cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
GSNOR and ALDH2 alleviate traumatic spinal cord injury.

Abstract Traumatic spinal cord injury (SCI) enhances the activity of S-nitrosoglutathione reductase (GSNOR) and inhibits the mitochondrial aldehyde dehydrogenase 2 (ALDH2) activity, resulting in prolonged and sustained pain and functional deficits. This study's objective was to test the hypotheses that GSNOR’s specific inhibitor N6022 mitigates pain and improves functional recovery in a mouse model of SCI. Furthermore, the degree of recovery is enhanced and the rate of recovery is accelerated by an ALDH2 activator Alda-1. Using both wild-type and GSNOR−/− mice, the SCI model deployed for groups was contusion at the T9-T10 vertebral level. The enzymatic activity of GSNOR and ALDH2 was measured, and the expression of GSNOR and ALDH2 was determined by western blot analysis. Functional improvements in experimental animals were assessed with locomotor, sensorimotor, and pain-like behavior tests. Wild-type SCI animals had enhanced GSNOR activity and decreased ALDH2 activity, leading to neurovascular dysfunction, edema, and worsened functional outcomes, including locomotor deficits and pain. Compared to wild-type SCI mice, GSNOR−/− mice had better functional outcomes. Monotherapy with either GSNOR inhibition by N6022 or enhanced ALDH2 activity by Alda-1 correlated well with functional recovery and lessened pain. However, combination therapy provided synergistic pain-relieving effects and more significant functional recovery compared with monotherapy. Conclusively, dysregulations in GSNOR and ALDH2 are among the causative mechanisms of SCI injury. Either inhibiting GSNOR or activating ALDH2 ameliorates SCI. Combining the specific inhibitor of GSNOR (N6022) with the selective activator of ALDH2 (Alda-1) provides greater protection to the neurovascular unit and confers greater functional recovery. The study is novel, and the combination therapy (N6022 + Alda-1) possesses translational potential.
EFT of 6D SUSY RG Flows

Motivated by its potential use in constraining the structure of 6D renormalization group flows, we determine the low energy dilaton-axion effective field theory of conformal and global symmetry breaking in 6D conformal field theories (CFTs). While our analysis is largely independent of supersymmetry, we also investigate the case of 6D superconformal field theories (SCFTs), where we use the effective action to present a streamlined proof of the 6D a-theorem for tensor branch flows, as well as to constrain properties of Higgs branch and mixed branch flows. An analysis of Higgs branch flows in some examples leads us to conjecture that in 6D SCFTs, an interacting dilaton effective theory may be possible even when certain 4-dilaton 4-derivative interaction terms vanish, because of large momentum modifications to 4-point dilaton scattering amplitudes. This possibility is due to the fact that in all known $D > 4$ CFTs, the approach to a conformal fixed point involves effective strings which are becoming tensionless.
Engineering current collectors for batteries with high specific energy

Joseph Wild is a PhD student in the Materials Science and Engineering program at Columbia University. He obtained his MEng in Mechanical Engineering from Imperial College London in 2020. His research mainly focuses on lithium-ion batteries, with an emphasis on advanced materials, modeling, and degradation diagnostics. Rishav Choudhury is a master’s student in the Materials Science and Engineering program at Columbia University. He obtained his BSE in Materials Science and Engineering from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor in 2020. His research mainly focuses on solid-state batteries with a focus on interfacial stability. Yuan Yang is currently an associate professor of materials science in the department of applied physics and applied mathematics at Columbia University. He received his PhD at Stanford University in 2012. Dr. Yang’s research interests include advanced energy storage and thermal energy management. He has published more than 80 papers with a total citation over 20,000 times and an H-index of 46. Dr. Yang is a Scialog fellow on Advanced Energy Storage and a Web of Science Highly Cited Researcher in 2020. He has won a Young Innovator Award by Nano Research and an Emerging Investigators Award by Journal of Materials Chemistry A.
Regulating via Social Media: Deterrence Eﬀects of the SEC's Use of Twitter

This paper presents the ﬁrst evidence of the eﬀect of ﬁnancial regulators’ social media use on corporate and individual behavior. Using the staggered launch of U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) regional oﬃces’ Twitter accounts, I ﬁnd that ﬁnancial regulators’ presence on social media reduces opportunistic insider trading, customer complaints against investment advisers, and ﬁnancial misreporting. Additional tests suggest that the salience and dissemination of regional oﬃces’ enforcement activities via Twitter play a role. The deterrence eﬀect of SEC regional oﬃces’ Twitter use is concentrated among oﬃces with more followers, ﬁrms with more retail investors, and advisers with more retail clients. I also show that investors react more strongly to enforcement actions after the enforced ﬁrm’s regional oﬃce initiates Twitter use. Taken together, the results suggest that ﬁnancial regulators’ use of social media helps deter misconduct.
Empirical Analysis of Software Piracy in Asia Japan VS. Vietnam: An Exploratory Study

