cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Tubular carcinoma of the breast.

Retrospective pathologic review of 636 breast carcinomas from 611 patients revealed twelve tumors which were pure low grade tubular carcinoma (TC) and nineteen tumors with features combining both low grade tubular carcinoma and invasive duct carcinoma (T&D). A control group of 23 cases consisted of invasive duct carcinoma with at least a third of the tumor surface area showing tubular formation, but without the low grade features of tubular carcinoma. Life table analysis at 15 years showed a 100%, 72%, and 33% survival for TC, T&D, and controls, respectively. Eight percent of TC and 21% of T&D had axillary metastases compared to 67% for controls. Axillary metastases had no detrimental effect on TC or T&D survival. There were no recurrences in the TC group. Patients with T&D with tumor diameter 1.0 cm or less or with 50% or greater low grade tubular carcinoma component are alive and well. The mean age of T&D was 7 years greater than TC. The combined TC and T&D group showed a significant incidence of multiple cancers in the ipsilateral breast and a significant trend toward bilateral cancers when compared to controls. Tubular carcinoma has an inherently low malignant potential with a histological and biological spectrum. Cancer 42:2334–2342, 1978.
Modeling Optical Turbulence and Seeing over Mauna Kea

Abstract Atmospheric turbulence is a primary concern for astronomers. Turbulence causes amplitude and phase fluctuations in electromagnetic waves propagating through the atmosphere, constraining the maximum telescope resolution and resulting in telescope image degradation. Astronomical parameters that quantify these effects are generically referred to as seeing. Adaptive optics (AO) is used to reduce image degradation associated with optical turbulence. However, to optimize AO, knowledge of the vertical profile of turbulence and overall (integrated) seeing is needed. In this paper, an optical turbulence algorithm is described that makes use of the information on turbulence kinetic energy provided by a planetary boundary layer scheme available in the fifth-generation Pennsylvania State University–NCAR Mesoscale Model (MM5). Optical turbulence data collected on Mauna Kea during the 2002 site monitoring campaign are used to validate the algorithm, which has been implemented in operational runs of MM5 at the ...
Dynamic CO oxidation over Pt/Al2O3

Abstract Dynamic studies of CO oxidation have shown complex behavior such as rate enhancement and CO 2 peak formation during forced-periodic operation. The transient chemical processes which account for this complex behavior during dynamic operation have not been fully identified, indicating the need for further study. In this work, two Pt/Al 2 O 3 catalysts, one prepared from a chloridecontaining precursor (chloroplatinic acid) and one prepared from a chloride-free precursor (tetraamineplatinum nitrate), were examined in terms of their steady-state reaction behavior and dynamic responses to periodic changes of CO pressure in O 2 . During reaction experiments, temperatures ranged from 90 to 190°C, CO pressures ranged from 0 to 0.2 Torr at a constant O 2 pressure of 0.33 Torr, and cycling periods ranged from 5 to 24 s. In addition, adsorption calorimetry and temperature programmed desorption (TPD) experiments were performed to characterize CO adsorption over the catalysts. The results of the steady-state and dynamic reaction experiments correlated with each other and with the adsorption and TPD results and indicated that the sample prepared from tetraamineplatinum nitrate had stronger CO-Pt interactions than the sample prepared from chloroplatinic acid. The two catalysts had similar Pt dispersions, and this comparison shows that measurement of metal dispersion is not sufficient to characterize a supported metal catalyst for CO oxidation. Addition of HCl to the chloride-free catalyst did not have a significant effect on CO adsorption as indicated by TPD. The complex dynamic responses measured over both catalysts demonstrate that transient processes on the catalyst surfaces produced CO 2 at higher rates than would be predicted by instantaneous response to steady-state conditions during dynamic operation.
Preliminary findings from an Internet-based dementia risk assessment

Abstract Background The identification of individuals who are at high risk of dementia may lead to earlier detection and diagnosis. In this study, we describe the development and preliminary validation of a very brief, Internet-based risk assessment tool. Methods The Dementia Risk Assessment collected information on demographic, neurologic, and medical risk factors; perceived cognitive functioning; and emotional symptoms. Participants answered questions pertaining to themselves ("patient page") or to a relative or friend ("proxy page"). Patients also completed a novel short-delayed recognition memory test. Subjects received personalized feedback about their risk factors and were advised to seek clinical evaluation for concerning symptoms. By November 2009, 500 respondents completed the patient page. Results The 352 respondents aged 50 years or older (M = 62 years) included a high percentage of women (72%) and college graduates (67%). Among the respondents, only 10% complained of having severe memory problems, whereas 38% reported having a first-degree relative who experienced severe memory loss. The prevalence of major neurologic risk factors was low. Although the delay interval for the recognition memory test averaged around 2 minutes, there was sufficient variability in performance. Individuals with scores ≤10th percentile were significantly older and more likely to be men, have hypertension, and report having severe memory problems. Conclusions History of major dementia risk factors can be ascertained through the Internet, and several of these factors are shown to be moderately predictive of performance on a brief test of episodic memory. These data provide preliminary validation of the Dementia Risk Assessment for identifying current cognitive impairment, and suggest its potential for assessing future dementia risk. Ongoing studies will further establish the validity of these findings against proxy reports of cognitive and functional decline, the results of more detailed cognitive assessments, and formal clinical diagnoses.
Probing Ion Transfer at the Liquid/Liquid Interface by Scanning Electrochemical Microscopy (SECM)

