cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Compound C/Dorsomorphin: Its Use and Misuse as an AMPK Inhibitor

The evolutionary conserved energy sensor AMPK plays crucial roles in many biological processes-both during normal development and pathology. Loss-of-function genetic studies in mice as well as in lower organisms underscore its importance in embryonic development, stress physiology in the adult, and in key metabolic disorders including cardiovascular disease, diabetes, cancer, and metabolic syndrome. In contrast to several other kinases important in human health and medicine where specific/selective inhibitors are available, no AMPK-specific inhibitors are available. The only reagent called dorsomorphin or compound C that is occasionally used as an AMPK inhibitor unfortunately inhibits several other kinases much more potently than AMPK and is therefore highly non-specific. In this chapter, we discuss the pros and cons of using this reagent to study AMPK functions.
The impact of tumor genomic profile on the effectiveness of adjuvant chemotherapy in resectable intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma.

474Background: The incidence and mortality of ICC is rising in the U.S. While surgical resection currently offers the only potential for cure, the role of adjuvant chemotherapy is not well defined....
Evaluating Vulnerable Atherosclerotic Plaque with MRI

Despite important clinical advances in prevention and treatment of atherosclerosis during the past 20 years, coronary artery disease remains the first cause of mortality in industrialized countries.1 Atherosclerosis affects medium- and large-diameter arteries and is characterized by a thickening of the arterial intima typically composed of a lipid core with an overlying fibrous cap. Angiography remains the gold standard for diagnosis and quantification of atherosclerotic plaques that result in flow-limiting arterial stenoses but offers only an indirect view of atherosclerosis burden.2 Positive remodeling of the arterial wall—a process in which the vessel dilates to limit the narrowing of the lumen in presence of atherosclerotic plaques—leads to a clear underestimation of the true extension of atherosclerosis disease with angiography.3
Biogenesis of and activities at the Toxoplasma gondii parasitophorous vacuole membrane.

Apicomplexan parasites like Toxoplasma gondii are distinctive in their utilization of para site encoded motor systems to invade cells. Invasion results in the establishment of the parasitophorous vacuole (PV) within the infected cell. Most apicomplexans complete their intracellular tenure within the infected cell in the PV that is demarcated from the host cytoplasm by the parasitophorous vacuole membrane (PVM). In this chapter I focus on the events surrounding the formation of the PVM and selected activities attributed to it. Its central role as the interface between the parasite and its immediate environment, the host cytoplasm, is validated by the diversity of functions attributed to it. While functions in structural organization, nutrient acquisitions and signaling have been defined their molecular bases remain largely unknown. Several recent studies and the decoding of the Toxoplasma genome have set the stage for a rapid expansion in our understanding of the role of the PVM in parasite biology.
Mechanisms of Degranulation

Human neutrophils release lysosomal hydrolases subsequent to engagement of surface receptors by specific ligands such as C3b, C5a and the Fc portion of aggretated IgG. A pool of rapidly mobilizable calcium is located at the plasma membrane and this calcium is displaced subsequent to receptor-ligand interaction. Displacement occurs at the site of interaction and is not generalized to the entire cell surface. Microfilament bundles assemble whenever secretion is induced and are located subjacent to regions of plasma membrane from which calcium has been displaced. Whereas secretion induced by receptor-ligand interaction is accompanied by microtubule assembly and can be inhibited up to 40% by colchicine, secretion induced by the calcium ionophore A23187 is not accompanied by microtubule assembly and is not inhibited by colchicine. Enzyme release induced by C3b or C5a can be modulated by cyclic nucleotides and agents that alter cellular levels of cyclic nucleotides. Cyclic AMP reduces stimulated release of enzymes and also reduces microtubules in contrast to cGMP which enhances both. However, modulation by extracellular calcium is independent of microtubule assembly. Ultrastructural studies suggest that microtubules serve a topologic function, maximizing stimulus-induced, calcium-mediated association of granules and plasma membrane. The final step in degranulation, fusion of granule and plasma membranes, may involve another mechanism since it can be inhibited by anion transport inhibitors such as furosemide and the disulfonic stilbenes DIDS and SITS. Inhibition by these agents cannot be overcome by increasing concentrations of A23187 and/or calcium, nor are influxes of Cl−, OH− or PO4≡ essential to degranulation. Ultrastructural and functional studies show that these agents inhibit only the fusion of granules and plasma membrane. Anion channel blockers therefore appear to be useful tools for investigating the mechanism of granule-membrane fusion.
Machine Learning Based Proactive Flow Entry Deletion for OpenFlow

