cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Synthesis of polycyclic ketones via carbonylative cyclization of organopalladium compounds derived from norbornene and norbornadiene

Abstract The bicyclic and tricyclic organopalladium compounds prepared via π-allyl- and vinylpalladium additions to norbornene and norbornadiene respectively undergo cyclization upon reaction with carbon monoxide in methanol to afford an interesting variety of polycyclic ketones. The nature of the ligand on palladium (chloride versus hexafluoroacetylacetonate) and the presence or absence of triethylamine is observed to have a pronounced effect on the nature of the products formed in these carbonylation reactions.
Effects of the Bgs locus on mouse beta-galactosidase.

The Bgs locus determines tissue levels of β-galactosidase in the mouse, so that enzyme levels are twice as high in mice carrying the Bgshallele as in mice carrying the Bgsdallele (Felton et al., 1974). By immunotitration with antiserum to purified β-galactosidase, we have found that the Bgs locus influences the amount of enzyme protein present in the tissues. We have utilized recombinant inbred lines derived from a cross between C57BL/6J and DBA/2J mice to confirm the location of the Bgs locus on chromosome 9. The inhibition of mouse β-galactosidase by the active-site-directed reagent N-bromoacetyl-β-d-galactosylamine has been investigated. β-Galactosidase from the high and low Bgs strains has identical affinity for this inhibitor.
Inhibition of apatite precipitation in the marine environment by magnesium ions

Abstract Direct precipitation of apatite in sea water upon addition of dissolved inorganic phosphate is inhibited by magnesium ions. In sea water and simulated estuarine solutions an amorphous calcium phosphate precipitate is formed. The amorphous calcium phosphate precipitate rapidly converts to apatite in Mg-free sea water through exchange of magnesium for calcium. No conversion was observed in normal sea water over an eight month experiment.
The role of commonality, distinctiveness and importance of semantic features in persons with aphasia

Objective: Semantic feature approaches are frequently included in treatment for people with aphasia. The present study investigated the role of distinctiveness and importance in the semantic feature knowledge of people with aphasia. The relationships between feature knowledge and the ability to choose among semantically-related foils, comprehension and naming abilities were examined.Methods: Participants distinguished target nouns from related foils and completed a sorting task involving mid-importance common (MIC), mid-importance distinctive (MID), low-importance common (LIC) and low-importance distinctive (LID) features. Participants also completed sub-tests from the short version of the Boston Diagnostic Aphasia Examination—Third Edition (BDAE-3) and Boston Naming Test—Second Edition (BNT-2). Participants were divided into two groups based on ability to accurately select target nouns from semantically-related foils.Results: Group 1, participants with intact ability to choose among related foils, was si...
Intergenerational Support in a Daily Context

Purpose of the study Using retrospective global reports, studies have found that middle-aged adults in the United States provide intermittent support to their aging parents and more frequent support to grown children. To date, studies have not examined support middle-aged adults provide to different generations on a daily basis. Daily support may include mundane everyday exchanges that may (or may not) affect well-being. Design and methods Middle-aged adults (N = 191, mean age 55.93) completed a general interview regarding family ties, followed by interviews each day for 7 days (N = 1,261 days). Daily interviews assessed support (e.g., advice, emotional, practical help) participants provided each grown child (n = 454) and aging parent (n = 253). Participants also reported daily mood. Results Most participants provided emotional support (80%), advice (87%), and practical help (69%) to a grown child and also provided emotional support (61%) and advice (61%) or practical help (43%) to a parent that week. Multilevel models confirmed generational differences; grown children were more likely to receive everyday support than parents. Providing support to grown children was associated with positive mood, whereas providing support to parents was associated with more negative mood. Implications Daily intergenerational support was more common than studies using global reports of support have found. Some daily support may be fleeting and not stand out in memory. The findings were consistent with the intergenerational stake hypothesis, which suggests middle-aged adults are more invested in their grown children than in their parents. Nonetheless, middle-aged adults were highly involved with aging parents.
Latin American Writers

Latin American Writers. Carlos A. Sole (editor in chief), and Maria Isabel Abreu (associate editor). 3 volumes. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1989. xvii +1497 pp., index, list of subjects by country, alphabetical list of subjects, contributor list, bibliography. $275.00 (cloth). ISBN 0–684–18463-X.
Effects of Test Expectation on Multiple-Choice Performance and Subjective Ratings:

Undergraduates studied the definitions of 16 psychology terms, expecting either a multiple-choice (n = 132) or short-answer (n = 122) test. All students then received the same multiple-choice test,...
Molecular systematics of New World lampropeltinine snakes (Colubridae): implications for biogeography and evolution of food habits

