cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
The zebrafish maternal-effect gene mission impossible encodes the DEAH-box helicase Dhx16 and is essential for the expression of downstream endodermal genes

Early animal embryonic development requires maternal products that drive developmental processes prior to the activation of the zygotic genome at the mid-blastula transition. During and after this transition, maternal products may continue to act within incipient zygotic developmental programs. Mechanisms that control maternally-inherited products to spatially and temporally restrict developmental responses remain poorly understood, but necessarily depend on posttranscriptional regulation. We report the functional analysis and molecular identification of the zebrafish maternal-effect gene mission impossible (mis). Our studies suggest requirements for maternally-derived mis function in events that occur during gastrulation, including cell movement and the activation of some endodermal target genes. Cell transplantation experiments show that the cell movement defect is cell autonomous. Within the endoderm induction pathway, mis is not required for the activation of early zygotic genes, but is essential to implement nodal activity downstream of casanova/sox 32 but upstream of sox17 expression. Activation of nodal signaling in blastoderm explants shows that the requirement for mis function in endoderm gene induction is independent of the underlying yolk cell. Positional cloning of mis, including genetic rescue and complementation analysis, shows that it encodes the DEAH-box RNA helicase Dhx16, shown in other systems to act in RNA regulatory processes such as splicing and translational control. Analysis of a previously identified insertional dhx16 mutation shows that the zygotic component of this gene is also essential for embryonic viability. Our studies provide a striking example of the interweaving of maternal and zygotic genetic functions during the egg-to-embryo transition. Maternal RNA helicases have long been known to be involved in the development of the animal germ line, but our findings add to growing evidence that these factors may also control specific gene expression programs in somatic tissues.
Visual laterality effects: A signal detection analysis

Subjects were asked to indicate, by a simple motor response, the presence or absence of a pre-designated target letter in unilaterally presented consonant trigrams. For horizontally oriented stimuli (Experiment 1), perceptual sensitivity was greater in the right visual hemifield. For vertically oriented stimuli (Experiment 2), perceptual sensitivity did not differ between visual hemifields. Decision making was less conservative and reaction time was shorter with right hemifield presentation, regardless of stimulus orientation. Practice effects and serial position curves were examined. Implications of these results attribute laterality effects to iconic scanning patterns and to postperceptual decision processes.
United Nations Contributions to the Worldwide Development of Astronomya

: The United Nations in cooperation with the European Space Agency organized a unique series of annual Workshops on Basic Space Science since 1991 for the benefit of astronomers and space scientists in Asia and the Pacific, Latin America and the Caribbean, Africa, and Western Asia. The merits and accomplishments of these Workshops and their regional follow-up projects are reviewed in this paper.
Honesty in Publication

A recent editorial in Water Research ~39, 1–2!, “The Ignoble Art of Cheating in Scientific Publications,” caught my attention because it addressed a number of issues related to publication misconduct, a topic that I have had to address more than once in the past few years. With acknowledgment to Mogens Henze, the editor-in chief of Water Research ~WR!, I would like to mention several of the points listed in the editorial, as they are important for all authors. To begin, it is important to remember why we publish. If you come from an academic background, then the answer might be to get tenure or to make full professor. If you work in the private sector, perhaps your firm offers a cash incentive. These, however, should not be the major motivating forces. We should submit papers when we: ~1! think that we have done something that represents a contribution to a field ~e.g., a new principle or design procedure, or a novel application of an existing principle!; ~2! have obtained data that has not previously been measured and can be applied to a problem; or ~3! have completed a case study in which data from a field-scale system are integrated so to provide a complete picture of an engineered or natural system. There are many other good reasons to submit manuscripts, but the underlying principle is that we think that we have something new that can stand up to the rigor of anonymous review by our peers. Publications in archival journals such as the Journal of Environmental Engineering become part of a permanent record that may be referenced for decades to come. The reputation of a journal is based on the quality of the work published, which in turn leads to a higher impact factor, a measure of the extent to which articles in the journal are cited in subsequent journal articles. As authors want to publish in journals with high-impact factors, and journal editors and publishers like high-impact factors, the goal of the author and editor should be aligned. With this as a background, the Waster Research editorial listed a number of areas where publication misconduct has been
Creep of α2+β Titanium Aluminide Alloys

The interest in titanium aluminide alloys includes elevated temperature applications, for which creep resistance is a primary property. Tests have been made between 650 and 870°C on a variety of microstructures of Ti-24Al-11Nb and Ti-25Al-10Nb-3Mo-1V (at%) alloys. It has been found that microstructure plays an important role in creep of these materials, so that thermal and mechanical history is important. Stress exponents for power-law creep, and apparent creep activation energies, have been determined for these alloys. As is usually found in structural alloys microstructural characteristics which increase ductility and toughness at low temperature tend to accelerate creep considerably, particularly the presence of β phase, and most notably when arranged as locally-continuous β films between plates of the α2 phase. Solution treatment in the β phase provided optimum creep resistance, but cooling rate effects were different in the two alloys considered. Comparison to near-α titanium alloys developed for creep resistance, shows that the aluminide alloys have better performance, especially above 700°C.
Effects of amalgam corrosion products on human cells.

