cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
What it takes to stick it out: two veteran inner‐city teachers after 25 years

This study considers the lives of two veteran, urban high school teachers who have persisted in the profession over several decades, and who demonstrate an investment and enthusiasm for the work that is unusual among teachers in ‘difficult’ schools. Through ethnographic, open‐ended interviews and observations, the study seeks to identify those traits of character that serve to support both longevity and ongoing engagement among urban veterans. Those traits are identified here as psychological hardiness, narcissism, and an all‐consuming love of subject. The study, though only anecdotal, seems to suggest that administrators and policy‐makers would do well to broaden their definition of good teaching and solicit the expertise of this overlooked and valuable cohort.
Assessing Career Indecision

Abstract This paper discusses Holland's work toward the understanding and measurement of career indecision that has grown out of his long-term theoretical and empirical efforts. A general review of the history of career decision-making measures is included, along with a brief discussion of the applications of career theory and measures to practices in counseling.
READABILITY AND COMPREHENSIBILITY OF SELECTED EIGHTH GRADE SOCIAL STUDIES TEXTBOOKS

Textbook selection committees tend to assume that publishers have accurately calculated grade level reading ranges for their materials. Axelrod (1) has challeng-d that assumption. The present study examined four social studies textbooks: Ball (2), Brandwein (4), Dicker (6), and Nava (8). Predicted reading levels for the four books were calculated by the Dale-Chall (5) formula. Then a comparison of the publishers' announced reading levels and the Dale-Chall reading levels was made by the sign test, as suggested by Ericksen (7), where the null hypothesis was that publishers' levels = Dale-Chall levels, and the alternative hypothesis was that publishers' levels # Dale-Chall levels. Since alpha = 0.05 and IG is bidirectional, the rejection region was: Z > 1.96 and Z < -1.96. The obtained value of Z was -0.75, where all signs were negative, therefore the positive signs were 0. The publishers' reading levels for all four books were below those predicted by the Dale-Chall formula. Since Z = -0.75 does not fall in the rejection region, the null hypothesis was accepted. Taking the same texts, 130 Ss were given a series of Cloze tests for comprehensibility. The object was to obtain an index reflecting the degree of association between reading levels of the texts and students' comprehension of selected reading passages. As suggested by Bormuth (3), the Cloze mean scores and their related standard deviations indicated that the texts were too difficult for 72% of the Ss. By interpretation, 72% of the Ss were functionally reading on the frustration level, and 28% of the Ss were functionally reading those materials on the instructional level. Clearly the Ss who were frustrated with the difficulty of the assigned textbooks needed materials with lower readability levels if they were to comprehend what they were to read.
STAFFING AND TRAINING: NEGLECTED SUPERVISORY FUNCTIONS RELATED TO GROUP PERFORMANCE

The study was conducted in 43 library work groups. Supervisory role performances were measured by averaging questionnaire responses gathered from each group's members. Group performance was measured by questionnaire responses gathered from the supervisors of the groups. (The supervisors'performance assessments were tested against the members'perceptions, absence rates, and group ratings provided by the top executive staff of the library system). The study identified eight leadership functions which are performed differentially by the supervisors of the groups. Four of these role performances are related to the index of group performance. Two of the supervisors’activities, staffing and training, control major portions of the variance in group performance.
Number-Displacement Degrees of Freedom in Nuclear Rotational Theory

A new degree of freedom associated with shifting of particles between the even-parity-orbitals system and the odd-parity-orbitals system is introduced in the study of the nuclear rotational problem. It is found that this new mode contributes significantly to the deviation from the I(I+ l) rule, with correction terms comparable to the Coriolis antipairing effect. (auth)
Tensile Properties of Aromatically and Aliphatically Modified Wool Fibers Under Alkaline Conditions as a Function of Temperature

The effect of temperature and pH on the tenacity, elongation at break, initial modulus, yield point, and yield slope was studied for untreated raw wool fibers, acetylated wool fibers, and phenylisocyanate treated wool fibers immersed in water. The mechanical property data is interpreted in terms of the temperature and pH dependence of the formation of lanthionine and lysinoalanine in the untreated raw wool, the stabilization of the cystine linkage and inhibition of lysinoalanine formation in the phenylisocyanate treated wool, and the lack of cystine stabilization and inhibition of both lysinoalanine and lanthionine formation in the acetylated wool. In addition, the influence of the α-β transition of the keratin structure on yield behavior is discussed.
LOGISTICS LEARNING CAPABILITY: SUSTAINING THE COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE GAINED THROUGH LOGISTICS LEVERAGE

Many firms now place emphasis on leveraging logistics capabilities as a source of competitive advantage. This manuscript suggests that the key to sustaining this competitive position is through adopting learning principles in logistics. As such, a logistics learning capability framework is presented, including the components of an effective learning-based logistics organization. Research propositions, an in-depth case study and implications are presented to further support the learning capability framework suggested and highlight the importance of learning in today's hypercompetitive global supply chain environment.
Enhanced accumulation of 5-Fluorouracil in human tumors in athymic mice by co-administration of Ftorafur and Uracil

