cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Acrylic coatings with surprising antifogging and frost-resisting properties

We report an unusually effective antifogging/frost-resisting coating based on conventional acrylic polymers. The intriguing antifogging property originated from the delicate balance between the hydrophilicity and hydrophobicity of the acrylic copolymers of 2-(dimethylamino)ethyl methacrylate and methyl methacrylate, as well as between the water-swellability of the copolymer and the cross-linked network due to ethylene glycol dimethacrylate.
Electrical Conduction in p-Type Titanium Sesquioxide

The Hall effect, thermoelectric power, and electrical conductivity have been measured as a function of temperature in crystals of $p$-type titanium sesquioxide. A transition is observed at about 450\ifmmode^\circ\else\textdegree\fi{}K. Below this temperature the crystals behave like semiconductors, while above it the conductivity is apparently metallic. The behavior below 450\ifmmode^\circ\else\textdegree\fi{}K is in line with antiferromagnetic ordering. The effective mass of the holes is found to be about $5{m}_{0}$ and the average Hall mobility 5 ${\mathrm{cm}}^{2}$/volt-sec at room temperature. It is claimed that these values, combined with the fact that the Hall effect is measurable, support the assumption of conduction in a narrow $3d$ band.
Palm Computer Demonstrates a Fast and Accurate Means of Burn Data Collection

Manual biomedical data collection and entry of the data into a personal computer is time-consuming and can be prone to errors. The purpose of this study was to compare data entry into a hand-held computer versus hand written data followed by entry of the data into a personal computer. A Palm (3Com Palm IIIx, Santa, Clara, Calif) computer with a custom menu-driven program was used for the entry and retrieval of burn-related variables. These variables were also used to create an identical sheet that was filled in by hand. Identical data were retrieved twice from 110 charts 48 hours apart and then used to create an Excel (Microsoft, Redmond, Wash) spreadsheet. One time data were recorded by the Palm entry method, and the other time the data were handwritten. The method of retrieval was alternated between the Palm system and handwritten system every 10 charts. The total time required to log data and to generate an Excel spreadsheet was recorded and used as a study endpoint. The total time for the Palm method of data collection and downloading to a personal computer was 23% faster than hand recording with the personal computer entry method (P < 0.05), and 58% fewer errors were generated with the Palm method.) The Palm is a faster and more accurate means of data collection than a handwritten technique.
Comparative immunochemical characteristics of botulinum neurotoxin type A and its associated proteins

Clostridium botulinum strains secrete their neurotoxins (BoNT) along with a group of neurotoxin-associated proteins (NAPs) that enhance the oral toxicity and provide protection to the neurotoxin against acidity, temperature and proteases in the G.I. tract. A major component of NAPs is Hn-33, a 33 kDa protein, which is also protease resistant and strongly protects BoNT. The complex form of BoNT/A is used as a commercial therapeutic formulation against many neuromuscular disorders and for cosmetic purposes. Immune response against this formulation could hinder its long-term use; therefore, it is important to characterize the immunological properties of the associated proteins. This study aims to understand the immunological reactivity of BoNT/A complex, BoNT, NAPs, and Hn-33 through a series of competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA). The results indicated that BoNT/A complex competed 6 times more with complex antibodies compared to the neurotoxin confirming that the higher immunogenicity of BoNT/A complex was indeed a result of the associated proteins with the neurotoxin complex. While the nearly identical immuno-reactivity of BoNT/A complex and Hn-33 with Hn-33 antibodies indicated that the reactivity was due to the higher immunogenicity not the abundance of Hn-33 in the complex. Both the ELISA and immuno-blot results implied that Hn-33 is primarily responsible for eliciting the antibody response in BoNT/A complex.
Electrochemical and optical studies of thick oxide layers on iridium and their electrocatalytic activities for the oxygen evolution reaction

Abstract Thick oxide layers can be grown on iridium in 0.5 M H 2 SO 4 by a potential multicyling treatment, mainly due to the highly irreversible reaction — the electroreduction of the lower hydroxide. The optical analysis of such layers was performed by combined ellipsometric and reflectometric measurements. The results of these measurements show that a hydroxide layer with n film =1.44–0.01 i and a thickness which may exceed 2000 A remains even at cathodic potentials on the Ir electrode, as a result of multicycling. Application of anodic potentials close to the OER region results in an increase of the extinction coefficient to a level typical for semiconductors ( n film =1.43–0.10 i at 1.50 V). This thick semiconducting phase oxide on Ir in the OER region seems to have a high level of bulk defects and a high surface concentration of active sites, the generation of both being related to the gradual variation of the oxidation state of the Ir ions in the oxide, prior to and simultaneously with the evolution of oxygen. The oxygen evolution rates on Ir between 1.50–1.60 V are shown to increase significantly in the presence of such thick oxide layers (as compared with electrodes not coverred by thick layers); a lower Tafel slope is also observed on these thick oxides.
Tracking influence through citation index comparisons and preliminary case studies panel position statement

