cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Occurence of choline acetyltransferase and acetylcholine and other quaternary ammonium compounds in mammalian spermatozoa

Abstract These investigations were undertaken to show the presence of acetylcholine (ACh) and other quaternary ammonium compounds and choline acetyltransferase (ChA) activity in mammalian spermatozoa. The spermatozoa from the fresh ejaculates of the bull and man were washed with calcium-free Krebs-Ringer phosphate solution and extracted with acetonitrile. The quarternary ammonium compounds from the extracts were subjected to pyrolysis gas chromatography. In the gas chromatogram of the quaternary ammonium compounds of bull spermatozoa, two peaks were found which represented 2-dimethylaminoethyl acetate and 2-dimethylaminoethyl propionate. In the gas chromatogram of the quaternary ammonium compounds of the human spermatozoa, a peak for 2-dimethylaminoethyl acetate was found. These observations suggest that ACh and propionylcholine (PCh) occur in bull spermatozoa and that ACh occurs in human spermatozoa. Bull spermatozoa contained 4.27 ± 1.41 pmoles (mean ± S.E.M.) ACh/10 6 cells and 1.47 ± 0.48 pmoles PCh/10 6 cells, and human spermatozoa contained 28.57 ± 3.38 pmoles ACh/10 6 cells. ChA activity was determined in the washed spermatozoa by a radiometric assay. Incubation of the homogenates of the sperm cells with [ 14 C]acetylcoenzyme A and choline resulted in the synthesis of [ 14 C]ACh, which was separated, using a column of an anion exchange resin, and assayed. ChA activity in bull spermatozoa was 200.19 ± 32.08 pmoles ACh synthesized/10 6 cells/10 min, and ChA activity in human spermatozoa was 130.90 ± 14.19 pmoles ACh synthesized/10 6 cells/10 min. The specific activity of ChA in the tails of bull spermatozoa was about five times higher than in the heads or midpieces.
Electrifying Rural Guatemala: Central Policy and Rural Reality

Towards the end of the 20th century Guatemala embarked on an ambitious rural electrification plan: central planners in the Ministry of Energy and Mines hope to connect 90% of homes to the national electricity grid by 2004. Energy for the increased demand comes from floating power plants anchored in Guatemala's Pacific port, a new coal-fired power plant, and numerous small-scale hydroelectric plants. So far, rural electrification, in terms of connected households, has proceeded to plan. However, the success of the rural electrification program belies energy realities and the development needs of rural Guatemala. Data from in-depth interviews and household surveys in Ixcan, Guatemala, show that rural residents prefer other forms of development—like the introduction of potable water, or improved schooling. Electricity, farmers state, only provides rural families with a few hours of light at night because they cannot afford to pay for appliances or for increased consumption of electricity. Fieldwork in rural ...
The MMPI–2 Restructured Form Personality Psychopathology Five Scales: Bridging DSM–5 Section 2 Personality Disorders and DSM–5 Section 3 Personality Trait Dimensions

This study examined in a college sample and a sample of non-treatment-seeking, trauma-exposed veterans the association between the MMPI-2 Restructured Form (MMPI-2-RF) Personality Psychopathology Five (PSY-5) Scales and DSM-5 Section 2 personality disorder (PD) criteria, the same system used in DSM-IV-TR, and the proposed broad personality trait dimensions contained in Section 3 of DSM-5. DSM-5 Section 2 PD symptoms were assessed using the SCID-II-PQ, and applying a replicated rational selection procedure to the SCID-II-PQ item pool, proxies for the DSM-5 Section 3 dimensions and select facets were constructed. The MMPI-2-RF PSY-5 scales demonstrated appropriate convergent and discriminant associations with both Section 2 PDs and Section 3 dimensions in both samples. These findings suggest the MMPI-2-RF PSY-5 scales can serve both conceptually and practically as a bridge between the DSM-5 Section 2 PD criteria and the DSM-5 Section 3 personality features.
The human element: training, awareness, and human resources implications of health information security policy under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)

The Health Information Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) has created many regulations that health care providers must follow to assure health information security, with critical obligations toward pieces of the human element --- training, awareness, and human resources policy. The HIPAA Security Rule provides a regulatory framework, and the National Institute of Standards and Technology provides a model for the development of policy to meet obligations of the Security Rule. Health care organizations are advised to follow the NIST model to meet training, awareness, and human resources obligations, as well as the moral obligation to keep health information private.
Window of Opportunity? Adolescence, Music, and Algebra

Research has suggested that musicians process music in the same cortical regions that adolescents process algebra. An early adolescence synaptogenesis might present a window of opportunity during middle school for music to create and strengthen enduring neural connections in those regions. Six school districts across Maryland provided scores from the 2006-2007 administrations of the Maryland Algebra/Data Analysis High School Assessment. Findings from a sample of 6,026 adolescents showed that students enrolled in formal instrumental or choral music instruction during middle school outperformed those who experienced neither of those modes of musical instruction. Significant mean differences in algebra achievement occurred between the instrumental and neither-instruction groups (13.34, p < .001) and between the choral and neither-instruction groups (3.82, p < .001). For African Americans, means significantly differed between the choral and neither-instruction groups (9.39, p < .001). The greatest mean differ...
Reasoning about implicit invocation

