cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Abstract IA07: Metabolic reprogramming by MYC: Lessons learned from adenovirus

Viruses are powerful tools to study cancer metabolism. They trigger major metabolic changes in host cells to meet the bioenergetic and biosynthetic demands of virus infection - changes similar to the enhanced glycolysis and anabolic metabolism widely observed in cancer cells. However, unlike cancer cells, viruses undergo intense selection for efficiency, and rapidly and robustly reprogram host cell metabolism through activation of specific key flux-altering nodes, rather than whole metabolic pathway gene sets. We recently reported that adenovirus infection increases host cell anabolic glucose metabolism via MYC activation of specific metabolic target genes, only a subset of those turned on by MYC in many cancers. We are now investigating how adenovirus-induced MYC activation leads to selective transcription of target genes. Additionally, we have generated a list of the specific metabolic genes altered by adenovirus infection and are examining their role in anabolic metabolism, virus replication, and cancer proliferation. Because viruses are so efficient at reprogramming host cell metabolism towards increased anabolism, they represent a powerful tool to identify the most important MYC-induced metabolic enzymes for anabolic metabolism, and potentially the most promising cancer metabolism drug targets. Citation Format: Heather Christofk. Metabolic reprogramming by MYC: Lessons learned from adenovirus. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Special Conference on Myc: From Biology to Therapy; Jan 7-10, 2015; La Jolla, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Mol Cancer Res 2015;13(10 Suppl):Abstract nr IA07.
The Impact of Management Information System on Service Quality

The major aim of the research paper is to measure the impact of management information system on service quality in commercial banks. Primary data has been collected from the bank employees in Manmunai North and Kattankudy divisional secretariat areas in Batticaloa District. Stratified random sampling was used to obtain 225 responses from employees of banks. The collected data were used to test the model using regression and path analysis methodology. The result reveals that the information quality, employee IS characteristics and technical support influence the service quality in a positive manner but only through employee IS performance. At the same time, the system quality alone influences the service quality directly and indirectly through employee IS performance. Further, the results suggest that employee IS performance contributes more to service quality with system quality.
A Review of the Chemistry, Pesticide Use, and Environmental Fate of Sulfur Dioxide, as Used in California.

Sulfur dioxide (SO2) is an atmospheric pollutant that is moderately persistent in the atmosphere and highly water soluble. When applied as a pesticide, SO2 may be transported, deposited, or transformed in various chemical reactions. SO2 participates in the sulfur biogeochemical cycle, which involves complex reactions of sulfur-containing compounds between abiotic and biotic components of ecosystems. The main degradation route of SO2 is atmospheric oxidation, and sulfur oxides may undergo long-distance transport prior to removal from the atmosphere by wet or dry deposition. According to the Pesticide Use Reporting (PUR) database maintained by the California Department of Pesticide Regulation (DPR), SO2 use in California from 2010 to 2015 was primarily for fumigations (96%), including treatments of postharvest grape products and winery equipment sterilizations. Other site uses contributed less than 5% of reported statewide SO2 use from 2010 to 2015. A slight increasing trend in use of SO2 as a pesticide was observed from 2010 to 2015, with the highest reported uses of SO2 within California counties during the months of July–November. Although the primary sources of SO2 in the environment are anthropogenic emissions from the combustion of fossil fuels, emissions of SO2 from pesticide uses have the potential to contribute to the environmental and public welfare impacts of SO2 pollution. Oxidation of atmospheric SO2 may contribute to the negative environmental and public welfare impacts of acid rain, which include toxicity to aquatic organisms, fish, and terrestrial vegetation, and corrosion of man-made materials.
Multi-Systemic Influences on the Family Functioning of Teens Attending Pregnancy Prevention Programs

This exploratory study used Bronfenbrenner's (1979) multi-systemic framework to determine the factors predicting scores on the McMaster Family Assessment Device (FAD) with a sample of low SES and culturally diverse (White non-Hispanic, African-American, and Hispanic) teenagers attending both primary and secondary pregnancy prevention programs. Factors studied at the individual (micro) level involved the adolescent's pregnancy status; at the level of the immediate social environment (meso), family structure was assessed, and SES and race were studied as broader social environment influences (macro). Overall, scores on the FAD were high, indicating unhealthy functioning according to teen self-reports. Support was indicated for the Bronfenbrenner model with all three systems levels exerting an influence on family functioning. Adolescents who had grown up in homes without their parents seemed most at risk for perceptions of poor family functioning although racial differences were found. Overall, minority teens rated their families as higher functioning. Pregnancy and parenting as a teenager also appeared to put a strain on family functioning. Implications for service delivery are discussed.
Xeroderma Pigmentosum — A Human Model of Defective DNA Repair

