cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Effect of Phytate and Other Myo-Inositol Phosphate Esters on Lipase Activity

The effects of phytate and other myoinositol phosphate esters (containing one or more phosphate groups) on lipase activity were evaluated by an in vitro procedure. Porcine pancreatic lipase was treated with four concentrations of phytate (0–4 mM) and myo-inositol-2-monophosphate (0–12 mM). The lipase was also treated with six myoinositol phosphate ester fractions (4 mM) isolated from hydrolyzed phytate. The enzyme was incubated (0.5 hr) with the esters prior to addition of substrate and measurement of fatty acid production. Phytate at 4 mM and 1-2-MP at 12 mM caused significant inhibition of lipase, 14.5% and 8.2%, respectively. The isolated inositol phosphate ester fractions caused significant decreases in lipase activity. The decrease in enzymatic activity was highly correlated (r = 0.980) with degree of inositol phosphorylation.
Acetate kinase: not just a bacterial enzyme

The bacterial enzymes acetate kinase (AK) and phosphotransacetylase (PTA) form a key pathway for synthesis of the central metabolic intermediate acetyl coenzyme A (acetyl-CoA) from acetate or for generation of ATP from excess acetyl-CoA. Putative AK genes have now been identified in some eukaryotic microbes. In Chlamydomonas reinhardtii and Phytophthora species, AK forms a pathway with PTA. AK has also been identified in non-yeast fungi but these fungi do not have PTA. Instead, AK forms a pathway with D-xylulose 5-phosphate phosphoketolase (XFP), a pathway that was also previously found only in bacteria. In Entamoeba histolytica, neither PTA nor XFP was found as a partner for AK. Thus, eukaryotic microbes seem to have incorporated the 'bacterial' enzyme AK into at least three different metabolic pathways.
Development of gallium-nitride-based light-emitting diodes (LEDs) and laser diodes for energy-efficient lighting and displays

Abstract Light-emitting diodes (LEDs) fabricated from gallium nitride (GaN) have led to the realization of high-efficiency white solid-state lighting. Currently, GaN white LEDs exhibit luminous efficacy greater than 150 lm W −1 , and external quantum efficiencies higher than 60%. This has enabled LEDs to compete with traditional lighting technologies, such as incandescent and compact fluorescent (CFL) lighting. Further improvements in materials quality and cost reduction are necessary for widespread adoption of LEDs for lighting. A review of the unique polarization anisotropy in GaN is included for the different crystal orientations. The emphasis on nonpolar and semipolar LEDs highlights high-power violet and blue emitters, and we consider the effects of indium incorporation and well width. Semipolar GaN materials have enabled the development of high-efficiency LEDs in the blue region and recent achievements of green laser diodes at 520 nm.
The Relationship Between Sexist Naming Practices and Athletic Opportunities at Colleges and Universities in the Southern United States

This research examines the phenomenon of sexist naming of women's athletic teams at four-year colleges and universities in the southern United States. Drawing on theoretical and methodological insights from feminist scholarship on gender and sports, gendered language, and intersecting systems of race and gender inequalities, the author analyzes (1) the forms of and the extent to which sexist names are used, (2) the typical characteristics of schools that use sexist names, and (3) the relationship between sexist naming and the uneven distribution of athletic opportunities among female and male students. The findings demonstrate that sexist team names are the norm at southern schools and that the use of sexist names is negatively associated with equitable athletic opportunities for women students. They reveal that sexist naming and the overall gender equity climate of athletics departments are related to the persistence of gender inequities in collegiate athletics.
High‐throughput mAb expression and purification platform based on transient CHO

A high-cell-density transient transfection system was recently developed in our laboratory based on a CHO-GS-KO cell line. This method yields monoclonal antibody titers up to 350 mg/L from a simple 7-day process, in volumes ranging from 2 mL to 2 L. By performing transfections in 24-deep-well plates, a large number of mAbs can be expressed simultaneously. We coupled this new high-throughput transfection process to a semiautomated protein A purification process. Using a Biomek FXp liquid handling robot, up to 72 unique mAbs can be simultaneously purified. Our primary goal was to obtain >0.25 mg of purified mAb at a concentration of >0.5 mg/mL, without any concentration or buffer-exchange steps. We optimized both the batch-binding and the batch elution steps. The length of the batch-binding step was important to minimize mAb losses in the flowthrough fraction. The elution step proved to be challenging to simultaneously maximize protein recovery and protein concentration. We designed a variable volume elution strategy based on the average supernatant titer. Finally, we present two case studies. In the first study, we produced 56 affinity maturation mAb variants at an average yield of 0.33 ± 0.05 mg (average concentration of 0.65 ± 0.10 mg/mL). In a second study, we produced 42 unique mAbs, from an early-stage discovery effort, at an average yield of 0.79 ± 0.31 mg (average concentration of 1.59 ± 0.63 mg/mL). The combination of parallel high-yielding transient transfection and semiautomated high-throughput protein A purification represents a valuable mAb drug discovery tool. © 2014 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Biotechnol. Prog., 31:239–247, 2015
The temperature dependence of radiative and nonradiative processes at Er–O centers in Si

