cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Shirking and “choking” under incentive-based pressure: A behavioral economic theory of performance production

Abstract Significant empirical evidence exists within psychology and economics that greater incentives under pressure can lead to lower performance outcomes. However, standard economic theory does not account for this possibility. Efficiency wage models, for example, conclude a positive relationship between wage incentives and productivity. While efficiency wage models are shown to describe productivity behavior in numerous settings, said models do not describe labor markets featuring (counterproductive) performance pressure. We put forth a theoretical model of performance production in which performance incentives induce productive effects and counterproductive effects. The model treats explicit monitoring and distraction as distinct, counterproductive processes within a cohesive theory of performance production. In settings featuring performance pressure, we find that higher levels of performance-contingent compensation may decrease not only labor output (i.e., likelihood of task success) but also labor input (i.e., effort) if counterproductive processes decrease the marginal effectiveness of effort sufficiently. The latter finding challenges a common view that performance decrements under pressure occur despite greater effort levels.
Mapping straw yield using on-combine light detection and ranging lidar

Wheat Triticum aestivum L. straw is not only important for long-term soil productivity, but also as a raw material for biofuel, livestock feed, building, packing, and bedding. Inventory figures in the USA for potential straw availability are largely based on whole states and counties. Site-specific information is needed to determine where sufficient straw is available for removal within farm fields. The objective of this study was to assess the accuracy and feasibility of light detection and ranging lidar measurements of crop height for predicting the straw yield of wheat at site-specific field locations and apply this information to determining where excess straw is available beyond soil conservation needs. An inexpensive lidar sensor was mounted on the top of a Case International Harvester 1470 combine and aimed to point forwards at a 45° angle over the combine's reel. Lidar-measured crop height was correlated with manually measured crop height in small plots r 2 = 0.79 and was a good predictor of straw productivity across three farm fields r 2 = 0.85. Crop height was better correlated with straw yield than grain yield or grain protein concentration. Crop height predicted by lidar could then be used to estimate straw yield from a predetermined linear relationship between crop height and straw yield. A straw yield map was generated during harvest by programming the lidar sensor to compute the average of 91 readings in each scan. A map of harvestable straw was computed by subtracting the amount of straw required to maintain soil organic carbon from a map of total straw yield. Lidar is potentially useful for measuring crop biomass on a combine harvester and determining where in farm fields excess crop residue can be removed for commercial purposes. Further work with lidar is needed to resolve the issue of flying chaff.
Resolving marine gravity with ERS‐1 satellite altimetry

To estimate how well ERS-1 data from the 35-day repeat mission can resolve fine structure in the marine geoid or gravity field, we compare along-track gravity and gridded gravity fields derived from ERS-1 fast delivery altimeter data to those computed from Geosat Geodetic Mission altimeter observations in the Southern Ocean. We find that single passes of ERS-1 data can resolve along-track gravity anomalies with wavelengths as short as 28–30 km (i.e., comparable to Geosat). However, the ERS-1 gridded gravity field can only resolve anomalies as short as 66 km (versus ∼18 km for Geosat). This two-dimensional resolution is limited by the larger ground track spacing (∼35 km at 60° S) of ERS-1. To resolve fine structure in the marine gravity field it is essential to have altimeter data along more closely-spaced ground tracks, such as those planned for the ERS-1 176-day repeat mission in 1994.
Developmental toxicity of terbutaline: critical periods for sex-selective effects on macromolecules and DNA synthesis in rat brain, heart, and liver.

Abstract β -Adrenoceptors ( β ARs) control cell replication/differentiation, and during development, signaling is not subject to desensitization. We examined the effects of terbutaline, a β 2 AR agonist used as a tocolytic, on development in rat brain regions and peripheral tissues with high β AR concentrations. Prenatal terbutaline (gestational days 17–20) decreased cell numbers (DNA content) in the fetal brain and liver. Early postnatal exposure (PN2–5) reduced DNA synthesis in early-developing brain regions of females, with sensitization of the effect upon repeated terbutaline administration; after multiple terbutaline injections, DNA content was reduced in male cerebellum. The cerebellum was targeted later (PN11–14), exhibiting decreased DNA synthesis in both sexes; in contrast, cardiac DNA synthesis decreased after one injection but increased after the fourth daily injection. Our results suggest that excessive β AR stimulation by terbutaline alters cell development in brain regions and peripheral tissues, with the net effect depending on sex and the timing of exposure. These effects may contribute to neuropsychiatric, cognitive, cardiovascular, and metabolic abnormalities reported in the offspring of women treated with β -agonist tocolytics.
Taxometric analyses of borderline personality features in a large-scale male and female offender sample.

