cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Buoyant and potentiometric titrations of synthetic polypeptides. I. Six ionizable homopolypeptides in CsCl solutions.

The buoyant density and potentiometric titrations of six ionizable homopolypeptides in concentrated CsCI solutions have been studied. These six homopolypeptides were chosen as models of the behavior of ionizable residues in proteins. Their buoyant and potentiometric results will be of value in interpreting the buoyant and potentiometric results observed for proteins. The buoyant densities for all six homopolypeptides were found to increase sigmoidally as the pH is increased. These density changes are interpreted in terms of changes in the hydrations and ion binding which are associated with the titration of the residues. Preferential hydrations for the homopolypeptides are calculated. The buoyant density titrations are combined with the potentiometric titrations to determine the relationship between the buoyant density and the degree of ionization. A better method of computing buoyant densities of proteins is described. The slope of β(ρ) has been computed for CsCl using least-squares curve fitting and this is used in calculating the isoconcentration position. This method has been found to be more accurate than calculating the isoconcentration position from the normalized isoconcentration ratio, which is known only under limited conditions.
Mina: a Th2 response regulator meets TGFβ

The JmjC protein Mina is an important immune response regulator. Classical forward genetics first discovered its immune role in 2009 in connection with the development of T helper 2 (Th2) cells. This prompted investigation into Mina's role in the two best-studied contexts where Th2 responses are essential: atopic asthma and helminth expulsion. In work focused on a mouse model of atopic asthma, Mina deficiency was found to ameliorate airway hyper-resistance and pulmonary inflammation. And, in a case-control study genetic variation at the human MINA locus was found to be associated with the development of childhood atopic asthma. Although the underlying cellular and molecular mechanism of Mina's involvement in pulmonary inflammation remains unknown, our recent work on parasitic helminth expulsion suggests the possibility that, rather than T cells, epithelial cells responding to TGFβ may play the dominant role. Here we review the growing body of literature on the emerging Mina pathway in T cells and epithelial cells and attempt to set these into a broader context.
Distal infrapyramidal and longitudinal mossy fibers at a midtemporal hippocampal level

Timm's and horseradish peroxidase histochemical methods were used to demonstrate a small, distal infrapyramidal mossy fiber projection at midtemporal hippocampal levels in the rat. The Timm's sulfide silver method revealed sparse granules of dark, mossy fiber-like staining at an infrapyramidal location in an area roughly equivalent to hippocampal subfield CA3a (close to the CA1 border). The use of anterograde transport of horseradish peroxidase enabled the visualization of short mossy fiber axons that left the suprapyramidal bundle, penetrated the pyramidal cell layer, and terminated in a distal infrapyramidal position. The HRP-labeled axons possessed periodic swellings that are characteristic of mossy fiber morphology. The HRP studies also provided evidence for longitudinally oriented mossy fibers at midtemporal hippocampal levels. The distal tip of the suprapyramidal band of mossy fibers turned temporally and could be detected up to 1140 micrometers ventral to the main suprapyramidal band.
A Preliminary Study to Assess Validity of the Personal Style Inventory

The Personal Style Inventory was designed to assess Jungian personality types. The present study determined its reliability and validity. The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator was used as a criterion and the multitrait-multimethod matrix method was used to assess reliability and validity. Reliability coefficients between the opposite sides of each scale were —1.00 and validity coefficients between corresponding scales of the Personal Style Inventory and the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator ranged between .52 and .70. The lowest validity coefficients were with Extraversion-Introversion scales. Significant differences between validity coefficients were also found between participants' congruent and incongruent scores on the Extraversion-Introversion and Judgment-Perception scales. The results suggest feasibility of using the Personal Style Inventory to assess Jung's personality types.
Differential hypothalamic control of FSH secretion: A review

