cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
A General Purpose Astronomy Small Satellite: an approach to low- cost space telescope design using space-qualified ground telescopes

The General Purpose Astronomy - Small Satellite (GPA-SS) project studied the feasibility of developing a useful space telescope with a cost to launch below $100 million. An optical telescope assembly (OTA) designed for ground use is proposed for use in a space mission in order to take advantage of the economies of scale in existing mirror fabrication processes. This paper details the additional design, manufacture and test tasks required to flight-qualify the ground telescope. A near-infrared imaging space telescope was costed as a potential mission. Key subsystems were designed at a conceptual level. This design was used both to estimate subsystem costs and to inform the science achievable from a given telescope design. Subsystem costs were estimated from the design through a combination of previously published cost estimating relationships and vendor quotes. This paper concludes that the space-qualification of an existing ground telescope is a potential approach for making significant cost savings when designing a low cost space telescope. Additional work on design and cost estimation around the framework presented in this paper could be undertaken to add certainty to the cost estimate.
Oscillatory hydraulic testing as a strategy for NAPL source zone monitoring: Laboratory experiments

Non-aqueous phase liquids (NAPLs) have a complex mode of transport in heterogeneous aquifers, which can result in pools and lenses of NAPLs (the "source zone") that are difficult to detect and can cause long-term contamination via slow dissolution into groundwater (the "dissolved plume"). Characterizing the extent and evolution of NAPL contamination within the source zone is a useful strategy for designing and adapting appropriate remedial actions at many contaminated sites. As a NAPL flows into a given aquifer volume, the effective hydraulic conductivity (K) and specific storage (Ss) of the volume changes associated with the viscosity and compressibility of the impinging fluid, meaning that NAPL movement may be detectable with hydraulic testing. Recently, the use of oscillatory pumping tests - in which sinusoidal pumping variations are implemented and oscillatory pressure changes are detected at monitoring locations - has been suggested as a low-impact hydraulic testing strategy for characterizing aquifer properties (Cardiff et al., 2013; Zhou et al., 2016). Here, we investigate this strategy in an experimental laboratory sandbox where dyed vegetable oil is injected and allowed to migrate as a NAPL. Initial qualitative analyses demonstrate that measurable changes in pressure signal amplitude and phase provide clear evidence for NAPL plume emplacement and migration. Using the approach developed in Zhou et al. (2016), we then apply tomographic analyses to estimate the location of effective K changes (representing fluid changes) and their movement throughout time. This approach provides a method for monitoring ongoing NAPL movement without net extraction or injection of fluid, making it advantageous in field remediation applications.
Predictors of surgical quality for retroperitoneal sarcoma: Volume matters

Background and Objectives The volume-outcome relationship is well recognized. We sought to investigate this relationship in retroperitoneal sarcoma (RPS) surgery. Methods Non-metastatic RPS cases from 2004 to 2014 in the National Cancer Database were analyzed. Hospitals in the top 10th percentile for volume were defined as high-volume. Outcomes were selected a priori based on their known prognostic significance, including surgery use, R0/R1 resection, and R0 resection. Volume-outcome associations were assessed by univariate and multivariable analyses. Results Of 3141 RPS cases identified, 70.0% were managed surgically. Of these, 93.0% were R0/R1 resections, and 67.6% were R0 resections. Surgical management, R0/R1 resection, and R0 resection were each associated with improved overall survival (P < 0.001). Hospital volume was an independent predictor of surgical management, R0 resection, and R0/R1 resection. Patients treated at high-volume centers had 1.9-fold higher odds of undergoing surgical management (P < 0.001), 2.5-fold higher odds of receiving a R0/R1 resection (P = 0.026), and 1.8-fold higher odds of an R0 resection (P < 0.001). Academic setting predicted use of surgical management (P < 0.001) and R0/R1 resection (P = 0.015) but not R0 resection (P = 0.882). Conclusions High-volume hospitals are significantly associated with surgery use and improved surgical outcomes. Consideration should be given to further centralization of RPS care.
Prostate MRI can be accurate but can variability be reduced

Prostate MRI has reached the point of being a mature technology with an established clinical need, so the modality is here to stay. Accordingly, it is incumbent upon the radiology community to find practical solutions for the ongoing variability in interpretation and diagnostic performance of this technique.
Adenovirus-mediated myocardial gene therapy

The introduction of genetic material to the heart showed promise when adenovirus vectors were demonstrated to easily and efficiently transfer reporter genes to isolated cardiac myocytes in vitro [17, 18]. Numerous possibilities for the new technology were readily apparent. The most obvious was the replacement of genetic defects in inherited disorders, such as the long QT syndrome and several types of hypertrophic and dilated cardiomyopathies. Even more exciting, however, was the prospect of using this technology to modify more common, acquired diseases including ischemic diseases, acquired cardiomyopathies and arrhythmias. Most of these diseases affect every cell in the heart, so therapeutic applications would require delivery of the gene of interest to a majority of the myocytes in a homogeneous pattern throughout the heart.
Nondestructive Determination of Elastic Constants of Composite Materials

