cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Management in Perspective

Features several issues and activities which could be utilized in management science. Application of linear programming as a tool in management and corporate planning; Discussion on corporate decis...
Prevalence of the TGFBR1 tumor susceptibility allele in young patients with oral squamous cell carcinoma

A43 INTRODUCTION : Recent studies have revealed a steady increase in the incidence of oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) in patients 40 years of age or younger. Many of these patients lack traditional risk factors for OSCC, such as tobacco and alcohol use, indicating the possibility of underlying genetic factors influencing the development of cancer in this population. TGFBR1*6A is a common polymorphism of the type I TGF-beta receptor ( TGFBR1 ), which tranduces TGF-beta growth inhibitory signals less effectively than TGFBR1 . The *6A allele consists of a deletion of 3 alanines within a 9-alanine (*9A) repeat at the 3’-end of the exon 1 coding sequence, and epidemiological studies suggest it may act as a tumor susceptibility allele. Our previous work in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) revealed 21.7% (49/226) of patients possessed the *6A allele compared to healthy control individuals (13.7%; 473/3451). Other non-9A alleles (*5A, *8A, *14A) were also identified in 3 additional cases (23%; 52/226). The purpose of the current study was to examine the frequency of the TGFBR1*6A tumor susceptibility allele in young OSCC patients. > METHODS : Genomic DNA was extracted from tumor specimens obtained from OSCC patients 40 years of age or younger, according to protocols approved by the IRB of The Ohio State University (OSU). TGFBR1 exon 1 was amplified using PCR, and the PCR products genotyped by OSU Plant Microbe Genomics Facility (OSU PMGF) using a 3730 DNA Analyzer (Applied Biosystems). > RESULTS : A total of 16 oral tumors were genotyped, with 5 (31.3%) possessing non-9A hypomorphic allele variants. Three patients had a genotype of *6A/*9A (18.8%), one patient had a genotype of *5A/*9A (6%), and one patient had a genotype of *9A/*10A (6%). There was a statistically significant difference in the proportion of non-*6A hypomorphic alleles present in the young OSCC group (12.5%) as compared to the HNSCC (1.33%) group (P-value = 0.0365). > CONCLUSIONS : Preliminary results from this small cohort of young OSCC patients indicate that a hypomorphic TGFBR1 allele may be influencing tumor susceptibility in this population. Further study of a larger cohort is needed to better characterize the proportion of hypomorphic TGFBR1 alleles in OSCC patients 40 years of age or younger and define the role of this susceptibility allele in HNSCC tumorigenesis. > SUPPORT: NIH/NIDCR T32DE014320, NCI P01DE12704 and R01DE011943, The V Foundation >
Adhesion, Friction, and Wear of Rat Skin With and Without a Common Cream Treatment

This chapter presents adhesion, friction, and wear data of rat skin with and without a common cream treatment. Experiments were conducted both on the nanoscale and macroscale. First, the studies using a common cream treatment are presented, followed by those using a variety of creams.
Toward an Understanding of Salesperson Deviance: A Structured Abstract

Markenting employees, and in particular professional salespeople, typically experience greater job autonomy than do many other employees. A free market characterized by competitivenss and varying consumer demands requires that salespeople and service providers adapt and change across many situations.
Heritability of Vascular Structure and Function: A Parent-Child Study.

Background Understanding the heritable contribution of vascular measures, from parent to offspring, may aid in risk stratification and atherosclerosis prevention efforts. We hypothesized that measures of vascular structure and function would be heritable in this cohort of parents and their adolescent offspring. Methods and Results High‐resolution ultrasound scans of the brachial and carotid arteries were obtained in parents (n=558) and their offspring (n=369). Lumen diameter and flow‐mediated dilation were measured in the brachial artery. Intima‐media thickness, lumen diameter, incremental elastic modulus, diameter distensibility, and cross‐sectional distensibility were measured, and carotid cross‐sectional compliance was measured in the carotid artery. Carotid–radial pulse wave velocity was obtained using SphygmoCor ® . Heritability analysis (h 2 , expressed as %) using Sequential Oligogenic Linkage Analysis Routines was performed on the entire cohort and adjusted for age, sex, race, body–mass index, smoking, and mean arterial pressure. Data are presented as mean±SE. Measures of brachial artery diameter (h 2 =25±9%, P =0.001), lumen diameter (h 2 =55±9%, P 2 =29±13%, P =0.014), diameter distensibility (h 2 =28±7%, P 2 =27±7%, P 2 =26±9%, P Conclusions These data show that the majority of noninvasive measures of vascular structure and function are heritable, suggesting that measurement of these subclinical risk factors in parents may be helpful in assessing childhood risk for future cardiovascular disease.
Fluorescence of pyoverdin in response to iron and other common well water metals