The human disease xeroderma pigmentosum (XP) has been intensively studied ever since Cleaver first provided evidence of defective repair of DNA damage in 1968 (1). The disease is inherited by an autosomal recessive mode and is clinically characterized chiefly by severe photosensitivity of the skin and eyes, a high frequency of a variety of neurologic abnormalities and an almost 100% incidence of malignant skin tumors. It is noteworthy that tumors in other sites have not been reported with an abnormal frequency in this disease. All known cases of XP fall into two major classes, based on the ability of cells in culture (usually fibroblasts) to repair DNA damage caused by ultraviolet (UV) radiation. So-called typical or classical XP is characterized by defective nucleotide excision repair of pyrimidine dimers in asynchronous fibroblast cultures exposed to UV light at~254 nm. XP variant cases are clinically indistinguishable from the typical form of XP, but fail to show defects in any of the currently available biochemical parameters that directly or indirectly measure the excision of pyrimidine dimers in asynchronous fibroblast cultures. The technique of cell hybridization has been used to classify typical XP cases into a number of apparently distinct genetic groups (complementation groups) defined by their ability to complement the restoration of normal levels of excision repair measured by unscheduled DNA synthesis (UDS) in heterodikaryons. At the time of writing, approximately 100 cases have been designated in the literature by an internationally agreed upon nomenclature (2) and assigned to one of 7 complementation groups. The clinical symptoms and signs and the variety of genetic, cellular and biochemical defects associated with XP have been extensively reviewed by a number of authors (3–6) in recent years and the interested reader is referred to this literature for a more detailed description. In this article I have specifically focused on some of the literature published during the past two years and have attempted to draw attention to selected new aspects of the disease.
26 – Heavy Metals

This chapter discusses heavy metals toxicity on humans. Less than half of the known metals have the potential for toxicity to humans and animals. The toxicities of some metals, such as lead and arsenic, have been recognized for hundreds of years; whereas the hazards of other metals, such as cadmium and beryllium, have only more recently been acknowledged. Contamination of the environment by some metals, such as mercury, is of continuing medical and political concern. In other cases, such as chronic beryllium disease, much of the biochemistry has been determined to the point that it is now possible to detect those people who possess the genetic mutation that puts them at risk for the hypersensitivity caused by beryllium exposure. Because metals will continue to be present in every aspect of human life, further research into mechanisms of metal-induced toxicity may prove the key to reducing environmental contamination, minimizing risk of toxicity, and improving the available treatment modalities.
Learning Temporal Information from Text

As an essential dimension of our information space, time plays a very important role in every aspect of our lives. Temporal information is necessarily required in many applications, such as temporal constraint modeling in intelligent agents (Hritcu and Buraga, 2005), semantic web services (Pan and Hobbs, 2004), temporal content modeling and annotation for semantic video retrieval (QasemiZadeh et al., 2006), geographic information science (Agarwal, 2005), data integration of historical stock price databases (Zhu et al., 2004), ubiquitous and pervasive systems for modeling the time dimension of the context (Chen et al., 2004), and so on. Extracting temporal information from text is especially useful for increasing the temporal awareness for different natural language applications, such as question answering, information retrieval, and summarization. For example, in summarizing a story in terms of a timeline, a system may have to extract and chronologically order events in which a particular person participated. In answering a question as to a person’s current occupation, a system may have to selectively determine which of several occupations reported for that person is the most recently reported one (Mani et al., 2004). This chapter presents recent advances in applying machine learning and data mining approaches to automatically extract explicit and implicit temporal information from natural language text. The extracted temporal information includes, for example, events, temporal expressions, temporal relations, (vague) event durations, event anchoring, and event orderings.
Radiation Tolerance Studies of BTeV Pixel Readout Chip Prototypes

We report on several irradiation studies performed on BTeV preFPIX2 pixel readout chip prototypes exposed to a 200 MeV proton beam at the Indiana University Cyclotron Facility. The preFPIX2 pixel readout chip has been implemented in standard 0.25 micron CMOS technology following radiation tolerant design rules. The tests confirmed the radiation tolerance of the chip design to proton total dose of 26 MRad. In addition, non destructive radiation-induced single event upsets have been observed in on-chip static registers and the single bit upset cross section has been measured.
Simulation of a hydraulic fracturing wastewater surface spill on agricultural soil.

Abstract Hydraulic fracturing wastewaters (HFWWs) contain synthetic organic components and metal ions derived from the formation waters. The risk of spills of HFWW that could impact soil quality and water resources is of great concern. The ability of synthetic components, such as surfactants, in HFWW to be transported through soil and to mobilize metals in soil was examined using column experiments. A spill of HFWW was simulated in bench scale soil column experiments that used an agricultural soil and simulated seven 10-year rain events representing a total of one year's worth of precipitation for Weld County, Colorado. Although no surfactants or their transformation products were found in leachate samples, copper, lead, and iron were mobilized at environmentally relevant concentrations. In general, after the initial spill event, metal concentrations increased until the fourth rain event before decreasing. Results from this study suggest that transport of metals was caused by the high concentrations of salts present in HFWW. This is the first study utilizing authentic HFWWs to investigate the transport of surfactants and their effect on metal mobilization. Importantly, a significant decrease in the water infiltration rate of the soil was observed, leading to the point where water was unable to percolate through due to increasing salinity, potentially having a severe impact on crop production.
Aromatase Inhibitors Such as Letrozole (Femara) vs. Clomiphene (Clomid) for Subfertile Women with PCOS.

