cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Nonindependent mating in a coral reef damselfish: evidence of mate choice copying in the wild

Theoretical and experimental studies have shown that mate choice copying is a viable mating strategy under certain conditions. Copying experiments in fish have been conducted primarily in the laboratory, except for one study conducted in the field under artificial conditions. We investigated whether in a wild population of the coral reef whitebelly damselfish (Amblyglyphidodon leucogaster) females copy the choice of other females. Females preferentially spawn with males that have recently mated. To determine if the presence of new eggs in the nest was the reason females chose mates or whether females were mate choice copying, we conducted egg-switching experiments. Eggs from males that recently mated were donated to males that had no eggs. If females are mate choice copying, then donor males with no eggs in the nest should continue to receive additional eggs. If females are using the presence of new eggs as the criterion for mate choice, then foster males with new eggs should receive additional eggs. We found that donor males received new eggs significantly more often than expected. More females mated with donor males than foster males. Furthermore, females preferentially chose to mate with males whom they had seen mating with another female. Females appear to remember the mate choice of other females and choose to mate with those same males even after 1 day. These results suggest that females may be copying the mating decision of other females rather than choosing males based on the presence of new eggs in the nest. Key words: copying, damselfish, female mate choice. [Behav Ecol]
The dollar and the U.S. terms of trade

This paper conducts specification tests to explore the dynamic relationship between the dollar and the U.S. terms of trade (TOT), as well as its components, U.S. import and export prices. Here import prices are found to respond to the dollar's value, but only after a substantial lag. Export prices display a somewhat weaker response that appears to partially offset the dollar's effect on import prices, muting its effect on the terms of trade. The result is a weak response in the terms of trade that mimics lags found in the dollar's pass-through into import prices.
Subcellular Distribution and Activity of Mechanistic Target of Rapamycin in Aged Retinal Pigment Epithelium

Purpose Inhibiting mechanistic target of rapamycin (mTOR) by pharmacological or genetic approaches can extend lifespan in mammals. The kinase activity of mTOR is controlled by upstream regulatory proteins and its subcellular localization. The purpose of this study was to characterize age-related alterations and functional consequences of mTOR signaling in the postmitotic RPE cells. Methods Activity of mTOR complex 1 (mTORC1) was monitored by measuring phosphorylation status of its downstream effector protein S6, in either cultured human RPE cells or RPE explants prepared from mice at different ages. Subcellular distribution of mTOR was investigated by immunofluorescent staining of RPE culture or flatmount. The signaling of mTORC1 was modulated by either overexpression of a small guanosine triphosphatase, Ras homolog enriched in brain (Rheb), or disruption of the Ragulator complex with small interference RNA targeting p18. The effects of mTOR pathway on degradation of phagocytosed photoreceptor outer segments (POS) were determined by measuring the turnover rate of rhodopsin. Results Aged RPE cells had more lysosome-associated mTOR and had increased response to amino acid stimulation. The lysosome distribution was essential for mTORC1 function, as disruption of the Ragulator complex abolished mTORC1 activation by amino acids. Increased mTORC1 activity caused decreased rate of degradation of internalized POS in the RPE. Conclusions Aging changes the subcellular localization and function of mTOR in the RPE. Increased mTORC1 inhibits POS degradation and may further exacerbate lysosome dysfunction of aged RPE.
Controllability of linear time-varying systems with delays

The necessary and sufficient condition for the controllability of linear time-varying systems with delays in both the control and the state is obtained.
10 years of personalizing medicine: how the incorporation of genomic information is changing practice and policy

On this tenth anniversary of the founding of the journal Personalized Medicine, it is apropos to celebrate not only the founding of what has, over the past 10 years, grown into the premier journal for the field of personalized genomic medicine, but also the growth of the field itself. The field of personalized medicine has indeed grown by leaps and bounds over the last decade: from its tentative beginnings as a nom-de-plume for ‘pharmacogenomics’ to include a broader spectrum of genomic advances and technologies, including genome wide association studies (GWAS), exome sequencing, and next-generation sequencing (NGS) [1]. The personalized genomic medicine approach has now been applied to a number of disease areas including oncology, psychiatry and cardiovascular conditions [1–4]. Some of the most exciting personalized genomic medicine advances have occurred in oncology, including a number of diagnostic tests as a clinical prognostic factors (such as gene expression profiling assays for breast and colorectal cancer and the long-QT syndrome panel) and targeted therapeutics (e.g., trastuzumab and irinotecan). Generally personalized genomic technologies have been applied towards three main purposes: to discern the contribution of polymorphisms to particular adverse drug events (ADEs) or subor-supra-therapeutic drug responses; to identify potential biomarkers for specific diseases; and to assess clinical response with the use of targeted therapeutics. These applications have led to novel therapeutics, increased surveillance, monitoring and risk reduction measures in a number of diseases and conditions, including cancer, cardiovascular and cardiometabolic conditions (e.g., diabetes), and neurodegenerative disorders [1–4]. Since 2004, when the journal Personalized Medicine was launched, there have been major advances in the development and availability of commercially available genomic products, from the 21-gene recurrence score prognostic assay, Oncotype DX for early-stage breast cancer, first marketed in 2004, and Gleevec used in the treatment of chronic myeloid leukemia patients who test positive for the Philadelphia chromosome to the use of VKORC1 and CYP2C9 testing to guide warfarin dosing. Indeed, there was more than a 10-fold increase in the number of commercially available products between 2004 and 2014, across different therapeutic areas. The US FDA now includes genomic information and associated recommendations for well over 100 approved drugs [5].
Correcting for effective area fished in fishery-dependent depletion estimates of abundance and capture efficiency

