cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Temperature Dependence of Molecular Line Strengths and F e i 1565 nm Zeeman Splitting in a Sunspot

Spectroscopic observations at 1565 nm were made in the eastern half of the main umbra of NOAA 9885 on 1 April 2002 using the National Solar Observatory McMath-Pierce Telescope at Kitt Peak with a tip-tilt image stabilization system and the California State University Northridge–National Solar Observatory infrared camera. The line depth of the OH blend at 1565.1 nm varies with the observed continuum temperature; the variation fits previous observations except that the continuum temperature is lower by 600 K. The equivalent width of the OH absorption line at 1565.2 nm shows a temperature dependence similar to previously published umbral molecular observations at 640 nm. A simple model of expected OH abundance based upon an ionization analogy to molecular dissociation is produced and agrees well with the temperature variation of the line equivalent width. A CN absorption line at 1564.6 nm shows a very different temperature dependence, likely due to complicated formation and destruction processes. Nonetheless a numerical fit of the temperature variation of the CN equivalent width is presented. Finally a comparison of the Zeeman splitting of the Fe i 1564.8 nm line with the sunspot temperature derived from the continuum intensity shows an umbra somewhat cooler for a given magnetic field strength than previous comparisons using this infrared 1564.8 nm line, but consistent with these previous infrared measurements the umbra is hotter for a given magnetic field strength than magnetic and temperature measurements at 630.2 nm would suggest. Differences between the 630.2 nm and 1564.8 nm umbral temperature and magnetic field relations are explained with the different heights of formation of the lines and continua at these wavelengths.
Severe Weather and the Reliability of Desk-Based Vulnerability Assessments: The Impact of Hurricane Maria to Puerto Rico’s Coastal Archaeology

Within the context of climate change, sea-level rise is threatening not only coastal communities globally, but also the archaeological record of their history, knowledge, and culture. As a response...
Secondary Programs for Gifted Students

More information exists on elementary programming for the gifted than on secondary programming. However, there are a multitude of creative ways of providing for the needs of gifted secondary studen...
Geodesic Object Proposals

We present an approach for identifying a set of candidate objects in a given image. This set of candidates can be used for object recognition, segmentation, and other object-based image parsing tasks. To generate the proposals, we identify critical level sets in geodesic distance transforms computed for seeds placed in the image. The seeds are placed by specially trained classifiers that are optimized to discover objects. Experiments demonstrate that the presented approach achieves significantly higher accuracy than alternative approaches, at a fraction of the computational cost.
Spectral function of Mott-insulating Hubbard ladders: From fractionalized excitations to coherent quasiparticles

We study the spectral function of two-leg Hubbard ladders with the time-dependent density matrix renormalization group method (tDMRG). The high-resolution spectrum displays features of spin-charge separation and a scattering continuum of excitations with coherent bands of bound states `leaking' from it. As the inter-leg hopping is increased, the continuum in the bonding channel moves to higher energies and spinon and holon branches merge into a single coherent quasi-particle band. Simultaneously, the spectrum undergoes a crossover from a regime with two minima at incommensurate values of $k_x$ (a Mott insulator), to one with a single minimum at $k_x=\pi$ (a band insulator). We identify the presence of a continuum of scattering states consisting of a triplon and a polaron. We analyze the processes leading to quasiparticle formation by studying the time evolution of charge and spin degrees of freedom in real space after the hole is created. At short times, incoherent holons and spinons are emitted but after a characteristic time $\tau$ charge and spin form polarons that propagate coherently.
Pest Control: Eliminating Nuisance Allocations through Empirical Asset Class Identification

There is a seemingly infinite number of ways to partition the investment universe into asset categories. Too fine a partition can lead to very small allocations to certain categories in asset allocation models. When populating those categories with actual strategies, costs increase because due diligence and reporting are not costless activities. The right number of asset categories for building allocations should depend on balancing the marginal benefits and marginal costs of a finer partitioning of the investment universe. In this article, the authors use different machine learning techniques to help quantify these trade-offs. Two unsupervised learning techniques—exploratory factor analysis and hierarchical cluster analysis—are used to identify asset classes. A supervised learning technique—a regression tree—then is used to identify the most important basis for US equities, a specific asset class identified by the unsupervised learning techniques. TOPICS:Big data/machine learning, security analysis and valuation, performance measurement
Scleroecology: Implications for ecotypical dwarfism in oxygen-restricted environments (Middle Devonian, Rheinisches Schiefergebirge)

Body sizes of brachiopods and planktonic tentaculites (dacryoconarids) decrease continuously during the Upper Eifelian. This feature is closely related to theotomari Event and the subsequent black shale period, resulting from lowered oxygen levels worldwide in most parts of the marine ecosystem. It is assumed here that low oxygen availability limited physiological processes and, consequently, the biocalcification rate of some species adapted to elevated levels of aeration. Environmentally suppressed specimens are very small (ecotypical dwarfs), though different species react in different ways to changing environmental conditions. Possibilities of deciphering ecological information stored in hardparts of all organisms that cyclically produce skeletal material, are emphasized. This is also true for fossil material.
Mutations of the MAPK/TSC/mTOR pathway characterize periventricular glioblastoma with epithelioid SEGA-like morphology–morphological and therapeutic implications

