cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Teaching a networking class for freshmen: course design and lessons learned

In Computer Science/Information Technology (CS/IT), it is challenging to teach a networking class for freshmen students. On one hand, freshmen students have a very limited knowledge base, and the transition process from high school to college education patterns may take a long time (and vary on a individual basis). On the other hand, teaching networking requires the coverage of abstract networking theories and concepts and demands extensive hands-on practice. Consequently, a successful design of the freshmen networking class is vital to ensure the smooth transition and build a solid basis for advanced classes. In this paper, we present our design for teaching a freshmen networking class. Different from literature studies where the major focus is keeping the teaching up with the cutting-edge technologies, we embed the principle of simple, relevant, and interesting, with the aim to keep the interests of the freshmen students and to avoid the creation of frustration in their early studies. We also summarize our major design strategies and share feedback from the students and lessons that we learned. The presented design, although dedicated to teaching networks for CS/IT freshmen, can be applied to many other subjects of CS/IT as well as other majors.
A boundary element strategy for elastostatic inverse problems involving uncertain boundary conditions

In this paper, a convenient strategy is developed to find solutions for a class of uncertain-boundary-value problems by the Boundary Element Method (BEM). Such problems are ill-posed, but ill-conditioning of the associated algebraic systems of equations can be controlled to a large extent, and useful boundary data can be obtained despite ill-conditioning. Interior data of not only sufficient quantity, but also of good quality at good locations contribute to good solutions. Our strategy permits the condition number of the algebraic systems, as a function of interior-data locations, to be monitored, such that measured data from displacement sensors and/or strain sensors, at locations found to be good ones for the problem at hand, can be used. The present strategy is based upon the concept of a Green's-function library through partitioning of the BEM algebraic system. Algebraic systems are solved using least squares via Singular Value Decomposition (SVD). The library idea takes advantage of modern data storage and retrieval technology and permits the process of repeated trials, in order to determine good data sensor locations, to be done quickly and efficiently. Several numerical examples are given to demonstrate the strategy. Some examples examine the consequences of errors in measured data. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Dechlorination of PCBs, CAHs, herbicides and pesticides neat and in soils at 25 °C using Na/NH3

Abstract Na/NH 3 reductions have been used to dehalogenate polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), chlorinated aliphatic hydrocarbons (CAHs) and pesticides at diffusion controlled rates at room temperature in model compound studies in both dry NH 3 and when water was added. The rate ratio of dechlorination (aliphatic and aromatic compounds) versus reaction of the solvated electron with water is very large, allowing wet soils or sludges to be remediated without an unreasonable consumption of sodium. Several soils, purposely contaminated with 1,1,1-trichloroethane, 1-chlorooctane and tetrachloroethylene, were remediated by slurring the soils in NH 3 followed by addition of sodium. The consumption of sodium per mole of chlorine removed was examined as a function of both the hazardous substrate’s concentration in the soil and the amount of water present. The Na consumption per Cl removed increases as the amount of water increases and as the substrate concentration in soil decreases. However, remediation was still readily accomplished from 5000 to 3000 ppm to sub ppm levels of RCl in the presence of substantial amounts of water. PCB- and dioxin-contaminated oils were remediated with Na/NH 3 as were PCB-contaminated soils and sludges from contaminated sites. Ca/NH 3 treatments also successfully remediated PCB-contaminated clay, sandy and organic soils but laboratory studies demonstrated that Ca was less efficient than Na when substantial amounts of water were present. The advantages of solvated electron reductions using Na/NH 3 include: (1) very rapid dehalogenation rates at ambient temperature, (2) soils (even clay soils) break down into particles and slurry nicely in NH 3 , (3) liquid ammonia handling technology is well known and (4) removal from soils, recovery and recycle of ammonia is easy due to its low boiling point. Finally, dechlorination is extremely fast even for the ‘corner’ chlorines in the substrate Mirex™ (structure in Eq. (5) ).
Investigation of an on-line two-dimensional chromatographic approach for peptide analysis in plasma by LC-MS-MS.

Abstract Reversed phase and hydrophilic interaction chromatography (HILIC) were successfully coupled for the on-line extraction and quantitative analysis of peptides by ESI–LC–MS/MS. A total of 11 peptides were utilized to determine the conditions for proper focusing and separation on both dimensions. Minor modifications to the initial organic composition of the first reversed-phase dimension provided options between a comprehensive (generic) or more selective approach for peptide transfer to the second HILIC dimension. Ion-pairing with trifluoroacetic acid (TFA) provided adequate chromatographic retention and peak symmetry for the selected peptides on both C18 and HILIC. The resulting signal suppression from TFA was partially recovered by a post-column “TFA fix” using acetic acid yielding improvements in sensitivity. Minimal sample preparation aligned with standard on-line extraction procedures provided highly reproducible and robust results for over 300 sequential matrix injections. Final optimized conditions were successfully employed for the quantitation of peptide PTHrP (1–36) in rat K3EDTA plasma from 25.0 to 10,000 ng/mL using PTHrP (1–34) as the analog internal standard. This highly orthogonal two-dimensional configuration was found to provide the unique selectivity required to overcome issues with interfering endogenous components and minimize electrospray ionization effects in biological samples.
Cardiac transplantation and/or mechanical circulatory support device placement using heparin anti-coagulation in the presence of acute heparin-induced thrombocytopenia.

