cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Anatomy of the gustatory system in the hamster: central projections of the chorda tympani and the lingual nerve

The sensory modalities of taste and touch, for the anterior tongue, are relegated to separate cranial nerves. The lingual branch of the trigeminal nerve mediates touch: the chorda tympani branch of the facial nerve mediates taste. The chorda tympani also contains efferent axons which originate in the superior salivatory nucleus. The central projections of these two nerves have been visualized in the hamster by anterograde labelling with horseradish peroxidase (HRP). Afferent fibers of the chorda tympani distribute to all rostral-caudal levels of the solitary nucleus. They synapse heavily in the dorsal half of the nucleus at its rostral extreme; synaptic endings are sparser and located laterally in caudal regions. These taste afferents travel caudally in the solitary tract and reach different levels by a series of collateral branches which extend medially in the the solitary nucleus, where they exhibit preterminal and terminal swellings. Taste afferent axons range in diameter from 0.2 micrometer to 1.5 micrometers. The thickest axons project exclusively to the rostral and intermediate subdivisions of the solitary nucleus; the find ones may distribute predominantly to the caudal subdivision. Afferent fibers of the lingual nerve terminate heavily in the dorsal one-third of the spinal nucleus of the trigeminal nerve and also as a dense patch in the lateral solitary nucleus at the midpoint between its rostral and caudal poles. This latter projection overlaps that of the chorda tympani. Thus the two sensory nerves which subserve taste and touch from coincident peripheral fields on the tongue converge centrally on the intermediate subdivision of the solitary nucleus. Efferent neurons of the superior salivatory nucleus were labelled retrogradely following application of HRP to the chorda tympani. These cells are located ipsilaterally in the medullary reticular formation ventral to the rostral pole of the solitary nucleus; their dendrites are oriented dorsoventrally. The efferent axons course dorsally, form a genu lateral to the facial somatomotor genu, and course ventrolaterally through the spinal nucleus of the trigeminal nerve to exit the brain ventral to the entering facial afferents.
Laboratory biology and host range of Hydrellia balciunasi [ Diptera: Ephydridae ]

Hydrellia balciunasi Bock, a native of Australia, was evaluated in quarantine in Florida, USA, for its potential as a biocontrol agent of the submersed aquatic weed,Hydrilla verticillata (L.f) Royle. Larvae are leafminers. Mean total development time at 27°C was 22.8 days. Mean duration of the egg stage was 3.0 days, larval was 11.5 days, and puparial was 8.3 days. Mean fecundity was 35.5 eggs. Mean female longevity was 19.7 days, and mean male longevity was 15.6 days. The sex ratio was 1.1∶1 (male: female). Fourteen plant species closely related to hydrilla in 4 families plus rice were tested in no-choice larval development tests and an additional 27 plant species in 16 families were tested in multi-choice tests. Larvae mined in 2 test plant species,Potamogeton pusillus L. andP. crispus L., but developed (1%) only on the introduced weedP. crispus L. Females oviposited on most test plants. Permission to release this fly in the United States was received from federal and state (Florida) officials, and it was released from quarantine on 24 May 1989.
Bradycardia during therapy for multiple myeloma with thalidomide

We studied the medical records of 96 patients who received thalidomide and 104 patients who made up a control group. We found that 53% of patients (52 patients) using thalidomide had a heart rate of <60 beats/min at some point during follow-up and 19% of thalidomide patients (10 patients) developed symptom-related bradycardia. Reducing the thalidomide dose appeared to alleviate symptoms in most patients.
Green streams for data-intensive software

This paper introduces Green Streams, a novel solution to address a critical but often overlooked property of data-intensive software: energy efficiency. Green Streams is built around two key insights into data-intensive software. First, energy consumption of data-intensive software is strongly correlated to data volume and data processing, both of which are naturally abstracted in the stream programming paradigm; Second, energy efficiency can be improved if the data processing components of a stream program coordinate in a “balanced” way, much like an assembly line that runs most efficiently when participating workers coordinate their pace. Green Streams adopts a standard stream programming model, and applies Dynamic Voltage and Frequency Scaling (DVFS) to coordinate the pace of data processing among components, ultimately achieving energy efficiency without degrading performance in a parallel processing environment. At the core of Green Streams is a novel constraint-based inference to abstract the intrinsic relationships of data flow rates inside a stream program, that uses linear programming to minimize the frequencies - hence the energy consumption - for processing components while still maintaining the maximum output data flow rate. The core algorithm of Green Streams is formalized, and its optimality is established. The effectiveness of Green Streams is evaluated on top of the StreamIt framework, and preliminary results show the approach can save CPU energy by an average of 28% with a 7% performance improvement.
The changing basis of performance measurement

The objective of performance measurement has changed over the past few decades. Traditional performance measures based on productivity are no longer appropriate or representative of the information needs of today’s competitive global market. Alternative performance systems have been proposed that range from time as the basis of all measures to the integration of a variety of performance measures. Reviews and analyses the limitations of traditional approaches to performance measurement as well as the emerging trends in performance measurement system development. Reveals that the basis of performance measurement is changing and that there are certain characteristics that are necessary in order to produce information that is relevant for improving world‐class manufacturing performance.
Self-structure and emotional response categorization: Who judges a face by its emotional cover?

