cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Biolumiscence of heterotrophic dinoflagellates from Texas coastal waters

Abstract Heterotrophic dinoflagellates from Texas coastal waters were assayed for their bioluminescence capacity and the effects of light (photoinhibition) and starvation on their bioluminescence. The large, common heterotrophic dinoflagellate Noctiluca scintillans (Macartney) Ehrenberg was found to produce ≈6 × 1010 photons per cell. The bioluminescence of this dinoflagellate was not reduced by exposure to light, nor was there any detectable diel pattern of stimulable bioluminescence. Noctiluca fed a mixture of phytoplankton foods increased slightly in bioluminescence capacity over a 2-wk period, whereas cells held without food showed a steady decline in bioluminescence. Several heterotrophic dinoflagellates of the genus Protoperidinium were grown in laboratory enrichments and tested for their bioluminescence capacity. The bioluminescence potential for Protoperidinium species ranged from 0.6 × 1010 photons per cell for an unidentified species of Protoperidinium, the smallest species we tested (56 × 50 μm), to 3 × 1010 photons per cell for P. depressum (Bailey) Balech, the largest species tested (132 × 116 μm). Several species, including P. oblongum (Aurivillius) Parke et Dodge, P. hirobis (Abe) Balech, P. divaricatum (Meunier) Balech and P. steinii (Jorgensen) Balech, were found to be non-bioluminescent. All bioluminescent species of Protoperidinium were found to have their mechanically stimulable bioluminescence inhibited by exposure to light. In more detailed studies of photoinhibition in P. covergens (Ehrenberg) Balech, a light intensity of ≈1.5 × 1014 photons cm−1 s−1 was necessary for photoinhibition. Recovery of bioluminescence was complete within 30 min of transfer into darkness and complete photoinhibition occurred 10 min after placing cells in light of 1.5 × 1016 photons cm−2 s−1. There appeared to be no diel pattern of mechanically stimulable bioluminescence in P. divergens. P. depressum held for 3 days without food showed a decrease in bioluminescence potential compared to cells that remained in the enrichments in which they were grown. P. depressum held in different food concentrations for 48 h showed no difference in bioluminescence capacity.
PALEOCRATERING OF THE MOON: REVIEW OF POST-APOLLO DATA*

As a result of the dating of lunar samples, we are in a position to utilize the lunar surface as a recorder of environmental conditions in the Earth-Moon neighborhood in the past. Plots of crater density vs rock age at different lunar landing sites can be used to date unexplored lunar provinces. These plots also demonstrate evolution in the population of planetesimals that struck the Moon. Prior to 4.1 aeons ago, the cratering rate on the Moon was at least 103 times the present rate, and the rate declined with a half-life less than 8×107 yr. During the interval from 4.1 to 3.2 aeons ago, the number of planetesimals showed an exponential decay with a half-life about 3×108 yr, corresponding to sweep-up of particles from solar orbits somewhat similar to those of Apollo asteroids. A more nearly constant cratering rate applied in the last three aeons. These data indicate that the Moon displays at least the final stages of an ancient accretion process; they also set certain conditions on possible capture processes relating to the Moon's origin. Pre-Apollo expectations that the Moon would provide a ‘Rosetta Stone’ for interpreting solar system history and planet formation thus appear justified.
Nucleus accumbens cell firing during maintenance, extinction, and reinstatement of cocaine self-administration behavior in rats

Abstract Electrophysiological recording procedures were used to examine nucleus accumbens (Acb) cell firing in rats (N=13) during cocaine self-administration sessions consisting of three phases. In phase one (maintenance), each lever press resulted in an intravenous cocaine infusion (0.33 mg, 6 s) paired with a tone-houselight stimulus (20 s). Of 144 Acb cells recorded during maintenance, 39 neurons (27%) exhibited phasic firing relative to the cocaine-reinforced response [4] , [5] , [6] , [7] , [8] . Briefly, Acb neurons showed increases in firing rate within seconds preceding the reinforced response and/or changes (increases or decreases) in activity within seconds following response completion. In phase two (extinction), saline was substituted for cocaine in the task. Results indicated that cells displaying exclusively anticipatory discharges during maintenance exhibited similar phasic activity during extinction. However, neurons that displayed post-response activity during the maintenance phase typically showed significant attenuation of phasic firing rates during extinction. After 30 min of no responding, animals were ‘primed’ with an intravenous infusion of cocaine, and self-administration was reestablished during phase three (reinstatement). Results showed that pre-response discharge patterns remained relatively intact while post-response cells typically exhibited a partial recovery of phasic activity. Similar findings were observed during other extinction experiments in which the stimulus only was removed (CS extinction). These findings support the notion that specific factors operating within the self-administration context differentially control pre- versus post-response discharge patterns of Acb neurons.
Mechanism of osseointegration: characterization of supporting bone with indentation testing and backscattered imaging

