cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Unmanned Capabilities and the Future of Great Power Competition and Conflict

In this paper, we explore previous military revolutions to develop a potential theory of unmanned warfare that pivots away from range or maneuver (two of the dominant characteristics of current discussions about unmanned advantages) and focuses instead on force protection and risk in competition and mass and economic cost in conflict. Mitigating economic cost helps create mass and increase firepower while mitigating political cost allows states to use weapon systems without disenfranchising domestic populations (important for post levee en masse conflicts where the American public is less tolerant of US casualties, or in escalating conflicts with adversaries willing to sustain costs over time).
Shells of Sandwich Construction

Sandwich construction, like the name implies, usually consists of two faces which are kept separated by a core. The facings usually carry the in-plane primary loads (tensile, compressive, and in-plane shear), while the core (analogous to the web of an I-beam) resists the transverse shear loads. The two faces usually are composed of the same material, and have the same thickness (tf), which places the neutral surface of bending at the mid-plane of the sandwich cross-section, as shown in Figure 24.1 (a).
The effects of PCB's (Aroclors 1254 and 1016) on fertilization and morphology in Arbacia punctulata

This study examined the effects of exposing the eggs of the purple sea urchin (Arbacia punctulata) to two commercial polychlorinated biphenyl mixtures (PCB's), Aroclors 1254 and 1016, on fertilization through pluteus (larva) development. Eggs were exposed to various concentrations of the PCB's (0.5, 1.0, 5.0, and 10.0 mg L−1) beginning 25 min prior to insemination, with continuous exposure post-insemination for the 72 hr observation period employed in this study. The PCB's were administered as a component of a filtered sea water (FSW) medium. A FSW control and a FSW-acetone conditioned control where used since acetone was utilized in a 49 : 1, acetone: PCB ratio, to emulsify the PCB's. Since Arbacia eggs cleave synchronously following insemination, the percentage of the eggs cleaving at 1.75 hr post-insemination was used to determine the fertilization efficiency. Pluteus development and morphology was assayed at 24 hr intervals. The results of the fertilization efficiency studies were tested using Chi square and Pearson's-Product-Moment-Correlation Coefficient (r) at a 95% level of confidence. The morphology data were treated with a two-tailed t-test (99% confidence level) and (r). Both PCB's affected fertilization efficiency with the Aroclor 1016 being an order of magnitude more toxic than the Aroclor 1254. Likewise, both Aroclors were toxic to the pluteus development process with Aroclor 1016 being the more toxic of the two mixtures. At the highest PCB level employed, Aroclor 1254 proved more lethally toxic than Aroclor 1016 although both treatment-groups exhibited more than 90% toxicity to the morphogenic process.
Density-gradient enrichment of newly-formed mouse erythrocytes: Application to the micronucleus test

Abstract To facilitate scoring micronuclei in peripheral blood erythrocytes, we have developed a centrifugation method to concentrate polychromatic and newly-formed normochromatic erythrocytes from microliter quantities of blood in a Percoll density gradient. Erythrocytes were separated into two discrete bands in a continuous gradient generated in situ in a microhematocrit capillary tube. The upper band contained white blood cells and a mixture of polychromatic and young normochromatic erythrocytes with a density of 1.080–1.082 g/ml. More than 75% of the polychromatic erythrocytes in samples of normal blood were recovered in the upper band. Older normochromatic erythrocytes migrated to the lower band. The frequency of polychromatic erythrocytes was increased from approximately 2% in whole blood to 60–80% in the upper band. After clastogen treatments, the elevated frequencies of micronuclei in the upper band polychromatic erythrocytes were similar to those in unfractionated blood. The frequencies of micronucleated normochromatic erythrocytes in the upper band were higher than those in whole blood at 48, 72 and 96 h after clastogen treatment, consistent with the expectation that the low-density normochromatic cells are newly derived from polychromatic erythrocytes. This density-gradient centrifugation technique enhances the efficiency of scoring micronuclei in the acute peripheral blood micronucleus test.
Improving language and literacy is a matter of time

Developmental deficits that affect speech perception increase the risk of language and literacy problems, which can lead to lowered academic and occupational accomplishment. Normal development and disorders of speech perception have both been linked to temporospectral auditory processing speed. Understanding the role of dynamic auditory processing in speech perception and language comprehension has led to the development of neuroplasticity-based intervention strategies aimed at ameliorating language and literacy problems and their sequelae.
Maternal Mortality: First Symptom Through the Trial