Few studies to date have examined the extent to which borderline personality features are best construed as representing an underlying dimension or a discrete class or taxon. The authors conducted taxometric analyses using a large-scale sample of male (n = 787) and female (n = 368) prison inmates who had completed the Personality Assessment Inventory (L. C. Morey, 2007). Analyses based on the 4 subscales of the Borderline Features Scale offered compelling support for a dimensional structure in both the full sample and the female subsample-even after controlling for the potentially confounding effects of negative response distortion. Theoretical and pragmatic implications of these findings are reviewed.
Infrared Optical Transmission of One-Dimensional Photonic Crystal Structures

The single-angle plane-wave spectral response of fabricated 1-D photonic crystal structures is computed from composite transmission and reflection measurements. The measurements, formulated as a matrix problem, require regularization to solve for the individual plane-wave response.
The elastic moduli of human subchondral, trabecular, and cortical bone tissue and the size-dependency of cortical bone modulus

The elastic moduli of human subchondral, trabecular, and cortical bone tissue from a proximal tibia were experimentally determined using three-point bending tests on a microstructural level. The mean modulus of subchondral specimens was 1.15 GPa, and those of trabecular and cortical specimens was 4.59 GPa and 5.44 GPa respectively. Significant differences were found in the modulus values between bone tissues, which may have mainly resulted from the differences in the microstructures of each bone tissue rather than in the mineral density. Furthermore, the size-dependency of the modulus was examined using eight different sizes of cortical specimens (heights h = 100-1000 microns). While the modulus values for relatively large specimens (h greater than 500 microns) remained fairly constant (approximately 15 GPa), the values decreased as the specimens became smaller. A significant correlation was found between the modulus and specimen size. The surface area to volume ratio proved to be a key variable to explain the size-dependency.
Making the grade in human evolution

Getting Here: The Story of Human Evolution By WW Howells (1997). Washington: Compass Press. 266 pp. $19.95 (cloth) ISBN 0-929590-16-3. $36.95 (paper) ISBN 0-929590-17-1. From Lucy to Language By DC Johanson and B Edgar. Principal Photography by David Brill (1996). New York: Simon and Schuster, 272 pp. $50.00 (cloth) ISBN 0-684-81023-9. Reconstructing Human Origins: A Modern Synthesis By GC Conroy (1997). New York: WW. Norton.xii + 557 pp. $43.13 (paper) ISBN 0-393-97042-6. Humans Before Humanity By R Foley (1997) Oxford: Blackwell Publishers.vii + 248 pp. $21.95 paper ISBN 0-631-20528-4. Contemporary Issues in Human Evolution By E Meickle, FC Howell and N Jablonski (1996) Wattis Symposium Series in Anthropology. Nina G. Jablonski, Series Editor. California Academy of Sciences Memoir 21. San Francisco: California Academy of Sciences.viii+193pp $35.00 cloth ISBN 0-940228-45-9. © 1998 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
Dynamical entropy is conserved during cocaine-induced changes in fetal rat motor patterns.

Our previous studies demonstrated that the intra-cisternal (IC) administration of cocaine to fetal rats increased motor activity and decreased responsiveness to perioral stimulation. One explanation for these observations comes from the behavioral pharmacology of stimulant drugs: increased motor activity is often associated with a decrease in its variety. Previous power spectral transformation of this data suggests an alternative explanation: cocaine-induced hyperactivity fixates a new behavioral pattern with complexity equal to that of saline controls. We explore these possibilities using statistical techniques derived from studies of nonlinear dynamical systems, examining patterns of the total motor activity of the individual fetus as counts per 5 s interval on either gestational day E20 or E21 for 20 min following IC injections of saline, 2.5 or 10 mg/kg of cocaine. The results are consistent with a state in which increased spontaneous activity is associated with the emergence of a new dynamical pattern which conserves entropy and provides experimental support for a fundamental conservation-variational relation, hT ≈ λ1 × DR, that has been proven for abstract models of chaotic dynamical systems. A multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) followed by appropriate analyses of variance (ANOVAs) and pairwise comparisons revealed that, whereas cocaine induced increases in the total amount of motor activity, the rate of increase in the variety of new sequences in activity counts over time did not change with treatment and age conditions. This invariant is quantified by an absence of change in topological entropy, ΔhT = 0. The analyses also showed that, in order to maintain hT values, compensatory changes took place in the leading Lyapounov characteristic exponent, λ1 (the distance between sequential values ‘stretched’ along the increasing amplitudes of the variations) such that Δλ1 > 0, and the correlation dimension, DR (the hierarchical range of possible values, ‘complicated clustering’) was reduced, so that ΔDR < 0. Our findings are consistent with the idea that the association between cocaine-induced increases in activity and decreases in adaptive response are not due to the dynamical entropy loss of decreased behavioral variety, but are rather the result of competitive interference by a drug-induced, equally complex, new pattern of spontaneous behavior.
Demand shocks, supply shocks and the cyclicality of real wages

The behaviour of real wages over the business cycle has received increasiing attention in recent years. The cyclicality of real wages constitues an important aspect of recent models of the business cycle. However,empirical studies undertaken to determine whether real wages are procyclical or countercyclical have reported conflicting findings. In thiis paper we use vector-autoregressions to analyse the cyclicality of real wages. We find that the source of the disturbance plays a decisive role in the cyclical behaviour of real wages. In particular, we demonstrate that a supply shock generates procyclical real wages,whereas a demand shock yields countercyclicality.
The effect of phenyl content on the degradation of poly(dimethyl diphenyl) siloxane copolymers

