cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Ferricytochrome c protects mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase against hydrogen peroxide-induced oxidative damage.

Abstract An excess of ferricytochrome c protects purified mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase and bound cardiolipin from hydrogen peroxide-induced oxidative modification. All of the peroxide-induced changes within cytochrome c oxidase, such as oxidation of Trp 19,IV and Trp 48,VIIc , partial dissociation of subunits VIa and VIIa, and generation of cardiolipin hydroperoxide, no longer take place in the presence of ferricytochrome c. Furthermore, ferricytochrome c suppresses the yield of H 2 O 2 -induced free radical detectable by electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy within cytochrome c oxidase. These protective effects are based on two mechanisms. The first involves the peroxidase/catalase-like activity of ferricytochrome c, which results in the decomposition of H 2 O 2 , with the apparent bimolecular rate constant of 5.1 ± 1.0 M − 1 s − 1 . Although this value is lower than the rate constant of a specialized peroxidase, the activity is sufficient to eliminate H 2 O 2 -induced damage to cytochrome c oxidase in the presence of an excess of ferricytochrome c. The second mechanism involves ferricytochrome c -induced quenching of free radicals generated within cytochrome c oxidase. These results suggest that ferricytochrome c may have an important role in protection of cytochrome c oxidase and consequently the mitochondrion against oxidative damage.
Why do grouse have ceca? A test of the fiber digestion theory.

Cette etude tente de verifier deux predictions theoriques concernant la fonction principale du caecum du tetras, suppose fournir un environnement convenable a la fermentation des fibres de plantes. Pour cela, on a mesure la digestibilite de fibres de detergent neutre, contenu dans les aiguilles de coniferes, par tetras bleu sauvage
Modeling transient permeation of binary mixtures through zeolite membranes

Transient permeation of binary mixtures through zeolite membranes was modeled by Maxwell−Stefan diffusion and extended Langmuir adsorption. The permeate response of the faster-diffusing component o...
Algorithms for characterizing brain metabolites in two-dimensional in vivo MR correlation spectroscopy

Traditional analyses of in vivo 1D MR spectroscopy of brain metabolites have been limited to the inspection of one-dimensional free induction decay (FID) signals from which only a limited number of metabolites are clearly observable. In this article we introduce a novel set of algorithms to process and characterize two-dimensional in vivo MR correlation spectroscopy (2D COSY) signals. 2D COSY data was collected from phantom solutions of topical metabolites found in the brain, namely glutamine, glutamate, and creatine. A statistical peak-detection and object segmentation algorithm is adapted for 2D COSY signals and applied to phantom solutions containing varied concentrations of glutamine and glutamate. Additionally, quantitative features are derived from peak and object structures, and we show that these measures are correlated with known phantom metabolite concentrations. These results are encouraging for future studies focusing on neurological disorders that induce subtle changes in brain metabolite concentrations and for which accurate quantitation is important.
DIRECT ABSORPTION SPECTROSCOPY OF WATER CLUSTERS

Fourier Transform infrared spectrometry has been used to study the vibrational spectroscopy of water clusters prepared in a supersonic expansion. The clusters are assigned as being composed of 10−100 waters based on consideration of the free OH and bound OH vibrations and the experimental conditions used. Four vibrational features were observed simultaneously including the bend, free OH stretch, bound OH stretch, and an unresolved group of intermolecular vibrations. No absorption features were observed between 4000 and 8000 cm-1. This is the first observation of the bending vibration for any size gas-phase water cluster.
Lesbian Immunity from HIV/AIDS: Fact or Fiction?

ABSTRACT The number of HIV positive lesbians is on the rise. Yet, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has no statistical category by which to classify female-to-female transmitted AIDS cases. Women who have sex with women have been dismissed as a “low risk” group without the benefit of empirical data. This study used data collected from subscribers of an international lesbian magazine (n = 248) to examine how beliefs held by lesbians may be influencing their risk for contracting HIV. Using the Health Belief Model, it was anticipated that perceived personal risk, knowledge regarding HIV transmission mechanisms, knowing a lesbian with HIV, or having been diagnosed HIV positive would increase the use of safer sex practices. Regression analysis found perceived personal risk, knowing a lesbian with HIV, and educational level significant predictors of barrier use.
Broad band acousto-optic deflector for holographic memories

Abstract A practical inexpensive mechanism for effecting improved Rayleigh resolution in a random access deflector without sacrificing its performance has been constructed. It comprises an acousto-optic deflector in the form of a flat transducer grating, made from a single piezoelectric platelet. The deflector steers the acoustic column to track the Bragg angle as the acoustic frequency changes.
Optimal-Sized Tuition Tax Credits Reconsidered: Comment