We consider the influence of the New Security Paradigms Workshop by looking at the web citations to its papers in CiteSeer, and comparing those to another computer security workshop and a conference. We then go on to ask selected NSPW authors and NSPW 2001 attendees for their opinion of the influence of NSPW to date.
Analysis of gas chromatography—mass spectrometry data by reverse library search and the detection of substances not in the library

Abstract Computer least-squares methods are used to conduct an automatic reverse search of a library of complete mass spectra for the analysis of the output data matrix from a g.c.—m.s. system. The search is limited to those mass spectra falling within a narrow retention index window about the retention index corresponding to each scan in the datamatrix. The least-squares estimated parameters obtained are proportional to the concentrations of the substances present at each scan and are displayed graphically as the profiles of resolved overlapping g.c. peaks. The precision of the parameters is estimated. The root mean square Values of the residuals of the least-squares fits are used successfully to indicate the presence of substances not in the library. Examples are given of the results produced with data from this laboratory. Possible elaborations and improvements of this computer program are discussed.
Multicomponent absorption of anions in commercial anion-exchange membranes

Abstract The equilibrium uptake of aqueous NaCl–NaBr and NaCl–NaNO 3 mixtures into Neosepta ® AMX and Selemion ® AMV anion-exchange membranes was measured experimentally and modeled theoretically, where the total external salt concentration was fixed at 0.1 M. The model, which considered the membrane microstructure as an array of cylindrical pores of identical radius and included electrostatic interactions and ion hydration effects, accurately predicted anion uptake in the membranes. During competitive uptake, the anion with the larger hard-sphere radius was preferentially absorbed, with an observed and computed selectivity trend of NO 3 − > Br − > Cl − . By matching experimental data to the model, the average radius of pores in water-equilibrated membranes was found to be 3.3 nm (AMX) and 2.4 nm (AMV), indicating that an AMV membrane (1.98 mmol/g IEC) contains a greater number of smaller pores as compared to AMX (1.35 mmol/g IEC). The calculated pore-wall charge density in the two membranes was nearly the same. The NO 3 − /Cl − uptake selectivity was greater than that for Br − /Cl − in both membranes, but the selectivity for a given anion pair was effectively the same for the two membranes at a given external solution composition. This result was explained by model calculations which showed that anion uptake selectivity was essentially independent of pore radius (for pores in the 1.5–4.0 nm range) and a strong function of the fixed-charge site concentration on the pore wall.
Crystal Structure of the Cofactor-Binding Domain of the Human Phase II Drug-Metabolism Enzyme UDP-Glucuronosyltransferase 2B7

Human UDP-glucuronosyltransferases (UGT) are the dominant phase II conjugative drug metabolism enzymes that also play a central role in processing a range of endobiotic compounds. UGTs catalyze the covalent addition of glucuronic acid sugar moieties to a host of therapeutics and environmental toxins, as well as to a variety of endogenous steroids and other signaling molecules. We report the 1.8-A resolution apo crystal structure of the UDP-glucuronic acid binding domain of human UGT isoform 2B7 (UGT2B7), which catalyzes the conjugative elimination of opioid, antiviral, and anticancer drugs. This is the first crystal structure of any region of a mammalian UGT drug metabolism enzyme. Designated UGT2B7 mutants at residues predicted to interact with the UDP-glucuronic acid cofactor exhibited significantly impaired catalytic activity, with maximum effects observed for amino acids closest to the glucuronic acid sugar transferred to the acceptor molecule. Homology modeling of UGT2B7 with related plant flavonoid glucosyltransferases indicates human UGTs share a common catalytic mechanism. Point mutations at predicted catalytic residues in UGT2B7 abrogated activity, strongly suggesting human UGTs also utilize a serine hydrolase-like catalytic mechanism to facilitate glucuronic acid transfer.
Claiming the Past: History, Memory, and Innovation Following the Christmas Flood of 1717

AbstractThe Christmas Flood of 1717 affected much of the North Sea coastline between Denmark and the northern Netherlands and was one of the greatest disasters of the early modern era. This article...
Secure peer-to-peer trading in small- and large-scale multiplayer games

A fundamental aspect of many multiplayer online games is the ability to trade items between players. Trading may occur with items that were found in the virtual environment, included as pieces of the game, or purchased by the player as assets. Regardless of the types of items, any multiplayer game that supports trading or exchanging items in the game must do so in a secure manner. We have developed a protocol to solve the problem of secure peer-to-peer trading in games in which the primary concern is that items are exchanged fairly, and additionally that items are not duplicated. Our protocol enables one-way and two-way trades and can be extended to multi-item trades in both small- and large-scale games where trades last only for the duration of a session or are persistent. We show that our protocol addresses the security threats which it might encounter, and then provide an analysis to demonstrate its scalability.
Radial flexibility of welded-pad reinforced nozzles in ellipsoidal pressure vessel heads

Abstract A thin shell analysis was performed to investigate the radial flexibility of welded-pad reinforced nozzles in ellipsoidal pressure vessel heads. A comparison of the flexibility of such a nozzle to that of an integrally reinforced nozzle was made. The effect of size and thickness on flexibility was studied. A parametric study was performed for welded-pad reinforced nozzles in ASME 2:1 pressure vessel heads. Results are presented as flexibility factors which are functions of nondimensional nozzle-vessel geometries.
Volatile and non-volatile memories in silicon with nano-crystal storage

