cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Optical levitation and partial-wave resonances

Sharp peaks observed recently in a levitation-power experiment are caused by partial-wave resonances. The theoretical results computed from the Mie-Debye theory are compared with experimental observations. The first resonances in each partial wave are extremely narrow and they were not detected in the experiment. We conjecture that the peaks in levitation power do not exist if levitated particles are irregularly shaped.
Impaired renal NaCl absorption in mice lacking the ROMK potassium channel, a model for type II Bartter's syndrome

ROMK is an apical K+channel expressed in the thick ascending limb of Henle (TALH) and throughout the distal nephron of the kidney. Null mutations in theROMK gene cause type II Bartter's syndrome, in which abnormalities of electrolyte, acid-base, and fluid-volume homeostasis occur because of defective NaCl reabsorption in the TALH. To understand better the pathogenesis of type II Bartter's syndrome, we developed a mouse lacking ROMK and examined its phenotype. Young null mutants had hydronephrosis, were severely dehydrated, and ∼95% died before 3 weeks of age. ROMK-deficient mice that survived beyond weaning grew to adulthood; however, they had metabolic acidosis, elevated blood concentrations of Na+ and Cl−, reduced blood pressure, polydipsia, polyuria, and poor urinary concentrating ability. Whole kidney glomerular filtration rate was sharply reduced, apparently as a result of hydronephrosis, and fractional excretion of electrolytes was elevated. Micropuncture analysis revealed that the single nephron glomerular filtration rate was relatively normal, absorption of NaCl in the TALH was reduced but not eliminated, and tubuloglomerular feedback was severely impaired. These data show that the loss of ROMK in the mouse causes perturbations of electrolyte, acid-base, and fluid-volume homeostasis, reduced absorption of NaCl in the TALH, and impaired tubuloglomerular feedback.
Geographically weighted regression bandwidth selection and spatial autocorrelation: an empirical example using Chinese agriculture data

This research note examined the performance of Geographically Weighted Regression (GWR) using two calibration methods. The first method, Cross Validation (CV), has been commonly used in the applied literature using GWR. A second criterion selected an optimal bandwidth that corresponded with the smallest spatial error Lagrange Multiplier (LM) test statistic. We find that there is a tradeoff between addressing spatial autocorrelation and reducing degree of extreme coefficients in GWR. Although spatial autocorrelation can be controlled for by using the LM criterion, a substantial degree of extreme coefficients may remain. However, while the CV approach appears to be less prone to producing extreme coefficients, it may not always attend to the problems that arise in the presence of spatial error autocorrelation.
Showing Your Work: Impact of annotating electronic prescriptions with decision support results

e-Prescribing systems with decision support do not routinely communicate an adequate amount of information regarding the prescribers' decision to pharmacists. To address this communication gap in the e-prescribing process, we implemented a system called Show Your Work (SYW) that appends alerts and override comments to e-prescriptions generated by an e-prescribing system. To assess the quantitative impact of this system, we conducted a randomized, double-blinded, controlled study to assess pharmacy callback rates and types, and to uncover any unintended consequences of the annotations. Each day, SYW output across the enterprise was turned ''on'' or ''off'' randomly for all e-prescriptions. A convenience sample of three pharmacies, blinded to SYW status, submitted callback logs each day. These logs were used to calculate the rate of and reason for callbacks. At the conclusion of the study, we surveyed the 50 most frequently used pharmacies in our area to assess the impact of SYW on satisfaction and communication. A total of 202 callbacks had occurred yielding a callback rate of 45 callbacks/1000 prescriptions for SYW ''on'' days and 40 callbacks/1000 prescriptions for ''off'' days (p=0.4). We received 38 surveys (76% response rate) with 33 respondents commenting about SYW. Most respondents agreed (69%) that SYW favorably impacted callbacks-especially with pediatric prescriptions (82%). Comments suggested that SYW increased callbacks where necessary and decreased them in other situations, but did not contribute to unnecessary callbacks. These findings support the continued and potentially expanded use of SYW by e-prescribing systems to enhance communication with pharmacists.
Competitive Personality Attitudes and Forgiveness of Others

The authors conducted a survey to determine whether competitive attitudes are differentially associated with forgiveness or lack of forgiveness of others. The results showed that hypercompetitiveness was associated with a lack of forgiveness, whereas personal development competitiveness was associated positively with forgiveness. Discussion centers on the need to discourage socialization practices that foster the adoption of a self-contained individualism that is associated with a maladaptive hypercompetitiveness. Instead, parents should promote an ensembled individualism that is associated with a psychologically healthy personal development competitive orientation.
Proteasome inhibitors prevent oxidative stress-induced nerve cell death by a novel mechanism.