In a recent article, Martinello and West (1988) argued that a tuition tax credit, while costing the federal government lost revenue, would provide substantial net governmental savings when all levels of government are considered This article demonstrates that their conclusion is highly contingent on the assumption of an infinitely elastic supply of private education. In a more general analysis that allows both demand and supply elasticities to vary, it is demonstrated that a tuition tax credit in most plausible cases results in far smaller savings or even net costs to all levels of government. This analysis further shows that if the government objective really were to maximize net governmental savings on education, then a private enrollment tax, not credit, might be the way to accomplish the goal. Again, conclusions are contingent on demand and supply elasticities.
Lower urinary tract function in ambulatory children with spina bifida

Objective To investigate lower urinary tract function in ambulatory children with myelomeningocele. Patients and methods The urological course of 45 children with myelomeningocele who walked either independently (19 children) or with ankle-foot orthotics (26 children) was reviewed. Follow-up ranged from 9 months to 13.5 years (mean 4.75 years). Results A normal pattern of voiding was observed both clinically and during urodynamic evaluation in only three of the 45 children, with the remainder displaying neurogenic lower urinary tract dysfunction. The independent walkers and those with orthotics did not differ in the spectrum of lower urinary tract dysfunction or other variables. Those patients with persistent incontinence underwent an initial urodynamic evaluation when older (mean 3.7 years versus 6.4 weeks in those who were continent). Conclusion Ambulatory children with myelomeningocele suffer the full spectrum of lower urinary tract dysfunction. Given the potential danger of untreated lower urinary tract dysfunction, ambulatory children with myelomeningocele should receive the same diagnostic and therapeutic attention as their peers with more overt neurological deficits.
Scattering treatment of the quasiparticle effective mass

Abstract We obtain the quasiparticle effective mass at the Fermi surface of the three-dimensional electron gas by enforcing the Friedel sum rule on the effective potential coming from the Sjolander-Stott theory. Our results indicate that the effective mass is a monotonically decreasing function of r s throughout the whole metallic range, and are in a reasonable agreement with the most recent numerical data. This approach does not explicitly use the Fermi Liquid character of the electron gas.
A hitherto undocumented variation of the inferior mesenteric artery in man.

The variation appeared in a cadaver, male, Negro, 71 years old. Estimated stature and weight: 6′1″ and 180 lbs. Stated cause of death: Bronchopneumonia. In place of a single inferior mesenteric trunk, two arteies orginated from the aorta 2.6 cm apart, the inferior one located 3 cm superior to the bifurcation of the aorta. The superior artry was directed superiorly and gave origin to two branches: one to the superior portion of the descending colon and another which supplied the entirety of the transverse colon. The inferior artery also gave rise to two branches: one to the inferior portion of the descending colon and the other to the sigmoid colon and rectum. The superior mesenteric artery gave rise to one major trunk to the colon, which divided into ileocolic and right colic branches only. The marginal artery of the colon was well developed and patent throughout its length. Search of the literature, to date, has revealed no description of this variation. Two references to a variation in which the inferior mesenteric artery gave rise to a branch corresponding to the middle colic artery have been found. There is a paucity of literature regarding variations of the inferior mesenteric artery. Consequently it is uncertain whether this is due to lack of observation, small amount of variation, or both.
The Longhorn Array Database (LAD): an open-source, MIAME compliant implementation of the Stanford Microarray Database (SMD).

The power of microarray analysis can be realized only if data is systematically archived and linked to biological annotations as well as analysis algorithms.
Protamine Sulfate Induced Bladder Injury Protects from Distention Induced Bladder Pain

Purpose: Bladder pain is a debilitating symptom of many urological conditions. There is no generally effective treatment. Abnormal urothelial turnover is common to multiple disease states but the specific components of urothelial injury and the resulting molecular signals that lead to bladder pain are unknown. We examined mouse models of bladder injury induced by uropathogenic Escherichia coli, protamine sulfate (Sigma®) and bacterial lipopolysaccharide to identify cellular and molecular correlates underlying pain sensitization in response to the stimuli.Materials and Methods: C57BL/6 female mice (Jackson Laboratory, Bar Harbor, Maine) were given intravesicular protamine sulfate, lipopolysaccharide or uropathogenic E. coli. The impact of each on nociception was determined by measuring the evoked visceromotor response to bladder distention 24 hours after inoculation. Levels of pyuria and tissue inflammation were examined by urinary cytology and tissue histology. Quantitative polymerase chain reaction and g...
Application of a biodegradable macromolecular contrast agent in dynamic contrast‐enhanced MRI for assessing the efficacy of indocyanine green‐enhanced photothermal cancer therapy

