cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Structure of LiAl2(OH)7·2H2O

The room-temperature reaction of lithium hydroxide with aluminum hydroxide (bayerite) in the ratio of 1:2 produces lithium dialuminate, LiAl[sub 2](OH)[sub 7][center dot]2H[sub 2]O. Rietveld refinement of x-ray and neutron powder diffraction patterns indicate that the structure is composed of [LiAl[sub 2]-(OH)[sub 6]][sup +] layers separated by water molecules and hydroxide ions. Disorder in the stacking sequence leads to indexing the diffraction pattern on a hexagonal cell (a = 5.0972(3) [angstrom], c = 7.5524(9) [angstrom] [times] 3n layers); however, the structure is better described by a C-centered monoclinic cell with the contraints the b = a[radical]3 and cos [beta] = -a/3c (a = 5.097 [angstrom], b = 8.829 [angstrom], c = 7.741 [angstrom], and [beta] = 103.0[degree]). The diffraction patterns were refined using a model of up to 54 layers ([approx]400 [angstrom]). The layer stacking vector, which defines the angle between layers, is less than expected based on the position of the diffraction peaks. The structural complexities present in lithium dialuminate have their origins in the conditions of synthesis and the layered nature of the material. 29 refs., 10 figs., 4 tabs.
Gene expression and neurochemical characterization of the rostromedial tegmental nucleus (RMTg) in rats and mice

The rostromedial tegmental nucleus (RMTg), also known as the tail of the ventral tegmental area (tVTA), is a GABAergic structure identified in 2009 that receives strong inputs from the lateral habenula and other sources, sends dense inhibitory projections to midbrain dopamine (DA) neurons, and plays increasingly recognized roles in aversive learning, addiction, and other motivated behaviors. In general, little is known about the genetic identity of these neurons. However, recent work has identified the transcription factor FoxP1 as enhanced in the mouse RMTg (Lahti et al. in Development 143(3):516–529, 2016). Hence, in the current study, we used RNA sequencing to identify genes significantly enhanced in the rat RMTg as compared to adjacent VTA, and then examined the detailed distribution of two genes in particular, prepronociceptin (Pnoc) and FoxP1. In rats and mice, both Pnoc and FoxP1 were expressed at high levels in the RMTg and colocalized strongly with previously established RMTg markers. FoxP1 was particularly selective for RMTg neurons, as it was absent in most adjacent brain regions. We used these gene expression patterns to refine the anatomic characterization of RMTg in rats, extend this characterization to mice, and show that optogenetic manipulation of RMTg in mice bidirectionally modulates real-time place preference. Hence, RMTg neurons in both rats and mice exhibit distinct genetic profiles that correlate with their distinct connectivity and function.
EFFECT OF A HIGH-LEVEL AND A LOW-LEVEL MILK PIPELINE ON MILK FAT ACID DEGREE VALUES1

Summary Dairy farm milk pipelines located 2 ft below normal udder level and 4 ft above, respectively, were used to determine the effect of milk pipeline height on induced lipolysis. Three trials in...
SPONTANEOUS CORONARY ARTERY DISSECTION IN PATIENTS WITH A PROVISIONAL DIAGNOSIS OF TAKOTSUBO SYNDROME

Takotsubo syndrome (TTS) mimics acute myocardial infarction (MI) in the absence of explanatory coronary artery disease and is more common in women. Spontaneous coronary artery dissection (SCAD) shares a predilection for women, can result in LV wall motion abnormalities similar to TTS, and may
The Relational Model

In this chapter we introduce the relational model, a collection of methods and techniques for organizing databases centered on the notion of a relation as the data structure. After we present the notion of a relation, we present other fundamental concepts such as candidate key, primary key and foreign key. Integrity rules such as the entity integrity rule and the referential integrity rule are presented. We conclude this chapter with a brief introduction to relational operations.
Eigenschaften von DB-Systemen

Die folgenden Uberlegungen sind als Einstieg in die relationalen Datenbanksysteme zu verstehen, konnen aber generell als Richtlinien fur Datenbanksysteme uberhaupt verstanden werden.
Longitudinal Study of Preschool Development

The Early Developmental Adversity Program is an attempt to understand—in the period from gestation to school entry—the contribution of biological and social factors to the presence or absence of learning problems in the elementary school. Methodological and substantive findings of this prospective longitudinal study of 1,000 infants are presented. Individuals were 4 years old at the time of reporting.
Multiparty Interactive Communication with Private Channels

A group of n players wants to run a distributed protocol ℘ over a network where communication occurs via private point-to-point channels. Can we efficiently simulate ℘ in the presence of an adversary who knows ℘ and is able to maliciously flip bits on the channels? We show that this is possible, even when L, the number of bits sent in ℘, the average message size α in ℘, and T, the number of bits flipped by the adversary are not known in advance. In particular, we show how to create a robust version of ℘, ℘ such that 1) ℘' fails with probability at most δ, for any δ>0; and 2) ℘' sends O( L (1 + (1/α) log (n L/δ)) + T) bits. We note that if α is Ω (log (n L/δ), then ℘ sends only O(L+T) bits, and is therefore within a constant factor of optimal. Critically, our result requires that ℘ runs correctly in an asynchronous network and our protocol ℘ must run in a synchronous network.
Hypoxanthine Guanine Phosphoribosyltransferase expression is negatively correlated with immune activity through its regulation of purine synthesis.