Abstract We used mitochondrial gene sequences to infer phylogenetic relationships among North American snakes of the colubrid tribe Lampropeltini ( Arizona , Bogertophis , Cemophora , New World Elaphe , Lampropeltis , Pituophis , Rhinocheilus , Senticolis , Stilosoma ), and assessed the implications of our findings for the biogeography and evolution of food habits among these serpents. The maximum likelihood phylogeny identified Rhinocheilus as the sister taxon to all other lampropeltinines, and supported the monophyly of Lampropeltis (including Stilosoma ), New World Elaphe , and Pituophis , but not that of Bogertophis . This phylogeny also suggested a sister group relationship between Cemophora and Lampropeltis , and between New World Elaphe and Pituophis , and strongly supported that Senticolis belongs within Lampropeltini, thus contradicting previous suggestions that Senticolis is not a lampropeltinine. Using a method for approximating ancestral areas of clades, we determined that western North America was most likely the ancestral area of lampropeltinines. Our survey of published studies, combined with unpublished data, indicated that lampropeltinines as a group feed mainly on mammals, less frequently on lizards, birds, and bird eggs, and only rarely on squamate eggs, snakes, anurans, and insects. Some individual species indeed emphasize mammals in their diets, but others most frequently eat lizards, squamate eggs, bird eggs, or snakes, whereas others take two prey types with similar frequency. Our reconstruction of the evolution of food habits among lampropeltinines suggests that a diet emphasizing lizards is ancestral, and therefore diets that mostly consist of mammals, squamate and bird eggs, and snakes are derived within the clade. In at least some species, smaller individuals prey mostly on lizards and larger ones add mammals to their diets.
Towards impulsive manipulation: a general algebraic collision model for spatial robots

The interactions between a robot and its environment involving sudden contact and impact comprise the key elements of impulsive manipulation. Of the collision models in use in robotics to date no one model is able to capture the richness of impulsive manipulation in impact and grasping analysis. Thus, we introduce an algebraic collision law specifically tailored to robotic interactions such as grasping. Synthesizing an algebraic collision law given in other arenas with the operational contact inertia matrix, we obtain an impulsive manipulation model which is consistent with the laws of physics and also computationally efficient. This law has potential uses in many aspects of dynamic simulation and manipulation.
XXIV.—The Fresh-water and Terrestrial Mollusca of Northern Asia

The following account deals with the systematics and distribution of the fresh-water and terrestrial molluscs of Siberia and Northern Kazakstan. During the open seasons of the years 1932 and 1933 journeys were made through that country, typical areas in several of the great natural regions were examined in some detail, and extensive collections were made. The object of this expedition was to obtain fresh and accurate information regarding the constitution and distribution of the molluscan fauna. During the past one hundred years several scientific papers have appeared which refer to the molluscs of this territory, but despite this the knowledge of this group of animals in Northern Asia has remained in a very unsatisfactory state. This has been due to the collections in the past having been made incidentally in the course of other work, and little or no attempt has been made to evaluate the fauna as a whole. The most thorough investigation so far carried out in this region is that of Westerlund (1877), but his paper was published nearly sixty years ago, and the advances in the study of the mollusca since that time make it essential that some revision and extension of the work should be undertaken. The present paper is one contribution toward that end.
Aspergillus nidulans Conidiation Genes dewA, fluG, and stuA Are Differentially Regulated in Early Vegetative Growth

Microarray analysis was used to identify transcriptional changes in early vegetative growth of the filamentous fungus Aspergillus nidulans. The results suggest that the previously identified conidiation genes dewA, fluG, and stuA may function in isotropic expansion during early vegetative growth and asexual reproduction.
Refinancing State and Local Debt Decreased Current Costs or Decreased Future Flexibility

Government budget cuts have been commonplace in state and local governments for most of the last seven years. One way state and local governments can cope with these cuts is to reduce the amount they must pay for the interest and principle on their financial obligations, including what they have borrowed or what they anticipate with good reason having to pay. If state and local governments were not cashstrapped, they could attempt to pay off such obligations or where permissible they could use reserves to create investment funds to pay them. Nevertheless, state and local governments that wish to reduce debt service pressure on the budget can refinance their financial obligations in such a way as to reduce or better manage the recurring interest and other costs. Cutting debt service to help absorb revenue cuts can be an appealing avenue for helping to restructure state and municipal operating budgets and the funds that these budgets comprise. It should be done when necessary, but always with caution, because ultimately it diverts money from capital to operating needs. One cost reduction approach is to refinance direct debt such as bonds or other securities that a state or municipality has previously sold on the market. This refinancing is carried out by using the various financial instruments for borrowing money by issuing public debt. When refinancing leads to lower current periodic payments, it reduces the recurring annual amounts paid to honor existing debt obligations and reduces the cash flow necessary for debt service in the government budget. The idea is to reduce the amount that state or local governments must pay in annual interest for these obligations—even if they may pay it for a longer period—thus reducing pressure on the budget. Borrowing is used to change the original terms of debt repayment in such a way that present costs are reduced even if net present value may be decreased. Consequently, it is an acceptable trade-off to pay less today when financial pressures are greater and more in the future when increased revenue is anticipated. The cost of extending debt buys reduced budgetary pressure. Another way financial measures can help state or local governments survive falling revenues is by using them to reduce or smooth the
“Smart” Drug Carriers: PEGylated TATp-Modified pH-Sensitive Liposomes