nmy 30-yearcareeras a laborand birth nurse ina Level III hospital, I have sadly lost count of thenumber and types of unexpected outcomes. Thework that has come out inthe area of professionalshelping grieving clients has been very bene¢cial.An extensive network has emerged, oiering sup-port to grieving parents and their families as wellas education to empathetic care providers. How-ever, therehas not been much information/supportavailablefor the caregivers.Besides,manyofusaremore comfortable oiering support rather thanseekingor receivingit.Weinthehealth careprofes-sions know how others should grieve, but whatabout us?Caregivers often receive messages during trainingand from society and their experienced peers thatthey should be able to handle whatever traumaticevents occur. The saying that I heard as a newnurse was, ‘‘If you can’t take the heat, move fromthe ¢re.’’ Some caregivers wear their traumas asbadges of courage.With this type of example beingset, it isn’t surprising that intense feelings of be-reavement and grief about a patient often seeminappropriate or unacceptable.Caregivers counseltheir patients not to expect perfection from them-selves and give them permission to grieve butexpectsuperhuman eiort fromthemselves.Nearly half of all employee turnover in a work set-ting is due to stress. Unusual situations, such asmaternal mortality, stillbirth, unexpected placentalaccreta resulting in massive hemorrhage and hys-terectomy, violence in the workplace, and morecanoccur inanobstetricunit.Theseincidentsoftenlead to unrecognized and unresolved psychologi-cal trauma in survivors, witnesses and personnel.There has long been evidence that critical incidentstressdebrie¢ng(CISD)canhelpemergencyrespond-ers decrease psychological disturbances by as muchas 60%. There is emerging evidence that CISD onsmaller scale incidents can help employers supporttheir employees who are at risk for CIS and posttrau-matic stress. Aspainful as grief is internalized, silentordeniedgriefismorepainfulandhasincreaseddeleteri-ous eiects onhealth care workers.The journey of grief for caregivers has one added,often overlooked, component: CIS. I cannot thinkofa more catastrophic, unthinkable aspect of laborandbirththanmaternalmortality.Obstetriclawsuitsoutnumberall others in health care with the largestpayout. They can change your life, causing anger,fear, shame, and anxiety. Health care providers areoften referred toas‘‘the second victims.’’This session follows a journey through a critical in-cident showing how it had a life of its own. Thissession describes how one nurse got through itand rather than leaving obstetrics altogether hasstrived to make it better for those of us who havethe courage and stamina to do the important workofhelpingfamiliesbringnewlifeintothe world.
Cosmological Implications of the First Measurement of the Local ISM Abundance of 3He

Deuterium plays a crucial role in testing big bang nucleosynthesis. However, its chemical evolution is intertwined with that of 3He. Gloeckler & Geiss's new measurement of the 3He abundance and the Hubble Space Telescope measurement of D, both in the local ISM today, can be compared to the presolar nebula abundances of D and 3He. Within the uncertainties, the sum of D +3He relative to hydrogen is unchanged. This indicates that over the past 4.5 Gyr there has been at most modest stellar production of 3He, in contradiction with stellar modeling, or modest stellar destruction of 3He, in contradiction with efficient "solar spoons." The constancy of D +3He alleviates some of the cosmic tension between the big bang 4He abundance and those of D and 3He.
Binding Force Dynamics of Streptococcus mutans–glucosyltransferase B to Candida albicans

Candida albicans cells are often detected with Streptococcus mutans in plaque biofilms from children affected with early childhood caries. The coadhesion between these 2 organisms appears to be largely mediated by the S. mutans-derived exoenzyme glucosyltransferase B (GtfB); GtfB readily binds to C. albicans cells in an active form, producing glucans locally that provide enhanced binding sites for S. mutans. However, knowledge is limited about the mechanisms by which the bacterial exoenzyme binds to and functions on the fungal surface to promote this unique cross-kingdom interaction. In this study, we use atomic force microscopy to understand the strength and binding dynamics modulating GtfB-C. albicans adhesive interactions in situ. Single-molecule force spectroscopy with GtfB-functionalized atomic force microscopy tips demonstrated that the enzyme binds with remarkable strength to the C. albicans cell surface (~2 nN) and showed a low dissociation rate, suggesting a highly stable bond. Strikingly, the binding strength of GtfB to the C. albicans surface was ~2.5-fold higher and the binding stability, ~20 times higher, as compared with the enzyme adhesion to S. mutans. Furthermore, adhesion force maps showed an intriguing pattern of GtfB binding. GtfB adhered heterogeneously on the surface of C. albicans, showing a higher frequency of adhesion failure but large sections of remarkably strong binding forces, suggesting the presence of GtfB binding domains unevenly distributed on the fungal surface. In contrast, GtfB bound uniformly across the S. mutans cell surface with less adhesion failure and a narrower range of binding forces (vs. the C. albicans surface). The data provide the first insights into the mechanisms underlying the adhesive and mechanical properties governing GtfB interactions with C. albicans. The strong and highly stable GtfB binding to C. albicans could explain, at least in part, why this bacterially derived exoenzyme effectively modulates this virulent cross-kingdom interaction.
Compact image representation from multiscale edges

The edges of an image can be detected at different scales from the local maxima of its wavelet transform. an algorithm is described that reconstructs images from their edges at dyadic scales. The wavelet maxima representation is a novel reorganization of the image information that makes it possible to develop algorithms uniquely based on edges for solving image processing and computer vision problems. The evolution of the wavelet maxima across scales gives a precise characterization of the edge type which can be used for pattern recognition. A coding algorithm is described that selects the most important image edges in order to obtain a compact representation. >
Analysis of crosstalk between retinoic acid and sonic hedgehog pathways following ethanol exposure in embryonic zebrafish.

