cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Magnetic and spectral studies of some five-coordinate Mono(2, 2′, 2″,-terpyridine) complexes of Co(II) and Ni(II).

Abstract A number of five-coordinate mono(2,2′,2″-terpyridine) complexes of formula M(terpy)X 2 [M = Co(II) or Ni(II); X = Cl − , Br − , I − , NCS − and NO 3 − have been prepared. Their reflectance spectra in the visible and near infrared regions have been obtained. These spectra exhibit as many as six absorption bands which may be attributed to d-d transitions. The magnetic behavior of these complexes has been studied over the range 15–400°K. Some of the magnetic moments are unusually high for such an asymmetric environment and remain high even at the lowest temperatures. An ordering of the d-orbitals based on the σ- and π-bonding abilities of the ligands is proposed to rationalize the observed spectral and magnetic results.
Optimization of planar metallic nonrefracting transmission-grating profiles for mth-order intensity maximization in the soft x-ray range

We derive the thickness profiles of metallic transmission-grating bars that maximize either the power throughput into the mth diffracted order or the ratio of the mth-order diffracted power to the total output power (in the soft-x-ray range). The derivation is performed for both general and symmetric bar shapes and for the two physically important cases of continuous gratings and gratings with integral bars. The analysis is valid for all cases in which the optical constants are general functions of position in a direction perpendicular both to the light and to the grating bars. Examples of some optimum profiles for gold in the soft-x-ray range are computed on the basis of the presented analysis and are tabulated for convenient reference.
Efficient integration of an intron RNA into double-stranded DNA by reverse splicing

SOME group II introns are mobile elements as well as catalytic RNAs1,2. Introns aI1 and aI2 found in the gene COX1 in yeast mitochondria encode reverse transcriptases which promote site-specific insertion of the intron into intronless alleles ('homing')3–6. For aI2 this predominantly occurs by reverse transcription of unspliced precursor RNA at a break in double-strand DNA made by an endonuclease encoded by the intron7. The aI2 endonuclease involves both the excised intron RNA, which cleaves the DNA's sense strand by partial reverse splicing; and the intron-encoded reverse transcriptase which cleaves the antisense strand8. Here we show that aI1 encodes an analogous endonuclease specific for a different target site compatible with the different exon-binding sequences of the intron RNA. Over half of aI1 undergoes complete reverse splicing in vitro, thus integrating linear intron RNA directly into the DNA. This unprecedented reaction has implications for both intron mobility and evolution, and potential genetic engineering applications.
Some evidence on Ross' resolution irrelevancy hypothesis

This research attempts to discriminate empirically between the predictable events and resolution irrelevancy hypotheses as both pertain to abnormal stock price performance around regular and special proxy statement mailing dates and the related shareholder meeting dates. We find no evidence that these events result in the positive wealth effects suggested by the predictable events hypothesis. We do find evidence of increased idiosyncratic stock price volatility or information flow around special meeting proxy statement mailing dates and special meeting dates. Thus, our evidence supports the resolution irrelevancy hypothesis.
Phytochelatin production in marine algae. 1. An interspecies comparison

Phytochelatins are metal-binding peptides produced enzymatically by higher plants, fungi, and algae in response to many metals, particularly Cd. We have studied phytochelatin production in several marine phytoplankton exposed to a range of free Cd ion concentrations. As a result of increased analytical resolution, we have found that all the species contain phytochelatin, even when there is no added Cd, and that elevated phytochelatin concentrations are induced by Cd, even at very low and environmentally relevant concentrations (as low as 10 -12 M free ion concn). In some but not all species, intracellular Cd and phytochelatin concentrations are maintained at a fixed stoichiometric ratio at high Cd concentrations. Phytochelatin production and accumulation appear to be regulated in a manner that varies among phytoplankton species.
Heuristic Search Algorithms for the Determination of Rate Constants and Reaction Mechanisms from Limited Concentration Data

We present a chemical kinetics search algorithm that can be used to predict rate constants and reaction orders for chemical reactions from a limited set of concentration versus time data. The algorithm is based on the functional optimization of a well-defined error function. This error function is defined as the squared difference between the known set of limited concentration vs time data and the concentrations that are computed from a postulated set of rate constants and reaction orders. The best sets of rate constants and reaction orders are found by minimizing this error function. The error function contains many local minima, and therefore a heuristic search algorithm is used to find a useful local minimum in the error function. In this work we critically compare the performance of the chemical kinetics search algorithm when two different heuristic optimization schemes are used: the Genetic Algorithm and Simulated Annealing. We test the search algorithm on three types of chemical reactions: a consec...
Editor's Introduction: MARO: Mass Atrocity Response Operations; A Military Planning Handbook: Selling the Mission and/or Protecting Human Rights?

