cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Mass Cytometry to Decipher the Mechanism of Nongenetic Drug Resistance in Cancer

Nongenetic resistance has recently been described as a major impediment to effective cancer therapy. Nongenetic resistance is challenging to study since it occurs nonuniformly, even in cell lines, and can involve the interplay of multiple survival pathways. Until recently, no technology allowed measurement of large-scale alterations in survival pathways with single-cell resolution. Mass cytometry, a flow-based technique in which the activation of up to 50 proteins can be measured simultaneously in single-cell, now provides the ability to examine nongenetic resistance on the functional level on a cell-by-cell basis. The application of mass cytometry, in combination with new bioinformatic techniques, will allow fundamental questions on nongenetic resistance to be addressed: Is resistance caused by selection of cells with a pre-existing survival phenotype or induction of a survival program? Which survival pathways are necessary for nongenetic resistance and how do they interact? Currently, mass cytometry is being used to investigate the mechanism of nongenetic resistance to TRAIL-induced apoptosis. The approaches being developed to understand resistance to TRAIL will likely be applied to elucidate the mechanisms of nongenetic resistance broadly and in the clinic.
Incidence and Characterization of Antiandrogen Withdrawal Syndrome After Discontinuation of Treatment With Enzalutamide in Castration-resistant Prostate Cancer.

Abstract Background Antiandrogen withdrawal syndrome (AAWS), manifested as a prostate-specific antigen (PSA) decline after discontinuation of a first-generation antiandrogen has been well characterized. The objective of the present study was to assess the incidence of AAWS with enzalutamide in men with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer. Patients and Methods Patients from a single-institution cohort with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer who had discontinued enzalutamide after PSA or radiographic progression were included. AAWS after enzalutamide was defined as any PSA decline after discontinuation of enzalutamide. The baseline patient, disease, and treatment characteristics were compared between patients with and without AAWS after enzalutamide. Statistical analysis of the baseline characteristics included descriptive statistics using the Wilcoxon rank sum test and the Fisher exact test. The median duration of enzalutamide therapy was compared using the log-rank test, and the progression-free survival of the patients with AAWS was evaluated using the Kaplan-Meier method. Results Of 47 eligible patients, 5 experienced AAWS after enzalutamide discontinuation. The PSA response in these 5 patients was 84%, 32%, 17%, 15%, and 15%. The median AAWS response time until subsequent PSA progression was 3.3 months. No patient, disease, or treatment characteristics differed among the patients with and without AAWS after enzalutamide discontinuation. Conclusion To the best of our knowledge, this is the largest reported cohort documenting the incidence and characterization of AAWS after enzalutamide to date. The AAWS frequency after enzalutamide was low and of short duration. No patient- or disease-related characteristics were associated with AAWS with enzalutamide. The occurrence of AAWS after enzalutamide was not clinically meaningful. Thus, accounting for this phenomenon in clinical practice or trial designs could be unnecessary.
A Synthesized Theoretical Framework for Motors Driving Organizational Configurational Change

Now that we have a framework for understanding organizational configurations and the manner in which they change over time, we need to unite this with the forces that drive those configurational changes. To that end, this chapter introduces the concept of organizational change motors, as articulated by Van de Ven and Poole (1995), and then serves to synthesize the two historically distinct domains of organizational configurations and organizational change motors into a unified theoretical framework, using the basic constructs of evolution and revolution as a conduit for this theoretical integration. This new synthesized framework offers a fundamentally enhanced approach to examine the long-term transformation of organizations and to understand the motors that form and reconstitute organizational configurations throughout their development.
Cold war games: propaganda, the Olympics, and US foreign policy

In this exhaustively researched book, Toby C. Rider tells a very interesting story about how the United States attempted to gain an advantage over their Cold War nemesis, the USSR, using sports and...
Skipping the Blockade Run: Andile Dyalvane and Camagu

Within the context of this special issue on African art markets, this artist's profile brings to the fore transforming and increasingly fractured contexts of artistic production and consumption. In...
Compound Histories: Materials, Governance and Production, 1760–1840

For many years, the work of Archibald Clow and Nan L. Clow, The Chemical Revolution (1952), stood like a lighthouse on a lonely historiographic island. While the Clows devoted their study to the na...
Laparoscopic Stapled Bladder Closure: Laboratory and Clinical Experience

AbstractWe report our experience with closure of the bladder during laparoscopic nephroureterectomy by using a gastrointestinal anastomosis type stapling device designed to deliver 6, 3cm. rows of 3.5mm. titanium staples via a 12mm. trocar. We initially used this stapling device to secure a cuff of bladder in 8 female pigs undergoing laparoscopic nephroureterectomy. Followup in these animals was completed 2 to 6 months postoperatively. Then, 3 patients underwent laparoscopic ureterectomy using the laparoscopic stapler to transect and secure the ureter along with a cuff of bladder. In neither the laboratory nor the clinical situation were any complications encountered due to the transvesical staples (for example extravasation, stone formation, urinary tract infection or abscess formation). Our preliminary results indicate that titanium staples may be an effective method to provide rapid and secure closure of the bladder in patients undergoing either laparoscopic nephroureterectomy or laparoscopic ureterectomy.
Virtual Connections in New Work Environments

