cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Functional robustness of adult spermatogonial stem cells after induction of hyperactive Hras

Accumulating evidence indicates that paternal age correlates with disease risk in children. De novo gain-of-function mutations in the FGF-RAS-MAPK signaling pathway are known to cause a subset of genetic diseases associated with advanced paternal age, such as Apert syndrome, achondroplasia, Noonan syndrome, and Costello syndrome. It has been hypothesized that adult spermatogonial stem cells with pathogenic mutations are clonally expanded over time and propagate the mutations to offspring. However, no model system exists to interrogate mammalian germline stem cell competition in vivo. In this study, we created a lineage tracing system, which enabled undifferentiated spermatogonia with endogenous expression of HrasG12V, a known pathogenic gain-of-function mutation in RAS-MAPK signaling, to compete with their wild-type counterparts in the mouse testis. Over a year of fate analysis, neither HrasG12V-positive germ cells nor sperm exhibited a significant expansion compared to wild-type neighbors. Short-term stem cell capacity as measured by transplantation analysis was also comparable between wild-type and mutant groups. Furthermore, although constitutively active HRAS was detectable in the mutant cell lines, they did not exhibit a proliferative advantage or an enhanced response to agonist-evoked pERK signaling. These in vivo and in vitro results suggest that mouse spermatogonial stem cells are functionally resistant to a heterozygous HrasG12V mutation in the endogenous locus and that mechanisms could exist to prevent such harmful mutations from being expanded and transmitted to the next generation.
Periodontal therapeutics: Current host-modulation agents and future directions.

With the recognition in the 1960s and 1970s of the periodontopathic importance of the microbial biofilm and its specific anaerobic microorganisms, periodontitis was treated as an infectious disease (more recently, as a dysbiosis). Subsequently, in the 1980s, host-response mechanisms were identified as the mediators of the destruction of the collagen-rich periodontal tissues (gingiva, periodontal ligament, alveolar bone), and the periodontopathogens were now regarded as the "trigger" of the inflammatory/collagenolytic response that characterizes actively destructive periodontitis. Also at this time a new pharmacologic strategy emerged, entitled "host-modulation therapy", based on 2 major findings: (1) that the ability of tetracycline antibiotics to inhibit periodontal breakdown was due (in large part) to their previously unrecognized ability to inhibit the host-derived matrix metalloproteinases (notably, the collagenases, gelatinases, macrophage metalloelastase), and by mechanisms unrelated to the antimicrobial properties of these medications; and (2) that nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, such as flurbiprofen, again by nonantimicrobial mechanisms, could reduce the severity of periodontitis (however, the adverse effects of long-term therapy precluded their development as safe and effective host-modulatory agents). Additional mechanistic studies resulted in the development of novel nonantimicrobial formulations (Periostat® [now generic] and Oracea®) and compositions of tetracyclines (notably chemically modified tetracycline-3) as host-modulator drugs for periodontitis, arthritis, cardiovascular and pulmonary diseases, cancer, and, more recently, for local and systemic bone loss in postmenopausal women. Identification of the cation-binding active site in the tetraphenolic chemically modified tetracycline molecules drove the development of a new category of matrix metalloproteinase-inhibitor compounds, with a similar active site, the biphenolic chemically modified curcumins. A lead compound, chemically modified curcumin 2.24, has demonstrated safety and efficacy in vitro, in cell culture, and in vivo in mouse, rat, rabbit, and dog models of disease. In conclusion, novel host-modulation compounds have shown significant promise as adjuncts to traditional local therapy in the clinical management of periodontal disease; appear to reduce systemic complications of this all-too-common "inflammatory/collagenolytic" disease; and Oracea® is now commonly prescribed for inflammatory dermatologic diseases.
Microwave Power Detection With Voltage-Gated Graphene

Commercially available, chemical vapor deposition grown, graphene has been used to realize voltage-gate tunable, microwave power detectors. Corbino disc structures with chrome/gold contacts have been fabricated on top of graphene deposited on P-type silicon substrates with silicon dioxide gate oxides. Devices of varying sizes were used to detect a 433.92 MHz signal. These test structures exhibited a peak power detection sensitivity of 3.25 mV/mW at 292 K and 5.43 mV/mW at 80 K. The improved graphene detectors exceed the sensitivity of previously reported graphene detectors, 0.86 mV/mW, as well as previously explored carbon nanotube bolometers, 0.36 mV/mW.
SGLT2 Inhibitor: Not a Traditional Diuretic for Heart Failure.

Recent studies have shown impressive cardiovascular health benefits in individuals treated with SGLT2 inhibitors (SGLT2i) regardless of diabetic status. The underlying mechanisms driving these benefits are not well understood. Recently in Circulation, Griffin et al. (2020) reported the first human study investigating the diuretic effect of empagliflozin.
Granular superconducting NbN films as submillimeter detectors

Non-bolometric detection is observed in granular superconducting NbN films. Detection, related to the non-linear I-V's, occures over a large bias range. Preliminary results give a sensitivity of 20 V/W and NEP of 5×10−6W at 4 K. Granular NbN films show no apparent degradation with time.
Measuring Attitudes of Teachers Toward Testing

The authors of this article report the development and testing of a measure of teachers' attitudes toward testing and give suggestions for its use by school administrators.
Clinical Profile, Yield of Cartridge-based Nucleic Acid Amplification Test (GeneXpert), and Outcome in Children with Tubercular Meningitis.

