cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Lymphatic endothelial cells actively regulate prostate cancer cell invasion

Lymphatic vessels serve as the primary route for metastatic spread to lymph nodes. However, it is not clear how interactions between cancer cells and lymphatic endothelial cells (LECs), especially within hypoxic microenvironments, affect the invasion of cancer cells. Here, using an MR compatible cell perfusion assay, we investigated the role of LEC-prostate cancer (PCa) cell interaction in the invasion and degradation of the extracellular matrix (ECM) by two human PCa cell lines, PC-3 and DU-145, under normoxia and hypoxia, and determined the metabolic changes that occurred under these conditions. We observed a significant increase in the invasion of ECM by invasive PC-3 cells, but not poorly invasive DU-145 cells when human dermal lymphatic microvascular endothelial cells (HMVEC-dlys) were present. Enhanced degradation of ECM by PC-3 cells in the presence of HMVEC-dlys identified interactions between HMVEC-dlys and PCa cells influencing cancer cell invasion. The enhanced ECM degradation was partly attributed to increased MMP-9 enzymatic activity in PC-3 cells when HMVEC-dlys were in close proximity. Significantly higher uPAR and MMP-9 expression levels observed in PC-3 cells compared to DU-145 cells may be one mechanism for increased invasion and degradation of matrigel by these cells irrespective of the presence of HMVEC-dlys. Hypoxia significantly decreased invasion by PC-3 cells, but this decrease was significantly attenuated when HMVEC-dlys were present. Significantly higher phosphocholine was observed in invasive PC-3 cells, while higher glycerophosphocholine was observed in DU-145 cells. These metabolites were not altered in the presence of HMVEC-dlys. Significantly increased lipid levels and lipid droplets were observed in PC-3 and DU-145 cells under hypoxia reflecting an adaptive survival response to oxidative stress. These results suggest that in vivo, invasive cells in or near lymphatic endothelial cells are likely to be more invasive and degrade the ECM to influence the metastatic cascade. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
On Development of Good Quality Rice in Fujian Province

Major problems of good quality rice production in Fujian province were analysed.According to development experience of good quality rice outside the province,several suggestions were made for the development of good quality rice in Fujian province.
Investigation of KOH Anisotropic Etching for the Fabrication of Sharp Tips in Silicon-on-Insulator (SOI) Material

KOH etching may be used to create V-shaped features in silicon that are aligned with the (111) planes at an angle of 54.74 from the (100) surface. To investigate the eect of hydrogen bubbles on the formation of features such as sharp isolated tips, we carried out etching of (100) silicon on insulator (SOI) wafers over a wide range of reaction temperatures and KOH concentrations. We determined that the critical factors determining the silicon etch rate are, in decreasing order of importance, the reaction temperature, the KOH concentration, and the interaction between temperature and KOH concentration. Initially, both the sharpness of the silicon tip and the etch rate increase with temperature and KOH concentration and then decrease above critical values of both. Hydrogen bubbles formed during etching are very important in determining both the etch rate and the sharpness of the tips. The diameter of the bubbles decreases with increasing temperature. The size of the bubbles decreases signicantly and the density of bubbles increases drastically as the KOH concentration increases. The shapes of the tips were determined using transmission electron microscopy, and the sharpest emitter diameter was estimated to be 3 nm at a 30 % KOH concentration and a 70 C reaction temperature.
Decentralized Meritocracy: Resilience, Decay, and Adaptation in the CCP’s Threat-Management System

The article explains the ongoing resilience of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) regime as a dynamic process of continual institutional adaptation of the CCP’s threat-management system, which simultaneously must address vertical (popular) and horizontal (internal) challenges. The author finds that the CCP central leadership’s current top-down intervention into subnational governments, featuring Xi Jinping’s anti-corruption campaign, reform of local government financing platforms (LGFPs), and consolidation of personal power over the party-state, is the second of two major actions over the last thirty years designed to maintain the stability and survival of the single-party system. Notably, many of the contemporary challenges faced by the regime, such as a local government budgetary crisis and rampant official corruption within subnational governments, are in many respects the unforeseen consequences of an earlier intervention by the Center conducted in the mid-1990s under Jiang Zemin.
Case 86: An Airway Leak in the ICU

A 16-year-old girl (85 kg, 5′ 2″) is on full ventilator support in the intensive care unit (ICU). She was involved in a motor vehicle accident (MVA) and has sustained multiple rib fractures with lung contusion, which necessitated endotracheal intubation. The ICU nurse tells you that the intubation proved difficult, but with a two-handed technique they were able to adequately oxygenate the patient. After several attempts, a bougie was blindly inserted into the trachea and the airway secured. It is now 1 h later and you are called because the nurse informs you that there is air coming out of the mouth on inspiration. The nurse tells you that the respiratory therapist had just increased the tidal volume. Vital signs are within normal limits, oxygen saturation 95 %, heart rate 105, and BP 130/80. You can hear air escaping from the patient’s mouth. A #7 endotracheal tube (ETT) is taped at 22 cm and a nasogastric tube has been inserted. The latter is attached to continuous suction. The cuff on the pilot tubing feels full but you put in another 3–5 ml of air. The cuff now feels very tight. But there is no improvement in the air leak. The patient is covered with a blanket, which you remove to examine the chest. There is equal bilateral air entry and the chest is clear to auscultation. There is no evidence of surgical emphysema or pneumothorax. The peak pressure generated by the ventilator is 32 cm H2O. An ETT suction catheter goes through the whole length of the ETT. There are no secretions in the trachea.
Leukemic B-cell precursors constitutively express functional receptors for human interleukin-1.