A new way of using the scanning electrochemical microscope (SECM) to probe ion transfer (IT) reactivity of the liquid/liquid and liquid/membrane interfaces is described. A micropipet filled with solvent (e.g., water) immiscible with the outer solution (e.g., organic) serves as an SECM tip. The tip current is due to transfer of an ion between the pipet and the outer solution. When such a tip approaches a macroscopic liquid/liquid or liquid/membrane interface, the IT process depletes the concentration of the transferred ion near the phase boundary. If the second phase (e.g., another aqueous solution) contains the same ion, the depletion results in the IT across the interface. The tip current depends on the rate of the interfacial IT reaction, which can be extracted from the tip current vs distance curves. By scanning the pipet tip over the phase boundary the topographic images and maps of IT reactivity of the interface can be obtained, e.g., high-resolution feedback mode images of micrometer-sized pores in ...
Textrous!: extracting semantic textual meaning from gene sets.

The un-biased and reproducible interpretation of high-content gene sets from large-scale genomic experiments is crucial to the understanding of biological themes, validation of experimental data, and the eventual development of plans for future experimentation. To derive biomedically-relevant information from simple gene lists, a mathematical association to scientific language and meaningful words or sentences is crucial. Unfortunately, existing software for deriving meaningful and easily-appreciable scientific textual ‘tokens’ from large gene sets either rely on controlled vocabularies (Medical Subject Headings, Gene Ontology, BioCarta) or employ Boolean text searching and co-occurrence models that are incapable of detecting indirect links in the literature. As an improvement to existing web-based informatic tools, we have developed Textrous!, a web-based framework for the extraction of biomedical semantic meaning from a given input gene set of arbitrary length. Textrous! employs natural language processing techniques, including latent semantic indexing (LSI), sentence splitting, word tokenization, parts-of-speech tagging, and noun-phrase chunking, to mine MEDLINE abstracts, PubMed Central articles, articles from the Online Mendelian Inheritance in Man (OMIM), and Mammalian Phenotype annotation obtained from Jackson Laboratories. Textrous! has the ability to generate meaningful output data with even very small input datasets, using two different text extraction methodologies (collective and individual) for the selecting, ranking, clustering, and visualization of English words obtained from the user data. Textrous!, therefore, is able to facilitate the output of quantitatively significant and easily appreciable semantic words and phrases linked to both individual gene and batch genomic data.
Comprehension of Societal Impacts Via Technology Assessment

The general framework of interactions between technology and individual human beings, and between technology and society, is discussed. The principles underlying the process of technology assessment are presented, and the existing methodologies are described. An introduction of new technology or a modification of an extant technology leads to impacts in both technological and nontechnological areas. This paper examines several of the major techniques in use for societal impact assessment. The choice of a specific method depends upon the environment in which the assessment is conducted and upon the goals of the assessment effort. Such assessments form the inputs for generating optimal policies for complex societal multivariate systems.
A dialectical behavior therapy perspective on the case of anna

Dialectical behavior therapy (DBT; Linehan, 1993a , Linehan, 1993b ) is a cognitive-behavioral treatment designed specifically for individuals with “borderline behaviors,” particularly self-injurious and suicidal behaviors. In fact, currently it is the only psychosocial treatment for this population with published efficacy data from a randomized trial ( Linehan, Armstrong, Suarez, Allmon, & Heard, 1991 ; Linehan, Heard, & Armstrong, 1993 ; Linehan, Tutek, Heard, & Armstrong, 1994 ). My colleagues and I recently also reported superior outcomes across many areas of functioning for DBT compared to treatment as usual for borderline women veterans ( Koons, Robins, Bishop, Morse, & Lynch, 1998 ), demonstrating the transportability of this treatment. I appreciate this opportunity to present a DBT perspective on the case of Anna and look forward to the responses of others with somewhat different perspectives. My assumption is that all cognitive-behavioral perspectives have more commonalities than differences; therefore, I will attempt to highlight the ways in which DBT may be different.
Gene Transfer in Mycobacterium tuberculosis: Shuttle Phasmids to Enlightenment