OpenFlow is the de facto southbound interface for Software Defined Networking (SDN), which defines the interactions between the control plane and data plane. In OpenFlow, flow table is significant in packet forwarding. However, the capacity of the flow table is limited due to power, cost, and silicon area constraints. In this case, it is extremely important to efficiently manage flow tables. In this paper, we focus on one of the flow table managing mechanisms defined in OpenFlow, proactive flow entry deletion. This mechanism enables the controller to proactively delete flow entries in flow tables by explicitly sending specific OpenFlow messages to switches. The key challenge for this mechanism is to determine which flow entries should be removed. To address this challenge, we propose a machine learning based proactive flow entry deletion which can learn from the historical data of flow entries and thus predict the time when a flow entry will be last referred to. Based on the predictions, the flow entry with smallest last refer time will be deleted. Our simulations show that our proposal can achieve up to 23% fewer capacity misses compared with the random deletion and First-In-First-Out (FIFO) deletion policies, as well as a slightly decreased (2% ~ 8%) overhead.
Quantifying the stress state in the vicinity of a δ-hydride in α-zirconium

Abstract In zirconium alloys, precipitation of a hydride generally introduces internal stresses in the surrounding matrix. This study aims at understanding the role of internal stresses on the formation, growth and arrangement of δ-hydrides in α-zirconium. To this end, a Fast Fourier Transform based discrete dislocation dynamics technique is used to quantify both internal stresses induced during the formation of a hydride and the relief of the internal stresses by dislocation nucleation from the hydride-matrix interface. This work reveals that stress relaxation is localized in very small regions around the δ-hydride ( ∼ 300 nm). Further, it is proposed that the dislocations nucleated from the hydride-matrix interface could act as loci for the nucleation of new hydrides, thereby rationalizing experimentally observed hydride stacks. Finally, quantifying the stress relaxation resulting from dislocation nucleation reveals that diagonal components of the internal stress inside the hydride remain very high, i.e., >3.0 GPa. This suggests that additional dissipative processes, intrinsic to the hydride, are necessary to diminish the aforementioned internal stress.
Does sleep partially mediate the effect of everyday discrimination on future mental and physical health

Abstract Objective The current study examined whether sleep mediates the effect of discrimination experiences on mental and physical health over time. Prior research suggests a partially mediated relation; however, these studies used cross-sectional designs which provide insufficient causal evidence. Method The study used longitudinal data available from the Midlife in the United States Study (MIDUS II, Biomarker project, and MIDUS III) applying structural equation modeling to evaluate whether self-reported sleep (N = 866) mediated the impact of discrimination on mental and physical health outcomes. Results Self-reported sleep quality partially mediated the effect of discrimination on mental and physical health. Analyses also indicated self-reported daytime dysfunction (i.e., difficulties maintaining alertness and motivation during the day) as a key component of sleep that mediates the discrimination and mental and physical health relations. Interestingly, having multiple marginalized identities did not amplify the impact of discrimination on sleep and health. Conclusions These findings build upon previous cross-sectional research by better supporting the causal assertion that experiences of discrimination undermine sleep, which in turn worsens both mental and physical health. Altogether, results underscore the harmful impact of discrimination on health indirectly through sleep and offer insight into directions for future research.
Strategic Prediction with Latent Aggregative Games.

We introduce a new class of context dependent, incomplete information games to serve as structured prediction models for settings with significant strategic interactions. Our games map the input context to outcomes by first condensing the input into private player types that specify the utilities, weighted interactions, as well as the initial strategies for the players. The game is played over multiple rounds where players respond to weighted aggregates of their neighbors' strategies. The predicted output from the model is a mixed strategy profile (a near-Nash equilibrium) and each observation is thought of as a sample from this strategy profile. We introduce two new aggregator paradigms with provably convergent game dynamics, and characterize the conditions under which our games are identifiable from data. Our games can be parameterized in a transferable manner so that the sets of players can change from one game to another. We demonstrate empirically that our games as models can recover meaningful strategic interactions from real voting data.
Polar Titanium Polychalcogenides: Syntheses and Characterization of Cs6Ti6S27, Cs4BaTi6Se27, Rb5AgTi6Se27, and Cs5AgTi6Se27

The compounds Cs6Ti6S27 and Cs4BaTi6Se27 have been synthesized by means of the reactive flux method. Cs6Ti6S27 and Cs4BaTi6Se27 crystallize in a new structure type in the trigonal space group C34-R3 with three formula units in cells with hexagonal axes at T = 153(2) K of a = 13.5203(8) A, c = 19.784(1) A and a = 13.804(2) A, c = 20.850(2) A, respectively. The compounds Rb5AgTi6Se27 and Cs5AgTi6Se27 have also been synthesized by the reactive flux method. Rb5AgTi6Se27 and Cs5AgTi6Se27 crystallize in the trigonal space group C3v4-P31c with two formula units in cells with hexagonal axes at T = 153(2) K of a = 13.266(1) A, c = 13.908(2) A and a = 13.5713(4) A, c = 13.9367(6) A, respectively. The polar structures are closely related and consist of similar infinite one-dimensional [Ti2(Q2)4(Q)2-] (Q = S, Se) chains that run along [001] and are separated by cations. If these chains are considered to be cylinders, then these structures adopt hexagonal closest-packing along [001], a general feature of the packing f...
Pathology of pediatric oligodendroglioma

