cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
NONIDEAL SEDIMENTATION AND THE CAPACITY OF SUCROSE GRADIENT COLUMNS FOR VIRUS IN DENSITY-GRADIENT CENTRIFUGATION.

Abstract The effects of experimental conditions on the widths of virus zones and the maximum concentration of virus in zones after rate zonal centrifugation through sucrose gradient columns were investigated. The experimental conditions studied were steepness of gradient; average sucrose concentration; amount of virus; time, speed, and temperature of centrifugation; and manner of formation of the gradient columns, that is, by mixing chambers or by layering sucrose solutions with pipettes followed by diffusion. Brome mosaic, southern bean mosaic, and tobacco mosaic viruses and bovine hemoglobin were used as test particles. The tubes were not centrifuged long enough for the particles to reach an isopycnic position; instead, the centrifuge was stopped while the particles were still sedimenting. In all cases, the capacity of columns for virus or protein was only a few per cent of that calculated on the assumption that the concentration of protein could increase without limit provided the density increased or remained constant with increasing depth. It is concluded that nonideal sedimentation occurred as the concentration of particles increased and that this nonideal sedimentation resulted in an increase in zone width and a limiting of the maximum concentration of protein. It is postulated that this nonideal sedimentation involves the sedimentation of volume elements containing a higher than average concentration of particles.
Differential Operators Commuting with Convolution Integral Operators

are compact and have nonempty interiors). While in principle g(x) is completely determined by analytic continuation, the practical solution of this problem is a different matter. One is led to the consideration of the operator (1), where k(r) stands for the Fourier transform of the characteristic function of the set A. K turns out to be a compact operator with spectrum in (0, 1), and a detailed spectral decom- position of
Bactericidal factors in haemolymph from normal and immune wax moth larvae, Galleria mellonella

Abstract Haemolymph bactericidal factors were investigated by gel filtration. Sera from normal and immunized Galleria mellonella larvae contain a bactericidal substance with common properties. Immune serum also contains an active substance not found in normal serum. The nature and significance of the two bactericidal factors is discussed.
Mating competitiveness of hybrid Boophilus male ticks compared to pure-strain B. annulatus and B. microplus males (Acari: Ixodidae).

Hybrid boophilus male ticks (type I, F1 males obtained by crossing B. microplus males with B. annulatus females; and type II, F1 males obtained by crossing B. annulatus males with B. microplus females) were compared to B. annulatus and B. microplus males to determine mating competitiveness. Competitiveness was determined in stockinette sleeves by placing hybrid males and pure-strain males in equal numbers (1:1 ratio) with pure-strain females (of the same species as the pure males) in a 2:1 ratio of males to females and ascertaining the percentage of females mated to each type of male. Type I hybrid males were significantly less competitive than either pure-strain B. microplus or B. annulatus males, mating with only 31.7% and 35.6% of the females, respectively, when competing against the pure-strain males. On the other hand, type II hybrids mated with 52.1% of the females, indicating that they were as competitive as B. microplus males. Type II males mated with 64.9% of the females when competing against B. annulatus males. These results suggest that careful selection of the type of sterile hybrid would be critical in any control attempts involving sterile hybrid ticks.
Simulating thermohydrodynamics with lattice BGK models

In this paper, we propose new lattice BGK models for one-, two- and three-dimensional thermohydrodynamics. A proper internal energy is introduced and the energy equation is obtained. The derivation of the thermohydrodynamic equations is systematic and numerical simulations are carried out to verify the theoretical values of the sound speed, the shear viscosity and the conductivity. One-dimensional shock-tube problem and two-dimensional Rayleigh-Benard convection are simulated. Good performance and satisfactory results are obtained. These models can be applied to many interesting cases, in particular, the transonic regimes where the compressibility can not be neglected.
Naturalness and superpartner masses or when to give up on weak scale supersymmetry.

Superpartner masses cannot be arbitrarily heavy if supersymmetric extensions of the standard model explain the stability of the gauge hierarchy. This ancient and hallowed motivation for weak scale supersymmetry is often quoted, yet no reliable determination of this upper limit on superpartner masses exists. In this paper we compute upper bounds on superpartner masses in the minimal supersymmetric model, and we identify which values of the superpartner masses correspond to the most natural explanation of the hierarchy stability. We compare the most natural value of these masses and their upper limits to the physics reach of current and future colliders. As a result, we find that supersymmetry could explain weak scale stability naturally even if no superpartners are discovered at the CERN LEP II or the Fermilab Tevatron (even with the Main Injector upgrade). However, we find that supersymmetry cannot provide a complete explanation of weak scale stability, if squarks and gluinos have masses beyond the physics reach of the CERN LHC. Moreover, in the most natural scenarios, many sparticles, for example, charginos, squarks, and gluinos, lie within the physics reach of either LEP II or the Tevatron. Our analysis determines the most natural value of the chargino (squark) [(gluino)]more » mass consistent with current experimental constraints is {similar_to}50 (250) [(250)] GeV and the corresponding theoretical upper bound is {similar_to}250 (700) [(800)] GeV.« less
Stabilizing the Benjamin–Feir instability