A single transistor memory structure, with changes in threshold voltage exceeding /spl ap/0.25 V corresponding to single electron storage in individual nano-crystals, operating in the sub-3 V range, and exhibiting long term to non-volatile charge storage is reported. As a consequence of Coulombic effects, operation at 77 K shows a saturation in threshold voltage in a range of gate voltages with steps in the threshold voltage corresponding to single and multiple electron storage. The plateauing of threshold shift, operation at ultra-low power, low voltages, and single element implementation utilizing current sensing makes this an alternative memory at speeds lower than those of DRAMs and higher than those of E/sup 2/PROMs, but with potential for significantly higher density, lower power, and faster read.
Masitinib Antagonizes ATP-Binding Cassette Subfamily C Member 10–Mediated Paclitaxel Resistance: A Preclinical Study

Paclitaxel displays clinical activity against a wide variety of solid tumors. However, resistance to paclitaxel significantly attenuates the response to chemotherapy. The ABC transporter subfamily C member 10 (ABCC10), also known as multidrug resistance protein 7 (MRP7) efflux transporter, is a major mediator of paclitaxel resistance. In this study, we show that masitinib, a small molecule stem-cell growth factor receptor (c-Kit) tyrosine kinase inhibitor, at nontoxic concentrations, significantly attenuates paclitaxel resistance in HEK293 cells transfected with ABCC10 . Our in vitro studies indicated that masitinib (2.5 μmol/L) enhanced the intracellular accumulation and decreased the efflux of paclitaxel by inhibiting the ABCC10 transport activity without altering the expression level of ABCC10 protein. Furthermore, masitinib, in combination with paclitaxel, significantly inhibited the growth of ABCC10-expressing tumors in nude athymic mice in vivo . Masitinib administration also resulted in a significant increase in the levels of paclitaxel in the plasma, tumors, and lungs compared with paclitaxel alone. In conclusion, the combination of paclitaxel and masitinib could serve as a novel and useful therapeutic strategy to reverse paclitaxel resistance mediated by ABCC10. Mol Cancer Ther; 13(3); 714–23. ©2014 AACR .
Exploring Materials Science with LEGO ® Brick Models

Various physical and chemical principles related to materials science and technology can be demonstrated with LEGO ® models. Three-dimensional models are excellent tools for grasping structure-function relationships. Additionally, many people are familiar with LEGO ® bricks, and most models can be built with a level of mechanical sophistication that does not intimidate or frustrate the user. LEGO ® bricks typically have many connection sites, allowing tremendous flexibility in the structures that can be built. The bricks can be used to model both the structures of materials and the techniques used to study them. Many models can be built with varying degrees of sophistication, even incorporating electronics, enabling the user to focus on relatively simple concepts or more subtle details. The variety of models available also enables LEGO ® bricks to fit into a variety of user budgets. This paper features models of the structures of materials, including unit cells, discrete molecules, and polymers. It also features models of analytical tools used to study materials, including models of a scanning probe microscope and a photometer. Details and building instructions of these and other models are featured in the book “Exploring the Nanoworld with LEGO ® Bricks”. This book may be downloaded from the Internet at: http://mrsec.wisc.edu/edetc/LEGO/index.html .
ANNUAL SUMMARY: Atlantic Hurricane Season of 2001

Abstract Activity during the 2001 hurricane season was similar to that of the 2000 season. Fifteen tropical storms developed, with nine becoming hurricanes and four major hurricanes. Two tropical depressions failed to become tropical storms. Similarities to the 2000 season include overall activity much above climatological levels and most of the cyclones occurring over the open Atlantic north of 25°N. The overall “lateness” of the season was notable, with 11 named storms, including all the hurricanes, forming after 1 September. There were no hurricane landfalls in the United States for the second year in a row. However, the season's tropical cyclones were responsible for 93 deaths, including 41 from Tropical Storm Allison in the United States, and 48 from Hurricanes Iris and Michelle in the Caribbean.
Applications of optical Boolean matrix operations to graph theory

The transition from optical numerical matrix algebra to optical Boolean matrix algebra is explored in detail. All important Boolean matrix algebra tasks can be performed optically. Quantitative measurement is replaced by a simple light-or-no-light decision, something optics can do well. The parallelism advantage of optics becomes greater as the matrix size increases. As an illustration of utility, we consider graph theory.
Hemodynamic study of serial double-filtration plasmapheresis.

