cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Texas National Coastal Assessment (2000-2004): challenges, solutions, lessons learned and future directions.

The Texas National Coastal Assessment (NCA) program began with the immediate challenge of integrating the NCA effort with Texas Parks and Wildlife Department’s (TPWD) Coastal Fisheries Division and its existing probabilistic Fishery Independent Monitoring Program. Close coordination and detailed planning along with a novel two boat sampling operation helped to make this alliance work. Partnerships with National Estuary Programs and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) greatly improved coverage of the Texas coast over the initial fifty station design. Airboats, biobags, and polyvinyl chloride (PVC) corers were instrumental in overcoming numerous technical challenges. NCA data provide a more complete assessment of water and sediment quality than the traditional 305(b) report, with better spatial coverage and a measure of validity. There were differing patterns of PCBs, PAHs, DDTs and chlorinated pesticides, and metals such as mercury (Hg), arsenic (As), lead (Pb) and zinc (Zn) along the Texas coast. A confederation of Texas state agencies is considering ways to take advantage of probabilistic sampling designs to monitor the Texas coast. The TCEQ and TPWD are working on a joint project to redesign sediment and water quality monitoring that may serve as a springboard to a continuous monitoring program and opportunities for further improvement of ecosystem health assessment of the Texas coast.
Heritability of Phytoremediation Potential for the Alfalfa CultivarRiley in Petroleum Contaminated Soil

Petroleum contamination poses a significant threat to environmental ecosystems world-wide. Phytoremediation can be used to enhance degradation of petroleum contaminants in soil. However, selection of plants for phytoremediation has proven to be complicated. This research examines the heritability of the alfalfa cultivar Riley for phytoremediation based on parental total petroleum hydrocarbon (TPH) degradation after twelve months of growth. Traits other than degradation potential, such as root and shoot yield, height, and maturity, were examined for use as selection traits. Riley showed moderate to low heritability that suggests the possibility of breeding for phytoremediation efficiency. In addition, root and shoot yield were found to correlate to TPH degradation. Crosses in which the female parent was typically associated with low TPH dissipation yielded progeny that were high efficiency TPH degraders.
Partial purification and characterization of chicken interleukin-2.

Abstract Chicken interleukin 2 (IL-2) activity was partially purified from conditioned medium produced by culturing chicken splenic lymphocytes in the presence of concanavalin A. The purification procedure included sequential steps of gel filtration chromatography, reverse-phase high-pressure liquid chromatography, and phenyl-sepharose chromatography. Two peaks of IL-2 activity with apparent mol. wt. ranges of 36–39 kD and 17.5–25 kD were eluted from the Sephadex G100 gel filtration column. An increase in IL-2 spec. act. from 14 U mg −1 to between 2000 and 20 000 U mg −1 was obtained for the Sephadex G100 column peaks when subjected to the subsequent steps of the purification procedure. Alkylative reduction of the higher mol. wt. Sephadex G100 column peak (followed by re-chromatography with Sephadex G100), resulted in generation of the lower (17.5 kD) mol. wt. peak, indicating that chicken IL-2 is capable of either dimerizing or forming aggregates with other proteins. Elution of the lower mol. wt. IL-2 activity from a non-reducing sodium dodecyl sulfatepolyacrylamide gel demonstrated an apparent mol. wt. for chicken IL-2 of 20 kD, which confirmed the range of 17.5–25 kD seen with gel filtration.
Non-hydrostatic finite element model for coastal wave processes

Abstract This paper presents the application of the depth-integrated non-hydrostatic finite element model, CCHE2D-NHWAVE (Wei and Jia, 2014), for simulating several types of coastal wave processes. Specifically, the model is applied to (1) predict the swash zone hydrodynamics involving wave bore propagation, (2) resolve wave propagation, breaking, and overtopping in fringing reef environments, (3) study the vegetation effect on wave height reduction through both submerged and emergent vegetation zones using the drag force term technique, and (4) simulate tsunami wave breaking in the nearshore zone and inundation in the coastal area. Satisfactory agreement between numerical results and benchmark data shows that the non-hydrostatic model is capable of modeling a wide range of coastal wave processes. Furthermore, thanks to its simple numerical formulation, the non-hydrostatic model also demonstrates a better computation efficiency when comparing with other numerical models.
Continuing Management Education in the Universities

In this paper the influence of the 1950’s on the development of continuing management education by the universities is briefly discussed, the need for continuation of the successful executive educational programs so popular is established, and the difficulties faced by management and the universities in arriving at an effective and self-improving means of bringing to bear on continuing management education the much-needed competence of the universities in particular specialized areas is explored.
Atomic coherence effects in resonant degenerate four‐wave mixing

We present a study of atomic coherence effects in resonant degenerate four‐wave mixing. We find for energy levels having magnetic degeneracies, the third‐order nonlinear response resulting from two counterpropagating pump waves orthogonally polarized to an incident probe wave generates a signal whose polarization is phase conjugate to that of the incident probe wave. This effect is due to the coupling of different magnetic states resulting from coherent excitation giving rise to a net electric quadrupole. Experimental studies in Na on the D2 line at 5890 A confirm the analysis.
Radial scale length of turbulent fluctuations in the main core of TFTR plasmas.