To engineer drug carriers capable of spontaneous accumulation in tumors and ischemic areas via the enhanced permeability and retention (EPR) effect and further penetration and drug delivery inside tumor or ischemic cells via the action of the cell-penetrating peptide (CPP), we have prepared liposomes simultaneously bearing on their surface CPP (TAT peptide, TATp) moieties and protective PEG chains. PEG chains were incorporated into the liposome membrane via the PEG-attached phosphatidylethanolamine (PE) residue with PEG and PE being conjugated with the lowered pH-degradable hydrazone bond (PEG-HZ-PE). Under normal conditions, liposome-grafted PEG “shielded” liposome-attached TATp moieties since the PEG spacer for TATp attachment (PEG1000) was shorter than protective PEG2000. PEGylated liposomes are expected to accumulate in targets via the EPR effect, but inside the “acidified” tumor or ischemic tissues lose their PEG coating due to the lowered pH-induced hydrolysis of HZ and penetrate inside cells via th...
Inhibition of Murine Leukemia Virus Envelope Protein (Env) Processing by Intracellular Expression of the Env N-Terminal Heptad Repeat Region

A conserved structural motif in the envelope proteins of several viruses consists of an N-terminal, alpha-helical, trimerization domain and a C-terminal region that refolds during fusion to bind the N-helix trimer. Interaction between the N and C regions is believed to pull viral and target membranes together in a crucial step during membrane fusion. For several viruses with type I fusion proteins, C regions pack as alpha-helices in the grooves between N-helix monomers, and exogenously added N- and C-region peptides block fusion by inhibiting the formation of the six-helix bundle. For other viruses, including influenza virus and murine leukemia virus (MLV), there is no evidence for comparably extended C-region alpha-helices, although a short, non-alpha-helical interaction structure has been reported for influenza virus. We tested candidate N-helix and C-region peptides from MLV for their ability to inhibit cell fusion but found no inhibitory activity. In contrast, intracellular expression of the MLV N-helix inhibited fusion by efficiently blocking proteolytic processing and intracellular transport of the envelope protein. The results highlight another mechanism by which the N-helix peptides can inhibit fusion.
Identity as a Variable

As scholarly interest in the concept of identity continues to grow, social identities are proving to be crucially important for understanding contemporary life. Despite - or perhaps because of - the sprawl of different treatments of identity in the social sciences, the concept has remained too analytically loose to be as useful a tool as the literature's early promise had suggested. We propose to solve this longstanding problem by developing the analytical rigor and methodological imagination that will make identity a more useful variable for the social sciences. This article offers more precision by defining collective identity as a social category that varies along two dimensions - content and contestation. Content describes the meaning of a collective identity. The content of social identities may take the form of four non-mutually exclusive types: constitutive norms; social purposes; relational comparisons with other social categories; and cognitive models. Contestation refers to the degree of agreement within a group over the content of the shared category. Our conceptualization thus enables collective identities to be compared according to the agreement and disagreement about their meanings by the members of the group. The final section of the article looks at the methodology of identity scholarship. Addressing the wide array of methodological options on identity - including discourse analysis, surveys, and content analysis, as well as promising newer methods like experiments, agent-based modeling, and cognitive mapping - we hope to provide the kind of brush clearing that will enable the field to move forward methodologically as well.
Fog as a source of nitrogen for redwood trees: evidence from fluxes and stable isotopes

Author(s): Templer, PH; Weathers, KC; Ewing, HA; Dawson, TE; Mambelli, S; Lindsey, AM; Webb, J; Boukili, VK; Firestone, MK | Abstract: A defining feature of the redwood forest in coastal California is the presence of fog in the summer months, a time when there is typically little rainfall. Our goal was to determine the role of summer fog in canopy transformation of nitrogen, nitrogen uptake by trees and photosynthesis within a coastal redwood forest ecosystem. We measured horizontal and vertical inputs of nitrogen, the isotopic composition of nitrogen in a variety of atmospheric sources (summer fog, winter rain and throughfall throughout the year), nitrogen pools (soil solution) and plant tissue (roots and foliage), as well as rates of photosynthesis and nitrogen uptake by trees. Throughfall nitrogen fluxes were greater at the forest edge compared to the interior both within the canopy (sampled 10m above-ground) and onto the forest floor (sampled 1m above-ground; Pl0.05). Similarly, soil solution NO3- and total inorganic nitrogen were greater at the forest edge compared to the interior (P=0.0014 and 0.009, respectively). Whereas natural abundance δ15NO3 values were not significantly different between winter rain (measured as bulk precipitation) and summer fog water (average δ15N=-1.2±0.680/00), δ15NH4 values were significantly greater in fog water (11.4±2.70/00) compared to rain (1.2±0.90/00). We found no difference in δ15N in roots from forest edge trees compared to interior trees. In contrast, nitrogen concentrations and δ15N in foliage from forest edge trees were significantly greater compared to interior trees (Pl0.0001), suggesting that the leaves of forest edge trees may be obtaining a greater proportion of their nitrogen from fog compared to those of the interior trees. Natural abundance 13C of leaf sugars and rates of photosynthesis were significantly higher at the forest edge compared to the interior during the fog season (Pl0.05), but not different between locations in the rain season (Pg0.05). Nitrification in the forest floor, rather than the canopy, is the primary source of NO3- in these soils throughout the year. Synthesis. Summer fog provides nitrogen directly and indirectly to redwood trees, especially those at the forest edge, and affects the physiologic function of redwood trees. Summer fog provides nitrogen directly and indirectly to redwood trees, especially those at the forest edge, and affects the physiologic function of redwood trees.
A Low Power and Wide Range Programmable Clock Generator With a High Multiplication Factor