Background: GeneXpert MTB/RIF is a test for early, rapid diagnosis of tubercular meningitis (TBM). Aim: The aim of this article was to study the clinical profile, radiological features, yield of GeneXpert, neurosurgical interventions, and outcome of TBM in children. Settings and Design: This was a retrospective and prospective observational study. Materials and Methods: Diagnosis was based on the uniform research definition criteria and was staged according to the British Medical Research Council. Mantoux test, analysis of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), CSF GeneXpert, and radiological investigations were performed. Results: Of 36 patients, 50% were aged 1–5 years. Fever (100%), headache (82%), altered sensorium (80%), and vomiting (66%) were common features. Twelve (33%) had contact with active case of tuberculosis; 32 received Bacille Calmette Guarin vaccination. Neurological features included severe deterioration in sensorium (Glasgow Coma Scale < 8) (38%), mild and moderate deficit in sensorium (31%), hemiparesis (41%), and involvement of sixth (25%) and seventh (22%) cranial nerves. Cerebral vision impairment (25%), papilledema (25%), and dystonia (22%) were other findings. CSF GeneXpert was positive in 37% (12/33) patients. Hydrocephalus and basal exudates (75%) were noted on neuro-imaging. Surgical intervention was performed in children with hydrocephalus (13/27). Omayya reservoir was placed in seven children, of which five needed conversion to ventriculoperitoneal (VP) shunt; direct VP shunt was carried out in six (6/13). Good outcome was noted in 78% at discharge. Stage III TBM (P = 0.0001), cerebral infarcts (P = 0.0006), and motor deficits (P = 0.03) were associated with poor outcome. Sequelae included learning difficulties with poor scholastic performance (31.5%). Conclusion: GeneXpert has high diagnostic specificity, but negative results do not rule out TBM. CSF GeneXpert provided quick results. Placement of Ommaya reservoir in TBM stage II and III with hydrocephalus was not successful. Hydrocephalus was managed conservatively with success (53%).
Physical therapy to address fall risk in an individual with neurofibromatosis

Background: While physical therapy may help improve function and quality of life in patients with neurofibromatosis (NF), a standard of care remains to be established. This case report describes the physical therapy management of an individual with NF who was at high fall risk.Case Description: A 61-year-old male with NF and multiple comorbidities was determined to be at high fall risk by the Dynamic Gait Index, Berg Balance Scale, and Modified Falls Efficacy Scale. Deficits included coordination and strength which limited his ability to ascend and descend stairs or walk on uneven terrain. This reduced his independence at home and in his rural community. Interventions incorporated components of hip and trunk coordination, and addressed balance, strength, and functional mobility.Outcomes: The patient scored above the cutoff for high fall risk on all outcome assessments.Discussion: This case report describes physical therapy management to reduce fall risk for an individual with NF. Due to the limited research on NF, the treatment plan was developed using evidence-based practice for fall-risk reduction in other neurological disorders.
How Many SARS-CoV-2-Infected People Require Hospitalization? Using Random Sample Testing to Better Inform Preparedness Efforts.

CONTEXT: Existing hospitalization ratios for COVID-19 typically use case counts in the denominator, which problematically underestimates total infections because asymptomatic and mildly infected persons rarely get tested. As a result, surge models that rely on case counts to forecast hospital demand may be inaccurately influencing policy and decision-maker action. OBJECTIVE: Based on SARS-CoV-2 prevalence data derived from a statewide random sample (as opposed to relying on reported case counts), we determine the infection-hospitalization ratio (IHR), defined as the percentage of infected individuals who are hospitalized, for various demographic groups in Indiana. Furthermore, for comparison, we show the extent to which case-based hospitalization ratios, compared with the IHR, overestimate the probability of hospitalization by demographic group. DESIGN: Secondary analysis of statewide prevalence data from Indiana, COVID-19 hospitalization data extracted from a statewide health information exchange, and all reported COVID-19 cases to the state health department. SETTING: State of Indiana as of April 30, 2020. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Demographic-stratified IHRs and case-hospitalization ratios. RESULTS: The overall IHR was 2.1% and varied more by age than by race or sex. Infection-hospitalization ratio estimates ranged from 0.4% for those younger than 40 years to 9.2% for those older than 60 years. Hospitalization rates based on case counts overestimated the IHR by a factor of 10, but this overestimation differed by demographic groups, especially age. CONCLUSIONS: In this first study of the IHR based on population prevalence, our results can improve forecasting models of hospital demand-especially in preparation for the upcoming winter period when an increase in SARS CoV-2 infections is expected.
How Information and Communication Technology Shapes the Influence of Culture on Innovation: A Country-level Analysis