The piracy rate in Asia Pacific region has been historically higher than the world average since the BSA global piracy study was first conducted in 2004 BSA/IDC Global Software Piracy Study 2013. This study aims to identify which demographic factors affect software piracy in two Asian countries, Japan and Vietnam, which have drastically different piracy rates, economic development stages, income levels, and national cultures. The statistical analysis of data reveals that among various factors, country difference, education, and gender most significantly influence software piracy. In addition, this study offers recommendations on how to curb software piracy effectively.
Heavy trays lead to heavier meals (626.21)

The studies aimed to determine whether carrying heavier trays leads to serving more food. In our studies, participants carried trays varying in weight and served themselves food for immediate consumption. In one study (N = 91), participants carrying heavy trays served themselves more small food servings (2.87) than did participants carrying light trays (2.36 cups), p = .06. Interestingly, even heavier trays (double the added weight) eliminated the increase (2.36). In another study participants (N = 46) carried the same types of trays used in the last study. There was a significant effect of tray weight on amount served, when controlling for gender and its interaction with tray weight and item type, p = .04. Participants picked more food (40.23 grams) with the medium weighed trays than with the light trays (30.55) or the double-weighed trays (25.55). Burden on peoples’ trays appears to lead to increased serving of food, but extra burden eliminates these effects. It is possible that some burden reduces sens...
Feelings in the Fringe

Abstract The Jamesian notion of fringe consciousness as elaborated by Mangan provides a theoretical motivation for drawing together a diverse class of experiences which are called "feelings" in everyday language. Thus, feelings of knowing and emotional feelings are seen not to differ in kind from each other. Further, both kinds of feelings are seen to reflect the consonance or dissonance of current conscious experience with unconscious contexts and may be used as "handles" to draw unconscious material into consciousness.
Chronic granulomatous invasive fungal sinusitis: an evolving approach to management.

Background Chronic granulomatous invasive fungal sinusitis (CGIFS) is rare and a consensus on ideal management is lacking. We present an extensive case managed successfully with a conservative approach. Methods Case report and literature review. Results The patient presented with unilateral proptosis, papilledema, and headache. Imaging revealed an infiltrative process with extensive intracranial and intraorbital involvement. Biopsy showed fungal elements and granulomatous reaction consistent with CGIFS. The patient was managed with conservative surgery and long-term oral voriconazole. Conclusion This case supports a conservative surgical approach in some patients with extensive CGIFS. Oral voriconazole is effective and has significant advantages over more toxic agents administered intravenously.
Wide range stress intensity factor expressions for ASTM E 399 standard fracture toughness specimens

For each of the two types of specimens, bend and compact, described previously for plane strain fracture toughness of materials, E 399, a polynominal expression is given for calculation of the stress intensity factor, K, from the applied force, P, and the specimen dimensions. It is explicitly stated, however, that these expressions should not be used outside the range of relative crack length, a/W, from 0.45 to 0.55. While this range is sufficient for the purpose of E 399, the same specimen types are often used for other purposes over a much wider range of a/W; for example, in the study of fatigue crack growth. Expressions are presented which are at least as accurate as those in E 399-74, and which cover much wider ranges of a/W: for the three-point bend specimen from 0 to 1; and for the compact specimen from 0.2 to 1. The range has to be restricted for the compact specimen because of the proximity of the loading pin holes to the crackline, which causes the stress intensity factor to be sensitive to small variations in dimensions when a/W is small. This is a penalty inherently associated with the compactness of the specimen.
A Small-Scale Adventure Learning Activity and its Implications for Higher Education Practice and Research

In this paper, I discuss the implementation of a small-scale Adventure Learning project in a higher education classroom. Data used to evaluate the Adventure Learning project indicates that the learner experience was engaging, meaningful, fun, and challenging. Suggestions for future practice and research include a call to rethink education in terms of pedagogy, social technologies, creative curricula, authentic learning, and narrative. Higher education learning experiences should foster participation and interaction and envision integrative approaches to learning that not only solve problems but also reconsider the kinds of experiences that we offer to learners. Keywords: adventure learning; pedagogy; social technologies; higher education; narrative
Digital pulse processing for NaI(Tl) detectors

Abstract We apply two different post-processing techniques to digital pulses induced by photons in a NaI(Tl) detector and compare the obtained energy resolution to the standard analog approach. Our digital acquisition approach is performed using a single-stage acquisition with a fast digitizer. Both the post-processing techniques we propose rely on signal integration. In the first, the pulse integral is calculated by directly numerically integrating the pulse digital samples, while in the second the pulse integral is estimated by a model-based fitting of the pulse. Our study used a 7.62 cm×7.62 cm cylindrical NaI(Tl) detector that gave a 7.60% energy resolution (at 662 keV), using the standard analog acquisition approach, based on a pulse shaping amplifier. The new direct numerical integration yielded a 6.52% energy resolution. The fitting approach yielded a 6.55% energy resolution, and, although computationally heavier than numerical integration, is preferable when only the early samples of the pulse are available. We also evaluated the timing performance of a fast–slow detection system, encompassing an EJ-309 and a NaI(Tl) scintillator. We use two techniques to determine the pulse start time: constant fraction discrimination (CFD) and adaptive noise threshold timing (ANT), for both the analog and digital acquisition approach. With the analog acquisition approach, we found a system time resolution of 5.8 ns and 7.3 ns, using the constant fraction discrimination and adaptive noise threshold timing, respectively. With the digital acquisition approach, a time resolution of 1.2 ns was achieved using the ANT method and 3.3 ns using CFD at 50% of the maximum, to select the pulse start time. The proposed direct digital readout and post-processing techniques can improve the application of NaI(Tl) detectors, traditionally considered ‘slow’, for fast counting and correlation measurements, while maintaining a good measurement of the energy resolution.
Incarceration and Intergenerational Social Exclusion