A programmable delay locked loop (DLL) based clock generator, providing a high multiplication factor, has been developed in a 0.18- μm CMOS technology. Utilizing the proposed pulse generator, purely consisting of D flip flops (DFFs) and inverters, the clock generator provides a high multiplication factor of up to 24. It consumes only 16.2 mW when generating 2.16 GHz output signals. In addition, the proposed saturated-type unit delay cell adopted in the voltage controlled delay line (VCDL) is capable of providing a long delay while maintaining fast-switching signal edges. Thus, the DLL can lock up an input reference frequency as low as 30 MHz while maintaining good phase noise performance and small chip area occupancy. The phase noise is -88.7 and -99.8 dBc/Hz at 10 kHz and 100 kHz offsets, respectively, from the operating frequency of 1.2 GHz, which is equivalent to a 1.7 ps RMS jitter. The active chip area takes only 0.051 mm2.
A statistical mechanical model for adsorption and flow of pure and mixed gases in porous media with homogeneous surfaces. Part I: Theoretical development

A unified statistical mechanical treatment is developed for adsorption and surface diffusion on homogeneous surfaces. Using molecular parameters, the model accounts for all physical effects of adsorbent-adsorbate, adsorbate-adsorbate, and adsorbate-gas interactions at submonolayer coverages.
Seismic wave propagation and scattering in heterogeneous crustal waveguides using screen propagators; I, SH waves

The great advantages of one-way propagation methods, such as the gen- eralized screen propagators (GSP) method, are the fast speed of computation, often several orders of magnitude faster than the full-wave finite difference and finite element methods, and the huge savings in internal memory. In this article, a half- space GSP is formulated for the SH half-space problem. Two versions of the half- space GSP are derived: the wide-angle pseudo-screen and the phase-screen. The Moho discontinuity is treated as parameter perturbations from the crustal back- ground. The validity and limitations of this treatment are discussed. It is shown that half-space screen propagators can accurately propagate guided crustal waves that are composed of small-angle waves with respect to the horizontal direction. Comparisons of numerical results with a wavenumber integration method for flat crustal models and a finite difference algorithm for heterogeneous models show excellent agree- ments. For a model with propagation distance of 250 km, dominant frequency at 0.5 Hz, the GSP method is about 300 times faster than a finite difference algorithm with a similar accuracy. These comparisons demonstrate the accuracy and efficiency of the method. We apply our method to simulate regional wave propagation in different types of complex crustal waveguides including those with small-scale random het- erogeneities. The influence of these heterogeneities on Lg amplitude attenuation and Lg coda formation is significant.
An experiment to improve operand addressing

MCODE is a high-level language, stack machine designed to support strongly-typed, Pascal-based languages with a variety of data types in a modular programming environment. The instruction set, constructed for efficiency and extensibility, is based on an analysis of 120,000 lines of Pascal programs. The design was compared for efficiency with the instruction sets of the Digital Equipment PDP-11 and VAX by examining the generated code from the same compiler for all three machines. In addition, the original design choices were tested by analyzing the generated code from 19,000 lines of StarMod programs. As a result of this iterative experiment, we have summarized our observations in an efficient reorganization of the VAX's addressing modes.
Army applications for multispectral windows

The achievement of the Army's goal, 'Own the Night,' has evolved over the last few years to include mastery of the entire optical spectrum from 0.4 microns through 12 microns. This requires the integration of lasers, FLIR (forward looking infrared) sensors, CCD cameras and image intensifiers, and direct view optical assemblies, all on a single platform. The problem faced with such integration is to provide the functionality in a small, lightweight package. Common aperture optics may be a solution, but common apertures require the use of low-cost, hardened, multi-spectral windows. The general requirements for multi-spectral systems and lessons learned from the RAH-66 Comanche program are discussed.
Generalized EXIT chart and BER analysis of finite-length turbo codes

We propose a tool for the analysis of the finite-length iterative turbo decoding algorithm. The proposed tool is a generalized EXIT (extrinsic information transfer) chart based on the mutual information transfer characteristics of the extrinsic information in the iterative turbo decoding algorithm. The proposed tool can describe the probabilistic convergence behavior of the iterative decoding algorithm. By using this tool, we obtain the BER estimates of the finite-length turbo codes in the form of a lower bound, which shows a gentle waterfall over a wide waterfall region. The obtained lower bound is in reasonable agreement with the BER obtained by simulations of the iterative decoding algorithm.
Establishment of normative data for the amount of breast tissue present in healthy children up to two years of age.

