cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Hardening web applications using a least privilege DBMS access model

Within the last three years hundreds of millions of private data records have been compromised in high-profile data breaches, resulting in billions of dollars in economic losses and unrecoverable loss of privacy. One commonality is that attackers obtained administrative-level access to records on a central database. We argue that the widespread practice of highest privilege design and configuration is a significant contributor, where users and applications are given the highest level of privilege needed to execute the union of all needed tasks. One problematic common practice is, in a web-based application, for front-end and middleware processes to have root privileges to the complete DBMS back-end database. This practice is in stark opposition to the well-known secure design principle of least privilege introduced 40 years ago. Enforcing least privilege at all levels of a web application would help prevent future all-lost cyber-compromises. Here we introduce Hierarchical Policy (HPol), a formal access control modeling tool used in modeling web application database security.
Galvanic Couple Behavior Between AA7050-T7451 and Stainless Steel in a Fastener Arrangement Assessed with Coupled Multi-Electrode Arrays Under Atmospheric Exposure Conditions

Dissimilar metal coupled multi-electrode arrays (CMEAs) of AA7050-T7451 and Type 316 stainless steel were utilized to investigate galvanic coupling behavior under atmospheric conditions, represented by thin electrolyte films and wet/dry cycling. CMEAs were used to analyze location specific galvanic current densities under both a simple flat geometry and in a simplified two dimensional (2D) representation of a fastener geometry. Cyclic wet/dry exposures on the flat CMEAs under 70 μm thin films increased the anodic charge density by over one order of magnitude relative to the 70 μm exposure of a flat CMEA under constant 98% relative humidity. During the wet/dry cycle, sharp current increases were observed upon the onset of wetting and drying attributed to the high Cl− concentration in the droplet and thin electrolyte layer. Using a CMEA arranged to represent a 2D representation of a fastener in a plate, the anodic charge for galvanic corrosion currents increased under a static 70 μm thin film of NaCl soluti...
Conspicuity of suspicious breast lesions on contrast enhanced breast CT compared to digital breast tomosynthesis and mammography.

Objective: Compare conspicuity of suspicious breast lesions on contrast-enhanced dedicated breast CT (CEbCT), tomosynthesis (DBT) and digital mammography (DM). Methods: 100 females with BI-RADS 4/5...
Early Discharge Does Not Increase Readmission Rates After Minimally Invasive Anatomic Lung Resection.

ObjectiveEnhanced recovery pathways reduce length of stay and costs following lung resection. However, many fear that early discharge may lead to increased hospital readmissions. In this study, we ...
Cassell & the Publishers Association Directory of publishing, 1990

(1991). Cassell & the Publishers Association Directory of publishing, 1990. Library Acquisitions: Practice & Theory: Vol. 15, No. 4, pp. 487-489.
Drug- and Toxin-Induced Nephritides

Current evidence suggests that drugs and toxins can damage the kidney through humoral immunologic mechanisms. These pathways of nephritogenic humoral immune injury will be described in this chapter, and several ways in which drugs and toxins potentially play a role will be outlined. Particular attention will be given to hydrocarbons as a toxic agent that has been reported to induce at least one kind of anti-kidney antibody response, namely that directed toward the renal basement membranes.
Direct human health risks of increased atmospheric carbon dioxide

Growing evidence suggests that environmentally relevant elevations in CO2 (<5,000 ppm) may pose direct risks for human health. Increasing atmospheric CO2 concentrations could make adverse exposures more frequent and prolonged through increases in indoor air concentrations and increased time spent indoors. We review preliminary evidence concerning the potential health risks of chronic exposure to environmentally relevant elevations in ambient CO2, including inflammation, reductions in higher-level cognitive abilities, bone demineralization, kidney calcification, oxidative stress and endothelial dysfunction. This early evidence indicates potential health risks at CO2 exposures as low as 1,000 ppm—a threshold that is already exceeded in many indoor environments with increased room occupancy and reduced building ventilation rates, and equivalent to some estimates for urban outdoor air concentrations before 2100. Continuous exposure to increased atmospheric CO2 could be an overlooked stressor of the modern and/or future environment. Further research is needed to quantify the major sources of CO2 exposure, to identify mitigation strategies to avoid adverse health effects and protect vulnerable populations, and to fully understand the potential health effects of chronic or intermittent exposure to indoor air with higher CO2 concentrations. A review of studies on exposure to elevated CO2 concentrations in air suggests that health damages, such as inflammation or reductions in cognitive abilities, can occur at levels as low as 1,000 ppm.
Do Perceptions Match Provision? Investigating the Gap between Levels of Service Provision and Citizen Perceptions in Sub-Saharan Africa

Do citizens' evaluation of government services accord with actual service provision by the government? Some argue that citizens are able to reward or sanction politicians on the basis of service provision and governance quality. Known as retrospective voting, this theory allows even uninformed voters to evaluate politicians while still not following politics or party platforms. Many authors, however, have questioned the core assumption of retrospective voting theories: that citizens are even capable of accurately evaluating service provision. When faced with the same objective level of service provision, two voters may evaluate that service differently, leading to a "perception gap" in evaluating services. This project investigates the perception gap, using a finite mixture model to test competing explanations for why citizens might mis-evaluate government service provision. We find that while the presence of the perception gap is difficult to predict, the direction of mis-evaluation is explained by sociotropic effects more than respondent identity or respondent engagement, though with major inter- and intra-country heterogeneity.
Plasma Membrane Affiliated AMPA GluA1 in Estrogen Receptor β-containing Paraventricular Hypothalamic Neurons Increases Following Hypertension in a Mouse Model of Post-menopause.

