cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Dynamic aspects of native DNA structure: Kinetics of the formaldehyde reaction with calf thymus DNA

Abstract In this paper we outline the use of formaldehyde as a chemical probe to study the dynamic structure of native calf thymus DNA at temperatures well below the melting transition zone. It is demonstrated that the over-all reaction can be formulated as an equilibrium conformational “opening” step, followed by a slow chemical reaction of formaldehyde with nucleotide amino-groups normally involved in interchain hydrogen bonding. The kinetics of the latter reaction are calibrated as a function of temperature, formaldehyde concentration, pH and NaClO 4 concentration, using heat-denatured calf thymus DNA (after correction for residual base-pairing) as a model for the “transiently-open” regions in native DNA. The initial rate of formylation of native DNA is found to be equal to the product of K conf and the initial rate of formylation of denatured DNA under the same conditions, where K conf represents the fraction of the total base-pairs open (and unstacked) under the particular experimental conditions. Thus, we obtain a direct measure of this parameter. By studying the temperature dependence of K conf , we show that the enthalpy of the co-operative opening process which precedes the formation of the formaldehyde adduct ( ΔH conf ) is temperature independent and corresponds to a co-operative opening unit of 9 ±1 base-pairs over a temperature range from just below T m to temperatures at least 30 deg. C lower. Increasing the concentration of the helix destablizing agent, sodium perchlorate, markedly diminishes the temperature dependence of K conf , and thus also the magnitude of ( ΔH conf . A number of lines of evidence are invoked to show that this decrease in ΔH conf is not associated with a diminution in the size of the co-operative opening unit, but rather with a decrease in the enthalpy of melting per base-pair. Finally, we consider the possible biological significance of transiently open segments of this length in otherwise native DNA.
Disparity in FcεRI-Induced Degranulation of Primary Human Lung and Skin Mast Cells Exposed to Adenosine

Inhaled and intravenously administered adenosine induces mast cell-mediated (histamine-dependent) bronchospasm in asthmatics without causing urticaria. A differential response to adenosine by human lung and skin mast cells is shown: low concentrations potentiate FceRI-induced degranulation of human lung mast cells but not that of skin mast cells. Human lung mast cells were found to express ∼ 3-fold more A3AR messenger RNA (mRNA) than skin mast cells, suggesting the involvement of the G(i)-linked A3AR. Indeed, the adenosine-induced potentiation was sensitive to inhibition by pertussis toxin and, furthermore, could be induced with an A3AR-specific agonist. This study reveals a previously unrecognized disparity in the response to adenosine by primary human mast cells from lung and skin that might explain why adenosine induces a pulmonary but not dermatologic allergy-like response in vivo. In addition, we identify the A3AR as a potentiating receptor of FceRI-induced degranulation, thereby implicating it in the in vivo bronchoconstrictive response to adenosine in asthmatics.
Approach to urinary diversion in the surgical patient.

Major surgical procedures may remove part or all of the bladder and make an incontinent or continent urinary diversion appropriate. Preoperative consideration must be given to 1) the stoma and its position, 2) the catheterizable channel, 3) the urinary continence mechanism, and 4) the substitute bladder reservoir. Complete bowel preparation and broad-spectrum antibiotics are desirable. The patient's motivation for taking care of a continent urinary diversion is important, since lifelong catheterization and mucous irrigation may be necessary. The status of the native bladder outlet and urinary sphincter is important in cases in which an orthotopic continent urinary diversion is considered. Preoperative evaluation by a stoma therapist is invaluable. Adequate urinary drainage is important in the immediate postoperative period. Patients with urinary diversions must be followed lifelong to rule out asymptomatic deterioration of their upper urinary tracts and to check for potential metabolic and nutritional problems.
Tool release: gathering 802.11n traces with channel state information

We are pleased to announce the release of a tool that records detailed measurements of the wireless channel along with received 802.11 packet traces. It runs on a commodity 802.11n NIC, and records Channel State Information (CSI) based on the 802.11 standard. Unlike Receive Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI) values, which merely capture the total power received at the listener, the CSI contains information about the channel between sender and receiver at the level of individual data subcarriers, for each pair of transmit and receive antennas.Our toolkit uses the Intel WiFi Link 5300 wireless NIC with 3 antennas. It works on up-to-date Linux operating systems: in our testbed we use Ubuntu 10.04 LTS with the 2.6.36 kernel. The measurement setup comprises our customized versions of Intel's close-source firmware and open-source iwlwifi wireless driver, userspace tools to enable these measurements, access point functionality for controlling both ends of the link, and Matlab (or Octave) scripts for data analysis. We are releasing the binary of the modified firmware, and the source code to all the other components.
Geometry and Nanolength Scales versus Interface Interactions: Water Dynamics in AOT Lamellar Structures and Reverse Micelles