There are many circumstances in which the release of FSH and LH is dissociated; however, many of these are now thought to be brought about by interactions of LH-releasing hormone (LHRH), which stimulates not only LH but also FSH release, and the gonadal peptide, inhibin, which acts at the pituitary to suppress FSH release selectively. There are also many examples which can only be explained by postulating separate hypothalamic control of FSH and LH release. For example, electrochemical stimulation of the medial preoptic area elicited only LH release, whereas stimulation further caudally elicited equivalent LH release but FSH release as well. Points of stimulation particularly in the dorsal anterior hypothalamic area (DAHA) evoked only FSH release. Furthermore, implantation of prostaglandin E2 in various hypothalamic loci in a region extending from the DAHA caudally and ventrally to the caudal median eminence (ME) selectively elicited FSH release. Lesions of the DAHA resulted in a decrease of plasma FSH but not LH in castrated male and female rats and also suppressed the post-castration rise in FSH in males. In ovariectomized estrogen-primed rats with DAHA lesions, injection of progesterone provoked a normal LH surge but a significantly depressed FSH surge. Anterior ME lesions in castrates lowered LH levels more than FSH levels. Extracts of the DAHA evoked greater FSH and LH release in vitro than could be accounted for by the content of LHRH in the extracts, but there was no preferential release of FSH. On the other hand, extracts of the organum vasculosum lamina terminalis (OVLT) evoked dramatically increased FSH release above that which could be accounted for by the content of LHRH. Lastly, posterior ME extracts had more FSH-releasing activity than could be accounted for by their content of LHRH. All these results suggest the existence of an FSH-releasing factor (FSHRF) and lead to the speculation that the cell bodies of FSHRF neurons are located in the DAHA, with axons projecting to the OVLT and to the posterior ME. In other experiments, attempts were made to purify rat and sheep hypothalamic extracts by gel filtration on Sephadex G-25 and to assay the FSH-releasing activity by both bio- and immunoassay. Using this approach, we obtained evidence for the early emergence of a bioactive FSHRF prior to the emergence of LHRH from the column. Although much more work remains to be done, the accumulated evidence strongly supports the concept of a distinct FSHRF.
On Superlinear Convergence of Infeasible Interior-PointAlgorithms for Linearly Constrained Convex Programs

This note derives bounds on the length of the primal-dual affine scaling directions associated with a linearly constrained convex program satisfying the following conditions: 1) the problem has a solution satisfying strict complementarity, 2) the Hessian of the objective function satisfies a certain invariance property. We illustrate the usefulness of these bounds by establishing the superlinear convergence of the algorithm presented in Wright and Ralph [22] for solving the optimality conditions associated with a linearly constrained convex program satisfying the above conditions.
Evolving Optical Properties of Annealing Silicate Grains: From Amorphous Condensate to Crystalline Mineral

Laboratory studies of the evolution of a magnesium silicate smoke from an amorphous condensate to a crystalline mineral by annealing in vacuum provide a foundation for the development of a silicate evolution index (SEI). The SEI can be used to predict the emergent IR spectrum of silicate dust in a circumstellar shell based on the time-temperature history of the silicate grains in the out—ow. Optical constants for the magnesium silicate smoke samples compatible with those of Draine & Lee are derived over the range 0.001¨1000 km. Subject headings: circumstellar matterdust, extinctionISM: moleculesmethods: laboratory ¨ molecular processes
A Simple Learning Control to Eliminate RF-MEMS Switch Bounce

A learning control algorithm is presented that reduces the closing time of a radio-frequency microelectromechanical systems switch by minimizing bounce while maintaining robustness to fabrication variability. The switch consists of a plate supported by folded-beam springs. Electrostatic actuation of the plate causes pull-in with high impact velocities, which are difficult to control due to parameter variations from part to part. A single degree-of-freedom model was utilized to design a simple learning control algorithm that shapes the actuation voltage based on the open/closed state of the switch. Experiments on three different test switches show that after 5-10 iterations, the learning algorithm lands the switch plate with an impact velocity not exceeding 0.20 m/s, eliminating bounce. Simulations show that robustness to parameter variation is directly related to the number of required iterations for the device to learn the input for a bounce-free closure.
A Major Allergen Involved in IgE Mediated Cockroach Hypersensitivity is a 90 kD Protein with Multiple IgE Binding Domains

The role of the cockroach as an etiologic agent of respiratory allergic disorders is well documented (1–3). Positive skin test reactivity to whole body cockroach extracts is second only to the house dust mite of the indoor allergens; however, the identification of clinically relevant antigens and an understanding of the immunobiology of cockroach-induced asthmatic reactions is just beginning (4). The prevalence of asthma induced by cockroach exposure has been coupled with the identification of major cockroach allergens ranging in molecular weight from 6,000 to 100,000 daltons (5–10). In earlier experiments, we documented the in vitro translation of RNA from German cockroaches for the presence of IgE-binding proteins (11). In this report, we describe the isolation of a cDNA clone from a cDNA library derived from the German cockroach (Blattella germanica) encoding a major allergen, Bla g 90 kD.
Management of the clinically positive neck in organ preservation for advanced head and neck cancer.