When treated with letrozole, subfertile women with PCOS who are trying to conceive have increased chances of pregnancy (number needed to treat [NNT] = 11) and live birth (NNT = 10) compared with those treated with clomiphene.
Bioinformatics Identification of Anti-CRISPR Loci by Using Homology, Guilt-by-Association, and CRISPR Self-Targeting Spacer Approaches.

ABSTRACT Anti-CRISPR (Acr) loci/operons encode Acr proteins and Acr-associated (Aca) proteins. Forty-five Acr families have been experimentally characterized inhibiting seven subtypes of CRISPR-Cas systems. We have developed a bioinformatics pipeline to identify genomic loci containing Acr homologs and/or Aca homologs by combining three computational approaches: homology, guilt-by-association, and self-targeting spacers. Homology search found thousands of Acr homologs in bacterial and viral genomes, but most are homologous to AcrIIA7 and AcrIIA9. Investigating the gene neighborhood of these Acr homologs revealed that only a small percentage (23.0% in bacteria and 8.2% in viruses) of them have neighboring Aca homologs and thus form Acr-Aca operons. Surprisingly, although a self-targeting spacer is a strong indicator of the presence of Acr genes in a genome, a large percentage of Acr-Aca loci are found in bacterial genomes without self-targeting spacers or even without complete CRISPR-Cas systems. Additionally, for Acr homologs from genomes with self-targeting spacers, homology-based Acr family assignments do not always agree with the self-targeting CRISPR-Cas subtypes. Last, by investigating Acr genomic loci coexisting with self-targeting spacers in the same genomes, five known subtypes (I-C, I-E, I-F, II-A, and II-C) and five new subtypes (I-B, III-A, III-B, IV-A, and V-U4) of Acrs were inferred. Based on these findings, we conclude that the discovery of new anti-CRISPRs should not be restricted to genomes with self-targeting spacers and loci with Acr homologs. The evolutionary arms race of CRISPR-Cas systems and anti-CRISPR systems may have driven the adaptive and rapid gain and loss of these elements in closely related genomes. IMPORTANCE As a naturally occurring adaptive immune system, CRISPR-Cas (clustered regularly interspersed short palindromic repeats–CRISPR-associated genes) systems are widely found in bacteria and archaea to defend against viruses. Since 2013, the application of various bacterial CRISPR-Cas systems has become very popular due to their development into targeted and programmable genome engineering tools with the ability to edit almost any genome. As the natural off-switch of CRISPR-Cas systems, anti-CRISPRs have a great potential to serve as regulators of CRISPR-Cas tools and enable safer and more controllable genome editing. This study will help understand the relative usefulness of the three bioinformatics approaches for new Acr discovery, as well as guide the future development of new bioinformatics tools to facilitate anti-CRISPR research. The thousands of Acr homologs and hundreds of new anti-CRISPR loci identified in this study will be a valuable data resource for genome engineers to search for new CRISPR-Cas regulators.
Effect of Competition, Signal-to-Noise Ratio, Race, and Sex on Southern American English Dialect Talkers' Sentence Recognition.

Background Although numerous studies have examined regional and racial–ethnic labeling of talker identity, few have evaluated speech perception skills of listeners from the southern United States. Purpose The objective of the study was to examine the effect of competition, signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), race, and sex on sentence recognition performance in talkers from the Southern American English dialect region. Research Design A four-factor mixed-measures design was used. Study Sample Forty-eight normal-hearing young African American and White adults participated. Data Collection and Analyses The Perceptually Robust English Sentence Test Open-set was used in quiet and in continuous and interrupted noise and multitalker babble at SNRs of −10, −5, 0, and 5 dB. Results Significant main effects of competition (p Conclusions Although African American English and White American English talkers living in the same geographic region demonstrate differences in speech production, their speech perception in noise does not appear to differ under the conditions examined in this study.
Republicans and Democrats differ in why they support renewable energy

Abstract: Americans strongly support policies aimed at increasing the use of renewable energy. Prior research has found that, overall, support for renewable energy tends to be motivated primarily by people's perceptions that it creates economic benefits and reduces environmental harms. However, the extant research has not established how these motivations vary across political segments. Here we investigate (a) if and how Republicans and Democrats differ in their stated motivations for supporting a transition to renewable energy, and (b) what demographic and attitudinal variables best predict Republicans' and Democrats' support for renewable energy policies. Using a nationally representative sample of American registered voters, we found a consistent pattern across multiple methods of analysis: Republicans' (compared to Democrats') support for renewable energy is driven more by considerations of economic costs/benefits, whereas Democrats' (compared to Republicans') support is driven more by concern about global warming. These partisan differences hold significant implications for those who seek to effectively tailor policy and strategic communication to these political segments.
Balancing Social Values with Economic Realities: Farmer Experience with a Cost-offset CSA