This study analyzes the expression of functional interleukin-1 (IL-1) receptors on leukemic B-cell precursors (BCPs) from B-cell precursor acute lymphoblastic leukemia (BCP ALL) patients. We first investigated the specific binding of 125I-labeled recombinant IL-1 (125I-rIL-1) (4 x 10(17) cpm/mol) to fresh marrow blasts from 11 BCP ALL patients. In five of 11 cases, the binding of 125I-rIL-1 was significantly blocked by excess cold rIL-1. In these five cases, the cell-bound radioactivity ranged from 146 cpm/10(6) cells to 2,412 cpm/10(6) cells (mean +/- SE = 782 +/- 414 cpm/10(6) cells), indicating that 4 to 60 femtomols (mean +/- SE = 20 +/- 10 femtomols) of 125I-rIL-1 specifically bound per 10(7) cells. The estimated number of 125I-rIL-1 molecules bound per cell ranged from 219 to 3,618 (mean +/- SE = 1173 +/- 621). In all five cases, BCP colony formation was stimulated by 10 ng/mL (570 femtomolar) rIL-1, and the background-subtracted colony numbers ranged from 130 to 298 (mean +/- SE = 226 +/- 31). In contrast, no stimulation was observed in six cases that showed no significant 125I-rIL-1 binding. Hence, there was a high correlation between 125I-rIL-1 binding and IL-1 responsiveness, indicating that functional IL-1 receptors were detected in ligand binding assays. Scatchard plot analysis of the specific equilibrium binding data for leukemic BCPs from two IL-1-responsive BCP ALL cases yielded straight linear regression lines, indicating the existence of a single class of 132 to 154 high affinity IL-1 receptors/cell. The apparent affinity constants (Ka) values ranged from 5.2 x 10(9) mol/L-1 to 1.2 x 10(10) mol/L-1. Notably, the concentrations of IL-1 required for half-maximal receptor occupancy (kd = 83 pmol/L to 190 pmol/L) were approximately three orders of magnitude higher than those needed to elicit a half-maximal proliferative response of leukemic BCPs in colony assays (0.1 to 1.0 ng/mL = 5.7 to 57 femtomolar), indicating that only a small fraction of IL-1 receptors need to be occupied to stimulate leukemic BCPs. Notably, IL-1 unresponsive leukemic BCPs from one BCP ALL patient and two BCP ALL cell lines (REH, KM-3) did not exhibit any significant IL-1 binding (less than 10 IL-1 binding sites/cell), and two additional IL-1 unresponsive BCP ALL cell lines (NALM-6, HPB-NULL) expressed only 24 to 54 IL-1 binding sites/cell with a Ka of 7.8 to 9.8 x 10(9) mol/L- 1.
Urinary Citrate Excretion in Patients With Renal Calculi

AbstractUrinary citrate excretion was measured with a specific enzymatic technique in normal subjects and in an unselected group of patients with recurrent calcium oxalate stones. Hypocitraturia (citrate levels less than those present in 95 per cent of the normal population) was detected in 7 of 46 patients with stones (15 per cent). Hypocitraturia was the only metabolic abnormality in 6 patients.
Characteristics of a new meningococcal serogroup B vaccine, bivalent rLP2086 (MenB-FHbp; Trumenba®)

Neisseria meningitidis is a common cause of bacterial meningitis, often leading to permanent sequelae or death. N. meningitidis is classified into serogroups based on the composition of the bacterial capsular polysaccharide; the 6 major disease-causing serogroups are designated A, B, C, W, X, and Y. Four of the 6 disease-causing serogroups (A, C, Y, and W) can be effectively prevented with available quadrivalent capsular polysaccharide protein conjugate vaccines; however, capsular polysaccharide conjugate vaccines are not effective against meningococcal serogroup B (MnB). There is no vaccine available for serogroup X. The public health need for an effective serogroup B vaccine is evident, as MnB is the most common cause of meningococcal disease in the United States and is responsible for almost half of all cases in persons aged 17 to 22 years. In fact, serogroup B meningococci were responsible for the recent meningococcal disease outbreaks on college campuses. However, development of a suitable serogroup B vaccine has been challenging, as serogroup B polysaccharide-based vaccines were found to be poorly immunogenic. Vaccine development for MnB focused on identifying potential outer membrane protein targets that elicit broadly protective immune responses across strains from the vast number of proteins that exist on the bacterial surface. Human factor H binding protein (fHBP; also known as LP2086), a conserved surface-exposed bacterial lipoprotein, was identified as a promising vaccine candidate. Two recombinant protein-based serogroup B vaccines that contain fHBP have been successfully developed and licensed in the United States under an accelerated approval process: bivalent rLP2086 (MenB-FHbp; Trumenba®) and 4CMenB (MenB-4 C; Bexsero®). This review will focus on bivalent rLP2086 only, including vaccine components, mechanism of action, and potential coverage across serogroup B strains in the United States.
SU-F-T-85: Energy Modulated Electron Postmastectomy Unreconstructed (PU) Chest Wall (CW) Irradiation Technique to Achieve Heart Sparing.

