cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
DNA repair: A unifying mechanism in neurodegeneration

Identification of a previously uncharacterized genetic disease highlights DNA repair as a shared mechanism in neurodegenerative disorders, and suggests potential therapeutic approaches to tackling them. See Letter p.87 This paper shows that mutated forms of human XRCC1, a scaffold protein involved in DNA single-strand break repair, are associated with ocular motor apraxia, axonal neuropathy, and progressive cerebellar ataxia. In cells from a patient with an XRCC1−/− mutation, rates of break repair are reduced and the single-strand break sensor protein PARP1 is hyperactivated, resulting in abnormally high levels of cellular ADP-ribose. Genetic deletion of Parp1 in Xrcc1-defective mice prevents the accumulation of excessive ADP-ribose and rescues the loss of cerebellar neurons and cerebellar ataxia. These findings point to PARP1 as a possible therapeutic target in DNA strand break repair-defective disease.
Third-Party Voting in Gubernatorial Elections: A Study of Angus King of Maine and Jesse Ventura of Minnesota

This article analyzes the election of gubernatorial candidates Angus King of Maine (1994 and 1998) and Jesse Ventura of Minnesota (1998) in an attempt to determine the factors that produced these third-party victories. Previous studies point to a "culture of independence" explanation for third-party success. This approach focuses on attributes of the electorate, such as anti-partisan sentiment, previous support for a third-party candidate, economic discontent, issue concerns, and youth. Using VNS exit poll data and a multinomial logit model, I find that only two factors-anti-partisan sentiment and prior support for a third-party candidate-are powerful explanations for the success of both King and Ventura. The analysis suggests that the Minnesota case comes closer to the more familiar model of a third-party candidate who runs against the establishment and who mobilizes disaffected voters. There are, however, certain features of the electoral context-registration rules, money, candidate reputation and ideol...
Regulation of miRNA-29c and its downstream pathways in preneoplastic progression of triple-negative breast cancer.

// Anjana Bhardwaj 1 , Harpreet Singh 1 , Kimal Rajapakshe 2 , Kazunoshin Tachibana 1 , Nivetha Ganesan 1 , Yinghong Pan 3 , Preethi H. Gunaratne 3 , Cristian Coarfa 2 , Isabelle Bedrosian 1 1 Department of Breast Surgical Oncology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, USA 2 Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, USA 3 Department of Biology and Biochemistry, University of Houston, Houston, TX, USA Correspondence to: Isabelle Bedrosian, email: ibedrosian@mdanderson.org Anjana Bhardwaj, email: abhardwaj@mdanderson.org Cristian Coarfa, email: coarfa@bcm.edu Keywords: miRNA-29c, TNBC, prevention, next generation RNA sequencing, DNA methylation Received: August 04, 2016 Accepted: January 04, 2017 Published: January 30, 2017 ABSTRACT Little is understood about the early molecular drivers of triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC), making the identification of women at risk and development of targeted therapy for prevention significant challenges. By sequencing a TNBC cell line-based breast cancer progression model we have found that miRNA-29c is progressively lost during TNBC tumorigenesis. In support of the tumor suppressive role of miRNA 29c, we found that low levels predict poor overall patient survival and, conversely, that ectopic expression of miRNA-29c in preneoplastic cell models inhibits growth. miRNA-29c exerts its growth inhibitory effects through direct binding and regulation of TGFB-induced factor homeobox 2 (TGIF2), CAMP-responsive element binding protein 5 (CREB5), and V-Akt murine thymoma viral oncogene homolog 3 (AKT3). miRNA-29c regulation of these gene targets seems to be functionally relevant, as TGIF2, CREB5, and AKT3 were able to rescue the inhibition of cell proliferation and colony formation caused by ectopic expression of miRNA-29c in preneoplastic cells. AKT3 is an oncogene of known relevance in breast cancer, and as a proof of principle we show that inhibition of phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K) activity, a protein upstream of AKT3, suppressed proliferation in TNBC preneoplastic cells. We explored additional opportunities for prevention of TNBC by studying the regulation of miRNA-29c and identified DNA methylation to have a role in the inhibition of miRNA-29c during TNBC tumorigenesis. Consistent with these observations, we found 5 aza-cytadine to relieve the suppression of miRNA-29c. Together, these results demonstrate that miRNA-29c loss plays a key role in the early development of TNBC.
The Use of Price-to-Revenue Ratios in Valuing Sports Franchises

There are many approaches used to value an asset or business. They can all be categorized into one of the following three conceptually distinct methods. One method, the market approach, relies on what similar assets sell for in the marketplace. A second method, the income approach, uses income or cash flow as the basis for the value of the business or asset. The third method, the cost or asset approach, determines what it would cost to recreate the business or asset. Some businesses are more readily valued using certain approaches, whereas others may be valued using all three approaches. Sports franchises typically lend themselves to being valued using the market approach.
Repair of Other Congenital Esophageal Anomalies

