cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Control of TH2 polarization by the chemokine monocyte chemoattractant protein-1.

Activated T lymphocytes differentiate into effector cells tailored to meet disparate challenges to host integrity1. For example, type 1 and type 2 helper (TH1 and TH2) cells secrete cytokines that enhance cell-mediated and humoral immunity, respectively. The chemokine monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1) can stimulate interleukin-4 production2 and its overexpression is associated with defects in cell-mediated immunity3, indicating that it might be involved in TH2 polarization. Here we show that MCP-1-deficient mice are unable to mount TH2 responses. Lymph node cells from immunized MCP-1-/- mice synthesize extremely low levels of interleukin-4, interleukin-5 and interleukin-10, but normal amounts of interferon-γ and interleukin-2. Consequently, these mice do not accomplish the immunoglobulin subclass switch that is characteristic of TH2 responses and are resistant to Leishmania major. These effects are direct rather than due to abnormal cell migration, because the trafficking of naive T cells is undisturbed in MCP-1-/- mice despite the presence of MCP-1-expressing cells in secondary lymphoid organs of wild-type mice. Thus, MCP-1 influences both innate immunity, through effects on monocytes, and adaptive immunity, through control of T helper cell polarization.
Life history correlates of ministerial success

Abstract Life history or biodata correlates of ministerial success were investigated for a group of 92 Seventh-Day Adventist ministers. The criterion data reflected their current level of success and the predictors reflected their status as seminarians between the years 1940 to 1950. Two significant bivariate correlations indicated that successful ministers chose their career later than less successful ones and that earning college expenses was predictive of success. A stepwise multiple regression process was used to develop a weighted prediction model, but the model did not hold when cross-validated.
GENERALIZING ABOUT MESSAGES: SUGGESTIONS FOR DESIGN AND ANALYSIS OF EXPERIMENTS

Current research practices in communication create problems for both internal and external validity. One serious design flaw, which involves use of a single message to represent a category of messages, occurs in nearly all of the experimental research on communication effects. The problem with such a design is that an observed difference between categories may reflect only differences between individual, idiosyncratic cases. A related error, the “language-as-fixed-effect fallacy,” involves use of several replications of each category, but analysis of the cases as fixed effects. The consequence is that findings cannot be generalized beyond the sample used. Future research should use multiple cases within each message category studied and treat cases as nested random effects. Since the cases cannot be true random samples from message populations, care must be taken to avoid known sources of bias or other barriers to generalization.
Structural and functional consequences of substitutions at the tyrosine 55 lysine 104 hydrogen bond in Escherichia coli inorganic pyrophosphatase

Tyrosine 55 and lysine 104 are evolutionarily conserved residues that form a hydrogen bond in the active site of Escherichia coli inorganic pyrophosphatase (E-PPase). Here we used site-directed mutagenesis to examine their roles in structure stabilization and catalysis. Though these residues are not part of the subunit interface, Y55F and K104R (but not K104I) substitutions markedly destabilize the hexameric structure, allowing dissociation into active trimers on dilution. A K104I variant is nearly inactive while Y55F and K104R variants exhibit appreciable activity and require greater concentrations of Mg2+ and higher pH for maximal activity. The effects on activity are explained by (a) increased pK(a)s for the catalytically essential base and acid at the active site, (b) decreases in the rate constant for substrate (dimagnesium pyrophosphate) binding to enzyme-Mg2 complex vs enzyme-Mg3 complex, and (c) parallel decreases in the catalytic constant for the resulting enzyme-Mg2-substrate and enzyme-Mg3-substrate complexes. The results are consistent with the major structural roles of Tyr55 and Lys104 in the active site. The microscopic rate constant for PPi hydrolysis on either the Y55F or K104R variants increases, by a factor of 3-4 in the pH range 7.2-8.0, supporting the hypothesis that this reaction step depends on an essential base within the enzyme active site.
Sun protection education for diverse audiences: need for skin cancer pictures.

Sun protection education is needed for kidney transplant recipients, whose increased risk of skin cancer could be ameliorated with sun protection. Cognitive interviews with 24 participants equally stratified among non-Hispanic White, non-Hispanic Black, and Hispanic/Latino kidney transplant recipients were performed to evaluate a sun protection education workbook. Study participants were recruited over the phone using a registry of 700 kidney transplant recipients. Participants included 12 women and 12 men with a median age of 52. In 16 of the cognitive interviews with non-Hispanic Blacks and Hispanic/Latinos, pictures of skin cancer were requested by the participants in order to see the appearance of skin cancer. Kidney transplant recipients with skin of color did not consider themselves at risk to develop skin cancer and wanted to see examples of skin cancer occurring on people with skin of color. Based on these results, the workbook was modified to include pictures of squamous cell carcinoma on varying skin tones. Then, 8 participants evaluated the revised workbook in cognitive interviews and found the photographs acceptable and necessary to demonstrate the severity of skin cancer and personalize their risk of developing skin cancer. The participants progressed from having knowledge of skin cancer to believing that they could develop skin cancer because they observed skin cancers on people with their skin tone. Using pictures of skin cancers occurring on people with similar skin tone may heighten a kidney transplant recipients’ sense of vulnerability and possibly improve the use of sun protection.
Elbert F. Cox: An Early Pioneer

(2000). Elbert F. Cox: An Early Pioneer. The American Mathematical Monthly: Vol. 107, No. 2, pp. 105-128.
Do Regional Nodal Pet SUVs Obtained At The Time Of Staging Predict For Treatment Outcomes In Patients Treated Receiving SBRT For Early-stage Medically Inoperable Lung Cancer?

