cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Preparation of 9-hydroxynonanoic acid methyl ester by ozonolysis of vegetable oils and its polycondensation

Vegetable oil-based and potentially biodegradable polyesters were prepared from 9-hydroxynonanoic acid methyl ester. This paper describes ozonolysis of vegetable oils and the method for preparation of useful monomers and in particular 9-hydroxynonanoic acid methyl ester. Ozonolysis of soybean oil and castor oil in methanol and methylene chloride solution, followed by reduction with sodium borohydride was used to obtain a mixture of triols, diols and monols. Triglyceride triols were separated from the rest of the mixture and transesterified with methanol to obtain methyl esters of fatty acids and glycerin. The main component of fatty acids was 9-hydroxynonanoic acid methyl ester, which was characterized and used for polycondensation by transesterification. High molecular weight polyhydroxy alcanoate was a solid having a melting point of 75°C. The molecular weight of the resulting polyester was affected by the purity of the monomer and side reactions such as cyclization. The polymer was characterized by chromatographic, thermal and analytical methods.
Validation of gasification model for NBG-18 nuclear graphite

Abstract This paper introduces a chemical kinetics model and compares its calculations with reported measurements of weight loss and total gasification rate for different NBG-18 nuclear graphite specimens in experiments performed at 876–1226 K. Results show that the gasification rate is chemical-kinetics limited at low and intermediate temperatures and diffusion-limited at high temperatures. At high temperatures, the model calculates the diffusion velocity of oxygen through the boundary layer using a developed correlation for Reynolds numbers of 0.006–1000. The agreement of the calculations with reported measurements of the total gasification rate and transient weight loss confirms the soundness of the chemical kinetics approach and validates the developed model and the multi-parameter optimization algorithm for determining the chemical kinetics parameters, based on reported measurements. These parameters are the values and Gaussian-like distributions of the specific activation energies for oxygen adsorption and desorption of CO, the specific activation energy for desorption of CO2, the initial surface area of free active sites and the rate constants for the four elementary chemical reactions in the model. The performed parametric analyses for NBG-18 nuclear graphite specimens investigated the effects of temperature and oxygen partial pressure on total gasification rate and production rates of CO and CO2 gases, for wide ranges of temperatures and oxygen partial pressures.
Insights into Ebola and Other Emerging and Re-emerging Infectious Disease Risks

Extracted text; Are the risks of transmission of infectious diseases such as Ebola actually increasing, or is the public just more aware of the problem because of the efficiency of the global media in identifying infectious disease outbreaks?
Augustine Volcano: Awake again:

Editor's Note: The question posed in the title of the following item, which was written on March 20, was answered in the affirmative at 12:30 A.M. (Alaska time, equal to UT−9 h) on March 27, 1986. As of March 31, the eruption had produced numerous pyroclastic flows, and the eruptive column had reached a maximum altitude of 14 km (see Figure 1). Air traffic in and out of Anchorage was disrupted. The 1976 dome is presumed to have been destroyed. The first microearthquake activity since the spectacular eruptions of 1976 is occurring on Augustine Volcano, Cook Inlet, Alaska. Activity began in July 1985 and now averages 30—50 events of greater than 0.5 magnitude per day. The events are shallow, less than 1000 m deep, and occur within the 1976 lava dome. Beginning in mid-February 1986, numerous pilot reports have documented a dramatic increase in fumarolic activity, with associated melting of snow, light ashfalls, and plumes extending as far as 10 km from the summit.
Electrochemical oxidation of theophylline at the pyrolytic graphite electrode

Summary The electrochemical oxidation of theophylline (1,3-dimethylxanthine) at the pyrolytic graphite electrode has been investigated by voltammetry and controlled potential electrolysis and by isolation, identification and determination of the reaction products. The primary electron transfer process occurs by a 1-electron, 1-proton oxidation of the −N9=C8− double bond to give a free radical species which partially dimerizes to give a previously unreported compound, 1,3-(dimethylxanthyl-8)-1,3-dimethylxanthine. Part of the free radical is oxidized in a further 1-electron, 1-proton reaction to give 1,3-dimethyluric acid which is then immediately further oxidized in a 2e−/2H+ reaction at the −C4=C5− double bond to give 1,3-dimethylric acid-4,5-diol. This latter species is unstable and undergoes secondary electrochemical oxidation to parabanic acid and dimethylurea, and fragmentation to dimethylalloxan and urea and 6,8-dimethylallantoin and carbon dioxide.
Using bigcone Douglas-fir fire scars and tree rings to reconstruct interior chaparral fire history.

