cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Streptococcus anginosus purulent pericarditis with cardiac tamponade after coronary artery bypass surgery

Purulent pericarditis caused by Streptococcus anginosus is extremely rare. A 66-year-old man underwent elective coronary artery bypass surgery. This was complicated by sternal wound dehiscence with drainage. Subsequently, he developed fever, progressive dyspnoea and presyncope. Echocardiography showed a large pericardial effusion with evidence of tamponade. He underwent emergent pericardiocentesis. The pericardial fluid culture grew S. anginosus He was treated with 4 weeks of intravenous ceftriaxone with complete clinical recovery. The source of infection was most likely the sternal wound which was overlooked during debridement and rewiring surgery.
Tri-design: Coordination between healthcare, design, and regulatory communities

This paper discusses the approaches undertaken by organizations, coordination between healthcare, design, and regulatory communities, to respond to the needs for the crisis and bring about models for agile innovation and of disease mitigation. The COVID-19 Design Innovation was born at the core of a major university to operate as a hub for innovation. In an effort to connect designers, makers, and healthcare professionals, the initiative converged with the main motivation is to be organized in collective efforts with the crisis and deliver creative design innovations. Several products were brought about through the initiative efforts: off the shelf solutions and community driven, hybrid prototyping (reutilizing parts), distributed manufacturing, material investigations, and rapid prototyping for turning labs as manufacturing facilities. As solutions reached refinement, healthcare called for volume, solutions were brought to the community as a rapid response to the crisis. While challenges imposed by time and production, the crisis help coordinate efforts to be agile networks of stakeholders working towards a common goal, hacking the crisis by design.
FPGA-Accelerated Simulation Technologies (FAST): Fast, Full-System, Cycle-Accurate Simulators

This paper describes FAST, a novel simulation methodol- ogy that can produce simulators that (i) are orders of mag- nitude faster than comparable simulators, (ii) are cycle- accurate, (iii) model the entire system running unmodified applications and operating systems, (iv) provide visibility with minimal simulation performance impact and (v) are capable of running current instruction sets such as x86. It achieves its capabilities by partitioning simulators into a speculative functional model component that simulates the instruction set architecture and a timing model com- ponent that predicts performance. The speculative func- tional model enables the simulator to be parallelized, im- plementing the timing model in FPGA hardware for speed and the functional model using a modified full-system simu- lators. We currently achieve an average simulation speed of 1.2MIPS running x86 applications on x86 Linux and Win- dows XP and expect to achieve 10MIPS over time. Such simulators are useful to virtually all computer system sim- ulator users ranging from architects, through RTL design- ers and verifiers to software developers. Sharing a common simulation/design infrastructure could foster better commu- nication between these groups, potentially resulting in bet- ter system designs.
One dimensional halogen bond design: Br⋯N versus I⋯N with fluoroarenes

A series of co-crystallization experiments were performed using 1,4-dibromo- and 1,4-diiodotetrafluorobenzene (Br2F4bz and I2F4bz), as well as 4,4′-dibromo- and 4,4′-diiodooctafluorobiphenyl (Br2F8bph and I2F8bph), with nine N-heterocyclic diamines and the bicyclic, tertiary diamine 1,4-diazabicyclo[2.2.2]octane to elucidate trends between benzene and biphenyl-based halogen bond donors, as well as factors influencing the resulting halogen bond strength. The acceptors chosen contain nitrogen atom geometries resulting in the formation of chains and a total of 29 new crystal structures were obtained. In the majority of cases, cocrystals resulting from Br2F4bz and I2F4bz are isomorphous, as are the structures from Br2F8bph and I2F8bph, but the observed structures are different for benzene versus biphenyl based derivatives. Analysis of the halogen bond geometries indicates statistically significant correlations between halogen bond distance and both molecular electrostatic potential as well as percent buried volume, a measure of the steric encumbrance of the acceptor nitrogen atoms.
Participation of Black and Hispanic women in clinical trial evidence for NCCN preferred systemic therapies in advanced ovarian cancer

Objectives: Minority participation in clinical trials is important for expanding opportunities in access to cancer therapies and may aid in understanding racial disparities in oncology care. Prior studies have identified underrepresentation in gynecologic oncology phase I recruitment and large group trials in the United States, but minority participation specific to trials that drive current treatment recommendations remains unclear. We sought to evaluate minority participation as described in publications of curated, high quality clinical evidence for ovarian cancer therapies as identified by the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN). Methods: NCCN Clinical Practice Guidelines for Ovarian Cancer, Version 1.2020, was accessed in order to identify evidence provided for ‘preferred’ primary and recurrent systemic therapies and dosing regimens in advanced epithelial ovarian cancer using explicitly listed citations. Race and ethnicity data of trial enrollment provided in publications listed as references was manually abstracted. Results: We identified 26 prospective trials including 13,887 participants, published across 5 journals: New England Journal of Medicine, Lancet, Lancet Oncology, Gynecologic Oncology, and Journal of the National Cancer Institute. All were phase II or III trials and 96% of trials were published in or more recently than 2003. Of these trials, race or ethnicity was reported in only 9 publications (35%). Of these 9 publications, there was marked language variation between trials in reporting race and ethnicity. There were 7 trials that included a description of participants as Black or African American. Of the 4,701 women who participated in these trials, 206 were Black or African American, representing approximately 4% of trial participants. There were 4 trials that included a description of participants as Hispanic. Of the 3,436 women who participated in these trials, 152 were Hispanic, representing approximately 4% of trial participants. Conclusions: Of the clinical trial evidence for preferred systemic therapies identified in the NCCN clinical practice guidelines for advanced ovarian cancer, minority participation was reported in less than half of publications and description of race and ethnicity varied between trials. Of trials that reported minority participation, Black and hispanic women represented
Dispersal and Migration Patterns of Freshwater Semiaquatic Bugs.