Walter, J. F. III, Hoenig, J. M., and Gedamke, T. 2007. Correcting for effective area fished in fishery-dependent depletion estimates of abundance and capture efficiency. - ICES Journal of Marine Science 64: 000-000.Depletion methods are widely used to estimate capture efficiency and abundance. However, they are highly dependent on the depletion area assumed. In open-ocean depletion studies, it is difficult to determine the true area of depletion. Satellite vessel monitoring systems (VMS) offer the potential to determine the area effectively fished. Observer-collected catch-and-effort data from the 1999 Atlantic sea scallop fishery in Georges Bank Closed Area II were used to obtain spatially-explicit DeLury depletion estimates of dredge efficiency and abundance, with corrections for fished area made using VMS data. Non-area-corrected efficiency estimates often had theoretically impossible values, indicating that the naively assumed fished area was likely too big. Fine-scale spatial analyses on individual depletion cells confirmed this result. Corrected-area efficiency estimates exhibited reduced variability and more plausible efficiencies, with 70% of 289 individual depletion estimates falling between 20% and 55%, with a mean of 46%. Abundance estimates from individual depletion studies matched maps of abundance from a preseason survey. Results indicated a total abundance of ∼17 million pounds of scallop meat weight in the fished area, of which 6 million pounds were landed, providing an overall exploitation rate of 35%.
The application of multiple behavioral techniques to multiple problems of a complex case

Abstract A systematic approach to the behavioral treatment of complex cases with multiple problems is presented. The approach was applied to a client with problems of: uncertain vocational goals; inadequate social skills; unassertiveness; fear of crowded places; marital difficulty; and public-speaking phobia. Treatment was successful in all six problem areas. At a 14-month follow-up the client reported continued improvement in all areas.
Random-field mechanism in random-bond multicritical systems.

It is argued on general grounds that bond randomness drastically alters multicritical phase diagrams via a random-field mechanism. For example, tricritical points and critical end points are entirely eliminated (d\ensuremath{\le}2) or depressed in temperature (dg2). These predictions are confirmed by a renormalization-group calculation. Another consequence of this phenomenon is that, under bond randomness, the phase transitions of q-state Potts models are second order for all q at dimensionality d\ensuremath{\le}2.
Peer Reviewed: What Future for Carbon Capture and Sequestration?

New technologies could reduce carbon dioxide emissions to the atmosphere while still allowing the use of fossil fuels
Partial regression method to fit a generalized additive model

Generalized additive models (GAMs) have been used as a standard analytic tool in studies of air pollution and health during the last decade. The air pollution measure is usually assumed to be linearly related to the health indicator and the effects of other covariates are modeled through smooth functions. A major statistical concern is the appropriateness of fitting GAMs in the presence of concurvity. Generalized linear models (GLM) with natural cubic splines as smoothers (GLM + NS) have been shown to perform better than GAM with smoothing splines (GAM + S), in regard to the bias and variance estimates using standard model fitting methods. As nonparametric smoothers are attractive for their flexibility and easy implementation, search for alternative methods to fit GAM + S is warranted. In this article, we propose a method using partial residuals to fit GAM + S and call it the “partial regression” method. Simulation results indicate better performance of the proposed method compared to gam.exact function in S-plus, the standard tool in air pollution studies, in regard to bias and variance estimates. In addition, the proposed method is less sensitive to the degree of smoothing and accommodates asymmetric smoothers. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Heat island effect and urban storm events of San Antonio downtown area by MODIS/AQUA temperature sensor

Urban environmental conditions are strongly dependent on the land use and land cover properties and radiant thermal field of the land cover elements in the urban mosaic. Observations of urban reflectance and surface temperature provide valuable constraints on the physical properties that might be the determinants of urban storm formation. It is assume that consistencies in the covariation of land surface temperature with convective rainfall distribution can be identified to represent characteristics of the surface energy flux associated with different meteorological conditions. We retrieved the temperature from MODIS/Aqua (PM satellite) MYD11A1 temperature product (8-day composite and 1 km spatial resolution). Time period used is from June 1 to September 30 of year 2002 to 2008. MODIS reflectivity data and rainfall data corresponding to those dates were also used to verify the hypothesis. However, partial correlations may be seen in the time series analysis accounting for some convective storm events. Yet the San Antonio urban heat island (UHI) over the sea-breeze convergence zone along the coastal bend might affect the storm events too. Obviously, the other of the storm events were triggered by frontal cyclone at the continental scale that might not be directly related to the local UHI effects at all. Nevertheless, spatial analyses in relation to the NEXRAD images confirm spatial correlation between precipitation and UHI within at least 2 storm episodes.
Abnormalities of water metabolism in children and adolescents following craniotomy for a brain tumor

