cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Molecular testing of NSCLC using a platform for rapid detection of multiple oncogenetic mutations

Introduction Molecular testing has become the standard of care for treatment of non–small cell lung cancer. Cytologic samples are frequently the only diagnostic material obtained due to the reduced procedure-related morbidity of fine-needle aspiration. This is a report of our laboratory's experience using cytology specimens for molecular testing of lung tumors. Materials and methods All tumors were tested in the Molecular Diagnostics Laboratory at Vanderbilt University Medical Center using the ABI PRISM SNaPshot Multiplex Kit and a separate laboratory-developed test. The assay included testing for KRAS, BRAF, NRAS, PIK3CA, MEK1, AKT1, PTEN, and EGFR mutations. Specimens were tested using a paraffin-embedded cell block, and a percentage of tumor cells was determined to establish adequacy of the sample. Ten percent or more tumor cells was considered adequate. Eighty-five cytology specimens were referred for testing, and 12% were considered inadequate. Specimens tested included 55 adenocarcinomas, 6 squamous cell carcinomas, 5 large cell neuroendocrine carcinomas, 2 small cell carcinomas, and 7 categorized as non–small cell carcinoma, unable to further differentiate. Primary lung tumors as well as lung tumors metastatic to other tissues were tested. The samples ranged from 3 mm to 15 mm, and all but 1 sample had >10% tumor cells on initial and final hematoxylin and eosin slides. Results Forty-eight mutations were identified in 42 tumors: 21 KRAS , 22 EGFR , 1 BRAF , 1 NRAS , 1 PIK3CA , 1 ERBB2 , and 1 MEK1 . Thirty-three tumors were negative for the mutations tested. Conclusions The DNA yield from cytology specimens is routinely adequate for molecular mutation analysis of lung cancer.
Gastric Cancer: Adjuvant therapy of gastric cancer: Have we made any progress?

Summary Up to now, the majority of adjuvant chemotherapy trials in gastric cancer have failed to show a clear survival benefit as compared to surgical controls, and this is especially true for trials conducted in western countries. But this does not necessarily mean, that adjuvant chemotherapy of gastric cancer is in general ineffective. There are several common threads that appear repeatedly in adjuvant therapy trials which might help to explain the current situation. In most trials stratification was done according to stage and not to the TNM category leading to important stratification bias. A homogenous surgical approach and a surgical and pathological quality control was not mandatory. There are sufficient data, that in comparison to ‘limited’ surgery, extended surgery with systematic lymphadenectomy of the N2 compartment markedly improves the prognosis of patients with stage II and IIIa tumors. The kind of chemotherapy, its timing and scheduling, and route of administration might also have been inappropriate to demonstrate a possible benefit of adjuvant therapy. All these things have to be considered seriously in future well designed trials, if an assumed therapeutic gain is to be demonstrated by adjuvant treatment of gastric cancer.
Leadership and Teams, an Assessment Within the Hospitality Management Classroom

The purpose of this article is to describe the results of an assessment of leadership, team-based learning, and core self-evaluation (CSE) among hospitality management students. The multiscale instrument used for this research included the Core Self-Evaluation Scale and the Student Leadership Practices Inventory. The participants in the study were divided into two groups, one randomly selected and one selected based on respondents' CSE. A comparison of these two groups based on leadership and assignment grade was conducted. The findings of this research suggest that high self-evaluators are stronger leaders. The findings from this research provide hospitality educators with new considerations when developing teams within a learning environment.
Pulmonary arteriovenous malformations: Therapeutic options

We have treated 21 patients (13 female, 8 male) with pulmonary arteriovenous malformations (PAVMs). Mean age at diagnosis was 37.5 years (range, 15 to 72 years). Presenting symptoms included dyspnea on exertion (67%), hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia (57%), and major neurologic events (33%). In our early experience, 8 patients had no specific treatment; their case histories illustrate the major neurologic complications of untreated PAVMs. Nine patients (8 primarily, 1 after recurrence) underwent conservative surgical excision; 4 had lobectomy, and 5 had segmentectomy or subsegmental excision. One patient underwent staged bilateral thoracotomies for multiple bilateral lesions. The arterial oxygen tension was found to increase after excision of large or solitary PAVMs. All surgically treated patients were relieved of dyspnea, and none had postoperative recurrence of PAVMs or neurologic complications related to PAVMs. Five patients underwent balloon occlusion of PAVMs. Two patients chose to have solitary PAVMs occluded rather than undergo thoracotomy. One underwent surgical excision 5 years later, and the other required repeat balloon embolization 4 years later when recanalization of the PAVMs was documented. Three patients with numerous PAVMs received palliation with multiple balloon embolizations. The high incidence of associated major neurologic complications mandates aggressive treatment of PAVMs whenever feasible. Conservative surgical resection remains the treatment of choice. Balloon embolization offers an alternative therapy for patients who are poor surgical risks or those whose lesions are too numerous to resect.
The impact of weather and ocean forecasting on hydrocarbon production and pollution management in the Gulf of Mexico

