cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Race Portrayals in Ghana, Kenya, and South Africa Television Advertisements

The current study examines racial portrayals in television advertisements from Ghana, Kenya, and South Africa. Whites are over-represented relative to their actual demographic presence in all three countries, and both Blacks and Whites are depicted as over-employed. In general, however, depictions are not significantly different for either race, though there is a hint that a stereotyped portrayal of Blacks as athletes and/or entertainer may be going global.
Fast and Accurate Geometric Sound Propagation Using Visibility Computations

Geometric Acoustics (GA) techniques based on the image-source method, ray tracing, beam tracing, and ray-frustum tracing, are widely used to compute sound propagation paths. In this paper, we highlight the connection between these propagation techniques with the research on visibility computation in computer graphics and computational geometry. We give a brief overview of visibility algorithms and apply some of these methods to accelerate GA, specifically early specular reflections and finite-edge diffraction. Moreover, we survey our recent work on fast and accurate GA methods that use accurate and conservative visibility techniques. This includes: a) an algorithm for fast computation of early specular reflections using conservative from-point visibility computation; and b) a fast method for finite-edge diffraction using conservative from-region visibility computation. Our approach for computing specular reflections is based on the image-source method and we reduce the number of image sources by using con...
PRODUCTION AND CATABOLISM OF CORTISOL FOLLOWING THE ADMINISTRATION OF THYROXINE ANALOGS123

Permanent cannulas were placed in the adrenal veins of dogs and minute cortisol output was measured prior to and following injections of triiodothyroacetic acid, triiodothyronine and thyroxine. Cortisol output was increased within 30 to 120 minutes after the injection of the thyroxine analogs, but not after thyroxine, to the same extent as that found in control animals given corticotropin. The adrenal response to thyroxine analogs could not be obtained in hypophysectomized dogs. Infused cortisol disappeared from the plasma at a more rapid rate in dogs pretreated with triiodothyronine than in controls. It is suggested that the rate of peripheral steroid metabolism is increased clue to the thyroxine analogs, which in turn stimulates the release of corticotropin.
Spectroscopic constants and potential energy curves of HfH

Abstract Complete active space multiconfiguration self-consistent field (CAS-MCSFC) followed by full second-roder CI (SOCI) and relativistic configuration interaction (RCI) including spin-orbit coupling calculations are carried out on 14 λ-s and 10 ω-ω states of HfH. The spectroscopic constants (re, Te, ωe, μe, De) of these states are computed. The potential energy curves of these states are also reported. We find several electronic transitions in the IR-UV regions for HfH which are yet to be observed. The ground state of HfH is found to be a 3 2 state (82% 2Δ, 8% 2Π) with r e = 1.854 A , ωe = 1704 cm−1 and μe = 0.66 D. The spin-orbit effects are found to be very significant for HfH.
Mathematical Modeling in the Environment

1. Introduction 2. Ground water 3. Surface water 4. Air quality 5. Emergency planning and response 6. Risk analysis 7. Public health 8. Waste management 9. Policy making and government decision making.
The Dissemination of Manual‐Based Psychotherapies in Managed Care: Promises, Problems, and Prospects

Manual-based, empirically validated psychotherapies potentially have a very important role to play in building quality managed care delivery systems. Unfortunately, managed care systems have been slow to endorse or implement such models of care on a widespread basis. The essence of the problem is that manual-based procedures have been developed primarily to address the needs of clinical science and little attention has been directed toward the three primary end users in applied settings: the behavioral health program director, the line clinician, and the consumer of behavioral health services. The result is that manual-based therapies are perceived as highly specialized, cumbersome, time consuming, expensive, difficult to train/supervise, and not user friendly to either line clinicians or consumers. Here, the perspectives of the clinical scientist, practitioner, behavioral health program director, and consumer are reviewed to highlight how manual-based procedures could be tailored to fit the demands of all key stakeholders. If these changes are made thoughtfully, manual-based procedures may eventually become a dominant mode of service delivery in managed care.
Comparison of response distance to prey via the lateral line in the ruffe and yellow perch

The ruffe Gymnocephalus cernuus and the yellow perch Perca flavescens (both Percidae), have very different cephalic lateral line systems. The ruffe, which is nocturnal and frequents turbid water, has a cephalic lateral line with very wide canals, large neuromasts, and membranes covering the canal openings. This anatomy is convergent with that of many deep-sea fishes. The yellow perch has a lateral line composed of neuromasts enclosed in narrow canals freely open to the water. This anatomy is typical of active, diurnal, shallow-water fishes. Laboratory experiments in the dark using infra-red video equipment revealed that the ruffe detects Daphnia magna (Crustacea: Daphnidae) and the mayfly Hexagenia limbata (Insecta: Ephemeridae) at a greater distance than the yellow perch and that it also swims faster whilst searching for prey. The swimming of the ruffe consists of a thrust by the pectoral and caudal fins, followed by a glide, the prey being detected during the glide. It is suggested that the membranes over the openings in the ruffe's lateral line function to eliminate self-generated laminar flow ‘noise’ from reaching the neuromasts.
A continuous, multistage tower fermentor. II. Analysis of reactor performance