The private “owned” office in a designated workplace is rapidly becoming a thing of the past. “Alternative officing” or “activity settings” are the terms used for new approaches to how, when, and where people work. Work has evolved from the place you go, to the thing you do. This is unnerving to some people because a “work place” has been important in forming an individual’s occupational identity and attributes status to their work. However, as the virtual office replaces the traditional office, we will be working with, and managing, people whom we do not see and whom we do not know personally. They will be in a plethora of workplaces distributed in different locations in a variety of settings. Where information is the raw material of work, it is not necessary that all the people involved in a task be in the same place at the same time.
Psychotherapeutic treatment of borderline patients

Under the impact of new clinical experiences and empirical research in the last twenty years, the psychodynamic psychotherapy for borderline patients has evolved into a more exploratory, expressive direction. The supportive psychotherapy approaches that were formerly recommended as treatment of choice have been losing their appeal. Differences persist, however, regarding the extent to which the psychotherapy should be purely analytic, exploratory, or expressive, or should combine expressive and supportive features, at least in the initial stages of treatment.
XYLELLA FASTIDIOSA , A REGIONAL PROBLEM OR GLOBAL THREAT?

SUMMARY Until now, the xylem -limited bacterium Xylella fastidiosa has been recorded only from the Americas, with the exception of a pear disease in Taiwan. Is this bacterium a potential threat to other continents and islands? Climate appears to play a major role in the geographic distribution of diseases caused by X. fastidiosa , but this differs with strain and host plant. Mild winters may be necessary for the long term persistence of X. fastidiosa within a climatic region, but the possible limiting effects of summer temperatures have not been explored. Potential vectors are widespread and often common in most parts of the world not currently affected by X. fastidiosa. An important feature to maintain endemic infections of the bacterium in temperate regions may be the occurrence of potential vectors that overwinter as adults. Previously unrecorded plant diseases in citrus and oleander, caused by X. fastidiosa , have rapidly spread, suggesting that vigilant phytosanitary measures outside the Americas should be maintained against the introduction of X. fastidiosa. Molecular detection methods such as the polymerase chain reaction for a wide spectrum of strains of X. fastidiosa are preferable to serological methods because of their sensitivity and reliability.
Head Pain in Pediatrics

John is a 12-year-old otherwise healthy white male who is brought in by his mother. She is concerned with a history of intermittent changes in his vision as well as complaints that he is often fatigued, complaining of neck stiffness, poor sleep, and irritability. She has been going through a divorce and is concerned he is making this up to get attention.
In the Conflict Between the Heart and Mind: Involvement and Aspiration Matter: An Abstract

Extant research on the drivers of consumer’s purchase behavior has focused either on the influence of consumers’ personal predispositions, brand-/product-related perceptions, or external factors, such as the prevailing business and social environment variables. There is a dearth of studies, which have considered the collective impact of influences that may drive the buying preferences of consumers, a more realistic scenario. The impact of these factors may also get differentiated across product category involvement (high vs. low) and/or by brand ownership (domestic vs. foreign), particularly in the context of global brands. Further, processes governing the mechanisms that transform individual predispositions and consumers’ brand perceptions into specific behavioral responses need to be further explored. This research is an effort to fill this research gap and shed some light on the drivers of consumer’s purchase behavior in a multidimensional perspective using two product categories, midsize sedans and sportswear, each involving a domestic and a foreign global brand. With four separate studies, using structural equation modeling (SEM), the findings reveal differences in the strength of relationships based on product involvement and ownership, leading to valuable insights for managerial practice, and contribution to enrich the existing global branding literature. Avenues for future research are also suggested.
Conversational Interaction with Multiple Agents Initiated via Proxemics and Gaze

This paper explores the use of proxemics and gaze in multimodal multiparty interaction in virtual reality (VR). While many applications with sophisticated implementations have been developed, we sought to create, using more lightweight tools, a multimodal multiparty application in which users had a strong sense of both autonomy and immersion. In conversations with virtual agents, true mixed-initiative interaction is difficult to achieve because initiative can include choice of topic. Our work suggests that using proxemics and gaze can enable multiparty conversations with virtual agents that more closely resemble mixed-initiative interaction.
Remodeling of O Antigen in Mucoid Pseudomonas aeruginosa via Transcriptional Repression of wzz2