Examines individual differences in the use of affective qualities of stimuli as a basis for categorization. We hypothesized that individuals with evaluatively compartmentalized self-structures would be more likely than those with integrative self-structures to respond to the affective qualities of face stimuli. In an emotional response categorization task, participants rated the similarity of face pairs that varied in emotional expression. Individuals with positively integrative self-concepts perceived faces with different emotional expressions to be relatively similar, suggesting that these judgments rely on facial features other than emotional expression. For face pairs that shared the same emotional expression, naturally-occurring mood (but not self-structure) was associated with greater perceived similarity, suggesting that effects of self-structure are restricted to contexts in which emotionality is subtle.
The likelihood function of additive learning models: Sufficient conditions for strict log-concavity and uniqueness of maximum ☆

Abstract Luce introduced a family of learning models in which response probabilities are a function of some underlying continuous real variable. This variable can be represented as an additive function of the parameters of these learning models. Additive learning models have also been applied to signal-detection data. There are a wide variety of problems of contemporary psychophysics for which the assumption of a continuum of sensory states seems appropriate, and this family of learning models has a natural extension to such problems. One potential difficulty in the application of such models to data is that estimation of parameters requires the use of numerical procedures when the method of maximum likelihood is used. Given a likelihood function generated from an additive model, this paper gives sufficient conditions for log-concavity and strict log-concavity of the likelihood function. If a likelihood function is strictly log-concave, then any local maximum is a unique global maximum, and any solution to the likelihood equations is the unique global maximum point. These conditions are quite easy to evaluate in particular cases, and hence, the results should be quite useful. Some applications to Luce's beta model and to the signal-detection learning models of Dorfman and Biderman are presented.
Observations on the biology of Rhizoglyphus robini Claparède (Acaridae)

R. robini is capable of ingesting fungal material and passing it through the digestive tract in a viable state. Temperature and food substrate were important factors in the termination of the hypopodial stage, while relative humidity had no significant effect. Temperature also influenced the rate of post-embryonic development in R. robini. Zusammenfassung Beobachtungen zur Biologie von Rhizoglyphus robini Clap. (Acaridae) R. robini ist imstande, Material von pflanzenpathogenen Pilzen aufzunehmen und es in lebensfahigem Zustand seinen Verdauungstrakt passieren zu lassen. Temperatur und Nahrungssubstrat waren wichtige Faktoren zur Beendigung des Hypopodial-Stadiums, wahrend die rel. LF keine gesicherte Wirkung zeigte. Die Temperatur beeinfluste auch die Rate der postembryonalen Entwicklung der Milbe.
Analysis of loss of heterozygosity in single-system and multisystem Langerhans' cell histiocytosis.

Abstract The contribution of molecular mutations to the progression of Langerhans' cell histiocytosis (LCH) is not well understood. This study analyzes fractional allelic loss (FAL) across a series of tumor suppressor genes (TSGs) comparing LCH of various clinical stages and LCH involving organs of various degrees of prognostic risk. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification, using fluorescent-labeled primers targeting 6 TSGs, was performed on extracted DNA. The PCR products were analyzed using a capillary electrophoresis genetic analyzer. Ratios of the peak heights in informative cases were compared between unaffected and lesional tissue to identify loss of heterozygosity (LOH). Fisher's exact testing was used to analyze the results. Fourteen children with single-system involvement (SS-LCH) and 10 with multisystem involvement (MS-LCH) were included. High-risk or special-site organ involvement was seen in 13 children and low-risk organ involvement in 10. The mean FAL in MS-LCH (62.7%) was statisticall...
Minority women's microenterprises in rural areas of the United States of America: African American, Hispanic American and Native American case studies

Women in many rural areas of the US often engage in small-scale businesses as one of several avenues for contributing to household incomes. In those geographical areas that contain a significant minority population, many of the women's businesses display the cultural diversity of the regions in which they live. Likewise, women's roles as economic providers as well as wives and mothers are reflected in the manner in which they operate their businesses. Candida Brush suggests that women's strategies for operating their businesses are highly integrative because women's business decisions are intertwined with familial responsibilities, household economic demands and desires to contribute to their communities. Hispanic and Native American women in the Four Corners region of southwestern US and African American women in central Virginia participated in interviews in which they responded to numerous short answer and open-ended questions about their businesses and decision-making strategies. From these interviews an image emerges of rural minority business women who are operating their businesses at the nexus of family obligations, economic necessities, cultural ties and with a commitment for serving their communities.
The influence of different levels of serum antibody on the susceptibility of rabbit oral mucosa to experimental herpes simplex virus infection.

