cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Sex determination in insects: a binary decision based on alternative splicing

The gene regulatory networks that control sex determination vary between species. Despite these differences, comparative studies in insects have found that alternative splicing is reiteratively used in evolution to control expression of the key sex-determining genes. Sex determination is best understood in Drosophila where activation of the RNA binding protein-encoding gene Sex-lethal is the central female-determining event. Sex-lethal serves as a genetic switch because once activated it controls its own expression by a positive feedback splicing mechanism. Sex fate choice in is also maintained by self-sustaining positive feedback splicing mechanisms in other dipteran and hymenopteran insects, although different RNA binding protein-encoding genes function as the binary switch. Studies exploring the mechanisms of sex-specific splicing have revealed the extent to which sex determination is integrated with other developmental regulatory networks.
Chronic psychotropic drug treatment causes differential expression of Reelin signaling system in frontal cortex of rats

Disruption of the Reelin and GABAergic signaling systems have been observed in psychiatric disorders including autism, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and major depression. Less is known of therapeutic interventions that may help ameliorate the effects of these disruptions. The current study investigated whether chronic administration of psychotropic medications (clozapine, fluoxetine, haloperidol, lithium, olanzapine, and valproic acid) used in the treatment of psychiatric disorders alters levels of Reelin, its receptor Vldlr, downstream molecules Gsk3β, Dab-1, and Gad65/67 in rat prefrontal cortex as measured by qRT-PCR and SDS-PAGE and western blotting. qRT-PCR revealed that mRNAs for Reelin, Vldlr, Dab-1, Gsk3β, and Gad65 were each significantly altered by at least one of the drugs tested, and in the case of Reelin, Dab-1, and Gsk3β, by multiple drugs. To verify our results, we also performed SDS-PAGE and western blotting experiments. Again, several of the protein products for Reelin, Vldlr, Dab-1, Gsk3β, Gad65, and Gad67 were also significantly altered by multiple drugs. The present results suggest that the Reelin signaling and GABAergic systems are affected by commonly used psychotropic medications. These changes may help explain the efficacy of these drugs and provide further support for the investigation of the Reelin and GABAergic signaling systems as therapeutic targets for the treatment of neuropsychiatric diseases.
Uncovering Implicit Assumptions: a Large-Scale Study on Students’ Mental Models of Diffusion

Students’ mental models of diffusion in a gas phase solution were studied through the use of the Structure and Motion of Matter (SAMM) survey. This survey permits identification of categories of ways students think about the structure of the gaseous solute and solvent, the origin of motion of gas particles, and trajectories of solute particles in the gaseous medium. A large sample of data (N = 423) from students across grade 8 (age 13) through upper-level undergraduate was subjected to a cluster analysis to determine the main mental models present. The cluster analysis resulted in a reduced data set (N = 308), and then, mental models were ascertained from robust clusters. The mental models that emerged from analysis were triangulated through interview data and characterised according to underlying implicit assumptions that guide and constrain thinking about diffusion of a solute in a gaseous medium. Impacts of students’ level of preparation in science and relationships of mental models to science disciplines studied by students were examined. Implications are discussed for the value of this approach to identify typical mental models and the sets of implicit assumptions that constrain them.
Longitudinal Myocardial Function Assessed by Tissue Velocity, Strain, and Strain Rate Tissue Doppler Echocardiography in Patients With AL (Primary) Cardiac Amyloidosis

Background— AL amyloidosis with heart failure is associated with decreased longitudinal myocardial contraction measured by pulsed tissue Doppler imaging. We sought to clarify whether new modalities of myocardial strain Doppler (change in length per unit length) or strain rate (the temporal derivative of strain) were more sensitive than tissue Doppler and could detect early regional myocardial dysfunction before the onset of congestive heart failure (CHF) in patients with AL (primary) amyloidosis. Methods and Results— Ninety-seven biopsy-proven patients with AL amyloidosis were divided into 3 groups. Group 1 patients had no cardiac involvement (n=36), group 2 had heart involvement but no CHF (n=32), and group 3 had heart involvement and CHF (n=29). All patients underwent tissue velocity (TV) imaging, strain, and strain rate imaging (SR) at the basal, mid, and apical ventricle in 2 apical views. With the use of TV, differences in systolic function were only apparent between group 3 (basal mean value, 3.0±1....
Thermal denaturation of chromatin and lysine copolymer–DNA complexes. Effects of ethylene glycol

Chromatin was thermally denatured in the presence and absence of 1M ethylene glycol using a technique whereby both the hyperchromism and ellipticity are monitored simultaneously. Model complexes containing poly(L-Lys) or poly(L-Lys, L-Ala, Gly) and DNA were similarly melted in order to assist in interpreting the chromatin results. In both cases a general pattern emerged whereby ethylene glycol perturbed the resultant melting profile, showing increased hyperchromicity, ellipticity, and premelt slope. In addition, ethylene glycol destabilizes and reduces the high melting region of polypeptide-bound DNA and the extent of higher ordered structure in model complexes and chromatin. These results emphasize the importance of hydrophobic forces in polypeptide–polypeptide and polypeptide–DNA interactions.
Optimization of epitaxial layers for power bipolar-MOS transistor