Sex and ovarian function contribute to hypertension susceptibility, however, the mechanisms are not well understood. Prior studies show that estrogens and neurogenic factors, including hypothalamic glutamatergic NMDA receptor plasticity, play significant roles in rodent hypertension. Here, we investigated the role of sex and ovarian failure on AMPA receptor plasticity in estrogen-sensitive paraventricular nucleus (PVN) neurons in naive and angiotensin II (AngII) infused male and female mice and female mice at early and late stages of accelerated ovarian failure (AOF). High-resolution electron microscopy was used to assess the subcellular distribution of AMPA GluA1 in age-matched male and female estrogen receptor beta (ERβ) enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP) reporter mice as well as female ERβ-EGFP mice treated with 4-vinylcyclohexene diepoxide. In the absence of AngII, female mice at a late stage of AOF displayed higher levels of GluA1 on the plasma membrane, indicative of functional protein, in ERβ-expressing PVN dendrites when compared to male, naive female and early stage AOF mice. Following slow-pressor AngII infusion, males, as well as early and late stage AOF females had elevated blood pressure. Significantly, only late stage-AOF female mice infused with AngII had an increase in GluA1 near the plasma membrane in dendrites of ERβ-expressing PVN neurons. In contrast, prior studies reported that plasmalemmal NMDA GluN1 increased in ERβ-expressing PVN dendrites in males and early, but not late stage AOF females. Together, these findings reveal that early and late stage AOF female mice display unique molecular signatures of long-lasting synaptic strength prior to, and following hypertension.
Lipid-anchor display on peptoid nanosheets via co-assembly for multivalent pathogen recognition.

Biological systems have evolved sophisticated molecular assemblies capable of exquisite molecular recognition across length scales ranging from angstroms to microns. For instance, the self-organization of glycolipids and glycoproteins on cell membranes allows for molecular recognition of a diversity of ligands ranging from small molecules and proteins to viruses and whole cells. A distinguishing feature of these 2D surfaces is they achieve exceptional binding selectivity and avidity by exploiting multivalent binding interactions. Here we develop a 2D ligand display platform based on peptoid nanosheets that mimics the structure and function of the cell membrane. A variety of small-molecule lipid-conjugates were co-assembled with the peptoid chains to create a diversity of functionalized nanosheet bilayers with varying display densities. The functional heads of the lipids were shown to be surface-exposed, and the carbon tails immobilized into the hydrophobic interior. We demonstrate that saccharide-functionalized nanosheets (e.g., made from globotriaosylsphingosine or 1,2-dipalmitoyl-sn-glycero-3-phospho((ethyl-1′,2′,3′-triazole)triethyleneglycolmannose)) can have very diverse binding properties, exhibiting specific binding to multivalent proteins as well as to intact bacterial cells. Analysis of sugar display densities revealed that Shiga toxin 1 subunit B (a pentameric protein) and FimH-expressing Escherichia coli (E. coli) bind through the cooperative binding behavior of multiple carbohydrates. The ability to readily incorporate and display a wide variety of lipidated cargo on the surface of peptoid nanosheets makes this a convenient route to soluble, cell-surface mimetic materials. These materials hold great promise for drug screening, biosensing, bioremediation, and as a means to combat pathogens by direct physical binding through a well-defined, multivalent 2D material.
Do pre-visit preparation and post-visit activities improve student outcomes on field trips?

Studies of individual environmental education (EE) field trip programs have found that pre-visit preparation and post-visit follow-up activities can enhance desired student outcomes. We examined th...
The Blueness of Water in Cartography, Culture, and Art: Conventions, Ontological Security, and Creativity

Both in culture and cartography, colors are assigned to specific features, concepts, and ideas that are frequently accepted and followed as norms. In this paper, I argue that these color codes crea...
A Novel Curriculum on Using Life Expectancy to Inform Cancer Screening in Older Adults.