Advances in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and the distributed nature of innovation in a culturally heterogeneous world raise an important question about how ICT and culture jointly...
Pɔhim Zuɣu: Understanding Indigenous Language News Audiences in Ghana

Although there is scant audience research in media studies, audiences continue to be key drivers in the political economy of media in Africa and elsewhere. The study explores the dynamics of indige...
Deletion of Oncomodulin Gives Rise to Early Progressive Cochlear Dysfunction in C57 and CBA Mice

Ca2+ signaling is a major contributor to sensory hair cell function in the cochlea. Oncomodulin (OCM) is a Ca2+ binding protein preferentially expressed in outer hair cells of the cochlea and few other specialized cell types. Here, we expand on our previous reports and show that OCM delays hearing loss in mice of two different genetic backgrounds: CBA/CaJ and C57Bl/6J. In both backgrounds, genetic disruption of Ocm leads to early progressive hearing loss as measured by auditory brainstem response (ABR) and distortion product otoacoustic emission (DPOAE). In both strains, loss of Ocm reduced hearing across lifetime (hearing span) by more than 50% relative to wild type (WT). Even though the two WT strains have very different hearing spans, OCM plays a considerable and similar role within their genetic environment to regulate hearing function. The accelerated ARHL of the Ocm KO illustrates the importance of Ca2+ signaling in maintaining hearing health. Manipulation of OCM and Ca2+ signaling may reveal important clues to the systems of function/dysfunction that lead to ARHL.
Civil society, corporate power, and food security: counter-revolutionary efforts that limit social change

Food is produced, processed, packaged, transported, and sold in a stable, organized system or food regime. The current food regime is focused on calories empty of substantial nutrition designed primarily for the growth of capital and corporate power, fostered through the lax, often corporate-designed, regulatory environment of neoliberalism. The neoliberal food regime is responsible for systemic malnutrition and erosion of the ecological preconditions for food production, as a regularity of the system itself. Consequently, a main line of food vulnerability is the political system that insulates the current food regime from social forces demanding change. This insecurity is contrary to the public or larger human interest, but this unsustainable system remains in place through a stable arrangement of government prescriptions that follow corporate-elite interests. To understand this structural problem, this essay examines the power of the food industry which requires the manufactured consent of civil society. The paper finds that counter-revolutionary efforts, which are anticipatory and reactive efforts that defend and protect capitalist elite from social change, stabilize the neoliberal food regime through covert tactics meant to undermine public interest critics and activists. As a result of these elite-led interventions, true civil society has become less powerful to articulate a public interest that might otherwise intercede in the operation and structure of the food regime. Thus, one leverage point in this political problem is the capacity of civil society, once it is independent of corporate interests, to remove consent to an abusive system and to debate and demand a food system that neither systematically starves whole groups of people nor destroys the ecological systems that make food possible. Building food security, then, requires recapturing a semi-autonomous civil society and eliminating domination of the corporate elite and replacing it with politics aligned with a public and ecological affinity. Scholars, educators, and the public can reduce the food vulnerability by becoming aware of corporate interests and creating strategic alliances to form a new system with more humane and ecological priorities.
Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic Coast Sea Level Change

Twentieth-century relative sea level rise shows considerable variability along the U.S. East and Gulf coasts. Local rates of rise lie in the range of about 1.5 to more than 4 mm per year for records from Key West, Florida, to New York City. Rates of sea level rise in the Gulf of Mexico can be much higher. In Texas and Louisiana, long-term water levels are rising up to about 10 mm per year. This is having disastrous consequences in the form of wetlands loss in the region, estimated to be as much as 65 km 2 per year in the Mississippi Delta area of Louisiana alone. Beach erosion is also significant along both the Gulf and Atlantic coasts, resulting in ever-increasing exposure of fixed structures to the damaging impacts of storms. The especially high rates of sea level rise in Louisiana and Texas are a result of their particular geomorphology, and anthropogenic alterations in the form of sediment diversion and withdrawal of underground fluids. The average long-term local rate of sea level rise on the rest of the U.S. East and Gulf coasts when corrected for glacial isostatic adjustment is about 2 mm per year, in conformity with 20 th century global sea level rise. U.S. East and Gulf coast tide gauge records also have regionally coherent low frequency (decadal and longer) variations that need to be understood because of their impact on wetlands loss, and to enable accurate determination of long-term trends of sea level rise.
A 95 GHz centimeter scale precision confined pathway system-on-chip navigation processor for autonomous vehicles in 65nm CMOS

This paper presents a 95 GHz centimeter scale navigation system which allows a unmanned ground vehicle (UGV) or possibly even aerial vehicle (UAV) to navigate through a highly cluttered environment and follow a safe obstacle-free pathway to a desired goal. The navigation system defines multiple pathways using mm-wave base-stations called path generators and then uses a single CMOS SoC containing a receiver, ADC and an FFT processor to detect and navigate these pathways. The demonstrated confined pathway SoC (CP-SoC) occupies 5.4mm2 of silicon area in 65nm technology, and consumes only 199 mW, making it suitable for lightweight payloads associated with UAVs and UGVs.
Crosstalk between the actin cytoskeleton and Ran-mediated nuclear transport