Background Patients with congestive heart failure, decreased left ventricular function, and debilitation are frequently maintained on anti-coagulants, including heparin. As such, these patients are at high risk for developing heparin-induced thrombocytopenia (HIT). Some of these HIT-positive individuals will ultimately undergo urgent heart transplantation or placement of a mechanical circulatory support device (MCSD). Such procedures require cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) and full anti-coagulation. The safety of re-exposure to heparin during CPB despite the presence of recent-onset thrombocytopenia and Hep/PF4 antibodies has not been studied in the transplant or MCSD populations. Methods Over a 24-month period, 75 heart transplants and 55 MCSD implants were performed. Fourteen patients with acute HIT (thrombocytopenia and positive Hep/PF4 antibody by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay [ELISA]) and 3 patients with a history of remote HIT underwent cardiac transplantation ( n = 9) and/or MCSD placement ( n = 8) using heparin as the anti-coagulant during CPB. The median time from diagnosis to CPB was 4.5 days in patients with acute HIT. Results Thirty-day survival was 100% in transplant patients and 75% in MCSD patients. Post-transplant ELISA testing was found to be negative in 4 patients with acute HIT and 3 with remote HIT. Conclusions This series demonstrates that short-term re-exposure to heparin during urgent CPB for heart transplantation or MCSD placement is safe despite the presence of thrombocytopenia and Hep/PF4 antibodies. Moreover, the rapid clearance of Hep/PF4 antibodies in our transplant patients suggests a potential therapeutic role for immunosuppressive therapy in the management of HIT in the acute setting.
des-(1–13) Human β-endorphin interacts with calmodulin☆

Abstract It is known that the 31-residue neuropeptide β-endorphin inhibits the calcium-dependent, calmodulin-mediated stimulation of cyclic nucleotide phosphodiesterase activity. The results of this study demonstrate that a non-opiate, synthetic amino terminal deletion peptide, des -(1–13), of human β-endorphin is also capable of inhibiting the stimulated enzymic activity, but not the basal activity. This inhibition occurs with the same efficacy as the intact 31-residue peptide. Thus, the amino terminal region of β-endorphin, which is responsible for opiate activity, does not appear to contribute to the calmodulin interaction. Circular dichroic spectroscopy of des -(1–13) β-endorphin, calmodulin, and mixtures of the two shows that the ellipticity at 221 nm was more negative in the peptide-protein mixture than could be accounted for on the basis of simple additivity of the peptide and calmodulin. This spectral change implies enhanced α-helicity concomitant with the peptide-protein association. Helix formation may occur in the peptide since this sequence has the potential to form an amphipathic helix.
The nurse's role in planning for inclusion of medically fragile and technology-dependent children in public school settings.

With the increasing number of medically fragile and technology-dependent children in schools, greater collaboration is required between health care professionals and public school personnel to ensu...
Are Fluoroquinolones Superior Antibiotics for the Treatment of Community-Acquired Pneumonia?

Various guidelines for the antibiotic treatment of community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) are presented that include fluoroquinolone antibiotics. The efficacy of current fluoroquinolone antibiotics in the treatment of CAP is summarized. Healthcare resource utilization and shortened duration of clinical symptoms have been shown in some, but not all of CAP trials utilizing fluoroquinolone antibiotics. Although evidence for both the clinical and microbiological efficacy of fluoroquinolone antibiotics is abundant, no convincing data demonstrates that they are superior to other standard antibiotics included in CAP guidelines.
A gravity gradient stabilized solar power satellite design

The concept of a solar power satellite (SPS) is reviewed, and a design proposed for such a satellite taking advantage of solar radiation pressure and gravity gradient forces to eliminate much of the structure from the baseline configuration. The SPS design consists of a solar cell array lying in the orbital plane and a free floating mirror above to reflect sunlight down onto it. The structural modes of the solar cell array are analyzed and found to be well within control limitations. Preliminary calculations concerning the free floating mirror and its position-keeping propellant requirements are also performed. A numerical example is presented, which shows that, even in terms of mass only, this configuration is a competitive design when compared to the conventional Department of Energy reference design. Other advantages, such as easier assembly in orbit, lower position-keeping propellant requirements, possibilities for decreasing necessary solar cell area, and longer solar cell life, may make this design superior.
Universal human visual pigment curves from psychophysical data