A method for analyzing the reactor behavior of a continuous, multistage tower fermentor is described. A model consisting of a system of interconnected, ideal subreactors is set up on the basis of the fermentor's configuration and flow pattern. The residence time distribution curve is used to test the validity of the model and the relative quantities of flow streams and regions in the model are determined. A least-square fitting procedure between measured and calculated distribution curves is used to identify the proper model. The application of this method to real cultivation conditions is also discussed. Using this approach, the multistage tower fermentor is shown to be equivalent to a cascade of four perfectly mixed tanks with a backtracking stream between stages. The extent of backflow under various conditions has also been determined.
Techniques for the analysis of trichome Pelagonium xhortorum expressed sequence tags

Background An important aspect of bioinformatics is the infrastructure for storage and display of high throughput sequence data generated by biologists. The construction of databases and applications to display the results in a meaningful and useful way is not a trivial task. A well-designed and executed system can vastly improve the results obtained from an experiment. We present a system for storing and viewing EST sequences based on a set generated for a geranium genome.
Autonomous Sensorweb Operations for Integrated Space, In-Situ Monitoring of Volcanic Activity

We have deployed and demonstrated operations of an integrated space in-situ sensorweb for monitoring volcanic activity. This sensorweb includes a network of ground sensors deployed to the Mount Saint Helens volcano as well as the Earth Observing One spacecraft. The ground operations and space operations are interlinked in that ground-based intelligent event detections can cause the space segment to acquire additional data via observation requests and space-based data acquisitions (thermal imagery) can trigger reconfigurations of the ground network to allocate increased bandwidth to areas of the network best situated to observe the activity. The space-based operations are enabled by an automated mission planning and tasking capability which utilizes several Opengeospatial Consortium (OGC) Sensorweb Enablement (SWE) standards which enable acquiring data, alerts, and tasking using web services. The ground-based segment also supports similar protocols to enable seamless tasking and data delivery. The space-based segment also supports onboard development of data products (thermal summary images indicating areas of activity, quicklook context images, and thermal activity alerts). These onboard developed products have reduced data volume (compared to the complete images) which enables them to be transmitted to the ground more rapidly in engineering channels.
An invasive macrophyte alters sediment chemistry due to suppression of a native isoetid

The submersed macrophyte Utricularia inflata (inflated bladderwort) is a recent invader of Adirondack Mountain lakes (NY, USA). A 15-week greenhouse experiment and a 7-week field experiment were conducted to test the hypothesis that this rootless species fundamentally changes sediment chemistry through its suppression of the native short-statured species, Eriocaulon aquaticum. E. aquaticum has an extensive root system that releases oxygen into the sediment. In greenhouse conditions, E. aquaticum raised the porewater redox potential of otherwise bare sediment from 25 to 324 mV, lowered the sediment porewater pH from 5.7 to 4.6, and depleted the dissolved inorganic carbon and ammonium concentrations in the sediment porewater by 68.4 and 96.0%, respectively (P<0.001 for all four parameters). A cover of U. inflata over E. aquaticum, however, greatly reduced the latter’s effect on redox potential (P<0.001), dissolved solutes (P<0.001), and pH (P<0.05). E. aquaticum biomass increased during the greenhouse experiment in the absence of U. inflata, but decreased in its presence (P<0.001). Redox and growth rate results from the field experiment paralleled those from the greenhouse experiment. Our data suggest that U. inflata may change nutrient cycling in Adirondack lake ecosystems by reducing the growth of native isoetid macrophytes, such as E. aquaticum, and consequently altering key features of sediment chemistry.
MUC1 regulates nuclear localization and function of the epidermal growth factor receptor

Alteration of protein trafficking and localization is associated with several diseases, including cystic fibrosis, breast cancer, colorectal cancer, leukemia and diabetes. Specifically, aberrant nuclear localization of the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), a receptor tyrosine kinase, is a poor prognostic indicator in several epithelial carcinomas. It is now appreciated that in addition to signaling from the plasma membrane, EGFR also trafficks to the nucleus, and can directly bind the promoter regions of genes encoding cyclin D1 (CCND1) and B-Myb (MYBL2). We have previously established that loss of MUC1 in an EGFR-dependent transgenic mouse model of breast cancer correlates with the loss of cyclin D1 expression. Here, we provide evidence for a novel regulatory function of MUC1 in the trafficking and nuclear activity of EGFR. We found that MUC1 and EGFR interact in the nucleus of breast cancer cells, which promotes the accumulation of chromatin-bound EGFR. Additionally, the presence of MUC1 results in significant colocalization of EGFR and phosphorylated RNA polymerase II, indicating that MUC1 influences the association of EGFR with transcriptionally active promoter regions. Importantly, we found that the loss of MUC1 expression resulted in a decrease in the interaction between EGFR and the CCND1 promoter, which translated to a significant decrease in cyclin D1 protein expression. This data offers insights into a novel regulatory mechanism of EGFR nuclear function and could have important implications for evaluating nuclear localization in cancer.
A COMPUTER APPROACH TOWARDS THE ANALYSIS OF CONTENT.

