cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
IL-17A-Mediated Notch Signaling in Multiple Myeloma

Multiple myeloma (MM) is a plasma cell malignancy, however, significant abnormalities in T cell function are considered to provide help in uncontrolled growth and survival of MM cells. We have previously reported that IL-17A-producing Th17 cells are elevated in MM, that MM cells express IL-17 receptor, and IL-17A promotes MM cell growth and survival. We have reported that MM cells themselves produce IL-17A as confirmed by RT-PCR, Western blotting and immunostaining providing a possibility of both autocrine and paracrine role for IL-17A in MM. As Notch activation has been implicated in Th17 cell differentiation and IL17A production, we have here investigated the role of Notch pathway activation in IL-17A-mediated MM cell growth within the BM microenvironment. Notch consists of 4 proteins (1-4) and has 5 ligands (DLL-1,3,4 and jagged-1, 2). We analyzed RNA-Seq data from 117 newly-diagnosed MM patients and 18 normal plasma cells and observed high expression of Notch 1, and 2 and Notch target genes Hes-1 and Hey-1 but not Notch 3 and 4 in MM. For Notch 2, isoform 2 was highly predominant. Notch expression on MM cells was further confirmed by flow cytometric analysis (Notch1-84%, Notch2-86% and Notch3-3%). Evaluating functional role of Notch in MM, when MM cells were co-cultured with Notch ligand jagged 2-expressing 3T3 cells, IL-17A was able to further induce Notch target gene Hes-1 by 45%. Interestingly, increase in the expression of Notch 2 was also observed during this interaction (increased full-length protein by 65% and active intra-cellular protein by 145%). We next evaluated effect of both anti-IL-17 antibody and Notch inhibitors on MM cells. Anti-IL-17A monoclonal antibody inhibited full-length Notch2 protein expression by 54% and active intra-cellular protein by 85%, as determined by western blot analysis. The antibody inhibitory activity was confirmed with quantitative PCR. Importantly, IL-17A mAb inhibited Hes-1 protein expression by 83%. With the observed impact of Notch signaling in MM, we next evaluated notch inhibitors MRK003, and compound E, a γ-secretase inhibitors, to determine their impact on MM cell growth and survival. We observe that Notch inhibitors affect MM cell growth (inhibition by 43%%, N=5) and IL-6 production (inhibition by 60%, N=3) in co-culture with bone marrow stromal cells. These preclinical data establish the role of IL-17 as well as Notch signaling in myeloma and provides the rationale to evaluate anti-MM activity of anti-IL-17A monoclonal antibody and Notch inhibitors in MM. Disclosures No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.
A Prolog based object oriented language SPOOL and its compiler

A prolog based object oriented language, SPOOL, is introduced and its language processor, which compiles SPOOL codes into Prolog codes, is described. This paper considers optimizing compilation techniques for generating efficient codes which reduce not only number of accesses to the Prolog database, but also the dynamic method search. Internal representations of methods and states of objects are also presented so that the above techniques can be realized. Finally, this language processor is evaluated and compared with an earlier interpreter which we developed.
Individual versus end-to-end gain equalization in erbium-doped fiber amplifier chains: a comparison

Gain equalization of erbium-doped fiber amplifier (EDFAs) is an important problem in lightwave communication systems. We compare two approaches for gain equalization. The two strategies are compared quantitatively by considering power budget, received signal power and signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), and transmission distance. Relative performance is shown as a function of the number of amplifiers and the number of channels, we also consider relative technical advantages of implementing the two equalization schemes. It is shown that as number of channels increase, depending on the number of channels transmitted, the individual equalization scheme results in a 500 km-1000 km increase in transmission distance relative to the end/end equalization scheme at the expense of a more complex and expensive implementation. The results provide an insight into the relative merits of end/end versus individual electronic equalization strategies.
Evaluation of Official Western U.S. Seasonal Water Supply Outlooks, 1922–2002

Abstract An analysis was conducted of almost 5000 operational seasonal streamflow forecast errors across the western United States. These forecasts are for 29 unregulated rivers with diversity in geography and climate. Deterministic evaluations revealed strong correspondence between observations and forecasts issued 1 April. Forecasts issued earlier in the season were more uncertain yet remained skillful. The average change in forecast performance between January and April was primarily linked to the climatological seasonal cycle of precipitation: regions with climatologically wet winters and dry springs (e.g., California) showed much more forecast improvement between January and April than did regions with dry winters and wet springs (e.g., western Great Plains, Colorado Front Range). Other climatological factors played a secondary role; for example, mixed rain–snow basins in the Pacific Northwest did not show as significant an improvement in skill versus lead time as might otherwise be expected. Mixed t...
Stability of planar grasps