Human colonic tumors grown in athymic mice were tested for the effect of coincident uracil (U) and Ftorafur (FT) exposure versus FT alone on 5-Fluorouracil (5-FU) metabolism. Serum and tumor FT and 5-FU levels were studied as a function of time after FT +/- U injections. The combination of U + FT led to significantly higher tumor/serum 5-FU ratios than FT alone. The data indicate that the metabolism of 5-FU released from FT can be modulated by coincident U exposure in human tumor cells in vivo. Such combinations may be of use in the development of oral 5-FU pro-drugs for applications using 5-FU as an out-patient non-invasive radiosensitizer.
Abstract 3401: Inter-individual variation in MUC5B allele specific expression in normal bronchial epithelial cells and relationship to lung cancer

Proceedings: AACR Annual Meeting 2014; April 5-9, 2014; San Diego, CA Background: Familial interstitial pneumonia and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis are associated with increased risk of lung cancer. Seibold et al (NEJM, 2011) recently identified a common variant in the putative promoter of MUC5B (rs35705950) associated with level of MUC5B expression in lung tissue and also with development of these diseases. The goal of this study was to determine whether the MUC5B rs35705950 variant is associated with a) MUC5B allele-specific expression (ASE) or total expression in normal bronchial epithelial cells (NBEC) or b) lung cancer risk. Through funding in part from RC2 CA148572 and HL108016 we collected NBEC samples from over 500 subjects with lung cancer or at risk for lung cancer. Methods: This was a pilot study of 85 subjects (26 cancer cases and 59 non-cancer controls). RNA was extracted from normal bronchial airway brush NBEC specimens of 85 subjects and reverse transcribed. Using next generation sequencing (NGS), allele-specific expression (ASE) was measured as allelic imbalance in each cDNA at three marker SNPs in MUC5B coding region (rs2075859, rs2943510, and rs4963059) selected for common (>0.05) minor allele frequency, using matched peripheral blood cell gDNA as a control. Specifically, each cDNA and matched gDNA sample was subjected to targeted competitive template multiplex PCR amplicon library generation followed by NGS (Blomquist et al, PLOS one, 2013) on Illumina Hiseq platform. This NGS method controlled for inter-target variation in PCR amplification during library preparation by measuring each transcript native template relative to a known number of synthetic competitive template internal standard copies. The genotype at putative cis-regulatory SNP rs35705950 was assessed in gDNA from 95 subjects (31 cancer cases and 64 non-cancer controls) including those assessed for ASE using a TaqMan® SNP assay. Results: There was significant (p 3 log) but not associated with lung cancer. Conclusions: These results support previous observations that there is significant inter-individual variation in cis-regulation of MUC5B in NBEC and suggest that this variation also may contribute to inherited lung cancer risk. Lack of association between rs35705950 genotype and MUC5B ASE may have been due to role of other cis-regulatory factors, and/or environmentally associated transfactors that contributed to large inter-individual variation in total MUC5B expression. Citation Format: Xiaolu Zhang, Jiyoun Yeo, Erin L. Crawford, Thomas M. Blomquist, James C. Willey. Inter-individual variation in MUC5B allele specific expression in normal bronchial epithelial cells and relationship to lung cancer. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 105th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2014 Apr 5-9; San Diego, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2014;74(19 Suppl):Abstract nr 3401. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2014-3401
On confluently graph-like compacta

For any class K of compacta and any compactum X we say that: (a) X is conuently K-representable if X is homeomorphic to the inverse limit of an inverse sequence of members of K with conuen t bonding mappings, and (b) X is conuently K-like provided that X admits, for every " > 0, a conuen t "-mapping onto a member ofK. The symbolLC stands for the class of all locally connected compacta. It is proved in this paper that for each compactum X and each familyK of graphs, X is conuen tlyK- representable if and only if X is conuen tlyK-like. We also show that for any compactum the properties of: (1) being conuen tly graph-representable, and (2) being 1-dimensional and conuen tly LC-like, are equivalent. Consequently, all locally connected curves are conuen tly graph-representable. We also conclude that all conuen tly arc-like continua are homeomorphic to inverse limits of arcs with open bonding mappings, and all conuen tly tree-like continua are absolute retracts for hereditarily unicoherent continua.
MESSENGER RIBONUCLEIC ACID IN RAT LIVER NUCLEI AND CYTOPLASM.

The sedimentation pattern of “pulse” labeled ribonucleic acid was investigated in rat liver nuclei and cytoplasm. In parallel studies biological activity was measured, as defined by capacity to stimulate amino acid incorporation by a protein synthesizing system derived from Escherichia coli . In the microsomal fraction, these two characteristics—early labeling and biological activity—are found principally in 18 s RNA. Nuclear RNA with these characteristics is much more heterogeneous than is microsomal RNA. The proportion of early labeled and of biologically active material relative to total RNA is much higher in the nuclear than in the microsomal fraction.
Defective interfering particles of poliovirus. II. Nature of the defect.

