cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Pore-scale numerical investigation of the impacts of surface roughness: Upscaling of reaction rates in rough fractures

Abstract The roughness of solid surfaces influences mineral dissolution rates by affecting flow and transport in the near-surface regions and by increasing the surface area available for reaction. The impact of surface area is commonly accounted for by using the surface roughness factor (SRF), which is the ratio between the total surface area and the nominal or geometric surface area. The coupled impacts of hydrodynamics and transport, however, are rarely considered. In this study, we performed pore-scale reactive transport simulations in a series of synthetic 2D rough fractures to investigate the compound effects of surface roughness on the reaction rates in fractures. Simulation results show that while reaction rates increase with SRF, the increase is not linearly proportional to that of the surface area. Rather, local concentration gradients resulting from flow and transport processes limit the increase in the rate. In addition, surface roughness gives rise to concentration gradients that do not otherwise develop in the flat-surface geometries typically considered in modeling studies. To describe the impacts of the surface area increase on reaction rate at different roughness and flow velocities, three distinct regimes were identified. A unified mathematical relationship was also developed that allows the reaction rate in a rough fracture to be approximated by the well-mixed reactor reaction rate and a correction factor. The correction factor follows a power-law function of SRF, with the multiplying factor and exponent expressed as exponential functions of the Peclet and Damkohler number. This mathematical formulation provides a valuable upscaling approach for effective integration of sub-grid scale surface roughness in larger scale continuum models.
Bariatric Surgery: Current State of Affairs

Bariatric surgery has been shown to be an effective treatment for obesity and obesity-related comorbidities. The adoption of bariatric surgery has progressed over the last four decades, yet still only approximately 1% of those who qualify for surgical treatment of obesity actually have an operation. This, combined with the increasing prevalence of obesity, shows the unmet need in the treatment of obesity. Here, we review the adoption of bariatric surgery around the globe, examining factors that contribute to the implementation of surgical management. We also explore future directions in obesity management and bariatric surgery in the multidisciplinary care of obesity.
BMPing Up Healing Capacity with FKBP12 Ligand.

While the wound healing property of the macrolide FK506 is well known, the underlying mechanism has been elusive. In this issue of Cell Chemical Biology, Peiffer et al. (2019) utilize FKBP12 ligand to demonstrate that wound healing effects of FK506 occur via activation of the BMP (bone morphogenic protein) signaling pathway.
Operative Time as an Independent and Modifiable Risk Factor for Short-Term Complications After Knee Arthroscopy

Purpose To determine whether operative time is an independent risk factor for 30-day complications after arthroscopic surgical procedures on the knee. Methods The American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program database was queried between 2005 and 2016 for all arthroscopic knee procedures including lateral release, loose body removal, synovectomy, chondroplasty, microfracture, and meniscectomy. Cases with concomitant procedures were excluded. Correlations between operative time and adverse events were controlled for variables such as age, sex, body mass index, patient comorbidities, and procedure using a multivariate Poisson regression with robust error variance. Results A total of 78,864 procedures met our inclusion and exclusion criteria. The mean age of patients was 51.0 ± 14.3 years; mean operative time, 31.2 ± 18.1 minutes; and mean body mass index, 31.0 ± 7.8. Arthroscopic lateral release (coefficient, 5.8; 95% confidence interval [CI], 4.8-6.8; P P P P P P = .005), dehiscence (RR, 1.6; 95% CI, 1.2-2.2; P = .002), surgical-site infection (RR, 1.3; 95% CI, 1.2-1.3; P = .001), sepsis (RR, 1.3; 95% CI, 1.2-1.4; P P P Conclusions Marginal increases in operative time are associated with an increased risk of adverse events such as surgical-site infection, sepsis, extended length of stay, and readmission. Efforts should be made to maximize surgical efficiency. Level of Evidence Level IV, retrospective database study.
Citywide Inclusive Sanitation—Business as Unusual: Shifting the Paradigm by Shifting Minds

As the world urbanizes, the challenges of urban sanitation increase, with urban population growth dramatically outpacing gains in sanitation access. Total global costs of inadequate sanitation are estimated at USD 260 billion annually, and reaching the SDG urban sanitation targets will require over USD 45 billion each year. ‘Business as usual’ in urban sanitation – where conventional sewerage and wastewater treatment are considered as the only solution – will not get us to universal safely managed sanitation. Citywide Inclusive Sanitation (CWIS) looks to shift the urban sanitation paradigm, aiming to ensure everyone has access to safely managed sanitation by promoting a range of solutions – both on-site and sewered, centralized or decentralized – tailored to the realities of the world’s burgeoning cities. CWIS means focusing on service provision and its enabling environment, rather than on building infrastructure. This shift in paradigm to CWIS requires a shift in mindsets. Governments and development agencies increasingly recognize that historic approaches to urban sanitation have not always worked and new approaches, such as CWIS, are required. Consulting firms need to think differently, and not simply replicate approaches found in developed countries. Engineering curricula should include the design and management of non-conventional systems and should explore opportunities for leapfrogging to solutions that take full account of the public health and environmental imperatives of urban sanitation. We should rethink the way sanitation infrastructure is funded and challenge approaches that subsidize sewers but not onsite sanitation, that don’t embrace innovation and don’t consider running costs. CWIS, or business as unusual, requires awareness raising and capacity building, the spreading around the world of successful experiences, and the development and use of tools and other resource materials designed to help provide sustainable urban sanitation services to all. At the World Bank we see that shifting mindsets towards CWIS principles can be achieved and that there is a growing appetite globally for embracing such principles. We see an important emerging global movement to engage on CWIS by governments and development partners, which provides an unprecedented opportunity to shift the urban sanitation paradigm in the pursuit of universal safely managed sanitation.
Reconstruction of Agents’ Corrupted Trajectories of Collective Motion Using Low-rank Matrix Completion

