cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Improving pore exposure in mesoporous silica films for mechanized control of the pores

Abstract A novel hierarchically structured material consisting of a mesoporous silica film, prepared by a vapor-phase infiltration method that is microscopically patterned and using a reactive wet-stamping technique, is reported. The two-dimensional hexagonal mesostructure consists of tubular pores of approx 2.4 nm in diameter that are aligned in a particular direction. The micropatterns, 1.5 μm wide strips oriented perpendicular to the direction of the nanopores and separated from each other by 1.5 μm gaps, were etched in such a manner so as to enable multiple regions of accessibility to the nanopores that would otherwise not be easy to access. The nanopore accessibility and orientation were confirmed by infiltration of the nanopores with a fluorescent polymer, resulting in a polarization of the emission. After the etching process, mechanically interlocked molecules that act as gatekeepers were attached to the nanopore openings. Trapping and on-command release of luminescent probe molecules were demonstrated in these micro-patterned mesoporous silica films.
Role of H5 domain in determining pore diameter and ion permeation through cyclic nucleotide-gated channels

Ion permeation through membrane channels is thought to be governed by a narrow region of the channel pore termed the selectivity filter, which has been proposed to discriminate among ions by both specific binding and molecular sieving, as determined by pore diameter. Recent evidence suggests that a conserved domain (known as H5, P or SS1-SS2) in voltage-gated potassium, sodium and calcium channels contributes to the lining of the pore. Here we investigate whether the H5 domain determines pore diameter and examine the role of pore diameter in controlling ion permeation. These studies rely on differences in single channel conductance, ion selectivity and apparent pore diameter between cyclic nucleotide-gated channels cloned from bovine retina and catfish olfactory neurons. Using chimaeric retinal-olfactory channels, we find that the H5 domain determines these differences in permeation properties, providing structural evidence that the cyclic nucleotide-gated channels are indeed members of the voltage-gated channel family. Moreover, these results show directly that the H5 domain helps form the selectivity filter and that molecular sieving is important in controlling ion permeation.
Evaluation of simulated ground motions for predicting elastic response of long period structures and inelastic response of structures

The response of linear elastic and non-linear hysteretic systems having a single degree of freedom to recorded and simulated ground motions is studied. The objective is to evaluate whether the commonly used simulated motions are appropriate for predicting inelastic response of structures and elastic response of long period structures. Eight simulated motions were generated to model properties of horizontal ground motions recorded during four earthquakes. The simulated motions are sample functions of a stationary, Gaussian white noise process, multiplied by a temporal intensity function and passed through a linear single-degree-of-freedom filter. Two versions, corresponding to parabolic and ‘standard’ base line corrections (BLC), of each of the simulated and recorded accelerograms were considered. The following general conclusions are deduced. Simulated ground motions should be subjected to the standard BLC, because it results in more reliable ground velocities and displacements, which in turn would lead to more reliable predictions of response of long period structures. Furthermore, the spectral density of the underlying random process, from which the simulated motions are obtained, should be modified to be more representative of the frequency content of recorded motions, especially in the low frequency range. Such an improved model can be expected to lead to better agreement, over a broad range of periods, in the average response spectra of simulated and recorded motions, for elastic as well as inelastic systems.
Aneuploidy and skeletal health.

The normal human chromosome complement consists of 46 chromosomes comprising 22 morphologically different pairs of autosomes and one pair of sex chromosomes. Variations in either chromosome number and/or structure frequently result in significant mental impairment and/or a variety of other clinical problems, among them, altered bone mass and strength. Chromosomal syndromes associated with specific chromosomal abnormalities are classified as either numerical or structural and may involve more than one chromosome. Aneuploidy refers to the presence of an extra copy of a specific chromosome, or trisomy, as seen in Down’s syndrome (trisomy 21), or the absence of a single chromosome, or monosomy, as seen in Turner syndrome (a single X chromosome in females: 45, X). Aneuploidies have diverse phenotypic consequences, ranging from severe mental retardation and developmental abnormalities to increased susceptibility to various neoplasms and premature death. In fact, trisomy 21 is the prototypical aneuploidy in humans, is the most common genetic abnormality associated with longevity, and is one of the most widespread genetic causes of intellectual disability. In this review, the impact of trisomy 21 on the bone mass, architecture, skeletal health, and quality of life of people with Down syndrome will be discussed.
Genome-wide profiling of human cap-independent translation-enhancing elements

We report an in vitro selection strategy to identify RNA sequences that mediate cap-independent initiation of translation. This method entails mRNA display of trillions of genomic fragments, selection for initiation of translation and high-throughput deep sequencing. We identified >12,000 translation-enhancing elements (TEEs) in the human genome, generated a high-resolution map of human TEE-bearing regions (TBRs), and validated the function of a subset of sequences in vitro and in cultured cells.
Reproduction, creativity, restriction: Material culture and copyright in Vanuatu