A universal spectral absorption curve for visual pigments was used to estimate, first, the visual pigment spectra corresponding to both the photopic psychophysical data of Smith and Pokorny and the scotopic CIE V'λ, and, second, the maximum effective optical density of the visual pigments in each photoreceptor of the “averaged human observer.” These were used to determine improved corrections for light losses in the eye of that averaged observer. The same revised correction held for both long-wavelength- and middle-wave-length-sensitive cones, a different correction was necessary for short-wavelength-sensitive cones. To demonstrate the method, the sensitivity spectrum at the cornea for an assumed anomalous middle-wavelength-sensitive cone was calculated from these revisions.
Malignant Transformation of Spontaneously Regressed Retinoblastoma, Retinoma/Retinocytoma Variant

The authors report on a case of a 7-year-old girl who was found on routine preschool screening at age 4 years to have unilateral decreased vision and a retinal lesion consistent clinically with the retinoma or retinocytoma variant of "spontaneously regressed retinoblastoma." The patient was followed closely with photographic documentation. After remaining stable for 3 years, her tumor grew rapidly and seeded the vitreous, prompting enucleation. Histopathologic examination disclosed that the newer elevated part of the tumor was an undifferentiated retinoblastoma, whereas the base of the tumor had the characteristic benign histopathologic features of retinoma/retinocytoma including bland nuclei, a fibrillar eosinophilic stroma, scattered fleurettes, calcific foci within viable tumor, and no mitoses. Immunohistochemical stains disclosed that immunoreactivity for retinal S antigen, S-100 protein, and glial fibrillary acidic protein was confined to cells in the differentiated basal part of the tumor. These histopathologic observations support the concept that tumors with the clinical characteristics of the patient's original lesion are benign variants of retinoblastoma that have arisen de novo rather than retinoblastomas that have undergone spontaneous regression. The clinical developments in this case suggest that retinomas or retinocytomas rarely undergo malignant transformation after a period of clinical dormancy and underscore the necessity for close follow-up of patients with presumed regressed retinoblastoma.
A nitrogen pressure of 50 atmospheres does not prevent evolution of hydrogen by nitrogenase

The effect of a partial pressure of nitrogen of 50 atmospheres (5065 kilopascals ) on the hydrogen evolution reaction of nitrogenase has been investigated. Evolution of hydrogen was not blocked completely by 50 atmospheres of nitrogen in any of four experiments; rather, 27.3 +/- 2.4 percent of the total electron flux through nitrogenase was directed toward production of hydrogen. The ratio of hydrogen evolved to nitrogen fixed was close to 1:1, which implies that hydrogen evolution is obligatory in the fixation of molecular nitrogen by nitrogenase.
Electrolyte and pH responsive surfactant association in ionic semi‐interpenetrating networks containing cellulose or chitin synthesized in lithium chloride–N,N‐dimethylacetamide

Semi-interpenetrating networks (SIPNs) of N,N-dimethylacrylamide (DMAm)–N,N-dimethylamino-ethylacrylamide (DMAEAm), or N,N-dimethylacrylamide (DMAm)–2-acrylamido-2-methyl-1-propanesulfonic acid (AMPS) containing cellulose or chitin were synthesized in 9% LiCl–N,N-dimethylacetamide (DMAc). The SIPNs were formulated to contain (1, 2, or 5% w/w) cellulose or 0.8% w/w chitin. Control systems (without polysaccharide) were also synthesized in 9% LiCl–DMAc. An acrylamide (Am)–AMPS hydrogel was synthesized for comparison with the SIPN composites. The swelling behavior of these materials was investigated as a function of pH (DMAEAm-containing networks) or electrolyte concentration (AMPS-containing networks). The DMAm–AMPS materials were found to have higher equilibrium water content (EWC) values in deionized water than the DMAm–DMAEAm materials. The EWC of the DMAm–DMAEAm materials was largest between pH 4 and 5 due to the protonation of the tertiary amine, with the chitin-containing material exhibiting the largest EWC. The DMAm–AMPS materials exhibited a decrease in EWC values with an increase in electrolyte concentration. Polymer–surfactant interactions were shown to exist for surfactants of opposite charge of the ionic mer units incorporated into the polymeric network. Surfactant sequestration by the polysaccharide-containing materials was greater than that of the control gels; however, the rates of surfactant binding were lower. Release of the bound surfactant was achieved by the disruption of the charge–charge interactions by changing the pH of the medium (DMAEAm-containing networks) or by the addition of electrolyte (AMPS-containing networks). The DMAm–DMAEAm SIPNs released only 4% of the surfactant originally sequestered. By contrast, the DMAm–AMPS SIPNs released approximately 80%. The control Am–AMPS hydrogel–surfactant complex collapsed in the presence of electrolyte, and no surfactant was released from the complex. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 71: 989–998, 1999
Family of cytochrome c7-type proteins from Geobacter sulfurreducens: structure of one cytochrome c7 at 1.45 A resolution.

