cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
State-level implications of federal tax policies

Abstract The United States federal fiscal policy has differential impact across states. We construct a new quarterly state-level dataset that we use to analyze the impact of unexpected changes in federal personal and corporate income taxes. We find substantial heterogeneity across states, with more than half having no significant response to the tax cuts. In addition, less capital intensive states have larger responses to corporate tax cuts. Although puzzling in standard models, a model with corporate and non-corporate sectors is consistent with this evidence. Overall, our results suggest the importance of variation and reallocation across states in evaluating federal policy.
Assessing the theory of change in national strategies

The theory of change links a strategy’s theory about the source of the conflict and the intervention philosophy to the implementation of programs and activities in the field. This paper focuses on ...
Reinterventions in the modern era of thoracic endovascular aortic repair.

Abstract Objective Using a national data set, we sought to describe the population of patients and the nature and timing of reinterventions after thoracic endovascular aortic repair (TEVAR) by aortic disease as well as their impact on survival. Methods We evaluated the national data set for TEVAR in the Vascular Quality Initiative from 2010 to 2017. Student t-test and χ2 analysis were used to compare continuous and categorical variables in the reintervention and no reintervention groups, respectively. Freedom from reintervention and survival analysis was performed using Kaplan-Meier methods. Results A total of 7006 patients were evaluated: 51.2% thoracic aortic aneurysm, 33.5% type B dissection (TBD), 7.0% penetrating aortic ulcer, 6.7% trauma, and 1.6% intramural hematoma. Overall, 553 patients (7.9%) underwent at least one reintervention, with an in-hospital reintervention rate of 3.5%. Reinterventions were most commonly performed for TBD (11.5%), with reinterventions for other diseases occurring at lower rates: thoracic aortic aneurysm, 6.7%; intramural hematoma, 5.4%; penetrating aortic ulcer, 4.8%; and trauma, 1.8%. The most common cause of reintervention across all aortic diseases was type I endoleak. The most common long-term reinterventions were placement of endovascular stent graft (65%), other surgical treatments (15.9%), other endovascular treatment (13%), endovascular branch treatment (12.4%), surgical treatment with no device removal (11.0%), and surgical branch treatment (10.4%). Freedom from reintervention was decreased for TBD compared with other diseases (P Conclusions Whereas reinterventions were not rare after TEVAR, there was no difference in mortality between patients undergoing reintervention and those without. Patients undergoing TEVAR for TBD demonstrated the highest reintervention rate. This study highlights the importance of long-term follow-up to address disease-specific patterns of reintervention.
Effect of Native and Cleaved Forms of Antithrombin on Nuclear Factor κB Activation in Endothelial Cells.

Abstract Antithrombin (AT) is a single chain plasma glycoprotein that belongs to a superfamily of serine protease inhibitors (Serpin). AT is the major inhibitor of the serine proteases of the coagulation cascade, notably thrombin and factor Xa. In addition, AT has also been demonstrated to have anti-inflammatory properties. Recently, cleaved and latent forms of AT have been shown to function as antiangiogenic agents. However, the molecular mechanisms by which native AT and cleaved AT exert their anti-inflammatory and antiangiogenic effects remains unknown. In this study, we have investigated the effects of both native and cleaved forms of AT on endothelial cell proliferation and nuclear factor κB (NF-κB) activation in the endothelial cells. Bovine pulmonary artery endothelial cells (BPAE) was used in the study. Human α-antithrombin was purified from plasma by affinity chromatography on heparin Sepharose, followed by anion-exchange chromatography. Cleaved form of AT was prepared by digestion of purified human AT with human neutrophil elastase, followed by chromatography on a heparin Sepharose column. The endothelial cells were stimulated with basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) or tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) in culture and incubated with either native AT or cleaved AT. Endothelial cell proliferation was measured by the MTT (methylthiazolyldiphenyl-tetrazolium bromide) cell proliferation assay as well as by counting cell numbers before and after the treatment. The results demonstrate that both native AT and cleaved AT could inhibit bovine pulmonary artery endothelial cell proliferation. These results contrast with those reported with other types of endothelial cells such as human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC) in which only cleaved form but not native form of AT inhibits cell proliferation. NF-κB activation was detected by the ELISA-based assay using antibodies specific for the activated form of p50 and p65 subunit of the NF-κB. In native AT, the inhibitory activity of endothelial cell proliferation was associated with down-regulation of NF-κB as measured by decreased nuclear p65. However, the cleaved AT showed minimal effect on the NF-κB activation. Our results suggest that although both native and cleaved AT inhibit endothelial cell proliferation, they might use different signal transduction pathways. Moreover, our findings suggest that native and cleaved AT may have differential effects on different types of endothelial cells.
Quest for a Symmetric [C-F-C]+ Fluoronium Ion in Solution: A Winding Path to Ultimate Success.