The Benjamin–Feir instability is a modulational instability in which a uniform train of oscillatory waves of moderate amplitude loses energy to a small perturbation of other waves with nearly the same frequency and direction. The concept is well established in water waves, in plasmas and in optics. In each of these applications, the nonlinear Schrodinger equation is also well established as an approximate model based on the same assumptions as required for the derivation of the Benjamin–Feir theory: a narrow-banded spectrum of waves of moderate amplitude, propagating primarily in one direction in a dispersive medium with little or no dissipation. In this paper, we show that for waves with narrow bandwidth and moderate amplitude, any amount of dissipation (of a certain type) stabilizes the instability. We arrive at this stability result first by proving it rigorously for a damped version of the nonlinear Schrodinger equation, and then by confirming our theoretical predictions with laboratory experiments on waves of moderate amplitude in deep water. The Benjamin–Feir instability is often cited as the first step in a nonlinear process that spreads energy from an initially narrow bandwidth to a broader bandwidth. In this process, sidebands grow exponentially until nonlinear interactions eventually bound their growth. In the presence of damping, this process might still occur, but our work identifies another possibility: damping can stop the growth of perturbations before nonlinear interactions become important. In this case, if the perturbations are small enough initially, then they never grow large enough for nonlinear interactions to become important.
Some Implications of Solar and Stellar Activity

The astonishing variability and suprathermal activity of the Sun and similar stars is presented as a problem in physics, about which there is currently more conjecture than hard fact. Attention is directed to the coronal hole, the active X-ray corona, and to the overall variation in solar brightness. The heat supply to the coronal hole and the quiet corona is the physical cause of the solar wind, providing the loss of mass and angular momentum from a solitary late main sequence star like the Sun. The heat supply to the active corona is the cause of the X-ray emission from such stars. The variation of solar brightness has profound effect on terrestrial climate. The best guess for the causes of these phenomena is the microflaring in the network fields, the spontaneous discontinuities in the bipolar fields, and the enhanced convective heat transport associated with emerging flux bundles, respectively. The observational difficulty is the inability to see below the surface of the Sun and the inability to resolve the 102 km internal structure and motions of the faculae, plages, microflares, and magnetic fibrils at the visible surface. A solar microscope with resolution of 0.1” is essential for probing these basic characteristics. Observational study of these solar phenomena is critical for understanding the associated century long warming and cooling of the terrestrial climate, now complicated by the accumulating anthropogenic greenhouse gases, and for understanding the X-ray astronomy of solitary stars.
Effects of Atomic Oxygen and Grease on Outgassing and Adhesion of Silicone Elastomers for Space Applications

An investigation of silicone elastomers for seals used in docking and habitat systems for future space exploration vehicles is being conducted at NASA. For certain missions, NASA is considering androgynous docking systems where two vehicles each having a seal would be required to: dock for a period of time, seal effectively, and then separate with minimum push-off forces for undocking. Silicone materials are generally chosen for their wide operating temperatures and low leakage rates. However silicone materials are often sticky and usually exhibit considerable adhesion when mated against metals and silicone surfaces. This paper investigates the adhesion unit pressure for a space rated silicone material (S0383-70) for either seal-on-seal (SoS) or seal-on-aluminum (SoAl) operation modes in the following conditions: as-received, after ground-based atomic-oxygen (AO) pre-treatment, after application of a thin coating of a space-qualified grease (Braycote 601EF), and after a combination of AO pre-treatment and grease coating. In order of descending adhesion reduction, the AO treatment reduced seal adhesion the most, followed by the AO plus grease pre-treatment, followed by the grease treatment. The effects of various treatments on silicone (S0383-70 and ELA-SA-401) outgassing properties were also investigated. The leading adhesion AO pre-treatment reduction led to a slight decrease in outgassing for the S0383-70 material and virtually no change in ELA-SA-401 outgassing.
Do rare-earth metals deter spiny dogfish? A feasibility study on the use of electropositive “mischmetal” to reduce the bycatch of Squalus acanthias by hook gear in the Gulf of Maine

Tallack, S. M. L., and Mandelman, J. W. 2009. Do rare-earth metals deter spiny dogfish? A feasibility study on the use of electropositive “mischmetal” to reduce the bycatch of Squalus acanthias by hook gear in the Gulf of Maine. - ICES Journal of Marine Science, 66: 315-322.Catches of spiny dogfish (Squalus acanthias) are considered by commercial and recreational fishers to be unacceptably high during summer and autumn in the Gulf of Maine off the northeast coast of the USA. Consequently, there is interest in finding a dogfish deterrent for application in various fishing gears. Field studies tested triangular slices of the rare-earth metal cerium/lanthanide alloy (“mischmetal”) incorporated into longlines and rod-and-reel gear to assess its effectiveness in reducing dogfish catches. Treatment catches (mischmetal present) were compared with control (no mischmetal) catches. Laboratory studies provided video-taped, behavioural observations on the effects of alloys under variable levels of food deprivation and dogfish density. No significant reductions in dogfish catch were recorded for either rod and reel or longline, and in situ video footage verified persistent dogfish feeding behaviour, regardless of mischmetal presence. The laboratory trials found some evidence of avoidance behaviour in dogfish approaching treatment baits, but only with dogfish fed to satiation; no aversion to the material was observed after 2 and 4 d of food deprivation. Dogfish density had no effect on feeding behaviour in the laboratory. Overall, there is little evidence to suggest that mischmetal can significantly reduce catches of dogfish in hook gears in the Gulf of Maine.
Characterizations of Generalized Markov-Polya and Generalized Polya-Eggenberger Distributions.

