cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Mixed interpretations of sales proposal signals

Long-term relationships with customers are critical determinants of a sales organization’s success. However, research tends to assess relational approaches from the salesperson or sales organization’s perspective and often neglects to capture customers’ perspectives which lead to the evaluative success or failure of buyer–seller relationships. This study assesses the seller’s bid-related signals from the buyer’s perspective following their selection or rejection of a business-to-business sales proposal. The authors adopt a theories-in-use approach, utilizing 54 depth-interviews with decision-makers from 33 buyer organizations. Within this data set, findings reveal three bid signals that are represented across both selection and rejection outcomes (i.e. mixed interpretations by buyers). These signals are the seller’s usage of price concessions, sales proposal specificity, and comparative customer examples. To better understand the mechanisms which influence buyers’ mixed interpretations of these signals, t...
Protophobic Fifth-Force Interpretation of the Observed Anomaly in $^8$Be Nuclear Transitions

Recently a 6.8σ anomaly has been reported in the opening angle and invariant mass distributions of e^{+}e^{-} pairs produced in ^{8}Be nuclear transitions. The data are explained by a 17 MeV vector gauge boson X that is produced in the decay of an excited state to the ground state, ^{8}Be^{*}→^{8}Be X, and then decays through X→e^{+}e^{-}. The X boson mediates a fifth force with a characteristic range of 12 fm and has millicharged couplings to up and down quarks and electrons, and a proton coupling that is suppressed relative to neutrons. The protophobic X boson may also alleviate the current 3.6σ discrepancy between the predicted and measured values of the muon's anomalous magnetic moment.
Genome Sequences of 14 Firmicutes Strains Isolated from the Human Vagina

Research on vaginal infections is currently limited by a lack of available fully sequenced bacterial reference strains. Here, we present strains (now available through BEI Resources) and genome sequences for a set of 14 vaginal isolates from the phylum Firmicutes These genome sequences provide a valuable resource for future research in understanding the role of Gram-positive bacteria in vaginal health and disease.
Learned motivation drives circadian physiology in the absence of the master circadian clock.

The suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN)-often referred to as the master circadian clock-is essential in generating physiologic rhythms and orchestrating synchrony among circadian clocks. This study tested the hypothesis that periodic motivation induced by rhythmically pairing 2 reinforcing stimuli [methamphetamine (Meth) and running wheel (RW)] restores autonomous circadian activity in arrhythmic SCN-lesioned (SCNX) C3H/HeN mice. Sham-surgery and SCNX mice were treated with either Meth (1.2 mg/kg, i.p.) or vehicle in association, dissociation, or absence of an RW. Only the association of Meth treatment and restricted RW access successfully reestablished entrained circadian rhythms in mice with SCNX. RW-likely acting as a link between the circadian and reward systems-promotes circadian entrainment of activity.We conclude that a conditioned drug response is a powerful tool to entrain, drive, and restore circadian physiology. Furthermore, an RW should be recognized as a potent input signal in addition to the conventional use as an output signal.
Perceptually Mediated Preferences and Prejudices

The target article, “A Perceptual Model of Intergroup Relations” (Xiao, Coppin, & Van Bavel, this issue), provides a thoughtful and integrative review of research linking perceptual processes to in...
Fibromyalgia: The commonest cause of widespread pain

FM affects approximately six million Americans, four million are women. It is a chronic muscle pain syndrome with poorly understood associations with many other conditions. Although there is no distinctive pathophysiological basis for the syndrome, these patients are readily recognized by their history of widespread body pain and multiple tender-point areas. Failure to recognize these patients results in much frustration, both in the physician and in the patient, and often results in unnecessary investigations. Treatment of FM patients has to be individualistic and demands a holistic approach; this requires time, empathy, and interaction with other specialists. Providing effective treatment to these patients is a true test of a physician's skill.
Mincle-Mediated Neutrophil Extracellular Trap Formation by Regulation of Autophagy.

Background Neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs) constitute antimicrobial function of neutrophils but have also been linked to perpetuation of inflammation. Despite this evident physiological relevance, mechanistic understanding of NET formation is poor. In this study, we examined the mechanism by which Mincle, a C-type lectin receptor, regulates NET formation. Methods NET formation, reactive oxygen species, autophagy activation and intracellular signaling pathways were analyzed in Mincle-sufficient and -deficient neutrophils stimulated in vitro with various stimuli and in vivo during Klebsiella infection. Results We found that Mincle mediates NET formation in response to several activation stimuli in vitro and in vivo during pneumoseptic infection with Klebsiella pneumoniae, indicating its regulatory role in NET formation. Mechanistically, we show that attenuated NET formation in Mincle-/- neutrophils correlates with an impaired autophagy activation in vitro and in vivo, whereas reactive oxygen species (ROS) formation in these neutrophils remained intact. The requirement of autophagy in Mincle-mediated NET formation was further supported by exogenous treatment with autophagy inducer tamoxifen, which rescued the NET formation defect in Mincle-/- neutrophils. Conclusions Our findings identify a previously unrecognized role of Mincle as a regulator of autophagy, which mediates NET formation without affecting ROS generation. Our study addresses a major challenge in the field by positing this pathway to be targeted for modulation of NETs while preserving ROS production, an important innate immune defense.
Use of Bacteriocins in Food: Regulatory Considerations.

