cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Analytical Calculation of Maximum Radiated Power and Surface Wave Loss of Printed Antennas on Thick Anisotropic Substrates

A new approximation for the Green's function of a grounded anisotropic dielectric slab is proposed to obtain closed-form analytical expressions for the maximum radiated power of a short printed dipole on an anisotropic substrate. The corresponding surface wave power can also be accurately estimated as a root of a cubic polynomial which makes it possible to compute radiation efficiency due to surface wave loss analytically.
STL-seq reveals pause-release and termination kinetics for promoter-proximal paused RNA polymerase II transcripts.

Summary Despite the critical regulatory function of promoter-proximal pausing, the influence of pausing kinetics on transcriptional control remains an active area of investigation. Here, we present Start-TimeLapse-seq (STL-seq), a method that captures the genome-wide kinetics of short, capped RNA turnover and reveals principles of regulation at the pause site. By measuring the rates of release into elongation and premature termination through the inhibition of pause release, we determine that pause-release rates are highly variable, and most promoter-proximal paused RNA polymerase II molecules prematurely terminate (∼80%). The preferred regulatory mechanism upon a hormonal stimulus (20-hydroxyecdysone) is to influence pause-release rather than termination rates. Transcriptional shutdown occurs concurrently with the induction of promoter-proximal termination under hyperosmotic stress, but paused transcripts from TATA box-containing promoters remain stable, demonstrating an important role for cis-acting DNA elements in pausing. STL-seq dissects the kinetics of pause release and termination, providing an opportunity to identify mechanisms of transcriptional regulation.
The chemotherapeutic CX-5461 primarily targets TOP2B and exhibits selective activity in high-risk neuroblastoma.

Survival in high-risk pediatric neuroblastoma has remained around 50% for the last 20 years, with immunotherapies and targeted therapies having had minimal impact. Here, we identify the small molecule CX-5461 as selectively cytotoxic to high-risk neuroblastoma and synergistic with low picomolar concentrations of topoisomerase I inhibitors in improving survival in vivo in orthotopic patient-derived xenograft neuroblastoma mouse models. CX-5461 recently progressed through phase I clinical trial as a first-in-human inhibitor of RNA-POL I. However, we also use a comprehensive panel of in vitro and in vivo assays to demonstrate that CX-5461 has been mischaracterized and that its primary target at pharmacologically relevant concentrations, is in fact topoisomerase II beta (TOP2B), not RNA-POL I. This is important because existing clinically approved chemotherapeutics have well-documented off-target interactions with TOP2B, which have previously been shown to cause both therapy-induced leukemia and cardiotoxicity—often-fatal adverse events, which can emerge several years after treatment. Thus, while we show that combination therapies involving CX-5461 have promising anti-tumor activity in vivo in neuroblastoma, our identification of TOP2B as the primary target of CX-5461 indicates unexpected safety concerns that should be examined in ongoing phase II clinical trials in adult patients before pursuing clinical studies in children. CX-5461 recently progressed through phase I clinical trial as a first-inhuman inhibitor of RNA-POL I. Here, the authors demonstrate that CX-5461 synergizes with topoisomerase I inhibitors to inhibit neuroblastoma cells and that its primary target in this disease is topoisomerase II beta and not RNA-POL I.
Creating Entrepreneurs: Making Miracles Happen

Creating Entrepreneurs: Making Miracles Happen Edited by Fred Kiesner Reviewed by Fred Fry Bradley University ffry@bradley.edu When I heard that my old friend Fred Kiesner was writing a book, I knew it would be good. I knew this because Kiesner only does good work. He almost single-handedly built the entrepreneurship program at Loyola Marymount University into an award-winning program. He has been an entrepreneur, and currently holds the Conrad Hilton Chair of Entrepreneurship at LMU. He has been actively involved in entrepreneurship education for forty years. He has been president of the U.S. Association of Small Business and Entrepreneurship (USASBE) and the International Council of Small Business (ICSB). During his career, he has been a mentor to literally thousands of potential entrepreneurs and many faculty members. So, the question of whether the book would be good or not was not the main issue. The bigger question involved the sort of book it would be. The answer is that it is a "Fred Kiesner book." Only if you know Fred personally will you understand the nuance of that statement. Kiesner is a professional, a quality researcher, and an excellent teacher. But he is also a fun-loving individual who has a story for every occasion and can entertain colleagues and students alike for hours on end. Once you understand this, then you know that Creating Entrepreneurs is a "Fred Kiesner book." Let me explain that in more depth. One of my personal annoyances in professional writing is large numbers of exclamation marks. I have always held the theory that quality of writing is inversely proportional to the number of exclamation marks. To me, they are the bane of good writing. The same goes for bolded text. Bolded text is, in my mind, simply the result of the self-important and slightly warped mind of some writers who think that every other sentence is so overwhelmingly wonderful that it must be bolded and end in an exclamation mark. Yet, Kiesner's book is purposely full of exclamation marks and bolded text. However, that is part of Fred Kiesner's personality and part of a "Fred Kiesner book." In fact, Kiesner explicitly states in the introduction of Creating Entrepreneurs that he WILL have exclamation marks and bolded text. Acknowledging this, I accepted these annoyances and moved on. In my years of teaching entrepreneurship and strategy, I have always emphasized the need to know your target market. In fact, one of the biggest causes of failure among entrepreneurs is to misread their target markets. As I read Creating Entrepreneurs, I looked for the target market Kiesner had in mind. The book is clearly not a textbook, nor is it a typical trade book like you might find for sale at Barnes and Noble or Amazon. …
Natural Pose Generation from a Reduced Dimension Motion Capture Data Space