The computer analysis of natural language is in its infancy when compared with statistical analysis, because computers were built for numbers and operations on them. Here is a description of one attempt to deal with this problem.
Surface length scales and shear stress: Implications for land-atmosphere interaction over complex terrain

A large eddy simulation (LES) code of the atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) has been developed and applied to study the effect of spatially variable surface properties on the areally averaged surface shear stress at the land-atmosphere interface. The LES code simulates the space and time evolution of the large-scale turbulent eddies and their transport effects in the ABL. We report here on simulations of flow over spatially variable roughness fields. The dynamics are simulated, and the resulting space-time fields are averaged to explore the effects of the surface variability length scales on the average surface shear stress, as used in large-scale models to estimate scalar fluxes, such as evaporation. We observe asymmetrical response of the smooth-to-rough and rough-to- smooth transitions, such that the effects of the transitions accumulate rather than cancel. It is shown that the presence of abrupt changes in surface roughness and the atmosphere's response to these patches create a marked dependence of the statistical structure of surface shear stress on the length scale of the surface patches. An increase in regionally averaged surface stress for decreasing horizontal patch length scale is found.
“Go Away”: Participant Objections to Being Studied and the Ethics of Chatroom Research

In this article we present an empirical study aimed at better understanding the potential for harm when conducting research in chatrooms. For this study, we entered IRC chatrooms on the ICQ network and posted one of three messages to tell participants that we were recording them: a recording message, an opt-in message, or an opt-out message. In the fourth condition, we entered the chatroom but did not post a message. We recorded and analyzed how subjects responded to being studied. Results of a regression analysis indicate significantly more hostility in the three conditions where we said something than in the control condition. We were kicked out of 63.3% of the chatrooms we entered in the three message conditions compared with 29% of the chatrooms in the control condition. There were no significant differences between any of these three conditions. Notably, when given a chance to opt in, only 4 of 766 potential subjects chose to do so. Results also indicate significant effects for both size and the numb...
Fast data-derived fundamental spheroidal excitation models with application to UXO discrimination

Current idealized forward models for electromagnetic induction (EMI) response can be defeated by the characteristic material and geometrical heterogeneity of realistic unexploded ordnance (UXO). A new, physically complete modeling system was developed that includes all effects of these heterogeneities and their interactions within the object, in both near and far fields. The model is fast enough for implementation in inversion processing algorithms. A method is demonstrated for extracting the model parameters by straightforward processing of data from a defined measurement protocol. Depending on the EMI sensor used for measurements, the process of inferring model parameters is more or less ill-posed. More complete data can alleviate the problem. For a given set of data, special numerical treatment is introduced to take the best advantage of the data and obtain reliable model parameters. The resulting fast model is implemented in a pattern matching treatment of measurements by which signals from a UXO are identified within a series of those from unknown targets. Preliminary results show that this fast model is promising for use in processing of this kind. The inherent difficulties of target identification are examined, and solutions for resolving these difficulties are discussed.
A wavelet transform with point-symmetric extension at tile boundaries

This paper presents a low-complexity wavelet transform that utilizes point-symmetric extension at the image tile boundaries. The proposed approach is considered as an alternative to the well-known symmetric signal extension in dealing with the boundary artifacts that manifest when tiles of images are lossy compressed. The new solution developed for odd-length filters preserves the perfect reconstruction property of the filter banks and deals efficiently with blocking artifacts without requiring any post processing technique or additional information from the neighboring tiles. It is shown that point-symmetric extension at the tile boundaries does not need to be applied explicitly, but instead the equivalent boundary filters can be derived. The lifting-based implementation of the filters provides a very simple way of changing filter parameters at the boundaries that suits both hardware and software platforms.
Chars produced from cellulose under various conditions of thermal decomposition

An experimental study has been performed to identify the controlling conditions when self-generating flames move through and transform flame-retardant treated and untreated cotton fabrics. The approach has been to compare the chars formed by flames with those produced by induced (nonflame) thermal decomposition under known conditions of temperature and environment. Char comparisons were made mainly through internal reflection infrared spectroscopy. Considerable variations were found among chars formed by flames moving in different directions in space, corresponding to differences in the maximum temperatures and degree of contact with oxygen experienced by the materials during burning.
Portable multitrack audio storage strategy based on Reed Solomon codes

