cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Investigation on Acidification of River Waters in Nara Prefecture

平成13年4月から2年間にわたり, 奈良県内の4水系91地点 (大和川水系: 35地点, 淀川水系: 29地点, 紀の川水系: 14地点, 新宮川水系: 13地点) で年4回計8回, 河川の酸性化調査を行った。この結果, pHについてはいずれの水系においても酸性化は見られなかった。しかし, E.C. (5mS/m以下) とアルカリ度 (0.2meq/l以下) の両方の値より判断して, 酸性雨の影響を受けやすい地点が5地点 (淀川水系1地点, 新宮川水系4地点) あった。これらの地点についてpHの経年変化を調べた結果, 5地点の内, 1970年代中頃から2002年まで長期に測定している4地点についてpHの変化を見れば, 深谷川と坂本ダム湖については, 測定開始以来減少傾向が見られた。
Automated stopped-flow kinetic analysis of serum enzymes.

An instrument which permits the automated determination of serum lactate dehydrogenase, serum glutamic oxalacetic transaminase, and serum glutamic pyruvic transaminase by the standard kinetic methods at 340 nm. is described. As many as 120 sera can be loaded into the sampler wheels at one time and the change in absorbance with time for all the samples is recorded automatically without further handling of the specimens or instrument by the technologist. The work output is 45 determinations per hour, with the change in absorbance being measured for 2 minutes for each sample. The system is modular and requires two samplers, a pump, a thermostating bath, an ultraviolet spectrophotometer with recorder, and a timing device which can be assembled from readily available parts. The instrument has been in constant use in this laboratory since December 1970. There is excellent agreement between the automated method described here and the standard manual ultraviolet-kinetic methods. The automated method permits pre-incubation with nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide to destroy endogenous serum keto acids and allows for the induction period in the determination of serum glutamic oxalacetic transaminase and serum glutamic pyruvic transaminase.
Reimagining a Community Worker Protest and Illicit Artisans in Early Seventeenth-Century Norwich

This essay examines a work stoppage that was planned by Norwich’s worsted weaver apprentices in 1610, but that never took place. In depositions taken after the plot was revealed, the apprentices told local authorities that their aim in leaving their work was to call attention to the problem of laborers in the industry that had not served apprenticeships, but were nevertheless hired to work as journeymen. This dramatic and unusual action that the apprentices took was the result of a confluence of particular circumstances in early Stuart Norwich. The combination of a difficult local economy, the impact of nonapprenticed laborers on their future prospects, and the eruption of plague in 1609-1610 drove the apprentices to imagine and try to create a new role for themselves in the weaving trade and in urban society. Their efforts, although ineffective, nevertheless reveal the imaginable limits of social politics between apprentices and their masters.
Spinal Procedure Injectables

Injection medication is intended to provide the clinician with an overview of common injectable medication classes used in the clinical setting. Its purpose is to introduce the clinician to major mechanisms of action, chemical structure, clinical effect, and select precautions/contraindications of local anesthetics and corticosteroids.
Bimolecular Fluorescence Complementation (BiFC) Analysis of Protein–Protein Interactions and Assessment of Subcellular Localization in Live Cells

Bimolecular fluorescence complementation (BiFC) is a fluorescence imaging technique used to visualize protein-protein interactions (PPIs) in live cells and animals. One unique application of BiFC is to reveal subcellular localization of PPIs. The superior signal-to-noise ratio of BiFC in comparison with fluorescence resonance energy transfer or bioluminescence resonance energy transfer enables its wide applications. Here, we describe how confocal microscopy can be used to detect and quantify PPIs and their subcellular localization. We use basic leucine zipper transcription factor proteins as an example to provide a step-by-step BiFC protocol using a Nikon A1 confocal microscope and NIS-Elements imaging software. The protocol given below can be readily adapted for use with other confocal microscopes or imaging software.
GHS additivity formula: A true replacement method for acute systemic toxicity testing of agrochemical formulations

Abstract Acute systemic (oral, dermal, inhalation) toxicity testing of agrochemical formulations (end-use products) is mainly needed for Classification and Labelling (CL B) for each formulation the acute oral toxicity is always equal or greater than the Acute Toxicity Estimate (ATE) via the other two routes; C) the GHS (Global Harmonised System) computational method based on ATE, currently of limited acceptance, has very high accuracy and specificity for prediction of agrochemical mixture toxicity according to the internationally established classification thresholds. By integrating this evidence, an exposure- and data-based waiving strategy is proposed to determine classification and adequate PPE and to ensure only triggered animal testing is used. Safety characterisation above 2000 mg/kg body weight or 1.0 mg/L air should not be recommended, based on the agrochemical exposure scenarios. The global implementation of these tools would allow a remarkable reduction (up to 95%) in in vivo testing, often inducing lethality and/or severe toxicity, for agrochemical formulations.
Acceptability of Flavored Drinks Made With Cottage Cheese Whey Produced by the Direct Acidification Process

An orange-flavored and lemon-lime-flavored drink has been formulated using whey from cottage cheese made by the direct acidification method. Two levels of sweetness were used in each flavored drink. A group of 21 persons familiar with taste panel procedures scored the drinks on a 6-point hedonic scale. The panel preferred the orange-flavored drink over the lemon-lime (P < .05), describing the orange-flavored drink as “like moderately” and the lemon-lime as “like slightly.”
Impact of gastroesophageal reflux and delayed gastric emptying on pediatric lung transplant outcomes.

