cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Effects of neuropeptides and hormones on Langerhans cells

Significant evidence suggests that the nervous and immune systems have regulatory interactions within the skin. Langerhans cells (LCs) are dendritic antigen-presenting cells that reside within the epidermis. By laser confocal scanning microscopy, LCs in human skin have been found to be frequently in anatomic association with epidermal nerves. Additionally, a minority of LCs have been found by immunohistochemistry to have the neuropeptide calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) on or near their cell surfaces. Functional studies have demonstrated that CGRP, pituitary adenylate cyclase-activating polypeptide, and vasoactive intestinal peptide inhibit antigen presentation by LCs, at least in some assays. Epinephrine and norepinephrine also have been shown to inhibit LC antigen presentation in vitro. Some of these agents appear to exert their effects through regulation of the expression of cytokines and costimulatory molecules. Furthermore, some of these agents inhibit the acquisition of contact hypersensitivity after intradermal administration. As a whole, these findings suggest a regulatory locus of interaction between the immune system and the nervous system within the skin.
Thermalization of fast O(1D) atoms in the stratosphere and mesosphere

[i] The thermalization of metastable oxygen atoms in the stratosphere and mesosphere has been investigated. Non-Maxwellian O( 1 D) distributions have been calculated at altitudes of 25 and 50 km taking into account the energy transfer and quenching collisions of fast O( 1 D) atoms with the ambient gas. The evolution of the energy distributions of nascent metastable oxygen atoms, produced by ozone photolysis, has been determined by solving the time-dependent Boltzmann equation. The time-dependent and steady state O( 1 D) distributions have been computed and used for calculations of parameters characterizing O( 1 D) thermalization and quenching in the stratosphere and mesosphere. The steady state O( 1 D) distributions contain 3-5% of nonthermal atoms, fractions which are significantly larger than those of nonthermal ground state oxygen or nitrogen atoms. The effective temperatures of the non-Maxwellian distributions have been found to be 14% and 33% higher than thermal temperatures of the ambient gas at 25 and 50 km. The nonequilibrium rate coefficients and yields of NO molecules in the atmospheric reaction O( 1 D) + N 2 O corresponding to the non-Maxwellian distributions of O( 1 D) atoms have been calculated.
Colonial context and age group relations among plains Indians

Federal policy toward American Indians has taken two approaches: 1)protection and close supervision or "paternalism," or 2) quick assimilation of Indians into mainstream society. Both approaches involved undermining the influence and prestige of elderly Indians. The northern division of the Arapaho was subjected to protection and close supervision and the southern division to abrupt assimilation. This paper compares how federal policy toward Wyoming and Oklahoma Arapaho from the 1870s to the present affected the elderly's status and role in Arapaho society. The comparison shows that in Oklahoma the elderly, who no longer direct native religious rituals, have less authority and prestige than in Wyoming and that their circumstances are largely the product of the execution of the assimilation policy in Oklahoma. The research also shows that while the economic contribution of the elderly to family subsistence was undermined to a greater extent in Oklahoma than in Wyoming, of equal importance in the Wyoming Arapaho elders' retension of authority was their continued ability to direct religious ritual.
Ergonomics and kinematic compatibility of PKankle, a fully-parallel spherical robot for ankle-foot rehabilitation

PKankle is a robotic device based on a fully-parallel kinematic architecture and specifically designed for the neuro-rehabilitation of the ankle-foot complex. The peculiar kinematics allows the foot support to rotate, with good approximation, about the instantaneous center of rotation of the foot. An adjusting mechanical system allows the device to be employed in different patient positionings. Moreover, it features an integrated load cell for measuring subject interaction forces/torques, both to close impedance-based control loops and to obtain valuable clinical data, and a synchronized electromyographic acquisition system to analyze patient's muscular activity. The present work describes kinematic and control aspects specifically addressed to enhance its ergonomics and physiological compatibility to the actual mobility of the ankle-foot complex. Preliminary experimental activities, performed by healthy subjects, have been carried out to assess the effectiveness of the adopted solutions.
Creation of a panel of vectors based on ape adenovirus isolates.

Background We recently reported the isolation and sequencing of 30 novel adenoviruses from chimpanzees, bonobos and gorillas. These adenoviruses are promising candidates for the purpose of expanding the repertoire of adenoviral serotypes that can be used to create vectors for circumventing pre-existing neutralizing antibodies in human populations. We thus aimed to create vectors from 20 of the newly isolated adenoviruses. Methods Plasmid molecular clones were created that harbored the complete E1-deleted genomes from 20 of the newly isolated ape adenoviruses belonging to species B, C and E. The plasmids were transfected into human embryonic kidney (HEK) 293 cells to rescue vectors. We also tested normal human sera to determine the extent of pre-existing cross-neutralizing anti-adenovirus neutralizing antibodies. Results Twelve vectors could be rescued and expanded following transfection into HEK 293 cells with yields (from fifty 150-mm culture dishes) that ranged from 3 × 1011 to 7 × 1013 viral particles. Sera from 50 normal human donors were tested for the presence of neutralizing activity against 21 of the newly isolated ape adenoviruses. Cross-neutralizing activity was generally low, although outliers with high neutralizing activity were frequently detected. Species B ape adenoviruses generally showed the least cross-neutralization with antibodies present in the human sera that were tested. Conclusions E1-deleted adenovirus vectors can be created from a wide variety of ape adenoviruses that can be rescued and propagated in HEK 293 cells. The prevalence of pre-existing antibodies that can neutralize these adenoviruses in human populations is low. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Cohesive effects in powder mixing in a tumbling blender