Digital multitrack audio recording systems often employ non-standard file formats, which complicates the migration of audio projects between different systems. A compact and portable multitrack audio format is proposed that can be implemented efficiently using existing hardware designs. Virtual tracks are combined and stored using Reed Solomon encoding.
Reading Acceleration Program The Effect of Concentrated Practice on Reading Skills

A well-established principle in the literature on learning, which maintains that variability of practice enhances long-term retention, served as the foundation of a summer program intended to ameliorate reading skills in incoming freshmen. During a 4-week period, students received reading instruction in the context of four areas: humanities, social/behavioral sciences, natural/physical sciences and visual arts. Reading scores increased for most participants from pre- to post-testing. Attitudes towards basic skills such as reading, writing, cooperative work and public speaking also improved from pre- to post-testing.
Lymphedema: A primer on the identification and management of a chronic condition in oncologic treatment

The primary goals of oncologic therapy are the compassionate care of cancer patients, eradication of disease, and palliation of symptoms. Advances in various targeted therapies such as highly conformal and image-guided radiotherapy techniques, sentinel lymph node dissection, and molecularly targeted agents hold the promise of allowing those goals to be reached with fewer treatment-related complications. Unfortunately, certain side effects remain problematic due to the inability to completely avoid injuring normal tissues. Lymphedema, a chronic condition that occurs as a result of the body's inability to drain lymph fluid from the tissues, is a common treatment-related side effect experienced by cancer patients. In this review, many of the important aspects of lymphedema with which clinicians who treat cancer patients should be familiar are outlined, including the anatomy, pathophysiology, diagnosis, and management of this condition. The authors also identify some of the resources available both to cancer patients with lymphedema and to the clinicians who treat them. It is hoped that this review will convey the importance of the early identification and management of this incurable disorder because this is essential to minimizing its complications.
Uncovering the structure of a memorist's superior "basic" memory capacity.

After extensive laboratory testing of the famous memorist Rajan, Thompson, Cowan, and Frieman (1993) proposed that he was innately endowed with a superior memory capacity for digits and letters and thus violated the hypothesis that exceptional memory fully reflects acquired ?skilled memory.? We successfully replicated the empirical phenomena that led them to their conclusions. From additional analyses and new experiments, we found support for an alternative hypothesis, namely that Rajan’s superior memory for digits was mediated by learned encoding techniques that he acquired during nearly a thousand hours of practice memorizing the mathematical constant p. Our paper describes a general experimental approach for studying the structure of exceptional memory and how Rajan’s unique structure is consistent with the general theoretical framework of long-term working memory (Ericsson & Kintsch, 1995).
Improving predictive modeling in pediatric drug development: pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics, and mechanistic modeling.

A workshop was conducted on November 18?19, 2004, to address the issue of improving predictive models for drug delivery to developing humans. Although considerable progress has been made for adult humans, large gaps remain for predicting pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic (PK/PD) outcome in children because most adult models have not been tested during development. The goals of the meeting included a description of when, during development, infants/children become adultlike in handling drugs. The issue of incorporating the most recent advances into the predictive models was also addressed: both the use of imaging approaches and genomic information were considered. Disease state, as exemplified by obesity, was addressed as a modifier of drug pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics during development. Issues addressed in this workshop should be considered in the development of new predictive and mechanistic models of drug kinetics and dynamics in the developing human.
SPA1: A New Genetic Locus Involved in Phytochrome A–Specific Signal Transduction

To identify mutants potentially defective in signaling intermediates specific to phytochrome A (phyA), we screened for extragenic mutations that suppress the morphological phenotype exhibited by a weak phyA mutant ( phyA-105 ) of Arabidopsis. A new recessive mutant, designated spa1 (for suppressor of phyA-105 ), was isolated and mapped to the bottom of chromosome 2. spa1 phyA-105 double mutants exhibit restoration of several responses to limiting fluence rates of continuous far-red light that are absent in the parental phyA-105 mutant, such as deetiolation, anthocyanin accumulation, and a far-red light‐induced inability of seedlings to green upon subsequent transfer to continuous white light. spa1 mutations do not cause a phenotype in darkness, indicating that the suppression phenotype is light dependent. Enhanced photoresponsiveness was observed in spa1 seedlings in a wild-type PHYA background as well as in the mutant phyA-105 background but not in a mutant phyA null background. These results indicate that phyA is necessary in a non-allele-specific fashion for the expression of the spa1 mutant phenotype and that phyB to phyE are not sufficient for this effect. Taken together, the data suggest that spa1 mutations specifically amplify phyA signaling and therefore that the SPA1 locus encodes a component that acts negatively early in the phyA-specific signaling pathway.
[(18)F]Fluoro-2-deoxy-2-d-glucose versus 3'-deoxy-3'-[(18)F]fluorothymidine for defining hematopoietically active pelvic bone marrow in gynecologic patients.