This is a theoretical study of the effect of epitaxial layer design on the performance of the power bipolar-MOS transistor, also known as IGT and COMFET. A procedure for optimizing the layer thicknesses, doping concentrations, and lifetime is proposed and examples are provided for 500-V devices. The use of a thin (< 5 µm) and rather heavily doped (∼ 1018cm-3) buffer layer can have pronounced beneficial effects on device turn-off speed and a small benefit on the forward voltage. Turn-off time can be much shorter than the carrier lifetime due to a low emitter efficiency. For the same forward-voltage performance, using an optimally designed buffer layer gives much faster device switching speed than using lifetime control. By combining the use of optimally designed epitaxial layer and carrier lifetime reduction, it is possible to achieve 100-ns switching speed while maintaining low forward-voltage drop.
Accelerated yield learning in agressive lithography

As exposure wavelengths decrease from 248 nm to 193, 157, and even 13 nm (EUV), small process defects can cause collapse of the lithographic process window near the limits of resolution, particularly for the gate and contact structures in high- performance devices. Such sensitivity poses a challenge for lithography process module control. In this work, we show that yield loss can be caused by a combination of macro, micro, CD, and overlay defects. A defect is defined as any yield- affecting process variation. Each defect, regardless of cause, is assumed to have a specific 'kill potential.' The accuracy of the lithographic yield model can be improved by identifying those defects with the highest kill potential or, more importantly, those that pose the highest economic risk. Such economic considerations have led us to develop a simple heuristic model for understanding sampling strategies in defect metrology and for linking metrology capability to yield and profitability.
Half the human race: the international women's movement at the end of the twentieth century.

This overview of the current status of the international womens movement traces the growth of the movement from a "trickle to a torrent" during the past 150 years and credits the UN with providing the framework necessary for expanding the international policy dialogue about womens rights. The next section asks why this great burst of womens energy in public settings is occurring now and proposes that the answer can be found in the fact that a major transformation is creating a smaller more interdependent world marked by rising productivity and environmental pressures. This transformation has also led to increased life expectancy and reduced fertility thus giving women more productive time to be applied to education to outside employment to political organizing and community work and to the support of nongovernmental organizations. The article continues by reviewing the diverse strategies used by womens groups including "boring from within" applying political pressure and demonstrating alternatives. After noting the existence of international networks that exchange successful strategies the article concludes with an analysis of the processes and achievements of the 1995 Fourth Conference on Women and its Non-Governmental Forum.
Steering patients to safer hospitals? The effect of a tiered hospital network on hospital admissions.

Recent innovations in health insurance products and health financing mechanisms are attempting to address the escalation of health costs and the mounting evidence of problems with health care quality and safety in the United States. These innovations include (1) consumer-directed health insurance plans (CDHPs) (Parente, Feldman, and Christianson 2004a,b); (2) pay-for-performance (P4P) programs (Dudley 2005;Rosenthal et al. 2005;Christianson, Leatherman, and Sutherland 2007); (3) disease management (DM) programs (Beich et al. 2006;Mays, Au, and Claxton 2007); and (4) tiered pharmacy, hospital, and provider networks (Robinson 2003). Support for these innovations comes from the burgeoning industry of performance measurement in virtually all areas of health care, and the associated increase in the dissemination of health care “report cards” based on these measures (Pronovost, Berenholtz, and Goeschel 2008). Collectively, these innovations are attempting to increase value in the health care industry, where value is defined as the level of quality received for health care expenditures (Fraser and McNamara 2000;Scanlon, Chernew, and Doty 2002). Unfortunately there is little published evidence about the impact of these new approaches, and where evidence does exist, it often is anecdotal or unconvincing due to the possibility of bias resulting from nonrandom participation and program selection (Dudley 2005). In this article, we examine the effect of a health benefits change on hospital choice at a large manufacturing company (the “firm”) headquartered in the Midwest. The firm enacted a “hospital safety incentive” (HSI) in its two major union populations, creating a financial incentive for union beneficiaries to use “safer” hospitals. The HSI is essentially a tiered hospital benefit where the “preferred” or safer hospitals require no coinsurance. Research by Steinbrook (2004),Robinson (2003), and Gabel et al. (2003) suggests that tiered hospital networks, though not commonplace, are growing in number. The emergence of tiered hospital networks has followed the widespread adoption and popularity of tiered copayments in pharmaceutical benefit design. While considerable research has addressed the impact of tiered pharmaceutical benefit design (e.g., Gibson, Ozminkowski, and Goetzel 2005;Goldman et al. 2005;Chernew et al. 2008), hospital care is conceptually different, and little is known about how tiered hospital networks function, or how they affect patients’ choices (Robinson 2003).
Calculating global illumination for glossy surfaces

