cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Song Replay During Sleep and Computational Rules for Sensorimotor Vocal Learning

Songbirds learn a correspondence between vocal-motor output and auditory feedback during development. For neurons in a motor cortex analog of adult zebra finches, we show that the timing and structure of activity elicited by the playback of song during sleep matches activity during daytime singing. The motor activity leads syllables, and the matching sensory response depends on a sequence of typically up to three of the preceding syllables. Thus, sensorimotor correspondence is reflected in temporally precise activity patterns of single neurons that use long sensory memories to predict syllable sequences. Additionally, “spontaneous” activity of these neurons during sleep matches their sensorimotor activity, a form of song “replay.” These data suggest a model whereby sensorimotor correspondences are stored during singing but do not modify behavior, and off-line comparison (e.g., during sleep) of rehearsed motor output and predicted sensory feedback is used to adaptively shape motor output.
THE ILLINOIS FULL VALUE ASSESSMENT LEGISLATION OF 1945 RELEVANT TO UNIFORMITY IN VALUATION OF REAL ESTATE UNDER THE GENERAL PROPERTY TAX

To ATTAIN GREATER EQUITY in the operation of the general property tax and in intergovernmental financial relations, the Illinois General Assembly in 1945 legislated to require equalization by the state of intercounty property assessments, at full value. This study is confined to real estate and shows that administration of the law has raised county assessment levels somewhat in relation to full value, has brought them into greater uniformity as between the 102 counties, and, as a significant advance in economic equity, has resulted indirectly in greater uniformity in local assessments as between individual properties. This analysis of the period 1942-57 makes use principally of two types of ratios of assessed to full value: (1) county-wide ratios as ascertained and utilized for intercounty equalization and (2) an approximate 16-year total of 700,000 ratios of assessed value to bona fide sales price for individual parcels of urban and rural real estate. Because available bona fide sales of real estate annually constitute only about 1 per cent of all assessed tracts, true sampling technique is inapplicable. Nevertheless, the findings are believed to be reliable and valid, both because of the rigorous rules under which bona fide sales ratio data are collected by the state Department of Revenue and because of the use of annual data over a suitably long period of 16 years. The findings are further analyzed in the broader spectrum of economic phenomena, including personal income, price levels, and state and local government finance. Comparisons are made with other states. The following findings are stated: 1. The equalized level of county assessments has been raised somewhat. This proportion of assessed to market value, at one-third in 1942, subsequently has ranged from three-fourths in the early
In situ type study of hydrothermally prepared titanates and silicotitanates

One of the most vexing problems facing the nuclear industry and countries with nuclear weapons is the safe disposal of the generated nuclear waste. Huge quantities of nuclear waste arising from weapons manufacture are stored at the Hanford and Savannah River sites in the USA. The general method of remediation involves the removal of Cs-137, Sr-90 and actinides from a huge quantity of salts, principally NaNO3, organics and complexing agents. It has been found that a sodium silicotitanate is able to remove Cs+ selectively from the waste and certain sodium titanates remove Sr2+ and actinides. These compounds have been prepared by ex-situ hydrothermal methods. We have studied the in situ growth of these materials at the National Synchrotron Light Source, Brookhaven National Laboratory. In addition we will describe the mechanism of ion exchange in the titanosilicate as observed by in situ methods and how the combination of these techniques coupled with an intimate knowledge of the structure of the solids is helping to solve the remediation process. In general, the in situ method allows the investigator to follow the nucleation and crystal growth or phase transformations occurring in hydrothermal reactions.
Ultraviolet light exposure stimulates HMGB1 release by keratinocytes

The primary cause of non-melanoma skin cancer is ultraviolet (UV) light from the sun. Many studies have demonstrated that cutaneous inflammation resulting from UV exposure is important for the development of skin cancer. In fact, anti-inflammatory drugs have been shown to be effective in preventing skin cancer in animal models and in clinical trials. One new class of inflammatory mediators that could regulate UV-induced inflammation and skin carcinogenesis is alarmins. Alarmins are endogenous molecules that act as potent pro-inflammatory mediators when they are released by cells or accumulate extracellularly. The purpose of the current studies was to examine the expression and release of the alarmin high mobility group box 1 (HMGB1) after acute and chronic UV irradiation. Acute UV exposure stimulated the release of HMGB1 in cultured human keratinocytes and epidermal keratinocytes in murine skin. HMGB1 release correlated with pro-inflammatory cytokine production in vitro and inflammatory cell infiltration in vivo. HMGB1 was also examined in tumors arising in chronically irradiated murine skin. HMGB1 protein expression in low grade, benign papillomas was similar to adjacent skin. However, HMGB1 staining was more widespread with a higher number of HMGB1-positive cells observed in high grade papillomas and malignant tumors. Overall, the data suggest that HMGB1 may be an important regulator of UV-induced cutaneous inflammation and tumor formation. Additional studies are needed to assess whether targeting HMGB1 would be a useful strategy to prevent tumors from developing in response to chronic UV exposure.
Energy ratios for trimuons produced through a heavy-lepton cascade decay