Abstract Er-doped silicon is a promising material for silicon microphotonics light sources. Luminescence from Er–O centers in silicon exhibits an intensity quenching as the temperature is raised from 4 to 300 K. We present the first unified description of the excitation and de-excitation processes over the entire temperature range. We model the phenomena in terms of exciton Auger, impurity Auger, and multiphonon transition processes. A set of rate equations that includes all of these processes is written to describe the energy transfer, and the normalized luminescence intensity versus temperature is computed and compared to experimental data. The proposed model fits the experimental photoluminescence data over the entire temperature range. Junction photocurrent spectroscopy measurements confirm the presence of a non-radiative multiphonon backtransfer mechanism. The photocurrent generated from the direct optical excitation of Er centers was found to increase with temperature in the form expected from the energy backtransfer model.
Interaction of tetramethrin and deltamethrin at the single sodium channel in rat hippocampal neurons.

Abstract Type I and type II pyrethroids are known to modulate the sodium channel to cause persistent openings during depolarization and upon repolarization. Although there are some similarities between the two types of pyrethroids in their actions on sodium channels, the pattern of modification of sodium currents is different between the two types of pyrethroids. In the present study, interactions of the type I pyrethroid tetramethrin and the type II pyrethroid deltamethrin at rat hippocampal neuron sodium channels were investigated using the inside-out single-channel patch clamp technique. Deltamethrin-modified sodium channels opened much longer than tetramethrin-modified sodium channels. When 10 μM tetramethrin was applied to membrane patches that had been exposed to 10 μM deltamethrin, deltamethrin-modified prolonged single sodium currents disappeared and were replaced by shorter openings which were characteristic of tetramethrin-modified channel openings. These single-channel data are compatible with previous whole-cell competition study between type I and type II pyrethroids. These results are interpreted as being due to the displacement of the type II pyrethroid molecule by the type I pyrethroid molecule from the same binding site or to the allosteric interaction of the two pyrethroid molecules at separate sodium channel sites.
Is Eta Carinae a long-period binary?

Abstract Damineli et al. (1997)[NewA, 2, 107] have recently proposed a specific binary model for η Carinae. It is based on wavelength shifts in hydrogen and helium emission lines, and may explain a 5.5-year periodicity involving spectroscopic events. Here I amplify but also modify their discussion with the following points: (1) A more eccentric orbit gives a better fit to the velocities quoted by those authors. The higher eccentricity implies appreciably different behavior near periastron. (2) Intra-system eclipses may explain the 5.5-year spectroscopic events in a way that is different from the Damineli et al. scenario. (3) On the other hand, a 5.5-year binary model entails several implausibilities; a single-star model seems equally promising at this time. (4) Finally, I list a few specific, possibly decisive observations that can be made during the next critical “event”, which is expected to occur around the end of 1997. These and other observations of the event urgently merit detailed and intensive efforts.
The Limits of Low‐Temperature Performance of Li‐Ion Cells

The results of electrode and electrolyte studies reveal that the poor low-temperature (<-30 degrees C) performance of Li-ion cells is mainly caused by the carbon electrodes and not the organic electrolytes and solid electrolyte interphase, as previously suggested. It is suggested that the main causes for the poor performance in the carbon electrodes are (i) the low value and concentration depedence of the Li diffusivity and (ii) limited Li capacity.
Energy-efficient, decision feedback equalization Using SAR-like capacitive charge summation

A capacitive charge-sharing, decision feedback equalization (DFE) circuit is presented for use in high-speed serial link receivers. Similar to the capacitive DAC (digital-analog converters) used in successive approximation-based ADCs (analog-digital converters), the proposed one-tap DFE with half-rate quantizer demultipliexing operates at 4Gbps, consuming 0.32 mW from a 1-V supply, excluding clock power. The proposed architecture, scalable to a large number of filter taps, shows considerable advantage in regards to energy efficiency over conventional, current-switched structures.
Design guidelines for safer low voltage distribution systems

It is a challenge to design low-voltage distribution systems for sensitive arcing current detection while maintaining selective coordination. This paper provides recommendations for maximum low-voltage feeder-breaker current ratings that allow a unit-substation secondary-main circuit-breaker short-time or instantaneous trip to be sensitive enough to detect and trip on arcing currents, while retaining coordination with the feeder-breaker settings. The recommendations are organized according to transformer kilovolt-ampere rating. In addition, discussed are other variables, such as primary-source impedance, instantaneous-pickup tolerance of the feeder, and extended transformer ratings.
Brownian drift-diffusion model for evolution of droplet size distributions in turbulent clouds