Purpose: For left-sided PU patients requiring CW and nodal irradiation, sometimes partial wide tangents (PWT) are not feasible due to abnormal chest wall contour or heart position close to the anterior chest wall or unusual wide excision scar. We developed an energy modulated electron chest wall irradiation technique that will achieve heart sparing. Methods: Ten left-sided PU patients were selected for this dosimetry study. If PWT were used, the amount of the ipsilateral lung would be ranged 3.4 to 4.4 cm, and the amount of heart would be ranged 1.3 to 3.8 cm. We used electron paired fields that matched on the skin to achieve dose conformity to the chest wall. The enface electron fields were designed at extended SSD from a single isocenter and gantry angle with different energy beams using different cutout. Lower energy was used in the central chest wall part and higher energy was used in the periphery of the chest wall. Bolus was used for the electron fields to ensure adequate skin dose coverage. The electron fields were matched to the photon supra-clavicle field in the superior region. Daily field junctions were used to feather the match lines between all the fields. Target volumes and normal tissues were drawn according to institutional protocols. Prescription dose was 2Gy per fraction for a total 50Gy. Dose calculations were done with Eclipse EMC_11031 for Electron and AAA_11031 for photons. Results: Six patients were planned using 6/9MeV, three using 9/12MeV and one 6/12MeV. Target volumes achieved adequate coverage. For heart, V30Gy, V20Gy and Mean Dose were 0.6%±0.6%, 2.7%±1.7%, and 3.0Gy±0.8Gy respectively. For ipsilateral lung, V50Gy, V20Gy, V10Gy and V5Gy were 0.9%±1.1%, 34.3%±5.1%, 51.6%±6.3% and 64.1%±7.5% respectively. Conclusion: For left-sided PU patients with unusual anatomy, energy modulated electron CW irradiation technique can achieve heart sparing with acceptable lung dose.
Features and initial performance of automatic alignment on the Nova fusion laser

The alignment system for Nova is designed to perform automatically all alignment tasks from the oscillator-to-target chamber center. It is comprised of five subsystems, each utilizing a different sensor package design. All beam alignment data are collected in video form by vidicon, charge-coupled devices (CCD), and charge-injected device (CID) cameras which reside in the sensor packages. Frequently used alignment references are remotely insertable, and the mirrors, lenses, and other components needed to correct alignment errors are installed in motorized mounts so that they too are remotely controlled. Finally, the sensor packages themselves can be placed in any of their several operating modes by external commands from the control system. Table I summarizes the composition of the five subsystems and gives an indication of the magnitude of the control task.
Measurement and correlation of solubility of carbon dioxide in triglycerides

Abstract A new pressure drop solubility gas apparatus was developed to determine the solubility of carbon dioxide in canola oil, a triglyceride consisting primarily of oleic, linoleic, and alpha linoleic acid radicals. Solubility of CO2 in triglycerides was determined at different temperatures (283.2–303.2 K) and pressures (600–2450 kPa). It was found that the solubility of CO2 in triglycerides is higher than that of pure water because triglycerides lack strong hydrogen bond networks that exist in liquid water at the ambient conditions. The experimental solubility was correlated using Krichevsky–Kasarnovsky (KK), Mather-Jou (MJ), and Carvalho-Coutinho (CC) correlations. We find that KK and MJ equations can predict the solubility with higher accuracy. The enthalpy and entropy of absorption of CO2 were calculated using the van’t Hoff plot and were found to be −7.165 kJ.mol−1, and −28.791 J.mol−1.K−1, respectively.
Verner's Law

Among the most dramatic achievements of early Indo–European scholarship, the elucidation of Verner's Law (VL) heralded a turning point in the history of the young discipline. This famous sound law owes its discovery to Karl Verner, the Danish scholar whose article of 1877 provided the first principled account of the conditions underlying apparent exceptions to Grimm's Law (GL). Through meticulous analysis and lucid argumentation, Verner brilliantly eliminated one of the most vexing cases of ‘irregular’ sound change. Hailed as decisive evidence in the main controversy of the day, Verner's insight immediately became the centerpiece of the Neo-grammarian argument that sound change operates ‘blindly’ and does not admit exceptions. Above all, Verner's approach exemplified the explanatory power afforded by scientific rigor, thereby setting a high standard for research to come.
Single-Gland Primary Hyperparathyroidism: Classic and Early Disease

Primary hyperparathyroidism (PHPT) is an asymptomatic PTH-dependent hypercalcemia typically from a single gland adenoma, with variable risks for kidney stones and declining bone mass. Subtleties exist in diagnosing and differentiating PHPT from other forms of PTH-dependent hypercalcemia. Therapeutic intervention manages the short and long term complications including hypercalcemia, bone loss and fracture risks, renal function decline, and kidney stones. Careful attention to biochemical diagnosis followed by appropriate imaging establishes the diagnosis in most patients. Some studies now suggest a threshold for monitored patients where there is an increase in pathologic events raising the question should all correctly identified single-gland hyperparathyroidism patients undergo surgery at the time of diagnosis? Continued discussion and review of consensus guidelines provide a framework for care of these patients and framing future work to resolve these questions in what can be a slowly progressive but significantly detrimental disease.
The Frailty Phenotype and Palliative Care Needs of Older Survivors of Critical Illness.