Esophageal duplication cysts are unknown lesions, with an approximate incidence of 1 in 10,000 [1]. They account for about 20 % of all gastrointestinal duplications [2]. Because of the reported association of esophageal duplications and esophageal atresia (EA) [3, 4], some authors have sought a possible commonality in the embryogenesis of these defects. When rats were given Adriamycin to develop EA and tracheoesophageal fistula (TEF), 25 % also developed esophageal duplications [5]. This finding implies that esophageal duplications arise from the foregut, and failure of the esophagus to normally separate from the notochord may contribute to their development. It has also been postulated that esophageal duplications and bronchogenic cysts share a common origin [6]. However, esophageal duplications are histologically distinct from bronchogenic cysts by having layers of smooth muscle and being lined by gastrointestinal epithelium. Most duplications are cystic and do not share a common wall with the esophagus.
Seasonal loss and resumption of circadian rhythms in hibernating arctic ground squirrels

Circadian clocks are near universal among organisms and play a key role in coordinating physiological and metabolic functions to anticipate or coincide with predictable daily changes in the physical and social environment. However, whether circadian rhythms persist and are functionally important during hibernation in all mammals is currently unclear. We examined whether circadian rhythms of body temperature (T b) persist during multi-day, steady-state torpor and investigated the association between timing of animal emergence, exposure to light, and resumption of activity and T b rhythms in free-living and captive male arctic ground squirrels. High-resolution (0.02 °C) temperature loggers revealed that circadian rhythms of T b were not present during deep torpor in free-living arctic ground squirrels. Significant circadian rhythms of T b resumed, however, following the resumption of euthermia, but prior to emergence, though rhythms became much more robust coincident with aboveground emergence. Additionally, squirrels maintained in captivity under conditions of constant darkness spontaneously developed significant circadian rhythms of T b and activity soon after ending torpor. Exposing animals to a 5-s pulse of light within a week when they ended torpor increased the strength of rhythms. Our results are consistent with the hypothesis that circadian clock function is inhibited during hibernation in arctic ground squirrels, and we postulate that exposure to external stimuli, such as light in free-living animals, and meals or acute disturbance for captive squirrels, may enhance T b rhythmicity by synchronizing loosely coupled circadian oscillators within the suprachiasmatic nucleus.
High-level low-power system design optimization

High-level decisions have the most impact on power consumption, but the effect of those decisions cannot be known until the hardware is implemented. This paper walks the reader through an industrial high-level low-power design methodology that enables the designer to consider and quantitatively evaluate a broad range of hardware implementations to find the most power-efficient architecture. This paper concludes with two industry case studies using this high-level low power methodology.
Assessment of Air Cargo Airlines: An Interpretive Structural Modeling Approach

Abstract Using Interpretive Structural Modeling (ISM) methodology this study explored the nonstatistical factors that might affect a cargo airline. ISM allows a better understanding of the mutual influence among different attributes and the consequences, which helps the decision maker make more informed decisions. The study used ISM methodology to summarize and identify the relationships among attributes that influences the competitive advantage of a cargo airline, operational factors that might influence the firm's processes, and characteristics that might affect the overall financial stability of the airline. Relationships among attributes were derived and structured into a hierarchy in order to identify subsystems of interdependent elements with corresponding driving power and dependency.
Animal and forage responses on Maximus, a tetraploid cultivar vs Marshall, a diploid cultivar of annual ryegrass

This 2-year grazing study carried out at Raymond, Mississippi, USA, evaluated animal performance and forage characteristics of a tetraploid (“Maximus”) vs a diploid cultivar (“Marshall”) of annual ryegrass at three stocking rates (SR; 3.5, 5.0 or 7.5 animals per ha). Angus cross-bred heifers (Bos taurus; initial body weight [BW] = 240 kg) were continuously stocked on pastures at set stocking rates for the duration of the study. Stocking rates and cultivars were arranged in a 3 × 2 factorial design that was completely randomized with two replications. There was no cultivar effect (p = .449) on average annual herbage mass (HM). However, HM decreased linearly with increasing SR (p = .001) from 3.8 to 2.5 t ha−1 during Year 1 and 4.4 to 3.8 t ha−1 during Year 2 (p = .028). In Year 2, there was a difference in water-soluble carbohydrates (WSC) between cultivars (p = .012; Marshall, 117.0 vs Maximus, 139.0 g/kg). There was no cultivar effect (p > .10) on average daily gain (ADG) in either year of the study. In both years, ADG decreased linearly with increasing SR (p = .001) from 1.22 to 0.98 kg/d during Year 1 and 1.31 to 1.08 kg/d during Year 2. Across years, gain ha−1 increased linearly (p < .001) with increasing SR. Our results showed no difference in animal performance and HM between the two cultivars. Producers’ choice of annual ryegrass cultivar should be based on seeding cost and agronomic traits that allow for better adaptation of the forage.
Imaging of dynamic maritime scenes using multi-channel SAR

