cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Sample preparation composite and replicate strategy case studies for assay of solid oral drug products

Drug product assay is one of several tests required for new drug products to ensure the quality of the product at release and throughout the life cycle of the product. Drug product assay testing is typically performed by preparing a composite sample of multiple dosage units to obtain an assay value representative of the batch. In some cases replicate composite samples may be prepared and the reportable assay value is the average value of all the replicates. In previously published work by Harrington et al. (2014) [5], a sample preparation composite and replicate strategy for assay was developed to provide a systematic approach which accounts for variability due to the analytical method and dosage form with a standard error of the potency assay criteria based on compendia and regulatory requirements. In this work, this sample preparation composite and replicate strategy for assay is applied to several case studies to demonstrate the utility of this approach and its application at various stages of pharmaceutical drug product development.
Costa Rica: La tercera no fue la vencida, fracaso de la reforma fiscal de Luis Guillermo Solís

Costa Rican politics in 2016 were dominated by the debate and eventual failure of a tax reform proposed by the Solis administration. This failure is emblematic of a wider political crisis marked by growing levels of partisan fragmentation and polarization that have made it increasingly difficult to forge cross-partisan agreements on major national policy issues. Elections scheduled for February 2018 are expected to dominate politics during 2017.
Polarization Model: a unified framework for hydration and double layer interactions

Because the double layer force vanishes in the absence of surface charges, one expects the attractive van der Waals force to cause the coagulation of all neutral (or even weekly charged) colloids. The absence of such a behavior has been explained by the existence of an additional (non-DLVO) force, the hydration interaction, which is due to the structuring of water in the vicinity of hydrophilic surfaces. This chapter is devoted to the identification of the microscopic origin of the hydration force, and to the presentation of a unified treatment of the double layer and hydration forces, the Polarization Model.
Construction of Shortest Line of Restricted Curvature in a Non-singly-connected Polygonal Area

In a computer aided laying-out of roads and railway lines there arises the problem of the modeling of optimal routes with restricted curvature in a given non-singly-connected polygonal (NSCP) area. However, since the triangulating network models are used now for the NSCP areas, the development of the respective AutoCADs is sufficiently hampered due to the lack of an efficient approach allowing to simulate the routes of continuous curvature with the required accuracy. Therefore, optimization of routes cannot be carried out in a proper way. For solving this nonlinear problem in compliance with the requirements of the engineering standards, a model is presented that comprises a set of basic optimization problems for the construction of the shortest route composed of segments and circular arcs. In order to provide smooth growth of acceleration for eliminating overload at high speeds, these elements are mated with the easement curves — clothoid (Euler spiral) or cubic parabola fragments. For these problems the condition of optimality and respective optimization methods are presented that show linear memory and time complexity.
The Place of Alfred Schütz in Phenomenology and His Contribution to the Phenomenological Movement in North America

This paper is divided into three parts. The first outlines the place of Schutz in the phenomenological movement. The second deals with the role Schutz played in making phenomenology a going concern in North America. The third offers an appraisal of contributions Schutz made to phenomenology both as philosophy and in its application to the social sciences.
Adherence With Multiple National Healthy Lifestyle Recommendations in a Large Pediatric Center Electronic Health Record and Reduced Risk of Obesity

Abstract Objective To evaluate the utility of a routine assessment of lifestyle behaviors incorporated into the electronic health record (EHR) to quantify lifestyle practices and obesity risk at a pediatric primary care center. Patients and Methods Participants included 24,255 patients aged 2 to 18 years whose parent/caregiver completed a self-report lifestyle assessment during a well-child examination (January 1, 2013, through June 30, 2016). Cross-sectional analyses of age, race/ethnicity, body mass index, and lifestyle assessment responses were performed. Outcome measures included prevalence of patients meeting consensus recommendations for physical activity; screen time; and dairy, water, and fruit/vegetable consumption and the odds of obesity based on reported lifestyle behaviors. Results Prevalence of meeting recommendations for lifestyle behaviors was highest for physical activity (84%), followed by screen time (61%) and consumption of water (51%), dairy (27%), and fruits/vegetables (10%). Insufficient physical activity was the strongest predictor of obesity (odds ratio [OR], 1.65; 95% CI, 1.51-1.79), followed by excess screen time (OR, 1.36; 95% CI, 1.27-1.45). Disparities existed across ages, races/ethnicities, and sexes for multiple lifestyle habits. Youth who met 0 or 1 lifestyle recommendation were 1.45 to 1.71 times more likely to have obesity than those meeting all 5 recommendations. Conclusion Healthy behaviors vary in prevalence, as does their association with obesity. This variation is partially explained by age, sex, and race/ethnicity. Meeting national recommendations for specific behaviors is negatively associated with obesity in a dose-dependent manner. These findings support the assessment of lifestyle behaviors in primary care as one component of multilevel initiatives to prevent childhood obesity.
Coated glucose sensors dodge recalibration

Coating continuous glucose-monitoring sensors with zwitterionic polymer reduces early inflammatory responses and signal noise after sensor implantation in live animals, and improves the performance of the sensors without the need for additional recalibration.
Stable Persistent Homology Features of Dynamic Metric Spaces.