[1] Effects from turbulence-induced fluctuations in water vapor saturation on cloud droplet growth are examined using a Brownian diffusion model. The model predicts diffusive broadening of the droplet size distribution, tempered by enhanced evaporation-induced drift of droplets to smaller size from vapor depletion, and approach to a stationary condition (Weibull distribution) determined by the balance between size-space diffusion and drift. Monte Carlo simulations of the approach to the stationary limit and of the distribution itself are presented and compared favorably with observation. A key turbulence parameter required by the kinetic potential theory of drizzle formation is estimated using the new results.
Neoplastic and Developmental Importance of Shed Plasma Membrane Fragments

Many similarities have been demon? strated between neoplastic and embryonic cells; however, the most crucial aspect is the presence of shared cell surface antigens (Doellgast and Fishman, 1975; Stolbach et al, 1976; Taylor et al, 1984). These anti? gens, if recognized by the host as foreign, could initiate immune reactions (both cel? lular and humoral) which would result in their elimination. Due to these shared anti?
Vitamin A and ribonucleic acid synthesis in rat intestine

Abstract The incorporation of (3H)-5-orotic acid into ribonucleic acid of colon and small intestinal mucosa of vitamin A-deficient rats was stimulated 1.5- to 3.0-fold 2–5 hr after the intravenous administration of retinol. The stimulation was most pronounced in the RNA isolated from the nuclear fraction.
Singing as a Therapeutic Agent, in The Etude, 1891–1949

The Etude music magazine, founded by Theodore Presser, was one of a number of popular music magazines published in the years prior to the establishment of the music therapy profession in 1950. During its publication run from 1883 to 1957, over 100 music therapy related articles appeared, including 13 on the health benefits of singing published between 1891 and 1949. Written by authors with diverse backgrounds, such as the famous Battle Creek, Michigan physician John Harvey Kellogg and Boston music critic Louis C. Elson, the articles contained consistent and adamant support regarding the health benefits of singing. The advantages described were both physical and psychological, and were recommended prophylactically for well persons and therapeutically for ill persons. Although the articles varied in perspective, from philosophical to theoretical to pedagogical, there is a consistent holistic medicine theme that appeared almost ahead of its time and no doubt linked to the push for vocal music education in that era. The importance of The Etude in promulgating ideas that helped shape the early practice of music therapy should not be underestimated. For much of its publication run The Etude was the largest music periodical in print, reaching its peak circulation of 250,000 copies per month in 1924.
Lower Extremity Overuse Injuries

Increased number of overuse injuries, particularly of the lower extremity, occurs in exercise. It is important for the physician who prescribes exercise to understand the mechanism of injury-repetitive microtrauma-and the risk factors for occurrence of these injuries. In the lower extremity, risk factors include inappropriate progression of the rate, intensity and duration of training; anatomic malalignment; muscle-tendon imbalances of strength, endurance, or flexibility; shoewear; surface; and pre-existent disease states. Specific recommendations for training progression, technique, and sports equipment may have to come from the physician, since the recreational athlete often does not have access to coach or athletic trainer. These are described.
Biochemical and histologic determinants in the prognosis of neuroblastoma

Of 98 consecutive patients with neuroblastoma, 54 could be separated into survivor and non-survivor groups on the basis of an opportunity for a 2 year minimum period of observation. Their excretions of the catecholamine metabolites, vanillylmandelic acid (VMA), homovanillic acid (HVA), 3-methoxy-4-hydroxyphenylethyleneglycol (MHPG), and total metanephrines (TM) were assayed at the moment of their initial diagnosis as well as following therapy. Histologic specimens were evaluated independently by two pathologists at different institutions. Age-at-diagnosis, sex, catecholamine catabolite excretion pattern before and following therapy, histology, and prognosis were subjected to a statistical study of association probability. A better prognosis was associated with an age-at-onset of less than two years, greater histologic differentiation, lower initial HVA excretion, and a rapid return of catecholamine metabolism to normal following therapy. These data suggest the availability of criteria by which a prognostically useful classification of neuroblastoma may be established.
The formin FHOD1 and the small GTPase Rac1 promote vaccinia virus actin-based motility.

Vaccinia virus dissemination relies on the N-WASP–ARP2/3 pathway, which mediates actin tail formation underneath cell-associated extracellular viruses (CEVs). Here, we uncover a previously unappreciated role for the formin FHOD1 and the small GTPase Rac1 in vaccinia actin tail formation. FHOD1 depletion decreased the number of CEVs forming actin tails and impaired the elongation rate of the formed actin tails. Recruitment of FHOD1 to actin tails relied on its GTPase binding domain in addition to its FH2 domain. In agreement with previous studies showing that FHOD1 is activated by the small GTPase Rac1, Rac1 was enriched and activated at the membrane surrounding actin tails. Rac1 depletion or expression of dominant-negative Rac1 phenocopied the effects of FHOD1 depletion and impaired the recruitment of FHOD1 to actin tails. FHOD1 overexpression rescued the actin tail formation defects observed in cells overexpressing dominant-negative Rac1. Altogether, our results indicate that, to display robust actin-based motility, vaccinia virus integrates the activity of the N-WASP–ARP2/3 and Rac1–FHOD1 pathways.
Intrauterine Exposure to Diabetes Is a Determinant of Hemoglobin A1c and Systolic Blood Pressure in Pima Indian Children

