cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Identification of a New Blend of Host Fruit Volatiles from Red Downy Hawthorn, Crataegus mollis, Attractive to Rhagoletis pomonella Flies from the Northeastern United States

A new blend of volatiles was identified for the fruit of downy red hawthorn, Crataegus mollis, that is attractive to Rhagoletis pomonella flies infesting this host in the northeastern USA. The new blend was as attractive as the previously identified mixture but is more complex in the number of odorants (six in the old versus ten in the new) and differs significantly in the ratio of three volatiles, 3-methylbutan-1-ol, butyl hexanoate, and dihydro-β-ionone, that are common to both blends and exerted agonist or antagonist effects on behavior in a flight tunnel assay. However, behavioral results with the old and new northern hawthorn blends, as well as modified blends with substituted ratios of 3-methylbutan-1-ol, butyl hexanoate, dihydro-β-ionone, indicated that the 'agonist' or 'antagonist' effects of these volatiles depended on the ratio, or balance of compounds within the blend. In addition, the new blend contains a number of esters identified from the headspace of domesticated apple, Malus domestica, that are attractive to apple-origin R. pomonella, and present in the five other blends from southern hawthorns, including the southern C. mollis var. texana blend, but are not part of the previously identified blend from northern C. mollis fruit. This finding supports the hypothesis that in addition to providing specificity to the odor blends of the northern and southern hawthorn populations, the presence of the significant amounts of ester compounds in the new northern hawthorn blend might have provided a source of standing variation that could help explain the shift in host preference by C. mollis-infesting flies to introduced apple in the mid-1800's.
Endoscopic Photodynamic Therapy: Clinical Aspects

Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is a selective, experimental treatment for solid tumors. PDT consists of the activation of a photosensitizing agent by light. The photodynamic reaction induced by light causes damage to the tissue containing the photosensitizer in the presence of oxygen.
Paclitaxel by either 1-hour or 24-hour infusion in combination with carboplatin in advanced non-small cell lung cancer: Preliminary results comparing sequential phase II trials

Our group previously described the activity of carboplatin plus paclitaxel (Taxol; Bristol-Myers Squibb Company, Princeton, NJ) (given as a 24-hour infusion) in 51 patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer. To facilitate outpatient administration, the regimen was modified to infuse paclitaxel over 1 hour. Between February 1995 and August 1996, 63 patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer were accrued by the Vanderbilt Cancer Center and its affiliate network. The first four patients received paclitaxel 175 mg/m2; all subsequent patients received paclitaxel 200 mg/m2. The carboplatin dose was determined using the Calvert formula, with a target area under the concentration-time curve of 6. Cycles were repeated every 4 weeks, to a maximum of six cycles. The median age of the patients was 62 years. There were 43 men and 20 women. Ten patients were stage IIIB and 53 were stage IV. Patients with Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status < or =2 were enrolled. There were three complete remissions and 13 partial remissions, for an overall response rate of 25%. Median survival was 32 weeks. This compares with a response rate of 27% and a median survival of 38 weeks observed in our previous study, using 24-hour paclitaxel plus the same dose of carboplatin. Grade 3/4 leukopenia occurred in 47% versus 3% of treatment cycles in the 24-hour versus 1-hour patient groups, respectively. Febrile neutropenia was similar and occurred in 7% versus 4% of treatment cycles. Grade 1 to 3 neurotoxicity occurred in 7% versus 41% of patients in the 24-hour versus 1-hour schedule groups, respectively. Likewise, the incidence of grade 1 to 3 arthralgia/myalgia was greater among patients receiving 1-hour infusion of paclitaxel (3.5% v 28%). Although not randomized, these data suggest that survival may be comparable whether paclitaxel is given by short or prolonged infusion in advanced non-small cell lung cancer. Toxicity profiles differ, however, with greater myelosuppression following 24-hour paclitaxel, but a higher incidence of neurotoxicity and arthralgia/myalgia with the 1-hour infusion.
Lewis, Morris J

American neurologist Morris James Lewis (1852–1928) worked with Silas Weir Mitchell (1829–1914) at the Philadelphia Orthopedic Hospital and Infirmary for Nervous Diseases. Lewis discovered the jaw jerk (or what he called the ‘chin reflex’) only 7 years after the knee jerk was described by Wilhelm Erb (1840–1921) and Carl Westphal (1833–90) in 1875. Later, Lewis worked with Silas Weir Mitchell (1829–1914) in investigating the physiology of the knee jerk, and in measuring and recording postural sway under various circumstances and in various pathological conditions.
Enhancement of Sperm Motility Using Pentoxifylline and Platelet-Activating Factor

Enhancement of sperm motility can effectively improve assisted reproductive technique outcomes. Here we describe two (pentoxifylline and platelet-activating factor) popular sperm motility enhancers and their respective methods.
An E-band QPSK Transmitter Element in 28-nm CMOS with Multistate Power Amplifier for Digitally-Modulated Phased Arrays