BACKGROUND Ethanol is a teratogen affecting numerous regions of the developing nervous system. The present study was undertaken to ascertain whether ethanol independently disrupts distinct signaling pathways or rather disrupts interactive pathways that regulate development of ethanol-sensitive tissues. METHODS Zebrafish embryos were exposed to ethanol in the absence or presence of aldh1a3 or Shh morpholino oligonucleotides (MOs), which disrupt retinoic acid (RA) or sonic hedgehog (Shh) function, respectively. Morphological analysis of ocular or midbrain-hindbrain boundary (MHB) development was conducted, and the ability to rescue ethanol and MO-induced phenotypes was assessed. In situ hybridization was used to analyze Pax6a expression during ocular development. RESULTS Chronic ethanol exposure, or combined ethanol and MO treatment, results in perturbed MHB formation and microphthalmia. While RA can rescue the MHB phenotype following ethanol combined with either MO, Shh mRNA is unable to rescue the disrupted MHB with combined ethanol and aldh1a3 MO treatment. RA also is unable to rescue microphthalmia induced by ethanol and Shh MO. CONCLUSION These studies demonstrate that while reduction of either RA or Shh signaling produces the same disruption of MHB or ocular development, that can be phenocopied using ethanol combined with either MO, RA overexpression can only rescue disrupted MHB, but not microphthalmia, in combined subthreshold Shh MO and ethanol. Our data suggest that MHB development may involve crosstalk between RA and Shh signaling, while ocular development depends on RA and Shh signaling that both are targets of ethanol in fetal alcohol spectrum disorders but do not depend on a mechanism involving crosstalk.
Today I'll use a condom, but who knows about tomorrow: a daily process study of variability in predictors of condom use.

OBJECTIVE: Most models of health behavior change applied to condom use behavior have focused on individual differences in theoretical constructs to explain condom use or nonuse while ignoring the possibility that day-to-day within-person changes in these constructs may contribute to understanding behavior. The goal of the present study was to investigate day-to-day variability in condom use attitudes self-efficacy and behavioral intentions and assess the utility of this variability in predicting the likelihood of condom use each day. DESIGN: A 30-day Web-based structured daily diary was used to collect daily reports of sexual behaviors and data on theoretical predictors of condom use behavior from sexually active college students (N = 116). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The authors investigated whether condom use attitudes self-efficacy and behavioral intentions vary day to day; whether this within-person variability predicts condom use behavior; and whether negative affective states explain this variability. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: Within-person variability was found for each of the constructs. Within-person day-to-day changes in behavioral intentions and attitudes predicted the instances in which an individual used a condom and daily negative affect partially explained within-person day-to-day changes in behavioral intentions and self-efficacy. Implications for models of health behavior change and for behavior change interventions are discussed.
Adiabatic phase transformations in confinement

The phase diagram of small one-component particles has been analyzed under conditions of thermal insulation, i.e., conservation of energy. In large isolated systems the absolute stability belongs to heterogeneous states with phase separation. However, for small particles the global stability analysis shows a considerable extension of the single-phase regions into a two-phase zone of the phase diagram. Moreover, for very fine particles with sizes only 5-20 times exceeding interfacial thickness, phase separation does not occur at all and the equilibrium is achieved on homogeneous transition states that can never be obtained in bulk samples because of their absolute instability. The thermodynamic and dynamical explanations are presented. This type of a small-particle phase diagram may be relevant to the theory of amorphization, magnetocaloric effect, and nanophase composite materials where small particles or thin whiskers, capable of undergoing a transition, are immersed into a poorly conducting matrix. In case of small particles of solid solution, where mass conservation replaces the conservation of energy, present results predict the appearance of new stable phases with compositions deeply inside the miscibility gap.
Hybridization barriers between wheat and rye: In vitro pollen assays and electrophoretic survey

Five- to seven-day-old ovaries from Triticum aestivum vars Hope (non-crossable), Chinese Spring (CS, crossable) and the chromosomal substitution line Chinese Spring/Hope 5B (CS/H5B) were used to test the hypothesis that an ovarian substance inhibits rye (Secale cereale var Wrens) pollen tube growth. In vitro assays on a semi-solid medium demonstrated that a soluble, dialyzed lysate from Hope or CS/H5B ovaries inhibited rye pollen tube elongation significantly more than a similar lysate from CS ovaries (26%, 13% and 5% respectively compared to controls). When only the 20 longest tubes from each sample were included in the analysis the relationship was maintained (33%, 22% and 15% for Hope, CS/H5B and CS respectively). Heating the Hope lysate at 100° C for 10 min reduced the inhibition from 26% to 14% for all pollen tubes measured (n = 51 per sample) and from 33% to 20% when only the 20 longest pollen tubes per sample were analyzed. Isoelectric focusing followed by sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide electrophoresis (IEF/SDS-PAGE) and non-equilibrium pH gradient electrophoresis (NEPHGE) revealed several differences in the polypeptide profiles of soluble lysates from vars Hope, CS and CS/H5B. While two striking differences were observed, a 50 kilodalton (kD) polypeptide with an isoelectric point (pI) of approximately 8.5 and 100 kD polypeptide (pI∼4) from CS lysates which were considerably reduced in lysates of Hope and CS/H5B, none were obviously associated with the Hope 5B chromosome and therefore cross-incompatibility.
Revision Arthroscopic Rotator Cuff Repair: Repair Integrity and Clinical Outcome