Tracking of trajectories of mutually interacted collectively moving agents such as fish, birds, insects, and even humans is an active field in computer vision. However, the trajectories produced by multi-object tracking methods might consist of unconstructed segments of trajectories due to the natural phenomena such as occlusion, change of illumination, etc., which require robust tracking methods. Some tracking methods employ computationally expensive approximation schemes to connect these segments. In this work, we utilize mutual interactions and dependencies between the agents to reconstruct the missing segments of the trajectories. Due to these interactions, the coordinate matrix representing the particles’ trajectories of collective motion is often low-rank. Thus, we utilize a low-rank matrix completion technique to reconstruct incomplete trajectories. We apply this approach for two representative self-propelled particle swarms, simulated by the classic Vicsek model, that imitate two real-life collective motion scenarios and use low-rank approximations to analyze their incomplete trajectories.
Changes in the intracellular microenvironment in the aging human brain.

Abstract Normal brain aging is associated with changes occurring at all levels. This study investigates age-related differences in the brain intracellular microenvironment by comparing the apparent diffusion coefficients (ADC) and apparent transverse relaxation time constants (T2) of 5 neurochemicals (i.e., total N-acetyl-aspartate, total creatine, total choline, glutamate, and myo-inositol) between young and older adults. Thirty-two young healthy adults (18–22 years) and 26 older healthy adults (70–83 years) were recruited. Three brain regions were studied at 3 T: prefrontal, posterior cingulate and occipital cortices. ADC and T2 were measured using stimulated echo acquisition mode and localization by adiabatic selective refocusing sequences, respectively. This study shows that the diffusivities of several neurochemicals are higher in older than in younger adults. In contrast, shorter apparent T2 values for several metabolites were measured in older adults. Age-related difference in ADC and apparent T2 of metabolites seem to be region-specific. Furthermore, this study shows that it is feasible to observe age-related differences in the cellular microenvironment of neurochemicals in the normal aging brain.
Prevention of Cardiac Implantable Electronic Device-Related Infection in Patients With Cancer: The Role of a Comprehensive Prophylactic Bundle Approach That Includes the Antimicrobial Mesh.

Background Oncological patients have several additional risk factors for developing a cardiac implantable electronic device (CIED)-related infection. Therefore, we evaluated the clinical impact of our comprehensive bundle approach that includes the novel minocycline and rifampin antimicrobial mesh (TYRX) for the prevention of CIED infections in patients living with cancer. Methods We retrospectively reviewed all consecutive patients who had a CIED placement at our institution during 2012-2017 who received preoperative vancomycin, intraoperative pocket irrigation with bacitracin and polymyxin B, plus TYRX antimicrobial mesh, followed by postoperative oral minocycline. Results A total of 154 patients had a CIED, with 97 permanent pacemakers (PPMs), 23 implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICDs), and 34 cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) devices. An underlying solid cancer was present in 62% of patients, while 38% had a hematologic malignancy. Apart from a higher proportion of surgical interventions in the PPM group than in the ICD and CRT groups (P = .007), no other oncologic variables were statistically significantly different between groups. Despite an extensive median follow-up period (interquartile range) of 21.9 (6.7-33.8) months, 16 patients (10%) had a mechanical complication, while only 2 patients (1.3%) developed a CIED infection, requiring the device to be explanted. Conclusions Our comprehensive prophylactic bundle approach using TYRX antimicrobial mesh in an oncologic population at high risk for infections was revealed upon extensive follow-up to be both safe and effective in maintaining the rate of CIED infection at 1.3%, well within published averages in the broader population of CIED recipients.
Cpg-adjuvanted hepatitis b vaccination improves seroprotection rates in veterans with hiv

