cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Modeling natural gas-carbon dioxide system for solid-liquid-vapor phase behavior

Abstract With the shale gas boom, natural gas has become one of the main energy sources in the United States. But in the cryogenic processes of this natural gas, the formation of solid carbon dioxide remains a concern because it can cause the blockage of equipment. Accurately modeling the rich phase behavior of carbon dioxide in methane is helpful for optimizing the industrial processes, especially where experimental data are lacking at the operation conditions. In this work, the Perturbed Chain-SAFT (PC-SAFT) equation of state is applied to model the phase behavior of hydrocarbon (i.e., methane, ethane, butane) + carbon dioxide systems over a wide range of temperatures and pressures. It is observed that the PC-SAFT equation of state can accurately predict the vapor-liquid equilibria (VLE), solid-vapor equilibria (SVE), and solid-liquid equilibria (SLE) of hydrocarbon + carbon dioxide systems using a single set of temperature and pressure independent binary interaction parameters. In the end, the effect of addition of ethane and butane on SLE of methane + carbon dioxide is also investigated which has applications in reducing the carbon dioxide solidification conditions.
Development of a fuel cell hybrid electric powertrain: A real case study on a Minibus application

Abstract Many actions have been recently carried out within European cities with the aim of reduce the negative impacts on traffic and environment caused by transport. New technologies for vehicles and traffic management are the key to lower transport emissions and the electric approach is a promising line to achieve EU's emissions reduction target for 2030 and 2050. Electric Vehicles (EVs) include vehicles with different technologies such as Battery Electric Vehicles (BEVs), Fuel Cell Vehicles (FCVs) or Hybrid Electric Vehicles (HEVs). BEVs operate purely on the battery power but the energy storage system remains one of the main critical elements due to vehicle autonomy, weight and charging time. FCV outperform BEV for its high autonomy and it is possible to perform a hydrogen recharge in short time but the costs remain high. Different from these last, hybrid configurations carried out through Batteries and Fuel Cell System (FCS) show advantages for both technologies. Within an Italian research project, CNR TAE Institute has been involved in a Fuel Cell Hybrid Electric Vehicle (FCHEV) development for public transportation. The hybrid vehicle provides the use of a FCS that distributes the electrical power in the connection between batteries and traction inverter via a DC/DC converter for the extension of the daily autonomy with respect to pure electric mode. This work describes the possibilities for sustainable development of public passenger transport based on hydrogen technologies presenting the development phases of the powertrain and preliminary on road tests in the context of smart cities applications.
Differential miRNA expression in B cells is associated with inter-individual differences in humoral immune response to measles vaccination.

Background MicroRNAs are important mediators of post-transcriptional regulation of gene expression through RNA degradation and translational repression, and are emerging biomarkers of immune system activation/response after vaccination. Methods We performed Next Generation Sequencing (mRNA-Seq) of intracellular miRNAs in measles virus-stimulated B and CD4+ T cells from high and low antibody responders to measles vaccine. Negative binomial generalized estimating equation (GEE) models were used for miRNA assessment and the DIANA tool was used for gene/target prediction and pathway enrichment analysis. Results We identified a set of B cell-specific miRNAs (e.g., miR-151a-5p, miR-223, miR-29, miR-15a-5p, miR-199a-3p, miR-103a, and miR-15a/16 cluster) and biological processes/pathways, including regulation of adherens junction proteins, Fc-receptor signaling pathway, phosphatidylinositol-mediated signaling pathway, growth factor signaling pathway/pathways, transcriptional regulation, apoptosis and virus-related processes, significantly associated with neutralizing antibody titers after measles vaccination. No CD4+ T cell-specific miRNA expression differences between high and low antibody responders were found. Conclusion Our study demonstrates that miRNA expression directly or indirectly influences humoral immunity to measles vaccination and suggests that B cell-specific miRNAs may serve as useful predictive biomarkers of vaccine humoral immune response.
Amino Acid Analysis of PVDF Bound Proteins

Publisher Summary Amino acid analysis on polyvinylidene difluoride (PVDF) has been performed with high protein concentrations, but the accurate analyses of lower amounts have been more problematic. This chapter describes a reproducible manual hydrolysis method for determining the amino acid composition of a PVDF bound protein of one microgram. Five standard proteins ranging in molecular weight from 14.3 kD to 77 kD were electroblotted onto PVDF from SDS PAGE and then hydrolyzed, quantitatively eluted and analyzed by PTC amino acid analysis. The accuracy, precision, and recovery at 0.5, 1.0 and 2.0 micrograms were determined. An amino acid composition on 1 μg of electroblotted protein can be determined with 85% average accuracy, 5% average precision, and 88% average recovery. Lower levels (0.5 jug) can be determined with approximately 79% accuracy, 11% precision, and 32% average recovery.
Moral courage in action: case studies.