Analytic results for the ratios of the mean energies of trimuons in a heavy-lepton cascade-decay hypothesis are presented. By extremizing the parameters, the bounds for the energy ratios are calculated.
Increased Nox1 and hydrogen peroxide in prostate cancer

BACKGROUND Reactive oxygen species (ROS) are emerging as candidate mediators of growth and angiogenesis in cancer. Increased ROS often correlates with cell growth, e.g., Ras-transformed cells and cells treated with growth factors. While non-transformed cells respond to growth factors/cytokines with the regulated production of ROS, tumor cells in culture frequently overproduce H2O2. We propose that NADPH oxidases (Nox) account for increased levels of ROS in some cancers. Previously, transfection of Nox1 into a prostate cancer cell line dramatically enhanced tumor growth (Arbiser et al.: PNAS 99:715–720, 2001). METHODS Using immunohistochemistry, immunofluorescence, dihydroethidium staining, and Flow cytometry, we investigated the correlation between Nox1 and ROS in prostate cancer. RESULTS Here, we demonstrate that human prostate tumors show increased H2O2 levels. Furthermore, 80% of human prostate tumor samples show markedly increased Nox1 protein levels and increased mRNA levels. In addition, a series of cell lines developed from LNCaP prostate cancer cells that demonstrate increasing tumor and metastatic potential, show increased Nox1 and a parallel increase in H2O2 levels. CONCLUSIONS The results illustrate that human prostate cancer frequently show both increased H2O2 and Nox1, and that in an animal model system increased Nox1/H2O2 correlates with increased tumorigenicity. © 2004 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
Effect of Residual Stress in Surface Layer on Contact Deformation of Elastic-Plastic Layered Media

The effect of residual stress in the surface layer on the deformation of elastic-plastic layered media due to indentation and sliding contact loading and unloading was analyzed with the finite element method. A three-dimensional finite element model of a rigid sphere interacting with a deformable layered medium was developed, and its accuracy was evaluated by contrasting finite element results with analytical solutions for the surface stresses of an elastic homogeneous half-space subjected to normal and friction surface traction. Deformation of the layered medium is interpreted in terms of the dependence of the von Mises equivalent stress, first principal stress, and equivalent plastic strain on the magnitudes of residual stress and coefficient of friction. The effect of residual stress on the propensity for yielding and cracking in the layered medium is discussed in the context of results for the maximum Mises and tensile stresses and the evolution of plasticity in the subsurface. It is shown that the optimum residual stress in the surface layer depends on the type of contact loading (indentation or sliding), coefficient of friction, and dominant deformation mode in the layer (i.e., plastic deformation or cracking).
Sb-induced bulk band transitions in Si(111) and Si(001) observed in synchrotron photoemission studies

The Sb saturation of Si(111) and Si(001) was found by angle-resolved photoemission to allow the measurement of the bulk band-dispersion relations along the high-symmetry $\ensuremath{\Gamma}\ensuremath{-}\ensuremath{\Lambda}\ensuremath{-}L$ and $\ensuremath{\Gamma}\ensuremath{-}\ensuremath{\Delta}\ensuremath{-}X$ directions over a wide photon-energy range. Core-level spectroscopy revealed that the Si atoms in the near-surface region are converted to exhibit a bulklike atomic arrangement after Sb coverage. Strain reduction mechanisms in the near-surface region are addressed.
Isolation of Novel Afipia septicemium and Identification of Previously Unknown Bacteria Bradyrhizobium sp. OHSU_III from Blood of Patients with Poorly Defined Illnesses

Cultures previously set up for isolation of mycoplasmal agents from blood of patients with poorly-defined illnesses, although not yielding positive results, were cryopreserved because of suspicion of having low numbers of unknown microbes living in an inactive state in the broth. We re-initiated a set of 3 cultures for analysis of the "uncultivable" or poorly-grown microbes using NGS technology. Broth of cultures from 3 blood samples, submitted from OHSU between 2000 and 2004, were inoculated into culture flasks containing fresh modified SP4 medium and kept at room temperature (RT), 30°C and 35°C. The cultures showing evidence of microbial growth were expanded and subjected to DNA analysis by genomic sequencing using Illumina MiSeq. Two of the 3 re-initiated blood cultures kept at RT after 7–8 weeks showed evidence of microbial growth that gradually reached into a cell density with detectable turbidity. The microbes in the broth when streaked on SP4 agar plates produced microscopic colonies in ∼ 2 weeks. Genomic studies revealed that the microbes isolated from the 2 blood cultures were a novel Afipia species, tentatively named Afipia septicemium. Microbes in the 3rd culture (OHSU_III) kept at RT had a limited level of growth and could not reach a plateau with high cell density. Genomic sequencing identified the microbe in the culture as a previously unknown species of Bradyrhizobium bacteria. This study reports on the isolation of novel Afipia and Bradyrhizobium species. Isolation of Bradyrhizobium species bacteria has never been reported in humans. The study also reveals a previously unrecognized nature of hematogenous infections by the 2 unique groups of Bradyrhizobiaceae. Our studies show that improvement of culture system plus effective use of NGS technology can facilitate findings of infections by unusual microbes in patients having poorly-defined, sometimes mysterious illnesses.
All Gifts Large and Small: Toward an Understanding of the Ethics of Pharmaceutical Industry Gift-Giving

Much attention has been focused in recent years on the ethical acceptability of physicians receiving gifts from drug companies. Professional guidelines recognize industry gifts as a conflict of interest and establish thresholds prohibiting the exchange of large gifts while expressly allowing for the exchange of small gifts such as pens, note pads, and coffee. Considerable evidence from the social sciences suggests that gifts of negligible value can influence the behavior of the recipient in ways the recipient does not always realize. Policies and guidelines that rely on arbitrary value limits for gift-giving or receipt should be reevaluated.
Intervening to Decrease Alcohol Abuse at University Parties: Differential Reinforcement of Intoxication Level.