Infectious diseases have plagued humankind throughout history and have posed serious public health problems. Yet vaccines have eradicated smallpox and antibiotics have drastically decreased the mortality rate of many infectious agents. These remarkable successes in the control of infections came from knowing the causative agents of the diseases, followed by serendipitous discoveries of attenuated viruses and antibiotics. The discovery of DNA as genetic material and the understanding of how this information translates into specific phenotypes have changed the paradigm for developing new vaccines, drugs, and diagnostic tests. Knowledge of the mechanisms of immunity and mechanisms of action of drugs has led to new vaccines and new antimicrobial agents. The key to the acquisition of the knowledge of these mechanisms has been identifying the elemental causes (i.e., genes and their products) that mediate immunity and drug resistance. The identification of these genes is made possible by being able to transfer the genes or mutated forms of the genes into causative agents or surrogate hosts. Such an approach was limited in Mycobacterium tuberculosis by the difficulty of transferring genes or alleles into M. tuberculosis or a suitable surrogate mycobacterial host. The construction of shuttle phasmids-chimeric molecules that replicate in Escherichia coli as plasmids and in mycobacteria as mycobacteriophages-was instrumental in developing gene transfer systems for M. tuberculosis. This review will discuss M. tuberculosis genetic systems and their impact on tuberculosis research.
Yield of Cardiac Magnetic Resonance Imaging as an Adjunct to Echocardiography in Young Infants With Congenital Heart Disease

Echocardiography provides adequate preoperative imaging for most young infants with congenital heart disease (CHD). When anatomic details require further clarification, cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (CMRI) may be useful but adds the risks of sedation or general anesthesia for a vulnerable population. This study aimed to determine the safety of CMRI and its yield of additional significant information for this population. The study identified all infants age 90 days or younger with preoperative echocardiography and a CMRI from the period 2002-2012. Indications, complications, and imaging results were collected. The additional CMRI information was defined as "significant" if it altered surgical management or "not significant" if it did not. Associations between indications for CMRI and the likelihood of new significant findings were sought. For 137 infants (58% male), CMRI was performed at a median age of 5 days (range, 0-89 days). The CMRI yielded additional information for 76% (104/137) of the patients. The additional findings were significant for 69% (72/104) of these patients. The incidence of significant new findings was similar among indication categories. All the infants were intubated. Complications occurred for 5% of the patients, including one subject with a bradycardic event that prevented completion of the exam and six patients with transient vital sign changes that allowed exam completion. More than 50% of young infants with CHD who underwent preoperative CMRI had new findings affecting surgical management. Among these patients, CMRI-associated complications were few and predominantly minor for intubated infants. Further studies to determine standard preoperative criteria for the use of CMRI for infants with CHD may help to define appropriate cost-effective use of this diagnostic method.
Differential binding of chromosomal proteins HMG1 and HMG2 to superhelical DNA

The binding of chromosomal proteins HMG1 and HMG2 to various DNA structures was examined by a nitrocellulose filter binding assay using a 32P labelled supercoiled plasmid. Binding assays and competition experiments indicated that HMG2 has a higher affinity than HMG1 for supercoiled DNA. Studies at various ionic strengths and pH values reveal differences in the interaction of the two proteins with DNA. The results suggest that HMG1 and HMG2 are involved in distinguishable cellular functions.
Nucleotide regulation of phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase from Escherichia coli.

Abstract Adenine, cytosine, guanine, and uracil nucleotides were surveyed as possible modulators of Escherichia coli phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase. CMP, CDP, CTP, GDP, and GTP activate, ATP and GMP inhibit. The other nucleotides are without effect. Nucleotide activation is synergistic with acetyl-CoA or laurate. Cytosine nucleotide activation is also synergistic with fructose 1,6-diphosphate, whereas guanine nucleotide activation is not. The pH profiles for CMP and GDP activation, studied individually between pH 7.0 and 9.0, are similar to those for activation by fructose 1,6-diphosphate. ATP inhibits activation by acetyl-CoA, laurate, or fructose 1,6-diphosphate. Pairs of activators synergistically relieve the inhibition. Acetyl-CoA with laurate is most effective. Energy charge profiles suggest little sensitivity to charge fluctuation near 0.8. Ribose 5-phosphate also inhibits activation by acetyl-CoA, laurate, or fructose 1,6-diphosphate. GMP selectively inhibits fructose 1,6-diphosphate activation.
Positional Localization: Three‐Dimensional Transthoracic Echocardiography Techniques for the Measurement of Cardiac Mass, Volume, and Function

An accurate and reproducible determination of cardiac volume and mass is important for the selection and timing of therapeutic interventions. Quantitative three-dimensional echocardiography has evolved to provide these measurements with the use of a noninvasive, readily available, and inexpensive technique. We introduce and review the principle of positional localization as well as the clinical application of this technique for the measurement of cardiac volume and mass.
Hateful Sirens. . .Who Hears Their Song? An Examination of Student Attitudes Toward Hate Groups and Affiliation Potential

Sources indicate a rise in hate crimes committed by persons affiliated with hate groups (Bowles, 1993; Levin, 2002). Although the majority of these offenders remain unaffiliated, it is nevertheless important to understand why individuals become attracted to hate groups. This exploratory study examined youth attitudes toward hate groups. Deprivation and interpersonal bonds theories were used to explain hate group attraction among students. Secondary and university students completed the 567 surveys used in the analysis. Results indicated that crime-related measures and exposure to hate groups by word-of-mouth contacts were more often related to supportive attitudes. These effects were further associated with secondary students. Neodeprivation theory is offered for exploring hate group attraction by more educated persons. Language: en
Effect of age on cervical spine injury in pediatric population: a National Trauma Data Bank review