Over the past 2 years, the vulnerability of offshore production in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) has been brought to light by extensive damage to oil and gas facilities and pipelines resulting from Hurricanes Ivan, Katrina, and Rita. The occurrences of extreme weather regularly force operators to shut-down production, cease drilling and construction activities, and evacuate personnel. Loop currents and eddies can also impact offshore operations and delay installation and drilling activities and reduce the effectiveness of oil spill response strategies. The purpose of this paper is to describe how weather and ocean forecasting impact production activities and pollution management in the GOM. Physical outcome and decision models in support of production and development activities and oil spill response management are presented, and the expected economic benefits that may result from the implementation of an integrated ocean observation network in the region are summarized. Improved ocean observation systems are expected to reduce the uncertainty of forecasting and to enhance the value of ocean/weather information throughout the Gulf region. The source of benefits and the size of activity from which improved ocean observation benefits may be derived are estimated for energy development and production activities and oil spill response management.
An experimental investigation of multiple shock wave/turbulent boundary layer interactions in a circular duct

Detailed pitot, static and wall pressure measurements have been obtained for multiple shock wave/turbulent boundary layer interactions in a circular duct at a free-stream Mach number of 1.49 and at a unit Reynolds number of 4.90 x 10 to the 6th per meter. The details of the flow field show the formation of a series of normal shock waves with successively decreasing strength and with decreasing distance between the successive shock waves. The overall pressure recovery is much lower than the single normal shock pressure recovery at the same free-stream Mach number. A one-dimensional flow model based on the boundary layer displacement buildup is postulated to explain the formation of a series of normal shock waves.
Some Effects of Feeding Various Filled Milks to Dairy Calves. II. FecaL Characteristics and Digestibility Data

Summary Young dairy calves were fed low-fat rations or filled milks containing various fats. One group received a corn oil filled milk which was prepared daily rather than weekly, to study effects of storage. All other diets were prepared once each week. Differences in the color of feces were observed among the various rations. Abnormally large amounts of feces were voided by animals fed the com oil filled milk prepared weekly. Daily preparation of the corn oil filled milk diet or the feeding of hydrogenated corn oil greatly reduced the amounts of feces excreted. Apparent dry matter digestibility for the weekly prepared corn oil filled milk group was significantly less than that obtained for any of the other diets. The apparent metabolic fecal fat excretion by calves fed a skimmilk diet containing 0.1% butterfat amounted to 5.36% of the fecal dry matter. It was established that the apparent digestion coefficients for butter oil were significantly greater than those for corn oil, hydrogenated corn oil, or lard. Daily preparation of the corn oil filled milk significantly increased dry matter digestibility, but did not significantly increase fat digestibility over the weekly preparation of this ration. Partition of the fecal fat revealed that a considerable portion was excreted as soaps by animals receiving the various diets. The fecal fat partition of calves fed butter oil filled milk was similar to that of apparent metabolic fecal fat, as excreted by animals in the skimmilk group.
A descriptive profile of junior college presidents

This article reports the results of a nationwide survey of the institutional heads of junior and community colleges. Included are statistics regarding sex, ethnicity, age, educational background, academic rank, salary, length of service, professional affiliations, and publication record.
WDM Transmission over 320 km EDFA-Amplified SSMF Using 30 Gb/s Return-to-Zero Optical Differential 8-Level Phase-Shift Keying (OD8PSK)

Fiber transmission of optical differential 8-level phase-shift keying (OD8PSK) signals is demonstrated for the first time. Co-polarized 8 WDM channels of 10 Giga-symbol/s or 30 Gb/s return-to-zero (RZ) OD8PSK signals with a channel spacing of 50 GHz were transmitted over 320 km of standard single mode fiber (SSMF) with an EDFA spacing of 80 km. The BER of the worst WDM channel after transmission of 320 km was 2.3x10-5.
Observational contrains on the global atmospheric co2 budget.

Observed atmospheric concentrations of CO2 and data on the partial pressures of CO2 in surface ocean waters are combined to identify globally significant sources and sinks of CO2. The atmospheric data are compared with boundary layer concentrations calculated with the transport fields generated by a general circulation model (GCM) for specified source-sink distributions. In the model the observed north-south atmospheric concentration gradient can be maintained only if sinks for CO2 are greater in the Northern than in the Southern Hemisphere. The observed differences between the partial pressure of CO2 in the surface waters of the Northern Hemisphere and the atmosphere are too small for the oceans to be the major sink of fossil fuel CO2. Therefore, a large amount of the CO2 is apparently absorbed on the continents by terrestrial ecosystems.
The habituation of auditory reflexes in the decorticate opossum (Didelphis virginiana)

