cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
An Investigation of the Factor Affecting on Paddy Production

This paper was conducted to explore the influencing factors of paddy production in Batticaloa district. Based on the multiple regression model, variables of land, seed, pesticides, fertilizer, family labour, hire labour, machine charges, extension services and farmer’s experience are employed. The study was conducted via cross section analysis by using primary data during the period of 2015/2016 Maha season. The study used combination of both random sampling technique and convenient sampling technique to select of area and select sample farmers respectively. The results show that land, fertilizer and pesticide are influenced positively on paddy production. Seed, irrigation and farmer’s experience are influenced negatively on paddy production. While other factors namely machinery, hire fabour, family labour and extension service are not influenced on paddy production in Batticaloa district.
Tutamen: A Next-Generation Secret-Storage Platform

The storage and management of secrets (encryption keys, passwords, etc) are significant open problems in the age of ephemeral, cloud-based computing infrastructure. How do we store and control access to the secrets necessary to configure and operate a range of modern technologies without sacrificing security and privacy requirements or significantly curtailing the desirable capabilities of our systems? To answer this question, we propose Tutamen: a next-generation secret-storage service. Tutamen offers a number of desirable properties not present in existing secret-storage solutions. These include the ability to operate across administrative domain boundaries and atop minimally trusted infrastructure. Tutamen also supports access control based on contextual, multi-factor, and alternate-band authentication parameters. These properties have allowed us to leverage Tutamen to support a variety of use cases not easily realizable using existing systems, including supporting full-disk encryption on headless servers and providing fully-featured client-side encryption for cloud-based file-storage services. In this paper, we present an overview of the secret-storage challenge, Tutamen's design and architecture, the implementation of our Tutamen prototype, and several of the applications we have built atop Tutamen. We conclude that Tutamen effectively eases the secret-storage burden and allows developers and systems administrators to achieve previously unattainable security-oriented goals while still supporting a wide range of feature-oriented requirements.
“Queer Endings” After Beowulf: The Fall of Arthur (1931–1934)

Chapter 5 emphasizes Tolkien’s consciousness of the similar endings of both Beowulf and his own adaptation, The Fall of Arthur. What all three of Tolkien’s original medieval poems and his own translations or interpretations of them involve is the fall or death of a hero or king, in each case, one who has no legitimate heir to take his place and, as king of his nation, no guarantee of a future for his people. Tolkien’s obsession with death mirrors Lee Edelman’s understanding of the queer concept of “no future.” That is, the Old English epic Beowulf would certainly have been in Tolkien’s thoughts as he worked on The Fall of Arthur because of his teaching responsibilities at Leeds and then at Oxford in 1925.
Salmonella Typhimurium and Multidirectional Communication in the Gut.

The mammalian digestive tract is home to trillions of microbes, including bacteria, archaea, protozoa, fungi and viruses. In monogastric mammals the stomach and small intestine harbor diverse bacterial populations but are typically less populated than the colon. The gut bacterial community (microbiota hereafter) varies widely among different host species and individuals within a species. It is influenced by season of the year, age of the host, stress and disease. Ideally, the host and microbiota benefit each other. The host provides nutrients to the microbiota and the microbiota assists the host with digestion and nutrient metabolism. The resident microbiota competes with pathogens for space and nutrients and, through this competition, protects the host in a phenomenon called colonization resistance. The microbiota participates in development of the host immune system, particularly regulation of autoimmunity and mucosal immune response. The microbiota also shapes gut-brain communication and host responses to stress; and, indeed, the microbiota is a newly recognized endocrine organ within mammalian hosts. Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium (S. Typhimurium hereafter) is a food-borne pathogen which adapts to and alters the gastrointestinal (GI) environment. In the GI tract, S. Typhimurium competes with the microbiota for nutrients and overcomes colonization resistance to establish infection. To do this, S. Typhimurium uses multiple defense mechanisms to resist environmental stressors, like the acidic pH of the stomach, and virulence mechanisms which allow it to invade the intestinal epithelium and disseminate throughout the host. To coordinate gene expression and disrupt signaling within the microbiota and between host and microbiota, S. Typhimurium employs its own chemical signaling and may regulate host hormone metabolism. This review will discuss the multidirectional interaction between S. Typhimurium, host and microbiota as well as mechanisms that allow S. Typhimurium to succeed in the gut.
Abstract 2382: Exploring the relationship between reelin signaling and breast cancer metastasis