Purpose/Objective(s): Medically inoperable non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients considered for definitive treatment with stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) are typically staged using positron emission tomography (PET). The presence of malignancy is associated with a PET standardized uptake values (SUV) threshold.2.5. This study seeks to determine whether patterns of failure are associated with ‘‘intermediate’’ SUVs measured in hilar or mediastinal lymph nodes and that may represent inflammation and not malignancy. Materials/Methods: Between 12/2003 and 4/2009, 230 patients were treated with SBRT for T1-2 N0M0 NSCLC. For the purposes of this retrospective analysis, we selected patients with greater than one year follow-up, providing 123 patients with 135 lesions. SBRT consisted of either 60 Gy in 3 fractions or 50 Gy in 5 fractions. Treatment was delivered on a Novalis/BrainLAB system using Exactrac for IGRT and with tumor motion managed by BodyFix immobilization with abdominal compression. Intermediate SUVs measured at the nodes were defined as those values between 3 and 5. The maximal SUVat the primary lesion was simultaneously recorded. Cox proportional hazards regression was performed to determine whether the presence of intermediate PET uptake in the hilar and mediastinal nodes or the primary SUV influenced the following outcomes: disease recurrence, nodal failure, distant metastases (DM), or overall survival (OS). Results: Tumor characteristics included 102 (76%) T1 lesions, 28 (22%) T2 lesions, and 5 (4%) synchronous tumors. Of the 123 patients, 17 (14%) were noted to have intermediate SUVs in the mediastinal or hilar nodes. The median SUVof the primary lesion was 6.2 (range, 1.24-29.1). The median SUVof the hilar or mediastinal node was 3.8 (range, 3.0-4.2). Median follow-up was 24.8 months (range, 12.0-63 months). There were 45 patients with disease recurrence, 28 nodal metastases, 34 DM, and 51 deaths. Two-year disease recurrence, local control, nodal control, DM, and OS were 32.5%, 93.5%, 83%, 24%, and 74.2%, respectively. On univariate analysis, intermediate nodal PET uptake did not predict for disease recurrence, nodal failure, DM, or OS. However, there was a trend towards a correlation between uptake of the primary with future nodal failure (p = 0.072). Conclusions: Intermediate level SUVs seen in regional nodes at the time of staging did not predict for disease recurrence, nodal failure, DM, or OS in patients with earlystage NSCLC treated with SBRT. However, there was a trend towards the primary lesion’s SUV predicting for nodal failure. Prospective studies are warranted. Author Disclosure: W. Haque: None. G. Videtic: None. N. Woody: None. S. Srinivas: None. A. Gupta: None. C. Reddy: None. K. Stephans: None.
Extracardiac Fontan Operation Without Cardiopulmonary Bypass

Abstract Choreoathetosis developed after bilateral bidirectional cavopulmonary anastomosis in a 17-month-old boy with univentricular heart. To avoid exacerbating this neurologic problem, the Fontan operation was later completed without cardiopulmonary bypass. The left cavopulmonary anastomosis maintained pulmonary blood flow. A tube graft was anastomosed to the junction of the right cavopulmonary anastomosis. A femoral vein-to-right atrial shunt was established, the inferior vena cava divided, the cardiac end oversewn, and the noncardiac end anastomosed to the tube graft. (Ann Thorac Surg 1997;63:1175–7)
Diffusion controlled combustion of polymers

A theoretical and experimental study of polymer combustion in an opposed flow diffusion flame (OFDF) is presented. An algebraic formula is derived, expressing the burning rate as a function of the fluid mechanic and thermodynamic variables. A polymer sample feed system has been developed which continuously positions the burning polymer surface within ±0.01 mm of a given set point, allowing accurate regression rate and detailed solid and gas phase flame structure measurements. Regression rate measurements of twelve commercial polymers as a function of oxygen concentration and oxidizer flowrate are reported. From these measurements and the theory, values of the Spalding transfer number, B , are derived and can serve as a useful flammability index for these materials. The OFDF technique also provides a quantitative method for evaluating the effectiveness of flame retardants. Solid and gas phase temperature profiles for charring and non-charring polymers under various oxygen concentrations and oxidizer flow conditions indicate markedly different chemical reaction mechanisms for charring and non-charring polymers.
Structure and Activity of ClpB from Escherichia coli ROLE OF THE AMINO- AND CARBOXYL-TERMINAL DOMAINS