BACKGROUND Many older adults with limited life expectancy still receive cancer screening. One potential contributor is that primary care providers (PCP) are not trained to incorporate life expectancy in cancer screening recommendations. We describe the development and evaluation of a novel curriculum to address this need. METHODS We developed and implemented a web-based learning module within a large Maryland group practice with PCPs for older adults. We assessed attitude, knowledge, self-efficacy, and self-reported behavior outcomes before the module, immediately after completing the module, and 6 months afterwards. RESULTS Of 172 PCPs who were invited, 86 (50%) completed the module and of these, 50 (58.1%) completed the 6-months follow up survey. Immediately after the module, there was a significant increase in perceived importance of life expectancy (increase of 0.50 point on 10-point scale, 95% confidence intervals (CI) = 0.27-0.73), confidence in predicting life expectancy (increase of 2.32 points on 10-point scale, 95% CI = 1.95-2.70) and confidence in discussion screening cessation (increase of 1.69 points on 10-point scale, 95% CI = 1.37-2.02). Knowledge in patient-preferred communication strategies improved from 55% correct response to 97% (P < .001). However, most of these improvements dissipated by 6 months and there was no change in self-reported behavior at 6 months compared to baseline (P = .34). CONCLUSION Although the module resulted in significant short-term improvement in attitude, knowledge, and self-efficacy, the changes were not sustained over time. Educational interventions such as this can be coupled with ongoing reinforcing strategies and/or decision support interventions to improve cancer-screening practices in older adults.
Kinematic and inertial hydroelastic effects caused by vertical slamming of a flexible V-shaped wedge

Abstract Due to the increasing use of composite materials in high-speed planing craft prone to frequent slamming, the interaction between the structural response and hydrodynamic loading, hydroelasticity, must be considered. In this work, a V-shaped wedge model with 20 ° deadrise angle was vertically dropped into the calm water to simulate a typical hydroelastic slamming. With varied impact velocity and flexural rigidity of the wedge bottom plate a wide range of hydroelasticity factors, 0 . 1 ≤ R ≤ 6 . 4 , were examined. Measurements included rigid-body kinematic motions of the wedge model, spray root propagation, hydrodynamic loading, and structural response. It was found that the maximum deflection and strain occur in the chine-unwetted phase in this study. The kinematic effect of hydroelasticity changes the spray root propagation and hence the pressure, while the inertial effect increases the natural period of the plate.
Chelidamic acid derivatives: Precursors to functionalized pyridyl cryptands & functionalized metal ligands

Abstract Pyridyl cryptands, such as 12–16 formed from pyridine-2,6-dicarbonyl chloride (4) and crown ether diols 7–11, have been demonstrated to be excellent hosts for viologens (N,N′-dialkyl-4,4′-bipyridinium salts, 2) with Ka values of ∼104 to 106 M−1 and thus are considered to be ideal building blocks for supramolecular systems. However, in order to incorporate these host motifs into useful starting materials, functionalization is required; in this article we describe syntheses of 23 new chelidamic acid (2,6-dicarboxy-4-hydroxypyridine, 5) derivatives that can be used to prepare functional pyridyl cryptands and functional metal ligands. The preparation and characterization of three new functionalized pyridyl cryptands are also included.
Mexican community forest enterprises as social firms: Organizational differences and the factors that shape them

Abstract Community forest enterprises (CFEs) are community-owned businesses that manage their forest resources for income, employment, and public goods and services. Although CFEs exist throughout the world, Mexican CFEs have been emphasized as a particularly successful model of community forestry that can deliver social, environmental, and financial benefits to forest communities. The internal organization of CFEs–the way enterprises are structured and managed to deliver benefits–plays a role in enhancing their functioning and achieving their goals. However, even in Mexico, the internal organization of CFEs remains understudied. Even fewer studies have examined the drivers that shape such internal organization and variation. We drew on social enterprise literature to examine how four CFEs in Oaxaca, Mexico are internally organized, and explored the primary factors that shape their organization. We found that the internal organization of the cases in our study varied beyond the archetypical distinctions that community forestry literature often draws among CFEs. Engaging with social enterprise literature helped us identify and document organizational differences related to CFEs' emphasis on productivity, use of paid labor, member benefits, collective nature, decision-making, and participatory nature. Such organizational differences were largely shaped by the unique histories of each of the four communities, federal policies and decisions that dissimilarly impacted communities, administrative boundaries that determined the different sizes and compositions of each community, and communities' varying internal capacities. Documenting such organizational intricacies and drivers allows for community practitioners to more transparently select–and policymakers to support–organizational features and practices best suited to a community's unique contexts and preferences when creating new CFEs or modifying existing enterprises. Additionally, drawing on social enterprise scholarship allows us to better understand different organizational features among CFEs, including potential causes and consequences, by drawing from a rich body of literature that has examined organization among social enterprises more broadly.
Helium Beam Shows the Gentle, Sensitive Touch

A microscope with unprecedented sensitivity, based on a beam of atoms rather than light or electrons, is a step closer to reality thanks to a German collaboration that has coaxed helium atoms into an intense, needle-fine beam. In contrast to energetic probes such as x-rays or electrons, helium atoms bounce lightly off the target surface without damaging it, so an atom-beam microscope would be a unique instrument for examining surface structures nonintrusively, such as watching the buzzing vibrations on the surface of the minute crystals in metals, say researchers.
Key Drivers of Reduced Cycle Time

