of identifying and interpreting John's allusions to marriage texts without some idea of what an allusion is and how it works. Wendell V. Harris offers a clear and concise definition in his Dictionary of Concepts in Literary Criticism and Theory . According to Harris, an allusion is “the evocation of a person, character, place, event, idea, or portion of text through quotation (exact or approximate), implicit reference through similarity, explicit reference, or echo. Such evocation or suggestion is intended to lead the reader to bring some aspect of the referent to bear at that point of the originating text.” He further explains that “allusion is presumed to enrich meaning, pleasure being derived from the economy with which it does so.” In Harris' terms, the proposed allusions to be evaluated in this study evoke a portion of Israel's Scriptures by means of implicit reference through similarity. This definition begs for immediate qualification. Who inscribes implicit references, and for whom do those references evoke a portion of a text? Who leads what reader to associate the referent with the originating text? In order to understand an allusion, it is first necessary to define its author and audience. Once we have defined author and audience, we can then follow the basic approach suggested by Harris' two-part definition. First, we must identify the allusion.
Suppression of a P450 hydroxylase gene in plant trichome glands enhances natural-product-based aphid resistance

Trichome glands on the surface of many higher plants produce and secrete exudates affecting insects, microbes, and herbivores. Metabolic engineering of gland exudation has potential for improving pest/disease resistance, and for facilitating molecular farming. We identified a cytochrome P450 hydroxylase gene specific to the trichome gland and used both antisense and sense co-suppression strategies to investigate its function. P450-suppressed transgenic tobacco plants showed a > or =41% decrease in the predominant exudate component, cembratriene-diol (CBT-diol), and a > or =19-fold increase in its precursor, cembratriene-ol (CBT-ol). Thus, the level of CBT-ol was raised from 0.2 to > or =4.3% of leaf dry weight. Exudate from antisense-expressing plants had higher aphidicidal activity, and transgenic plants with exudate containing high concentrations of CBT-ol showed greatly diminished aphid colonization responses. Our results demonstrate the feasibility of significantly modifying the natural-product chemical composition and aphid-interactive properties of gland exudates using metabolic engineering. The results also have implications for molecular farming.
Patterns of behavioral characteristics as indicants of recreation preferences: a canonical analysis.

Abstract This study investigated multiple relationships between patterns of recreation participation and patterns of participant characteristics using a canonical-correlation approach. Based on a sample of 387 adult males, the analysis extracted seven significant roots. These roots related outdoor and indoor, passive and active activities to demographics, self-concept variables, social-psychological measures of interpersonal orientation, and a set of nonrecreational activities, interests, and opinions. In abbreviated form, basic activity patterns portrayed by this analysis were: (a) strenuous and/or sociable activities appealing to robust, younger participants; (b) relatively sedentary, culturally broadening pursuits for indulgent persons; (c) passive recreational alternatives associated with individuals of higher social class; (d) varied and less vigorous activities for persons seeing themselves as fragile; (e) skiing interests appealing to those with rather carefree, solitary lifestyles; (f) water-relat...
Symbolic functional test generation with guaranteed low-level fault detection

A high-level (functional) fault modeling and test generation philosophy is proposed which is aimed at ensuring full detection of low-level, physical faults, as well as the industry-standard single stuck-line (SSL) faults. Prior work in this area either imposes heavy restrictions on circuit configuration, or is unable to generate tests that ensure good, low-level fault coverage. We begin by developing a new functional fault model that is derived (induced) from the circuit under test; of particular interest are SSL-induced functional faults or SIFs. A unique feature of the SIF model is that SIF detection guarantees SSL fault detection. A program called SIFgen is presented that efficiently generates SIF lists automatically. A high-level test generation algorithm called SWIFT is proposed which incorporates a symbolic scheduling procedure, derived from high-level synthesis applications, to resolve decision conflicts during test generation. Additional features of the method include using symbolic values and multiple-time-step functional operators. Because it uses the functional information of the circuit, SWIFT requires several orders of magnitude fewer circuit evaluations than conventional, low-level approaches. We also present, for the first time, complete functional circuit models for representative 74X-series, ISCAS-85 and ISCAS-89 benchmark circuits, and apply the proposed testing methodology to them. These examples demonstrate that structured functional descriptions do exist for large realistic gate-level circuits. With these models, we demonstrate that high-level testing can, with far less effort than conventional methods, produce test sets that provide complete coverage of SSL faults in practical circuits. Surprisingly, these test sets are also provably of minimal or near-minimal size. We conclude with a discussion of functional design-for-testability considerations.
A developing model of teachers educating themselves for multicultural pedagogy

