cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Dependence of Epithelial Morphogenesis on Extracellular Acid Mucopolysaccharide (MPS)

The control of morphogenesis is poorly understood, but may involve extracellular substances associated with cell surfaces (e.g. collagen, MPS). Epitheliomesenchymal interactions provide a system for investigating the role of extracellular materials in organogenesis. Since epithelial morphogenesis is not exclusively dependent upon collagen [BERNFIELD, Dev. Biol., in press, 1970], the localization and morphogenetic significance of MPS was studied. The embryonic salivary epithelial-mesenchymal interface contains MPS as shown by (1) specific staining (Alcian blue at various Mg++ concentrations and Schiff reactivity after two-step periodate oxidation), (2) autoradiography (3H-glucosamine and 35SO4) and (3) removal of stain and radioactivity with MPSase. The MPS is localized almost exclusively at the surface of the growing and branching adenomeres. The role of MPS in epithelial morphogenesis was studied by autoradiography and organ culture after treating the rudiments with various enzymes (collagenases, proteases, sialidases and MPSases) to remove mesenchyme and MPS. Untreated rudiments undergo progressive branching and characteristic epithelial morphogenesis in organ culture. Single-step removal of mesenchyme and surface-associated MPS, followed by recombination with fresh mesenchyme, results in loss of adenomeres and a delay i epithelial morphogenesis. Removal of mesenchyme, but not surfact-associated MPS, yields epithelia which maintain a characteristic contour and undergo continued morphogenesis when recombined with fresh mesenchyme. Removal of MPS from these epithelia causes a loss of contour and a delay in morphogenesis. The data indicate that epithelial surface-associated MPS (or MPs-protein complexes) are required for normal epithelial morphogenesis, and that this system may serve as a model for studies of morphogenetically active materials.
"Depressed" mothers' perceptions of their preschool children's vulnerability.

“Depressed” mothers who scored in the depression range on the Beck Depression Inventory when their infants were 3-months-old were asked to complete the Vulnerable Child Scale when their children were preschool age. Depressed versus non-depressed mothers rated their preschool children as being more vulnerable (as did an independent observer) as well as having more behavior problems. The vulnerability ratings were significantly related to infancy stage measures including the POMS (mothers' depressed mood), the infants' behavior ratings and heart rate range during interactions with a nondepressed stranger. These measures of the mothers' and infants' behavior tapped during early infancy may have contributed to the mothers having perceived their children as “vulnerable” during the preschool stage.
Let Me Tell You What to Do Cultural Differences in Advice-Giving

Although few decisions are made without seeking advice, advice can challenge the autonomy of its recipient. As a result, it is viewed as potentially intrusive and is enacted cautiously. In part, these findings may reflect European American culture, which fosters respect for personal autonomy. Cultural models of social relationships can affect advice-giving. In contrast to European American cultural context, Russian cultural context fosters an emphasis on practical interdependence. Because advice can promote the exchange of practical information, it is viewed as helpful and is enacted freely. In three studies, we have compared advice-giving across groups from European American and Russian cultural contexts (European Americans, Russians living in Russia, and Russian Americans). Russians living in Russia were more likely than European Americans to give advice, particularly practical advice; less likely to modulate their advice-giving based on whether or not it was solicited; and more likely to describe advic...
Fetal heart rate. Part II: Behavioral correlates.

Relatively recent technological developments have made possible continuous electronic monitoring of fetal heart rate (FHR) during labor. These developments have added a new dimension to the understanding of fetal responses to labor. The FHR response to labor is thought to be a multidimensional phenomenon. This study was designed to determine the type and degree of relationship between multiple FHR factors and dimensions of neonatal behavior scored with the Brazelton Newborn Behavior Assessment Scale. Due to the exploratory nature of the study, infants from complicated pregnancies and deliveries were excluded. The behavioral assessment was administered to 90 2–3 day old newborn infants. FHR was recorded during labor and the last hour of recorded FHR was analyzed for the study. Six factors were derived from measures of FHR (e.g. amplitude, frequency, decelerations, accelerations) and were used in a step-wise multiple regression analysis. Significant multiple correlations were found between FHR factor composites and infant behavioral dimensions of attention-orientation and arousal.
A Unified, Transdiagnostic Treatment for Adolescents With Chronic Pain and Comorbid Anxiety and Depression

Chronic pain disorders represent a significant public health concern, particularly for children and adolescents. High rates of comorbid anxiety and unipolar mood disorders often complicate psychological interventions for chronic pain. Unified treatment approaches, based on emotion regulation skills, are applicable to a broad range of emotional disorders and suggest the possibility of extending these interventions to chronic pain and pain-related dysfunction. This case report describes the use of a unified protocol for treatment of an adolescent boy with chronic daily headache and social anxiety and an adolescent girl with whole body pain and depression. Following weekly, 50-minute individual treatment sessions, the boy demonstrated notable improvement in emotional symptoms, emotion regulation skills, somatization, and functional disability. The girl showed some improvement on measures of anxiety and depression, although there appeared to be a worsening of pain symptoms and somatization. However, both patients demonstrated improvement over follow-up. This case study illustrates the potential utility of a unified treatment approach targeting pain and emotional symptoms from an emotion regulation perspective in an adolescent population.
Getting rid of packets - Efficient SIMD single-ray traversal using multi-branching BVHs -