We conducted a retrospective analysis of the cases of 122 children operated on for various brain tumors, to determine the incidence and natural history of postoperative diabetes insipidus (DI), and the syndrome of inappropriate secretion of antidiuretic hormone (SIADH). Abnormalities of water homeostasis were observed in 15 patients (12%). DI, with or without SIADH, was observed in 10 patients (8%), while SIADH alone was seen in five (4%). DI was permanent in five subjects (50%), whereas SIADH resolved completely in all affected individuals. Parenteral desmopressin (dDAVP) was an effective mode of therapy in the postoperative period. The effect did not correlate with a dosage strictly based on body weight.
Fragments of plastid DNA in the nuclear genome of tomato: prevalence, chromosomal location, and possible mechanism of integration.

Summary. We have undertaken a systematic search for plastid DNA sequences integrated in the tomato nuclear genome, using heterologous probes taken from intervals of a plastid DNA region spanning 58 kb. A total of two short integrates (202 and 141 nucleotides) were isolated and mapped to chromosomes 9 and 5, respectively. The nucelotide sequence of the integrates and that of the flanking regions were determined. The integration sites contain direct repeat elements similar in position (but not in length or sequence) to the direct repeats previously observed with another plastid integrate in the tomato nuclear genome. Based on these results, a model for the process of movement and integration of plastid sequences into the nuclear genome is discussed.
University-Community Partnerships Promoting Anti-Oppressive Action on Behalf of Latino/a Youth

ABSTRACT This article emphasizes the effect university-community (UC) partnerships can have on addressing the oppression and discrimination of disenfranchised groups. It will present a process-outcome level, Freirian-inspired and Latino culture-focused UC partnership that seeks to promote anti-oppression strategies that benefit Latino/a youth. The model presented is based on the work of Connecticut United for Latino/a Children (CUPNL), a UC partnership created to advocate and promote changes on behalf of Latino/a youth. The value and usefulness of CUPNL is discussed through the example of its most longstanding initiative, the Escuchenos conference. Partnerships like CUPNL can serve as a mechanism for social workers to engage in and promote anti-oppression action.
The Effects of Microcomputers on Young Children: An Examination of Free-Play Choices, Sex Differences, and Social Interactions

A microcomputer was inserted into two preschool classrooms—one large and one small—to examine the effects on children's free-play choices and social interactions. Sex differences were also examined. In both classrooms, the introduction of the microcomputer initially disrupted free-play activity patterns; over time, however, most free-play areas returned to baseline levels. Sex differences were apparent in both classrooms. In the large classroom, boys spent significantly more time at the microcomputer than girls. In the small classroom, there was a trend for girls to spend more time at the microcomputer than boys. Social interactions at the microcomputer were similar to interactions in other play areas of the two classrooms. Higher levels of positive social behaviors at the microcomputer compared to other play areas were not found in either classroom.
The Political Roots of Small Business Identity

A divided and largely hapless small business lobby failed to advocate effectively on behalf of small firms in the post-New Deal era. While interest-group scholars have accepted collective action-based arguments for patterns of under-mobilization, this article challenges conventional wisdom by examining historical and institutional causes of small business political fragmentation. It shows a fractured small business community emerging out of the populist era, and subsequent policy developments institutionalizing divisions and rivalries among competing factions. During the New Deal, when opportunities arose to forge a new consensus among small business groups, policymakers instead followed old scripts and reinforced received identities. Consequently, small business never came to occupy an important space in the post-New Deal political order.
Effects of Ammonia and Lactate on Hybridoma Growth, Metabolism, and Antibody Production

The influence of ammonia and lactate on cell growth, metabolic, and antibody production rates was investigated for murine hybridoma cell line 163.4G5.3 during batch culture. The specific growth rate was reduced by one-half in the presence of an initial ammonia concentration of 4 mM. Increasing ammonia levels accelerated glucose and glutamine consumption, decreased ammonia yield from glutamine, and increased alanine yield from glutamine. Although the amount of antibody produced decreased with increasing ammonia concentration, the specific antibody productivity remained relatively constant around a value of 0.22 pg/cell-h. The specific growth rate was reduced by one-half at an initial lactate concentration of 55 mM. Although specific glucose and glutamine uptake rates were increased at high lacatate concentration, they showed a decrease after making corrections for medium osmolarity. The yield coefficient of lactate from glucose decreased at high lactate concentrations. A similar decrease was observed for the ammonia yield coefficient from glutamine. At elevated lactate concentrations, specific antibody productivities increased, possibly due to the increase in medium osmolarity. The specific oxygen uptake rate was insensitive to ammonia and lactate concentrations. Addition of ammonia and lactate increased the calculated metabolic energy production of the cells. At high ammonia and lactate, the contribution of glycolysis to total energy production increased. Decreasing external pH and increasing ammonia concentrations caused cytoplasmic acidification. Effect of lactate on intracellular pH was insignificant, whereas increasing osmolarity caused cytoplasmic alkalinization.
Are the American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association Guidelines for Exercise Testing for Suspected Coronary Artery Disease Correct?