Although hypotension is a potential complication for all procedures involving extracorporeal circulation, including plasmapheresis, the effects of serial double-filtration plasmapheresis (DFP) on hemodynamic status have rarely been reported. Blood pressure (BP) and pulse rate (PR) were prospectively monitored at 30-minute intervals (baseline, M30, M60, M90, and Ml20) during procedures for 20 myasthenia gravis patients who underwent one course of five consecutive DFP treatments on alternate days, with hemodynamic parameters recorded and analyzed for all sessions. To evaluate the hemodynamic influence of protein loss resulting from serial DFP treatment, additional analysis of serum protein levels including albumin and globulin was conducted before and after the entire course of treatment. Longitudinal analysis on the systolic BP (SBP) changes over five sessions revealed that the SBP at baseline and at M30 dropped significantly during the third and fourth sessions, in comparison to the first (P < 0.05). By contrast, SBP at M120 rose significantly (P < 0.05) after the second session of treatment. A similar trend was revealed for the diastolic BP (DBP) with a significant fall recorded at baseline and at M30 for the fourth session. The PR did not differ significantly during consecutive DFP treatments. Globulin removal rates were correlated significantly with falls in SBP (r2 = 0.250, P = 0.048) and DBP (r2 = 0.405, P = 0.008). However, analogous albumin removal rate was not correlated with these hemodynamic parameters. In conclusion, our results confirm that hypoproteinemia is an important factor for contributing to unstable hemodynamics during serial DFP. J. Clin. Apheresis 17:33–37, 2002. © 2002 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
Trends in fatal motor vehicle crashes before and after marijuana commercialization in Colorado.

BACKGROUND: Legal medical marijuana has been commercially available on a widespread basis in Colorado since mid-2009; however, there is a dearth of information about the impact of marijuana commercialization on impaired driving. This study examined if the proportions of drivers in a fatal motor vehicle crash who were marijuana-positive and alcohol-impaired, respectively, have changed in Colorado before and after mid-2009 and then compared changes in Colorado with 34 non-medical marijuana states (NMMS). METHODS: Thirty-six 6-month intervals (1994-2011) from the Fatality Analysis Reporting System were used to examine temporal changes in the proportions of drivers in a fatal motor vehicle crash who were alcohol-impaired (≥0.08g/dl) and marijuana-positive, respectively. The pre-commercial marijuana time period in Colorado was defined as 1994-June 2009 while July 2009-2011 represented the post-commercialization period. RESULTS: In Colorado, since mid-2009 when medical marijuana became commercially available and prevalent, the trend became positive in the proportion of drivers in a fatal motor vehicle crash who were marijuana-positive (change in trend, 2.16 (0.45), pCONCLUSIONS: Prevention efforts and policy changes in Colorado are needed to address this concerning trend in marijuana-positive drivers. In addition, education on the risks of marijuana-positive driving needs to be implemented. Language: en
Mutual coupling between cylindrical probe-fed dielectric resonator antennas

The mutual coupling between two cylindrical probe-fed dielectric resonator antennas was measured in both the E- and H-planes for varying separations. The resulting measurements were shown to verify existing theoretical predictions and indicate the applicability of these types of antennas for array applications.
A technique for modular design of self-checking carry-select adder

The carry-select adders provide significant speed improvement over other types of adders. This paper proposes a new approach for constructing self-checking carry-select adders set of faults online. Adders of arbitrary size can be constructed by simply cascading the appropriate number of 2-bit adders. A range of adders from 4 bit to 128 bits was designed using this approach employing a 0.5/spl mu/m CMOS technology. The area needed for implementing the self-checking adders is 16.07 % to 20.67% more than that required in adders without built-in self-checking capability.
Language identification in historical Afghan manuscripts

Automatic language identification is an important step prior to optical character recognition (OCR). In this paper we present a system to discriminate between Arabic and Persian in historical Afghan manuscripts. The classification is performed at a sub-sentence level. We propose a feature extraction algorithm for a sub-sentence based on Gabor filters followed by classification using a support vector machine (SVM). An overall precision of 96.72% and 94.90% is obtained for Persian and Arabic respectively.
Proton Conduction and Oxygen Reduction Kinetics in PEM Fuel Cell Cathodes: Effects of Ionomer-to-Carbon Ratio and Relative Humidity

The electrode in a proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell is composed of a carbon-supported Pt catalyst coated with a thin layer of ionomer. At the cathode, where the oxygen reduction reaction occurs, protons arrive at the catalyst sites through the thin ionomer layer. The resistance to this protonic conduction (R H+,each ) through the entire thickness of the electrode can cause significant voltage losses, especially under dry conditions. The R H +, eath in the cathode with various ionomer/carbon weight ratios (I/C ratios) was characterized in a H 2 /N 2 cell using ac impedance under various operating conditions. AC impedance data were analyzed by fitting R H+,eath , cathode capacitance (C eath ), and high frequency resistance to a simplified transmission-line model with the assumption that the proton resistance and the pseudocapacitance are distributed uniformly throughout the electrode. The proton conductivity in the given types of electrode starts to drop at I/C ratios of approximately <0.6/1 or an ionomer volume fraction of ~ 13% in the electrode. The comparison to H 2 /O 2 fuel cell performance shows that the ohmic loss in the electrode can be quantified by this technique. The cell voltage corrected for ohmic losses is independent of relative humidity (RH) and the electrode's I/C ratio, which indicates that electrode proton resistivity ρ H+cath (ratio of R H+,cath over cathode thickness) is indeed an intrinsic RH-dependent electrode property. The effect of RH on the ORR kinetics was further identified to be rather small for the range of RH studied (≥35% RH).
Fundamentals and waveform digitizer for non-uniformly sampled very fast burst-like signals