The authority under which a given bacteriocin will be regulated for use in food will depend on the foods in which it is used and the purpose for which it is used. Use of (i) purified bacteriocins, (ii) cells producing bacteriocins, or (iii) genetic expression of bacteriocins in food-producing organisms to serve a preservative effect in processed foods are under the jurisdiction of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and are regulated as food ingredients under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA). Under the FFDCA, those substances that are generally recognized as safe (GRAS) by qualified experts (either based on scientific principles or because they have been historically and safely present in food) are exempt from mandatory premarket approval. Substances used in processed food that are not GRAS are defined as "food additives" under the FFDCA and require premarket approval by the FDA. Bacteriocins used in meat products will require an additional suitability assessment by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS). Bacteriocins which are used on whole fruits or vegetables (or genetically expressed in whole fruits and vegetables and intended to act in the whole food) fall within the definition of "pesticide" found in the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) and are therefore regulated by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Bacteriocins which are genetically expressed in food-producing domestic animals may be regulated as animal drugs if they are intended for use in preventing disease in animals.
Money Doesn’t Talk, It Swears: The Wolf of Wall Street as a Homology for America’s Ambivalent Attitude on Financial Excess

Audiences have praised and criticized Martin Scorsese’s film The Wolf of Wall Street since its release. Despite projecting a portrait of Wall Street greed, the film’s cultural reception demonstrates a public ambiguously mesmerized by a wealthy individual and his “get rich quick” philosophy. This article argues that Scorsese’s film and rhetoric from the real Jordan Belfort act as a homology for America’s ambivalent attitude on the hegemonic power of money and celebrity. Connecting rhetorical homologies to Raymond Williams’s structure of feeling, this article illustrates how personal and public attitudes are constituted through a text’s form and content.
Abstract TP247: Results of the New York City Stroke Task Force Emergency Medical Services Stroke Prenotification Survey

Introduction: EMS stroke prenotification (S-PN) expedites and increases tPA use. In 1/15, the New York State Dept. of Health (NYS DOH) began tracking S-PN data; however the baseline S-PN frequency ...
Semen cultures in the diagnosis of bacterial prostatitis

AbstractThe bacterial flora of semen from normal men has been studied. Positive cultures were obtained in 45 per cent of these individuals but only in small colony counts of non-pathogenic bacteria. The seminal flora of patients with bacterial prostatitis was then studied. Excellent correlations have been noted between cultures of prostatic secretions and semen. Semen cultures will almost invariably be diagnostic in patients with bacterial prostatitis. This technique has definite usefulness in selected patients in whom it is otherwise difficult to establish a diagnosis of bacterial prostatitis.
Jump, But Don't Run: A Review of Jump-Start Your Online Classroom: Mastering Five Challenges in Five Days

For those new to teaching online, you need "Jump Start Your Online Classroom." True to its name, this practical, hands-on guide provides essential insights to kick off one's initial venture into online teaching. But be sure to jump early, while the guidance and resources provided are invaluable assets to help you begin teaching online, you will want to allow yourself plenty of time to prepare for the experience.
How Can We Better Identify Mesorectal Fascia Involvement

The mesorectal fascia (MRF), or visceral layer of the endopelvic fascia, encircles the rectum and the mesorectal fat, nodes, and lymphatic vessels to form a distinct anatomic unit, called the mesorectum. The MRF runs along the anterior aspect of the sacrum, where it fuses with the presacral fascia, and then laterally on either side of the rectum. Anteriorly in males, it forms a dense band of connective tissue posterior to the seminal vesicle and prostate gland called the Denonvilliers’ fascia [1].
Obesity in Critical Care

Obesity, defined as a body mass index (BMI) greater than or equal to 30 m/kg2, is increasing in incidence, with more than one-third of American adults in the United States classified as obese and numbers projected to increase. Worse outcomes have been noted in both underweight (BMI <18 m/kg2) and obese critically ill patients. Other studies have associated obesity as an independent risk factor for mortality in the ICU. In addition, morbid obesity is an independent risk factor for the development of organ failure after trauma in the critically ill patient. Given the current obesity epidemic, the number of critically ill obese patients will continue to increase, and a greater understanding of the physiologic challenges associated with obesity in this setting will be needed. This chapter will discuss the multiple intersections and interactions between obesity and critical illness, as well as optimal evaluation and management strategies.
Why is educational change so difficult and how can we make it more effective

