cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Cancer of the Pancreas: A Dilemma in Treatment

The incidence of pancreatic cancer has increased alarmingly. This disease has a very low five-year survival rate (5 per cent), and only a minority of patients have resectable lesions. With these depressing statistics, controversy continues over which operation to perform. Progress will be made by the discovery of better ways to extirpate these lesions and an understanding of the reason for the increase in pancreatic cancer.
Development of a social emotional information processing assessment for adults (SEIP‐Q)

An expanded self-report, vignette-based, questionnaire was developed to assess five components in a social emotional information processing model (SEIP: attribution, emotional response, response valuation, outcome expectancy, response efficacy, and response enactment), first in a population-based sample (n = 250) and, second in healthy control participants (n = 50) and in those with DSM-5 Intermittent Explosive Disorder (IED: n = 50). SEIP-Q vignettes depict, separately, both overtly aggressive and relationally aggressive as well as socially ambivalent scenarios. This expanded SEIP-Q assessment demonstrated good internal reliability, as well as convergent and discriminant validity, for all five SEIP components. IED participants differed from healthy controls in all SEIP-Q components. This expanded SEIP-Q assessment is thus proposed as a reliable and valid method for studying the various stages of SEIP in adult human subjects. Aggr. Behav. 43:47-59, 2017. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Necrotizing soft tissue infections

Diabetics are more susceptible to skin and soft tissue infections, and in current studies, up to half of patients who develop necrotizing soft tissue infection have diabetes. Patients typically present with acute, severe illness and prominent skin findings. However, a percentage of patients with necrotizing soft tissue infection will be difficult to delineate from cellulitis. Laboratory and radiographic scoring systems have been proposed to aid in the diagnosis of necrotizing soft tissue infections, but surgical evaluation remains the definitive means of diagnosis. Aggressive emergent surgical debridement is essential to reduce morbidity and mortality and should be coupled with broad empiric antibiotic therapy. When diabetics present with soft tissue infection, physicians should consider the possibility of underlying necrotizing infection and pursue surgical evaluation if there are signs of systemic illness, characteristic skin findings, failure to respond to antibiotics, or characteristic radiographic findings.
Mathematical Models in Biology: Nonlinear Models of Interactions

Our attention so far has been focused on modeling single populations. Although we have broken a single population into subgroups, such as by age or developmental stage, we have still treated it as if it is unaffected by the other species or populations with which it might share an environment. Although these models have provided valuable insights into how population sizes can change, we now move our attentions to interactions between species or populations. Most living things interact with many coinhabitants of their environment. Preying on other species, whether plant or animal, is a common way of taking in energy; and most organisms are at risk of being preyed on themselves. But not all important interactions between species are so obvious. Species may find themselves in competition for limited resources, whether food or space, so that growth in one population is detrimental to another. Mutualism, where several species interact in a way that benefits both, also occurs in nature. A real ecosystem may have hundreds or thousands of interacting populations, with all sorts of direct and indirect interactions between them. How can we understand the effects of these interactions without being lost in the complexity of it all? To begin to understand the dynamics of interacting populations in such systems, we start by focusing on only two populations and a single type of interaction. The questions that will guide us are modifications of those we have already asked when modeling a single population.
A “Survival of the Fittest” Mechanism for Weeding Out Potentially Lymphomagenic B-Cells during Germinal Center B-Cell Differentiation.

During normal T-cell dependent immune responses, activated B-cells differentiate into germinal center (GC) centroblasts, which tolerate simultaneous genomic recombination and rapid clonal expansion in order to produce high affinity antibodies. Upregulation of the BCL6 transcriptional repressor is required for centroblasts to acquire this phenotype, since it can repress DNA damage sensing and checkpoint genes. Genetic lesions that cause constitutive expression of BCL6 are common oncogenic events in human diffuse large B-cell lymphomas (DLBCL) and presumably contribute to malignant transformation by sustaining the centroblast phase and facilitating accumulation of genetic errors. We hypothesized that centroblasts must have evolved a mechanism to rapidly terminate the genomic instability phenotype in order to limit the likelihood of malignant transformation. A recent report (Allen et. al. PMID: 17185562) showed that centroblasts and GC T-cells make direct physical contact for ∼30 minutes during affinity maturation. We wondered whether CD40 signaling from T-cells could disrupt the function of BCL6 within this timeframe. Accordingly, we found in ChIP assays that CD40 signaling in B-cells can disrupt the ability of BCL6 to recruit the SMRT and N-CoR corepressors within minutes, at which time RNA polymerase II moves from the promoter to the exons of BCL6 target genes, histones became acetylated, and mRNA levels increase. We showed that signaling from CD40 to N-CoR was dependent on NFkB, while signaling to SMRT appeared to be related to MAP kinase phosphorylation cascades. Two BCL6 targets regulated in this manner are ATR and p53. Accordingly, although CD40 can promote survival of intact GC B-cells, CD40 induced cell death of centroblasts in the presence of higher levels of DNA damage led to cell death, rather than survival. Washout of CD40 after 60 minutes to emulate transient T-cell contact permitted BCL6 target gene mRNA levels to return to their repressed levels, demonstrating that this is a reversible process, which could allow centroblasts that pass quality control to either continue proliferation or undergo terminal differentiation. In order to identify direct targets of BCL6 subject to this regulatory mechanism, we performed ChIP-on-chip of BCL6 in primary human tonsilar centroblasts on a 24,000 promoter array. 915 genes were identified with a cut-off of 99.9th percentile (FDR
How Philosophy of Medicine Has Changed Medical Ethics

