cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Psychology in the Community: Project Self-Esteem.

Summary.-This article describes the development of Project Self-esteem, a unique psychoeducational program in progress in three elementary schools in Pittsburgh's black communities. The article illusuates some ways in which psychologists have participated in and contcibuted to programs in ghettoized communities. Project Self-esteem is a community-research project designed to investigate two questions; these are: (1) to explore the extent to which community resources can be mobilized in support of a project aimed at enhancing the selfesteem of black children and (2) to determine the effects of such a project on the self-esteem of the children who participate in it. The project involves ap proximately 250 black children who are simultaneously participating in three programs, namely, three classes per week in Black music, art, and dance in the public schools, weekly after-school programs of Black music, art, dance, and other activities which allow for interaction with "Life Models," and field trips to work settings selected so as to provide interaction with black "Work Models." Each child is in the project for 2 yr., beginning with the fifth grade and extending through the sixth grade. A number of psychometric measures which assess selfesteem, goals and related behavior are taken prior to the beginning of the project, at the completion of one year in the project, and at the end of the sixth grade; further, a follow-up study will be carried out during the first year of junior high school to assess effects on adjustment to junior high school. The children in the project are to be compared on the psychometric measures with a comparable control group who are nor involved in the project. The roles of sex, socioeconomic status, public assistance record, and family structure will be taken into account in the analysis of the data. Initial Dwelopment The idea for Project Self-esteem originated within the black community late in 1966. The definition of its own needs by members of the community, it has been easy to observe, has been the sine qua non of the successful development of this community-based project. The community problem to which this project was addressed was one of concern to black parents and one of long standing, that is, that black children receive little or no exposure through formal, institutionalized procedures to the roles of black people in United States history or to their 'This research is supported by Research Grant MH 14366 from the National Institute of Mental Health. Additional support is also provided by the Pittsburgh Foundation, the Howacd Heinz Endowment, and the A. W. Mellon Educational and Charitable Trust.
Dissociation of histone and DNA synthesis in x-irradiated HeLa cells.

Abstract Although histone synthesis and DNA synthesis are normally very well coordinated in HeLa cells, their histone synthesis proved relatively resistant to inhibition by ionizing radiation. During the first 24 h after 1 000 R the rate of cellular DNA synthesis progressively fell to small fractions of control values while histone synthesis continued with much less relative reduction. Acrylamide gel electropherograms of the acid soluble nuclear histones synthesized by irradiated HeLa cells were qualitatively normal.
Dynamics of li-carbon and carbon solids

Abstract Neutron scattering methods have been used to measure vibrational densities of states (VDOS) for a variety of carbon solids, including diamond, graphite, glassy carbon, C60 and a sputtered amorphous carbon sample. While glassy carbon has a VDOS very similar to that of graphite, a very different, almost featureless, spectrum was obtained in the case of sputtered a-C. Li-graphite intercalation compounds have also been studied in an experiment to investigate the dependence of shear properties on the concentration and degree of order in the Li substructure.
SEASONED EQUITY OFFERINGS FOR NEW INVESTMENT AND THE INFORMATION CONTENT OF INSIDER TRADES

Significant negative valuation effects are widely acknowledged for firms announcing seasoned equity offerings. This result is consistent with theoretical models linking new equity issues to increased adverse-selection costs, lower management ownership in the firm, misuse of free cash flow, or expectations for earnings declines. Also increasingly evident, insiders trade around corporate announcements. We test the hypothesis that insider trading and announcements of new equity issues serve as joint signals in the market's evaluation of prospective capital investment projects. Our findings are consistent with the hypothesis that insider trading is related to market reaction to announcements of new equity issues.
Mechanism of coupled folding and binding of an intrinsically disordered protein

Protein folding and binding are analogous processes, in which the protein 'searches' for favourable intramolecular or intermolecular interactions on a funnelled energy landscape. Many eukaryotic proteins are disordered under physiological conditions, and fold into ordered structures only on binding to their cellular targets. The mechanism by which folding is coupled to binding is poorly understood, but it has been hypothesized on theoretical grounds that the binding kinetics may be enhanced by a 'fly-casting' effect, where the disordered protein binds weakly and non-specifically to its target and folds as it approaches the cognate binding site. Here we show, using NMR titrations and (15)N relaxation dispersion, that the phosphorylated kinase inducible activation domain (pKID) of the transcription factor CREB forms an ensemble of transient encounter complexes on binding to the KIX domain of the CREB binding protein. The encounter complexes are stabilized primarily by non-specific hydrophobic contacts, and evolve by way of an intermediate to the fully bound state without dissociation from KIX. The carboxy-terminal helix of pKID is only partially folded in the intermediate, and becomes stabilized by intermolecular interactions formed in the final bound state. Future applications of our method will provide new understanding of the molecular mechanisms by which intrinsically disordered proteins perform their diverse biological functions.
Stabilization policy in a currency union