ClpB is a member of a protein-disaggregating multi-chaperone system in Escherichia coli. The mechanism of protein-folding reactions mediated by ClpB is currently unknown, and the functional role of different sequence regions in ClpB is under discussion. We have expressed and purified the full-length ClpB and three truncated variants with the N-terminal, C-terminal, and a double N- and C-terminal deletion. We studied the protein concentration-dependent and ATP-induced oligomerization of ClpB, casein-induced activation of ClpB ATPase, and ClpB-assisted reactivation of denatured firefly luciferase. We found that both the N- and C-terminal truncation of ClpB strongly inhibited its chaperone activity. The reasons for such inhibition were different, however, for the N- and C-terminal truncation. Deletion of the C-terminal domain inhibited the self-association of ClpB, which led to decreased affinity for ATP and to decreased ATPase and chaperone activity of the C-terminally truncated variants. In contrast, deletion of the N-terminal domain did not inhibit the self-association of ClpB and its basal ATPase activity but decreased the ability of casein to activate ClpB ATPase. These results indicate that the N-terminal region of ClpB may contain a functionally significant protein-binding site, whereas the main role of the C-terminal region is to support oligomerization of ClpB.
Cognitive dissonance as a mechanism in vocational decision processes

Abstract This study examined changes in cognitive-dissonance-related variables during the professional training period. Differences in levels and change in satisfaction with career choice, importance of career, certainty of career decision, self-occupational perceptions, general attitude toward career, time since career decision, and past experience were observed when students who left a collegiate professional training program before program completion were compared with those who remained in the program. Data supports the validity of D. Hershenson and R. Roth's (1966, Journal of Counseling Psychology , 13 , 368–370) and V. Harren's (1979, Journal of Vocational Behavior , 14 , 119–133) theoretical models of vocational decision and the Assessment of Career Decision Making scale.
Face vectors of subdivided simplicial complexes

Brenti and Welker have shown that, for any (d-1)-dimensional simplicial complex X, the f-vectors of successive barycentric subdivisions of X have roots which converge to fixed values depending only on the dimension of X. We improve and generalize this result here. We begin with an alternative proof based on geometric intuition. We then prove an interesting symmetry of these roots about the real number -2. This symmetry can be seen via a nice algebraic realization of barycentric subdivision as a simple map on formal power series in two variables. Finally, we use this algebraic machinery with some geometric motivation to generalize the combinatorial statements to arbitrary subdivision methods: any subdivision method will exhibit similar limit behavior and symmetry. Our techniques allow us to compute explicit formulas for the values of the limit roots in the case of barycentric subdivision.
Cardiac resynchronization therapy in adults with congenital heart disease

Abstract Cardiac resynchronization has become a staple in the armamentarium of heart failure management in adults. However, given the heterogeneous nature of congenital heart disease it is difficult to uniformly extrapolate all adults with congenital heart disease whose ejection fraction is ≤35% as appropriate CRT candidates. Rather the practitioner managing a heart failure adult with congenital heart disease should think of the defect as being in one of four distinct categories: (1) failing systemic left ventricle, (2) failing systemic right ventricle, (3) failing pulmonary right ventricle, or (4) a failing single ventricle. The Pediatric and Congenital Electrophysiology Society in conjunction with the Heart Rhythm Society recently published consensus guidelines for Arrhythmia Management in the Adult with Congenital Heart Disease. Within that document, a subsection exists to provide some guidelines on CRT in this challenging population. This review will highlight the largely retrospective studies that have evaluated adults with CHD who received CRT and understand why some patients respond and others do not.
Acetate uptake by aquatic bacterial communities measured by autoradiography and filterable radioactivity1

Ahstract In a pulp mill waste aeration lagoon with a high organic content including measurable amounts of acctatc, community uptake of acetate followed Michaelis-Mcntcn kinetics at concentrations of added acctatc up to 30 j.~Lg nil ‘. The mcasurcd in situ substrate Icvel, S,,, was <67% to 46% of the K + S,, value calculated from the Michaclis-Mcntcn eqllation. Autoradiography was used to dctcrminc the uptake kinetics OF individual bacterial cells. Two morphologically distinct bacterial types followed Michaelis-Mentcn kinetics, but one was at least four times more active in situ. Comparison of several different ccl1 types indicated a minimum uptnkc activity ~-a~-rge of 20-fold. A few cell types did not absorb acetate. Different cells of the same type showed a IO-fold range of activity, ancl the activity pcl _ cell did not follow a Poisson clistriblltion.
A Lagrangian Relaxation based heuristic approach for steel grade assignment problem

This paper investigates the steel grade assignment problem daily encountered in the iron and steel industry, which involves the determination of which candidate steel grades to be employed in order to satisfy as many collective customer orders as possible such that the number of employing new steel grades and the desirable costs of satisfying the customer orders from the employed steel grade are minimized. The problem is formulated as a mixed integer programming model in which customer orders are optional. In addition, it displays the characteristic of the uncapacitated facility location problem. A midpoint-based method is proposed to obtain the desirable costs for the ability of steel grades to satisfy the requirements of orders. We develop a Lagrangian relaxation based (LR-based) heuristic approach with hybrid improvements including local search for the problem. The algorithm has been tested on instances collected from practical production data. Computational results demonstrate the effectiveness of the approach even for realistic problems with larger instances.
QUANTITATIVE SERUM CHORIONIC GONADOTROPIN STUDIES IN ABNORMAL PREGNANCY.

