cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Induction and catabolite repression of cellulase and xylanase synthesis in the selected white-rot basidiomycetes

Abstract This paper reports regulation of endoglucanase (EC 3.2.1.4) and xylanase (EC 3.2.1.8) production in submerged cultivation of four white-rot basidiomycetes. Among carbon sources tested, the Avicel-based medium provided the highest levels of both hydrolases activities in all fungal cultures. However, the maximum endoglucanase and xylanase activities of the tested basidiomycetes varied from 3.9 U/ml and 7.4 U/ml in Fomes fomentarius to 34.2 U/ml and 29.5 U/ml in Pseudotrametes gibbosa, respectively (P. gibbosa specific cellulase and xylanase activities achieved 8.55 and 7.38 U/mg, respectively). Replacement of Avicel in the medium with carboxymethyl cellulose or xylan significantly lowered the enzyme yield of the tested fungi. Moreover, xylan did not ensure high xylanase activity of these fungi. Lignocellulosic substrates used as a carbon source provided poorer productivity (the specific CMCase activity was 1.12–3.62 U/mg and the specific xylanase activity was 1.95–3.32 U/mg). Expression of endoglucanase and xylanase synthesis in Panus lecometei and P. gibbosa was inducible; supplementation of the glycerol-containing medium with Avicel accompanied with a sharp increase of the fungal specific CMCase and xylanase activities from 0.02–0.04 U/mg to 1.30–8.55 U/mg. Supplementation of the Avicel-induced cultures with glucose or glycerol caused a catabolite repression of the cellulase and xylanase formation by P. gibbosa and P. lecometei. The enzyme synthesis resumed only after depletion of easily metabolizable carbon source, glucose or glycerol, from the medium. The data received suggest that in the tested fungi endoglucanase and xylanase synthesis is under control by a common regulatory mechanism.
Faceted Dynamic Information Flow via Control and Data Monads

An application that fails to ensure information flow security may leak sensitive data such as passwords, credit card numbers, or medical records. News stories of such failures abound. Austin and Flanagan [2] introduce faceted values --- values that present different behavior according to the privilege of the observer --- as a dynamic approach to enforce information flow policies for an untyped, imperative $$\lambda $$λ-calculus. We implement faceted values as a Haskell library, elucidating their relationship to types and monadic imperative programming. In contrast to previous work, our approach does not require modification to the language runtime. In addition to pure faceted values, our library supports faceted mutable reference cells and secure facet-aware socket-like communication. This library guarantees information flow security, independent of any vulnerabilities or bugs in application code. The library uses a control monad in the traditional way for encapsulating effects, but it also uniquely uses a second data monad to structure faceted values. To illustrate a non-trivial use of the library, we present a bi-monadic interpreter for a small language that illustrates the interplay of the control and data monads.
Why watch bees? Motivations of citizen science volunteers in the Great Pollinator Project

The benefits of citizen science to conservation, science, and socio-ecological systems as well as to participants themselves are increasingly recognized and valued, yet what motivates volunteers remains little studied and poorly understood. To better understand citizen scientists' motivations and how they benefit from their participation, we surveyed volunteers in the Great Pollinator Project, a conservation-related project in New York City. We conducted pre- and post-season surveys and focus group sessions to find out who the active volunteers were, their reasons for joining, what benefits of participation they experienced, as well as challenges they encountered collecting and submitting data. In comparison with results of several surveys of environmental and conservation volunteers, we found a similar range of motivators. However, while studies of motivations of environmental volunteers have indicated helping the environment as the strongest factor, interest in learning about bees—the subject of the study—was the top motivation of our citizen science volunteers. Helping or contributing to science was the second most cited motivator for participants in the project. Less strong were outdoor/recreation and social factors. We discuss some of the steps we took in response to participants' feedback in order to improve volunteer recruitment and retention. We also make additional recommendations for project design and research to enhance understanding of volunteer motivations, which will benefit volunteers themselves as well as strengthen their contribution to conservation outcomes.
The Effects of Terrain on Long Bone Robusticity and Cross-Sectional Shape in Lower Limb Bones of Bovids, Neandertals, and Upper Paleolithic Modern Humans

Theoretically, flexed joint postures on sloped surfaces should increase anteroposterior (AP) bending stresses in both human tibiae and bovid metacarpals; however, irregular terrain should also introduce increases in mediolateral (ML) bending stresses in distal limb bones via increased variation in the orientation of ground reaction forces on the feet and nonlinear locomotion. To investigate the effects of terrain type on lower leg bone cross-sectional geometry, this study uses Neandertal and Upper Paleolithic samples plus a large comparative sample of flat terrain (85 species), mountainous (19 species), and mixed terrain (5 species) bovids to see to what extent terrain affects relative AP to ML strength in lower leg bones. Section moduli at the midshaft were compared between groups occupying contrasting terrains. Results suggest that although locomotion on mountainous terrain routinely introduces elevated AP and ML bending stresses to distal limb segments, perhaps with greater relative increases in the ML direction, the signal for locomotion in non-flat terrain in the cross-sectional properties of the human tibia is an increase in overall bending strength and a slight increase in AP relative to ML bending strength due to lateral buttressing by the fibula.
Connectivity in gene coexpression networks negatively correlates with rates of molecular evolution in flowering plants

