cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Potency Analysis of Mesenchymal Stromal Cells Using a Phospho-STAT Matrix Loop Analytical Approach

Potency assays for mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) need to be defined in advanced clinical trials. Here, we have developed an assay matrix approach that captures the signal transducer and activator of transcription (STAT) phosphorylation of MSCs upon stimulation with their combined secretome that arose with the interaction of activated peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs). Secretome of heat-inactivated (HI) MSCs cocultured with and without activated PBMCs was used as an internal reference. We have compared the short-term phosphorylation status of STAT1, STAT3, STAT4, STAT5, and STAT6 on MSCs derived from human bone marrow, adipose tissue, and umbilical cord using phosflow technology. Secretome of live MSCs cocultured with activated PBMCs downregulate STAT1 and STAT3 phosphorylation on MSCs, whereas the secretome of HI-MSCs or PBMCs do not. Thus, investigation of the combined secretome of MSC and PBMC interaction on MSCs determine the potency of MSCs as the generator and sensor of the secretome. Bone marrow, adipose, and umbilical cord MSCs are comparable in modulating STAT1 and STAT3 responses. Measurements of STAT1 and STAT3 phosphorylation on MSCs as responder cells correlate and predict allogeneic T-cell suppression. Our comparative phosphomatrix approach between live and reference HI-MSCs defines the potency of MSCs as both stimulators and responders as part of a robust platform for predictive potency analysis. Stem Cells 2019;37:1119-1125.
Archilochos in His Time

Whether expressed by the poet or a persona, Archilochos' warrior poems offer first-hand information about war and the war experience of the poet, his comrades, and his contemporaries. In fact, rath...
Principal-Agent Negotiations with Teams of Agents: Experimental Evidence

We examine how a principal implements a joint forcing contract for a team of two agents, whose joint product determines the value of the principal's asset. We focus on the "agents' problem": whether to contribute to a public good when one's costly contribution is unobservable. Our experiments show that agents provide higher levels of effort than predicted given the principal's imposed contract. While principals governing teams of agents sometimes do use incentives, in cases where incentives are not present - if agents trust one another - they are each more likely to contribute high effort.
Relationship between lumbopelvic-hip complex stability, muscle activity, and 2-dimensional kinematics of the trunk and lower extremity

Abstract Objectives To observe isolated lumbopelvic-hip complex (LPHC) stability and muscle activity using the Seated Trunk Control Test (STCT) and evaluate the relationship between LPHC stability and 2-dimensional kinematics during movements. Design Descriptive Study. Setting Laboratory. Participants 22 healthy participants (12F, 10M, 23.5 ± 3.1yrs, 173.0 ± 9.0 cm, 76.1 ± 10.7 kg). Main outcome measure(s) Time to first error and number of errors, and muscle activity of the abdominals, erector spinae, and gluteus medius were recorded during the STCT. Lateral trunk movement, hip and knee frontal plane projection angles, hip and knee flexion during single leg squats and single leg drop vertical jumps were measured. Pearson r correlations were calculated among STCT performance, muscle activity, and 2-dimensional kinematics. Results Number of errors was moderately correlated to hip and knee flexion during single leg squatting (r = 0.456–0.649, p Conclusions Decreased LPHC stability relates to decreased sagittal plane motion during single leg squatting and increased frontal plane motion during single leg drop vertical jumping. Pairing the STCT with 2-dimensional kinematic analysis can demonstrate influence of LPHC function.
Lynching and Local Justice: Legitimacy and Accountability in Weak States

What are the social and political consequences of poor state governance and low state legitimacy? Under what conditions does lynching – lethal, extralegal group violence to punish offenses to the community – become an acceptable practice? We argue lynching emerges when neither the state nor its challengers have a monopoly over legitimate authority. When authority is contested or ambiguous, mass punishment for transgressions can emerge that is public, brutal, and requires broad participation. Using new cross-national data, we demonstrate lynching is a persistent problem in dozens of countries over the last four decades. Drawing on original survey and interview data from Haiti and South Africa, we show how lynching emerges and becomes accepted. Specifically, support for lynching most likely occurs in one of three conditions: when states fail to provide governance, when non-state actors provide social services, or when neighbors must rely on self-help.
Deciphering nucleotide modification-induced structure and stability changes

Nucleotide modification in RNA controls a bevy of biological processes, including RNA degradation, gene expression, and gene editing. In turn, misregulation of modified nucleotides is associated with a host of chronic diseases and disorders. However, the molecular mechanisms driving these processes remain poorly understood. To partially address this knowledge gap, we used alchemical and temperature replica exchange molecular dynamics (TREMD) simulations on an RNA duplex and an analogous hairpin to probe the structural effects of modified and/or mutant nucleotides. The simulations successfully predict the modification/mutation-induced relative free energy change for complementary duplex formation, and structural analyses highlight mechanisms driving stability changes. Furthermore, TREMD simulations for a hairpin-forming RNA with and without modification provide reliable estimations of the energy landscape. Illuminating the impact of methylated and/or mutated nucleotides on the structure-function relationship and the folding energy landscape, the simulations provide insights into modification-induced alterations to the folding mechanics of the hairpin. The results here may be biologically significant as hairpins are widespread structure motifs that play critical roles in gene expression and regulation. Specifically, the tetraloop of the probed hairpin is phylogenetically abundant, and the stem mirrors a miRNA seed region whose modification has been implicated in epilepsy pathogenesis.
A cortico-hippocampal scaffold for representing and recalling lifelike events

