cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Pre-Fontan Cardiac Catheterization Data as a Predictor of Prolonged Hospital Stay and Post-Discharge Adverse Outcomes Following the Fontan Procedure: A Single-Center Study.

Despite improved outcomes following modifications to the Fontan technique, significant morbidity and mortality persist. We sought to determine if abnormal pre-Fontan catheterization hemodynamic data will predict postoperative prolonged hospital stay (PHLOS) and adverse post-discharge outcomes. This is a retrospective study of patients who underwent the Fontan procedure at Children’s Hospital of New Orleans from 2008 to 2018. PHLOS was defined as ≥ 14 and ≥ 21 days to discharge post Fontan. We defined post-discharge adverse outcomes as thromboembolic phenomena requiring anticoagulation therapy, protein-losing enteropathy, plastic bronchitis, transplantation, persistent chylous effusion requiring fenestration creation, or death. Statistical analysis was performed using student t test, Chi-square test, and multivariable logistic regression analysis using IBM SPSS version 22. Ninety-seven patients underwent extracardiac Fontan. Forty-one patients (42.3%) experienced hospitalization ≥ 14 days, 31 patients (32%) experienced hospitalization ≥ 21 days, and 14 patients (14.4%) experienced adverse post-discharge outcome. Elevated end-diastolic pressure (EDP) ≥ 10 mmHg (p = 0.005, OR 4.2, CI 1.5–11.4) was independently associated with ≥ 14 days of hospitalization, while a CI < 4 L/minute/meters2 combined with one abnormal catheterization variable was associated with PHLOS and post-discharge adverse outcomes (p = 0.03, OR 2.8, CI 1.1–7.3 and p = 0.043, OR 6.42, OR 1.1–38.9, respectively). The absence of fenestration was also associated with post-discharge adverse outcomes (p = 0.007, OR 5.8, CI1.6–20.7). Elevated EDP may be associated with PHLOS, while CI < 4 L/minute/meters2 combined with abnormal catheterization hemodynamics may be associated with PHLOS and adverse post-discharge outcomes, while absence of fenestration may be associated with post-discharge adverse events.
Performance Characteristics, Intra- and Inter-operator Agreement of Transient Elastography in Pediatric Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease.

Background and aims Transient elastography (TE) is a valuable tool in assessment of hepatic steatosis and fibrosis using liver stiffness measurement (LSM) and controlled attenuation parameter (CAP), respectively. Although widely used in adults, little is known about performance characteristics and reproducibility of TE (using Fibroscan device) in evaluation of pediatric nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). Methods We prospectively recruited children with NAFLD. Three consecutive Fibroscan examinations were performed during the same visit-twice by a single expert operator and once by a different novice operator. Intra and inter-operator agreement was calculated using concordance correlation coefficient (CCC). Failure was defined as inability to obtain 10 valid measurements and examination was considered unreliable if LSM interquartile range/median was greater 30%. Results Fifty-one children (34 boys; median age 15 years) were recruited. Failure rates for expert and novice operator were 10% (5/51) and 12% (6/51) while unreliable readings were obtained in 2% (1/46) and 4% (2/45) of patients, respectively. Patients with failed/unreliable measurements were significantly more obese (median BMI 46.2 vs 33.1 kg/m2, P = 0.002) compared with those with reliable measurements. The intra-operator agreement was almost perfect for LSM and substantial for CAP values (CCC = 0.85 and 0.73, respectively). Inter-operator agreement was substantial for LSM and moderate for CAP values (CCC = 0.76 and 0.58, respectively). The inter-operator agreement in LSM did not vary significantly over time but showed an inverse correlation with BMI and CAP. Conclusion Our study demonstrated that use of TE in assessment of hepatic fibrosis and steatosis in children with NAFLD is highly reliable with low failure rate and highly reproducible with high intra- and inter-operator reproducibility.
Cognitive control in older Minnan-Mandarin and Hakka-Mandarin bidialectal adults: Advantages in Stroop-type tasks

Abstract The effect of bidialectalism on older bidialectal adults’ performance on cognitive tasks has received little attention in aging studies. The current research aimed to investigate older monolingual and bidialectal adults’ performance on nonverbal and verbal cognitive tasks, including Simon, Stroop, flanker, and spatial n-back tasks. Bidialectalism and task effects were examined via a comparison of the monolinguals’ and bidialectals’ response latencies. Two experiments were conducted, which consisted of four nonverbal tasks (Experiment 1) and four verbal tasks (Experiment 2), respectively. The participants were 20 older Mandarin monolingual adults and 20 older Minnan-Mandarin/Hakka-Mandarin bidialectal adults from Taiwan. The results indicated that the bidialectals performed better than the monolinguals on the nonverbal and verbal Stroop color-word tasks and the verbal Stroop day-night task. The nonverbal tasks revealed no significant interaction of task and language group, while the verbal tasks showed the opposite results. These findings suggest that the advantages in cognitive control extended beyond bilingualism to bidialectalism. Moreover, the bidialectal advantage was found in some tasks which involved more attentional and inhibitory control and had a high or intermediate level of task difficulty, and was absent in other tasks.
The State of Music-Based Interventions for Mental Illness: Thought Leaders on Barriers, Opportunities, and the Value of Interdisciplinarity.

