cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
An analysis of office cancer detection in the private practice of gynecology.

Abstract The experience of cancer detection as it is practiced in the office of a group of gynecologists treating private patients is described. A total of 14,656 procedures on 8,419 patients are analyzed.
Systems Collaboration and Strategic Collaboration: Their Impacts on Supply Chain Responsiveness and Market Performance*

Recognizing the importance of interfirm collaboration and recent advancement of information technology (IT) to enhance joint decision making between firms, this study conceptualizes systems collaboration and strategic collaboration as two essential types of interfirm collaboration. The study then simultaneously examines the multiple roles of systems collaboration and strategic collaboration, and how they directly and indirectly influence a firm's supply chain responsiveness and market performance. Hypotheses are tested on survey data collected from 184 firms. Results suggest that the sequential relationships among IT competency, interfirm collaboration, and supply chain responsiveness have significant market performance implications.
Genes for Use in Improving Nitrate Use Efficiency in Crops

Nitrogen (N) is a major factor in plant growth and crop yield (Marschner, 1995 ). The growth and development of plants are often profoundly affected by the form and abundance of the nitrogen supply because the form of nitrogen signifi cantly alters intracellular metabolisms. Restricted or inappropriate nitrogen supply or form alters development including shoot to root ratio, root development, seed development, and the rate of senescence. Activities of enzymes of primary metabolism respond to N supply, but so do the enzymes of photosynthesis, secondary metabolism, and metabolic control (Figure 7.1 ). Since N fertilizers are rapidly depleted from most soil types and symbiotic nitrogen fi xation in many legumes ceases in mid season, all fi eld crops have some degree of dependence on organic or inorganic nitrogenous fertilizer (Marschner, 1995 ). Nitrogen must often be supplied to the soils surrounding growing crops in excess, before or during the growing season. Nitrogen that is not assimilated can contaminate the environment (Cherfas, 1990 ; Burkholder et al., 1992 ; David et al., 1997 ) and have negative effects on human health in food and water (Tannenbaum et al., 1978 ; Mirvish, 1985 ; Moller, 1990 ; Duncan et al., 1998 ). Therefore, nitrogen use by crops has to be optimized. Nitrogen use effi ciency (NUE) is the metric commonly targeted for improvement by breeders and biotechnologists in this fi eld (Lightfoot et al., 2007 , 2008 ). Enhanced NUE by plants should also enable crops to be cultivated under low nitrogen availability, slow release fertilizers, stress conditions, or poor soil quality (Hirel et al., 2007 ). NUE is defi ned as the percentage of fertilizer N recovered by a crop. NUE is the product of many components (Moll et al., 1982 ). On a coarse scale NUE is determined by nitrogen productivity (NP) and the mean residence time of nitrogen (MRT). In turn they are expressions of (1) N uptake effi ciency; (2) the fraction of N translocated to the seed; (3) the translocation index; (4) soil supply effi ciency; and (5) developmental effi ciency. Consequently, on a fi ne scale, thousands of genes and hundreds of regulatory networks contribute to NUE from seed germination to fi nal harvest in the plant and hundreds more to the microbial activity in the soil. Improvement of cereal NUE could enable practices directed toward reducing groundwater contamination by nitrates in Illinois and the USA (Lightfoot et al., 1999 ; Ameziane et al., 2000 ). The decreased undesirable environmental effects and reduced dietary nitrates could decrease several human and animal health problems. For brevity this chapter focuses on genes and regulatory networks with major effects on NUE with an emphasis on patented technologies near commercialization and pending patents.
Restricted patterning of vestigial expression in Drosophila wing imaginal discs requires synergistic activation by both Mad and the drifter POU domain transcription factor

The Drosophila Vestigial protein has been shown to play an essential role in the regulation of cell proliferation and differentiation within the developing wing imaginal disc. Cell-specific expression of vg is controlled by two separate transcriptional enhancers. The boundary enhancer controls expression in cells near the dorsoventral (DV) boundary and is regulated by the Notch signal transduction pathway, while the quadrant enhancer responds to the Decapentaplegic and Wingless morphogen gradients emanating from cells near the anteroposterior (AP) and DV boundaries, respectively. MAD-dependent activation of the vestigial quadrant enhancer results in broad expression throughout the wing pouch but is excluded from cells near the DV boundary. This has previously been thought to be due to direct repression by a signal from the DV boundary; however, we show that this exclusion of quadrant enhancer-dependent expression from the DV boundary is due to the absence of an additional essential activator in those cells. The Drosophila POU domain transcriptional regulator, Drifter, is expressed in all cells within the wing pouch expressing a vgQ-lacZ transgene and is also excluded from the DV boundary. Viable drifter hypomorphic mutations cause defects in cell proliferation and wing vein patterning correlated with decreased quadrant enhancer-dependent expression. Drifter misexpression at the DV boundary using the GAL4/UAS system causes ectopic outgrowths at the distal wing tip due to induction of aberrant Vestigial expression, while a dominant-negative Drifter isoform represses expression of vgQ-lacZ and causes severe notching of the adult wing. In addition, we have identified an essential evolutionarily conserved sequence element bound by the Drifter protein with high affinity and located adjacent to the MAD binding site within the quadrant enhancer. Our results demonstrate that Drifter functions along with MAD as a direct activator of Vestigial expression in the wing pouch.
TH-E-BRF-09: Gaussian Mixture Model Analysis of Radiation-Induced Parotid-Gland Injury: An Ultrasound Study of Acute and Late Xerostomia in Head-And-Neck Radiotherapy