Real-world events are complex, featuring elements that may be unique to, or shared across, multiple situations. In the present study, we used fMRI to identify how different event components are represented in real-time and during memory retrieval. Twenty participants viewed and recalled eight videos depicting real-world events, combining people, contexts, and context types. Multi-voxel pattern similarity analyses revealed specific person representations, persistent across contexts, in regions of an Anterior-Temporal Network. Conversely, we found specific context representations, persistent across people, in regions of a Posterior-Medial Network. We also found schema-like generalization across contexts in medial prefrontal cortex, and episodic specificity in the hippocampus. Event patterns were reinstated during recall, and hippocampal reinstatement predicted the number of details retrieved. Finally, we observed distinct representational timescales across the hippocampus and cortical regions. These findings reveal mechanisms for scaffolding different aspects of lifelike event representations in cortico-hippocampal networks as experiences are observed and recalled.
Mirror optical activity: efficient chiral sensing from electromagnetic parity indefiniteness

Mirror symmetry is among the most fundamental concepts of physics and its spontaneous breaking at the molecular level allows chiral molecules to exist in two enantiomers that are mirror images of each other. The majority of chiro-optical effects routinely used to detect enantiomers in mixtures, as circular dichroism, relies on chiral sensitivity to photon circular polarization, thus not harnessing the full potentials of mirror symmetry breaking which also involves the radiation spatial profile. Here we show that the parity indefiniteness of the electromagnetic field interacting with chiral matter supports mirror optical activity, a novel chiro-optical effect where a chiral film, once probed by the mirror symmetric field of a nanoemitter, produces a near field whose spatial profile has broken mirror symmetry. The detection of near field dissymmetry provides an highly efficient chiral sensing technique, thus opening novel avenues to devising nanonophotonic schemes for ultra-efficient chiral discrimination of picogram quantities of molecules. We specialize the technique to nano-films with infrared chirality by using a swift electron in aloof configuration as the nanoemitter and an off-axis transparent conductor nanoparticle as the near field probe; the spatial dissymmetry factor of nanoparticle cathodoluminescence is one order of magnitude larger than circular dichroism, which is further enhanced to two orders if an additional graphene sheet is deposited on the film interface.
Healthineers: A Strategic IPO

This case covers the initial public offering (IPO) of the Siemens subsidiary Healthineers. The March 2018 offering of the health care technology firm was heavily anticipated on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, and was Germany's largest IPO in more than 20 years.Healthineers was one of Siemens' most successful businesses, and its management board had a keen interest in its long-term success and in the valuation that financial markets would place on the company. The case allows students to learn about the IPO process, understand Siemens' strategic rationale, and estimate the value of Healthineers. Excerpt UVA-F-1881 Rev. Jul. 6, 2020 Healthineers: A Strategic IPO By early March 2018, CEO Joe Kaeser and the management board of Siemens AG (Siemens) had been focused on the progress of its Healthineers subsidiary for several years. Management planned an initial public offering (IPO) of Healthineers in mid-March to support the company's continued success and spur entrepreneurial independence. The IPO would position Healthineers to compete successfully in the global health care market, which was quite different from other sectors in which Siemens—a global technology conglomerate—operated (see Exhibit 1). Though Siemens would maintain a substantial equity interest, Healthineers would become a separate public company with increased flexibility and autonomy. Because Siemens would be a long-term shareholder, Kaeser and the board had a keen interest in Healthineers's strategy and performance. Would the company continue to drive profitable growth in the short term? Tap into adjacent growth markets in the medium term? Be a market leader in health care? In the immediate term, the board was especially interested in what value financial markets would place on Healthineers in the IPO. Siemens Healthineers AG . . .
Peter Singer and Christian Ethics: Beyond Polarization

Acknowledgements Introduction 1. Abortion 2. Euthanasia and the end of life 3. Non-human animals 4. Duties to the poor 5. Ethical theory 6. Singer's shift? Conclusion Bibliography Appendices.
Territoriality and Consumption Behaviour with Location-Based Media

The development in location-based mobile media has led to the popularity of its use for place experiences. This study explored the concept of territoriality, which is suggested as the underlying human behaviour that influences consumers’ mobility and experience stimulated by the social gaming feature of location-based media. From an exploratory investigation with a series of focus group discussions with users of location-based media, this study observed the activities of territorial tagging for the purposes of territorial claim and defence to gain and maintain the perceived territorial control over resources and rewards attached to certain places. The ability of location-based media to make the physical territory to interact with informational devices enables territorial behaviour to manifest in the consumption of local establishments, making location-based media a powerful tool for marketers and managers to transform people- place experiences. Managerial implications are provided.
A multimodal analysis of floor control in meetings

The participant in a human-to-human communication who controls the floor bears the burden of moving the communication process along. Change in control of the floor can happen through a number of mechanisms, including interruptions, delegation of the floor, and so on. This paper investigates floor control in multiparty meetings that are both audio and video taped; hence, we are able to analyze patterns not only of speech (e.g., discourse markers) but also of visual cues (e.g, eye gaze exchanges) that are commonly involved in floor control changes. Identifying who has control of the floor provides an important focus for information retrieval and summarization of meetings. Additionally, without understanding who has control of the floor, it is impossible to identify important events such as challenges for the floor. In this paper, we analyze multimodal cues related to floor control in two different meetings involving five participants each.
A superconducting magnetic bottle.