One main issue in educational research and policy is educational change. Educational authorities, scholars and teachers working with educational change should ask themselves why educational change is necessary, reflect on its challenges and find ways to make change more effective. This theoretical article explores educational change by starting with the most essential questions, asking what educational change is and why it is necessary. By taking a look at the history of educational change and the processes involved when conducting educational change, grounded in empirical examples from large-scale studies and curriculum development in the Nordic context and educational assessment in England and Scotland, this article contributes to shedding light on the complexities of educational change policies and schoolbased research projects. The article concludes with various factors that have proved to be effective in the field of educational change.
Toward a Sensor Trustworthiness Measure for Grid-Connected IoT-Enabled Smart Cities

Traditional security measures for large-scale critical infrastructure systems have focused on keeping adversaries out of the system. As the internet of things (IoT) extends into millions of homes, with tens or hundreds of devices each, the threat landscape is complicated. IoT devices have unknown access capabilities with unknown reach into other systems. This paper presents ongoing work on how techniques in sensor verification and cyber-physical modeling and analysis on bulk power systems can be applied to identify malevolent IoT devices and secure smart and connected communities against the most impactful threats.
Body of Knowledge for a Tourism Curriculum: Revisited

AbstractThe purpose of this article was to compare the tourism course titles offered at National Recreation and Parks Association (NRPA) accredited universities and colleges with the course offerin...
Heuristic search theory: survey of recent results

This paper summarizes recent analytical Investigations of the mathematical properties of heuristics and their Influence on the performance of common search techniques. The results are reported without proofs, together with discussions of motivations and Interpretations. Highlights include the following: relations between the precision of the heuristic estimates and the average complexity of the search, comparisons of the average complexities of A* and BACKTRACKING, procedures for comparing and combining non-admissible heuristic functions, the influence of the weight u> (l-u>)g ♦ h] on the complexity of A*, determination of the branching factors of alpha-beta and SSS*, and the effects of successor ordering on the complexity of alpha-beta and of search depth on the quality of decisions.
Dynamic Problems in Isotropic Plates

Plates found in applications are often subject to dynamic loads. These loads can be directly applied to the plate (i.e., wave impact, wind gusts, blast overpressure, impact by birds or other objects, etc.). In numerous applications, dynamic loads are applied to the plate by unbalanced rotating machinery supported by the plate or through the kinematic excitation by beams that support both the plate and the engine. In all these problems, the structural integrity of the plate has to be analyzed to prevent immediate failure due to excessive dynamic stresses or fatigue damage as a result of continuous large-amplitude vibrations. The present chapter provides an insight into vibrations of isotropic plates, including free and forced vibrations, response to non-harmonic dynamic loads, large-amplitude vibrations and dynamic instability. Dynamic problems of composite plates that can be investigated using an extension of analytical and numerical tools employed for the analysis of their isotropic counterparts are outside the scope of this book. An exception applicable to the analysis of composite plates is vibration of plates reinforced with stringers whose constitutive equations and equations of motion resemble those of composite plates (Sect. 4.5).
Outcomes and prognostic stratification of patients with recurrent glioblastoma treated with salvage stereotactic radiosurgery

Objective Glioblastoma (GBM) is the most malignant form of astrocytoma. The average survival is 6-10 months in patients with recurrent GBM (rGBM). In this study, the authors evaluated the role of stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) in patients with rGBMs. Methods The authors performed a retrospective review of their brain tumor database (1997-2016). Overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) after salvage SRS were the primary endpoints evaluated. Response to SRS was assessed using volumetric MR images. Results Fifty-three patients with rGBM underwent salvage SRS targeting 75 lesions. The median tumor diameter and volume were 2.55 cm and 3.80 cm3, respectively. The median prescription dose was 18 Gy (range 12-24 Gy) and the homogeneity index was 1.90 (range 1.11-2.02). The median OS after salvage SRS was estimated to be 11.0 months (95% CI 7.1-12.2) and the median PFS after salvage SRS was 4.4 months (95% CI 3.7-5.0). A Karnofsky Performance Scale score ≥ 80 was independently associated with longer OS, while small tumor volume ( 1.75) were both independently associated with longer OS (p = 0.007 and 0.03) and PFS (p = 0.01 and 0.002, respectively). Based on these factors, 2 prognostic groups were identified for PFS (5.4 vs 3.2 months), while 3 were identified for OS (median OS of 15.2 vs 10.5 vs 5.2 months). Conclusions SRS is associated with longer OS and/or PFS in patients with good performance status, small-volume tumor recurrences, and heterogeneous treatment plans. The authors propose a prognostic model to identify a cohort of rGBM patients who may benefit from SRS.
Conducting psychotherapy in the Trump era: Therapists' perspectives on political self-disclosure, the therapeutic alliance, and politics in the therapy room.

