cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Preparation of single-stranded PCR products for electrospray ionization mass spectrometry using the DNA repair enzyme lambda exonuclease.

Electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI-MS) has been utilized to obtain accurate mass measurements of intact PCR products; however, single-stranded PCR products are necessary to detect sequence modifications such as base substitutions, additions or deletions. The locations of these modifications can subsequently be determined using additional stages of mass spectrometry. The recombinant enzyme lambda exonuclease selectively digests one strand of a DNA duplex from a 5′ phosphorylated end leaving the complementary strand intact. Using this rapid enzymatic step, we were able to produce single-stranded PCR products by digestion of an intact PCR product derived from the Human Tyrosine Hydroxylase (HUMTHO1) gene, which contains a tetrameric repeating motif. The non-template directed 3′ adenylation common when using Taq polymerase resulted in three distinct species (blunt-ended, mono-adenylated and di-adenylated), which added complexity to the spectrum of the double-stranded product. The data from the single-stranded products shows that one strand is preferentially adenylated over the other, which cannot be determined from the mass spectrum of the double-stranded PCR product alone. The ESI-FTICR (Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance) mass spectra of the lambda exonuclease treated PCR products exhibited less than expected signal-to-noise (S/N) ratios. This is attributed to inaccurate concentration calculations due to remaining double-stranded PCR product amplified with unphosphorylated primers, and to matrix effects contributed by the lambda exonuclease reaction buffer. To further test this hypothesis, we investigated and determined the limit of detection to be 0.27 μM using standard curve statistics for single acquisitions of a synthetic 75-mer. The concentrations of the noncoding and coding strands produced by lambda exonuclease digestion were calculated to be 0.29 and 0.37 μM, respectively, taking into account the presence of double-stranded product. The products were electrosprayed from concentrations at the limit of detection requiring the averaging of 5–10 acquisitions to produce a sufficient S/N ratio, indicating that product concentration, base composition and matrix effects play a combined, significant role in detection of lambda exonuclease treated PCR products. Although additional work will be required to further exploit this strategy, lambda exonuclease clearly provides mass spectrometrists with a method to generate single-stranded PCR products.
Emergency department care of women who were abused was driven by the prevailing practice pattern of efficient patient processing.

(2001) Can J Nurs Res, 95. Varcoe C. . Abuse obscured: an ethnographic account of emergency nursing in relation to violence against women. . Mar; . 32 . : . –115. . QUESTION: What is the relation between the social context of practice and the ways in which nurses respond to women who have been abused? Critical ethnography. Emergency departments (EDs) of 2 urban hospitals in Canada. 30 healthcare providers (21 white, female nurses and 9 other providers including admitting clerks, social workers, physicians, and administrators) and 5 women who had been abused. Data were collected through >200 hours of observation and interviews. A core sample of 12 nurses, who were observed extensively, were interviewed twice for about 2 hours. Other healthcare providers and the women who had been abused were interviewed once for 1–3 hours. Analysis of transcribed interviews and field notes used established critical ethnography approaches. In general, abuse was obscured by practices required to keep the ED running. Abuse went largely unrecognised. Most nurses did not think they saw much abuse and recognised it only when there was serious physical injury, which fit the pattern of emergency practice. Abuse was obscured through efficient patient processing. The unpredictability of the ED and the sense of scarce resources …
High Resolution Fabry-Perot Displacement Interferometry: A Bridge Between the Meter and the Farad

A high resolution Fabry-Perot interferometer system is designed to measure displacement. We achieve a fractional uncertainty of ?L/L~1.25x10-9without any optical frequency standard, and resolve hysteresis in a piezoelectric actuator over 7 nm.
On ‘The Economics of Lincoln's Proposal for Compensated Emancipation'

IN THE APRIL, 1973, issue of The American Jotrnal of Economics and Sociology, Andrew Weintraub argues that the cost to the North of compensating the Southern slave owner for freeing his laborers would have been greater than the costs of the Civil War to the North. His argument is based on the fact that the value of the marginal product of free labor in the South is lower than the value of the marginal product of the slaves, and that emancipation would reduce land values. It is on the issue of these two facts that I wish to raise my points.
African American women & unplanned cesarean birth

Purpose To describe unplanned cesarean birth as experienced by African American women. Method Descriptive phenomenology was used with interviews from seven women who experienced unplanned cesarean birth. Interviews of each woman's birth experience were transcribed and analyzed using Colaizzi's descriptive, phenomenological method. Results The findings were clustered into five themes: preparing for childbirth, mistrust, feeling rushed, being fearful, and sacrificing. Clinical implications The results from this study contribute to the understanding of psychosocial stressors that are associated with childbirth complicated by unplanned cesarean birth. This study lends evidence to our practice by providing information about how important anticipatory guidance is for expectant women because the possibility of cesarean birth in today's environment is not remote. Discussions about unplanned cesarean births should also be a part of this anticipatory guidance.
Human Development Dynamics: An Agent Based Simulation of Macro Social Systems and Individual Heterogeneous Evolutionary Games