Implicit invocation [SN92, GN91] has become an important architectural style for large-scale system design and evolution. This paper addresses the lack of specification and verification formalisms for such systems. Based on standard notions from process algebra and trace semantics, we define a formal computational model for implicit invocation. A verification methodology is presented that supports linear time temporal logic and compositional reasoning. First, the entire system is partioned into groups of components (methods) that behave independently. Then, local properties are proved for each of the groups. A precise description of the cause and the effect of an event supports this step. Using local correctness, independence of groups, and properties of the delivery of events, we infer the desired property of the overall system. Two detailed examples illustrate the use of our framework.
Her American Dream Bringing Gender Into Institutional-Anomie Theory

The purpose of this article is to present a gender-sensitized approach to Institutional-Anomie Theory (IAT) that recognizes the pervasiveness and import of gender at the institutional and cultural levels. Drawing on feminist literature, we discuss the gendering of the family and the economy, and the implications of such gendering for understanding the social organization of American society and the “institutional balance of power,” as explicated by Messner and Rosenfeld in Crime and the American Dream. At a cultural level, we propose that the tendency to conceive of men as normative helps reconcile two seemingly incompatible premises in IAT: the claim that there is a dominant form of social organization that characterizes American society and the empirical observation that cultural orientations and institutional involvement actually differ dramatically for males and females. From a social structural perspective, we describe the varying ways that institutions are by their very nature gendered and how the g...
Classical dynamics description of low energy cascades in solids: Atomic ejection from amorphous argon

A classical dynamics calculation of atomic ejection due to a 1 eV kinetic energy impulse to a single atom is made for an amorphous argon solid. Impulses of this magnitude occur following electronic stimulation of the solid. The calculations show that the energized atom produces a collision sequence that results in a recoil spectrum similar to that predicted for binary collisions and to those calculated previously in crystalline argon. Although the collision sequences leading to atomic ejection in the amorphous solid have smaller ranges of energy transfer than in the crystal, a sputtering enhancement in the surface layers for the amorphous case results in about the same total atom ejection yield as for the crystalline case.
Protecting and rescuing the effectors: roles of differentiation and survival in the control of memory T cell development

Vaccines, arguably the single most important intervention in improving human health, have exploited the phenomenon of immunological memory. The elicitation of memory T cells is often an essential part of successful long-lived protective immunity. Our understanding of T cell memory has been greatly aided by the development of TCR Tg mice and MHC tetrameric staining reagents that have allowed the precise tracking of antigen-specific T cell responses. Indeed, following acute infection or immunization, naive T cells undergo a massive expansion culminating in the generation of a robust effector T cell population. This peak effector response is relatively short-lived and, while most effector T cells die by apoptosis, some remain and develop into memory cells. Although the molecular mechanisms underlying this cell fate decision remain incompletely defined, substantial progress has been made, particularly with regards to CD8+ T cells. For example, the effector CD8+ T cells generated during a response are heterogeneous, consisting of cells with more or less potential to develop into full-fledged memory cells. Development of CD8+ T cell memory is regulated by the transcriptional programs that control the differentiation and survival of effector T cells. While the type of antigenic stimulation and level of inflammation control effector CD8+ T cell differentiation, availability of cytokines and their ability to control expression and function of Bcl-2 family members governs their survival. These distinct differentiation and survival programs may allow for finer therapeutic intervention to control both the quality and quantity of CD8+ T cell memory. Effector to memory transition of CD4+ T cells is less well characterized than CD8+ T cells, emerging details will be discussed. This review will focus on the recent progress made in our understanding of the mechanisms underlying the development of T cell memory with an emphasis on factors controlling survival of effector T cells.
Multilaboratory Particle Image Velocimetry Analysis of the FDA Benchmark Nozzle Model to Support Validation of Computational Fluid Dynamics Simulations