Rotary drums are used as mixers, dryers, kilns and granulators. In all of these systems, powder cohesion deeply affects mixing and segregation, and it is critical in process scale up. In this paper, we focus on the effect of cohesion in mixing and size segregation of binary mixtures of uniform and non-uniform sizes in a partially filled rotating drum. The cohesive force between particle is simulated using a square-well potential and the numerical model is used to characterize flow and mixing properties. The model is validated by comparison to experimental images. Results show a time-dependent spatial distribution of cohesive powder that depends on the magnitude of cohesion and friction. In uniform binary systems, as cohesion increases, the rate of mixing first increases and then decreases, however for the case of non-uniform binary systems, we observe different mixing patterns depending on the relative magnitude of forces acting between particles of same/different sizes. Unlike free flowing material, for cohesive mixtures, a higher rotation speed is found to enhance mixing performance.
Circadian regulation of mammalian target of rapamycin signaling in the mouse suprachiasmatic nucleus

Circadian (24-h) rhythms influence virtually every aspect of mammalian physiology. The main rhythm generation center is located in the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) of the hypothalamus, and work over the past several years has revealed that rhythmic gene transcription and post-translational processes are central to clock timing. In addition, rhythmic translation control has also been implicated in clock timing; however the precise cell signaling pathways that drive this process are not well known. Here we report that a key translation activation cascade, the mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) pathway, is under control of the circadian clock in the SCN. Using phosphorylated S6 ribosomal protein (pS6) as a marker of mTOR activity, we show that the mTOR cascade exhibits maximal activity during the subjective day, and minimal activity during the late subjective night. Importantly, expression of S6 was not altered as a function of circadian time. Rhythmic S6 phosphorylation was detected throughout the dorsoventral axis of the SCN, thus suggesting that rhythmic mTOR activity was not restricted to a subset of SCN neurons. Rather, rhythmic pS6 expression appeared to parallel the expression pattern of the clock gene period1 (per1). Using a transgenic per1 reporter gene mouse strain, we found a statistically significant cellular level correlation between pS6 and per1 gene expression over the circadian cycle. Further, photic stimulation triggered a coordinate upregulation of per1 and mTOR activation in a subset of SCN cells. Interestingly, this cellular level correlation between mTOR activity and per1 expression appears to be specific, since a similar expression profile for pS6 and per2 or c-FOS was not detected. Finally, we show that mTOR activity is downstream of the ERK/MAPK signal transduction pathway. Together these data reveal that mTOR pathway activity is under the control of the SCN clock, and suggests that mTOR signaling may contribute to distinct aspects of the molecular clock timing process.
The classification problem for S-local torsion-free abelian groups of finite rank

Abstract Suppose that n ⩾ 2 and that S, T are sets of primes. Then the classification problem for the S-local torsion-free abelian groups of rank n is Borel reducible to the classification problem for the T-local torsion-free abelian groups of rank n if and only if S ⊆ T .
Effect of Position and Support on Oral-Motor Skills of a Child with Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia

The effects of position (upright vs reclining) and support (held vs chair) on the development and maintenance of feeding behavior were examined in a child with bronchopulmonary dysplasia and gastroesophageal reflux. A reclining position initially facilitated acceptance and swallowing with relatively rapid generalization to an upright position. Oral-motor skills did not differ across levels of support. Practice of emerging motor skills preceded increases in vomiting, as well as episodes of respiratory distress. This study illustrates a methodology that can be employed to elucidate complex interrelationships among oral-motor skills, gross motor skills and functioning, and symptoms of gastroesophageal reflux.
Nkx2.2-repressor activity is sufficient to specify α-cells and a small number of β-cells in the pancreatic islet