Magnetic fields for plasma physics experiments have been produced In many sizes, configurations, and field strengths. In many cases the experiments have been handicapped by limited power, limited field strength, or duration of experiments by insufficient power or Inadequate cooling for the magnet coils. In addition, the heavy coils, support structure, and cooling passages have interfered with free access to the centerline of the magnetic fields.
A Review of “Partner Stalking: How Women Respond, Cope and Survive”

Partner Stalking: How Women Respond, Cope, and Survive is a book that gives powerful accounts of women in stalking relationships. This book examines interview narratives of 62 women who have experi...
Repertoire diversity of antibody response to bacterial antigens in aged mice. II. Phosphorylcholine-antibody in young and aged mice differ in both VH/VL gene repertoire and in specificity.

Aging of mice is accompanied by both quantitative and qualitative changes in antibody responses to phosphorylcholine (PC), an immunodominant epitope of Streptococcus pneumoniae R36a strain (Pn). In order to study these changes at the molecular level, we generated PC-specific hybridomas from young (3 to 4 mo) and aged (20 to 24 mo) mice of different strains after primary immunization with S. pneumoniae R36a strain. These mAb were tested for Ig VH and VL gene family utilization, idiotopic repertoire, and cross-reactivity with unrelated Ag. Hybridomas from young mice (BALB/c, C57BL/6, and D1.LP) uniformly expressed the VH-S107 and V kappa-22 genes as well as most idiotopes of the T15 family, which were identified with different anti-T15 mAb. In contrast, the PC-reactive mAb from aged mice were quite heterogeneous: only 2 out of 13 utilized VHS107, 1 of 13 used VH7183, and 3 of 13 used VHJ558 gene family. Moreover, none of these mAb used L chain encoded by V kappa 22(0/13), but surprisingly they frequently expressed some of the T15 idiotope. In addition, the PC-binding mAb from aged mice showed broad cross-reactivity with various mouse and foreign proteins, whereas the mAb from young mice did not. These results demonstrate the genetic shift in antibody response of aging mice to PC, which is accompanied by a change in the antibody specificity. Interestingly, the qualitative repertoire change appears to be unrelated to the magnitude of antibody response, for the aged BALB/c mice maintain a very high reactivity to PC.
Nonhomologous End Joining during Restriction Enzyme-Mediated DNA Integration in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

The BamHI restriction enzyme mediates integration of nonhomologous DNA into the Saccharomyces cerevisiae genome (R. H. Schiestl and T. D. Petes, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 88:7585–7589, 1991). The present study investigates the mechanism of such events: in particular, the mediating activity of various restriction enzymes and the processing of resultant fragment ends. Our results show that in addition to BamHI, BglII and KpnI increase DNA integration efficiencies severalfold, while Asp718, HindIII, EcoRI, SalI, SmaI, HpaI, MscI, and SnaBI do not. Secondly, the three active enzymes stimulated integrations only of fragments containing 5′ or 3′ overhangs but not of blunt-ended fragments. Thirdly, integrations mediated by one enzyme and utilizing a substrate created by another required at least 2 bp of homology. Furthermore, an Asp718 fragment possessing a 5′ overhang integrated into a KpnI (isoschizomer) site possessing a 3′ overhang, most likely by filling of the 5′ overhang followed by 5′ exonuclease digestion to produce a 3′ end. We classified and analyzed the restriction enzyme-mediated integration events in the context of their genomic positions. The majority of events integrated into single sites. In the remaining 6 of 19 cases each end of the plasmid inserted into a different sequence, producing rearrangements such as duplications, deletions, and translocations.
EFFECTS OF SELECTION IN A PROSPECTIVE STUDY OF FORCED EXPIRATORY VOLUME IN VERMONT GRANITE WORKERS

Granite workers lost to follow-up during a 5-yr study of pulmonary function were examined. We found that in workers who had left the industry for other employment, forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1) values declined at a faster rate than in those who remained employed or retired during the study period. We investigated the application of a currently recommended repeatability criterion for pulmonary function tests by looking at different patterns of failing to satisfy the criterion (PFT-failure) over multiple testing sessions. Workers with persistent PFT-failure were found to have faster rates of FEV1 decline than did subjects with none or only intermittent failures. In a regression analysis, job termination was found to be more strongly associated with a steep FEV1 slope when it had been preceded by a pattern of persistent PFT-failure.
Trapping evidence for the thermal cyclization of di-(o-acetylphenyl)acetylene to 3,3'-dimethyl-1,1'-biisobenzofuran