RECENT studies in humans (BUDDINGH et al., 1953) and rabbits (ASHE and RIZZO, 1967) indicate that following primary intraoral herpes simplex virus (HSV) infection, serum antibody against HSV may decline or undergo fluctuations. Since the relationship of different antibody levels to the specific susceptibility of the oral mucosa had not been studied experimentally, such studies were undertaken in rabbits. Inoculations of HSV were made in the oral mucosa of rabbits which possessed different levels of neutralizing antibody. The gross, histological, cultural, and immunological observations made following these inoculations are described in this report. Since the procedures used in this study have been described in detail in other publications (SHIP, ASHE and SCHERP, 1961; RIZZO and ASHE, 1964; ASHE and SCHERP, 1965), they will only be outlined here except where modifications have been made. In the first experiment, different dosages of virus were inoculated into the oral mucosa of rabbits hyperimmunized with HSV in order to determine which dosages, if any, would produce herpetic ulcers. Superficial injections of HSV (strain 11139) were made in right and left palatal sites of each of 12 New Zealand White rabbits. Six of these inocula contained 105*’ plaque-forming units (PFU), six contained 104*’ PFU, six contained 103*’ PFU, and six contained 102*’ PFU. Injections of each dosage were equally distributed on both sides of the palate. The injected sites were observed 3 and 5 days after inoculation and the results were compared with those of a similar titration performed in rabbits without previous exposure to HSV (RIZZO and ASHE, 1964). In a second experiment, standard inocula of virus were injected into four mucosal sites each in rabbits with varying levels of anti-HSV neutralizing antibody. Four of these rabbits showing low antibody titres and four showing relatively high titres were inoculated with 105e7 PFU of fresh HSV into each palatal site and with 106*4 PFU into right and left upper labial mucosa sites. Two rabbits with no previous exposure to HSV and no detectable neutralizing antibody were also inoculated in the same manner. Lesion sites were examined daily. On the third day cultures were taken at
Automatic colonic polyp detection using multi-objective evolutionary techniques

Colonic polyps appear like elliptical protrusions on the inner wall of the colon. Curvature based features for colonic polyp detection have proved to be successful in several computer-aided diagnostic CT colonography (CTC) systems. Some simple thresholds are set for those features for creating initial polyp candidates, sophisticated classification scheme are then applied on these polyp candidates to reduce false positives. There are two objective functions, the number of missed polyps and false positive rate, that need to be minimized when setting those thresholds. These two objectives conflict and it is usually difficult to optimize them both by a gradient search. In this paper, we utilized a multiobjective evolutionary method, the Strength Pareto Evolutionary Algorithm (SPEA2), to optimize those thresholds. SPEA2 incorporates the concept of Pareto dominance and applies genetic techniques to evolve individual solutions to the Pareto front. The SPEA2 algorithm was applied to colon CT images from 27 patients each having a prone and a supine scan. There are 40 colonoscopically confirmed polyps resulting in 72 positive detections in CTC reading. The results obtained by SPEA2 were compared with those obtained by our old system, where an appropriate value was set for each of those thresholds by a histogram examination method. If we keep the sensitivity the same as that of our old system, the SPEA2 algorithm reduced false positive rate by 76.4% from average false positive 55.6 to 13.3 per data set. If the false positive rate is kept the same for both systems, SPEA2 increased the sensitivity by 13.1% from 53 to 61 among 72 ground truth detections.
Preference for color-pairs within finely sampled color space

References and Acknowledgements Reber, R., Schwarz, N., Winkielman, P. (2004). Processing Fluency and Aesthetic Pleasure: Is Beauty in the Perceiver’s Processing Experience?Personality and Social Psychology Review, 8(4), 364-382. Schloss, K. B., & Palmer, S. E. “Color preferences across contexts as predicted by colorimetric variables.” Presented at 7th Annual Meeting of the Vision Science Society, Sarasota, FL, May 2007. We thank Mike Webster, Joseph Austerweil, and the Palmer Lab. This research was supported by a National Science Foundation Grant BCS-0745820 to Stephen Palmer, a gift from Google, and Amy’s Natural Frozen Natural Foods. Does discriminability govern nely sampled preference?
Regional brain activation and affective response to physical activity among healthy adolescents

Research has shown that frontal brain activation, assessed via electroencephalographic (EEG) asymmetry, predicts the post-exercise affective response to exercise among adults. Building on this evidence, the present study investigates the utility of resting cortical asymmetry for explaining variance in the affective response both during and after exercise at two different intensities among healthy adolescents. Resting EEG was obtained from 98 adolescents (55% male), who also completed two 30-min exercise tasks on a cycle ergometer at a moderate and hard intensity. Affect (as measured by the Feeling Scale) was assessed prior to exercise, every 10 min during exercise, immediately post-exercise, and 10 min post-exercise. When moderate exercise was performed first, resting frontal cortical asymmetry was related to the affective response to moderate exercise, such that left-dominant adolescents reported more positive affect compared to right-dominant adolescents. When hard exercise was performed first, the association was not significant. The results are interpreted in light of current theory related to affect in response to exercise.
Sex-ratio manipulation in the common opossum