When the fluorescent siderophore pyoverdin (produced by Pseudomonas aeruginosa) binds to a metal ion the fluorescence changes. A pyoverdin solution (in 0.1 M acetate buffer, pH 5.0) was placed in the microwells of a 96-well plate and varying concentrations of the metal cations Al3+, Ca2+, Cu2+, Fe2+, Fe3+, Mn2+, Mg2+, and Zn2+ were added. The fluorescence of pyoverdin 60 sec after the addition of an equimolar concentration of metal indicated: (1) no change for Ca2+, Fe2+, Mn2+, Mg2+, and Zn2+; (2) a small increase (109%) for Al3+; (3) decreases in fluorescence for Cu2+ (83%) and for Fe3+ (66%). The fluorescence of pyoverdin 24 hr after the addition of equimolar metal indicated: 1) very little change for Ca2+, Mn2+, Mg2+, and Zn2+; 2) a very large (270%) increase in fluorescence due to Al3+; 3) an increase (113%) due to Cu2+; 4) large decreases in fluorescence for both Fe2+ (15%) and Fe3+ (0%). Thus, for an iron assay using a free solution of pyoverdin, even with a short (60 sec.) reaction time there can b...
Genome Sequence of a Toxin-Positive Clostridium difficile Strain Isolated from Murine Feces.

Herein, we report the genome sequence of a Clostridium difficile strain isolated from the feces of antibiotic-treated C57BL/6 mice. We have named this strain, which differs considerably from those of the previously sequenced C. difficile strains, LEM1.
Experimental investigation of performance properties and agglomeration behavior of fly ash from gasification of corncobs

The gasification industries make use of biomass residue as feedstock to produce synthesis gas, but the gasification of this waste biomass generates tons of ash everyday. Performance properties and agglomeration behavior of corncob ash (CCA) collected from the gasification of corncobs in a pilot-scale gasification station were investigated by using some experimental methods. Based on the chemical composition results, the agglomeration tendency of CCA from combustion and gasification process was also analyzed. Chemical analysis shows that the fly ash is mainly composed of inorganic matters formed by K, Mg, Ca, Na, Fe, Al, S, etc. The agglomeration characteristics indicate that the slagging degree increases with the increase of ashing temperature, and the slagging tendency of these CCA samples from gasification or combustion is different with various slagging indices. All CCA samples from combustion or gasification can cause slagging/fouling problems in thermal conversion systems. The applications of CCA are closely related to its performances, and CCA has the potential to be used in various fields, for example, as a material for ceramic products and activated carbon, as an adsorbent, as a crude fertilizer, and as a structural material.
Inflammatory signals from photoreceptor modulate pathological retinal angiogenesis via c-Fos.

Pathological neovessels growing into the normally avascular photoreceptors cause vision loss in many eye diseases, such as age-related macular degeneration and macular telangiectasia. Ocular neovascularization is strongly associated with inflammation, but the source of inflammatory signals and the mechanisms by which these signals regulate the disruption of avascular privilege in photoreceptors are unknown. In this study, we found that c-Fos, a master inflammatory regulator, was increased in photoreceptors in a model of pathological blood vessels invading photoreceptors: the very low-density lipoprotein receptor-deficient (Vldlr-/- ) mouse. Increased c-Fos induced inflammatory cytokines interleukin 6 (IL-6) and tumor necrosis factor (TNF), leading to activation of signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3) and increased TNFα-induced protein 3 (TNFAIP3) in Vldlr-/- photoreceptors. IL-6 activated the STAT3/vascular endothelial growth factor A (VEGFA) pathway directly, and elevated TNFAIP3 suppressed SOCS3 (suppressor of cytokine signaling 3)-activated STAT3/VEGFA indirectly. Inhibition of c-Fos using photoreceptor-specific AAV (adeno-associated virus)-hRK (human rhodopsin kinase)-sh_c-fos or a chemical inhibitor substantially reduced the pathological neovascularization and rescued visual function in Vldlr-/- mice. These findings suggested that the photoreceptor c-Fos controls blood vessel growth into the normally avascular photoreceptor layer through the inflammatory signal-induced STAT3/VEGFA pathway.
The aggressive peripheral T-cell lymphomas: 2017.

Background T-cell lymphomas make up approximately 10%-15% of lymphoid malignancies. The frequency of these lymphomas varies geographically, with the highest incidence in parts of Asia. Diagnosis The diagnosis of aggressive peripheral T-cell lymphoma (PTCL) is usually made using the World Health Organization classification. The ability of hematopathologists to reproducibly diagnose aggressive PTCL is lower than that for aggressive B-cell lymphomas, with a range of 72%-97% for the aggressive PTCLs. Risk Stratification: Patients with aggressive PTCL are staged using the Ann Arbor Classification. Although somewhat controversial, positron emission tomography scans seem to be useful as they are in aggressive B-cell lymphomas. The specific subtype of aggressive PTCL is an important risk factor with the best survival seen in anaplastic large-cell lymphoma—particularly young patients with the anaplastic lymphoma kinase positive subtype. Risk-Adapted Therapy Anaplastic large-cell lymphoma is the only subgroup to have a good response to a CHOP-like regimen. Angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma has a prolonged disease-free survival in only ∼20% of patients, but younger patients who have an autotransplant in remission seem to do better. PTCL-not otherwise specified is not one disease. Anthracycline-containing regimens have disappointing results, and a new approach is needed. Natural killer/T-cell lymphoma localized to the nose and nasal sinuses seems to be best treated with radiotherapy-containing regimens and the majority of patients are cured. Enteropathy-associated PTCL and hepatosplenic PTCL are rare disorders with a generally poor response to therapy although selected patients with enteropathy- associated PTCL seem to benefit from intensive therapy.
Saba and St. Eustatius (Statia)