Abstract Inert atmosphere thermal degradation of polysiloxanes having different side groups (–CH 3 and –Ph) was studied at 364 °C. The process was characterized using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, 29 Si NMR and elemental analysis. The polysiloxanes studied included polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), poly(3.5%diphenyl-96.5%dimethyl)siloxane (DP-3.5) and poly(25%diphenyl-75%dimethyl)siloxane (DP-25). The degradation products were primarily cyclic oligomers ranging from hexamethylcyclotrisiloxane and octamethylcyclotetrasiloxane for PDMS with benzene as an additional product for PDPDMS. No cyclic oligomers with phenyl substituents were observed. Various mechanisms for degradation of PDPDMS were reviewed and discussed in relation to the 29 Si-NMR results and elemental analysis. The 29 Si NMR analysis shows the mechanism for generation of benzene to be thermally induced random free-radical reaction.
Effect of aerosol composition on cloud droplet size distribution: A numerical study.

Abstract Numerical computations have been performed to study the effect on the characteristics of a condensationally produced droplet size distribution of a variability in the kind and fraction of soluble material among atmospheric aerosol particles. The model aerosol used in the study is assumed to be comprised only of nuclei containing 1, 10, 50 and 90% soluble material and to have a particle size distribution equal to the mean of the model continental and maritime aerosol size distributions described by Junge and McLaren. The soluble constituent of the nuclei is taken to be ammonium sulfate. Droplet size distributions are computed for a height of 150 m above cloud base. The computations show that the droplet size distribution resulting from condensation upon a population of mixed nuclei (i.e., nuclei composed of both soluble and insoluble components) is not broader than that produced by condensation upon a population of pure salt nuclei. Further, the dispersion of cloud droplet sizes is found to be qui...
Efficient Master/Worker Parallel Discrete Event Simulation on Metacomputing Systems

The master/worker (MW) paradigm can be used as an approach to parallel discrete event simulation (PDES) on metacomputing systems. MW PDES applications incur overheads not found in conventional PDES executions executing on tightly coupled machines. We introduce four optimization techniques in MW PDES systems on public resource and desktop grid infrastructures. Work unit caching, pipelined state updates, expedited message delivery, and adaptive work unit scheduling mechanisms in the context of MW PDES are described. These optimizations provide significant performance benefits when used in tandem. We present results showing that an optimized MW PDES system using these techniques can exhibit performance comparable to a traditional PDES system for queueing network and particle physics simulation applications while providing execution capability across metacomputing systems.
Nonoxidative Free Fatty Acid Disposal Is Greater in Young Women than Men

Post-absorptive non-oxidative free fatty acid (FFA) disposal (FFA flux – fatty acid oxidation) was 50% greater in women than men, but did not correlate with triglyceridemia or insulin sensitivity.
Multitasking of Neuropeptide Y through the Lens of Motifs

Networks controlling ingestion-related peptides are also known to be the targets and signals for numerous other systems. Yet, their topological properties are still ill understood. The Ingenuity Pathway Analysis (IPA) was employed to represent molecules engaged in feeding as nodes, and the interactions between them as edges. Using extracted molecules as 'seeds' for core analysis it was possible to scrutinize some of the complex relationships of sub-networks and the so-called 'motifs' well outside the neighborhoods of their classical roles. Contrary to the requirements for modular structure, the orexigenic and anorexigenic neuropeptides do not represent two types of modules. They are densely interconnected. Functional annotations showed that the same molecules are recruited ad-hoc from a larger 'repository' and assembled into dynamic networks for executing diverse physiological functions and behaviors. Some molecules clustered in motifs appear as the multipurpose entities for cell-to-cell signaling, organismal development, cellular movement, growth and proliferation, endocrine system development and tissue morphology, etc. that apparently become active in early ontogeny. Based mostly on neuropeptide Y (NPY), my arguments here will focus on the potential benefits of exploring motifs in network controlling ingestion for generating insights for polypharmacy of obesity-related targets and co-morbid disorders. Recent patents describing new NPY receptor antagonists directed to treat obesity and cardiovascular disorders were cited.
Identification of vestibular efferent neurons in the gerbil: histochemical and retrograde labelling

The efferent neurons of the gerbil vestibular system were investigated by retrograde tracing techniques and cytochemical staining for acetylcholinesterase (AChE), choline acetyltransferase (ChAT) and a number of peptides. The location, bilateral distribution, cell area and number of neurons in two identified groups of retrogradely labelled cells were described and quantified. The larger of the two groups was located dorsolateral to the facial nerve genu, ventral and medial to the vestibular nuclei. Unilateral tracer injection in the vestibular end organs labelled cells bilaterally in this and the smaller group, which was located immediately ventral to the genu. No cells were found that individually projected bilaterally to both labyrinths. After injections of horseradish peroxidase (HRP) in the utricle or saccule, significantly more cells were located on the contralateral side of the brainstem. The average (±SD) cross sectional area of labelled cell bodies associated with the otolith organs was 259.8 (±75.2) μm2. ChAT immuno-reactive and AChE positive cells were found in an area coextensive with the location of the dorsal efferent group. In double-labelling studies, cell bodies in the same group that had been retrogradely labelled with a utricular injection of HRP, were immunocytochemically stained for calcitonin generelated peptide and met-enkephalin. In contrast, the ventral group of efferents did not have cells that were cytochemically stained for either of the acetylcholine-related enzymes or either peptide. The significance of the existence of peptidergic vestibular efferent neurons is discussed.
Antibiotic Susceptibility Testing of Pseudomonas aeruginosa: Selection of a Control Strain and Criteria for Magnesium and Calcium Content in Media