Epithelioid glioblastoma is a recognized glioblastoma variant, recently added to the World Health Organization brain tumor classification, with similar prognosis as the classic variant and B-Raf V600E mutations in 50% of the cases. We identified a new subset of epithelioid glioblastoma with periventricular location and subependymal giant cell astrocytoma (SEGA)-like morphology. Genomic profiling of these tumors revealed driver mutations in NF1, subclonal mutations in TSC1, and a novel driver mutation in MTOR, suggesting upregulation of the MAPK/TSC1/mTOR pathway. Strong mTOR activation was confirmed by immunohistochemistry for the mTOR kinase target 4E-BP1. TSC1 and MTOR mutations have been previously described in low-grade glioma, such as SEGA, and focal cortical dysplasia, respectively, that display large cells with abundant cytoplasm, most likely resulting from the biogenetic signaling of mTOR. Unlike these, the mutations in SEGA-like glioblastoma occurred in the context of other genetic aberrations present in high-grade neoplasms, including in the CDKN2A/B, PIK3R1, PIK3CA and EGFR genes. For one patient with two temporally distinct specimens, the subclonal TSC1 pathogenic mutation was detected only in the specimen showing SEGA-like morphology, indicating requirement for mTOR activation as trigger for specific epithelioid/SEGA-like morphology. As FDA-approved kinase inhibitors are available and target many steps of the MAPK/mTOR pathway, recognition of this new subset of periventricular high-grade gliomas with clear phenotypic-genotypic correlates is essential for prompt biomarker testing and appropriate targeted therapeutic management of these patients.
Wake behind a three-dimensional dry transom stern. Part 1: Flow structure and large-scale air entrainment

We present high-resolution implicit large eddy simulation (iLES) of the turbulent air entraining flow in the wake of three-dimensional rectangular dry transom sterns with varying speeds and half-beam-to-draft ratios B/D. We employ two-phase (air/water), time-dependent simulations utilizing conservative Volume-of-Fluid (cVOF) and Boundary Data Immersion (BDIM) methods to obtain the flow structure and large-scale air entrainment in the wake. We confirm that the convergent corner wave region that forms immediately aft of the stern wake is ballistic, thus predictable only by the speed and (rectangular) geometry of the ship. We show that the flow structure in the air-water mixed region contains a shear layer with a streamwise jet and secondary vortex structures due to the presence of the quasi-steady, three-dimensional breaking waves. We apply a Lagrangian cavity identification technique to quantify the air entrainment in the wake and show that the strongest entrainment is where wave breaking occurs. We identify an inverse dependence of the maximum average void fraction and total volume entrained with B/D. We determine that the average surface entrainment rate initially peaks at a location that scales with draft-Froude number and that the normalized average air cavity density spectrum has a consistent value providing there is active air entrainment. A small parametric study of the rectangular geometry and stern speed establishes and confirms the scaling of the interface characteristics with draft-Froude number and geometry. In part 2 we examine the incompressible highly-variable density turbulence characteristics and turbulence closure modeling.
Children with Hemophagocytic Lymphohistiocytosis Are Frequently Initially Diagnosed with Kawasaki Disease

Background: Kawasaki disease (KD) is a clinical diagnosis that in its incomplete form may pose challenges to the clinician. Constitutional features of KD such as fever and lymphadenopathy also characterize infections, leukemia, Systemic Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis (SoJIA), Hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (HLH), and Macrophage activation syndrome (MAS). HLH is a syndrome of extreme inflammation involving dysregulated lymphocyte function. “MAS” is HLH secondary to underlying rheumatic disease, such as SoJIA, SLE, and KD. HLH and MAS require …
Collagen characteristics of skin, fell, and epimysium from rams, wethers, and zeranol-implanted ram lambs.

Eighteen spring-born Columbia ram, wether, and zeranol-implanted ram lambs were examined to determine the influence of castration or zeranol implantation on collagen characteristics of skin, fell, and epimysium and possible relationships between collagen properties of each tissue and difficulty of pelt removal. Pelt removal force was lower in wethers than in rams (P < .05) and intermediate for zeranol-implanted rams. Collagen concentration in skin of rams was greater (P < .05) than that in wethers or implanted rams, but percentage of heat-soluble collagen in skin was higher in implanted rams. Percentage of type III collagen in skin was highest in rams and lowest in wethers (P < .05); that in the skin of implanted rams was intermediate. The fell of wethers contained a higher (P < .05) collagen concentration, higher insoluble collagen amount, and lower percentage of soluble collagen than that of rams or implanted rams. The fell had a lower percentage of type III collagen than that of rams (P < .05). Epimysium collagen concentration of rams and wethers was higher (P < .05) than that of implanted rams; however, percentage of soluble collagen was higher for the implanted rams than for the other classes. Type III collagen percentage in the epimysium did not differ by animal class (P < .05). Zeranol-implanted ram lambs had a higher percentage of soluble collagen in all tissues examined than did non-implanted rams and force required for pelt removal was reduced in implanted rams.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Ancient constitutions and modern monarchy: historical writing and enlightened reform in Denmark-Norway 1730–1814: by Håkon Evju, Leiden, Brill, 2019, 321 +x pp., €105 (hardback), ISBN: 978-04366848; (e-book) ISBN: 978-9004394063