riences cardiac arrest before the discussion occurs and you watch helplessly as members of the Code Blue Team perform resuscitation. Mr. T. is now on a ventilator and the son has dissolved into tears with cries of, “Do not let him die!” What is the action the nurse needs to take? It is the ethical obligation of this nurse to support the self-determination of this patient. This patient had capacity when he voiced “no heroics” and the expectation that his son, as his surrogate decision maker, would honor his expressed wishes. Mr. T. met the criteria for hospice referral prior to hospitalization, but even more so now that he has a history of cardiac arrest (National Hospice Organization, 1996). The attending physician is not discussing the facts of the case with the son and has never brought up the topic of hospice. The Code for Ethics for Nurses (the Code) (American Nurses Association [ANA], 2001, p. 9.) provides the following guidance for the nurse: The nurse supports the patient self-determination by participating in discussions with surrogates, providing guidance and referral to other resources as necessary, and identifying and addressing problems in decision-making process. The nurse knows the son will need help in letting go of his father and asks if he would like her to call his sister and pastor. The nurse also musters the courage to start a conversation with the physician and discovers that Mr. T. has been his patient for 20 years. Though both physician and son initially are defensive, the nurse’s assertiveness and perseverance get results. Mr. T. is removed from the ventilator 24 hours later. He dies peacefully in the presence of his family and physician.
The Cytochromes C: Paradigms for Chemical Recognition

The cytochromes c include subgroups which present a variety of redox functions based on well-defined changes in the basic three-dimensional structure exemplified by the mitochondrial and certain bacterial forms, in particular cytochromes c 2. These proteins exhibit overlapping functionality and a graded sequence of structures which provide paradigms well suited for clarification of recognition mechanisms. The character and distribution of cytochromes c will be discussed and approaches to relatedness of structure and function will be described, based on kinetic analyses of cross reactivities of cytochromes c 2 with mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase.
Sex-related differences in the prevalence of cognitive impairment among overweight and obese adults with type 2 diabetes.

Abstract Introduction Type 2 diabetes mellitus and obesity may increase risks for cognitive decline as individuals age. It is unknown whether this results in different prevalences of cognitive impairment for women and men. Methods The Action for Health in Diabetes, a randomized controlled clinical trial of a 10-year intensive lifestyle intervention, adjudicated cases of cross-sectional cognitive impairment (mild cognitive impairment or dementia) 10–13 years after enrollment in 3802 individuals (61% women). Results The cross-sectional prevalences of cognitive impairment were 8.3% (women) and 14.8% (men): adjusted odds ratio 0.55, 95% confidence interval [0.43, 0.71], P Conclusions Among overweight and obese adults with type 2 diabetes mellitus, traditional risk factors did not account for the lower prevalence of cognitive impairment observed in women compared with men.
The bombesin receptor is coupled to multiple signal transduction pathways and induces cell proliferation

Multicellular organisms have developed highly efficient regulatory networks to control cell proliferation. These involve cellular interactions with positive and negative diffusible modulators as well as with the extracellular matrix proteins. In fully mature organisms, the cells of many tissues and organs are maintained in a nonproliferating state, but can be stimulated to resume DNA synthesis and cell division in response to external stimuli such as hormones, antigens or growth factors. In this manner the growth of individual cells is regulated according to the requirements of the whole organism. The regulation of normal cell proliferation is, therefore, central to many physiological processes, including embryogenesis, growth and development, tissue repair and immune responses.
Effects of Pile-Driving Noise on Oncorhynchus mykiss (Steelhead Trout)

Underwater sounds from anthropogenic sources may affect the behavior and physiology of aquatic organisms, including a variety of salmonid fishes protected under the US Endangered Species Act. One mechanism of effect is underwater sound generated by pile driving in and near aquatic habitats (Popper and Hastings 2009). In 2008, several state and US federal agencies convened the Fisheries Hydroacoustic Working Group (FHWG) to evaluate the available scientific evidence and determine interim criteria for the onset of injury to fish from underwater sound generated by pile driving. Interim criteria were subsequently agreed to by the National Marine Fisheries Service, United States Fish and Wildlife Service, Federal Highway Administration, California Department of Fish and Game, and the California (Caltrans), Oregon, and Washington State Departments of Transportation (FHWG 2008). The interim criteria for the onset of injury were set at a peak sound pressure level of 206 dB re 1 μPa and accumulated sound exposure levels (SELs) of 187 dB re 1 μPa2-s for fish >2 gm body weight and 183 dB for fish <2 gm body weight. The accumulated SEL is a measure of the cumulative energy to which a fish is exposed to over the course of a pile-driving event (<1 day).
Examples of Sobolev Differential Operators

From each section of the previous chapter we list at least one example. For the singular problems there are several.
Volatile Compounds Isolated from Sa Cha Sauce

Sa Cha sauce is commonly used in many Taiwanese and southern Chinese cuisines. It is used primarily to marinate meat for barbecue and to stir‐fry, and is also a favored dipping sauce for hot‐pot meals. The ingredients of Sa Cha sauce generally include dried shrimp and fish, onion, garlic, sesame, oil, sugar, and spices. The ingredients can vary slightly from brand to brand.
Female song in Costa's Hummingbird (Calypte costae)