To determine the relative importance of the confining geometry and nanoscopic length scale versus water/interface interactions, the dynamic interactions between water and interfaces are studied with ultrafast infrared spectroscopy. Aerosol OT (AOT) is a surfactant that can form two-dimensional lamellar structures with known water layer thickness as well as well-defined monodispersed spherical reverse micelles of known water nanopool diameter. Lamellar structures and reverse micelles are compared based on two criteria: surface-to-surface dimensions to study the effect of confining length scales, and water-to-surfactant ratio to study water/interface interactions. We show that the water-to-surfactant ratio is the dominant factor governing the nature of water interacting with an interface, not the characteristic nanoscopic distance. The detailed structure of the interface and the specific interactions between water and the interface also play a critical role in the fraction of water molecules influenced by t...
Analysis of chromatin binding dynamics using the crosslinking kinetics (CLK) method

Transcription factor binding sites in chromatin are routinely inventoried by the chromatin immunoprecipitation assay, and these binding patterns can provide precise and detailed information about cell state. However, some fundamental molecular questions regarding transcription factor function require an understanding of in vivo binding dynamics as well as location information. Here we describe the crosslinking kinetics (CLK) assay, in which the time-dependence of formaldehyde crosslinking is used to extract on- and off-rates for chromatin binding in vivo.
Work, welfare and the attack on the welfare state: the mixing of politics and policy

This article considers the current ideological and political attack against the floor of benefits for poor families in the United States. It examines a number of punitive approaches to the treatment of families on welfare that were developed in the United States in the late 1980s and the 1990s and contends that such policies will not effectively deter the dysfunctional behavior of some of the poor. Rather these policy developments reflect an attack on current national policies of developing an income maintenance floor that seeks to economically sustain poor families, albeit often inadequately. The article contends that current welfare proposals by conservatives and social liberals are not satisfactory for dealing with the problems of the welfare poor and offers suggestions for dealing with these deficits. It also notes that criticisms of welfare state protection for the poor raised in the United States are much more categorical than those raised in Sweden.
Structural models for the heme a3/copper active site of cytochrome c oxidase.

Cytochrome c oxidase is a complex, seven subunit enzyme containing two copper atoms, Cu, and CUB, and two hemes, the low-spin heme a and the highspin heme a3 (fig.1). Located at the terminus of the mitochondrial respiratory chain it has the crucial role of catalysing the rapid, four electron reduction of molecular oxygen to water (reviewed Ila,b]). The oxygen binding site is known from abundant spectroscopic and chemical evidence to be at the heme a3. An intriguing structural aspect of this active site in its oxidized form is the strong antiferromagnetic coupling between the presumed high-
Exact controllability and stabilizability of the Korteweg-de Vries equation

In this paper, we consider distributed control of the system described by the Korteweg-de Vries equation (i) atu + uaxu + e3 u = f on the interval 0 0, with periodic boundary conditions (ii) &au(27r, t) = &ku(O, t), k = 0, 1, 2, where the distributed control f _ f (x, t) is restricted so that the "volume" f u(x, t)dx of the solution is conserved. Both exact controllability and stabilizibility questions are studied for the system. In the case of open loop control, if the control f is allowed to act on the whole spatial domain (0, 27r), it is shown that the system is globally exactly controllable, i.e., for given T > 0 and functions q(x), +(x) with the same "volume", one can alway find a control f so that the system (i)-(ii) has a solution u(x, t) satisfying u(x, 0) 0(x), u(x, T) (x). If the control f is allowed to act on only a small subset of the domain (0, 27r), then the same result still holds if the initial and terminal states, b and 0, have small "amplitude" in a certain sense. In the case of closed loop control, the distributed control f is assumed to be generated by a linear feedback law conserving the "volume" while monotonically reducing f u(x, t)2dx. The solutions of the resulting closed loop system are shown to have uniform exponential decay to a constant state. As in the open loop control case, a small amplitude assumption is needed if the control is allowed to act on only a small subdomain. The smoothing property of the periodic (linear) KdV equation discovered recently by Bourgain has played an important role in establishing the exact controllability and stabilizability results presented in this paper.
Microbial flora associated with Louisiana processed frozen and fresh nutria (Myocastor coypus) carcasses.

: Nutria (Myocastor coypus) are semiaquatic vegetarians that have caused extensive destruction to coastal wetlands of Louisiana. There have been efforts to harvest nutria and market their meat for human consumption. This study seeks to address the microbial safety of nutria meat. Four regions of processed nutria carcasses, including the hindquarters, neck, back, and abdomen, were evaluated for microbial contamination during processing. Bacterial isolates were isolated and identified from each region of the carcass using selective and nonselective media, phenotypic tests, and the VitekTM identification system. The majority of microorganisms identified were spoilage organisms. The pathogenic microorganisms isolated Escherichia coli, Stophylococcus aureus, and Burkholderia mallei. This study will be used to develop an HACCP plan for processing nutria.
Ire1-mediated decay in mammalian cells relies on mRNA sequence, structure, and translational status

Endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress occurs when misfolded proteins overwhelm the capacity of the ER, resulting in activation of the unfolded protein response (UPR). Ire1, an ER transmembrane nuclease and conserved transducer of the UPR, cleaves the mRNA encoding the transcription factor Xbp1 at a dual stem-loop (SL) structure, leading to Xbp1 splicing and activation. Ire1 also cleaves other mRNAs localized to the ER membrane through regulated Ire1-dependent decay (RIDD). We find that during acute ER stress in mammalian cells, Xbp1-like SLs within the target mRNAs are necessary for RIDD. Furthermore, depletion of Perk, a UPR transducer that attenuates translation during ER stress, inhibits RIDD in a substrate-specific manner. Artificially blocking translation of the SL region of target mRNAs fully restores RIDD in cells depleted of Perk, suggesting that ribosomes disrupt SL formation and/or Ire1 binding. This coordination between Perk and Ire1 may serve to spatially and temporally regulate RIDD.
Radiographic criteria for placement of translaminar facet screws

Abstract Background context Screw fixation of the facet joint has been reported to stabilize the lumbar spine and facilitate spinal fusion. Accurate placement of translaminar facet screws (TLFSs) requires identification of the posterior spinal elements, and the facet joints in particular, which may be facilitated by intra-operative fluoroscopy. Purpose The purpose of this study was to define the radiographic parameters that will allow for successful placement of TLFSs. Study design Eighteen TLFSs were placed in three human cadaver spines using fluoroscopic guidance, with screws placed from L3–L4 to L5–S1 bilaterally. After screw placement, the spines were dissected and examined for the accuracy of screw placement. Methods In the first cadaver spine, TLFSs were placed with direct visualization of the posterior lumbar spine, during which a fluoroscopic image intensifier was used to define the appropriate radiographic parameters for safe placement of the screws. Bilateral TLFSs were then placed percutaneously using the radiographic parameters developed, after which the spines were dissected to examine the positions of the screws. Results The radiographic views identified to achieve proper TLFS placement were a true lateral, anteroposterior (AP), a 45-degree oblique and an AP view with the X-ray beam at a 30- to 45-degree cephalad angle (“spinal outlet” view). Using these views and the defined radiographic criteria, proper positioning of percutaneously placed TLFSs was achieved, with no spinal canal breaches found. Conclusions This study defines intra-operative radiographic criteria that will assist in placement of TLFSs. The use of this technique may allow for screw placement with less extensive exposure of the posterior spine.
Implicit functions and diffeomorphisms without C 1

We prove implicit and inverse function theorems for non-C 1 functions, and characterize non-C 1 diffeomorphisms.
A UNIFIED DESCRIPTION OF BARYON ELECTROMAGNETIC FORM FACTORS

We suggest a unified description of baryon form factors in terms of a two-component model with an intrinsic q3 structure and a meson cloud, parameterized in terms of vector mesons. We use this model to study the N-Δ form factors. The results are in excellent agreement with data. The N-Δ transition appears to be dominated by coupling to the ρ meson.
Associative olfactory learning in the moth Manduca sexta.

The proboscis extension response conditioning protocol has been used to explore olfactory-based associative learning in an array of insects. We have monitored a different feeding reflex, which involves activation of the cibarial pump, to demonstrate olfactory learning in the moth Manduca sexta. In the first experiment, four different treatment conditions were used to assess associative (Pavlovian) learning. The results indicate that an excitatory cibarial pump response develops and is retained for at least 24 h only when odor is forward-paired with the presentation of sucrose. Three control treatments, backward pairing, air (no odor) pairing and random pairing, failed to increase the cibarial pump response. However, an excitatory cibarial pump response developed when the backward- and air-paired groups received forward pairing of odor and sucrose on the following day. In contrast, moths experiencing random pairing on day 1 displayed a slower rate of acquisition during forward pairing on day 2, which may indicate inhibition. The second experiment investigated discrimination learning. Two odors were randomly presented, one odor being forwardpaired with sucrose (+), the other presented alone ( -) in a counterbalanced design. Again, only when odor was forward-paired with sucrose did learning occur. We discuss the implication of these findings for a broader comparative analysis of learning in insects. Summary
Federal support for geoscientists

While fundamental research in science is expected to receive declining federal support overall in the next few years (Physics Today, May 1982, p. 77) a potential basis for the long-term (5-year) support of federal geoscience funding is emerging in the areas of resource development and the space shuttle program. The FY 1983 earth sciences budget request of the National Science Foundation (NSF) is 18% above the previous year, while its requests for the atmospheric, ocean, and Arctic research programs are only about 7% above last year's. According to the NSF, the earth sciences section has been singled out for a sharply increased budget as a result of recommendations of the National Science Board and because of the importance of earth science research to national goals (Physics Today, sup.)
Human Type 3 3α-Hydroxysteroid Dehydrogenase (Aldo-Keto Reductase 1C2) and Androgen Metabolism in Prostate Cells