The idea that offspring sex ratio is affected by parental capacity for reproductive investment was first developed by Trivers and Willard1 and later elaborated by others2–6. According to this hypothesis, if the amount of parental investment7 differentially affects the expected reproductive success of offspring depending on offspring gender, then parents capable of exceptionally large investment should bias reproductive investment toward the sex affected most. For most polygynous mammals, male reproductive success is expected to be most enhanced by exceptionally large investment1,8, but observational field studies and laboratory experiments have either supported9–13 or contradicted3,14–16 this conditional sex-allocation hypothesis. We have performed the first experimental field study specifically to examine this hypothesis, and find that the female common opossum (Didelphis marsupialis), whose capacity for parental investment was artificially enhanced by dietary supplementation, produces male-biased sex ratios, in contrast to the unbiased ratios produced by control females.
Whole‐exome targeted sequencing of the uncharacterized pine genome

The large genome size of many species hinders the development and application of genomic tools to study them. For instance, loblolly pine (Pinus taeda L.), an ecologically and economically important conifer, has a large and yet uncharacterized genome of 21.7 Gbp. To characterize the pine genome, we performed exome capture and sequencing of 14 729 genes derived from an assembly of expressed sequence tags. Efficiency of sequence capture was evaluated and shown to be similar across samples with increasing levels of complexity, including haploid cDNA, haploid genomic DNA and diploid genomic DNA. However, this efficiency was severely reduced for probes that overlapped multiple exons, presumably because intron sequences hindered probe:exon hybridizations. Such regions could not be entirely avoided during probe design, because of the lack of a reference sequence. To improve the throughput and reduce the cost of sequence capture, a method to multiplex the analysis of up to eight samples was developed. Sequence data showed that multiplexed capture was reproducible among 24 haploid samples, and can be applied for high-throughput analysis of targeted genes in large populations. Captured sequences were de novo assembled, resulting in 11 396 expanded and annotated gene models, significantly improving the knowledge about the pine gene space. Interspecific capture was also evaluated with over 98% of all probes designed from P. taeda that were efficient in sequence capture, were also suitable for analysis of the related species Pinus elliottii Engelm.
Diagnostic Workup of Lung Cancer

Lung cancer is the most frequent cause of mortality worldwide. According to recent estimates, 222,520 new cases of lung cancer (non-small cell and small cell combined) were diagnosed and 157,300 lung cancer-related deaths occurred in 2010 in the United States alone. The two major histologic types of lung cancer are small cell lung cancer and non-small cell lung cancer. The diagnosis and management of lung cancer requires a multidisciplinary approach.
Proteoglycan Metabolism Is Age Related and Modulated by Isoforms of Platelet-Derived Growth Factor in Bovine Articular Cartilage Explant Cultures

Abstract The influence of recombinant human platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF) on proteoglycan metabolism was examined in bovine articular cartilage explants under serum-free conditions. All three isoforms of PDGF (AB, AA. and BB) dose-dependently increased proteoglycan biosynthesis and decreased the rate of proteoglycan catabolism in cartilage explants obtained from young (1-6 weeks), adolescent (2-6 months), and adult animals (2-3 years). The biosynthetic stimulative effect of PDGFAA was significantly lower than that of PDGF-AB only in adult tissues. The decrease in catabolic rate was more pronounced in younger animals. For culture periods of up to 12 days, the three PDGF isoforms did not have an effect on DNA synthesis. The molecular size of both the proteoglycan monomers and the glycosaminoglycan chains and the chondroitinase ABC sensitive pool decreased with age of the animal, but were not altered by PDGF-AB treatment. These data show that the three recombinant human PDGF isoforms contributed to matrix homeostasis in the articular cartilage explant system, with no apparent mitogenic effect.
Measuring youth empowerment: validation of a Sociopolitical Control Scale for Youth in an urban community context

Sociopolitical control (SPC) is generally considered to be a vital element of the intrapersonal component of psychological empowerment, despite contradictory findings concerning the dimensionality of the construct when applied to a youth population. This study tested the Sociopolitical Control Scale for Youth (SPCS-Y), which was designed to represent the two hypothesized dimensions of leadership competence and policy control, using data from a sample of urban youth (n=865) located in the northeastern United States. Results indicated that the hypothesized 2-factor model provided an adequate model-to-data fit, and that this model was a significantly better fit to the data than the 1-factor model. Further analysis showed that SPC profile groups differed significantly on measures of community and school participation, neighborhood attachment, perceived school importance, and drug use. Findings provide empirical support for the validity of the SPCS-Y and its underlying bidimensional model of SPC. Implications and directions for future research are discussed. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Lytic HSV-1 infection induces the multifunctional transcription factor Early Growth Response-1 (EGR-1) in rabbit corneal cells

