cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
The XylR variant (R121C and P363S) releases arabinose-induced catabolite repression on xylose fermentation and enhances coutilization of lignocellulosic sugar mixtures.

Microbial production of fuels and chemicals from lignocellulosic biomass provides a promising alternative to conventional petroleum-derived routes. However, the heterogeneous sugar composition of lignocellulose prevents efficient microbial sugar co-fermentation due to carbon catabolite repression, which negatively affects production metrics. We previously discovered that a mutant copy of the transcriptional regulator XylR (P363S and R121C; denoted as XylR*) in Escherichia coli has a higher DNA-binding affinity than wild-type XylR, leading to a stronger activation of the d-xylose catabolic genes and a release from glucose-induced repression on xylose fermentation. Here, we showed that XylR* also releases l-arabinose-induced repression on xylose fermentation through altered transcriptional control, enhancing co-fermentation of arabinose-xylose sugar mixtures in wild-type E. coli. Integrating xylR* into an ethanologenic E. coli resulted in the coutilization of 96% of the provided glucose-xylose-arabinose mixtures (120 g/L total sugars supplied) with an ethanol yield higher than 90% of the theoretical maximum by simple batch fermentations.
An Unsupervised Surface Water Un-Mixing Method Using Landsat and Modis Images for Rapid Inundation Observation

Surface water has been monitored by using remote sensing techniques for decades. Nevertheless, remotely sensed images inevitably compromise temporal and spatial resolution, which limits the urgent application in sudden flooding response. Images with a high spatial resolution cannot be acquired and processed frequently to monitor the fast-evolving flood events that could change dramatically within a few days. To address such a challenge, this paper presents a method to un-mix surface water from MODIS derived water indices, which could be generated daily. First, before flooding, the water indices are calculated from satellite sensed reflectance, and water fraction is calculated from classified Landsat images. Second, the relationship between water fraction and water indices is learned by using a regression tree ensemble method. Third, after flooding, water indices are obtained from the new MODIS images, and water fraction is retrieved by applying the learned regression tree ensemble. By spatially un-mixing coarse but daily accessible surface water observations, this proposed method facilitates near-real-time emergency responses to flooding and inundation monitoring.
Nutrient Recovery from Anaerobically Digested Dairy Manure Using Dissolved Air Flotation (DAF)

Digestate application to soils located near anaerobic digesters can potentially contribute to nutrient loss to downstream freshwater ecosystems and associated eutrophication. However, it is cost-pr...
Critical Component Identification under Load Uncertainty for Cascading Failure Analysis

As electric power grids are increasingly growing in scale and complexity, modeling and analysis of cascading failures become more critical. In this paper, a new method is proposed for identification of critical components using global and relative indices. These indices are extracted from the data from cascading failure analysis based on distributed slack power flow under load uncertainty. The proposed model considers fast propagation of failures and avoids the problems caused by the common assumption that optimal power flow can be implemented between subsequent failures. It also alleviates the unrealistic assignment of criticality to the transmission lines that are in the vicinity of slack bus in cascading failure models based on power flow solution. The proposed model and analysis are tested on Illinois 200-bus system and results are discussed.
Impact of Advanced Maternal Age on Physiologic Adaptations to Pregnancy in Vervet Monkeys

Abstract Context The trend to delay pregnancy in the United States has resulted in the number of advanced maternal age (AMA) pregnancies to also increase. In humans, AMA is associated with a variety of pregnancy-related pathologies such as preeclampsia (PE). While AMA is known to be a factor which contributes to the development of pregnancy-induced diseases, the molecular and cellular mechanisms giving rise to this phenomenon are still very limited. This is due in part to lack of a pre-clinical model which has physiologic relevance to human pregnancy while also allowing control of environmental and genetic variability inherent in human studies. Objective To determine potential physiologic relevance of the vervet/African green monkey (Chlorocebus aethiops sabaeus) as a pre-clinical model to study the effects of AMA on adaptations to pregnancy. Design Thirteen age-diverse pregnant vervet monkeys (3-16 y.o.) were utilized to measure third trimester blood pressure (BP), complete blood count, iron measurements and hormone levels. Results Significant associations were observed between third trimester diastolic BP and maternal age. Furthermore, the presence of leukocytosis with enhanced circulating neutrophils was observed in AMA mothers compared to younger mothers. Moreover, we observed a negative relationship between maternal age and estradiol, progesterone and cortisol levels. Finally, offspring born to AMA mothers displayed a postnatal growth retardation phenotype. Conclusions These studies demonstrate physiologic impairment in the adaptation to pregnancy in AMA vervet/African green monkeys. Our data indicate the vervet/African green monkey may serve as a useful pre-clinical model and tool for deciphering pathological mediators of maternal disease in AMA pregnancy.
Full-Scale Supersonic Parachute Shape Reconstruction Using Three-Dimensional Stereo Imagery