This is a paper describing theories and applications of digital spectrum analysis technique for nonuniformly sampled very fast burst like signals. The difficulty in sampling this kind of signals lies in the fact that the length of the signal is shorter than the affordable sampling time of current measuring instrumentation. The majority of the digital signal processing theories for nonuniformly sampled signals developed so far has always assumed random equivalent time sampling (or periodic nonuniform sampling) on signals with length much longer than the affordable sampling time [1–4, 10–14]. However, in practice, very fast burst-like signals occur in much scientific instrumentation [5] and new digital spectrum analysis technique for nonuniformly sampled signals of this class is in demand. In this paper, we first derive a digital spectral representation of a nonuniformly sampled very fast burst-like signal, and then present a detailed spectrum analysis of a nonuniformly sampled sinusoid cycle. It is found that DFT of a nonuniformly sampled very fast burst-like signal can be represented in terms of the DFT of sampled data sequence obtained by sampling the signal at uniform rate. The signal-to-noise ratio of the sampling results is discussed. We then introduced a practical high-speed waveform digitizer for very fast burst-like signal, and indicated the theory developed in this paper can be applied to analyze the errors caused by timing jitter. Specifically, we analyze waveform digitizers which utilize delay line techniques to extend their capabilities with the current monolithic A/D converter technology. Theoretical results are confirmed by the simulation results with a very fast burst-like signal.
Exploiting medium access diversity in rate adaptive wireless LANs

Recent years have seen the growing popularity of multi-rate wireless network devices (e.g., 802.11a cards) that can exploit variations in channel conditions and improve overall network throughput. Concurrently, rate adaptation schemes have been developed that selectively increase data transmissions on a link when it offers good channel quality. In this paper, we propose a Medium Access Diversity (MAD) scheme that leverages the benefits of rate adaptation schemes by aggressively exploiting multiuser diversity. The basic mechanism of MAD is to obtain instantaneous channel condition information from multiple receivers and selectively transmit data to a receiver that improves the overall throughput of the network, while maintaining temporal fairness among multiple data flows. We identify and address the challenges in the design and implementation of MAD's three phases: channel probing, data transmission, and receiver scheduling. We also use analytical models to examine the tradeoff between network performance improvement and overhead of channel probing, and derive an asymptotic performance bound for the receiver scheduling algorithms used by MAD. Results from the analysis and the extensive simulations demonstrate that, on average, MAD can improve the overall throughput of IEEE 802.11 wireless LANs by 50% as compared with the best existing rate adaptation scheme.
Bewertung von IT-Investitionen mit dem Realoptionsansatz

Zur Bewertung von IT-Investitionen findet der Realoptionsansatz in der wissenschaftlichen Literatur haufig Anwendung. Die Anwendung des Realoptionsansatzes beinhaltet oftmals eine monetare Bewertung von Realoptionen anhand von Optionsbewertungsverfahren, welche wiederum auf restriktiven Annahmen beruhen und dadurch Kritik ausgesetzt sind. Daher untersucht dieser Beitrag die Anwendung von Optionsbewertungsverfahren zur Bewertung von IT-Investitionen. Mittels einer strukturierten Literaturanalyse wird herausgearbeitet, welche Arten von IT-Investitionen als Grundlage fur die Optionsbewertung in der wissenschaftlichen Literatur dienen. Die so identifizierten Arten von IT-Investitionen werden anschliesend daraufhin untersucht, inwieweit deren Eigenschaften mit den teilweise sehr restriktiven Annahmen klassischer Optionsbewertungsverfahren kompatibel sind. Auf dieser Basis wird analysiert, ob und wie die identifizierten Beitrage die Annahmen der klassischen Optionsbewertung adressieren. Die Ergebnisse verdeutlichen, dass kritische Annahmen in der Modellierung oftmals nicht berucksichtigt werden, obwohl deren Nichterfullung diskutiert wird und damit bekannt ist. Die Erfullung der Annahmen hangt dabei auch von den Eigenschaften der bewerteten Art der IT-Investition ab. Ferner gibt es zahlreiche Erweiterungen klassischer Optionsbewertungsverfahren, durch deren Anwendung kritische Annahmen relaxiert werden konnen. Die in diesem Beitrag abgeleiteten Ergebnisse sollen Forschern aufzeigen, bei welcher Art von IT-Investition welche Annahmen der klassischen Optionsbewertung kritisch sein konnen und welche Moglichkeiten der Relaxierung dieser Annahmen existieren.
The Collection Budget Fund Structure: A Case Study Illustrating the Need for Collaboration Between Collection Development and Acquisitions

