cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
The double-edged impact of social media on online trading: Opportunities, threats, and recommendations for organizations

Abstract While we understand well how social media channels sway consumers, there is little understanding of their influence on online trading behavior. We argue that social media are creating a new class of self-directed online traders by simultaneously encouraging and biasing trading decisions. Through an empirical study, we show that heavy social media users are more likely to engage in online trading but are largely affected by online herding behavior, and are four times more likely to blindly follow other traders. Bloggers, influencers, social network contacts, and social media news shape these users’ online trading behaviors. As online traders influenced by social media are unlikely to receive adequate returns, companies face an ethical dilemma: They could leverage social media to efficiently access funds but they risk inappropriately exploiting the inexperience of online traders biased by social media. We offer a set of nine practical recommendations for organizations to respond to these new challenges.
Cost-Effectiveness of Stock Epinephrine Autoinjectors on Commercial Aircraft.

Background In-flight food-allergic reactions are rare events, but given increasing reports, grass-root advocates have lobbied to replace aircraft emergency kit epinephrine ampules with autoinjectors. Objective To evaluate the cost-effectiveness of stock epinephrine on commercial aircraft. Methods We conducted a Markov model with microsimulation of food-allergic individuals over an 80-year time horizon to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of supplementing airline medical kits with epinephrine autoinjectors (eg, providing autoinjector twin-packs in addition to the epinephrine ampule in the medical kit), versus not doing so, using a per-plane annual value-based cost ceiling of $338 (the value-based ceiling for school stock epinephrine). We assumed that autoinjector availability reduced fatality risk by 10%. Results Equipping all commercial aircraft with autoinjectors cost $2,470,422/year ($0.08/passenger-at-risk), from a societal perspective and when distributed over all at-risk travelers. Over the model horizon, the supplemental autoinjector strategy cost $32,329.29 (standard deviation [SD], $4024.32) versus $32,326.70 (SD $4024.29), produced 26.8917 quality-adjusted life-years (QALYs) (SD, 2.9720) versus 26.8915 (SD, 2.9725), with a lower fatality rate (0.00012; SD, 0.01095 vs 0.00015; SD, 0.1225) versus the ampule-only strategy. The incremental cost-effectiveness ratio of supplemental airline epinephrine autoinjectors was $10,766/QALY in the base-case analysis. The supplemental model remained cost-effective at a willingness to pay threshold of $100,000/QALY if it produced a minimum 1.4% annual food allergy fatality risk reduction, and dominated if it lowered diversion risk or event-related medical care costs-per-event by 10%, respectively. Conclusions Under base-case scenarios, an airline supplemental stock epinephrine model is cost-effective, with a high value-based cost-ceiling and low annual cost per passenger-at-risk of $0.08.
dEFEND: A System for Explainable Fake News Detection

Despite recent advancements in computationally detecting fake news, we argue that a critical missing piece be the explainability of such detection--i.e., why a particular piece of news is detected as fake--and propose to exploit rich information in users' comments on social media to infer the authenticity of news. In this demo paper, we present our system for an explainable fake news detection called dEFEND, which can detect the authenticity of a piece of news while identifying user comments that can explain why the news is fake or real. Our solution develops a sentence-comment co-attention sub-network to exploit both news contents and user comments to jointly capture explainable top-k check-worthy sentences and user comments for fake news detection. The system is publicly accessible.
Impact of a Respiratory Therapist-Initiated Lung Protective Ventilation Strategy

Background: Low tidal volume targeted ventilation (LTVV) has been recommended as a standard strategy for adult mechanically ventilated patients and is associated with reduced mortality. Adoption of LTVV has been reported to range between 19% – 75%. All cause hospital mortality for adult mechanically ventilated patients has been reported at 28%. We sought to evaluate how a respiratory therapist directed LTVV model applied at the onset of mechanical ventilation would compare to previously reported LTVV practices. We also compared all cause hospital mortality. Methods: This IRB approved retrospective analysis included electronic medical record review of adult mechanically ventilated (MV) patients managed between March 2018 and March 2019. 1,425 subjects required MV for > 24 hours. The primary outcome was the percentage of subjects receiving set VT
Geometric Verification of Vector Fields for Autonomous Aircraft Navigation

New generations of small advanced aircraft may soon transform how people and freight are transported. Thus, ensuring safe and reliable operation of these systems, in all plausible scenarios, is of utmost priority. In this paper, we address this problem by proposing a method to verify the safety of an autonomous aircraft controller following a navigational policy. The policy is encoded using discrete vector fields that are meant to drive the vehicle to a goal state and away from obstacles or restricted airspace. The solution presented in this paper provides the ability to verify the policy, catching unsafe scenarios which may be missed by random Monte Carlo methods or general reachability analysis. After illustrating the main theoretical principles, a possible practical implementation is described and compared with analysis based on Monte Carlo simulations. The comparison shows an insightful example where Monte Carlo simulations fail to detect several corner cases that are uncovered by the proposed method. In the conclusion of the paper, we provide insights about possible future research to implement the proposed solution obtaining higher accuracy and efficiency.
Isolation and Culture of Dorsal Root Ganglia (DRG) from Rodents