It is perhaps no surprise to anyone that people's understandings of their national history will go a long way toward explaining their political positions. The hard part for coming to understand oth...
Financial Reporting, Growth and Productivity: Theory and International Evidence

This paper investigates the relation between financial reporting, total factor productivity (TFP) and economic growth. The paper develops the theory that public sharing of financial reports (market transparency) and other associated sources of information such as analyst reports, can help firms learn from their competitors and improve their production process and firm organization. The model illustrates that, up to a point, financial reporting directly increases TFP and GDP growth. Employing data from 30 countries over the period of 1985-1999, the paper provides empirical evidence consistent with this hypothesis. However, the theory suggests that excessive transparency might reduce incentives for undertaking profitable and socially beneficial investments.
Home and Clinical Literacy Practices for Children With Cleft Lip and Palate.

Objective:The purpose of this study was to examine experiences and practices related to supporting literacy development and preventing reading difficulties in children with cleft lip and/or palate ...
Utility of biomarkers in adult Fontan patients with decompensated heart failure.

BACKGROUND The incidence of heart failure is increasing within the Fontan population. The use of serological markers, including B-type natriuretic peptide, has been limited in this patient population. METHODS This was a single-centre retrospective study of Fontan patients in acute decompensated heart failure. Fontan patients underwent a 1:2 match with non-Fontan patients for each heart failure hospitalisation for comparative analysis. A univariate logistic regression model was used to assess associations between laboratory and echocardiographic markers and a prolonged length of stay of 7 days or greater. RESULTS B-type natriuretic peptide levels were significantly lower in Fontan patients admitted for heart failure than that in non-Fontan patients [390.9 (±378.7) pg/ml versus 1245.6 (±1160.7) pg/ml, respectively, p < 0.0001] and were higher in Fontan patients with systemic ventricular systolic or diastolic dysfunction than that in Fontan patients with normal systemic ventricular function [833.6 (±1547.2) pg/ml versus 138.6 (±134.0) pg/ml, p = 0.017]. The change from the last known outpatient value was smaller in Fontan patients in comparison with non-Fontan patients [65.7 (±185.7) pg/ml versus 1638.0 (±1444.7) pg/ml, respectively, p < 0.0001]. Low haemoglobin and high blood urea nitrogen levels were associated with a prolonged length of stay. CONCLUSION B-type natriuretic peptide levels do not accurately reflect decompensated heart failure in Fontan patients when compared to non-Fontan heart failure patients and should, therefore, be used with caution in this patient population.
Systematic Review of Negative Pressure Pulmonary Edema in Otolaryngology Procedures.

Objective(s):Negative pressure pulmonary edema (NPPE) is a rare perioperative complication with a potentially fatal outcome. The aim of this study was to perform a systematic review of NPPE in adul...
Social Vulnerability and Medical Complexity Among Medicare Beneficiaries Receiving Home Health Without Prior Hospitalization.

Background and Objectives Recent Medicare home health payment changes reduce reimbursement for care provided to patients without a preceding hospitalization. Beneficiaries may enter home health without a preceding hospitalization via referral from a community provider or through incurring multiple episodes of home health care. We assess potential implications of this change by examining the characteristics of patients accessing Medicare home health through each of these pathways. Research Design and Methods Nationally representative retrospective cohort study of 1,224 (weighted n = 5,913,080) older adults who participated in the National Health and Aging Trends Study between 2011 and 2015 and received Medicare-funded home health within 1 year of interview. Patient characteristics before home health were drawn from the National Health and Aging Trends Study, while characteristics during home health, referral source, and number of episodes incurred were drawn from linked Outcomes and Assessment Information Set and Medicare claims. We tested for differences in characteristics by referral source and number of episodes using weighted chi-square tests and t tests. Results Patients referred to home health from the community were more than twice as likely to be Medicaid-enrolled (24.0% vs 12.5%, p < .001), have dementia (29.5% vs 12.4%, p < .001), and have received 80 or more hours/month of family caregiver assistance (20.7% vs 10.1%, p < .001) prior to home health entry compared to those referred from a hospital or skilled nursing facility. Patients who incurred multiple episodes in a spell of home health care were more likely to have high clinical severity during home health (48.3% vs 28.1%, p < .001), compared to those with a single episode. Discussion and Implications Greater social vulnerability and care needs before home health were associated with community referral, while greater clinical severity during home health was associated with incurring multiple episodes of care. Findings suggest that recent payment changes may threaten home health access among beneficiaries with greater social vulnerability and/or medical complexity.
Effect of Trap Color and Residual Attraction of a Pheromone Lure for Monitoring Stink Bugs (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae)

