cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Microfluidic generated EGF-gradients induce chemokinesis of transplantable retinal progenitor cells via the JAK/STAT and PI3kinase signaling pathways.

A growing number of studies are evaluating retinal progenitor cell (RPC) transplantation as an approach to repair retinal degeneration and restore visual function. To advance cell-replacement strategies for a practical retinal therapy, it is important to define the molecular and biochemical mechanisms guiding RPC motility. We have analyzed RPC expression of the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) and evaluated whether exposure to epidermal growth factor (EGF) can coordinate motogenic activity in vitro. Using Boyden chamber analysis as an initial high-throughput screen, we determined that RPC motility was optimally stimulated by EGF concentrations in the range of 20-400ng/ml, with decreased stimulation at higher concentrations, suggesting concentration-dependence of EGF-induced motility. Using bioinformatics analysis of the EGF ligand in a retina-specific gene network pathway, we predicted a chemotactic function for EGF involving the MAPK and JAK-STAT intracellular signaling pathways. Based on targeted inhibition studies, we show that ligand binding, phosphorylation of EGFR and activation of the intracellular STAT3 and PI3kinase signaling pathways are necessary to drive RPC motility. Using engineered microfluidic devices to generate quantifiable steady-state gradients of EGF coupled with live-cell tracking, we analyzed the dynamics of individual RPC motility. Microfluidic analysis, including center of mass and maximum accumulated distance, revealed that EGF induced motility is chemokinetic with optimal activity observed in response to low concentration gradients. Our combined results show that EGFR expressing RPCs exhibit enhanced chemokinetic motility in the presence of low nanomole levels of EGF. These findings may serve to inform further studies evaluating the extent to which EGFR activity, in response to endogenous ligand, drives motility and migration of RPCs in retinal transplantation paradigms.
Effect of elastin on the calcification rate of collagen-elastin matrix systems.

The role of elastin in the aortic wall calcification and involved mechanisms were investigated. The major hypothesis of this work is that elastin is one of the major components to regulate calcification of bioprosthetic heart valve (BHV). The relationship between the elastin content and the calcification rate of the aortic wall was established using collagen-elastin matrices (CEM) made of varying ratios of collagen and elastin (90 and 10, 50 and 50, and 20 and 80). Biophysical characterization of CEM was performed by water content measurement and the tensile strength test. The conformational changes of the calcifiable matrix were evaluated as a function of elastin content using Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. The calcium contents in CEM implanted in the rat subcutaneous model for 7 days were measured using atomic absorption (AA) spectroscopy. As the concentration of elastin in CEM increased from 10 to 80%, the total amount of calcium accumulated in CEM also increased. The calcium level in CEM containing the collagen and an elastin ratio of 20:80 was 20.16 ± 0.70 μg/mg compared with 1.96 ± 0.04 μg/mg in CEM containing the collagen and an elastin ratio of 90:10. The calcification rate of CEM pretreated with ethanol increased, as the elastin concentration in the CEM. However, the calcification rate of CEM pretreated with ethanol is significantly lower than that of the untreated control. The permeation rate of ethanol through CEM with the collagen and an elastin ratio of 20:80 (0.37 ± 0.13 mmol/cm2/h) is significantly smaller than that through CEM with 90:10 (0.94 ± 0.27 mmol/cm2/h). These results indicate that elastin has a significant role in tissue calcification and that elastin's resistance to ethanol penetration partially contributes less effectiveness of ethanol on aortic wall calcification. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Biomed Mater Res 60: 368–374, 2002; DOI 10.1002/jbm.10077
Acoustic backscattering from ultrasonically tissuelike media

The acoustic backscattering coefficients of a tissue-mimicking (TM) material have been measured using a modified Sigelmann-Reid technique in order to assess the similarity of its acoustic properties to those of soft tissues. A simple reference scatter material was used to probe the strengths and the limitations of the measurement technique. Backscatter coefficients measured from the TM material exhibit a frequency dependence of the form fm in the range 1.0-8.0 MHz where 3.5 less than or equal to m less than or equal to 3.8. The backscatter coefficient is also found to be approximately proportional to the particle concentration in the TM material up to concentrations that yield an attenuation coefficient of 0.9 db/cm/MHz. Comparisons of backscatter coefficients measured from the TM material are made with published values for liver, myocardium, and blood.
T cells increase before zoster and PD-1 expression increases at the time of zoster in immunosuppressed nonhuman primates latently infected with simian varicella virus

Like varicella zoster virus in humans, simian varicella virus (SVV) becomes latent in ganglionic neurons along the entire neuraxis and reactivates in immunosuppressed monkeys. Five rhesus macaques were inoculated with SVV; 142 days later (latency), four monkeys were immunosuppressed, and T cells were analyzed for naive, memory, and effector phenotypes and expression of programmed death receptor-1 (PD-1; T cell exhaustion). All T cell subsets decreased during immunosuppression and except for CD8 effectors, peaked 2 weeks before zoster. Compared to before immunosuppression, PD-1 expression increased at reactivation. Increased T cells before zoster is likely due to virus reactivation.
Regulation and Function of Pulmonary Surfactant Protein B