Preparations of peripheral sensory neurons from rodents are essential for studying the molecular mechanism of neuronal survival and physiology. Although, isolating and culturing these neurons proves difficult, often these preparations are contaminated with nonneuronal proliferating cells. Here, we describe an isolation method using a Percoll gradient and an antimitotic reagent to significantly reduce the nonneuronal cell contamination while maintaining the integrity of the rodent sensory dorsal root ganglia (DRG) neurons.
The City in the Future of Federalism

Cities have been largely absent from the theory and doctrine of federalism, especially in the U.S., where federalism discourse is invariably preoccupied with states. This chapter, written for an edited volume entitled “Cities in Federal Constitutional Theory,” first considers the mismatch between cities’ increasing economic, political, and sociological importance and their relative lack of status in constitutional theory—the very mismatch that this volume seeks to correct. Second, it discusses the use and definition of the term “city”—a threshold issue that drives much subsequent theorizing about it. And third, it considers the various ways institutional designers might go about empowering the city—another theme raised by the contributors to this volume. These observations lay the groundwork for the broader argument that state-based federalism is bad for cities. The “old” federalism, based on the theory that sub-national governments are sharply limited in their policy choices by the threat of capital flight, presumed weak and ineffectual cities—a presumption that has become self-fulfilling in the U.S., where states have been aggressively reducing and restraining city power. A “new” federalism would recognize the central role of cities in an urban-based political and economic order and provide them powers commensurate with that role. As global urbanization continues apace, the urban-rural political divide deepens, and nation-states face repeated crises of legitimacy, the necessity of building the city into our constitutional institutions becomes increasingly apparent.
Aggressive NK-cell leukemia: A rare entity with diagnostic and therapeutic challenge

Abstract Aggressive natural killer cell leukemia (ANKL) is a rare neoplasm of mature natural killer cells, with an extremely poor overall survival, which is almost always EBV related, with majority of cases reported in East Asia. Here we report the case of an ANKL presenting in a young Hispanic male with secondary hemophagocytosis. Aggressive clinical course, high EBV DNA levels and leukemic presentation, often with associated hemophagocytosis, should raise suspicion of an NK/T-cell neoplasm like ANKL. Due to significant diagnostic overlap with extranodal NK/T-cell lymphoma, nasal type (ENKL), accurate diagnostic classification is crucial due to differing treatment and prognosis. L-asparaginase including chemotherapy followed by allogeneic stem cell transplantation appears to slightly prolong overall survival, but relapse is almost inevitable. Clinical monitoring of EBV DNA levels shows good correlation with disease activity.
Proteinases in Human Polymorphonuclear Leukocytes

Polymorphonuclear leukocytes have been shown to contain proteolytic enzymes which are capable of degrading connective tissue proteins such as native collagen. In this study, proteolytic enzymes were extracted from human polymorphonuclear leukocytes and a neutral proteinase was extensively purified and characterized. The activity of this enzyme was monitored by degradation of denatured [3H]proline-labeled type I collagen or by cleavage of a synthetic dinitrophenylated peptide with a Gly-Ile sequence. The enzyme was readily separated from leukocyte collagenase by concanavalin–A–Sepharose affinity chromatography and further purified by QAE-Sephadex ion-exchange chromatography and gel filtration on Sephacryl S-200. The purified enzyme had a molecular weight of approximately 105 000, its pH optimum was about 7.8, and it was inhibited by Na2EDTA and dithiothreitol, but not by fetal calf serum. The enzyme degraded genetically distinct type I, II, III, IV and V collagens, when in a non-helical form, but not when in native triple-helical conformation. Dansyl-monitored end-group analyses, combined with digestion by carboxypeptidase A, indicated that the enzyme cleaved denaturated type I collagen at Gly-Xaa sequences, in which Xaa can be leucine, isoleucine, valine, phenylalanine, lysine, or methionine. Thus, the purified enzyme referred to here as Gly-Xaa proteinase, is a neutral proteinase, which may be of importance in inflammatory disease processes by degrading further collagen peptides which have been rendered non-helical as a result of collagenase cleavage.
Strict deterministic aspects of minimalist grammars

The Minimalist Grammars (MGs) proposed by Stabler(1997) have tree-shaped derivations (Harkema, 2001b; Michaelis, 2001a). As in categorial grammars, each lexical item is an association between a vocabulary element and complex of features, and so the ”yields” or ”fringes” of the derivation trees are sequences of these lexical items, and the string parts of these lexical items are reordered in the course of the derivation. This paper shows that while the derived string languages can be ambiguous and non-context-free, the set of yields of the derivation trees is always context-free and unambiguous. In fact, the derivation yield languages are strictly deterministic context-free languages, which implies that they are LR(0), and that the generation of derivation trees from a yield language string can be computed in linear time. This result suggests that the work of MG parsing consists essentially of guessing the lexical entries associated with words and empty categories.
Expansion of olfactory-based social recognition memory research: the roles of vasopressin and oxytocin in social recognition memory.