Abstract Dental implants that achieve "osseointegration" (rigid osseous fixation) are increasingly important for orthodontic anchorage and replacement of missing teeth. The critical determinant of endosseous implant performance is the response of the bone interface and its supporting bone to functional and therapeutic loads. Despite its importance for predicting the clinical performance of implanted devices, little is known about the mechanical properties of bone supporting dental implants. As presently defined, the mechanism of osseointegration is a very high rate of bone remodeling within about 1 mm of the implant surface. Since the interfacial bone remodels so rapidly (300–500%/yr), it never completes secondary mineralization. This results in a relatively compliant layer of incompletely mineralized lamellar bone that separates the implant from fully mineralized bone. Current evidence suggests this is a physiologic compensating mechanism for maintaining a stiff, inert metallic device in living bone. The new micromechanical methods of nanoindentation and backscatter emission (BSE) offer considerable promise for defining the material properties of the dynamic bone-implant interface. These data are essential to advancing the technology of endosseous implant anchorage for use in orthodontics and dentofacial orthopedics.
Cyber security management and e-government

With the rapid growth of Information Technology, organisations are taking extra precautions when it comes to protecting information. In the complex interconnected business world, the common practice of deploying company-wide security solutions (e.g., anti-virus software and firewalls) is only the very first step of cyber security management. Adding to this first layer of security defence, two business-oriented security solutions are included in this paper: global partnership and proactive participation. In addition, an evolutionary process of learning to enhance the three layers of cyber security management is recommended to be done continuously. In order to manage these three layers of cyber security economically and effectively, an intranet-based framework of cyber security knowledge repositories based on the 80/20 rule is also proposed
Stem cells go for the eyes.

Abnormal vessel growth in the eyes is a major cause of blindness. In mice, injection of stem cells from the bone marrow can alter vessel growth ( pages 1004–1010 ).
The repeated dose toxicity of a smoke containing Disperse Blue 180, an anthraquinone dye mixture

Abstract This study was designed to assess possible health risks posed by repeated exposure to “working” concentrations of a smoke obtained from a pyrotechnic composition containing Disperse Blue 180. Groups of mice rats and guinea pigs were exposed to the test material 1h/d, 5d/week for 42 weeks at three different concentrations in a static chamber. Controls were exposed to air inside the chamber. After the last exposure, the animals were observed for 10 months. The test material caused a reduction in growth relative to the controls during the exposure period. A variety of incidental findings was seen in both decedents and survivors, but organ specific toxicity was generally confined to the respiratory tract. The most important of these findings was a statistically significant increase in the frequency of alveologenic carcinoma in the high dose group mice, when compared with the controls ( P The aetiology of the excess of mouse lung tumours is discussed and it is pointed out that certain other anthraquinone dyes have been shown to be mutagenic and, in one case, carcinogenic in experimental animals.
Single dose X-irradiation and concomitant hyperthermia on a murine fibrosarcoma.

The objectives of this study were to quantitate the effects of local tumor hyperthermia (LTH) and concomitant x-irradiation (RAD) on a moderately radioresistant murine fibrosarcoma in situ. Comparisons were made to the combined treatment response on the Ridgway osteogenic sarcoma, a radio sensitive tumor previously used in this laboratory and to establish the Meth-A fibrosarcoma as a model system for combined modality studies. 1.0 cm3 tumors were exposed to single doses of RAD ranging from 0.5-3.5 krad alone or 0.5-2.3 krad in combination with LTH (water bath at 43.1 +/- .05 C for 20 minutes) applied immediately postirradiation. LTH significantly enhanced the action of radiation as measured by tumor volume analysis, mean survival time and cures. The ratio of radiation doses vs. RAD + LTH required to produce an equivalent response ranged from 1.4 to 2.5 depending upon the endpoints evaluated. These findings are consistent with single dose studies on the radiosensitive Ridgway osteogenic sarcoma and suggest that the tumoricidal effectiveness of combination radiation and hyperthermia cannot be predicted on the basis of the radiation alone responsiveness of tumor.
Development of practical damage mapping and inspection systems

We have developed and are continuing to refine semi-automated technology for the detection and inspection of surface and bulk defects and damage in large laser optics Different manifestations of the DAMOCLES system (Damage and Artifact Mapping Of Coherent-Laser-Exposed Substrates) provide an effective and economical means of being able to detect, map and characterize surface and bulk defects which may become precursors of massive damage in optics when subjected to high-fluence laser irradiation Subsequent morphology and evolution of damage due to laser irradiation can be tracked efficiently The strength of the Damocles system is that it allows for immediate visual observation of defects in an entire optic, which can range up to l-meter dimensions, while also being able to provide digital map and magnified images of the defects with resolutions better than 5 µm.
Analysis of Variance: What Is Your Statistical Software Actually Doing?