Purpose: Xerostomia (dry mouth), secondary to parotid-gland injury, is a distressing side-effect in head-and-neck radiotherapy (RT). This study's purpose is to develop a novel ultrasound technique to quantitatively evaluate post-RT parotid-gland injury. Methods: Recent ultrasound studies have shown that healthy parotid glands exhibit homogeneous echotexture, whereas post-RT parotid glands are often heterogeneous, with multiple hypoechoic (inflammation) or hyperechoic (fibrosis) regions. We propose to use a Gaussian mixture model to analyze the ultrasonic echo-histogram of the parotid glands. An IRB-approved clinical study was conducted: (1) control-group: 13 healthy-volunteers, served as the control; (2) acutetoxicity group − 20 patients (mean age: 62.5 ± 8.9 years, follow-up: 2.0±0.8 months); and (3) late-toxicity group − 18 patients (mean age: 60.7 ± 7.3 years, follow-up: 20.1±10.4 months). All patients experienced RTOG grade 1 or 2 salivary-gland toxicity. Each participant underwent an ultrasound scan (10 MHz) of the bilateral parotid glands. An echo-intensity histogram was derived for each parotid and a Gaussian mixture model was used to fit the histogram using expectation maximization (EM) algorithm. The quality of the fitting was evaluated with the R-squared value. Results: (1) Controlgroup: all parotid glands fitted well with one Gaussian component, with a mean intensity of 79.8±4.9 (R-squared>0.96). (2) Acute-toxicity group: 37 of the 40 post-RT parotid glands fitted well with two Gaussian components, with a mean intensity of 42.9±7.4, 73.3±12.2 (R-squared>0.95). (3) Latetoxicity group: 32 of the 36 post-RT parotid fitted well with 3 Gaussian components, with mean intensities of 49.7±7.6, 77.2±8.7, and 118.6±11.8 (R-squared>0.98). Conclusion: RT-associated parotid-gland injury is common in head-and-neck RT, but challenging to assess. This work has demonstrated that the Gaussian mixture model of the echo-histogram could quantify acute and late toxicity of the parotid glands. This study provides meaningful preliminary data from future observational and interventional clinical research.
Cosmic-ray deuterium and helium-3 of secondary origin and the residual modulation of cosmic rays.

Deuterium and helium 3 produced by nuclear interactions of cosmic rays with interstellar gas
Dynamically tuned shroud for gun barrel vibration attenuation

Modern tank guns, such as the one on the Abrams, are stabilized to allow fire on the move while traversing uneven terrain. The current barrel is short enough that treating as a rigid beam allows engagement of another tank at ranges of over a kilometer. However, as the length of the tube is extended, to meet required muzzle exit velocities, the terrain induced vibrations lead to increased muzzle pointing errors. A method to reduce these vibrations is to use the forward thermal shroud as part of a mass tuned damper. In this case the system under study is an extended length version of the gun currently fielded. This extended length increases its susceptibility to terrain-induced vibrations. The forward thermal shroud has been shortened and additional mass has been added onto its forward collar. This collar is then supported by springs, which are preloaded so that they stay in contact through the full range of the shroud's movement. Varying the stiffness of these springs allows for tuning of the absorber. Different types of springs and attachments have been tried. The current version uses leaf springs and a wedge collar. This system has been modeled and experiments conducted to validate the model.
Total Syntheses of Mycobactin Analogues as Potent Antimycobacterial Agents Using a Minimal Protecting Group Strategy

Mycobactins are a family of iron sequestering agents (siderophores) biosynthesized as growth promoters by mycobacteria including Mycobacterium tuberculosis. They are important siderophores with high affinity and specificity for Fe(III) due to the chemical nature of their component chelating functional groups. The parent compounds and their synthetic analogues can be used for studies of natural iron uptake mechanisms. It was hypothesized by Snow and co-workers that alternate and modified mycobactin analogues might serve as antagonists of mycobacterial growth and be of important therapeutic value. Efficient syntheses of four different analogues are presented. Dramatic improvements on formation of amide and ester bonds were achieved using water soluble carbodiimide (EDC·HCl)-mediated couplings in the presence of 1-hydroxy-7-azabenzotriazole (HOAt) as an additive. Using HOAt over other traditional coupling additives provided significant enhancement of the reaction rate of the desired coupling reactions and mi...
Assessing genotype-phenotype correlation in Costello syndrome using a severity score