Some farmers are offering subsidized or “cost-offset” community supported agriculture (CO-CSA) shares as a strategy to counter market saturation and improve low-income families’ access to fresh local foods. However, little is known about farmers’ experiences with this model, particularly in regard to the balance between additional resources required for adoption and subsequent contributions to farm revenue. As part of the Farm Fresh Foods for Healthy Kids Study of the impact of a CO-CSA on dietary behaviors in low-income families, we conducted qualitative interviews with 12 farmers across four states after the first and the third years of CO-CSA implementation. We explored these data to understand what accommodations farmers provided to low-income families, the benefits and challenges of implementing the CO-CSA model, and farmers’ perceptions of its impact on cash flow and profitability. We found that farmers selected pick-up locations that met CO-CSA members’ needs, were responsive to members’ food preferences in selecting CSA contents, and allowed for late payments and pickups, though sometimes this placed an additional burden on farmers’ time and resources. Additionally, weekly payment transactions led to increased recordkeeping. Despite its challenges, most farmers said CO-CSA adoption was a worthwhile addition to their business model. Expanding food access through this mechanism may become more sustainable with the additional support of innovative policies like eased land-use restrictions, operational models, and community strategies to fund and operate CO-CSA programs. This is an area ripe for future research, as there is little documentation on both single farm and multifarm CO-CSA operations.
Transplantation for work-related lung disease in the USA.

Objectives Work-related lung diseases (WRLDs) are entirely preventable. To assess the impact of WRLDs on the US transplant system, we identified adult lung transplant recipients with a WRLD diagnosis specified at the time of transplant to describe demographic, payer and clinical characteristics of these patients and to assess post-transplant survival. Methods Using US registry data from 1991 to 2018, we identified lung transplant recipients with WRLDs including coal workers’ pneumoconiosis, silicosis, asbestosis, metal pneumoconiosis and berylliosis. Results The frequency of WRLD-associated transplants has increased over time. Among 230 lung transplants for WRLD, a majority were performed since 2009; 79 were for coal workers’ pneumoconiosis and 78 were for silicosis. Patients with coal workers’ pneumoconiosis were predominantly from West Virginia (n=31), Kentucky (n=23) or Virginia (n=10). States with the highest number of patients with silicosis transplant were Pennsylvania (n=12) and West Virginia (n=8). Patients with metal pneumoconiosis and asbestosis had the lowest and highest mean age at transplant (48.8 and 62.1 years). Median post-transplant survival was 8.2 years for patients with asbestosis, 6.6 years for coal workers’ pneumoconiosis and 7.8 years for silicosis. Risk of death among patients with silicosis, coal workers’ pneumoconiosis and asbestosis did not differ when compared with patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. Conclusions Lung transplants for WRLDs are increasingly common, indicating a need for primary prevention and surveillance in high-risk occupations. Collection of patient occupational history by the registry could enhance case identification and inform prevention strategies.
A Visual Scale for Improving Communication When Describing Gross Hematuria.

OBJECTIVE To create and validate a grading scale that facilitates communication between providers managing gross hematuria (GH). METHODS A blood simulant was used to create a spectrum of GH in 5 foley catheter tubes which were shown to a group of experienced urologists. The urologists were asked how they would adjust the continuous bladder irrigation rate if the samples represented the urine of hypothetical patients, and a 5-point scale was created by group consensus with pictures of the representative tubes printed onto a visual aid. Another cohort were then shown the 5 tubes at random and asked to describe the GH. Raters were then shown the visual aid and asked to assign a grade to the same samples. Fleiss’ kappa analysis was used to measure inter-rater agreement, and therefore fidelity of the scale. RESULTS Fourteen urologists were surveyed to determine the samples used to create the 5-point scale. After the scale was created, 43 raters (22 nurses, 16 urologists, and 5 advanced practice providers) attempted match the tubes to their corresponding images on the printout. When asked to describe the degree of GH for the samples as they would in clinical practice, 28 different descriptors were used (mean 8.6 per sample). When using the 5-point GH scale, however, raters exhibited near perfect agreement in matching each sample to its corresponding severity on the scale (κ = 0.93, P CONCLUSION We created a clinically useful GH scale that improves communication and reduces ambiguous language among providers of varying levels of experience.
Income Inequality and Cigarette Consumption: Evidence from the United States

There is enormous literature on the determinants of consumption of cigarettes and other tobacco products, and on the magnitude of the impact of a wide variety of economic and noneconomic factors. Also, a huge amount of research has been done on the association between income inequality and health for which numerous proxies have been used. We seek to link these two strands of scholarship by treating smoking as a major health hazard and considering the association between income inequality and smoking. Using US state-level data for the year 2004, we estimate an augmented model of cigarette consumption in which income inequality is added to a fairly standard specification. Subject to the caveats appropriate for such studies, there is little indication of a significant association between income inequality and the health-retarding behaviour in the form of cigarette smoking. Estimates for other variables are broadly consistent with similar studies.
Kermanshah City and Province: Willem Floor, Washington, DC: Mage Publishers, 2018, ISBN 978-949445-00-8 (hbk), 591 pp., 60 illus.