The celebration of thirty years of publication of The Journal of Medicine and Philosophy provides an opportunity to reflect on how medical ethics has evolved over that period. The reshaping of the field has occurred in no small part because of the impact of branches of philosophy other than ethics. These have included influences from Kantian theory of respect for persons, personal identity theory, philosophy of biology, linguistic analysis of the concepts of health and disease, personhood theory, epistemology, and political philosophy. More critically, medicine itself has begun to be reshaped. The most fundamental restructuring of medicine is currently occurring--stemming, in part, from the application of contemporary philosophy of science to the medical field. There is no journal more central to these critical events of the past three decades than The Journal of Medicine and Philosophy.
The Meaningfulness of Negro-White Differences in Intelligence Test Performance

The non-equalitarian interpretation of Negro-white IQ differences holds that these differences have value in guidance and prediction. Negro-white IQ differences are thus used as evidence for the prohibition of miscegenation and school integration. It is the contention of this study that there is no established objective basis for this interpretation. The statistically significant results on which the non-equalitarian interpretation is based reflect the reliability of Negro-white IQ differences but not the meaningfulness of these differences. Where it was possible, a statistic, est.ω2, designed to measure meaningfulness, was used to re-evaluate the data given in studies of Negro-white IQ. The results of this re-evaluation showed that these studies have failed to establish the existence of differences in intelligence that have utility for guidance.
A magnetic field cloak for charged particle beams

Abstract Shielding charged particle beams from transverse magnetic fields is a common challenge for particle accelerators and experiments. We demonstrate that a magnetic field cloak is a viable solution. It allows for the use of dipole magnets in the forward regions of experiments at an Electron Ion Collider (EIC) and other facilities without interfering with the incoming beams. The dipoles can improve the momentum measurements of charged final state particles at angles close to the beam line and therefore increase the physics reach of these experiments. In contrast to other magnetic shielding options (such as active coils), a cloak requires no external powering. We discuss the design parameters, fabrication, and limitations of a magnetic field cloak and demonstrate that cylinders made from 45 layers of YBCO high-temperature superconductor, combined with a ferromagnetic shell made from epoxy and stainless steel powder, shield more than 99% of a transverse magnetic field of up to 0.45 T (95% shielding at 0.5 T) at liquid nitrogen temperature. The ferromagnetic shell reduces field distortions caused by the superconductor alone by 90% at 0.45 T.
Contact Mechanics of Impacting Slender Rods: Measurement and Analysis

To validate models of contact mechanics in low speed structural impact, slender rods with curved tips were impacted in a drop tower, and measurements of the contact and vibration were compared to analytical and finite element (FE) models. The contact area was recorded using a thin-film transfer technique, and the contact duration was measured using electrical continuity. Strain gages recorded the vibratory strain in one rod, and a laser Doppler vibrometer measured velocity. The experiment was modeled analytically using a quasi-static Hertzian contact law and a system of delay differential equations. The FE model used axisymmetric elements, a penalty contact algorithm, and explicit time integration. A small submodel taken from the initial global model economically refined the analysis in the small contact region. Measured contact areas were within 6% of both models’ predictions, peak speeds within 2%, cyclic strains within 12 microstrain (RMS value), and contact durations within 2 μs. The accuracy of the predictions for this simple test, as well as the versatility of the diagnostic tools, validates the theoretical and computational models, corroborates instrument calibration, and establishes confidence that the same methods may be used in an experimental and computational study of the impact mechanics of artificial hip joints.
A Maximum Principle for L 2 -Trace Norms with an Application to Optimized Schwarz Methods

Harmonic functions attain their pointwise maximum on the boundary of the domain. In this article, we analyze the relationship between various norms of nearly harmonic functions and we show that the trace norm is maximized on the boundary of the domain. One application is that the Optimized Schwarz Method with two subdomains converges for all Robin parameters α > 0.
Rigid Solids Studied Using MRI

The magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of rigid solids is described. The experimental difficulties are explained and means to overcome these are presented. Some illustrative applications are presented.
Women's preference for vaginal birth after a first delivery by cesarean