Using three independent criteria, we have found that 10−4-10−6M concentrations of ions presumably liberated from the corrosion of dental amalgam produce injurious effects on either human gingival fibroblasts or HeLa cells when the cells are grown in culture. Release of 51Cr and uptake of trypan blue dye were seen with 10−5M Hg++ and Ag+. Inhibition of amino acid incorporation into protein-like material was seen with eluates of amalgam and with ionic solutions of most metals comprising dental amalgam. Stannous ion showed little if any cytotoxic potential. These results suggest that corrosion products of amalgam are capable of causing cellular injury or destruction.
On the Gauge Dependence of Renormalization Group Parameters

Abstract We derive the restrictions that gauge invariance places on the renormalization group parameters in arbitrary gauge theories. It is explicity shown that the physical contenr of the renormalization group is gauge independent. A remarkable simplification is noted in the dimensional regularization scheme.
Effect of Nitrogen Implantation on Metal Transfer during Sliding Wear under Ambient Conditions

Nitrogen implantation in Interstitial-Free steel was evaluated for its impact on metal transfer and 1100 Al rider wear. It was determined that nitrogen implantation reduced metal transfer in a trend that increased with dose; the Archard wear coefficient reductions of two orders of magnitude were achieved using a dose of 2e17 ions/cm2, 100 kV. Cold-rolling the steel and making volumetric wear measurements of the Al-rider determined that the hardness of the harder material had little impact on volumetric wear or friction. Nitrogen implantation had chemically affected the tribological process studied in two ways: directly reducing the rider wear and reducing the fraction of rider wear that ended up sticking to the ISF steel surface. The structure of the nitrogen in the ISF steel did not affect the tribological behavior because no differences in friction/wear measurements were detected after postimplantation heat treating to decompose the as-implanted e-Fe3N to γ-Fe4N. The fraction of rider-wear sticking to the steel depended primarily on the near-surface nitrogen content. Covariance analysis of the debris oxygen and nitrogen contents indicated that nitrogen implantation enhanced the tribo-oxidation process with reference to the unimplanted material. As a result, the reduction in metal transfer was likely related to the observed tribo-oxidation in addition to the introduction of nitride wear elements into the debris. The primary Al rider wear mechanism was stick-slip, and implantation reduced the friction and friction noise associated with that wear mechanism. Calculations based on the Tabor junction growth formula indicate that the mitigation of the stick-slip mechanism resulted from a reduced adhesive strength at the interface during the sticking phase.
Effect of tooth mesh stiffness asymmetric nonlinearity for drive and coast sides on hypoid gear dynamics

A nonlinear time-varying dynamic model of a hypoid gear pair system with time-dependent nonlinear mesh stiffness, mesh damping and backlash properties is formulated to study the effect of mesh stiffness asymmetry for drive and coast sides on dynamic response. The asymmetric characteristic is the result of the inherent curvilinear tooth form and pinion offset in hypoid set. Using the proposed nonlinear time-varying dynamic model, effects of asymmetric mesh stiffness parameters that include mean mesh stiffness ratio, mesh stiffness variation and mesh stiffness phase angle on the dynamic mesh force response and tooth impact regions are examined systematically. Specifically, the dynamic models with only asymmetric mesh stiffness nonlinearity, with only backlash nonlinearity and with both asymmetric mesh stiffness and backlash nonlinearities are analyzed and compared. Using the parameters of a typical hypoid gear set, the extent of the effect of asymmetry in the mesh coupling on gear pair dynamics is quantified numerically. The results show that the increase in the mean mesh stiffness ratio tends to worsen the dynamic response amplitude, and the mesh stiffness parameters for drive side have more effect on dynamic response than those of the coast side one.
Open meniscus repair

An average 4.6 year follow-up study has been done on 80 of 104 open meniscus repairs of unstable peripheral tears. Two of nine retears were treated in the acute stage and seven were treated in the chronic stage. Eight retears were medial, one was lateral (repair ratio, 1.5:1 medial to lateral), three occurred through the repair site, and six occurred in different areas. Retears occurred in 1 of 26 isolated repairs, 2 of 38 repairs done with an ACL stabilization procedure, and 6 of 16 repairs done in ACL deficient knees that were not stabilized. Standing radiographs revealed normal com partments in 40 of 41 repairs.
A New Look at Kant's View of Aesthetic Testimony

In this paper I explore the following threefold question:first, is there a genuine problem of grounding aesthetic judgement in testimony? Second, if there is such a problem, what exactly is its nature? And lastly, can Kant help us get clearer on the problem? Following Kant, I argue that the problem with aesthetic testimony is explained by norms that govern what it takes to judge a beautiful object aesthetically, rather than theoretically or practically, not by norms that govern what it takes to judge aesthetically with a sufficient epistemic basis rather than without it. I thus propose a normative and aesthetic approach to testimony.
Evaluation of the accuracy of an edge-based approach for multimodality brain image registration