Users assume statistical software packages produce accurate results. In this article, the authors systematically examined Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) and Statistical Analysis System (SAS) for 3 analysis of variance (ANOVA) designs, mixed-effects ANOVA, fixed-effects analysis of covariance (ANCOVA), and nested ANOVA. For each model, the authors examined 3 different data sets. With the mixed-effects design, results were always correct for SPSS syntax and SAS syntax. For SPSS point-and-click, the F and p values for the random-effect were always incorrect as the wrong error term is used. With the ANCOVA design, results varied both by software package and by type of sums of squares. With the nested design, the p values for the F and multiple comparison procedure did not agree for the nonnested factor in SPSS point-and-click. Recommendations were made regarding which package to use for each design.
Hybrid Experiential-Heuristic Cognitive Radio Engine Architecture and Implementation

The concept of cognitive radio (CR) focuses on devices that can sense their environment, adapt configuration parameters, and learn from past behaviors. Architectures tend towards simplified decision-making algorithms inspired by human cognition. Initial works defined cognitive engines (CEs) founded on heuristics, such as genetic algorithms (GAs), and case-based reasoning (CBR) experiential learning algorithms. This hybrid architecture enables both long-term learning, faster decisions based on past experience, and capability to still adapt to new environments. This paper details an autonomous implementation of a hybrid CBR-GA CE architecture on a universal serial radio peripheral (USRP) software-defined radio focused on link adaptation. Details include overall process flow, case base structure/retrieval method, estimation approach within the GA, and hardware-software lessons learned. Unique solutions to realizing the concept include mechanisms for combining vector distance and past fitness into an aggregate quantification of similarity. Over-the-air performance under several interference conditions is measured using signal-to-noise ratio, packet error rate, spectral efficiency, and throughput as observable metrics. Results indicate that the CE is successfully able to autonomously change transmit power, modulation/coding, and packet size to maintain the link while a non-cognitive approach loses connectivity. Solutions to existing shortcomings are proposed for improving case-base searching and performance estimation methods.
Models and Social Reality: An Alternative to Caws

Recently in these pages (AA 76:1-10, 1974) Peter Caws claimed that the objective social structure of the societies we study is dependent, in part, upon our own theories or models of them. "It is the scientist's representational (i.e., explanatory) model, the theory he constructs to account for the data and their interrelation, that confers objective structure on the system. And the use of 'confers' is deliberate, since it would be quite accurate to say that until the explanatory model was constructed the system had no objective structure" (p. 7). This might come as something of a surprise to anthropologists. Most of us have probably not considered it part of our job to confer objective structure on the societies we study by theorizing about them, much as children in Peter Pan keep fairies in existence by believing in them. The more common view is that objective social structure is something a society has (perhaps not at the empirical level) before we get there-and is, indeed, one of the main things we go to learn about. It is not something the society receives from us. I want to argue, against Caws, for the more common view. At the same time, I want to acknowledge his contribution in constructing a compelling argument that challenges us to think carefully about some of the fundamental issues in anthropology: the nature of the phenomena we study and the nature of our knowledge of them. Before proceeding with my critique, let me summarize Caws' argument as I understand it. The relations studied by social science are mind-dependent. That is, while natural relations such as between the moon and the tides exist and operate whether men know about them or not, social or cultural relations can be nothing other than what they are construed by men to be. There is no universal intrinsic social relationship between father and son; proper behavior between them is just what it is defined in one or another kinship system to be. Often such definitions can be attributed to the natives: in their explanation and conceptualization of the system (Caws calls these representational models) and/or in their conscious or unconscious motivation for acting (operational models). Occasionally, however, anthropologists say things about social systems that cannot be attributed to native
The variational iteration method for analytic treatment for linear and nonlinear ODEs

In this work, the variational iteration method (VIM) is used for analytic treatment of the linear and nonlinear ordinary differential equations, homogeneous or inhomogeneous. The method is capable of reducing the size of calculations and handles both linear and nonlinear equations, homogeneous or inhomogeneous, in a direct manner. However, for concrete problems, a huge number of iterations are needed for a reasonable level of accuracy.
Toward a more comprehensive assessment of depression remission: the Remission Evaluation and Mood Inventory Tool (REMIT)

Abstract Objective Depression remission continues to be defined in terms of resolution of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders criteria symptoms. However, it may be useful to assess additional symptoms as part of a more complete evaluation of remission. We sought to develop an adjunct self-report measure that can be used with commonly used depression measures when assessing remission. Methods Secondary data analysis and expert input were used to develop candidate items that were evaluated cross-sectionally in 1003 primary care clinician-identified depressed patients from two practice-based research networks. Multivariable regression analysis, with self-assessed recovery as the dependent variable, identified five symptoms that contributed significantly beyond the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ)-8. Further analysis was performed in selected subsamples. Results Emotional control, contentedness, future seeming dark, ability to bounce back and happiness yielded an 11% increase in R 2 beyond 60% yielded by the PHQ-8. The summed Remission Evaluation and Mood Inventory Tool (REMIT) 5 items have a mean=9.6 (S.D.=4.5), range 0–20 and reliability of 0.86. Subsample analysis showed incremental R 2 ranging from 9% in men to 15% in African-Americans. Conclusion Depression remission is a multidimensional concept that includes important nondepressive symptom dimensions. These important dimensions can be measured using a self-report instrument feasible for routine primary care. Pending longitudinal validation, REMIT5 is a promising tool for depression management.
Families With Young Deaf Children and the Mediation of Mathematically Based Concepts Within a Naturalistic Environment