It is well established that all form closed grasps are stable. However, not all stable grasps are form closed, including many common and easily obtainable grasps. This is especially true in whole arm manipulators and multi-fingered hands where, in many cases, it is difficult or impossible to effect a form closed grasp. Thus it is necessary to establish a general framework for the determination of stability for any equilibrium grasp. In order to analyze the stability of grasps with multiple contacts, we first model the compliance at each contact. We develop expressions for the changes in contact forces as a function of the rigid body relative motion between the fingers and a grasped planar object. The stability of a grasp is shown to depend on the local curvature of the contacting bodies as well as the magnitude and arrangement of the contact forces. We then derive results providing simple criteria to determine the stability of almost any grasped planar object, including the special but important limiting case of rigid bodies where the contact compliance is zero. >
Seeking the 'Magis': A Pathway to Enhancing Civility in Higher Education

Despite growing international attention to the negative and long-term consequences of workplace bullying, it continues to expand in settings worldwide. Published literature highlights the troubling influence of bullying on well-being and productivity not only of targeted victims but also, bystanders and workplaces as wholes. A paucity of research addresses effective workplace bullying interventions. This paper describes the utility of the Jesuit notion of the magis in building an academic culture that can anticipate and forestall workplace bullying behaviors and that can serve to structure interventions in cases where bullying behaviors actually get a foothold.
Guest Editorial: Special Section on Biomedical Applications of Vibrational Spectroscopic Imaging

Vibrational spectroscopy is emerging as a new and important contrast principle for biomedical microscopic imaging. The applications of infrared and Raman spectroscopy are familiar to chemists, physicists and materials scientists and increasingly to biomedical scientists.
Ionic liquids—Conventional solvent mixtures, structurally different but dynamically similar

In more than one way pure ionic liquids (ILs) can be seen as mixtures. By definition they are comprised of cationic and anionic components and they also possess dual charge and apolar characteristics. We recently uncovered interesting dynamical behavior [Araque et al., J. Phys. Chem. B 119(23), 7015 (2015)] that can be ascribed to this duality. For small neutral solutes local friction can be high in certain regions and much lower in others. It is only reasonable to ask whether this interesting behavior is unique to ILs or is also common in certain conventional solvent mixtures such as dimethylsufoxide/glycerol for which the viscosity can be tuned to be similar. We make the case that the latter scenario is correct and that whereas viscous conventional solvent mixtures are structurally very different from ILs, dynamically they are not. From the perspective of a solute that is small, both ILs and viscous conventional solvent mixtures display frictionally stiff and soft regions associated with cage and jump diffusive regimes. In the case of ILs these are associated with charge-enhanced and charge-depleted liquid regions, whereas in the case of the conventional solvents by the distinct frictional properties of the two components.
Portable RK: a portable resource kernel for guaranteed and enforced timing behavior

Portable RK is a portable implementation of a resource kernel, a resource-centric approach to build a real-time kernel that provides explicit timely, guaranteed, and enforced access by applications to system resources. Portable RK is designed to work with widely available operating systems with minimal changes. This facilitates experimentation in familiar software environments and helps the faster deployment of research results. Execution in resource kernels is directly based on OS-enforced resource reservation. As a result, an application can request the reservation of a certain amount of a resource, and the kernel can guarantee that the requested amount is available to that application in timely fashion. We describe the design and implementation of Portable RK called Linux/RK that resides within the Linux kernel. The evaluation results show that Portable RK in the form of Linux/RK gives direct control over timely resource utilization by applications and that its overhead costs are small enough to be negligible.
The multi-functional aspect of scanning holographic microscopy: a review

Recent developments in scanning holographic microscopy that offer the prospects of new quantitative tools and imaging modalities in bio, micro, and nano sciences are reviewed. The versatility of the method is emphasized. Scanning holography can operate in an incoherent mode for fluorescence imaging, in a coherent mode for quantitative phase imaging, or in a tomographic mode for axial sectioning and rejection of the out-of-focus haze. Possible applications are illustrated with examples, and future prospects are discussed.
Neocentromeres and human artificial chromosomes: An unnatural act

In the beginning—even before the Human Genome Project—there were chromosomes. Notwithstanding their primary role in determining the transmission of genes and alleles during mitosis and meiosis and their clear relevance to major forms of human pathology such as cancer and birth defects, chromosomes in complex eukaryotic organisms remain relatively poorly understood. The molecular basis for functional chromosomal elements such as telomeres, origins of DNA replication and the centromere are under investigation in a host of organisms ranging from the unicellular yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae to humans. This task has been both complicated and motivated in part by the fascinating observation that the cellular, genomic, and molecular mechanisms of some of these functional elements are remarkably variable from organism to organism (1). Nowhere is this more evident than for the centromere, the chromosomal locus responsible for attachment of the chromosome to the mitotic and meiotic spindle apparatus and thus for segregation of chromosomes to daughter cells during cell division. Centromeres can be small, unitary elements (as in S. cerevisiae), localized repetitive elements stretching on for millions of base pairs (as in many plants and animals, including humans), or dispersed elements distributed along the length of the chromosome (as in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans) (1). And most recently, as illustrated by the paper of Saffery et al. (2) in this issue of PNAS, it has become apparent that, even in organisms characterized by a localized centromere, other chromosomal sequences that are located far away from the normal centromere and that normally have nothing to do with centromere function can fulfill the role of a centromere. These so-called “neocentromeres,” once formed, appear to behave functionally in all respects as if they are bona fide centromeres. A lingering debate in the field has been whether the existence of neocentromeres, especially in humans, implies the existence …
Noncompaction Cardiomyopathy in Children With Congenital Heart Disease: Evaluation Using Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance Imaging