Because of the influence of Mg+ + and Ca+ + on the susceptibility of Pseudomonas aeruginosa to aminoglycosides and polymyxins, we studied the practical effects of variations in these cations in commercial Mueller-Hinton media. Batches of Mueller-Hinton agar sold by three firms contained 9.4-32.6 mg of Mg++ and 31.8-86.0 mg of Ca++ per liter; Mueller-Hinton broth had 2.0-5.6 mg of Mg+ + and 4.1-35.8 mg of Ca+ + per liter. Aminoglycoside MICs increased 16to 32fold with increases in Mg+ + or Ca+ + in media. Dilution tests with currently available Mueller-Hinton broth were unreliable. Disk diffusion and agar and broth dilution methods gave comparable results with media prepared to contain equivalent amounts of Mg+ + and Ca+ +. We recommend that Mueller-Hinton media contain 20-35 mg of Mg++ and 50-100 mg of Ca++ per liter. Acceptable performance of Mueller-Hinton media with a control P. aeruginosa should be assured by the manufacturer before sale and by the clinical laboratory during use.
A machine learning approach for Arabic text classification using N-gram frequency statistics

Abstract In this paper a machine learning approach for classifying Arabic text documents is presented. To handle the high dimensionality of text documents, embeddings are used to map each document (instance) into R (the set of real numbers) representing the tri-gram frequency statistics profiles for a document. Classification is achieved by computing a dissimilarity measure, called the Manhattan distance, between the profile of the instance to be classified and the profiles of all the instances in the training set. The class (category) to which an instance (document) belongs is the one with the least computed Manhattan measure. The Dice similarity measure is used to compare the performance of method. Results show that tri-gram text classification using the Dice measure outperforms classification using the Manhattan measure.
Spatial mapping of multimode Brownian motions in high-frequency silicon carbide microdisk resonators

Identifying and manipulating high-order modes in mechanical resonators remains a challenge. Here, the authors provide an experimental demonstration of the mapping of such modes in a silicon carbide microdisk resonator, identifying intrinsic Brownian vibrations up to the ninth flexural mode.
NMR spectroscopy: Its basis, biological application and use in studies of insect metabolism

Abstract A classical macroscopic description of the NMR phenomenon is presented, and properties of the major NMR active nuclei of importance to metabolic study outlined. Advantages and disadvantages of several biological applications of NMR spectroscopy and the inherent limitation of NMR analysis are discussed. In vitro and in vivo13C, 1H and 31P NMR applications on insects and insect metabolites are reviewed. These include investigations of cuticular hydrocarbon composition and synthesis, cuticular structure, structure and synthesis of silk, analysis of hemolymph metabolites, glucose metabolism, gluconeogenesis and pyruvate metabolism, metabolism of cryoprotectant polyols and analysis and metabolism of high energy phosphorus compounds.
Pdk1 activity controls proliferation, survival, and growth of developing pancreatic cells.

Abstract The formation of adequate masses of endocrine and exocrine pancreatic tissues during embryogenesis is essential to ensure proper nutrition and glucose homeostasis at postnatal stages. We generated mice with pancreas-specific ablation of the 3-phosphoinositide-dependent protein kinase 1 (Pdk1) to investigate how signaling downstream of the phosphatidylinositol-3-OH kinase (PI3K) pathway controls pancreas development. Pdk1-conditional knock-out mice were born with conspicuous pancreas hypoplasia, and within a few weeks, they developed severe hyperglycemia. Our detailed characterization of the mutant embryonic pancreas also revealed distinct temporal, cell type-specific requirements of Pdk1 activity in the control of cell proliferation, cell survival, and cell size during pancreas development. These results thus uncover Pdk1 as a novel, crucial regulator of pancreatic growth during embryogenesis. In addition, we provide evidence that Pdk1 activity is required differently in mature pancreatic cell types, since compensatory proliferation and possible mTORC2 activation occurred in exocrine cells but not in β cells of the Pdk1-deficient postnatal pancreas.
On the numerical simulation of Bingham visco-plastic flow: Old and new results