BACKGROUND: The objective of this study was to characterize the incidence, risk factors, and patterns of cervical spine injury (CSI) in different pediatric developmental ages. METHODS: A retrospective review of the National Trauma Data Bank was conducted for the period of January 2002 through December 2006 to identify pediatric patients admitted following blunt trauma. Patients were stratified into 4 developmental age groups: infants/toddlers (age 0-3 years), preschool/young children (age 4-9 years), preadolescents (age 10-13 years), and adolescents (age 14-17 years). Patients with a CSI were identified by the International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision codes. Demographics, clinical injury data, level of CSI, and outcomes were abstracted and analyzed. RESULTS: A total of 240,647 patients met the inclusion criteria. Of these, 1.3% (n = 3,035) sustained a CSI. The incidence of CSI in the stratified age groups was 0.4% in infants/toddlers, 0.4% in preschool/young children, 0.8% in preadolescents, and 2.6% in adolescents. The level of CSI (upper [C1-C4] vs lower [C5-C7]) according to the age groups was as follows: infants and toddlers, 70% vs 25%; preschool/young children, 74% vs 17%; preadolescents, 52% vs 37%; and adolescents, 40% vs 45%, respectively. The adjusted risk for CSI increased 2-fold in preadolescents and 5-fold in adolescents. CONCLUSION: The incidence of pediatric CSI increases in a stepwise fashion after 9 years of age. We noted an increase in lower CSI and a decrease in upper CSI after the age of 9 years. The incidence of upper CSI compared with lower CSI was higher in preadolescents (52% vs 37%) and almost equal in adolescents (40% vs 45%). Language: en
Erythrocyte flow velocities in mesenteric microvessels of the cat.

Abstract Using the photometric dual slit technique, measurements of erythrocyte flow velocities were performed in vessels of the cat's mesenteric microvasculature. Mean centerline velocities ranged between 31.7 and 1.0 mm/sec in arterioles (up to 60 μ diameter), 11.1 and 0.5 mm/sec in venules of the same dimensions. Capillary flow velocities of 1.7 mm/sec and less were measured. Flow velocities in all vessels (arterial and venous) with the exception of capillaries were found to be pulsatile. Mean flow velocities were rather constant over longer periods of time (minutes), possibly indicating a depression of normal vasomotion due to the anesthesia. In an individual vascular loop, a good correlation between flow velocity and vessel diameter was observed. This correlation was much less evident when measurements were performed in several segments of the mesentery. It is concluded that this reflects the regional differences in blood flow as a result of local regulatory phenomena.
Stage-dependent role of growth differentiation factor-9 in ovarian follicle development

GDF-9 was shown to be essential for follicle progression and is the only factor secreted by the oocyte shown to increase the number of primordial and primary follicles in vivo. Furthermore, GDF-9 is a major growth factor involved in the oocyte control of granulosa cell differentiation. A concentration gradient of the paracrine factor GDF-9 established by the oocyte could provide the basis to explain the stratification of granulosa cells in antral and preovulatory follicles. The stimulatory effects of GDF-9 on early follicle development provide a basis for the use of GDF-9 in the treatment of infertility.
Self-Esteem Instability and Humor Styles: Does the Stability of Self-Esteem Influence How People Use Humor?

The purpose of the present study was to examine whether self-esteem instability moderated the association between self-esteem level and the use of humor. This was accomplished by examining the associations that humor styles had with self-esteem level and self-esteem instability among 499 undergraduates. The results of the present study show that self-esteem instability moderated the association between self-esteem level and humor styles such that individuals with stable high self-esteem reported the highest levels of affiliative humor as well as the lowest levels of aggressive and self-defeating humor. These results suggest that individuals with stable and unstable forms of self-esteem employ different styles of humor.
Sex in the Mucoralean fungi.