Context/Objective: Given the increasing rates of both childhood obesity and type 2 diabetes (T2DM), we investigated whether maternal diabetes status during pregnancy is a determinant of risk factors associated with T2DM or cardiovascular disease in offspring during childhood. Design/Participants: Forty-two Pima Indians, aged 7–11 yr, were identified retrospectively from maternal oral glucose tolerance tests as offspring of a diabetic pregnancy (22 ODM, eight males, 14 females) or offspring born before the mother developed diabetes (20 PRE, 12 males, eight females). Setting/Main Outcome Measures: Weight, height, body mass index, percent body fat, blood pressure, and fasting concentrations of glucose, insulin, hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c), total cholesterol, triglycerides, and high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol were measured while staying in an in-patient clinical research unit and compared in cross-sectional analyses. Results: After adjustment for age and gender, ODM had significantly higher concentrations of ...
Learner oriented instructional material design and evaluation

As advanced technologies become available in education, it is challenging for educators to adapt and adopt these technologies to their teaching based on students' need and curricula. A research based instructional material design and evaluation course seemed to elicit students' interest in technology and enhance their skills in design and evaluation of Web page and multimedia projects.
PART in Retrospect: An Examination of Legislators' Attitudes Toward PART

This research adds insight into the congressional reaction to the Program Assessment Rating Tool (PART) by exploring the influence of individual legislators' personal experiences and ideological position on their attitude toward PART. Specifically, the factors explored include ideological position held by legislators, level of business experience, level of campaign financing received from political action committees (PACs), years spent in Congress, seniority, and congressional chamber. The results indicate that legislators with higher levels of business experience generally were more supportive of PART and that the length of time they had served in Congress and the amount of campaign contributions they had received from PACs were negatively related to PART support. The study also provides insights into legislators' overall exposure and sentiment toward PART. The data indicates that only a small proportion of legislators clearly expressed positive or negative opinions toward PART, despite widespread exposure to the tool. These findings are important in that they contribute toward a more comprehensive understanding of the congressional reaction to PART and offer further insights into the challenges of securing congressional buy-in for executive performance budgeting initiatives.
Assessment of mixing in passive microchannels with fractal surface patterning

We explore numerically the feasibility of enhancing the mixing capability of microchannels by employing the Weierstrass fractal function to generate a pattern of V-shaped ridges on the channel floor. Motivated by experimental limitations such as the finite resolution (~10 μ m) associated with rapid prototyping through soft lithography techniques, we study the influence on the quality of mixing of having finite width ridges. The mixing capability of the designs studied is evaluated using an entropic measure and the designs are optimized with respect to: the distances between the ridges and the position range of their tip along the width of the channels. The results are evaluated with respect to the benchmarks established by the very successful staggered herring bone (SHB) design. We find that the use of a non periodic protocol to generate the geometry of the bottom surface of the microchannels can lead to consistently larger entropic mixing indices than in cyclic structures. Furthermore, since the optimization curves (mixing index vs. geometric parameters) are broader at the maximum for fractal microchannels than for their SHB counterparts, the microchannel designs using the Weierstrass fractal function are less sensitive to experimental uncertainties.
The Organization and Impact of Inspector Discretion in a Regulatory Bureaucracy

Recent trends in regulatory bureaucracies in the United States indicate a shift toward detailed, rigid mandates. In part, this movement represents an attempt to weave an increasingly seamless web of non-discretionary policies for field-level inspectorates. This paper examines the organization of inspection and enforcement practices in such an agency—the federal Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement. The creators of the enabling legislation and the agency top executives went to great lengths to circumvent inspector discretion. Questionnaire and interview data on the agency's inspector corps suggest that such efforts were only partially successful. Not only do field-level personnel employ discretionary practices, but the nature of the regulated industry structures the context of inspector discretion. We show a relationship between corporate size and the exercise of inspector discretion. We also show that patterns of inspector discretion affect the size of civil fines imposed for regulatory violations.
Evaluation of Education Materials Using Orem’s Self-Care Deficit Theory

This article presents Orem’s self-care deficit nursing theory as the conceptual framework in the development, design, selection, and evaluation of appropriate written patient education materials for patients with low literacy skills. The model, which includes essential evaluation factors used in literacy research, offers nurses and other professionals a more comprehensive means to judge the suitability of health information and instructional materials. Nurses have a critical role in educating consumers and their families and for providing patients with useful information that will influence their decision-making and participation in care.
Convergence analysis of a balancing domain decomposition method for solving a class of indefinite linear systems