Bigcone Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga macrocarpa [Vasey] Mayr) is a long-lived, fire-adapted conifer that is endemic to the Transverse Ranges of southern California. At the lower and middle reaches of its elevational distribution, isolated stands of bigcone Douglas-fir are surrounded by extensive stands of chaparral. Our dendrochronology investigations have revealed that these ancient trees commonly record multiple past fires as fire scars in their lower boles. We hypothesized that the fire-scar record found within and among bigcone Douglas-fir stands reflects the temporal and spatial patterns of fire in the surrounding chaparral. We compared the fire scar results with independent, twentieth century fire atlas data to assess our interpretations. Using fire scars and ring-growth changes, we reconstructed fire history in Los Padres National Forest and investigated changes in fire regime characteristics over the past several centuries. Our analyses confirm that the tree-ring record can be used to accurately reconstruct past fire occurrence and extent patterns both within bigcone Douglas-fir stands and surrounding chaparral stands. Many extensive fires were apparent in both the pre- and post-twentieth century period indicating that such events were a natural component of the system. However, many smaller fires were also evident in the tree-ring record, and more of these types of events occurred during the nineteenth century (and earlier) than during the twentieth century. We also identified a shift after the late nineteenth century to potentially more severe fires within and among stands, and by inference the surrounding chaparral. These findings suggest that land management policies, rates of human-set fires, or climatic variations may have played a role in shaping the contemporary fire regime, and that this recent period is different in some respects from the pre-twentieth century regime. Replication of this work in other mountain ranges, in addition to comparisons with climate and human histories, will provide valuable insights into our understanding of the relative roles of humans versus climate in changing bigcone Douglas-fir and chaparral fire regimes.
Recognition of Spoken Words: Semantic Effects in Lexical Access

Until recently most models of word recognition have assumed that semantic effects come into play only after the identification of the word in question. What little evidence exists for early semantic effects in word recognition has relied primarily on priming manipulations using the lexical decision task, and has used visual stimulus presentation. The current study uses auditory stimulus presentation and multiple experimental tasks, and does not use priming. Response latencies for 100 common nouns were found to depend on perceptual dimensions identified by Osgood (1969): Evaluation, Potency, and Activity. In addition, the two-way interactions between these dimensions were significant. All effects were above and beyond the effects of concreteness, word length, frequency, onset phoneme characteristics, stress, and neighborhood density. Results are discussed against evidence from several areas of research suggesting a role of behaviorally important information in perception.
Estimating Total Program Cost of a Long-Term, High-Technology, High-Risk Project with Task Durations and Costs That May Increase Over Time

Abstract : We plan a long-term project schedule for which the total budget depends upon the year the project finishes. Each task in the project can begin only when all its predecessor tasks have been completed, and each task has a range of feasible durations with a month-by-month cost profile for each duration. A task start can be delayed, but once started for some chosen duration, a task cannot be interrupted. Each task suffers some risk of delay and changed cost. Ignoring budget constraints, we use Monte Carlo simulation of the duration of each task in the project to infer the probability distribution of the project completion time. We then optimize a deterministic project schedule following budget guidance. Finally, we successively reschedule as the project progresses, simulating annual review of active tasks, and possibly delaying each active task's duration and changing its monthly costs for its forecast duration. We do not require an independence assumption, so we can accommodate learning effects from completed tasks. U.S. Army Future Combat Systems (FCS) is our motivating application. FCS is a complex of information technologies, sensors, and command systems expected to require more than a decade and $16 billion to develop. The U.S. General Accounting Office finds FCS at significant risk of cost and schedule growth, and suggests two alternatives to a baseline Army plan. We analyze these three alternate project plans for FCS to discover which one can most likely be completed soonest and cheapest.
Robustness and performance analysis on high speed ASIC design with canonical statistical timing model

This paper discusses the robustness and performance on H tree structure with canonical statistical timing model. We compare the deterministic skew and statistical skew to analyze the design health. With the sensitivity distribution available at the end of statistical timing, we make the robustness diagnostic to reveal key variation sources and optimization scheme. The skews under intra-chip variation are also evaluated to select best H tree structure.
Aeschylus in Sicily

Time has done almost its worst with the cultural and social history of Western Greece in the period from Hieron's succession in 478 to the death of Aeschylus in 456. It has left us no complete work by any Western Greek author; and for a chronicler of the period it has been able to do nothing better than a Diodorus Siculus. As a result, most of those details in the picture that are not missing are obscure. Close observation is fruitless, except only at one or two points where there still falls the brilliant but fugitive light of a Pindaric ode. Even so, if we step far enough back, a general composition emerges about which, I believe, there will not be much disagreement.This was a precocious culture, largely called into being by artificial means, and hence short-lived. But while it lived it anticipated in many ways the culture and the problems of Old Greece a generation and more later. Here already was at least one city-state swollen to outsize proportions, with a fluid population for which the moral and social patterns of the close-knit archaic community must inevitably have been losing their meaning. Here already was that violent confrontation of old and new, tradition and free inquiry, which is more familiar to us from the Athens of the late fifth century, from the time of Euripides, Socrates and Aristophanes. There is a religious background of essentially rather primitive mortuary beliefs—that whole region, of course, is the demesne of the Two Goddesses—though these beliefs themselves are taking on new and far from primitive shapes in the minds of the Pythagoreans and their associates. In abrupt contrast to them stand the utterly modern and sophisticated minds of the native Epicharmus and the immigrant Xenophanes; and half-way between there is a Sicilian who embodies in one man the contradictions of the epoch: Empedocles, poet and scientist, author (to the consternation of the learned in modern times) both of the Πeρὶ Φύσeως and of the Καθαρμοί. The same time, in Syracuse, sees the beginnings of a school of rhetoric—rhetoric, carrying in itself all those fearsome questions as to the relation between the word and the thing, between beauty and truth, which were to perplex Plato well into the fourth century.
Olistostrome in the Tesnus Formation (Mississippian-Pennsylvanian), Payne Hills, Marathon region, Texas