Pulmonary surfactant, a complex mixture of phospholipids and specific associated proteins, reduces the surface tension at the air-liquid interface of the distal conducting airways and gas exchanging alveoli of the lung. Lipids, primarily neutral and phospholipids, compose approximately 90% of the surfactant complex. The remaining 10% of surfactant is composed of at least three surfactant-specific proteins, designated surfactant protein A (SP-A), SP-B, and SP-C. These proteins contribute to the formation, stabilization, and function of organized surfactant structures. This article briefly reviews the normal composition and function of pulmonary surfactant and specifically reviews the structure, function, and regulation of surfactant protein B (SP-B). The recent identification of neonates with refractory respiratory failure due to a genetic absence of SP-B and the study of transgenic mice in which SP-B gene expression has been ablated highlight the importance of the protein to surfactant function, synthesis, and metabolism and to the maintenance of lung function. Gene reconstitution experiments in vitro and in SP-B-deficient transgenic mice suggest specific functions for the amino and carboxyl terminal domains of the protein. SP-B deficiency is a potential target for gene therapy in human patients.
Deposition of CdTe by spray pyrolysis

Abstract We report the spray pyrolysis of thin films of CdTe which show promise as a base material for solar cell applications. The films predominately show a zinc blende structure and appear to be intrinsic. Microprobe analysis indicates an excess of cadmium but this is not detectable by X-ray diffraction or from electrical conduction measurements. Measurements indicate a nominal direct bandgap of 1.47 eV and an absorption coefficient of the order of 10 4 cm −1 . The room temperature electrical resistivity is of the order of 10 7 Ω cm.
Genetic algorithm optimization of defect clusters in crystalline materials

Abstract A real-space genetic algorithm for the optimization of defect structures embedded in bulk crystalline materials is developed. The purpose of this method is to enable automated prediction of stable structures for a range of embedded clusters, including radiation induced defect clusters, dopant clusters, and small precipitates. The method is applied to the prediction of small interstitial clusters in cubic SiC, BCC Fe, and BCC Fe–Cr random alloys for radiation damage applications. The performance of the method is analyzed and compared to alternative techniques such as basin hopping. The technique is able to reproduce small-size defects that had been previously identified as stable or metastable structures as well as predict new mid-size defects. The structure optimization program (StructOpt) developed in this study is available under open source licensing as part of the MAterials Simulation Toolkit (MAST) and can be obtained from https://pypi.python.org/pypi/MAST .
Paxillin Enables Attachment-independent Tyrosine Phosphorylation of Focal Adhesion Kinase and Transformation by RAS

Paxillin and HIC5 are closely related adapter proteins that regulate cell migration and are tyrosine-phosphorylated by focal adhesion kinase (FAK). Paxillin, HIC5, and FAK tyrosine phosphorylation increase upon cell attachment and decrease upon detachment from extracellular matrix. Unexpectedly, we found that although FAK tyrosine phosphorylation in attached cells did not require paxillin, in detached fibroblasts there was remaining FAK tyrosine phosphorylation that required expression of paxillin and was not supported by HIC5. The support of attachment-independent FAK tyrosine phosphorylation required the paxillin LIM domains and suggested that paxillin might facilitate oncogenic transformation. Paxillin but not HIC5 augmented anchorage-independent cell proliferation induced by RAS. Both anchorage-independent FAK tyrosine phosphorylation and RAS-induced colony formation required multiple docking sites on paxillin, including LD4 (docking sites for FAK-Src and GIT1/2-PIX-NCK-PAK complex), LD5, and all four carboxyl-terminal LIM domains (that bind tubulin and PTP-PEST). Analysis using paxillin mutants dissociated domains of paxillin that are required for regulation of cell migration from domains that are required for anchorage-independent cell proliferation and demonstrated essential functions of the paxillin LIM domains that are not found in HIC5 LIM domains. These results highlight the role of paxillin in facilitating attachment-independent signal transduction implicated in cancer.
Student demonstration of relationship between intestinal slow waves and phasic contractions.

The rate of intestinal phasic contractions is determined by the frequency of the slow wave or basic electrical rhythm, an alternating depolarization and hypopolarization (i.e., oscillation) of the membrane potential of smooth muscle cells. Interstitial cells of Cajal, specialized cells located
Aromatic Thermosetting Copolyester (ATSP)/UHMWPE Blends with Improved Wear Properties and Biocompatibility