Abstract Oligodendroglial tumors represent approximately 6% of infiltrative gliomas in adults and 1 This group of tumors includes oligodendroglioma (WHO grade II) and anaplastic oligodendroglioma (WHO grade III). The diagnosis of oligodendroglioma portends a good prognosis as compared to other gliomas in both patient populations; however, the pediatric population shows longer overall survival than their adult counterparts, particularly following complete surgical resection. 2 The most common clinical signs and symptoms include seizure and headache in both adults and children, which also show similar imaging findings. 2 , 3 , 4 In adults, the diagnosis of oligodendroglioma is based on specific histopathological and molecular features (IDH1 mutation and 1p/19q co-deletion). Although the histological features are similar in the pediatric population, the common molecular features noted in adult tumors are absent, making a definitive diagnosis challenging. 5
GIT stability, K-stability and the moduli space of fano varieties

This is a slightly extended version of the lecture notes of a mini-course in the workshop of Moduli of K-stable Varieties given by the author, in which the main construction of the proper moduli space of \(\mathbb {Q}\)-Gorenstein smoothable K-semistable Fano varieties in Li et al. (On proper moduli space of smoothable Kahler-Einstein Fano varieties, ArXiv:1411.0761 v3, 2014) is outlined.
Elite Theory and the American Political Directorate

In this chapter I argue that Elite Theory rather than Marxism is the most appropriate framework for understanding our ruling elites during the period. I survey the basic tenets of American Elite Theory: that ruling elites maintain their legitimacy by promoting an ideology that justifies their rule, by embodying to some degree the values and aspirations of those below them in the class system, and by rejuvenating themselves to some extent by being open to new members. And I explain my key concepts: “power” as a function of influential social roles and the “political elite” as dominated by members of the top three social classes: Old Money, New Money, and the upper-middle class. I argue that while the various factions of our ruling elite represent very different interests and are thus not strictly speaking a hegemonic oligarchy, until recently they have tended to share power and not directly attacked their opponents’ interests. However, beginning in the 1970s, reactionary factions of the Republican Party began to work systematically to take control of the political directorate.
De-Moralizing Gay Rights – an overview

ABSTRACTIn this overview, I begin by situating De-Moralizing Gay Rights within the field of queer studies/queer theory. I then delineate the book’s principal arguments. The book critically interrog...
Coronary artery ectasia in post-pericardiotomy syndrome

Post-pericardiotomy syndrome (PPS) is a common inflammatory process following cardiac surgery, in which the pericardial space was opened. Pericardial effusion (PE) is a common manifestation in PPS; however, coronary artery dilation is not associated with PPS. Inflammatory vasculitis in children are known to cause coronary dilation, in conditions such as in Kawasaki Disease (KD). We report a patient with PPS and concomitant coronary dilation by transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) following repair of her ventricular septal defect (VSD).
Characterization of Microstructural Effects on Fatigue Crack Closure

The growth of a fatigue crack is modified by the development of contacts between the crack faces1,2 creating shielding and thus canceling a portion of the applied load. These contacts develop through a number of mechanisms, including plastic deformation, sliding of the faces with respect to each other and the creation and collection of debris such as oxide particles3. Compressive stresses are created on either side of the partially contacting crack faces resulting in opening loads that must be overcome in order to apply a driving force to the crack tip for growth. In this way, the crack tip is shielded from a portion of the applied load, thus creating the need for modification1 of the applied stress intensity range from ΔK = KImax — KImin to ΔK = KImax — KIsh. Determination of the contact size and density in the region of closure from ultrasonic transmission and diffraction experiments4 has allowed estimation of the magnitude of KIsh on a crack grown under constant ΔK conditions. The calculation has since5 been extended to fatigue cracks grown with a tensile overload block. The calculation was also successful in predicting the growth rate of the crack after reinitiation had occurred. This paper reports the results of attempts to define the amount of retardation remaining before reinitiation of crack growth in terms of the parameters used by the distributed spring model.
Point-of-care focused cardiac ultrasound for the assessment of thoracic aortic dimensions, dilation, and aneurysmal disease.

