cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Peripheral blood progenitor cell collection without close monitoring of peripheral blood CD34+ cells: A feasible strategy for multiple myeloma or pre-treated Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma patients mobilized with low-dose cyclophosphamide plus G-CSF

Abstract Background Daily monitoring of peripheral blood CD34+ cells may not be necessary for all patients with hematologic malignancies for adequate peripheral blood progenitor cells (PBPC) mobilization and harvesting. We therefore designed a regimen for PBPC mobilization in patients with multiple myeloma or pre-treated Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma based on a combination of low-dose cyclophosphamide (Cy) plus granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) without daily monitoring of peripheral blood CD34+ cells. Study design and methods A prospective study was performed on patients with multiple myeloma ( n =22) or pre-treated Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma ( n =17) whose PBPC were harvested according to the following regimen: 1.5g/m 2 Cy at day 1, 12μg/kg/day G-CSF from day +7 to +11 avoiding daily monitoring of peripheral blood CD34+ cells and two consecutive leukapheresis at days +12 and +13. The optimum threshold of 2×10 6 CD34+ cells per kg was established. Results The proportion of patients with higher CD34+ cell yield after two leukapheresis was similar: multiple myeloma (16/22–72.7%) and Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (12/17–70.6%). Exposure to radiotherapy and greater than two prior chemotherapy regimens were significantly associated with lower yield in multiple myeloma ( p =0.002) and Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma patients ( p =0.002), respectively. Conclusion Our data suggested that adequate yields of CD34+ cells may be achieved in multiple myeloma or pre-treated Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma mobilized with low-dose Cy plus G-CSF regardless of the daily monitoring of peripheral blood CD34+ cells.
Recursive representations for the unique solution of the transport equation on isolated time scales

In this paper, we develop two recursive representations for the unique solution of the transport partial dynamic equation on an isolated time scale. We then use these representations to explicitly find the solution of the transport equation in several specific cases. Finally, we compare and contrast the behaviour with that of the well-known behaviour of the solution to the transport partial difference equation in the case where &#x1d54b; = ℤ.
The Beginnings of Judaic Studies in American Universities

Among the notable developments in American higher education over the past generation has been the emergence ofJudaic studies programs and departments throughout the country. This is part of the nationwide trend that has also spawned programs in such areas as black and women's studies and that is obviously connected to the civil rights and feminist movements, as well as the rising ethnic consciousness, that have played a dramatic role in American society over the past several decades. However, the growth of Judaic studies cannot be fully accounted for by the same forces responsible for the others, inasmuch as the initiative has not usually come from within university communities themselves. The initial funding for Judaic studies programs has typically been external, resulting in a high proportion of endowed chairs in Judaic studies.' Although this clearly demonstrates the Jewish community's desire for such programs and has ensured their survival even when analogous programs are being discontinued, it also reflects a lack of commitment on the part of the universities where they are housed. One indicator of the discipline's success has been the growth of the Association for Jewish Studies (AJS), which began in 1969 with fortyseven members and now numbers over fifteen hundred.2 Even that number may be conservative, although it likely includes most of those whose training and interests are specifically rooted in Judaic studies rather than in other fields, such as history or literature. Although the flowering ofJudaic studies programs was very much a product of the 1960s and '70s, those within the field usually trace its origins back forty years earlier to two towering figures, Salo Baron and Harry Austryn Wolfson. Baron, who was trained in Vienna, came to the United States to teach at New York's Jewish Institute of Religion (JIR) before receiving what started out as a part-time appointment at Columbia. Wolfson, a Lithuanian Jew, studied at what is now Yeshiva University's Rabbi Isaac Elhanan Theological Seminary (RIETS) and received his academic training at Harvard where he joined the faculty in the early 1920s having also taught at JIR.3 The importance commonly attached to these figures is easily illustrated. For example, Bernard Cooperman writes that "the first regular
Contact Resistance-The Contribution of Nonuniform Current Flow

Both experimental and theoretical studies indicate that spreading resistance forms an important part of the resistance of contacts and that it can be controlled over wide limits by varying the number of parallel conducting spots.
Genetic variation of the cutaneous HPA axis: An analysis of UVB-induced differential responses