Background Hepatitis B virus (HBV) remains a global health issue, leading to complications including cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma Individuals co-infected with Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and HBV have increased liver- related morbidity and mortality compared to those with HBV mono-infection Vaccination can effectively prevent HBV infection, but certain critical populations including people living with HIV (PLWH) are less likely to achieve seroprotection (antibody to hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAb) titer ≥ 10 IU/mL) after vaccination;seroprotection rates (SPR) in PLWH range from 34 to 88% in clinical trials, with improved SPR in those with immunologic reconstitution and viral suppression With improved immunologic status, SPR have dramatically improved in our Veteran Infectious Disease clinic population However, a subset of patients remain HBV vaccine nonresponders despite re-vaccination attempts, perhaps due to intrinsic immunologic anergy We hypothesized that Veterans with HIV who were nonresponders to prior HBV vaccines may respond to a more immunogenic vaccine Heplisav-B is a 2-dose series, with improved SPR in other classically difficult to vaccinate groups (including the elderly and those with diabetes), but has not yet been studied in individuals with HIV Methods HBV vaccine nonresponders who had previously been vaccinated and boosted with median 3 and up to 8 doses of alum-adjuvanted HBV vaccines were re-vaccinated with Heplisav-B HBsAb titers were assessed at days 0, 30, and 60 to follow vaccine responses Results Participants had a median age of 65 (range 44 to 83) and were virologically suppressed on antiretroviral therapy Enrollment and vaccination was interrupted by the COVID-10 pandemic, but 8 of 10 (80%) enrolled participants had seroprotective titers at day 60, with 6 having titers > 1000 IU/mL Of the 8 additional participants who had available serologies after the first dose, all were seroprotected, and 3 had titers > 1000 IU/mL 16 of 18 (89%) participants achieved seroprotection with Heplisav-B Conclusion Heplisav-B is immunogenic in persons with HIV and should be a reasonable option for HBV vaccination of PLWH who are previous nonresponders
Vozes resistentes na e da aldeia: da colonialidade às expressões artísticas indígenas contemporâneas

A visao de que as identidades sociais estao diretamente ligadas a constituicao de racas, e estas submetidas a um complexo sistema de dominacao associadas a lugares e papeis sociais especificos nos leva a questionar: qual e o lugar da arte indigena no panorama de nossa sociedade? Como pensar as manifestacoes culturais produzidas desde outros referenciais? Ate que ponto as artes produzidas pelas populacoes indigenas revelam modos outros de pensar? Para dar conta deste proposito elegeu-se dois artistas indigenas do povo Guarani: o escritor Olivio Jekupe e o artista visual Xadalu. A metodologia ampara-se na perspectiva ensaistica, compreendida como um modo de produzir a reflexao marcada pela trajetoria, pelos acessos que teve aos materiais e como as provocacoes vao anunciando formas para construir a analise, desde a perspectiva do pesquisador/autor. No estudo destaca-se que para Xadalu, as ruas constituem-se o espaco prioritario das manifestacoes e para Jekupe, o uso da palavra escrita, ferramenta propria do colonizador, e tomada como estrategia para exercitar modos de producao de um projeto que se anuncia ja no ato mesmo da construcao desta escrita desde outros parâmetros, rompendo assim com a perspectiva de uma leitura que remete para compreensoes de menoridade, inferioridade ou hierarquias.
Evaluating Technical Feasibility of Gigaton Scale CO2 Storage using Produced Water Disposal Data in US Gulf Coast

Based on the scenarios proposed in the 2018 IPCC Special Report, about 5 Gt of CO2 per year should be mitigated using carbon capture and storage to limit increase in global temperature to 1.5°C. Current global geologic CO2 storage is about 40 Mt/yr and data from these existing projects do not adequately demonstrate CO2 storage feasibility at the scale of gigatons per year. In this study, we investigate gigaton-scale geologic CO2 storage feasibility using data from thousands of produced water disposal wells in the U.S. To evaluate gigaton-scale geologic CO2 storage feasibility, we investigate three main questions: (i) Is it technically feasible to inject gigatons of CO2 every year in the subsurface? (ii) How many wells are needed to inject a gigaton of CO2? (iii) What is the expected increase in pressure in subsurface when such a large amount of CO2 is injected? For this study, data from produced water disposal wells in the onshore region of the Texas Gulf Coast and Louisiana are analyzed. The data analysis shows that both at the national scale and the Gulf Coast regional scale, it is technically feasible to store gigatons of CO2 per year. Produced water injection wells with injection rates equivalent to 1 MtCO2/yr already exist, and with such rates, relatively few wells are needed to reach the 1 GtCO2 per year goal. Finally, we can expect low pressure buildup even for high-rate injection wells in suitable storage/disposal formations. In summary, this study provides a detailed analysis of produced water data and implications for gigaton-scale CO2 storage.
Case Outcomes and Treatment Length for Wild Birds with Neurologic Signs after Traumatic Impact Injury

Wild birds commonly are presented with trauma at wildlife clinics and rehabilitation centers. Trauma can affect multiple body systems including the nervous system. Since specific diagnosis of nervous system injuries is more difficult compared to other body system injuries and may require advanced imaging, individuals often are treated symptomatically. This retrospective study focused on wild birds that presented with primary neurologic signs after a confirmed or presumed impact injury (vehicular trauma, window collision, or wire strike). The case outcomes, mean number of days in rehabilitation prior to release, and most commonly affected species were identified from data collected by Tri–State Bird Rescue and Research, Inc., (TSBRR) over 10 years. Further studies could be done to investigate the influence of species, type and severity of neurologic signs, and different treatment modalities on case outcomes and duration of treatment.
Precarious Embodiment: Unwanted Pregnancy and Bodysubject Interruptus