Noncompaction of the left ventricle, a genetic cardiomyopathy with a reported incidence of 0.05% to 0.24%, can lead to sudden cardiac death, particularly among children, if left undetected. Because the diagnosis of isolated noncompaction cardiomyopathy (NCM) can be overlooked, its association with other congenital heart diseases (CHDs) makes the diagnosis of NCM even more difficult. This study aimed to assess the impact of NCM on the cardiovascular physiology of children with coexisting CHDs evaluated by cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging. A case-control study was performed with 12 children (6 patients with combined NCM and CHD and 6 control subjects with isolated CHD). The mean left ventricular end-diastolic and end-systolic volume indices were significantly higher in the CHD patients presenting with NCM than in the CHD patients with no NCM (P = 0.028). However, no differences were observed for right ventricular end-diastolic and end-systolic volume indices, biventricular ejection fractions, stroke volumes and indices, left ventricular wall thickness, left ventricular fractional shortening, cardiac output, or cardiac index. This study suggests that NCM in children with CHDs increases left ventricular volumes, and larger studies are required to demonstrate other changes (e.g., ejection fraction, stroke volume) that were close to being significant.
Anomalous beam diffusion near beam-beam synchrobetatron resonances

The diffusion process near low order synchrobetatron resonances driven by beam-beam interactions at a crossing angle is investigated. Macroscopic observables such as beam emittance, lifetime, and beam profiles are calculated. These are followed with detailed studies of microscopic quantities such as the evolution of the variance at several transverse amplitudes and single particle probability distribution functions. We present evidence to show that the observed diffusion is anomalous and the dynamics follows a non-Markovian continuous time random walk process. We derive a modified master equation to replace the Chapman-Kolmogorov equation in action-angle space and a fractional diffusion equation to describe the density evolution for this class of processes.
Ambient air and incinerator testing for chlorinated dibenzofurans and dioxins by low resolution mass spectrometry

Abstract Chlorinated dibenzofurans and dioxins were quantified in air samples collected every two weeks for six months at two locations in Niagara Falls, N.Y.
Abstract KN01-03: Keynote Address: Personalized targeted chemoprevention: Opportunities and challenges

Epithelial cancers are a major killer worldwide. The epithelial cancers develop by a multistep process through premalignant lesions to invasive cancer at multiple sites through a process of field carcinogenesis. Unfortunately, many chemoprevention trials conducted in various disease sites have failed to demonstrate any efficacy to prevent cancer other than hormone targeted prevention trials in breast and prostate cancers. Our group has demonstrated proof of principle of the efficacy of targeted chemopreventive agents in combination therapy reversing phenotypic changes of laryngeal premalignant lesions but observed persistent genotypic changes; thus, the obvious goal is the elimination of genetic scars to prevent cancer effectively. The human genome project was completed in 2001 and many new genes have been discovered which have been implicated in cancer in general. A major challenge is translating these gene discoveries to clinical benefit for both prevention and therapy. Now, the hallmarks of cancer have been elucidated and we have a better understanding of the interactions between cancer cells and microenvironment and are able to integrate signaling pathways leading to cancer progression. The other important challenge is identifying the highest risk cohort for primary and second primary cancers through clinical, epidemiologic, and genetic variables to create a risk model such that, ultimately, we can target this group with personalized targeted chemoprevention therapy. In order to achieve the goals above, we must understand fully the molecular and genetic fingerprints of premalignant lesions from different organ sites and the alteration of pathways which are the driving force of cancer progression. These pathways can be targeted and perturbed by agents matched to alter the molecular defects. Personalized targeted chemoprevention has enormous potential to make an impact from a public health point of view. To do this, we must first develop and validate the efficacy of personalized targeted therapy agents in metastatic settings, then migrate, in reverse fashion, into the early disease arena, such as the adjuvant setting, and then tackle premalignant lesions to eradicate aberrant clones and/or undermine clonal activity so that cancer can be either prevented or delayed. Citation Information: Cancer Prev Res 2010;3(1 Suppl):KN01-03.
Do mineral crystals stiffen bone by straitjacketing its collagen

Abstract Theories that assume that the collagen and the mineral of bone have the same properties in bone as they do when they are by themselves have difficulty in accounting for bone's tensile stiffness. The collagen fibers are long but stretchy: the apatite crystals are stiff enough, but too short to be effective tension carriers. In bone the mineral is so finely divided that each collagen molecule may have a mineral crystal next to it. It is proposed that collagen is the prime tension carrier in bone, and that via short molecular struts the mineral crystals prevent the naturally kinky collagen molecules from straightening under tensile stress, which greatly increases the collagen's tensile stiffness.
Increased rat femur osteocalcin mRNA concentrations following in vivo administration of thyroid hormone.