Abstract Poliovirus defective, interfering particles in which about 15% of the standard viral RNA is deleted have been described (Cole et al., 1971). Stocks of DI ‡ particles more than 99% free of standard poliovirus were prepared by centrifugation of mixed preparations in CsCl gradients. Using purified DI particles, it was found that DI particles can carry out most of the standard poliovirus functions including inhibition of cellular macromolecular synthesis, production of viral RNA and production of virus-specific protein. Neither the kinetics nor extent of viral RNA or protein synthesis differed between DI particle-infected cells and standard virus-infected cells. Newly made virions, capsid proteins, and the capsid protein precursor (NCVP 1) were totally absent in DI particle-infected cells. All of the other viral proteins were present. DI-infected cells briefly labeled with amino acids also contained a new polypeptide, DI-P, which was apparently the residual fragment of NCVP 1 encoded by the DI genome. It was very unstable, being rapidly degraded to acid-soluble fragments. When the cleavage of viral proteins was inhibited with amino acid analogs, precursors of the viral proteins were generated. Those precursors which should have contained NCVP 1 had molecular weights 30,000 to 40,000 daltons lower in DI-infected cells than in standard virus-infected cells. This is the amount of protein encoded by 15% of the standard poliovirus genome which is the per cent of the standard RNA sequence not represented in DI RNA. Poliovirus DI particles therefore appear to be deletion mutants lacking RNA encoding about one-third of the capsid protein precursor. Whether the deletion is internal or terminal remains to be determined.
Control of pyruvate kinase flux during gluconeogenesis in isolated liver cells

Abstract 1. 1. With pyruvate as the gluconeogenic substrate, pyruvate kinase flux, estimated isotopically, and lactate formation were inhibited by glucagon, but only slightly affected by epinephrine. 2. 2. The glucagon effect was unchanged in the absence of calcium. 3. 3. Ethanol increased lactate formation from pyruvate, but depressed pyruvate kinase flux. 4. 4. These results support the role of pyruvate kinase m the cyclic mechanism which transfers mitochondrial reducing hydrogen to the cytosol. 5. 5. Glucagon and, to a lesser degree, epinephrine inhibit lactate formation from fructose or dihydroxyacetone. 6. 6. Ethanol also inhibits lactate formation from these substrates, suggesting the possibility that NADH may in some manner regulate pyruvate kinase flux.
Remyelination induced by a DNA aptamer in a mouse model of multiple sclerosis.

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a debilitating inflammatory disease of the central nervous system (CNS) characterized by local destruction of the insulating myelin surrounding neuronal axons. With more than 200 million MS patients worldwide, the absence of treatments that prevent progression or induce repair poses a major challenge. Anti-inflammatory therapies have met with limited success only in preventing relapses. Previous screening of human serum samples revealed natural IgM antibodies that bind oligodendrocytes and promote both cell signaling and remyelination of CNS lesions in an MS model involving chronic infection of susceptible mice by Theiler’s encephalomyelitis virus and in the lysolecithin model of focal demyelination. This intriguing result raises the possibility that molecules with binding specificity for oligodendrocytes or myelin components may promote therapeutic remyelination in MS. Because of the size and complexity of IgM antibodies, it is of interest to identify smaller myelin-specific molecules with the ability to promote remyelination in vivo. Here we show that a 40-nucleotide single-stranded DNA aptamer selected for affinity to murine myelin shows this property. This aptamer binds multiple myelin components in vitro. Peritoneal injection of this aptamer results in distribution to CNS tissues and promotes remyelination of CNS lesions in mice infected by Theiler’s virus. Interestingly, the selected DNA aptamer contains guanosine-rich sequences predicted to induce folding involving guanosine quartet structures. Relative to monoclonal antibodies, DNA aptamers are small, stable, and non-immunogenic, suggesting new possibilities for MS treatment.
Permanent supportive housing for domestic violence victims: program theory and client perspectives

The US Violence Against Women Act of 2005 allocated $10 million to support collaborative efforts to create permanent housing options for domestic violence victims. Such programs are relatively new and rare, and up to now little research has examined their efficacy. This research investigates one permanent housing option, the permanent supportive housing model, through an exploratory case study of a Connecticut-based program currently being developed. The study compares the program design articulated by administrators and advocates with perspectives of domestic violence agency clients. Findings indicate important differences between the program activities and goals articulated by administrators, and those preferred by clients. Although everyone agreed that personal safety was a priority, administrators stressed independence and choice whereas clients sought a stricter, community-centered environment with time-limited stays. These themes can be used to develop hypotheses for larger studies and have importan...
Blockade of kappa opioid receptors attenuates the development of depressive-like behaviors induced by cocaine withdrawal in rats