In this essay I endeavor to provide such an account, and describe at a pretheoretical level an embodied subjectivity at odds with its own state of embodiment, and on the other hand, to explore the limited agency induced by constraints that fall upon an embodied subject who is compelled to live a body which is free to engage the various possibilities of the world in every respect except one, within the context of an intercorporeal social reality. This description will provide a sound ontological foundation where the central place of embodiment in the abortion debate can be re-asserted and properly taken into account. What this description will reveal is the ontological drama of such “aversely pregnant subjectivities” at a time when ever more legislation is being passed that poses ever more restrictions on reproductive rights of women in the United States (Guttmacher Institute 2018). This investigation is all the more pertinent in light of Justice Anthony Kennedy’s recent announcement that he is retiring from the U.S. Supreme Court, which may well put the right to legal abortions in jeopardy (Davis 2018). My highest ambition, however, is to convey the significance of these restrictions to those who have never been and never can become pregnant, but who by and large determine the polices that play a substantial role in shaping such subjectivities.
Duality theory for some stochastic control models

This paper is concerned with a duality theory for discrete time stochastic control problems. The principal result is that, for rather general models, the dual variables are martingales. The methods and main ideas of this paper originate from several papers in the literature. Although his results are stated in the context of a continuous time stochastic control problem with the underlying process being Brownlan motion, Bismutts [1973] approach has several similarities to the one here. In particular, the variables are in spaces of stochastic processes, namely, well measurable functions on n X [0, m), and convex optimization theory is used to establish the duality between the primal and dual problems. Although conditions are stated which guarantee the equality of the primal and dual optimal values, Bismut [1973] does not derive the kind of characterlzatlon of the dual variables sought in this paper. With regard to discrete time models, there are two relevant llnes of research in the literature. To briefly describe the first, consider an adapted stochastic process Z = [Zn; n = 0, 1 .... } defined on a filtered probability space (~, ~, ~, P). Let X = {Xn; n = I, 2, .,.] be a predictable stochastic process on the same space. The predictable transform of Z by the process X is defined to be the stochastic integral of X with respect to Z evaluated at some time N, that is, N X • z N = ~lXnAZn .
METABOLISM OF PENTOSES AND PENTITOLS BY AEROBACTER AEROGENES. I. DEMONSTRATION OF PENTOSE ISOMERASE, PENTULOKINASE, AND PENTITOL DEHYDROGENASE ENZYME FAMILIES.

Abstract Mortlock, R. P. (Michigan State University, East Lansing) and W. A. Wood. Metabolism of pentoses and pentitols by Aerobacter aerogenes. I. Demonstration of pentose isomerase, pentulokinase, and pentitol dehydrogenase enzyme families. J. Bacteriol. 88:838–844. 1964.—Aerobacter aerogenes PRL-R3 is capable of utilizing as sole substrates for energy and growth seven of the eight aldopentoses and all of the four pentitols. Growth upon media containing either d-xylose, l-arabinose, d-ribose, d-arabitol, or ribitol occurred within 24 hr at 26 C. When d-arabinose or l-arabitol were used as growth substrates, growth was complete within 2 days; 4 days were required for growth on d-lyxose or xylitol, and 3 to 4 weeks for growth upon l-xylose. The versatility of this strain of A. aerogenes is due to an ability to synthesize in the presence of appropriate carbohydrates (inducers) families of enzymes which catalyze the metabolism of the carbohydrates (i.e., families of pentitol dehydrogenases, aldopentose isomerases, and pentulokinases). The specificity of induction for members of the enzyme families was found to vary, and cross induction of enzyme activity was common, especially among the pentitol dehydrogenases. Ribitol dehydrogenase activity was detected in extracts of cells grown on all of the above carbohydrates with the exception of d-xylose, l-arabinose, and d-ribose. The ribitol dehydrogenase activity of xylitol-grown cell extracts was fivefold higher than the activity in extracts of ribitol-grown cells.
Context-aware collaboration, computation and communications in emerging wireless networks

Future wireless systems will require a paradigm shift in how they are networked, organized, configured, optimized, and recovered automatically based on their operating situations. Wireless users will have opportunities to automatically configure devices and their parameters, systems, and services based on the users' contexts. Furthermore, for cyber-physical systems, physical objects will be seamlessly integrated into an Internet-like system to complete mission-critical assignments where context-aware collaboration, computations and communications will be most essential steps. Thus, these topics have already attracted great attentions from both academic research and industrial development. In this paper, we present some recent results, status and advantages of collaboration, computation and communications in emerging wireless networks.
Coordinated resource management for large scale interactive data query systems