Saba and St. Eustatius/Sint Eustatius (Statia) represent geologically young (less than a million years) Pleistocene island arc volcanoes that rise at the northernmost part of the Lesser Antilles. Both are small islands less than 21 km2 in size with populations around 2000, and both have stratovolcanic features and many Pelean domes with adjacent pyroclastic flows. As a single volcano, Saba’s steep slopes drop off precipitously into the sea, while St. Eustatius lies at the northern end of a shallow submarine bank that links to St. Kitts and Nevis to the southeast. Similar in geologic history and perhaps co-eruptive (though Statia is slightly older and has more erosional features and some uplift), the islands also have similar climates, winds, waves, and ocean current regimes, but lack often-found-in-the-Caribbean geomorphic features such as dunes, perennial streams, wetlands, karst, aquifers, and inland water bodies. Saba and Statia both have heritage sites, including a few (small) Amerindian archaeological sites, but most historical research centers on post-European history including maritime figures, agriculture, and slavery. Owing to their small sizes, neither has been developed very heavily, though Saba is famous for its scuba diving and Statia is known for its oil terminal. Both islands face similar environmental hazards that include hurricanes, earthquakes and volcanism, and drought.
Tian as Cosmos in Z hu Xi’s Neo-Confucianism

Tian 天 is central to the metaphysics, cosmology, and ethics of the 800-year-long Chinese philosophical tradition we call “Neo-Confucianism,” but there is considerable confusion over what tian means—confusion which is exacerbated by its standard translation into English as “Heaven.” This essay analyzes the meaning of tian in the works of the most influential Neo-Confucian, Zhu Xi 朱熹 (1130–1200), presents a coherent interpretation that unifies the disparate aspects of the term’s meaning, and argues that “cosmos” does an excellent job of capturing this meaning and therefore should be adopted as our translation of tian.
The Human Genome Project

The goal of the HGP is to locate all genes of the human genome and establish the base sequences of all its DNA. Vicedo (1992) used the metaphor of an analysis of literary text to illuminate the problems in the HGP. The mapping could be considered to be the syntactic analysis of that text, aiming to identify the words used and the systematic rules and constructions that exist. A semantic analysis also is required involving an integration of biochemical data with embryology and developmental biology to interpret the genes’ role in the formation of an organism. A pragmatic analysis involves analysis of particular genomes in relation to the specific environments in which they are to be expressed. Wills (1991) used a musical metaphor that nicely expresses the limitations of simply knowing the sequence of DNA and assuming that we have learned what we need to know about human beings: Even though we have looked up the sequence of notes in a Beethoven sonata, we will not have gained the capacity to play it.
Honey bee (Apis mellifera) nurses do not consume pollens based on their nutritional quality

Honey bee workers (Apis mellifera) consume a variety of pollens to meet the majority of their requirements for protein and lipids. Recent work indicates that honey bees prefer diets that reflect the proper ratio of nutrients necessary for optimal survival and homeostasis. This idea relies on the precept that honey bees evaluate the nutritional composition of the foods provided to them. While this has been shown in bumble bees, the data for honey bees are mixed. Further, there is controversy as to whether foragers can evaluate the nutritional value of pollens, especially if they do not consume it. Here, we focused on nurse workers, who eat most of the pollen coming into the hive. We tested the hypothesis that nurses prefer diets with higher nutritional value. We first determined the nutritional profile, number of plant taxa (richness), and degree of hypopharyngeal gland (HG) growth conferred by three honey bee collected pollens. We then presented nurses with these same three pollens in paired choice assays and measured consumption. To further test whether nutrition influenced preference, we also presented bees with natural pollens supplemented with protein or lipids and liquid diets with protein and lipid ratios equal to the natural pollens. Different pollens conferred different degrees of HG growth, but despite these differences, nurse bees did not always prefer the most nutritious pollens. Adding protein and/or lipids to less desirable pollens minimally increased pollen attractiveness, and nurses did not exhibit a strong preference for any of the three liquid diets. We conclude that different pollens provide different nutritional benefits, but that nurses either cannot or do not assess pollen nutritional value. This implies that the nurses may not be able to communicate information about pollen quality to the foragers, who regulate the pollens coming into the hive.
Cross-Modal Cue Effects in Motion Transparency Processing

The everyday environment brings about many competing inputs from different modalities to our sensory systems. The ability to filter these multisensory inputs in order to identify and efficiently utilize useful spatial cues is necessary to detect and process the relevant information. In the present study, we investigate how feature-based attention affects the detection of motion across sensory modalities. We were interested to determine how subjects use intramodal, crossmodal auditory, and combined audiovisual motion cues to attend to specific visual motion signals. The results show that in most cases, both visual and auditory cues enhance feature-based orienting to a visual motion pattern that is presented among distractor patterns. Furthermore, in many cases, detection of transparent motion patterns was significantly more accurate after combined visual-auditory than unimodal attention cues. Whereas previous studies have shown crossmodal effects of spatial attention, our results demonstrate a spread of crossmodal feature-based attention cues, which have been matched for the detection threshold of the visual target. These effects were evident in comparisons between cued and uncued conditions, as well as in analyses comparing the effects of valid vs. invalid cues.
Can organizations benefit from worksite health promotion