BACKGROUND: Literature regarding the outcomes of revision rotator cuff repair is limited. The purposes of the present study were to report the tendon repair integrity and clinical outcomes for a cohort of patients following revision arthroscopic rotator cuff repair and to examine factors related to tendon healing and the influence of healing on clinical outcomes. METHODS: Twenty-one of twenty-nine consecutive revision arthroscopic rotator cuff repairs with a minimum of two years of postoperative follow-up were retrospectively reviewed. Outcomes were evaluated on the basis of a visual analog pain scale, the range of motion of the shoulder, the Simple Shoulder Test, the American Shoulder and Elbow Surgeons score, and the Constant score. Ultrasonography was used to examine repair integrity at a minimum of one year following surgery. Ten shoulders underwent arthroscopic repair of a recurrent single-tendon posterior rotator cuff tear, whereas eleven shoulders had repair of both the supraspinatus and infraspinatus. RESULTS: The mean age of the twenty-one subjects was 55.6 years; thirteen subjects were male and eight were female. Complete preoperative and postoperative clinical data were available for nineteen subjects after an average duration of follow-up of thirty-three months. Significant improvements were seen in terms of postoperative pain (p < 0.05), the Simple Shoulder Test score (p < 0.05), the American Shoulder and Elbow Surgeons function (p < 0.05) and total scores (p < 0.05), active forward elevation (p < 0.05), and active external rotation (p < 0.05). Postoperative ultrasound data were available for all twenty-one shoulders after a mean duration of follow-up of twenty-five months. Ten (48%) of the twenty-one shoulders had an intact repair. Seven (70%) of the ten single-tendon repairs were intact, compared with three (27%) of the eleven supraspinatus/infraspinatus repairs (p = 0.05). Patient age (p < 0.05) and the number of torn tendons (p = 0.05) had significant effects on postoperative tendon repair integrity. Shoulders with an intact repair had better postoperative Constant scores (p < 0.05) and scapular plane elevation strength (p < 0.05) in comparison with those with a recurrent tear. CONCLUSIONS: Revision arthroscopic rotator cuff repair results in reliable pain relief and improvement in shoulder function in selected cases. Approximately half of the revision repairs can be expected to be intact at a minimum of one year following surgery. Patient age and the number of torn tendons are related to postoperative tendon integrity. The postoperative integrity of the rotator cuff can have a significant influence on shoulder abduction strength and the Constant score. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Therapeutic Level IV. See Instructions to Authors for a complete description of levels of evidence. ORIGINAL ABSTRACT CITATION: “Revision Arthroscopic Rotator Cuff Repair: Repair Integrity and Clinical Outcome” (2010;92:590-8).
Bringing the State (Government) Back In Home Rule and the Politics of Secession in Los Angeles and New York City

Theories of urban power have explored limitations on municipal governance by power elites, by global economic forces, and by economic competition. Less attention has been given to the impact of state government. This article explores the state role in recent secession conflicts in Los Angeles (San Fernando Valley) and New York City (Staten Island). Secession proponents expanded the scope of conflict to their state governments. Although both cities eventually survived secession battles, both were forced to accede to significant reforms. Though state interference with home rule is always a possibility because of the formidable role of the state in local government, it is not inevitable. The capacity of local political actors to form alliances at the state level and political incentives for state actors to get involved are crucial. Older debates about state limitations on urban home rule have much to offer in discussions of the twenty-first-century city.
Multi-outlet firms, competition and market segmentation strategies

Abstract This paper examines horizontal differentiation between outlets serving a market characterized by a geographic dimension and a quality dimension. It departs from the bulk of the location literature by assuming that some firms own several outlets and serve the market from these multiple locations. The paper contrasts a strategy of homogeneous store quality with a strategy of heterogeneous quality. For both strategies, competition between multi-outlet firms is articulated around two main forces whose interplay controls the geography and value offering of the industry. The reservation price of consumers for shopping at less than ideal outlets pushes outlets apart, whereas the probabilistic nature of outlet patronage fosters the aggregation of outlets. The relative strength of each force changes with the conditions of the market. Simulation results also highlight the impact of market strategies on competitive behavior. The constraint of the same value position has little or no influence on industry-wide differentiation for reservation utilities that are large or small enough. For intermediate reservation disutilities, the constraint serves to preserve the geographic spread of outlets until firms are better off aggregating both in value and geographically.
Glucagon, stress, and portal hypertension - Plasma glucagon levels and portal hypertension in relation to anesthesia and surgical stress