This study is part of a FDA-sponsored project to evaluate the use and limitations of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) in assessing blood flow parameters related to medical device safety. In an interlaboratory study, fluid velocities and pressures were measured in a nozzle model to provide experimental validation for a companion round-robin CFD study. The simple benchmark nozzle model, which mimicked the flow fields in several medical devices, consisted of a gradual flow constriction, a narrow throat region, and a sudden expansion region where a fluid jet exited the center of the nozzle with recirculation zones near the model walls. Measurements of mean velocity and turbulent flow quantities were made in the benchmark device at three independent laboratories using particle image velocimetry (PIV). Flow measurements were performed over a range of nozzle throat Reynolds numbers (Re throat ) from 500 to 6500, covering the laminar, transitional, and turbulent flow regimes. A standard operating procedure was developed for performing experiments under controlled temperature and flow conditions and for minimizing systematic errors during PIV image acquisition and processing. For laminar (Re throat = 500) and turbulent flow conditions (Re throat ≥ 3500), the velocities measured by the three laboratories were similar with an interlaboratory uncertainty of ∼10% at most of the locations. However, for the transitional flow case (Re throat = 2000), the uncertainty in the size and the velocity of the jet at the nozzle exit increased to ∼60% and was very sensitive to the flow conditions. An error analysis showed that by minimizing the variability in the experimental parameters such as flow rate and fluid viscosity to less than 5% and by matching the inlet turbulence level between the laboratories, the uncertainties in the velocities of the transitional flow case could be reduced to ∼15%. The experimental procedure and flow results from this interlaboratory study (available at http://fdacfd.nci.nih.gov) will be useful in validating CFD simulations of the benchmark nozzle model and in performing PIV studies on other medical device models.
MULTIPLE EXCITATIONS AND REACTION YIELDS IN PHOTOSYNTHETIC SYSTEMS

— Alternative explanations of the limited yield of product when bacterial reaction centers are excited by intense ps pulses (Moskowitz and Malley, Photochem. Photohiol. 27 55, 1978) are given. These alternatives, based on photoreversal or multitrap effects, can be experimentally distinguished by a predicted wavelength variation or by the effect of a second flash.
Transforming growth factor β integrates Smad 3 to mechanistic target of rapamycin complexes to arrest deptor abundance for glomerular mesangial cell hypertrophy

In many renal diseases, transforming growth factor β (TGFβ)-stimulated canonical Smad 3 and noncanonical mechanistic target of rapamycin (mTOR) promote increased protein synthesis and mesangial cell hypertrophy. The cellular underpinnings involving these signaling molecules to regulate mesangial cell hypertrophy are not fully understood. Deptor has recently been identified as an mTOR interacting protein and functions as an endogenous inhibitor of the kinase activity for both TORC1 and TORC2. Prolonged incubation of mesangial cells with TGFβ reduced the levels of deptor concomitant with an increase in TORC1 and TORC2 activity. Sustained TGFβ activation was required to inhibit association of deptor with mTOR, whereas rapid activation had no effect. Using the mTOR inhibitor PP242, we found that TGFβ-induced both early and sustained activation of TORC1 and TORC2 was necessary for deptor suppression. PP242-induced reversal of deptor suppression by TGFβ was associated with a significant inhibition of TGFβ-stimulated protein synthesis and hypertrophy. Interestingly, expression of siRNA against Smad 3 or Smad 7, which blocks TGFβ receptor-specific Smad 3 signaling, prevented TGFβ-induced suppression of deptor abundance and TORC1/2 activities. Furthermore, overexpression of Smad 3 decreased deptor expression similar to TGFβ stimulation concomitant with increased TORC1 and TORC2 activities. Finally, knockdown of deptor reversed Smad 7-mediated inhibition of protein synthesis and mesangial cell hypertrophy induced by TGFβ. These data reveal the requirement of both early and late activation of mTOR for TGFβ-induced protein synthesis. Our results support that TGFβ-stimulated Smad 3 acts as a key node to instill a feedback loop between deptor down-regulation and TORC1/2 activation in driving mesangial cell hypertrophy.
Natural products for the management of type 2 diabetes mellitus and comorbid conditions

Abstract Objective To provide pharmacists with practical information to guide consumers in their choices of herbal products and dietary supplements for the management of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and its comorbid disease states. Summary The herbal and dietary supplement market has grown exponentially over the past decade as Americans increasingly use such agents for generalized health and the prevention and treatment of chronic disease states. 1 Pharmacist advice is often requested on the use of these agents for the management of T2DM; however, this is an area that has insufficient evidence to support confident recommendations. Many published studies involving herbal agents and dietary supplements are small and poorly designed, with heterogeneous results. Pharmacists should be aware of the safety and efficacy data available for these agents, recognize potential drug interactions, and identify acceptable manufactured products. Conclusion The strongest scientific evidence for blood glucose lowering effect is associated with alpha-lipoic acid and fenugreek. There is also good evidence supporting the use of ivy gourd, gymnema, and vitamin E for management of hyperglycemia; however, caution should be used when recommending vitamin E. Pharmacists should advise consumers to disclose use of any of these products to all of their health care providers.
An investigation of energy harvesting using electrostrictive polymers

Owing to their low acoustic impedance, high elastic energy density, and relatively high electromechanical conversion efficiency, the electroactive polymers have begun to show the potential for energy harvesting or mechanical to electrical energy conversion. In addition, due to the electromechanical coupling in these materials the electric and mechanical properties of these polymers will depend on the imposed electrical and mechanical conditions. This paper discusses how to utilizing this unique property to maximum the energy conversion efficiency and the harvested electrical energy density in the electrostrictive polymers. As an example, we demonstrate that when a properly phased and externally applied electric AC field is superimposed on the mechanical cycle, an output electrical energy density of 39mJ/cm3 and mechanical-to-electrical conversion efficiency of about 10% can be obtained from the electrostrictive P(VDF-TrFE) based polymers.
Challenges and lessons learned in the development and implementation of a couples-focused telephone intervention for adults with type 2 diabetes: the Diabetes Support Project