Background Recently published American College of Cardiology (ACC)/American Heart Association (AHA) guidelines state that patients with suspected coronary disease and an intermediate pretest probability are appropriate candidates for exercise ECG, while those with low or high pretest probability are not. Methods From 5,103 consecutive patients with symptoms of suspected coronary disease, we evaluated 872 patients who underwent coronary angiography following exercise ECG. Differences in test performance were determined using receiver operating characteristic curve area analysis. A score using age, gender, symptoms, and risk factors was used to classify patients into low, intermediate, and high pretest probability groups. Results When patients with inadequate exercise tests were excluded, overall sensitivity and specificity were 70% and 66%, respectively. Only the intermediate pretest probability group demonstrated significant incremental value: pretest vs posttest intermediate, 70 ± 3 vs 79 ± 3 (p Conclusions Based on the information added by exercise testing to clinical data, these results confirm the ACC/AHA guideline assignments for test selection. However, despite these guidelines, patients with a low pretest probability can be selected for exercise testing with the knowledge that a positive result is infrequent and a negative result carries a very high negative predictive value. Intermediate-probability patients on average carry a significant false-negative rate, suggesting that exercise ECG alone may not be a sufficient screening test in all intermediate-probability patients. Because of poor negative predictive value and a large percentage of negative tests, high-probability patients should undergo coronary angiography as the initial strategy, unless the goal of exercise testing is to assess prognosis.
Corrosion of Pb-50In flip-chip interconnections exposed to harsh environment

Lead-indium alloys are an alternative to lead-tin solders commonly used. Lead-indium alloys with 25 to 50 wt.% In provide a substantially lower process temperature advantage and overall exhibit a much lower tendency to scavenge gold compared to high Pb-Sn solders. However, a corrosion concern has been identified in relation to Pb-50In solder, an alloy of interest owing to its thermal-fatigue resistance. The results and observations of a study conducted to gain a fundamental understanding of the nature and path of corrosion in Pb-50In flip-chip connections exposed to an accelerated hostile-environment test simulating harsh industrial ambients are described. Among the five major industrial pollutants comprising the test environment, only chlorine corroded the Pb-50In solder-joint metallurgy under the test conditions, and chlorine was the only pollutant species found in the corrosion products. Attack was initially local, forming a product with modular morphology, consisting mostly of In and Cl (probably InCl/sub 3/). Lateral growth impingement resulted in the formation of a continuous, quasi-protective surface crust which significantly reduced the bulk corrosion rate. Joint electrical and mechanical integrity depended on the galvanic driving force and hindrances due to space and geometric considerations, etc. which govern the rate of inward corrosion along the ball-limiting metallurgy/solder interface. Successive autocatalytic conversion along the corrosion path likely proceeds via Lewis acid hydrolysis of indium chlorides to corresponding hydroxides and hydrogen chloride. The top surface metallurgy was not attacked. Interface corrosion of C-4 joints was favored over bulk corrosion when chloride was present as part of the corrosion-causing environment. >
Basal Protein Expression Is Associated With Worse Outcome and Trastuzamab Resistance in HER2+ Invasive Breast Cancer.

Abstract Background We investigated the effect of basal protein expression on trastuzamab response in patients with HER2-positive (HER2 + ) breast cancer who received trastuzamab (T) and in HER2 + breast cancer cell lines. Patients and Methods Expression of cytokeratin (CK) 5/6, CK14, and epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) was evaluated after immunohistochemical staining in paraffin-embedded tissue of 97 patients with stage I to III HER2 + breast cancer treated with chemotherapy/T. Groups with and without basal protein expression were compared with respect to clinicopathologic parameters and survival. We treated 4 cell lines (2 basal-HER2 [HCC1569, HCC1954] and 2 nonbasal HER2 [BT474, SKBR3]) each with vehicle, T 20 μg/mL, paclitaxel 0.01 μM (P), and T with P (T + P). Cell viability was assessed and HER2 pathway suppression was compared between groups using immunoblot analysis. Mammosphere formation was used to assess breast cancer stem cell properties. Results EGFR expression was significantly associated with cancer-specific survival (CSS) ( P = .05). CK5/6 expression strongly correlated with overall and disease-free survival, and CSS ( P = .03, P = .04, and P = .03, respectively). Statistical significance was maintained for EGFR and CK5/6 after adjustment for covariates. CK14 was not associated with survival. All cell lines expressed similar levels of HER2. T and P alone inhibited proliferation of nonbasal cell lines; T + P had an additive cytotoxic effect. Basal cells were resistant to T, P inhibited proliferation, but T + P had no additive cytotoxic effect on cell growth in basal cells. Immunoblot analysis showed a significant decrease in phosphorylated Akt levels after treatment with T or T + P in nonbasal cells but not in basal cells. Akt blockade suppressed growth of basal and nonbasal HER2 + cells. Furthermore, basal HER2 cell lines had increased mammosphere formation, which suggests increased stem cell properties compared with nonbasal HER2 cell lines. Conclusion CK5/6 and EGFR expression are predictive of worse prognosis in HER2 + breast cancer patients treated with T. Basal HER2 breast cancer cell lines are resistant to trastuzamab, which is mediated through the Akt pathway; AKT inhibition abrogates this resistance. Basal HER2 cell lines also have increased stem cell properties, which might play a role in the resistance pathway.
ENZYMATIC SOLUBILIZATION OF FISH PROTEIN CONCENTRATE IN MEMBRANE REACTORS