In this paper, we present an automated multi-modality registration algorithm based on hierarchical feature extraction. The approach, which has not been used previously, can be divided into two distinct stages: feature extraction (edge detection, surface extraction), and geometric matching. Two kinds of corresponding features -- edge and surface -- are extracted hierarchically from various image modalities. The registration then is performed using least-squares matching of the automatically extracted features. Both the robustness and accuracy of feature extraction and geometric matching steps are evaluated using simulated and patient images. The preliminary results show the error is on the average of one voxel. We have shown the proposed 3D registration algorithm provides a simple and fast method for automatic registering of MR-to-CT and MR-to-PET image modalities. Our results are comparable to other techniques and require no user interaction.
Single exponential indentification of degree-2 polynomial systems

Realizable degree-2 polynomial systems are completely identified by their response to single real exponential inputs. Identification is in terms of the regular transfer functions.
Multiple cardiac contractile protein abnormalities in myopathic Syrian hamsters (BIO 53 : 58).

Hearts of genetically myopathic male hamsters (BIO 53 : 58) were studied at 1 month, 2 months, 3 months, 4 to 5 months and 7 months of age. The time course of alterations in the cardiac myofibrillar ATPase activity, the relationship of myofibrillar ATPase activity to free [Ca2+], myosin ATPase activity and the distribution of heavy chain myosin isoenzymes were evaluated. Mg2+-Ca2+ ATPase activity of cardiac myofibrils in myopathics was increased in 4 month and 7 month-old hamsters. Elevated Mg2+ ATPase activity was found as early as in 2-month-old hamster. However, there was no loss in the regulation of the myopathic myofibrillar assembly as measured by the PCa response (10(-7) M to 10(-4) M Ca2+). Scans of SDS electrophoresis slab gels of cardiac myofibrillar proteins from control (C) and myopathic animals (M) did not show any differences at any age group (1, 4 and 7 months). There was a significant decrease in myosin Ca2+ ATPase activity and actin activated Mg2+-ATPase activity at 4 to 5 months and 7 months of age in the myopathic hearts. At all ages in normal and myopathic animals cardiac myosin consisted of three isoenzymes, V1, V2 and V3. At all ages in controls and at 1 to 3 months in myopathics, V1 predominated and the isoenzyme distribution was V1 greater than V2 greater than V3. However, in myopathics at 4 to 5 months, the distribution was V1 = V3 greater than V2 and at 7 months was V3 greater than V2 greater than V1. Our experiments suggest alterations in different components of the contractile protein system that occur at different stages of myopathy.
A d.c. plasma-fluidized bed reactor for the production of calcium carbide

Up to now, calcium carbide has been produced on an industrial scale exclusively by the electrothermal method. Very high-temperature operation should be used, and this results in high capital, and some serious environmental problems if open or half-covered furnaces are used. A chemical equilibrium calculation conducted in this laboratory shows that if we add a certain amount of argon into the precursors, the required temperature for chemical equilibrium of the system can be reduced to 1400–1500 °C. We have been guided to develop a d.c. plasma-heated fluidized bed for the preparation of calcium carbide. Preliminary experiments include cold fluidization, measurement of heat-transfer coefficient, production of calcium carbide and measurement of conversion rate. It was found that 84.3% conversion is reached in an argon atmosphere under atmospheric pressure and an operation temperature of 1400–1450 °C. X-ray diffraction analysis and SEM show that the generated calcium carbide is of good quality.
Peptic digests of the I-peptide fractions of five strains of tobacco mosaic virus☆

Abstract The protein components of five strains of tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) were separated from the virus particles by treatment with acetic acid. The isolated proteins were digested with trypsin, and the tryptic digests were adjusted to pH 4.5, causing, in each case, precipitation of an I-peptide fraction. The I-peptide fractions were digested with pepsin and the resulting peptides were separated by a combination of paper electrophoresis and paper chromatography. The peptide spots were located by spraying with various indicator reagents. The patterns, or maps, of such spots were very similar for four of the strains but grossly different from the map for the Holmes ribgrass (HR) strain.
Platelet kinetics in autosomal dominant macrothrombocytopenia

A family with autosomal dominant macrothrombocytopenia is described. Despite severe thrombocytopenia, only a moderate hemorrhagic tendency was observed. Kinetic studies revealed a normal platelet survival, normal megakaryocytic numbers, and normal bone marrow responsiveness. The rate of platelet production was set low, despite moderately impaired hemostasis and thrombocytopenia; it apparently was set to maintain another platelet parameter at an optimal level. Measurements of total circulating platelet mass and platelet surface suggested that the platelet production was set to maintain the platelet surface rather than the platelet mass at a normal value.
Principles for evidence-based drug formulary policy