The reaction of di-(o-acetylphenyl)acetylene (1) with excess dimethyl acetylenedicarboxylate (DMAD) produced bis-DMAD adducts meso-3 and rac-3. This transformation is suggested to involve thermal rearrangement of 1 to the intermediate 3,3'-dimethyl-1,1'-biisobenzofuran (A), and subsequent Diels-Alder cycloadditions of two equivalents of DMAD to A. The isolation of trapping products meso-3 and rac-3, which contain complex polycyclic frameworks, provide strong evidence for the transient production of A, the first biisobenzofuran. An X-ray crystal structure of meso-3 was obtained.
PRISM: an integrated architecture for scalable shared memory

This paper describes PRISM, a distributed shared memory architecture that relies on a tightly integrated hardware and operating system design for scalable and reliable performance. PRISM's hardware provides mechanisms for flexible management and dynamic configuration of shared memory pages with different behaviors. As an example, PRISM can configure individual shared memory pages in both CC-NUMA and Simple-COMA styles, maintaining the advantages of both without incorporating any of their disadvantages. PRISM's operating system is structured as multiple independent kernels, where each kernel manages the resources on its local node. PRISM's system structure minimizes the amount of global coordination when managing shared memory. Page faults do not involve global TLB invalidates, and pages can be replicated and migrated without requiring global coordination. The structure also provides natural fault containment boundaries around each node because physical addresses do not address remote memory directly. We simulate PRISM's hardware, cache coherence protocol and memory management algorithms. Results from SPLASH applications on the simulated machine demonstrate a tradeoff between CC-NUMA and Simple-COMA styles of memory management. Adaptive, run-time policies that take advantage of PRISM's ability to dynamically configure shared memory pages with different behaviors significantly outperform pure CC-NUMA or Simple-COMA configurations and are usually within 10% of optimal performance.
Dietary boron modifies the effects of vitamin D3 nutrition on indices of energy substrate utilization and mineral metabolism in the chick

An experiment was designed to test part of the hypothesis that physiologic amounts of dietary boron enhance utilization of or, alternatively, compensate for, inadequate concentrations of active vitamin D metabolites to normalize energy substrate utilization and mineral metabolism. Day-old cockerel chicks were fed a ground corn, high-protein casein, corn oil-based diet (< or = 0.18 mg B/kg) supplemented with physiologic amounts of boron (as orthoboric acid) at 0 (non-PSB) or 1.4 (PSB) mg/kg and vitamin D3 (as vitamin D3 powder in corn endosperm carrier) at 3.13 (inadequate, IVD) or 15.6 (adequate, AVD) micrograms/kg. After 26 days, IVD decreased food consumption and plasma calcium concentrations and increased plasma concentrations of glucose, beta-hydroxybutyrate, triglycerides, triiodothyronine, cholesterol, and alkaline phosphatase activity. In the IVD chicks, PSB returned plasma glucose and triglycerides to concentrations exhibited by the AVD chicks and increased food consumption in both IVD and AVD chicks. Histologic findings suggested that PSB enhanced maturation of the growth plate. A ninefold increase in dietary boron yielded only a two-fold increase in plasma boron concentration and no increase in femur boron concentration, which suggests that boron is under homeostatic control. The findings suggest that boron acts on at least three separate metabolic sites because it compensates for perturbations in energy substrate utilization induced by vitamin D3 deficiency, enhances major mineral content in bone, and, independently of vitamin D3, enhances some indices of growth cartilage maturation.
A distinct H2A.X isoform is enriched in Xenopus laevis eggs and early embryos and is phosphorylated in the absence of a checkpoint

Histone H2A.X is an H2A variant present in multicellular organisms that is specifically phosphorylated on the serine in the C-terminal consensus sequence, canonically “SQEY,” in response to DNA damage. We have recently shown the significance of phosphorylation of the penultimate tyrosine for maintenance and processing of the DNA damage response in mammalian cells. Here, we report the identification of distinct H2A.X variants in the eggs and early embryos of the frog Xenopus laevis that contain a C-terminal SQEF, among other changes; we have denoted these proteins as “H2A.X-F.” H2A.X-F is present only in late-staged oocytes, eggs, and premidblastula transition embryos and is not present in somatic cells. Similar unannotated isoforms were identified in other rapidly developing aquatic species, such as Xenopus tropicalis, goldfish, and zebrafish, and in Arabidopsis and chickpea. Furthermore, we demonstrate by mass spectrometry and phospho-specific antibodies that H2A.X-F is phosphorylated in the absence of exogenous DNA damage, in both actively dividing, unperturbed embryos and cell-free egg extract in the absence and presence of DNA damage and S-phase checkpoint conditions. We propose that this isoform may be involved in modulating the cellular response to the rapid early cell cycles in externally developing species.
Fabrication of apodized surface-acoustic-wave interdigital transducers by electron image projection