Abstract Background and purpose We compared [ 18 F]fluoro-2-deoxy-2-d-glucose (FDG) versus 3′-deoxy-3′-[ 18 F]fluorothymidine (FLT) for the purpose of identifying active pelvic bone marrow (BM), quantifying its locational variation, and determining which technique is likely to be better for BM-sparing radiation planning. Material and methods We sampled 41 patients, of which 25 underwent FDG-PET/CT only, 7 underwent FLT-PET/CT only, and 9 underwent both. Active BM subvolumes were defined as subsets of the pelvic BM with the highest standardized uptake values comprising 40%, 50%, and 60% of the total pelvic BM volume. We used the Dice similarity coefficient to quantify the percent overlap of active BM volumes of equal size. Differences in the spatial distribution of active BM were assessed using a region-growing algorithm. Results For patients with both modalities, the mean Dice coefficients for the 40%, 50%, and 60% subvolumes were 0.683, 0.732, and 0.781 respectively. Comparing individual active BM subvolumes to the mean subvolume, Dice coefficients varied from 0.598–0.889 for FDG and 0.739–0.912 for FLT. Region growing analysis showed FLT-PET defined more highly clustered active BM subvolumes. Conclusions Within the limitations of a small sample size, we found significant agreement between FDG-PET and FLT-PET; however, FLT-PET had significantly less individual variation and is likely to be superior to FDG-PET for BM-sparing radiotherapy.
Mining Biological Networks for Similar Patterns

In this chapter, we present efficient and accurate methods to analyze biological networks. Biological networks show how different biochemical entities interact with each other to perform vital functions for the survival of an organism. Three main types of biological networks are protein interaction networks, metabolic pathways and regulatory networks. In this work, we focus on alignment of metabolic networks.
A rare presentation of bilateral spontaneous superficial femoral arteriovenous fistulas

Spontaneous arteriovenous fistulas are a rare clinical entity with very few cases reported in the literature. Prompt diagnosis and treatment is crucial and can prevent further complications in such patients. We report a case of a patient who presented with progressive bilateral claudication, discolouration of feet, hypaesthesia and non-healing ulcers. The patient had no history of trauma, aneurysm or surgery. After abnormal non-invasive studies, a peripheral angiogram revealed significant disease and obstruction of bilateral superficial femoral arteries. Spontaneous bilateral femoral arteriovenous fistulas were also found incidentally. After discussing the risks and benefits of multiple treatment options with the patient, percutaneous intervention with orbital atherectomy, balloon angioplasty and covered stent placements were performed. This treatment improved the patient9s symptoms significantly.
Money Demand and the Interest Rate Level: Comment

Miss Elinor Harris, in her paper "Money Demand and the Interest Rate Level,' states that the development of the speculative boom in government bonds in 1945 and early 1946 was an example of "nonequilibrating money supply adjustment." In this connection she made the general statement: "A complete freeze in the interest rate structure is incompatible with monetary equilibrium over the long run at rates above zero."2 Since the possibility of just such an interest rate freeze may become a reality, it is important that as much light as possible be placed on this problem. I will endeavor to show that Miss Harris, in her excellent article, seems to have overlooked an alternative solution to the problem of the interest rate "freeze." The situation which she examined was that which occurred when the market became more or less certain that the Federal Reserve authorities would continue to support the Treasury yield curve for government securities. Her analysis was briefly as follows. When the banks and the public recognized the ability, and apparent intention, of the Federal Reserve authorities to support the par value of government securities, they began reaching out for the longer term, higher yield, issues since no loss of liquidity seemed involved. In terms of liquidity analysis the "normal" or "safe" rate had dropped, bringing about a downward shift of the liquidity function. In the usual formulation of the problem the adjustment to this new liquidity function would come about by new bond purchases forcing interest rates down the new L2 curve until the total M2 would again be held willingly. This, however, could not happen in this case since the banks, by their purchases of bonds, were increasing the supply of money. Thus, each new decline in interest rates was accompanied by an increase in the supply of money. M2 was ahead of L2 at every interest rate. Miss Harris concluded therefore that the decline in interest rates would continue until the interest rate reached zero, unless the L2 curve is shifted upwards by the removal of the "freeze" on the interest rate structure. Before demonstrating that monetary equilibrium is possible
Bankruptcy Process and the Limits of Reform