While contemporary approaches to SIMD ray tracing typically rely on traversing packets of coherent rays through a binary data structure, we instead evaluate the alternative of traversing individual rays through a bounding volume hierarchy with a branching factor of 16. Though obviously less efficient than high-performance packet techniques for primary rays, we demonstrate that for less coherent secondary ray distributions this approach is at least competitive with (and often faster than) typical packet traversal techniques.
Neuroleptic malignant syndrome in pregnancy

Abstract BACKGROUND: Neuroleptic malignant syndrome can be a serious neurologic complication of drug therapy during pregnancy. CASE: A young woman was admitted to the intensive care unit with worsening varicella pneumonia. After being given haldol for agitation, she developed fever, increasing agitation, rigidity, tachycardia, and tremors; she was diagnosed as having neuroleptic malignant syndrome. She was treated successfully with bromocriptine and dantrolene. CONCLUSION: Despite the common use of antipsychotic medications, neuroleptic malignant syndrome is seen infrequently during pregnancy. The diagnosis can be difficult to make, but if suspected, it can be treated successfully.
A close examination of double filtering with fold change and t test in microarray analysis

Many researchers use the double filtering procedure with fold change and t test to identify differentially expressed genes, in the hope that the double filtering will provide extra confidence in the results. Due to its simplicity, the double filtering procedure has been popular with applied researchers despite the development of more sophisticated methods. This paper, for the first time to our knowledge, provides theoretical insight on the drawback of the double filtering procedure. We show that fold change assumes all genes to have a common variance while t statistic assumes gene-specific variances. The two statistics are based on contradicting assumptions. Under the assumption that gene variances arise from a mixture of a common variance and gene-specific variances, we develop the theoretically most powerful likelihood ratio test statistic. We further demonstrate that the posterior inference based on a Bayesian mixture model and the widely used significance analysis of microarrays (SAM) statistic are better approximations to the likelihood ratio test than the double filtering procedure. We demonstrate through hypothesis testing theory, simulation studies and real data examples, that well constructed shrinkage testing methods, which can be united under the mixture gene variance assumption, can considerably outperform the double filtering procedure.
Left ventricular function in patients with coronary heart disease in the presence or absence of angina pectoris during exercise radionuclide ventriculography

This study compares left ventricular (LV) performance during exercise in patients with angiographically documented coronary artery disease (CAD) based on the presence or absence of angina pectoris during the index exercise tests. The patients were divided into 2 groups: Group I included 31 patients who had angina pectoris during the test and Group II included 43 who did not. Multivessel CAD was present in 21 patients (68%) in Group I and 26 patients (60%) in Group II (difference not significant [NS]). There were no significant differences between the 2 groups in age, sex, history of diabetes mellitus, history of myocardial infarction and in the exercise duration, work load, heart rate and systolic blood pressure. Exercise-induced ST-segment depression was present in 48% of the patients in Group I and in 40% in Group II (NS). The mean LV ejection fraction at rest was 52 +/- 12% in Group I and 50 +/- 17% in Group II (NS). There were significant differences in the 2 groups in the change from rest to exercise in ejection fraction (-4.5 +/- 7.6% in Group I vs 1 +/- 9.4% in Group II, p less than 0.01), end-systolic volume (29 +/- 38 ml in Group I vs 9 +/- 23 ml in Group II, p less than 0.005), the change in systolic blood pressure-to-end-systolic volume ratio (-0.1 +/- 0.5 mm Hg/ml in Group I vs 0.3 +/- 1.1 mm Hg/ml in Group II, p less than 0.05), and wall motion score (-0.4 +/- 0.6 in Group I vs 0.09 +/- 0.7 in Group II, p less than 0.05).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Reduced leg blood flow during dynamic exercise in older endurance-trained men

It is currently unclear whether aging alters the perfusion of active muscles during large-muscle dynamic exercise in humans. To study this issue, direct measurements of leg blood flow (femoral vein thermodilution) and systemic arterial pressure during submaximal cycle ergometry (70, 140, and 210 W) were compared between six younger (Y; 22-30 yr) and six older (O; 55-68 yr) chronically endurance-trained men. Whole body O2 uptake, ventilation, and arterial and femoral venous samples for blood-gas, catecholamine, and lactate determinations were also obtained. Training duration (min/day), estimated leg muscle mass (dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry; Y, 21.5 +/- 1.2 vs. O, 19.9 +/- 0.9 kg), and blood hemoglobin concentration (Y, 14.9 +/- 0.4 vs. O, 14.7 +/- 0.2 g/dl) did not significantly differ (P > 0.05) between groups. Leg blood flow, leg vascular conductance, and femoral venous O2 saturation were approximately 20-30% lower in the older men at each work rate (all P < 0.05), despite similar levels of whole body O2 uptake. At 210 W, leg norepinephrine spillover rates and femoral venous lactate concentrations were more than twofold higher in the older men. Pulmonary ventilation was also higher in the older men at 140 (+24%) and 210 (+39%) W. These results indicate that leg blood flow and vascular conductance during cycle ergometer exercise are significantly lower in older endurance-trained men in comparison to their younger counterparts. The mechanisms responsible for this phenomenon and the extent to which they operate in other groups of older subjects deserve further attention.
Effects of subchronic exposures to concentrated ambient particles. VII. Degeneration of dopaminergic neurons in Apo E-/- mice.