Background Nearly 90% of United States pregnant women with a prior cesarean give birth by repeat cesarean. Public health goals encourage greater use of vaginal birth after cesarean (VBAC), but there is little prospective data on predictors of women's preference for VBAC. We characterized predictors of women's preferred mode of delivery after a first cesarean and thematically categorized reasons for their preference. Methods Data were from a cohort of 3006 women whose first childbirth was in Pennsylvania in 2009-2011. The analytic sample included women who had their first birth by cesarean and reported mode of delivery preference for their next delivery at 12 months postpartum (n = 616). Associations with future birth mode preference were assessed using multivariate logistic regression, and reasons for preference were categorized using content analysis. Results At 12 months postpartum, 45% of women who delivered by cesarean in their first birth wanted to have their next delivery vaginally. Independent predictors of VBAC preference were Black race/ethnicity, nonrecurrent indication for the first cesarean, planning three or more additional children, and difficulty recovering from the first cesarean. The most common reason for preferring a vaginal birth was wanting the experience of vaginal birth; the most common reason for preferring cesarean birth was that the first birth was by cesarean. Conclusion Nearly half of respondents preferred VBAC in future births, but national estimates indicate that only about 12% of women with prior cesareans have a VBAC. This suggests a need to ensure greater access to VBAC for women who want it.
Glucocorticoids and NK cell PD-1.

Immune responses have the potential to induce life-threatening conditions. A novel multi-system pathway in which neuroendocrine signaling induces expression of the checkpoint receptor PD-1 on NK cells is an important mechanism for protection against cytokine-mediated disease during viral infection.
Capturing Shared and Individual Information in fMRI Data

Cognitive neuroscience seeks to explain the organization of the brain, but typically focuses on aspects that are shared across people rather than those that vary across individuals. Here, we present a new method for analyzing brain imaging data that captures both shared and individual components of brain activity. Inspired by the shared response model (SRM) and the robust principal components analysis, the robust shared response model (RSRM) aligns functional topographies across humans while preserving a component of sparse, individual activity. Experimental results on adult data showed that RSRM performs as well as or better than SRM, while at the same time capturing reliable markers of individual variability. In a test case of participants with extreme variability, we found that RSRM was able to improve the accuracy more than 60% over SRM for the coding of infant fMRI data.
Modulatory Effects of Motor State During Paired Associative Stimulation on Motor Cortex Excitability and Motor Skill Learning.

Repeated pairing of electrical stimulation of a peripheral nerve with transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) over the primary motor cortex (M1) representation for a target muscle can induce neuroplastic adaptations in the human brain related to motor learning. The extent to which the motor state during this form of paired associative stimulation (PAS) influences the degree and mechanisms of neuroplasticity or motor learning is unclear. Here, we investigated the effect of volitional muscle contraction during PAS on 1) measures of general corticomotor excitability and intracortical circuit excitability, and 2) motor performance and learning. We assessed measures of corticomotor excitability using TMS and motor skill performance during a serial reaction time task (SRTT) at baseline and at 0, 30, 60 minutes post-PAS. Participants completed a SRTT retention test one week following the first two PAS sessions. Following the PAS intervention where the hand muscle maintained an active muscle contraction (PASACTIVE), there was lower short interval intracortical inhibition compared to PAS during a resting motor state (PASREST) and a sham PAS condition (PASCONTROL). SRTT performance improved within the session regardless of PAS condition. SRTT retention was greater following both PASACTIVE and PASREST after one week compared to PASCONTROL. These findings suggest that PAS may enhance motor learning retention and that motor state may be used to target different neural mechanisms of intracortical excitation and inhibition during PAS. This observation may be important to consider for the use of therapeutic noninvasive brain stimulation in neurologic patient populations.
Perioperative outcomes of laparoscopic Roux-en-Y gastric bypass and sleeve gastrectomy in super-obese and super-super-obese patients: a national database analysis