The role of the proteasome in neurodegenerative diseases is controversial. On the one hand, there is evidence that a dysfunction of proteasome activity can lead to neurodegeneration but there is also data showing that proteasome inhibition can protect nerve cells from a variety of insults. In an attempt to clarify this issue, we studied the effects of four different proteasome inhibitors in a well characterized model of oxidative stress-induced nerve cell death. Consistent with the hypothesis that proteasome inhibition can be neuroprotective, we found that low concentrations of proteasome inhibitors were able to protect nerve cells from oxidative stress-induced death. Surprisingly, the neuroprotective effects of the proteasome inhibitors appeared to be at least partially mediated by the induction of NF-κB since protection was significantly reduced in cells expressing a specific NF-κB repressor. The activation of NF-kB by proteasome inhibitors was mediated by IκBα and IKK and was blocked by antioxidants and inhibitors of mitochondrial reactive oxygen species production. These data suggest that low concentrations of proteasome inhibitors induce a moderate level of mitochondrial oxidative stress which results in the activation of neuroprotective pathways.
The Reactivity and Oxidation Pathway of Cysteine 232 in Recombinant Human α1-Antitrypsin

Oxidative damage to the sulfur-containing amino acids, methionine and cysteine, is a major concern in biotechnology and medicine. α1-Antitrypsin, which is a metastable and conformationally flexible protein that belongs to the serpin family of protease inhibitors, contains nine methionines and a single cysteine in its primary sequence. Although it is known that methionine oxidation in the protein active site results in a loss of biological activity, there is little specific knowledge regarding the reactivity of its unpaired thiol, Cys-232. In this study, the thiol-modifying reagent NBD-Cl (7-chloro-4-nitrobenz-2-oxa-1,3-diazole) was used to label peroxide-modified α1-antitrypsin and demonstrate that the Cys-232in vitro oxidation pathway begins with a stable sulfenic acid intermediate and is followed by the formation of sulfinic and cysteic acid in successive steps. pH-dependent reactivity with hydrogen peroxide showed that Cys-232 has a pK a of 6.86 ± 0.05, a value that is more than 1.5 pH units lower than that of a typical protein thiol. pH-induced conformational changes in the region surrounding Cys-232 were also examined and indicate that mildly acidic conditions induce a conformation that enhances Cys-232 reactivity. In summary, this work provides new insights into α1-antitrypsin reactivity in oxidizing environments and shows that a unique structural environment renders its unpaired thiol, Cys-232, its most reactive amino acid.
“People at Work”: Lowell Conference on Industrial History

power and gain control of a majority of delegate positions in the TUC. In analyzing independent trade unionists' shift away from labor strategies grounded in parlia mentary democracy and conventional relations between unions and political parties, Gopaul highlighted the precipitative role played by a series of unsuccess ful Guyanese court battles over antilabor government policies, during which initially favorable Court of Appeal decisions were revoked by act of parliament. In?s Murillo (Honduras, International Committee for the Defense of Human Rights in Honduras) built on this discussion by affirming the need to incorporate the national experiences of the popular classes into critiques of conventional understandings of democracy. In a brief discussion of the political economy of Honduras under both democratic and dictatorial governments, Murillo noted that the problem of widespread poverty has remained a constant. On the basis of escalating human rights violations and the growing militarization of Honduras since the reestablishment of formal democracy in 1980, Murillo further argued for a significant recasting of the democracy/dictatorship dichotomy. Alejandro Rojas (Canada, York University) further extended the reconceptualization of democracy by calling into question the model of socialist democracy advocated by trade union movements throughout Latin America. He noted that the goals of modernization, widespread urbanization, and technological progress that permeate the vision of future society articulated by the region's labor movements do not depart radically from the character of postindustrial capitalist society. While differences exist in class relations and in the exploitation of labor, consumptive and appropriative relations with nature are common to both projects. Summarizing his position, Rojas underscored the need to incorporate the struggle against private property relations with struggles against centralism, racism, sexism, and other modes of domination.
All the right descriptors: A test of the strategy of unlimited aliasing

This study tested the Strategy of Unlimited Aliasing, an indexing method that places the terms suggested by several different indexers for the same information object in one index. This study aggregated the descriptors given to 21 bibliographic records from three databases: (a) ERIC, the database of educational materials compiled by the Educational Resources Information Center; (b) LISA, the database of library and information science abstracts published by the Library Association; and (c) ISA, the database of library and information science abstracts published by IFI/Plenum Data Company. The experimental subjects were 40 graduate students of a school of library and information science. The subjects matched bibliographic records with descriptors in seven different indexes that ranged from improverished to enriched. No support for the Strategy of Unlimited Aliasing was found
Research on Internal-External Control and Social-Political Activism: A Note and Bibliography

Empirical inconsistencies in the locus of control and social-political action literature are noted and attributed, in part, to observers' tendency to overlook the potentially crucial role of the personal meanings of the actor's political involvement. Increased attention to these motivational constructs and to the development of techniques for assessing them is encouraged.
Molecular Assembly and Encapsulation Directed by Hydrogen-Bonding Preferences and the Filling of Space

Multiple copies of a molecule, held together in finite aggregates, give rise to properties and functions that are unique to their assembled states. Because these aggregates are held together by weak forces operating over short distances, a premium is placed on complementarity: The molecular surfaces must facilitate specific interactions that direct the assembly to one aggregate rather than another. Hydrogen-bonding preferences can be combined with molecular curvature to favor the assembly of four self-complementary subunits into a pseudo-spherical capsule. Filling the capsule with smaller, complementary molecules provides the final instruction for the assembly process.
Tunable Optical Properties of Metal Nanoparticle Sol-Gel Composites