Abstract 1. 1. A study of serum chorionic gonadotropin levels in normal pregnancy and certain pregnancy complications is presented. 2. 2. Values in the control series compare favorably with those of prior studies by other investigators. 3. 3. In some multiple pregnancies, the serum levels of chorionic gonadotropin were elevated, in others the values fell within the normal range. 4. 4. There was no demonstrable relationship in diabetics to the development of preeclampsia, spontaneous premature labor, or perinatal mortality. 5. 5. There was a definite relationship between high values of serum chorionic gonadotropin and perinatal mortality in Rhnegative isoimmunized mothers. This test is not conclusive enough to be used alone as indication for early delivery, however, since some babies were lost when chorionic gonadotropin levels were within normal range. 6. 6. The findings in pre-eclampsia, eclampsia, essential hypertension, and hyperemesis gravidarum are predominantly within the normal range. 7. 7. The findings of elevated serum chorionic gonadotropin in over 50 per cent of patients with polyhydramnios cannot be explained but it could represent renewed trophoblastic proliferation and chorionic gonadotropin production in patients in whom polyhydramnios has developed in relation to specific types of obstetric complications.
Sexual experiences in early childhood: 18‐Year longitudinal data from the UCLA family lifestyles project

We present results of the first longitudinal study of long‐term outcome correlates of sexual experiences in early childhood (“sex play”). Two hundred children participated in the UCLA Family Lifestyles Project (FLS), beginning at birth to the current wave of data collection at ages 17–18. For most of the current analyses, data were complete for 96 of the young men and 88 of the young women. Participants were assessed on a wide range of adjustment variables devised for the FLS and the UCLA Adolescent Growth Study. Participation in early childhood sex play was determined by parent self‐reports at child's age three and age six. Forty‐eight percent of children were reported to have engaged in interactive sex play prior to age six. Using socioeconomic status, sex of participant, family attitudes toward sexuality, and family type (conventional two‐parent versus nonconventional) as controls, no significant long‐term associations were found between exposure to sex play and adjustment at ages 17–18. Sexual liberal...
Data Grid tools: enabling science on big distributed data

A particularly demanding and important challenge that we face as we attempt to construct the distributed computing machinery required to support SciDAC goals is the efficient, high-performance, reliable, secure, and policy-aware management of large-scale data movement. This problem is fundamental to diverse application domains including experimental physics (high energy physics, nuclear physics, light sources), simulation science (climate, computational chemistry, fusion, astrophysics), and large-scale collaboration. In each case, highly distributed user communities require high-speed access to valuable data, whether for visualization or analysis. The quantities of data involved (terabytes to petabytes), the scale of the demand (hundreds or thousands of users, data-intensive analyses, real-time constraints), and the complexity of the infrastructure that must be managed (networks, tertiary storage systems, network caches, computers, visualization systems) make the problem extremely challenging. Data management tools developed under the auspices of the SciDAC Data Grid Middleware project have become the de facto standard for data management in projects worldwide. Day in and day out, these tools provide the "plumbing" that allows scientists to do more science on an unprecedented scale in production environments.
A Power Calculation Guide for fMRI Studies

In the past, power analyses were not that common for fMRI studies, but recent advances in power calculation techniques and software development are making power analyses much more accessible. As a result, power analyses are more commonly expected in grant applications proposing fMRI studies. Even though the software is somewhat automated, there are important decisions to be made when setting up and carrying out a power analysis. This guide provides tips on carrying out power analyses, including obtaining pilot data, defining a region of interest and other choices to help create reliable power calculations.
The Role of Women in Early English Nonconformity

The involvement of English women in the radical Protestant movements of the 1640s and 1650s has attracted the attention of a number of modern historians. The hub of such studies is Keith Thomas's provocative 1958 essay, “Women and the Civil War Sects,” which focuses on the expanded role of women in these groups and on the way in which sectarian views indirectly undermined the patriarchal family. More recently, Dorothy Ludlow has studied female preachers in this period, insisting that they were not fanatics but sober women with a distinctive sense of Christian calling who claimed full membership in the Christian community. The more well-known women, such as Anne Hutchinson and Mary Cary, have been the subject of recent studies in their own right. For the period after 1660, Pamela Volkman has examined the contrasting ways in which male and female converts to the sects were depicted, noting that women were more likely to be accused of emotional volatility, immorality, or even insanity than were men. These studies have progressed to the point that we are in no danger of overlooking the role of women in English Nonconformity in the mid-seventeenth century.
Responding to Children's Needs: Amplifying the Caring Ethic.