Semiaquatic bugs (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Gerromorpha) are mostly wing-polymorphic species with flight dispersal as an important life history trait, but the specific flight ability and dispersal pattern remain unexplored in most species. This report presents the results of a long-term survey based on the individual marking of more than 23,000 specimens of eight water striders (Gerridae) and a water cricket Velia caprai (Veliidae). Three distinct lentic habitats were sampled (solitary fishponds, systems of nearby fishponds and systems of small, often temporary pools) and one lotic habitat—a small forest stream. Recaptures revealed that three gerrid species tend to stay at the breeding site, but can differ in dispersal via the water surface. Reproductive flightless females disperse most actively via the water surface, possibly bypassing the trade-off between dispersal and reproduction. One species has a sex-dependent dispersal pattern, with females being rather philopatric, whereas males often disperse. Three other gerrid species are highly dispersive and tend to change breeding site. V. caprai, the only lotic species included in this survey, tend to move upstream and possibly compensate for the downstream drift.
Anatomy of the Lateral Cord and Its Branches

The lateral cord of the brachial plexus represents the confluence of the anterior divisions of the upper and middle trunks. The lateral pectoral nerve is the first branch of the lateral cord and provides motor innervation to the pectoralis major muscle. The lateral cord then branches to form the lateral contribution to the median nerve and the musculocutaneous nerve. The musculocutaneous nerve innervates the biceps brachii, coracobrachialis, and brachialis muscles, and is therefore primarily responsible for flexion of the forearm. The musculocutaneous nerve terminates as the lateral cutaneous nerve of the forearm. Each of these nerve structures is associated with a number of relatively common variations.
Monitoring unmanaged business processes

Unmanaged business processes are an inevitable part of the operation of enterprises of all kinds. At the same time, monitoring such processes and measuring compliance against business policies is particularly difficult due to the effort needed to manually piece together information. A major challenge here is the presumption of incomplete or missing information and the uncertainty in making inferences about what actually occured. This work proposes the use of a probabilistic provenance model to track the history of various process artifacts and reconstruct process traces. The major contribution of the work is the method of modeling the uncertainty associated with raw information as well as inferred relationships in a first class manner within the provenance model. We apply the techniques described here to a real world problem and compare results obtained in previous work where such uncertainties were ignored. The techniques described here are widely applicable to unmanaged business processes.
The Mechanism of Action of Ethanolamine Ammonia-Lyase, a B12-dependent Enzyme IX. INTERACTION OF THE ENZYME-COENZYME COMPLEX WITH REACTION PRODUCTS

Abstract When acetaldehyde and ammonium ion are incubated with ethanolamine ammonia-lyase and coenzyme B12, two processes occur: (a) transfer of hydrogen from the C-5' of the coenzyme to acetaldehyde and (b) dissociation of the coenzyme at the carbon-cobalt bond with the formation of 5'-deoxyadenosine and enzyme-bound hydroxocobalamin. When NH4+ is omitted, no tritium transfer to acetaldehyde occurs, but the dissociation of the carbon-cobalt bond is accelerated. From the results it was concluded that 1-aminoethanol is an intermediate in the reaction.
Simple Procedure for Production by Group C Streptococci of Phage-Associated Lysin Active Against Group A Streptococci

Phage-associated lysin of high potency was prepared by growing the host group C streptococcal strain 26RP66 in a semisynthetic medium. The lysin was stabilized by adding dithiothreitol and neutralized ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) to facilitate further concentration and partial purification. The lysin remained active when stored at -65 C for 1 year. Lysin was active against all strains of group A streptococci tested and was more active against living cells than heat-killed cells. The procedure outlined is practicable for most bacteriological research laboratories and does not require column purification or other complex biochemical procedures. It should be useful to any laboratory which requires small amounts of lysin to produce L-forms and protoplasts or to release streptococcal antigens.
Challenges and Strategies in Recruiting, Interviewing, and Retaining Recent Latino Immigrants in Substance Abuse and HIV Epidemiologic Studies