Type 2 diabetes (T2DM) studies report that marital/family support relates to glycemic control, adherence, and quality of life. Yet, there are few reports on couples-focused interventions. This study aims to describe the challenges faced and lessons learned in the implementation of a theoretically based, couples intervention. Three hundred fifty couples (one partner has T2DM in poor glycemic control) are randomized to a couples intervention, individual intervention, or enhanced usual care. All contacts are by telephone to increase reach. The medical (e.g., glycemic control), psychosocial (e.g., diabetes distress), and behavioral (e.g., regimen adherence) outcomes were measured. Challenges in recruitment, assessment, and intervention with couples are described, with suggestions about how to address them. Findings concerning the efficacy and cost-effectiveness of the couples intervention, its effect on partners, and possible mechanisms of demonstrated changes, are anticipated in 2013. Interventionists need specific skills to work with couples to promote communal coping and increase the likelihood of an efficacious couples intervention.
The Politics of Eminent Domain: From False Choices to Community Benefits

Large-scale urban redevelopment projects catalyze moments of peril and opportunity. In the wake of the United States Supreme Court's Kelo v. New London decision affirming economic development as a public use under the takings clause of the Constitution, these perils and opportunities have again become a site of major contestation. An unusual alliance of libertarian property-rights ideologues and civil-rights organizations has joined forces to challenge the use of eminent domain in urban economic development. In this article, I analyze the history of these alliances and their implicit reinforcement of deeply reactionary constructions of property. I conclude with an evaluation of two emergent models—community benefit agreements and community equity shares—that provide promising community tools for alternatives to homeowner rule and neoliberal urban renewal.
Simultaneous laparoscopic nephroureterectomy and cystectomy: a preliminary report

PURPOSE: Patients with muscle-invasive bladder cancer and concomitant upper urinary tract tumors may be candidates for simultaneous cystectomy and nephroureterectomy. Other clinical conditions such as dialysis-dependent end-stage renal disease and non-functioning kidney are also indications for simultaneous removal of the bladder and kidney. In the present study, we report our laparoscopic experience with simultaneous laparoscopic radical cystectomy (LRC) and nephroureterectomy. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Between August 2000 and June 2007, 8 patients underwent simultaneous laparoscopic radical nephroureterectomy (LNU) (unilateral-6, bilateral-2) and radical cystectomy at our institution. Demographic data, pathologic features, surgical technique and outcomes were retrospectively analyzed. RESULTS: The laparoscopic approach was technically successful in all 8 cases (7 males and 1 female) without the need for open conversion. Median total operative time, including LNU, LRC, pelvic lymphadenectomy and urinary diversion, was 9 hours (range 8-12). Median estimated blood loss and hospital stay were 755 mL (range 300-2000) and 7.5 days (range 4-90), respectively. There were no intraoperative complications but only 1 major and 2 minor postoperative complications. The overall and cancer specific survival rates were 37.5% and 87.5% respectively at a median follow-up of 9 months (range 1-45). CONCLUSIONS: Laparoscopic nephroureterectomy with concomitant cystectomy is technically feasible. Greater number of patients with a longer follow-up is required to confirm our results.
Early age microstructure of the paste-aggregate interface and its evolution

The sequence of microstructural changes occurring at the wet paste-aggregate interface is documented at an age as early as 5 min using the environmental scanning electron microscope (ESEM). Unlike other microscopic techniques, the ESEM allows pastes of normal water: cement ratio to be observed at early ages without reducing the paste to a powder. Evolution of the paste-aggregate microstructure is followed up to an age of 24 h. The region adjacent to the aggregate surface contains a phase with a morphology referred to as a “sheaf of wheat” morphology. The same interfacial region in a 10-day-old specimen has a microstructure similar to the interfacial transition zone (ITZ) reported in the literature. Variations of the “sheaf of wheat” morphology due to original water-to-cement ratio, mixing energy, incorporation of silica fume, and drying are documented. As revealed by energy dispersive x-ray analysis (EDS), the microstructure contains significant amounts of calcium and silica. These results indicate that the observed morphology is likely to be a calcium silicate hydrate (C-S-H) product that is a precursor to type I C-S-H. A description of the evolution of the observed microstructural features is presented. The “sheaf of wheat” morphology appears to be a general precursor to morphologies commonly seen in mature pastes.
Monitoring chromatic dispersion and PMD impairments in optical differential phaseshift-keyed (DPSK) systems

We simulate and measure chromatic dispersion and polarization mode dispersion impairments, and demonstrate their monitoring by measuring clock tone power and degree of polarization in DPSK and RZ-DPSK systems.
Towards a Science of Temporal Databases