ConspectusIn this Account, we chronicle our tortuous but ultimately fruitful quest to synthesize a [C–F–C]+ fluoronium ion in solution, thus providing the last piece of the organic halonium ion puz...
Information Overload: Navigating Existing CS Resources Without Reinventing the Wheel

We are all in a state of information overload and often do not know where to begin. For teachers and schools/districts new to computer science, getting started can be overwhelming. We are working within a Research Practice Partnership (RPP) to try to address some of this stress rather than add to it. We are attempting to do this by creating a curated forum so that educators (from all levels of the system) can share with each other directly while working with them to efficiently and effectively navigate existing resources and opportunities in CS with a focus on how to best structure a program, a class, or a club to encourage equity and inclusion in the CS work that they do.
Abstract P2-02-02: Lack of screening mammography and black race are associated with late-stage breast cancer diagnosis in safety-net setting

Importance: In our urban safety-net hospital (SNH) setting, we see approximately three times more late-stage (stage III and IV) breast cancer at diagnosis than the rest of the country. Breast cancers diagnosed at later stages have lower survival than those diagnosed at earlier stages. The aim of this study is to determine the factors associated with late-stage breast cancer diagnosis in our SNH setting. Method: This is a retrospective study of all breast cancer cases diagnosed or treated at the primary SNH in the Kansas City, MO metro area between January 2011-July 2018 (n=615). All female breast cancer patients diagnosed with early-stage (stage 0 or I, n=314) or late-stage (stage III or IV, n=98) disease were included. Those diagnosed at stage II (n=176), recurrent breast cancer (n=20) or with conflicting or unknown stage (n=27) were excluded. Variables analyzed: clinical TNM stage at diagnosis, age, race, insurance type, zip code, tumor subtype, whether patient presented with symptoms, whether a screening mammogram was obtained in the two years prior to diagnosis, and whether the patient was referred from outside our institution, or internally. Median household income and distance to treating facility were imputed from patient-level zipcode data. Multiple logistic regression was performed to determine the variables that contributed the most to the late-stage at diagnosis. Results: Three variables were significantly associated with late-stage diagnosis in the multiple regression: not having had a screening mammogram within two years (p Citation Format: Marissa A Mendez, An-Lin Cheng, Nasim Ahmadiyeh. Lack of screening mammography and black race are associated with late-stage breast cancer diagnosis in safety-net setting [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 2019 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium; 2019 Dec 10-14; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2020;80(4 Suppl):Abstract nr P2-02-02.
Biometrics Fusion with Applications in Passenger Re-authentication for Automated Border Control Systems

Over 4.1 billion aircraft passengers flew in 2017. This number is expected to be nearly double by 2037. Due to the significant growth in airline services and passenger traffic, automated border control (ABC) systems have been installed to control the air traffic flow in an automatic manner while maintaining the security. However, there are multiple security checkpoints from airport entry to boarding the flight which requires passenger's re-authentication multiple times. We propose a deep representation based learning to combine face and soft-biometrics. The proposed model has applications in automated border control to further ease the traffic flow while maintaining high security at various checkpoints. Using a deep learning-based feature fusion framework, our method obtains 99.02% 2enuine match rate (GMR) at false match rate $(\mathbf{FMR})=10^{-5}$ using ResNet-18 model.
Should We Ignore, Follow, or Biopsy? Impact of Artificial Intelligence Decision Support on Breast Ultrasound Lesion Assessment

OBJECTIVE. The objective of this study was to assess the impact of artificial intelligence (AI)-based decision support (DS) on breast ultrasound (US) lesion assessment. MATERIALS AND METHODS. A multicenter retrospective review of 900 breast lesions (470/900 [52.2%] benign; 430/900 [47.8%] malignant) on US by 15 physicians (11 radiologists, two surgeons, two obstetrician/gynecologists). An AI system (Koios DS for Breast, Koios Medical) evaluated images and assigned them to one of four categories: benign, probably benign, suspicious, and probably malignant. Each reader reviewed cases twice: 750 cases with US only or with US plus DS; 4 weeks later, cases were reviewed in the opposite format. One hundred fifty additional cases were presented identically in each session. DS and reader sensitivity, specificity, and positive likelihood ratios (PLRs) were calculated as well as reader AUCs with and without DS. The Kendall τ-b correlation coefficient was used to assess intraand interreader variability. RESULTS. Mean reader AUC for cases reviewed with US only was 0.83 (95% CI, 0.78-0.89); for cases reviewed with US plus DS, mean AUC was 0.87 (95% CI, 0.84-0.90). PLR for the DS system was 1.98 (95% CI, 1.78-2.18) and was higher than the PLR for all readers but one. Fourteen readers had better AUC with US plus DS than with US only. Mean Kendall τ-b for US-only interreader variability was 0.54 (95% CI, 0.53-0.55); for US plus DS, it was 0.68 (95% CI, 0.67-0.69). Intrareader variability improved with DS; class switching (defined as crossing from BI-RADS category 3 to BI-RADS category 4A or above) occurred in 13.6% of cases with US only versus 10.8% of cases with US plus DS (p = 0.04). CONCLUSION. AI-based DS improves accuracy of sonographic breast lesion assessment while reducing inter- and intraobserver variability.
Recorp: Receiver-Oriented Policies for Industrial Wireless Networks