Scattered boulders of sedimentary rock rest on the Tesnus Formation in the Payne Hills, which are the surface expression of a series of imbricate thrust slices that are floored by the Dugout Creek overthrust. Evidence that the boulders belong to a sedimentary unit within the Tesnus rather than being klippen or klippen lag boulders includes the facts that (1) most boulders are unlike rocks cut by local thrusts, (2) boulders are not brecciated, (3) several boulders demonstrably occur within Tesnus shale, (4) ignoring float, boulders occur within the same 13-m-thick lithosome in the Tesnus, and (5) most boulders do not occur along the surface trace of thrust faults. The boulders were deposited as submarine rock falls or as clasts (olistoliths) in debris flows during one or possibly several separate events. Boulders were derived from a positive element that probably was at least 12 km to the northwest of the site of deposition. About 49% of the boulders are exotic shelf carbonate rocks of Cambrian-Ordovician age, 10% are identical to indigenous basinal rocks, and 41% are probably facies equivalents of indigenous basinal rocks. Although this western source area contributed much detritus (largely carbonate) before and after Tesnus deposition, the olistostrome is the only record of a western source in the Tesnus Formation; previous work shows that most detritus in the Tesnus came from a source area to the east.
Effect of Population Density of Lake Trout in Cylindrical Jars on Growth and Oxygen Consumption

Abstract Lake trout (Salvelinus namaycush), initial weight 2.25 g, were reared at population densities of 25, 50, 75, 100, and 125 fish in 6.55-L cylindrical jars for 20 weeks with a mean water flow of 2.45 L/min. All fish survived the experiment. A significant (P < 0.05) reduction in growth occurred between population densities of 25 fish and those of 50 fish or more per jar, but differences among further increases beyond 50 fish were not significant. Total fish weight at the end of 20 weeks ranged progressively upward from 51.5 to 233.9 kg fish/m³ rearing space for fish at population densities of 25 to 125 per jar. Loading values were light at all densities, ranging upward from 0.14 to 0.62 kg fish/L per min flow. Total consumption of oxygen by fish in each jar increased with time (weeks) and population density. Oxygen consumption per unit weight of fish decreased significantly, however, with each successive 25-fish increase in number of fish per jar. Mean specific gravity of the 25-fish groups was less...
Method for counting noble gas atoms with isotopic selectivity

A method has been developed for direct counting of noble gas atoms and has been demonstrated for selected isotopes of krypton. In principle, a few atoms of the noble gases argon, krypton, xenon and radon can now be counted with isotopic selectivity whether stable or radioactive. A concept was originated in which a laser method would be used to count noble gas atoms of a particular isotope that are moving freely in an enclosure. As the concept developed, a parallel with Maxwell's sorting demon became quite obvious since the plan was to sort out only atoms of a given type (Z selection), e.g. krypton atoms, from any other atom in the enclosure and then to sort the atom by isotope (A selection) before removing the atoms from the gas compartment. The plan was to count each atom as it was stored in a target until all atoms were counted.
Soil nitrate measurements for prediction of n response by corn in a udollic ochraqualf

Abstract A three year continuous corn experiment was conducted to evaluate the use of soil nitrate nitrogen determination as a means of modifying nitrogen recommendations for corn. Three rates of nitrogen (84, 168, 252 kg/ha) were used. Nitrate nitrogen contents of the soil profile to 60 cm depth were determined several times over the three year period. The rainfall distribution and crop demand for N appeared to have the greatest effect on soil nitrate levels at any given sampling. Quantity of nitrate nitrogen in the soil profile near planting of corn had no significant effect on corn grain yields. The analyses of samples showed seasonal and treatment changes. There were some significant carryover effects on corn yields but these effects were not measurable using only soil nitrate analysis. Coefficients of variation for the nitrate measurements went as high as 100% and were not due to laboratory procedures. The sample variability, difficulty of sampling and lack of relationship of results to corn yields m...
Radiation safety in high-altitude air traffic

Results of an experimental and theoretical study on dose equivalent rates at high altitudes are presented. The flight personnel flying 500 hours per year at SST cruise altitude in high latitudes (maximum of radiation) would be exposed to less than 14% of the maximum permissible dose rate (MPD) for radiation workers (5 rem/yr), averaged over the solar cycle. One-half or more is due to energetic secondary neutrons that are penetrant and highly biologically effective. Passengers would, in general, be exposed only to the low-level galactic cosmic rays, except for a relative few who encounter rare, intense, and energetic solar-particle events. If the airplane descends to subsonic altitudes during events such as that of Feb. 23, 1956 - the most intense and unique giant energy event of the last 35 years - passenger exposure even then remains at or below permissible levels (0.5 rem for the general population). Systems of radiation monitoring are briefly discussed which will prevent false alarms and which would be useful in disproving overexposure in potential malpractice suits against the airlines. In subsonic jet transports the exposure of the crews is lower by a factor 3 to 4; for passengers it is about the same for the same distance traveled. Solar events, except for giant energy events, will yield only a minor fraction of the MPD of the general population.
Tachyarrhythmias Despite Ventricular Programmed Pacing

