cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Synthesis of Organic Compounds by Electric Discharges

Prolonged electric spark discharges were applied to mixtures consisting essentially of methane, ammonia, water, and ethane in an investigation of the synthesis of organic compounds under possible primitive earth conditions. C/sup 14/-hydrocarbons, mainly C/sup 14/-methane, were used as tracers. Radioautograrns were prepared of two-dimensional chromatograms of the products formed. The results show that a number of organic compounds are formed by the action of electric discharges on the mixtures. The products obtained include glycine, alanine, aspartic acid, asparagine, isoleucine, glycinamide, and possibly proline, a yellowish oil, a highly insoluble polymer, and several ultraviolet-absorbing compounds. Products that gave purple, green, and brown derivatives with ninhydrin, suggesting the presence of amines, amino-nitriles, aminoamides, and peptides, were also formed. The experimental procedure is described. (C.H.)
Model-based 3D object recognition using reciprocal basis sets and direction of arrival techniques

This paper presents a new method for model-based object recognition which uses a single, comprehensive analytic object model representing the entirety of a suite of gray-scale views of the object. In this way, object orientation and identity can be directly established from arbitrary views, even though these views are not related by any geometric image transformation. The approach is also applicable to other real and complex sensed data, such as radar and thermal signatures. The unprocessed object model is comprised of a set of basis images with complex exponential harmonic terms as coefficients. A new model is formed comprised of the reciprocal set of the object basis set. The projection of an acquired image onto the reciprocal basis thus produces samples of a complex exponential, the phase of which reveals the pose parameters. Estimation of this phase for several degrees of freedom corresponds to the plane wave direction of arrival (DOA) problem; thus the pose parameters can be found using DOA solution techniques. Results are given which illustrate the performance of a simplified, preliminary, implementation of this method using real-world images.© (1993) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
The Cost of Not Being Christian: Hindus, Sikhs and Muslims in Britain and Canada

This article compares foreign born Hindus, Sikhs and Muslims to native born white Christians on four economic outcomes in two nations: Britain and Canada. For Canada, our data come from the 1991 Census, for Britain from the Fourth National Survey of Ethnic Minorities (1994). Theory and research lead us to predict that, ceteris paribus, non-Christians will fare better in Canada on three of the four outcomes. In the main, however, this expectation does not hold up. Compared to their British counterparts, Canada's Muslims fare less well on labor force participation and Canada's Hindus and Sikhs less well on unemployment. Compared to their Canadian counterparts, British Muslims fare less well on unemployment. On occupation and earnings, we detect no cross-national differences. To explain the paucity of cross-national disparities, we draw on Reitz's argument that Canada's reputation as an attractive immigrant destination has been exaggerated. To explain the few differences we do find, we emphasize cross-national differences in religious discrimination and our inability to control adequately for differences in sending countries.
Stability of Numerical Invariants in Free Groups

ABSTRACT In this article, we introduce the notion of a proper numerical invariant, n k (W), for a word W in a free group F k = ⟨ x 1 ,…, x k ⟩ of rank k. This concept generalizes the length of a word in a free group. We define N k (W) to be the minimum value of n k (Φ(W)) as Φ ranges over all automorphisms of F k . The main theorem proven is that N k (W) = N k+ 1 (i k (W)), where i k is the embedding of F k into F k+ 1 = F k * ⟨ x k+ 1 ⟩ given by i k (x j ) = x j . As a corollary, we show that if a word W ∈ F k is potentially positive when considered as a word in F k+ 1 , then it is potentially positive in F k , thus answering question F34b in Baumslag et al. (2002). This article is a generalization of a result in Clark and Goldstein (Preprint).
Microscope Projection Photolithography for Rapid Prototyping of Masters with Micron-Scale Features for Use in Soft Lithography

This paper demonstrates the application of projection photolithography, using a standard commercial microscope, for the generation of masters for soft lithography. The procedure is rapid and convenient and produces features smaller in size (as small as 0.6 μm) than those available from other methods of rapid prototyping, albeit over a limited area (∼4 × 104 μm2 per exposure). A transparency photomask (prepared using high-resolution printing) is inserted into the light path of the microscope and projected through the microscope objective onto a photoresist-coated substrate. Features on the order of 1 μm can be produced routinely over the area of sharp focus (a circle of radius r ≅ 100 μm with a 100× objective) by this method without modification or precise calibration of the microscope. The microscope platform also provides two other useful functions, both characteristic of commercial steppers: step-and-repeat exposures and pattern alignment. The developed photoresist is used as a master for the fabricati...
Embryonic Development of Two Lines of White Rocks

Abstract FACTORS such as egg weight, maternal diet, temperature, humidity, inheritance and position in the clutch or sequence may influence hatching time. Townsley (1930) found that high temperature and humidity during incubation shortened hatch time while low temperature and humidity increased hatch time. In an experiment with eggs from hens fed rations deficient in iodine, Rogler et al. (1959) obtained results showing that hatching time was greatly increased in iodine deficient eggs due to retardation of the entrance of the yolk sac into the abdomen. In an experiment designed to study characteristics of chicks in relation to length of incubation period, Smyth and Howes (1949) observed that chicks from different hens varied in the time to hatch. Tolman et al. (1962) in a study of embryonic growth of two-and three-way crosses of chickens found that hen differences accounted for most of the variation in embryonic growth rate. Chick weight at hatch…
Sodium and Potassium Sensitivity of Calcium Uptake and Calcium Binding by Dog Cardiac Microsomes