Background Gastroesophageal reflux disease is thought to predispose to adverse lung allograft outcomes. However, little is known about the burden of gastroesophageal reflux (GER) and gastroparesis in pediatric patients. In this study we describe the burden of reflux and gastroparesis in children undergoing lung transplant, and evaluates their impact on allograft survival and rejection incidence. Methods This study is a retrospective analysis of pediatric lung transplant recipients who had combined pH and multichannel intraluminal impedance testing (pH-MII) and gastric-emptying scans (GES). Hazard ratios with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) estimated from Cox proportional hazard models were used to examine the associations between reflux parameters and adverse allograft outcomes. Covariates considered in the multivariate analysis included abnormal pH-MII testing, abnormal GES and Nissen fundoplication status. Kaplan–Meier curves were created, with log-rank testing employed to assess differences between groups. Results Thirty lung transplant recipients, aged 1 to 21 years, were identified. Eight of 30 patients (27%) had abnormal reflux by impedance, and 12 (40%) had abnormal pH-metry. Of 19 patients tested, 5 (26.3%) had evidence of gastric dysmotility; however, the severity of GER did not trend with delays in gastric emptying. Neither reflux burden by pH-MII testing nor fundoplication status impacted survival or rejection. However, delayed gastric emptying appeared significantly linked to the development of chronic lung allograft dysfunction, independent of GER. Conclusions In children, reflux burden and fundoplication status do not impact lung transplant outcomes, but gastric dysmotility may be linked to allograft dysfunction in children.
Light-Induced Conformational Changes of S. aurantiaca Bacteriophytochromes as Revealed by Atomic Force Microscopy

Bacteriophytochromes (BphPs) are red-light photoreceptors found in photosynthetic and non-photosynthetic bacteria. BphPs are composed of a photosensory core module (PCM) that consists of three domains PAS, GAF, and PHY along with an effector domain, usually a histidine kinase (HK). BphPs utilize a covalently attached biliverdin (BV), an open-chain tetrapyrrole, to photoconvert between red (Pr) and far-red (Pfr) light-absorbing states. Due to the lack of crystal structures of intact BphPs in their respective Pr and Pfr states, we have utilized Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) to characterize the structure of intact BphPs in biologically relevant media. Specifically, we have focused on the AFM analysis of BphPs from myxobacterium Stigmatella aurantiaca, SaBphP1 and SaBphP2, that share 41% sequence identity, both bind BV and have different Pr/Pfr photoconversion. Unlike classical BphPs, wild-type SaBphP1 lacks a highly conserved His that stabilizes BV and undergoes limited Pr/Pfr photoconversion that can be restored by a single Thr (Thr289) to His mutation in PCM. Individual dimers of intact SaBphP2 have been observed on a mica surface in solution and compared to truncated PAS GAF variants. Quaternary structural changes in length and width of intact BphPs with respect to Pr and Pfr states have been revealed by AFM and compared to published electron microscopy (EM) data. The proteins appear larger by AFM than EM due to the hydration of the protein and the tip convolution. The ratio of length to width of these BphPs determined by AFM agrees within 10% with the EM data for related BphP from Deinococcus radiodurans in its Pfr state. Furthermore, the volume, orientation, and structure of these BphPs are in agreement with respective protein models generated using PyMOL software and X-ray crystallographic structures of similar BphPs.
Thermally chargeable supercapacitor based on nickel-coated nanoporous carbon

Nanoporous carbon is coated by pure nickel via an electroless plating method. The nanoporous carbon provides a high-surface-area substrate, leading to a large capacitance; the nickel surface layer ...
Against Reconciliation: Constituent Power, Ethics, and the Meaning of Democratic Education.

Starting from autonomist theorist Antonio Negri’s concept of constituent power and from decolonial philosopher Enrique Dussel’s notions of obediential power and the ethics of exteriority, this stud...
National Disparities and Standards Essential Patents: Considerations for India

Patents on standardized technologies are being issued with increasing frequency, and large multinational firms based in developed economies hold the majority of these patents. As a result, firms from less-developed economies with sparse patent holdings may be disadvantaged in both domestic and foreign markets. While protectionist governmental policies can address these disparities, such measures are potentially contrary to international treaty obligations and often unsuccessful in the long term. An alternative approach involves greater participation in international SSOs by firms from less-developed economies. This increased participation is likely to benefit such firms both in terms of technology development, strengthening of patent positions, and influence over SSO policies. To facilitate increased participation, subsidies may be required from local governments, NGOs, multinational organizations or SSOs themselves.
Assessing the reliability of the EORTC QLQ-C30 in a sample of older African American and Caucasian adults.

