cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Fluorescence Imaging at Sub-Diffraction-Limit Resolution with Stochastic Optical Reconstruction Microscopy

Fluorescence microscopy is an essential tool in biological research. One major drawback of conventional light microscopy, however, is its relatively low resolution, which is limited by the diffraction of light to several hundreds of nanometers. In recent years, a number of fluorescence imaging techniques with sub-diffraction-limit resolution have been developed, achieving a spatial resolution of tens of nanometers in both the lateral and axial dimensions. This chapter focuses on one of these methods, stochastic optical reconstruction microscopy (STORM), which utilizes photoswitchable flourescent probes to separate spatially overlapping images of individual fluorophores in time and construct superresolution images from the precise positions of these fluorophores determined from the single-molecule images. Application of this technique has been extended to imaging fluorophores of different colors simultaneously, in three dimensions, and in living cells. This chapter describes the implementation of multicolor and three-dimensional STORM to imaging cellular structures. It begins by discussing the choice of photoswitchable fluorescent probe and the scheme with which to label a cellular target of interest. The instrumentation and methods for performing a STORM experiment are then described, followed by an outline of the analysis routines used for creating a STORM image. Applications of the technique along with general protocols and troubleshooting are given at the conclusion of the chapter.
Nitrogen nutrition as a regulator of biosynthesis of storage proteins in maize (Zea mays L.) grain.

For at least some maize hybrids, the level of nitrogen supplied to the crop affects the proportions (Osborne-Mendel separation) of various kinds of proteins in the grain, as well as the total concentration. As the amount of nitrogen is increased from insufficient to above the level for maximum yield of grain, nitrogen concentration in the grain is increased. Most of the increase is accounted for by increased biosynthesis of the fraction extractable by aqueous ethanol (zein). Since this prolamine is practically devoid of lysine and tryptophan, the quality of the grain for some purposes is harmed by nitrogen fertilization. From an agronomic point of view, additional research is needed to determine the manner in which fertilizer nitrogen should be provided to maize to achieve both the best possible quality and maximum yields of grain. Results obtained with a maize mutation, opaque-2, show what can be done to improve quality through genetic manipulation. The advances in understanding of zein biosynthesis which these genetic investigations have prompted should aid greatly in maximizing the efficiency of nitrogen fertilization for producing high yields of high-quality grain.
A Review of the Mathematical and Computational Foundations of Biomechanical Imaging

“Biomechanical imaging” refers to the remote measurement of the mechanical properties of tissues, in situ and in vivo. Images of the tissue can bethus created by visualizing the mechanical property distributions. The technique relies on being able to image tissue while it is being deformed by a set of externally applied forces. Through image processing, the displacement (or sometimes velocity) field everywhere in the region of interest is inferred. An inverse problem for the relevant mechanical properties is formulated, given the measured displacement fields, an assumed form of the tissue’s constitutive equation (e.g., linear elastic), and the law of conservation of momentum. In this paper we focus on the mathematical structure of this inverse problem and on its computational solution. Both the analysis and the computational solution are effected by specific clinical and experimental applications which dictate the information that is available and domains of interest.
Modification of the germ line in animals

In recent years, techniques have been developed for introducing new genetic material into intact organisms. These procedures, which allow the transfer of genes at the earliest stages of development, make possible the insertion of new genetic material into the germline cells of the developing embryo. This capability thus provides the potential to permanently alter the genetic characteristics of a strain of animals. Whatever new characteristics arc supplied by foreign genes, they can be maintained indefinitely in subsequent generations through breeding. Advances of this kind have profound implications for agriculture. Reproducible expression of foreign genes in recipient animals can result in the appearance of new and highly advantageous phenotypes. The most obvious applications of gene transfer technology to farm animals involve manipulation of the immune system or the endocrine system. However, as greater knowledge of the genetic regulation of mammalian development is achieved, and as more genes are cloned, isolated, and studied, the range of applicability of this technology will broaden considerably. Therefore; it must be anticipated that gene transfer will profoundly change the theory and practice of animal breeding.
Laser and Light for Wound Healing Stimulation

Understanding wound healing is critical for health care ­professionals mainly because of the enormous burden of chronic wounds on society. In addition, in many medical specialties, creating wounds for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes is part of a physician’s daily practice.
Sampling and sample preparation for sensor-based detection of pathogens in foods

In any detection scheme, including biosensor-based approaches, the pathway from sample to answer involves at least three key steps. These include: use of a statistically valid sampling plan; application of preanalytical sample preparation methods for capture, separation, filtration, and/or concentration of pathogens or cellular analytes from complex food matrices; and use of a suitable detection technique. The quality of an assay’s output is a sum function of each of the component steps. Until recently, most research efforts have been focused solely on detection, but novel methods for sampling and sample preparation are now receiving greater attention. This chapter focuses on the need for sample preparation, the challenges presented by various components of the food matrix, and various options available for sampling and sample manipulation prior to biosensor-based detection.
A Review of: “Lectures on Rhetoric and Belles Lettres”