Abstract A decision-analytic model was developed to project the future effects of selected worksite health promotion activities on employees' likelihood of chronic disease and injury and on employer costs due to illness. The model employed a conservative set of assumptions and a limited five-year time frame. Under these assumptions, hypertension control and seat belt campaigns prevent a substantial amount of illness, injury, and death. Sensitivity analysis indicates that these two programs pay for themselves and under some conditions show a modest savings to the employer. Under some conditions, smoking cessation programs pay for themselves, preventing a modest amount of illness and death. Cholesterol reduction by behavioral means does not pay for itself under these assumptions. These findings imply priorities in prevention for employer and employee alike.
Impact of risperidone on seclusion and restraint at a state psychiatric hospital.

Objectif: Evaluer l'effet de la risperidone sur l'isolement et la contention des patients d'un hopital psychiatrique public, peu apres la liberation de la risperidone. Methodes: Des patients qui etaient hospitalises depuis au moins trois mois avant de recevoir de la risperidone et qui en ont subsequemment recu pendant au moins trois mois formaient la cohorte, Une technique de question reformulee a ete utilisee durant au plus un an avant et un an apres le debut de la risperidone. Les patients hospitalises qui n'ont recu ni risperidone ni clozapine durant la meme periode ont servi de comparaison pour les tendances de l'isolement et de la contention. Resultats: Soixante-quatorze patients (pour la plupart schizophrenes) satisfaisaient aux criteres d'inclusion au groupe de risperidone, Il y a eu des diminutions statistiquement significatives du nombre d'heures d'isolement (de 2,2 [ET 5,5] a 0,26 [ET 0,06]) et d'evenements (de 0,23 [ET 0,59] a 0,05 [ET 0,14]) par personne par mois durant le traitement a la risperidone, comparativement a la periode de pretraitement a la risperidone (P = 0.01). Le groupe de comparaison affichait aussi des diminutions de ces mesures durant la meme periode, mais la cohorte traitee a la risperidone montrait une reduction proportionnellement plus importante. Il y avait des tendances semblables a la reduction des mesures de contention durant le traitement a la risperidone, comparativement au pretraitement, mais sans signification statistique. Le groupe de comparaison indiquait aussi une legere diminution de la contention durant la periode de l'etude. Conclusions: La risperidone semble avoir eu un effet favorable sur la contention au sein de la population de cet hopital psychiatrique public. Ces donnees appuient l'effet positif de la risperidone sur la violence, constate dans d'autres etudes. La violence et l'agression sont d'importants facteurs qui influent sur le moral des patients et du personnel psychiatriques. Ainsi, tout avantage resultant d'un traitement antipsychotique est salutaire pour les patients, les familles et les travailleurs de la sante.
The Aesthetics of Enchantment

There are two preliminary things to be stated at the outset of any philosophical consideration of enchantment. First, traditional philosophy has been antagonistic toward the idea of enchantment: as a foundational discipline of reason, philosophy has defined itself in opposition to the non-rational. The main traditions of philosophy have regarded any form of discourse other than that centered in reason as alien, the other, as something which obscures or undermines those procedures which alone can determine knowledge and value. I presume here that enchantment would be considered “non-rational”, and also that such a designation is problematic in a number of ways.
Comparison of catheter thrombogenicity in a modified chandler loop model using goat blood

Thrombogenicity testing is a key component in the development of medical devices intended for contact with blood. The Chandler loop system has previously been used as an in vitro thrombogenicity testing method. In this study, we used a modified version of the Chandler loop model to evaluate its capacity to detect differential thrombogenic potential of different catheter materials using goat blood. We also sought to determine the optimal experimental conditions for detecting the thrombogenicity of catheter material. Using the Chandler loop system with goat blood we demonstrated that silicone catheters had a stronger thrombogenicity as compared to polyurethane catheters as evidenced by significantly larger thrombi (p < 0.001) and higher infusion pressures (p < 0.05). This is consistent with many, but not all, previous in vitro and in vivo studies comparing polyurethane to silicone catheters. The use of this modified Chandler loop system with goat blood may provide an additional in vitro testing platform for thrombogenicity testing of catheters. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Biomed Mater Res Part A: 106A: 3143-3151, 2018.
Does including violent crime rates in ecological regression models of sexually transmissible infection rates improve model quality? Insights from spatial regression analyses.

