cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
CHARMM-GUI: Brining Advanced Computational Techniques to Web Interface

The CHARMM-GUI resource (www.charmm-gui.org) has been developed to provide a web-based graphical user interface to generate various input files and molecular systems to facilitate and standardize the usage of common and advanced simulation techniques in CHARMM. We have made significant efforts to implement basic and common molecular dynamics simulation techniques into web interface and the web interface has generated a multitude of positive feedback from our users. In this work, we describe our latest efforts to bringing more advanced molecular modeling and simulation techniques to the web interface, such as ligand binding free energy calculation, grand canonical Monte Carlo/Brownian dynamics, glycan reader and builder, electron microscopy density map fitting, protein-protein docking, and NMR structure calculation.
Reference, access, and use

Providing reference and access services for users requires special techniques and knowledge of a repository’s holdings. Archivists need to identify their user clientele and design services for their needs. User studies provide a means to collect valuable information about the clientele. In order to consult manuscripts and archives, users need to have both intellectual and physical access to the materials. Each of these access types requires repository policies and procedures, both to assist users and to protect the rights of donors and third parties who might be affected by disclosure of sensitive information. The reference process usually requires personal interaction and mediation by archival staff, both for security reasons and because of the difficulty of identifying potential sources to meet reference queries. The Internet provides important means of publicizing information about repositories and their collections, but technical and intellectual considerations limit the options for providing an entir...
The anti-HIV-1 activity associated with saliva.

This review summarizes the data on the anti-human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) activity associated with saliva and the possible routes of oral transmission of HIV. Saliva can be passed from an HIV-infected individual to an uninfected person via sexual or non-sexual activities. The relative risk of HIV transmission through saliva is a subject of continuing concern for dental practitioners. HIV-infected individuals frequently have oral lesions that can cause bleeding and release of the virus into the oral cavity. In addition, viral p24 and HIV-1 RNA were detected in tonsils and adenoids even in asymptomatic seropositive individuals. Nevertheless, the potential HIV-infectivity of saliva is low, although both infectious HIV-1 and HIV DNA have been detected in saliva. This observation has led to the suggestion that saliva may contain factors that inhibit HIV-1 infectivity. At least two anti-HIV activities have been partially characterized: (i) physical entrapment of HIV by high-molecular-weight molecules (e.g., mucins), and (ii) inhibition of viral infection by soluble proteins. Several studies have indicated that, of the salivary proteins evaluated, recombinant secretory leukocyte protease inhibitor (rSLPI) could inhibit HIV-1 infection in macrophages at physiological concentrations. The anti-HIV activity of the serine protease inhibitor rSLPI is most likely due to its interaction with a cell-surface molecule(s) other than the primary HIV-1 receptor, CD4, and may involve (i) inhibition of cell-surface serine protease(s), and/or (ii) interaction with other human-specific co-factors essential for viral entry.
Distribution of DNA in Cationic Liposome Complexes Probed by Raman Microscopy

The potential application of Raman microscopy to image the distribution of DNA inside lipid−DNA complexes was examined. To test this, we mixed DNA with DOTMA/DOPE liposome vesicles and imaged the distribution of DNA in the liposome complex by using the characteristic DNA guanine peak as a marker. The Raman intensity map indicates that the concentration of DNA molecules is higher near the core of the DOTMA/DOPE liposome vesicle. This result demonstrates that this technique is a viable technique to monitor DNA distribution inside liposomes.
Global state and feedback equivalence of nonlinear systems

The problem of finding global state space transformations and global feedback of the form u(t)= α(x) + ν(t) to transform a given nonlinear system xdot= f(x)+ g(x)u to a controllable linear system on Rn or on an open subset of Rn, is considered here. We give a complete set of differential geometric conditions which are equivalent to the existence of a solution to the above problem.
The Orphan Tyrosine Kinase Receptor, ROR2, Mediates Wnt5A Signaling in Metastatic Melanoma

Tyrosine kinase receptors represent targets of great interest for cancer therapy. Here we show, for the first time, the importance of the orphan tyrosine kinase receptor, ROR2, in melanoma progression. Using melanoma tissue microarrays, we show that ROR2 is expressed predominantly in metastatic melanoma. As ROR2 has been shown to specifically interact with the non-canonical Wnt ligand, Wnt5A, this corroborates our earlier data implicating Wnt5A as a mediator of melanoma metastasis. We show here that increases in Wnt5A cause increases in ROR2 expression, as well as the PKC-dependent, clathrin-mediated internalization of ROR2. WNT5A knockdown by siRNA decreases ROR2 expression, but silencing of ROR2 has no effect on WNT5A levels. ROR2 knockdown does, however, result in a decrease in signaling downstream of Wnt5A. Using in vitro and in vivo metastasis assays, we show that ROR2 is necessary for the Wnt5A-mediated metastasis of melanoma cells. These data imply that ROR2 may represent a novel target for melanoma therapy.
On the number of pure strategy Nash equilibria in finite common payoffs games