Costello syndrome, a rare genetic disorder with multisystemic involvement, is caused by germline HRAS mutations. Because several different missense mutations have been reported, a severity scoring system was developed to assess a possible genotype–phenotype correlation. Records of 78 individuals with Costello syndrome were scored in early childhood, childhood, and young adulthood by a reviewer blinded to the individuals’ specific mutations. These scores were based on certain medically relevant feeding, neurologic, orthopedic, endocrine, cardiac, malignancy, and mortality manifestations. Individuals’ severity scores were then grouped by the particular HRAS mutation. The mixed-model approach for repeated-measures analysis of variance with unstructured within-subject correlation, pairwise comparisons, and contrast were used to determine whether the severity scores differed by mutation. Although the sample size was small, individuals with the p.G12A or p.G12C HRAS change were more severely affected than those with other HRAS mutations. Regardless of the mutation, severity did not increase significantly over time. Despite its limitations, including the small number of individuals with rare mutations and possibly incomplete medical records, this work providing the first quantitative assessment of phenotypic severity in a Costello syndrome cohort supports a medically relevant genotype–phenotype correlation. Genet Med 2013:15(7):554–557
Patterns of interectopic activation recorded during pleomorphic ventricular tachycardia after myocardial infarction in the dog

Abstract Sustained ventricular tachycardia, consisting of a regular rhythm with 100 or more consecutive ectopic beats, was studied in 14 dogs anesthetized with sodium pentobarbital 4 days after occlusion of the left anterior descending coronary artery. Electrocardiograms were recorded as well as composite (epicardial) and electrode catheter (endocardial) electrograms from the area of infarction. Sustained ventricular tachycardia was induced by atrial or ventricular pacing, or both (180 to 360/min) in 3 of 21 untreated dogs and 11 of 19 dogs treated with methylprednisolone (30 mg/kg body weight, intravenously) given at the time of coronary occlusion. Sustained ventricular tachycardia with two or more QRS configurations occurred in nine dogs, and seven dogs showed both right and left bundle branch block patterns. Ventricular tachycardia was associated with continuous electrical activation in composite epicardial electrograms that bridged interectopic intervals and showed regular patterns of electrical activation that were reproducible with each cardiac cycle. Interectopic activation patterns were distinctive for each QRS pattern. In some instances portions of activation patterns for two different configurations were similar; however, the electrographic configuration immediately before the onset of the QRS complex always differed. During ventricular tachycardia, spontaneous alterations in QRS configuration were observed in two dogs and were induced by atrial or ventricular pacing in five dogs. In all cases changes in QRS configuration during sustained ventricular tachycardia were preceded by changes in diastolic activation patterns. The results suggest that sustained ventricular tachycardia is frequently associated with stable reentrant pathways through areas of critically slow conduction. In this experimental preparation, specific, orderly and reproducible patterns were seen more often than chaotic “localized fibrillation.” Different QRS configurations after changes in interectopic patterns of continuous electrical activation are consonant with changes in specific reentrant pathways through the region of slow conduction.
Trajectory optimization for balloon flight planning

Abstract The recent solo transpacific balloon flight was used as a test case to evaluate multiple trajectory techniques to select different pathways based upon potential variations in balloon altitudes. Altitude changes between 3 and 8 km above ground resulted in predicted ending locations varying from the Hawaiian Islands to the Atlantic coast, after five days' travel. The method can be used to select optimum flight altitudes based upon forecast meteorological fields.
Vimentin is a functional partner of hormone sensitive lipase and facilitates lipolysis.

Lipolysis involves a number of components including signaling pathways, droplet-associated proteins and lipases such as hormone-sensitive lipase (HSL). We used Surface Enhanced Laser Desorption/Ionization time-of-flight mass spectroscopy to identify cellular proteins that might interact with HSL and potentially influence lipolysis. Using recombinant HSL as bait on protein chips, clusters of proteins of 14.7 to 18.9 kDa, 25.8–26.8 kDa, 36.1 kDa, 44.3–49.1 kDa, and one at 53.7 kDa were identified that interact with HSL, particularly when lysates were examined from β-agonist treated mouse adipocytes. The ability to detect these interacting proteins was markedly diminished when the adipocytes were treated with insulin. A very similar pattern of proteins was identified when anti-HSL IgG was used as the bait. Following immunocapture, the identification of the prominent 53.7 kDa protein was carried out by tryptic digestion and MS analysis, and determined to be vimentin. The interaction of HSL with vimentin, and its hormonal dependence, was confirmed by co-immunoprecipitation. β-agonist stimulated lipolysis and the rate of HSL translocation were impaired in vimentin null adipocytes, even though normal amounts of lipases and droplet-associated proteins are expressed. The current studies provide evidence that vimentin participates in lipolysis through direct, hormonally regulated interactions with HSL.
Spectrum of elastin sequence variants and cardiovascular phenotypes in 49 patients with Williams–Beuren syndrome

Haploinsufficiency of the elastin gene (ELN) on 7q11.23 is responsible for supravalvular aortic stenosis (SVAS) and other arteriopathies in patients with Williams–Beuren syndrome (WBS). These defects occur with variable penetrance and expressivity, but the basis of this is unknown. To determine whether DNA variations in ELN could serve as genetic modifiers, we sequenced the 33 exons and immediately surrounding sequence of the ELN gene (9,455 bp of sequence) in 49 DNAs from patients with WBS and compared cardiovascular phenotypes. Four missense, and four novel intronic variants were identified from a total of 24 mostly intronic single nucleotide variations and one indel. Two missense changes were present in one patient each, one published, p.Gly610Ser in exon 27 (MAF, 0.003) and one novel, p.Cys714Tyr, in exon 33 (MAF, 0.001), were rare in the general population. To identify a statistical association between the variants identified here and cardiovascular phenotypes a larger cohort would be needed. � 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Route optimization for multiple searchers