Having scoured the Persian Gulf coast, publishing at least five books on its various port cities and one on their hinterland, Willem Floor has now moved inland, with an exhaustive study of the west...
Crohn's disease-associated ATG16L1 T300A genotype is associated with improved survival in gastric cancer.

Author(s): Ma, Changqing; Storer, Chad E; Chandran, Uma; LaFramboise, William A; Petrosko, Patricia; Frank, Madison; Hartman, Douglas J; Pantanowitz, Liron; Haritunians, Talin; Head, Richard D; Liu, Ta-Chiang | Abstract: BackgroundA non-synonymous single nucleotide polymorphism of the ATG16L1 gene, T300A, is a major Crohn's disease (CD) susceptibility allele, and is known to be associated with increased apoptosis induction in the small intestinal crypt base in CD subjects and mouse models. We hypothesized that ATG16L1 T300A genotype also correlates with increased tumor apoptosis and therefore could lead to superior clinical outcome in cancer subjects.MethodsT300A genotyping by Taqman assay was performed for gastric carcinoma subjects who underwent resection from two academic medical centers. Transcriptomic analysis was performed by RNA-seq on formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded cancerous tissue. Tumor apoptosis and autophagy were determined by cleaved caspase-3 and p62 immunohistochemistry, respectively. The subjects' genotypes were correlated with demographics, various histopathologic features, transcriptome, and clinical outcome.FindingsOf the 220 genotyped subjects, 163 (74%) subjects carried the T300A allele(s), including 55 (25%) homozygous and 108 (49%) heterozygous subjects. The T300A/T300A subjects had superior overall survival than the other groups. Their tumors were associated with increased CD-like lymphoid aggregates and increased tumor apoptosis without concurrent increase in tumor mitosis or defective autophagy. Transcriptomic analysis showed upregulation of WNT/β-catenin signaling and downregulation of PPAR, EGFR, and inflammatory chemokine pathways in tumors of T300A/T300A subjects.InterpretationGastric carcinoma of subjects with the T300A/T300A genotype is associated with repressed EGFR and PPAR pathways, increased tumor apoptosis, and improved overall survival. Genotyping gastric cancer subjects may provide additional insight for clinical stratification.
Branching on the Bench: Quantifying Division in the Supreme Court with Trees

The popular method of ideal point estimation provides empirical legal scholars with spatial representations of the Supreme Court justices that help elucidate ideological inclinations and voting behavior. This is done primarily in one dimension, where politics dominates, though recent work details a second dimension capturing differing attitudes on the authority of various legal actors. This paper introduces and explores a new network-theoretic tree-based method for visualizing the relationships between the justices, based on their voting records, that allows scholars to study the intricate branching structure of the Court. It is shown how this tool can be used to uncover periods in the Court's history where the balance on the bench fractured in unusual and interesting ways. Moreover, by defining several tree-based measures and charting their evolution over time, a picture emerges that throughout the past fifty years the Court became increasingly one-dimensional and bipolar, dividing along political lines.
Intramuscular injection of skeletal muscle derived extracellular matrix mitigates denervation atrophy after sciatic nerve transection

Peripheral nerve injury and the associated muscle atrophy has an estimated annual healthcare burden of $150 billion dollars in the United States. When considering the total annual health-related spending of $3.5 trillion, these pathologies alone occupy about 4.3%. The prevalence of these ailments is rooted, at least in part, in the lack of specific preventative therapies that can be administered to muscle while it remains in the denervated state. To address this, skeletal muscle-derived ECM (skECM) was injected directly in denervated muscle with postoperative analysis performed at 20 weeks, including gait analysis, force production, cytokine quantification, and histological analysis. skECM was shown to be superior against non-injected muscle controls showing no difference in contraction force to uninjured muscle at 20 weeks. Cytokines IL-1β, IL-18, and IFNγ appeared to mediate regeneration with statistical regression implicating these cytokines as strong predictors of muscle contraction, showing significant linear correlation.
Asociación e interacciones de la apnea obstructiva del sueño (AOS) y del síndrome de hipoventilación obesidad (SHO)

Resumen La apnea obstructiva del sueno (AOS) y el sindrome hipoventilacion-obesidad (SHO) son patologias que se encuentran estrechamente asociadas a la obesidad como principal factor de riesgo, hasta un 70% de los pacientes con AOS son obesos. Ambas patologias comparten procesos fisiopatologicos comunes, donde destaca la inflamacion sistemica, lo que, sumado a la hipoxia cronica intermitente y la fragmentacion del sueno caracteristicos de la AOS, aumenta considerablemente el riesgo de presentar comorbilidades metabolicas como sindrome metabolico, alteraciones en el metabolismo de la glucosa (resistencia a la insulina y diabetes mellitus tipo 2), y higado graso metabolico. En esta revision narrativa, se describiran los mecanismos identificados en estas asociaciones, asi como la prevalencia y la evidencia sobre el tratamiento de la AOS y del SHO.
NASA Glenn Research Center Electrochemistry Branch Battery and Fuel Cell Development Overview