The homeodomain protein Nkx2.2 (Nkx2-2) is a key regulator of pancreatic islet cell specification in mice; Nkx2.2 is essential for the differentiation of all insulin-producing beta-cells and of the majority of glucagon-producing alpha-cells, and, in its absence, these cell types are converted to a ghrelin cell fate. To understand the molecular functions of Nkx2.2 that regulate these early cell-fate decisions during pancreatic islet development, we created Nkx2.2-dominant-derivative transgenic mice. In the absence of endogenous Nkx2.2, the Nkx2.2-Engrailed-repressor derivative is sufficient to fully rescue glucagon-producing alpha-cells and to partially rescue insulin-producing beta-cells. Interestingly, the insulin-positive cells that do form in the rescued mice do not express the mature beta-cell markers MafA or Glut2 (Slc2a2), suggesting that additional activator functions of Nkx2.2 are required for beta-cell maturation. To explore the mechanism by which Nkx2.2 functions as a repressor in the islet, we assessed the pancreatic expression of the Groucho co-repressors, Grg1, Grg2, Grg3 and Grg4 (Tle1-Tle4), which have been shown to interact with and modulate Nkx2.2 function. We determined that Grg3 is highly expressed in the embryonic pancreas in a pattern similar to Nkx2.2. Furthermore, we show that Grg3 physically interacts with Nkx2.2 through its TN domain. These studies suggest that Nkx2.2 functions predominantly as a transcriptional repressor during specification of endocrine cell types in the pancreas.
The ionospheric source of the red and green lines of atomic oxygen in the Venus nightglow

Abstract We have modeled the nightside ionosphere of Venus for 11 solar zenith angles between 90° and 165° with a view toward determining the intensities of the atomic oxygen red, green and 2972 A features in the nightglow. The ionospheric source of these emissions is mainly dissociative recombination of O 2 + , which may proceed via four channels, which produce two O atoms in various combinations of the ground O(3P) state and the electronically excited O(1D) and O(1S) states. These excited states are the precursors to the nightglow features. We have modeled the O 2 + ( v ) vibrational distribution for each of the models, and we have used it to determine branching ratios for the DR channels. We have assumed that the ionosphere is produced by transport of atomic ions from the dayside, and that the ratios of the atomic ions are the same as the model values of the upward ion fluxes on the dayside. For each model, we have normalized the downward atomic ion fluxes to the peak O+ densities that were measured by the Pioneer Venus Orbiter Ion Mass Spectrometer. For the non-sunlit models, the O 2 + densities peak in the altitude range 152–159 km. We have computed the density profiles of O(1D) and O(1S), and the integrated overhead intensities of the transitions for each of the models. We find that the average intensities, weighted by the area of the solar zenith angle bins, for the red, green and 2972 A emissions are 26 R, 4.6 R, and 0.46 R, respectively. Thus the average high solar activity nightside ionosphere cannot produce green line intensities that are as large as the maximum intensity of about 150 R as measured from the ground. Our predicted red line intensities are, however, larger than the upper limits determined by ground based and spacecraft measurements. Possibilities for increasing the green line intensities and decreasing the red line intensities are discussed.
‘But can you prove it?’ – examining the quality of innocent suspects' alibis

Despite an assumption in the legal system that innocent people can generate accurate alibis, little research has examined the process of alibi generation. The current study examined this process with respect to three theoretical reasons why innocent suspects may fail to generate convincing alibis: they may lack the necessary memory, generate mistaken alibis, and generate weak or uncorroborable alibis. Undergraduates (N=255) were asked to report four initial alibis – each for a different time – along with corroborating physical and person evidence. Participants attempted to corroborate that evidence before returning 48 hours later. Upon return, participants reported their investigated alibis for the same four time periods. Results indicated that, despite participants' willingness to generate initial alibis, a substantial proportion of these alibis (36%) were mistaken, requiring either a change in narrative or a change in corroborating evidence. The majority of investigated alibis relied on evidence that ev...
PCA-based linear parameter varying control of SCR aftertreatment systems

Hydrocarbons, carbon monoxide, and other polluting emissions produced by diesel engines are usually much lower than those by gasoline engines. However, higher combustion temperature in diesel engines cause substantially larger percentage of nitrogen oxides (NO x ) emissions. Selective catalytic reduction (SCR) is a well proven technology for reducing NO x emissions from automotive sources and in particular, heavy-duty diesel engines. In this paper, we develop a quasi linear parameter varying (qLPV) model to capture the nonlinearities in the dynamics of the ammonia SCR system with varying catalyst surface temperature. To effectively enable the use of LMI-based control design methods, the number of LPV parameters in the qLPV model is then reduced by using the principal component analysis (PCA) technique. An LPV feedback/feedforward controller is designed for the qLPV model with reduced number of scheduling parameters. The designed full-order controller is further simplified to a first-order transfer function with parameter-varying gain and pole. Finally, simulation results illustrate the high conversion efficiency with minimum ammonia slip of the closed-loop SCR system using the parameter-varying control law.
Measuring health and disability.

Disability-adjusted life years (DALYs)—a frequent indicator for assessment of the relative eﬀ ects of public-health interventions—explicitly incorporate disability. This Viewpoint will argue, however, that the notion of disability embodied in DALYs does not accord with that in WHO’s International Classiﬁ cation of Functioning, Disability, and Health (ICF). Underlying this inconsistency is the basic issue of what is meant by health and disability. The result is that DALYs are a poor indicator of the eﬀ ect of public-health interventions that improve the lives of people with disabilities. An argument can be made that DALYs are better suited for assessment of the eﬀ ect of programmes and policies aimed at prevention of disabilities, but even in this case their approach to measurement of disability needs to be enhanced. Disability and health are diﬃ cult concepts to deﬁ ne and measure. In fact, the appropriate deﬁ nition of disability depends on the reason behind its measurement. Thus, when monitoring or assessing public-health interventions, having a clear deﬁ nition of disability is very important. Before the advent of DALYs (and the earlier but related idea of quality-adjusted life years [QALYs]), health-outcome measures typically relied on mortality (an exception was the method of disability-free life expectancy and its complement, the number of years lived with a disability).
Jasplakinolide induces apoptosis in various transformed cell lines by a caspase-3-like protease-dependent pathway.