This article explores intergenerational implications, specifically the troubled transitions of the children of incarcerated fathers from adolescence to adulthood. Although crime rates have decreased annually since the early 1990s, the social exclusion of fathers through imprisonment has increased, as has the further exclusion of young adults through homelessness, health-care uninsuredness, and political nonparticipation. Our latent class analysis indicates that 15 percent of youth are socially excluded, an estimate similar to administrative estimates of severely “disconnected” youth. We combine the logic of a cumulative disadvantage theory and the status attainment paradigm with three waves of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health) to examine the effects of father’s imprisonment on the social de tainment and exclusion of children during the transition to adulthood. Problems of socialization and strain associated with the incarceration and absence of biological fathers, as well as state sanctioning of youth from these disrupted families, are important aspects of the cumulative process of disadvantage that we identify in these data; however, the interconnected roles of father’s incarceration and intergenerational educational detainment are pivotal in producing exclusionary outcomes for children in emerging adulthood. Although there is much evidence that the effects we examine are generic across gender, there is also more specific evidence that the absence of biological fathers from households associated with incarceration leaves daughters at special risk of abuse and neglect by nonbiological father figures and through homelessness during the transition to adulthood. Keywords: parental incarceration, social exclusion, life course, cumulative disadvantage, emerging adulthood. Family background indisputably matters for children, although our understanding of this is limited. Robert M. Hauser, Jennifer T. Sheridan, and John Robert Warren (1999) report that the effect of family background on occupations is cumulative and indirect: operating most prominently through education, but also through other institutions from infancy through adulthood. David L. Featherman (1971) found that effects of father’s status origins are funneled through son’s education. Warren, Sheridan and Hauser (2002) recently extended confidence in this finding, but they also warned that a “remaining direct effect of family background may be due to factors like direct inheritance of business or farms, social networks of information exchange, and affinities between employers and employees from similar socioeconomic backgrounds” (p. 433). These residual concerns are about private sector advantages in intergenerational
The Lost Port Orford, Oregon, Meteorite (ECN =+ 1245,428:)*

In 1859, when Dr. John Evans, government geologist, was working in southwestern Oregon, he came upon an unusual rocky formation protruding from the ground. He reported the locality as “about 40 miles from Port Orford.” Specimens analyzed in New York and Vienna were found to be pallasite. Plans were made to move the mass, estimated to weigh 10,000 kg., to the Smithsonian Institution, but, before the expedition could be organized, Dr. Evans died. No one else could be found who knew the location of the find. The Smithsonian Institution has a small specimen of the original find weighing 28 gm. The large mass has not since been located, altho search parties are frequently in the field.
Narrowband heterodyne reception using unstabilized sources

Source power for laboratory-type experiments is often limited at millimeter and submillimeter wavelengths. This requires the use of sensitive receiving equipment. Cooled square-law detectors and narrowband heterodyne detectors are examples. We have developed a coherent mechanical frequency shifter, which makes possible narrowband heterodyne detection without the need for highly frequency stable sources. Identical frequency and phase fluctuations of the transmit and local oscillator signals derived from one source are eliminated at the intermediate frequency. The widely tunable frequency shifter, designed for a 637GHz scale-model radar, was tested in a 140GHz non-radar configuration. We investigated the receiver's minimum coherently resolvable bandwidth and its sensitivity. Several types of sources were compared for the effect of local oscillator amplitude noise on receiver sensitivity at low intermediate frequency.
Memory issues pertaining to social marketing messages about behavior enactment versus non-enactment

This article examines efficiency issues pertaining to social marketing messages about behavior enactment (e.g., smoker) vs. non-enactment (e.g., nonsmoker). Building on a wealth of psycholinguistics research, we posit that underlying differences in the processing and storage of word concepts with affixal negations affect learning and memory for these concepts (i.e., associations with non-enactment concepts will be harder to learn and remember than associations with enactment concepts). Two experiments support our predictions, suggesting that messages about enactment will demonstrate superior efficiency. Implications of study findings are discussed in terms of possibilities for improving the efficiency of social marketing messages about non-enactment.
The influence of magnesium on calcium-activated, vascular smooth muscle actomyosin ATPase activity.