Hundreds of studies regarding music's effects on mental health have accumulated across multiple disciplines; however, access to and application of music as a support for mental health remains limited, due in part to the multidisciplinary nature of related research and difficulties synthesizing findings. This qualitative study is the first to address these barriers by gathering current thought leaders and stakeholders at intersections of music and mental health, representing multiple disciplines and backgrounds, to (1) document understandings of and recommendations for the field, and (2) examine how views converge or conflict. Participants (n = 36) viewed preliminary results of a global scoping review, then engaged in focus groups which were transcribed and de-identified for analysis. An interdisciplinary research team coded and iteratively analyzed transcripts. Six themes emerged: Barriers to Quality/Improved Research, Disciplinary Differences, Research Recommendations, Implementation and Access, Public Perception and Education, and Need for Training. Discussions offered wide-ranging observations and recommendations while revealing challenges and opportunities related to interdisciplinary work. Findings indicate broad agreement regarding current barriers and opportunities at intersections of music and mental health. While highlighting challenges, participants also indicated multiple avenues for advancing research quality, intervention effectiveness, and equitable access to music as a support for mental health. Responding to the study’s illumination of the benefits and challenges of interdisciplinary work, four brief recommendations are offered to support future efforts.
Software-Defined Vector Processing on Manycore Fabrics

We describe a tiled architecture that can fluidly transition between manycore (MIMD) and vector (SIMD) execution. The hardware provides a software-defined vector programming model that lets applications aggregate groups of manycore tiles into logical vector engines. In manycore mode, the machine behaves as a standard parallel processor. In vector mode, groups of tiles repurpose their functional units as vector execution lanes and scratchpads as vector memory banks. The key mechanism is an instruction forwarding network: a single tile fetches instructions and sends them to other trailing cores. Most cores disable their frontends and instruction caches, so vector groups amortize the intrinsic hardware costs of von Neumann control. Vector groups also use a decoupled access/execute scheme to centralize their memory requests and issue coalesced, wide loads. We augment an existing RISC-V manycore design with a minimal hardware extension to implement software-defined vectors. Cycle-level simulation results show that software-defined vectors improve performance by an average of 1.7 × over standard MIMD execution while saving 22% of the energy. Compared to a similarly configured GPU, the architecture improves performance by 1.9 ×.
Activation of protein kinase C phosphorylation pathways: a role for storage of associative memory.

Publisher Summary To study neuronal changes that store associative memory, Pavlovian conditioning was demonstrated in a snail preparation where it was possible to precisely trace the flow of information through well-defined neuronal networks that mediate the learning. This animal can be taught to associate a light stimulus with vestibular stimulation. The excitable state in identified photoreceptors of the eye is elevated following conditioning due to persistent changes in the molecular regulation of specific potassium currents for 14 days or longer. In a second system, rabbits are conditioned to associate an auditory tone with a puff of air to the surface of the eye causing the nictitating membrane of the eye to extend on subsequent days in response to the tone alone. Memory-specific changes in ion-channel properties and their molecular basis, similar to those observed in Hermissenda , have been measured in the CA1 pyramidal cells of the rabbit hippocampus. The parallels between mechanisms of memory storage in these and other model preparations suggest conserved molecular mechanisms of memory storage.
Reducing uncertainties for short lived cumulative fission product yields

Uncertainties associated with short lived (half-lives less than 1 day) fission product yields listed in databases such as the National Nuclear Data Center’s ENDF/B-VII are large enough for certain isotopes to provide an opportunity for new precision measurements to offer significant uncertainty reductions. A series of experiments has begun where small samples of 235U are irradiated with a pulsed, fission neutron spectrum at the Nevada National Security Site and placed between two broad-energy germanium detectors. The amount of various isotopes present immediately following the irradiation can be determined given the total counts and the calibrated properties of the detector system. The uncertainty on the fission yields for multiple isotopes has been reduced by nearly an order of magnitude.
Modeling Replica Placement in a Distributed File System: Narrowing the Gap between Analysis and Simulation

We examine the replica placement aspect of a distributed peer-to-peer file system that replicates and stores files on ordinary desktop computers. It has been shown that some desktop machines are available for a greater fraction of time than others, and it is crucial not to place all replicas of any file on machines with low availability. In this paper we study the efficacy of three hill-climbing algorithms for file replica placement. Based on large-scale measurements, we assume that the distribution of machine availabilities be uniform. Among other results we show that the MinMax algorithm is competitive, and that for growing replication factor the MinMax and MinRand algorithms have the same asymptotic worst-case efficacy.
Geographical Knowledge and Imperial Culture in the Early Modern Ottoman Empire

Ottoman geographical knowledge and mapping are areas that have received limited attention outside of the pioneering works of a few scholars such as Svat Soucek, Thomas Goodrich and Ekmelledin Ihsan...
Deep convolutional neural networks for acoustic modeling in low resource languages

Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) have demonstrated powerful acoustic modelling capabilities due to their ability to account for structural locality in the feature space; and in recent works CNNs have been shown to often outperform fully connected Deep Neural Networks (DNNs) on TIMIT and LVCSR. In this paper, we perform a detailed empirical study of CNNs under the low resource condition, wherein we only have 10 hours of training data. We find a two dimensional convolutional structure performs the best, and emphasize the importance to consider time and spectrum in modelling acoustic patterns. We report detailed error rates across a wide variety of model structures and show CNNs consistently outperform fully connected DNNs for this task.
Web 2.0 integration into the graduate classroom: An appreciative inquiry into prospective school administrator strengths and leadership experiences

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to advance the preparation of prospective school administrator students by extending the Web 2.0 application of blogging to discover students' strengths and successful leadership experiences. During the blogging process, students reflected on and responded to appreciative inquiry (AI) blog posts that encouraged reflective responses highlighting and identifying their inherent leadership strengths and successful leadership experiences.Design/methodology/approach – A qualitative case study model was used to explore the reflective blog contributions of prospective school administrators to discover patterns in the blogging data by grounding the study in an AI theoretical research perspective. A bounded case study delimited the scope of the study to participants who were: masters or doctoral students in a school administration preparation program at a large Midwestern United States research extensive university; and enrolled in four graduate administrative preparation clas...
Electron-Ion Collisions in the Average-Configuration Distorted-Wave Approximation

Explicit expressions for the electron-impact excitation, ionization, and resonant-recombination cross sections are derived in the average-configuration distorted-wave approximation. Calculations using these expressions are applied to several types of phenomena in electron-ion scattering where comparison with other theoretical methods and experimental measurements can be made,
Laws, Contingencies, Irreversible Divergence, and Physical Geography*

Four critical challenges for physical geography are examined here: deterioration of common cores of knowledge associated with increasing intellectual niche specialization; the need for conceptual thinking and problem-framing to catch up with measurement and analysis technology; and the need to explicitly incorporate human decision making in analysis of earth surface systems. The future calls for physical geography to embrace and confront the creative tension between nomothetic and interpretive science, and to fruitfully and explicitly integrate these approaches.
U2 small nuclear RNA is remarkably conserved between Schizosaccharomyces pombe and mammals

We report the molecular cloning and sequencing of the most abundant trimethylguanosine-capped small nuclear RNA from the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe, a highly conserved homolog of mammalian U2 small nuclear RNA. This RNA is 186 nucleotides in length, just 2 nucleotides shorter than its human counterpart; this is in contrast to Saccharomyces cerevisiae U2, which is 1,175 nucleotides long. Moreover, the secondary structure of Schizosaccharomyces pombe U2 is virtually identical to that of mammalian U2, including the 3' half of the RNA, which shows limited primary sequence identity. Northern (RNA) blot analysis revealed that the size of this RNA is conserved not only in fission yeasts but in many organisms, including other ascomycetes.
Automatic digital modulation classification using instantaneous features

In this paper, we propose a simple, effective and robust method based on the statistical moments of instantaneous features to classify digital modulation signals. This method adopts a tree structure scheme and uses different features in each branch to make full use of distinguishing modulation type's characteristics. The proposed method is capable of differentiating ASK2, ASK4, FSK2, FSK4, PSK2 and PSK4 signals at the output of typical high frequency channel with white Gaussian noise, multi-path delay and Doppler shift. Unlike most other existing methods, our method assumes no prior information of the incoming signal (symbol rate, carrier frequency, amplitude etc.). Extensive simulation results demonstrate that this approach is robust in various practical situations.
Bone integration capability of alkali- and heat-treated nanobimorphic Ti–15Mo–5Zr–3Al

The role of nanofeatured titanium surfaces in a number of aspects of in vivo bone-implant integration, and, in particular, their potential advantages over microfeatured titanium surfaces, as well as their specific contribution to osteoconductivity, is largely unknown. This study reports the creation of a unique nanobimorphic titanium surface comprised of nanotrabecular and nanotuft-like structures and determines how the addition of this nanofeature to a microroughened surface affects bone-implant integration. Machined surfaces without microroughness, sandblasted microroughened surfaces, and micro-nano hybrid surfaces created by sandblasting and alkali and heat treatment of Ti-15Mo-5Zr-3Al alloy were subjected to biomechanical, interfacial and histological analyses in a rat model. The presence of microroughness enabled accelerated establishment of biomechanical implant fixation in the early stages of healing compared to the non-microroughened surfaces; however, it did not increase the implant fixation at the late stages of healing. The addition of nanobimorphic features to the microroughened surfaces further increased the implant fixation by as much as 60-100% over the healing time. Bone area within 50 μm of the implant surface, but not beyond this distance, was significantly increased by the presence of nanobimorphic features. Although the percentage of bone-implant contact was also significantly increased by the addition of nanobimorphic features, the greatest improvement was found in the soft tissue intervention between the bone and the implant, which was reduced from >30% to <5%. Mineralized tissue densely deposited with calcium-binding globular proteins was observed in an extensive area of nanobimorphic surfaces after biomechanical testing. This study clearly demonstrates the nanofeature-enhanced osteoconductivity of titanium by an alkali- and heat-treated nanobimorphic surface compared to that by microfeatured surfaces, which results not only in an acceleration but also an improvement of bone-implant integration. The identified biological parameters that successfully detect the advantages of nanofeatures over microfeatures will be useful in evaluating new implant surfaces in future studies.
The Physical Properties of Nail