Abstract The main goal of this article is to review various results and methods concerning the numerical simulation of Bingham visco-plastic flow; these results have been obtained from the early 1970s to now. We consider first the case of flow in cylindrical pipes and then flow in multi-dimensional cavities. The methods to be discussed include classical ones relying on regularization, (kind of) Lagrange multipliers and augmented Lagrangian techniques; they include also a duality–penalty method whose implementation relies on a Newton-Conjugate Gradient-Uzawa algorithm which seems to be new (in this context at least). Other issues are addressed; they concern particularly the accelerated calculation of steady state solutions and the time discretization of the unsteady flow models. The results of numerical experiments are presented, including the simulation of the wall driven flow in square cavities.
Cross-coupling in coaxial cavity filters - a tutorial overview

This paper presents a tutorial overview of the use of coupling between nonadjacent resonators to produce transmission zeros at real frequencies in microwave filters. Multipath coupling diagrams are constructed and the relative phase shifts of multiple paths are observed to produce the known responses of the cascaded triplet and quadruplet sections. The same technique is also used to explore less common nested cross-coupling structures and to predict their behavior. A discussion of the effects of nonzero electrical length coupling elements is presented. Finally, a brief categorization of the various synthesis and implementation techniques available for these types of filters is given.
Sodium Reduction and Weight Loss in the Treatment of Hypertension in Older Persons: A Randomized Controlled Trial of Nonpharmacologic Interventions in the Elderly (TONE)

Context.—Nonpharmacologic interventions are frequently recommended for treatment of hypertension in the elderly, but there is a paucity of evidence from randomized controlled trials in support of this recommendation.Objective.—To determine whether weight loss or reduced sodium intake is effective in the treatment of older persons with hypertension.Design.—Randomized controlled trial.Participants.—A total of 875 men and women aged 60 to 80 years with systolic blood pressure lower than 145 mm Hg and diastolic blood pressure lower than 85 mm Hg while receiving treatment with a single antihypertensive medication.Setting.—Four academic health centers.Intervention.—The 585 obese participants were randomized to reduced sodium intake, weight loss, both, or usual care, and the 390 nonobese participants were randomized to reduced sodium intake or usual care. Withdrawal of antihypertensive medication was attempted after 3 months of intervention.Main Outcome Measure.—Diagnosis of high blood pressure at 1 or more follow-up visits, or treatment with antihypertensive medication, or a cardiovascular event during follow-up (range, 15-36 months; median, 29 months).Results.—The combined outcome measure was less frequent among those assigned vs not assigned to reduced sodium intake (relative hazard ratio, 0.69; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.59-0.81; P<.001) and, in obese participants, among those assigned vs not assigned to weight loss (relative hazard ratio, 0.70; 95% CI, 0.57-0.87; P<.001). Relative to usual care, hazard ratios among the obese participants were 0.60 (95% CI, 0.45-0.80; P<.001) for reduced sodium intake alone, 0.64 (95% CI, 0.49-0.85; P=.002) for weight loss alone, and 0.47 (95% CI, 0.35-0.64; P<.001) for reduced sodium intake and weight loss combined. The frequency of cardiovascular events during follow-up was similar in each of the 6 treatment groups.Conclusion.—Reduced sodium intake and weight loss constitute a feasible, effective, and safe nonpharmacologic therapy of hypertension in older persons.
Shed skin as a source of DNA for genotyping seals

Obtaining a sufficient number of DNA samples from ice-breeding marine phocids, in a noninvasive manner, has proven difficult and has limited the ability to use molecular genetics on these species. We evaluate the ability to genotype ringed seals using a novel source of DNA, skin cells shed by the seal as it moults on sea ice. We found that shed skin samples yielded a lower quantity and purity of DNA compared to tissue samples. Nevertheless, the shed skin cells were a viable source of DNA for microsatellite analysis; we found no significant difference in allelic diversity or heterozygosities between tissue samples and shed skin cells. This source of DNA should allow the rapid collection of a large number of noninvasively collected DNA samples in ice-breeding phocids.
Recognizing Authority in Dialogue with an Integer Linear Programming Constrained Model

We present a novel computational formulation of speaker authority in discourse. This notion, which focuses on how speakers position themselves relative to each other in discourse, is first developed into a reliable coding scheme (0.71 agreement between human annotators). We also provide a computational model for automatically annotating text using this coding scheme, using supervised learning enhanced by constraints implemented with Integer Linear Programming. We show that this constrained model's analyses of speaker authority correlates very strongly with expert human judgments (r2 coefficient of 0.947).
RhoA/ROCK signaling is essential for multiple aspects of VEGF-mediated angiogenesis

The small GTPase RhoA and its downstream effectors, ROCK1 and ROCK2, regulate a number of cellular processes, including cell motility, proliferation, survival, and permeability. Pharmacological inhibitors of the Rho pathway reportedly block angiogenesis; however, the molecular details of this inhibition are largely unknown. We demonstrate that vascular endothelial growth factor-A (VEGF) rapidly induces RhoA activation in endothelial cells (ECs). Moreover, the pharmacological inhibition of ROCK1/2 using 10 microM Y-27632 (the IC(50) for this compound in ECs) strongly disrupts vasculogenesis in pluripotent embryonic stem cell cultures, VEGF-mediated regenerative angiogenesis in ex vivo retinal explants, and VEGF-mediated in vitro EC tube formation. Furthermore, using small interfering RNA knockdown and mouse heterozygote knockouts of ROCK1 and ROCK2, we provide data indicating that VEGF-driven angiogenesis is largely mediated through ROCK2. These data demonstrate that Rho/ROCK signaling is an important mediator in a number of angiogenic processes, including EC migration, survival, and cell permeability, and suggest that Rho/ROCK inhibition may prove useful for the treatment of angiogenesis-related disorders.
Experiments on the Stability of Spiral Flow at Low Axial Reynolds Numbers