Future Industrial Internet-of-Things (IIoT) systems will require wireless solutions to connect sensors, actuators, and controllers as part of high data rate feedback-control loops over real-time flows. A key challenge in such networks is to provide predictable performance and adaptability in response to link quality variations. We address this challenge by developing RECeiver ORiented Policies (Recorp), which leverages the stability of IIoT workloads by combining offline policy synthesis and run-time adaptation. Compared to schedules that service a single flow in a slot, Recorp policies share slots among multiple flows by assigning a coordinator and a list of flows that may be serviced in the same slot. At run-time, the coordinator will execute one of the flows depending on which flows the coordinator has already received. A salient feature of Recorp is that it provides predictable performance: a policy meets the end-to-end reliability and deadline of flows when the link quality exceeds a user-specified threshold. Experiments show that across IIoT workloads, policies provided a median increase of 50% to 142% in real-time capacity and a median decrease of 27% to 70% in worst-case latency when schedules and policies are configured to meet an end-to-end reliability of 99%.
In search of a mechanism: mediating the perceived parental support–delinquency relationship with child empathy

The purpose of this study was to determine whether empathy is capable of mediating the relationship between perceived parental support and juvenile delinquency. This hypothesis was tested in a path...
Quantum Mechanics and Machine Learning Synergies: Graph Attention Neural Networks to Predict Chemical Reactivity.

There is a lack of scalable quantitative measures of reactivity for functional groups in organic chemistry. Measuring reactivity experimentally is costly and time-consuming and does not scale to the astronomical size of chemical space. In previous quantum chemistry studies, we have introduced Methyl Cation Affinities (MCA*) and Methyl Anion Affinities (MAA*), using a solvation model, as quantitative measures of reactivity for organic functional groups over the broadest range. Although MCA* and MAA* offer good estimates of reactivity parameters, their calculation through Density Functional Theory (DFT) simulations is time-consuming. To circumvent this problem, we first use DFT to calculate MCA* and MAA* for more than 2,400 organic molecules thereby establishing a large dataset of chemical reactivity scores. We then design deep learning methods to predict the reactivity of molecular structures and train them using this curated dataset in combination with different representations of molecular structures. Using ten-fold cross-validation, we show that graph attention neural networks applied to informative input fingerprints produce the most accurate estimates of reactivity, achieving over 91% test accuracy for predicting the MCA* plus-minus 3.0 or MAA* plus-minus 3.0, over 50 orders of magnitude. Finally, we demonstrate the application of these reactivity scores to two tasks: (1) chemical reaction prediction; (2) combinatorial generation of reaction mechanisms. The curated dataset of MCA* and MAA* scores is available through the ChemDB chemoinformatics web portal at this http URL.
Deep learning can accelerate and quantify simulated localized correlated spectroscopy

Nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) allows for the determination of atomic structures and concentrations of different chemicals in a biochemical sample of interest. MRS is used in vivo clinically to aid in the diagnosis of several pathologies that affect metabolic pathways in the body. Typically, this experiment produces a one dimensional (1D) 1H spectrum containing several peaks that are well associated with biochemicals, or metabolites. However, since many of these peaks overlap, distinguishing chemicals with similar atomic structures becomes much more challenging. One technique capable of overcoming this issue is the localized correlated spectroscopy (L-COSY) experiment, which acquires a second spectral dimension and spreads overlapping signal across this second dimension. Unfortunately, the acquisition of a two dimensional (2D) spectroscopy experiment is extremely time consuming. Furthermore, quantitation of a 2D spectrum is more complex. Recently, artificial intelligence has emerged in the field of medicine as a powerful force capable of diagnosing disease, aiding in treatment, and even predicting treatment outcome. In this study, we utilize deep learning to: (1) accelerate the L-COSY experiment and (2) quantify L-COSY spectra. All training and testing samples were produced using simulated metabolite spectra for chemicals found in the human body. We demonstrate that our deep learning model greatly outperforms compressed sensing based reconstruction of L-COSY spectra at higher acceleration factors. Specifically, at four-fold acceleration, our method has less than 5% normalized mean squared error, whereas compressed sensing yields 20% normalized mean squared error. We also show that at low SNR (25% noise compared to maximum signal), our deep learning model has less than 8% normalized mean squared error for quantitation of L-COSY spectra. These pilot simulation results appear promising and may help improve the efficiency and accuracy of L-COSY experiments in the future.
Improving Human Motion Prediction Through Continual Learning.