Concentrations of KCl and NaCl below 1.0 M increased Ca uptake (in the presence of oxalate) by dog cardiac microsomes purified on sucrose density gradients; higher concentrations of these salts decreased Ca uptake. At lower microsome concentrations, where calcium uptake was maximal, replacement of KCl by equimolar amounts of NaCl decreased both the rate and extent of Ca uptake. The uptake of Ca in mixtures of NaCl and KCl was that expected from the presence of each cation alone, and bore no obvious relationship to the (Na+ + K+)-activated ATPase associated with sodium transport. Ca binding (in the absence of oxalate) was increased by concentrations of NaCl and KCl up to approximately 0.12 M when the reaction mixture contained 5 mM ATP; higher concentrations of the alkali-metal salts reduced Ca binding. A similar dual action of Na+ and K+ on Ca binding was seen in the absence of ATP, but Ca binding was maximal at approximately 0.01 M KCl. The reduced Ca binding at high concentrations of KCl in the presence...
Induction of vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 by low-density lipoprotein

Low-density lipoprotein (LDL) is a well-established risk factor for atherosclerosis. When endothelial cells are incubated with this lipoprotein in pathophysiologic amounts, the cells are activated. Among the documented cellular responses to LDL is increased recruitment of monocytes, which are believed to play a major role in promoting intimal plaque formation. The findings presented here link an atheogenic lipoprotein, LDL, with the induction of an adhesion molecule important in atherogenesis Human LDL induces the vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 (VCAM-1) transcriptionally with an increase in mRNA levels through activation of the VCAM promoter. This effect is blocked by anti-VCAM antibodies. After a 2-day incubation in LDL, the binding of NF-kappa B, which is believed to be a key oxidative-stress sensor for VCAM regulation, remains at basal level. In contrast, the binding activities of AP-1 and GATA, on the other hand, are increased by LDL. Thus, a component of LDL-enhanced endothelial recruitment of monocytes is attributed to VCAM-1 expression, which appears to be mediated through AP-1 and GATA. These data identify LDL as a VCAM-inducer possibly distinct from cytokines and endotoxin.
Performance Analysis of a Combination System of Concentrating PV/T Collector and TEGs

Thermoelectric modules utilize available temperature differences to generate electricity by the Seebeck effect. The current study investigates the merits of employing thermoelectrics to harvest additional electric energy instead of just cooling concentrating photovoltaic (CPV) modules by heat sinks (heat extractors). One of the attractive options to convert solar energy into electricity efficiently is to laminate TE modules between CPV modules and heat extractors to form a CPV-TE/thermal hybrid system. In order to perform an accurate estimation of the additional electrical energy harvested, a coupled field model is developed to calculate the electrical performance of TE devices, which incorporates a rigorous interfacial energy balance including the Seebeck effect, the Peltier effect, and Joule heating, and results in better predictions of the conversion capability. Moreover, a 3D multiphysics computational model for the hybrid concentrating PV-TE/thermal (CPV-TE/T) water collector system consisting of a solar concentrator, 10 serially-connected GaAs/Ge PV cells, 300 couples of bismuth telluride TE modules, and a cooling channel with heat-recovery capability, is implemented by using the commercial FE–tool COMSOL™. A conjugate heat transfer model is used, assuming laminar flow through the cooling channel. The performance and efficiencies of the hybrid system are analyzed. As compared with the traditional PV/T system, a comparable thermal efficiency and a higher 8% increase of the electrical efficiency can be observed through the PV-TE hybrid system. Additionally, with the identical convective surface area and cooling flow rate in both configurations, the PV-TE/T hybrid system yields higher PV cell temperatures but more uniform temperature distributions across the cell array, which thus eliminates the current matching problem; however, the higher cell temperatures lower the PV module’s fatigue life, which has become one of the biggest challenges in the PV-TE hybrid system.Copyright © 2013 by ASME
Runoff from rain and snow

The basic principles of the idealized hydrologic cycle are reviewed with emphasis on storage and movement of water in the soil. A distinction is made between ground-water runoff and overland runoff in terms of storage and lag, expressed as accumulated deviations from uniform flow over a period of several years. These functions are presented for the period 1920 through 1945 for three rivers in central Oregon: John Day, Deschutes, and Metolius, which exemplify minimum, moderate, and maximum effects, respectively, of storage and lag. The Metolius River is shown to have extremely small fluctuations in discharge from year to year, ascribed to a great portion of its flow being derived from ground-water runoff; and its response to fluctuations in annual precipitation lags behind that of the John Day River by about five years. Specific techniques and measures for improving seasonal water supply forecasts are suggested.
A Vector Autoregressive Analysis Of An Oil‐Dependent Emerging Economy — Nigeria

