cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Comparative West Nile virus detection in organs of naturally infected American Crows (Corvus brachyrhynchos).

The 1999 outbreak of West Nile (WN) virus in the New York City area (1) was associated with the deaths of thousands of American Crows (Corvus brachyrhynchos), which appeared to be highly susceptible to the virus. Local health authorities selected some of these dead birds for laboratory testing. Generally, brain tissue was targeted for virus isolation as a method of surveillance (2). Although WN virus has frequently been isolated from brain tissue, a rigorous comparison of the brain to other organs of the American Crow has not been undertaken. Accordingly, we compared the sensitivity of the brain with that of other crow organs as targets for WN virus detection by both virus isolation and RNA detection.
Scanning electrochemical microscopy: Part 39. The proton/hydrogen mediator system and its application to the study of the electrocatalysis of hydrogen oxidation

The H:H2 redox couple was investigated as a mediator system for scanning electrochemical microscopy (SECM) with proton reduction from a 0.01 M HClO4 solution at a Pt tip. The feedback behavior of the mediator was examined at different substrates (Pt, Au). Unlike the one-electron outer-sphere redox couples usually used as mediators in SECM, this mediator system is sensitive to the catalytic activity of the substrate surface for hydrogen oxidation rather than the conductivity of the substrate. The catalytic oxidation of H2 on Pt was studied during cyclic voltammetric scans of the Pt substrate with a tip close to the substrate, and the inhibition by oxygen adsorption on Pt was investigated. The quantitative H2 oxidation rate was determined at different substrate potentials from SECM approach curves. The kinetic parameters for proton reduction and hydrogen oxidation were determined by steady-state SECM voltammograms. The inhibitory effect of anions (Br ,I ) and reduction products of NO3 for catalytic H2 oxidation on the Pt surface was also examined. © 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
Active CoordinaTion (ACT) - toward effectively managing virtualized multicore clouds

A key benefit of utility data centers and cloud computing infrastructure is the level of consolidation they can offer to arbitrary guest applications, and the substantial saving in operational costs and resources that can be derived in the process. However, significant challenges remain before it becomes possible to effectively and at low cost manage virtualized systems, particularly in the face of increasing complexity of individual many-core platforms, and given the dynamic behaviors and resource requirements exhibited by cloud guest VMs. This paper describes the active coordination (ACT) approach, aimed to address a specific issue in the management domain, which is the fact that management actions must (1) typically touch upon multiple resources in order to be effective, and (2) must be continuously refined in order to deal with the dynamism in the platform resource loads. ACT relies on the notion of class-of-service, associated with (sets of) guest VMs, based on which it maps VMs onto platform units, the latter encapsulating sets of platform resources of different types. Using these abstractions, ACT can perform active management in multiple ways, including a VM-specific approach and a black box approach that relies on continuous monitoring of the guest VMs' runtime behavior and on an adaptive resource allocation algorithm, termed Multiplicative Increase, Subtractive Decrease Algorithm with Wiggle Room. In addition, ACT permits explicit external events to trigger VM or application-specific resource allocations, e.g., leveraging emerging standards such as WSDM. The experimental analysis of the ACT prototype, built for Xen-based platforms, use industry-standard benchmarks, including RUBiS, Hadoop, and SPEC. They demonstrate ACT's ability to efficiently manage the aggregate platform resources according to the guest VMs' relative importance (class-of-service), for both the black-box and the VM-specific approach.
High Proton Conductivity of Water Channels in a Highly Ordered Nanowire

A proton-conductive material based on a crystalline assembly of trimesic acid and melamine (TMA⋅M, see picture) is reported. Because of the ordered structure of the assembly, the water-saturated proton conductivity for the TMA⋅M assembly is 5.5 S cm(-1) , which is the highest proton conductivity measured to date. This exceptionally high conductivity and low-cost fabrication of the material make applications feasible for fuel-cell devices.
Visualizing transactional memory

This paper presents TMProf, a transactional memory (TM) profiler, based on three visualization principles. These principles are (i) the precise graphical representation of transaction interactions including cross-correlated information and source code, (ii) visualized soft real-time playback of concurrently executing transactions, and (iii) dynamic visualizations of multiple executions. We describe how these principles break new ground and create new challenges for TM profilers. We discuss our experience using TMProf with InvalSTM, a state-of-the-art software TM, and show how TMProf's feedback led to the design of two new contention managers (CMs). We demonstrate the performance benefits of these CMs, which generally led to improved performance as the amount of work and threads increase per benchmark. Our experimental results show that iBalanced, one of our newly designed CMs, can increase transaction throughput by nearly 10× over iFair, InvalSTM's previously best performing CM.
Intermolecular Energy Transfer as a Means for the Characterization of Polymeric Lanthanide Complexes in Solution