A new theory of microwave reflectometry is applied to turbulence measurements in the TFTR tokamak. Results indicate that in the main core of neutral beam heated plasmas in the supershot regime, the radial correlation length of density fluctuations is a weak decreasing function of heating power in the range 2--4 cm. Over the same interval of heating powers (0--14 MW), the level of density fluctuations is observed to steadily increase by more than an order of magnitude.
AMTexpert: An Expert Decision Support System for the Corporate Alternative Minimum Tax

AMTexpert is a prototype of an expert decision support system EDSS for the corporate alternative minimum tax AMD. The corporate AMT was introduced as part of the Tax Reform Act of 1986 in order to force US corporations to pay more tax. The complicated and interrelated nature of the AMT system has made compliance and planning even more difficult for corporate taxpayers. Given the complexities of the corporate AMT, significant benefits may accrue from the development of an EDSS. In effect, an EDSS combines the judgmental benefits of an expert system ES with the computational benefits of a decision support system DSS. AMTexpert is menu driven with six interdependent phases. The heart of the system is a 'scoreboard' used to compare and evaluate alternative tax positions. Context-sensitive advice and explanations are provided to guide the user. The system was validated and evaluated by two groups of outside experts. AMTexpert demonstrates that an EDSS may be developed from existing tax and systems software.
Intraoperative fractures of the acetabulum during primary total hip arthroplasty.

Background: The intraoperative occurrence of an acetabular fracture is a rare complication of primary total hip arthroplasty. Previous reports have lacked a sufficiently large number of subjects to allow for an analysis of the causes and appropriate treatment of this problem. Methods: Between 1990 and 2000, 7121 primary total hip arthroplasties were performed at our institution. We retrospectively reviewed the records in our Total Joint Registry and found that twenty-one patients (twenty-one hips) had sustained an intraoperative acetabular fracture. Nineteen of these patients (nineteen hips) had been followed until revision or for a minimum of two years (mean duration of follow-up, forty-four months). We evaluated the anatomic location, cause, treatment, and outcome of the fractures. Acetabular component designs were categorized as modular, nonmodular (monoblock), true hemispherical, or elliptical, and then each design was analyzed for fracture risk. Results: No fractures occurred in association with cemented acetabular components. The fracture rate associated with uncemented components was 0.4%. In seventeen hips, the acetabular component was judged to be stable despite the detection of a fracture and the cup was retained. In four hips, the original cup was not stable and therefore was replaced with a design that allowed for supplemental screw fixation. All fractures united, and all cups demonstrated osseous ingrowth at the time of the most recent follow-up. Elliptical monoblock cups were associated with a significantly higher fracture rate than were elliptical modular cups (p < 0.0001) and hemispherical modular cups (p < 0.0001). There was no significant difference between elliptical modular and hemispherical modular components with regard to the fracture rate. Conclusions: Acetabular fracture during primary total hip arthroplasty is a rare complication of acetabular fixation without cement. In the present series, retention of a stable cup was associated with uneventful osseous ingrowth and excellent early-term outcomes. We found a high rate of fracture in association with the use of monoblock elliptical components. Level of Evidence: Therapeutic Level III. See Instructions to Authors for a complete description of levels of evidence.
Effects of Zooplankton Density on Survival of Stocked Walleye Fry in Five Pennsylvania Reservoirs

ABSTRACT Over the past several years, management agencies in the United States have stocked billions of larval walleyes to augment natural reproduction, yet success of these programs has generally been limited by poor first-year survival. We conducted a two-year field study of five impoundments in western and central Pennsylvania to determine if seasonal zooplankton density was related to first year survival of stocked walleye larvae. Using sampling methods that could be easily replicated by state fisheries management agencies, we assessed the magnitude and timing of spring zooplankton blooms in relation to first-year survival of stocked walleye larvae. Our findings showed that although zooplankton production may vary widely among study waters and across years, fry survival was highest when the combined density of large-bodied clasdocerans and adult copepods exceeded 100 organisms/L. When peak zooplankton densities were less than 100/L, few walleye fry survived.
Visualization of the material flow in AA2195 friction-stir welds using a marker insert technique

The material flow in solid-state, friction-stir, butt-welded AA2195-T8 was investigated using a marker insert technique (MIT). Markers made of AA5454-H32 were embedded in the path of the rotating friction stir welding (FSW) tool and their final position after welding was detected by metallographic means. Changes in material flow due to welding parameter and tool geometry variations were examined. The method provides a semiquantitative, three-dimensional view of the material transport in the welded zone. Because of the placement of markers at different positions at the weld centerline, the material transport in the longitudinal, transverse, and the vertical directions could be studied. Markers embedded in the path of the tool remain continuous after welding. The material transport, which is not symmetrical about the weld centerline, was such that the bulk of the material was transported to a position behind its original position. Superimposed on the primary motion of material in the horizontal plane of the weld is a circulation about the longitudinal axis of the weld. This circulation is found to increase with increasing weld energy.
Identification of okadaic acid-induced phosphorylation events by a mass spectrometry approach