Ventricular-programmed pacemakers are designed to avoid the possibility of dangerous or lethal arrhythmias provoked by stimulation during the vulnerable phase of the ventricle. Even so, rapid heart action (tachyarrhythmia) may still occur. Illustrative examples are presented in which tachyarrhythmia is presumed to have occurred or in which the vulnerable phase has been stimulated, because of: 1)inferior electrode placement, 2) the interaction of a unit with certain characteristics and spontaneous premature beats, 3)a long Q-T interval and late vulnerable phase, 4)failure to pace at adequate rates, and 5)an unusual ``coupled'' extrasystolic arrhythmia.
Pseudo-Grüneisen Parameter for Liquids

The dimensionless parameter $\frac{{{V}_{h}}^{2}\ensuremath{\alpha}}{{C}_{p}}$ is investigated for liquids, where ${V}_{h}$ is the velocity of sound, and $\frac{\ensuremath{\alpha}}{{C}_{p}}$ the ratio of the coefficient of thermal expansion to the specific heat at constant pressure. For both Hg and ${\mathrm{H}}_{2}$O, this quantity increases with increasing compression, contrary to the behavior for solids. For ${\mathrm{H}}_{2}$O, this parameter becomes substantially independent of temperature. For a model in which compaction is assumed to take place by an increase of long-range positional order and growth of clusters, the pseudo-Gr\"uneisen parameter is predicted to be temperature independent.
P03-86 - Shared decision making in medication use: an emerging best practice in mental health

Purpose A primary goal of recovery-oriented mental health services is to increase client voice and empowerment. Shared decision-making (SDM) technologies can help achieve this goal. We report on two projects that aim to increase engagement around antipsychotic medications by people with serious mental illness (SMI). Method : Project 1: Using a participatory-action research (PAR) orientation, a partnership between a university and a public MH clinic developed around a shared goal of finding an acceptable SDM intervention targeting medication use by persons with SMI. We solicited input about SDM from national experts and via focus groups of local stakeholders and analyzed the qualitative data. Project 2: The US Substance Abuse and Mental Health Service Administration (SAMHSA) contracted with Advocates for Human Potential (AHP) to develop a decision aid (DA) for consumers considering use of antipsychotic medication. Based on the results of literature reviews and stakeholder needs assessments, we constructed a multi-module consumer-centered DA that follows the International Patient Decision Aid Standards (IPDAS) for DAs. The DA is still under construction; however, we have completed entering the format and content of several of the modules. Result Audience responses to the concept of SDM have been mixed. The PAR group identified multiple barriers to implementing SDM in practice, including consumer factors, information exchange, skill requirement, and outcomes expected from using SDM. Conclusion Adapting shared decision-making technologies to mental health settings has unique challenges. We are using the barriers identified by the PAR group to guide creation of the SAMHSA DA.
Monte Carlo modeling of a 6 and 18 MV Varian Clinac medical accelerator for in-field and out-of-field dose calculations : development and validation

There is a serious and growing concern about the increased risk of radiation-induced second cancers and late tissue injuries associated with radiation treatment. To better understand and to more accurately quantify non-target organ doses due to scatter and leakage radiation from medical accelerators, a detailed Monte Carlo model of the medical linear accelerator is needed. This paper describes the development and validation of a detailed accelerator model of the Varian Clinac operating at 6 and 18 MV beam energies. Over 100 accelerator components have been defined and integrated using the Monte Carlo code MCNPX. A series of in-field and out-of-field dose validation studies were performed. In-field dose distributions calculated using the accelerator models were tuned to match measurement data that are considered the de facto 'gold standard' for the Varian Clinac accelerator provided by the manufacturer. Field sizes of 4 cm x 4 cm, 10 cm x 10 cm, 20 cm x 20 cm and 40 cm x 40 cm were considered. The local difference between calculated and measured dose on the percent depth dose curve was less than 2% for all locations. The local difference between calculated and measured dose on the dose profile curve was less than 2% in the plateau region and less than 2 mm in the penumbra region for all locations. Out-of-field dose profiles were calculated and compared to measurement data for both beam energies for field sizes of 4 cm x 4 cm, 10 cm x 10 cm and 20 cm x 20 cm. For all field sizes considered in this study, the average local difference between calculated and measured dose for the 6 and 18 MV beams was 14 and 16%, respectively. In addition, a method for determining neutron contamination in the 18 MV operating model was validated by comparing calculated in-air neutron fluence with reported calculations and measurements. The average difference between calculated and measured neutron fluence was 20%. As one of the most detailed accelerator models for both in-field and out-of-field dose calculations, the model will be combined with anatomically realistic computational patient phantoms into a computational framework to calculate non-target organ doses to patients from various radiation treatment plans.
Neutron Resonance Spectroscopy. IV. As and Br