Multicultural education is in part an approach to public education that embraces the complex and very difficult task of helping to create a unified democratic society in which people can maintain their cultural and personal identities and minorities and women have real bona fide equal access to wealth and political power. In this sense, multicultural education seems to be a means of seeking an equitable social and economic democracy. Unfortunately the lack of understanding of what democratic multicultural education1 is continues to lead to ineffective curricula and teaching practices and to considerable conscious and disconscious resistance. In many schools lack of teacher and administrator understanding (Banks and Banks 1995; Mitchell 1987; Trent 1990) means that democratic multicultural schooling practices, including classroom teaching and learning, are often pressed into narrow simplistic forms which hinder rather than promote progress toward just and democratic social living. Added to this lack of understanding is the fact that teachers bear a unique responsibility for the education of all children for the achievement of a just and equitable society. It can be assumed that such a responsibility may significantly intensify teachers' personal and social feelings and actions about race, class and gender and the urgency for effective democratic multicultural schooling practices. A critical part of multicultural education for a democratic society is the education and continuing education of teachers (Goodlad 1994). Yet most teachers know little about what multicultural education is or how to implement it in their classrooms and schools. How can teachers be prepared to practice a democratic multicultural pedagogy? What are the risks and constraints of using multicultural approaches to teach and how can these risks be balanced with the dilemmas of working within institutional systems of education which are not fundamentally multicultural or democratic? How
TREATMENT OF HYPERTENSION WITH METHYLDOPA ALONE OR COMBINED WITH DIURETICS AND OR GUANETHIDINE. A REPORT OF 63 CASES.

Abstract Our experience in treating 63 hypertensive patients with methyldopa for periods up to 2 years reveals that it is a safe and effective antihypertensive drug, especially when used in conjunction with an oral diuretic and/or guanethidine. The average reduction in mean blood pressure achieved by therapy with methyldopa alone was 13 per cent, and by combination therapy with methyldopa and an oral diuretic, 22 per cent. The addition of methyldopa to the regimens of patients with severe hypertension permitted an improved control of blood pressure with reduced dosages of guanethidine in most cases. Side effects, although occurring frequently, were usually well tolerated and not serious. Eighteen patients initially noted drowsiness, which subsided despite continuance of therapy in most cases. Drug fever occurred in 6 patients, 3 of whom were forced to discontinue treatment. Serious hepatotoxicity did not occur. It is recommended that methyldopa be used in conjunction with an oral diuretic for patients with mild or moderate hypertension, and in conjunction with guanethidine, with or without an oral diuretic, for patients with severe hypertension.
The influence of rape myth acceptance, sexual attitudes, and belief in a just world on attributions of responsibility in a date rape scenario

Purpose. The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of rape myth acceptance, belief in a just world, and sexual attitudes on attributions of responsibility in a date rape scenario. We predicted that people higher in rape myth acceptance and those who more strongly believed in a just world, as well as those who held more conservative sexual attitudes, would attribute greater blame to the accuser than to the accused. Methods. One hundred seventy-two undergraduates from a medium-sized, Catholic university in the USA read a hypothetical date rape scenario and completed the Rape Myth Acceptance Scale, the Just World Scale, the Sexual Attitudes Scale, and a Judgment Questionnaire constructed for the current study. Results. Rape myth acceptance mediated the relationship between gender and judgments of responsibility for the accused and the accuser. Men were more likely to endorse rape myths and, consequently, assign less responsibility to the accused and more responsibility to the accuser than women. Conclusions. Pre-existing beliefs regarding the nature of rape and the circumstances surrounding it may bias attributions of responsibility in date rape cases. There may be utility in addressing whether jurors hold such beliefs prior to the start of a trial.
Determinants of Automobile Use: Comparison of Germany and the United States

Germany and the United States have among the highest motorization rates in the world, yet Americans make a 40% higher share of their trips by car and annually drive twice as many kilometers per capita as do Germans. Automobile use is linked to unsustainable trends such as climate change, oil dependence, traffic fatalities, congestion, and obesity. Using two comparable individual-level national travel surveys, the study described in this paper empirically investigates the roles of socioeconomic and demographic factors, spatial development patterns, and transportation policies in explaining the differences in automobile use in Germany and the United States. In both countries, a higher population density, a greater mix of land uses, household proximity to a transit stop, fewer cars per household, and higher car operating costs are associated with shorter daily automobile travel distances. However, considerable differences remain: for example, Americans in settlements of more than 5,000 people per square kilometer drive as many kilometers as Germans in settlements with a density five times lower. A multivariate analysis shows that population density and automobile operating costs play roles in explaining differences in travel when controlling for socioeconomic factors. This is good news for the United States, because denser, more mixed-use developments and more automobile-restrictive policies can help increase the sustainability of the transportation system. In Germany, travel behavior is more homogeneous across all groups of society and in all spatial settlement patterns than in the United States. This is potentially related to historically higher gasoline prices and the greater availability of alternative means of transportation, which provide incentives for walking, cycling, and transit use.
New software for ensemble creation in the Spitzer-Space-Telescope operations database