Despite the recognized success and worldwide acceptance of ultrahigh molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) for total joint arthroplasty, the generation of UHMWPE wear debris from the articulating surface is of major concern and limits the longevity of the artificial joint device. Blends of UHMWPE with an aromatic thermosetting copolyester (ATSP) at 50:50 volume ratio using poly(ethylene-co-acrylic acid) (PEA) as a compatibilizer were developed to address this problem. The amount of PEA was 0, 5, 10, 15 and 20 weight percent of the weight of ATSP, respectively. The wear properties of these blends were evaluated by a pin-on-disk wear test in which an ASTM F-75 cobalt-chromium alloy disk was chosen as a counterface and sterile filtered bovine serum diluted in deionized water to 75% (volume) was used as a lubricant. The wear tests from 0.2 to 3 million cycles showed that UHMWPE/ATSP blend with 10 wt% PEA had average weight loss smaller than UHMWPE and comparable to crosslinked UHMWPE. The wear debris study indicated that UHMWPE/ATSP blend with 10 wt% PEA created a smaller size percentage of the wear debris particles in the biologically active range than UHMWPE and crosslinked UHMWPE. The direct-contact cytotoxicity tests showed that ATSP and UHMWPE/ATSP blend with 10 wt% PEA were not toxic.
Beam-return current systems in nonthermal solar flare models

It is shown here that the generation of return current in large-scale astrophysical plasmas such as solar flares is quite different from the laboratory environment. Whereas in the laboratory the return current is established inductively and subsequently decays on a resistive timescale, the return current in a solar flare is established electrostatically and therefore does not decay. An explanation of the difference is given in terms of the characteristics of the laboratory circuit.
A Review of Cerebral Palsy for the Oral Health Professional

Individuals who have cerebral palsy (CP) face many physical challenges throughout their lifetimes in addition to societal barriers that can have an impact on quality of life. The ability to access appropriate dental care has long been an issue for people who have disabilities. Dentists should be integral members of teams of professionals involved in optimizing the health of individuals who have CP. As with all members of this interdisciplinary team, oral health care providers should have a thorough knowledge of the medical, cognitive, and rehabilitative issues associated with CP. With this knowledge the best possible health care can be provided.
A quassinoid (peninsularinone) and a steroid from Castela peninsularis

Abstract The structure of a new bitter-tasting quassinoid, peninsularinone, and the structure of a new steroid, 3α, 17α, 20(S)-trihydroxypregnane-6,16-dione, isolated from the roots of Castela peninsularis were determined by NMR spectroscopic and single crystal X-ray analysis.
Composites and Structures for Regenerative Engineering

Regenerative engineering was conceptualized by bridging the lessons learned in developmental biology and stem cell science with biomaterial constructs and engineering principles to ultimately generate de novo tissue. We seek to incorporate our understanding of natural tissue development to design tissue-inducing biomaterials, structures and composites than can stimulate the regeneration of complex tissues, organs, and organ systems through location-specific topographies and physico-chemical cues incorporated into a continuous phase. This combination of classical top-down tissue engineering approach with bottom-up strategies used in regenerative biology represents a new multidisciplinary paradigm. Advanced surface topographies and material scales are used to control cell fate and the consequent regenerative capacity. Musculoskeletal tissues are critical to the normal functioning of an individual and following damage or degeneration they show extremely limited endogenous regenerative capacity. The increasing demand for biologically compatible donor tissue and organ transplants far outstrips the availability leading to an acute shortage. We have developed several biomimetic structures using various biomaterial platforms to combine optimal mechanical properties, porosity, bioactivity, and functionality to effect repair and regeneration of hard tissues such as bone, and soft tissues such as ligament and tendon. Starting with simple structures, we have developed composite and multi-scale systems that very closely mimic the native tissue architecture and material composition. Ultimately, we aim to modulate the regenerative potential, including proliferation, phenotype maturation, matrix production, and apoptosis through cell-scaffold and host –scaffold interactions developing complex tissues and organ systems.
Enhancing Soil Conservation Practice Adoption with Targeted Educational Programs

Two independent, but closely related, grant funded educational programs were developed and implemented to reduce soil erosion in selected areas of eastern Nebraska. Traditional extension programming methods as well as other more non-traditional approaches were used extensively to enhance soil conservation practice adoption. In one program, encompassing 220 000 ha (540,000 acre) of cropland, annual soil erosion was reduced by 2.3 million t (2.5 million ton) and annual fuel savings of 1.5 million L (390,000 gal) were achieved through a reduction in the number of tillage operations. In the second project, more than 93 000 m (305,000 ft) of terraces were constructed, which resulted in an annual soil erosion reduction of 151 000 t (166,000 ton). These projects demonstrated that targeted conservation programs can be very effective.
High-Quality Electrochromic Polythiophenes via BF3·Et2O Electropolymerization†

Electrochemical polymerization in the strong Lewis acid, boron trifluoride ethylether (BFEE), has been used to prepare electrochromic polythiophene (PTh) and its derivatives: poly(3-methylthiophene) (PMeTh), poly(3-bromothiophene) (PBrTh), and poly(3,4-dibromothiophene) (PDBrTh). The polymerization processes and properties of the resultant films are compared, where possible, to those carried out in traditional organic electrochemical solvents. The polymerization of these high oxidation potential thiophene monomers in BFEE yielded good-quality, homogenous, and smooth electroactive and electrochromic films that could be repeatedly switched in common electrochemical solvents up to 240, 1380, 560, and 420 cycles for PTh, PMeTh, PBrTh, and PDBrTh, respectively, for 50 % retention of electroactivity. A colorimetric study of these films showed distinctive color changes between red and blue as they were switched between reduced and oxidized states. These findings allow the use of commercially available high oxidation potential thiophene monomers to provide electrochromic polymers, avoiding the use of other custom-synthesized monomers.
Dendrimer-based coatings for surface modification of polyamide reverse osmosis membranes