Interactive ad hoc data query over massive datasets has recently gained significant traction. Massively parallel data query and analysis frameworks (e.g., Dremel, Impala) are built and deployed to support SQL-like queries over distributed and partitioned data in a clustering environment. As a result, the execution of each query is converted into a set of coordinated tasks including data retrieval, intermediate result computation and transfer, and result aggregation. To support high request rate of concurrent interactive queries, coordinated management of multiple resources (e.g., bandwidth, CPU, memory) of the cluster environment is critical. In this paper, we investigate this resource management problem using an utility-based optimization framework. Our goal is to optimize the resource utilization, and maintain fairness among different types of queries. We present a price-based algorithm which achieves this optimization objective. We implement our algorithm in the open source Impala system and conduct a set of experiments in a clustering environment using the TPC-DS workload. Experimental results show that our coordinated resource management solution can increase the aggregate utility by at least 15.4% compared with simple fair resource share mechanism, and 63.5% compared with the FIFO resource management mechanism.
Optimal Policies for Investment with Time-Varying Return Distributions

We develop a model in which investors must learn the distribution of asset returns over time. The process of learning is made more difficult by the fact that the distributions are not constant through time. We consider risk-neutral investors who have quadratic utility and are selecting between two risky assets. We determine the time at which it is optimal to update the distribution estimate and hence, alter portfolio weights. Our results deliver an optimal policy for asset allocation, that is, the sequence of time intervals at which it is optimal to switch between assets, based on stochastic optimal control theory. In addition, we determine the time intervals in which asset switching leads to a loss with high probability. We provide estimates of the effectiveness of the optimal policy.
Differential latency toward (–)-epicatechin and catechol mediated by avocado mesocarp polyphenol oxidase (PPO)

Abstract The polyphenol oxidase (PPO) metabolism of the endogenous substrate (–)-epicatechin has been correlated with browning in avocados and other fruit. Although total PPO activity declined during ripening in the avocado mesocarp, a selective retention of high electrophoretic mobility isoforms was observed during ripening. Avocado PPO was virtually inactive toward (–)-epicatechin without the addition of an activator such as sodium dodecyl sulfate. In contrast, PPO was active toward catechol, an exogenous substrate, in the absence of an activator. Low concentrations of the free fatty acids oleic acid, linoleic acid, and arachidonic acid were effective activators of (–)-epicatechin oxidation in vitro. The data suggest that these endogenous free fatty acids may play a role in the PPO-mediated browning of avocado fruit in vivo.
Photoperiodic regulation of gene expression in brown and white adipose tissue of Siberian hamsters (Phodopus sungorus).

Siberian hamsters exhibit seasonal fluctuations in white adipose tissue (WAT) mass, with peaks in long “summerlike” days (LDs) and nadirs in short “winterlike” days (SDs). These responses can be mi...
A fluorescence-based method for assessing dural protein extravasation induced by trigeminal ganglion stimulation

Abstract Neurogenic dural inflammation has been proposed as a source of pain during migraine. Unilateral electrical stimulation of the trigeminal ganglion causes the ipsilateral release of inflammatory neuropeptides and subsequent dural plasma protein extravasation, a component of neurogenic inflammation. We measured the amount of protein leaking into the dural tissue of guinea pigs following trigeminal ganglion stimulation by exploiting the complexation reaction of endogenous proteins with the fluorescent dye Evans Blue, instead of utilizing exogenous radiolabeled albumin as commonly done in the literature. The amount of Evans Blue trapped in dural tissue following electrical stimulation of the trigeminal ganglion was measured using a fluorescence microscope equipped with a spectrophotometer. This method utilized multiple measurements on each dura sample which resulted in very precise values using a small number of animals per point (n=3). Sumatriptan and CP-122,288 were found to dose-dependently prevent neurogenic dural extravasation. The potencies of CP-122,288 and sumatriptan were found to be similar to those reported in the literature when similar experimental protocols were used.
Plasma polymerization of ethane. II. Theoretical analysis of effluent gas composition and polymer deposition rates

A theoretical model has been developed to describe the deposition of polymer occurring in a capacitatively coupled, low-pressure, RF discharge sustained in ethane. The reaction mechanism chosen for this model assumes that polymer formation is controlled by the formation of free radicals in the plasma and the subsequent reaction of these species at the surface of the electrodes used to sustain the plasma. Convective and diffusive transport is taken to occur in the direction parallel to the electrodes. Diffusive transport perpendicular to the electrodes is considered to be rapid, and hence the gradients in this direction are taken to be negligible. Both the composition of the gas leaving the plasma reactor and the axial profile of polymer deposition rate within the reactor, observed experimentally, are predicted accurately by the model. Results obtained from the model have also been used to estimate the kinetic chain length and degree of unsaturation in the polymer. Both predictions are found to be in reasonable agreement with experimental observations.
Successful experiment in leveraging research investment

The ARL Federated Laboratory for Advanced and Interactive Displays begun in 1996 has proven to be a highly successful experiment in leveraging research investment for the Army, industry, and academia. The research is exploring human computer interfaces to dramatically improve the interface between Army users and their information systems for the Army After Next. Leveraging of university research grants, industrial internal R&D funds, and other governmental agency funding has substantially amplified all consortia members investments.
Isolation and properties of an aminopeptidase from Bacillus licheniformis.