As we enter our sixth year of publication, the editors are very pleased to welcome readers to the sixth volume of Genocide Studies and Prevention. We have been very fortunate over the past fiv e years to present a wide array of material related to the prevention and understanding of genocide and mass atrocities. Thi s volume continues that tradition as it presents a symposium of invited commentaries on MARO: Mass Atrocity Response Operations; A Military Planning Handbook.
Measuring stellar proper motions in crowded fields with SIM

Astrometry in crowded fields is an important component of the science program of the Space Interferometry Mission (SIM). Resolving multiple point sources within the SIM beam, or imaging of complicated, extended source structures requires a (large) number of interferometer baselines. As the spacecraft design keeps evolving, the impact on various key projects needs to be studied. In this paper, we discuss the capabilities of the latest SIM design (with only two baselines available for science measurements) for measuring stellar proper motions in crowded fields. Using the nucleus of the Andromeda Galaxy (M 31) as a case study, we quantify the roll angle increment needed to enable such measurements with the reduced SIM baseline set. In particular, we demonstrate that SIM can measure Keplerian motion of luminous stars around the 300 million solar mass black hole in M 31, provided that the spacecraft roll angle can be chosen in increments of around 4 degrees or smaller.
Geochemical investigation of weathering processes in a forested headwater catchment: mass-balance weathering fluxes

Geochemical research on natural weathering has often been directed towards explanations of the chemical composition of surface water and ground water resulting from subsurface water-rock interactions. These interactions are often defined as the incongruent dissolution of primary silicates, such as feldspar, producing secondary weathering products, such as clay minerals and oxyhydroxides, and solute fluxes (Meunier and Velde, 1979). The chemical composition of the clay-mineral product is often ignored. However, in earlier investigations, the saprolitic weathering profile at the South Fork Brokenback Run (SFBR) watershed, Shenandoah National Park, Virginia, was characterized extensively in terms of its mineralogical and chemical composition (Piccoli, 1987; Pochatila et al. , 2006; Jones et al. , 2007) and its basic hydrology. O’Brien et al. (1997) attempted to determine the contribution of primary mineral weathering to observed stream chemistry at SFBR. Mass-balance model results, however, could provide only a rough estimate of the weathering reactions because idealized mineral compositions were utilized in the calculations. Making use of detailed information on the mineral occurrence in the regolith, the objective of the present study was to evaluate the effects of compositional variation on mineral-solute mass-balance modelling and to generate plausible quantitative weathering reactions that support both the chemical evolution of the surface water and ground water in the catchment, as well as the mineralogical evolution of the weathering profile.
A psychophysical model of decision making

Abstract Herein we develop a psychophysical model of decision making based on the difference between objective clock time and the human brain’s perception of time. In this model the utility function is given by the survival probability, which is shown to be a generalized hyperbolic distribution. The parameters of the utility function are fit to intertemporal choice model experimental data and decision making is determined to be a 1 / f -noise process.
Lipophilicity Coefficients of [11C]Me‐Halo‐CGS 27023A Analogs Determined by HPLC

Abstract New radiolabeled matrix metalloproteinase inhibitors (MMPIs) [11C]Me‐Halo‐CGS 27023A analogs have been synthesized for evaluation as potential novel positron emission tomography (PET) tumor imaging agents. Their lipophilicity coefficients (log P) were determined by C−18 reversed‐phase HPLC method. These logP values were compared, and the correlations between lipophilicity and biological activity of selected analogs were made. The results suggest the appropriate level of lipophilic character in this class of compounds as useful imaging agents appears to be in the range of 2.00–2.67.
A Theoretical and Experimental Study of Radiation–Convection Interaction in a Diffusion Flame

An experimental and theoretical investigation of the interaction of gaseous thermal radiation with natural convection was made for a laminar methane-air diffusion flame in the lower stagnation region of a horizontal porous cylinder. The exponential wide-band gas radiation model was employed in this nonhomogeneous (nonuniform in temperature and composition) problem through the use of scaling techniques. Using a numerical scheme, the compressible energy, flow, and species-diffusion equations were solved simultaneously with and without the radiative component. In the experiment, methane was blown uniformly from the surface of the porous cylinder, setting up (upon ignition) a diffusion flame within the free-convection boundary layer. Using a Mach-Zehnder interferometer and a gas chromatograph, temperature and composition measurements were obtained along the stangation line. Excellent agreement was found between the results based the the nongray wide-band model and the experimental data. Furthermore, it was found that the wide-band model yielded results that were superior to those results that excluded radiation-interaction effects. Thus, this study demonstrates that the exponential wide-band model can be accurately applied to nonhomogeneous combustion situations in order to account for the radiation-convection interactions. 10 figures, 4 tables, 31 references.
How sequence learning creates explicit knowledge: the role of response-stimulus interval.