In the context of modernization and development, a complex adaptive systems framework can help address the coupling of macro social constraint and opportunity with individual agency. Combining system dynamics and agent based modeling, we formalize a simulation approach of the Human Development (HD) perspective to explore the interactive effects of economics, culture, society and politics across multiple human scales. Based on a system of asymmetric, coupled nonlinear equations, we first capture the core qualitative logic of HD theory, empirically validated from World Values Survey (WVS) data. Using a simple evolutionary game approach, second we fuse endogenously derived individual socio-economic attribute changes with Prisoner’s Dilemma in an agent based model of the interactive political-cultural effects of heterogeneous, spatial intra-societal economic transactions. We then explore a new human development dynamics (HDD) model behavior via quasi-global simulation methods to identify paths and pitfalls towards economic development, cultural plasticity, social and political change behavior. Our preliminary results suggest strong nonlinear path dependence and complexity in three areas: adaptive development processes, co-evolutionary societal transactions and near equilibrium development trajectories, with significant implications for anticipating and managing positive development outcomes. Strong local epistatic interactions characterized by adaptive co-evolution, shape higher order global conditions and ultimately societal outcomes. Techno-social simulations such as this can provide scholars and policymakers alike insights into the nonlinear, complex adaptive effects of societal co-evolution. We believe complex adaptive or evolutionary systems approaches are necessary to understand both near and potentially catastrophic, far-from-equilibrium behavior and societal outcomes across all human scales of modernization.
Replacement of the axial histidine heme ligand with cysteine in nitrophorin 1: spectroscopic and crystallographic characterization

To evaluate the potential of using heme-containing lipocalin nitrophorin 1 (NP1) as a template for protein engineering, we have replaced the native axial heme-coordinating histidine residue with glycine, alanine, and cysteine. We report here the characterization of the cysteine mutant H60C_NP1 by spectroscopic and crystallographic methods. The UV/vis, resonance Raman, and magnetic circular dichroism spectra suggest weak thiolate coordination of the ferric heme in the H60C_NP1 mutant. Reduction to the ferrous state resulted in loss of cysteine coordination, while addition of exogenous imidazole ligands gave coordination changes that varied with the ligand. Depending on the substitution of the imidazole, we could distinguish three heme coordination states: five-coordinate monoimidazole, six-coordinate bisimidazole, and six-coordinate imidazole/thiolate. Ligand binding affinities were measured and found to be generally 2-3 orders of magnitude lower for the H60C mutant relative to NP1. Two crystal structures of the H60C_NP1 in complex with imidazole and histamine were solved to 1.7- and 1.96-A resolution, respectively. Both structures show that the H60C mutation is well tolerated by the protein scaffold and suggest that heme-thiolate coordination in H60C_NP1 requires some movement of the heme within its binding cavity. This adjustment may be responsible for the ease with which the engineered heme-thiolate coordination can be displaced by exogenous ligands.
Foraminifer or Sponge

UNDER the above heading in last week's NATURE Dr. Hanitsch briefly draws our attention to Mr. A. Goes' report on the deep sea organisms procured by Prof. Agassiz in the American tropical Pacific, which he describes as Arenaceous Foraminifera, with the name Neusina Agassizi.
Influence of habitat structure and food on patch choice of captive coyotes

a b s t r a c t Increasing urban development can have significant effects on wildlife species, including carnivores. Some carnivore species have been able to adapt to and even thrive in urban envi- ronments, including coyotes (Canis latrans). The presence of carnivores in urban areas can sometimes lead to conflicts with humans and their pets. Although coyotes may frequently use urban areas, they also inhabit natural areas surrounding urban development. Under- standing the various factors affecting patch choice of urban coyotes may assist wildlife officials in managing human-coyote conflicts. Both sex and behavioral profile can influ- ence patch choice; bold individuals are more likely to be exploratory than shy animals, which can result in increased conflicts in urban environments. Using a captive population of coyotes, we tested whether coyotes preferred urban (anthropogenic) habitat structure, natural structure, or a mixture of structures and whether sex, behavioral profile, biologi- cal season, or food manipulation affected coyote patch choice. Coyotes generally preferred the control, homogeneous structure representing their natal habitat (mean percentage of time 23.3% ± 19.3 SD; P = 0.037). The next most preferred habitat for coyotes, especially females (23.7 ± 16.6% for 25% urban pen; P = 0.020) and bold coyotes (27.8 ± 23.2% for 75% urban pen; P = 0.005), was a mixture of anthropogenic and natural structures rather than uniform structure (all natural or all anthropogenic), and this preference was more strongly expressed during the non-breeding season (25.6 ± 23.2% for 75% urban pen; P = 0.017). Food had no effect on patch choice (P = 0.983); coyotes appeared to be primarily motivated by the structure of the habitat rather than by the amount of food within each habitat. Our results suggested that urban areas containing large amounts of both natural and anthropogenic structures are more likely to be used by coyotes and, thus, could have the potential for human-coyote conflicts.
Fructose and Satiety