Copyright legislation is often described in relation to a series of abstract legal and economic constructs, without due attention to the ways in which it may be constituted by the persons and artifacts that it legislates over. In this article, I focus in detail on some ways in which concepts of copyright are negotiated in the South Pacific archipelago of Vanuatu. I analyze copyright in relation to the technical, social and conceptual processes of copying, restriction and creativity, respectively, in order to draw out some of the diverse social and material processes that are built into the legal category. I draw specifically on my research with Ni-Vanuatu men and women using local resources to earn money through the production of artifacts for the market – an exemplary context for the emergence of discussions about ‘indigenous' copyright legislation. In describing copyright in one very local context, I emphasize that focusing on the materiality of different property forms can enable us to more sensitively...
DNA content in juvenile granulosa cell tumors of the ovary: A study of early- and advanced-stage disease

Paraffin-embedded tissue from 38 patients with early- and advanced-stage juvenile granulosa cell tumor (JGCT) of the ovary was analyzed by flow cytometry to investigate whether the DNA content is related to the histologic features, stage, or clinical outcome. Thirty-three cases were suitable for analysis: twenty-seven Stage Ia, two Stage Ic, and four Stage III. Eighteen (55%) tumors were DNA diploid and fifteen (45%) tumors were DNA aneuploid with a mean S-phase fraction (SPF) of 13.6% and a range of DNA indices from 1.0 to 2.2. Neither the DNA ploidy nor the SPF was associated with the stage of the disease. An analysis of the relation between DNA content and histopathologic features revealed that aneuploidy was associated with high mitotic rates and to a lesser extent with high-grade nuclear atypia. DNA aneuploidy was not associated with aggressive behavior of Stage Ia JGCTs. However, among the four patients with Stage III tumors, the two with diploid, low-SPF tumors were alive and well, whereas the two with aneuploid, high-SPF tumors developed recurrences or died. These data suggest that further studies on the prognostic significance of flow cytometric analysis of DNA content in advanced-stage JGCTs are warranted.
Larger aortic reconstruction corresponds to diminished left pulmonary artery size in patients with single-ventricle physiology

Background Pulmonary artery size is a crucial determinant of hemodynamic energy loss in total cavopulmonary connections. We investigated the effect of aortic arch reconstruction on left pulmonary artery size based on their anatomic proximity. Methods Thirty-two patients undergoing the Fontan operation, 16 with hypoplastic left heart syndrome and 16 with non–hypoplastic left heart syndrome, were selected from the multicenter Fontan magnetic resonance imaging database at the Georgia Institute of Technology. The 16 datasets were consecutive with full anatomic reconstructions of the total cavopulmonary connection and aortic arch with no artifacts. The size of the aorta along the transverse arch and left pulmonary artery size in the region below the aortic arch was quantified by using a previously validated skeletonization technique. Results The transverse aortic and left pulmonary artery measurements (median, maximum, and minimum, respectively) for non–hypoplastic left heart syndrome were 2.2, 3.1, and 1.5 cm/m and 1.2, 1.6, and 0.2 cm/m, respectively, compared with 2.5, 4.1, and 2.0 cm/m and 0.9, 1.5, and 0.4 cm/m for patients with hypoplastic left heart syndrome. Thus the transverse aortic diameter of patients with hypoplastic left heart syndrome was, on average, 24% greater than that for patients with non–hypoplastic left heart syndrome ( P P P P Conclusions Stage 1 aortic reconstruction procedures that result in a large aorta limit left pulmonary artery size in patients undergoing the Fontan operation.
Treatment Completion Among TB Patients Returned To The Community From A Large Urban Jail

Despite the current decline of TB in the general population, the prevalence of TB remains conspicuously higher among inmates. While treatment completion is a key to controlling and preventing drug-resistant TB, it is difficult to be achieved among incarcerated populations due to their social, economic, and behavioral characteristics. This article examined factors associated with treatment completion among jail inmates with TB disease after their return to the community. Retrospective analyses were performed to explore the relationships between demographic, behavioral, incarceration factors, and treatment methods with treatment completion. Hispanics (vs. blacks), those who had children, and those incarcerated for simple charges (vs. drug related charges) were less likely to complete treatment. DOT users were more likely to complete treatment then those who used the self administration method. Inmates whose DOT was administered at a field site were more likely to complete treatment than those whose DOT took place at a clinic or mixed clinic and field. Although mixed DOT might be less expensive than field DOT, it represented no significant improvement over clinic DOT. Treatment methods must employ an outreach strategy to meet each patient’s need, considering the broader socioeconomic context.
Comparative analysis of false discovery rate methods in constructing metabolic association networks.