To clarify the mechanisms underlying the antiproliferative effects of jasplakinolide, a cyclic depsipeptide from marine sponges, we examined whether jasplakinolide induces apoptosis in a variety of transformed and nontransformed cells. Jasplakinolide inhibited proliferation of human Jurkat T cells, resulting in cell death. This was accompanied by chromatin condensation and DNA cleavage at the linker regions between the nucleosomes. When caspase-3-like activity in the cytosolic extracts of Jurkat T cells was examined with a fluorescent substrate, DEVD-MAC (N-acetyl-Asp-Glu-Val-Asp-4-methyl-coumaryl-7-amide), the activity in the cells treated with jasplakinolide was remarkably increased in a time-dependent manner. Pretreatment of Jurkat T cells with the caspase inhibitor zVAD [benzyloxycarbonyl(Cbz)-Val-Ala-β-Asp(OMe)-fluoromethylketone] or DEVD-CHO (N-acetyl-Asp-Glu-Val-Asp-1-aldehyde) prevented the induction of apoptosis by jasplakinolide. Moreover, exposure of various murine transformed cell lines to jasplakinolide resulted in cell death, which was inhibited by zVAD. Although it has been well established that murine immature thymocytes are sensitive to apoptosis when exposed to various apoptotic stimuli, these cells as well as mature T lymphocytes were resistant to jasplakinolide-induced apoptosis. The results suggest that jasplakinolide induces apoptotic cell death through a caspase-3-like protease-dependent pathway. Another important outcome is that transformed cell lines were more susceptible to jasplakinolide-induced apoptosis than normal nontransformed cells.
Two-Photon Microscopy as a Tool to Study Blood Flow and Neurovascular Coupling in the Rodent Brain

The cerebral vascular system services the constant demand for energy during neuronal activity in the brain. Attempts to delineate the logic of neurovascular coupling have been greatly aided by the advent of two-photon laser scanning microscopy to image both blood flow and the activity of individual cells below the surface of the brain. Here we provide a technical guide to imaging cerebral blood flow in rodents. We describe in detail the surgical procedures required to generate cranial windows for optical access to the cortex of both rats and mice and the use of two-photon microscopy to accurately measure blood flow in individual cortical vessels concurrent with local cellular activity. We further provide examples on how these techniques can be applied to the study of local blood flow regulation and vascular pathologies such as small-scale stroke.
Alfred Russell Wallace and the Evolution of the Human Mind

Today the fame of Alfred Russell Wallace is as the independent codiscoverer with Charles Darwin of the origin of species by natural selection. Although they were on very amiable terms all their lives, 11 years after announcing their discovery, Wallace and Darwin had a major disagreement on the evolution of human cognition. The author considers how this divergence and other disagreements, particularly on the role of instinct, are related to the differences in their class backgrounds, education, experience with non-European cultures, and views on socialism, phrenology, mesmerism, and spiritualism.
Using Quantum Mechanics in Biological Structure Refinement

The starting point for structure-based drug design (SBDD) efforts is a high quality structural model obtained using X-ray crystallography or NMR spectroscopic techniques. In most instances classical tools are used as structural surrogates in X-ray and NMR refinement protocols in order to improve the parameter to observation ratio realized from these experimental techniques. While classical approaches are useful structural surrogates, they do suffer from a number of issues that affect their performance including: electrostatic modeling, parameter defects and missing parameters. The way in which these issues can be mitigated is to use more robust structural theories like quantum mechanical (QM) methods, which have had a tremendous impact on our understanding of "small" chemical and biological systems. In this talk we will focus on the application of ab initio QM methods to refine protein/ligand complexes for use in SBDD applications using NMR and X-ray methods. We will discuss the computational details and describe several uses of QM in structure refinement efforts using NMR and X-ray datasets. The strengths and weaknesses of a QM approach in structure refinement will be discussed as well as future prospects of this strategy.
Dating Violence and the Sexual Health of Black Adolescent Females