Abstract Photorealistic rendering is used to generate views of computer stored scenes. Global illumination algorithms take all transfers of light in the scene into account thereby creating a realistic looking image. Previously several approaches have been presented which are able to deal with global illumination for diffuse surfaces. More general surfaces are handled only by few methods. This work presents a new algorithm for the generation of photorealistic images for scenes with arbitrary surfaces. Initially particle tracing and a reconstruction phase are used to obtain a good approximation to the directionally dependent illumination in the scene. The illumination information is stored and can be used subsequently to generate images from different viewpoints directly from the stored solution. The whole system is structured into several independent phases and is designed to allow parallel processing and incremental refinement.
Papillary Muscle Measurements in Cats with Normal Echocardiograms and Cats with Concentric Left Ventricular Hypertrophy

Background: Papillary muscle hypertrophy can occur in conjunction with, or as the only indication of, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy or other diseases that result in left ventricular concentric hypertrophy (LVCH). Assessment of papillary muscle size is usually subjective because objective measures have not been reported. Hypothesis: The study hypothesis was that papillary muscle dimensions are different between normal cats and cats with LVCH. Animals: Echocardiograms from 44 normal cats and 40 cats with LVCH were included in the study. Methods: All measurements were taken from the right parasternal short-axis view at the level of the papillary muscles at end-diastole. Three methods were used to assess papillary muscle size: the area subtraction method, the direct area trace method, and the diameter method. Measurements were compared between cat groups and method comparisons were made among methods for area determination. Results: Cats with LVCH were older and had significantly greater left ventricular septal and free wall thicknesses and larger left atrial measurements than normal cats (P < .0006). Papillary muscle measurements were significantly greater by all measurement methods in cats with LVCH than in cats with normal echocardiograms (P < .0001). The area subtraction method and direct area trace method showed moderate agreement. Conclusions and Clinical Importance: Papillary muscle measurements were larger for LVCH cats than normal cats; however, some overlap was present. The establishment of these objective measures adds to the echocardiographic examination of cats.
Mining electronic health records for adverse drug effects using regression based methods

The identification of post-marketed adverse drug events (ADEs) is paramount to health care. Spontaneous reporting systems (SRS) are currently the mainstay in pharmacovigilance. Recently, electronic health records (EHRs) have emerged as a promising and effective complementary resource to SRS, as they contain a more complete record of the patient, and do not suffer from the reporting biases inherent to SRS. However, mining EHRs for potential ADEs, which typically involves identification of statistical associations between drugs and medical conditions, introduced several other challenges, the main one being the necessity for statistical techniques that account for confounding. The objective of this paper is to present and demonstrate the feasibility of a method based on regression techniques, which is designed for automated large scale mining of ADEs in EHR narratives. To the best of our knowledge this is a first of its kind approach that combines both the use of EHR data, and regression based methods in order to address confounding and identify potential ADEs. Two separate experiments are conducted. The results, which are validated by clinical subject matter experts, demonstrate great promise, as well as highlight additional challenges.
Biliteracy and trilingual practices in the home context: Case studies of Chinese-Canadian children

Although Chinese has become the third largest mother tongue in both Canada and the USA, Chinese/English biliteracy development has received little attention in educational research.This article explores three Chinese-Canadian first and second graders’ biliteracy (Chinese/English reading and writing) and trilingual (Mandarin, Cantonese, and English) practices in the home milieu. Findings suggest that the home context is a crucial environment for success or failure in achieving biliteracy. All families expected their children to become biliterate and multilingual, but the three children vary in their preferences and use of different languages and literacies at home. Factors such as parents’ perceptions of their minority status in the host society, their attitudes toward the role of heritage language and their own proficiencies in the dominant language, as well as several school and societal factors, such as quality of instruction in heritage language schools, language policies in the mainstream schools, and...
Terahertz Optoelectronics with Surface Plasmon Polariton Diode

The field of plasmonics has experience a renaissance in recent years by providing a large variety of new physical effects and applications. Surface plasmon polaritons, i.e. the collective electron oscillations at the interface of a metal/semiconductor and a dielectric, may bridge the gap between electronic and photonic devices, provided a fast switching mechanism is identified. Here, we demonstrate a surface plasmon-polariton diode (SPPD) an optoelectronic switch that can operate at exceedingly large signal modulation rates. The SPPD uses heavily doped p-n junction where surface plasmon polaritons propagate at the interface between n and p-type GaAs and can be switched by an external voltage. The devices can operate at transmission modulation higher than 98% and depending on the doping and applied voltage can achieve switching rates of up to 1 THz. The proposed switch is compatible with the current semiconductor fabrication techniques and could lead to nanoscale semiconductor-based optoelectronics.
Byron in 1816 and the Intertextual Sublime