Pseudomonas aeruginosa is an opportunistic pathogen that causes chronic lung infections in people with cystic fibrosis (CF). Chronic P. aeruginosa isolates generally do not express O antigen and often have a mucoid phenotype, which is characterized by the overproduction of the exopolysaccharide alginate. Therefore, O antigen expression and the mucoid phenotype may be coordinately regulated upon chronic adaption to the CF lung. Here we demonstrate that PDO300, a mucoid strain derived from the nonmucoid laboratory isolate PAO1, does not produce very long O antigen due to decreased expression of Wzz2, the very long O antigen chain length control protein, and that mucoid clinical isolates express reduced levels of Wzz2 compared to nonmucoid isolates. Further, we show that forcing the expression of very long O antigen by PDO300, by providing wzz2 in trans, does not alter alginate production, suggesting that sugar precursors are not limited between the two biosynthesis pathways. Moreover, we confirm that AmrZ, a transcription factor highly expressed in mucoid strains, is a negative regulator of wzz2 promoter activity and very long O antigen expression. These experiments identify the first transcriptional regulator of O antigen chain length in P. aeruginosa and support a model where transition to a chronic mucoid phenotype is correlated with downregulation of very long O antigen through decreased Wzz2 production.IMPORTANCE Detection of mucoid Pseudomonas aeruginosa, characterized by the overproduction of alginate, is correlated with the establishment of a chronic pulmonary infection and disease progression in people with cystic fibrosis (CF). In addition to the overproduction of alginate, loss of O antigen lipopolysaccharide production is also selected for in chronic infection isolates. In this study, we have identified the regulatory network that inversely regulates O antigen and alginate production. Understanding the regulation of these chronic phenotypes will elucidate mechanisms that are important for the establishment of a long-term P. aeruginosa lung infection and ultimately provide an opportunity for intervention. Preventing P. aeruginosa from chronically adapting to the CF lung environment could provide a better outcome for people who are infected.
Chapter 15 Pareto efficient and optimal taxation and the new new welfare economics

Publisher Summary For more than a hundred years, economists have attempted to show that progressive taxation can be justified on more fundamental principles. Among the earliest of such attempts was that of Edgeworth (1868, 1897), who tried to show that utilitarianism (combined with two other assumptions) implied progressivity. His argument was simple: he postulated that all individuals had the same utility of income function and that they exhibited diminishing marginal utility. As social welfare has been simply the sum of the utility functions of all individuals, it immediately followed that the decrease in social welfare from taking a dollar (or a pound) away from a rich person is less than the decrease in social welfare from taking a dollar away from a poor person. With the advent of the New Welfare Economics in the 1930s, interest in optimal taxation waned: interpersonal utility comparisons of the kind employed in utilitarianism were viewed to be inadmissible. The “new” New Welfare Economics is distinguished by two features: first, unlike much of the “old” New Welfare Economics and unlike the earlier Utilitarian analysis, it does not assume that the government has at its disposal the information required to make lump-sum redistributions and second, it identifies who is able to pay higher taxes at least partly by using endogenous variables, such as income or consumption.
Evidence of shared familial factors influencing neurocognitive endophenotypes in adult- and childhood-onset schizophrenia.

Background The aggregation of neurocognitive deficits among the non-psychotic first-degree relatives of adult- and childhood-onset schizophrenia patients suggests that there may be a common etiology for these deficits in childhood- and adult-onset illness. However, there is considerable heterogeneity in the presentation of neurobiological abnormalities, and whether there are differences in the extent of familial transmission for specific domains of cognitive function has not been systematically addressed. Methods We employed variance components analysis, as implemented in SOLAR-Eclipse, to evaluate the evidence of familial transmission for empirically derived composite scores representing attention, working memory, verbal learning, verbal retention, and memory for faces. We contrast estimates for adult- and childhood-onset schizophrenia families and matched community control pedigrees, and compare our findings to previous reports based on analogous neurocognitive assessments. Results We observed varying degrees of familial transmission; attention and working memory yielded comparable, significant estimates for adult-onset and community control pedigrees; verbal learning was significant for childhood-onset and community control pedigrees; and facial memory demonstrated significant familial transmission only for childhood-onset schizophrenia. Model-fitting analyses indicated significant differences in familiality between adult- and childhood-onset schizophrenia for attention, working memory, and verbal learning. Conclusions By comprehensively assessing a wide range of neurocognitive domains in adult- and childhood-onset schizophrenia families, we provide additional support for specific neurocognitive domains as schizophrenia endophenotypes. Whereas comparable estimates of familial transmission for certain dimensions of cognitive functioning support a shared etiology of adult- and childhood-onset neurocognitive function, observed differences may be taken as preliminary evidence of partially divergent multifactorial architectures.
Baking performance of 25 edible dry bean powders: Correlation between cookie quality and rapid test indices.