The publication of this edition of Blair's Lectures makes an important text in the history of rhetoric, long out of print, again available to scholars and students at a reasonable price ($75; $35 p...
Contingent Fees in California

ALL LAWYERS are rich. They get huge fees. When they are attorneys for a decedent's estate, they take the whole estate. They crack the walnut, give each litigant one of the two halfshells, and eat the kernel themselves. Or else, it is an oyster which they eat, giving the litigants the somewhat less edible valves. All this must be true because laymen have said it about lawyers for many hundred years. It must, therefore, be something of a surprise to laymen to discover that lawyers-a great many lawyers-are willing to work, and work hard, for nothing. Or at any rate for an excellent chance of getting nothing. Not only will they work hard, but they will put themselves to considerable expense which may very well never get repaid. And when laymen discover that the lawyers who do this are assailed by other lawyers for the impropriety of their conduct, they will doubtless be confirmed in their conviction that everything that lawyers do which sounds well-disposed or benevolent to laymen is bitterly opposed by the generality of the profession. That, we must remember, is an important and often neglected element in the question of the contingent fee; the contrast between the popular and the professional point of view on the subject. To the laity the offer of a lawyer to conduct litigation wholly or partly at his own expense and to be paid only if he is successful in obtaining not merely a judgment but an actual recovery, is, in the main, taken to be a laudable and beneficial proposal. Among lawyers, on the other hand, the arrangement for a contingent fee was at one time not only void, but constituted a criminal offense, the offense of champerty.' That is still the rule in England. And at the present time, in places where it is not void, it is looked upon with disfavor, not to say with contempt.
Energy Harvesting from Overhead Transmission Line Magnetic fields

This paper proposes a superior energy harvester system which uses magnetic fields as its source. The design parameters have been analyzed to determine their impact on the amount of power that can be harvested. An efficient and novel power processing unit which produces a regulated DC voltage and distributes the power between the load and the backup energy storage element has been proposed. Experimental results have demonstrated that the proposed harvester utilizing the nanocrystalline material can achieve a power density of 100.2 mW/cm3, which is much higher than that reported in many other researches. The proposed harvester can produce as much as 55 W of power from a power line carrying 615 A of AC current.
Proteases: History, discovery, and roles in health and disease.

The Journal of Biological Chemistry (JBC) has been a major vehicle for disseminating and recording the discovery and characterization of proteolytic enzymes. The pace of discovery in the protease field accelerated during the 1971–2010 period that Dr. Herb Tabor served as the JBC's editor-in-chief. When he began his tenure, the fine structure and kinetics of only a few proteases were known; now thousands of proteases have been characterized, and over 600 genes for proteases have been identified in the human genome. In this review, besides reflecting on Dr. Tabor's invaluable contributions to the JBC and the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (ASBMB), I endeavor to provide an overview of the extensive history of protease research, highlighting a few discoveries and roles of proteases in vivo. In addition, metalloproteinases, particularly meprins of the astacin family, will be discussed with regard to structural characteristics, regulation, mechanisms of action, and roles in health and disease. Proteases and protein degradation play crucial roles in living systems, and I briefly address future directions in this highly diverse and thriving research area.
The Workings of Calidad: Honor, Governance, and Social Hierarchies in the Corporations of the Spanish Empire

In her study on the configuration of difference in colonial New Granada, Joanne Rappaport contends that many studies “tend to ignore how different practices of distinguishing one individual from another came into play in concrete situations,” and as a result they “end up labeling as ‘race’ something that was much more multifaceted.” Subsequently, she urges scholars to interpret colonial subjects and their identities on their own terms. This study responds to Rappaport's call by analyzing the workings of the historical concept of calidad in colonial Spanish America.
Investors' Opinion Divergence and Post-Earnings Announcement Drift in REITs

Executive Summary. In this study, we examine whether investors' opinion divergence has explanatory power for post-earnings announcement drift in equity real estate investment trusts (REITs). We mea...
Wrestling with Plato’s Fight Club

The crisis of the liberal arts requires wrestling with the founding distinction of Western knowledge, episteme and doxa, specialized knowledge and common opinion, and their associated media infrastructures. Epistemic knowledge depends on critical thinking and alphabetic writing, which the StudioLab pedagogy supplements with critical design and transmedia knowledge that mixes ideas and images, logic and story, episteme and doxa. Integrating seminar, studio, and lab learning, students become makers of media, builders of collaborative platforms, and co-designers of possible worlds. StudioLab seeks to strengthen campus and community relationships through transmedia knowledge and, at a systems level, help remix the performative values of cultural efficacy, technical effectiveness, and organizational efficiency that shape the contemporary world.
Relativistic Heavy Ion Collisions and Future Physics

At present, most physicists feel that we have finally arrived at a closed system of physical laws, with QCD for the strong interaction and a unifying gauge theory for the weak and electromagnetic forces, plus of course Einstein’s theory of general relativity. However, there are a few things that are not completely satisfactory. Of the participating fundamental particles, only the leptons and the photon have been observed directly. The intermediate bosons and the graviton, we hope, can be detected in the near future. All the rest, the quarks and the gluon, we believe can never come out in the open and therefore direct observation will always be impossible.
On the Physical Interpretation of Proper Orthogonal Decomposition and Dynamic Mode Decomposition for Liquid Injection.