This study reports that subchronic exposure of Tuxedo, NY concentrated ambient particulates (CAPs) produces neuropathological damage in the brains of Apo E-deficient mice (Apo E−/−). These genetica...
Fiber Orientation Effects on High Strain Rate Properties of Graphite/Epoxy Composites

Excellent mechanical properties such as high-strength, low weight, fatigue life, and impact resistance, as well as advanced manufacturing methods and flexibility of the stacking sequence make polymer matrix composites attractive candidates for use in several performance-oriented structures. However, relatively little is known of their response to impact loading, which usually occurs at strain rates higher than those used to measure the quasi-static mechanical properties of materials. In this study, the split-Hopkinson bar is used extensively to study the effect of fiber orientation on the compressive dynamic properties of a unidirectional IM7/8551-7 graphite/epoxy composite. The specimens were approximately 3/8. cubes, and were prepared using a water-cooled diamond grit blade. The off-axis angles were 0 (longitudinal direction), 15, 30, 45, 60, 75, and 90 (transverse direction) degrees. Quasi-static tests were also performed for comparison purposes. The high strain rates vary from 250-1100/s. The tests sh...
Quantitative Electron Microscopic Investigation of the Pore Structure in 10:90 Colloidal Silica/Potassium Silicate Sol-Gels

Transmission electron microscopy (TEM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), mercury intrusion porosimetry (MIP), and nitrogen sorption technique (BET) were utilized to characterize the microstructure of a 10:90 wt% colloidal silica/potassium silicate gel as first described by Shoup. Gels in the unsintered state (15% theoretical density) were prepared for microscopy by the techniques of ultramicrotomy, Pt/C replication, and pore casting. Electron microscopic images of the ultramicrotomed thin sections (70 nm) show that the unfired gel possesses three distinct species of pores which are referred to as the micropores, mesopores, and macropores. The average micropore diameter was found to be 4 nm as determined by nitrogen desorption. Quantitative stereological analysis of the ultramicrotomed sections indicated that the average circular and lengthwise dimensions of the cylindrical mesopores were 0.15 and 0.39 μm, respectively. Similarly, this same analysis determined the average spherical macropore diameter to be 0.83 μm. In contrast, MIP results suggested that these gels possessed a unimodal pore size distribution centered around the 0.2-μm pore size. The discrepancy between MIP and microscopy can be explained by viewing the void space as a pore-throat network. Experimental evidence for this type of pore geometry was obtained from stereo pairs of Pt/C replicas and thick microtomed sections (0.5 μm) which gave information about particle connectivity and pore casts which depicted the pore connectivity in three dimensions.
Molecular cloning of a cDNA encoding human SPH-binding factor, a conserved protein that binds to the enhancer-like region of the U6 small nuclear RNA gene promoter

Many vertebrate small nuclear RNA gene promoters contain an SPH motif in their distal control regions that can confer transcriptional stimulation by RNA polymerase II or RNA polymerase III. Using the human U6 gene SPH motif as a probe, we isolated a cDNA encoding human SPH-binding factor (hSBF) from a HeLa cell expression library. The coding region of hSBF is almost identical to ZNF143, a 626 amino acid, seven zinc finger protein of previously unknown function. Furthermore, the predicted amino acid sequence of hSBF is highly homologous to Xenopus laevis and mouse Staf proteins, that bind to SPH motifs and stimulate transcription of selenocysteine tRNA gene promoters. Recombinant hSBF expressed in vitro or from Escherichia coli bound specifically to the human U6 gene SPH motif as shown by DNase I footprinting and electrophoretic mobility shift assays using various mutant SPH sites as competitors. Antibodies prepared against recombinant hSBF inhibited assembly of native SBF-DNA complexes. Immunodepleted HeLa S100 transcription extract no longer supported elevated levels of transcription by RNA polymerase III from a U6 promoter containing an SPH motif, whereas addition of recombinant hSBF protein to the immunodepleted extract reconstituted stimulated transcription.
Morbidity and mortality following elective splenectomy for benign and malignant hematologic conditions: analysis of the American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program data.