The nails and claws of mammals contain α-type fibrous protein filaments. In the human nail the filaments are aligned perpendicular to the growth axis, while nails from other animals show different types of orientation depending on their shape. Studies of water content and diffusion suggest that nail is similar in structure to hair and quite different than epidermis. The lipids which have been observed in nail by x-ray diffraction analysis may be in part fatty acids salts derived from soaps. Measurement of the modulus of elasticity of nail by two different techniques gives values similar to that of hair and suggests that connections between cells contribute to the strength of nail tissue.
Effect on Reproduction of the Boll Weevil by Drugs Which Act on Catecholamines and Indolealkylamines

Anthonomus grandis Boheman were fed for 6 days on laboratory diets containing drugs known to affect levels of catecholamines and indolealkylamines in vertebrate nerve tissue; then they were fed diet without drugs for 6 more days. The effect on reproduction was determined by recording the number of eggs per female per day from the 3rd to the 12th day. The reduction in oviposition caused by alpha -methyltyrosine, alpha -methyl- m -tyrosine, 3-( p -chlorophenyl)alanine, imipramine hydrochloride, guanethidine sulfate, and chlorpromazine appeared to result from a reduction in feeding caused by a repellent effect. However, chloromethamphetamine and phenoxybenzamine reduced oviposition directly.
Time-dependent behavior of a countercurrent dialyzer

Abstract A pair of first-order partial differential equations derived as a model for the time-dependent behavior of a countercurrent dialyzer are shown to have solutions subject to some qualitative properties characteristic of those of parabolic or “diffusion” equations. Time lag constants are defined describing the asymptotic behavior of the solution of these equations appropriate to the transition from one steady regime to another. A proof is given for a comparison theorem analogous to the maximum principle for the heat equation. This basically asserts that if the boundary and initial conditions of one solution are less than those of another, the inequality holds inside the dialyzer for all time. This leads to estimates for the rate of decay of initial conditions.
Thymic output and HIV infection: on the right TREC.

Abstract The role of the thymus in HIV infection has been a matter of considerable debate. A new study by Dion et al. (2004) in this issue of Immunity provides the mechanism for reduced thymic output in HIV infection while illuminating the impact of recent thymic emigrants on peripheral T cell homeostasis.
The chemokine CXCL1/growth related oncogene increases sodium currents and neuronal excitability in small diameter sensory neurons

Background Altered Na+ channel expression, enhanced excitability, and spontaneous activity occur in nerve-injury and inflammatory models of pathological pain, through poorly understood mechanisms. The cytokine GRO/KC (growth related oncogene; CXCL1) shows strong, rapid upregulation in dorsal root ganglion in both nerve injury and inflammatory models. Neurons and glia express its receptor (CXCR2). CXCL1 has well-known effects on immune cells, but little is known about its direct effects on neurons.
GEOMETRY OPTIMIZATION OF A GPS-BASED NAVIGATION REFERENCE SYSTEM

This paper presents the analysis and numerical optimization of the geometry of an inverted pseudolite positioning system. First, the effect of geometry on the system's accuracy is examined. The geometric dilution of precision (GDOP) produced by typical system geometry is considered, and an alternate measure of the geometry effect, the condition number of the “visibility” matrix H, is introduced. Second, the optimization of the system's geometry is presented. The simplified problem of optimizing the geometry with respect to a stationary pseudolite is solved first. Next, a two-step numerical optimization routine is developed to address the geometry optimization problem with respect to a moving pseudolite. The results of the numerical optimization are presented, and both the effectiveness of the optimization routine and the usefulness of the resulting system configurations are discussed. Finally, design guidelines for good geometry are presented, and a technique for further improving the system's geometry is proposed.
Population growth impairment of sulfur-containing compounds to Tetrahymena pyriformis.