For decades, debates about business bankruptcy have focused on its distributive effects and on the complexities of corporate valuation and control that it presents. Those issues, though important in themselves, should be distinguished from an equally crucial, yet more basic purpose of bankruptcy: to provide a process by which all issues involving a failed business can be investigated, crystallized, and resolved — before the bankruptcy proceedings end and the old entity ceases to exist. The rudimentary components of a bankruptcy process should include the openness to bring a wide range of potential issues into a transparent proceeding, the adaptability to arrange for efficient consideration of multilateral disputes, and the finality to allow all parties to go forward free of the uncertainties of their pre-bankruptcy dealings with the failed entity. This Article argues that these elements of a rudimentary bankruptcy process should be — but have not been — included in proposals for legal reform, including some of the Dodd-Frank reforms as well as the proposals by academics seeking to streamline and privatize much of bankruptcy.
A further investigation of the correlation between IRT frequency and IRT reinforcement distributions

Forty sessions of a procedure that yielded a constant rate of reinforcement for lever pressing IRTs of rats over the range 0-25 sec. led to a distribution of IRT probabilities over that same range that contained a minimum at about 3-6 sec, and a continuous increase in this probability at longer times. This failure to find a one-to-one correspondence between relative reinforcement rate of IRTs and probability of occurrence of IRTs weakens any explanation of the distribution of the latter based on the distribution of the former.
Comparison of Porphyrin Producing Enzyme Activities in Harderian Glands of Mice and Other Rodents.

Summary and conclusions1. A quantitative study was made of porphyrin producing enzyme activities of Harderian glands, livers, brains, and muscles of mice, rats, hamsters, rabbits, and guinea pigs. 2. The tissues used were obtained from commercially available male albino rats, rabbits, guinea pigs, and brown hamsters, and strong A strain mice. 3. A buffer-saline solution or extract was made from a weighed quantity of each homogenized tissue mentioned. Measured amounts of these extracts were mixed with 0.01 M solution of δ-aminolevulinic acid and incubated at 37° for 24 hours. 4. Harderian gland extracts of mice and rats showed greatest amount of porphyrin producing enzyme activity, while the same tissue from the hamster was only slightly lower in enzyme activity. The 2 lobes of the Harderian gland of rabbit and guinea pig contained far less porphyrin producing enzyme. The white fluorescent antero-dorsal lobe of the rabbit contained considerably greater quantities of porphyrin producing enzymes than the gre...
Modeling of Impact Response of Composite Graded Structure

The work presented in this paper is a continuation of a study on exploring energy absorbing characteristics of a composite functionally graded structure found in a banana peel [1]. The impact behavior of peel structure under strain rates ranging from 4000 s−1 to 15000s−1 are studied. A modified mathematical model is presented, which calculates the initial dynamic crushing stresses of the structure at different impact velocities. The model outputs are compared with finite element simulations for the initial crushing stress, densification strain, global and local deformation modes, reactive force pulse, and total energy absorbed. A reasonable agreement is found between the proposed model and finite element simulations in determining the initial dynamic crushing stress and total energy absorbed by the structure.© 2011 ASME
Epitaxy of CdTe on (100) GaAs

Two epitaxial orientations [(111) and (100)] of CdTe are grown on (100) GaAs in the presence of a 14.6% lattice mismatch. Consistent nucleation of a selected orientation is achieved by employing specific growth techniques. The growth techniques for selection of both orientations are described. High resolution electron microscopy has been used to investigate the interface between the CdTe epilayer and the GaAs substrate. For the (111) orientation strong interaction exists between the epitaxial deposit and the substrate, whereas a weakened interaction between deposit and substrate induces the (100) orientation.
Abstract 3358: 1α,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 inhibits the proliferation of cultured glioblastoma multiforme cells

Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is a common, aggressive type of brain tumor with a median survival of only fifteen months. Brain tumor stem cells (BTSCs) within GBM tumors resist standard treatments, initiate recurrence, and pose a significant challenge for GBM treatment. This study examined Gli1 expression and proliferation of GBM cells in vitro to evaluate the effects of 1α,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 (vitamin D3). Vitamin D3 is a safe, natural inhibitor of the hedgehog signaling pathway–a mechanism essential to BTSC function. Immunocytochemistry demonstrated that both established GBM cell lines and GBM-derived BTSCs expressed Gli1, indicating hedgehog signaling pathway activity within the cell populations. Vitamin D3 treatment significantly reduced cell proliferation, both in GBM cell lines and GBM-derived BTSCs. Because of active vitamin D39s environmental instability, an in vivo model might provide a better indication of its anti-tumor effects. Ultimately, vitamin D3 may enhance standard GBM treatments by inhibiting hedgehog-expressing cells. Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 103rd Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2012 Mar 31-Apr 4; Chicago, IL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2012;72(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 3358. doi:1538-7445.AM2012-3358
Aldehyde Capture Ligation for Synthesis of Native Peptide Bonds

Chemoselective reactions for amide bond formation have transformed the ability to access synthetic proteins and other bioconjugates through ligation of fragments. In these ligations, amide bond formation is accelerated by transient enforcement of an intramolecular reaction between the carboxyl and the amine termini of two fragments. Building on this principle, we introduce an aldehyde capture ligation that parlays the high chemoselective reactivity of aldehydes and amines to enforce amide bond formation between amino acid residues and peptides that are difficult to ligate by existing technologies.
Potential Targets for Pharmacologic Therapies for Prevention of PTA