Objectives: Thoracic aortic aneurysm and thoracic aortic dissection are related and potentially deadly diseases that present with nonspecific symptoms. Transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) may detect thoracic aortic pathology and is being increasingly performed by the emergency physician at the bedside; however, the accuracy of point-of-care (POC) focused cardiac ultrasound (FOCUS) for thoracic aortic aneurysm and thoracic aortic dissection has not been studied. The objective of this pilot study was to explore the agreement, sensitivity, and specificity of FOCUS for thoracic aortic dimensions, dilation, and aneurysm compared with CT angiography (CTA) as the reference standard. Methods: This study was a retrospective pilot analysis of image and chart data on consecutive patients presenting to an urban, academic emergency department (ED) between January 2008 and June 2010, who had both a FOCUS and a CTA for suspicion of thoracic aorta pathology. Thoracic aorta dimensions were measured from recordings by three ultrasound-trained emergency physicians blinded to any initial FOCUS and CTA results. CTA measurements were obtained by a radiologist blinded to the FOCUS results. Using cutoffs of 40 and 45 mm, we calculated the sensitivity and specificity of FOCUS for aortic dilation and aneurysm with the largest measurement on CT as the reference standard. Bland-Altman plots with 95% limits of agreement were used to demonstrate agreement for aortic measurements, kappa statistics to assess the degree of agreement between tests for aortic dilation, and intraclass correlation for interobserver and intraobserver variability. Results: Ninety-two patients underwent both FOCUS and CTA during the study period. Ten FOCUS studies had inadequate visualization for all measurements areas. Eighty-two patients were included in the final analysis. Mean (±SD) age was 58.1 (±16.6) years and 58.5% were male. Sensitivity, specificity, and the observed kappa value (95% confidence interval [CI]) between FOCUS and CTA for the presence of aortic dilation at the 40-mm cutoff were 0.77 (95% CI = 0.58 to 0.98), 0.95 (95% CI = 0.84 to 0.99), and 0.74 (95% CI = 0.58 to 0.90), respectively. The mean difference (95% limits of agreement) for the Bland-Altman plots was 0.6 mm (−5.3 to 6.5) for the sinuses of Valsalva, 4 mm (−2.7 to 10.7) for the sinotubular junction, 1.5 mm (−5.8 to 8.8) for the ascending aorta, and 2.2 mm (−5.9 to 10.3) for the descending aorta. Conclusions: In this retrospective pilot study, FOCUS demonstrated good agreement with CTA measurements of maximal thoracic aortic diameter. FOCUS appears to be specific for aortic dilation and aneurysm when compared to CTA, but requires further prospective study. ACADEMIC EMERGENCY MEDICINE 2012; 19:1–4 © 2012 by the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine
Cyclic AMP-like effects of polyamines on phosphatidylcholine synthesis and protein phosphorylation in human promyelocytic leukemia HL60 cells: Comparison with the effects of phorbol ester

Spermine or putrescine increased cAMP levels through a catalase-sensitive mechanism, resulting in, most notably, a dephosphorylation of protein A (Mr 45,000, pI 5.15) and protein B (Mr 45,000, pI 4.9) and slightly increased phosphatidylcholine (PC) synthesis in HL60 cells. Exogenous dibutyryl cAMP mimicked the polyamine effects. 12-O-Tetradecanoyl phorbol-13-acetate (TPA) also promoted the protein dephosphorylation and PC synthesis, the effects augmented by R59022 and mimicked by exogenous 1-oleoyl-2-acetylglycerol. The effects of spermine (or dibutyryl cAMP) and TPA on PC synthesis were synergistic. It was suggested that cAMP-dependent protein kinase and protein kinase C might mediate, in an independent but inter-related manner, the effects of polyamines and TPA.
High-resolution time-of-flight mass spectrometry

Abstract The conventional time-of-flight mass spectrometer is limited in its mass resolution by the initial velocity distribution of the ions to be analyzed. A new method of impulsed field focusing has been devised which employs time-dependent ion draw-out fields and which is applicable to time-of-flight instruments of any drift length. Model calculations on two instrument configurations are presented. For the configurations studied, mass resolution to as high as m/q of 4000 is predicted but whenm/q exceeds 2600 the low-mass portion of the spectrum defocuses. It is concluded that the impulse field focusing technique allows the design of an inexpensive, high-resolution mass spectrometer which could be applicable for detection in both gas and liquid chromatography.
Optimal mean-square N -observation digital morphological filters: i. optimal binary filters

The present paper places binary morphological filtering into the framework of statistical estimation, the intent being to develop the theory of mean-square (MS) optimization. Classical binary morphological operations are interpreted as numerical functionals on binary N-vectors, so that in the random setting they can be treated as estimators dependent on N binary observation random variables. For single-erosion filters, optimization is achieved by finding the structuring element that minimizes MS error. Using the Matheron representation as a guide, we generalize the analysis to morphological filters given by unions of multiple erosions and optimize by minimizing MS error over all collections of erosions, or over a prefixed number of erosions. In all cases, MS error is relative to the estimation of an unobserved variable by a morphological function of observed variables. A key element in the method is use of the basis form of the Matheron expansion to reduce significantly the structuring-element search. The technique is adapted to special morphological filters by constraining the basis representation in accordance with the class of interest. It is demonstrated that optimization in terms of erosions is equivalent to optimization in terms of dilations.
Propeller Loading Distributions

Improvements are reported in the numerical procedure for evaluating propeller loading distributions which has been developed at Davidson Laboratory by adaptation of the unsteady-lifting-surface theory. A new approach, based on the fact that the assumed Birnbaum chordwise modes are not linearly independent has achieved stability for the chordwise distribution, which had otherwise shown no sign of convergence with increasing number of modes. Other refinements of the numerical program, including provision for arbitrary blade camber variation and overlapping of blade wakes have improved the accuracy of both chordwise and spanwise loading distribution and brought the theoretical results closer to experiment.
Evaluating noise pulses in RC networks due to capacitive coupling