A variant of balancing domain decomposition method by constraints (BDDC) is proposed for solving a class of indefinite systems of linear equations of the form (K−σ2M)u=f, which arise from solving eigenvalue problems when an inverse shifted method is used and also from the finite element discretization of Helmholtz equations. Here, both K and M are symmetric positive definite. The proposed BDDC method is closely related to the previous dual–primal finite element tearing and interconnecting method (FETI-DP) for solving this type of problems (Appl. Numer. Math. 2005; 54:150–166), where a coarse level problem containing certain free-space solutions of the inherent homogeneous partial differential equation is used in the algorithm to accelerate the convergence. Under the condition that the diameters of the subdomains are small enough, the convergence rate of the proposed algorithm is established, which depends polylogarithmically on the dimension of the individual subdomain problems and which improves with a decrease of the subdomain diameters. These results are supported by numerical experiments of solving a two-dimensional problem. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Representing circuits more efficiently in symbolic model checking

We significantly reduce the complexity of BDD-based symbolic verification by using partitioned transition relations to represent state transition graphs. On an example pipeline circuit, this technique reduced the verification time by an order of magnitude and the storage requirements for the transition relation by two orders of magnitude. We were also able to handle example pipelines with over l O l Z o reachable states.
Record drilling depth struck in Greenland

On July 1, 1993, after 5 years of drilling, the Greenland Ice Sheet Project (GISP2) penetrated several meters of silty ice and reached bedrock at a depth of 3053.4 m. It then penetrated 1.5 m into the bedrock, producing the deepest ice core ever recovered (Figure 1). In July 1992, a nearby European ice coring effort, the Greenland Ice Core Project (GRIP), reached an ice depth of 3028.8 m, providing more than 250,000 years of record. Comparisons between these ice core records have already demonstrated the remarkable reproducibility of the upper ∼90% of the records unparalleled view of climatic and environmental change.
Calcineurin mediates homeostatic synaptic plasticity by regulating retinoic acid synthesis

Homeostatic synaptic plasticity is a form of non-Hebbian plasticity that maintains stability of the network and fidelity for information processing in response to prolonged perturbation of network and synaptic activity. Prolonged blockade of synaptic activity decreases resting Ca2+ levels in neurons, thereby inducing retinoic acid (RA) synthesis and RA-dependent homeostatic synaptic plasticity; however, the signal transduction pathway that links reduced Ca2+-levels to RA synthesis remains unknown. Here we identify the Ca2+-dependent protein phosphatase calcineurin (CaN) as a key regulator for RA synthesis and homeostatic synaptic plasticity. Prolonged inhibition of CaN activity promotes RA synthesis in neurons, and leads to increased excitatory and decreased inhibitory synaptic transmission. These effects of CaN inhibitors on synaptic transmission are blocked by pharmacological inhibitors of RA synthesis or acute genetic deletion of the RA receptor RARα. Thus, CaN, acting upstream of RA, plays a critical role in gating RA signaling pathway in response to synaptic activity. Moreover, activity blockade-induced homeostatic synaptic plasticity is absent in CaN knockout neurons, demonstrating the essential role of CaN in RA-dependent homeostatic synaptic plasticity. Interestingly, in GluA1 S831A and S845A knockin mice, CaN inhibitor- and RA-induced regulation of synaptic transmission is intact, suggesting that phosphorylation of GluA1 C-terminal serine residues S831 and S845 is not required for CaN inhibitor- or RA-induced homeostatic synaptic plasticity. Thus, our study uncovers an unforeseen role of CaN in postsynaptic signaling, and defines CaN as the Ca2+-sensing signaling molecule that mediates RA-dependent homeostatic synaptic plasticity.
Statistical Characterization of Grain-Size Distributions in Sandy Fluvial Systems

Measured particle-size distributions are commonly reduced to one characteristic value (e.g., median grain diameter) that is used in sediment transport modeling and other analyses. These values are often interpolated from empirical distributions or from fitted distributions, usually assuming that observed grain-size populations are adequately represented by Gaussian or Normal distributions. In order to investigate the implications of this approach, we (1) statistically characterize grain-size distributions in samples of bed-material load, suspended load, and slackwater deposits from the sand-bedded Calamus, North Loup, and Niobrara rivers (Nebraska, USA), and (2) explore the potential impact of misfitting distributions on estimating percentile grain diameters. Although log-normal distributions are commonly used to characterize complete grain-size distributions in sedimentary systems, in this study, samples of transported sediment are best modeled with log-hyperbolic distributions, and slackwater deposits are best fitted by mixtures of distributions. Despite large overlaps in the grain sizes of bed-material-load and suspended-load samples, estimated parameters of fitted log-hyperbolic distributions show consistent differences between these samples across all rivers. Samples of bed-material load have higher modes and positive (coarse-grained) asymmetry, whereas suspended-load samples have lower modes and weaker asymmetry. Because it is has a general form, the log-hyperbolic distribution should adequately characterize unimodal grain-size samples because its parameters can yield both normal-shaped distributions as well as asymmetric distributions. In all three rivers, slackwater deposits contain the entire range of grain sizes present in suspension as well as a significant component of very fine-grained (< 0.02 mm) material that is not present in suspended-sediment samples. This suggests some degree of fractionated deposition of suspended sediment in areas of near-zero flow velocities. Ultimately, fitting parametric grain-size distributions to grain-size data can be a useful way to find effective particle-size values for use in sediment transport modeling and other studies. However, particularly with asymmetric grain-size distributions, fitting log-normal distributions to data may result in errors of estimated percentile grain sizes, which should be considered in studies relying on characteristic grain-diameter values.
A New Twist to the Kirby-Bauer Antibiotic Susceptibility Test Activity—Increasing Antibiotic Sensitivity of Pseudomonas fluorescens through Thermal Stress