Purpose To investigate the effectiveness of a polydisulfide-based biodegradable macromolecular contrast agent, (Gd-DTPA)-cystamine copolymers (GDCC), in assessing the efficacy of indocyanine green enhanced photothermal cancer therapy using dynamic contrast enhanced MRI (DCE-MRI).
Development of Intelligent Transportation System Data Management

The intelligent transportation system (ITS) components deployed in U.S. urban areas produce vast amounts of data. These ITS data often are used for real-time operations and then are discarded. Few transportation management centers have any mechanism for sharing the data resources among other transportation groups or agencies within the same jurisdiction. Meanwhile, transportation analysts and researchers often struggle to obtain accurate, reliable data about existing transportation performance and patterns. The development of an ITS data management system (referred to as ITS DataLink) that is used to store, access, analyze, and present data from the TransGuide center in San Antonio, Texas, is presented. Data outputs are both tabular and graphical. No user costs are associated with the system except for an Internet connection.
Strongly coupled grand unification in higher dimensions

We consider the scenario where all the couplings in the theory are strong at the cutoff scale, in the context of higher dimensional grand unified field theories where the unified gauge symmetry is broken by an orbifold compactification. In this scenario, the non-calculable correction to gauge unification from unknown ultraviolet physics is naturally suppressed by the large volume of the extra dimension, and the threshold correction is dominated by a calculable contribution from Kaluza-Klein towers that gives the values for ${\mathrm{sin}}^{2}{\ensuremath{\theta}}_{w}$ and ${\ensuremath{\alpha}}_{s}$ in good agreement with low-energy data. The threshold correction is reliably estimated despite the fact that the theory is strongly coupled at the cutoff scale. A realistic 5D supersymmetric $\mathrm{SU}(5)$ model is presented as an example, where rapid $d=6$ proton decay is avoided by putting the first generation matter in the 5D bulk.
Reoptimization Approaches for the Vehicle-Routing Problem with Stochastic Demands

We consider the vehicle-routing problem with stochastic demands (VRPSD) under reoptimization. We develop and analyze a finite-horizon Markov decision process (MDP) formulation for the single-vehicle case and establish a partial characterization of the optimal policy. We also propose a heuristic solution methodology for our MDP, named partial reoptimization, based on the idea of restricting attention to a subset of all the possible states and computing an optimal policy on this restricted set of states. We discuss two families of computationally efficient partial reoptimization heuristics and illustrate their performance on a set of instances with up to and including 100 customers. Comparisons with an existing heuristic from the literature and a lower bound computed with complete knowledge of customer demands show that our best partial reoptimization heuristics outperform this heuristic and are on average no more than 10%--13% away from this lower bound, depending on the type of instances.
MAINTENANCE OF DIFFERENTIATED FUNCTION OF THE SURFACTANT SYSTEM IN HUMAN FETAL LUNG TYPE II EPITHELIAL CELLS CULTURED ON PLASTIC

We report a simplified culture system for human fetal lung type II cells that maintains surfactant expression. Type II cells isolated from explant cultures of hormone-treated lungs (18-22 wk gestation) by collagenase + trypsin digestion were cultured on plastic for 4 days in serum-free medium containing dexamethasone (Dex, 10 nM) + 8-bromo-cAMP (0.1 mM + isobutylmethylxanthine (0.1 mM) or were untreated (control). Surfactant protein (SP) mRNAs decreased markedly in control cells between days 1 and 4 of culture, but mRNA levels were high in treated cells on day) 4 (SP-A, SP-B, SP-C, SP-D; 600%, 100%, 85%, 130% of day 0 content, respectively). Dex or cAMP alone increased SP-B, SP-C, and SP-D mRNAs and together had additive effects. The greatest increase in SP-A mRNA occurred with cAMP alone. Treated cells processed pro-SP-B and pro-SP-C proteins to mature forms and had a higher rate of phosphatidylcholine (PC) synthesis (2-fold) and higher saturation of PC (approximately 34% versus 27%) than controls. Only treated cells maintained secretagogue-responsive phospholipid synthesis. By electron microscopy, the treated cells retained lamellar bodies and extensive microvilli. We conclude that Dex and cAMP additively stimulate expression of surfactant components in isolated fetal type II cells, providing a simplified culture system for investigation of surfactant-related, and perhaps other, type II cell functions.
Multivariate measurement of gene expression relationships.