We demonstrate that the linear and non-linear optical properties of sol-gels containing metal nanoparticles are highly tunable with porosity. Moreover, we extend the technique of immersion spectroscopy to inhomogeneous hosts, such as aerogels, and determine rigorous bounds for the average fractional composition of each component, i.e., the porosity of the aerogel, or equivalently, for these materials, the catalytic dispersion. Sol-gels containing noble metal nanoparticles were fabricated and a significant blue-shift in the surface plasmon resonance (SPR) was observed upon formation of an aerogel, as a result of the decrease in the dielectric constant of the matrix upon supercritical extraction of the solvent. However, as a result of chemical interface damping and aggregation this blue-shift does not strictly obey standard effective medium theories. Mitigation of these complications is achieved by avoiding the use of alcohol and by annealing the samples in a reducing atmosphere.
Lead time for medium range prediction of the dry spell of monsoon using multi-models

The purpose of this study is to address prediction of the start date and the duration of breaks in the summer monsoon rains using multi-model superensemble. The availability of datasets from the ‘observing system research and predictability experiment (THORPEX)’ initiated a forecast data archive, called THORPEX interactive grand global ensemble (TIGGE), makes it possible to use forecasts from a suite of individual ensemble prediction systems (member models) and to construct multi-model superensemble forecasts that are designed to remove the collective bias errors of the suite of models. Precipitation datasets are important for this study, we have used high resolution daily gridded rainfall dataset of India Meteorological Department (IMD), in addition to rainfall estimates from tropical rainfall microwave mission (TRMM) satellite and the CPC morphing technique (CMORPH). The scientific approach of this study entails the use of a multi-model superensemble for forecast and to verify against the rainfall information during a training phase, as well as during a forecast phase. We examine the results of forecasts out to day-10 and ask how well do forecast strings of day-1 through day-10 handle the prediction of the onset and duration of the breaks in the summer monsoon rains. Our results confirm that it is possible to predict the onset of a dry spell, around week in advance from the use of the multi-model superensemble and a suite of TIGGE models. We also examine trajectories of the parcels arriving in India in such forecasts from member models and from the multi-model superensemble to validate the arrival of descending dry desert air from the Arabian region during the dry spells and its mode of transition from wet spell. Some phenological features such as a shift in the latitude of the tropical easterly jet and changes in its intensity during break periods are additional observed features that are validated from the history of multi-model superensemble forecasts. Invariably this multi-model superensemble performs better than any single model in proving the better forecasts during our experiment period.
The Use of Paleocommunity and Taphonomic Studies in Reconstructing Primate Behavior

Behavioral ecology is concerned with not only describing animal behavior but placing that description within an evolutionary context, that is, how or why did a particular behavior evolve (Krebs and Davies, 1981). The “how” is often supplied by studies of primate morphology and comparisons with behaviors such as feeding ecology, activity pattern, substrate use, social organization, etc. The “why” is often only available through scenarios or with the help of contextual information. Community paleoecology and taphonomic studies are an essential part of answering why particular primate behavior may have evolved because the contextual evidence that they provide can furnish insights about changes in primate interactions with other primates, mammals, vegetation, and climate.
Local Organized Interests and the 1996 Cincinnati Sports Stadia Tax Referendum

On March 19, 1996, the citizens of Hamilton County, Ohio ratified a .5% sales tax increase (Issue 1) that will raise $540 million to build two new stadia in Cincinnati for use by the Bengals football and Reds baseball franchises. This study uses an interest group perspective to investigate the politics of the sales tax increase and the campaign for and against its electoral acceptance. Issue 1 fits the classic interest group dynamic: Economic benefits will be conferred on a numerically small set of actors while the costs are widely distributed among the public. Other specific factors that contributed to passage of the proposal (a million dollar public relations and media campaign, strategic decisions by county officials to make the tax increase more palatable to voters, and a public pledge by the Bengals to contribute millions of dollars to the construction costs) are examined.
Characteristics of the deep ocean carbon system during the past 150,000 years: ΣCO2 distributions, deep water flow patterns, and abrupt climate change