This paper describes three-dimensional (3D) stereo reconstruction efforts for the full-scale supersonic parachute deployment tests performed under the NASA Advanced Supersonic Parachute Inflation R...
Structural Color from Interference of Light Undergoing Total Internal Reflection at Concave Interfaces

There are a variety of physical phenomena that lead to color, including absorption by dyes and pigments, material dispersion, diffraction and interference. In addition, scattering, diffraction and interference mechanisms are inherent to spherical droplets, which contribute to atmospheric phenomena such as glories, coronas and rainbows. Structural color occurs when geometric affects result in color, such as in the cases of nano- and micro- scale periodicity in photonic crystals. This chapter discusses structural color caused by interference of light undergoing total internal reflection along concave interfaces. A theoretical model is developed explaining how the coloration occurs which closely matches experimental results. This coloration can be seen a wide variety of structures as long as a concave microscale interface along which multiple paths of total internal reflection can occur, including the bi-phase droplets focused on in this thesis. Additionally, the dependency of color on droplet geometry is explored. The predictive theory outlined here will be of interest both for fundamental exploration in optics and for application in functional colloidal inks and paints, displays and sensors.
Model Correlation to a Nonlinear Bolted Structure Using Quasi-Static Modal Analysis

Bolted joints are common in many engineering structures, yet they introduce complexity when the interest is predicting the dynamic response of a system. Under large load amplitudes, the joint contact interfaces will slip and cause the response to be nonlinear. A method proposed by Festjens et al., and later elaborated upon by the authors and dubbed Quasi-Static Modal Analysis (QSMA), has made it feasible to model the contact between structures in detail and thus predict the nonlinear dynamic behavior. Prior works have shown that this is feasible (Wall et al, Predicting S4 beam joint nonlinearity using quasi-static modal analysis. In: IMAC XXXVII; Jewell et al, J Sound Vib 479:115376, 2020, yet) no work has rigorously correlated such a finite element model with experimental measurements. This work takes a step in that direction by quantifying the effect of various features in the FEM to the amplitude dependent damping and natural frequency predicted by QSMA. Specifically, the effect of the friction coefficient and the curvature of the contact interface on the QSMA predictions is found and quantified. The results so far show that some of these effects could improve model agreement.
Nonuniform Debye Temperatures in Quasi-One-Dimensional Transition-Metal Trichalcogenides

The Debye–Waller factor plots for S 2p core-level, based on temperature-dependent X-ray photoemission measurements on quasi-one-dimensional (1D) chains of TiS3, suggest effective Debye temperatures...
Modeling CO2 Emissions from Trips using Urban Air Mobility and Emerging Automobile Technologies

Urban air mobility (UAM) operations provide the potential for more, or more attractive, trips in a metropolitan area relative to wholly surface-based transportation. But the emissions produced by a...
Ultrafast Heterodyne Infrared Nano-Imaging of Polaron Dynamics in Lead Halide Perovskites

Ultrafast heterodyne infrared nano-imaging has been developed to reveal nanoscale heterogeneity of polaron formation, dynamics, and polaron-cation coupling in lead halide perovskites, with real space-time mapping of elementary electron-phonon coupling underlying their optoelectronic response.
A Cascade Image Intensifier Camera for Beam-foil Spectroscopy

Publisher Summary This chapter elaborates a cascade image intensifier camera for beam-foil spectroscopy. The camera has been constructed using a Jarrell-Ash 1-m Czerny-Turner spectrograph and an RCA C33034, ultraviolet sensitive, two-stage cascade image intensifier. The light gain of the system is about 20, compared with the unmodified spectrograph camera. The detection apparatus consists of a Jarrell-Ash 1-m Czerny-Turner spectrograph mated to an RCA C33034 two-stage cascade, magnetically-focused, image-intensifier tube, which has an S.20 response extended into the ultraviolet by the use of a fused silica entrance window. The nitrogen survey of 180 lines in the region from 2200 to 6000 A has confirmed the existence of 12 lines. In addition, 39 lines have been found, which definitely come from the various nitrogen ions, but for which the energy-level transitions are not yet classified. The camera has also been used as part of a detailed examination of the excitation of He + in thin foils.
A novel reaction system involving BaS and BaSO4 for converting SO2 to elemental sulfur without generating pollutants: Part II. Kinetics of the hydrogen reduction of BaSO4 to BaS

Abstract The reduction of barium sulfate to produce barium sulfide is a part of the two-step process for converting sulfur dioxide to elemental sulfur, described in Part I. This reaction was investigated using a thermogravimetric analysis technique with and without an impregnated nickel catalyst at reaction temperatures between 700 and 1050 ∘ C . As an example of the reactivity of nickel-catalyzed barium sulfate powder, almost complete conversion was attained in about 3 min at 850 ∘ C under a hydrogen partial pressure of 86.7 kPa. The Prout–Tompkins nucleation and growth kinetics equation was found to be useful for describing the rate of this reaction, which had an activation energy of 210 kJ/mol for fresh barium sulfate powder and 143 kJ/mol for fresh nickel-catalyzed barium sulfate powder. The reduction reaction of nickel-catalyzed barium sulfate powder is of order 0.6 with respect to hydrogen partial pressure.
Transcription of Simian Virus 40 II. Hybridization of RNA Extracted from Different Lines of Transformed Cells to the Separated Strands of Simian Virus 40 DNA