Stink bugs (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae) are commonly monitored using pyramid traps baited with a pheromone. Initially, the pyramid traps were painted yellow and predominantly used to monitor native stink bug species. However, research studies involving the exotic Halyomorpha halys Stal (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae) now use pyramid traps that are black, not yellow. As H. halys moves across the southeastern United States, the use of a single trap, yellow or black, for monitoring and conducting research studies would be beneficial. Our objective was to compare black and yellow pyramid traps baited with a lure to determine if one was superior for trapping herbivorous stink bugs. This study was conducted at four locations, three in Alabama and one in Georgia, over 2 yr. Additionally, residual efficacy of the lure was measured via trap capture over 1-mo intervals. Our results showed that only when native stink bug species were combined, and only in 1 yr, were captures significantly affected by trap color. Capture of the exotic H. halys and the most abundant native species, Euschistus servus (Say), was not significantly affected by trap color. Trap capture was significantly affected by how long a lure was in a trap. The data from this study suggests that when traps are used in conjunction with a pheromone to monitor multiple species of adult stink bugs, especially native species, the yellow pyramid trap is favored.
Performance of offline passive tracer advection in the Regional Ocean Modeling System (ROMS; v3.6, revision 904)

Abstract. Offline advection schemes allow for low-computational-cost simulations using existing model output. This study presents the approach and assessment for passive offline tracer advection within the Regional Ocean Modeling System (ROMS). An advantage of running the code within ROMS itself is consistency in the numerics on- and offline. We find that the offline tracer model is robust: after about 14 d of simulation (almost 60 units of time normalized by the advection timescale), the skill score comparing offline output to the online simulation using the TS_U3HADVECTION and TS_C4VADVECTION (third-order upstream horizontal advection and fourth-order centered vertical advection) tracer advection schemes is 99.6 % accurate for an offline time step 20 times larger than the online time step as well as online output saved with a period below the advection timescale. For the MPDATA tracer advection scheme, accuracy is more variable with the offline time step and forcing input frequency choices, but it is still over 99 % for many reasonable choices. Both schemes are conservative. Important factors for maintaining high offline accuracy are outputting from the online simulation often enough to resolve the advection timescale, forcing offline using realistic vertical salinity diffusivity values from the online simulation, and using double precision to save results.
Dog training as a complementary intervention to support Veteran mental health and well-being: A scoping review.

Abstract Background Military veterans in the United States face a number of complex issues and barriers to successful civilian reintegration. Dog training programs offered to these individuals are being used as a complementary intervention to support multiple aspects of veteran reintegration. This scoping review explored the existing literature on dog training programs as a support for veteran mental health and well-being. Methods A scoping review was conducted in accordance with PRISMA guidelines to analyze the existing research on this topic. Results Five overarching themes were identified, including improvements to mental health, social benefits, a developed sense of purpose, differing impacts of training methods, and potential negative outcomes associated with stressful demands of training. Conclusion The results of this review suggested dog training programs have potentially positive effects on veteran mental health but also revealed a few potential negative impacts and the need for further research on this animal-assisted intervention.
The future has been preponed: building a new digitally-enhanced psychiatry in the aftermath of the pandemic.

To succeed, planning alone is insufficient. One must improvise as well. – Isaac AsimovThe COVID-19 pandemic has brought about a sea of change in our understanding of how technologies can be leverag...
Computational Study of Action Potential Generation in Urethral Smooth Muscle Cell.

Stress urinary incontinence is defined by the involuntary loss of urine during the sneezing and coughing. The urethral smooth muscle cell contributes to stress urinary incontinence by generating spontaneous mechanical and electrical activities. It generates spontaneous electrical events in the terms of membrane depolarization and action potentials. Therefore, a complete understanding of the urethral smooth muscle cell’s spontaneous action potential biophysics will help in identifying novel pharmacological targets for the stress urinary incontinence. The action potential is evoked by the activation of various ion channels across the cell membrane. This study aims in establishing a computational model of the single urethral smooth muscle cell to simulate the action potential after incorporating all-important ion channels. The ion channels are designed with Hodgkin- Huxley formalism, where the internal kinetics are expressed in terms of the ordinary differential equations. This computational model generates experimental spontaneous action potential and the underlying ionic currents in urethral smooth muscle cell successfully. In summary, this mathematical model contributes an elemental tool to investigate the physiological ionic mechanisms underlying the spikes in the urethral smooth muscle cell, which in turn can shed light on the genesis of stress urinary incontinence.
Impact of Electric Vehicle Charging on the Performance of Distribution Grid

Electric vehicles (EVs) have rapidly transformed the automotive industry in recent times. Because of better performance and zero-carbon emissions, EVs are slowly gaining market share with respect to traditional combustion engine vehicles. The utility of EVs is not limited only to the transportation sector, but it also shows the prospect of serving as an independent distributed energy source. However, the integration of EVs has considerable impact on the electric power distribution system to which they are connected. This study has assessed the impacts of Level 1 (L1), Level 2 (L2), and DC fast charging of EVs on distribution feeder by varying the EV penetration level. Both graphical and real-time simulations have been conducted to evaluate the vehicle-charging effect on the distribution system. The outcome of the study demonstrates voltage deviation and distortion on the distribution grid.
Semi-Supervised Audio Classification with Partially Labeled Data.