The modal decomposition techniques of proper orthogonal decomposition (POD) and dynamic mode decomposition (DMD) have become a common method for analysing the spatio-temporal coherence of dynamical systems. In particular, these techniques are of interest for liquid injection systems due to the inherent complexity of multiphase interactions and extracting the underlying flow processes is desired. Although numerous works investigating flow processes have implemented POD and DMD, the results are often highly interpretive with limited link between the decomposition theory and the interpreted physical meaning of the extracted modes. Here, we provide insight into the interpretation of POD and DMD modes in a hierarchical structure. The interpretation of modes for simple canonical systems is validated through knowledge of the underlying processes which dominate the systems. We show that modes which capture true underlying phenomena produce subsequent modes at higher harmonics, up until the Nyquist limit, whose modal structure scales decrease proportionally with increasing modal frequency. These higher harmonics primarily encode motion information and may or may not capture additional structural information, which is dependent on the system. We demonstrate these findings first on canonical liquid injection systems to enhance the interpretation and understanding of results extracted from practical jet in crossflow systems.
Safety of Outpatient Type 1 Thyroplasty.

Objective:Type 1 thyroplasty is an established procedure for the treatment of vocal fold paralysis to improve voice and swallowing outcomes. At our institution, we commonly perform this procedure o...
Housing supply elasticity, gasoline prices, AND Residential property values

Abstract We revise the standard monocentric city model to incorporate differential assumptions about the elasticity of housing supply in response to changes in transportation costs. We test the implications of the model with data from the Las Vegas metropolitan area and find that housing markets respond roughly the same in the face of increases and decreases in gas prices. Supply elasticity is evidently relatively elastic in response to both expansions and contractions, despite expectations that supply is much more inelastic when markets contract when gas prices increase. Simulating the effect of a 10% increase in gas prices from a carbon tax, we find that homes near the center of town rise on average $532 while homes beyond 5 miles fall on average $1,064. These findings are consistent with negative rent gradient results reported in Coulson and Engle (1987) and Larson and Zhao (2017).
Medical Systems and Patient-Provider Relationships

This chapter examines how aspects of patient-centered communication are central to meeting the complex demands of managing diabetes in adulthood. We initially operationalize patient-centered care and describe the processes posited to link patient-centered interactions to better diabetes management. We then selectively review the literature to address four central issues. First, we discuss what patients want from their interactions with health-care providers. Qualitative studies reveal patients want open, honest, autonomy-supportive communication that encourages collaborative relationships with health-care providers. Second, we determine whether these characteristics are associated with diabetes outcomes (e.g., quality of life, diabetes self-management, glycemic control). Cross-sectional and longitudinal observational studies indicate that comprehensive discussions about diabetes and its treatment that empower patients to participate in treatment decisions are associated with better diabetes outcomes. Third, we examine whether interventions to promote patient-centered interactions are effective and improve diabetes outcomes. Interventions targeting patients or multifaceted aspects of the health-care system have been effective at improving intermediate outcomes (e.g., satisfaction with care) but less conclusively improve diabetes outcomes. Fourth, we discuss how health-care systems are associated with patient-centered care and diabetes outcomes. Although traditional models of care may hinder the delivery of patient-centered care, current innovations in health-care delivery show tentative promise to improve patient-centered communication and effective diabetes health care.
Learning restrictive sexual values may be associated with dyspareunia

Objective:The primary objective of this study is to assess whether the degree of religiosity or certain moral teachings are associated with dyspareunia.Methods:A cross-sectional survey with 24 ques...
From the Post-Racial Question to the Post-Ferguson Reckoning

This chapter’s narrative analysis of more than 1600 news articles moves from past to present and across all three paradigms of journalism. It addresses questions of sourcing, the narratives used to portray racial conflicts, whether coverage shows awareness of systemic racism, and whether any of these facets of coverage changed over time. It reveals that Traditional journalism coverage shifted strongly after Ferguson to include the voices of more people experiencing racism versus voices of experts discounting it, to examine the narrative of the conflict as one of protesters with political clout rather than “dangerous” African American rioters, and to name and unpack structural racism rather than posing it as an open question. The examples are supported with rich anecdotes from coverage in each news outlet.
Blame-Laden Moral Rebukes and the Morally Competent Robot: A Confucian Ethical Perspective.

