cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Aromatase cytochrome P450: cloning, intron variation, and ontogeny of gene expression in southern flounder (Paralichthys lethostigma).

Aromatase cytochrome P450 (P450 a r o m ) is the enzyme complex responsible for conversion of androgens to estrogens in vertebrates. Consequently, in some fishes its activity appears critical to ovarian differentiation. Southern flounder (Paralichthys lethostigma) is a commercially important flatfish in which females grow larger than males and sex determination is temperature sensitive. Through cloning of the P450 a r o m gene in ovary and quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction, we developed a biomarker for early female differentiation in southern flounder. The deduced amino acid sequence for southern flounder P450 a r o m is similar to other teleosts. Comparison of P450 a r o m intron sequences from fish of different populations revealed substantial inter-individual variation. Adult ovary and spleen exhibited high levels of P450 a r o m mRNA, while P450 a r o m mRNA was only weakly detected in testes. Brain, liver, intestine, kidney, gill, muscle, and heart showed little or no P450 a r o m mRNA expression. Gonads of wild and hatchery-produced juvenile flounder of sizes spanning the period of sex differentiation initially exhibited low levels of P450 a r o m mRNA followed by increases in some individuals and bifurcation into two clearly segregated groups (i.e., putative males and females) beginning at ∼65 mm in total length. Gonadal histology confirmed predictions of sex based on P450 a r o m expression in juvenile flounder, demonstrating that the patterns of P450 a r o m expression observed relate to sex-specific differentiation. This research represents a unique approach to assessing sex differentiation in a natural population, and a powerful technique for better understanding mechanisms of flounder sex determination and rapidly defining conditions for controlling sex for aquaculture.
A Descriptive Study of Literacy Events in Secondary Special Education Programs in Linguistically Diverse Schools

This study examined the linguistic and interactional features of print-related activities in secondary special education programs located in linguistically diverse schools. Descriptive data generated by participant observations of 15 special education classrooms in three high schools revealed that the printed materials used in these classrooms were written in English, academically oriented, and used by students and teachers in a teacher-to-student or student-working-alone interactional structure. In addition, English was used to talk about the printed material and most of this talk, which focused upon instruction, was initiated by teachers. These findings are discussed in light of theoretical advances in the education of linguistic minority students; implications for instruction are presented.
Detecting Cacopsylla pyricola (Hemiptera: Psyllidae) in predator guts using COI mitochondrial markers

Cacopsylla pyricola (Forster) is one of the most important pests of pear in North America, where several native predators have been considered for integrated pest management (IPM) programmes. Two molecular markers of 271 and 188 bp were developed from C. pyricola cytochrome oxidase I (COI) fragments, in order to study the detection of this species in the gut of arthropod predators. Primer sensitivity and the detection period for pear psylla remains in the guts of Anthocoris tomentosus Pericart were determined. The sensitivity threshold was defined at 10-5 dilution of a C. pyricola fifth-instar nymph in all samples. Predator adults were evaluated immediately after ingestion of one to five C. pyricola nymphs (t = 0) and after 2, 4, 6, 8, 16, 24 and 32 h. Detection of the presence of C. pyricola DNA always lasted longer using the shorter fragment and was observed after 32 h of digestion using both markers. The primers amplifying the 188 bp fragment amplified all four psyllid species tested, whereas the primers designed to amplify the 271 bp fragment did so exclusively for C. pyricola and its close relative, Cacopsylla pyri (Linnaeus). Both primers failed to amplify DNA from representative species of the Coccinellidae, Chrysopidae, Hemerobiidae, Anthocoridae, Miridae, Salticidae, Aphididae, Tetranychidae and the Tortricidae, suggesting their suitability for general trophic studies.
On-line marginal-cost pricing across networks: Incorporating heterogeneous users and stochastic equilibria

This paper discusses an on-line, trial-and-error implementation of marginal-cost pricing for networks with users whose values of travel time vary, whose demand functions are unknown, and whose route choices conform to random-utility maximization. It is an extension of Yang et al.’s [Yang, H., Meng, Q., Lee, D.-H., 2004. Trial-and-error implementation of marginal-cost pricing on networks in the absence of demand functions. Transportation Research Part B 38 (6), 477–493] calculations of optimal congestion tolls with homogenous travelers and shortest-path choices. The numerical example on an actual, large-scale network suggests the heuristic iterative procedure does converge in searching for optimal tolls.
Baroceptor and sympathetic activity in experimental renal hypertension in the dog.