This quasi-experimental field study assessed whether an incentive/reward intervention can change the drinking behavior and the subsequent levels of intoxication among college students attending fraternity parties. A total of 356 blood alcohol concentration (BAC) assessments, using hand-held breathalyzers. were obtained at two baseline and at two intervention parties at the same fratenity house. At the intervention parties, the students were informed they could win a cash prize if their BAC was below .05, and they were given nomograms to aid in monitoring their levels of intoxication. Mean BAC and the percentage of partiers with intoxication levels above .05 were significantly lower at the two intervention parties. More than twice as many partygoers were legally intoxicated (i.e., BAC > .08) at the two baseline parties than at the two intervention parties. indicating a clinically significant impact of the incentive/reward intervention. Greek-life students, in particular, were significantly less intoxicated at intervention parties, compared to baseline parties (p < .001).
An empirical study for medication delivery improvement based on healthcare professionals’ perceptions of medication delivery system

Medication errors are major safety concerns in all hospital settings. The insufficient knowledge about managerial and process improvement strategies required to reduce medication errors can be considered as one of the most important factors holding back hospitals from achieving the desired goals for patient safety. However, strategies for medication error reduction cannot be successfully implemented without a clear understanding of factors affecting medication delivery errors. This paper presents a study in which healthcare professionals’ perceptions on three factors, namely (1) technical complexity of tasks/connections; (2) resources problems; and (3) qualification of human resources, are analyzed within the medication delivery system at one community hospital. The outcomes of this research are a theoretical model for reducing medication delivery errors and a set of workflow design rules for healthcare professionals to continuously reduce medication delivery errors.
State-slice: new paradigm of multi-query optimization of window-based stream queries

Modern stream applications such as sensor monitoring systems and publish/subscription services necessitate the handling of large numbers of continuous queries specified over high volume data streams. Efficient sharing of computations among multiple continuous queries, especially for the memory- and CPU-intensive window-based operations, is critical. A novel challenge in this scenario is to allow resource sharing among similar queries, even if they employ windows of different lengths. This paper first reviews the existing sharing methods in the literature, and then illustrates the significant performance shortcomings of these methods.This paper then presents a novel paradigm for the sharing of window join queries. Namely we slice window states of a join operator into fine-grained window slices and form a chain of sliced window joins. By using an elaborate pipelining methodology, the number of joins after state slicing is reduced from quadratic to linear. This novel sharing paradigm enables us to push selections down into the chain and flexibly select subsequences of such sliced window joins for computation sharing among queries with different window sizes. Based on the state-slice sharing paradigm, two algorithms are proposed for the chain buildup. One minimizes the memory consumption while the other minimizes the CPU usage. The algorithms are proven to find the optimal chain with respect to memory or CPU usage for a given query workload. We have implemented the slice-share paradigm within the data stream management system CAPE. The experimental results show that our strategy provides the best performance over a diverse range of workload settings among all alternate solutions in the literature.
Electrical measurement and modeling of co-fired ceramic multi-chip substrates for high speed application

Some of the important electrical properties of cofired ceramic multilayer substrates used for high-speed digital application have been investigated for the purpose of evaluating performance and improving the design process. A test vehicle has been designed to achieve this target. The measurement setup and procedures utilizing time-domain reflectometry techniques are described. Data collected from the test vehicle are summarized and discussed. Computer modeling has been used to help understand the interpret the data, and can be used for future design guidelines. Several cases of crosstalk configuration have been studied. The effect of risetime, line length, and impedance mismatch on the crosstalk was measured and compared with the modeling results. The test vehicle also includes a branched fan-out to simulate most cases of multichip design. The signal propagation delay and distortion have also been measured. Some of the measurement data of a seven-layer RISC (reduced-instruction-set computer) multichip module substrate are presented as a design example. >
Vascular responses of choroid plexus during hypercapnia in rats.