Gaussian graphical model (GGM)-based method, a key approach to reverse engineering biological networks, uses partial correlation to measure conditional dependence between two variables by controlling the contribution from other variables. After estimating partial correlation coefficients, one of the most critical processes in network construction is to control the false discovery rate (FDR) to assess the significant associations among variables. Various FDR methods have been proposed mainly for biomarker discovery, but it still remains unclear which FDR method performs better for network construction. Furthermore, there is no study to see the effect of the network structure on network construction. We selected the six FDR methods, the linear step-up procedure (BH95), the adaptive linear step-up procedure (BH00), Efron's local FDR (LFDR), Benjamini–Yekutieli's step-up procedure (BY01), Storey's q-value procedure (Storey01), and Storey–Taylor–Siegmund's adaptive step-up procedure (STS04), to evaluate their performances on network construction. We further considered two network structures, random and scale-free networks, to investigate their influence on network construction. Both simulated data and real experimental data suggest that STS04 provides the highest true positive rate (TPR) or F1 score, while BY01 has the highest positive predictive value (PPV) in network construction. In addition, no significant effect of the network structure is found on FDR methods.
Discursive representations and policy mobility: how migrant remittances became a ‘development tool’

In this article, I focus on two sets of practices that researchers and policy advocates carry out within international organizations and think tanks promoting what I term the remittances-to-development (R-2-D) agenda. Their work conjured up, elaborated and diffused a representation of remittances as a financial flow and made remittances visible as a promising source of development finance for the global South. First, there is the work of discursive representation in which the advocates of the R-2-D agenda collected, compiled and visually represented data to draw out the characteristics of remittances that would make them attractive to development policymakers. Second, there were the policy transfer efforts, in which the champions of the R-2-D agenda wielded various forms of soft power to convince national government officials to ‘improve’ remittances statistics by adopting new measurement techniques. These practices turned remittances into a neoliberal development tool.
Epidemiology of College Athlete Sizes, 1950s to Current

The purpose of this study is to examine the epidemiology and trends of body size in college athletics. Data were coded from available athlete rosters from four division 1 college athletic programs for football, basketball, baseball, and men's/women's tennis for the period of 1950 to the present. Data on 17,500 football, 2,470 basketball, 3,868 baseball, 903 men's tennis, and 765 women's tennis athletes were entered. Increases in height, weight, and body mass index (BMI) were seen for all sports at most positions, but the greatest increases were observed in football offensive and defensive linemen. The largest increases in weight and (BMI) were observed amongst football offensive and defensive linemen, placing them at greatest risk for size-related medical complications. Other college sports exhibit increases in height, weight, and BMI as well, but the rates of increase were not as great.
The magnetic fields and angular sizes of radio sources displaying synchrotron self-absorption

A method for estimating the magnetic-field strengths and angular sizes of radio sources displaying synchrotron self-absorption based on their observed radio spectra is considered. The method is used to derive the angular sizes of compact radio sources (components) and the magnetic fields in these regions, as well as the energy and number of relativistic electrons and the radiative power of a number of quasars and radio galaxies.
Progress and Preservation: Representing History in Boston's Landscape of Urban Reform, 1820–1860

Examining transformations of the antebellum Boston cityscape, in form and in print, this article revises scholarly understanding of historic preservation by illuminating how city residents adapted the uses of old buildings, represented demolished sites, and used innovations in print culture to preserve the historic landscape while making way for modern urban improvements.
Technology in Education—Where Do We Go From Here?

The decreasing cost and rapid growth of technological advances has dramatically impacted the way students are taught and learn in college. Faculty augment their lectures with computer-generated slides, videos and Digital Video Disks (DVD). Computer programs are available to help organize lecture material, provide students with computer assisted learning, provide “real” life cases and simulations, and test the students’ knowledge with computer based exams. New ideas can be accessed and transmitted instantly anywhere in the world with a click of a mouse through the World Wide Web. Guest speakers can be “brought into the classroom” through telephone or video conferencing. Students can obtain degrees, or professionals can get continuing education courses at any time from any place through distance learning. All of these exciting changes have changed the face of what education is like as we proceed into the new millennium. Despite these advances, tests of intelligence have not improved to a significant degree....
Geometric feature-based multimodal image registration of contrast-enhanced cardiac CT with gated myocardial perfusion SPECT.