Destrebecqz and Cleeremans (Psychon Bull Rev 8:343–350, 2001; Attention and implicit learning. John Benjamins Publishing Company, Amsterdam, pp 181–213, 2003) reported that increasing the response–stimulus interval (RSI) during incidental sequence learning improved participants’ ability to discriminate old and new sequences in a recognition test. However, the original experimental design confounded RSI effects during training and test. I therefore repeated the experiment with an improved design in which RSI was varied systematically during the training phase and the recognition task. Participants learned a sequence of response locations either incidentally or intentionally. As a result, sequence recognition was not affected by the RSI manipulations in the group of incidental learners. With intentional learning instructions, recognition was unaffected by training RSI, but a long RSI in the test phase improved recognition performance over a short RSI. Response latencies while executing the test sequences indicated no effect of training RSI on sequence learning. However, sequence knowledge was expressed more readily when the RSI in the test phase matched the RSI in the training phase.
Early somatosensory evoked potentials

The early somatosensory evoked potential secondary to median nerve stimulation in the human had an onset latency of 9--12 msec when recorded from scalp electrodes at vertex-to-mastoid, vertex-to-inion or at the base of the skull. Similar latencies were observed from responses recorded over the cervical dorsal columns during neurologic surgery. A latency difference of 1.5 msec was observed between the early response and the responses recorded from the junction of medial lemniscus and nucleus ventralis posterior lateralis of the thalamus during human stereotaxic surgery. Cervical cord transections and transection at the midpontine levels of the monkey showed that the evoked potential was due to generators between these levels. Depth recording of the monkey indicate that the early evoked potential originates in the region of dorsal column nuclei, while the later components are secondary to generators in cerebral cortex.
Limestone compaction: An enigma

Compression of an undisturbed carbonate sediment core under a pressure of 556 kg/cm2 produced a “rock” with sedimentary structures similar to typical ancient fine-grained limestones. Surprisingly, shells, foraminifera, and other fossils were not noticeably crushed, which indicates that absence of crushed fossils in ancient limestones can no longer be considered evidence that limestones do not compact.
Three-dimensional Structure of the Channel-forming Trans-membrane Domain of Virus Protein “u” (Vpu) from HIV-1

The three-dimensional structure of the channel-forming trans-membrane domain of virus protein "u" (Vpu) of HIV-1 was determined by NMR spectroscopy in micelle and bilayer samples. Vpu(2-30+) is a 36-residue polypeptide that consists of residues 2-30 from the N terminus of Vpu and a six-residue "solubility tag" at its C terminus that facilitates the isolation, purification, and sample preparation of this highly hydrophobic minimal channel-forming domain. Nearly all of the resonances in the two-dimensional 1H/15N HSQC spectrum of uniformly 15N labeled Vpu(2-30+) in micelles are superimposable on those from the corresponding residues in the spectrum of full-length Vpu, which indicates that the structure of the trans-membrane domain is not strongly affected by the presence of the cytoplasmic domain at its C terminus. The two-dimensional 1H/15N PISEMA spectrum of Vpu(2-30+) in lipid bilayers aligned between glass plates has been fully resolved and assigned. The "wheel-like" pattern of resonances in the spectrum is characteristic of a slightly tilted membrane-spanning helix. Experiments were also performed on weakly aligned micelle samples to measure residual dipolar couplings and chemical shift anisotropies. The analysis of the PISA wheels and Dipolar Waves obtained from both weakly and completely aligned samples show that Vpu(2-30+) has a trans-membrane alpha-helix spanning residues 8-25 with an average tilt of 13 degrees. The helix is kinked slightly at Ile17, which results in tilts of 12 degrees for residues 8-16 and 15 degrees for residues 17-25. A structural fit to the experimental solid-state NMR data results in a three-dimensional structure with precision equivalent to an RMSD of 0.4 A. Vpu(2-30+) exists mainly as an oligomer on PFO-PAGE and forms ion-channels, a most frequent conductance of 96(+/- 6) pS in lipid bilayers. The structural features of the trans-membrane domain are determinants of the ion-channel activity that may be associated with the protein's role in facilitating the budding of new virus particles from infected cells.
Tailored magnetoelastic sensor geometry for advanced functionality in wireless biliary stent monitoring systems

This paper presents three types of wireless magnetoelastic resonant sensors with specific functionalities for monitoring sludge accumulation within biliary stents. The first design uses a geometry with a repeated cell shape that provides two well-separated resonant mode shapes and associated frequencies to permit spatial localization of mass loading. The second design implements a pattern with specific variation in feature densities to improve sensitivity to mass loading. The third design uses narrow ribbons joined by flexible couplers; this design adopts the advantages in flexibility and expandability of the other designs while maintaining the robust longitudinal mode shapes of a ribbon-shaped sensor. The sensors are batch patterned using photochemical machining from 25 μm thick 2605SA1 Metglas TM , an amorphous Fe‐Si alloy. Accumulation of biliary sludge is simulated with paraffin or gelatin, and the effects of viscous bile are simulated with a range of silicone fluids. Results from the first design show that the location of mass loads can be resolved within ∼5 mm along the length of the sensor. The second design offers twice the sensitivity to mass loads (3000‐36000 ppm mg −1 ) of other designs. The third design provides a wide range of loading (sensitive to at least 10× the mass of the sensor) and survives compression into a 2 mm diameter tube as would be required for catheter-based delivery. (Some figures in this article are in colour only in the electronic version)
Effects of feeding on the small intestinal mucosa of beagle pups during the first 5 d of life