The purpose of this study was to examine the structure and reliability of the EORTC QLQ-C30. This 30-item instrument has five functional scales (physical, role, cognitive, emotional, and social), three symptom scales (fatigue, pain, and nausea and vomiting) and a global health and quality of life scale. Confirmatory factor analysis and Cronbach's α estimates were used to assess the functioning of the EORTC QLQ-C30 in a sample of 489 African American (n = 255) and Caucasian (n = 234) adults aged 50 + years. Seven of the nine EORTC QLQ-C30 scales showed good reliability for both the African Americans and the Caucasians in the sample (Cronbach's > 0.75). In contrast, the cognitive functioning scale had a reliability coefficient of only 0.69 for the African Americans and 0.40 for the Caucasians, and the nausea and vomiting scale had a reliability coefficient of only 0.49 for the African Americans and 0.51 for the Caucasians. In summary, although the overall reliabilities of seven of the scales showed good fit, many of the item-to-scale correlations did not. Researchers planning to use the EORTC QLQ-C30 might first consider conducting separate analyses on the different racial or ethnic subgroups in their study populations to determine whether a common set of factors or scales is available for further analysis.
The Development of the Primate Pulvinar

When the nervous systems of different species are compared, homologous structures can nonetheless exhibit differences that are related to their evolutionary histories. For example, there are dramatic differences in the morphology of the rabbit and monkey retinae that correspond to the requirements of their different environments, yet there is little doubt that they are homologous. The retina of the rabbit contains a horizontally oriented stripe of densely packed ganglion cells and high visual acuity that monitors the horizon for the essentially stationary, laterally placed eyes. The retina of the monkey contains a fovea that is a small centrally located area of much higher ganglion cell density and visual acuity, that can be directed via eye movements to scan the environment and to fixate binocularly. In some ways the ontogenetic development of the brain seems also to reflect its phylogenetic history. For instance, at early gestational ages the brains of widely divergent species are virtually indistinguishable, as if they pass through developmental stages that reflect vestiges of their common ancestors.1 In this communication, a comparison is made between the prenatal development of the pulvinar nucleus in the rhesus monkey (Macaca mulatto) and the human in an attempt to provide insight into its phylogenetic development.
Active Disturbance Rejection Control in fully distributed Automatic Generation Control with co-simulation of communication delay

Abstract This paper compares Active Disturbance Rejection Control (ADRC), Proportional–Integral (PI) and ultra-local adaptive controller (also labeled intelligent-PID) when applied to Automatic Generation Control (AGC) for a multi-area power system with co-simulation of the communication system. The co-simulation platform PiccSIM integrates Simulink/Matlab and Network Simulator Ver. 2 (NS2) with real-time simulation data exchanged through Local Area Network (LAN). Instead of the traditional control center, automatic generation controller is embedded in each participating generation unit locally to avoid communication delay for the control signals. This new control scheme is referred to as fully distributed AGC. The performance of the proposed scheme is tested on a nonlinear model of New England (NE) 39-bus system with the co-simulated tie-line power flow communication delays. The simulation results present very promising performance and good robustness of ADRC in the presence of communication delays, suggesting that the stability of the overall cyber–physical system is enhanced significantly.
Evaluation of Swallow Function Post-Extubation: Is It Necessary to Wait 24 Hours?

Background:Post-extubation dysphagia is associated with an increased incidence of nosocomial pneumonias, longer hospitalizations, and higher re-intubation rates. The purpose of this study was to de...
Burden of Cardiovascular Risk Factors Over Time and Arterial Stiffness in Youth With Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus: The SEARCH for Diabetes in Youth Study.

Background The incidence of type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) in children is increasing, resulting in higher burden of cardiovascular diseases due to diabetes mellitus–related vascular dysfunction. M...
Predicting CRISPR/Cas9-Induced Mutations for Precise Genome Editing

SpCas9 creates blunt end cuts in the genome and generates random and unpredictable mutations through error-prone repair systems. However, a growing body of recent evidence points instead to Cas9-induced staggered end generation, nonrandomness of mutations, and the predictability of editing outcomes using machine learning models.
Timing and duration of hydrological transitions in Arctic polygonal ground from stable isotopes