Audio classification has seen great progress with the increasing availability of large-scale datasets. These large datasets, however, are often only partially labeled as collecting full annotations is a tedious and expensive process. This paper presents two semi-supervised methods capable of learning with missing labels and evaluates them on two publicly available, partially labeled datasets. The first method relies on label enhancement by a two-stage teacher-student learning process, while the second method utilizes the mean teacher semi-supervised learning algorithm. Our results demonstrate the impact of improperly handling missing labels and compare the benefits of using different strategies leveraging data with few labels. Methods capable of learning with partially labeled data have the potential to improve models for audio classification by utilizing even larger amounts of data without the need for complete annotations.
Performance analysis of the forward link cdma2000 1xEV-DO evolution for multirate services in cellular wireless system: Research Articles

In this paper, we propose a combined analytical and simulation framework for performance evaluation of the forward link in the cdma2000 evolution for data only (1xEV-DO) cellular systems with throughput and spectral efficiency being used as performance metrics. A closed form expression for the aggregate average throughput is derived in terms of system-dependent parameters and a discrete random process that reflects the stochastic behavior of the transmission channel. The random process is expressed in terms of the cumulative distribution function (CDF) of the users signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR). Quantitative results for throughput and spectral efficiency are presented for a variety of users distribution models, base station antenna types and frequency reuse factors for the cases of sectorized and non-sectorized cells. Furthermore, we study the impact of the cell radius on the system performance. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. This paper was presented in part at the IEEE Vehicular Technology Conference, Dallas, TX, USA, September 25–28, 2005.
An analysis for crack layer stability

Fracture in many materials propagates as a crack preceded by a zone of structural transformations (damage). The crack layer (CL) theory derives the law of propagation of crack and the surrounding damage zone within the framework of irreversible thermodynamics. Employing the Prigogine-Glansdorff criterion of evolution, the theory derives the stability conditions for CL propagation. In this paper the problem of uncontrolled crack propagation and crack arrest is addressed from the viewpoint of CL translational stability. CL propagation is controlled by the difference between J 1, the energy release rate, and γ *R1, the amount of energy required for material transformation. As a result, the necessary and sufficient conditions for CL instability are % MathType!MTEF!2!1!+-% feaafiart1ev1aaatCvAUfeBSjuyZL2yd9gzLbvyNv2CaerbuLwBLn% hiov2DGi1BTfMBaeXafv3ySLgzGmvETj2BSbqefm0B1jxALjhiov2D% aebbfv3ySLgzGueE0jxyaibaiGc9yrFr0xXdbba91rFfpec8Eeeu0x% Xdbba9frFj0-OqFfea0dXdd9vqaq-JfrVkFHe9pgea0dXdar-Jb9hs% 0dXdbPYxe9vr0-vr0-vqpWqaaeaabiGaciaacaqabeaadaqaaqGaaO% qaaiaadQeadaWgaaWcbaGaaGymaiabgkHiTiabeo7aNnaaCaaameqa% baGaaiOkaaaaaSqabaGccaWGsbWaaSbaaSqaaiaaigdaaeqaamrr1n% gBPrwtHrhAYaqeguuDJXwAKbstHrhAGq1DVbacfmGccqWFLjsHcaaI% Waaaaa!4F23!\[J_{1 - \gamma ^* } R_1 \geqslant 0\]and % MathType!MTEF!2!1!+-% feaafiart1ev1aaatCvAUfeBSjuyZL2yd9gzLbvyNv2CaerbuLwBLn% hiov2DGi1BTfMBaeXafv3ySLgzGmvETj2BSbqefm0B1jxALjhiov2D% aebbfv3ySLgzGueE0jxyaibaiGc9yrFr0xXdbba91rFfpec8Eeeu0x% Xdbba9frFj0-OqFfea0dXdd9vqaq-JfrVkFHe9pgea0dXdar-Jb9hs% 0dXdbPYxe9vr0-vr0-vqpWqaaeaabiGaciaacaqabeaadaqaaqGaaO% qaamaalaaabaGaeyOaIylabaGaeyOaIyRaamiBaaaadaqadiqaaiaa% dQeadaWgaaWcbaGaaGymaaqabaGccqGHsislcqaHZoWzdaahaaWcbe% qaaiaacQcaaaGccaWGsbWaaSbaaSqaaiaaigdaaeqaaaGccaGLOaGa% ayzkaaGaeyOpa4JaaGimaaaa!4A4A!\[\frac{\partial }{{\partial l}}\left( {J_1 - \gamma ^* R_1 } \right) > 0\]respectively. CL propagation in polystyrene, a model material, is studied under remotely applied, fixed load fatigue (Case I) and under fixed displacement (Case II). For Case I, the sufficient condition of instability is met before the necessary condition, so that the latter becomes the controller of stability. For case II, neither sufficient nor necessary conditions of instability are satisfied. Hence, CL propagation remains stable, eventually resulting in crack arrest.
Pyruvate Carboxylase from Chicken Liver MAGNETIC RESONANCE STUDIES OF THE EFFECT OF SUBSTRATES AND INHIBITORS ON THE ENVIRONMENT OF THE BOUND MANAGANESE