Abstract Introduction The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of elevated Hypoxanthine Guanine Phosphoribosyltransferase (HPRT) on the immune response in the tumor microenvironment. Methodology HPRT expression was evaluated in cancer patients and correlated with cytokine expression, survival, and immune cell infiltration. An HPRT knockdown cell line was created to evaluate HPRT impact on purine expression and subsequent purine treatment was administered to immune cells to determine their influence on cell activation. Results HPRT expression was negatively correlated with the general expression of both pro-inflammatory and anti-inflammatory cytokines. Additionally, HPRT expression was also negatively correlated with the infiltration of immune cell subsets: B-cells, CD4 + T cells, macrophages, neutrophils, and dendritic cells (p Conclusions We conclude that purine levels significantly reduce immune cell activation in cancer and the upregulation of HPRT in malignant tissue is a contributing factors to the immunosuppressive microenvironment.
Impact of Consensus Papers versus Randomized Trials in Critical Care Nephrology.

Introduction: Reports of consensus conferences are usually valued less than reports of clinical trials even when rigorous methodology is used. However, limited data are available comparing the impact of these 2 methods of shaping clinical practice. Objective: Compare the publication impact of consensus conferences and clinical trials. Methods: Consensus publications from the Acute Disease Quality Initiative (ADQI) from 2002 through 2017 were identified and classified by subject matter. Randomized trials were identified in the same publication year and subject in journals, starting with the highest impact factor. Both publication types were matched, and total citations were determined for each using Google Scholar. A secondary analysis compared total costs for each publication type. Results and Conclusions: Seventeen ADQI consensus conference reports and 17 randomized trials were identified. ADQI reports received a similar number of citations per paper (median, interquartile range) compared to randomized trials (132, 54–228; vs. 159, 60–340, p = ns). Similarly, 10 (58.8%) ADQI reports and 10 randomized trials were cited >100 times. On average, ADQI reports appeared in journals with lower impact factors compared to clinical trials (5.4 ± 4.6 vs. 25.4 ± 27.1; p < 0.01). The median cost per citation (USD 2017) for ADQI reports was USD 606.01 compared to almost twice this figure, USD 1,182.59, for clinical trials on the same topics (p = 0.09). Despite being published in lower impact factor journals, consensus reports on topics in critical care nephrology, received similar citations to randomized controlled trials published the same year.
Careers after COVID-19: challenges and changes

There are few certainties in our visions of post-COVID-19 careers, but change is inevitable. This article will explore how HRD can be proactive in addressing the immediate needs of the post-pandemi...
Pulmonary-arterial-hypertension (PAH)-on-a-chip: fabrication, validation and application

Currently used animal and cellular models for pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) only partially recapitulate its pathophysiology in humans and are thus inadequate in reproducing the hallmarks of the disease, inconsistent in portraying the sex-disparity, and unyielding to combinatorial study designs. Here we sought to deploy the ingenuity of microengineering in developing and validating a tissue chip model for human PAH. We designed and fabricated a microfluidic device to emulate the luminal, intimal, medial, adventitial, and perivascular layers of a pulmonary artery. By growing three types of pulmonary arterial cells (PACs)-endothelial, smooth muscle, and adventitial cells, we recreated the PAH pathophysiology on the device. Diseased (PAH) PACs, when grown on the chips, moved of out their designated layers and created phenomena similar to the major pathologies of human PAH: intimal thickening, muscularization, and arterial remodeling and show an endothelial to mesenchymal transition. Flow-induced stress caused control cells, grown on the chips, to undergo morphological changes and elicit arterial remodeling. Our data also suggest that the newly developed chips can be used to elucidate the sex disparity in PAH and to study the therapeutic efficacy of existing and investigational anti-PAH drugs. We believe this miniaturized device can be deployed for testing various prevailing and new hypotheses regarding the pathobiology and drug therapy in human PAH.
Unilateral vascular abnormality: A case of peripheral retinal arteriolar tortuosity associated with a prepapillary vascular loop.

Abstract Purpose To report a case of unilateral prepapillary vascular loop along with peripheral third order retinal arteriolar tortuosity in the same eye, and to discuss potential diagnostic considerations. Observations Color fundus pictures and wide-angle fluorescein angiography (FA) demonstrated a pre-papillary vascular loop and a region of retinal arteriolar tortuosity in third order arterioles superotemporally in the left eye. The examination and ancillary testing on the right eye were normal. Conclusion and Importance The vascular abnormality in this case does not fit a pattern present in other disease states both hereditary or acquired. The patient's immediate family do not demonstrate a similar abnormality and the patient remains visually asymptomatic upon one-year follow-up.
A Qualitative Inquiry of Domestic Violence Counselors’ Clinical Supervision Experiences

The domestic violence counselor provides counseling services focused on safety, empowerment, psychoeducation, and support. When domestic violence counselors are trained as professional counselors o...
Fifer: Tackling Resource Underutilization in the Serverless Era