This paper describes a unique, multi-channel synthetic aperture radar (MSAR) designed for maritime remote sensing and surveillance research. The X-band system supports two simultaneous transmit channels, excited by arbitrary waveforms, and four simultaneous receive channels, thereby allowing full multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) modes. The system antennas are readily reconfigurable to support both along-track and cross-track phase center displacements as well as polarimetric operation. In addition, receive switching is available to provide as many as 32 along-track phase centers. This paper describes the hardware and presents results that illustrate how the along-track phase centers can be used to provide detailed motion measurements across dynamic maritime scenes, using either the Velocity SAR algorithm or a new multi-channel interferometric approach. Imagery recently collected using a combined along-track/cross-track MIMO mode is also presented. The simultaneous velocity and height information provided by this configuration offers new approaches to ocean remote sensing.
Crossflow turbulent production using hybrid Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes/large-eddy simulation approaches

Abstract The objective of the study is to investigate the performance of a newly developed dynamic hybrid Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes/large-eddy simulation (DHRL) framework versus a traditional hybrid approach in the context of the crossflow mixing. An independent scalar-based transition parameter is introduced to partition the species turbulent production within DHRL. The models’ capability in resolving turbulent structures, agreeing with experimental measurements, and transferring turbulent production between modeled and resolved parts of the domain are discussed. Unsteady simulations corresponding to non-reacting ethylene injected in Mach 2 air crossflow are performed. The simulations correspond to both normal and low-angled injection with a momentum ratio of 0.5. Time-averaged fuel concentrations are compared with experimental Raman scattering data and with simulation results using a traditional improved delayed detached eddy simulation (IDDES) model. For the normal injection case, both DHRL and IDDES show reasonably accurate results, although DHRL is more consistent with the measured concentrations. The inclined jet case requires a large modeled contribution to the unsteady region since jet breakup and transition is less pronounced than the normal injection case. DHRL is able to couple Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes (RANS) and large-eddy simulation (LES) model terms more effectively and produce concentration fields consistent with the experiment. IDDES fails to predict unsteadiness and produces concentration distributions with large discrepancies from the experiment.
Flüssige Siliconphasen für die Gas-Chromatographie

Die physikalischen und chemischen Eigenschaften von Siliconen, die als flussige Phasen in der Gas-Chromatographie Verwendung finden, werden beschrieben und Polaritatseinstufungen auf Grund chemischer Substitution angegeben. Siliconphasen werden fur die Anwendung ausgewahlt und die Konditionierung ohne Tragergas bei sehr hoher Temperatur begrundet.
Evolution of Al-Si Coating Microstructure during Heat-Treatment of Usibor ® 1500

Microstructural evolution of Al-10wt.%Si-(2-3)wt.%Fe coating during heat-treatment processing of the press hardenable steel Usibor® 1500 was studied experimentally. Two coating thicknesses, AS150 (60-100 g/m2) and AS80 (35-65 g/m2), were subjected to the same heat-treatment schedule. The interrupted experiments were performed at heating and soaking stages in order to track the microstructural evolution. The effects of heating rates (and steel substrate thickness) on evolution of the coating were researched as well. Furthermore, the experimental results of coating development were then compared with the results of analytical modelling.
Maltreatment of Children and Youth with Special Healthcare Needs (CSHCN)

Children with special healthcare needs are a readily identified pediatric population with increased risk for child maltreatment (Sullivan and Knutson, Child Abuse Negl 22(4):271–288, 1998; Sullivan and Knutson, Child Abuse Negl 24(10):1257–1274, 2000; Turner et al., Child Maltreat 16:275–286, 2011; Child Welfare Information Gateway, https://www.childwelfare.gov/pubs/prevenres/focus/, 2018). The maltreatment of these children and youth is frequently unrecognized and undiagnosed in healthcare settings. Consequently, healthcare providers require education regarding the risk factors associated with maltreatment in children with special healthcare needs. Pediatric providers must be attentive in medical evaluations of children with diagnosed and suspected disabilities. The following chapter provides a review of characteristics related to maltreatment risk factors, perpetrators, and disabilities in children and youth with special healthcare needs. Practical guidelines for pediatricians in identifying maltreatment among children with special healthcare needs are presented along with guidelines for working with families. Case study examples of neglect, physical abuse, medical neglect, and medical abuse of children with special healthcare needs are also given.
The Development of Basic Competencies for Sustainability in Higher Education: An Educational Model

Existing paradigms, which are deeply rooted in our educational systems, are fomenting unsustainable development. For this reason, it is necessary to opt for a style of education that allows university students to be aware of the need to live in a different way and be aware of our absolute dependency on our natural environment. This goal requires fundamental changes in the curriculum, as well as a broader vision of the role that educational institutions must play. One of the objectives of education in this new century must be to help achieve sustainable social and environmental human development. In this sense, higher education plays a very important role in the field of education for sustainability and the university must take on this challenge with great determination. This work presents a model for formation that furthers the development of basic competencies for sustainability, which must be incorporated into the curriculum of all higher educational studies.
The State of the World's Children 2003