A discrete model is considered where the original observation is subjected to partial destruction according to the Generalized Markov-Polya (GMP) damage model. A characterization of the Generalized Polya-Eggenberger distribution (GPED) is given in the context of the Rao-Rubin condition. More specifically, if the probability that an observation n of a non-negative integer valued r.v.X is reduced to an integer k during a damage, process is given by the GMPD, and if the resulting r.v.Y is such thatrit satisfies the RR-conditlon, then X has a GPED. Secondly, if N = A + B, where B is the missing part and A is the recorded part such that the conditional distribution P(A= x|N=n) is the GMPD, then the r.v.'s A and B are independent if, and only if, N has a GPED. Several other characterizations are also given for these two distributions. The results of Rao-Rubin ‘1964’, Patil-Ratnaparkhi (1977) and Consul (1975) follow as special cases.
Evidence for proteolytic cleavage of brevican by the ADAMTSs in the dentate gyrus after excitotoxic lesion of the mouse entorhinal cortex

Background Brevican is a member of the lectican family of aggregating extracellular matrix (ECM) proteoglycans that bear chondroitin sulfate (CS) chains. It is highly expressed in the central nervous system (CNS) and is thought to stabilize synapses and inhibit neural plasticity and as such, neuritic or synaptic remodeling would be less likely to occur in regions with intact and abundant, lectican-containing, ECM complexes. Neural plasticity may occur more readily when these ECM complexes are broken down by endogenous proteases, the ADAMTSs (adisintegrin and metalloproteinase with thrombospondin motifs), that selectively cleave the lecticans. The purpose of these experiments was to determine whether the production of brevican or the ADAMTS-cleaved fragments of brevican were altered after deafferentation and reinnervation of the dentate gyrus via entorhinal cortex lesion (ECL).
Report of an international working group to standardize response criteria for myelodysplastic syndromes

Standardized criteria for assessing response are essential to ensure comparability among clinical trials for patients with myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS). An international working group of experienced clinicians involved in the management of patients with MDS reviewed currently used response definitions and developed a uniform set of guidelines for future clinical trials in MDS. The MDS differ from many other hematologic malignancies in their chronicity and the morbidity and mortality caused by chronic cytopenias, often without disease progression to acute myeloid leukemia. Whereas response rates may be an important endpoint for phase 2 studies of new agents and may assist regulatory agencies in their evaluation and approval processes, an important goal of clinical trials in MDS should be to prolong patient survival. Therefore, these response criteria reflected 2 sets of goals in MDS: altering the natural history of the disease and alleviating disease-related complications with improved quality of life. It is anticipated that the recommendations presented will require modification as more is learned about the molecular biology and genetics of these disorders. Until then, it is hoped these guidelines will serve to improve communication among investigators and to ensure comparability among clinical trials. (Blood. 2000;96:3671-3674)
Volume-based curvature computations illuminate fracture orientations — Early to mid-Paleozoic, Central Basin Platform, west Texas

Volumetric curvature analysis is a simple but computationally intensive procedure that provides insight into fracture orientation and regional stresses. Until recently, curvature analysis has been limited to computation along horizon surfaces that may be affected by unintentional bias and picking errors introduced during the interpretation process. Volumetric curvature is best estimated in a two-step process. In the first step, we use a moving-analysis subvolume to estimate volumetric reflector dip and azimuth for the best-fit tangent plane for each sample in the full volume. In the second step, we calculate curvature from adjacent measures of dip and azimuth. We use larger curvature analysis windows to estimate longer wavelength curvatures. Such a technique allows us to output full 3D volumes of curvature values for one or more scales of analysis. We apply these techniques to a data set from the Central Basin Platform of west Texas and find lineaments not observable with other seismic attributes. These lineaments indicate that, in the lower Paleozoic interval, a left-lateral shear couple oriented due east-west controls the local stress regime. Such a model predicts that extension faulting and fractures will be oriented northeast-southwest. The example demonstrates the potential of this new technology to determine stress regimes and predict azimuths of open fractures.
A World of Standards but not a Standard World: Toward a Sociology of Standards and Standardization *