ABSTRACT Bird song has been extensively studied in oscine passerines, but far less is known about song in hummingbirds, which are distantly related to passerines. Song is generally thought of as a male trait. Here we document song in 2 wild female Costa's Hummingbirds (Calypte costae) of 10 examined. Their vocalizations closely resembled male song and were produced, undirected, on territories just prior to the breeding season. Both birds were confirmed as female and not young males, which resemble females: one had an enlarged ovary, and the other laid eggs. Our results imply that at least some female hummingbirds may learn song as well as males and have similar song capacity as males. The function, if any, of female song was not immediately clear. Female song seemed rarer in this population than in males and thus easy to overlook. Presence of female song could also be an overlooked phenomenon in other hummingbird species.
Phenotypic Heterogeneity of the Endothelium: I. Structure, Function, and Mechanisms

Endothelial cells, which form the inner cellular lining of blood vessels and lymphatics, display remarkable heterogeneity in structure and function. This is the first of a 2-part review focused on phenotypic heterogeneity of blood vessel endothelium. This review provides an historical perspective of our understanding of endothelial heterogeneity, discusses the scope of phenotypic diversity across the vascular tree, and addresses proximate and evolutionary mechanisms of endothelial cell heterogeneity. The overall goal is to underscore the importance of phenotypic heterogeneity as a core property of the endothelium.
Fast Diffusion and Segregation along Threading Dislocations in Semiconductor Heterostructures

Heterogeneous integration of semiconductors combines the functionality of different materials, enabling technologies such as III–V lasers and solar cells on silicon and GaN LEDs on sapphire. However, threading dislocations generated during the epitaxy of these dissimilar materials remain a key obstacle to the success of this approach due to reduced device efficiencies and reliability. Strategies to alleviate this and understand charge carrier recombination at threading dislocations now need an accurate description of the structure of threading dislocations in semiconductor heterostructures. We show that the composition around threading dislocations in technologically important InGaAs/GaAs/Ge/Si heterostructures are indeed different from that of the matrix. Site-specific atom probe tomography enabled by electron channeling contrast imaging reveals this at individual dislocations. We present evidence for the simultaneous fast diffusion of germanium and indium up and down a dislocation, respectively, leading...
INFRARED SPECTRUM OF METHYL ISOCYANIDE-D3

Summary * The infrared spectrum of methyl isocyanide-d3 has been examined from 1.6 to 25 μ with a prism spectrometer and an assignment of all observed bands (fundamentals and overtones) has been made. Approximate zeta values for the CH3 deformation and rocking bands have been measured and some anharmonic data have been obtained. These results and their correlation with the spectra of CH3NC and CH3CN will be discussed.
Sensory Perception I: Chemoreception

Intriguing questions in biology concern the mechanisms by which chemical and energy stimuli are detected; signals are generated, integrated, and propagated; and responses are elicited. Virtually every living organism responds to any of a variety of stimuli, and, perhaps surprisingly, the membrane-associated molecules, which serve as detectors, have characteristic features. A case in point is photoreception in the mammalian eye, compared with that in the bacterium, Halobacterium halobium. Rhodopsin molecules, which capture photons and create (or trigger) an ionic signal, are functional in both organisms. In the mammalian rod cell, ionic conduction triggers a nerve impulse, whereas photoreception in the bacterium functions as an energy generator. In spite of the different end results, the initial processes appear similar.
Control of Northern Willowherb in Nursery Containers

Abstract Four experiments were conducted to determine the effectiveness of granular and sprayed preemergence herbicides for controlling northern willowherb (Epilobium ciliatum Rafin) in container crops. Eleven granular herbicides representing various combination of pendimethalin, prodiamine, oryzalin, oxyfluorfen, oxadiazon, napropamide, isoxaben, trifluralin, and flumioxazin were evaluated, as well as sprayed Surflan AS (oryzalin), Devrinol 50-DF (napropamide), Barricade 4FL (prodiamine), and Gallery 75DF (isoxaben). Herbicides were applied to recently filled containers and irrigated with overhead sprinklers. Weed numbers were counted in each pot and weed shoot dry weight was measured at the conclusion of each study. Ronstar G (oxadiazon) at 4.48 kg ai/ha (4 lb ai/A) consistently provided the most effective control among all herbicides. Other granular herbicides containing oxadiazon were also effective. Surflan and Devrinol did not consistently reduce weed numbers as effectively as Ronstar G, however the...
Ultra-selective ligand-driven separation of strategic actinides.

Metal ion separations are critical to numerous fields, including nuclear medicine, waste recycling, space exploration, and fundamental research. Nonetheless, operational conditions and performance are limited, imposing compromises between recovery, purity, and cost. Siderophore-inspired ligands show unprecedented charge-based selectivity and compatibility with harsh industry conditions, affording excellent separation efficiency, robustness and process control. Here, we successfully demonstrate a general separation strategy on three distinct systems, for Ac, Pu, and Bk purification. Separation factors (SF) obtained with model compound 3,4,3-LI(1,2-HOPO) are orders of magnitude higher than with any other ligand currently employed: 106 between Ac and relevant metal impurities, and over 108 for redox-free Pu purification against uranyl ions and trivalent actinides or fission products. Finally, a one-step separation method (SF > 3 × 106 and radiopurity > 99.999%) enables the isolation of Bk from adjacent actinides and fission products. The proposed approach offers a paradigm change for the production of strategic elements.
Brachial plexopathy following autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplant: an unrecognized complication of autologous transplantation.