Characterizing the dynamics of time-evolving data within the framework of topological data analysis (TDA) has been attracting increasingly more attention. Popular instances of time-evolving data include flocking/swarming behaviors in animals and social networks in the human sphere. A natural mathematical model for such collective behaviors is a dynamic point cloud, or more generally a dynamic metric space (DMS). In this paper we extend the Rips filtration stability result for (static) metric spaces to the setting of DMSs. We do this by devising a certain three-parameter "spatiotemporal" filtration of a DMS. Applying the homology functor to this filtration gives rise to multidimensional persistence module derived from the DMS. We show that this multidimensional module enjoys stability under a suitable generalization of the Gromov-Hausdorff distance which permits metrizing the collection of all DMSs. On the other hand, it is recognized that, in general, comparing two multidimensional persistence modules leads to intractable computational problems. For the purpose of practical comparison of DMSs, we focus on both the rank invariant or the dimension function of the multidimensional persistence module that is derived from a DMS. We specifically propose to utilize a certain metric d for comparing these invariants: In our work this d is either (1) a certain generalization of the erosion distance by Patel, or (2) a specialized version of the well known interleaving distance. We also study the computational complexity associated to both choices of d.
Thoracic Epidural Abscesses: A Systematic Review

Study Design:Systematic review.Objectives:Past research has demonstrated increased speed and severity of progression for spinal epidural abscesses (SEAs) of the thoracic level, specifically, when c...
393 SELF-REGRESSION OF ACROMEGALY: A CASE REPORT.

A 34-year-old Hispanic male with past medical history of diabetes for 2 years, on metformin, presented to his primary care physician with symptoms suggestive of carpal tunnel syndrome and fatigue. Upon workup, IGF-1 levels were found to be elevated (1290 μg/dL). A month later, he presented to the ER with complaints of an intense stabbing frontal headache, accompanied by bilateral eye pain. CT scan revealed a 1.8 cm infarcted sellar mass with acute hemorrhage. At follow-up at the endocrinology clinic, he complained of excessive sweating, a gradually progressive increase in shoe size, and symptoms suggestive of carpal tunnel syndrome. His family members had noticed some changes in physical appearance. On physical examination, he had signs of acromegaly. Three months later, he remained in remission with IGF-1 levels of 181 μg/dL. His diabetes had improved dramatically, with an HbA1c of 4.7% (HbA1C was 7.0, 6 months earlier), and a fasting plasma glucose of 68 mg/dL; metformin was thus discontinued, and he remained euglycemic. An ACTH stimulation testing ruled out adrenal insufficiency. Serum growth hormone (GH) levels after a 75 g oral glucose load were suppressed (GH levels 1.7 ng/dL, 0.3 ng/dL, 0.3 ng/dL, 0.5 ng/dL after 15 minutes, 30 minutes, 45 minutes, and 1 hour, respectively). Over the next 2 years, there was a gradual fall in IGF-1 levels into the subnormal range (80, 98 μg/dL). Biochemical testing of his gonadal axis after 13 months was consistent with hypogonadotropic hypogonadism (testosterone 291 ng/dL, LH 2.9 mIU/mL, FSH 4.7 mIU/mL). An MRI done a year after the initial study showed an empty sella with a small rim of pituitary tissue measuring 4 mm. Over the next year he had gradual regression of his acromegalic facial features and improvement in fatigue level. Conventional treatment of acromegaly includes surgical removal of the GH-producing tumor, medical therapy with octreotide or pegvisomant, and/or radiation. Here we present a case report of acromegaly that regressed following a pituitary infarction. Spontaneous resolution of GH-secreting pituitary tumors without any treatment is very rare, with only approximately 20 cases reported in the literature.
Induction theorems for finite groups including a common generalization of two classical theorems

Abstract Roquette proved results involving induction about rings related to the character rings of finite groups and consisting of functions that vanish outside a p ′ -section; Kletzing did something similar for Q -characters. This paper gives new generalizations of these results involving K-characters for any field K of characteristic 0 as well as corresponding theorems for a set of primes. That these facts are useful is illustrated by showing that they imply a common generalization of the Witt-Berman and Artin induction theorems as well as results of Chen, Fan, Hu, Robinson, and Sin.
Quantification in Western Armenian

After presenting some basic genetic, historical and typological information about Western Armenian this chapter outlines the quantification patterns it expresses. It illustrates various semantic types of quantifiers, such as generalized existential, generalized universal, proportional, definite and partitive which are defined in the Quantifier Questionnaire in Chapter 1. It partitions the expression of the semantic types into morpho-syntactic classes: Adverbial type quantifiers and Nominal (or Determiner) type quantifiers. For the various semantic and morpho-syntactic types of quantifiers it also distinguishes syntactically simple and syntactically complex quantifiers, as well as issues of distributivity and scope interaction, classifiers and measure expressions, and existential constructions. The chapter describes structural properties of determiners and quantified noun phrases in Western Armenian, both in terms of internal structure (morphological or syntactic) and distribution.
Military Members’ Perceptions of Social Norms About Mental Health for Combat Stress