The growth of immigrant populations in the United States over the past 20 years has increased the need to enhance understanding about the risk factors that influence their substance abuse and HIV risk behaviors. Today, Latinos account for the largest majority of immigrants gaining entry into the United States. As the largest and fastest growing minority subgroup in the United States, they bear a disproportionate burden of disease and death compared to non-Latinos. Latinos are confronted with escalating HIV and substance-abuse problems, particularly Latinos between the ages of 18–34. This paper is based on our longitudinal study on the drug using and HIV risk behaviors of 527 recent Latino immigrants between the ages of 18–34 who have lived in the United States less than 1 year. The data collection activities of this study have provided insights in identifying, recruiting, interviewing, and retaining Latinos in community-based studies. Strategies, such as utilizing a combination of translation techniques, ensured the development and implementation of culturally appropriate questionnaires. Respondent-driven sampling facilitated identifying participants. Establishing rapport and trust was critical for interviewing, and maintaining a tracking protocol was most important for retention. The lessons learned from this study can guide substance abuse and HIV researchers when recruiting, interviewing, and retaining recent Latino immigrants in future epidemiologic studies. (Am J Addict 2011;21:11–22)
Traffic Congestion Management

The present Chapter represents a survey of the impact of traffic congestion management strategies on vehicular emissions and, by extension, on air quality. The study finds that the congestion management programs that are aimed at reducing overall vehicle emissions on a corridor or network generally fall into two classes: (1) those intended to restrict the demand or travel intensity of the transportation system and (2) those aimed at improving the operational performance of the transportation system. Although the literature contains a wealth of information on such effects, there is no general consensus in the transportation and environmental community on which tools are appropriate for what types of analysis, especially those at the corridor and local intersection levels. These models represent the state of the practice for developing emission inventories and control strategies at the regional or state levels, as part of the required state implementation plans (SIP) under the 1990 Federal Clean Air Act. Emerging EPA emission estimation paradigms exemplified by the MOVES model will, in the future, enable the analyst to carry out multiscale level analyses that are sensitive to regional as well as local transportation improvements. Keywords: hydrocarbon; traffic operational strategies; travel demand management; vehicle-specific power; volatile organic compounds
Do Two Wrongs Make a Right?: News Analysis of a Violent Response to Clergy Sex Abuse

Framing analysis of the case in which Dontee Stokes shot Reverend Maurice Blackwell revealed three main themes in the Baltimore Sun: Harm Frame, in which Stokes was depicted as a victim; Apology/Admission Frame, which emphasized how the church and criminal justice system contributed to this case; and Religious Justice Frame, which evaluated the case by excusing Stokes's actions within the context of his religious beliefs. Findings suggest that when journalists are faced with abnormal crime stories, they resort to unconventional ideas while writing. Stokes's crime did not make sense and the media excused with religious justice.
Beta-glucuronidase activity in human female genital cancer.

Abstract The activity of the enzyme B-glucuronidase in the vaginal secretions is attributed to bacterial action and cellular debris in patients without cancer, and to cancer cells, in addition, in women with cervical carcinoma. The pattern of enzyme activity in gynecologic tissues shows a significant difference between benign and malignant vulva, vagina, and cervix but no difference between benign and malignant endometrium or ovary. The differences observed between activities in various gynecologic tissues are independent of cellularity (nitrogen) and water content. Irradiation leads to a decrease in activity of enzyme in vaginal secretions and in tissues, more consistently in the latter. Lymph nodes invaded by cancer contain an increased activity of enzyme.
Reforming Paternity Procedures: A Dannielynn in Illinois

In the case involving the parentage of Dannielynn, born to Anna Nicole Smith in the Bahamas not long before Anna's passing, the public was wrong to assume that legal paternity for custody purposes would necessarily be determined by genetic ties; that there could be, at least at the outset, only one legal father; and, that legal paternity determinations in probate and custody proceedings would be the same. Employing Illinois law based on Dannielynn's assumed birth in Illinois, the confusion over American paternity laws is demonstrated. Had Dannielynn been born in Illinois rather than in the Bahamas, inquiries into initial legal paternity and its later possible override seemingly would have yielded different results depending on the paternity establishment mechanism employed (birth certificate, marital presumption, lawsuit); the purpose for establishing paternity; and, whether the initially-designated legal father wished to continue to parent. Neither DNA nor birth into a married family would always be dispositive. The differing possible results suggest the need for paternity procedure reforms in Illinois and elsewhere.
The economic realities of rural pharmacy practice.

TOPIC EDITOR'S NOTE: The issue of availability of pharmacists is gaining importance in rural health care. In 1999, for example, Congress responded to growing concern over a potential pharmacist shortage by directing the secretary of Health and Human Services to conduct a study of the pharmacist workforce. The agency was to determine the extent of any shortage and was also directed to seek comments regarding the issue. The report, delivered to Congress in fall 2000 with evidence indicating an emerging shortage of these professionals, has important implications for health care in rural areas. This Crossroads feature by pharmacist Timothy P. Stratton, Ph.D., offers additional insight by combining a brief review, personal experience and findings of a preliminary study to help tire journal focus attention on this issue.
Performance evaluation of Puritan® universal transport system (UniTranz-RT™) for preservation and transport of clinical viruses.