Purpose: Cardiaccomputed tomography(CT) and single photon emission computed tomography(SPECT) provide clinically complementary information in the diagnosis of coronary artery disease (CAD). Fused anatomical and physiological data acquired sequentially on separate scanners can be coregistered to accurately diagnose CAD in specific coronary vessels. Methods: A fully automated registration method is presented utilizing geometric features from a reliable segmentation of gated myocardial perfusion SPECT (MPS) volumes, where regions of myocardium and blood pools are extracted and used as an anatomical mask to de-emphasize the inhomogeneities of intensity distribution caused by perfusion defects and physiological variations. A multiresolution approach is employed to represent coarse-to-fine details of both volumes. The extracted voxels from each level are aligned using a similarity measure with a piecewise constant image model and minimized using a gradient descent method. The authors then perform limited nonlinear registration of gated MPS to adjust for phase differences by automatic cardiac phase matching between CT and MPS. For phase matching, they incorporate nonlinear registration using thin-plate-spline-based warping. Rigid registration has been compared with manual alignment ( n = 45 ) on 20 stress/rest MPS and coronary CTA data sets acquired from two different sites and five stress CT perfusion data sets. Phase matching was also compared to expert visual assessment. Results: As compared with manual alignment obtained from two expert observers, the mean and standard deviation of absolute registration errors of the proposed method for MPS were 4.3 ± 3.5 , 3.6 ± 2.6 , and 3.6 ± 2.1 mm for translation and 2.1 ± 3.2 ° , 0.3 ± 0.8 ° , and 0.7 ± 1.2 ° for rotation at site A and 3.8 ± 2.7 , 4.0 ± 2.9 , and 2.2 ± 1.8 mm for translation and 1.1 ± 2.0 ° , 1.6 ± 3.1 ° , and 1.9 ± 3.8 ° for rotation at site B. The results for CT perfusion were 3.0 ± 2.9 , 3.5 ± 2.4 , and 2.8 ± 1.0 mm for translation and 3.0 ± 2.4 ° , 0.6 ± 0.9 ° , and 1.2 ± 1.3 ° for rotation. The registration error shows that the proposed method achieves registration accuracy of less than 1 voxel ( 6.4 × 6.4 × 6.4 mm ) misalignment. The proposed method was robust for different initializations in the range from − 80 to 70, − 80 to 70, and − 50 to 50 mm in the x -, y -, and z -axes, respectively. Validation results of finding best matching phase showed that best matching phases were not different by more than two phases, as visually determined. Conclusions: The authors have developed a fast and fully automated method for registration of contrastcardiacCT with gated MPS which includes nonlinear cardiac phase matching and is capable of registering these modalities with accuracy 10 mm in 87% of the cases.
Eukaryotic Release Factor 3 Is Required for Multiple Turnovers of Peptide Release Catalysis by Eukaryotic Release Factor 1

Eukaryotic peptide release factor 3 (eRF3) is a conserved, essential gene in eukaryotes implicated in translation termination. We have systematically measured the contribution of eRF3 to the rates of peptide release with both saturating and limiting levels of eukaryotic release factor 1 (eRF1). Although eRF3 modestly stimulates the absolute rate of peptide release (∼5-fold), it strongly increases the rate of peptide release when eRF1 is limiting (>20-fold). This effect was generalizable across all stop codons and in a variety of contexts. Further investigation revealed that eRF1 remains associated with ribosomal complexes after peptide release and subunit dissociation and that eRF3 promotes the dissociation of eRF1 from these post-termination complexes. These data are consistent with models where eRF3 principally affects binding interactions between eRF1 and the ribosome, either prior to or subsequent to peptide release. A role for eRF3 as an escort for eRF1 into its fully accommodated state is easily reconciled with its close sequence similarity to the translational GTPase EFTu.
Periodicity and Atomic Ordering in Nanosized Particles of Crystals

Evidence is presented that nanosized particles of crystals do not necessarily adopt a periodic atomic structure as their bulk counterparts do and/or as predicted by theory. As an example, 1.6-nm Au particles grown inside a dendrimeric host are studied and found to possess a heavily disordered, metallic glass-type structure. The nanoparticle’s structure evolves toward the face-centered-cubic-type lattice of bulk Au only upon removal of solvent. The results show that periodicity, which rules the structure and properties of bulk crystals, is less of a constraint at the nanoscale level and, therefore, may be used as tunable parameter in nanotechnology research.
Part 6: How to collect and manage data successfully on a limited research budget

CLINICAL STUDY in renal nutrition, although often modest in size, can generate demands for organizing data on the scale of a much larger clinical study. Data may be collected from several sources: the laboratory, medical histories from patients’ charts, standardized tests and questionnaires administered to patients, and evaluations of patients from the clinical staff. Data from some sources, such as a medical history, may be collected only once per patient. Data from other sources may be collected periodically with different schedules. For example, laboratory tests may be conducted weekly, whereas clinical evaluations may be conducted once per month. How can the investigators of a small clinical study organize and manage data efficiently without the specialized staff and financial resources of a large clinical trial? In this contribution to the series, I will discuss how to adapt the principles of data management practiced in a large, well-funded clinical investigation to fit the resources of a smaller clinical trial.
Evolution of the first nervous systems – what can we surmise?

The success of the Metazoa can be attributed, in large part at least, to the presence of a nervous system. This provides them with the means to integrate multiple sensory inputs and produce appropriate and directed responses that typically require rapid intercellular communication over large
Reactions of Me3N with GeH3Br: evidence for stabilized germanium dihydride species

Abstract Bromogermane (GeH 3 Br) and Me 3 N (1:1 mole ratio) reaction at −78 °C yields Me 2 N·GeH 3 Br ( 1 ). 1 with H 2 O or MeOH yields (GeH 3 ) 2 O or MeOGeH 3 , respectively. 1 with a one molar excess of Me 3 N forms (Me 3 N) 2 GeH 3 Br ( 2 ). Thermal decomposition of 2 produces mainly Ge 3 H 8 (25–30%) and Me 3 NHBr. GeH 3 Br with excess Me 3 N in Et 2 O at 0 °C yields Me 3 NHBr and a species in solution formulated as Me 3 NGeH 2 ( 3 ). Decomposition of 3 in the presence of Me 3 GeH or Me 2 GeH 2 results in small quantities of Me 3 Ge 2 H 3 or Me 2 Ge 2 H 4 , respectively. Above −63 °C, solid 1 undergoes intramolecular rearrangement to a product characterized as Me 3 NHBr·1/ x (GeH 2 ) x ( 4 ), a material which contains stabilized GeH 2 units. The characterization of 1–4 based on their spectral properties and reactivity towards B 2 H 6 and/of HBr, and their potential in further germane syntheses, are discussed.
Correlation of the structures and electronic spectra of the μ-peroxo- and μ-superoxobis [(diethylenetriamine)(ethylenediamine)cobalt(III) ions