A variety of physical methods exist for the characterization of polymeric materials in the solid state, but the range of techniques suited for the solution phase is more limited. A major consideration associated with inorganic or organometallic compounds in fluid solutions concerns the possible oligomerization of these species. Clear and unequivocal proof for the existence of a monomeric (or polymeric) species is definitely a desirable goal in any study which seeks to correlate solution phase structures with some experimental observable. In addition, any procedure which is capable of indicating the onset of polynuclear association will be of great value in characterization studies.
Carboplatin Induced Fatal Autoimmune Hemolytic Anemia: First Reported Case

Carboplatin is an alkylating anti-neoplastic drug used in various cancers especially ovarian cancer, germ cell tumors, endometrial cancer besides others. We present a case of acute autoimmune hemolytic anemia during Carboplatin infusion in a patient previously exposed to the drug, resulting in the death of the patient. Published reports of Carboplatin induced autoimmune hemolytic anemia suggest these are usually nonfatal and improve after discontinuation of the drug. Fatal autoimmune hemolysis from Carboplatin has not been reported to the best of our knowledge. A 77-year-old Caucasian lady with history of endometrial adenocarcinoma was receiving treatment with a combination of Carboplatin and Paclitaxel for recurrent adenocarcinoma presenting as a pelvic mass. She tolerated similar chemotherapy previously, except for mild side effects. During her fifth cycle of chemotherapy with Carboplatin, she suddenly collapsed in the infusion center. Despite aggressive treatment, she expired within seven hours. A direct Coomb's test was found to be positive. Carboplatin dependent antibody was also detected. She was felt to have had a Carboplatin-induced fatal hemolytic anemia. Acute autoimmune hemolytic anemia with Carboplatin is rare but could be a devastating complication. A sudden drop in hemoglobin during Carboplatin infusion should alert clinicians of this extremely fatal possibility. doi:10.4021/wjon234w
Time-dependent responses of soil CO2 efflux components to elevated atmospheric CO2 and temperature in experimental forest mesocosms

We previously used dual stable isotope techniques to partition soil CO2 efflux into three source components (rhizosphere respiration, litter decomposition, and soil organic matter (SOM) oxidation) using experimental chambers planted with Douglas-fir [Pseudotsuga menziesii (Mirb.) Franco] seedlings. The components responded differently to elevated CO2 (ambient + 200 μmol mol−1) and elevated temperature (ambient + 4 °C) treatments during the first year. Rhizosphere respiration increased most under elevated CO2, and SOM oxidation increased most under elevated temperature. However, many studies show that plants and soil processes can respond to altered climates in a transient way. Herein, we extend our analysis to 2 years to evaluate the stability of the responses of the source components. Total soil CO2 efflux increased significantly under elevated CO2 and elevated temperature in both years (1994 and 1995), but the enhancement was much less in 1995. Rhizosphere respiration increased less under elevated temperature in 1995 compared with 1994. Litter decomposition also tended to increase comparatively less in 1995 under elevated CO2, but was unresponsive to elevated temperature between years. In contrast, SOM oxidation was similar under elevated CO2 in the 2 years. Less SOM oxidation occurred under elevated temperature in 1995 compared with 1994. Our results indicate that temporal variations can occur in CO2 production by the sources. The variations likely involve responses to antecedent physical disruption of the soil and physiological processes.
Augmented Renal Vascular nNOS and Renin Protein Expression in Angiotensin Type 1 Receptor Null Mice

The present study was performed to determine the influence of absence of angiotensin type 1A (AT1A) and/or AT1B receptor feedback regulation of kidney neuronal nitric oxide synthase (nNOS) and renin protein expression. Kidneys were harvested from wild-type (WT), AT1A−/−, AT1B−/−, and AT1A−/−AT1B−/− mice and immunostained for nNOS and renin protein localization. AT1A−/− and AT1A−/−AT1B−/− kidneys demonstrated an increase in the percentage of glomeruli with nNOS-positive afferent and interlobular arterioles compared with WT mice. Density of vascular nNOS immunostaining was 20-fold higher in kidneys of AT1A−/− and AT1A−/−AT1B−/− compared with WT mice. Density of macula densa nNOS immunostaining was 7-fold higher in AT1A−/−AT1B−/− than in WT mice. Percent of glomeruli positive for juxtaglomerular (JG) cell renin was 3-fold higher, whereas the density of JG cell renin immunostaining was 15-fold higher in kidneys of AT1A−/− and AT1A−/−AT1B−/− compared with WT mice. Kidneys of AT1A−/− and AT1A−/−AT1B−/− mice displayed recruitment of renin protein expression along afferent and interlobular arterioles. Absence of AT1 receptor signaling resulted in enhanced nNOS protein expression in both microvascular and tubular structures. Enhanced NO generation may contribute to the reduced renal vascular tone and blood pressure observed with blockade of the renin–angiotensin system. (J Histochem Cytochem 56:401–414, 2008)
Mechanical behavior of articular cartilage: Quantitative changes with alteration of ionic environment

Abstract The in vitro viscoelastic mechanical response of normal rabbit articular cartilage is quantitatively altered by changes in the ionic concentration of the test environment. Experimental results indicate that specific functional relationships exist between shear moduli, retardation time spectra and ionic concentration. The forms of these relationships are consistent with the structure and physio-chemical composition of the tissue.
Optimizing acoustic Doppler current profiler settings for noise reduction