We have investigated the role of reelin signaling in the progression of metastatic breast cancer. Reelin signaling serves to position neurons in the developing central nervous system, but functions of this signaling pathway in other tissues have not been studied until recently. Our laboratory discovered that the reelin pathway is an important regulator of mammary gland development. We showed that reelin and Dab1, the intracellular adaptor protein for reelin, are required for timely development and proper morphology of the mammary gland. We also found that normal mammary epithelial cells (MECs) can respond to exogenous reelin by slowing their migration rate. Since aberration of developmental pathways is often implicated in breast cancer progression, we studied the possible roles of the reelin pathway in this process. We found that reelin signaling pathway components are differentially expressed across a variety of human breast cancer cell lines. We also showed that mouse mammary carcinoma 4T1 cells do not respond to reelin by slowing their migration, likely through downregulation of Dab1 mRNA. Orthotopic injections of 4T1 cells into Balb/C mice are used to model stage IV triple negative breast cancer, and resulted in aggressive tumors that produced numerous metastases in the lungs by 4 weeks post-injection. In order to find whether reelin signaling functions in the tumor microenvironment, we injected 4T1 cells into mice that lack reelin or Dab1 (reeler and Dab1 mutant mice). We found that 4T1 tumor growth was delayed in reeler mutants, and we are currently in the process of assessing the metastatic burden in these mice. We did not see differences in tumor growth or metastatic lung colonization in Dab1 mutant mice. These results indicate that the reelin signaling pathway may promote tumor growth via Dab1-independent, non-canonical signaling events. Citation Format: Elvira Khialeeva, Joan Chou, Ellen M. Carpenter. Exploring the relationship between reelin signaling and breast cancer metastasis. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 106th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2015 Apr 18-22; Philadelphia, PA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2015;75(15 Suppl):Abstract nr 2382. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2015-2382
Helium chemistry: React with nobility

Helium, the 'most noble' of the noble gases, had only been coaxed into forming molecular ions or van der Waals compounds. It has now been seen in a stable solid compound, Na2He, under high pressure.
Green vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser from perovskite (CH(NH 2 ) 2 PbBr 3 ) thin films

We demonstrate green lasing from solution processed perovskite thin films, sandwiched within planar SiO 2 /HfO 2 dielectric DBRs to form a high-Q surface emitting vertical cavity. Spectrally and spatially coherent lasing with a low threshold is achieved.
Abstract 360: Implantation of an Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell Derived Cardiomyocyte Tissue Engineered Patch Improves Left Ventricular Function and Electro-mechanical Coupling in Rats With Heart Failure

Background: Chronic Heart Failure (CHF) is the leading cause of hospital readmissions and mortality in the US. Here we report the effects of surgically delivering a human bioengineered patch of human induced pluripotent stem cells derived cardiomyocytes (hiPSC-CMs) and fibroblasts on left ventricular (LV) function in rats with CHF. We evaluate improvements in LV systolic and diastolic function, electromechanical coupling and gene expression after patch implantation. Methods: Adult male Sprague-Dawley rats underwent left coronary artery ligation and were randomized to Sham (N=8), CHF (N=8-21), and CHF+hiPSC-CM patch (N=20-24). Heterogeneous hiPSC-CMs were seeded and co-cultured onto a vicryl matrix embedded with human dermal fibroblasts. Echocardiography was performed at 3 and 6 weeks post-randomization. Hemodynamic pressure measurements were performed at 6 weeks post-ligation with Millar solid state micromanometer pressure catheters. Open chest Electrophysiologic (EP) mapping was performed at 6 weeks post ligation. Gene expression was evaluated through qRT-PCR. Results: 48 hours into culture hiPSC-CMs patches displayed synchronized and spontaneous contractions which developed in robustness over time. At maximal robustness, contractions were visualized across the full thickness of the construct. Contractions were recorded at 36+5 beats BPM. Three weeks after patch implantation (6 weeks post ligation) the hiPSC-CM patch decreased (P Conclusion: Cardiac patch implantation with hiPSC derived cardiomyocytes is an effective and feasible method of treating CHF with improvements in systolic function, diastolic function, and electro-mechanical coupling in rats with CHF.
The Living Environment

The influx of adults with disabilities into community-based programs requires careful thought and planning regarding the development of community living programs. This need comes at a significant point in the history of services for adults with disabilities, for we currently have the opportunity to create programs that truly reflect the typical living environment available to everyone and result in improved quality of life for adults with disabilities. But we should never forget a basic truism: where you put your resources is what you are.
Economic approaches to teacher recruitment and retention

Abstract The quality of teaching in a school results from a range of factors, including available resources, curriculum, and instructional leadership, but it is also driven by the individuals who teach in each classroom. The staffing of teachers in schools, in turn, is a product of both recruitment and retention practices. This article describes how the choices of teachers and the actions of schools and districts influence who enters the profession and who stays. It then identifies common policy approaches for advancing recruitment and retention goals and summarizes the current research, discussing the effectiveness of these policies. The article focuses on teacher labor markets in the United States (for information on teacher labor markets outside of the US, see Ladd (2007) and Vegas (2007)).
Abstract 180: Missense Mutations in ABCA1 and CETP Associate with Changes in the HDL Proteome in Primate Half-Sibs Discordant for HDL Cholesterol Levels

