cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Software IV and V Research Priorities and Applied Program Accomplishments Within NASA

The mission of this research is to be world-class creators and facilitators of innovative, intelligent, high performance, reliable information technologies that enable NASA missions to (1) increase software safety and quality through error avoidance, early detection and resolution of errors, by utilizing and applying empirically based software engineering best practices; (2) ensure customer software risks are identified and/or that requirements are met and/or exceeded; (3) research, develop, apply, verify, and publish software technologies for competitive advantage and the advancement of science; and (4) facilitate the transfer of science and engineering data, methods, and practices to NASA, educational institutions, state agencies, and commercial organizations. The goals are to become a national Center Of Excellence (COE) in software and system independent verification and validation, and to become an international leading force in the field of software engineering for improving the safety, quality, reliability, and cost performance of software systems. This project addresses the following problems: Ensure safety of NASA missions, ensure requirements are met, minimize programmatic and technological risks of software development and operations, improve software quality, reduce costs and time to delivery, and improve the science of software engineering
Antigenic Similarities of αs1-Caseins A, B, and C

Abstract Rabbit antisera to α s1 -casein genetic polymorphs A, B, and C exhibited qualitatively identical antibody-antigen interactions with each of the three variants.
Migration of Cells From Shielded to Irradiated Marrow

Studies were made with CBA T6T6 chimeras to evaluate the contribution of migrating cells to the recovery of x-irradiated marrow. It was observed that cell migration from a shielded limb is essentially entirely responsible for the 30-day recovery of marrow irradiated with 1000 rad. Thus, these findings provide a direct demonstration of the generally accepted inference of stem cell migration from unirradiated to irradiated sites.
Macroeconomic Management and Financial Stability: The Implications for East Asia

This chapter looks at the determinants of economic and financial linkages between developed and developing countries, with a special focus on East Asia. The synchronisation of business cycles depends on trade flows, production structures and to a lesser extent capital-account openness, and the correlation of stock and bond returns in emerging markets depends on the trade flows.
Suppression of muscle protein turnover and amino acid degradation by dietary protein deficiency

To define the adaptations that conserve amino acids and muscle protein when dietary protein intake is inadequate, rats (60-70 g final wt) were fed a normal or protein-deficient (PD) diet (18 or 1% lactalbumin), and their muscles were studied in vitro. After 7 days on the PD diet, both protein degradation and synthesis fell 30-40% in skeletal muscles and atria. This fall in proteolysis did not result from reduced amino acid supply to the muscle and preceded any clear decrease in plasma amino acids. Oxidation of branched-chain amino acids, glutamine and alanine synthesis, and uptake of alpha-aminoisobutyrate also fell by 30-50% in muscles and adipose tissue of PD rats. After 1 day on the PD diet, muscle protein synthesis and amino acid uptake decreased by 25-40%, and after 3 days proteolysis and leucine oxidation fell 30-45%. Upon refeeding with the normal diet, protein synthesis also rose more rapidly (+30% by 1 day) than proteolysis, which increased significantly after 3 days (+60%). These different time courses suggest distinct endocrine signals for these responses. The high rate of protein synthesis and low rate of proteolysis during the first 3 days of refeeding a normal diet to PD rats contributes to the rapid weight gain ("catch-up growth") of such animals.
Mathematical Models in Biology: Infectious Disease Modeling

Throughout history, devastating epidemics of infectious diseases have wiped out large percentages of the human population. In the mid-fourteenth century, the Black Death, a plague epidemic, killed roughly one-third of Europe's population. More recently, in 1918, an outbreak of the flu killed an estimated 20 million people, more people than died in all of World War I. In our own times, the acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) pandemic has brought untold personal suffering and social losses. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) estimates that, from 1981 to 2001, approximately 21 million people died from AIDS worldwide. Millions of people all over the world are currently infected with the human immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV) virus, about 95% of them in developing countries. Although medical advances have reduced the consequences of some infectious diseases, preventing infections in the first place is preferable to treating them. The development of vaccines gives us not only a means of protecting ourselves as individuals, but also, and perhaps more importantly from a public health view, a means of preventing sudden and widespread outbreaks. Once a vaccine is developed, how should it be used? Should everyone in a society be required to be immunized for certain illnesses, regardless of their personal desires? Is the cost of an immunization program worthwhile if a vaccine is expensive or difficult to administer? If only those facing the highest risk of a disease are immunized, will that be sufficient to prevent epidemics?
Unequal Participation: Democracy's Unresolved Dilemma Presidential Address, American Political Science Association, 1996

Low voter turnout is a serious democratic problem for five reasons: (1) It means unequal turnout that is systematically biased against less well-to-do citizens. (2) Unequal turnout spells unequal political influence. (3) U.S. voter turnout is especially low, but, measured as percent of voting-age population, it is also relatively low in most other countries. (4) Turnout in midterm, regional, local, and supranational elections—less salient but by no means unimportant elections—tends to be especially poor. (5) Turnout appears to be declining everywhere. The problem of inequality can be solved by institutional mechanisms that maximize turnout. One option is the combination of voter-friendly registration rules, proportional representation, infrequent elections, weekend voting, and holding less salient elections concurrently with the most important national elections. The other option, which can maximize turnout by itself, is compulsory voting. Its advantages far outweigh the normative and practical objections to it.
Contributions of empirical research to medical ethics