Abstract The first use of dendrimer nanotechnology in the modification of reverse osmosis (RO) membranes is reported. The effects of dendrimer surface coatings on the advancing water contact angle (i.e., coatings’ hydrophilicity), permeate flux and % salt rejection of commercial polyamide membranes were studied. The membranes were coated by in situ crosslinking of amine-functional polyamidoamine (PAMAM) dendrimers and PAMAM–polyethylene glycol (PAMAM–PEG) multi-arm stars with difunctional PEG crosslinkers. The resulting coatings significantly reduced contact angles of membrane surfaces without affecting their % salt rejection and only moderately reducing their permeate fluxes. Lower contact angles indicated more hydrophilic membranes with the potential for increased resistance to fouling by hydrophobic foulants, such as biofoulants and organic pollutants.
Feverfew: A Practical Review

Feverfew is an herb that has been used for centuries for the self-treatment of intermittent fevers and more recently has gained widespread use for various other conditions, including prophylaxis of migraine headaches, relief of pain and inflammation from arthritis, and treatment of psoriasis. The mechanism of action of feverfew is not clear but may involve inhibition of prostaglandins, effects on platelet activity, inhibition of vascular smooth muscle contraction, or blockade of histamine release from mast cells. Current evidence suggests that the active agent in feverfew is parthenolide, a sesquiterpene lactone. Other data suggest that the essential oil, chrysanthenyl acetate, may also play an active role. Four double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomized studies examining the effects of feverfew on migraine headaches and rheumatoid arthritis in human subjects have been published. Clinical experience suggests that feverfew may be a useful and well-tolerated agent for the prophylaxis of migraine headaches, but further research is required before general recommendations for its safety and efficacy can be made.
FIRM SIZE AND DIVIDEND ANNOUNCEMENTS

This study documents an association between firm size and abnormal returns from the announcement of large dividend increases. Dividend announcements are examined only where there are no contemporaneous earnings announcements. The methodology controls for both the payout ratio of firms and the size of the dividend increase. Using means tests and analysis of variance, the findings indicate that the abnormal stock price reaction to a dividend increase is greater for small firms.
Sentencing for the ‘Crime of Crimes’The Evolving ‘Common Law’ of Sentencing of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda

Absent much prescriptive guidance in its Statute or other positive law, the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) has been developing, in effect, a ‘common law’ of sentencing for the most serious international crimes: genocide and crimes against humanity. While it remains, as the Appeals Chamber has said, ‘premature to speak of an emerging “penal regime”, and the coherence in sentencing practice that this denotes’, this comment offers some preliminary reflections on the substantive law and process of sentencing as it has evolved through ICTR practice. Above all, the author argues, sentencing must, but has not yet, become an integral part of international criminal justice rather than, as it has historically been treated, an ‘afterthought’. The lack of sufficient attention to sentencing, evident procedurally in the ICTR's abandonment of distinct sentencing hearings and the expedient of ‘transactional sentencing’, at times manifests itself in perfunctory sentencing analyses and jurisprudential confusion over the proper role of ostensible sentencing factors including ‘gravity of the offence’, ‘zeal’, ‘heinous means’, ‘prior good character’ and ‘voluntary commission’. Because of the inherent gravity of the crimes, the ICTR's lack of adequate attention to sentencing has not, by and large, led it to impose quantitatively incorrect sentences. But qualitatively, neglect of sentencing inhibits the ‘common law’ evolution of a mature penal jurisprudence that can contribute to the long-term normative goals of international justice.
Cyberarchaeology: Experimenting with teleimmersive archaeology

We present a framework for collaborative cyberarchaeology aimed at remote real-time interaction with 3D archaeological models through a shared virtual environment. The project combines research in 3D computer vision, collaborative virtual reality and archaeology. At each geographical location, a set of stereo cameras captures 3D video of the user in real time to create his/her avatar. The 3D data with audio is sent over the network and rendered in the shared virtual environment. The teleimmersive aspect of this work provides a novel approach to interaction and interpretation of 3D archeological models by facilitating immersive experience in collaborative setting of remote users. The framework is aimed to facilitate in the future the study and analysis of a virtual reconstruction process in archaeology with the help from virtual community to re-contextualize and reassemble spatial archaeological data.
Interlocking Star Polygons in Persian Architecture: The Special Case of the Decagram in Mosaic Designs