Human aldo-keto reductases (AKRs) of the AKR1C subfamily function in vitro as 3-keto-, 17-keto-, and 20-ketosteroid reductases or as 3α-, 17β-, and 20α-hydroxysteroid oxidases. These AKRs can convert potent sex hormones (androgens, estrogens, and progestins) into their cognate inactive metabolites or vice versa. By controlling local ligand concentration AKRs may regulate steroid hormone action at the prereceptor level. AKR1C2 is expressed in prostate, and in vitro it will catalyze the nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD+)-dependent oxidation of 3α-androstanediol (3α-diol) to 5α-dihydrotestosterone (5α-DHT). This reaction is potently inhibited by reduced NAD phosphate (NADPH), indicating that the NAD+: NADPH ratio in cells will determine whether AKR1C2 makes 5α-DHT. In transient COS-1-AKR1C2 and in stable PC-3-AKR1C2 transfectants, 5α-DHT was reduced by AKR1C2. However, the transfected AKR1C2 oxidase activity was insufficient to surmount the endogenous 17β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase (17β-HSD) activity...
Hypothalamic Expression of Eap1 Is Not Directly Controlled by Ovarian Steroids

A gene termed EAP1 (enhanced at puberty 1) was recently identified as a transcriptional regulator of female neuroendocrine reproductive function. We have now used in vivo and in vitro assays, and the female rat as an animal model, to determine whether Eap1 gene expression is regulated by ovarian steroids. Eap1 mRNA abundance decreases in both the hypothalamus and cerebral cortex during the infantile-juvenile phases of development, but it increases selectively in the hypothalamus at puberty, suggesting that in contrast to the general decline in expression observed in immature animals, the region-specific increase in Eap1 mRNA levels that occurs at puberty might be elicited by ovarian steroids. This is, however, not the case, because hypothalamic Eap1 mRNA levels increase at the expected time of puberty in rats ovariectomized at the beginning of the juvenile period. Although a subpopulation of EAP1-containing cells in the medial basal hypothalamus (MBH) and preoptic area express estrogen receptor-alpha (ERalpha), the 5'-flanking region of the rat Eap1 (rEap1) gene does not contain a complete estrogen-responsive element, and no such estrogen-responsive element is detected within 100 kb of the rEap1 locus. Functional promoter assays showed that neither estradiol (E(2)) alone nor a combination of E(2) plus progesterone increases rEap1 gene transcription. Likewise, E(2) administered to ovariectomized immature rats elicited a robust surge of LH but increased neither preoptic area nor MBH Eap1 mRNA levels. E(2)/progesterone-treated rats showed a massive elevation in plasma LH but only a modest increase in Eap1 mRNA levels, limited to the MBH. These results indicate that hypothalamic Eap1 expression is not directly controlled by ovarian steroids and suggest that Eap1 expression increases at puberty driven by ovary-independent, centrally initiated events.
Probability of response models and DNA repair: a statistical-biological approach

Abstract This paper develops a simple statistical model, the weighted hazard model, which incorporates the toxicological idea of DNA repair and its role in chemical carcinogenesis. We restrict attention to a small segment of DNA that migrates in and out of the high risk states; it is shown that random hazard functions play an important role in the distributional properties of the time to first detectable tumor. Included in the many shapes of the weighted hazard model is one that has a shape in the low dose region similar to that of the probit model, a model that many toxicologists favor. The analyses of two data sets are presented and interpreted, and suggestions for further research are given.
Veblen's economic theory: A radical analysis

Veblen is a systematic economic theorist whose economic views run in parallel with those of his contemporaries. Also, his economic analysis is important for Marx's system. Veblen's economic theory as analyzed here consists of four basic components: reserve capacity, markup pricing, productivity, and aggregate demand; these elements constitute a coherent structure of economic analysis containing both microeconomics and macroeconomics used not only to analyze capitalism but to replace it. It is also argued that Veblen's economic theory is radical, because it utilizes social conflict as the driving force for social evolution.
Error-correction schemes for volume optical memories.

An optically addressed Reed–Solomon parallel decoder has been designed and fabricated for one-dimensional parallel access optical memories. The [15, 9] Reed–Solomon decoder operates on 60 parallel optical inputs and has been demonstrated at a data rate of 300 megabits/s. Compared with equivalent serial decoding solutions, this decoder is shown to be more area efficient and offers reduced latency. An extension to two-dimensional error correction using both the parallel and serial strategies is presented, and comparisons are made in terms of parallelism, page rate, and information rate for the two architectures. A hybrid optoelectronic decoding architecture that uses optical finite-field matrix–vector multipliers is given and is shown to offer error correction at large block sizes and aggregate data rates exceeding 1012 bits/s.
Signal transduction events in stimulated rat neutrophils: Effects of adenine nucleotides