Abstract The influence of varying free magnesium (Mg 2+ ) levels on the Ca 2+ -stimulated ATPase 3 activity, superprecipitation, and phosphorylation of a calcium-sensitive actomyosin prepared from bovine aortic muscularis were examined. The Ca 2+ -stimulated actomyosin ATPase activity was inhibited by both low and high levels of Mg 2+ with optimal activity achieved at approximately 5 m m Mg 2+ . Total phosphorylation of the actomyosin and specific phosphorylation of the 17,000-dalton myosin light chain (LC1) exhibited the same Mg 2+ dependence as the Ca 2+ -stimulated actomyosin ATPase activity, i.e., depression at high and low Mg 2+ levels with an optimum at approximately 5 m m . It was thus concluded that Mg 2+ modulation of the actomyosin ATPase activity was exerted at the level of the myosin light-chain kinase-phosphatase system. The superprecipitation response of the actomyosin also required at least 5 m m Mg 2+ for an optimal response, however, no significant depression of the response at higher Mg 2+ levels was observed, suggesting Mg 2+ may also influence the actin-myosin interaction. The implications of these results in terms of a sarcoplasmic Mg 2+ modulation of vascular smooth muscle contractility are discussed.
The 2013 elections and the Italian political system

The February 2013 Italian general elections were characterized by the highest volatility to date. Although, thanks to the majority bonus, the Partito Democratico (Democratic Party) obtained the absolute majority of seats in the House of Deputies, it could not be considered the winner of the elections. Lacking a majority in the Senate, it was obliged to form a government with Silvio Berlusconi's party and with the rather small number of parliamentarians elected in former Prime Minister Mario Monti's list. In spite of his last-minute surge, Berlusconi was a clear loser, having lost almost six million votes in respect of his 2008 victory. Comedian Beppe Grillo's Movimento Cinque Stelle (Five Stars Movement) received the highest-ever number of votes for a new entry into any post-war European general election. Unwilling to play the coalitional game and made up of inexperienced and incompetent parliamentarians, Grillo's party has remained isolated and ineffective. The present Italian party system consists of th...
Stability of sulfur mustard in vehicles suitable for cutaneous exposure of swine

Sulfur mustard (SM) is a blistering chemical warfare agent capable of forming deep, bullous lesions in man that heal very slowly and tend to become infected. We have developed a swine model that is used to evaluate candidate treatment regimens for the SM injury. To expand our wound-healing studies, SM mixtures suitable for cutaneous exposure were needed so that a large total body surface area (TBSA) could be covered during the SM application.The vehicles selected for use in the SM exposure experiments would have to be miscible with SM, form a stable mixture, be soluble in an organic solvent that is required for the stability evaluation, be nontoxic, and not interfere with the SM reaction on the skin. Four candidate vehicles were selected for testing. The vehicles were peanut oil, propylene glycol, polyethylene glycol (PEG) 200, and PEG 400. During preliminary screening, PEG 400 was eliminated as a candidate because it was not soluble in hexane, and least soluble in chloroform and methylene chloride. Propy...
Using ECC Feedback to Guide Voltage Speculation in Low-Voltage Processors

Low-voltage computing is emerging as a promising energy-efficient solution to power-constrained environments. Unfortunately, low-voltage operation presents significant reliability challenges, including increased sensitivity to static and dynamic variability. To prevent errors, safety guard bands can be added to the supply voltage. While these guard bands are feasible at higher supply voltages, they are prohibitively expensive at low voltages, to the point of negating most of the energy savings. Voltage speculation techniques have been proposed to dynamically reduce voltage margins. Most require additional hardware to be added to the chip to correct or prevent timing errors caused by excessively aggressive speculation. This paper presents a mechanism for safely guiding voltage speculation using direct feedback from ECC-protected cache lines. We conduct extensive testing of an Intel Itanium processor running at low voltages. We find that as voltage margins are reduced, certain ECC-protected cache lines consistently exhibit correctable errors. We propose a hardware mechanism for continuously probing these cache lines to fine tune supply voltage at core granularity within a chip. Moreover, we demonstrate that this mechanism is sufficiently sensitive to detect and adapt to voltage noise caused by fluctuations in chip activity. We evaluate a proof-of-concept implementation of this mechanism in an Itanium-based server. We show that this solution lowers supply voltage by 18% on average, reducing power consumption by an average of 33% while running a mix of benchmark applications.
Exome sequencing identifies a novel EP300 frame shift mutation in a patient with features that overlap cornelia de lange syndrome