Datacenters are witnessing a rapid surge in the adoption of serverless functions for microservices-based applications. A vast majority of these microservices typically span less than a second, have strict SLO requirements, and are chained together as per the requirements of an application. The aforementioned characteristics introduce a new set of challenges, especially in terms of container provisioning and management, as the state-of-the-art resource management frameworks, employed in serverless platforms, tend to look at microservice-based applications similar to conventional monolithic applications. Hence, these frameworks suffer from microservice agnostic scheduling and colossal container over-provisioning, especially during workload fluctuations, thereby resulting in poor resource utilization. In this work, we quantify the above shortcomings using a variety of workloads on a multi-node cluster managed by the Kubernetes and Brigade serverless framework. To address them, we propose Fifer --- an adaptive resource management framework to efficiently manage function-chains on serverless platforms. The key idea is to make Fifer (i) utilization conscious by efficiently bin packing jobs to fewer containers using function-aware container scaling and intelligent request batching, and (ii) at the same time, SLO-compliant by proactively spawning containers to avoid cold-starts, thus minimizing the overall response latency. Combining these benefits, Fifer improves container utilization and cluster-wide energy consumption by 4× and 31%, respectively, without compromising on SLO's, when compared to the state-of-the-art schedulers employed by serverless platforms.
Efficient Photon Pair Generation in Thin-film Lithium Niobate Microring Resonators

We demonstrate a high purity photon pair source via parametric downcon-version in a chip-integrated lithium niobate racetrack microring resonator, observing high brightness of 6.4 MHz mW−1 GHz−1 at 2350 coincidence-to-accidental ratio.
The Worldwide Change in the Behavior of Interest Rates and Prices in 1914

This paper evaluates the role of the destruction of the gold standard and the founding of the Federal Reserve, both of which occurred in 1914, in contributing to observed changes in the behavior of interest rates and prices after 1914. The paper presents a model of policy coordination in which the introduction of the Fed stabilizes interest rates, even if the gold standard remains intact, and it offers empirical evidence that the dismantling of the gold standard did not play a crucial role in precipitating the changes in interest rate behavior.
Micro-Expression Classification based on Landmark Relations with Graph Attention Convolutional Network

Facial micro-expressions are brief, rapid, spontaneous gestures of the facial muscles that express an individual’s genuine emotions. Because of their short duration and subtlety, detecting and classifying these micro-expressions by humans and machines is difficult. In this paper, a novel approach is proposed that exploits relationships between landmark points and the optical flow patch for the given landmark points. It consists of a two-stream graph attention convolutional network that extracts the relationships between the landmark points and local texture using an optical flow patch. A graph structure is built to draw-out temporal information using the triplet of frames. One stream is for node feature location, and the other one is for a patch of optical-flow information. These two streams (node location stream and optical flow stream) are fused for classification. The results are shown on, CASME II and SAMM, publicly available datasets, for three classes and five classes of micro-expressions. The proposed approach outperforms the state-of-the-art methods for 3 and 5 categories of expressions.
Perioperative Complications and Early Clinical Outcomes Following ACL Reconstruction with Soft Tissue Quadriceps Tendon Autograft in Adolescent Athletes

Objectives:Quadriceps tendon (QT) autograft has emerged as an increasingly popular soft tissue graft alternative to the hamstring tendon (HS) autograph for ACL reconstruction (ACLR). However, utili...
Editorial: The Predictive Power of Preschool Irritability Comes Into Focus.

In recent decades, the search for early childhood markers of risk for later psychopathology has been vigorous. It has garnered escalating interest from multiple facets of developmental science, and has extended to periods as early as prenatal development. The principle that early identification of neurodevelopmental risk to target intervention during relatively higher neuroplastic periods offers a window of opportunity for larger effects and more enduring change is one key driver of this effort. Despite this intense interest and focus, the ability to test the predictive power of early markers requires time, persistence, and patience, with the later childhood and adolescent outcomes of some key longitudinal studies starting in early childhood only now becoming available. The Stony Brook Longitudinal Study is one such sample, from which Sorcher et al.1 report strong relationships between preschool irritability and a variety of outcomes in early adolescence, some of them surprisingly broad. Findings from this community sample demonstrate that irritability at age 3 years predicts later internalizing and externalizing outcomes as well as poor peer relations, global impairment, and health problems, even after controlling for other key established risk factors. These findings are some of the most convincing yet available to suggest that preschool irritability should be an intervention target to prevent poor long-term outcomes. However, in contrast to prior hypotheses, these data suggest that it may not be a specific marker of later affective disorders, although differences between youth and parent report were found along these lines. Surprisingly, only parent report suggested that early irritability had greater specificity to affective disorder outcomes, whereas youth self-report did not.
Out-of-Order Parallel Discrete Event Simulation

Both SystemC and SpecC SLDLs define DE-based execution semantics with “zero-delay” delta cycles.
Adapted Physical Education Programs at Land-Grant Institutions

(1966). Adapted Physical Education Programs at Land-Grant Institutions. Journal of Health, Physical Education, Recreation: Vol. 37, No. 2, pp. 57-59.
Teleseismic analysis of the 1990 and 1991 earthquakes near Potenza