According to care theory the good parent confronting a helpless child has an unmediated impulse to relieve his distress; that impulse grows into a prescriptive ethic of relatedness, often contrasted to the more individualistic ethic of justice. If, however, a child's nature is understood as assertive and competent as well as fragile and dependent; if, in addition, he acquires needs through socialisation and is the beneficiary of inferred needs determined by others, then an ethic of need-gratification is insufficient. Caring theory, with its emphasis on empathy, compassion, and attentiveness to the child's present state undervalues the role of adult restraint and imposition in a rounded caring philosophy. Parents (and teachers) must continuously balance gratification with suppression, support with restraint, engrossment with detachment. From this process emerges a revised relational ethic in which the care/justice distinctions are collapsed.
Stress and the decision to change oneself: A theoretical model.

This paper presents a model, drawn from research on stress and on self and identity, of the decision to change oneself. In this model, the impetus for intentional self-change can be provided by a stressor-chronic role strain, a life event, or both. Stressors can implicate the self by generating unfavorable reflected appraisals, threatening competent identity performance, and generating unfavorable social comparisons. Any of these effects can reduce self-efficacy, self-esteem, and sense of authenticity, thus leading to psychological distress. Whether this impetus will lead to a resolve to change oneself is hypothesized to depend on six conditioning factors: 1) the identity-relevance of the stressor, 2) whether one attributes responsibility for a stressor to oneself, 3) awareness of and access to structural supports for self-change, 4) the belief that one can effect self-change, 5) the extent to which the benefits of changing are perceived to outweigh the costs, 6) social support for self-change.
The ART testbed: towards a predictable and reliable distributed real-time system

An overview of the software components of the Advanced Real-time Technology (ART) system is given. In particular, the integrated time-driven scheduling model which provides predictability, flexibility, and ease of modification for both hard and soft real-time activities, the ARTS kernel including real-time object and thread support, and its basic performance are described. Also included is a summary of the testbed's current status. >
Parents' Caring Practices with Schizophrenic Offspring

Family caring practices were identified through the interpretation of parents' narratives about the experience of caring for a schizophrenic son or daughter. Parents were interviewed three times regarding stressful episodes and their attempts to cope. Half of the families were observed in the home for 25 hours each over a 3-month period. Transcripts of interviews and observational notes were interpreted using hermeneutic methods. Four distinct forms of caring practices were identified: (a) support of the schizophrenic's well-being despite shifting symptoms, (b) balancing the ill member's needs against the caregiver's needs, (c) adoption of scientifically prescribed care principles, and (d) delegation of direct care to another family member, thereby remaining personally uninvolved.
Language Abilities and Progress in a Direct Instruction Reading Program for Students with Learning Disabilities

Direct instruction reading programs have been found to be a successful way to teach reading to many, but not all, students with learning disabilities. This study investigated whether reading improvement for students with learning disabilities receiving reading instruction through a direct instruction reading program might be related to their language abilities. The reading progress of 26 students (19 male, 7 female), 7 to 10 years old, was measured over 2 years. In addition, phonological and syntactic abilities were assessed. The results indicated that phonological ability was related to progress in word attack skills and that syntactic ability was related to improvement in comprehension skills. These results have implications for the reading instruction of students with learning disabilities.
Using First-Person Accounts to Teach Students about Psychological Disorders

Undergraduate students in abnormal psychology read autobiographical writings supplementing a textbook to help them appreciate the subjective experience of psychological difficulties and see actual examples of symptoms. Forty-one students responded to questions about the perceived quality of their learning from both the autobiographies and the textbook. Students reported that first-person accounts were more helpful than the textbook in increasing their appreciation of what it would be like to have a particular disorder and feel empathy for someone with a disorder.
Two Protein Lysine Methyltransferases Methylate Outer Membrane Protein B from Rickettsia

Rickettsia prowazekii, the etiologic agent of epidemic typhus, is a potential biological threat agent. Its outer membrane protein B (OmpB) is an immunodominant antigen and plays roles as protective envelope and as adhesins. The observation of the correlation between methylation of lysine residues in rickettsial OmpB and bacterial virulence has suggested the importance of an enzymatic system for the methylation of OmpB. However, no rickettsial lysine methyltransferase has been characterized. Bioinformatic analysis of genomic DNA sequences of Rickettsia identified putative lysine methyltransferases. The genes of the potential methyltransferases were synthesized, cloned, and expressed in Escherichia coli, and expressed proteins were purified by nickel-nitrilotriacetic acid (Ni-NTA) affinity chromatography. The methyltransferase activities of the purified proteins were analyzed by methyl incorporation of radioactively labeled S-adenosylmethionine into recombinant fragments of OmpB. Two putative recombinant methyltransferases (rRP789 and rRP027-028) methylated recombinant OmpB fragments. The specific activity of rRP789 is 10- to 30-fold higher than that of rRP027-028. Western blot analysis using specific antibodies against trimethyl lysine showed that both rRP789 and rRP027-028 catalyzed trimethylation of recombinant OmpB fragments. Liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC/MS-MS) analysis showed that rRP789 catalyzed mono-, di-, and trimethylation of lysine, while rRP027-028 catalyzed exclusively trimethylation. To our knowledge, rRP789 and rRP027-028 are the first biochemically characterized lysine methyltransferases of outer membrane proteins from Gram-negative bacteria. The production and characterization of rickettsial lysine methyltransferases provide new tools to investigate the mechanism of methylation of OmpB, effects of methylation on the structure and function of OmpB, and development of methylated OmpB-based diagnostic assays and vaccine candidates.
Trust and Reputation Based Collaborating Computing in Wireless Sensor Networks