Use of a narrow slit as an electron-optical lens for forming patterns of lines having submicron linewidths and interline spacings by electron image projection rather than by pattern tracing with an SEM is reviewed. Initial applications of this “slit-lens” technique were to forming interdigital transducers having the same overlap for all finger pairs (no “apodization”), and delay lines were produced on LiNbO 3 for operation up to 2.8 GHz (∼0.33-µm lines on ∼0.66-µm centers). A recently developed variant of this technique for fabricating transducers having overlap-weighted apodization is presented and its application to the fabrication of a Hamming-weighted device is described. The basic imaging technique involves application of several kV dc between a conductive plate having a narrow slit and the nearby resist-coated target or substrate; a low-energy electron beam passing through the slit from a relatively distant source is converged only in the direction transverse to the slit by the field, thereby producing a line image on the target having a much smaller width than the slit. Object patterns for a slit lens consisting of properly designed arrays of apertures (illuminated with an electron gun) are used in conjunction with appropriately placed interdigitation or apodization masks to yield the desired image patterns on the target, with large demagnification factors in linewidths and spacings.
Substitutional‐interstitial solute interactions in niobium‐vanadium‐oxygen alloys

Low-frequency internal friction experiments on a series of NbV alloys containing different oxygen concentrations are performed between 300 and 700 K to determine the nature of the V-O interactions in niobium. The results show that the type of interaction depends on the vanadium and oxygen contents. For a Nb-1.5 at% alloy, there is a single V-O interaction peak at ≈ 515 K (ΔHr = (135 ± 6) kJ/mol) which is attributed to the reorientation of O trapped in octahedral cells consisting of one V and five Nb neighbors. A second peak occurs in Nb-2.5 at% V and Nb-5 at% V alloys at ≈ 650 K (ΔHr = (177 ± 6) kJ/mol) attributed to the reorientation of O in cells containing two V and four Nb neighbors. A Nb-10 at% V alloy with 0.61 at% O exhibits a single broad peak at ≈ 660 K (ΔHr = 192 kJ/mol) caused by the reorientation of O in cells containing two or three V atoms giving rise to a narrow spectrum of ΔHr. In sauerstoffdotierten NbV-Legierungen wird bei niedrigen Frequenzen die innere Reibung zwischen 300 und 700 K gemessen, um die Wechselwirkung zwischen V und O zu bestimmen. Die Resultate deuten an, das die Einzelheiten der Wechselwirkung sowohl von der V-als auch der O-Konzentration abhangen. In Nb-1,5 At% V existiert nur ein einziges Wechselwirkungsmaximum bei ungefahr 515 K (ΔHr = (135 ± 6) kJ/mol), das der Reorientierung von O in Oktaederzellen mit einem V und funf Nb als Nachbarn zugeordnet wird. In Nb-2,5 At% V und Nb-5 At% V erscheint ein zweites Maximum bei ungefahr 650 K (ΔHr = (177 ± 6) kJ/mol), das der Reorientierung von O in Zellen mit zwei V und vier Nb-Atomen als Nachbarn zugeschrieben wird. Nb-10 At% V mit 0,61 At% O zeigt ein einziges breites Maximum bei ungefahr 660 K (ΔHr = 192 kJ/mol), das von der Reorientierung von O in Zellen mit zwei oder drei V verursacht wird, wobei die V-Anordnung zu einem engen Spektrum von ΔHr fuhrt.
Geometry considerations for jet noise shielding with CTOL engine-over-the-wing concept

Jet noise shielding benefits for CTOL engine-over-the-wing installations were obtained with various model-scale circular nozzles and wing chord geometries. Chord-to-nozzle diameter ratios were varied from 3 to 20, while ratios of nozzle height above the wing to the diameter were varied from near zero to 3. Spectral noise data were obtained with jet velocities from 640 to 1110 ft/sec. Characteristics of low frequency noise sources are discussed. Jet-noise shielding is correlated in terms of acoustic and geometric parameters. Implications of extending the model-scale data to full-scale are discussed.
On efficient channel estimation for underwater acoustic OFDM systems

Channel estimation algorithms for Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) employed in underwater acoustic (UWA) channels are investigated. Due to the slow propagation speed of acoustic waves, the compression and dilation effect on the time domain waveform warrant explicit time-varying Doppler scale estimation and compensation. In UWA channels, the residual Doppler error after compensation can be highly correlated due to very slow variation in Doppler scaling. This paper proposes a spectrally efficient and high performance frequency domain pilot symbol assisted modulation (PSAM) channel estimation scheme that fully exploits not only the time and frequency correlation of the channel, but also the correlation in the residual Doppler. The scheme is extended to Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) systems which further improves spectral efficiency. Simulation results demonstrate that the performance of the proposed channel estimation schemes and it is observed that the BER performance increases when the correlation in the residual Doppler is also exploited.
Odd-even binding effect from random two-body interactions

Systematic odd-even binding energy differences in finite metallic particles are usually attributed to mean-field orbital energy effects or to a coherent pairing interaction. We show analytically and numerically that a purely random two-body Hamiltonian can also give rise to an odd-even staggering. We explore the characteristics of this chaotic mechanism and discuss distinguishing features with respect to the other causes of staggering. In particular, randomness-induced staggering is found to be a smooth function of particle number, and the mechanism is seen to be largely insensitive to the presence of a magnetic field.
The Business Ethics of Credit Union Managers: Conflicts, Practices and Beliefs