« Churchill’s Grave » et « Monody on the Death of Sheridan » sont les premiers textes a indiquer que Byron commencait a songer serieusement aux aspects metaphysiques de l’identite de l’auteur. L’immortalite ambigue qui s’attache au nom d’un poete, un theme mineur ayant toujours subi un traitement conventionnel, devient un theme majeur pendant les huit dernieres annees de la vie de Byron. « Churchill’s Grave » et les autres ecrits de 1816 surtout temoignent d’une plus grande sensibilite a la textualite du poeme. Aussi « personnels » ou passionnes qu’auraient pu etre ces textes dans la vie naturelle de l’auteur, tous les ecrits publics glissent immediatement vers une sphere intertextuelle dans laquelle l’identite naturelle devient un marqueur sans vie, un « nom » assujetti a d’innombrables appropriations et reappropriations. Les deux poemes ont forme le style qu’adoptera Byron par la suite puis la facon dont il abordera la celebrite et la notoriete.
Reverse exfoliation in a polymer nanocomposite by blending with a miscible polymer

An investigation of the permeability to methanol of blends of a PA-6 nanocomposite and ethylene-vinyl alcohol copolymers (EVOH), containing approximately 32 mol% ethylene, has been conducted. Blends were prepared by melt compounding and permeation measurements were performed by gravimetric uptake methods. The nanocomposite polyamide exhibited significantly reduced permeability compared to the unmodified polymer. The blends exhibited permeability that was non-linear with blend composition. The nanoscale filler in a blend containing up to 50 wt% EVOH remained fully exfoliated, however, in a blend containing 75 wt% of EVOH there was little or no exfoliation and the blend had a measured permeability lower than that of either of the pure components. Electron microscopy and X-ray analysis has indicated a reversal of exfoliation of the nanocomposite filler particles to be responsible.
Liberalization and privatization in Tanzania and Zambia

Abstract Poststructural adjustment policies currently being emphasized by the World Bank, International Monetary Fund, and donors in tropical Africa are liberalization and privatization of the economies. In theory both of these policies will allow firms to operate more efficiently and the economy to be more competitive and market-oriented. This paper focuses on the short-run effects of these policies, how governments are initiating them and what segments of the population are benefiting/losing. The programs are sufficiently new in tropical Africa that the literature contains little analysis. A recent visit to Tanzania and Zambia provides the basis for this review of the experiences in these two countries.
The Telecommunications Carriers' Dilemma: Innovation vs. Network Operation

As the telecommunications industry moves out of its traditional monopolistic environment to a highly competitive one, incumbent service carriers struggle with legacy networks, outdated regulations, and technology silos that don't easily integrate with each other. Additionally, many new equipment and software vendors as well as new competitors (that use incumbents' networks to offer their services) threaten incumbent firms. The objective of this study is to understand what is viewed as sources of competitive advantage in this industry, specifically for carriers. The key question in particular is how operational competencies and innovation competencies are perceived in influencing future performance. While managers state that innovation is critical to the success of the carrier business, the firms' business objectives and metrics tell a different story. The study shows that the respondents, while commenting on the importance of innovation to stay competitive, really emphasize the network operations. This result exemplifies a dilemma carriers are facing to stay competitive: maintaining operational excellence while pursuing an innovation-driven strategy.
Electrostatic charge on a dust size distribution in a plasma

The capacitance of a grain immersed in a steady state plasma containing a size distribution of dust particles is studied. The grain charge is determined by assuming the equilibrium potential has been obtained by a simple balance of electron and ion collection currents. It is shown that the validity of the analytical treatment given here for the linearized Poisson equation is confined to a certain region of space. Within this region and starting at very small plasma Debye length lambda(D), the capacitance at first exhibits a monotonic increase with increasing lambda(D). The capacitance eventually reaches a maximum, followed by a monotonic decrease. The charge density of the dust in the plasma is found to be only a function of the lambda(D); there is no significant dependence on the interparticle spacing.
Kidnapping and female competition among captive bonnet macaques

Rank, parity, and kinship influence the pattern and frequency of kidnapping interactions in a group of captive bonnet macaques,Macaca radiata. Kidnapping attempts are initiated by parous and nulliparous females toward the infants of lower ranking females. Contrary to the pattern documented in several other species, nulliparous females participate in kidnapping interactions at the same rate as lactating females. Kidnapping attempts are consistently resisted by mothers, and most attempts are unsuccessful. Both the rates and pattern of kidnapping interactions differ within and between lineages. The results suggest that kidnappers gain neither status nor maternal experience and that the mothers of kidnapped infants do not benefit at all. Kidnapping may represent a form of competition among females which is detrimental to both infants and their mothers.
The parity of rotational levels

Abstract The parity of rotational levels of polyatomic molecules is discussed by using the permutation-inversion group of Longuet-Higgins.
The physiologic basis for and nursing considerations in the use of subatmospheric concentrations of oxygen in HLHS.