Abstract The amount of simian virus 40 (SV40) DNA present in various SV40-transformed mouse cell lines and “revertants” isolated from them was determined. The number of viral DNA copies in the different cell lines ranged from 1.35 to 8.75 copies per diploid quantity of mouse cell DNA and from 2.2 to 14 copies per cell. The revertants had the same number of viral DNA copies per diploid quantity of mouse cell DNA as their parental cell lines. (However, they showed an increased number of viral DNA copies per cell due to their increased amount of DNA.) By using separated strands of SV40 DNA, the extent of each DNA strand transcribed into stable RNA species was determined for the transformed and “revertant” cell lines. From 30 to 80% of the “early” strand and from 0 to 20% of the “late” strand was present as stable RNA species in the cell lines tested. There was no alteration in the pattern of the stable viral RNA species present in three concanavalin A-selected revertants, whereas in a fluorodeoxyuridine-selected revertant there appeared to be less viral-specific RNA present in the cells.
16-Bit and 32-Bit Microprocessors: Architecture, Software, and Interfacing Techniques

Introduction to microprocessors and microcomputers software architecture of the 8086 microprocessor 8086 microprocessor programming 1 8086 microprocessor programming 2 the 8086 microprocessor and its memory interface input/output interface of the 8086 microprocessor and its memory interface input-output interface of the 8086 microprocessor interrupt of the 8086 microprocessor software architecture of the 80386 microprocessor hardware architecture of 80386 microprocessor software architecture of the 68000 microprocessor 68000 microprocessor - memory and input/output interfaces exception processing of the 68000 microprocessor software architecture of the 68020 microprocessor hardware architecture of the 68020 microprocessor.
Treatment agreements, informed consent, and the role of state medical boards in opioid prescribing.

The statistics regarding prescription drug overdose in the United States are shocking and clear. One hundred people die from prescription drug overdoses every day in the United States, with three out of four of these drug overdoses caused by prescription painkillers. Prescription drug deaths are, however, just the tip of the iceberg. For every death from prescription pain killers, 10 people are admitted to treatment for drug abuse, 32 emergency department visits take place, and 130 people abuse these drugs or are dependent upon them [1]. Notably, while 70% of people who abuse prescription pain medication report that they obtained the drugs from friends or relatives [2], long-term abusers of opioid pain relievers are most likely to acquire their drugs through a prescription from a physician [3]. In addition to the chronic pain and the prescription drug abuse epidemics that are well documented in the United States, another third interrelated epidemic is now requiring attention as well. Widespread opioid pain reliever abuse has been associated with a dramatic rise in heroin use in the United States. In March 2014, US Attorney General Eric Holder noted this connection while raising concern about the “urgent public health crisis”—a 45% increase in US heroin overdose deaths from 2006 to 2010 [4]. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently has taken actions that both acknowledge these trends and raise new concerns. In October 2013, the agency recommended that many prescription opioids be reclassified as Schedule II drugs [5]. Later that month, the FDA approved for use a powerful new, pure hydrocodone painkiller, Zohydro ER, leading to an outcry from at least 28 state attorneys general and medical experts concerned about the medication's potential for diversion and abuse [6]. As a response to this epidemic of prescription opioid deaths …
Back to The Future: A Roadmap for Quantum Simulation From Vintage Quantum Chemistry

A discussion of the prospects for quantum computation for quantum chemistry from the point of view of the history of classical calculations of electronic structure.
Species composition and abundance, and nest density and fate of birds in roadsides adjacent to Iowa rowcrop fields

INTRODUCTION STUDY SITES MElHODS BIRD ABUNDANCE AND SPECIES RICHNESS IN ROADSIDES ADJACENT TO IOWA ROWCROP FIELDS Vegetation measurements Bird Census Statistics RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Vegetation Characteristics--Roadside Comparisons between Roadside Types, Treatments, and Years Seasonal Changes Vegetation Characteristics--Field Bird Species Composition and Abundance--Roadside and Field Vegetation Type and Treatment Vegetation Characteristics in Roadsides Coverage of Habitats Adjacent to Roadsides Seasonal Changes of Bird Species Abundance in Roadsides MANAGEMENT IMPLICATIONS LITERATURE CITED Page
Exploring the Usability of Mobile Apps Supporting Radiologists’ Training in Diagnostic Decision Making