HDL protein composition and corresponding function may impact cardiovascular disease risk. Identifying genetic variation that influences the HDL proteome may reveal modifiable HDL functions that im...
Horse hoof inspired biomimetic structure for improved damage tolerance and crack diversion

Abstract A biomimetic composite structure is investigated to explore the effect of angled ductile layers. The composite structure is idealized as layers of ductile material mixed with layers of hard brittle material in a rectangular bar. The layers zig zag across length of the structure with the aim to promote crack diversion. The novelty of this study is the use of such angular layers based on biomimetic inspiration from a horse hoof keratin structure. Specimens were manufactured using 3D printing technique to study the effect of different layer angles, layer thickness and crack location by single-edge notch bending test. Results showed that traditional flat thick layers provide a strong material, but zig-zagged layers are better at dispersing stress to maintain structural integrity after an impact or fatigue crack. This work provides a creative and innovative approach to design core layers in composite sandwich structures with enhanced damage tolerance.
Latency Reversal Agents Modulate HIV Antigen Processing and Presentation to CD8 T Cells

Latency reversal agents (LRA) variably induce HIV re-expression in CD4 T cells but reservoirs are not cleared. Whether HIV epitope presentation is similar between latency reversal and initial infection of CD4 T cells is unknown yet crucial to define immune responses able to detect HIV-infected CD4 T cells after latency reversal. HIV peptides displayed by MHC comes from the intracellular degradation of proteins by proteasomes and post-proteasomal peptidases but the impact of LRAs on antigen processing is not known. Here we show that HDAC inhibitors (HDCAi) reduced cytosolic proteolytic activities while PKC agonists (PKCa) increased them to a lesser extent than that induced by TCR activation. During the cytosolic degradation of long HIV peptides in LRA-treated CD4 T cells extracts, HDACi and PKCa modulated degradation patterns of peptides and altered the production of HIV epitopes in often opposite ways. Beyond known HIV epitopes, HDACi narrowed the coverage of HIV antigenic fragments by 8-11aa degradation peptides while PKCa broadened it. LRAs altered HIV infection kinetics and modulated CD8 T cell activation in an epitope- and time-dependent manner. Interestingly the efficiency of endogenous epitope processing and presentation to CD8 T cells was increased by PKCa Ingenol at early time points despite low levels of antigens. LRA-induced modulations of antigen processing should be considered and exploited to enhance and broaden HIV peptide presentation by CD4 T cells and to improve immune recognition after latency reversal. This property of LRAs, if confirmed with other antigens, might be exploited to improve immune detection of diseased cells beyond HIV.
Exploring the Potential of Technological Innovations for Temporary Structures: A Survey Study

AbstractTechnology innovations, such as virtual design and construction (VDC) tools, light detection and ranging (lidar), global positioning system (GPS), and other vision-based or sensor-based sys...
In Vivo and In Vitro Studies of Neurofilament Protein Assembly

Abstract Neurofilaments were purified by a batchwise hydroxylapatite chromatography method. The neurofilament triplet subunits were further separated by ion exchange chromatography. Reassembly studies indicated that the 70, 000 dalton subunit is necessary for reassembly of the separated polypeptides into neurofilaments. These results were further corroborated by studies of the appearance of neurofilament polypeptides in the developing rat optic nerve, where only the appearance of the 70, 000 dalton subunit coincides with the appearance of the neurofilaments in the optic nerve. These studies indicate that the neurofilament may be composed of a core of the 70, 000 dalton protein, and that the other two polypeptides serve as tightly associated accessory proteins.
Pre-cinema as paradigm and collection at the Getty Research Institute

Since the late 1990s I have developed an ongoing familiarity with the early media optical devices held at the Getty Research Institute (hereafter GRI) in Los Angeles. Most of these items are part o...
Advanced pharmacy practice experience students at the intersection of education and practice transformation.

Abstract Background and purpose Community pharmacy practice is transforming from traditional dispensing roles, and advanced pharmacy practice experiences (APPEs) could be a viable mechanism to assist pharmacies during transformation. A new type of APPE is described and the design, outcomes, and feedback from the first students and pharmacies piloting this rotation are discussed. Educational activity and setting A four-week elective APPE was designed to position fourth-year students as facilitators for community pharmacy transformation activities. The first transformation activity was clinical documentation using electronic care plans (eCare plans). Students spent a majority of the rotation in the pharmacy with only the first week and one day a week thereafter at the college of pharmacy. Students assessed current pharmacy workflow, developed an implementation plan, trained pharmacy staff, and created protocols and resources. Findings Four student pharmacists completed the rotation during May, June, and August 2019. Student knowledge was assessed through a 12-question pre- and post-quiz on implementation science and the pharmacist eCare plan. Following orientation activities, students' scores increased from an average 44% to 86%. Course evaluations showed students learned about pharmacy business management and recognized challenges in teaching staff new concepts. All students indicated appreciation for innovative activity involvement and helping a pharmacy advance its practice. Summary Early findings from this elective indicate a successful learning experience for students and pharmacy owners. The students gained skills in teaching, facilitation, and practice management, while pharmacy owners benefitted from staff training and implementation resources.
Comparison of Different Virtual Inertia Control Methods for Inverter-based Generators