ABSTRACTSubatmospheric concentrations of oxygen are used in the preoperative and postoperative care of infants with hypoplastic left heart syndrome (HLHS). This technique increases the pulmonary vascular resistance (PVR) and thereby improves systemic blood flow. There have been no controlled studies
On the large-scale structures in two-dimensional, small-deficit, turbulent wakes

A systematic study of two-dimensional, turbulent, small-deficit wakes was carried out to determine their structure and the universality of their self-preserving states. Various wake generators, including circular cylinders, a symmetrical airfoil, a flat plate, and an assortment of screens of varying solidity, were studied for a wide range of downstream distances. Most of the generators were tailored so that their drag coefficients, and therefore their momentum thicknesses, were identical, permitting comparison at identical Reynolds numbers and aspect ratios. The flat plate and airfoil had a small, trailing-edge flap which could be externally driven to introduce forced sinuous oscillations into the wake. The results indicate that the normalized characteristic velocity and length scales depend on the initial conditions, while the shape of the normalized mean velocity profile is independent of these conditions or the nature of the generator. The normalized distributions of the longitudinal turbulence intensity, however, are dependent on the initial conditions.Linear inviscid stability theory, in which the divergence of the mean flow is taken into account, predicts quite well the amplification and the transverse distributions of amplitudes and phases of externally imposed sinuous waves on a fully developed turbulent wake generated by a flat plate. There is a strong indication that the large structures observed in the unforced wake are related to the two-dimensional instability modes and therefore can be modelled by linear stability theory. Furthermore, the interaction of the two possible modes of instability may be responsible for the vortex street-type pattern observed visually in the small-deficit, turbulent wake.
More funding for Canadian Arctic research

Canada's federal government announced on April 8 that the Department of Energy, Mines, and Resources will get more money for the Polar Continental Shelf Project. The additional $4.5 million over the next 2 years and $1.2 million more for each year thereafter will increase the total annual PCSP budget to $7.4 million for the next 2 years and $6.3 million for each following year. PCSP has become a comprehensive network for transportation, communication, coordination, and logistics to aid scientists studying the Arctic. The project promotes physical safety, scientific productivity, and cost effectiveness. Created in 1958, PCSP is now a branch of the Geological Survey of Canada. PCSP's base camps are at Resolute on Cornwallis Island for the eastern and central Arctic and Tuktoyaktuk in the Mackenzie River delta for the western Arctic.
Promising research and methodological approaches for health behavior research with homeless persons

High-risk health behaviors have high prevalence among homeless persons prompting substantial research on health behavior and behavior change strategies within the population. Previously, much of this research focused solely on the target behavior without consideration of contextual factors that may contribute to the behavior or that may inhibit behavior change. We describe three overlapping trends in homeless health behavior research – longitudinal, qualitative, and participatory – which consider the link between the context of homelessness and health behavior. These approaches contribute to the understanding of the social determinants of health behavior and health and demonstrate opportunities for intervention beyond the individual level.
Recent Advances in Structure-Based Virtual Screening of G-Protein Coupled Receptors

In addition to the rhodopsin crystal structure, high-resolution crystal structures of ligand-mediated G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) have recently become available, and these have become attractive templates for developing homology models of several GPCRs of therapeutic interest. These crystal structures and the homology models derived from them have provided significant insights into ligand–receptor interactions. Moreover, several studies have demonstrated that the structural models are indeed suitable for virtual screening of compound databases to identify new ligands for various GPCRs. Recent examples of such virtual screening against GPCRs are discussed in this review.
NCAM: Near-Data Processing for Nearest Neighbor Search

Emerging classes of computer vision applications demand unprecedented computational resources and operate on large amounts of data. In particular, k-nearest neighbors (kNN), a cornerstone algorithm in these applications, incurs significant data movement. To address this challenge, the underlying architecture and memory subsystems must vertically evolve to address memory bandwidth and compute demands. To enable large-scale computer vision, we propose a new class of associative memories called NCAMs which encapsulate logic with memory to accelerate k-nearest neighbors. We estimate that NCAMs can improve the performance of kNN by orders of magnitude over the best off-the-shelf software libraries (e.g., FLANN) and commodity platforms (e.g., GPUs).
THE BEHAVIOR OF LABELED IODOCASEIN IN HUMAN MYXEDEMA

STUDIES of the distribution and transformation of calorigenic, iodine-containing substances have been handicapped by the fact that pharmacologic doses of material were usually required in order to obtain a concentration of iodine in tissue or body fluids sufficiently high to be measured satisfactorily by current chemical methods. The availability of radioiodine (I131) has made it possible to reinvestigate the metabolism of calorigenic iodine compounds in animals and man under physiologic conditions. Radioiodine can be incorporated into calorigenic materials so as to obtain biologically active compounds with high specific activity. This not only permits the use of physiologic amounts of material, but also permits determination of the distribution of the material and its derivatives with greater accuracy and sensitivity than was previously possible. In addition, radioiodine and substances containing it can, to some extent at least, be observed in vivo by means of a Geiger counter directed at various parts o...
Immunoglobulin kappa enhancers are differentially regulated at the level of chromatin structure.