This paper models the interrelationship among a variety of macroeconomic variables representing the financial, as well as the energy, sectors of the Nigerian economy from 1975 through 1994. The attempt is to investigate the impact of the energy sector on the functioning of the Nigerian economy, including the financial markets. The investigation is explored within a vector autoregressive (VAR) system. The results reveal that the energy sector exerts a significant influence on the Nigerian economy by acting as a prime mover. More importantly, Nigeria seems to find itself in a vicious circle, because of its inability to exercise control over the price of its main export and its imports. Thus, the strength and autonomy exhibited by Nigerias macroeconomic managers during the oil boom era appears to have been barren.
Observations on the innervation of human extraocular muscles.

Abstract The innervation of human extraocular muscles (EOM) was studied using a comprehensive histological and histochemical approach. In contrast to previous concepts, we have demonstrated that the coarse felderstruktur muscle fibers are singly innervated by en plaque endings and that the fine and granular fibrillenstruktur fibers are multiply innervated by en grappe endings. Each of the fine and granular fibers is innervated by a single thin axon that travels along the fiber and sends collaterals to the en grappe endings. These findings may provide a new basis for the correlation of morphological and physiological properties of EOM.
Sharing and Inspiring

When you work in education, August is the start of a new year. It is a time not only to reflect on past accomplishments and failures but also to set goals. It is a little bit of a challenge for me to be writing this in mid-April, because I'm not quite in that mindset yet. Even so, I have spent a lot of time reflecting on my involvement over the past few years with Professional School Counseling, and I want to take this opportunity to share with you my goals for the journal. I must start by saying that I am excited to be coming on board as the Professional School Counseling editor. Nevertheless, I couldn't help but laugh when, on April Fool's Day, the previous editor, Rick Auger, Ph.D., sent me an e-mail in which he reminded me that was my first official day on the job. It took me a minute to remember he wasn't joking. I have spent the past couple of years as associate editor, working closely with Rick, and I want to express how much I value having worked with him. The collaborative manner in which he approached his role as editor has allowed me to slowly transition into that role. I also want to welcome Chris Sink, Ph.D., Seattle Pacific University, on board as the new associate editor. If you're not aware, Chris is a former editor of Professional School Counseling, and he brings a wealth of other editorial experience with him. Kathleen Rakestraw continues to serve as the person who manages everything and keeps us moving; we would be lost without her. As I was reviewing back issues of Professional School Counseling, I realized that my goals are not really that different from those of recent editors. In December 2006, Rick wrote that he wanted to make the journal relevant to practicing school counselors, include voices from people outside of school counseling, present empirical data, and publish high-quality articles. I must say that I still agree with all of those things. In particular, any of you who have submitted manuscripts over the past few years probably know that Rick and I have tried to encourage authors to collect data to support their ideas. Accountability and evidence-based practice are two important concepts for school counselors, and I believe that our professional journal should help school counselors understand how to demonstrate their effectiveness and also provide them with evidence-based interventions they can implement in their schools. To be more specific, I would like to see Professional School Counseling (a) be informative to practitioners, counselor educators, and graduate students; (b) address topics that are timely; and (c) focus on evidence-based and/or theory-based ideas and interventions. We rely on the editorial board to help ensure these goals are met. An efficient review process, managed by Kathleen, ensures that we are able to publish articles before the information becomes dated. The editorial board also provides feedback regarding the perceived relevance of the manuscripts for the journal. …
Estrogenic Flavonoids from Artemisia vulgaris L.

The comprehensive quantitative analysis of the flavonoid chemistry of Artemisia vulgaris L., a plant used as an emmenagogue in traditional medicine, is presented in conjunction with an evaluation of its estrogenic activity. Twenty known flavonoids were isolated and identified as tricine, jaceosidine, eupafolin, chrysoeriol, diosmetin, homoeriodictyol, isorhamnetin, apigenin, eriodictyol, luteolin, luteolin 7-glucoside, kaempferol 3-glucoside, kaempferol 7-glucoside, kaempferol 3-rhamnoside, kaempferol 3-rutinoside, quercetin 3-glucoside, quercetin 3-galactoside, quercetrin, rutin, and vitexin. The most abundant compounds were eriodictyol and luteolin. The estrogenic activity of all flavonoids was assayed by employing a reconstituted estrogen transcription unit in Saccharomyces cerevisiae transformed with both a human estrogen receptor expression plasmid and a reporter plasmid. Two flavonoids, eriodictyol and apigenin, were able to induce the transcription of the reporter gene in transgenic yeast. The transcriptional activity increased proportionally with increased amounts of purified eriodictyol or apigenin added to the yeast cells.
Amino acid induced hormone secretion in lambs