Standards and standardization aim to render the world equivalent across cultures, time, and geography. Standards are ubiquitous but underappreciated tools for regulating and organizing social life in modernity, and they lurk in the background of many sociological works. Reviewing the relevance of standards and standardization in diverse theoretical traditions and sociological subfields, we point to the emergence and institutionalization of standards, the difficulties of making standards work, resistance to standardization, and the multiple outcomes of standards. Rather than associating standardization with totalizing narratives of globalization or dehumanization, we call for careful empirical analysis of the specific and unintended consequences of different sorts of standards operating in distinct social domains.
Cell-Specific Expression of RANTES, MCP-1, and MIP-1α by Lower Airway Epithelial Cells and Eosinophils Infected with Respiratory Syncytial Virus

Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is the major cause of acute bronchiolitis in infancy, a syndrome characterized by wheezing, respiratory distress, and the pathologic findings of peribronchial mononuclear cell infiltration and release of inflammatory mediators by basophil and eosinophil leukocytes. Composition and activation of this cellular response are thought to rely on the discrete target cell selectivity of C-C chemokines. We demonstrate that infection in vitro of human epithelial cells of the lower respiratory tract by RSV induced dose- and time-dependent increases in mRNA and protein secretion for RANTES (regulated upon activation, normal T-cell expressed and presumably secreted), monocyte chemotactic protein-1 (MCP-1), and macrophage inflammatory protein-1α (MIP-1α). Production of MCP-1 and MIP-1α was selectively localized only in epithelial cells of the small airways and lung. Exposure of epithelial cells to gamma interferon (IFN-γ), in combination with RSV infection, induced a significant increase in RANTES production that was synergistic with respect to that obtained by RSV infection or IFN-γ treatment alone. Epithelial cell-derived chemokines exhibited a strong chemotactic activity for normal human blood eosinophils. Furthermore, eosinophils were susceptible to RSV and released RANTES and MIP-1α as a result of infection. Therefore, the inflammatory process in RSV-induced bronchiolitis appears to be triggered by the infection of epithelial cells and further amplified via mechanisms driven by IFN-γ and by the secretion of eosinophil chemokines.
Confusion of Tongues: Christian Discipleship and the Problem of Patriotism

This article addresses the dynamics of faith manifested in Christian discipleship and patriotism. Exploration of the dynamics of faith, whether in Christian or patriotic discipleship, involves identifying the nature of the object of devotion and concomitant expectations of one’s relationship vis-a-vis the object. From this exploration, various contradictions between Christian and patriotic discipleship are identified. To resolve cognitive dissonance or smooth over contradictions, Christian patriots employ several psychosocial strategies, namely, merger, weak dissociation, rationalization, and denial.
Age of the Mount Laurel and Navesink Formations at Marlboro, New Jersey, from K-Ar Measurement of Glauconite

K-Ar ages of 61 and 63 m.y. for the Navesink and Mount Laurel Formations, respectively, at Marlboro, New Jersey, fit in reasonably well with previous data which indicate that the base of the Paleocene is between 62 and 67 m.y. old.
Physical activity, stress, and metabolic risk score in 8- to 18-year-old boys.

Background: We examined whether physical activity modifies the relationship between stress and the metabolic risk score in 8- to 18-year-old males (n = 37). Methods: Physical activity (PA) and television (TV)/videogame (VG) use were assessed via accelerometer and questionnaire, respectively. Stress was determined from self-report measures. A metabolic risk score (MRS) was created by summing age-standardized residuals for waist circumference, mean arterial pressure, glycosylated hemoglobin, and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol. Results: Correlations between PA and MRS were low (r < –.13), and TV and VG were moderately associated with MRS (r = .39 and .43, respectively). Correlations between stress-related variables and MRS ranged from r = .19 to .64. After partitioning by PA, significant correlations were observed in the low PA group between school- and sports-related self-esteem and anxiety with the MRS. Conclusions: The results provide suggestive evidence that PA might modify the relationship between stress and MRS in male adolescents.
Conceptualizing employee identification with sport organizations: Sport Employee Identification (SEI)

The concepts of organizational identification and team identification have been researched heavily over the last half-century. However, scholars have failed to specifically examine organizational identification among sport employees. We develop a theoretical framework of organizational identification of sport employees, coined Sport Employee Identification (SEI). We conceptualize SEI as an amalgamation of organizational identification and team identification in which sport employees are both external (fans) and internal (employee) members of the sport organization. The development of the SEI model is based on related theory and further ethnographic data are collected over a four-month period within an intercollegiate athletics fundraising department. Implications for scholars and practitioners and avenues for future research are discussed.
The Acroplaxome Is the Docking Site of Golgi-Derived Myosin Va/Rab27a/b- Containing Proacrosomal Vesicles in Wild-Type and Hrb Mutant Mouse Spermatids