OBJECTIVE: This study examines the association between having a history of dating violence and the sexual health of adolescent females. METHODS: Black adolescent females (n = 522) completed a survey that assessed dating violence, defined as ever having a physically abusive boyfriend, and an interview that assessed sexual behaviors. RESULTS: Dating violence was reported by 18.4% of adolescents (n = 96). Adolescents with a history of dating violence were, in the past 6 months, 2.8 times more likely to have a sexually transmitted disease, 2.8 times more likely to have nonmonogamous male partners, and half as likely to use condoms consistently. Furthermore, adolescents with a history of dating violence were significantly more likely to fear the perceived consequences of negotiating condom use (odds ratio [OR] = 2.8); fear talking with their partner about pregnancy prevention (OR = 2.6); have a higher perceived risk of acquiring a sexually transmitted disease (OR = 2.1); perceive less control over their sexuality (OR = 2.4); have peer norms nonsupportive of using condoms (OR = 3.1); and have norms nonsupportive of having a healthy relationship (OR = 2.1). CONCLUSIONS: Adolescents who have experienced dating violence are more likely to exhibit a spectrum of unhealthy sexual behaviors, attitudes, beliefs, and norms.
Accounting Choice, Home Bias, and US Investment in Non-US Firms

This paper examines the relation between accounting method choice and investment by US institutional investors in non-US firms. Such a relation could be driven by two factors. First, home bias in US investment could result in preferences for accounting practices familiar to US investors. The use of accounting methods consistent with US GAAP reduces information processing costs for US investors, allowing for more thorough analyses and increasing the credibility of the financial information. Second, many sources consider US GAAP to be one of the highest quality sets of financial reporting standards in the world. Thus, US investors likely perceive firms that use accounting methods allowed under US GAAP as having higher accounting quality. We find that firms with higher degrees of conformity with US GAAP have greater levels of US institutional ownership. These associations are exhibited in levels and changes, and are robust to the inclusion of a number of control variables for other determinants of institutional investment. Lead/lag regressions suggest that increases in US GAAP conformity attract a higher level of US institutional investment in future periods, but changes in US institutional holdings do not lead to changes in accounting methods. In partition analyses, we find that the positive relation between US GAAP conformity and US institutional investment holds regardless of a firm's ADR status or other proxies for visibility (e.g., stock index listing, analyst following, and firm size). However, the relation is significantly stronger in the subsamples of ADR firms and more visible firms, suggesting that US GAAP conformity has greater impact among firms already somewhat visible to US investors.
Special Section on Visual Analytics: Social media analytics for competitive advantage

Big Data Analytics is getting a great deal of attention in the business and government communities. If it lives up to its name, visual analytics will be a prime path by which visualization competes successfully in this arena. This paper discusses some fundamental work we have done in this area through integration of interactive visualization and automated analysis methods and the applications that have resulted.
Maintaining Quality of Life at the End of Life in the End-Stage Renal Disease Population

The rapidly advancing age of incident dialysis patient has coincided with a rising mortality rate during the first year of dialysis. This is occurring despite a steady decline in mortality of prevalent patients. These statistics suggest that there is a subset of sick, elderly dialysis patients who will not survive the first 6 months of dialysis. It may be that these patients would be better served with a conservative, palliative approach that does not include initiation of dialysis. Even though hospice care is universally available to the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services population, dialysis patients encounter many barriers to obtaining this benefit and have a hospice utilization rate only one quarter that of cancer patients. This article discusses the barriers to and goals of palliative care in the chronic kidney disease/end-stage renal disease population.
Few 2‐50 km corrugations on the core‐mantle boundary

Short-period PcP amplitudes have been observed to vary by a factor of about 20 in the epicentral range 40-85°. This behavior is due to the reflection coefficient at the core-mantle boundary, which varies from a maximum of about 0.5 at an angle of incidence of about 65° to zero at an angle of incidence of about 85° (corresponding to an epicentral ranges of about 60-90°). We present physical model experiments in which we study the effect of corrugations of the core-mantle boundary on PcP amplitudes. We find that corrugations with 2-50 km scale lengths would radically alter the amplitude-range behavior of short-period PcP, reducing its variation with range. The observed pattern of short-period PcP amplitudes indicates that the core-mantle boundary is smooth on these scales, with amplitudes less than a few hundred meters.
Melt spinning and drawing of 2‐methyl‐1,3‐propanediol‐substituted poly(ethylene terephthalate)

The structure and properties of fibers prepared from copolymers of poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) in which 2-methyl-1,3-propanediol (MPDiol® Glycol is a registered trademark of Lyondell Chemical Company) at 4, 7, 10, and 25 mol% was substituted for ethylene glycol were studied and compared with those of PET homopolymer. Filaments were melt spun over a range of spinning conditions, and some filaments that were spun at relatively low spinning speeds were subjected to hot drawing. The filaments were characterized by measurements of birefringence, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) crystallinity, melting point, glass transition temperature, wide-angle X-ray diffraction patterns, boiling water shrinkage, tenacity, and elongation to break. Filaments containing 25 mol% MPDiol did not crystallize in the spinline at any spinning speed investigated, whereas the other resins did crystallize in the spinline at high spinning speeds. However, compared with PET homopolymer, increasing substitution of MPDiol reduced the rate at which the crystallinity of the melt spun filaments increased with spinning speed and reduced the ultimate crystallinity that could be achieved by high-speed spinning. The rate of development of molecular orientation, as measured by birefringence, also decreased somewhat with increasing MPDiol content. Shrinkage in boiling water decreased at high spinning speeds as the amount of crystallinity increased; however, the shrinkage decreased more slowly with increase in spinning speed as MPDiol content increased. Tenacity also decreased slightly at any given spinning speed as MPDiol content increased, but there was no significant effect on elongation to break. The addition of MPDiol in amounts up to 7 mol% increased the maximum take-up velocity that could be achieved at a given mass throughput. This result indicates that the use of higher spinning speeds could potentially increase the productivity of melt spun yarns. Copolymer filaments spun at low speeds were readily drawn to produce highly oriented fibers with slightly less birefringence, crystallinity, and tenacity than similarly processed PET homopolymer. Preliminary dyeing experiments showed that the incorporation of MPDiol improved the dyeability of the filaments. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 88: 2598–2606, 2003
Improving CUDASW++, a Parallelization of Smith-Waterman for CUDA Enabled Devices