Abstract In a two-person “random” common payoffs game, defined as a finite game in which the players receive the same payoff at each outcome, let X represent the number of pure strategy Nash equilibria occurring. Treating both the cases where players have strictly and weakly ordinal preferences over outcomes, we observe that the expected value of X approaches infinity as the sizes of the pure strategy sets of the players increase without bound. Furthermore, we show that for any fixed positive integer k , the probability that X exceeds k approaches one as pure strategy sets increase in size without bound.
A Cure for the Ulcer-like Skin Disease of the Electric Eel

Electrophorus electricus, or Gymnotus electricus, is a teleost of the family of Gymnotidae, popularly known as the electric eel, and lives in the shallow waters of the South American equatorial rivers. It is the most powerful fresh-water electric fish ; mature specimens can discharge trains of pulses of more than 600 V and 1 amp1,2.
Development and application of a point Doppler velocimeter featuring two-beam multiplexing for time-resolved measurements of high-speed flow

A novel point Doppler velocimeter (pDV) based upon the Doppler global velocimetry principle is presented, which is capable of three-component velocity vector measurements at 100 kHz mean rates over extended time periods. In this implementation, two laser beams are multiplexed to illuminate the flow over alternating time windows, providing for a reduction in the number of sensors required. The implications of this multiplexing paradigm coupled with the fundamental limits set by the optical absorption filter are examined in detail, and uncertainties are predicted via instrumentation modeling and representative synthetic flow data. The results indicate that the multiplexing pDV instrument provides the required temporal and velocity resolution for turbulent shear flows at velocities of nominally 500 m/s. As a demonstration and validation of this time-resolved technique, statistics of three-velocity component measurements in a cold, supersonic, over-expanded jet at jet exit Mach number M j = 1.4 (design Mach number M d = 1.65) are presented. Time resolution up to 250 kHz and instantaneous velocity uncertainties between 6.6 and 11.1 m/s were obtained. Comparisons of mean pDV data with laser Doppler velocimetry data are consistent with uncertainty predictions for the technique. The ultimate value of the instrument is exhibited in the analysis of Reynolds stress spectra in the screeching jet, exposing the spatial development of motions at the harmonics of the screech tone, variable phase-coordinated shock motions, and growth of turbulent fluctuations in the developing shear layer of the jet. From the data presented, the screech tone phenomenon is suspected to be linked to the production of radial–azimuthal shear stresses in extended regions beyond the potential core.
Survival And Growth Of Juveniles Of The Giant Malaysian Prawn, Macrobrachium rosenbergii, Fed Natural Plant Diets

Several aquatic plants (Azolla filiculoides, Cladophora sp., Elodea sp., and Lemna sp.) were fed singly to groups of 30 juvenile Malaysian prawns (Macrobrachium rosenbergii) for 28 days, and comparisons were made with control prawns fed Ralston Purina Ration #20. The comparisons made were survival, weight change, and molting frequency. The animals ingested all diets during the experiment, though none on a plant diet fared as well as the controls in weight gains and survival by day 28. The controls increased 65% in dry weight, whereas the others lost weight. The control group had significantly higher survival by day 28, although on day 16 survival was better only than that of the Cladophora-fed group. Most deaths of plantfed prawns were in the last week of the experiment, whereas the control group had no deaths after day 9. In general, molting peaks occurred in 8–10 day cycles, and all groups molted less in the latter half of the experiment. Group percents for molting during various periods were consistently highest for controls. Molt/day, averaged over 28 days, was 7.3, 2.5, 4.0, 3.8, and 5.0% for the control, Azolla, Cladophora, Elodea, and Lemna groups, respectively. A single-species plant diet apparently did not satisfy the nutritional requirements of the prawn as indicated by increased mortality and decreased weight.
lacZ Expression in Germline Transgenic Zebrafish Can Be Detected in Living Embryos

Abstract Use of transgenic technology in zebrafish has been limited by the inability to efficiently express transgenes in early embryos of F1 and subsequent generations and to rapidly detect transgenic fish. We generated transgenic fish by injecting fertilized eggs with the Escherichia coli lacZ gene under the control of the Xenopus elongation factor 1α transcriptional regulatory element. Four of five lines of transgenic fish we obtained express the lacZ gene in early embryos. The pattern of expression was distinct for each line, with two lines showing extensive expression beginning at approximately the midblastula transition, one showing patchy expression and one showing expression almost exclusively in motor neurons. Expression patterns were stable through the F2 generation in the three lines studied to date. The availability of these lines facilitated the development of a reliable and rapid method for live-staining lacZ-expressing embryos using the substrate fluorescein-di-β- d -galactopyranoside (FDG). Positive embryos of the two most highly lacZ-expressing lines could be identified after 2-3 min of staining in FDG and then picked out and raised. These observations should prove useful for a variety of studies in zebrafish.
Ray shooting on triangles in 3-space