Low rates of mental health help-seeking for combat stress are reported in prior literature, with perceptions of stigma as a common factor preventing help-seeking. This article explores the Social N...
Effects of predictive and incentive value manipulation on sign- and goal-tracking behavior

When a neutral stimulus is repeatedly paired with an appetitive reward, two different types of conditioned approach responses may develop: a sign-tracking response directed toward the neutral cue, or a goal-tracking response directed toward the location of impending reward delivery. Sign-tracking responses have been postulated to result from attribution of incentive value to conditioned cues, while goal-tracking reflects the assignment of only predictive value to the cue. We therefore hypothesized that sign-tracking would be more sensitive to manipulations of incentive value, while goal-tracking would be more responsive to changes in the predictive value of the cue. We tested sign- and goal-tracking before and after devaluation of a food reward using lithium chloride, and tested whether either response could be learned under negative contingency conditions that precluded any serendipitous reinforcement of the behavior that might support instrumental learning. We also tested the effects on sign- and goal-tracking of blocking the predictive value of a cue using simultaneous presentation of a pre-conditioned cue. We found that sign-tracking was sensitive to outcome devaluation, while goal-tracking was not. We also confirmed that both responses are Pavlovian because they can be learned under negative contingency conditions. Goal-tracking was completely blocked by a pre-conditioned cue, while sign-tracking was only partially reduced. These results indicate that sign- and goal-tracking follow different rules of reinforcement learning and suggest a need to revise current models of associative learning to account for these differences.
New Water in Old Buckets: Hypothetical and Counterfactual Reasoning in Mach’s Economy of Science

Ernst Mach’s defense of relativist theories of motion in Die Mechanik involves a well-known criticism of Newton’s theory appealing to absolute space, and of Newton’s “bucket” experiment. Sympathetic readers (Norton 1995) and critics (Stein 1967, 1977) agree that there’s a tension in Mach’s view: he allows for some constructed scientific concepts, but not others, and some kinds of reasoning about unobserved phenomena, but not others. Following Banks (2003), I argue that this tension can be interpreted as a constructive one, springing from Mach’s approach to scientific reasoning. Mach’s “economy of science” allows for a principled distinction to be made between natural and artificial hypothetical reasoning, and Mach defends a division of labor between the sciences in a 1903 paper for The Monist, “Space and Geometry from the Point of View of Physical Inquiry”. That division supports counterfactual reasoning in Mach’s system, something that’s long been denied is possible for him.
Proton Beam Therapy in Liver Malignancies

Proton beam therapy (PBT) allows for improved sparing of surrounding normal tissues compared with X-ray-based radiation therapy. This is especially important in the setting of liver malignancies, where an increase in integral dose leads to a higher risk of radiation-induced liver disease (RILD) as well as close proximity to vital gastrointestinal (GI) organs. We have data from multiple centers demonstrating that PBT can safely deliver high, ablative doses of radiation therapy conferring excellent local control with good tolerance of treatment. PBT is an effective treatment with longstanding evidence of efficacy that is increasing in availability.
On the precision of automated activation time estimation

We examined how the assignment of local activation times in epicardial and endocardial electrograms is affected by sampling rate, ambient signal-to-noise ratio, and sinx/x waveform interpolation. Algorithms used for the estimation of fiducial point locations included dV/dtmax, and a matched filter detection algorithm. Test signals included epicardial and endocardial electrograms overlying both normal and infarcted regions of dog myocardium. Signal-to-noise levels were adjusted by combining known data sets with white noise "colored" to match the spectral characteristics of experimentally recorded noise. For typical signal-to-noise ratios and sampling rates, the template-matching algorithm provided the greatest precision in reproducibly estimating fiducial point location, and sinx/x interpolation allowed for an additional significant improvement. With few restrictions, combining these two techniques may allow for use of digitization rates below the Nyquist rate without significant loss of precision.
Abstract 389: Doctor Are You Listening?

A qualitative study of 395 women with varying forms of cardiovascular disease was conducted and participants were asked what concerns them most regarding their diagnosis. Overwhelmingly, most women...
Burden of perianal Staphylococcus aureus colonization in nursing home residents increases transmission to healthcare worker gowns and gloves.