CUDASW++ is a parallelization of the Smith-Waterman algorithm for CUDA graphical processing units that computes the similarity scores of a query sequence paired with each sequence in a database. The algorithm uses one of two kernel functions to compute the score between a given pair of sequences: the inter-task kernel or the intra-task kernel. We have identified the intra-task kernel as a major bottleneck in the CUDASW++ algorithm. We have developed a new intra-task kernel that is faster than the original intra-task kernel used in CUDASW++. We describe the development of our kernel as a series of incremental changes that provide insight into a number of issues that must be considered when developing any algorithm for the CUDA architecture. We analyze the performance of our kernel compared to the original and show that the use of our intra-task kernel substantially improves the overall performance of CUDASW++ on the order of three to four giga-cell updates per second on various benchmark databases.
An adaptive lighting correction method for matched-texture coding

Matched-Texture Coding is a novel image coder that utilizes the self-similarity of natural images that include textures, in order to achieve structurally lossless compression. The key to a high compression ratio is replacing large image blocks with previously encoded blocks with similar structure. Adjusting the lighting of the replaced block is critical for eliminating illumination artifacts and increasing the number of matches. We propose a new adaptive lighting correction method that is based on the Poisson equationwith incompleteboundaryconditions. In order to fully exploit the benefits of the adaptive Poisson lighting correction, we also propose modifications of the side-matching (SM) algorithm and structural texture similarity metric. We show that the resulting matched-texture algorithm achieves better coding performance.
Ratio adjustment and calibration scheme for gene-wise normalization to enhance microarray inter-study prediction

Motivation: Reproducibility analyses of biologically relevant microarray studies have mostly focused on overlap of detected biomarkers or correlation of differential expression evidences across studies. For clinical utility, direct inter-study prediction (i.e. to establish a prediction model in one study and apply to another) for disease diagnosis or prognosis prediction is more important. Normalization plays a key role for such a task. Traditionally, sample-wise normalization has been a standard for inter-array and inter-study normalization. For gene-wise normalization, it has been implemented for intra-study or inter-study predictions in a few papers while its rationale, strategy and effect remain unexplored. Results: In this article, we investigate the effect of gene-wise normalization in microarray inter-study prediction. Gene-specific intensity discrepancies across studies are commonly found even after proper sample-wise normalization. We explore the rationale and necessity of gene-wise normalization. We also show that the ratio of sample sizes in normal versus diseased groups can greatly affect the performance of gene-wise normalization and an analytical method is developed to adjust for the imbalanced ratio effect. Both simulation results and applications to three lung cancer and two prostate cancer data sets, considering both binary classification and survival risk predictions, showed significant and robust improvement of the new adjustment. A calibration scheme is developed to apply the ratio-adjusted gene-wise normalization for prospective clinical trials. The number of calibration samples needed is estimated from existing studies and suggested for future applications. The result has important implication to the translational research of microarray as a practical disease diagnosis and prognosis prediction tool. Contact: ctseng@pitt.edu Availability: http://www.biostat.pitt.edu/bioinfo/ Supplementary information:Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Company (NTT) and the Building of a Telecommunications Industry in Japan

The state's role in building Japan's telecommunications industry is illustrated by the history of the Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Company (NTT) in the post–World War II period. Several factors explain the state's success in developing one of the world's most reliable and technologically advanced industries: a strong desire for technological self-sufficiency; a favorable international environment; an ability to legally reverse-engineer foreign products; and the existence of a business sector that was willing and able to invest heavily in the human resources and facilities necessary to become global players. Japan also benefited from a consensus among its state and business elite on how to use NTT for the purpose of national development.
Ad hoc association rule mining as SQL3 queries

Although there have been several encouraging attempts at developing methods for data mining using SQL, simplicity and efficiency still remain significant impediments for further development. In this paper, we propose a significantly new approach and show that any object relational database can be mined for association rules without any restructuring or preprocessing using only basic SQL3 constructs and functions, and hence no additional machinery is necessary. In particular, we show that the cost of computing association rules for a given database does not depend on support and confidence thresholds. More precisely, the set of large items can be computed using one simple join query and an aggregation once the set of all possible meets (least fixpoint) of item set patterns in the input table is known. The principal focus of this paper is to demonstrate that several SQL3 expressions exists for the mining of association rules.
Comparison of reflux esophagitis and its complications between African Americans and non-Hispanic whites.