Abstract BACKGROUND: To investigate clinicopathologic predictive criteria for the optimal management of neck metastases in patients with advanced head and neck cancers treated with combined chemoradiotherapy. METHODS: Prospective study, 48 patients. Mean length follow-up, 23 months. RESULTS: Neck stage predicted neck response to chemoradiotherapy; N3 necks showed more partial responses ( P = 0.04), and N1 necks showed more complete responses ( P = 0.12). Primary tumor site strongly predicted the pathologic response found on neck dissection in patients with a clinical partial response (cPR) following chemoradiotherapy. There was no difference in survival between patients with a clinical complete response (cCR) after chemoradiotherapy, and patients with a pathologic complete response (pCR) after neck dissection ( P = 0.20); however, when grouped together, these patients survived longer than did patients with a pPR at neck dissection ( P = 0.06). CONCLUSIONS: Clinical response to induction chemotherapy is a poor predictor of ultimate neck control. Induction chemotherapy followed by chemoradiotherapy, and planned neck dissection for patients with persistent cervical lymphadenopathy, provides good regional control.
A novel and effective approach to treating rhinitis with nasal antihistamines

Objectives To review existing treatments for rhinitis and summarize data available on the use of a nasal antihistamine (azelastine) in treating allergic and nonallergic vasomotor rhinitis. Data Sources Relevant articles and references published between 1995 and 2007 regarding the treatment of allergic and vasomotor rhinitis were identified from PubMed, review articles, meta-analyses, and practice guidelines. Study Selection All key relevant articles were reviewed and the most relevant selected for inclusion in this review. Results The efficacy and safety of azelastine nasal spray in treating allergic rhinitis and vasomotor rhinitis have been determined in a number of US multicenter, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trials. In all trials, azelastine was associated with a rapid onset of action and a sustained improvement over time in rhinitis, congestion, and other symptoms. In patients with allergic rhinitis, the combination of azelastine and nasal corticosteroids increased treatment efficacy by more than 40% compared with either product alone. Conclusions Intranasal antihistamine therapy represents an effective mode of drug delivery in patients with allergic and nonallergic vasomotor rhinitis and is an important option for rhinitis therapy, particularly if rapid symptom relief is required or if congestion is a major symptom. Use of azelastine plus nasal corticosteroids is effective in both allergic rhinitis and vasomotor rhinitis, suggesting that this combination represents an effective treatment strategy for all patients with either allergic or nonallergic vasomotor rhinitis.
Formalist and Relationalist Theory in Social Network Analysis

Social network research is widely considered atheoretical. In contrast, in this article I argue that network analysis often mixes two distinct theoretical frameworks, creating a logically inconsistent foundation. Relationalism rejects essentialism and a priori categories and insists upon the intersubjectivity of experience and meaning as well as the importance of the content of interactions and their historical setting. Formalism is based on a structuralist interpretation of the theoretical works of Georg Simmel. Simmel laid out a neo-Kantian program of identifying a priori categories of relational types and patterns that operate independently of cultural content or historical setting. Formalism and relationalism are internally consistent theoretical perspectives, but there are tensions between them. To pave the way for stronger middle-range theoretical development, I disaggregate the two approaches and highlight the contradictions that must be addressed or resolved for the construction of any general and...
Molecular genetic analysis suggesting interactions between AppA and PpsR in regulation of photosynthesis gene expression in Rhodobacter sphaeroides 2.4.1.

The AppA protein plays an essential regulatory role in development of the photosynthetic apparatus in the anoxygenic phototrophic bacterium Rhodobacter sphaeroides 2.4.1 (M. Gomelsky and S. Kaplan, J. Bacteriol. 177:4609-4618, 1995). To gain additional insight into both the role and site of action of AppA in the regulatory network governing photosynthesis gene expression, we investigated the relationships between AppA and other known regulators of photosynthesis gene expression. We determined that AppA is dispensable for development of the photosynthetic apparatus in a ppsR null background, where PpsR is an aerobic repressor of genes involved in photopigment biosynthesis and puc operon expression. Moreover, all suppressors of an appA null mutation thus far isolated, showing improved photosynthetic growth, were found to contain mutations in the ppsR gene. Because ppsR gene expression in R. sphaeroides 2.4.1 appears to be largely independent of growth conditions, we suggest that regulation of repressor activity occurs predominately at the protein level. We have also found that PpsR functions as a repressor not only under aerobic but under anaerobic photosynthetic conditions and thereby is involved in regulating the abundance of the light harvesting complex II, depending on light intensity. It seems likely therefore, that PpsR responds to an integral signal (e.g., changes in redox potential) produced either by changes in oxygen tension or light intensity. The profile of the isolated suppressor mutations in PpsR is in accord with this proposition. We propose that AppA may be involved in a redox-dependent modulation of PpsR repressor activity.
Material-balance assessment of the New Albany-Chesterian petroleum system of the Illinois basin