Gene coexpression networks are a useful tool for summarizing transcriptomic data and providing insight into patterns of gene regulation in a variety of species. Though there has been considerable interest in studying the evolution of network topology across species, less attention has been paid to the relationship between network position and patterns of molecular evolution. Here, we generated coexpression networks from publicly available expression data for seven flowering plant taxa (Arabidopsis thaliana, Glycine max, Oryza sativa, Populus spp., Solanum lycopersicum, Vitis spp., and Zea mays) to investigate the relationship between network position and rates of molecular evolution. We found a significant negative correlation between network connectivity and rates of molecular evolution, with more highly connected (i.e., "hub") genes having significantly lower nonsynonymous substitution rates and dN/dS ratios compared to less highly connected (i.e., "peripheral") genes across the taxa surveyed. These findings suggest that more centrally located hub genes are, on average, subject to higher levels of evolutionary constraint than are genes located on the periphery of gene coexpression networks. The consistency of this result across disparate taxa suggests that it holds for flowering plants in general, as opposed to being a species-specific phenomenon.
Evaluation of h -index, its variants and extensions based on publication age & citation intensity in civil engineering

The scientific community has proposed diversified set of parameters to rank researchers, including publications, citations, h-index, different variants and extensions of h-index. However, there is a debate in the scientific Community which index ranks authors in a better way. Current state-of-the-art depicts that these indices are evaluated on imaginary case scenarios and small datasets. Furthermore, these indices are evaluated on different datasets, making it difficult to grasp the contribution and importance of each index over the others. To analyze the individual behavior of each index, these indices should comprehensively be evaluated on some extensive data set. This study emphasizes on the scrutiny of h-index, some of its variants and extensions to rank authors. These indices are evaluated using a comprehensive data set of Civil Engineering field. For the evaluation of results obtained from these indices, first correlation was calculated among indices. There exists weak correlation between various indices, which demonstrates that the author’s rankings acquired from these indices are not identical. Secondly, occurrences of awardees are checked in all ranked lists. The prestigious award winners of four Civil Engineering societies are considered as a benchmark. In top 10% of ranked list, maximum 47% of the awardees were brought by Wu-index. Overall, none of the index succeeded in bringing 100% awardees to the top rankings. Highest number of awardees on top of all ranked lists are found to be from ACI (American Concrete Institute), which shows ACI might be dependent on these indices for its criterion to honor awards.
Expanding the Concept of Lead Users as Collaborators in Functional Apparel Design

When designing performance apparel, product developers often engage with users to ensure product appropriateness. The key problem is knowing which users have the potential to make valuable contribu...
Temporal trends in disease presentation and survival of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma: A real-world experience from 1998 to 2015.

Background Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the few cancers whose incidence continues to increase. The goal of the current study was to investigate the presentation and survival trends of patients with HCC presenting to a university hospital between 1998 and 2015. Methods Study data were ascertained by individual chart review with survival data also supplemented by National Death Index query up to December 31, 2015. Patients were divided into three 6-year groups by diagnosis date (1998-2003, 2004-2009, and 2010-2015). Results A total of 2106 consecutive patients with HCC were included. The majority of patients had either hepatitis C (56.7%) or hepatitis B (22.1%), but cases of nonalcoholic steatohepatitis HCC increased by 68% over the most recent time period. Screening/surveillance identified 61% of HCC cases, but only 31% of these patients underwent curative treatment, which did not increase significantly over time. The overall median survival was 29.8 months (2.48 years) and without improvement over time. On multivariable analysis, Asian or Hispanic ethnicity, meeting Milan criteria, and receiving any of the standard HCC treatments were found to be significantly associated with improved survival, but diagnosis time period and liver disease etiology were not. Conclusions Over the last 18 years, the percentage of cases of nonalcoholic steatohepatitis HCC has increased but not overall survival. It is interesting to note that only 31% of patients with HCC identified via screening/surveillance received any curative treatment. Further research is needed to better understand the barriers to curative care for patients with HCC and the causes of the lack of improvement in survival in the more recent patient cohort. Cancer 2018;124:2588-98. © 2018 American Cancer Society.
1608 World trade centre research strategies, implications and findings

Aim of special session The World Trade Centre research enterprise posed particular logistical and strategical challenges, and its research findings have made contribution to occupational health and the understanding of respiratory health and chronic airway disease. All of those aspects will be discussed in this session. 1 Philip J. Landrigan, MD, MS, DIH, 1 Roberto G. Lucchini, MD, 2 Laurie Breyer, JD, MA, 2 Dr. Max Lum, Ed.D, MPA, 1 Rafael E. de la Hoz, MD, MPH, MSc 1 Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA 2 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention/National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Atlanta, GA, USA
The Evolutionary History of Aggression and Ethnic Conflict: Why Polarization Fuels Hate and Violence

