cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Retirement’s Past, Present and Possibilities

Reviewers have the benefit of hindsight. This is especially true of the present review of four books concerning retirement and pension policy, all of which were penned prior to the crisis that depressed global equity markets in the last quarter of 2008 and continued to plague markets throughout 2009. The current crisis suggests that post-Enron and current Sarbanes-Oxley economies in the US are apparently not that different from pre-Enron and pre-Sarbanes-Oxley economies. Hence, it is clear that the post-Enron but pre2008/2009 crisis calls for more stringent government oversight and better shareholder activism did not produce the intended results. We may ask ourselves therefore: what is to be gained by suggesting more of the same kinds of policies? Of course, one can argue that the policy prescriptions brought on by the corporate scandals that began the decade were not properly implemented or adhered to thoroughly enough. But maybe, just maybe, there are more fundamental problems with capitalist economies that demand a more critical and radical analysis to unearth. When will we finally stop being surprised by economic collapses, poor outcomes for labour, and the failures of state policy? review essay / note critique
Descriptions of coronal streamer structures during the rising phase of cycle 23

Abstract Observations by the LASCO C3 telescope on SOHO have been used to illustrate the variations of coronal structures during the rising phase of Cycle 23. Most coronal streamers observed at solar minimum are seen near the equator and often exhibit a symmetric configuration. As the solar maximum approaches, the coronal streamers occur at mid to high latitude. The symmetric configuration no longer appears. We use numerical magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) models to deduce the magnetic field topology, velocity field, and plasma parameters for these observed configurations.
Cross-binding of factors to functionally different promoter elements in c-fos and skeletal actin genes.

Abstract A conserved 28-base-pair element in the skeletal actin promoter was sufficient to activate muscle-specific expression when placed upstream of a TATA element. This muscle regulatory element (MRE) is similar in structure to the serum response element (SRE), which is present in the promoters of the c-fos proto-oncogene and the nonmuscle actin genes. The SRE can function as a constitutive promoter element. Though the MRE and SRE differed in their tissue-specific expression properties, both elements bound to the same protein factors in vitro. These proteins are the serum response factor (SRF) and the muscle actin promoter factors 1 and 2 (MAPF1 and MAPF2). The SRF and MAPF proteins were resolved by chromatographic procedures, and they differed in their relative affinities for each element. The factors were further distinguished by their distinct, but overlapping, methylation interference footprint patterns on each element. These data indicate that the differences in tissue-specific expression may be due to a complex interaction of protein factors with these sequences.
High-speed InP-based strained MQW ridge waveguide laser

A high-speed ridge waveguide laser with undoped strained MQW active region was fabricated and characterized. The lasers demonstrated typical threshold currents of /spl sim/20 mA. The electrical impedance of the laser demonstrates -3 dB bandwidths >34 GHz at high bias currents, indicating that the parasitics in our devices are very small. The best laser demonstrated a -3 dB modulation bandwidth of 20 GHz. This is the highest bandwidth achieved for a ridge waveguide laser operating at 1.55 /spl mu/m.
Father-Daughter Relationships and Adolescent Female Sexuality: Paternal Qualities Associated with Responsible Sexual Behavior

ABSTRACT Research on adolescent and young adult sexuality has focused on identifying factors associated with sexual attitudes and behaviors. Werner-Wilson and Cough!in-Smith (1997) recently suggested that examining interactional dynamics would enhance our understanding of adolescent and young adult sexuality: research has identified factors associated with sexuality but has neglected to examine how these factors interact with each other to exert influence. The present study, adopting a more micro-perspective, explores what specific dynamics interact with paternal influences to influence adolescent female sexual decision-making. Results indicate three general themes. Responsible sexual behavior among adolescent females seemed to be associated with (a) fathers who were very involved in parenting and the father-daughter relationship; (b) fathers who encouraged androgynous behavior in their daughters, and (c) positive communication with fathers regarding men, dating, sex, and marriage. These findings undersco...
THE MOLECULAR ARCHITECTURE OF THE SAR LOCUS IN STAPHYLOCOCCUS AUREUS

The global regulator sar in Staphylococcus aureus controls the synthesis of a variety of cell wall and extracellular proteins, many of which are putative virulence factors. The sar locus in strain RN6390 contains a 339-bp open reading frame (sarA) and an 860-bp upstream region. Transcriptional analyses of this locus revealed three different transcripts of 0.58, 0.84, and 1.15 kb (designated sarA, sarC, and sarB, respectively). All three transcripts seemed to be under temporal, growth cycle-dependent regulation, with sarA and sarB being most abundant in early log phase and the sarC concentration being highest toward the late stationary phase. Mapping of the 5' ends of the sar transcripts by primer extension and modified S1 nuclease protection assays demonstrated that transcription is initiated from three separate, widely spaced promoters. The 3' ends of all three sar transcripts are identical, and transcriptional termination occurs upstream of a typical prokaryotic poly(T) termination signal. Northern (RNA) analysis of sar mutant clones containing plasmids that comprised various promoters and the termination signal revealed that individual transcripts can be generated from each of the three promoters, thus suggesting possible activation as independent promoters. The multipromoter system, from which transcription is initiated, bears conserved features for recognition by homologous sigma 70 transcription factors and also by those expressed in the general stress response. Downstream of the two distal promoters (P3 and P2) are two regions potentially encoding short peptides. It is conceivable that posttranslational cooperation between these short peptides and the sarA gene product occurs to modulate sar-related functions. Complementation studies of a sar mutant with a clone expressing all three sar transcripts showed that this clone was able to restore the sar wild-type phenotype to the sar mutant.
Recency judgments as a function of word frequency: A framing effect and frequency misattributions