Antibiotic sensitivity and the effect of temperature on microbial growth are two standard laboratory activities found in most microbial laboratory manuals. We have found a novel way to combine the two activities to demonstrate how temperature can influence antibiotic sensitivity using a standard incubator in instructional laboratory settings. This activity reinforces the important concepts of microbial growth and temperature along with Kirby-Bauer antibiotic susceptibility testing. We found that Pseudomonas fluorescens can be manipulated to become more sensitive to several antibiotics by simply increasing growth temperature and exposing the organism to various antibiotics. No additional equipment is required beyond a standard incubator. Pseudomonas fluorescens is an excellent choice for this activity since it is a safe alternative to Pseudomonas aeruginosa , a biosafety level 2 agent. Pseudomonads are important to explore in the microbiology laboratory since Pseudomonas aeruginosa poses a serious issue in health care settings, as this organism is known to be a multi-drug-resistant pathogen (6). More importantly, P. fluorescens is a good alternative in the laboratory to P. aeruginosa since it is also pigmented (5) and a possible reservoir of antibiotic resistance genes (4). In addition, it grows best at room temperatures and can easily be thermally stressed by placing in a standard 35oC to 37oC incubator.
Releasing the Beast: A Study of Compliance with Orders to Use Race as a Selection Criterion

Largely drawing on the findings and reasoning of Milgram (1974), a laboratory experiment was conducted to assess the impact of authoritative directives and actor observability on the use of race as a selection criterion in hiring. A significant main effect for instructions was found, suggesting that, when told by a superior to do so, members of organizations may use race as a criterion in making hiring decisions. The precise form of this compliance effect varied, however, as a function of the type of dependent variable under consideration [attitudinal (i.e., ratings of Black job candidates) vs. behavioral (i.e., number of Black candidates chosen for final job interviews)]. No effects for actor observability were detected. These results are discussed in terms of their theoretical, methodological, and practical implications in regard to organizational wrongdoing, particularly institutional racism.
A Compact Chemical-Resistant Microvalve Array Using Parylene Membrane and Pneumatic Actuation

A pneumatic microvalve array was designed and fabricated using silicon/glass bulk micromachining and a new parylene bonding technique. The valve membrane is made of parylene, thus has very compact size (300 µm x 300 µm) and excellent chemical resistance. The operation of valves was characterized to reveal the effects of several parameters such as actuation and inlet pressure. The valve demonstrates a flow rate as high as 0.33ml/min in open state with 15.5psi inlet pressure, and very low leaking rate. With the proposed novel control logic, the microfabricated valve array device is expected to be very suitable for fluidic manipulation in integrated lab-on-a-chip systems in which aggressive chemicals are involved and high throughputs are required.
Low-Temperature Plasmas for Medicine?

Can low-temperature plasma technology play a role in medicine? This is a question that many investigators today are trying hard to give a positive answer to. It did not quite start out this way. Almost two decades ago, few ldquocuriousrdquo electrical engineers and physicists with the help of few ldquobraverdquo biologists/microbiologists asked themselves more basic questions: What happens to biological cells if they were exposed to low-temperature plasma? Will they die? Will they survive? If they survive, will they come out the same or somehow ldquoinjuredrdquo? If injured, will they be able to repair the damage and recover? What kind of damage? Which plasma agent causes the damage? etc. As will be shown in this paper, some of these fundamental questions have been partially or fully answered, but until today, a complete picture has yet to emerge. This is good and not so good. It is good because if we already knew all the answers, we would not be looking forward to a more exciting research. It is not so good because after all these years, we are still quite a ways from an implementable medical application. In this review paper, the present state of knowledge regarding the effects of cold plasma on bacteria cells (prokaryotes) and on eukaryotic cells (such as mammalian cells) will be presented. As medical applications where low-temperature plasma is showing signs of success, blood coagulation and wound healing will be described.
Arthrography in Blount's Disease

Arthrography is a valuable aid in the evaluation and management of patients with Blount's disease. That the osseous findings are not necessarily proportional to the cartilaginous abnormality forms the basis for adequate treatment of this entity. The arthrographic findings in 7 patients and their value in clinical management are illustrated and discussed.
SNIT: SNP identification for strain typing.