Importance Splenectomy is a commonly performed operation; however, data from large series regarding operative outcomes to help guide decision making and informed consent are lacking. Objective To evaluate clinical and pathologic variables associated with morbidity and mortality following elective splenectomy for benign and malignant hematologic conditions in the United States. Design, Setting, and Participants A review of the American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program data for elective splenectomy between January 1, 2005, and December 31, 2011, was performed, and 1715 eligible individuals were identified. Intervention Elective splenectomy for hematologic conditions. Main Outcomes and Measures Complications and operative mortality were evaluated for the entire cohort and compared between patients with benign vs malignant diseases. Multivariable logistic regression was used to evaluate factors predictive of operative complications and death. Results Splenectomy was performed in 1344 patients (78.4%) for benign disease and in 371 patients (21.6%) for malignant disease. Two hundred ninety-one patients (17.0%) had a complication, and operative mortality occurred in 27 patients (mortality rate, 1.6%). Patients treated for malignant disease had a higher rate of overall complications (27.2%) compared with patients treated for benign disease (14.1%) ( P P = .003), independent performance status (vs dependent) (OR, 0.33; 95% CI, 0.07-1.52; P = .02), and increasing albumin level (OR, 0.75; 95% CI, 0.66-0.86; P P = .05) was an independent predictor of mortality while increasing albumin level (OR, 0.63; 95% CI, 0.46-0.86; P = .003) predicted lower risk of operative death. From these data, a patient older than 60 years with a low preoperative albumin level has a predicted probability for operative death as high as 10.0%. Conclusions and Relevance Preoperative performance and nutritional status are significant risk factors for complications and mortality following elective splenectomy. Although operative mortality continues to decrease over time, specific preoperative variables may help with patient selection before elective splenectomy for certain patients.
Glycine betaine confers enhanced osmotolerance and cryotolerance on Listeria monocytogenes.

Listeria monocytogenes is a gram-positive food-borne pathogen that is notably resistant to osmotic stress and can grow at refrigerator temperatures. These two characteristics make it an insidious threat to public health. Like several other organisms, L. monocytogenes accumulates glycine betaine, a ubiquitous and effective osmolyte, intracellularly when grown under osmotic stress. However, it also accumulates glycine betaine when grown under chill stress at refrigerator temperatures. Exogenously added glycine betaine enhances the growth rate of stressed but not unstressed cells, i.e., it confers both osmotolerance and cryotolerance. Both salt-stimulated and cold-stimulated accumulation of glycine betaine occur by transport from the medium rather than by biosynthesis. Direct measurement of glycine betaine uptake shows that cells transport betaine 200-fold faster at high salt concentration (4% NaCl) than without added salt and 15-fold faster at 7 than at 30 degrees C. The kinetics of glycine betaine transport suggest that the two transport systems are indistinguishable in terms of affinity for betaine and may be the same. Hyperosmotic shock and cold shock experiments suggest the transport system(s) to be constitutive; activation was not blocked by chloramphenicol. A cold-activated transport system is a novel observation and has intriguing implications concerning the physical state of the cell membrane at low temperature.
Direct sequencing of the HA gene of influenza (H3N2) virus in original clinical samples reveals sequence identity with mammalian cell-grown virus.

Abstract When influenza (H3N2) viruses from infected individuals are grown in embryonated chicken eggs, viruses are isolated which differ antigenically and structurally from viruses grown in mammalian Madin-Darby canine kidney (MDCK) cell culture [G.C. Schild, J.S. Oxford, J.C. de Jong, and R.G. Webster, Nature (London) 303:706-709, 1983]. To determine which of these viruses is most representative of virus replicating in the infected individual, a region of the HA gene of virus present in original clinical samples was amplified by using the polymerase chain reaction and sequenced directly. Comparison of 170 amino acid residues of HA1 flanking and containing the receptor-binding site and antigenic sites indicated that over this region, the HA of virus replicating in the infected individual was identical to that of virus after growth in MDCK cells and was distinct from the HA of viruses grown in eggs. Therefore, cultivation of human influenza H3N2 virus in mammalian MDCK cells results in a virus similar to the predominant population of virus found in the infected individual.
Adaptive algorithms vs. Time Warp: an analytical comparison

Adaptive synchronization algorithms have been proposed to improve upon conservative and optimistic algorithms. We present the first known analytical comparison of adaptive, optimistic algorithms and Time Warp. We define a class of adaptive protocols, the asynchronous adaptive waiting protocols (AAWPs) and identify several practical protocols that belong to this class. We show that Time Warp can outperform an AAWP arbitrarily. We describe the Elastic Time Algorithm (ETA), a particular AAWP and show that ETA can outperform Time Warp arbitrarily.
Vitamin D supplementation of deficient children may improve bone mineral density

Commentary on: T Winzenberg, S Powell, KA Shaw, et al.. Effects of vitamin D supplementation on bone density in healthy children: systematic review and meta-analysis. BMJ2011;342:c7254.
Neutrino-nucleus interaction models and their impact on oscillation analyses