A role for the increased intake of dietary fructose in general and high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) in particular in the current obesity epidemic has been proposed. Consumed fructose and glucose have different rates of gastric emptying, are differentially absorbed from the gastrointestinal tract, result in different endocrine profiles, and have different metabolic fates, providing multiple opportunities for the 2 saccharides to differentially affect food intake. The consequences of fructose and glucose on eating have been studied under a variety of experimental situations in both model systems and man. The results have been inconsistent, and the particular findings appear to depend on the timing of saccharide administration or ingestion relative to a test meal situation, whether the saccharides are administered as pure sugars or as components of a dietary preload, and the overall volume of the preload. These factors rather than intrinsic differences in the saccharides' ability to induce satiety appear to carry many of the differential effects on food intake that have been found. On balance, the case for fructose being less satiating than glucose or HFCS being less satiating than sucrose is not compelling.
Self-tuning control of switched reluctance motors for optimized torque per ampere at all operating points

Online self-tuning of control angles of a switched reluctance motor (SRM) is essential to optimize its performance in the presence of manufacturing imperfections. This paper reports an adaptive control scheme to optimize the torque per ampere at low and high speeds using artificial neural networks (ANN). An heuristic optimization technique has been introduced to find the changes in control angles. Using these results, the ANN will update its synaptic weights. Computer simulation has been employed to show the feasibility of this approach. Experimental results are provided to demonstrate the working of the self-tuning control.
VIETNAM RECONSIDERED: AN ATTITUDINAL SURVEY OF U.S. ARMY GENERAL OFFICERS

The 173 individuals who held U.S. Army general officer command positions in Vietnam during the period 1965-1972 were surveyed in September 1974 about various aspects of that conflict. Their responses reflected a general dissatisfaction with Washington management of the war. Perceptions of media coverage of the war were very negative. A striking absence of consensus was apparent in many areas of the survey. Douglas Kinnard teaches in the Department of Political Science at the University of Vermont.
Fiscal Federalism and Provincial Foreign Tax Policies in China

This paper employs province-level data between 1992 and 2000 to assess the impact of fiscal federalism and pro-internationalization industrial groups on provincial foreign tax efforts in China. It argues that part of the provincial variation in tax efforts on foreign investors is related to the level of fiscal autonomy, the strength of pro-internationalization industrial groups, and provincial economic conditions. The level of fiscal autonomy is found to be positively associated with provincial governments' tax efforts on foreign-invested enterprises (FIEs). Transfer-dependent provinces tend to have lower effective tax rates on FIEs than transfer-contributing provinces. The transfer systems designed to combat regional inequality and absorb regional shocks may undermine incentives for local governments to be fiscally responsible, potentially resulting in over-consumption. In addition, provinces that have strong pro-internationalization industrial groups or disadvantaged economic conditions tend to have low...
Neurofibromin plays a critical role in modulating osteoblast differentiation of mesenchymal stem/progenitor cells

Mutations in the NF1 tumor suppressor gene cause neurofibromatosis type 1, a pandemic autosomal dominant genetic disorder with an incidence of 1:3000. Individuals with NF1 have a variety of malignant and non-malignant manifestations, including skeletal manifestations, such as osteoporosis, scoliosis and short statures. However, the mechanism(s) underlying the osseous manifestations in NF1 are poorly understood. In the present study, utilizing Nf1 haploinsufficient (+/-) mice, we demonstrate that Nf1+/- mesenchymal stem/progenitor cells (MSPC) have increased proliferation and colony forming unit-fibroblast (CFU-F) capacity compared with wild-type (WT) MSPC. Nf1+/- MSPC also have fewer senescent cells and have a significantly higher telomerase activity compared with WT MSPC. Nf1+/- MSPC have impaired osteoblast differentiation as determined by alkaline phosphatase staining, and confirmed by single CFU-F replating assays. The impaired osteoblast differentiation in Nf1+/- MSPC is consistent with the reduced expression of osteoblast markers at the mRNA level, including osteocalcin and osteonectin. Importantly, re-expression of the full-length NF1 GTPase activating related domain (NF1 GAP-related domain) is sufficient to restore the impaired osteoblast differentiation in Nf1+/- MSPC. Taken together, our results suggest that neurofibromin plays a crucial role in modulating MSPC differentiation into osteoblasts, and the defect in osteoblast differentiation may contribute at least in part to the osseous abnormalities seen in individuals with NF1.
Benefits of Accumulating Versus Diminishing Cues in Recall.