Analysis of the available teleseismic data for two moderate earthquakes near the town of Potenza in the Southern Apennines shows that both involve strike-slip faulting on a plane oriented approximately east-west. Only the larger, 5 May 1990, earthquake is sufficiently large for analysis by conventional teleseismic waveform inversion methods, and is seen to consist of a foreshock followed 11 seconds later by the main release of moment. The focal mechanism and seismic moment of the 26 May 1991 earthquake is determined by quantitative comparison of its 15-60 s period surface waves with those generated by the 5 May 1990 event. The focal mechanisms for the two events are found to be very similar. The 1991 earthquake has a scalar moment that is approximately 18% that of the 1990 mainshock. Comparison of higher frequency P waves for the two events, recorded at regional distance, shows that the ratio of trace amplitudes is smaller than the ratio of scalar moments, suggesting that the stress drop for the 1991 event is distinctly smaller than for the 1990 mainshock.
Evaluating Carbon Offsets from Forestry and Energy Projects : How Do They Compare?

Under the Clean Development Mechanism, developing countries will be able to produce certified emissions reductions (CERs, sometimes called offsets) through projects that reduce greenhouse gas emissions below business-as-usual levels. The challenges of setting up offset markets are considerable. Do forestry projects, as a class, have more difficulty than energy projects reducing greenhouse gas emissions in ways that are real, measurable, additional, and consistent with sustainable development? Under the Kyoto Protocol, industrial countries accept caps on their emissions of greenhouse gases. They are permitted to acquire offsetting emissions reductions from developing countries - which do not have emissions limitations - to assist in complying with these caps. Because these emissions reductions are defined against a hypothetical baseline, practical issues arise in ensuring that the reductions are genuine. Forestry-related emissions reduction projects are often thought to present greater difficulties in measurement and implementation than energy-related emissions reduction projects. Chomitz discusses how project characteristics affect the process for determining compliance with each of the criteria for qualifying. Those criteria are: - Additionality. Would the emissions reductions not have taken place without the project? - Baseline and systems boundaries (leakage). What would business-as-usual emissions have been without the project? And in this comparison, how broad should spatial and temporal system boundaries be? - Measurement (or sequestration). How accurately can we measure actual with-project emissions levels? - Duration or permanence. Will the project have an enduring mitigating effect? - Local impact. Will the project benefit its neighbors? For all the criteria except permanence, it is difficult to find generic distinctions between land use change and forestry and energy projects, since both categories comprise diverse project types. The important distinctions among projects have to do with such things as: - The level and distribution of the project's direct financial benefits. - How much the project is integrated with the larger system. - The project components' internal homogeneity and geographic dispersion. - The local replicability of project technologies. Permanence is an issue specific to land use change and forestry projects. Chomitz describes various approaches to ensure permanence or adjust credits for duration: the ton-year approach (focusing on the benefits from deferring climatic damage, and rewarding longer deferral); the combination approach (bundling current land use change and forestry emissions reductions with future reductions in the buyer's allowed amount); a technology-acceleration approach; and an insurance approach. This paper - a product of Infrastructure and Environment, Development Research Group - is part of a larger effort in the group to assess policies for mitigating climate change. The author may be contacted at kchomitz@worldbank.org.
Nonlinear Overlapping Domain Decomposition Methods

We discuss some overlapping domain decomposition algorithms for solving sparse nonlinear systemof equations arising fromthe discretization of partial differential equations. All algorithms are derived using the three basic algorithms: Newton for local or global nonlinear systems, Krylov for the linear Jacobian system inside Newton, and Schwarz for linear and/or nonlinear preconditioning. The two key issues with nonlinear solvers are robustness and parallel scalability. Both issues can be addressed if a good combination of Newton, Krylov and Schwarz is selected, and the right selection is often dependent on the particular type of nonlinearity and the computing platform.
Abstract 4341: Metabolomic analysis of HER2-positive breast cancer cells

Proceedings: AACR Annual Meeting 2014; April 5-9, 2014; San Diego, CA Purpose: HER2-positive breast cancer accounts for more than 20% of the diagnosed cases and is characterized by aggressive growth, increased disease recurrence, and poor prognosis. While much of the signaling mechanism(s) have been elucidated, the impact of HER2 positivity on cellular metabolism is not well understood. We examined (1) gene expression profiles of mammalian breast cancer cell lines with increasing HER2 expression levels (MCF10A, MDA-MB-468, MDA-MB-453, HCC1954, HCC2218) and correlated changes to metabolic expression profiles and (2) the effect of serum starvation and pervanadate treatment on the metabolic profiles of these HER2-expressing cell lines. Methods: Our study used a combination of 1H-NMR and 2D-NMR (TOCSY), bioinformatics analyses, and protein expression validation in human breast cancer cell lines (untreated, serum-starved, serum-starved with pervanadate treatment). Results: We found that both gene and metabolic expression profiles of HER2-positive cell lines correlated with leucine and isoleucine biosynthesis (p-value < 0.05). Comparative analyses of profiles from untreated, serum-starved, and serum-starved with pervanadate-treated cell samples revealed that lactate concentration (p-value <0.05) dropped significantly with serum starvation and pervanadate treatment consistent with reduced glycolytic metabolism and potentially mediated through suppression of tyrosine phosphatase activity. Conclusion: This study highlights important new metabolites that are potential biomarkers of HER2-positive breast cancer and suggests alternate/novel pathways to consider for future understanding and treatment. Citation Format: Malika K. Sahni, Resmi K. Ravindran, Imran H. Khan, Jason A. Bush, V. V. Krishnan. Metabolomic analysis of HER2-positive breast cancer cells. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 105th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2014 Apr 5-9; San Diego, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2014;74(19 Suppl):Abstract nr 4341. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2014-4341
Variation in Management of Fever and Neutropenia Among Pediatric Patients With Cancer: A Survey of Providers in Michigan.