Computer science has long been considered to emphasize three distinct perspectives: mathematics, science, and engineering. While the database field has some very strong mathematical and engineering work, the scientific perspective has been much less prominent. This keynote elaborate the scientific perspective, apply it to research questions in temporal databases, and emphasize that this new way of thinking can yield new insights and deeper understanding.
Water content, lipid deposition, and (+)-abscisic acid content in developing white spruce seeds

with inhibition of precocious germination, promotion of storage protein synthesis, acquisition of desiccation tolerWhole seeds, and isolated megagametophytes, seed ance, suppression of reserve mobilization, and induction coats and embryos from white spruce [Picea glauca of dormancy (Bewley and Black, 1994). (+)-ABA has (Moench) Voss ] were used to monitor water distribu- been quantified at diVerent stages in seed development tion by magnetic resonance microimaging, lipid com- of, among others, pine ( Kapik et al., 1995) and peach position by gas chromatography, and (+)-abscisic acid (Piaggesi et al., 1991). content ((+)-ABA) by enzyme-linked immunosorbent In developing seeds, water distribution is a factor in assay, during seed development. The highest (+)-ABA the inhibition of premature germinative events; presumcontent was detected in the female gametophytic ably it impacts on the transition of cellular activities from tissue, this at 11 d after pollination (DAP). Reserve an exclusively developmental programme to an exclusdeposition was evident up to 59 DAP in the female ively germinative/growth programme ( Kermode, 1995). gametophyte and in the developing embryo. The Changes in the water distribution of developing seeds can maturation drying period occurred between 59 DAP be assessed either by invasive or by non-invasive techand 93 DAP. At 59 DAP, the seed contained 24% niques. The bulk water transport in conifers was examined
Coulomb pairing resonances in multiple-ring aromatic molecules

We present an analysis of the pairing resonances observed in photo-double-ionization studies of CnHm aromatic molecules with multiple benzene-like rings. The analysis, which is based on the Coulomb pairing model, is applied to naphthalene, anthracene, phenanthrene, pyrene and coronene, all of which have six-member rings, and azulene which is comprised of a five-member and a seven-member ring. There is a high energy resonance at ~ 40 eV that is found in all of the molecules cited and is associated with paired electrons localized on carbon sites on the perimeter of the molecule, each of which having two carbon sites as nearest neighbors. The low energy resonance at 10 eV, which is found only in pyrene and coronene, is attributed to the formation of paired electrons localized on arrays of interior carbon atoms that have the point symmetry of the molecule with each carbon atom having three nearest neighbors. The origin of the anomalous increase in the doubly charged to singly charged parent-ion ratio that is found above the 40 eV resonance in all of the cited molecules except coronene is discussed.
Advances in Surgical Management of Pancreatic Diseases

The surgical management of pancreatic diseases is rapidly evolving, encompassing advances in evidence-driven selection of patients amenable for surgical therapy, preoperative risk stratification, refinements in the technical conduct of pancreatic operations, and quantification of postoperative morbidity. These advances have resulted in dramatic reductions in mortality following pancreatic surgery, particularly at high-volume pancreatic centers. Surgical decision making is complex, and requires an intimate understanding of disease pathobiology, host physiology, technical considerations, and evolving trends. This article highlights key developments in the contemporary surgical management of pancreatic diseases.
Using synoptic weather types to predict visitor attendance at Atlanta and Indianapolis zoological parks

Defining an ideal “tourism climate” has been an often-visited research topic where explanations have evolved from global- to location-specific indices tailored to tourists’ recreational behavior. Unfortunately, as indices become increasingly specific, they are less translatable across geographies because they may only apply to specific activities, locales, climates, or populations. A key need in the future development of weather and climate indices for tourism has been a translatable, meteorologically based index capturing the generalized ambient atmospheric conditions yet considering local climatology. To address this need, this paper tests the applicability of the spatial synoptic classification (SSC) as a tool to predict visitor attendance response in the tourism, recreation, and leisure (TRL) sector across different climate regimes. Daily attendance data is paired with the prevailing synoptic weather condition at Atlanta and Indianapolis zoological parks from September 2001 to June 2011, to review potential impacts ambient atmospheric conditions may have on visitor attendances. Results indicate that “dry moderate” conditions are most associated with high levels of attendance and “moist polar” synoptic conditions are most associated with low levels of attendance at both zoological parks. Comparing visitor response at these zoo locations, visitors in Indianapolis showed lower levels of tolerance to synoptic conditions which were not “ideal.” Visitors in Indianapolis also displayed more aversion to “polar” synoptic regimes while visitors in Atlanta displayed more tolerance to “moist tropical” synoptic regimes. Using a comprehensive atmospheric measure such as the SSC may be a key to broadening application when assessing tourism climates across diverse geographies.
Speaker location and microphone spacing invariant acoustic modeling from raw multichannel waveforms