Abstract We show that the monetary authority of a currency union chooses to ‘do nothing’ in the face of an asymmetric shock, generating inefficiently high inflation and employment fluctuations in the member countries. Moreover, adjustment is equivalent to that under a ‘McKinnon rule’.
Fbw7-dependent cyclin E regulation ensures terminal maturation of bone marrow erythroid cells by restraining oxidative metabolism

The mechanisms that coordinate the final mitotic divisions of terminally differentiated bone marrow (BM) erythroid cells with components of their structural and functional maturation program remain largely undefined. We previously identified phenotypes resembling those found in early-stage myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS), including ineffective erythropoiesis, morphologic dysplasia and BM hyper-cellularity, in a knock-in mouse model in which cyclin E mutations were introduced at its two Cdc4 phosphodegrons (CPDs) to ablate Fbw7-dependent ubiquitination and degradation. Here, we have examined the physiologic consequences of cyclin E dysregulation in BM erythroid cells during terminal maturation in vivo. We found that cyclin E protein levels in BM erythroid cells are dynamically regulated in a CPD-dependent manner and that disruption of Fbw7-dependent cyclin E regulation impairs terminal erythroid cell maturation at a discrete stage before enucleation. At this stage of erythroid cell maturation, CPD phosphorylation of cyclin E regulates both cell-cycle arrest and survival. We also found that normal regulation of cyclin E restrains mitochondrial reactive oxygen species (ROS) accumulation and expression of genes that promote mitochondrial biogenesis and oxidative metabolism during terminal erythroid maturation. In the setting of dysregulated cyclin E expression, p53 is activated in BM erythroid cells as part of a DNA damage response-type pathway, which mitigates ineffective erythropoiesis, in contrast to the role of p53 induction in other models of dyserythropoiesis. Finally, cyclin E dysregulation and ROS accumulation induce histone H3 lysine 9 hyper-methylation and disrupt components of the normal terminal erythroid maturation gene expression program. Thus, ubiquitin-proteasome pathway control of G1-to-S-phase progression is intrinsically linked to regulation of metabolism and gene expression in terminally differentiating BM erythroid cells.
An application of randomly truncated data models in reserving IBNR claims

Abstract A compound Poisson model of IBNR claims is considered and methods of statistical inference under this model using the techniques well known from the analysis of survival time data are investigated. It is shown that the results on statistical analysis of non-parametric model for randomly truncated data can be used to obtain a simple estimate of IBNR claims which, among other things, allows for easy construction of confidence bounds.
Tumors Change the Elastic and Viscoelastic Properties of Draining Lymph Node Tissues

Changes in tissue mechanical properties are often the first indication of malignant disease, with the detection of a stiff lump by a patient. These changes include growth-induced solid stresses, increased matrix stiffness, high fluid pressure, and increased interstitial flow, which in turn enhance fluid flux away from the tumor to downstream lymph nodes (LNs). But in addition to changing the way a tumor feels to a patient, altered tumor tissue mechanics promote cancer cell invasion into lymphatic vessels, allowing their metastatic dissemination to draining LNs. LN swelling and stiffening is another common indicator of tumor growth, and the presence of metastatic cells in the sentinel LN, or tumor draining lymph node (TDLN), is used clinically to stage disease. Recent studies indicate the LN microenvironment determines whether metastatic cancers can spread to the sentinel LNs. Yet despite the known correlation of LN swelling and stiffening with tumorigenesis and the role of the LN microenvironment in metastasis, our understanding of how changes in LN mechanical properties relate to tumor progression, anti-tumor immune response and metastatic colonization of the LN is limited. This lack of a quantitative understanding limits functional analyses of the role of LN mechanics in determining cancer cell colonization of the TDLN, their influence on immune suppression taking place within the TDLN, as well as the development of strategies to mitigate these effects.Copyright © 2013 by ASME
A programming model for resilience in extreme scale computing

System resilience is an important challenge that needs to be addressed in the era of extreme scale computing. Exascale supercomputers will be architected using millions of processor cores and memory modules. As process technology scales, the reliability of such systems will be challenged by the inherent unreliability of individual components due to extremely small transistor geometries, variability in silicon manufacturing processes, device aging, etc. Therefore, errors and failures in extreme scale systems will increasingly be the norm rather than the exception. Not all errors detected warrant catastrophic system failure, but there are presently no mechanisms for the programmer to communicate their knowledge of algorithmic fault tolerance to the system. We present a programming model approach for system resilience that allows programmers to explicitly express their fault tolerance knowledge. We propose novel resilience oriented programming model extensions and programming directives, and illustrate their effectiveness. An inference engine leverages this information and combines it with runtime gathered context to increase the dependability of HPC systems.
Silencing of filamin A gene expression inhibits Ca2+-sensing receptor signaling

Filamin plays an important role in actin cytoskeleton organization, membrane stabilization, and anchoring of transmembrane proteins. Using short interfering RNA (siRNA) to selectively target the filamin A gene and silence its expression, we studied the role of filamin A in G protein coupled receptor (GPCR) signaling. Silencing of filamin A protein expression was determined by immunoblotting and immunofluorescence. Functional consequences of filamin A gene silencing were measured by studying its role in MAPK signaling pathways activated by the Ca2+-sensing receptor. This work defines filamin A involvement in GPCR signaling pathways and describes an additional method for studying its function.
Catalysis of carcinogen-detoxification by DNA: comparison of enantiomeric diol epoxides.