AIM: To determine the effect of ethnicity on the severity of reflux esophagitis (RE) and its complications. METHODS: A retrospective search of the endoscopy database at the University of Florida Health Science Center/Jacksonville for all cases of reflux esophagitis and its complications from January 1 to March 31, 2001 was performed. Inclusion criteria were endoscopic evidence of esophagitis using the LA classification, reflux related complications and self-reported ethnicity. The data obtained included esophagitis grade, presence of a hiatal hernia, esophageal ulcer, stricture and Barrett’s esophagus, and endoscopy indication. RESULTS: The search identified 259 patients with RE or its complications, of which 171 were non-Hispanic whites and 88 were African Americans. The mean ages and male/female ratios were similar in the two groups. RE grade, esophageal ulcer, stricture and hiatal hernia frequency were likewise similar in the groups. Barrett’s esophagus was present more often in non-Hispanic whites than in African Americans (15.8% vs 4.5%; P < 0.01). Heartburn was a more frequent indication for endoscopy in non-Hispanic whites with erosive esophagitis than in African Americans (28.1% vs 7.9%; P < 0.001). CONCLUSION: Distribution of RE grade and frequency of reflux-related esophageal ulcer, stricture and hiatal hernia are similar in non-Hispanic whites and African Americans. Heartburn was more frequently and nausea/vomiting less frequently reported as the primary endoscopic indication in non-Hispanic whites compared with African Americans with erosive esophagitis or its complications. African Americans have a decreased prevalence of Barrett’s esophagus compared with non-Hispanic whites.
Iron Deficiency and Neuropharmacology

• Iron deficiency alters functioning of the dopaminergic system with effects on both receptors and transporters.
Freedom of Information and Privacy: The Civil Libertarian's Dilemma

As i understand my assignment from Edwin A. Thompson, I am to present some of the conflicts between competing constitutional rights and freedom of information and privacy, which raise ethical problems for practicing archivists who must deal with both issues. I hope my comments will create a framework for you specialists to explore further in terms of your expertise. The emphasis on ethics, from a civil liberties perspective, must focus not only on personal judgments as to when or how access and privacy are to be protected, but also on what rights individuals have within our constitutional constellation. For constitutional rights are inextricably connected to ethical concerns. Rights represent, in the codified form of our laws, the dignity and worth of the individual reflected in constitutional guarantees, and rights provide standards of conduct which govern the relationship between government and the citizen. The problems of access and privacy are not restricted to the arena of government. The same question of how to safeguard these values arises often in the relationship between private individuals and institutions, primarily the press. But, since the major difficulties arise when government and the citizen collide, our focus naturally is on the governmental sector. In probing the civil libertarian's dilemma, one immediately recognizes that the conflict is not simply that of competing rights but also of competing needs, both for individuals and for society at large. Freedom of information, as this audience knows so well, is the essence of free and democratic government. Unless the citizenry is fully informed, the whole democratic experiment in self-government fails no matter what the social, political, or economic issue may be. Wise and effective participation in the affairs of government, through the election process and communication with legislators and the media, is weakened if the flow of information is limited or blocked. The
PGE mineralization at the Allard stock: Implications for the porphyry to epithermal transition, La Plata Mountains, Colorado

The Allard stock is a ~67 Ma syenite intrusion in the La Plata mining district that lies at the southwestern end of the Colorado Mineral Belt, located approximately 20 km from Durango, Colorado. The La Plata district consists of Mesozoic sedimentary strata domed by intrusion of Cretaceous laccoliths and stocks of a mostly alkaline composition, and thus the general geology is similar to the nearby Henry, La Sal, and Abajo laccoltithic mountains. The Allard stock appears to have been intruded late in the magmatic history of the La Platas, and hosts porphyry copperstyle mineralization and alteration containing the minerals chalcopyrite, pyrite, bornite, covellite, and magnetite in late-stage hydrothermal veinlets that crosscut the intrusion. Previous research has documented anomalous concentrations of precious and noble metals (Au, Ag, PGEs), Bi, and Te in the mineralization from Allard. Electron microprobe analyses conducted in this study indicate that PGEs occur in four phases: 1) the Pd>Pt-Bi-telluride merenskite; 2) the Pt>Pd-Bi-telluride moncheite; 3) a Pd-Ag telluride sopcheite (Ag4Pd3Te4); and 4) a previously unrecognized (?) mineral with the approximate formula PdTe2. Epithermal and limestone replacement deposits of Ag-Au also occur in the district, and they contain abundant Au-Ag telluride minerals with minor amounts of PGEs (80 ppb in only a single fire assay analysis). The enrichment of the Allard stock in Au,Ag,Te, etc., led to the previous suggestion that a genetic connection exists between the porphyry and epithermal mineralization in the district. The present study was conducted to test that hypothesis.
Evidence of terroir in milk sourcing and its influence on Cheddar cheese