Objectives To assess symptoms in older intensive care unit (ICU) survivors and determine whether post-ICU frailty identifies those with the greatest palliative care needs. Design A prospective cohort study. Setting Urban tertiary care hospital and community hospital. Participants Medical ICU survivors of mechanical ventilation aged 65 and older (N = 125). Measurements Baseline measurements of the Edmonton Symptom Assessment Scale (ESAS), categorized as mild (0–3), moderate (4–6), and severe (7–10), and the frailty phenotype were made during the week before hospital discharge. Functional recovery was defined as a return to a Katz activity of daily living dependency count less than or equal to the prehospitalization dependency count within 3 months. In the last 29 participants recruited, we made additional assessments of fatigue and ESAS both at baseline and 1 month after discharge. Results Fatigue was the most-prevalent moderate to severe symptom (74%), followed by dyspnea (53%), drowsiness (50%), poor appetite (47%), pain (45%), depression (42%), anxiety (36%), and nausea (17%). At 1-month follow-up, there were no significant differences in the proportions of participants with moderate to severe symptoms. Each increase in baseline ESAS fatigue severity category was associated with 55% lower odds of functional recovery (odds ratio = 0.45, 95% confidence interval = 0.24–0.84), independent of age, sex, comorbidities, and critical illness severity. Frail participants had a higher median baseline total ESAS symptom distress score (34, interquartile range (IQR) 23–44) than nonfrail participants (13, IQR 9–22) (P < .001). Conclusion Older ICU survivors have a high burden of palliative care needs that persist 1 month after discharge. Fatigue is the most-prevalent symptom and may interfere with recovery. Post-ICU frailty may be a useful trigger for palliative care consultation and a treatment target.
Morphogen signalling patterns calcium waves in the Drosophila wing disc

Intercellular Ca2+ waves (ICWs) are multicellular, coordinated oscillations of Ca2+ that transverse tissues and are functionally implicated in development, regeneration, and diseases such as cancer. However, the extent that spontaneous ICWs are a regulated phenomenon controlled by cell-cell communication networks is unclear. Here we report that ICWs exhibit spatiotemporal patterns at the organ-level using a new image analysis algorithm to quantify ICW dynamics. ICWs in the Drosophila wing disc require a specific phospholipase C, Plc21C. Further, we demonstrate that the morphogen signalling pathway, Hedgehog, modulates ICW frequency uniformly in the tissue through two distinct routes and is required for non-uniform spatial patterning of ICW amplitudes. Thus, the dynamics of spontaneous ICWs are regulated by morphogenetic signalling through two orthogonal mechanisms - frequency and amplitude - and provide an organ-scale communication system for the developing wing disc.
Mapping Theory and Method in the Neighborhood of Protest

This chapter provides the theoretical and methodological basis for the text. An overview of Austin’s Speech Act Theory and performativity is provided in relation to aspects of Critical Discourse Analysis. It is argued that the instances of protest language examined are not periperformatives but explicit performatives. Felicity conditions of the performative speech act are then renovated, allowing for comparisons between different genres of protest language—chants, songs, poems, prose—followed by the introduction of convocativity and pragmatic legitimacy. The instances of protest language are introduced: the chants of, “Everyday I’m capuling!” from environmental activists in Turkey and “Si se puede” from the United Farm Workers of America; the songs of, We Shall Overcome from Civil Rights marchers and 99 Luftabllons/99 Red Balloons from Nena and anti-nuke activists; the poems of, “Cruciada Copiilor”/”Children’s Crusade” from Ana Blandiana in Romania and “Dulce et Decorum Est” from Wilfred Owen during World War I; and finally, the condemnations of government violence during the electricity protests by the Guatemalan Human Rights Commission, the government of Totonicapan, and the Comunidades Linguistica Maya K’iche’, and the Diary of Bobby Sands by hunger strike leader Bobby Sands in Northern Ireland.
Qualities of a Good Leader

Leadership can come in many forms, but good leaders are able to use a combination of skills – including emotional intelligence, collaboration, and communication – to create a meaningful vision and influence others to act in support of that vision. While some believe that individuals are born with innate leadership skills, these strategies and tools can also be developed and honed. Six key styles of leadership – authoritative, affiliative, democratic, pacesetting, coaching, and coercive – have been described and successful leaders recognize that no single style will work in isolate and utilize a combination of these styles depending on the setting. Great leaders possess both self-awareness and situational awareness and use all of these leadership tools and styles to be most effective across a variety of situations.
98 – Virtual Reality and Surgery