A series of 37 aliphatic and aromatic sulfur-containing compounds were evaluated in 2-day Tetrahymena pyriformis population growth impairment assay. The results indicate that, except for select compounds, the in-ring sulfur-containing compounds, sulfates, sulfites, thiols, sulfones, and sulfoxides model as neutral and noncovalent-reacting narcotics. Abiotic loss due to volatility appears to interfere in accurate model prediction because actual toxicity was less than predicted. Vinyl sulfones and sulfoxides are more toxic than predicted using neutral narcosis. Tetrahymena exposed to methyl vinyl sulfone exhibits a direct relationship between the exposure concentration and the generation times with no lag phase in growth. As such, these population growth kinetics mimic those reported for hydrophilic neutral narcotics (i.e., ethanol and acetone). Tetrahymena exposed to phenyl vinyl sulfone exhibit a long concentration-dependent lag phase, which is followed by population growth at rates not different from controls. These population growth kinetics are similar but more dramatic than those reported for hydrophobic neutral narcotics (i.e., butylbenzene and 2-decanone). These results are useful in that they imply that sulfur-containing compounds for the most part act as simple narcotics. Therefore, their toxicity can be modeled with simple structure-toxicity relationships without much fear of underestimation of potency.
Cutaneous manifestations of Takayasu's arteritis

Takayasu's arteritis is a chronic, granulomatous, large-vessel arteriopathy of unknown cause. We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of 38 patients with Takayasu's arteritis and identified 21 with cutaneous findings. Seven patients had lesions that were related to their systemic vasculitis. We found a Churg-Strauss granuloma, a pyodermatous leg ulcer, and inflammatory leg nodules in these patients. Biopsy specimens from three patients with presumed "erythema nodosum" did not support the clinical diagnosis but did show arteritis. In patients with Takayasu's arteritis, small-vessel inflammation, and other inflammatory lesions may be present, in addition to large-vessel disease. Histopathologic study is necessary to categorize the nature of inflammatory leg nodules of these patients.
Advanced aviation fuels : a look ahead via a historical perspective

Abstract The first ‘jet fuels’ were aviation gasoline (avgas), and the characteristics of subsequent jet fuels have evolved from this original choice, the available supply infrastructure, and the refiners’ capabilities. Earlier on, it was evident that avgas would have to be altered to operate satisfactorily in jet-powered aircraft. The present contribution outlines the various requirements that led to the development of various operational jet fuels, including United States (US) Jet A (European Jet A-1), Jet Propellant JP-4 (European F-40), JP-5 (European F-44), JP-7 (US only), JP-8 (F-34), JP-TS (US only), and JP-8+100 (US only). The composition of aviation fuels has generally been determined by specifications that are primarily based upon operational requirements. These include heat content, fluidity, corrosion protection and stability. Moreover, cost is often a primary driver. The chemical composition variations of prototype aviation fuels are compared. Chemical and physical characteristics of the fuels are reviewed within the context of operational requirements. The development of each product is put into the context of two very distinct models, which highlight the importance of cost considerations. A final aim is to foreshadow what may be to come, in the context of JP-8+225, JP-900, ‘controlled chemically reacting fuels’, and alternative fuel sources.
ADSORPTION DYNAMICS OF L-GLUTAMIC ACID COPOLYMERS AT A HEPTANE/WATER INTERFACE

Abstract Random copolymers of glutamic acid (glu–ala, glu–leu, glu–phe, glu–tyr) were employed to investigate the relationship between side chain structure and peptide charge on adsorption behavior at an oil/water boundary. Adsorption of a series of glutamate copolymers at a heptane/water interface was examined by the dynamic pendant-drop method to determine interfacial tension. Incorporation of leucine or phenylalanine into a glutamate copolymer results in greater tension reduction than incorporation of alanine or tyrosine. These effects are amplified at pH values near the isoelectric point of glutamate, where macroscopic adsorbed films of glu–leu and glu–phe exhibit gel-like properties in response to interfacial area compression. Differences in interfacial tension behavior of glu–tyr and glu–phe indicate the importance of the tyrosine p -hydroxyl group on adsorption and aggregation at the oil/water interface.
Astronautics degrees for the space industry

Abstract The Astronautics Program ( http://astronautics.usc.edu ) of the University of Southern California (USC) offers a full set of undergraduate and graduate degree programs in Aerospace Engineering with emphasis in Astronautics. The Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degree programs in Astronautics combine basic science and engineering classes with specialized classes in space technology. The Certificate in Astronautics targets practicing engineers and scientists who enter space-related fields and/or who want to obtain training in specific space-related areas. Many specialized graduate classes are taught by adjunct faculty working at the leading space companies. The Master of Science degree and Certificate are available entirely through the USC Distance Education Network (DEN). Today, the Internet allows us to reach students anywhere in the world through webcasting. The majority of our graduate students, as well as those pursuing the Certificate, work full time as engineers in the space industry and government research and development centers while earning their degrees. The new world of distance learning presents new challenges and opens new opportunities. Distance learning, and particularly the introduction of webcasting, transform the organization of the graduate program and class delivery. We describe in detail the program’s academic focus, student reach, and structure of program components. Program development is illustrated by the student enrollment dynamics and related industrial trends; the lessons learned emphasize the importance of feedback from the students and from the space industry.
Beam-global correlations in the Pacific Northwest

Abstract Daily, 10-day, and monthly averaged beam-global correlations are derived for seven sites in the Pacific Northwest. The beam-global correlations are found to vary with time of year in a manner similar to the seasonal variations exhibited by diffuse-global correlations. A good description of the seasonal dependence is produced by introducing a term dependent on the year-day into the correlations. The correlations are compared with data from several sites in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) network and to results from other studies.
A Decomposition Approximation for Periodic Kanban‐Controlled Flow Shops*