Objective To examine therapists' perspectives on political self-disclosure, perceived shared values with patients, and the therapeutic alliance. Method Therapists from all US states completed a structured survey (N = 268; 62% Democrats; 7% Republicans; 23% independents; 8% others). Results Most therapists (87%) reported they discussed politics in-session; 63% reported political self-disclosure (21% explicit; 42% implicit). Therapists who perceived political similarity with most patients were more likely to report political discussions and self-disclosure. Therapists who reported shared political views with a higher percentage of patients, and those who explicitly disclosed, also reported stronger alliances. Clinton supporters reported significant observed preelection-postelection increases in political discussions, increases in patients' expression of negative emotions, and decreases in positive emotions. Trump supporters reported the opposite phenomenon. Conclusions Politics play an important role in therapeutic processes as in-session political discussions are common and perceived political similarity may affect decisions to self-disclose and alliance quality.
Crystal Growth and Structure–Property Optimization of Thermally Annealed Nanocrystalline Ga2O3 Films

The effects of thermal annealing on the crystal chemistry, crystallization process, index of refraction, mechanical properties, and electrical characteristics of nanocrystalline Ga2O3 films was eva...
Tuning hydrogel properties with sequence-defined, non-natural peptoid crosslinkers

The native extracellular matrix (ECM) is composed of hierarchically structured biopolymers containing precise monomer sequences and chain shapes to yield bioactivity. Recapitulating this structure in synthetic hydrogels is of particular interest for tissue engineering and in vitro disease models to accurately mimic biological microenvironments. However, despite extensive research on hydrogels, it remains a challenge to recapitulate the hierarchical structure of native ECM with completely synthetic hydrogel platforms. Toward this end, this work presents a synthetic hydrogel system using commercially available poly(ethylene glycol) macromers with sequence-defined poly(N-substituted glycines) (peptoids) as crosslinkers. We demonstrate that bulk hydrogel mechanics, specifically as shear storage modulus, can be controlled by altering peptoid sequence and structure. Notably, the helical peptoid sequence investigated here increases the storage modulus of the resulting hydrogels with increasing helical content and chain length, in a fashion similar to helical peptide-crosslinked hydrogels. In addition, the resulting hydrogels are shown to be hydrolytically and enzymatically stable due to the N-substituted peptidomimetic backbone of the crosslinkers. We further demonstrate the potential utility of these peptoid-crosslinked hydrogels as a viable cell culture platform using seeded human dermal fibroblasts in comparison to peptide-crosslinked hydrogels as a control. Taken together, our system offers a strategy toward ECM mimics that replicate the hierarchy of biological matrices with completely synthetic, sequence-defined molecules.
Cyber-Physical Systems Security Education Through Hands-on Lab Exercises

Cyber-physical systems (CPSs), due to interacting directly with the physical environment, must be dependable, and in particular must be secure. This article shows how to integrate systems security topics into the educational program for future CPS engineers. — Peter Marwedel, TU Dortmund
Parental Awareness of Youth Tobacco Use and the Role of Household Tobacco Rules in Use Prevention.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Noncigarette tobacco use is increasing. In this study, we reexamined (1) parental knowledge or suspicion of their children’s tobacco use and (2) associations of household tobacco-free rules with youth initiation. METHODS: Participants were youth (aged 12–17) in waves 1 to 4 (2013–2018) of the Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health Study. A pseudo cross-sectional time-series analysis (N = 23 170) was used to examine parent or guardian knowledge or suspicion of their child’s tobacco use according to youth-reported use categories: cigarette only, electronic cigarette only, smokeless tobacco only, noncigarette combustible only, and poly use. A longitudinal analysis among wave 1 never users (n = 8994) was used to examine rules barring tobacco inside the home and whether parents talked with youth about not using tobacco as predictors of youth tobacco initiation after 1 to 3 years. Survey-weighted multivariable models were adjusted for tobacco use risk factors. RESULTS: In all waves, parents or guardians much less often knew or suspected that their children used tobacco if youth only reported use of electronic cigarettes, noncigarette combustible products, or smokeless tobacco compared with cigarettes. Youth tobacco initiation was lower when youth and parents agreed that rules prohibited all tobacco use throughout the home (1-year adjusted odds ratio: 0.74; 95% confidence interval: 0.59–0.94) but not when parents talked with youth about tobacco (adjusted odds ratio: 1.08; 95% confidence interval: 0.94–1.23). CONCLUSIONS: Many parents are unaware of their children’s noncigarette tobacco use. Setting expectations for tobacco-free environments appears more effective at preventing youth tobacco initiation than parents advising children not to use tobacco.
Does the Match between Gender and Race of Graduate Teaching Assistants and Undergraduates Improve Student Performance in Introductory Biology

This study evaluated the academic performance of students who shared their graduate teaching assistant’s demographic characteristics, including gender, race/ethnicity, and low-income or first-gener...
Metallicity Evolution of Damped Lyα Galaxies