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses the roles of vasopressin (VP) and oxytocin (OT) in rodent olfactory-based social recognition memory (SRM). The conventional paradigm used to test SRM in rats and mice is the social recognition test (SRT). A significant reduction in the duration of social investigatory behavior of a stranger juvenile, when it is reintroduced in a second five-min exposure period after a designated interexposure interval (IEI), is operationally defined as SRM. Control test sessions in which a novel juvenile is presented after the IEI are generally included to ensure that any reduced investigative behavior of the same juvenile by the subject is not merely the result of satiation, fatigue, or nonspecific drug effects. The social discrimination test (SDT) is used as an alternative paradigm for testing this type of memory. In the SDT the familiar juvenile and a novel juvenile are simultaneously presented during the second investigative encounter. The social recognition depends on two types of memory processes, short-term and long-term, and they appear to be differentially sensitive to the facilitating effects of various arginine vasopressin (AVP)-related peptides.
Sustainability in the workplace: nine intervention techniques for behavior change

Human activity creates some of the greatest environmental challenges on the planet. Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) research on sustainability increased dramatically in the past five years. Researchers argue that technology plays a critical role in changing people's belief and behavior towards sustainability. Much of the sustainable HCI research currently focuses on domestic environments. However, 36% of electrical energy is used in the workplace and through office workers' behavior modification savings between 12% to 20% are possible. We investigate nine intervention techniques based on a review of studies in the fields in Persuasive technology, HCI, Ubicomp, environmental psychology, energy efficiency, and green building. We introduce related studies and design examples, and discuss design issues using our suggestions in designing persuasive systems for the workplace.
FLAPECAN: a knowledge based system in electrocardiogram diagnosis

FLAPECAN is a knowledge-based system designed to aid in the interpretation of electrocardiograms (ECGs). Diagnoses are based upon simple features of the ECG being analyzed. The system may be used to aid in generating diagnoses either by a human user or by an automated analysis system where feature recognition is provided. The system was implemented with fuzzy-logic based inference in FLX, a knowledge representation system. The use of FLX, which provides object- and rule-based paradigms, yields improved organization, a more explicit representation of the ECG domain knowledge, and a graphical development and user environment. Repeated application of the system to known cases provided results for calibration of fuzzy knowledge. As a whole, FLAPECAN shows good initial results, suggesting that such an application of fuzzy reasoning has a promising future. >
INBREEDING EFFECTS UPON GROWTH AND MATERNAL ABILITY IN LABORATORY MICE

The effects of systematically increasing levels of inbreeding upon growth and postnatal maternal ability were determined in laboratory mice by utilizing the reciprocal crossfostering technique. Two experiments were conducted. The first included postnatal dams which were inbred 0, 12, 25 and 38% while corresponding levels in the litter were 0, 22, 38 and 50%, respectively. The second experiment included 0, 25, 50 and 73% inbred dams with litters inbred 0, 38, 59 and 79%, respectively. Increasing the level of inbreeding was found to linearly depress postnatal maternal performance. Young which had been suckled by the more inbred dams were smaller at 12 and 21 days of age than those which had been nursed by the more outbred dams. In the second experiment, these effects were carried over into the postweaning period. Increasing levels of inbreeding in the litter significantly depressed birth weight and weight at 12, 21, 42 and 56 days. The depressing effects of inbreeding in the litter were primarily linear for both males and females under the conditions of the more moderate levels of inbreeding included in the first experiment, but were curvilinear for females and linear for males in the second experiment. The curvilinearity in females was due to the general lack of depression until inbreeding had reached 50 to 60%, after which significant inbreeding depression developed.
Slow Internal Dynamics and Charge Expansion in the Disordered Protein CGRP: A Comparison with Amylin

We provide the first direct experimental comparison, to our knowledge, between the internal dynamics of calcitonin-gene-related peptide (CGRP) and amylin (islet amyloid polypeptide, IAPP), two intrinsically disordered proteins of the calcitonin peptide family. Our end-to-end contact formation measurements reveal that in aqueous solution (i.e., in the absence of structure-inducing organic solvents) CGRP preferentially populates conformations with short end-to-end distances. However, the end-to-end distance of CGRP is larger than that of IAPP. We find that electrostatic interactions can account for such a difference. At variance with previous reports on the secondary structure of CGRP, we find that the end-to-end distance of the peptide increases with decreasing pH and salt concentration, due to Coulomb repulsion by charged residues. Interestingly, our data show that the reconfiguration dynamics of CGRP is significantly slower than that of human IAPP in water but not in denaturant, providing experimental evidence for roughness in the energy landscape, or internal friction, in these peptides. The data reported here provide both structural and dynamical information that can be used to validate results from molecular simulations of calcitonin family peptides in aqueous solution.
Annie Marion MacLean, Feminist Pragmatist and Methodologist

Annie Marion MacLean was a major Chicago sociologist and methodologist. She was profoundly influenced by the gendered division of labor in sociology during her era. MacLean combined her work with t...
A Case of Acute Pancreatitis Presenting with Electrocardiographic Signs of Acute Myocardial Infarction