This work presents a 2-Gb/s E-band transmitter (Tx) element with a QPSK modulator, injection-lock LO sextupler, all-digital input interface, and a wideband 8-state power amplifier (PA) in 28-nm bulk CMOS. The PA has a saturation power of 15.7 dBm at 78 GHz and power added efficiency (PAE) of 8.9%. The Tx outputs 13.1 dBm when the PA is driven by the modulator, with a system efficiency of 4.7%. The injection-lock LO generation, modulator I/Q correction, and the digitally-modulated PA output magnitude make the Tx element a suitable building block for digitally modulated phased array applications.
Criticizing resilience thinking: A political ecology analysis of droughts in nineteenth-century East Africa

The looming alteration in climate has spurred a veritable industry over the past two decades of overly simplistic scenario modeling and theoretical predictions of future changes brought about by global warming, some based on research on human responses to fluctuations in rainfall and temperature in the past. Scholars who stress the complexity of climate and social processes have critiqued such crude models from two different approaches: resilience thinking and political ecology. In this article, I assess the resilience framework through an analysis of the effects of droughts over a long time perspective, between circa 1800 and 1950, in two East African communities: the Kamba of Kenya and the Gogo of Tanzania. My conclusion is that political ecology theory provides a better explanation than the resilience approach. In both cases, rather than primarily adapting to climate events, the ability of communities and households to cope with droughts varied depending on how they were integrated into regional economies and the world system when those droughts occurred. The effects of droughts and long‐term fluctuations in precipitation were mediated through exchange networks, the flow of currencies, and the processes of stratification in local resource control, which in turn affected land use and settlement patterns.
The Soft Stuff of Institutional Development

What are the effects of culture on economic institutions? Many see an essential role for culture in institutional development. This paper systematically considers twelve dimensions of culture on two dimensions of economic institutions: liberal economic institutions and the building of large, effective states. Dimensions of culture adjacent to one another are shown to correlate differently with the two measures of institutions. This analysis is, in part, framed in terms of the debate regarding the relationship between migration, culture, and institutions, and it casts doubts on positions that these variables are as tightly or as consistently related as is at times portrayed.
Application of Heat Storage in Heating Network for Surplus Wind Power Consumption

Among northern China, CHP is the main electric and heating source to provide electricity and heat. While, with the increasing integration of wind power, the peak regulation capacity is lacking. Wind power curtailment occurs frequently because of the contradiction between heating and electric load. District heating system plays the majority role in heating supply because of its efficiency and cleanness. There are enormous heat storage capacity contained in district heating system, if the stored heat energy could be utilized efficiently the contradiction between heating and electric load could be relieved and the wind power curtailment could be avoided considerably. This study presents an approach that takes advantage of the heat in the primary heating circuit to absorb surplus wind power. The expressions of the components in heating system are given to establish the mathematical model. Followed, the thermodynamic properties of heating pipelines are analyzed, the heat storage capacity and heat transmit delay characters are studied. Then, the consumption capacity of surplus wind power is discussed, and the temperature changes are also considered. The economic benefits are also analyzed. Finally, a case study was undertaken to prove the effectiveness. The results show that by utilizing the heat in heating network, the wind power curtailment rate could be reduced by 20.6% which means about 219.4MWh surplus wind energy could be consumed during a valley electric load period.
Radio-Immunology of Ablative Radiation

High ablative doses of radiation can be safely delivered to tumors using stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS), stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT), or stereotactic ablative radiotherapy (SABR) with local control rates similar to surgery. The immunological impact of various radiation schedules, from conventional protracted fractionation to short courses of stereotactic radiation, is multifactorial and sometimes counterproductive to tumor clearance by immune effector cells. Ablative radiation has the potential to serve as a potent source of tumor-derived antigens and release of danger-associated molecular pattern (DAMP) ligands for induction of antitumoral immunity and tumor cell immunomodulation. The tumor microenvironment is often an immune-privileged site with diminished immune responses and increased immune suppression. In this chapter, we discuss the immunological consequences of radiosurgery and present a roadmap for combining ablative radiation with immunotherapy with careful consideration of radiation dose and fractionation, types of immunotherapeutic agents, and the baseline immunophenotype of the tumor. These treatment modalities can be tailored to patients based on their disease phenotype for increased local and systemic control.
An evolutionary perspective on Kohlberg’s theory of moral development