Thyroid hormone has a direct resorptive effect on bone. Thyroid hormone therapy in doses that suppress pituitary TSH production result in a reduction in bone density. Osteocalcin is a bone matrix protein. Serum levels are a sensitive marker for bone turnover and are increased in hyperthyroid patients. In order to establish an animal model to study the effects of thyroid hormone on bone turnover, we measured rat femur osteocalcin mRNA following in vivo administration of thyroid hormone. Young CD rats weighing 60–90 g were given daily ip injections of T3, T4, or saline (control) for 12 days. Blood was obtained for radioimmunoassays, and RNA was extracted from femurs and analyzed by Northern blot using a 60-mer synthetic oligonucleotide probe corresponding to bases 360–420 of rat osteocalcin mRNA, labeled with [32P] ATP by 5′-endlabeling. Serum TSH concentrations were suppressed to subnormal levels by the lowest doses of T3 and T4, and to undetectable levels by the higher doses. Increases in serum T3 and T4 concentrations were proportional to the dose of each administered hormone. T3, 5 and 10 µg/100 g body weight, resulted in a 43% and 62% increase in osteocalcin mRNA, respectively. T4, 5, 10, and 20 µg/100 g body weight, resulted in a 35%, 47%, and 135% increase in osteocalcin mRNA, respectively. These data demonstrate that in vivo administration of either T4 or T3 to young rats results in a significant dose-dependent increase in femur osteocalcin mRNA concentrations.
Effect of papain treatment on phenylalanine transport in rabbit ileum.

Abstract The unidirectional influx of phenylalanine across the mucosal brush border of rabbit ileum is reduced by pretreatment with papain. Phenylalanine influx is reduced to 10–15% of the control value by 60–90 minutes of preincubation with papain. Pretreatment with protease from Streptomyces griseus has no effect on phenylalanine influx. Kinetic analysis of the effect of papain indicates that the maximum velocity is reduced with little change in the apparent Michaelis-constant for phenylalanine. The data suggest that papain attacks a membrane protein required for transport. This protein is unaffected by protease which indicates the susceptible region of the protein is shielded by the membrane or inaccessible to protease.
Modular verification of higher-order methods with mandatory calls specified by model programs

What we call a''higher-order method" (HOM) is a method that makes mandatory calls to other dynamically-dispatched methods. Examples include template methods as in the Template method design pattern and notify methods in the Observer pattern. HOMs are particularly difficult to reason about, because standard pre- and postcondition specifications cannot describe the mandatory calls. For reasoning about such methods, existing approaches use either higher order logic or traces, but both are complex and verbose. We describe a simple, concise, and modular approach to specifying HOMs We show how to verify calls to HOMs and their code using first-order verification conditions, in asound and modular way. Verification of client code that calls HOMs can take advantage of the client's knowledge about the mandatory calls to make strong conclusions. Our verification technique validates and explains traditional documentation practice for HOMs, which typically shows their code. However, specifications do not have to expose all of the code to clients, but only enough to determine how the HOM makes its mandatory calls.
Man-Robot Symbiosis: A Framework For Cooperative Intelligence And Control

The man-robot symbiosis concept has the fundamental objective of bridging the gap between fully human-controlled and fully autonomous systems to achieve true man-robot cooperative control and intelligence. Such a system would allow improved speed, accuracy, and efficiency of task execution, while retaining the man in the loop for innovative reasoning and decision-making. The symbiont would have capabilities for supervised and unsupervised learning, allowing an increase of expertise in a wide task domain. This paper describes a robotic system architecture facilitating the symbiotic integration of teleoperative and automated modes of task execution. The architecture reflects a unique blend of many disciplines of artificial intelligence into a working system, including job or mission planning, dynamic task allocation, man-robot communication, automated monitoring, and machine learning. These disciplines are embodied in five major components of the symbiotic framework: the Job Planner, the Dynamic Task Allocator, the Presenter/Interpreter, the Automated Monitor, and the Learning System.
Semiautomatic brain morphometry from CT images

Fast, accurate, and reproducible volume estimation is vital to the diagnosis, treatment, and evaluation of many medical situations. We present the development and application of a semi-automatic method for estimating volumes of normal and abnormal brain tissues from computed tomography images. This method does not require manual drawing of the tissue boundaries. It is therefore expected to be faster and more reproducible than conventional methods. The steps of the new method are as follows. (1) The intracranial brain volume is segmented from the skull and background using thresholding and morphological operations. (2) The additive noise is suppressed (the image is restored) using a non-linear edge-preserving filter which preserves partial volume information on average. (3) The histogram of the resulting low-noise image is generated and the dominant peak is removed from it using a Gaussian model. (4) Minima and maxima of the resulting histogram are identified and using a minimum error criterion, the brain is segmented into the normal tissues (white matter and gray matter), cerebrospinal fluid, and lesions, if present. (5) Previous steps are repeated for each slice through the brain and the volume of each tissue type is estimated from the results. Details and significance of each step are explained. Experimental results using a simulation, a phantom, and selected clinical cases are presented.© (1994) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
Disturbances of wound healing

Wound healing disturbances can be systemic or local. Systemic disturbances at this point can be diagnosed but not necessarily treated. In the future, these disturbances may be reversed with a specific drug. More importantly, local factors responsible for most of the disturbances in wound healing seen in the emergency department are often under the control of the physician. These can be diagnosed and, frequently, corrected.
Diagnostic Utility of Gene Expression Profiles.