Objective: To evaluate the effect of the burden of Staphylococcus aureus colonization of nursing home residents on the risk of S. aureus transmission to healthcare worker (HCW) gowns and gloves. Design: Multicenter prospective cohort study. Setting and participants: Residents and HCWs from 13 community-based nursing homes in Maryland and Michigan. Methods: Residents were cultured for S. aureus at the anterior nares and perianal skin. The S. aureus burden was estimated by quantitative polymerase chain reaction detecting the nuc gene. HCWs wore gowns and gloves during usual care activities; gowns and gloves were swabbed and then cultured for the presence of S. aureus. Results: In total, 403 residents were enrolled; 169 were colonized with methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) or methicillin-sensitive S. aureus (MSSA) and comprised the study population; 232 were not colonized and thus were excluded from this analysis; and 2 were withdrawn prior to being swabbed. After multivariable analysis, perianal colonization with S. aureus conferred the greatest odds for transmission to HCW gowns and gloves, and the odds increased with increasing burden of colonization: adjusted odds ratio (aOR), 2.1 (95% CI, 1.3–3.5) for low-level colonization and aOR 5.2 (95% CI, 3.1–8.7) for high level colonization. Conclusions: Among nursing home patients colonized with S. aureus, the risk of transmission to HCW gowns and gloves was greater from those colonized with greater quantities of S. aureus on the perianal skin. Our findings inform future infection control practices for both MRSA and MSSA in nursing homes.
Solution Evaporation-Driven Crumpling and Assembling of Large-Accessible-Space, High-Mechanical-Strength Graphene/Carbon Nanotube Composite Nanoparticles.

Crumpled graphene particles that are converted and assembled from 2D planar graphene sheets create a subtle material platform for widespread applications of graphene in a low-cost and scalable mann...
Adenylate Kinase 2 Is a Selective Dependency in NSD2-High Multiple Myeloma

Background: Multiple myeloma (MM)-associated t (4;14) chromosomal translocation leads to overexpression of NSD2, the histone H3 lysine 36 specific methyltransferase. t(4;14) MM patients have a high risk of relapse and NSD2 overexpression drives an oncogenic epigenetic and transcriptional program promoting clonogenicity, proliferation, altered adhesion and chemoresistance in MM cells. The lack of a specific and potent NSD2 inhibitors mandates finding alternative strategies for treating NSD2-high MM. Aim: This study aims to test the hypothesis that NSD2 overexpression in MM cells generates cellular vulnerabilities that can be therapeutically exploited for treatment of t (4;14) MM. Methods: We conducted a genome wide CRISPR-based loss-of-function genetic screen using the human Brunello library in isogenic NSD2-high (NTKO) and NSD2-low (TKO) KMS-11 derived MM cells to define genes whose loss is selectively detrimental to cells with NSD2 overexpression. The cellular dependency of each identified candidate was then investigated across hundreds of human cell lines using the Cancer Dependency Map portal (www.Depmap.org). Candidate genes were validated using CRISPR-Cas9 gene knockout and shRNA knockdown of individual target genes followed by in vitro competitive growth assays and cell viability assays. Results: Our study revealed multiple candidate genes with increased dependency in NSD2-high cells including the adenine nucleotide regulator Adenylate Kinase 2 (AK2). AK2 catalyzes the reversible conversion of ADP to AMP and ATP and can thus modulates energy balance within the cell. Dependency map analysis showed that AK2 is not a commonly essential gene. The top enriched lineages with AK2 dependency included MM with notable representation of t(4;14)-positive MM cell lines. The increased dependency of NTKO and other t (4;14) MM cells on AK2 was confirmed by in vitro competition assays. Disruption of AK2 in TKO cells had a minimal effect on cellular fitness but the dependency on AK2 was restored upon engineered overexpression of NSD2 in these cells. In addition, NSD2-high cells displayed higher sensitivity to the proteasome inhibitor bortezomib than NSD2-low cells suggesting elevated levels of endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress in cells overexpressing NSD2. Elevated ER stress necessitates increased levels of ATP to refold proteins and could underlie the increased dependency of NSD2-high cells on AK2. Notably, suppression of AK2 increased bortezomib sensitivity in t (4;14) MM cell lines. Conclusions: Our findings indicate that NSD2 high t(4;14) MM may have a vulnerability due to increased proteostatic stress. Accordingly, AK2 inhibition could be used in combination with proteasome inhibitors to treat MM patients with t (4;14) translocations by inducing the accumulation of lethal levels of unfolded proteins. Disclosures No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.
Establishing and Maintaining Multivariate Trust in a Hierarchical SDN

Traditional network architectures suffer from an inability to depart from the marriage between the control and data planes housed in the same physical device. Software Defined Networking (SDN) provides such a departure: an architecture that can rapidly integrate diverse and dynamic network functions. Current network architectures trust traffic typically based on IP address and the physical location of the host. This paper defines and outlines a multivariate trust model in an SDN environment that provides a method to implement the policies of a complex organization. An entity's trust level, based on hardware trusted platform modules, operating system status, user identification, and traffic patterns, is used to determine whether its particular traffic flow is allowed to traverse the network. Ultimately, we allocate a dynamic network slicing solution to such flows, enabling the efficient allocation of bandwidth across a layered SDN. We are deploying this trust model on a three-tiered network model designed to simulate the hierarchical nature of the US Army and the Department of Defense Information Network (DODIN) through common traffic scenarios.
Benefits of Fast Battery Formation in a Model System