With the rapid development of inverter-based generators (IGs), power grid is faced with critical frequency stability challenges because the existing IGs have no inertia. To equip IGs with inertial response, researchers have proposed several virtual inertia control methods, which can be classified into two categories: virtual synchronous generator (VSG) control and droop control based on rate of change of frequency (ROCOF-droop control). In this paper, the comparison between both virtual inertia control methods is conducted from three perspectives: mathematical model, output characteristic and small-signal stability. State-space models are firstly built to analyze the control mechanism of VSG control and ROCOF-droop control methods. Simulation and eigenvalue analysis are conducted to study the transient responses and oscillation characteristics of both methods, which is helpful to understand the advantages and limitations of existing virtual inertia control methods. Finally, the obtained theoretical results are validated through realtime laboratory (RT-LAB) hardware-in-loop simulation platform.
Applications of spatial models to ordinal data: Geospatial Statistics for Soybean Iron Deficiency Chlorosis

Models have been developed to account for heterogeneous spatial variation in field trials. These spatial models have been shown to successfully increase the quality of phenotypic data resulting in improved effectiveness of selection by plant breeders. The models were developed for continuous data types such as grain yield and plant height, but data for most traits, such as in iron deficiency chlorosis (IDC), are recorded on ordinal scales. Is it reasonable to make spatial adjustments to ordinal data by simply applying methods developed for continuous data? The objective of the research described herein is to evaluate methods for spatial adjustment on ordinal data, using soybean IDC as an example. Spatial adjustment models are classified into three different groups: group I, moving average grid adjustment; group II, geospatial autoregressive regression (SAR) models; and group III, tensor product penalized splines. Comparisons of eight models sampled from these three classes demonstrate that spatial adjustments depend on severity of field heterogeneity, the irregularity of the spatial patterns, and the model used. SAR models generally produce better performance metrics than other classes of models. However, none of the eight evaluated models fully removed spatial patterns indicating that there is a need to either adjust existing models or develop novel models for spatial adjustments of ordinal data collected in fields exhibiting discontinuous transitions between heterogeneous patches.
Measurement of large serine integrase enzymatic characteristics in HEK293 cells reveals variability and influence on downstream reporter expression.

Large Serine Integrases (LSIs) offer tremendous potential for rapid genetic engineering as well as building biological systems capable of responding to stimuli and integrating information. Currently, there is no unified metric for directly measuring the enzymatic characteristics of LSI function, which hinders evaluation of their suitability to specific applications. Here, we present an experimental protocol for recording DNA recombination in HEK293 cells in real-time through fluorophore expression and software which fits the kinetic data to a model tailored to LSI recombination dynamics. Our model captures the activity of LSIs as three parameters: expression level (Kexp ), catalytic rate (kcat ), and substrate affinity (Kd ). The expression level and catalytic rate for phiC31 and Bxb1 varied greatly, suggesting disparate routes to high recombination efficiencies. Moreover, the expression level and substrate affinity jointly impacted downstream reporter expression, potentially by obstructing transcriptional machinery. We validated these observations by swapping between promoters and mutating key recombinase residues and DNA recognition sites to individually modulate each parameter. Our model for identifying key LSI parameters in cellulo provides insight into selecting the optimal recombinase for various applications as well as for guiding the engineering of improved LSIs.
Economic Inequality and the Pursuit of Pleasure

The present research proposes and tests the “hedonic risk hypothesis” that affective experiences of pleasure provide a common currency that people use to equate economic and hedonic inequality. As ...
Epilepsy Surgery: Special Circumstances.

Epilepsy surgery has proven to be very effective in treating refractory focal epilepsies in children, producing seizure freedom or partial seizure control well beyond any other medical or dietary therapies. While surgery is mostly utilized in certain clinical phenotypes, either based on the location such as temporal lobe epilepsy, or based on the presence of known epileptogenic lesions such as focal cortical dysplasia, tumors or hemimegalencephaly, there is a growing body of evidence to support the role of surgery in other patients’ cohorts that were classically not thought of as surgical candidates. These include patients with rare genetic disorders, electrical status epilepticus in sleep, status epilepticus and the very young patients. Furthermore, epilepsy surgery is not considered as a “last resort” as seizure and cognitive outcomes of surgery are considerably better when done earlier rather than later in relation to the time of onset of epilepsy and age of surgery especially in the context of known focal cortical dysplasia. This article examines the accumulating evidence of the utility of epilepsy surgery in these special circumstances.
A Battle for Reason: The Unconscionable Attorney-Client Fee Agreement