Empirical studies have suggested that language-capable robots have the persuasive power to shape the shared moral norms based on how they respond to human norm violations. This persuasive power presents cause for concern, but also the opportunity to persuade humans to cultivate their own moral development. We argue that a truly socially integrated and morally competent robot must be willing to communicate its objection to humans’ proposed violations of shared norms by using strategies such as blame-laden rebukes, even if doing so may violate other standing norms, such as politeness. By drawing on Confucian ethics, we argue that a robot’s ability to employ blame-laden moral rebukes to respond to unethical human requests is crucial for cultivating a flourishing “moral ecology” of human–robot interaction. Such positive moral ecology allows human teammates to develop their own moral reflection skills and grow their own virtues. Furthermore, this ability can and should be considered as one criterion for assessing artificial moral agency. Finally, this paper discusses potential implications of the Confucian theories for designing socially integrated and morally competent robots.
Purification and analysis of a protein cocktail capable of scavenging cell-free hemoglobin, heme, and iron.

BACKGROUND Hemolysis releases toxic cell-free hemoglobin (Hb), heme, and iron, which overwhelm their natural scavenging mechanisms during acute or chronic hemolytic conditions. This study describes a novel strategy to purify a protein cocktail containing a comprehensive set of scavenger proteins for potential treatment of hemolysis byproducts. STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS Tangential flow filtration was used to purify a protein cocktail from Human Cohn Fraction IV (FIV). A series of in vitro assays were performed to characterize composition and biocompatibility. The in vivo potential for hemolysis byproduct mitigation was assessed in a hamster exchange transfusion model using mechanically hemolyzed blood plasma mixed with the protein cocktail or a control colloid (dextran 70 kDa). RESULTS A basis of 500 g of FIV yielded 62 ± 9 g of a protein mixture at 170 g/L, which bound to approximately 0.6 mM Hb, 1.2 mM heme, and 1.2 mM iron. This protein cocktail was shown to be biocompatible in vitro with red blood cells and platelets and exhibits nonlinear concentration dependence with respect to viscosity and colloidal osmotic pressure. In vivo assessment of the protein cocktail demonstrated higher iron transport to the liver and spleen and less to the kidney and heart with significantly reduced renal and cardiac inflammation markers and lower kidney and hepatic damage compared to a control colloid. DISCUSSION Taken together, this study provides an effective method for large-scale production of a protein cocktail suitable for comprehensive reduction of hemolysis-induced toxicity.
Constructing and analyzing spatial-social networks from location-based social media data

People interact with each other in space and time. Improved understanding of human interactions in spatial, temporal, and social dimensions are highly beneficial for research and practices in publi...
The Cambridge Companion to Dewey

List of contributors Method of citation Introduction Molly Cochran 1. The making of a democratic philosopher: the intellectual development of John Dewey Robert Westbrook 2. Dewey's epistemology Ruth Anna Putnam 3. The naturalism of John Dewey Richard Gale 4. Dewey's logic of inquiry Isaac Levi 5. The primacy of practice in Dewey's experimental empiricism J. E. Tiles 6. Cognitive science and Dewey's theory of mind, thought, and language Mark Johnson 7. John Dewey on action Matthias Jung 8. Dewey's moral philosophy Jennifer Welchman 9. Ethics as moral inquiry: Dewey and the moral psychology of social reform James Bohman 10. Dewey and pragmatic religious naturalism Sami Pihlstrom 11. Dewey's aesthetics Richard Eldridge 12. Dewey's philosophy of education: a critique from the perspective of care theory Nel Noddings 13. Dewey's vision of radical democracy Richard J. Bernstein 14. Dewey as an international thinker Molly Cochran.
Ritual and Symbolism, Archaeology of

Archaeologists approach ritual and symbolism from a material basis: through the places, things, and trace residues left behind as a result of human action in the past. Where historically, archaeologists adopted definitions of ritual, religion, and symbolism that were rooted in structuralism, today they increasingly draw on the semiotics of Charles Sanders Peirce and practice theory, broadly rooted in the work of Michel de Certeau and Pierre Bourdieu, to interpret materials in terms of action and meaning-making in the past.
Apical and basolateral Ca2+ channels modulate cytosolic Ca2+ in gallbladder epithelia