Lithium-ion battery formation affects battery cost, energy density, and lifetime. An improved understanding of the first cycle of solid-electrolyte interphase (SEI) growth on carbonaceous negative electrodes could aid in the design of optimized formation protocols. In this work, we systematically study SEI growth during the formation of carbon black negative electrodes in a standard carbonate electrolyte. We show that the initial ethylene carbonate (EC) reduction reaction occurs at ~0.5–1.2 V during the first lithiation, except under fast lithiation rates (≥10C). The products of this EC reduction reaction do not passivate the electrode; only the SEI formed at lower potentials affects the second-cycle Coulombic efficiency. Thus, cycling quickly through the voltage regime of this reaction can decrease both formation time and first-cycle capacity loss, without an increase in subsequent-cycle capacity loss. We also show that the capacity consumed by this reaction is minimized at low temperatures and low salt concentrations. Finally, we discuss the mechanism behind our experimental results. This work reveals the fundamental processes underlying initial SEI growth on carbonaceous negative electrodes and provides insights for both optimizing the battery formation process and enabling novel electrolytes.
A Novel Hierarchical Framework for Measuring the Complexity and Irregularity of Multimodal Speech Signals and Its Application in the Assessment of Speech Impairment in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis.

Purpose The purposes of this study are to develop a novel multimodal framework for measuring variability at the muscular, kinematic, and acoustic levels of the motor speech hierarchy and evaluate t...
Preparing for Return to Play: Understanding the Impact of COVID-19 on the Well-Being of Community College Student-Athletes

Higher education institutions responded quickly to the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. The majority of the research conducted primarily focuses on understanding the well-being of collegiate athlet...
Biological Applications of X-Ray Contact Microscopy

In their living state biological specimens are hydrated, composed of low atomic number molecules (predominately C, O, N, H) and exhibit some form of movement. All of these inherent characteristics make morphological examination of the tissue in it’s natural state difficult by conventional light and electron microscopy. To withstand the rigors of a light or electron beam (and vacuum) and provide adequate contrast for cellular or intracellular delineation, the biological sample must be chemically and/or physically treated. Chemical and cryofixation are commonly used to stabilize the cells and membranes of tissues so that the specimen may be carbon or metal coated, dehydrated and dried, or dehydrated and infiltrated with a supportive matrix such as plastic or wax to facilitate sectioning of the tissue prior to viewing. All of these procedures carry the risk of altering the elemental composition or ultrastructure of the tissue, and the question of whether data is real or artifactual must always be addressed. Each chemical treatment for tissue preparation risks the introduction of exogenous materials into the specimen, as well as the leaching and translocation of diffusible substances from specific cells.
Formal safety analysis of a radio-based railroad crossing using deductive cause-consequence analysis (DCCA)

In this paper we present the formal safety analysis of a radio-based railroad crossing. We use deductive cause-consequence analysis (DCCA) as analysis method. DCCA is a novel technique to analyze safety of embedded systems with formal methods. It substitutes error-prone informal reasoning by mathematical proofs. DCCA allows to rigorously prove whether a failure on component level is the cause for system failure or not. DCCA generalizes the two most common safety analysis techniques: failure modes and effects analysis (FMEA) and fault tree analysis (FTA). We apply the method to a real world case study: a radio-based railroad crossing. We illustrate the results of DCCA for this example and compare them to results of other formal safety analysis methods like formal FTA.
TOPEX/Poseidon Precision Orbit Determination with SLR and GPS Anti-Spoofing Data

To take advantage of the quality of the TOPEX/Poseidon sea-level measurements, the radial orbit component must be known to better than a decimeter. Orbits have been produced using Global Positioning System (GPS) and satellite laser ranging (SLR) tracking data. These orbits are produced with small radial position errors (< 5 cm RMS), on a short production schedule (≤ 4 days), with minimal resources. The models and estimation strategies for different data type combinations are outlined. Of special interest are the solutions which contain GPS Anti-Spoofing (AS) data. These orbits are compared to existing precision orbit ephemerides to demonstrate their relative accuracy as an orbit product.
Por uma pedagogia das grandes urgências planetárias

Paulo Freire wrote, in his Third Pedagogical Letter: “If education alone does not transform society, without it, society does not change either.”(FREIRE, 2000, p. 67). In this perspective, education cannot restrict itself to the problems of the classroom. In its necessary ethic-politic dimension, it must contribute for the solutions of problems so serious today, that they concern with the surviving of the very humanity and of the planet as a whole. It is at stake, therefore, of thinking the education in terms of maximum urgency, or of planetary “limit-situations”. The main goal of this article is to quest in as much in works of different authors as in innovator projects, elements for that one I name “pedagogy of the great urgencies”. The question that I raise, for me and for those who read me, is this: Which is the contribution that falls to us to give as educators, for the building of a world more humane and having solidarity, in an age that many scholars consider characterized by different and cruel forms of barbarity?
A Kinetic Study of Collagen Biosynthesis