The critical steps toward realizing the promise of virtual reality in surgery involve continued significant development in the fields of human models, interface devices, and system verification. Human modeling by far poses the greatest challenge and will require several generations of improved computer mathematical algorithms to achieve accurate representation of normal humans and pathologic conditions. This is especially true for predicting changes over time. The second critical component, haptic or visual interface tools, will continue to evolve with the help of many industries (e.g., defense contractors) that also benefit from improving this technology. The third requirement, system verification, is the key to the acceptance of virtual reality (VR) by practicing surgeons and consists of two components. The first is the scientific demonstration of how well virtual reality systems provide the “touch” and “feel” of true reality. Second, one will need to prove that a training experience in a virtual reality simulator translates into actual improvement in the performance of the clinician. Just as the incorporation and acceptance of flight simulators in pilot training took many years, a serious, long-term research effort will be necessary before the tools and interfaces of virtual reality become an integral dimension of surgery.
Oxidative Damage and Promoter Function

Evidence is accumulating that base damage, particularly that produced by oxidation reactions, can modulate DNA protein interactions and affect promoter function. Such lesions have the capacity to interfere with normal gene regulation through direct interactions with promoter elements, or indirectly by establishing new transcription factor (TF) binding sites. The direct “cis” effects are the most studied and offer the best evidence for oxidative damage interference in promoter function in vitro and in vivo. These studies reveal diverse responses of TF to oxidative damage in promoters that can have either no effect, induce a full or partial inhibition or, in some cases, actually enhance binding depending on the particular TF-promoter system under investigation and the location of the damage within the promoter element. Other, more hypothetical pathways are presented including the de novo production of new consensus binding motifs by oxidative damage/mutations and changes in promoter structure or sequence such that they acquire higher affinity for inappropriate transcription factors. The possibility of molecular hijacking is also discussed.
Formation of Bi-Sb, Bi-Sn, and Bi-Sb-Sn Nanoclusters in Silica Xerogel Matrices from Mixed-Metal Oxide Precursors

Homogeneous mixed-metal oxides of the general formula (Bi/E/Si)Ox, where E represents a dopant element (E=Sb, Sn, or Sb/Sn), can be prepared using typical sol-gel processing techniques. Reduction of the in-situ Bi(III) and E ions by hydrogen affords nanocomposites of Bi-Sb, Bi-Sn, or Bi-Sb-Sn widely dispersed throughout the silica xerogel matrix. The materials prepared have high Bi-E metal loading of 52–60 wt. % containing Bi-E alloy nanoclusters of 12–15 nm average diameter. These results demonstrate a convenient method for the production of practical quantities of nanostructured bismuth alloy ceramic composites at high metal content.
Hormonal Control and Function of Secretory Proteins

The uterus of the pig secretes large amounts of protein in response to progesterone. Estrogen alone has little effect but in combination with progesterone is synergistic at low doses and inhibitory at high doses. The responses of the uterus to progesterone require prolonged hormone treatment and are not immediate. The proteins secreted by the uterus of all species are believed to play some role in the nutritional and developmental support of the conceptuses, particularly during early pregnancy. Such a role is likely to be of greater importance in species such as the pig which possesses a noninvasive, diffuse-type of epitheliochorial placentation. A group of basic polypeptides dominates the uterine secretions of the pig. The best characterized is uteroferrin, a purple colored, iron-containing acid phosphatase which transports iron across the placenta. Three polypeptides which are found associated noncovalently with uteroferrin have been shown to be antigenically closely related to each other and to have arisen from a single precursor polypeptide. Their function is unknown. A family of plasmin/ trypsin inhibitors which show sequence homology with bovine pancreatic trypsin inhibitor (aprotinin) has been well characterized and appears to control intrauterine proteolytic events initiated by the conceptuses. Several other proteins secreted in response to progesterone remain to be characterized and functionally defined.
Microwave-assisted organic synthesis using minivials to optimize and expedite the synthesis of diverse purine libraries.

The new Personal Chemistry ultralow-volume (0.2−0.5 mL) minivials are shown to enable small-scale optimization and synthesis of purines at optimal reaction concentrations (0.1−0.4 M), thereby increasing the overall efficiency of this microwave-assisted library synthesis.
AFRICAN VOICES FROM THE CONGO COAST: LANGUAGES AND THE POLITICS OF IDENTIFICATION IN THE SLAVE SHIP JOVEM MARIA (1850)

Between 1845 and 1850, the Congo coast became the most important source of slaves for the coffee growing areas in the Brazilian Empire. This essay develops a new methodology to understand the making of the ‘nations’ of 290 Africans found on the slave ship Jovem Maria, which boarded slaves in the Congo river and was captured by the Brazilian Navy near Rio de Janeiro in 1850. A close reading of such ‘nations’ reveals a complex overlapping between languages and forms of identification that alters the historian's use of concepts such as ‘ethnolinguistic group’ and ‘Bantu-based lingua franca’ in the Atlantic world. Building on recent developments in Central African linguistics, the article develops a social history of African languages in the Atlantic that foregrounds how recaptives negotiated commonalities and boundaries in the diaspora by drawing on a political vocabulary indigenous to their nineteenth-century homes in Central Africa.
Profitable Price Impact: The Case of Convertible Bond Arbitrage