The anisotropy of fibrous composite materials makes it difficult to determine their elastic constants nondestructively. The unidirectional lamina, which is the basic building block of composite laminates and structures, is treated as a quasi-homogeneous orthotropic material. Determination of material properties of the unidirectional lamina is especially important because this characterization allows prediction of the properties of any multidirectional laminate. In general, the unidirectional lamina is characterized by nine independent elastic constants. Many composite materials, however, have the additional property of transverse isotropy. In such cases the number of independent constants is reduced to five. The objective of this study is to propose a method for determining these constants ultrasonically by measuring phase velocities and critical angles.
“Give Us the Tools, and We Will Finish the Job”

Invariably at the conclusion of these bathtub exercises, after the group’s collective performance is analyzed and discussed, most of the participants tend to have the mixed feeling of having taken one step forward and another step backward. On the positive side, participants realize that they have gained a deeper appreciation of their strengths and weaknesses in reasoning about systems. They realize they have done reasonably well in comprehending system structure, although not as well in inferring system behavior. On the negative side, there is an almost palpable disappointment from having struggled (and failed) with a task that is actually quite simple.
Data mining tasks and methods: Clustering: conceptual clustering

Clustering methods of machine learning place great importance on the utility of conceptual descriptions, which logically or probabilistically express patterns found in clusters. Conceptual descriptions are important for cluster interpretation, inference tasks such as pattern completion and problem solving, and for data compression, memory management, and runtime-efficiency enhancements. This article surveys a wide variety of themes and algorithms found in the clustering literature of machine learning, including the various forms of conceptual representation, inference tasks that exploit the conceptual summaries of clusters, cluster validation strategies, clustering relational data, the use of background knowledge to guide clustering, and promising scale-up strategies.
Travel time tomography with local sparse modeling and dictionary learning

In this talk, we present a machine learning-based approach to 2D travel time tomography. Travel time tomography methods image slowness structures (e.g., Earth geology) from acoustic and seismic wave travel times across sensor arrays. Typically, slowness is obtained via an ill-posed linear inverse problem, which requires regularization to obtain physically plausible solutions. We propose to regularize this inversion by modeling rectangular groups of slowness pixels from the image, called patches, as sparse linear combinations of atoms from a dictionary. In this locally-sparse travel time tomography (LST) method, the dictionary, which represents elemental slowness features, is initially unknown and is learned from the travel time data using an unsupervised machine learning task called dictionary learning. This local model constrains small-scale slowness features, and is combined with a global model, which constrains larger-scale features with L2 regularization. In contrast to conventional regularization, which allows only for smoothness or discontinuous slowness, LST permits increased resolution where warranted by data. A maximum a posteriori formulation of LST is derived, which is solved as an iterative algorithm. LST performance is evaluated on both synthetic and real data in the context of ambient noise tomography.
Communicating Elective Sterilization: A Feminist Perspective

Patient-OBGYN (obstetrics and gynecology) communication about contraception and reproduction can be fraught with ideological pressures, cultural assumptions, and emotion-based claims and concerns. Specifically, the topic of elective sterilization for women often invokes preconceived notions of femininity and mothering. Based on medical pamphlets and online discussion forums, our analysis reveals how gendered discrepancies exist in medical information about elective sterilization. This persuasion brief aims to invite OBGYNs to understand how cultural and traditional views of gender inform medical decisions and oppress women’s reproductive autonomy. It offers suggestions for OBGYNs, women seeking sterilization, and scholars in the rhetoric of health and medicine.
Running the tank to empty: how far can the CAR go?

Although the importance of minimal residual disease (MRD) negativity has been well documented in acute leukemia, in this issue of Blood , Hay et al have specifically demonstrated its importance after chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy, and have elucidated factors associated with durable event-free survival (EFS). 1
HPC resource integration into CMS Computing via HEPCloud

The higher energy and luminosity from the LHC in Run 2 have put increased pressure on CMS computing resources. Extrapolating to even higher luminosities (and thus higher event complexities and trigger rates) beyond Run 3, it becomes clear that simply scaling up the the current model of CMS computing alone will become economically unfeasible. High Performance Computing (HPC) facilities, widely used in scientific computing outside of HEP, have the potential to help fill the gap. Here we describe the U.S.CMS efforts to integrate US HPC resources into CMS Computing via the HEPCloud project at Fermilab. We present advancements in our ability to use NERSC resources at scale and efforts to integrate other HPC sites as well. We present experience in the elastic use of HPC resources, quickly scaling up use when so required by CMS workflows. We also present performance studies of the CMS multi-threaded framework on both Haswell and KNL HPC resources.
A Cross-National Analysis of Alcohol Consumption and Suicide Rates: Variations by Population-Level Drinking Patterns:

This study assesses the association between the population-level consumption of different types of alcohol and cross-national suicide rates and examines whether this association is moderated by cou...
Driving Toward Autonomy? The FBI in the Federal System, 1908-1960

This paper explains the growth of the FBI (“Bureau”) in the United States at a time when criminal justice was largely a local matter by reframing the criminal justice “(eco)system” in terms of informational economy, rather than jurisdictional authority. It argues that the Bureau came to occupy a key position in the national law enforcement ecosystem by providing an informational infrastructure that enabled it to cultivate relationships with local police agencies. This history offers two insights about the nature of American state and federalism in the twentieth century. First, the Bureau’s particular strategy for enlarging its capacity beyond its small size had the ironic effect of trading bureaucratic autonomy for political and operational support. Second, the strategy impeded the development of the states’ role in criminal law enforcement and stymied state-state collaborations. The patterns of collaboration that were set by the 1920s provided the blueprint for the federal government’s anti-crime initiatives throughout the rest of the century.
Integrating nanofibers with biochemical gradients to investigate physiologically-relevant fibroblast chemotaxis

Persistent cell migration can occur due to anisotropy in the extracellular matrix (ECM), the gradient of a chemo-effector, or a combination of both. Through a variety of in vitro platforms, the contributions of either stimulus have been extensively studied, while the combined effect of both cues remains poorly described. Here, we report an integrative microfluidic chemotaxis assay device that enables the study of single cell chemotaxis on ECM-mimicking, aligned, and suspended nanofibers. Using this assay, we evaluated the effect of fiber spacing on the morphology and chemotaxis response of embryonic murine NIH/3T3 fibroblasts in the presence of temporally invariant, linear gradients of platelet-derived growth factor-BB (PDGF-BB). We found that the strength of PDGF-mediated chemotaxis response depends on not only the gradient slope but also the cell morphology. Low aspect ratio (3.4 ± 0.2) cells on flat substrata exhibited a chemotaxis response only at a PDGF-BB gradient of 0-10 ng mL-1. However, high aspect ratio (19.1 ± 0.7) spindle-shaped cells attached to individual fibers exhibited maximal chemotaxis response at a ten-fold shallower gradient of 0-1 ng mL-1, which was robustly maintained up to 0-10 ng mL-1. Quadrilateral-shaped cells of intermediate aspect ratio (13.6 ± 0.8) attached to two fibers exhibited a weaker response compared to the spindle-shaped cells, but still stronger compared to cells attached to 2D featureless substrata. Through pharmacological inhibition, we show that the mesenchymal chemotaxis pathway is conserved in cells on fibers. Altogether, our findings show that chemotaxis on ECM-mimicking fibers is modulated by fiber spacing-driven cell shape and can be significantly different from the behavior observed on flat 2D substrata. We envisage that this microfluidic platform will have wide applicability in understanding the combined role of ECM architecture and chemotaxis in physiological and pathological processes.
Algebraic statistics, tables, and networks: The Fienberg advantage

Stephen Fienberg's affinity for contingency table problems and reinterpreting models with a fresh look gave rise to a new approach for hypothesis testing of network models that are linear exponential families. We outline his vision and influence in this fundamental problem, as well as generalizations to multigraphs and hypergraphs.
An Impossible Goal: When Trade Ratios Cannot Achieve No‐Net‐Loss

I develop a model of environmental trade ratios with asymmetric information to explain why current policies fail to achieve goals of no‐net‐impact on the environment, as well as demonstrating that it may be impossible to achieve these goals. Environmental trade ratios (e.g., wetland mitigation ratios or carbon offset discounting) typically have the goal of no‐net environmental impact; however, these goals are not always met. First, I demonstrate that it is sometimes impossible for trade ratios to achieve no‐net‐impact on the environment. Second, I provide sufficient conditions for the existence of a neutral trade ratio. Next, I show that naive methods for setting ratios (which do not consider market responses) will fail to meet policy goals. Finally, I demonstrate how a simple updating procedure can adjust ratios toward no‐net‐impact even when policy makers have minimal information.
Distant metastasis of salivary gland cancer: Incidence, management, and outcomes.