Two crucial problems arise from a microarray experiment in which the primary objective is to locate differentially expressed genes for the diagnosis of diseases such as cancer and Alzheimer’s. The first problem is the detection of a subset of genes which provides an optimum discriminatory power between diseased and normal subjects, and the second problem is the statistical estimation of discriminatory power from the optimum subset of genes between two groups of subjects. We develop a new method to select an optimum subset of discriminatory genes by searching over possible linear combinations of gene expression profiles and locating the one which provides the maximum discriminatory power between two sources of RNA as measured by the area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve. We further provide an estimate to the optimum discriminatory power between the diseased and the healthy subjects over the selected subsets of genes. The proposed stepwise approach takes in account of the gene-to-gene correlations in the estimation of discriminating power as well as the associated variability and allows the number of genes to be selected based on the increment of the discriminating power. Finally, the proposed methodology is applied to a benchmark microarray experiment and compared to the results obtained through existing approaches in the literature.
Skyrme force and the mass formula

Abstract Coefficients of the mass formula related to the property of the nuclear surface are calculated from the Skyrme forces SII, SIII and SV defined by the Orsay group. Comparing with Myers' mass formula parameters, it is found that the effective stiffness Q for separation of the neutron and proton surfaces is too large by a factor of about two for SIII. The discrepancy can also be stated by saying that the surface symmetry energy calculated from SIII is too small, and related to this is a too thin neutron skin for N > Z nuclei. The SV force gives a much too small value for Q . The SII force, with a repulsive term somewhere intermediate between SIII and SV gives a better value for Q . The strong density dependence of SIII is needed, however, to give good single-particle spectra (or the effective mass large enough). The SIII force has a density dependence between unlike nucleons only (between neutrons and protons). In this paper we modify the Skyrme force so as to allow for a density dependence also between like nucleons. A many-body theoretical justification for this modification is given in the paper. The mass formula parameter Q is reproduced with our new force maintaining a sufficiently strong density dependence. The neutron skin thickness is increased and the 40 Ca- 48 Ca isotope shift of the charge radius is also well reproduced with this new force. A change of the density dependence from a linear to a one-third power dependence improves the agreement with the compressibility, and also affects the neutron-proton distributions in the surface.
Why do we lack an effective vaccine against herpes simplex virus infections

This review discusses the possible causes for the lack of an effective antiherpes vaccine. Future prospects of vaccines based on the current knowledge of immune responses to herpes viruses are discussed. It is argued that vaccines capable of expanding CD8 T-cell memory responses should be the focus of future anti-herpes simplex virus research.
Orientation and rheology of rodlike particles with strong Brownian diffusion in a second-order fluid under simple shear flow

Abstract An analysis of orientation in a dilute suspension of rodlike macromolecules in a second-order fluid is presented and the effect of the elasticity of the fluid on the orientation of the suspended particles is examined. Distributions of particle orientation under a simple shear flow have been obtained for small β where β is the ratio of the intrinsic relaxation time of the fluid to the rotational relaxation time of the particle, the latter being inversely proportional to the Brownian rotation diffusion coefficient Dr of the particle. The parameter β represents also the ratio of the Weissenberg number of the fluid to the non-dimensional shear rate, g/Dr. An expression of the stress tensor of the suspension is derived and used in conjuntion with the orientation distribution to obtain the rheological properties of the mixture subjected to a simple shear.
Sequential and Concurrent Auction Mechanisms for Dynamic Spectrum Access

With the ever growing demands for spectrum, authorities (e.g., FCC in United States) are defining ways that allow reallocation of spectrum bands that are under-utilized. In this regard, FCC made provisions to open under-utilized bands for both licensed and unlicensed services. A new paradigm called dynamic spectrum access (DSA) is being investigated that would allow wireless service providers (WSPs) to dynamically seek more spectrum when and where they need without interfering with the primary users. Currently, there is little understanding on how such a dynamic allocation of spectrum will operate so as to make the system feasible under economic terms. In this paper, we analyze the dynamic spectrum allocation process from an auction theoretic point of view where n WSPs (bidders) compete to acquire necessary spectrum band from a pool of m (n ≫ m) spectrum chunks. For the purpose of self-coexistence, each of the WSPs is granted at most one chunk of spectrum to minimize interference among themselves and with licensed services. In this regard, we investigate both sequential and concurrent auction mechanisms to find WSPs' optimal price bid and compare both the auction mechanisms in terms of revenue generated. We show that sequential auction is a better mechanism for DSA.
An American Management Training Model in a Latin American Context: Some Implications for International Business Consultants.