OVERVIEW:This study demonstrates that short cycle times can be achieved while enhancing the effectiveness and quality of new products. Companies operating on short cycle times were found to extensively involve customers and suppliers in their new product R&D processes, adopt a product design philosophy that encourages the development of future innovations at low cost, incorporate manufacturing concerns at the design stage, test new products in user facilities during their development, and have well-developed procedures for transferring learning from one project to another. Short-cycle-time companies were also more profitable than longer-cycle-time companies and exhibited new product success rates above their industry averages, thus demonstrating that short-cycle-time management pays off on the bottom line.
Biodiversity and Watershed Management in the Condor Bioreserve, Ecuador

Abstract The Condor Bioreserve Watershed Protection Area is a project of The Nature Conservancy of Ecuador that seeks sustainable management of the Area for both biodiversity conservation and watershed production. The management problem is how to ensure that both these objectives are met while simultaneously meeting the diverse needs of the large and growing populations within and adjacent to the Area. For example, metropolitan Quito, a city of three million, depends on the Area's water. Conflict exists over the use of the watershed and the biodiversity within it. The chief threat is overusing biodiversity-destroying it by turning the watershed into a water factory for urban and agricultural uses. Incompatible interests, present competition and conflict must be ameliorated and foreseeable problems avoided in order to conserve biodiversity while meeting the needs of the human population. In this chapter the (1) Area's biodiversity and watershed issues are introduced, (2) the human context (social and decis...
Compiler parallelization of SIMPLE for a distributed memory machine

In machines like the Intel iPSC/2 and the BBN Butterfly, local memory operations are much faster than inter-processor communication. When writing programs for these machines, programmers must worry about exploiting spatial locality of reference. This is tedious and reduces the level of abstraction at the which the programmer works. We are implementing a parallelizing compiler that will shoulder much of that burden. Given a sequential, shared memory program and a specification of how data structures are to be mapped across the processors, our compiler will perform process decomposition to exploit locality of reference. In this paper, we discuss some experiments in parallelizing SIMPLE, a large scientific benchmark from Los Alamos, for the Intel iPSC/2.
One Cheer for Credit Rating Agencies: How the Mark-to-Market Accounting Debate Highlights the Case for Rating-Dependent Regulation

Mark-to-market (or fair value) accounting rules for financial assets came under sustained attack in 2008, with commentators blaming these rules for up to 70 percent of the financial crisis. The underlying argument was that reporting declining market values for assets would force sales of those assets, which in turn would depress market values and force more sales in an accounting-driven death spiral. A review of major financial failures and bailouts during the crisis casts grave doubt on this assertion. Although marking to market as provided by collateral provisions of bilateral trading contracts has been important, no major firms appear to have been done in by accounting rules. The scenario of an externally triggered death spiral would be much more plausible if regulators relied principally on market marks to determine capital requirements for regulated firms. In that case, the reported values would actually have bite and force sales. This is important because regulation based on credit spreads - mark-to-market regulation - is the principal alternative that has been offered to the use of credit ratings in financial regulation. The specter of a regulatory death spiral triggered by mark-to-market regulation highlights the theoretical problems involved in regulating based on unadjusted credit spreads. If capital regulation is going to be based on credit risk, regulators cannot escape from the need for human credit risk analysis by relying simply on market spreads. There is likely to be a continuing regulatory need for the discipline rating agencies are supposed to practice.
Thallium-205 nuclear relaxation and kinetic studies of sodium and potassium ion-activated adenosine triphosphatase.

Abstract The monovalent cation binding sites of membrane-bound sodium and potassium ion transport adenosine triphosphatase from sheep kidney, which is 35 to 40% pure, were examined by kinetic and 205T1 nuclear relaxation techniques. Kinetic studies show that T1+ substitutes for K+ in the activation of the enzyme, with a Km = 0.17 mm. The ATPase is inhibited by high levels of T1+ (Ki = 6.8 mm) or K+ (Ki = 11 mm), and in both cases the inhibition is competitive with respect to Na+. The binding of Mn2+ at the active site of the enzyme increases the longitudinal relaxation rate (1/T1) of 205T1 bound at the Na+ site. The increase in 1/T1 was not observed in the absence of enzyme or when Mg2+ was added instead of Mn2+, indicating that the ATPase enhances the paramagnetic effect of Mn2+ on 1/T1 of T1+. Similar effects of Mn2+ were observed at 2 and 23°. Addition of Pi to the enzyme-Mn2+-T1+ complex decreased the paramagnetic efect of Mn2+ on 1/T1 of T1+ due to an increase in the Mn2+ to T1+ distance. Addition of K+ produced a further decrease in 1/T1 by an amount consistent with the relative Ki values of K+ and T1+, suggesting the displacement of T1+ from the enzyme. These results indicate a T1+ binding site near the single tight Mn2+ binding site on the enzyme. From the 1/T1 data, a Mn2+ to T1+ distance of 4.0 ± 0.1 A is calculated. From crystallographic data on the Mn2Tl2(SO4)3 model complex (Zemann, A. and Zemann, J. (1957) Acta Crystallogr. Sect. B 10, 409), this distance suggests the sharing of a common ligand atom by Mn2+ and T1+ on the ATPase. Addition of Pi increases this distance to 5.4 A (5.0 to 6.6 A), consistent with the coordination of Mn2+ and T1+ to different oxygen atoms of the same bound phosphate. The normalized relaxation rates 1/fT1p of 1.15 x 105 s-1 and 2.0 x 104 s-1 in the absence and presence of phosphate set lower limits on the rate constant for dissociation of T1+ from the enzyme which are 2 to 3 orders of magnitude greater than the rate of hydrolysis of ATP. These results are consistent with a model proposed previously for the Na+ and K+ ion transport ATPase and ion transport in which the ionization state of Pi at a single enzyme-active site controls the binding and transport of Na+ and K+ (Grisham, C. and Mildvan, A. (1974) J. Biol. Chem. 249, 3187) and indicate that the transport site for monovalent cations is very near the catalytic site of the ATPase.
Annual dynamics of soil organic matter in the context of long-term trends