Abstract The kinetics of incorporation of [14C]glycine into the cyanogen bromide peptides of the α1 and α2 chains of pulse-labeled collagen was analyzed in a system of cranial bone (calvaria) from newborn rats. From the time dependence of the difference in specific activity between peptides in the same chain, it was estimated that the rate of translation of the mRNA for a collagen chain is about 209 residues per min and is approximately equal for both α1 and α2. The data indicate that hydroxylation and helix formation occur either during translation or very rapidly thereafter. It was determined that the samples consisted in part of collagen obtained by conversion of precursor (procollagen) during neutral salt extraction. The pro α1 chain from acid-extracted samples was found to have a molecular weight of 115,000 compared to 95,000 for an α 1 chain. The calculated assembly time for a pro α chain, and for a completed procollagen molecule, is then 6.0 min, assuming linear polypeptide chains of 1,250 residues and a constant translation rate. The kinetic analysis allows the prediction that the extra peptide material that is lost during conversion of procollagen is at the amino-terminal ends of the chains. The time previously calculated (Vuust, J., and Piez, K. A. (1970) J. Biol. Chem., 245, 6201) from pulse-labeling studies for the biosynthesis of a complete fully hydroxylated collagen molecule, 4.8 min, can now be seen to be an apparent value obtained as a result of the then unknown conversion of procollagen to collagen during extraction. Re-evaluation of those data leads to a biosynthesis time of 5.8 min for a procollagen molecule, in good agreement with the present study. The rate of conversion to collagen is not known.
Conference v2.0: An Uncertain Version of the OAEI Conference Benchmark

The Ontology Alignment Evaluation Initiative is a set of benchmarks for evaluating the performance of ontology alignment systems. In this paper we re-examine the Conference track of the OAEI, with a focus on the degree of agreement between the reference alignments within this track and the opinion of experts. We propose a new version of this benchmark that more closely corresponds to expert opinion and confidence on the matches. The performance of top alignment systems is compared on both versions of the benchmark. Additionally, a general method for crowdsourcing the development of more benchmarks of this type using Amazon's Mechanical Turk is introduced and shown to be scalable, cost-effective and to agree well with expert opinion.
Model of Criminal Process Game Theory and Law

ion can, of course, be pursued to the point of disutility.3 Although I feel my efforts stop well short of this point, I have based my analysis on several simplifying assumptions that necessarily limit the applicability of my conclusions. Utility is considered cardinally measurable, so that numbers expressing values may legitimately indicate not only their rank but also the magnitude of the differences among them. Attention is restricted to a community composed of a sanctioning authority, termed the state, and a large number of individuals with identical tastes and beliefs, whose levels of happiness may be summed to obtain total community welfare. A single choice confronts each individual: he can do or refrain from doing a defined act condemned as criminal by the state. State response is similarly dichotomous: the sanctioning authority may impose or fail to impose a single precise penalty on the individual. Gains and losses caused by commission or noncommission of the proscribed act and punishment or nonpunishment by the state are treated as independent. While the behavior of the individual is a function of the disparity in -attractiveness of his alternative opportunities, irrationality and limited powers of discrimination are assumed to render his conduct probabilistic rather than deterministic.
Request-specific routing in WDM grooming networks

Sub-wavelength traffic grooming in optical networks has gained significant importance due to the prevailing fractional wavelength traffic requirement of end-users. Dynamic routing schemes improve the performance of WDM grooming networks compared to static routing as they can adapt to changes in the network state. In this paper, the significance of dynamic routing of fractional wavelength traffic based on request characteristics is illustrated. We propose a request-specific routing scheme, called available shortest path routing, and study its performance. The results are compared against other routing schemes that do not use request characteristics in selecting a path. It Is shown that request-specific routing can improve the network performance with respect to utilization and fairness metrics.
Thiamin-responsive maple syrup urine disease in a patient antigenically missing dihydrolipoamide acyltransferase.

Abstract Maple syrup urine disease results from inherited defects in human nuclear genes for branched chain α-ketoacid dehydrogenase, a mitochondrial multienzyme complex. Thiamin pyrophosphate is necessary for complex activity and a thiamin-responsive form of maple syrup urine disease is known. Here we demonstrate the use of [1- 13 C]leucine oxidation to [ 13 C]O 2 quantified in breath samples as a means of assessing whole body leucine oxidation. Analysis of cultured cells from this patient shows the antigenic lack of the E2 subunit, yet she gained branched chain o-ketoacid dehydrogenase activity in response to diet supplementation with pharmacologic doses of thiamin. These cultured cells were used to seek a molecular basis for the observed thiamin response. Despite normal thiamin transport in these cells, medium supplementation of up to 1000 mg thiamin/liter failed to increase complex activity or cause the antigenic appearance of the missing protein. This lack of response in cultured cells suggests that the observed whole body response to thiamin must be a tissue-specific effect in liver, muscle, or kidney. In addition, allele-specific detection of paternal and maternal mutations was used to genotype family members in this pedigree.
Behavioral Complexity Is in the Eye of the Beholder: Effects of Cognitive Complexity and Message Complexity on Impressions of the Source of Comforting Messages.