Abstract This paper evaluates an American management training program within a Latin American context. The efficacy of using exported pre-packaged training materials within a different cultural realm is explored through the use of a management training case study from rural Nicaragua. The implications for international business consultants facilitating training sessions abroad are examined and the preliminary findings suggest that exported management training programs ought to be modified to the Latin American environment to be most effective.
Statistical approach to growth of single crystals of GaSb by horizontal growing techniques

Abstract Several variables, considered to be of importance in the process of crystal growing, were tested statistically using a four factor two level (2 4 ) factorial design. The experimental and analytical techniques employed to investigate the crystal growing process are described. Then, the mathematical model and the actual conditions required to grow single crystal GaSb are presented.
Faddeev-type coupled equations

Abstract The application of the Faddeev-type coupled equations in atomic problems has not so far produced any substantially new results nor solved any new problems. The reason for this lack of new progress is discussed. A review of new attempts and new procedures is presented.
A Gifted Child’s Education Requires Real Dialogue: The Use of Interactive Writing for Collaborative Education

This paper reports the findings of two studies which compared the responses to using dialogue journals by teachers of the gifted and talented and their students. The purpose of this research was to...
Hypothermia, hypoglycemia, and hypothyrosis associated with poult enteritis and mortality syndrome

Abstract A metabolic dysfunction contributes to the poor performance and mortality associated with Poult Enteritis and Mortality Syndrome (PEMS). Within 2 d after contact-exposed poults were removed from the presence of PEMS-infected poults and returned to their respective treatment rooms to infect experimental poults, the experimental poults began to huddle together and show signs of the disease. When separated from the huddle, body temperatures of exposure poults were depressed significantly. Body temperatures decreased progressively through 8 d after exposure with a maximum depression of 2 C and returned to a normal level at 18 d after PEMS exposure. Similar decreasing patterns in serum glucose, inorganic phosphorus, triiodothyronine, and thyroxine were observed, with maximum decreases in these serum constituents being found between 8 and 13 d after PEMS exposure. There were significant correlations among decreasing body temperatures, decreasing serum constituents, and mortality in the PEMS-exposed poults. Daily mortality rates associated with PEMS began at 6 d and peaked at 9 d after PEMS exposure. Mortality rates decreased from 9 to 15 d after experimental PEMS exposure. Depressions in serum constituents, body temperature, and increased mortality rates did not coincide with decreased feed intake associated with PEMS. Therefore, it was concluded that the agent(s) causing PEMS may have a direct effect on energy metabolism in afflicted poults.
Pulmonary transplantation for advanced bronchioloalveolar carcinoma

Abstract Background: No effective therapy is currently available for the diffuse stage of bronchioloalveolar carcinoma. Objective: We tested the hypothesis that total lung replacement with standard lung transplantation techniques would provide curative therapy. Methods: Nine patients aged 31 to 58 years with bronchioloalveolar carcinoma were entered in the study. Five patients initially had bilateral diffuse tumor. Four patients had recurrence in the contralateral lung after pulmonary resection. Results: Between 1993 and 1998, all 9 patients underwent transplantation (2 single-lung and 7 bilateral transplants, 1 reoperative single-lung transplant, and 1 reoperative bilateral transplant). Two patients had mediastinal node metastasis (level 7) at the time of transplantation, and 1 of these had a frankly invasive adenocarcinoma. Of the 8 patients with pure bronchioloalveolar carcinoma, 6 had recurrent pulmonary tumor after transplantation. In 2 of these patients the tumor was localized and could be resected with left lower lobectomy in one case and left pneumonectomy in the other. One is alive 89 months after transplantation; the other died 82 months after transplantation. Four other patients had a diffuse pattern of pulmonary recurrence. Two died of progressive pulmonary failure; 1 of these had retransplantation with recurrence. A third patient died of cerebral edema shortly after bilateral retransplantation. The other patient is alive with recurrence 39 months after transplantation and has bronchiolitis obliterans. Two patients without recurrence are well with unrestricted performance levels 87 and 76 months after transplantation. Conclusions: Transplantation produces a powerful palliative outcome in patients with advanced bronchioloalveolar carcinoma, but the recurrence rate is high. Transplantation for this indication remains controversial. J Thorac Cardiovasc Surg 2003;125:45-8
Performance comparison of different compact NIR fluorescent imaging systems with goggle display for intraoperative image-guidance