Expenditures for prescription drugs continue to increase, prompting insurers and health systems to adopt formulary or coverage policies restricting the use of more expensive drugs. Those establishing formulary policies face a complex array of claims regarding differences in efficacy, safety, treatment cost, or cost-effectiveness. We describe and illustrate 5 specific principles for applying research evidence to formulary decisions: (1) Experimental data should take precedence over models or simulations, and assumptions of such models should be carefully examined. (2) Morbidity or mortality outcomes should take precedence over surrogate or intermediate outcomes. (3) Claims for advantages of new treatments should consider the full range of alternatives rather than those selected by industry. (4) Variation in effects across individuals or subgroups argue against restrictions on first-line treatment, but only if those differences are predictable. (5) Variation in effects argues against requiring changes in ongoing treatment. We also discuss how economic incentives are likely to influence selection of research questions, especially research related to drug-gene interactions and to identifying new indications for existing drugs.
Systemetic changes process I: Beginning the journary

In summary, the panelists defined systemic change as change involving 1) a fundamental shift in purpose or focus, 2) a thoughtful redesign of all the system components to be in harmony with the new system orientation, and 3) an emphasis on continual maintenance through reevaluation. In addition, the importance of human factors such as trust and respect, and on human processes such as communication and collaboration were emphasized. Finally, the panelists seemed to agree that systemic change would not be an easy journey — a high level of motivation toward a compelling vision would be required.
Managing Intergovernmental Responses to Terrorism and Other Extreme Events

Coordinating response operations to extreme events is an extraordinarily complex task for public managers. The performance of the intergovernmental system is examined in the context of the events of 11 September 2001 from the theoretical perspective of complex adaptive systems. A model of auto-adaptation is proposed to improve intergovernmental performance in extreme events. This model is based on the concept of individual, organizational, and collective learning in environments exposed to recurring risk, guided by a shared goal. Such a model requires public investment in the development of an information infrastructure that can support the intense demand for communication, information search, exchange, and feedback that characterizes an auto-adaptive system. Copyright 2002, Oxford University Press.
Expert-Citizen Engineering: "Crowdsourcing" Skilled Citizens

Citizen Engineering (CE) is a concept that engages a cohort of physically dispersed citizens connected by the Internet to collaboratively solve real-world problems through massive cooperation. With advances in information technology, we can build transformative cyber-infrastructures to effectively leverage the ''wisdom of crowds''. Regarding the citizen engineers who function as main contributors, there is a wide spectrum of human resources that crowd sourcing system designers can harness - from amateurs/hobbyists, lacking practical experience, to experts/licensed engineers, with years of professional training. As such, we are encouraged to investigate proper approaches to design CEs that can sufficiently engage and support expert citizens who have unique needs that may be different from those of amateur citizen engineers. In this study, we focused on a system designed for engaging high-end users - expert citizens. Our experiment is based on a web site -- ''Expert Citizen Engineering Experiment'' developed to fulfill a sophisticated civil engineering task. The conclusions generated from this experiment provide guidance for future CE project designs, where skilled users are the main contributors. Based on our observations and post-experiment interviews, we believe that expert citizen engineers have higher expectations on computation platform capacity and system stability compared to average citizen engineers. Meanwhile, it should be acknowledged that in the domain of civil engineering, high reliability and trustworthiness are particularly emphasized.
Diffusion-Collision Model for the Folding Kinetics of the λ-Repressor Operator-Binding Domain

Abstract The operator-binding domain of the λ-repressor contains five α-helices and an extended N-terminal arm in the crystal structure determined by Pabo and Lewis reported in Nature 298, 443,1982 (1). The four helices form a “box” enclosing a hydrophobic core, with the fifth helix interacting with the equivalent helix in a dimer. With a small number of well-defined secondary structure elements (microdomains), the repressor is well suited for an analysis of its folding pathways and kinetics by use of the diffusion-collision model. In this paper, the basic elements of the model appropriate to a several microdomain protein are formulated and applied to a set of folding pathways consistent with the crystal structure of the operator- binding domain. The overall kinetics, as well as the time-dependence of intermediate states are determined as a function of the microdomain stability parameter.
Comparative and descriptive aspects of neural correlates of mating calling in the isolated brainstem of Rana pipiens pipiens

Abstract 1. 1. Neural correlates of electrically evoked mating calling in the isolated frog brainstem, when quantitated, showed striking similarities to patterns of calling in intact anurans. 2. 2. Alterations in the quantitated patterns of neural correlates following temperature changes were similar to alterations in the calling patterns of intact anurans. 3. 3. The results of temperature studies of mating calling of the isolated frog brainstem supported the hypothesis that the major effects of temperature upon calls is confined to centers in the central nervous system.
Spatial Disparity of HIV/AIDS Service Providers: The Case of Miami-Dade County.