Abstract Drug dependence is characterized by dysregulation of brain reward systems and increased sensitivity to stress. Chronic exposure to drugs of abuse is associated with increased expression of the neuropeptide dynorphin, the endogenous ligand for kappa opioid receptors (KORs). Activation of KORs causes depressive- and aversive-like responses in rodents, raising the possibility that drug-induced upregulation of dynorphin plays a role independence-associated negative states. Here we used “binge” exposure to cocaine (3 daily intraperitoneal injections of 15 mg/kg for 14 days) to examine the development of dependence-like behavior in the intracranial self-stimulation (ICSS) test and the forced swim test (FST). When rats were tested 1 h before their first scheduled injection of each day—a period of drug withdrawal corresponding to 20 h after their last injection on the previous day—there were exposure-dependent increases in ICSS thresholds (a putative indicator of anhedonia) and decreases in latencies to immobility in the FST (a putative indicator of behavioral despair). Administration of the long-lasting KOR antagonist norBNI (20 μg, intracerebroventricular) before the beginning of the binge regimen attenuated the development of cocaine withdrawal-induced anhedonia in the ICSS test. In contrast, administration of norBNI in the midst of the binge regimen had no effect on expression of cocaine withdrawal-induced anhedonia in the ICSS test, although it did attenuate despair-like behavior in the FST. These data suggest that blockade of KORs before exposure to a stressor (in this case, cocaine withdrawal or forced swimming) can attenuate the development of stress-induced behavioral adaptations. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled ‘Anxiety and Depression’.
Surgery of the aging chin

In surgery of the aging face, one must look at all anatomic areas of the face requiring rejuvenation in order to produce a harmonious appearance. Traditional face lift techniques have emphasized specific areas, such as lower face and neck contour, but frequently, the appearance of the aging chin is the same following surgery unless a significant degree of chin deformity was noted preoperatively and corrected. Many techniques1–5 have been designed for the aging chin deformity utilizing dermal flaps, muscle flaps, and tissue excision. While results with these techniques can be excellent, the degree of difficulty developing various flaps, coupled with the potential for creating a permanent deformity, frequently causes the surgeon to omit aging chin rejuvenation while performing a face lift. In the course of developing the concept of the composite rhytidectomy,6, 7 I have developed a simple technique for surgery of the aging chin which can be utilized in every patient. It is used routinely to recontour the earliest signs of aging and is equally useful in the most advanced stages of the aging chin, including witch's chin deformity. It is particularly beneficial when doing a chin augmentation or a chin reduction.
Acid Excretion in Spontaneously Hypertensive Rats

SummarySHR excrete less ammonium than NWR and SD following water load and acute and chronic acidosis. Thus, their ability to handle acute and chronic acid challenge is impaired because of the lesser ammonium excretion. Since these differences in ammonium excretion cannot be related in entirety to urine flow, urine pH, and kidney mass, basic differences in vivo in renal metabolism of glutamine, the major precursor of renal ammonia, seem likely. Slices from chronically acidotic SHR compared to slices from chronically acidotic NWR produce less ammonia, suggesting some basic intrinsic difference in renal glutamine metabolism during persistent acidosis. Because these differences in slice ammoniagenesis are smaller than the differences in ammonium excretion, and because slices from nonaci-dotic SHR and NWR show no differences in ammoniagenesis, we feel that other in vivo factors, probably extrarenal, additionally decrease renal ammonia production in SHR.
Integration of Lidar Data into a Coupled Mesoscale–Land Surface Model: A Theoretical Assessment of Sensitivity of Urban–Coastal Mesoscale Circulations to Urban Canopy Parameters

AbstractUrban–coastal circulations affect urban weather, dispersion and transport of pollutants and contaminants, and climate. Proper characterization and prediction of thermodynamic and dynamic processes in such environments are warranted. A new generation of observation and modeling systems is enabling unprecedented characterization of the three-dimensionality of the urban environment, including morphological parameters. Urban areas of Houston, Texas, are classified according to lidar-measured building heights and assigned typical urban land surface parameters appropriate to each classification. The lidar data were degraded from 1 m to the model resolution (1 km) with the goal of evaluating the impact of degraded resolution urban canopy parameters (UCPs) and three-dimensionality on the coastal–urban mesoscale circulations in comparison to typical two-dimensional urban slab approaches. The study revealed complex interactions between the sea breeze and urban heat island and offers a novel diagnostic tool,...
Effects of a molecular beam epitaxy grown AlN passivation layer on AlGaN/GaN heterojunction field effect transistors

Abstract Thin AlN film was deposited as a passivation layer on the surface of post-processed AlGaN/GaN heterojunction field effect transistors (HFETs) by radio-frequency (RF) plasma induced molecular beam epitaxy. The AlN layer was grown at 150 °C in a migration enhanced epitaxy (MEE) mode using alternating beams of Al and N. Addition of this surface layer reduced RF channel current slump and RF full channel current at 8 GHz increased from 400 to 800 mA/mm. The saturated output power density of 0.3 μm × 100 μm HFETs at 8 GHz was doubled from 0.8 to 1.6 W/mm. Other characteristics of HFETs before and after the AlN deposition and materials properties of the low temperature grown AlN were measured. AlN surface layer appears an effective passivation for AlGaN/GaN HFETs.
Activation Mechanism of the CO Sensor CooA: MUTATIONAL AND RESONANCE RAMAN SPECTROSCOPIC STUDIES *