Human animation from motion capture data is typically limited to whatever movement was performed by the actor. A method to create a wider range of motion in the animation utilizes the motion capture database to synthesize new poses. This paper proposes a method to generate original natural poses based on the characteristics of natural poses based on motion capture data. Principal Component Analysis is used to transform the data into a reduced dimensional space. An unconstrained pose data set is created by calculating the position of the human skeleton based on the reduced dimensional space. Constrained pose data can be created using interpolation and iteration on the unconstrained pose data. We show some example results of the generated poses and compare these poses to poses created with iterative inverse kinematics methods. Results show that our method is more accurate and more natural than iterative inverse kinematics methods.
An intergenerational transfer model of state debt financing

As federal budget deficits and the overall national debt have risen in recent years, scholarly attention to the causes and consequences of federal indebtedness has also increased. Much of that research has focused upon the intergenerational distributive effects of relying upon debt as opposed to tax financing. Considerably less attention has been directed toward debt financing by the American states, despite the fact that such borrowing has increased steadily over the last thirty years, though not with the dramatic suddenness that characterizes increases in federal borrowing (Regens and Lauth, 1988). This paper examines debt financing at the state level as a policy choice with important intergenerational consequences. The analysis assumes that debt financing is the result of political decisions based upon a calculation of the economic interests of different demographic groups within each state. Elected officials are believed to weigh those interests in the light of their states' electoral and legal environments. Borrowing from an argument by Alex Cukierman and Allan Meltzer, this paper examines the proposition that a state's long-term debt financing is likely to be sizeable (in absolute per capita terms and relative to tax revenues) when two conditions are met: (1) the state has a large elderly population and (2) recent economic growth trends indicate that future generations of state taxpayers may have an easier time paying off currently-incurred debt than current taxpayers would have paying off government obligations on a pay-as-you-go basis. Under these conditions a large portion of a state's electorate is likely to be "bequest constrained," meaning that they are not willing to donate an inheritance of fully-financed government facilities and services to successive generations. Instead, they are willing to "borrow" from their heirs by forcing future taxpayers to pay the costs of current consumption of governmental benefits.
Los Angeles Metropatterns: Social Separation and Sprawl in the Los Angeles Region

This research identifies the suburban typology of Los Angeles, California through a study of the social and fiscal disparities within the region. Municipal tax base and other demographic data, such as poverty rates measured at the school-level, are used to show wide variations in the capacities of suburban municipalities to provide local public services. The results show clear signs of current fiscal and social stress in the region. A range of regional fiscal, planning, and governance reforms are also evaluated.
Studying E-Mail Graphs for Intelligence Monitoring and Analysis in the Absence of Semantic Information

This work describes a methodology that can be used to identify structure and communication patterns within an organization based on e-mail data. The first step of the method is the construction of an e-mail graph; we then experimentally show that the adjacency matrix of the graph is well approximated by a low-rank matrix. The low-rank property indicates that Principal Component Analysis techniques may be used to remove the noise and extract the structural information (e.g. user communities, communication patterns, etc.). Furthermore, it is shown that the e-mail graph degree distribution (both with respect to indegrees and outdegrees) follows power laws; we also demonstrate that there exists a giant component connecting 70% of the nodes.
Review of alpha-s Measurements

Determinations of alpha_s are reviewed. Current results are limited to a precision of around 3-20%, largely by theoretical uncertainties. All measurements are consistent with a `world average' value of 0.118 +- 0.005 and there is no evodence of any discrepancy between `low-Q^2' and `high-Q^2' results.
Aortic regurgitation: disease progression and management.

The development of aortic regurgitation is often insidious and rate of disease progression varies between individuals. As such, symptoms do not necessarily correlate with objective evidence of ventricular dysfunction and the most appropriate criteria for risk stratification and optimum medical therapy remain controversial. Here the epidemiology of AR and evolution of practice guidelines regarding diagnosis and treatment are examined. Aortic regurgitation (AR) is a common valvular heart disease that unless appropriately managed is associated with morbidity and mortality. Left ventricular (LV) mechanics and aortic impedance are the main determinants of outcome in patients with AR and govern clinical management. Mild and moderate AR in individuals with normal LV dimensions are both generally benign. In the absence of symptoms and before LV dimensions increase, even severe AR is not generally associated with increased morbidity or mortality. Once LV enlargement occurs, however, symptoms and/or a decline in ejection fraction can develop, and both represent an indication for surgical intervention. Disease progression occurs at a variable rate, and is often insidious. Hence, symptoms do not correlate with objective evidence of ventricular dysfunction. Exercise testing can help highlight symptoms related to valve dysfunction. Asymptomatic patients with severe AR and preserved LV function can benefit from vasodilator drug therapy. Several agents from this class can reduce AR severity, but results are inconsistent. In this Review, we examine the epidemiology of AR in terms of the interplay between arterial and ventricular forces marking progression of disease over time, and analyze the practice guidelines regarding diagnosis and treatment.
Role of SOCS3 evaluated by immunohistochemical analysis in a cohort of patients affected by prostate cancer: preliminary results