The Columbia neutron velocity spectrometer with a 200-m flight path was used for total-cross-section measurements using several transmission sample thicknesses each of natural As(100% ${\mathrm{As}}^{75}$, $I=\frac{3}{2}$) and Br (\ensuremath{\sim}50% each ${\mathrm{Br}}^{79}$ and ${\mathrm{Br}}^{81}$, both $I=\frac{3}{2}$). The values of $g{{\ensuremath{\Gamma}}_{n}}^{0}$ for 136 levels in As (to 10 keV) and 157 levels in Br (to 4 keV) have been determined. ${\ensuremath{\Gamma}}_{\ensuremath{\gamma}}$ and $J$ values were also determined for many of the stronger levels. The $l=0$ strength function ${S}_{0}$ was found to be (1.70\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.30)\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}${10}^{\ensuremath{-}4}$ for As and (1.20\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.18)\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}${10}^{\ensuremath{-}4}$ for Br. The ${S}_{0}$ values are averaged over both spin states and, in the case of Br, ${S}_{0}$ is also averaged over the two isotopes. There were many more levels with very small values of $g{{\ensuremath{\Gamma}}_{n}}^{0}$ for both As and Br than expected from the Porter-Thomas distribution for a single channel and a single population. The experimental value of $〈D〉$ for all of the observed levels is 71 eV for As and 25.5 eV for Br. A best Porter-Thomas fit to the stronger levels alone, gives $〈D〉=87$ eV for As and 36.5 eV for Br. Assuming an approximate theoretical value of (-0.25) for the correlation coefficient between adjacent level spacings, 8 of the observed very weak As levels and 17 of the Br levels were selected as most likely to be unreliable, or due to $l=1$. Hence 128 levels for As and 140 levels for Br were used for most of the tests of statistical distribution parameters. This gives $〈D〉=75$ eV for As and 28.4 eV for Br. A considerable number of the weaker levels for each element are probably $p$-wave levels. Statistical analyses are given of the distributions for $g{{\ensuremath{\Gamma}}_{n}}^{0}$, ${D}^{0}$, ${D}^{1}$, and various correlation co-efficients involving the $g{{\ensuremath{\Gamma}}_{n}}^{0}$ values and the spacings. ${D}^{0}$ is the nearest-neighbor level spacing, and ${D}^{1}$ is the next-nearest-neighbor level spacing. Comparisons are made with the predictions of various theories.
Antibiofilm Activity of a Diverse Oroidin Library Generated through Reductive Acylation

A diverse 20-compound library of analogues based on the marine alkaloid oroidin were synthesized via a reductive acylation strategy. The final target was then assayed for inhibition and dispersion activity against common proteobacteria known to form biofilms. This methodology represents a significant improvement over the generality of known methods to acylate substrates containing 2-aminoimidazoles and has the potential to have broad application to the synthesis of more advanced oroidin family members and their corresponding analogues.
Effect of electrical heating conditions on functional fatigue of thin NiTi wire for shape memory actuators

Abstract Shape memory alloys (SMAs) are used in several technological applications thanks to their unique properties: superelasticity and shape memory effect. In recent decades, many efforts have been made to improve performance of SMA wires in order to utilize them as thermal actuators for hundreds thousands cycles. Near-equiatomic Nickel-Titanium alloys are the most employed materials for this purpose because of their cycling stability and their large recoverable strain values. Thermo-mechanical cycling were carried out to study the change of functional properties of the material in using condition (shape memory fatigue or functional fatigue). In particular, thin Ni49Ti51 wires (76μm) for actuators were heated by Joule effect with different current impulses (step and ramp) under constant stress (190 MPa) and then cooled by natural convection air cooling. During these test, SMAs accumulate microstructural defects and nano-scale precipitates which induce significant modifications in functional properties. DSC scans were carried out before and after 3x105 cycles in order to show changes in transformation temperatures caused by different current impulse thermo-mechanical cycling. Important alterations in terms of thermal hysteresis and deformation recovering were also noticeable by constant load test executed by DMA. Finally fracture surfaces were analysed by scanning electron microscope.
Metabolic Mapping in the Sympathetic Ganglia and Brain of the Spontaneously Hypertensive Rat

Local rates of glucose utilization in the superior cervical, cardiac, and coeliac ganglia were measured by means of the autoradiographic 2-deoxy-d-[14C]glucose method in male spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) and normotensive Wistar-Kyoto rats (WKY), 32–34, 46–48, and 78–87 days old. Brain glucose utilization was examined in 78–87-day-old SHR and WKY. At 32–34 days (at which time mean arterial blood pressure was normal and similar in both groups of rats), the rates of glucose utilization of all three sympathetic ganglia were the same in both groups. At 46–48 days, despite the fact that blood pressure had risen significantly in SHR (mean ± SEM, 136 ± 3 mm Hg, n = 5, compared to 113 ± 3 mm Hg, n = 5, in the control WKY), glucose utilization was decreased in the cardiac and coeliac ganglia but not in the superior cervical ganglia of the SHR. At 78–87 days, glucose utilization was reduced in all the sympathetic ganglia of the hypertensive rats. These results suggest that the sympathetic system is less act...
The Role of Education, Community Integration and Arts Enterprise in Developing Entrepreneurial Skills in Adolescent at-Risk Populations