Empirical research pertaining to cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), clinician behaviors related to do-not-resuscitate (DNR) orders and substituted judgment suggests potential contributions to medical ethics. Research quantifying the likelihood of surviving CPR points to the need for further philosophical analysis of the limitations of the patient autonomy in decision making, the nature and definition of medical futility, and the relationship between futility and professional standards. Research on DNR orders has identified barriers to the goal of patient involvement in these life and death discussions. The initial data on surrogate decision making also points to the need for a reexamination of the moral basis for substituted judgment, the moral authority of proxy decision making and the second-order status of the best interests standard. These examples of empirical research suggest that an interplay between empirical research, ethical analysis and policy development may represent a new form of interdisciplinary scholarship to improve clinical medicine.
Response of understory vegetation to variable tree mortality following a mountain pine beetle epidemic in lodgepole pine stands in northern Utah

We examined the response of understory vegetation beneath monotypic, even-aged stands of lodgepole pine to increasing tree mortality following an epidemic of mountain pine beetles. we hypothesized that understory biomass would increase continually as the tree canopy was reduced and competition with trees for light and soil moisture decreased, but that plant species diversity and heterogeneity would peak at intermediate levels of beetle-caused tree mortality. Mean understory biomass clipped from 50 1-m2 circular plots/stand was an order of magnitude greater (40 g m-2) in beetle-killed stands, with typical levels of overstory tree mortality (50–70%), than in unaffected stands (4 g m-2); and it increased exponentially with disturbance severity. Frequency of fruit occurrence was positively related to increasing tree mortality, but was highly variable. Understory plant species richness and, to lesser degrees indices of diversity that incorporate evenness, peaked in stands with moderate mortality. Measures of vegetation patchiness (the coefficient of variation in mean plot biomass and an index of habitat interspersion) also peaked in stands with intermediate levels of disturbance. The response of understory plant species diversity to increasing disturbance severity is consistent with the pattern predicted by the intermediate disturbance hypothesis. However, other explanations of this pattern are discussed. Although understory plant community richness was higher in beetle-killed stands than in unaffected stands, new species were not abundant and therefore did not contribute substantially to greater evenness in understory plant diversity.
Bayesian residual analysis for binary response regression models

SUMMARY In a binary response regression model, classical residuals are difficult to define and interpret due to the discrete nature of the response variable. In contrast, Bayesian residuals have continuous-valued posterior distributions which can be graphed to learn about outlying observations. Two definitions of Bayesian residuals are proposed for binary regression data. Plots of the posterior distributions of the basic 'observed - fitted' residuals can be helpful in outlier detection. Alternatively, the notion of a tolerance random variable can be used to define latent data residuals that are functions of the tolerance random variables and the parameters. In the probit setting, these residuals are attractive in that a priori they are a sample from a standard normal distribution, and therefore the corresponding posterior distributions are easy to interpret. These residual definitions are illustrated in examples and contrasted with classical outlier detection methods for binary data.
The Relationship Between Anxiety and Foreign Language Oral Proficiency Ratings.

ABSTRACT The American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) has developed an oral proficiency test, the Oral Proficiency Interview (OPI), which may become the official test of oral performance for prospective foreign language teachers in Texas. Professionals in foreign language education are raising concerns about the effect of anxiety on Oral Proficiency Interview ratings. The purpose of this study was to provide an assessment of how anxiety may influence scores on the OPI. An examination of the relationship between anxiety and oral performance must take foreign language ability into account. In this study, subjects' foreign language proficiency was assessed through a Self-Appraisal of Language Proficiency questionnaire and a dictation test. Subjects' anxiety was assessed on the basis of four independent anxiety measures: the State Anxiety Inventory, the Cognitive Interference Questionnaire, a Self-Report of Anxiety, and a Foreign Language Anxiety Scale of Reactions. A total of sixty subjects took the OPI at the University of Texas at Austin, Southwest Texas State University, or the University of Texas at El Paso. These subjects were either majors in French, German, or Spanish or prospective French, German, or Spanish teachers at one of these three institutions. The Self-Appraisal of Speaking Proficiency and the State Anxiety Inventory were administered before the OPI, and the other anxiety instruments were given immediately after it. Results showed significant negative correlations between anxiety and the OPI, but once the effects of ability were accounted for, the correlations were no longer significant. In other words, once the effect of an individual's language proficiency was accounted for, oral performance no longer decreased as anxiety increased. An important qualification that must be noted is that subjects were aware that the OPI in this study represented an unofficial administration of the test. Therefore, this study does not provide data on anxiety levels for official test situations.
Telephone Survey of Infection-Control and Antibiotic Stewardship Practices in Long-Term Care Facilities in Maryland