When rat neutrophils were stimulated with chemotactic peptide (Nformyl-Met-Leu-Phe; fMLP), phorbol my&ate acetate (PMA), or immune complexes in the presence of homologous platelets, Oi responses were enhanced. Secretion products of thrombin-stimulated platelets as well as ATP. ATPyS. or ADP enhanced 02 responses of fMLP-stimulated neutrophils, although these nucleotides did not, by themselves, initiate an 0, response. Calcium transients were measured in neutrophils which were stimulated with fMLP under a variety of conditions (?ATPyS, -+cytochalasin B) which enhance 05 responses. Neutrophils incubated with ATP-yS atone developed brief calcium transients similar to those produced by fMLP. As compared to changes in intracellular calcium in fMLP-stimulated neutrophils, the copresence of ATPyS with fMLP did not cause a statistically significant difference in the calcium transients, even though 05 production was enhanced. In contrast, in the presence of cytochalasin B, the addition of ATPyS to fMLP-stimulated neutrophils produced greatly sustained and protracted elevations in intracellular calcium, correlating with further enhancement of 0% responses. In fMLP-stimulated neutrophils the latter phases of the calcium transients appeared to be dependent in part on the availability of extracellular calcium. These data suggest that ATPyS-induced enhancement of 0% responses in fMLP-stimulated rat neutrophils may be related to two mechanisms, one being independent of fMLP-induced intracellular calcium transients and the other, which is related to the presence of cytochalasin B, being linked to sustained elevations in intracellular calcium associated with mobilization of extracelhrtar calcium.
Use of double-channel heterostructures to improve the access resistance and linearity in GaN-based HEMTs

Double-channel structures have been used in AlGaN/GaN high electron mobility transistors to reduce the access resistance. Carrier densities as high as 2.9/spl times/10/sup 13/ cm/sup -2/ and mobilities in the 1300 cm/sup 2//V/spl middot/s range have been obtained in the access region. Also, the correct design of the potential barrier between the different channels allowed tailoring the differential access resistance to enhance the linearity of the transistors. This increase in linearity has been measured as a flatter profile of the transconductance and cutoff frequency versus current and as an improvement of more than 2 dB in large-signal two-tone linearity measurements.
Responding to Societal Devaluation: Effects of Perceived Personal and Group Discrimination on the Ethnic Group Identification and Personal Self-Esteem of Latino/Latina Adolescents:

The Rejection-Identification model (Branscombe, Schmitt, & Harvey, 1999) posits that perceived discrimination may lead to increased ingroup identification, which can help maintain psychological well-being in the face of societal devaluation. To address unknown aspects of this model, we examined the effects of perceived personal and group discrimination on the group identification and personal self-esteem of Latino/Latina adolescents. Results showed that perceived group discrimination was related to higher personal self-esteem via direct and indirect routes (i.e. through group identification). However, perceived personal discrimination was directly and indirectly associated with lower personal self-esteem. Moreover, these two levels of discrimination showed interactive effects on both group identification and personal self-esteem. These results highlight the importance of distinguishing between levels of discrimination in the Rejection-Identification model.
Purple-Collar Labor: Transgender Workers and Queer Value at Global Call Centers in the Philippines

This article examines new patterns of workplace inequality that emerge as transgender people are incorporated into the global labor market. Drawing on in-depth interviews with 41 transgender call center employees in the Philippines, I develop the concept “purple-collar labor” to describe how transgender workers—specifically trans women—are clustered, dispersed, and segregated in the workplace and how their patterned locations in social organizational structures serve a particular value-producing function. These patterned inclusions, I argue, come with explicit and implicit interactional expectations about how “trans” should be put to work in the expansion and accumulation of global capital. In this way, the study examines the production and extraction of queer value and the folding of trans women’s gendered performances into commercial exchange. Data show how the affective labor of transgender employees is used to help foster productivity, ease workplace tensions, and boost employee morale. This study of ...
Missed, Dissed, and Pissed": Making Meaning of Neighborhood Risk, Fear and Anger Management in Urban Black Youth.

The risk factor, stress engagement, and coping experiences of African American youth are not well understood. Given the stressors of racism, hopeless perceptions of urban youth, and violence experience and exposure, anger experience and expression are reasonable resilient and risky reactions to this atmosphere of hostility. This study analyzed the impact upon the anger management of adolescents when calamity fears, neighborhood social capital, and kinship social support are known. The findings suggest that when the calamity fears of youth are high, their anger experience and expression is minimized. This finding was prominent for adolescents living in high-risk neighborhoods. Kinship social support showed a positive relationship to anger suppression for youth in high-risk environments. Implications for understanding the phenomenological stress and coping experiences of African American youth are discussed. Language: en
The Aesthetic Dimension in Faith Formation

I teach an intensive course called “God Faith and Art” with masters-level theological students. Through reading, discussion, experiential learning with varieties of artistic mediums, and field trip...
Injuries and risk factors in an 18-day Marine winter mountain training exercise.

OBJECTIVES: This study determined the incidence of and risk factors for injuries among 356 Marines during a winter mountain training exercise. METHODS: Marines received a podiatry screening and completed a questionnaire on race, education, tobacco use, height, weight, and fitness (4.8-km run, sit-ups, pull-ups). RESULTS: Forty-five Marines (12.6%) reported at least one injury each, 68.9% of which were traumatic injuries. Total injuries resulted in 114 days of limited duty time. A final foot examination (N = 141) revealed 118 injuries (82.2% blisters and abrasions, 11.9% frostnip). White ethnicity was a risk factor for overall injuries, and forefoot varus alignment was a risk factor for traumatic injuries. Lower education and rank and smokeless tobacco use were associated with foot injuries. The Marine ski-march leather boot and smoking were related to foot cold injuries. CONCLUSIONS: Military winter training is associated with injuries and lost training time. Risk factors were identified, suggesting that these injuries may be preventable. Language: en
Return and Risk