ABSTRACT This paper analyzes responses to a recent survey of credit union managers who were asked to provide their views of ethical conflicts and practices within their industry. Results indicate that more than half of credit union managers (60%) have some ethical conflict with their individual customers, and (55%) said that there are “a few” industry practices that they considered unethical. “Misleading advertising” and “honesty in internal communications among coworkers” are the situations that most often generate ethical conflicts. About one third of respondents felt that ethical standards in the credit union profession are lower today compared with those 10 years ago, while another third perceived they are higher. Finally, more than half of respondents (58%) said their institutions have formalized rules and standards. Conclusions and implications are outlined and future research needs are described.
MTO/H2O2/pyrazole-mediated N-oxidation of meso-tetraarylporphyrins and -chlorins, and S-oxidation of a meso-tetraaryldithiaporphyrin and -chlorin.

The methyltrioxorhenium (MTO)/pyrazole-mediated H2O2 oxidation of octaethylporphyrin and a number of meso-tetraarylporphyrins offers simple and good yielding access to the corresponding N-oxides, o...
Successful Treatment of Severe Calciphylaxis in a Hemodialysis Patient Using Low‐Calcium Dialysate and Medical Parathyroidectomy: Case Report and Literature Review

This investigation presents a case report of the successful treatment of severe calciphylaxis using zero‐ and low‐calcium dialysate for hemodialysis, repeated wound debridement and skin grafting an...
The incorporation of radiocarbon from adenosine 5'-phosphate and amino acids into soluble ribonucleic acid fractions of rat liver.

Abstract The incorporation of several labeled amino acids and AMP in vitro into ethanol-insoluble and -soluble RNA fractions of “particulate-free supernate” of the rat liver has been studied. Of the amino acids examined only dl -leucine displayed a differential incorporation into the RNA fractions. There was neither a difference in the extent nor the manner in which AMP was incorporated into the polyribonucleotide fractions. Prior heat denaturation of the “particulate-free supernate” abolished the capacity of ethanol to solubilise a portion of the protein and RNA from trichloroacetic acid-treated material.
Neural-network-based beamforming for interference cancellation

A novel approach to the problem of finding the weights of an adaptive array is presented. In cellular and satellite mobile communications systems, desired as well as interfering signals are mobile. Therefore, a fast tracking system is needed to constantly estimate the directions of those users and then adapt the radiation pattern of the antenna to direct multiple beams to desired users and nulls to sources of interference. In this paper, the computation of the optimum weights is approached as a mapping problem which can be modeled using a suitable artificial neural network trained with input output pairs. A study of a three-layer Radial Basis Function Neural Network (RBFNN) is conducted. RBFNN were used due to their ability for data interpolation in higher dimensions. The network weights are modified using the normalized cumulative delta rule. The performance of this network is compared to the Wiener solution. It was found that networks implementing these functions were successful in tracking mobile users as they move across the antenna's field of view.
Enhanced homing and engraftment of fresh but not ex vivo cultured murine marrow cells in submyeloablated hosts following CD26 inhibition by Diprotin A

Objective We recently reported that murine marrow cultured ex vivo for γ-retrovirus transduction engrafts approximately 10-fold less well than fresh marrow upon transplantation into submyeloablated hosts. Here, we evaluated homing efficiency as a potential mechanism for this engraftment disparity, and whether CD26 inhibition with the tripeptide Diprotin A (DipA) would enhance engraftment of ex vivo cultured cells in submyeloablated hosts. Materials and Methods Homing and engraftment of fresh and ex vivo cultured lineage-negative (lin − ) marrow cells in submyeloablated congenic hosts with and without DipA treatment was evaluated. Expression of CXCR4 and CD26 on fresh and cultured lin − marrow cells was compared. Results Homing of lin − cells cultured for γ-retrovirus transduction was at least threefold less than that of fresh lin − cells 20 hours after transplantation into submyeloablated hosts. DipA treatment of fresh lin − cells resulted in at least twofold increased homing and engraftment in submyeloablated hosts. DipA treatment, however, did not significantly improve homing or engraftment of cells undergoing a 3-day culture protocol for γ-retrovirus transduction in submyeloablated hosts. CXCR4 expression on lin − cells was significantly decreased following 3 days of culture; CXCR4 expression was not significantly altered following overnight culture. Conclusions Ex vivo culture of lin − cells for γ-retroviral transduction downregulates CXCR4 expression and markedly impairs homing and engraftment of murine lin − marrow in submyeloablated hosts. While inhibition of CD26 activity with DipA increases homing and engraftment of fresh lin − cells, DipA treatment does not improve homing and engraftment of cultured lin − marrow cells in submyeloablated congenic hosts.
Autism: maternally derived antibodies specific for fetal brain proteins.