Abstract Okadaic acid (OA) is a widely used small-molecule phosphatase inhibitor that is thought to selectively inhibit protein phosphatase 2A (PP2A). Multiple studies have demonstrated that PP2A activity is compromised in the brains of Alzheimer’s disease patients. Thus, we set out to determine changes in phosphorylation that occur upon OA treatment of neuronal cells. Utilizing isotope-coded affinity tags and mass spectrometry analysis, we determined the relative abundance of proteins in a phosphoprotein enriched fraction from control and OA-treated primary cortical neurons. We identified many proteins whose phosphorylation state is regulated by OA, including glycogen synthase kinase 3β, collapsin-response mediator proteins (DRP-2, DPYSL-5, and CRMP-4), and the B subunit of PP2A itself. Most interestingly, we have found that complexin 2, an important regulator of neurotransmitter release and synaptic plasticity, is phosphorylated at serine 93 upon OA treatment of neurons. This is the first report of a phosphorylation site on complexin 2.
Site-directed gene mutation at mixed sequence targets by psoralen-conjugated pseudo-complementary peptide nucleic acids

Sequence-specific DNA-binding molecules such as triple helix-forming oligonucleotides (TFOs) provide a means for inducing site-specific mutagenesis and recombination at chromosomal sites in mammalian cells. However, the utility of TFOs is limited by the requirement for homopurine stretches in the target duplex DNA. Here, we report the use of pseudo-complementary peptide nucleic acids (pcPNAs) for intracellular gene targeting at mixed sequence sites. Due to steric hindrance, pcPNAs are unable to form pcPNA-pcPNA duplexes but can bind to complementary DNA sequences by Watson-Crick pairing via double duplex-invasion complex formation. We show that psoralen-conjugated pcPNAs can deliver site-specific photoadducts and mediate targeted gene modification within both episomal and chromosomal DNA in mammalian cells without detectable off-target effects. Most of the induced psoralen-pcPNA mutations were single-base substitutions and deletions at the predicted pcPNA-binding sites. The pcPNA-directed mutagenesis was found to be dependent on PNA concentration and UVA dose and required matched pairs of pcPNAs. Neither of the individual pcPNAs alone had any effect nor did complementary PNA pairs of the same sequence. These results identify pcPNAs as new tools for site-specific gene modification in mammalian cells without purine sequence restriction, thereby providing a general strategy for designing gene targeting molecules.
Single-channel biophysical and pharmacological characterizations of native human large-conductance calcium-activated potassium channels in freshly isolated detrusor smooth muscle cells

Recent studies have demonstrated the importance of large-conductance Ca2+-activated K+ (BK) channels in detrusor smooth muscle (DSM) function in vitro and in vivo. However, in-depth characterization of human native DSM single BK channels has not yet been provided. Here, we conducted single-channel recordings from excised patches from native human DSM cells. Inside-out and outside-out recordings in high K+ symmetrical solution (containing 140 mM KCl and ~300 nM free Ca2+) showed single-channel conductance of 215–220 pS, half-maximum constant for activation of ~+75 to +80 mV, and low probability of opening (P o) at +20 mV that increased ~10-fold at +40 mV and ~60-fold at +60 mV. Using the inside-out configuration at +30 mV, reduction of intracellular [Ca2+] from ~300 nM to Ca2+-free decreased the P o by ~85 %, whereas elevation to ~800 nM increased P o by ~50-fold. The BK channel activator NS1619 (10 μM) enhanced the P o by ~10-fold at +30 mV; subsequent application of the selective BK channel inhibitor paxilline (500 nM) blocked the activity. Changes in intracellular [Ca2+] or the addition of NS1619 did not significantly alter the current amplitude or single-channel conductance. This is the first report to provide biophysical and pharmacological profiles of native human DSM single BK channels highlighting their importance in regulating human DSM excitability.
Pharmacotherapeutic management of nicotine dependence in pregnancy.

Smoking in pregnancy can cause serious adverse antenatal and postnatal morbidities, and a significant number of women continue to smoke in pregnancy despite these consequences. Early intervention in the form counseling from their physicians, pregnancy-specific self-help materials, counseling sessions with a health educator, and/or continued follow-up can result in better pregnancy outcomes and possibly long-term cessa- tion. If a woman cannot quit despite these measures, pharmacotherapy can be considered. Currently, nicotine replacement therapy (NRT), transdermal patches, and bupropion are used in pregnancy, but data on the safety and efficacy are largely lacking.
Doppler-free two-photon optogalvanic spectroscopy in helium☆

Abstract Optogalvanic detection is used in the Doppler-free observation of the 4 He 2 3 S−5 3 S and 2 3 S−5 3 D two-photon transitions.
Consumption of mycorrhizal and saprophytic fungi by Collembola in grassland soils