Closed form solutions are introduced that describe the area, width, and maximum value of a noise pulse induced on a quiet net (line, tree, or mesh) due to capacitive coupling with switching neighbor nets. These solutions are highly efficient to evaluate with a complexity linearly proportional to the number of elements in the RC network. The pulse area calculated based on these solutions is exact while the width and maximum value of the noise pulse are within 15% from SPICE simulations for a wide range of typical interconnect structures. The effects of the coupled line impedances and line length on the amount of noise induced on a quiet line are investigated based on these solutions. It is shown that the energy of a noise pulse is quadratic with the length of an interconnect line, illustrating the need for accurate noise estimation for large interconnects.
Periarteriolar and tissue PO2 during sympathetic escape in skeletal muscle

The purpose of this study was to determine whether vascular escape from sympathetic nerve stimulation in skeletal muscle is caused by a fall in the tissue O2 level. O2 microelectrodes were used to ...
Deriving haptic design guidelines from human physiological, psychophysical, and neurological foundations

We survey the haptics literature and identify conditions under which haptic interaction displays can enhance human perception and performance. Integrating haptic interactions in multimodal systems requires understanding user's sensory, perceptual, and cognitive abilities and limitations. Haptic design guidelines can aid developers of multimodal interactive systems. Haptic interaction relates to all aspects of touch and body movement and the application of these senses to computer interaction. This involves not only sensation and perception, but also motor and cognitive aspects of active movement (that is, self-initiated movement) for which detailed motor plans are created, stored in memory, and compared to receptor feedback from the muscles, joints, and skin.
What Can Be Learned from Analyzing University Student Travel Demand

To improve regional travel demand models, transportation engineers and planners desire appropriate representation of subpopulations. University students are a relatively neglected group of the population, often missed in regional behavioral surveys and not well represented in travel demand models. Many students attending a university reside, take classes, work, and perform other activities in the university environment, which is often mixed use, alternative mode friendly, higher density, and livable. The purpose of this paper is to understand the travel behavior of university students and to model associations with their attributes that include personal characteristics, residential location (residing on campus or off campus), and academic status. The data used in this study are from a unique Internet-based survey (N = 1,468) of students at Old Dominion University in Virginia. This effort was conducted in 2010 and was part of the Virginia University Student Travel Survey (USTS) supplement. With USTS data c...
Photonic nanojet enhancement of backscattering of light by nanoparticles: a potential novel visible-light ultramicroscopy technique

We report what we believe to be the first evidence of localized nanoscale photonic jets generated at the shadow-side surfaces of micronscale, circular dielectric cylinders illuminated by a plane wave. These photonic nanojets have waists smaller than the diffraction limit and propagate over several optical wavelengths without significant diffraction. We have found that such nanojets can enhance the backscattering of visible light by nanometer-scale dielectric particles located within the nanojets by several orders of magnitude. Not involving evanescent fields and not requiring mechanical scanning, photonic nanojets may provide a new means to detect and image nanoparticles of size well below the diffraction limit. This could yield a potential novel ultramicroscopy technique using visible light for detecting proteins, viral particles, and even single molecules; and monitoring molecular synthesis and aggregation processes of importance in many areas of biology, chemistry, material sciences, and tissue engineering.
The effects of stereotyping on impression formation: cross-cultural perspectives on viewing religious persons

We examined the effects of stereotyping on impression formation when encountering people dressed to represent a religious faith. We used stimulus photographs of eight male and female models dressed casually and a second photograph of one male and one female model in religious attire that was placed beside the control photos of models dressed causally. From each set of photographs, subjects selected a photo of the person with whom they would associate the various positive personality traits suggested by our stimulus questions. Subjects were students from a U.S. Catholic school, a U.S. public school, and a Malaysian Muslim school. All the subjects attributed more of the positive traits to photos of the models who were religiously attired than to photos of those who were casually dressed, but subjects from U.S. schools attributed more of the positive traits to the photos of religiously dressed models than did the subjects from the Malaysian school.
Modelling salinity and circulation for the Columbia River Estuary

Abstract Simulations of the time and depth-dependent salinity and current fields of the Columbia River Estuary have been performed using a multi-channel, laterally averaged estuary model. The study simulated two periods. The first, in October 1980, with low riverflow of about 4,000m 3 s −1 , which showed marked changes in the salinity intrusion processes between neap and spring tides; and second, in spring 1981, with high riverflow varying between 7,000 and 15,000m 3 s −1 , which showed the rapid response of the salinity intrusion to changes in riverflow and that vertical mixing did not change character with increasing tidal energy because of the maintenance of stratification by freshwater flow. An extreme low flow simulation (riverflow of 2,000m 3 s −1 ) showed a more partially mixed character of the estuary channels with tidal dispersion of salt across the Taylor Sands from the North Channel to the upper reaches of the Navigation Channel. Asymmetries in the non-linear tidal mean flows, in the flood and ebb circulations, and salinity intrusion characteristics between the two major channels were observed at all riverflows. The model confirms Jay and Smith 's (1990) analysis of the circulation processes in that tidal advection of salt by the vertically sheared tidal currents is the dominant mechanism by which the salinity intrusion is maintained against large freshwater flows. An accurate finite-difference method, which minimized numerical dispersion, was used for the advection terms and was an important component in reasonably simulating the October neap-spring differences in the salinity intrusion. The simulations compare favorably with elevation, current and salinity time series observations taken during October 1980 and spring 1981.
Environmental pollution in offshore operations