Abstract Background Evidence remains contradictory for perioperative outcomes of super-obese (SO) and super-super-obese (SSO) patients undergoing bariatric surgery. Objective To identify national 30-day morbidity and mortality of laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy (LSG) and laparoscopic Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (LRYGB) in SO and SSO patients. Setting The Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery Accreditation and Quality Improvement Program database. Methods All LSG and LRYGB patients from 2015 through 2017 in the Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery Accreditation and Quality Improvement Program database were grouped based on body mass index (BMI) as follows: morbidly obese (MO; BMI 35.0–49.9 kg/m2), SO (BMI 50.0–59.9 kg/m2), and SSO (BMI ≥60.0 kg/m2). Complications and mortality within 30 days were compared between BMI groups using Pearson X2 or Fischer’s exact tests. Multivariate logistic regression was used to adjust for demographic characteristics and co-morbidities, and adjusted odds ratio (AOR) was reported for each outcome. Results Of 356,621 patients, 71.6% had LSG and 28.4% LRYGB. A total of 272,195 patients were in the MO group, 65,565 in the SO group, and 18,861 in the SSO group. Higher BMI was associated with increased overall morbidity and mortality. The overall complication rate was significantly higher for SO (AOR = 1.20, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.13–1.28 for LSG; AOR = 1.08, 95% CI 1.01–1.15 for LRYGB) and SSO (AOR = 1.44, 95% CI 1.31–1.58 for LSG; AOR = 1.31, 95% CI 1.19–1.45 for LRYGB) compared with the MO group. Mortality was also significantly higher for SO (AOR = 1.65, 95% CI 1.10–2.48 for LSG; AOR = 1.85, 95% CI 1.23–2.80 for LRYGB) and SSO (AOR = 3.30, 95% CI 1.98–5.48 for LSG; AOR = 3.32, 95% CI 1.93–5.73 for LRYGB) compared with the MO group. Conclusions SO and SSO patients are at increased risk of 30-day morbidity and mortality compared with MO patients. Despite this elevated perioperative risk, the overall risk of these procedures remains low and acceptable especially as bariatric surgery is the durable treatment option for obesity.
Cu Pillar with Nanocopper Caps: The Next Interconnection Node Beyond Traditional Cu Pillar

Off-chip interconnection pitch scaling has been aggressively driven over the last several decades by the continuous need for higher bandwidth and computing power in smaller form factors in emerging high-performance computing systems. It is expected to reach below 10µm I/O pitch in the near future, beyond the fundamental limits of traditional solder-based interconnection technologies. While the Cu pillar with solder caps technology remains attractive in chip-to-substrate (C2S) applications as it can accommodate substrate and chip non-coplanarities during assembly through melting of the solder, all-Cu interconnections are now pursued as the next interconnection node for their pitch and performance scalability. However, direct Cu-Cu bonding faces several key challenges that have hindered large-scale adoption in C2S, including its relatively high elastic modulus, giving low compliance in assembly. To address this challenge, a novel interconnection technology - Cu pillar with nanocopper caps - is proposed where a solid-state sub-20 GPa modulus nanoporous Cu cap is introduced to replace the solder cap and retain solder-like compliance in assembly, while achieving bulk-like properties through densification in low-temperature sintering. This paper presents the design of this new interconnection system, the developed wafer bumping process, compatible with current industry infrastructures, and a first assembly demonstration where a seamless interface was achieved.
Flat Oval Duct Deflection – Finite Element Analysis

ABSTRACTFinite element models were developed to predict the deformation of unreinforced spiral flat oval ducts when subjected to a range of positive/negative internal gauge pressures. The models in...
Depression and Gender Roles among Hispanic Immigrant Women: Examining Associations of Gender Egalitarianism, Marianismo, and Self-Silencing.

Background Efforts in the prevention and treatment of depression among Hispanic immigrant women require studies to identify modifiable factors of depression. Some factors that may merit investigation are gender roles such as egalitarian gender attitudes, marianismo, and self-silencing. Methods This cross-sectional study included 231 Hispanic immigrant women living in Miami-Dade County, Florida. Logistic regression was used to examine associations of covariates, egalitarian gender attitudes, marianismo, and self-silencing in relation to depression. Results Egalitarian gender attitudes were not associated with depression. For marianismo domains, higher scores on the spiritual pillar scale were associated with lower odds of depression. With regard to self-silencing, higher scores on externalizing self-perception and divided self were associated with higher odds of depression. Conclusions Findings add to the limited literature on depression among Hispanic immigrants and provides some insight on sociocultural factors that may be considered in depression interventions for Hispanic immigrant women.
Intelligent Support for Selection of Therapeutic Stabilization Schemes in Mixed Ischemic Injury

A methodology based on synthesis of hybrid fuzzy models was used to obtain a system of mathematical models for assessment of the severity of ischemic processes in the central hemodynamic system, the lower limbs, the heart, and the brain, and for classification of normal, latent, reversive, and critical states of the organs of interest. An algorithm for selection of rational prophylactic and treatment schemes was developed for different classes of states of the organs of interest. As compared with conventional treatment schemes, and using a variety of criteria for assessment of efficacy, the algorithm proposed here provided 2.4-fold faster (by 58%) achievement of positive results and a 2.5-fold (by 73%) decrease in the risk of limb amputation.
Pilot trial of speed-intensive gait training on balance and walking in people with multiple sclerosis

Background/Aims Diminished walking speed and endurance is commonly experienced by individuals with multiple sclerosis. Speed-intensive gait training has led to improvements in walking speed and end...
B c meson lifetime

We investigate the total inclusive decay rate of the (ground state) {ital B}{sub {ital c}} meson within the framework of an operator product expansion in inverse powers of the heavy quark masses and subsequent matching onto nonrelativistic QCD. The expansion is organized as a series in the strong coupling and in powers of the heavy quark velocities in the {ital B}{sub {ital c}}, reflecting the nonrelativistic nature of a heavy-heavy bound state. In this aspect the character of the expansion differs from the more familiar case of heavy-light mesons. The framework incorporates systematically corrections to the leading {ital b}- and {ital c}-quark decays due to binding effects, as well as contributions from weak annihilation and Pauli interference. Based on this approach we find for the {ital B}{sub {ital c}} meson lifetime {tau}{sub {ital B}{sub {ital c}}}=(0.4{endash}0.7) ps, the dominant mechanism being the decay of the charm constituent. {copyright} {ital 1996 The American Physical Society.}
Under-referral of Plain community members for genetic services despite being qualified for genetic evaluation.