A 71-year-old man presented with left upper quadrant abdominal pain. Serial electrocardiograms (ECGs) demonstrated an evolving left bundle branch block, a sign of acute myocardial infarction (AMI). However, a coronary angiogram demonstrated minimal coronary artery disease, and serum troponin T was undetectable in serial serum measurements. Later, serum pancreatic enzyme levels were elevated and a computed tomography scan of the abdomen was consistent with pancreatitis. In patients presenting with acute pancreatitis and ECG changes suggesting AMI, measurement of serum troponin T concentrations can aid in differentiating ECG changes driven by acute pancreatitis from those of true myocardial ischemia or infarction.
Participation of Ia reciprocal inhibitory neurons in the spinal circuitry of the tonic neck reflex

As part of our studies of the spinal circuitry of the tonic neck reflex, we have recorded extracellularly from Ia reciprocal inhibitory neurons of the decerebrate, labyrinthectomized cat. The activity of a majority of neurons driven by stimulation of the quadriceps nerve was modulated by sinusoidal rotation of the neck; such modulation was much less frequent in the case of neurons driven by stimulation of nerves to more distal muscles. The results suggest that some of the inhibition which is part of the tonic neck reflex is mediated by Ia reciprocal inhibitory neurons, but that other pathways must also play an important role.
HMGA1 drives stem cell, inflammatory pathway, and cell cycle progression genes during lymphoid tumorigenesis

Although the high mobility group A1 (HMGA1) gene is widely overexpressed in diverse cancers and portends a poor prognosis in some tumors, the molecular mechanisms that mediate its role in transformation have remained elusive. HMGA1 functions as a potent oncogene in cultured cells and induces aggressive lymphoid tumors in transgenic mice. Because HMGA1 chromatin remodeling proteins regulate transcription, HMGA1 is thought to drive malignant transformation by modulating expression of specific genes. Genome-wide studies to define HMGA1 transcriptional networks during tumorigenesis, however, are lacking. To define the HMGA1 transcriptome, we analyzed gene expression profiles in lymphoid cells from HMGA1a transgenic mice at different stages in tumorigenesis. RNA from lymphoid samples at 2 months (before tumors develop) and 12 months (after tumors are well-established) was screened for differential expression of > 20,000 unique genes by microarray analysis (Affymetrix) using a parametric and nonparametric approach. Differential expression was confirmed by quantitative RT-PCR in a subset of genes. Differentially expressed genes were analyzed for cellular pathways and functions using Ingenuity Pathway Analysis. Early in tumorigenesis, HMGA1 induced inflammatory pathways with NFkappaB identified as a major node. In established tumors, HMGA1 induced pathways involved in cell cycle progression, cell-mediated immune response, and cancer. At both stages in tumorigenesis, HMGA1 induced pathways involved in cellular development, hematopoiesis, and hematologic development. Gene set enrichment analysis showed that stem cell and immature T cell genes are enriched in the established tumors. To determine if these results are relevant to human tumors, we knocked-down HMGA1 in human T-cell leukemia cells and identified a subset of genes dysregulated in both the transgenic and human lymphoid tumors. We found that HMGA1 induces inflammatory pathways early in lymphoid tumorigenesis and pathways involved in stem cells, cell cycle progression, and cancer in established tumors. HMGA1 also dyregulates genes and pathways involved in stem cells, cellular development and hematopoiesis at both early and late stages of tumorigenesis. These results provide insight into HMGA1 function during tumor development and point to cellular pathways that could serve as therapeutic targets in lymphoid and other human cancers with aberrant HMGA1 expression.
Parallels between properties of high-threshold mechanoreceptors of the goat oral mucosa and human pain report

In the following experiments, we examined parallels between properties of A-delta high-threshold mechanoreceptors (HTMs; mechanonociceptors, MN, and intense pressure receptors, IPR) innervating the goat mucosa and human mucosal pain report. As suggested in previous studies, activation thresholds of afferents which are generally considered to be mechanical nociceptors are far below mechanical pain thresholds. It was determined that classification of nociceptors by frequency thresholds, i.e., the pressure at which HTMs maintained a minimum frequency (97 g/mm2 and 117 g/mm2 for IPRs and MNs respectively) brings afferent reactivity into alignment with perceptual events. The range of reactivity of the nociceptor pool paralleled pain report from “faintweak” (142 g/mm2) to “strong-intense” (277 g/mm2). It is suggested that coding of intense mechanical pain from compressive forces is likely to arise from both individual afferents, whose reactivity spanned the range, and from recruitment of afferent populations with progressively higher thresholds.
Torture Porn and Uneasy Feminisms: Re-thinking (Wo)men in Eli Roth's Hostel Films

One of the more amusing, and graphic, publicity images of Eli Roth features him lying on a mattress, dressed only in a white tank top. He seductively looks out at us, his left hand raised and curle...
Experimental verification of the extended-emitter concept for phosphorus-implanted self-aligned polysilicon-contacted bipolar transistors