Acrosome biogenesis involves the transport and fusion of Golgi-derived proacrosomal vesicles along the acroplaxome, an F-actin/keratin 5-containing cytoskeletal plate anchored to the spermatid nucleus. A significant issue is whether the acroplaxome develops in acrosomeless mutant mice. Male mice with a Hrb null mutation are infertile and both spermatids and sperm are round-headed and lack an acrosome. Hrb, a protein that contains several NPF motifs (Asn-Pro-Phe) and interacts with proteins with Eps15 homology domains, is regarded as critical for the docking and/or fusion of Golgi-derived proacrosomal vesicles. Here we report that the lack of an acrosome in Hrb mutant spermatids does not prevent the development of the acroplaxome. Yet the acroplaxome in the mutant contains F-actin but is deficient in keratin 5. We also show that the actin-based motor protein myosin Va and its receptor, Rab27a/b, known to be involved in vesicle transport, are present in the Golgi and Golgi-derived proacrosomal vesicles in wild-type and Hrb mutant mouse spermatids. In the Hrb mutant, myosin-Va-bound proacrosome vesicles tether to the acroplaxome, where they flatten and form a flat sac, designated pseudoacrosome. As spermiogenesis advances, round-shaped spermatid nuclei of the mutant display several nuclear protrusions, designated nucleopodes. Nucleopodes are consistently found at the acroplaxome- pseudoacrosome site. Our findings support the interpretation that the acroplaxome provides a focal point for myosin-Va/ Rab27a/b-driven proacrosomal vesicles to accumulate, coalesce, and form an acrosome in wild-type spermatids and a pseudoacrosome in Hrb mutant spermatids. We suggest that nucleopodes develop at a site where a keratin 5-deficient acroplaxome may not withstand tension forces operating during spermatid nuclear shaping.
Role of renal nerves in development of hypertension in DOCA-salt model in rats: a telemetric approach.

Centrally mediated hyperactivity of the autonomic nervous system contributes to DOCA hypertension; however, the targeted peripheral vascular bed(s) remain unclear. We propose that if renal sympathe...
Seebeck and Spin Seebeck effect in Gd-doped GaN thin films for Thermoelectric Devices and Applications

GaN-based dilute magnetic semiconductors (DMS) have recently been investigated for use in spintronic devices. In particular, Gd-doped GaN has shown very promising room temperature ferromagnetic behavior and potential for use in spintronics applications. III-Nitride materials have recently had their thermoelectric properties investigated; however this work has not been extended to Nitride-based DMS. Understanding the spin-calorimetric characteristics of GaN-based DMS is important to the successful development of low-power spintronic devices. In this paper the Seebeck and spin-Seebeck effect in MOCVD grown Gd-doped GaN (Gd: GaN) are investigated.
Science in Democracy: Expertise, Institutions, and Representation

Public controversies over issues ranging from global warming to biotechnology have politicized scientific expertise and research. Some respond with calls for restoring a golden age of value-free science. More promising efforts seek to democratize science. But what does that mean? Can it go beyond the typical focus on public participation? How does the politics of science challenge prevailing views of democracy? In Science in Democracy, Mark Brown draws on science and technology studies, democratic theory, and the history of political thought to show why an adequate response to politicized science depends on rethinking both science and democracy. Brown enlists such canonical and contemporary thinkers as Machiavelli, Hobbes, Rousseau, Dewey, and Latour to argue that the familiar dichotomy between politics and science reinforces a similar dichotomy between direct democracy and representative government. He then develops an alternative perspective based on the mutual shaping of participation and representation in both science and politics. Political representation requires scientific expertise, and scientific institutions may become sites of political representation. Brown illustrates his argument with examples from expert advisory committees, bioethics councils, and lay forums. Different institutional venues, he shows, mediate different elements of democratic representation. If we understand democracy as an institutionally distributed process of collective representation, Brown argues, it becomes easier to see the politicization of science not as a threat to democracy but as an opportunity for it.
High Frame Rate 3-D Ultrasound Imaging Using Separable Beamforming

Recently, there has been great interest in 3-D ultrasound imaging, but power constraints have precluded practical implementation of high-resolution and high-frame-rate 3-D ultrasound in handheld imaging platforms. In this paper, we propose a separable beamforming procedure for both 3-D synthetic aperture and plane wave systems that drastically reduces computational and hence power requirements. Separable beamforming approximates 2-D array beamforming for 3-D images through a series of beamforming operations on 1-D arrays. Our proposed method is based on a separable delay decomposition method that minimizes phase error. We show that the proposed separable synthetic aperture system achieves 19-fold complexity reduction and the proposed plane wave separable system achieves 12-fold complexity reduction compared to the corresponding non-separable beamforming baseline systems. Furthermore, we verify the performance of the fixed-point-precision separable beamforming and iterative delay calculation through Field II simulations. Our results show that both the synthetic aperture system and the plane wave system can produce images with the same quality as images generated by non-separable beamforming. We also briefly describe how the two types of separable beamformer can be implemented on a modified version of Sonic Millip3De, our recently proposed hardware accelerator for the digital front-end of a 3-D ultrasound system.
Anisotropic collective phenomena in ultra-relativistic nuclear collisions

Abstract For a detailed review of this subject I refer to a recent paper [S.A. Voloshin, A.M. Poskanzer and R. Snellings, arXiv:0809.2949 [nucl-ex] ]; in this talk I only very briefly comment on a few most important questions: (a) Very recent significant progress in viscous hydrodynamics calculations. (b) Initial eccentricity/flow fluctuations, the effect of which has been clarified recently. (c) Initial conditions, in particular the role of the gradients in the initial velocity field. (d) Puzzling system size dependence of directed flow. (e) Azimuthal correlations that are sensitive to the strong parity violation. (f) Future measurements at RHIC and LHC, including pp-collisions.
Effects of in vitro exposure to nitrogen dioxide on human alveolar macrophage release of neutrophil chemotactic factor and interleukin-1.