The kanban system is a pull method of production control in which the material-handling operation between two stations is initiated by the downstream station. Most often, because of limited transportation resources, the physical distance separating workstations, or other factors, the material-handling operation is performed periodically. The number of withdrawal kanbans must be set large enough to satisfy production requirements over the period between occurrences of the material-handling operation-the withdrawal cycle time. This paper presents a decomposition approximation for kanban-controlled flow shops that explicitly considers the withdrawal cycle time. Several examples are given to show how the approximation method can be used to determine the required number of kanbans, the required withdrawal cycle time, or both.
The rise and fall of allergic contact dermatitis

When a simple chemical hapten contacts the skin, it triggers a complex cellular and molecular reaction that eventuates in the cutaneous reaction clinically recognized as allergic contact dermatitis. This review summarizes the crucial role of the cytokines and adhesion molecules that direct the traffic of cells into, and out of, the skin after contact with an allergen. Particularly stressed are the molecular interactions between antigen-bearing Langerhans cells and responding CD4+ T cells: this interaction results in the amplification of the memory cells that add specificity to the immune response. Finally, negative feedback mechanisms for dampening the response are briefly discussed.
Flow cytometric analysis of circulating microparticles in plasma

Microparticles, which include exosomes, micro-vesicles, apoptotic bodies and apoptotic microparticles, are small (0.05 - 3 mum in diameter), membranous vesicles that can contain DNA, RNA, miRNA, intracellular proteins and express extracellular surface markers from the parental cells. They can be secreted from intracellular multivesicular bodies or released from the surface of blebbing membranes. Circulating microparticles are abundant in the plasma of normal individuals and can be derived from circulating blood cells such as platelets, red blood cells and leukocytes as well as from tissue sources, such as endothelial and placental tissues. Elevated levels of microparticles are associated with various diseases such as thrombosis (platelet microparticles), congestive heart failure (endothelial microparticles), breast cancer patients (leukocyte microparticles) and women with preeclampsia (syncytiotrophoblast microparticles). Although microparticles can be detected by microscopy, enzyme-linked immunoassays and functional assays, flow cytometry is the preferred method because of the ability to quantitate (fluorescent bead- or flow rate-based method) and because of polychromatic capabilities. However, standardization of pre-analytical and analytical modus operandi for isolating, enumerating and fluorescent labeling of microparticles remains a challenge. The primary focus of this article is to review the preliminary steps required to optimally study circulating in vivo microparticles which include: 1) centrifugation speed used, 2) quantitation of microparticles before antibody labeling, 3) levels of fluorescence intensity of antibody-labeled microparticles, 4) polychromatic flow cytometric analysis of microparticle sub-populations and 5) use of polyclonal antibodies designed for Western blotting for flow cytometry. These studies determine a roadmap to develop microparticles as biomarkers for a variety of conditions.
New Gods and Old Order: Tragic Theology in the Prometheus Bound

the splendour of God's triumph. None can truly know that suffering and that triumph until, like the eagle in the air, he joins fullheartedly in the cry of victory with which all living things salute Zeus the conqueror. That is the meaning of the 'accord set up by Zeus,' in Prometheus, the harmonia which mortal wishes never overstep, and to which even the Titan-made civilization of mankind must end by adapting itself.1
Bite wounds inflicted by dogs and cats.

There is an epidemic of bite wounds in the United States today. Epidemiology and ecology of bite wounds are discussed, and microbiology reviewed. Five typical cases are presented along with suggestions for management.
Firm maternal parenting associated with decreased risk of excessive snacking in overweight children

Objective To examine the relationship between parent feeding practices (restriction, monitoring, pressure to eat), general parenting behaviors (acceptance, psychological control, firm control), and aberrant child eating behaviors (emotional eating and excessive snacking) among overweight and normal weight children.
Sensitivity of ultrasonic nonlinearity to irradiated, annealed, and re-irradiated microstructure changes in RPV steels

Abstract The planned life extension of nuclear reactors throughout the US and abroad will cause reactor vessel and internals materials to be exposed to more neutron irradiation than was originally intended. A nondestructive evaluation (NDE) method to monitor radiation damage would enable safe and cost-effective continued operation of nuclear reactors. Radiation damage in reactor pressure vessel (RPV) steels causes microstructural changes that leave the material in an embrittled state. Nonlinear ultrasound is an NDE technique quantified by the measurable acoustic nonlinearity parameter, which is sensitive to microstructural changes in metallic materials such as dislocations, precipitates and their combinations. Recent research has demonstrated the sensitivity of the acoustic nonlinearity parameter to increasing neutron fluence in representative RPV steels. The current work considers nonlinear ultrasonic experiments conducted on similar RPV steel samples that had a combination of irradiation, annealing, re-irradiation, and/or re-annealing to a total neutron fluence of 0.5–5 × 10 19 n/cm 2 ( E > 1 MeV) at an irradiation temperature of 290 °C. The acoustic nonlinearity parameter generally increased with increasing neutron fluence, and consistently decreased from the irradiated to the annealed state over different levels of neutron fluence. Results of the measured acoustic nonlinearity parameter are compared with those from previous measurements on other RPV steel samples. This comprehensive set of results illustrates the dependence of the measured acoustic nonlinearity parameter on neutron fluence, material composition, irradiation temperature and annealing.
Somatosensory and brainstem auditory evoked potentials in the Gunn rat model of acute bilirubin neurotoxicity.