The New Albany-Chesterian petroleum system of the Illinois basin is a well-constrained system from which petroleum charges and losses were quantified through a material-balance assessment. This petroleum system has nearly 90,000 wells penetrating the Chesterian section, a single New Albany Shale source rock accounting for more than 99% of the produced oil, well-established stratigraphic and structural frameworks, and accessible source rock samples at various maturity levels. A hydrogen index (HI) map based on Rock-Eval analyses of source rock samples of New Albany Shale defines the pod of active source rock and extent of oil generation. Based on a buoyancy-drive model, the system was divided into seven secondary-migration catchments. Each catchment contains a part of the active pod of source rock from which it derives a petroleum charge, and this charge is confined to carrier beds and reservoirs within these catchments as accountable petroleum, petroleum losses, or undiscovered petroleum. A well-constrained catchment with no apparent erosional or leakage losses is used to determine an actual petroleum charge from accountable petroleum and residual migration losses. This actual petroleum charge is used to calibrate the other catchments in which erosional petroleum losses have occurred. Petroleum charges determined by laboratory pyrolysis are exaggerated relative to the actual petroleum charge. Rock-Eval charges are exaggerated by a factor of 4-14, and hydrous-pyrolysis charges are exaggerated by a factor of 1.7. The actual petroleum charge provides a more meaningful material balance and more realistic estimates of petroleum losses and remaining undiscovered petroleum. The total petroleum charge determined for the New Albany-Chesterian system is 78 billion bbl, of which 11.4 billion bbl occur as accountable in place petroleum, 9 billion bbl occur as residual migration losses, and 57.6 billion bbl occur as erosional losses. Of the erosional losses, 40 billion bbl were lost from two catchments that have highly faulted and extensively eroded sections. Anomalies in the relationship between erosional losses and degree of erosion suggest there is potential for undiscovered petroleum in one of the catchments. These results demonstrate that a material-balance assessment of migration catchments provides a useful means to evaluate and rank areas within a petroleum system. The article provides methodologies for obtaining more realistic petroleum charges and losses that can be applied to less data-rich petroleum systems.
Three- and two-dimensional simulations of counter-propagating shear experiments at high energy densities at the National Ignition Facility

Three- and two-dimensional numerical studies have been carried out to simulate recent counter-propagating shear flow experiments on the National Ignition Facility. A multi-physics three-dimensional, time-dependent radiation hydrodynamics simulation code is used. Using a Reynolds Averaging Navier-Stokes model, we show that the evolution of the mixing layer width obtained from the simulations agrees well with that measured from the experiments. A sensitivity study is conducted to illustrate a 3D geometrical effect that could confuse the measurement at late times, if the energy drives from the two ends of the shock tube are asymmetric. Implications for future experiments are discussed.
The Role of Curli and Cellulose in the Transport and Survival of Escherichia Coli on a Central New York Dairy Farm

Enterobacterial pathogens such as Escherichia coli are persistently deposited in the environment through the spreading of manure wastes onto agricultural soils, representing serious water quality and human health concerns. In this experiment, E. coli isolates were collected from a dairy farm in Central New York at three distinct locations: (i) cow housing, (ii) calf housing, and (iii) field drain (tile) effluent. These environmental E. coli isolates were analyzed for the cell surface components cellulose and curli, traits that have been linked to increased environmental survival and transport through soil. Our results showed a high amount of diversity amongst E. coli isolates at each spatial location. Isolates collected from cow housing and calf housing displayed highly variable curli and cellulose-producing community profiles from one sampling week to another. However, isolates collected from the drain tile effluent consistently displayed similar curli and cellulose production communities over all sampling dates. These results indicate that the subsurface soil and presence of drain tiles tend to select for a certain subset of E. coli strains, perhaps better adapted for environmental survival and/or transport.
Effects of Gender on Self- and Supervisory Ratings

This research investigated the effects of supervisors' and subordinates' genders on self- and supervisory ratings in an organizational setting. Participants were assemblers, 35 men and 35 women, an...
ErratumIntuitions About Combining Opinions: Misappreciation of the Averaging Principle

Averaging estimates is an effective way to improve accuracy when combining expert judgments, integrating group members judgments, or using advice to modify personal judgments. If the estimates of two judges ever fall on different sides of the truth, which we term bracketing, averaging must outperform the average judge for convex loss functions, such as mean absolute deviation (MAD). We hypothesized that people often hold incorrect beliefs about averaging, falsely concluding that the average of two judges estimates would be no more accurate than the average judge. The experiments confirmed that this misconception was common across a range of tasks that involved reasoning from summary data (Experiment 1), from specific instances (Experiment 2), and conceptually (Experiment 3). However, this misconception decreased as observed or assumed bracketing rate increased (all three studies) and when bracketing was made more transparent (Experiment 2). Experiment 4 showed that flawed inferential rules and poor extensional reasoning abilities contributed to the misconception. We conclude by describing how people may face few opportunities to learn the benefits of averaging and how misappreciating averaging contributes to poor intuitive strategies for combining estimates.
Insertion-deletion biases and the evolution of genome size.