Collection Development and Acquisitions staff in a library have a responsibility to account for the sound and responsible expenditure of library budgets. They need to communicate their needs about the information required from the fund code structure in their Integrated Library System to perform their job duties and demonstrate sound fiscal management. When fund codes lose the granularity that provides information on the costs of different formats by subject discipline or academic department there is a subsequent loss in fiscal accountability and the ability to accurately project anticipated inflationary costs for formats in different disciplines. When the Acquisitions Unit at the Adelphi University Libraries streamlined the fund code structure the loss of granularity had a major impact on budget management and fiscal accountability for Collection Development. This unintended consequence points to the need for close collaboration and mutual understanding of needs between Collection Development and Acquisi...
Conformational Fine-Tuning of Pore-Forming Peptide Potency and Selectivity

To better understand the sequence-structure-function relationships that control the activity and selectivity of membrane-permeabilizing peptides, we screened a peptide library, based on the archetypal pore-former melittin, for loss-of-function variants. This was accomplished by assaying library members for failure to cause leakage of entrapped contents from synthetic lipid vesicles at a peptide-to-lipid ratio of 1:20, 10-fold higher than the concentration at which melittin efficiently permeabilizes the same vesicles. Surprisingly, about one-third of the library members are inactive under these conditions. In the negative peptides, two changes of hydrophobic residues to glycine were especially abundant. We show that loss-of-function activity can be completely recapitulated by a single-residue change of the leucine at position 16 to glycine. Unlike the potently cytolytic melittin, the loss-of-function peptides, including the single-site variant, are essentially inactive against phosphatidylcholine vesicles and multiple types of eukaryotic cells. Loss of function is shown to result from a shift in the binding-folding equilibrium away from the active, bound, α-helical state toward the inactive, unbound, random-coil state. Accordingly, the addition of anionic lipids to synthetic lipid vesicles restored binding, α-helical secondary structure, and potent activity of the "negative" peptides. While nontoxic to mammalian cells, the single-site variant has potent bactericidal activity, consistent with the anionic nature of bacterial membranes. The results show that conformational fine-tuning of helical pore-forming peptides is a powerful way to modulate their activity and selectivity.
Racial Attitudes Predicted Changes in Ostensibly Race‐Neutral Political Attitudes under the Obama Administration

Past research demonstrated that racial prejudice played a significant role in the 2008 presidential election, but relatively less is known about the relationship between prejudice and public opinion throughout the Obama administration. In the present research, we examined not only whether racial attitudes were associated with evaluations of Mr. Obama and his administration, but also whether they may have influenced the development of more general political attitudes during the early years of the Obama administration. We investigated this question using panel data from a nationally representative sample of Americans interviewed between September 2008 and July 2010. Racial attitudes measured prior to the election predicted early disapproval of President Obama's handling of important issues. Early disapproval of President Obama's performance, in turn, predicted later perceptions of whether the state of the nation was improving. Further, the divergence between high-prejudice and low-prejudice individuals in their perceptions of the state of the nation became greater over time, consistent with the idea that racial attitudes were more powerfully expressed in political judgments as time passed.
Differential gene expression in normal esophagus and Barrett’s esophagus

AACR Annual Meeting-- Apr 12-16, 2008; San Diego, CA 3137 As the premalignant lesion of esophageal adenocarcinoma (EAC), Barrett’s esophagus (BE) is characterized by intestinal metaplasia in the normal esophagus (NE). In order to explore potential molecular mechanism of human BE, we analyzed three microarray datasets (two cDNA arrays and one oligo array) and one SAGE dataset with bioinformatics tools. SAM and SAGE(Poisson) were used to identify differentially expressed individual genes. GSEA was used to identify a priori defined sets of genes differentially expressed. These gene sets are either grouped according to certain signaling pathway (GSEA curated), or the presence of consensus binding sequences of known transcription factors (GSEA motif). Both SAM and SAGE(Poisson) identified 68 differentially expressed genes (55 BE genes and 13 NE genes) with a cutoff ratio (>4 fold). With immunohistochemical staining (IHC) on pairs of NE and BE tissues from 6 patients, these genes were grouped into 4 categories: Category I (25 genes only expressed in BE), Category II (5 genes only expressed in NE), Category III (11 genes expressed more in BE than in NE), and Category IV (2 genes expressed more in NE than in BE). Differential expression of the remaining genes was not confirmed by IHC either due to false pickup by microarray and SAGE, or lack of proper antibodies. Further analysis of the genes of Category I and Category II showed that, (1) these genes perfectly clustered NE from BE samples separately; (2) expression patterns of these genes in BE were similar to those in stomach, small intestine, colon and lung, suggesting that BE may be a multi-directional differentiation type of epithelium; (3) 14 genes of Category I and 8 of Category III were down-regulated in EAC, suggesting that dedifferentiation took place during carcinogenesis. TGFβ pathway and several transcription factors (Cdx2, HNF1, HNF4) were activated in BE as determined by GSEA motif analysis. Consistent with ectopic expression of Cdx2 in BE, with IHC 12 known Cdx2 target genes were also found to be expressed only in BE, and 10 known Cdx2 target genes were expressed more in BE than in NE. Four genes (Fabp1, Heph, Lyz, Tff3) belong to Category I and 2 genes (Agr2, Cdh17) Category III. Our data strongly support an important role of Cdx2 in the development of BE.
Two-stage phase change phenomenon of water on covered hierarchical structures