To further define the effects of feeding on small intestinal ontogeny, naturally suckled and formula-fed beagle pups were studied over the first 120 h of life. In suckled animals, proximal jejunal and midintestinal mucosal weight and protein and DNA contents increased > 75% by 24 h (P < 0.005), with no further increases at 120 h. In formula-fed pups, no mucosal mass changes were found between 0 and 72 h of life. At 120 h, proximal jejunal mucosal weight and protein and DNA contents were significantly greater than in newborns (P < 0.005) and were similar to values for suckled animals at the same time. No significant mid-intestinal or terminal ileal growth was noted in formula-fed pups at any time. Specific and total activities of proximal jejunal brush border lactase, sucrase, and alkaline phosphatase were significantly greater in suckled vs formula-fed animals at 120 h. In a parallel study to assess postnatal effects of mature milk vs colostrum, significant mucosal growth at 24 h of life was demonstrated in pups suckled by surrogate dams who had whelped 21 d previously. These data indicate that both natural suckling (colostrum or milk) and formula feeding support enteric mucosal growth in newborn dogs; however, the two feeding regimens are characterized by unique ontogenic patterns of intestinal mucosal growth and function.
Intrastriatal B-cell administration limits infarct size after stroke in B-cell deficient mice

Recent evidence emphasizes B-cells as a major regulatory cell type that plays an important role in limiting the pathogenic effects of ischemic stroke. The aim of the current study was to extend this initial observation to specifically examine the infiltration of regulatory B-cells and to determine if the effect of B-cells to limit the inflammatory response to cerebral ischemia is mediated by their action centrally or peripherally. Our data demonstrate the increased presence of a regulatory B-cell subset in the affected hemisphere of wild-type mice after middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO). We further explored the use of a novel method of stereotaxic cell delivery to bypass the blood brain barrier (BBB) and introduce CD19+ B-cells directly into the striatum as compared to peripheral administration of B-cells. Infarct volumes after 60 minutes of MCAO and 48 hours of reperfusion were determined in B-cell deficient μMT −/− mice with and without replacement of either B-cells or medium. Infarct size was significantly decreased in cerebral cortex after intrastriatal transfer of 100,000 B-cells to μMT−/− mice vs. controls, with a comparable effect on infarct size as obtained by 50 million B-cells transferred intraperitoneally. These findings support the hypothesis that B-cells play a protective role against ischemic brain injury, and suggest that B-cells may serve as a novel therapeutic agent for modulating the immune response in central nervous system inflammation after stroke.
Inosine formation from hypoxanthine by intact erythrocytes and fibroblasts of an immunodeficient child with purine nucleoside phosphorylase deficiency.

Detailed studies of purine metabolism have been carried out over an 18 month period in a neonate with severe T-cell immunodeficiency(Watson et al, this symposium). A complete deficiency of the enzyme purine nucleoside Phosphorylase (PNP: EC 2.4.2.1) had been found in lysed erythrocytes and leucocytes in both the degradative and synthetic direction (hypoxanthine to inosine). This paper reports in vitro studies using intact erythrocytes and fibroblasts from this child in which the formation of inosine from (8-14C) hypoxanthine was a consistent finding on separate occasions.
Facing the challenge of food scarcity: Can we raise grain yields fast enough?

After a half-century of global surpluses of wheat, rice, corn, and other grains, it is easy to be complacent about the food prospect for the twenty-first century. We have come to take for granted the supply of grain that provides half of humanity’s food energy when consumed directly and a good portion of the remainder when consumed indirectly in the form of livestock products.
Deciding on an Entrepreneurial Career: A Test of the Pull and Push Hypotheses Using the Panel Study of Entrepreneurial Dynamics Data1

The Panel Study of Entrepreneurial Dynamics data were used to analyze if the potential for increased life satisfaction pulls or job dissatisfaction pushes individuals toward an entrepreneurial care...
Reactive Oxygen Emission from Microwave Discharge Plasmas

Metastable oxygen atoms and molecules have received increased interest because of their function in surface modification, bio-decontamination and many other industrial applications, in addition to the role in the upper atmospheric layer chemistry. We review work on production and detection of metastable oxygen and we describe our experiments, including the development of techniques for measurement of metastable molecular oxygen. We show that either metastable oxygen molecules or metastable oxygen atoms can be produced in large quantities in electrical discharges, carefully tailored to promote the required kinetics. Although the two species may coexist, colder discharge regimes favor production of molecules, while at higher temperature conditions atomic oxygen prevails. We found that microwave cavity discharges in He/O2 mixtures favor molecular production, but that an arc-seeded microwave torch in air shows preference of atomic production. Result on the specific yield of molecular oxygen in the microwave cavity discharge shows qualitative agreement with the models.
Database for renal collecting duct regulatory and transporter proteins.