Autism is a profound disorder of neurodevelopment with poorly understood biological origins. A potential role for maternal autoantibodies in the etiology of some cases of autism has been proposed in previous studies To investigate this hypothesis, maternal plasma antibodies against human fetal and adult brain proteins were analyzed by western blot in 61 mothers of children with autistic disorder and 102 controls matched for maternal age and birth year (62 mothers of typically developing children (TD) and 40 mothers of children with non-ASD developmental delays (DD)). We observed reactivity to two protein bands at approximately 73kDa and 37kDa in plasma from 7 of 61 (11.5%) mothers of children with autism (AU) against fetal but not adult brain, which was not noted in either control group (TD; 0/62 p=0.0061 and DD; 0/40 p=0.0401). Further, the presence of reactivity to these two bands correlated with a diagnosis of behavioral regression in the child when compared to the TD (p=0.0019) and DD (0.0089) groups. Individual reactivity to the 37kDa band was observed significantly more often in the AU population compared with TD (p=0.0086) and DD (p=0.002) mothers, yielding a 5.69-fold odds ratio (95% confidence interval 2.09 - 15.51) associated with this band. The presence of these antibodies in the plasma of some mothers of children with autism, as well as the differential findings between mothers of children with early onset and regressive autism may suggest an association between the transfer of IgG autoantibodies during early neurodevelopment and the risk of developing of autism in some children.
M x-ray emission rates in Dirac-Fock approximation

Radiative transition rates to $M$-shell vacancies have been calculated in Coulomb and length gauges for ten elements with atomic numbers $48\ensuremath{\le}Z\ensuremath{\le}92$. The computations are relativistic, based on Dirac-Fock wave functions. As previously found for $K$ and $L$ shells, length-gauge results exceed rates computed in the Coulomb gauge by ~34%at $Z=48$ to ~4% at $Z=92$ for the ${M}_{1}$ shell and by ~44% at $Z=48$ to ~3.5% at $Z=92$ for the ${M}_{3}$ shell. Dirac-Fock rates calculated in the Coulomb gauge agree well with Dirac-Hartree-Slater results, to ~7% throughout. Contributions from higher multipoles are found to be small, the largest being ~1.5% $E2$ for $3s$ and $3p$ and 0.07% $E2$ for $3d$ initial vacancies. Relativistic effects are studied and analyzed in some detail.
Semiquantitative model for response of biological molecules containing C, N, O and H to laser pulses, with initial application to dipicolinic acid

We have constructed a semiquantitative model which can be used to treat the response of molecules containing carbon, nitrogen, oxygen and hydrogen to ultrafast laser pulses. The parameters for the pairwise interaction of both nitrogen and oxygen are obtained from a simple scaling of carbon and hydrogen parameters calculated by Frauenheim and co-workers. For the initial application of this model, we have chosen dipicolinic acid (DPA), an important constituent of biological spores. The equilibrium bond lengths of all of the test molecules, including DPA, are within 5% of the experimental bond lengths. The calculated molecular orbital structure of DPA near the HOMO–LUMO gap region shows three nearly degenerate occupied molecular orbitals and two nearly degenerate unoccupied orbitals. Photoexcitation with an ultrashort 5 fs FWHM laser pulse matched to the HOMO–LUMO gap energy produced transitions from the lowest of the the three nearly degenerate occupied orbitals to both of the nearly degenerate unoccupied m...
Assessing the simulation of chaotic systems

Three commercially available software packages—BrainMaker, MicroSaint, and Extend—that simulate the function and operation of neural networks were compared on 11 dimensions. Also, a task-oriented analysis was done on the ability of the programs to use a neural network to output a chaotic array generated by the logistic equation. There were differences in the amount of operator overhead among the programs, but the differences in the simulation performance were not considered to be appreciable.
Brief review of models of ectopic bone formation.

Ectopic bone formation is a unique biologic entity—distinct from other areas of skeletal biology. Animal research models of ectopic bone formation most often employ rodent models and have unique advantages over orthotopic (bone) environments, including a relative lack of bone cytokine stimulation and cell-to-cell interaction with endogenous (host) bone-forming cells. This allows for relatively controlled in vivo experimental bone formation. A wide variety of ectopic locations have been used for experimentation, including subcutaneous, intramuscular, and kidney capsule transplantation. The method, benefits and detractions of each method are summarized in the following review. Briefly, subcutaneous implantation is the simplest method. However, the most pertinent concern is the relative paucity of bone formation in comparison to other models. Intramuscular implantation is also widely used and relatively simple, however intramuscular implants are exposed to skeletal muscle satellite progenitor cells. Thus, distinguishing host from donor osteogenesis becomes challenging without cell-tracking studies. The kidney capsule (perirenal or renal capsule) method is less widely used and more technically challenging. It allows for supraphysiologic blood and nutrient resource, promoting robust bone growth. In summary, ectopic bone models are extremely useful in the evaluation of bone-forming stem cells, new osteoinductive biomaterials, and growth factors; an appropriate choice of model, however, will greatly increase experimental success.
An afterschool intervention program for educationally disadvantaged young children

The research investigated the premise that if educationally disadvantaged children experience increased instructional time combined with an educational setting that is sensitive to their culture and that provides perceptions of control, enhanced achievement and interest in learning will result. The research setting was the Hilltop Emergent Literacy Project (HELP), an afterschool educational program serving poor, mostly African American five- to nine-year-olds (kindergarten to third grade) who reside in a subsidized apartment complex. A treatment group of 12 kindergartners was compared to a control group of 12 kindergartners. In the spring of kindergarten, the treatment group was outperforming the control group on standardized test scores, but both groups were below national norms. In the spring of first grade, the treatment group was still outperforming the control group and was above national norms in some areas. Report card data and qualitative indicators also provide evidence of the effectiveness of the program.
Analysis of membrane proteins from human chronic myelogenous leukemia cells: comparison of extraction methods for multidimensional LC-MS/MS.