The purpose of this research was to test the proposition that moral development and social evolution have progressed together, each enabling the other. Stage 1 and Stage 2 reasons for behaving morally are to avoid punishment and achieve rewards. Since moral behavior at these stages is externally determined they do not form a basis for cooperative living. Stage 3 morality involves the reasoning that people are obligated to care for their family and friends; this would appear to be the morality of hunter and gatherer societies. Stage 4 morality involves the reasoning that people must obey authority in the form of traditional norms, written laws, and the legal system; this would appear to be the morality of nation states. Stage 5 morality involves the reasoning that people should obey democratically created rules which presumably create the greatest good for the greatest number and Stage 6 morality involves the reasoning that people should follow universal ethical principles like justice. These moralities would appear to be the morality of international social organizations. To test the hypothesis that moral development and social evolution progressed together, the Measures of Moral Reasoning Scale was created, consisting of six scales measuring Kohlberg’s stages of moral reasoning. As a measure of social evolution (i.e., inclusion), participants were asked how many of their resources they intended to invest in the following targets over their lifetimes: self, biological children, mate, biological parents, biological siblings, friends (but not relatives), American strangers, and non-American strangers. Supporting the hypothesis, Stage 1 and 2 measures correlated with the intent to invest in the self but not others; the Stage 3 measure correlated with the intent to invest in the participant’s children, mate, parents, siblings, and friends (a hunter-gatherer social organization); the Stage 4 measure correlated with investment in all of the above targets except self and non-American strangers (a nationalistic social organization); the Stage 5 measure correlated with investment in children, mate, parents, and American strangers (a nationalistic social organization), and the Stage 6 measure correlated with investment in all of the targets except self (a global social organization).
Investigation of Lewis Acid-Carbonyl Solution Interactions via Infrared-Monitored Titration.

Lewis acid-activation of carbonyl-containing substrates is broadly utilized in organic synthesis. In order to facilitate the development of novel reaction pathways and understand existing methods, ...
Satellite Digital Channelizer with Predistorted High-Power Amplifier

A geostationary earth orbit satellite requires high transmitting power (e.g., 20 dBW=100 watts) because the waveform traveling distance can be more than 36,000 km. Thus, it is necessary to operate close to the saturation point in an analog high-power amplifier (HPA), thereby causing undesirable intermodulation and nonlinear impairments when multiple-accesses subband signals of different subcarriers are simultaneously transmitted. This paper considers a future digital HPA instead of an analog HPA. This is because today a digital channelizer can convert the sample stream of multiple-access subband user signals into a single sample stream before an HPA with no overlapping in samples, thereby reducing the intermodulation products significantly. In this paper, we study for the first time a digital channelizer for multiple-access user subband signals combined with a nonlinear HPA and a simple predistorter (PD). Both phase and amplitude predistortion can compensate almost perfectly for the distortion due to the HPA's nonlinear characteristics. Simulation results verify an almost negligible bit error rate (BER) degradation. Therefore, a future satellite communication system using the proposed digital channelizer, PD, and digital HPA can have high-frequency utilization efficiency, multicast, and broadcast capabilities, and gain control for each subchannel.
Using Data to Improve Student Learning in Middle School

This book helps you make sense of the data your school collects, including state student achievement results as well as other qualitative and quantitative data. Easy-to-use templates, tools, and examples are available on the accompanying downloadable resources.
Does the SORG algorithm generalize to a contemporary cohort of patients with spinal metastases on external validation

Abstract BACKGROUND CONTEXT The SORG machine-learning algorithms were previously developed for preoperative prediction of overall survival in spinal metastatic disease. On sub-group analysis of a previous external validation, these algorithms were found to have diminished performance on patients treated after 2010. PURPOSE The purpose of this study was to assess the performance of these algorithms on a large contemporary cohort of consecutive spinal metastatic disease patients. STUDY DESIGN/SETTING Retrospective study performed at a tertiary care referral center. PATIENT SAMPLE Patients of 18 years and older treated with surgery for metastatic spinal disease between 2014 and 2016. OUTCOME MEASURES Ninety-day and one-year mortality. METHODS Baseline patient and tumor characteristics of the validation cohort were compared to the development cohort using bivariate logistic regression. Performance of the SORG algorithms on external validation in the contemporary cohort was assessed with discrimination (c-statistic and receiver operating curve), calibration (calibration plot, intercept, and slope), overall performance (Brier score compared to the null-model Brier score), and decision curve analysis. RESULTS Overall, 200 patients were included with 90-day and 1-year mortality rates of 55 (27.6%) and 124 (62.9%), respectively. The contemporary external validation cohort and the developmental cohort differed significantly on primary tumor histology, presence of visceral metastases, American Spinal Injury Association impairment scale, and preoperative laboratory values. The SORG algorithms for 90-day and 1-year mortality retained good discriminative ability (c-statistic of 0.81 [95% confidence interval [CI], 0.74–0.87] and 0.84 [95% CI, 0.77–0.89]), overall performance, and decision curve analysis. The algorithm for 90-day mortality showed almost perfect calibration reflected in an overall calibration intercept of −0.07 (95% CI: −0.50, 0.35). The 1-year mortality algorithm underestimated mortality mainly for the lowest predicted probabilities with an overall intercept of 0.57 (95% CI: 0.18, 0.96). CONCLUSIONS The SORG algorithms for survival in spinal metastatic disease generalized well to a contemporary cohort of consecutively treated patients from an external institutional. Further validation in international cohorts and large, prospective multi-institutional trials is required to confirm or refute the findings presented here. The open-access algorithms are available here: https://sorg-apps.shinyapps.io/spinemetssurvival/ .
Fast Fourier Transform