Abstract A lick-suppression technique was used to measure auditory reflexive responses of normal and decorticate opossums. Cases with decortications that included complete disruption of the projections from anterior dorsal and anterior ventral nuclei to cingulate cortex showed a marked deficit in the rate of reflex habituation while cases with decortications that preserved part of that system showed little if any deficit in habituation. However, decortication with or without complete cingulotomy did not result in a loss of sensitivity to sound nor to a systematic change in the nature or duration of the reflexive response to the first sound. Therefore, the habituation deficit is probably not a secondary effect of a perceptual deficit, a motor deficit, nor a change in a more general predisposition. The similarity of these results with results obtained in widely divergent animals suggest that the contribution of the anterior thalamus-cingulate cortex system to habituation may be very primitive and common to all marsupial and placental mammals.
IN VIVO INSULIN SIGNALING IN THE MYOCARDIUM OF STREPTOZOTOCIN-DIABETIC RATS : OPPOSITE EFFECTS OF DIABETES ON INSULIN STIMULATION OF GLYCOGEN SYNTHASE AND C-FOS

Diabetes induced by streptozotocin (STZ) in laboratory rats leads to impaired glucose metabolism in the heart and changes in myocardial contractile protein isoform expression and cardiac function. The purpose of this study was to investigate in vivo insulin signaling responses in the myocardium of STZ-diabetic rats. Insulin rapidly stimulated tyrosine phosphorylation of the insulin receptor, insulin receptor substrate-1 (IRS-1) and, to a lesser extent, IRS-2 in normal and diabetic myocardium. In diabetic rats, there was 2-fold higher insulin receptor content and insulin-stimulated receptor tyrosine phosphorylation in comparison with control rats. IRS-1 tyrosine phosphorylation also increased in STZ diabetes in spite of a decrease in IRS-1 content, resulting in a 4-fold higher ratio of phosphorylated to total IRS-1. This was associated with 2-fold higher IRS-1 precipitable phosphatidylinositide 3-kinase activity in diabetic animals. Insulin stimulation of glycogen synthase activity was significantly dimini...
Charles babbage (1792‐1871)

Charles Babbage was an English mathematician who devoted most of his life to the design and construction of machines that would perform mathematical operations and produce printed mathematical tables. His first ambition was to build a mechanical calculating machine; his second ambition was to build a mechanical digital computer that could be programmed and used for the same purposes as those of modern electronic digital computers. Although Babbage showed great inventive genius in formulating how these machines were to be built, he only partly succeeded in making his ideas realities. His efforts were thwarted by lack of financial support, zeal on his part to build excessively large machines, far larger than he needed to prove the worth of his ideas, and by inadequate machine tools–he worked decades before machine shop practice could aspire to the kind of precision machinery he needed. As a pioneer in developing the underlying principles of digital computers, he is a major figure in the history of the information sciences. Babbage had many other scientific interests, and, as an indefatigable worker, he made notable contributions to most of the subjects he touched.
Arbovirus Infection is a Major Determinant of Fitness in House Sparrows (Passer domesticus) that Invade Cliff Swallow (Petrochelidon pyrrhonota) Colonies

ABSTRACT. Wild birds play a key role in the amplification and transmission of many of the arthropod-borne viruses (arboviruses). Determining the extent to which birds are affected by these viruses is critical in predicting the pathogens' spread or maintenance in vertebrate host populations. Little is known about how arboviruses affect amplifying hosts' fitness, especially in cases where these viruses infect nestling birds. Buggy Creek virus (BCRV; Togaviridae: Alphavirus) is an RNA arbovirus transmitted by the Swallow Bug (Oeciacus vicarius) to Cliff Swallows (Petrochelidon pyrrhonota) and House Sparrows (Passer domesticus) that have recently occupied Cliff Swallow nesting colonies. We examined fitness, as measured by fledging success, of House Sparrows occupying Cliff Swallow nesting colonies in western Nebraska. Most nestlings naturally infected by BCRV at 4–6 days of age died, and even older nestlings, when infected, showed fledging success of <40%. Whether ≥1 nestling in a brood was infected with BCRV...
A study of collagen and gelatin solutions by optical self beat spectroscopy.

Abstract A study of the conformation of collagen and gelatin in aqueous solution by Optical Self Beat Spectroscopy is reported. The translational diffusion coefficient of monomeric tropocollagen was experimentally measured from the half-width of the Rayleigh scattered radiation and the value obtained is shown to be in good agreement with that calculated from hydrodynamical theory for the tropocollagen rod. The Self Beat Spectrometer was also used to investigate the factors affecting the aggregation and flexing of molecules in dilute gelatin solutions and the gel-sol transition in more concentrated gelatin solutions.
Older kidney transplant patients experience less antibody‐mediated rejection: a retrospective study of patients with mild to moderate sensitization

Background There is a paucity of data stratifying by age the incidence of antibody-mediated rejection (AMR) in kidney transplant patients. Methods We performed a retrospective study of all adult, renal transplant recipients at a single institution between December 12, 2009, and March 16, 2011. Mildly and moderately sensitized patients were defined as patients with positive donor-specific antibody (DSA) and negative flow cross-match. Results One hundred and forty-six patients were determined to have mild to moderate pre-transplantation sensitization. Thirty percent of patients younger than 40 yr of age experienced AMR vs. 15% in the older group (p = 0.04). There was a disproportionate increase in DSA for younger patients at 12 months, particularly for antibodies to class II. Histologic presence of C4d deposition was independently associated with AMR on multivariate analysis. Conclusions Following renal transplantation, moderately sensitized patients aged 40 yr old and older were less likely to develop AMR when compared with younger patients.
Serotonin and Dopamine Receptors in the Rat Pituitary Gland: Autoradiographic Identification, Characterization, and Localization*