Plain community people (Amish and Mennonites) have increased risk of having recessive genetic disorders. This study was designed to assess the rate of referral of Plain people to genetic services at UPMC Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh. Medical records of Plain patients from a 1-year time period were reviewed. Data collected included demographic information, clinical presentation, referral for genetic services, and diagnosis. Of the 303 patients, 102 (33.7%) had a clinical presentation suggestive of a genetic disorder, yet only 32 of those 102 patients (31.4%) had been evaluated by the division of Medical Genetics. These data indicate that less than half of Plain patients with a clinical presentation suggestive of a genetic disorder had been referred to the division of Medical Genetics for a formal evaluation. Now that under-referral of Plain patients has been confirmed, providers can be educated in order to increase referrals for genetic services and facilitate positive healthcare outcomes for the Plain Community.
Healing an abnormalised body: bringing the agency of unseen people back to the inter-Korean border

Conventional approaches to the ‘North Korea Problem’ underpin the interests of great powers and the Westphalian canon that buttresses the status quo of a divided Korea, normalising and perpetuating...
Teaching Economics of Poverty as a Global Classroom Course in Ghana

Sub-Saharan Africa is home to the majority of people living in extreme poverty and is the region of the world that faces the largest challenges to economic growth. In the spring semester of 2018, I took my Economics of Poverty class to Accra, Ghana over spring break. This paper discusses why study abroad in Africa is important for economics students, why Ghana is a particularly good first African experience, and how my trip was planned and structured. This paper is intended to serve as an aid to other faculty thinking about making a similar trip with their students.
Robust Planning with Emergent Human-like Behavior for Agents Traveling in Groups

To enable robots to smoothly interact with humans during their travels together as a group, robots need the ability to adapt their motions under environmental changes and ensure all group members’ routes are feasible. To achieve this ability, robots require knowledge of the final destination and the subgoals in between. In practice, such information is seldom shared explicitly among group members, and may be frequently updated. Under this uncertain setting, maintaining travel efficiency and behavior appropriateness becomes a challenge. Previous literature approached the problem by generating compliant coordinating motions inspired by human groups, with subgoal uncertainty remaining isolated from the plan evaluation process. We show that such coordination can lead the robot to "bad" transient states where inefficient planning and lost tracking may incur. We propose to resolve the problem by formulating the coordinating motion as a Bayesian stochastic game, to plan for the robot as a group member, in the meanwhile considering the long-term effect of uncertainty during path coordination. We show that the approach improves travel efficiency and partner tracking robustness, by preventing assertive decisions during the inference update process. Moreover, the approach presents "agency", in the sense that it can generate human-like motions, which can be applied and contribute to the pedestrian simulation literature; the approach also affords variants from the human-like motions to generate robot behaviors based on sensing capabilities, contributing to the methodology of robot behavior design.
Long-term impact of divorce on women's earnings across multiple divorce windows: A life course perspective

Abstract We investigate divorce as a turning point for women's earnings trajectories and whether those patterns have changed over recent decades. We use a unique data set that links retrospective family history data from the Survey of Income and Program Participation to longitudinal earnings records from the Social Security Administration. Using a panel fixed-effects model, we retrospectively compare women experiencing a marital dissolution across three divorce windows within a 25-year period (1970–1994) to continuously married women, from 3 years before to 10 years following separation. We find that women who divorced experienced long-lasting earnings increases, particularly among those who did not remarry. The increases in earnings levels are comparatively similar for those divorced at different times; however, percentage increases are significantly smaller for women experiencing divorce in more recent (1990–1994) relative to earlier (1970–1974) years. We also document lasting employment gains and higher earnings among employed women arising from divorce. In combination, the results extend our understanding of divorce as a salient turning point in women's work lives and call attention to possible changes in this process over recent decades.
DIY: The Militant Embrace of Technology

The text below is an expose on certain crucial phenomena of cotemporary new media art; particularly dealing with the “Do It Yourself” attitude toward digital technologies. It is a critical commentary and extension of a documentary project 8 BIT, which premiered at the Museum of Modern Art in October 2006.
The infant's world

Preface 1. Facts of Infancy 2. The Self in Infancy 3. The Object World in Infancy 4. The Infant and Others 5. Key Transitions in Infancy 6. Mechanisms of Infant Development References Index
Computer simulation of sedimentation in the ultracentrifuge. V. Ideal and non-ideal monomer-trimer systems.