Background Chronic inflammation may play a role in prostate carcinogenesis. Molecular alterations of the Suppressor of Cytokine Signaling (SOCS)-3 can contribute to explain the pleiotropic role of interleukin (IL)-6 in this type of cancer. Recently, the methylation of SOCS3 gene has been demonstrated to cause the non-expression of the protein, being involved in the pathogenesis of prostate cancer (PC) and identifying a subset of aggressive tumors. We evaluated the expression of SOCS3 protein in patients (pt) with bioptically-diagnosed PC by immunohistochemical analysis, which is easier to perform, cheaper and more reproducible compared to DNA analysis. Methods We analyzed the protein expression of SOCS3 by immunohistochemistry in 44 patients (pt) with PC diagnosed after biopsy. Slides were incubated with monoclonal antibody SOCS3 (1E4, 1.5 μg/mL; Abnova, Taiwan). The SOCS3 staining intensity was evaluated by two pathologists (FP and LML) in three different ways: positive (+), negative (-) and weak (+/-). Colonic mucosa was used as positive control. 36/44 patients underwent radical prostatectomy (RP). Results Biopsy Gleason score (Gs) was: 7 in 3 pt. 8/8 (100%) pt with Gs 7 were negative. In 11/33 pt (33%) Gs 7 a weak intensity was found so they were classified as SOCS3 +/-.25/36 (69%) patients who underwent RP were SOCS3- (15 pt with Gs 7(3 + 4), 7 pt with Gs 7(4 + 3), 3 pt with Gs 8) and 11/36 (30%) SOCS3+ (8 pt with Gs 6 and 3 pt with Gs 7(3 + 4)) (Tab 2). 12/25 (48%) SOCS3- pt had an organ-confined disease (≤pT2), whereas 13/25 (52%) had an extra prostatic neoplasm (5 pT3a (one was N+), 6 pT3b, 1 pT4). All SOCS3+ patients (8/8 (100%)) had an organ-confined disease. 3/3 (100%) SOCS3+/- pt had an extra prostatic neoplasm (>pT2). Conclusions SOCS3- pt turned out to have a more aggressive disease compared with SOCS3+. In particular, also SOCS3+/- patients seemed to have an aggressive behavior. The non-expression of SOCS3 protein may identify PC with more aggressive behavior and can be evaluated with immunohystochemical analysis, which is a relatively easy and cheap procedure in clinical practice. These results, if confirmed by a wider population and a longer follow-up, may encourage the research on the use of this molecular family as a prognostic marker and a target for therapy with demethylating agents.
Subschemes of some association schemes

Abstract By using the character tables of known commutative association schemes, we can, in many instances, construct some new commutative association schemes as their subschemes. In particular, we obtain many new non-group-case association schemes from the group association schemes of finite simple groups. Although examples worked out in this paper are limited to some special cases, it might be possible that this phenomenon occurs universally for all the group association schemes of finite Chevalley groups. The subschemes obtained in this way could be considered as an association scheme version of Weyl groups for Chevalley groups.
Reversible aggregation of serum albumin in the reaction with copper (II).

Abstract Association of bovine serum albumin into a dimer with a small amount of a higher aggregate occurs when the ratio of total copper nitrate to albumin is above 5 in the range of 1 × 10 −3 M albumin. Dissociation of the aggregates was accomplished by a combination of the action of cysteine hydrochloride and Versene, and by adding mercuric chloride to a solution of the copper-albumin aggregate from which the excess copper had been dialyzed.
0087 Evaluation of a change in bui penalties-lessons learned

Statement of purpose Alcohol was a contributing factor in almost 30% of boating fatalities and 18% of injuries from 2005–2011 in Washington State. Washington’s BUI law, unlike other states, did not require alcohol testing and did not punish refusals. In July, 2013, a revised BUI law went into effect. Washington state injury program and WA state Parks staff, along with staff from Seattle Children’s received training in a APHA/Safe State Evaluation Institute in May, 2014. The team focused on Policy Evaluation of the new BUI law. Methods/Approach The methods used were a mix of qualitative and quantitative: Pre/post data on number of citations and dispositions Key informant interviews with Marine Law Enforcement Officers Survey of County and City Prosecutors regarding use of the law Results Results are in the process of being compiled and will be available by April 2015. Conclusions We have learned the following about Policy Evaluation: Designate a person at the start of advocacy for Policy change to focus on evaluation, identify potential data sources and evaluation resources among partners in advocacy. Build a requirement for evaluation into any grant funding. Create an accurate Logic Model; it is central to Policy Evaluation. Incorporate differing perspectives of all partners into evaluation questions. Pose all questions, then sort through by availability of data and resources, by time frames, to narrow scope of evaluation. The final conclusions is that working as a team among all partners in the policy change is necessary to an effective evaluation. Significance and contribution to the field This study provides a relevant framework for evaluating an innovative policy in real-time.
Up-regulation of Bcl-2 in APP transgenic mice is associated with neuroprotection