The performance of a 600-kHz broadband Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (ADCP) developed by RD Instruments (RDI) is evaluated to determine the optimum settings for minimizing random noise associated with the inherent single-ping uncertainty in the instrument. The parameters considered are bin size, maximum range, and the resultant sample rate, which is the maximum rate that the instrument is capable of for a given combination of bin size and range. The instrument's firmware determines the maximum sample rate as a function of range to allow round-trip travel time for the acoustic pulse between pings. The RDI noise model predicts an rms noise velocity that is inversely proportional to the bin size and to the square root of the sample rate for a fixed averaging time period. Data from a set of measurements recorded with an instrument on the research vessel (R/V) Knorr, as the ship was drifting west of Scotland, are consistent with the RDI model. Analysis of these data suggests that there is an optimum number of bins (N /spl sim/ 10) that minimizes the noise level for a specified range requirement while maximum vertical resolution is retained. Ensemble averaging by the instrument does not appear to have a clear benefit over recording single-ping data, although it does reduce the quantity of raw data.
Direct and indirect effects of calcium entry blocking agents on isovolumic left ventricular relaxation in conscious dogs.

To assess the direct and indirect effects of the commonly used calcium entry blockers (CEB) upon the major determinants of isovolumic left ventricular relaxation, we administered equidepressant intracoronary (IC, n = 7) and equihypotensive intravenous (n = 12) dosages of diltiazem (16 +/- 3 SE micrograms/kg IC and 63 +/- 9 micrograms/kg i.v.), verapamil (10 +/- 2 and 57 +/- 5 micrograms/kg), and nifedipine (1 +/- 0.1 and 8 +/- 0.3 micrograms/kg) to preinstrumented awake dogs with normal ventricular function. The time constant of left ventricle (LV) relaxation, analyzed by two methods (T1, from the linear relation of the natural logarithm of LV pressure and time; T2, from the linear relation of LV pressure and negative high fidelity LV pressure), was significantly and equivalently prolonged by IC diltiazem (T1 + 48%, P less than 0.02), verapamil (T1 + 43%, P less than 0.001), and nifedipine (T1 + 30%, P less than 0.03). Lesser amounts of each CEB that did not affect rate of LV pressure development or extent of shortening produced no change in T1 or T2. By contrast, intravenous calcium entry blockade either produced no significant change (diltiazem and verapamil) or shortened (nifedipine T1 - 18%, P less than 0.01) LV isovolumic relaxation. However, after beta adrenergic blockade with propranolol (2 mg/kg i.v., n = 6) no change in ventricular relaxation was observed during nifedipine and the time constant was significantly prolonged by verapamil (T1 + 15%, P less than 0.05). We conclude that calcium entry blockade directly impairs normal left ventricular relaxation: This effect is closely linked to the negative inotropic properties of these drugs. The prolongation of isovolumic relaxation produced by calcium blockade is attenuated or even reversed by reflex sympathetic stimulation and favorably altered loading conditions during systemic administration.
Age-incidence Artifacts Do Not Account for the Season-of-birth Effect in Schizophrenia

Contrary to the position taken by Lewis (1989), several articles have demonstrated an association between season of birth and the risk of schizophrenia after controlling for the age-incidence effect. The method used by Pulver et al. (1983) was misinterpreted by Lewis. Clarification of this method is provided along with additional references related to the season-of-birth issue.
Letter to Jacob J. Lew, Secretary of the U.S. Treasury

A number of U.S. companies are either exploring or have completed corporate inversions that move their parent company for tax purposes from the U.S. to some more friendly tax jurisdiction. It has been reported that many financial advisors, bankers, etc. are advising their corporate clients to consider such a move.Considering the present lack of any action within Congress to stem this corporate exodus, President Obama and Secretary Lew of the U.S. Treasury Department are reviewing available options not requiring legislation that could help eliminate the economic incentives that drive corporate inversions.Briefly stated, this letter to Secretary Lew describes two approaches not requiring legislation that haven’t been in recent discussion. Both approaches will help discourage inversions as well as some of the profit shifting that has so successfully created many billions of “stateless income”. In addition, these approaches would help reduce some earnings stripping by foreign-based multinational groups.
Introduction to Contemporary Corporate Communication

This note provides an introduction to corporate communication, including a discussion of recent trends.
Is positive troponin a hype in myopericarditis: should emergency room risk stratification criteria be revisited?