Due to its ad hoc, infrastructure-less self-configuring and collaborating nature, wireless sensor networks (WSNs) are very much vulnerable to different security threats. The goal-oriented nature of many sensing applications results in collaboration. In fact, collaboration helps to improve WSNs efficiency as well as the data-centric behavior of WSNs. Collaboration along with its advantages like efficient packet routing and data forwarding, jamming prevention etc. brings in some security issues which mostly need to be addressed from the trust and reputation analysis of the network. In this paper, a trust and reputation based collaborating computing model is derived which effectively eliminates the malicious behavior of rogue nodes with high probability. The detection of malicious nodes along with trust and reputation analysis of WSN makes this model very much robust and secure. Efficacy of this model is shown through simulation results.
Use of genetic algorithms with backpropagation in training of feedforward neural networks

Genetic algorithms are searching strategies available for finding the globally optimal solution. The problem of genetic algorithms is that they are inherently slow. A hybrid of genetic and backpropagation algorithms (GA-BP) that should always find the correct global minima without getting stuck at local minima is presented. Various versions of the GA-BP method are presented and experimental results show that GA-BP algorithms are as fast as the backpropagation algorithm and do not get stuck at local minima. The proposed GA-BP algorithms are also not sensitive to the values of momentum and learning rate used in backpropagation and can be made independent of the learning rate and momentum. It is shown that the adaptive GA-BP algorithm can provide the optimal learning rate and better performance than simple backpropagation. >
Case study: the "Office of Real Soon Now" for visualization

As part of a larger effort exploring alternative display systems, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory has installed systems in two offices that extend and update the previously described "Office of Real Soon Now" project to improve the value for visualization tasks. These new systems use higher resolution projectors driven by workstations that run Unix-based applications via Linux and support hardware-accelerated 3D graphics, even across the boundary between displays.
From Sudden Stops to Fisherian Deflation: Quantitative Theory and Policy

In the 1990s, Sudden Stops in emerging markets were a harbinger of the 2008 global financial crisis. During these Sudden Stops, countries lost access to credit, which caused abrupt current account reversals, and suffered severe recessions. This article reviews a class of models that yield quantitative predictions consistent with these observations, based on an occasionally binding credit constraint that limits debt to a fraction of the market value of incomes or assets used as collateral. Sudden Stops are infrequent events nested within regular business cycles and occur in response to standard shocks after periods of expansion increase leverage ratios sufficiently. When this happens, the Fisherian debt-deflation mechanism is set in motion, as lower asset or goods prices tighten the constraint further, causing further deflation. This framework also embodies a pecuniary externality with important implications for macroprudential policy because agents do not internalize how current borrowing decisions affect...
Geriatric Renal Palliative Care

Elderly patients with advanced chronic kidney disease or who are on dialysis should be able to live as fully and comfortably as possible. Geriatric patients are most interested in outcomes that will optimize mental and physical function and limit suffering and pain. Nephrologists must help them answer the question: "How will my kidney problem affect the way I live now and in the future?" This means management must move beyond glomerular filtration rate-related targets and incorporate geriatric principles that focus on assessment of function, comorbidities, geriatric syndromes, and quality of life issues. Therapeutic decisions should be individualized and directed by patient goals of care, which must be explored and documented. Accomplishing this requires inclusion of the patient's family-support system in the shared decision-making process. There is no substitute for spending time listening to and understanding the patient and family agenda, providing timely medical and prognostic updates; discussing realistic scenarios to balance expectations; and planting the seeds of change as the quantity and quality of medical events, geriatric syndromes, and comorbidities accumulate. Synergy of the interdisciplinary renal team with geriatric and palliative medicine specialists provides the expertise to achieve these goals. This falls into the domain of geriatric renal palliative or supportive care (1) and is the subject of this practical review.
Hope or Hype? Legitimacy and US Leadership in a Global Age

Many foreign affairs cognoscenti agree that the United States needs to restore its standing as a legitimate world leader and recommit to international institutions in order to address the world's most pressing problems. However, these prescriptions mean relatively little without first examining what legitimate leadership entails and whether such leadership is, in fact, possible. This article proceeds in three steps. First, it discusses the meaning of legitimate leadership in the context of international institutions and underscores the enduring challenges the United States faces in this regard. Second, it highlights the domestic political impediments that ineluctably constrain the implementation of a consistent and cohesive US foreign policy. Finally, the article suggests that if the US legitimacy deficit is to some degree a fact of life, we should rethink which governance arrangements are most capable of harnessing US power for a greater good and devote increased attention to what legal scholars call “new governance.”
The Russian Elections: Back to Square One?