The ability to undergo sexual development is ubiquitous throughout eukaryotes. However, the pervasiveness of sexual reproduction is a conundrum in evolution. Sex has intrinsic disadvantages due to associated costs, which include the two-fold cost of sex: two individuals are required to produce progeny, whereas asexual modes of propagation require only a single parent. Other costs involve 1) a diluted transmission of parental genes to the progeny and 2) time and resources it takes to locate a mating partner [1]. Does this say that sex is entirely detrimental? No, in fact, the Red queen hypothesis supports that the benefits of sex, which include adaptation to changes in the environment, tolerance of deleterious mutations, and avoidance of pathogens, are just sufficient to outweigh the costs [2-4]. Sharing a common ancestor with animals as a member of the opisthokont clade of eukaryotes, fungi serve as exemplary models to elucidate the genetics of sex and the evolution of sex determinants and sex chromosomes. Saccharomyces cerevisiae has provided insights to understand mating partner recognition, pheromone responses, and sex-specific transcription factors. In addition, extensive studies on the genetics of sex have been conducted in other ascomycetes and basidiomycetes (dikarya). Although the studies of the dikarya have advanced our understanding of the evolution and the genetics of sex, there are some disadvantages to this more phylogenetically narrow prism; for example, in the fungal kingdom, ascomycetes and basidiomycetes are diverged phyla that are distinctly related from the early divergence point between animals and fungi. Zygomycetes and chytridiomycetes are early diverged fungi, albeit both are polyphyletic [5-7]. Therefore, the early diverged fungi may be uniquely situated to provide novel insights to understand the evolution of the genetics of sex and reveal features that are shared between animals and fungi. However, compared to the dikarya lineages, zygomycetes and chytridiomycetes have received less attention from mycologists. Here, we review the sex locus of the Mucorales that belong to the zygomycetes and the implications of the discovery and features of the sex loci for models on the evolution of sex chromosomes.
Therapeutic Interchange Practices among Texas Medical Center Institutions

PurposeThere has been an increase in therapeutic interchange (TI) practices in institutional settings because of the growing number of “me too” drugs and the desire for hospitals to minimize their ...
The mechanical response of ceramic microballoon reinforced aluminum matrix composites under compressive loading

Abstract An investigation is performed on the mechanical response of a family of ceramic microballoon reinforced aluminum matrix composites under both uniaxial compression and constrained die compression loadings. The key material parameters that are varied are the matrix strength and the ratio of wall thickness t to radius R of the microballoons. Uniaxial compressive failure initiates at relatively small strains (≈1–2%) and occurs through a process of crushing and collapse of the material within a localized deformation band. Under constrained die conditions, localization is suppressed and the flow stress increases monotonically with increasing strain. The latter response is well described by Gurson's constitutive law for plastic yielding of porous ductile metals, with an effective strength that depends on the relative wall thickness, t/R. Furthermore, the energy absorption capacity (≈60–70 MJ/m3) is extremely high in comparison with values that are typical of metal foams. The results suggest that the microballoon composites may be attractive for applications requiring a high resistance to penetration by projectiles or other forms of local intrusion, in combination with a high compressive strength.
Conditional matching preclusion for the alternating group graphs and split-stars

The matching preclusion number of a graph is the minimum number of edges the deletion of which results in a graph that has neither perfect matchings nor almost-perfect matchings. For many interconnection networks, the optimal sets are precisely those induced by a single vertex. Recently, the conditional matching preclusion number of a graph was introduced to look for obstruction sets beyond those induced by a single vertex. It is defined to be the minimum number of edges the deletion of which results in a graph with no isolated vertices that has neither perfect matchings nor almost-perfect matchings. In this article, we find this number and classify all optimal sets for the alternating group graphs, one of the most popular interconnection networks, and their companion graphs, the split-stars. Moreover, some general results on the conditional matching preclusion problems are also presented.
Reaction of uracil with hypochlorous acid.

Abstract The end products of the reaction of uracil with at least a 10-fold excess of aqueous hypochlorous acid at pH 7–8 were found to be trichloroacetic acid, carbon dioxide and nitrogen trichloride. Little formation of trichloroacetic acid was observed after 24 hours when the ratio of hypochlorous acid to uracil was less than 4:1. An intermediate in the reaction was found to be 5-chlorouracil. This was also degraded by hypochlorous acid to trichloroacetic acid.
Time-of-Flight Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry of a Range of Coal Samples: A Chemometrics (PCA, Cluster, and PLS) Analysis

This paper documents time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (ToF−SIMS) analyses of 34 different coal samples. In many cases, the inorganic Na+, Al+, Si+, and K+ ions dominate the spectra, eclipsing the organic peaks. A scores plot of principal component 1 (PC1) versus principal component 2 (PC2) in a principal components analysis (PCA) effectively separates the coal spectra into a triangular pattern, where the different vertices of this pattern come from (i) spectra that have a strong inorganic signature that is dominated by Na+, (ii) spectra that have a strong inorganic signature that is dominated by Al+, Si+, and K+, and (iii) spectra that have a strong organic signature. Loadings plots of PC1 and PC2 confirm these observations. The spectra with the more prominent inorganic signatures come from samples with higher ash contents. Cluster analysis with the K-means algorithm was also applied to the data. The progressive clustering revealed in the dendrogram correlates extremely well with the cluster...
Quantitative variation and gene number.