Abstract This study was designed to evaluate the baking performances of 25 edible dry bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) varieties and to investigate correlations among cookie features and rapid test indices (i.e., water and lactic acid retention capacities, oil binding capacity and Rapid Visco Analyzer indices). Two bean powder particle sizes (≤0.5 mm, ≤1.0 mm) were investigated. Cookies were evaluated in terms of nutritional, geometrical and textural properties. Bean powders doubled the amount of cookie protein and increased cookie resistant starch content. Baking potential varied according to bean genotype and powder particle size: coarse powders resulted in larger (+26%) and thinner (−19%) cookies characterized by easier breaking texture (fracture strengths of 41–157 vs. 48–226 kPa for fine powders). Water retention and oil binding capacities and pasting properties significantly (p
Cholesterol in membranes facilitates aggregation of amyloid beta protein at physiologically low concentrations

Abstract The formation of amyloid β (1-42) (Aβ42) oligomers is considered to be a critical step in the development of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). However, the mechanism underlying this process at physiologically low concentrations of Aβ42 remains unclear. We have previously shown that oligomers assemble at such low Aβ42 monomer concentrations in vitro on phospholipid membranes. We hypothesized that membrane composition is the factor controlling the aggregation process. Accumulation of cholesterol in membranes is associated with AD development, suggesting that insertion of cholesterol into membranes may initiate the Aβ42 aggregation, regardless of a low monomer concentration. We used atomic force microscopy (AFM) to directly visualize the aggregation process of Aβ42 on the surface of a lipid bilayer containing cholesterol. Time-lapse AFM imaging unambiguously demonstrates that cholesterol in the lipid bilayer significantly enhances the aggregation process of Aβ42 at nanomolar monomer concentration. Quantitative analysis of the AFM data shows that both the number of Aβ42 oligomers and their sizes grow when cholesterol is present. Importantly, the aggregation process is dynamic, so the aggregates assembled on the membrane can dissociate from the bilayer surface into the bulk solution. Computational modeling demonstrated that the lipid bilayer containing cholesterol had an elevated affinity to Aβ42. Moreover, monomers adopted the aggregation-prone conformations present in amyloid fibrils. The low energy barriers between these conformations facilitate the transition between monomer states and is another factor promoting the self-association of the monomers.
Solum, Lawrence Bayard. Law and Social Theory: Freedom of Communicative Action: A Theory of the First Amendment Freedom of Speech, 83 Nw. U.L. Rev. 54 (Fall 1988/Winter 1999)

At the dawn of the digital age more than three decades ago, Professor Lawrence Byard Solum offered a proposition at the intersection of law and social theory. 1 In a symposium, he built upon commun...
Teaching Media Literacy to ESL and EFL Students in the Age of COVID-19

Media literacy education is a field that is fraught with disagreement over definitions, approaches, principles, and purposes, but teaching media literacy is arguably needed now more than ever before, especially for ESL and EFL students. From the research available, it appears as though many ESL and EFL students are not taught media literacy in their home countries. Additionally, much of the research that does exist in regards to teaching media literacy to ESL and EFL students focuses on forms of media that are no longer relevant to most learners. Since ESL and EFL teachers support the development of their students’ English-language skills, it is justifiable that at least some of the responsibility of media literacy education should fall on their shoulders. The widespread transition to virtual learning as a result of COVID-19 presents a unique opportunity for ESL and EFL teachers to teach media literacy to their students. However, because this period also presents numerous challenges to the public’s collective media literacy skills, it is imperative that teachers integrate media literacy education into their pedagogy. Keywords: media literacy, ESL, EFL, COVID-19
Simulations, Narrativity and (Post)Modern Historiography: Patterns of Ambivalence in Daniel Silva’s The Unlikely Spy

This paper aims at locating complex patterns of ambivalence in the narratology of Daniel Silva’s Second World War thriller, The Unlikely Spy, published in 1996, by contending that it recreates a historically justifiable picture of the 1940s in a manner that highlights the typical historicist episteme of the 1990s. This is because its plot retains an apparent structural wholeness as far as the atmospheric evocation through archival research is concerned in spite of the fact that its narratorial focus is informed by characteristic postulates of postmodernist historiography. The argument's theoretical exposition of the latter depends, through an emphasis on notions of simulations, evasions and self-deconstruction, on Jean Baudrillard's proclamation that history is no longer possible. The paper employs techniques of qualitative discourse analysis for studying the novel's narratological patterns and historicist constructs. It shall be seen how, along with narrativity that combines motifs of linearity and temporal-spatial chaos, the text philosophically problematizes the ‘reality’ of the War through an ambivalent intermingling of confrontation and evasion by metonymically representing the entire War-dynamic – completely dispensing with any first-hand account of the uniformed soldiers’ battlefield – in devious circles of executive offices and spies stalking the streets during the blackout. It is further contended that the novel's historicist vision draws attention to, and even symbolically represents, the ambivalent nature of the relationship between modernism and postmodernism.
Modified Occam’s Razor and Meaning Denialism