This presentation covers an overview of NASA Glenn s history and heritage in the development of electrochemical systems for aerospace applications. Current developments related to batteries and fuel cells are addressed. Specific areas of focus are Li-ion batteries and Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel cells systems and their development for future Exploration missions.
EXPLICIT APPROXIMATIONS FOR CALCULATING POTENTIAL FLOW ABOUT A BODY

Several explicit approximations for calculating nonlifting potential flow about a body in an unbounded fluid are studied. These approximations are shown to be exact in the particular cases of flows due to translations of ellipsoids, and they are compared with the exact potential for two-dimensional flows about ogives in translatory motions. Two approximation formulae appear to be of particular interest for practical applications and they can be extended to free- surface flow problems, e.g. ship wave resistance and radiation and diffraction of regular waves by a body.
Triphosphate Re-orientation of the Incoming Nucleotide as A Fidelity Checkpoint in Viral RNA-dependent RNA Polymerases

The fidelity of the virus-encoded RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp) plays an essential role in generating sufficient genetic diversity to escape the bottlenecks of the host's anti-viral response....
Datalog programs and their stable models

This paper is about the functionality of software systems used in answer set programming (ASP). ASP languages are viewed here, in the spirit of Datalog, as mechanisms for characterizing intensional (output) predicates in terms of extensional (input) predicates. Our approach to the semantics of ASP programs is based on the concept of a stable model defined in terms of a modification of parallel circumscription.
Changing perceptions of seeking help: A test of the effectiveness of an intervention video

The purpose of this study was to assess the effectiveness of an intervention video designed to promote positive associations with help seeking for mental health concerns. Participants were 290 undergraduates who were randomly assigned to a repeated exposure video intervention, a single exposure video intervention, or a control video condition. Participants completed measures pre-intervention, post-interventions, and at a six-week follow-up. The intervention repeated exposure group improved significantly more than the control group on help-seeking peer norms but not on the other outcome variables. The effect for peer norms was found at each time point, indicating both immediate and longer-term effects. The repeated exposure group also improved significantly more than the single exposure group on peer norms from pretest to Time 3. Effective, empirically supported interventions capable of reaching large numbers of people are necessary to help improve the under-utilization of mental health services. The present study offers some initial support for such theory-based video interventions for changing perceptions of normative behavior of seeking help.
Partial differential equations in image analysis: Continuous modeling, discrete processing

This paper presents an overview of selected topics from an emerging new image analysis methodology that starts from continuous models provided by partial differential equations (PDEs) and proceeds with discrete processing of the image data via the numerical implementation of these PDEs on some discrete grid. We briefly discuss basic ideas, examples, algorithms, and applications for PDEs modeling nonlinear multiscale analysis, geometric evolution of curves and signals, nonlinear image/signal restoration via shock filtering, and the eikonal PDE of optics. Wherever possible, we compare the PDE approach with the corresponding all-discrete method. The PDE approach is very promising for solving (or improving previous all-discrete solutions of) many problems in image processing and computer vision because it provides new and more intuitive mathematical models, has connections with physics, gives better approximations to the Euclidean geometry of the problem, and is supported by efficient discrete numerical algorithms based on difference approximations.
Immunochemical studies on blood groups. LII. Structures and activities of oligosaccharides produced by alkaline degradation of a blood group B substance previously subjected to partial hydrolysis by dilute hydrochloric acid.

Abstract Alkaline borodeuteride degradation of a blood group B substance previously treated with mild hydrochloric acid (BP 1 substance) yielded 12 different compounds isolated from the dialyzable degradation products by charcoal, paper, and gel chromatography. The chemical and immunochemical properties of these compounds are described. 3-Hexenetetrol(s), d -galactitol, N -acetyl- d -galactosaminitol, and five different oligosaccharides had previously been isolated from either B-, Le a or I (precursor) substances. Four oligosaccharides: α d Gal (1 → 3) d -galactitol; β d GlcNAc (1 → 6) N -acetyl- d -galactosaminitol; α d Gal (1 → 3) β d Gal (1 → 4) β d GlcNAc (1 → 6?) 3-hexenetetrol(s); and α d Gal (1 → 3) [α l Fuc (1 → 2)] β d Gal (1 → 3) β d GlcNAc (1 → 3 or 4) d -galactitol have not been isolated previously but fit well with the proposed overall structure of the megalosaccharide from human ovarian cyst blood group glycoproteins. The immunochemical data confirm that α d Gal (1 → 3) d Gal is immunodominant in BP1 substance. The type 1 monofucosyl B determinant had about the same B activity as the type 2 monofucosyl B determinant.
Infotopia: How Many Minds Produce Knowledge

The rise of the "information society" offers not only considerable peril but also great promise Beset from all sides by a never-ending barrage of media, how can we ensure that the most accurate information emerges and is heeded? Cass R. Sunstein here develops a deeply optimistic understanding of the human potential to pool information, combat groupthink, and to use that knowledge to improve our lives. New ways, many Internet-based, to share and aggregate information-including wikis, open-source software, and prediction markets-are helping companies, schools, governments, and individuals not only to acquire, but also to create, ever-growing bodies of accurate knowledge without succumbing to the dangers of a hive-mind mentality. In a world where opinion and anecdote increasingly compete on equal footing with hard evidence, the on-line effort of many minds coming together could provide the best path to infotopia.
A Review of “Principles of Sustainable Living: A New Vision for Health, Happiness, and Prosperity”

Principles of Sustainable Living: A New Vision for Health, Happiness, and Prosperity, by Richard Jurin. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics, 2012, 328 pages. ISBN 978-0-736-09075-9 ($59.00, paperback). I...
Evaluation of cisplatin and cyclosporin A in recurrent platinum-resistant ovarian cancer: a phase II study of the gynecologic oncology group.