Brainstem auditory evoked potentials (BAEPs) are a sensitive indicator of bilirubin neurotoxicity. Somatosensory evoked potentials (SEPs) have been proposed as another measure of toxicity, though the lemniscal pathways that generate the SEP are not involved in kernicterus. In 16 to 17-d-old jaundiced (jj) Gunn rats, serial BAEPs and SEPs were obtained up to 8 h after acute bilirubin toxicity. jjs were injected with 150 mg/kg sulfadimethoxine to displace bilirubin into brain tissue (n = 8); littermate controls were jjs given saline (n = 4) and nonjaundiced given sulfadimethoxine or saline (n = 7). After anesthesia, BAEP and SEP recordings were obtained at baseline and serially after injection. SEPs to median nerve stimulation were recorded from surface electrodes over the brachial plexus (Erb's) and contralateral parietal cortex, and subtracted to obtain central conduction time (CCT). There were no statistically significant different baseline values between groups. Baseline BAEP I, I-II, and I-III were 1.22 ± 0.13, 1.11 ± 0.12, and 2.10 ± 0.15 ms, and SEP Erb's and CCT were 1.48 ± 0.20 and 5.59 ± 0.50 ms, respectively (n = 19). At 6.8 ± 1.5 h after injection BAEP I, I-II, and I-III increased 0.10 ± 0.08, 0.18 ± 0.17, and 0.56 ± 0.33 ms over baseline, respectively (p = 0.005, 0.01, and 0.001, respectively, paired, 1-tailed t-tests), in experimental but not control groups. SEP Erb's decreased slightly, −0.06 ± 0.04 ms in experimental and −0.08 ± 0.08 ms in control groups, while CCT did not change significantly. BAEPs were completely abolished in two jjs with no SEP changes. When injection of sulfonamide induced significant peripheral and central BAEP abnormalities in jaundiced rats, no SEP abnormalities occurred. SEPs assess proprioception but not other somatosensory function or sensory integration. The results demonstrate the selectivity of acute bilirubin toxicity for the auditory nervous system.
Structure, dynamics and functions of promyelocytic leukaemia nuclear bodies

The promyelocytic leukaemia (PML) tumour suppressor protein epitomizes the PML-nuclear body (PML-NB) and is crucially required for the proper assembly of this macromolecular nuclear structure. Unlike other, more specialized subnuclear structures such as Cajal and Polycomb group bodies, PML-NBs are functionally promiscuous and have been implicated in the regulation of diverse cellular functions. PML-NBs are dynamic structures that favour the sequestration and release of proteins, mediate their post-translational modifications and promote specific nuclear events in response to various cellular stresses. Recent data suggest that PML-NBs may be heterogeneous in composition, mobility and function.
Sounds of Atoms

Early in setting up our nanoscience laboratory at Penn State, we were frustrated because we could not peer into the tunneling junctions of our scanning tunneling microscopes (STMs) to see what the atoms were doing. We were particularly vexed when singular events, such as an atom moving on the end of the STM probe tip, confounded our data and forced us to start over. Such an event was very difficult to identify; it would be just a blip in a recorded image or a flash on an oscilloscope, and it would not be recognizable at all in the frequency spectrum of noise monitored on our spectrum analyzer. ![Figure][1] CREDIT: PETER HOEY The solution to our problem was right there in the mirror every morning but had nothing to do with sight. Humans can hear a wide dynamic range and have a fantastic ability to recognize patterns in sounds. Borrowing a trick from electrophysiology, we sent the tunneling current of our microscopes into an audio amplifier and then turned our probe tip height into a tune by applying that signal to a voltage-controlled oscillator. One stereo channel corresponds to tunneling current and the other to STM tip height. This way, we could hear when imaging was proceeding well and when something was amiss. We applied this approach to every aspect of our microscopy and spectroscopy. The dreaded sound of an atom moving on the tip of a low-temperature STM has a characteristic rising “whoook” that is unmistakable (and sometimes heartbreaking). Every student, postdoc, and visitor in the group became familiar with the songs of his or her microscope—they learned which tune meant which problem and always rejoiced when they heard the best melody of all: the sound of a happily working microscope. Such ideas were also developed independently at the IBM Zurich and IBM Almaden Laboratories, and elsewhere. If you would like to hear some of the sounds of our microscopes and of imaging molecules, please listen to the media files in the supporting online material ([1][2]). 1. 1.[↵][3]Some of the sounds of our microscopes, recorded by P. Han, A. Kurland, and P. S. Weiss of Penn State, are available as supporting material on Science Online ( ). 2. 2.Our original work was supported by the National Science Foundation, the Office of Naval Research, the Petroleum Research Fund administered by the American Chemical Society, and G. Marcotrigiano of Gary's Electronics. [1]: pending:yes [2]: #ref-1 [3]: #xref-ref-1-1 "View reference 1. in text"
Cell-Context Dependent TCF/LEF Expression and Function: Alternative Tales of Repression, De-Repression and Activation Potentials