The effects of word frequency on judgments of recency of item presentation were examined in two experiments. Subjects in Experiment 1 were presented two mixed lists of high- and low-frequency words followed by a list assignment task for recognized items. It was found that subjects were biased toward assigning low-frequency words to the more recently presented list. Subjects in Experiment 2 were presented a single mixed list of high- and low-frequency words followed by either a relative recency of presentation judgment task or a relative primacy of presentation judgment task. Each word pair on the tests contained one high-frequency word and one low-frequency word. It was found that, for the recency judgment task, subjects were biased to select the low-frequency item as having been presented more recently. However, on the parallel primacy judgment task, there were no effects of word frequency; moreover, overall accuracy levels were higher with primacy than with recency instructions. We interpret the effects of word frequency on recency judgments in Experiments 1 and 2 in terms of a misattribution of frequency-related differences in recollection-based recognition. The finding that recency and primacy instructions produced different patterns of results provides further evidence (Flexser & Bower, 1974) for an effect on performance of the way in which the temporal judgment task was framed.
Incentive Learning for Morphine-Associated Stimuli During Protracted Abstinence Increases Conditioned Drug Preference

Previous studies from our laboratory found that rats express increased preference for drug-paired stimuli following 2 or 5 weeks of protracted abstinence from chronic drug exposure as compared with naive animals. Here, we show that this increased morphine place preference depends upon experiencing drug-stimulus pairings specifically in the abstinent state, indicating a critical role for incentive learning. Male Sprague Dawley rats were initially conditioned for morphine place preference (8 mg/kg) and then made dependent on morphine (by subcutaneous morphine pellets) and subjected to forced abstinence. Place preference was tested every 1–2 weeks with no additional drug-cue conditioning. In this paradigm, there was no difference between morphine-pelleted (dependent) and placebo-pelleted (non-dependent) rats in place preference at any time during abstinence (up to 6 weeks). However, these same morphine-pelleted rats expressed significantly increased preference when they were subsequently re-conditioned for morphine place preference during protracted abstinence. Placebo-pelleted rats did not show enhanced preference after re-conditioning. These findings reveal that incentive learning has a key role in increased morphine place preference when drug is experienced during protracted abstinence. This indicates that incentive learning is involved not only in instrumental responding (as previously reported), but also in updating Pavlovian-conditioned responses to morphine-associated stimuli. Therefore, enhanced morphine preference is not a direct consequence of the negative affective state of abstinence, but instead reflects increased acquisition of morphine-stimulus associations during abstinence. These results indicate that, during the development of addiction in humans, drug-associated stimuli acquire increasingly stronger incentive properties each time they are re-experienced.
Inhibition of UDP-N-acetylglucosamine import into Golgi membranes by nucleoside monophosphates.

The specificity of the UDP-N-acetylglucosamine (UDP-GlcNAc) translocator for the binding of nucleoside monophosphates (NMPs) and nucleotide-sugars was examined in order to develop a quantitative understanding of how this enzyme recognizes its substrates and to provide a framework for development of novel drugs that target glycosylation. Competition studies reveal that tight binding requires a complete ribose ring and a 5‘-phosphate. The enzyme is extremely tolerant to changes at the 3‘-position, and the presence of 3‘-F actually increases binding of the NMP to the enzyme. At the 2‘-position, substitutions in the ribo configuration are well tolerated, although these same substitutions greatly diminish binding when present in the ara configuration. For the base, size appears to be the key feature for discrimination. The enzyme tolerates changing the C-4 oxygen of uridine to an amino group as well as substituting groups containing one or two carbons at C-5. However, substitution of groups containing three ca...
Influence of the solvent on the mode of coordination of 4-cyanophenylacetonitrile to silver(I) ion

Abstract The mode of coordination of 4-cyanophenylacetonitrile to silver ion in propylene carbonate and in nitromethane has been investigated by infrared spectrophotometry. In propylene carbonate, aromatic nitrile coordination is the only mode of nitrile coordination to silver ion; in nitromethane, it constitutes one-half of the nitrile coordination of silver ion. The results are explained in terms of the relative stability of aliphatic nitrile versus aromatic nitrile complexes of silver ion in the two solvents and of the compatibility of the aromatic nitrile and aliphatic nitrile coordinated 4-cyanophenylacetonitrile complexes with the solvent.
Redistribution effects of inflation