Abstract Studies of carbon isotopes and cadmium in bottom-dwelling foraminifera from ocean sediment cores have advanced our knowledge of ocean chemical distributions during the late Pleistocene. Last Glacial Maximum data are consistent with a persistent high-ΣCO2 state for eastern Pacific deep water. Both tracers indicate that the mid-depth North and tropical Atlantic Ocean almost always has lower ΣCO2 levels than those in the Pacific. Upper waters of the Last Glacial Maximum Atlantic are more ΣCO2-depleted and deep waters are ΣCO2-enriched compared with the waters of the present. In the northern Indian Ocean, δ13C and Cd data are consistent with upper water ΣCO2 depletion relative to the present. There is no evident proximate source of this ΣCO2-depleted water, so I suggest that ΣCO2-depleted North Atlantic intermediate/deep water turns northward around the southern tip of Africa and moves toward the equator as a western boundary current. At long periods (>15,000 years), Milankovitch cycle variability is evident in paleochemical time series. But rapid millennial-scale variability can be seen in cores from high accumulation rate series. Atlantic deep water chemical properties are seen to change in as little as a few hundred years or less. An extraordinary new 52.7-m-long core from the Bermuda Rise contains a faithful record of climate variability with century-scale resolution. Sediment composition can be linked in detail with the isotope stage 3 interstadials recorded in Greenland ice cores. This new record shows at least 12 major climate fluctuations within marine isotope stage 5 (about 70,000–130,000 years before the present).
On proportional power sharing mechanisms for secondary spectrum markets

We consider a proportional sharing mechanism for allocating spectrum to secondary users. Each user bids for a portion of the received power at a measurement point and receives a share that is proportional to its bid while paying a charge equal to the bid. The users then transmit over a common band treating all interference as noise. Under this mechanism, we model the secondary users as players is a bidding game. The players' interaction in this game is complicated due to the interference among them.We characterize the existence of a Nash equilibrium for both price taking and price anticipating users.
Recent warming in a 500-year palaeotemperature record from varved sediments, Upper Soper Lake, Baffin Island, Canada

Laminated sediments from Upper Soper Lake on southern Baffin Island provide a new 500-year record of temperature change in the Arctic. Radiometric dating, using 210Pb and Pu, shows that the light- and dark-coloured laminae couplets are annually deposited varves. Dark laminae thickness is strongly correlated to average June temperature from Kimmirut (r = 0.82), reflecting the influence of temperature on snowmelt and fluxes of runoff and suspended sediment. This relationship allowed the construction of a palaeotemperature record that documents large-amplitude interannual to decadal variability superimposed on distinct century-scale trends, including 2°C average warming and maximum temperatures during the 1900s. Similar patterns of change are seen in individual and regionally averaged palaeotemperature records from around the circum-Arctic. Upper Soper Lake records temperatures, rates of change and variance during the twentieth century that are all anomal- ously high within the context of the last 500 years, and outside the observed range of natural variability. Comparisons of Upper Soper Lake and Arctic average palaeotemperature to proxy-records of hypothesized forcing mechanisms suggest that the recent warming trend is mostly due to anthropogenic emissions of atmos- pheric greenhouse gases. The magnitude of the warming and decade-scale variability throughout the records, however, indicate that natural forcing mechanisms such as changing solar irradiance and volcanic activity, as well as positive feedbacks within the Arctic environment, also play an important role.
The Move-Split-Merge Metric for Time Series

A novel metric for time series, called Move-Split-Merge (MSM), is proposed. This metric uses as building blocks three fundamental operations: Move, Split, and Merge, which can be applied in sequence to transform any time series into any other time series. A Move operation changes the value of a single element, a Split operation converts a single element into two consecutive elements, and a Merge operation merges two consecutive elements into one. Each operation has an associated cost, and the MSM distance between two time series is defined to be the cost of the cheapest sequence of operations that transforms the first time series into the second one. An efficient, quadratic-time algorithm is provided for computing the MSM distance. MSM has the desirable properties of being metric, in contrast to the Dynamic Time Warping (DTW) distance, and invariant to the choice of origin, in contrast to the Edit Distance with Real Penalty (ERP) metric. At the same time, experiments with public time series data sets demonstrate that MSM is a meaningful distance measure, that oftentimes leads to lower nearest neighbor classification error rate compared to DTW and ERP.
College Residence and Academic Performance: Who Benefits From Living on Campus?:

Although previous research suggests that living on campus promotes a variety of desirable academic outcomes by enhancing students’ involvement and engagement with their institutions, research on academic performance frequently ignores the possibility that different groups of students are differentially affected by their living environments. Furthermore, previous studies tend to rely on students from a few large public research universities rather than a broad range of institutions, which precludes any analysis of institutional differences in the impact of residence. Using a sample of 1st-year students from the National Postsecondary Student Aid Study (NPSAS), this study found that, for most students in most institutions, the type of residence during college does not have a significant effect on 1st-year academic performance. However, among Black students, those who live on campus have significantly higher GPAs than similar students at the same institution who live off campus with family. Among students at...
Rapid and Reproducible Surveillance for Ventilator-Associated Pneumonia