Abstract Electron paramagnetic resonance spectra have been recorded for solutions of pyruvate carboxylase from chicken liver in the presence and absence of various ligands. The EPR spectra show that the intrinsic Mn(II) of the enzyme occupies a site of moderate electronic asymmetry. The symmetry of the coordination sphere of this Mn(II) is not influenced upon formation of complexes with substrates and inhibitors of the transcarboxylation partial reaction catalyzed by this enzyme. However, the electron spin relaxation time of the Mn(II), as reflected in the widths of the spectral lines, is very sensitive to the presence of substrates and inhibitors of the transcarboxylation partial reaction. Formation of enzyme-substrate or enzyme-inhibitor complexes causes a narrowing of individual lines in the spectrum, with oxalate and fluoropyruvate giving the greatest effect. Changes in the line widths of signals in the EPR spectrum of the bound Mn(II) correlate with changes in the nuclear spin relaxation time of solvent protons observed on formation of these complexes (Mildvan, A.S., Scrutton, M.C., and Utter, M.F. (1966) J. Biol. Chem. 241, 3488–3498). Both effects appear to relate to the degree of accessibility of bulk solvent to the vicinity of the bound Mn(II) with narrower EPR signals, and longer relaxation times for solvent protons, indicating decreased solvent accessibility to the Mn(II). Interaction of the biotinyl residues of pyruvate carboxylase with avidin causes broadening of the EPR spectra for the enzyme and its various complexes in accord with the prior observation of shortened solvent relaxation times in these complexes (Scrutton, M.C., and Mildvan, A.S. (1968) Biochemistry 7, 1490–1505). Thus, binding of avidin to pyruvate carboxylase appears to facilitate entry of bulk solvent to the vicinity of the Mn(II). Paramagnetic effects on the nuclear spin relaxation rates for the methyl protons of pyruvate have been measured at two frequencies. The data indicate that in the pyruvate carboxylase-pyruvate complex the methyl protons of this substrate are separated by 6 to 7 A from the bound Mn(II). The dissociation constant for the enzyme-pyruvate complex was estimated at 4 to 7 mm by equilibrium dialysis experiments, thus eliminating the possible presence of more tightly bound pyruvate molecules which would exchange slowly on the time scale of the nuclear magnetic resonance measurements. The EPR and NMR measurements lead to the conclusion that substrates and inhibitors of pyruvate carboxylase are bound near to the site of the Mn(II), but the data fail to support the previously suggested direct binding of these molecules to the Mn(II) (Mildvan, A.S., and Scrutton, M.C. (1967) Biochemistry 6, 2978–2994).
Polymer waveguide optical interconnections for electrical interconnection substrates

Summary form only given. An integration process and measured result of a fully embedded thin film MSM photodetector (PD) fabricated from InGaAs which is embedded in a polymer optical waveguide which is deposited on a Si substrate is presented, thus realizing the goal of three separate, independently optimized materials for the waveguide, substrate, and PD. The dark current and photocurrent produced by the evanescent field coupling from the optical waveguide into the embedded MSM PD are shown Measured dark and photocurrent were 60.6 nA and 1.2 /spl mu/A at 5 V, respectively. The coupling efficiency was estimated based on the measured responsivity and photocurrent of the thin film MSM PD and the launched optical power was calculated using a mode matching approach through FIMMWAVE software from Photon Design. The estimated coupling efficacy from the input optical waveguide to the embedded MSM PD was 71.74%.
Where to Now? Ways forward for Interreligious Dialogue: Images of Abraham as Models of Interreligious Encounter

When in 1965, the Catholic Church, in its Second Vatican Council document Nostra Aetate, began its brief but groundbreaking treatment on Muslims with the words “The Church regards with esteem also the Muslims,” I think that the reaction of Catholics around the world was generally, “We do?” First of all, Christians didn’t know much about the religion of Islam and very few of us had any direct personal contact with Muslims. Secondly, we didn’t know that it was permitted for us to have esteem for the followers of another religion, much less that we should, as part of our faith, have such esteem. Yet “esteem for Muslims (NA 3),” the awareness of a “common spiritual patrimony with Jews (NA 4),” and a “sincere reverence for the conduct, life, precepts and teachings (NA 2)” of Hindus, Buddhists, and others is part of our Christian faith as that has been declared by the highest teaching authority in the Catholic Church, an ecumenical council.
The Politics of IO Performance: The Case of the World Health Organization