[1] Long-term research has provided a great deal of information regarding the influence of management on the equilibrium dynamics of soil organic matter (SOM), although short-term dynamics remain largely uninvestigated. An improved approach to characterizing SOM dynamics in managed ecosystems would consider both short-term and long-term changes in content and composition. This approach and its implications are illustrated for an experimental site comparing agricultural management practices. Changes in soil C composition were assessed semiquantitatively using 13 C natural abundance measurements, demonstrating their useful although rarely applied role in short-term studies. This information is a valuable complement to long-term data, since net differences since the site's inception fail to reveal a timeline marked by repeated changes in soil C content and composition. Such data are also useful for reinforcing and understanding long-term simulation models, which are typically driven by temporally dynamic events but are often fit against temporally sparse SOM data sets.
iDocument: How Smartphones and Tablets Are Changing Documentation in Preschool and Primary Classrooms.

Zoe builds a tower in the block area, taking care to leave a hole at the top. Her teacher pulls a smartphone from her pocket and snaps a picture. “What are you building, Zoe?” she asks. “Rapunzel’s tower,” Zoe replies. The children have been studying the story of Rapunzel for the last two weeks. “This is Rapunzel,” says Aster, showing the teacher a cutout drawing of a person. A piece of ribbon is taped to the head. “I see that she has very long hair,” the teacher says, snapping another picture. “Will Rapunzel’s hair reach the ground from the window of the tower?” The children see that the hair is too short to reach the bottom of Zoe’s tower, and they gather materials from the cut-andcolor table to fix it.
Doppler detection of decompression bubbles with computer assisted digitization of ultrasonic signals.

The use of an inexpensive, commercially available audio digitizer in conjunction with a PC to digitize Doppler bubble signals for visual and electronic evaluation is reported. This device can be operated simultaneously with Doppler audio monitoring. Precordial and arterial Doppler recordings of gas bubbles were obtained from anesthetized dogs after intravascular infusion or following decompression. Additional evaluations were conducted on Doppler bubble recordings obtained from human decompression studies. The device can be used in real-time or for later signal analysis. Accompanying menu-driven software provides for numerous signal modification options and visual displays. This device can provide a simultaneous visual display of Doppler signals normally available only for audio evaluation.
The Role of Motivation in the Decision Making of Adolescents with Mental Retardation

Publisher Summary This chapter provides a brief overview of some key issues of adolescent development, as identified in the general literature. To the extent possible, these issues are linked to what is known about adolescents with mental retardation. The chapter covers important theoretical and developmental perspectives on decision-making and motivation in individuals without disabilities. The chapter focuses upon research and theory pertaining to the role of motivation in the personal and interpersonal decision making of individuals with mental retardation with a focus on adolescents. The chapter concludes with a discussion of new directions and implications for the design of motivation‐based interventions to enable adolescents with mental retardation to make effective decisions in important areas of their lives.
Hyperkalemia and ion exchange resins—limitations

A clinical observation of hyperkalemia in a dialyzed patient operated on 3 times following a perforated colic diverticula, led us to discuss the action site of a cation exchange resin. Other therapeutic possibilities to manage hyperkalemia in a non-dialytic fashion in end-stage renal disease patients are reviewed. Such situations are rare, but may occur again.
A Cellular Mechanism for the Bidirectional Pain-Modulating Actions of Orphanin FQ/Nociceptin

Orphanin FQ/nociceptin (OFQ/N) and its receptor share substantial structural features and cellular actions with classic opioid peptides and receptors, but have distinct pharmacological profiles and behavioral effects. Currently there is an active debate about whether OFQ/N produces hyperalgesia or analgesia. Using a well-defined brainstem pain-modulating circuit, we show that OFQ/N can cause either an apparent hyperalgesia by antagonizing mu opioid-induced analgesia or a net analgesic effect by reducing the hyperalgesia during opioid abstinence. It presumably produces these two opposite actions by inhibiting two distinct groups of neurons whose activation mediates the two effects of opioid administration. OFQ/N antagonism of the hyperalgesia may have significance for the treatment of opioid withdrawal and sensitized pain.
Streptokinase Binds Preferentially to the Extended Conformation of Plasminogen through Lysine Binding Site and Catalytic Domain Interactions