Response to tetraethylammonium chloride was studied in normal and renal hypertensive dogs in which the carotid sinus was isolated and intrasinusal pressure was maintained by a pump. Normal, chronic, and acute renal hypertensive animals differed in their response at different intrasinusal pressure levels and indicated resetting of the baroceptors in the chronic hypertensive phase but not in the acute phase. This resetting may play a role in the maintenance of chronic renal hypertension.
An approach to formalization and analysis of message passing libraries

Message passing using libraries implementing the MessagePassing Interface (MPI) standard is the dominant communication mechanismin high performance computing (HPC) applications. Yet, the lackof an implementation independent formal semantics for MPI is a hugevoid that must be filled, especially given the fact that MPI will be implementedon novel hardware platforms in the near future. To help reasonabout programs that use MPI for communication, we have developed aformal TLA+ semantic definition of the point to point communicationoperations to augment the existing standard. The proposed semantics includes42 MPI functions, including all 35 point to point operations, manyof which have not been formally modeled previously. We also present aframework to extract models from SPMD-style C programs, so that designersmay understand the semantics of MPI by exercising short, yetpithy, communication scenarios written in C/MPI. In this paper, wedescribe (i) the TLA+ MPI model features, such as handling the explicitmemory for each process to facilitate the modeling of C pointers,and some of the widely used MPI operations, (ii) the model extractionframework and the simplifications made to the model that help facilitateexplicit-state model checking of formal semantic definitions, (iii) a customizedmodel checker for MPI that performs much faster model checking,and features a dynamic partial-order reduction algorithm whose correctnessis directly based on the formal semantics, and (iv) an error trailreplay facility in the Visual Studio environment. Our effort has helpedidentify a few omissions in the MPI reference standard document. Thesebenefits suggest that a formal semantic definition and exploration approachas described here must accompany every future effort in creatingparallel and distributed programming libraries.
Subclinical pulmonary vein narrowing after ablation for atrial fibrillation

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common sustained cardiac arrhythmia. The recognition that paroxysmal AF may be initiated by abnormalities in the pulmonary veins (PVs) led to the development of catheter based radiofrequency ablation procedures to isolate the PV and prevent the recurrence of AF.1 Clinical PV stenosis is recognised as an uncommon but severe complication.2 Contrast enhanced three dimensional magnetic resonance angiography (CE-MRA)3 readily visualises the PV and may detect changes in PV size before the development of clinical stenosis.4 We measured in detail the PV diameter, perimeter, and cross sectional area (CSA) in a consecutive series of patients who underwent CE-MRA before and one month after AF ablation. The study cohort consisted of 23 consecutive patients with paroxysmal AF who underwent CE-MRA before and after AF ablation from October 2001 to May 2003. The study was approved by the hospital committee on clinical investigation. AF ablation was performed by a standard method5 with mapping of the left atrium and PV by the CARTO system (Biosense Webster Inc, Diamond Bar, California, USA). The PV maximum diameter, perimeter, and CSA were measured before and after the procedure by an observer blinded to the clinical treatment.3 The left atrial dimension was measured in the axial plane. Continuous variables are presented as …
Nitric oxide regulates cerebral arteriolar tone in rats

Although cerebral penetrating arterioles are main regulators of the brain microcirculation, little is known about the effect of endothelium-derived relaxation factor on these vessels. This study examined the effects of nitric oxide synthase inhibitors on the spontaneous tone of isolated rat cerebral arterioles. Intraparenchymal penetrating arterioles (53 to 102 microns in passive diameter) isolated from Sprague-Dawley rats were cannulated with glass pipettes and subjected to 60 mm Hg of intraluminal pressure. The diameter response to intraluminal and extraluminal treatments was observed with an inverted microscope. Extraluminal application of Nw-nitro-L-arginine (10(-5) mol/L) contracted the arterioles to 63.9 +/- 2.8% (P < .05) of the control diameter. This contracting effect was stereospecific and easily reversed by L-arginine dose dependently (10(-3), 10(-2) mol/L) but not by D-arginine. Intraluminally applied Nw-nitro-L-arginine also induced a similar degree of contraction. Another nitric oxide synthase inhibitor, NG-monomethyl L-arginine (10(-5), 10(-4) mol/L), applied extraluminally induced a dose-dependent contraction to 77.5 +/- 6.6% and 68.6 +/- 5.4% of the control (P < .05), which was also reversed by L-arginine. L-Arginine alone did not significantly affect vessel diameter, however. Treatment with indomethacin, a cyclooxygenase inhibitor, dilated the vessel to 115.2 +/- 7% (P < .05) but did not change the constricting effect of Nw-nitro-L-arginine. Nw-Nitro-L-arginine and NG-monomethyl L-arginine produce substantial contraction in isolated brain arterioles, suggesting that nitric oxide of brain arterioles is continuously produced within the vessel wall. The dilatory effect of indomethacin appears to be independent of the vasoconstriction induced by nitric oxide synthase inhibitor. In these vessels, the effect of nitric oxide synthase inhibitors is not mediated by an indomethacin-sensitive mechanism. A balance probably exists between factors tending to constrict these arterioles and the elaboration of nitric oxide from endothelial cells, which tends to dilate them. The production of nitric oxide from isolated vessels indicates that parenchymal and vessel wall sources of nitric oxide are probably important in brain microcirculatory regulation.
Light-PREM: Automated software refactoring for predictable execution on COTS embedded systems

As real-time embedded systems become more complex, there is the need to build them using high performance commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) components. However, tasks can exhibit hard to predict worst case execution times (WCET) when executing on commodity hardware, due to contention among shared physical resources. Past work has introduced the PRedictable Execution Model (PREM) [1] to solve this issue, but unfortunately, the time required to manually refactor existing code according to this model is too high. Light-PREM proposes a novel technique that automates the refactoring process needed to convert legacy software applications to PREM-compliant code. The advantage of Light-PREM is twofold. On one side, it makes the adoption of PREM more attractive from an industrial point of view, because it significantly reduces the amount of work that is needed to generate PREM-compliant code. On the other hand, the proposed methodology is general enough to be used with any embedded software design. Experimental results show that Light-PREM significantly improves the predictability of real-time applications without requiring software engineers to gain a deep understanding about software memory usage.
Delay Patterns, Delay-Box Confinement, and Instrumental Performance

