cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
On the Distribution of Certain Algebraic Integers

w 1. Introduction What point sets in the complex plane contain infinitely many sets of conjugate algebraic integers ? A basic contribution to this question was made by FEKETE [1], who showed that a bounded closed set E with transfinite diameter less than 1 can contain only a finite number of such sets of conjugates. The strict converse is not true, but a substitute is furnished by FEKETE and SZEG(J [2], Theorem K, which states that if E is symmetric to the real axis and the transfinite diameter of E is at least 1, then any open set D including E will contain infinitely many sets of conjugate algebraic integers. We may say briefly that there are infinitely many sets of conjugate algebraic integers near E. (An analogous theorem about real point sets was proved in [5].) These results may be combined in the statement that, for a bounded closed set E which is symmetric to the real axis, there are infinitely many sets of conjugate algebraic integers near E if and only if the transfinite diameter of E is at least 1. The condition that E is bounded may be dropped, if we define the terms properly. When we speak of an unbounded set E being closed, this will be understood in the spherical sense; that is, E must contain the point at infinity. Any open set D containing E will then contain all points outside of some circle, and hence will certainly contain infinitely many sets of conjugate algebraic integers. By definition, the transfinite diameter of an unbounded closed set is infinite.
Understanding dietary monitoring and self-weighing by gastric bypass patients: a pilot study of self-monitoring behaviors and long-term weight outcomes.

Background Weight and dietary monitoring have been associated with better weight loss outcomes among dieters using lifestyle modification, but they have rarely been studied among gastric bypass surgery patients. This exploratory study examined dietary and weight self-monitoring behaviors and their association with weight outcomes in a sample of gastric bypass patients who were at least 12 months post-surgery.
Self-assembly of a plant cell wall in vitro.

Abstract A method has been developed by which the cell wall of Chlamydomonas reinhardi may be dissociated into its components, and then reassembled in vitro into a product that is chemically and structurally identical to the original cell wall. Chaotropic agents, such as lithium chloride and sodium perchlorate, separate the wall into two fractions, an insoluble amorphous inner wall layer, which retains its integrity (7.5% by weight of the complete wall) and a salt-soluble fraction containing the homogeneous glycoproteins responsible for the outer crystalline layers of the cell wall. Removal of the salt from dissociated walls by dialysis leads to the rapid recovery of complete reassembled cell walls. The conditions necessary for successful reconstitution of the cell wall in vitro include the presence of a suitable surface, across which a decreasing salt gradient exists, and the presence of both the salt-insoluble and the salt-soluble components. The salt-soluble glycoproteins alone can self-assemble under various conditions to form fragments that have the crystalline structure characteristic of the outer layers of the complete cell wall. Both the inner wall layer and the salt-soluble glyco-proteins have similar bulk amino acid and sugar (arabinose, galactose, mannose) compositions and both contain hydroxyproline. On the basis of the in vitro reconstitution of the cell wall we discuss certain aspects of in vivo cell wall morphogenesis. This communication describes the first case in which a plant cell wall has been reconstructed in vitro, and indicates that components of very large cellular structures are capable of being built by a simple self-assembly process.
Prevalence of symptoms of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and of fluorescent antinuclear antibodies associated with chronic exposure to trichloroethylene and other chemicals in well water

Criteria for the recognition of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) were applied to 362 subjects exposed to trichloroethylene, trichloroethane, inorganic chromium, and other chemicals in water obtained from wells in an industrially contaminated aquifer in Tucson, Arizona. Their antinuclear autoantibodies were measured by fluorescence (FANA) in serum. Ten patients with clinical SLE and/or other collagen-vascular diseases were considered separately. Results were compared to an Arizona control group, to published series, and to laboratory controls. Frequencies of each of 10 ARA symptoms were higher in exposed subjects than in any comparison group except those with clinical SLE. The number of subjects than in any comparison group except those with clinical SLE. The number of subjects with 4 or more symptoms was 2.3 times higher compared to referent women and men. FANA titers greater than 1:80 was approximately 2.3 times higher in women but equally frequent in men as in laboratory controls. ARA score and FANA rank were correlated with a coefficient (cc) of .1251, r2 = .0205 (p less than 0.036) in women and this correlation was almost statistically significant in men cc = .1282, r2 = .0253 (p less than 0.059). In control men and women neither correlation was significant. Long-term low-dose exposure to TCE and other chemicals in contaminated well water significantly increased symptoms of lupus erythematosus as perceived by the ARA score and the increased FANA titers.
Clopidogrel: How good is it and how does it work?