This paper examines the spatial disparity between the HIV/AIDS service providers and the HIV/AIDS patients. The empirical focus is on Miami-Dade, a large metropolitan county in the United States with a Latino population majority and a high AIDS incidence rate. This exploratory study contributes to the existing literature on geographical access to health providers. Geographic Information System (GIS) is used to examine the spatial disparity between the service providers and the patients. The study reveals that aggregate-level analysis masks the reality of the spatial disparity. Miami Dade County's Health Department focuses on aggregate zones for prioritizing its resources. At this level, there is little spatial disparity. However, evidence of spatial disparity emerges at the ZIP-code–level analysis. The major lesson from the study is that health policies need to be based on a finer-grained analysis to address spatial disparity.
ON THE MARKOV TRACE FOR TEMPERLEY–LIEB ALGEBRAS OF TYPE En

We show that there is a unique Markov trace on the tower of Temperley–Lieb type quotients of Hecke algebras of Coxeter type En (for all n ≥ 6). We explain in detail how this trace may be computed easily using tom Dieck's calculus of diagrams. As applications, we show how to use the trace to show that the diagram representation is faithful, and to compute leading coefficients of certain Kazhdan–Lusztig polynomials.
Inhibitory Effect of Mechanical Load on IL-1 Induced Cartilage Degradation Is Mediated by Interferon-Gamma and IL-1 Receptor 1

Matrix remodeling in articular cartilage is regulated by the elevation and activation of aggrecanases (ADAMTS-4 and ADAMTS-5) and matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) [2–4, 7–9, 10]. Several recent studies from our and other groups have shown that mechanical loading can counteract interleukin 1 (IL-1) induced pro-inflammatory and catabolic events by down-regulating aggrecanases, MMPs, and pro-inflammatory genes [1, 3, 5, 6], but the molecular mechanism is not clear. Many previous studies have shown that the regulation of pro-inflammatory effect of IL-1 come from several aspects: anti-inflammatory cytokines (TGF-β, IL-10, IL-6 and interferon γ), IL-1 receptor related proteins (IL-1R1, IL-1R2, and IL-1Ra) as well as a family of intracellular inhibitory protein called Suppressor Of Cytokine Signaling (SOCS.) SOCS1 and SOCS3 are especially important, since they can inhibit both MAPK and NF-κB pathways induced by IL-1 [12]. The objective of this study was to determine whether mechanical load affected anti-inflammatory mediators along with anti-catabolic events.Copyright © 2008 by ASME
An automated differential scanning dilatometer.

Abstract A sensitive scanning dilatometer has been constructed which continuously records the apparent partial specific volume of small biological samples (10–100 mg) as a function of temperature. Changes in volume of 0.02 μl can be resolved. Tedious calibrations with their inherent errors are eliminated by employing a differential approach in which a recording electrobalance responds to the difference in buoyancy of identical sample and reference tubes. Agreement with the literature values for the specific volume of n -eicosane and the apparent partial specific volume of KCl was excellent. Apparent partial specific volumes obtained for dipalmitoyl lecithin, egg albumin, and bovine serum albumin agreed well with published values.
Impact of an Indenter on a Large Plate

This Note is concerned with the impact between an indenter and a plate through a linear spring. The plate is sufficiently large to ignore reflections from its boundaries. Calculations are made on the duration of impact, the coefficient of restitution and the force-time and displacement-time characteristics. Analysis of the direct impact of a flat-ended, rigid indenter with a plate, yields the interesting result that the coefficient of restitution is independent of the elastic moduli of the plate.
Urea production during prolonged swimming

Abstract Male interscholastic swimmers (n = 8) completed a 4572 m training swim in 62 ±1.1 min (x ± s.e.) with terminal heart rate and blood lactate of 152 ± 6 beats min‐1 and 6.9±0.89 mM, respectively. Sweat rate (0.48±0.0951. h‐1) was lower than similar intensity cycling (1.5±0.13 1. h‐1) or running (1.1 ± 0.14 l.h‐1). Post‐swim serum urea N (11.6±0.71 mM) was elevated (P<0.05) vs pre‐swim (4.6±0.39 mM). Post‐swim urine volume (860±75 ml 24 h‐1) was reduced (P<0.07) and resulted in an elevated (P<0.05), but delayed (24–84 h), post‐exercise urea N excretion. Although the reduced urine and sweat production during the swim undoubtedly contributed to the elevated serum urea, there must be another explanation because together they could only account for 38% of the observed increase. On the basis of the magnitude of serum urea increase, it appears that the swim caused an increase in urea production (amino acid oxidation). The failure to observe larger increases in urinary urea during recovery indicates that e...
Influences on the Learning and Participation of Minorities in Mathematics

Minorities and mathematics have not been the central focus of much published research, but a sizable relevant literature does exist. A review of 24 studies since 1975 is organized according to three types of variables-parent, student, and school-that influence the learning and participation of minority students in school mathematics. Few of the parental variables likely to influence performance or participation have been studied directly. A variety of student characteristics have been identified and their influence examined. Several school characteristics that appear to be influential have not been quantified. The review suggests some directions for future research.
The Road from Rio to Johannesburg: Where Are the Footpaths to/from Science Education?