72 rats were trained in a runway for 9 days. Group D1 was delayed for 20 sec. on the first 3 days, D2 on the second 3 days, and D3 on the last 3. All other trials were rewarded immediately. During 5 days of extinction half of Ss had 20-sec. delay-box confinement on all trials; the other Ss had no confinement. Delays in training produced sudden, pronounced changes in behavior. on the average, Ss ran faster in both training and extinction, the earlier delay was introduced in training. Running speed in extinction varied inversely with the duration of confinement in extinction. Shifts to increased delay from training to extinction produced faster extinction; shifts to decreased delay led to slower extinction in comparison with relevant unchanged groups.
RGS16 Attenuates Pulmonary Th2/Th17 Inflammatory Responses

The regulators of G protein signaling (RGS) protein superfamily negatively controls G protein-coupled receptor signal transduction pathways. RGS16 is enriched in activated/effector T lymphocytes. In this paper, we show that RGS16 constrains pulmonary inflammation by regulating chemokine-induced T cell trafficking in response to challenge with Schistosoma mansoni. Naive Rgs16−/− mice were “primed” for inflammation by accumulation of CCR10+ T cells in the lung. Upon pathogen exposure, these mice developed more robust granulomatous lung fibrosis than wild-type counterparts. Distinct Th2 or putative Th17 subsets expressing CCR4 or CCR10 accumulated more rapidly in Rgs16−/− lungs following challenge and produced proinflammatory cytokines IL-13 and IL-17B. CCR4+Rgs16−/− Th2 cells migrated excessively to CCL17 and localized aberrantly in challenged lungs. T lymphocytes were partially excluded from lung granulomas in Rgs16−/− mice, instead forming peribronchial/perivascular aggregates. Thus, RGS16-mediated confinement of T cells to Schistosome granulomas mitigates widespread cytokine-mediated pulmonary inflammation.
Stomatal Conductance, Canopy Temperature, and Leaf Area Index Estimation Using Remote Sensing and OBIA techniques

Remotely sensed images including LANDSAT, SPOT, NAIP orthoimagery, and LiDAR and relevant processing tools can be used to predict plant stomatal conductance (gs), leaf area index (LAI), and canopy temperature, vegetation density, albedo, and soil moisture using vegetation indices like normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) or soil adjusted vegetation index (SAVI) developed with near infrared (NIR) and red bands. In this study, we present results of those analyses for two study sites with different plant species: 1) a managed loblolly pine (Pinus taeda L.) forest in coastal North Carolina for canopy temperature and gs and 2) a managed Blueberry (Vaccinium corymbosum) orchard within a natural forest in coastal Georgia (Z-Blu orchard) for the LAI. An Object Based Image Analysis (OBIA) technique was employed on the Z-Blu orchard to distinguish the forest species and establish their correlation with LAI using ground-truthing. Similarly, we used OBIA technique for the forest speciation on Turkey Creek watershed at Francis Marion National Forest site in coastal South Carolina with ground-truthing. Both classified images yielded 80% classification accuracy based on field verifications. Similarly, >90% correlation was obtained for the LAI map developed for Z-Blu orchard site plant speciation. However, for the NC pine site, the correlations were poor, with R2 values of 0.33 and 0.26 for gs v/s Landsat Middle Infrared (MIR) and gs v/s Landsat Thermal Infrared TIR models, respectively. This study on advanced image processing approach for forest speciation and ET parameters prediction/estimation can be a basis for similar other studies in the region.
Automatic transformations for communication-minimized parallelization and locality optimization in the polyhedral model

The polyhedral model provides powerful abstractions to optimize loop nests with regular accesses. Affine transformations in this model capture a complex sequence of execution-reordering loop transformations that can improve performance by parallelization as well as locality enhancement. Although a significant body of research has addressed affine scheduling and partitioning, the problem of automaticallyfinding good affine transforms forcommunication-optimized coarsegrained parallelization together with locality optimization for the general case of arbitrarily-nested loop sequences remains a challenging problem. We propose an automatic transformation framework to optimize arbitrarilynested loop sequences with affine dependences for parallelism and locality simultaneously. The approach finds good tiling hyperplanes by embedding a powerful and versatile cost function into an Integer Linear Programming formulation. These tiling hyperplanes are used for communication-minimized coarse-grained parallelization as well as for locality optimization. The approach enables the minimization of inter-tile communication volume in the processor space, and minimization of reuse distances for local execution at each node. Programs requiring one-dimensional versusmulti-dimensional time schedules (with scheduling-based approaches) are all handled with the same algorithm. Synchronization-free parallelism, permutable loops or pipelined parallelismat various levels can be detected. Preliminary studies of the framework show promising results.
Social Learning Theory, Self-Reported Delinquency, and Youth Gangs: A New Twist on a General Theory of Crime and Delinquency