Summary The interactions of the (+)- and (-)-enantiomers of 7r,8t-dihydroxy-9t, 10t-oxy-7,8,9,10-tetrahydrobenzo[a]pyrene (BPDE-I) with purified DNA have been studied in vitro. These compounds are formed by cellular metabolism of the potent environmental carcinogen benzo[a]pyrene, and the (+)-enantiomer is thought to be the ultimate carcinogenic metabolite. Noncovalent, intercalative binding was measured spectrophotometrically, hydroysis was measured spectrofluorometrically and covalent binding was detected by liquid scintillation counting. No significant differences were found in the association constants for intercalative binding or in the ability of DNA to catalyse the hydrolysis of the two enantiomers. Covalent DNA binding was 4.5-fold higher for the (+)-enantiomer. When DNA was pretreated with a molar equivalent of the (-)-enantiomer, its subsequent ability to enhance the rate of BPDE-I hydrolysis and to bind covalently to (+)-BPDE-I was unimpaired. This suggests that the participation of the DNA in the hydrolysis reaction does not alter the DNA and therefore that the rateenhancement is true catalysis.
Reduced Expression of Dentin Sialophosphoprotein Is Associated with Dysplastic Dentin in Mice Overexpressing Transforming Growth Factor-β1 in Teeth

Transforming growth factor (TGF)-β1 is expressed in developing tooth from the initiation stage through adulthood. Odontoblast-specific expression of TGF-β1 in the tooth continues throughout life; however, the precise biological functions of this growth factor in the odontoblasts are not clearly understood. Herein, we describe the generation of transgenic mice that overexpress active TGF-β1 predominantly in the odontoblasts. Teeth of these mice show a significant reduction in the tooth mineralization, defective dentin formation, and a relatively high branching of dentinal tubules. Dentin extracellular matrix components such as type I and III collagens are increased and deposited abnormally in the dental pulp, similar to the hereditary human tooth disorders such as dentin dysplasia and dentinogenesis imperfecta. Calcium, one of the crucial inorganic components of mineralization, is also apparently increased in the transgenic mouse teeth. Most importantly, the expression of dentin sialophosphoprotein (dspp), a candidate gene implicated in dentinogenesis imperfecta II (MIM 125420), is significantly down-regulated in the transgenic teeth. Our results provide in vivo evidence suggesting that TGF-β1 mediated expression ofdspp is crucial for dentin mineralization. These findings also provide for the first time a direct experimental evidence indicating that decreased dspp gene expression along with the other cellular changes in odontoblasts may result in human hereditary dental disorders like dentinogenesis imperfecta II (MIM 125420) and dentin dysplasia (MIM 125400 and 125420).
Teacher educations responsibility to address diversity issues: Enhancing institutional capacity

(1998). Teacher educations responsibility to address diversity issues: Enhancing institutional capacity. Theory Into Practice: Vol. 37, Preparing Teachers for Cultural Diversity, pp. 88-95.
Length of Calving Interval and Average Milk Yield

Summary Records published by Langmack (3) are considered with respect to the effect of length of calving interval on the average milk yield per day over the calving interval. The present data are confined to 186 Red Danish cows whose records in each case start with the cow's first calf and continue uninterruptedly through the nine following calvings, all ten calvings being normal, that is, no abortion. Yield is considered on an energy basis in terms of 4 per cent milk. There is uniformly a negative correlation between calving interval and yield over the current calving interval, and a positive correlation between calving interval and yield over the following calving interval. Throughout, the relation is irregular and the correlation coefficients are small in value. When the several calving intervals (excluding the first because the influence of age on yield is most marked at this stage of life) are thrown together the correlation between calving interval and yield over the current interval is r = −0.134 ±0.018; that over the following interval, r = 0.142 ±0.018. Thus, while there is a small gain from a short calving interval in the current lactation it is very exactly lost in the following lactation. The calving interval distribution shows a mean of 401 days, but with a pronounced mode between 350 and 370 days. If it should be desirable to shift the time of year of calving it appears that the calving interval may be prolonged to 18 months without adversely affecting the average yield per day, considered over both the current and following intervals.
Epizootics in farm‐raised channel catfish, Ictalurus punctatus (Rafinesque), caused by the enteric redmouth bacterium Yersinia ruckeri