The mammalian kidney collecting duct plays an important role in the fine regulation of Na, K, water, and acid-base balance. Functional genomic and proteomic studies of the kidney offer new opportun...
Business Componentization: A Guidance to Application Service Design

Aligning IT with business both at the strategic level and at the operation and management level is a challenge in enterprise architecture design. A simplistic approach of linking IT systems with business processes would not sustain because business processes are usually under continuous changes. In this paper, business componentization is proposed to address this challenge. An enterprise can be described as a set of business components with business services as their interaction interfaces. This paper discusses how business components can help the design of enterprise architecture. Also, we propose an interactive quantitative approach for business componentization. A business component is clustered from business activities based on a tightness evaluation of business processes, organizations, and IT systems. This paper presents a heuristic algorithm, and an aggregated clustering algorithm, for developing well-defined business component maps.
Space-time block coding with symbol-wise decoding for polynomial phase modulated signals

Polynomial phase modulation (PPM) has been shown to provide improved error rate performance with respect to conventional modulation formats under additive white Gaussian noise and fading channels in single-input single-output (SISO) communication systems. In this paper, we evaluate the performance of systems with two and four transmit antennas using PPM as the modulation format. In both cases we employ full-rate space-time block codes in order to take advantage of the multipath channel. For two transmit antennas, we use the orthogonal space-time block code (OSTBC) proposed by Alamouti and perform symbol-wise decoding by estimating the phase coefficients of the PPM signal using three different methods: maximum-likelihood (ML), sub-optimal ML (S-ML), and the high-order ambiguity function (HAF). In the case of four transmit antennas, we employ the full-rate quasi-OSTBC (QOSTBC) proposed by Jafarkhani. Then, in order to perform low-complexity symbol-wise decoding, we find a decoupling matrix for the Jafarkhani scheme and apply a technique known as quasi-zero forcing (ZF). After that, the PPM signal parameters are estimated just as in the two-antenna case using ML, S-ML, and HAF. We show that the proposed systems using PPM and ML outperform OSTBC and ZF-QOSTBC using M-ary PSK as their modulation format.
Partial molecular volumes of lipids and cholesterol

Volumetric measurements are reported for fully hydrated lipid/cholesterol bilayer mixtures using the neutral flotation method. Apparent specific volume data were obtained with the lipids DOPC, POPC and DMPC at T=30 degrees Celsius, DPPC at 50 degrees Celsius, and brain sphingomyelin (BSM) at 45 and 24 degrees Celsius for mole fractions of cholesterol x from 0 to 0.5. Unlike previous cholesterol mixture studies, we converted our raw data to partial molecular volume V(L) of the lipid and V(C) of the cholesterol. The partial molecular volumes were constant for POPC and DOPC as x was varied, but had sharp breaks for the other lipids at values of x(C) near 0.25+/-0.05. Results for x x(C) the values of the partial molecular volumes of cholesterol clustered near 630+/-10A(3) in all the lipids when measured for T>T(M); we suggest that this is the most appropriate measure of the bare volume of cholesterol in lipid bilayers.
Physiological and stem cell compartmentalization within the Drosophila midgut

Many cells in the body accumulate wear and tear over time, and a fraction of them are always nearing the end of their lives. However, in some tissues there are stem cells that can divide into daughter cells which then differentiate and replace the damaged cells. Unlike embryonic stem cells, these ‘adult tissue stem cells’ normally differentiate into only a few related cell types, but their ability to produce replacement cells keeps the tissue functioning normally. Here, Marianes and Spradling have investigated a type of adult stem cell, known as intestinal stem cells, that resides in the midgut of fruit flies. The midgut is the major site of digestion in fruit flies, and functions much like the small intestine in mammals. This tissue is a long tube that is lined with two types of cells: digestive cells and hormone-producing cells. These cell types are maintained by thousands of apparently similar intestinal stem cells, and it has long been thought that the stem cells give rise to cells throughout the midgut by responding to the same set of signals. However, certain digestive processes—such as the breakdown or uptake of particular nutrients—are known to occur only in a specific portion of the intestine. For example, in fruit flies, a region in the middle of the intestine is acidified, and may act like an extra stomach. And in both fruit flies and mammals, iron is taken up mostly in the area of the gut just after the stomach. These regional differences in function have led to uncertainty over how midgut cells both arise and are replaced. Marianes and Spradling now show, based on a detailed study of tissue cells and stem cells, that the midgut contains at least ten subregions that occur in a specific order. The cells in these subregions have distinct features, including shape, size and contents (e.g., stores of carbohydrates or nutrients). Each subregion appears to perform specific functions during digestion, and the cells in these subregions also transcribe genes that reflect their roles in breaking down or storing various nutrients. Interestingly, the stem cells in most subregions are distinct, and do not differentiate into the cells from adjacent subregions. The subregions also differ in their incidence of cancer: when a particular signal was inhibited in stem cells in all ten subregions, aggressive tumors formed in only three subregions and the tumor cells did not cross into neighboring subregions. These observations may inform future studies of the mammalian small intestine and improve our understanding of its susceptibility to cancer and other diseases.
Meteorological records set in winter of '80