Abstract The X-ray crystallographic determination of [(en)(dien)CoO2Co(dien)(en)](ClO4)2Cl3·2H2O (en = ethylenediamine, dien = diethylenetriamine) allows comparison with previously determined [(en)(dien)-(CoO2Co(dien)(en)](CIO4)4. The nearly identical structure of the two bridged cations features reduced intramolecular hydrogen bonding but retains a flat CoO2Co group whose plane is 45° relative to the CoN bond axes cis to the dioxygen bridge. The π interactions are shown to require development of a model featuring equal participation of two 3d orbitals for each cobalt atom. Huckel calculations are in qualitative agreement with the model, the observed ultraviolet and visible spectra, and with previous EPR determinations for similar compounds.
Effects of dietary aflatoxin on the hepatic expression of apoptosis genes in growing barrows

The most common and toxic form of aflatoxin, aflatoxin B(1) (AFB(1)), is produced by molds growing on crops. Use of moldy corn can result in high concentrations of AFB(1) in swine diets, which could potentially lead to an increased incidence of aflatoxicosis, a disease associated with decreased health and performance through reduced feed intake, reduced BW gain, and impaired liver function. The objective of this study was to determine the effects of AFB(1) on the hepatic gene expression of growing barrows. Ninety Duroc × Yorkshire crossbred barrows (age = 35 ± 5 d; initial BW = 14.2 ± 3.0 kg) were allocated to 9 pens with 10 pigs per pen, and randomly assigned in a 3 × 3 factorial arrangements of treatments to receive diets containing 0 µg/kg of AFB(1), 250 µg/kg of AFB(1), or 500 µg/kg of AFB(1) for 7, 28, or 70 d. Because performance was most affected in animals administered AFB(1) for an extended period, liver samples from d 70 animals were used for RNA-sequencing analysis. Of 82,744 sequences probed, 179 had transcripts that were highly correlated (r ≥ |0.8|; P < 0.0001) with treatment. Of the 179 significant transcripts, 46 sequences were negatively and 133 sequences positively related to treatment. Forty-three unique functional groups were identified. Genes within the apoptosis regulation functional group were selected for 1) confirmation of d 70 gene expression differences using real-time reverse-transcription (RT)-PCR (n = 4 genes), and 2) investigation of d 7 expression to identify early responses to AFB(1) (n = 15 genes) using real-time RT-PCR. Expression of the 4 apoptosis genes selected for confirmation, cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor 1A, zinc finger matrin type 3, kininogen 1, and pim-1 oncogene, was confirmed with real-time RT-PCR. Of the 15 genes tested in d 7 liver samples, 4 were differentially expressed: cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor 1A; zinc finger matrin type 3; tyrosine 3-monooxygenase/tryptophan 5-monooxygenase activation protein, zeta polypeptide; and apoptosis enhancing nuclease. Results from this study demonstrate that administration of an AFB(1)-contaminated diet to growing barrows alters hepatic gene expression, and in particular apoptosis genes.
RNAi-mediated knockdown of aldehyde dehydrogenase class-1A1 and class-3A1 is specific and reveals that each contributes equally to the resistance against 4-hydroperoxycyclophosphamide

Purpose: Aldehyde dehydrogenases class-1A1 (ALDH1A1) and class-3A1 (ALDH3A1) have been associated with resistance to cyclophosphamide (CP) and its derivatives. We have previously reported the downregulation of these enzymes by all-trans retinoic acid (ATRA). Methods: In this study, we used siRNA duplexes as well as retrovirally expressed siRNA to knockdown one or both enzymes together in A549 lung cancer cell line in order to investigate the role of each one in mediating the resistance and the effect of the addition of ATRA. Results: The results show that significant and specific knockdown of each enzyme can be achieved and that each one contributes similarly to cell resistance to 4-hydroperoxycyclophosphamide (4-HC), an active derivative of CP. Added effects were seen when both enzymes were inhibited. The addition of ATRA also exhibited additional inhibitory effects on ALDH activity and increased 4-HC toxicity when added to single siRNA aimed at one of the enzymes. On the other hand, ATRA had minimal and insignificant additional inhibitory effects on ALDH enzyme activity when added to a combination of siRNAs against both enzymes, but still increased 4-HC toxicity beyond that seen with RNAi-mediated inhibition of both enzymes together. Conclusions: We conclude that both enzymes, ALDH1A1 and ALDH3A1 will need to be blocked in order to achieve the highest sensitivity to 4-HC. Furthermore, ATRA increases 4-HC toxicity even when added to a combination of siRNAs against both enzymes, thus suggesting additional mechanisms by which ATRA can increase drug toxicity.
Rat astrocytes and Schwann cells in culture synthesize nerve growth factor-like neurite-promoting factors