In the winters of 1995 and 1996, unusual disease outbreaks occurred on two separate channel catfish farms in Arkansas, USA. Affected fish exhibited extraordinary haemorrhaged rings around the eyes and raised haemorrhaged areas overlying the frontal foramens. Other signs included abnormal swimming, lethargy, loss of equilibrium, and exophthalmia. Bacterial isolates from the moribund fish were identified as Yersinia ruckeri by biochemical tests, no lysis by the Hafnia-specific bacteriophage 1672, and Y. ruckeri-specific growth patterns on Shotts-Waltman media. Fingerling catfish injected intraperitoneally with the bacterial isolate at 7.8 × 106 bacteria fish−1 developed lesions characteristic of the epizootics at 13, 18, and 22 °C and a biochemically identical isolate was recovered. Fingerling rainbow trout injected with the channel catfish isolate at 1 × 105 bacteria fish−1 and held at 20 °C developed signs typical of enteric redmouth by 4 days post-inoculation and were moribund by 5 days post-inoculation. Some differences of clinical signs occurred between experimentally infected rainbow trout and channel catfish. Clinical and biochemical similarities between infections of Y. ruckeri and many warmwater pathogens in affected catfish may lead to incorrect diagnosis of ERM infections.
The Relative Roles of Sulfate Aerosols and Greenhouse Gases in Climate Forcing

Calculations of the effects of both natural and anthropogenic tropospheric sulfate aerosols indicate that the aerosol climate forcing is sufficiently large in a number of regions of the Northern Hemisphere to reduce significantly the positive forcing from increased greenhouse gases. Summer sulfate aerosol forcing in the Northern Hemisphere completely offsets the greenhouse forcing over the eastern United States and central Europe. Anthropogenic sulfate aerosols contribute a globally averaged annual forcing of -0.3 watt per square meter as compared with +2.1 watts per square meter for greenhouse gases. Sources of the difference in magnitude with the previous estimate of Charlson et al. (1992) are discussed.
Eliminating bias due to censoring in Kendall's tau estimators for quasi-independence of truncation and failure

While the currently available estimators for the conditional Kendall's tau measure of association between truncation and failure are valid for testing the null hypothesis of quasi-independence, they are biased when the null does not hold. This is because they converge to quantities that depend on the censoring distribution. The magnitude of the bias relative to the theoretical Kendall's tau measure of association between truncation and failure due to censoring has not been studied, and so its importance in real problems is not known. We quantify this bias in order to assess the practical usefulness of the estimators. Furthermore, we propose inverse probability weighted versions of the conditional Kendall's tau estimators to remove the effects of censoring and provide asymptotic results for the estimators. In simulations, we demonstrate the decrease in bias achieved by these inverse probability weighted estimators. We apply the estimators to the Channing House data set and an AIDS incubation data set.
Dynamic routing of prioritized warranty repairs

Recent years have seen a strong trend toward outsourcing warranty repair services to outside vendors. In this article we consider the problem of dynamically routing warranty repairs to service vendors when warranties have priority levels. Each time an item under warranty fails, it is sent to one of the vendors for repair. Items covered by higher priority warranty receive higher priority in repair service. The manufacturer pays a fixed fee per repair and incurs a linear holding cost while an item is undergoing or waiting for repair. The objective is to minimize the manufacturer's long-run average cost. Because of the complexity of the problem, it is very unlikely that there exist tractable ways to find the optimal routing strategies. Therefore, we propose five heuristic routing procedures that are applicable to real-life problems. We evaluate the heuristics using simulation. The simulation results show that the index-based “generalized join the shortest queue” policy, which applies a single policy improvement step to an initial state-independent policy, performs the best among all five heuristics. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics, 2008
Diffusion of trimethoprim and sulfamethoxazole from susceptibility disks into agar medium.

Abstract The standard practice of using a single susceptibility disk for the antimicrobial combination Septra (trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole) has been further justified by a direct measurement of the diffusion rates of each compound through agar medium. [14C]trimethoprim and [35S]sulfamethoxazole, singly and in combination, were applied to blank susceptibility disks which were incubated on 4-inch (10.16-cm) agar plates (Mueller-Hinton medium) at 37 C. The migration of each compound from the disk and diffusion through agar were measured with time by determining the radioactivity in concentric zones extending from the origin. The two compounds diffuse with similar rates, maintaining approximately a 1:20 concentration ratio which is approximately the ratio of trimethoprim to sulfamethoxazole observed in plasma during treatment. The diffusion rate is independent of the presence of the other compound; greater than 95% of the radioactivity is transferred from the disk to the agar in 24 h.
Noncontrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging for evaluation of living renal donors.