The winter of 1980–1981 produced monthly and seasonal records and near records for the country and nearly half the states. Nationwide, NOAA said January 1981 was the driest since 1895 and the fourth driest month during the 87 years national averages have been kept. A 48-state total average precipitation for the month was 0.92 inches, compared with the 87-year average of 2.21.
Photoelectron spectroscopic investigation of transformation of trifluoroacetate precursors into superconducting YBa2Cu3O7−δ films

Abstract X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) has been used to investigate the evolution of surface chemistry of YBa2Cu3O7−δ (Y123) films prepared by the metalorganic deposition (MOD) process using trifluoroacetate (TFA) precursors. Detailed XPS core-level spectra obtained from the samples quenched from various points during the calcining and firing stages have been reported for the first time and are used to identify surface species. The XPS data show evidence of formation of intermediate phases such as Y–O–F, BaF2, and CuO during the calcining process, which are the decomposition products of yttrium, barium, and copper trifluoroacetates, respectively. The TFA precursors are completely decomposed at the end of calcination. The change of binding energies for Y 3d5/2, Ba 3d5/2, and O 1s during the firing process indicates that Y123 starts to form at 800 °C after 0.5 h firing. Based on the experimental results, an alternative mechanism of the chemical evolution from precursor to final film in the TFA-MOD process is proposed.
Interevent-time statistics for shot-noise-driven self-exciting point processes in photon detection

Probability densities for interevent time are obtained for a doubly stochastic Poisson point process (DSPP) in the presence of self-excitation. The DSPP is assumed to have a stochastic rate that is a filtered Poisson point process (shot noise). The model of a Poisson process driving another Poisson process produces a pulse-bunching effect. Self-excitation (relative refractoriness) results in a deficit of short time intervals. Both effects are observed in many applications of optical detection. The model is applicable to the detection of fluorescence or scintillation generated by ionizing radiation in a photomultiplier tube. It is also used successfully to fit the maintained discharge interspike-interval histograms recorded by Barlow, Levick, and Yoon [ Vision Res.11, Suppl. 3, 87– 101 ( 1971)] for a cat’s on-center retinal ganglion cell in darkness.
Addressing Barriers to the Development and Adoption of Rapid Diagnostic Tests in Global Health

Immunochromatographic rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs) have demonstrated significant potential for use as point-of-care diagnostic tests in resource-limited settings. Most notably, RDTs for malaria have reached an unparalleled level of technological maturity and market penetration, and are now considered an important complement to standard microscopic methods of malaria diagnosis. However, the technical development of RDTs for other infectious diseases, and their uptake within the global health community as a core diagnostic modality, has been hindered by a number of extant challenges. These range from technical and biological issues, such as the need for better affinity agents and biomarkers of disease, to social, infrastructural, regulatory and economic barriers, which have all served to slow their adoption and diminish their impact. In order for the immunochromatographic RDT format to be successfully adapted to other disease targets, to see widespread distribution, and to improve clinical outcomes for patients on a global scale, these challenges must be identified and addressed, and the global health community must be engaged in championing the broader use of RDTs.
Effect of a Clinical Pathway on Length of Stay and Cost of Pediatric Inpatient Asthma Admissions: An Integrative Review

Asthma is the leading cause of pediatric hospital admissions in the United States. In response to the high prevalence of asthma and the variations in care, clinical practice guidelines have been developed and recommend the use of a clinical pathway for inpatient management. This review will examine the effects of a pediatric asthma clinical pathway on inpatient stays, specifically the length of stay (LOS) and cost of inpatient admissions. A literature review was performed to identify original research projects examining the effects of an asthma clinical pathway on inpatient pediatric admissions. Nine studies were found to fit the criteria and are included in this review. These nine studies found consistent evidence that the use of an asthma clinical pathway for inpatient asthma admissions resulted in reduced LOS and cost.
Teaching Fieldwork to Educational Researchers: Furry and Bald Approaches

As teachers, Bogdan and I are in agreement. You can learn about fieldwork as a research method only by going out and doing it. Personal experience of the method is the primary strategy of our fieldwork curricula. As social scientists, the content of our curricula is different. For Bogdan, fieldwork is a research method. He stresses the creation of sound data, recorded in complete field notes. He carefully reads and critiques the field notes that his students produce. Extensive notes are more important than extensive participation in the activities of a group under study. Indeed, he recommends severe limits on early interactions with the group, in order to encourage conscientious and copious notetaking. I tend to stress ethnographic fieldwork as a paradigm (Kuhn 1970) or "way of knowing." It is a point of view within which there are standards for what is worth knowing as well as how it is to be apprehended. I spend my effort critiquing cultural interpretations based upon fieldwork. I would never suggest early limits on interaction with a group under study-even while I would expect written records of all observations to be kept in a field journal. My goal in fieldwork would be 20 to 30 pages of notes for a day's observation. Not all time in participant observation is equally productive of data for the field journal. For a long while I have maintained that my approach is anthropology and the other side is sociology-but too many of my anthropologist colleagues are in Bogdan's camp and too many sociologists make my kind of interpretations of fieldwork to allow me much comfort in this fiction. I am, therefore, driven to describe the difference as "furry" and "bald," using terms suggested by H. Russell Bernard. "Bald" social scientists find their ultimate sources of truth in formal methods of analysis, the more mathematical the better. Prediction is their scientific goal and formal conceptions of reliability and validity are taken from the experimentalists. In this bald view, fieldwork is justified as either 1) a preliminary form of hypothesis-generation that usefully can precede the hypothesistesting methods (experiments) that lead to credible knowledge, or, 2) another form of hypothesis-testing leading to "grounded theory" (Glaser and Strauss 1967). "Furry" social scientists, in contrast, are qualitative types whose models of reality and credibility come from the constructivist,
Dorsal Lumbotomy Incision for Partial Nephrectomy in Patients With Small Posterior Renal Masses