Abstract The effective surface recombination velocity of different polysilicon contacts is inferred from a theoretical-experimental comparison of base (emitter recombination) currents as a function of temperature. For the polysilicon contacts, specially processed to break up the residual interfacial layer and to have columnar grains, the functional dependence of the inferred surface recombination velocity on temperature is demonstrated to be, within the experimental error, that for a contact which acts as an extension of the underlying emitter. In contrast, data from contacts, having an intentionally introduced interfacial layer, are demonstrated to be in disagreement with the extended-emitter concept.
SU‐C‐116‐05: Using Maximum Intensity Projection in the Evaluation of Digital Breast Tomosynthesis: A Phantom Observer Study From the American College of Radiology Imaging Network PA 4006 Trial

Purpose: Characterize the effect of slice level and maximal intensity projection (MIP) slab thickness on image quality in digital breast tomosynthesis (DBT). Methods: Eight ACRIN 4006 PA DBT acquisitions of the ACR Mammography Accreditation Phantom were selected from the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania (n=4) and Einstein Medical Center, Philadelphia, PA (n=4). An experienced medical physicist scored each phantom by first recording scores at single slice levels in increments of increasing depth to confirm the score for each level. Scoring was next repeated with a 40-mm MIP by identical method. MIP thickness was then decreased in 10-mm increments and scored again. If a difference in score occurred between 10-mm MIP slab thickness differences, objects were rescored at the intermediate 5-mm MIP slab thickness, and so forth. Results: Fiber, speck and mass scores are all sensitive to slice level (single slice) or central slice level (MIP). Specks are the most sensitive. Scores can change substantially if slice level is shifted by one slice when viewing single slices or MIP slabs which are less than 10 mm thick. Scores of fibers and masses decrease with increasing MIP slab thickness, while speck scores do not change substantially. Even when all objects are ostensibly in the MIP volume, their location in the volume affects the score. Scores are degraded when the objects are nearer the top or bottom slice of the MIP slab. Conclusion: In single slice review, slice level substantially affects phantom score, thus care in slice selection is necessary. Increasing MIP slab thickness does not appear to substantially degrade image quality of specks, supporting the clinical practice of using MIP in the review of calcifications. MIP review of phantoms may add value in visualizing artifacts outside the plane of review.
Cyclooxygenase-2 and carcinogenesis

Numerous investigations have shown that COX-2 is a participant in the pathway of colon carcinogenesis, especially when mutation of the APC tumor suppressor is the initiating event. Moreover, it seems that the amount of COX-2 is important, since there is a correlation between its level of expression and the size of the tumors and their propensity to invade underlying tissue [40]. Inhibiting COX-2 at an early stage blocks the development of malignant tumors, causes pre-malignant tumors to regress and may improve the outcome once the cancer is completely established. This set of findings seems to link very strongly with the traditional observation that chronic inflammation is a precursor to a variety of types of cancer. By this formulation, inflammatory stimuli increase COX-2 and the downstream events that it induces promote tumor formation. All of these finding suggest that existing NSAIDs will be useful for the prophylaxis of colon cancer and polyps and we eagerly await clinical investigations that will generate guidelines that suggest those individuals that are the most appropriate recipients for such therapy. Although this field has progressed rapidly in the last few years, many important questions remain.
The Public/Private — The Imagined Boundary in the Imagined Nation/State/Community: The Lebanese case

The nation/state as an imaginative enterprise encompasses multiple imagined subnational boundaries. The ‘public/private’, I suggest, is a ‘purposeful fiction’ constitutive of the will to statehood. As such, its configurations are impacted upon by the institutions and forces competing with and within state-building enterprises. Proposing the terms government, non-government and domestic as analytical tools to demarcate discursive and material domains, I argue that, in Lebanon, the fluidity of boundaries among these spheres is constitutive of patriarchal connectivity, a form of patriarchal kinship linked to the state-building enterprise.
Synthesis of the spiroiminal moiety of marineosins A and B.

A model for the spiroiminal moiety of marineosins A and B was prepared starting from methylvalerolactone. Addition of vinylmagnesium bromide, protection of the alcohol, and reaction of the vinyl ketone with a protected pyrrole-2-carbonitrile N-oxide gave an isoxazoline. Hydrogenolysis of the N−O bond with Raney nickel gave a keto imine that cyclized to a hemi-iminal. O-Methylation, acid-catalyzed cleavage of the TES group and spiroiminal formation, and deprotection completed a seven-step synthesis.
Label-Free Detection of Cardiac Troponin-I Using Carbon Nanofiber Based Nanoelectrode Arrays

A label-free biosensor is presented using carbon nanofiber (CNF) nanoelectrode arrays for the detection of cardiac troponin-I in the early diagnosis of myocardial infarction. Immobilization of anti-cTnI Ab on CNFs and the detection of human-cTnI were examined using electrochemical impedance spectroscopy and cyclic voltammetry techniques. Each step of the modification process was monitored, and the results show changes in electrical capacitance or resistance to charge transfer due to the specificity of corresponding adsorption of Ab–Ag interaction. The immunosensor demonstrates a good selectivity and high sensitivity against human-cTnI analytes and is capable of detecting cTnI at concentrations as low as ∼0.2 ng/mL, which is 25 times lower than that possible by conventional methods. Analysis of the electrode at various stages using atomic force microscopy and X-ray reflectivity provides information on the surface roughness and orientation of the antibody.
Dung as an Essential Resource in a Highland Peruvian Community