Considerable variation in the management of fever and neutropenia (FN) exists, with factors associated with treatment variation not well described. An online survey of 90 pediatric cancer providers in Michigan was performed in Spring 2014. The survey frame was pediatric patients with cancer receiving treatment, with a Port-a-cath, who were clinically stable. Criteria for “Decreased” and “Increased” risk groups were defined by respondents. Survey questions addressed FN definitions, risk groups conceptualization, routine clinical practice, and management guidelines, in the context of risk groups and distance to treating institution. Fifty providers responded (56%); the majority defined a febrile event as temperature >38.3°C and/or 2 events >38.0°C within a 24-hour period. Neutropenia was defined as current or anticipated absolute neutrophil count (ANC) 2 hours away. Re...
Virtual ring routing trends

Virtual Ring Routing (VRR) schemes were introduced in the context of wireless ad hoc networks and Internet anycast overlays. They build a network-routing layer using ideas from distributed hash table design, utilizing randomized virtual identities along a ring. This makes maintenance practical when nodes may enter or leave. Previously, VRR was evaluated over a small wireless network and through medium-scale simulations, exhibiting remarkably good performance. In this paper, we provide a formal analysis of a family of VRRlike schemes. The analysis provides insight into a variety of issues, e.g., how well does VRR perform compared with brute force shortest paths routing? What properties of an underlying network topology make VRR work well? Our analysis is backed by extensive simulation over a variety of topologies. Whereas previous works evaluated VRR over fairly small networks (up to 200 nodes), we are interested in scaling the simulations so as to exhibit asymptotic trends. Simulating network sizes beyond 220 results in a memory explosion: In some of the topologies of interest, such as a 2-dimensional plane, the total memory taken up by routing tables is Ω(N3/2) for an N-node network. We devise a simulation strategy that builds necessary information on the fly using a Luby and Rackoff pseudo-random permutation, leading to simulations at a scale of 232 nodes.
Measurements of body composition during late gestation and lactation in first and second parity sows and its relationship to piglet production and post-weaning reproductive performance

Abstract The objective of this study was to characterize multiple body condition traits in a white crossbred composite population of first- and second-parity sows and, determine if these traits relate to litter production and reproductive parameters. Differences between parity or time were determined using a mixed model and reported as LSM±SE. As expected, parity 2 dams were heavier ( P P =0.0340) loin eye area from late gestation to weaning (−4.1±0.78 cm 2 versus −2.5±0.60 cm 2 ) but had a greater ( P =0.0026) recovery in loin eye area from weaning to post-weaning (2.8±0.76 cm 2 versus 0.6±0.59 cm 2 ) versus primiparous females. However the period between weaning measurements and post-weaning measurements tended ( P =0.0978) to favor parity 1 dams (16.0±0.35 d) versus parity 2 dams (15.4±0.43 d). Parity 2 dams also had a greater ( P ≤0.05) ovulation rate following weaning than parity 1 dams. Regression analyses indicated body weight of dams at several time points had a positive ( P ≤0.05) relationship to ovulation rate (range 0.03±0.012 to 0.05±0.013 corpora lutea kg −1 ). Piglet ADG was positively ( P ≤0.05) associated with dam body weight (range 0.30±0.103 g kg −1 to 0.49±0.106 g kg −1 ) and dam backfat thickness (range 0.93±0.363 g mm −1 to 1.14±0.378 g mm −1 ) regardless of parity. Regression analyses indicated interactions ( P ≤0.05) between parity and backfat thickness at weaning (−0.11±0.023 piglets mm −1 ) and post-weaning backfat thickness (−0.12±0.025 piglets mm −1 ) were negatively associated with number of nursed piglets weaned among parity 1 dams. Furthermore, loin eye area at weaning (−0.06±0.024 piglets cm 2 −1 ) and loss of loin eye area from late gestation to weaning (−0.05±0.020 piglets cm 2 −1 ) were negatively ( P ≤0.05) associated with number of nursed piglets weaned but were not influenced by parity in regression analyses. In conclusion, these data provide knowledge on differences in body composition before and after the lactation period in young dams under similar conditions. Of interest, second parity dams appear to have greater lean tissue elasticity versus primiparous females. Future studies will further refine the relationship among body composition in primiparous females and subsequent impact on sow longevity.
Toxicity of Methionine in Humans