Abstract Mammalian skin incorporates a local equivalent of the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis that is critical in coordinating homeostatic responses against external noxious stimuli. Ultraviolet radiation B (UVB) is a skin-specific stressor that can activate this cutaneous HPA axis. Since C57BL/6 (B6) and DBA/2J (D2) strains of mice have different predispositions to sensorineural pathway activation, we quantified expression of HPA axis components at the gene and protein levels in skin incubated ex vivo after UVB or sham irradiation. Urocortin mRNA was up-regulated after all doses of UVB with a maximum level at 50 mJ/cm2 after 12 h for D2 and at 200 mJ/cm2 after 24 h for B6. Proopiomelanocortin mRNA was enhanced after 6 h with the peak after 12 h and at 200 mJ/cm2 for both genotypes of mice. ACTH levels in tissue and media increased after 24 h in B6 but not in D2. UVB stimulated β-endorphin expression was higher in D2 than in B6. Melanocortin receptor 2 mRNA was stimulated by UVB in a dose-dependent manner, with a peak at 200 mJ/cm2 after 12 h for both strains. The expression of Cyp11a1 mRNA — a key mitochondrial P450 enzyme in steroidogenesis, was stimulated at all doses of UVB irradiation, with the most pronounced effect after 12–24 h. UVB radiation caused, independently of genotype, a dose-dependent increase in corticosterone production in the skin, mainly after 24 h of histoculture. Thus, basal and UVB stimulated expression of the cutaneous HPA axis differs as a function of genotype: D2 responds to UVB earlier and with higher amplitude than B6, while B6 shows prolonged (up to 48 h) stress response to a noxious stimulus such as UVB.
Fusarin C, A Mutagen from Fusarium Moniliforme Grown on Corn

A noncrystalline bacterial mutagen was isolated from corn infected with Fusarium moniliforme and given the trivial name fusarin C. High-resolution mass spectral data and combustion analysis indicated a molecular formula of C23H29NO7 for fusarin C, the major mutagenic metabolite. The ultraviolet, infrared, and proton and carbon magnetic resonance spectra were recorded for this compound. Feed containing 56% corn infected with F. moniliforme supported growth of day-old cockerels and produced no apparent toxic effects.
Fast dynamic 3D MR spectroscopic imaging with compressed sensing and multiband excitation pulses for hyperpolarized 13C studies.

Hyperpolarized 13C MR spectroscopic imaging can detect not only the uptake of the pre-polarized molecule but also its metabolic products in vivo, thus providing a powerful new method to study cellular metabolism. Imaging the dynamic perfusion and conversion of these metabolites provides additional tissue information but requires methods for efficient hyperpolarization usage and rapid acquisitions. In this work, we have developed a time-resolved 3D MR spectroscopic imaging method for acquiring hyperpolarized 13C data by combining compressed sensing methods for acceleration and multiband excitation pulses to efficiently use the magnetization. This method achieved a 2 sec temporal resolution with full volumetric coverage of a mouse, and metabolites were observed for up to 60 sec following injection of hyperpolarized [1-13C]-pyruvate. The compressed sensing acquisition used random phase encode gradient blips to create a novel random undersampling pattern tailored to dynamic MR spectroscopic imaging with sampling incoherency in four (time, frequency, and two spatial) dimensions. The reconstruction was also tailored to dynamic MR spectroscopic imaging by applying a temporal wavelet sparsifying transform to exploit the inherent temporal sparsity. Customized multiband excitation pulses were designed with a lower flip angle for the [1-13C]-pyruvate substrate given its higher concentration than its metabolic products ([1-13C]-lactate and [1-13C]-alanine), thus using less hyperpolarization per excitation. This approach has enabled the monitoring of perfusion and uptake of the pyruvate, and the conversion dynamics to lactate and alanine throughout a volume with high spatial and temporal resolution. Magn Reson Med, 2011. © 2010 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
Phase separation, density fluctuation, and critical dynamics of N2 in aerogel.

Light scattering was used to study ${\mathrm{N}}_{2}$ confined in aerogel. We find evidence of liquid-vapor phase separation that terminates at a critical point. Whereas the width of the coexistence curves is substantialy reduced relative to bulk ${\mathrm{N}}_{2}$, the shape of the coexistence curve is similar to that found for the bulk. Photon correlation spectroscopy shows that the density fluctuations decay algebraically in time, a result consistent with the random-field Ising model.
Determination of aconitate isomerase in plants

We have developed a method for measuring aconitate isomerase (EC 5.3.3.7) in plants which depends on the release of tritium from labeled trans-aconitate. The released tritium is separated from labeled aconitate by passage through a column of strong anion-exchange resin. This method is more sensitive, simpler, and more specific than previous methods, especially with crude extracts. The validity of the method was demonstrated by a comparison of the quantity of tritium released with the amount of cis-aconitate isomerized and this comparison demonstrated an isotope effect. Aconitase did not interfere. The method was tested by measuring aconitate isomerase in crude extracts of several higher plant species and tissues and these analyses showed that wheat and corn have more aconitate isomerase than the other species tested.
Dissolved organic carbon in pore waters from a hypersaline environment

Abstract Pore waters were collected from a sea-marginal, hypersaline pond in the Sinai and analyzed for dissolved organic carbon (DOC). The pore water DOC values ranged from 121 to 818 mg 1 −1 with maxima between 15 and 54 cm deep. These values are some of the highest observed from recent sediments and probably reflect production via abiotic as well as biotic sources.
The Sweet (Social) Science