The structure of a cytochrome c(7) (PpcA) from Geobacter sulfurreducens was determined by X-ray diffraction at 1.45 A resolution; the R factor is 18.2%. The protein contains a three-heme core that is surrounded by 71 amino acid residues. An unusual feature of this cytochrome is that it has 17 lysine residues, but only nine hydrophobic residues that are larger than alanine. The details of the structure are described and compared with those of cytochrome c(7) from Desulfuromonas acetoxidans and with cytochromes c(3). The two cytochrome c(7) molecules have sequences that are 46% identical, but the arrangements of the hemes in the two structures differ; the rms deviation of all alpha-carbons is 2.5 A. These cytochromes can reduce various metal ions. The reduction site of the chromate ion in D. acetoxidans is occupied by a sulfate ion in the crystal structure of PpcA. We identified four additional homologues of cytochrome c(7) in the G. sulfurreducens genome and three polymers of c(7)-type domains. Of the polymers, two have four repeats and one has nine repeats. On the basis of sequence alignments, one of the hemes in each of the cytochrome c(7)-type domains does not have the bis-histidine coordination. The packing of themore » molecules in the crystal structure of PpcA suggests that the polymers have an elongated conformation and might form a 'nanowire'.« less
Low-molecular-weight membrane component inhibits the metastatic phenotype of B16-F10 melanoma.

Treatment of the metastatic melanoma cell lines B16-F1 and B16-F10 with 1·5–2 per cent butanol elevates their experimental metastatic potential, whereas reconstitution of butanol-extracted B16 cells with crude butanol extracts decreases the number of experimentally induced lung foci. We partially purified the biologically active components from crude butanol extracts of B16-F1 by high-performance liquid chromatography and isoelectric focusing, and found the inhibitory activity (i) was in the low-molecular-weight (5–10kDa) fraction of the chromatogram, (ii) had an isoelectric pH between 5·6 and 5·8, (iii) was distinct from a thiol-protease activity eluted from the isoelectric focusing bed at pH 4·9–5·3 and (iv) was not itself an inhibitor of serine or thiol proteases. Incubation of butanol-extracted B16-F10 cells with known inhibitors of serine, acid and thiol protease inhibitors had no effect on the experimental metastatic phenotype. Although the apparent molecular weight was low, the inhibitor(s) tended to aggregate after focusing, probably owing to the presence of carrier ampholines. Using two-dimensional gel electrophoresis, we observed slight differences between intact and butanol-extracted cells, most of them in the low-molecular-weight region. These results suggest that butanol treatment may reversibly release certain inhibitors of cell surface enzymes other than proteases, which might be involved in invasion and metastasis.
Cytokine Measurements and Interpretation of Cytokine Assays in Human Disease

Cytokines are powerful mediator and communication molecules capable of regulating a wide spectrum of biologic functions, including immune responses. Although the role of cytokines in the pathogenesis of human disease is not yet understood, assays for cytokines have become a common feature in research and clinical laboratories. However, numerous pitfalls accompany measurements of cytokine levels in body fluids and of cytokine synthesis or gene expression in tissue. Interpretation of results obtained in cytokine assays, especially those performed with pathologic specimens, is fraught with difficulties. While cytokine assays are clearly of value in monitoring patients treated with recombinant cytokines or receiving anticytokine therapy, the clinical significance of cytokine assays is not yet fully established. In this review, some of the complexities associated with cytokine monitoring are discussed. The crucial importance of understanding cytokine biology for meaningful assay interpretation is emphasized.
Rapid prototyping for spoken dialogue systems

We implemented a spoken dialogue system architecture for rapid prototyping. The features that support rapid prototyping include a clear separation of generic dialogue processing algorithms from domain and language specific knowledge sources. In an experiment, it could be shown that six individuals could specify these domain and language specific knowledge sources within 8 to 12 hours to come up with a prototypical implementation of a spoken dialogue system. To that end, no dialogue strategy had to be specified. Rather, it was sufficient to provide an ontology, a description of the services offered by the system, parsing grammars, database conversion rules and generation templates. Furthermore, the experiment shows that it is possible to formulate dialogue strategies in a domain and language independent manner; thus not requiring a system designer to be knowledgeable about dialogue processing.
Sensitivity analysis of an assembled Fourier transform microspectrometer

This paper presents the statistical formulation of misalignments of optical components. As a case study, sensitivity analysis is performed to evaluate the optical performance of an assembled Fourier Transform (FT) microspectrometer. Precision alignment of optical components is a critical factor to achieve high sensitive measurement. Positional and angular misalignments of optical components are propagated and accumulated from one part to another as the beam is delivered. Optical paths are modeled as kinematic variables of a linked chain, and its propagation is calculated using forward kinematics with homogeneous transform matrices. This approach not only formulates the deviation of beam paths as traditional optics do, but also accommodates statistical variables to represent the mean and variance of kinematic errors. With the assumption of Gaussian distribution of the errors, the statistical equation was linearly propagated. The beam deviation was further combined with a light coupling model at the detector to evaluate the degradation of optical. Its prototype and experimental results were also reported.
Temperature Dependent Characterization of GaAs MESFETs