CooA is a CO-dependent heme protein transcription factor of the bacterium Rhodospirillum rubrum. CO binding to its heme causes CooA to bind DNA and activate expression of genes for CO metabolism. To understand the nature of CO activation, several CooA mutational variants have been studied by resonance Raman spectroscopy, in vivo activity measurements, and DNA binding assays. Analysis of the Fe–C and C–O stretching Raman spectroscopy bands permits the conclusion that when CO displaces the Pro2 heme ligand, the protein forms a hydrophobic pocket in which the C-helix residues Gly117, Leu116, and Ile113 are close to the bound CO. The displaced Pro2 terminus is expelled from this pocket, unless the pH is raised above the pKa , in which case the terminus remains in H-bond contact. The pKa for this transition is 8.6, two units below that of aqueous proline, reflecting the hydrophobic nature of the pocket. The proximal Fe–His bond in Fe[II]CooA is as strong as it is in myoglobin but is weakened by CO binding, an effect attributable to loss of an H-bond from the proximal His77 ligand to the adjacent Asn42 side chain. A structural model is proposed for the position of the CO-bound heme in the active form of CooA, which has implications for the mechanism of CO activation.
Neutrophil-lymphocyte and platelet-lymphocyte ratios as prognostic factors after stereotactic radiation therapy for early-stage non-small-cell lung cancer

Introduction The hematologic indices of neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) and platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (PLR) are correlated with clinical outcomes after stereotactic radiation. Methods We retrospectively evaluated the pretreatment NLR and PLR in patients treated with stereotactic radiation for early stage non–small-cell lung cancer at our institution. A total of 149 patients treated for non–small-cell lung cancer were identified, and 59 had stage I disease with neutrophil, platelet, and lymphocyte levels within a 3-month period before treatment. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis was performed to examine cutoff values for survival and nonlocal failure followed by Kaplan–Meier analysis for survival. Results With a median follow-up of 17 months, 28 deaths were observed, and the median overall survival for all patients was 43 months. Based on the ROC analysis, NLR and PLR cutoff values for further survival analysis were determined based on the ROC analysis to be 2.98 and 146. The median overall survival was not reached for patients with low NLR or PLR but the survival was 23 months for patients with high NLR or PLR. There was no correlation between NLR and nonlocal failure, but on multivariate analysis PLR was found to be associated with freedom from nonlocal failure. Nonlocal failure rates were 11% for patients with PLR less than 250 and 58% for PLR greater than 250 ( p Conclusion The pretreatment NLR and PLR represented significant prognostic indicators of survival in patients treated for early-stage non–small-cell lung carcinoma with stereotactic radiation. The PLR may be used as a prognostic indicator for nonlocal failure after stereotactic radiation for early-stage lung cancer.
Creating disaster-resilient communities: Evaluating the promise and performance of new urbanism

Conventional low-density development patterns have been cited as a partial explanation for increasing per capita losses from natural hazards in the United States. There is an emerging appeal for New Urbanist design as an alternative to conventional low-density development, and particular features of New Urbanist design make it theoretically amenable to reducing natural hazard losses. However, because New Urbanist developments are built at relatively high densities, they can exacerbate hazard risk when they locate in areas subject to natural hazards and do not incorporate sufficient hazard mitigation techniques such that hazard risk is adequately reduced. We present a comparative evaluation of 33 matched pairs of New Urbanist and conventional developments located in floodplains to evaluate whether New Urbanist developments are incorporating hazard mitigation techniques at a greater rate than are conventional developments. We find that New Urbanist design does not appear to make a difference in the use of hazard mitigation techniques. While New Urbanist developments use more hazard mitigation techniques on average than do conventional developments, this difference appears to stem not from the difference in design type but rather from increased local government technical assistance in the review of New Urbanist relative to conventional developments. We recommend that New Urbanist designers and local governments engage in more proactive land use planning and take more responsibility to make sure that hazard mitigation techniques are integrated into New Urbanist project site designs.
Kreemer Receives 2010 Geodesy Section Award

[1] Corne Kreemer received the 2010 Geodesy Section Award at the 2010 AGU Fall Meeting, held 13–17 December in San Francisco, Calif. The award is given in recognition of major advances in geodesy. It is a great pleasure for us to cite Corne Kreemer for the 2010 Geodesy Section Award, which is awarded to early-to middle-career scientists to recognize major advances in geodesy. Both of us have been very fortunate to have worked with Corne during this first phase of his career, starting with Bill Holt at State University of New York at Stony Brook and now with Geoff Blewitt at University of Nevada, Reno.
Steroid control of muscle remodeling during metamorphosis in Manduca sexta.