In addition to their role in facilitating cooperation between states, international organizations (IOs) are increasingly mandated to build capacity within states. This paper investigates the factors that influence IO performance in capacity-building tasks. Although recent literature treats IO agents as autonomous actors in international politics, it conceives of them as unitary actors. I argue that the unitary actor assumption limits our ability to explain variation in IO performance. When we instead conceive of IO bureaucracies as collective agents - those including more than one actor and subject to internal fragmentation - IO performance can be more fully explained. I highlight the importance of knowledge acquisition and transfer as key to performance. But in a fragmented collective agent, this information can be easily isolated, preventing organizational learning. I illustrate these arguments using a case study of the World Health Organization and its efforts to improve health systems in developing countries between 1982 and 2008.
Distribution of a thiophosphorylated spindle midzone antigen during spindle reactivation in vitro

Mitotic spindles isolated from the diatom Stephanopyxis turris will elongate in vitro in the presence of ATP with a concurrent decrease in the width of the zone of microtubule overlap. A spindle-associated phosphoprotein that co-localizes with the zone of microtubule overlap in isolated spindles serves as a convenient marker for midzone-associated proteinsother than microtubules. We have used a monoclonal antibody that labels this protein when it is artificially thiophosphorylated and studied its redistribution during spindle reactivation in vitro . As the spindle elongates midzone label accumulates in a successively narrower and brighter ring at the spindle midpoint with increasing time in ATP. Biotinylated bovine microtubule segments polymerized onto the ends of the diatom microtubules increase the overall width of the zone of microtubule overlap and serve as a marker for the boundary of the original diatom overlap zone. During elongation in ATP, the biotinylated segments move into the area marked by the monoclonal antibody, which does not decrease in width until the spindle has elongated to the point at which the zone of microtubule overlap delineated by the newly polymerized microtubules is smaller than the original overlap zone. We use these results to develop a model to explain the behaviour of nonmicrotubule midzone-associated proteins during spindle elongation.
Effect of (-)-gossypol (AT-101) on transcriptional regulation of Noxa and Puma and on Mcl-1-mediated cancer cell resistance to apoptosis

e14611 Background: AT-101 is being evaluated in Phase II clinical trials for the treatment of human cancers and demonstrates anticancer activity as a single agent and in combination with docetaxel....
Detecting ground shadows in outdoor consumer photographs

Detecting shadows from images can significantly improve the performance of several vision tasks such as object detection and tracking. Recent approaches have mainly used illumination invariants which can fail severely when the qualities of the images are not very good, as is the case for most consumer-grade photographs, like those on Google or Flickr. We present a practical algorithm to automatically detect shadows cast by objects onto the ground, from a single consumer photograph. Our key hypothesis is that the types of materials constituting the ground in outdoor scenes is relatively limited, most commonly including asphalt, brick, stone, mud, grass, concrete, etc. As a result, the appearances of shadows on the ground are not as widely varying as general shadows and thus, can be learned from a labelled set of images. Our detector consists of a three-tier process including (a) training a decision tree classifier on a set of shadow sensitive features computed around each image edge, (b) a CRF-based optimization to group detected shadow edges to generate coherent shadow contours, and (c) incorporating any existing classifier that is specifically trained to detect grounds in images. Our results demonstrate good detection accuracy (85%) on several challenging images. Since most objects of interest to vision applications (like pedestrians, vehicles, signs) are attached to the ground, we believe that our detector can find wide applicability.
Towards a Unified Theory of Neocortex: Laminar Cortical Circuits for Vision and Cognition

A key goal of computational neuroscience is to link brain mechanisms to behavioral functions. The present article describes recent progress towards explaining how laminar neocortical circuits give rise to biological intelligence. These circuits embody two new and revolutionary computational paradigms: Complementary Computing and Laminar Computing. Circuit properties include a novel synthesis of feedforward and feedback processing, of digital and analog processing, and of preattentive and attentive processing. This synthesis clarifies the appeal of Bayesian approaches but has a far greater predictive range that naturally extends to self-organizing processes. Examples from vision and cognition are summarized. A LAMINART architecture unifies properties of visual development, learning, perceptual grouping, attention, and 3D vision. A key modeling theme is that the mechanisms which enable development and learning to occur in a stable way imply properties of adult behavior. It is noted how higher-order attentional constraints can influence multiple cortical regions, and how spatial and object attention work together to learn view-invariant object categories. In particular, a form-fitting spatial attentional shroud can allow an emerging view-invariant object category to remain active while multiple view categories are associated with it during sequences of saccadic eye movements. Finally, the chapter summarizes recent work on the LIST PARSE model of cognitive information processing by the laminar circuits of prefrontal cortex. LIST PARSE models the short-term storage of event sequences in working memory, their unitization through learning into sequence, or list, chunks, and their read-out in planned sequential performance that is under volitional control. LIST PARSE provides a laminar embodiment of Item and Order working memories, also called Competitive Queuing models, that have been supported by both psychophysical and neurobiological data. These examples show how variations of a common laminar cortical design can embody properties of visual and cognitive intelligence that seem, at least on the surface, to be mechanistically unrelated.
Life cycle cost of military displays

Military displays are subjected to rugged environments and are required to last for many years in service. Life cycle cost comparisons can be made between various display technologies that provide essential acquisition data. Reliability, maintainability and the support strategy influence the downstream costs to the government and the display supplier. Statistical simulation techniques can be used to predict life cycle cost components. Technical analyses of life cycle cost drivers early in the display development are critical to controlling life cycle cost.© (1999) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
CT identification of bronchopulmonary segments: 50 normal subjects