Each year, UNICEF’s flagship publication, The State of the World's Children, closely examines a key issue affecting children. The report includes supporting data and statistics and is available in English, French and Spanish language versions.
Buried Liquid Interfaces as a Form of Chemistry in Confinement: The Case of 4-Dimethylaminobenzonitrile at the Silica–Aqueous Interface

Time-resolved fluorescence emission and resonance-enhanced second harmonic generation (SHG) spectra were collected from 4-dimethylaminobenzonitrile (DMABN) adsorbed to the aqueous–silica interface ...
Analysis of Computational Efficiency of Artificial Intelligence based Search Techniques in Trajectory Planning of Industrial Manipulator

this paper presents implementation and analysis of computational efficiency of artificial intelligence based search techniques for motion planning of a two degree of freedom revolute-revolute industrial manipulator (2-DOF RR). Depth First Search (DFS), Breadth First Search (BFS), Uniform Cost Search (UCS) and A* Search have been implemented in MATLAB environment for trajectory planning of manipulator from an initial position to final position. A comparative analysis for utilization of computational resources by these search techniques is then presented based on sizes of their frontier and explored sets. Simulation results show that A* is faster and its memory usage is 4 to 9 times less as compared to DFS, BFS, and UCS in trajectory planning on industrial manipulator.
Experiences of Health Care Providers Using a Mobile Medical Photography Application.

Objective To understand the ways in which providers use a mobile photography application integrated with the electronic health record (EHR) to facilitate clinical care, and the process outcomes that result from the application's use. Methods An e-mail survey was sent on November 13, 2017, to 1,463 health care providers at Mayo Clinic who had used an internally developed, EHR-integrated medical photography application. Results The survey was completed by 712 (49%) providers. Providers reported using the application on approximately 1 in 7 days spent in clinical practice. Median provider satisfaction with the use of the application (0–100 scale; higher numbers indicate favorable response) was 94 (interquartile range [IQR]: 74–100). Although the use for store-and-forward telemedicine was reported (22% often or frequently used the application to send photographs to a specialist for advice), the most common use was for clinical documentation (65% often or frequently used the application to supplement text-based notes with photographs, and 71% often or frequently used the application to take photographs for reference by a colleague who may see the patient in the future). Of the health care providers, 36% indicated that the application's use often or frequently expedited treatment. Discussion Health care providers reported using a mobile point-of-care medical photography application regularly in clinical practice and were generally satisfied with the application. Conclusion Point-of-care medical photography using a secure mobile, EHR-integrated application has potential to become a new standard of care for clinical documentation and may facilitate continuity across the continuum of care with multiple providers who see a patient.
The effect of input prompts on the relationship between perception and production of non-native sounds

Abstract One factor known to affect a second language learner’s pronunciation accuracy of non-native sounds is their perception accuracy of the same sounds. However, it is not clear how stable the relationship between the two modalities is when production is cued by perception or other input sources, such as orthography, which is also known to affect production of non-native sounds. We examined whether the relationship between perception and production of non-native sounds varies as a result of different types of input prompts (auditory vs. orthographic) for production, and whether this effect of input prompts on the perception-production relationship varies in different non-native sound contrasts, namely, English /ɹ/ vs. /l/ for native Japanese learners of English, and Japanese singleton vs. geminate consonants for native English learners of Japanese. The difference in the type of input prompt for production affected learners’ perception-production relationship to a larger extent for the English contrast than for the Japanese contrast. This suggests that one factor that affects the relationship between perception and production of non-native sounds is the type of input prompt for production, and that this effect can vary for different non-native contrasts.
An Intrusion Detection System for Internet of Medical Things

Internet of Things (IoT) is making strong advances in healthcare with the promise of transformation in technological, social and economic prospects, paving the way for a healthy future. Medical devices equipped with wireless communication enable remote monitoring features and are increasingly becoming connected to each other and to the Internet. Such smart and connected medical devices referred to as the Internet of Medical Things have enabled continuous real-time patient monitoring, increase in diagnostic accuracy, and effective treatment. In spite of their numerous benefits, these devices open up newer attack surfaces thereby introducing multitude of security and privacy concerns. Attacks on Internet connected medical devices can potentially cause significant physical harm and life-threatening damage to the patients. In this research, we design and develop a novel mobile agent based intrusion detection system to secure the network of connected medical devices. In particular, the proposed system is hierarchical, autonomous, and employs machine learning and regression algorithms to detect network level intrusions as well as anomalies in sensor data. We simulate a hospital network topology and perform detailed experiments for various subsets of Internet of Medical things including wireless body area networks and other connected medical devices. Our simulation results demonstrate that we are able to achieve high detection accuracy with minimal resource overhead.
Origin of the orbital polarization of Co 2 + in La 2 CoTiO 6 and ( LaCoO 3 ) 1 + ( LaTiO 3 ) 1 : A DFT + U and DFMT study