Multichannel ASR systems commonly use separate modules to perform speech enhancement and acoustic modeling. In this paper, we present an algorithm to do multichannel enhancement jointly with the acoustic model, using a raw waveform convolutional LSTM deep neural network (CLDNN). We will show that our proposed method offers ∼5% relative improvement in WER over a log-mel CLDNN trained on multiple channels. Analysis shows that the proposed network learns to be robust to varying angles of arrival for the target speaker, and performs as well as a model that is given oracle knowledge of the true location. Finally, we show that training such a network on inputs captured using multiple (linear) array configurations results in a model that is robust to a range of microphone spacings.
Determination of Henry’s Law Constants Using Internal Standards with Benchmark Values

It is shown that Henry’s law constants can be experimentally determined by comparing headspace content of compounds with known constants to interpolate the constants of other compounds. Studies were conducted over a range of water temperatures to identify temperature dependence. The Henry’s law constants for a suite of mostly labeled compounds intended for use as internal standards were determined, and these internal standards were then used to determine the constants for 90 compounds. This approach was found to correlate well with the average of published values for the compounds in the study (0.99) and had a very good correlation (> 0.99999) when compounds had measurements from more than two sources.
Interactive Marketing Models

What is the impact of interactive computer systems on managerial model involvement, model building, and organizational model acceptance?
The Voltage and Composition Dependence of Switching in a Polymer Current Limiter Device

The high power electrical switching properties of a polymer current limiter device are studied as a function of applied voltage. It is shown that a dramatic change in switching behavior occurs at a characteristic voltage. Below this voltage, the device switches to a high resistance state whereas at higher applied voltages it does not. It is shown that the high voltage, low resistance state has similar electrical characteristics to an arc discharge. Material variation experiments are also described which demonstrate that the changeover depends sensitively on the contact resistance between the filler particles of the composite material.
Spheroidal degeneration in H626R TGFBI variant lattice dystrophy: a multimodality analysis.

Purpose The aim of this study was to describe clinical, imaging, molecular genetic, histopathologic, immunohistochemical, and ultrastructural characteristics of coexistent amyloid and spheroidal degeneration-type deposits in a family with histidine-626-arginine transforming growth factor beta-induced (H626R TGFBI) variant lattice dystrophy. Methods This is a retrospective clinical-pathological and genetic analysis of one family with H626R variant lattice dystrophy. Results Pedigree analysis showed an autosomal dominant inheritance pattern of the disease. Examination of 3 affected family members revealed asymmetric, thick, branching lattice-like deposits associated with corneal haze. Sequencing of the TGFBI gene revealed a high-penetrance disease-causing sequence variation (H626R CAT>CGT heterozygous). Optical coherence tomography demonstrated fusiform, poorly demarcated hyperechoic stromal deposits with focal hypoechoic central regions. Histology of the corneal discs from 2 affected family members showed stromal deposits consistent with TGFBI amyloid. Some amyloid deposits contained a central nidus of spheroidal degeneration-type material that demonstrated autofluorescence, stained with elastic and Masson trichrome stains, did not stain with periodic acid-Schiff or Congo red stains, was nonbirefringent, and did not immunoreact with keratoepithelin antibodies. Transmission electron microscopy confirmed the presence of amyloid fibrils with central, electrodense, homogeneous, discrete, spheroidal degeneration-type deposits. Conclusions The presence of spheroidal deposits in a subset of affected patients, variability in presentation within an individual and between family members, predominant anterior corneal stromal location and nonimmunoreactivity of deposits for keratoepithelin suggest that these deposits are degenerative in nature. The deposits may arise from ultraviolet light-altered proteins diffused from the limbus, which form a nidus for keratoepithelin deposition.
Intracellular Distribution of Various Boron Compounds in Rat 9L Gliosarcoma Cells

The effect of neutron capture therapy depends on the selective localization of the10B atoms in target cells. It is generally preferred that the boron compound linked to the nuclear structure of the individual cancer cell, so that the neutron capture reaction occurs in the most sensitive part of the cell [1]. The currently used boron compound for clinical trials in Japan and for pre-clinical investigations in the USA is the monomeric sulfhydryl borane, BSH. Recently, interest has been shown to several new compounds: the dimeric sulfhydryl borane (BSSB), the boronophenylalanine (BPA), and the porphyrins such as BOPP and VCDP. This paper presents a parallel study of these compounds in terms of their cytotoxicity, uptake and subcellular distribution in 9L gliosarcoma cells.
Basics of Hormonal Contraception

The United States (US) has the highest rate of teen pregnancy and births in the western industrialized world. Although there has been a consistent decline in the teen pregnancy rate, the majority of these pregnancies are unintended and to unmarried teens and about half of them end in miscarriages or planned terminations. Barriers to care include lack of knowledge, confidentiality concerns, and fear of a pelvic examination. Contraceptive methods for adolescents can be divided into short-acting reversible methods and long-acting reversible contraception (LARC). The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology (ACOG) recommend that LARC be offered as a first choice to adolescents and young adults desiring contraception because of the low risk and high efficacy of these methods.
Mixed hepatocellular and cholangiocarcinoma: a rare tumor with a mix of parent phenotypic characteristics.