The hydrodynamic stability of viscous flow between rotating cylinders with superposed axial flow has been studied experimentally. The experiments were confined to the case where the outer cylinder is at rest and the gap between cylinders is small. Particular attention has been given to small rates of axial flow. The results compare satisfactorily with Chandrasekhar's perturbation theory valid under these conditions.
Complete characterization of utilization-voltage power system impedance using wideband measurement

Inexpensive portable instrumentation is used to measure the impedance of an example utilization-voltage power system. With the power system in normal operation, line-to-neutral, line-to-ground, and neutral-to-ground impedances are measured over a bandwidth of 20 Hz to 24 kHz. The measured impedance is presented as resistance and inductance which vary with frequency. Based on the measurements, additional calculations are performed to find the resistance and inductance of every conductor in the system. This complete wideband characterization of power system impedance provides valuable data for power quality calculations.
Erythropoietin and anemia of cancer.

: Anemia is a common complication of cancer but its causes differ widely. However, a significant number of patients with even early cancer experience a suppression of the action of erythropoietin on the bone marrow, presumably caused by the release of cytokines. The ensuing anemia may be mild and “asymptomatic”. Nevertheless, it drains physical and emotional vigor so necessary in the fight against the underlying disorder. The therapeutic use of recombinant human erythropoietin has been gratifying and in many cases restored to near normal not only the hemoglobin concentration but also the quality of life.
Metabolite uptake, stoichiometry and chemoautotrophic function of the hydrothermal vent tubeworm Riftia pachyptila: responses to environmental variations in substrate concentrations and temperature

The hydrothermal vent tubeworm Riftia pachyptila is a dominant member of many hydrothermal vent communities along the East Pacific rise and is one of the fastest growing metazoans known. Riftia flourish in diffuse hydrothermal fluid flows, an environment with high spatial and temporal heterogeneity in physical and chemical conditions. To date, physiological and biochemical studies of Riftia have focused on Riftia's adaptations to its chemoautotrophic bacterial symbionts. However the relation between in situ physico-chemical heterogeneity and Riftia host and symbiont metabolism, in particular symbiont chemoautotrophic function, remain poorly understood. Accordingly, we conducted experiments using shipboard high-pressure respirometers to ascertain the effect of varying substrate concentrations and temperature on Riftia metabolite uptake and symbiont carbon fixation. Our results show that substrate concentrations can strongly govern Riftia oxygen and sulfide uptake rates, as well as net carbon uptake (which is a proxy for chemoautotrophic primary production). However, after sufficient exposure to sulfide and oxygen, Riftia were capable of sustaining symbiont autotrophic function for several hours in seawater devoid of sulfide or oxygen, enabling the association to support symbiont metabolism through brief periods of substrate deficiency. Overall, temperature had the largest influence on Riftia metabolite uptake and symbiont autotrophic metabolism. In sum, while Riftia requires sufficient availability of substrates to support symbiont chemoautotrophic function, it is extremely well poised to buffer the temporal and spatial heterogeneity in environmental substrate concentrations, alleviating the influence of environmental heterogeneity on symbiont chemoautotrophic function.
Employing Toroidal Harmonics for Computing the Magnetic Field From Axially Magnetized Multipole Cylinders

We employ a toroidal harmonic expansion in order to develop a three-dimensional solution for the magnetic field due to a permanent-magnet multipole cylinder. The equations derived in this paper can be used for the optimization and design of various devices that employ cylindrical multipole magnets. The analytical equations employ hypergeometric functions derived from the analytical integration of zeroth-order toroidal functions. Hypergeometric functions are quite general and are very useful for parametric studies.
Adding Autonomic Capabilities to Network Fault Management System

In this paper, we propose an adaptive framework for adding the most desired aspects of autonomic capabilities into the critical components of a network fault management system. The aspects deemed as the most desirable are those that have a significant impact on system dependability, which include self-monitoring, self-healing, self-adjusting, and self-configuring. Self-monitoring oversees the environmental conditions and system behavior, building a consciousness ground to support self-awareness capabilities. It is responsible for monitoring the system states and environmental conditions, analyzing them and thus detecting and identifying system faults/failures. Upon detection, self-healing operations is enabled to respond (i.e. take proper actions) to the identified faults /failures. These actions are usually accomplished by self-configuring and self- adjusting the corresponding system configurations and operations. Together, all self-*approaches complete an adaptive framework and offer a sound solution towards high system assurance.
Allocation of Servers for Stochastic Service Stations with One Overflow Station