Abstract The κ intronic and the κ3′ enhancers synergize to regulate recombination and transcription of the Igκ locus. Although these enhancers have overlapping functions, the κi enhancer appears to predominate during receptor editing, while the κ3′ enhancer may be more important for initiating Igκ germline transcription to target locus recombination and, later in development, somatic hypermutation. Changes in chromatin structure appear to regulate both enhancers, and previous reports suggest that both enhancers are packaged into an accessible chromatin structure only in B lineage cells. Why these enhancers cannot activate the demethylated, accessible, protein-associated Igκ allele in pro-B cells is not known. Furthermore, how the enhancers function to reactivate the locus for receptor editing or to quantitatively promote hypermutation in B cells is vague. Quantitative analysis of Ig enhancer chromatin structure in murine pro-, pre-and splenic B cells demonstrated that the κi enhancer maintains a highly accessible chromatin structure under a variety of conditions. This stable chromatin structure mirrored the highly accessible structure characterizing the Igμ intronic enhancer, despite the fact that Igμ is activated prior to Igκ during B cell development. Surprisingly, parallel analysis of the κ3′ enhancer demonstrated its accessible chromatin structure is markedly unstable, as characterized by sensitivity to changes in environmental conditions. These data unexpectedly suggest that κ locus regulation is compartmentalized along the gene in B lineage cells. Furthermore, these findings raise the possibility that environmentally dependent regulation of κ3′ enhancer structure underlies changes in κ activation during B cell development.
Algorithms for Rapid Development of Inherently-Manufacturable Laminate Devices

We present several algorithms suited for the generation and analysis of structures used in manufacturing laminate electro-mechanical devices. These devices may be fabricated by a family of related manufacturing processes such as printed-circuit MEMS (PC-MEMS) smart composite microstructures (SCM), or lamina emergent mechanisms (LEM), which, by utilizing multi-material laminate composites, enables kinematic motion, component embedding, and monolithic fabrication of high-precision millimeter-scale features. The presented algorithms enable rapid generation of manufacturing features such as support structures and cut files, while facilitating integration with the user’s design intent and available material removal processes. An exemplar device is presented, which, though simple in concept, could not be manufactured without the aid of an expert designer to produce the same features generated by these algorithms.© 2014 ASME
Microaccelerometers using cured SU-8 as structural material

In this paper, we report a research effort to design, analyze, and fabricate a novel type of microaccelerometer using UV lithography of SU-8 and UV-LIGA process. Instead of using SU-8 only as photo resist as in silicon-based MEMS fabrication processes, cured SU-8 was used as the primary structural material in fabricating the micro sensors. A commercial software, ANSYS, was used to design the suitable size for the spring-mass and capacitors to achieve the desired bandwidth and the maximum sensitivity. The preliminary results obtained so far have proved the feasibility of fabrication of micro accelerometer using cured SU-8 polymer as the primary structural material and using UV-LIGA as the major fabrication tool.
SUPPRESSION OF MICROTUBULE DYNAMICS BY BINDING OF CEMADOTIN TO TUBULIN : POSSIBLE MECHANISM FOR ITS ANTITUMOR ACTION

Cemadotin (LU103793) (NSC D-669356) is a water-soluble synthetic analogue of dolastatin 15 that inhibits cell proliferation in vitro and the growth of human tumor xenografts. Cemadotin is in phase II clinical trials as a promising cancer chemotherapeutic agent. The drug blocks cells at mitosis. Its primary mode of action has been unclear but is believed to involve an action on microtubules. We have found that cemadotin binds to tubulin and strongly suppresses microtubule dynamics. Scatchard analysis of cemadotin binding to tubulin indicated that there are two affinity classes of cemadotin-binding sites with Kd values of 19.4 microM and 136 microM. Cemadotin did not inhibit the binding of vinblastine to tubulin, and, conversely, vinblastine did not inhibit the binding of cemadotin to tubulin. By quantitative video microscopy of individual microtubules, we found that cemadotin strongly suppressed dynamic instability of microtubules assembled to steady state using bovine brain tubulin devoid of microtubule-associated proteins. It reduced the rate and extent of growing and shortening, increased the rescue frequency, and increased the percentage of time the microtubules spent in an attenuated or paused state, neither growing nor shortening detectably. At the lowest effective cemadotin concentrations, dynamics were suppressed in the absence of significant microtubule depolymerization. The results suggest that cemadotin exerts its antitumor activity by suppressing spindle microtubule dynamics through a distinct molecular mechanism by binding at a novel site in tubulin.
Failure of Cold-Formed Steel Beams during Concrete Placement