Until recently, long-term antiplatelet therapy for the treatment and prevention of the complications of atherothrombotic disease was limited to aspirin. Although an incredibly costeffective therapy, in placebo-controlled clinical trials approximately 75% of patients at risk continue to experience thrombotic events despite chronic aspirin therapy. The availability of the thienopyridines, in particular clopidogrel, represents an important addition to the physician’s armamentarium. A number of clinical trials have confirmed the efficacy of the combination of clopidogrel and aspirin therapy compared with aspirin alone, with multiple other important largescale clinical trials currently ongoing. The exact mechanism of this benefit is still being elucidated but is clearly related to the inhibition of the many consequences of platelet activation—vascular inflammation, endothelial dysfunction, and localized angiogenesis/mitogenesis—and not just aggregation.
Current perspectives on the causes of neural tube defects resulting from diabetic pregnancy

Maternal diabetes increases the risk for neural tube, and other, structural defects. The mother may have either type 1 or type 2 diabetes, but the diabetes must be existing at the earliest stages of pregnancy, during which organogenesis occurs. Abnormally high glucose levels in maternal blood, which leads to increased glucose transport to the embryo, is responsible for the teratogenic effects of maternal diabetes. Consequently, expression of genes that control essential developmental processes is disturbed. In this review, some of the biochemical pathways by which excess glucose metabolism disturbs neural tube formation are discussed. Research from the author's laboratory has shown that expression of Pax3, a gene required for neural tube closure, is significantly reduced by maternal diabetes, and this is associated with significantly increased neural tube defects (NTD). Pax3 encodes a transcription factor that has recently been shown to inhibit p53-dependent apoptosis. Evidence in support of this model, in which excess glucose metabolism inhibits expression of Pax3, thereby derepressing p53-dependent apoptosis of neuroepithelium and leading to NTD will be discussed.
Destabilization and localizaiton of traveling waves by an advected field

We study a model of small amplitude traveling waves arising in a supercritical Hopf bifurcation, that are coupled to a slowly varying, real field. The field is advected by the waves and, in turn, affects their stability via a coupling to the growth rate. In the absence of dispersion, we identify two distinct short-wave instabilities. One instability induces a phase slip of the waves and a corresponding reduction of the winding number, while the other leads to a modulated wave structure. The bifurcation to modulated waves can be either forward or backward, in the latter case permitting the existence of localized, traveling pulses which are bistable with the basic, conductive state.
Holey-Metal Lenses: Sieving Single Modes with Proper Phases

We study a planar, holey-metal lens made as a set of concentric circular arrays (rings) of nanoscale holes milled in a subwavelength-thick metal film. Each nanohole-a finite-length, circular, single-mode waveguide with a radius-dependent mode index-is used as a phase-shifting element. Our experimental results confirm that the focusing properties of our polarization-independent, holey-metal lens milled in a 380-nm-thick gold film and illuminated with 531 nm light fits the analytical model well. The proposed concept could offer an alternative to conventional refraction microlenses and open up a vital path toward on-chip or fiber-end planar photonic devices for biosensing and imaging.
Histopathological and ultrastructural changes in the antennal gland, midgut, hepatopancreas, and gill of grass shrimp following exposure to hexavalent chromium

Grass shrimp, Palaemonetes pugio, were exposed for 1 month to subacute concentrations of hexavalent chromium (0.5, 1.0, 2.0, 4.0 ppm) after which the gills, midgut, hepatopancreas, and antennal glands were examined for histopathological and ultrastructural changes. Pathological changes were greatest in the antennal glands, followed by hepatopancreas, gills, and midgut. Severe changes occurred in some shrimp, even at 0.5 ppm chromium. Cells of all tissues frequently had both swollen mitochondria and rough endoplasmic reticulum. Small, spherical or ring-like intranuclear inclusions, possibly indicative of cellular hyperactivity or manifestions of chromium and/or protein complexes, were most prevalent in the hepatopancreas and antennal glands but also occurred in the midgut and gills. Other major degenerative changes in the antennal glands were restricted to the labyrinth and included diminution of basal plasmalemmal infoldings and cytoplasmic density, nuclear hypertrophy followed by widespread nuclear pyknosis and epithelial desquamation. In severely altered hepatopancreas hypertrophy was indicated for the basal laminae, nuclei, and possibly for the nucleoli. There was an apparent reduction in mitotic events and many observed mitotic nuclei were abnormal. Abnormal midgut hypertrophy was present in only 8 of 20 examined shrimp, exposed to 0.5 and 1 ppm chromium. Further, the gills of only 10 of the 40 examined chromium-exposed shrimp possessed abnormal features detectable with ligh microscopy. Ultrastructural analysis of the latter indicated an increase in lysosomes and a decrease in cytoplasmic density. In addition, there was a pronounced diminution in the degree of lamellar, subcuticular plasmalemmal infolding. This latter feature is postulated to be a mechanism for the regulation of chromium influx. Possible explanations for most observed alterations in the above tissues are proposed.
Scattering by a ferrite quadrant

We consider the diffraction problem of a plane electromagnetic wave incident from a free space quadrant onto an anisotropic ferrite quadrant, in the presence of a perfectly conducting plane. An exact closed-form solution is obtained by means of the Wiener-Hopf technique. Asymptotic expressions are obtained for the far fields, and the existence of "shadow boundaries" in both quadrants is noted. For a certain range of the ferrite parameters, the configuration exhibits "intrinsic loss" at the corner where the three media meet. This known phenomenon is analyzed exactly here for the first time.
Dichotic backward masking of complex sounds.