Abstract Treatments of velocity sedimentation which neglect diffusion (“asymptotic” solutions) predict that a minimum will appear in the gradient curves given by certain rapidly equilibrating monomer-trimer and monomer-dimer-trimer systems. The velocity sedimentation of a variety of such systems has been simulated by a computer model. The model takes into account the diffusion of the solutes. Both ideal and non-ideal sedimentation have been examined. Sedimentation is assumed to have been done in water at 60,000 rpm in a standard ultracentrifuge rotor. The degree to which a minimum predicted by the no-diffusion model is preserved in the presence of diffusion depends strongly on the molecular weight of the polymerizing monomer. When the molecular weight of the monomer is 50,000, a system which would exhibit a deep minimum in the absence of diffusion usually produces a gradient curve consisting of a peak and a fairly obvious shoulder. On the other hand, shallow minima in the idealized gradient curves frequently become unrecognizable in the simulated experiments. Such shallow minima occur in the asymptotic solutions for relatively loosely associating monomer-trimer systems and for monomer-trimer systems that contain substantial amounts of dimer. When the monomer molecular weight is reduced to 25,000, even deep minima in the gradient curves given by the no-diffusion calculation are greatly obscured by diffusion. Inverse concentration dependence of the sedimentation coefficients of the monomer, dimer, and trimer tends to make the potential bimodality of the reaction boundaries somewhat less obvious than it would be for ideally sedimenting systems. In general, however, the significant features of the gradient curves are not seriously obscured unless the concentration dependence of the individual sedimentation coefficients is unusually steep.
From form to meaning: a role for structural alignment in the acquisition of language.

Publisher Summary This chapter explores how syntactic bootstrapping might work—the aspects of sentence structure that are meaningful to young children, the semantic information that sentence structures provide, and the degree of syntactic knowledge that give children some guidance in verb learning. Some of the evidence that children can use sentences to guide verb learning are reviewed, and other evidence are considered in relation to several possible mechanisms for syntactic bootstrapping. Little or no language-specific syntactic knowledge is needed to give the child an initial sentence-structural guide for interpreting verbs. Instead, based on a partial or presyntactic description of sentences, children can obtain information about verb meaning essentially by structural analogy, aligning a sentence representation with a conceptual representation that shares its skeletal structural properties. For example, a child could arrive at different interpretations of transitive and intransitive verbs for the same event by aligning a transitive verb with a conceptual relation between two participants and an intransitive verb with a conceptual predicate involving only a single participant. The chapter also explores how learners might construct the simple structured representations of sentences needed to use this simple mechanism for syntactic bootstrapping.
Anti-apoptotic mechanism(s) of angiotensin 1-7/mas in alveolar epithelial cell survival (1010.3)

Earlier work showed that autocrine synthesis of angiotensin II (ANGII) and c-Jun-N-terminal kinase phosphorylation (pJNK) are required events in alveolar epithelial cell (AEC) apoptosis which is linked to severe lung diseases. Angiotensin 1-7 (ANG 1-7) prevents AEC apoptosis which is induced by locally synthesized ANG II. However the exact inhibitory mechanisms of ANG 1-7/mas are currently unclear in AECs. The objective of the current research is to identify molecular mechanism(s) by which ANG1-7 promotes AEC survival. We hypothesized that ANG 1-7 activates a map kinase phosphatase (MKP) and maintains low pJNK levels thereby preventing apoptosis. To evaluate whether adding ANG 1-7 acts through MKP-2, freshly prepared ANG 1-7 (0.1µM) in serum free media was added to a mouse lung epithelial cell line (MLE-12). Cell lysates were run on 10% SDS-PAGE to detect MKP-2 protein by Western blotting. Current preliminary data suggests that ANG 1-7 increased MKP-2 protein (p=0.0286). Further, blockade of endogenous AN...
Richard T. T. Forman. Urban Ecology—Science of Cities

As Homo sapiens becomes an increasingly urban species, it is becoming ever more apparent that this accelerating rate of urbanization presents us with both challenges and opportunities. The interdis...
High frequency interconnects on silicon substrates

The measured propagation constant of coplanar waveguide (CPW) on silicon wafers as a function of the line dimensions and the resistivity of the Si wafer; CPW on GaAs wafers as a function of the line dimensions; and thin film microstrip (TFMS) fabricated with polyimide on the surface of a silicon wafer is presented. It is shown that the attenuation of CPW on 2500 /spl Omega/-cm Si wafers and of TFMS with a polyimide thickness of 4 /spl mu/m or greater is comparable to the attenuation of similar lines on GaAs.
Spatially Explicit Power Analyses for Occupancy-Based Monitoring of Wolverine in the U.S. Rocky Mountains