Recent theorizing suggests that exposure to sophisticated or behaviorally complex messages (i.e., messages that reflect a concern with multiple goals) may enhance the cognitiue development of message recipients. Reasoning that persons attempt to accommodate their cognitive structuring of an environment to the level of complexity in that environment, it was hypothesized that persons exposed to behaviorally complex messages would form more differentiated impressions of the message source than would persons exposed to less complex messages. It was also hypothesized that persons with complex systems of interpersonal constructs would form more differentiated impressions of the message source. Further, because persons with complex systems of interpersonal constructs should better appreciate the richness of behaviorally complex messages, it was hypothesized that message complexity would exert the strongest effect on impression differentiation for those with high levels of cognitive complexity. Participants in the study (410 college students) read a conversation containing comforting messages representing one of three levels of behavioral complexity; they subsequently wrote impressions of the source of these messages and these impressions were scored for the number of attributes they contained. Interpersonal cognitive complexity was assessed with Crockett's (1965) Role Category Questionnaire. Consistent with hypotheses, main effects for behavioral complexity and cognitive complexity were observed on impression differentiation; in addition, the anticipated interaction between message complexity and cognitive complexity was observed.
Real-Time Blood Circulation and Bleeding Model for Surgical Training

Intraoperative management of bleeding is a critical skill all surgeons must possess. It is, however, very challenging to create a safe and realistic learning environment for its acquisition. In this paper, we propose a simple and efficient approach to integrate blood circulation to computerized surgical simulation systems and allow for real-time processing of punctures, ruptures, and cauterization of blood vessels. Blood pressures and flows are calculated using a system of ordinary differential equations, which can be simulated very efficiently. The equation system itself is constructed using a graph of the vessels' connectivity extracted from magnetic resonance angiograms (MRA) and completed with virtual vessels deduced from the principle of minimum work. Real-time performances of the method are assessed and results are demonstrated on ten patients who underwent a MRA before removal of a brain tumor.
Mode of action of a diazoxide analog (A025). Its effects on insulin secretion.

Studies of A025, an analog of diazoxide, have shown it to have hyperglycemic, but not antidiuretic, activity in rats and monkeys. A025 possesses some blood pressure-lowering activity. Catecholamine release did not appear to be involved in the hyperglycemic effect. A glucose-stimulated insulin release was inhibited in vivo by A025. Significant hyperglycemic activity was still present in adrenalectomized rats after A025 administration, whereas no hyperglycemic effect was produced by A025 in eviscerated rats. Daily administration of the compound was well tolerated by rats over a period of twelve weeks; glucose tolerance was reduced after six weeks; serum and pancreatic insulin were reduced when measured after nine weeks. Glucose tolerance was restored to normal three days after discontinuation of the drug. It is concluded that the primary mechanism ofhyper glycemia is insulin inhibition.
HETEROGENEITY OF NEUTROPHIL (PMN) FUNCTION AND MONOCLONAL ANTIBODY (MAb) BINDING IN NEONATES AND ADULTS

Studies have shown that PMN from adults and neonates exhibit heterogeneity of function and 31D8 MAb binding. The heterogenity of 31D8 binding correlates with PMN motile heterogeneity. MOI MAb binds to PMN glycoproteins which allow the PMN to adhere and move normally. We further studied PMN heterogeneity in 10 neonates and 10 adults by placing PMN in the upper compartment of chemotactic chambers and allowing them to transverse 10 μm polycarbonate filters in response to C5 frag. PMN were analyzed for viability, band count and MAb binding with 31D8 and MO1. The % of non-motile (NM) neonatal and adult PMN recovered from the upper compartment after 90 min. were 7+1% and 4 ± 1%, respectively (P<0.01). The % highly motile (HM) neonatal and adult PMN from the lower compartment were 5 ± 2% and 11 ± 2%, respectively (P<0.01). The viability and % bands in NM PMN were not significantly different from control PMN. The NM PMN had significantly less 31D8 and MO1 MAb binding than the HM PMN sub-populations. Neonatal NM and HM PMN had significantly less 31D8 and MO1 MAb binding than adult NM and HM PMN. These data suggest that variable 31D8 and MO1 antigen expression may contribute to differences in motile subpopulations of PMN in neonates and adults and are at least in part responsible for differences between neonatal and adult PMN motility. Decreased PMN chemotaxis in neonates may also result from a larger subpopulation of NM PMN and a smaller subpopulation of HM PMN.
New RNA polymerase from Escherichia coli infected with bacteriophage T7.