Given the controversy surrounding his career and the significant level of irritation generated within the ethnographic community by his recent savaging of the works of Mitch Duneier, Eli Anderson, and Katherine Newman (Wacquant 2002), it is probably fortunate that Loic Wacquant has learned to box. Body & Soul is the story of his schooling in the “sweet science” during three-and-a-half years of involvement in the Woodlawn Boys Club in Chicago’s South Side. During this time (beginning in August of 1988), Wacquant amassed some 2300 pages of field notes, conducted over one hundred in-depth interviews (p. 5), and confronted three “challenges.” His first challenge was to learn to box. The second was to “grasp and explain social relations in the black ghetto based on [his] imbeddedness” (p. x) in the location. The third challenge was to translate the “lived experience” (one of my favorite redundancies) of a “corporeal” activity into sociological language understandable to a “profane” reader (pp. xi‐xii). Based on the evidence provided in Body & Soul , Wacquant was only partially successful in meeting these challenges. The book is composed of three “texts,” two of which are based on previously published articles, that display what the author admits are very different “statuses and styles” (p. 7). The first major chapter is based on an article that appeared in a French sociology journal in 1989. Here Wacquant presents a basic overview of the setting and the key actors and activities within it. His central point is that the gym acted as a “sanctuary” from the streets and a “school of morality” in which participants learned self-discipline, respect for others, and autonomy. In the florid prose that characterizes this chapter, Wacquant describes “the boxer” as a live gearing of the body and the mind that erases the boundary between reason and passion, explodes the opposition between action and representation, and in so doing transcends in actu the antinomy between the individual and the collective that underlies accepted theories of social action. (p. 17)
Wound healing stimulation in mice by low-level light

It has been known for many years that low levels of laser or non-coherent light (LLLT) accelerate some phases of wound healing. LLLT can stimulate fibroblast and keratinocyte proliferation and migration. It is thought to work via light absorption by mitochondrial chromophores leading to an increase in ATP, reactive oxygen species and consequent gene transcription. However, despite many reports about the positive effects of LLLT on wound healing, its use remains controversial. Our laboratory has developed a model of a full thickness excisional wound in mice that allows quantitative and reproducible light dose healing response curves to be generated. We have found a biphasic dose response curve with a maximum positive effect at 2 J/cm 2 of 635-nm light and successively lower beneficial effects from 3-25 J/cm 2 , the effect is diminished at doses below 2J/cm 2 and gradually reaches control healing levels. At light doses above 25 J/cm 2 healing is actually worse than controls. The two most effective wavelengths of light were found to be 635 and 820-nm. We found no difference between filtered 635±15-nm light from a lamp and 633-nm light from a HeNe laser. The strain and age of the mouse affected the magnitude of the effect. Light treated wounds start to contract after illumination while control wounds initially expand for the first 24 hours. Our hypothesis is that a single brief light exposure soon after wounding affects fibroblast cells in the margins of the wound. Cells may be induced to proliferate, migrate and assume a myofibroblast phenotype. Our future work will be focused on understanding the mechanisms underlying effects of light on wound healing processes.
PHEV Charging Strategies for Maximized Energy Saving

This paper studies the charging strategies of an Li-ion battery with a focus on the battery's power loss model. It is found that when the temperature is assumed constant, constant current/constant voltage (CC/CV) is near optimal for energy loss minimization. However, when the temperature is considered as a state variable, an optimal profile different from CC/CV is found. This new profile can be used to warm-up batteries during cold days, hence reducing the need for existing battery heating systems. As a result of the elevated battery temperature, significant energy savings can be achieved if the vehicle is used soon after the charging process ends. In this paper, the form of the optimization problem resembles a classic form, with the peculiarity of being highly nonlinear and time varying. The charging strategies resulting from this study will have significant impact on how plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) are charged and utilized.
Where's the Evidence? Finding Support for Separating Middle and Junior High School Choirs by Gender.

Choral experts, namely conductors and textbook authors, have long recommended separating middle and junior high school singers into all-male and all-female choirs to address the unique challenges facing young adolescents and those who teach them. However, limited research-based evidence exists on the decisions conductors and choral music educators have made on how to form their same-sex ensembles and the considerations involved in doing so. The purpose of this literature review is to provide conductors and choral music educators with an overview of what has been learned in support of configuring same-sex choral ensembles for middle and junior high school singers. Relevant studies include vocal skills development, participation and retention, gender differences, and schooling contexts. This information may be immediately useful to practicing choral music educators as well as provide motivation for further research-based inquiry on related topics in hopes of assisting all choral music educators to better pr...
Analysis of heat transfer enhancement in coiled-tube heat exchangers