Gallstone formation is associated with altered gall-bladder (GB) ion transport and increased concentration of GB bile Ca 2+ . Recent studies show that increased cytosolic Ca 2+ ([Ca 2+ ] i ) stimulates GB Cl - secretion. However, the mechanism by which extracellular Ca 2+ ([Ca 2+ ] e ) enters the cytosol remains unclear. We tested the hypothesis that entry of [Ca 2+ ] e into cytosol occurs via apical and basolateral membrane Ca 2+ channels. Prairie dog GBs were mounted in Ussing chambers, standard electrophysiologic parameters were recorded, and unidirectional Cl - fluxes (J, μEq.cm -2 .hr -1 ) were measured using 36 Cl at various mucosal Ca 2+ in the absence or presence of mucosal lanthanum (La 3+ ), a non-diffusible Ca 2+ channel blocker. Serosal [Ca 2+ ] e was maintained at trace levels. In the absence of mucosal La 3+ , short circuit current (Isc) showed a positive correlation with mucosal [Ca 2+ ] e as represented by a second order polynomial equation (y = 4.1 + 2.5x - 0.73x 2 , r = 0.68, P < 0.001). In contrast, unidirectional mucosa to serosa Cl - flux (J ms Cl ) was inversely correlated with [Ca 2+ ] e (y = 47.9 - 8.7x + 0.9x 2 , r = 0.51, P <.05) Addition of 1 mM mucosal La 3+ blunted the effects of [Ca 2+ ] e on electrophysiologic parameters and J ms Cl . However, basolateral repletion with 5 mM Ca 2+ reverses the blocking effects of La 3+ on J ms Cl . These data suggest that [Ca 2+ ] e enters the cytosol via apical and basolateral Ca 2+ channels. We conclude that GB apical Ca 2+ channels may represent a pathway for biliary Ca 2+ entry into the cell and therefore may represent an important regulatory pathway for GB ion transport during gallstone formation.
The Declaration of the United Colonies: America's First Just War Statement

Was the American War for Independence just? In July 1775, a full year before the Declaration of Independence, the colonists argued that they had the right to self-defense. They made this argument using language that accords with what we can broadly call classical just war thinking, based, inter alia, on their claim that their provincial authorities had a responsibility to defend the colonists from British violence. In the 1775 Declaration of the United Colonies, written two months after British troops attacked colonial citizens, such arguments are made. This essay carefully looks at the historical context of the 1775 Declaration, the arguments made by the colonists, and the philosophical and theological underpinnings of those claims, and concludes that the colonists made a compelling argument commensurate with just war thinking.
Seeing Anew through Interneuron Transplantation

Critical periods are developmental time windows during which neuronal connections are shaped by experience. In this issue of Neuron, Davis et al. (2015) show that transplantation of embryonic inhibitory interneurons can reactivate critical period plasticity and reverse amblyopia in the visual cortex of adult mice.
A domain independent framework for extracting linked semantic data from tables

Vast amounts of information is encoded in tables found in documents, on the Web, and in spreadsheets or databases. Integrating or searching over this information benefits from understanding its intended meaning and making it explicit in a semantic representation language like RDF. Most current approaches to generating Semantic Web representations from tables requires human input to create schemas and often results in graphs that do not follow best practices for linked data. Evidence for a table's meaning can be found in its column headers, cell values, implicit relations between columns, caption and surrounding text but also requires general and domain-specific background knowledge. Approaches that work well for one domain, may not necessarily work well for others. We describe a domain independent framework for interpreting the intended meaning of tables and representing it as Linked Data. At the core of the framework are techniques grounded in graphical models and probabilistic reasoning to infer meaning associated with a table. Using background knowledge from resources in the Linked Open Data cloud, we jointly infer the semantics of column headers, table cell values (e.g., strings and numbers) and relations between columns and represent the inferred meaning as graph of RDF triples. A table's meaning is thus captured by mapping columns to classes in an appropriate ontology, linking cell values to literal constants, implied measurements, or entities in the linked data cloud (existing or new) and discovering or and identifying relations between columns.
Evidence-Based Practice with Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Children and Adolescents

This chapter discusses the resilience of gay, lesbian, bi-sexual and transgender children and adolescents. Three stories discuss difficult issues facing GLBT individuals including homophobia, coming out about their sexual orientation, and family rejection. Homophobia is a serious problem resulting in gay bashing, depression, and higher levels of suicide among GLBT individuals. Clearly, much of the difficulty faced by GLBT individuals can be explained by external pressures and attitudes that are sometimes internalized by GLBT clients and may challenge new ways of coping with issues related to their gender identity. A more accepting and understanding society would go a long way toward reducing psychosocial problems experienced by GLBT children and adolescents in America.
Cytomegalic inclusion disease associated with hypoparathyroidism.