Abstract Background Intrahepatic lesions of mixed hepatocellular (HCC) and intrahepatic cholangiocellular carcinoma (ICC) histology are rare. The aim was to describe the natural history of these tumors relative to monomorphic ICC or HCC utilizing the National Cancer Data Base (NCDB). Methods Patients with ICC, HCC, and mixed histology (cHCC-CCA) were identified in the NCDB (2004–2012). Inter-group comparisons were made. Kaplan–Meier and multivariable Cox Proportional Hazards analyzed overall survival. Results The query identified 90,499 patients with HCC; 14,463 with ICC; and 1141 with cHCC-CCA histology. Patients with cHCC-CCA histology were relatively young (61 vs. 62 (HCC, p = 0.877) and 67 (ICC, p Discussion cHCC-CCA demonstrate stage-specific survival similar to HCC, but post-surgical survival more consistent with ICC. Patients with a pre-operative diagnosis of cHCC-CCA should undergo resection when appropriate.
Blameworthiness, Love, and Strong Divine Sovereignty

In this paper, I explore some problems faced by those who endorse what I will call strong divine sovereignty (SDS). According to this view, every worldly event is guaranteed by God’s causal activity. The first problem this view faces is that it seems to make God morally blameworthy. I explore several possible ways for defenders of SDS to avoid this conclusion. Unfortunately, however, each of these solutions leaves another problem intact: if SDS is true, then it appears that God is not much like a loving parent, as many have thought. I explore a number of options to avoid this conclusion, arguing that some fail and others include significant costs.
The expressive actor, integrated voice, movement, and actor training

The Expressive Actor, 2nd Edition offers further insight into Michael Lugering’s integrated approach to actor training. The first edition of The Expressive Actor was published in 2007 by Heinemann....
Cancer Preventive Activities of Tea Catechins.

Catechins are widely occurring in our diet and beverages. The cancer-preventive activities of catechins have been extensively studied. Of these, (−)-epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG), the principal catechin in green tea, has received the most attention. The inhibitory activities of tea catechins against carcinogenesis and cancer cell growth have been demonstrated in a large number of laboratory studies. Many mechanisms for modulating cancer signaling and metabolic pathways have been proposed based on numerous studies in cell lines with EGCG, the most active tea catechin. Nevertheless, it is not known whether many of these mechanisms indeed contribute to the anti-cancer activities in animals and in humans. Human studies have provided some results for the cancer preventive activities of tea catechins; however, the activities are not strong. This article reviews the cancer preventive activities and mechanisms of action of tea catechins involving their redox activities, biochemical properties and binding to key enzymes or signal transduction proteins. These mechanisms lead to suppression of cell proliferation, increased apoptosis and inhibition of angiogenesis. The relevance of the proposed mechanisms for cancer prevention are assessed in the light of the situation in vivo. The potential and possible problems in the application of tea and tea-derived products for cancer prevention are discussed.
Automated robust Anuran classification by extracting elliptical feature pairs from audio spectrograms

Ecologists can assess the health of wetlands by monitoring populations of animals such as Anurans (i.e., frogs and toads), which are sensitive to habitat changes. But, surveying anurans requires trained experts to identify species from the animals' mating calls. This identification task can be streamlined by automation. To this end, we propose an automatic frog-call classification algorithm and a smartphone application that drastically simplify the monitoring of anuran populations. We offer three main contributions. First, we introduce a classification method that has an average accuracy of 86% on a dataset of 736 calls from 48 anuran species from the United States. Our dataset is much larger and diverse than those of previous works on anuran classification. Second, we extract a new type of spectrogram feature that avoids syllable segmentation and the manual cleaning of the recordings. Our method also works with recordings of variable length. Third, our method uses GPS location and a voting scheme to reliably deal with a large number of species and high levels of noise.
Correlation of immune response with clinical outcomes in melanoma patients receiving adjuvant therapy of pegylated interferon alpha-2b combined with gp100 peptide vaccine.