Social learning theory has been applied to a wide variety of criminal, delinquent, and deviant behavior. The current study examines the utility of applying selected elements of the theory to the examination of youth gangs. The subjects consist of a stratified random sample of male and female 9th-grade public school students living in a southwestern state. Following the logic of Akers' variant of social learning theory, we ask the following question: To what extent are attitudes toward gangs and gang activity, social reinforcers and punishers, and differential associations linked to self-reported gang involvement and gang-related delinquency? We found that the social learning perspective provided considerable insights into gang membership. Our analysis of group-context offending was related to both social learning theory and gang membership. Other forms of self-reported delinquency, however, while linked to social learning theory, were unrelated to gang membership. These findings portend significant theore...
Pasireotide (SOM230) shows efficacy and tolerability in the treatment of patients with advanced neuroendocrine tumors refractory or resistant to octreotide LAR: results from a Phase II study

Pasireotide (SOM230) is a novel multireceptor-targeted somatostatin (sst) analog with high binding affinity for sst receptor subtype 1, 2, 3 (sst(1,2,3)) and sst(5). Because of this binding profile, pasireotide may offer symptom control in patients with neuroendocrine tumors (NETs) and carcinoid syndrome no longer responsive to octreotide LAR. This was a phase II, open-label, multicenter study of pasireotide in patients with advanced NET whose symptoms of carcinoid syndrome (diarrhea/flushing) were inadequately controlled by octreotide LAR. Patients received s.c. pasireotide 150 μg twice daily (bid), escalated to a maximum dose of 1200 μg bid until a clinical response was achieved. Forty-four patients were evaluated for efficacy and 45 for tolerability. Pasireotide 600-900 μg s.c. bid effectively controlled the symptoms of diarrhea and flushing in 27% of patients. Evaluation of tumor response in 23 patients showed 13 with stable disease and ten with progressive disease at study end. The most common drug-related adverse events were nausea (27%), abdominal pain (20%), weight loss (20%), and hyperglycemia (16%) and most were of mild or moderate severity. Pasireotide 600-900 μg s.c. bid was effective and generally well tolerated in controlling the symptoms of carcinoid syndrome in 27% of patients with advanced NET refractory or resistant to octreotide LAR therapy.
Kyphosis and Decline in Physical Function Over 15 Years in Older Community-Dwelling Women: The Study of Osteoporotic Fractures

Preserving functional independence in later life requires that an elderly individual has the physical ability to carry out the usual activities of daily life. With aging, kyphosis, an anterior curvature in the thoracic spine, tends to progress (1), and those who are affected by greater magnitude of kyphosis are more likely to suffer from functional limitations that affect the usual activities of daily living (2–5). For example, it has been reported in multiple cross-sectional studies that women with greater magnitude of kyphosis have difficulty reaching overhead and performing heavy housework and also scored lower on a basic activities of daily living scale than did their erect peers (4–7). Furthermore, women with greater magnitude of kyphosis have demonstrated difficulty performing physical function tasks including rising from a chair without the use of their arms, balancing on a narrow base of support, walking on level ground, and stair climbing (3,6,8,9). These physical function limitations increase the risk of falls, fractures, disability, and mortality (8–12), thus highlighting the importance of determining whether kyphosis, a potentially modifiable risk factor (13–17), predicts worsening physical function over time. We recently found that greater magnitude of kyphosis predicted longer performance times on the Timed Up and Go test over a mean 4.4 years in a cohort of older women with low hip bone mineral density (BMD) (18). These findings were independent of other significant predictors of worsening physical function including age, health status, grip strength, body mass index, change in hip BMD, and new vertebral fractures (18). Given that this was the first longitudinal assessment of the effects of kyphosis on physical function over time and the cohort was restricted to older women with low hip BMD, it is of interest to determine whether greater magnitude of kyphosis predicts greater decline in physical function over time in older women irrespective of their BMD. To answer this question, we retrospectively assessed whether a greater magnitude of kyphosis at baseline is associated with worse decline in self-reported and objectively measured physical function over an average follow-up of 15 years in healthy, community-dwelling older women in the Study of Osteoporotic Fractures irrespective of their BMD.
Dynamic Routing and Scheduling for Variable Bandwidth Circuit Switching

Variable bandwidth circuit switching is an approach in which a variable amount of bandwidth is reserved over the duration of circuit, in contrast to the fixed amount of bandwidth reserved in traditional circuit switching and advance reservation. In this paper, we focus on the routing and scheduling problem in variable bandwidth circuit switching. We develop three heuristics and compare the performances of the proposed heuristics to an optimal algorithm, which minimizes the net file transfer time. While the optimal algorithm minimizes the net file transfer time for a single given request, it may end up allocating excessive resources in the network, leading to higher blocking and end-to-end delay for subsequent requests. The results demonstrate that in a dynamic traffic scenario, the proposed heuristics outperform the optimal algorithm in terms of request blocking, end-to-end delay, and throughput with significantly lower time complexity.
Rosiglitazone decreases blood pressure and renal injury in a female mouse model of systemic lupus erythematosus