Abstract Purpose The objective of this study was to conduct a usability evaluation of mobile apps for supporting education and training in radiologic diagnostic decision-making processes. Methods Of 381 mobile apps available at two major stores (Google Play and iTunes), eight iOS apps were selected for laboratory-based usability tests. Six staff radiologists completed eight app-specific task sets, using a think-aloud strategy. The triangular methods approach included quantitative performance measures, System Usability Scale (SUS), and qualitative thematic analysis using heuristic usability principles of usability issues. Results Overall, radiologists achieved higher than 70% success, with favorable SUS scores, in completing the tasks for seven of the eight apps. However, task success rate and SUS score had a weak relation ( r = 0.23), indicating that the perceived usability may not reflect the holistic usability of the app. Task analysis and self-report revealed 108 usability issues, which were condensed to 55 unique issues and categorized by nine usability themes and mapped to ten usability heuristics. Nonintuitive functionality (eg, nonintuitive or misleading labels) was the most frequent theme observed, leading to inefficient navigation. These usability findings were consistent with the 13 improvements the radiologists suggested. Conclusions This study demonstrates the feasibility of usability evaluation of radiology mobile apps and suggests potential improvements in the development of radiology mobile apps. This study also suggests that proficiency with mobile devices may not be equivalent to being an expert user, proficient in using the apps.
Soot size distributions in rich premixed ethylene flames

Abstract Electrical mobility measurements of the soot particles generated in rich premixed ethylene/air flat flames reveal a characteristic lognormal size distribution that is distinct from the self preserving distribution expected from coagulation dominated aerosol dynamics. The distribution changes to a bimodal form as the equivalence ratio and the height above the burner increase. The soot particles are sampled using a three-stage ejector pump, with an overall dilution of the soot mole fraction by 3000, that quenches the flame chemistry and dilutes the sample for analysis by a nano-differential mobility analyzer. The measured soot volume fraction is in good agreement with optical extinction data, quantitatively reproducing the increases previously noted with respect to increasing equivalence ratio and height above the burner. The trends for mean particle diameter are also reproduced, but the mobility diameters are roughly threefold smaller than their light scattering counterparts. Particle number density is found to increase with height, whereas the optical data exhibit the opposite trend. Residence chamber experiments show that with sufficient time the quenched soot sample evolves from the lognormal shape found in the flame to the expected self preserving distribution.
Next-generation Web services: Enabling the customer-centric organisation

This paper describes a future of anytime, anywhere computing where customers will use a multiplicity of connected devices to access rich Internet services. Successful websites of the future will not simply be about presenting content or transacting e-commerce sales — they will integrate data between different sites and allow customers to create their own personalised ‘Internet experience’. The third wave of interactive marketing is almost upon us, where the Web will be more than just a channel of communication, clearly establishing itself as a ‘programmable asset’.
Automatic programming through English dialogue

The goal of this project is to develop a system which will automatically produce a business application program for a user after carrying on a natural language dialogue with him about his requirements. This can be viewed as an extension of currently existing questionnaire-driven application customizers, such as ACS [1], which automatically produce business application programs from the answers supplied to a series of multiple-choice questions. Each program so produced is a particular version of a very general, parameterized program for that application (e.g. billing).
Elementary vorton instability in a Yang-Mills model

A model consisting of anSO(3) gauge field coupled to a single Higgs isovector is considered. An Abelian gauge symmetry, identified with the electromagneticU(1) gauge symmetry, survives the spontaneous symmetry breaking. The model admits solutions which can describe either neutral gauge strings or strings which carry charge and current. Circular-loop configurations of the charged strings form the vortons of the model, provided that there exists a large-distance cut-off corresponding to the loop radius. It is found that if elementary vortons which carry a single unit of electric charge exist, then they are quantum-mechanically unstable against decay.
Nonperturbative condensate contributions to the effective quark-gluon coupling

We study the effective quark-gluon coupling at low-energy scale, which is defined as the amplitude of a quark emitting or absorbing a gluon with some momentum at low-energy scale. This amplitude is determined from the fermionic three-point Green’s functions of QCD including the leading order contributions of nonperturbative condensates through use of the operator-product expansion. By this approach, we discuss the relationship between the constituent quark and the quark of QCD Lagrangian, and estimate the scale of chiral symmetry breaking and the size of a constituent quark in participating the strong interaction process, such as form factors and radii.
Shear Properties of Oil Shales

Organic-rich shales house large untapped amounts of hydrocarbons. In-situ recovery of these hydrocarbons involves thermal cracking and steamflooding of these reservoirs which changes its physical properties, and shear properties in particular. We measure, within the seismic band, the complex shear modulus (and thus also the attenuation) of two oil shale samples, one rich in organic content and the other low in organic content.
Charge capacity limitations of radio frequency ion guides in their use for improved ion accumulation and trapping in mass spectrometry.