Background. The complexity and subjectivity of ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) surveillance limit its value in assessing and comparing quality of care for ventilated patients. A simpler, more quantitative VAP definition may increase utility. Methods. We streamlined the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention definition of VAP to increase objectivity and efficiency. Qualitative criteria were replaced with quantitative criteria, and changes in ventilator settings were used to screen patients for worsening oxygenation. We retrospectively compared surveillance time, reproducibility, and outcomes for streamlined versus conventional surveillance among medical and surgical patients on mechanical ventilation in 3 university hospitals. Results. Application of the streamlined definition was faster (mean 3.5 minutes vs 39.0 minutes per patient) and more objective (interrater reliability j 0.79 vs 0.45) than the conventional definition. On multivariate analysis, the streamlined definition predicted increases in ventilator days (6.5 days [95% CI, 4.1‐10.0] vs 6.4 days [95% CI, 4.7‐8.6]), intensive care days (5.6 days [95% CI, 3.2‐8.9] vs 6.2 days [95% CI, 4.6‐8.2]), and hospital mortality (odds ratio [OR] 0.84 [95% CI, 0.31‐2.29] vs OR 0.69 [95% CI, 0.30‐1.55]) as effectively as conventional surveillance. The conventional definition was a marginally superior predictor of increased hospital days (5.2 days [95% CI, 3.4‐7.6] vs 2.1 days [95% CI, ‐0.5‐5.6]). Conclusions. A streamlined version of the VAP definition was faster, more objective, and predicted patients’ outcomes almost as effectively as the conventional definition. VAP surveillance using the streamlined method may facilitate more objective and efficient quality assessment for ventilated patients.
Performance budgeting resuscitated: why is it still inviable?

Performance budgeting had been tried once and failed. Is there any reason to believe that the new performance budgeting will work? After reviewing existing studies on performance budgeting, the paper proposes that two obstacles continue to undermine its success. They are the poor quality of performance measures and their rare acceptance by budgetary decisionmakers. Unfortunately, these two impediments result from the generic defect of performance budgeting: i.e., its attempt at both comprehensiveness and rationality. The paper concludes by suggesting ways by which performance measures can be better utilized.
Interpreting the developmental dance of the megakaryocyte: a review of the cellular and molecular processes mediating platelet formation

Platelets are essential for haemostasis, and thrombocytopenia (platelet counts <150 × 10(9) /l) is a major clinical problem encountered across a number of conditions, including immune thrombocytopenic purpura, myelodysplastic syndromes, chemotherapy, aplastic anaemia, human immunodeficiency virus infection, complications during pregnancy and delivery, and surgery. Circulating blood platelets are specialized cells that function to prevent bleeding and minimize blood vessel injury. Platelets circulate in their quiescent form, and upon stimulation, activate to release their granule contents and spread on the affected tissue to create a physical barrier that prevents blood loss. The current model of platelet formation states that large progenitor cells in the bone marrow, called megakaryocytes, release platelets by extending long, branching processes, designated proplatelets, into sinusoidal blood vessels. This review will focus on different factors that impact megakaryocyte development, proplatelet formation and platelet release. It will highlight recent studies on thrombopoeitin-dependent megakaryocyte maturation, endomitosis and granule formation, cytoskeletal contributions to proplatelet formation, the role of apoptosis, and terminal platelet formation and release.
Effects of dietary omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids on growth and immune response of weanling pigs

The recognition that omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (n-3 PUFA) possess potent anti-inflammatory properties in human models has prompted studies investigating their efficacy for animal growth and immunity. This study examined the effect of feeding an n-3 PUFA-enriched diet on growth and immune response of weanling piglets. Newly weaned pigs (averaging 27 ± 2 days of age and 8.1 ± 0.7 kg of body weight) were assigned randomly to receive a control (3% vegetable oil, n = 20) or n-3 PUFA-supplemented (3% marine n-3 PUFA, n = 20) diet for 28 day after weaning. Female pigs consuming the n-3 PUFA-enriched diet were lighter at week 4 post-weaning than those fed the vegetable oil supplement. Weanling pigs gained more weight, consumed more feed and had better growth to feed ratios between days 14 and 28 than between days 0 and 14 post-weaning. Plasma insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I) decreased between days 0 (87.2 ± 17.0 ng/mL) and 14 (68.3 ± 21.1 ng/mL) after weaning and then increased again by day 28 (155.2 ± 20.9 ng/mL). In piglets consuming the vegetable oil-enriched diet, plasma tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) increased from 37.6 ± 14.5 to 102.9 ± 16.6 pg/mL between days 0 and 14 post-weaning and remained high through day 28 (99.0 ± 17.2 pg/mL). The TNF-α increase detected in the piglets fed vegetable oil was not observed in the piglets fed n-3 PUFA. Results indicate that weaning induces considerable immune stress in piglets and that this stress can be mitigated by dietary supplementation of n-3 PUFA.
Are babies by design in our future

Advances in genomic science and reproductive medicine are hastening the day when parents will be able to select or design desired traits for their children. This possibility raises a series of challenging questions: will our ability to choose our children's biological inheritance deform parenting? Will it diminish children's freedom by making them creatures of their parents' whims? Will it widen social divisions, creating a 'genobility'? Will it recreate the horrors of early twentieth century eugenics? In this perspective article I reply that while these are all important questions, the answers do not necessarily rule out the judicious use of human genetic engineering.
Exogenous l-tyrosine metabolism and dhurrin turnover in sorghum seedlings☆