This chapter is about the fundamentals of investment growth. It introduces important calculations with interest rates, returns, and discounting. These ideas will be needed in later chapters. It is also about investment risk, how it can be measured and how it can be minimized in the formation and maintenance of an investment portfolio. This is possible through one of the great financial breakthroughs, the mean-variance theory and CAPM, the capital asset and pricing model, due to Markowitz and his followers. In the 50 years since its introduction and subsequent development shortcomings of the theory have surfaced and improvements offered. Yet it is a starting point for these advanced theories and basic to a financial course of study.
Testosterone secretion in a socially monogamous but sexually promiscuous migratory passerine

The steroid hormone testosterone (T) influences a multitude of traits critical to reproduction in vertebrates. In birds, high male T supports territory establishment and mate attraction, but is thought to interfere with parental care. Interspecific comparisons indicate that migratory species with short, synchronous breeding seasons have the highest peak T, and that the seasonal profile of T exhibits a rapid decline with the onset of incubation by females. We describe the T profile of the migratory, socially monogamous, and biparental Eastern Kingbird (Tyrannus tyrannus) from the high desert of eastern Oregon, USA, where breeding occurs within a short 2-3 month period. Eastern Kingbirds are socially monogamous but exhibit high rates of extra-pair paternity as ∼60% of broods contain extra-pair young. We therefore evaluate whether Eastern Kingbirds exhibit the "typical" T profile expected for a synchronously breeding migratory species, or whether T is maintained at a more constant level as would be predicted for a species with opportunities for mating that extend over a majority of the breeding season. Our samples were divided into six periods of the reproductive cycle from territory establishment to the feeding of fledglings. T did not change across stages of the nest cycle. Instead, T declined with sampling date and nest density, and increased with the number of fertile females in the population. Male kingbirds advertise their presence through song for most of the breeding season, and we suggest that T is maintained throughout most of the breeding season because male fitness is equally dependent on within- and extra-pair reproductive success.
Modern Seismicity and the Fault Responsible for the 1886 Charleston, South Carolina, Earthquake

Abstract An eight‐station seismic network was installed in August 2011 in the epicentral area of the 1886 Charleston, South Carolina, earthquake, within and near the town of Summerville. The network operated for one year and located 134 earthquakes with duration magnitudes ranging from −1.8 to 2.6. The earthquakes occurred in a tabular zone striking ∼N186°E, with dip of about 43° to the west. The focal depths range from 13 km to the top of the early Mesozoic section at a depth ∼1 km. The dimensions of the seismic zone are ∼23 km along strike and 15 km down‐dip. Many of the earthquakes are concentrated in the 2–6.5 km depth range, near shallow faults imaged on seismic‐reflection profiles adjacent to the Ashley River. Our hypocenter relocations of 228 earthquakes occurring in the period 1977–2005 are consistent with the results obtained from the recent one‐year station deployment. The 48 well‐constrained focal mechanisms derived from the one‐year deployment are predominantly reverse motion, and ∼30% exhibit north–south‐trending nodal planes consistent with the orientation of the seismic zone. The seismicity near Summerville has characteristics in common with the aftershock sequence of the 23 August 2011 Mineral, Virginia, earthquake. We interpret these results to indicate that the modern seismicity is the lingering aftershock sequence of the 1886 shock and that the mainshock occurred on a south‐striking, west‐dipping fault plane with predominantly reverse motion, possibly with a component of right‐lateral strike‐slip. Most moment release probably occurred at depths greater than 6 km. Online Material: Tables listing hypocenters and focal mechanisms, and an animation showing hypocenter profiles oriented along different azimuths.
Comparison of atrophy and glycogen storage in some muscles after castration and denervation.

SummaryComparison of the weight and glycogen losses in the levator ani and cremaster muscles of the rat after castration and denervation show that (1) denervation atrophy is greater in the levator ani than in the cremaster, (2) denervation atrophy is greater than castration atrophy in the levator ani, (3) the loss of glycogen in both muscles after denervation is greater than after castration. Growth of the denervated cremaster continues in the young animal. Testosterone and cortisone can induce glycogen deposition in some denervated skeletal muscles; the effect of the nerves on this response is quantitative rather than conditioning.
Life History of the Hyperparasitoid Mesochorus discitergus (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae) and Tactics Used to Overcome the Defensive Behavior of the Green Cloverworm (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae)