Rubinstein-Taybi syndrome (RTS) and Cornelia de Lange syndrome (CdLS) are genetically heterogeneous multiple anomalies syndromes, each having a distinctive facial gestalt. Two genes (CREBBP and EP300) are known to cause RTS, and five (NIPBL, SMC1A, SMC3, RAD21, and HDAC8) have been associated with CdLS. A diagnosis of RTS or CdLS is molecularly confirmed in only 65% of clinically identified cases, suggesting that additional causative genes exist for both conditions. In addition, although EP300 and CREBBP encode homologous proteins and perform similar functions, only eight EP300 positive RTS patients have been reported, suggesting that patients with EP300 mutations might be escaping clinical recognition. We report on a child with multiple congenital abnormalities and intellectual disability whose facial features and complex phenotype resemble CdLS. However, no mutations in CdLS-related genes were identified. Rather, a novel EP300 mutation was found on whole exome sequencing. Possible links between EP300 and genes causing CdLS are evident in the literature. Both EP300 and HDAC8 are involved in the regulation of TP53 transcriptional activity. In addition, p300 and other chromatin associated proteins, including NIPBL, SMCA1, and SMC3, have been found at enhancer regions in different cell types. It is therefore possible that EP300 and CdLS-related genes are involved in additional shared pathways, producing overlapping phenotypes. As whole exome sequencing becomes more widely utilized, the diverse phenotypes associated with EP300 mutations should be better understood. In the meantime, testing for EP300 mutations in those with features of CdLS may be warranted.
Atrioventricular nodal reentrant tachycardia in children: effect of slow pathway ablation on fast pathway function.

AV Nodal Reentry in Children. Introduction: Prior studies in adults have shown significant shortening of the fast pathway effective refractory period after successful slow pathway ablation. As differences between adults and children exist in other characteristics of AV nodal reentrant tachycardia (AVNRT), we sought to characterize the effect of slow pathway ablation or modification in a multicenter study of pediatric patients. Methods and Results: Data from procedures in pediatric patients were gathered retrospectively from five institutions. Entry criteria were age <21 years, typical AVNRT inducible with/without isoproterenol infusion, and attempted slow pathway ablation or modification. Dual AV nodal pathways were defined as those with ≥50 msec jump in A2-H2 with a 10-msec decrease in A1-A2. Successful ablation was defined as elimination of AVNRT inducibility. A total of 159 patients (age 4.4 to 21 years, mean 13.1) were studied and had attempted slow pathway ablation. AVNRT was inducible in the baseline state in 74 (47%) of 159 patients and with isoproterenol in the remainder. Dual AV nodal pathways were noted in 98 (62%) of 159 patients in the baseline state. Ablation was successful in 154 (97%) of 159 patients. In patients with dual AV nodal pathways and successful slow pathway ablation, the mean fast pathway effective refractory period was 343 ′ 68 msec before ablation and 263 ′ 64 msec after ablation. Mean decrease in the fast pathway effective refractory period was 81 ′ 82 msec (P < 0.0001) and was not explained by changes in autonomic tone, as measured by changes in sinus cycle length during the ablation procedure. Electrophysiologic measurements were correlated with age. Fast pathway effective refractory period was related to age both before (P = 0.0044) and after ablation (P < 0.0001). AV block cycle length was related to age both before (P = 0.0005) and after ablation (P < 0.0001). However, in dual AV nodal pathway patients, the magnitude of change in the fast pathway effective refractory period after ablation was not related to age. Conclusion: Lack of clear dual AV node physiology is common in pediatric patients with inducible AVNRT (38%). Fast pathway effective refractory period shortens substantially in response to slow pathway ablation. The magnitude of change is large compared with adult reports and is not completely explained by changes in autonomic tone. Prospective studies in children using autonomic blockade are needed.
Developmental genes and ocular malformation syndromes.

How does a fertilized ovum develop into a well-formed human being? What coordinates the fate of genetically identical embryonic stem cells, turning some into limbs and others into eyes or parts thereof? What synchronizes the myriad decision-requiring events in fetal development? What reparative processes exist to compensate for mishaps? What is behind the miracle of the perfect eye and body? Several families of so-called homeotic genes are responsible for the orchestration and regulation of normal development of biologic systems."" In the last decade new landmarks have been set in our understanding of embryology with the discovery, among others, of the homeobox independently by McGinnis and associates! and Scott and Weiner. 5 The homeobox is a DNA segment, 183 base pairs in length, which codes for a protein that constitutes the DNA binding region or homeodomain of some homeotic gene products. The proteins coded for by homeobox-containing genes regulate DNA transcription by binding to downstream (toward the 3' end of the gene) genes and also regulate their own production. Homeobox sequences in different homeotic genes within and between genera and species are so similar or conserved that they are likely to have evolved from common ancestral genes by a process of tandem duplication, or side-by-side duplication.v? It is also hypothesized that after duplication, mutations in some respective genes result in diversification of function and specific body segment expressivity. Homeobox-containing genes are arranged in clusters on one or more chromosomes (one in Drosophila and four in mouse and man)." These genes regulate the development of body segments cephalad to caudad, depending on their location in the gene cluster." The developing embryo at the multiple somite stage consists of a tandem array of duplicated body segments. These primordial segments form different body parts under the control of homeotic genes. There are clear-cut boundaries and synchronized expression of
Transfusion free surgery: single institution experience of 27 consecutive liver transplants in Jehovah's Witnesses.