The operational activities of cells are based on an awareness of their current state, coupled to a programmed response to internal and external cues in a context-dependent manner. One key goal of functional genomics is to develop analytical methods for delineating the ways in which the individual actions of genes are integrated into our understanding of the increasingly complex systems of organelle, cell, organ, and organism. This paper describes a novel approach to assess the codetermination of gene transcriptional states based upon statistical evaluation of reliably informative subsets of data derived from large-scale simultaneous gene expression measurements with cDNA microarrays. The method finds associations between the expression patterns of individual genes by determining whether knowledge of the transcriptional levels of a small gene set can be used to predict the associated transcriptional state of another gene. To test this approach for identification of the relevant contextual elements of cellular response, we have modeled our approach using data from known gene response pathways including ionizing radiation and downstream targets of inactivating gene mutations. This approach strongly suggests that evaluation of the transcriptional status of a given gene(s) can be combined with data from global expression analyses to predict the expression level of another gene. With data sets of the size currently available, this approach should be useful in finding sets of genes that participate in particular biological processes. As larger data sets and more computing power become available, the method can be extended to validating and ultimately identifying biologic (transcriptional) pathways based upon large-scale gene expression analysis.
Distribution of quadratic form in Gaussian mixture variables and an application in relay networks

In this paper series expansion is developed for the probability distribution function (PDF) and the cumulative distribution function (CDF) of an indefinite Hermitian quadratic form in complex random variables with Gaussian mixture distribution. The moment generating function is inverted by contour integration using the residue theorem. The series expansion result is computationally efficient. Bit error rate (BER) calculation, involving quadratic form in Gaussian mixture variables, in wireless relay network employing BPSK transmission is presented as an application.
Target Attractiveness as a Mediator of Assumed Attitude Similarity

Undergraduates indicated their opinions on eight issues. Then they viewed 12facial photographs of unknown college females whose physical attractiveness was systematically varied and estimated each target's position on each issue. Simultaneously, observers assessed subjects' attractiveness. Consistent with balance theory and self-enhancement concerns, subjects projected their own endorsement of attitude item content as well as their own average response elevation onto attractive peers to a greater degree than onto less attractive peers. Whereas subjects assumed similarity between themselves and attractive others to an equal extent on both involving and uninvolving issues, on involving issues they distanced themselves in elevation similarity from unattractive others. All effects were independent of subjects' own attractiveness.
Compile-time planning for overhead reduction in software dynamic translators

Software dynamic translation (SDT) is a technology for modifying programs as they are running. The overhead of monitoring and modifying a running program's instructions is often substantial in SDT systems. As a result, SDT can be impractically slow, especially in SDT systems that do not or can not employ dynamic optimization to offset overhead. This is unfortunate since SDT has many advantages in modern computing environments and interesting uses of SDT continue to emerge. In this paper, we describe techniques to reduce the overhead of SDT. In particular, we present a compile-time planning technique to reduce the overhead due to indirect branch handling. Our results show that this technique is very effective and can improve SDT performance by up to 36%, with an average of 20%.
Molecular Cloning of a Novel Laminin Chain, α5, and Widespread Expression in Adult Mouse Tissues (*)

We have identified a fifth member of the α subfamily of vertebrate laminin chains. Sequence analysis revealed a close relationship of α5 to the only known Drosophila α chain, suggesting that the ancestral α gene was more similar to α5 than to α1-4. Analysis of RNA expression showed that α5 is widely expressed in adult tissues, with highest levels in lung, heart, and kidney. Our results suggest that α5 may be a major laminin chain of adult basal laminae.
Disaster Reduction: The Importance Of Adequate Assumptions About Social Organization

The paper focuses on the importance in having adequate assumptions about the nature of social behavior in designing training materials oriented toward the goal of disaster reduction. The paper will argue that disaster is a social rather than a “natural” happening. Thus any effort at disaster reduction will involve planning and action by various social units. The success of those efforts will depend on the adequacy of understanding that social base. The local community is taken as the primary focus of attention since that is the common unit which is affected by disaster and, more importantly, responds to deal with the event.
Fitzgerald: A Return to the Neighborhood and Its Contemporary Structural and Geographical Contexts

William Bunge's Fitzgerald: Portrait of a Revolution, initially published in 1971, is an enthralling verbal and visual account of the historical and geographical development of a one-square-mile neighborhood in Detroit. The original analysis of the Fitzgerald neighborhood was based on intensive field-based research conducted in a theoretical context of race and racism. The research reported here maintains that context but updates Fitzgerald's account of the neighborhood's built environment through a spatial analysis that uses parcel-by-parcel data generated in Google Earth and Google Street View instead of data collected in the field. Current spatial patterns of deterioration in the built environment are similar to those described in Fitzgerald, but positive sites are also apparent and often colocated with negative ones.
Water Retention and Characteristic Curve