It was shown that dhurrin (p-hydroxymandelonitrile-β-glucopyranoside) was actively metabolized by etiolated Sorghum vulgare seedlings. A turnover rate of about 0·05 μmole/hr was found in seedlings containing 1·0 μmole dhurrin/shoot. These studies showed a logarithmic decrease in the specific activity of 14C labelled dhurrin when unlabelled l-tyrosine was administered to the seedlings. The increase in specific activity of dhurrin was shown to be a logarithmic function of time when seedlings were administered [2-14C]-l-tyrosine. In addition, it was concluded that a major fraction of the dhurrin in the seedlings was derived from endogenous sources rather than from exogenously supplied l-tyrosine. Sorghum seedlings were shown to metabolize [1-14C]-, [2-14C]-, [3-14C]-, and [U-14C]-l-tyrosine to 14CO2. Based on the time course of 14CO2 released from l-tyrosine labelled in carbon atom 1, 2 or 3 as compared to uniformly labelled l-tyrosine, the data suggest that sorghum seedlings catabolized a portion of the aromatic ring carbon atoms to 14CO2. The dhurrin present 50 hr after administering [2-14C]-l-tyrosine represented only 3% of the 14C found in the various extracts, residues and CO2. A procedure for isolating dhurrin from perchloric acid extracts is described.
Oceanic spreading center–hotspot interactions: Constraints from along-isochron bathymetric and gravity anomalies

We analyzed bathymetric and gravity anomalies along present and paleoaxes of oceanic spreading centers influenced by the Iceland, Azores, Galapagos, Tristan, and Easter hotspots. Residual bathymetry (up to 4.7 km) and mantle Bouguer gravity (up to −340 km) anomalies are maximum at on-axis hotspots and decrease with increasing ridge-hotspot separation distance (D) , until becoming insignificant at D ∼500 km. Along-isochron widths of bathymetric anomalies (up to 2700 km) depend inversely on paleo–spreading rate, reflecting the extent to which plume material will flow along axis before being swept away by the spreading lithosphere. Flux balance arguments suggest that the five hotspots feed material to ridges with comparable fluxes of ∼2.2 × 106 km3/m.y. Assuming that the amplitudes of these geophysical anomalies reflect temperature-dependent crustal thickness and mantle density variations, we suggest that ridge temperature anomalies are maximum (150–225 ° C) when plumes are ridge centered and decrease with increasing ridge-hotspot distance due to cooling of the ridgeward-migrating plume material.
Plasmonic Laser Antennas and Related Devices

This paper reviews recent work on device applications of optical antennas. Localized surface plasmon resonances of gold nanorod antennas resting on a silica glass substrate were modeled by finite difference time-domain simulations. A single gold nanorod of length 150 or 550 nm resonantly generates enhanced near fields when illuminated with light of 830 nm wavelength. A pair of these nanorods gives higher field enhancements due to capacitive coupling between them. Bowtie antennas that consist of a pair of triangular gold particles offer the best near-field confinement and enhancement. Plasmonic laser antennas based on the coupled nanorod antenna design were fabricated by focused ion beam lithography on the facet of a semiconductor laser diode operating at a wavelength of 830 nm. An optical spot size of few tens of nanometers was measured by apertureless near-field optical microscope. We have extended our work on plasmonic antenna into mid-infrared (mid-IR) wavelengths by implementing resonant nanorod and bowtie antennas on the facets of various quantum cascade lasers. Experiments show that this mid-IR device can provide an optical intensity confinement 70 times higher than that would be achieved with diffraction limited optics. Near-field intensities ~ 1 GW/cm2 were estimated for both near-infrared and mid-IR plasmonic antennas. A fiber device that takes advantage of plasmonic resonances of gold nanorod arrays providing a high density of optical ldquohot spotsrdquo is proposed. Results of a systematic theoretical and experimental study of the reflection spectra of these arrays fabricated on a silica glass substrate are also presented. The family of these proof-of-concept plasmonic devices that we present here can be potentially useful in many applications including near-field optical microscopes, high-density optical data storage, surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy, heat-assisted magnetic recording, and spatially resolved absorption spectroscopy.
Low Mach number bow shock locations during a magnetic cloud event: Observations and magnetohydrodynamic simulations

[1] During the magnetic storm on October 18–19, 1998 a magnetic cloud encountered the Earth’s magnetosphere. As the cloud passed, the solar wind density decreased dramatically, and as a consequence the solar wind magnetosonic Mach number dropped markedly, approaching 1 at times. Magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulations, driven by upstream interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) and solar wind parameters observed on WIND and ACE showed that during the interval of the lowest density, the subsolar distance of the bow shock (BS) reached as much as 50 RE. IMP-8 spacecraft observations of the expansion and subsequent retreat of the BS support the finding that the shock reached a considerable distance upstream. Surprisingly, at times the BS moved sunward at a speed approaching the magnetosonic speed of the solar wind. INDEX TERMS: 2740 Magnetospheric Physics: Magnetospheric configuration and dynamics; 2753 Magnetospheric Physics: Numerical modeling; 2784 Magnetospheric Physics: Solar wind/ magnetosphere interactions. Citation: El-Alaoui, M., R. L. Richard, M. Ashour-Abdalla, and M. W. Chen (2004), Low Mach number bow shock locations during a magnetic cloud event: Observations and magnetohydrodynamic simulations, Geophys. Res. Lett., 31, L03813, doi:10.1029/2003GL018788.
Vision based hand gesture interpretation using recursive estimation