Background Distant metastases (DMs) are the primary cause of treatment failure in patients with salivary gland carcinoma. There is no consensus on the standard treatment. Methods Patients with DMs were identified from an institutional database of 884 patients with salivary gland cancer who underwent resection of the primary tumor between 1985 and 2015. Survival outcomes for patients with DMs were determined with the Kaplan-Meier method. Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed to identify factors associated with DM. Results Of the 884 patients identified, 137 (15%) developed DMs during follow-up. Most of the primary tumors (n = 77 [56%]) were located in a major salivary gland. At clinical presentation, 53% of the tumors were classified as T3 or T4, and 32% had clinical node metastases. The median time to DM was 20.3 months. The factors associated with shorter distant recurrence-free survival were male sex, high-risk tumor histology, and advanced pathological T and N classifications. Patients with bone metastases had a lower survival rate than patients with lung metastases. The total number of DMs in a patient was inversely associated with survival. Patients who underwent surgical resection of DMs had a significantly higher 5-year rate of metastatic disease-specific survival than patients who underwent observation or nonsurgical treatment (44%, 29%, and 19%, respectively; P = .003). Conclusions In patients with DMs of salivary gland carcinoma, survival is negatively associated with high-grade histology, bone DMs, and the total number of DMs. Metastasectomy can help to lengthen disease-free survival.
pH-mediated synthesis of monodisperse gold nanorods with quantitative yield and molecular level insight

Although gold nanorods (GNRs) have been produced with different dimensions and aspect ratios, the current synthesis methods through seed-mediated growth are far from ideal, for instance, the quality (rod yield) and the quantity (gold conversion) cannot be simultaneously satisfied. More critically, there is no molecular level understanding of the growth mechanism. Here, we solved the problem by employing the stoichiometric ratio of reactants and tuning the reactivity of the reductant through adjusting the initial pH value of the growth solution to achieve both good quality and high quantity simultaneously. We also extended our strategy to other enols besides ascorbic acid, such as phenolic compounds, and found that the optimal pH for GNRs synthesis depends on the structure of the individual compound. The mechanistic insight greatly enriches the toolbox of reductants for GNRs growth and makes it possible to synthesize GNRs at both acidic and basic conditions. An interesting phenomenon is that for most of the phenolic compounds we tested, the morphology of the final products follows the same sphere-rod-sphere trend as the initial pH value of the reaction increases, whether it is under acidic or basic conditions, which cannot be explained by any previously proposed mechanism. The effect of pH is mainly attributed to the regulation of the reduction potential of the reductants, and thus the reaction rate. A model has been proposed to explain the dependence of anisotropic growth of GNRs on the concentration gradient of reactants around the seeds, which is decided by both the reaction rate and diffusion rate.
Gas in the kidney: a case of emphysematous pyelonephritis in a patient with uncontrolled diabetes mellitus.

A 22-year-old woman with a history of type 1 diabetes mellitus (DM) presented with nausea, vomiting and epigastric discomfort for 3 days. On presentation, she had blood pressure of 80/50 mm Hg and a heart rate of 120 bpm. No significant findings were noted on systemic physical examination. She
Use of standardized uptake value thresholding for target volume delineation in pediatric Hodgkin lymphoma

Abstract Purpose A limitation of [18F] 2-fluoro-2-deoxy-d-glucose positron emission tomography (FDGPET) in radiation planning for Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) is significant variability in delineation of tumor volume. One approach to reduce variability is to apply automatic or semiautomatic segmentation methods such as thresholding based on a percent tumor maximum standardized uptake value (SUVmax). Here, we apply various tumor SUVmax thresholds and examine their effects in involved field radiation therapy (IFRT) and involved site radiation therapy (ISRT) target volumes. Methods and materials PET/computed tomography data sets were reviewed for 16 pediatric and young adult patients treated with IFRT. The following percent tumor SUVmax thresholds were applied to the prechemotherapy PET: 15%, 20%, 25%, 30%, 35%, and 40%. Clinical target volumes for IFRT and ISRT plans were manually generated based on these threshold volumes (CTVPET) and compared with clinical target volumes generated using the standard qualitative visual method (CTVQVM). Treatment plans were generated, doses to normal structures were compared, and the optimum threshold, defined as the CTVPET that corresponded to the percent overlap closest to 100% when compared with the CTVQVM, was determined. Results On average, there was a 7.6-fold increase in PET volume between 40% and 15% SUVmax. When the 6 SUVmax thresholds were applied in the design of target volumes for IFRT, 2 of 16 patients had a change in treatment volume. There was a 2.4-fold increase in ISRT CTVs generated based on the 15% and 40% SUVmax, which translated into a clinically significant decrease in dose to normal structures when the ISRT plans that were generated using the 15% SUVmax volumes were compared with the 40% SUVmax. In most patients, the optimum threshold was SUVmax 15%. Conclusions Accurate target volume delineation with [18F] 2-fluoro-2-deoxy-d-glucose PET in HL is challenging and may require more precise and reproducible segmentation methods as we move toward more conformal therapies.
Direitos Humanos para todos: da luta contra o autoritarismo à construção de uma democracia inclusiva - um olhar a partir da Região Andina e do Cone Sul