Zusammenfassung Aminosaure-induzierte Hormonsekretion bei Lammern Kreuzungslammer erhielten Injektionen von L-Arginin-Hydrochlorid (arg), um den Effekt von Einfach- und Mehrfachinjektionen auf die Sekretion von Wachstumshormon (GH) und Insulin zu beobachten. Im Versuch 1 erhielten 6 Lammer eine einmalige arg-Injektion von 0,5 g. kg–1 BW. Als Kontrolltiere dienten jeweils 6 Lammer, denen das gleiche Volumen 0,9% NaCl injeziert wurde. Im Versuch 2 erhielten die Lammer drei Injektionen stundlich und im Versuch 3 vier Injektionen in 15 minutigem Abstand. Die GH-Sekretion im Versuch 1 lag bei den arg-Lammern hoher als bei den Kontrolltieren. Die hochste GH-Sekretion wurde 30 min. p.i. beobachtet. Der GH-Gehalt fiel dann auf das Funffache der Basiswerte und pendelte sich dann ein uber den gesamten Sammelzeitraum. Der Seruminsulingehalt hatte 10 min. p.i. seinen Hohepunkt und lag 5 mal hoher als bei den Kontrolltieren. Im Versuch 2 zeigten die arg-Lammer eine insgesamt hohere GH-Sekretion (P< 0,005). Die hochsten GH-Konzentrationen wurden 20 min. nach der 1. Injektion und 1 h nach der 2. Injektion beobachtet. Dann erfolgte keine weitere Steigerung mehr. Die Insulinkonzentration stieg geringfugig (P<0,10) nach der 1. Injektion an. Im Versuch 3 zeigten die arg-Lammer hohere GH-Konzentrationen im Serum (P < 0,005). Der GH-Peak entstand 25 min. nach der 1. Injektion, stieg noch einmal nach 100 min., fiel auf das Dreifache der Basiswerte und blieb konstant erhoht. Die Insulinwerte waren bei den arg-Lammern erhoht (P<0,01). Daraus last sich schliesen, das nach arg-Mehrfachinjektionen erhohte GH-Konzentrationen gemessen werden, die langer andauern. Die Insulingehalte im Serum zeigen dagegen einen variableren Respons zu den unterschiedlichen Injektionsverfahren.
An Initial Exploration of Corrosion Inhibition of AA6061 and AA7075 by Aqueous Vanadates

Aqueous tetrahedrally coordinated vanadate species have been recognized as corrosion inhibitors of AA2024-T3. Inhibition is primarily attributed to the suppression of the oxygen reduction reaction on Cu-containing intermetallics. This work focuses on whether aqueous vanadates provide similar inhibition to other wrought precipitation age-hardened aluminum alloys like AA6061-T6 and AA7075-T6, which contain less Cu than AA2024-T3. A combination of open circuit potential measurements, potentiodynamic polarization experiments, and exposure tests in dilute vanadate and vanadate-free NaCl solutions indicate that vanadates provide the strongest inhibition on AA2024-T3 and AA7075-T6 with relatively less inhibition observed on AA6061-T6.
Ambient Air Pollution and Cardiovascular Emergency Department Visits in Potentially Sensitive Groups

Limited evidence suggests that persons with conditions such as diabetes, hypertension, congestive heart failure, and respiratory conditions may be at increased risk of adverse cardiovascular morbidity and mortality associated with ambient air pollution. The authors collected data on over 4 million emergency department visits from 31 hospitals in Atlanta, Georgia, between January 1993 and August 2000. Visits for cardiovascular disease were examined in relation to levels of ambient pollutants by use of a case-crossover framework. Heterogeneity of risk was examined for several comorbid conditions. The results included evidence of stronger associations of dysrhythmia and congestive heart failure visits with comorbid hypertension in relation to increased air pollution levels compared with visits without comorbid hypertension; similar evidence of effect modification by diabetes and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) was observed for dysrhythmia and peripheral and cerebrovascular disease visits, respectively. Evidence of effect modification by comorbid hypertension and diabetes was observed in relation to particulate matter less than 10 microm in aerodynamic diameter, nitrogen dioxide, and carbon monoxide, while evidence of effect modification by comorbid COPD was also observed in response to ozone levels. These findings provide further evidence of increased susceptibility to adverse cardiovascular events associated with ambient air pollution among persons with hypertension, diabetes, and COPD.
The Separate Physics and Dynamics Experiment (SPADE) framework for determining resolution awareness: A case study of microphysics

[1] Multiresolution dynamical cores for weather and climate modeling are pushing the atmospheric community toward developing scale aware or, more specifically, resolution aware parameterizations that function properly across a range of grid spacings. Determining resolution dependence of specific model parameterizations is difficult due to resolution dependencies in many model components. This study presents the Separate Physics and Dynamics Experiment (SPADE) framework for isolating resolution dependent behavior of specific parameterizations without conflating resolution dependencies from other portions of the model. To demonstrate SPADE, the resolution dependence of the Morrison microphysics, from the Weather Research and Forecasting model, and the Morrison-Gettelman microphysics, from the Community Atmosphere Model, are compared for grid spacings spanning the cloud modeling gray zone. It is shown that the Morrison scheme has stronger resolution dependence than Morrison-Gettelman, and the partial cloud fraction capability of Morrison-Gettelman is not the primary reason for this difference.
Association between reduced copy-number at T-cell receptor gamma (TCRγ) and childhood allergic asthma: A possible role for somatic mosaicism