Surface with hierarchical structures to enhance heat transfer performance has been investigated for decades. Here we present a unique two-stage vaporization phenomenon observed when the heated surface is covered to confine the thickness of liquid film. This multi-stage vaporization will be critical for optimization applications in thermal management. The hierarchical surface is prepared using: a) isotropic etching to form micro-pillars, and b) wet-chemical etching to produce silicon nanowires (SiNWs) on sidewalls of micro-pillars. Oxygen plasma was applied to modify their surface wettability from superhydrophobic to superhydrophilic. A glass slide was placed right on top of the structures, covering about half of the heated surface, and mechanically clamped by a stainless-steel block. Therefore, the liquid film is about the same height as the micro-pillars. The hierarchical surface was wetted with deionized water before being heated. There are two clear and separate stages that were observed under an high-speed camera: i) thinning while liquid is vaporizing, and ii) mixture of vaporizing and condensation until total dry-out happens. The detailed dynamics of this two-stage vaporization were explored and reported in this study.© 2013 ASME
Stakeholder Management: A Universal Strategic Health Services Management Approach to Unlock a Profitable Return on Investment

There have been sustained global policy and fiscal pressures for businesses, including health care services to demonstrate unique customer-oriented entrepreneurship capabilities in terms of marketing and innovativeness, influenced by the recent global financial crisis, leading to business closures, budgetary shortfalls, and constant operational challenges for survival. For several health care managers, this entails effectively managing the increasing influence of active and powerful stakeholders to achieve a competitive advantage in terms of productive and allocative efficiency over customer-driven results and innovativeness. A focus on value addition by itself is a precursor of effective stakeholder management, clinician leadership model, and a decentralized activity based management, which integrates customer values from basic and expected services to desired and unexpected services as well as combining product quality and high quality customer services needed to usher a competitive advantage to organizations through cost leadership or product differentiation. However, a stakeholder management tool that is universally applicable across all health care business entities is still work in progress. This paper debated upon relevant previous literature on stakeholder management as a central feature for customerdriven business practices, for implementation in form of a universal stakeholder management tool, in order to advance sound entrepreneurship capabilities that support dynamic high quality customer care-driven health care and innovation.
Nanometer Scale Structures Resulting from Graphite Oxidation

Scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) and spectroscopy (STS) were used to characterize highly oriented pyrolytic graphite (HOPG) which was oxidized by two different methods, furnace heating in atmosphere and immersion in oxygen plasma. The character of the surfaces was found to be dissimilar on a micron scale but comparable on a nanometer scale, at which both appear to be comprised of sharp step edges. Variations in local electronic structure near a step edge were compared.
Effect of low sodium diet on sodium content and radiosodium exchange in rat bone.

SummaryYoung rats, reared on a low Na diet, manifested growth failure, and their bones contained 8-10% (depending on method of calculation) less Na than pair fed controls. Radiosodium exchangeability declined by a similar amount, and it is concluded that the change in Na content involved the exchangeable fraction.
Prognostic Factors in Malignant Melanoma

The clinical spectrum and biologic behavior of melanoma are heterogeneous. Several clinical factors may include sex, location, and age. Histologic prognostic factors may include tumor type, tumor thickness, and mitotic index in relationship to the primary tumor. With respect to metastatic melanoma, the prognostic factors may include lymph node status, number of lymph nodes, and extracapsular extension. Cytogenetic and molecular determinants of progression of melanoma may aid the current prognostic factors when they are established more firmly. Current surgical treatment is determined by the clinical and histologic factors.
Composite electron propagator methods for calculating ionization energies.

Accurate ionization energies of molecules may be determined efficiently with composite electron-propagator (CEP) techniques. These methods estimate the results of a calculation with an advanced correlation method and a large basis set by performing a series of more tractable calculations in which large basis sets are used with simpler approximations and small basis sets are paired with more demanding correlation techniques. The performance of several CEP methods, in which diagonal, second-order electron propagator results with large basis sets are combined with higher-order results obtained with smaller basis sets, has been tested for the ionization energies of closed-shell molecules from the G2 set. Useful compromises of accuracy and computational efficiency employ complete-basis-set extrapolation for second-order results and small basis sets in third-order, partial third-order, renormalized partial-third order, or outer valence Green’s function calculations. Analysis of results for vertical as well as adiabatic ionization energies leads to specific recommendations on the best use of regular and composite methods. Results for 22 organic molecules of interest in the design of photovoltaic devices, benzo[a]pyrene, Mg-octaethylporphyrin, and C60 illustrate the capabilities of CEP methods for calculations on large molecules.
On sentient automata theory

A unifying metaphysical theme underlying various forms of cognitive theorising is the conception of human agents as sentient automata. Persons are conceived of as complex mechanisms (or sets of inter-related mechanisms) each of which has some deterministic function pertaining to any form of human conduct. Neurophysiological events and processes (albeit under ‘mentalistic’ descriptions) are theoretically invokable in accounting not only for involuntary bodily movements but for the entire gamut of activities involving the human agent. The study of human beings under the auspices of such a conception may be termed sentient automata theory construction.
Temperature Dependence of the Magnesium-Oxalate Stability Constant

Biological systems (for example, poikilotherms and plants) and in vitro experiments involve crystallization of calcium oxalate over a wide temperature range. Since magnesium is a well-known complexor of oxalate, knowledge of temperature dependence of stability constants for magnesium-oxalate complex species is of great interest and is required to calculate ion activities at different temperatures.
Laparoscopic staging for apparent stage I epithelial ovarian cancer.