O movimento de direitos humanos e cidadania foi um ator-chave nos processos de consolidacao democratica que ocorreram na Regiao Andina e no Cone Sul durante as ultimas duas decadas. No entanto, as organizacoes da sociedade civil precisam modificar suas estrategias nas novas conjunturas pos-ditatoriais. Neste artigo, serao identificados alguns dos desafios centrais que essas organizacoes devem enfrentar.
War, Politics and Society in Early Modern China, 900-1795

1. Unity Through War (900-1005) 2. Empires at Peace, Empires at War, 1005-1142 3. 1142-1272, Three Empires and A Century of War 4. A Chinese Empire? (1272-1355) 5. The Chinese Conquest Dynasty, 1355-1435 6. 1435-1610, The Politics of Imperial Collapse 7. 1610-1683, A People Created for War 8. 1684-1795, The Old Man of Ten Complete Military Victories
Asymmetric Research on Asymmetric Wars

Great Powers, Small Wars: Asymmetric Conflict Since 1945. By Deriglazova Larisa. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2014. 408 pp., $60 hardcover (ISBN 978-1-421-41412-6). The share of international relations (IR) studies that focus on asymmetric relations does not match the share of international interactions that are asymmetric. Although we are keen to draw some of our strongest lessons about IR from asymmetric pairings throughout history (for example, the “Melian Dialogue” provides a classic case for IR realist theory [Lattimore 1998]), we have been less cautious in demonstrating why these cases might be fundamentally different from interactions between actors that are symmetric. It is important to take into account asymmetry as asymmetric interactions entail more levels of complexity than interactions between actors that are closer in political, economic, and military strength. In Great Powers, Small Wars: Asymmetric Conflict Since 1945 , Larisa Deriglazova offers a careful and detailed review of the literature and data that inform asymmetric research, while providing a platform for scholars beginning to consider how asymmetry may alter the strategic and tactical space between actors. The book offers a foundation for students either in undergraduate or in graduate studies and can be a tool for scholars who are investigating the field. Additionally, the book offers a framework for analysis with testable hypotheses, although full consideration of these hypotheses involves additional research. The book is relatively concise in presentation by offering its …
Notes and Talk: An Examination of a Long-Term English Learner Reading-to-Learn in a High School Biology Classroom.

AbstractLong-term English learners (LTELs) are frequently characterized as struggling with academic reading in English. This paper moves beyond broad generalizations about this population's English-reading practices to a situated analysis of one ‘LTEL’ – Lizbeth Sanchez's – making meaning in her sophomore biology classroom. This analysis of Lizbeth's reading practices reveals that she successfully navigates the primary reading practices through which she was expected to acquire new disciplinary knowledge. Although the examined reading practices were fundamental to academic success in her biology classroom, they are distinct from those predominantly portrayed as academic reading on standardized tests and in the research literature. Nevertheless, these findings provide an important counter-narrative about a population that is frequently represented as lacking both academic and linguistic ability. In addition, they illustrate the significance of how academic reading is conceptualized for recognizing and buil...
The difficult diabetic: Part 2

This article is the conclusion of a two-part series on managing the difficult diabetic patient. In this section, problems with insulin kinetics are reviewed, including issues with absorption, duration of effect and anti-insulin antibodies. Guidelines about selecting an appropriate insulin type are provided for both dogs and cats, along with background information about the expected behaviour of the common types used in these species. A detailed approach to the insulin-resistant patient is described, along with specific suggestions for the evaluation of apparent insulin resistance. Unrelated hypoglycaemic disorders are also discussed.
Disparities in initial presentation and treatment outcomes of diabetic foot ulcers in a public, private, and Veterans Administration hospital.

Background Disparities in diabetic foot ulcer (DFU) treatment outcomes are well described, although few studies identify risk factors contributing to disparate healing and amputation rates. In a unique academic center serving urban public, private, and veteran patients, we investigated amputation and healing rates and specific risk factors for disparate treatment outcomes. Methods A retrospective chart review of diabetic patients with a new diagnosis of a foot ulcer at geographically adjacent, but independent public, private, and Veterans Administration (VA) hospitals was conducted. Healing and lower extremity amputation outcomes were assessed. Results Across the three hospitals, 234 patients met the inclusion criteria. Patients at the VA hospital were older (mean 72.5 years; P < 0.001) and had gangrenous ulcers (mean 14.1%; P < 0.001) compared with patients in the private and public hospitals. Public hospital patients were mostly Hispanic (mean 54%; P < 0.001) with a shorter duration of diabetes (mean 12.8 years; P = 0.02), but were more poorly controlled than VA and private hospital patients (P ≤ 0.001). Prior amputation (odds ratio [OR] 1.97; P = 0.016) and non-Caucasian race (OR 2.42; P = 0.004) increased the risk of amputation on multivariate analysis. Osteomyelitis (P = 0.0371) and gangrene (P < 0.001) are independent risk factors for amputation. Across all three hospitals, 42.3% of patients were treated by amputation (6.8% private, 12% public and 23.5% VA; P < 0.001). Conclusion In a single triumvirate health care system where the patient population is stratified primarily by insurance, VA patients have significantly higher amputation rates compared with patients at adjacent private and public hospitals. The VA patients are largely racial minorities with advanced DFU progression to gangrenous ulcers.
A Note on the Effect of Elections Subject to Judicial Review