Aβ-induced neurodegeneration is limited in APP and APP+PS1 transgenic mice. In middle-aged APP+PS1 transgenic mice, we found significantly increased Bcl-2 expression. The increase in Bcl-2 is restricted to amyloid-containing brain regions and is not found at young ages, suggesting that Aβ deposition is the stimulus for increased Bcl-2. Western blot results were confirmed with immunohistochemistry, and qRT-PCR. In addition, we found that APP transgenic mice were protected from neurotoxicity caused by an injection of bak BH3 fusion peptides, known to induce apoptosis by antagonizing bcl protein activity. Nissl and fluorojade stained slides showed that the active bak BH3 peptide caused substantial neuronal loss in the dentate gyrus and CA3 regions of nontransgenic, but not APP mice. The inactive mutant bak BH3 peptide did not cause degeneration in any mice. These data demonstrate that the increased Bcl-2 expression in brain regions containing Aβ deposits is associated with neuroprotection.
Effect of Severing the Check Ligaments and Intermuscular Membranes on Medial Rectus Recessions in Infantile Esotropia

Background: The effect of severing the check ligaments and intermuscular membranes on the dose-response curve for medial rectus recessions in patients with infantile esotropia has not been previously studied by randomized assignment techniques using contemporary control and experimental groups and masked precautions. Methods: A prospective study of 101 patients was performed over an 8-year period. Patients were randomly assigned to either augmented or nonaugmented groups. In the former group, the medial check ligaments and intermuscular membranes were severed; in the latter group, no surgery was performed on the medial check ligaments or intermuscular membranes. Patients were postoperatively evaluated by an observer masked to group assignment. Results: No difference in response to surgery was observed between the two groups at the time of evaluation, which took place, on average, 6 to 7 months after surgery. Conclusion: Severing the check ligaments and intermuscular membranes on patients with infantile esotropia undergoing medial rectus recessions does not appear to affect the dose-response curve.
Does display phosphor bandwidth affect the ability of the eye to focus

The focusing response of the eye (accommodation) is degraded in monochromatic light for many subjects. To find out whether this degradation also occurs in narrowband polychromatic light, we measured the accommodation of nine young adult volunteer subjects across three bandwidths (10, 20, and 80 nm) and a broadband control (white light). The peak wavelength was 550 nm for each of the bandpass filtered stimuli, and the luminance of all targets was 10 cd/m2. Accommodation was measured with a dynamic infrared optometer while the subjects viewed threshold size, high-contrast letters under both dynamic and steady-state conditions. In the former, the optical distance of the target was varied sinusoidally from 0.0 to 2.0 diopters (optical infinity to 50 cm) at a temporal frequency of 0.5 Hz, while in the latter it was held constant at 1.0 diopter (1.0 m). We found that, under dynamic conditions, accommodative accuracy steadily improved in a statistically significant way with increases in spectral bandwidth. Under steady-state conditions, there was no statistically significant trend. These results suggest that accommodation might suffer from the use of narrowband phosphors in helmet-mounted displays under dynamic conditions, i.e., the observer might accommodate inaccurately to the display if frequent changes in focus to and from the display are required.© (1994) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
Pattern formation and dynamics in Rayleigh-Benard convection : numerical simulations of experimentally realistic geometries.

Abstract Rayleigh–Benard convection is studied and quantitative comparisons are made, where possible, between theory and experiment by performing numerical simulations of the Boussinesq equations for a variety of experimentally realistic situations. Rectangular and cylindrical geometries of varying aspect ratios for experimental boundary conditions, including fins and spatial ramps in plate separation, are examined with particular attention paid to the role of the mean flow. A small cylindrical convection layer bounded laterally either by a rigid wall, fin, or a ramp is investigated and our results suggest that the mean flow plays an important role in the observed wavenumber. Analytical results are developed quantifying the mean flow sources, generated by amplitude gradients, and its effect on the pattern wavenumber for a large-aspect-ratio cylinder with a ramped boundary. Numerical results are found to agree well with these analytical predictions. We gain further insight into the role of mean flow in pattern dynamics by employing a novel method of quenching the mean flow numerically. Simulations of a spiral defect chaos state where the mean flow is suddenly quenched is found to remove the time dependence, increase the wavenumber and make the pattern more angular in nature.
A cross-validation package driving Netica with python