Abstract : We consider a discrete time-and-space route-optimization problem, across a finite time horizon, in which multiple searchers seek to detect one or more probabilistically moving targets. The paper formulates a novel convex mixed-integer nonlinear program for this problem that generalizes earlier models to situations with multiple targets, searcher deconfliction, and target- and location-dependent search effectiveness. We present two solution approaches, one based on the cutting-plane method and the other on linearization. These approaches result in the first practical, exact algorithms for solving this important problem, which arises broadly in military, rescue, law enforcement, and border patrol operations. The cutting-plane approach solves many realistically sized problem instances in few minutes, while existing branch-and-bound algorithms fail. A specialized cut improves solution times by 50% in difficult problem instances. The approach based on linearization, which is applicable in important special cases, may further reduce solution times with one or two orders of magnitude. The solution times for the cutting-plane approach tend to remain constant as the number of searchers grows. In part, then, we overcome the difficulty that earlier solution methods have with many searchers.
Molecular progression of promoter methylation in intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasms (IPMN) of the pancreas

To understand the role of gene promoter methylation in neoplastic evolution and progression, the methylation changes associated with 15 candidate tumor suppressor genes were studied throughout stages of tumor progression involving intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasms (IPMN) of the pancreas. Genomic DNA from 28 pancreatic IPMN tissue samples, categorized histologically as non-invasive intraductal IPMN (n = 3), IPMN with carcinoma in situ (n = 7), IPMN with microinvasion 50%) in both non-invasive and invasive tumors. APC methylation was discovered in <10% of the non-invasive IPMNs versus 45% of the IPMNs associated with infiltrative adenocarcinoma, P = 0.040. Mismatch repair genes, hMLH1 and MGMT, were frequently methylated in the invasive IPMNs compared with the non-invasive tumors (38 versus 10% and 45 versus 20%, respectively) as was E-cadherin (38 versus 10%), P = 0.11. Multiple gene methylation at greater than three loci was present in 55% of the invasive tumors compared with 20% of the non-invasive tumors, P = 0.075. Lymph node status did not predict multi-gene methylation among tumors associated with invasive cancer. Compared with non-invasive IPMNs of the pancreas, IPMNs associated with adenocarcinoma demonstrate higher rates of aberrant tumor suppressor gene methylation. The sequential acquisition of hypermethylation at multiple gene promoter sites may explain tumor progression in IPMNs and other malignancies. Detection of methylation within selected genes may afford an accurate diagnostic molecular marker and predictor of neoplastic behavior.
Choked Flows from the Pacific to the Indian Ocean

Abstract The author considers two oceanic basins separated by a meridional wall. The wall contains a gap that is initially blocked by a gate; westward winds are allowed to blow over the two-layered oceans creating western boundary currents and a sea level difference between the basins. The conceptual gate is then removed and the resulting nonlinear flow is computed. The analytical calculations are based on a simple wind-driven general circulation model and a nonlinear integrated momentum constraint. Two classes of nonlinear solutions are constructed. One corresponds to a situation where the flow through the gap originates from the right-hand side (looking upstream) of the inner Pacific basin and the other to a situation where the flow originates from the left-hand side. It is suggested that the actual Indonesian Throughflow is composed of both of these classes of flows; that is, the throughflow corresponds to an exchange via two adjacent gaps. Computations suggest that approximately 6 Sv (Sv ≡ 106 m3 s−1)...
Selective Refinement and MDR Selection of Near-Native Protein Structures

In recent years \textit{in silico} protein structure prediction reached a level where a variety of servers can generate large pools of near-native structures. However, the identification and further refinement of the best structures from the pool of decoys remain problematic. To address these issues, we have developed a selective refinement protocol (SRP), and a molecular dynamics (MD) simulation based ranking method (MDR). In SRP the refinement of structures is accomplished by using the relax mode of the Rosetta software package, subject to specific constraints determined by the type and complexity of the target. The final best models are selected with MDR by testing their relative stability against gradual heating during all atom MD simulations. We have implemented the selective refinement protocol and the MDR method in Mufold-MD, our fully automated protein structure prediction server. Mufold-MD was one of the top servers in the CASP10 competition.
Phonon decoherence of quantum entanglement: Robust and fragile states

We study the robustness and fragility of entanglement of open quantum systems in some exactly solvable models in which the decoherence is caused by a pure dephasing process. In particular, for the toy models presented in this paper, we identify two different time scales, one is responsible for local dephasing, while the other is for entanglement decay. For a class of fragile entangled states defined in this paper, we find that the entanglement of two qubits, as measured by concurrence, decays faster asymptotically than the quantum dephasing of an individual qubit.
Reversal of long-term methamphetamine sensitization by combination of pergolide with ondansetron or ketanserin, but not mirtazapine