The unequal electronic occupation of localized orbitals (orbital polarization), and associated lowering of symmetry and degeneracy, play an important role in the properties of transition metal oxides. Here, we examine systematically the underlying origin of orbital polarization, taking as exemplar the $3d$ manifold of ${\mathrm{Co}}^{2+}$ in a variety of spin, orbital, and structural phases in the double perovskite ${\mathrm{La}}_{2}{\mathrm{CoTiO}}_{6}$ and the (001) superlattice ${({\mathrm{LaCoO}}_{3})}_{1}+{({\mathrm{LaTiO}}_{3})}_{1}$ systems. Superlattices are of specific interest due to the large experimentally observed orbital polarization of their Co cations. Based on first principles calculations, we find that robust and observable orbital polarization requires symmetry reduction through the lattice structure; the role of local electronic interactions is to greatly enhance the orbital polarization.
Energy intensity, economic growth and environmental quality in populous Middle East countries

Abstract The present study was conducted to investigate the effect of energy intensity and economic growth on environmental quality in three populous countries in the Middle East region, including Iran, Iraq, and Turkey. For this purpose, the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis was tested along with comparison of ecological footprint (EF) and carbon dioxide (CO2) emission indicators during 1971–2015. According to stationary properties of the variables, the auto-regressive distributed lag (ARDL) approach was used to study the existence of short- and long-run relationships. The empirical results provided the evidence supporting inverted U-shaped nexus for per capita income and environmental degradation by employing two environmental indicators in Turkey. In addition, the hypothesis was confirmed by employing EF index and was rejected by employing CO2 emissions in Iran and Iraq. Besides, the results showed that energy intensity is one of important sources of environmental degradation in all the studied countries and there was a significant positive relationship between energy intensity, CO2 emissions, and EF in all the studied countries.
The characteristics and change trends of air pollutants in Lanzhou City from 2014 to 2020

OBJECTIVE To study the distribution characteristics of atmospheric pollutants and their correlation with meteorological factors. METHODS The PM_(2.5), PM_(10), NO_2, SO_2, O_(3-1 h), O_(3-8 h) and CO daily average concentration data from 2014 to 2020 were obtained from Lanzhou Environmental Protection Bureau. The interannual changes of pollutants, monthly changes, seasonal changes and trend of spatial distribution were analysed. Spearman correlation analysis was performed on the relationship among pollutants. RESULTS The main pollutants exceeding the standard in Lanzhou from 2014 to 2020 were PM_(10), PM_(2.5) and NO_2, average annual concentration of PM_(10), PM_(2.5), NO_2 and CO were decreasing year by year, and O_3 was increasing year by year. The monthly average concentration of PM_(10) was the highest in December, January, March and November were the second highest, and it was higher in February, April and May. The monthly change trends of PM_(2.5), NO_2, SO_2 and CO concentrations were the same, and the monthly change trends of the 1 hour average and daily maximum 8-hour average concentrations of O_3 were the same. The seasonal variation of atmospheric pollutant concentration was obvious, the concentrations of PM_(10), PM_(2.5), SO_2, NO_(2 )and CO were the highest in winter and the lowest in summer. O_3 concentration was the highest in summer and lowest in winter. Average annual concentration of 6 pollutants in different regions had statistically significant differences(H=750.40, 1112.99, 1410.05, 352.04, 360.17, 619.20, 729.52; P<0.001). Among them, the average annual concentration of PM_(10), PM_(2.5), SO_(2 )and O_(3-1 h) in Xigu District were the highest. PM_(10), PM_(2.5), NO_2, SO_2, CO average annual concentration were negatively correlated with temperature and wind speed(r_s=-0.423, -0.561, -0.395, -0.660, -0.569, -0.043, -0.094, -0.130, -0.172, -0.135), the concentration of PM_(10), PM_(2.5), O_3, SO_2 concentration were negatively correlated with humidity(r_s=-0.238, -0.121, -0.110, -0.094), only O_3 was positively correlated with temperature(r_s=0.486). CONCLUSION The primary pollutants in Lanzhou from 2014 to 2020 were PM_(10), PM_(2.5) and NO_2.O_3 had an obvious upward trend year by year. The 6 pollutants had obvious seasonal changes and regional distribution characteristics. Some pollutants had the same homology, and meteorological factors affected each pollution. The concentration of the substance had an important influence. Relevant air pollution control measures should be formulated based on the main excessive pollutants, the monthly change trend of air pollution and the seasonal pollution characteristics, the same emission sources and geographical distribution characteristics should be considered, and the meteorological factors should be combined.
Minimizing word error rate in textual summaries of spoken language

Automatic generation of text summaries for spoken language faces the problem of containing incorrect words and passages due to speech recognition errors. This paper describes comparative experiments where passages with higher speech recognizer confidence scores are favored in the ranking process. Results show that a relative word error rate reduction of over 10% can be achieved while at the same time the accuracy of the summary improves markedly.
Testing the tracer ratio method for modeling active compositional fields in mantle convection simulations