One clinical challenge while utilizing the data from these studies is the inconsistency of definitions employed for perimyocarditis and myopericarditis. Previous work by Spodick emphasized that ‘myopericarditis’ primarily indicates a pericarditic situation. This definition has been used in the most recent prospective investigations (by Imazio et al.), which constitute a large subgroup of the patient population studied for this systematic review. Due to an overlapping spectrum (pericarditis-myopericarditis-perimyocarditis-myocarditis), the utilization of these definitions with confidence in clinical studies has been previously questioned. In my opinion, the recent definition used by Imazio et al. utilizing echocardiographic indices for wall motion is the most practical for consistency (i.e. myopericarditis: without new onset of focal or diffuse depressed left-ventricular function and perimyocarditis: associated with new onset of focal or diffuse depressed left-ventricular function). While utilizing this definition, one must keep in mind that ’pure myocarditis’ should be considered the worst disease spectrum, primarily referring to a significant impairment of left ventricular function accompanied by other disease features.
Easing the Burden: Characterizing the Disease Burden of Neonatal Group B Streptococcal Disease to Motivate Prevention

that remain speculative. Although clinicians now have >30 years of experience with neonatal GBS disease, debates about the need for prevention and the pros and cons of intrapartum prophylaxis remain lively in many countries. Additionally, although conjugate vaccine formulations appear to be promising, obstacles to vaccine licensure continue to loom large. A first question for countries or institutions considering prevention policies is whether the disease burden is sufficient to warrant local or national prevention guidelines. Surveillance for invasive GBS
Galactaro δ-lactone isomerase: lactone isomerization by a member of the amidohydrolase superfamily.

Agrobacterium tumefaciens strain C58 can utilize d-galacturonate as a sole source of carbon via a pathway in which the first step is oxidation of d-galacturonate to d-galactaro-1,5-lactone. We have identified a novel enzyme, d-galactarolactone isomerase (GLI), that catalyzes the isomerizaton of d-galactaro-1,5-lactone to d-galactaro-1,4-lactone. GLI, a member of the functionally diverse amidohydrolase superfamily, is a homologue of LigI that catalyzes the hydrolysis of 2-pyrone-4,6-dicarboxylate in lignin degradation. The ability of GLI to catalyze lactone isomerization instead of hydrolysis can be explained by the absence of the general basic catalysis used by 2-pyrone-4,6-dicarboxylate lactonase.
Chronic viral hepatitis and use of interferon. Whom are we treating

When the number of Americans carrying hepatitis B or C virus is compared with the number facing end-stage liver disease, it is obvious that most carriers are spared disease progression. Unfortunately, there is no way to identify the few patients who will not be so fortunate. Dr Koretz contends that subjecting all patients to the risks and expense of interferon therapy with the hope that we may help those few is not justified. Improved short- or long-term symptomatology should be the primary objective of therapy, he states, not normalization of laboratory findings, and he notes that available data do not prove that interferon accomplishes this goal.
Antibody-dependent lymphocyte-mediated granulocyte cytotoxicity in man.

Sera from two patients with granulocytopenia associated with collagen vascular disease caused the destruction of normal human granulocytes by autologous lymphocytes in vitro. Granulocyte cytotoxicity was measured by the release of 51Cr during incubation with test sera and lymphocytes in microtiter plates. Between 8% and 46% granulocytoxicity was produced in granulocytes from 8 normal donors by the sera from these two patients. Less than 6% granulocytotoxicity was seen with the sera from 14 normal subjects and 29 patient controls. Treatment of lymphocyte preparations with carbonyl iron and magnetic separation to remove phagocytic cells or treatment with complement-coated red cells followed by repeated gradient centrifugation to remove complement receptor- bearing lymphocytes did not reduce the granulocytotoxicity. There was a dose-response relationship between the concentration of positive sera and granulocytotoxicity. When these sera were fractionated by Sephadex G-200 gel filtration and by ion-exchange chromatography with DEAE- cellulose, the active component appeared in the IgG-containing fractions. Thus, IgG antibody-dependent, lymphocyte-mediated granulocyte cytotoxicity represents a means of detecting human granulocyte antibodies and is a possible mechanism of autoimmune neutropenia in these two patients.
Zur Diagnostik der chronischen Pankreatitis: Wertigkeit der endoskopisch retrograden Pankreatikographie (ERP), des volumenverlustkorrigierten Sekretin-Pankreozymin-Tests (SP-Test) und der Sonographie

Endoskopisch retrograde Pankreatikographie, volumenverlustkorrigierter Sekretin-Pan-kreozymin-Test und Sonographie sind wichtige Untersuchungsmethoden in der Diagnostik der chronischen Pankreatitis. Mit der Sonographie und der endoskopisch retrograden Pankreatikographie gelingt es, morphologische Veranderungen des Pankreas nachzuweisen. Dagegen kann mit dem Sekretin-Pankreozymin-Test die funktionelle Leistung des Organes erfast werden. Dieser Test ist jedoch labortechnisch aufwendig, und die endoskopisch retrograde Pankreatikographie kann mit Komplikationen verbunden sein. Deshalb ist es besonders interessant, die klinische Wertigkeit dieser genannten Methoden zu prufen.
THE UROPOD AS AN INTEGRAL AND SPECIALIZED STRUCTURE OF LARGE GRANULAR LYMPHOCYTES