We investigate a potential source of profit to convertible bond arbitrageurs that is new to the literature: anticipatory hedging in advance of convertible bond issues. When the reference stock price in a bond contract is determined after a new issue is announced, anticipatory short selling in the underlying stock can result in “profitable price impact” (PPI). Downward stock price pressure prior to bond pricing creates an abnormally cheap embedded call option. Consistent with PPI, we document issuer stock price declines on bond pricing days that are more concentrated during the last hour of trading and are followed by partial adjustments.
Stochastic Link Modeling of Static Wireless Sensor Networks Over the Ocean Surface

Despite the advantages that ocean surface Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN) have over traditional ocean monitoring methods, ocean surface WSN research suffers from the lack of an accurate model that describes the stability of wireless links among sensor nodes. In this paper, we investigate ocean surface waves’ effects on the Line-of-Sight (LoS) link between static sensors in a WSN. Specifically, we derive the blockage probability of LoS links between a transmitter and receiver pair due to wave movements, and analyze how environmental effects like wind speed affect it. Simulation results along with oceanographic measurements validate our analyses, making our model applicable to the design and planning of WSN in the ocean environment.
Quantifying climate, streamflow, and watershed control on water quality across Southeastern US watersheds

Identification of the key variables that influence spatial variation in stream water quality is crucial for designing sustainable water management strategies. In this study, we investigated the key variables that influence the spatial variability of stream of water quality, across multiple watersheds. This study uses water quality data collected over 19 years for 59 watersheds located in the Southeast Atlantic region of the United States, which includes the states of North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia. A conceptual modeling framework was developed to understand the linkage between the long-term mean water quality constituents (Total nitrogen, Total phosphorus, Turbidity, and pH) and the watershed characteristics (e.g., topography, land use/cover, soil type), streamflow data, and climatic variables (precipitation and temperature). The modeling results suggest that not only anthropogenic variables influence the mean water quality constituents, but other watershed characteristics, such as soil properties, have a significant impact. The natural watershed characteristics explain most of the spatial variability in the mean Turbidity and pH values in streams. The modeling results also suggest that once land use and soil properties are considered, watershed topography has a limited role to explain the variation in the mean water quality. Overall, the developed watershed models can be used to forecast stream water-quality responses to future land use, climate, soil, and land management changes within the study area.
LAN: A Materials Notation for Two-Dimensional Layered Assemblies

Two-dimensional (2D) layered materials offer intriguing possibilities for novel physics and applications. Before any attempt at exploring the materials space in a systematic fashion, or combining insights from theory, computation, and experiment, a formal description of information about an assembly of arbitrary composition is required. Here, we introduce a domain-generic notation that is used to describe the space of 2D layered materials from monolayers to twisted assemblies of arbitrary composition, existent or not yet fabricated. The notation corresponds to a theoretical materials concept of stepwise assembly of layered structures using a sequence of rotation, vertical stacking, and other operations on individual 2D layers. Its scope is demonstrated with a number of example structures using common single-layer materials as building blocks. This work overall aims to contribute to the systematic codification, capture, and transfer of materials knowledge in the area of 2D layered materials.
Usability Study of a Novel Collaborative Health IT in a Pediatric Intensive Care Unit

Non-mandated technologies hold the promise of increasing health care quality by rendering care that is patient-centered, collaborative, and team approach-driven. Large Customizable Interactive Moni...
Decomposition of Leaf Litter from Native and Nonnative Woody Plants in Terrestrial and Aquatic Systems in the Eastern and Upper Midwestern U.S.A.

Leaf litter decomposition plays an important role in nutrient cycling in both terrestrial and aquatic systems. Decay rates vary based on species, habitat, climate, and local environmental conditions. Invasive plants alter decomposition processes; however, there is a lack of research exploring patterns at regional and continental scales. In this study we examined the decomposition of both native and nonnative, invasive woody plant leaf litter and mixtures of the two, in both terrestrial and aquatic habitats at nine locations in the eastern and midwestern U.S.A. There was significant variation among locations, which was not clearly related to either average air temperature or precipitation. Unexpectedly, in locations with multiple years of data, there were higher rates of decomposition in years with lower temperatures and precipitation in both terrestrial and aquatic habitats. We found decay rates were generally higher in aquatic than terrestrial habitats and leaf litter from nonnative invasive species generally decayed faster than that of native species in both terrestrial and aquatic systems. Differences in litter decay rates among invasive species were significant in both terrestrial and aquatic habitats; whereas no differences were found among native species in either habitat. In mixed litter bags, decay rates were lower than what was predicted based on the relative amounts of native and invasive litter in each bag, possibly indicating the presence of native leaf litter slows the decomposition of invasive leaf litter. Additionally, there may have been threshold effects in the mixed litter bags, especially in aquatic systems. While this study supported several generalizations about leaf decomposition rates (invasive > native, aquatic > terrestrial), the variability in the decay rates from different locations and habitats indicates combinations of different species and local conditions may overshadow other general trends related to litter decomposition.
The Mechanism and Function of Agonist-Induced Trafficking of Tachykinin Receptors