Abstract Background Multidrug-resistant organisms are an emerging and serious threat to the care of patients. Long-term care facilities are considered a reservoir of these organisms partly because of the over-prescribing of antibiotics. Antibiotic use is common in long-term care facilities. Antibiotic stewardship programs have been shown to reduce antibiotic consumption in acute-care facilities. The purpose of our study is to investigate existing infection-control practices and antibiotic stewardship programs in long-term care facilities in Maryland. Methods We telephoned the infection-control personnel in 231 long-term care facilities in Maryland between February 2014 and July 2015 and reached 124 facilities (59%). Results Among the 124 facilities surveyed, there were 14,371 beds and 337 infection-control personnel with basic infection-control training. Close to 20% of facilities use silver- or antimicrobial-impregnated urinary catheters. Most facilities (97%) track urinary tract infections. Although all report to the health department in the case of an outbreak, only 63 (50.8 %) report directly to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. About 80% of facilities isolate patients with Clostridium difficile, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, and vancomycin-resistant Enterococci with acute infections only. Eighty percent of facilities have basic guidance on choice of antibiotic, and 27% have a restricted formulary. Only 25% of facilities have an antibiotic approval process. Thirty-five percent of facilities have training for antibiotics prescribing. However, 17% of facilities did not know whether such training existed. Conclusions Antibiotic stewardship programs in long-term care facilities are still in early development stages, but our results demonstrate that the majority of facilities are collecting data on prescribing antibiotics, and a surprising number have antibiotic approval and antibiotics prescribing training.
Enthusiasm and Caution on Embree's Proposed Model for Hypothesis Testing

Embree's work in developing an instrument which, hopefully, w~Ll enable people to be classified in terms of their belief positions on the mindbody problem is creative and imaginative and offers a novel approach to one form of empirical study of religious belief. At the same time, it is somewhat distressing to find the procedure described as a "model for hypothesis testing." More accurately, he has produced a device to use in hypothesis testing. At the core of his work is the Personal Behefs Scale, developed around Centore's classifications of six possible positions on the mind-body problem. Using logic as well as factor-analytic data, Embree has refined response-patterns on this scale into four presumably independent groups based on two levels (high-low) each of two classifications (convention-unconventional and classical loglc-fuzzy logic). This would presumably provide a fascinating classification for a two by two analysis of variance on a third and dependent variable. However, it is at this point that the design problem begins. As a substitute for cross-validation, Embree rearranged the responses of the same subjects (from the same convenience sample) to the same test items on which the independent variables were operationally defined into various "test-score" combinations to use as a dependent measure. He then compared his groups on various paired-comparison analyses of variance. Such pooled-score procedures have been noted by Tabachnick and Fidell (1989, p. 59) to lead to "correlations (which) are inflated if some items are reused." And, the confounding produced by using the same response base for the independent and dependent variables is such that no matter how sophisticated the statistics, the results constitute anything but a "model for hypothesis testing." They simply have no possible interpretation (see Cureton, 1950). This is a shame, because it would be fascinating to know how his four operationally defined groups might compare on an infinite number of social variables as well as those specific to religious beliefs. 'Address enquiries to M. Reuder, PO Box C, Shohola, PA 18458.
Spectral feature of 31 December 1981 γ -ray burst not confirmed

Measurements of a gamma ray burst at 01:37 UT on December 31, 1981 using the SMM gamma ray spectrometer (GRS) are compared with those made by the Konus instruments on Veneras 11-14. Burst time profiles, photon spectra, and detector energy loss spectra for three time intervals are compared for the GRS and the Konus instruments. It is concluded that the SMM spectra exhibit no evidence for the presence of emission features reported by the Konus group.
Thermal vibrations of a two-dimensional vacancy island crystal in a strained metal film

Abstract Vacancy islands formed during room-temperature exposure to sulfur of a submonolayer Ag film on Ru(0001) order spontaneously to form a triangular lattice at an island area fraction just above 20%. A normal mode decomposition of the thermal vibrations of this vacancy island crystal, measured with time-resolved scanning tunneling microscopy, obtains Lame coefficients in the range of 10 8 N m −2 . We show that these estimates are consistent with stabilizing forces derived from long-range elastic interactions between the islands.
Mechanical Properties of NaCl, KBr, KCl

The pulse method has been applied to measure mechanical properties of NaCl, KBr, and KCl at 10 and 30 Mc/sec. The elastic constants of KBr have been measured in the low temperature region. The strain-optical constants have been measured by a traveling-wave method suggested by Mueller.
Positive Uncertainty and the Ethos of Comparative Literature

In her article "Positive Uncertainty and the Ethos of Comparative Literature" Brigitte Le Juez examines the continuous difficulty comparatists have with the lack of definition of the discipline and explores possible new avenues for tackling the problem. Le Juez argues that "uncertainty" recognized as a tenet of comparative literature should not be unheeded, but embraced in order to shift the focus from the idea that comparative objects and methods are the defining elements of the discipline and envisage them as the aims and results of an ethos. Le Juez posits that when "indiscipline" and "serendipity" are added to the notion of uncertainty, creativity is revealed as the essential characteristic of comparative literature.
Program Evaluation in Medical Education: An Overview of the Utilization-focused Approach