An important strategy for “shotgun proteomics” profiling involves solution proteolysis of proteins, followed by peptide separation using multidimensional liquid chromatography and automated sequenc...
Evaluation Of Heavy Metal Fluoride Glasses For Use With The Erbium (YAG) Laser

A power delivery system capable of delivering high energy densities of infrared radiation at 2.94μm is required for the application of the Erbium YAG laser in the medical industry. Conventional silica fibers have high intrinsic absorption coefficients in this spectral region, making them unsuitable for this application. Alternatively, heavy metal fluoride glasses possess very low intrinsic loss at this wavelength, and also offer transparency in the visible part of the spectrum. These glasses are very hygroscopic, however, and the fundamental OH stretching absorption band occurs in the spectral region of interest. In this work heavy metal fluoride glass samples were prepared with a variety of processing conditions and compositions. The techniques of laser calorimetry and integrated scatter measurement were employed to obtain the absorptive and scattering components of the total optical attenuation at 2.94μm independently. Absorption was found to dominate over the scattering loss at this wavelength. Comparison of laser calorimetry and scattering data with IR spectrometer data indicates that the OH absorption peak is a transparency limiting factor in this spectral region for the best optical quality samples. Of the glass samples prepared for this work the minimum absorption coefficient obtained at 2.94μm was 0.0075cm-1, and the minimum scattering loss measured at this wavelength was 1.14 x 10-5cm-1. These minima were both measured on an aluminum fluoride based glass sample.
Bridge Work Repatriating Mardi Gras Indian Photography with the House of Dance & Feathers

On a cold winter’s night in 2009, Ricky Gettridge invited me into his ranch home on Tennessee Street in the Lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans. He had recently moved back after renovating his house that had been flooded in 2005 during Hurricane Katrina, and everything was new. We had not met before, but he welcomed me because his good friend, Ronald W. Lewis, wanted to include some of the artwork he had donated to the House of Dance & Feathers—Lewis’s small, grassroots museum located in their neighborhood—for a catalogue we were creating. I pulled up a photograph of a beaded rhinestone patch on my computer that was part of a digital photography archive we were creating (Fig. 1). In 1990, Gettridge sewn this patch for a headpiece, known in Mardi Gras Indian vernacular as a “crown,” for Lewis’s son, Rashad. As Gettridge leaned closer to look at the stitching, he was taken back to his own childhood, explaining,
Molecular support for marine sculpin (Cottidae; Oligocottinae) diversification during the transition from the subtidal to intertidal habitat in the Northeastern Pacific Ocean

Abstract Sculpins in the genera Ruscarius, Artedius, Clinocottus, and Oligocottus are common intertidal and subtidal benthic fishes of the Northeastern Pacific Ocean. While there has been a long history of attempts to reconstruct the evolutionary relationships within this clade, studies have largely resulted in conflicting conclusions. Current ideas regarding the limits of species and genera in this subfamily (Oligocottinae) and their branching order are based primarily on morphology [Bolin, R.L., 1944. A Review of the Marine Cottid Fishes of California. Natural History Museum of Stanford University, Stanford University, California; Bolin, R.L., 1947. The Evolution of the Marine Cottidae of California with a Discussion of the Genus as a Systematic Category. Stanford University, California]. The primary objectives of this study are: (a) to determine if the phylogenetic relationships inferred from DNA characters are concordant with those inferred from morphological characters and (b) to determine if a habitat shift from the subtidal to the intertidal environment resulted in the diversification of the group. Cytochrome b and Nicotinamide Adenine Dinucleotide Dehydrogenase subunit one mitochondrial gene fragments and one nuclear intron (S7 ribosomal protein) were sequenced in order to infer the phylogenetic relationships within this subfamily. Maximum likelihood and Bayesian algorithms were employed to reconstruct phylogenetic trees. We found that several genera in this clade are not monophyletic and that there is a clear phylogenetic signal indicating that a habitat shift from the subtidal to the intertidal habitat has resulted in the diversification of the Oligocottinae.
Solid carbon at high pressure: Electrical resistivity and phase transition

The electrical resistivity of polycrystalline graphite and amorphous carbon are measured at high pressures and room temperature. The results show that the resistivity of these carbon phases decreases with increasing pressure below 19 GPa. The pressure dependence of the resistivity (dlnϱ/dP) is determined to be-0.037 GPa−1 for the polycrystalline graphite and-0.039 GPa−1 for the amorphous carbon. A phase transition, interpreted as the transformation to hexagonal diamond phase, is observed in the polycrystalline graphite at about 20 GPa but not in the amorphous carbon. The present experimental results support the assumption that this phase transition is martensitic in nature.