S2 serotonin and D2 dopamine receptors were identified, characterized, and localized in rat pituitary gland by quantitative light microscopic autoradiography. [3H]Spiperone was used to localize S2 serotonin and D2 dopamine receptors. A high concentration of D2 dopamine receptors [1 μm 2-amino-6,7-dihydroxy-l,2,3,4-tetrahydronaphthalene (ADTN)- or sulpiride-displaceable [3H]spiperone binding] was found in the rat intermediate lobe with much lower concentrations present in the anterior and posterior lobes. Significant densities of cinanserin-displaceable [3H]spiperone binding sites (i.e. S2 serotonin receptors) were present in all three lobes of the pituitary gland. [125I] Lysergic acid ([125I]LSD) was used to characterize further and selectively visualize S2 serotonin receptors in the rat pituitary. Data analysis by densitometry showed that [125I]LSD binding in the rat intermediate pituitary was saturable and of high affinity with an apparent dissociation constant (Kd) of 1.2 nm. Data from competition stud...
RF Ablation at Low Frequencies for Targeted Tumor Heating: In Vitro and Computational Modeling Results

RF ablation uses RF current to heat and kill cancer applied via an electrode inserted under image guidance. Tumor has about half the electrical resistivity of normal tissue below 20 kHz, but similar resistivity above 500 kHz. We placed normal porcine liver tissue in contact with agar gel having similar resistivity as tumor within 20-450 kHz. A needle electrode was placed with half of the electrically active tip in each layer. We performed ablation with electric current applied for 12 min at 30 W, either at 20 or 450 kHz (n = 7 each), while measuring temperature via thermocouples 4 and 8 mm from the electrode. Mathematical heat-transfer models were created of an equivalent configuration and temperature profile determined at both frequencies. At 8-mm distance, at 450 kHz, tumor gel phantom and normal tissue obtained similar temperatures (57.5 ± 1.4 versus 58.7 ± 2.5 °C); at 20 kHz, tumor phantom obtained significantly higher temperatures than normal tissue (65.6 ± 2.0 versus 57.2 ± 5.6 °C, p <; 0.01). Computer models confirm these results, and show the ablation zone diameter to be larger within the tumor phantom at 20 kHz compared to 450 kHz. Heating at low RFs may thus allow targeted heating of tumor tissue and reduced heating of normal tissue.
Socially Mediated Internet Surveys: Recruiting Participants for Online Experiments

The Socially Mediated Internet Survey (SMIS) method is a cost-effective technique used to obtain web-based, adult samples for experimental research in political science. SMIS engages central figures in online social networks to help recruit participants among visitors to these websites, yielding sizable samples for experimental research. We present data from six samples collected using the SMIS method and compare them to those gathered by other sampling approaches such as Amazon's Mechanical Turk. While not representative of the general adult population, our SMIS samples are significantly more diverse than undergraduate convenience samples, not only demographically but also politically. We discuss the applicability of the method to experimental research and its usefulness for obtaining samples of special, politically relevant subpopulations such as political sophisticates and activists. We argue that the diversity of SMIS samples, along with the ability to capture highly engaged citizens, can circumvent questions about the artificiality of political behavior experiments entirely based on student samples and help to document sources of heterogeneous experimental treatment effects.
Prior elicitation, variable selection and Bayesian computation for logistic regression models

Summary. Bayesian selection of variables is often difficult to carry out because of the challenge in specifying prior distributions for the regression parameters for all possible models, specifying a prior distribution on the model space and computations. We address these three issues for the logistic regression model. For the first, we propose an informative prior distribution for variable selection. Several theoretical and computational properties of the prior are derived and illustrated with several examples. For the second, we propose a method for specifying an informative prior on the model space, and for the third we propose novel methods for computing the marginal distribution of the data. The new computational algorithms only require Gibbs samples from the full model to facilitate the computation of the prior and posterior model probabilities for all possible models. Several properties of the algorithms are also derived. The prior specification for the first challenge focuses on the observables in that the elicitation is based on a prior prediction yo for the response vector and a quantity ao quantifying the uncertainty in yo. Then, yo and ao are used to specify a prior for the regression coefficients semi-automatically. Examples using real data are given to demonstrate the methodology.
Meta-Analysis With Complex Research Designs Dealing With Dependence From Multiple Measures and Multiple Group Comparisons

Previous research has shown that treating dependent effect sizes as independent inflates the variance of the mean effect size and introduces bias by giving studies with more effect sizes more weight in the meta-analysis. This article summarizes the different approaches to handling dependence that have been advocated by methodologists, some of which are more feasible to implement with education research studies than others. A case study using effect sizes from a recent meta-analysis of reading interventions is presented to compare the results obtained from different approaches to dealing with dependence. Overall, mean effect sizes and variance estimates were found to be similar, but estimates of indexes of heterogeneity varied. Meta-analysts are advised to explore the effect of the method of handling dependence on the heterogeneity estimates before conducting moderator analyses and to choose the approach to dependence that is best suited to their research question and their data set.
Patterns of sperm-specific histone variation in sea stars and sea urchins: primary structural homologies in the N-terminal region of spermatogenic H1.