Abstract Asthma is a chronic inflammatory disease of the lungs which affects more than 6.5 million American children. A family-based genome-wide association study of copy-number variation identified an association between decreased copy-number at TCRγ and childhood allergic asthma. TCRγ encodes the T-cell receptor gamma glycoprotein, a cell-surface protein found on T-cells and involved in cell-mediated immunity. Using quantitative real-time PCR, we sought to determine if copy-number variation at TCRα , TCRβ or TCRγ was associated with childhood allergic asthma in an independent cohort of 94 cases and 455 controls using DNA from buccal swabs. Copy-number variation at these loci is well-known, but appears to be dominated by somatic mutations. Genotyping results indicated that copy-number variants at these genes are largely somatic mutations, as inheritance did not show Mendelian consistency. In these mosaic cell populations, copy-number was significantly reduced among asthmatic children at TCRγ ( p = 0.0199), but was not associated at TCRα or TCRβ ( p = 0.7972 and 0.8585, respectively). These findings support the association between reduced copy-number at TCRγ and childhood allergic asthma. Further work is needed to resolve whether reduced copy-number at TCRγ predisposes individuals to asthma, or whether deletion of this gene is a somatic response to the disease.
LKB1 modulates lung cancer differentiation and metastasis

Germline mutation in serine/threonine kinase 11 (STK11, also called LKB1) results in Peutz-Jeghers syndrome, characterized by intestinal hamartomas and increased incidence of epithelial cancers. Although uncommon in most sporadic cancers, inactivating somatic mutations of LKB1 have been reported in primary human lung adenocarcinomas and derivative cell lines. Here we used a somatically activatable mutant Kras-driven model of mouse lung cancer to compare the role of Lkb1 to other tumour suppressors in lung cancer. Although Kras mutation cooperated with loss of p53 or Ink4a/Arf (also known as Cdkn2a) in this system, the strongest cooperation was seen with homozygous inactivation of Lkb1. Lkb1-deficient tumours demonstrated shorter latency, an expanded histological spectrum (adeno-, squamous and large-cell carcinoma) and more frequent metastasis compared to tumours lacking p53 or Ink4a/Arf. Pulmonary tumorigenesis was also accelerated by hemizygous inactivation of Lkb1. Consistent with these findings, inactivation of LKB1 was found in 34% and 19% of 144 analysed human lung adenocarcinomas and squamous cell carcinomas, respectively. Expression profiling in human lung cancer cell lines and mouse lung tumours identified a variety of metastasis-promoting genes, such as NEDD9, VEGFC and CD24, as targets of LKB1 repression in lung cancer. These studies establish LKB1 as a critical barrier to pulmonary tumorigenesis, controlling initiation, differentiation and metastasis.
Towards Database Firewall: Mining the Damage Spreading Patterns

Access control and integrity constraints are well known approaches to ensure data integrity in commercial database systems. However, due to operational mistakes, malicious intent of insiders or vulnerabilities exploited by outsiders, data stored in a database can still be compromised. When the database is under an attack, rolling back and re-executing the damaged transactions are the most used mechanisms during system recovery. This kind of mechanism either stops (or greatly restricts) the database service during repair, which causes unacceptable availability loss or denial-of- service for mission critical applications, or may cause serious damage spreading during on-the-fly recovery where many clean data items are accidentally corrupted by legitimate new transactions. To resolve this dilemma, we devise a novel mechanism, called database firewall in this paper. This firewall is designed to protect good data from being corrupted due to damage spreading. Pattern mining and Bayesian network techniques are adopted in the framework to mine frequent damage spreading patterns and to predict the data integrity in the face of attack. Our approach provides a probability based strategy to estimate the data integrity on the fly. With this feature, the database firewall is able to enforce a policy of transaction filtering to dynamically filter out the potential spreading transactions.
Looking under the hood: tools for diagnosing your question answering engine

In this paper we analyze two question answering tasks: the TREC-8 question answering task and a set of reading comprehension exams. First, we show that Q/A systems perform better when there are multiple answer opportunities per question. Next, we analyze common approaches to two subproblems: term overlap for answer sentence identification, and answer typing for short answer extraction. We present general tools for analyzing the strengths and limitations of techniques for these sub-problems. Our results quantify the limitations of both term overlap and answer typing to distinguish between competing answer candidates.
Opening dynamics of 8-oxoguanine in DNA.