Objective To describe our single-surgeon experience with dorsal lumbotomy, an uncommonly utilized muscle-sparing incision, for open partial nephrectomy. Materials and Methods We retrospectively identified patients who underwent partial nephrectomy through dorsal lumbotomy incision by a single surgeon from September 2012 through April 2014. Clinicopathologic characteristics were recorded along with early postoperative outcomes including hospital length of stay and narcotic requirement. Results Twenty-four patients were identified for analysis. Median operative time was 71 minutes (interquartile range [IQR]: 63-91 minutes), and median estimated blood loss was 250 mL (IQR: 100-438 mL). Median length of stay was 1.2 days (IQR: 0.94-2.0 days) and median narcotic requirement was 17 mg of oral morphine equivalents (IQR: 4.9-43 mg). Overall perioperative complication rate was 25% including 1 major (Clavien III-V) complication. Conclusion Partial nephrectomy via dorsal lumbotomy incision is a safe and feasible option for small posterior renal masses when performed by an experienced surgeon. The drawbacks of this approach are limited access to the renal hilum and risk of injury to the iliohypogastric or subcostal nerves. Dorsal lumbotomy is associated with postoperative outcomes equivalent to or better than standard operative approaches and should be considered a viable surgical approach in selected cases.
The Genetics of Cerebral Aneurysms and Other Vascular Malformations

Stroke can be caused by vascular malformations and cerebral aneurysms. This chapter discusses the importance of these conditions and the genetic screening that could be used. This chapter also describes the most recent genes that have been associated with these conditions.
Assembling the opinion: An active learning exercise for audit students

Abstract “Assembling the opinion” is an in-class, small-group, active-learning exercise designed to help audit students become familiar with audit opinions. Students work in teams to “assemble” the wording of the audit opinion for a given fact scenario. The results from pre- and post-exercise assessments suggest that the active-learning exercise improves student learning. Data also suggest that students find the exercise enjoyable and believe that it contributes to their learning experience.
Improved Achievability and Converse Bounds for Erdos-Renyi Graph Matching

We consider the problem of perfectly recovering the vertex correspondence between two correlated Erdos-Renyi (ER) graphs. For a pair of correlated graphs on the same vertex set, the correspondence between the vertices can be obscured by randomly permuting the vertex labels of one of the graphs. In some cases, the structural information in the graphs allow this correspondence to be recovered. We investigate the information-theoretic threshold for exact recovery, i.e. the conditions under which the entire vertex correspondence can be correctly recovered given unbounded computational resources. Pedarsani and Grossglauser provided an achievability result of this type. Their result establishes the scaling dependence of the threshold on the number of vertices. We improve on their achievability bound. We also provide a converse bound, establishing conditions under which exact recovery is impossible. Together, these establish the scaling dependence of the threshold on the level of correlation between the two graphs. The converse and achievability bounds differ by a factor of two for sparse, significantly correlated graphs.
Production of hemagglutinin by dengue virus in HeLa cells.

SummaryProduction of hemagglutinin by dengue virus types 1, 2, 3 and 4 has been demonstrated in the fluid phase of HeLa cells infected either with unadapted mouse brain virus or with high passage level HeLa cell adapted virus.Cell cultures inoculated with high passage levels of HeLa cell adapted virus of all 4 types showed the presence of hemagglutinin in infected fluids at the time of the first appearance of the cytopathic effect. High titers of hemagglutinin correlated with high TCD50 titers.Adaptation to in vitro conditions favored the production of hemagglutinin in cell cultures inoculated with dengue types 1, 3 and 4. Under the experimental conditions, type 2 unadapted mouse brain virus yielded higher concentrations of hemagglutinin than did type 2 high passage level HeLa cell adapted virus.
Memory Performance with Intractable Epilepsy

The cognitive and psychological predictors of everyday memory were investigated in 37 children (mean age 13.7 years, range 7.3-17.9 years) with medically intractable epilepsy treated at the Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Canada.
Influence of Vitamin B12 and Methionine on Levels of Folic Acid Compounds and Folate Enzymes in Rat Liver.