Abstract Numerous theories have been proposed to account for the pronounced differences in the quantity of non-coding DNA among eukaryotic genomes, but the current repertoire remains incomplete because the only explicit mechanisms it provides involve DNA gain. It has been proposed more recently that biases in spontaneous insertions and deletions (indels) can lead to genome shrinkage by mutational mechanisms alone. The present article provides the first detailed critical discussion of this approach, and covers three different ideas related to it: (1) the general notion of DNA loss by deletion bias, (2) the “DNA loss hypothesis” which supposes that variation in genome size can be attributed to differences in DNA loss rate, and (3) the “mutational equilibrium model” which attempts to describe the long-term evolution of genome size. The mutational equilibrium model is found to be problematic, and it is noted that DNA loss by small indels is too slow in real time to determine variation in genome size above a relatively low threshold. Some alternative explanations for the observed patterns are provided, and the critique also identifies some potential problems with the current dataset. These include a failure to cite a more detailed (and somewhat contradictory) mammalian dataset, a questionable use of arithmetic means with highly skewed data, and important discrepancies among the particular DNA sequences so far analyzed. Overall, evolutionary reductions in genome size are considered important, but the specific mechanism relating to small deletion bias is far too weak to be accepted as a primary determinant of genome size variation in general.
Effect of vertical resolution on predictions of transpiration in water-limited ecosystems

Abstract Water-limited ecosystems are characterized by precipitation with low annual totals and significant temporal variability, transpiration that is limited by soil-moisture availability, and infiltration events that may only partially rewet the vegetation root zone. Average transpiration in such environments is controlled by precipitation, and accurate predictions of vegetation health require adequate representation of temporal variation in the timing and intensity of plant uptake. Complexities introduced by variability in depth of infiltration, distribution of roots, and a plant's ability to compensate for spatially heterogeneous soil moisture suggest a minimum vertical resolution required for satisfactory representation of plant behavior. To explore the effect of vertical resolution on predictions of transpiration, we conduct a series of numerical experiments, comparing the results from models of varying resolution for a range of plant and climate conditions. From temporal and spatial scales of the underlying processes and desired output, we develop dimensionless parameters that indicate the adequacy of a finite-resolution model with respect to reproducing characteristics of plant transpiration over multiple growing seasons. These parameters may be used to determine the spatial resolution required to predict vegetation health in water-limited ecosystems.
Comparison of the Role of Mexican-American and Euro-American Family Members in the Socialization of Children

To compare the involvement of Mexican-American and Euro-American family members in the socialization of children self-reports of their own socialization were collected from 663 university students. The sample was comprised of 109 Euro-American and 100 Mexican-American men as well as 215 Euro-American and 239 Mexican-American women. Mexican-American women included bathing them, playing with them, and befriending them among their mothers' contributions to their rearing more frequently than did non-Hispanic women. More Euro-American women than Hispanic women reported their fathers “took care of them.” Euro-American men listed disciplining them, reading to them, and helping them with homework among the activities their mothers participated in more than did Mexican-American men.
EyeMusic: making music with the eyes

Though musical performers routinely use eye movements to communicate with each other during musical performances, very few performers or composers have used eye tracking devices to direct musical compositions and performances. EyeMusic is a system that uses eye movements as an input to electronic music compositions. The eye movements can directly control the music, or the music can respond to the eyes moving around a visual scene. EyeMusic is implemented so that any composer using established composition software can incorporate prerecorded eye movement data into their musical compositions.
Full length article: Efficient processing of acoustic signals for high-rate information transmission over sparse underwater channels

For underwater acoustic channels where multipath spread is measured in tens of symbol intervals at high transmission rates, multichannel equalization required for bandwidth-efficient communications may become prohibitively complex for real-time implementation. To reduce computational complexity of signal processing and improve performance of data detection, receiver structures that are matched to the physical channel characteristics are investigated. A decision-feedback equalizer is designed which relies on an adaptive channel estimator to compute its parameters. The channel estimate is reduced in size by selecting only the significant components, whose delay span is often much shorter than the multipath spread of the channel. Optimal coefficient selection (sparsing) is performed by truncation in magnitude. This estimate is used to cancel the post-cursor ISI prior to linear equalization. Spatial diversity gain is achieved by a reduced-complexity pre-combining method which eliminates the need for a separate channel estimator/equalizer for each array element. The advantages of this approach are reduction in the number of receiver parameters, optimal implementation of sparse feedback, and efficient parallel implementation of adaptive algorithms for the pre-combiner, the fractionally-spaced channel estimators and the short feedforward equalizer filters. Receiver algorithm is applied to real data transmitted at 10 kbps over 3 km in shallow water, showing excellent results.
An integrated Doppler-radar transceiver front end using two FET active antennas

An integrated X-band Doppler-radar transceiver front end has been developed. This front end consists of two adjacently spaced field-effect transistor (FET) active antennas, with one of them being biased to oscillate as its transmitter and the other being biased not to oscillate, but to act as its mixer. This design has the advantage of lower noise at low Doppler frequencies as compared to a self-oscillating mixer scheme. The circuit can be used in low-power Doppler-radar systems to detect slow-moving objects such as pedestrians, intruders, automobiles, etc., with high sensitivity.
Performance Limitations and Measurement Analysis of a Near-Field Microwave Microscope for Nondestructive and Subsurface Detection