Abstract Psychostimulant abuse represents a psychiatric disorder and societal concern that has been largely unamenable to therapeutic interventions. We have previously demonstrated that the 5-HT 3 antagonist ondansetron or non-selective 5-HT 2A/2C antagonist ketanserin administered 3.5 h following daily pergolide, a non-selective DA agonist, reverses previously established cocaine sensitization. The present study was conducted to evaluate whether the same treatments or delayed pairing of pergolide with the antidepressant mirtazapine can also reverse consolidated methamphetamine (METH) behavioral sensitization. Sprague-Dawley rats received METH infusion via osmotic minipumps (25 mg/kg/day, s.c.) for 7 days, with accompanying daily injections of escalating METH doses (0–6 mg/kg, s.c.). This regimen takes into account the faster elimination of METH in rats, and is designed to replicate plasma METH concentrations with superimposed peak drug levels as observed during METH binging episodes in humans. Following a 7-day METH withdrawal, ondansetron (0.2 mg/kg, s.c.), ketanserin (1.0 mg/kg, s.c.), or mirtazapine (10 mg/kg, i.p.) was administered 3.5 h after pergolide injections (0.1 mg/kg, s.c., qd) for 7 days. Behavioral sensitization as a model of METH abuse was assessed 14 days after the combination treatment cessation (i.e., day 28 of METH withdrawal) through an acute challenge with METH (0.5 mg/kg, i.p.). Pergolide combined with ondansetron or ketanserin reversed METH behavioral sensitization, but pergolide–mirtazapine combination was ineffective. The role of reactivation of addiction “circuit” by a non-selective DA agonist, and subsequent reconsolidation blockade through 5-HT 3 or 5-HT 2 antagonism in reversal of METH sensitization and treatment of METH addiction is discussed.
Separation and light adaptation of rod and cone signals in the retina of the goldfish

Abstract The aspartate-isolated fast P III response was used to monitor the responses of goldfish photoreceptors at varying intensities of steady background illumination. When the retina contained the normal complement of rods and cones, light adaptation consisted of response compression, a shift of the response curve to more intense stimuli (cellular adaptation), and responses to decrements as well as increments of light. Rod and cone contributions to the fast P III response were separated by taking advantage of photomechanical movements of the photoreceptors to produce “all-rod” and “all-cone” retinae. Rods employ response compression as their primary adaptation mechanism. Rods show little cellular adaptation or responses to decremental flashes. However, cones do not show response compression, but continue to respond at bright backgrounds due to cellular adaptation.
Vasculitis in the Palmerston North mouse model of lupus: phenotype and cytokine production profile of infiltrating cells.

Objective To define the phenotype of cells in the perivascular and vascular infiltrates of Palmerston North (PN) mice and the cytokines that those cells produce. Methods Immunohistologic analysis, flow cytometric analysis, and reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) studies were performed on tissues and cells from female PN mice and age-matched and sex-matched DBA/2 mice. Results With aging, PN mice developed a female-predominant, lupus-like disease, with a severe systemic mononuclear cell perivasculitis and vasculitis. The perivasculitis involved arteries and veins in kidney, liver, brain, and lung; the vasculitis predominantly involved veins and venules. The perivascular and vascular infiltrates in female PN mice were composed mainly of an unusual cell type that expressed phenotypic markers characteristic of both T cells (Thy1+, CD3+, CD4+, T cell receptor + [TCR+]) and B cells (B220+). In addition, the infiltrates contained a smaller number of conventional CD4+,B220- T cells and macrophages. Very few CD8+ T cells or surface Ig+ B cells were seen. Unlike the Thy1+,B220+ T cells present in MRL/lpr mice, most of which were CD4-,CD8- and TCRalpha/beta+, the majority of the Thy1+,B220+ T cells in the perivascular/vascular infiltrates of PN mice were CD4+ and expressed either TCRalpha/beta or TCRgamma/delta. By immunohistologic staining, the cells in the perivascular and vascular infiltrates in the kidneys of older PN mice were shown to produce interleukin-4 (IL-4), IL-6, and IL-10, but not IL-2, interferon-gamma, transforming growth factor beta, tumor necrosis factor alpha, or IL-1beta. By RT-PCR, the kidneys of older PN mice were found to express high levels of IL-4, IL-6, and IL-10 messenger RNA. Conclusion The vascular and perivascular infiltrates in PN mice are composed predominantly of an unusual subpopulation of T cells that are Thy1+,B220+,CD4+,CD8-, express either TCRalpha/beta or TCRgamma/delta, and produce mainly type 2 cytokines. The exact role of these cells in the immunopathogenesis of lupus-like disease in PN mice remains to be elucidated.
Scalable and Efficient Bounds Checking for Large-Scale CMP Environments

We attempt to provide an architectural support for fast and efficient bounds checking for multithread work-loads in chip-multiprocessor (CMP) environments. Bounds information sharing and smart tagging help to perform bounds checking more effectively utilizing the characteristics of a pointer. Also, the BCache architecture allows fast access to the bounds information. Simulation results show that the proposed scheme increases ¥iPC of memory operations by 29% on average compared to the previous hardware scheme.
Cognitive Development and Group Stages.