The oil industry has made contingency plans from the earliest operations to clean up any spills due to accidents during exploration and production. The Oil Industry International Exploration and Production Forum (E & P Forum) was established in 1974 to coordinate oil industry opinion with governments and intergovernmental agencies. The United Nations Environment Programme and the Intergovernmental Maritime Consultative Organization are working together to organize regional oil spill clean-up arrangements both on the apparatus and on the financial side. The E & P Forum member companies have formulated a computer program to estimate the cost of clean-up following any hypothetical blow-out in the North Sea. This program is applicable, provided the appropriate meteorological data are available, to other areas of the world such as the Mediterranean, the Persian/Arabian Gulf, the Gulf of Mexico, the Malacca Straits, etc., where U.N.E.P./I.M.C.O. are proposing to set up multi-national conventions. In places such as the North Sea, the oil companies have mutual aid organizations which maintain stocks of dispersant, suitable vessels and spreaders, skimmers and booms to minimize any oil that may be driven to the shore. Looking to the future, there may be some problems associated with harvesting manganese nodules or mining the Red Sea mineral-rich lands. However, conservation is today part of any general planning of an operation and new processes that are developed will take into consideration adequate anti-pollution measures.
Eulerian-Lagrangian based large-eddy simulation of a partially aerated flat bubble column

Abstract Gas–liquid bubbly flow in a flat bubble column (“Becker” case with a gas flow rate of 1.6 l/min) is studied by means of large-eddy simulation (LES) combined with Lagrangian particle tracking with two-way coupling. The unsteady two-phase flow considered is relatively dilute in a global sense, but has higher gas clustering locally. The bubble size, of the order of millimeter, is relatively large compared to the smallest liquid fluctuation scales. It is demonstrated that, in such a setting, a single-phase LES along with the point-volume treatment of the dispersed phase can serve as a viable closure model, even though its application assumptions are not fully met. For the backward momentum coupling we used a “particle-source-in-ball” (PSI-ball) concept, which in essence is a generalization of the conventional particle-source-in-cell (PSI-cell) method as well as template-function based treatment. A high prediction accuracy is achieved in an extensive comparison with classical experimental data, covering not only the mean feature of the flow and transient bubble dispersion patterns, but also the second-order statistics of the liquid which is vital in assessing a closure model and has not been enough addressed in the past RANS-based studies.
Multiple activities for Arf1 at the Golgi complex

The Arf family of GTPases regulates membrane traffic and organelle structure. At the Golgi complex, Arf proteins facilitate membrane recruitment of many cytoplasmic coat proteins to allow sorting of membrane proteins for transport, stimulate the activity of enzymes that modulate the lipid composition of the Golgi, and assemble a cytoskeletal scaffold on the Golgi. Arf1 is the Arf family member most closely studied for its function at the Golgi complex. A number of regulators that activate and inactivate Arf1 on the Golgi have been described that localize to different regions of the organelle. This spatial distribution of Arf regulators may facilitate the recruitment of the coat proteins and other Arf effectors to different regions of the Golgi complex.
High quantum efficiency luminescence from a conducting polymer in solution: A polymer laser dye

Abstract A novel dye laser based on the soluble conducting polymer poly[2- methoxy, 5-(2′ ethyl-hexyloxy)-p-phenylenevinylene], MEH-PPV, has been demonstrated. Laser action has been tested in a transverse cavity configuration where the conducting polymer laser was pumped by light pulses generated from the second harmonic radiation of a Q-switched Nd: YAG laser. The performance of MEH-PPV in solution as a laser dye was compared to that of Rhodamine 6G in solution under identical conditions. The results indicate that the quantum yield of MEH-PPV laser is comparable to that of Rhodamine 6G.
Dipyridamole enhances ischaemia-induced arteriogenesis through an endocrine nitrite/nitric oxide-dependent pathway.