In the fall of 1993 President Boris Yeltsin dissolved the Russian legislature and called for elections to a new assembly in the hope of getting a more pro-reform parliament. That parliament in turn would consolidate his position in the struggle with the republics and regions over the issues of autonomy and the distribution of power between Moscow and the provinces. Instead, the December 1993 elections to the State Duma, the lower house of the Russian legislature, were a clear defeat for both him and the pro-reform forces.Much attention has been devoted to considering the extent of the defeat and its implications. Particular focus has been placed on ultra-nationalist Vladimir Zhirinovsky's strong showing. Despite the electoral gains registered by Zhirinovsky and his party, the organizational activity of the Duma since the elections strongly argues that it was the communists and not he who won the contest for the lower house. Even so, focusing on the State Duma is as misplaced as focusing on Zhirinovsky if one is to fully appraise the results and likely fallout from the December elections. Having virtually swept the races to seats in the new upper house (the Federation Council), provincial elites are once again in a position to press Yeltsin on the issue of regional autonomy. Hence, Yeltsin is faced with much the same situation as before the decision to assault the Russian parliament building, the White House.
Non-communicable diseases in South Asia: contemporary perspectives.

Introduction Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) such as metabolic, cardiovascular, cancers, injuries and mental health disorders are increasingly contributing to the disease burden in South Asia, in light of demographic and epidemiologic transitions in the region. Home to one-quarter of the world's population, the region is also an important priority area for meeting global health targets. In this review, we describe the current burden of and trends in four common NCDs (cardiovascular disease, diabetes, cancer and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) in South Asia.
Enhancing Interpersonal Competencies Of Business-College Students

Business schools quite properly emphasize quantitative techniques, but neglect training in business-relevant interpersonal competencies. Increased use of experiential learning technology is proposed as a partial remedy.
Posterior Mesh Tracheoplasty for Cervical Tracheomalacia: A Novel Trachea-Preserving Technique

Tracheal resection or placement of airway prostheses (stents, tracheostomy tubes, or T tubes) are techniques currently used to treat severe cervical tracheomalacia. We have developed a new technique to secure a polypropylene splint to the posterior membrane of the cervical trachea in a patient with diffuse, acquired tracheobronchomalacia. This novel posterior tracheoplasty avoids anastomotic and intraluminal adverse events that may occur with existing techniques.
General Biped Motion and Balance of a Human Model

ABSTRACT We propose an algorithm of predicting dynamic biped motions of Santos TM human model. An alternative and efficient formulation of the Zero-Moment Point (ZMP) for dynamic balance and the approximated ground reaction forces/moments are derived from the resultant reaction loads, which includes the gravity, the externally applied loads, and the inertia. The optimization problem is formulated to address the redundancy of the human task, where the general biped and the task-specific constraints are imposed depending on the task requirements. The proposed method is fully predictive and generates physically feasible human-like motions from scratch without any input reference from motion capture or animation. The resulting generated motions demonstrate how a human reacts effectively to different external load conditions in performing a given task by showing realistic features of cause and effect. Key words : human motion generation, Lagrangian dynamics, optimization, Zero-Moment Point.
The controversy of consequences

This special issue of Assessment in Education contains the type of debate needed about what Cizek (2015) calls a ‘… lingering flaw in the concept of validity…’. Although some practitioners might no...
Adhesion utilization and brake standard harmonization: an examination of the dilemma and a proposed solution

Etude de la methode europeenne de reglemantation de l'equilibrage des freins des vehicules routiers. Problemes rencontres par les fabricants si reglementation similaire etait incorporee dans le systeme FMVSS Etats Unis dans le cadre d'une harmonisation internationale
3D printing from diagnostic images: a radiologist’s primer with an emphasis on musculoskeletal imaging—putting the 3D printing of pathology into the hands of every physician

Three-dimensional (3D) printing has recently erupted into the medical arena due to decreased costs and increased availability of printers and software tools. Due to lack of detailed information in the medical literature on the methods for 3D printing, we have reviewed the medical and engineering literature on the various methods for 3D printing and compiled them into a practical "how to" format, thereby enabling the novice to start 3D printing with very limited funds. We describe (1) background knowledge, (2) imaging parameters, (3) software, (4) hardware, (5) post-processing, and (6) financial aspects required to cost-effectively reproduce a patient's disease ex vivo so that the patient, engineer and surgeon may hold the anatomy and associated pathology in their hands.
Steric trapping reveals a cooperativity network in the intramembrane protease GlpG