A procedure is described that uses precise on-wafer measurements, to extract accurate temperature dependent MESFET models. New results, presented here, explore the temperature dependence of small signal equivalent circuit parameters (ECPs) for some typical MESFET devices, and show excellent agreement between modelled and measured S-parameters for FETs and monolithic mm-wave amplifiers over temperature. A comparison to a new theoretically derived temperature model is also given. The presented work includes new results, on the temperature dependence of ECP elements for a 0.25mm × 400mm MESFET, and a 0.5mm × 300mm MESFET. Models based on these results are shown to produce an accurate prediction of temperature effects on FET, and FET based MMIC amplifier, small signal performance. The method can be employed to develop temperature dependent CAD foundry models for MESFETs. The information from these models can be used in concert with numerical and theoretical analyses to develop much needed fundamental understanding of temperature dependent FET behavior at microwave and millimeter-wave frequencies, and the physical device parameters that influence this behavior. As a step in this direction, experimentally observed ECP variations are correlated here with predictions from a newly developed theoretical temperature model for MESFETs.
Effects of thyroid hormone administration on the susceptibility of rat liver chromatin to digestion with micrococcal nuclease.

Abstract The accessibility of rat liver chromatin to digestion with micrococcal nuclease was investigated in normal, thyroidectomized and thyroid hormone-treated animals. A significant increase in digestibility of chromatin by micrococcal nuclease was produced by thyroid hormone treatment. The DNA in the soluble fraction analyzed by electrophoresis showed identical sizes in thyroidectomized and triiodothyronine-treated animals. However, DNA in the pellet obtained from thyroidectomized animals showed a relatively high concentration of polynucleosomes which were virtually undetectable in the pellet from thyroid hormone-treated animals. Analysis of proteins in the micrococcal nuclease solubilized fraction of chromatin revealed differences between thyroidectomized and thyroid hormone-treated animals. It is suggested that thyroid hormone causes changes in nucleoproteins which alter the structure of chromatin in such a way as to expose more DNA to nuclease attack and/or increases the solubility of released nucleosomes.
A Model Study of Aggregation of Acetylene Molecules

An interaction potential previously developed for the acetylene dimer was applied to small and large clusters of acetylene molecules. With the inclusion of the effects of vibrational dynamics via q...
Small amplitude kinematic wave propagation in two-component media

Experimentally determined attenuation and propagation characteristics are presented for small amplitude concentration waves in vertical bubbly and particulate flows. These were studied up to concentrations of 44.3 and 58%, respectively, in a 10 cm pipe. The wave propagation was studied in terms of the time delay, phase lag and loss of coherence of naturally occurring volume fraction fluctuations by means of simultaneous impedance measurements at two separate locations. Small amplitude natural kinematic waves were confirmed to be non-dispersive, as has previously been shown by other investigators. In this system configuration, bubbly flows undergo a regime transition to churn-turbulence, and not to slug flows as is typically observed in smaller diameter pipes. A dramatic drop in the attenuation time constant of small kinematic waves was found prior to the transition to churn-turbulence in gas-liquid flows, indicating that the regime change is the consequence of a loss of kinematic stability. The solid-liquid mixtures studied were found to always remain stable, with a range of greatest stability between 15–20%, as indicated by a maximum in the kinematic wave attenuation constant. The idea of a stable intermediate range of concentrations is consistent with the observations by Homsy et al. [Int. J. Multiphase Flow 6, 305–318 (1980)], who first observed structure formation above and below such a range. At concentrations above 40%, gradual transition to plug flow occurs, in which the particles execute little or no motion relative to one another.
Use of Public Transfer Programs and Privat Aid by Farm Workers

Legal status affects the use of public welfare and insurance and private assistance programs by families of farm workers. Families of unauthorized immigrants are more likely to use public medical assistance and less likely to use other public transfer programs than authorized immigrants and citizens. Unauthorized immigrants with young children in the United States are slightly more likely to use welfare, and welfare recipients are slightly more likely to have young children here. WE EXAMINE HOW USE OF public welfare and social insurance programs and private aid supplied by charities, churches, or communities organizations varies by legal status among agricultural workers. We also investigate the extent to which the decision of unauthorized workers to have a child in the United States is influenced by welfare considerations. We consider four legal-status groups. Three of these groups may work legally in the United States: U.S. citizens, immigrants granted amnesty under the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 (IRCA), and immigrants who were permanent residents (“green card” holders) or who
A Primacy Effect in Decision-Making by Jurors

An experiment varied the order of presentation of ostensible trial testimony. Prior to the reading of strong final evidence from the prosecution, 65 university students taking the role of jurors read other arguments which were identical for all recipients except that they came from either (a) the prosecution first and the defense second or (b) the defense first and the prosecution second. Two tentative verdicts and a final verdict were marked anonymously following the respective presentations. The sequence of tentative verdicts, but not the order of presentation of arguments, affected the final verdict, which tended to be the same as the first tentative verdict. Regardless of which side presented its case first, those jurors who committed themselves to a verdict of “innocent” following the first presentation tended to vote acquittal at the end. Conversely, those initially marking “guilty” tended to convict the defendant on the final vote. The results indicate that initial cornmitmcnts, even when tentative and private, tend to influence final commitments by decision-makers in roles such as that of the juror.
Invertebrate and slime mold cavernicoles of Santee Cave, South Carolina, U.S.A