Aims Anti-platelet agents, such as dipyridamole, have several clinical benefits for peripheral artery disease with the speculation of angiogenic potential that could preserve ischaemic tissue viability, yet the effect of dipyridamole on ischaemic arteriogenesis or angiogenesis is unknown. Here we test the hypothesis that dipyridamole therapy augments arteriolar vessel development and function during chronic ischaemia. Methods and results Mice were treated with 200 mg/kg dipyridamole twice daily to achieve therapeutic plasma levels (0.8–1.2 µg/mL). Chronic hindlimb ischaemia was induced by permanent femoral artery ligation followed by measurement of tissue perfusion using laser Doppler blood flow along with quantification of vascular density, cell proliferation, and activation of nitric oxide (NO) metabolism. Dipyridamole treatment quickly restored ischaemic hindlimb blood flow, increased vascular density and cell proliferation, and enhanced collateral artery perfusion compared with control treatments. The beneficial effects of dipyridamole on blood flow and vascular density were dependent on NO production as dipyridamole did not augment ischaemic tissue reperfusion, vascular density, or endothelial cell proliferation in endothelial NO synthase (eNOS)-deficient mice. Blood and tissue nitrite levels were significantly higher in dipyridamole-treated mice compared with controls and eNOS−/− mice, verifying increased NO production that was regulated in a PKA-dependent manner. Conclusion Dipyridamole augments nitrite/NO production, leading to enhanced arteriogenesis activity and blood perfusion in ischaemic limbs. Together, these data suggest that dipyridamole can augment ischaemic vessel function and restore blood flow, which may be beneficial in peripheral artery disease.
Who Evaluates a Presidential Candidate by Using Non-Policy Campaign Messages?

This article tests the hypothesis that low-education voters are more likely to evaluate a candidate using personalistic or non-policy campaign messages than are more educated voters. The Latino ele...
OLIgo mass profiling (OLIMP) of extracellular polysaccharides

The direct contact of cells to the environment is mediated in many organisms by an extracellular matrix. One common aspect of extracellular matrices is that they contain complex sugar moieties in form of glycoproteins, proteoglycans, and/or polysaccharides. Examples include the extracellular matrix of humans and animal cells consisting mainly of fibrillar proteins and proteoglycans or the polysaccharide based cell walls of plants and fungi, and the proteoglycan/glycolipid based cell walls of bacteria. All these glycostructures play vital roles in cell-to-cell and cell-to-environment communication and signalling. An extraordinary complex example of an extracellular matrix is present in the walls of higher plant cells. Their wall is made almost entirely of sugars, up to 75% dry weight, and consists of the most abundant biopolymers present on this planet. Therefore, research is conducted how to utilize these materials best as a carbon-neutral renewable resource to replace petrochemicals derived from fossil fuel. The main challenge for fuel conversion remains the recalcitrance of walls to enzymatic or chemical degradation due to the unique glycostructures present in this unique biocomposite. Here, we present a method for the rapid and sensitive analysis of plant cell wall glycostructures. This method OLIgo Mass Profiling (OLIMP) is based the enzymatic release of oligosaccharides from wall materials facilitating specific glycosylhydrolases and subsequent analysis of the solubilized oligosaccharide mixtures using matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF/MS)(1) (Figure 1). OLIMP requires walls of only 5000 cells for a complete analysis, can be performed on the tissue itself(2), and is amenable to high-throughput analyses(3). While the absolute amount of the solubilized oligosaccharides cannot be determined by OLIMP the relative abundance of the various oligosaccharide ions can be delineated from the mass spectra giving insights about the substitution-pattern of the native polysaccharide present in the wall. OLIMP can be used to analyze a wide variety of wall polymers, limited only by the availability of specific enzymes(4). For example, for the analysis of polymers present in the plant cell wall enzymes are available to analyse the hemicelluloses xyloglucan using a xyloglucanase(5, 11, 12, 13), xylan using an endo-beta-(1-4)-xylanase (6,7), or for pectic polysaccharides using a combination of a polygalacturonase and a methylesterase (8). Furthermore, using the same principles of OLIMP glycosylhydrolase and even glycosyltransferase activities can be monitored and determined (9).
Kinetics of the polymerization of hemoglobin S: studies below normal erythrocyte hemoglobin concentration.

Abstract The kinetics of polymerization of deoxyhemoglobin S have been studied by measuring transverse water proton relaxation times (T 2 ) in hemoglobin solutions. As seen by other techniques, the kinetic profile consists of a delay time followed by a decrease in T 2 during polymerization. The length of the delay time can be decreased and the rate of change of T 2 can be increased by increasing the concentration of hemoglobin S or non-gelling hemoglobin or ovalbumin. At a total protein concentration of about 210 mg/ml the kinetic profiles in all three cases are indistinguishable suggesting that a non-specific protein-protein interaction may be involved in the kinetics of polymerization. In addition, it is suggested that no polymer formation occurs during the delay period.
Essential tremor: from bedside to bench and back to bedside.

Purpose of reviewThe last several years have witnessed a remarkable increase in research on essential tremor, with consequent advances in our understanding of this entity. An attempt to both summarize and frame this work has not been undertaken.Recent findingsHere, I show that observations on essent
Political Science as a Vocation

This lecture was presented at the University of Sheffield on October 22, 2008, inaugurating the Graduate School of Politics; and at Oxford University on October 16, 2008. I have retained the lecture style for this publication, only making minor changes and additions in the text.
Continuous non-negative wavelets and their use in density estimation

It was shown by Janssen in 1993 that there are no continuous non-negative orthogonal scaling functions. For density estimation, we would like the estimators themselves to be densities, and hence non-negative. Thus the usual linear projection or the threshold estimators won't work without modification. In this paper, we introduce smooth non-negative wavelet estimators. The density estimators based on them are themselves density functions. These are applied to two numerical examples and compared to the usual wavelet estimators in these examples. An associated noise reduction method is considered.
Reorientational relaxation of cyclohexane in porous silica