WVSA arts connection, a non-profit arts-in-education organization located in Washington, DC, serving children and youth with special needs for over 20 years, has developed the ARTiculate Employment Training Program1, a community-based learning program that combines arts-based instruction and a unique environment with the elements of education, community inclusion, and enterprise to promote participant achievement in the transition from school to the world of work. These components form the bases for teaching vocational, social and entrepreneurial skills. This article focuses on the interaction of these components and shows how the arts connect with ‘real learning’ using an innovative, non-traditional approach - a paradigm-shifting view of employment and social skills development in relation to youth with special needs.
Efficacy of sexually transmitted disease/human immunodeficiency virus sexual risk-reduction intervention for african american adolescent females seeking sexual health services: a randomized controlled trial.

Objectives To evaluate the efficacy of an intervention to reduce incident sexually transmitted disease (STD) and enhance STD/human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)–preventive behaviors and psychosocial mediators. Design A randomized controlled trial of an HIV prevention program. Setting Clinic-based sample in Atlanta, Georgia. Participants African American adolescent females (N = 715), aged 15 to 21 years, seeking sexual health services. Participants completed an audio computer-assisted self-interview and provided self-collected vaginal specimens for STD testing. Intervention Intervention participants received two 4-hour group sessions and 4 telephone contacts over a 12-month period, targeting personal, relational, sociocultural, and structural factors associated with adolescents' STD/HIV risk, and were given vouchers facilitating male partners' STD testing/treatment. Main Outcome Measure Incident chlamydial infections. Results Over the 12-month follow-up, fewer adolescents in the intervention had a chlamydial infection (42 vs 67; risk ratio [RR], 0.65; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.42 to 0.98; P = .04) or recurrent chlamydial infection (4 vs 14; RR, 0.25; 95% CI, 0.08 to 0.83; P = .02). Adolescents in the intervention also reported a higher proportion of condom-protected sex acts in the 60 days preceding follow-up assessments (mean difference, 10.84; 95% CI, 5.27 to 16.42; P P = .001). Adolescents in the intervention were also more likely to report consistent condom use in the 60 days preceding follow-up assessments (RR, 1. 41; 95% CI, 1.09 to 1.80; P = .01) and condom use at last intercourse (RR, 1.30; 95% CI, 1.09 to 1.54; P = .005). Intervention effects were observed for psychosocial mediators of STD/HIV–preventive behaviors. Conclusion Interventions for African American adolescent females can reduce chlamydial infections and enhance STD/HIV–preventive behaviors and psychosocial mediators of STD/HIV–preventive behaviors. Trial Registration clinicaltrials.gov Identifier:NCT00633906
Developing and Initiating Validation of a Model Opioid Patient-Prescriber Agreement as a Tool for Patient-Centered Pain Treatment

Opioid treatment agreements generally are used in pain treatment to delineate the terms and consequences of opioid use and abuse. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Safe Use Initiative convened a multi-disciplinary working group with outside experts to draft a patient-centered, model opioid treatment agreement named the Model Patient-Prescriber Agreement (model PPA). The model PPA was evaluated for readability and usability in two tests that sampled both healthcare professional and non-healthcare professional FDA employees. In a survey sent to FDA employees in the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER), 209 respondents assessed the quality of the content and the level of difficulty in reading and understanding the model PPA. Ten other FDA employees participated in usability testing to assess the effectiveness of the model PPA as an educational and decision-making tool. The majority of the 209 CDER employee survey respondents indicated the model PPA was neutral in tone (67.5 %) and easy or somewhat easy to understand (90.4 %). Usability study participants generally thought the model PPA would facilitate discussion between patient and prescriber and that the content was informative, thorough, and clear. These studies suggest that the working group was able to develop an opioid PPA that may be acceptable and usable among a diverse population of stakeholders. A follow-up pilot study using the model PPA in medical facilities in the USA with patients is underway and will facilitate this determination.
Nickel nanoparticle-chitosan-reduced graphene oxide-modified screen-printed electrodes for enzyme-free glucose sensing in portable microfluidic devices.