To evaluate the potential toxic and immunologic effects of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) exposure on cells from the lower respiratory tract, normal human alveolar macrophages obtained by bronchoalveolar lavage were exposed to increasing concentrations of NO2 using an in vitro exposure system. Alveolar macrophages exposed to 5, 10, or 15 ppm NO2 for 3 hr showed no difference in cell viability when compared to air-exposed macrophages. In addition, the spontaneous release of neutrophil chemotactic factor (NCF) was not changed by NO2 exposure, nor was there any effect on the ability of alveolar macrophages to release increased amounts of NCF following stimulation with activated zymosan. Furthermore, alveolar macrophages did not spontaneously release interleukin-1 (IL-1) following air or NO2 exposure. When stimulated with influenza virus both air- and NO2-exposed cells released increased amounts of IL-1, but there was no significant difference in the amount of IL-1 released by air- and NO2-exposed alveolar macrophages. Thus, although NO2 exposure is known to incite an inflammatory response in the lower respiratory tract, using the in vitro exposure system described in this study we were unable to demonstrate a direct toxic effect of NO2 on viability or any NO2-induced change in the release of the immunoregulatory molecules NCF and IL-1.
Statistics of Sxy Estimates

The statistics of Sxy estimates derived from orthogonal-component measurements are examined. Based on results of Goodman (1957), the probability density function (pdf) for Sxy(f) estimates is derived, and a closed-form solution for arbitrary moments of the distribution is obtained. Characteristic functions are used to derive the exact pdf of Sxy(tot). In practice, a simple Gaussian approximation is found to be highly accurate even for relatively few degrees of freedom. Implications for experiment design are discussed, and a maximum-likelihood estimator for a posterior estimation is outlined.
Comparison of Estimation Strategies for Color Flow Mapping

Several estimation strategies for the two dimensional velocity profile of a doubly spread target, and specifically for the estimation of the two dimensional blood velocity profile have been proposed. An emerging technology known as color flow mapping attempts to estimate the blood velocity field and present the result as a color coded image, however, significant limitations exist in the quality of the velocity estimate in currently used techniques. Because of the real time requirement associated with this technology, the estimate of the velocity at each spatial position has a low sensitivity, and therefore the variance of the estimate is very high. In addition, due to the requirement for a high pass filter which eliminates the undesired high amplitude fixed targets, another significant problem in color flow mapping is the low sensitivity to slow flow components.
Maps and Navigation: Introduction

Most researchers suggest that peoples’ internal representations of their environment have many map-like properties. As a person moves about in the environment, invariant properties of the environment are preserved in the mental map, such as the relative location of objects with respect to each other, while the location of the person in the mental map is continually updated. A mental map has important “emergent properties”, such as triangualation. If the locations of A relative to B and B relative to C are both known, then the location of A relative to C can be derived. Mental maps can be used to derive new spatial information, such as what something looks like from a different perspective. Mental maps can be used to plan movements, such as what route to take to a destination, what direction to turn at a choice point, where landmarks are located, and so on. Many researchers have even argued that maps have evolved as the most “natural” way to represent spatial information because they are compatible with the way people think. In other words, maps supposedly correspond to the abstract, symbolic and schematic spatial representations of the human mind.
Food Waste, Gleaning, and the New Economy

The issues surrounding wasted and surplus food have garnered national attention leading major federal agencies to consider both how to mitigate the unintended effects as well as distribute excess food to needy populations that is otherwise discarded. In addition to these efforts, companies are recognizing new markets for "ugly foods" that may not meet traditional standards for sale. As a practice, gleaning has offered a means of managing agricultural surplus and ensuring that food donations are healthful, nutritious, and supportive of farmers. Yet, the concept of a seconds market for gleaned produce is also appealing in the sense that it can provide alternative opportunities for farmers. Because gleaning involves the community, this new market opportunity has the potential to reflect the values associated with the New Economy in the sense that it involves the sharing of resources, is socially responsible, and encourages a means of managing agricultural surplus. However, once gleaned products move from the food donation sphere to their own markets where farmers are compensated for these goods, the protections from liability that exist under federal law cease to operate. This article considers the issues associated with such a transition and how those might be remedied or considered under the law to support the practice and reflect the ideals of the New Economy.
Troubles of Administrative jusitice and It's Source Analysis