Transport of macromolecules into and out of the nucleus is a highly regulated process. The RanGTP/RanGDP gradient controls the trafficking of molecules exceeding the diffusion limit of the nuclear pore across the nuclear envelope. We found genetic interaction between genes establishing the Ran gradient, nuclear transport factor 2 (ntf-2), Ran GTPase activating protein (Sd), and the gene encoding Drosophila Profilin, chickadee (chic). The severe eye phenotype caused by reduction of NTF2 is suppressed by loss of function mutations in chic and gain of function mutations in Sd (RanGAP). We show that in chic mutants, as in Sd-RanGAP, nuclear export is impaired. Our data suggest that Profilin and the organization of the actin cytoskeleton play an important role in nuclear trafficking.
The Kinetics of Biological Systems

This section provides an introduction to the basic ideas of systems theory as applied to living organisms which is an important part of theoretical biophysics. Originally, thermodynamics, as a universal theory of energetic basis of all movements in nature, and kinetics, as a theory of time courses of predicted processes, were considered as two separate theoretical approaches. Thermodynamics answers the questions: what are the reasons for, the driving force of, and the direction of a movement, and what, finally, is the equilibrium situation which will be arrived at if the energetic potentials are equilibrated? Kinetics, on the other hand, just studies the course of a given reaction, its time constants and rates, possible stationary states, stabilities, and oscillations.
The Making of the Award: Comments on Case Law Developments Under the UNCITRAL Model Law

This article discusses selected cases interpreting and applying Arts 28-33 of the UNCITRAL Model Law on International Commercial Arbitration, which deal with (in the words of the UNCITRAL Secretariat) the ‘‘not unimportant’’ topic of the making of the award. It addresses four questions: (1) When can the tribunal resolve disputes on the basis of equity and fairness (ex aequo et bono or amiable compositeur)? (2) Can the parties agree to have the tribunal rely on the lex mercatoria as the basis for its decision? (3) Under what circumstances can the tribunal revisit its prior rulings (that is, when does the tribunal’s authority terminate)? (4) To what extent can courts review a tribunal’s ruling that it lacks jurisdiction over the dispute? In addition, the article offers some brief comments on the limited role the Model Law has played in American arbitration law (and hence the limited contribution American case law has made in interpreting the Model Law).
Positioning Flagellar Genes in Escherichia coli by Deletion Analysis

Two methods were devised to select a series of overlapping deletion mutations carried on episomal elements in Escherichia coli. The deletions were then used in an analysis of (i) the relative position on the genome of previously described mutant loci in the flagellar genes, (ii) the relative position of a newly defined cistron, flaN, and (iii) the orientation and direction of transcription of genes previously assigned to multicistronic transcriptional units. As a result of this analysis and previous work, we report the following arrangement of the flagellar genes in the his-aroD region of the E. coli genetic map: his-flaR-flaQ-flaP-flaA-flaE- flaO-flaC-flaB-flaN-hag-flaD-uvrC-flaI-mot-flaG-flaH. The genes flaA, P, Q, and R, flaB, C, 0 and E, and flaG and H are co-transcribed in that order.
Is Meeting the Consensus EPS Good News or Bad News? Stock Splits and the Accuracy of Analysts' Forecast Data

Both academic and practicing accountants use forecasts made by security analysts to estimate market expectations about forthcoming earnings announcements. We report empirical analysis to illustrate how common stock splits induce a loss of precision in computing forecast errors from commonly used analyst forecast data files. An investigation of security price reactions to earnings announcements demonstrates how the loss of precision potentially alters inferences about security price reactions to announcements of earnings that meet, but do not exceed, the consensus forecast. Further analysis indicates that, because stock-split adjustments are made retrospectively, and because firms that execute stock-splits tend to be well-performing ex post, the consequences of the stock-split problem are systematic, potentially contaminating empirical investigations of both time-series and cross-sectional characteristics of forecast errors and of security price reactions to earnings announcements.
Unheroic Conduct: The Rise of Heterosexuality and Die Invention of the Jewish Man

Unheroic Conduct: The Rise of Heterosexuality and Die Invention of the Jewish Man. Daniel Boyarin. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1997. 417 pp.
An Ultralow Background Germanium Gamma-Ray Spectrometer Using Superclean Materials and Cosmic Ray Anticoincidence

Efforts to measure the double beta decay of /sup 76/Ge as predicted by Grand Unified Theories have resulted in the development of a high resolution germanium diode gamma-ray spectrometer with an exceptionally low background. This paper describes the development of this system and how these techniques can be utilized to significantly reduce the background in high resolution photon spectrometers at only a moderate cost.
The determinants of online security concerns and their influence on e-transactions