Publisher Summary This chapter explains the uropod as an integral and specialized structure of large granular lymphocytes (LGL). Large granular lymphocytes, a minor subpopulation of peripheral blood leukocytes, may be the main nonadherent effector cells implicated in mediating natural killer cell activity against tumor target cells. The uropod is distally characterized by numerous terminal villi or microspikes which have a diameter of 150–250 nm and a length not exceeding 0.85 μm. Cytoplasmic organelles such as mitochondria, Golgi complex and associated vesicles, and much of the rough endoplasmic reticulum are concentrated in the uropod. In a study described in the chapter, sytoplasmic inclusions, characterized by parallel tubular arrays, were observed within the uropod region and may serve as a cytoplasmic marker for the LGL. The uropod also contained microfilaments arranged in irregular arrays and microtubules, radiating from centrioles, which extended parallel to the longitudinal axis of the uropod. The opposite pole of the LGL exhibited surface folds void of villi and limited in cytoplasmic organelles except for ribosomes and 4–6 nm microfilaments. Events that could be identified precisely at the LM level include the initial contacting of the target cell through the anterior terminus of the LGL.
Effective anisotropic compliance relationships for wing-cracked brittle materials under compression

Abstract The failure mechanism for brittle materials under compressive loading is generally assumed to be dominated by the development of wing-cracks. Due to the preferential direction of the wing-crack development, material damaged in this mode exhibits damage induced anisotropy and volume dilatancy. The effective compliance of such wing-crack damaged materials is important for developing micromechanics-based constitutive models. This work addresses the scenario of a brittle material with periodically distributed wing-cracks under uniaxial compressive load. Closed form expressions for the instantaneous anisotropic compliance tensor with respect to the key physical parameters of the wing-cracks (the number density of cracks, the pre-existing flaw orientations and flaw sizes, the instantaneous length of wing-cracks, and the friction coefficient on the flaw surfaces) are derived through a kinematic approach. Accordingly, finite element models with perturbing compressive loads and periodic boundary conditions are carried out based on the above ideological wing-crack model, in order to verify and parameterize the analytically-based model. Good agreement is found between the finite element results and the analytical expression.
Identification and Validation of Small-Gatekeeper Kinases as Drug Targets in Giardia lamblia

Giardiasis is widely acknowledged to be a neglected disease in need of new therapeutics to address toxicity and resistance issues associated with the limited available treatment options. We examined seven protein kinases in the Giardia lamblia genome that are predicted to share an unusual structural feature in their active site. This feature, an expanded active site pocket resulting from an atypically small gatekeeper residue, confers sensitivity to "bumped" kinase inhibitors (BKIs), a class of compounds that has previously shown good pharmacological properties and minimal toxicity. An initial phenotypic screen for biological activity using a subset of an in-house BKI library found that 5 of the 36 compounds tested reduced trophozoite growth by at least 50% at a concentration of 5 μM. The cellular localization and the relative expression levels of the seven protein kinases of interest were determined after endogenously tagging the kinases. Essentiality of these kinases for parasite growth and infectivity were evaluated genetically using morpholino knockdown of protein expression to establish those that could be attractive targets for drug design. Two of the kinases were critical for trophozoite growth and attachment. Therefore, recombinant enzymes were expressed, purified and screened against a BKI library of >400 compounds in thermal stability assays in order to identify high affinity compounds. Compounds with substantial thermal stabilization effects on recombinant protein were shown to have good inhibition of cell growth in wild-type G. lamblia and metronidazole-resistant strains of G. lamblia. Our data suggest that BKIs are a promising starting point for the development of new anti-giardiasis therapeutics that do not overlap in mechanism with current drugs.
Quantification of three chlorinated dialkyl phosphates, diphenyl phosphate, 2,3,4,5-tetrabromobenzoic acid, and four other organophosphates in human urine by solid phase extraction-high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry

Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), produced as flame retardants worldwide, have been phased-out in many countries, and chlorinated and non-chlorinated organophosphates and non-PBDE brominated formulations (e.g., Firemaster 550 (FM550)) have entered the consumers’ market. Recent studies show that components of organophosphate esters and FM550 are frequently detected in many products common to human environments. Therefore, urinary metabolites of these compounds can be used as human exposure biomarkers. We developed a method to quantify nine compounds in 0.4 mL urine: diphenyl phosphate (DPhP), bis(1,3-dichloro-2-propyl) phosphate (BDCPP), bis-(1-chloro-2-propyl) phosphate, bis-2-chloroethyl phosphate, di-p-cresylphosphate, di-o-cresylphosphate (DoCP), di-n-butyl phosphate, dibenzyl phosphate (DBzP), and 2,3,4,5-tetrabromobenzoic acid. The method relies on an enzymatic hydrolysis of urinary conjugates of the target analytes, automated off-line solid phase extraction, reversed phase high performance liquid chromatography separation, and isotope dilution-electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry detection. The method is high-throughput (96 samples/day) with detection limits ranging from 0.05 to 0.16 ng mL−1. Spiked recoveries were 90–113 %, and interday imprecision was 2–8 %. We assessed the suitability of the method by analyzing urine samples collected from a convenience sample of adults (n = 76) and from a group of firefighters (n = 146). DPhP (median, 0.89; range, 0.26–5.6 ng mL−1) and BDCPP (median, 0.69; range, 0.31–6.8 ng mL−1) were detected in all of the non-occupationally exposed adult samples and all of the firefighter samples (DPhP [median, 2.9; range, 0.24–28 ng mL−1], BDCPP [median, 3.4; range, 0.30–44 ng mL−1]); DBzP and DoCP were not detected in any samples.
A Cognitive Style Framework for Marketing Education Program Development