The main objective of this chapter is to develop a fast algorithm for efficient computation of the DFT. This algorithm, called the fast Fourier transform (FFT), significantly reduces the number of arithmetic operations and memory required to compute the DFT (or its inverse). Consequently, it has accelerated the application of Fourier techniques in digital signal processing in a number of diverse areas. A detailed development of the FFT is followed by some numerical examples which illustrate its applications.
A Role for Malignant Brain Tumor Domain-Containing Protein 1 in Human Endometrial Stromal Cell Decidualization

Up to 30% of women experience early miscarriage due to impaired decidualization. For implantation to occur, the uterine endometrial stromal fibroblast-like cells must differentiate into decidual cells, but the genes required for decidualization have not been fully defined. Here, we show that Malignant Brain Tumor Domain-containing Protein 1 (MBTD1), a member of the polycomb group protein family, is critical for human endometrial stromal cell (HESC) decidualization. MBTD1 predominantly localized to HESCs during the secretory phase and the levels were significantly elevated during in vitro decidualization of both immortalized and primary HESCs. Importantly, siRNA-mediated MBTD1 knockdown significantly impaired in vitro decidualization of both immortalized and primary HESCs, as evidenced by reduced expression of the decidualization markers PRL and IGFBP1. Further, knockdown of MBTD1 reduced cell proliferation and resulted in G2/M cell cycle arrest in decidualizing HESCs. Although progesterone signaling is required for decidualization, MBTD1 expression was not affected by progesterone signaling; however, MBTD1 knockdown significantly reduced expression of the progesterone target genes WNT4, FOXOA1, and GREB1. Collectively, our data suggest that MBTD1 contributes to in vitro decidualization of HESCs by sustaining progesterone signaling. This work could have implications for designing diagnostic and therapeutic tools for recurrent pregnancy loss.
The Political Significance of Luck: A Thucydidean Perspective:

Contemporary authorities invoke luck to explain the arbitrariness of economic success, to emphasize our shared vulnerability to disaster, and to urge more generous policy, legislation, and governan...
Challenges and opportunities in the Australian textile industry: cost function insights

Traditionally one of Australia’s most protected industries, the textile industry has recently experienced a substantial decrease in trade barriers with notable results. This article describes those...
Pandemic Perspective: Commonalities Between COVID-19 and Cardio-Oncology

Overlapping commonalities between coronavirus disease of 2019 (COVID-19) and cardio-oncology regarding cardiovascular toxicities (CVT), pathophysiology, and pharmacology are special topics emerging during the pandemic. In this perspective, we consider an array of CVT common to both COVID-19 and cardio-oncology, including cardiomyopathy, ischemia, conduction abnormalities, myopericarditis, and right ventricular (RV) failure. We also emphasize the higher risk of severe COVID-19 illness in patients with cardiovascular disease (CVD) or its risk factors or cancer. We explore commonalities in the underlying pathophysiology observed in COVID-19 and cardio-oncology, including inflammation, cytokine release, the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone-system, coagulopathy, microthrombosis, and endothelial dysfunction. In addition, we examine common pharmacologic management strategies that have been elucidated for CVT from COVID-19 and various cancer therapies. The use of corticosteroids, as well as antibodies and inhibitors of various molecules mediating inflammation and cytokine release syndrome, are discussed. The impact of angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEIs) and angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs) is also addressed, since these drugs are used in cardio-oncology and have received considerable attention during the COVID-19 pandemic, since the culprit virus enters human cells via the angiotensin converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) receptor. There are therefore several areas of overlap, similarity, and interaction in the toxicity, pathophysiology, and pharmacology profiles in COVID-19 and cardio-oncology syndromes. Learning more about either will likely provide some level of insight into both. We discuss each of these topics in this viewpoint, as well as what we foresee as evolving future directions to consider in cardio-oncology during the pandemic and beyond. Finally, we highlight commonalities in health disparities in COVID-19 and cardio-oncology and encourage continued development and implementation of innovative solutions to improve equity in health and healing.
Mode scaling in radiation balanced disk lasers for various gain materials

In radiation balanced lasers, anti-Stokes fluorescence is used to minimize the heat generated by the quantum defect and other non-radiative processes. Thermo-optics distortions can be minimized, enabling the scaling to high power. Here, experimental results of radiation balanced operation in various disk gain materials (i.e. YLF:Yb and LLF:Yb ) are presented. Different multipass pumping schemes are investigated for pump beam area scaling towards high power CW operation. Laser cavity design and thermal management issues are also discussed.
Mortality in individuals treated with COVID-19 convalescent plasma varies with the geographic provenance of donors