Some of the computer pipelines used to process digital astronomical images from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope require multiple input images, in order to generate high-level science and calibration products. The images are grouped into ensembles according to well documented ensemble-creation rules by making explicit associations in the operations Informix database at the Spitzer Science Center (SSC). The advantage of this approach is that a simple database query can retrieve the required ensemble of pipeline input images. New and improved software for ensemble creation has been developed. The new software is much faster than the existing software because it uses pre-compiled database stored-procedures written in Informix SPL (SQL programming language). The new software is also more flexible because the ensemble creation rules are now stored in and read from newly defined database tables. This table-driven approach was implemented so that ensemble rules can be inserted, updated, or deleted without modifying software.
Identification of strombine and taurine as cryoprotectants in the intertidal bivalve Mytilus edulis

Abstract Cryoprotectants have not been identified in intertidal invertebrates tolerant to freezing, probably due to the lack of a simple, non-correlative assay for the presence of these compounds. Protection of phospholipid vesicles against fusion and leakage and protection of freeze-labile enzymes following a freeze-thaw cycle can be used as an indication of the presence of cryoprotectants in extracts from organisms. The hemolymph of the intertidal bivalve mollusc, Mytilus edulis was effective in reducing freeze-induced fusion of phospholipid vesicles and denaturation of lactate dehydrogenase, indicating the presence of a cryoprotectant. The ethanol soluble fraction of the blood protected phospholipid vesicles against freeze-induced fusion and leakage and lactate dehydrogenase against freeze-induced denaturation. The ethanol-soluble fraction was fractionated further with Sephadex G-25 column chromatography, thin-layer chromatography, and paper chromatography. Taurine and strombine were identified as two compounds present in the hemolymph that were capable of cryoprotection.
A garden of Notch-ly delights

Over the past decade, the Notch signaling pathway has been shown to be crucially important for normal metazoan development and to be associated with several human inherited and late onset diseases. The realization that altered Notch signaling contributes at various levels to human disease lead in May to the first meeting dedicated solely to Notch signaling in vertebrate development and disease in Madrid, Spain. Hosted by the Cantoblanco Workshops on Biology and organized by Tom Gridley, Jose Luis de la Pompa and Juan Carlos Izpisua Belmonte, the meeting covered diverse aspects of this important signaling pathway.
THE EFFECT OF DIET ON THE SUSCEPTIBILITY OF THE MOUSE TO PNEUMONIA VIRUS OF MICE (PVM) I. INFLUENCE OF PYRIDOXINE IN THE PERIOD AFTER THE INOCULATION OF VIRUS

Young mice fed diets deficient in pyridoxine or fed desoxypyridoxine after the inoculation of the pneumonia virus of mice were more resistant to infection than well nourished controls. The susceptibility of young mice to PVM increased with the duration of pyridoxine administration after inoculation. Dietary protein restriction when pyridoxine was provided did not affect the susceptibility of mice to PVM. The PVM-combining capacity of mouse lung and the titer of humoral antibody against PVM were the same in mice fed a complete or pyridoxine-deficient diet for 6 days. The amount of PVM in mouse lungs 6 days after inoculation was greater by both infectivity and hemagglutination titrations in mice fed pyridoxine than in pyridoxine-deficient controls. This suggests that pyridoxine was essential during the postinoculation period for optimal virus multiplication.
Biosynthesis of Sterols and Steroids from Acetate-14C by Human Fetal Ovaries1

ABSTRACT Homogenates of human ovaries obtained from fetuses at 20 and 22 weeks of gestational age were incubated with sodium acetate-l-14C. The extracts were analyzed for sterols and steroids by the reverse isotope dilution technique. Purification and identification of the radioactive metabolites were achieved by paper and thin-layer chromatography, derivative formation and crystallization to constant specific activity. Evidence has been obtained for the formation of lanosterol and cholesterol. Small, but definite quantities of radioactive pregnenolone and progesterone were identified. No evidence was found for the formation of dehydroepiandrosterone, androstenedione, testosterone and estrogens.
The phenotype of FancB-mutant mouse embryonic stem cells