The literature has been searched to identify evidence relating to the possible toxicity of the amino acid methionine in human subjects. Nutritional and metabolic studies have employed amounts of methionine, including the D and DL isomers, both below and above the requirement and have not reported adverse effects in adults and children. Although methionine is known to exacerbate psychopathological symptoms in schizophrenic patients, there is no evidence of similar effects in healthy subjects. The role of methionine as a precursor of homocysteine is the most notable cause for concern. A "loading dose" of methionine (0.1 g/kg) has been given, and the resultant acute increase in plasma homocysteine has been used as an index of the susceptibility to cardiovascular disease. Although this procedure results in vascular dysfunction, this is acute and unlikely to result in permanent damage. However, a 10-fold larger dose, given mistakenly, resulted in death. Longer-term studies in adults have indicated no adverse consequences of moderate fluctuations in dietary methionine intake, but intakes higher than 5 times normal resulted in elevated homocysteine levels. These effects of methionine on homocysteine and vascular function are moderated by supplements of vitamins B-6, B-12, C, and folic acid. In infants, methionine intakes of 2-5 times normal resulted in impaired growth and extremely high plasma methionine levels, but no adverse long-term consequences were observed.
The NH2 terminus of the herpes simplex virus type 1 regulatory protein ICP0 contains a promoter-specific transcription activation domain.

The transcriptional program of herpes simplex virus is regulated by the concerted action of three immediate-early (α) proteins, ICP4, ICP27, and ICP0. The experiments described in this study examine the role of the acidic amino terminus (amino acids 1 to 103) of ICP0 in gene activation. When tethered to a DNA binding domain, this sequence activates transcription in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Deletion of these amino acids affects the ability of ICP0 to activate α-gene promoter reporters in transient expression assays, while it has little or no effect on a β- and a γ-gene reporter in the same assay. Viruses that express the deleted form of ICP0 (ICP0-NX) have a small-plaque phenotype on both Vero cells and the complementing cell line L7. Transient expression and immunofluorescence analyses demonstrate that ICP0-NX is a dominant negative form of ICP0. Immunoprecipitation of ICP0 from cells coinfected with viruses expressing ICP0-NX and ICP0 revealed that ICP0 oligomerizes in infected cells. These data, in conjunction with the finding that ICP0-N/X is dominant negative, provide both biochemical and genetic evidence that ICP0 functions as a multimer in infected cells.
Analysis of pressure vessel steel fatigue tests in air

Abstract Fatigue data on A533B and A508 steels tested in air at laboratories all over the world are analyzed by the FATigue Data Analysis Code, FATDAC. A model including an R- ratio factor is fitted to the data, and the quality of the fit is verified by several sets of data that were not used for fitting.
An improved multi-channel clutter suppression algorithm

The processing of airborne multi-channel radar data to cancel the clutter near moving ground targets can be accomplished through Doppler filtering, with displaced phase center antenna (DPCA) techniques, or by space-time adaptive processing (STAP). Typical clutter suppression algorithms recently developed for moving ground targets were designed to function with two-channel displaced phase center radar data. This paper reviews the implementation of a two-channel clutter cancellation approach used in the past (baseline technique), discusses the development of an improved two-channel clutter cancellation algorithm, and extends this technique to three-channel airborne radar data. The enhanced performance of the improved dual channel method is expanded upon by exploiting the extra information gained from a third channel. A significant improvement between the moving target signature level and the surrounding clutter level was obtained with the multi-channel signal subspace (MSS) algorithm when comparing results from dualchannel and three-channel clutter suppression to the baseline two-channel technique.
Mismatch-Induced Conformational Distortions in Polymerase β Support an Induced-Fit Mechanism for Fidelity†

Molecular dynamics simulations of DNA polymerase (pol) β complexed with different incorrect incoming nucleotides (G·G, G·T, and T·T template base·incoming nucleotide combinations) at the template−primer terminus are analyzed to delineate structure−function relationships for aberrant base pairs in a polymerase active site. Comparisons, made to pol β structure and motions in the presence of a correct base pair, are designed to gain atomically detailed insights into the process of nucleotide selection and discrimination. In the presence of an incorrect incoming nucleotide, α-helix N of the thumb subdomain believed to be required for pol β's catalytic cycling moves toward the open conformation rather than the closed conformation as observed for the correct base pair (G·C) before the chemical reaction. Correspondingly, active-site residues in the microenvironment of the incoming base are in intermediate conformations for non-Watson−Crick pairs. The incorrect incoming nucleotide and the corresponding template r...
Surface density of accumulated electrons on walls in contact with a plasma

It is shown that the surface density of accumulated electrons on a wall in contact with a plasma can be expressed as a simple function of the Debye shielding distance in the plasma. The result may have applications to problems involving objects immersed in a space plasma.
Deformation of copper in easy glide