Abstract Treatment and prevention of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) have attempted to harness the immune response to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) including the development of successful COVID-19 vaccines and therapeutics (e.g., Remdesivir, convalescent plasma [CP]). Evidence that SARS-CoV-2 exists as quasispecies evolving locally suggests that immunological differences may exist that could impact the effectiveness of antibody-based treatments and vaccines. Regional variants of SARS-CoV-2 were reported in the USA beginning in November 2020 but were likely present earlier. There is available evidence that the effectiveness of CP obtained from donors infected with earlier strains in the pandemic may be reduced when tested for neutralization against newer SARS-Cov-2 variants. Using data from the Expanded Access Program to convalescent plasma, we used a gradient-boosting machine to identify predictors of 30-day morality and a series of regression models to estimate the relative risk of death at 30 days post-transfusion for those receiving near sourced plasma (defined as plasma transported ≤ 150 miles) vs. distantly sourced plasma (> 150 miles). Our results show a lower risk of death at 30 days post-transfusion for near sourced plasma. Additional analyses stratified by disease severity, time to treatment, and donor region further supported these findings. The results of this study suggest that near sourced plasma is superior to distantly sourced plasma, which has implications for interpreting the results of clinical studies and designing effective treatment of COVID-19 patients as additional local variant are likely to emerge.
Sequence Resource of Bacterial Communities Associated with Hemp in Ohio

In spite of changes in regulation and increased hemp cultivation and commercialization, information on hemp best production practices in the United States is scarce. Due to hemp’s human consumption...
Abstract P177: Discordantly Normal ApoB Relative To Elevated LDL-C In Persons With Metabolic Disorders: A Marker Of Atherogenic Heterogeneity

Introduction: A significant proportion of persons with metabolic syndrome, prediabetes, or type 2 diabetes do not develop atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD). Discordantly normal apolipo...
Non-native plants rarely provide suitable habitat for native gall-inducing species

For insect herbivores, a critical niche requirement—possibly the critical niche requirement—is the presence of suitable host plants. Current research suggests that non-native plants are not as suitable as native plants for native herbivores, resulting in decreases in insect abundance and richness on non-native plants. Like herbivores, gall-forming insects engage in complex, species-specific interactions with host plants. Galls are plant tissue tumors (including bulbous or spindle-shaped protrusions on leaves, stems and other plant organs) that are induced by insects through physical or chemical damage (prompting plants to grow a protective tissue shell around the insect eggs and larvae). As such, we hypothesized that gall-inducing insect species richness would be higher on native than non-native plants. We also predicted higher gall-inducing insect species richness on woody than herbaceous plants. We used an extensive literature review in which we compiled gall host plant species by genus, and we assigned native or non-native (or mixed) status to each genus. We found that native plants host far more gall-inducing insect species than non-native plants; woody plants host more gall-inducing species than herbaceous plants; and native woody plants host the most gall-inducing species of all. Gall-inducing species generally are a very cryptic group, even for experts, and hence do not elicit the conservation efforts of more charismatic insects such as plant pollinators. Our results suggest that non-native plants, particularly non-native woody species, diminish suitable habitat for gall-inducing species in parallel with similar results found for other herbivores, such as Lepidopterans. Hence, the landscape-level replacement of native with non-native species, particularly woody ones, degrades taxonomically diverse gall-inducing species (and their inquilines and parasitoids), removing multiple layers of diversity from forest ecosystems.
Early Termination of a Palliative Care Trial: Perspectives of Multiple Stakeholders on Barriers to Palliative Care and Research

Background: Although payment for home-based palliative care (HBPC) is slowly spreading, there remains significant challenges in engaging patients and physicians in palliative care programs and rese...
The effect of pyrolysis on the chemical, thermal and rheological properties of pitch.

Pitch-based carbon fibers are of considerable interest as high-performance materials. There are reports over the last several decades detailing (i) methods of improving pitch-based carbon fiber performance, and (ii) reducing the cost of production via novel processing techniques. However, there remain considerable challenges in producing high-performance pitch-based carbon fibers consistently on an industrial scale. This is arguably due to the difficulty of scaling the melt-spinning process to compensate for variability in pitch feedstock quality and a lack of understanding of processing-structure-performance relationships. This work focuses on the early stages of heat treatment (pyrolysis) of isotropic pitch and its effect on the chemical, thermal, and rheological properties of the pitch, which help determine its processability. More specifically, we quantify significant changes in chemical structure, Mw, Tg, Ts, and shear and extensional rheology as a function of pyrolysis time at 400 °C. The extensional rheology, in particular, shows that the ‘stretchability’ of the pitch samples strongly depends on pyrolysis severity, and is important for characterizing ‘drawability’. Using a novel analysis of the uniaxial stretching kinematics, we show an isothermal ‘drawability window’ that allows for the largest axial and radial Hencky strains at constant rate. We hypothesize that this extensional drawability window could facilitate the successful processing of pitch into high quality fiber, minimizing the trial-and-error approach currently used in the field.
Unemployment dynamics and informality in small open economies