Abstract This note discusses Lee Ohanian׳s paper on “Monetary policy in the midst of big shocks”. In particular, it asks what would happen if assumptions are changed so inflation have redistribution effects. Evidence on nominal positions suggests that such effects can be quantitatively important.
Computations of ideal and real gas high altitude plume flows

In the present work, complete flow fields around generic space vehicles in supersonic and hypersonic flight regimes are studied numerically. Numerical simulation is performed with a flux-split, time asymptotic viscous flow solver that incorporates a generalized equilibrium chemistry model. Solutions to generic problems at various altitude and flight conditions show the complexity of the flow, the equilibrium chemical dissociation and its effect on the overall flow field. Viscous ideal gas solutions are compared against equilibrium gas solutions to illustrate the effect of equilibrium chemistry. Improved solution accuracy is achieved through adaptive grid refinement.
Back-to-back skin stretch feedback for communicating five degree-of-freedom direction cues

This paper presents the design and development of a novel device for providing tactile feedback in five degrees of freedom (5-DOF). Four translational and four rotational motions of the hand can be communicated to a user using two independently controlled 2-DOF skin stretch feedback devices placed back-to-back. An additional two rotational motions of the hand can be communicated through spiral motions of the two skin stretch feedback devices. The user's index finger and thumb grasp the device at the location of the moving contactor (tactor) of each of the 2-DOF skin stretch displays, respectively. Experiments show user responses to have high directional accuracy (> 98%) for each of the five degrees of freedom communicated by the device. A second experiment also shows a proof of concept for using the back-to-back skin stretch display to guide users' hand motions to match a specified target angle in a one degree-of-freedom wrist rotation task. Findings from this preliminary study will be used in future studies to investigate users' ability to track paths in multiple degrees of freedom or to direct the hand motions of a user, which could be relevant to tasks such as upper limb rehabilitation, swing training, or other motion training.
Evaluating Enzyme Cascades for Methanol/Air Biofuel Cells Based on NAD+‐Dependent Enzymes

Previous work by the group has entailed encapsulating enzymes in polymeric micelles at bioelectrode surfaces by utilizing hydrophobically modified Nafion membranes, which are modified in order to eliminate the harsh acidity of Nafion while tailoring the size of the polymer micelles to optimize for the encapsulation of an individual enzyme. This polymer encapsulation has been shown to provide high catalytic activity and enzyme stability. In this study, we employed this encapsulation technique in developing a methanol/air biofuel cell through the combined immobilization of NAD+-dependent alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH), aldehyde dehydrogenase (AldDH) and formate dehydrogenase (FDH) within a tetrabutylammonium bromide (TBAB) modified Nafion to oxidize methanol to carbon dioxide with poly(methylene green) acting as the NADH electrocatalyst electropolymerized on the surface of the electrode. The methanol biofuel/air cell resulted in a maximum power density of 261±7.6 μW/cm2 and current density of 845±35.5 μA/cm2. This system was characterized for the effects of degree of oxidation, temperature, pH, and concentration of fuel and NAD.
Nonlinear distortion analysis on CDMA communication systems

The authors give an expression of the estimation of the out-of-band emission levels for a CDMA power spectrum in terms of the third-order intercept point (IP3) and the fifth-order intercept point (IP5), as well as the power level and bandwidth of the signal. This result will be useful in the design of RF power amplifiers for a CDMA wireless system.
Pore structure effects on elastic wave propagation in rocks: AVO modelling

Pore structure in rocks at reservoir pressures can affect strongly elastic wave velocities. For a reservoir where the fluid type and lithology are known, elastic wave velocity V can be described by a two-parameter model in terms of porosity and a pore structure parameter referred to as the frame flexibility factor (γ). Using this two-parameter elastic model V(, γ), the concept of pore structure type (PST) is introduced to quantify the pore structure effects on elastic properties of sedimentary rocks. To illustrate the concept, three PSTs are defined and they have their distinct characteristics on elastic wave propagation. Through solving exact Zoeppritz equations and elastic finite-element modelling, this study indicates that it may be feasible to detect pore structure variations in reservoir rocks from seismic data via amplitude variation with offset (AVO) analysis. AVO interpretation aimed at fluid detection can be complicated where the presence of large pore structure variations is expected because the effects of pore structure on wave propagation can be much stronger than the fluid factor, especially in carbonate rocks.
The application and mechanism of action of ribavirin in therapy of hepatitis C

Ribavirin has been used as an antiviral agent for several decades. Although it has activity against numerous viruses, its major use clinically has been in the treatment of respiratory syncytial virus in paediatric patients and chronic HCV infection in both children and adults. This review highlights the clinical application and mechanism of action of ribavirin and discusses the future role of ribavirin in treatment of HCV where there are intense research efforts to improve therapy.
Radiation in the earth’s atmosphere: its radiance, polarization, and ellipticity