We analyze the phenomenon of steady heat transfer enhancement due to chaotic particle paths in steady, laminar flow through a tube. The performances of two different coils, one with regular mixing and the other with chaotic mixing, are numerically analyzed and compared. For the latter case, axially periodic boundary conditions over a unit cell are used. Velocity vectors and temperature fields are computed. Poincare maps of fluid particles being repeatedly mapped from inlet to outlet of this cell are presented as function of system geometry. Point and periodic attractors with chaotic windows are found. Lyapunov exponents are used to establish the presence of chaotic mixing. Flow fields and isotherms are examined to reveal the mechanisms of enhanced heat and momentum transfer through modification of the wall and internal boundary layers. Spatially varying local and constant bulk Nusselt numbers and bulk friction factors are determined for a range of governing parameters.
Difficulties in quality doctoral academic advising Experiences of Korean students

This article examines difficulties encountered by international students in establishing strong and supportive academic advising relationships, with a special focus on Korean doctoral students in the USA. Interviews about barriers, experienced and perceived, to quality advising interactions were conducted with eight Korean international students at ABD (all but dissertation) stages at a large, public, Midwestern university. Findings suggest that students' perceived barriers to establishing successful advising relationships include the following: discrepancies in the ways Korean students and their American advisors envision advisement and communication; Korean students' passive attitude in initiating the advisor—advisee relationship; and advisors' unavailability to students.
Application of matrix displacement method to linear elastic analysisof shells of revolution.

The paper describes the application of the matrix displacement method to the linear elastic analysis of shells of revolution. The shell is idealized as a series of conical frusta, joined at nodal circles. In the present paper the use of the idealization to handle asymmetric deformations is demonstrated. Also shown is how approximations to the mass and stiffness matrices may be consistently derived; these may then be used to solve both static and dynamic problems. The effect on the results of static analyses of improving the approximation to the stiffness matrix, using the procedure suggested by Pian, is demonstrated and discussed. Results are presented of static analyses of several shell configurations, and these are compared with solutions by other methods. It is found that the method provides accurate solutions for shells of revolution under both axisymmetric and asymmetric loadings by using a reasonable number of elements.
Vagueness and the Guidance of Action

This paper is part of a more general argument I am pursuing about the idea of the Rule of Law. I want to argue that the Rule of Law should not always be construed as demanding determinacy and clarity at all costs; it should not always be conceived as the rule of rules (as opposed – sometimes – to the rule of standards). The objection to standards is that, because they use predicates like “reasonable” or “excessive,” they are therefore vague; they give relatively little guidance to those to whom they are addressed; and they leave the individual unclear about where she stands so far as the law’s application is concerned. And these are thought to be affronts to the Rule of Law. In this essay, I attempt to address those objections, using as a paradigm the “reasonable speed” statute considered in State v. Schaeffer 96 Ohio St. 215; 117 N.E. 220 (1917). I argue that standards do provide guidance for action: they guide the use of our practical reasoning not just to apply a given rule but to figure out what kind of action is appropriate in varying circumstances. In that sense they are as respectful of our dignity and our capacity for agency as rules are (in their different way). (These questions are pursued partly in the context of Joseph Raz's conception of authority.) I also consider issues about fairness and the possible chilling effect of using rules, taking my lead from comment of the court in State v. Schaeffer that it was precisely the intention of the Ohio statute in question to chill the enthusiastic and aggressive driving of (what the court called) “[t]he reckless, wanton speed maniac.” Finally some of the insights of this essay are applied to issues about the interpretation of statutes prohibiting torture, and the possible vagueness of those prohibitions.
Temporal variation of an initial marine biofilm community and its effects on larval settlement and metamorphosis of the tubeworm Hydroides elegans

Planktonic larvae of many sessile marine invertebrates settle and metamorphose preferentially on surfaces covered by bacterial biofilms. The polychaete tubewormHydroides elegansis induced to settle by biofilms and is the primary colonizer of newly submerged surfaces in the succession of macrofouling invertebrates in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, USA. This study examines the succession of bacterial community composition and cell density of marine biofilms, and how temporal changes in biofilms affect settlement of H. elegans. Settlement assays of H. elegans were conducted on naturally formed biofilms of increasing age from Pearl Harbor. Denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis and epifluoresence microscopy were used to identify community composition and densities of bacterial cells in biofilms. Results of this study suggest that increasing densities of a stable community, rather than a shift in dominant species composition of biofilm bacteria, are probably responsible for the primary colonization of submerged surfaces by H. elegans in Pearl Harbor. However, the current data leave open the question of why larvae of other biofouling invertebrate species known to settle in response to biofilms recruit to surfaces only at later times.
Intensity-Based Image Registration by Minimizing Residual Complexity