Abstract Despite the typically more pronounced aggregate fluctuations in emerging market economies (EMEs), this paper documents that EMEs exhibit a lower relative volatility and countercyclicality of the unemployment rate than small open advanced economies. We link these differences to the larger informal economy in EMEs. We build a small open economy model that combines a formal sector featuring labor search frictions with a frictionless informal sector. A larger informal sector amplifies the impact of productivity and interest rate shocks on formal output, consumption, and employment, while dampening their impact on unemployment. Varying the degree of informality explains a significant fraction of differences in unemployment dynamics across small open economies.
A quantitative solid-phase binding assay for tubulin.

Publisher Summary This chapter describes the competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for the quantitation of tubulin. This competitive immunoassay utilizes preincubation of an anti-tubulin monoclonal antibody with an unknown quantity of tubulin in cell extracts to quantitatively reduce the antibody available to bind to a tubulin-coated microtiter plate. Binding of the tubulin antibody to the microtiter plate is detected by an alkaline phosphatase-conjugated secondary antibody. Bound enzyme is reacted with p -nitrophenylphosphate to produce a colored product that is measured spectrophotometrically. Quantitation is accomplished by comparison with a known quantity of bovine brain tubulin. This method offers various advantages, such as it requires only a single antibody directed against tubulin, it utilizes a commercially available enzyme-antibody conjugate directed against the tubulin antibody, and the method does not require quantitative binding to the microtiter plate of tubulin in the cell extracts. There are largely two reasons for developing such an ELISA—namely, (1) an assay was required that would be compatible with measuring tubulin in both lysates and cytoskeletal extracts of cultured mammalian cells and (2) a method was required that would facilitate the processing of large numbers of samples within a reasonable period of time.
Electrical Impedance Myography Discriminates Congenital Muscular Dystrophy from Controls (P5.087)

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the discriminative value of electrical impedance myography (EIM) in distinguishing congenital muscular dystrophy (CMD) from controls. BACKGROUND: EIM is an emerging non-invasive, highly reproducible electrophysiological technique that objectively characterizes muscle structure and composition by measuring bioimpedance. In EIM, a high frequency, low intensity electrical current is applied to a limb, and the resulting voltages are measured over a discrete region of muscle. In degenerative neuromuscular disorders, muscle fibers are lost and are replaced by fibrous and fatty tissue, altering the bioimpedance of muscle tissue. Here we evaluate the ability of EIM to discriminate CMD from controls. DESIGN/METHODS: A total of 37 children, aged 4 to 19 years, mean age 10.8 years with genetically or biopsy confirmed CMD and a total of 9 healthy children, aged 7 to 16 years, mean age 11.6 years, were evaluated with 50-kHz EIM. The CMD group consisted of 19 children with collagen 6 related dystrophy, aged 7 to 19 years, mean age 11.6 years, and 18 children with LAMA2 related dystrophy, aged 4 to 18 years, mean age 9.9 years. EIM derived measures included: (1) reactance, a measure of muscle cell membrane integrity, (2) resistance, a measure of extra and intracellular fluid content, and (3) phase angle, which is derived from both reactance and resistance. RESULTS: Mean 8-muscle EIM phase was significantly decreased (p<0.001) and resistance was significantly increased (p<0.001) in the CMD subjects versus healthy volunteers, but there was no significant difference in reactance between these two populations. Of note, mean 8-muscle EIM resistance was significantly increased (p=0.016) in LAMA2 related muscular dystrophy compared to collagen 6 related dystrophy, but there was no significant difference in phase or reactance between these two groups. CONCLUSIONS: Our preliminary findings suggest that EIM may be useful in discriminating CMD from controls and may serve as a useful biomarker to follow disease progression in clinical trials. Study Supported by: National Institutes of Health/NINDS-13-N-0165 and NINDS-12-N-0095 Disclosure: Dr. Schwartz has nothing to disclose. Dr. Salman has nothing to disclose. Dr. Dastgir has nothing to disclose. Dr. Lear has nothing to disclose. Dr. Bonnemann has nothing to disclose. Dr. Lehky has nothing to disclose.
The help tutor: does metacognitive feedback improve students' help-seeking actions, skills and learning?