Although soil-dwelling Collembola can influence plant growth and nutrient cycling, their specific role in soil food webs is poorly understood. Soil-free microcosm studies suggest that Collembola are primarily fungivores where they feed preferentially on saprophytic fungi (SF) over other fungal types. We directly assessed collembolan consumption of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) and SF using plant–soil mesocosms and natural abundance stable carbon isotope techniques. Mycorrhizal Andropogon gerardii (C4 grass) seedlings were placed in pots containing Collembola and soil from a C3 plant dominated site, while mycorrhizal Pascopyrum smithii (C3 grass) seedlings were placed in pots with Collembola and soil collected at a C4 plant dominated site. After 6 weeks, collembolans assimilated carbon derived from C3 and C4 sources in both A. gerardii and P. smithii treatments. Comparing Collembola isotope values in AMF vs. AMF-suppressed treatments, our data show that both AMF and SF were consumed in these experimental soil environments. r 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Family caregiving in pulmonary arterial hypertension.

Abstract Background Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is a devastating disease that places a significant burden on patients and their families. However, family caregiving, to the best of our knowledge, has never been described in this population. This study sought to describe depressive symptoms, types of performed care tasks, social support, and the impact of caregiving among family caregivers of patients with PAH. Methods and Results Data were obtained from 35 dyads of patients with PAH (mean age, 51 years; 63% were female; 54% had World Health Organization functional class III symptoms) and their family caregivers (mean age, 52 years; 60% were female; 68% were spouses). Five caregivers (14%) were identified as manifesting moderate to severe depressive symptoms. The majority of caregivers reported that their daily activities were centered around caregiving responsibilities. More than 85% of caregivers were involved in managing care for the patient, and more than half helped the patient with self-management activities. The level of caregivers’ perceived social support was low, especially for emotional and informational support. Lower levels of social support were significantly associated with more severe depressive symptoms in caregivers ( r = −.50, P = .002). Conclusion Caregivers of patients with PAH play a significant role in patients’ medical care and self-management, yet they lack sufficient emotional support or information to meet the demands of caregiving. These findings underscore the importance of supporting family caregivers of patients with PAH.
A modified assay to determine hemolytic toxin variability among Karenia clones isolated from the Gulf of Mexico

Abstract Karenia brevis (formerly Gymnodinium breve ) is a toxic marine dinoflagellate generally restricted to the Gulf of Mexico and is the main causative organism in fish kills, shellfish intoxications and respiratory distress in humans following bloom events. K. mikimotoi is a morphologically similar co-occurring species which is toxic in other parts of the world oceans, but has not been recognized as a major contributor in toxicity of blooms within the Gulf of Mexico. Recently there has been increasing evidence of the simultaneous production of a variety of bioactive compounds in addition to potent neurotoxins (brevetoxin) in Karenia brevis isolates. These compounds are potentially ichthyotoxic and have been shown to cause hemolysis in several bioassays [Eshbach, E., Scharsack, J., John, U., Medlin, L., 2001. Improved erythrocyte lysis assay in microtitre plates for the sensitive detection and efficient measurement of haemolytic compounds from ichthyotoxic algae. J. Appl. Toxicol. 21, 513–519; Kirkpatrick, B., Fleming, L.E., Squicciarini, D., Backer, L.C., Clark, R., Abraham, W., Benson, J., Cheng, Y.S., Johnson, D., Pierce, R., Zaias, J., Bossart, G.D., Baden, D.G., 2004. Literature review of Florida red tide: implications for human health effects. Harmful Algae 3, 99–115]. Presence of hemolytic compounds may therefore add to the overall toxicity levels of bloom events. Current monitoring methods include assays which are highly sensitive in brevetoxin detection and yet may not target other harmful compounds. By adapting protocols developed by Eshbach et al. [Eshbach, E., Scharsack, J., John, U., Medlin, L., 2001. Improved erythrocyte lysis assay in microtitre plates for the sensitive detection and efficient measurement of haemolytic compounds from ichthyotoxic algae. J. Appl. Toxicol. 21, 513–519], Red drum ( Sciaenops ocellatus ) erythrocytes were used to create a modified bioassay to detect hemolytic activity of crude algal extracts. Red drum was selected because it is endemic to coastal areas throughout the Gulf of Mexico and is sensitive to Karenia blooms, and thus makes this species a valid ecological target. Preliminary data has shown this method is sensitive for use in assessing hemolysis induced by laboratory cultures down to levels of 1 × 10 3 cells mL −1 . Results showed an unexpectedly high level of hemolytic activity among K. mikimotoi clones, with one Texas strain inducing significantly higher hemolysis compared to Florida K. brevis isolates. Using this approach, future research efforts will examine the difference in production of hemolytic compounds among various Karenia clones.
Trajectory-Based Loads for the Ares I-X Test Flight Vehicle