The ability of a non-propagating microbial transport medium to maintain the viability of clinically relevant viruses was compared to a similar commercial medium to establish performance equivalence. Two dilutions of stock of test viruses, namely adenovirus (AdV), cytomegalovirus (CMV), echovirus Type 30 (EV), herpes simplex virus (HSV) types 1 and 2, influenza A, parainfluenza 3 (PIV), respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), and varicella zoster virus (VZV), were spiked into Puritan® Medical Products Company Universal Transport System (UniTranz-RT™) and BDTM Universal Viral Transport System (UVT) and incubated at 4 °C and room temperature (RT) for up to 72 hr. Post incubation assessment of recovery of AdV, EV, HSV-2, PIV, and VZV from UniTranz-RT™ and UVT using shell vial assays followed by immunofluorescence staining demonstrated statistically significant differences between both transport media. In general, significantly higher recoveries of AdV, EV, and VZV were found from UniTranz-RT™ than UVT whereas HSV-2 and PIV were recovered better from UVT than UniTranz-RT™, under specific test conditions. The recovery of HSV-1, influenza A, PIV, and RSV showed no significant differences between transport media. Sulforhodamine B-based assay analysis of UniTranz-RT™ lots prior to and at expiration exhibited no cytotoxicity. The overall results of the study validate the full performance of UniTranz-RT™ as a viral transport medium and establish its effectiveness on par with the UVT. J. Med. Virol. 87:1796–1805, 2015. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
HIL-an interface design language

HIL (HOPE-1 Interface Language), an object-oriented language for defining user interfaces, is described. HIL objects consist of both presentation information and activation information. The presentation information includes the type of object (such as menu, form). The activation information concerns how the object behaves. HIL programs define the objects and their basic attributes, but not the specifics of how they interact with the user. This allows HIL programs to be run on a variety of different devices, including character based and bitmapped terminals. The HIL runtime system chooses the representation best suited to the type of device. A HIL interface consists of a HIL program and the HIL run-time system. HIL runtime systems have been developed for three output devices: (1) standard terminal for which a Unix System V terminal description exists; (2) an IBM PC (standard monochrome); and (3) bit-mapped graphics terminals supporting X-windows. HIL programs may either be compiled (into C) or interpreted. Standard interfaces with the C language and the Unix shell are built into HIL. HIL has been used for 12 months by both experienced and inexperience users. >
Cinnamon Polyphenol Extract Affects Immune Responses by Regulating Anti- and Proinflammatory and Glucose Transporter Gene Expression in Mouse Macrophages

Tristetraprolin (TTP/zinc finger protein 36) family proteins have antiinflammatory effects by destabilizing proinflammatory mRNA. TTP expression is reduced in fats of obese people with metabolic syndrome and brains of suicide victims and is induced by insulin and cinnamon polyphenol extract (CPE) in adipocytes, by lipopolysaccharide (LPS) in macrophages, and by green tea polyphenol extract in rats. CPE was reported to improve immune function against microorganisms, but the mechanism is unknown. This study tested the hypothesis that CPE regulates immune function involving genes encoding TTP, proinflammatory cytokines, and glucose transporter (GLUT) families and compared the effects of CPE to those of insulin and LPS in mouse RAW264.7 macrophages. CPE increased TTP mRNA and protein levels, but its effects were less than LPS. CPE (100 mg/L, 0.5-4 h) increased TTP and tumor necrosis factor (TNF) mRNA levels by up to 2- and 6-fold that of the control, respectively, and the base level of TTP was 6-fold that of TNF. LPS (0.1 mg/L, 4 h) increased TTP, TNF, granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor, cyclooxgenase-2, and interleukin 6 mRNA levels by 39-1868 fold. CPE and LPS increased GLUT1 expression (the major GLUT form in macrophages) to 3- and 2-fold that of the control, respectively. Insulin (100 nmol/L, 0.5-4 h) did not exhibit major effects on the expression of these genes. CPE increased TTP expression more rapidly than those of proinflammatory cytokines and the net increases of TTP mRNA levels were larger than those of proinflammatory cytokines. These results suggest that CPE can affect immune responses by regulating anti- and proinflammatory and GLUT gene expression.
Einige weitere, von Luftverunreinigungen lebende Actinomyceten und ihre Klassifizierung