Background Violent crime rates are often correlated with the hard-to-measure social determinants of sexually transmissible infections (STIs). In this study, we examined whether including violent crime rate as an independent variable can improve the quality of ecological regression models of STIs. Methods: We obtained multiyear (2008–12) cross-sectional county-level data on violent crime and three STIs (chlamydia, gonorrhoea, and primary and secondary (P&S) syphilis) from counties in all the contiguous states in the US (except Illinois and Florida, due to lack of data). We used two measures of STI morbidity (one categorical and one continuous) and applied spatial regression with the spatial error model for each STI, with and without violent crime rate as an independent variable. We computed the associated Akaike’s information criterion (AIC) and Bayesian information criterion (BIC) as our measure of the relative goodness of fit of the models. Results: Including the violent crime rate as an independent variable improved the quality of the regression models after controlling for several sociodemographic factors. We found that the lower calculated AICs and BICs indicated more favourable goodness of fit in all the models that included violent crime rates, except for the categorical P&S syphilis model, in which the violent crime variable was not statistically significant. Conclusion: Because violent crime rates can account for the hard-to-measure social determinants of STIs, including violent crime rate as an independent variable can improve ecological regression models of STIs.
IV Handlungsstrategien der Mitarbeiter zur erfolgreichen Umsetzung der Mitarbeiter-Rollen an der Kundenschnittstelle

In diesem Teil soll analysiert werden, welche (bislang impliziten) Handlungsstrategien Mitarbeiter im Kundenkontakt, d. h. an der direkten Schnittstelle zum Kunden, anwenden mussen, um ihre CRM-relevanten Rollen erfolgreich umsetzen zu konnen.
Association between Health Insurance and Health among Adults with Diabetes: Evidence from Medicare.

OBJECTIVES Gaining Medicare eligibility at age 65 is associated with increased health insurance coverage and reduced medical expenditure risk, but few studies have examined changes in health outcomes among adults with a specific chronic condition. This study assessed the association between Medicare eligibility and health among adults with diabetes. DESIGN Regression discontinuity design to test for discontinuities in healthcare outcomes at age 65 when most US adults become eligible for Medicare. SETTING National Health Interview Survey, 2006-2016. PARTICIPANTS Respondents ages 55 to 74 with diagnosed diabetes (n = 13 455). MEASUREMENTS Primary outcome measures included self-reported fair or poor general health status, any functional limitation, overweight, obese, and body mass index. Secondary outcomes included health insurance coverage, healthcare spending burden, and functional limitations by cause and type. RESULTS Medicare eligibility was associated with about an 8.0 percentage point reduction in the uninsured rate (95% confidence interval [CI], -9.9 to -6.0 percentage points; P < .001) and declines in high out-of-pocket healthcare expenditures and worry about medical bills. Eligibility was also associated with reductions of about 5.2 [95% CI, -6.9 to -3.6; P < .001] and 4.7 [95% CI, -7.1 to -2.3; P = .001] percentage points in fair or poor health and any functional limitation, respectively. Declines in functional limitations appeared to be driven by reductions in limitations due to diabetes, arthritis, heart problems, and emotional or behavioral problems. Some evidence indicated that Medicare eligibility was associated with a decline in obesity, but estimates were not consistently statistically significant. CONCLUSION Expanded health insurance coverage and gains in coverage quality may improve health outcomes among older adults with diabetes. J Am Geriatr Soc 68:388-394, 2020.
GIANT CORONARY ANEURYSM WITH HIGH THROMBUS BURDEN PRESENTING AS STEMI REQUIRING EXTENSIVE ASPIRATION THROMBECTOMY

The optimal management of patients with giant coronary aneurysms remains unclear and as such an individualized approach must be employed. A 52-year-old male presented with sudden onset chest pain. ECG revealed ST elevations in inferior leads. Emergent angiography showed a 17mm left main giant
SPONTANEOUS SUPERSYMMETRIC GENERATION OF AN INDETERMINATE MASS SCALE AND A POSSIBLE LIGHT STERILE NEUTRINO

If a global continuous symmetry of a supersymmetric field theory is spontaneously broken while preserving the supersymmetry, the resulting theory has a massless superfield. One of its two bosonic degrees of freedom is the familiar phase rotation of the usual massless Nambu–Goldstone boson, but the other is a scale transformation. An indeterminate mass scale is thus generated. In the fermion sector, a seesaw texture appears which may be suitable for a possible light sterile neutrino. This feature persists even after the gauging of the continuous symmetry or the breaking of the supersymmetry to resolve the aforementioned mass-scale ambiguity.
‘La Vie Alpine Marocaine’: colonial mobility, physicality and limitation in the Haut-Atlas, 1920s–1950s

This article considers the role of ‘Alpine’ mobilities and physicalities in the pursuit of colonial territoriality in Morocco under the French Protectorate. It focuses on the development of alpinis...
Advances in Program Termination and Liveness

Recent research advances now allow us to automatically prove termination and other liveness properties of many industrial programs. In cases where the desired property does not hold for all inputs, tools can be used to synthesize a precondition on the inputs under which the property does hold. In this tutorial I will describe these recent advances and discuss our efforts to apply termination analysis to industrial software.
The hub number of a graph