Bayesian networks (BNs) are powerful tools for probabilistically simulating natural systems and emulating process models. Cross validation is a technique to avoid overfitting resulting from overly complex BNs. Overfitting reduces predictive skill. Cross-validation for BNs is known but rarely implemented due partly to a lack of software tools designed to work with available BN packages. CVNetica is open-source, written in Python, and extends the Netica software package to perform cross-validation and read, rebuild, and learn BNs from data. Insights gained from cross-validation and implications on prediction versus description are illustrated with: a data-driven oceanographic application; and a model-emulation application. These examples show that overfitting occurs when BNs become more complex than allowed by supporting data and overfitting incurs computational costs as well as causing a reduction in prediction skill. CVNetica evaluates overfitting using several complexity metrics (we used level of discretization) and its impact on performance metrics (we used skill). Cross-validation avoids overfitting, improving predictive power of Bayesian Networks.CVNetica is a Python tool for cross-validation of Bayesian Networks.Cross-validation illustrated on a data-driven and a model emulation Bayesian Network.
Poisson‐Based Weight Reduction of Animated Meshes

While animation using barycentric coordinates or other automatic weight assignment methods has become a popular method for shape deformation, the global nature of the weights limits their use for real-time applications. We present a method that reduces the number of control points influencing a vertex to a user-specified number such that the deformations created by the reduced weight set resemble that of the original deformation. To do so we show how to set up a Poisson minimization problem to solve for a reduced weight set and illustrate its advantages over other weight reduction methods. Not only does weight reduction lower the amount of storage space necessary to deform these models but also allows GPU acceleration of the resulting deformations. Our experiments show that we can achieve a factor of 100 increase in speed over CPU deformations using the full weight set, which makes real-time deformations of large models possible.
Regulation of CRE-mediated transcription in mouse brain by amphetamine.

Previous work has demonstrated that acute and chronic administration of amphetamine causes phosphorylation of the transcription factor CREB, the cAMP response element (CRE) binding protein, in striatum, a brain region important for the behavioral actions of the drug. To determine whether such phosphorylation is associated with changes in CREB transcriptional activity, we mapped β-galactosidase (β-gal) expression in a CRE-LacZ transgenic mouse, in which the β-gal reporter is downstream of CRE sequences, following acute or chronic amphetamine administration. We found that acute amphetamine induced β-gal expression in a relatively small number of brain regions, including nucleus accumbens (ventral striatum), amygdala, ventral tegmental area, and locus coeruleus. Chronic amphetamine generally produced greater changes in CRE-mediated transcription in most brain regions and induced CRE-transcription in several regions unaffected by acute drug exposure. Interestingly, amphetamine regulation of CRE activity differed dramatically between males and females. In nucleus accumbens, β-gal expression colocalized predominantly with dynorphinergic neurons after acute amphetamine administration, while chronic administration induced β-gal expression in both dynorphinergic and enkephalinergic neurons. In ventral tegmental area, acute and chronic amphetamine induced β-gal expression mainly in dopaminergic neurons, while induction in the locus coeruleus occurred mainly in nonnoradrenergic neurons. This study identifies several brain regions where CRE-mediated transcription may play a key role in the development of neuronal plasticity associated with amphetamine administration. Synapse 48:10–17, 2003. © 2003 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
Ideas for adding soft skills education to service learning and capstone courses for computer science students

Soft skills such as communication, teamwork, and organization are important to students' future success in the working world. Faculty members know it, students know it, and employers are explicitly asking for these skills. Are computer science departments responsible to teach these skills? If so, where in the curriculum should they be covered? This paper explores the soft skills that employers want, and possible places to include the teaching of those skills in the curriculum. It then shows how an extensive set of soft skills were incorporated into a service learning course for the students in the Mathematical, Information and Computer Sciences department at Point Loma Nazarene University. Finally, it makes suggestions as to how other service learning or capstone courses could be altered to afford more opportunity for soft skill education.
Pregnancy management after cervical surgery.

Purpose of reviewAn amplified risk of adverse pregnancy outcomes after excisional cervical surgery has been identified. Procedures such as cold-knife conization, laser conization, loop electrosurgical excision procedure, and trachelectomy increase the risk of preterm delivery and preterm premature r
The search for the proteinase inhibitor-inducing factor, PIIF

Research into the structure and function of proteinase Inhibitors I and II proteins in organs and tissues of several solanaceous plants began with the discovery and crystallization of Inhibitor I from Russet Burbank potato tubers in 1962 [1]. This was later followed by the isolation and characterization of Inhibitor II from potato tubers [2]. Inhibitor I and II are serine proteinase inhibitors that have evolved as members of two nonhomologous gene families. Inhibitor I proteins have a molecular mass of about 8000 kDa, whereas Inhibitor II proteins have a M r of about 12 000 kDa. Inhibitor I is a potent inhibitor of chymotrypsin, while Inhibitor II is a ‘double-headed’ inhibitor, having evolved by gene duplicated-elongation events from a smaller ancestral gene, and it possesses two reactive sites that are specific for trypsin and chymotrypsin respectively.
Characterization of the promoter region of TCblR/CD320 gene, the receptor for cellular uptake of transcobalamin-bound cobalamin.