This article analyzes a particular series of Persian mosaic designs illustrated in historical scrolls and appearing on the surfaces of historical monuments. The common element in these designs is a special ten-pointed star polygon, called a decagram for convenience; it is the dominant geometric shape in several polyhedral tessellations. This decagram can be created through the rotation of two concentric congruent regular pentagons with a radial distance of 36° from each others’ central angles. To create a decagram-based interlocking pattern, however, a craftsman-mathematician would need to take careful steps to locate a fundamental region. A modular approach to pattern-making seems to be more applicable for this design than compass-straightedge constructions. Such designs include patterns that are sometimes called aperiodic or quasi-periodic tilings in the language of modern mathematics.
The effect of adaptation to the stimulating pattern on the latency and wave form of visual evoked potentials

Abstract Visual evoked potentials (VEPs) elicited with a checkerboard stimulus after adaptation to an unpatterned grey field were compared to those obtained after adaptation to the stimulating pattern for an equal interval of time. When 3–4 sec elapsed between the adapting interval and recording of the VEP, the latency of the principal positive peak increased by 4 msec with pattern-reversal, but not with pattern-onset stimulation, while the amplitude was unchanged. However, when the pattern-onset VEP was recorded immediately after adaptation, the principal negative peak of the response was lost and the latency of its principal positive peak increased by 14 msec, causing it to mimic the conventional pattern-reversal VEP in both wave form and latency, and suggesting that adaptation may cause the wave form differences in the VEPs obtained by these two methods.
Carbon isotopic evidence for biomass burning at the K-T boundary

A new interpretation of existing carbon isotopic data combined with results from a biogeochemical model suggests that burning of terrestrial biomass occurred on a global scale at the Cretaceous-Tertiary (K-T) boundary. Carbon isotopic ratios from planktonic and benthic microfossils across the K-T boundary reveal not only a breakdown in the normal surface-water to deep-water gradient of 13 C/ 12 C, but also a reversal at the boundary. This reversal cannot be explained by the cessation off primary production alone. We propose that combustion of terrestrial biomass with subsequent transfer of isotopically light carbon to surface waters is the most likely cause of this anomaly. A biogeochemical model is used to quantify the extent of burning at the boundary. combustion of roughly 25% of the above-ground biomass at the end of the Cretaceous is necessary to account for the observed isotopic signal.
THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN EXPECTANCIES AND JOB BEHAVIOR FOR WHITE AND BLACK EMPLOYEES

Summary The purpose of the present study was to investigate the relationship between effort-reward expectancy (Porter and Lawler, 1968) and job behavior for white and black employees. It was found, first, that the blacks in this study tended to see a greater connection between hard work and rewards than did the whites. However, the ethnic groups did not differ in the rated importance they attributed to these rewards. It was also found that the relationship between expectancy and work motivation criteria was generally low for both samples. The interpretation of expectancy-criterion correlations as possible indicators of importance was explored.
Alcohol and Hypermasculinity as Determinants of Men's Empathic Responses to Violent Pornography

Both alcohol and exposure to violent pornography have been related to sexual aggression toward women. One link in understanding this relationship may lie in understanding the role of men's empathic responding to a female rape victim. This study examined men's empathic responses toward a female victim in a violent pornographic story as well as their self-reported likelihood to behave like the assailant. The degree to which the personality construct hypermasculinity might moderate the effects of alcohol and situational factors was of central interest. One hundred twenty-one men, recruited from the community, participated in a between-subjects experiment varying subjects' beverage (alcohol vs. placebo vs. tonic), story characters' beverage (alcohol vs. mineral water), and female story character's emotional response (pleasure vs. distress). Results showed that hypermasculinity moderated the effects of the manipulated variables on empathic responses to the female character. The manipulated variables also inter...
Cellular and molecular mechanisms of endothelial cell dysfunction.

repeated observation that it is altered by a variety of pathophysiological conditions. Such alterations of NO production and/or bioavailability have been shown to occur both in experimental animal models and in human subjects, in the setting of such diverse disorders as hypertension, hypercholesterolemia, aging, cigarette smoking, diabetes, and heart failure (1). The mechanisms underlying the alteration of this important function of the endothelium are varied and likely multifactorial. During the past several years an enormous amount of research has been devoted to understanding these abnormalities, which has led to new insights into regulation of vascular tone, redox state, inflammation, growth, and the prothrombotic/antithrombotic properties of the vessel wall. This Perspective will highlight some of these important new observations, as they relate to the pathology of the endothelial cell L -arginine/NO synthase (NOS) system. In addition, future directions of research that may be particularly informative will be indicated. Alterations of the substrate for the NOS enzyme The substrate for NOS is the basic amino acid L -arginine (with a K m of approximately 5 m M, reference 2). L -Arginine is syn
The community matrix in three species community models

The explicit function of the community matrix of a three dimensional Lotka-Volterra model is delineated by a set of necessary and sufficient conditions for a positive equilibrium to be asymptotically stable. In the special case that the community matrix is quasi weakly diagonally dominant, it is shown that a positive determinant for the community matrix is not only necessary but is also sufficient for stability. The results are specific to three dimensional models and do not extend to communities of dimension greater than three.
Minocycline delays disease onset and mortality in reovirus encephalitis