Women with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) exhibit a high prevalence of hypertension and renal injury. Rosiglitazone (Rosi), a peroxisome proliferator activator receptor gamma (PPARgamma) agonist, has renal protective and antihypertensive effects. We tested whether Rosi ameliorates hypertension and renal injury in a female mouse model of SLE (NZBWF1). Thirty-week-old SLE and control (NZW/LacJ) mice (n > or = 6/group) were fed Rosi (5 mg.kg(-1).day(-1) in standard chow) or standard chow for 4 wk. SLE mice had increased blood pressure (BP in mmHg) compared with controls (139 +/- 4 vs. 111 +/- 4, P < 0.05). Rosi treatment lowered BP in SLE mice (127 +/- 4, P < 0.05) but not in controls (111 +/- 4). Urinary albumin (mug/mg creatinine) was increased in SLE mice compared with controls (12,396 +/- 6,525 vs. 50 +/- 6) and reduced with Rosi treatment (148 +/- 117). Glomerulosclerosis (% of glomeruli with sclerosis) was reduced in Rosi-treated SLE mice (4.2 +/- 1.6 vs. 0.4 +/- 0.3, P < 0.05). Renal monocyte/macrophage numbers (cell number/1,320 points counted) were reduced in SLE mice treated with Rosi (32.6 +/- 11.0 vs. 10.6 +/- 3.6, P < 0.05) but unchanged in controls (3.7 +/- 1.6 vs. 3.7 +/- 2.0). Renal osteopontin expression, a cytokine-regulating macrophage recruitment, was reduced in Rosi-treated SLE mice. Urinary endothelin (in pg/mg creatinine) was increased in SLE mice compared with controls (1.9 +/- 0.59 vs. 0.6 +/- 0.04, P < 0.05) and reduced in SLE mice treated with Rosi (0.8 +/- 0.11, P < 0.05). PPARgamma protein expression in the renal cortex was significantly lower in SLE mice compared with controls and was unaffected by Rosi. These data suggest that Rosi may be an important therapeutic option for the treatment of SLE hypertension and renal injury.
Effect of heat treating alfalfa hay on chemical composition and ruminal in vitro protein degradation

Abstract Conventional (unshredded) and shredded alfalfa hays were heated in either a forced-air oven or a steam pressure cooker at different times and temperatures to determine the effect of heat treatment on chemical composition and ruminal protein degradability. Rates of protein degradation and extents of protein escape were estimated using a ruminal inhibitor in vitro system. Both rates and extents were corrected for the proportion of total N in ADIN. Estimated net protein escape (total escape minus ADIN-bound CP) of unshredded and shredded hays was increased by oven or steam heating. Optimal oven treatments, as indicated by the greatest increase in net protein escape, were 120min at 150°C and 60min at 160°C. Net protein escapes of shredded hay were greater than unshredded hay when neither was heated and when hays were heated to the same extent. Equivalent protein protection was obtained by oven heating for 120min at 140°C, 60min at 150°C, and 30min at 160°C, which gave net protein escapes of 55, 54, and 54% for shredded hay and 44, 45, and 43% for unshredded hay, respectively. Similar protein protection was obtained at lower temperatures and shorter times with steam heating. Nearly optimal net protein escapes were obtained with steam treatment for 30 to 120min at 100°C or for 15min at 110 or 120°C. Oven heating and, especially, steam heating of hays for the longer times increased ADIN to very high percentages. These data indicated that moderate heat treatment of alfalfa hay reduces ruminal protein degradation and improves protein utilization.
Androgen and Estrogen Actions in the Vertebrate Brain

In all vertebrates gonadal secretions, through their actions on the central nervous system (CNS), control sex and sex-related behaviors and also regulate production of gonadotropin. Recently, major advances have been made in characterizing the molecular events which underlie these processes. Discussed in this paper are the nature and source of androgens and estrogens; their sites of action within the CNS as determined by steroid implant and autoradiographic studies; some manifestations of brain-steroid interactions, both “triggering” and “organizational”; evidence supporting a conventional genomic mechanism versus alternative modes of action; the critical role of androgen metabolizing enzymes in regulating the quality and quantity of active hormone in close proximity to targets; and some determinants of steroid access to the CNS. Information from nonmammalian vertebrates is reviewed in relation to the major body of knowledge derived from common laboratory species. The intent of this paper is to provide a biological perspective and to stimulate interest in the use of unconventional animal models for future studies.
Generations and Regeneration: "Sexceptionalism" and Group Identity among Puritans in Colonial New England

A s P u r i t A n c o l o n i s t s v e n t u r e d to North america, they experienced a set of obligations deeply connected to their identity as English subjects. To the Crown they pledged the settlement of a new continent that would further promote the monarchy’s growing empire. To God they vowed to be models of “Christian charitie” as they cared for each other in a harsh new environment. and for their own fulfillment they promised commitment to pure Christianity, extending the dissent that had led them to pursue distance from England as well as its church. While colonial New
ELDRS Characterization up to 300 Krad of Texas Instruments High Speed Amplifiers, LM7171 and LM6172