Near-field microwave microscopy provides a means for nondestructive localized characterization of both surface and subsurface materials and devices. This paper details the design and implementation of a near-field microwave measurement system capable of achieving large scan areas (>; 1 mm2) with micrometer spatial resolution, good signal-to-noise and long-term measurement stability. We discuss the measurement topology, system design, and qualification, as well as the design and optimization of the probe circuit and equivalent microwave circuit. The system noise floor is measured and noise-limiting elements are identified. A calibration method is discussed that allows for the quantitative extraction of the tip-sample impedance and enables tip-sample modeling. Several demonstration measurements are provided that show differentiation of not just metals and dielectrics, but compound targets. Additionally, resolution of 10-μm features at the surface are demonstrated with a factor of 4 degradation in spatial resolution at a depth approximately equal to the tip diameter.
Practical Strategies for Combining Qualitative and Quantitative Methods: Applications to Health Research

This article describes a series of research designs for combining qualitative and quantitative methods, using a Priority-Sequence Model that relies on the principle of complementarity. First, a decision about the priority of the two methods selects either a qualitative or a quantitative approach to be the principal method. Second, a decision about sequencing determines whether the complementary method will serve as either a preliminary or a follow-up to the principal method. These two decisions yield four basic research designs: (a) preliminary qualitative methods in a quantitative study, (b) preliminary quantitative methods in a qualitative study, (c) follow-up qualitative methods in a quantitative study, and (d) follow-up quantitative methods in a qualitative study. The conclusions consider further research designs and the expertise necessary for multiple-methods research.
Scattering Matrices and Reciprocity Relationships for Various Representations of the State of Polarization

For the reduction of the equations of radiative transfer, the most convenient representation of the state of polarization is by a one-column intensity matrix of the four coherency-matrix elements or their linear combinations, derived from the electric-field components parallel and perpendicular to the plane through the local vertical and the direction of the light beam. A particular law of scattering is then expressed by a four-by-four (Mueller) scattering matrix which connects the intensity matrices of the incident and scattered light. The form of such scattering matrices for various representations of the state of polarization, as well as the corresponding reciprocity relationships, are derived with the use of the matrix formalism recently introduced by Marathay. The reciprocity relationships, i.e., the pertinent relationships when the incident and scattered beams are interchanged or when their directions of propagations are reversed, can be expressed in terms of a transposition of the original scattering matrix accompanied by pre- and post-multiplication by certain diagonal matrices that incorporate the changes in the sign of some elements of the scattering matrix after transposition. The derived reciprocity relationships are new except for those which govern the reversal of directions when the state of polarization is represented by the Stokes parameters and their modifications (used by Chandrasekhar) and which have been given earlier by Chandrasekhar and van de Hulst.
Application of the dual-loaded Modulated Scatterer Technique to multilayered material evaluation

Health monitoring of infrastructure is an important concern. There are a number of nondestructive testing techniques that have been developed for this purpose. Embedded Modulated Scatterer Technique (MST) is one such method. This paper presents embedded MST, utilizing a dual-loaded scatterer, as applied to multilayer structure assessment. Simulation and measurement results are provided.
Nanoparticle formulations of cisplatin for cancer therapy

The genotoxic agent cisplatin, used alone or in combination with radiation and/or other chemotherapeutic agents, is an important first-line chemotherapy for a broad range of cancers. The clinical utility of cisplatin is limited both by intrinsic and acquired resistance and dose-limiting normal tissue toxicity. That cisplatin shows little selectivity for tumor versus normal tissue may be a critical factor limiting its value. To overcome the low therapeutic ratio of the free drug, macromolecular, liposomal, and nanoparticle drug delivery systems have been explored toward leveraging the enhanced permeability and retention effect and promoting delivery of cisplatin to tumors. Here, we survey recent advances in nanoparticle formulations of cisplatin, focusing on agents that show promise in preclinical or clinical settings. WIREs Nanomed Nanobiotechnol 2016, 8:776-791. doi: 10.1002/wnan.1390 For further resources related to this article, please visit the WIREs website.
External Technical Standards for Data Contents and Data Values: Prospects for Adoption by the Archival Community

Certain recurrent types of information (e.g., dates, times, geographic locations, languages) are so broadly used in data processing that standard code lists (data values) or standard formats for entering the information (data contents) have been developed and widely adopted. Many of these have direct applications in archival information systems. The author summarizes the issues to be considered by the archival community before adopting these standards. Several specific standards are described as examples and are evaluated, using the criteria developed by the Working Group on Standards for Archival Description.
ATPS-10DEXMEDETOMIDINE ALTERS MOLECULAR PROFILE AND CELLULAR PROPERTIES OF GLIOBLASTOMA