Near-infrared (NIR) fluorescent imaging system has been widely used for intraoperative image-guided application. In this paper, we present performance comparison from three compact NIR fluorescence imaging system prototypes with goggle display that we developed for intraoperative guidance: threshold detection based two camera system, feature matching based three cameras system and miniature beam-splitter single camera system. Their performance is evaluated according to sensitivity regarding different ICG concentrations, accuracy of image overlay between NIR-visible channels, compactness and practicability in intraoperative use. The comparison results show great potentials of using these NIR fluorescence imaging systems to improve user experience and surgical outcomes in intraoperative use.
General Brönsted Acid Behavior of Porous Silicon: A Mechanistic Evaluation of Proton-Gated Quenching of Photoemission from Oxide-Coated Porous Silicon

Photoinduced visible light emission from porous silicon can be reversibly quenched by a wide variety of chemical species. The growth of a thin layer of oxide on the porous silicon surface disrupts ...
Metabolism of Genistein by Rat and Human Cytochrome P450s

The metabolism of genistein (4‘,5,7-trihydroxyisoflavone), a phytoestrogen derived from soy products, was investigated using rat and human liver microsomes and recombinant human cytochrome P450 enzymes. Metabolism of genistein by microsomes obtained from rats treated with pyridine, phenobarbital, β-naphthoflavone, isosafrole, pregnenolone-16α-carbonitrile, or 3-methylcholanthrene resulted in very different product profiles consisting of five different NADPH- and time-dependent metabolites as observed by HPLC reverse-phase analysis at 260 nm. The metabolism of genistein was also investigated with recombinant human cytochrome P450 1A1, 1A2, 1B1, 2B6, 2C8, 2E1, or 3A4. P450s 1A1, 1A2, 1B1, and 2E1 metabolized genistein to form predominantly one product (peak 3) with smaller amounts of peaks 1 and 2. P450 3A4 produced two different products (peaks 4 and 5). Product peaks 1−3 eluted off the HPLC column prior to the parent compound genistein, and the UV/vis spectra, GC/MS, and ESI/MS/MS analyses support the con...
Human-automated path planning optimization and decision support

Path planning is a problem encountered in multiple domains, including unmanned vehicle control, air traffic control, and future exploration missions to the Moon and Mars. Due to the voluminous and complex nature of the data, path planning in such demanding environments requires the use of automated planners. In order to better understand how to support human operators in the task of path planning with computer aids, an experiment was conducted with a prototype path planner under various conditions to assess the effect on operator performance. Participants were asked to create and optimize paths based on increasingly complex path cost functions, using different map visualizations including a novel visualization based on a numerical potential field algorithm. They also planned paths under degraded automation conditions. Participants exhibited two types of analysis strategies, which were global path regeneration and local sensitivity analysis. No main effect due to visualization was detected, but results indicated that the type of optimizing cost function affected performance, as measured by metabolic costs, sun position, path distance, and task time. Unexpectedly, participants were able to better optimize more complex cost functions as compared to a simple time-based cost function.
Differential response of pineal melatonin levels to light at night in laboratory-raised and wild-captured 13-lined ground squirrels (Spermophilus Tridecemlineatus)

Pineal melatonin levels were compared in laboratory-raised or wild-captured 13-lined ground squirrels (Spermophilus tridecemlineatus) that were either exposed to 10 h of darkness at night or to light which had an irradiance of 400 microW/cm2. In laboratory-born squirrels the period of darkness was associated with a gradual rise in pineal melatonin levels with peak values being reached at 0200 h, 6 h after darkness onset. Thereafter, melatonin levels decreased and were back to low daytime levels by 0800 h, 2 h after light onset. The exposure of laboratory-raised animals to an irradiance of 400 microW/cm2 during the night totally prevented the nocturnal rise in pineal melatonin levels in these animals. In wild-captured ground squirrels the period of darkness at night was associated with a rapid rise in pineal melatonin such that by 2200 h, 2 h after lights out, peak melatonin values were already attained; additionally, melatonin levels remained high throughout the period of darkness but returned to daytime values by 0800 h. Exposure of wild-captured squirrels to a light irradiance of 400 microW/cm2 during the normal dark period was completely incapable of suppressing pineal melatonin levels. The difference in the sensitivity of the pineal gland of laboratory-raised and wild-captured ground squirrels may relate to their previous lighting history.
Reduction of inoculum of Rhizoctonia solani in soil by germlings of Trichoderma hamatum