In the 1980s and early 1990s, time-of-flight and phase contrast magnetic resonance (MR) techniques were considered the state of the art methods of MR angiography until the advent of contrast-enhanced MR angiography (CE-MRA) introduced in the early to mid 1990s (1). Many consider CE-MRA MRI to be an appropriate ‘‘one-stop shop’’ (2) imaging exam in the evaluation of a renal donor (3–5). There has been a renewed interest in noncontrastenhanced (NCE) MRA techniques for several reasons. First, if one could provide a comprehensiveMR examwithout having to administer gadolinium, the study could be completed with less cost (6). Second, a small but true risk of acute allergic reaction to gadolinium could be avoided by performing a nonenhanced exam (7). Finally, gadolinium administration has been associated with the development of nephrogenic systemic fibrosis, especially in those patients with reduced renal function (8). The current issue of Academic Radiology contains an article by Dr. Goetti and colleagues that describes their experience with a NCE MRI protocol in the evaluation of potential living renal donors (9). The authors compared a respiratory-gated three-dimensional gated steady-state free precession (SSFP) NCE-MRA sequence to a CE-MRA three-dimensional spoiled gradient echo sequence and showed that the former sequence depicted more accessory renal arteries than the latter. The CE-MRA technique as performed by Goetti et al had several limitations that did not allow for optimal detection of small accessory renal arteries. First, the larger field of view and smaller matrix of the CE-MRA compared with the NCE-MRA resulted in a lower in plane resolution of the CE-MRA. Second, the gadolinium was hand injected as opposed to administered with a power injector. The latter technique is preferred to ensure an accurate and precise rate
A comparison of chinchilla auditory evoked response and behavioral response thresholds)

The auditory sensitivity of the chinchilla was measured by both a behavioral and auditory evoked-response (AER) procedure. There was no significant difference in either the waveform or the threshold of the AER recorded over the tentorium from awake and anesthetized chinchillas. The chinchilla threshold for pure tones appears to be more sensitive when measured by the behavioral technique than by the AER method. Both the AER and behavioral response of three chinchillas exposed to a 105 dB SPL octave band of noise centered at 2 KHz for 3 h shifted markedly after the exposure. However, the difference between the AER and behavioral response threshold was reduced or absent. During the process of recovery the difference between the two responses begins to reappear.
Understanding right ventricular dysfunction and functional tricuspid regurgitation accompanying mitral valve disease

Objectives The study objective was to correlate the degree of tricuspid regurgitation with clinical indicators of right-sided heart failure and both qualitative and quantitative measures of right-sided heart morphology and function in patients with degenerative mitral valve disease. Methods From 2001 to 2007, 1833 patients with degenerative mitral valve disease, structurally normal tricuspid valve, and no coronary artery disease underwent surgery. Right-sided heart morphology (right ventricular base-to-apex length, tethering distance and area, and right atrial systolic area) and right ventricular function (tricuspid annular plane systolic excursion, myocardial performance index, and tricuspid valve annular shortening) were measured on preoperative transthoracic echocardiograms for 100 randomly selected patients from each of tricuspid regurgitation grades 0, 1+, and 2+, and for all 93 patients with tricuspid regurgitation grade 3+/4+. Multivariable regression was used to evaluate the association of left- and right-sided heart morphology and function with tricuspid regurgitation. Results Increasing tricuspid regurgitation grade was associated with higher right ventricular pressure ( P P = .008), larger right atrial size ( P = .0002), and worsening right ventricular function, particularly when 3+/4+ tricuspid regurgitation was present. When tricuspid regurgitation was 3+/4+, both tricuspid annular plane systolic excursion and myocardial performance index were almost certainly abnormal. Changes in right-sided heart morphology and right ventricular dysfunction were synergistic in relation to severity of tricuspid regurgitation. Conclusions Functional tricuspid regurgitation accompanying mitral valve disease is associated with proportional changes in right-sided heart morphology; however, severe tricuspid regurgitation is nearly always associated with right ventricular dysfunction, suggesting a synergistic relationship. Right ventricular dysfunction is likely as important as tricuspid regurgitation because it offers an explanation for the negative prognostic impact of tricuspid regurgitation and has implications for the clinical management of patients.
Correlation analysis of EV71 detection and case severity in hand, foot, and mouth disease in the Hunan Province of China.

An increase in the incidence of hand, foot and mouth disease (HFMD) cases has been observed in the Hunan province of mainland China since 2009 with a particularly higher level of severe cases in 2010–2012. Intestinal viruses of the picornaviridae family are responsible for the human syndrome associated with HFMD with enterovirus 71 (EV71) and Coxsackievirus A16 (Cox A16) being the most common causative strains. HFMD cases associated with EV71 are generally more severe with an increased association of morbidity and mortality. In this study, the etiology surveillance data of HFMD cases in Hunan province from March 2010 to October 2012 were analyzed to determine if there is a statistically relevant linear correlation exists between the detection rate of EV71 in mild cases and the proportion of severe cases among all HFMD patients. As the cases progressed from mild to severe to fatal, the likelihood of EV71 detection increased (25.78%, 52.20% and 84.18%, respectively). For all cases in the timeframe evaluated in this study, the presence of virus was detected in 63.21% of cases; among cases showing positivity for virus, EV71 infection accounted for 50.14%. These results provide evidence to support the observed higher morbidity and mortality associated with this outbreak and emphasizes the importance of early detection in order to implement necessary prevention measures to mitigate disease progression.
Signaling in Sperm: Toward a Molecular Understanding of the Acquisition of Sperm Motility in the Mouse Epididymis