In this chapter the evolution of aggression is examined in relation to specific types or forms of conflict, including genocide, hate crimes, and extremism. Three specific theories addressing the etiology of aggression are offered: frustration–aggression theory, observational learning theory, and biological–evolutionary theory. We also revisit Ervin Staub’s contemporary research addressing the origins of extreme group violence and provide evidence of how environmental factors (i.e., styles of parenting and community service activities) may help reduce serious social problems, such as apathy and “bystander effect.” The topic of altruism and prosocial behaviors as personality traits is also offered, with an examination of how community development may address the problem associated with negative behaviors associated with group conformity and bystander effect. Finally, this chapter will provide evidence on how community development programs can help improve important sociological and psychological benefits, such as community connectedness and community competence.
The Sensitive Society

We are living increasingly in the "Sensitive Society." I use the term "sensitive" not in its meaning of "caring" or "sympathetic." Rather, I use it to mean a society that is thin-skinned, ready to take offense, intolerant of criticism or satire, and which rejects honest or misguided disagreement. This is not the world of Mark Twain, Ambrose Bierce, or H.L. Mencken. Comment, observation, satire, reportage, editorials, cartooning, caricature, playwriting, and painting-all are now supposed to take into account the sensibilities of the reader or observer. That feeling undergirds a great deal of the controversy about art today, and poses a great potential threat to artistic and creative freedom in the future.
Allorecognition and Innate Immunity in the Dictyostelid Social Amoebae

Dictyostelid social amoebae such as Dictyostelium discoideum are facultative multicellular organisms that display a number of immune functions commonly found in animals. In the vegetative growth phase, solitary amoebae track and consume food bacteria that occur in their soil environment, and are also susceptible to intracellular bacterial pathogens including those that infect humans. Individual amoebae recognize microbe-associated molecular patterns (MAMPs) to distinguish between bacterial species and adjust their physiology to optimize feeding, but it is during multicellular development that this has been most clearly demonstrated. Starved D. discoideum amoebae aggregate to form mounds, migrating slugs, and spore-filled fruiting bodies in a stereotypical and regulated developmental process. Cell cooperation during multicellular development is maintained by an allorecognition system that ensures the benefits of this group survival mechanism accrues to genetically related amoebae. Allorecognition is accomplished through a cell surface receptor–ligand pair comprised of immunoglobulin (Ig)-repeat ectodomains, and signaling through the receptor acts as a checkpoint for the transition from unicellular to multicellular life. During development, D. discoideum produces innate immune cells capable of clearing interstitial bacteria from migrating slugs and some isolates also harbor specific bacterial species as beneficial endosymbionts. The innate immune cells, when stimulated by bacteria or bacterial lipopolysaccharide, kill bacteria by producing extracellular DNA-based antimicrobial nets or extracellular traps (ETs). As with human innate immune cells, ET production requires reactive oxygen species (ROS) produced by nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NADPH) oxidases and Toll/interleukin-1 receptor (TIR) domain-based signaling that triggers ET release. The Dictyostelid social amoebae are part of the monophyletic clade of the Amoebozoa that have achieved multicellularity, so they provide useful comparisons to other species of the Unikont supergroup that highlight the evolutionary pressures that shaped extant immune systems over the past billion years.
The Flavonoid Kaempferol Ameliorates Streptozotocin-Induced Diabetes by Suppressing Hepatic Glucose Production

In diabetes mellitus, the excessive rate of glucose production from the liver is considered a primary contributor for the development of hyperglycemia, in particular, fasting hyperglycemia. In this study, we investigated whether kaempferol, a flavonol present in several medicinal herbs and foods, can be used to ameliorate diabetes in an animal model of insulin deficiency and further explored the mechanism underlying the anti-diabetic effect of this flavonol. We demonstrate that oral administration of kaempferol (50 mg/kg/day) to streptozotocin-induced diabetic mice significantly improved hyperglycemia and reduced the incidence of overt diabetes from 100% to 77.8%. This outcome was accompanied by a reduction in hepatic glucose production and an increase in glucose oxidation in the muscle of the diabetic mice, whereas body weight, calorie intake, body composition, and plasma insulin and glucagon levels were not altered. Consistently, treatment with kaempferol restored hexokinase activity in the liver and skeletal muscle of diabetic mice while suppressed hepatic pyruvate carboxylase activity and gluconeogenesis. These results suggest that kaempferol may exert antidiabetic action via promoting glucose metabolism in skeletal muscle and inhibiting gluconeogenesis in the liver.
Black Hole Spectroscopy and AdS$_2$ Holography

We compute the spectrum of extremal nonBPS black holes in four dimensions by studying supergravity on their AdS$_2\times S^2$ near horizon geometry. We find that the spectrum exhibits significant simplifications even though supersymmetry is completely broken. We interpret our results in the framework of nAdS$_2$/nCFT$_1$ correspondence and by comparing with dimensional reduction from AdS$_3$/CFT$_2$ duality. As an additional test we compute quantum corrections to extremal black hole entropy on the nonBPS branch and recover results previously determined using very different methods.
Effects of dopants on electronic surface states in InAs