The enzymatic solubilization of an insoluble alfalfa protein fraction was studied in a batch reactor and in a continuous flow semi-batch membrane reactor. The “white” cytoplasmic protein fraction obtained by heat precipitation was solubilized using the proteolytic enzyme trypsin. Batch studies were carried out at pH 7.7 with a trypsin to substrate ratio of 2 x 10m-3 (by weight). At 27, 37 and 47°C the hydrolysis reaction was found to be first-order in substrate concentration. The activation energy was 23.25 kcal. At 47°C the conversion level was 97% after 4 hr. For the membrane reactor system, the effects of the variables pH, temperature, substrate concentration, and trypsin to substrate ratio were evaluated with the aid of factorial design methods. The optimum operating conditions for the membrane reactor studies were 47°C at pH 7.7 with a trypsin to substrate ratio of 4 x 10-3 at a 0.5% solids concentration level. The hydrolysis process was enhanced if the reactor was operated in a washout mode prior to the addition of enzyme suggesting that soluble low molecular weight inhibitors were washed out of the reactor with the permeate. 55% of the total amount of insoluble starting material appeared as products in the permeate after 4 hr of operation under the conditions stated above.
Universal Health Coverage: Solution or Siren? Some Preliminary Thoughts

In recent years, there has been a growing groundswell of support for the idea that universal health coverage should be provided even in the developing world. While I wholeheartedly agree with the eventual goal of attaining universal health coverage globally, and the sooner the better, I have worries as to whether the world's rich countries, or institutions like the World Health Organization, should be pushing the world's poorest countries to take whatever steps are necessary to achieve that goal. My fear is that universal health coverage in the developing world is an intoxicating, but potentially dangerous, idea whose time may not yet have come. This article's aim is not to settle the question of whether the developing world should be urged, or pushed, to adopt policies of universal health coverage. It is merely to explore some worries about the wisdom of such a tack. The article is divided into eight sections. In Section 1, I give a brief introduction. In Section 2, I provide some background for my topic. In Section 3, I discuss the notion of universal health coverage, and what the push for such a goal in the developing world seemingly involves. In Section 4, I raise some general worries I have about the push for universal health coverage in the developing world. In Section 5, I present a wide range of possible justifications for universal health coverage in the developing world. In Section 6, I discuss whether any of the purported justifications of universal health coverage in the developing world actually do so. In Section 7, I consider some comments, objections, and responses. Finally, in Section 8, I offer a brief conclusion.
Investigation into the use of molecular hydrogen on the growth of gallium nitride via metal‐organic molecular beam epitaxy

Molecular hydrogen (H2) has been investigated as a means to improve ammonia nitridation efficiency and attempts to reduce carbon contamination in ammonia-based metal-organic molecular beam epitaxy (MOMBE). A 30% improvement in crystalline quality, inferred from XRD, as well as an increase in subsequent GaN bulk growth rate was observed when bare sapphire was subject to H2 annealing before nitridation. However, the use of H2 during GaN homoepitaxy on GaN templates resulted in increased carbon contamination and decreased growth rate of GaN. The results demonstrate promise and proper uses of H2 during GaN growth under certain conditions. (© 2008 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)
Eosinophils Can Function as Antigen-Presenting Cells To Induce Primary and Secondary Immune Responses to Strongyloides stercoralis