A soil-water characteristic (SWC) curve describes the amount of water retained in a soil (expressed as mass or volume water content, m or v) under equilibrium at a given matric potential. An SWC is an important hydraulic property, related to size and connectedness of pore spaces, hence strongly affected by soil texture and structure, and by other constituents, including organic matter. Modeling water distribution and flow in partially saturated soils requires knowledge of the SWC, therefore plays a critical role in water management and in prediction of solute and contaminant transport in the environment. Typically a SWC is highly nonlinear and is relatively difficult to obtain accurately. Because the matric potential extends over several orders of magnitude for the range of water contents commonly encountered in practical applications, the matric potential is often plotted on a logarithmic scale. Figure 1 depicts representative SWC curves for soils of different textures, demonstrating the effects of porosity (saturated water content) and
Physiology of aging related to outcome in the adult respiratory distress syndrome

Thirty-nine patients with adult respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) were enrolled in a study to identify potential age-related changes in organ system function that may help explain the apparent a...
Modification of Irradiation Injury in the Monkey by Bone Marrow Transplantation

Thirty-two adult monkeys were given a single dose of total-body x-irradiation of 650, 700, or 800 r. An attempt was made in 24 of the animals to alter the acute phase of the radiation injury to hematopoietic tissues sulfficiently to prolong the life of the animals by post-irradiation administration of homologous bone marrow. The other 8 animals served as irradiated non-treated controls. Of the 24 bone marrow treated monkeys, 5 survived for more than 30 days post-irradiation. However, a total of 16 animals showed some recovery of the peripheral blood elements toward normal, which seems to indicate that the bone marrow graft may have been functional in these animals. The causes of death in the face of a recovering bone marrow are discussed with regard to immunological reactions, including the "foreign bone marrow reaction," and other contributing factors.
Surface Mechanical and Rheological Behaviors of Biocompatible Poly((d,l-lactic acid-ran-glycolic acid)-block-ethylene glycol) (PLGA–PEG) and Poly((d,l-lactic acid-ran-glycolic acid-ran-ε-caprolactone)-block-ethylene glycol) (PLGACL–PEG) Block Copolymers at the Air–Water Interface

Air-water interfacial monolayers of poly((D,L-lactic acid-ran-glycolic acid)-block-ethylene glycol) (PLGA-PEG) exhibit an exponential increase in surface pressure under high monolayer compression. In order to understand the molecular origin of this behavior, a combined experimental and theoretical investigation (including surface pressure-area isotherm, X-ray reflectivity (XR) and interfacial rheological measurements, and a self-consistent field (SCF) theoretical analysis) was performed on air-water monolayers formed by a PLGA-PEG diblock copolymer and also by a nonglassy analogue of this diblock copolymer, poly((D,L-lactic acid-ran-glycolic acid-ran-caprolactone)-block-ethylene glycol) (PLGACL-PEG). The combined results of this study show that the two mechanisms, i.e., the glass transition of the collapsed PLGA film and the lateral repulsion of the PEG brush chains that occur simultaneously under lateral compression of the monolayer, are both responsible for the observed PLGA-PEG isotherm behavior. Upon cessation of compression, the high surface pressure of the PLGA-PEG monolayer typically relaxes over time with a stretched exponential decay, suggesting that in this diblock copolymer situation, the hydrophobic domain formed by the PLGA blocks undergoes glass transition in the high lateral compression state, analogously to the PLGA homopolymer monolayer. In the high PEG grafting density regime, the contribution of the PEG brush chains to the high monolayer surface pressure is significantly lower than what is predicted by the SCF model because of the many-body attraction among PEG segments (referred to in the literature as the "n-cluster" effects). The end-grafted PEG chains were found to be protein resistant even under the influence of the "n-cluster" effects.
A Reasonable Time, Place and Manner Restriction: Medicare Reimbursement Law Should Require Pharmacists to Fill Prescriptions Regardless of Personal Belief:

“[T]he [First] Amendment embraces two concepts—freedom to believe and freedom to act. The first is absolute but, in the nature of things, the second cannot be.”
Asynchronous communication in spectral-element and discontinuous Galerkin methods for atmospheric dynamics– a case study using the High-Order Methods Modeling Environment (HOMME-homme_dg_branch)

Abstract. The scalability of computational applications on current and next-generation supercomputers is increasingly limited by the cost of inter-process communication. We implement non-blocking asynchronous communication in the High-Order Methods Modeling Environment for the time integration of the hydrostatic fluid equations using both the spectral-element and discontinuous Galerkin methods. This allows the overlap of computation with communication, effectively hiding some of the costs of communication. A novel detail about our approach is that it provides some data movement to be performed during the asynchronous communication even in the absence of other computations. This method produces significant performance and scalability gains in large-scale simulations.
The effects of health coaching when added to a wellness program