Abstract In the pre-yield region of large copper crystals deformed in a single slip orientation it is confirmed that below the multiplication stress some dislocations are displaced on all slip planes distances comparable to the forest spacing of 25 × 10−4 cm. Above the multiplication stress, as the stress is raised, the dislocation activity increases preferentially on the primary slip system where larger numbers of dislocations move increasingly large distances until in easy glide the distances of motion become comparable with the crystal size (0·5 cm). In the pre-yield region the curvatures of the microstress-strain curves decrease steadily until they become zero in easy glide. Dipolar associations of retained dislocations begin in the pre-yield region and become dominant in easy glide. All dislocation configurations can be resolved into dipolar groupings. When the stress is removed, only isolated individual dislocations displace backward: there is no sign of any expansion of trains of dislocations. Ther...
Development of an Ultra-Quiet Fan for Computer Cooling Applications

We report the progress made in our recent study to develop an ultra-quiet axial fan for computer cooling applications. By using a commercially-available cooling fan as the baseline, a number of acoustically tailored modifications are implemented in order to reduce the noise level of the cooling fan, which includes optimizing the rotator blades and guide vanes according to axial fan design theory, adding an intake cone in the front of the hub to guide the airflow into the axial fan smoothly, and reducing the tip clearance to lower the noise generation due to tip vortex structures. A comparison study is conducted to measure the sound pressure level (SPL) of the reformed axial fan in an anechoic chamber, in comparison to that of the prototype fan, in order to assess the effects of the modifications on the fan noise reduction. The measurement results of our preliminary study reveal that, at the same flow rate, the SPL of the reformed fan would be up to 5 dB lower than that of the prototype fan. In addition to measuring the sound pressure levels (SPLs) of the fans, a digital particle image velocimetry (PIV) system is also used to conduct detailed flow field measurements to reveal the changes of the flow characteristics and unsteady vortex structures associated with the modifications. Besides conducting “free-run” PIV measurements to determine the ensemble-averaged statistics of the flow quantities such as mean velocity, Reynolds stress, and turbulence kinetic energy (TKE) distributions at the exit of the axial fan, “phase-locked” PIV measurements are also performed to elucidate further details about evolution of the unsteady vortex structures in fan exhaust in relation to the position of the rotating fan blades. The detailed flow field measurements are correlated with the SPL measurements in order to elucidate underlying physics associated with the fan noise reduction.Copyright © 2014 by ASME
Coagulation kinetics in polymer colloids determined by light scattering

Abstract Aqueous polymethyl methacrylate colloids were formed by flash photoinitiation followed by polymerization and nucleation. The primary particles are estimated to have a radius of 1.9 nm. The kinetics of the coagulation of these colloids has been followed by measuring the time dependence of the Rayleigh light-scattering intensity over a time period of about 100 sec. The rate of coagulation depends strongly on the concentration of sodium dodecyl sulfate [SDS]; the range of [SDS]used was 0 to 8.8 × 10 −4 M. In terms of the Fuchs stability factor, W , this dependence was W ≈ 2.1 × 10 5 [SDS]. The results suggest that coagulation may be important during the earliest stages of emulsion polymerization in determining particle number kinetics.
Impact of Renewable Energy Technology on the Economic Growth of the USA

This paper analyzes the contributions and effects of technological innovation on the US economy. Two effects on multifactor productivity are studied: the effect of the R&D investment and the effect of the R&D investment in renewable energy technologies. A cointegration analysis is used in order to understand the dynamic relationship among variables in the short and long run. A model is built based on GPT theoretical assumptions and uses a data of 33 years of the US economy. The conclusions show that technological innovation positively affects the US economy in the long run. In addition, the R&D investment in renewable energy technology impacts the economy in the short and long run. Thus, renewable energy technologies will play an important role in the future economy.
Stunning of the myocardium: an update.

When severely ischemic myocardium is reperfused, prolonged myocardial dysfunction—a phenomenon named myocardial stunning—frequently occurs. Stunning also occurs in a variety of other situations. These include myocardium located adjacent to infarcted tissue, transient increase in myocardial O2 demands in the presence of incomplete coronary obstruction, during both systole and diastole, in isolated perfused hearts rendered ischemir or anoxic, and in a variety of clinical situations, such as following ischemic arrest in cardiac surgery, thrombolytic reperfusion, and after episodes of severe ischemia in Prinzmetal's angina or unstable angina. Although the fundamental mechanism (s) responsible for myocardial stunning has not been elucidated, in experimental preparations calcium antagonists, free-radical scavengers, and neutrophil depletion have each been found to be helpful in minimizing it.
Remediation in data visualization: two examples of learning in real-time data processing environments

Our poster is an exploration of the effects of quantifying physical experiences and refashioning them into new, interactive, live experiences through data visualization; the poster explores how data visualizations are designed to teach and effect change. Specifically, the authors explore two topics: athletic training and teacher training. Both of these fields have been inundated by data analysis tactics; sports data visualizations are highly developed and hypermediate while teacher training data are still largely immediate and static Through an analysis of these two topics in relation to theories of phenomenography and remediation, the poster discusses how the use of real-time data analysis and data visualization common in sports training might inform how that we effect change in other fields, such as teaching.
Successful management of a posterior saccular coronary artery aneurysm at the left main coronary artery bifurcation.