Brachial plexopathy, also known as Parsonage–Turner syndrome or neuralgic amyotrophy, is an uncommon peripheral neuropathy characterized by acute-onset, dull, severe pain followed by limb weakness ...
Efficacy of tocilizumab in COVID-19: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

The efficacy of tocilizumab (TOC), monoclonal antibody against interleukin-6 (IL-6) receptor, in patients with coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) patients has led to conflicting results. We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis to compare the efficacy of addition of TOC to standard of care (SOC) versus SOC in patients with COVID-19. We performed a comprehensive literature search of PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, WHO COVID, LitCOVID, and Cochrane databases. Pooled outcomes (overall mortality, need for mechanical ventilation, intensive care unit admission, and secondary infections) were compared using DerSimonian-Laird/Random-effects approach. Risk difference (RD), confidence interval (CI), and p values were generated. A total of 23 studies with 6279 patients (1897 in TOC and 4382 in SOC group, respectively) were included. The overall mortality was lower in TOC group compared to SOC group (RD: -0.06; CI: -0.12 to -0.01; p = .03). Subgroup analysis including studies with only severe cases revealed lower mortality (RD: -0.12; CI: -0.18 to -0.06; p < .01) and need for mechanical ventilation (RD: -0.11; CI: -0.19 to -0.02; p = .01) in TOC group compared to SOC group. The addition of TOC to SOC has the potential to reduce mortality and need for mechanical ventilation in patients with severe COVID-19. Randomized controlled trials are needed to validate this.
“To Hold Time and Place Together”: The Power of Material Objects in Rebecca Harding Davis’s Civil War Stories

Less than a year after the end of the Spanish-American war, Rebecca Harding Davis published her essay “The Mean Face of War” (1899) in The Independent, a politically engaged weekly magazine from Ne...
Use of trihalomethanes as a surrogate for haloacetonitrile exposure introduces misclassification bias

Epidemiologists have used trihalomethanes (THMs) as a surrogate for overall disinfection byproduct (DBP) exposure based on the assumption that THM concentrations are proportional to concentrations of other DBP classes. Toxicological evidence indicates THMs are less potent toxins than unregulated classes like haloacetonitriles (HANs). If THMs are not proportional to the DBPs driving toxicity, the use of THMs to measure exposure may introduce non-trivial exposure misclassification bias in epidemiologic studies. This study developed statistical models to evaluate the covariance and proportionality of HAN and THM concentrations in a dataset featuring over 9500 measurements from 248 public water systems. THMs only explain ∼30% of the variance in HANs, whether the data is pooled in a classic linear regression or hierarchically grouped by water system in a multilevel linear regression. The 95% prediction interval on HANs for the median THM concentration exceeds the interquartile range of HANs. Mean HAN:THM ratios range from ∼2.4% to ∼80% across water systems, and varied with source water category, season, disinfectant sequence and distribution system location. The HAN:THM ratio was 265% higher in groundwater systems than in surface water systems and declined by ∼40% between finished effluent and maximum residence times in surface water systems with chlorine-chlorine disinfection. A maximum likelihood approach was used to estimate the misclassification bias that may result from using THMs to construct risk-ratios, assuming that HANs represent the "true" DBP exposure risk. The results indicate an odds ratio of ∼2 estimated with THM concentrations could correspond to a true odds ratio of 4-5. These findings demonstrate the need for epidemiologic studies to evaluate exposure by measuring DBPs that are likely to drive toxicity.
Why liberalization alone has not improved agricultural productivity in Zambia: the role of asset ownership and working capital constraints.

The authors use a large panel data set from Zambia to examine factors that could explain the relatively lackluster performance of the country's agricultural sector after liberalization. Zambia's liberalization significantly opened the economy but failed to alter the structure of production or help realize efficiency gains. They reach two main conclusions. First, not owning productive assets (in Zambia, draft animals and implements) limits improvements in agricultural productivity and household welfare. Owning oxen increases income directly, allows farmers to till their fields efficiently when rain is delayed, increases the area cultivated, and improves access to credit and fertilizer markets. Second, the authors reject the hypothesis that the application of fertilizer is unprofitable because of high input prices. Rather, fertilizer use appears to have declined because of constraints on supplies, which government intervention exacerbated instead of alleviating. (Extending the use of fertilizer to the many producers not currently using it would be profitable, but increasing the amount applied by the few producers who now have access to it would not be.) Policies to foster accumulation of the assets needed for agricultural production (including draft animals and implements) and to provide complementary public goods (education, credit, and good agricultural extension services) could greatly help reduce poverty and improve productivity.
Minimum detectable change and false positive rates of the vestibular/ocular motor screening (VOMS) tool: an NCAA-DoD care consortium analysis.