Abstract This article is an initial attempt to integrate Perry's scheme of the cognitive development of college students with a model of group development adapted by Waldo (1985) based on Tuckman's (1965) formulation of developmental group stages
Precautionary saving in the large: nth degree deteriorations in future income

Abstract Motivated by Eeckhoudt and Schlesinger’s (2008) general characterization of the precautionary saving motive against n th degree deteriorations in future income, this note generalizes the comparative precautionary premium analysis of Kimball (1990) for 2nd degree risk increases in future income to a comparative precautionary premium analysis for n th degree deteriorations in future income.
Diet quality and history of gestational diabetes mellitus among childbearing women, United States, 2007-2010

Introduction Women with a history of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) have elevated risk of developing type 2 diabetes. Diet quality plays an important role in the prevention of type 2 diabetes. We compared diet quality among childbearing women with a history of GDM with the diet quality of childbearing women without a history of GDM.
Verticillium wilt of potato: a model of key factors related to disease severity and tuber yield in Southeastern Idaho

In three years (1994, 1995, and 1996), a total of 100 commercial potato fields in southeastern Idaho were surveyed for soil variables, severity of Verticillium wilt, soil inoculum density ofVerticillium dahliae andColletotrichum coccodes, colonization of stems, root, and tubers byV. dahliae andC. coccodes, and tuber yield, size, and quality. As a generalization, factors related to soil integrity (organic matter, organic nitrogen, and increased nutrient availability) were most closely related to wilt suppression and higher tuber yields, whereas factors related to loss of soil integrity (sodium and reduced nutrient availability) were related to increased wilt and lower tuber yields. In a multiple regression analysis, three independent variables, feeder-root infections byV. dahliae, sodium content in soil, and soil organic content, were significant predictors of tuber yield. With these three factors, this model accounted for 49%, 53%, and 62% of the field variability related to total yield in 1994, 1995, and 1996, respectively. Throughout this investigation,V. dahliae root infections had the most direct effect on tuber yield, which emphasizes the importance of quantifying root infections in epidemiological studies of Verticillium wilt. Based on these results, organic matter may be one factor that can be manipulated for suppression of Verticillium wilt without reducing soil populations of the pathogen.
Discontinuous Galerkin method for multifluid euler equations

Based on previous work extending the Discontinuous Galerkin method to multifluid flows, we analyze the performance of our numerical scheme. First, the advection of a contact discontinuity and a multifluid version of the Sod shock-tube problem are considered. We compare the oscillations generated by the non-conservative and conservative formulations of the ratio of specific heats equations, and demonstrate the non-oscillatory nature of the proposed numerical method. We compare the results for different proposed Riemann solvers. We verify the mass, momentum, and energy conservation properties of the scheme. Finally, we validate our numerical simulations against experimental results of the Richtmyer-Meshkov instability.
Mechanisms for colonic sodium transport during ontogeny: loss of an amiloride-sensitive sodium pathway.

Net colonic sodium and fluid absorption is higher in suckling and weanling rats than in adult rats. This study was undertaken to investigate the mechanisms behind these differences. In vivo perfusion of the colon was performed in 14- to 80-day-old rats. Net Na and water uptake decreased exponentially from 14 to 80 days of age. Na uptake was 402 f 73 pgEq/min/g DT in 20-day-old rats and 116 f 6 pEq/min/g DT in 40-day-old rats. After amiloride treatment, net Na transport was reversed to net secretion (-79 f 36 pEq/min/g DT) in 20-day-old rats. Amiloride had no effect on the net Na transport in 40-day- old rats. cAMP stimulation significantly increased the net Na uptake in 20-day-old rats and significantly reduced the net Na uptake in 80-day-old rats. cAMP did not increase the net uptake in amiloride-treated 20-day-old rats. We conclude that there are both quantitative and regulatory changes in the pathways for colonic Na transport during development, and we speculate that the large amiloride- sensitive sodium uptake in the young colon is adaptive and contributes to the sodium accretion necessary for rapid growth during late postnatal development (Pediatr Res 24: 46-49,1988) Abbreviations BW, body weight DT, dry tissue The net sodium and water absorption in the large intestine is higher in infant than in adult rats. The absorption decreases exponentially from the age of 14 to the age of 40 days. The sodium and water absorption is higher in 20-day-old rats that have been kept suckling than in 20-day-old rats that have been weaned at the age of 16 days (1). We have so far found no explanation for the high sodium absorption in the large intestine of the infant rat. The absorptive area in relation to dry weight is not higher in young than in adult rats (2). The fractional absorp- tion in the proximal and distal large intestine is approximately the same in young and adult rats. Herein we have compared the amiloride-sensitive net sodium flux in vivo in young and adult rats. In adult rats studied under basal conditions the amiloride-sensitive net sodium flux contrib- utes only a few percent to the total sodium influx. We found a much larger amiloride-sensitive sodium flux in the young than in the adult rats. In adult rats cAMP reduces the net absorption by stimulating secretion. We also compared the effect of cAMP on the net sodium absorption in young and adult rats both with and without amiloride treatment. The results imply that in young rats cAMP stimulates net sodium uptake in the large intestine and that this stimulation is attenuated if Na entry via the amiloride-sensitive flux is blocked.
Highly active antiretroviral therapy results in a decrease in CD8+ T cell activation and preferential reconstitution of the peripheral CD4+ T cell population with memory rather than naive cells.