Different cellular and molecular effects of the alpha-2-receptoragonist Dexmedetomidine have been reported and the drug is becoming of essence in glioblastoma (GBM) care for both, awake craniotomies and in postoperative intensive care. Glioblastoma stem cells (GSCs) are an established model for preclinical GBM research. However, the effects of Dexmedetomidine on GSCs expression profile is unknown. The purpose of this research was to establish the drugs impact on the expression profiles and cellular properties of GSCs. Two independent GSC lines were exposed to Dexmedetomidine. miRNA and mRNA expression profiling by microarrays was performed using total RNA. In silico analysis were performed with ingenuity pathway analyses (IPA) and gene ontology (GO) analysis. Changes in cellular properties such as self-renewal (limiting dilution assay), differentiation (neural lineage marker analysis), proliferation (BrdU labeling), and invasion (Boyden chamber assays) were investigated upon Dexmedetomidine treatment. Dexmedetomidine treatment altered the cellular and molecular profiles of GSCs. Ingenuity pathway analyses and gene ontology analysis of differentially expressed genes in Dexmedetomidine exposed cells revealed multiple cellular functions being potentially affected. Comprehensive in vitro experiments with GSCs including differentiation, proliferation, self-renewal and migration/invasion assays show that the alpha-2-receptor-agonist can potentially impact GBM pathogenesis by significantly altering cellular behavior of GSCs. With this in silico and in vitro approach we could show how Dexmedetomidine influences GSCs on cellular and molecular level. Respecting these results offers opportunities to enhance prognosis for patients being treated for GBM by adapting the usage of this alpha-2-receptor-agonist.
Activation-dependent degradation of protein kinase Cη

Prolonged activation of protein kinase Cs (PKCs) by long-term treatment of cells with phorbol ester tumor promoters down-regulates the expression of many PKCs. To investigate the molecular mechanisms involved in the down-regulation of PKCη, we expressed the novel PKCs η and θ and various mutant forms in baby hamster kidney cells. Upon overexpression, constitutively active PKCη, but not wild type or kinase-dead PKCη, underwent rapid degradation to generate several lower molecular weight polypeptides. When co-expressed with active kinases, kinase-dead PKCη with a pseudosubstrate site mutation designed to give an active conformation was down-regulated while the wild type PKCη was not. These results suggest requirements for kinase activity and an active conformation for down-regulation of PKCη. Treatment with the proteasome inhibitors N-Ac-Leu-Leu-norleucinal and lactacystin led to accumulation of PKCη proteolytic products and potentially ubiquitinated forms. While wild type PKCη localizes mostly to the detergent-soluble fraction of the cell, a significant portion of full-length constitutively active PKCη and of kinase-dead, active conformation PKCη were found in the detergent-insoluble fraction. Several proteolytic fragments of constitutively active PKCη also were found in the detergent insoluble fraction. These full-length and proteolytic fragments of PKCη in the detergent-insoluble fraction accumulated further in the presence of proteasome inhibitors. These data suggest that active conformation PKCη accumulates in the detergent-insoluble compartment, is degraded by proteolysis in the presence of kinase activity, and that the cleavage products undergo further degradation via ubiquitin-mediated degradation in the proteasome.
Effect of Si and Ge Interface Layers on the Schottky Barrier Height of Metal Contacts to GaAs

A new approach for extending the range of the Schottky barrier height ϕB of metal contacts to (100) GaAs is described. Very thin (∼ 10-30A) heavily n-type and p-type Si or Ge interlayers are found to directly alter the GaAi interface Fermi energy EF. X-ray photoemission spectroscopy is used to determine EF during contact formation and the corresponding ϕB for thick contacts is measured by electrical methods. In an appropriate structure the ϕB range for contacts to n-type GaAs is ∼ 0.25 to 1.0 eV. For p-type GaAs ϕB has been increased to as much as 0.9 eV. This method of ϕBcontrol can be used for both Schottky barrier contact and nonalloyed ohmic contact applications. The results are interpreted in terms of a simple heterojunction model.
Flow cytometric analysis of the cell-cycle distribution of spleen lymphocytes isolated from Fischer 344 rats exposed to ethyl nitrosourea