In recent years,administrative justice has fallen into dire straits,which source is defects of law of administrative litigation and obstacles of ideas of traditional legal culture,but the root source is defects of administrative judicial system.
Epidemiological Analysis of Rabies in Mengshan County during 1995—2007

[Objective] To understand the epidemic status of rabies, explore the epidemic trend, evaluate control efficiency, and provide evidence for developing control measures.[Methods]Descriptive epidemiological methods was applied to conduct data analysis.[Results]During 1995—2007, the incidence was 0~1.01/100 000, mortality rate was 100%, the epidemic spread to 4 out of 9 counties. The incubation minimum was less than1 month, the maximum was nearly 58 years, and the rest were 2 or 3 months. Of 9 cases of rabies, 2 were bitten by vagrant dogs, 1 was infected during the process of killing dog, and the rest 6 were bitten by house dogs. The shortest course was 2 days and the longest was 6 days to death. [Conclusion]Rural and remote mountainous areas are the focus of rabies prevention and control. The propaganda of science knowledge about rabies should be enhanced, the management of dogs should be strengthened, and immunization for susceptible population before and after exposure to rabies should be done well.
The 2d/3D Classical Heisenberg Ferromagnet

We numerically simulate the critical behavior of up to 1502 classical Heisenberg spins in a two-dimensional square lattice with nearest-neighbor coupling and periodic boundary conditions. The simulation of this model exhibits a ferromagnetic phase transition to a state with lattice-spanning order at T c ~ 0.6. The phase transition has unusual features reminiscent of a Kosterlitz-Thouless (topological) phase transition; it is suggested that topological defects may play an important role in the ordering of this system.
Association between Urinary Bisphenol A & the Reporting of Cardiovascular Diseases: Case of American Adults

Objective: Bisphenol A is categorized as an organic synthetic compound, which is commonly used for developing epoxy resin and polycarbonate plastics. Bisphenol A is measured as endocrine disrupter, which consists of estrogens receptors and estrogenic influence within laboratory findings. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to explore the association of urinary Bisphenol A with cardiovascular disease. Urinary BPA is considered as independent variable while CVD was treated as dependent variable. Methods: The participants were selected in the study through statistical process commenced with the data provided in 2009/10 survey by NHANES. The quantitative approach was implemented in the study to explore the association between urinary BPA and reporting of cardiovascular disease. The adult U.S. population between the age group 18 to 80 years was included as a targeted population. Results: The step 1 in binary logistic regression examined the correlation among presence of cardiovascular disease and the controls, predicting controls to be significant in forecasting the presence of cardiovascular disease. The step 2 binary logistic regression indicates the significant relation among the independent variable and controls to explore the occurrence of cardiovascular disease. Conclusion: There were no changes found by the coefficient of two-step binary regression with covariates and independent variable Bisphenol A to identify cardiovascular disease. Age was revealed as the only control variable among other variables that estimates the reporting of cardiovascular disease.
Making DDS really real-time with openflow

An increasing amount of distributed real-time systems and other critical infrastructure now rely on Data Distribution Service (DDS) middleware for timely dissementation of data between system nodes. While DDS has been designed specifically for use in distributed real-time systems and exposes a number of QoS properties to programmers, DDS fails to lift time fully into the programming abstraction. The reason for this is simple: DDS cannot directly control the underlying network to ensure that messages always arrive to their destination on time. In this paper we describe a prototype system that uses the OpenFlow SDN protocol to automatically and transparently learn the QoS requirements of DDS participants. Based on the QoS requirements, our system will manipulate the low-level packet forwarding rules in the network to ensure that the QoS requirements are always satisfied. We use real OpenFlow hardware to evaluate how well our prototype is able to manage network contention and guarantee the requested QoS. Additionally, we evaluate how well the reliability and resilience features of a real DDS implementation is able to compensate for network contention on an unmanaged (i.e., normal) ethernet. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first evaluation of performance DDS under extreme network contention conditions.
Modality-Independent Effects of Phonological Neighborhood Structure on Initial L2 Sign Language Learning

The goal of the present study was to characterize how neighborhood structure in sign language influences lexical sign acquisition in order to extend our understanding of how the lexicon influences lexical acquisition in both sign and spoken languages. A referentmatching lexical sign learning paradigm was administered to a group of 29 hearing sign language learners in order to create a sign lexicon. The lexicon was constructed based on exposures to signs that resided in either sparse or dense handshape and location neighborhoods. The results of the current study indicated that during the creation of the lexicon signs that resided in sparse neighborhoods were learned better than signs that resided in dense neighborhoods. This pattern of results is similar to what is seen in child first language acquisition of spoken language. Therefore, despite differences in child first language and adult second language acquisition, these results contribute to a growing body of literature that implicates the phonological features that structure of the lexicon is influential in initial stages of lexical acquisition for both spoken and sign languages. This is the first study that uses an innovated lexicon-construction methodology to explore interactions between phonology and the lexicon in L2 acquisition of sign language.
Genetic monitoring of an endangered species recovery: demographic and genetic trends for reintroduced pygmy rabbits (Brachylagus idahoensis)