Herpes simplex virus type-1 (HSV-1) infections can cause a number of diseases ranging from simple cold sores to dangerous keratitis and lethal encephalitis. The interaction between virus and host cells, critical for viral replication, is being extensively investigated by many laboratories. In this study, we tested the hypothesis that HSV-1 lytic infection triggers the expression of important multi-functional transcription factor Egr1. The mechanisms of induction are mediated, at least in part, by signaling pathways such as NFκB and CREB. SIRC, VERO, and 293HEK cell lines were infected with HSV-1, and the Egr-1 transcript and protein were detected by RT-PCR and Western blot, respectively. The localization and expression profile of Egr-1 were investigated further by immunofluorescence microscopy analyses. The recruitment of transcription factors to the Egr-1 promoter during infection was studied by chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP). Various inhibitors and dominant-negative mutant were used to assess the mechanisms of Egr-1 induction and their effects were addressed by immunofluorescence microscopy. Western blot analyses showed that Egr-1 was absent in uninfected cells; however, the protein was detected 24-72 hours post treatment, and the response was directly proportional to the titer of the virus used for infection. Using recombinant HSV-1 expressing EGFP, Egr-1 was detected only in the infected cells. ChIP assays demonstrated that NFкB and cAMP response element binding protein (CREB) were recruited to the Egr-1 promoter upon infection. Additional studies showed that inhibitors of NFкB and dominant-negative CREB repressed the Egr-1 induction by HSV-1 infection. Collectively, these results demonstrate that Egr-1 is expressed rapidly upon HSV-1 infection and that this novel induction could be due to the NFкB/CREB-mediated transactivation. Egr-1 induction might play a key role in the viral gene expression, replication, inflammation, and the disease progression.
Maternal occupational pesticide exposure and risk of congenital heart defects in the National Birth Defects Prevention Study.

BACKGROUND Congenital heart defects (CHDs) are common birth defects, affecting approximately 1% of live births. Pesticide exposure has been suggested as an etiologic factor for CHDs, but previous results were inconsistent. METHODS We examined maternal occupational exposure to fungicides, insecticides, and herbicides for 3328 infants with CHDs and 2988 unaffected control infants of employed mothers using data for 1997 through 2002 births from the National Birth Defects Prevention Study, a population-based multisite case-control study. Potential pesticide exposure from 1 month before conception through the first trimester of pregnancy was assigned by an expert-guided task-exposure matrix and job history details self-reported by mothers. Odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were estimated using multivariable logistic regression. RESULTS Maternal occupational exposure to pesticides was not associated with CHDs overall. In examining specific CHD subtypes compared with controls, some novel associations were observed with higher estimated pesticide exposure: insecticides only and secundum atrial septal defect (OR = 1.8; 95% CI, 1.3–2.7, 40 exposed cases); both insecticides and herbicides and hypoplastic left heart syndrome (OR = 5.1; 95% CI, 1.7–15.3, 4 exposed cases), as well as pulmonary valve stenosis (OR = 3.6; 95% CI, 1.3–10.1, 5 exposed cases); and insecticides, herbicides, and fungicides and tetralogy of Fallot (TOF) (OR = 2.2; 95% CI, 1.2–4.0, 13 exposed cases). CONCLUSION Broad pesticide exposure categories were not associated with CHDs overall, but examining specific CHD subtypes revealed some increased odds ratios. These results highlight the importance of examining specific CHDs separately. Because of multiple comparisons, additional work is needed to verify these associations. Birth Defects Research (Part A) 103:823–833, 2015. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
A systematic approach to evaluate the modification of lens proteins by glycation-induced crosslinking

Abstract To systematically evaluate the modification of lens proteins by aldose and dicarbonyl sugars during the glycation process, the sugar-dependent incorporation of Lys and Arg, SDS–PAGE profile, amino acid analysis, and fluorophore formation (excitation 370 nm/emission 440 nm) were determined. Reaction mixtures with glycolaldehyde, glyceraldehyde, threose and 3-deoxythreosone showed the greatest extent of Lys crosslinking and fluorescence formation. An increase in fluorescence intensity, but a decrease in Lys and Arg crosslinking, was found with glyoxal, methylglyoxal, hydroxypyruvaldehyde and threosone. In addition glyoxal, methylglyoxal and hydroxypyruvaldehyde caused the specific loss of Arg residues in lens proteins. Reaction mixtures with xylose, xylosone, glucose, glucosone and 3-deoxyglucosone exhibited the least protein modifications; however, incubation with 3-deoxyxylosone resulted in extensive loss of Lys and Arg residues, a higher extent of Lys or Arg crosslinking and significant fluorophore formation. Each sugar exhibited unique characteristics in the modification of lens proteins by glycation. To validly compare the protein modifications occurring during glycation reactions, a systematic approach was employed to evaluate the potential role of aldose and dicarbonyl sugars in protein modification.
Improving tin oxide/hydrogenated amorphous silicon interfaces for solar cell applications