Several studies have demonstrated roles for eosinophils during innate and adaptive immune responses to helminth infections. However, evidence that eosinophils are capable of initiating an immune response to parasite antigens is lacking. The goal of the present in vitro study was to investigate the potential of eosinophils to serve as antigen-presenting cells (APC) and initiate an immune response to parasite antigens. Purified eosinophils were exposed to soluble Strongyloides stercoralis antigens, and the expression of various surface markers involved in cell activation was examined. Antigen-exposed eosinophils showed a sixfold increase in expression levels of CD69 and major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class II, a fourfold increase in levels of T-cell costimulatory molecule CD86, and a twofold decrease in levels of CD62L compared to eosinophils cultured in medium containing granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor. The ability of eosinophils to present antigen to T cells was determined by culturing them with T cells in vitro. Eosinophils pulsed with antigen stimulated antigen-specific primed T cells and CD4+ T cells to increase interleukin-5 (IL-5) production. The blocking of MHC class II expression on eosinophils inhibited their ability to induce IL-5 production by CD4+ T cells in culture. Antigen-pulsed eosinophils were able to prime naive T cells and CD4+ T cells in culture and polarized them into Th2 cells producing IL-5 similar to that induced by antigen-loaded dendritic cells. These results demonstrate that eosinophils are capable of activating antigen-specific Th2 cells inducing the release of cytokines and assist in the priming of naive T cells to initiate Th2 responses against infection. This study highlights the potential of eosinophils to actively induce immune responses against infection by amplifying antigen-specific Th2-cell responses.
INFLUENCE OF SITE AND STAND FACTORS ON THE DISTRIBUTION OF CRUSTOSE LICHENS OF THE CALICIALES IN A SUBOCEANIC SPRUCE FOREST AREA IN CENTRAL NORWAY

Abstract The distribution of crustose Caliciales has been surveyed in 100 spruce forest patches in Sor-Trondelag, central Norway. Relationships between occurrence of the species and a number of site and stand variables were analysed by detrended correspondence analysis (DCA) and direct gradient analysis. Species diversity was significantly higher in old forests and in forests at higher altitudes compared to young forests and forests at lower altitudes. Old trees and snags are considered to be the most important structural components in old forests promoting species diversity of the Caliciales. Threatened or vulnerable species, such as Chaenotheca gracillima, Cybebe gracilenta, Sclerophora coniophaea and S. peronella were confined to forest on rich soils showing no correlation with forest stand age. Chaenotheca brachypoda and C. trichialis were found to be the most typical old forest species among the Caliciales. Humidiphilous species are considered to be less affected by forestry in a humid climate. A change in forestry practice towards methods imitating the natural dynamic processes is considered necessary to maintain species diversity of the Caliciales in boreal forests.
Designing a self-maintaining storage system

This paper shows the suitability of a "self-maintaining" approach to Tertiary Disk, a large-scale disk array system built from commodity components. Instead of incurring the cost of custom hardware, we attempt to solve various problems by design and software. We have built a cluster of storage nodes connected by switched Ethernet. Each storage node is a PC hosting a few dozen SCSI disks, running the FreeBSD operating system. The system is used as a web-based image server for the Zoom Project in cooperation with the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco (http://www.thinker.org/). We are designing a self-maintenance extension to the OS to run on this cluster to mitigate the system administrator's burden. There are several components required for building a self-maintaining system. One is decoupling the time of failure from the time of hardware replacement. This implies the system must have some amount of redundancy, and has no single point of failure. Our system is fully redundant, and everything is constructed to avoid a single point of failure. Another is correctly identifying failures and their dependencies. The paper also outlines several approaches to lower the human cost of system administration of such a system and making the system as autonomous as possible.
Perceived Dangerousness of Children With Mental Health Problems and Support for Coerced Treatment

Objective: This study examined the public’s beliefs regarding the potential for harm to self and others and the public’s willingness to invoke coercive or legal means to ensure treatment of children. Methods: Using data from the National Stigma Study–Children (NSS-C), which presented vignettes to 1,152 individuals, the investigators compared public perceptions of the dangerousness of children with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), major depression, asthma, and “daily troubles.” Multivariate analyses were used to examine the predictors of perceptions of dangerousness and the willingness to support legally enforced treatment of these conditions. Results: Children with ADHD and children with major depression were perceived (by 33% and 81% of the sample, respectively) as somewhat likely or very likely to be dangerous to themselves or others, compared with children with asthma (15%) or those with “daily troubles” (13%). Over one-third of the sample (35%) were willing to use legal means to force children with depression to see a clinician. However, even more (42%) endorsed forced treatment for a child with asthma. Furthermore, individuals who labeled the child as “mentally ill” were approximately twice as likely to report a potential for violence and five times as likely to support forced treatment. Conclusions: Large numbers of people in the United States link children’s mental health problems, particularly depression, to a potential for violence and support legally mandated treatment. These evaluations appear to reflect the stigma associated with mental illness and the public’s concern for parental responsibility. (Psychiatric Services 58:619–625, 2007) Special Section on the National Stigma Study–Children
Oracle media server: providing consumer based interactive access to multimedia data