Gene number estimates from fine structure analysis seem to be incompatible with the number of genes often presumed to affect quantitative characters. This paradox can be resolved by reconsidering the available evidence about the nature of polygenes.
The folding pathway of the genomic hepatitis delta virus ribozyme is dominated by slow folding of the pseudoknots

Hepatitis delta virus (HDV) replicates by a double rolling-circle mechanism that requires self-cleavage by closely related genomic and antigenomic versions of a ribozyme. We have previously shown that the uncleaved genomic ribozyme is subject to a variety of alternative (Alt) pairings. Sequence upstream of the ribozyme can regulate self-cleavage activity by formation of an Alt 1 ribozyme-containing structure that severely inhibits self-cleavage, or a P(-1) self-structure that permits rapid self-cleavage. Here, we test three other alternative pairings: Alt P1, Alt 2, and Alt 3. Alt P1 and Alt 3 contain primarily ribozyme-ribozyme interactions, while Alt 2 involves ribozyme-flanking sequence interaction. A number of single and double mutant ribozymes were prepared to increase or decrease the stability of the alternative pairings, and rates of self-cleavage were determined. Results of these experiments were consistent with the existence of the proposed alternative pairings and their ability to inhibit the overall rate of native ribozyme folding. Local misfolds are treated as internal equilibrium constants in a binding polynomial that modulates the intrinsic rate of cleavage. This model of equilibrium effects of misfolds should be general and apply to other ribozymes. All of the alternative pairings sequester a pseudoknot-forming strand. Folding of ribozymes containing Alt P1 and Alt 2 was accelerated by urea as long as the native ribozyme fold was sufficiently stable, while folding of mutants in which both of these alternative pairings had been removed were not stimulated by urea. This behavior suggests that the pseudoknots form by capture of an unfolded or appropriately rearranged alternative pairing by its complementary native strand. Fast-folding mutants were prepared by either weakening alternative pairings or by strengthening native pairings. A kinetic model was developed that accommodates these features and explains the position of the rate-limiting step for the G11C mutant. Implications of these results for structural and dynamic studies of the uncleaved HDV ribozyme are discussed.
Predicting Evacuation in Two Major Disasters: Risk Perception, Social Influence, and Access to Resources

The complex and somewhat bewildering phenomenon of why people sometimes decide not to evacuate from a dangerous situation is influenced by a combination of individual characteristics and 3 basic social psychological processes: (a) risk perception, (b) social influence, and (c) access to resources. This study used a combined sample of 777 adults interviewed after Hurricanes Hugo and Andrew. Although numerous variables significantly predicted evacuation, much variance in this behavior still remained unexplained. Different population subgroups gave different reasons for not evacuating (e.g., severeness of storm, territoriality). A multifaceted and tailored approach to both individuals and communities is needed; a simple warning is often not enough.
Solving large-scale minimax problems with the primal-dual steepest descent algorithm

This paper shows that the primal-dual steepest descent algorithm developed by Zhu and Rockafellar for large-scale extended linear--quadratic programming can be used in solving constrained minimax problems related to a generalC2 saddle function. It is proved that the algorithm converges linearly from the very beginning of the iteration if the related saddle function is strongly convex--concave uniformly and the cross elements between the convex part and the concave part of the variables in its Hessian are bounded on the feasible region. Better bounds for the asymptotic rates of convergence are also obtained. The minimax problems where the saddle function has linear cross terms between the convex part and the concave part of the variables are discussed specifically as a generalization of the extended linear--quadratic programming. Some fundamental features of these problems are laid out and analyzed.
Anomalous Hall effect in ferromagnetic disordered metals

The anomalous Hall effect in disordered band ferromagnets is considered in the framework of quantum transport theory. A microscopic model of electrons in a random potential of identical impurities including spin-orbit coupling is used. The Hall conductivity is calculated from the Kubo formula for both, the skew scattering and the side-jump mechanisms. The recently discussed Berry phase induced Hall current is also evaluated within the model. The effect of strong impurity scattering is analyzed and it is found to affect the ratio of the non-diagonal (Hall) and diagonal components of the conductivity as well as the relative importance of different mechanisms.
Perineurial Glia Are Essential for Motor Axon Regrowth following Nerve Injury

Development and maintenance of the peripheral nervous system (PNS) are essential for an organism to survive and reproduce, and damage to the PNS by disease or injury is often debilitating. Remarkably, the nerves of the PNS are capable of regenerating after trauma. However, full functional recovery after nerve injuries remains poor. Peripheral nerve regeneration has been studied extensively, with particular emphasis on elucidating the roles of Schwann cells and macrophages during degeneration and subsequent regeneration. In contrast, the roles of other essential nerve components, including perineurial glia, are poorly understood. Here, we use laser nerve transection and in vivo, time-lapse imaging in zebrafish to investigate the role and requirement of perineurial glia after nerve injury. We show that perineurial glia respond rapidly and dynamically to nerve transections by extending processes into injury sites and phagocytizing debris. Perineurial glia also bridge injury gaps before Schwann cells and axons, and we demonstrate that these bridges are essential for axon regrowth. Additionally, we show that perineurial glia and macrophages spatially coordinate early debris clearance and that perineurial glia require Schwann cells for their attraction to injury sites. This work highlights the complex nature of cell–cell interactions after injury and introduces perineurial glia as integral players in the regenerative process.
Comparison of porous and nonporous materials for methane storage