The present paper examines the use of dung for two essential human resources, fuel and fertilizer, in a highland community of southern Peru. The limited energy availability and the poor soils of the region, primarily the result of high-altitude climate and topography, necessitate this practice. Alternatives to dung use are costly or unavailable. Grazing herbivores transform the widely dispersed puna grasses into a compact and easily gathered source of energy and nutrients. Native choice among available dungs corresponds to their qualities: sheep dung, richest in nutrients, is applied as fertilizer; llama and cattle dungs, each with a high caloric value, are burned as fuels. Dung use is interpreted as an energetically efficient response to the highland environment and as central to the subsistence pattern in the area.
Protein Synthesis and Endoplasmic Reticulum Stress Can Be Modulated by the Hepatitis C Virus Envelope Protein E2 through the Eukaryotic Initiation Factor 2α Kinase PERK

The hepatitis C virus envelope protein, E2, is an endoplasmic reticulum (ER)-bound protein that contains a region of sequence homology with the double-stranded RNA-activated protein kinase PKR and its substrate, the eukaryotic translation initiation factor 2 (eIF2). We previously reported that E2 modulates global translation through inhibition of the interferon-induced antiviral protein PKR through its PKR-eIF2α phosphorylation site homology domain (PePHD). Here we show that the PKR-like ER-resident kinase (PERK) binds to and is also inhibited by E2. At low expression levels, E2 induced ER stress, but at high expression levels, and in vitro, E2 inhibited PERK kinase activity. Mammalian cells that stably express E2 were refractory to the translation-inhibitory effects of ER stress inducers, and E2 relieved general translation inhibition induced by PERK. The PePHD of E2 was required for the rescue of translation that was inhibited by activated PERK, similar to our previous findings with PKR. Here we report the inhibition of a second eIF2α kinase by E2, and these results are consistent with a pseudosubstrate mechanism of inhibition of eIF2α kinases. These findings may also explain how the virus promotes persistent infection by overcoming the cellular ER stress response.
Erythrophagocytosis by macrophages: Suppression of heme oxygenase by cyclic AMP

Abstract On incubation of peritoneal macrophages with antibody-coated radiolabeled erythrocytes, a reproducible fraction of the erythrocytes was phagocytized and heme oxygenase was induced. Addition of cyclic AMP, dbcyclic AMP, or theophylline to the incubation medium suppressed the substrate-mediated induction of heme oxygenase in a dose-related manner but did not impair the rate or extent of erythrophagocytosis. A similar effect was produced by epinephrine, norepinephrine, isoproterenol, and prostaglandins, which generate endogenous cyclic AMP by stimulating the adenyl cyclase system. Propanolol completely blocked the suppressive effect of epinephrine, while phentolamine was ineffective. In contrast to the cyclic adenosine nucleotide, cyclic GMP probably slightly enhanced the substrate-mediated induction of heme oxygenase and partly reversed the suppressive effect of cyclic AMP. Cyclic adenosine nucleotides, prostaglandin, and theophylline significantly reduced the incorporation of labeled uridine or leucine into RNA and protein of erythrophagocytic macrophages, but failed to impair the uptake of these precursors by the phagocytizing cells. These compounds also reduced the conversion of [1-14C] glucose to 14CO2 by the incubated macrophages, whereas 14CO2 formation was enhanced by epinephrine. None of these effects was reversible by addition of insulin or by glucose supplementation, which is in sharp contrast to the suppressive effect of glucocorticoids on heme oxygenase induction.
Assessment of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal propagules and colonization from abandoned agricultural fields and semi-arid grasslands in riparian floodplains

Abstract Prior to the onset of extensive grazing and clearing for agriculture, riparian floodplains of southeastern Arizona, USA, historically supported large grassland communities dominated by Sporobolus wrightii Munro ex Scribn., big sacaton grass. Large-scale abandonment of agricultural operations has occurred in this region in the past 50 years, but natural re-establishment of big sacaton into abandoned fields has typically been slow. This study assesses whether arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) may be one factor in recovery rates of abandoned fields within three riparian areas in southeastern Arizona (San Pedro river, the Babocomari river and Cienega creek). In each riparian area, soil samples were collected along paired 100 m transects, one in an extant grassland and one in a neighboring abandoned agricultural field. At one site (San Pedro), a third transect was established in a second adjoining abandoned agricultural field to enable comparisons between fields showing differing rates of recovery at a single site. Roots were assessed for mycorrhizal colonization using the modified intercept method and the modified mean infection percentage (MIP) method was used to determine inoculum potential of each soil sample. No significant differences were found between the levels of mycorrhizal colonization in roots collected from the grassland and those collected from the abandoned field for any of the sample sites. Levels of colonization did differ among the three sample sites, with higher levels seen at the San Pedro site than at the Babocomari and Cienega sites. With one exception, MIPs were greater in the soil from the abandoned agricultural field than in the soil from the nearby grassland. In the exception, no difference was detected in inoculum potentials at the San Pedro site between the paired grassland and the abandoned field that had the lower level of sacaton recovery. MIPs were also greater in the soil from the abandoned agricultural field at Babocomari, where Salsola tragus L. growth for cattle feed was promoted by discing every 3–4 years. These results indicate that higher inoculum potentials in abandoned fields were not always linked to the high levels of recovery of native vegetation.
34 Growth of Infants with Bronchopulmonary Dsplasia After Discharge.