Glucagon has been proposed as the mediator of splanchnic hyperemia in portal hypertension. Employing an assay specific for pancreatic glucagon, we reevaluated the relationship between this peptide and portal hypertension in the portal vein (PV)-stenosed rat model addressing, in particular, the effects of anesthetic and surgical stress. Plasma glucagon levels were similar in sham-operated and portal hypertensive rats: glucagon, sham vs PV stenosed: 110.7±17.1 pmol/liter vs 140.6±23.3 pmol/liter (NS). Furthermore, plasma levels of glucagon and the related peptide VIP were not significantly influenced by anesthesia or surgical stress, and levels remained similar under all conditions in sham-operated and PV-stenosed animals. We conclude that pancreatic glucagon is not elevated in the PV-stenosed rat: differences between these results and those describing hyperglucagonemia in this model cannot be explained on the basis of a differential response to stress but may reflect differences in glucagon assay system.
A simple digital phase-shifter for multiple-quantum NMR

A simple design for a computer-controlled digital phase shifter is described. The device provides 24 different phases in increments of 15 Deg, though arbitrary increments can be obtained using the same basic approach. [on SciFinder (R)]
Adverse neonatal outcomes: examining the risks between preterm, late preterm, and term infants

Objective There is a relative paucity of data regarding neonatal outcomes in the late preterm cohort (34 to 36 6/7 weeks). This study sought to assess differences in adverse outcomes between infants delivering 32 to 33 6/7, 34 to 36 6/7 weeks, and 37 weeks or later. Study Design Data were collected as part of a retrospective cohort study of preterm labor patients (2002-2005). Patients delivering 32 weeks or later were included (n = 264). The incidence of adverse outcomes was assessed. Significant associations between outcomes and gestational age at delivery were determined using χ 2 analyses and Poisson regression modeled cumulative incidence and controlled for confounders. Results Late preterm infants have increased risk of adverse outcomes, compared with term infants. Controlling for confounders, there was a 23% decrease in adverse outcomes with each week of advancing gestational age between 32 and 39 completed weeks (relative risk 0.77, P Conclusion Further investigation regarding obstetrical management and long-term outcomes for this cohort is warranted.
The dissociation-induced displacement of chemisorbed O2 by mobile O atoms and the autocatalytic recombination of O due to chain fragmentation on Ag(110)

Abstract The interplay between thermal desorption of chemisorbed dioxygen and its dissociation was studied with temperature programmed methods. Analysis of the kinetics of molecular desorption and the fraction of adsorbed molecules which dissociate is consistent with a model in which oxygen atoms released by the dissociation event induce desorption of the molecular species. These unequilibrated atoms exhibit a mean free path relative to the chemisorbed dioxygen of 1.8 nm prior to thermalization with the surface, displacing chemisorbed dioxygen within their reach. Each dissociation event leads to desorption of two oxygen molecules if the space between chemisorbed molecules approaches the minimum of 0.58 nm. This condition can be achieved experimentally by saturating the population of chemisorbed dioxygen (0.33 ML O2) at 90–100 K. Oxygen adatoms recombine near 580 K from the reconstructed (n × 1)-O adlayer with kinetics dictated by progressive fragmentation of the O(AgO)m rows. This behavior gives rise to autocatalytic recombination kinetics of oxygen adatoms which produces both an acceleration of rate at constant temperature and unusual recombination kinetics in temperature programmed desorption.
Chemical Changes in Cutin Obtained from Cuticles Isolated by the Zinc Chloride-Hydrochloric Acid Method

The composition of Malus pumila Mill. cutin from cuticles isolated using ZnCl2-HCl reagent has been compared to that isolated by an oxalate-enzymic method. Molecular changes were observed and included the loss of unsaturated components and hydroxyl groups. Such changes may alter the results of physiochemical investigations of cuticles.
Resources for Single Parent Families

Single and primary parents can benefit from external resources which support their parenting activities. This paper identi- fies examples of supportive organizations which are currently avail- able. These resources offer information, advocacy, peer-support and options for professional services. When possible, national headquar- ters are listed as a primary source of information. Informal resources for locating local organizations are also described. These organiza- tions are also of value to the general population of parents and grandparents.
Profile-guided I/O partitioning

In the field of high performance computing there is a growing need to process large, complex datasets. Many of these applications are file-intensive workloads, performing a large number of reads from and writes to a small number of files. When executing these workloads on cluster-based systems, performance cannot scale by simply increasing the number of compute nodes. To effectively exploit parallel resources we need to parallelize file I/O. The potential impact of exploiting parallel I/O grows as the gap between CPU and disk speeds continues to increase.While parallel I/O middleware systems (e.g., MPI I/O) provide users with environments where large datasets can be shared among multiple distributed processes, the performance of file-intensive applications depends heavily on how the data is accessed and where the data is physically located on disk. I/O operations need to be parallelized both at the application level (using middleware) and at the disk level (using partitioning).In this paper, we present a new profile-guided greedy partitioning algorithm to parallelize I/O access for file-intensive applications run on cluster-based systems. We are using MPI and MPI I/O to provide parallelization at the application level. We utilize I/O profiling to capture relevant information about the I/O stream. We then use these profiles to guide file partitioning across multiple disks to significantly improve I/O throughput.
New analytical technique for characterization of thin films using surface plasmon resonance