Abstract Cellular uptake of cobalamin (Cbl) is mediated by the transcobalamin receptor (TCblR) that binds and internalizes transcobalamin (TC) saturated with Cbl. These receptors are expressed in actively proliferating cells and are down-regulated in quiescent cells. The 5’ region of TCblR gene was analyzed for promoter activity to determine transcriptional regulation of TCblR expression. The region −668 to −455 appears to regulate TCblR expression. We have identified transcription factors MZF-1 (myeloid zinc finger 1)/RREB-1 (Ras-responsive element binding protein 1), C/EBP (CCAAT/enhancer binding protein)/HNF-3β (hepatocyte nuclear factor 3) and AP-1(activator protein 1) as proteins likely to be involved in this regulation with the former region primarily involved in up regulation and the latter two regions involved in suppression of TCblR expression. These transcription factors are involved in cell proliferation and differentiation. Thus the cell cycle associated expression of TCblR appears to be tightly regulated in synchrony with the proliferative phase of the cell cycle.
LIII. The photoelectric effect

(1912). LIII. The photoelectric effect. The London, Edinburgh, and Dublin Philosophical Magazine and Journal of Science: Vol. 24, No. 142, pp. 575-594.
SU-GG-I-116: A Neural Network Based Registration Quality Evaluator for 2D-3D Image Registrations

Purpose: To construct a registration quality evaluator (RQE) for 2D–3D registrations that can automatically identify unsuccessful registration solutions. Method and Materials: Two orthogonal kV x‐ray projections of an anthropomorphic cranial phantom were acquired with the Elekta Synergy system. The training dataset for the RQE construction was generated by registering the two x‐ray images simultaneously to the CTimage of the same phantom 300 times. The registration optimized the normalized mutual information (NMI) between the two radiographs and their corresponding digitally reconstructed radiographs that were computed from the CT dataset. For each registration repetition, a random initial alignment was used. The average voxel deviations within the region‐of‐interest between the best known alignment and the registration solutions were computed. The registration solutions of the training dataset were categorized as “successful” and “unsuccessful” registrations by comparing the average voxel deviations with a user defined error threshold. For each registration solution, the symmetry and the distinctiveness that represent the local geometrical properties of the similarity measure function were computed. The supervised training was used to train a two‐layer feed‐forward neural network using above generated data. The network RQE was then used to evaluate registrations in a test data set. The confusion matrices and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were used to evaluate the performance of the RQE. Results: RQE training yielded a sensitivity and a specificity of 0.944 and 0.971, respectively, for the training dataset. The sensitivity and the specificity were 0.955 and 1.00, respectively, for the test dataset. The ROC curves also confirmed the very good performance of the RQE. Conclusion: Our phantom study showed RQE had very good performance in identifying unacceptable results in 2D–3D registrations. As part of an automated patient positioning system, RQE can be combined with a 2D–3D registration algorithm to avoid local optima and improve robustness.
Concurrent normals to convex bodies and spaces of Morse functions

It is conjectured that if $${K\subset\mathbb R^n}$$ is a convex body, then there exists a point in the interior of K which is the point of concurrency of normals from 2n points on the boundary of K. We present a topological proof of this conjecture in dimension four assuming $${\partial K}$$ is C 1,1. From the assumption that the conjecture fails for $${K\subset\mathbb R^4}$$ , we construct a retraction from $${\overline K}$$ to $${\partial K}$$ . We apply the same strategy to the problem for lower n, assuming no regularity on $${\partial K}$$ , and show that it provides very simple proofs for the cases of two and three dimensions (the dimension three case was first proved by Erhard Heil). A connection between our approach to this problem and the homotopy type of some function spaces is also explored, and some conjectures along those lines are proposed.
Early Tactile Experience of Low Birth Weight Children: Links to Later Mental Health and Social Adaptation

The purpose of this study was twofold: to determine (1) the degree to which specific qualities of maternal touch may contribute to the low birth weight infant's emotional and behavioural problems as well as social adaptation, and (2) the relationship between maternal touch and a mother's other caregiving behaviour. The sample included 114 socioculturally diverse infants and their mothers who were videotaped during an infant feeding when the baby was 3 months old. This videotape was analysed to assess dimensions of mother–infant interaction, including maternal touch. Data on perinatal risk and the mother's acceptance versus rejection of the infant were also acquired. Social adaptation and emotional/behavioural problems were measured when the child was 2 years of age. Hierarchical regression analyses indicated that maternal touch accounted for 15% of the variance in the likelihood of a child having emotional/behavioural problems at age 2. Children who received more nurturing touch had significantly fewer internalizing problems (such as depression) while children receiving both more frequent touch and harsh touch had more externalizing problems (such as aggressive behaviour). Infants who were less responsive to their caregivers were especially at risk of developing aggressive/destructive behaviour as a result of frequent touch. But less responsive infants also appeared to benefit most from greater use of diverse types of maternal touch, accounting for 6% of the variance in superior adaptive behaviour at age 2. Nurturing touch was the only quality that showed even a modest relationship to other caregiving behaviour, suggesting that touch may play a distinct role in the infant's psychosocial development. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Determination of Changes in Rheological Properties of Coal Slurries in Process Streams