In neutrino oscillation experiments, neutrino interactions at the detector are simulated using event generators which attempt to reflect our understanding of nuclear physics. We study the impact of different neutrino interactions and nuclear models on the determination of neutrino oscillation parameters. We use two independent neutrino event generators, Generates Events for Neutrino Interaction Experiments (GENIE) 2.8.0 and Giessen Boltzmann-Uehling-Uhlenbeck (GiBUU) 2.6, and apply them to a setup with a conventional neutrino beam aiming at a water \ifmmode \check{C}\else \v{C}\fi{}erenkov detector, for which only the charged-current quasielastic--like sample is selected. Subsequently, we perform a fit to the oscillation parameters in the ${\ensuremath{\nu}}_{\ensuremath{\mu}}$ disappearance channel.
Coatomer, Arf1p, and nucleotide are required to bud coat protein complex I-coated vesicles from large synthetic liposomes

Synthetic coat protein complex I (COPI)-coated vesicles form spontaneously from large (≈300 nm in diameter), chemically defined liposomes incubated with coatomer, Arf1p, and guanosine 5′-[γ-thio]triphosphate. Coated vesicles are 40–70 nm in diameter, approximately the size of COPI vesicles formed from native membranes. The formation of COPI-coated buds and vesicles and the binding of Arf1p to donor liposomes depends on guanosine 5′-[γ-thio]triphosphate. In contrast to the behavior of the COPII coat, coatomer binds to liposomes containing a variety of charged or neutral phospholipids. However, the formation of COPI buds and vesicles is stimulated by acidic phospholipids. In the absence of Arf1p, coatomer binds to liposomes containing dioleoylphosphatidic acid as a sole acidic phospholipid to form large coated surfaces without forming COPI-coated buds or vesicles. We conclude that Arf1p-GTP and coatomer comprise the minimum apparatus necessary to create a COPI-coated vesicle.
Exploring functions for the non-lemniscal auditory thalamus

The functions of the medial geniculate body (MGB) in normal hearing still remain somewhat enigmatic, in part due to the relatively unexplored properties of the non-lemniscal MGB nuclei. Indeed, the canonical view of the thalamus as a simple relay for transmitting ascending information to the cortex belies a role in higher-order forebrain processes. However, recent anatomical and physiological findings now suggest important information and affective processing roles for the non-primary auditory thalamic nuclei. The non-lemniscal nuclei send and receive feedforward and feedback projections among a wide constellation of midbrain, cortical, and limbic-related sites, which support potential conduits for auditory information flow to higher auditory cortical areas, mediators for transitioning among arousal states, and synchronizers of activity across expansive cortical territories. Considered here is a perspective on the putative and unresolved functional roles of the non-lemniscal nuclei of the MGB.
Solubility of Oxygen in Lithium-Air Battery Electrolytes: A Molecular Dynamics Study

Ionic liquids are widely considered as potential electrolytes for lithium batteries due to their tunable electrochemical properties and extremely low vapor pressure, which makes them highly non-inflammable. However, the solubility of oxygen in ionic liquid based electrolytes is an important parameter that determines the performance of batteries. In the present study, we have employed molecular dynamics simulations to calculate the Henry’s constant and corresponding solubility values of atmospheric oxygen in N-methyl-N-propyl pyrrolidinium bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl) imide (mppy+TFSI−) ionic liquids. After qualitatively validating the results at 323 K, we calculated the solubility of oxygen in mppy+TFSI−, as the ratio of the partial pressure of oxygen gas in the atmosphere and the Henry’s constant, at a range of temperatures that occur in realistic battery electrolytes. The solubility of oxygen increases with increasing temperature. Comparison of these solubility values with those of commonly used organic electrolytes provides valuable information regarding the feasibility of using ionic liquid electrolytes in lithium-air batteries.Copyright © 2014 by ASME
Management Style and Asset Allocation in Real Estate Portfolios

Executive Summary. This study applies the management style model developed by Sharpe to the returns on private equity real estate. Returns from twenty-six open-end and closed-end commingled funds over the period from the fourth quarter of 1989 to the third quarter of 1995 are used to estimate implied allocations for five property types (office, retail, R&D office, warehouse, apartment). These allocations are then compared to the actual allocations for these funds. For many funds the returns on the five property-type portfolios are able to explain an important part of the variation in the fund's return. The ability to reproduce the actual allocations of the portfolios is somewhat less impressive. For a small, but not insignificant, portion of the funds, the property type has little ability to explain the fund's returns.
Basic Probability Concepts

Central to our study are three critical concepts: randomness, probability, and a priori probability. In this chapter, we will discuss these terms. Probability is a very subtle concept. We feel we intuitively understand it. Mathematically, probability problems are easily defined. Yet when we try to obtain a precise physical definition, we find the concept often slips through our grasp.
Race, Ethnicity, Sexuality, and Women’s Political Consciousness of Gender

Existing research emphasizes the importance of group identification and perceived similarity in the development of group consciousness. Intersectionality suggests that for many women, a political consciousness of gender may also stem from experiences with race, ethnicity, and sexuality and may be interconnected with a consciousness of other forms of inequality. This study analyzes data from a recent national survey to investigate how race, ethnicity, and sexuality intersect with women’s gendered political consciousness. Analyses reveal no support for the proposition that membership in racial, sexual, and ethnic minority groups significantly reduces women’s gendered political consciousness. In addition, women who perceive high levels of racial, ethnic, or sexuality-based discrimination are more likely than other women to hold a strong political consciousness of gender. Results challenge the idea that gendered political consciousness emerges primarily from perceived similarity and highlight the need to conc...
Recent Developments Rule of Law for Whom? Strengthening Rule of Law as a Solution to Sexual Violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo

This article suggests that programs designed to strengthen the rule of law in general are unlikely to be effective against the widespread problem of sexual violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. I argue that while weak rule of law perpetuates sexual violence, only rule of law programs designed specifically with respect to the needs, risks, and cultural norms pertaining to Congolese women can help curb this problem. The article begins with a brief history of conflict in the Great Lakes region of Africa to provide context for a discussion of the scope of sexual violence in the eastern provinces of the DR Congo. It then introduces the notion of “rule of law” before evaluating the ways in which weak rule of law in the eastern DR Congo contributes to the problem of sexual violence. Finally, the article makes four arguments to support the central claim that strengthening the rule of law will be effective against sexual violence only if specifically tailored in the ways noted above.
AERO I: KNOWLEDGE GLIDES

The primary goals for teaching incompressible aero dynamics to upper division aerospace engineering student s is to motivate and to promote understanding of fundamentals as well as application of knowledge to the design of actual aircraft. Working in teams enhances learning. In this paper, the author relates how these goals are achieved by assigning a glider d esign project due at the end of the term. Teams consisting of five to six students design and fabricate a miniature balsa wood glider, compose a comprehensive report predicting performance, and perform flight tests in a competitive environment. All stude nts report that they are more motivated to pursue their career goal of becoming aerospace engineers because they learn to apply knowledge acquired in a classroom to the successful design of a real miniature glider that actually flies in a predictable manne r. These students also agree that collaborative learning through the team effort they experienced is more effective than through individual effort. Motivation is high because of the competitive nature of the flight tests. BACKGROUND
The Reader: directed by Stephen Daldry, with screenplay by David Hare, based on the novel Der Vorlesser by Bernard Schlink. New York: Mirage Enterprises, Neunte Bablsberg Film, and Weinstein Company, 2008

The Reader is a film set in Germany from 1958 to 1984 that challenges the black-and-white appearance of several issues and opens up possibilities for new perspectives. It is based on a book of the ...
Proline in the Osmoregulation of Brevibacterium lactofermentum

Osmoregulation in Brevibacterium lactofermentum was studied. Proline was accumulated up to approximately 35mg/g dry cell weight in the cells of a wild strain of the bacterium grown under osmotic stress. The osmotic tolerance of a proline auxotroph mutant obtained from the bacterium was lower than that in the wild strain. The activity of pyrroline-5-carboxylate reductase, one of the enzymes in the proline biosynthetic pathway, increased about 3-fold when the cells of B. lactofermentum were grown under osmotic stress. These data indicated that proline is important in osmoregulation in the bacterium.
Love Sees No Color or Boundaries? Interethnic Dating and Marriage Patterns of Dominican and CEP (Colombian, Ecuadorian, and Peruvian) Americans

Drawing on in-depth interviews with 80 second-generation Dominican and CEP (Colombian, Ecuadorian, and Peruvian) immigrants living in New York City, this paper presents a crucial analysis of interethnic dating and intermarriage patterns among second-generation Dominicans and CEPs, i.e., the children of post-1965 Dominican, Colombian, Ecuadorian, and Peruvian immigrants. This study finds that even though both Dominican and CEP Americans espouse the American ideals of individual choice, color blindness, and the importance of love when it comes to matters of romantic relationships, their partnership choices are also deeply influenced by social and cultural factors unique to their group. The racial and ethnic composition of the neighborhood, group attitude toward race and skin color, and experiences of racial discrimination all play important roles in shaping the interethnic dating and marriage patterns of Dominican and CEP Americans.
Philosophical Insights into Relationship Between the Deep Ecology and Ecology

Ecology is the basis of the deep ecology in that it provides the scientific foundation and metaphysical insights,while the deep ecology as the most radical branch of contemporary environmental philosophy and development philosophical and practical sense is the metaphysical transformation of ecology.By the method of deep questioning,this paper attempts to analyze the theoretical relationship between the deep ecology and ecology.
Evaluation of Some New Compounds in Controlling American Foul Brood

SummaryTen compounds were fed to colonies of honeybees infected with American foul brood. All those treated with ampicillin (4 colonies), doxycycline (14), methacycline (13), Oxytetracycline (14) and tylosin (3) became free of visual evidence of the disease, and there was no recurrence by June of the following year. The colonies treated with doxycycline became visually free of the disease in less time than those treated with any other compound. Kanamycin and oxacillin may also merit further study. Chlorine dioxide, nalidixic acid, and paromomycin gave poor control.
Immune Activation in the Liver by Nucleic Acids