Neurite-promoting activity in feeding medium conditioned by rat astrocytes and Schwann cells in culture was examined. The conditioned medium (CM) from both types of glial cultures stimulated extensive neurite outgrowth from embryonic chick dorsal root ganglia (DRG) as well as pheochromocytoma (PC12) cells. Both the DRG and PC12 cells also produce neurite outgrowth in the presence of nerve growth factor (NGF). With the DRG, the neurite growth rates observed with the glial cell CM were identical to growth rates seen with NGF. Although anti-NGF antibody did not inhibit the neurite outgrowth produced by either of the glial CM, a nerve growth factor radioreceptor assay did detect an NGF-like molecule in both CM. Since the extensive neurite outgrowth stimulated by the glial CM was not mimicked by pure laminin alone, we conclude that the glial neurite promoting factors are distinct from laminin.
A low technology, low cost silicon solar cell production system

Abstract A system has been designed for the mass production of solar cells using simple processes based on evaporation in a low vacuum with a controlled gas. The system involves a minimum amount of high technology equipment and can be readily constructed.
Residential Segregation and Ethnic Identification among Hispanics in Texas.

The hypothesis that racial or ethnic minority groups that are residentially segregated from the majority group in a racially or ethnically mixed society are less likely to be assimilated than those who are residentially integrated is empirically assessed. Data are used from the 1980 census of population for 139 Texas cities with large Hispanic populations. The results do not provide support for the hypothesis; rather, they suggest that other ecological context factors and social structural factors are the key determinants of ethnic identification.
The Aberrant Behavior Checklist with children and adolescents with dual diagnosis.

The Aberrant Behavior Checklist (ABC; Aman, Singh, Stewart, & Field, 1985a, 1985b) is a 58-item third-party informant rating scale originally developed for institutionalized, low-functioning adolescents and adults. The present study investigated the appropriateness of the scale for youngsters with dual diagnosis of mental retardation and psychiatric disturbance. Over a period of 2 1/2 years, 204 patients (199 after data reduction) from a child psychiatry unit were rated twice daily by direct care staff. Data analysis addressed internal consistency, interrater reliability, criterion validity, and robustness of the factor structure. Internal consistency was satisfactory with alpha coefficients ranging from. 82 to .94. Interrater reliability varied between subscales but was relatively low (Pearson correlations between .39 to .61). In terms of its criterion validity, the ABC was sensitive to psychiatric diagnoses and age and the original 5-factor structure was robust (congruence coefficients ranged between .80 to .89). Yet, only a relatively small proportion of the variance (31.5%) was explained by factor analysis indicating possible limitations of the ABC for this population. Given the paucity of assessment instruments for this particular population and the difficulty involved in developing new population-specific instruments, the ABC can be recommended for children and adolescents with dual diagnosis.
Patterns of urinary excretion of steroids in Cushing's syndrome.

In the differential diagnosis of 20 patients with Cushing's syndrome a marked increase in urinary neutral 17-KS excretion favored adrenocortical carcinoma, low values an adenoma, whereas ACTH and Metyrapone (Su-4885) hyper-responsiveness and dexamethasone suppressibility suggested nontumorous hyperplasia. None of the above, however, could be relied upon to establish the correct diagnosis unequivocally. Chromatographic separation of neutral 17-KS in 11 patients confirmed abnormal patterns of excretion of A, E, KE, OHE and OHA, but failed to prove of diagnostic value. DHEA was markedly elevated in 3 out of 3 patients with carcinoma as well as in one out of 3 with adenoma and 2 out of 5 patients with adrenocortical hyperplasia. One patient with an adenoma and one with hyperplasia had normal base line excretion but excessive ACTH responses. Two patients with hyperplasia associated with extra-adrenal neoplasia had normal DHEA excretion at all times. Urinary “pregnanediol” and “pregnanetriol,” determined as sul...
Close spatial relationship between plutons and shear zones: Comment and Reply COMMENT

[Weinberg et al. (2004)][1] present an intriguing model to explain why plutons might be emplaced in low stress sites next to faults. In a Geology paper it is difficult to fully present all aspects of such models, and I remain puzzled by some of the authors' interpretations. Thus, in the hope that
Calculation of parity impurities in 203Tl

Abstract Parity admixtures in the wave functions of the 203 Tl nucleus are calculated with use of the shell model. The irregular electromagnetic transition E1 combined with the regular M1 give rise to the circular polarization P of outgoing gamma rays. The resulting calculated estimate is P ≈ − (0.6 − 1.2)·10 −4 .
Parallel Organizations in Unionized Settings: Implications for Organizational Research