Land surface models and Earth system models that include Arctic landscapes must capture the abrupt hydrological transitions that occur during the annual thaw and deepening of the active layer. In this work, stable water isotopes (δ²H and δ¹⁸O) are used to appraise hydrologically significant transitions during annual landscape thaw at the Barrow Environmental Observatory (Utqiaġvik, Alaska). These hydrologically significant periods are then linked to annual shifts in the landscape energy balance, deduced from meteorological data and described by the microclimatic periods: Winter, Pre‐Melt, Melt, Post‐Melt, Summer, and Freeze‐Up. The tight coupling of the microclimatic periods with the hydrological transitions supports the use of microclimatic periods as a means of linking polygonal surface water hydrology to meteorological datasets, which provides a mechanism for improving the representation of polygonal surface water hydrology in process‐based models. Rayleigh process reconstruction of the isotopic changes revealed that 19% of winter precipitation was lost to sublimation prior to melting and that 23% of surface water was lost to evaporation during the first 10 days post‐melt. This agrees with evaporation rates reported in a separate study using an eddy covariance flux tower located nearby. An additional 17% was lost to evaporation during the next 33 days. Stable water isotopes are also used to identify the dominant sources of surface water to various hydrogeomorphological features prevalent in polygonal terrain (a lake, a low centre polygon centre, troughs within the rims of low centre polygons, flat centre polygon troughs, a high centre polygon trough, and drainages). Hydrogeomorphologies that retained significant old water or acted as snow drifts are isotopically distinct during the Melt Period and therefore are easily distinguished. Biogeochemical changes related to the annual thaw are also reported and coupled to the hydrological transitions, which provides insight into the sources and sinks of these ions to and from the landscape.
HCI-Proof Ultra-Broadband Millimeter-Wave Amplifier for Automotive Radar

In this paper, a circuit configuration to solve the problem of hot carrier injection (HCI) in a millimeter-wave amplifier is proposed. It is necessary to drive the LO-terminal of a mixer with sufficient voltage swing, but as it is generally known, there is the problem of HCI in CMOS transistors. Applying voltage exceeding the HCI limit to a transistor will accelerate the degradation of the transistor. Therefore, we controlled the output power of the driver amplifier to adjust the voltage swing to an allowable range. Furthermore, by controlling the output power, a wide range of frequency flatness from 72 GHz to 88 GHz has been achieved. This circuit is fabricated in 40-nm CMOS.
A Formal Specification of Access Control in Android.

A formal specification of any access control system enables deeper understanding of that system and facilitates performing security analysis. In this paper, we provide a comprehensive formal specification of the Android mobile operating system’s access control system, a widely used mobile OS. Prior work is limited in scope, in addition recent developments in Android concerning dynamic runtime permissions require rethinking of its formalization. Our formal specification includes two parts, the User-Initiated Operations (UIOs) and Application-Initiated Operations (AIOs), which are segregated based on the entity that initiates those operation. Formalizing ACiA allowed us to discover many peculiar behaviors in Android’s access control system. In addition to that, we discovered two significant issues with permissions in Android which were reported to Google.
Abstract MP28: Egg Consumption is Positively Associated With Ischemic Stroke: The Million Veteran Program

Background: While observational data suggest a higher risk of coronary artery disease with frequent egg consumption, only limited and inconsistent data are available on the relation of egg consumpt...
Energy and Momentum of the Gravitational Field

In this article I review the standard two-surface integral formulation of gravitational energy and momentum and give a detailed discussion of their asymptotic gauge invariances. I state, summarize, and criticize the important attempts to prove the truth of the positive energy conjecture, ending with an assessment of the current status of this work. I point out some difficulties with the concept of angular momentum in general relativity and propose some partial solutions.
Energy justice gaps in renewable energy transition policy initiatives in Vermont

Abstract This study examines how renewable energy policies in Vermont address energy vulnerability and energy justice. Using an anti-resilience framework, and drawing on 569 surveys and 18 interviews statewide, our results demonstrate higher energy vulnerability—lack of access to sufficient and affordable energy—among respondents who are low-income, non-white, and renters. Low-income and renter respondents were over three times more likely, and non-white respondents were seven times more likely, to report going without heat. While Vermont is regarded as a renewable energy leader, its current policies do not equitably distribute household transition benefits (HTBs) to address vulnerability. Our results show that non-white respondents were seven times less likely than white respondents to report having solar panels and renters were three times less likely than homeowners to report having solar panels. Interviews also reveal HTBs are available mostly to high-income households. We argue that these disparities may result from structural discrimination and policies that distribute HTBs to households with disposable income and property rights. The unequal distribution of this ‘investment capital’ prevents widespread access for non-white, low-income, and renting households. Following an anti-resilience framework, we propose alternative policy frameworks that center justice within energy transition policy making.
Autoantibody Epitope Mapping By Hydrogen-Deuterium Exchange Mass Spectrometry at Nearly Single Amino Acid Residue Resolution Reveals Novel Exosites on ADAMTS13 Critical for Substrate Recognition and Mechanism of Autoimmune Thrombotic Thrombocytopenic Purpura