We have reanalyzed the existing data on zinc abundances in damped Lyα (DLA) absorbers to investigate whether their mean metallicity evolves with time. Most models of cosmic chemical evolution predict that the mass-weighted mean interstellar metallicity of galaxies should rise with time from a low value of ~1/30 solar at z ~ 3 to a nearly solar value at z ~ 0. However, several previous analyses have suggested that there is little or no evolution in the global metallicity of DLAs. The main problem is that the effective number of systems that dominate the N(H I)-weighted mean metallicity is very small. We have used a variety of statistical techniques to quantify the global metallicity-redshift relation and its uncertainties, taking into account both measurement and sampling errors. Three new features of our analysis are (1) an unbinned N(H I)-weighted nonlinear χ2 fit to an exponential relation, (2) survival analysis to treat the large number of limits in the existing data, and (3) a comparison of the data with several models of cosmic chemical evolution based on an unbinned N(H I)-weighted χ2. We find that a wider range of evolutionary rates is allowed by the present data than claimed in previous studies. The slope of the exponential fit to the N(H I)-weighted mean Zn metallicity versus redshift relation is -0.20 ± 0.11 counting limits as detections and -0.27 ± 0.12 counting limits as zeros. Similar results are also obtained if the data are binned in redshift and if survival analysis is used. These slopes are marginally consistent with no evolution but are also consistent with the rates predicted by several models of cosmic chemical evolution (e.g., slopes of -0.61 to -0.25 for the models of Pei & Fall, Malaney & Chaboyer, and Pei et al.). The χ2 values obtained for most of these models are somewhat worse than that for the exponential model because the models lie above the observed data points, but still suggest that the present DLA data could indicate some evolution of the metallicity with redshift. Finally, we outline some future measurements necessary to improve the statistics of the global metallicity-redshift relation.
Removal of 1,4-dioxane during on-site wastewater treatment using nitrogen removing biofilters

Abstract The presence and release of 1,4-dioxane to groundwater from onsite-wastewater treatment systems (OWTS), which represent 25% of the total wastewater treatment in the U.S., has not been studied to date. In this study we monitored 1,4-dioxane in six septic tank effluents (STE) and receiving OWTS installed at residences on Long Island (LI), NY, for a period of 15 months. We specifically evaluated the performance of Nitrogen Removing Biofilters (NRBs) as an innovative/alternative-OWTS, consisting of a top sand layer and a bottom woodchip/sand layer, to simultaneously remove nitrogen and 1,4-dioxane. 1,4-Dioxane levels in STE (mean: 1.49 μg L−1; range: 0.07–8.45 μg L−1; n = 37) were on average > 15 times higher than tap water from these residences, demonstrating that 1,4-dioxane primarily originated from the use of household products. NRBs were effective in removing both 1,4-dioxane and total nitrogen with an overall removal efficiency of 56 ± 20% and 88 ± 12%, respectively. The majority of 1,4-dioxane removal (~80%) occurred in the top oxic layer of the NRBs. The detection of functional genes (dxmB, prmA, and thmA), which encode for metabolic and co-metabolic 1,4-dioxane degradation, in NRBs provides the first field evidence of aerobic microbial degradation of 1,4-dioxane occurring in a wastewater system. Given that there are ~500,000 conventional OWTS on LI, the 1,4-dioxane discharge to groundwater from residential wastewater was estimated at 195 ± 205 kg yr −1, suggesting high risk of contamination to shallow aquifers. The results also demonstrate that installation of NRBs can reduce 1,4-dioxane to levels even lower than the NY State drinking water standard of 1 μg L−1.
Drugs and Criminal Justice in the Caribbean

(1996). Drugs and Criminal Justice in the Caribbean. Caribbean Quarterly: Vol. 42, For a Caribbean Criminology. Guest Editor: Maureen Cain, pp. 72-86.
On the threshold of dispersal: hitchhiking on a giant fly favours exaggerated male traits in a male‐dimorphic pseudoscorpion

The evolution of exaggerated male traits is frequently driven by competition between males to control resources critical for female survival and/or reproductive success. For flightless arthropods specializing on patchy habitats, dispersal agents may represent one such critical resource. The Neotropical pseudoscorpion, Semeiochernes armiger, disperses to new habitats by attaching to the giant timber fly, Pantophthalmus tabaninus, as it ecloses from pupal boreholes within decaying Ficus trees. In a study that combined field observations of mating with experimental removal of individuals from a large, pre-dispersal population, our morphometric analyses revealed that S. armiger is among the most highly sexually dimorphic pseudoscorpions known, with males possessing unusual, triangular-shaped pedipalpal chelae (hands) and a male-specific, dimorphic chela peg that exhibits threshold trait expression. Several lines of evidence indicate that extreme sexual dimorphism in S. armiger results from male competition to monopolize pantophthalmid bores as strategic sites for inseminating females on the verge of dispersal. Sexually dimorphic pedipalpal characters were significantly larger in males located in and around pantophthalmid boreholes, compared with males collected at the periphery of the pantophthalmid emergence zone. Removal of pseudoscorpions resulted in a significant decline in pedipalpal size of males associated with pantophthalmid bores, followed by a rebound in size after collected individuals were returned to the tree. Most significantly, field observations of mating indicate that this competition translates into intense selection for exaggerated male traits, with all traits of the sexually dimorphic chelae exhibiting highly significant sexual selection differentials in males. © 2013 The Linnean Society of London
Target testing and the PicHunter Bayesian multimedia retrieval system