Fanconi anemia (FA) is a rare autosomal recessive disease characterized by bone marrow failure, developmental defects and cancer. There are multiple FA genes that enable the repair of interstrand crosslinks (ICLs) in coordination with a variety of other DNA repair pathways in a way that is poorly understood. Here we present the phenotype of mouse embryonic stem (ES) cells mutated for FancB. We found FancB-mutant cells exhibited reduced cellular proliferation, hypersensitivity to the crosslinking agent mitomycin C (MMC), increased spontaneous and MMC-induced chromosomal abnormalities, reduced spontaneous sister chromatid exchanges (SCEs), reduced gene targeting, reduced MMC-induced Rad51 foci and absent MMC-induced FancD2 foci. Since FancB is on the X chromosome and since ES cells are typically XY, FancB is an excellent target for an epistatic analysis to elucidate FA's role in ICL repair.
Quasiconvex subgroups of negatively curved groups

Abstract If H is a finitely generated group, then Γ〈h1,…,hn〉, the Cayley graph of H with respect to a finite generating set {h1,…,hn}, has as vertices the elements of H. There is an edge between the vertices v and w of Γ if vhi = w for some i ∈ {1,…,n}. Theorem. Let H be a negatively curved group. If A is an infinite quasiconvex subgroup of H (i.e. there is a real number e such that every geodesic in Γ between points of A is within e of A) then: (1) A has finite index in the normalizer of A in H. (2) If h e H and hAh-1 is a subset of A then hAh-1 = A. (3) If N is an infinite normal subgroup of H and N ⊂ A, then A has finite index in H. In a negatively curved group, infinite cyclic subgroups are quasiconvex. Hence (1) generalizes a theorem of Gromov's that centralizers of elements of infinite order in a negatively curved group are virtually cyclic. Finitely generated free groups are negatively curved and any finitely generated subgroup of a finitely generated free group is quasiconvex. The special case of (3) where H is free and A is finitely generated is well known.
Endothelial Activation Markers in Anemic Non-Dialysis Chronic Kidney Disease Patients

Background/Aims: Anemia in chronic kidney disease is an independent predictor of cardiovascular disease (CVD). We explored the relationship between anemia and markers of inflammatio
Aging Well in Contemporary Society Introduction

In the summer of 1983, Robert Butler asked me to join a group of scholars conducting a seminar on “Health, Productivity, and Aging” in Salzburg, Austria. The “fellows” attending were young doctors and officials heading or developing government programs in a number of European and Latin American countries as well as Egypt, Jordan, Israel, and the United States.... Day after day, when participants broke into discussion groups after each lecture, they only wanted to talk about Alzheimer's, senility,and nursing homes. They vehemently objected to disucssing age in terms of any kind of productivity.... Clearly, they did not want to think about people over sixty-five except as helpless patients, clients of their compassionate care.—Betty Friedan, 1993
Multiplexing volume holographic gratings for a spectral-spatial imaging system

Multiplexed gratings can be used in an imaging system to project depth sections of a tested object onto different surface locations of a camera. This technique is based on volume holographic Bragg filters used in conjunction with conventional optical imaging components to form a volume holographic imaging system (VHIS). Due to the high angular selectivity and high wavelength selectivity of the system, the VHIS can be used to provide spectral-spatial information of the object that is being observed, and eliminate the need for mechanical scanning. Multiple sections of the object can be viewed by using angle multiplexed holographic elements formed in a volume holographic material. To achieve the highly selective characteristic of a holographic filter, 2mm thick samples of phenanthrenequinone-doped methyl methacrylate (PQ-PMMA) is used as the holographic recording materials. Rigorous coupled wave models are used to theoretically predict the performance of the gratings. Results from both modeling and experiments are presented.
Improved local learning rule for information maximization and related applications

For a neural network comprising feedforward and lateral connections, a local learning rule is proposed that causes the lateral connections to learn directly the inverse of a covariance matrix. In contrast to earlier work, the rule involves just one processing pass through the lateral connections for each input presentation, and consists of a simple anti-Hebbian term. This provides an effective and simple method for online network learning algorithms that implement optimization principles, drawn from statistics or from information or control theory, for which a running estimate of the covariance matrix inverse is useful. An application to infomax learning (mutual information maximization) in the presence of input and output noise is used to illustrate the method.
Formation of sulfoxide dimers from hydrogen peroxide oxidation of 2-chloroethyl methyl sulfide and 2-chloroethyl ethyl sulfide