Abstract Objective To establish a set of normal values for breast size in children up to two years of age, and to assess the effects of gender, gestational age, and type of feeding and growth parameters on breast size. Design Prospective cohort study over 20 months Setting The Mayo Clinic Rochester, MN, neonatal nursery and Community Pediatrics Clinic. Participants Well term infants and children through two years of age. Interventions Measurement of breast size based on previously described methods to yield a figure called the breast unit. Main outcome measure Transformation of breast unit size into percentiles according to age. Results The 50th to 99th percentiles for 810 healthy term Caucasian infant visits were calculated. The 50th breast unit percentile was similar in males and females at birth and declined with age following a quadratic relationship for females and a cubic relationship for males. Breast tissue in female infants remained larger and persisted longer. Palpable breast tissue was still present in 45.2% of male and 61.6% of female visits after 10 months of age. At age 18 months, 5% of girls had a breast size unit greater than 2.88 cm2 and 5% of boys had a breast size unit greater than 1.00 cm2. Conclusions These data allow creation of normal standards of breast size for age, which could provide a future clinical tool to assist clinicians in the evaluation of early childhood breast enlargement in similar populations.
Toward efficient global optimization in large dynamic systems-the adaptive complex method

The efficient solution of global optimization problems in large dynamic systems requires methods that are robust, do not require analytical expressions for the objective function or its derivatives and require function evaluations only on the order O(n), where n is the dimension of the search-variable space. The adaptive complex method operated in a staged feed-ahead mode has been found to possess these qualities. The method is described along with tests using classical multimodal functions. The tests indicate that the method is efficient relative to other methods. Tests with higher-dimension multimodal problems (with spaces of dimension 22 and 36) are described, and the results indicate that the method can be employed to solve efficiently much larger problems of the class described. >
The responses of the prime rate to change in policies of the Federal Reserve

Abstract This paper examines how commercial banks reacted to the changes in monetary tools in mid-1994, when The Federal Reserve Bank altered its policy by implicitly targeting the Federal Funds Rate (FFR). Prior to 1994, the FFR had a lagged effect on the prime rate that charged commercial banks their best customers. However, after the move by the FED in 1994, commercial banks responded immediately by changing their prime lending rate to the Federal Funds Rate plus a three-percent spread. The result is important because it demonstrates how a more transparent monetary policy targeting can have, in fact, the desired effect.
Shear Stress Induced Reorganization of the Keratin Intermediate Filament Network Requires Phosphorylation by Protein Kinase C ζ

Keratin intermediate filaments (KIFs) form a fibrous polymer network that helps epithelial cells withstand external mechanical forces. Recently, we established a correlation between the structure of the KIF network and its local mechanical properties in alveolar epithelial cells. Shear stress applied across the cell surface resulted in the structural remodeling of KIF and a substantial increase in the elastic modulus of the network. This study examines the mechanosignaling that regulates the structural remodeling of the KIF network. We report that the shear stress–mediated remodeling of the KIF network is facilitated by a twofold increase in the dynamic exchange rate of KIF subunits, which is regulated in a PKC ζ and 14-3-3–dependent manner. PKC ζ phosphorylates K18pSer33, and this is required for the structural reorganization because the KIF network in A549 cells transfected with a dominant negative PKC ζ, or expressing the K18Ser33Ala mutation, is unchanged. Blocking the shear stress–mediated reorganization results in reduced cellular viability and increased apoptotic levels. These data suggest that shear stress mediates the phosphorylation of K18pSer33, which is required for the reorganization of the KIF network, resulting in changes in mechanical properties of the cell that help maintain the integrity of alveolar epithelial cells.
Reverse Transcriptase- and RNA Packaging Signal-Dependent Incorporation of APOBEC3G into Hepatitis B Virus Nucleocapsids

APOBEC3G (A3G) is a cytidine deaminase that can inhibit a wide range of retroviruses, including the para-retrovirus hepatitis B virus (HBV). The antiviral function of A3G depends on its incorporation into assembling viral particles. However, it remains enigmatic how A3G is specifically packaged into a variety of unrelated viruses. By adopting a native agarose gel electrophoresis assay that can specifically measure the levels of A3G incorporation into HBV nucleocapsids, we found that A3G is specifically packaged into replication-competent HBV nucleocapsids in a fashion that is dependent on both the viral reverse transcriptase (RT) and viral RNA packaging signal, . In contrast, A3G is not incorporated into empty capsids formed in the absence of RT or . We demonstrated that the packaged A3G was protected from protease digestion by the nucleocapsids, thus confirming its interior localization. We also showed that A3G could bind RT specifically in an RNA-independent manner, which may be responsible for mediating the specific incorporation of A3G into replication-competent nucleocapsids. Finally, we provide evidence that the N-terminal domain of A3G is required for packaging into HBV nucleocapsids.
When is hard decision decoding enough