[1] Tracer methods are attractive for modeling compositional fields because they offer the potential of zero numerical diffusion. Composition is typically taken to be proportional to the absolute local concentration of tracers, but an increasingly popular method is to have “dense” and “regular” tracers with composition being equal to the local fraction of “dense” tracers. This paper tests this “ratio” method using established benchmarks and by comparing the performance of the two tracer methods and grid-based methods for simulating the long-term evolution of a convecting mantle with a thick, dense, stable layer. For this scenario the ratio method is found to have several advantages, giving sharp, stable long-term layering with no tracer settling, minimal statistical “noise” and low entrainment, even with only ∼5 tracers per cell. The method is equally applicable to finite volume and finite element treatments of the underlying flow. Entrainment in grid-based advection methods is heavily dependent on resolution and numerical details, and is reduced ∼1 order of magnitude by the filter proposed by A. Lenardic. Numerical determination of physically correct entrainment rates remains a challenging problem. Comparing tracer and grid based methods, the spatial pattern of the thermal and chemical fields appear to be converging on the finest grids; however the estimated entrainment differs significantly.
Geriatrics Training and Education for Nongeriatrician Faculty: The Dean's Faculty Scholars in Aging Program

The University of South Carolina School of Medicine in Columbia implemented the Dean's Faculty Scholars in Aging (DFSA) Program in 2001 to strengthen the knowledge of geriatrics of nongeriatrician faculty members. The primary indicator of strengthening physicians' geriatrics knowledge was the development of new educational experiences by physicians in the DFSA Program. Twenty-six nongeriatrician faculty in seven departments were recruited to participate as scholars. Most scholars were in key educational positions, including assistant deans, department chairs, and clerkship and residency directors. Scholars received special training to develop geriatrics educational experiences based on their medical specialty and interests. Training encouraged cross-departmental collaboration. Scholars also had access to resources, including professional geriatric educators. Funds were available to support development of educational experiences and for a small amount of salary support. Since the program was implemented, 36 new geriatric experiences have been developed, 29 of the 36 were implemented, and 11 of the 36 were evaluated. Experiences included an elective for residents in the care of older patients in the emergency room and a required hospice rotation in the psychiatry clerkship for third-year medical students. All scholars developed a geriatrics educational experience, and most implemented one. This suggests that scholars demonstrated successful progress in geriatrics training.
Cochlear Implant Surgery.

However, the majority of persons with hearing loss are not profoundly deaf and they have some remaining usable hearing. Encouraged by promising results in traditional cochlear implant patients and by improvements in the electrode design and the signal processing, investigators have expanded the indications for implantation. Now in addition to completely deaf patients, selected subjects with residual hearing are eligible for cochlear implantation with modified electrodes. The approach involves preserving existing residual acoustic hearing (low-frequency) in an ear to be implanted. Electrical stimulation is provided via a modified CI for the missing high frequencies to improve speech understanding via combined acoustic and electric (A + E) hearing. The prerequisite for this form of combined stimulation (ipsilateral A + E) is a sufficient degree of residual low frequency hearing in the implanted ear. Most patients with the modified electrodes are able to achieve improved sound perception and word understanding while preserving their residual acoustic hearing (Ching et al., 1998; Hogan & Turner, 1998). The listening condition using only A+E hearing and no hearing aid in the contralateral ear is referred to as “hybrid mode”. However, these implant recipients benefit from using a hearing aid in their contralateral ear, a listening condition referred to as “combined mode”. This listening situation has the potential to improve speech recognition in both quiet and noise (Gstoettner et al., 2006; Turner & Cummings, 1999).
Risk perception and risky choice: Situational, informational and dispositional effects

We investigated how situational (gain‐loss), informational (opportunity‐threat framing) and dispositional (achievement motive and avoidance motive) variables affected opportunity‐threat perception and risky choice in managerial decisionmaking contexts. In Study 1, the risk preference of the participants showed a reflection effect due to situational differences (gain or loss) and a partial framing effect caused by presenting the same choice information in terms of either opportunities or threats. However, both effects were in the opposite direction of predictions from prospect theory. Gains and positive framing enhanced riskseeking preference whereas losses and negative framing augmented risk-averse preference. Risk-seeking choices were mediated by opportunity perception whereas risk-averse choices were mediated by threat perception. In Study 2, the participants high in achievement motive perceived greater opportunities in a negative situation, and the participants high in avoidance motive perceived greater threats in a positive situation, suggesting that ambition (achievement motive) operates more significantly in the face of adversities whereas cautiousness (avoidance motive) functions more significantly in prosperity.
Microstructural design of fiber composites