A new technique involving a rotational (coaxial cylinder) viscometer and a vibrating sphere viscometer was developed for the rheological characterization of coal slurry process streams as either Newtonian or non-Newtonian. Both viscometers were able to measure apparent viscosity as low as one centipoise, and special precautions were taken to allow measurement of rapidly settling coal suspensions. In this technique, the vibrating sphere viscometer was used to measure the apparent viscosity at a high shear rate, while the rotational viscometer was used to measure the apparent viscosity at a low shear rate. Together, the two instruments could determine the shear-rate dependency of the viscosity, and thus provide an estimate of the total slurry Theology. The technique was first verified using two types of fluid with known Theological properties; sucrose solutions ranging from 10 to 60% by weight (Newtonian fluids), and solutions of Dow Methocel A4M ranging from 0.5 to 2% by weight (Pseudoplastic fluids). Foll...
Using predictive analytics in the library

Purpose – The purpose of this column is to introduce predictive analytics and its potential for use in the library.Design/methodology/approach – The paper uses a literature review and commentary on this topic that has been addressed by theoreticians, researchers and practitioners.Findings – Today, there are numerous commercial data‐analysis software tools that can assist the library in its organizational planning efforts. Most prominently in the basic areas of staffing, budgets, collections, services and facilities, predictive analytics can be used to help develop an overall plan of financial and programmatic development for the library.Originality/value – The value in addressing this issue is to suggest that libraries might consider use of data‐analysis software to support their budget and planning processes.
Intraperitoneal topoisomerase-I inhibitors. Preliminary findings with 9-aminocamptothecin.

The i.p. administration of topoisomerase I (Topo I) inhibitors has a pharmacologic advantage over intravenous application, including preservation of the biologically active lactone form. In our ongoing study, patients have received 9-amino-20(S)-camptothecin (9-AC) i.p. on days 1, 3, 5, 8, 10, and 12, repeated every 4 weeks. The daily dose has been escalated to level IV of 1.5 mg/m2 (9.0 mg/m2 per course), median of 3 cycles, range 1-4, with a reversible Grade 3 neutropenia in one patient. Responses included one CR (resolution of a pleural effusion), two patients without progressive disease (PD), two not evaluable, and two patients too early for evaluation. The area under the curve (AUC)i.p./AUCpl ratio (pharmacologic advantage) ranged from 7.6 to 16.5 on average, and, using nonlinear modeling, the pharmacologic decay data were fit to one- or two-compartmental models. Overall, a 9-AC i.p. application is well tolerated and anticipated to be an active regimen against i.p. malignancies, particularly those known to be sensitive to systemic Topo-I inhibitors.
Epstein-Barr Virus Nuclear Protein 3A Domains Essential for Growth of Lymphoblasts: Transcriptional Regulation through RBP-Jκ/CBF1 Is Critical

Experimental reverse genetic replacement of Epstein-Barr virus nuclear antigen 3A (EBNA3A) with a conditional mutant EBNA3A revealed that EBNA3A is critical for continued lymphoblastoid cell (LCL) growth. Wild-type (wt) EBNA3A expressed in the LCLs specifically sustained growth under nonpermissive conditions, whereas EBNA3B or EBNA3C expression had no effect (S. Mauro, E. Johannsen, D. Illanes, A. Cooper, and E. Kieff, J. Virol. 77:10437-10447, 2003). This genetic system and related biochemical assays have now been used to discover that EBNA3A lacking amino acid residues 170 to 240 (Δ170-240), TLGC202 to AAGA202, or Δ300-386, which are deficient in repression of EBNA2 activation of an RBP-Jκ/CBF1-dependent EBV Cp enhancer, are null mutations for LCL growth, whereas EBNA3A Δ2-124, Δ410-439, Δ440-470, Δ470-500, Δ500-523, Δ523-612, and Δ620-820, which are wt in repression are wt for LCL growth. Thus, EBNA3A regulation of transcription through RBP-Jκ/CBF1 is critical for LCL growth. EBNA3A mutants deleted of amino acid residues 240 to 300, 386 to 410, or 827 to 944 were intermediate, null, or intermediate, respectively, for LCL growth despite being wt for RBP-Jκ association and repression. Amino acid residues 240 to 300, 386 to 410, and, particularly, C-terminal residues 827 to 944 are therefore likely to contribute to LCL growth through RBP-Jκ-independent mechanisms.
Reactive sputter deposition of polycrystalline nitride and oxide superlattice coatings

Abstract Polycrystalline nitride superlattice films are now being reactively sputter deposited onto polycrystalline substrate materials with the same high hardness enhancement as found for their corresponding single crystal superlattice films. TiN/NbN and TiN/VN polycrystalline superlattice films have hardnesses above 50 GPa, when the superlattice period is in the range of 4–8 nm, and this hardness enhancement depends strongly on control of the process parameters. Superlattice systems such as TiN/Cr 2 N show pseudomorphic growth where the fcc TiN acts as template for the normally hexagonal Cr 2 N and forces it into an fcc structure. The primary hardening mechanism for the nitride superlattice films, according to the model of Chu and Barnett, is restriction of dislocation motion either across an interface or within a layer, and experimental data for both the single crystal and polycrystalline nitride superlattices supports the model. Work on superlattice films is now being extended to include oxide systems with the desire to produce hard, tough oxide superlattice films for optical and high temperature applications. Oxide films can now be reactively sputter deposited easily at high rates with pulsed d.c. power and automatic feedback control of the reactive gas, and the ZrO 2 /Y 2 O 3 and Al 2 O 3 /ZrO 2 systems are currently being developed.
Endourologic management of obstructed hydrocalyx after blunt renal trauma