Sperm motility encompasses a wide range of events involving epididymal maturation and activation of biochemical pathways, most notably cyclic AMP (cAMP)-protein kinase A (PKA) activation. Following the discovery of guanine-nucleotide exchange factors (RAPGEFs), also known as exchange proteins activated by cAMP, we investigated the separate roles of PKA and RAPGEFs in sperm motility. RT-PCR showed the presence of Rapgef3, Rapgef4, and Rapgef5, as well as several known RAPGEF partner mRNAs, in spermatogenic cells. However, Rapgef3 and Rapgef4 appeared to be less abundant in condensing spermatids versus pachytene spermatocytes. Similarly, many of these proteins were detected by immunoblotting. RAPGEF5 was detected in germ cells and murine epididymal sperm. Indirect immunofluorescence localized SGK1, SGK3, AKT1 pT(308), and RAPGEF5 to the acrosome, while PDPK1 was found in the postacrosomal region. SGK3 was present throughout the tail, while PDPK1 and AKT1 pT(308) were in the midpiece. When motility was assessed in demembranated cauda epididymal sperm, addition of ATP and the selective ligand for RAPGEFs, 8-pCPT-2'-O-Me-cAMP, resulted in motility, but the sperm were unable to undergo hyperactivated-like motility. In contrast, when demembranated cauda epididymal sperm were incubated with ATP plus dibutyryl cAMP, sperm became motile and progressed to hyperactivated-like motility. However, no significant difference was observed when intact sperm were examined. GSK3 phosphorylation was altered in the presence of H89, a PKA inhibitor. Significantly, intact caput epididymal sperm became motile when incubated in the presence of extracellular ATP. These results provide evidence for a new pathway involved in endowing sperm with the capacity to swim.
An integrated model of drilling vessel operations

A combined discrete-event/continuous/process-interaction simulation model has been developed to evaluate the effects of weather and supply-ship availability on off-shore drilling operations at a specified location and time of year with a specified drilling vessel. The continuous submodel includes: (a) autoregressive-moving average and transfer-function models to represent weather conditions; (b) a difference equation to monitor effective work time for the current operation on the drilling vessel; (c) difference equations to govern supply levels on all vessels; (d) state-events to stop and restart operations on all vessels; and (e) difference equations to control the movement of supply ships. The process-interaction submodel represents the flow of supply-ship traffic and the overall operation of the drilling vessel. The discrete-event submodel controls the loading and unloading of supply ships as well as the alternation of periods of calm and stormy weather.
Parallel simulations of manufacturing processing using simpy, a python-based discrete event simulation tool

SimPy is a Python-based, interpreted simulation tool that offers the power and convenience of Python. It is able to launch processes and sub-processes using generators, which act autonomously and may interact using interrupts. SimPy offers other advantages over competing commercial codes in that it allows for modular development, use of a version control system such as CVS, can be made self-documenting with PyDoc, and is completely extensible. The convenience of an interpreted language, however, is offset for large models by slower than desired run times. This disadvantage can be compensated for by parallelizing the system using PyMPI, from the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. This work was performed under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Energy by University of California, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory under Contract W-7405-Eng-48.
Tyrosinase positive oculocutaneous albinism in the goldfish, Carassius auratus L., an ultrastructural and biochemical study of the eye

Ultrastructural studies, and cytochemical and biochemical determinations of tyrosinase activity were conducted on the pigment epithelium of albino and xanthic goldfish eyes. In eyes of xanthic goldfish, two types of melanosomes are present, spherical and elongated. Melanized melanosomes are absent in the eyes of the albino goldfish, but elongated lamellar premelanosomes are observed. Internal vesicles are present in both melanosome types in the pigment epithelium of the xanthic goldfish but are absent in premelanosomes of the albino. There are also differences in the distribution of lipid droplets, smooth endoplasmic reticulum and Golgi complexes with the latter two being more abundant in the albino. Tyrosinase was not identified cytochemically; however, the enzyme was demonstrated biochemically in the pigment epithelia of both albino and xanthic goldfish. The enzyme is associated with the particulate and soluble fractions of both types of eyes. Particulate albino tyrosinase may be solubilized by triton X-100 treatment. Tyrosinase inhibitors are present in the particulate fractions of both albino and xanthic goldfish eyes. Thus, in the goldfish, ocular albinism appears to be a multiple defect at the molecular and ultrastructural levels.
Ceci n'est pas un objet? talking about objects in E-mail

E-mail, far from being a poor, technically limited substitute for face-to-face communication, has some unique and compelling properties that make it ideally suited for talking about objects. In this article we show how e-mail users have evolved new forms of electronic deictic references to refer to work objects and have taken full advantage of the fluid boundaries between the different roles that e-mail can assume. We also illustrate how e-mail users draw on the persistence of the medium to make sense of the objects being talked about and sometimes even transform the conversation itself into an object of conversation. We conclude with several design suggestions for future electronic mail software based on these findings.
Mean Flow Field and Reynolds Stress Behavior in Coannular Jet Flow With Swirl Along a Centerbody