Optimizing learning over multiple retrieval opportunities requires a joint consideration of both the probability and the mnemonic value of a successful retrieval. Previous research has addressed this trade-off by manipulating the schedule of practice trials, suggesting that a pattern of increasingly long lags—‘‘expanding retrieval practice’’—may keep retrievals successful while gradually increasing their mnemonic value (Landauer & Bjork, 1978). Here we explore the trade-off issue further using an analogous manipulation of cue informativeness. After being given an initial presentation of English–Inupiaq word pairs, participants received practice trials across which letters of the target word were either accumulated (AC), diminished (DC), or always fully present. Diminishing cues yielded the highest performance on a final test of cued recall. Additional analyses suggest that AC practice promotes potent (effortful) retrieval at the cost of success, and DC practice promotes successful retrieval at the cost of potency. Experiment 2 revealed that the negative effects of AC practice can be partly ameliorated by providing feedback after each practice trial.
Scale-Adaptive Simulation in the Context of Unsteady Flow Simulations

In the last decade, the spectrum of methodologies for the modeling of unsteady flows has significantly increased. Historically, the two choices were Unsteady Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes (URANS) and Large Eddy Simulation (LES) methods. Both have severe limitations with respect to their application to engineering flows. URANS, typically produces no turbulent spectral information, even in regions, where time and space resolution would be sufficient to do so, whereas LES requires very high grid counts for modeling of wall-bounded flows at moderate to high Reynolds numbers. CFD users therefore had little choice than to concentrate on steady state RANS solutions, even for applications, where it was clear that these models are not adequate. Detached Eddy Simulation (DES) as proposed by Spalart in 1997, lead to a shift in paradigm, as it combined the elements of RANS and LES in a way that allowed the simulation of unsteady detached flows with available computing power. More recent studies by Menter and Egorov, have however shown that the inability of classical URANS models to resolve turbulent structures is not an inherent shortcoming of the URANS approach, but only related to the way the scale equations have historically been derived. After re-visiting an exact scale equation that Rotta had developed in the 1950s, it became clear that an important term was omitted in all scale equations, which resulted in the inability of classical RANS models to resolve unsteady structures. Closer inspection of Rotta’s equation shows that the second derivative of the velocity field should be included in the length scale equation. This so-called Scale-Adaptive Simulation (SAS) methodology behaves in many ways and for many applications similar to the DES formulation, but avoids some of the dangers of DES. On the other hand, it is not the goal of SAS to replace DES and it will be shown that both methods have their place in the spectrum of unsteady turbulence models. The paper will discuss the practical implications, but also the limitations of the SAS technology. Many results produced during the European research project DESIDER on external aerodynamic flow will be shown.
Dose-response relationship between plasma epinephrine concentration and alveolar liquid clearance in dogs.

Previously, alveolar liquid clearance (ALC) was observed to increase in a canine model of neurogenic pulmonary edema (NPE) by adrenal epinephrine (S. M. Lane, K. C. Maender, N. E. Awender, and M. B...
Generating Java Skeletal Code with Design Contracts from Specifications in a Subset of Object Z

Object-Z is an object-oriented extension of the Z notation for formal specifications. Using Object-Z, structuring and developing large, complex software system specifications became possible by defining the systems as collections of independent classes and objects. The Class Schema framework in Object Z suggests that a one-to-one relationship exists between a class schema and a skeletal Java class with its design contract. The design contract for a Java class includes the invariant property of the class state, the pre and post conditions for the methods. This paper, demonstrates how Java skeletal code with design contracts can be generated from the specifications written in a subset of Object Z. Object Z class schema specification defined using a graphical user interface is converted to a XML representation. The Java skeletal code containing the design contracts is then generated by processing the XML representation.
Least and most powerful phylogenetic tests to elucidate the origin of the seed plants in the presence of conflicting signals under misspecified models

Several tests of molecular phylogenies have been proposed over the last decades, but most of them lead to strikingly different P-values. I propose that such discrepancies are principally due to different forms of null hypotheses. To support this hypothesis, two new tests are described. Both consider the composite null hypothesis that all the topologies are equidistant from the true but unknown topology. This composite hypothesis can either be reduced to the simple hypothesis at the least favorable distribution (frequentist significance test [FST]) or to the maximum likelihood topology (frequentist hypothesis test [FHT]). In both cases, the reduced null hypothesis is tested against each topology included in the analysis. The tests proposed have an information-theoretic justification, and the distribution of their test statistic is estimated by a nonparametric bootstrap, adjusting P-values for multiple comparisons. I applied the new tests to the reanalysis of two chloroplast genes, psaA and psbB, and compared the results with those of previously described tests. As expected, the FST and the FHT behaved approximately like the Shimodaira-Hasegawa test and the bootstrap, respectively. Although the tests give overconfidence in a wrong tree when an overly simple nucleotide substitution model is assumed, more complex models incorporating heterogeneity among codon positions resolve some conflicts. To further investigate the influence of the null hypothesis, a power study was conducted. Simulations showed that FST and the Shimodaira-Hasegawa test are the least powerful and FHT is the most powerful across the parameter space. Although the size of all the tests is affected by misspecification, the two new tests appear more robust against misspecification of the model of evolution and consistently supported the hypothesis that the Gnetales are nested within gymnosperms.
Applied Behavior Analysis and Learning Disabilities Part 1: Characteristics of ABA, General Recommendations, and Methodological Limitations