Accurate definition of the similarity measure is a key component in image registration. Most commonly used intensity-based similarity measures rely on the assumptions of independence and stationarity of the intensities from pixel to pixel. Such measures cannot capture the complex interactions among the pixel intensities, and often result in less satisfactory registration performances, especially in the presence of spatially-varying intensity distortions. We propose a novel similarity measure that accounts for intensity nonstationarities and complex spatially-varying intensity distortions in mono-modal settings. We derive the similarity measure by analytically solving for the intensity correction field and its adaptive regularization. The final measure can be interpreted as one that favors a registration with minimum compression complexity of the residual image between the two registered images. One of the key advantages of the new similarity measure is its simplicity in terms of both computational complexity and implementation. This measure produces accurate registration results on both artificial and real-world problems that we have tested, and outperforms other state-of-the-art similarity measures in these cases.
Anticipatory Anthropology and the Telemicroelectronic Revolution: A Preliminary Report From Silicon Valley

The proposal is made that an anticipatory dimension to anthropology should be developed for the purposes of increasing anthropology's capacity to: (1) explain sociocultural change, and (2) contribute to the making of effective proactive public policy. Anticipatory anthropology is needed particularly for the study of rapid change processes, often technology-driven, such as the Telemicroelectronic Revolution. Steps in the ongoing development of anticipatory anthropology are illustrated by a quasi-ethnographic study of the introduction of microcomputers into schools near Silicon Valley, California. ANTICIPATORY ANTHROPOLOGY; COMPUTERS; EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY; FUTURES RESEARCH; POLICY-MAKING.
Optimization of in situ hydrogenolysis of glycerol to propylene glycol and ethanol

Alternative ways of converting crude glycerol from biodiesel production to value-added products are in high demand to solve the issue of increasing glycerol surplus. Propylene glycol (PG) and ethanol are examples of valuable chemicals that had been successfully produced from glycerol through in situ hydrogenolysis in our previous studies. This study aimed to determine the optimum conditions for maximizing the yields of PG and ethanol through in situ hydrogenolysis of glycerol. Depending on the targeted products, the optimum process conditions, obtained through statistical analysis and experimentally confirmed with a high PG yield of 47.2%mol, were 220°C, 51 min and 1.0:1.0 water to glycerol mass ratios (WGMR). However, the complex reactions involved in the production of ethanol lead to inconclusive results for the optimization. The key to maximizing the PG yield from in situ hydrogenolysis of glycerol is to operate the system at mild reaction temperatures (e.g., 220°C) at which the further conversion of P...
Structural studies on a 2,3-diphosphoglycerate independent phosphoglycerate mutase from Bacillus stearothermophilus.

Phosphoglycerate mutase (PGM), an important enzyme in the glycolytic pathway, catalyzes the transfer of a phosphate group between the 2 and the 3 positions of glyceric acid. The gene coding for the 2, 3-diphosphoglycerate independent monomeric PGM from Bacillus stearothermophilus (57 kDa), whose activity is extremely pH sensitive and has an absolute and specific requirement for Mn2+, has been cloned and the enzyme overexpressed and purified to homogeneity. Circular dichroism studies showed at most only small secondary structure changes in the enzyme upon binding to Mn2+ or its 3-phosphoglycerate substrate, but thermal unfolding analyses revealed that Mn2+ but not 3-phosphoglycerate caused a large increase in the enzyme's stability. Diffraction-quality crystals of the enzyme were obtained at neutral pH in the presence of 3-phosphoglyceric acid with ammonium sulfate as the precipitating agent; these crystals diffract X rays to beyond 2.5-A resolution and belong to the orthorhombic space group C2221 with unit cell dimensions, a = 58.42, b = 206.08, c = 124.87 A, and alpha = beta = gamma = 90.0 degrees. The selenomethionyl version of the B. stearothermophilus protein has also been overexpressed, purified, and crystallized. Employing these crystals, the determination of the three-dimensional structure of this PGM by the multiwavelength anomalous dispersion method is in progress.
Neurometabolic Coupling in the Lateral Geniculate Nucleus Changes With Extended Age

Attempts have been made in various studies to identify and trace changes in function in the aging visual system. Some results are conflicting and we report here a unique approach in an attempt to resolve selected issues. We have estimated neurometabolic coupling in the central visual pathway in young and old cats. Our technique provides high resolution simultaneous measurements of neuronal activity and changes in concentration of tissue oxygen in the thalamus of young and old cats. Following visual stimulation, we find shorter latency and time to peak in tissue oxygen responses in old compared with young animals. Estimates of local activity induced initial negative oxygen response show substantial reductions in older animals. Measurements of neural activity in the form of multiple unit activity are similar in the two age groups. To investigate the mechanisms underlying the changes in tissue oxygen response in older animals, we measured vascular capillary density and found it to be substantially lower in old than that in young animals. Together, these findings suggest that the changes in metabolic responses with age may be largely accounted for by alterations in the cerebral microvasculature rather than by changes in neural activity.
Glashow resonance as a window into cosmic neutrino sources