1. Die Fahigkeit zum Wachstum auf mineralischen Nahrlosungen unter Ausnutzung von Luftverunreinigungen ist bei den Actinomyceten weit verbreitet. 2. Von 39 benannten oder neu isolierten Teststammen verschiedenster Herkunft vermochten 26 “oligocarbophil” zu wachsen; 5 Stamme stellten nach wenigen Tagen ihr Wachstum ein, und 8 Stamme vermehrten sich auf Mineralnahrlosung nicht. 3. In einigen Fallen wurde der Zuwachs durch Titration der gesamten Kultur auf Mineralnahrlosung mit KMnO4 sicher nachgewiesen. 4. Die Zugabe eines Petroleum/Undecan-Gemisches als Energiequelle in die Gasphase forderte 12 von 14 oligocarbophilen Stammen im Wachstum. Reines n-Undecan forderte bei Gegenwart von 0,2 Vol-% CO2 lediglich Noc. petroleophila Stamm 78, nicht aber Noc. saturnea Stamm 71 oder Streptomyces autotrophicus Stamm 394. 5. Die Identifizierung von 13 oligocarbophilen Stammen fuhrte zu folgenden Artnamen: Nocardia paraffinae (Jens.) Waksm. et Henrici (2 Stamme), Nocardia petroleophila Hirsch u. Engel (1 Stamm), Streptomyces nitrificans Schatz et al. (7 Stamme und eine Originalkultur von Schatz), Streptomyces autotrophicus Tak. u. Tub. (1 Originalstamm von Takamiya) und Streptomyces flavovirens (Waksm.) Waksm. u. Henrici (1 Stamm). 6. Nocardia saturnea n. sp. (2 Stamme) wird als neue Art beschrieben; Nocardia spec. I Stamm 70 soll erst spater, nach eingehender Untersuchung beschrieben und benannt werden. 7. Auf Grund von morphologischen und kulturellen Eigenschaften (insbesondere des Lufthyphenzerfalles) werden Streptomyces autotrophicus und Strept. nitrificans in die Gattung Nocardia gestellt (Verwandtschaft der nicht- oder teilweise saurefesten β-Nocardien) als: Nocardia autotrophica (Tak. u. Tub.) nov. comb. Hirsch und Nocardia nitrificans (Schatz et al.) nov. comb. Hirsch.
The Relation between Actual and Intrinsic Growth Rates

This paper demonstrates that, to a close approximation, the intrinsic growth rate of a population is equal to the mean of age-specific growth rates below age T, the mean length of a generation. This mean is normally close to the growth rate of the entire population block below age T. Therefore, when a disparity exists between the intrinsic growth rate and the actual growth rate of a population (whether or not net migration is included in both rates), it must be attributable to an unusual growth rate of the population block above age T. One implication is that the ‘momentum of population growth’ is entirely confined to the age span above T, approximately age 28 in developing countries to-day.
Some general comments on fuzzy sets of type-2

This paper contains some general comments on the algebra of truth values of fuzzy sets of type 2. It details the precise mathematical relationship with the algebras of truth values of ordinary fuzzy sets and of interval-valued fuzzy sets. Subalgebras of the algebra of truth values and t-norms on them are discussed. There is some discussion of finite type-2 fuzzy sets. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Mechanical Hardness and Elastic Stiffness of Alloys: Semiempirical Models

Abstract An atomic-level mechanical hardness model that is based on screened electrostatics and elastic shear (SEES) is generalized to single-phase substitutional annealed alloys, and a semiempirical method is derived to quantify elastic property composition effects in single-phase binary substitutional alloys. The SEES model is adapted to include interactions between dislocations and alloying-elements, and it is applied to eight binary and three ternary alloys. Calculated hardnesses are within 10% (30%) of measured values for 45% (73%) of the materials. Composition effects in the elastic stiffness coefficients c11(x), c12(x) and c44(x) are evaluated for 12 binary alloys, and in the shear modulus G(x) and the bulk modulus B(x) for 22 binary alloys. These elastic properties are within 3.0% of measurement for the following percentages of materials studied: G(x), 90%; B(x), 86%; c11(x), 100%; c12(x), 92%, and c44(x), 83%. The theoretical elastic behavior is bilinear for BCC materials, and variably non-linear for FCC materials. The generalized mechanical hardness equation and its previously published (non-general) analog are equivalent for 70 of the 71 materials previously studied. A discrepancy between the two equations occurs for TiB2 which, when corrected, moves the TiB2 hardness 15% closer to measurement and yields fitting parameters corrected by −1.9%: A=0.2992, and γB=6.2595 for simple metals.
On polarization for the linear operator channel

We address the problem of reliably transmitting information through a network where the nodes perform random linear network coding and where an adversary potentially injects malicious packets into the network. A good model for such a channel is a linear operator channel, where in this work we employ a combined multiplicative and additive matrix channel. We show that this adversarial channel behaves like a subspace-based symmetric discrete memoryless channel (DMC) under subspace insertions and deletions and typically has an input alphabet with non-prime cardinality. This facilitates the recent application of channel polarization results for DMCs with arbitrary input alphabets by providing a suitable one-to-one mapping from input matrices to subspaces. As a consequence, we show that polarization for this adversarial linear operator channel can be obtained via an element-wise encoder mapping for the input matrices, which replaces the finite field summation in the channel combining step for Arikan's classical polar codes.
Interspecific Variation Within the Genus Asclepias in Response to Herbivory by a Phloem-feeding Insect Herbivore