Grice’s “Modified Occam’s Razor” is one conservative strategy for excluding new meanings: “Senses are not to be multiplied beyond necessity”. This is taken to advise against positing a new sense wherever there is a pragmatic derivation of the message from an uncontroversial old sense, without any consideration of whether that derivation is part of the best explanation of the message. I argue that this – the Third Methodological Flaw of Linguistic Pragmatism – cannot be right because it would make all metaphors immortal. Where a word is regularly used polysemously, the onus is much more on the denier of a new meaning than on the positer of one. Pragmatic explanations need to meet the “psychological-reality requirement”, showing that the pragmatic derivations have an appropriately active place in cognitive lives. The explanations then face two powerful objections. The Occamist Objection that the explanation posits subconscious processes that need, but lack, independent evidence. The Developmental Objection that we have good reason to suppose, a priori, that these processes do not exist. Bach has another strategy for excluding new meanings: many regularities in usage are to be explained not as conventionalizations but as standardizations. Standardizations are said to differ from conventionalizations in their relation to “mutual beliefs” and in their involving “streamlined” pragmatic inferences. I argue that Bach’s account of this distinction is not satisfactory. More importantly, he has not shown that his favorite cases of standardization are not conventionalizations. These strategies for meaning denialism have been very costly, misleading people into Pragmatism.
α 2-Adrenergic Receptor Agonist, an Attractive but Underused ERAS Component in Improving Fast-Track Recovery and Surgical Outcomes

Enhanced Recovery After Surgery (ERAS) protocols have been implemented in many institutions to attenuate the stress of surgery and facilitate early recovery. Careful selection of multimodal analgesic medication plays an essential role in achieving the goals of ERAS protocols. Clonidine and dexmedetomidine are α2-adrenergic receptor (α2-AR) agonists that can greatly enhance various ERAS components owing to their unique pharmacologic properties: antinociception, anxiolysis, anti-inflammation, and renal protection. The α2-AR agonists exert supraspinal and spinal antinociceptive effects by potentiating descending pain modulatory pathways and inhibiting peripheral C fibers. These antinociceptive effects of α2-AR agonists are independent of opioid receptors and result in analgesic synergy with opioid agonists. Several meta-analyses and systematic reviews have reported that α2-AR agonists decrease opioid consumption and side effects in adult and pediatric surgical patients. Given the wide distribution of α2-ARs in the body, α2-AR agonists have been associated with a reduction in anxiety, perioperative stress, inflammation, postoperative nausea and vomiting, shivering, and cognitive dysfunction. This course describes the basic and applied pharmacology of the α2-AR agonists and provides emerging evidence to support their utility in acute pain management and ERAS protocols. Perioperative administration of α2-AR agonists can enhance pain management, decrease adverse effects, and promote surgical recovery.
Enabling Semantic Search and Knowledge Discovery for ArcGIS Online: A Linked-Data-Driven Approach

ArcGIS Online is a unified Web portal designed by Environment System Research Institute (ESRI). It contains a rich collection of Web maps, layers, and services contributed by GIS users throughout the world. The metadata about these GIS resources reside in data silos that can be accessed via a Web API. While this is sufficient for simple syntax-based searches, it does not support more advanced queries, e.g., finding maps based on the semantics of the search terms, or performing customized queries that are not pre-designed in the API. In metadata, titles and descriptions are commonly available attributes which provide important information about the content of the GIS resources. However, such data cannot be easily used since they are in the form of unstructured natural language. To address these difficulties, we combine data-driven techniques with theory-driven approaches to enable semantic search and knowledge discovery for ArcGIS Online. We develop an ontology for ArcGIS Online data, convert the metadata into Linked Data, and enrich the metadata by extracting thematic concepts and geographic entities from titles and descriptions. Based on a human participant experiment, we calibrate a linear regression model for semantic search, and demonstrate the flexible queries for knowledge discovery that are not possible in the existing Web API. While this research is based on the ArcGIS Online data, the presented methods can also be applied to other GIS cloud services and data infrastructures.
Multimedia Data Analysis using ImageTcl

ImageTcl is an new system which provides powerful Tcl/Tk based media scripting capabilities similar to those of the ViewSystem and Rivl in a unique environment that allows rapid prototyping and development of new components in the C++ language. Powerful user tools automate the creation of new components as well as the addition of new data types and file formats. Applications using ImageTcl at the Dartmouth Experimental Visualization Laboratory (DEVLAB) include multiple stream media data analysis, automatic image annotation, and image sequence motion analysis. ImageTcl combines the high speed of compiled languages with the testing and parameterization advantages of scripting languages.
Chapter 30: Real Estate Investment Decision-Making in Behavioral Finance

The real estate market displays many of the behavioral biases documented in the traditional financial markets. During bull markets, investor overconfidence, optimism, representativeness, and self-attribution bias among others drive prices far above their fundamental values. Conversely, during bear markets, loss aversion, false reference points and anchoring, and familiarity bias drive prices below their fair values. Combining these behavioral biases with severe limits to arbitrage including the illiquid nature of the market, high transaction costs, and short sale constraints can magnify the effect of psychological biases on real estate valuations. As a result, real estate prices in the short and medium time horizon often deviate from their fundamental values and price adjustments are slow. This chapter reviews common psychological biases in the context of real estate and the consequences of these biases to markets.
Computational Mechanics: Natural Computation and Self-organization