Abstract Three- and 8-day-old inoculum of Trichoderma hamatum (TRI-4), consisting of young, actively-growing hyphae on bran, reduced survival of Rhizoctonia solani in infested beet seed by about 90% during the first week of incubation and prevented growth of the pathogen from beet seed into soil. The 3-day-old inoculum is considered a germling preparation. An older preparation (40-day-old), which did not contain growing hyphae, or conidia on bran (0-day-old) did not reduce survival or growth of R. solani even after 3 weeks of incubation. A 15-day-old preparation reduced survival about 50%. Addition of germlings to soil at a rate of 0.13% reduced pathogen survival and growth as effectively as a 1% rate after 3–6 weeks of incubation. There was nearly complete reduction (>90%) in survival when germlings were added to soil at the same time as seed infested with R. solani or 1 week later; a 50% reduction in survival when added 2 or 4 weeks after R. solani, and no reduction when added to soil 1, 2 or 4 weeks before the pathogen. Saprophytic growth was generally prevented by germlings except if they were added 2 or 4 weeks before the infested beet seed. Isolate TRI-4 rapidly grew from the bran into soil and within 2 days it penetrated and attacked R. solani embedded in beet seed so that pathogen survival dropped to about 20% and the population of TRI-4 proliferated within the seed. Germlings of TRI-4 reduced survival (>90%) and growth (>50%) of several isolates of R. solani in a loamy sand. Survival and growth of R. solani isolate R-23, was reduced more than 90% in seven different soil types within 1 week of incubation. Germlings reduced pathogen survival under all conditions of temperature, moisture and pH studied except under high moisture at 32°C. The greatest reduction (91–100%) was observed at all soil moisture levels at 15° and 23°C and at pH 5.0 and 6.4.
The doubly hindered 7,11-dicis, 7,9,11-tricis, 7,11,13-tricis and all-cis isomers of retinonitrile and retinal☆

Abstract Reaction of a modified C-5 phosphonate with 7-cis-C15-aldehyde provided the doubly hindered 7-cis,11-cis-retinal and a smaller amount of the hitherto unknown 7-cis,11-cis,l3-cis-retinal which readily rearranged to the 7,13-dicis isomer. Properties of these and the 7,9,11-tricis and the all-cis isomers are reported. Molecular mechanics calculation was used to verify possible application of the proposed consecutive 6e electrocyclization mechanism for rearrangement of 7-cis,11-cis,13-cis- and all-cis-retinals. v#51b11p3768b
Preliminary Design Analysis of Dynamic Airspace Super Sectors DASS

Current air traffic demand has challenged the capability of the outdated National Airspace System (NAS) structure. Airport and passenger delays have hit their highest levels in recent years. An analysis of historical data has shown that of the daily NAS operations, 33% occur between several high density city pairs. Dynamic Airspace Super Sectors (DASS) propose to structure common flight paths/ribbons connecting the highest demand city pairs, which experience greater than 60 flights per day. These high occupancy ribbons would provide a more manageable traffic flow between these cities to reduce congestion and air traffic controller (ATC) workload. Data collected from the modeling and simulation of a ribbon will be used to evaluate DASS as a potential alternative to the current NAS structure. Modeling of the ribbon dimension and structure as relates to throughput of the system and ATC workload will be simulated with Total Airport & Airspace Modeler (TAAM). The effect of on and off ramps on the ribbon design will be modeled with Arena. Preliminary system analysis has shown that a primary consideration for DASS is the technological upgrades to both aircraft and air traffic controller systems which will be necessary for DASS to be an effective alternative. The technological infrastructure, in conjunction with operational performance analysis, will be the basis for our final recommendations.
Performance characteristics of a thermal energy storage module - A transient PCM/forced convection conjugate analysis

The performance of a thermal energy storage module is simulated numerically. The change of phase of the phase-change material (PCM) and the transient forced convective heat transfer for the transfer fluid with low Prandtl numbers are solved simultaneously as a conjugate problem. A parametric study and a system optimization are conducted. The numerical results show that module geometry is crucial to the design of a space-based thermal energy storage system.
CO adsorption on Pt clusters supported on graphite

Abstract Density functional theory calculations are used to characterize the influence of the nanoparticle–substrate interaction on CO adsorption in various Pt cluster sizes. Adsorption energies are evaluated on different sites of clusters supported on graphite and on unsupported clusters. Charge transfer and density of states are examined in order to determine the influence of the support on the cluster electronic properties. In comparison with adsorption on substrate-free cluster, we find weaker CO adsorption energy when CO is adsorbed on top of the cluster and stronger adsorption energy when CO is adsorbed on sites near the surface. The substrate has a larger influence on CO adsorption in sub-nanometer clusters; however some effect is detected in a 1 nm-diameter cluster. The graphite support has the capacity to accept electrons from the deposited cluster, but can donate electrons when the cluster adsorbs CO. The density of states of the CO molecule when it is adsorbed on clusters with different carbon substrates shows particular features that reveal the capacity of the support to influence CO adsorption.
Comparison of neuronal and hemodynamic measures of the brain response to visual stimulation: an optical imaging study.

The noninvasive mapping of hemodynamic brain activity has led to significant advances in neuroimaging. This approach is based in part on the assumption that hemodynamic changes are proportional to (and therefore constitute a linear measure of) neuronal activity. We report a study investigating the quantitative relationship between neuronal and hemodynamic measures. This study exploited the fact that optical imaging methods can simultaneously provide noninvasive measures of neuronal and hemodynamic activity from the same region of the brain. We manipulated visual stimulation frequency and measured responses from the medial occipital area of 8 young adults. The results were consistent with a model postulating a linear relationship between the neuronal activity integrated over time and the amplitude of the hemodynamic response. The hemodynamic response colocalized with the neuronal response. These data support the use of quantitative neuroimaging methods to infer the intensity and localization of neuronal activity in occipital areas.