Mesochorus discitergus (Say) is an endogenous, solitary hyperparasitoid with a broad range of hosts. Its developmental period from oviposition to adult emergence with Cotesia marginiventris (Cresson) as its host ranged from about 16 d at 27°C to about 25 d at 21°C. When hyperparasitism occurred 3 d after primary parasitism, the first two instars developed within the C. marginiventris larva, and the third instar developed within the C. marginiventris larva and pupa. Hyperparasitoid pupation occurred within the cocoon spun by the primary parasitoid. M. discitergus must overcome the defensive responses of green cloverworm larvae to oviposit in larval primary parasitoids located inside the caterpillars. Young green cloverworm larvae often drop when disturbed and hang from foliage on silken threads. To capture a young (second instar) caterpillar, the hyperparasitoid usually hangs by its hind tarsi from the edge of the leaf from which the larva is suspended and reels in the caterpillar by pulling upward on the caterpillar's silken thread. Capturing suspended third and fourth instars often requires that the parasitoid walk part or all the way down the thread toward the caterpillar. By probing briefly with the ovipositor, hyperparasitoid females distinguish between green cloverworms parasitized by C. marginiventris and those that are unparasitized. Unparasitized larvae are quickly rejected (x= 5.0 s), whereas parasitized green cloverworms are held and probed longer (x= 83.4 s).
Can Home-Based HIV Rapid Testing Reduce HIV Disparities Among African Americans in Miami?

Sixty percent of African Americans have had an HIV test, yet this population disproportionately contributes to AIDS mortality, suggesting that testing is not occurring early enough to achieve optim...
Clinicians' Implicit and Explicit Attitudes about Weight and Race and Treatment Approaches to Overweight for American Indian Children.

Abstract Purpose: Obesity is one of the most serious health problems among American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) children. We investigated Indian Health Service (IHS) primary care providers' implicit and explicit attitudes about weight and race and their association with treatment approaches to overweight in children. Methods: We conducted an online survey of long-term primary care clinicians in two western regions of the IHS. We used the existing Weight Attitude Implicit Association Test (IAT) and developed a new Native American Attitude IAT to measure implicit attitudes. Explicit attitudes about weight and race were assessed through self-report. We assessed self-rated treatment approaches to childhood overweight. We used linear regression models to evaluate the association of attitudes about weight and race with treatment approaches. Results: Our sample included 75 clinicians (56% response rate) who, on average, saw 74 patients per week. Fifty-five percent of clinicians reported that 30–60% of their chi...
Exploring crowd consistency in a mechanical turk survey

Crowdsourcing can provide a platform for evaluating software engineering research. In this paper, we aim to explore characteristics of the worker population on Amazon's Mechanical Turk, a popular micro task crowdsourcing environment, and measure the percentage of workers who are potentially qualified to perform software- or computer science- related tasks. Through a baseline survey and two replications, we measure workers' answer consistency as well as the consistency of sample characteristics. In the end, we deployed 1,200 total surveys that were completed by 1,064 unique workers. Our results show that 24% of the study participants have a computer science or IT background and most people are payment driven when choosing tasks. The sample characteristics can vary significantly, even on large samples with 300 participants. Additionally, we often observed inconsistency in workers' answers for those who completed two surveys; approximately 30% answered at least one question inconsistently between the two survey submissions. This implies a need for replication and quality controls in crowdsourced experiments.
Intestinal strongyloidiasis manifesting as eosinophilic pleural effusion

Strongyloidiasis caused by the helminth Strongyloides stercoralis is usually asymptomatic or causes mild dermatologic or gastrointestinal symptoms. In immunocompromised hosts, hyperinfection and dissemination can occur. In this case, I describe a nonimmunocompromised Southeast Asian man who had an eosinophilic pleural effusion, peripheral eosinophilia, and rhabditiform larvae of S stercoralis in the stools. There was complete resolution of the pleural effusion after thiabendazole therapy, thus suggesting strongyloidiasis as the cause of the effusion. Helminthic infections like strongyloidiasis should be considered in the differential diagnosis of an eosinophilic pleural effusion, especially in individuals from endemic areas.
Unique low-molecular-weight lignin with high purity extracted from wood by deep eutectic solvents (DES): a source of lignin for valorization

This paper reports a new method of applying Deep Eutectic Solvents (DES) for extracting lignin from woody biomass with high yield and high purity. DES mixtures prepared from choline chloride (ChCl) and four hydrogen-bond donors – acetic acid, lactic acid, levulinic acid and glycerol – were evaluated for treatment of hardwood (poplar) and softwood (D. fir). It was found that these DES treatments can selectively extract a significant amount of lignin from wood with high yields: 78% from poplar and 58% from D. fir. The extracted lignin has high purity (95%) with unique structural properties. We discover that DES can selectively cleave ether linkages in wood lignin and facilitate lignin removal from wood. The mechanism of DES cleavage of ether bonds between phenylpropane units was investigated. The results from this study demonstrate that DES is a promising solvent for wood delignification and the production of a new source of lignin with promising potential applications.
Clinical outcome of breast and ovarian cancer patients treated after high-dose chemotherapy and autologous stem cell rescue with theratope (STn-KLH) cancer vaccine theratope (STn-KLH) cancer vaccine following autologous transplant