The tutorial explores how nature's structure reflects how nature computes. It reviews intrinsic unpredictability (deterministic chaos) and the emergence of structure (self-organization) in natural complex systems. Using statistical mechanics, information theory, and computation theory, it develops a systematic framework for analyzing processes in terms of their causal architecture. This is determined by answering three questions: (i) How much historical information does a process store? (ii) In what architecture is that information stored? And (iii) how is the stored information used to produce future behavior? The answers to these questions tell one how a system intrinsically computes.
The Valuation of Undeveloped Land: A Reconciliation of Methods

The valuation of undeveloped or "subdivision" land typically is accomplished by using either a single discount rate applied to total projected cash flows or by using a land discount rate applied to...
The interfacing of Mathematica with a variety of computing environments

It has been an exciting experience introducing major changes to the teaching of the Ordinary Differential Equations (ODE) class at my school. The recommended teaching methodology was enhanced by the use of technology in a lab setting (Mathematica) in conjunction with cooperative learning [1]. Working with Mathematica has given me the opportunity to put its unique potential to practice while exploring other avenues that increase its capabilities in interfacing with other environments. In this paper, I share with my colleagues my experience in working with Mathematica and some information regarding how it communicates (using MathLink and other tools) with certain well-established computing environments like C++ and FORTRAN.
Abstract 17332: Plasma Omega-3 Fatty Acids and the Risk of Cardiovascular Death in Patients after an Acute Coronary Syndrome

Introduction: Plasma omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (Ω3-PUFA) have been inversely correlated with the risk of cardiovascular death in primary prevention populations. The prognostic value of Ω3-PUFA in patients with an acute coronary syndrome (ACS) is not well established. Methods: Baseline plasma Ω3-PUFA composition (including plant-derived ALA and the 3 long-chain marine-based Ω3-PUFAs EPA, DPA, & DHA) was assessed through thin liquid chromatography in a case control population (203 CV deaths & 1612 controls) from MERLIN-TIMI 36, a randomized trial of ranolazine versus placebo in patients hospitalized with an ACS. Median follow-up was 1 year. Analyses were adjusted for age, sex, BMI, traditional cardiac risk factors and cardiac history, lipids, renal function, and index diagnosis. Results: After multivariable adjustment, patients with higher plasma fractions of each Ω3-PUFA tended to have lower odds of CV death. When all 4 Ω3-PUFAs were combined, the highest fractional levels (Q4 vs Q1-Q3) of total Ω3-PUFA (OR 0.63, 0.41-0.97) and long-chain Ω3-PUFA (OR 0.58, 0.37-0.89) were significantly associated with reduced odds of CV death (Figure). In contrast, Ω3-PUFA plasma fraction was not significantly associated with the odds of MI, atrial fibrillation, or ventricular tachycardia. Conclusions: In patients after ACS, a higher proportion of plasma Ω3-PUFA is associated with lower odds of CV death, independent of traditional risk factors and lipids. These data support the rationale for ongoing studies to assess whether Ω3-PUFA supplementation will translate into a mortality benefit in this population.
Darfur: A Distant Third Priority

Cyrus proposes incorporating more human rights education into the United States' education system, beginning at an early level. By starting with education, the United States could adopt a stronger stance on universal human needs, which includes human rights such as education and vital necessities, into its foreign policies. With a stronger dedication to human rights in U.S' foreign policies, the country could better prevent/lessen the effect of genocides, such as in the one in Darfur. [Abstract by editor]
Oxytocinase and human placental lactogen for prediction of intrauterine growth retardation

Abstract Oxytocinase and human placental lactogen (hPL) were measured in 705 serial maternal plasma samples collected from 74 patients whose pregnancies were complicated by hypertension. The trend and absolute levels of each substance were evaluated in a search for reliable antepartum indicators of intrauterine growth retardation (IUGR). There were 21 patients who were delivered of growth-retarded infants and the oxytocinase values were abnormal in 16 cases (75 per cent), while hPL levels were abnormal in 15 cases (71 per cent). There were 24 patients with subnormal placental weights. Abnormal oxytocinase values were observed in 17 (71 per cent) and abnormal hPL in 19 cases (79 per cent). The remaining 37 patients had “normal” fetal and placental weights. Abnormal oxytocinase values were observed in 15 patients (41 per cent) and abnormal hPL in 19 (52 per cent). In this group of pregnant mothers thought to be at risk for IUGR due to pregnancy hypertension, either test alone predicted subnormal neonatal or placental weight in about three fourths of cases. However, in the mothers with hypertension, who had no evidence of IUGR, false abnormal values of oxytocinase and hPL were found in nearly half the patients. No advantage was gained in the predictive accuracy when both tests were used.
Connective tissue growth factor (CTGF/CCN2) expression in quiescent hepatic stellate cells is inhibited by a Twist-1-miR-214 axis (649.7)

Connective tissue growth factor (CTGF/CCN2) drives hepatic fibrosis in vivo by stimulating fibrogenic pathways in hepatic stellate cells (HSC). Under normal conditions, CTGF/CCN2 expression is very...
Inhibition of human cytomegalovirus immediate-early gene expression by an antisense oligonucleotide complementary to immediate-early RNA