The effects of several adatom dopants (H, Be, C, N, Si, and Zn) on the electronic structure of low-energy surface reconstructions of InAs---(001, 110, 111, and 112) low-index planes---were investigated using ab initio density functional theory calculations. It was observed that the local electronic structure can be controlled in such materials, either reducing or enhancing surface states depending on the dopant and the unique surface reconstruction. The local bonding environment, in particular whether the bonding has an aromatic character, was found to influence both surface reconstruction and a dopant's affinity for a surface. Beryllium and Zinc were often found to reduce the surface states around the band gap, which could improve the charge-carrier mobility in various electronic components. However, these dopants can also cause further surface reconstruction/reconfiguration inducing different surface states.
Symmetric Positive Semi-Definite FDTD Subgridding Algorithms in Both Space and Time for Accurate Analysis of Inhomogeneous Problems

In this article, we develop a systematic approach to derive symmetric positive semi-definite (SPD) finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) subgridding operators in both space and time for analyzing general inhomogeneous problems in an accurate fashion. The operators are SPD by construction and independent of the grid ratio. The resultant explicit time marching is guaranteed to be stable because such subgridding operators have only nonnegative real eigenvalues. Furthermore, the use of a time step local to the base grid and the subgrid is permitted without sacrificing stability and accuracy. Moreover, the algorithm takes the subgrid information into account to accurately analyze inhomogeneous problems. In addition, we provide an interpretation of the proposed subgridding operators and show how to implement them in the original difference equation-based FDTD framework. Extensive numerical experiments involving both 2- and 3-D subgrids with various grid ratios and inhomogeneities have demonstrated the stability, accuracy, and efficiency of the proposed new SPD subgridding algorithms.
Impact of Health Literacy and Social Support on Self-Efficacy Regarding Self-Care among Patients with a Left Ventricular Assist Device (LVAD): Findings from the Mechanical Circulatory Support: Measures of Adjustment and Quality of Life (MCS A-QOL) Study

Purpose Patients with an LVAD face unique burdens in LVAD self-care (device management) in addition to heart failure (HF) self-care (diet, exercise, medications). We evaluated the impact of health literacy and social support on self-efficacy regarding self-care, and evaluated change in self-efficacy. Methods Patients at 9 centers enrolled in the study within 30 days prior to LVAD implantation. Assessments were at baseline and 3 and 6 months post-LVAD. Self-efficacy regarding HF self-care (13 items) and Self-efficacy regarding VAD self-care (12 items) used a 4-point scale: 1=not sure at all, 4=very sure of performing self-care activities. Health Literacy Assessment Using Talking Touchscreen Technology (10 items) was dichotomized as inadequate/low vs. adequate/high. Social support (emotional, instrumental, informational) was measured with PROMIS v2.0 (T-score of 50=general population mean). Participants who died, were transplanted, or were withdrawn before 6 months were excluded from analysis. Linear mixed effects models were estimated using all available longitudinal data, assuming a missing at random mechanism. Results The sample (n=126) was primarily male (72%), non-Hispanic White (62%) and had high health literacy (67%); mean (SD) age was 55 (11.7) years. Excluded participants (n=68) were similar on most variables (p>0.05). Emotional, instrumental and informational social support were substantially higher than the general population (mean (SD): 58 (7.6), 61 (6.4), 59 (8.7)) and positively associated with HF self-care efficacy and LVAD self-care efficacy (parameter estimates: 0.01-0.02; p 0.05). Self-efficacy regarding HF self-care and VAD self-care were high and did not change over time (p>0.05): least-squares means (adjusted for social support and health literacy) at all assessments were 3.7 to 3.9. Conclusion Social support was high and positively associated with higher self-efficacy regarding HF and VAD self-care. Strong social support might mitigate the impact of other risk factors, including low health literacy, on self-efficacy. More research is needed to understand these factors in a more diverse patient group.
Design study of a combined interferometer and polarimeter for a high-field, compact tokamak

This article is the first design study of a combined interferometer and polarimeter on a compact, high-field, high-density, net-energy tokamak. Recent advances in superconducting technology have made possible designs for compact, high magnetic field fusion power plants, such as ARC [Sorbom et al., Fusion Eng. Des. 100, 378 (2015)], and experiments, such as SPARC [Greenwald et al., PSFC Report No. RR-18-2 (2018)]. These new designs create both challenges and opportunities for plasma diagnostics. The diagnostic proposed in this work, called InterPol, takes advantage of unique opportunities provided by high magnetic field and density to measure both line-averaged density and poloidal magnetic field with a single set of CO2 and quantum cascade lasers. These measurements will be used for fast density feedback control, constraint of density and safety factor profiles, and density fluctuation measurements. Synthetic diagnostic testing using a model machine geometry, called MQ1 (Mission Q ≥ 1), and profiles simulated with Tokamak Simulation Code indicate that InterPol will be able to measure steady state density and poloidal magnetic field, as well as fluctuations caused by toroidal Alfven eigenmodes and other phenomena on a high-field compact tokamak.
Anti-reflective structured surfaces on soda-lime windows for high power laser applications