Decades before the American Bar Association (ABA) promulgated its Model Rule of Professional Conduct 1.5 requiring reasonable attorneys’ fees, courts were regularly tasked with deciphering attorney-client fee agreements under the then-prevailing standards of unconscionability. The doctrine of unconscionability is still utilized today to proffer the occasional challenge to questionable provisions of attorney-client fee agreements. Although the ABA requirement of a reasonable fee is the standard adopted by the disciplinary rules of almost all states, the reasonable fee has largely been conflated into an admonition against unconscionable fees, making it difficult for clients to prevail in claims involving unreasonable, but not unconscionable fees. The standard requiring a reasonable fee is less stringent than unconscionability, yet there is a tendency by courts and disciplinary committees to conflate these two standards. This tendency results in miscarriages of justice, leaving injured clients with considerably lower monetary awards than the law contemplates, and many unscrupulous attorneys with considerably more compensation than their efforts merit.
Chinese Aid in Africa: Attitudes and Conflict

Chinese development projects in Africa are often portrayed as exploitative, self-serving and conflict provoking. In this paper we answer the question of whether Chinese aid in Africa really does affect conflict and changes attitudes towards China. We combine geo-located information on the number, size and type of Chinese aid projects between 2000 and 2012 with panel data on conflict on the African continent to estimate the impact of the presence of Chinese development projects on violence at the district level. We also exploit a large cross-sectional data set about Africans' attitudes towards China from the 6th wave of the Afrobarometer survey to differentiate between two possible mechanisms: conflict as a competition for resources or conflict as a result of cultural animosity towards China. We use two types of instrumental variables to argue for a causal relationship. In line with the previous literature, we find that the presence of aid projects increases conflict, particularly civilian riots, in Western, Eastern- and Southern African districts. However, we also show that aid projects with no physical Chinese presence (purely financial flows, such as budget support) are the driver behind the increase in conflict, which is suggestive evidence for the rent-seeking channel. Moreover, we do not find that the presence of aid projects provokes a particular hostility towards China. Districts with more Chinese aid projects in the previous 15 years do not hold more unfavorable views towards China than districts with fewer projects.
Whose time is it anyway

When I was a junior doctor in 1991, I was very impressed by an article written by a consultant orthopaedic surgeon who had the courage to take a junior medical house officer locum to experience their working conditions.1 He wrote of the experience of time from both a consultant and junior doctor perspective, something which he had been unaware of before taking on the post. He described the ward round as ‘a pageant in slow motion, a ritual so dissociated from everything going on around as to be almost psychotic’ followed by the frenetic activity for the junior staff when the senior was not on the ward. This experience of time as being influenced by our position within the medical hierarchy is common to many encounters. We become accustomed as GPs to time being broken up into 10-minute blocks, to …
Actual Entities: A Control Method for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

ACTUAL ENTITIES: A CONTROL METHOD FOR UNMANNED AERIAL VEHICLES By Erica Lynn Absetz, M.S. A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Master of Science at Virginia Commonwealth University. Virginia Commonwealth University, 2013 Director: Dr. James Ames, Associate Professor, Department of Computer Science The focus of this thesis is on Actual Entities, a concept created by the philosopher Alfred North Whitehead, and how the concept can be applied to Unmanned Aerial Vehicles as a behavioral control method. Actual Entities are vector based, atomic units that use a method called prehension to observe their environment and react with various actions. When combining multiple Actual Entities a Colony of Prehending Entities is created; when observing their prehensions an intelligent behavior emerges. By applying the characteristics of Actual Entities to Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, specifically in a situation where they are searching for targets, this emergent, intelligent behavior can be seen as they search a designated area and locate specified targets. They will alter their movements based on the prehensions of the environment, surrounding Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, and targets.
National System for Water Data

\IBureau of the Budget Circular A-67\N, August 1964, called for coordination of certain water data acquisition by Federal agencies. The Department of the Interior’s Office of Water Data Coordination was given responsibility to: (1) design and operate a National Water Data Network; (2) coordinate national network and specialized water data activities and prepare an annual Federal Plan for water data acquisition; and (3) maintain a catalog of information on water data, and on Federal activities planned or conducted to acquire such data, and to organize network data. The Catalog of Information on Water Data is a file of information on water data acquisition activities and Indexes are published. A level of information approach to network design has three informational levels: Level I, base level for national and regional planning; Level II, subregional planning objectives; Level III, local operation and management objectives; the accounting element of the Level I, streamflow and stream quality was designed. An Interior Water Data System was developed and will be expanded to non-Interior Federal agencies. Field coordination initially will involve four field coordinators to review agency plans and needs for water data.
Atomic failure in wide-area computation

The ATF Calculus is a kernel language for wide-area network programming languages, with atomic failure semantics as its central organizing principle.
Wavelet-Based Stereo Vision