Gesture recognition requires spatio-temporal image sequence analysis. The actual length of the sequence varies with each instantiation of the gesture, and can be quite long in the case of a multiple gesture sequence. To achieve adequate system response we introduce the concept of recursive estimation of the gesture state. This consists of modeling the gestures as a sequence of static hand poses. Using a hidden Markov model where the unobservable state is the spatio-temporal gesture and the hand poses are the observations allows us to determine the current probabilities of each gesture with a finite state estimator. This decomposes the gesture recognition process into two stages: identification of the hand pose within the current image frame and incorporation of the new information into the probability estimates. We illustrate the performance of the estimator by describing the implementation of a telerobotic application. >
Ascending and Descending Meaning: A Theoretical Inquiry into Play and Ritual

The author introduces the dichotomy “ascending-descending meaning” as a perspective for analyzing human relationships. After certain general considerations, this perspective is applied to two important forms of human activity—ritual and play. It is argued that the ascending-descending framework both clarifies the meaning of these two terms and directs attention to their important relationship to each other.
Bayesian adaptive design for targeted therapy development in lung cancer--a step toward personalized medicine.

Background: With the advancement in biomedicine, many biologically targeted therapies have been developed. These targeted agents, however, may not work for everyone. Biomarker profiles can be used to identify effective targeted therapies. Our goals are to characterize the molecular signature of individual tumors, offer the best-fit targeted therapies to patients in a study, and identify promising agents for future development.Methods: We propose an outcome-based adaptive randomization trial design for patients with advanced stage non-small cell lung cancer. All patients have baseline biopsy samples taken for biomarker assessment prior to randomization to treatments. The primary endpoint of this study is the disease control rate at 8 weeks after randomization. The Bayesian probit model is used to characterize the disease control rate. Patients are adaptively randomized to one of four treatments with the randomization rate based on the updated disease control rate from the accumulated data in the trial. For...
WSBen: A Web Services Discovery and Composition Benchmark

A novel benchmark, WSBen, for testing web services discovery and composition is presented. WSBen includes: (1) A collection of synthetic web services (WSDL) files with diverse characteristics and sizes; (2) Test discovery and composition queries and solutions; and (3) External files for statistical analysis and AI planners. Users can fine-tune the generated WSDL files using various parameters such as skewness or matching type. It is our hope that WSBen will provide useful insights for researchers evaluating the performance of web services discovery and composition algorithms and softwares.
Cancer pain management.

Cancer is the second leading cause of death in the United States. About 1.2 million new cancer cases were diagnosed in 1998. One out of every four deaths, approximately half a million people, will be the result of cancer in 1999. Pain is often inadequately treated in patients with cancer. Sixty-seven percent of outpatients with metastatic cancer have pain, and 36% of these patients have pain severe enough to impair their ability to function. 6 Sixty percent of terminally ill cancer patients suffer from pain. 11 Eighty-six percent of practicing physicians surveyed believed that the majority of cancer patients with pain were undermedicated. 32 On a global scale, the World Health Organization Cancer Pain Relief Program reported that approximately 5 million people worldwide experience cancer pain on a daily basis, with 25% of them dying without relief from severe pain. Cancer pain can be controlled through relatively simple means in most patients. Unrelieved pain can lessen the patients' activity, function, appetite, and sleep. It can also induce fear and increase suffering in patients with cancer. Chronic unrelieved pain depresses patients and increases the risk of suicide. In addition to playing a major role in the quality of care for cancer patients at the end of their life, pain management is also vital to cancer survivors and patients with stable disease status. Although they have survived the disease, patients may have chronic pain from disease or therapy. Adequate pain control is important to ensure that patients are able to function productively, maintain social relationships, and improve their quality of life. The most recent report on cancer incidence and mortality showed the first decline after nearly 20 years of a steady increase 35 ; thus, pain control in cancer survivors and patients with stable disease is an important part of the total care of cancer patients. The majority of cancer pain can be controlled with oral pharmacologic management. Both physicians and patients should understand that the long-term use of opioids for pain relief is different from substance abuse. Studies have shown that the number of individuals who become addicted to drugs by introducing them through medical use is extremely small. 24 Clinicians should assess patients and, if pain is present, provide them with optimal relief throughout the course of illness. The treatment plan should include patient and family education about pain and its management and encourage patients to be active participants in pain management. 7 Comprehensive management of cancer patients with pain is best accomplished through interdisciplinary coordination. Whenever possible, the primary care physician should coordinate the services of medical, surgical, and radiation oncologists; pain specialists; psychologists; psychiatrists; physical therapists; social workers; nurses; and hospice workers.
Reply to "Comments on 'structure-enhanced MOSFET degradation due to hot-electron injection'"