A qualitative study is described that sought to examine the relationship between young deaf children’s level of mathematics ability (“more successful” and “less successful” as defined by scores on the Test of Early Mathematics Ability–3, Ginsburg & Baroody, 2003) and the opportunities available to develop early mathematics concepts during daily life with their families. Findings indicate substantial differences between the two groups of children. Children who demonstrated higher levels of mathematics ability were found to spend a larger percentage of their day interacting with the adults around them and to experience more frequent and purposeful exposure to mathematically based concepts (number/counting, quantity, time/sequence, and categorization) at home. The findings suggest the need for an early intervention program to facilitate parents’ use of early mathematics concepts within naturalistic environments with their young deaf children to promote readiness for formal schooling.
Concealment-Aware Motion Estimation and Mode Selection for Error Resilient Video Coding

This paper proposes a new concealment-aware motion estimation and mode selection scheme for error resilient video coding, where a new distortion metric is adopted to better accounts for the impact of "worst-case" distortion on the over-all perceptual video quality than the existing statistically defined end-to-end distortion metric does. Effective "motion copy" error concealment is assumed at the decoder. The proposed scheme requires no end-to-end distortion estimation, and thus, achieves low complexity. Simulation result with an H.264 codec shows that our proposed scheme improves subjective decoder reconstructed video quality, especially for sequences of medium motion.
High-reflectance coatings and materials for the extreme ultraviolet

Advances in optical coating and materials technology have made possible the development of instruments with substantially improved efficiency in the extreme ultraviolet/far ultraviolet (EUV/FUV) spectral region. For example, the development of chemical vapor deposited (CVD) SiC mirrors provides an opportunity to extend the range of normal incidence instruments down to 60 nm. The EUV performance and some applications of optical coatings including MgG2 protected aluminum, CVD- SiC, SiC films, boron carbide films, and multilayer coatings will be discussed. Contamination sensitivity and cleaning will be addressed.© (1995) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
Circulating 25-hydroxyvitamin D Levels and Prognosis among Cancer Patients: A Systematic Review

Circulating 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25-OHD) is associated with a reduction in risk of some cancers, but its association with prognosis among patients with cancer is poorly understood. In view of the increasing number of cancer survivors in the United States and the high prevalence of vitamin D deficiency among patients with cancer, an evaluation of the role of circulating 25-OHD in prognosis among patients with cancer is essential. We conducted a systematic review of studies published in the following databases-PubMed, OvidSP, BioMed Central, EMBASE, and Scopus till September 2013 using the following search terms: "vitamin D," "25-hydroxyvitamin D," "calcidiol," "cancer," "survival," "mortality," and "prognosis." Our search yielded 1,397 articles. From the 1,397 articles, we identified 26 studies that evaluated the associations of circulating 25-OHD with prognosis among patients with cancer. Evidence suggests that circulating 25-OHD levels may be associated with better prognosis in patients with breast and colorectal cancer, but there is a paucity of information on its association with prognosis in other cancers. This review highlights the need for further studies evaluating the role of vitamin D in prognosis among patients with cancer. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev; 23(6); 917-33. ©2014 AACR.
Importance of methyl donors during reproduction

Evidence is growing that optimal dietary intake of folate and choline (both involved in one-carbon transfer or methylation) is important for successful completion of fetal development. Significant portions of the population are eating diets low in one or both of these nutrients. Folates are important for normal neural tube closure in early gestation, and the efficacy of diet fortification with folic acid in reducing the incidence of neural tube defects is a major success story for public health nutrition. Similarly, maternal dietary choline is important for normal neural tube closure in the fetus and, later in gestation, for neurogenesis in the fetal hippocampus, with effects on memory that persist in adult offspring; higher choline intake is associated with enhanced memory performance. Although both folates and choline have many potentially independent mechanisms whereby they could influence fetal development, these 2 nutrients also have a common mechanism for action: altered methylation and related epigenetic effects on gene expression.
Report on the probabilistic language scheme

Reasoning with probabilistic models is a widespread and successful technique in areas ranging from computer vision, to natural language processing, to bioinformatics. Currently, these reasoning systems are either coded from scratch in general-purpose languages or use formalisms such as Bayesian networks that have limited expressive power. In both cases, the resulting systems are difficult to modify, maintain, compose, and interoperate with. This work presents Probabilistic Scheme, an embedding of probabilistic computation into Scheme. This gives programmers an expressive language for implementing modular probabilistic models that integrate naturally with the rest of Scheme.
Holistic sense‐making: conflicting opinions, creative ideas, and collective intelligence