Abstract A facile one-step strategy is reported to synthesize nanocomposites of chitosan-reduced graphene oxide–nickel nanoparticles (CS-RGO–NiNPs) onto a screen-printed electrode (SPE). The synthesis is initiated by electrostatic and hydrophobic interactions and formation of self-assembled nanocomposite precursors of negatively charged graphene oxide (GO) and positively charged CS and nickel cations (Ni 2+ ). The intrinsic mechanism of co-depositions from the nanocomposite precursor solution under cathodic potentials is based on simultaneous depositions of CS at high localized pH and in situ reduced hydrophobic RGO from GO as well as cathodically reduced metal precursors into nanoparticles. There is no need for any pre- or post-reduction of GO due to the in situ electrochemical reduction and the removal of oxygenated functionalities, which lead to an increase in hydrophobicity of RGO and successive deposition on the electrode surface. The as-prepared CS-RGO–NiNPs-modified SPE sensor exhibited outstanding performance for enzymeless glucose (Glc) sensing in alkaline media with high sensitivity (318.4 µA mM −1 cm −2 ), wide linear range (up to 9 mM), low detection limit (4.1 µM), acceptable selectivity against common interferents in physiological fluids, and excellent stability. A microfluidic device was fabricated incorporating the SPE sensor for real-time Glc detection in human urine samples; the results obtained were comparable to those obtained using a high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) coupled with an electrochemical detector. The excellent sensing performance, operational characteristics, ease of fabrication, and low cost bode well for this electrochemical microfluidic device to be developed as a point-of-care healthcare monitoring unit.
Trends and Best Practices in State and Local Human Resource Management: Lessons to Be Learned?

This article summarizes a few of the most interesting findings of a comprehensive survey of human resource management best practices in state and local govern- ment. The 4-year project has examined the most enlightened human resource management initiatives extant in government agencies and provides a number of appealing reform examples that might be transportable to other governmen- tal settings, including federal agencies. Many of the findings challenge accepted notions about the intractable nature of public personnel systems and pro- vide potential models that can be emulated in public agencies at every leve lo f government.
Approximating normals for marching cubes applied to locally supported isosurfaces

We present some new methods for computing estimates of normal vectors at the vertices of a triangular mesh surface approximation to an isosurface which has been computed by the marching cube algorithm. These estimates are required for the smooth rendering of triangular mesh surfaces. The conventional method of computing estimates based upon divided difference approximations of the gradient can lead to poor estimates in some applications. This is particularly true for isosurfaces obtained from a field function, which is defined only for values near to the isosurface. We describe some efficient methods for computing the topology of the triangular mesh surface, which is used for obtaining local estimates of the normals. In addition, a new, one pass, approach for these types of applications is described and compared to existing methods.
Vitamin C activation of the biosynthesis of epoxyeicosatrienoic acids

The cardiovascular effects of vitamin C (VitC) could be mediated by epoxyeicosatrienoic acids (EETs). We aimed to study the mechanism of VitC-dependent microsomal formation of cis- and trans-EETs and the regulation of EET levels in rat isolated perfused kidneys and in vivo. VitC biphasically stimulated rat kidney microsomal cis- and trans-EET formation in a ratio of 1:2, involving the participation of lipid hydroperoxides (LOOHs), Fe2+ , and cytochrome P450 (CYP). Levels of LOOHs correlated with microsomal EET production. LOOH stimulation of CYP isoforms resulted in preferred trans- over cis-EET formation from arachidonic acid and was associated with the cleavage of LOOHs, which indicated a CYP peroxy-genase activity. EETs contributed to VitC-induced vasodilator responses in rat isolated perfused kidneys. VitC (1 mg/ml) given in the drinking water for 9 days doubled rat urinary EET excretion, increased plasma levels of EETs, mostly trans-EETs, by 40%, and reduced plasma levels of 20-hydroxyeicosatetraenoic acid. Depletion of VitC in brain cortex and kidney tissues by more than 20- and 50-fold, respectively, in gulonolactone oxidase-knockout mice was associated with mild increases in tissue EETs. These data suggest that LOOHs are a determinant factor for EET formation in vivo in which VitC exerts a key regulatory effect. VitC-activated CYP peroxygenase activity may represent a CYP interaction with lipoxygenases and cyclooxygenases to mediate the cardiovascular effects of VitC via formation of EETs.
Bata Management System: A Built-In Resilience against Crisis at the Micro Level

The Bata Company became the largest and thriving global enterprise of the 20s and 30s, during the decades of economic crises. Why could Bata prosper when everybody around was contracting, laying people off and passively waiting for governmental bailouts and handouts? Our answer lies in the existence of a unique, inimitable, integrated management system—a rare thing among modern companies operating with patchworks of disconnected, dysfunctionaland non-synergistic, albeit fashionable methods and techniques. Roosevelt’s New Deal was the beginning of the end of management-employee cooperation, strengthening adversarial relations, trade unionism and the final emergence of so-called macroeconomics, reversing the promising microeconomic trends of the time. Resilient, flexible and human-oriented companies are the best protection against government-induced crises.
The Scanlon Plan: Some Organizational Problems

For the student of industrial relations, the Scanlon Plan is one of the most promising approaches yet suggested to the problems of obtaining industrial peace and higher production.
Effect of accessory sex gland fluid from bulls of differing fertilities on the ability of cauda epididymal sperm to penetrate zona-free bovine oocytes.