When the United Nations General Assembly authorized holding the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) in Johannesburg, it was hardly a secret – or even a point in dispute – that progress in implementing sustainable development had been disappointing since the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro. With poverty deepening and environmental degradation worsening, what was necessary, the General Assembly said, was not a new philosophical or political debate, but rather a summit of actions and results (United Nations, 2002). We can question the WSSD accomplishments and whether the subsequent actions and results will contribute in meaningful ways to sustainable development. However, I think it is more important for science educators to ask: What are the implications of WSSD for science education? Why is science education not more intrinsically linked to the goals of human rights, democracy, and social justice? What are the ways in which science education ought to be connected to issues of sustainable development? In essence, where are the footpaths to/from science education? I investigate such questions in this position paper, while arguing that an education in science ought to enable learners to: (a) understand how the natural world works, (b) understand how human systems are interacting with natural systems, (c) assess the status and trends of crucial natural systems, and (d) promote and follow a long-term, sustainable relationship with the natural world. These are the very ways in which an education in science (i.e., science education) ought to be connected to issues of sustainable development.
Transthoracic Doppler echocardiography to noninvasively assess coronary vasoconstrictor and dilator responses in humans

Human studies of coronary circulation are limited because of methodological issues. Recently, a noninvasive transthoracic duplex ultrasound (TTD) technique has emerged as an important tool to measu...
Forest visualization at multiple scales for management and planning

In this study forests were visualized at various scales by placing individual trees into a forest with realistic sizes and densities. Tree images were used from two sources: high quality field photos and images created using graphic design software. The terrain, species composition, and tree sizes and density from forest inventory were all represented in GIS data format. In addition, non-tree objects and features that are essential for close-to-reality visualization were combined with the tree images in a 3-D visualization software package. We further portrayed stand level effects by animating a simulated fly-through of a forest. To visualize temporal change, a case study of four different forest patches was animated. The advantages of this approach comparing to other visualization approaches are: (1) it represents the forests with realistic individual tree images; and (2) it maintains both visual and informational realism in a forest viewable from within-stand to landscape scales. Thus, this approach is realistic in two aspects. First, it is almost as realistic as a photograph, and secondly, its information content is actual forest composition, density, and height.
Exploring the Sensitivity of Education Costs to Racial Composition of Schools and Race-Neutral Alternative Measures: A Cost Function Application to Missouri

This article applies the education cost function methodology in order to estimate additional costs associated with black student concentration and with alternative, race-neutral measures of urban poverty. Recent research highlights the continued importance of the role of race in educational outcomes, and how the intersection of peer group effects and teacher-quality distribution serve to simultaneously disadvantage black children attending racially-isolated black schools (Clotfelter, C., Ladd, H., Vigdor, J., 2006; Hanushek and Rivkin, 2007). But some questions persist as to whether race, in-and-of-itself should be considered a relevant factor influencing the costs of providing equal educational opportunity. I replicate cost models originally introduced in the context of school funding litigation in 2006, using data from the state of Missouri from 2001 to 2005, and then estimate updated cost models based on data from 2006 to 2008, including indicators of school district racial composition and also includi...
Ultraviolet radiation B induces differentiation and protein kinase C in normal human epidermal keratinocytes

Mid-wave ultraviolet radiation (UVB, 280-320 nm) is highly efficient at inducing erythema, pyrimidine dimers in DNA, oncogene expression and initiation of cutaneous tumors. These UVB-induced responses of epidermal cells have been correlated with the direct effects of UVB on DNA. However, UVB has also been shown to have biologic effects at the cellular level that appear to mimic some of the membrane-associated effects produced by phorbol ester tumor promoters such as 12-O-tetradecanoyl phorbol-13-acetate (TPA). For example, we have previously shown that both UVB irradiation and TPA treatment are followed by release of arachidonic acid and a rapid, dose-dependent inhibition of epidermal growth factor (EGF) binding. TPA generates cellular responses through activation of a phospholipid-dependent, calcium-sensitive protein kinase, protein kinase C (PKC). The primary goal of the studies described here was to compare the cellular effects of TPA with those of UVB with special regard to PKC and keratinocyte growth control, using normal human epidermal keratinocytes. The results obtained showed that both TPA and UVB radiation induced differentiation in normal human keratinocytes. UVB radiation, however, increased both cytosolic and membrane-associated levels of PKC, in contrast to TPA, which increased PKC primarily in the membrane fraction. PKC is probably not the initial chromophore or target molecule of UVB, but because activation of PKC has been shown to be essential for keratinocyte differentiation, differentiation induced by UVB may be caused by activation of PKC by UVB-induced release of diacylglycerol or arachidonic acid.
Image-based ghost correction for interleaved EPI.