As one of its services, the Bell System provides microwave and cable transmission equipment for the transmission of news, sports and special-event TV programs from sites that do not have permanent transmission facilities. This paper describes a model for determining quantities of this TV equipment for service stations located throughout the country. This is actually a fundamental model for allocating servers equipment in our case for a stochastic service system consisting of several multiserver stations with one multiserver overflow station. The flows of customers to the initial stations are independent Poisson processes, and if a customer arrives at a station when all of its servers are busy, it is either served at the overflow station or denied service, depending on whether an overflow-server is available or not. The service times are exponential random variables. There are holding costs for having the servers in the system and costs for the services, depending on where they are done. We present a myopic nonlinear programming algorithm that finds numbers of servers for the stations that serve a desired percentage of customers at near-minimum cost. As part of our analysis, we show how Hayward's and Wilkinson's approximations for the blocking probability at the overflow station extend to heterogeneous service rates.
Cross-species hybridization of woodchuck hepatitis viral infection-induced woodchuck hepatocellular carcinoma using human, rat and mouse oligonucleotide microarrays

Background and Aim: We aimed to evaluate the transcriptional characteristics of viral infection-induced woodchuck hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), to compare the use of human, rat and mouse gene arrays for cross-species hybridization, and to look into gene expression profiles in woodchuck HCC by the combined use of these arrays. Methods: Commercially available human, rat and mouse oligonucleotide microarrays were used to determine the gene expression profiles on the same woodchuck liver samples. Differentially expressed genes between HCC and the surrounding hepatic tissues found in the arrays were selected for quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction. Results: Despite the difference in the number of the probes from each array, the percentage of genes that were detectable was similar. Stringent microarray data analysis using both supervised and unsupervised methods identified 281 differentially expressed genes via the human array with a false discovery rate (FDR) of 0.99%, 107 genes via the rat array with an FDR of 1.85% and 78 genes via the mouse array with an FDR of 7.41%. Eleven genes were differentially changed in all three arrays that include the upregulation of NPM1, H2AFZ, EEF1G, HNRPAB, RPS18, EIF5, CKS2, ARIH1, RPS12 and RPS10, and the downregulation of EGR1. The quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction with woodchuck-specific primers confirmed the reliability of the microarray results. Conclusion: This study further demonstrated the utility of cross-species hybridization of microarrays on woodchuck HCC. A combined use of three types of arrays identified more differential genes in HCC than individual arrays with the human array providing the richest information among the three arrays used.
Fluorescent porous carbon nanocapsules for two-photon imaging, NIR/pH dual-responsive drug carrier, and photothermal therapy

Abstract An efficient nanomedical platform that can combine two-photon cell imaging, near infrared (NIR) light and pH dual responsive drug delivery, and photothermal treatment was successfully developed based on fluorescent porous carbon-nanocapsules (FPC-NCs, size ∼100 nm) with carbon dots (CDs) embedded in the shell. The stable, excitation wavelength (λ ex )-tunable and upconverted fluorescence from the CDs embedded in the porous carbon shell enable the FPC-NCs to serve as an excellent confocal and two-photon imaging contrast agent under the excitation of laser with a broad range of wavelength from ultraviolet (UV) light (405 nm) to NIR light (900 nm). The FPC-NCs demonstrate a very high loading capacity (1335 mg g −1 ) toward doxorubicin drug benefited from the hollow cavity structure, porous carbon shell, as well as the supramolecular π stacking and electrostatic interactions between the doxorubicin molecules and carbon shell. In addition, a responsive release of doxorubicin from the FPC-NCs can be activated by lowering the pH to acidic (from 7.4 to 5.0) due to the presence of pH-sensitive carboxyl groups on the FPC-NCs and amino groups on doxorubicin molecules. Furthermore, the FPC-NCs can absorb and effectively convert the NIR light to heat, thus, manifest the ability of NIR-responsive drug release and combined photothermal/chemo-therapy for high therapeutic efficacy.
Systematic quantitative characterisation of surface nanostructures by scanning probe microscopy of thin-films

In this article, we present a new methodology to characterise surface nanostructures of thin films. The methodology focuses on isolating nanostructures and extracting quantitative information, such as their shape and size, based on atomic force microscopy (AFM) data. We start by compensating the AFM data for some specific classes of measurement artefacts. After that, the methodology employs two distinct approaches. The first, which we call the overlay approach, proceeds by systematically processing the raster data that constitute the scanning probe image in both vertical and horizontal directions. The second approach, based on fuzzy logic, relies on a fuzzy inference engine to classify the surface points. Once classified, these points are clustered into surface structures. We have applied both approaches to characterise organic semiconductor thin films of pentacene on different substrates. In this article, we present results employing both approaches to pentacene films deposited on mica. Using only the ov...
Localization of an organic anion transporter-GFP fusion construct (rROAT1-GFP) in intact proximal tubules

The organic anion transporter, rROAT1, is a dicarboxylate/organic anion exchanger, a function associated with the basolateral membrane in rat proximal tubule. To directly establish the subcellular ...
EGFR inhibition generates drug-tolerant persister cells by blocking AKT activity