In the first experiment subjects identified a consonant-vowel syllable presented dichotically with a known contralateral masking sound at a stimulus onset asynchrony of ± 60 msec. When the mask fol...
Radical prostatectomy in high-risk and locally advanced prostate cancer: Mayo Clinic perspective

Abstract Purpose Men diagnosed with high-risk prostate cancer represent the cohort of prostate cancer patients at greatest risk for subsequent disease-specific mortality. Unfortunately, however, the classification of high-risk tumors remains imprecise and heterogeneous. There has been a historical reluctance to offer such patients aggressive local treatment, and considerable debate exists regarding the optimal management in this setting. Methods We present here our institutional experience, as well as data from several other centers, with radical prostatectomy for high-risk tumors. Results We discuss that surgery affords accurate pathological staging, thereby improving the identification of patients for secondary therapies. Moreover, prostatectomy not only provides durable local disease control but in addition numerous contemporary surgical series in high-risk patients have shown radical prostatectomy to be associated with excellent long-term cancer-specific survival. Further, although studies comparing surgical and radiotherapy modalities in high-risk prostate patients have been wrought with methodological challenges, consistently these observational studies have found equivalent to improved oncologic outcomes when surgery is utilized as the primary treatment. Conclusions Herein, we review the advantages, long-term outcomes, and technique of surgery for high-risk prostate cancer.
The pseudochiral Omega -medium: what is it? And what can it be used for?

The authors present the idea of a novel complex medium called pseudochiral Omega -medium. Some of the electromagnetic properties of this medium are discussed, and its potential application in the design of microwave devices and components such as reciprocal phase shifters are mentioned. >
Weak male-driven molecular evolution in rodents.

Abstract In humans and rodents the male-to-female ratio of mutation rate (alpha m) has been suggested to be extremely large, so that the process of nucleotide substitution is almost completely male-driven. However, our sequence data from the last intron of the X chromosome-linked (Zfx) and Y chromosome-linked (Zfy) zinc finger protein genes suggest that alpha m is only approximately 2 in rodents with a 95% confidence interval from 1 to 3. Moreover, from published data on oogenesis and spermatogenesis we estimate the male-to-female ratio of the number of germ cell divisions per generation to be approximately 2 in rodents, confirming our estimate of alpha m and suggesting that errors in DNA replication are the primary source of mutation. As the estimated alpha m for rodents is only one-third of our previous estimate of approximately 6 for higher primates, there appear to be generation-time effects--i.e., alpha m decreases with decreasing generation time.
Mexican Americans’ Perceptions of Culturally Competent Care

Although the literature abounds with authors' discussions of the need for nurses and other health care providers to deliver safe and optimal care to patients of diverse ethnic groups, little work has focused on defining and measuring the dimensions of culturally competent care. The purpose of this research was to identify culturally competent concepts from the perspective of Mexican Americans. Focus group interviews with Mexican American registered nurses and Mexican American lay recipients of health care were used to explore the participants' subjective perceptions regarding the indicators of culturally competent care. For this group of Mexican American registered nurses, the influence of culture remained strong despite nursing professional experience and knowledge of Western biomedical system. The predominance of themes emphasizing respect, caring, understanding, and patience in health care encounters support the critical importance of personal processes of health care with Hispanics.
Geometry extra-redundant almost fixed solutions: A high integrity approach for carrier phase ambiguity resolution for high accuracy relative navigation

Carrier phase (CP) real time kinematic (RTK) GPS techniques have become widely used in high accuracy relative positioning applications. CP RTK can achieve centimeter-level accuracy by resolving the integer carrier phase cycle ambiguities, creating extremely precise ranging measurements. However, in applications that require high integrity in addition to high accuracy, proving the probability of correct fix (PCF) of the CP ambiguities can be an impediment to the relative positioning system achieving high service availability. In this paper a new algorithmic approach, called geometry extra-redundant almost fixed solution (GERAFS), for high accuracy and high integrity commercial or military GPS relative navigation applications is described. The GERAFS technique relies on the fact that occasional incorrect CP ambiguity fixes can still be acceptable from accuracy and integrity perspectives. A method for quantifying the integrity protection levels associated with these so-called ldquoalmost fixed solutionsrdquo is developed. The centimeter level positioning accuracy with high integrity achieved with GERAFS is demonstrated with simulated and recorded test range GPS sensor data.
Two new species of Penstemon (Scrophulariaceae: sect. Saccanthera) from Nevada, U.S.A.

Two Nevada species are described here for the first time: Penstemon tiehmii N. H. Holmgren, which is endemic to Mount Lewis of the Shoshone Range in Lander County; and Penstemon rhizomatosus N. H. Holmgren, which is endemic to the central Schell Creek Range in White Pine County. They both belong to section Saccanthera and are closely related to P. kingii S. Watson, a Great Basin endemic of valley sagebrush habitats. Both new species are talus plants of higher elevations and differ from P. kingii principally in their rhizomatous habit, petiolate leaves, and pubescence of shorter hairs.
Amino acid-induced stimulation of translation initiation in rat skeletal muscle.