(1991). A Cognitive Style Framework for Marketing Education Program Development. Marketing Education Review: Vol. 1, No. 3, pp. 10-19.
Tantalum Alloys for Elevated-Temperature Service

Early results of a tantalum alloy development program have shown that high hot-strength properties can be attained while maintaining low-tem- perature toughness and ductility.
Social Cyber Forensics Approach to Study Twitter’s and Blogs’ Influence on Propaganda Campaigns

In today’s information technology age our political discourse is shrinking to fit our smartphone screens. Online Deviant Groups (ODGs) use social media to coordinate cyber propaganda campaigns to achieve strategic and political goals, influence mass thinking, and steer behaviors. In this research, we study the ODGs who conducted cyber propaganda campaigns against NATO’s Trident Juncture Exercise 2015 (TRJE 2015) and how they used Twitter and blogs to drive the campaigns. Using a blended Social Network Analysis (SNA) and Social Cyber Forensics (SCF) approaches, “anti-NATO” narratives were identified on blogs. The narratives intensified as the TRJE 2015 approached. The most influential narrative identified by the proposed methodology called for civil disobedience and direct actions against TRJE 2015 specifically and NATO in general. We use SCF analysis to extract metadata associated with propaganda-riddled websites. The metadata helps in the collection of social and communication network information. By applying SNA on the data, we identify influential users and powerful groups (or, focal structures) coordinating the propaganda campaigns. Data for this research (including blogs and metadata) is accessible through our in-house developed Blogtrackers tool.
Gene-Environment Interactions in Health Disparities

The risks of many common and complex diseases in individuals belonging to one population or diverse populations consist of complicated interactions of genes and the environment. Studies are unraveling the genetic, epigenetic, and environmental components of socioeconomic factors down to dependent behaviors, ranging from alcohol dependence and drug addiction to smoking behavior, and disease susceptibility, suggesting a multifactorial basis for diseases. The emerging understanding of epigenetics is complementing traditional social and environmental models of disease causation, and it is helping to explain “nature-nurture” interaction that can be mapped onto categories such as race or ethnicity to explain health disparities.
Outcomes of Nonagenarians Admitted to the Cardiac Intensive Care Unit by the Elders Risk Assessment Score for Long-Term Mortality Risk Stratification

There are limited data on outcomes of older adults admitted to cardiac intensive care units (CICU), and there are no data on outcomes after admission to the CICU in nonagenarians. Our purpose was to identify whether the Elders Risk Assessment (ERA) index could risk stratify older adults after CICU admission. We retrospectively identified 453 nonagenarians admitted to the CICU between 2004 and 2013. End points included mortality, length of stay, incidence of delirium, and discharge disposition. Average age of the cohort was 92 ± 2 years, and the average ERA score was 13 ± 6. A total of 258 patients were female (57%). Most common admission indication was acute decompensated heart failure (57%) followed by acute myocardial infarction (49%). Loss of independence was observed after CICU admission, with 66% of patients living independently before admission, decreasing to 47% at discharge. Overall length of stay was 6 ± 5 days and CICU stay was 2 ± 2 days. Fifteen percent of patients died before hospital discharge. Median survival was 452 (interquartile range 40 to 1,371) days. ERA score effectively predicted survival (log-rank test, p = 0.002). ERA score of 16 or greater and ERA score of 9 to 15 were both associated with increased risk of mortality compared with the reference (score 4 to 8): hazard ratio 2.00, 95% confidence interval 1.37 to 2.90, p = 0.003, and hazard ratio 1.48, 95% confidence interval 1.06 to 2.08, p = 0.02, respectively. In conclusion, nonagenarians admitted to CICU experience reasonable outcomes. The ERA score effectively risk stratifies nonagenarians admitted to the CICU and may help with identification of vulnerable patients at risk of adverse outcomes.
Combination of all-stage and high-temperature adult-plant resistance QTL confers high-level, durable resistance to stripe rust in winter wheat cultivar Madsen.