During a concrete placement on the second story of a building under construction, the supporting cold-formed steel beams collapsed. Four workers were injured. The collapse occurred while concrete was being placed onto steel decking on the second floor of the structure. Cold-formed steel beams, without shoring, supported the steel decking. Analysis of the steel beams under the weight of concrete and workers using the applicable American Concrete Institute and American Iron and Steel Institute documents indicated that the beams were overstressed for construction loads. After the collapse, part of the structure was rebuilt using thicker beams. For the reconstruction, the slab was shored. Designing with cold-formed steel requires knowledge of failure modes that can often be safely ignored with hot-rolled steel, such as local buckling. Engineers designing with this material should take care to obtain the proper codes and design documents.
Ethical inclinations of public relations majors

Four primary ethical behaviors are explored in five situations among 258 undergraduate students, mostly in public relations (PR), in two mid‐Atlantic public universities. Student self‐reported ethical beliefs are found to be multidimensional, with data suggesting interpretations based on theories of reasoned action.
Symbolic Segregation: Similarities and Differences in the Language and Non-Verbal Communication of Women and Men

Societies use symbolic means to segregate the sexes conceptually as well as physically. Social rules designate some forms of verbal and non-verbal communication according to sex, to maintain distinctions. This paper explores both the non-verbal means of communication and the content and form of verbal modes as they are related to (1) the creation and maintenance of gender distinctions, (2) the symbolic ways they reinforce social arrangements between the sexes, and (3) the problems of analysis researchers have found in attempting to describe and explain sex differences in communication. The paper points out that in the field of language and communication there has been a tendency to emphasize the findings of differences between the sexes rather than of similarities. It also illustrates that linguistic differences tend to be superficial, to be linked to power differentials, and to be context specific. The paper concludes that these differences are socially created and therefore may be socially altered.
Measuring Physiological Stress Responses in Children: Lessons from a Novice.

In this article the author describes challenges associated with integrating physiological measures of stress into developmental research, especially in the domains of memory and cognition. An initial critical challenge concerns how to define stress, which can refer to one or a series of events, a response, the consequence of that response, an acute event, chronic threat, or even perceptions of difficulty. Another challenge is that multiple physiological systems may respond to threat. Competing theories exist regarding how the different responses relate to each other and to cognitive and mnemonic outcomes. A clear understanding of the theories and different types of physiological responses is necessary to develop testable hypotheses. Additional challenges include the fact that developmental changes exist in whether a particular event elicits a stress response in each system, and that physiological data are not easy to collect or impervious to error. Considerable training is required to code data reliably. ...
Block seriation problems: A unified approach. Reply to the problem of H. Garcia and J. M. Proth (Applied Stochastic Models and Data Analysis, 1, (1), 25–34 (1985))

In their article, entitled ‘Group technology in production management, the short horizon planning level’, H. Garcia and J. M. Proth have stated the following problem: starting from a (0, 1) binary matrix of size (N x M), how to divide into independent subsets the rows of this matrix simultaneously with a one-to-one corresponding partition of the columns, maximizing the presence of 1s in the intersecting blocks with a joint minimization of the presence of 0s outside of these blocks. The authors have proposed an efficient and very fast heuristic algorithm in comparison with the existing methods of a fast-growing literature on the subject. The only drawback of this algorithm is its dependence on the initial partition. In this paper, we try to improve this algorithm slightly, first in rewriting the objective function in a linear form and secondly in giving computational improvements related to this linear formulation.
Work hazards for an aging nursing workforce

Aim To discuss selected work hazards and safety concerns for aging nurses. Background Greater numbers of older nurses remain in the workforce. Projections suggest that one-third of the nursing workforce will be over age 50 years by 2015. Employers will struggle to find ways to protect the health and safety of their aging workforce and prevent a massive loss of intellectual and human resources when these experienced nurses exit the workforce. Evaluation Review of recent relevant literature in English language journals. Key issues Repetitive motion injuries, fatigue and slips, trips and falls are three major work hazards older nurses face. We discuss several factors for each hazard, including: the normal physiological aging effects of diminished strength, hearing and vision; workplace variables of work schedules, noise and clutter; and personal characteristics of sleep disturbances, overexertion and fatigue. Conclusions Inconclusive evidence exists to guide best practices for designing safe workplace environments and shift patterns for nursing work. Implications for nursing management There are at least two areas administrators can reduce work hazards for older workers: (1) modification of the workplace, and (2) creating the infrastructure to support the aging workforce to encourage healthy behaviours.
Mars Missions Using Solar Electric Propulsion

Successful demonstration of solar electric propulsion on the Deep Space 1 technology demonstration mission has paved the way for the use of this technology on future planetary missions. Currently there is much interest in retrieving Mars surface samples for scienti c exploration, as well as developing the technology to enable human missions to Mars sometime in the next few decades. Solar electric propulsion trajectories for Mars opportunities in the 2004–2011 time frame are examined. All of the trajectories shown were optimized with a gradient based calculus-of-variations tool. In addition, a genetic algorithmwas used to search for more nonstandard trajectories. Mission performance is presented as burnout mass along contours of constant  ight time. The superior speci c impulse of these propulsionsystems results in a largerdeliveredmass atMars thana conventionalchemicalmission. A very curious feature of these missions is that for longer  ight times solutionsexist that permit a nearly continuous launch opportunity over an entire Earth–Mars synodic period.
Effect of surface treatment on the respirable fractions of PLGA microspheres formulated for dry powder inhalers1