To derive minimum detectable change (MDC) across individual Vestibular-Ocular Motor Screening (VOMS) items and VOMS overall score in 17–25 years old collegiate athletes and to examine false positiv...
The Aesthetic Experience with Visual Art “At First Glance”

The aesthetic experience with visual art has been shown to occur in two stages. Upon initial exposure to a painting, a viewer spontaneously generates a global impression, or gist, of the work. One’s first impression of a painting includes a sense of its pictorial content, overall structural organization and style, meaningfulness, and an affective reaction to it. When gist information in a painting is deemed to have sufficient interest to an observer, the second stage of aesthetic processing ensues. This consists of directed focal exploration of the image to expand knowledge concerning the work’s compositional features and organization to satisfy cognitive curiosity and to develop aesthetic appreciation of a composition. This chapter presents an overview of research findings that have identified the types of visual properties and semantically related information that collectively lead to the activation of what is labeled a “painting gist” by this author. In addition, the influence of the painting gist response on the focal exploration of paintings is discussed.
A content analysis of depression-related tweets

This study examines depression-related chatter on Twitter to glean insight into social networking about mental health. We assessed themes of a random sample (n?=?2000) of depression-related tweets (sent 4-11 to 5-4-14). Tweets were coded for expression of DSM-5 symptoms for Major Depressive Disorder (MDD). Supportive or helpful tweets about depression was the most common theme (n?=?787, 40%), closely followed by disclosing feelings of depression (n?=?625; 32%). Two-thirds of tweets revealed one or more symptoms for the diagnosis of MDD and/or communicated thoughts or ideas that were consistent with struggles with depression after accounting for tweets that mentioned depression trivially. Health professionals can use our findings to tailor and target prevention and awareness messages to those Twitter users in need. Many posts about depression on Twitter are supportive/helpful tweets.Twitter users also commonly disclose feelings of depression in their tweets.Tweets reveal symptoms consistent with the diagnosis of Major Depressive Disorder.Research is needed on how tweets relate to self-reported depression.
Reforming the Reproduction Right: The Case for Personal Use Copies

The new realities of the digital age have rendered the 1976 Copyright Act inadequate for protecting reasonable personal copying and have created incentives for copyright holders to implement objectionable strategies to protect their rights. The Note explains that the only current shield to litigation for consumers is the fair use defense, which is inadequate due to the difficulty in proving that a personal copy is transformative. High costs of litigating, coupled with potentially ruinous penalties for losing, leaves little incentive for consumers not to settle even when the personal copy is clearly a fair use. The Note then explains that the Copyright Act also fails to protect copyright holders due to its focus on “copying” as the proxy for infringement. This is ineffective to prevent filesharing as it is hard to prove that “copying” has occurred, and it forces the holder to invade consumers’ privacy by using programs that track their activities. This also incentivizes holders to litigate out of existence developing technologies that aid consumers in making personal copies in direct contravention of the constitutional purpose of copyright. The Note concludes that to better protect the rights of copyright holders in the digital age, legislation should be enacted that changes the proxy for infringement from “copying,” to communicating works to the public, and that grants the copyright holder the exclusive right to authorize such communication. Furthermore, legislation that demarcates private use as noninfringement will ensure that private use copies for productive use and sharing between friends and family is protected.
Monthly variability in upper ocean biogeochemistry due to mesoscale eddy activity in the Saragasso Sea

A comparison of monthly biogeochemical measurements made from 1993 to 1995, combined with hydrography and satellite altimetry, was used to observe the impacts of nine eddy events on primary productivity and particle flux in the Sargasso Sea. Measurements of primary production, thorium-234 flux, nitrate+nitrite, and photosynthetic pigments made at the US JGOFS Bermuda Atlantic Time-Series Study (BATS) site were used. During the three years of this study, four out of six high thorium-234 flux events over 1000 dpm/sq m/d occurred during the passage of an eddy. Primary production nearly as high as the spring bloom maximum was observed in two mode-water eddies (May 1993 and July 1995). The 1994 spring bloom at BATS was suppressed by the passage of an anticyclone. Distinct phytoplankton community shifts were observed in mode-water eddies, which had an increased percentage diatoms and dinoflagelletes, and in cyclones, which had an increased percentage cyanobacteria (excluding Prochlorococcus). The difference in the observations of mode-water eddies and cyclones may result from the age of the eddy, which was very important to the biological response. In general, eddies that were one to two months old elicited a large biological response; eddies that were three months old may show a biological response and were accompanied by high thorium flux measurements; eddies that were four months old or older did not show a biological response or high thorium flux. Our conceptual model depicting the importance of temporal changes during eddy upwelling and decay fit the observations well in all seven upwelling eddies. Additional information is needed to determine the importance of deeper mixed layers and winter mixing to the magnitude of the eddy impacts. Also, sampling generally captured only the beginning, end, and/or edge of an eddy due to the monthly to semi-monthly frequency of the measurements made at BATS. Lagrangian studies, higher resolution time-series, and/or more spatial coverage is needed to provide additional information for improved C and N budgets in the Sargasso Sea and to complete our understanding of the temporal changes that occur in an eddy.
Toward a Next Generation Architecture for Public Safety Communications