We present a uniform approach to problems involving lines in 3-space. This approach is based on mapping lines inR3 into points and hyperplanes in five-dimensional projective space (Plucker space). We obtain new results on the following problems: 1. Preprocessn triangles so as to answer efficiently the query: “Given a ray, which is the first triangle hit?” (Ray- shooting problem). We discuss the ray-shooting problem for both disjoint and nondisjoint triangles. 2. Construct the intersection of two nonconvex polyhedra in an output sensitive way with asubquadratic overhead term. 3. Construct the arrangement ofn intersecting triangles in 3-space in an output-sensitive way, with asubquadratic overhead term. 4. Efficiently detect the first face hit by any ray in a set of axis-oriented polyhedra. 5. Preprocessn lines (segments) so as to answer efficiently the query “Given two lines, is it possible to move one into the other without crossing any of the initial lines (segments)?” (Isotopy problem). If the movement is possible produce an explicit representation of it.
The β-cell response to oral hypoglycemic agents

Abstract This review describes the role of sulfonylureas and ATP-sensitive K channels (K ATP ) in controlling glucose-induced membrane electrical activity in pancreatic β-cells. The glucose-dependent pathway, the most important both physiologically and pathophysiologically, is contrasted with other pathways for non-nutrient β-cell modulators. K ATP channels, the links between β-cell metabolism and membrane electrical activity, are regulated in complex ways by nucleotide phosphates and a number of clinically important pharmacological agents. Recent cloning of the islet sulfonylurea receptor and K ATP channel should lead to answers to important questions raised by 25 years of β-cell electrophysiology.
Experimental depletion of CD8+ cells in acutely SIVagm-Infected African Green Monkeys results in increased viral replication

In vivo CD8+ cell depletions in pathogenic SIV infections identified a key role for cellular immunity in controlling viral load (VL) and disease progression. However, similar studies gave discordant results in chronically-infected SMs, leading some authors to propose that in natural hosts, SIV replication is independent of cellular immunity. To assess the role of cellular immune responses in the control of SIV replication in natural hosts, we investigated the impact of CD8+ cell depletion during acute SIV infection in AGMs. Nine AGMs were infected with SIVagm.sab and were followed up to day 225 p.i. Four were intravenously infused with the cM-T807 antibody on days 0 (50 mg/kg), 6, and 13 (10 mg/kg, respectively) post infection (p.i.). CD8+ cells were depleted for up to 28 days p.i. in peripheral blood and LNs in all treated AGMs. Partial CD8+ T cell depletion occurred in the intestine. SIVagm VLs peaked at similar levels in both groups (107-108 RNA copies/ml). However, while VLs were controlled in undepleted AGMs, reaching set-point levels (104-105 RNA copies/ml) by day 28 p.i., high VLs (>106 RNA copies/ml) were maintained by day 21 p.i. in CD8-depleted AGMs. By day 42 p.i., VLs were comparable between the two groups. The levels of immune activation and proliferation remained elevated up to day 72 p.i. in CD8-depleted AGMs and returned to preinfection levels in controls by day 28 p.i. None of the CD8-depleted animals progressed to AIDS. CD8+ cells are responsible for a partial control of postacute viral replication in SIVagm.sab-infected AGMs. In contrast to macaques, the SIVagm-infected AGMs are able to control viral replication after recovery of the CD8+ T cells and avoid disease progression.
A state-space realization approach to set identification of biochemical kinetic parameters

This paper proposes a set-based parameter identification method for biochemical systems. The developed method identifies not a single parameter but a set of parameters that all explain time-series experimental data, enabling the systematic characterization of the uncertainty of identified parameters. Our key idea is to use a state-space realization that has the same input-output behavior as experimental data instead of the experimental data itself for the identification. This allows us to relax the originally nonlinear identification problem to an LMI feasibility problem validating the norm bound of an error system. We show that regions of parameters can be efficiently classified into consistent and inconsistent parameter sets by combining the LMI feasibility problems and a generalized bisection algorithm.
NINE FALLACIES OF FLOODS

A number of important misconceptions or fallacies stand in the way of a better under- standing of the nation's flood problem. The fallacies are not universal, with many flood experts, decision makers, and sectors of the public escaping their seductive logic. But enough people do fall prey to these fallacies of floods so as to create obstacles to improved utilization of the lessons of experience. This paper uses three of these lessons to organize presentation of the nine fallacies: We know the wrong things about the nature of the problem . Fallacy 1: Flood frequencies are well understood. Fallacy 2: Damaging flooding in recent years is unprecedented because of 'global warming'. Fallacy 3: Levees 'prevent' damages. Fallacy 4: Flood forecasts are universally available. We don't know enough about why and with what intensity we should act . Fallacy 5: Societal vulnerability to floods is well understood. Fallacy 6: Data on flood casualties is a proxy for flood risk. Fallacy 7: Data on flood damages is a proxy for flood risk. We know enough about what might be done. Fallacy 8: Knowledge leads to action. Fallacy 9: The U.S. flood problem can be addressed without Federal leadership and support. The purpose of raising the fallacies in this paper is to contribute to a systematic definition of the nation's flood problem.
Story segmentation in news videos using visual and text cues