Amino acids stimulate protein synthesis in skeletal muscle by accelerating translation initiation. In the two studies described herein, we examined mechanisms by which amino acids regulate translat...
A STANDARDIZED NOMENCLATURE FOR RADIOGRAPHIC PROJECTIONS USED IN VETERINARY MEDICINE

The objective of this report is to present a standardized nomenclature system for radiographic projections used in veterinary medicine that is anatomically accurate, easily understood, and easily communicated. The system is based on two simple rules: (1) radiographic projections should be named using only proper veterinary anatomic directional terms or their abbrecviations; (2) radiographic projections should be described by the direction that the central ray of the primary x-ray beam penetrates the body part of interest, from point of entrance to point of exit. Additional recommendations are included that will result in further standardization of the nomenclature. These include supplemental guidelines for (1) combination of terms; (2) angles of obliquity; (3) positions of the body; and (4) orientation of the central ray relative to space. In addition, the position of joints and other body parts may require description. Selected examples of how the nomenclature system can be applied are included. It is recommended that this nomenclature be required by editors of veterinary journals and textbooks.
Microbiologic and Pathologic Findings in an Epidemic of Equine Pericarditis

During the spring and summer of 2001 and in association with the mare reproductive loss syndrome, 22 terminal and 12 clinical cases of equine pericarditis were diagnosed in central Kentucky. Actinobacillus species were the principal isolates from 8 of 10 nontreated, terminally affected and 3 of 10 clinically affected horses. Enterococcus faecalis and Streptococcus zooepidemicus were cultured from the remaining 2 nontreated terminal cases. No viruses were isolated in tissue culture. Nucleic acid of equine herpesvirus-2 was detected in pericardial and tracheal wash fluids of 3 and 1 individuals, respectively. Microscopic alterations in sections of heart and parietal pericardium were consistent with chronic fibrinous bacterial pericarditis. This report confirms a significant role of Actinobacillus species in equine pericarditis and describes an epidemic of this infrequently observed syndrome in the horse.
Speaker invariance for phonetic information: An fMRI investigation

The current study explored how listeners map the variable acoustic input onto a common sound structure representation while being able to retain phonetic detail to distinguish among the identity of talkers. An adaptation paradigm was utilized to examine areas which showed an equal neural response (equal release from adaptation) to phonetic change when spoken by the same speaker and when spoken by two different speakers, and insensitivity (failure to show release from adaptation) when the same phonetic input was spoken by a different speaker. Neural areas which showed speaker invariance were located in the anterior portion of the middle superior temporal gyrus bilaterally. These findings provide support for the view that speaker normalization processes allow for the translation of a variable speech input to a common abstract sound structure. That this process appears to occur early in the processing stream, recruiting temporal structures, suggests that this mapping takes place prelexically, before sound structure input is mapped on to lexical representations.
Applying Object Oriented Systems Engineering to Complex Systems

Analyzing systems using functional analysis has been the mainstream for systems engineering for five decades. With the advent of object oriented software methods and the object management group's (OMG) Unified Modeling LanguageTM (UML), a number of systems engineers working on software intensive systems began to apply use cases and object oriented analysis and design (OOAD) methods to large scale, complex systems. While the use of these OO methods is still controversial within the systems engineering community, many systems engineers that apply OO methods effectively have used functional analysis and understand the strengths of both methods. FireSAT is a well known fictitious system of systems space mission to provide a space based approach to wildfire detection, monitor and control. This paper will explore the use of OOAD methods to FireSAT for problem definition, concept development, and system architecture development. Using the OMG's recently adopted System Modeling LanguageTM (SysML) and more traditional Systems engineering modeling techniques, this paper will compare and contrast some of the differences between OO and functional methods, showing diagrams from each approach.
A stacked transformer modulator that delivers high voltage at high rep-rate and duty factor

A modulator has been built to drive the gun anode of the Tevatron Electron Lenses (TEL) at Fermilab. High voltage applied to the gun defines electron beam current in order for the TEL to perform beam-beam compensation in the Tevatron on each of the 36 (anti)proton bunches. Every bunch requires its own defined current, and the value of current for each bunch is different with each Tevatron “store”. These requirements demand the modulator deliver a complex output voltage waveform with a high duty factor and high repetition rate exceeding 5 kV. The modulator described here utilizes a novel circuit topology employing 5 pulse transformers whose secondaries are connected in series to produce complex voltage waveforms played out repeatedly having peak voltages of 6 kV with average periodic rates up to 423 kHz and short bursts at 2.5 MHz. This paper describes the design approach taken to leverage the virtues of transformers for high rep-rates and duty factors while dealing with the adverse effects of parasitics to achieve speed. Design details and performance results are presented.
Pathogenity of some limb girdle muscular dystrophy mutations can result from reduced anchorage to myofibrils and altered stability of calpain 3