We address how the effectiveness of a content-based, multimedia information retrieval system can be measured, and how such a system should best use response feedback in performing searches. We propose a simple, quantifiable measure of an image retrieval system's effectiveness, "target testing", in which effectiveness is measured as the average number of images that a user must examine in searching for a given random target. We describe an initial version of PicHunter, a retrieval system designed to test a novel approach to relevance-feedback. This approach is based on a Bayesian framework that incorporates an explicit model of the user's selection process. PicHunter is intentionally designed to have a minimal, "queryless" user interface, so that its performance reflects only the performance of the relevance feedback algorithm. The algorithm, however, can easily be incorporated into more traditional, query-based systems. Employing no explicit query, and only a small amount of image processing, PicHunter is able to locate randomly selected targets in a database of 4522 images after displaying an average of only 55 groups of 4 images. This is more than 10 times better than random chance.
A survey of some outstanding questions in dense hydrogen

Dense hydrogen, sometimes thought of as the simplest condensed matter system, continues to be a cautionary tale against overconfidence in the predictive powers of condensed matter theory. Recent experimental advances using diamond anvil cells (DACs), and single and multi-shock compression all present new challenges to theory, and old questions such as the ground state insulator to metal transition pressure remain almost as unsettled as when originally proposed by Wigner and Huntington 60 years ago. This article gives an overview of efforts to understand two areas of the hydrogen phase diagram: the low to room temperature region probed by DAC experiments and the 0.5–2.0 Mbar pressure, 0.5–3.0 e.v. temperature range now being explored in deuterium using laser-generated shocks. The aim is to provide nonspecialists with a guide to this interesting and active field.
Extensive changes in DNA methylation patterns accompany activation of a silent T-DNA ipt gene in Agrobacterium tumefaciens-transformed plant cells.

Abstract We crossed a male-sterile, Agrobacterium-transformed Nicotiana tabacum plant that contains a silent, hypermethylated T-DNA ipt oncogene with a normal tobacco plant and found that the methylated state of the ipt gene was stably inherited through meiosis in the offspring. However, when tissues of these plants were placed in cell culture, the ipt gene was spontaneously reactivated in a very small fraction of the cells; if 5-azacytidine was added to the culture medium, ipt gene reactivation occurred at high frequency. We analyzed the pattern of DNA methylation in a region spanning the ipt gene in a line that does not express the ipt gene, in five derivatives of this line that reexpressed the ipt gene either spontaneously or after 5-azacytidine treatment, and in tissues of a sibling of this line that reexpressed ipt spontaneously. We found that the ipt locus was highly methylated in the unexpressed state but that spontaneous or 5-azacytidine-induced reexpression always resulted in extensive demethylation of a region including 5' upstream, coding, and 3' downstream regions of the ipt gene. The role of DNA methylation in gene regulation in this system is discussed.
Comparison of recipient outcomes following transplant from local versus imported pancreas donors

The shortage of deceased donor organs for solid organ transplantation continues to be an ongoing dilemma. One approach to increase the number of pancreas transplants is to share organs between procurement regions. To assess for the effects of organ importation, we reviewed the outcomes of 1014 patients undergoing deceased donor pancreas transplant at a single center. We performed univariate and multivariate analyses of the association of donor, recipient and surgical characteristics with patient outcomes. Organ importation had no effect on graft or recipient survival for recipients of solitary pancreas transplants. Similarly, there was no effect on technical failure rate, graft survival or long-term patient survival for simultaneous kidney-pancreas (SPK) recipients. In contrast, there was a significant and independent increased risk of death in the first year in SPK recipients of imported organs. SPK recipients had longer hospitalizations and increased hospital costs. This increased medical complexity may make these patients more susceptible to short-term complications resulting from the longer preservation times of import transplants. These findings support the continued use of organ sharing to reduce transplant wait times but highlight the importance of strategies to reduce organ preservation times.
Testing Math or Testing Language? The Construct Validity of the KeyMath-Revised for Children with Intellectual Disability and Language Difficulties.