The response of blood flow to choroid plexus (CPBF) during hypercapnia is controversial. The goal of this study was to determine the effect of hypercapnia on CPBF in unanesthetized rats. Rats breathed air or a mixture of 5-8% CO2 in air, and CPBF was measured with [14C]isopropyliodoamphetamine and quantitative autoradiography. In hypercapnic rats [arterial PCO2 61.6 +/- 1.6 (SE) mmHg; n = 7] CPBF was similar to that of normocapnic control rats (525 +/- 39 ml.min-1.100 g-1; arterial PCO2 42.7 +/- 0.6 mmHg; n = 5). In contrast, blood flow to cerebral cortex increased 67% during hypercapnia. CPBF in normocapnic rats that were treated with phentolamine was similar to untreated normocapnic and hypercapnic rat CPBF. However, during hypercapnia, CPBF in phentolamine-treated rats increased 29%. Responses were similar in blood flow to choroid plexus of lateral, third, and fourth ventricles. Our findings indicate that hypercapnia has no effect on CPBF when alpha-adrenergic receptors are intact. In contrast, after blockade of alpha-adrenergic receptors, hypercapnia increases CPBF. These findings suggest that, during hypercapnia, levels of sympathetic activity or blood-borne catecholamines are increased that prevent increases in CPBF.
Hybrid low bitrate audio coding using adaptive gain shape vector quantization

Audio coding at low bitrates typically suffers from artifacts caused by bandwidth truncation. In this paper we present a novel scheme to code audio signals at low bitrates which uses a traditional scalar quantization followed by entropy coding to code some portions of the spectrum (typically the lower portion). The other portions (typically the higher portions) of the spectrum are coded at a low bitrate using an adaptive gain shape vector quantizer where the codebook for vector quantization is formed by unmodified or modified versions of the portions of the spectrum which have already been coded. Fixed pre-trained codebooks are also available for use in certain cases. The use of such a scheme results in an audio codec which has been shown to be among the best audio codecs available at low bitrates. In addition, the decoder complexity of this audio codec is significantly lower than any other codec of equal quality at low bitrates.
The role of social pressure, attention to the stimulus, and self‐doubt in conformity

The theorizing of Asch and Moscovici was used as a framework for exploring the relationships among social pressure, attention to the stimulus, doubt about one's own judgment, and conformity. Male and female subjects (N = 185) were confronted either with one (low social pressure) or three (high social pressure) others who judged 12 critical pairs of noises as equal in loudness. The noises within each pair actually varied in how similar they were in loudness. High social pressure resulted in most subjects paying either little or much attention to the stimulus; low social pressure resulted in most subjects paying a moderate amount of attention to the stimulus. When social pressure was high, greater self-doubt was associated with less attention to the stimulus; when social pressure was low, greater self-doubt was associated with more attention to the stimulus. Conformity was positively associated with self-doubt and negatively associated with attention to the stimulus. Social pressure increased conformity, particularly when subjects paid little attention to the stimulus. Although the results are interpreted as partially consistent with both the Asch and the Moscovici perspectives, they are not totally consistent with either.
Stark-Effect Spectroscopy of the Heme Charge-Transfer Bands of Deoxymyoglobin

We report the Stark spectra of the Soret, Q, and charge-transfer bands of deoxymyoglobin. The data show that band III has charge-transfer character but that the magnitude of the charge displacement is significantly smaller than expected or than what is observed for band I or even the Soret or Q bands. The data also show that symmetry breaking of iron−protoporphyrin IX in myoglobin produces a larger difference dipole moment in the Soret transition when compared to the dimethyl ester of protoporphyrin IX. The results lend further credence to the hypothesis that the electrostatic environment of the heme pocket in myoglobin is important in modifying the properties of the heme transitions, and they provide a basis for quantitative analysis of the static and time-dependent band shifts observed in response to environmental electrostatic perturbations and ligand binding dynamics.
Heterogeneous oxidation of a phosphocholine on synthetic sea salt by ozone at room temperature

The ozonolysis of 1-palmitoyl-2-oleoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (POPC) adsorbed on salt mixtures as models for sea-salt particles was studied in real time using diffuse reflection infrared Fourier transform spectrometry (DRIFTS) at room temperature with and without added water vapor. The salt substrates were a mixture of MgCl2·6H2O with NaCl or a commercially available synthetic sea salt. Ozone concentrations ranged from (0.25 to 3.9) × 1013 molecules cm−3 (0.1–1.6 ppm). The major products identified by FTIR and confirmed using matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI) mass spectrometry were the secondary ozonide (SOZ) and a phospholipid aldehyde and carboxylic acid formed by scission of the double bond. The reaction probabilities for the two substrates were similar, γ = (6–7) × 10−7, with an estimated overall uncertainty of a factor of two. The presence of water vapor decreased the yield of SOZ relative to the products formed by CC scission, but also increased the availability of the double bond for reaction, particularly on the less hygroscopic commercial sea-salt substrate. Thus, water not only affects the mechanisms and products, but also the structure of the phospholipid on the salt in a manner that affects its reactivity. The results of these studies suggest that the reactivity and products of oxidation of unsaturated phospholipids on sea-salt particles in air will be very sensitive to the nature and phase of the substrate, the amount of water present, and whether there is phase separation between the organics and the inorganic salt mixture.
Print biometrics: Recovering forensic signatures from halftone images

High-resolution imaging is useful for the forensic identification of unique printed regions. In this paper, we adapt an iris biometric approach to provide significant statistical discrimination between any two imaged halftone areas. The method is based on image registration followed by 2D Gabor wavelet encoding. Hamming Distances (HD) are used for matching. The z-scores for the comparison of like and unlike samples indicate improved identification statistics compared to both iris biometrics and previous methods of print authentication.
JAPANESE ATTITUDES TOWARD NUCLEAR ARMS