ABSTRACTTo test whether health coaching would enhance the effectiveness of lifestyle medical advice, the authors examined health impacts of adding coaching to an employee wellness program. Random assignment of 302 volunteers to three coaching treatments or a control preceded 3 to 6 months of weekly 30 to 40 minute telephonic coaching sessions. All participants initiated a wellness program providing exercise programming options. Blood pressure, body weight, resting heart rate, fitness score, health risk appraisal, cholesterol, and glucose were measured at baseline, and after 3 and 6 months of coaching. Data inspection via latent growth curve analyses and ANOVA revealed blood pressure to be positively affected by health coaching. All other variables responded positively to wellness programming but health coaching did not add further benefits. In women, greater readiness to change behavior was related to better health profile (for example, resting heart rate at baseline: bfemale = −3.13, p < .001; bmale = .3...
The Role of Intrinsically Disordered Linker and Salt Type on Cooperativity of E. Coli SSB Binding to ssDNA

E. coli single strand DNA binding protein (SSB) is a key protein in DNA replication, recombination and repair. SSB functions as a homotetramer and binds ssDNA in different modes that differ in their excluded site size and cooperative binding to ssDNA. Two types of cooperativity have been identified previously: the high “unlimited”, nearest-neighbor type of cooperativity associated with the 35 site size ((SSB)35) binding mode at low [NaCl], and a lower, “limited” cooperativity associated with formation of dimers of tetramers in the 65 site size ((SSB)65) binding mode at [NaCl] > 200 mM. Using sedimentation velocity and equilibrium titration methods we have examined how salt concentration and type affects these cooperativities and binding mode transitions on long ssDNA, focusing on the effects of KGlu, since glutamate is the major monovalent anion in E. coli. Unexpectedly, we find that in contrast to NaCl, KGlu promotes highly cooperative binding to ssDNA even at high concentrations of 0.5 M, conditions that promote the ((SSB)65) mode, suggesting that highly cooperative binding is likely occurring in vivo. We also show that all cooperative binding behavior absolutely requires the unstructured C-terminal region (intrinsically disordered linker (IDL)) connecting the SSB DNA binding core and the 9 amino acid C-terminal end (tip) needed for SSB binding to other proteins involved in genome maintenance (supported by NIH GM030498 to TML).
Pursuing Social Justice through Public Health: Gender and Sexual Diversity Activism in Malawi.

African lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, and queer (LGBTIQ) organizations face various strategic dilemmas in contexts characterized by political hostility to gender and sexual dissidents. In Malawi, we examine how an LGBTIQ social movement organization (SMO), the Centre for the Development of People, navigated one particular strategic dilemma – the dilemma of whether to adopt a less politicized public-health approach or a more nimble, grassroots-oriented, and social-justice approach to their advocacy work. We also examine the consequences of the organization’s strategic decisions. Scholars interpret these approaches as signifying differential political engagement among organizations, with the social-justice approach indicating political engagement and the public-health approach signalling political disengagement. This difference has led critics to argue that a public-health approach is poorly suited to generating social and legal reform because it depoliticizes LGBTIQ issues over time, while...
Human Information Processing Shapes Language Change

Human languages exhibit both striking diversity and abstract commonalities. Whether these commonalities are shaped by potentially universal principles of human information processing has been of central interest in the language and psychological sciences. Research has identified one such abstract property in the domain of word order: Although sentence word-order preferences vary across languages, the superficially different orders result in short grammatical dependencies between words. Because dependencies are easier to process when they are short rather than long, these findings raise the possibility that languages are shaped by biases of human information processing. In the current study, we directly tested the hypothesized causal link. We found that learners exposed to novel miniature artificial languages that had unnecessarily long dependencies did not follow the surface preference of their native language but rather systematically restructured the input to reduce dependency lengths. These results provide direct evidence for a causal link between processing preferences in individual speakers and patterns in linguistic diversity.
Antiplatelet Therapy in Coronary Artery Disease: A Daunting Dilemma.

Percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) with stenting for the treatment of acute coronary syndrome (ACS) is the contemporary standard of care. Such treatment is followed by dual antiplatelet therapy (DAPT) comprising of aspirin and a P2Y12 inhibitor. The efficacy of this therapy has been well established but the optimal duration of DAPT remains elusive, and has thus far attracted a prodigious deal of scientific attention. The decision regarding DAPT duration can be clinically challenging in the modern era with the evolution of newer stents, more potent antiplatelet agents, and novel anticoagulant drugs in addition to an older patient population with multiple comorbidities. Major societal guidelines have emphasized comprehensive assessment of ischemic and bleeding risk, in turn recommending individualization of DAPT duration, thus encouraging “shared decision making”. The following review is aimed at critically evaluating the available evidence to help make these crucial clinical decisions regarding duration of DAPT and triple therapy.
Perception of femininity in normally phonated and whispered speech