Calpain 3 (CAPN3) is a muscle-specific, calcium-dependent proteinase that is mutated in Limb Girdle Muscle Dystrophy type 2A. Most pathogenic missense mutations in LGMD2A affect CAPN3's proteolytic activity; however, two mutations, D705G and R448H, retain activity but nevertheless cause muscular dystrophy. Previously, we showed that D705G and R448H mutations reduce CAPN3s ability to bind to titin in vitro. In this investigation, we tested the consequence of loss of titin binding in vivo and examined whether this loss can be an underlying pathogenic mechanism in LGMD2A. To address this question, we created transgenic mice that express R448H or D705G in muscles, on wild-type (WT) CAPN3 or knock-out background. Both mutants were readily expressed in insect cells, but when D705G was expressed in skeletal muscle, it was not stable enough to study. Moreover, the D705G mutation had a dominant negative effect on endogenous CAPN3 when expressed on a WT background. The R448H protein was stably expressed in muscles; however, it was more rapidly degraded in muscle extracts compared with WT CAPN3. Increased degradation of R448H was due to non-cysteine, cellular proteases acting on the autolytic sites of CAPN3, rather than autolysis. Fractionation experiments revealed a significant decrease of R448H from the myofibrillar fraction, likely due to the mutant's inability to bind titin. Our data suggest that R448H and D705G mutations affect both CAPN3s anchorage to titin and its stability. These studies reveal a novel mechanism by which mutations that spare enzymatic activity can still lead to calpainopathy.
HMGB1 inhibits macrophage activity in efferocytosis through binding to the αvβ3-integrin

Phagocytosis of apoptotic cells is critical to resolution of inflammation. High mobility group box 1 protein (HMGB1), a mediator of inflammation, has been shown to diminish phagocytosis through binding to phosphatidylserine (PS) exposed on the surface of apoptotic neutrophils. However, it is currently unknown whether HMGB1 also modulates the activity of receptors involved in PS recognition on the surface of phagocytes. In the present studies, we found that preincubation of macrophages with HMGB1 decreased their ability to engulf apoptotic neutrophils or thymocytes. Preincubation of macrophages with HMGB1 prevented the enhancement of efferocytosis resulting from exposure to milk fat globule EGF factor 8 (MFG-E8), an opsonin that bridges PS and αvβ3 as well as αvβ5-integrins on the surface of phagocytes. The inhibitory effect of HMGB1 on the phagocytic activity of macrophages was prevented by preincubation of HMGB1 with soluble αvβ3, but not with soluble αvβ5. HMGB1 colocalized with the β3-integrin on the cell membrane of macrophages and bound to soluble αvβ3, but not to soluble αvβ5. HMGB1 suppressed the interaction between MFG-E8 and αvβ3. HMGB1 also inhibited intracellular signaling events, including ERK phosphorylation and Rac-1 activation, which are activated in macrophages during phagocytosis of apoptotic cells. These results demonstrate that HMGB1 blocks αvβ3-dependent recognition and uptake of apoptotic cells.
Single cell analysis in biological oceanography and its evolutionary implications

Historically single cell analysis techniques have been used to supplement more traditional studies of primary production. The techniques have often been used as a surrogate for microscopic analysis and to close a gap in sea truth coverage for remote sensing and other mapping activities. In the course of development from Coulter counting to flow cytometry/cell sorting, the instruments and techniques have become powerful tools for allometric and ataxonomic analysis as well as the quantification of pigments and added metabolic stains and tagged reagents. The specific questions we ask here are: Can flow cytometry-derived data be raised to a level to discern evolutionary direction and diversity/complexity? Can we account for changes in community structure based on allometric and ataxonomic relationships across major ocean boundaries? We present evidence from different approaches and use examples from flow cytometry/cell sorting that address the causes of variation in cell size and chlorophyll fluorescence in phytoplankton. The horizon is rapidly expanding yet questions and limitations of ocean study persist. We believe that a road of commonality among oceanographers, ecologists, modelers, microbiologists, molecular biologists, physiologists and paleontologists is needed.
Murine dendritic cell antigen-presenting cell function is not altered by burn injury

Severe injury disrupts normal immune regulation causing a transient hyperinflammatory reaction and suppressed adaptive immune function. This report addresses the potential contribution of dendritic cells (DC) to changes in adaptive immune function after injury by specifically measuring injury-induced changes in splenic DC numbers and subsets, cell-surface markers, TLR responses, and APC function. Using a mouse burn injury model, we found that injury did not markedly alter the relative percentage of lymphoid, myeloid, or plasmacytoid DC in the spleens of burn-injured mice. Moreover, we did not observe a significant reduction in cell-surface expression of several major costimulatory molecules, CD40, CD80, CD86, programmed death 1 ligand, ICOS ligand, and B7-H3, on DC. Instead, we observed increased cell-surface expression of CD86 at 1 day after injury with no significant changes in costimulatory molecule expression at 7 days after injury, suggesting that burn injury causes an early activation of DC. In addition, injury did not suppress DC reactivity to TLR2, TLR4, or TLR9 agonists. Most important, DC prepared from injured mice were able to present peptide antigen to naive OTII TCR transgenic CD4+ T cells as efficiently and effectively as DC from sham-injured mice. We also found that CD4 T cells stimulated with antigen presented by DC from sham or burn mice showed similar levels of IL-2, IFN-γ, IL-10, and IL-13 production. Taken together, these findings support the conclusion that DC do not acquire a suppressive phenotype following severe injury in mice.
P-209: Evaluation of Projection Schemes for the Liquid Crystal Polarization Grating Operating on Unpolarized Light