Currently, most data accessed on large servers is structured data stored in traditional databases. Networks are LAN based and clients range from simple terminals to powerful workstations. The user is corporate and the application developer is an MIS professional.With the introduction of broadband communications to the home and better than 100-to-1 compression techniques, a new form of network-based computing is emerging. Structured data is still important, but the bulk of data becomes unstructured: audio, video, news feeds, etc. The predominant user becomes the consumer. The predominant client device becomes the television set. The application developer becomes the storyboard developer, director, or the video production engineer.The Oracle Media Server supports access to all types of conventional data stored in Oracle relational and text databases. In addition, we have developed a real-time stream server that supports storage and playback of real-time audio and video data. The Media Server also provides access to data stored in file systems or as binary large objects (images, executables, etc.)The Oracle Media Server provides a platform for distributed client-server computing and access to data over asymmetric real-time networks. A service mechanism allows applications to be split such that client devices (set-top boxes, personal digital assistants, etc.) can focus on presentation, while backend services running in a distributed server complex, provide access to data via messaging or lightweight RPC (Remote Procedure Call).
The effect of working serial night shifts on the cognitive functioning of emergency physicians

Abstract Study Objective: We sought to determine whether working 5 serial night shifts in the emergency department results in a decline in physician performance as measured with an intelligence test. Methods: This study compared the cognitive functioning of emergency physicians who worked the day shift (7 AM to 5 pm) with those who worked 5 consecutive night shifts (11 pm to 7 am). The Fluid Scale of the Kaufman Adolescent and Adult Intelligence Test (KAIT) was administered to 16 emergency medicine residents. Half of the residents (group A) were tested while working day shifts, and the other half (group B) were tested after working 5 consecutive night shifts. After a minimum interval of 2 months, the residents were retested in reverse order, with group A tested after working night shifts and group B tested while working day shifts. Results: A total of 16 emergency medicine residents were tested. A paired t test was used to determine whether day-shift KAIT scores are different from night-shift KAIT scores. The mean day-shift KAIT score was 119.1 (SD=7.7), and the mean night-shift KAIT score was 107.2 (SD=10.2). This difference was significant (mean difference=11.9; 95% confidence interval 7.0 to 16.8; P Conclusion: Working a series of 5 night shifts results in a substantial decline in cognitive performance in physicians working in the ED. [Dula DJ, Dula NL, Hamrick C, Wood GC. The effect of working serial night shifts on the cognitive functioning of emergency physicians. Ann Emerg Med. August 2001;38:152-155.]
Immunohistochemical detection of p53 tumor-suppressor protein is a poor indicator of prognosis for canine cutaneous mast cell tumors.

Eighty-three canine cutaneous mast cell tumors were graded histologically and evaluated immunohistochemically for p53 tumor-suppressor protein expression. An avidin-biotin immunohistochemical protocol incorporated a rabbit polyclonal antibody (CM-1) directed against normal and mutant p53 protein. Positive staining was observed in 44.6% (37/83) of tumors and included 50% (12/24) of grade I (well differentiated) tumors, 46.9% (23/49) of grade II (intermediate differentiation) tumors, and 20% (2/10) of grade III (poorly differentiated) tumors. A statistically significantly higher proportion (P 5 cm was statistically significantly shorter (P < 0.0001) than for dogs with grades I and II or smaller tumors. Although p53 protein abnormalities may play a role in tumor development or behavior in some canine cutaneous mast cell tumors, immunoreactivity was not associated with lack of tumor differentiation, tumor locations previously shown to demonstrate aggressive biological behavior, breed predisposition, or survival times.
Evaluating the Lower-Body Electromyogram Signal Acquired From the Feet As a Noise Reference for Standing Ballistocardiogram Measurements

The ballistocardiogram (BCG) is a measure of the reaction force of the body to cardiac ejection of blood. A variety of systems can be used for BCG detection, including beds, tables, chairs, and weighing scales. Weighing scales, in particular, have several practical advantages over the alternatives: low cost, small size, unobtrusiveness, and familiarity to the user; one disadvantage is that the subject must stand during the recording, rather than sit or lay supine, resulting in a higher susceptibility to motion artifacts in the measured signal. This paper evaluates the electromyogram (EMG) signal acquired from the feet of the subject during BCG recording as a noise reference for standing BCG measurements. As a subject moves while standing on the scale, muscle contractions in the feet are detected by the EMG signal, and used to flag segments of the BCG signal that are corrupted by elevated noise. For the purposes of evaluating this method, estimates of the BCG noise-to-signal ratio (NSR) were independently calculated with an ensemble average method, using the R-wave of a simultaneously-acquired chest ECG as a timing reference. The linear correlation between EMG power alone and BCG NSR from 14 subjects was found to be moderate ( r = 0.58, F-statistic p -value <; 0.05); combined with body-mass index (BMI), multiple linear regression yielded a stronger correlation (r = 0.73, F -statistic p-value = 0.01). Additionally, an example usage of the lower-leg EMG for improving BCG measurement robustness is provided.
Chaucer and Cato

CHAUCER'S knowledge of Cato has received the passing attention of several scholars who have concerned themselves with investigation of the poet's learning, and most of his borrowings from the distichs are noted in scholarly editions.' But heretofore no attempt has been made to study in detail the nature of Chaucer's relationship to the book that doubtless provided him, as it did all other literate men of his era, not only with training in Latin but with an introduction to ethics. For the ethica Catonis, like other grammar school texts, served a purpose beyond mere language training.2 The material of the book, as all the glos-
FULL-SCALE TESTS OF A RAILWAY BRIDGE