The most recent U.S. presidential election raised the questions of whether or not agents who believe that losing candidates will contest the results of close elections perceive their vote as more important and whether or not they will be more or less likely to vote. The analysis involves a two-player voting game with one of the players initially in a weaker position because he loses all ties. The key variable is the probability of the weaker player winning the post-election judicial review process. The relationship between this probability and the level of voting for the weaker player is non-monotonic. Also, if this probability is sufficiently close to one-half, contesting close elections leads to increased voting, lowering social welfare.
A Cell Wall-degrading Endopolygalacturonase Secreted by Colletotrichum lindemuthianum

Cultures of Colletotrichum lindemuthianum (Saccardo and Magnus) Scribner have been induced to secrete an endopolygalacturonase (polygalacturonide glycanohydrolase EC3.2. 1.15). This enzyme has been brought to a high state of purity by ion exchange, gel filtration, and agarose affinity chromatography. The enzyme has optimal activity at pH 5, has an apparent molecular weight as determined by gel filtration of about 70,000, and prefers polygalacturonic acid to pectin as its substrate. The enzyme, while hydrolyzing only 1% of the glycosidic bonds, reduces the viscosity of a polygalacturonic solution by 50%. Nevertheless, the initial as well as the final products of polygalacturonic acid hydrolysis are predominantly tri- and digalacturonic acid and, to a lesser extent, monogalacturonic acid. The purified enzyme catalyzes the removal of about 80% of the galacturonic acid residues of cell walls isolated from suspension-cultured sycamore cells (Acer pseudoplatanus) as well as from the walls isolated from 8-day-old Red Kidney bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) hypocotyls.
At the Edge of History: Notes for a Theory for the Historical Novel in Latin America

AbstractThis paper presents a theory for the historical novel in general, and for the late twentieth-century Latin American historical novel in particular. Drawing on the theories proposed by Manzoni, Lukacs, Alonso and Menton, this paper argues that the historical novel, rather than a genre with a fixed number of attributes, is a 'mode of writing' that creates and maintains tension between fiction and the agreed-upon historical record. By creating a productive tension between the reader's knowledge of the past — or 'historical competency' — and fiction, the historical novel makes the reader aware of the difficulty of deciding where history ends and where fiction begins. This difficulty, which is a moment of hesitation, produces in turn 'historiographical consciousness' — the awareness that history is amendable, partial, and ultimately culturally produced.
The potential for mitten crab Eriocheir sinensis H. Milne Edwards, 1853 (Crustacea: Brachyura) invasion of Pacific Northwest and Alaskan Estuaries

Eriocheir sinensis H. Milne Edwards, 1853 is on the list of top 100 invaders compiled by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources. The recent establishment of a large Chinese mitten crab population in San Francisco Bay and the potential for introductions from California, Asia and Europe pose a significant invasion potential for estuaries and rivers from California to Alaska. This alien species would place at risk the catchment areas of the Pacific Northwest including the economic and social activities that depend upon intact aquatic systems. An analysis of ecological conditions that define the mitten crab’s native and introduced range suggests that large stable estuaries with long flushing times are necessary to sustain significant populations. Most Pacific Northwest estuaries have limited salinity intrusion, estuarine habitat and short flushing times and face a reduced risk of population establishment. Large, stable estuaries, such as the Puget Sound, may support significant populations. River-dominated estuaries, such as the Columbia River, have flushing times less than the duration of larval development and wouldn’t support populations. An application of a temperature based larval development rate to near-shore and estuary sea surface temperatures suggests that estuaries in Oregon and Washington have sufficient thermal regimes to support larval development. Most estuary systems in Alaska have limited periods where water temperatures are above the mortality threshold for the larval stages and are at a low risk for the establishment of populations. A potential sea temperature rise of two degrees Celsius would permit larval development in Alaskan estuaries, where sufficient estuarine and freshwater habitats exist.
The measurement of attenuation in nonlinearly attenuating media by the zero crossing method.