We report on our first experimental comparison of polarizationindependent projection schemes using the liquid crystal polarization grating (LCPG) modulator as the active element. This recently-demonstrated LC grating has unique diffraction properties, and we evaluate its performance using the bright- and dark-field Schlieren configurations and consider its use with a TIR-prism assembly. Each scheme shows promise for highbrightness and good-contrast projection for different applications. 1. Introduction crystal polarization gratings (LCPGs) show great promise as projection display modulators of unpolarized light, exhibiting high contrast and experimentally-demonstrated 100% diffraction efficiency [1]. This type of modulator is particularly suited for mobile, battery-powered “pocket” projectors that demand high contrast and brightness with minimal power consumption. As with the other types of projection display systems using diffractive modulators, the contrast and brightness of our system depends on the projection scheme employed. Since the principle of operation in the LCPG is distinct from previous LC gratings, we anticipate comparably improved projected image properties (contrast and brightness). As only very limited experimental and theoretical investigations into LCPG switches have been carried out (and none utilizing a realistic projection scheme), here we report on the first examination of such. This information should strongly inform the design of any realistic projection system based on the LCPG modulator. The key feature of our polarization-independent modulator is the diffractive LCPG, whose operation and structure is outlined in Fig. 1. This grating is unique from conventional gratings in that only three orders (m=±1,0) are present, and its diffraction efficiency for unpolarized light follows [1]:
Gas path debris monitoring-a 21/sup st/ century PHM tool

In order to achieve the goal of engine health management necessary for the Prognostics and Health Management (PHM), a suite of advanced monitoring tools is required. These tools must have the capability to monitor and diagnose different aspects of the engine's health so that the combined, or fused, data and information from the tools provide an accurate picture of the current and predicted engine condition. Gas path debris monitoring is one of the tools that can be used to achieve this objective. It can be applied to the intake and exhaust of the propulsion system so that gas path component integrity can be monitored. Although the concept of gas path debris monitoring has been the subject of research and development over several years, it is still considered a novel and as yet immature technology for engine health management. The development and demonstration work during this time indicates that it has the potential to provide early detection and diagnostic capability for a range of engine faults,including foreign object ingestion. This technology, in the form of the Engine Distress Monitoring System (EDMS) and Ingested Debris Monitoring System (IDMS), was selected for the JSF seeded fault engine test program. The objective of this program was to test and evaluate the capabilities of a range of potential PHM tools using a comprehensive set of seeded engine faults and conditions. These tests have provided a clear indication of the capability of gas path debris monitoring to be a useful tool for PHM. This paper provides a detailed summary of the EDMS and IDMS results from the seeded fault tests.
A Bayesian spatio-temporal method for disease outbreak detection.

A system that monitors a region for a disease outbreak is called a disease outbreak surveillance system .A spatial surveillance system searches for patterns of disease outbreak in spatial subregions of the monitored region. A temporal surveillance system looks for emerging patterns of outbreak disease by analyzing how patterns have changed during recent periods of time. If a non-spatial, non-temporal system could be converted to a spatiotemporal one, the performance of the system might be improved in terms of early detection, accuracy, and reliability. A Bayesian network framework is proposed for a class of space-time surveillance systems called BNST. The framework is applied to a non-spatial, non-temporal disease outbreak detection system called PC in order to create the spatio-temporal system called PCTS. Differences in the detection performance of PC and PCTS are examined. The results show that the spatio-temporal Bayesian approach performs well, relative to the nonspatial, non-temporal approach.
Amplicon-Based Pyrosequencing Reveals High Diversity of Protistan Parasites in Ships’ Ballast Water: Implications for Biogeography and Infectious Diseases