A matrix operator method for a model of the real atmosphere is used to calculate the complete radiation field of the atmosphere. The radiance, direction and amount of polarization, and ellipticity are obtained at the top and bottom of the atmosphere for three values of the surface albedo (0, 0.15, 0.90) and five solar zenith angles, taking account of molecular absorption and scattering (including by ozone) together with the variation of the density of these molecules with height.
Self-assembled nanoparticle antiglare coatings

Here we report a simple and scalable bottom-up technology for assembling close-packed nanoparticle monolayers on both sides of a glass substrate as high-quality antiglare coatings. Optical measurements show that monolayer coatings consisting of 110 nm silica nanoparticles can significantly reduce optical reflectance and enhance specular transmittance of the glass substrate for a broad range of visible wavelengths. Both experiments and numerical simulations reveal that the antiglare properties of the self-assembled colloidal monolayers are significantly affected by the size of the colloidal particles.
Market Movements and the Dispossessed: Race, Identity, and Subaltern Agency among Black Women Voucher Advocates

Critical educational researchers in the United States and elsewhere are missing something essential in their inattention to considerable support among Black urban women for market-based educational reforms, including vouchers. While the educational left has engaged in important empirical and theoretical work demonstrating the particularly negative impact of educational marketization on the disenfranchised, not enough attention has been paid to the crucial role the educationally dispossessed have actually played in building these otherwise conservative reforms. Engaging with Michael Apple’s arguments concerning processes of identity formation within conservative movement-making, we can begin to conceptualize the importance of subaltern groups in market-based educational reforms. Yet ethnographic work conducted with Black voucher mothers, school officials, and community leaders in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, shows that this subaltern process of conservative formation does not always occur in the manner theorized by Apple and his colleague Anita Oliver, in which ideologically relatively unformed parents and families are “pushed” to the Right by an intransigent state. Although the conceptual tools they provide are the foundation of our ability to imagine a more compelling theorization of dynamics and social actors in Milwaukee, significant conceptual—not to mention empirical—work remains to be done. In this essay I renovate Apple and Oliver’s arguments concerning conservative modernization in order to make them more resonant with the processes of race, gender, subaltern identity formation and agency evident in my ethnographic field research with low-income African-American women choosing vouchers for their families in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Aided by critical, feminist, and post-structural theorists both within and outside educational disciplines I assess the utility and limitations of Apple and Oliver’s framework in explaining the mobilization around ‘parental choice’ and vouchers in Milwaukee. Based on my conceptual and empirical findings, I retheorize pro-voucher African-American politicians, community leaders, and poor and working class women (and their families) as representative of a subaltern ‘third force’ in conservative formation. Their tactical investments in fleeting conservative alliances and subject positions, I argue, are likely to play an increasingly significant role in educational and social reform both in the United States and elsewhere.
Fertility and eugenics: Singapore's population policies.

Singapore, after serving for two decades as a model for Third World birth control and economic development programs, is now abandoning its earlier population policies in favor of encouraging dramatic population growth. The initial eugenics-based program introduced in 1984 sought increased fertility for university-educated women and provided major subsidies for the voluntary sterilization of poor and uneducated parents. These much publicized and internationally discussed programs have now been abandoned in favor of new population programs seeking to encourage fertility in lower as well as better educated groups. A forty percent population increase is being set as a goal. To accomplish this the effective Singapore Family Planning and Population Board has been abolished and Housing Development Board policies are in the process of being reversed to encourage rather than discourage fertility.
Pulmonary function studies of conjoined thoracopagus twins.

Summary: Lung functions were measured on 13-day-old conjoined thora-copagus twins. Mean values for tidal volume and minute ventilation were 14.8 ml and 1102 ml/min for twin A and 12.8 ml and 963 ml/min for twin B. Functional residual capacities (FRC) were 35 ml/kg and 39 ml/kg for twins A and B, respectively. Pulmonary compliance and flow resistance for twin A were 2.8 ml/cm H2O and 75 cm H2O/liter·sec−1 with 45% of the total work used to overcome elastic resistance. Although values for resistance and work of breathing are within the normal range for studies reported elsewhere, these results tend to be elevated and probably reflect an abnormal state. Speculation: With decreasing reluctance by surgeons to separate conjoined thoracopagus twins, data concerning their preoperative respiratory pathophysiology assumes greater importance. Pulmonary function tests on conjoined twins may provide valuable information concerning the feasibility and prognosis for successful separation.
Probability distribution of surges and fades

A new approximation for file distribution of the surge or fade durations of a random process has recently been found [1], but an explicit formula was derived only for a normal process. The present letter extends the calculation to non-Gaussian processes.
Cell carcinoma of the paranasal sinuses and skull base.