Abstract A closed form expression relating the zero crossing density to the material parameters of media with nonlinear frequency dependent attenuation is derived for the case of Gaussian excitation. This expression indicates that for tissues which exhibit a small degree of such nonlinearity, significant errors in the determination of the material parameter result if the nonlinearity is ignored. This result is similar to that shown earlier [Narayana and Ophir (1983) Ultrasound in Med. & Biol . 9 , 357–361] for frequency shift techniques.
High performance computing at IBM: The Bluegene/L supercomputer

The current approach to handling very large compute-intensive and data-intensive applications is to deploy the cumulative effect of a large number of processors in parallel, either via a networked cluster of computers or via a more tightly coupled massively parallel system. As simulation models evolve in complexity together with the accelerated proliferation of modeling and imaging data, this approach to computing quickly becomes limited by issues of power consumption, cooling, and physical size, not to mention cost and performance. The challenge is to construct a dense air-cooled machine with high performance and low cost.
A feasibility study of the evaluation of the Florida breast cancer early detection program using the statewide cancer registry

In Florida, a Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)-funded initiative of the Florida Department of Health has targeted socio-economically disadvantaged women for breast and cervical cancer screening. Since 1995, over 12,000 women aged 50–64, within 200% of the federally defined poverty level, with no health insurance, and living in metropolitan catchment areas in Florida, have been screened by the Florida Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program (BCCEDP). This was a matched cohort cross-sectional analysis of a cohort study of Florida women with breast cancer using the Florida incident cancer registry, the Florida Cancer Data System (FCDS). The study evaluated the hypothesis that there would be no difference in the stage at diagnosis between breast cancer cases in the BCCEDP-screening program and breast cancer cases not diagnosed in the screening program. After linking the BCCEDP records with the FCDS, BCCEDP-screened cases were matched on gender, age, race, ethnicity, and other variables with five groups of FCDS breast cancer cases not screened by BCCEDP to control for demographic and socio-economic factors. Breast cancer cases diagnosed in BCCEDP were significantly more likely to be diagnosed at later stage than non-BCCEDP breast cancer cases in the five matched groups. The BCCEDP is not purely a screening program since it also caters to symptomatic women in the indigent population, therefore these finding were expected. In fact, 71% of the BCCEDP cases were symptomatic at the time of screening/diagnosis and 53% were late-stage diagnosed. These findings show that BCCEDP is indeed servicing its targeted population of medically under-served and symptomatic women in Florida. Furthermore, despite limitations, this study illustrates the potential collaboration between cancer registries and breast cancer screening programs for quality control purposes.
Determination of para-synephrine and meta-synephrine positional isomers in bitter orange-containing dietary supplements by LC/UV and LC/MS/MS

Abstract Dietary supplements that contain bitter orange (Citrus aurantium) fruit as an integrated component have rapidly replaced ephedra-containing dietary supplements for use as weight loss products. However, the safety of bitter orange-containing supplements has been questioned because synephrine, an adrenergic alkaloid and a key component of bitter orange fruit, has potential adverse health effects. Conflicting reports have stated that synephrine exists as the para (p) and/or meta (m) positional isomers in some bitter orange-containing supplements and this is problematic because the p- and m-isomers have distinctly different pharmacological and metabolic activities. Two liquid chromatographic (LC) methods have been developed for the baseline separation and quantitation of p- and m-synephrine in bitter orange-containing supplements. An isocratic LC method that utilizes ultraviolet (UV) absorbance detection and a gradient LC method that utilizes tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) detection were optimized for separation of the isomers within a run time of 25 min. Terbutaline was utilized as an internal standard compound in both LC methods. The LC/UV and LC/MS/MS methods demonstrated limits of quantitation (LOQs) for synephrine of ≈30 ng (on-column) and ≈0.02 ng (on-column), respectively, and each method exhibited analytical linearity over three orders of magnitude. Both LC methods were used to evaluate the synephrine levels in a limited selection of commercially available bitter orange-containing supplements. Significantly, m-synephrine was not detected in any of the tested dietary supplements.
Determining mating type in Neurospora without crossing tests.

STRAINS of Neurospora crassa belonging to either A or a mating type are morphologically indistinguishable. Mating type determinations are usually made by observing whether perithecia occur after crossing strains of unknown mating type to A and a tester strains. The tests are usually run either in two series of culture tubes or in pairs of Petri dishes. The use of tester strains on a large scale, however, may become laborious, ambiguous tests have to be re-run, and infertility sometimes confuses the results.
Hauling t-SNAREs on the microtubule highway

Microtubule-mediated transport is essential for neuronal viability, neurite extension, synapse formation and synaptic function. Now a new kinesin receptor, syntabulin, has been identified that controls transport of the t-SNARE syntaxin along microtubules.
Isolation and characterization of the reaction product of 4-diazobenzenesulfonic acid and γ-carboxyglutamic acid : modification of the assay for measurement of β-carboxyaspartic acid