ISIS 2922 is a phosphorothioate oligonucleotide that is complementary to human cytomegalovirus (CMV) immediate-early (IE) RNA and that exhibits potent and specific antiviral activity against CMV in cell culture assays. Specific assay systems were developed to separately characterize the antisense and nonantisense components of the antiviral activity mediated by ISIS 2922. In U373 cells transformed with cDNA encoding the CMV IE 55-kDa (IE55) protein, expression was inhibited at nanomolar concentrations comparable to effective concentrations in antiviral assays. The specificity of inhibition was demonstrated by using control oligonucleotides incorporating progressive base changes to destabilize oligonucleotide-RNA base pairing and by showing a lack of inhibition of the CMV IE72 product expressed from the same promoter. Inhibition of IE55 protein expression correlated with a reduction in mRNA levels consistent with an RNase H-mediated termination event. Studies with virus-infected cells demonstrated that antisense and nonantisense mechanisms contribute to the antiviral activity of ISIS 2922. Base complementarity to target RNA was important for optimal activity in antiviral assays, but base changes affecting parameters other than hybridization affinity also influenced antiviral activity. Sequence-independent inhibition of virus adsorption to host cells by phosphorothioate oligonucleotides was also observed at high concentrations. Therefore, at least three different mechanisms may contribute to the antiviral activity of ISIS 2922 in cell culture: antisense-mediated inhibition of target gene expression; nonantisense, sequence-dependent inhibition of virus replication; and sequence-independent inhibition of virus adsorption to host cells.
Characterization of clinical mastitis occurring in cows on 50 large dairy herds in Wisconsin

Abstract In recent years, the US dairy industry has experienced significant demographic changes, with an increase in the number of large herds. The objectives of the present study were to characterize clinical mastitis occurring in cows on large dairy herds in Wisconsin. Participating herds (n=50) were required to have a minimum of 200 lactating animals, participate in monthly DHI testing (including monthly individual cow somatic cell count), use computerized herd records, use a milking routine that included fore-stripping quarters for detection of mastitis, and use antimicrobials to treat affected cows. After study personnel visited the farm, each herd was instructed to enroll the next 17 cows that experienced clinical mastitis, regardless of severity. At detection of clinical mastitis and 14 to 21d after treatment ended, duplicate quarter milk samples were collected from all affected quarters and used for microbiological analysis. Treatments of affected cows were performed according to existing individual farm protocols. Cow level follow-up data was collected for 90d after enrollment. Microbiological diagnoses at enrollment included gram-negative (35.6%), no growth (27.3%), gram-positive (27.5%), and other (9.6%). Of the 741 cases, the most prevalent pathogens were Escherichia coli (22.5%), followed by environmental streptococci (12.8%), Klebsiella spp. (6.9%), and coagulase-negative staphylococci (6.1%). Bacteriological cure was 75.0% for cases caused by gram-negative pathogens (n=136), 50.8% for cases caused by gram-positive pathogens (n=128), 47.5% for cases caused by other pathogens (n=40), and 73.2% for cases which did not result in microbial growth (n=123). Of the 583 cases with severity recorded, the distribution of mild, moderate, and severe symptoms was 47.8, 36.9, and 15.3%, respectively. The majority of cases presenting with severe symptoms were caused by gram-negative pathogens. Treatment cure was greater for gram-negative pathogens and cases for which no pathogens were recovered as compared with cases caused by other etiologies. Cows experiencing severe cases were more likely to receive multiple antimicrobial treatments.
A low-power low-noise transimpedance amplifier for an integrated biosensing platform

In this paper, we design a low power, low noise transimpedance amplifier for ultra-low biosignal amplification. The proposed transimpedance amplifier is implemented in a standard 6 metal, 1 poly 0.18μm CMOS process. The amplifier is capable of producing 215MΩ transimpedance gain, 0.615MHz bandwidth; 910fA/√Hz input referred noise at 100Hz while consuming only 139μW DC power.
Becoming a Citizen in the United States and Canada: Structured Mobilization and Immigrant Political Incorporation

This article uses the puzzle of diverging trajectories of immigrant citizenship in the United States and Canada to build a new approach to the study of citizenship and political incorporation. I consider three existing models of citizenship: an approach that considers citizenship adoption as the product of cost/benefit calculations; an approach that understands individuals and groups to be differentially endowed with the skills, resources and interests necessary to acquire citizenship; and an approach that believes countries adopt citizenship regimes which either include or shut out immigrants. I then offer an alternative model of structured mobilization which views political incorporation as a social process of mobilization by friends, family, community organizations and local leaders that is embedded in an institutional context shaped by government policies of diversity and newcomer settlement. The material and symbolic resources provided by government shape the ability and interest of "social helpers" to assist with and mobilize around citizenship. The article concludes by considering the implications of structured mobilization for various debates in immigration and political sociology.
Probabilistic Forecast Guidance for Severe Thunderstorms Based on the Identification of Extreme Phenomena in Convection-Allowing Model Forecasts