The use of radio frequency (rf) ion guides as "linear" two-dimensional ion traps and ion guides for ion storage and accumulation, respectively, is becoming increasingly important for realizing improved sensitivity in mass spectrometry. Analytical relationships describing the ion accumulation operation mode of rf ion guides are reported. Comparisons are made between the rf quadrupole ion guide, higher-order rf multipoles and rf stacked ring ion guides, in terms of the charge capacity limitations due to the instability of ions, rf focusing efficiency limits, and effects due to rf ion heating (i.e., collisional activation due to rf oscillations of ions). Analytical relations for the stored charge quantity are derived in the low ion energy approximation, which is shown to be reasonable for the systems considered. The ion density spatial distribution is derived, an exponential form of which proved to provide a good approximation for high-order rf multipoles and stacked ring rf ion guides. The limit on the stored charge dependence upon rf is shown to be directly related to the thermal dissociation thresholds for the ions being studied; the limitation is weaker for higher-order multipoles and stacked ring ion guides. These results suggest that rf quadrupoles provide an optimum configuration when accumulation of a moderate ion density is sufficient (below 10(9) elementary charges/m). Alternatively, accumulation of an appreciable density for more fragile species, such as noncovalent complexes, may be realized using higher-order multipoles and stacked ring ion guides.
Haematological and immunological response of calves to infection with Taenia saginata.

Calves were infected with eggs ofTaenia saginata and the haematologic response and the antigen-induced responsiveness of their peripheral blood lymphocytes was followed. No changes were observed in the erythrocyte levels, but a leukocytosis developed. This was contributed to primarily by a lymphocytosis, but also by an eosinophilia. Antigen-induced lymphocyte blastogenesis measured the antigen-sensitive cell population in peripheral blood and this population showed a maximum increase at 11 and 32 days after infection, however, antigen-sensitive cells remained at above normal levels for the remaider of the infection. Ten weeks after infection 11 calves were treated with albendazole at 50 mg/kg. Inter alia this resulted in an 86% destruction of the metacestodes in the treated animals as compared to the placebo treated animals and four days after treatment there was a significant leukopaenia and lymphopaenia. Coincidently, there was an increase in the responsiveness of the peripheral blood lymphocytes to antigen. Upon challenge infection with 15,000 eggs the infected calves showed a marked secondary eosinophilia, but no change was apparent in the other blood elements. At this time there was a marked increase in the response of the peripheral blood lymphocytes to antigen. Two lightly infected calves showed a leukocytosis and a lymphocytosis beginning 31 days after infection. The calves did not demonstrate an eosinophilic response, nor did the transformation of their lymphocytes with antigen differ from that of the uninfected animals. However, upon challenge infection these calves showed a marked eosinophilia and an increase in the responsiveness of their lymphocytes to antigen.
Adipose invariant natural killer T cells

Adipose tissue is a dynamic organ that makes up a substantial proportion of the body; in severe obesity it can account for 50% of body mass. Details of the unique immune system resident in human and murine adipose tissue are only recently emerging, and so it has remained a largely unexplored and unappreciated immune site until now. Adipose tissue harbours a unique collection of immune cells, which often display unusual functions compared with their counterparts elsewhere in the body. These resident immune cells are key to maintaining tissue and immune homeostasis, yet in obesity their chronic aberrant stimulation can contribute to the inflammation and pathogenesis associated with obesity. Anti-inflammatory adipose-resident lymphocytes are often depleted in obesity, whereas pro-inflammatory immune cells accumulate, leading to an overall inflammatory state, which is a key step in the development of obesity-induced metabolic disease. A good example is invariant natural killer T (iNKT) cells, which make up a large proportion of lymphocytes in human and murine adipose tissue. Here, they are unusually poised to produce anti-inflammatory or regulatory cytokines, however in obesity, iNKT cells are greatly reduced. As iNKT cells are potent transactivaors of other immune cells, and can act as a bridge between innate and adaptive immunity, their loss in obesity represents the loss of a major regulatory population. Restoring iNKT cells, or activating them in obese mice leads to improved glucose handling, insulin sensitivity, and even weight loss, and hence represents an exciting therapeutic avenue to be explored for restoring homeostasis in obese adipose tissue.
Structure of elastic p-p scattering at low and high energies.

It is observed that p-p elastic scattering at 90/sup 0/ between 0.3 and 1.0 GeV is described by planar-transverse amplitude of which two are equal in magnitude and one is about three times larger in magnitude. This feature, extrapolated to much higher energies, is used to predict p-p polarization quantities, in part by itself, in part in combination with the extension of another, previously observed feature of planar-transverse amplitudes. Comparison with existing data is favorable. Predictions are then made for other, yet unmeasured but readily measurable polarization quantities for p-p elastic scattering.
Reckoning the after/math of war in Guatemala

Working from multiple meanings of reckoning (to count, to settle rewards or penalties, to pay a bill, to measure possibilities for the future), this essay explores the post-war in Guatemala and the work of, and struggles over, number in making different people and experiences count. The peace treaty signed in 1996 instituted a truth commission and efforts to bring justice to the victims. The commission’s quantifications of 250,000 dead, 93 percent at the hands of the state, mix in complex ways with the qualitative judgment that those deaths constitute genocide, leading to further quandaries in quantifying forms of repair. The state has begun paying reparations to survivors, but is also compensating civilians who were drafted into para-militaries that carried out massacres. How these para-victimizers count in relation to the aggregate of victims is, in turn, hard to calculate, and I look at some ways Guatemalans are working to make it all add up.
Friedrich Schlegel's Lucinde : A Case Study in the Relation of Religion to Romanticism