Background Despite the risks associated with transfusion, the medical community continues to view blood as a safe and abundant product. In this article, we provide an effective strategy to accomplish orthotopic liver transplantation without transfusion. Study design From June 1999 through July 2004, 27 liver transplantations were performed in Jehovah's Witness patients at the USC-University Hospital (24 adults, 3 children). Nineteen of these were living donor (LD) and eight were deceased donor (DD) liver transplants. Preoperative blood augmentation with erythropoietin and iron was achieved. At induction, all LD and six of eight DD recipients underwent acute normovolemic hemodilution (ANH), and the operation was conducted under conditions of moderate anemia. Cell scavenging techniques were used. Acute normovolemic hemodilution and salvaged blood were returned as needed during bleeding or on completion of transplantation. Results The preoperative liver disease severity score was higher in the deceased donor group. We had 100% graft and patient survivals in the LD group, and 75% in the DD recipients. Two DD recipients died. The remaining are all alive and well, with a mean followup of 965 days (range 266 to 1,979 days) in the LD group and 624 days (range 119 to 1,132 days) in the DD group. Conclusions Preoperative blood augmentation and acute normovolemic hemodilution provide a safe cushion against operative blood loss. Elective living donor liver transplantation allows full implementation of a transfusion-free strategy in the setting of early hepatic failure, portal hypertension, and anemia. This feat is an important step toward global standardization of transfusion-free surgical practice and an important response to widespread blood shortages and transfusion risks.
Visual Identification of Nerve Terminals in Living Isolated Skeletal Muscle

1. The unmyelinated terminal branches of motor nerve fibres were clearly resolved in live, unstained skeletal muscles of the frog and of the mudpuppy (Necturus maculosus), using Nomarski optics. The observations were supplemented by several histological procedures, including electron microscopy, and by extracellular recordings from the nerve terminals. 2. In live motor nerve terminals of the mudpuppy one can see a series of varicosities, which in the electron microscope are shown to contain accumulations of synaptic vesicles. Junctional folds in the muscle fibres are confined to the areas opposite the varicosities. Terminal branches of the frog's motor axon are also varicose, but the swellings are so closely spaced that they can be seen only after staining or by electron microscopy. 3. Nuclei of Schwann cells are recognized along living nerve terminals. Electrophoretic injection of a fluorescent dye, Procion yellow, into the cell bodies of Schwann cells enables one to see the distribution of their processes with the light microscope. 4. Visibility of terminal arborizations was improved by bathing nerve-muscle preparations in solutions of collagenase for 15 to 30 min, thereby removing much of the connective tissue. After longer collagenase treatment nerve terminals could be lifted off muscle fibres with a micropipette, thus exposing the postsynaptic membrane.
On the visual distinctiveness of words in the English lexicon

Abstract Speechreading (lipreading) should be facilitated when spoken words are visually distinct. It has been established that the English lexicon has a high degree of visual distinctiveness: most words remain visually unique even when distinctions are collapsed across phoneme classes, as is characteristic of visually-perceived (i.e., speechread) speech. We asked, is the high degree of visual uniqueness in English a distinctive, nonaccidental property of the lexicon? Perhaps not: the lexical space of English (number of possible words, given some limit on the number of syllables per word) is large. That is, many lexical slots exist; a fairly low percentage are filled with actual words. Given this, the visual distinctiveness of the English lexicon may derive from the segment inventory and phonotactics of the language, rather than being a property of the lexicon per se . In this study, we compared the visual similarity properties of words in simulated, English-like lexicons to the visual similarity properties of words in an actual English lexicon. Each novel lexicon was generated on the basis of the phonotactic patterns of the actual English lexicon. The results indicate that a high degree of visual distinctiveness is an expected property of the lexicon, given the segment inventory and the phonotactics of the language.
Cybercriminal impacts on online business and consumer confidence

The information revolution, coupled with the strategic leveraging of the Internet, has exposed a number of relatively open societies to the dangers of cybercriminal and cyberterrorist acts, especially in commercial business transactions. With the development of e‐commerce, this commercial dark side has become known as cybercrime and has taken on many forms that affect the perceptions of the way we shop online. Corporations should realize that these threats to their online businesses have strategic implications to their business future and take proper measures to ensure that these threats are eliminated or significantly reduced so that consumer confidence in the Internet as an alternative means of shopping is maintained. These counter measures, coined as cybersecurity, have been developed to ensure the safety of consumer privacy and information and allow for a carefree shopping experience. There is need for the development of models that will allow corporations to study the effects of cybercrime on online consumer confidence and to counter through leveraging the benefits associated with the latest developments in cybersecurity. With these two facets of e‐commerce impacting the online consumer, corporations must ensure that the security measures taken will ultimately prevail to assure that consumers will continue to use the Internet to satisfy their shopping needs.
Caffeine protects against MPTP-induced blood-brain barrier dysfunction in mouse striatum