The presence of both cytomegalic inclusion body disease and hypoparathyroidism seems well established in the case reported here. Symptoms of the former antedate the onset of symptoms characteristic of the latter. A more definite causal relationship could be established only by surgical exploration of the neck and the finding of cytomegalic inclusions in the parathyroid tissue. The latter procedure could not be justified under the circumstances, so the possible etiologic relationship must rest upon circumstantial evidence.
Two mechanisms activate PTPα during mitosis

We show that, dependent on serine hyperphosphorylation, protein tyrosine phosphatase α (PTPα) is activated by two different mechanisms during mitosis: its specific activity increases and its inhibitory binding to Grb2 decreases. The latter effect probably abates Grb2 inhibition of the phosphotyrosine displacement process that is required specifically for Src dephosphorylation and causes a mitotic increase in transient PTPα-Src binding. Thus, part of the increased protein tyrosine phosphatase activity may be specific for Src family members. These effects cease along with Src activation when cells exit mitosis. Src is not activated in mitosis in PTPα-knockout cells, indicating a unique mitotic role for this phosphatase. The activation of PTPα, combined with the effects of mitotic Cdc2-mediated phosphorylations of Src, quantitatively accounts for the mitotic activation of Src, indicating that PTPα is the membrane-bound, serine phosphorylation-activated, protein tyrosine phosphatase that activates Src during mitosis.
Online analysis of seismic signals

Seismic signals can be modeled as non-stationary time series. Methods for analyzing non-stationary time series that have been recently developed are proposed in Adak [1], West, et al. [25] and Ombao, et al. [12]. These methods require that the entire series be observed completely prior to analyses. In some situations, it is desirable to commence analysis even while the time series is being recorded. In this paper, we develop a statistical method for analyzing seismic signals while it is being recorded or observed. The basic idea is to model the seismic signal as a piecewise stationary autoregressive process. When a block of time series becomes available, an AR model is fit, the AR parameters estimated and the Bayesian information criterion (BIC) value is computed. Adjacent blocks are combined to form one big block if the BIC for the combined block is less than the sum of the BIC for each of the split adjacent blocks. Otherwise, adjacent blocks are kept as separate. In the event that adjacent blocks are combined as a single block, we interpret the observations at those two blocks as likely to have been generated by one AR process. When the adjacent blocks are separate, the observations at the two blocks were likely to have been generated by different AR processes. In this situation, the method has detected a change in the spectral and distributional parameters of the time series.
Surgical options in atrial fibrillation

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is not benign and its prevalence is increasing. The two main goals in management of atrial fibrillation are to optimize hemodynamics through rate or rhythm control and to prevent systemic thrombo-embolism. To date, these two goals are still sub-optimally achieved, raising the need for alternative methods and strategies both pharmacologically and through interventions. In this review, we discuss surgical strategies of achieving both goals with insights on the evolution and potential future of these strategies.
Association behavior of a triblock copolymer of oxyethylene (E) and oxybutylene (B). A study of B5E91B5 in aqueous solution

Static and dynamic light-scattering experiments were performed to study the association behavior of a BEB-type (B and E represent poly(oxybutylene) and poly(oxyethylene), respectively) triblock copolymer, B 5 E 91 B 5 , in aqueous solution from dilute to concentrated solution regions over a range of temperature (15.5-45.0 °C). B 5 E 91 B 5 is soluble in water at low temperatures. At 15.5 °C and concentrations below 3% (w/v), only unimers are present. At higher temperatures and in the dilute solution region, the degree ofassociation and the aggregation number increase, while the critical micelle concentration decreases with increasing temperature. The existence of branched associated structures is suggested in the concentrated solution region, where interconnected micelles are in coexistence with small molecular associates (or premicelles) and the average size of these interconnected micelles appears to increase with increasing concentration.
Partisan realignment, the modern presidency, and presidential assassination

Abstract Approximately one-fourth of all American presidents have been targets of assassination attempts. The incidence of attempts is heavily concentrated among presidents who served during partisan realignments or during the modern presidency era, which began with Franklin Roosevelt. The greater the level of political conflict and/or the greater the expectations placed on the presidency, the greater the risk of an assassination attempt.
Asymmetric replication of hepatitis B virus DNA in human liver: demonstration of cytoplasmic minus-strand DNA by blot analyses and in situ hybridization.

Abstract In situ and blot hybridization techniques have been used with strand- and region-specific probes to characterize the forms of hepatitis B virus (HBV) DNA in the liver of a patient with chronic active hepatitis B. The hepatocytes contain a heterogeneous population of rapidly migrating DNA species in the 0.5–1.4 kb position that are localized predominantly in the cytoplasm and are of minus-strand polarity. The findings indicate that the replication is asymmetric, with separate pathways for plus- and minus-strand synthesis of HBV DNA; that viral DNA synthesis is initiated at a site near the nick in the minus strand of virion DNA; and that actively replicating forms of HBV DNA can be identified at the cellular level by in situ hybridization.
Integrating the user into research on engineering design systems

Engineering design research has historically been evaluated in terms of its computational performance. However, in many cases this research implies hypotheses about human behavior which are ignored. In this paper, we argue that the systems emerging from design research will benefit from investigating how people use them to accomplish work, and from the incorporation of principles of Participatory Design (Floyed et al., 1989) at the earliest stages of the development process. Using a case study, we present the evolution of a CAD system that supports complex mathematical modeling. This design effort is examined according to principles outlined in another well-documented effort in Participatory Design. Finally, despite the common misconception that such considerations impede basic research, we argue that continuous user involvement can guide research by validating experimental hypotheses and pointing to areas for future inquiry.
Effects of trypsin on protein synthesis in macrophages.