Purpose of Study: The objective of our study is to compare the pre- and post-discharge growth of infants with severe BPD enrolled in the LUMC Neonatal Home Care program to the growth after discharge of other infants with mild BPD seen at the neonatal follow-up clinic. Design and Methods: Adequate growth velocity of premature infants is 26 to 40 grams per day at one month corrected gestational age (GA). In this prospective study, 70 infants admitted to LUMC NICU from 9/1/04 until 10/31/05 with a birth weight ≤ 1500 grams were enrolled. Infants with an O2 requirement for ≥ 28 days were selected. LUMC Home Care Program follows infants discharged home requiring O2, NG feedings, monitors or special needs. Infants requiring O2 at home were the severe BPD group, and infants without home care and on room air were the mild BPD group. While in the NICU, length, weight and head circumference were recorded weekly in nutrition rounds. After discharge, the severe BPD group had their weight and length recorded at each home visit up to 6 months corrected GA, according to the severity of their disease. The mild BPD group had data collected at the NICU Follow-Up Clinic. Feedings and average daily calories were recorded. Results: 70 patients completed the study. 39 were in the severe BPD group, and 31 were in the mild group. The data was analyzed with the student t-test. Conclusion: While in the NICU, the infants in the severe group had decreased weight gain compared to those with mild BPD. After discharge, the infants with severe BPD gained weight as rapidly as those in the mild group. The change in length before and after discharge was not statistically significant. Our study shows that with proper follow-up, infants with severe BPD can grow as well as infants in the same birth weight group but with milder disease.
Perceived Competence among Rural Middle School Children: Parental Antecedents and Relation to Locus of Control:

This study investigated the relationship between perceived competence and locus of control in a sample of rural middle school children and sought to determine potential antecedents to perceived competence in the form of parental behaviors. Subjects were 322 5th-8th grade students attending school in a southwestern state. Children at all grade levels were administered (a) the Perceived Competence Scale for Children, (b) the Nowicki Internal-Extemal Locus of Control Scale, and (c) the Cornell Parent Behavior Inventory. Pearson correlations between the perceived competence scores and the locus of control scores revealed a strong association between these two personal causation constructs for both males and females. Correlations between perceived competence scores and mothers' and fathers' behavior dimension scores revealed that supporting behaviors were consistently associated with perceived competence in a positive way and that punishing behaviors were consistently correlated with perceived competence in a ...
Diffractive Orbits in an Open Microwave Billiard

We demonstrate experimentally the existence and significance of diffractive orbits in an open microwave billiard. Orbits that diffract off a sharp edge strongly influence the conduction spectrum, especially in the regime where there are no stable classical orbits. On resonance, the wave functions are influenced by both classical and diffractive orbits. Off resonance, the wave functions are determined by the constructive interference of multiple transient orbits. The experimental results agree well with quantum computations and with a semiclassical theory that incorporates diffraction.
Joel Osteen as Cultural Selfobject: Meeting the Needs of the Group Self and Its Individual Members in and from the Largest Church in America

This paper examines the appeal and success of Joel Osteen, pastor of the largest church in America: Lakewood Church in Houston, Texas. Our guiding theory comes from Heinz Kohut’s Self psychology, especially as elaborated in his interviews with Charles Strozier. We also draw on the work of Indian psychoanalyst Sudhir Kakar, who, using Kohut, argues that the guru in the Indian context functions as a cultural selfobject, and we argue that Osteen functions in an analogous way in the American context—that is, as a cultural selfobject. Specifically, we argue that Osteen’s appeal and success is due to what Kohut refers to as idealizing transferences and mirroring transferences, as well as Osteen’s ability to provide a “calming structure” and a sense of “continuity,” as Kohut uses these terms, for members of the Lakewood community. To demonstrate this thesis, we analyze a recent sermon by Osteen, a chapter in one of his bestselling books, and the airplane incident that involved Victoria Osteen in December 2005. We contextualize our analysis by discussing relevant sociological and demographic data pertaining to Lakewood Church, and we conclude by making the point that cultures can become disillusioned with their own cultural selfobjects and, whatever the fate of Joel Osteen and company, our culture will nevertheless continue to produce new cultural selfobjects.
On the deque conjecture for the splay algorithm

Splay is a simple, efficient algorithm for searching binary search trees, devised by Sleator and Tarjan, that reorganizes the tree after each search by means of rotations. An open conjecture of Sleator and Tarjan states that Splay is, in essence, the fastest algorithm for processing any sequence of search operations on a binary search tree, using only rotations to reorganize the tree. Tarjan proved a basic special case of this conjecture, called theScanning Theorem, and conjectured a more general special case, called theDeque Conjecture. The Deque Conjecture states that Splay requires linear time to process sequences of deque operations on a binary tree. We prove the following results: 1. Almost tight lower and upper bounds on the maximum numbers of occurrences of various types of right rotations in a sequence of right rotations performed on a binary tree. In particular, the lower bound for right 2-turns refutes Sleator's Right Turn Conjecture. 2. A linear times inverse Ackerman upper bound for the Deque Conjecture. This bound is derived using the above upper bounds. 3. Two new proofs of the Scanning Theorem, one, a simple potential-based proof that solves Tarjan's problem of finding a potential-based proof for the theorem, the other, an inductive proof that generalizes the theorem.
Optical properties of hybrid nanostructures: exciton-plasmon interaction, Fano effect, and plasmon-induced chirality