Sublimed, low-density p-tert-butylcalix[4]arene absorbs methane more readily at room temperature and 1 atm pressure than do either single wall carbon nanotubes (SWNT) or a comparative porous metal–organic framework (MOF-1).
Influence of the Pauli principle on the optical potential for α + 16O scattering

Abstract The scattering of α-particle by 16 O is studied with a simple model which employs an effective intercluster potential containing both a Pauli repulsive core and an odd-even dependence on the orbital angular momentum. The result shows that this model can reproduce all the essential features of this problem, including that of large back-angle enhancement in the differential cross section.
Fine mapping identifies significantly associating markers for resistance to the honey bee brood fungal disease, Chalkbrood

SummaryChalkbrood infection of honey bee (Apis mellifera) brood by the fungus Ascosphaera apis results in fatal encapsulation of susceptible larvae with a mycelial coat. Recent QTL analysis indicates that some level of physiological resistance exists in individual larvae. We performed a fine mapping analysis to define the genetic interval that confers resistance in the larvae and identify the strongest association molecular markers that could by useful for marker assisted selection of the trait. Evaluation of the interval suggests that only two possible genes (single Ig IL-related receptor-like, XM_003251514.1 and juvenile hormone-binding protein, XM_391872.4) are likely to be responsible for the resistance. Both genes are strong physiological candidates and potentially function as modulators of the antifungal-specific innate immunity pathway in insects.
Monitoring of mammalian cell growth and virus production process using on-line oxygen uptake rate measurement

Abstract Porcine epithelial cells were cultivated on microspheres with an average diameter of 35 μm in a stirred tank bioreactor for virus production. The oxygen uptake rate (OUR) was determined on-line by a dynamic method. This on-line measurement was used to estimate glucose consumption rate for perfusion rate adjustment. Using this on-line technique, the time points for virus infection and harvest were also determined. After virus infection, the OUR continued to increase until it reached a maximum. Subsequently, the OUR decreased rapidly as a result of a decrease of cell metabolic activities or cell lysis caused by virus production. The peak of OUR was correlated to the maximum virus titer. On-line OUR monitoring is easy to implement and is a powerful tool for monitoring the virus infection process.
Characteristics of nanophase TiAl produced by inert gas condensation

Nanophase TiAl, with grain sizes in the range of 10–20 nm, was synthesized by magnetron sputtering in an inert gas atmosphere and consolidated, in situ, under vacuum. The properties of the powders and sintered compacts were studied by transmission electron microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, calorimetry, Rutherford backscattering, and x-ray diffraction. Samples compacted at 1.0 GPa at room temperature had a large fraction of amorphous phase, while samples compacted at the same pressure and 250 °C were predominantly the equilibrium γ phase. An enthalpy change of 22 kJ/g-atom was measured during a DSC scan over the temperature range 125–450 °C, which is approximately the range over which crystallization occurs. Nearly full density could be achieved by sintering at 450 °C without significant, concomitant grain growth. The Vickers microhardness of these samples at room temperature and at −30 °C revealed an inverse Hall–Petch relationship at small grain sizes, 10–30 nm, and the usual Hall–Petch behavior at larger grain sizes. A small component of indentation creep was also observed. The maximum hardness is 4 times larger than that of a cast TiAl specimen of the same composition. The Vickers hardness was also observed to decrease rapidly with temperature above 200 °C.
Multiresolution on-line path planning for small unmanned aerial vehicles

In this article we propose a new online multiresolution path planning algorithm for a small unmanned air vehicle (UAV) with limited on-board computational resources. The proposed approach assumes that the UAV has detailed information of the environment only in the vicinity of its current position. Information about far away obstacles is also available, albeit with less accuracy. The proposed algorithm uses an integer arithmetic implementation of the fast lifting wavelet transform (FLWT) to get a multiresolution cell decomposition of the environment, whose dimension is commensurate to the onboard computational resources. A topological graph representation of the multiresolution cell decomposition is constructed efficiently, directly from the approximation and detail wavelet coefficients. Hardware-in-the-loop simulation (HILS) results validate the applicability of the algorithm on a small UAV autopilot. Comparisons with the standard D*-lite algorithm are also presented.
Effect of External Radiation on the Burning Rates of Solid Propellants

A means for improving the performance of a solid fuel pulsed plasma thruster has been described and analyzed. The key to improvement is control over the mass consumed per discharge. Figures 3 and 4 show that the mass consumption can be chosen by adjusting the distance between the two side-fed Teflon fuel bars. For high mass consumption, the thruster operates in the gas-dynamic regime and provides high thrust. At low mass consumption, thruster operation is primarily electromagnetic with high specific impulse. Efficiency increases as the thrust mechanism is predominately in one regime or the other. By using side feed, the performance has been significantly increased over the conventional rear-feed design. Carbonization of the Teflon side walls remains the one stumbling block to the full utilization of this design to flight thrusters. Geometry changes may reduce or eliminate this problem. References
Uncertainty and chaos in overlapping-generations models

The possibility of chaotic dynamics is explored in overlapping-generations models of pure exchange and production under uncertainty.
Oxygen isotope effects on electron transfer to O2 probed using chemically modified flavins bound to glucose oxidase.