Ships' ballast water (BW) commonly moves macroorganisms and microorganisms across the world's oceans and along coasts; however, the majority of these microbial transfers have gone undetected. We applied high-throughput sequencing methods to identify microbial eukaryotes, specifically emphasizing the protistan parasites, in ships' BW collected from vessels calling to the Chesapeake Bay (Virginia and Maryland, USA) from European and Eastern Canadian ports. We utilized tagged-amplicon 454 pyrosequencing with two general primer sets, amplifying either the V4 or V9 domain of the small subunit (SSU) of the ribosomal RNA (rRNA) gene complex, from total DNA extracted from water samples collected from the ballast tanks of bulk cargo vessels. We detected a diverse group of protistan taxa, with some known to contain important parasites in marine systems, including Apicomplexa (unidentified apicomplexans, unidentified gregarines, Cryptosporidium spp.), Dinophyta (Blastodinium spp., Euduboscquella sp., unidentified syndinids, Karlodinium spp., Syndinium spp.), Perkinsea (Parvilucifera sp.), Opisthokonta (Ichthyosporea sp., Pseudoperkinsidae, unidentified ichthyosporeans), and Stramenopiles (Labyrinthulomycetes). Further characterization of groups with parasitic taxa, consisting of phylogenetic analyses for four taxa (Cryptosporidium spp., Parvilucifera spp., Labyrinthulomycetes, and Ichthyosporea), revealed that sequences were obtained from both known and novel lineages. This study demonstrates that high-throughput sequencing is a viable and sensitive method for detecting parasitic protists when present and transported in the ballast water of ships. These data also underscore the potential importance of human-aided dispersal in the biogeography of these microbes and emerging diseases in the world's oceans.
Susceptibility of the Asymmetric Anderson Model: Relevance to Valence Fluctuation Compounds

This paper addresses the question of the relevance of the single-impurity Anderson model1 in understanding the temperature dependence of the susceptibility of valence-fluctuation (or inter-configuration-fluctuation) compounds.2 Our principal conclusion is that while the susceptibility of asymmetric Anderson model can mimic the observed susceptibilities, the required energy separations between various configurations of the impurity are very much smaller than present microscopic theory suggests.
Normal and abnormal transitional circulation in the IUGR infant.

A LTHOUGH MOST infants with intrauterine growth retardation (IUGR) have “normal” transitional circulation,’ some develop cardiopulmonary distress requiring appropriate cardiorespiratory support. Diagnosis and optimal management of the IUGR infant with cardiopulmonary distress during the immediate neonatal period is dependent on understanding of the characteristics of fetal, transitional, and neonatal circulation in the healthy neonate and its deviation from normal in the IUGR infant. Much of the information regarding normal transitional circulation has been obtained from studies of fetal and neonatal lamb? that, although differ from the human circulation in certain aspects, is similar to it in general. During fetal life, the right and left ventricles work in parallel; thus fetal cardiac output is nearly equal to the combined output of both ventricles. The right ventricle is dominant, accounting for approximately 60% of total cardiac output and pumps against slightly greater resistance than the left ventricle. Immediately following birth, ventilation of the lungs, in association with increased arterial oxygen tension, leads to a sharp decrease in pulmonary vascular resistance and a marked increase in pulmonary blood flow. At the same time, separation of the umbilicoplacental circulation, decreases inferior vena caval flow, which in conjunction with increased pulmonary blood flow and venous return to the left atrium, results in functional closure of the foramen ovale. Closure of the ductus arteriosus during the first 48 hours of life,’ completes the separation of the pulmonary and systemic circulations. Postnatally, the two ventricles work in series, and the neonatal cardiac output represents the vol of blood pumped by each ventricle. During normal transitional circulation, the vol pumped by the right ventricle increases cjnly slightly, whereas its afterload (pulmonary
Uniformly perfect domains and convex hulls: Improved bounds in a generalization of a theorem of Sullivan

Given a hyperbolic domain Ω, the nearest point retraction is a conformally natural homotopy equivalence from Ω to the boundary Dome(Ω) of the convex core of its complement. Marden and Markovic showed that if Ω is uniformly perfect, then there exists a conformally natural quasiconformal map from Ω to Dome(Ω) which admits a bounded homotopy to the nearest point retraction. We obtain an explicit upper bound on the quasiconformal dilatation which depends only on the injectivity radius of the domain.
Characterization of surface polishing with spindle mounted abrasive disk-type filament tool for manufacturing of machine tool sliding guideways

In order to expand the regional production of machine tools which utilize precision machined sliding guideways, cubic boron nitride (CBN) hard milling may be implemented as an alternative finish process instead of conventional surface grinding. While higher material removal rates can be achieved with a milling strategy, the use of a defined cutting edge leads to surfaces with asperities. These sharp peaks quickly wear down during sliding contact, resulting in unacceptable changes in the load bearing surface of the guide. Therefore, a post process to milling must be implemented to mitigate these features. This paper investigates the use of a spindle mounted abrasive disk filament tool for producing a functional surface similar to the ground surfaces. The optimal process parameters were investigated using 2D profile measurements, followed by comparison using areal analysis of ground, milled, and polished surfaces. It was found that polishing reduces both the height and volume of asperities on the milled surface, leading to contact characteristics which were more similar to those of the conventional ground surfaces currently used for sliding guideways.
Selective Toxicity of Four O-(methylcarbomyl) Oximes to the House Fly and the Honey Bee