Abstract γ-Carboxyglutamic acid (Gla)-containing proteins are extracellular proteins with enhanced cation or mineral-binding properties. Discovery of new Gla-containing proteins is facilitated by methods that decrease the number of steps and time involved in assaying for Gla. Reaction of 4-diazobenzenesulfonic acid (DBS) and Gla or Gla-containing proteins produces an intensely red-colored product. This method has been used to identify Gla-containing proteins in crude extracts of proteins. The reaction product of Gla and DBS has been purified by reversed-phase HPLC and characterized by uv-visible spectroscopy and electrospray ionization (ESI) mass spectrometry (MS). The red-colored product exhibits an absorption maximum at 530 nm. The ESI-MS data of the colored derivative of Gla are consistent with replacement of the two γ-carboxyl groups in Gla with two DBS groups. DBS also reacts with another malonic acid derivative, β-carboxyaspartic acid (Asa). The optimum conditions for colorimetric assay of Asa were established, and the potential of this reaction as an assay for Asa and Asa-containing proteins was studied.
Category labels versus feature labels: category labels polarize inferential predictions.

What makes category labels different from feature labels in predictive inference? This study suggests that category labels tend to make inductive reasoning polarized and homogeneous. In two experiments, participants were shown two schematic pictures of insects side by side and predicted the value of a hidden feature of one insect on the basis of the other insect. Arbitrary verbal labels were shown above the two pictures, and the meanings of the labels were manipulated in the instructions. In one condition, the labels represented the category membership of the insects, and in the other conditions, the same labels represented attributes of the insects. When the labels represented category membership, participants’ responses became substantially polarized and homogeneous, indicating that the mere reference to category membership can modify reasoning processes.
Flexor tendon rupture 55 years following a wrist laceration

Flexor tendon rupture at the wrist or palm is rare. We present a case of index flexor digitorum profundus rupture at the level of the wrist associated with the site of a laceration 55 years earlier. Associated pathology included a large neuroma-in-continuity of the median nerve and adhesions involving the flexor digitorum superficialis tendons. The rupture was treated by tenodesis to the relatively unaffected flexor digitorum profundus to the adjacent long finger.
Seasonal population density of Anagrus giraulti (Hymenoptera: Mymaridae), an egg parasitoid of Circulifer tenellus and Empoasca spp. (Homoptera: Cicadellidae)

Anagrus giraulti Crawford, a mymarid egg parasitoid, was monitored in the field attacking the eggs of the beet leafhopper, Circulifer tenellus (Baker), and Empoasca spp. on sugar beets from 1982 to 1985. This parasitoid was active throughout each year in Riverside, Calif. Parasitization reached 70.5% in 1982, 96.2% in 1983, 95.8% in 1984, and 83.5% in 1985. The Empoasca spp. complex was most abundant throughout the study period, with peak populations occurring in the spring and fall months. Peaks of C. tenellus abundance occurred in late May to June and again in September. Overwintering diapause of A. giraulti was not observed in Riverside, Calif.
Cetacean culture: Definitions and evidence

Rendell and Whitehead have drawn attention to some striking cetacean behaviour patterns. However, the claims for “culture” are premature. Weak examples of cetacean social learning do not, in sum, provide strong evidence for culture. Other terms, such as social learning, vocal learning, imitation, and tradition may be applied in some cases without resorting to more complex and controversial terms.
Optimum stimulus frequency for contracting the inspiratory muscles with chest-surface electrodes to produce artificial respiration

Electroventilation is the term used to describe the production of inspiration by applying a train of short-duration pulses to chest-surface electrodes. Studies were conducted in the dog to determine the optimum frequency to produce a smooth air flow in the trachea. It was found that a stimulus frequency of 25/sec or slightly higher meets this criterion. To illustrate that electroventilation can be carried out for a prolonged period using these parameters, electroventilation was applied continuously for 5 hours in a dog without a noticeable change in blood pressure.
Minimum k-Hamiltonian graphs, II

We consider in this paper graphs which remain hamiltonian after the removal of k edges (k-edge hamiltonian) or k vertices (k-hamiltonian). These classes of graphs arise from reliability considerations in network design. In a previous paper, W. W. Wong and C. K. Wong presented families of minimum k-hamiltonian graphs and minimum k-edge hamiltonian graphs for k even. Here, we complete this study in the case where k is odd.
Factors affecting baseline nociceptive sensitivity

The present study examined factors with the potential to affect sensitivity of the tail flick measure of thermal nociception in rats. The length of the habituation period before testing began, the apparatus ramp speed, and the light:dark cycle were manipulated in a within-subjects design to determine which factors minimize the variability between baseline trials. Factors had little effect on mean baseline latencies, but standard deviations were affected. Lower variability occurred after 0- and 15-min habituation periods than after 60-min periods, after a constant light cycle than after a light:dark cycle, and after a higher temperature thermal apparatus than after a lower temperature. Although statistically significant, these effects were modest in size. These results may be of some use to those comparing studies that used very different parameters and to those designing studies and trying to optimize conditions.