Wnt signaling controls cell specification and fate during development and adult tissue homeostasis by converging on a small family of DNA binding factors, the T-cell factor/lymphoid enhancer factor (TCF/LEF) family. In response to Wnt signals, TCF/LEF members undergo a transcriptional switch from repression to activation mediated in part by nuclear β-catenin binding and recruitment of co-activator complexes. In mammals, the specificity and fine tuning of this transcriptional switch is also achieved by the cell-context-dependent expression of four members (TCF7, TCF7L1, TCF7L2, and LEF1) and numerous variants, which display differential DNA binding affinity and specificity, repression strength, activation potential, and regulators. TCF7/LEF1 variants are generated by alternative promoters, alternative exon cassettes, and alternative donor/acceptor splicing sites, allowing combinatorial insertion/exclusion of modular functional and regulatory domains. In this review we present mounting evidence for the interdependency of TCF7/LEF1 variant expression and functions with cell lineage and cell state. We also illustrate how the p53 and nuclear receptor family of transcription factors, known to control cell fate and to inhibit Wnt signaling, may participate in the fine tuning of TCF7/LEF1 repression/activation potentials.
Absorption microphotometry of irregular-shaped objects.

A new microphotometric method (mainly for the evaluation of microchemical color reactions) which uses measurements at two wave lengths (developed byOrnstein and, independently, by the author) is presented in a form which greatly reduces the computational labor (for an illustration, see Table 3).
Transient knock down of checkpoint kinase 1 in hematopoietic progenitors is linked to bone marrow toxicity.

Checkpoint kinase 1 (Chk1) is required for both intra-S phase and G2/M checkpoints in cell cycle, and plays critical roles in maintaining genomic stability and transducing DNA damage response. Chk1 deficiency has been shown to inhibit T-cell differentiation and resulted in severe anemia in a Chk1 heterozygous mouse model. To date, there has been a good correlation between Chk1 inhibition and in vitro bone marrow toxicity among small molecule inhibitors. To better understand the role of Chk1 in hematopoiesis, we conducted transient Chk1 gene silencing in human bone marrow progenitor cells using siRNA and electroporation. At 48 h post electroporation, approximately 70% inhibition of Chk1 was confirmed using real-time RT-PCR and immunoblotting, which resulted in more than 60% reduction in cell count when compared to the non-specific siRNA control on day 6 post-electroporation. This result was confirmed using a colony forming unit assay, where reduced number in both erythroid and granulocyte colonies was observed with Chk1 siRNA treatment. The Chk1 gene inhibition in bone marrow progenitor cells resulted in significant induction of apoptosis, but not cell cycle arrest, as assessed using flow cytometry. In this study an effective method to knock down a gene of interest was established in hard-to-transfect hematopoietic stem cells. Furthermore, our results support a direct role of Chk1 in maintaining normal hematopoiesis in the bone marrow.
Linking the epigenetic ‘language’ of covalent histone modifications to cancer

Covalent modifications of histones, such as acetylation, methylation, and phosphorylation, and other epigenetic modulations of the chromatin, such as methylation of DNA and ATP-dependent chromatin reorganisation, can play a major part in the multistep process of carcinogenesis, with far-reaching implications for human biology and human health. This review focuses on how aberrant covalent histone modifications may contribute to the development of a variety of human cancers, and discusses the recent findings with regard to potential therapies.
Understanding the Complexities of Skin Color, Perceptions of Race, and Discrimination Among Cubans, Dominicans, and Puerto Ricans:

Caribbean Latino/a groups have a higher percentage of Black and Brown individuals who are often labeled Black in the United States. Unfortunately, little is known about how skin color affects the e...
Predicting the change in the cost of living

Abstract When the publication of quantity data lags behind that of price data, approximations are necessary for the computation of the cost of living. We evaluate the improvement of the approximation which results from the use of an estimated system of demand equations.
Individual differences in academic motivation: Perceived ability, goals, beliefs, and values

Abstract It is argued that research on academic motivation should help us reflect on the problems occasioned by the preoccupation, characteristic of our society, with one's ability relative to that of others. Research on perceived ability often obscures these problems. Research on the individual difference dimensions of ego orientation (desire for superiority) and task orientation (desire for understanding) provides one framework for addressing these problems. Task orientation and ego orientation were uncorrelated or only slightly correlated with each other and with perceived ability. Other correlates of these orientations are examined. A case is made for broadening the scope of research on academic motivation to include students' ethical, political values and their interpretations of the purposes of curriculum content.