Although it is often assumed that mathematics ability alone predicts mathematics test performance, linguistic demands may also predict achievement. This study examined the role of language in mathematics assessment performance for children with intellectual disability (ID) at less severe levels, on the KeyMath-Revised Inventory (KM-R) with a sample of 264 children, in grades 2-5. Using confirmatory factor analysis, the hypothesis that the KM-R would demonstrate discriminant validity with measures of language abilities in a two-factor model was compared to two plausible alternative models. Results indicated that KM-R did not have discriminant validity with measures of children's language abilities and was a multidimensional test of both mathematics and language abilities for this population of test users. Implications are considered for test development, interpretation, and intervention.
Irradiation uniformity of spherical heavy-ion-driven ICF targets

Estimates are presented for non-uniformity of energy deposition in spherical-shell ICF targets driven by beams of high-energy heavy ions. The principal consideration is shown to be the difference in penetration depth of ions entering at different angles relative to the surface of the sphere. Calculations are reported for 12-, 20-, and 32-beam symmetrical illumination. A rough assessment of required implosion symmetry indicates that a trade-off will exist between target gain and number of beams. A brief discussion of possible angular pressure-smoothing mechanisms is included.
SU-DD-A1-01: Using an Electronic Portal Imaging Device for Patient-Specific Volumetric Modulated Arc Therapy Quality Assurance

Purpose: To implement a patient specific Quality Assurance (QA) method to verify gantry specific individual Multi‐Leaf Collimator (MLC) apertures (control points) in Volumetric Modulated Arc Therapy (VMAT) plans using an Electronic Portal Imaging Device (EPID). Method and Materials: RapidArc treatment plans were generated on Eclipse treatment planning system (TPS). DICOM images from a Varian EPID (as 1000) acquired in continuous acquisition mode were used for pretreatment QA. Each DICOM file contains the grey scale image of the MLC aperture related to its specific control point and the corresponding gantry angle. The TPS MLC file of this RapidArc plan contains the leaf positions for all the 177 control points. In‐house software was developed that interpolates the measured images and overlays them with the MLC pattern at all control points. The 50% isodose line was used as the edge of MLCs on the portal images. Results: The software generates graphs and tables that provide analysis for the number of mismatched leaf positions for a chosen distance to agreement (DTA) at each control point and the frequency in which each particular leaf mismatches for the entire arc. Five patients QAs were analyzed using this method. Even for a very complex plan 80% of the active leaves passed the 3 mm DTA criteria. We found that maximum and minimum number of mismatched leaves occurred at a gantry angle of 180° (IEC) and 0° respectively. The leaves with the highest mismatched rate are treatment plan dependent. Conclusion: This in‐house software automatically verifies the MLC leaf positions for all the control points of Rapid Arc plans. The leaf edge positions of the detected segment are compared with the calculated positions specified by the TPS and it was found that number of failures depends on complexity of the treatment plan and gantry angle.
Impact of channel conditions on the throughput optimization in 802.11 DCF

In this paper, we evaluate the impact of transmission error rate on the contention and the system throughput in IEEE 802.11 DCF. We identify the trade-off between the desire to reduce the ratio of overhead in the data packet by adopting larger packet size and the need to reduce the packet error rate by using smaller packet length. Meanwhile, we provide a novel approach to model the different channel conditions incurred by different nodes. This work has applications in performance optimization by establishing trade-offs between transmission error rate and transmission power, modulation, coding scheme, packet size. Our results substantiate the intuition that in a contention-based system like 802.11 DCF, the channel variation of any single node in the system not only impacts the throughput of itself, but also affects the throughput of other nodes and the system throughput. Our work shows that to achieve maximum optimization of the throughput, the channel conditions of all the nodes in the system have to be taken into account. Otherwise the optimization is suboptimal. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Inhaled nitric oxide: a premature remedy for chronic lung disease?

Nitric oxide is the wonder drug of the '90s. When Furchgott and Zawadski1 reported in 1980 that the endothelial lining of arteries was the source of an important messenger of vascular smooth muscle relaxation, who would have guessed that the messenger would turn out to be a noxious free radical gas contained in cigarette smoke? Identification of nitric oxide (NO) as the endothelial-derived mediator of vascular smooth muscle relaxation2,,3 launched a remarkably rapid and rewarding series of discoveries regarding regulation of vascular tone, followed by prompt transfer of this knowledge to the successful treatment of human disease. NO first achieved celebrity status when it was named Science Magazine's “Molecule of the Year” in 1992.4 In that year came the news that NO is the world's leading cause of penile erection,5 an observation that spawned the development and distribution of Viagra as an effective remedy for erectile dysfunction.6 More accolades for NO came with the recent award of the Nobel Prize in Medicine to three American scientists whose pioneering research paved the way for NO's ascent to fame and fortune in a world where so many gases are regarded as mere pollutants. Now people everywhere are saying “yes” to “NO.” One of the most exciting developments in newborn medicine in the last decade has been the successful delivery of inhaled nitric oxide (iNO) to treat infants with persistent pulmonary hypertension,7–9 a condition that commonly causes cyanosis from insufficient blood flow to the lungs. Patients with this life-threatening disorder often have an overgrowth of smooth muscle in their pulmonary circulation associated with increased vascular resistance that leads to systemic hypoxemia caused by shunting of de-oxygenated blood from the right atrium through the foramen ovale to the left atrium and from the pulmonary artery through …
Recognition and reduction of artifacts from autolysis in paraffin-embedded tissue using DNA/nuclear protein flow cytometry.