In trajectory-based loads, the structural engineer treats each point on the trajectory as a load case. Distributed aero, inertial, and propulsion forces are developed for the structural model which are equivalent to the integrated values of the trajectory model. Free-body diagrams are then used to solve for the internal forces, or loads, that keep the applied aero, inertial, and propulsion forces in dynamic equilibrium. There are several advantages to using trajectory-based loads. First, consistency is maintained between the integrated equilibrium equations of the trajectory analysis and the distributed equilibrium equations of the structural analysis. Second, the structural loads equations are tied to the uncertainty model for the trajectory systems analysis model. Atmosphere, aero, propulsion, mass property, and controls uncertainty models all feed into the dispersions that are generated for the trajectory systems analysis model. Changes in any of these input models will affect structural loads response. The trajectory systems model manages these inputs as well as the output from the structural model over thousands of dispersed cases. Large structural models with hundreds of thousands of degrees of freedom would execute too slowly to be an efficient part of several thousand system analyses. Trajectory-based loads provide a means for the structures discipline to be included in the integrated systems analysis. Successful applications of trajectory-based loads methods for the Ares I-X vehicle are covered in this paper. Preliminary design loads were based on 2000 trajectories using Monte Carlo dispersions. Range safety loads were tied to 8423 malfunction turn trajectories. In addition, active control system loads were based on 2000 preflight trajectories using Monte Carlo dispersions.
Persistence in discrete age-structured population models.

Survival analyses of populations are developed in dicrete growth processes. Persistence and extinction attributes of age-structured discrete population models are explored on both a finite and infinite time horizon. Conditions for persistence and extinction are found. Decompositions of the initial population size axes into intervals where populations are persistent at timeN and intervals leading to extinction at timen, wheren≤N, are given for two age class discrete population models.
Neurocognitive and social cognitive predictors of interpersonal skill in schizophrenia

Social dysfunction is among the major criteria for receiving a diagnosis of schizophrenia, and research indicates that the impairments in social functioning experienced by individuals with schizophrenia are strongly related to deficits in interpersonal skills. In turn, these deficits in interpersonal skills have been linked to impairments in general cognitive abilities and impairments in social cognition. This study explored the relationship between neurocognition, social cognition, and interpersonal skills in 49 outpatients with schizophrenia and 44 non-clinical control participants. Results indicate that individuals with schizophrenia demonstrated impaired performance across several domains of neurocognitive and social cognitive functioning as well as interpersonal skills. In addition, among the participants with schizophrenia, social cognition significantly contributed unique variance to interpersonal skill beyond that of neurocognition. This pattern was not observed in the non-clinical control sample. These findings have implications for the treatment of the disorder and represent an important step in understanding the role of social cognition in schizophrenia.
Production planning under uncertainty in textile manufacturing

Textile manufacturing consists of yarn production, fabric formation, and finishing and dyeing stages. The subject of this paper is the yarn production planning problem, although the approach is directly applicable to the fabric production planning problem due to similarities in the respective models. Our experience at an international textile manufacturer indicates that demand uncertainty is a major challenge in developing yarn production plans. We develop a stochastic programming model that explicitly includes uncertainty in the form of discrete demand scenarios. This results in a large-scale mixed integer model that is difficult to solve with off-the-shelf commercial solvers. We develop a two-step preprocessing algorithm that improves the linear programming relaxation of the model and reduces its size, consequently improving the computational requirements. We illustrate the benefits of a stochastic programming approach over a deterministic model and share our initial application experience.
Three dimensional iterative beam propagation method for optical waveguide devices

The finite difference beam propagation method (FD-BPM) is an effective model for simulating a wide range of optical waveguide structures. The classical FD-BPMs are based on the Crank-Nicholson scheme, and in tridiagonal form can be solved using the Thomas method. We present a different type of algorithm for 3-D structures. In this algorithm, the wave equation is formulated into a large sparse matrix equation which can be solved using iterative methods. The simulation window shifting scheme and threshold technique introduced in our earlier work are utilized to overcome the convergence problem of iterative methods for large sparse matrix equation and wide-angle simulations. This method enables us to develop higher-order 3-D wide-angle (WA-) BPMs based on Pade approximant operators and the multistep method, which are commonly used in WA-BPMs for 2-D structures. Simulations using the new methods will be compared to the analytical results to assure its effectiveness and applicability.
Text Extraction from Video Using Conditional Random Fields

In this paper, we describe an approach to extract text from broadcast videos. Candidate blocks are detected based on edge extraction results. Corners and geometrical features are used for the purpose of initial classification which is carried out by using a support vector machine (SVM). Considering the spatial inter-dependencies of different regions in the image, we propose a novel conditional random field (CRF) based framework which integrates the outputs of SVM into the system to improve the accuracy of labeling for blocks. The experimental results show that the proposed system achieves reliable performance for text detection/extraction from videos.
Heterodimers of wild-type and subunit interface mutant enzymes of glutathione S-transferase A1-1: interactive or independent active sites?