Medical school administrators, educators, and other key personnel must often make difficult choices regarding the creation, retention, modification, or termination of the various programs that take place at their institutions. Program evaluation is a data-driven strategy to aide decision-makers in determining the most appropriate outcome for programs within their purview. The purpose of this brief article is to describe one program evaluation model, the utilization-focused approach. In particular, we address the focus of this model, the personal factor, the role of the evaluator, and the evaluation process. Based on the flexibility of this model as well as its focus on stakeholder involvement, we encourage readers to consider the utilization-focused approach when evaluating programs.
An Application-Specific Coprocessor for High-Speed Cellular Logic Operations

Why develop a special coprocessor to perform one lengthy computation? Performance is much better than with equivalent software and fast-turnaround development times will soon be possible.
Associations between smoking status and stage of colorectal cancer at diagnosis in massachusetts between 1982 and 1987

To examine the relationship between smoking and stage of colorectal cancer at diagnosis, data on 2788 current smokers and 6313 nonsmokers with known stage at diagnosis were obtained from the Massachusetts Cancer Registry. The stage at diagnosis was treated as a polytomous response variable in a logit-type, log-linear (Poisson) model, with smoking status, age, sex, and race as covariates. The relative frequency of disseminated colorectal cancer was 45% greater in smokers, compared with nonsmokers (relative risk [RR] = 1.45; 95% confidence interval, 1.00 to 2.09). A substudy was conducted to determine the accuracy of the registry's smoking data; the findings suggest that the actual association may be larger than that presented above. These results confirm the presence of an association between smoking and advanced stage of colorectal cancer at diagnosis. Whether the association is due to a biologic or behavioral phenomenon cannot be determined from these data.
The orienting response as novelty and significance detector: reply to O'Gorman.

O'Goiman's (1979) criticisms of the orienting response (OR) significance hypothesis are not well-founded. The hypothesis is not based solely on electrodermal data—studies reporting significance effects for heart rate and pupillary OR are cited. The hypothesis does not discard novelty but suggests that an interaction between uncertainty and significance triggers OR. Differential reactivity across OR components reflects stimulus- and individual-response factors, and does not require separate “significance registers.” Since the hypothesis specifically maintains that appraisals of stimulus significance affect the OR, not the mere fact of cognitive appraisal per se, no general “cognitive appraisal effect” was ever expected. O'Gorman confuses the difficulty of estimating the subject's spontaneous judgments of significance with the relative ease of manipulating significance in the laboratory. He considers classic OR theory more “objective” only because he fails to look closely enough at the complex judgmental processes involved in stimulus intake, model building, and matching functions. O'Gorman's contentions of different initial- and test-ORs, and of a simple additive relationship between significance and OR, lack supportive data and are challenged by available evidence. Literature is cited suggesting that: a) scanning is continuously biased toward the detection of significant stimuli; b) detection of a sgnificant stimulus feature triggers increased information scanning, increasing the possibility that previously unrecognized uncertainty will be detected, and c) lowers the criterion level of the OR “threshold,” increasing the likelihood of OR if uncertainty is detected. Evidence is cited suggesting that the significance-OR, and perhaps attention in general, is mediated by neocortical-limbic interaction, the limbic' “motivational” evaluator of stimulus input steering and switching neocortical “intellectual” analyzers of stimulus pattern.
A Quasi-Empirical Bayes Method for Small Area Estimation

Abstract This article develops an empirical Bayes-type approach for small area estimation based only on the specification of a set of conditionally independent hierarchical mean and variance functions describing the first two moments of the process generating the data. The objective of the analysis is to draw inference about the intermediate or the random means. We combine the quasi-likelihood functions to construct the quasi-posterior density of the random means conditional on the data and the marginal parameters. We describe a method for estimating the marginal parameters that are then substituted in the quasi-posterior density of the random means. The empirical quasi-posterior density so derived is used to obtain the quasi-empirical Bayes estimates of the random parameters. We apply the methodology to estimate the utilization rates of cancer chemotherapy for the selected counties in the state of Washington.
Depth profiling of polishing-induced contamination on fused silica surfaces

Laser-induced damage on optical surfaces is often associated with absorbing contaminants introduced by the polishing process. This is particularly the case for UV optics. Here secondary ion mass spectroscopy (SIMS) was used to measure depth profiles of finished process contamination on fused silica surfaces. Contaminants detected include the major polishing compound components (Ce or Zr from CeO2 or ZrO2), Al presently largely because of the use of Al2O3 in the final cleaning process (Fe, Cu,Cr) incorporated during the polishing step or earlier grinding steps. Depth profile data typically showed an exponential decay of contaminant concentration to a depth of 100-200 nm. This depth is consistent with a polishing redeposition layers formed during the chemo-mechanical polishing of fused silica. Peak contaminant levels are typically in the 10-100 ppm range, except for Al with exceeds 1000 ppm. A strong correlation has been shown between the presence of a gray haze damage morphology and the use of CeO2 polishing compound. No strong correlation was found however between high levels of Ce, or any other contaminant and the low damage threshold was observed. In fact one of the strongest indications of a correlation is between increased damage thresholds and increased Zr contamination. This suggests that the correlation between redeposition layer and laser damage threshold is not simple an absorbing contaminant issue.
Recovery by the coralAcropora cervicornis after drilling mud exposure. The free amino acid pool