Let G be a graph; a hub set H of G is a set of vertices with the property that for any pair of vertices outside of H, there is a path between them with all intermediate vertices in H. The hub number h(G) is then defined to be the size of a smallest hub set of G. In this paper the hub number for several classes of graphs is computed; bounds in terms of other graph parameters are also determined. 1 Hub sets in graphs In what follows all graphs may be assumed to be simple; for notation and standard definitions see [2]. Imagine that we have a graph G which represents the buildings in a large industrial complex, with an edge between two buildings if it is an easy walk from one to the other. The corporation is considering implementing a rapid-transit system, and wants to place its stations in buildings (which will then be used only for this purpose) so that to travel between two non-adjacent buildings (which are not stations), one need only walk to an adjacent station, take the RTS, and walk to the desired building. The corporation would like to implement this plan as cheaply as possible, which involves converting as few buildings as possible into transit stations. Suppose that S ⊆ V (G) and let x, y ∈ V (G). An S-path between x and y is a path where all intermediate vertices are from S. (This includes the degenerate cases where the path consists of the single edge xy or a single vertex x if x = y; call such an S-path trivial.) A set S ⊆ V (G) is a hub set of G if it has the property that, for any x, y ∈ V (G) − S, there is an S-path in G between x and y. The problem in the previous paragraph can then be rephrased: what is the smallest size of a hub set in G? We shall call this the hub number of G, and denote it by h(G). It is clear that h(G) is well-defined for any G, since V (G) is a hub set. In all situations of interest, we will assume G to be connected; if G is a disconnected graph then any hub set must contain all of the vertices in all but one of the components, as well as a hub set in the remaining component. Note that if the hypothetical corporation in question wanted to find a less draconian solution that permitted buildings to remain in use for other purposes,
Analysis of Convergence

Proving convergence of the various optimization algorithms is a delicate exercise. In general, it is helpful to consider local and global convergence patterns separately. The local convergence rate of an algorithm provides a useful benchmark for comparing it to other algorithms. On this basis, Newton’s method wins hands down. However, the tradeoffs are subtle. Besides the sheer number of iterations until convergence, the computational complexity and numerical stability of an algorithm are critically important. The MM algorithm is often the epitome of numerical stability and computational simplicity. Scoring lies somewhere between Newton’s method and the MM algorithm. It tends to converge more quickly than the MM algorithm and to behave more stably than Newton’s method. Quasi-Newton methods also occupy this intermediate zone. Because the issues are complex, all of these algorithms survive and prosper in certain computational niches.
DUAL PATHWAYS FOR GTP-DEPENDENT REGULATION OF CHEMOATTRACTANT-ACTIVATED K+CONDUCTANCE IN MURINE J774 MONOCYTES

Abstract Whole-cell patch clamp recording and digital imaging microscopy were used to investigate the electrical and calcium signaling responses of murine J774 monocytes to chemoattractants and other calcium-mobilizing agonists. A latent outwardly rectifying K+ conductance, GkOR, was elicited within seconds by each of the following agonists: C5a, ATP, ADP, interleukin-8, and the adenosine analog 5'-(N-ethylcarboxamido)-adenosine. In terms of its pharmacologic profile and current-voltage (I-V) relation, GkOR was very similar to a P2 purinoceptor-activated K+ conductance previously described in rat mast cells and to a K+ conductance elicited in J774 cells by the GTP analog guanosine 5'-O-(3-thiotriphosphate). Agonist-induced elevation of calcium, primarily due to intracellular release, and the induction of GkOR both required a GTP-binding protein of the Gi family, as both events were blocked by pertussis toxin; intracellular dialysis with guanosine 5'-O-(2-thiodiphosphate) also prevented the induction of GkOR, further implicating mediation by a G protein. Induction of GkOR did not depend upon influx of Ca2+, as it occurred equally well when the concentration of external Ca2+ was 100 nM or 2 mM. We attempted to uncouple agonist-induced calcium release from induction of GkOR by dialyzing the cell cytoplasm with Ca(2+)-EGTA or Ca(2+)-1,2-bis-(2-aminophenoxy)ethane-N,N,N',N'-tetraacetic acid (BAPTA) buffers before agonist application. When the concentration of free Ca2+ ([Ca2+]i) was set to approximately 15 nM with 1.1 or 11 mM EGTA, a "slow"Ca2+ buffer, 10 nM C5a induced a large GkOR (11 nS at 1.1 mM EGTA versus 13.4 nS at 11 mM EGTA). Surprisingly, when [Ca2+]i was buffered at 15 nM with 10 mM BAPTA, a "rapid" Ca2+ buffer, C5a elicited a much smaller although significant K+ conductance (approximately 3 nS). Systematic increase in cytosolic [Ca2+]i upon dialysis with a series of 10 mM BAPTA-Ca2+ buffers (15-2400 nM [Ca2+]i) revealed activation of a very large K+ conductance (maximum 17.4 nS), even in the presumed absence of receptor stimulation. This conductance had a similar I-V relationship to GkOR, and activation occurred within the range of [Ca2+]i observed in intact cells following stimulation with C5a or ADP (EC50 approximately 475 nM [Ca2+]i). Activation of Gk thus may proceed in part via the release of intracellular calcium from a source in close proximity to the channel or other calcium-binding regulatory protein.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)
Methods to Improve the Selection and Tailoring of Implementation Strategies.

Implementing behavioral health interventions is a complicated process. It has been suggested that implementation strategies should be selected and tailored to address the contextual needs of a given change effort; however, there is limited guidance as to how to do this. This article proposes four methods (concept mapping, group model building, conjoint analysis, and intervention mapping) that could be used to match implementation strategies to identified barriers and facilitators for a particular evidence-based practice or process change being implemented in a given setting. Each method is reviewed, examples of their use are provided, and their strengths and weaknesses are discussed. The discussion includes suggestions for future research pertaining to implementation strategies and highlights these methods’ relevance to behavioral health services and research.
Psychrophilic microorganisms from areas associated with the Viking spacecraft.