Abstract Purpose To evaluate patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the paranasal sinus and skull base for factors that might predict clinical outcome. Methods A multi-institutional 13-year retrospective review of anterior skull base malignancies. Results Of 73 patients with anterior skull base malignancies, squamous cell carcinoma was the most prevalent—30 patients or 41%. Twenty-three patients underwent craniofacial surgery with or without adjuvant chemotherapy. Seven patients, deemed unresectable or not willing to have surgery, were treated with standard radiation protocols often with chemotherapy. The 3- and 5-year survival rates after surgery were 32% and 16%, respectively, compared to a 28% survival rate at 3 and 5 years for the nonsurgical group. Most tumors were in advanced stages accounting for a relatively poor survival in both groups. A Cox regression analysis demonstrated that age (P = .0172) was an independent determinant of poor outcome. Although 3- and 5-year survival of tumors free of sphenoid sinus, dura, retromaxillary, and ptyerygoid space, and orbit treated with surgery showed no significant difference to those patients with involvement, their median time of survival was increased for all anatomical regions. Conclusions Squamous cell carcinoma of the sinus invading the skull base carries a very poor prognosis regardless of treatment modality. Surgery with adjunctive radiotherapy and/or chemotherapy offers a survival advantage over nonsurgical methods, but treatment should be individualized weighing prognostic factors, such as age, stage, and anatomical extension with morbidity of treatment.
ESTIMATION OF MEDIAN WILLINGNESS TO PAY FOR A SYSTEM OF RECREATION AREAS

** ABSTRACT: This study provides information about people's valuation of recreational user days on public lands. The contingent valuation method is used with a random paired dichotomous choice question format. A bivariate probit model is utilized to estimate parameters of a willingness to pay function, which is used to calculate welfare measures associated with trips to three different sites and eight diverse recreational activities. The results indicate that recreational values vary by site and by activity. Per day user values range from $ 12.15 CAN per day for trips for general rest and relaxation at a lake area popular for weekend visits to $ 35.65 CAN per day for white water canoeing on a wilderness river. Values on a per trip basis range from $ 258.11 CAN for hunting to $ 97.87 CAN for weekend lake canoeing.
Regional blood flow response to orthostasis in patients with congestive heart failure

To investigate the central and regional circulatory response to orthostasis in congestive heart failure, hemodynamic variables and forearm and hepatic blood flow were measured in 22 patients at supine rest and during a 65° head-up tilt. Results were compared with those in nine normal subjects. Heart rate and mean arterial blood pressure increased during tilt in normal subjects, but not in patients with heart failure. Forearm blood flow decreased in normal subjects from 3.7 ± l.lto2.7± 1.5 ml/min per 100 g (probability [p] Thus, both the overall hemodynamic response and the regulation of regional blood flow and resistance differ in several respects in patients with congestive heart failure when compared with normal subjects. Changes in heart rate, blood pressure, forearm flow and forearm and hepatic vascular resistance are all blunted in patients. Reasons for the differences are not yet clear, but may be associated with abnormalities in reflex control of the circulation in patients with congestive heart failure.
Observations of vaginal calculi in dolphins.

Vaginal calculi have been described from the common (Delphinus delphis), Pacific white-sided (Lagenorhynchus obliquidens) and spotted (Stenella attenuata) dolphins. We describe additional calculi found in six sexually mature D. delphis from southern California. Three calculi were large (ca. 7×5 cm), exhibited concentric layer crystallization, and were unique from previously published descriptions. One calculus described previously and one in our sample appeared to be a fetal skeleton and skull respectively. Using CAT scans of a first trimester northern right whale dolphin (Lissodelphis borealis) and of a near term Delphinus delphis, we discuss the potential origin and development of vaginal calculi through analysis of ossification in embryonic delphinids. We hypothesize that the calculi represented spontaneous incomplete abortion with retention of part or all of the fetus in the distal reproductive tract. The form of the calculus relates to the degree of skeletal development at the time of fetal death. Ca...
Self-assembly of reconfigurable colloidal molecules

The lock-and-key colloidal particles of Sacanna et al. are novel “dynamic” building blocks consisting of a central spherical colloidal particle (key) attached to a finite number of dimpled colloidal particles (locks) via depletion interactions strong enough to bind the particles together but weak enough that the locks are free to rotate around the key. This rotation imbues a mechanical reconfigurability to these colloidal “molecules”. Here we use molecular simulation to predict that these lock-and-key building blocks can self-assemble into a wide array of complex crystalline structures that are tunable via a set of reconfigurability dimensions: the number of locks per building block, bond length, size ratio, confinement, and lock mobility. We demonstrate that, with reconfigurability, ordered structures – such as random triangle square tilings – assemble, despite being kinetically inaccessible with non-reconfigurable but similar building blocks.
Stimulant drugs in the developmental disabilities revisited