Corals were exposed to drilling mud for 24 hr and then allowed to recover for 48 hr in clean seawater. Depending on the concentration and the mud used, exposure produced either an increase or decrease in free amino acid (FAA) pool size. Aspartate was affected to a greater degree than other amino acids. No clear instance of recovery could be ascertained after 48 hr in clean seawater. In several cases, corals, apparently unaffected by a 24 hr exposure, nevertheless suffered significant changes in the FAA pool during the 48 hr recovery period. Thus, the degree of toxicity of the drilling mud could not be accurately predicted from the 24 hr exposure data. In many cases, the choice of a normalizing parameter determined whether two sets of data were significantly different or not. Accurate effects assessment depends on a comparison of several methods of normalization to confirm statistical results.
Cryptosporidium parvum Infection of Intestinal Epithelium: Morphologic and Functional Studies in an In Vitro Model

A monolayer of mature polarized colonic epithelial cells (T84) able to generate and maintain a barrier to macromolecular flow was used to study pathophysiologic events that occur on microvillus cell exposure to Cryptosporidium parvum. By 24-48 h, several life cycle forms were seen in parasitophorous vacuoles near the apical cell surface, along with a time- and oocyst dose-dependent reduction in epithelial barrier function. As few as 10(5) organisms constituted a successful infecting dose, and heat inactivation of organisms markedly reduced the monolayer barrier alteration. Horseradish peroxidase flux studies demonstrated a substantial increase in macromolecular permeability of the monolayer, and lactate dehydrogenase determinations indicated modest injury of the T84 epithelial cells on exposure to oocysts. Thus, disruption of the epithelial cell barrier, not just opening of transcellular channels for ion flow as reported previously, is responsible for the effects of C. parvum oocysts on intestinal epithelium.
Carboxypeptidase Z (CPZ) links thyroid hormone and Wnt signaling pathways in growth plate chondrocytes.

Carboxypeptidase Z (CPZ) removes carboxyl-terminal basic amino acid residues, particularly arginine residues, from proteins. CPZ contains a cysteine-rich domain (CRD) similar to the CRD found in the frizzled family of Wnt receptors. We have previously shown that thyroid hormone regulates terminal differentiation of growth plate chondrocytes through activation of Wnt-4 expression and Wnt/β-catenin signaling. The Wnt-4 protein contains a C-terminal arginine residue and binds to CPZ through the CRD. The objective of this study was to determine whether CPZ modulates Wnt/β-catenin signaling and terminal differentiation of growth plate chondrocytes. Our results show that CPZ and Wnt-4 mRNA are co-expressed throughout growth plate cartilage. In primary pellet cultures of rat growth plate chondrocytes, thyroid hormone increases both Wnt-4 and CPZ expression, as well as CPZ enzymatic activity. Knockdown of either Wnt-4 or CPZ mRNA levels using an RNA interference technique or blocking CPZ enzymatic activity with the carboxypeptidase inhibitor GEMSA reduces the thyroid hormone effect on both alkaline phosphatase activity and Col10a1 mRNA expression. Adenoviral overexpression of CPZ activates Wnt/β-catenin signaling and promotes the terminal differentiation of growth plate cells. Overexpression of CPZ in growth plate chondrocytes also removes the C-terminal arginine residue from a synthetic peptide consisting of the carboxyl-terminal 16 amino acids of the Wnt-4 protein. Removal of the C-terminal arginine residue of Wnt-4 by site-directed mutagenesis enhances the positive effect of Wnt-4 on terminal differentiation. These data indicate that thyroid hormone may regulate terminal differentiation of growth plate chondrocytes in part by modulating Wnt signaling pathways through the induction of CPZ and subsequent CPZ-enhanced activation of Wnt-4.
Short-lived head pains.