Microorganisms capable of growth at 7 C were enumerated and isolated from soil samples from the manufacture and assembly areas of the Viking spacecraft. Populations ranging from 4.2 × 103 to 7.7 × 106/g of soil were isolated from the 15 soil samples examined. Temperature requirements were determined, and those growing at 3 C, but not at 32 C, were designated as obligate psychrophiles in this investigation. Populations of soil bacteria, including aerobic sporeformers, ranging from 1.5 × 102 to 9.8 × 105/g were capable of growth at 3 C, but not at 32 C. Bacterial isolates were identified to major generic groups. No psychrophilic sporeformers were isolated from soil from the manufacture area, but psychrophilic sporeformers ranged from 0 to 6.1 × 103/g from soil from the assembly area.
Parton showers as sources of energy-momentum deposition in the quark-gluon plasma and their implication for shockwave formation at energies available at the BNL Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider and at the CERN Large Hadron Collider

We derive the distribution of energy and momentum transmitted from a primary fast parton and its medium-induced bremsstrahlung gluons to a thermalized quark-gluon plasma. Our calculation takes into account the important and thus far neglected effects of quantum interference between the resulting color currents. We use our result to obtain the rate at which energy is absorbed by the medium as a function of time to leading logarithmic accuracy. We find that the quantum color interference persists for time scales relevant to heavy ion phenomenology. We further couple the newly derived source of energy and momentum deposition to linearized hydrodynamics to obtain the bulk medium response to realistic parton propagation and splitting in the quark-gluon plasma. We find that because of the characteristic large angle in-medium gluon emission and the multiple sources of energy deposition in a parton shower, formation of well defined Mach cones by energetic jets in heavy ion reactions is not likely.
Differential sensitivity of virgin and memory T lymphocytes to calcium ionophores suggests a buoyant density separation method and a model for memory cell hyporesponsiveness to Con A.

Previous work from this laboratory has indicated that murine memory T cells differ from virgin T cells in that the former are more resistant to agents that alter intracellular [Ca]i. We have used this difference to devise a method for separating virgin from memory T cells by centrifugation over an ionomycin-containing Percoll step gradient after brief exposure to 2 microM ionomycin. Under these conditions, those T cells that are most sensitive to ionomycin-induced changes in [Ca]i become more dense and therefore travel further into the Percoll/ionomycin gradient than cells that are more resistant to ionomycin. We show that the ionomycin-resistant cell population is enriched for cells that express high levels of Pgp-1 (CD44), and low levels of CD45RB, and thus appears to consist largely of memory T cells. Both CD4 and CD8 cells can be divided into Pgp-1hi and Pgp-1lo subsets in this way. Cells recovered from such a gradient and washed to remove the ionomycin appear normally functional, i.e., neither more nor less responsive to mitogens and costimuli than untreated cells. Limiting dilution methods show that the ionomycin-sensitive (virgin) subset contains most of the Con A-responsive precursors for cytotoxicity, and most of the cells able to produce IL-2 in responses to Con A or staphylococcal enterotoxin B. Ag-specific helper memory cells are, however, found predominantly in the ionomycin-resistant fraction of the spleen and draining lymph nodes of mice infected with Schistosoma mansoni. Changes in resistance to calcium signal development may represent a fundamental distinction between virgin and memory T cells, and could contribute to differences in activation requirements between these two cell subsets.
Effects of emitting layer host composition profile on the recombination zone of blue phosphorescent organic light emitting diodes

The spatial distribution of charge recombination in blue phosphorescent organic light-emitting diodes with linearly graded, step-graded and uniformly mixed host architectures was identified by selective doping of the emissive layer. Using TCTA and UGH-3 for hole and electron transporting hosts in the emitting layer, the recombination zones were found to be near the interface with electron transport layer due to the relatively high hole mobility of TCTA. For linearly graded host concentration profiles, however, the recombination region extends much further into the emissive layer. Expansion of the recombination region increases device efficiency by reducing quenching at the interface with the electron transport layer or by reducing triplet diffusion into the electron transport layer.
Cryoablation as a Replacement for Surgical Resection in Early Stage Breast Cancer

With improvements in technology, freezing malignant tissue (cryoablation) as an alternative to surgery has been used to treat cancers of the skin, prostate, liver, lung, and bone. There is significant interest in cryoablation of breast cancer. Potential advantages over lumpectomy include the minimally invasive nature of the treatment, improved cosmetic results, patient comfort, decreased costs, and the possible immune response to the ablated tissue. Several pre-clinical and clinical studies have demonstrated both the feasibility of breast cancer cryoablation and the generation of an anti-tumor immune response, and clinical experience with cryoablation of benign breast tumors is growing. The ongoing American College of Surgeons Oncology Group Trial Z1072, a phase II trial examining the success of breast cancer cryoablation, is an important first step in possibly replacing lumpectomy with cryoablation for a subset of breast cancer patients. This article reviews the breast cryoablation literature to date and discusses the directions the field needs to move in to realize that goal.
Nonleptonic decays of the intermediate boson