Abstract An extracellular aminopeptidase, purified 465-fold from culture filtrates of Bacillus licheniformis , was found to be a metalloenzyme consisting of a single peptide chain. Sedimentation equilibrium yielded a molecular weight of 43,270 and two polyacrylamide electrophoretic procedures gave values of 37,500 and 36,000, respectively. The activity of the enzyme was inhibited severely by 1,10-phenanthroline and to a lesser extent by EDTA, cyanide, and fluoride. The addition of Co 2+ ions greatly stimulated enzymatic activity, but analysis of the purified enzyme revealed the presence of zinc, not cobalt, in stoichiometric quantities. Moreover, the ratio of zinc to protein was found to increase during fractionation, reaching a final value corresponding to 1 g-atom/mol. The aminopeptidase possessed characteristics of a euglobulin, sparingly soluble in water and dilute buffer solutions, but soluble in buffers containing higher concentrations of salts. Both activity and pH optimum were substantially influenced by ionic strength; as the latter was increased over the range from 0.01 to 0.1, activity increased and the pH optimum was shifted to more acidic values. Enzymatic activity was affected by the identity of the buffer, being markedly greater in Tris-HCl than in sodium barbital and strongly inhibited by phosphate. The Bacillus aminopeptidase hydrolyzed substrates with unsubstituted amino groups of the l configuration, including dipeptides, aminoacylnaphthylamides, and amino acid amides.
On the Interrelation Between the Sample Mean and the Sample Variance

The linearity (or lack thereof) of association between sample mean and sample variance is explored in this note with the intent of providing new insights. Of particular interest is a well-known inequality involving the measures of skewness and kurtosis that is derived as a consequence of an identity involving the correlation between sample mean and sample variance. The nature of association between the two is explored further by means of the conditional expectation of the sample variance given the mean. We present several characterization results where the specific relationship of this conditional expectation and sample mean uniquely determines the parent population. The note is presented at a level accessible to graduate or upper-level undergraduate students with several illustrative examples included as teaching aid.
Ordered mesoporous and macroporous inorganic films and membranes

This article reviews synthesis, structures and emerging applications of ordered inorganic meso- and macroporous films and membranes. Thin films or membranes of these groups of porous materials can be prepared by various techniques commonly used for film formation from liquid solution, including solvent evaporation, in situ growth from solution and other alternative methods. Although these techniques allow control over the thickness and pore structures in thin films or membranes, they currently offer limited control over the pore alignment relative to the substrate surface. The ordered mesoporous and macroporous thin films and membranes are highly promising for a range of potential applications in separations, chemical sensing, heterogenous catalysis, microelectronics and photonics as insulating layers of low dielectric constant and photonic bandgap materials. Furthermore, functionalization of the internal pore surfaces in these films and deposition of functional nanoparticles within the pores offer numerous new possibilities for molecular engineering of catalytic, photonic, and magnetic materials for advanced nanotechnological applications based on quantum confinement effect.
Advances in Chemotherapy of Differentiated Epithelial and Medullary Thyroid Cancers

Context: Systemic chemotherapies for advanced or metastatic thyroid carcinomas have been of only limited effectiveness. For patients with differentiated or medullary carcinomas unresponsive to conventional treatments, novel therapies are needed to improve disease outcomes. Evidence Acquisition: The PubMed and Google Scholar search engines were used to identify publications and peer-reviewed meeting presentations addressing chemotherapy and targeted therapy for differentiated or medullary carcinoma. Evidence Synthesis: Multiple novel therapies primarily targeting angiogenesis have entered clinical trials for metastatic thyroid carcinoma. Partial response rates up to 30% have been reported in single agent studies, but prolonged disease stabilization is more commonly seen. The most successful agents target the vascular endothelial growth factor receptors, with potential targets including the mutant kinases associated with papillary and medullary oncogenesis. Two drugs approved for other malignancies, sorafen...
Electroosmotic properties of microfluidic channels composed of poly (dimethylsiloxane)

Microfluidic devices fabricated from polymers exhibit great potential in biological analyses. Poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) has shown promise as a substrate for rapid prototyping of devices. Despite this, disagreement exists in the literature as to the ability of PDMS to support electroosmotic (EO) flow and the stability of that flow over time. We demonstrate that in low ionic strength solutions near neutral in pH. oxidized PDMS had a four-fold greater EO mobility (mu(eo)) compared to native PDMS. The greater mu(eo) was maintained irrespective of whether glass or PDMS was used as a support forming one side of the channel. This enhanced mu(eo) was preserved as long as the channels were filled with an aqueous solution. Upon exposure of the channels to air, the mobility decreased by a factor of two with a half-life of 9 h. The EO properties of the air-exposed, oxidized PDMS were regenerated by exposure to strong base. High ionic strength, neutral in pH buffers compatible with living eukaryotic cells diminished the EO flow in the oxidized PDMS devices to a much greater extent than in the native PDMS devices. For analyses utilizing intact and living cells, oxidation of PDMS may not be an effective strategy to substantially increase the mu(eo).
Novel Monolayer-enhanced Non-Conductive Film (NCF) for Ultra-Fine Pitch High Performance Interconnect in Lead-free Electronics