Abstract The oxidation of 2-chioroethyl methyl sulfide and 2-chloroethyl ethyl sulfide (analogs of sulfur mustard) by hydrogen peroxide have resulted in the isolation of the oxidation products in crystalline form. The IR spectra of these products showed the typical sulfoxide absorption in the 1070–1030 cm−1 region. However, MS and NMR spectroscopy indicated that oxidation of 2-chloroethyl sulfides resulted in a dimerization and elimination reaction, leading to the formation of sulfoxides having the structure RSOCH2CH2SOCH2CH2Cl, where R = −CH3 or −CH2CH3. Similar dimers were not produced from thiodiglycol, which contains no beta chlorine. The structures of these dimeric sulfoxides were fully established by spectroscopic and elemental analyses.
Stable 80GHz short pulse generation

In this work, an optical short pulse generator is designed consisting of a pulse compressor and cascaded notch filter type repetition rate doublers. The performance characteristics such as pulse width and peak power as a function of design parameters are studied. The pulse compressor is optimized based on the simulation results. The 6ps wide pulses at 20 GHz repetition rate directly generated from mode-locked fiber laser (MLL) are compressed to 1.25ps wide pulses. Using a set of polarization maintaining fiber (PMF) loop mirrors the repetition rate is quadrupled and stable 1.45 ps wide pulse train at 80GHz is achieved.
Marital Dissolution Among Interracial Couples

Increases in interracial marriage have been interpreted as reflecting reduced social distance among racial and ethnic groups, but little is known about the stability of interracial marriages. Using six panels of Survey of Income and Program Participation (N = 23,139 married couples), we found that interracial marriages are less stable than endogamous marriages, but these findings did not hold up consistently. After controlling for couple characteristics, the risk of divorce or separation among interracial couples was similar to the more-divorce-prone origin group. Although marital dissolution was found to be strongly associated with race/ethnicity, the results failed to provide evidence that interracial marriage is associated with an elevated risk of marital dissolution.
Production of insulin A and B chains by isolated rat islets

Abstract The release of insulin and its A and B chains from the isolated rat islets of Langerhans has been demonstrated by radioimmunoassay. Continued oxygen consumption and incorporation of C 14 leucine into insulin and its peptides substantiated the viability of the preparation. Both insulin and its A and B peptides appear in the medium after incubation, with the peptides predominating in a molar ratio of about 5:1. Insulin and the peptides are demonstrable in the microsomal and soluble fractions of the islets. Insulin appears in the soluble fraction only in the presence of high glucose concentrations. C 14 leucine is incorporated at a higher order of magnitude into insulin than into its peptides, suggesting that the peptides are not in the direct pathway to the biosynthesis of insulin.
DSD: a generic software package for model-based fault diagnosis in dynamic systems

Abstract A user-friendly, interactive software package is described that can be used for fault diagnosis in dynamic systems. The methodology is based on the representation of system evolution in time as probability of transitions between sets of magnitude intervals in the state/parameter space. The software is developed in C++ for Windows NT platform. The display capabilities of the software and its implementation are illustrated using a second order system.
Rubber networks containing unattached macromolecules. IV. Stress relaxation in end‐linked polybutadiene with unattached styrene‐butadiene copolymer

Stress relaxation has been studied in networks of dihydroxy-terminated polybutadiene (mostly cis:trans:vinyl = 34:40:26) crosslinked by triphenyl methane-4,4′,4″-triisocyanate and containing about 9.5% by weight of unattached linear random styrene-butadiene copolymer with various molecular weights (from 1.4 to 3.3 × 105) and with styrene content and butadiene microstructure chosen to match the average solubility parameter of the end-linked network. Stress relaxation measurements were made also on networks containing no unattached species and containing 9.3% hydrocarbon oil, and on the various uncrosslinked linear polymers. The stretch ratio was 1.25 and the Young's relaxation modulus was calculated from the neo-Hookean stress-strain relation. For the uncrosslinked linear polymers, the relaxation modulus E11(t) corresponds to a rather narrow distribution of relaxation times whose magnitudes were approximately proportional to the 3.4 power of viscosity-average or weight-average molecular weight; for one polymer, the time dependence agreed closely with the prediction of the Doi-Edwards theory modified for a small degree of molecular weight distribution. The disengagement times calculated from the Doi-Edwards theory as modified by Graessley appeared to be of the correct order of magnitude. The contribution of the unattached species in the networks E1(t) was calculated by difference; after multiplication by (1−v)−1, where v2 is the volume fraction of network, and correction for the difference in monomeric friction coefficient associated with the difference in fractional free volume in the two environments, E1(t) was compared with E11(t) for each linear polymer. The relaxation was slower in the network than in the uncrosslinked polymer by about an order of magnitude, but the form of the relaxation modulus was similar in both environments except for two linear polymers for which the relaxation in the network became very much slower at long times. This behavior appeared to be correlated with a broader molecular weight distribution.