More than twice in the relatively short history of the nuclear age, Japan has suffered the lethal effects of nuclear explosions, and as a result both antiwar and anti-nuclear weapons sentiments have been very strong. Will these attitudes persist, or are they subject to change as the generations having direct experience with war and its aftermath are gradually replaced by "postwar youth?" Professor Tanaka reports two approaches to this problem: one, a survey of students' expectations concerning Japanese nuclear development; the second, a study of students' changing evaluations of this development. The author is Professor of Social Psychology and Communications in the Department of Political Science, Gakushuin University, Tokyo, and at the time of writing this article was Visiting Professor at the Annenberg School of Communications and Senior Research Associate for International Studies in Values in Politics at the University of Pennsylvania.
Independent performance modeling of parallel architectures and algorithms

A key requirement for the effective use of multiprocessor systems in real-world applications is an ability to accurately predict the performance of a specific algorithm on a specific architecture. Such performance prediction tools assist the system designer in initially selecting, and then modifying, both the algorithm and the architecture to obtain acceptable performance. In this paper, we present a modeling approach that permits separate evaluation of algorithm and architecture performance with only a small number of "cross" parameters required to link the two models. An example application of this technique to a Gaussian elimination algorithm on two dissimilar multiprocessor architectures shows good agreement with actual performance figures obtained from measurement and simulation. >
Expansion cloud chamber observations on the nucleation and growth of sulfuric acid—water droplets☆

Abstract Attempts to observe critical supersaturations in mixtures of sulfuric acid and water vapors, using an expansion cloud chamber, have yielded uncertain results. A careful theoretical analysis of the situation reveals the problems that can arise because of long relaxation times to the steady state, long droplet growth times, and depletion of nucleating vapor at high rates of nucleation. Growth times are dominated by the time required to reach the so-called “activation size,” larger than the normal critical size, when the system is supersaturated with respect to water. The time to reach the activation size may be considerable. All of these times may exceed the sensitive time of the expansion cloud chamber. This paper contains a detailed analysis of these effects and a description and interpretation of new expansion chamber measurements in light of this analysis. Our measurements show effects consistent with the analysis. One concludes that the measurement of critical supersaturations in H2OH2SO4 vapor mixtures are difficult if not impossible using either expansion cloud chambers or nozzles.
Induction of interleukin 6 (IL-6) by hypoxia in vascular cells. Central role of the binding site for nuclear factor-IL-6

The pathologic picture in ischemic tissue injury shares features with the inflammatory response, including production of proinflammatory cytokines. Hypoxia-mediated induction of interleukin-6 (IL-6), a cytokine with anti-inflammatory properties, could set in motion mechanisms limiting inflammation in ischemia. Exposure of cultured endothelial cells (ECs) to H (pO2 approximately 12-16 torr) increased transcription of IL-6, elevated levels of IL-6 mRNA, and induced elaboration of IL-6 antigen in a time-dependent manner. Exposure of mice to hypoxia increased IL-6 transcripts in the lung, and immunostaining revealed a striking increase in IL-6 antigen in pulmonary vasculature. Transfection of ECs with deletion chimeric IL-6 promoter-chloramphenicol acetyl-transferase (CAT) constructs showed hypoxia-mediated 9-11-fold induction with -1200/+13, -596/+13, and -225/+13 but no induction with -111/+13. Electrophoretic mobility shift assays (EMSAs) using -225/-111 as the labeled probe demonstrated enhanced binding activity in nuclear extracts of hypoxic ECs and lung; the appearance of the gel shift band was prevented by excess unlabeled probe (-225/-111), and hypoxia-mediated enhancement of the band was blocked by a probe corresponding to the nuclear factor (NF)-IL-6 site (-158/-145). The hypoxia-enhanced band on EMSA displayed a supershift with antibody to CCAAT-enhancer-binding protein beta (C/EBP-beta), but antibody to C/EBP-alpha or -delta was without effect. Transfection of ECs with a construct comprising thymidine kinase promoter, -225/-111 in either the 5' to 3' to 5' orientation, and the reporter CAT showed this region to be an enhancer (approximately 8-fold) under hypoxia. EMSA with the NF-IL-6 probe revealed a prominent induction of binding activity with nuclear extracts from hypoxic ECs and whole lung. Constructs with -158/-145 and the CAT reporter gene showed induction when transfected into hypoxic ECs, whereas a similar construct with the NF-IL-6 motif mutationally inactivated failed to display hypoxia-induced expression. Furthermore, the tumor necrosis factor (TNF) gene, whose product contributes to ischemic pathology and contains a putative regulatory NF-IL-6 site, demonstrated enhanced binding activity for its NF-IL-6 motif and induction of TNF mRNA based on analysis of hypoxic lung. These data indicate that hypoxia induces expression of IL-6, most likely a result of hypoxic activation at the NF-IL-6 site, and suggest that other genes with regulatory NF-IL-6 sites may also be induced by a similar mechanism.
Predicting the number of women who will undergo incontinence and prolapse surgery, 2010 to 2050