The concept of local food is rapidly gaining importance within the United States. The foundation of local food is terroir, which links a food to its production environment. The purpose of this study was to investigate evidence of terroir in milk sourcing and its influence on Cheddar cheese flavor. Specifically, the study was designed to assess if consumers could differentiate between Cheddar cheeses made with milk from different dairy farms. Milk from 5 locations, including single dairy farms and commingled sites, was collected from around the state of Oregon. Using raw and pasteurized counterparts of the milk, Cheddar cheese was made and aged. At 5 and 9 mo into aging, Cheddar cheese consumers were asked to group the samples based on perceived similarity/dissimilarity of cheese flavor. Grouping data were subjected to multidimensional scaling and subsequent cluster analysis. Results at 5 mo into aging revealed that cheeses made by milk originating from different farms (80 km apart) within the same region were perceived as different, whereas cheeses made with milk from neighboring farms (5 km apart) were grouped together, irrespective of heat treatment (i.e., raw vs. pasteurized). Cheeses made with commingled milk from different regions grouped together. At 9 mo of aging, in contrast, a clear separation of perceived flavor was present between the pasteurized and raw cheese samples, whereas the effect of milk sourcing was less pronounced. These data suggest that the geographical location of the milk source has an effect on the flavor of Cheddar cheese, but that the practices of milk commingling and heat treatment likely reduce the effect of geographical location, particularly as cheese ages.
Determination of high molecular mass polycyclic aromatic in natural Vitamin E by high-performance liquid chromatography with fluorescence detection

A method has been developed for the determination of eight high molecular mass polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons(PAHs)in natural Vitamin E(VE)products by reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography(HPLC)with fluorescence detection.PAHs were enriched and purified by an alumina column chromatogram,and separated on XDB-C18 column using acetonitrile-water(20∶80,v/v)as mobile phase.The optimum conditions of alumina column chromatogram were studied.The limits of detection of eight high molecular mass PAHs were between 0.05~0.45ng/g and the limits of quantification were between 0.18~1.50ng/g.The recoveries of spiked standard were between 80.8%~104.0%.Relative standard deviations of heavy PAHs were between 2.0%~9.8%.The method was applied to determination eight high molecular mass PAHs in three different kinds of natural Vitamin E products.good repeatabilities were achieved,and RSD were less than 12.0%.
Method and Application of Multiple Targets Decision Based on the Unascertained Measurement

This paper defines the three spaces of strategy,target and assessment and the unascertained measure functions that meet the needs of nonnegativity,normality and additivity.Provide an optimal decision criterion that is suitable for priority assessment of spaces by the way of ordered partition class.Thereby,an unascertained measure decision method is presented based on the theory of mathematical processing of unascertained information,and a mathematical model,which proved reasonable,accurate,highresolutioned and simple,is established to solve the problem of priority selection among multiple factors,especially those quantify difficultly.The model presents an optimal strategy for the solution of multiple targets decision.An example of firing strike is analysed with the model,which proved successful.
Genetic disorders of hemoglobin synthesis.

Insights gained from recombinant DNA technology over the past five years have elucidated the pathophysiology of the inherited human anemias and have opened up new approaches to the diagnosis and potential treatment of the thalassemias and sickle cell anemia. The use of drugs and autotransplantation are on the horizon.
The Penumbra Coil 400 System for Treatment of Wide-Necked Intracranial Aneurysms: Initial Single-Center Experience

Endovascular treatment of wide-necked intracranial aneurysms frequently requires stent- or balloon-assisted coiling to prevent coil herniation into the parent artery. Provided that coils can be securely deployed within the aneurysm sac, these adjunctive devices and their associated risk can be avoided. The Penumbra 400 Coil (PC-400) has a larger diameter than conventional coils and is constructed completely of metal, a feature that increases the coil stability and may improve its ability to respect the aneurysm neck. The purpose of this study was to examine the frequency of adjunctive stent usage when coiling wide-necked intracranial aneurysms with the PC-400 in comparison with conventional coils. We examined consecutive patients with unruptured wide-necked aneurysms treated at our institution with endovascular coils. Aneurysm characteristics and procedural outcomes were compared between patients treated with PC-400 compared with a control group treated with conventional coils. Thirty-eight patients met criteria for this study. Stent-assisted coiling was required in 34 % fewer cases using PC-400 compared with conventional coils (P = .049). Fewer coils and less length were required with the PC-400 to obtain the same packing densities, occlusion types, and short-term stability. This may reduce treatment cost and prove to be valuable in patients with contraindications to dual antiplatelet therapy.
Vascular Prosthesis Infections

With the institution of prophylactic antibiotics during the course of arterial reconstructive procedures, there has been a change in the organisms causing infections associated with prostheses, in the author’s experience, largely because of the judicious use of oxacillin. Kanamycin has been added to the prophylactic therapy in an effort to suppress the chance for contamination of the prostheses with gram-negative organisms.