8-oxoguanine is a major lesion of genomic DNA that results from oxidation of guanine by reactive oxygen species. The repair of this lesion is initiated by 8-oxoguanine glycosylases, which excise the damaged base by “flipping” it outside the DNA double helix. The molecular mechanisms involved in the specific recognition of the damaged base by the enzyme are not yet fully understood. Several models have proposed that, in DNA, the base pair between 8-oxoguanine and cytosine may possess altered dynamic properties that could help the enzyme locate the lesion and could favor the selective extra-helical flipping of the damaged base. To test this proposal, we have characterized the spontaneous opening of the base pair between 8-oxoguanine and cytosine in a DNA double helix using NMR spectroscopy and proton exchange. The results show that the rate of spontaneous opening of 8-oxoguanine and the lifetime of the base in the extra-helical state are the same as those of a canonical guanine-cytosine base pair, in the same base sequence context. This finding suggests that the opening dynamics of 8-oxoguanine, when paired with cytosine in DNA, does not play a significant role in the recognition of the lesion by glycosylases. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Analysis and optimization of soft error tolerance strategies for real-time systems

The safety of real-time embedded systems relies on both functional and timing correctness. On the timing side, real-time constraints are set on task executions, and missing them may lead to system failure. On the functional side, soft errors have become a major concern. Various soft error tolerance strategies are proposed for soft error detection and recovery, however they may introduce significant computation overhead and cause timing violations. In this work, we address the two aspects in an integrated framework, and propose a set of formulations to quantitatively model the impact of soft error detection and recovery mechanisms on real-time constraints. The formulations facilitate designers to analyze system feasibility under fault tolerance requirements and compare various architecture platforms. They may also help select the appropriate error tolerance mechanisms for software tasks, together with exploring task scheduling and allocation on representative single-core, multicore and distributed platforms, to maximize error coverage while meeting real-time constraints. Experiments on an industrial case study and synthetic examples demonstrate the effectiveness of our approach.
Object orientation as a dimension of stimulus generalization

Symmetric, on-continuum discrimination training was carried out with three orientations of a three-dimensional object. The ensuing generalization testing revealed that orientation of a three-dimensional object constitutes a dimension of stimulus generalization in much the same way as do less complex continua, i.e., wavelength of light, line tilt, etc.
Adaptive video background replacement

A video background replacement algorithm is proposed, which is based on background subtraction with adaptive background modeling. Like one early work ([1]) in this direction, it does not require a blue screen but needs only a pre-recorded background scene image. The problem is formulated as one that detects statistical outliers with respect to the given background. A twopass process, which refines initial segmentation based on the statistics on a pixel’s neighborhood, is adopted in order to suppress false positives in the background region while increasing detection rate for the foreground object. Experiments with real image sequences are presented, along with comparisons with some other existing methods, illustrating the advantages of the proposed algorithm.
Doing the Right Thing With Families During Critical Life Events

With complex medical technology readily available for life-sustaining situations, making critical healthcare decisions has never been more arduous. Individuals, families, and communities face difficult circumstances, while all-at-once attempting to make decisions that are ethically considered to be doing the right thing. What should the nurse do and how ought the nurse be with others during these moments of potentially divisive situations for families. This article begins a discussion of the ethical complexities for doing what is right in the midst of critical life events through the lens of the humanbecoming family model.
Mortality Risk of Darbepoetin Alfa Versus Epoetin Alfa in Patients With CKD: Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

Background Epoetin alfa (EPO) and darbepoetin alfa (DPO) are erythropoiesis-stimulating agents that are widely and interchangeably used for the treatment of anemia in patients with advanced chronic kidney disease and end-stage renal disease. No study has specifically compared the risks of hard study outcomes between EPO and DPO, including mortality. Study Design Systematic review of the literature and meta-analysis. Setting & Population Patients enrolled in randomized trials comparing EPO versus DPO for the treatment of anemia in adults with chronic kidney disease, including those requiring dialysis. Selection Criteria for Studies We conducted a systematic search of the literature (PubMed, CENTRAL, SCOPUS, and EMBASE, all years) and industry resources, using predefined search terms and data abstraction tools. We then summarized key characteristics and findings of these trials and performed a random-effects meta-analysis of trials with at least 3 months' duration to identify the summary OR of mortality between patients randomly assigned to DPO versus EPO. Intervention DPO versus EPO. Outcome All-cause mortality. Results We identified 9 trials that met the stated inclusion criteria. Overall, 2,024 patients were included in the meta-analysis, of whom 126 died during follow-up, which ranged from 20 to 52 weeks. We found no significant difference in mortality between patients randomly assigned to DPO versus EPO (OR, 1.33; 95% CI, 0.88-2.01). No treatment heterogeneity across studies was detected (Q statistic=4.60; P =0.8). Limitations Generalizability to nontrial populations is uncertain. Conclusions Few trials directly comparing DPO and EPO have been conducted and follow-up was limited. In aggregate, no effect of specific erythropoiesis-stimulating agent on mortality was identified, but the confidence limits were wide and remained compatible with considerable harm from DPO. Absent adequately powered randomized trials, observational postmarketing comparative effectiveness studies comparing these erythropoiesis-stimulating agents are required to better characterize the long-term safety profiles of these agents.
Purification of tubulin and microtubule-associated proteins by membrane ion-exchange chromatography