Biological responses to agonists of G-protein coupled receptors are regulated by control of the interactions of receptors with signaling proteins and through control of the levels of receptors that are present at the cell surface. Agonist binding to receptors induces conformational changes that stabilize interaction between receptors and heterotrimeric G-proteins, which signal to a large number of pathways. This activation is often immediately followed by a series of events beginning with receptor phosphorylation that serve to uncouple receptors from heterotrimeric G-proteins and thereby terminate signaling. Another mechanism of control involves processes that regulate the trafficking of receptors to and from the cell surface. The capacity of cells to respond to agonists is critically dependent on the presence of receptors at the surface of cells, where they can bind to lipophobic agonists in the extracellular fluid and interact with heterotrimeric G-proteins and related signaling molecules that are often clustered at the plasma membrane or in microdomains within the cell. The presence of receptors at the plasma membrane is a balance between the removal of receptors by endocytosis, which is often regulated by binding to agonists, and replenishment by recycling of internalized receptors or by mobilization of stored or freshly synthesized receptors. This chapter focuses on our understanding of these mechanisms that control signaling of the neuropeptide SP and its neurokinin receptors.
Multilevel fast multipole algorithm for electromagnetic scattering from conducting objects with material coating

This paper discusses the formulation and the discretization of the volume-surface integral equation (VSIE), the implementation of multilevel fast multiple algorithm (MLFMA) to speed up the iteration in the conjugate gradient method for solving the matrix equation. Validation numerical examples are also provided to demonstrate the performance of the VSIE-MLFMA algorithm. The derivation is in the frequency domain, and the time factor of exp{-i/spl omega/t} has been suppressed.
Radiation effects in a semitransparent gray coating heated by convection and cooled by radiation

A parametric study using a one dimensional model of a semitransparent gray thermal barrier coating was performed to gain an understanding of the role thermal radiation can play in the heat transferred. Some ceramic materials are semitransparent in the wavelength ranges were thermal radiation is important. Therefore, absorption, emission, and scattering of thermal radiation can affect the he at transfer through the coating. In this paper, a one dimensional layer was used to model the heat transfer process occurring, in a burner test rig. The semitransparent layer is heated by a hot gas flowing over its surface. The layer and substrate at a cooled by radiation to the surroundings. The back side of the substrate is insulated. The coating is assumed to be gray (absorption and scattering coefficients are not function of wavelength). An absorption coefficient of 0.3/cm and scatter a rig coefficients of 0 (no scattering) and 100/cm (isotropic scattering) were used. The thickness and thermal conductivity of the layer are varied. The results show that the temperatures are affected by the properties of the semitransparent .ever and the emissivity of the substrate. The substrate and surface temperatures are presented. The apparent temperature an optical pyrometer would read for the emitted energy is also given. An apparent thermal conductivity was calculated for the layer.
Water sorption isotherms from freeze-dried muscle fibers

Summary Several previous studies showed the utility of the Brunauer, Emmett, and Teller analysis to the problem of water sorption by certain native proteins. The analysis of isotherms obtained from small bundles of ox muscle fibers subjected, postrigor, to each of three freezing treatments and to each of four freeze-drying procedures is now reported. Sorption isotherms and their B.E.T. plots clearly demonstrated that (1) the quantity of water contained in the monolayer is not affected by the manner of freezing or by the freeze-drying treatment and (2) the energy with which the monolayer is bound is mereased greatly when the initial freezing velocity is raised but is unaffected by the freeze-drying procedure. The results are, perhaps, best explained on the basis of the “locking-in,” during freeze-drying, and the release, by rehydration, of a strain imposed on the muscle protein matrix in the coarse of the freezing treatment.
The Advantages of Using Earnings for Compensation: Matching Delivered Performance

We show that the greater the extent to which a performance measure matches delivered performance, the simpler and more robust are the compensation plans based on it. In some settings stock price changes match delivered performance poorly because they anticipate it. This introduces three problems with price-based plans relative to an earnings-based plan. First, the price-based plans become complex because they require knowing the extent to which prices anticipate the future. Second, price-based plans are less robust to unforeseen events. Third, price-based plans require period-by-period changes in pay-for-performance relationship even when the underlying production function remains unchanged. Earnings-based plans are used in these settings if earnings better match delivered performance.
An object state test model: object state diagram

Since class objects are the major components in object-oriented (oo) programs during run-time, specifying and testing the behavior of these objects become important tasks in testing of object-oriented programs to complement other types of testing, such as structure-testing and functional testing. To check the behavior of objects in oo programs, an object state model is needed to represent the dynamic behavior of a complex object. This paper proposes a specification-based test model, called object state diagram (OSD), to capture and represent behavior of each class data attribute as well as its state behavior for the inherited attributes and/or encapsulated concurrent objects. The model is an extension of the existing state models, it supports basic oo features, such as class objects, inheritance, aggregation and overloading. The detailed discussion about the object state constructions based on a class specification and operation specifications are provided. In addition, the OSD applications in testing of object-oriented programs are addressed.
Decentralized control system design for a variable-cycle gas turbine engine