In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, a unitary reliance on Land Mobile Radio systems (LMRs) failed public safety agencies, leaving them without any source of communications once they lost transmission capability. Unfortunately, in the wake of this tragedy, many have dusted off traditional prescriptions for improving public safety communications, such as more dedicated spectrum and more money for single-purpose LMRs (or LMRs based on technology that fails to facilitate broader functionalities). As we explain, however, both the needs underscored by Katrina and the capabilities made possible by emerging technologies call for a different strategy. In this paper, we argue that sound policy favors adoption of a next generation flexible architecture strategy for public safety communications. Such a flexible architecture embraces technological convergence and, accordingly, strives to coordinate existing LMRs, commercial terrestrial services, satellite technology, and wireless broadband systems to provide a robust, reliable, secure, and interoperable broadband communications system. Additionally, this approach would take advantage of "multi-mode" radios which are already a reality in most segments of the marketplace (except for public safety). Such multi-mode radios are expected to be even more robust once the recently authorized "ancillary terrestrial component" (ATC) of mobile satellite services becomes an option for public safety agencies. Notably, the flexible architecture that we advocate does not necessarily require additional spectrum dedicated for public safety agencies nor prohibitive financial investment in the equipment needed to use spectrum effectively. Rather, public safety agencies can leverage networks provided by commercial providers - particularly hybrid satellite and terrestrial systems - to satisfy many public safety needs in a cost-effective fashion. To advance this vision, policymakers should ensure that (1) satellite and terrestrial providers are afforded the opportunity - through pro-market and innovative spectrum policies - to develop effective offerings for public safety agencies; and (2) public safety agencies receive sufficient financial support to promote this type of a hybrid, next generation architecture.
A comparative analysis of infractions in Texas alcohol establishments and adult entertainment clubs

A crucial yet disputed element in the attempt to regulate sexually oriented businesses has been the negative secondary effects these firms have on nearby businesses and residential communities. This paper addresses a new dimension of the negative effects from such businesses by examining data on administrative and criminal infractions inside a large number of sexually oriented businesses and a comparable group of alcohol establishments. We compare administrative and criminal violations data from the Texas Alcohol Beverage Commission for all adult entertainment clubs (AECs) serving alcohol against a randomly selected sample of bars in the State of Texas. We find that there are important differences between the clubs and bars in 10 of the 23 t-test comparisons. What is more, even though alcohol-related infractions are the most common type of infraction for both AECs and for bars, the number of sex- and drug-related offenses was consistently more prevalent for sexually oriented businesses than for bars. In c...
Substance-abusing adolescents at varying levels of HIV risk: Psychosocial characteristics, drug use, and sexual behavior

Purpose: To evaluate the relationship of various psychosocial factors on HIV sexual risk behavior in a sample of 169 “inner city” male and female adolescents mandated into in court-ordered substance abuse treatment. Method: The Millon Adolescent Clinical Inventory (MACI) and measures of sexual behavior, condom attitudes and skills, HIV knowledge, and substance abuse were administered. Data were evaluated according to five HIV risk groups: abstinent (n=37); monogamous and practicing only protected sex (n=19); monogamous and practicing unprotected sex (n=45); multiple partners and practicing only protected sex (n=11); and multiple partners and having only unprotected sex (n=57). Results: Significant main effects were found for impulsive propensity, submissiveness, marijuana and alcohol use, condom attitudes, and intentions to engage in safer sex. Protective behavior was directly associated with submissiveness and inversely associated with impulsive personality profiles, with increased marijuana use emerging as a significant predictive factor in the choice for sexual activity vs. abstinence. More alcohol use was predictive of choosing multiple partners vs. monogamy. Implications: Factoring risk variation into the design of HIV psychosocial research may enhance the tailoring of effective prevention strategies.
Evaluation of a multi-class, multi-residue liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry method for analysis of 120 veterinary drugs in bovine kidney.

Traditionally, regulatory monitoring of veterinary drug residues in food animal tissues involves the use of several single-class methods to cover a wide analytical scope. Multi-class, multi-residue methods (MMMs) of analysis tend to provide greater overall laboratory efficiency than the use of multiple methods, and liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) of targeted drug analytes usually provides exceptional performance even for complicated sample extracts. In this work, an LC-MS/MS method was optimized and validated in a test of 120 drug analytes from 11 different classes in bovine kidney. The method used 10 ml of 4/1 acetonitrile/water for extraction of 2 g samples and cleanup with hexane partitioning. Quantitative and qualitative performance was assessed for the analytes at fortification levels of 10, 50, 100, and 200 ng/g. With the method, 66 drugs gave 70–120% recovery with ≤20% RSD at all levels over the course of 3 days. At the 200 ng/g level, 89 drugs met these same standards. Limits of detection were ≤10 ng/g for 109 of the analytes in the kidney matrix in validation experiments. Qualitatively, MS/MS identification criteria were set that ion ratios occur within ±10% (absolute value) from those of the analyte reference standards. At the 10 ng/g level, 57% of the drugs met the identification criteria, which improved to 84% at the 200 ng/g level. The method serves as an efficient and useful additional option among the current monitoring methods available. Published 2012. This article is a U.S. Government work and is in the public domain of the USA.
A numerical study on the interaction of nonclassical mesoscale circulations and baroclinic systems