This report recommends research on the curriculum for learning disabled children using the Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) methodology as the system for pursuing the suggested studies. This is Part I of a two-part report. It includes an explanation of the research variables suggested and a brief description of the ABA research methodology. Included also is a justification for recommending this particular investigative approach. Suggestions are made for research on general curriculum topics such as generalization and retention. Part I concludes with a discussion of some methodological limitations of the ABA system, and some comments on how these limitations might stimulate additional investigations.
Induced Release of a Plant-Defense Volatile ‘Deceptively’ Attracts Insect Vectors to Plants Infected with a Bacterial Pathogen

Transmission of plant pathogens by insect vectors is a complex biological process involving interactions between the plant, insect, and pathogen. Pathogen-induced plant responses can include changes in volatile and nonvolatile secondary metabolites as well as major plant nutrients. Experiments were conducted to understand how a plant pathogenic bacterium, Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus (Las), affects host preference behavior of its psyllid (Diaphorina citri Kuwayama) vector. D. citri were attracted to volatiles from pathogen-infected plants more than to those from non-infected counterparts. Las-infected plants were more attractive to D. citri adults than non-infected plants initially; however after feeding, psyllids subsequently dispersed to non-infected rather than infected plants as their preferred settling point. Experiments with Lasinfected and non-infected plants under complete darkness yielded similar results to those recorded under light. The behavior of psyllids in response to infected versus non-infected plants was not influenced by whether or not they were carriers of the pathogen. Quantification of volatile release from non-infected and infected plants supported the hypothesis that odorants mediate psyllid preference. Significantly more methyl salicylate, yet less methyl anthranilate and D-limonene, was released by infected than non-infected plants. Methyl salicylate was attractive to psyllids, while methyl anthranilate did not affect their behavior. Feeding on citrus by D. citri adults also induced release of methyl salicylate, suggesting that it may be a cue revealing location of conspecifics on host plants. Infected plants were characterized by lower levels of nitrogen, phosphorus, sulfur, zinc, and iron, as well as, higher levels of potassium and boron than non-infected plants. Collectively, our results suggest that host selection behavior of D. citri may be modified by bacterial infection of plants, which alters release of specific headspace volatiles and plant nutritional contents. Furthermore, we show in a laboratory setting that this apparent pathogen-mediated manipulation of vector behavior may facilitate pathogen spread.
Auditory and visual objects

Notions of objecthood have traditionally been cast in visuocentric terminology. As a result, theories of auditory and cross-modal perception have focused more on the differences between modalities than on the similarities. In this paper we re-examine the concept of an object in a way that overcomes the limitations of the traditional perspective. We propose a new, cross-modal conception of objecthood which focuses on the similarities between modalities instead of the differences. Further, we propose that the auditory system might consist of two parallel streams of processing (the 'what' and 'where' subsystems) in a manner analogous to current conceptions of the visual system. We suggest that the 'what' subsystems in each modality are concerned with objecthood. Finally, we present evidence for - and elaborate on - the hypothesis that the auditory 'where' subsystem is in the service of the visual-motor 'where' subsystem.
Computer Program for Determining the Effects of Transfer Functions on a Pulsed RF Signal

In EMC studies one often wishes to determine the effect of a pulsed RF signal on a receiver which is tuned off the signal center frequency. Measurements of pulsed spectra are made by means of spectrum analyzers and field intensity meters. However, there exists some confusion about the shape of the resultant pulse at the output of the IF amplifier of a receiver which is off-tuned from the pulsed signal. In order to properly interpret the effects of pulsed signals on receivers and to interpret the readings of spectrum analyzers and field intensity meters, it is necessary to determine the envelope of the waveform at the input to the detector. These waveforms can be calculated by convolving the input time waveform of the receiving device with the time domain transfer function of the receiver up to the detector. However, it is extremely difficult to obtain the mathematical form of the time domain transfer function of a receiver. However, use is made of the relationship that the LaPlace or Fourier transform of convolution is equal to the frequency domain multiplication of signal and transfer function. A computer program for obtaining the Fourier transform of most time waveforms including RF pulses has been written. The program integrates the time waveform by straight line segments between the sampled points on the time waveform. The frequency domain transfer function of cascaded tuned amplifiers is used to simulate the receiver.
Urban Runoff by Road Research Laboratory Method