There is a need for robust optical materials with very low reflectivity and high transmission in the visible and infrared wavelength regions for use with high energy lasers. High power continuous-wave (CW) and high pulse energy laser optical systems can suffer damage from untreated optics due to undesirable Fresnel reflections. Sub-wavelength antireflective structured surfaces (ARSS) have been shown to have a higher laser-induced damage threshold than traditional AR coatings, which are necessary for high energy (multi-kW) laser components. Previous optimization of the etching process for ARSS on fused silica, among other optical materials, has yielded controlled and repeatable parameters, resultant from formation of varying depth and density profiles by randomly removing material from the surface. The “grass-like” boundaries result in gradient-index functionalities for incident optical beams, which simultaneously reduces reflection and increases transmission of the substrate. In this study, we investigate resultant optical properties of B270 Superwhite substrates, whose surfaces are modified using reactive ion etching, in order to enhance broadband transmission and lower reflectivity, thus increasing their utility for visible and near-infrared wavelength regions. We report results for ARSS fabricated directly onto the surface of 1” diameter, B270 Superwhite optical windows. Initial trials yielded single-side random ARSS (rARSS) treated samples with transmission enhancement of up to 3% from 400-1800 nm, nearing that of rARSS enhancement of fused silica, with maximum enhancement 80% that of the theoretical value between 700-900 nm.
Adaptive rule learning of event sequences during the A‐not‐B task in 9‐month‐old infants

Prior work indicates that infants can use social information to organize simple audiovisual inputs into predictable rules by 8 months of age. However, it is unclear whether infants can use social information to organize more complex events into predictable rules that can be used to guide motor action. To examine these issues, we tested 9-month-old infants using a modified version of an A-not-B task, in which hiding event sequences were paired with different experimenters, who could be used to organize the events into rules that guide action. We predicted that infants' reaching accuracy would be better when the experimenter changes when the toy's hiding location changes, relative to when the experimenter stays the same, as this should cue a novel rule used to guide action. Experiments 1 and 2 validated this prediction. Experiment 3 showed that reaching accuracy was better when the toy's hiding location switched but was consistent with the rule associated with the experimenter, relative to when the toy's hiding location repeated but was inconsistent with the rule associated with the experimenter. These data suggest that infants can use the identities of experimenters to organize events into predictable rules that guide action in the A-not-B task.
Social Welfare-Based Human Comfort Aggregation Model to Facilitate Healthy and Comfortable Indoor Environments

Abstract A multioccupancy environment (e.g., classroom, open office space, auditorium) typically features unbalanced ambient conditions such as temperatures, humidity, CO2 levels, noise levels, and...
Entangled structures as high cycle compression springs

Abstract Entangled structures, such as steel wool, can be used as inexpensive, high cycle, low stiffness, thin profile compressive springs where uniform pressure on a surface is required particularly in elevated temperature and/or harsh environments. Mechanical compression tests were performed on a variety of steel wool samples to determine the stress–strain curve behavior over high cycles. After initial conditioning cycles, good repeatability can be obtained with hysteresis dependent on strain. The results show a nonlinear behavior over large strains (>10%) and reasonable linear behavior for strains less than 10%. The properties of an entangled structure spring can be selected to achieve the desired stiffness for a particular application.
The global burden of skin cancer: A longitudinal analysis from the Global Burden of Disease Study, 1990-2017.

Background Despite efforts toward the earlier detection and prevention of skin cancer, the prevalence of skin cancers continues to increase. Identifying trends in skin cancer burdens among populations can lead to impactful and sustainable interventions. Methods We assessed the global trends in skin cancer from 1990 to 2017 in 195 countries worldwide through the Global Burden of Disease Study (GBD) 2017 database. Results The rate of change in skin cancers between 1990 to 2017 varied among countries. Squamous cell carcinomas increased by 310% during this time, the highest among any neoplasm tracked by the GBD. Men experienced greater age-specific prevalence rates of keratinocyte carcinoma across all ages (P Conclusion The incidence, prevalence, and DALYs of skin cancers are increasing disproportionately among different demographic groups. As a worldwide epidemiological assessment, the GBD 2017 provides frequently updated measures of the skin cancer burden, which may help to direct resources and allocate funding to close the gap in global skin cancer disparities.
Entrepreneurs' Perceived Chances for Success

Explores the expectations of entrepreneurs in newlyestablished businesses regarding their own chances of success and theirpredictionsregarding the chances for success of others with similarstartup ideas, in one of the first such studies. Past research suggests that,at best, fewer than 50% of firms survive for more than five years with a givenowner/manager. Based on this past research, three hypotheses are posited:entrepreneurs will perceive their odds of success at less than or equal to 50%,entrepreneurs' prediction of others' success will not differ significantly fromtheir prediction of their own success, and entrepreneurs' expectations ofsuccess will be related to a number of personal factors including theirbusiness experience, prior ownership, and educational level. Data were gathered from surveys sent in 1985 to members of the NationalFederation of Independent Business (NFIB) who reported that they had openedtheir own businesses in the United States. Of those responding, 2994entrepreneurs were selected from the original sample. Findings did not support any of the three original hypotheses of cautiousoptimism (as prior research predicted). In fact, the results show thatentrepreneurs' perceptions of their own odds for success display a noteworthydegree of optimism. In addition, entrepreneurs believe their own odds ofsuccess to be greater than other new business owners with similar ideas.Furthermore, an analysis of the predicted factors for success showed aremarkable lack of relationship between an entrepreneur's belief of their ownpotential and the objective predictors. In fact, those who were poorly preparedseemed just as optimistic as those who were well prepared. One implication isthat business founders should seek advice from more objective outsiders.(SFL)
Disclosure quality, cost of capital, and investor welfare