Most of the headache syndromes discussed in this article have a duration of less than 1 hour; some of them have a duration of seconds to minutes. Curiously and inexplicably, many of these paroxysmal syndromes are responsive to indomethacin prophylaxis.
Phosphorylation of Retinoblastoma Protein Assayed in Individual HL-60 Cells during Their Proliferation and Differentiation☆

Abstract Expression of pRb and its state of phosphorylation were immunocytochemically assayed in individual HL-60 cells during their proliferation and after induction of differentiation, using mAb which detects hypophosphorylated pRb (pRbP-) combined with mAb which reacts with pRb regardless of its phosphorylation (total pRb; pRbT). Correlated measurements of pRbP-, pRbT, a ratio of pRbP-/pRbT, and cellular DNA content by flow cytometry revealed expression of total pRb and its phosphorylation state vis-a-vis the cell cycle position. Following mitosis (during the exponential phase of cell growth) a mixture of hypo- and hyperphosphorylated pRb was present within the cell for less than 2 h, i.e., early in G1; no hypophosphorylated pRb was detected throughout remainder of the cycle. Cellular pRb content was increasing primarily during G1and the cell entrance to S was correlated with attainment of a distinct threshold level of pRb. No correlation was seen between the content of pRb per cell and its state of phosphorylation during G1. Cell differentiation whether induced by 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3, retinoic acid, or phorbol myristate acetate led to cell arrest primarily in G0/1. The G0/1cells in these cultures, compared to G1cells from the untreated cultures, had increased level of both pRbTand pRbP-. However, because the relative increase of pRbP-was disproportionally greater than of pRbT, the pRbP-/pRbTratio of the differentiating cells was markedly elevated. The cells that still were in S and G2/M in the differentiating cultures also showed the presence of hypophosphorylated pRb. Our data suggest that the mechanism of irreversible cell cycle arrest during terminal differentiation involves both the increase in content of pRb and dephosphorylation of pRb already present within the cell. This provides a large pool of hypophosphorylated pRb that can effectively remove all free E2F, thereby precluding activation of the genes whose transcription is needed to pass the G1restriction point. In contrast to terminal differentiation the transient quiescence (G0state) manifests only by dephosphorylation of pRb, without a change in its cellular level.
Twitter for city police department information sharing

In this paper, we examine the use of Twitter by city police departments in large U.S. cities (cities with populations greater than 300,000). The purpose of our study is to determine what types of information are shared by city police departments over Twitter and to determine how the public uses the information shared to converse with the police departments and with each other. We read and analyzed 4,915 posts authored by 30 city police departments that have active Twitter accounts. The analysis shows that city police departments in large U.S. cities primarily use Twitter to disseminate crime and incident related information. City police departments also use Twitter to share information about their departments, events, traffic, safety awareness, and crime prevention. To a lesser extent, city police departments use Twitter to converse directly with the public and news media. We also sampled four weeks of public-authored tweets, totaling 1,984 tweets, that contained police department Twitter usernames and found that a majority of these tweets were retweets of police authored tweets; public-authored tweets also mentioned police departments in discussions or were used to send direct messages. This paper furthers our understanding of information sharing by city police departments as well as public redistribution of this information through the use of social media tools.
Early life stress is associated with greater default network deactivation during working memory in healthy controls: a preliminary report

Early life stress (ELS) is a common risk factor for psychopathology, but there are few functional neuroimaging studies investigating its effects. In this preliminary study, we investigated the correlates of ELS exposure on the default network (DN) through measurements of task-associated DN deactivation. Data were analyzed from 19 subjects without psychiatric illness (10 with ELS). Subjects performed the working memory (WM) N-back task (including a 2-back WM and 0-back control condition) while undergoing functional MRI. We compared brain responses in the two groups across 5 bilateral DN regions using an a priori region of interest (ROI) analysis. The ELS group demonstrated significantly greater DN deactivation, observed in the right posterior cingulate cortex PCC, bilateral medial prefrontal cortex, left middle/superior frontal gyrus and right middle temporal region. These preliminary results indicate subjects with ELS demonstrate greater DN deactivations to WM challenges compared to non-ELS controls, potentially reflecting a biomarker of long-term effects of ELS exposure.
The role of valence on the high-affinity binding of Griffonia simplicifolia isolectins to type A human erythrocytes

The Griffonia simplicifolia-I (GS-I) isolectins have been used to probe the effect of lectin valence on their high-affinity binding to human erythrocytes. These tetrameric lectins are composed of A and B subunits and constitute a series of five isolectins (A4, A3B, A2B2, AB3, B4). The A subunit is specific for alpha-D-GalNAc end groups and binds to the blood type A determinant GalNAcalpha1, as well as to terminal alpha-D-Gal groups found on type B cells. The B subunit is specific for alpha-D-Gal end groups, and binds very specifically to type B erythrocytes. This series of isolectins is tetravalent (A4), trivalent (A3B), divalent (A2B2), and monovalent (AB3) for type A erythrocytes; thus, this system provides the opportunity to examine the effect of lectin valency on the association constants of these GS-I isolectins binding to cells. Cell binding experiments carried out using 125I-labeled GS-I isolectins and type A human erythrocytes allowed us to demonstrate that (1) the association constant of the isolectin monovalent for alpha-D-GalNAc (AB3) is virtually identical to its association constant for the haptenic sugar methyl-N-acetyl-alpha-D-galactosaminide, reported previously, and (2) the association constant of the GS-I isolectins for human type A erythrocytes increases with increasing valency of the isolectin. These results indicate that the increased affinity displayed by the GS-I isolectins for human type A erythrocytes is dependent on their multivalency, and not on an extended binding site nor on nonspecific, or noncarbohydrate, interactions of the lectin with the cell surface. These findings should be of general relevance to understanding the high-affinity interactions observed between other multivalent proteins and multivalent ligands (e.g., cell surfaces).
Phycoerythrin 545: Monomers, Energy Migration, Bilin Topography, and Monomer/Dimer Equilibrium†