Objective We sought to estimate the number of women who will undergo inpatient and outpatient surgery for stress urinary incontinence (SUI) or pelvic organ prolapse (POP) in the United States from 2010 through 2050. Study Design Using the 2007 Nationwide Inpatient Sample and the 2006 National Survey of Ambulatory Surgery, we calculated the rates for inpatient and outpatient SUI and POP surgery. We applied the surgery rates to the US Census Bureau population projections from 2010 through 2050. Results The total number of women who will undergo SUI surgery will increase 47.2% from 210,700 in 2010 to 310,050 in 2050. Similarly, the total number of women who will have surgery for prolapse will increase from 166,000 in 2010 to 245,970 in 2050. Conclusion If the surgery rates for pelvic floor disorders remain unchanged, the number of surgeries for urinary incontinence and POP will increase substantially over the next 40 years.
A functional Notch–survivin gene signature in basal breast cancer

Basal-type, or triple-negative, breast cancer (lacking estrogen receptor, progesterone receptor, and human epidermal growth factor receptor-2 expression) is a high-risk disease for which no molecular therapies are currently available. We studied genetic signatures of basal breast cancer potentially suitable for therapeutic intervention. We analyzed protein expression of the Notch-1 intracellular domain and survivin by immunohistochemistry in a series of basal breast cancer patients. A hierarchical clustering and overall survival analysis was carried out on a microarray mRNA database of 232 breast cancer patients. Fifteen published mRNA datasets containing estrogen receptor-negative or estrogen receptor-positive samples were subjected to meta-analysis for co-segregated gene expression. Experiments of plasmid transfection and gene silencing were carried out in estrogen receptor-negative MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cells. The developmental signaling regulator Notch-1 was highly expressed in breast cancer, compared with normal tissue, and was segregated with basal disease. Higher Notch-1 levels correlated with progressively abbreviated overall survival, and with increased expression of survivin, a tumor-associated cell death and mitotic regulator implicated in stem cell viability. Analysis of Pearson's correlation coefficient indicated that Notch-1 and survivin co-segregated in basal breast cancer. Notch-1 stimulation in MDA-MB-231 cells increased survivin expression, whereas silencing Notch reduced survivin levels. A Notch-1–survivin functional gene signature is a hallmark of basal breast cancer, and may contribute to disease pathogenesis. Antagonists of Notch and survivin currently in the clinic may be tested as novel molecular therapy for these recurrence-prone patients.
Sklar's Theorem revisited: an elaboration of the Ruschendorf transform approach

In many applications including financial risk measurement a certain class of multivariate distribution functions, copulas, has shown to be a powerful building block to reflect multivariate dependence between several random variables including the mapping of tail dependencies. A key result in this field is Sklar’s Theorem which roughly states that any n-variate distribution function can be written as a composition of a suitable copula and an n-dimensional vector whose components are given by univariate marginal distribution functions, and that conversely the composition of an arbitrary copula and an arbitrary n-dimensional vector, consisting of n one-dimensional distribution functions (which need not be continuous), again is a n-variate distribution function whose i-th marginal is precisely the i-th component of the n-dimensional vector of the given distribution functions. Meanwhile, in addition to the original sketch of a proof by Sklar himself, there exist several approaches to prove Sklar’s Theorem in its full generality, mostly under inclusion of probability theory and mathematical statistics but recently also rather technically under inclusion of nontrivial results from topology and functional analysis ([1]). An elegant and mostly probabilistic
Recess in Primary School: The Disjuncture Between Educational Policy and Scientific Research

In recent decades, the role of recess during the school day has been called into question. This chapter addresses the critical issue of whether recess adds value to education by describing research examining the effects of recess on development and achievement. This topic is of critical importance for educational settings and wellbeing: To ensure the best practices are being utilized, school policies should be based on scientific investigations. Thus, research examining recess and play is described.
Rancièrean Atomism: Clarifying the Debate between Jacques Rancière and Alain Badiou

In the late 1970s and the 1980s, a number of radical left political theorists focused their philosophical attention on the relevance of ancient atomism, revitalizing a tradition that went back to Karl Marx's work on his dissertation. This essay looks at the uses of atomism by two thinkers in particular, Jacques Ranciere and Alain Badiou, in order to see how their discussions of and references to ancient materialism help to shed light on their fundamental disagreements about the nature of community and equality. First, this paper argues that what Badiou and Ranciere most obviously share in their assessments of atomism is a negative judgment regarding the post-swerve constitution of the world, while what most obviously distinguishes their positions is their differing judgments regarding the preswerve rain of the atoms in the void (which Badiou assesses negatively and Ranciere positively). Becoming clear both about how Badiou and Ranciere respond to what comes before and after the atomistic swerve helps to clarify an implicit response on Ranciere’s part to what has become Badiou’s chief objection to Ranciere’s political theory. Second, this paper argues that the fact that Badiou assesses both what comes before and what comes after the swerve as negative, while Ranciere assesses only what comes after the swerve as negative (because he assesses the pre-swerve rain of the atoms in the void positively), makes clear that their most essential point of difference concerns the status of the swerve that mediates between before and after. Working through the complexities of Badiou’s analysis of the swerve and uncovering Ranciere’s extremely subtle analysis of the swerve helps to clarify a major aspect of what has become Ranciere’s chief criticism of Badiou’s conception of philosophy.
An Empirical Analysis of Alexander Bickel's the Least Dangerous Branch