Induced plant responses to leaf-chewing insects have been well studied, but considerably less is known about the effects of phloem-feedings insects on induction. In a set of laboratory experiments, we examined density-dependent induction by the milkweed-oleander aphid, Aphis nerii, of putative defenses in four milkweed species (Asclepias incarnata, Asclepias syriaca, Asclepias tuberosa, and Asclepias viridis). We hypothesized that high aphid density would lead to increased cardenolide expression in species with low constitutive levels of cardenolides (e.g., A. tuberosa), but that there would be no induction in high constitutive cardenolide species (e.g., A. viridis). Based on previous studies, we did not expect cardenolide induction in A. incarnata. Contrary to our predictions, we observed feeding-induced declines of cardenolide concentrations in A. viridis. Cardenolide concentrations did not respond to aphid feeding in the other three milkweed species. Aphids also caused reductions in biomass accumulation by two of four Asclepias species, A. viridis and A. incarnata. High aphid density led to a decrease in A. viridis foliar nitrogen concentration. However, aphids had no effect on the defensive chemistry, growth, or nutritional quality of either A. syriaca or A. tuberosa. Our results highlight that congeneric plant species may respond differently to the same levels of herbivore damage.
Modeling storms improves estimates of long-term shoreline change

[1] Large storms make it difficult to extract the long-term trend of erosion or accretion from shoreline position data. Here we make storms part of the shoreline change model by means of a storm function. The data determine storm amplitudes and the rate at which the shoreline recovers from storms. Historical shoreline data are temporally sparse, and inclusion of all storms in one model over-fits the data, but a probability-weighted average model shows effects from all storms, illustrating how model averaging incorporates information from good models that might otherwise have been discarded as un-parsimonious. Data from Cotton Patch Hill, DE, yield a long-term shoreline loss rate of 0.49 ± 0.01 m/yr, about 16% less than published estimates. A minimum loss rate of 0.34 ± 0.01 m/yr is given by a model containing the 1929, 1962 and 1992 storms.
Some aspects of high-pressure phenomena of bubbles in liquids and liquid–solid suspensions

Abstract Some aspects of bubble dynamics and macroscopic hydrodynamic properties in high-pressure bubble columns and three-phase fluidization systems are discussed. Experimental results along with discrete-phase simulations of a single bubble rising in liquids and liquid–solid suspensions at high pressures are presented. A mechanistic model is described, which accounts for the initial size of bubble from a single orifice in liquid–solid suspensions. The mechanism for bubble breakup at high pressures is illustrated by considering bubble instability induced by internal gas circulation inside a bubble, and an analytical expression is obtained to quantify the maximum stable bubble size. Experimental examinations on the roles of bubbles of different sizes indicate the importance of large bubbles in dictating the macroscopic hydrodynamics of slurry bubble columns. Further, extensive studies are made of the key macroscopic hydrodynamic properties, including moving packed bed phenomena, flow regime transition, overall gas holdup, mean bubble size, and bubble size distribution. An empirical correlation is introduced which predicts the gas holdup in slurry bubble columns of different scales. A similarity rule is revealed for the overall hydrodynamics of high-pressure slurry bubble columns, which takes into account the operating conditions, the maximum stable bubble size, and the physical properties of the gas, liquid, and solids. The heat transfer characteristics under high pressures are also investigated. A consecutive film and surface renewal model is used to characterize the heat transfer mechanism.
Diamagnetic shielding and flux creep in a TlBaCaCuO thin film

Static magnetization data for a superconducting thin film based on the Tl-Ba-Ca-Cu-O system are presented and discussed. The film, deposited by electron-beam evaporation onto a single crystal SrTiO/sub 3/ substrate, consists of large grains of two superconducting structural phases with their crystallographic c axes normal to the substrate. It exhibits substantial transport critical current density, large diamagnetic shielding, and activated flux creep, consistent with strong intergranular links but weak flux pinning. 7 refs., 2 figs.
An estimation-theoretic approach to terrain image segmentation

Abstract A method for modeling images of natural terrain is developed and applied to the segmentation of aerial photographic data. An underlying stochastic structure based on linear filtering concepts provides a means of modeling the terrain in local areas of the image. Superimposed on this is a Markov random field that describes transitions from regions of one terrain type to another. Maximum likelihood and maximum a posteriori estimation are applied to estimate regions of similar terrain. Results of application to digitized aerial photographs are presented and discussed.
An ethical model for decision-making.

AbstractThe increasing social and technological complexity of health care is requiring health care providers to make many ethical decisions. This article presents a brief overview of selected ethical principles and theories, as well as several decision-making models. A 10-question model to assist th
Vanadium K-edge X-ray Absorption Spectroscopy Reveals Species Differences within the Same Ascidian Genera A COMPARISON OF WHOLE BLOOD FROM ASCIDIA NIGRA ANDASCIDIA CERATODES

Vanadium K-edge x-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) was used to examine whole blood preparations from the tunicatesAscidia nigra and Ascidia ceratodes. Each XAS spectrum exhibits a rising edge inflection near 5480 eV characteristic of vanadium(III) and an intensity maximum at 5484.0 eV. In A. ceratodes blood cells, intrinsic aquo-VSO4+ complex ion is indicated by an inflection feature at 5476 eV in the first derivative of the vanadium K-edge XAS spectrum, but this feature is notably absent from the first derivative of the vanadium K-edge spectrum of blood cells from A. nigra. A strong pre-edge feature at 5468.6 eV also uniquely distinguishes the vanadium K-edge XAS spectrum of A. nigra blood cells, implying that vanadyl ion represents ∼25% of the endogenous vanadium. However, the energy position of the rising edge inflection of the vanadium K-edge XAS spectrum of A. nigra (5479.5 eV) is 1 eV lower than that of A. ceratodes (5480.5 eV), the reverse of any expected shift arising from the endogenous vanadyl ion. Thus, in contrast to A. ceratodes, a significant fraction of the blood cell vanadium(III) in A. nigra is apparently in a ligation environment substantially different from that provided by water. These novel species-related differences may have taxonomic significance.
Testing plausible path models of interpersonal trust in patient-physician treatment relationships.