Monitoring demographic and genetic parameters of reintroduced populations of endangered species is essential for evaluating and informing conservation strategies to maximize the chances of a successful recovery. We applied noninvasive genetic monitoring using fecal DNA to evaluate demographic and genetic parameters as they relate to the recovery of the endangered Columbia Basin pygmy rabbit (Brachylagus idahoensis) in central Washington, United States, during the initial 3 years of a renewed reintroduction effort. We quantified post-release dispersal, apparent survival, and reproduction in the wild, and monitored the genetic diversity and composition of the released cohorts, wild surviving population, and breeding population held in large enclosures. During this study, we reintroduced 1,206 pygmy rabbits into the wild, and detected a total of 176 individuals living on or near the release area during surveys the following winters. Median dispersal distance of juveniles was 776 m, compared to 471 m for adults, and dispersal distances for juveniles decreased for rabbits released later in the release season. Survival of juveniles differed across years and was positively associated with release date, release weight (a surrogate for age), and heterozygosity. Survival of adults was similarly influenced by release day, with some evidence for a positive effect of heterozygosity. Only 14 wild-born individuals were detected during the study. Genetic monitoring was an effective way to evaluate the demographic and genetic status of the reintroduced population within a limited study area, to inform changes to the conservation strategy, and to generate a data set to address long-term research and recovery goals.
Efficacy of an Anatomical Approach in Radiofrequency Catheter Ablation of Idiopathic Ventricular Arrhythmias Originating From the Left Ventricular Outflow Tract.

Background—When anatomic obstacles preclude radiofrequency catheter ablation of idiopathic ventricular arrhythmias (VAs) originating from the left ventricular outflow tract (LVOT), an alternative a...
Randomized Controlled Trial of a Clinic-Based Intervention to Promote Healthy Beverage Consumption Among Latino Children:

The objective of this study was to evaluate an educational module for Latino parents about the health effects of sweet beverages. Latino parents were randomized to receive the beverage module or a control module. Child beverage consumption was assessed at baseline, 2 weeks, 2 months, and 3 months via a beverage recall survey. At 2-week follow-up, children of intervention participants had a mean reduction in 7-day total sugar-sweetened beverage and 100% fruit juice consumption of 16 ounces while controls had a mean increase of 4 ounces ( P = .01). At 2-month and 3-month follow-up, there was a reduction in mean total sugar-sweetened beverage and 100% fruit juice consumption among both intervention and control children. An educational module on beverages for Latino parents reduced child consumption of sweet beverages at 2-week follow-up. However, study participation appears to have also reduced controls' beverage consumption suggesting that frequent intensive surveys of beverage intake may be an intervention unto itself.
A non-volatile cascadable magneto-electric material implication logic

Shannon's seminal work on Boolean operators — AND, OR, NOT has been the backbone of on-chip digital logic design. This set of the so called basic gates excludes an important mathematical logical operator — the Material Implication (IMP) logic (and its complement (NIMP)), shown in Fig. 1(a). IMP gate along with a NOT/XOR/NIMP gate forms a complete logic basis. Moreover, including IMP as a basic gate along with AND, OR, NOT allows better logic optimization. In this paper, we propose a non-volatile IMP (NIMP) gate that can be seamlessly cascaded to implement complex Boolean functions. Our work differs from previous works as in [1], which used crossbars for implementing IMP logic. Unlike crossbars, our proposed gates can be cascaded and used for standard logic computations or optimization.
Systematic Correlation and Cell Neighborhood Analysis of SRAM PUF for Robust and Unique Key Generation

A physical unclonable function (PUF) is a structure that produces a unique response, with an issued challenge (input), which can be used as an identifier or a cryptographic key. SRAM PUFs create unique responses upon power up as certain SRAM cells output a “1” or “0” with high probability due to uncontrollable process variations. A current challenge in SRAM PUFs is their sensitivity to temperature and voltage variations as well as aging. It is always challenging to make SRAM PUFs reliable and unique with algorithms that isolate stable and uncorrelated bits quickly with minimal testing (enrollment). In this paper, we explore the selection of stable and uncorrelated bits through enrollment under different conditions (temperature and voltage) and also by exploiting previously undiscovered interactions between neighboring SRAM cells. We propose neighbor influenced cell selection algorithm (NICSA) with the help of metrics that analyze the impact of each neighboring cell and each enrollment condition. The proposed NICSA helps to identify the “best” cells and conditions for stable bit selection. Besides reliability, SRAM PUF can be less unique due to systematic correlation among chips. We study the systematic correlation between SRAMs power-up values to find the uncorrelated cells among chips for better uniqueness. We have analyzed data from 5 ISSI, 3 IDT, and 3 Cypress SRAMs and our metrics identify the best neighborhood size (16 stable neighbors) and best enrollment condition pair high temperature, high voltage, and low temperature for NICSA.