Purpose – The purpose of this work is to introduce a generic conceptual and methodological framework for the study of emergent social and intellectual patterns and trends in a diverse range of sense‐and decision‐making activities.Design/methodology/approach – The development of the framework is driven by three motivating challenges: capturing the collective intelligence of science, fostering scientific discoveries in science and e‐Science, and facilitating evidence‐based librarianship (EBL). The framework is built on concepts such as structural holes and intellectual turning points, methodologies and techniques for progressive knowledge domain visualization and differentiation of conflicting opinions, and information integration models to achieve coherent transitions between different conceptual scales.Findings – Structural holes and turning points are detected and validated with the domain of terrorism research as an example. Conflicting opinions are differentiated in the form of a decision tree of phras...
Procalcitonin: Uses in the Clinical Laboratory for the Diagnosis of Sepsis

Sepsis is the systemic response to infection by microbial organisms. A differential diagnosis of infection caused by either bacteria or other microbial organisms is essential for effective treatment and prognostic assessment. Current clinical laboratory methods in the diagnosis of bacterial infections are either non-specific or require longer turnaround times. Procalcitonin (PCT) is a biomarker that exhibits greater specificity than other proinflammatory markers (eg, cytokines) in identifying patients with sepsis and can be used in the diagnosis of bacterial infections. In this article, we review the current knowledge of PCT and its use in the clinical laboratory setting.
Spray Deposition of Cerium Oxide-Based Conversion Coatings on Al 2024-T3

Cerium oxide conversion coatings were deposited on aluminum alloy 2024-T3 panels from an aqueous solution using a spray process. Substrate cleaning temperature was varied to evaluate its effect on deposition. Coating thickness did not increase linearly with the number of spray cycles. Deposition rate increased after five spray cycles for panels cleaned at 55°C or 65°C. After 15 spray cycles, coatings were <100 nm thick on panels cleaned at 45°C, but were more than 300 nm thick on panels cleaned at 55°C or 65°C. Based on corrosion testing, the best coatings formed on panels cleaned at 55°C.
Revisiting the Evolution of Ecological Specialization, With Emphasis on Insect-Plant Interactions

Ecological specialization is a fundamental and well-studied concept, yet its great reach and complexity limit current understanding in important ways. More than 20 years after the publication of D. J. Futuyma and G. Moreno's oft-cited, major review of the topic, we synthesize new developments in the evolution of ecological specialization. Using insect–plant interactions as a model, we focus on important developments in four critical areas: genetic architecture, behavior, interaction complexity, and macroevolution. We find that theory based on simple genetic trade-offs in host use is being replaced by more subtle and complex pictures of genetic architecture, and multitrophic interactions have risen as a necessary framework for understanding specialization. A wealth of phylogenetic data has made possible a more detailed consideration of the macroevolutionary dimension of specialization, revealing (among other things) bidirectionality in transitions between generalist and specialist lineages. Technological advances, including genomic sequencing and analytical techniques at the community level, raise the possibility that the next decade will see research on specialization spanning multiple levels of biological organization in non-model organisms, from genes to populations to networks of interactions in natural communities. Finally, we offer a set of research questions that we find to be particularly pressing and fruitful for future research on ecological specialization.
Coevolutionary dynamics and agent-based models in organization science

This paper provides empirical and theoretical support for the application of coevolutionary dynamics and agent-based models in organization science. The support stems from the following logical progression: (a) organization science theorists have explored, and in many instances, acknowledged the applicability of complexity theory to organization science research; (b) much of the acceptance for complexity science applications follows from the conceptualization of an organization as a Complex Adaptive System (CAS); (c) complexity science offers a robust explanation of order in natural and social systems; (d) coevolutionary dynamics provide the mechanisms with the highest explanatory power for describing order-creation in social systems. This paper provides an overview of the literature for each element of the preceding logical progression and concludes with a discussion of the applications of agent-based models to instantiate coevolutionary dynamics.
A new method for evaluating forest thinning: growth dominance in managed Pinus resinosa stands