Current studies in our laboratory are designed to determine the frequency of genotoxic responses induced in lymphocytes isolated from Fischer 344 rats. To evaluate the effect of a model compound, N-ethyl-N-nitrosourea (ENU), on the cell-cycle distribution of spleen lymphocytes, 8-week old, female Fischer 344 rats were injected i.p. with ENU and sacrificed 1, 2, 4, and 6 weeks afterexposure. Four replicate cultures per dose per exposure period were established and cells were cultured for 66 hr. Colcernid, an agent which blocks cells in mitosis and induces an accumulation of cells in the G2 + M peak, was added to two of the four cultures as a positive control. After a 3 hr incubation, the cells were harvested, the nuclei stained with propidium iodide, and the DNA content of the individual nuclei was quantified by flow cytometry. As expected, exposure to Colcemid resulted in an accumulation of cells in the G2 + M phase of the cell cycle, which was accompanied by a decrease in the Go + GI population. The increase in the G2 + M population was significant (p < 0.05) in cultures of lymphocytes assayed at 4 and 6 weeks after exposure. The eflect of increasing ENU concentratiorl was an increase in the percentage of Sphase cells (p =0.05) and a decrease (p < 0.02) in the percentage of G0 + G1 cells. This finding was observed only in those lymphocytes isolated 1 week after exposure. These findings indicate that flow cytometric analysis of the distribution of cells within the cell-cycle may provide insight into the eflects of toxicant exposure on mamnzalian cells.
Fixing Broken Bones and Broken Homes: Domestic Violence as a Patient Safety Issue

Article-at-a-Glance Background Domestic violence (DV) is a significant problem in terms of both patient harm and cost. To better address this problem, the diagnosis and treatment of DV are considered within the emerging model of patient safety and medical error reduction. The case of a female patient who presents in the clinical setting following an incident of DV shows how medical errors can be analyzed as they are in medical cases not involving DV, such as when a person with abdominal pain is sent away from the emergency department with instructions to take an acid reducer and later suffers a burst appendix. Root Cause Analysis A number of factors inhibit the correct diagnosis and treatment of DV victims seeking additional treatment. Physicians often fail to screen for DV, misidentify symptoms, or deny the possibility of underlying DV, and patients often hide the symptoms and refuse to admit the problem. However, human factor errors related to knowledge, cultural norms, and individual biases; organizational factors, including lack of training and reimbursement; and technology factors related to information accessibility appear to play significant roles. Conclusion Failure to diagnose or adequately address DV can be interpreted as medical errors. Addressing DV requires a systemic response, which might begin with integrating education and training about DV into the clinical setting, ensuring the use of existing screening tools, and providing adequate and appropriate reimbursement levels.
Research on Web-based Management System of Tool Life-cycle

To manage the tool information effectively,the idea of tool life-cycle management was presented and tool service flow and functions were analyzed.Using Java Server Pages(JSP) technology,a web-based on the Browse/Server three tiers net work architecture management system of tool life-cycle management was developed,and key implementing technologies of the system were introduced.
Development and preparation of lean meat products.

When the effect of food on human lipoprotein levels is tested, or when human consumption of dietary lipids must be controlled or limited, all food needs to be provided under controlled conditions to achieve consistent composition and sensory traits. It is especially important to control the composition of foods, particularly fat and fatty acid content. Because of the inherent biologic variability in the chemical composition of animal tissues (beef in particular), raw materials must be selected carefully and prepared under strict guidelines. In addition, chemical composition should be verified initially and during the production of the product to ensure the accuracy necessary for controlled dietary intake. Furthermore, the meat provided must be easy for the study subject to prepare, be of consistent serving size, and yet be highly palatable to maintain the subject’s interest and participation. This article outlilnes the protocol for developing lean meat products for use in nutrition studies in which fat content must be controlled, especially those studies designed to examine the effect of fat content on human lipoproteins. Preliminary studies, procurement of raw materials, procedures for recipe selection, product preparation, and sampling procedures for verification of chemical composition are described. Our findings indicate that fat intake from beef, chicken, and fish can be controlled for use in nutrition studies.
Large Deflection of Axisymmetrically Loaded Spherical Caps

This study is an investigation of the non-linear behaviour of an elastic spherical cap under the assumption of axisymmetric deformation. The types of axisymmetric loading under consideration are partially loaded uniform pressure, line load, “cosine” load with the maximum intensity at the apex and the combined action of uniform pressure and line load. The edge of the cap is assumed to be rigidly clamped, hinged, and unrestrainedly simply-supported. The method of solution is an extension of the iterative procedure for the integral equations formulated by Budiansky for uniformly loaded, clamped caps. In the cases of hinged and unrestrainedly simply-supported edges, the critical loads for the axisymmetric snap-buckling are presented for different types of loading and various values of the geometrical cap parameter. In the case of a clamped edge the load-deflection curves are established until no solution can be found for further increasing the load. The load corresponding to the limit point on the load-deflection curve is the critical load if the axisymmetric snap-buckling exists. The graphical results are presented for load-deflection curves, deflection profiles, bending moments, transverse shear and interaction of buckling pressures and buckling line loads. The present results are in good agreement with available data for uniform pressure distributed over the entire surface of the cap with three sets of edge conditions and over the central portion of a clamped cap.