Acquired thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (TTP), a potentially fatal arterial thrombotic disorder, is primarily caused by autoantibodies that bind and inhibit plasma von Willebrand factor (VWF)-cleaving metalloprotease (ADAMTS13) activity. However, the mechanisms underlying autoantibody-mediated inhibition of ADAMTS13 activity and acquired TTP are not fully understood. By a hydrogen-deuterium exchange coupled with mass spectrometry (HX-MS) technique, we found that human monoclonal anti-ADAMTS13 antibodies, the single chain variable region fragments (scFvs)4-20, 4-16, and 3-1 that were, isolated by phage display from two patients with acquired TTP, predominantly bound to a discontinuous and conformational epitope in the spacer domain of ADAMTS13 with a subtle difference. The epitope for scFvs4-20 and 4-16 comprises five small flexible loops, including a previously described motif A (or exosite 3, R659-E664), motif B (exosite 4, L632-R639), and several other outlying residues (F592, Y658, and Y665), while scFv3-1 bound all other residues except for those in motif A. Site-directed mutagenesis and biochemical analysis demonstrated that both motifs A and B were found to be critical for recognition and proteolysis of VWF73 and multimeric VWF. Deletion of motif A or motif B in full-length ADAMTS13 abolished the binding of scFvs4-20 and 4-16 but not 3-1 (which did not bind motif A). Our findings demonstrate the powerful use of HX-MS for mapping antibody epitopes at nearly single amino acid resolution. This provides a new way to reveal mechanisms of autoantibody-mediated inhibition of plasma ADAMTS13 activity and acquired TTP. ![Figure 1][1] Figure 1 Disclosures No relevant conflicts of interest to declare. [1]: pending:yes
3D culture assays of murine mammary branching morphogenesis and epithelial invasion

Epithelia are fundamental tissues that line cavities, glands, and outer body surfaces. We use three-dimensional (3D) embedded culture of primary murine mammary epithelial ducts, called "organoids," to recapitulate in days in culture epithelial programs that occur over weeks deep within the body. Modulating the composition of the extracellular matrix (ECM) allows us to model cell- and tissue-level behaviors observed in normal development, such as branching morphogenesis, and in cancer, such as invasion and dissemination. Here, we describe a collection of protocols for 3D culture of mammary organoids in different ECMs and for immunofluorescence staining of 3D culture samples and mammary gland tissue sections. We illustrate expected phenotypic outcomes of each assay and provide troubleshooting tips for commonly encountered technical problems.
Biological Activity of Recently Discovered Halogenated Marine Natural Products

This review presents the biological activity—antibacterial, antifungal, anti-parasitic, antiviral, antitumor, antiinflammatory, antioxidant, and enzymatic activity—of halogenated marine natural products discovered in the past five years. Newly discovered examples that do not report biological activity are not included.
Left-Handed Materials

Rapidly increasing interest in the left-handed materials (LHM) started after Pendry et al. predicted that certain man-made composite structure could possess, in a given frequency interval, a negative effective magnetic permeability µ eff [1]. Combination of such a structure with negative effective permittivity medium — for instance the regular array of thin metallic wires [2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7] — enabled the construction of meta-materials with both effective permittivity and permittivity negative. This was confirmed by experiments [8, 9].
Consumer Credit: Learning Your Customer's Default Risk from What (S)He Buys

Using a novel panel data set covering half a million customers of a large Mexican retail chain I study determinants of consumer credit default. I document that information about which products a customer buys provides substantial information about potential default losses on a given loan. Differences in default losses across product categories are robust to controlling for characteristics of the loan contract, demographics and more standard measures of credit risk and do not diminish substantially with how long the borrower has been a customer. The differential loss rates across product categories are driven mainly by which types of individuals buy particular products, as opposed to being product-specific features. High loss products tend to be luxuries and tend to be purchased by individuals who consume abnormally large fractions of luxuries given their income. I discuss how differences across consumers in their desire for indulgence or their degree of self-control may explain why loans to people who consume more luxuries incur higher loss rates. I propose that providers of consumer credit could benefit from adjusting credit terms (down-payment requirements, interest rates, or credit limits) as a function of product mix purchased to date, and thus that product mix should be an important component of credit scoring.
Wireless Networks: Technological Challenges and Policy Implications

Since June 2012, mobile wireless has emerged as the largest and fast growing medium for broadband service. At the same time, mobile wireless networks have proven considerably more difficult to manage than wireline networks. The primary causes are the rapid growth in demand for wireless bandwidth and the greater susceptibility of wireless networks to poor quality of service because of the omnidirectional propagation of wireless signals, bad handoffs, local congestion, and the susceptibility to complex interference patterns caused by multipath propagation. Moreover, the central inference underlying the primary form of congestion management is not valid for wireless networks. As a result, wireless networks adopt different approaches to error correction and congestion management than do wireline networks, which results in significantly heavier network management in ways that violate the Internet’s commitment to the absence of per-flow state and its supposed adherence to the absence of prioritization.In addition, mobile networks put significant pressure on the routing architecture by requiring the use of Internet gateways for 3G networks, accelerating the pace with which the routing architecture changes, fragmenting the compactness of the address space, and relying on a mobile IP solution that depends on a home agent to serve as a proxy in the core of the network. Proposed solutions, such as the identity/locator split, represent significant deviations from the universal address architecture around which the current architecture is designed. These considerations support the Federal Communications Commission’s decision to subject wireless broadband to a less restrictive version of its rule against unreasonable discrimination in its Open Internet Order.
Up-regulation of P-glycoprotein reduces intracellular accumulation of beta amyloid: investigation of P-glycoprotein as a novel therapeutic target for Alzheimer's disease.