Viral infection in the liver, including hepatitis B virus (HBV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection, is a major health problem worldwide, especially in developing countries. The infection triggers a pro-inflammatory response in patients that is crucial for host defense. Recent studies have identified multiple transmembrane and cytosolic receptors that recognize pathogen-derived nucleic acids, and these receptors are essential for driving immune activation in the liver. In addition to sensing DNA/RNA from pathogens, these intracellular receptors can be activated by nucleic acids of host origin in response to sterile injuries. In this review, we discuss the expanding roles of these receptors in both immune and nonimmune cells in the liver.
Proteomic and Biophysical Analysis of Polar Tracts

Polar tracts are enriched in amino acids such as glutamine, asparagine, serine, and glycine. There is increasing evidence that polar tracts are involved in driving the formation of liquid-like micron-sized membraneless organelles. These membraneless organelles are thought to be important for a range of cellular functions including signal integration, cytoplasmic branching, and transcriptional control at synapses. However, polar tracts are also implicated in the formation of toxic aggregates that are the pathological hallmarks of several neurodegenerative diseases, including Huntington's disease. Recent results suggest that the formation of functional assemblies enriched in polar tracts may leave the cell susceptible to pathological aggregation if left uncontrolled. The aggregation and phase separation of polar tracts can be modulated by specific amino acid interruptions within the polar tract, as well as specific sequences flanking the polar tract that help to regulate the directionality of self-associations, modulate the overall solubility of polar tracts, or contribute to the fluidity of assemblies formed by polar tracts. Our goal is to uncover the selection of specific patterns of interruptions within polar tracts and / or preferences for specific sequences that flank polar tracts. We present results from a proteomic analysis of polar tracts from 18 different organisms. Distinct organisms are enriched in different types of polar tracts. Additionally, we present results on the enrichment of specific amino acid interruptions within polar tracts, compositional properties of sequences flanking polar tracts, and functional domains within proteins housing polar tracts. The biophysical implications of how interruption and flanking sequence patterns influence the conformational properties and phase behavior of polar tracts will be discussed.
Evaluation of Prostate Cancer with 11C-Acetate PET/CT

In this article, we will first describe the metabolic fate of 11C-acetate; then discuss its biodistribution in health and disease; and subsequently focus on its key clinical applications, the detection and localization of prostate cancer tissue in patients with primary or recurrent disease. Finally, we will discuss the potential role of 11C-acetate in the context of other prostate cancer imaging probes and non-radionuclide-based imaging approaches.
Physical activity and cancer: Progress and opportunities.

PL02-01 The potential for physical activity, and particularly recreational exercise activity, to reduce cancer risk continues to be of great interest to epidemiologists, cancer prevention researchers and health care providers. A large body of evidence indicates that physical activity reduces the risks of colon cancer and breast cancer, yet a number of questions remain to be answered. For example, for colon cancer, it is not yet clear whether women derive less benefit than men or whether the greatest benefit is seen for distal vs. proximal colon. For both cancers, we still have no specific exercise prescription to recommend: what types of activity are most beneficial, at what ages, and at what intensity and duration. Further, we have yet to define the mechanisms by which physical activity reduces risk. Physical activity may lower cancer risk by altering hormone profiles, growth factors, immune function and oxidative stress. Physical activity is part of the energy balance equation and thus may influence cancer risk indirectly through its impact on body size measures. Intriguing data are now emerging on the impact on survival of physical activity after diagnosis of breast and colon cancer. Although data for endometrial cancer and lung cancer are accumulating and are suggestive of an etiologic relationship, further research must be conducted to define these associations and exclude alternative explanations for study findings. Many studies of prostate cancer have been conducted; however, results are still inconclusive. Physical activity may protect against more advanced or higher grade disease. Other cancer sites have been studied in relation to physical activity, but generally the body of evidence is small and inconclusive. Ideally, large scale intervention efforts would help to clarify many of the remaining questions in this field; however, these are unlikely to be conducted and would be limited by our inability to study a range of alternative exercise interventions. To move forward in this field we need more small scale intervention studies to establish mechanisms and to assess the impact of exercise programs on biomarkers of risk.
Crop Choices with Limiting Water Supplies: Deficit Irrigation and Sensitive Crop Growth Stages

Limited supplies of good-quality water in semi-arid and arid crop production regions often results in intense competition for water supplies among agricultural, municipal, and environmental interests. This increased competition can provide motivation for agricultural water users to reduce planted acreage, change practices or use equipment to control water losses, improve efficiencies of water application or irrigation scheduling, and consider changes in water management to impose some periods of deficit irrigation. Each of these choices has consequences for the crop, land and producer, the magnitude of which often depends on the knowledge of the agent making the choice as well as other factors outside of their control. For instance, if deficit irrigation is to be effective, it requires identification of growth stages sensitive to reduced water applications. Additionally, deficit irrigation requires development of new irrigation scheduling approaches that are based on a reduction of applications, at least during a large portion of the less-sensitive crop-growth stages. Crop species have different sensitivities to water deficit and, therefore, the potential impact on crop productivity (yield) will likewise be different. Crop-quality characteristics can also be adversely affected, some of which can impact marketability and the relative value of the crop. Objectives of this analysis are to describe crop and water management issues that can arise when deficit irrigation is considered as a water-saving approach. This chapter also provides examples of crop species characteristics that impact the suitability of deficit irrigation as a workable management option when irrigation water is scarce.
GlueX overview: status and some future plans