The optimum performance design of composite microstructures is discussed. The forces driving progress in fiber composites are examined, and recent developments in the mechanics of laminated composites are surveyed, emphasizing thick laminates, hygrothermal effects, and thermal transient effects. The strength of continuous-fiber composites is discussed, presenting analyses of local load redistribution due to fiber breakages and treatments of statistical tensile strength theories. Modes of failure of laminated composites are examined. Elastic, physical, and viscoelastic properties as well as the strength and fracture behavior of short-fiber composites are studied, and it is shown how the performance of composites can be controlled by selecting material systems and their geometric distributions. 2D textile structural composites based on woven, knitted, and braided preforms are considered, and techniques for analyzing and modeling the thermomechanical behavior of 2D textile composites are presented. Recent developments in the processing of 3D textile preforms are introduced and the processing-microstructure relationship is demonstrated. Finite elastic deformation of flexible composites is addressed.
Some aspects of the long range beam-beam interaction in storage rings

In this paper we develop a linear model of the long range beam-beam tune shift for cases when the electron and positron orbits are separated at all crossing points. Theoretical considerations show that the tunes of coherent beam-beam modes depend crucially on the betatron phase advance between crossing points. Under certain conditions the tune split may be reduced, or even made equal to zero in spite of a strong beam-beam interaction. Measurements of coherent beam-beam modes were made at CESR. In most cases, the experimental results are in good agreement with the linear model. The behavior of coherent beam-beam modes was examined theoretically, taking into account the coherent tune shift caused by impedance effects. >
Microbial metabolite triggers antimicrobial defense

In general, innate immune responses are beneficial to the host. However, under certain circumstances, such as coinfections, these responses may contribute to disease progression. For instance, an initial infection may induce an immune response that renders the host susceptible to a subsequent infection by a different pathogen. For years, it has been understood that Neisseria gonorrhoeae and HIV coinfection increase viral shedding and transmission ( 1 ). However, the molecular mechanisms that control this phenomenon have been unclear. Neisseria spp. release a factor that can activate the transcription factor nuclear factor κB (NF-κB) in host cells and drive HIV gene expression ( 2 ). On page 1251 of this issue, Gaudet et al. ( 3 ) reveal the identity of this bacterial-derived factor, as well as the signaling axis through which it drives innate immune gene expression. This detection pathway may constitute a previously unknown innate immune signaling response with broader implications in microbial defense, as well as the pathogenesis of HIV.
A Review of“The Rise of the President's Permanent Campaign”

For several decades, the “permanent campaign” has been a much-used part of the American political lexicon. Yet, like many other such bits of argot, there is little agreement on what precisely it me...
Airframe Performance Optimization of Guided Projectiles Using Design of Experiments

Performance optimization of guided, gun-launched projectiles is a difficult task due to nonlinear flight behavior, complex aerodynamic interactions, and unique engineering constraints. Historically, the design process for many smart weapons has been iterative in which a series of design improvements are made until performance requirements have been met. This paper presents an alternative formal methodology for smart weapons conceptual airframe design and optimization based on design of experiments. At the initial stage, a basic aerobody shape is defined along with candidate control actuators and associated design parameters. Based on a design of experiments, a kriging response surface is generated mapping design variables to performance criteria. Simultaneously, a neural network is trained to recognize unstable designs. Finally, a genetic algorithm determines the optimal projectile design with respect to a predefined cost function. By varying this cost function, a Pareto frontier of optimal designs can be...
The present moment in quantum cosmology: challenges to the arguments for the elimination of time

Barbour, Hawking, Misner and others have argued that time cannot play an essential role in the formulation of a quantum theory of cosmology. Here we present three challenges to their arguments, taken from works and remarks by Kauffman, Markopoulou and Newman. These can be seen to be based on two principles: that every observable in a theory of cosmology should be measurable by some observer inside the universe, and all mathematical constructions necessary to the formulation of the theory should be realizable in a finite time by a computer that fits inside the universe. We also briefly discuss how a cosmological theory could be formulated so it is in agreement with these principles.
School of leeches

Neurobiology of the Leech. Edited By Kenneth J. Muller, John G. Nicholls and Gunther S. Stent. Pp.320. ISBN 0-87969-146-8. (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory: 1982.) $36, (US), $43.20 (elsewhere).
PROXIMAL RABBIT COLONOCYTES FROM DIFFERENT DEVELOPMENTAL STAGES CAN BE CULTURED AND SHOW ONTOGENIC CHANGES IN CHLORIDE TRANSPORT. • 741

PROXIMAL RABBIT COLONOCYTES FROM DIFFERENT DEVELOPMENTAL STAGES CAN BE CULTURED AND SHOW ONTOGENIC CHANGES IN CHLORIDE TRANSPORT. • 741
Nitrates in drinking water and the early onset of hypertension

Abstract Eighteen communities of Weld County, Colorado, USA were selected to study the possible relationship between high nitrate levels in potable water supplies and the incidence of hypertension. The control group consisted of nine communities that had no nitrates in their potable water supplies and the study group of nine communities that had nitrate levels ranging from 19 to 125 ppm. A survey of Weld County General Hospital records yielded 487 cases of both primary and secondary hypertension in patients from the exposed and control communities for the period 1 January 1969 to 1 January 1975. The mean annual incidence rate for the control group was 7·9/1000 population compared with a rate of 5·9/1000 population for the exposed group. There was an earlier onset of hypertension amongst those residents of the exposed communities; i.e. the exposed group exhibited a peak among the 50 to 59 age group and the control group peaked later in the 70 to 70 age group.
Effects of a preventive alcohol education program after three years.