Microtubules, composed of tubulin and microtubule-associated proteins (MAPs), can be isolated using routine procedures from homogenates of vertebrate brain. Often, it is necessary then to purify the tubulin from the MAPs, and normally this purification is effected by standard techniques of ion-exchange chromatography. However, such procedures can be expensive, both in the consumption of buffers and other expensive components (e. g. GTP) and in investigator time. Here, we demonstrate that membrane ion exchangers mounted in syringe filter cartridges can be used to separate tubulin from MAPs in a matter of minutes, compared to the several hours that are normally required for typical chromatographic procedures using phosphocellulose orDEAE. The resulting tubulin is competent to assemble into microtubules upon either addition of the purified MAPs or addition of the microtubule-stabilizing drug Taxol. Thus, the procedure should be useful to investigators requiring a rapid and effective purification of tubulin for use in assembly studies or in vitro motility assays.
Beyond the Butterfly: Sc2C2@C2v(9)-C86, an Endohedral Fullerene Containing a Planar, Twisted Sc2C2 Unit with Remarkable Crystalline Order in an Unprecedented Carbon Cage

The synthesis, isolation, and characterization of a new endohedral fullerene, Sc2C88, is reported. Characterization by single crystal X-ray diffraction revealed that it is the carbide Sc2C2@C2v(9)-C86 with a planar, twisted Sc2C2 unit inside a previously unseen C2v(9)-C86 fullerene cage.
Reorganization of Sleep by Temperature in Drosophila Requires Light, the Homeostat, and the Circadian Clock

Increasing ambient temperature reorganizes the Drosophila sleep pattern in a way similar to the human response to heat, increasing daytime sleep while decreasing nighttime sleep. Mutation of core circadian genes blocks the immediate increase in daytime sleep, but not the heat-stimulated decrease in nighttime sleep, when animals are in a light:dark cycle. The ability of per(01) flies to increase daytime sleep in light:dark can be rescued by expression of PER in either LNv or DN1p clock cells and does not require rescue of locomotor rhythms. Prolonged heat exposure engages the homeostat to maintain daytime sleep in the face of nighttime sleep loss. In constant darkness, all genotypes show an immediate decrease in sleep in response to temperature shift during the subjective day, implying that the absence of light input uncovers a clock-independent pro-arousal effect of increased temperature. Interestingly, the effects of temperature on nighttime sleep are blunted in constant darkness and in cry(OUT) mutants in light:dark, suggesting that they are dependent on the presence of light the previous day. In contrast, flies of all genotypes kept in constant light sleep more at all times of day in response to high temperature, indicating that the presence of light can invert the normal nighttime response to increased temperature. The effect of temperature on sleep thus reflects coordinated regulation by light, the homeostat, and components of the clock, allowing animals to reorganize sleep patterns in response to high temperature with rough preservation of the total amount of sleep.
Special Session on Verification and Validation Methods

This presentation provides an overview of the AIAA Special Session 22-NDA-4 entitled “Verification and Validation Methods.” Specifically, the talk introduces a series of papers addressing the role of uncertainty quantification in validation assessment. All but one of the papers represents current activities within an ASME technical committee that is developing guidelines for performing verification and validation for computational solid mechanics models.
Effect of Silica Promoter on Iron-Based Catalyst for Fischer-Tropsch Synthesis

A series of SiO2-incorporated precipitated Fe-Si-Cu-K(100Fe:xSi:3.0Cu:2.0K,x=0,2.8,6.4,8.2,atomic ratio) catalysts were prepared using the co-precipitation method for the Fischer-Tropsch synthesis(FTS).The in-situ X-ray diffraction(XRD) and N2 physisorption were used to characterize the catalysts.The catalytic properties for FTS were tested in a fixed-bed reactor under pressure of 1.0 MPa and temperature of 543 K.The SiO2 incorporation increased the surface area and decreased the pore size of the precipitated iron catalysts,and the transition of different iron oxide and iron carbide phases(Fe2O3,Fe3O4,Fe3C,Fe5C2,and Fe7C3) was detected by in-situ XRD during the catalyst reduction in CO and FTS reaction in syngas(H2/CO molar ratio=0.7).The activity of the catalyst without SiO2 increased sharply with time on stream during the FTS process,which was accompanied by the transition of Fe5C2 to Fe7C3.The catalyst without SiO2 deactivated rapidly when the highest CO conversion was achieved,whereas a persistent increase in the activity of catalysts with SiO2 was achieved with time on stream.These indicate that SiO2 can stabilize the activity of the precipitated iron catalyst.The observed effects of SiO2 on the catalytic performance of precipitated iron catalysts can be explained by the fact that SiO2 can improve the dispersity of iron oxides and iron carbides in the catalyst and restrain the conversion of different iron carbide phases during the catalyst reduction and FTS reaction.
Reducing Anesthesia and Health Care Cost Through Utilization of Child Life Specialists in Pediatric Radiation Oncology.