Abstract A theoretical technique is presented for simultaneously determining the thickness and dispersive refractive index of a homogeneous thin film applied to a surface plasmon resonance sensor. The technique has the potential for real-time characterization of film parameters while immersed in air, vacuum or liquid media. Experimental realization requires a calibrated wavelength-modulated surface plasmon resonance sensor that is measured at several angles of illumination. A fine-tuned numerical model is used to generate general solutions that describe the sensor response for each angle of illumination. A differential technique and an assumption of a linear dispersion are used to produce a unique solution for the thickness and dispersive refractive index of the film. For a simulated 183 nm thick glass film, results shows 1% thickness prediction error and refractive index prediction error on the order of 3 × 10−3.
The Role of Local Microstructure on Small Fatigue Crack Propagation in an α + β Titanium Alloy, Ti-6Al-2Sn-4Zr-6Mo

Microstructural origins of the variability in fatigue lifetime observed in the high- and very-high-cycle fatigue regimes in titanium alloys were explored by examining the role of microstructural heterogeneity (neighborhoods of grains with similar crystallographic orientations or microtexture) on the initiation and early growth of fatigue cracks in Ti-6246. Ultrasonic fatigue of focused ion beam (FIB) micronotched samples was used to investigate long lifetime (107 to 109) behavior for two microstructural conditions: one with microtexture and one without microtexture. For specimens containing notches of nominally 20 μm in length, fatigue crack initiation in the microtextured material was most likely to occur from notches placed in neighborhoods with a microtexture favorably oriented for easy basal slip. Initiation lifetimes in the untextured material with similar sized notches were, on average, slightly greater than those for the microtextured condition. In both materials, the crack-initiation lifetime from micronotches of length 2c > 20 μm was a very small fraction (<1 pct) of the measured fatigue lifetime for unnotched specimens. Furthermore, in the microtextured condition, small fatigue crack propagation rates did not correlate with the microtextured regions and did not statistically differ from average small crack growth rates in the untextured material. As the micronotch size was reduced below 20 μm, fatigue crack initiation was controlled by microstructure rather than by FIB-machined defects. Finally, predictions of the fraction of life consumed in small and long fatigue crack growth from preexisting cracks nominally equivalent in size to the micronotches was compared with the measured fatigue life of unnotched specimens. The predicted range of lifetimes when factoring in the experimentally observed variability in small fatigue crack growth, only accounted for 0.1 pct of the observed fatigue lifetime variability. These findings indicate that in the high-and very-high-cycle fatigue regimes, fatigue life is dominated by crack initiation and that the variation in the initiation lifetime is responsible for the observed variation in total fatigue life.
An absorbing problem.

SSESSMENT life-long resident of Baltimore, Maryland, the patient lived here with her husband and children and worked full-time as a uman resources manager. She was a non-smoker and reported o alcohol or illicit drug use. Her only medicine was a multiitamin which she took occasionally. She practiced no dietary estrictions, including red meat. The patient’s past medical istory was significant for 3 uncomplicated vaginal deliveries. er mother had a history of atherosclerotic vascular disease, nd her father and brother were well. None of her 3 children, ges 7, 8, and 12, had any medical history, including iron eficiency. Upon review of her symptoms, the patient reported cravings or ice, restless legs, and fatigue. She described episodes of ightheadedness, occasional left-hand numbness and tingling, nd 1 pre-syncopal episode. She denied gasterointestinal bleedng, menorrhagia, blood transfusion history, pain in her mouth, ietary restrictions or changes, food allergies, weight changes, iarrhea, constipation, dyspepsia, lactose intolerance, nausea, omiting, abdominal bloating or pain, rashes or skin lesions. The physical examination revealed a pale woman in no istress. She was afebrile, blood pressure of 118/63, pulse 76, ormal respirations, and a weight of 56.9 kilograms (125.1 ounds). She was not orthostatic. Her sclera and conjunctivae ere normal. Cardiac exam revealed a normal S1 and S2 and faint systolic ejection murmur. The lungs were clear to
The disruptive effects of the CB1 receptor antagonist rimonabant on extinction learning in mice are task-specific

Disruption of CB1 receptor signaling through the use of CB1 (−/−) mice or the CB1 receptor antagonist rimonabant (SR141716) has been demonstrated to impair extinction of learned responses in conditioned fear and Morris water maze tasks. In contrast, CB1 (−/−) mice exhibited normal extinction rates in an appetitively motivated operant conditioning task. The purpose of this study was to test whether rimonabant would differentially disrupt extinction learning between fear-motivated and food-motivated tasks. Separate groups of C57BL/6J mice were trained in two aversively motivated tasks, conditioned freezing and passive avoidance, and an appetitively motivated operant conditioning task at a fixed ratio (FR-5) schedule of food reinforcement. After acquisition, the respective reinforcers in each task were withheld, and an intraperitoneal injection of vehicle or rimonabant was given 30 min before each extinction session. Rimonabant (3 mg/kg) treatment significantly disrupted extinction in both the conditioned freezing and passive avoidance tasks but failed to affect extinction rates in the operant conditioning task, whether using daily or weekly extinction sessions. Interestingly, rimonabant (3 mg/kg) prevented the significant increases in lever pressing (i.e., extinction burst) that occurred during the first extinction session of the operant conditioning task. These results support the hypothesis that the CB1 receptor plays a vital role in the extinction of aversive memories but is not essential for extinction of learned responses in appetitively motivated tasks.
Coal solubilization. Promotion of the C-alkylation reaction by n-butyllithium and potassium tert-butoxide