In this paper, I attempt to update the evidence for a conceptual model published some years ago (Aman, 1982) that strived to account for variable responses to stimulant medication in children with normal IQ and in those with developmental disabilities. This model accounted for such variations in terms of differences in breadth of attention across clinical groups. Recent reports on the use of stimulant drugs in subjects with developmental disabilities were reviewed. The evidence shows that children with mental retardation and ADHD often benefit from such medication, although their response rate seems to be somewhat lower than that of ADHD children of normal IQ. There is a paucity of stimulant drug research with children having autism, but it is clear that some of them also benefit from stimulant medication. However, there are also reports of adverse behavioral reactions to the stimulants in some children with autism or PDD. Several studies examining predictor variables were reviewed. Breadth of attention, IQ, and mental age have been useful in predicting outcome in a number of studies, and I argue that this supports the model. There is a continuing need for stimulant drug research in children with developmental disabilities, especially in those with autism. There is also merit in assessing cognitive variables suggested by the model as well as demographic and clinical variables for their ability to predict clinical response in these children.
Antagonism Between Nafcillin or Oxacillin and Rifampin Against Staphylococcus aureus

By the time-kill method, the combinations of nafcillin plus rifampin and oxacillin plus rifampin were antagonistic against 20 strains of Staphylococcus aureus. No synergism was demonstrated.
1,3-Diastereocontrol in acyclic radical allylations

The radical allylation of an acyclic α-hydroxyketone with allyltributyltin under chelation-controlled conditions is reported. Several reaction conditions were explored, including radical initiators, solvents, and temperatures to improve the yield and the diastereomeric ratio. Some Lewis acids, like magnesium bromide etherate and zinc chloride, gave superior diastereomeric ratios (up to 100:1) and good yields.
Demystifying data deduplication

Effectiveness and tradeoffs of deduplication technologies are not well understood -- vendors tout Deduplication as a "silver bullet" that can help any enterprise optimize its deployed storage capacity. This paper aims to provide a comprehensive taxonomy and experimental evaluation using real-world data. While the rate of change of data on a day-to-day basis has the greatest influence on the duplication in backup data, we investigate the duplication inherent in this data, independent of rate of change of data or backup schedule or backup algorithm used. Our experimental results show that between different deduplication techniques the space savings varies by about 30%, the CPU usage differs by almost 6 times and the time to reconstruct a deduplicated file can vary by more than 15 times.
Death qualification and conviction proneness: witt and witherspoon compared

A survey of registered voters in Fayette County, Kentucky compared the Witt and Witherspoon death qualification standards focusing primarily on the death penalty attitudes and criminal justice system orientations of excludable and death-qualified potential jurors. As expected, the Witt standard excluded significantly more potential jurors (21.2%) than did the Witherspoon standard (13.6%). The Witherspoon excludable potential jurors were found to be more highly opposed to the death penalty and more due process oriented regarding the criminal justice system than their death-qualified counterparts. The Witt standard, however, produced more heterogeneous exclusions. In addition, 24.1% of all respondents were found to be automatic death penalty potential jurors (ADPs), that is, potential jurors who stated that they would always vote for the death penalty for convicted capital defendants. Finally, the screening adequacy of the Witt standard for potential jurors who would not follow the law, particularlyfor ADPs, is questioned and discussed. Language: en
Surface Properties and Dissolution Trends of Pt3M Alloys in the Presence of Adsorbates

The adsorption of atomic oxygen on Pt-segregated and nonsegregated surfaces of Pt3M(111) (M = Fe, Co, and Ni) has been systematically investigated using periodic density functional theory calculations. It is found that the surface adsorption properties can be considerably modified by introducing the 3d metals. For each alloy system, the binding strength of oxygen follows the order of Pt-skin < Pt(111) < Pt3M. Among the three alloys, Pt3Fe(111) is the most favorable for O adsorption on the nonsegregated surface, whereas Pt3Ni(111) is preferred on the Pt-segregated surface. Our calculations show that the magnitude of surface adsorption energies is determined by both the surface geometry and the electronic structure. Remarkably, the electronic structure of the surface Pt atoms only differs very slightly for the segregated and nonsegregated alloys. The discrepant adsorption properties are therefore mainly attributed to the direct involvement of 3d metals either on the surface or in the subsurface. In addition...
Reduced mouse neurovirulence of poliovirus type 2 lansing antigenic variants selected with monoclonal antibodies

Abstract The Lansing strain of poliovirus type 2 is a mouse-adapted virus that induces a fatal paralytic disease in mice after intracerebral inoculation. Our previous results indicated that the mouse-adapted phenotype maps to the Lansing viral capsid. To further define regions of the capsid that are specifically involved in the infection of mice, antigenic variants resistant to neutralization with monoclonal antibodies were selected, and their mouse neurovirulence was studied. The monoclonal antibodies used were directed against antigenic site 1, an immunodominant loop of capsid polypeptide VP1 located on the virion surface. Ten of twenty-two variants selected had lower intracerebral neurovirulence in mice when compared to the parental virus. Four of the ten antigenic variants with reduced neurovirulence were temperature sensitive (ts) for replication in HeLa cells, while the remaining six variants replicated in HeLa cells as well as the parent virus. Two ts+ variants that were studied had a reduced ability to replicate in the mouse brain. There was no difference in the histopathology and pattern of involvement in the central nervous system of one variant compared to the parent virus. In three variants, reduction of neurovirulence correlated with specific amino acid substitutions at positions 100 and 101 of VP1, located within antigenic site 1. The is phenotype in three variants was associated with a single amino acid deletion at position 105. Virus recovered from the brain of paralyzed mice that had been inoculated with the antigenic variants was characterized to identify the virus causing disease. In most cases, brain isolates resembled the inoculated virus in neurovirulence and amino acid sequence at the antigenic site. Virus recovered from brains of paralyzed mice that had been inoculated with the is variants was either ts+ or cold sensitive, and had become more neurovirulent. These results suggest that specific amino acid changes within an antigenic site on the virion surface may result in reduction of mouse neurovirulence without affecting viral replication in cultured cells
Assignment practices and the relationship of instructional time to the reading performance of elementary school children