Minocycline is neuroprotective in many experimental models of neurodegenerative diseases and central nervous system (CNS) injury but has not previously been tested in a model of viral encephalitis. Experimental infection of neonatal mice with neurotropic reoviruses is a classic model for studying the pathogenesis of viral encephalitis. Intracerebral inoculation of serotype 3 reovirus strain Dearing (T3D) in neonatal mice results in lethal encephalitis caused by neuronal apoptosis throughout the CNS. Minocycline significantly delayed death in mice to 11.6 ± 0.9 days post-infection vs. 8.6 ± 0.7 days post-infection in controls (P < 0.01). Virus-induced CNS injury, apoptosis, viral titer and antigen expression were significantly decreased in the brains of minocycline-treated mice on 6 and 8 days post-infection compared to controls. Virus-induced injury and viral titer in minocycline-treated infected mice at 11 days post-infection were similar to those seen in untreated T3D-infected mice at 8 days post-infection. Little microglial or astrocytic invasion of brain regions with viral injury was found at any time-point in untreated or minocycline-treated mice, suggesting that in this model system the neuroprotective effect exerted by minocycline is more likely due to its anti-apoptotic properties rather than its capacity to inhibit microglial activation and limit gliosis. These findings, similar to those reported for neurodegenerative diseases, indicate that minocycline does not prevent development of fatal reovirus encephalitis but delays disease onset and progression, suggesting that minocycline treatment may provide a useful adjunctive therapy in viral CNS infections.
Developing Pedagogical Competence: Issues and Implications for Marketing Education

Competence in pedagogy and research is the sine qua non of marketing educators’ careers. However, there is evidence in the literature that marketing academics focus more on and are more competent i...
Three-dimensional interactions of a half-plane crack with point forces, dipoles and moments

Abstract Closed form solutions in terms of elementary functions are derived for stress intensity factors along the edge of a half-plane crack induced by point forces, dipoles, centers of expansion and moments. Locations and orientations of these “stress sources” are arbitrary. The solid is assumed to be either transversely isotropic (with the crack parallel to the plane of isotropy) or isotropic.
Active 4d tele-vision

3D television, 3D movie experiences, 3D tele-immersive and tele-presence environments, and extensive 3D gaming environments from Nintendo and Microsoft are becoming integral parts of our lives. Further advances in stereo and multi-view video, 3D graphics, spatial audio, Wii-like interface, 3D displays, and other multi-modal sensory devices, all contributing to acquisition, generation, display and control of new 4D media, already have and will have major impact on the next generation of multimedia systems and networks. In this talk we will discuss vision of active 4D multimedia delivery systems and the challenges of providing interactive, immersive participation and pervasive 4D delivery to millions of viewers. The problems for the multimedia system/networking community range from developing next generation of distributed algorithms, protocols and services organizing the 4D stereo and multiview/ spatial content over Content Distribution Networks, to developing easy and flexible configuration and deployment capabilities of the new cyber-physical 4D multimedia systems as well as new services on diverse devices to enable them playing and actively controlling content on these active 4D tele-vision systems.
An Incremental Process Mining Approach to Extract Knowledge from Legacy Systems

Several approaches have already been proposed to extract both business processes and business rules from a legacy source code. These approaches consider static source code analysis for the extraction procedure. However, business processes have components that can not be directly extracted by static analysis (i.e., participants, responsibilities, and concurrent activities). Moreover, well-known static analysis algorithms do not support the incremental extraction of information from the legacy code. Large legacy systems can benefit from an incremental analysis strategy in order to provide iterative information extraction as well as to achieve partial results much earlier. This paper discusses a new approach for business knowledge extraction from legacy systems. The approach considers an incremental process mining technique to extract business process structures and the business rules associated to it. Discovery results can be used in various ways by business analysts and software architects, e.g. documentation of legacy systems or for re-engineering purposes.
Nonlinear structural analysis of complex electronic and electromechanical assemblies

The finite-element technique, which is particularly well suited to problems with complex geometries, has been extensively used in structural mechanics. For the highly nonlinear problem, however, the technique has been limited to problems with a modest number of elements for want of a solution scheme that efficiently uses computer resources. We have found that the conjugate gradient method, taken from the field of optimization, provides the required solution technique. The technique has been adapted in a finite-element formulation for structural mechanics and configured to take advantage of vector processing computer hardware, resulting in the development of two computer programs, the two-dimensional JAC1 and the three-dimensional JAC3D.2 These programs provide the analyst with powerful, efficient tools to solve for the nonlinear quasi-static response of solids. In this paper, we describe the development and capabilities of JAC and JAC3D. Following this, we present a selected group of applications relating to the structural analysis of electronic and electromechanical subsystems.
Aerosol influences on marine atmospheric surface layer optics