Conservation scientists and resource managers often have to design monitoring programs for species that are rare or patchily distributed across large landscapes. Such programs are frequently expensive and seldom can be conducted by one entity. It is essential that a prospective power analysis be undertaken to ensure stated monitoring goals are feasible. We developed a spatially based simulation program that accounts for natural history, habitat use, and sampling scheme to investigate the power of monitoring protocols to detect trends in population abundance over time with occupancy-based methods. We analyzed monitoring schemes with different sampling efforts for wolverine (Gulo gulo) populations in 2 areas of the U.S. Rocky Mountains. The relation between occupancy and abundance was nonlinear and depended on landscape, population size, and movement parameters. With current estimates for population size and detection probability in the northern U.S. Rockies, most sampling schemes were only able to detect large declines in abundance in the simulations (i.e., 50% decline over 10 years). For small populations reestablishing in the Southern Rockies, occupancy-based methods had enough power to detect population trends only when populations were increasing dramatically (e.g., doubling or tripling in 10 years), regardless of sampling effort. In general, increasing the number of cells sampled or the per-visit detection probability had a much greater effect on power than the number of visits conducted during a survey. Although our results are specific to wolverines, this approach could easily be adapted to other territorial species.
Genomic and proteomic approaches for probing the role of vitamin D in health

Although we have learned a great deal about vitamin D metabolism and function since it first became apparent that this factor was required for bone health, there are still many gaps in our understanding, at both the basic science (eg, the molecular actions and targets of vitamin D) and applied (eg, what adequate vitamin D status means) levels. For example, although the identification of extrarenal 1α-hydroxylase activity suggests that autocrine/paracrine actions of 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D complement the classic endocrine actions of the hormone, the practical implications of this finding are only now being explored. In addition, studies showed that 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D rapidly activates signal transduction pathways in addition to the classic transcriptional activation pathways that require the vitamin D receptor. These new modes of vitamin D action may be crucial to our understanding of both the traditional calcium-regulating actions of vitamin D and the anticancer actions of this essential mediator. Recent developments in genomics and proteomics have provided new opportunities for us to identify molecular targets of vitamin D action. Cancer researchers have demonstrated that these methods have utility for identifying useful biomarkers of disease states. Can these approaches be used to help clarify what constitutes optimal serum concentrations of 25-hydroxyvitamin D? I present an overview of how proteomic and genomic evaluations of cells, animals, and human subjects have been and can be used to improve our understanding of vitamin D biological processes and the role of vitamin D in health.
Pulsed laser deposition and characterization of high-Tc YBa2Cu3O7 − x superconducting thin films

Abstract This article presents a systematic overview of the work carried out in the area of pulsed laser deposition (PLD), characterization and device application aspects of high temperature superconducting YBCO thin films. The theoretical and experimental aspects of the pulsed laser deposition process for the synthesis of YBCO thin films have been described in detail. The deposition technique has emerged as a very powerful method to make composition and microstructure controlled superconducting YBCO films. Some unique features of this process are due to the rapid heating and evaporation of the target and the interaction of the laser beam with the evaporated materials leading to the formation of a high temperature plasma. Major advantages of PLD process are congruent evaporation and crystallinity due to the presence of high energy evaporants and fast response time. It has the potential to encompass a wide scope of physical vapor-deposition techniques from thermal evaporation to sputtering and MBE. The electrical and structural studies performed on laser deposited YBCO films have shown that films produced by PLD are superior than films produced by other thin film growth techniques. The major technical obstacle of particulates emission, encountered initially with PLD, has now greatly been solved. Some new developments with PLD technology such as large-area and nonplanar substrates coatings and growth of novel superconductors as oriented films have been demonstrated.
Can Reduced Provision of Manufactured Feed Improve Fish Production Efficiency in Ponds

Abstract Fish culturists strive to efficiently transfer energy from manufactured feed to the fish crop while minimizing adverse impacts on the environment and water quality. In this study, we sought to improve production of age-1 Channel Catfish Ictalurus punctatus by testing the effects of full (3% of body weight [BW]/d) and reduced (1% BW/d) feeding rates on fish diets, growth, and survival; lower-trophic-level dynamics; and water quality in earthen ponds. Fish survival was similar between feeding treatments, although length, weight, and yield at harvest were lower for 1% BW/d ponds. Using stable N and C isotopes, we found that the percent contribution of natural prey to Channel Catfish tissue growth was higher for 1% BW/d ponds (median = 74%) than for 3% BW/d ponds (55%). In both feeding treatments, small fish (those with initial BWs 15 g) depended mainly on feed for growth. Reducing the feeding rate d...
Kinetics of autohesion of thermoplastic carbon-fiber prepregs

Abstract The kinetics of autohesion of continuous carbon-fiber thermoplastic-matrix prepregs above the glass transition temperature was studied by the measurement of the DC electrical contact resistance of the joint between two plies in real time during autohesion at various constant temperatures. The resistance decreased as autohesion progressed. The rate of decrease in resistance was used as an indicator of the rate of autohesion. The activation energy was 21.2 kJ/mol for both Nylon-6 and polyphenylenesulfide carbon-fiber prepregs.
Relationship of indoleacetic acid and tryptophan to dormancy and preharvest sprouting of wheat