Heterodimers of rat glutathione S-transferase A1–1 were formed using one wild-type subunit and one subunit with a mutation at the interface to evaluate whether the subunits are interactive or independent. Within the subunit interface, we are considering two regions of interactions: one region consists of a “hydrophobic ball and socket” with Phe 52 from one subunit as the ball and Phe 136 from the second subunit as one of the socket residues. The second region of interaction consists of Arg 69 and Glu 97 from both subunits. The heterodimers were formed after incubation in 1,6-hexanediol. Because one subunit in each pair had a His-tag, the heterodimers were purified using a nickel-nitrilotriacetic acid column. The specific activities of the heterodimer were compared with those of the two homodimers to determine whether the less active, mutant subunit communicates with the other subunit. Two of the heterodimers, wild type/R69E-His and wild type/E97Q-His, displayed specific activities much lower than that expected for independent active sites; in these cases, there are new close repulsive interactions and the low activity of one subunit is communicated to the neighboring subunit. In contrast, the other two heterodimers, wild type/R69Q-His and F136A/wild type-His, exhibited specific activities similar to those expected for independent active sites; in these heterodimers, the closest interaction is not repulsive or occurs over a much longer distance and the subunits act independently. We conclude that whether the subunits interact or are independent depends on the nature of the interactions at the subunit interface.
‘You Say You’re Happy, but…’: Contested Quality of Life Judgments in Bioethics and Disability Studies

In this paper, I look at several examples that demonstrate what I see as a troubling tendency in much of mainstream bioethics to discount the views of disabled people. Following feminist political theorists who argue in favour of a stance of humility and sensitive inclusion for people who have been marginalized, I recommend that bioethicists adopt a presumption in favour of believing rather than discounting the claims of disabled people. By taking their claims at face value and engaging with disabled people in open dialogue over impairment and disadvantage, bioethicists may take to heart an important lesson about human fragility and resilience.
Relapsing autoimmune demyelination: a role for vascular addressins.

Abstract The expression of two vascular addressins, adhesion molecules implicated in lymphocyte traffic via high endothelial venules (HEV) within lymph node and mucosal tissues, and of an HEV differentiation antigen (Ag) has been followed immunocytochemically in the central nervous system (CNS) of SJL mice at different stages of adoptively-transferred, chronic relapsing experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE). Monoclonal antibody (mAb), MECA-325, which defines an HEV cell differentiation Ag generally associated with vessels involved in lymphocyte traffic, gave consistently high levels of expression on and around blood vessels within spinal cord lesions during periods of inflammation (acute onset and relapses). Two mAbs, MECA-89 and MECA-367, both recognizing the same mucosal adressin showed an affinity for endothelial cells and some astrocytes but only in lesions from animals displaying relapses. MECA-79, an mAb against a peripheral lymph node vascular addressin, showed no CNS staining whatsoever. All four antibodies gave uniformly positive staining on control lymphoid tissue. Since some stages of EAE appeared to be associated with the expression of different addressins, the possibility of separate roles for these distinct molecules should be considered.
SENSORY EVALUATION OF BETANINE AND CONCENTRATED BEET JUICE

Betalaine pigments extracted from red table beets (Beta vulgaris L.) have been employed as color additives frequently since the Federal Food and Drug Administration prohibited the use of FD&C Red No. 2 and No. 4. The contribution of betanine and beet juice concentrate to the flavor of buffered solutions and gelatin dessert was assessed by sensory tests. Results of triangle tests indicated betanine to be flavorless while concentrated beet juice had a flavor which can be successfully masked when added to flavored gelatin dessert powders.
Intersystem location update and paging schemes for multitier wireless networks

Global wireless networks enable mobile users to communicate regardless of their locations. One of the most important issues is location management in a highly dynamic environment because mobile users may roam between different wireless networks, network operators, and geographical regions. In this paper, a location tracking mechanism is introduced, which consists of intersystem location updates using the concept of boundary location area (BLA) and paging using the concept of boundary location register (BLR). The BLA is determined by a dynamic location update policy in which the velocity and the quality of service (QoS) are taken into account on a per-user basis. The BLR is used to maintain the records of mobile users crossing the boundary of networks. This mechanism not only reduces location tracking costs but also significantly decreases call loss rates and average paging delays. The performance evaluation of the proposed schemes is provided to demonstrate their effectiveness in multitier wireless networks.
Combination chemotherapy in the treatment of advanced breast cancer

Seventy-two women with metastatic breast cancer were treated with multiple-agent chemotherapy. Fifty women were treated with 5 drugs in combination: 5-FU, methotrexate, vincristine, cytoxan, and prednisone; 22 were treated with the combination of 3 drugs: 5-fu, cytoxan, and prednisone. In 14 patients receiving 5 drugs and in 22 receiving 3 drugs, the multiple chemotherapy was the primary palliative treatment of extensive visceral metastases unsuitable for adrenalectomy. Results were similar with 6 responders in 14 (0.43) receiving 5 drugs, and 10 responders in 22 (0.45) receiving 3 drugs. The remaining 36 patients who were given 5-drug therapy all had previous adrenalectomy, and there were 16 responders (0.44). Toxicities from 3-drug treatment were substantially less severe than those from the 5-drug combination therapy. Whereas treatment-related death occurred in 6 of 50 patients receiving the 5-drug combination, no such incidence occurred in those receiving 3-drug combination therapy.
An Empirical Camera Model for Internet Color Vision