ABSTRACT: One might expect that disclosure quality improves investor welfare by reducing cost of capital. This study shows that the argument is valid only in limited circumstances. Based on a production economy with perfect competition among investors, the analysis demonstrates three points. First, cost of capital could increase with disclosure quality when new investment is sufficiently elastic. Second, there are plausible conditions under which disclosure quality reduces the welfare of current and/or new investors. Finally, cost of capital could move in opposition to the welfare of either current or new investors as disclosure quality changes.
Differential Effects of 17,18-EEQ and 19,20-EDP Combined with Soluble Epoxide Hydrolase Inhibitor t -TUCB on Diet-Induced Obesity in Mice.

17,18-Epoxyeicosatetraenoic acid (17,18-EEQ) and 19,20-epoxydocosapentaenoic acid (19,20-EDP) are bioactive epoxides produced from n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid eicosapentaenoic acid and docosahexaenoic acid, respectively. However, these epoxides are quickly metabolized into less active diols by soluble epoxide hydrolase (sEH). We have previously demonstrated that an sEH inhibitor, t-TUCB, decreased serum triglycerides (TG) and increased lipid metabolic protein expression in the brown adipose tissue (BAT) of diet-induced obese mice. This study investigates the preventive effects of t-TUCB (T) alone or combined with 19,20-EDP (T + EDP) or 17,18-EEQ (T + EEQ) on BAT activation in the development of diet-induced obesity and metabolic disorders via osmotic minipump delivery in mice. Both T + EDP and T + EEQ groups showed significant improvement in fasting glucose, serum triglycerides, and higher core body temperature, whereas heat production was only significantly increased in the T + EEQ group. Moreover, both the T + EDP and T + EEQ groups showed less lipid accumulation in the BAT. Although UCP1 expression was not changed, PGC1α expression was increased in all three treated groups. In contrast, the expression of CPT1A and CPT1B, which are responsible for the rate-limiting step for fatty acid oxidation, was only increased in the T + EDP and T + EEQ groups. Interestingly, as a fatty acid transporter, CD36 expression was only increased in the T + EEQ group. Furthermore, both the T + EDP and T + EEQ groups showed decreased inflammatory NFκB signaling in the BAT. Our results suggest that 17,18-EEQ or 19,20-EDP combined with t-TUCB may prevent high-fat diet-induced metabolic disorders, in part through increased thermogenesis, upregulating lipid metabolic protein expression, and decreasing inflammation in the BAT.
A potential and pH inclusive microkinetic model for hydrogen reactions on Pt surface

Summary The Pt surface-based hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and hydrogen oxidation reaction (HOR) are the two most basic electrochemical reactions. However, an accurate quantitative microkinetic model of HER and HOR on Pt surface is still missing. In the current work, the charge transfer coefficient and potential-dependent reaction barriers are obtained via grand canonical fixed-potential calculations to predict such polarization curves. Excellent agreements between the prediction and experiments have been obtained. We found that the common practice of relating a Tafel slope to one specific prominent reaction channel is not reliable. Instead, the balance of several pathways might determine the Tafel slope. Our work demonstrated the important roles of the fixed-potential approach, the explicit water layer structure, and the cations in predicting the Pt-HER/HOR accurately. The proposed computational framework can be generally applied to other electrochemical processes.
Cellular metabolism is an important determinant of 99mTc uptake by the sodium-iodide symporter

1774 Objectives Stem cell therapy in the heart is plagued by low engraftment. SPECT imaging of human sodium-iodide symporter (hNIS)-labeled rat cardiosphere-derived cells (CDCs) is useful for longitudinal assessment and optimization of engraftment. An in-depth understanding of the determinants of the NIS cell-derived signal is needed to improve understanding of in vivo stem cell biology and correctly interpret SPECT imaging results. Methods CDCs were trypsinized and used for in vitro studies of glucose (18FDG) uptake, ATP levels and 99mTc uptake or injected (3x106 CDCs) into infarcted/normal myocardium in a syngeneic, gender-mismatched rat transplantation model. Dual isotope SPECT-CT imaging was performed at 1 & 24hrs following cell transplantation after intravenous injection of 99mTc-pertechnetate and 201Tl-chloride. Quantification of 99mTc uptake by engrafted cells was performed using a phantom. Quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) for the male-specific rat SRY gene was used to quantify engraftment at 1 & 24hrs following transplantation. Results Trypsinization followed by cell suspension for 1 hr in glucose-containing medium resulted in decreased glucose uptake, cellular ATP and 99mTc uptake by 90%, 47% & 42% respectively, when compared to adherent cells. Absence of glucose in the medium decreased 99mTc uptake by an additional 63% in suspended cells. In vivo 99mTc uptake was significantly lower at 1 hr, when compared to 24 hrs following cell transplantation in the non-infarct (63±2.5 kBq at 1 hr vs. 148±16 kBq at 24 hrs, p Conclusions Trypsinization and cell suspension which are essential first steps in clinical and experimental studies of cell transplantation impair CDC bioenergetics and 99mTc uptake by hNIS-CDCs, resulting in reduced cell-derived SPECT signal at 1 hr following cell transplantation. Research Support This work is supported by NIH/NHLBI grant RO1 HL092985
The Weak Stability of Algorithms for Matrix Computations