A new base-catalyzed C-alkylation reaction that employs a mixture of n-butyllithium and potassium tert-butoxide in refluxing heptane to produce coal anions that are subsequently treated with n-alkyl halides at 0°C has been developed and applied. In this situation relatively mild chemical reactions, such as C-alkylation, that lead to modest changes in molecular dimensions can disrupt intermolecular forces and accomplish solubilization of the high-rank coals
Referees in the armaments race: international inspection teams

In the nuclear test-ban negotiations which have taken place over the past year, the key problem has been the controversy over the nature of the proposed international inspection system. As the negotiations began, two pioneering studies on methods of armament control appeared. One, Melman's Inspection for Disarmament (jointly sponsored by the Institute for International Order and the Institute of War and Peace
Characterization of N-linked oligosaccharides by affinoblotting with concanavalin A−peroxidase and treatment of the blots with glycosidases

Glycoproteins which bind concanavalin A (Con A) can be located on nitrocellulose sheets after electrophoretic transfer from slab gels, by sequential incubation of the sheets with Con A and peroxidase, and visualization of the peroxidase by an insoluble reaction product. We refer to this method as affinoblotting. Differential elution of Con A from the blots by washing the sheets with different concentrations of alpha-methylglycosides is used to demonstrate the affinity of Con A for the oligosaccharide side chains, and to differentiate between proteins with weak and those with high affinity for Con A. Concanavalin A has a high affinity for the four plant glycoproteins (phaseolin, phytohemagglutinin, jackbean alpha-mannosidase, and the glycosylated precursor of Con A) studied here. Incubation of the blots with alpha-mannosidase and endoglycosidase H (endo H) is used to demonstrate that the oligosaccharide chains can be degraded by glycosidases while the proteins are immobilized on the nitrocellulose. With this approach we show here that the four plant glycoproteins used as models in this study interact with Con A through high-mannose oligosaccharide side chains sensitive to alpha-mannosidase and endo H degradation.
Phenotypic analysis of temperature-sensitive yeast actin mutants

The consequences of two different mutations in the single essential actin structural gene of yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) were studied. Both conditional-lethal actin mutants exhibit six phenotypes at the restrictive temperature: disruption of the asymmetric staining pattern of actin assembly; delocalized deposition of chitin on the cell surface; partial inhibition of secretion of the periplasmic protein, invertase; an intracellular accumulation of secretory vesicles; death of cells in the budded portion of the cell cycle upon prolonged incubation at the restrictive condition; and osmotic sensitivity. These results implicate actin in the organization and polarized growth of the yeast cell surface.
Chemical derivatization of peptide carboxyl groups for highly efficient electron transfer dissociation

The carboxyl groups of tryptic peptides were derivatized with a tertiary or quaternary amine labeling reagent to generate more highly charged peptide ions that fragment efficiently by electron transfer dissociation (ETD). All peptide carboxyl groups—aspartic and glutamic acid side-chains as well as C-termini—were derivatized with an average reaction efficiency of 99 %. This nearly complete labeling avoids making complex peptide mixtures even more complex because of partially-labeled products, and it allows the use of static modifications during database searching. Alkyl tertiary amines were found to be the optimal labeling reagent among the four types tested. Charge states are substantially higher for derivatized peptides: a modified tryptic digest of bovine serum albumin (BSA) generates ~90% of its precursor ions with z > 2, compared with less than 40 % for the unmodified sample. The increased charge density of modified peptide ions yields highly efficient ETD fragmentation, leading to many additional peptide identifications and higher sequence coverage (e.g., 70 % for modified versus only 43 % for unmodified BSA). The utility of this labeling strategy was demonstrated on a tryptic digest of ribosomal proteins isolated from yeast cells. Peptide derivatization of this sample produced an increase in the number of identified proteins, a >50 % increase in the sequence coverage of these proteins, and a doubling of the number of peptide spectral matches. This carboxyl derivatization strategy greatly improves proteome coverage obtained from ETD-MS/MS of tryptic digests, and we anticipate that it will also enhance identification and localization of post-translational modifications.
Relative susceptibility of selected apple cultivars to sooty blotch and flyspeck.