Purpose To analyze the effectiveness of a certified child life specialist (CCLS) in reducing the frequency of daily anesthesia at our institution, and to quantify the potential health care payer cost savings of CCLS utilization in the United States. Methods and Materials From 2006 to 2014, 738 children (aged ≤21 years) were treated with radiation therapy at our institution. We retrospectively analyzed the frequency of daily anesthesia before and after hiring a CCLS in 2011 after excluding patients aged 0 to 2 and >12 years. In the analyzed cohort of 425 patients the median age was 7.6 years (range, 3-12.9 years). For the pre-CCLS period the overall median age was 7.5 years; for the post-CCLS period the median age was 7.7 years. An average 6-week course of pediatric anesthesia for radiation therapy costs $50,000 in charges to the payer. The average annual cost to employ one CCLS is approximately $50,000. Results Before employing a CCLS, 69 of 121 children (57%) aged 3 to 12 years required daily anesthesia, including 33 of 53 children (62.3%) aged 5 to 8 years. After employing a CCLS, 124 of 304 children (40.8%) aged 3 to 12 years required daily anesthesia, including only 34 of 118 children (28.8%) aged 5 to 8 years ( P 16% absolute reduction in anesthesia use after employment of a CCLS, the health care payer cost savings was approaching $50,000 per 6 children aged 3 to 12 years treated annually with radiation therapy in our institution. This reduction resulted in a total of only 6 children aged 3 to 12 years required anesthesia to be treated per year at our center to achieve nearly break-even cost savings to the health care payer if the payer were to subsidize the employment expense of a CCLS. Overall, the CCLS intervention can provide an average annualized health care payer cost savings of "$[(anesthesia cost to payer during radiation therapy course/6) − (CCLS expense to payer/ N )]" per child ( N ) treated with radiation therapy, where N equals the number of children aged 3 to 12 years treated in 1 year. This formula assumes that the payer subsidizes the cost for the employment of a CCLS, although our institution absorbed this expense for this data cohort. The predicted annualized health care system cost savings from reducing the frequency of anesthesia with radiation therapy when treating 100 children aged 3 to 12 years per year could exceed $775,000. Conclusions These data suggest that a CCLS significantly reduces the frequency of daily anesthesia for children treated with radiation therapy. Health care system payers may achieve significant cost savings by financially supporting the employment of a CCLS in high-volume pediatric radiation therapy centers.
Beta-adrenergic regulation of action potentials and automaticity in young and adult canine purkinje fibers.

To investigate developmental changes in the cellular electrophysiological effects of beta 1- and beta 2-adrenoceptor stimulation on canine Purkinje fibers (PF), we studied the effects of isoproterenol, a nonselective beta-agonist, and salbutamol, a preponderantly beta 2-agonist, alone or in presence of the selective beta 1-antagonist CGP-20712A or the beta 2-antagonist ICI-118551. Standard microelectrode techniques were used to study adult and neonatal ( 90% of this effect was reached at a concentration of 10(-8) M. Salbutamol had the same effect but required higher concentrations. In both adults and neonates, the beta 2-antagonist ICI-118551 did not modify any of the effects of isoproterenol and salbutamol, whereas the beta 1-antagonist CGP-20712A significantly antagonized them. In conclusion, 1) the effects of beta-adrenergic stimulation on transmembrane potentials of canine PF change during development, both qualitatively (in paced PF) and quantitatively (in automatic PF) and 2) the responses seen are attributable to the activation of beta 1- and not beta 2-adrenoceptors.
Intra-cardiac pacemaker infection: Surgical management and outcome

Abstract Background Pacemaker infections are rare, but serious complications of pacemaker therapy. The generator pocket, the pacing leads, or both may be involved. Methods We report 21 patients with infected pacemaker systems. All had infected pacemaker and pacemaker leads with tricuspid valve endocarditis. Pacemaker systems were completely removed in all patients. Extracorporeal circulation with beating heart was employed for the explantation of infected pacing leads, generator and removal of vegetations on tricuspid valve and repair of tricuspid valve. Then a permanent epicardial pacemaker lead was inserted. Results No complications occurred in patients with localized generator pocket infections. Two patients with infected leads, who were preoperatively already in a serious clinical condition, died of septic shock in the early postoperative period. No recurrent infections were observed. Conclusion Explantation of the complete pacemaker system has proved a reliable method to eradicate infection. Complications were rare, except in patients who present lately in a critically ill condition and septic shock.
STEMulating Interest: A Meta-Analysis of the Effects of Out-of-School Time on Student STEM Interest

This study is a meta-analysis of the effects of out-of-school time (after school, summer camps, enrichment programs, etc.) on the student interest in STEM. This study was guided by the following research questions: (1) How effective is OST as a means to foster student interest in STEM? (2) How does the effectiveness of OST differ by program and study characteristics? A total of 19 independents effect sizes were extracted from 15 studies investigating the effect of out-of-school time (OST) on STEM interest. Included studies were representative of K-12 settings in the United States from 2009-2015. Specifically studies were included if they directly assessed the effects of OST on STEM interest, and provided sufficient data to calculate an effect size. The status of publication was not a constraint on this investigation, thus grey literature was included along with journal articles to provide a more representative sample of studies. The results suggest that out-of-school time has a positive effect on student interest in STEM. Furthermore, the variation in these effects is moderated by program focus, grade level, and the quality of the research design. The effects of out-of-school time on STEM interest are synthesized, and implications for teaching and practice are provided.