During metamorphosis in the tobacco hornworm, Manduca sexta, the abdominal body-wall muscle DEO1 is remodeled to form the adult muscle DE5. The degeneration of muscle DEO1 involves the dismantling of its contractile apparatus followed by the degeneration of muscle nuclei. As some nuclei are degenerating, others begin to incorporate 5-bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU), indicating the onset of nuclear proliferation. This proliferation is initially most evident at the site where the motoneuron contacts the muscle remnant. The developmental events involved in muscle remodeling are under the control of the steroid hormones, the ecdysteroids. The loss of the contractile elements of the larval muscle requires the rise and fall of the prepupal peak of ecdysteroids, whereas the subsequent loss of muscle nuclei is influenced by the slight rise in ecdysteroids seen after pupal ecdysis. Incorporation of BrdU by muscle nuclei depends on both the adult peak of the ecdysteroids and contact with the motoneuron. Unilateral axotomy blocks proliferation within the rudiment, but it does not block its subsequent differentiation into a very thin muscle in the adult. © 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Zero-delay broadcasting protocols for video-on-demand

Broadcasting protocols for video-on-demand continuously retransmit videos that are watched simultaneously by many viewers. Nearly all broadcasting protocols assume that the client set-top box has enough storage to store between 48 and 60 minutes of video. We propose to use this storage to anticipate the customer requests and to preload, say, the first 3 minutes of the top 16 to 20 videos. This would provide instantaneous access to these videos and also eliminate the extra bandwidth required to handle compressed video signal.We present two broadcasting protocols using partial preloading to eliminate this extra bandwidth. The first of these protocols, Polyharmonic Broadcasting with Partial Preloading (PHB-PP), partitions each video into between 20 and 160 segments of equal duration and allocates a separate data stream to each individual segment. Our second protocol, the Mayan Temple Broadcasting protocol, uses fewer data streams but requires more overall bandwidth.
Development of spiral shape photonic devices

This invited paper presents several passive devices containing long silicon photonic wires condensed into spirals. These devices present a large density factor due to their high ratio length over area that improves at the same time their efficiency and fabrication cost. The talk will present the basic equations of the waveguide shape as well as the design and performance of four passive devices under development at the Institute for Microstructural Sciences of the National Research Council Canada.
In situ ceramic layer growth on coated fuel particles dispersed in a zirconium metal matrix

Abstract The extent and nature of the chemical interaction between the outermost coating layer of coated fuel particles embedded in zirconium metal during fabrication of metal matrix microencapsulated fuels were examined. Various particles with outermost coating layers of pyrocarbon, SiC, and ZrC have been investigated in this study. ZrC–Zr interaction was the least substantial, while the PyC–Zr reaction can be exploited to produce a ZrC layer at the interface in an in situ manner. The thickness of the ZrC layer in the latter case can be controlled by adjusting the time and temperature during processing. The kinetics of ZrC layer growth is significantly faster from what is predicted using literature carbon diffusivity data in ZrC. SiC–Zr interaction is more complex and results in formation of various chemical phases in a layered aggregate morphology at the interface.
Modeling canopy openness and understory gap patterns based on image analysis and mapped tree data

Ecological relationships beneath a forest canopy are related spatially to the pattern of canopy gaps and sunlight penetration. Methods to characterize and predict canopy light patterns from easily gathered site inventory data are not readily available. We developed a model to estimate the proportion and distribution of canopy openings visible from the under-story, in lieu of hemispherical photography or field instrumentation. An automated procedure for constructing vertical wide-angle views of forest canopies using standard computer-aided design (CAD) software was applied to canopy structure data collected on individual mapped trees in old-growth plots. Vertical hemispherical photos of actual canopies were paired with constructed CAD views of the same point to evaluate the correspondence between the two. Using image analysis software, we assessed total canopy openness (CO) and largest gap size (GAP) on 324 image pairs from seven different plots. With the exception of one plot, a single quadratic model form fit the remaining observations, resulting in r2 values over 50% between CAD and photo images. We could not adequately model a plot with heavy non-tree understory vegetation. We also compared contour maps of CO gradients from the CAD images and estimates from the regression model to the photographic images to evaluate whether spatial distributions of canopy openings were correctly captured by the constructed model approach. Visual observations of the gradient map show peaks and valleys in canopy openness that visually match openness on photos at corresponding locations in the plot. Lastly, we found a relatively stable correspondence in the distribution of gap sizes between photographic and CAD images. The models presented here may be applied to known or simulated patterns of tree data to derive a spatially-explicit estimation of gap patterns without the need for corresponding photography or instrumentation.
Prophylaxis or No Prophylaxis before Transesophageal Echocardiography