An electrophoretic characterization of histones from pyloric caeca, testes, and sperm of Asterias vulgaris revealed a sperm/testes-specific variant of histone H1 significantly larger than its somatic counterpart from pyloric caeca. Additional proteins were observed in H1 regions of acetic acid-urea polyacrylamide gels in testicular extracts. Sperm or testis-specific variants of H2B observed in sea urchins were not found in the sea star. Evidence presented suggests that sperm- or testes-specific H1 species of intermediate mobility may arise from a single, slow-migrating H1 species (SpH1). Although an increase in nonspecific DNA binding by nuclear proteins must occur during the process of spermatogenesis, different organisms exhibit various patterns of sperm-specific protein mediating differential binding during the process. Sperm-specific variants of both H1 and H2B histones are observed in sea urchins, while the only variant observed in sea stars during spermatogenesis is SpH1. Sequencing of the N-terminus of SpH1 from A. vulgaris revealed a repeating tetrapeptide in residues 3–6 and 8–11 (Ser-Pro-Arg-Lys and Ser-Pro-Lys-Lys, respectively), homologous to repeats in the N-termini of sperm-specific H1s from sea urchins. Primary structure within critical, variable regions of molecules responsible for nonspecific DNA binding appear conserved in many organisms. The occurrence of repeating tetrapeptides in SpH1 and other DNA binding proteins suggests that such domains may function similarly in various chromatins undergoing regulated or reversible condensation. © 1992 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
An analysis of equilibrium dislocation distributions

Equilibrium distributions of collections of discrete dislocations are analyzed, with the dislocations modelled as line defects in a linear elastic medium. The dislocated equilibrium configuration is determined by finding a minimum potential energy configuration, with respect to variations in the dislocation positions, for a fixed number and type of dislocations. Numerical results are presented for finite and infinite bodies with distributions of edge dislocations under plane strain conditions. Calculations involving doubly periodic arrays of cells, within which there is a single set of parallel slip planes, show a strong tendency for sharp dislocation walls to form. Perturbations of the wall structure due to the presence of pinned dislocations, vacant slip planes and free surfaces are illustrated. The stress fields due to the dislocation walls are calculated and large shear stress values are found away from any dislocation core. Pileups involving dislocations on two sets of intersecting slip planes are found to give rise to equilibrium configurations involving dislocation free regions. The response of dislocation patterns in an infinite medium to an imposed shear stress is also analyzed.
Beyond Materiality in Shakespeare Studies: Beyond Materiality in Shakespeare Studies

“Materialism,” “materiality,” and “material culture” have become key terms in early modern studies and Shakespeare scholarship over the past two decades. Responding to perceived subjective shortcomings of the New Historicism and Cultural Materialism of the 1980s and early 90s, “new materialist” approaches have emerged in scholarship ranging from Book History and textual studies to affect theory and ecocriticism. This article reviews the debates over this materialist emphasis and points to new directions that Shakespeare studies might take, not in a return to idealism, but beyond the dichotomy between subject and object, mind and body, material and immaterial.
Genetic Algorithm: Application to Scattered Data Problems using Lipschitz Interpolation

In this paper, a low computational method of efficiently and quickly handling large multivariate scattered data sets with a genetic algorithm for design parameter optimization is presented. The method presented combines the use of a genetic algorithm and the linear interpolation technique identified as Lipschitz Interpolation. Using this method we have improved the performance of the algorithm in two ways, the variance of the solution and the total algorithm evaluation time (an improvement of magnitude 90%).
Derivation of an Algorithm for Location Management for Mobile Communication Devices

In a network supporting mobile communication devices, a mechanism to find the location of a device, wherever it may be, is needed. In this paper, we present a distributed algorithm for this purpose along with its formal specification and proof sketch. Starting with an algorithm due to Wang, the process of formalization together with careful attention to abstraction leads to a more regular, general, and robust algorithm with a clearer description. An incidental contribution is a useful theorem for proving progress properties in distributed algorithms that use tokens.
Rho‐kinase (ROK) promotes CD44v3,8–10‐ankyrin interaction and tumor cell migration in metastatic breast cancer cells