Students often use available help facilities in an unproductive fashion. To improve students' help-seeking behavior we built the Help Tutor – a domain-independent agent that can be added as an adjunct to Cognitive Tutors. Rather than making help-seeking decisions for the students, the Help Tutor teaches better help-seeking skills by tracing students actions on a (meta)cognitive help-seeking model and giving students appropriate feedback. In a classroom evaluation the Help Tutor captured help-seeking errors that were associated with poorer learning and with poorer declarative and procedural knowledge of help seeking. Also, students performed less help-seeking errors while working with the Help Tutor. However, we did not find evidence that they learned the intended help-seeking skills, or learned the domain knowledge better. A new version of the tutor that includes a self-assessment component and explicit help-seeking instruction, complementary to the metacognitive feedback, is now being evaluated.
A Structural Equations Model of Leaders' Social Intelligence and Creative Performance

The present study was designed to test the relationship between business leaders' social intelligence (SI) and their creative performance (CP) in the US. SI was defined as the ability to be aware of relevant social situational contexts; to deal with situational contexts or challenges effectively; to understand others' concerns, feelings and emotional states; and to build and maintain positive relationships and to behave appropriately in social relations. Data on SI and CP were collected using questionnaires from two collegiate samples of employed undergraduate students (n = 395) and employed MBA students (n = 250) and from a sample of top executives of organizations (n = 143) to explore the relationship between leaders' SI and their CP. The questionnaires required observers (i.e., respondents) to indicate to what extent their supervisors displayed SI and CP. Data analyses in each sample suggest that supervisors with greater social intelligence contributed more to CP. Implications for management, directions for future research and limitations of the study are discussed.
Nucleic Acid — Based Methods for Detection of Myxobolus Cerebralis

Much of our current knowledge of myxosporean parasites stems from the study of M. cerebralis. It was the work of Maria Markiw and Ken Wolf that produced the revelation that alternate hosts are required for the completion of the parasitic life cycle for myxozoans. Spores produced in the oligochaete host, Tubifex tubifex, were found to be infectious for the alternate host, a salmonid fish (Markiw and Wolf, 1983; Wolf and Markiw, 1984, Wolf et al., 1986). The degree to which the disease develops in the fish is dependent on the species of salmonid (see below, Table 1). It is the mature spores of the myxosporean stage that are required for specific diagnosis of diseases of myxosporean etiology. The time required to complete sporogenesis in either host generally takes about 90 days, but can be influenced by temperature (El-Matbouli et al., 1999). This has ramifications for those testing exposed fish by PCR. Wild fish tested after an unknown elapsed time after exposure can not be sampled in the same way as sentinel fish left in the water for brief durations. This is discussed in more detail below.
Multistage software estimation

This paper proposes a COCOMO-based multistage software estimation approach. In the first stage, Monte-Carlo simulation is used to identify the key cost drivers in COCOMO II model, which contribute most to the variance of the software effort prediction. In the second stage, six selected cost drivers, as fuzzy inputs, are fed into three fuzzy expert systems to get the effort multiplier estimation. An empirical case study is used to evaluate the simulation results. Numerical data analyses show that the proposed multistage fuzzy logic model is quite encouraging compared to original COCOMO II approach.
Research highlights: probing adsorbed organic coatings on nanoparticle surfaces

Organic coatings adsorbed at a nanoparticle surface, together with the system properties, change the physicochemical properties of the nanoparticle, thereby possibly modifying its behavior and interactions with its surroundings. A detailed understanding of the coating and system properties and their relationship to nanoparticle behavior is therefore of great interest across all fields of nanotechnology, from medical and industrial applications to environmental implications of nanomaterials. Here, we highlight three studies that probe the properties and interactions of a variety of coatings on nanoparticle surfaces. In one study, both surface characterization methods and modeling approaches are applied to assess the persistence of citrate capping agents on gold nanoparticles upon adsorption of thiol ligands in ethanol. The second highlighted study demonstrates a labeling method for spatial mapping of binding sites on proteins adsorbed to colloidal particles, providing information on the composition and orientation of the adsorbed proteins. Finally, we highlight research that characterizes the interaction of proteins with grafted polymer coatings on nanoparticles and relates the structure of the resulting adsorbed layer to observed biological effects. These three studies outline general methodologies applicable for coating characterization.
Attribution Process of the Organisation Development Consultant: Correct Practice or Manipulation?

The degree of direction expected from a consultant is a concern for client and consultant. Indeed, clients often put consultants into an expert role and subsequently determine whether to take the preferred advice. Consultants, on the other hand, tend to downplay their expertise and the desire for direction, preferring rather to provide a client with a number of choices. Neither position is completely accurate. This author contends that consultants attempt to move clients in a preferred direction through the use of various attributions, which focus client attention, provide a basis for evaluation and permit the client to find meaning in a situation. Finally, these attributions allow the client to redefine his or her needs, values and preferences.
Critical Review of Elastic Conforming Rough Surface Model With Adhesion and Its Application to Predict Thermal and Electrical Contact Resistance