To suppress the electron injection barrier at the tin oxide/hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) interface, the SnO/sub 2/ work function was modified by evaporating thin layers of palladium on the SnO/sub 2/ substrate prior to a-Si:H deposition. The determination of the barrier height from the current-voltage characteristics in the dark and under illumination shows that it is possible to change the barrier height between SnO/sub 2/ and a-Si:H by adjusting the thickness of the palladium interfacial layer. Moreover. no reduction of the optical transmission of the SnO/sub 2//a-Si:H structure is observed when thin layers of palladium (20 A) are introduced at the SnO/sub 2//a-Si:H interface. This is interpreted as being a result of the protective effect of the palladium, which prevents the reduction of SnO/sub 2/ by the silane plasma and reacts with the a-Si:H layer to form a silicide compound Auger and secondary ion mass spectroscopy measurements show that the thin palladium layers may be efficient for avoiding the interaction between SnO/sub 2/ and a-Si:H. The results are discussed in view of the improvement of the open-circuit voltage in a-Si:H-based solar cells. >
Growth stimulation by PGE2 and EGF activates cyclic AMP-dependent and -independent pathways in primary cultures of mouse mammary epithelial cells

Mammary epithelial cells from virgin Balb/c mice were isolated by collagenase digestion and cultured within collagen gels in serum-free basal medium containing insulin (10 micrograms/ml). Previous work has shown that linoleate or its metabolite, prostaglandin E2 (PGE2), stimulate the growth of these cells only in the presence of a growth stimulant such as epidermal growth factor (EGF). Since PGE2 can stimulate cyclic AMP (cAMP) production, the role of cAMP in linoleate and EGF-stimulated growth was examined. The cAMP phosphodiesterase inhibitor, IBMX (0.1 mM), was found to augment growth when cells were cultured in the presence of both EGF and linoleate or PGE2, but not either factor alone. These results indicated that EGF does not stimulate proliferation via cyclic AMP mediated events but could synergize with cAMP events if cAMP levels were elevated by PGE2. When assayed in cells plated on top of collagen-coated culture dishes, cellular cyclic AMP levels were stimulated by PGE2, but only marginally by EGF. Although the stimulation of endogenous cAMP by PGE2 and IBMX was insufficient to stimulate growth in the absence of EGF, exogenous dibutyryl-cAMP (greater than 100 micrograms/ml) was able to do so showing that a sustained, and high level of cAMP (greater than 100 micrograms/ml) could stimulate growth in insulin-containing basal medium. EGF was capable of enhancing the cellular sensitivity to dibutyryl-cAMP but the converse was not observed. cAMP stimulation of growth was dependent upon a superphysiological concentration of insulin (10 micrograms/ml) or a physiological concentration of somatomedin-C. These results indicate that the proliferation of mouse mammary epithelial cells can be stimulated separately or in synergism by cAMP-dependent or -independent events.
Optimizing signal averaging methods

A method of optimizing signal averaged recordings is described, in which the signal average remains unbiased. This is in contrast to techniques such as weighted averaging, where beats are given a weighting in the average that is proportional to their noise content. In a study of 22 ambulatory subjects, noise was reduced via signal averaging to a mean RMS level of 0.57+or-0.24 mu V. The number of beats averaged range from 198 to 3354 with a mean of 1410. The level of noise after averaging the ambulatory recording was greater than but still comparable to that of conventional signal averages performed on the same day. These results suggest that it is feasible to perform quality controlled signal averaging from ambulatory ECG recordings. >
The Bologna Effect.

As the first decade of the groundbreaking European higher education reformation known as the Bologna Process comes to a close, its impact on the field of mathematics is significant in many ways. Mathematics degrees and programs are changing across Europe, and in some cases, with serious side effects. On the other hand, there have been considerable increases in the percentage of international students, who tend to major in mathematics and mathematics-related fields, attending European universities. The effects of the Bologna Process extend far beyond Europe, and while the changes implemented by the Bologna Process are seemingly positive for European higher education, this could prove disadvantageous for U.S. higher education. This article discusses the impact of the Bologna Process on the field of mathematics in Europe, and how the Bologna Process affects the U.S in the global competition to attract international students.
Identifying optimal SPECT acquisition for liver imaging using 99mTc-MAA

2507 Objectives To identify the optimal SPECT image acquisition time per view for liver imaging using 99mTc-MAA. Methods Nominal 5 mCi of 99mTc-MAA was injected via the hepatic artery of the patient to assess perfusion of liver lesions as part of 90Y-microsphere therapy planning. Gated SPECT data was acquired and rebinned to generate 5 separate SPECT acquisition times: 34 s/view 28 s/view, 24 s/view, 20 s/view, and 16 s/view, respectively. Volumes of interest (VOI) were drawn over liver lesions and right kidney (background) for signal analysis. Results Imaging acquisitions of 16 seconds and 20 seconds per view demonstrated little variation in signal to noise ratio ( Conclusions Statistical data acquired identifies no significant change in signal to noise ratio or liver counts per mL to time ratio in imaging azimuths of 16 seconds and 20 seconds and potential SPECT signal overflow for times 24 s/view and greater . The results suggest SPECT acquisition time of 16 s/view is optimal for liver imaging using 99mTc-MAA without statistically sacrificing image quality
Tests for special causes with multivariate autocorrelated data

Abstract Runs tests for special causes are used routinely with Shewhart quality-control charts that are based on independent and identically distributed univariate processes. Recently, researchers have proposed the use of alternative, time-series-based statistical models for constructing control charts that are valid for autocorrelated processes. Monte Carlo simulation is used here to examine the effects of incorrectly assuming serial independence and using the runs tests for special causes on data generated by autocorrelated multivariate processes. The results have implications for developing and using statistical process-control techniques in practice.
S-(O-ethyl phenylphosphonothionyl) glutathione; evidence for its formation in the in vitro metabolism of EPN in houseflies.