Phycoerythrin 545 was isolated having an alpha2beta2 (dimer) protein structure at pH 6.0 and 2 g/L protein concentration with eight bilin chromophores. Monomers (alphabeta) were produced by lowering the protein concentration to 0.15 g/L and the pH to 4.5. Dimer dissociation was monitored by dynamic light scattering and gel-filtration column chromatography. Monomers were stable and had bilin optical spectra different from the alpha2beta2 dimers, although they have very similar protein secondary structures. The optical spectra of phycoerythrin 545 showed four types of behavior with temperature: 10-20 degrees C, dimers; 40-50 degrees C, dimers/monomers; 60 degrees C, nearly fully disordered; 70 degrees C, disordered alpha and beta polypeptides. At 40 degrees C, the protein dissociated partially to monomer, which could be totally reversed to dimers at 20-25 degrees C. The visible circular dichroism difference spectrum for the protein dimers minus monomers exhibited positive and negative bands--such spectra may indicate exciton splitting between closely-spaced bilins. Circular dichroism also revealed a spectrum suggesting exciton coupling for the second excited state of the bilins. Ultrafast fluorescence using a two-photon method showed the fastest time for protein dimers to be 2. 4 ps and monomers had a 39-ps lifetime. Phycocyanin 645 was found to have a 550-fs lifetime.
PRENATAL DIAGNOSIS OF NEPHROPATHIC CYSTINOSIS: Pregnancy at Risk Ascertained through Heterozygote Diagnosis of Parents

. Boman, H. and Schneider, J. A. (Institute of Medical Genetics, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway, and Department of Pediatrics, School of Medicine, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, California, USA). Prenatal diagnosis of nephropathic cystinosis: Pregnancy at risk ascertained through heterozygote diagnosis of parents. Acta Paediatr Scand, 70:389, 1981.–The biochemical diagnosis of cystinosis in a deceased girl was made indirectly through the demonstration of heterozygote values of free-cystine contents in leukocytes from both parents. Amniocentesis was performed on the mother in the 16th week of two subsequent pregnancies. Amniotic fluid cell lysate from the first fetus had 6–8 times normal levels of radioactivity in the cystine band determined by a 35S-cystine pulse labeling method followed by high voltage electrophoresis on paper. Values for the cystine contents in various organs of the affected fetus are given. The second fetus was found to be not affected, and this was subsequently confirmed by the birth of a healthy child. The results of the laboratory analyses in these two cases were available to the parents 21 and 23 days following amniocentesis, respectively. The interruption of the first pregnancy was performed in the 19th week. This was 4 and 6 weeks earlier, respectively, than in the two previously reported induced abortions of affected fetuses, and should increase the acceptability of the present method for prenatal diagnosis of nephrophatic cystinosis.
Signal separation and synthesis from modified superresolution short-time Fourier transforms

Signal separation or editing of components in the time-frequency domain remains an important problem that is equivalent to time-varying filtering. In this paper, a method to better carry out this process is presented and is based on the use of superresolution in the short-time Fourier transform (STFT) domain. This enhancement of the STFT is accomplished by nonparametric adaptive stationary extrapolations performed on each block of time samples. Superresolution also facilitates the definition of a component's support region in the time-frequency plane before it is edited. Synthesis is performed using the overlap add method that has been previously used to reconstruct a signal from its STFT, or a modified/edited version of it. A heuristic comparison is presented using a test signal using both: conventional and superresolution STFT-domain editing. Applications to radar imaging are also discussed.
Centrality measure in graphs

Centrality of an edge of a graph is proposed to be viewed as a degree of global sensitivity of a graph distance function (i.e., a graph metric) on the weight of the considered edge. For different choices of distance function, contact is made with several previous ideas of centrality, whence their different characteristics are clarified, and strengths or short-comings are indicated, via selected examples. The centrality based on “resistance distance” exhibits several nice features, and might be termed “amongness” centrality.
Preliminary Investigation of Nitro-hydrolysis for Wastewater Sludge Treatment

Activated sludge waste treatment facilities generate a waste stream, in the underflow, that consists of 3 to 5 wt% biosoilds that are not readily biodegradable and must be disposed of as a solid waste. Conventional disposal methods for this biosludge consist of landfills, land farming, wet air oxidation, and incineration, all of which add substantially to the cost of operating a municipal wastewater treatment facility. Bench-scale batch experiments were conducted with a 4.1 wt% biosludge stream obtained from the Knoxville Utility Board (KUB) Kuhawee treatment facility. These experiments demonstrated that treatment with dilute nitric acid at 180°C at 200 psia initiates a hydrolysis reaction that converts 40 to 82% of the biosolids to biodegradable substances suitable for recycle back to the treatment facility. The experimental design consisted of varying the nitric acid concentration from 1.5 to 11.2 wt% and the residence time between 5 and 20 minutes. At these conditions, the initial hydrolysis reaction i...
Patterned substrate overgrowth for optoelectronic device integration using chemical beam epitaxy (CBE)