Objectives Several studies have suggested the efflux transporter P-glycoprotein (P-gp) to play a role in the etiology of Alzheimer's disease through the clearance of amyloid beta (Aβ) from the brain. In this study, we aimed to investigate the possibility of P-gp as a potential therapeutic target for Alzheimer's disease by examining the impact of P-gp up-regulation on the clearance of Aβ, a neuropathological hallmark of Alzheimer's disease.
Status and issues in international accreditation of computer science and engineering programs

Summary form only given. Thirty-nine professionals representing 19 countries attended an International Workshop on Computer Science and Engineering Accreditation in Salt Lake City, Utah, November 10-11 1996. Some of the findings and conclusions of the workshop are: program accreditation is recognized as an effective mechanism for assisting in quality assurance of academic programs, and enhancing the opportunities for international interchange; there is significant international interest in the expansion and coordination of accreditation of academic programs in computer science and engineering; there is a significant need to exchange information regarding all aspects of the accreditation process; and a "Salt Lake City Accord", for international mutual recognition of accreditation of computer science and engineering should be a long-term objective of all attending the workshop. Since the Workshop, a number of events appears to confirm those findings. The status of computer science and engineering accreditation world wide is reported and, in view of the developments, the ways and means to achieve the "Salt Lake City Accord" are discussed.
4. What Can We Know of What the Romans Knew

In What Did the Romans Know? (2012) Daryn Lehoux paints a complex portrait of Roman intellectual life. Ethical, political, and cultural traditions inform the conventions of scientific inquiry and fact-making. He at once presents a broad network of intellectual artifacts – he examines a plethora of texts, such as by Cicero, Lucretius, Ptolemy, and Galen – and he offers a deep analysis of how ancient history may inform the philosophy of science, and vice-versa. A common thread through the monograph consists in attempts by philosophers, ancient and modern, to propound realism in the face of skeptical challenges, to assert that scientific theories are true and that it is possible to know that they are true. Lehoux adopts a pragmatist theory of truth and justification, and he argues that Roman philosophers, mathematicians, and physicians were justified in asserting the truth of their scientific theories. In the following, I examine three components of Lehoux’s multi-faceted argument. First, I address his proof of the existence of the concept of natural law in the Roman period, well before the sixteenth century, its generally accepted terminus post quem. Lehoux divorces the terminology “law of nature” from what he takes to be the concept’s essential content, regularity in nature. Once the concept is free of its philological constraints, Lehoux argues that historians may justifiably take the account of planetary stations in Ptolemy’s Almagest, for instance, to function as a law of nature, even though the text does not label it a law as such. I attempt to bridge philology and content by analyzing Ptolemy’s accounts of law and reason in On the Kriterion and Hegemonikon and the Harmonics. I argue that an analogy comparing law and regularity in nature is consonant with Ptolemy’s epistemology and, therefore, despite the fact that Ptolemy does not use the phrase “law of nature,” the metaphor suits his philosophy of science. Second, I address in what way Ptolemy’s epistemology responds to the so-called “Skeptical challenge”, as Lehoux contends. Third, I examine Lehoux’s own response to the Skeptical challenge. Lehoux explores how the ancient historian may justify a realist rather than a relativist position, and I suggest that Lehoux’s historiography and philosophy of science are consistent only if we take his historiography, like his philosophy, to depend on a pragmatist theory of truth.
Food and Dietary Supplement Databases for What We Eat in America–NHANES

Relative strengths and potential approaches for improvement of food and dietary supplement databases used for tabulating intakes from the dietary component of the What We Eat in America-National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) are discussed. The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Nutrient Data Laboratory develops and maintains the Nutrient Databank System (NDBS) and many nutrient-specific and population-specific databases. NDBS contains data for ∼8000 foods and ∼115 components; tables for compounds of special interest are also available. Nutrient databases need constant revision because of a constantly changing food supply. The completeness of analytical data varies from nutrient to nutrient. The National Center for Health Statistics developed and maintains a database of dietary supplements based on label information. To date, no verification of ingredients has been undertaken. The development of a dietary supplement database containing analytical values would require extensive resources but would be valuable. Databases for vitamin and mineral supplements are compatible with food databases. Databases for botanicals and other supplements include nonnutrient constituents that may not be documented in food composition databases. Gaps in food and dietary supplement composition data exist because of limited resources, changing availability of foods and products and the advent of new compounds of health interest. More data are needed on nutrients and other bioactive constituents in foods and dietary supplements. Analytical methods do not exist for all ingredients or active constituents in foods and dietary supplements. Research needs for further development of meaningful food and dietary supplement databases are similar.
The Response of the Tropical Atmosphere to Low Frequency Thermal Forcing