Wheat cultivar Madsen has a new gene on the short arm of chromosome 1A and two QTL for all-stage resistance and three QTL for high-temperature adult-plant resistance that in combination confer high-level, durable resistance to stripe rust. Wheat cultivar Madsen has maintained a high-level resistance to stripe rust over 30 years. To map quantitative trait loci (QTL) underlying the high-level, durable resistance, 156 recombinant inbred lines (RILs) developed from cross Avocet S × Madsen were phenotyped with selected races of Puccinia striiformis f. sp. tritici in the greenhouse seedling tests, and in naturally infected fields during 2015–2017. The RILs were genotyped by SSR and SNP markers from genotyping by sequencing and the 90 K wheat SNP chip. Three QTL for all-stage resistance were mapped on chromosomes 1AS, 1BS and 2AS, and two QTL for high-temperature adult-plant (HTAP) resistance were mapped on 3BS and 6BS. The most effective QTL on 2AS, explaining 8.97–23.10% of the phenotypic variation in seedling tests and 8.60–71.23% in field tests, contained Yr17 for all-stage resistance and an additional gene for HTAP resistance. The 6BS QTL, detected in all field tests, was identified as Yr78. The 1AS QTL, conferring all-stage resistance, was identified as a new gene, which explained 20.45 and 30.23% of variation in resistance to races PSTv-37 and PSTv-40, respectively, and contributed significantly to field resistance at Pullman in 2015-2017, but was not detected at Mount Vernon. The interactions among QTL were mostly additive, and RILs with all five QTL had the highest level of resistance in the field, similar to Madsen. Genotyping 148 US Pacific Northwest wheat cultivars with markers for the 1AS, 2AS and 6BS QTL validated the genes and markers, and indicated their usefulness for marker-assisted selection.
Unraveling histories of hydrothermal systems via U–Pb laser ablation dating of skarn garnet

Abstract Skarns are one of the few direct genetic links between magma and base metals in ore deposits, yet temporal relationships between skarns and their assumed causative plutons are rarely confirmed with radiometric formation ages. Skarns have been notoriously difficult to date directly due to a limited primary mineral assemblage, generally garnet and pyroxene. Discrepancies in timescales of skarn formation versus pluton emplacement emphasize our tenuous understanding of temporal relationships between plutons and hydrothermal systems including the duration of hydrothermal activity and skarn mineral growth rates. Here we apply a new method for U–Pb dating grossular-andradite (grandite) garnet via LA-ICP-MS and present the first comprehensive study to focus on U–Pb dates of primary skarn garnet. We present U–Pb age constraints on garnets from multiple skarns within the Jurassic and Cretaceous arcs of the North American Cordillera. Two case studies (Darwin and Empire Mountain skarns) illustrate the effectiveness of the U–Pb grandite method by demonstrating that garnet U–Pb ages agree within error of the pluton- and skarn-hosted U–Pb zircon ages. Two additional study localities (Black Rock and Mojave skarns) demonstrate the ability of grandite U–Pb ages to: 1) directly identify a causative igneous event, and 2) record timing of major tectonic events, specifically extensional to trans-tensional shifts in the Jurassic Mojave of California.
Supersymmetry and the MSSM

The Standard Model is a very successful theory in predicting the experimental observations through the latest years. With a possible discovery of the Higgs boson, the SM will be a theory of almost everything. However questions arise when the Standard Model is seen as part of a larger unified theory.
Principles of Step-Growth Polymerization (Polycondensation and Polyaddition)

Step-growth polymerization enables future technologies and molecular design of diverse macromolecular architectures ranging from tailored long-chain branching to segmented block copolymers. Scientists and engineers continue to advance the traditional families of step-growth polymers with novel synthetic strategies, unique processing scenarios, and tailored interfaces. Many step-growth polymers impart sustainability into emerging technologies, including bio-derived monomers and biodegradable compositions. New reaction pathways including Michael addition reactions, ionene polyelectrolytes, and click modification strategies have reenergized this field. This chapter focuses on the structure–property–performance relationships that continue to advance macromolecular science and engineering.
The Optical Activity of Lanthanide and Transition Metal Complexes

The optical activity of chiral transition metal complexes has attracted the attention of coordination chemists and molecular spectroscopists for many years. The optical rotatory properties of coordination compounds have played a prominent and venerable role in the development of inorganic stereochemical analysis and structure elucidation, and experimental and theoretical research in this area has been particularly intense over the past 20 years. The first observation of circular dichroism (CD) in the visible absorption bands of transition metal complexes was reported by Cotton in 1895.1 Over the period 1911–1919, Werner2 resolved into optical isomers a wide variety of bis- and tris-chelated complexes containing achiral ligands and transition metal ions from each of the three transition metal series of the periodic table. This work established the octahedral structure of hexa-coordinated complexes and posed the problems of molecular stereochemistry and absolute configuration of metal coordination compounds. The optical rotatory properties of the Werner complexes were the subject of considerable study in the 1930’s, most notably by Jaeger,3 Mathieu,4 and Kuhn.5–7 The first purely theoretical examination of the origins of optical activity in chiral transition metal complexes was made by Kuhn and Bein.5, 6 Their treatment of these systems was based on the general coupled-oscillator model of molecular optical activity proposed earlier by Kuhn.8–10 This model was purely classical and it was used to relate the absolute configuration to the sign and the form of the visible-region Cotton effects observed for tris-chelated complexes.
Correlated Hardware Failures in Redundant Systems

Fault tolerant systems make extensive use of hardware redundancy in order to improve the system dependability. Models used to assess the dependability of these systems usually assume that failures in the redundant units are independent, even though it is generally believed that this assumption is optimistic. Correlation between failures occurs for a variety of reasons, ranging from design flaws to environmental interference. In this paper we investigate the effect of a postulated correlation coefficient on the predicted availability of a redundant system, when compared with a system in which the failures are assumed to occur independently. The purpose of this study is to show the sensitivity of an availability estimate to correlation, and to urge designers and measurers of redundant systems to consider this phenomenon.
Race, socioeconomic status, health-related quality of life, and self-care of type 2 diabetes mellitus among adults in North Carolina.