Drawing from the perspective of consumers' risk perception, this study examines the determinants and consequences of online security concerns and assessed the interrelationships among these constructs with a path analysis. Using the secondary survey data from a representative sample of the US adult population, this study finds that consumer characteristics such as psychographic, behavioural and demographic factors serve as determinants in explaining online security concerns which, in turn, affect e-transactional activities. This study also highlights that online security concerns play a mediating role on the effects of various consumer characteristics on e-transactions. In addition, the implications for public policy-makers and e-marketers are discussed.
The diversity–biomass–productivity relationships in grassland management and restoration

Summary Diversity, biomass, and productivity, the three key community/ecosystem variables, are interrelated and pose reciprocal influences on each other. The relationships among the three variables have been a central focus in ecology and formed two schools of fundamentally different nature with two related applications: (1) management – how biomass manipulation (e.g., grazing, burning) affects diversity and productivity, and (2) restoration – how diversity manipulation (e.g., seeding, planting) affects biomass and productivity. In the past, the two apparently related aspects have been studied intensively but separately in basic research and the reciprocal effects of the three variables and applied aspects have not been jointly addressed. In most cases, optimal management often involves regulating biomass so that high diversity and productivity or other preferred habitat characteristics can be achieved and maintained, while restoration usually involves planting/seeding a certain number and/or combination of native species so that the native structure and function of the habitat can be restored and degraded ecosystems can recover faster. This article attempts to unify these two schools and discusses the significance and implications of the diversity–biomass–productivity relationships in practice, with particular emphasis on grassland ecosystems.
Inactivation of dioldehydrase in the presence of a coenzyme-B12 analog

Abstract We have previously shown that a coenzyme-B 12 analog, adenosylcobalamin (AdoCbl)-(e-OH), with the e-propionamide group converted to a carboxylic acid, serves as a poor coenzyme for dioldehydrase. During the course of the catalytic process, the enzyme AdoCbl-(e-OH) complex becomes catalytically inactive ( T. Toraya, E. Krodel, A. S. Mildvan, and R. H. Abeles, 1979, Biochemistry 18 , 417–426 ). We have now examined the mechanism of this inactivation further. Inactivation only occurs in the presence of substrate. The dioldehydrase coenzyme analog complex is stable in the absence of substrate. In the inactivated complex, the coenzyme analog was stoichiometrically converted to a cob(II)alamin species. The cob-(II)alamin formed remained irreversibly bound at the active site of the enzyme and resisted oxidation by O 2 even in the presence of CN − . Stoichiometric formation of 5′-deoxyadenosine from the 5′-deoxy-5′-adenosyl moiety of the coenzyme analog was demonstrated with [8- 14 C]-AdoCbl(e-OH). This nucleoside also remained tightly bound to the enzyme and was not exchangeable with free 5′-deoxyadenosine nor was it removed by Sephadex chromatography. The rate of inactivation showed no deuterium isotope effect when the inactivation occurred in the presence of l,2-propanediol-l- d 2 . The inactivated complex was resolved by acid ammonium sulfate treatment into the intact apoenzyme and the hydroxocobalamin derivative. This indicates that the apoenzyme itself is not modified in the inactivation process. These results suggest that the inactivation reaction occurs from one of the intermediates in the normal catalysis. We propose that the inactivation is due to incorrect binding of the modified coenzyme in an intermediate of the catalytic process. This incorrect binding leads to the loss of the substrate radical, and consequently, to loss of catalytic activity.
Simultaneous laser mode conversion and beam combining using multiplexed volume phase elements

An approach is presented where a single volume phase element is used to accomplish spectral beam combining of multiple beams while simultaneously converting higher order modes to the fundamental mode.
Predicting the effect of substance abuse treatment on probationer recidivism

Support for the effectiveness of substance abuse treatment to reduce substance use and recidivism among populations supervised by the criminal justice system continues to grow in substance abuse and criminal justice literature. Recent studies show that a variety of programs including the Breaking the Cycle program and drug courts appear to result in improved outcomes for offenders. In this paper, we examine the effect of non-residential substance abuse treatment on arrest. Our data are for almost 134,000 ‘drug-involved’ individuals sentenced to probation in Florida between July 1995 and June 2000. Nearly 52,000 of these individuals received non-residential substance abuse treatment, while 81,797 did not. Our approach is a methodologically simple one that entails stratifying our data by treatment status, estimating logit and negative binomial models of arrest for each of the two datasets, and then applying each model to both datasets. This approach, which requires that both groups include subjects for whom treatment is appropriate, is analogous to using regression models to predict outcomes for new values of independent variables. For each observation in the dataset, we use the models to predict the expected outcomes for each individual under two scenarios – receiving non-residential treatment and receiving no treatment. Summing over these individual estimates provides an estimate of the total numbers of arrests that would be expected under different levels of population exposure to treatment. Results suggest that non-residential treatment reduced both the expected numbers of individuals who recidivated (i.e., were arrested) and the expected total numbers of arrests in the 12 and 24 months following placement on supervision.
Information strategies: New pathways to corporate power

The article reviews the book “Information Strategies,”New Patterns to Corporate Power,” by Gerald M. Goldhaber, Harry S. Dennis, Gary R. Richetto and Osmo A. Wiio.
A note on asymptotic inference in a class of non-stationary processes☆