Growth dominance is a relatively new, simple, quantitative metric of within-stand individual tree growth pat- terns, and is defined as positive when larger trees in the stand display proportionally greater growth than smaller trees, and negative when smaller trees display proportionally greater growth than larger trees. We examined long-term silvicultural experiments in red pine (Pinus resinosa Ait.) to characterize how stand age, thinning treatments (thinned from above, be- low, or both), and stocking levels (residual basal area) influence stand-level growth dominance through time. In stands thinned from below or from both above and below, growth dominance was not significantly different from zero at any age or stocking level. Growth dominance in stands thinned from above trended from negative at low stocking levels to positive at high stocking levels and was positive in young stands. Growth dominance in unthinned stands was positive and in- creased with age. These results suggest that growth dominance provides a useful tool for assessing the efficacy of thinning treatments designed to reduce competition between trees and promote high levels of productivity across a population, par- ticularly among crop trees. Resume´ : La dominance de croissance est une mesure quantitative simple et relativement nouvelle du patron de croissance des arbres individuels dans un peuplement. Elle prend une valeur positive lorsque les plus gros arbres d'un peuplement ont une croissance proportionnellement plus elevee que les plus petits arbres alors qu'elle prend une valeur negative lorsque les plus petits arbres ont une croissance proportionnellement plus elevee que les plus gros arbres. Nous avons etudiedes experiences sylvicoles a long terme sur le pin rouge (Pinus resinosa Ait.) pour caracteriser comment l'age du peuplement, les traitements d'eclaircie (eclaircies par le bas, par le haut ou par le haut et par le bas) et la densitedu peuplement (la surface terriere residuelle) influencent la dominance de croissance des peuplements en fonction du temps. Dans les peuple- ments eclaircis par le bas ou par le haut et par le bas, la dominance de croissance n'etait pas significativement differente de zero peu importe l'age ou la densitedu peuplement. La dominance de croissance des peuplements eclaircis par le haut avait tendance a passer de negative apositive lorsque la densitedu peuplement passait de faible aforte et etait positive dans les jeunes peuplements. La dominance de croissance dans les peuplements non eclaircis etait positive et augmentait avec l'age. Ces resultats indiquent que la dominance de croissance est un outil utile pour evaluer l'efficacitedes traite- ments d'eclaircie visant areduire la competition entre les arbres et aobtenir une forte productiviteal'interieur d'une po- pulation, particulierement dans le cas des arbres d'avenir. (Traduit par la Redaction)
Genetic and lifestyle variables associated with homocysteine concentrations and the distribution of folate derivatives in healthy premenopausal women.

BACKGROUND Low folate and high homocysteine (Hcy) concentrations are associated with pregnancy-related pathologies such as spina bifida. Polymorphisms in folate/Hcy metabolic enzymes may contribute to this potentially pathogenic biochemical phenotype. METHODS The study comprised 26 Caucasian and 23 African-American premenopausal women. Subjects gave fasting blood samples for biochemical phenotyping and genotyping. Total Hcy (tHcy) and both plasma and red blood cell (RBC) folate derivatives (i.e. tetrahydrofolate [THF], 5-methylTHF [5-MTHF], and 5,10-methenylTHF [5,10-MTHF]) were measured using stable isotope dilution liquid chromatography, multiple reaction monitoring, and mass spectrometry. Eleven polymorphisms from nine folate/Hcy pathway genes were genotyped. Tests of association between genetic, lifestyle, and biochemical variables were applied. RESULTS In African American women, tHcy concentrations were associated (p < 0.05) with total RBC folate, RBC 5-MTHF, B12, and polymorphisms in methionine synthase (MTR) and thymidylate synthase (TYMS). In Caucasian women, tHcy concentrations were not associated with total folate levels, but were associated (p < 0.05) with RBC THF, ratios of RBC 5-MTHF:THF, and polymorphisms in 5,10-methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) and MTR. In African Americans, folate derivative levels were associated with smoking, B12, and polymorphisms in MTR, TYMS, methionine synthase reductase (MTRR), and reduced folate carrier1 (RFC1). In Caucasians, folate derivative levels were associated with vitamin use, B12, and polymorphisms in MTHFR, TYMS, and RFC1. CONCLUSIONS Polymorphisms in the folate/Hcy pathway are associated with tHcy and folate derivative levels. In African American and Caucasian women, different factors are associated with folate/Hcy phenotypes and may contribute to race-specific differences in the risks of a range of pregnancy-related pathologies. Birth Defects Research (Part A), 2010. © 2010 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
Specialist weevil, Rhyssomatus lineaticollis, does not spatially avoid cardenolide defenses of common milkweed by ovipositing into pith tissue

Rhyssomatus lineaticollis is a milkweed specialist whose larvae feed upon pith parenchyma in ramet stems of the common milkweed, Asclepias syriaca. Compared with other specialist insect herbivores on milkweeds, this curculionid beetle is unusual in that it is cryptically colored and does not sequester cardenolides characteristic of milkweed chemical defense. Based upon optimal defense theory, we predicted that pith tissue would be low in defensive compounds and that oviposition into the pith would spatially avoid cardenolides. We rejected this hypothesis because we found that pith tissue has a relatively high cardenolide concentration compared to cortex, epidermis, and leaf tissues. Moreover, we found total plant cardenolide concentration was lower in plants that contained the beetle eggs. Cardenolide concentrations were different among tissues in intact stems without the pith herbivore compared to stems where it was present. Furthermore, the overall polarity of the cardenolides present varied among plant tissues and between plants with and without R. lineaticollis eggs. Although we found lower concentrations of cardenolide in piths where the eggs were present, the cardenolides present in the pith contained more nonpolar forms, indicating that the plant may be responding to herbivory by increasing toxic efficacy of cardenolide defenses while lowering the total concentration. We suggest that preoviposition behavior by female beetles, which includes feeding on new leaves of the plant, is a mechanism by which females manipulate plant chemistry and assess quantitative and qualitative changes in cardenolide chemistry in response to herbivory prior to oviposition.
HPV-related squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck: An update on testing in routine pathology practice

Oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma caused by high-risk types of human papillomavirus (HPV) is now a well-recognized tumor entity whose incidence is on the rise. Most HPV-related oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinomas have a distinct histomorphology, and most patients fit a typical clinical profile. Importantly, HPV-related oropharyngeal carcinoma patients overall have significantly improved outcomes when compared to their HPV-negative counterparts, and the differences in tumor biology may soon lead to modifications in how they are treated. While high-risk HPV can be detected in a significant minority of head and neck squamous cell carcinomas across anatomic subsites in the head and neck, it has become clear in recent years that the biologically and clinically favorable features are limited to tumors that harbor transcriptionally active, high-risk HPV, something that occurs predominantly (but certainly not exclusively) in the oropharynx. It is now acknowledged that detecting transcriptionally active, high-risk HPV is a necessity in routine clinical practice, but there is considerable confusion among pathologists and clinicians alike about the subsites and settings in which HPV testing should be performed. Compounding this lack of clarity is the fact that there are multiple HPV testing options available, but currently there is no clear consensus on which test or combination of tests is optimal for routine diagnostic use. This review serves as an update for practicing pathologists on the current status of HPV (and surrogate marker) testing in head and neck cancers.
Seasonal variation in body size and reproductive condition of a paper wasp, Polistes metricus (Hymenoptera: Vespidae).

Seasonal morphometric analysis of 788 adult Polistes metricus Say showed that: (1) Queens sampled throughout the colony cycle were of similar body size but significantly smaller than fall gynes. (2) Queens’ ovaries are large in the spring, decline early in the colony cycle, peak near the mid-postemergence period and decline late in the colony cycle. (3) There are no significant correlations between head width, ovary width, and size of nest in workers or queens. (4) Early and late workers are small but workers emerging during the mid-postemergence period are large. (5) All workers and gynes emerge with small, similar sized ovaries but older workers may develop larger ovaries. (6) Queens are larger than early and late workers but the same size as workers emerging during the mid-postemergence period. (7) The class with the largest adults were intermediates collected when colonies began production of males. These adults, intermediate in fat content between workers and gynes, comprised a large proportion of females emerging late in the colony cycle. (8) The body size of gynes is independent of colony size. (9) Males were significantly more variable in body size than gynes.
Acute Effects of Nicotine on Physiological and Subjective Sexual Arousal in Nonsmoking Men: A Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Trial

Introduction Chronic nicotine treatment has deleterious effects on vascular functioning and catecholamine modulation, which may compromise erectile functioning. Evidence that long-term cigarette smoking is an independent risk factor for introducing impotence is robust. However, limited studies have focused on the acute effects of smoking on physiological sexual response, and none have investigated the deleterious effects of isolated nicotine on human sexual arousal. Consequently, pathophysiological underpinnings of tobacco-induced—and particularly, nicotine-induced—erectile dysfunction are not well understood.
Mutual impedance effects in large beam scanning arrays

An analysis is presented of the driving point impedance of the elements in a flat array of infinite vertical height but finite horizontal width. It is assumed that each of the elements is fed by a separate amplifier, having infinite internal impedance, and that the amplifiers can be phased to direct the beam at various positions in space. The radiating elements considered are infinitely long wires spaced on half-wavelength centers and half-wave dipoles spaced on half-wavelength centers, each backed by a conducting ground plane spaced one-quarter wavelength from the elements. Values of driving point impedance are computed for the 61 elements in arrays 30 wavelengths wide. Values of the driving point impedance near the center of the array are found to agree closely with the values computed for infinitely wide arrays while the driving-point impedance of elements near the edge of the array are found to deviate considerably from the values at the center.
Creep Mechanisms in Equiaxed and Lamellar Ti-48Al

Minimum creep rates as a function of stress have been obtained for Ti-48Al binary alloy with a near gamma and a fully lamellar microstructure. TEM investigation reveals that deformation structures in both microstructures are dominated by jogged screw 1/2[110] dislocations in γ phase. A modif ied jogged screw model is adopted to predict minimum creep rates where the rate controlling step is assumed to be the non-conservative motion of 1/2[110] unit dislocations. In the case of equiaxed microstructure where the deformation was mostly uniform, the creep rates predicted by this model were in agreement with experimental values. Conversely, deformation in lamellar microstructures were highly inhomogeneous where the density of jogged 1/2[110] unit dislocations were seen in varying proportions depending on the width of the γ laths. The creep rates and stress exponents in these microstructures is explained in terms of active volume fractions of γ laths participating in deformation for a given applied stress.
A new framework for identifying cis-regulatory motifs in prokaryotes