With the aim of improving electrical properties of non-conductive film (NCF), two thiol (-SH) terminated -conjugated molecular wires are introduced into the interface of NCF. The conjugated molecular wires can be well assembled on the Au electrodes and improve the interfacial properties of the NCF joints. Biphenyldithiol (BPD) exhibits higher thermal stability after curing condition (150degC) than 1,4-benezenedithiol (BDT) due to the higher aromaticity (more aromatic rings) and thus more rigid structure. Formation of self-assembled monolayer on Au electrodes can tune the effective work function (Phi) of Au electrodes and reduce the tunnel resistivity. Therefore, the joint resistance of NCF joints, which is the sum of tunnel resistance and constriction resistance, can be significantly reduced from 0.15 times 10-3 Omega to 0.1 times 10-3 Omega and 0.05 times 10-3 Phi with BDT and BPD, respectively. The improved electrical conduction and current carrying capability enables the application of NCF in fine pitch and high performance interconnects in microelectronics.
Transforming sales organizations through appreciative inquiry

The emergence of positive psychology has led to a change in the focus of researchers interested in psychological phenomena. Sales researchers, however, have been slow to adopt methods of positive psychology; few studies to date incorporate positive psychology constructs into the sales setting. One method of research consistent with positive psychology, called Appreciative Inquiry, has received a great deal of attention in recent years. Appreciative Inquiry is based on the assumption that positive individual and organizational change can be accomplished most effectively through a dialogue focusing on strengths and positive circumstances. This article is an initial attempt to examine the applicability of Appreciative Inquiry methods to the sales setting. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Conjugated Fatty Acid Synthesis RESIDUES 111 AND 115 INFLUENCE PRODUCT PARTITIONING OF MOMORDICA CHARANTIA CONJUGASE

Conjugated linolenic acids (CLNs), 18:3 Δ9,11,13, lack the methylene groups found between the double bonds of linolenic acid (18:3 Δ9,12,15). CLNs are produced by conjugase enzymes that are homologs of the oleate desaturases FAD2. The goal of this study was to map the domain(s) within the Momordica charantia conjugase (FADX) responsible for CLN formation. To achieve this, a series of Momordica FADX-Arabidopsis FAD2 chimeras were expressed in the Arabidopsis fad3fae1 mutant, and the transformed seeds were analyzed for the accumulation of CLN. These experiments identified helix 2 and the first histidine box as a determinant of conjugase product partitioning into punicic acid (18:3 Δ9cis,11trans,13cis) or α-eleostearic acid (18:3 Δ9cis,11trans,13trans). This was confirmed by analysis of a FADX mutant containing six substitutions in which the sequence of helix 2 and first histidine box was converted to that of FAD2. Each of the six FAD2 substitutions was individually converted back to the FADX equivalent identifying residues 111 and 115, adjacent to the first histidine box, as key determinants of conjugase product partitioning. Additionally, expression of FADX G111V and FADX G111V/D115E resulted in an approximate doubling of eleostearic acid accumulation to 20.4% and 21.2%, respectively, compared with 9.9% upon expression of the native Momordica FADX. Like the Momordica conjugase, FADX G111V and FADX D115E produced predominantly α-eleostearic acid and little punicic acid, but the FADX G111V/D115E double mutant produced approximately equal amounts of α-eleostearic acid and its isomer, punicic acid, implicating an interactive effect of residues 111 and 115 in punicic acid formation.
Geomagnetic disturbance and the orientation of nocturnally migrating birds

Free-flying passerine migrants respond to natural fluctuations in the earth's magnetic field. The variability in flight directions of nocturnal migrants is significantly correlated with increasing geomagnetic disturbance as measured by both the K index and various components of the earth's magnetic field. The results indicate that such disturbances influence the orientation of free-flying migrants, but the evidence is not sufficient to show that geomagnetism is a cue in their orientation system.
Buy-Backs and Market Valuation of External Debt

It has been argued that "buy-backs" and "debt-equity swaps" allow developing countries to benefit from market discounts on their external debt. It is argued here, however, that if such programs are expected to be successful in increasing the market value of remaining debt, they also lead to a roughly equivalent increase in prices at which a buy-back or debt-equity swap could be carried out.
Agonist-receptor efficacy I: mechanisms of efficacy and receptor promiscuity

The description of drug effects on receptor proteins is based on models and equations used to describe mass-action kinetics of molecules and inert surfaces. These models provide an adequate description of drug affinity, that is, how well a molecule binds to a receptor protein, but the way in which ligands change receptor populations to impart signals to cells remains to be determined. In the first of two articles, Terry Kenakin discusses a basic question in receptor pharmacology, namely the nature of ligand efficacy.
Difference Raman spectroscopic studies of ligand-protein interactions