Apo-glucose oxidase has been reconstituted with flavins modified in the 7 and 8 positions and characterized with regard to the catalytic rate of O2 reduction and oxygen-18 isotope effects on this process. Kinetic studies as a function of driving force indicate a reorganization energy for electron transfer to O2 of λ = 28 kcal mol-1 at optimal pH, which is similar to the value obtained earlier from temperature dependencies of rates (Roth, J. P.; Klinman, J. P. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 2003, 100, 62−67). For the various enzyme-bound flavins, competitive oxygen-18 kinetic isotope effects fall within the narrow range of 1.0266(5) to 1.0279(6), apparently because of the dominant contribution of outer-sphere reorganization to the activation barrier; within the context of semiclassical and quantum mechanical electron transfer theories, the magnitude of the isotope effects reveals the importance of nuclear tunneling.
Distribution of the total delay of packets in virtual circuits

In some computer network architectures a process communicates with another process across the network by establishing a virtual circuit. Consider a virtual circuit from node S to node D connected by multiple links. The delay suffered by the packets of the virtual circuit has three components: waiting time or queueing delay, service time or transmission delay, and resequencing delay. The sum of these is called the total delay. The author presents the distribution of the total delay for three different queuing models of node S: G/M/m model, G/M/ infinity model, and M/H/sub K// infinity model. >
A Chimeric Virus-Mouse Model System for Evaluating the Function and Inhibition of Papain-Like Proteases of Emerging Coronaviruses

To combat emerging coronaviruses, developing safe and efficient platforms to evaluate viral protease activities and the efficacy of protease inhibitors is a high priority. Here, we exploit a biosafety level 2 (BSL-2) chimeric Sindbis virus system to evaluate protease activities and the efficacy of inhibitors directed against the papain-like protease (PLpro) of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV), a biosafety level 3 (BSL-3) pathogen. We engineered Sindbis virus to coexpress PLpro and a substrate, murine interferon-stimulated gene 15 (ISG15), and found that PLpro mediates removal of ISG15 (deISGylation) from cellular proteins. Mutation of the catalytic cysteine residue of PLpro or addition of a PLpro inhibitor blocked deISGylation in virus-infected cells. Thus, deISGylation is a marker of PLpro activity. Infection of alpha/beta interferon receptor knockout (IFNAR(-/-)) mice with these chimeric viruses revealed that PLpro deISGylation activity removed ISG15-mediated protection during viral infection. Importantly, administration of a PLpro inhibitor protected these mice from lethal infection, demonstrating the efficacy of a coronavirus protease inhibitor in a mouse model. However, this PLpro inhibitor was not sufficient to protect the mice from lethal infection with SARS-CoV MA15, suggesting that further optimization of the delivery and stability of PLpro inhibitors is needed. We extended the chimeric-virus platform to evaluate the papain-like protease/deISGylating activity of Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) to provide a small-animal model to evaluate PLpro inhibitors of this recently emerged pathogen. This platform has the potential to be universally adaptable to other viral and cellular enzymes that have deISGylating activities. Importance: Evaluating viral protease inhibitors in a small-animal model is a critical step in the path toward antiviral drug development. We modified a biosafety level 2 chimeric virus system to facilitate evaluation of inhibitors directed against highly pathogenic coronaviruses. We used this system to demonstrate the in vivo efficacy of an inhibitor of the papain-like protease of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the chimeric-virus system can be adapted to study the proteases of emerging human pathogens, such as Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus. This system provides an important tool to rapidly assess the efficacy of protease inhibitors targeting existing and emerging human pathogens, as well as other enzymes capable of removing ISG15 from cellular proteins.
Frictional response to velocity steps and 1‐D fault nucleation under a state evolution law with stressing‐rate dependence

A new state evolution law has recently been proposed by Nagata et al. (2012) that includes a dependence upon stressing rate through a laboratory derived proportionality constant c. It has been claimed that this law, while retaining the time-dependent healing of the Dieterich (or Aging) law, can also match the symmetric response of the Ruina (or Slip) law to velocity step tests. We show through analytical approximations and numerical results that the new law transitions between the responses of the traditional Aging and Slip laws in velocity step-up/step-down experiments when the value of c is tuned properly. Particularly, for c=0, the response is pure Aging, while for finite, nonzero c one observes Slip law type behavior for small velocity jumps but Aging law type response for larger jumps. The magnitude of the velocity jump required to see this transition between aging and slip behaviors increases as c increases. In the limit of c≫1 the response becomes purely Slip law type for all geologically plausible velocity jumps. We also present results from detailed analytical and numerical studies of the mechanism of rupture nucleation on 1-D faults under this new state evolution law to demonstrate that the style of nucleation can also be made to switch from Aging-type (expanding cracks) to Slip-type (slip pulses) by adjusting the value of c as indicated by the velocity step results.