Alexander Bickel was quite uneasy about judicial review, particularly how it was used by the Warren Court, yet he desperately sought to identify its virtues and thereby defend it. This chapter argues that Bickel failed in his struggle to reconcile judicial review with democratic values and that the cause is empirical error in his key assumptions. Contained within Bickel's characterization of the countermajoritarian difficulty are several assertions which can be examined empirically. Bickel variously claims that: legislation reflects majority preferences; Supreme Court decisions are inconsistent with majority preferences; Supreme Court decisions are final and irreversible; and the Court is unique or "deviant" in its countermajoritarianism. Each assumption is faulty and consequently dooms from the start Bickel's efforts to reconcile judicial review with democratic values.
A Guide for Deficit Reduction in the United States Based on Historical Consolidations That Worked

Most developed countries face the need for significant policy changes to balance their budgets over the long run. Yet there is significant disagreement in the literature concerning the identification and impact of successful fiscal consolidations. In this paper, we explore the impact that differing assumptions and methodologies have on conclusions, and derive bounds across specifications that can be used by policymakers in designing their own reforms. Using cyclically adjusted panel data for select OECD countries from 1970-2007, we explore how the compositions of successful and unsuccessful consolidations differ for varying definitions of success. While conclusions about the growth impact of reforms vary depending on methodology, we find that there is much less disagreement concerning composition. Specifically, we find strong evidence that expenditure cuts outweigh revenue increases in successful consolidations. We also find evidence that the type of the spending cuts is an important determinant of success, as is the type of tax increases. We use these results as a guide, and discuss specific proposals for reducing the United States’ deficit that draw on the lessons from past consolidations. *Email: andrew.biggs@aei.org **Email: kevin.hassett@aei.org ***Email: matt.jensen@aei.org
Line intensities and temperature-dependent line broadening coefficients of Q-branch transitions in the v2 band of ammonia near 10.4 μm.

Abstract We report measured line intensities and temperature-dependent broadening coefficients of NH3 with Ar, N2, O2, CO2, H2O, and NH3 for nine sQ(J,K) transitions in the ν2 fundamental band in the frequency range 961.5–967.5 cm−1. This spectral region was chosen due to the strong NH3 absorption strength and lack of spectral interference from H2O and CO2 for laser-based sensing applications. Spectroscopic parameters were determined by multi-line fitting using Voigt lineshapes of absorption spectra measured with two quantum cascade lasers in thermodynamically-controlled optical cells. The temperature dependence of broadening was measured over a range of temperatures between 300 and 600 K. These measurements aid the development of mid-infrared NH3 sensors for a broad range of gas mixtures and at elevated temperatures.
Three-Pion States in the K L → μ + μ − Puzzle

Contributions to the absorptive ${K}_{L}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}2\ensuremath{\mu}$ amplitude coming from intermediate $3\ensuremath{\pi}$ states are estimated on the basis of recent soft-pion results for the process $3\ensuremath{\pi}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}2\ensuremath{\gamma}$. These contributions turn out to be far too small, by 4 orders of magnitude, to resolve the ${K}_{L}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}2\ensuremath{\mu}$ puzzle.
Packing spanning trees and spanning 2-connected k-edge-connected essentially $$(2k-1)$$(2k-1)-edge-connected subgraphs

Let $$k\ge 2, p\ge 1, q\ge 0$$kź2,pź1,qź0 be integers. We prove that every $$(4kp-2p+2q)$$(4kp-2p+2q)-connected graph contains p spanning subgraphs $$G_i$$Gi for $$1\le i\le p$$1≤i≤p and q spanning trees such that all $$p+q$$p+q subgraphs are pairwise edge-disjoint and such that each $$G_i$$Gi is k-edge-connected, essentially $$(2k-1)$$(2k-1)-edge-connected, and $$G_i -v$$Gi-v is $$(k-1)$$(k-1)-edge-connected for all $$v\in V(G)$$vźV(G). This extends the well-known result of Nash-Williams and Tutte on packing spanning trees, a theorem that every 6p-connected graph contains p pairwise edge-disjoint spanning 2-connected subgraphs, and a theorem that every $$(6p+2q)$$(6p+2q)-connected graph contains p spanning 2-connected subgraphs and q spanning trees, which are all pairwise edge-disjoint. As an application, we improve a result on k-arc-connected orientations.
The Development of the Financial Literacy Program at the Community College of Baltimore County.