The Glashow resonance at ${E}_{\ensuremath{\nu}}=6.3\text{ }\text{ }\mathrm{PeV}$ is a measure of the ${\overline{\ensuremath{\nu}}}_{e}$ content of the astrophysical neutrino flux. The fractional ${\overline{\ensuremath{\nu}}}_{e}$ content depends on the neutrino production model at the cosmic neutrino source, and the environment at the source. Thus, the strength of the Glashow resonance event rate is a potential window into astrophysical sources. We quantify the ``Glashow resonometer'' and comment on the significance that no Glashow events are observed in the IceCube three-year data.
Multi-Object Analysis of Volume, Pose, and Shape Using Statistical Discrimination

One goal of statistical shape analysis is the discrimination between two populations of objects. Whereas traditional shape analysis was mostly concerned with single objects, analysis of multi-object complexes presents new challenges related to alignment and pose. In this paper, we present a methodology for discriminant analysis of multiple objects represented by sampled medial manifolds. Non-Euclidean metrics that describe geodesic distances between sets of sampled representations are used for alignment and discrimination. Our choice of discriminant method is the distance-weighted discriminant because of its generalization ability in high-dimensional, low sample size settings. Using an unbiased, soft discrimination score, we associate a statistical hypothesis test with the discrimination results. We explore the effectiveness of different choices of features as input to the discriminant analysis, using measures like volume, pose, shape, and the combination of pose and shape. Our method is applied to a longitudinal pediatric autism study with 10 subcortical brain structures in a population of 70 subjects. It is shown that the choices of type of global alignment and of intrinsic versus extrinsic shape features, the latter being sensitive to relative pose, are crucial factors for group discrimination and also for explaining the nature of shape change in terms of the application domain.
Cine phase contrast MRI to measure continuum Lagrangian finite strain fields in contracting skeletal muscle.

Purpose To measure the complex mechanics and Lagrangian finite strain of contracting human skeletal muscle in vivo with cine phase contrast MRI (CPC-MRI) applied to the human supraspinatus muscle of the shoulder. Materials and Methods Processing techniques are applied to transform velocities from CPC-MRI images to displacements and planar Lagrangian finite strain. An interpolation method describing the continuity of the velocity field and forward-backward and Fourier transform methods were used to track the displacement of regions of interest during a cyclic abduction motion of a subject's arm. The components of the Lagrangian strain tensor were derived during the motion and principal and maximum in-plane shear strain fields calculated. Results Derived displacement and strain fields are shown that describe the contraction mechanics of the supraspinatus. Strains vary over time during the cyclic motion and are highly nonuniform throughout the muscle. Conclusion This method presented overcomes the physical resolution of the MRI scanner, which is crucial for the detection of detailed information within muscles, such as the changes that might occur with partial tears of the supraspinatus. These can then be used as input or validation data for modeling human skeletal muscle. J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2007. © 2006 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
Persistent Activation of GABAAReceptor/Cl− Channels by Astrocyte-Derived GABA in Cultured Embryonic Rat Hippocampal Neurons

Whole cell patch-clamp recordings using Cl(-)-filled pipettes revealed more negative levels of baseline current and associated current variance in embryonic rat hippocampal neurons co-cultured on a monolayer of astrocytes than those cultured on poly-D-lysine. These effects were mimicked by culturing neurons on poly-D-lysine in astrocyte-conditioned medium (ACM). The baseline current and variance decreased immediately in all cells after either local perfusion with saline or exposure to bicuculline, an antagonist of GABA at GABA(A) receptor/Cl(-) channels. Baseline current and variance in all cells reached a nadir at approximately 0 mV, the calculated equilibrium potential for Cl(-). Perfusion of ACM rapidly induced a sustained current in neurons, which also reversed polarity at approximately 0 mV. Bicuculline attenuated or eliminated the ACM-induced current at a concentration that completely blocked micromolar GABA-induced current. Quantitative analyses of spontaneously occurring fluctuations superimposed on the ACM-induced current revealed estimated unitary properties of the underlying channel activity similar to those calculated for GABA's activation of GABA(A) receptor/Cl(-) channels. Bicuculline-sensitive synaptic-like transients, which reversed at approximately 0 mV, were also detected in neurons cultured in ACM, and these were immediately eliminated along with the negative baseline current and superimposed current fluctuations by perfusion. Furthermore bicuculline-sensitive synaptic-like transients were rapidly and reversibly triggered when ACM was acutely applied. ACM induced an increase in cytoplasmic Ca(2+) in cultured embryonic hippocampal neurons that was completely blocked by bicuculline and strychnine. We conclude that astrocytes release diffusible substances, most likely GABA, that persistently activate GABA(A) receptor/Cl(-) channels in co-cultured neurons.
Advanced Resource Management Techniques

The previous chapters discussed mechanisms for resource management in stream handling systems. The intention of this chapter is to give an extended outlook on future resource management work items by discussing first steps into new techniques which extend these mechanisms and provide a means to open continuous-media processing further. A model and an architecture which allow the reservation of resources in advance are presented in Section 7.1. Scaling mechanisms which can be applied if resource reservation is not possible or appropriate are discussed in Section 7.2.
Effect of 1-methyl-2-mercaptomidazole (methimazole-tapazole) on the DNA content of the rat thyroid gland.