Full-scale resonance and ultimate load tests of the Strawberry Park Underpass were conducted in March 1995. This bridge was typical of many railway bridges around the country—a two-span, 45.2-m (148-ft) long ballasted through plate girder railway bridge. It was located in Los Angeles and scheduled for removal in spring 1995. This fact allowed failure tests to be performed with the pushing loads applied at the bridge abutments. The main objectives of this experiment were to measure the dynamic properties of the bridge with and without the rails and to begin to identify the extent to which the unique railway bridge components, consisting of the rails, ties, ballast, and ballast pan, help strengthen it during a seismic event. It was found that the removal of the rails alone resulted in a slightly softer system and that the railway elements increased the ultimate capacity of the bridge significantly.
Correlation between energetics and toxicities of single-carbon halides

Abstract A molecular model for the carcinogenicity of carbon tetrachloride has been previously suggested in which an electron is transferred from an enzyme to the CCl 4 molecule resulting in its dissociation into Cl − and the free radical . CCl 3 . Cellular damage was attributed to the free radical. In the light of this model we examined the series of one carbon halocarbons CF 4 , CCl 4 , CBr 4 , CI 4 , CHCl 3 , CHBr 3 and CHI 3 for their carcinogenic activity. The propensities of the halocarbons to produce free radicals by dissociative electron attachment was obtained from calculated potential energy curves and other physical properties, and the ability of the free radicals to abstract hydrogen atoms from the lipid was estimated from the CH bond strengths in the appropriate molecules formed when the free radical combines with the hydrogen atom. Using these two parameters it proved to be possible to assign a toxicity to each of the halocarbons studied which was in agreement with all animal study results for which data were available.
Elevated cortisol during play is associated with age and social engagement in children with autism.

Background: The hallmark characteristic of autism is impaired reciprocal social interaction. While children find social interaction stress-reducing, many children with autism may find social interaction stress-inducing. The current study was designed to examine stress responsivity as measured by cortisol by comparing children with autism to neurotypical peers during an ecologically valid 20-minute playground paradigm. Methods: The experiment involved sets of three children: a child with autism, a neurotypical child, and a confederate. Participants included 45 prepubescent males between 8 and 12 years of age (21 with autism and 24 neurotypical children). Results: Children with autism showed fewer initiations (c²(1) = 4.03, P = 0.044), rejected initiations from others more (c²(1) = 7.10, P = 0.008) and spent less time interacting during motor (F(1,43) = 16.7, P = 0.0002) and cooperative (F(1,43) = 14.78, P = 0.0004) play. Repeated measures analysis of the cortisol values revealed a significant model (c²(4) = 22.76, P < 0.0005) that included time of measurement, diagnosis and age as main effects and an interaction between diagnosis and age. Thus, as age increased among children with autism, they experienced enhanced cortisol levels while age did not modify expected cortisol levels for typical children. Stress responsivity was associated with more peripheral equipment play for motor (c²(3) = 12.3, P = 0.006) and cooperative (c²(3) = 8.24, P = 0.04) play as well as reduced nonverbal social skills during motor (c²(1) = 5.52, P = 0.018) and cooperative play (c²(1) = 4.53, P = 0.033). Conclusions: Overall, children with autism engaged in fewer social overtures and spent less time interacting than typically developing peers during play. The peer interaction paradigm resulted in significantly higher levels of cortisol in many children with autism. Distinct patterns emerged within the autism group based on developmental (older), biological (cortisol responder) and behavioral patterns (peripheral group interaction). The enhanced cortisol response was observed in children who voluntarily engaged in interaction; thus, it does not support the notion of a response to social threat. Rather, it appears to reflect attendant metabolic preparedness and enhanced arousal from engaging socially. The data suggest that many children with autism activate hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal responses in relatively benign social situations, which appears to be a function of age and level of social engagement. The findings support the need to teach coping strategies in addition to fundamental social skills to youth with autism.
Solid freeform fabrication of piezoelectric sensors and actuators

The last two decades have witnessed the proliferation piezoelectric composite transducers for an array of sensor and actuator applications. In this article, a concise summary of the major methods used in composite making, with special emphasis on Solid Freeform Fabrication (SFF), is provided. Fused Deposition of Ceramics (FDC) and Sanders Prototyping (SP) are two SFF techniques that have been utilized to make a variety of novel piezocomposites with connectivity patterns including (1-3), (3-2), (3-1), (2-2) and (3-3). The FDC technique has also been used to prototype a number of actuators such as tube arrays, spiral, oval, telescoping, and monomorph multi-material bending actuators. It has been demonstrated that SFF technology is a viable option for fabricating piezocomposite sensors and actuators with intricate geometry, unorthodox internal architecture, and complex symmetry. The salient aspects of processing of such composite sensors and actuators are summarized, and structure-processing-property relations are elaborated on.