Abstract This survey of Santee Cave is the first inventory of cavernicolous invertebrates in a South Carolina cave. Both aquatic and terrestrial habitats were surveyed. Sixty-two cavernicolous species were collected, including eight annelids, six mollusks, 46 arthropods, and four slime molds. Faunal richness was comparable to, or greater than, that of similar caves in Florida and Georgia.
MR imaging for predicting neoplastic invasion of the cervical esophagus.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Esophageal invasion (EI) by head and neck neoplasm has important prognostic and surgical management implications. Our purpose was to determine the accuracy of MR imaging for predicting neoplastic cervical esophageal invasion. METHODS: MR scans of the neck obtained from 22 patients with periesophageal masses were retrospectively reviewed independently and by consensus by two experienced head and neck radiologists who were unaware of surgical findings. The patients were selected from clinical, radiologic, or pathologic reports suggesting EI. The following imaging criteria for EI were evaluated: effacement of periesophageal fat planes, circumferential mass, paraesophageal lymph nodes, luminal size, wall thickening, increased T2 wall signal, and wall enhancement. There were eight patients with EI and 14 patients without EI, as confirmed by surgical findings or pathologic examination. RESULTS: The consensus criteria with the best sensitivities were any wall thickening (100%), effaced fat plane (100%), and any T2 wall signal abnormality (100%). The criteria with the best specificities were circumferential mass greater than 270 (100%) or 180 degrees (93%) and focal T2 wall signal abnormality (86%). The overall kappa value for the two readers for all criteria was 0.57 (moderate agreement). CONCLUSION: A circumferential mass or focal T2 signal abnormality on the esophageal wall suggests the presence of EI. An intact fat plane, absence of wall thickening, and no T2 wall signal abnormalities imply that the esophagus is not invaded.
The Accidental Museum: Expropriating and Appropriating the Past

to the governor's house and across from the twelfth-century Dmitrievskii cathedral, the two-story red brick building was the latest addition to Vladimir's main street at the beginning of the twentieth century. Built in the popular neo-Russian style and decorated with colored Russian-made tiles, the Vladimir Historical Museum, with its tall windows and small brick portico, welcomed people into its first-floor archive and library and the museum upstairs. Just below the vaulted ceiling in the second-floor great hall, four circular portraits of nationally important local figures evoked the glory of the region while Russian style carved-wood display cases beckoned visitors to peer inside. As the property of a semipublic, semiprivate organization that had been sanctioned by the imperial state, this building and its collections?the pride of the Vladimir Provincial Learned Archival Commission?was declared state property by the Bolshevik regime in the months after the October Revolution and requisitioned in mid-March 1918. The museum was officially transferred to the district educational authorities on April 16. Two weeks later the Archival Commission met and effectively acknowledged this transfer and its own obsolescence.1 Within two weeks, however, the commission's three leading activists were attending the organizing meeting for the Vladimir Committee for the Protection of Monuments of Antiquity and Art, to which those familiar with museum affairs, and representatives from both the regional arts and sciences communities and from regional political bodies, had been invited. Like prerevolutionary museum workers and preservationists elsewhere, these three men, discussed below, shared with the new regime a belief in the potential power of material culture, and they, and many others, decided to work with the new regime regardless of their personal politics. As Peter Holquist has written, the educated had long worked in a "parastatal
What's In An Image

The concept of “image” can be applied to a political candidate, a product, a country. It describes not individual traits or qualities, but the total impression an entity makes on the minds of others. It is a most powerful influence in the way people perceive things, and should be a crucial concept in shaping our marketing, advertising, and communications efforts. Thus, more attention must be paid to the overall impression, the “melody,” of an advertising or marketing campaign, rather than to its specific claims. An image is not anchored in just objective data and details. It is the configuration of the whole field of the object, the advertising, and, most important, the customer's disposition and the attitudinal screen through which he observes. A politician who suddenly starts wearing glasses can radically change his impression on others. Wearing dark glasses will do so even more. Yet he remains the same person. It is his aura, his image, that people have reacted to. By the same token, repackaging a product that has been on the market for decades can make it seem “young” again. The product hasn't changed, but its image has.
ADVERSE DRUG REACTION MONITORING AND REPORTING IN HOME HEALTH CARE

AbstractHome health care is one of the fastest growing segments of the health care delivery system in the United States. The scope of medications administered in the home setting have expanded from traditional TPNs and chronic pain manage-ment to include dopamine infusions and other medications previously reserved to the hospital setting. However, little information is available regarding the adverse drug reactions (ADRs) encountered in the home infusion environment, including the degree of severity, the incidence and the patient outcome. Establishing an effective ADR program in the home setting may optimize patient safety and provide valuable information regarding the nature and significance of reactions that occur in this population.The University of Rhode Island has established a dedicated phone line which enables home health care pharmacists to monitor and report ADRs. After 13 months of operation, 125 adverse drug reaction reports were received by the center from two national home infusion providers.
Potentiation of the mutagenicity and recombinagenicity of bleomycin in yeast by unconventional intercalating agents