SummaryMature female rats were injected with 400 μg/100 g b.w. of methima-zole/day for 20 and 30 days. In 20 days, the mean thyroid gland weight increased from 9.73 mg for the controls to 16.04 mg, an increase of 65% and after 30 days to 20.53 mg, an increase of 111%. To determine to what extent the increase in thyroid gland weight was due to cell multiplication and to an increase in cell size, the total DNA/gland and the DNA/mg DFFT was determined. After 20 days the DNA/gland increased 52% and after 30 days, 64%, whereas the DNA/mg DFFT remained constant in the 3 groups. It has been calculated that the increase in thyroid gland weight after 30 days of goitrogen treatment represents a 54% increase in cell growth (multiplication) and a 46% increase in cell size.
Assays for rheumatoid factor: A review of their utility and limitations in clinical practice

This article discusses various assays used to measure rheumatoid factor, their sensitivity and specificity, and the clinical significance of a positive or negative test.
Synthesis of crosslinked elastin by a mesothelial cell culture.

AbstractSynthesis of crosslinked elastin was measured in cultures of pleural mesothelial cells. Results indicate that mesothelial cells are a rich source of crosslinked elastin and may therefore be useful for in vitro studies of this connective tissue component.
A Few Seconds of Equation Reading: A Process Model of Equation Reading and its Applications

A model, based on research using think aloud, memory recognition and recall, response time, and eye tracking methods, describes cognitive processes in equation reading. Equation reading involves (1) 300 msec fixations during which the reader extracts features to identify the symbols – numbers, operators, parentheses – as attention shifts across 2 − 3 symbols, and (2) short saccades that often end on numbers. The reader identifies the end of a multidigit number by a space, leading her to identify a sequence of numerals as a one-, two- or three-digit number. Parentheses, rarely fixated and poorly recalled, help direct the flow of reading. Parenthetical expressions are solved and stored separately. Readers backscan approximately as frequently they forward scan through equations, possibly to construct a representation of the equation structure as they read it. The model of the processes of equation reading by sighted persons has been useful in designing an auditory browser for blind readers.
Negotiating with terrorists and the tactical question

A constant question hanging over governments involved in internal conflicts is whether/when to negotiate with the rebels, generally termed terrorists. Frequently, the rebels seek negotiations, if only to set the terms of takeover, but the government is faced with the classic dilemma: negotiation may bring an end to the conflict but it legitimizes the rebel movement and acknowledges the movement’s role as spokesman for a part of the government’s population. But governments frequently, if not inevitably, evolve in their views of the rebels as a negotiating partner. Once the conflict has moved from a political to a violent stage, they label the rebels as terrorists and refuse to negotiate, but as the conflict progresses further they tend to change their classification about the whole rebel movement or part of it. The interesting subject of inquiry, then, is reasons behind a government’s decision to negotiate with its terrorists and the impact of that decision (i.e. the effectiveness of that reasoning) on them. When does the government that previously saw its rebels as illegitimate perpetrators of violence now decide to negotiate with soma or all of them, and with what effect?
Multiple Episodes and Spaces of Exile: An Analysis of the Burundian Refugee Experience

Burundi has recently emerged from prolonged conflict with the worst periods of violence experienced in 1972, 1988 and 1993. The conflict led to displacement of over half a million individuals into neighboring countries. The Burundian refugee cycle is not only embedded in Burundian historical and socio-political dimensions but is also embedded in regional dynamics where socio-political factors in neighboring countries caused additional displacement of Burundian refugees. Often many individuals fled conflict in neighboring countries such as Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo to other host countries within the region such as Tanzania. Others who fled conflict in neighboring countries returned to Burundi. Many who returned were forced to flee once again due to the recurrence of violence in the country. The exile trajectory for the majority of Burundian refugees was complicated by their multiple experiences of displacement out of Burundi and while in exile. This paper aims to analyze narratives collected during my field research in Burundi from 2009-2011 from former refugees that demonstrate how Burundian returnees describe and evaluate different spaces and episodes of exile. I use the concept of moral geography to understand how Burundian returnees give moral value to certain spaces and thus reveal the complexity of their exile experience.
Shifts in the distribution of molting Spectacled Eiders (Somateria fischeri) indicate ecosystem change in the Arctic