Abstract InGaAs/InP layers are grown on (1 0 0) substrates patterned using chemically assisted ion beam etching (CAIBE) to produce undercut mesas aligned along the 〈0 1 1〉 direction. Undercut mesas are used to avoid any interaction between growth on the etched and non-etched regions of the substrate. We show that optimised growth conditions for InP produce (1 1 1)B facets on the sides of the ridges which are atomically smooth along their full length. These ridges form an excellent template for the diffusion of the group III species onto the (1 0 0) plane in the ridge centre. The success of this technique relies heavily on the quality of the growth template used since the diffusion of group III species off the higher-order (n 1 1) planes onto the (1 0 0) is plane specific. The formation of this template by growth rather than wet chemical etching results in atomically smooth facets of a well-defined orientation and height, which is well suited to our application.
Spectral Emissivity of Tungsten

An experiment designed to measure the spectral emissivity of tungsten, in which a direct comparison method is utilized so that the spectral emissivity is observed directly as the ratio of light intensity from a tungsten source to that from a blackbody source, is described. The spectral emissivity was measured over the wavelength interval 310 mμ to 800 mμ, and the temperature interval 1600°K to 2400°K.
Nonlinear Programming: Counterexamples to Two Global Optimization Algorithms

This paper gives counterexamples to: 1 Ritter's algorithm for the global maximization of a quadratic subject to linear inequality constraints, and 2 Tui's algorithm for the global minimization of a concave function subject to linear inequality constraints.
Characterization of a murine cDNA encoding a member of the carboxylesterase multigene family.

Abstract We have characterized a mRNA sequence containing the entire coding region of a mouse carboxylesterase (EC 3.1.1.1). pEs-N, an 1840-bp composite of five overlapping cDNA clones, contains an open reading frame of 554 amino acids that display a high degree of similarity with rat and rabbit carboxylesterases. Genetic mapping studies place this carboxylesterase in cluster 1 of the esterase region on chromosome 8. Results of blot hybridization analysis of genomic DNA probed with a pEs-N cDNA under both low and high stringency conditions suggest membership in a carboxylesterase multigene family, as would be expected for a nonspecific carboxylesterase. A message size of 1850–1900 nucleotides was revealed by RNA blot hybridization analysis. S1 nuclease protection analyses with a probe representing a segment of pEs-N detected message in liver, kidney, and lung, but not in spleen, brain, testes, and submandibular gland, with higher levels in female than in male kidney. Additional S1 nuclease-protected mRNA species were found, suggesting the expression of distinct members of a multigene family. In vitro translation of a full-size transcript of pEs-N resulted in a product of 51.5 kDa. Upon the addition of microsomes, this product was processed into a protein of 60.4 kDa, which is within the size range of monomeric units of mouse carboxylesterases.
Plastic Enclosure versus Open Lake Productivity Measurements

(1970). Plastic Enclosure versus Open Lake Productivity Measurements. Transactions of the American Fisheries Society: Vol. 99, No. 3, pp. 607-610.
Lorenz type attractors from codimension one bifurcation

Lorenz type attractors are found from a codimension one bifurcation of a system on the boundary of Morse-Smale systems. Conditions of their emerging are formulated in terms of conventional Floquet exponents of homoclinic orbits—a new characteristic of homoclinic orbits at the bifurcation moment.
Effect of polar additives on hole mobilities in photorefractive polymers

In this report, we demonstrate the effect of the polar non-linear chromophore and other polar additives on hole mobilities in photorefractive polymer systems. The hole mobility measurements are presented as a function of applied field and temperature in two model systems. The nonlinear optical chromophore 4' nitro-4'-aminostilbene (NAS), having a large dipole moment of 6.7 Debye, is doped or covalently attached into a polymer matrix containing 30% by weight of diethylamino-benzaldehyde diphenyl hydrazone (DEH), a hole transport agent. The results are described by the Gaussian disorder model based on hopping through a manifold of states with superimposed energetic and positional disorder. We conclude from the results that the main effect produced by the polar additives is the reduced mobility, in agreement with the dipolar disorder model. The dipolar chromophores required in photorefractive polymers significantly decrease carrier mobility and also the speed of response.
Measurement of the Probability Distribution of Total Transmission in Random Waveguides

Measurements have been made of the probability distribution of total transmission of microwave radiation in waveguides filled with randomly positioned scatterers which would have values of the dimensionless conductance $g$ near unity. The distributions are markedly non-Gaussian and have exponential tails. The measured distributions are accurately described by diagrammatic and random matrix calculations carried out for nonabsorbing samples in the limit $g\ensuremath{\gg}1$ when $g$ is expressed in terms of the variance of the distribution, which equals the degree of long-range intensity correlation across the output face of the sample.