Human motion prediction is an essential component for enabling closer human-robot collaboration. The task of accurately predicting human motion is non-trivial. It is compounded by the variability of human motion, both at a skeletal level due to the varying size of humans and at a motion level due to individual movement's idiosyncrasies. These variables make it challenging for learning algorithms to obtain a general representation that is robust to the diverse spatio-temporal patterns of human motion. In this work, we propose a modular sequence learning approach that allows end-to-end training while also having the flexibility of being fine-tuned. Our approach relies on the diversity of training samples to first learn a robust representation, which can then be fine-tuned in a continual learning setup to predict the motion of new subjects. We evaluated the proposed approach by comparing its performance against state-of-the-art baselines. The results suggest that our approach outperforms other methods over all the evaluated temporal horizons, using a small amount of data for fine-tuning. The improved performance of our approach opens up the possibility of using continual learning for personalized and reliable motion prediction.
Supervised vs Unsupervised Learning on Gaze Data to Classify Student Distraction Level in an Educational VR Environment

Educational VR may help students by being more engaging or improving retention compared to traditional learning methods. However, a student can get distracted in a VR environment due to stress, mind-wandering, unwanted noise, external alerts, etc. Student eye gaze can be useful for detecting these distraction. We explore deep-learning-based approaches to detect distractions from gaze data. We designed an educational VR environment and trained three deep learning models (CNN, LSTM, and CNN-LSTM) to gauge a student’s distraction level from gaze data, using both supervised and unsupervised learning methods. Our results show that supervised learning provided better test accuracy compared to unsupervised learning methods.
Quantum Information Dimension and Geometric Entropy.

Geometric quantum mechanics, through its differential-geometric underpinning, provides additional tools of analysis and interpretation that bring quantum mechanics closer to classical mechanics: state spaces in both are equipped with symplectic geometry. This opens the door to revisiting foundational questions and issues, such as the nature of quantum entropy, from a geometric perspective. Central to this is the concept of geometric quantum state -- the probability measure on a system's space of pure states. This space's continuity leads us to introduce two analysis tools, inspired by Renyi's information theory, to characterize and quantify fundamental properties of geometric quantum states: the quantum information dimension that is the rate of geometric quantum state compression and the dimensional geometric entropy that monitors information stored in quantum states. We recount their classical definitions, information-theoretic meanings, and physical interpretations, and adapt them to quantum systems via the geometric approach. We then explicitly compute them in various examples and classes of quantum system. We conclude commenting on future directions for information in geometric quantum mechanics.
Debt Swaps for Education

This paper discusses how third-world debt held by U.S. banks can be used to finance on-the-scene study and research by Americans of the languages, cultures and business practices of LDC debtor nations. Enhancement of U.S. competitiveness would be one of many benefits such study would yield. The mechanism of debt for education swaps is explained and implementation guidelines are provided.
Relativistic Stars, Gravitational Collapse, and Black Holes

The search for explanations of pulsars, quasars, Weber’s gravitational wave pulses, X-ray sources and explosions in galactic nuclei has proved the crucial role which relativistic gravity plays in these frontier astrophysical phenomena. Just a decade ago, before these phenomena had been discovered, it was difficult to find a useful application of relativistic gravity to astrophysics outside of cosmology. Pioneers such as Oppenheimer, Landau, Wheeler, Hoyle and others had anticipated, on theoretical grounds, the role which general relativity must play in resolving such issues as the end point of stellar evolution and the importance of gravitational collapse as a source of energy. Their ideas, however, did not prove relevant to observation until much later. A decade ago, therefore, a series of lectures like this on relativistic astrophysics would have been compact and theoretical and yet still could have been comprehensive.
Egg parasitoids of Taosa spp. (Hemiptera: Dictyopharidae) in Formosa, Argentina, with descriptions of two new species

N RESUMEN. Se revisaron los parasitoides oofagos (Hymenoptera: Eulophidae y Platygastridae) de Taosa (Cuernavaca) longula Remes Lenicov (Hemiptera: Dictyopharidae) y se presenta una clave para su identificacion. Este dictiofarido se alimenta de camalote, Eichhornia crassipes (Martius) Solms-Laubach, y fue colectado en Formosa, Argentina, donde algunos de sus huevos estaban parasitados. Se describen dos especies nuevas: Aprostocetus (Ootetrastichus) taosae Triapitsyn, sp. nov. (Eulophidae: Tetrastichinae) y Telenomus formosanus Triapitsyn, sp. nov. (Platygastridae: Telenominae). La ultima especie, que pertenece al grupo crassiclava de especies de Telenomus Haliday, tambien ataca los huevos de Taosa sp. sobre Pontederia subovata (Seubert) Lowden. Estos son los primeros parasitoides oofagos registrados para el genero Taosa Distant. PALABRAS CLAVE. Eulophidae. Aprostocetus (Ootetrastichus). Platygastridae. Telenomus. N ABSTRACT. Egg parasitoids (Hymenoptera: Eulophidae and Platygastridae) of Taosa (Cuernavaca) longula Remes Lenicov (Hemiptera: Dictyopharidae) are reviewed and keyed. This planthopper feeds on water hyacinth, Eichhornia crassipes (Martius) Solms-Laubach, and was collected in Formosa, Argentina, where some of its eggs turned out to be parasitized. Two new species are described: Aprostocetus (Ootetrastichus) taosae Triapitsyn, sp. nov. (Eulophidae: Tetrastichinae) and Telenomus formosanus Triapitsyn, sp. nov. (Platygastridae: Telenominae). The latter species, which belongs to the crassiclava species group of Telenomus Haliday, also attacks eggs of Taosa sp. on Pontederia subovata (Seubert) Lowden. These are first records of egg parasitoids of the genus Taosa Distant.
Procedures for Updating Classification Systems: A Study of Biotechnology and the Standard Occupational Classification System