Coulomb and electromagnetic interactions between excitons and plasmons in nanocrystals cause several prominent effects: Energy transfer between nanoparticles, plasmon enhancement, exciton energy shifts, Fano interference and non-linear effects, and new mechanisms of optical chirality [1–4]. An interaction between a discrete state of exciton and a continuum of plasmonic states gives rise to interference effects (Fano-like asymmetric resonances and anti-resonances) [2,3]. These interference effects greatly enhance a visibility of relatively weak exciton signals and can be used for spectroscopy of single nanoparticles and molecules. If a system includes chiral elements (chiral molecules or nanocrystals), the exciton-plasmon interaction is able to dramatically change the circular dichroism (CD) of chiral elements [4,5,6]. In particular, the exciton-plasmon interaction may create new chiral plasmonic lines in the CD spectra of a molecule-nanocrystal complex [4,6]. Two mechanisms, in which a plasmonic nanocrystal can influence the CD effect of a chiral molecule, have been identified. The first mechanism is the plasmon-induced change in the electromagnetic field inside the chiral molecule (or chiral semiconductor nanocrystal). The second is the optical absorption of the exciton-plasmon system due to the chiral dissipative currents inside the metal nanocrystal. Strong CD signals may also appear in purely plasmonic systems with a chiral geometry and a strong particle-particle interaction [5]. Recent experiments on the protein-nanocrystal complexes demonstrated an appearance of new chiral plasmonic lines in the CD spectra [6].
Reducing (m, k)-missing rate for overloaded real-time systems

In this paper, we explore reducing the rate for missing the Quality of Service (QoS) constraint for overloaded real-time systems. The QoS constraint is modeled using (m, k)-constraints, which require that at least m out of any k consecutive jobs of a task meet their deadlines. We proposed a dynamic scheduling scheme to satisfy the (m, k)-constraints for real-time tasks. The simulation results demonstrate that our proposed techniques have great potential in reducing the (m, k)-missing rate for overloaded real-time systems.
Catalytic Hydrogenation of Alkenes by the Ruthenium−Carbene Complex HRu(CO)Cl(PCy3)(IMes) (IMes = Bis(1,3-(2,4,6-trimethylphenyl)imidazol-2-ylidene)

Using an exchange reaction involving one PCy3 ligand in HRu(CO)Cl(PCy3)2 (1) for one IMes, a ruthenium−hydride complex HRu(CO)Cl(PCy3)(IMes) (2) has been prepared. Complex 2 is an active catalyst in the hydrogenation of alkenes. A TON of 24 000 h-1 has been obtained at 100 °C under 4 atm of hydrogen. Addition of HBF4·OEt2 as cocatalyst enhanced the catalytic activity.
Individual neuropeptides regulate gut-associated lymphoid tissue integrity, intestinal immunoglobulin A levels, and respiratory antibacterial immunity.

Background: Total parenteral nutrition (TPN) leads to atrophy of the gut-associated lymphoid tissue (GALT) and a significant decrease in intestinal immunoglobulin A (IgA) levels, a major constituent of mucosal immunity. Bombesin (BBS) prevents TPN-induced GALT atrophy and maintains intestinal IgA levels. BBS, a neuropeptide analogous to gastrin-releasing peptide in humans, stimulates the release of other gut neuropeptides including cholecystokinin (CCK), gastrin, and neurotensin (NT). This study investigates the ability of CCK, gastrin, or NT to individually prevent TPN-induced GALT atrophy and preserve respiratory immunity. Methods: Experiment 1: Male mice were randomly assigned to receive chow, TPN, TPN plus CCK, TPN plus gastrin, or TPN plus NT. After 5 days of feeding, Peyer's patches (PP) from the proximal and distal small bowel were harvested and analyzed for cell yields. PP cells were also analyzed for GALT cell type. Small bowel IgA levels were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA)...
Mössbauer effect study of Bi2Fe4O9

Abstract Mossbauer parameters for pure and chromium-doped Bi2Fe4O9 are reported above and below its magnetic ordering temperature. The substitution of chromium for a portion of the iron ions allows the unambiguous assignment of the magnetic and quadrupole split resonance lines. At room temperature the Mossbauer spectrum exhibits four lines, assignable to two quadrupole-split pairs: one pair from the tetrahedral ferric ions (IS +0.494, QS 0.960), the other pair from those which are octahedrally coordinated (IS +0.619, QS 0.383). At 77°K, well below the magnetic ordering temperature, two overlapping six-line magnetically split spectra are observed. Proper assignment gives values of 445 and 485 kOe for the effective magnetic field acting on the tetrahedral and octahedral ferric ions, respectively.