Summary1. The level of methionine-forming enzyme (transmethylase) activity in rat liver is dependent on vitamin B12 and is decreased by dietary methionine in much the same way as reported for chickens(10). The enzyme levels of methylene-tetrahydrofolate reductase and glutamate formiminotransfer-ase are not influenced by either vitamin B12 of methionine. 2. Rats kept on a vitamin B12-deficient diet low in methionine for 11 weeks show a marked drop in liver folate levels, especially higher conjugates, compared to animals supplemented with either vitamin B12 or methionine, despite high folic acid content in the diet.
Glucitol-core containing gallotannins inhibit the formation of advanced glycation end-products mediated by their antioxidant potential

Glucitol-core containing gallotannins (GCGs) are polyphenols containing galloyl groups attached to a 1,5-anhydro-D-glucitol core, which is uncommon among naturally occurring plant gallotannins. GCGs have only been isolated from maple (Acer) species, including the red maple (Acer rubrum), a medicinal plant which along with the sugar maple (Acer saccharum), are the major sources of the natural sweetener, maple syrup. GCGs are reported to show antioxidant, α-glucosidase inhibitory, and antidiabetic effects, but their antiglycating potential is unknown. Herein, the inhibitory effects of five GCGs (containing 1–4 galloyls) on the formation of advanced glycation end-products (AGEs) were evaluated by MALDI-TOF mass spectroscopy, and BSA–fructose, and G.K. peptide-ribose assays. The GCGs showed superior activities compared to the synthetic antiglycating agent, aminoguanidine (IC50 15.8–151.3 vs. >300 μM) at the early, middle, and late stages of glycation. Circular dichroism data revealed that the GCGs were able to protect the secondary structure of BSA protein from glycation. The GCGs did not inhibit AGE formation by the trapping of reactive carbonyl species, namely, methylglyoxal, but showed free radical scavenging activities in the DPPH assay. The free radical quenching properties of the GCGs were further confirmed by electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy using ginnalin A (contains 2 galloyls) as a representative GCG. In addition, this GCG chelated ferrous iron, an oxidative catalyst of AGE formation, supported a potential antioxidant mechanism of antiglycating activity for these polyphenols. Therefore, GCGs should be further investigated for their antidiabetic potential given their antioxidant, α-glucosidase inhibitory, and antiglycating properties.
Ecologic Relationships of Co-Occurring Populations of Opossums (Didelphis virginiana) and Raccoons (Procyon lotor) in Tennessee

Opossums ( Didelphis virginiana ) and raccoons ( Procyon lotor ) were studied at two sites in Tennessee using mark-recapture techniques. Winter density, relationship of trap success with selected habitat variables, interspecific association, and the degree of mutual habitat utilization were determined. Density of opossums was estimated as one animal/9.9 ha at one site and one animal/44.5 ha at the second location. Abundance of raccoons was estimated as one animal/70.4 ha at one site and one animal/34.5 ha at the other. Number of opossums and raccoons was not significantly correlated with any of the habitat variables measured at either site. Interspecific association values for co-occurring populations were 0.111 and 0.267; these values were not statistically significant and indicated that opossums and raccoons occurred independently of one another in regard to spatial distribution. Both species exhibited a wide range of ecological tolerance for habitat.
Identifying risk-averse low-diameter clusters in graphs with stochastic vertex weights

In this work, we study the problem of detecting risk-averse low-diameter clusters in graphs. It is assumed that the clusters represent k-clubs and that uncertain information manifests itself in the form of stochastic vertex weights whose joint distribution is known. The goal is to find a k-club of minimum risk contained in the graph. A stochastic programming framework that is based on the formalism of coherent risk measures is used to quantify the risk of a cluster. We show that the selected representation of risk guarantees that the optimal subgraphs are maximal clusters. A combinatorial branch-and-bound algorithm is proposed and its computational performance is compared with an equivalent mathematical programming approach for instances with \(k=2,3,\) and 4.
Importance of accurately assessing biomechanics of the cornea.

Purpose of review This article summarizes the state-of-the-art in clinical corneal biomechanics, including procedures in which biomechanics play a role, and the clinical consequences in terms of error in estimating intraocular pressure (IOP). Recent findings Corneal biomechanical response to refractive surgery can be categorized into either stable alteration of surface shape and thus visual outcome, or unstable biomechanical decompensation. The stable response is characterized by central flattening and peripheral steepening that is potentiated in a stiffer cornea. Two clinical devices for assessing corneal biomechanics do not yet measure classic biomechanical properties, but rather provide assessment of corneal deformation response. Biomechanical parameters are a function of IOP, and both the cornea and sclera become stiffer as IOP increases. Any assessment of biomechanical parameters must include IOP, and one value of stiffness does not adequately characterize a cornea. Summary Corneal biomechanics plays a role in the outcomes of any procedure in which lamellae are transected. Once the corneal structure has been altered in a manner that includes central thinning, IOP measurements with applanation tonometry are likely not valid, and other technologies should be used.