Texas Instruments' LM7171 (5962F9553602VXA) was tested to 300 krad and LM6172 (5962R9560403VXA) was tested to 200 krad at a dose rate of 10 mrad/s. Testing to 300 krad took one year. Both products were ELDRS free.
Allocations Attributable to Partner Nonrecourse Liabilities: Issues Revealed by LLCs and LLPs

After first presenting a historical overview of partnership tax law (emphasizing sections 752 and 704(b)) and detailing the mechanical rules as they apply to different business organizations that are taxed as partnerships, this article explores the unique nuances that materialize when LLCs and LLPs incur recourse liabilities and raises the fundamental question whether the rules for allocations attributable to partner nonrecourse liabilities can be eliminated. After illustrating how the limited liability feature of LLCs and LLPs leads to different safe harbors (the substantial economic effect or partner nonrecourse) applying to substantively similar situations this article analyzes how the substantial economic effect rules create an opportunity to allocate distributive shares of losses supported by illusory deficit restoration obligations when LLCs and LLPs incur recourse liabilities. This article also illustrates that eliminating the partner nonrecourse debt rules will be difficult because the substantial economic effect safe harbor cannot be easily amended to ensure the proper measurement of losses attributable to liabilites now covered by the partner nonrecourse debt rules.
Sodium nitroprusside augments human lung fibroblast collagen gel contraction independently of NO-cGMP pathway.

Nitric oxide (NO) relaxes vascular smooth muscle in part through an accumulation of cGMP in the target cells. We hypothesized that a similar effect may also exist on collagen gel contraction mediat...
Discussion Leader Comments

Services Marketing scholars often link service quality and customer satisfaction to service customer loyalty. The establishment and maintenance of customer loyalty is important to a service firm's profitability chain in that higher levels of loyalty and customer retention reduce the costs associated with recruiting and retaining new customers. Loyalty drives firm profits and stakeholder reinvestments in quality via repeat purchase and word-of-mouth referrals (Reichheld and Sasser 1990; Jones and Sasser 1995). In order to more fully understand customer loyalty, its antecedents and its consequences, service marketing researchers are approaching its study from a relationship marketing perspective. Indeed, the goal of a service firm's relationship marketing efforts is to create and maintain customer loyalty; but, what drives loyalty in customer relationships? The three empirical papers discussed in this commentary address this important question and contribute additional insight into the nature of consumer service relationships.
Therapy of ED: PDE-5 Inhibitors.

The development of phosphodiesterase inhibitors, which are selective for the type 5 isoenzyme, has revolutionized the initial evaluation and treatment of men with erectile dysfunction. These agents can be taken orally and are effective in 60–70% of patients with erectile dysfunction, and they have low incidences of side effects when taken as recommended. The major contraindications are concomitant use with nitrates or the alpha-blockers terazosin and doxazosin. The major difference in the three approved inhibitors is that tadalafil has a considerably longer serum half-life, which provides a longer window of opportunity and potentially side effects.
RANDOM TREES AND THE COMPARATIVE METHOD: A CAUTIONARY TALE

One of the toughest problems facing comparative biology is the paucity of robust phylogenetic hypotheses for many taxonomic groups. Martins (1996) proposed a method to analyze comparative data in the absence of a known phylogeny using randomly generated trees. Before applying this method, however, researchers should be aware that (1) parameter estimates derived from this method essentially assume a star phylogeny, and thus, estimate the same evolutionary regression or correlation coefficient as traditional cross-species analyses; and (2) statistical conclusions derived from this method may be so conservative as to mask evolutionary patterns, such as Rensch's rule, and should be interpreted with caution.
RTO Flue Gas Waste Heat Utilization Energy-saving Technology

In the automobile painting automatic production line,drying equipment is one of the main energy-consuming production equipment,Through the RTO(regenerative gas oxidation device)flue gas waste heat utilization of integrated energy saving technology,on the low temperature discharge flue gas waste heat recovery and utilization,can improve the thermal efficiency,reduce energy consumption and raise economic benefits;response to the national energy-saving emission reduction policy,make certain contribution for social and environmental protection.
Experimental Research on Dictation-Recitation's Influence on the Listening of Foreign Languages

For people learning foreign languages,listening comprehension is often the weakest among the five fundamental skills,namely listening,speaking,reading,writing,translation.This paper analyses the experiment of dictation recitation that lasts one year and concludes that this method has positive effect on improving listening comprehension.In addition,it is proved that it could also enhance the interest of listening and stimulate the desire to learn.In this way,these advices could be provided to foreign language learners to increase their ability of listening.
Challenges to Procreative Obligation

If the arguments of the first three chapters of this book are more or less on track, then it looks as though each of us may have an obligation to make procreative choices restricted by concerns about overpopulation and climate change. When faced with such a claim, however, many people have a hard time believing it. Could morality really invade so far into the private sphere? Could it be so demanding as to require that we give up having the size of family that we want? This reaction is understandable, and there is significant philosophical literature on what morality can demand from us, as well as whether it could intrude into our procreative decisions, in particular. These issues will be the topic of the present chapter. In particular, I will propose what I take to be the most powerful objections to the idea of procreation-limiting obligations, in order to see whether such objections can really get us entirely off the moral hook. And, perhaps unfortunately, I will conclude that they cannot. While the objections to be investigated here provide good reason to think that we are generally not obligated to remain childless, it is much less clear whether such objections are able to defeat a more modest obligation to have no more than one or two children.
Filtering, Intrusion Detection, and Attack Management