In 1799 a small book called Lucinde was published in Berlin. Written by the brilliant young literary critic Friedrich Schlegel it celebrated his (adulterous) affair with Dorothea Veit, daughter of the eminent Jewish philosopher Moses Mendelssohn. Though not widely read and still less widely understood the book provoked a considerable, and largely hostile, reaction among the reading public. It became to its generation what Lady Chatterley's Lover was to a more recent age: the quintessential embodiment of an obscene book. The author's mother gave utterance to the popular consensus when she wrote that ‘through his novel Fritz has shown himself to me as one who has no religion and no good principles’.
Dual role for p75(NTR) signaling in survival and cell death: can intracellular mediators provide an explanation?

Several recent reports support a dual role of p75(NTR) in cell death, as well as survival, depending on the physiological or developmental stage of the cells. Coexpression of the TrkA receptor with p75(NTR) further enhances the complexity of nerve growth factor (NGF) signaling. Recent identification of serine/threonine kinases that interact with the p75(NTR) provides an explanation for the lack of an apparent kinase domain needed for signaling. In this report, we review the possible roles of the intracellular proteins that directly interact with the p75(NTR), atypical protein kinase C (PKC) binding protein, p62 and second messengers in the functional antagonism exhibited by TrkA and p75(NTR) with an emphasis on the nuclear factor-kappa B activation pathway.
Superhydrophobic and Oleophobic Fibers by Coaxial Electrospinning

Control of surface wetting properties to produce strongly hydrophobic or hydrophilic effects is at the heart of many macro- and microfluidic applications. In this work, we have investigated coaxial electrospinning to produce core−sheath-structured nano/microfibers that combine different properties from individual core and sheath materials. Teflon AF is an amorphous fluoropolymer that is widely utilized as a hydrophobic material. Hydrophobic fluoropolymers are normally not electrospinnable because their low dielectric constant prevents sufficient charging for a solution to be electrospun. The first Teflon electrospun fibers are reported using coaxial electrospinning with Teflon AF sheath and poly(e-caprolactone) (PCL) core materials. Using these core/sheath fibers, superhydrophobic and oleophobic membranes have been successfully produced. These coaxial fibers also preserve the core material properties as demonstrated with mechanical tensile tests. The fact that a normally nonelectrospinnable material such ...
Mappings between inverse limits of continua with multivalued bonding functions

Abstract We investigate the limit mappings between inverse limits of continua with upper semi-continuous bonding functions. Results are obtained when the coordinate mappings are surjective, one-to-one or homeomorphisms. We construct examples showing the hypothesis of the theorems are essential. Further, we construct an example showing that, unlike for the inverse limits with single valued maps, properties of being monotone, confluent or weakly confluent mappings between factor spaces are not preserved in the inverse limit map.
Cefazolin-induced hypoprothrombinemia

Purpose. A case of cefazolin-induced hypoprothrombinemia in a patient with renal failure is reported. Summary. A 50-year-old African-American woman was transferred from the orthopedics service to the internal medicine service for management of acute renal failure. Before her transfer, she had spinal surgery and subsequently developed a wound infection complicated by Escherichia coli bacteremia. After trials of multiple antibiotics, she developed acute interstitial nephritis and renal failure. On the day of her transfer to the internal medicine service, i.v. cefazolin sodium 1 g was administered every 24 hours to eradicate the E. coli detected in blood cultures. Her baseline International Normalized Ratio (INR) was 1.3. On day 7 of cefazolin therapy, her INR increased to 4.0. Because of her recent history of bleeding and hypotension, vitamin K 10 mg i.v. was administered, followed by 5 mg orally for the next two days. Her INR decreased and normalized at 1.1. The patient had no changes to other drug therapies and had no medical conditions known to independently affect prothrombin time during this episode. The score on the Naranjo et al. adverse-event probability scale revealed a probable relationship between cefazolin and hypoprothrombinemia in this patient. Conclusion. A patient with a postsurgery wound infection and acute renal failure developed hypoprothrombinemia after receiving cefazolin for seven days.
Addressing uncertainty in life-cycle carbon intensity in a national low-carbon fuel standard

Abstract Policies formulated to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, such as a low-carbon fuel standard, frequently rely on life-cycle assessment (LCA) to estimate emissions, but LCA results are often highly uncertain. This study develops life-cycle models that quantitatively and qualitatively describe the uncertainty and variability in GHG emissions for both fossil fuels and ethanol and examines mechanisms to reduce those uncertainties in the policy process. Uncertainty regarding emissions from gasoline is non-negligible, with an estimated 90% confidence interval ranging from 84 to 100 g CO 2 e/MJ. Emissions from biofuels have greater uncertainty. The widths of the 90% confidence intervals for corn and switchgrass ethanol are estimated to be on the order of 100 g CO 2 e/MJ, and removing emissions from indirect land use change still leaves significant remaining uncertainty. Though an opt-in policy mechanism can reduce some uncertainty by incentivizing producers to self-report fuel production parameters, some important parameters, such as land use change emissions and nitrogen volatilization, cannot be accurately measured and self-reported. Low-carbon fuel policies should explicitly acknowledge, quantify, and incorporate uncertainty in life cycle emissions in order to more effectively achieve emissions reductions. Two complementary ways to incorporate this uncertainty in low carbon fuel policy design are presented.
Picking a President: Candidate Over Content; Personality Over Platform