The weak stability of an algorithm (a small relative error in the computed solution for every well-conditioned system) is shown to be equivalent to a small relative residual for every well-conditioned system or to the solution of a nearby problem (in the relative sense) for every well-conditioned system.
Implied Metaphor: A Problem in Evaluating Contemporary Poetry

One of the criteria which a reader has long been able to use more or less ob jectively in evaluating a poem is that of effective metaphor. He has been able to establish the tenor,1 and having established it, has then been able to say whether the vehicle used to explain it is too trite to be interesting or too gro tesque to be believed, whether it creates a suitable tone, whether it is contra dictory or obscure or mixed. But many contemporary poets, while still using metaphor in its usual ways, have also extended its form so that it is at one ex treme almost indistinguishable from literal description or narrative (a vehicle without a tenor) and at the other extreme almost indistinguishable from mere randomness or nonsense (neither tenor nor vehicle). As a result, editors, critics, reviewers and readers often hesitate, vacillate and finally disagree about the suc cess or failure of a contemporary poem. A comparison of two poems by Philip Hey2 illustrates what I mean by the first kind of implied metaphor, that in which the tenor is implied. "Painting the Barn"3 is quite literally a man's thoughts about painting a barn while painting a barn. I detect nothing in it which leads me to believe that the barn or the painter or the action "stand for" something else:
Preventing Global Warming: The United States, China, and Intellectual Property

Concerns of intellectual property infringement in China slow the dissemination of clean technology (Cleantech) innovation that could help bring the pace of global warming under control. We use the U.S. post-World War 2 policy decisions with respect to Japan and Europe (the Marshall Plan) to show how this problem can be addressed. To help Japan become a western style democracy and stem the tide of communism, the U.S. transferred much of its extant intellectual property to Japan with a promise to open US markets to Japanese goods. The United States did not require Japan to open its markets to U.S. goods. As a result, Japan became a staunch U.S. political ally in Asia, but also a serious economic competitor to the United States. While the Marshall Plan deployed different resources, the political outcomes were similar to Japan: Western Europe was a bulwark against communism. As global warming has become a major strategic issue, we argue that a comparable IPR initiative is required for China. This is not just a matter of doing the right thing as members of global commons, but is also matter of national security. We propose that by facilitating and managing the flow and sharing of U.S., EU, and Japanese Cleantech intellectual property with China—through a Cleantech Marshall Plan—a positive strategic relationship may be built while helping to bring global warming under control.
Theoretical calculation and evaluation of the line losses on UHV AC demonstration project

Based on complex network load flow considering the UHV components and the corona loss, a theoretical method for loss assessment and prediction of UHV AC power system. is provided. Firstly, the line losses under different operation conditions are theoretically analysed and compared between the UHV AC system and typical 500kV systems. Theoretical analysis shows that the line loss ratio of the 1000kV line decreases about 10%∼50% of that of 500kV transmission line. The method of theoretical line loss calculation is put forward based on complex power flow calculation combined with measured data from wide area measurement system (WAMS) and gateway watt hour meter measuring system. By use of this method, the theoretical line losses of UHV AC demonstration project system are calculated. Compared with the WAMS measured line losses and the gateway meter measured statistical line losses, comparison results show that the theoretical values are consistent with the measured values.
Accelerating high-dimensional nearest neighbor queries

The performance of nearest neighbor (NN) queries degrades noticeably with increasing dimensionality of the data due to reduced selectivity of high-dimensional data and an increased number of seek operations during NN-query execution. If the NN-radii were known in advance, the disk accesses could be reordered such that seek operations are minimized. We therefore propose a new way of estimating the NN-radius based on the fractal dimensionality and sampling. It is applicable to any page-based index structure. We show that the estimation error is considerably lower than for previous approaches. In the second part of the paper, we present two applications of this technique. We show how the radius estimations can be used to transform k-NN queries into at most two range queries, and how it can be used to reduce the number of page reads during all-NN queries. In both cases, we observe significant speedups over traditional techniques for synthetic and real-world data.
Biomimetic peptide-based models of [FeFe]-hydrogenases: utilization of phosphine-containing peptides