The blood-brain barrier (BBB) is important physiologically. Pathologically, BBB disruption has been implicated in a wide spectrum of neurological disorders including Parkinson's disease (PD). Recent studies indicate that caffeine is protective against PD, but by poorly understood mechanisms. Using a MPTP neurotoxin model of PD we tested the hypothesis that the protective actions of caffeine were because of, at least in part, preventing MPTP-induced BBB dysfunction. FVB mice were pre-treated with caffeine (10 mg/kg, i.p.) or saline for 7 days prior to initiation of neurotoxin treatments; during the 7 days of neurotoxin treatment, caffeine or saline continued to be administered 10 min before each dose of MPTP (20 mg/kg, i.p.). Striatum (and for some studies hippocampus and cerebral cortex as well) were evaluated for BBB leakage, tight junction protein expression levels, integrity of dopaminergic neurons, and activation of astrocytes and microglia using immunostaining, immunoblotting and real-time PCR techniques. We found that caffeine blocked MPTP-induced decreases in numbers of tyrosine hydroxylase-positive dopaminergic neurons, increases in leakage of Evan's blue dye and FITC-albumin in striatum but not in cerebral cortex or hippocampus, decreases in levels of the tight junction proteins occludin and ZO-1, and increases in reactive gliosis. Our results suggest that caffeine might protect against PD and PD-like features in animal models, in part, by stabilizing the BBB.
An unusual presentation of Ehlers–Danlos syndrome vascular type with deep vein thrombosis: A case for multidisciplinary management

Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (EDS) vascular type typically presents with significant vascular complications such as rupture of blood vessels, gravid uterus, or intestinal perforation. We report on a 24-year-old female that presents with deep vein thrombosis found to be due to compression by a large posterior tibial artery pseudoaneurysm which ultimately leads to the patient's diagnosis. This case highlights the need for a multidisciplinary approach involving vascular surgery, internal medicine, genetics, and other health care providers for patients with vascular type EDS.
Hydrogenated ring-opened polynorbornene: A highly crystalline atactic polymer

Ring-opening metathesis polymerization (ROMP) of norbornene with most catalysts produces a polymer with an atactic placement of the cyclopentylene rings, yet partial hydrogenation of this polymer is known to yield a crystalline product. We report here a facile catalytic route to saturate polynorbornene (PN); fully hydrogenated polynorbornene (hPN) is highly crystalline, with an equilibrium melting point estimated as 156 °C. The crystal lattice is monoclinic, with parameters a = 6.936 A, b = 9.596 A, c = 12.420 A, and β = 130.7° at room temperature, indicating nearly complete extension of the hPN backbone within the unit cell. The material remains highly crystalline until the melting point is reached, but near 105 °C, the crystal structure transforms to one characterized by substantial rotational disorder of the hPN chains about their axes, while retaining substantial translational order.
Solvent-induced control of ultrasonic deuterium labelling

Abstract Raney Nickel catalyzed hydrogen-deuterium exchange in a model monosaccharide was conducted in eight different solvent pairs under ultrasonic irradiation. Immiscible solvent pairs gave percentages of stereospecific deuterium incorporation comparable to those reported previously; pronounced regioselectivity was demonstrated in two of the pairs examined.
Preliminary Observations on the Lipids of Bovine Retinal Outer Segment Disks

“THE outer segments of retinal photoreceptors consist of a stack of membraneous disks”1. The isolation of bovine retinal photoreceptor disks devoid of mitochondria and microsomes has recently been accomplished2. This communication presents a preliminary account of their lipid composition.
SU-FF-T-326: Application of the Pencil-Beam Redefinition Algorithm to Electron Arc Therapy

Purpose: A dose algorithm suitable for electron arc therapy is not available on existing commercial treatment planning systems. This project investigated the potential for simulating an electron arc therapy beam by summing (1° angular steps) fixed‐beam dose distributions calculated using the pencil‐beam redefinition algorithm (PBRA). Method and Materials: Similar to the Hogstrom pencil‐beam algorithm (PBA), the PBRA was commissioned for fixed beam geometries typical of electron arc therapy. The PBRA was constrained to calculate dose output for fixed beams as a function of field width and SSD. For arced beams, a small width correction was incorporated to conserve integral dose. Resulting arced beam calculations of dose output and mid‐arc depth dose were evaluated by comparing to data measured using cylindrical water phantoms (ρ=12, 15 cm). Calculated 2D relative dose distributions in the plane of rotation were evaluated using film dosimetry in a polystyrene cylindrical phantom (ρ=13.5 cm). A wide range of treatment parameter combinations was investigated — three field sizes, three radii of curvature, and multiple arc angles at 10 and 15 MeV. Results: For arced beams, the maximum difference between PBRA‐calculated and measured dose output at mid‐arc was 2%. Along mid arc, the maximum dose difference in low dose‐gradient regions was 3.4%, and the maximum distance to agreement (DTA) of dose values in high dose‐gradient regions was 2.2 mm. Away from mid‐arc, the maximum dose difference was 2%, and the maximum DTA was 1.2 mm. Conclusion: Results showed that the PBRA summation method can calculate dose in homogeneous phantoms within 3.4%. Since PBRA calculations in patients have been shown to be within 4% by Boyd et al., this method should be suitably accurate for use with electron arc therapy patients. User experience with the PBA and ease of PBRA beam commissioning make the PBRA attractive for this application.
Generalized DFT based partial matched filter bank for doppler estimation