Thermally-induced circulations, similar to sea-breezes, may be established in the presence of horizontal gradients in soil moisture, soil type, vegetation, or snow cover. The expense of extensive observational networks and the relatively small-scale circulations involved has made examining these circulations very difHcult. Recent numerical studies have indicated that sharp gradients in soil or vegetation properties may induce mesoscale circulations in the absence of synoptic forcing. The current study employed a three-dimensional, hydrostatic mesoscale model to evaluate the effects of horizontally heterogeneous soil moisture and soil type on the passage of a summer cold front in the central United States. Numerical simulations demonstrated that evaporation of soil moisture significantly affected the boundary-layer structure embedded in the baroclinic circulation. Although the position of the front was not altered, the thermal and momentum fields were affected enough to weaken the front near the surface. Evaporated soil moisture was advected ahead of the cold front, far from its source region. Moisture convergence was significantly enhanced in several locations, indicating that soil moisture may play an important role in modifying the spatial distribution and intensity of precipitation. The impact of surface inhomogeneities in soil moisture and soil type on the atmosphere is expected to be highly dependent on the particular synoptic conditions.
Effect of temperature on relaxation rate and Ca2+, Mg2+ dissociation rates from parvalbumin of frog muscle fibres.

1. Influence of temperature on relaxation rate as a function of isometric tetanus duration and on Ca2+ and Mg2+ dissociation rates from purified parvalbumin (PA) was examined to test the hypothesis that PA promotes relaxation in frog skeletal muscle. Single fibres and PA IVB from Rana temporaria skeletal muscle were utilized. 2. The magnitude of slowing of relaxation rate with increasing tetanus duration, relative to the final, steady value of relaxation rate, is 3-fold greater at O than at 10 degrees C. 3. In the 0-10 degrees C range, the Q10 for relaxation rate increases from 2.3 to 3.7 with increasing tetanus duration. 4. Dissociation of Ca2+ and Mg2+ from PA exhibited: (i) rate constants of 1.03 +/- 0.03 s-1 (mean +/- S.D., n = 5) and 3.42 +/- 0.14 s-1 (n = 5) at 20 degrees C and (ii) Q10 values of 2.3 and 1.9 in the 0-20 degrees C range, respectively. 5. Time courses of slowing of relaxation rate with increasing tetanus duration and recovery of relaxation rate with rest after a prolonged tetanus at 10 degrees C are similar to rates of dissociation of Mg2+ and Ca2+ from PA, respectively, as previously reported at 0 degree C. 6. Both the temperature dependence of the relative magnitude of slowing of relaxation rate and the increased Q10 of relaxation rate with increased tetanus duration can be explained if the Q10 for Ca2+ uptake by the sarcoplasmic reticulum is greater than the Q10 for Ca2+ sequestration by PA during relaxation. When Ca2+ and Mg2+ dissociation rates from PA at various temperatures are compared to other proposed indicators of PA function, it is concluded that PA facilitates relaxation of frog skeletal muscle in the 0-20 degrees C range.
Pointwise bounded approximation and Dirichlet algebras

Abstract Those open sets U of S2 for which A(U) is pointwise boundedly dense in H∞(U) are characterized in terms of analytic capacity. It is also shown that the real parts of the functions in A(U) are uniformly dense in CR(∂U) if and only if each component of U is simply connected and A(U) is pointwise boundedly dense in H∞(U).
Changes in S-adenosylmethionine synthetase in human liver cancer: Molecular characterization and significance