Images harvested from the Web are proving to be useful for many visual tasks, including recognition, geo-location, and three-dimensional reconstruction. These images are captured under a variety of lighting conditions by consumer-level digital cameras, and these cameras have color processing pipelines that are diverse, complex, and scenedependent. As a result, the color information contained in these images is difficult to exploit. In this paper, we analyze the factors that contribute to the color output of a typical camera, and we explore the use of parametric models for relating these output colors to meaningful scenes properties. We evaluate these models using a database of registered images captured with varying camera models, camera settings, and lighting conditions. The database is available online at http://vision.middlebury.edu/color/.
Evidence of multidecadal salinity variability in the eastern tropical North Atlantic

[1] Ocean circulation and global climate are strongly influenced by seawater density, which is itself controlled by salinity and temperature. Although adequate instrumental sea surface temperature (SST) records exist for most of the surface oceans over the past 100–150 years, records of salinity really only exist for the last 40–50 years. Here we show that longer proxy records from corals (Siderastrea radians) in the eastern tropical North Atlantic are dominated by multidecadal variations in salinity which are correlated with the relationship between SST and the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) over the course of the 20th century. The data reveal an increase in eastern tropical North Atlantic salinity of +0.5 practical salinity units (psu) between about 1950 and 1990. Rather than a monotonic secular increase, as indicated by some instrumental records, the preinstrumental coral proxy records presented here suggest that salinity in the tropical North Atlantic is periodic on a decadal to multidecadal scale.
Effects of the landscape on boreal toad gene flow: does the pattern–process relationship hold true across distinct landscapes at the northern range margin?

Understanding the impact of natural and anthropogenic landscape features on population connectivity is a major goal in evolutionary ecology and conservation. Discovery of dispersal barriers is important for predicting population responses to landscape and environmental changes, particularly for populations at geographic range margins. We used a landscape genetics approach to quantify the effects of landscape features on gene flow and connectivity of boreal toad (Bufo boreas) populations from two distinct landscapes in south-east Alaska (Admiralty Island, ANM, and the Chilkat River Valley, CRV). We used two common methodologies for calculating resistance distances in landscape genetics studies (resistance based on least-cost paths and circuit theory). We found a strong effect of saltwater on genetic distance of CRV populations, but no landscape effects were found for the ANM populations. Our discordant results show the importance of examining multiple landscapes that differ in the variability of their features, to maximize detectability of underlying processes and allow results to be broadly applicable across regions. Saltwater serves as a physiological barrier to boreal toad gene flow and affects populations on a small geographic scale, yet there appear to be few other barriers to toad dispersal in this intact northern region.
DETERMINATION OF THE CHARACTERISTICS OF CYCLIC CRACK RESISTANCE OF STEELS UNDER TRANSVERSE SHEAR (A SURVEY)

We present a survey of works devoted to the investigation of the fatigue fracture of steels under the conditions of transverse shear. Numerous methods aimed at the determination of the characteristics of cyclic crack resistance of structural steels of different strength classes are analyzed. The analysis of the results of investigations enables us to make a conclusion about the necessity of improvement of the available methods and development of new methods for the construction of the kinetic diagrams of fatigue fracture with regard for the influence of friction of the lips of fatigue cracks on the stress intensity factor K II and the elimination of stresses in the vicinity of the crack tip.
Sharp Left Turn for the Media Reform Movement: Toward a Post-Capitalist Democracy

The contemporary media reform movement exploded into prominence in the United States in 2003 as a response to the effort by the Bush Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to weaken media ownership regulations.… The size and success of this popular uprising was…a testament to the power of activism to thwart the plans of the powerful in seemingly hopeless conditions.… The Obama campaign in 2007 and 2008 expressed interest in media reform and worked closely with members of the movement…. Except for Obama’s speech against the Iraq War invasion, it was arguably his communication platform that most distinguished him as a progressive in the 2008 presidential primaries.… One can debate whether this was an appropriate strategic shift at the time but there can be no debate that the strategy failed. The Obama administration abandoned its platform almost immediately, and repudiated the movement. This article can also be found at the Monthly Review website , where most recent articles are published in full. Click here to purchase a PDF version of this article at the Monthly Review website.
Negative Impedance Stabilizing Pulse Adjustment Control Technique for DC/DC Converters Operating in Discontinuous Conduction Mode and Driving Constant Power Loads