Artifacts from autolysis can be a problem in retrospective flow-cytometric analyses of DNA content in paraffin-embedded tissues. Autolyzed tissue from rat liver, human liver, and rat spleen were stained for DNA and nuclear protein to determine if this technique would be useful in identifying partially degraded cells. After the tissue was deparaffinized and rehydrated, the nuclei were isolated using 0.5% pepsin. Propidium iodide (PI) and fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC) were used to stain DNA and nuclear protein. When unfixed rat liver tissue was allowed to undergo autolysis at 4°C for 24–48 h before fixation, there was a progressive broadening of the G1 and G2M DNA peaks and a slight increase in the average DNA contents of these peaks. Nuclei that stained more intensely with PI also stained more intensely with FITC. Similar results were obtained using human liver and rat spleen. Sometimes the increased PI staining resulted in a false aneuploid peak. The distinctive skewing of the DNA/nuclear protein histograms from autolysis was reduced by increasing the incubation of the tissue in 0.5% pepsin from 0.5 h to 1.5 h during the nuclei-isolation step. The DNA/nuclear protein method provides a means for identifying artifacts from autolysis, whereas the extended pepsin treatment provides a means for reducing these artifacts. © 1993 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
Abstract 2940: Altered hematopoiesis and lymphomagenesis through loss of chromatin-associated proteinKIF4

Proceedings: AACR 101st Annual Meeting 2010‐‐ Apr 17‐21, 2010; Washington, DC Hematopoiesis, the process of blood cell formation is largely dependent on specialized chromatin environment for stem cell self-renewal and multi-lineage differentiation. The kinesin motor protein KIF4 associates with chromatin during interphase, performs essential functions in mitosis and its loss causes hypercondensation of mitotic chromosomes leading to genomic instability. We have demonstrated that KIF4 is a modulator of interphase chromatin architecture. In KIF4-null mouse ES cells, heterochromatin blocks are lost, pericentormeric heterochromatin regions are decondensed in S phase and chromatin is globally decondensed. The global chromatin decondensation has functional consequences as indicated by mis-regulation of significant number of genes detected by microarray expression analysis. To understand the molecular mechanism of KIF4 function in vivo, we have developed KIF4 knockout (KIF4 KO) mouse. Here we show that in the absence of KIF4 animals develop splenomegaly, substantial populations of mice have thymic and splenic hyperplasia and ∼40% of heterozygous female mice developed Follicular B cell lymphoma similar to human Non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Flow sorting (FACS) analysis of young mice indicated that loss of KIF4 causes defects in hematopietic development and differentiation. Lymphocytes from animals lacking KIF4 exhibit chromatin defects, aneuploidy, DNA damage and slow progression of lymphocytes through cell cycle. More importantly, we find that there is an accumulation of mature B cells in the spleen in the absence of KIF4. The increased survival of germinal center B cells in the absence of KIF4 may cause the observed hyperplasia and B cell neoplasm. The mechanism of survival and expansion of lymphocytes in spite of genomic instability could be linked to the defects in chromatin organization and changes in transcriptional potential. We propose KIF4 may act as a modulator of chromatin function to regulate cell fate decision during lymphocyte development and a guardian of genome stability to prevent hematopoietic neoplasm. Hematologic malignancy via deletion of a chromatin-associated molecular motor protein is a novel paradigm both in the fields of molecular motors and cancer biology. Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 101st Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2010 Apr 17-21; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2010;70(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 2940.
The use of polyimide foils to prevent contamination from self-sputtering of 252Cf deposits in high-accuracy fission counting

Abstract It is demonstrated that a thin polyimide foil can be employed to prevent contamination from the self-sputtering of a 252 Cf source under vacuum, with small energy loss of the emitted fission fragments, with very small effect on the efficiency of counting the fission fragments, and with a long lifetime of the plastic foils.
Optimization of plasma processing for silicon-gate FET manufacturing applications

The development and implementation of plasma processing techniques for silicon-gate FET manufacturing applications is described. Process requirements are discussed for the stripping of photoresist and the isotropic etching of thin films. A systematic approach for the optimization of these processes, involving the use of statistically designed multiparametric experimentation (MPE), is presented. This approach, in combination with the use of response-surface analysis techniques, is illustrated by examples of its application to typical processing problems. In addition, the multipararnetric optimization of anisotropic etching is presented for potential plasma processing enhancements
Greater Manchester: conurbation complexity and local government structure

Abstract Greater Manchester encompasses a complex urban region formed by the coalescence and overlapping growth of several cities, and its local government has been reorganized twice within the last 20 years in order to meet the area's governmental needs. This paper examines the reorganization of Greater Manchester in terms of changing function-area relationships and changing patterns of administrative space, and considers the implications of changes in the economic and political environment of urban government. While the first reorganization created a local government structure more closely corresponding to the complex urban pattern, the second weakened this structure by eliminating area-wide government and increasing fragmentation. At the same time, economic changes are requiring a greater economic role and scale enlargement for city governments, but political changes have reduced and marginalized local governments in urban governance.