Shipboard optical system are used as passive sensors for threat detection. When a threat is at low altitude part of the optical path from it may lie in the marine surface layer where it is distorted by refractivity gradients caused by large vertical changes in temperature and humidity in the first several meters above the sear surface. In addition, the poorly characterized giant sea salt aerosols in this region not only contribute to scattering but add to atmospheric refractivity by an amount equal to the product of water refractivity and aerosol contribution to atmospheric liquid water content. The added refractivity is about 10 percent of that due to water vapor, depending on relative humidity. These aerosols are created from bubble fragments and jet droplets caused by air bubbles bursting at the sea surface and can be hundreds of micrometers in size. Their size and number depend on wind speed and turbulent diffusivity. Because of the droplets' large size the vertical profile of liquid water content decreases more rapidly than exponential leading to correspondingly larger ray bending. As for scattering the large size of the droplets means that Beer's law of extinction does not apply. Part of this work has been presented previously, but the current work will incorporate more up-to-date size distribution data for near sear surface aerosols, obtained from a literature review in progress, into calculations of forward scattering and vertical refractivity profiles using selected wind speeds, relative humidity and air-sea temperature differences.© (1998) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
Transferrin DChi: the amino acid substitution.

A peptide difference has been found in the neutral-band (pH 6.4) regions of tryptic digests of human transferrins C and DChi. The peptide has the composition Asp-Ser-Ala-Arg. Therefore, this peptide is proposed as the 2TDChi b peptide, the result of the replacement of histidine by arginine in the Tf C peptide.
Weight Perceptions and Weight Control Practices in American Indian and Alaska Native Adolescents: A National Survey

Objective: To assess weight perceptions and weight control practices among American Indian–Alaska Native adolescents. Design: Survey. Setting: Nonurban schools from eight Indian Health Service areas. Participants: A total of 13 454 seventh- through 12th-grade American Indian–Alaska Native youths. Main Outcome Measures: A revised version of the Adolescent Health Survey, a comprehensive, anonymous self-report questionnaire with eating- and body image–related questions. Results: Forty-one percent of the adolescent girls reported feeling overweight, 50% were dissatisfied with their weight, and 44% worried about being overweight. Almost half (48%) had been on a weight-loss diet in the past year, with 27% reporting that they had self-induced vomiting at some time to try to lose weight. Eleven percent reported using diet pills. Girls who reported feeling overweight were more likely to engage in unhealthy weight control practices than were those who felt they were of normal weight or underweight. A larger proportion of boys were satisfied with their weight (68%), with 22% worrying about being overweight. However, compared with rural Minnesota youth, both American Indian girls and boys had greater dissatisfaction with body weight. Conclusions: Our study shows that American Indian youth, particularly girls, are dissatisfied with their weight and are worried about being overweight, and that unhealthy weight control practices are common. More attention needs to be placed on developing culturally appropriate weight management programs for Indian youths. (Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 1994;148:567-571)
A Thermophoretic Sherwood Number for Characterizing Submicron-Particle Mass Transfer in Laminar Wall-Bounded Flows

New solutions to the Eulerian particle-transport equations are presented which describe concentration profiles in wall-bounded, submicron-particle-laden, one-way coupled flows of gases undergoing advective transport and thermophoresis. These solutions have been deduced for the cases of steady, fully developed, laminar flow of hot gas within pipes and channels with a cold surface at a uniform temperature, when the velocity field and the temperature and particle concentration profiles can be described by their constant-property forms. They are used to show how the effectiveness with which temperature difference drives particulate mass transport can be characterized by a dimensionless mass-transport coefficient or thermophoretic Sherwood number—the product of a particle-concentration ratio and the heat-transfer Nusselt number—that is useful in making engineering predictions of and comparisons between particulate mass transfer rates in different flows. The solutions also reveal how the concentration profiles ...
Diffuse reflectance fourier transform infrared spectroscopy of phospholipid adsorption onto silicic acid

Diffuse reflectance Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy was used to study the mode of adsorption of phosphatidylcholine (PC) in hexane onto silicic acid (SA). PC adsorption was mainly through the charged phosphate group with minimal binding through the ester carbonyl. When the SA surface with adsorbed PC is washed with hexane, containing a small concentration of isopropanol, the desorbed PC is recovered without structural change, i.e., there is no evidence of PC hydrolysis in the adsorption process. Adsorbent misture probably promotes PC adsorption due to the increased availability of surface water hydroxyl groups for interaction with the PC phosphate groups. Isopropanol promoted PC binding by destabilizing PC reverse miscelles in solution, thus promoting its adsorption.
Numerical implementation of sealed-end boundary conditions in cable theory

The cable theory used for modeling voltage distributions in spatially extended neurons or other excitable cells, such as cells found in cardiac tissue, is reviewed. The theory is based on the observation that the intracellular electrical potential varies much more along a long nerve fiber than between points inside the fiber in a plane perpendicular to the fiber axis. This facilitates the mathematical analysis, since the spatial dimension of the differential equations for the intracellular voltage is reduced from three to one. It is shown that a frequently used numerical implementation of von Neumann boundary conditions (zero inflowing current) in cable theory is incorrect. Correct implementations are given, and it is shown that they yield results in good agreement with known analytical solutions. >
A Motif in the Vertebrate Telomerase N-terminal Linker of TERT Contributes to RNA Binding and Telomerase Activity and Processivity