Partial Matched Filter Bank (PMFB) with orthogonality is a method to sample the phase functions of the received radar signals offering robust Doppler tolerance. Generalized Discrete Fourier Transform (GDFT) with nonlinear phase functions provides engineering flexibility over the traditional Discrete Fourier Transform (DFT). The design freedom of exploiting the entire phase space of constant modulus orthogonal basis brings significant value for the minimization of waveform auto- and cross-correlations that is not possible in DFT. In this paper, we propose the use of GDFT waveforms with optimized correlations in a PMFB framework. It is shown that GDFT based PMFB performs quite promising for Doppler estimation in radar systems.
New projection lens system for KrF exposure scanning tool

In this paper we review our newly developed high NA projection lens for KrF scanner (NSR-S205C.) The projection lens has 0.75 NA and small residual aberration. In a designing step, aspherical surfaces are utilized to decrease lens dimensions without degradation of the lens performance. Actual lens performance, which includes wavefront aberration, distortion, image plane flatness and resist profiles, is reviewed.
Examining Student Digital Artifacts During a Year-Long Technology Integration Initiative

This study was situated within a year-long, statewide technology integration initiative designed to support technology integration within science, technology, engineering, and math classrooms. It examined the elements used in student artifacts in an attempt to investigate trends in digital artifact creation. Among several conclusions, this examination highlighted areas of significant improvement in student use of technology, such as an increase in the creation of PowerPoint presentations and the inclusion of multimedia elements. The study also highlighted areas for improvement, such as the low cognitive demand for content in the majority of the artifacts.
Localization of type X collagen in canine growth plate and adult canine articular cartilage

Type X collagen was extracted from ends of canine growth plates by pepsin digestion after 4 M guanidine hydrochloride extraction, purified by stepwise salt precipitation (2.0 M NaCl in 0.5 M acetic acid), and chromatographed on a Bio-Gel A1.5 M column in 1.0 M CaCl2. Without reduction on sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) polyacrylamide gels, the preparation yielded a single, high-molecular-weight (mol wt) band; after reduction, a single band of relative mol wt 5.0 x 10(4) was found. Polyclonal sera were raised against the purified collagen and used in the immunolocalization of canine type X collagen. As expected, indirect immunoperoxidase (IP) or indirect immunofluorescent staining with the polyclonal sera demonstrated that most of the immunoreactivity was localized in the zone of provisional calcification of the growth plate and in cartilage remnants in the metaphyseal region of the physis. A progressive decrease in staining toward the diaphysis of the fetal canine long bone was apparent as the trabecular structures were remodeled to bone. Unexpectedly, type X collagen was also detected in the zone of calcified, mature articular cartilage. It was concentrated in the pericellular matrix of the chondrocytes, appeared at or just above the tidemark, and was expressed immediately before mineralization. Identification of type X collagen in both the canine growth plate and the zone of calcified articular cartilage suggests that cells in the deep layer of cartilage and in the zone of calcified cartilage in the adult animal retain some characteristics of a growth plate and may be involved in regulation of mineralization at this critical interface. The expression of growth plate-like properties would allow the deep chondrocytes of mature articular cartilage to play a role in remodeling of the joint with age and in the pathogenesis of osteoarthritis.
The Values and Lifestyles of Idiocentrics and Allocentrics in an Individualist Culture: A Descriptive Approach

A considerable degree of research in cross-cultural consumer psychology has focused on the effects of individualism–collectivism on consumer preference for advertising appeals. Recently, psychologists have demonstrated a growing interest in the individual-level manifestations of individualism–collectivism. Idiocentrism refers to person-level individualism, whereas allocentrism refers to person-level collectivism. Drawing on individualism–collectivism theory, in this article we look at the lifestyle of idiocentrics and allocentrics. Our findings suggest a convergence between the etic- and emic-level approaches, thus strengthening individualism–collectivism theory. The emic-level findings of this study also suggest additional questions to be explored at the etic level. Finally, we make suggestions for applications in consumer communication.
Ultrafast dynamics of frenkel excitons in tetracene and rubrene single crystals

Characteristics of thermally driven environmental motion (i.e., spectral densities) similarly control energy and charge-transport processes in self-assembled molecular aggregates, crystalline molecular solids, and photosynthetic antennae. A true microscopic understanding of these transport processes necessarily involves decomposing the spectral density of thermal noise into contributions from specific nuclear motions (i.e., modes). To this end, molecular solids may serve as excellent model systems due to their known crystal structures and well-defined intermolecular modes. Here, the electronic relaxation dynamics of tetracene (Tc) and rubrene (Rb) single crystals are investigated using a variety of nonlinear optical spectroscopies in conjunction with a Frenkel exciton model. Parameterization of the model is achieved by comparing simulated optical signals with those measured in experiments. In addition, electronic population transfer rates are computed with this same set of parameters using a modified Redf...