Sociotechnical systems theory focuses on the mutual adjustment of an organization's social and technical systems. This mutual adjustment aims at achieving “joint optimization, “ that is, it aims at producing conditions which are favorable to both the organization's members and to its productive capability. Until recently, this joint optimization has, in practice, occurred mainly at the work group level. Beginning in the early 1970's, however, a number of North American labor unions, acting jointly with the managements of the organizations involved, have created experiments aimed at increasing productivity and improving the quality of working life for the members of the organizations. These experiments, largely due to the influence of organized labor, have applied sociotechnical systems principles to the governance of total organizations as well as to the arrangement of tasks in work groups. This organization-wide application distinguishes parallel organizations in unionized settings from worker participat...
An Efficient Service Discovery Algorithm for Counting Bloom Filter-Based Service Registry

The Service registry, the yellow pages of Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA), plays a central role in SOA-based service systems. The service registry has to be scalable to manage large number of services along with their requirements on storage and discovery. Based on our previous work on feature-based services quantification, we characterize services according to their diverse functional and non-functional requirements, and represent them as string formats which can be stored, probed, and indexed by efficient data structures, such as hash table and Bloom filter. Then, we propose a comprehensive service-storage solution using the counting Bloom filter (CBF). The application of CBF enables us to structure candidate services into separate groups, resulting in an accelerated services discovery process. The contributions of this research work include a new approach to manage large number of services based on quantified service features, and a storage architecture design to support service discovery. Experimental results strongly support these claims.
Carotenoid levels in normal children and in children with cystic fibrosis

The carotenoids are potent antioxidants with the ability to quench singlet oxygen and other toxic oxygen species. We studied 17 patients with cystic fibrosis (CF) and 10 normal children to assess plasma levels of four carotenoids, beta-carotene, alpha-carotene, lutein, and lycopene, by high-performance liquid chromatography. We found significantly lower plasma levels of specific carotenoids in children with CF than in normal control subjects. The standardization of carotenoid levels for total cholesterol did not significantly attenuate these differences. No differences in total carotene intake were apparent between the groups. Carotenoid levels did not correlate with fat absorption or measures of adiposity in children with CF. Additionally, levels of selected carotenoids correlated negatively with serum IgG levels, an indirect measure of inflammation. The differences in plasma carotenoid levels between children with CF and normal children may be due to rapid turnover of carotenoids, perhaps through quenching of toxic oxygen species in inflammatory states of CF. Studies assessing supplementation of these antioxidants should be considered.
Information, Cognitive Biases, and Commitment to a Course of Action

Inducing commitment in contributors is an important concern for executives promoting courses of action. In this paper, the author draws on research in behavioral decision theory to develop a model of the process by which executives can encourage commitment in contributors through the promotion of specific cognitive heuristics and biases. An example of the possible uses of information in promoting commitment and a discussion of the ethical issues involved in using information in this way are also provided.
The relationship of religious coping and spirituality to adjustment and psychological distress in urban early adolescents

The present study explored the relation of religious coping and spirituality to adjustment and psychological distress in urban early adolescents. The participants were 76 sixth-, seventh-, and eighth-grade students attending Catholic day schools in the New York City area. They completed a set of self-report measures assessing religious coping, daily spiritual experiences, positive and negative affect, life satisfaction, and psychological distress. Correlational and regression analyses found positive religious coping and daily spiritual experiences to be associated with positive affect and life satisfaction, while negative religious coping was associated with negative affect and psychological distress. The relations generally were more robust among males, and their overall robustness decreased with age. Implications of the findings for research and clinical practice are offered to address the gap (compared to adults) in the literature on youth religious coping.
Packet scheduling in a low latency optical packet switch

In this paper, we study packet scheduling in the OpCut switch, a recently proposed optical switching architecture that can be adopted for high-performance parallel computers. The key feature of the OpCut switch is that it allows packets to cut-through the switch whenever possible, such that packets experience minimum delay. Packets that cannot cut-through are received by optical receivers and stored in the electronic buffer, and can be sent to the output ports by the optical transmitters later. Due to its feed-back buffer structure, existing scheduling algorithms cannot be directly applied to the OpCut switch. Keeping packet order also becomesmore challenging in the OpCut switch. In this paper, we propose a scheduling algorithmfor the OpCut switch that achieves overall low packet latency while maintaining packet order. The scheduling algorithmis very simple and can be implemented in hardware. To relax the time constraint on computing a schedule, we further propose a mechanism to pipeline the packet scheduling in the OpCut switch by distributing the scheduling task to multiple “sub-schedulers.” Our simulation results show that the OpCut switch with the proposed scheduling algorithms achieve chose performance to the ideal output-queued (OQ) switch in terms of packet latency, and that the pipelined mechanism effectively reduces scheduler complexity while maintaining satisfactory system performance.
Extraction of the parameters of equivalent circuits of microwave transistors using tree annealing

The problem of extracting a physically based equivalent circuit model for a heterostructure bipolar transistor (HBT) from S-parameter measurements is solved with a new formulation of simulated annealing. The physical model necessary for an accurate representation of the HBT leads to an extraction problem with many local minima. A satisfactory minimum can be found by conventional gradient-based techniques only with considerable expert guidance. The proposed algorithm finds equivalent circuits as good as those from conventional techniques but without human intervention. It is more efficient than conventional stochastic simulated annealing because it accumulates a probability density of good equivalent circuits which it subsequently uses to refine its statistical search for the best equivalent circuit. >
Attributes of Angel and Crowdfunded Investments as Determinants of VC Screening Decisions

This research explores whether relationships between young firms and certain early–stage seed funders portray certification effects that influence venture capitalist (VC) screening decisions. Speci...
Gestalt relations and object perception: a developmental study.