With ever-increasing numbers of microbial genomes being sequenced, efficient tools are needed to perform strain-level identification of any newly sequenced genome. Here, we present the SNP identification for strain typing (SNIT) pipeline, a fast and accurate software system that compares a newly sequenced bacterial genome with other genomes of the same species to identify single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and small insertions/deletions (indels). Based on this information, the pipeline analyzes the polymorphic loci present in all input genomes to identify the genome that has the fewest differences with the newly sequenced genome. Similarly, for each of the other genomes, SNIT identifies the input genome with the fewest differences. Results from five bacterial species show that the SNIT pipeline identifies the correct closest neighbor with 75% to 100% accuracy. The SNIT pipeline is available for download at http://www.bhsai.org/snit.html
Very Ampleness of Line Bundles and Canonical Embedding of Coverings of Manifolds

Let L be an ample line bundle on a Kahler manifolds of nonpositive sectional curvature with K as the canonical line bundle. We give an estimate of m such that K+mL is very ample in terms of the injectivity radius. This implies that m can be chosen arbitrarily small once we go deep enough into a tower of covering of the manifold. The same argument gives an effective Kodaira Embedding Theorem for compact Kahler manifolds in terms of sectional curvature and the injectivity radius. In case of locally Hermitian symmetric space of noncompact type or if the sectional curvature is strictly negative, we prove that K itself is very ample on a large covering of the manifold.
Hydrogenation of 1,3‐butadiene and isoprene prepolymers having carboxyl end groups

The hydrogenations of butadiene and isoprene prepolymers having carboxyl and cyano end groups were investigated by two methods: Heterogenous hydrogenations were carried out at 45°C and 50 psi of hydrogen pressure with palladium on carbonate as catalyst. The best degree of saturation and carboxyl retention were 95 and 79% for butadiene prepolymers and 84 and 95% for an isoprene prepolymers, respectively. Dimide reduction was made in xylene at 130–140°C and normal pressure with p-toluenesulfonylhydrazide (TSH) as the diimide source. A nearly 100% degree of saturation for butadiene prepolymers and 91% for isoprene prepolymers were achieved. The effects of reaction conditions on the degree of saturation and the carboxyl retention, calculation of molecular weight before and after hydrogenation based on H-NMR spectral data, and diimide reduction with TSH are discussed. © 1995 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Suppression of boron outdiffusion in SiGe HBTs by carbon incorporation

A key problem faced by npn SiGe technology is the outdiffusion of boron from the SiGe base caused by thermal annealing or transient enhanced diffusion. In this paper we investigate the effects of C incorporation in the base on boron diffusion caused by thermal annealing and As emitter implantation. The higher Early voltages of the C transistors compared with that of the no-C transistors indicates that C incorporation in the base dramatically reduces the diffusion of B under postgrowth implantation and annealing procedures.
Outcomes in transfusion.

○ Outcomes data in medicine can be limited by subjective methodologic issues such as poor selection of end points and use of nonvalidated systems for quality adjustment. Blood transfusion analyses are further complicated by the fact that transfusion seldom is primary therapy but is usually supportive or adjunctive. Thus, much of the outcome data in transfusion medicine are either unavailable or in one of two areas. The first area is prevention of bad sequelae of various cytopenias or factor deficiencies. The second is decreasing adverse effects of transfusion itself. A different useful area for outcome and root cause approaches in individual institutions is examining preanalytical and postanalytical processes of their own. Examples are sample labeling accuracy, quality and timeliness of blood suppliers, internal delivery processes and times, and product wastage. Use review can be changed to real time from retrospective time. By reducing complaints about service to objective data, realistic change can be made in internal and external processes.
Importance of high power factor in thermoelectric materials for power generation application: A perspective

Abstract The figure of merit (ZT) has been used for more than half a century to guide the research of thermoelectric materials. In this perspective viewpoint, we emphasize that the power factor (PF) is more important than the thermal conductivity for thermoelectric power generation for a given ZT. We also propose the newly defined engineering parameters (ZT)eng and (PF)eng are the more practical indicators to show the temperature dependent efficiency and output power, as compared with conventional ZT and PF.
Model Selection for Type-Supervised Learning with Application to POS Tagging

Model selection (picking, for example, the feature set and the regularization strength) is crucial for building high-accuracy NLP models. In supervised learning, we can estimate the accuracy of a model on a subset of the labeled data and choose the model with the highest accuracy. In contrast, here we focus on type-supervised learning, which uses constraints over the possible labels for word types for supervision, and labeled data is either not available or very small. For the setting where no labeled data is available, we perform a comparative study of previously proposed and one novel model selection criterion on type-supervised POS-tagging in nine languages. For the setting where a small labeled set is available, we show that the set should be used for semi-supervised learning rather than for model selection only ‐ using it for model selection reduces the error by less than 5%, whereas using it for semi-supervised learning reduces the error by 44%.
Trips II, Asia and the Mercantile Pharmaceutical War: Implications for Innovation and Access