A three-year evaluation of Nebraska students (N = 130) was conducted to gauge the long-term influence of an initial preventive alcohol education intervention. The initial intervention was developed around the inoculation model of McGuire which proposes that individuals can be inoculated against persuasive verbal appeals and thus resist specific pressures. Students in the initial program were assessed and found to be highly susceptible to peer pressure to misuse alcohol. Subjects were followed through their junior year in high school and assessed on the following self-report alcohol-related behaviors: frequency of riding with drinking drivers; frequency of drinking and, frequency of drinking to excess. Cognitive areas assessed included items assessing the concept of tolerance to alcohol. Results suggest that after three years frequency of risky alcohol-related behavior between experimental and control students was not significantly different. Assessments of cognitive items revealed no statistically signifi...
Glycophospholipid membrane anchoring provides clues to the mechanism of protein sorting in polarized epithelial cells

Abstract The sorting signals that guide proteins to apical and basolateral surfaces of epithelial cells have remained elusive. Current evidence suggests a hierarchy of sorting information with multiple sorting signals (apical and basolateral) present in different domains of a given plasma membrane protein. The observation that covalently attached glycosyl-phosphatidyl-inositol (GPI) acts as a ‘dominant' apical targeting signal is compatible with the involvement of glycolipids in epithelial protein sorting.
Insulin-like growth factor (IGF) binding protein-5 blocks skeletal muscle differentiation by inhibiting IGF actions.

Signaling through the IGF-I receptor by locally produced IGF-I or -II is critical for normal skeletal muscle development and repair after injury. In most tissues, IGF action is modulated by IGF binding proteins (IGFBPs). IGFBP-5 is produced by muscle cells, and previous studies have suggested that when overexpressed it may either facilitate or inhibit IGF actions, and thus potentially enhance or diminish IGF-mediated myoblast differentiation or survival. To resolve these contradictory observations and discern the mechanisms of action of IGFBP-5, we studied its effects in cultured muscle cells. Purified wild-type (WT) mouse IGFBP-5 or a variant with diminished extracellular matrix binding (C domain mutant) each prevented differentiation at final concentrations as low as 3.5 nm, whereas analogs with reduced IGF binding (N domain mutant) were ineffective even at 100 nm. None of the IGFBP-5 variants altered cell number. An IGF-I analog (R3IGF-I) with diminished affinity for IGFBPs promoted full muscle differentiation in the presence of IGFBP-5WT, showing that IGFBP-5 interferes with IGF-dependent signaling pathways in myoblasts. When IGFBP-5WT or variants were overexpressed by adenovirus-mediated gene transfer, concentrations in muscle culture medium reached 500 nm, and differentiation was inhibited, even by IGFBP-5N. As 200 nm of purified IGFBP-5N prevented activation of the IGF-I receptor by 10 nm IGF-II as effectively as 2 nm of IGFBP-5WT, our results not only demonstrate that IGFBP-5 variants with reduced IGF binding affinity impair muscle differentiation by blocking IGF actions, but underscore the need for caution when labeling effects of IGFBPs as IGF independent because even low-affinity analogs may potently inhibit IGF-I or -II if present at high enough concentrations in biological fluids.
The natural and engineered 3D microenvironment as a regulatory cue during stem cell fate determination.

The concept of using stem cells as self-renewing sources of healthy cells in regenerative medicine has existed for decades, but most applications have yet to achieve clinical success. A main reason for the lack of successful stem cell therapies is the difficulty in fully recreating the maintenance and control of the native stem cell niche. Improving the performance of transplanted stem cells therefore requires a better understanding of the cellular mechanisms guiding stem cell behavior in both native and engineered three-dimensional (3D) microenvironments. Most techniques, however, for uncovering mechanisms controlling cell behavior in vitro have been developed using 2D cell cultures and are of limited use in 3D environments such as engineered tissue constructs. Deciphering the mechanisms controlling stem cell fate in native and engineered 3D environments, therefore, requires rigorous quantitative techniques that permit mechanistic, hypothesis-driven studies of cell–microenvironment interactions. Here, we review the current understanding of 2D and 3D stem cell control mechanisms and propose an approach to uncovering the mechanisms that govern stem cell behavior in 3D.
Depression and Medication Adherence in the Treatment of Chronic Diseases in the United States: A Meta-Analysis

Objective To conduct a meta-analysis of the association between depression and medication adherence among patients with chronic diseases. Poor medication adherence may result in worse outcomes and higher costs than if patients fully adhere to their medication regimens.