Binding of streptokinase (SK) to plasminogen (Pg) activates the zymogen conformationally and initiates its conversion into the fibrinolytic proteinase, plasmin (Pm). Equilibrium binding studies of SK interactions with a homologous series of catalytic site-labeled fluorescent Pg and Pm analogues were performed to resolve the contributions of lysine binding site interactions, associated changes between extended and compact conformations of Pg, and activation of the proteinase domain to the affinity for SK. SK bound to fluorescein-labeled [Glu]Pg(1) and [Lys]Pg(1) with dissociation constants of 624 +/- 112 and 38 +/- 5 nM, respectively, whereas labeled [Lys]Pm(1) bound with a 57000-fold tighter dissociation constant of 11 +/- 2 pM. Saturation of lysine binding sites with 6-aminohexanoic acid had no effect on SK binding to labeled [Glu]Pg(1), but weakened binding to labeled [Lys]Pg(1) and [Lys]Pm(1) 31- and 20-fold, respectively. At low Cl(-) concentrations, where [Glu]Pg assumes the extended conformation without occupation of lysine binding sites, a 23-fold increase in the affinity of SK for labeled [Glu]Pg(1) was observed, which was quantitatively accounted for by expression of new lysine binding site interactions. The results support the conclusion that the SK affinity for the fluorescent Pg and Pm analogues is enhanced 13-16-fold by conversion of labeled [Glu]Pg to the extended conformation of the [Lys]Pg derivative as a result of lysine binding site interactions, and is enhanced 3100-3500-fold further by the increased affinity of SK for the activated proteinase domain. The results imply that binding of SK to [Glu]Pg results in transition of [Glu]Pg to an extended conformation in an early event in the SK activation mechanism.
Patient-reported perceptions of side effects of antihyperglycemic medication and adherence to medication regimens in persons with diabetes mellitus.

Abstract Background: With recent media attention to drug safety, patients may have heightened concerns about the side effects of medications that may affect their compliance with treatment. Objectives: The purpose of this study was to determine the proportion of patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus who perceived having experienced side effects of antihyperglycemic medications, the proportion of these patients who communicated their concerns to physicians, and the potential association between the perception of experiencing side effects and adherence to medication regimens. Methods: Patients with diabetes were identified through the claims of a Midwest US managed care organization, using Health Plan Employer Data and Information Set criteria. Questionnaires were mailed to randomly selected patients. Patients receiving oral antihyperglycemic medications were selected as prospective subjects. Patients were excluded if they were receiving insulin. Results: The responses of 445 patients meeting the study criteria were collected and analyzed. The subjects were predominately white, with a mean (SD) age of 56 (11) years and a mean duration of diabetes of 7.3 (8.8) years. One hundred forty-eight (33%) subjects reported a perception of having experienced side effects of antihyperglycemic medication; 126 (85%) subjects reported that they had communicated these concerns to their physicians. Analysis of the subjects' responses indicated an association between the perception of having experienced side effects and nonadherence to antihyperglycemic medication regimens (β=-0.15; P Conclusions: Nearly one third of subjects with diabetes receiving oral noninsulin antihyperglycemic medications reported a perception of having experienced medication-related side effects. Despite the large portion of subjects who reported that they had communicated these concerns to their physicians, the perception of experiencing medication-related side effects was significantly associated with nonadherence to antihyperglycemic drug regimens.
Blood Glucose in Crayfishes in Relation to Moult and Handling

DURING a recent investigation of the physiology of excretion in the crayfish1, it was discovered that significant differences in blood glucose-levels existed between intermoult (stage C) and premoult (stage D) specimens of Pacifastacus leniusculus (Dana) (Table 1). The moult stage was determined by a modification of the method of Drach2. The crayfishes were kept in a water-bath at 16° C. in which they had been unsegregated and unfed for periods of one to two weeks. Blood glucose was determined by the glucose oxidase (enzymatic) method of Saifer and Gerstenfeld3 (for details of experimental procedure, see Riegel and Kirschner, ref. 1).
Barriers to the Advance of Organizational Science: Paradigm Development as a Dependent Variable

The level of paradigm development—technical certainty and consensus—characterizing a field of study has numerous consequences for the social organization and operation of that field. These consequences, ranging from the ability to obtain resources to the ease of working collaboratively on research, have an impact on the subsequent development of the field (i.e., through a positive feedback loop). Although the degree of technical certainty or consensus is clearly affected by the fundamental nature of the subject of study, consensus is also produced by social practices that differentiate fields that are more or less paradigmatically developed. The study of organizations is arguably paradigmatically not well developed, in part because of values that emphasize representativeness, inclusiveness, and theoretical and methodological diversity. Although these values are attractive ideals, there are consequences for the field's ability to make scientific progress, which almost requires some level of consensus, as w...
Pricing of related products by a multiproduct monopolist