A simple mathematical model of an urban basin presented in 1962 by the British Road Research Laboratory is tested on three urban watersheds in the United States. The basins are located in Baltimore, Chicago, and Champaign, Ill. They contain 0.395, 12.5, and 2290 acres respectively. The model produces a runoff hydrograph by applying rainfall to only the directly connected impervious area of the basin. The basin is described by a time-area diagram and a discharge-storage relationship. The peak discharges of actual and predicted hydrographs are compared for 39 storms and complete hydrographs are shown for 8 of these. To apply the model to a basin, the pattern of impervious areas must be known in detail, as well as the slopes and sizes of all surface and subsurface drains.
Contributions of Mamu-A*01 status and TRIM5 allele expression, but not CCL3L copy number variation, to the control of SIVmac251 replication in Indian-origin rhesus monkeys

CCL3 is a ligand for the HIV-1 co-receptor CCR5. There have recently been conflicting reports in the literature concerning whether CCL3-like gene (CCL3L) copy number variation (CNV) is associated with resistance to HIV-1 acquisition and with both viral load and disease progression following infection with HIV-1. An association has also been reported between CCL3L CNV and clinical sequelae of the simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) infection in vivo in rhesus monkeys. The present study was initiated to explore the possibility of an association of CCL3L CNV with the control of virus replication and AIDS progression in a carefully defined cohort of SIVmac251-infected, Indian-origin rhesus monkeys. Although we demonstrated extensive variation in copy number of CCL3L in this cohort of monkeys, CCL3L CNV was not significantly associated with either peak or set-point plasma SIV RNA levels in these monkeys when MHC class I allele Mamu-A*01 was included in the models or progression to AIDS in these monkeys. With 66 monkeys in the study, there was adequate power for these tests if the correlation of CCL3L and either peak or set-point plasma SIV RNA levels was 0.34 or 0.36, respectively. These findings call into question the premise that CCL3L CNV is important in HIV/SIV pathogenesis.
Microwave flip chip and BGA technology

Topics discussed in this paper are flip chip and BGA packaging and related assembly issues important in the design of microwave power amplifier and integrated transceiver MMICs. Environmental stress, thermal management, electrical performance, and inspection issues associated with flip chip and ball-grid array packaging will be discussed. The selection of solders, insulating substrates and underfill, will be presented with supporting data for various materials and geometries.
Vac8p, an armadillo repeat protein, coordinates vacuole inheritance with multiple vacuolar processes.

Vac8p, an armadillo (ARM) repeat protein, is required for multiple vacuolar processes. It functions in vacuole inheritance, cytoplasm-to-vacuole protein targeting pathway, formation of the nucleus–vacuole junction and vacuole– vacuole fusion. These functions each utilize a distinct Vac8p-binding partner. Here, we report an additional Vac8p function: caffeine resistance. We show that Vac8p function in caffeine resistance is mediated via a newly identified Vac8p-binding partner, Tco89p. The interaction between Vac8p and each binding partner requires an overlapping subset of Vac8p ARM repeats. Moreover, these partners can compete with each other for access to Vac8p. Furthermore, Vac8p is enriched in three separate subdomains on the vacuole, each with a unique binding partner dedicated to a different vacuolar function. These findings suggest that a major role of Vac8p is to spatially separate multiple functions thereby enabling vacuole inheritance to occur concurrently with other vacuolar processes.
Impact of an Easy-Access Telephonic Interpreter Program in the Acute Care Setting: An Evaluation of a Quality Improvement Intervention

Article-at-a-Glance Background Language barriers render interaction with the health care system difficult and lead to health disparities for patients with limited English proficiency (LEP). Despite a long-standing legal obligation for large health care organizations in the United States to try to provide free language access services for patients with LEP, professional interpretation is not always widely accessible, and even when it is, its use is often suboptimal. A dual-handset phone with 24-hour access to professional telephonic interpretation was placed at the bedside of all patients admitted to the general medicine floor of a tertiary care academic hospital. Methods Nurses and physicians were surveyed before and after the easy-access interpretation program's implementation. Results Distribution of pre- and postimplementation surveys to 127 and 122 nurses, respectively, yielded a total of 163 completed surveys (overall participation rate, 65%). Distribution of surveys to 96 and 78 physicians, respectively, yielded 116 completed surveys (overall participation rate, 67%). After implementation, use of professional telephonic interpreters for communication with LEP patients increased fourfold, without a decrease in use of professional in-person interpreters. There were significant increases in professional interpreter use during brief communications with high error potential, including medication administration (odds ratio [OR] = 1.9, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.1–3.2) and prerounding (OR = 3.4, 95% CI 1.2–9.8). Conclusions Increasing ease of access to dual-handset interpreter telephones promotes use of professional interpreters in the acute care setting. Future hospital policy should focus on further integrating language services into the hospital environment, accompanied by an educational program to assist in shifting professional norms toward use of professional interpreters.
Relaxation, Structure, and Properties of Semicoherent Interfaces