Multiresolution frameworks have been embraced by the stereo imaging community because of their human-like approach in solving the correspondence problem and reconstructing density maps from binocular images. We describe a method to recover depth information of stereo images based on a multi-channel wavelet transform, where trends in the coefficients provide overall context throughout the framework, while transients are used to give refined local details into the image. A locally adapted lifting scheme is used to maximize the subband decorrelation energy by the transients. The coefficients in each channel computed from the lifting framework are combined to measure the local correlation of matching windows in the stereogram. The combined correlation yields higher cumulative confidence in the disparity measure than using a single primitive, such as LOG, which has been applied to the traditional area-based stereo techniques.
User interface design and the technical communicator

The thought process involved in transforming user requirements and product objectives into an effective user interface design is examined. By user interface, the authors mean all aspects of the product that help users perform tasks: online panels, commands, messages, help panels, tutorials, and other forms of documentation, whether online or printed. The authors explore six principles or end goals of the well-designed user interface-customer task-orientation, automation, accessibility, simplicity, clarity, and consistency-and demonstrate how they can help shape design decisions throughout the development process. They also show how technical communicators, by virtue of their education, skills, and sensibilities, can apply the principles not only to documentation but to the total user interface. For this reason, their participation in externals design terms is essential. >
In-vivo single cell protein interaction investigation using microfluidic platform

We have developed a microfluidic platform to immobilize single living cells at a position in a microfluidic channel for monitoring cell responses to different stimuli over time. While the cell is trapped, the device maintains control over changing the channel media and flow rate. The captured cell may be released in order to capture another cell and repeat the experiment without disturbing the setup. We have demonstrated the monitoring of an individual yeast cell, in which the captured cell is exposed to α-factor ligand.
The inhibition of sterol biosynthesis in rat liver homogenates by bile.

Abstract The incorporation in vitro of acetate-1-14C into digitonin-precipitable sterols in rat liver homogenates is markedly inhibited by small amounts of rat bile. The incorporation in vitro of mevalonate-2-14C into digitonin-precipitable sterols in the same enzyme system is much less sensitive to bile, suggesting that the major site of action of bile in suppressing sterol biosynthesis from acetate is at a pre-mevalonate step in the biosynthetic pathway. Fasting, which is known to suppress the rate of hepatic cholesterol biosynthesis from acetate in the rat, results in a 2-fold increase in the inhibitory activity of bile. A major part of the inhibitory activity appears to be associated with the protein fraction of bile. This inhibitory protein fraction of bile has been partially purified and characterized. An approximate molecular weight of 19,000 has been determined for the inhibitory protein from the results of gel filtration and sucrose density gradient centrifugation experiments.
Electrocatalytic activity and surface properties of tungsten bronzes

The electrocatalytic activities of sodium tungsten bronzes, including high purity crystals, platinum doped crystals, and platinum plated crystals, have been measured for oxygen reduction in acid solution. In addition, a survey of the electrocatalytic activities and general electrochemical properties of other alkali tungsten bronzes, thalium tungsten bronze, and tungsten trioxide were investigated and compared to sodium tungsten bronze. All measurements were done on single crystals. Pure sodium tungsten bronzes and WO/sub 3/ have a slight catalytic activity for oxygen reduction. The exchange current density is approximately 10/sup -14/ A/cm/sup 2/. Doping the cubic sodium tungsten bronze with up to 800 ppM of platinum slightly increased the catalytic activity of the crystals, but the effect was noticeable only at very low current densities. Platinum preelectrolysis of the solution was shown to contaminate the crystal surface with significant amounts of platinum. For the platinum plated bronze crystals, no synergistic effect between the platinum and the bronze was observed for oxygen reduction. However, different platinum plating methods gave more than an order of magnitude difference in catalytic activity, with the same amount of platinum. The platinum was deposited on the bronze surface in different forms by the different plating methods. One possible formmore » of highly dispersed platinum on a bronze surface is the formation of a platinum tungsten bronze, Pt/sub x/WO/sub 3/. Hydrogen tungsten bronze is formed in the surface layers of all the bronzes at potentials below +0.2 V (NHE), and the reaction is completely reversible. One possible form of highly dispersed platinum on a bronze surface is the formation of a platinum tungsten bronze, Pt/sub x/WO/sub 3/. Hydrogen tungsten bronze is formed in the surface layers of all the bronzes at potentials below +0.2 V (NHE), and the reaction is completely reversible.« less
Sensory and Working Memory

Memory researchers traditionally distinguish between two types of transient memory: Sensory memory and short-term (or working) memory. Sensory memories are faithful, veridical, records of original events. They represent literal persistence—the same sensory event simply removed in time. Short-term memories are the active, but analyzed, contents of mind—the stuff of conscious awareness. This chapter reviews the major empirical properties of sensory and short-term memory and discusses the various methodologies that are used to study each. Sensory memories—measured through synchrony judgment tasks, backward masking techniques, or by the Sperling partial report task—last for only a few hundred milliseconds and may accrue as a simple by-product of neural dynamics. Short-term memories—measured through Brown-Peterson distractor task and immediate serial recall—probably last for a second or two but can be maintained indefinitely through rehearsal. Traditional accounts of short-term storage—e.g., the working memory model—have come under attack in recent years. Increasingly, researchers are concluding that remembering over the short-term is cue-driven, much like long-term memory, and that simple notions of rehearsal and decay are unlikely to explain the particulars of short-term forgetting. Keywords: decay; interference; retrieval; sensory memory; short-term memory; temporal distinctiveness; working memory
Optimization of a SiGe:C HBT in a BiCMOS technology for low power wireless applications