The equal-substrate-current stressing condition used to compare hot-electron-induced MOSFET degradation in different device structures is discussed. The error introduced by using this stressing condition is quantitatively assessed and shown to be too small to affect the interpretation of the experimental data. The post-stress transconductance degradation characterisitics in LDD MOSFET's are also discussed.
Toll-Like Receptor 2–Mediated Intestinal Injury and Enteric Tumor Necrosis Factor Receptor I Contribute to Liver Fibrosis in Mice

Background & Aims Progression of liver fibrosis in experimental models depends on gut-derived bacterial products, but little is known about mechanisms of disruption of the mucosal barrier or translocation. We used a mouse model of cholestatic liver disease to investigate mechanisms of intestinal barrier disruption following liver injury. Methods Liver fibrosis and bacterial translocation were assessed in Toll-like receptor 2 (TLR2)-deficient and tumor necrosis factor receptor I (TNFRI)-deficient mice subjected to bile duct ligation. Epithelial and lamina propria cells were isolated and analyzed by immunoblot analyses and flow cytometry. We analyzed bone marrow chimeras and mice with a conditional gain-of-function allele for the TNFRI receptor. By crossing TNFRI flxneo/flxneo mice with mice that expressed the VillinCre transgene specifically in intestinal epithelial cells, we created mice that express functional TNFRI specifically on intestinal epithelial cells (VillinCreTNFRI flxneo/flxneo mice). Results Following bile duct ligation, TLR2-deficient mice had less liver fibrosis and intestinal translocation of bacteria and bacterial products than wild-type mice. Mice with hematopoietic cells that did not express TLR2 also had reduced bacterial translocation, indicating that TLR2 expression by hematopoietic cells regulates intestinal barrier function. The number of TLR2 + monocytes that produce tumor necrosis factor α increased in the intestinal lamina propria of wild-type mice following bile duct ligation; bacterial translocation was facilitated by TNFRI-mediated signals on intestinal epithelial cells. Conclusions Intestinal inflammation and bacterial translocation contribute to liver fibrosis via TLR2 signaling on monocytes in the lamina propria and TNFRI signaling on intestinal epithelial cells in mice. Therefore, enteric TNFRI is an important mediator of cholestatic liver fibrosis.
The Influence of Surface Anisotropy Crystalline Structure on Wetting of Sapphire by Molten Aluminum

The wetting of sapphire by molten aluminum was investigated by the sessile drop technique from 1073 K to 1473 K (800 °C to 1200 °C) at PO2 <10−15 Pa under Ar atmosphere. This study focuses on sapphire crystalline structure and its principle to the interface. The planes “a” and “b” are oxygen terminated structures and wet more by Al, whereas the “c” plane is an aluminum terminated structure. A wetting transition at 1273 K (1000 °C) was obtained and a solid surface tension proves the capillarity trends of the couple.
Foragers and forager-traders in South Asian worlds: Some thoughts from the last 10,000 years

South Asia is sometimes seen as a particularly good place to study the earliest periods of human history because of the presence of contemporary peoples who gather and hunt, people usually referred to as “tribals,” a label first affixed by the British but which has had considerable staying power (Singh, 1997:33; Morrison, 2002a:35). These groups are often viewed as natural analogues for the past, providing us with information about environmental adaptations, social organization, and the like. Much (but of course not all) ethnoarchaeology in South Asia is predicated on simple parallels between contemporary tribals and Paleolithic or Mesolithic peoples, a strategy which tends to erase the actual histories of thesegroups,andanassumptionof timelessness which recent research (e.g., Stiles, 1993; Murthy, 1994; Morrison and Junker, 2002) has shown is not well-founded. Even where the complexhistories of theHolocene are acknowledged, many still feel that “tribals” offer the best analogues for the past, based on a notion of some essential tribal cultural (sometimes even “racial”) identity as the link which joins the past and the present. In this chapter, I review a fewexamples of long-termhistories of foraging groups in South Asia and, in so doing, suggest an alternative framework in which hunting and gathering, past and present, is seen as a set of strategic practices rather than as an essential identity, a distinction which allows us to view the complex, entangled histories of South Asian foragers and forager-traders not as masks obscuring “real” economic, ecological, and social relations but instead as resources for learning about the life-possibilities of those who lived in the distant past.
Historical Thinking in Revolutionary New Jersey: Ancient and Medieval History at Liberty Hall

By exploring the newly-accessible Liberty Hall Archives affiliated with Kean University in Union NJ, this micro-study of the historical references in the writings of John Kean, first cashier of the Bank of the United States, and William Livingston, New Jersey's first governor, reveals how two colonial and revolutionary gentlemen, one tutored at home in South Carolina and the other trained at Yale with a law practice in New York City, employed historical analogies in their pursuit of revolution and government-building. Specifically, how both the Kean paterfamilias and the builder of Liberty Hall used allusions to Greco-Roman history (and, in Kean's case, to medieval Britain) provides insight into the manner that one time period of history adopted and adapted prior periods. Such a study reveals how Kean and Livingston, with diverse backgrounds and from different parts of early America, used history as they made their own.