A new image-based ghost correction technique is described for general interleaved EPI. This technique works reliably with both even- and odd-number interleaved EPI sequences. It estimates the phase distortions causing the ghosts as a general function of (x,y) even in the presence of a significant overlap of parent image and ghosts. If the phase distortion is assumed to be a function of x (frequency-encode direction) only, the new technique is similar to a recently published correction method for general interleaved EPI (Hennel. J Magn Reson 1998;134:206-213). However, that study concluded that the method for general interleaved EPI did not work. It showed that the SNRs of the edge pixels were too low to accurately estimate the phase distortion. The new technique utilizes not one, but many pixels in the image for estimating the phase distortion. The technique requires a user-defined ROI to outline the parent image and identify so-called eligible pixels for estimating the phase distortion. When all eligible pixels are used, the SNR of the phase distortion estimate is comparable to that obtained in single-shot EPI. This study provides the first examples of high-quality, image-based correction of multiple ghosts in general interleaved EPI. Magn Reson Med 45:96-108, 2001.
Critical Growth and Saturation Effects in Order-Parameter Fluctuations with Two Time Scales

Through Callan-Symanzik methods, the individual susceptibilities for the slow and fast components of an order parameter with two time scales are derived above T/sub c/. For one-component fluids, a new expression for the Landau-Placek intensity ratio is found. (AIP)
Neuronal birth and death

Neurogenesis and cell death occur predominantly during the postnatal period in the dentate gyrus of the rat. Recent studies have shown that mitosis and apoptosis in this system are regulated by adrenal steroids, possibly through excitatory amino acids. Studies performed in other systems have identified genes that mediate cell birth and death, which may also participate in the development and maintenance of the dentate gyrus.
Structure–property relationships in thermoplastic elastomers. IV. Dynamic mechanical relaxations in polydioxolane, polybutyltrioxocane, and poly(propylene oxide) polyurethanes

Abstract : Dynamic mechanical measurements had been made on polyurethanes of a range of hard segment content (HSC) obtained form alpha, omega-dihydroxy derivatives of poly(propylene oxide) of 2000 to 12,000 MW coupled with MDI and TDI with hydroxyethyl phthalamide chain extenders. N-methylated chain extender was used to investigate the effect of hydrogen bonding. A board gamma transition was observed between - 100 deg and -115 deg attributable to the local motion of methylene sequences with a distribution of relaxations. The B transition between -55 deg and -72 deg is influenced by the degree of hydration; the a transition occurs at nearly the same temperatures for all the TPE's independent of HSC and thermal history. The magnitude of the loss tangent peak corresponds to the glass transition. An alpha transition at higher temperature is sensitive to the structure of soft segment, HSC and thermal history.
Automated Design Space Exploration for DSP Applications

We present a performance analysis framework that efficiently generates and analyzes hardware designs for computationally intensive signal processing applications. Our framework synthesizes designs from a high level of abstraction into well-constructed and recognizable hardware structures that perform well in terms of area, throughput and power dissipation. Cost functions provided by our framework allow the user to reduce the design space to a set of efficient hardware implementations that meet performance constraints. We utilize our framework to estimate hardware performance using a set of pre-synthesized mathematical cores which expedites the synthesis process by approximately 14 fold. This reduces the architectural generation and hardware synthesis process from days to several hours for complex designs. Our work aims at performing hardware optimizations at the architectural and arithmetic levels, relieving the user from manually describing the designs at the register transfer level and iteratively varying the hardware structures. We illustrate the efficiency and accuracy of our framework by generating finite impulse response filter structures used in several signal processing applications such as adaptive equalizers and quadrature mirror filters. The results show that hardware filter structures generated by our framework can achieve, on average, a 3 fold increase in power efficiency when compared to manually constructed designs.
Unsupervised broadcast conversation speaker role labeling

We present an approach to unsupervised speaker role labeling in talk show data that makes use of two complementary sets of features: structural features that encode the participation patterns of speakers, and lexical features, which capture characteristic phrases. Techniques for using multiple clusterings are explored, leading to more robust results. Experiments on English and Mandarin talk shows yield performance similar to that reported for broadcast news using supervised learning.
Herbal Medicines, Phytoestrogens and Toxicity: Risk: Benefit Considerations