Objectives The objective of this study was to examine the associations among race, education, income, and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in self-care of type 2 diabetes mellitus among adults in North Carolina. Methods A secondary analysis was conducted using data from the 2009 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance Survey (BRFSS), a large population-based survey (N = 432,607) conducted in the United States. The data were analyzed to account for the weighted complex multistage sampling design of the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance Survey. Parametric testing using univariate/bivariate/multivariate analysis was performed. Results The majority of participants reported taking a class/course on diabetes mellitus management and having checked their blood glucose levels at least once per day. The majority (61.26%) of the participants did not have good self-management skills, based on the education and blood glucose-monitoring criteria established for this study. Participants with poor HRQoL had significantly increased odds of good diabetes mellitus self-care practices. Conclusions Individuals with poor HRQoL had significantly increased odds of good diabetes mellitus self-care practices. Although findings on race, education, and income were not statistically significant, they were consistent with previous research. In the future, individuals who are nonwhite, have less than a high school level of education, and have no health insurance should be targeted to improve diabetes mellitus self-care practices through educational and informational materials. Further investigation using more comprehensive measures of diabetes mellitus self-care is warranted.
Plasmonic Gold Nanorods With Sequence Specific Conjugation for Circulating Tumor DNA Screening

We present nanoplasmonic sensing of clinically relevant circulating tumor DNA sequences both in solution and on a substrate. We have demonstrated functionalization of gold nanorods with peptide nucleic acid probes, and selective sensing of a point mutation in the KRAS gene relevant to pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma. This sensing was measured both at a range of concentrations on nanorods in solution, and on-chip with microfluidically arranged nanorods. Using these techniques, low-concentration label-free circulating tumor DNA can be detected in real-time.
Healthy Parks Healthy People as an Upstream Stress Reduction Strategy.

One of the primary goals of the Healthy Parks Healthy People (HPHP) program, located in the San Francisco Bay Area, is to offer group-based physical activities in natural settings. These activities arefor racially and ethnically diverse groups of individuals as an "upstream" strategy for improving health. This study investigated the health impact of selected two-hour HPHP Bay Area events that targeted low-income racial and ethnic minority groups using physiological and self-reported measures of stress and related variables. Study participants (N=52) in the selected HPHP Bay Area events donated saliva and filled out psychological measures of perceived stress (PSS-4; Cohen et al.) and mood state (I-PANAS-SF; Thompson, 2007) at the beginning and the end ofa two-hour guided walk in green spaces. Moreover, a measure of perceived restoration (SRRS; Han, 2007) was completed at the end ofthe walk. Study participants wore a physical activity self-monitoring device (Garmin Vivofit 2) to capture their step count and heart rate during the event. Stress, both measured by the analysis of salivary cortisol and self-reported perceived stress, significantly decreased over the course of the event (p x =8,990 steps, HR 95 bpm). The results encourage further development of nature-based health interventions to mitigate stress. Such interventions may be especially appropriate for low-income, urban, racial and ethnic minority groups that likely experience increased levels of stress due to social inequities and poor living conditions.
Do young men's reports of hormonal and long-acting contraceptive method use match their female partner's reports?

Abstract Objective To assess whether young men's reports of hormonal and long-acting contraceptive methods match their female partner's reports. Study design We analyzed a sample of 1096 heterosexual couples (aged 18–26) from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health Romantic Pair subsample. We compared male and female partner reports of hormonal/long-acting method use using class of method (hormonal/long-acting) rather than type (e.g., intrauterine device). Regression analyses linked men's reports of individual and relationship characteristics with alignment of reporting. Results Sixteen percent of young men reported hormonal/long-acting method use at last sex differently than their female partner, that is, had a mismatched report. Men who had fewer lifetime sexual partners, had greater relationship satisfaction, believed their partner was monogamous and had a matched report of condom use at last sex were more likely to match their partner's report of hormonal/long-acting contraceptive use. Men living with children (from either partner) were less likely to have a matched report. Hispanic men were more likely to have a matched report than black men. Conclusions Men are an increasingly important part of pregnancy prevention efforts. Pregnancy prevention and healthy relationship programs that incorporate communication skills may also indirectly improve young men's knowledge of their partner's contraceptive use and engagement in contraceptive decision making. Implications Analyses showed that nearly two thirds of the 16% of young men that did not accurately report their partner's hormonal/long-acting method use at last sex underreport method use. Men at increased risk of misreporting may benefit the most from targeted pregnancy prevention programs.
Helping teachers make informed decisions when selecting assistive technology for secondary students with disabilities

The use of assistive technology in special education has grown over the past four decades. In inclusive settings, assistive technology plays a vital role in providing access to academic content for...