Selectivity between the house fly, Musca domestica L., and the honey bee, Apis mellifera L., was investigated with 4 O -(methylcarbamoyl) oxime compounds including Temik® (2-methyl-2-(methylthio) proprionaldehyde O -(methylcarbamoyl) oxime), UC 28982 (2-norbornanone O-(methylcarbamoyl) oxime), DC 27609 ( exo -3-chloro-2-norborna-none O -(methylcarbomoyl) oxime), and Tranid®, (exo-5-chloro-6-oxo- endo -2-norbornanecarbonitrile O -(methylcar-bamoyl) oxime. On the basis of both topical drop and oral LD50’s and LD05’s, Temik, UC 28982, UC 27609, and Tranid were significantly more toxic to the honey bee than to the house fly, indicating an unfavorable selectivity for the bee. With topical drop application, selectivity ratios (house fly/honey bee) ranged from 16.5 with Tranid to 2.5 with Temik. The compounds ranked: Tranid>UC 27609>UC 28982>Temik. With oral administration, selectivity ratios varied from 7.9 with DC 27609 to 2.5 with Tumid. At LD50 the compounds ranked DC 27609>Tranid>UC 28982> Temik; at LD95, DC 27609>DC 28982>Tranid>Temik. Temik was the most toxic material tested based on both oral and topical drop studies. Tranid was the least toxic material tested, and demonstrated little, if any insecticidal action. DC 27609 and 28982 were intermediate. Temik, DC 28982, DC 27609, and Tranid were more toxic by the oral route than by topical drop application to both test insects.
Abstract 2495: The autophagy inducing drug carbamazepine is a radiation protector and mitigator

Proceedings: AACR 102nd Annual Meeting 2011‐‐ Apr 2‐6, 2011; Orlando, FL The role of autophagy in cellular response to radiation is controversial. Some investigators report that induction of autophagy increases radiosensitivity whereas others report that it confers radioresistance. Carbamazepine, traditionally used to treat mood disorders, epilepsy and trigeminal neuralgia, has recently been shown to induce autophagy. We hypothesized that carbamazepine would be radioprotective in vitro and in vivo by upregulating autophagy in cells and tissue after irradiation. In clonogenic assays of murine hematopoietic progenitor cells (32Dcl3), carbamazepine at 1, 10 and 100 uM for 1 hour prior to irradiation (0 – 8 Gy) increased the Do from 1.5 ± 0.1 to 2.1 ± 0.1 (p = 0.011), 2.3 ± 0.1 (p = 0.010), and 3.6 ± 0.7 (p = 0.003), respectively. Carbamazepine after irradiation increased the shoulder (n) on the survival curve from 1.4 ± 0.3 to 10.1 ± 4.2 (p = 0.011), 5.5 ± 1.7 (p = 0.018), or 3.6 ± 0.8 (p = 0.014), respectively. C57BL/6NHsd mice with intraperitoneal injection of carbamazepine (20 mg/kg) immediately before or after 9.25 Gy irradiation demonstrated increased survival (p = 0.008 and 0.005, respectively). JC1 stain and TUNEL assay revealed that carbamazepine had no effect on changes in mitochondria potential or apoptosis, respectively, following 5 or 10 Gy. Immunoblot for LC3 in 32Dcl3 cells 24 hours after irradiation revealed a 3.3x (5 Gy) and 6.2x (10 Gy) increase in LC3II/LC3I when cells were incubated in 50 uM carbamazepine. Cells irradiated in the absence of carbamazepine exhibited a 1.3x (5 Gy) and 1.8x (10 Gy) LC3II/LC3I increase, respectively. This data suggest that carbamazepine may be a valuable radiation mitigator by upregulating autophagy in irradiated cells. Supported by 2U19A1068021-06 Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 102nd Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2011 Apr 2-6; Orlando, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2011;71(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 2495. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2011-2495
A Therapeutic Antibody for Cancer, Derived from Single Human B Cells.

Some patients with cancer never develop metastasis, and their host response might provide cues for innovative treatment strategies. We previously reported an association between autoantibodies against complement factor H (CFH) and early-stage lung cancer. CFH prevents complement-mediated cytotoxicity (CDC) by inhibiting formation of cell-lytic membrane attack complexes on self-surfaces. In an effort to translate these findings into a biologic therapy for cancer, we isolated and expressed DNA sequences encoding high-affinity human CFH antibodies directly from single, sorted B cells obtained from patients with the antibody. The co-crystal structure of a CFH antibody-target complex shows a conformational change in the target relative to the native structure. This recombinant CFH antibody causes complement activation and release of anaphylatoxins, promotes CDC of tumor cell lines, and inhibits tumor growth in vivo. The isolation of anti-tumor antibodies derived from single human B cells represents an alternative paradigm in antibody drug discovery.
The definition of the thermodynamic entropy in statistical mechanics

Abstract A definition of the thermodynamic entropy based on the time-dependent probability distribution of the macroscopic variables is developed. When a constraint in a composite system is released, the probability distribution for the new equilibrium values goes to a narrow peak. Defining the entropy by the logarithm of the probability distribution automatically makes it a maximum at the equilibrium values, so it satisfies the Second Law. It also satisfies the postulates of thermodynamics. Objections to this definition by Dieks and Peters are discussed and resolved.