Abstract In this note some problems of asymptotic inference in a class of non-stationary stochastic processes are considered. In particular, it is shown that no criterion based on the existence of uniformly most powerful tests over a local neighborhood can be used in this situation.
Integrating Academic and Organisational Approaches to Developing the International Manager

The emerging global economic environment has produced a new and critical human resource demand, one that will become even more important in the decades ahead — the international manager. At present, two primary international training approaches exist: organisational and academic. Differences between the two are indicated, and an attempt is made to show how both are necessary, but not in themselves sufficient, in developing the international manager of tomorrow.
Talking, looking, flying, searching: information seeking behaviour in Second Life

Purpose – This research seeks to answer, “How do everyday Second Life users go about finding needed information?” as the primary research question.Design/methodology/approach – A virtual ethnographic approach couched in grounded theory was utilized to conduct semi‐structured interviews with everyday users of Second Life, accompanied by participant observation.Findings – Information seeking behaviors within the virtual world of Second Life were found to be rich, complex interaction with multiple facets. Five themes emerged to illuminate how users seek information.Research limitations/implications – This research took place over a six‐week period, although most enthographies last at least one year. Conclusions were drawn solely from interviews because participant observation did not penetrate a given community with enough depth to adequately address the research question.Practical implications – Virtual worlds offer the promise of becoming an integrated part of the information seeking landscape for an incre...
Finite-Element Analysis of Felix Candela’s Chapel of Lomas de Cuernavaca

The structures of Felix Candela stand as elegant examples of the art of thin shell concrete structural design. However, few thin shell structures are built today and many of the most enduring structures, such as those of Candela, have not been analyzed. This project performed a finite-element analysis of Candela’s Cuernavaca Chapel in order to better understand its structural efficiency and gain insight into its design. Analysis results show that Candela’s striking structure has very low stresses resulting from its own self-weight.
Standard enthalpies of formation of gaseous thorium, uranium, and plutonium oxides

Recently available spectroscopic data have been used to derive new values for the enthalpies of formation at 298.15 K of gaseous ThO, ThO2, UO, UO2, UO3, and PuO, and PuO2. These new values of δH 0 (298.15 K) are in good agreement with previously recommended values for UO, UO2, and PuO, but not for the other molecules. Inconsistencies among evaluated thermodynamic data have been resolved for ThO (g) and UO3 (g). Recommended values are derived for PuO2 (g) and ThO2 (g); however, additional experimental work on these molecules is needed.
Sex and Race Disparities in Health: Cohort Variations in Life Course Patterns

This study assesses changes in sex and race disparities in health over the life course and across cohorts by conducting growth curve analyses of nationally representative longitudinal data that spans 15 years. It finds that changes in disparities in depressive symptoms, disability and self-assessments of health across the life course are cohort-related phenomena: (1. there is significant inter-cohort heterogeneity in health trajectories; (2. intra-cohort sex and race inequalities exist in levels of health but not in growth rates of all health problems; (3. there are inter-cohort variations in the intra-cohort heterogeneity – sex and race gaps change across cohorts in levels of health. Changes in the sex gap in growth rates of depression are also strongly contingent upon cohort membership.
Analysis of drug interactions with high-density lipoprotein by high-performance affinity chromatography.

High-performance affinity chromatography (HPAC) was utilized to examine the binding of very low density lipoprotein (VLDL) with drugs, using R/S-propranolol as a model. These studies indicated that two mechanisms existed for the binding of R- and S-propranolol with VLDL. The first mechanism involved non-saturable partitioning of these drugs with VLDL, which probably occurred with the lipoprotein’s non-polar core. This partitioning was described by overall affinity constants of 1.2 (±0.3) × 106 M−1 for R-propranolol and 2.4 (±0.6) × 106 M−1 for S-propranolol at pH 7.4 and 37 °C. The second mechanism occurred through saturable binding by these drugs at fixed sites on VLDL, such as represented by apolipoproteins on the surface of the lipoprotein. The association equilibrium constants for this saturable binding at 37 °C were 7.0 (±2.3) × 104 M−1 for R-propranolol and 9.6 (±2.2) × 104 M−1 for S-propranolol. Comparable results were obtained at 20 and 27 °C for the propranolol enantiomers. This work provided fundamental information on the processes involved in the binding of R- and S-propranolol to VLDL, while also illustrating how HPAC can be used to evaluate relatively complex interactions between agents such as VLDL and drugs or other solutes.
Aedes triseriatus (Diptera: Culicidae) and La Crosse virus. III. Enhanced oral transmission by nutrition-deprived mosquitoes.