Metastatic breast tumor Met-1 cells express CD44v(3,8-10), a major adhesion receptor that binds extracellular matrix components at its extracellular domain and interacts with the cytoskeletal protein, ankyrin, at its cytoplasmic domain. In this study, we have determined that CD44v(3,8-10) and RhoA GTPases are physically associated in vivo, and that CD44v(3,8-10)-bound RhoA displays GTPase activity, which can be inhibited by botulinum toxin C3-mediated ADP-ribosylation. In addition, we have identified a 160 kDa Rho-Kinase (ROK) as one of the downstream targets for CD44v(3,8-10)-bound RhoA GTPase. Specifically, RhoA (complexed with CD44v(3, 8-10)) stimulates ROK-mediated phosphorylation of certain cellular proteins including the cytoplasmic domain of CD44v(3,8-10). Most importantly, phosphorylation of CD44v(3,8-10) by ROK enhances its interaction with the cytoskeletal protein, ankyrin. We have also constructed two ROK cDNA constructs that encode for proteins consisting of 537 amino acids [designated as the constitutively active form of ROK containing the catalytic domain (CAT, also the kinase domain)], and 173 amino acids [designated as the dominant-negative form of ROK containing the Rho-binding domain (RB)]. Microinjection of the ROK's CAT domain into Met-1 cells promotes CD44-ankyrin associated membrane ruffling and projections. This membrane motility can be blocked by CD44 antibodies and cytochalasin D (a microfilament inhibitor). Furthermore, overexpression of a dominant-negative form of ROK by transfection of Met-1 cells with ROK's Rho-binding (RB) domain cDNA effectively inhibits CD44-ankyrin-mediated metastatic behavior (e.g., membrane motility and tumor cell migration). These findings support the hypothesis that ROK plays a pivotal role in CD44v(3,8-10)-ankyrin interaction and RhoA-mediated oncogenic signaling required for membrane-cytoskeleton function and metastatic tumor cell migration.
GEORGE ELIOT AND THE COLONIES

Women are occasionally governors of prisons for women, overseers of the poor, and parish clerks. A woman may be ranger of a park; a woman can take part in the government of a great empire by buying East India Stock.— Barbara Bodichon, A Brief Summary in Plain Language, of the Most Important Laws Concerning Women (1854)ON OCTOBER 5, 1860, GEORGE HENRY LEWES VISITED a solicitor in London to consult about investments. He wrote in his journal: “[The Solicitor] took me to a stockbroker, who undertook to purchase 95 shares in the Great Indian Peninsular Railway for Polly. For £1825 she gets £1900 worth of stock guaranteed 5%” (qtd. in Ashton, Lewes 210). Thus Marian Evans, called Polly by her close friends, known in society as Mrs. Lewes and to her reading public as George Eliot, became a shareholder in British India. Whether or not Eliot thought of buying stock as taking part in the government of a great empire, as her friend Barbara Bodichon had written in 1854, the 5% return on her investment was a welcome supplement to the income she had been earning from her fiction since 1857. From 1860 until her death in 1880, she was one of a select but growing number of middle-class investors who took advantage of high-yield colonial stocks.1 Lewes’s journals for 1860–1878 and Eliot’s diaries for 1879–80 list dividends from stocks in Australia, South Africa, India, and Canada. These include: New South Wales, Victoria, Cape of Good Hope, Cape Town Rail, Colonial Bank, Oriental Bank, Scottish Australian, Great Indian Peninsula, Madras. The Indian and colonial stocks make up just less than half of the total holdings. Other stocks connected to colonial trade (East and West India Docks, London Docks), domestic stocks (the Consols, Regents Canal), and foreign investments (Buenos Aires, Pittsburgh and Ft. Wayne) complete the portfolio.2
An Si-SiGe BiCMOS direct-conversion mixer with second-order and third-order nonlinearity cancellation for WCDMA applications

This paper presents a general analysis of the third-order nonlinearity of a differential common-emitter RF amplifier and an improved technique to cancel the third-order nonlinearity. A thorough analysis of the mechanisms leading to the second-order nonlinearity of bipolar double-balanced active mixers is also presented. An SiGe BiCMOS WCDMA direct-conversion mixer is designed based on the third- and the second-order cancellation schemes. The mixer achieves +6-dBm third-order input intercept point, +49-dBm second-order input intercept point, 16-dB gain and 7.2-dB double-sideband noise figure with only 2.2-mA current at 2.1 GHz.
Web customization using behavior-based remote executing agents

ReAgents are remotely executing agents that customize Web browsing for non-standard clients. A reAgent is essentially a one-shot" mobile agent that acts as an extension of a client dynamically launched by the client to run on its behalf at a remote more advantageous location. ReAgents simplify the use of mobile agent technology by transparently handling data migration and run-time network communications and provide a general interface for programmers to more easily implement their application-specific customizing logic. This is made possible by the identification of useful remote behaviors i.e. common patterns of actions that exploit the ability to process and communicate remotely. Examples of such behaviors are transformers monitors cachers and collators. In this paper we identify a set ofuseful reAgent behaviors for interacting with Web services via astandard browser describe how to program and use reAgents and show that the overhead of using reAgents is low and outweighed by its benefits.
Critical Pedagogy in the Classroom and the Community