Materials containing a high density of interfaces are promising candidates for future energy technologies because interfaces acting as sources, sinks, and barriers for defects can improve mechanical and irradiation properties of materials. A semicoherent interface widely occurring in various materials is composed of a network of misfit dislocations and coherent regions separated by misfit dislocations. In this article, we review the relaxation mechanisms, structure, and properties of (111) semicoherent interfaces in face-centered cubic structures.
Team Search Tactics Through Multi-Agent HyperNEAT

User defined tactics for teams of unmanned systems can be brittle and difficult to define. The state and action space grows with each new system added to the team which increases the difficultly in designing robust behaviors. In this paper we present a method for using Multi-agent HyperNEAT to develop tactics for a team of simulated unmanned systems that is robust to novel situations, and scales with the number of team members. We focus on the tactics of a search area coverage task, where the need for team work, and robust asset management are critical to success.
Influence of Light Manipulation on Diapause of Heliothis zea and H. virescens

Daily light periods as short as 5 minutes during the dark phase of a short-day regime (10 hours light: 14 hours dark) significantly inhibited diapause of boll worm, Heliothis zea (Boddie), and tobacco budworm, H. virescens (F.), in the laboratory. Photoflashes were ineffective. Comparison of populations of H. virescens from North Carolina and Texas indicated great differences instrain and suggested that light periods of at least 15 minutes in the dark phase were required to substantially inhibit diapause. A light period near either end of the dark phase was much more effective than one placed in the middle. No one fraction of the larval period was more sensitive to light than another, and inhibition of diapause increased with the number of daily light periods administered.
Measurement of Atmospheric Ozone by Cavity Ring-down Spectroscopy

Ozone plays a key role in both the Earth’s radiative budget and photochemistry. Accurate, robust analytical techniques for measuring its atmospheric abundance are of critical importance. Cavity ring-down spectroscopy has been successfully used for sensitive and accurate measurements of many atmospheric species. However, this technique has not been used for atmospheric measurements of ozone, because the strongest ozone absorption bands occur in the ultraviolet spectral region, where Rayleigh and Mie scattering cause significant cavity losses and dielectric mirror reflectivities are limited. Here, we describe a compact instrument that measures O3 by chemical conversion to NO2 in excess NO, with subsequent detection by cavity ring-down spectroscopy. This method provides a simple, accurate, and high-precision measurement of atmospheric ozone. The instrument consists of two channels. The sum of NO2 and converted O3 (defined as Ox) is measured in the first channel, while NO2 alone is measured in the second chan...
Control System Modeling and Design for a Mars Flyer, MACH-1 Competition

Mars science missions would benefit from the ability to acquire high resolution images of the Martian surface, as well as sensor coverage from other sensors. A robotic aircraft on Mars has been proposed to carry these instruments. The atmosphere and weak Martian gravity make the plane equivalent to a very high altitude aircraft on the Earth. The MACH-1 challenge is a design contest to model, simulate, and design the control system for this future Mars flyer. The design specifications are used to create a SIMULINK full six degree of freedom model, which is validated with open loop simulations. Trim conditions are used to generate perturbation models for control loop design, and output regulator linear quadratic regulator design is used to generate a gain matrix for straight and level flight. The generated model is unstable, and the control design developed cannot stabilize the non-linear model.
Field assessment of optical transparency in the low-level marine boundary layer: preliminary data from coastal New England sites

ABSTRACT Estimating the v ariation in the spectral transmission and scattering of optical and near -IR radiation near the sea surface under a range of conditions should be feasible using historical data collected off the coast of New Hampshire USA and along the coastline in the Gulf of Maine. Presented here are long-term offshore aerosol optical depth measurements collected using an A ERONET sun photometer from 2007 -2011 and near -surface wind and (3 m) horizontal visibility measurements collected using surface meteorological buoys from 2001 -present. Future analysis of these data can address their correlation with ne ar-surface meteorological and sea state conditions and to exploit an intensive but limited subset of historical aerosol particle measurements collected here both during a large research ship surveys (ICARTT) as well as with a dedicated aerosol measur ement station in summer 2005. Refractive index variation and r elevant altitude -dependent differences in meteorological scalars are also investigated using unique offshore long-term measurements at 3 and 32 m above sea level . Overall project results should provi de new information for assessment against several existing models for aerosol extinction in marine environments. Keywords: index of refraction, marine aerosols, aerosol optical thickness, particle size distribution, marine atmospheric layer, structure fu nctions for turbulent flow
Tissue plasminogen activator for acute ischemic stroke: Is the CAEP Position Statement too negative?