Abstract Treatment of rabbit alveolar macrophages with crystalline trypsin (0.04–2 mg/10 8 cells) inhibits protein synthesis and results in increased leakage of cell proteins. Trypsinization does not significantly decrease cellular DNA content or viability, and it does not increase protein breakdown. Trypsin treatment results in decreased oxidation of [1- 14 C]glucose and [6- 14 C]glucose, and also a decrease in ATP content. Trypsinization also causes a depression of net leucine transport and a reduction in the translational activity of polyribosomes. When normal and trypsinized macrophages are preincubated at 37 °C for several hours and then pulse-labelled with radioactive leucine, protein synthesis is stimulated to approximately the same extent in both the control and the enzyme-treated cells. Since the trypsinized cells still exhibit depressed protein synthesis, this suggests that the inhibition cannot be readily reversed. Indirect evidence indicates that the inhibition of protein synthesis is not due to entry of trypsin into the cells and suggests that the inhibition is due to changes in metabolism resulting from the action of the enzyme at the cell surface.
Survivin and IAP proteins in cell-death mechanisms

From the realization that cell number homoeostasis is fundamental to the biology of all metazoans, and that deregulation of this process leads to human diseases, enormous interest has been devoted over the last two decades to map the requirements of cell death and cell survival. This effort has led to tangible progress, and we can now chart with reasonable accuracy complex signalling circuitries controlling cell-fate decisions. Some of this knowledge has translated into novel therapeutics, and the outcome of these strategies, especially in cancer, is eagerly awaited. However, the function of cell-death modifiers have considerably broadened over the last few years, and these molecules are increasingly recognized as arbiters of cellular homoeostasis, from cell division, to intracellular signalling to cellular adaptation. This panoply of functions is best exemplified by members of the IAP (inhibitor of apoptosis) gene family, molecules originally narrowly defined as endogenous caspase inhibitors, but now firmly positioned at the crossroads of multiple normal and transformed cellular responses.
Fast Tag Comparator Using Diode Partitioned Domino for 64-bit Microprocessors

As the clock frequency and physical address space of 64-bit microprocessors continue to grow, one major critical path is the access to the on-die cache memory that includes a tag comparator, a tag SRAM and a data SRAM. To improve the delay of the tag comparator, a diode-partitioned (DP) domino circuit is proposed. DP domino reduces the parasitic capacitance and enables a smaller keeper in high fan-in gates. The diode circuit is also improved by an enhanced diode that boosts up the gate voltage of the nMOS diode. Delay of a 40-bit tag comparator using the proposed scheme is 33% faster than an optimized complex domino circuit in 1.8-V 180-nm CMOS technology
Comparison of Electron-Transfer and Charge-Retention Characteristics of Porphyrin-Containing Self-Assembled Monolayers Designed for Molecular Information Storage

The redox kinetics for a variety of porphyrin-containing self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) on Au are reported. The measurements probe both the rate of electron-transfer (k0) for oxidation (in the presence of applied potential) and the rate of charge dissipation after the applied potential is disconnected (characterized by a charge-retention half-life (t1/2)). The porphyrins include (1) monomeric Zn complexes that contain phenylmethylene linkers wherein the number of methylene spacers varies from 0 to 3, (2) monomeric Zn complexes that contain different ethynylphenyl-derived linkers, and (3) a triple-decker lanthanide sandwich complex with a phenylethynylphenyl linker. The k0 values for all the porphyrin SAMs are in the range of 104−105 s-1. The k0 values for the monomeric ethynylphenyl-linked porphyrin SAMs are generally faster than those for the monomeric phenylmethylene-linked SAMs. The rates for the latter SAMs decrease as the number of methylene spacers increases. The rates for the triple-decker SAM ar...
Impact of Chemically Contaminated Sewage Sludge on the Collard Arthropod Community

Stress effects on a terrestrial arthropod community were evident in a study of collards grown in soil amended with chemically contaminated sewage sludge. Plant growth in the contaminated sludge was significantly reduced compared with growth in plots treated with relatively uncontaminated sludge from two small towns or with manure alone. Population densities of major arthropod taxa tended to be lower in plots of contaminated sludge than they were in uncontaminated sludge and manure plots. Species richness and diversity were also reduced in contaminated-sludge plots compared with those of uncontaminated sludge and manure treatments. In general, few differences were observed in plant growth and arthropod numbers between the uncontaminated-sludge treatment, or uncontaminated sludge treated with cadmium or with the insecticide dieldrin. Because cadmium and dieldrin were applied at dosages of cadmium and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB's) found in the contaminated sludge, results suggested that these two toxins were not responsible for the effects on plants and arthropods observed in the contaminated-sludge treatment. Results of this study indicated the potential for sludge-borne contaminants to suppress growth in crop plants and reduce abundance of their associated arthropods.
Polymeric hemoglobins of the house mouse (Mus musculus L.): isolation of cysteinyl peptides.