Government, business, and academic statistical organizations routinely develop classification systems to compartmentalize occupations, fields of study, foods, and many more classes of objects. When innovations occur in living and working conditions, so must innovations occur in these classification systems. This article explores the feasibility of applying cognitive psychology research techniques as a tool to guide such updating. The method entails two cognitive exercises and three analytical approaches that assist experts in identifying the deficiencies in an existing classification system. To illustrate application of the procedure, the method was applied to the Standard Occupational Classification System (SOC) in an effort to accommodate recent changes in the biotechnology industry. Various indicators attest to the validity of the results and therefore encourage use of the methodology with other classification systems and innovations.
A 30GHz impulse radiator with on-chip antennas for high-resolution 3D imaging

This paper reports a 30-GHz impulse radiator utilizing an injection-locked asymmetric cross-coupled voltage-control-oscillator (VCO) with on-chip bow-tie antennas. The impulse radiator converts a digital trigger signal to a radiated impulse with a variable pulse-width down to 60psec with peak EIRP of 15.2dBm without using any lens. Coherent spatial pulse combining is demonstrated by using two widely spaced radiators. A timing jitter of the 216fsec for the combined signal is measured. The impulse radiator has the capability of producing 3D images with depth resolution of 33µm at 25cm of target distance in the air. The chip is implemented in a 0.13µm SiGe BiCMOS process technology. The total die area is 2.85mm2 with maximum power consumption of 106mW.
Early Establishment of γ-Herpesvirus Latency: Implications for Immune Control

The human γ-herpesviruses, EBV and Kaposi’s sarcoma-associated herpesvirus, infect >90% of the population worldwide, and latent infection is associated with numerous malignancies. Rational vaccination and therapeutic strategies require an understanding of virus-host interactions during the initial asymptomatic infection. Primary EBV infection is associated with virus replication at epithelial sites and entry into the circulating B lymphocyte pool. The virus exploits the life cycle of the B cell and latency is maintained long term in resting memory B cells. In this study, using a murine γ-herpesvirus model, we demonstrate an early dominance of latent virus at the site of infection, with lung B cells harboring virus almost immediately after infection. These data reinforce the central role of the B cell not only in the later phase of infection, but early in the initial infection. Early inhibition of lytic replication does not impact the progression of the latent infection, and latency is established in lymphoid tissues following infection with a replication-deficient mutant virus. These data demonstrate that lytic viral replication is not a requirement for γ-herpesvirus latency in vivo and suggest that viral latency can be disseminated by cellular proliferation. These observations emphasize that prophylactic vaccination strategies must target latent γ-herpesvirus at the site of infection.
Ganymede and Callisto

It is noted that even though the two moons have very similar masses and densities and formed in the same part of the solar system, Ganymede underwent widespread geologic activity whereas Callisto appears to have remained dormant. It is believed that the reason for this may involve several factors. Callisto has undoubtedly experienced at least some internal differentiation; if, however, the differentiation was less complete than for Ganymede or if it took place more slowly, some expansion could have occurred without the crust ever having been fractured. All the major heat sources in these moons produce more heat in Ganymede than in Callisto. Since Ganymede is more massive and dense than Callisto, its silicate content is significantly higher. Because the major radioactive elements are present only in the silicates, radiogenic heating is greater for Ganymede than for Callisto (by an estimated 60%) Ganymede has also undergone significantly more accretional heating than Callisto, not only because of its greater mass and stronger gravitational attraction, which lead to higher impact velocities, but also because it lies closer to Jupiter. The strong gravitational attraction of Jupiter greatly increases the impact velocities of any debris coming from outside the Jupiter system.
Isolation of Rhizobium leguminosarum (biovar trifolii) Strains from Ethiopian Soils and Symbiotic Effectiveness on African Annual Clover Species

Strains of Rhizobium leguminosarum (biovar trifolii) isolated from two Ethiopian soils or obtained from a commercial source were evaluated for symbiotic effectiveness on five African annual clover species. Numerous Rhizobium trifolii strains that exhibited varying levels of symbiotic effectiveness were isolated from both soils (a nitosol and a vertisol), and it was possible to identify strains that were highly effective for each clover species. The soil isolates were, as a group, superior to the strains from the commercial source. Several R. trifolii strains were found to be effective on more than one clover species, and there appeared to be at least two and possibly three distinct cross-inoculation effectiveness groups.
Canine Colitis Comparable to Regional Enteritis and Mucosal Colitis of Man