The tropical response to a localized thermal forcing with approximately 45-day period is investigated for several models of increasing complexity consisting of two equivalent shallow water systems and two fully stratified systems. The fully stratified models appear to be able to reproduce a number of observed features of the tropical 40-50 day oscillation including the modulation of the subtropical jet and the eastward and poleward propagation of zonal wind anomalies.
Flow of a Viscoelastic Fluid Between Eccentric Rotating Cylinders

The flow of a viscoelastic fluid in the annular region between two infinite, eccentrically-mounted, rotating cylinders is analyzed. The flow is assumed to be sufficiently slow, so that the second-order Rivlin-Ericksen constitutive equation is applicable and so that inertial effects may be neglected. The resultant forces on the cylinders, as well as the distribution of their normal and tangential components, are calculated. No restrictions are placed on the ratio of the radii or on the distance between the cylinder axes.
Interactions of the NPXY microdomains of the low density lipoprotein receptor-related protein 1.

The LDL receptor-related protein 1 (LRP1) mediates internalization of a large number of proteins and protein-lipid complexes and is widely implicated in Alzheimer's disease. The cytoplasmic domain of LRP1 (LRP1-CT) can be phosphorylated by activated protein-tyrosine kinases at two NPXY motifs in LRP1-CT; Tyr 4507 is readily phosphorylated and must be phosphorylated before phosphorylation of Tyr 4473 occurs. Pull-down experiments from brain lysate revealed numerous proteins binding to LRP1-CT, but the results were highly variable. To separate which proteins bind to each NPXY motif and their phosphorylation dependence, each NPXY motif microdomain was prepared in both phosphorylated and non-phosphorylated forms and used to probe rodent brain extracts for binding proteins. Proteins that bound specifically to the microdomains were identified by LC-MS/MS, and confirmed by western blot. Recombinant proteins were then tested for binding to each NPXY motif. The NPXY4507 (membrane distal) was found to interact with a large number of proteins, many of which only bound the tyrosine-phosphorylated form. This microdomain also bound a significant number of other proteins in the unphosphorylated state. Many of the interactions were later confirmed to be direct with recombinant proteins. The NPXY4473 (membrane proximal) bound many fewer proteins and only to the phosphorylated form.
Reprint of: Analysis of radial flow reformer for fuel cell applications

Abstract In this paper, the performance of a radial flow reformer is analyzed. Fundamental principles of reaction engineering are utilized to design this reactor where methane is reformed to produce sufficient hydrogen to generate 20 W of power in a fuel cell. It is shown that the radial flow geometry leads to modest pressure drop. The reactor operates at a pressure of 150 kPa, a steam to methane ratio of 3 and an inlet temperature of 848 K and is able to generate sufficient hydrogen for 20 W of power. The heat duty required for the reformer is approximately 43% of the power generated.
Test of the transverse magneticity of the xi (2.23).

We propose the Jacob-Wick helicity-amplitude ratios x-bar = A/sub 1//A/sub 0/ and y-bar = A/sub 2//A/sub 0/ for psi/J..--> gamma..xi, xi..-->..K/sup +/K/sup -/, as a test of the transverse magneticity of the two gluon constituents of the xi(2.23) under the assumption that the latter state is in fact a spin-2 bound state of two constituent gluons. Here A/sub j/ is the amplitude for xi helicity j, j = 0,1,2. We therefore encourage experimentalists to measure these ratios.
Repeatability and Contingency in the Evolution of a Key Innovation in Phage Lambda

The processes responsible for the evolution of key innovations, whereby lineages acquire qualitatively new functions that expand their ecological opportunities, remain poorly understood. We examined how a virus, bacteriophage λ, evolved to infect its host, Escherichia coli, through a novel pathway. Natural selection promoted the fixation of mutations in the virus’s host-recognition protein, J, that improved fitness on the original receptor, LamB, and set the stage for other mutations that allowed infection through a new receptor, OmpF. These viral mutations arose after the host evolved reduced expression of LamB, whereas certain other host mutations prevented the phage from evolving the new function. This study shows the complex interplay between genomic processes and ecological conditions that favor the emergence of evolutionary innovations.
Radiation induced sterilization of polymeric materials for medical implants—I. Radiation-induced damage in irradiated polymethylmethacrylate

Abstract Polymeric materials in medical implants must tolerate the sterilization step. Irradiation is the preferred sterilization method, except for possible long-term degradation processes which may proceed after the implantation and endanger the reliable functioning of polymeric materials in medical devices. The scope and complexity of the long-term degradation problem are demonstrated, using irradiated polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) samples of various compositions. Further, the variance of damage routes and the consequent failure modes are discussed. The conclusional rationale is that forecasting of the radiation-induced in vivo long-term degradation is unrealistic. An alternative route to solve this problem is suggested, established on the total elimination of the long-term degradation processes.
Egestive feeding responses in Aplysia persist after sectioning of the cerebral–buccal connectives: evidence for multiple sites of control of motor programs