Preharvest sprouting of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) involves several plant hormones, but a role for indoleacetic acid (IAA) and its precursor, tryptophan, has not been demonstrated. Our objectives were to determine the roles of IAA, tryptophan, and related compounds in germination of cultivars that differed in susceptibility to preharvest sprouting. L-Tryptophan strongly inhibited germination of embryos excised from caryopses that were highly dormant at harvest but not of embryos from caryopses that had little innate dormancy. The embryos responded similarly to indoleacetaldehyde, IAA, and synthetic auxins, suggesting that tryptophan functioned as a precursor of IAA. Indoleacetaldehyde oxidase inhibitors alleviated the adverse effects of tryptophan and indoleacetaldehyde, and an auxin antagonist decreased the inhibitory action of tryptophan and IAA on embryos from dormant caryopses, further suggesting that IAA was involved. Changes in sensitivity to IAA during afterripening also supported a role for auxin in dormancy. Embryos from caryopses that were highly dormant at harvest gradually lost sensitivity to IAA during afterripening, whereas intact caryopses were insensitive to IAA. The results implicated IAA in dormancy of wheat caryopses and indicated that the auxin might complement the role of abscisic acid in germination. The importance of using dormant caryopses and arresting afterripening in investigations of seed dormancy was noted.
Bandit problems with infinitely many arms

We consider a bandit problem consisting of a sequence of n choices from an infinite number of Bernoulli arms, with $n \to \infty$. The objective is to minimize the long-run failure rate. The Bernoulli parameters are independent observations from a distribution F. We first assume F to be the uniform distribution on (0, 1) and consider various extensions. In the uniform case we show that the best lower bound for the expected failure proportion is between $\sqrt{2}/\sqrt{n}$ and $2/\sqrt{n}$ and we exhibit classes of strategies that achieve the latter.
Anticoagulant heparan sulfate precursor structures in F9 embryonal carcinoma cells.

Abstract To understand the mechanisms that control anticoagulant heparan sulfate (HSact) biosynthesis, we previously showed that HSact production in the F9 system is determined by the abundance of 3-O-sulfotransferase-1 as well as the size of the HSact precursor pool. In this study, HSact precursor structures have been studied by characterizing [6-3H]GlcN metabolically labeled F9 HS tagged with 3-O-sulfates in vitro by 3′-phosphoadenosine 5′-phospho-35S and purified 3-O-sulfotransferase-1. This later in vitrolabeling allows the regions of HS destined to become the antithrombin (AT)-binding sites to be tagged for subsequent structural studies. It was shown that six 3-O-sulfation sites exist per HSact precursor chain. At least five out of six 3-O-sulfate-tagged oligosaccharides in HSactprecursors bind AT, whereas none of 3-O-sulfate-tagged oligosaccharides from HSinact precursors bind AT. When treated with low pH nitrous or heparitinase, 3-O-sulfate-tagged HSact and HSinact precursors exhibit clearly different structural features. 3-O-Sulfate-tagged HSacthexasaccharides were AT affinity purified and sequenced by chemical and enzymatic degradations. The 3-O-sulfate-tagged HSact hexasaccharides exhibited the following structures, ΔUA-[6-3H]GlcNAc6S-GlcUA-[6-3H]GlcNS335S±6S-IdceA2S-[6-3H]GlcNS6S. The underlined 6- and 3-O-sulfates constitute the most critical groups for AT binding in view of the fact that the precursor hexasaccharides possess all the elements for AT binding except for the 3-O-sulfate moiety. The presence of five potential AT-binding precursor hexasaccharides in all HSact precursor chains demonstrates for the first time the processive assembly of specific sequence in HS. The difference in structures around potential 3-O-sulfate acceptor sites in HSact and HSinact precursors suggests that these precursors might be generated by different concerted assembly mechanisms in the same cell. This study permits us to understand better the nature of the HS biosynthetic pathway that leads to the generation of specific saccharide sequences.
A nucleation model for martensitic transformations in iron-base alloys

Abstract A model of operational nucleation for martensitic transformations is developed, foeussing attention on conditions for the growth start-up of preexisting embryos. Derivations are given for the transformational stresses in the thickness and radial directions of the embryo, which tend to cause thickening and radial growth, respectively. In the iron-nickel-manganese alloys examined here, radial growth occurs first and is controlled by the formation of new dislocation loops which become part of the interface. The activation energy for such loop formation decreases rapidly with radial growth, allowing the latter to become athermal. During this process, the transformational thickening stress rises and exceeds the yield stress of the surrounding austentie. Thus, the thickening is thought to be a function of the plastic resistance of the matrix.