The Cisco PIX firewall is an advanced product and has many different options for protecting against network layer attacks. It also supports content filtering for outbound Web and FTP access and a limited form of intrusion detection. The PIX firewall can filter and block potentially harmful Web traffic, including Java and ActiveX applications. This chapter discusses how the PIX firewall can integrate with virus-filtering, spam-blocking, and adware mechanisms. The PIX firewall provides integrated intrusion detection for common information-gathering stacks and network attacks. How to use IDS signatures in the PIX firewall to detect common network attacks is discussed in this chapter. Content filtering features on the PIX can be used to enforce a company's acceptable use policy. Finally, the PIX has embedded protection against various DoS attacks, such as SYN floods, excessive fragmentation, and excessive connection establishment. The reverse-path forwarding feature supports IP address antispoofing.
An externality of groundwater depletion: land subsidence and residential property prices in Phoenix, Arizona

ABSTRACTOne of the main physical effects of the depletion of aquifers is land subsidence – the lowering of the land-surface elevation as a result of groundwater overdraft. A second effect is the development of earth fissures as a result of the horizontal movement of sediments during subsidence. To determine the value of these effects we investigated the impact of land subsidence and earth fissures on residential property values in Maricopa County, Arizona. Using 82,716 arms-length property sales between 2004 and 2010, we estimated a fixed effects hedonic price model. We found that existing and future land subsidence, and earth fissures had a negative impact on the property values. The mean value of properties located in land subsidence features was lower than those located outside land subsidence features, and the disamenity associated with earth fissures was largest for properties located in land subsidence features.
C*-Algebras and Applications

The theory of C*-algebras dates from the discovery by Gelfand and Naimark that uniformly closed self-adjoint operator algebras on Hilbert space—unlike the rings studied by von Neumann and Murray—could be characterized in simple intrinsic algebraic terms, independently of their action on Hilbert space. This opened up the study of the algebraic isomorphism classes of such algebras, in the sense of emphasizing its cogency. It was soon found that C*-algebras have certain applications in quantum mechanics, and especially in quantum field theory, in parts of group representation theory, and some other areas, in which W*-algebras could not be substituted.
Unfinished Business: The Democratization of Electoral Practices in Britain and Germany

This article explains legislators’ support for electoral reforms reducing electoral irregularities and protecting voters’ autonomy at the ballot box in Britain and Germany in the late 19th century....
Mitochondrial mechanisms of neuronal rescue by F-68, a hydrophilic Pluronic block co-polymer, following acute substrate deprivation.

Global brain ischemia can lead to widespread neuronal death and poor neurologic outcomes in patients. Despite detailed understanding of the cellular and molecular mechanisms mediating neuronal death following focal and global brain hypoxia-ischemia, treatments to reduce ischemia-induced brain injury remain elusive. One pathway central to neuronal death following global brain ischemia is mitochondrial dysfunction, one consequence of which is the cascade of intracellular events leading to mitochondrial outer membrane permeabilization. A novel approach to rescuing injured neurons from death involves targeting cellular membranes using a class of synthetic molecules called Pluronics. Pluronics are triblock copolymers of hydrophilic poly[ethylene oxide] (PEO) and hydrophobic poly[propylene oxide] (PPO). Evidence is accumulating to suggest that hydrophilic Pluronics rescue injured neurons from death following substrate deprivation by preventing mitochondrial dysfunction. Here, we will review current understanding of the nature of interaction of Pluronic molecules with biological membranes and the efficacy of F-68, an 80% hydrophilic Pluronic, in rescuing neurons from injury. We will review data indicating that F-68 reduces mitochondrial dysfunction and mitochondria-dependent death pathways in a model of neuronal injury in vitro, and present new evidence that F-68 acts directly on mitochondria to inhibit mitochondrial outer membrane permeabilization. Finally, we will present results of a pilot, proof-of-principle study suggesting that F-68 is effective in reducing hippocampal injury induced by transient global ischemia in vivo. By targeting mitochondrial dysfunction, F-68 and other Pluronic molecules constitute an exciting new approach to rescuing neurons from acute injury.
Explaining and Generalizing Skip-Gram through Exponential Family Principal Component Analysis

The popular skip-gram model induces word embeddings by exploiting the signal from word-context coocurrence. We offer a new interpretation of skip-gram based on exponential family PCA-a form of matrix factorization to generalize the skip-gram model to tensor factorization. In turn, this lets us train embeddings through richer higher-order coocurrences, e.g., triples that include positional information (to incorporate syntax) or morphological information (to share parameters across related words). We experiment on 40 languages and show our model improves upon skip-gram.
Between mediation and critique: Quaker nonviolence in apartheid Cape Town, 1976–1990:

In the final years of legal apartheid, the small community of Quakers in Cape Town, South Africa sought to apply their tradition of political and theological nonviolence to the systematic injustice...
An Update on the Diagnosis, Grading, and Staging of Appendiceal Mucinous Neoplasms