A systematic evaluation of the fissures, segmental bronchi and arteries, bronchopulmonary segments, and peripheral pulmonary parenchyma was made from computed tomographic (CT) scans of 50 patients with normal chest radiographs. Seventy percent of the segmental bronchi and 76% of the segmental arteries were identified. Arteries could be traced to their sixth- and seventh-order branches; their orientation to the plane of the CT section allowed gross identification and localization of bronchopulmonary segments.
Protein kinase C phosphorylation of the EGF receptor at a threonine residue close to the cytoplasmic face of the plasma membrane

The receptor for epidermal growth factor (EGF) is a 170,000-180,000 molecular weight single-chain glycoprotein of 1,186 amino acids. Its sequence suggests that it has an external EGF-binding domain, formed by the NH2-terminal 621 amino acids, linked to a cytoplasmic region by a single membrane-spanning segment. In the cytoplasmic portion, starting 50 residues from the membrane, there is a 250-residue stretch similar to the catalytic domain of the src gene family of retroviral tyrosine protein kinases, and, indeed, a tyrosine-specific protein kinase activity intrinsic to the receptor is stimulated when EGF is bound. Increased tyrosine phosphorylation of cellular proteins, detected in A431 cells following EGF binding, may be important in the mitogenic signal pathway. Tumour promoters such as 12-O-tetradecanoyl-phorbol-13-acetate (TPA), counteract this increase, as well as causing loss of a high affinity class of EGF binding sites. The major receptor for TPA has been identified as the serine/threonine-specific Ca2+/phospholipid-dependent diacylglycerol-activated protein kinase, protein kinase C. By substituting for diacylglycerol, TPA stimulates protein kinase C. Protein kinase C phosphorylates purified EGF receptor at specific sites, and this reduces EGF-stimulated tyrosine protein kinase activity. TPA treatment of A431 cells increases serine and threonine phosphorylation of the EGF receptor at the same sites, which suggests that the reduction of EGF receptor kinase activity in TPA-treated cells is a consequence of the receptor's phosphorylation by the kinase. We have attempted to identify these phosphorylation sites and show here that protein kinase C phosphorylates threonine 654 in the human EGF receptor. This threonine is in a very basic sequence nine residues from the cytoplasmic face of the plasma membrane in the region before the protein kinase domain; it is thus in a position to modulate signalling between this internal domain and the external EGF-binding domain.
Quantification of Heterogeneity in Desiccating Droplets

Desiccated state biostabilization aims at stopping molecular motions and biochemical processes to halt degradation and to preserve functionality. Preservation by desiccation typically involves drying the biological material or the organism in a preservation solution, which typically contains non-reducing sugars (trehalose, sucrose, etc.) and salts [1]. Typically, preservation solutions (containing the biological material to be preserved) in the form of sessile droplets are deposited and dried on a surface in a controlled environment.Copyright © 2007 by ASME
Correlation of pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic-derived predictions of antibiotic efficacy with clinical outcomes in severely ill patients with Pseudomonas aeruginosa pneumonia.

tudy Objective To use pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic (PK/PD) modeling to correlate predicted antibiotic efficacy with actual clinical outcomes in patients with serious infections. Design Retrospective cohort analysis. Setting University medical center. Patients A total of 182 adult intensive care patients with Pseudomonas aeruginosa pneumonia during a 5-year period from 2000 to 2004. Measurements and Main Results The primary study end point was correlation of predicted antibiotic efficacy as determined by PK/PD modeling with actual clinical outcomes in individual patients. PK/PD analyses were conducted by determination of PD indexes using calculated patient-specific PK parameters and known pathogen minimum inhibitory concentrations, and by determination of predicted PD target attainment by using Monte Carlo simulation. Patients achieving PD targets were predicted to have clinically responded to therapy; patients not achieving PD targets were predicted to have failed therapy. A total of 128 patients (70%) apparently achieved desired PD targets; however, PK/PD modeling correctly predicted actual clinical outcome in only 47% of patients (86 of 182) with sensitivity of 49% and specificity of 43%. Percentages of patients apparently achieving PD targets were similar among those experiencing clinical response or clinical failure (67% vs 74%, respectively; p=0.344). Predicted achievement of PD targets was significantly associated only with reduction in intensive care unit and hospital lengths of stay. Achievement of PD targets was not significantly associated with clinical response by univariate or multivariate analysis, but factors related to severity of illness were significantly associated with clinical response. Conclusion PK/PD modeling did not accurately predict clinical or microbiologic success in patients with P. aeruginosa pneumonia. This study highlights the difficulties in applying PK/PD modeling at the level of the individual patient due to extreme PK variability and issues such as severity of illness. Antibiotic dosing based on sound PK/PD principles is strongly advocated, but additional studies are needed to confirm the role of PK/PD modeling in optimizing outcomes of patients with serious bacterial infections.