A powerful agenda for adoption of high levels of intellectual property protection, including related regulatory protection, is being advanced by the United States (and certain other developed countries) for developing countries, including developing and emerging market countries of Asia. This agenda essentially reflects a TRIPS II exercise, but is largely being carried out in bilateral and regional negotiations, as well as in WTO accession negotiations. The TRIPS II agenda, as the TRIPS I agenda, is explained by strong mercantile interests seeking to increase technology and expression rents. Circumstances since the launch of the GATT Uruguay Round in 1986 have changed substantially. In 1986, OECD industries were principally concerned with preventing weak developing country industries from substituting low-cost and often lower quality “copied” versions of products on local markets, but were not threatened with competition in their home markets or with respect to originator and high-quality products. The OECD industry groups driving the TRIPS II agenda are (1) the copyright-dependent audio-visual industry concerned with unauthorized duplication and distribution of video and audio content and (2) the pharmaceutical (and agricultural chemical) industry concerned with competition from generic producers and, in a forward-looking sense, emerging originator enterprises.This paper focuses on the implications of the TRIPS II agenda for the pharmaceutical sector in the Asian region. Copyright protection has significant implications for “access to knowledge”, in addition to entertainment, and this paper acknowledges the public welfare implications of developments with respect to copyright. However, the applicable legal norms and public welfare analysis differ substantially as between the copyright-dependent and patent-dependent industry sectors, and this paper will focus on the latter.
Down-regulation of EZH2 expression in myelodysplastic syndromes

EZH2 genetic mutations are common in myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS), which implies that this gene has a pathophysiological role in the disease. To further characterize molecular alterations of EZH2, and their potential prognostic impact in MDS, we assessed EZH2 RNA expression in primary bone marrow CD34+ cells from 78 patients. We found that 47% of patients have reduced EZH2 expression compared to normal controls. Further analyses revealed that EZH2 is significantly underexpressed in patients bearing chromosome 7 or 7q deletions (7-alt) when compared to controls, diploid patients, and patients with other cytogenetic alterations (p<0.05). In survival analysis, we found a non-significant trend toward overall survival (OS) being better among patients with EZH2 underexpression (median OS 55 vs. 36 months; p=0.71). Importantly, this trend became significant when the analysis was restricted to the subset of cases without alterations in chromosome 7 (62 vs. 36 months; p=0.033). Furthermore, our previous work has identified a spectrum of innate immune genes in MDS CD34+ cells that are deregulated via abnormal promoter histone methylation. Because EZH2 is a key regulator of histone methylation, we assessed the relationship between deregulation of these genes and EZH2 underexpression. We observed that the mRNA levels of 11 immune genes were higher in the EZH2 underexpression group and that immune gene expression was significantly higher in patients with concomitant EZH2 underexpression and KDM6B (also known as JMJD3, an H3K27 demethylase) overexpression. Taken together, these data indicate that EZH2 underexpression may have unique impact on the molecular pathogenesis and prognosis in MDS and be an important marker for patients without chromosome 7 alteration.
Patient Registries: Patient Consent When Children Become Adults

Registries are an enormously valuable resource for research, healthcare, quality measurement, comparative effectiveness measurement, public health, adverse event surveillance, and other purposes. Many registries concern conditions manifest in childhood and include participants who were entered without their knowledge on the basis of permission from their parents or guardians. Data in these registries may pose risks or concerns to participants and to the extent practicable they should be re-consented at adulthood for continuing registry participation. As registry participants are living longer and data sets are enriched, these risks may only increase. Further study of how registries work and how re-consent practices might be implemented is warranted.
Risk and Uncertainty as Factors in the Durability of Political Coalitions

The central purpose of this article is to shed some light on the roles that risk attitudes and uncertainty may play in determining the durability of political coalitions. Although Axelrod theorized that polarized, or “unconnected,” coalitions would be less durable than “connected” coalitions, subsequent empirical research has found little support for Axelrod's hypothesis. In this article we demonstrate theoretically that many of the anomalies associated with Axelrod's polarization hypothesis can be explained by incorporating risk attitudes and uncertainty into a logical model of a coalition maintenance process. The model we have constructed assumes that coalition members are uncertain about their ultimate payoffs and therefore are subject to persuasion and manipulation by a coalition leader. Through computer simulation we demonstrate that polarized coalitions are indeed capable of enduring for relatively long periods of time once members' risk characteristics and uncertainty are taken into consideration.
Characterization of Supported Metal Oxides by Laser Raman Spectroscopy: Supported Vanadium Oxide on Al2O3 and TiO2

The interaction of supported vanadium oxide with Al2O3 and TiO2 substrates is examined with Raman spectroscopy. The Raman spectra of the supported vanadium oxide reveal that the strong interaction of the vanadium oxide with the Al2O3 and TiO2 supports results in the formation of an atomically dispersed surface vanadium oxide phase as well as supported crystalline V2O5. The relative concentrations of the atomically dispersed surface vanadium oxide and crystalline V2O5 depend on the vanadium oxide loading and the surface area of the oxide support.