Joint injuries are common, especially among young adults of age 18–44 years old. They are accompanied by a cascade of events that increase the risk of post-traumatic osteoarthritis (PTOA). Therefore, understanding biological responses that predispose to PTOA should help in determining treatment modalities to delay and/or prevent the onset and progression of the disease. The vast majority of the literature pointed to chondrocyte death and apoptosis, inflammation and matrix damage/fragmentation being the earliest events that follow joint trauma. Together these events lead to the development of OA-like focal cartilage lesions that if untreated have a tendency to expand and progress to fully developed disease.
Immunogenetics of Sjögren's syndrome.

The etiology for SS remains unknown where multifactorial influences contribute to the pathogenesis of subsequent development of the disease. The genetic influence is also multifactorial and the data suggests a familial component indicative of autosomal-dominant genes as well as genetic contributions associated with class-I and class-II HLA alleles. Various auto-antibodies found with increased frequency in SS (anti-Ro and anti-La) were shown to be associated with HLA class-II alleles at the DQA1 and DQB1 loci that were also found to have in common specific amino acid residues (10). Ethnic groups have also been studied and show varying HLA associations with primary SS. Multiple ethnic groups, however, share a DQ allele supporting the idea that the majority of SS patients carry a common allele which may predispose to primary SS. In some cases, the HLA-DR antigen may be induced and cause to appear on epithelial cells where they present antigen to CD 4+ T-cells, which then go on to aid in the destruction of salivary gland epithelial cells specifically. The further elucidation of disease associations as well as possible immunogenetic pathogenic mechanisms may help to explain the causes for the development of various autoimmune diseases such as Sjogren's Syndrome. This may eventually result in the ability to immunomodulate these abnormal immune responses. In so doing, an approach to treatment by genetic engineering may also be possible once a further understanding of the genetic influences and mechanisms in the causation of autoimmune disease is further elucidated.
Infants Use Prosody to Learn About Clauses

Many researchers have proposed that infants may be able to use prosody to bootstrap into syntax (e.g., Morgan, 1986). Thus far, researchers have shown that prosodic cues are useful for chunking linear sequences, but have not addressed its usefulness in cuing hierarchical syntactic structure. In this study, we asked if infants treat prosodically-marked units as moveable (moveability is a classic test of syntactic constituency). Our results suggest that they do, providing support for the possibility that prosody is a stronger cue to syntactic structure than has previously been shown.
Determination of dimethyl trisulfide in rabbit blood using stir bar sorptive extraction gas chromatography-mass spectrometry.

Abstract Cyanide poisoning by accidental or intentional exposure poses a severe health risk. The current Food and Drug Administration approved antidotes for cyanide poisoning can be effective, but each suffers from specific major limitations concerning large effective dosage, delayed onset of action, or dependence on enzymes generally confined to specific organs. Dimethyl trisulfide (DMTS), a sulfur donor that detoxifies cyanide by converting it into thiocyanate (a relatively nontoxic cyanide metabolite), is a promising next generation cyanide antidote. Although a validated analytical method to analyze DMTS from any matrix is not currently available, one will be vital for the approval of DMTS as a therapeutic agent against cyanide poisoning. Hence, a stir bar sorptive extraction (SBSE) gas chromatography – mass spectrometry (GC–MS) method was developed and validated for the analysis of DMTS from rabbit whole blood. Following acid denaturation of blood, DMTS was extracted into a polydimethylsiloxane-coated stir bar. The DMTS was then thermally desorbed from the stir bar and analyzed by GC–MS. The limit of detection of DMTS using this method was 0.06 μM with dynamic range from 0.5–100 μM. For quality control standards, the precision, as measured by percent relative standard deviation, was below 10%, and the accuracy was within 15% of the nominal concentration. The method described here will allow further investigations of DMTS as a promising antidote for cyanide poisoning.
Relapse Prevention for Return of Pathological Worry in CBT-Treated GAD

Publisher Summary This chapter elaborates relapse prevention for return of pathological worry in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)-treated Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD). GAD is distinguished by the presence of uncontrollable worry. For a diagnosis of GAD, one must experience excessive anxiety and difficult-to-control worry regarding a number of events or activities. CBT is considered as effective as pharmacological treatment in reducing symptoms of anxiety and is associated with greater maintenance of treatment gains and greater reductions in comorbid depression. Individuals who meet criteria for GAD are likely to experience either partial or full recovery over time whether treatment is involved. It has been found that poorer outcome predictors of CBT tend to be related to the presence of another axis I disorder, social isolation, and marital tension. It is suggested that adapting a mindful lifestyle for GAD individuals would result in continued improvement over time. It is found that psychoeducation for mindfulness-based CBT includes explanations for worry, its maintenance and consequences, how emotion awareness is relevant and important, and the rationale for the implementation of mindfulness into treatment.
CASS electro-optic console laser testing