Decays of the weak-interaction intermediate boson into two pseudoscalar mesons or into a pseudoscalar and a vector meson are calculated. The ratios of various decay modes predicted by the octet hypothesis for the weak interaction current and by assumed transformation properties untoG are given.
PHYSICAL-CHEMICAL APPROACHES FOR THE ENVIRONMENTALLY SOUND DISPOSAL OF AN OIL SHALE RETORT WATER

ABSTRACT The extraction of shale oil produces relatively large volumes of polluted process water. These waters contain large concentrations of organic and inorganic pollutants as well as environmentally significant amounts of trace materials. These substances either individually or in combination can be highly toxic to environmental systems. This paper addresses a suggested cleanup sequence designed to remove specific pollutants and to detoxify these waters. Hot gas stripping, followed by activated carbon adsorption and reverse osmosis removed over 93 percent of the total organic carbon load while also reducing the.toxicity of the resultant effluent as measured by a standard technique. Depending upon the ultimate use of these waters, the suggested treatment sequence or its individual components could be employed at a pilot or commercial scale retorting facility.
Geographical Patterning of Interannual Rainfall Variability in the Tropics and Near Tropics: An L-Moments Approach

Abstract Interannual rainfall variability has important effects for the evolution of biotic and human communities. Historical records of monthly rainfall totals for 1492 stations within 30° of the equator were analyzed using the method of L-moments. The 0.1 quantile (QU10), or the proportion of mean annual rainfall expected in the driest year in 10, was selected as the measure of variability. A nonlinear regression was fit to the relationship between QU10 and mean annual rainfall, and regions were categorized into three classes on the basis of the residuals: the 25% with the most negative, the 25% with the most positive, and the middle 50%. Maps of the global and regional patterns of rainfall variability show marked geographical patterning of variability and identify areas where rainfall variability may be a particularly important environmental feature.
Influence of food and fluid ingestion on aspirin bioavailability

The influence of test meals and accompanying fluid volume on aspirin bioavailability from commercial tablets was determined following single oral doses to healthy male volunteers. Plasma aspirin and salicylate levels were determined simultaneously using a GLC end-point. Area analysis indicated that approximately 5–8% of absorbed drug entered the systemic circulation as unchanged aspirin in nonfasted subjects compared to 16–18% in fasted individuals. Food tended to reduce the appearance rate of aspirin into the circulation, resulting in lower and somewhat more sustained levels than with fasting. Plasma salicylate levels were not influenced markedly by the various treatments, although levels were higher in fasted than in nonfasted subjects during the 1st hr after dosing. After this time, fat pretreatment tended to produce higher levels than other treatments.
The Long Noncoding RNAs NEAT1 and MALAT1 Bind Active Chromatin Sites

Mechanistic roles for many lncRNAs are poorly understood, in part because their direct interactions with genomic loci and proteins are difficult to assess. Using a method to purify endogenous RNAs and their associated factors, we mapped the genomic binding sites for two highly expressed human lncRNAs, NEAT1 and MALAT1. We show that NEAT1 and MALAT1 localize to hundreds of genomic sites in human cells, primarily over active genes. NEAT1 and MALAT1 exhibit colocalization to many of these loci, but display distinct gene body binding patterns at these sites, suggesting independent but complementary functions for these RNAs. We also identified numerous proteins enriched by both lncRNAs, supporting complementary binding and function, in addition to unique associated proteins. Transcriptional inhibition or stimulation alters localization of NEAT1 on active chromatin sites, implying that underlying DNA sequence does not target NEAT1 to chromatin, and that localization responds to cues involved in the transcription process.
A novel chromium(0)-promoted four-component cycloaddition reaction.

Reaction of (η6-thiepin-1,1-dioxide)tricarbonylchromium(0) with excess terminal alkynes under photoactivation conditions affords novel pentacyclic adducts formally derived from a sequential [6π + 2...
Correction of susceptibility-induced distortion in Diffusion Tensor Imaging with a moment-based phase unwrapping method

Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI) is a powerful technique for non-invasive characterisation of normal and pathological tissues, however, it is vulnerable to geometric distortions caused by magnetic field inhomogeneity. In this work, we present a phase unwrapping method that is based on the method of moments. The algorithm is used to generate magnetic field maps and correct susceptibility-induced distortions. MR datasets were acquired using a 3T MRI scanner to investigate consistency of distortion correction by the proposed method. The results demonstrate the relative consistency of the resultant distortion correction, which is critical for longitudinal studies of human diseases using DTI.
Template-Directed, Near-Ambient Synthesis of Au–TiO2–Au Heterojunction Nanowires Mediated by Self-Assembled Monolayers (SAMs)

Abstract The feasibility of synthesizing metal–oxide–metal (MOM) heterojunction nanowires in the Au–TiO 2 –Au system is demonstrated. The synthesis method presented here entails sequential metal-electroplating and SAMs-mediated deposition of oxide from liquid precursors, inside nanoholes of anodic aluminum oxide (AAO) templates. This synthesis method could be used to synthesize MOM nanowires in other systems, and it has the potential to provide control over the structure and characteristics of the resulting MOM nanowires. The heterojunction nature of the MOM nanowires has several potential advantages over all-oxide nanowires, and MOM nanowires are likely to be useful as 1-dimensional building blocks in nanoelectronics applications, and in fundamental studies of nanoscale functional oxides.