Hill, M. L. (2009). Beats, Rhymes, and Classroom Life: Hip‐Hop Pedagogy and the Politics of Identity. New York: Teachers College Press.Morrell, E. (2008). Critical Literacy and Urban Youth: Pedagogies of Access, Dissent, and Liberation. New York: Routledge.
Combined effects of precipitation and nitrogen deposition on native and invasive winter annual production in California deserts

Primary production in deserts is limited by soil moisture and N availability, and thus is likely to be inXu- enced by both anthropogenic N deposition and precipitation regimes altered as a consequence of climate change. Invasive annual grasses are particularly responsive to increases in N and water availabilities, which may result in competition with native forb communities. Additionally, conditions favoring increased invasive grass production in arid and semi-arid regions can increase Wre risk, negatively impact- ing woody vegetation that is not adapted to Wre. We con- ducted a seeded garden experiment and a 5-year Weld fertilization experiment to investigate how winter annual production is altered by increasing N supply under a range of water availabilities. The greatest production of invasive grasses and native forbs in the garden experiment occurred under the highest soil N (inorganic N after fertilization = 2.99 g m i2 ) and highest watering regime, indicating these species are limited by both water and N. A classiWcation and regression tree (CART) analysis on the multi-year Weld fertilization study showed that winter annual biomass was primarily limited by November-December precipitation. Biomass exceeded the threshold capable of carrying Wre when inorganic soil N availability was at least 3.2 g m i2 in pinon-juniper woodland. Due to water limitation in creo- sote bush scrub, biomass exceeded the Wre threshold only under very wet conditions regardless of soil N status. The CART analyses also revealed that percent cover of invasive grasses and native forbs is primarily dependent on the tim- ing and amount of precipitation and secondarily dependent on soil N and site-speciWc characteristics. In total, our results indicate that areas of high N deposition will be sus- ceptible to grass invasion, particularly in wet years, poten- tially reducing native species cover and increasing the risk of Wre.
Universal Vouchers and Racial and Ethnic Segregation

Abstract We use data on vote outcomes from a universal voucher initiative to examine whether white households with children in public schools will use vouchers to leave predominantly nonwhite schools, thereby contributing to more racially and ethnically segregated schools. We find that white households are more likely to support vouchers when their children attend schools with larger concentrations of nonwhite schoolchildren, an effect that is absent for nonwhite households and households without children. This result may be driven less by race or ethnicity and more by other characteristics, such as student performance, that are correlated with race or ethnicity.
Theoretical development of laboratory techniques for magnetic measurement of large objects

Equations that relate magnetic gradiometric measurements over a closed surface to the prolate spheroidal multipole moments of an object can be used to remove the uniform inducing field of a magnetic calibration facility's coil system, along with the Earth's background field, from the signature of a large test object without requiring it to be moved. This paper presents an example that shows how the equations can be used to determine the optimum number, orientation, and position of gradiometers for accurate extrapolation of the object's field signatures. In addition, it gives generalized boundary conditions that guarantee unique extrapolations of magnetic field, up to an additive constant, from a closed measurement surface instrumented only with gradiometers.
Development of a Cell-based Simulation Model for Earthmoving Operation using Real-time Location Data

Simulation is a proven technique for effective construction site layout planning and resource optimization. Historical data is used as input for task durations in traditional simulation approaches. This data is fed into activity cycle diagrams which do not consider spatial constraints. Cell-based simulation with real-time location data can be implemented for more realistic modeling and incorporating spatial changes on the site during project execution. Despite the potential, very little research has been done towards it. The objective of this research is to develop a framework of utilizing real-time data for spatial simulation of cyclic activities on a construction site. Continuous data was collected using Global Positioning System and cell-based simulation model was developed for spatial consideration of earthmoving cycles. The potential of analyzing and visualizing the effects of varying resource combinations on productivity and traffic congestion on site were explored. The approach will aid in increasing insight and awareness for decision making in resource management, site layout and internal traffic control plan. It will also serve as an education and training tool for project managers.
Development of a permeation panel to test dermal protective clothing against sprayed coatings.