Abstract This paper reports results from a study of the relationship of minutes of reading instruction to the gains in reading performance for a large sample of elementary school children in New York State. The data set included information for instruction and performance for each individual child. Consistent positive relationships were found between classroom large and small group instruction and reading gains. While the gross relationship of individualized instruction to reading gains was found to be negative, a hypothesis is advanced and tested that this is due in part to biases coming from improper modelling of resource assignment practices. When interaction terms are introduced to control for the suspected bias, the effect of individualized instruction turns positive. It is argued that assignment bias is a pervasive problem in school ‘production function’-type studies which probably needs to be controlled with simultaneous equation procedures.
Selective Undo Support for Painting Applications

Today's widely deployed painting applications use a linear undo model that allows users to backtrack previous operations in reverse chronological order. This undo model is not useful if the user has performed desired operations after undesired ones. Selective undo, in contrast, allows users to select specific operations in the past and only undo those, while keeping the remaining operations intact. Although selective undo has been widely explored in the context of text editing and object-oriented drawing, we explore selective undo for painting (bitmap) editing, which has received less attention and introduces many interesting user interface design challenges. Our system, called Aquamarine, explores the script model for selective undo, where selectively undone operations are skipped in the history, rather than the more explored inverse model, which puts an inverse of the selected operations at the end of the history. We discuss the design implications and show through two informal user studies that selective undo is usable and desirable
Students' benefits and barriers to mental health help-seeking

Stigma is recognized as a potential barrier to seeking help for a mental health disorder. The present study assessed college students' perceived benefits and barriers to obtaining mental health treatment and stigma-related attitudes via a four-page survey. A total of 682 students at one Midwestern university participated in the study. Findings indicated that females perceived a greater number of benefits to having participated in mental health services and held significantly lower stigma-related attitudes than did males. Students who had ever received mental health services reported significantly more barriers to treatment than did students who had never received services. Health professionals should target students with educational programs about positive outcomes related to receiving mental health services and work with treatment centers to reduce barriers for receiving services.
Moderate quality evidence finds statistical benefit in oral health for powered over manual toothbrushes

Moderate quality evidence finds statistical benefit in oral health for powered over manual toothbrushes
Antigen-IgE desensitization in signal transducer and activator of transcription 6-deficient mast cells by suboptimal doses of antigen.

Background Rapid administration of suboptimal antigen induces transient unresponsiveness in patients with IgE antibodies to beneficial medications, but the molecular mechanisms of desensitization are poorly understood. Mast cells (MCs) have been implicated as the target cells. Objective To establish a physiologic model of IgE-antigen desensitization using mouse bone marrow-derived MCs (mBMMCs) from wild-type and signal transducer and activator of transcription 6 (STAT6)-deficient mice. Methods The mBMMCs were sensitized with dinitrophenyl (DNP) IgE or trinitrophenyl (TNP) IgE and activated with DNP/TNP-human serum albumin. For desensitization, suboptimal doses of DNP/TNP-human serum albumin were administered at fixed intervals. Results Desensitized mBMMCs failed to respond to an optimal dose of antigen, indicating successful desensitization. Desensitization was time dependent, with 5 minutes of antigen exposure being optimal. Resensitization with DNP-IgE did not reverse the process. The desensitized cells were responsive to calcium ionophore and phorbol myristate acetate. Thus, the desensitization reaction alters an early event in the high-affinity IgE receptor (FcɛRI)-dependent signaling pathway in a nontoxic manner. The mBMMCs from STAT6-null mice could not be desensitized by suboptimal doses of antigen. Conclusions Mast cells can be rendered unresponsive by rapid administration of suboptimal doses of antigen in the presence of calcium, similar to in vivo desensitizations. The STAT6-null mBMMCs cannot be desensitized, providing the first molecular target in this inhibitory process.
Graphical models for text: a new paradigm for text representation and processing