There are several suggested health benefits of phytoestrogens, particularly those found in soy products. Herbal medicines are also widely thought to confer health benefits. Additionally, drugs are prescribed to improve human health, but unlike phytoestrogens and herbal medicines, toxicities are defined in experimental animals and monitored in humans before and after marketing. Knowledge of toxicity is crucial to decrease the risk:benefit ratio; this knowledge defines appropriate conditions for use and strategies for development of safer products. However, our awareness of the toxicity of herbal medicines and phytoestrogen-containing foods is dramatically limited compared to drugs. Some aspects of the toxicity of herbal medicines are briefly reviewed; it is concluded that virtually all of our knowledge is derived from human exposures leading to acute toxicities. Importantly, detection of toxicity is sporadic, and little information is available from prior animal experimentation. Additionally, well-organized monitoring of human populations (as occurs for drugs) is virtually nonexistent. Important toxicities with long latencies are particularly difficult to associate with a causative agent during or even after large scale exposures, as exemplified by tobacco smoking and lung cancer; estrogen replacement therapy and endometrial cancer; diethylstilbestrol and reproductive tract cancers; and fetal alcohol exposure and birth defects. These considerations suggest that much closer study in experimental animals and human populations exposed to phytoestrogen-containing products, and particularly soy-based foods, is necessary. Among human exposures, infant soy formula exposure appears to provide the highest of all phytoestrogen doses, and this occurs during development, often the most sensitive life-stage for induction of toxicity. Large, carefully controlled studies in this exposed infant population are a high priority.
Analysis of regional productivity with capital as a quasi-fixed factor

Abstract Most existing studies of regional productivity growth do not incorporate the effect of variations in capacity utilization on changes in output. By failing to do so, their factor productivity estimates are biased. To overcome this shortcoming, we adjust multifactor productivity growth measure for changes in capacity utilization. Our technique recognizes that capital is a quasi-fixed factor which implies that capital in the short run can be either under- or over-utilized by a firm. Our results from 1974 to 1978 show that capacity adjusted multifactor productivity growth measure exceeds capacity unadjusted multifactor productivity growth measure for the nine census divisions. The bias in the capacity unadjusted measure of multifactor productivity growth is approximately 8 percent in East North Central and over 33 percent in Mountain. We find that the aggregate factor productivity growth is slowest in the traditional manufacturing belt (Middle Atlantic and East North Central divisions). The level of aggregate factor productivity in the manufacturing belt, however, is almost 33 percent higher than in regions in the south.
Serial isometric contractions under imposed myotatic stretch conditions in high-strength and low-strength men.

The immediate effects of an imposed myotatic stretch on knee extensor force were studied in 12 high-strength and 12 low-strength men. Under nonfatigued pre-exercise conditions, significant tension increases of 6.5% for the high-strength group and 11.0% for low-strength subjects were observed as a result of the imposed stretch. An exercise treatment involving 28 serial isometric contractions, each of 5 s duration, with an intertrial rest period of 10 s was administered. This fatiguing exercise resulted in significant decrements in strength on the order of 28.0% and 18.5% for the high-strength and low-strength groups, respectively. A similar treatment which included a 1 s imposed myotatic stretch during each trial resulted in a greater strength decrement for the lowstrength group (26.4%) than for the high-strength subjects (15.0%). A neural factor involving the stretch reflex is tentatively suggested as a plausible explanation accounting for the observation that high-strength subjects fatigue faster than low-strength subjects under conditions of isometric exercise, while lowstrength subjects fatigue faster than high-strength individuals in isometric exercise which is performed with an imposed stretch.
The effect of another bystander's ability to help on bystander intervention in an emergency☆

Abstract Previous research in bystander intervention found that the presence of other bystanders reduced the speed of reporting an emergency. The present research tested the hypothesis that it is not the mere presence of others that reduces speed of helping, but how the others are perceived. Specifically, if another bystander is seen as not being able to help, then there should be no effect on the speed with which the S helps. Subjects who thought they were in an ESP experiment overheard what seemed to be an emergency. A “victim” cried out that a bookcase was falling on her; this was followed by a scream and a loud crash. There was no difference in helping behavior between the condition in which there were no other bystanders present and the condition in which the other bystander could not help. However, as predicted, S s in both of these conditions helped significantly sooner than S s in the condition in which the other bystander was perceived as being able to help.
GeneTracer: Gene sequence analysis of disease mutations VAST 2010 mini challenge 3 award: Excellent process explanation

Our visual analytics tool GeneTracer, developed for the VAST 2010 genetic sequence mini challenge, visualizes gene sequences of current outbreaks and native sequences along with disease characteristics. We successfully used GeneTracer in combination with data mining techniques to solve the challenge.
A cultural model of pregnancy: a comparison between Mexican physicians and working-class women in Tijuana, B.C.

Abstract At the time this research was conducted, it was reported that a significant percentage of women in Tijnana, B.C. (18.6%) who gave birth in a hospital did so having had little or no prenatal care [Nucleo Regional para el Desarrollo de Sistemas de Salud (NUREDESS) 1993]. Why does this underutilization of prenatal care occur? Frequently, explanations for health-seeking behavior among poor and working-class Mexican women tend to focus on cultural beliefs. This research examined the accuracy of such a cultural explanation by discerning the cultural model of prenatal care of a group of working-class Mexican women and comparing it to the biomedical model, as represented by a group of Mexican physicians. The results demonstrate that both groups actually share a similar model of prenatal care, one rooted in biomedicine. Therefore, it is important to consider broader, structural and economic variables as key factors that influence prenatal health care behavior.