The rationale for prevention of endocarditis is obvious. Infective endocarditis is a serious disease that carries with it significant mortality and morbidity. Even though the etiologic organisms can be effectively treated with appropriate antimicrobial therapy, the disease often leaves behind an unwelcome legacy of valvular destruction, resulting in shortened life span of the patient who was considered clinically and microbiologically cured. Therefore, prevention of endocarditis remains a worthwhile goal. Transient bacteremia can occur with many medical and surgical procedures, and the use of antibiotics to prevent endocarditis in the high-risk patient has become an accepted medical practice. This treatment is based on the premise that microbial seeding of the valve can be prevented by prior administration of antibiotics, • but lack of controlled clinical trials documenting a definite beneficial effect of antimicrobial prophylaxis for the prevention of endocarditis makes this one of the controversial issues in the practice of medicine. Transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) is a technology that has gained widespread acceptance in the practice of cardiology. There are some similarities between the technique of TEE and upper gastrointestinal endoscopy. Transducers used to perform TEE procedures are modifications of conventional, oftentimes older-generation endoscopes that have fallen into disuse among our colleagues in gastrointestinal endoscopy. These transducers can potentially cause gingival, pharyngeal, and esophageal mucosal trauma. Since indications for TEE naturally predispose a patient population with a high prevalence of hemodynamically significant valvular lesions, the question of the need for antimicrobial prophylaxis for infective endocarditis is an important issue. Only a small proportion of all cases of bacterial endocarditis can be attributed to transient bacteremia caused by medical or surgical procedures. Hence, the
An assessment of the impacts of energy taxes

Abstract This paper examines the impact of an increase in the gasoline tax and the imposition of a tax on crude oil and natural gas on the United States economy. The analytical approach used in the analysis consists of a general equilibrium model composed of 12 producing sectors, 13 consuming sectors, six household categories classified by income, and a government. The effects of a 10 cents per gallon and a 25 cents per gallon increase in the tax on gasoline and the impact of a $1.00 per barrel and a $5.00 per barrel tax on crude oil and natural gas on prices and quantities are examined. The results are revealing. For example, a 10 cents per gallon tax increase on gasoline would result in lower output by the producing sectors (by about $5.795 billion), lower consumption of goods and services (by about $5.910 billion), and a reduction in welfare (by about $7.607 billion). The government would realize an increase in revenue of about $4.970 billion. In the case of a $1.00 per barrel tax on crude oil and natural gas, there would be lower output by the producing sectors (by about $5.238 billion), lower consumption of goods and services (by about $5.093 billion), and a reduction in welfare (by about $4.992 billion). The government would realize an increase in revenue of $3.964 billion.
Vision-based bicyclist detection and tracking for intelligent vehicles

This paper presents a vision-based framework for intelligent vehicles to detect and track people riding bicycles in urban traffic environments. To deal with dramatic appearance changes of a bicycle according to different viewpoints as well as nonrigid nature of human appearance, a method is proposed which employs complementary detection and tracking algorithms. In the detection phase, we use multiple view-based detectors: frontal, rear, and right/left side view. For each view detector, a linear Support Vector Machine (SVM) is used for object classification in combination with Histograms of Oriented Gradients (HOG) which is one of the most discriminative features. Furthermore, a real-time enhancement for the detection process is implemented using the Integral Histogram method and a coarse-to-fine cascade approach. Tracking phase is performed by a multiple patch-based Lucas-Kanade tracker. We first run the Harris corner detector over the bounding box which is the result of our detector. Each of the corner points can be a good feature to track and, in consequence, becomes a template of each instance of multiple Lucas-Kanade trackers. To manage the set of patches efficiently, a novel method based on spectral clustering algorithm is proposed. Quantitative experiments have been conducted to show the effectiveness of each component of the proposed framework.
Machine-extracted eye gaze features: how well do they correlate to sight-reading abilities of piano players?

Skilled piano players are able to decipher and play a musical piece they had never seen before (a skill known as sight-reading). For a sample of 23 piano players of various abilities we consider the correlation between machine-extracted gaze path features and the overall human rating. We find that correlation values (between machine-extracted gaze features and overall human ratings) are statistically similar to correlation values between human-extracted task-related ratings (e.g., note accuracy, error rate) and overall human ratings. These high correlation values suggest that an eye tracking-enabled computer could help students assess their sight-reading abilities, and could possibly advise students on how to improve. The approach could be extended to any musical instrument. For keyboard players, a MIDI keyboard with the appropriate software to provide information about note accuracy and timing could complement feedback from an eye tracker to enable more detailed analysis and advice.
Pharmacotherapy of disorders of plasma lipoprotein metabolism.

Pharmacologic intervention for altering plasma lipoproteins is aimed principally at reducing atherogenesis and thereby preventing coronary artery disease. These drugs should be prescribed only after nonpharmacologic interventions (reduction of saturated fat and cholesterol consumption, weight reduction, aerobic exercise, cessation of cigarette smoking) have failed to achieve an adequate effect. The plasma concentration of the atherogenic low-density lipoprotein (LDL) may be reduced in hypercholesterolemic patients by increasing hepatic LDL receptor synthesis (bile acid sequestering resins, 3-hydroxy-3-methyl-glutaryl coenzyme A reductase inhibitors) or by reducing hepatic very low density lipoprotein synthesis (gemfibrozil, nicotinic acid). LDL concentration may also be reduced by treatment with one of the fibrates (e.g., fenofibrate). Several classes of lipid-lowering drugs also increase the plasma high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol concentration. In the case of the fibrates, this appears to be principally mediated through an increase in lipoprotein lipase activity. Gemfibrozil additionally stimulates apolipoprotein AI synthesis. The increase in HDL cholesterol produced by nicotinic acid is due primarily to decreased clearance of HDL particles from the circulation. The increase in HDL concentration produced by gemfibrozil was shown in the Helsinki Heart Study to make a major contribution to a reduced incidence of coronary artery disease, independently of that made by the decrease in LDL. The Cholesterol-Lowering Atherosclerosis Study demonstrated that combined therapy with a resin (colestipol) and nicotinic acid can reduce the progression of coronary atherosclerosis and the development of graft lesions in patients who have undergone coronary artery bypass graft surgery.
Should there be pediatric neurohospitalists