Interactions between bleomycin (BLM) and conventional or unconventional intercalating agents were analyzed in an assay for mitotic gene conversion at the trp5 locus and reversion of the ilv1-92 allele in Saccharomyces cerevisiae strain D7. BLM is a potent recombinagen and mutagen in the assay. Various chemicals modulate the genetic activity of BLM, producing either antimutagenic effects or enhanced genotoxicity. Effects of cationic amino compounds include enhancement of BLM activity by aminoacridines and protection against BLM by aliphatic amines. The potentiation of BLM is similar to findings in a micronucleus-based BLM amplification assay in Chinese hamster V79 cells. In this study, the amplification of BLM activity was explored in yeast using known intercalators, compounds structurally related to known intercalators, and unconventional intercalators that were identified on the basis of computer modeling or results in the Chinese hamster BLM amplification assay. As shown in previous studies, the classical intercalator 9-aminoacridine (9AA) caused dose-dependent enhancement of BLM activity. Other compounds found to enhance the induction of mitotic recombination and point mutations in strain D7 were chlorpromazine, chloroquine, mefloquine, tamoxifen, diphenhydramine, benzophenone, and 3-hydroxybenzophenone. The increased activity was detectable by cotreatment of yeast with BLM and the modulator compound in growth medium or by separate interaction of the intercalator with DNA followed by BLM treatment of nongrowing cells in buffer. The data support the interpretation drawn from micronucleus assays in mammalian cells that BLM enhancement results from DNA intercalation and may be useful in detecting noncovalent interactions with DNA. Environ. Mol. Mutagen. 52:130–144, 2011. © 2010 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
On the Existence and Significance of Data Preprocessing Biases in Web-Usage Mining

The literature on web-usage mining is replete with data preprocessing techniques, which correspond to many closely related problem formulations. We survey data preprocessing techniques for session-level pattern discovery and compare three of these techniques in the context of understanding session-level purchase behavior on the web. Using real data collected from 20,000 users browsing behavior over a period of six months, four different models (linear regressions, logistic regressions, neural networks, and classification trees) are built based on data preprocessed using three different techniques. The results demonstrate that the three approaches result in radically different conclusions and provide initial evidence that adata preprocessing bias exists, the effect of which can be significant.
The Desert Hot Springs earthquakes and their tectonic environment

The Desert Hot Springs earthquake of December 4, 1948, was one of the larger recorded earthquakes of southern California, and its aftershocks have continued into 1957. The assigned epicenter is 33° 56'.4 N, 116° 23'.1 W; origin time, 15:43:16.7 P.S.T.; magnitude 6 1/2. Arrival times at local and distant stations are consistent with existing travel-time curves, except for anomalous S – P intervals at very near-by temporary stations; these unexplained anomalies cannot be attributed to varying depth of focus. Epicenters of the 72 aftershocks that have been accurately located are concentrated in a zone 18 km. long, parallel to the Mission Creek fault trace indicated by older scarps, but 5 km. north of it. Aftershock activity is markedly concentrated toward the two ends of this line. Location of the main shock suggests that fracturing started near the southeast end and progressed northwest-ward. The ground surface was not broken, except by landslides. Offset of the line of seismic activity from the trace of the Mission Creek fault suggests that the fault plane dips north. This attitude is substantiated not only by field observations, but also by first motions at stations within 6° of the epicenter, which require a combination of thrust-slip and right lateral-slip on a fault dipping north less than 66°. Inasmuch as this fault is not parallel to regional San Andreas trend, such oblique displacement is reasonable and is consistent with the tectonic pattern of other faults in this region. Five groups of earthquakes represent more than 85 per cent of the total strain release since 1933 in the 3,000 sq. km. area surrounding Desert Hot Springs. These earthquakes, in addition to the Desert Hot Springs shock, are: Morongo Valley (1947), Kitching Peak (1944), Covington Flat (1940), and San Gorgonio Mountain (1935); all are associated with known faults. The Morongo Valley earthquakes probably represent fracturing on the segment of the Mission Creek fault adjacent to that broken during the subsequent Desert Hot Springs shock.
EphA4 as an effector of Twist1 in the guidance of osteogenic precursor cells during calvarial bone growth and in craniosynostosis

Heterozygous loss of Twist1 function causes coronal synostosis in both mice and humans. We showed previously that in mice this phenotype is associated with a defect in the neural crest-mesoderm boundary within the coronal suture, as well as with a reduction in the expression of ephrin A2 (Efna2), ephrin A4 (Efna4) and EphA4 in the coronal suture. We also demonstrated that mutations in human EFNA4 are a cause of non-syndromic coronal synostosis. Here we investigate the cellular mechanisms by which Twist1, acting through Eph-ephrin signaling, regulates coronal suture development. We show that EphA4 mutant mice exhibit defects in the coronal suture and neural crest-mesoderm boundary that phenocopy those of Twist1+/- mice. Further, we demonstrate that Twist1 and EphA4 interact genetically: EphA4 expression in the coronal suture is reduced in Twist1 mutants, and compound Twist1-EphA4 heterozygotes have suture defects of greater severity than those of individual heterozygotes. Thus, EphA4 is a Twist1 effector in coronal suture development. Finally, by DiI labeling of migratory osteogenic precursor cells that contribute to the frontal and parietal bones, we show that Twist1 and EphA4 are required for the exclusion of such cells from the coronal suture. We suggest that the failure of this process in Twist1 and EphA4 mutants is the cause of craniosynostosis.
Modeling peptide binding to anionic membrane pores