In this paper, we present a framework for segmenting the news programs into different story topics. The proposed method utilizes both visual and text information of the video. We represent the news video by a Shot Connectivity Graph (SCG), where the nodes in the graph represent the shots in the video, and the edges between nodes represent the transitions between shots. The cycles in the graph correspond to the story segments in the news program. We first detect the cycles in the graph by finding the anchor persons in the video. This provides us with the coarse segmentation of the news video. The initial segmentation is later refined by the detections of the weather and sporting news, and the merging of similar stories. For the weather detection, the global color information of the images and the motion of the shots are considered. We have used the text obtained from automatic speech recognition (ASR) for detecting the potential sporting shots to form the sport stories. Adjacent stories with similar semantic meanings are further merged based on the visual and text similarities. The proposed framework has been tested on a widely used data set provided by NIST, which contains the ground truth of the story boundaries, and competitive evaluation results have been obtained.
Developmental trajectories in early hematopoiesis

The paths that hematopoietic stem cells take to develop from multipotent, self-renewing cells into committed lymphocytes has been a topic of debate for some time. During early hematopoiesis, multiple branchpoints have been described in which progeny cells segregate into cell lineages with distinct developmental potentials. In this issue of Genes & Development, Inlay and colleagues (pp. 2376–2381) identify novel intermediate stages through which hematopoietic progenitor cells travel.
Security refresh: prevent malicious wear-out and increase durability for phase-change memory with dynamically randomized address mapping

Phase change memory (PCM) is an emerging memory technology for future computing systems. Compared to other non-volatile memory alternatives, PCM is more matured to production, and has a faster read latency and potentially higher storage density. The main roadblock precluding PCM from being used, in particular, in the main memory hierarchy, is its limited write endurance. To address this issue, recent studies proposed to either reduce PCM's write frequency or use wear-leveling to evenly distribute writes. Although these techniques can extend the lifetime of PCM, most of them will not prevent deliberately designed malicious codes from wearing it out quickly. Furthermore, all the prior techniques did not consider the circumstances of a compromised OS and its security implication to the overall PCM design. A compromised OS will allow adversaries to manipulate processes and exploit side channels to accelerate wear-out. In this paper, we argue that a PCM design not only has to consider normal wear-out under normal application behavior, most importantly, it must take the worst-case scenario into account with the presence of malicious exploits and a compromised OS to address the durability and security issues simultaneously. In this paper, we propose a novel, low-cost hardware mechanism called Security Refresh to avoid information leak by constantly migrating their physical locations inside the PCM, obfuscating the actual data placement from users and system software. It uses a dynamic randomized address mapping scheme that swaps data using random keys upon each refresh due. The hardware overhead is tiny without using any table. The best lifetime we can achieve under the worst-case malicious attack is more than six years. Also, our scheme incurs around 1% performance degradation for normal program operations.
SPECTRAL CHARACTERIZATION OF FIBER GRATINGS WITH HIGH RESOLUTION

We demonstrate a high-resolution technique to measure the optical magnitude and phase responses of fiber gratings. The technique employs single-sideband modulation of an optical source and has spectral resolution in the hertz regime. The technique is demonstrated by measurement of the phase ripples of unapodized and apodized chirped gratings as well as the transmission spectrum of a pi-phase-shifted grating. Although it is demonstrated on fiber gratings, the technique is applicable to any optical device.
Travel Agent Attitudes Toward China After Tiananmen Square

This study examines travel agents' attitudes toward the People's Republic of China (PRC) following the events of Summer 1989. Travel agents opposed both a government ban on travel and an industry-organized boycott of travel to the PRC, and emphasized letting the public make an informed choice concerning travel to China. The opinion of these agents was that it will take at least until the period of Fall 1990 to Fall 1991 for travel to China to return to pre-June 1989 levels. Recovery may be slower, however, because agents who historically booked the most travel to the PRC expressed the most hostile attitudes toward the PRC. '
A comparative evaluation of the process of developing and implementing an emergency department HIV testing program

Background: The 2006 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) HIV testing guidelines recommend screening for HIV infection in all healthcare settings, including the emergency department (ED). In urban areas with a high background prevalence of HIV, the ED has become an increasingly important site for identifying HIV infection. However, this public health policy has been operationalized using different models. We sought to describe the development and implementation of HIV testing programs in three EDs, assess factors shaping the adoption and evolution of specific program elements, and identify barriers and facilitators to testing. Methods: We performed a qualitative evaluation using in-depth interviews with fifteen ‘key informants’ involved in the development and implementation of HIV testing in three urban EDs serving sizable racial/ethnic minority and socioeconomically disadvantaged populations. Testing program HIV prevalence ranged from 0.4% to 3.0%. Results: Three testing models were identified, reflecting differences in the use of existing ED staff to offer and perform the test and disclose results. Factors influencing the adoption of a particular model included: whether program developers were ED providers, HIV providers, or both; whether programs took a targeted or non-targeted approach to patient selection; and the extent to which linkage to care was viewed as the responsibility of the ED. A common barrier was discomfort among ED providers about disclosing a positive HIV test result. Common facilitators were a commitment to underserved populations, the perception that testing was an opportunity to reengage previously HIV-infected patients in care, and the support and resources offered by the medical setting for HIV-infected patients. Conclusions: ED HIV testing is occurring under a range of models that emerge from local realities and are tailored to institutional strengths to optimize implementation and overcome provider barriers.
Block Copolymer Vesicles in Liquid CO2