The ability of accessory sex gland fluid to affect the fertility of cauda epididymal sperm was evaluated for 10 bulls that ranged in fertility from 6.2% below to 6.0% above the average fertility of bulls at artificial breeding cooperatives. Cauda epididymal sperm collected from indwelling vasa deferentia catheters and cauda epididymal sperm exposed to accessory sex gland fluid from the same bull were compared on the basis of their rates of in vitro penetration of zona-free oocytes after heterospermic insemination. Incubation of cauda epididymal sperm with accessory sex gland fluid significantly enhanced the ability to penetrate oocytes, and bull fertility affected the magnitude of this improvement. For bulls of average and higher fertility, the positive influence of accessory sex gland fluid on penetrating ability of sperm was highly significant (p < 0.0001). Accessory sex gland fluid from bulls of below-average fertility also improved the penetrating ability of cauda epididymal sperm, although not significantly (p = 0.07). Heterospermic competitions compared the penetrating ability of cauda epididymal sperm exposed to homologous accessory sex gland fluid with a portion of the same sperm population incubated in heterologous accessory sex gland fluid from a bull of contrasting fertility. In experiments involving sperm from 12 different bulls, paired in 42 fertile/subfertile combinations, samples of cauda epididymal sperm mixed with accessory sex gland fluid from the higher-fertility bulls had greater oocyte-penetrating ability than when aliquots of that sample were mixed with accessory gland fluid from lower-fertility bulls (p < 0.0001). We concluded that accessory sex gland fluid augments the fertility of cauda epididymal bull sperm, and that the magnitude of this effect is influenced by the fertility of the bull providing the accessory sex gland fluid.
The dynamic granularity memory system

Chip multiprocessors enable continued performance scaling with increasingly many cores per chip. As the throughput of computation outpaces available memory bandwidth, however, the system bottleneck will shift to main memory. We present a memory system, the dynamic granularity memory system (DGMS), which avoids unnecessary data transfers, saves power, and improves system performance by dynamically changing between fine and coarse-grained memory accesses. DGMS predicts memory access granularities dynamically in hardware, and does not require software or OS support. The dynamic operation of DGMS gives it superior ease of implementation and power efficiency relative to prior multi-granularity memory systems, while maintaining comparable levels of system performance.
SEM Studies on Vessels in Ferns. XV. Selected Rosette Epiphytes (Aspleniaceae, Elaphoglossaceae, Vittariaceae).

Tracheary elements from macerations of roots and rhizomes of Asplenium nidus, Elaphoglossum hirtum, and Vittaria lineata were studied by means of SEM. All of these have perforation plates in tracheary elements of both roots and rhizomes. The perforation plates in roots and rhizomes show greatest development of perforations (perforations a little wider than pits of tracheary elements) in E. hirtum roots and rhizomes and least in V. lineata roots and in rhizomes of A. nidus (porose pit membranes in many perforations). The secondary wall framework of perforation plates is little different from that of pitted wall areas in these three species. These rosette epiphytes have a lower degree of specialization of perforation plates that might accommodate rapid flow related to moisture availability fluctuations in comparison to perforation plates in vessels of rhizomatous epiphytic ferns. Generalizations are not warranted at this point, however. Rows of cushion‐like structures occur adjacent to angles of the trachea...
Measuring nodal contribution to global network robustness

Network centrality indices are quantification of the fact that some nodes/edges are more central or more important in a network than others. Different centrality indices are suitable for different applications, but most of them have structural significance and require that the network be connected. Most centrality measures are only definitions and there hasn't been much work done in measuring the effectiveness of the measure in describing a network's performance, robustness and survivability. In this work, we have quantified the importance of a node that its centrality index implicates. We have conducted empirical analysis on different network robustness measures. The contribution of a node to these measures is studied as a function of its centrality index. We also propose a new type of betweenness centrality that is based on the flow circulating in a network. We compare circulation-based betweenness, eigenvector and shortest-path based betweenness centralities using network average clustering and shortest-path based network efficiency. 1
Dopamine D4 receptors are heterogeneously distributed in the striosomes/matrix compartments of the striatum

Two important aspects of striatal function, exploratory behaviour and motor co-ordination, require the integrity of the dopamine D4 receptor subtype. These receptors are also implicated in the pathophysiology of certain neuropsychiatric disorders. However, the distribution of D4 receptors in the striatum has not yet been described and this situation impairs our understanding of the anatomical substrate in which D4 receptors function. We developed a D4 receptor-specific anti-body that has permitted us to investigate the regional and cellular localization of the receptor in the neostriatum of the rat, mouse, cat and monkey. The subcellular distribution and the synaptic organization of this receptor were also determined in the rat striatum. We found moderate levels of D4 receptor expression in the caudoputamen and lower levels in the nucleus accumbens. These receptors were expressed in cell bodies and in the neuropil and were heterogeneously distributed among different striatal compartments, being more abundant in striosomes than in the matrix. At the subcellular level, the receptor immunoreactivity was mainly localized to dendritic shafts and spines. The prominent immunoreactivity observed in the striosomes indicates that integrative processes involved in D4-mediated limbic behaviours occurs through the striosomes rather than accumbens, whereas the motor behaviour is based in the striatal matrix.