Abstract An investigation of the degree of aggregation of dry powders with different surface charge and moisture contents was carried out using poly( d,l -lactide-co-glycolide) (PLGA) microspheres. Microspheres were prepared in the respirable size range (3–7 μm) with an estimated zeta potential (ZP) of −30.6 mV. Suspensions of polylysine (PL) and polyglutamic acid (PGA) in isopropanol were used to treat the microspheres to obtain ZPs of ±60 mV, respectively. Treatment with isopropanol (IPA) alone yielded a ZP of −36.7 mV, which was similar to the untreated microspheres −30.6 mV. Respirable fractions (RFs) were determined by cascade impaction using a prototype DPI. The IPA-treated formulation was the most deaggregated of the studied samples as indicated by a significantly higher RF (12.9) compared to the PL and PGA formulations (3.29 and 2.42, respectively) and the untreated PLGA microspheres (3.84). Microspheres with moisture contents in the range of 0.40–2.47% were studied and a moisture content of 0.66% resulted in the highest relative deaggregation of the PLGA microspheres. Measurement of the surface charge and mass median aerodynamic diameter in the dry state by electrical-single particle aerodynamic relaxation time analysis (E-SPART) suggested that the higher RF for the IPA formulation may be due to its highly unipolar nature, i.e. a net charge of +56.3 μC/g, as compared to net charges in the range of 34.3–38.4 μC/g for the other microspheres. Formulation of microspheres for use in DPIs must proceed on a case by case basis as certain approaches can enhance aggregation.
Incorporation of positively charged ribonucleic guanidine linkages into oligodeoxyribonucleotides: Development of potent antisense agents.

Abstract Oligodeoxynucleic acid (21-mer) containing both negatively charged phosphate and positively charged ribonucleic guanidine linkages (RNG/DNA chimera) have been synthesized. DNA binding characteristics and nuclease resistance of RNG/DNA chimeras have been evaluated. Using the bcr-abl oncogene (cause of chronic myeloid leukemia) as a target, the binding of a 21-mer RNG/DNA chimera that includes six RNG’s is more than 103.5 stronger than the binding of 21-mer composed solely of DNA.
CYCLES: A FORTRAN IV program for the analysis of periodicity in time series data

Variability of a cyclic nature is often encountered in . repeated measures. The investigator may be interested either in removing such cyclic variability or in identify­ ing the sources of nonrandom fluctuations. One method for determining the presence of cycling in time series data is through the use of an autocorrelation technique. The correlogram (i.e., the plot of autocorrelations for successive lags) reflects not only the degree of depend­ ency in the data, but also the presence of systematic oscillations. Peak-to-peak differences in the correlogram reflect the period of the dominant cycle in the time series (Wieland& Mefferd, 1969). CYCLES was developed to fulfill the need for com­ puterized correlogram analysis and to provide the investigator with the time pattern of cycling in the data. If the investigator desires to remove this source of variability from the data, averaging over the identified dominant period accomplishes this while avoiding misrepresentation of the existing pattern in the raw data (Wieland & Mefferd, 1970). Alternatively, the identified period may be used in other forms of period­ icity analysis, such as the methods described by Bloomfield (1976). Description. The present program uses the auto­ correlation computational formula found in Bower, Padia, and Glass (1974). The initial run of the program produces a tabular representation of the peak auto­ correlations in the correlogram. Peaks are determined by differencing successive lag autocorrelations. Following inspection of this output, the investigator has the option of reexecuting the program in order to determine the period length of the dominant cycle. Less systematic cycling is excluded by the input of an autocorrelation criterion cutoff. Input. The job deck consists of the following cards. Card 1 is the alphanumeric title. Card 2 contains an option for printing all autocorrelations and an option
Nanofibrous membrane-based absorption refrigeration system

This paper presents a study on the efficacy of highly porous nanofibrous membranes for application in membrane-based absorbers and desorbers. Permeability studies showed that membranes with a pore size greater than about one micron have a sufficient permeability for application in the absorber heat exchanger. Membranes with smaller pores were found to be adequate for the desorber heat exchanger. The membranes were implemented in experimental membrane-based absorber and desorber modules and successfully tested. Parametric studies were conducted on both absorber and desorber processes. Studies on the absorption process were focused on the effects of water vapor pressure, cooling water temperature, and the solution velocity on the absorption rate. Desorption studies were conducted on the effects of wall temperature, vapor and solution pressures, and the solution velocity on the desorption rate. Significantly higher absorption and desorption rates than in the falling film absorbers and desorbers were achieved.