Two polylactide-b-poly(perfluoropropylene oxide) (PLA−PFPO) diblock copolymers were synthesized via a coupling reaction of acid chloride end-functionalized poly(perfluoropropylene oxide) and hydroxy-terminated polylactide. The solubility of these materials in CO2 was measured using a variable-volume high-pressure cell. At a concentration of 1 wt %, the PLA−PFPO copolymers were found to be soluble at modest pressures (<500 bar) over the temperature range of 30−65 °C. The size of the resulting micelles in solution was characterized by high-pressure dynamic light scattering. These measurements indicated the formation of predominantly small, spherical micelles for the block copolymer with a PFPO volume fraction of 0.49 and large aggregates with hydrodynamic radii of 100 nm for PLA−PFPO with a PFPO volume fraction of 0.37. By kinetically trapping the aggregates in CO2 through vitrification of the PLA cores, redispersing them in an analogous PFPO selective solvent, and imaging them using transmission electron m...
Whole planet cooling and the radiogenic heat source contents of the Earth and Moon

It is widely believed that the surface heat flows of the earth and moon provide good measures of the total amounts of radioactives in these bodies. Simple thermal evolution models, based on subsolidus whole mantle convection, indicate that this may not be the case. These models have been constructed assuming an initially hot state, but with a wide variety of choices for the parameters characterizing the rheology and convective vigor. All models are constrained to be consistent with present-day surface heat fluxes, and many of the terrestrial models are consistent with the mantle viscosities indicated by post-glacial rebound. For the earth the acceptable models give a radiogenic heat production that is only 65–85% of the surface heat output, the difference being due to secular cooling of the earth (about 50°–100°C per 10^9 years in the upper mantle). It is argued that the actual heat generation may be substantially less, since the models omit core heat, upward migration of heat sources, possible layering of the mantle, and deviations from steady convection. Geochemical models which are near to chondritic (apart from potassium depletion) are marginally consistent with surface heat flow. In the lunar models, heat generation is typically only 70–80% of the surface heat flow, even with allowance for the strong near-surface enhancement of radioactives. Despite the simplicity of the models the persistence of a significant difference between heat generation and heat output for a wide range of parameter choices indicates that this difference is real and should be incorporated in geochemical modeling of the planets.
Medical Device Risk Assessment Paradigm: Use and Case History

In the medical device industry, risk assessment is required for product development and support, regulatory compliance, and manufacturing support. The risk assessment process can be divided into four major steps. The first step, hazard identification, involves determining whether exposure to an agent can cause an increased incidence of an adverse health condition (e.g., acute toxicity, cancer, birth defects, etc.). The next step in the risk assessment process is to characterize the dose-response relationship. Virtually all chemicals are toxic at some dose, and toxicity is dependent upon the circumstances of exposure, including the amount of substance available, the nature of contact with the substance, and the duration of contact. For both hazard identification and dose-response assessment, the use of scientifically valid data from any source, including data from published literature, is a central feature. Exposure assessment is the determination or estimation of the frequency and duration of human exposu...
Functional characterization of cytochrome P450-derived epoxyeicosatrienoic acids in adipogenesis and obesity

Adipogenesis plays a critical role in the initiation and progression of obesity. Although cytochrome P450 (CYP)-derived epoxyeicosatrienoic acids (EETs) have emerged as a potential therapeutic target for cardiometabolic disease, the functional contribution of EETs to adipogenesis and the pathogenesis of obesity remain poorly understood. Our studies demonstrated that induction of adipogenesis in differentiated 3T3-L1 cells (in vitro) and obesity-associated adipose expansion in high-fat diet (HFD)-fed mice (in vivo) significantly dysregulate the CYP epoxygenase pathway and evoke a marked suppression of adipose-derived EET levels. Subsequent in vitro experiments demonstrated that exogenous EET analog administration elicits potent anti-adipogenic effects via inhibition of the early phase of adipogenesis. Furthermore, EET analog administration to mice significantly mitigated HFD-induced weight gain, adipose tissue expansion, pro-adipogenic gene expression, and glucose intolerance. Collectively, these findings suggest that suppression of EET bioavailability in adipose tissue is a key pathological consequence of obesity, and strategies that promote the protective effects of EETs in adipose tissue offer enormous therapeutic potential for obesity and its downstream pathological consequences.
Concurrency control frameworks for interactive sharing of data spaces in real-time distributed collaborations