An experimental study was conducted of an incompressible turbulent flow which exits from two concentric annular nozzles and develops along an unconfined centerbody. The operating Reynolds number based on centerbody diameter and the axial bulk velocity of the inner stream at the nozzle exit was 8×10 4 . Swirl was imparted only to the inner stream, and the outer-to-inner stream mass flow rate ratio was fixed at unity.
Microseismic Imaging of Hydraulically Induced-Fractures in Gas Reservoirs: A Case Study in Barnett Shale Gas Reservoir, Texas, USA

Microseismic technology has been proven to be a practical approach for in-situ monitoring of fracture growth during hydraulic fracture stimulations. Microseismic monitoring has rapidly evolved in acquisition methodology, data processing, and in this paper, we evaluate the progression of this technology with emphasis on their applications in Barnett shale gas reservoir. Microseismic data analysis indicates a direct proportion between microseismic moment magnitude and depth, yet no relation between microseismic activity and either injection rate or injection volume has been observed. However, large microseismic magnitudes have been recorded where hydraulic fracturing stimulation approaches a fault and therefore the geologic framework should be integrated in such programs. In addition, the geometry of fracture growth resulted by proppant interactions with naturally fractured formations follows unpredictable fashion due to redirecting the injection fluids along flow paths associated with the pre-existing fault network in the reservoir. While microseismic imaging is incredibly useful in revealing the fracture geometry and the way the fracture evolves, recently several concerns have been raised regarding the capability of microseismic data to provide the fracture dimensional parameters and the fracture mechanism that could provide detailed information for reservoir characterization.
Phenomenology of shear-coupled grain boundary motion in symmetric tilt and general grain boundaries

Abstract Shear-coupled grain boundary motion is examined for a large number of grain boundaries including 73 〈1 0 0〉, 〈1 1 0〉 and 〈1 1 1〉 symmetric tilt boundaries. In the present work, the grain boundary motion is induced by a synthetic driving force as opposed to prior studies of shear coupling induced by applied shear. For those boundaries that are observed to undergo shear-coupled motion, the results based on the two driving forces agree well, both for experiments and simulations. This agreement also confirms the generality of the shear coupling mechanism over numerous boundaries and boundary types. The examination of boundary structure provides insight into the different trends that are observed. Shear coupling according to modes not predicted by the Frank–Bilby equation are also demonstrated. The temperature dependence of shear coupling is examined, and is consistent with prior work for symmetric tilt boundaries. While prior studies have emphasized symmetric tilt boundaries, some general grain boundaries exhibit shear coupling as well. In these boundaries, it is found that the shear coupling is either temperature independent, decreases in magnitude with increasing temperature or, in some cases, changes direction with temperature.
A patient alignment solution for lung SBRT setups based on a deformable registration technique

Purpose: In this work, the authors propose a novel registration strategy for translation-only correction scenarios of lung stereotactic body radiation therapy setups, which can achieve optimal dose coverage for tumors as well as preserve the consistency of registrations with minimal human interference. Methods: The proposed solution (centroid-to-centroidor CTC solution) uses the average four-dimensional CT (A4DCT) as the reference CT. The cone-beam CT(CBCT) is deformed to acquire a new centroid for the internal target volume (ITV) on the CBCT. The registration is then accomplished by simply aligning the centroids of the ITVs between the A4DCT and the CBCT. Sixty-seven cases using 64 patients (each case is associated with separate isocenters) have been investigated with the CTC method and compared with the conventional gray-value (G) mode and bone (B) mode registration methods. Dosimetric effects among the tree methods were demonstrated by 18 selected cases. The uncertainty of the CTC method has also been studied. Results: The registration results demonstrate the superiority of the CTC method over the other two methods. The differences in the D99 and D95 ITV dose coverage between the CTC method and the original plan is small (within 5%) for all of the selected cases except for one for which the tumor presented significant growth during the period between the CT scan and the treatment. Meanwhile, the dose coverage differences between the original plan and the registration results using either the B or G method are significant, as tumor positions varied dramatically, relative to the rib cage, from their positions on the original CT. The largest differences between the D99 and D95 dose coverage of the ITV using the B or G method versus the original plan are as high as 50%. The D20 differences between any of the methods versus the original plan are all less than 2%. Conclusions: The CTC method can generate optimal dose coverage to tumors with much better consistency compared with either the G or B method, and it is especially useful when the tumor position varies greatly from its position on the original CT, relative to the rib cage.
Efficacy of calfhood vaccination with Brucella abortus strain RB51 in protecting bison against brucellosis.