Adult Aedes triseriatus , reared as larvae under a dietary regimen that produced 3 distinct body size classes [small (S), normal (N), and large (L)], were orally infected with La Crosse (LAC) virus. In all trials female mosquitoes that had endured the severest nutritional deprivation as larvae (S class) transmitted LAC virus at rates considerably higher than the mosquitoes from the moderately deprived N and nondeprived L classes (mean transmission rates of 82, 54, and 52%, respectively). While the S class mosquitoes ingested a proportionally larger infectious blood meal in relation to dry weight than the other 2 classes, the actual amount of virus ingested varied only about 0.4 log10 plaque-forming units/0.1 mg dry body weight among the 3 size classes. Thus, while enhanced oral transmission may be dose related to some extent, it is also apparent that adult mosquitoes nutritionally deprived as larvae may be physiologically less resistant to infection by LAC virus than less deprived individuals. These results indicate that virus transmission experiments conducted with adult mosquitoes reared on optimal larval diets in the laboratory may not reflect the vector capacity found in field populations. Consequently, epidemiologically important variables such as oral transmission rates may have been seriously underestimated in many previous studies.
The birth of the prison: Discipline or punish?

Abstract The English title of Foucault's famous examination of the prison is Discipline and Punish, but Foucault for the most part says nothing on punishment and devotes his entire effort to establishing that the prison was conceived to perform the latent social control function of discipline. Since discipline is not a conscious function, there is no conscious effort to justify it. Not surprisingly, the modern prison emerges from Foucault's analysis as a morally questionable public institution. Had Foucault examined the other term of his title and even had he done so in terms provided by his bete noire, Jeremy Bentham, he would have discovered that a good deal of effort was expended to justify the punishment concepts that were incorporated in the prison. The prison, which in any case was not “born” when and how Foucault says it was, emerges as a more complex social and political institution than Foucault makes it out to be. It is also less morally questionable than he claims. This article is an extensive critique of one of the more important arguments about the modern prison produced in this century.
Differential Resource Utilization Benefits with Internetbased Care Coordination in Elderly Veterans with Chronic Diseases Associated with High Resource Utilization

Our objective was to evaluate in a demonstration project whether our T-Care Program, telecare management via an Internet-based home-messaging device, reduces resource utilization by patients with congestive heart failure (CHF), diabetes mellitus (DM), and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Study participants were drawn from a group of high resource–utilizing veterans over age 60 and included 19 patients with CHF, 23 with DM, and 17 with COPD. Data were gathered on hospital admissions, bed days of care (BDOC), outpatient admissions, and emergency department visits 6 months before and 6 months after enrollment in the telecare program. Nonparametric tests examined pre- and postintervention effects. For patients with CHF, significant decreases were found with T-Care in total emergency department visits (30 to 10, p = 0.03) and hospital admissions (20 to 8, p = 0.03). The decrease in BDOC (179 to 53) was not significant (p = 0.07). Outpatient visits were unchanged (71 to 83, p = 0.38). There were no...
Respiratory adaptations of sacramento blackfish, Orthodon microlepidotus (ayres), for hypoxia

1. 1. Resting routine oxygen consumption rates of adult Sacramento blackfish increased from 41.18mg O2/kg/hr (10°C) to 190.74mg O2/kg/hr (30°C) under normoxic conditions. 2. 2. Significant metabolic depressions were measured under 40 torr Po2, hypoxia at 25°C (P < 0.05) and 30°C (P < 0.01) compared with normoxia values at the same temperature. 3. 3. High oxygen affinity, a significant Bohr effect, a hyperbolic blood oxygen dissociation curve, and an extraordinarily small temperature shift characterize the oxygenation dynamics of the blackfish hemoglobin(s). 4. 4. The above respiratory adaptations indicate successful habitation of many hypoxic environments including culture ponds.
Comparison of Otoacoustic Emissions Within Gecko Subfamilies: Morphological Implications for Auditory Function in Lizards

Otoacoustic emissions (OAEs) are sounds emitted by the ear and provide a non-invasive probe into mechanisms underlying peripheral auditory transduction. This study focuses upon a comparison of emission properties in two phylogenetically similar pairs of gecko: Gekko gecko and Hemidactylus turcicus and Eublepharis macularius and Coleonyx variegatus. Each pair consists of two closely related species within the same subfamily, with quantitatively known morphological properties at the level of the auditory sensory organ (basilar papilla) in the inner ear. Essentially, the comparison boils down to an issue of size: how does overall body size, as well as the inner-ear dimensions (e.g., papilla length and number of hair cells), affect peripheral auditory function as inferred from OAEs? Estimates of frequency selectivity derived from stimulus-frequency emissions (emissions evoked by a single low-level tone) indicate that tuning is broader in the species with fewer hair cells/shorter papilla. Furthermore, emissions extend outwards to higher frequencies (for similar body temperatures) in the species with the smaller body size/narrower interaural spacing. This observation suggests the smaller species have relatively improved high-frequency sensitivity, possibly related to vocalizations and/or aiding azimuthal sound localization. For one species (Eublepharis), emissions were also examined in both juveniles and adults. Qualitatively similar emission properties in both suggests that inner-ear function is adult like soon after hatching and that external body size (e.g., middle-ear dimensions and interaural spacing) has a relatively small impact upon emission properties within a species.
A thermodynamic analysis of the formation of bilayer films