Left main coronary artery aneurysm is a rare condition that presents as a potential surgical challenge due to its location. We present a case of successful repair of a posterior saccular aneurysm of the left main coronary artery by aneurysm exclusion, afferent and efferent ligation with coronary artery bypass grafting. (J Card Surg 2011;26:37-39)
Geochemical evidence of preferential flow of water through fractures in unsaturated tuff, Apache Leap, Arizona

Abstract The occurrence and significance of aqueous flow through fractures in unsaturated tuff was investigated at the Apache Leap Research Site near Superior, Arizona. Water samples for geochemical and isotopic analysis were collected from water seeping from fractures in a mine haulage tunnel, from the saturated zone in a vertical borehole (USW UZP-4), and from both the unsaturated and saturated zones in an angled borehole (DSB). The geochemistry and14C activity of water samples from the DSB suggest that most of the recharge to the saturated zone has occurred through fractures, especially beneath the ephemeral streams. Evidence of substantial recent recharge through fractures was found in saturated-zone samples from the mine haulage tunnel using 3H, δ34S and SO42−/Cl− analyses. Evidence of partial imbibition of fracture flow into the rock matrix was found at multiple depths throughout the 147 m unsaturated zone at the DSB using geophysical measurements from the borehole, water-content analyses from core samples, and 14C and 3H analyses from pore water extracted from preserved core samples. Post-bomb 14C activity was measured in pore water near fractures just above the saturated zone.
Real-time rewriting semantics of orc

Orc is a language proposed by Jayadev Misra [19] for orchestration of distributed services. Orc is very simple and elegant, based on a few basic constructs, and allows succinct and understandable programming of sophisticated applications. However, because of its real-time nature and the different priorities given to internal and external events in an Orc program, giving a formal operational semantics that captures the real-time behavior of Orc programs is nontrivial and poses some interesting challenges. In this paper we propose such a real-time operational Orc semantics, that captures the informal operational semantics given in [19]. This operational semantics is given as a rewrite theory in which the elapse of time is explicitly modeled. The priorities between internal and external events are also modeled in two alternative ways: (i) by a rewrite strategy; and (ii) by adding extra conditions to the semantic rules. Since rewriting logic has efficient implementations such as Maude, we also get, directly out of the semantic definitions, both an Orc interpreter and an LTL model checker for Orc programs.
A method for evaluating the effects of ligands upon Gs protein-coupled receptors using a recombinant melanophore-based bioassay.

Abstract As an increasing number of medically important receptors that couple to stimulatory guanine nucleotide (Gs) proteins are isolated and cloned, there is an equally escalating need for methods to rapidly and reproducibly evaluate potential ligands for their properties as agonists or antagonists. Recently, a bioassay that can quickly and accurately determine the effects of numerous chemicals on a β1-like adrenergic receptor (AR) endogenous to melanophores derived from Xenopus laevis was developed. Here, the general utility of the melanophore-based pigment dispersion assay is demonstrated by employing it to evaluate the effects of drugs on a human β2 AR. Melanophores were both transiently and stably transfected with a plasmid encoding a β2 AR. Stimulation of recombinant cells expressing the β2 AR, but not wild-type cells, with β2-selective agonists induced pigment dispersion and concomitant elevations in intracellular cAMP. Using a microtiter plate reader, it was straightforward to construct reproducible dose-response curves and rapidly determine rank-order potency and EC50 and IC50 values for agonists and antagonists, respectively. The demonstration of functional expression of a human β2 AR in the melanophore-based bioassay suggests that the system may be used for the rapid pharmacological characterization of ligands upon any specific Gs-linked receptor for which a cDNA clone is available.
SU-E-T-725: Dose Kernel of 6 MV FFF Beam in TrueBeam for Pencil Beam Convolution Algorithms

Purpose: The Varian TrueBeam is equipped with two new flattening filter free (FFF) beams at 6 MV and 10 MV. We generate the dose kernel of the new 6X FFF beam using Monte Carlo for a treatment planning system using pencil beam convolution dose calculation. Methods: The particle transport through a treatment head model was simulated using the EGSnrc/BEAMnrc codes. The simulation was verified by comparing the simulated and measured PDDs in a water phantom. Energy spectra were derived from the resultant phase‐space files of different field sizes. For all field sizes, a 1 mm pencil beam was assigned with the corresponding energy spectrum and was used as the source to generate the dose kernel in DOSRZnrc. Dose kernel was simulated in thin concentric rings with different radii (0.05–45 cm) at different depths (1.5–40 cm) in a water phantom, 100 cm in radius and 50 cm in height. For verification, dose calculation of off‐axis ratios and half‐blocked field profiles using the new kernel were compared with the corresponding water tank measurements of different field sizes and depths. Results: Compared to 6X, the energy spectrum of the 6XFFF beam is approximately 0.3 MeV lower in mean energy for a 10 × 10 field. More importantly, it was found that energy spectrum is not significantly dependent on field size for the 6XFFF beam, i.e. there was only a difference of 0.06 MeV in mean energy between a 10 × 10 and 30 × 30 field while this was >0.32 MeV for 6X. Profile calculated using the 6XFFF kernel matches the measurement within 0.5 mm at the 80%–20% beam penumbra region. Conclusions: Different from 6X, energy spectrum of 6XFFF beam is independent of field size. 6XFFF dose kernel is also found to be invariant of field size. Research partially supported by Varian Medical Systems.