Almost all text applications use the well known vector-space model for text representation and analysis. While the vector-space model has proven itself to be an effective and efficient representation for mining purposes, it does not preserve information about the ordering of the words in the representation. In this paper, we will introduce the concept of distance graph representations of text data. Such representations preserve distance and ordering information between the words, and provide a much richer representation of the underlying text. This approach enables knowledge discovery from text which is not possible with the use of a pure vector-space representation, because it loses much less information about the ordering of the underlying words. Furthermore, this representation does not require the development of new mining and management techniques. This is because the technique can also be converted into a structural version of the vector-space representation, which allows the use of all existing tools for text. In addition, existing techniques for graph and XML data can be directly leveraged with this new representation. Thus, a much wider spectrum of algorithms is available for processing this representation.
Household Assets and Health in China: Evidence and Policy Implications

China's health care reform of the 1990s has not yielded much success. The market‐oriented health system has resulted in declines in fairness of health services and efficiency of investment in the health sector. Further health care reform will be required. Among many options, asset‐based policy has demonstrated some potential in domestic policy development. To provide evidence to inform health policy development in China, this study focuses on the effects of household assets on health in China. Specifically, the current study examines how household assets may affect health status and how assets differ from income in predicting health status. Using a random sample of Chinese elderly, we find that asset holding in the form of household durables and household utilities has both direct and indirect effects on health status. Household assets directly affect access to medical care and indirectly affect health by influencing health behaviour and psychological condition. In other words, in addition to economic eff...
Harmonic Univalent Functions with Negative Coefficients

We give sufficient coefficient conditions for normalized harmonic functions to map onto either starlike or convex regions. These conditions are also shown to be necessary when the coefficients are negative. This leads to distortion bounds and extreme points.
On a nonlinear hyperbolic variational equation: II. The zero-viscosity and dispersion limits

We consider viscosity and dispersion regularizations of the nonlinear hyperbolic partial differential equation (u t+uux)x=1/2u x 2 with the simplest initial data such that u x blows up in finite time. We prove that the zero-viscosity limit selects a unique global weak solution of the partial differential equation without viscosity. We also present numerical experiments which indicate that the zero-dispersion limit selects a different global weak solution of the same initial-value problem.
Abstract LB-10: Rational design of small molecules targeting the Ras GEF, SOS1

Ras GTPases regulate multiple intracellular signaling processes involved in gene expression, cell proliferation, and cell survival. Driver mutations of Ras signaling components including K,N,H-Ras, EGFR, PDGFR, Raf, PI3K, and Akt have been found in many types of human cancers. The activation of Ras is catalyzed by guanine-nucleotide exchange factors (GEFs), which stimulate the exchange of GDP for GTP. SOS1 is a major RasGEF that transduces receptor tyrosine kinase signals to Ras and associated ERK/Akt pathways. SOS1 gain-of-function mutations have been found in Noonan syndrome patients. In addition, SOS1 has been shown to be differentially expressed in prostate and breast cancer cells, and is involved in malignancies dependent upon aberrant Ras signaling. In the current studies, we undertake a structure-based virtual screening approach, coupled with biochemical and cell biological validations, to identify lead chemical inhibitors targeting the Ras catalytic domain of SOS1. From a 118,500 compound subset of the NCI/DTP Open Chemical Repository, 135 showed optimal docking energy to a grid of the SOS1 catalytic site from which 36 were selected for experimental screening by a guanine nucleotide exchange assay, i.e. FL-GDP dissociation of Ras under the catalysis of SOS1. Two compounds were confirmed as true hits (NSC-674954 and NSC-658497), of which NSC-658497 displayed micromolar IC50s in both inhibiting FL-GDP dissociation (IC50 - 22.2 µM) from Ras and TR-GTP loading (IC50 - 40.8 µM) of Ras catalyzed by Sos1. In addition, NSC-658497 displayed a target binding Kd of ∼7.0 µM as assayed by microscale thermophoresis, along with dose-dependently disrupting the SOS1 interaction with Ras as assayed by a GST-Ras pull-down analysis. Mutagenesis studies mapped NSC-658497 action site to the catalytic site in SOS1, involving specifically residues I825, T828, T829, and Y912. SAR analysis revealed that NSC-658497 elicits its inhibitory effect on SOS1 through a benzopyran and nitrophenyl moiety. In fibroblast cells, NSC-658497 showed dose-dependent efficacy in inhibiting EGF-stimulated Ras and ERK/AKT activities. Furthermore, NSC-658497 dose-dependently inhibited NIH/3T3, MEF, and MIA-PaCa-2 pancreatic cancer cell proliferation in conjunction with their respective downstream Ras-dependent ERK/AKT activities. Thus, we have identified a class of lead chemical inhibitors targeting SOS1 that can serve as useful tools for studying SOS1 mediated oncogenesis and as hits for further development of future cancer therapeutics. Citation Format: Chris Evelyn, Xin Duan, Jacek Biesiada, William Seibel, Jaroslaw Meller, Yi Zheng. Rational design of small molecules targeting the Ras GEF, SOS1. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 105th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2014 Apr 5-9; San Diego, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2014;74(19 Suppl):Abstract nr LB-10. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2014-LB-10