A multistage, multivariate, recursive path model of the patient-physician treatment relationship and several plausible alternative path models were tested by means of a sample survey (N = 203) in an endeavor to explain the total effects of the quantity and quality of interactions, and the dimensions of interpersonal trust in the determination of client anxiety and pain behavior during the treatment process. While five of the eight hypotheses received empirical support from correlation analysis, the results of path analysis suggested that the relationships between interpersonal trust in the physician and the level of treatment anxiety, and perceived positive health gains from treatment and the level of treatment anxiety were augmented by the direct and indirect effects of past successful treatment. Several theoretical and practical implications of the results are discussed, including the application of the findings towards a theory of client-specialist relationships. In addition, a number of weaknesses in the internal validity of the study are addressed.
Ultrasonically accelerated synthesis of hydroxyapatite

Ultrasonic energy was used to accelerate the formation of hydroxyapatite (HAp). The experiments were carried out in aqueous systems on two different sets of reactants: (1) a mixture of Ca4(PO4)2O(TetCP) and CaHPO4 · 2H2O (brushite) and (2) α–Ca3(PO4)2 (α–TCP). The reaction systems were exposed to ultrasound of 20 kHz for various times ranging from 5 to 80 min. The products were characterized by XRD and SEM. Parallel experiments without ultrasound were carried out for calibration. The results show that the ultrasound substantially accelerates both reactions. With ultrasound, the time required for the TetCP-brushite system to complete the reaction forming HAp was reduced from 9 h to 25 min at 25 °C, and from 3 h to 15 min at 38 °C. At 87 °C, α–TCP does not hydrolyze within 1 h in de-ionized water unless the pH is adjusted. Hydrolysis of α–TCP was induced by sonication in less than 20 min, and longer treatment results in the formation of a homogeneous sol of HAp.
Correlation of device performance and defects in AlGaN/GaN high-electron mobility transistors

Device performance and defects in AlGaN/GaN high-electron mobility transistors (HEMTs) have been correlated. Surface depressions and threading dislocations, revealed by optical-defect mapping and atomic force microscopy (AFM), compromised the effectiveness of the SiNx surface-passivation effect as evidenced by the gate-lag measurements. The residual carriers in the GaN-buffer layer observed from the capacitance-voltage depth profile have been attributed to the point defects and threading dislocations either acting as donors or causing local charge accumulations. Deep-level transient-spectroscopy measurements showed the existence of several traps corresponding to surface states and bulk-dislocation defects. The formation of electron-accumulation regions on the surface or (and) in the GaN-buffer layer was confirmed by currentvoltage measurements. This second, virtual gate formed by electron accumulations can deplete the channel and cause a large-signal gain collapse leading to degraded output power. A good correlation was established between the device performance and defects in AlGaN/GaN HEMT structure.
Dual-sensor technique for characterization of carrier lifetime decay transients in semiconductors

This work addresses the frequent discrepancy between transient photoconductive (PC) decay and transient photoluminescence (PL) decay. With this dual- sensor technique, one measures the transient PC and PL decay simultaneously with the same incident light pulse, removing injection-level uncertainty. Photoconductive decay measures the transient photoconductivity, Δσ(t). PCD senses carriers released from shallow traps as well as the photo-generated electron-hole pairs. In addition, variations in carrier mobility with injection level (and time) contribute to the decay time. PL decay senses only electron-hole recombination via photon emission. Theory and experiment will show that the time dependence of the two techniques can be quite different at high injection.
Identification and Characterization of the AF-1 Transactivation Domain of Thyroid Hormone Receptor β1

Physiological responses to thyroid hormones are regulated by a set of nuclear receptors (TRs) related to the steroid receptor superfamily of ligand-dependent transcription factors. Although TR isoforms are highly conserved in their DNA binding, ligand binding, and carboxyl-terminal transactivation domains, their amino-terminal regions are completely divergent. We examined the contribution of these amino-terminal sequences to TRβ1 function. An amino-terminally truncated version of rat TRβ1 lacking amino acids 4–89 was impaired in hormone-dependent activation in both yeast and mammalian cells. This defect was not due to impairment of DNA binding, because the truncated receptor displayed enhanced homodimer binding on several different TREs, indicating that residues in the amino-terminal domain of TRβ1 interfere with homodimerization of the receptor. The presence of an autonomous transactivation domain in the amino-terminal region was demonstrated by its ability to activate transcription in a constitutive manner when fused to the GAL4 DNA binding domain. Deletional analyses localized the residues comprising the amino-terminal transactivation region of TRβ1 to 19 amino acids residing between residues 69 and 89. Thus, the amino-terminal region of TRβ1 contains an activation domain (AF-1) that can modulate the function of the receptor and may allow for the fine-tuning of receptor activity in various target tissues.
Role of surface area-to-volume ratio in protein adsorption at the air–water interface