The success of autologous peripheral blood stem cell transplantation (ASCT) as treatment for breast and ovarian cancer is limited by high relapse rates. Following ASCT, patients have lower tumor burden, may have decreased number of regulatory cells that can suppress ability to mount immune response and have lower amounts of circulating immunosuppressive tumor-associated molecules like MUC1 that cause anergy. As a consequence, after ASCT patients are more likely to respond immunlogically to a cancer vaccine. ASCT thus provides a platform for delivering effective immunotherapy. We speculated that the successful delivery of immunotherapy after ASCT might decrease relapse rates and prolong survival. Theratope (Sialyl TN-keyhole limpet hemocyanin (STn-KLH)) vaccine incorporates a synthetic STn antigen that mimics the unique tumor-associated STn carbohydrate on MUC1 found on breast and ovarian cancer cells. From 1995 through 2000, 70 patients (16 with stage II/III breast cancer, 17 with stage III/IV ovarian cancer and 37 with stage IV breast cancer) were treated after ASCT with two different formulations of Theratope given with Detox B. Theratope was generally well tolerated with minimal toxicity. Both humoral and cellular responses were able to be measured in the laboratory in the vaccinated patients. In this chapter, we report on the long term outcome of the Theratope vaccinated ASCT patients in correlation with measurable immune responses.
Usefulness Lost: Aggregating Information with Differing Levels of Verifiability

In this paper, we study information asymmetries about verifiability between a principal and an agent. Our main result is that an information asymmetry about verifiability not only reduces the usefulness of a given performance measure for stewardship purposes, it can completely destroy that performance measure's usefulness.
Why Van der Waerden and Why Me

This chapter discusses the reasons why a book-length biography of Van der Waerden, and portrayal of his friendship with Heisenberg were important. It also describes ways in which my historical scholarly writing differs from tradition.
Supporting Mobile Sensemaking Through Intentionally Uncertain Highlighting

Patients researching medical diagnoses, scientist exploring new fields of literature, and students learning about new domains are all faced with the challenge of capturing information they find for later use. However, saving information is challenging on mobile devices, where the small screen and font sizes combined with the inaccuracy of finger based touch screens makes it time consuming and stressful for people to select and save text for future use. Furthermore, beyond the challenge of simply selecting a region of bounded text on a mobile device, in many learning and data exploration tasks the boundaries of what text may be relevant and useful later are themselves uncertain for the user. In contrast to previous approaches which focused on speeding up the selection process by making the identification of hard boundaries faster, we introduce the idea of intentionally supporting uncertain input in the context of saving information during complex reading and information exploration. We embody this idea in a system that uses force touch and fuzzy bounding boxes along with posthoc expandable context to support identifying and saving information in an intentionally uncertain way on mobile devices. In a two part user study we find that this approach reduced selection time and was preferred by participants over the default system text selection method.
An ultra low-power front-end IC for wearable health monitoring system

This paper presents a low-power front-end IC for wearable health monitoring systems. The IC, designed in a standard 0.13μm CMOS technology, fully integrates a low-noise analog front-end (AFE) to process the weak bio-signals, followed by an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) to digitize the extracted signals. An AC-coupled driving buffer, that interfaces between the AFE and the ADC is introduced to scale down the power supply of the ADC. The power consumption decreases by 50% compared to the case without power supply scaling. The AFE passes signals from 0.5Hz to 280Hz and from 0.7Hz to 160Hz with a simulated input referred noise of 1.6μVrms and achieves a maximum gain of 35dB/41dB respectively, with a noise-efficiency factor (NEF) of the AFE is 1. The 8-bit ADC achieves a simulated 7.96-bit resolution at 10KS/s sampling rate under 0.5V supply voltage. The overall system consumes only 0.86μW at dual supply voltages of 1V (AFE) and 0.5 V (ADC).
Affective radicality: prisons, Palestine, and interactive documentary

ABSTRACTThis essay analyzes two recent interactive documentary projects: Sharon Daniel’s Public Secrets (2006), an exploration of the prison industrial complex through the testimonies of female inmates in California, and Zohar Kfir’s Points of View (2014) which “maps” Palestinian video advocacy projects made for and/or disseminated by B’Tselem, a human rights organization working in the occupied territories. I argue that the interactive documentary form, as deployed by Daniel and Kfir, draws on the legacies of radical documentary practice, but offers new possibilities for engagement and intervention. The interactive documentary form functions as a structuring device for a wealth of affectively powerful witnesses, testimonies, and varied forms of evidence. This essay explores how interactive documentaries allow viewers/users a multi-faceted affective encounter with a range of subjects and evidence. This form, in concert with a radical political stance, I argue, is a locus for the representation of and view...
Citizen Advantage, Undocumented Disadvantage, or Both? The Comparative Educational Outcomes of Second and 1.5‐Generation Latino Young Adults1:

Recent research theorizes a widening sociopolitical gap between undocumented and documented immigrants — but also between citizens and noncitizens generally — with implications for mobility. How might legal inequality influence educational outcomes? Largely due to data constraints, much existing research is unable to distinguish between legal statuses. Yet, legal status may help explain inconsistent findings of “immigrant advantage” among Latinos. Using survey data from Latino young adults in California, I explore how legal status impacts high school completion, post‐secondary enrollment, and labor market expectations. I find evidence of undocumented disadvantage and citizenship advantage in completion and enrollment, but no differences in expectations. Findings suggest that scholars should pay closer attention to the role of legal background in shaping mobility.