ABSTRACTStudent debt has increasingly become an important topic in higher education. Many students, particularly low-income and first-generation college students, do not have a solid understanding of managing personal finances. This becomes further compounded upon entering college, as these students lack the financial acumen to understand the long-term ramifications of misusing financial aid. Financial literacy education is increasingly viewed as a necessity for the public good of the students and the future economy. The Community College of Baltimore County (CCBC) recognized that the institution needed to address financial literacy with its students in some way. To address the needs of their students, the college decided to target the student population of first-time enrolled college students. The institution chose to develop a week-long program and implant it in an existing student success course, Academic Development, ACDV 101. The program, Money Matters, is designed is to teach financial awareness. Th...
Mathematical biophysics of color vision: III. Color constancy

A mechanism is presented which can account for certain aspects of the phenomena of color constancy. The mechanism involves interaction between a given region and the remaining field. Each region is represented by a color center having the structure previously introduced (Landahl, 1952,Bull. Math. Biophysics,14, 317–25) to account for a number of phenomena of color vision. The trichromatic, symmetric mechanism is introduced for simplicity. The interaction is such that collaterals from each of the primaries representing the background send elements to each of the centers corresponding to the primaries representing the spot. However, the collaterals impinging upon unlike centers are excitatory while the collaterals impinging on like centers, corresponding to the same primary colors, are inhibitory. With proper choice of coefficients, the result is that for small changes in illumination, the resulting apparent color is unchanged. However, for greater changes in the color of the illumination, there results a distortion of the apparent color. A number of examples are illustrated numerically.
Perfluorinated alkyl acids in plasma of American alligators (Alligator mississippiensis) from Florida and South Carolina

This study aimed to quantitate fourteen perfluoroalkyl acids (PFAAs) in 125 adult American alligators at twelve sites across the southeastern US. Of those fourteen PFAAs, nine were detected in 65% - 100% of the samples: PFOA, PFNA, PFDA, PFUnA, PFDoA, PFTriA, PFTA, PFHxS, and PFOS. Males (across all sites) showed significantly higher concentrations of four PFAAs: PFOS (p = 0.01), PFDA (p = 0.0003), PFUnA (p = 0.021), and PFTriA (p = 0.021). Concentrations of PFOS, PFHxS, and PFDA in plasma were significantly different among the sites in each sex. Alligators at Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge and Kiawah Nature Conservancy both exhibited some of the highest PFOS concentrations (medians 99.5 ng/g and 55.8 ng/g respectively) in plasma measured to date in a crocodilian species. A number of positive correlations between PFAAs and snout-vent length (SVL) were observed in both sexes suggesting PFAA body burdens increase with increasing size. In addition, several significant correlations among PFAAs in alligator plasma may suggest conserved sources of PFAAs at each site throughout the greater study area. This study is the first to report PFAAs in American alligators, reveals potential PFAA hot spots in Florida and South Carolina, and provides and additional contaminant of concern when assessing anthropogenic impacts on ecosystem health.
Overview of the stratigraphic and structural evolution of the Talladega slate belt, Alabama Appalachians

The allochthonous Talladega belt of eastern-northeastern Alabama and northwestern Georgia is a northeast striking, fault bounded block of lower greenschist facies metasedimentary and metaigneous rocks that formed along the margin of Laurentia at or outboard of the seaward edge of the Alabama promontory. Bounded by metamorphic rocks of the higher grade Neoproterozoic(?) to Carboniferous eastern Blue Ridge on the southeast and unmetamorphosed to anchimetamorphic Paleozoic rocks of the Appalachian foreland on the northwest, the Talladega belt includes shelf facies rocks of the latest Neoproterozoic/earliest Cambrian Kahatchee Mountain Group, Cambrian-Ordovician Sylacauga Marble Group, and the latest Silurian(?) to uppermost Devonian/earliest Mississippian Talladega Group. Along the southeastern fl ank of these metasedimentary sequences, a Middle Ordovician back-arc terrane (Hillabee Greenstone) was tectonically emplaced along a cryptic pre-metamorphic thrust fault (Hillabee thrust) and subsequently dismembered with units of the upper Talladega Group along the post-metamorphic Hollins Line fault system. Importantly, strata within the Talladega belt are critical for understanding the tectonic evolution of the southern Appalachian orogen when coupled with the geologic history of adjacent terranes. Rocks of the lower Talladega Group, the Lay Dam Formation, suggest latest Silurian-earliest Devonian tectonism that is only now being recognized in other areas of the southern Appalachians. Additionally, correlation between the Middle Ordovician Hillabee Greenstone and similar bimodal metavolcanic suites in the Alabama eastern Blue Ridge and equivalent Dahlonega Gold belt of Georgia and North Carolina suggests the presence of an extensive back-arc volcanic system on the Laurentian plate just outboard of the continental margin during the Ordovician and has signifi cant implications for models of southern Appalachian Taconic orogenesis.
Experimental Models to Study the Kynurenine Pathway

The kynurenine pathway is the major pathway that degrades tryptophan that has not been incorporated into proteins. The metabolites that make up the pathway have roles in a broad range of disease states spanning from neurodegenerative diseases, such as Huntington’s disease, to infections to cancer. The studying of this pathway is crucial to further our understanding of the many diseases it is incorporated in and furthermore presents the opportunity to discover novel therapeutics. In this chapter, we hope to shed light on the transgenic animal models available (Ido1, Ido2, Tdo2, Kmo, and KatII) and the diseases they have currently been used to study, as well as give a glance at some of the inhibitors available.