Abstract Objective. The objective of this study was to study the effectiveness of cyclosporin A and cisplatin in patients with recurrent epithelial ovarian cancer. Methods. Twenty-six patients with measurable recurrent epithelial ovarian cancer, considered to be resistant to cisplatin, received cisplatin in combination with cyclosporin A. Patients received 75 mg/m 2 cisplatin every 3 weeks and two cyclosporin A injections over 2 h each, 24 h apart, at a dose of 4 mg/kg each. Results. Only a single patient had a complete response, with two experiencing a partial response to cyclosporin A/cisplatin combination. Hematologic toxicity in this study was modest. No patient developed grade 4 renal toxicity. Conclusion. These data indicate minimal activity of the combination of cyclosporin A and cisplatin in ovarian cancer patients with recurrent measurable disease previously treated with cisplatin and thought to be resistant to this chemotherapeutic agent.
A Morphological Study of the Tibial Spurs of Bees of the Subfamily Halictinae (Hymenoptera: Halictidae) of Eastern North America1

Bees of the subfamily Halictinae, commonly called sweat bees, possess two pairs of spurs on the hind tibiae, the inner pair being branched in the female. Spurs of samples of representative species of all genera of Halictinae occurring in Eastern North America were examined microscopically to ascertain morphological groupings of spur form. Five morphologically distinct spur forms indicative of generic groupings are recognized: Sphecodes, Agapostemon, Augochlora (containing Augochlora and Augochlorella ), Augochloropsis , and Halictus (containing Halictus s.l. and Lasioglossum s.l.). The spurs of representatives of the various subgenera in the Halictus grouping are analyzed in detail and the implications of this study in correctly determining natural subgenera of the grouping are discussed. Spur form does not appear useful in separating species within a genus except in the genus Halictus s.l.
Straightforward Elections, Unanimity, and Phantom Voters

Non-manipulable direct revelation social choice functions are characterized for societies where the space of alternatives is a euclidean space and all voters have separable star-shaped preferences with a global optimum. If a non-manipulable choice function satisfies a weak unanmity-respecting condition (which is equivalent to having an unrestricted range) then it will depend only on voters' ideal points. Further, such a choice function will decompose into a product of one-dimensional mechanisms in the sense that each coordinate of the chosen point depends only on the respective coordinate of the voters' ideal points. Each coordinate function will also be non-manipulable and respect unanimity. Such one-dimensional mechanisms are uncompromising in the sense that voters cannot take an extreme position to influence the choice to their advantage. Two characterizations of uncompromising choice functions are presented. One is in terms of a continuity condition, the other in terms of “phantom voters” i.e. those points which are chosen which are not any voter's ideal point. There are many such mechanisms which are not dictatorial. However, if differentiability is required of the choice function, this forces it to be either constant or dictatorial. In the multidimensional case, non-separability of preferences leads to dictatorship, even if preferences are restricted to be quadratic.
Mechanisms of the system a neuronal glutamine transporter SAT1

Glutamine, the preferred precursor for neurotransmitter glutamate, is likely to be the principal substrate for the neuronal System A transporter SAT1 in vivo. By measuring currents associated with SAT1 expression in Xenopus oocytes, we found that SAT1 mediates transport of small, neutral, aliphatic amino acids including glutamine, alanine and the System A-specific analogue 2-(methylamino) isobutyrate, each with K0.5 of 0.3–0.5 mm. Amino acid transport is driven by the Na+ electrochemical gradient. Kinetic data indicates that Na+/cotransport comprises the ordered binding first of Na+ (a voltage-dependent step), then alanine, then simultaneous translocation. Li+ (but not H+) can substitute for Na+ but results in reduced Vmax. In the absence of amino acid, SAT1 mediates a cation leak with selectivity Na+, Li+, H+, K+. The temperature-dependence of the leak current (Ea = 17 ± 3 kcal/mol) is consistent with carrier-mediated Na+ uniport activity (cf 13 ± 2 kcal/mol for Na+/alanine cotransport) but the leak does not saturate at physiological [Na+], suggesting channel activity. Despite a Na+ Hill coefficient of 1, we obtained Na+/amino acid coupling coefficients greater than 1 from simultaneous measurement of charge and [3H]alanine or [3H]glutamine uptake. Interpretation of these data is model-dependent and consistent with either (1) an all-carrier model in which Na+/amino acid cotransport is thermodynamically coupled 2 : 1, cotransport is preferred over Na+ uniport, and in which there is little cooperativity between Na+ binding events, or (2) 1 : 1 coupling in parallel with an always-on Na+ channel activity. In either scenario, the presence of SAT1 at the plasma membrane and resultant Na+ fluxes will place a significant energy burden on the cell.
A flip-chip LIGA assembly technique via electroplating