In non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC)-the leading cause of cancer death worldwide-about 10-20% harbor mutations in epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), a receptor tyrosine kinase (RTK). Although treatment with EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) had shown promise, drug resistance has been the most important determinant limiting its success. We recently studied the mechanism by which a small subset of cells remains viable after EGFR inhibition, despite cell death in the vast majority. Our study demonstrates that EGFR inhibition in lung cancer cells generates a drug-tolerant subpopulation by blocking AKT activity and thus inactivating Ets-1 function. The remaining cells enter a dormant, non-dividing state because of the inhibited transactivation of Ets-1 target genes cyclins D1, D3, and E2. Moreover, Ets-1 inactivation inhibits transcription of dual specificity phosphatase 6 (DUSP6), a negative regulator specific for ERK1/2. As a result, ERK1/2 is activated, which combines with c-Src to renew activation of the Ras/MAPK pathway, causing increased cell survival by accelerating Bim protein turnover. These observations may explain why a small subset of quiescent cells can tolerate TKIs, leading to acquired drug resistance. In this editorial, we discuss how changes in intrinsic cell signaling open a new avenue to drug resistance in NSCLCs after EGFR inhibition. We also comment on combined treatment with TKI and MEK inhibitor to reduce the probability of emergent resistance to EGFR TKIs.
Effects of dietary transgenic Bt corn pollen on larvae of Apis mellifera and Galleria mellonella

SUMMARYThe effects of dietary transgenic Bt corn pollen on 4–5–day-old honey bee worker larvae were examined. We measured larval and pupal mortalities, pupal weight, and haemolymph protein concentration of newly emerged adults after they were fed (as larvae) various pollens (mixed bee pollen, non-transgenic corn pollen, Cry1A(b) or Cry1F corn pollen). There were no significant differences in all the parameters tested between larvae fed transgenic Bt corn pollen Cry1 A(b) or Cry1 F and non-transgenic corn pollen. We also evaluated Bt corn pollen as a potential control for wax moth larvae in a laboratory study. We fed first instar wax moth larvae three types of pollen: non-transgenic corn pollen, Cry1 A(b) corn pollen, and Cry1F corn pollen. We found that the mortality of larvae fed Cry1 F corn pollen was significantly greater than the mortality of larvae fed Cry1 A(b) corn pollen or non-transgenic corn pollen (P < 0.05). In each trial Cry1 F fed larvae showed 100% mortality. Our studies suggest that transg...
Estimating transfer of learning for self-instructional packages across dental schools.

The most common topic of research in dental education is assessing the effectiveness of self-instructional units in various formats compared to lectures covering the same material. Generally, these studies are of high methodological quality and reveal mixed results or results slightly favoring self-instruction. All such studies, save one, have been conducted in the context of various single schools, thus confounding the effects of self-instructional format with factors particular to schools and their students. A reanalysis, using Cronbach’s generalizability analysis, was performed on a study in the literature that was conducted at six schools and measured student aptitude. The reanalysis found that the largest source of variance on immediate post-test quizzes for knowledge following a three-hour unit on disturbances in tooth development was the school at which the study was conducted (24 percent), followed by student aptitude measured by DAT score (20 percent). Difference in format among lecture, booklet, and audiotape presentations accounted for 5 percent of the variance. This reanalysis demonstrated that statistically significant results from rigorous experimental designs can overrepresent what is revealed by such research. The context-specificity of educational innovations may be underestimated because few studies are replicated across schools. Studies conducted as single schools, regardless of their methodological rigor, fail to address issues associated with potential transfer of findings to other schools.
Malocclusions, orthodontic corrections and orofacial muscle adaptation.

Abstract No Abstract Available. From the Department of Orthodontics, Eastman Dental Center, Rochester, New York. Research reported in this study was supported by Grant DE 01837 from the National Institute of Dental Research, National Institute of Health, United States Public Health Service. Read at the Eighteenth Biennial meeting of the Angle Society, Denver, Colorado, November, 1969.
Analysis of Proteome Dynamics in Mice by Isotopic Labeling

Recent advances in mass spectrometry and in vivo isotopic labeling have enabled proteome-wide analyses of protein turnover in complex organisms. Here, we describe a protocol for analyzing protein turnover rates in mouse tissues by comprehensive (15)N labeling. The procedure involves the complete isotopic labeling of blue green algae (Spirulina platensis) with (15)N and utilizing it as a source of dietary nitrogen for mice. We outline a detailed protocol for in-house production of (15)N-labeled algae, labeling of mice, and analysis of isotope incorporation kinetics by mass spectrometry. The methodology can be adapted to analyze proteome dynamics in most murine tissues and may be particularly useful in the analysis of proteostatic disruptions in mouse models of disease.
Degradation and aggregation of human calcitonin in vitro.

Purpose. To investigate the degradation of human calcitonin (hCT) by enzymes or mucosa from different gastrointestinal (GI) compartments and evaluate the stabilization effect of a synthetic ionizable copolymer on the stability of hCT in an aqueous solution. These data are a prerequisite for the development of a hydrogel based colon-specific hCT delivery system.