S-adenosylmethionine synthetase (SAMS) catalyzes the formation of S-adenosylmethionine (SAM) and is essential to normal cell function. There are two forms of SAMS, liver-specific and nonliver-specific (often referred to as "kidney"), which are products of two different genes. SAMS isoenzymes differ greatly in kinetic parameters and sensitivity to inhibition by methionine analogs. The current work studied changes in SAMS and their significance in liver cancer. Northern blot analysis showed that while normal liver expresses only liver-specific SAMS, both HepG2 and HuH-7 cells express only nonliver-specific SAMS. Absence of liver-specific SAMS messenger RNA (mRNA) was not because of gene deletion or rearrangement but complete lack of gene transcription. Reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) with liver- and kidney-specific SAMS primers showed that liver-specific SAMS mRNA was absent with only kidney SAMS mRNA present in HepG2, HuH-7, Hep3B, and HuH-1 cells, and four consecutive hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) specimens. Normal liver tissues from the same patients express both forms of SAMS mRNA. As a result of the change in SAMS expression, SAMS activity was higher in HepG2 and HuH-7 cells at physiologically relevant methionine concentrations but lower at high (mmol/L) methionine concentrations than rat hepatocytes. Treatment with ethionine and seleno-D,L-ethionine, two inhibitors known to have I50 values 50 to 60 times lower against SAMS purified from Novikoff hepatoma cells as compared with SAMS purified from normal rat liver, resulted in increased cell lysis in HepG2 and HuH-7 cells but not cultured rat hepatocytes. These agents did not affect cellular adenosine triphosphate (ATP) levels but inhibited SAMS activity in HepG2 and HuH-7 cells when added to their protein extracts. In summary, expression of SAMS is altered in human liver cancer. This occurrence may provide a potentially exploitable target for cancer chemotherapy.
Roles of Vpr and Vpx in modulating the virus-host cell relationship

The human and simian immunodeficiency viruses contain small open reading frames known as vpr and vpx. These genes encode proteins that are highly related both at the amino acid level and functionally, although key differences do exist. This review describes the main functions ascribed to Vpr and Vpx in the context of both viral replication and modulation of host cell biology.
OPEC: How to transition from black to green gold

Global discussions on the reduction of Co2 emissions and the increasing interest in alternative energy sources and production technologies have started to concern oil exporting nations. International discussions on projects such as Desert Tec might also have sparked their interest to explore a possible diversification of their energy resource production portfolio. However, extremely low in-country retail prices of fossil fuels to date present a significant economic hurdle to such developments. This paper uses a formal model setup accompanied by intuitive graphical illustrations as well as a numerical example to analyze fossil fuel abundant nations′ potential to transition to a supplier of renewable energy as well as possible pitfalls resulting from their status quo situation.
Robust neural network system design for detecting and estimating snowfall from the Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit

The principal intent of this research is to: (a) investigate the potential of passive microwave data from Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit (AMSU) in detecting snowfall events and in measuring their intensity, and (b) evaluate the effect of both land cover and atmospheric conditions on the retrieval accuracy. A neural-network-based model has been developed and has shown a great potential in detecting snowfall events and classifying their intensity into light, moderate or heavy. This algorithm has been applied for different snow storms which occurred in four winter seasons in the Northeastern United States. Additional information such as cloud cover and air temperature were added to the process to reduce misidentified snowfall pixels. Only pixels with cloud cover and falling within a specific range of temperature are presented to the snowfall detection model. Surface temperature collected from ground station-based observations and archived by the National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) were used for this test. Different heavy storm events and non-snowfall observations that occurred at the same time as AMSU acquisition were selected. Hourly snow accumulation data collected by the NCDC were used as truth data to train and validate the model. The preliminary results indicate that the neural-network-based model provides a significant improvement in snowfall detection accuracy over existing satellite-based methods.
Reactivity of the CF3CFHO radical: Thermal decomposition and reaction with O2

The kinetics of CF 3 CFHO radical reactions was studied at 20 and 35 Torr and from 259 to 297 K by flash photolysis with time-resolved mass spectrometry. The CF 3 CFHO 2 radical was generated by flash photolysis of Cl 2 in the presence of CF 3 CFH 2 and O 2 , and CF 3 CFHO was formed by the reaction of CF 3 CFHO 2 with Cl and by the peroxy radical self-reaction. The rate coefficient ratio for (1) CF 3 CFHO + O 2 → CF 3 C(O)F + HO 2 and (2) CF 3 CFHO → HC(O)F + CF 3 was determined by observing the formation of HC(O)F as a function of the partial pressure of O 2 . At 20 Torr, k 1 /k 2 = (2.4 ′ 0.8) × 10 - 2 5 e ( 4 2 4 8 ′ 5 5 0 ) / T cm 3 molecule - 1 , and at 35 Torr, k 1 /k 2 = (9.1 ′ 3.3) x 10 - 2 6 e ( 4 3 7 0 ′ 5 0 0 ) / T cm 3 molecule - 1 . Ab initio molecular orbital calculations for optimized geometries, vibrational frequencies, and total energies of CF 3 CFHO, the reaction products, and the C-C bond-breaking transition state were made. Energies were calculated by the G2 and G2(MP2) methods. An RRKM model for reaction 2 was based on geometries and energies from the ab initio calculations. RRKM calculated values of k 2 were combined with the experimentally determined k 1 /k 2 to estimate k 1 . Comparisons were made with estimates made with two other RRKM models (Schneider, W. F.; Wallington, T. J.; Barker, J. R.; Stahlberg, E. A. Ber. Bunsen-Ges. Phys. Chem. 1998, 102, 1850; Somnitz, H.; Zellner, R. Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys. 2001, 3, 2352). The ab initio calculations predict the 298 K enthalpy of formation of CF 3 CFHO to be -203.0 kcal mol - 1 (G2MP2) and -203.4 kcal mol - 1 (G2).