Summary form only given. The selection of decentralized control structures, as well as decentralized control law design for the chosen structures, has been addressed. In each of these two phases of the design process due consideration has been given to the nonlinear characteristics of the engine, such as operating point variations, actuator limits, and fuel limit schedules. The chief analytical tool utilized in the control structure design phase was the relative gain array, and the chief analytical tool utilized in the control law design phase was the structured singular value interaction measure. Both have been shown to be extremely effective in the application under consideration. The design procedure started with a necessary and sufficient condition for control structure viability. Weakening this condition in the direction of necessity gave the relative gain array, and weakening it in the direction of sufficiency gave the structured singular value interaction measure. >
REGULATORY MECHANISMS THAT MODULATE SIGNALLING BY G-PROTEIN-COUPLED RECEPTORS

The large and functionally diverse group of G-protein-coupled receptors includes receptors for many different signalling molecules, including peptide and non-peptide hormones and neuro-transmitters, chemokines, prostanoids and proteinases. Their principal function is to transmit information about the extracellular environment to the interior of the cell by interacting with the heterotrimeric G-proteins, and they thereby participate in many aspects of regulation. Cellular responses to agonists of these receptors are usually rapidly attenuated. Mechanisms of signal attenuation include removal of agonists from the extracellular fluid, receptor desensitization, endocytosis and down-regulation. Agonists are removed by dilution, uptake by transporters and enzymic degradation. Receptor desensitization is mediated by receptor phosphorylation by G-protein receptor kinases and second-messenger kinases, interaction of phosphorylated receptors with arrestins and receptor uncoupling from G-proteins. Agonist-induced receptor endocytosis also contributes to desensitization by depleting the cell surface of high-affinity receptors, and recycling of internalized receptors contributes to resensitization of cellular responses. Receptor down-regulation is a form of desensitization that occurs during continuous, long-term exposure of cells to receptor agonists. Down-regulation, which may occur during the development of drug tolerance, is characterized by depletion of the cellular receptor content, and is probably mediated by alterations in the rates of receptor degradation and synthesis. These regulatory mechanisms are important, as they govern the ability of cells to respond to agonists. A greater understanding of the mechanisms that modulate signalling may lead to the development of new therapies and may help to explain the mechanism of drug tolerance.
Living Law: Reconsidering Eugen Ehrlich. By Marc Hertogh, ed.

Living Law: Reconsidering Eugen Ehrlich. By Marc Hertogh, ed. Portland, OR: Hart Publishing, 2009. 280 pp. $44.00 paper. Living Law: Reconsidering Eugen Ehrlich offers the considered opinions of several scholars on the significance of Ehrlich's work from his first publications more than a century ago until today. In reading this volume, one is struck by Ehrlich's prescience. His notion of ''living law'' is a precursor to a wide range of concepts that still shape law and society discourse. It has served as a constructive contrast to Pound's ''law in action'' for many decades now, but it also foreshadowed studies of legal pluralism and legal consciousness. Editor Marc Hertogh introduces these essays with some reflections on Ehrlich's treatment of opinio necessitatis. Rather than criticize Ehrlich for using such a vague concept to test whether norms are ''legal,'' Hertogh welcomes the tentative and provisional quality of the test as an invitation to research. Ehrlich, after all, hoped to transform lawyers ''From 'Men of Files' to 'Men of Senses''' (the title of Hertogh's introduction) and urged them to observe carefully what scholars would now call the ''legal consciousness'' of social actors. Whether norms are ''legal'' is a matter for empirical and inductive work rather than doctrinal formulation. The first part of this volume situates Ehrlich's life and work in the hinterlands of the Austro-Hungarian Empire at the turn of the century. Researchers know very little about Ehrlich's life, but Monica Eppinger and Assaf Likhovski make good use of available biographical and historical materials to re-create a picture of a creative ethnographer de-centering state law. Eppinger's ''Governing in the Vernacular'' explores Ehrlich's work as a translator of legal folkways into the facts of law that might provide the foundation for a sociological jurisprudence. Likhovski's ''Venus in Czernowitz'' makes use of Sacher-Masoch's Venus in Furs (as well as Kafka and Klimt) to illuminate the ritual significance of unenforceable contracts and the centrality of nonstate legal norms. The second part of Living Law offers a critical introduction to Ehrlich's sociology of law. In ''Ehrlich at the Edge of Empire,'' Roger Cotterrell presents a radical legal pluralism in which multiple standpoints determine many centers and peripheries, none of which is privileged. In ''Eugen Ehrlich's Linking of Sociology and Jurisprudence,'' Stefan Vogl argues that Ehrlich's sociology of law was meant to replace theoretical jurisprudence with more scientific concepts, but the most intriguing part of this chapter is the reception of Ehrlich's ideas in Japan through the work of Suehiro. …