Abstract Objective: Highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) can produce marked increases in peripheral blood CD4 + T cells and decreases in HIV plasma RNA copy numbers. However, it is not clear whether these absolute changes will be accompanied by a recovery in the known naive CD4 + T cell depletion or a decrease in the marked CD8 + T cell activation. Design: Twenty-nine patients were enrolled in studies of either nucleoside therapy alone or nucleoside therapy combined with a protease inhibitor (zidovudine+lamivudine+indinavir). One hundred and ninety-one examinations were carried out at three baseline time points and during 40 weeks of follow-up to evaluate the effect of HAART on CD4 + memory/naive phenotype and CD8 + T cell activation. Methods: CD4 + and CD8 + T cell number, CD62L/CD45RA expression on CD4 + T cells and CD38 expression on CD8 + T cells were measured by three-color flow cytometry. Results: Most protease inhibitor treated patients had a significant rise in CD4 + numbers. The marked rise in the CD4 + T cells seen in individuals in this study was not accompanied over a 40-week period by a change in the abnormally low CD4 + naive compartment, and thus was almost completely of memory phenotype. The CD38 expression on CD8 + cells fell during treatment, and decreased to a greater degree than the comparable rise in CD4 + T cell counts. This decrease continued in many patients after the CD4 + T cell rise or viral load decline had plateaued. Conclusion: HAART results in changes in activation to a greater extent than absolute changes in CD4 + T cell numbers, but is not accompanied by an increase in naive CD4 + T cells. Measurements of CD4 + T cell numbers alone may not allow appropriate interpretation of immune activation or immune competence in patients receiving those drugs.
Mixed trehalose/sucrose glasses used for protein incorporation as studied by infrared and optical spectroscopy

Evaporation of water from a 1/1 mixture of trehalose and sucrose gives rise to optically clear glasses that are transparent in the UV and visible ranges and do not crystallize when they are prepared at ambient temperatures. Two proteins, liver alcohol dehydrogenase and parvalbumin, and the tryptophan derivative N-acetyl-tryptophanamide were incorporated into the glasses. Infrared spectroscopy of the amide I band reveals that the proteins retain secondary structure in the glass over a temperature range of 20-300K. The amide II band of the protein and the HOH bending band of residual water in the glass shift with temperature changes, consistent with increased H-bonding strength as temperature is lowered. Phosphorescence of tryptophan can be seen from the proteins at room temperature, which shows the immobilization of the protein by the glass and the curbing of oxygen diffusion. It is suggested that using mixed sugars to form glasses is a way to immobilize proteins over a wide temperature range without distortions from solvent crystals.
Interactive data-centric viewpoint selection

We propose a new algorithm for automatic viewpoint selection for volume data sets. While most previous algorithms depend on information theoretic frameworks, our algorithm solely focuses on the data itself without off-line rendering steps, and finds a view direction which shows the data set's features well. The algorithm consists of two main steps: feature selection and viewpoint selection. The feature selection step is an extension of the 2D Harris interest point detection algorithm. This step selects corner and/or high-intensity points as features, which captures the overall structures and local details. The second step, viewpoint selection, takes this set and finds a direction that lays out those points in a way that the variance of projected points is maximized, which can be formulated as a Principal Component Analysis (PCA) problem. The PCA solution guarantees that surfaces with detected corner points are less likely to be degenerative, and it minimizes occlusion between them. Our entire algorithm takes less than a second, which allows it to be integrated into real-time volume rendering applications where users can modify the volume with transfer functions, because the optimized viewpoint depends on the transfer function.
Fluoridolysis of 5,6-epoxy carbohydrates: application to the synthesis of 5-fluoro lactosamine and isolactosamine glycosides

Abstract The synthesis of 6-selenophenyl derivatives of β-1,3 and β-1,4 disaccharides has been explored for the purpose of extending our epoxide fluoridolysis methodology to the synthesis of 5-fluoro analogues of N -acetyl isolactosamine (isoLacNAc, lacto- N -biose) and N -acetyl lactosamine (LacNAc) glycosides. Successful synthesis of the C-6 selenium-containing disaccharides was achieved via Lewis acid-mediated donor and acceptor substrates, the latter containing a selectively protected C-6 hydroxyl group for ultimate conversion to the desired 6-selenophenyl disaccharides. In contrast, the use of selenium-containing acceptor substrates under a variety of conditions failed to yield the desired selenium-containing disaccharides. Oxidation of the 6-selenophenyl derivatives to the corresponding selenoxides followed by thermal elimination yielded the exocyclic olefins, which were converted to the 5,6-epoxides. Epoxide fluoridolysis yielded the desired target compounds, 5-fluoro β-octyl glycoside analogues of type 1 and type 2 glycans. The newly synthesized fluorine-containing disaccharides have potential application as fucosyltransferase substrates, both for mechanistic studies and in the chemoenzymatic synthesis of fluorine-containing oligosaccharides.
Periodic (Liesegang) Precipitation of Chemicals

LIESEGANG'S periodic precipitation of inorganic chemicals1 has yet to be explained adequately, possibly because experiments in gathering data to describe it have failed to recognize and control numerous complicating effects influencing it. Some of these are illustrated in the work reported here.
UK strategy for centralised anaerobic digestion