Eight cases of spontaneous canine ileitis, colitis, and proctitis were studied. Clinical, laboratory, radiological, and pathological data were examined for correlation with human ileitis and colitis. Individual case reports document canine counterparts of specific forms of human colitis, and the spectrum of colitides found in purebred dogs is shown to be substantially similar to the spectrum seen in man. As in human colitis, familial (breed) predisposition is considered a significant etiological factor.
B2R of Bradykinin Activated by Proteases

To the Editor: We wish to correct the misstatements of our results1 by Houle et al,2 who quoted us: “The human B2R has been proposed to be a specific binding site for serine proteases like human and porcine tissue kallikrein and trypsin, with pharmacological activation of these receptors on binding” (p. 611); “Tissue kallikrein exerts its effect on B2R after high-affinity binding and without the need for a catalytically active enzyme” (p. 616). Both statements are attributed to our report, but they are the opposite of what we published1 in abstract, on p. 831, para. 2, and on p. 834, para. 7; using cultured transfected or native cells, catalytically active enzyme is necessary to activate the bradykinin (BK) receptor and involving cleavage of a peptide bond. Just binding to B2 R did not activate it1 since inactive prokallikrein and DFP-treated kallikrein bind to B2 R (Figure 7); conversely, trypsin or cathepsin G did not bind to (Figure 6, p. 832, para. 3, and p. 836, para. 3), but activated the native receptor (p. 830, paras. 6, 7, 11, and p. 831, para. 1). These …
A system for stabilizing the gain of a scintillation spectrometer

Abstract A gain stabilizing system for use with a scintillation counter is described. The system uses a small lamp (6977) as a stable reference to correct the gain of the photomultiplier and amplifier. A stabilizing factor of 330 was obtained. When used in conjunction with a multichannel analyzer calibrated for 15 keV per channel, gamma ray peaks at 34.10 and 85.41 channels (on the average) showed root-mean-square deviations of 0.05 and 0.04 channels, respectively for measurements made over a period of 23 hours.
Impact of Initial Li Content on Kinetics and Stabilities of Layered Li1+x(Ni0.33Mn0.33Co0.33)1-xO2

Structure, morphology, and performance of Li1+x(Ni0.33Mn0.33Co0.33)1-xO2 cathode materials with stoichiometric (x = 0) and excess Li (x = 0.14) were compared on micron-sized, well-formed single crystals. The additional Li in the fresh overlithiated oxide facilitated the formation of a superstructure with ahex × ahex × chex unit cells, decreased the cell volume change, and improved the initial O3 phase stability upon lithium extraction. Slower kinetics were observed at low Li content where oxide activation dominated, a process that induced significant structure rearrangements and particle damages. For the first time, morphological evaluation during delithiation was well captured on the micron-sized single crystals. An irreversible activation plateau at 4.4 V was only observed during the first charge of the overlithiated crystals. The oxide's higher discharge capacity and better cycling stability between 2.5 and 4.8 V were attributed to its enhanced O3 phase stability upon deep Li extraction.
Dissolution kinetics of biogenic silica collected from the water column and sediments of three Southern California borderland basins

Understanding biogenic silica (bSi) dissolution kinetics in margin environments is important in assessing the global silicon cycle, a cycle closely linked to the global carbon cycle. This understanding is also essential to answer the question of whether bSi content in marine sediment is a valid indicator of productivity in the overlying surface ocean. In this study, plankton tow, sediment trap, and sediment samples were collected at sites in three Southern California borderland basins. Batch dissolution experiments with plankton tow and sediment trap materials (conducted in the laboratory at 22 °C) showed linear dissolution kinetics, from which mean dissolution rate constants of 0.05 d^(−1) for plankton tow samples and 0.07 d^(−1) for sediment trap samples could be calculated. The dissolution rate constants for both types of samples showed seasonal variability but not the same seasonal patterns. Faster dissolution was observed with sediment trap samples collected at 800 m than at 550 m. With sediment multi-core samples, non-linear dissolution kinetics was observed, which complicates the direct comparison of dissolution rates. Nonetheless, dissolution appeared to be slower for the sediments samples than for samples collected from the water column and to decrease with depth in the sediments. Rate constants for surface sediment (0–0.5 cm) were at least 3–5 times less, and sediments at depths > 2 cm had rate constants at least 6–13 times less than those for material sinking to the sediment surface at these sites. Dissolution experiments conducted with Santa Barbara Basin surface sediment samples amended with dissolved aluminum (Al) and San Pedro Basin trap samples amended with enriched detrital materials (obtained by leaching bSi from sediment samples) suggested that dissolution was inhibited by Al and that the sediments from the different basins varied in the extent of Al release.
A review of the magnetic structures and properties of the R6M23 compounds and their hydrides

Abstract A review of the magnetic structures and properties of the R 6 M 23 (R ≡ rare earth; M ≡ 3d transition metal) binary compounds, pseudobinary compounds and hydride systems is presented.
Properties of poliovirus propagated in medium containing cesium chloride: Implications for picornaviral structure