AbstractWith the advent of convection-allowing NWP models (CAMs) comes the potential for new forms of forecast guidance. While CAMs lack the required resolution to simulate many severe phenomena associated with convection (e.g., large hail, downburst winds, and tornadoes), they can still provide unique guidance for the occurrence of these phenomena if “extreme” patterns of behavior in simulated storms are strongly correlated with observed severe phenomena. This concept is explored using output from a series of CAM forecasts generated on a daily basis during the spring of 2008. This output is mined for the presence of extreme values of updraft helicity (UH), a diagnostic field used to identify supercellular storms. Extreme values of the UH field are flagged as simulated “surrogate” severe weather reports and the spatial correspondence between these surrogate reports and actual observed severe reports is determined. In addition, probabilistic forecasts [surrogate severe probabilistic forecasts (SSPFs)] are ...
Constraint on the low energy constants of Wilson chiral perturbation theory

Wilson chiral perturbation theory (WChPT) is the effective field theory describing the long-distance properties of lattice QCD with Wilson or twisted-mass fermions. We consider here WChPT for the theory with two light flavors of Wilson fermions or a single light twisted-mass fermion. Discretization errors introduce three low energy constants into partially quenched WChPT at $\mathcal{O}({a}^{2})$, conventionally called ${W}_{6}^{\ensuremath{'}}$, ${W}_{7}^{\ensuremath{'}}$, and ${W}_{8}^{\ensuremath{'}}$. The phase structure of the theory at nonzero $a$ depends on the sign of the combination $2{W}_{6}^{\ensuremath{'}}+{W}_{8}^{\ensuremath{'}}$, while the spectrum of the lattice Hermitian Wilson-Dirac operator depends on all three constants. It has been argued, based on the positivity of partition functions of fixed topological charge, and on the convergence of graded group integrals that arise in the $ϵ$ regime of WChPT, that there is a constraint on the low energy constants arising from the underlying lattice theory. In particular, for ${W}_{6}^{\ensuremath{'}}={W}_{7}^{\ensuremath{'}}=0$, the constraint found is ${W}_{8}^{\ensuremath{'}}\ensuremath{\le}0$. Here we provide an alternative line of argument, based on mass inequalities for the underlying partially quenched theory. We find that ${W}_{8}^{\ensuremath{'}}\ensuremath{\le}0$, irrespective of the values of ${W}_{6}^{\ensuremath{'}}$ and ${W}_{7}^{\ensuremath{'}}$. Our constraint implies that $2{W}_{6}^{\ensuremath{'}}g|{W}_{8}^{\ensuremath{'}}|$ if the phase diagram is to be described by the first-order scenario, as recent simulations suggest is the case for some choices of action.
Characterization of Defectiveness of Human Adenoviruses in Green Monkey Kidney Cells.

SummaryIn the absence of foreign helper viruses, human adenoviruses are defective in simian cells, but the degree of effectiveness varies with the adenovirus. Adenovirus 2 initiates an infection in the simian cells but there is no increase in virus titer. When simian cells are infected with adenovirus 7, a small amount of infectious virus is produced but the amount never exceeds the input level. Each cell in the population produces a small amount of virus. The increase in infectious virus is dependent upon DNA synthesis. The simian cells therefore appear to be “leaky” for some human adenovirus serotypes.
Are needed redexes really needed

We present an approach to rewriting in inductively sequential rewriting systems with a very distinctive feature. In the class of systems that we consider, any reducible term defines a needed step, a step that must be executed by any rewriting computation that produces the term's normal form. We show an implementation of rewriting computations that avoids executing some needed steps. We avoid executing these steps by defining functions that compute a reduct of a step without the explict construction or presence of the redex. Our approach improves the efficiency of many computations---in some cases by one or two orders of magnitude. Our work is motivated by and applicable to the implementation of functional logic programming languages.
Effect of interfacial strain on the formation of AlGaN nanostructures by selective area heteroepitaxy

Abstract AlGaN hexagonal nano-pyramids were formed on GaN/sapphire, AlN/sapphire and Al 0.5 Ga 0.5 N/sapphire using selective area heteroepitaxy. It is found that both interfacial strain due to the lattice mismatch and the growth conditions greatly impact growth rate, Al incorporation and facet quality of these AlGaN nanostructures. A correlation between the interfacial strain provided by the underlying template with growth of nanostructures was made, and attributed to the difference in surface diffusion properties as a function of strain. This was directly observed with the difference in the growth rates and Al incorporation of nanostructures when grown on various templates. The growth rates of nanostructures were found to be much higher when grown on an AlN template in comparison to that on a GaN template under the same growth conditions. Detailed characterization of the AlGaN nanostructures shows highly uniform composition. Further, multiple quantum well structures were grown within the nanostructures on different templates. The effect of strain was again visible with differences in emission properties of the quantum wells.