ABSTRACT Shifts in the distribution of benthivorous predators provide an indication of underlying environmental changes in benthic-mediated ecosystems. Spectacled Eiders (Somateria fischeri) are benthivorous sea ducks that spend the nonbreeding portion of their annual cycle in the Bering, Chukchi, Beaufort, and East Siberian seas. Sea ducks generally molt in biologically productive areas with abundant prey. If the distribution of eiders at molting areas matches prey abundance, spatial shifts may indicate changes in environmental conditions in the Arctic. We used a randomization procedure to test for shifts in the distribution of satellite telemetry locations received from Spectacled Eiders in the 1990s and 2008–2011 within 4 late-summer, ice-free molting areas: Indigirka–Kolyma, northern Russia; Ledyard Bay, eastern Chukchi Sea; Norton Sound, northeastern Bering Sea; and Mechigmenskiy Gulf, northwestern Bering Sea. We also tested for interannual and interdecadal changes in dive depth required to reach pre...
From "Weight Loss Tips" to "Fastest Exercise to Get Abs": How Teens Search for Fitness Information Across Social Media Platforms

This paper summarizes a poster which presents a segment of initial findings from a dissertation in progress entitled, Teens and Information Quality: An Intersectionality-Based Exploration of Youth and Their Information Behavior Surrounding Fitness Information and Social Media.
The Development of Timing across Four Limbs: Can Simplicity Produce Complexity?

Abstract In this paper I describe fifteen years of longitudinal data on the natural development of internal timing between the arms and legs during the acquisition of a childhood locomotor task (Roberton & Halverson, 1988). These data on hopping show 1) dramatic changes in the spatial relationships across the limbs, 2) gradual, but frequently disrupted, evolution of temporal relationships across the same limbs, and 3) evidence of mutual influence between the co-developing timings. I present a model of the data which views the body as a trunk from which four oscillators are suspended. Indeed, the data are consistent with the idea that the hopping leg acted as a forcing oscillator to which the other three limbs entrained, while mutually entraining with each other. The process of mutual entrainment could also cause the disruptions in timing observed as development proceeded. The hopping leg itself developed from non-linearity to linearity in terms of the stiffness (force-displacement ratio) with which it landed (Getchell & Roberton, 1989). Thus, for several years it acted analogously to a non-linear, inverted pendulum or “hard” spring-mass system. Through a qualitative change, which occurred between 7 and 10 years of age, the hopping leg transformed into an adult, linear landing system, which obeys Hooke's law. I argue that this simple model, based in the dynamical systems perspective, is more parsimonious than information-processing models, yet can account for the complexity seen in the data.
Cohorts, ‘‘Siblings,’’ and Mentors: Organizational Structures and the Creation of Social Capital

How can an organization help participants increase their social capital? Using data from an ethnographic study of Launch, an organization that prepares low-income students of color to attend elite boarding schools, I analyze how the organization’s structures not only generate social ties among students but also stratify those ties horizontally and vertically, thereby connecting students to a set of social contacts who occupy a range of hierarchical positions and who are able to provide access to resources that are beneficial in different contexts and at different times. I argue that organizational structures can function as tools for building—and embedding participants within—social networks with advantageous structural characteristics.
Fuzzy and deep learning approaches for user modeling in wetland design

Determining the optimal design of a watershed is a highly subjective process which involves the consideration of many distinct factors by several different stakeholder groups. We describe additional functionality for our watershed planning system, called WRESTORE (Watershed REstoration Using Spatio-Temporal Optimization of REsources) (http://wrestore.iupui.edu), where stakeholders can collaboratively optimize best management practices on to the watershed. WRESTORE utilizes the USDA's public domain Soil and Water Assessment Tool hydrologic model for watershed simulations. Reinforcement learning and interactive genetic algorithms are applied for the search process. The new functionality described is a user modeling component that develops a computational model of a user's decision-making, based on real-time user-provided ratings for a subset of possible designs. The user modeling task utilizes neural network approaches, such as deep learning. We believe the originality of our approach centers on integrating user models in to the hydrological decision support process. This paper thus has three objectives: (i) outline current work in user modeling and watershed design, (ii) describe our system for interactive optimization of watershed design, and (iii) describe our work on implementing accurate and stable user predictive models to boost optimization performance.
Mechanisms of cardioprotection via modulation of the immune response

Both morbidity and mortality as a result of cardiovascular disease remain significant worldwide and account for approximately 31% of annual deaths in the US. Current research is focused on novel therapeutic strategies to protect the heart during and after ischemic events and from subsequent adverse myocardial remodeling. After cardiac insult, the immune system is activated and plays an essential role in the beginning, development, and resolution of the healing cascade. Uncontrolled inflammatory responses can cause chronic disease and exacerbate progression to heart failure and therefore, constitute a major area of focus of cardiac therapies. In the present overview, we share novel insights and promising therapeutic cardioprotective strategies that target the immune response.