The majority of laser target designators in the current military inventory are 1.064- mu m, Q-switched, Nd:YAG laser transmitters. In addition to its capabilities for forward looking infrared (FLIR) and camera testing, the consolidated automated support system (CASS) electrooptic (EO) configuration eliminates the need for dedicated laser transmitter testers. Using state-of-the-art instrumentation, CASS has the ability to determine laser energy and far-field spatial characteristics that include alignment, peak power, pulse energy, energy distribution, beam divergence, satellite beam measurements, and pulse period. All these tests are performed under ATLAS test programming language control. >
Accelerating Boolean Satisfiability (SAT) solving by common subclause elimination

Boolean Satisfiability (SAT) is an important problem in many domains. Modern SAT solvers have been widely used in important industrial applications including automated planning and verification. To solve more problems in real applications, new techniques are needed to speed up SAT solving. Inspired by the success of common subexpression elimination in programming languages and other related areas, we study the impact of common subclause elimination (CSE) on SAT solving. Intensive experiments on many SAT solvers and benchmarks with 48-h timeout show that CSE can consistently improve SAT solving. Up to 5% more SAT13 instances can be solved after CSE. LZW-based CSE shows the best overall performance, particularly in the category of application benchmarks. A potential use of this result is that one may consider the heuristic of applying CSE to boost SAT solver performance on real life applications. Because of many possible ways to improve the benefit of CSE, we hope future research can unleash the full potential of CSE in SAT solving.
Hyper-CVAD and Rituximab for De Novo Burkitt Lymphoma/Leukemia

Abstract Abstract 2698 Outcomes for Burkitt lymphoma/leukemia have improved significantly with the use of short, intensive, multi-agent chemotherapy regimens. The hyper-CVAD regimen (fractionated cyclophosphamide, vincristine, doxorubicin, dexamethasone alternating with high dose methotrexate (MTX) and cytarabine) was established as an effective first line program for younger patients with de novo Burkitt leukemia (B-ALL) [Thomas D, J Clin Oncol 17:2461, 1999]. An overall complete remission (CR) rate of 81% was influenced by a high infection-related induction mortality rate of 19% in the subset aged 60 yrs or older with 3-yr survival (OS) rate of 17% for older pts versus 77% in younger pts. Supportive care measures such as use of laminar air flow rooms since 1999 has reduced the elderly early mortality rate to Disclosures: Wierda: Genentech: Consultancy, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees. O'Brien: Genentech: Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Speakers Bureau.
The Welfare Economics of “Buy Local”

This paper provides a theoretical model of how various aspects of the “buy local” movement influence social welfare and output across two regions. Market power considerations are also addressed where one region has a competitive advantage in production. While consumers buy local for a variety of reasons, our model categorizes some of the motivations and analyzes the impacts on output under various market structures. Welfare is calculated when demand is changed due to subsidies or taxes. We also allow for the presence of externalities. We find that, in the absence of market power or externalities, deadweight losses occur when the region without a competitive advantage buys more locally. However, in the presence of significant externalities and in the presence of market power, it is possible that profits to producers from consumers buying local could increase more than consumer utility is harmed, thus increasing aggregate social welfare. This could arise if consumers genuinely feel there are sufficient positive externalities from local production or negative externalities from non‐local production to warrant the loss of efficiency. We point out that understanding the motivation behind the movement is critical when analyzing welfare effects since some motivations are counter‐productive to each other.
Assessment of Globodera pallida RNA Extracted from Solanum Roots

The introduction of high-throughput sequencing technologies has made transcriptome analyses of plant–pathogen interactions almost routine. Nevertheless, it is still challenging to obtain RNA from populations made up of two species. An RNA extraction method that worked well on free-living Caenorhabditis elegans failed when applied to isolated Globodera pallida J2 larva. Furthermore, alternative protocols that extracted RNA from free-living J2 larva produced less satisfactory results once the animals entered their hosts’ roots. We have compared several extraction procedures to ascertain whether a single protocol was capable of recovering high-quality, high-molecular-weight RNA from newly hatched J2 larva as well as from larva embedded in roots of both potatoes (Solanum tuberosum L. cv. Desiree) and a very distantly related species, Solanum sisymbriifolium. Although it was possible to recover large amounts of RNA from J2 larvae using Proteinase K treatments, this protocol failed to yield high-quality nematode RNA from infected roots. By comparison, mechanical disruption procedures yielded lower amounts of RNA from infected roots, but what was recovered was of higher quality. We conclude that different extraction protocols need to be developed to sample mixed populations of organisms.