Abstract When propagated in cesium-rich medium, type 1 poliovirus incorporated enough cesium atoms to shift its buoyant density from 1.34 to an upper limit of about 1.40 g/ml. Studies with radioactive 137 Cs indicated that this upper density limit corresponded to about 4200 cesium atoms per virion. The incorporated cesium was tightly bound, exchanging out of virions at a negligible rate at temperatures below 22°C. Cesium-loaded virions were normal with respect to specific infectivity, neutralizability by specific antisera, and electrophoretic profile of coat protein. Natural top component bound fewer than 20 cesium atoms per particle under the same conditions. These results demonstrate that the protein coat of poliovirus is impermeable to cesium ions. However, if the RNA of the virus is exposed to cesium ions while the virus is being assembled, the poliovirus binds approximately the same number of cesium ions as human rhinovirus. This similarity in cesium binding suggests that poliovirus and human rhinovirus may have the same fraction of their RNA neutralized by coat protein.
PARTICIPATION AS A MEANS OF ORGANIZATIONAL CONTROL

Participation was considered as part of the structure of organization. For a sample of thirty-one organizations, representative participation was found to be related to the formalization whereas participation in the process of management (that is, participation which involves the individual directly) was found to be related directly to specialization and inversely to autonomy. These results are shown to be compatible with the view that participation represents an extension of organizational control over employees rather than the view that participation is a means of employee influence over upper level management. Organizational control is achieved through establishing a framework for participation which limits the issues that can be raised and the influence that can be exerted upwards.
Morphological regimes of poly(ε-caprolactone)/octaisobutyl polyhedral oligosilsesquioxane composite films in relation to film composition and thickness

The morphological evolution of poly(e-caprolactone) (PCL)/octaisobutyl polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane (IBUPOSS) films was analyzed using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and polarized optical microscopy (POM). The morphologies of the blend films with PCL/IBUPOSS mass ratios of 95:5 to 50:50 were discussed according to decomposition mechanism in relation to film composition and thickness. In addition to the morphological regime for films with lower IBUPOSS loadings, in which the growth of PCL spherulites was nearly independent on the presence of fine IBUPOSS aggregates, two new morphological regimes were observed for the films with higher IBUPOSS loadings: (1) thicker blend films exhibited a rich dynamics, giving rise to a trilayer structure and (2) the decomposition of thinner films was induced by the kinetically controlled growth of IBUPOSS aggregates. By varying the thickness and the composition of the blend films, the current study provides important new insight into the rich phase behavior of nanoparticle-filled polymer films.
Beamline for metrology of x-ray/EUV optics at the Advanced Light Source

We describe a bending magnet beamline for the characterization of optical elements (mirrors, gratings, multilayers, detectors, etc.) in the energy range 50 - 1000 eV. Although it was designed primarily for precision reflectometry of multilayer reflecting optics for EUV projection lithography, it has capabilities for a wide range of measurements. The optics consist of a monochromator, a reflectometer, a 3-mirror order suppressor, and focusing mirrors to provide a small spot on the sample. The monochromator is a very compact entrance slitless, varied line spacing plane grating design in which the mechanically ruled grating operates in the converging light from a spherical mirror working at high demagnification. Aberrations of the mirror are corrected by the line spacing variation, so that the spectral resolving power (lambda) /(Delta) (lambda) is limited by the ALS source size to about 7000. Wavelength is scanned by simple rotation of the grating with a fixed exit slit. The reflectometer has the capability of positioning the sample to 10 micrometer and setting its angular position to 0.002 degrees. LABVIEWTM based software provides a convenient interface to the user. The reflectometer is separated from the beamline by a differential pump, and can be pumped down in 1/2 hour. Auxiliary experimental stations can be mounted behind the reflectometer. Results are shown which demonstrate the performance and operational convenience of the beamline.© (1997) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
Noise effects on wave-generated transport induced by ideal waves.

The authors consider the transport velocity in boundary layer flows driven by either noisy monochromatic progressive or standing waves. The central issue addressed here is whether such flows are capable of sustaining a transport velocity when noise is present in the wave field and, if so, in what ways the noise affects the transport velocity, the mean wall shear stress, and the total mass flux. Specifically, the effect of noise due to unresolved processes is addressed. The study is motivated by the fact that in the natural setting it is the norm rather than the exception that noise is present in the wave field. The authors find that when noise is added to standing waves, the transport in the boundary layer leads to a nonzero mass flux. On the other hand, noise due to progressive waves reduces the mass flux. Further, the drift velocity will have two components: a deterministic one and a diffusive one.
``Moon Beyond 2000'' Workshop Participants Discuss Next Steps in Lunar Science and Exploration