Many transgender women seek out voice and communication therapy to support in their transition from their biological gender to presenting as their gender identity. This has led to an increased need to examine the perception of gender and femininity to develop evidence-based therapy practices. In this study, we explored perception of femininity in normally phonated and whispered speech. Transgender male-to-female, cismale, and cisfemale speakers were recorded producing hVd words. Naive listeners rated femininity using a visual-analog scale. The results revealed that listeners rated speakers more ambiguously in whispered speech than normally phonated speech. Within-group analyses were conducted to further examine how speaker characteristics (height, age, mean f0, duration) contributed to perceptions of femininity. While there was a significant effect of mean f0 within the normally phonated condition for all groups, none of the other speaker or acoustic cues consistently predicted listener ratings of femininity across speaker groups.Many transgender women seek out voice and communication therapy to support in their transition from their biological gender to presenting as their gender identity. This has led to an increased need to examine the perception of gender and femininity to develop evidence-based therapy practices. In this study, we explored perception of femininity in normally phonated and whispered speech. Transgender male-to-female, cismale, and cisfemale speakers were recorded producing hVd words. Naive listeners rated femininity using a visual-analog scale. The results revealed that listeners rated speakers more ambiguously in whispered speech than normally phonated speech. Within-group analyses were conducted to further examine how speaker characteristics (height, age, mean f0, duration) contributed to perceptions of femininity. While there was a significant effect of mean f0 within the normally phonated condition for all groups, none of the other speaker or acoustic cues consistently predicted listener ratings of feminin...
Gas Chromatography–Mass Spectrometry Techniques for Multiresidue Pesticide Analysis in Agricultural Commodities

Abstract Multiresidue methods are the most common approaches to analyze pesticide residues because the pesticide application on an agricultural commodity is usually not known. Since there are hundreds of pesticides available, it is essentially impractical to apply individual single residue analysis for every pesticide in various types of food products. The challenge is to process a sample using a single procedure or a limited number of procedures that can identify and quantitate as many pesticides with varying physical and chemical properties as possible that could potentially be present in a wide variety of agricultural matrices. Over the past 20 years, capillary gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS) has played a major role in the analysis of pesticides in foods. Despite the increasing popularity of liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry (LC–MS), GC–MS is still widely used because of its affordability, ruggedness, and effectiveness in multiresidue pesticide procedures. GC–MS is primarily used to analyze a variety of thermally stable and volatile or semivolatile pesticides as well as other industrial contaminants such as PCBs, dioxins, brominated flame retardants, and related persistent organic pollutants in diverse food matrices that currently cannot be analyzed by conventional LC–MS methods. This chapter will attempt to account the past and present use and the future of multiresidue procedures that utilize a variety of GC–MS systems and platforms for the analysis of pesticide residues in foods and related agricultural products.
A Brief Analysis of Governor Palin's Tax Returns for 2006 and 2007.

Governor Palin's 2006 and 2007 tax returns create several teaching opportunities for basic tax classes. This paper analyzes five substantive issues created by the returns and by a legal opinion letter written by Roger Olsen on some of the issues. The five issues are: (1) the proper treatment of $17,000 paid to Palin by the state of Alaska as her travel allowance; (2) the proper treatment of $43,000 paid to Palin as a travel allowance for her husband and children; (3) the proper treatment of a $9,000 loss claimed for her husband's racing activity; (4) whether the Palins are subject to the penalties for negligence; and (5) whether Mr. Olsen's letter meets the standards for tax practice in Circular 230.
Immunopathogenesis of Asbestosis, Silicosis, and Coal Workers’ Pneumoconiosis

From these discussions, it is apparent that immunologic aberrations occur in several inorganic dust diseases. Although the role of these immunologic mechanisms in disease pathogenesis remains speculative, recent studies demonstrating the regulation of fibroblast proliferation by macrophage and asbestos or silica interaction support a role for this cell type in the immunopathogenesis of disease. Future cellular and humoral investigations of the bronchoalveolar lavage in workers with pneumoconiosis may clarify the immunologic contributions in the development of fibrosis observed in these diseases.
Preparation and salt-insensitive behavior study of swellable, Cr3+-embedded microgels for water management

Abstract The microgels have been used in the oilfield for water management and enhanced oil recovery (EOR). Fully swollen size of the microgels is very sensitive to salt, which brings uncertainties on the performance of microgel treatments. Herein, a Cr3+-embedded polyacrylamide based microgel, synthesized via a free-radical suspension polymerization, is described which could significantly weaken the salt-sensitivity of the microgels. Embedment of Cr3+ in the polymeric networks of microgels crosslinked through covalent bonds has been studied using the scanning electron microscopy (SEM), FT-IR, and dialysis analysis. The effects of crosslinker concentration, initiator concentration, and the stirring rate during polymerization on the size of the microgels have been characterized. In addition, contrary to the commercial microgels, the fully swollen size of the Cr3+-embedded microgels performed insensitivity to the salts, such as sodium chloride (NaCl), calcium chloride (CaCl2), and aluminum chloride (AlCl3). Moreover, the pore occlusion experiments demonstrated the Cr3+-embedded microgels also have the same viscoelasticity at different salt concentrations, resulting in the similar plugging performance. The Cr3+-embedded microgel shows a great potential for improving the microgel plugging for water management and enhanced oil recovery.
The Consensus Discount: How Analysts' Recommendations Influence Firms’ Ability to Attract Investors