The multimedia information exchanges in distributed collaborative applications may be modeled, from communication system perspective, as the flow of media messages between user entities, to provide access to shared window objects on workstations. An example of shared window is a design document interactively reviewed by a team of engineers over a discussion session. A key requirement is that all users should see the same local copy of a shared window object at any given point in time (WYSIWIS), even though these users may reside in different workstations interconnected over a network. In this paper, we study the temporal ordering of real-time persistent messages as the basis for achieving WYSIWIS. The approach requires specifying the synchronization constraints on accessing shared window objects in the form of state-transition relations and timeliness needs when processing messages for object state updates. Non-conflicting actions can be processed in any sequence by user entities, thereby increasing overall system-level performance and user-level efficacy. The paper describes the salient features of our concurrency control model, and then identifies the basic protocol elements to realize the model. Applications are also described to demonstrate the viability of our approach.
Metaphor Use and Health Literacy: A Pilot Study of Strategies to Explain Randomization in Cancer Clinical Trials

Patients often have difficulty understanding what randomization is and why it is needed in Phase III clinical trials. Physicians commonly report using metaphorical language to convey the role of chance in being assignment to treatment; however, the effectiveness of this strategy as an educational tool has not been explored. Guided by W. McGuire's (1972) information-processing model, the purpose of this pilot study was to explore effects of metaphors to explain randomization on message acceptance and behavioral intention to participate in a Phase III clinical trial among a sample of low-income, rural women (N = 64). Participants were randomly assigned to watch a video that explained randomization using 1 of 3 message strategies: a low-literacy definition, standard metaphor (i.e., flip of a coin), or a culturally derived metaphor (i.e., sex of a baby). The influence of attention on behavioral intentions to participate in clinical trials was partially moderated by message strategy. Under conditions of low at...
Modulation of PPARα Expression and Inflammatory Interleukin-6 Production by Chronic Glucose Increases Monocyte/Endothelial Adhesion

Objective— We have previously reported increased monocyte adhesion to human aortic endothelial cells (HAECs) cultured in 25 mmol/L glucose (HG) compared with normal glucose (NG) (5.5 mmol/L). In this study, we explored mechanisms that contribute to increased monocyte adhesion by elevated glucose. Methods and Results— We found that HAECs cultured in HG have increased production of the chemokine interleukin-6 (IL-6). We examined whether IL-6 directly modulated monocyte adhesion to EC. Inhibition of IL-6 using a neutralizing antibody significantly reduced glucose-mediated monocyte adhesion by 50%, and addition of IL-6 directly to human EC stimulated monocyte adhesion. PPARα has been reported to negatively regulate expression of IL-6 in vascular cells, so we examined PPARα-associated signaling in EC. A known PPARα agonist, Wy14,643, prevented glucose-mediated IL-6 production by EC and reduced glucose-mediated monocyte adhesion by 40%. HG-cultured HAEC had a 50% reduction in expression of PPARα compared with control EC. Primary aortic EC isolated from PPARα knockout (KO) mice showed increased monocyte adhesion compared with EC isolated from control mice. PPARα KO EC also had increased production of IL-6. Finally, we measured IL-6 levels in diabetic db/db mice and found significant 6-fold elevations in IL-6 levels in db/db EC. Conclusions— These data indicate that IL-6 production is increased in diabetes and contributes to early vascular inflammatory changes. PPARα protects EC from glucose-mediated monocyte adhesion, in part through regulation of IL-6 production.
Effective Academic Advisory Committee Relationships

Recently, accrediting bodies are placing great responsibility for accountability on universities and academic schools, departments, and programs. The goal of the increased accountability is improved quality of teaching and learning. In this paper, we describe several levels of accountability for quality teaching and learning in a small, private, liberal arts college. We describe the role the University’s Board of Trustees. Moving to the School of Business Administration, we explain several activities the Board of Visitors facilitate and participate in. Then, we localize to the Department of Information Systems and Management Science, which has had an advisory committee comprised of award-winning Chief Information Officers and Chief Technology Officers since 2009-2010. Finally, we describe efforts involved in building an advisory committee for a new academic program within the department, the Bachelor’s in Health Information Management (HIM). This examination provides insights and examples for others who are seeking to establish or re-invigorate their relationships with advisors. It is interesting in that some cases the advisory committee is mandated by law, e.g., the University of Board of Trustees, others are voluntary, e.g., the School’s Board of Visitors and the department’s advisory committee, and still others may be prescribed and required by accrediting bodies within particular fields, e.g., the Health Information Management (HIM) program.
On Hobbes, Social Contracts and Constraints: A Brief Look at the Economic Implications of Terrorism

Politics and economics are inextricably linked; the fathers of modern economics referred to the genre as political economy. As such, acts of violence designed to exert pressure on political institutions and achieve certain objectives have a pronounced, if often subtle, effect upon the economy. Much study has been given over to the study of terrorism in terms the social sciences: political science, military science, psychology, international relations, etc. In keeping with this academic convention, this paper seeks to look at terrorism through the lens of economics, presenting the actors as members of the market with their own unique combinations of utility and constraints. Utilizing the relevant literature, it also seeks to assess the impact, both direct and indirect, terrorism has on a nation’s economy, and provide a point of emphasis for public policy.
Assessing Three Models of Materialism–Postmaterialism and Their Relationship with Well-Being: A Theoretical Extension

The issue of the dimensionality of materialism and postmaterialism, and their impact on key social and personal indicators, has been a hotly debated topic for decades. This study sought to achieve two goals to further our understanding of these constructs. First, it assessed whether an interactive materialism–postmaterialism conceptualization could be expanded to predict outcomes related to well-being. Second, the study extended the interactive model by using Richins’ three dimensions of materialism instead of the unidimensional construct utilized in previous studies. Results indicated that the interactive model successfully predicted three different measures of well-being, specifically physical symptoms, stress, and subjective vitality. Results are discussed in terms of extending materialism–postmaterialism theory, both with respect to refining the materialism construct as well as its associations with new criterion variables.
Acute total hip arthroplasty for selected displaced acetabular fractures: two to twelve-year results.