Ingestive and egestive behaviors in Aplysia are generated by motor neurons and interneurons chiefly located in the buccal ganglion, but cerebral ganglion neurons appear to contribute to both ingestive and egestive motor programs. We investigated if the cerebral ganglion input to the buccal ganglion is necessary for the generation of buccal ingestive and egestive behaviors in free-moving animals. We confirmed a prior study that showed that animals with lesions of the cerebro-buccal connectives (CBCs) do not exhibit rhythmic biting following seaweed stimulation of the lips, but do show swallowing of seaweed inserted into the buccal cavity. We found that CBC-lesioned animals also exhibited rejection of a tube inserted into the buccal cavity and esophagus. The programs for swallowing and rejection behaviors were similar to those observed before lesioning the CBCs, although the rate of swallowing was slower. These results suggest that the cerebral input to the buccal ganglion is necessary for generating biting responses, but is not required for producing swallowing or rejection responses.
Effects of the lipophilic anticancer drug teniposide (VM-26) on membrane transport

Abstract The epipodophyllotoxin glucopyranosides have previously been shown to interact with membrane lipids and to alter the activity of several lipid-embedded membrane proteins. To determine if these agents are acting as general membrane perturbants, we have further examined their effects on membrane processes in Ehrlich ascites tumor cells. [3H]VM-26 and [3H]VP-16 were taken up rapidly and concentrated within the cells in proportion to their lipophilicity. Neither agent was found to have any significant effect on the influx of l -[3H]leucine or α-[3H]aminoisobutyric acid. Likewise, these drugs had no significant effects on the hexose transporter. The nucleoside transporter, which is structurally and functionally similar to the hexose transporter, was dramatically affected, however. VM-26 was a non-competitive inhibitor of equilibrium-exchange influx of cytosine arabinoside in Ehrlich cells with a Ki of 15 μM. Equilibrium-exchange influx increased with temperature in control cells (Q10 = 2) but not in VM-26-treated cells; thus, VM-26 was a more potent inhibitor at higher temperatures. VM-26 also significantly reduced zero-trans influx in Ehrlich, P388, L5178Y, and ML-1 cells, and these effects were immediate in onset. VM-26 inhibited high-affinity binding of the nucleoside transport inhibitor nitrobenzylmercaptopurine riboside (NBMPR), but VM-26 enhanced non-specific NBMPR binding to Ehrlich cells. The apparent specificity of the epipodophyllotoxins for the nucleoside transporter is discussed.
Abstract 2129A: Clinical implications of infrequent BRAF mutation in advanced stage low-grade ovarian serous carcinomas

Serous carcinoma is the most common histologic subtype of epithelial ovarian cancer. Recent evidence strongly suggests that a 2-tier system stratifying serous carcinoma into low-grade and high-grade categories is biologically and clinically relevant. Low-grade ovarian serous carcinomas are believed to arise via an adenoma-borderline-carcinoma sequence. We analyzed 91 ovarian tumor samples for mutations in BRAF, KRAS, and TP53. No TP53 mutations were detected in serous borderline tumors (n = 30) or low-grade serous carcinomas (n = 43), but 73% of high-grade serous carcinomas (n = 18) carried a TP53 mutation. BRAF and KRAS mutations together were detected in 47% of serous borderline tumors, but among the low-grade serous carcinomas, only 2% had a BRAF mutation and 19% had a KRAS mutation. The low frequency of BRAF mutations in advanced stage low-grade serous carcinomas suggests that low-grade serous carcinomas are likely derived from serous borderline tumors without BRAF mutations. This hypothesis is further supported by the fact that 2 of the patients with serous borderline tumors without BRAF or KRAS mutations developed recurrent low-grade serous carcinoma 17 and 60 months after the initial diagnosis of a serous borderline tumor. Moreover, it is interesting that 4 of the 8 patients with either BRAF or KRAS mutations have had no evidence of disease after optimal debulking surgery and standard platinum-taxane-based chemotherapy, while patients without mutations are either diseased or alive with recurrent disease. Thus, mutational analysis of BRAF may have prognostic utility in that a finding of a BRAF mutation may suggest a low risk of recurrent low-grade serous carcinoma. Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 101st Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2010 Apr 17-21; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2010;70(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 2129A.
Spectral histogram using the minimization algorithm-theory and applications to flaw detection

In ultrasonic flaw detection in large grained materials, backscattered grain noise often masks the flaw signal. To enhance the flaw visibility, a frequency diverse statistical filtering technique known as split-spectrum processing has been developed. This technique splits the received wideband signal into an ensemble of narrowband signals exhibiting different signal-to-noise ratios (SNR). Using a minimization algorithm, SNR enhancement can be obtained at the output. The nonlinear properties of the frequency diverse statistic filter are characterized based on the spectral histogram, which is the statistical distribution of the spectral windows selected by the minimization algorithm. The theoretical analysis indicates that the spectral histogram is similar in nature to the Wiener filter transfer function. Therefore, the optimal filter frequency region can be determined adaptively based on the spectral histogram without prior knowledge of the signal and noise spectra. >