Adapting information from research to clinical practice can be difficult, and we are often forced to decide whether benefits reported in selected trials are adequate to justify widespread application of the intervention studied. This is particularly problematic when the “evidence” is scanty, the degree of benefit apparently small (if real), and the treatment potentially dangerous. In addition, it is always important to consider whether community physicians can replicate the success described in research studies, which are typically performed by experts working in the controlled setting of a well-funded study. To complicate matters, the use or non-use of new treatments may be subjected to the retrospective scrutiny of a courtroom whenever bad outcomes occur. Medicolegal concerns put even greater pressure on clinicians to adopt a new therapy, even if they are not convinced of a positive risk‐benefit ratio. This is particularly true when external forces (e.g., advertising leading to public demand, review articles written by authors with financial ties to the manufacturer, and questionable guidelines created by “experts”) speak in its favour. The US Surgeon General’s enthusiastic public endorsement of steroids for spinal cord injury, which was based on minimal and controversial evidence, led many physicians to accept high-dose steroids as the standard of care, despite widespread personal misgivings and published critiques. Similarly, recommendations by groups such as the American Heart Association (AHA) exert strong practical and legal weight on practitioners to use other disputed modalities or therapies with which they may not agree. The Position Statement on thrombolytic therapy for acute ischemic stroke, recently published by the CAEP Committee on Thrombolytic Therapy for Acute Ischemic Stroke,
Changing an electrical safety culture – the importance of understanding why

Electrical workers, regardless of experience, are faced with a major barrier when first introduced to NFPA 70E, “The Standard for Electrical Safety in the Workplace,” and an erroneous electrical safety culture pre-exists. This paper describes, from the author’s point of view, the barrier that he and other electrical workers have experienced and his insight into overcoming the barrier. The author in conclusion will present a series of techniques that can be used to assist other electrical workers in overcoming the barrier.
Training and Evaluating Clinical Observation Skills in Pre-clerkship Medical Students

Observation remains an essential tool for physicians. Many medical schools have implemented visual observation training programs using art. In this study, pre-clerkship medical students attended three instructional sessions at an art museum, and three physician-led sessions using projected clinical images for training. Descriptive narratives of clinical images were written pre- and post-intervention; these were scored by two reviewers using a 1-to-5 scoring rubric developed for this study. This builds upon previous studies which utilized qualitative analysis without a standard evaluation rubric. Results indicated that participants improved visual observation skills, and a satisfaction survey indicated they enjoyed participating.
Multispectral satellite image understanding

A problem of major interest to regional planning organizations, disaster relief agencies, and the military is the identification and tracking of land development across large scale regions, and over time. We develop an autonomous image analysis system to understand land development, especially residential and urban building organizations from satellite images. We introduce a set of measures based on straight lines to assess land development levels in high resolution satellite images. Urban areas exhibit a preponderance of straight line features. Rural areas produce line structures in more random spatial arrangements. We use this observation to perform an initial triage on the image to restrict the attention of subsequent, more computationally intensive analyses. Vegetation indices have been used extensively to estimate the vegetation density from satellite and airborne images for many years. We use these as the multispectral information for classification and house and road extraction. We focus on the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and introduce a statistical framework to analyze and extend it. Using the established statistical framework, we introduce new a group of shadow-water indices. We then extend our straight line based measures by developing a synergistic approach that combines structural and multispectral information. In particular, the structural features serve as cue regions for multispectral features. After the initial classification of regions, we introduce computationally more expensive but more precise graph theoretical measures over grayscale images to detect residential regions. The graphs are constructed using lines as vertices, while graph edges encode their spatial relationships. We introduce a set of measures based on various properties of the graph. These measures are monotonic with increasing structure (organization) in the image. We present a theoretical basis for the measures. Having detected the residential regions, we introduce a novel system to detect houses and street networks in these. We extensively use the multispectral information and graph theory to extract houses and road networks. We evaluated the performance of each step statistically and obtained very promising results. Especially, detection performances in house and street detection in residential regions is noteworthy. These results indicate the functionality of our satellite image understanding system.
Alcohol Consumption Prevention Model: Clarifying Students' Misperceptions

The Alcohol Consumption Prevention Model: Clarifying Students' Misperceptions presented in this paper was derived from an earlier study conducted by Synnott (2000) . This earlier study focused on students' misperceptions associated with their peers' consumption of alcoholic beverages and feelings of comfort in drinking situations.Recently a model was developed to involve parents in clarifying students' misperceptions associated with their sons' and daughters' misperceptions associated with their peer's consumption of alcoholic beverages (Synnott, 2011. This model was developed to involve parents in the clarification process. The original model presented in this paper and the new model designed to involve parents in their sons' and daughters' alcohol abuse prevention efforts can be used together. The original model can be used on campus with students and the newer model can be used with parents via mail. Please refer to the new model for complete detailed descriptions of procedures (Synnott, 2011). The original model is reprinted in this paper with the author's permission. The format was modified and some of the demographic questions were eliminated.