3026 Background: Vaccination using tumor-associated antigen peptides alone has shown limited clinical benefit. Preclinical studies have demonstrated interferon-alpha promotes vaccine-induced tumor-...
Relationship Between X-Ray Tube Target Materials and X-Ray Emission Intensities

Factors affecting fluorescent intensity from a sample in an X-ray spectrograph are reviewed. Excitation efficiencies of monoenergetic X-ray sources are discussed and data on low atomic number elements are given. For polychromatic X-ray spectra, effective wavelengths and excitation efficiencies are measured as a function of atomic number. A new dual-target X-ray tube is shown to be an effective answer to the problem of covering a broad range of elements with a single X-ray tube.
Vector-based robot obstacle avoidance using LIDAR and mecanum drive

With their reduction in cost, LIDAR sensors are starting to become ubiquitous on robotic platforms that need to self-navigate. Omni-directional robotic drive systems have matured in performance, including mecanum drive systems. Both technologies are vector based, which makes their pairing a simplifying solution for robot navigation, and specifically obstacle avoidance. This paper steps through the implementation of both systems onto a test platform and how they can be used in a vector-based avoidance algorithm. A robot is programed to follow along a wall (with doors, small columns and other features indenting and protruding from the wall). When the robot encounters an obstacle in its path above a pre-determined size, it takes action to avoid colliding with it. In a multi-step approach, the robot strafes at an angle to clear the object, travels past the object, and then strafes back towards the wall to resume its original path.
Heart Transplantation and Antibody-Mediated Rejection

Rejection limits the long-term survival of the transplanted heart. A major type of rejection of the cardiac allograft is termed antibody-mediated rejection (AMR). The definition of AMR has evolved; however, it remains a challenging diagnosis for transplant clinicians. Improved assays have defined a program of immunological responses that are deleterious and constitute AMR. The International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation (ISHLT) initially established the clinical and pathologic criteria for the diagnosis of AMR in heart transplantation. These criteria were refined in 2006, and more recently in 2013 as a result of a consensus conference on AMR led by the International Society of Heart and Lung Transplantation (ISHLT) (Table 32.1). The latter report by the 2013 ISHLT task force provides the most comprehensive recommendations for the assessment of AMR to date (Berry et al., J Heart Lung Transpl, 32(12): 1147–1162, 2013). More recently, a scientific statement was published by the American Heart Association to provide recommendations based on the recent consensus conferences and to facilitate standardization of management (Colvin, et al. Circulation, 131(18): 1608–1639, 2015). This is necessary, as current management tends to be center-specific and based on prior experience, which has small numbers of patients. In this chapter, we emphasize the current knowledge, the diagnosis, and management strategies for AMR in the cardiac transplant recipient.
Developing and Evaluating VR Field Trips

We present our work on creating and assessing virtual field trip experiences using different VR and AR setups. In comparative studies, we address the question of how different settings and technologies compare regarding their ability to convey different kinds of spatial information and to foster spatial learning. We focus on a case study on an informal settlement in Rio, Brazil, in which we used an informal assessment to help inform and improve the design of different VR site experiences.
Contouring Guidelines for Pancreatic Adenocarcinoma

Intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) is becoming a standard technique for de fi nitive or neoadjuvant radiation therapy for unresectable and borderlineresectable pancreatic adenocarcinoma.
An Exact Solution of the Orr-Sommerfeld Equation for Plane Couette Flow

The equation which governs the stability of plane Couette flow admits solutions of either well-balanced or dominant-recessive type. As is well known, the solutions of well-balanced type can be expressed in terms of simple exponential or hyperbolic functions. The main aim of this paper, therefore, is to show that the solutions of dominant-recessive type can be expressed exactly as the sum of three products which involve certain rapidly and slowly varying functions. The rapidly varying functions are simply Airy functions, together with their first integrals and first derivatives. Of the three slowly varying functions, one is expressible in terms of a hyperbolic function and the other two have simple integral representations which, for bounded values of the wavenumber α, have convergent expansions in powers of (iαR)−1. An application of these results is also made to the problem of semibounded plane Couette flow, and it is shown that the eigenvalue relation for this problem can be expressed in an extremely simple form.
Skyrmion glass in a 2D Heisenberg ferromagnet with quenched disorder

A 2D Heisenberg ferromagnet with exchange J and random magnetic anisotropy of strength has been studied. Analytical theory for the dependence of the average size of a pinned skyrmion on the magnetic field H, and for stability of such skyrmions on a lattice, has been developed. It has been complemented by numerical studies of 2D lattices containing up to 40 million spins. At low fields the average size of the skyrmion, λ, is determined by the average size of Imry–Ma domains. On increasing the field the skyrmions first shrink, with , and then collapse at fields distributed around . The concentration of the skyrmions goes down with the field as .
Diagnosis of congenital and acquired focal lesions in the neck, abdomen, and pelvis with contrast-enhanced ultrasound: a pictorial essay

Contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) is a versatile imaging modality that improves the diagnostic potential of conventional ultrasound. It allows for portable imaging at the bedside. In this paper, we illustrate how CEUS can be used in evaluating several focal lesions in the pediatric population, including liver hemangioma, telangiectasias, splenic hamartomas, and bladder lesions. We describe the ultrasound findings and contrast enhancement patterns associated with these lesions. Findings are correlated with MRI, CT, and/or pathology when available. This paper demonstrates the value of CEUS in improving characterization of many focal lesions in the pediatric population. Conclusion: CEUS is a valuable bedside technique for use in the pediatric population to evaluate focal lesions in various organs, and will allow for safe, more efficient diagnostic imaging.