Many algorithms for soft and near-soft decision decoding of block codes start by implementing hard decision decoding. In several instances it has been noted that simple tests of the hard decision result may allow the algorithm to terminate at this point. This paper explores this notion in detail.
Simulating message-driven programs

Simulation studies are quite useful for performance prediction on new architectures and for systematic analysis of performance perturbations caused by variations in the machine parameters, such as communication latencies. Trace-driven simulation is necessary to avoid large computational costs over multiple simulation runs. However, trace-driven simulation of nondeterministic programs has turned out to be almost impossible. Simulation of message-driven programs is particularly challenging in this context because they are inherently nondeterministic. Yet message-driven execution is a very effective technique for enhancing performance, particularly in the presence of large or unpredictable communication latencies. We present a methodology for simulating message-driven programs. The information that is necessary to carry out such simulations is identified, and a method for extracting such information from program executions is described.
Comparison of access blood flow and venous pressure measurements as predictors of arteriovenous graft thrombosis.

PURPOSE The purpose of the present study was to prospectively compare the predictive accuracy of static venous pressure (SVP); dynamic venous pressure (DVP) and access blood flow (ABF) in determining subsequent graft thrombosis and/or failure. METHODS This study included 43 patients with functional arteriovenous grafts (AVG's) who underwent monthly seri-al measurements of SVP, DVP and ABF for 3 consecutive months. Patients were then followed for an additional 6 months. The primary end point was graft thrombosis. RESULTS Six patients were excluded from the final analysis. Of the 37 patients completing the study, 7 episodes of graft thrombosis occurred within 6 months of follow up. Neither SVP nor DVP exhibited satisfactory sensitivity or specificity for graft thrombosis. Ten patients either began with or developed an ABF 20% provided the best combination of sensitivity (86%) and specificity (90%) for graft thrombosis. In AVG's that have an ABF<600, it is those grafts with falling ABF that appear most likely to clot in the short term. CONCLUSION The study supports the concept that it is a falling level of access flow rather than the absolute level that is the most potent predictor of graft thrombosis.
Contractile response of individual cardiac myocytes to norepinephrine declines with senescence.

The present study utilized individual isolated left ventricular cardiac myocytes from hearts of animals of a broad age range to evaluate the response to norepinephrine and to other stimuli that augment myocardial cell contractile performance. During electrical stimulation before drugs neither the amplitude nor the velocity of shortening normalized for resting cell length differed among cells isolated from 2-, 6- to 8-, or 24-mo-old animals. Norepinephrine augmented twitch amplitude and velocity about fourfold in cells from 2-mo-old hearts but only by 2.5-fold in cells from 24-mo-old hearts (age effect, P less than 0.001). In contrast, the contractile response to increases in bathing [Ca2+] or to the addition of the calcium channel agonist BAY K 8644 or of 8-(4-chlorophenylthio)-adenosine 3',5'-cyclic monophosphate (CPT cAMP) did not vary with age. These results indicate that the age-associated contractile deficit during beta-adrenergic stimulation is specific to the beta-adrenergic pathway and an age-asso...
Characterization of Cetyltrimethylammonium Bromide/Hexanol Reverse Micelles by Experimentally Benchmarked Molecular Dynamics Simulations

Encapsulation of small molecules, proteins, and other macromolecules within the protective water core of reverse micelles is emerging as a powerful strategy for a variety of applications. The cationic surfactant cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) in combination with hexanol as a cosurfactant is particularly useful in the context of solution NMR spectroscopy of encapsulated proteins. Small-angle X-ray and neutron scattering is employed to investigate the internal structure of the CTAB/hexanol reverse micelle particle under conditions appropriate for high-resolution NMR spectroscopy. The scattering profiles are used to benchmark extensive molecular dynamics simulations of this reverse micelle system and indicate that the parameters used in these simulations recapitulate experimental results. Scattering profiles and simulations indicate formation of homogeneous solutions of small approximately spherical reverse micelle particles at a water loading of 20 composed of ∼150 CTAB and 240 hexanol molecules. The 3000 waters comprising the reverse micelle core show a gradient of translational diffusion that reaches that of bulk water at the center. Rotational diffusion is slowed relative to bulk throughout the water core, with the greatest slowing near the CTAB headgroups. The 5 A thick interfacial region of the micelle consists of overlapping layers of Br(-) enriched water, CTAB headgroups, and hexanol hydroxyl groups, containing about one-third of the total water. This study employs well-parametrized MD simulations, X-ray and neutron scattering, and electrostatic theory to illuminate fundamental properties of CTAB/hexanol reverse micelle size, shape, partitioning, and water behavior.
“Helping the Helpless Help Themselves”: How Volunteers and Employees Create a Moral Identity While Sustaining Symbolic Boundaries within a Homeless Shelter

Volunteering and working in a homeless shelter is often seen as a key way in which individuals can ameliorate class differences through intergroup contact and help those being served. However, I ar...
Dynamic Control of Nanopore Wetting in Water and Saline Solutions under an Electric Field.