Lunar science has received a substantial boost as a result of global, integrative analyses of remote sensing and lunar sample data following the recent Clementine and Lunar Prospector missions. Spurred by these results, new missions to explore and characterize the Moon are now being implemented by the Japanese and European space agencies, and are being discussed in detail by several teams of U.S. scientists. A recent survey of scientific opinion conducted by the Space Studies Board of the National Academy of Sciences ( ) indicates that enthusiasm is high in the United States for a return to the Moon in the near future. To take advantage of this momentum, and to focus attention on the future of lunar science, a workshop titled “The Moon Beyond 2002: Next Steps in Lunar Science and Exploration” was recently held. Two questions were posed to attendees: What key questions should now be addressed to advance lunar science and exploration? And what actions should the planetary science community take to best address these questions?
Type-I IFN Signaling Suppresses an Excessive IFN-γ Response and Thus Prevents Lung Damage and Chronic Inflammation During Pneumocystis (PC) Clearance in CD4 T Cell-Competent Mice

Immune-reconstitution after highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) is often incomplete, and some HIV-infected individuals fail to regenerate type-I interferon (IFN)-producing pDCs. We recently demonstrated that during Pneumocystis (PC) infection in CD4 T cell-competent mice the absence of type-I IFN signaling results in chronic pulmonary inflammation and fibrosis despite clearance. Because the mechanisms involved are poorly understood, we further characterized the role of type-I IFN signaling in immune responses to PC. We show that type-I IFN signaling around day 7 postinfection is critical to the outcome of inflammation. Microarray analysis of pulmonary CD11c(+) cells revealed that at day 7 post infection, wild-type cells up-regulated type-I IFN-responsive genes as well as SOCS1, which is a critical negative-regulator of type-I IFN and IFN-gamma signaling. This was associated with an eosinophilic lung inflammation, PC clearance, and complete restitution. However, pulmonary CD11c(+) cells from IFNAR(-/-) mice demonstrated increased tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha production and lacked SOCS1-induction at day 7. This was followed by a transient lymphocytic and IFN-gamma response before switching to a chronic eosinophilic inflammation of the lung. Early neutralization of TNF-alpha did not prevent chronic inflammation in IFNAR(-/-) mice, but treatment with an anti-IFN-gamma antibody did. We propose that during PC lung infection type-I IFNs induce SOCS1-associated regulatory mechanisms, which prevent excessive IFN-gamma-mediated responses that cause chronic lung damage. Therefore, partial immune-reconstitution in AIDS, attributable to reduced type-I IFN actions, might disrupt regulatory aspects of inflammation, causing unexplained chronic pulmonary complications as seen in some patients during HAART.
Quantitative analysis of a new model for the sintering of columnar thermal barrier coatings

Abstract Sintering of thermal barrier coatings adversely affects their long-term reliability by changing their key attributes. In recent work, we developed a novel modeling approach to study coating structure evolution due to the sintering of topcoat columns and predicted the formation of large clusters, and a network of elongated pore channels separating these [R. Krishnamurthy, D.J. Srolovitz, Acta Mater., in press]. Here we extract statistical measures, such as the pair correlation function, the in-plane porosity and pore size distribution from the predicted sintered microstructures, and systematically analyze their variation as a function of coating system parameters. The variables that have the greatest effect on these measures are the column density and the extent of the ‘feathery’ structure of the coating. At early times, low column densities, and where the ‘feathery’ protrusions extend only to a small distance, small clusters containing mainly neighboring columns are formed. On the contrary, when these variables assume large values, clusters many columns wide are formed. We also predict the formation of in-plane pores of sizes comparable to the width of the ‘mud-cracks’ seen in experiment [V. Lughi, V.K. Tolpygo, D.R. Clarke, Mater. Sci. Eng. A 368 (2004) 212–221]. Estimates for cluster size based on this pore size also agree with experiment.
Gas-phase ion/ion interactions between peptides or proteins and iron ions in a quadrupole ion trap

Abstract The gas-phase ion/ion reactions of iron ions with oppositely charged peptide and protein ions were studied in a quadrupole ion trap. Both Fe + and FeCO 2 − were investigated as possible reactant ions for gas-phase cleavage of peptide and protein ions. Several types of reaction products were observed. Charge exchange lowered the charge states of the proteins. Attachment resulted in a complex of the protein ion and the iron ion. In some cases bonds were broken in the protein ions, but it is unclear whether this is due to an insertion of the iron ion into a bond or due to the energetic reaction of oppositely charged species. Some preference was observed for bond cleavage near sulfur. Two disulfide bonds were broken in one case, and bonds adjacent to a cysteine residue were broken in another.
Gyroresonant absorption from congruent reduction of an anisotropic pressure fluid model

A system of Maxwell, multifluid momentum and anisotropic pressure equations for a weakly inhomogeneous magnetized plasma is written in a special Hermitian form. A recently developed congruent reduction technique, for extracting embedded, multidimensional, pairwise mode conversion events, is applied in studying the electron gyroresonant absorption problem. The mode conversion from an electromagnetic mode to a fluid pressure mode near the fundamental and second harmonic gyrofrequency is interpreted as gyroresonant absorption. The transmission coefficient is found in an arbitrary three‐dimensional plasma and magnetic field geometry, demonstrating the potential of the approach for systematically reducing the order in general multicomponent wave propagation problems in nonuniform plasmas.