Hemoglobins from wild populations of the house mouse (Mus musculus L.) are polymorphic with respect to the “diffuse” or “single” appearance of their electrophoretic patterns and their ability to form polymers. Polymerization occurs by the formation of intermolecular disulfide bonds. Isolation of all the cysteinyl peptides shows that the reactive cysteinyl residue, β13, is in the same position as that found in BALB/cJ laboratory mice.
Smooth densities for degenerate stochastic delay equations with hereditary drift

We establish the existence of smooth densities for solutions of $\mathbf{R}^d$-valued stochastic hereditary differential systems of the form $dx(t) = H(t,x)dt + g(t,x(t - r))dW(t).$ In the above equation, $W$ is an $n$-dimensional Wiener process, $r$ is a positive time delay, $H$ is a nonanticipating functional defined on the space of paths in $\mathbf{R}^d$ and $g$ is an $n \times d$ matrix-valued function defined on $\lbrack 0,\infty) \times \mathbf{R}^d$, such that $gg^\ast$ has degeneracies of polynomial order on a hypersurface in $\mathbf{R}^d$. In the course of proving this result, we establish a very general criterion for the hypoellipticity of a class of degenerate parabolic second-order time-dependent differential operators with space-independent principal part.
Effect of dead layer and strain on the diffuse phase transition of PLZT relaxor thin films

Bulk relaxor ferroelectrics exhibit excellent permittivity compared to their thin film counterpart, although both show diffuse phase transition (DPT) behavior unlike normal ferroelectrics. To better understand the effect of dead layer and strain on the observed anomaly in the dielectric properties, we have developed relaxor PLZT (lead lanthanum zirconate titanate) thin films with different thicknesses and measured their dielectric properties as a function of temperature and frequency. The effect of dead layer on thin film permittivity has been found to be independent of temperature and frequency, and is governed by the Schottky barrier between the platinum electrode and PLZT. The total strain (thermal and intrinsic) in the film majorly determines the broadening, dielectric peak and temperature shift in the relaxor ferroelectric. The Curie-Weiss type law for relaxors has been further modified to incorporate these two effects to accurately predict the DPT behavior of thin film and bulk relaxor ferroelectrics. The dielectric behavior of thin film is predicted by using the bulk dielectric data from literature in the proposed equation, which agree well with the measured dielectric behavior.
A comparison of deacylation rates of para-substituted benzoyl-trypsins and chymotrypsins.

Abstract An accelerative effect of ring substituents on the rate of deacylation of benzoyl-chymotrypsin can be correlated with their ability to increase the reactivity of ester bonds to nucleophilic attack (1). In a more extended study including positively charged substituents, it has been observed that a similar correlation generally exists for benzoyl-trypsins with a rho value of 3.24 for deacylation at pH 8.3. This is somewhat higher than the value for chymotrypsin, namely 2.68, and indicates a greater sensitivity to inductive effects. Many of the acyl-enzymes have rate constants for deacylation of the same order of magnitude for both enzymes, whether the substituents are uncharged or positively charged, in accord with observations made earlier on uncharged acyl groups (2). However, notable deviations were observed with certain positively charged substituents which were not the same for both enzymes. Thus the p-guanylmercaptomethyl-benzoyl derivative of trypsin (II) deacylated over 100-fold more rapidly than expected from the substituent effect whereas the rate for chymotrypsin was regular. The results with the p-guanidinobenzoyl enzymes (I) was even more striking since deviations were found of opposing nature: chymotrypsin, accelerated, and trypsin, decelerated. The importance of such deviations with respect to the possibility of obtaining selective inhibitors of serine proteinases based on stable acyl-enzymes is discussed.
Analyzing intensive care unit length of stay data: problems and possible solutions.

ObjectivesTo explore methods of evaluating the length of stay patterns of intensive care unit (ICU) patients. It was hypothesized that the mean does not adequately describe the typical length of stay (central tendency) because distribution patterns are often markedly skewed by patients with extended
Nanoparticles for hydrogen generation

In this Highlight article, we review recent progress in the application to nanoparticles for hydrogen generation. We focus primarily on reactive nanoparticles that produce hydrogen through chemical reaction and nanoparticle catalysts that promote hydrogen release from high hydrogen content materials. The area of nanoparticle photocatalysts is briefly mentioned for completeness. To facilitate comparison of the various approaches, we report mass normalized hydrogen generation rates for the papers reviewed. These values are determined using the reported experimental data.