Field-induced nanopore wetting by aqueous solutions, including electrolytes, provides opportunities for a variety of applications. Conflicting porosity requirements have so far precluded direct implementations of a two-way control: the pores have to be sufficiently wide to allow water infiltration at experimentally relevant voltages but should not exceed the kinetic threshold for spontaneous expulsion in the absence of the field. Applicable widths are restricted below a few nanometers. Only a narrow window of fields and pore geometries can simultaneously satisfy both of the above requirements. Accurate accounts of wetting equilibria and dynamics at nanoscale porosity require molecular level descriptions. Here we use molecular dynamics simulations to study dynamic, field-controlled transitions between nanoconfined liquid and vapor phases in contact with an unperturbed aqueous or electrolyte environment. In nanopores wetted by electrolyte solutions, we observe depletion of salt compared to the bulk phase. T...
Tracking hurricane-generated storm surge with washover fan stratigraphy

We use the stratigraphy preserved in a washover fan to reconstruct the timing or emplacement and environmental conditions along the Matagorda Peninsula, Texas, during Hurricane Ike in 2008. Washover fan stratigraphy preserves a topset-foreset break (TFB) that rises 0.42 m in elevation as the fan built landward. We constrain overwash flow depths to 0.1–0.32 m through deposit sedimentology, and tie the rising trajectory of the TFB to rising storm surge water levels measured in the back-barrier bay (0.03 m h –1 ) as the hurricane approached the coast. This relation allows us to estimate that the fan took 0.52–0.90 days to build, and was finished building before the storm surge peaked. This is 15–25% of the 3.5 days of hurricane-induced storm surge near the site. We show how washover stratigraphy can be used to constrain the timing and amount of sediment redistribution on a coast associated with a hurricane; information that is necessary to test and/or calibrate existing numerical models that predict shoreline change during hurricanes.
NO3– Coordination in Aqueous Solutions by 15N/14N and 18O/natO Isotopic Substitution: What Can We Learn from Molecular Simulation?

We explore the deconvolution of water-nitrate correlations by the first-order difference approach involving neutron diffraction of heavy- and null-aqueous solutions of KNO3 under (14)N/(15)N and (nat)O(N)/(18)O(N) substitutions to achieve a full characterization of the first water coordination around the nitrate ion. For that purpose we performed isobaric-isothermal simulations of 3.5 m KNO3 aqueous solutions at ambient conditions to generate the relevant radial distribution functions required in the analysis (a) to identify the individual partial contributions to the total neutron-weighted distribution function, (b) to isolate and assess the contribution of NO3(-)···K(+) pair formation, (c) to test the accuracy of the neutron diffraction with isotope substitution based coordination calculations and X-ray diffraction based assumptions, and (d) to describe the water coordination around both the nitrogen and oxygen sites of the nitrate ion.
Influence of PE Teachers' Teaching Ability on College Students' Mental Health

The teaching ability directly reflects the professional level of teachers.This paper analyzed the influence of PE teachers' teaching ability on college students' mental health with the method of literature consultation,and provided some methods of training and improving the teaching ability.
Labor Market and Industrial Change: The Competitive Advantage and Challenge of Harnessing Diversity:

Comparative cross-national analysis reveals that, irrespective of socio-cultural context, competitive production in the global economy has been predicated on homogeneity. As has been the case in th...
Corticofugal Amplification of Subcortical Responses to Single Tone Stimuli in the Mustached Bat

Zhang, Yunfeng and Nobuo Suga. Corticofugal amplification of subcortical responses to single tone stimuli in the mustached bat. J. Neurophysiol. 78: 3489–3492, 1997. Since 1962, physiological data ...
Cooperation in Opportunistic Networks: An Overlay Approach for Destination-Dependent Utility-Based Schemes

In destination-dependent utility-based schemes, data forwarding is stimulated when a node presents next-hop fitness to destination higher than the current custodian of a message. However, these schemes do not enforce any mechanism to ensure cooperative participation, and altruistic behavior is taken as an assumption, instead. Therefore, a wide range of existing schemes known to provide effective performance may fail in pragmatic settings afflicted with selfish participants. In this paper, we propose a novel cooperation framework which is deployed as an overlay to assist data forwarding utility-based schemes. Effectiveness of our framework is evaluated through intensive simulations with PRoPHET and MARS routing.
Maternal Perceptions Related to Eating and Obesity Risk Among Low-Income African American Preschoolers