Peptide-induced pore formation in membranes can be dissected into two steps: pore formation and peptide binding to the pore. A computational method is proposed to study the second step in anionic membranes. The electrostatic potential is obtained from numerical solutions to the Poisson–Boltzmann equation and is then used in conjunction with IMM1 (implicit membrane model 1). A double charge layer model is used to incorporate the effects of the membrane dipole potential. Inhomogeneity of the charge density in the pore, characterized by explicit membrane simulations of toroidal pores, is included in the model. This approach was applied to two extensively studied peptides, magainin and melittin. In agreement with previous work, binding to toroidal pores is more favorable than binding to the flat membrane. The dependence of binding energy on anionic content exhibits different patterns for the two peptides, in correlation with the different lipid selectivity that has been observed experimentally. V C 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Renal responses to salinity change in snakes with and without salt glands.

SUMMARY To understand renal responses to salinity change in aquatic reptiles, we examined the structure and function of the kidney in three species of snake: a marine species with a salt gland ( Laticauda semifasciata ), a marine species without a salt gland ( Nerodia clarkii clarkii ) and a freshwater species without a salt gland ( Nerodia fasciata ). Both marine species maintained relatively constant plasma ions, even after acclimation to saltwater. By contrast, both plasma Cl – and mortality increased with salinity in the freshwater species. To investigate putative renal ion regulatory mechanisms, we examined the distribution and abundance of Na + /K + -ATPase (NKA) and the Na + /K + /2Cl – cotransporter (NKCC2). In all species, NKA localized to the basolateral membranes of the distal tubule and the connecting segments and collecting ducts only; there was no effect of salinity on the distribution of NKA or on the abundance of NKA mRNA in any species. NKCC2 protein was undetectable in the kidney of any of the species and there was no effect of salinity on NKCC2 mRNA abundance. We also examined the distribution and abundance of aquaporin 3 (AQP3) in the kidney of these species; although putative AQP3 localized to the basolateral membranes of the connecting segments and collecting ducts of all three species, there was no effect of salinity on the localization of the protein or the abundance of the transcript. Interestingly, we found very few differences across species, suggesting that the snake kidney may play a trivial role in limiting habitat use.
Proposals for Interest Test Development and Experimentation

6 proposals were suggested as a guide to interest-experimentation and test construction. (1) An adequate theory of interests should be developed and used as a guide for experimentation and test construction. (2) Basic unitary variables should be identified. Factor analytic evidence was presented for 6 well-established interests measured by the SVIB, KPR, and KIT. (3) Relationships of basic interest variables with other personality variables should be identified. (4) Academic achievement should be a major criterion variable. Data were presented showing significant interest correlations with college grades, interacting with test characteristics. (5) Experiments should investigate multiple variables and their interactions. (6) Only after implementation of the previous proposals should investigations consider antecedent conditions, genetic factors, and learning processes.
Logic of infons: The propositional case

Infons are statements viewed as containers of information (rather then representations of truth values). The logic of infons turns out to be a conservative extension of logic known as constructive or intuitionistic. Distributed Knowledge Authorization Language uses additional unary connectives “p said” and “p implied” where p ranges over principals. Here we investigate infon logic and a narrow but useful primal fragment of it. In both cases, we develop model theory and analyze the derivability problem: Does the given query follow from the given hypothesesq Our more involved technical results are on primal infon logic. We construct an algorithm for the multiple derivability problem: Which of the given queries follow from the given hypothesesq Given a bound on the quotation depth of the hypotheses, the algorithm runs in linear time. We quickly discuss the significance of this result for access control.
Comparative analysis of cell segmentation using absorption and color images in fine needle aspiration cytology

Segmentation of cytological smears plays a critical role in the automated analysis of histological abnormalities by fine needle aspiration cytology. However, smears obtained from fine needle aspiration biopsy are often contaminated with blood. Segmentation of such an image is not a trivial task and the false positive rate could be high if the blood cells cannot be correctly separated from the rest of the sample. Moreover, the fine textured nature of the cell chromatin gives it a non-uniform intensity appearance in both color and gray images. In this paper, we propose an enhanced watershed approach to remove background noise by using short wavelength spectral image and the computed absorption image to improve segmentation accuracy. We also demonstrate a color image segmentation method by applying watershed to the minima imposed aggregation image. Results of segmentation on 20 images of cytological smears are presented and the accuracy compared for the two methods.