Two synthetic strategies for incorporating diiron analogues of [FeFe]-hydrogenases into short peptides via phosphine functional groups are described. First, utilizing the amine side chain of lysine as an anchor, phosphine carboxylic acids can be coupled via amide formation to resin-bound peptides. Second, artificial, phosphine-containing amino acids can be directly incorporated into peptides via solution phase peptide synthesis. The second approach is demonstrated using three amino acids each with a different phosphine substituent (diphenyl, diisopropyl, and diethyl phosphine). In total, five distinct monophosphine-substituted, diiron model complexes were prepared by reaction of the phosphine-peptides with diiron hexacarbonyl precursors, either (μ-pdt)Fe2(CO)6 or (μ-bdt)Fe2(CO)6 (pdt = propane-1,3-dithiolate, bdt = benzene-1,2-dithiolate). Formation of the complexes was confirmed by UV/Vis, FTIR and 31P NMR spectroscopy. Electrocatalysis by these complexes is reported in the presence of acetic acid in mixed aqueous-organic solutions. Addition of water results in enhancement of the catalytic rates.
Development of hydrothermal liquefaction and upgrading technologies for lipid-extracted algae conversion to liquid fuels

Abstract Bench-scale tests were performed for lipid-extracted microalgae (LEA) conversion to liquid fuels via hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL) and upgrading processes. Process simulation and economic analysis for a large-scale LEA HTL and upgrading system were developed based on the best available experimental results. The system assumed an LEA feed rate of 608 dry metric tons/day and that the feedstock was converted to a crude HTL bio-oil and further upgraded via hydrotreating and hydrocracking to produce liquid fuels, mainly alkanes. Performance and cost results demonstrated that HTL and upgrading is effective for converting LEA to liquid fuels. The liquid fuels annual yield was estimated to be 26.9 million gallon gasoline-equivalent (GGE) and the overall energy efficiency on a higher heating value (HHV) basis was estimated to be 69.5%. The variation range of the minimum fuel selling price (MFSP) was estimated to be $2.07 to $7.11/GGE by combining the effects of selected process factors. Key factors affecting the production cost were identified to be the LEA feedstock cost, final products yields, and the upgrading equipment cost. The impact of plant scale on MFSP was also investigated.
A Characterization in Zn of Finite Unit-Distance Graphs in Rn

A unit-distance graph in Rn is a graph with a subset of Rn as the vertex set and two vertices adjacent only if their Euclidean distance is one. It is shown that a finite graph G on m vertices is isomorphic to a unit-distance graph in Rn if and only if there exists a real number ? and for arbitrarily large integer r the graph G can be drawn in the n-dimensional integer lattice Zn such that (i) the distance between every pair of vertices is at least ?r and (ii) adjacent vertices have their distance in the closed interval r ? g(r), r + g(r)] with g(r) = 2 ?n/r1/nm. In the case of the Euclidean plane two variations of this result are proved.
Liver alcohol dehydrogenase: Substrate inhibition and competition between substrates

Horse liver alcohol dehydrogenase is an NAD dependent enzyme which oxidizes a wide variety of alcohols. At high concentrations many of these alcohols are inhibitors of the enzymatic reaction. An initial velocity expression, which encompasses both substrate inhibition and the generally accepted ordered bimolecular mechanism of horse LADH, was derived and tested. In all cases, the experimental velocities obtained for ethanol, 1-butanol, and 1-hexanol agreed well with those calculated using the initial velocity equation. A second velocity expression, for situations where two alcohols are simultaneously present, was also derived. Calculated velocities displayed an excellent fit with data from experiments where ethanol competed for horse LADH with either 1-butanol or 1-hexanol. The mechanism of oxidation by horse LADH appears unperturbed when more than one substrate is present. The velocity equations presented in this study allow the effects of an alcohol on the interaction of LADH with other substrates to be predicted.
Measurement of Quantum Efficiencies of Fluorescence and Phosphorescence and Some Suggested Luminescence Standards

Absolute quantum efficiencies of fluorescence and phosphorescence were measured with a quantum counter (rhodamine B solution) and photomultiplier combination. The sensitivity of this device was constant over the wavelength range 220 to 590 mμ; at 400 mμ it was about 3.5×10−4 that of the direct photomultiplier. Efficiencies were measured with the aid of a linear aperture placed in the exciting beam, so that measurements did not rely on the linearity of the photomultiplier or amplifier. The determination and correction of nonlinearity in the aperture is discussed. The fluorescence efficiencies of three aqueous and four polymethylmethacrylate solid solutions of organic materials are given. The plastic samples are suggested for use as secondary standards of luminescence. The addition of a single-disk chopper to the apparatus made possible the measurement of phosphorescence efficiencies.
A population process with Markovian progenies

Abstract : A population is considered in which the number of individuals X sub t, t = 0, 1, 2, ..., added to the population in the time interval (t, t+1) is a Markov chain with the non-negative integers as state-space. At the end of each interval one individual is removed from the population, the process coming to a stop when the population size is zero. A method is developed for finding the probability distribution of the time to extinction of such a process for given initial conditions. The model was suggested by a problem in storage theory.