Double labelling experiments using [phenyl-14C]-, [2,6-p-nitro-phenyl-14C]- or, nonradioactive EPN with [35S]-, [glycine-3H]- or nonradioactive glutathione in the presence of the 100,000g supernatant fraction from the Rutgers strain of houseflies resulted in the formation of a radiolabelled conjugate. Hydrolysis of the [phenyl-14C] conjugate formed the phenyl-[14C]-phosphonothioic acid. The proposed structure of the conjugate is S-(O-ethyl phenylphosphonothionyl) glutathione. The conjugate is formed with racemic, (+), or (-) EPN and EPNO. Structure activity studies indicate the following: a decrease in the electron withdrawing properties of the substituents on the O-p-nitrophenyl moiety results in a decrease in the formation of the conjugates; substituting the phenylphosphonothioic moiety with the ethyl-phosphonothioate, inhibits the formation of the corresponding conjugate; substituting the O-ethyl group with other alkyl groups did not effect the formation of the corresponding conjugate.
Asymptotic behaviour of decay rates of internal waves in a rotating stratified spherical shell

Summary. Boundary layer techniques are used to examine the dissipative decay of an internal oscillation that is a member of the inviscid spectrum of normal modes for a rotating fluid shell stratified under a radially directed gravitational field. A formula is derived for the decay factor on the so-called homogeneous spin-down time-scale. Estimates are obtained for the size of the decay factor as a function of wavelength, a function of the frequency and a function of a parameter A which measures the ratio of the stratification strength to the rotation strength. It is shown that all modes decay on the spin-down time-scale. The results are interpreted in the context of a model for the Earth's fluid core. It is observed that the presence of regions of unstable stratification may increase the decay rate for oscillations at frequencies less than twice the rotation frequency.
Feedback linearizability and explicit integrator forwarding controllers for classes of feedforward systems

We identify a class of feedforward nonlinear systems that are linearizable by a coordinate change. Then we develop explicit expressions for the Lyapunov-based integrator forwarding recursive procedure of Sepulchre, Jankovic, and Kokotovic, which has its roots in a coordinate transformation proposed by Mazenc and Praly. The explicit expressions that we develop allow us to also find closed-form control laws for several classes of systems that are not feedback linearizable, including some that are in the feedforward form and others that are in what we refer to as the "block-feedforward" form. Performance advantages of Lyapunov-based forwarding controllers over nested saturation controllers have been well illustrated in the literature on examples. The analytical expressions for the Lyapunov functions and the control laws allow us to give quantitative performance bounds.
Feedback inhibition of fatty acid synthesis in tobacco suspension cells

Summary The flux through many metabolic pathways is regulated through feedback inhibition on regulatory enzymes by endproducts of the pathway. Whether feedback inhibition occurs in fatty acid synthesis in plants has been investigated. The addition of exogenous oleic acid, in the form of oleoyl-Tween (Tween-18:1) caused a three- to fivefold decrease in the rate of [1-14C]acetate incorporation into tobacco suspension cell fatty acids. The decrease in acetate incorporation occurred rapidly upon addition of Tween-18:1 and appeared to be specific for fatty acid synthesis. In order to elucidate possible regulatory steps involved in the feedback regulation of fatty acid synthesis in plant cells, tobacco cell acyl-ACP intermediates were analyzed using a combination of [1-14C]acetate labeling and immunoblot analysis. Within 30 min of exogenous lipid addition, acetyl-ACP increased and long chain acyl-ACP decreased, whereas medium chain acyl-ACP levels remained constant. These acyl-ACP profiles observed during the feedback inhibition were those predicted to occur under conditions where the flux through fatty acid synthesis is decreased due to limiting levels of malonyl-CoA and therefore indicated that acetyl-CoA carboxylase (ACCase) was centrally involved in the feedback regulation of fatty acid synthesis. Immunoblot analysis showed that ACCase protein levels did not change during the feedback inhibition, indicating that the feedback inhibition of fatty acid synthesis in plant cells occurs through biochemical or post-translational modification of ACCase and possibly other fatty acid synthesis enzymes.
Deradicalization of the Japanese Communist Party Under Kenji Miyamoto

The phenomenal growth of the Japanese Communist Party's electoral strength during a period of unprecedented economic growth and prosperity (1961–1974) clearly deviates from Benjamin's and Kautsky's “curvilinear theory” of the economic development and strength of Communist parties. Nor does it conform to Lipset's hypothesis that there exists an inverse correlation between the economic growth and the strength of Communist parties. It is my basic contention that the recent growth in the JCP's organizational strength and electoral successes should be ascribed to the overall deradicalization of the party which has taken place since 1961. The findings of this study as a whole substantiate theories en deradicalization of the Marxist movement advanced earlier by Robert Michels and more recently by Robert C. Tucker, who hypothesized that there exists an inverse correlation between the deradicalization of a revolutionary party and its “worldly success.” His findings also confirm Triska's and Finley's hypothesis that deradicalized Communist parties in the developed countries would become not significantly different from other non-Communist parties either in structure or functions.
Network Coding Does Not Change the Multicast throughput Order of Wireless Ad Hoc Networks