The performance enhancement of a SiGe:C HBT for RF/IF applications is described for Motorola's 0.35 /spl mu/m and 0.18 /spl mu/m BiCMOS technologies. Cutoff frequencies (f/sub T/) have been improved from 50 GHz to 78/84 GHz (0.35/0.18 /spl mu/m BiCMOS), with a reduction in minimum noise figure (NF) from 0.7 dB to 0.30 dB. Improvements occurred through the optimization of the intrinsic collector and base dopant profiles, extrinsic collector resistance, and device layout.
Oscillations and chaos in chemical systems

Abstract The chemical community today views chemical chaos much as it did chemical oscillation 20 to 30 years ago. There are a number of “enlightened” students of and believers in the phenomenon, but the vast majority of chemists are either ignorant of or skeptical about the possibility of genuine chaos in a well-controlled chemical system. Major developments in the understanding of periodic chemical oscillation, including the recent systematic design of a new family of oscillators, are reviewed. The question of how closely linked periodic and chaotic behavior are in chemical system is considered briefly, and implications for the design of chaotic systems are noted. Two systems are considered in some detail. The first, earlier reported as a photochemical oscillator and/or chaotic reaction, is shown to be a system of hydrodynamic rather than chemical interest. The second, one of the newly designed family of chlorite oscillators, exhibits many of the features found in experiments on chaos in the Belousov-Zhabotinskii reaction. It illustrates the close relation between complex periodic oscillations and chaos. Both examples serve to point out the origins of the present controversy over the existence of chemical chaos.
Psychotropic drug prescribing for hospitalized patients with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome

Abstract purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the prescribing practices for the use of psychoactive medication in treating hospitalized patients with the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). patients and methods: The medical charts were studied for all patients admitted to a 20bed AIDS inpatient ward from July through December 1986. One hundred and fifty-one patientadmissions comprised the sample. The average age of the patients was 37 years, and the average length of the hospital stay was 13 days. Retrospective chart review collected demographic data, length of stay, medical diagnosis, psychiatric history, and mental status on admission. Data on psychoactive drugs included the reasons for use, maximum daily dose and duration, and side effects ascribed to the drugs. results: Psychoactive drugs were used in 89% of the cases. Anxiolytics accounted for 49% of the psychoactive prescriptions, and hypnotics made up 43% of these prescriptions. The five most frequently used psychoactive drugs were benzodiazepines. The most frequent reasons for psychotropic prescriptions were insomnia (39%), psychologic distress (20%), and nausea (16%). The most frequently used anxiolytic and antipsychotic medications were used in moderate dosage, while the most frequently used antidepressant was prescribed in low dosage. conclusions: Hospitalized AIDS patients are highly likely to be prescribed a psychotropic medication, especially an anxiolytic or hypnotic. Anxiolytics are used for several purposes, including reduction of nausea associated with the use of antibiotics. Antidepressants and antipsychotics are rarely used. Practitioners must be sensitive to the presence of psychiatric conditions presenting as insomnia or disturbed mood so that the most specific and appropriate treatments can be used.
Identification of a new class of nonpeptidic inhibitors of cruzain.

Cruzain is the major cysteine protease of Trypanosoma cruzi, which is the causative agent of Chagas disease and is a promising target for the development of new chemotherapy. With the goal of developing potent nonpeptidic inhibitors of cruzain, the substrate activity screening (SAS) method was used to screen a library of protease substrates initially designed to target the homologous human protease cathepsin S. Structure-based design was next used to further improve substrate cleavage efficiency by introducing additional binding interactions in the S3 pocket of cruzain. The optimized substrates were then converted to inhibitors by the introduction of cysteine protease mechanism-based pharmacophores. Inhibitor 38 was determined to be reversible even though it incorporated the vinyl sulfone pharmacophore that is well documented to give irreversible cruzain inhibition for peptidic inhibitors. The previously unexplored β-chloro vinyl sulfone pharmacophore provided mechanistic insight that led to the developme...
Voluntary Alcohol Intake following Blast Exposure in a Rat Model of Mild Traumatic Brain Injury