Multiconverter power-electronics-based power systems are being increasingly used in advanced vehicles. Stability of these power electronics-intensive systems is a significant design consideration because of the potential for negative impedance instability. In this paper, in order to mitigate the problem of negative impedance instability, pulse adjustment, which is a novel fixed frequency digital control technique for converters operating with constant power loads (CPLs), is presented. This novel digital control approach treats the converter as a digital system and achieves output voltage regulation by choosing high- and low-power pulses instead of using conventional pulsewidth modulation scheme. A comparator compares the actual output voltage with the reference voltage and then switches between the appropriate states. Therefore, the digital control task is to deliver the right amount of energy to the converter by right numbers of state operations so that the average power delivery matches the required power. It needs few logic gates and comparators to implement this digital control, thus making it extremely simple and easy to develop using low-cost application specific integrated circuits. It is simple, cost effective, and dynamically fast. In this paper, a model to analyze the dc/dc buck-boost converter that is controlled by the pulse adjustment approach in the discontinuous conduction mode is derived. Stability of the buck-boost converter driving CPLs is analyzed using the introduced model. Furthermore, comprehensive sensitivity analyses of applying the pulse adjustment method to control dc/dc converters that are loaded by CPLs are presented. In addition, this paper gives design considerations to assess performance and stability robustness of the pulse adjustment method to control buck-boost converters that are loaded by CPLs. Analytical, simulation, and experimental results are presented to describe and verify the proposed technique.
A matter of life or limb? A review of traumatic injury patterns and anesthesia techniques for disaster relief after major earthquakes.

BACKGROUND:All modalities of anesthetic care, including conscious sedation, general, and regional anesthesia, have been used to manage earthquake survivors who require urgent surgical intervention during the acute phase of medical relief. Consequently, we felt that a review of epidemiologic data fro
The search for synergistic new sensors for future geosynchronous weather satellites of the U.S

GOES-8 was launched 4/13/94. This first body-stabilized U.S. operational geosynchronous satellite provides a much more flexible observing platform than the earlier spinning spacecraft. As such it carries two major instruments, a 132 kg, five band imager and a 120 kg, 19 band atmospheric sounder as well as several secondary payloads. Studies are ongoing to lay the foundation for the architecture of the next generation, the GOES-N system. A review of the GOES developmental history, the plan for GOES-N system requirements development, and some key questions for this system to be operational in the 2008 time frame are presented.
Immune-defense molecules of Molluscum contagiosum virus, a human poxvirus

Molluscum contagiosum virus encodes more than 150 proteins including some involved in host interactions that might contribute to prolonged viral replication in the skin. These include homologs of a selenocysteine-containing glutathione peroxidase, a death effector domain protein, a chemokine, a major histocompatibility complex class I molecule and an interleukin-18-binding protein.
Indicators for Dating Business Cycles: Cross-History Selection and Comparisons

The National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) Business Cycle Dating Committee and the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) Business Cycle Dating Committee date business cycle turning points using a small number of aggregate measures of real economic activity. For example, in its memorandum explaining the December 2007 peak (NBER Business Cycle Dating Committee 2008), the NBER committee mentioned that it considers five series, quarterly real GDP and the “big four” monthly series, real personal income less transfers, real manufacturing and wholesaleretail trade sales, industrial production, and nonfarm employment. (These series do not in general receive equal weight.) In contrast, when the NBER research program on dating business cycles commenced, researchers examined turning points in hundreds of series and dated business cycles by detecting clusters of specific-cycle turning points; see Arthur Burns and Wesley Mitchell (1946, 13 and 77–80). The dating of turning points evidently has shifted from aggregating the turning points of many disaggregated series to using the turning points of a few highly aggregated series. This shift raises a methodological question: should reference cycle turning points be determined by aggregating then dating, or by dating then aggregating? This paper provides some preliminary evidence on the question of whether it is better to date then aggregate or aggregate then date using 270 monthly disaggregated real economic indicators. The questions considered in this paper parallel those in the large literature on forecasting Indicators for Dating Business Cycles: Cross-History Selection and Comparisons
From Accountability to Privatization and African American Exclusion: Chicago's "Renaissance 2010".

This article analyzes Chicago's new Renaissance 2010 school plan to close public schools and reopen them as choice and charter schools. Grounding the analysis in participatory research methods, the authors argue that Chicago's education accountability policies have laid the groundwork for privatization. They furthermore argue that Renaissance 2010 is part of a neoliberal corporate and financial urban agenda of gentrification, African American displacement, and the class conquest of the city by the middle and upper-middle classes. The authors conclude with a discussion of emerging resistance to the plan, suggesting that education may be a focal point of anti-neoliberal economic and social struggles.
Gender-Based Discrimination in the Workplace Why Courts Tell Employers That Breastfeeding Discrimination Is Legal

In March 2010, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act were signed into law. These Acts include a provision governing “reasonable break t...
TRIPS WAS NEVER ENOUGH: VERTICAL FORUM SHIFTING, FTAS, ACTA, AND TPP

447 TRIPS WAS NEVER ENOUGH: VERTICAL FORUM SHIFTING, FTAS, ACTA, AND TPP Susan K. Sell * TABLE OF CONTENTS