We summarize here our recent advancements in application of Raman spectroscopy to studies of protein-ligand interactions. Two main experimental strategies are shown to yield a wealth of information regarding the specific binding 'handles' which contribute to protein-ligand affinity and selectivity. Non-resonance Raman difference spectroscopy, in which the vibrational spectrum of the bound ligand is obtained by subtraction of the apo-protein spectrum from that of the complex is applied to chymotrypsin and aspartate aminotransferase. In both cases, vibrational information derived from previous resonance Raman measurements is shown to be misleading due to photochemically-induced changes in substrate conformation. Isotope editing extends the application of Raman difference spectroscopy to systems where measurements of the apo-protein spectrum is not a viable option because the bound ligand induces too many protein conformational changes that show up in the difference spectrum or in cases where the apoprotein is unstable. A difference spectrum is formed between the two protein-ligand complexes, one of which is specifically labeled with a stable isotope. Vibrational modes which are associated with the isotropic tag show as spectral shifts in the difference spectrum, while all other bands cancel. The power of this method is shown by studies the binding of phosphate of GDP to EF-Tu, the elongation factor from E. Coli. and of glucose-phosphate to phosphoglucomutase, PGM, where 18O labeling of phosphate reveals binding-induced changes in the vibrational modes of the phosphate moiety.© (1993) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
Efficient Optimal Route Stability Routing Protocol in MANET Using Gauss-Markov Mobility Model

In Mobile Ad-hoc Network (MANET), routing is the most important issue for communication. Numbers of routing protocols are available for communication in MANET, but optimality is the key issue in routing to improve the performance of MANET. Reactive protocols do not preserve routing information at the network node level, if there is no communication between the nodes. Reverse Reactive protocol determines a route to a specific destination when a particular packet is intends to send. We proposed an optimal route stability routing protocol based route discovery approach, which is used to find an optimal route to the destination with lower communication overhead than flooding based reverse route discovery mechanism. In this proposed work, Optimal Route Stability Routing Protocol (ORSRP) which is a reactive routing based approach uses the reverse route calculation in route request (RREQ), route reply(RREP), route cache (RCAC) and route error (RRER) in order to find out the optimal path. Extensive simulations have been carried out using NS2 network simulator and the obtained result shows that the performance of ORSRP is better than the other existing routing protocol.
Saharan air outbreaks over the tropical North Atlantic

Among Bergeron’s many interests were climatology, the characteristics of the intertropical convergence zone and mineral dust in the atmosphere, the last because of the importance of soil particles in the process of ice nucleation. Perhaps it was because of these interests that Bergeron was drawn to the study of the meteorology of North Africa where the climate in many regions is dominated by the behavior of the intertropical convergence zone and where dust is ubiquitous and abundant indeed. These interests and his humanitarian instincts converged to produce at least two papers (Bergeron, 1960, 1968) which dealt with the possibilities of employing weather modification techniques to increase rainfall in the arid and desert regions of North Africa.
The effect of dystocia and previous cesarean uterine scar on the tensile properties of the lower uterine segment

Objective The remodeling of uterine connective tissue during labor can lead to the reorganization of the extracellular matrix that, in turn, may influence the biomechanical properties of the myometrial wall. We hypothesized that the stretching of the lower uterine segment in laboring women with dystocia changes the viscoelastic properties of the uterine wall. Study design We tested the tensile strength of lower uterine segment myometrium in 68 pregnant women at term. The biomechanical, structural, and biochemical properties were compared among 3 groups: (1) 39 laboring women who underwent primary low-transverse cesarean delivery for labor dystocia, (2) 12 nonlaboring women who underwent primary elective low-transverse cesarean delivery and (3) 17 women who underwent an elective repeat low-transverse cesarean delivery at term. The tensile properties were quantitated with a stretching regimen that was designed to mimic the conditions of labor. Parameters such as slope, yield point, and break point were recorded, analyzed, and interpreted. Biochemical properties were determined by the measurement of the sulfated glycosaminoglycans, hydroxyproline, and pyridinoline-deoxypyridinoline. Histologic properties of the connective tissue were assessed by collagen birefringence. Lastly, the association between these properties and biomechanical responses were compared among groups. Results Lower uterine segment myometrium specimens obtained from laboring women were stiffer compared with specimens from women who were not in labor ( P = .013) or had scarred myometrium ( P P = .216). Likewise, a previous lower uterine segment scar did not alter the yield point. The break point was similar among all groups ( P = .317). Sulfated glycosaminoglycan levels were unaffected by labor or scarring ( P = .354). Scarred lower uterine segment myometrium had a higher collagen content compared with unscarred myometrium specimens that were obtained during labor ( P = .025). Although there were similar degrees of collagen cross-linking among groups ( P = .212), there was lower collagen birefringence in myometrium from laboring women compared with nonlaboring women ( P Conclusion Labor alters the viscoelastic properties of myometrium. Lower uterine segment myometrium is stiffest in women with dysfunctional labor compared with nonlabor control subjects. Labor and scarring also alter the pattern of collagen birefringence. Similar collagen cross-linking among the study groups may explain the reason that the breaking strength of the tissue is not altered by the state of labor and the reason that the rupture of the uterine scar is a rare event.