Abstract Rotational correlation function and rotational relaxation times of cyclohexane in porous sol—gel glass were obtained by Raman spectroscopy at temperature ranging from 173 to 323 K. Three sets of sol—gel glass of diameters 29, 54 and 220 A were studied. The effects of physical confinement on the rotational motion were observed and related to pore diameters. The experimental results were compared with computer simulation data.
Interaction between poly(L‐lysine) and membranes inhibits proton pumping by corn root tonoplast H+‐ATPase

The influence of poly(L-lysine) binding on the coupled activities of nitrate-sensitive H + -ATPase in isolated corn (Zea mays L. cv. FRB73) root tonoplast vesicles was investigated. The addition of membrane-impermeable poly(L-lysine) caused a slow increase in light scattering of the tonoplast suspension. Electron microscopy showed that the increase was the result of an aggregation of the vesicles. In the presence of 75 mM KCl, a concentration sufficient to sustain near optimal ATP hydrolysis, poly(L-lysine) slightly enhanced the hydrolysis activity but significantly inhibited proton pumping of the H + -ATPase. Inhibition increased with the average molecular mass of poly(L-lysine) and reached a maximum at 58 kDa. When total osmolarity was kept constant, the replacement of sucrose by KCl enhanced both ATP hydrolysis and proton pumping activities. However, enhancement of proton pumping was significantly greater than that of ATP hydrolysis. An increase in KCl, but not K 2 SO 4 , significantly relieved poly(L-lysine)-induced inhibition of proton pumping. Kinetic analysis indicated that poly(L-lysine) did not significantly affect the proton leakage of the tonoplast membranes under different energetic conditions. These results suggest that the electrostatic interaction between poly(L-lysine) and the negative charges on the exterior surface of tonoplast vesicles could change the coupling ratio of ATP hydrolysis to proton pumping. Thus, the surface charge of the tonoplast membrane may be involved in the regulation of these two activities.
Out-of-Core and Dynamic Programming for Data Distribution on a Volume Visualization Cluster

Ray directed volume-rendering algorithms are well suited for parallel implementation in a distributed cluster environment. For distributed ray casting, the scene must be partitioned between nodes for good load balancing, and a strict view-dependent priority order is required for image composition. In this paper, we define the load balanced network distribution (LBND) problem and map it to the NP-complete precedence constrained job-shop scheduling problem. We introduce a kd-tree solution and a dynamic programming solution. To process a massive data set, either a parallel or an out-of-core approach is required. Parallel preprocessing is performed by render nodes on data, which are allocated using a static data structure. Volumetric data sets often contain a large portion of voxels that will never be rendered, or empty space. Parallel preprocessing fails to take advantage of this. Our slab-projection slice, introduced in this paper, tracks empty space across consecutive slices of data to reduce the amount of data distributed and rendered. It is used to facilitate out-of-core bricking and kd-tree partitioning. Load balancing using each of our approaches is compared with traditional methods using several segmented regions of the Visible Korean data set.
Ubiquitin-independent proteasomal degradation

Most proteasome substrates are marked for degradation by ubiquitin conjugation, but some are targeted by other means. The properties of these exceptional cases provide insights into the general requirements for proteasomal degradation. Here the focus is on three ubiquitin-independent substrates that have been the subject of detailed study. These are Rpn4, a transcriptional regulator of proteasome homeostasis, thymidylate synthase, an enzyme required for production of DNA precursors and ornithine decarboxylase, the initial enzyme committed to polyamine biosynthesis. It can be inferred from these cases that proteasome association and the presence of an unstructured region are the sole prerequisites for degradation. Based on that inference, artificial substrates have been designed to test the proteasome's capacity for substrate processing and its limitations. Ubiquitin-independent substrates may in some cases be a remnant of the pre-ubiquitome world, but in other cases could provide optimized regulatory solutions. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled: Ubiquitin-Proteasome System. Guest Editors: Thomas Sommer and Dieter H. Wolf.
An algorithm for constructing minimal order inverses

In this paper an algorithm is presented for constructing minimal order inverses of linear, time invariant, controllable and observable, multivariable systems. By means of simple matrix operations, a 'state-overdescribed' system is first constructed which is an inverse of the given multivariable system. A simple Gauss-Jordan type reduction procedure is then used to remove the redundancy in the state vector of the inverse system to obtain a minimal order inverse. When the given multivariable system is not invertible, the algorithm enables a minimal order inverse of an invertible subsystem to be constructed. Numerical examples are given to illustrate the use of the algorithm.
A note on the convolution theorem for the Fourier transform

In this paper we characterize those bounded linear transformations Tf carrying L1(ℝ1) into the space of bounded continuous functions on ℝ1, for which the convolution identity T(f * g) = Tf · Tg holds. It is shown that such a transformation is just the Fourier transform combined with an appropriate change of variable.