Alcoholism is a frequent comorbidity following mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI), even in patients without a previous history of alcohol dependence. Despite this correlational relationship, the extent to which the neurological effects of mTBI contribute to the development of alcoholism is unknown. In this study, we used a rodent blast exposure model to investigate the relationship between mTBI and voluntary alcohol drinking in alcohol naive rats. We have previously demonstrated in Sprague Dawley rats that blast exposure leads to microstructural abnormalities in the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) and other brain regions that progress from four to thirty days. The mPFC is a brain region implicated in alcoholism and drug addiction, although the impact of mTBI on drug reward and addiction using controlled models remains largely unexplored. Alcohol naive Sprague Dawley rats were subjected to a blast model of mTBI (or sham conditions) and then tested in several common measures of voluntary alcohol intake. In a seven-week intermittent two-bottle choice alcohol drinking test, sham and blast exposed rats had comparable levels of alcohol intake. In a short access test session at the conclusion of the two-bottle test, blast rats fell into a bimodal distribution, and among high intake rats, blast treated animals had significantly elevated intake compared to shams. We found no effect of blast when rats were tested for an alcohol deprivation effect or compulsive drinking in a quinine adulteration test. Throughout the experiment, alcohol drinking was modest in both groups, consistent with other studies using Sprague Dawley rats. In conclusion, blast exposure had a minimal impact on overall alcohol intake in Sprague Dawley rats, although intake was increased in a subpopulation of blast animals in a short access session following intermittent access exposure.
Antigenic determinants of the 70-kDa subunit of the Ku autoantigen.

Abstract Autoantibodies against Ku antigen were found in subsets of sera from patients with rheumatic diseases. The Ku autoantigen was characterized as a DNA-binding protein complex composed of two subunits, 70 and 86 kDa. In this study, we report the amino acid sequences of the 70-kDa subunit that are important for interactions with a monoclonal and autoimmune antibodies. Full-length cDNA and numerous 5′ and 3′ deletion mutants were expressed in bacteria and the immunoreactivity of the fusion proteins was analyzed by Western blotting. The reactivity of the monoclonal antibody depended on the region between Ile321 and Phe350. Ten autoimmune sera were tested for reactivity with deletion mutants in immunoblots. The reactivity of six sera strongly depended on the C-terminal amino acids and four sera did not show such dependence; however, these C-terminal sequences did not react with the sera when expressed alone. These results strongly suggest the conformational nature of the Ku autoepitopes. Interestingly, the DNA-binding activity of this Ku protein subunit analyzed by Southwestern blot depended on the same C-terminal amino acids that were involved in interactions with autoantibodies, indicating that anti-Ku autoantibodies are directed to conformationally intact Ku antigen. Reactivities of the autoimmune sera with Met1-Arg115, Met116-Val149, and Val149-Arg586 were also observed. These results demonstrate that different amino acid regions can be involved in interactions with autoimmune antibodies.
SdrG, a Fibrinogen-binding Bacterial Adhesin of the Microbial Surface Components Recognizing Adhesive Matrix Molecules Subfamily from Staphylococcus epidermidis, Targets the Thrombin Cleavage Site in the Bβ Chain

Abstract Staphylococcus epidermidis is an important opportunistic pathogen and is a major cause of foreign body infections. We have characterized the ligand binding activity of SdrG, a fibrinogen-binding microbial surface component recognizing adhesive matrix molecules from S. epidermidis. Western ligand blot analysis showed that a recombinant form of the N-terminal A region of SdrG bound to the native Bβ chain of fibrinogen (Fg) and to a recombinant form of the Bβ chain expressed in Escherichia coli. By analyzing recombinant truncates and synthetic peptide mimetics of the Fg Bβ chain, the binding site for SdrG was localized to residues 6–20 of this polypeptide. Recombinant SdrG bound to a synthetic 25-amino acid peptide (β1–25) representing the N terminus of the Fg Bβ chain with a K D of 1.4 × 10−7 m as determined by fluorescence polarization experiments. This was similar to the apparentK D (0.9 × 10−7 m) calculated from an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay where SdrG bound immobilized Fg in a concentration-dependent manner. SdrG could recognize fibrinopeptide B (residues 1–14), but with a substantially lower affinity than that observed for SdrG binding to synthetic peptides β1–25 and β6–20. However, SdrG does not bind to thrombin-digested Fg. Thus, SdrG appears to target the thrombin cleavage site in the Fg Bβ chain. In fact, SdrG was found to inhibit thrombin-induced fibrinogen clotting by interfering with fibrinopeptide B release.
The Value Content of Agricultural Technologies and Their Effect on Rural Regions and Farmers

The premise of this article is that technologies are not neutral in terms of their design objectives, their scale, and the fact that they reflect the physical and social environments in which they have developed. Specific agricultural technologies, the midwestern plow, the California tomato harvester, and various biotechnologies, are evaluated in these terms and shown to have generally predictable impacts upon rural regions and farmers. Finally, the article examines a series of major threats such as climate change that require the rethinking and restructuring of agriculture along more sustainable lines, something the can be accomplished only with a conscious recognition of the non-neutrality of technologies.