In the week leading up to the 2008 presidential election, brief excerpts from the Democratic and Republican Party platforms on “Higher Education” were presented to undergraduate students (N=244) at a major HBCU (Historically Black College/University) along with a web address which included the presidential candidate’s name. However, unknown to the respondents, the web addresses had been swapped so that the “McCain” web address headlined the Democratic platform statement, and the “Obama” web address headlined the Republican platform statement.The students, 80% of whom identified themselves as affiliated with the Democratic Party, claimed to agree most with the so-called “Obama” platform statement by a margin of 3 to 2. In other words, 63% of the Democrats claimed to agree most with the Republican platform statement! The percentage differences were greater than the margin of error.The most plausible reason for this is that they saw the “Obama” name in the web address that headlined the platform statement an...
Improved sterile technique diminishes the incidence of positive line cultures in cardiovascular patients

In order to determine the incidence of positive line cultures, especially as affected by differing protocols for line insertion, cultures were obtained from lines in residence for up to 4 days from cardiac patients (who received Cefuroxime) and vascular patients (who received Cefazolin) as prophylaxis perioperatively. Positive cultures were obtained from 95 (19%) of 496 lines in cardiac patients and 83 (31%) of 261 lines in vascular patients. There was a linear relationship between duration of line residence and the incidence of positive line cultures, increasing from 14% on Day 1 to 33% on Day 4. The use of full sterile technique at the time of insertion halved the incidence of subsequent positive line cultures. Four of the 403 (1%) patients each had a single episode of postoperative line sepsis. Another four patients developed wound infections with the same organisms as cultured from their lines. One patient has had a vascular graft infection with the same organism cultured as was isolated from a Swan-Ganz line 1 year previously. These data suggest that monitoring lines should be inserted using full sterile technique and removed as soon as the patient is hemodynamically stable.
Theoretical and Experimental Studies of the Reaction of OH with Isoprene

The structure and energetics for the reaction of OH + isoprene → adduct have been examined using ab initio molecular orbital methods. The structure of each HO−isoprene adduct was optimized using Becke's three-parameter hybrid method employing the LYP correction functional (B3LYP) with the 6-31G** basis set, and using Moller−Plesset correlation energy correction truncated at second-order (MP2) with both the 6-31G** and the 6-311G** basis sets. Single-point energy calculations using fourth-order Moller−Plesset perturbation theory including single, double, triple, and quadruple excitations, as well as spin projection (PMP4(SDTQ)) with the 6-311G** basis set, were carried at these optimized geometries. The single-point energy was further corrected with zero-point energy (ZPE) to assess the stability of the OH−isoprene adducts. At the PMP4(SDTQ)/6-311G**//MP2/6-311G** + ΔZPE level of theory addition of OH to the 1 and 4 carbons of isoprene produces adducts which are 37.9 and 35.4 kcal mol-1 (respectively) more...
Anesthetic methods for reduction of acute shoulder dislocations: a prospective randomized study comparing intraarticular lidocaine with intravenous analgesia and sedation.

A prospective, randomized, nonblinded clinical trial was undertaken to evaluate whether local intraarticular lidocaine injection (IAL) is equally effective in facilitating reduction of acute anterior shoulder dislocations (AASD) as intravenous analgesia/sedation (IVAS). The setting was an urban, Level 1, trauma center. Patients enrolled presented to the emergency department (ED) with radiographically confirmed AASD and were randomized either to the IVAS group or the IAL group. Ease of reduction and pain associated with reduction were measured subjectively using a 10-point scale. There were 49 patients entered into the study, 20 in the IVAS group and 29 in the IAL group. There was no statistically significant difference between mean +/- SD pain scores of 3.32+/-2.39 in the IVAS group and 4.90+/-2.34 in the IAL group (P = .18), or mean +/- SD ease of reduction scores of 3.32+/-2.36 in the IVAS group and 4.45+/-2.46 in the IAL group (P = .12). Although IVAS tended to have a higher success rate (20 of 20) than IAL (25 of 29) in this study, Kaplan-Meier estimates for delayed time-events curves applying the log-rank test showed that this difference was not statistically significant overall (P = .16). However, with reduction rate evaluated as a function of time delay in seeking treatment, patients presenting 5.5 hours after dislocation were more likely to fail treatment with IAL (P = .00001). Additionally, half of the patients in the IAL group who had experience with IVAS did not favor IAL. Emergency physicians should be aware of IAL as an alternative technique that may be considered in patients when there are reasons to avoid systemic analgesia or sedation.
Further examples of the boundary value technique in singular perturbation problems