Significant renal injuries caused by blunt trauma can produce early and delayed complications. We report a case of blunt trauma that resulted in what appeared to be a persistent encapsulated hematoma, but was in reality an obstructed hydrocalyx. Communication with the collecting system was re-established percutaneously by a method similar to that used in the management of caliceal diverticula.
Electron irradiation of dilute aqueous solutions of polymers over a range of temperatures

Abstract Dilute aqueous solutions of carboxy methyl cellulose (CMC) and gelatin were irradiated with 1 MeV electrons over the temperature range from +25°C to very low temperatures, −70 to −170°C. The effects, chain scission in CMC and cross linking in gelatin, were measured by determining the viscosity change of CMC solutions and the insoluble gel fraction produced in gelatin solutions. For both solutions there was a great change in the effect near the freezing temperature, but there were some differences in behavior between the two materials. With CMC there was a sharp break near 0°C with the rate of change 37 times as great above 0°C as below 0°C; there was apparently no change from ∼0°C down to −170°C. With gelatin the change was somewhat more gradual near freezing. The rate was 7.5 times as great at +5°C as at −5°C, with a continual change over that temperature range and a continuing change in rate down to −70°C. The cross linking rate depends on the mobility of the polymer chains and apparently for gelatin solutions the mobility continues to decrease as the temperature is lowered below freezing.
Rate-distortion optimization algorithm for JPEG 2000

A novel rate-distortion optimization algorithm for JPEG 2000 is proposed. This algorithm meets memory buffer requirement for the compressed bit streams quite strictly according to a given bit rate. Moreover, before the encoding process even starts, a required memory buffer size can be estimated. This algorithm can also help avoid unnecessary encoding for some parts of an image. In this sense, it is memory efficient and performs progressive encoding. While a rate-distortion optimization algorithm is generally applied after complete encoding procedures for images in JPEG 2000, the proposed algorithm can save both memory requirement and encoding time significantly at low bit rate by avoiding complete encoding.
The further history of fire science

(1984). The Further History of Fire Science. Combustion Science and Technology: Vol. 40, No. 1-4, pp. 167-174.
The Partial Sequential Probability Ratio Test

Abstract In testing a normal mean with known variance, or a Koopman-Darmois parameter, an initial fixed number n of observations is followed by Wald's SPRT procedure. The conditional SPRT, given, and optimality properties in a certain class of tests are noted. For some parameter values, the PSPRT may have a lower ASN than a Wald SPRT with the same error probabilities.
Specific heats of lithium isotopes from 20° to 300°K

Measurements on lithiuum metal containing 99.3% Li/sup 6/ are reported. The details of the martensitic transformation appear to be very similar to those for lithium with natural isotopic composition. These measurements together with other recent results for Li/sup 7/ rich metal are analyzed to give approximate vslues for the pure isotopes. The results are in accord with theoretical expectations. (auth)
Mutations Affecting β-Tubulin Folding and Degradation

Revertants of a colcemid-resistant Chinese hamster ovary cell line with an altered (D45Y) beta-tubulin have allowed the identification of four cis-acting mutations (L187R, Y398C, a 12-amino acid in-frame deletion, and a C-terminal truncation) that act by destabilizing the mutant tubulin and preventing it from incorporating into microtubules. These unstable beta-tubulins fail to form heterodimers and are predominantly found in association with the chaperonin CCT, suggesting that they cannot undergo productive folding. In agreement with these in vivo observations, we show that the defective beta-tubulins do not stably interact with cofactors involved in the tubulin folding pathway and, hence, fail to exchange with beta-tubulin in purified alphabeta heterodimers. Treatment of cells with MG132 causes an accumulation of the aberrant tubulins, indicating that improperly folded beta-tubulin is degraded by the proteasome. Rapid degradation of the mutant tubulin does not elicit compensatory changes in wild-type tubulin synthesis or assembly. Instead, loss of beta-tubulin from the mutant allele causes a 30-40% decrease in cellular tubulin content with no obvious effect on cell growth or survival.
Three-dimensional finite-element-based photoacoustic tomography: Reconstruction algorithm and simulations

In this paper, a finite element reconstruction algorithm for three-dimensional photoacoustic tomography is described. The algorithm is based on rigorous iterative solution to the Helmholtz photoacoustic wave equation coupled with regularization techniques and is able to recover both the images of absorbed optical energy density and acoustic speed simultaneously. The algorithm is tested using various numerical examples that mimic cancer detection and joint imaging. The results show that the algorithm is able to reconstruct photoacoustic images quantitatively in terms of the location, size, optical and acoustic properties of the target, and background media for various examples examined.