Background Whereas advances in minimally invasive surgery have made laparoscopic staging technically feasible in stage I epithelial ovarian cancer, the practice remains controversial because of an absence of randomized trials and lack of high-quality observational studies demonstrating equivalent outcomes. Objective This study seeks to evaluate the association of laparoscopic staging with survival among women with clinical stage I epithelial ovarian cancer. Study Design We used the National Cancer Data Base to identify all women who underwent surgical staging for clinical stage I epithelial ovarian cancer diagnosed from 2010 through 2012. The exposure of interest was planned surgical approach (laparoscopy vs laparotomy), and the primary outcome was overall survival. The primary analysis was based on an intention to treat: all women whose procedures were initiated laparoscopically were categorized as having had a planned laparoscopic procedure, regardless of subsequent conversion to laparotomy. We used propensity methods to match patients who underwent planned laparoscopic staging with similar patients who underwent planned laparotomy based on observed characteristics. We compared survival among the matched cohorts using the Kaplan-Meier method and Cox regression. We compared the extent of lymphadenectomy using the Wilcoxon rank-sum test. Results Among 4798 eligible patients, 1112 (23.2%) underwent procedures that were initiated laparoscopically, of which 190 (17%) were converted to laparotomy. Women who underwent planned laparoscopy were more frequently white, privately insured, from wealthier ZIP codes, received care in community cancer centers, and had smaller tumors that were more frequently of serous and less often of mucinous histology than those who underwent staging via planned laparotomy. After propensity score matching, time to death did not differ between patients undergoing planned laparoscopic vs open staging (hazard ratio, 0.77, 95% confidence interval, 0.54–1.09; P = .13). Planned laparoscopic staging was associated with a slightly higher median lymph node count (14 vs 12, P = .005). Planned laparoscopic staging was not associated with time to death after adjustment for receipt of adjuvant chemotherapy, histological type and grade, and pathological stage (hazard ratio, 0.82, 95% confidence interval, 0.57–1.16). Conclusion Surgical staging via planned laparoscopy vs laparotomy was not associated with worse survival in women with apparent stage I epithelial ovarian cancer.
Aquinas and the Problem of No Best World

Thomas Aquinas is often mentioned in the debate regarding whether God must create a best possible world. Contemporary philosophers usually place Aquinas alongside philosophers who also believe that there can be no best possible world. However, contemporary philosophers have been inconsistent in their understanding of Aquinas’ position. Some have placed him in the same category as Gottfried Leibniz, agreeing that God must create one best possible world.
Congestion Control using Pacing in a Packet Radio Network

Protocol design is a critical factor in achieving throughput and reliability goals in a packet radio network. Here we examine the details of a hop transport protocol algorithm, called "pacing", which operates in a CSMA packet radio network. The pacing algorithm provides adaptive flow control in order to accommodate changing traffic flow patterns and rates. In addition, pacing seeks to time packet transmissions to ameliorate the classical "hidden terminal" problem encountered in multi-hop CSMA networks. We found that the pacing algorithm considerably improves throughput and packet delivery reliability, compared to an earlier algorithm using a fixed-parameter flow control mechanism.
Phase-Field Crystal Modeling of Material Behavior

The phase-field crystal, PFC, method introduced by Elder and coworkers [1–3], can be viewed as multiscale simulation algorithm that bridges the classical molecular dynamics, MD, simulations and the phase-field methods covered in the previous chapters. PFC method introduces an order parameter defined as the local-time-averaged atomic number density which is able to produce periodicity of crystal lattices. In the model, any perturbation or lattice defects result in an increase in the free energy, thus enabling to obtain the information which has been only possible by the atomistic simulations previously. In addition, PFC method produces various atomistic events in much larger spatial and temporal dimensions that are not easily accessible with current MD simulation techniques. Therefore, PFC method has emerged as an attractive simulation approach.
Efficient Verification Against Undesired Operating Points for MOS Analog Circuits

Identifying and removing undesired operating points is one of the most important problems in analog circuit design. In this paper, a divide and contraction verification method against undesired operating points in analog circuits is proposed. Unlike traditional methods to find all operating points, this method only targets searching voltage intervals containing undesired operating points. To achieve this, a systematic approach for automatically identifying all positive and negative feedback loops in circuits is introduced. A positive feedback loop breaking method and selection of breaking nodes are discussed to determine whether a monotonic return function can be obtained. Depending on the monotonicity of the return function, two types of divide and contraction algorithms are proposed to efficiently search voltage intervals containing operating points. Simulation results show that this method is effective and efficient in identifying the presence/absence of undesired operating points in a set of commonly used benchmark circuits.