Illustration de la technique des valeurs frontieres dans les problemes a perturbations singulieres par des exemples varies
Effects of sex-ratio manipulation on territoriality and spawning success of male pupfish, Cyprinodon pecosensis

Abstract The sex ratio of Cyprinodon pecosensis was manipulated by varying the number of females but not of males. This resulted in some subordinate males changing their breeding tactics from satellites to territorials. The spawning success of breeding males was directly related, and the intensity of male-male competition was inversely related, to the number of available females. Time-budget data indicated a tradeoff between courtship and agonistic behaviour. In the male-biased treatment, males engaged in a greater number of agonistic interactions and fewer courtship bouts; conversely, in the female-biased treatment courtship behaviour was more frequent than aggression. A greater proportion of males adopted the satellite breeding tactic in the male-biased and even-sex-ratio treatments. Smaller, competitively inferior males were most sensitive to changes in the sex ratio. In the female-biased treatment, with an increase in mating opportunities and a decrease in the level of male-male competition for females, average mating success increased, more males were able to defend territories, and some satellite individuals were able to adopt the territorial breeding tactic. Temporal or spatial changes in the operational sex ratio of a population may have profound effects on the dynamics of the breeding system by affecting (1) the proportion of males adopting primary and secondary breeding tactics, (2) variance in reproductive success, and (3) intensity of sexual selection.
Fourier transform infrared evidence of proton uptake by glutamate L212 upon reduction of the secondary quinone QB in the photosynthetic reaction center from Rhodobacter capsulatus.

The photoreduction of the secondary quinone Q(B) in native reaction centers (RCs) of Rhodobacter capsulatus and in RCs from the GluL212 --> Gln and GluL212 --> Ala mutants has been investigated at pH 7 in (1)H(2)O and (2)H(2)O by light-induced Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) difference spectroscopy. The Q(B)(-)/Q(B) FTIR difference spectra reflect changes of quinone-protein interactions and of protonation state of carboxylic acid groups as well as reorganization of the protein upon electron transfer. Comparison of Q(B)(-)/Q(B) spectra of native and mutant RCs indicates that the interactions between Q(B) or Q(B)(-) and the protein are similar in all RCs. A differential signal at approximately 1650/1640 cm(-1), which is common to all the spectra, is associated with a movement of a peptide carbonyl or a side chain following Q(B) reduction. On the other hand, Q(B)(-)/Q(B) spectra of native and mutant RCs display several differences, notably between 1700 and 1650 cm(-1) (amide I and side chains), between 1570 and 1530 cm(-1) (amide II), and at 1728-1730 cm(-1) (protonated carboxylic acid groups). In particular, the latter region in native RCs is characterized by a main positive band at 1728 cm(-1) and a negative signal at 1739 cm(-1). In the L212 mutants, the amplitude of the positive band is strongly decreased leading to a differential signal at 1739/1730 cm(-1) that is insensitive to (1)H/(2)H isotopic exchange. In native RCs, only the 1728 cm(-1) band is affected in (2)H(2)O while the 1739 cm(-1) signal is not. The effects of the mutations and of (1)H/(2)H exchange on the Q(B)(-)/Q(B) spectra concur in the attribution of the 1728 cm(-1) band in native RCs to (partial) proton uptake by GluL212 upon the first electron transfer to Q(B), as previously observed in Rhodobacter sphaeroides RCs [Nabedryk, E., Breton, J., Hienerwadel, R., Fogel, C., Mantele, W., Paddock, M. L., and Okamura, M. Y. (1995) Biochemistry 34, 14722-14732]. More generally, strong homologies of the Q(B) to Q(B)(-) transition in the RCs from Rb. sphaeroides and Rb. capsulatus are detected by differential FTIR spectroscopy. The FTIR data are discussed in relation with the results from global proton uptake measurements and electrogenic events concomitant with the reduction of Q(B) and with a model of the Q(B) turnover in Rb. sphaeroides RCs [Mulkidjanian, A. Y. (1999) FEBS Lett. 463, 199-204].
Healthcare management through organizational simulation

Quality, affordable healthcare remains a contentious, complex and urgent societal problem. Given the scale and complexity of healthcare, systemic changes addressing emergent cost escalation and quality deficiencies are difficult to study, evaluate, and implement. In particular, it is difficult to empirically study alternative means of delivery that do not yet exist. To enable the study of such issues, we designed and developed Health Advisor, a web-based game using organizational simulation. Players are tasked to manage people through the healthcare system by making various information, cost, and quality of care trade-offs with score based on health outcomes and costs incurred. This paper reports on a series of evaluations of Health Advisor and the insights gained from these studies. In particular, results show that people's perceptions of the usability and usefulness of information sources have a strong impact on the use of these sources, and a significant impact on their subsequent performance in diagnoses and referrals.