Despite advances in our understanding of appendiceal mucinous neoplasms and their relationship to the pseudomyxoma peritonei syndrome, the classification of mucinous tumors of the appendix is still confusing. This review will provide an update on the various classification systems that have been recently proposed for appendiceal mucinous neoplasia, with a particular emphasis on how to handle and report the histologic findings for these tumors using the newly published Peritoneal Surface Oncology Group International (PSOGI) and American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) eighth edition guidelines. A simplified approach to diagnostic reporting of appendiceal mucinous neoplasms based on the 3-tier AJCC grading scheme is detailed and specific criteria for assessing grade in appendiceal mucinous neoplasia will be outlined. In addition, histologic mimics of appendiceal mucinous neoplasia and how to distinguish these mimics from mucinous neoplasia will be discussed. Finally, despite improvements in diagnostic terminology, significant challenges in classifying appendiceal mucinous neoplasia persist and diagnostic strategies will be detailed to assist practicing pathologists in these challenging scenarios.
LOGISTIC UTILITY OF MANDATORY ROUTINE BASELINE ECHOCARDIOGRAPHY EXAMS PRIOR TO TREATMENT WITH ANTHRACYCLINES FOR BREAST CANCER: CHALLENGING A NON-EVIDENCE-BASED RECOMMENDATION

Several oncologic and cardiovascular organizations have recommended routine left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) evaluation for all patients prior to anthracycline chemotherapy for breast cancer. Nevertheless, there is no clinical or cost-effective evidence in support of such practice. Clinical
ASSESSING THE ACCURACY OF AN AUTOMATED ATRIAL FIBRILLATION DETECTION ALGORITHM USING NOVEL SMARTWATCH TECHNOLOGY AMONG PATIENTS PRESENTING FOR ELECTIVE CARDIOVERSION

The Kardia Band (KB) is a novel technology that enables patients to record a single lead rhythm strip for 30 seconds using an Apple smartwatch. The band is paired with an app that provides an algorithm for automated detection of atrial fibrillation (AF). The objective of our study was to examine
Parental Incarceration and Child Well-being: Conceptual and Practical Concerns Regarding the Use of Propensity Scores.

The aim of the current investigation was to examine the appropriateness of propensity score methods for the study of incarceration effects on children by directing attention to a range of conceptua...
Stochastic differential equations with feedback in the differentials

Existence, unicity, and stability of solutions of stochastic differential equations of the type Z=M+FZ·Y+GZ·HZ are established. M and Y are semimartingales with continuous paths. The novelty here is that instantaneous feedback in the driving term is allowed.
ENDOCRINOLOGY FELLOWS' PERCEPTION OF THEIR CONFIDENCE AND SKILL LEVEL IN PROVIDING TRANSGENDER HEALTHCARE

ABSTRACT Objective: Both educational content and hours devoted to transgender health training of endocrinology fellows are suboptimal. The objective of this study was to assess the perspectives of ...
Inertial Yaw-Independent Velocity and Attitude Estimation for High-Speed Quadrotor Flight

This letter addresses the velocity and attitude estimation of a quadrotor using motor speeds and inertial measurement unit (IMU) data. This result is obtained through a novel filter that employs a first-order drag model, which allows the velocity to be observed through the drag forces acting on the quadrotor. These forces are measured with the IMU. Compared to our previous contribution [J. Svacha, K. Mohta, M. Watterson, G. Loianno, and V. Kumar, “Inertial velocity and attitude estimation for quadrotors,” in Proc. IEEE/RSJ Int. Conf. Intell. Robots Syst. , Oct. 2018, pp. 1–9.], decoupling the attitude into a yaw-tilt convention results in the tilt and velocity in the body-fixed frame being independent of the yaw. Thus, the velocity and attitude estimates are no longer affected by yaw drifts obtained from dead-reckoning procedures. The camera available on the vehicle can optionally be employed to recover the yaw in a computationally efficient way without requiring RANSAC, instead using the estimated velocity and attitude from the filter. The IMU is concurrently used to estimate the thrust, linear drag coefficients, and accelerometer biases. Experimental results on a quadrotor platform show the feasibility of the proposed approach.
Development of army relevant integrated photonics MIP platform

Wearable biosensors have emerged as an advancement in the field of performance and threat monitoring in part due to the potential to overcome the limits of conventional soldier health monitoring and environmental sensing technologies. However, to transition these devices to universal use, several challenges like selectivity, sensitivity, stability, level of invasivity, and efficient sample handling must be overcome. Additionally, discovery of novel biomarker and correlation to performance for current and emerging threats should continue. We introduce the integration of a synthetic and biomimetic xerogel layer onto a photonic chip, for the stable and selective monitoring of targeted soldier performance biomarkers. The molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) material has been optimized for selection and capture of the human stress hormone cortisol, and a proof-of-principle experiments will be discussed. This sensor can be integrated onto a wearable diagnostics platform, thus potentially providing real-time monitoring of stress, and other biomarkers, in commonly accessed fluids like sweat.
Immunotherapy for mucosal melanoma.

Mucosal melanoma is a rare subtype, representing 1% of all melanoma diagnoses (1). As compared to cutaneous melanoma, patients with mucosal melanoma often present with more advanced disease and prognosis is significantly worse (2).