Objectives: Design, construct, and characterize an apparatus to evaluate dermal protective clothing for resistance to polymerizing materials. Specifically, we evaluated the permeation of the most common glove material used in automotive collision repair (0.10‐0.13 mm or 4‐ 5 mil latex) with representative isocyanate-containing clear coats. Our ultimate goal is to make informed recommendations on dermal protective materials to prevent isocyanate exposures and reduce the likelihood of occupational illness in automotive collision repair and other industries. Methods: A novel permeation panel was developed to assess dermal protective clothing. With this apparatus, up to eight test materials may be evaluated under typical-spray application conditions. Solid collection media comprised of 1-(2-pyridyl)-piperazine (2-PP)-coated fiberglass filters or colorimetric SWYPE pads were placed behind test materials to capture permeants. The 2-PP-coated filters were subsequently analyzed using a modified OSHA42/ PV2034 method. Color change in the SWYPEs provided an immediate field estimate of breakthrough time. In addition, Teflonfilters were mounted proximal to the permeation cells to measure the mass of clear coat applied to the panel and to evaluate loading homogeneity. This study evaluated the permeation of isocyanates through 0.10‐0.13 mm latex glove material at a fixed time (30 min post-spraying) and over a time course (6‐91 min post-spraying). Results: Monomers 1,6-hexamethylene diisocyanate (HDI) and isophorone diisocyanate (IPDI) permeated through (0.10‐0.13 mm) latex glove material under typical glove use conditions (30 min). The latex glove material exhibited immediate breakthrough, with a permeation rate of 2.9 ng min 21 cm 22 . The oligomeric forms of HDI and IPDI did not permeate the latex glove material. The spray application at 71 6 5F was fairly homogeneous (33.7 6 8 mg weight of dry clear coat per 5 cm 2 ). Conclusions: The permeation panel is a viable method to assess dermal protective clothing performance against polymerizing materials. Thin (0.10‐0.13 mm) latex gloves were determined to be ineffective barriers to the isocyanates commonly found in clear coats. Because this type of glove is used frequently in auto body shops, the potential for isocyanate exposure is of concern. Permeation tests with other dermal protective clothing materials and other clear coat formulations are needed to make recommendations about alternative materials.
What Types of Inappropriate Prescribing Predict Adverse Drug Reactions in Older Adults

Adverse drug events happen all too often in older adults, but we still do not have a clear understanding of potentially modifiable risk factors, with the exception of polypharmacy. This paper critiques the article in this issue of The Annals entitled, “Inappropriate Prescribing Predicts Adverse Drug Events in Older Adults.” A validated measure for self-reported adverse drug events was used, along with a modified measure for inappropriate prescribing that we developed nearly 2 decades ago (ie, Medication Appropriateness Index). Besides discussing the strengths and weaknesses of this article, we also recommend future research directions in this area.
Antioxidants attenuate myocyte apoptosis and improve cardiac function in CHF: association with changes in MAPK pathways.

Antioxidant vitamins reduce cardiac oxidative stress and cardiomyocyte apoptosis produced by exogenous norepinephrine (NE) and attenuate cardiac dysfunction in animals with pacing-induced congestiv...
Guide to CO2 Separations in Imidazolium-Based Room-Temperature Ionic Liquids

Room-temperature ionic liquids (RTILs) are nonvolatile, tunable solvents that have generated significant interest across a wide variety of engineering applications. The use of RTILs as media for CO2 separations appears especially promising, with imidazolium-based salts at the center of this research effort. The solubilities of gases, particularly CO2, N2, and CH4, have been studied in a number of RTILs. Process temperature and the chemical structures of the cation and anion have significant impacts on gas solubility and gas pair selectivity. Models based on regular solution theory and group contributions are useful to predict and explain CO2 solubility and selectivity in imidazolium-based RTILs. In addition to their role as a physical solvent, RTILs might also be used in supported ionic liquid membranes (SILMs) as a highly permeable and selective transport medium. Performance data for SILMs indicates that they exhibit large permeabilities as well as CO2/N2 selectivities that outperform many polymer membra...
Adaptive minimum entropy decomposition on the time-frequency plane

In many applications, such as array processing and sensor networks, it is desirable to extract the source signals that generate the observed output signals. Some common approaches include principal component analysis, which assumes uncorrelated source signals, and independent component analysis, which assumes the independence of the underlying sources. In recent years, there has been efforts to perform source separation in the time-frequency domain since most real life signals of interest are non-stationary (A. Belouchrani and M.G. Amin, 1998). In this paper, we introduce one such component extraction approach on the time-frequency plane. The proposed approach extracts components that are well-concentrated on the time-frequency plane. In order to quantify the compactness or the concentration of the extracted components, we use the entropy measure as adapted to the time-frequency distributions. It has been shown that signals which achieve minimum entropy on the time-frequency plane are Gabor logons. Based on this idea, we propose an adaptive Gabor logon extraction method from a given set of observed signals. The proposed method extracts the most significant Gabor logons as the components using an adaptive filtering approach. The method is applied on an example data set to show the effectiveness of the component extraction algorithm
Experimental validation of a partially-overlapped, constrained-feed network for Limited-Field-of-View (LFOV) applications

This paper presents an experimental verification of the partially-overlapped, constrained- feed network first introduced in (Mailloux, 2001). Unlike (Mailloux, 2001), we chose to operate the network in a LFOV mode to significantly reduce the amount of measured data. A GA was used to optimize the complex weights of the network, resulting in a system that is capable of at least 25-dB sidelobe suppression over angular bandwidths as large as 11.54deg. Furthermore, at least 30-dB sidelobe suppression is achievable for bandwidths as large as 8.05deg. One of the major benefits of this system is that the weights at both the constituent-beam and subarray levels can correct for phase errors within the network. Since it is difficult (and/or expensive) to maintain consistent phase at this frequency, this self-calibration capability provides a big advantage.