Incidence data for sooty blotch and flyspeck (SBFS), apple diseases caused by a complex of fungi that includes Schizothyrium pomi, Peltaster fructicola, Leptodontidium elatius, and Geastrumia polystigmatis, were collected over several years from planting groups of new apple cultivars and selections planted at multiple locations in either 1995 (23 entries) or 1999 (22 entries) as part of the NE-183 Multistate Project. SBFS incidence on fruit was analyzed, and data from sites in Massachusetts, New York, and Virginia were compared to determine if there were differences among cultivars. Incidence of SBFS varied among cultivars in both the 1995 and 1999 plantings, and among locations in the 1999 plantings. These differences were primarily the result of harvest date, with cultivars that were harvested latest having the highest disease incidences. Lower SBFS incidence on the earlier maturing cultivars apparently resulted from disease avoidance, as these apples were exposed to fewer hours of wetting and high relative humidity, environmental factors favorable for growth of SBFS fungi. Management tactics targeting SBFS are especially critical for cultivars that mature late in the season.
The pursuit of tens of gigabits per second wireless systems [Industry Perspectives]

More than any time ever before, today technology has a significant impact on people's lives. The proliferation of slim, mobile, and portable devices such as notebooks, ultrabooks, tablets, and smartphones is a clear testament to the importance of computing and communication in modern society. In the particular case of wireless systems, this explosive growth has led to an insatiable need to constantly boost capacity so that innovative uses can be offered to consumers. This vicious cycle has brought to market many innovative wireless solutions including the IEEE 802.11 family of standards, third generation (3G), and fourth generation (4G), to name a few. When it comes to wireless systems with data rates greater than 1 Gb/s at a few meters, the most notable examples include the IEEE 802.11ac and IEEE 802.11ad amendments to the base IEEE 802.11 standard [2], with key parameters summarized in Table 1. Several companies have announced products implementing these technologies, with a few of those products already available, or soon to be available, to consumers. The data rates offered by IEEE 802.11ac and IEEE 802.11ad can meet the needs of many applications, with replacement of wired digital interface (WDI) cables arguably the most prominent new use of these technologies. This includes replacing WDI cables used between a notebook/tablet/smartphone and certain display (e.g., HDMI, DisplayPort) and IO (e.g., USB) devices, thereby enabling a fully wireless user experience [4].
PRICE DISCRIMINATION AND MONOPOLISTIC COMPETITION

An examination of imperfect price discrimination, modelled as a linear combination of perfect price discrimination and uniform pricing, is used to analyze the impact of imperfect discrimination on firm size and product diversity. Additionally, claims that perfect price discrimination leads to the welfare optimum are shown to be generally false.
Finite orthogonal transforms and multiresolution analyses on intervals

A class of fast orthogonal transformations for finite strings of data are described. These transformations are based on the multiresolution analysis paradigm of Mallat and Meyer and give rise to a method for constructing multiresolution analyses and orthogonal wavelets on an interval. Mathematical details and numerical examples are included.
describing sexual behavior in the era of the internet: a typology for empirical research

ABSTRACT Gagnon and Simon's (1967) groundbreaking work on sexual deviance divided behaviors into normal, pathological, and sociological categories. We reconstruct this typology as a pair of two cross cutting continuums describing the normative status and social organization of behaviors in order to keep pace with changing sexual mores and technology while bolstering its empirical rigor. The first extends from normal activities to those deemed pathological by current mores, while the second focuses on describing a continuum from isolated to communal activities. These continua may be used either to reduce descriptions of behaviors to a four-part typology or to apply them as semantic differentials to allow more precise measurement of the behaviors' social organization and normative status. This scheme is especially well-suited for describing shifts in the perception and organization of behaviors brought about by adaptations of new technologies such as the Internet.
Preemptive intrusion detection

This paper presents a system named SPOT to achieve high accuracy and preemptive detection of attacks. We use security logs of real-incidents that occurred over a six-year period at National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) to evaluate SPOT. Our data consists of attacks that led directly to the target system being compromised, i.e., not detected in advance, either by the security analysts or by intrusion detection systems. Our approach can detect 75 percent of attacks as early as minutes to tens of hours before attack payloads are executed.
Evaluating satisfaction with a child and adolescent psychological telemedicine outreach service

A child and adolescent telepsychiatry service in rural New South Wales was evaluated. Part of the evaluation was to assess whether rural mental health workers and patients were satisfied with the v...
Growth factors for sequential cellular de- and re-differentiation in tissue engineering.

Abstract A model system for the in vitro generation of cartilaginous constructs was used to study a tissue engineering paradigm whereby sequentially applied growth factors promoted chondrocytes to first de-differentiate into a proliferative state and then re-differentiate and undergo chondrogenesis. Early cultivation in medium with supplemental TGF-β1/FGF-2 doubled cell fractions in 2-week constructs compared to unsupplemented controls. Subsequent culture with supplemental IGF-I yielded large 4-week constructs with high fractions of cartilaginous extracellular matrix (ECM) and high compressive moduli, whereas prolonged culture with supplemental FGF-2 yielded small 4-week constructs with low ECM fractions and moduli. Sequential supplementation with TGF-β1/FGF-2 and then IGF-I yielded 4-week constructs with type-specific mRNA expression and protein levels that were high for type II and negligible for type I collagen, in contrast to other growth factor regimens studied. The data demonstrate that structural, functional, and molecular properties of engineered cartilage can be modulated by sequential application of growth factors.