We demonstrate that the gain attained by network coding (NC) on the multicast capacity of random wireless ad hoc networks is bounded by a constant factor. We consider a network with n nodes distributed uniformly in a unit square, with each node acting as a source for independent information to be sent to a multicast group consisting of m randomly chosen destinations. We show that, under the protocol model, the persession capacity in the presence of arbitrary NC has a tight bound of Θ (1/√mnlog(n)) when m = O(n/log(n)) and Θ(1/n) when m = Ω(n/log(n). Our result follows from the fact that prior work has shown that the same order bounds are achievable with pure routing based only on traditional store-and-forward methods.
Isolation, Partial Characterization and Modification of the Great Northern Bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) Starch

The yield of the Great Northern bean starch was 18.23% (bean flour basis). The starch granule size ranged from 12 × 12 μm to 58 × 40 μm (length × width). The shape of starch granules was round to oval to elliptical, and in some cases, concave as well. Lamellae were present on all the starch granules observed. Amylose content of the starch was 10.2% (starch basis). Hog pancreatic α-amylase hydrolyzed more starch than did malt α-amylase under similar conditions. The Great Northern bean starch had good water and oil absorption capacities at room temperature (21°C). The bean starch formed a stable gel at concentrations of 7% and above (w/v). The viscoamylographic studies of the isolated starch indicated the restricted-swelling character of the bean starch.
Noise estimation due to signal activity for capacitively coupled CMOS logic gates

The effect of interconnect coupling capacitance on neighboring CMOS logic gates driving coupled interconnections strongly depends upon the signal activity. A transient analysis of two capacitively coupled CMOS logic gates is presented in this paper for different combinations of signal activity. The uncertainty of the effective load capacitance and propagation delay due to the signal activity is addressed. Analytical expressions characterizing the output voltage and propagation delay are also presented for different signal activity conditions. The propagation delay based on these analytical expressions is within 3% as compared to SPICE, while the estimated delay neglecting the difference between the load capacitances can exceed 45%. The logic gates should be properly sized to balance the load capacitances in order to minimize any uncertainty in the signal delay. The peak noise voltage on a quiet interconnection determined from the analytical expressions is within 4% of SPICE.
Behavioral Activation Treatment for Depression: Returning to Contextual Roots

Behavioral activation (BA), as a stand-alone treatment for depression, began as a behavior therapy treatment condition in a component analysis study of the Beck, Rush, Shaw, and Emery version of cognitive therapy. BA attempts to help depressed people reengage in their lives through focused activation strategies. These strategies counter patterns of avoidance, withdrawal, and inactivity that may exacerbate depressive episodes by generating additional secondary problems in individuals' lives. BA is designed to help individuals approach and access sources of positive reinforcement in their lives, which can serve a natural antidepressant function. Our purpose in this article is to describe BA and the history of its development.
Adapting grapheme-to-phoneme conversion for name recognition

This work investigates the use of acoustic data to improve grapheme-to-phoneme conversion for name recognition. We introduce a joint model of acoustics and graphonemes, and present two approaches, maximum likelihood training and discriminative training, in adapting graphoneme model parameters. Experiments on a large-scale voice-dialing system show that the maximum likelihood approach yields a relative 7% reduction in SER compared to the best baseline result we obtained without leveraging acoustic data, while discriminative training enlarges the SER reduction to 12%.
Seasonal Trends of Concentration and Size Distribution of Ultrafine Particles Near Major Highways in Los Angeles Special Issue ofAerosol Science and Technologyon Findings from the Fine Particulate Matter Supersites Program

Ultrafine particles (diameter <0.1 μm) have been suggested as a possible causative agent for the observed increases in mortality and morbidity with increases in particulate matter (PM) concentration. Zhu et al. conducted systematic measurements of the concentration and size distribution of ultrafine particles in the vicinity of Interstate 405 (mostly gasoline traffic) and Interstate 710 (large proportion of heavy-duty diesel traffic) in Los Angeles during the summer of 2001. The present study compares these measurements with those made at the same locations in the winter of 2001–2002. Particle number concentration and size distribution in the size range from 6 to 220 nm were measured by a condensation particle counter (CPC) and a scanning mobility particle sizer (SMPS). Measurements were taken at five distances downwind from the freeway. At each sampling location, concentrations of carbon monoxide (CO) and black carbon (BC) were also measured by a Dasibi CO monitor and an aethalometer, respectively. Avera...
Phytoestrogens as therapeutic alternatives to traditional hormone replacement in postmenopausal women.

This paper represents the opinion of the Women's Health Practice and Research Network (PRN) of the American College of Clinical Pharmacy. It does not necessarily represent an official ACCP commentary, guideline, or statement of policy or position.