We present a new algorithm, BOBRO, for prediction of cis-regulatory motifs in a given set of promoter sequences. The algorithm substantially improves the prediction accuracy and extends the scope of applicability of the existing programs based on two key new ideas: (i) we developed a highly effective method for reliably assessing the possibility for each position in a given promoter to be the (approximate) start of a conserved sequence motif; and (ii) we developed a highly reliable way for recognition of actual motifs from the accidental ones based on the concept of ‘motif closure’. These two key ideas are embedded in a classical framework for motif finding through finding cliques in a graph but have made this framework substantially more sensitive as well as more selective in motif finding in a very noisy background. A comparative analysis shows that the performance coefficient was improved from 29% to 41% by our program compared to the best among other six state-of-the-art prediction tools on a large-scale data sets of promoters from one genome, and also consistently improved by substantial margins on another kind of large-scale data sets of orthologous promoters across multiple genomes. The power of BOBRO in dealing with noisy data was further demonstrated through identification of the motifs of the global transcriptional regulators by running it over 2390 promoter sequences of Escherichia coli K12.
Educational campaign for improving pedestrian safety: a university campus study

Florida is the state with the highest pedestrian fatality rate per unit population in the U.S. In addition to engineering countermeasures, educational efforts directed to pedestrians and other road users are equally important for improving pedestrian safety. To explore educational formats and identify effective educational methods, the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) sponsored a pilot program called"Bulls Walk and Bike Week Campaign" on the Tampa campus of the University of South Florida (USF). A before-and-after comparison study was designed to evaluate the effectiveness of this campaign. In the study, observational surveys and a questionnaire survey were conducted to compare the surrogate measures of safety performance of the campus before and after the campaign. Observational survey outcomes show that roadway safety on campus improved after the campaign. The improvement is most siginificant for the site closest to the location where the majority of campaign activities took place. This suggests the necessity of seeking a spatial balance between concentrated and distributed campaign structures for optimal exposure to the campaign, especially when the budget of the campaign is limited and time is constrained. The analysis results of the questionnaire survey show that respondents as pedestrians, bicyclists, and drivers have different perceptions on driver yielding behaviors towards pedestrians and bicyclists. Contrasting points of view of different types of road users warrant careful and distinct designs of educational measures intended for different users. More respondents perceived that USF is a pedestrian/bicyclist-friendly campus after the campaign. It is suggested that a longitudinal survey should be conducted to follow up the effectiveness evaluation, and a cost-effective method should be further explored to continue the campaign efforts.
The ripe olive scare and hotel Loch Maree tragedy: Botulism under glass in the 1920’s

Botulism was believed to be a rare disease in both the US and UK in the 1920’s, until two deadly outbreaks altered that view and launched public health measures to control it. In the United States, the ripe olive scare of 1920 found glass-packaged olives linked to multiple deaths. In the United Kingdom, eight deaths from glass-potted duck paste, in the summer of 1922 at Loch Maree, Scotland will always be associated with botulism.
Accumulation of Manganese in Rat Brain Following Intranasal Administration

Abstract Manganese chloride (50–800 μg) was injected unilaterally into the right nostril of rats and its accumulation in the central nervous system (CNS) was monitored. Brain manganese levels were elevated in a dose-dependent, time-dependent, and tissue-dependent manner. Elevated levels of manganese were detected in the right olfactory bulb and olfactory tubercle within 12 hr after instillation and remained elevated for at least 3 days. As little as 100 μg of manganese chloride was sufficient to increase brain manganese levels. No changes were detected on the left side of the brain. The manganese content of the striatum, the target site for manganese neurotoxicity, was unchanged following acute administration, but was elevated when two injections were made 1 week apart. These results suggest that air-borne manganese can be retrogradely transported along olfactory neurons to the CNS and can reach deeper brain structures under appropriate exposure conditions.
Accounting Metrics for Division Manager Performance Evaluation

This study investigates the factors driving the choice of metrics used to evaluate division managers in divisionalized firms. Accounting and information economic theories suggest that the usefulness of a metric agent performance is a function of the metric s informativeness of the agent s actions and/or efforts. Several different types of performance metrics used to evaluate division managers are identified: firm metrics (stock price earnings ROI etc.) division accounting metrics (division earnings division ROI etc.) and operational metrics (market share product quality and the like). Next firm and operating environment characteristics which affect the relative informativeness of these metrics are described. These include divisional interdependencies centralization division size and environment homogeneity Finally survey data obtained from 78 medium-size US public companies are used to examine whether patterns in the types of metrics used to monitor and control division managers are related to these characteristics and consequently metric informativeness.