Membrane proteins are assembled through balanced interactions among proteins, lipids and water. Studying their folding while maintaining the native lipid environment is necessary but challenging. Here we present methods for analyzing key elements of membrane protein folding including thermodynamic stability, compactness of the unfolded state and folding cooperativity under native conditions. The methods are based on steric trapping, which couples the unfolding of a doubly biotinylated protein to the binding of monovalent streptavidin (mSA). We further advanced this technology for general application by developing versatile biotin probes possessing spectroscopic reporters that are sensitized by mSA binding or protein unfolding. By applying these methods to the Escherichia coli intramembrane protease GlpG, we elucidated a widely unraveled unfolded state, subglobal unfolding of the region encompassing the active site, and a network of cooperative and localized interactions to maintain stability. These findings provide crucial insights into the folding energy landscape of membrane proteins.
A Sociological Interpretation of Social Change in the South

While war weariness and a certain apathy and hopelessness may in time be alleviated, one may well question whether there will be a revival of national ambition which in turn may lead to an upswing in population. What happens in a nation in which the masses and the leaders alike feel rather hopeless as to their future? One wonders about this with regard to present-day France, Germany, and Great Britain. Will the loss of domestic and foreign trade and a decrease in political power in the world further depress the birth rate? In other words, may we expect to see the will to life go out of these people? Yet one may ask another question: Will the revival of nationalistic feeling or perhaps the rise of some socialistic substitute for capitalist nationalism provide a new focus of hope leading to a change in population practice? Or, to mention another possible stimulus, will a growing fear of the Slavic population pressure-disguised in economic and political dress-serve to induce in the name of national survival a higher birth rate in the West? The answer to such questions rests in the lap of conjecture. But I submit that there may be a psychological component in these situations which should be studied. Of course, it may be that the psvchological elements are actually epiphenomena deriving from much deeper biological dynamics of a younger and more virile people on the march. Who knows?
Partial characterization of the atypical creatine kinase isoenzyme fraction in three cases.

The atypical creatine kinase isoenzyme fraction in the sera of three patients was studied utilizing the technic of crossed Immunoelectrophoresis. The findings provide strong evidence that in these clinically unrelated patients the atypical isoenzyme fraction is a complex of creatine kinase and IgG.
Thyroid Frozen Sections in Patients With Preoperative FNAs: Review of Surgeons' Preoperative Rationale, Intraoperative Decisions, and Final Outcome.

Objectives: We wished to discover (1) in what circumstances surgeons wished to request frozen sections (FSs) on thyroid nodules having a prior fine needle aspiration (FNA) and the preoperative plan in these cases; (2) what the surgeons did with the information provided by FS and (3) in what types of cases was value added with the FS. Methods: A retrospective chart review was performed of 121 consecutive patients receiving an intraoperative FS diagnosis on a thyroid nodule, all of which had been evaluated with a preoperative FNA. Results: The medical record documented rationale for the request in 83% of cases. The most common reason for a FS request of a nodule was whether a planned hemithyroidectomy should proceed to a total thyroidectomy (TT). This scenario led to a TT in 9% of patients with a FNA diagnosed as benign thyroid nodule, 16% diagnosed as follicular neoplasm/suspicious for follicular neoplasm and 69% diagnosed as suspicious for malignancy. Conclusions: The stated rationale for FSs in patients with preoperative FNA was not supported by patient outcome in most cases. There may be some utility for FSs in lesions with a suspicious for malignancy preoperative FNA diagnosis.
Narrativity and dialectics revisited

AbstractThe future of historical theory would benefit from a careful revisitation of the theoretical proposals of the last 50 years, with the goal of finding neglected notions which may prove of theoretical value. Hayden White’s unique version of dialectics is such a notion. Dialectics expresses an awareness of the role of language in the systematic comprehension of reality by following a sequence of apprehensions: thus, a ‘dialectical narrativity’. An analysis of an episode in Jules Michelet’s medieval history suggests that dialectical narrativity was immanent in his presentation of historical understanding.
Did Foul Play Lead to the Patients' Comas? Investigating Possible Attempted Murders by Insulin & Related Compounds

Abstract The action of hormones such as insulin in contributing to life-threatening diseases such as diabetes may be difficult for students to understand. To teach students the critical details of the regulation of blood glucose and the different types of diabetes, we created a laboratory exercise using a five-patient hypoglycemic—hyperglycemic coma case.
Wide spectrum properties of ZrO_2 films with ellipsometry

In order to obtain the optical constants of ZrO2 thin film,two single-layer ZrO2 film samples deposited on K 9 glass by optical automatic vacuum coating machine were measured and analyzed with a broadband ellipsometer SE850 produced by SENTECH. Then,the thickness of ZrO2 thin film and optical constants curve on the 380 nm "2300nm spectrum were obtained. The results showed that for sample 1 the thickness and optical constants from Cauchy model were the same as Tauc-Lorentz model. For sample 2,by dividingthe film into three layers,the smallest mean square error was obtained,and the thickness of ZrO2 thin film measured value was closest to the calculated value of TFCalc software. At the same time,the refractive index curve of the thin film was obtained. The results have certain reference value to the design and the preparation of ZrO2 multilayer film.