The GlueX experiment at Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility (Jefferson Lab) has started data taking in late 2014 with its first commissioning beam. All of the detector systems are now performing at or near design specifications and events are being fully reconstructed. Linearly-polarized photons were successfully produced through coherent bremsstrahlung. An upgrade of the particle identification (PID) system with a GlueX DIRC detector, planned for 2018, will allow identification of final state kaons. The construction of the GlueX DIRC has already started. One of the plans for GlueX is to study properties of short-range correlations (SRC) in nuclei, which will shed new light on the quark-gluon structure of bound nucleons.
Another Taxonomic Review of the Neotropical Genus Joosia (Rubiaceae, Cinchoneae)

Recent botanical explorations in western tropical South America provide new documentation of Joosia H. Karst., which has clarified some species identities and discovered some new species. Eighteen species are recognized here, with J. umbellifera H. Karst. circumscribed more narrowly than in previous taxonomies and J. panamensis Dwyer and J. ulei Steyerm. separated from it. Two new nomenclatural combinations are made: J. loretensis (Standl.) C. M. Taylor is based on Rondeletia loretensis Standl., and J. sericea (Standl.) C. M. Taylor is based on Ladenbergia sericea Standl. and is an older name for J. multiflora L. Andersson. Three species are newly described here: J. capitata C. M. Taylor from northern Peru, with subcapitate inflorescences and dense hirtellous to hirsute pubescence; J. confusa C. M. Taylor from Ecuador and Peru, with dichasial axes and shallowly lobed calyx limbs; and J. frondosa C. M. Taylor from Colombia, with enlarged whitened bracts and calyx lobes. Joosia has its center of species diversity in montane Ecuador and Peru; it is now documented also from Bolivia, where J. sericea is found, and from Venezuela, but that material is inadequate for identification to species.
De Gustibus Disputare: Hyperbolic delay discounting integrates five approaches to impulsive choice

Impulsiveness is the tendency to shift preference from a better, later option to a poorer, earlier option as the two get closer. Explanations have extrapolated from five piecemeal elements of psychology – failure of cognitive rationality, Pavlovian conditioning, force of habit, incentive salience, and long chains of secondary reward – but in doing so have created models that stretch the properties of these elements as observed in the laboratory. The models are hard to integrate with each other, much less with the utility-maximizing structure of microeconomics. The increasing prominence of addictions, particularly addictions that do not involve a substance, have confronted behavioral science with these shortcomings. I suggest that the roles of all five phenomena follow from the hyperbolic discounting of expected reward: rationality can be seen as maximizing expected discounted reward as seen at a distance, which can be approximated by making choices in bundles; Pavlovian conditioning reduces to reward lear...
Toward dynamic programming-based management in reconfigurable battery packs

Well-designed battery energy management algorithms are integral and important parts of battery management and maintenance in various applications ranging from smart grid backup systems to Electric and Hybrid Electric Vehicles (EV/HEV). Management in smart reconfigurable battery systems tend to be more complicated, flexible, and sophisticated since the systematic ability allows access to individual cells for monitoring and control purposes in a real-time fashion. Therefore, in this study, based on our previous work on adaptive reconfigurable battery network, a dynamic programming based management strategy is proposed and validated to fully utilize systematic ability and to optimize energy efficiency while keeping cell to cell states balanced and ensuring safety. To validate the proposed algorithm, battery model is first set up using experimental data on 26650 lithium ion batteries with the help of Arbin test-bed. Simulations are then conducted using the established battery models to figure out the gain in terms of energy efficiency of the proposed algorithm compared with traditional fixed battery system design. The comparison indicates the effeteness of the algorithm. Furthermore, the proposed method is applicable to battery packs with different types of battery cells in terms of capacity and electrochemistry, which is the key idea of software defined battery.
RIAPS: Resilient Information Architecture Platform for Decentralized Smart Systems

The emerging Fog Computing paradigm provides an additional computational layer that enables new capabilities in real-time data-driven applications. This is especially interesting in the domain of Smart Grid as the boundaries between traditional generation, distribution, and consumer roles are blurring. This is a reflection of the ongoing trend of intelligence distribution in Smart Systems. In this paper, we briefly describe a component-based decentralized software platform called Resilient Information Architecture Platform for Smart Systems (RIAPS) which provides an infrastructure for such systems. We briefly describe some initial applications built using this platform. Then, we focus on the design and integration choices for a resilient Discovery Manager service that is a critical component of this infrastructure. The service allows applications to discover each other, work collaboratively, and ensure the stability of the Smart System.
Schottky LDNMOS for HV ESD protection

A simple and useful scheme to improve the ESD performance of HV LDNMOS is reported. Removing the N+ implant from the drain, the silicide to NDDD junction of HV LDNMOS becomes a Schottky barrier. This modification can incorporate a Schottky pnp bipolar into LDNMOS to form an SCR.