Abstract A theoretical treatment is given of the conditions for formation of a “bimolecular leaflet” membrane from a thick film separating two aqueous bodies. Some surface-thermodynamic functions recently proposed for films on solids (1) and in particular ΔFcwffw(L), the reversible work of cohesion (back to back) of two oriented monolayer films, are employed. Here the subscript (L) signifies that, on separation, the film-film interface is replaced by two film-liquid interfaces. This function makes it possible to estimate the energy of cohesion across the mid-plane of a bilayer, and hence the free energy of formation of the bilayer. It is shown that the free energy of formation is generally negative. The limitations on this analysis are discussed, together with the thermodynamic and dynamical factors that would make the bilayer unstable.
Stroke rehabilitation reaches a threshold.

Motor training with the upper limb affected by stroke partially reverses the loss of cortical representation after lesion and has been proposed to increase spontaneous arm use. Moreover, repeated attempts to use the affected hand in daily activities create a form of practice that can potentially lead to further improvement in motor performance. We thus hypothesized that if motor retraining after stroke increases spontaneous arm use sufficiently, then the patient will enter a virtuous circle in which spontaneous arm use and motor performance reinforce each other. In contrast, if the dose of therapy is not sufficient to bring spontaneous use above threshold, then performance will not increase and the patient will further develop compensatory strategies with the less affected hand. To refine this hypothesis, we developed a computational model of bilateral hand use in arm reaching to study the interactions between adaptive decision making and motor relearning after motor cortex lesion. The model contains a left and a right motor cortex, each controlling the opposite arm, and a single action choice module. The action choice module learns, via reinforcement learning, the value of using each arm for reaching in specific directions. Each motor cortex uses a neural population code to specify the initial direction along which the contralateral hand moves towards a target. The motor cortex learns to minimize directional errors and to maximize neuronal activity for each movement. The derived learning rule accounts for the reversal of the loss of cortical representation after rehabilitation and the increase of this loss after stroke with insufficient rehabilitation. Further, our model exhibits nonlinear and bistable behavior: if natural recovery, motor training, or both, brings performance above a certain threshold, then training can be stopped, as the repeated spontaneous arm use provides a form of motor learning that further bootstraps performance and spontaneous use. Below this threshold, motor training is “in vain”: there is little spontaneous arm use after training, the model exhibits learned nonuse, and compensatory movements with the less affected hand are reinforced. By exploring the nonlinear dynamics of stroke recovery using a biologically plausible neural model that accounts for reversal of the loss of motor cortex representation following rehabilitation or the lack thereof, respectively, we can explain previously hard to reconcile data on spontaneous arm use in stroke recovery. Further, our threshold prediction could be tested with an adaptive train–wait–train paradigm: if spontaneous arm use has increased in the “wait” period, then the threshold has been reached, and rehabilitation can be stopped. If spontaneous arm use is still low or has decreased, then another bout of rehabilitation is to be provided.
Planning the size of a cohort study in the presence of both losses to follow-up and non-compliance.

Abstract When subjects are followed for long time periods, as is the rule in chronic-disease studies, losses to follow-up and non-compliance with treatments can generally not be avoided. By loss to follow-up is meant incomplete information on the occurrence of endpoints due to lost records, patients moving and the like. Non-compliance refers to discontinuance by the subject of the treatment regimen assigned, or of the specific risk factor under study. Both contingencies increase the sample size requirement and it is therefore important that they be anticipated in the planning of long-term studies. An earlier paper which took losses to follow-up into consideration in sample size determination is here expanded to include non-compliance also. The present approach employs a modification of the non-compliance model of Schork and Remington, incorporated into a competing-risk theoretic framework. Tables are given for various levels of noncompliance and loss, and the relative impact of the two is compared.
Some rigorous analytic properties of transition amplitudes

The causality and mass-spectral conditions are used to derive analytic properties of two-particle transition amplitudes as functions of energy and momentum transfer. While the complete double-dispersion representation cannot be proved from these postulates alone, it is shown that, within a certain domain in the space of two complex variables, the only singularities are the expected poles and cuts along the real axis. This domain surrounds the low-energy physical region. The proof is restricted to the scattering of the lightest particles in the theory. As long as no attempt is made to find the largest possible domain, the calculations are not very difficult. The domain of analyticity can then be extended by the unitarity condition. The magnitude of the extension is not very large, but the new domain differs from the old in including part of the region in which the two-dimensional spectral functions are non-zero. We only use the unitarity condition below the threshold for inelastic processes; if such processes could also be treated and the unitarity condition used at higher energies, it seems possible that the domain could be extended arbitrarily far. In the present results, the boundary of the domain of analyticity is sufficiently far from the low energy region to justify the analytic properties assumed in applications of the double-dispersion representation. Other results that can be proved are that partial-wave amplitudes are analytic functions of the energy in a certain region, that the determination of coupling constants by extrapolation in the angle is valid if the energy is not too high, and that ordinary dispersion relations are true over a slightly larger range of momentum transfer than had previously been established.