Background: We assessed the role of acute total hip arthroplasty in a selected group of patients with a displaced acetabular fracture and complicating features that greatly diminished the likelihood of a favorable outcome after open reduction and internal fixation. Methods: Between 1985 and 1997, fifty-seven patients underwent an acute total hip arthroplasty for a displaced acetabular fracture. Patients were followed for a mean of 8.1 years (range, two to twelve years). The mean time from the injury to the arthroplasty was six days (range, one to twenty days). The mean age of the patients at the time of the arthroplasty was sixty-nine years (range, twenty-six to eighty-nine years). Indications for the acute arthroplasty included intra-articular comminution as well as full-thickness abrasive loss of the articular cartilage, impaction of the femoral head, and impaction of the acetabulum that involved >40% of the joint surface and included the weight-bearing region. Results: At the time of the latest follow-up, the mean Harris hip score was 89 points (range, 69 to 100 points); forty-five patients (79%) had an excellent or good outcome. There were six cases of heterotopic bone formation, including one of symptomatic grade-IV ossification. During the initial six postoperative weeks, the acetabular cups subsided an average of 3 mm medially and 2 mm vertically. All of the cups then stabilized, and none were loose at the latest follow-up evaluation. Six patients had excessive medialization of the cup, but none had late loosening or osteolysis. Nine cups (16%) had notable polyethylene wear, but none were revised. No cup or stem had late clinical or radiographic evidence of loosening. There were three late procedures: one for revision of a malaligned cup because of recurrent dislocations, one for removal of hardware from the greater trochanter, and one for excision of heterotopic bone. Conclusions: In selected patients with a displaced acetabular fracture that has a low likelihood of a favorable outcome after fracture treatment, an acute total hip arthroplasty may provide an alternative means with which to achieve a painless, mobile hip. These complex procedures are best undertaken by a surgical team with substantial experience with both acetabular trauma and hip arthroplasty.
Dynamin Binding Protein (Tuba) Deficiency Inhibits Ciliogenesis and Nephrogenesis in Vitro and in Vivo

Dysfunction of renal primary cilia leads to polycystic kidney disease. We previously showed that the exocyst, a protein trafficking complex, is essential for ciliogenesis and regulated by multiple Rho and Rab family GTPases, such as Cdc42. Cdc42 deficiency resulted in a disruption of renal ciliogenesis and a polycystic kidney disease phenotype in zebrafish and mice. Here we investigate the role of Dynamin binding protein (also known as Tuba), a Cdc42-specific guanine nucleotide exchange factor, in ciliogenesis and nephrogenesis using Tuba knockdown Madin-Darby canine kidney cells and tuba knockdown in zebrafish. Tuba depletion resulted in an absence of cilia, with impaired apical polarization and inhibition of hepatocyte growth factor-induced tubulogenesis in Tuba knockdown Madin-Darby canine kidney cell cysts cultured in a collagen gel. In zebrafish, tuba was expressed in multiple ciliated organs, and, accordingly, tuba start and splice site morphants showed various ciliary mutant phenotypes in these organs. Co-injection of tuba and cdc42 morpholinos at low doses, which alone had no effect, resulted in genetic synergy and led to abnormal kidney development with highly disorganized pronephric duct cilia. Morpholinos targeting two other guanine nucleotide exchange factors not known to be in the Cdc42/ciliogenesis pathway and a scrambled control morpholino showed no phenotypic effect. Given the molecular nature of Cdc42 and Tuba, our data strongly suggest that tuba and cdc42 act in the same ciliogenesis pathway. Our study demonstrates that Tuba deficiency causes an abnormal renal ciliary and morphogenetic phenotype. Tuba most likely plays a critical role in ciliogenesis and nephrogenesis by regulating Cdc42 activity.
Dependence-induced ethanol drinking and GABA neurotransmission are altered in Alk deficient mice

Anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) is a receptor tyrosine kinase that is expressed in the brain and implicated in alcohol abuse in humans and behavioral responses to ethanol in mice. Previous studies have shown an association of human ALK with acute responses to alcohol and alcohol dependence. In addition, Alk knockout (Alk -/-) mice consume more ethanol in a binge-drinking test and show increased sensitivity to ethanol sedation. However, the function of ALK in excessive drinking following the establishment of ethanol dependence has not been examined. In this study, we tested Alk -/- mice for dependence-induced drinking using the chronic intermittent ethanol-two bottle choice drinking (CIE-2BC) protocol. We found that Alk -/- mice initially consume more ethanol prior to CIE exposure, but do not escalate ethanol consumption after exposure, suggesting that ALK may promote the escalation of drinking after ethanol dependence. To determine the mechanism(s) responsible for this behavioral phenotype we used an electrophysiological approach to examine GABA neurotransmission in the central nucleus of the amygdala (CeA), a brain region that regulates alcohol consumption and shows increased GABA signaling after chronic ethanol exposure. GABA transmission in ethanol-naive Alk -/- mice was enhanced at baseline and potentiated in response to acute ethanol application when compared to wild-type (Alk +/+) mice. Moreover, basal GABA transmission was not elevated by CIE exposure in Alk -/- mice as it was in Alk +/+ mice. These data suggest that ALK plays a role in dependence-induced drinking and the regulation of presynaptic GABA release in the CeA.
Activity of a Salicylanilide in the Field Against the Bollworm on Cotton

The compound, 4',5-dichloro-3-(4-chlorophenyl) salicylanilide, was about 3 times more active at the LD90 level and 1.5 times at the LD50 level than toxaphene-DDT (2+1) against 4-day old larvae of Heliothis zea (Boddie) caged on cotton in the field. The relationship between the 2 treatments in the field differed from that in the greenhouse; previous work in the greenhouse showed the “salicylanilide” to be about 35 and 5.7 times more active than the toxaphene-DDT mixture al the LD90 and LD50 levels, respectively. The difference is attributed to a greater effect of solar radiation on the salicylanilide in the field.
A New Realizable Subgrid-Scale Stress Model for Large Eddy Simulation of Neutral Atmospheric Boundary Layer

Dynamic Smagorinsky model (DSM) is commonly used to model the subgrid scale (SGS) stress tensor in large eddy simulations (LES). However, the DSM yields large fluctuations of the Smagorinsky constant and can make the simulations unstable. To avoid the stability problems, averaging along homogeneous directions or artificial clipping of the constant is often employed in simulations. This reveals the need for the development of SGS models that can be used in simulations without numerical modifications. In the current study, the performance of a linear dynamic SGS model derived using stochastic analysis is investigated. Turbulent channel flow is chosen as the test case to evaluate the model. The computations were numerically stable without averaging or clipping of the Smagorinsky constant. The results also showed good agreement with benchmark direct numerical simulation data. The validated model was applied to perform neutral atmospheric boundary layer simulations. The predicted mean wind speed showed good agreement with the log law while the peaks of the Reynolds normal stresses were within the range of values observed in the literature. However, the model predicted a lower value of the modeled Reynolds shear stress in the surface layer. Empirical modifications in the surface layer were considered to improve the predictions. Future work on accurate prediction of the Reynolds shear stress in the surface layer without any modifications is outlined.
Understanding Solvent Effects on the Properties of Two-Dimensional Transition Metal Dichalcogenides.

Two-dimensional (2D) transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs) have emerged as attractive direct bandgap semiconducting materials with remarkable properties. Recently, TMDC-based electronic and optoelectronic systems have been demonstrated with various chemical doping and functionalization approaches for modulating their physical properties and enhancing device performances. However, the dependence of intrinsic properties of TMDCs on diverse solvents, which are used necessarily in fabrication processes and chemical doping, remains largely unaddressed. Here we report a charge transfer mechanism in TMDCs by commonly used solvents such as chloroform, toluene, acetone, and 2-propanol, which significantly changes the physical properties of monolayer MoS2 and WSe2. We find that the relative difference in electronegativity between solvents and TMDCs drives the transfer of electrons from or to the TMDCs, which results in photoluminescence (PL) enhancement or quenching depending on the change of carrier density in ...
Off-center hot spots; double thermocouple determination of the thermal gradient in a 1.27 cm (1/2 in.) CaF 2 piston-cylinder furnace assembly

Double-thermocouple experiments were carried out at 10 kbar in a 1.27 cm (1/2 in.) piston-cylinder apparatus to map the thermal gradient and locate the peak temperature of a CaF 2 -graphite furnace assembly over the temperature interval 900-1500 degrees C. An unexpected but reproducible result was that the thermal peak is displaced upward significantly (toward the steel base plug) from the vertical center of the graphite heater tubes. The hot spot of our assembly, defined as the region no more than 10 degrees C cooler than the peak temperature, is displaced upward from the center of the furnace and moves slightly toward the center with increasing temperature. At a maximum temperature of 914 degrees C, the center of the hot spot was 2.6 mm above the mid-point of the furnace, while at 1510 degrees C, the highest temperature investigated, the center of the hot spot was 2.2 mm above the center of the furnace. The hot spot varies in width fom 3.2 mm at lower temperatures to 2.2 mm at 1510 degrees C. We attribute the upward displacement of the hot spot to the greater thermal conductivity of the lower tungsten-carbide piston (k = 100W/mK at 200 degrees C) relative to the upper stainless steel base plug (k = 25 W/mK at 600 degrees C). The piston apparently conducts heat more efficiently downward than the steel plug does upward, thus displacing the hot spot upward from the furnace center.