Summary Telomerase is a ribonucleoprotein reverse transcriptase that replicates the ends of chromosomes, thus maintaining genome stability. Telomerase ribonucleoprotein assembly is primarily mediated by the RNA binding domain (TRBD) of the enzyme. Here we present the high-resolution TRBD structure of the vertebrate, Takifugu rubripes ( tr TRBD). The structure shows that with the exception of the N-terminal linker, the tr TRBD is conserved with the Tribolium castaneum and Tetrahymena thermophila TRBDs, suggesting evolutionary conservation across species. The structure provides a view of the structural organization of the vertebrate-specific VSR motif that binds the activation domain (CR4/5) of the RNA component of telomerase. It also reveals a motif (TFLY) that forms part of the T-CP pocket implicated in template boundary element (TBE) binding. Mutant proteins of conserved residues that consist of part of the T and TFLY motifs disrupt tr TRBD-TBE binding and telomerase activity and processivity, supporting an essential role of these motifs in telomerase RNP assembly and function.
Facile synthesis of chiral unsymmetric perylene tetracarboxylic diimides involving α-amino acids

Abstract A facile synthesis of chiral unsymmetric perylene tetracarboxylic diimides (PDIs) has been developed and the first two nonracemic chiral amphiphilic PDIs have been synthesized. The key building blocks, AB bifunctional 3,4,9,10-perylenetetracarboxylic-3,4-anhydride-9,10-imides, were prepared conveniently from enantiomerically pure α-amino acids, which were introduced as the steric and stereochemical controlling units. Such building blocks allow the incorporation of sterically and stereochemically controlled PDI moieties into both terminal and inner positions.
Dopamine Receptor mRNA Expression in Human Striatum and Neocortex

The distributions of the transcripts encoding the five dopamine receptors have been determined in the human striatum and selected regions of the neocortex. In the striatum significant levels of dopamine receptor expression are restricted to the D1, D2, and D3 receptors. D1 and D2 receptor messenger ribonucleic acids (mRNAs) are homogeneously distributed throughout the caudate, putamen, and nucleus accumbens. D3 receptor mRNA is particularly enriched in the nucleus accumbens, with moderate levels in the ventral putamen. In the prefrontal cortex D1 and D4 receptor mRNAs are the most abundant, although the other three transcripts are seen at lower levels. A similar pattern is seen in the temporal neocortex. In the occipital cortex, D1 receptor mRNA is the most abundant, D3 the rarest, while the other three transcripts are present at modest levels of expression. These data add to a growing understanding of the neuroanatomical distribution of these transcripts in the human brain. They are essential to understand in the context of the limbic circuitry of the brain, as new hypotheses of dysfunction of dopaminergic neurotransmission are advanced in psychiatry and as these receptor subtypes are targeted for development of novel pharmacological treatments.
Time delay estimation and optimal control concepts

Abstract In this paper, a nonlinear adaptive filter is introduced and applied to the classical problem of time delay estimation. The signal is modeled as the output of a linear time-varying filter driven by white noise. The filter structure is estimated using the Pontryagin minimum principle, in a novel way, which is then used to find an estimate for the delayed and undelayed signal and consequently the time delay is estimated. The resultant equations comprise a nonlinear filter (which is called a Pontryagin filter) that exhibits, on average, better performance than the LMS based algorithm as shown through Monte Carlo simulation studies. In these studies, different SNR values and different time delays were simulated. The estimate of the time delay using both Pontryagin and LMS algorithms are compared and it is shown that the nonlinear Pontryagin filter outperforms the commonly used LMS algorithm and results in about 90% reduction in computer time.
Maximal length sequences for frequency hopping

Normally, frequency hopping sequences for spread-spectrum communication systems are obtained by selecting groups of elements of binary m sequences. An alternative to using groups of binary m-sequence elements is developed. It involves obtaining nonbinary m sequences with the number of desired hopping frequencies equal to the number of symbols in the finite field which the nonbinary m sequence is over. The grouping of elements of binary m sequences does not necessarily have the m sequences. In addition, the autocorrelation function of the nonbinary m sequence has a maximal period, whereas the frequency hopping sequences obtained from the grouping of elements of binary m sequences may not have a maximal period. >
Faculty-Faculty Interactions in Online Learning Environments

Past research has shown that peer support helps improve faculty activities such as research, teaching, and technology competencies. Using a mixed research method design, this research study investigated resources available to faculty as they teach or prepare to teach online courses at a large Midwest public university. In addition, the study explored the nature of peer interactions that existed between faculty who taught or planned to teach online courses. The determinants of such interactions as well as the benefits and the challenges involved in initiating and maintaining the interactions were examined. Findings from this study have implications for the development and implementation of training and support programs intended to help faculty successfully teach online courses.