Objectives Health disparities are prevalent in the U.S., with low-income African American children suffering from high rates of obesity and related conditions. Better understanding of parental attitudes and barriers related to healthy eating and obesity risk is needed to suggest more effective intervention foci for this at-risk population. Methods African American caregivers of 3–5 year old children were recruited for focus groups and a questionnaire completion from two Head Start programs in a southeastern state of the U.S. The Social Cognitive Theory was utilized to develop a focus group guide. Focus group recordings were transcribed verbatim and analyzed using the comparative content analysis. Results Eight focus groups (all participants were mothers) yielded the following main themes: (1) general nutrition knowledge but common misconceptions about foods/beverages; (2) beliefs that meals have to include meat and starch and be home-cooked to be healthy; (3) desire to feed children better than their own parents; (4) lack of family support and child pickiness perceived as the greatest barriers to healthy eating; (5) awareness of family history of diseases; and (6) low concern about children’s current diet and weight status. Over 25 % of mothers underestimated their child weight status. Conclusions Our findings highlight the importance of understanding maternal perspectives related to food, eating, and weight among low-income African American mothers of preschoolers. Nutrition educators should be aware of misconceptions and recognize that mothers might not perceive diet quality in early childhood as having strong impact on the child’s future health and/or obesity risks.
Circulating microRNA signature for the diagnosis of very high-risk prostate cancer

We report the identification of a molecular signature using the Scano-miR profiling platform based on the differential expression of circulating microRNAs (miRNA, miR) in serum samples specific to patients with very high-risk (VHR) prostate cancer (PCa). Five miRNA PCa biomarkers (miR-200c, miR-605, miR-135a*, miR-433, and miR-106a) were identified as useful for differentiating indolent and aggressive forms of PCa. All patients with VHR PCa in the study had elevated serum levels of miR-200c. Circulating miR-433, which was differentially expressed in patients with VHR versus low-risk (LR) forms of PCa, was not detectable by quantitative real-time PCR in samples from healthy volunteers. In blind studies, the five miRNA PCa biomarkers were able to differentiate patients with VHR PCas from those with LR forms as well as healthy individuals with at least 89% accuracy. Biological pathway analysis showed the predictive capability of these miRNA biomarkers for the diagnosis and prognosis of VHR aggressive PCa.
2-d processing of speech with application to pitch estimation.

In this paper, we introduce a new approach to two-dimensional (2-D) processing of the one-dimensional (1-D) speech signal in the time-frequency plane. Specifically, we obtain the shortspace 2-D Fourier transform magnitude of a narrowband spectrogram of the signal and show that this 2-D transformation maps harmonically-related signal components to a concentrated entity in the new 2-D plane. We refer to this series of operations as the “grating compression transform” (GCT), consistent with sine-wave grating patterns in the spectrogram reduced to smeared impulses. The GCT forms the basis of a speech pitch estimator that uses the radial distance to the largest peak in the GCT plane. Using an average magnitude difference between pitch-contour estimates, the GCT-based pitch estimator is shown to compare favorably to a sine-wave-based pitch estimator for all-voiced speech in additive white noise. An extension to a basis for two-speaker pitch estimation is also proposed.
Physics-based fitting to improve PCB loss measurement accuracy

Measuring and controlling printed-circuit-board (PCB) loss has become an ever-critical task in high speed interconnect design. However, insertion loss measurements are often plagued with errors, especially at high frequencies, due to various sources during measurement and de-embedding procedures. This issue only gets worse in low cost measurement houses. One approach to improve data fidelity is to utilize data smoothing algorithms, but traditional brute-force algorithms have obvious flaws. In this paper, we propose a novel physics-based data post-processing method, denoted as ARO (Advance Root-Omega) fitting. This new method can report insertion loss values that are more error-resistant while also providing an indicator of measurement quality. This method has been tested on a library of over 1000 real PCB measurements, and has proven to be reliable and robust for industry adoption. The algorithm has been distributed to our customers for implementation in their production lines.
The Emerging Role of Universities in Collective Impact Initiatives for Community Benefit.

Universities are increasing their efforts to more clearly demonstrate their social value. This article illustrates how higher education administrators can incorporate collective impact partnerships in their community benefit strategies. The article explores two of the more familiar paradigms for community benefit—community engagement and anchor institution. Collective impact principles and practices are then presented. Finally, a case study provides a tangible example of how one university’s role in a collective impact initiative transitioned in response to the community. We end the article with ten takeaways and an invitation for higher education administrators to identify their own learning and action steps that can help shift focus from proving to improving their institution’s value to the community.
Optimal management of the young patient CLL patient.

Abstract The emergence of targeted therapy for patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) has permanently altered the therapeutic landscape. In both upfront and relapsed settings, safe and effective oral kinase inhibitors are available which rival the responses and durability seen with standard chemo immunotherapy regimens. In 2016, ibrutinib was granted Federal Drug Administration approval for first-line therapy in patients with CLL. While its role as initial therapy for older, unfit or deleted 17p CLL patients is less controversial, its role as first-line treatment for younger fit patients is less clear, begging the question, what is the optimal treatment for these patients, novel agents or standard CIT strategies? In this review, we aim to provide guidance for what we believe is the optimal management of young fit patients with CLL.