A novel flip-chip assembly technique by means of electroplating at a low processing temperature has been developed. Mesoscopic gears, made of nickel with 1500 μm in diameter and 250 μm in height, have been bonded to glass substrate. The bonding process is conducted by nickel electroplating at 50 °C with a current density at 53.3 A/m2. The nickel electrolyte is found to penetrate about 100 μm from the perimeter to the center of the gear and form a good bond. This process can be applied to the integration of high-aspect-ratio microstructures with substrates that have pre-fabricated microelectronics massively and in parallel. As such, it provides a powerful way to achieve the integration of meso- and microscopic electromechanical systems.
Characterization of CdS Nanowires Self-Assembled in a Nanoporous Alumina Template

CdS nanowires were self-assembled in a thin film (∼200 nm) anodic aluminum oxide template on an indium tin oxide-coated glass substrate via dc electrodeposition. Raman spectral studies were done to probe the vibrational properties of scattering CdS phonons. Strong 1 longitudinal optical (LO), 2 LO, and 3 LO peaks were observed at 302 cm−1, 603 cm−1, and 906 cm−1 having an energy separation of 37 meV, which is in accordance with the CdS bulk values. The photoluminescence spectra showed improved intensity of emission on annealing of the CdS nanowires. Field-emission scanning microscopy confirms the growth of nanowires of diameters ranging from 10 nm to 25 nm for these templates. These diameters agreed with those extracted from the luminescence emission energies.
Collaborative partnerships in complex institutional systems

Collaborative partnerships exist in the context of complex institutional systems that feature multiple institutions and actors interacting in the context of interconnected collective-action problems within ecosystems. How collaborative partnerships contribute to the overall capacity of complex institutional systems to sustainability govern natural resources remains an open question. This article reviews several theoretical approaches for studying complex institutional systems, and discusses how collaborative partnerships would be viewed from these perspectives. The approaches covered include neo-institutional economics, polycentric governance, complex adaptive systems, and evolutionary models of institutional change. The conclusion calls for synthetic theoretical frameworks that integrate many of these ideas, and identifies the research on social–ecological systems as a promising direction.
Improving student outcomes in distance learning mathematics classes

Participation in online courses has significantly increased in recent times. Student performance in online mathematics classes lag behind their counterparts in other subject areas. We hypothesize that one of the main reasons for this is the lack of technological tools for effective communication of mathematics via the Internet. We propose to test our hypothesis by implementing new technologies and evaluate the difference in course performance and attrition rates between the students who use these technologies and a control group.
Cumulative yield of 83-sec 136I from thermal-neutron induced fission of 235U

Abstract The cumulative yield of 83-sec 136 I from thermal-neutron induced fission of 235 U has been redetermined to be 4·3 ± 0·4% if formed independently or 3·4 ± 0·4% if formed by beta decay of 21-sec 136 Te. The median value of 3·9 ± 0·8% is recommended since the mode of formation is not known. Allowing for an appreciable yield of the 44-sec 136 I isomer, as observed by Lundan, the fractional independent yield of 136 Xe is 0·24 ± 0·18, which is within the estimated “normal” range of 0·17 ± 0·07. Thus, there is no longer evidence for yield enhancement of 136 Xe 82 associated with closure of the 82-neutron shell.
It's complicated: The relation between cognitive change procedures, cognitive change, and symptom change in cognitive therapy for depression

Many attempts have been made to discover and characterize the mechanisms of change in psychotherapies for depression, yet no clear, evidence-based account of the relationship between therapeutic procedures, psychological mechanisms, and symptom improvement has emerged. Negatively-biased thinking plays an important role in the phenomenology of depression, and most theorists acknowledge that cognitive changes occur during successful treatments. However, the causal role of cognitive change procedures in promoting cognitive change and alleviating depressive symptoms has been questioned. We describe the methodological and inferential limitations of the relevant empirical investigations and provide recommendations for addressing them. We then develop a framework within which the possible links between cognitive procedures, cognitive change, and symptom change can be considered. We conclude that cognitive procedures are effective in alleviating symptoms of depression and that cognitive change, regardless of how it is achieved, contributes to symptom change, a pattern of findings that lends support to the cognitive theory of depression.
High‐strength/high‐modulus organic fibers

Current trends and developments taken from the literature are reviewed and some new work from the laboratories of Monsanto Company is presented concerning the use of aromatic polymers for high-strength/high-modulus fibers. In the area of aromatic polymer synthesis, pertinent information concerning the factors necessary for the attainment of high molecular weight for the heat-resistant type polymers and for the ultra-rigid type polymers is discussed. Some new polymers and new routes of synthesis for rod-like polymers are described along with the tensile properties of fibers from these novel polymers.