We investigated whether adults and infants aged 3, 5, and 9 months perceive the unity and boundaries of visible objects in accord with the Gestalt relations of color and texture similarity, good continuation, or good form. Adults and infants were presented with simple but unfamiliar displays in which all three Gestalt relations specified either one object or two objects—perception of the objects was assessed by a verbal rating method in the adults and by a preferential looking method in the infants. The Gestalt relations appeared to influence the adults' perceptions strongly. However, the relations appeared to have no effect on the perceptions of 3-month-old infants and weak effects on the perceptions of 5-month-old and 9-month-old infants. The findings support the suggestion that developmental changes in object perception occur slowly. These changes, and the organizational phenomena to which Gestalt psychology called attention, may depend in part on the child's developing ability to recognize objects of ...
Comparison of Several Treatments with a Control Using Multiple Contrasts

Abstract A problem frequently encountered in the practice of statistics is the comparison of several treatments with a control or standard. We consider an experimental situation where prior knowledge indicates that all of the treatments are at least as effective as the control and the problem is to determine if any are significantly better than the control. A number of statistical procedures have been proposed for this situation, of which the best known is Dunnett's (1955) multiple comparison procedure. Dunnett's test rejects equality of the treatments and the control for a large value of the maximum contrast of the data vector with several vectors that are located “symmetrically” within the alternative region. We study a large class of such tests, which includes Dunnett's test as a particular case. One of these tests, which is based on the maximum contrast of the data vector with several orthogonal vectors, is very easy to implement and has an uncomplicated, good, and fairly uniform power function over t...
An eight-channel hyperfine wavelength demultiplexer using a virtually imaged phased-array (VIPA)

We demonstrate an eight-channel hyperfine wavelength demultiplexer at 1.55 /spl mu/m using a virtually imaged phased-array spectral disperser, with channel spacings of /spl sim/3 GHz (24 pm) and -3-dB channel bandwidths of /spl sim/0.75 GHz (6 pm). We achieve adjacent channel isolations /spl ges/23 dB and nonadjacent channel isolations /spl ges/30 dB. We also present the first theoretical analysis.
Diagnostic utility of cardiac MRI in clinical evaluation of cardiac masses with histopathological correlation.

Summary To determine the diagnostic value of cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (CMR) in the characterization of cardiac masses in a tertiary care medical center. Background CMR is the test of choice for evaluating cardiac masses because it provides excellent tissue characterization of the mass in virtually any plane of the body. Biopsy proven cardiac masses provide information on the usefulness and accuracy of CMR in correctly diagnosing cardiac masses. Methods Over a 7 year period, 161 patients were referred for CMR for evaluation of a known or suspected cardiac mass. A retrospective chart review of these 161 patients revealed that 42 patients (26%) had subsequent biopsyproven diagnosis of a cardiac mass. CMR characteristics of biopsy proven cardiac masses, including contrast enhancement on first pass and delayed images, signal intensity on T1- and T2-weighted images, size, location, mobility and final CMR diagnosis were reviewed. CMR diagnostic performance was correlated with histopathologic diagnosis. Results Pathologic diagnosis of tumor was established in 31 cases (74%), of which 19 (61%) were considered malignant. Diagnostic performance measures of CMR for distinguishing between tumor and non-tumor masses were as follows: sensitivity 94%, specificity 91%, PPV 97%, NPV 83%. Diagnostic performance measures of CMR for distinguishing between benign (tumor or nontumor) and malignant masses were as follows: sensitivity 89%, specificity 100%, PPV 100%, NPV 92%. There were 2 malignant masses that were misclassified as benign on CMR, including 1 poorly differentiated sarcoma that was misdiagnosed as a vegetation, and 1 liposarcoma that was misdiagnosed as a myxoma. CMR provided the correct histopathologic diagnosis in 30/42 (71%) biopsy proven cardiac masses. In an additional 3 cases, CMR did not provide a specific diagnosis, but suggested a malignant neoplasm that was confirmed on pathology. In univariate analysis of CMR characteristics, the presence of increased T2 signal (r=0.46, p<0.005) and any contrast enhancement (r=0.78, p<0.001) was predictive of neoplasm, and lack of mobility (r=-0.62, p<0.001) and any contrast enhancement (r=0.46, p<0.01) was predictive of malignancy on pathology. Conclusions Comprehensive cardiac MRI using cine, fast spin echo T1/T2 weighted, first-pass perfusion, and delayed enhancement imaging provides useful, diagnostic information in the evaluation of cardiac masses.