Experience to date with on-farm anaerobic digestion in the UK has been poor. For a number of reasons, many of these plants have not performed to expectations. The technology has been very much environmentally driven, often requiring integration with other farm activities. The resource is generally considered too widely dispersed for most individual farms to economically exploit. There are opportunities for improving the economics through co-operative ventures at medium- to large-scale centralised anaerobic digestion facilities. These would be highly tuned, generally thermophilic CHP systems; typical installations would lie in the size-range 0·1–1·0 MWe. These facilities would be fed primarily with farm wastes, together with non-toxic, industrial, organic wastes from food processing/preparation activities. A pasteurisation stage is required to ensure a more complete pathogen kill. The liquid digestate fertiliser would be returned to the land when the timing for application was right, thereby ensuring its nutrients were better utilised. Digestate fibre would be processed and marketed as a peat substitute or soil conditioner. Although useful experience is available from Denmark, where centralised anaerobic digestion facilities are well established, there are likely to be problems implementing such schemes in the UK. The strategy outlined recommends a two-phase approach. Phase 1 is aimed at gathering sufficient information with which to form an opinion about the viability of centralised anaerobic digestion in the UK. Proceeding to project implementation in Phase 2 is dependent on the findings of Phase 1.
Contrasting effects of plastocyanin on the photoreduction and photooxidation of cytochrome f in chloroplasts.

Abstract Removal of plastocyanin from Photosystem I subchloroplast particles had no effect on the Photosystem I photooxidation of cytochrome f . Chloroplasts depleted of plastocyanin by sonication lost the ability to reduce cytochrome f in Photosystem II light. Addition of plastocyanin restored the photoreduction of cytochrome f . These results are consistent with a plastocyanin site on the reducing side of cytochrome f .
Pixel-based machine learning in medical imaging

Machine learning (ML) plays an important role in the medical imaging field, including medical image analysis and computeraided diagnosis, because objects such as lesions and organs may not be represented accurately by a simple equation; thus, medical pattern recognition essentially require "learning from examples." One of the most popular uses of ML is classification of objects such as lesions into certain classes (e.g., abnormal or normal, or lesions or nonlesions) based on input features (e.g., contrast and circularity) obtained from segmented object candidates. Recently, pixel/voxel-based ML (PML) emerged in medical image processing/analysis, which use pixel/voxel values in images directly instead of features calculated from segmented objects as input information; thus, feature calculation or segmentation is not required. Because the PML can avoid errors caused by inaccurate feature calculation and segmentation which often occur for subtle or complex objects, the performance of the PML can potentially be higher for such objects than that of common classifiers (i.e., feature-based MLs). In this paper, PMLs are surveyed to make clear (a) classes of PMLs, (b) similarities and differences within (among) different PMLs and those between PMLs and feature-based MLs, (c) advantages and limitations of PMLs, and (d) their applications in medical imaging.
Metal Phosphates as a New Class of Supports for Gold Nanocatalysts

Oxides and carbon are commonly used as supports for gold nanoparticles, but metal salts are barely considered as suitable supports. Our group recently communicated that gold nanoparticles supported on nanosized LaPO4 (6–8 nm) are active for CO oxidation (Yan et al., Angew Chem Int Ed 45:3614, 2006). In the current work, we systematically developed an array of Au/M–P–O catalysts and tested them for catalytic activity and stability. It was found that 200 °C-pretreated Au/M–P–O (M = Ca, Fe, Co, Y, La, Pr, Nd, Sm, Eu, Ho, Er) show high CO conversions below 50 °C, and 500 °C-pretreated Au/M–P–O (M = Ca, Y, La, Pr, Nd, Sm, Eu, Ho, Er) show high CO conversions below 100 °C. These samples were characterized by ICP-OES, BET, XRD, TEM, SEM, and H2-TPR. The stability of selected catalysts was studied as a function of time on stream. This work furnishes a new catalyst system for further fundamental and applied research.
Fractal basis functions and the CVBEM

The Complex Variable Boundary Element Method or CVBEM has recently been applied to the use of new fractal basis functions for defining a global trial function on the problem domain. In that recent advance, a topic for future research was the need for development of an algorithm to construct a global trial function that converges to the true problem boundary conditions, assumed to be continuous on the boundary. In this paper, such an algorithm for constructing a sequence of fractal basis functions is presented.
Base‐line suppression in microwave spectroscopy using frequency modulation and harmonic detection

In a microwave spectrometer, systematic variations of the rf source amplitude with frequency can cause a spurious signal (base line) which severely limits the attainable sensitivity. Normally, the base line is eliminated by using Stark or Zeeman modulation. However, these modulation methods cannot be used in an experiment on nonparamagnetic molecular ions contained in a glow discharge. This paper discusses a technique which we have used to reduce the base line by a factor of about 10−5 and which can be used to study the spectra of species contained in a glow discharge. The scheme uses wideband sinusoidal frequency modulation of the microwave source combined with synchronous detection at the nth harmonic of the modulation frequency. The system produces a signal proportional to the nth derivative with respect to frequency of the base line. However, the signal due to an absorption line is only slightly smaller than that produced by other modulation methods. The system may be considered to behave like a high‐pass filter which discriminates against features that vary slowly with frequency.