Abstract In the studies reported here, protection induced by calfhood vaccination of bison with 1.2–6.1×10 10 CFU of Brucella abortus strain RB51 (SRB51) against a virulent strain of B. abortus was evaluated. Non-vaccinated and SRB51-vaccinated bison were intraconjunctivally challenged during midgestation with 3×10 7 CFU of virulent B. abortus strain 2308 (S2308). Maternal and fetal tissues were obtained within 24 hour after abortion or parturition. Incidence of abortion was greater ( P P P >0.05) between nonvaccinates and vaccinates (100% and 78%, respectively), calfhood vaccination with SRB51 reduced ( P Brucella -induced abortions were suppurative placentitis, fetal broncho-interstitial pneumonia, and fetal histiocytic splenitis. The results of our studies suggest that calfhood vaccination of bison with SRB51 is efficacious in protecting against intramammary, intrauterine, and fetal infection following exposure to a virulent strain of B. abortus during pregnancy. As brucellosis is transmitted horizontally through fluids associated with the birth or abortion of an infected fetus, or vertically to the calf through the ingestion of milk containing B. abortus , our data suggest that calfhood vaccination with SRB51 will be beneficial in preventing transmission of brucellosis in bison.
Failure Analysis of a 1990 Mazda Miata Crankshaft and Timing Pulley Bolt

A Mazda Miata crankshaft and timing belt pulley bolt failed in service. This caused extensive damage to the engine. The crankshaft and bolt were analyzed to determine the cause of failure. Using visual examination and other means, it was determined that the crankshaft and bolt failed by fatigue. The crankshaft failure initiated at the keyway, while the timing belt pulley bolt initiated in the threads. Inadequate clamping force during installation of the timing belt pulley bolt is thought to have initiated failure.
Probing the determinants of disulfide stability in native pancreatic trypsin inhibitor

The effects of single amino acid replacements on the stability of the 14-38 disulfide bond in the native form of bovine pancreatic trypsin inhibitor (BPTI) were measured. A total of 17 mutant proteins, with substitutions at one of 7 residues located 5-15 A from the disulfide in the native wild-type protein, were examined. The replacements were found to decrease the thermodynamic stability of the disulfide, as measured by exchange with thiol-disulfide reagents, by 0.6-5 kcal/mol, corresponding to a range of nearly 100 mV in redox potentials. The effects of the substitutions on disulfide stability were roughly correlated with the changes in side-chain volume, suggesting that optimal packing is a major factor in determining the stability of the disulfide in the wild-type protein. With only one exception, the substitutions also led to increases, as large as 50-fold, in the rates of disulfide reduction by dithiothreitol. The increased rates of reduction suggest that at least a fraction of the mutational destabilization of the disulfide is due to strain in the native protein that is relieved in the transition state for reduction. The stability of the disulfide in a peptide corresponding to the segments that are linked together by the 14-38 disulfide in native BPTI was found to be about 5 kcal/mol less than that of the disulfide in the intact wild-type protein. Together, the results with the mutant proteins and the peptide indicate that the stability of the disulfide in the native protein depends on both the local environment of the disulfide and on the ability of the rest of the protein to favor a conformation that promotes disulfide formation.
Effects of zometapine, a structurally novel antidepressant, in an animal model of depression

Zometapine, a pyrazolodiazepine, bears a close structural resemblance to benzodiazepines. It possesses an unusual pharmacological profile, and is active in some, but not all, tests of antidepressant activity. In clinical tests it appears to be an extremely effective pharmacotherapeutic agent, and may represent a new class of antidepressant. Because the preclinical profile of zometapine is unusual, we examined its effects in a behavioral test of antidepressant potential. Following three weeks of treatment, the drug selectively reversed a behavioral depression following chronic stress. Drug-induced reversal was seen only in rats activated by acute noise exposure, and was dose related. Reversal was confirmed by a second measure, defecation, and partially confirmed by the normalization of an elevated basal corticosterone response.
The influence of cyclic nucleotides on macromolecular synthesis in cultured neural retina cells.

Abstract 1. The effect of cyclic nucleotides on aggregates of dispersed embryonic neural retina cells was examined in order to study their influence upon macromolecular synthesis, i.e. protein and DNA. 2. Cyclic AMP, dibutyryl cAMP, cyclic GMP and dibutyryl cGMP were used at various concentrations (5 × 10−4−5 mM). 3. The incorporation of labeled precursors into DNA and protein were used to monitor the effect of cyclic nucleotides on cultured aggregates. 4. All nucleotides exhibited a stimulatory effect at 5 × 10−4 and 5 × 10−3 mM on macromolecular synthesis, with resulting growth and proliferation of chick neural retina cells. 5. High concentrations (5 × 10−1 and 5 mM) of cyclic nucleotides exhibited an inhibitory effect upon macromolecular synthesis and a marked cytotoxic effect.
Asynchronous design for programmable digital signal processors

A systematic procedure for designing fully asynchronous programmable processors from an architectural description is described. Design issues such as pipelining, interconnection circuit specifications, data flow control, program flow control, feedback and initialization, I/O (input/output) interface, and processor architecture are discussed. The system-level tradeoffs of using synchronous design versus asynchronous design are addressed. Simulation results of an asynchronous version of a commercial digital signal processor are given. >