This paper examines the pricing behavior of a multiproduct monopolist (MPM). For a firm selling two products, the profit maximizing price of a particular item is found to depend upon its marginal cost, the own and cross-price elasticities and the budget shares of both products. Conditions are identified under which the price charged by a MPM will be greater than, less than, and equal to the price charged by an otherwise identical single product monopolist as well as the circumstances under which it is profitable for a MPM to utilize one product as a loss leader.
Selection in the Market for Slaves: New Orleans, 1830–1860

Greenwald and Glasspiegel argue that adverse selection depressed the market prices of slaves, causing current researchers to overestimate the rate of return from slavery. In this paper we test for the presence of adverse selection by comparing the prices of local slaves with the prices of slaves sold from estate sales. We find no difference in the prices of these slaves, from which we conclude that there was no significant adverse selection in the market. Instead, we propose an alternative explanation for the observed pattern of slave prices based on the costs of shipping slaves to the New Orleans market.
Banking Sector Reforms and Corporate Borrowing Costs in Emerging Markets

Using a panel data set of syndicated bank loans in emerging markets, we find that banking sector reforms that improve bank competition and facilitate bank privatization lead to lower borrowing costs, suggesting that these reforms improve efficiency in credit markets. Reforms that tighten bank supervision, however, increase loan spreads, consistent with better risk pricing with effective oversight. Bank competition and supervision reforms affect borrowing costs primarily in countries with low corruption and well-functioning legal environment. Bank privatization reforms are effective in countries with better investment profiles. These results suggest that the success of banking reforms depend closely on the quality of institutions.
Quantized synchrotron radiation as a cause of γ-ray bursts

In the last several years gamma-ray bursts have continued to be a mysterious and intr iguing phenomenon. The most remarkable observational fact is that the onset of radiation is almost instantaneous (< 2.10-4 s) with a subsequent rapid decay (< 0.35). The revealed concentration of their locations in the direction of the galactic center implies that distances to them are large and should be, on the average, a few kpc; the corresponding estimates of the average-energy output from these bursts, (104~ 1041) erg, yield a value of (10 ~9-104~ erg.s -1 for the average luminosity (1). An overall analysis of the observational data suggests that the burst are produced in regions with a gravitat ional potential of (0.1--0.2)c 2 and a magnetic field 2.1012 gauss (2). How does a gamma-ray burst work? Several models have been proposed to explain the energy source of these bursts. Impact models (3) suggest that a solid body (a comet or an asteroid) falls into the surface of a neutron star providing a nearly instantaneous release of energy. Accretion models (4) speculate that either the Eddington limit or a thermonuclear explosion on the surface of a neutron star may provide the explanation. In this note we try to explore quantized magnetic bremsstrahlung radiation in intense magnetic fields from the surface layers of neutron stars as a possible burst mechanism. In intense magnetic fields, when the gyrating radius of the electron is comparable to its de Broglie wave-length, the classical description of electrons is not valid, and a quantization process similar to that for atomic electrons takes place, resulting in discrete energy levels (known as Landau levels) in the motion perpendicular to the magnetic field, but the motion is still free along the field direction. The Landau levels
Visual acuity scored by the letter-by-letter or probit methods has lower retest variability than the line assignment method.

Purpose: The optimal method for scoring visual acuity measures is unknown. Our goal was to determine, in a clinical setting, the method of scoring visual acuity with the lowest test-retest variability. Methods: We investigated the effect of three different scoring methods using the Early Treatment Diabetic Retinopathy Study (ETDRS) visual acuity chart comparing 32 patients with macular disease and 38 age-matched normal subjects. All subjects completed six repetitions of ETDRS charts. Three scoring methods were then used (line assignment, ETDRS or letter-by-letter and probit), the results were converted to log MAR values and the test-retest variabilities analysed. Results: We found significant differences in variability among the three scoring methods (p<0.0001). The variability was greatest with the line assignment method and less with the ETDRS and probit methods. The ETDRS and probit methods had similar variabilities. The difference in variability between normals and patients was not statistically significant. There were no differences in the calculated visual acuities among the three methods, only the variabilities. Using the ETDRS or probit methods, the within-test standard deviation was about 0.04 log MAR units (two letters). Conclusion: Test-retest variability of visual acuity measurements is lower using the ETDRS or probit methods than the traditional line assignment method.
Sequence analysis of three fragments of maize nuclear DNA which replicate autonomously in yeast.

There maize nuclear DNA fragments were isolated on the basis of their ability to confer replication on chimeric plasmids in yeast. These Eco RI fragments of 2.5, 2.8 and 5.5 kb are repeated elements within the maize genome. The 2.5 and 2.8 kb fragments represent a family of elements repeated 11 000 times in the maize haploid genome, while the 5.5 kb fragment is part of another family of 28 000 elements. These fragments were subcloned to further define the unique region of ARS activity. The sequence of each 550–650 bp ARS subclone is reported here, and compared to the flanking regions which do not show ARS activity. The ARS elements are 65–70% A+T as compared to 50–55% for the maize genome as a whole. There is approximately 15% sequence divergence, as well as variation of ARS efficiency, among family members. ARS subclones contain the proposed yeast consensus sequence.
An Evaluation of the Field Experiences of the Innovative Model for the Preparation of Elementary Teachers for Science, Mathematics, and Technology.