A new T7-specific RNA polymerase is found in T7 phage-infected cells. It is the product of T7 gene I and is physically and biochemically distinct from the host cell RNA polymerase. The synthesis of T7 RNA polymerase provides a direct explanation for the pleiotropic control of late T7 functions exerted by gene I.
INTEGRAL REPRESENTATIONS FOR PRODUCTS OF AIRY FUNCTIONS

Integral representations are obtained for some products of the Airy functions Ai(x), Bi(x), and Ai(xe ±πi/6). From these results it is then possible to evaluate certain definite integrals including a number of Mellin transforms.
Reliability Evaluation of Ceramic Rotor for Passenger-Car Turbochargers

With the progress of the ceramic gas turbine development programs and with a few successes in commercial ceramic component production - such as glow plugs and swirl chambers for small diesel engines - the authors have accumulated substantial test data on the production and engine testing of ceramic components of complex shapes. Related technologies, such as raw material processing, shape-forming, sintering, finish machining, ceramics-to-metal joining, NDE, and design have been improved. Ceramic turbine wheels and rotor assemblies designed and produced with these technologies now have performance capabilities and reliability levels high enough to be confirmed by NDE methods. This paper covers the development and current status of related technologies such as designing, shape-forming, joining, and NDE and test results of ceramic turbine wheels and rotor assemblies.
Probability distributions for the strength of composite materials. III: The effect of fiber arrangement

This paper continues the study of the chain-of-bundles model for the statistical strength of composite materials. The focus is onthree-dimensional composites where the fibers in a cross-section form atwo-dimensional array. In particular, two-layer tapes and hexagonal arrays are considered, and bounding distributions are obtained based on the occurrence of at least two adjacent fiber fractures in the material. As in earlier work, various approximate and limiting Weibull distributions arise for the strength of the composite. In comparing the new results with those obtained earlier for tapes and tubes (one-dimensional arrays), the bounds suggest that the median strength is moderately increased for the two-dimensional arrays, while the variability in strength is unchanged. In situations where the occurrence of two adjacent fiber fractures leads almost certainly to composite fracture, such conclusions are warranted. In cases where the bounds are clearly conservative, the same results are expected, although a slight decrease in the variability in composite strength may occur. Nevertheless, the bounds discussed in this paper yield considerable insight.
Internalization of Western standards of appearance, body dissatisfaction and dieting in urban educated Ukrainian females

To examine body image, internalization of the ‘thin ideal’, and dieting practices in a female population in Ukraine, a country of the former Soviet Union, we conducted a cross-sectional survey of 616 females aged 18–60 years in Lviv, Ukraine. A quarter of underweight (BMI < 20) and three-fifths of normal-weight (BMI 20–25) subjects desired a thinner figure; 31 per cent (38 per cent of those aged 25 years and under) reported dieting in the previous 6 months. Internalization of the Western ‘thin ideal’ was correlated with exposure to Western media. Younger women, overweight women, and those who desired a thinner figure as depicted in Western media were at higher risk of dieting. ‘Dieters’ differed from ‘non-dieters’ mainly with respect to consumption and perceptions of fats and certain starches (white bread, pasta, potatoes). This study provides an insight into predictors of food choice, and has implications for developing nutrition policy in Ukraine, and other neighbouring post-communist countries. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and Eating Disorders Association.
Fatigue crack growth and coalescence at notches

Abstract An experimental study of the process of fatigue crack growth and coalescence in the region of a notch has been performed. The testing programme consisted of constant amplitude fatigue tests of 24 notched steel bar specimens, 11 of which modelled the crack coalescence process. The results of the experimental programme are examined and compared to exosting design codes that prescribe a method for dealing with adjacent cracks. The crack growth and shape development data presented in the present study indicate that pre-coalescence interaction between adjacent cracks is not an important process and, in fact, that coalescence itself is not instantaneous as the design codes suggest.
Metamaterials with discrete nonlinear responses for high-power microwave applications

Periodic structures have a wide range of applications at RF and microwave frequencies. In recent years, with the emergence of the field of metamateirals, they are receiving even more attention, since most metamateirals are implemented using periodic structures with sub-wavelength periods. Metamaterials capable of operating at high-power microwave levels have also been investigated for applications ranging from new HPM sources to anti-HPM devices and frequency selective surfaces. At high-power levels, however, these devices are susceptible to breakdown. Breakdown events in these devices are accompanied by the creation of plasmas. The nature of this plasma determines how the response of the device changes in the event of a breakdown.
Phenotypic and Genetic Analyses of the Wisconsin Card Sort

The present study assessed the factor structure and etiology of traditional perseverative and nonperseverative errors, and six narrowly defined errors that occur during the Wisconsin Card Sorting Task (WCST). A computer-administered version of the WCST, designed to maximize the variance in a nonclinical sample, was used. Phenotypic factor analysis and twin models were used to examine the structure and genetic and environmental etiology in 191 monozygotic and 165 dizygotic adolescent twin pairs. Factor analysis did not support the traditional division of errors into perseverative and nonperseverative errors. Heritability of individual indices was small to moderate (a2 = 0.10 – 0.42), with varying significance. Estimates of shared environment (c2 = 0.00 – 0.14) were not significant. The best fitting multivariate genetic model had one genetic factor, with specific variance and covariance due to nonshared environmental influences. These results suggest that there are common underlying genetic influences on WCST indices, along with index-specific environmental variance that does not correspond to the traditional division between perseverative and nonperseverative errors.