Adhesion dominates at low contact pressures and the study of rough surfaces has received considerable attention due to advances in design and fabrication of micro and nano devices. It has been seen by a number of researchers that real area of contact cannot be accurately predicted at low contact pressures. This paper focuses on the asperity contact physics at low loads. As a first step, the single asperity adhesion model is expressed in dimensionless forms with size and depth of indentation as function of load. These relationships were then incorporated in the real area and load expressions of the rough surface model. It is found that a dimensionless surface energy parameter γ* = γ/ (E’ β) and three other surface parameters were required to implement the model. Most of the surface parameters are strongly dependant on the sampling interval. Hence a methodology is developed to incorporate the effect of sampling interval. The results of the surface adhesion model were then incorporated into the Thermal Contact Conductance (TCC) and Electrical Contact Resistance Models (ECR). Then the TCC model is used to predict experimental results for Ni200 and SS304 interfaces. Comparison of model against data shows that Ni200 data is closer to γ* = 10−3 and SS304 data is closer to γ* = 10−6 . In general there is a trend for low load data to lie closer to the larger value γ* than the higher load data. One important conclusion is that low load may not refer to low contact pressure or load but refers to higher interface separation. A second important conclusion is that the surface parameter variation due to sampling interval plays a larger role than the adhesion parameter itself.© 2006 ASME
Convergence analysis of a regularized degenerate kernel method for Fredholm integral equations of the first kind

We present a simple asymptotic convergence analysis of a degenerate kernel method for Fredholm integral equations of the first kind which is based on a quadrature of the variational equation for the Tikhonov functional. Convergence theorems are proved in both the mean-square and uniform norms and the Tikhonov-regularity of the method for the case of inexact data is established in both norms
NMDA receptor activation and early olfactory learning.

Abstract Norway rat pups have an enhanced olfactory bulb response to odors which they have learned to prefer early in life. When N- methyl- d -aspartate receptors are blocked pharmacologically before olfactory preference training, both the behavioral preference and the enhanced olfactory bulb response to the learned odor are suppressed. These results implicate the activation of these receptors in the kind of neural and behavioral plasticity that normally occurs during development.
Information-tradeoff relations for finite-strength quantum measurements

In this paper we describe a way to quantify the folkloric notion that quantum measurements bring a disturbance to the system being measured. We consider two observers who initially assign identical mixed-state density operators to a two-state quantum system. The question we address is to what extent one observer can, by measurement, increase the purity of his density operator without affecting the purity of the other observer's. If there were no restrictions on the first observer's measurements, then he could carry this out trivially by measuring the initial density operator's eigenbasis. If, however, the allowed measurements are those of finite strength---i.e., those measurements strictly within the interior of the convex set of all measurements---then the issue becomes significantly more complex. We find that for a large class of such measurements the first observer's purity increases the most precisely when there is some loss of purity for the second observer. More generally the tradeoff between the two purities, when it exists, forms a monotonic relation. This tradeoff has potential application to quantum state control and feedback.
Stiff chain persistence lengths in liquid crystalline copolyesters

This paper describes a continuation of our X-ray diffraction work on the structure of the mesomorphic copolyesters prepared from p-hydroxybenzoic acid (HBA) and 2-hydroxy-6-naphthoic acid (HNA). The X-ray patterns of meltspun fibers of these copolymers show a series of aperiodic meridional maxima, and these are predicted by a model consisting of stiff extended chains of completely random copolymer sequence. The calculated intensity data are independent of the chain length for the model, except that the width of the peak at d≃2.1A decreases with increasing chain length. For 58/42 copoly(HBA/HNA) the best agreement obtained is for a chain length of 11 monomers, and this corresponds to a correlation or persistence length for the stiff chain conformation in the solid state. This effect has been modeled for an infinite chain by deriving experimental monomer length distribution functions, from a survey of the conformations of models of typical random chain sequences. The distribution function is then incorporated into the intensity calculations and leads to prediction of peak widths that are comparable to those observed.
Demonstration of a single-layer meanderline phase retarder at infrared

Meanderline wave plates are in common use at radio frequencies as polarization retarders. We present initial results of a gold meanderline structure on a silicon substrate that functions at a wavelength of 10.6 microm in the IR. The measured results show a distinct change in the polarization state of the incident beam after passing through the device, inducing a 74 degrees phase retardance between horizontal and vertical components. A high degree of polarization (88%) is maintained in the transmitted beam with an overall power transmittance of 38% and a beam profile that remains essentially unchanged.
Apprehensive and Excited: Music Education Students’ Experience Vernacular Musicianship

The purpose of this study was to examine music education students’ experiences (N = 64) in courses designed to develop vernacular musicianship and expand understandings of informal music making. St...
PREDICTION OF BEHAVIORAL PERSONAL SPACE FROM SIMULATED PERSONAL SPACE

Simulated and behavioral personal-space measures were administered to 170 male Ss. 36 scores obtained from 3 simulated measures were used to predict both unawareness and awareness behavioral person...
Resonance self-shielding in the measurement of radiative capture cross sections

Abstract The resonance self-shielding correction is calculated for the activation produced by a collimated of fast neutrons normally incident on an absorbing foil.