Hospitalist medicine has gown rapidly over the past decade in response to increasing complexity of hospitalized patients, financial pressures, and a national call for improved quality and safety outcomes. An adult neurohospitalist model of care has recently emerged to address these factors and the need for inpatient neurologists who offer expertise and immediate availability for emergent neurologic conditions such as acute stroke and status epilepticus. Similarly, hospitalized children with acute neurologic disorders require a uniquely high level of care, which increasingly cannot be delivered by pediatric neurologists with busy outpatient practices or by pediatric hospitalists without specialized training. This perspective explores the concept of a pediatric neurohospitalist model of care, including the potential impact on quality of care, hospitalization costs, and education.
Dietary sodium, potassium, and alcohol: key players in the pathophysiology, prevention, and treatment of human hypertension

Western industrialized societies are currently experiencing an epidemic expansion of hypertension (HTN), which extends alarmingly even to children and adolescents. HTN constitutes an independent risk factor for cardiorenal disease and represents an extremely common comorbidity of diabetes and obesity. Numerous randomized clinical trials and meta-analyses have provided robust scientific evidence that reduced dietary salt intake, increased dietary potassium intake, moderation of alcohol consumption, optimal weight maintenance, and the adoption of "heart-friendly" dietary patterns such as the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension or the Mediterranean diet can effectively lower blood pressure. Interestingly, the susceptibility of blood pressure to nutritional interventions is greatly variable among individuals, depending on age, race, genetic background, and comorbidities. The purpose of this review is to provide a comprehensive overview of currently available scientific evidence in the constantly evolving field of diet and HTN, placing particular emphasis on the key role of dietary sodium, dietary potassium, and alcohol intake in the pathophysiology, prevention, and treatment of human hypertension.
Structural and stratigraphic setting of the Alto allochthon, northeast Georgia

The Alto allochthon is a postmetamorphic crystalline thrust sheet within the metamorphic core of the southern Appalachian orogen. The Toccoa Falls-Shorts Mill thrust fault separates structurally overlying migmatitic sillimanite- bearing Tallulah Falls Formation (?) rocks of the Alto allochthon from upper-greenschist/lower-amphibolite-facies rocks of the Chauga belt. Early D 1 -D 2 structures are truncated by the Toccoa Falls-Shorts Mill fault, suggesting emplacement of the allochthon subsequent to their formation. Later D 4 -D 5 structures appear to postdate thrusting, and the allochthon is preserved in an open F 4 synform. Emplacement of the allochthon was probably coincident with the formation of D 3 structures. Two distinct episodes of mylonitization have affected the rocks of the Alto allochthon. Early middle- to upper-greenschist-facies mylonites are locally developed along the Toccoa Falls-Shorts Mill fault. Along the northwestern margin,these early mylonites are overprinted by a more pervasive episode of lower temperature (lower-greenschist-facies) retrogressive mylonitization associated with deformation within the Brevard fault zone. Lithologic sequences within the Alto allochthon may be correlated with successions in both the eastern Blue Ridge (Tallulah Falls Formation) and the Inner Piedmont. Structural and stratigraphic data suggest that the allochthon is rooted to the southeast in the Inner Piedmont.
Cortical reaction and zona hardening in mouse oocytes following exposure to ethanol

Mouse oocytes were treated with 8% ethanol for 3-6 min. The rate and pathways of parthenogenetic activation, occurrence of cortical reaction, and zona solubility changes were assessed in alcohol-treated eggs. The incidence of parthenogenetic activation was greatest (91%) after 3-4-min exposure, and it was reduced (84%) after 5-6-min exposure to alcohol. Also, the rate of haploid single pronucleate parthenogenones decreased and the rate of fragmented ova increased with increase time of exposure to ethanol. Ultrastructural observations showed occurrence of cortical reaction, disappearance and subsequent reappearance of short microvilli. A slight damage occurred to the ER in alcohol-exposed ova. The zona dissolution assay utilizing alpha-chymotrypsin demonstrated decreased solubility of the zonae pellucidae after exposure to alcohol. The zona dissolution t50 increased from 0.5-2.5 min in nontreated unfertilized oocytes to about 4 h in activated ova. The t50 of in vivo fertilized eggs was 4 1/2 h. Empty zonae exposed to alcohol lysed at the same rate as nontreated control zonae did. The results indicate that activation of mouse oocytes with alcohol initiates completion of meiosis and triggers the cortical reaction, which results in subsequent hardening of the zona pellucida.