Prior literature suggests that securities analysts’ evaluations help firms to attract resources by reducing the uncertainty that investors face when assessing firms’ strategies. However, prior rese...
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: diagnosis and management

Hetal Dhruve details what primary care nurses need to know to effectively manage this condition
Personalization of knowledge, personal knowledge ecology, and digital nomadism

We examine the concept of personal knowledge management using data drawn from our study of digital nomads. We make two contributions: an empirical and conceptual development of knowledge management as it relates to independent workers and an advancement of social informatics that builds on Gibson's ecological perspective. Digital nomads provide an empirical basis to better understand how knowledge management is shifting from organization‐centric, with its concomitant emphasis on organizational information systems, to worker‐centric, which relies on personal knowledge ecologies. We advance this concept as a combination of personal knowledge management activities and the digital technologies that support them. Our data make clear that individuals are the locus of personal knowledge ecologies, but these ecologies are embedded in a larger community of collaborators, clients, and peers who are often extensively mediated by digital technologies. This embedding and mediation are at the core of the sociotechnical arrangements that define the personal knowledge ecologies that we document.
Flux Puppy – An open-source software application and portable system design for low-cost manual measurements of CO2 and H2O fluxes

Abstract Manual chamber-based measurements of CO2 (and H2O) fluxes are important for understanding ecosystem carbon metabolism. Small opaque chambers can be used to measure leaf, stem and soil respiration. Larger transparent chambers can be used to measure net ecosystem exchange of CO2, and small jars often serve this purpose for laboratory incubations of soil and plant material. We developed an Android application (app), called Flux Puppy, to facilitate chamber-based flux measurements in the field and laboratory. The app is designed to run on an inexpensive handheld Android device, such as a tablet or phone, and it has a graphical user interface that communicates with a LI-COR LI-820 and LI-830 (CO2) or LI-840 and LI-850 (CO2/H2O) infrared gas analyzer. The app logs concentrations of CO2 and H2O, cell temperature and pressure at 1 Hz, displays the output graphically, and calculates the linear regression slope, R-squared, and standard error of the CO2 time series. A metadata screen allows users to enter operator, site, and plot information, as well as take a photograph using the Android device’s built-in camera, and log measurement location using the device GPS. Additionally, there is a notes field, which can be revised after the measurements are taken. Data files (the 1 s raw data, photograph, and metadata including statistics calculated from the raw data) are then transmitted off the device through file sharing options (Gmail, Outlook, Google Drive, Dropbox etc.). Because Flux Puppy code is open-source (available on GitHub) and the flux measurement system we describe is relatively inexpensive and straightforward to assemble, it should be of broad interest to the carbon cycling community.
Using an Active Learning Approach to Close the Loop

The AACSB International requires schools accredited by that body to assess student learning outcomes and to meet the standard set by the school as well as to create a method to improve student performance. We use the active learning approach to improve the Managerial Accounting class performance which was below par. In support of other studies in the science fields, the active learning approach is the driving force to improve student performance in Managerial Accounting. However, it appears that active learning does not help improve learning at the higher levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy.
0.7mJ and 12ns Pulses at 2.72µm from a 70µm Core Er:ZBLAN Fiber Amplifier

We demonstrate 667µJ and 11.5ns pulses at 2.72μm from an LMA Er:ZBLAN fiber amplifier with 70µm core. This represents the highest energy and peak power ever obtained in mid-IR with a fiber laser source.
Programming skills for a changing world: back to the basics

A central topic in computer science is performance. Algorithm efficiency is pivotal in many software applications from life support to automatic teller machines. During the 1960s, the notion of efficiency was synonymous with structured programming, elimination of the goto statement, and modular coding. Forty years later, software students seldom appreciate their unique role in an algorithm's overall performance. This situation is understandable given today's very fast processors and highly efficient compilers. A wealth of research has gone into processor architecture and compiler optimization, but little thought has been given to what today's programming students need to understand about pipelining and instruction level parallelism to avoid various performance-robbing coding techniques. This paper explains how programmers can work with compilers and today's pipelined processors to enhance parallelism in their code to significantly enhance performance, without sacrificing software engineering principles such as abstraction, modularity, information hiding and other features that provide for rapid application development, reuse, and maintainability of an application.