Schools have a major role in providing mathematics and science programs that stimulate interest and encourage students to participate in science, mathematics and technology. This study focuses on the field experience component of teacher education programs. In this article, the AA. focus on the effect of some field experiences on the development of self-efficacy in elementary preservice teachers' participation in a government-funded degree program for certification in elementary teaching of science, mathematics and technology
The Moral Faculty: Does Religion Promote “Moral Expertise”?

Research on the moral faculty indicates that morality emerges naturally over the course of normal human development, similar to other competencies such as face perception, language, numerical reasoning, and some motor skills (running, jumping, etc.). One implication of this is that there should be a roughly normal distribution of moral skills. Thus, while most people develop competent moral skills, a few fail to develop these skills and a few develop them to an “expert” level. The skill development literature indicates that deliberate practice is necessary for the acquisition of expertise. Religious participation appears to provide the basic elements of deliberate “moral practice.” Empirical evidence is reviewed supporting the notion that religion provides the means and opportunity for the acquisition of moral expertise. A program of research into moral expertise is proposed with testable hypotheses presented.
COUPLED MULTICONFIGURATIONAL SELF-CONSISTENT-FIELD METHOD FOR ATOMIC DIPOLE POLARIZABILITIES. I. THEORY AND APPLICATION TO CARBON.

A method for calculating static dipole polarizabilities of atoms within a multiconfigurational self-consistent-field (SCF) framework is presented. The method involves the direct solution of the multiconfigurational SCF equations of an atom in the presence of a perturbing field which is simulated by a charged particle. The use of a multiconfigurational framework allows this technique to be applied straightforwardly to any given state of both degenerate and nondegenerate atoms, and also allows the explicit introduction of correlation effects. Sample calculations are reported for the static dipole polarizabilities of the carbon atom in its $^{1}S$, $^{1}D$, and $^{3}P$ states with partial inclusion of correlation. The results are compared with those obtained from many-body perturbation theory, and other techniques. In addition, a prescription for specifying a sufficiently flexible set of polarization basis functions is described.
Soluble domains of telomerase reverse transcriptase identified by high‐throughput screening

Telomerase is a ribonucleoprotein complex responsible for extending the ends of eukaryotic chromosomes. Structural and biophysical studies of this enzyme have been limited by the inability to produce large amounts of recombinant protein. Here we perform a high-throughput screen to map regions of the Tetrahymena thermophila TERT (Telomerase Reverse Transcriptase) protein that are overexpressed in a soluble form in Escherichia coli using a GFP-fusion system. Many of the soluble protein domains identified do not coincide with domains inferred from multiple sequence alignment, so screening for fluorescent colonies provided information not otherwise readily obtained. The method revealed an essential, independently folded N-terminal domain that was expressed and purified with high yield and found to be suitable for structural analysis. These results provide a tool for future structural and biophysical studies of TERT.
Evaluation of staff management strategies to increase positive interactions in a vocational setting

The purpose of this study was to determine the minimal components of a self-management program necessary to increase positive interactions among staff and clients working in a vocational setting. Three interventions were implemented, as needed, in an additive fashion including: Instruction and Goal Setting, Self-management, and Feedback. Instruction and Goal Setting did not increase staff positive interactions to a criterion level of 30% of intervals. However, during the self-management phase, all staff increased their positive interactions with clients, but two staff required feedback to maintain their positive interactions at the criterion level. Measures of generalization, compliance, and acceptability showed that increases in positive interactions occurred outside the assessment sessions; staff were consistently employing the procedures; and staff found all procedures to be acceptable.
Active site of an aminoacyl-tRNA synthetase dissected by energy-transfer-dependent fluorescence.

Abstract Aminoacyl–tRNA synthetases establish the rules of the genetic code by catalyzing attachment of amino acids to specific transfer RNAs (tRNAs) that bear the anticodon triplets of the code. Each of the 20 amino acids has its own distinct aminoacyl–tRNA synthetase. Here we use energy-transfer-dependent fluorescence from the nucleotide probe N -methylanthraniloyl dATP (mdATP) to investigate the active site of a specific aminoacyl–tRNA synthetase. Interaction of the enzyme with the cognate amino acid and formation of the aminoacyl adenylate intermediate were detected. In addition to providing a convenient tool to characterize enzymatic parameters, the probe allowed investigation of the role of conserved residues within the active site. Specifically, a residue that is critical for binding could be distinguished from one that is important for the transition state of adenylate formation. Amino acid binding and adenylate synthesis by two other aminoacyl–tRNA synthetases was also investigated with mdATP. Thus, a key step in the synthesis of aminoacyl–tRNA can in general be dissected with this probe.
3 Systems Engineering the Product Development Value Stream

Value stream analysis is a powerful tool for reducing cycle time in a product development enterprise. To date most applications have addressed the manufacturing phase. This paper describes the use of a systems engineering process to apply the concept of value stream analysis to product development and to develop a Product Development Value Stream (PDVS) map.