Abstract Adsorption isotherms of eight globular proteins at the air–water interface were analyzed using a modified adsorption model. The experimental adsorption data of eight globular proteins at the air–water interface obeyed the model. The Γsat predicted from the model agreed quite well with the experimentally determined values. The relative affinities of globular proteins decreased with increasing molecular weight of proteins and followed an M−2/3-relationship. Further analysis showed that this phenomena was related to the solvent accessible molecular surface area-to-volume ratio (As/V) of globular proteins. The results indicated that adsorption of globular proteins follows a Traube-rule-like behavior with surface area-to-volume ratio as the scaling parameter. Theoretical analysis in combination with experimental data indicated that for every doubling of molecular weight of globular proteins, the free energy change for adsorption becomes unfavourable by about 272 cal/mol.
Sex steroid hormones and sexual dimorphism of chemosensory structures in a terrestrial salamander (Plethodon shermani).

The volume of the vomeronasal organ (VNO) in the terrestrial salamander Plethodon shermani was approximately 1.7 times larger in adult males compared to adult females, even though male body size was, on average, slightly smaller than female body size. VNO cell density, however, was the same in adult males and females. The sex difference in VNO volume was found in sexually immature animals as well, indicating that the increase of plasma androgens that occurs at sexual maturity does not produce the sex difference in VNO volume. There was no difference in VNO volume between reproductive and nonreproductive adult females, despite differences in plasma estradiol (E2) levels. The volumes of the main olfactory epithelium and muscles regulating diameter of the external nares were similar between males and females, indicating that the VNO per se, and not other aspects of the nasal cavity, was sexually dimorphic. To conclude, the sex difference in VNO volume appears to be a permanent sex difference that develops before sexual maturity. Future studies will examine the functional consequences of this structural sexual dimorphism in a peripheral sensory organ, the VNO.
A novel mouse brain slice preparation of the hippocampo-accumbens pathway

The nucleus accumbens (NAc) is an important component of circuitry that underlies reward related behaviors and the rewarding properties of drugs of abuse. Glutamatergic afferents to the nucleus are critical for its normal function and for behaviors related to drug addiction. An angled, sagittal mouse brain slice preparation has been designed to facilitate concurrent stimulation of two major glutamatergic afferent pathways to the nucleus accumbens. Medium spiny neurons at the medial core/shell boundary of the accumbens were depolarized by stimulation of either hippocampal or limbic cortical afferents through activation of AMPA-type glutamate receptors. High frequency but not low frequency stimulation of hippocampal afferents depolarized medium spiny neurons to a membrane potential that resembled the up state observed upon high frequency stimulation in vivo. The magnitude of the membrane depolarization was positively correlated with the amplitude of the stimulus-evoked EPSP. Concurrent stimulation of hippocampal and limbic cortical afferents at theta frequency selectively induced a long-term depression (LTD) in the magnitude of stimulus-evoked EPSPs on the hippocampal afferent only. These data suggest that this brain slice preparation can be used to study mechanisms underlying synaptic plasticity at two of the critical glutamatergic afferent synapses in the nucleus accumbens as well as characterizing potential interactions between afferents. Additionally, LTD at hippocampo-accumbens synapses can be induced at a stimulus frequency known to support reinstatement of drug seeking behavior.
Evaluating Supplemental Feeding of a Bluegill Population and Validating Species Utilization by Application of a Toxic Fish Food

ABSTRACT Mechanical fish feeders were placed throughout the littoral zone of a flood control reservoir and operated for four growing seasons to improve growth rates of bluegill. Analysis of previous year growth increments suggested that only age 5 bluegill benefited from the supplemental feeding program. To validate utilization by the target species, toxic fish bait was applied through the feeders. Gizzard shad were the only species captured through this method. These results suggest that the presence of gizzard shad may reduce the effectiveness of supplemental feeding programs for bluegill.
Sentencing in a free society: The failure of the President's Crime Commission to influence sentencing policy

The President's Crime Commission (1965–1967) made recommendations in corrections favoring the then leading ideas of rehabilitation and indeterminacy, shortly before a radical reappraisal led to the eclipse of the rehabilitative model in favor of “just deserts.” In coming to its conclusions, the Commission overlooked the potential growth of prison populations, the development of prisoners' rights, and research that pointed to the failure of rehabilitation. The inability of the Commission to anticipate this great change was due in part to the dynamics of and time pressures on a Presidential commission. The change was precipitated by a social and intellectual crisis analogous to “scientific paradigm” revolutions described by Thomas Kuhn (1970). The crisis that led to a change in thinking about punishment was part of the larger crisis of the political legitimacy of liberalism.