cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Lower energy consequences of an anomalous high-energy neutrino cross-section

A new strong interaction has been postulated for neutrinos above {approximately}10{sup 19}eV to explain the production of highest-energy cosmic-ray events. We derive a dispersion relation relating the hypothesized high-energy cross section to the lower-energy neutrino-nucleon elastic amplitude. Remarkably, we find that the real forward amplitude becomes anomalous seven orders of magnitude lower in energy than does the total cross section. We discuss possible measurable consequences of this early onset of new neutrino physics and conclude that a significantly enhanced elastic {nu}N scattering rate may occur for the neutrino beams available at Fermilab and CERN. {copyright} {ital 1999} {ital The American Physical Society}
Cyclic nucleotide accumulation in vitro in the cerebellum of 'nervous' neurologically mutant mice.

— Slices of cerebellum from Purkinje cell-deficient, neurologically mutant ‘nervous’ mice or normal littermates synthesized cyclic AMP and cyclic GMP during in vitro incubations. Resting levels of cyclic AMP were the same in the two groups, but accumulations in the presence of kainic acid, a glutamic acid analogue, or norepinephrine were significantly greater in the ‘nervous’ mice. Resting levels of cyclic GMP were lower in the ‘nervous’ mice, but the elevations produced by kainic acid were the same in both groups. Adenylate and guanylate cyclase activities in the cerebellum were not affected by the mutation. These findings indicate that cyclic nucleotide synthesis in the cerebellum does not occur solely in the Purkinje cell population.
Mapping lipid and collagen by multispectral photoacoustic imaging of chemical bond vibration

Photoacoustic microscopy using vibrational overtone absorption as a contrast mechanism allows bond-selective imaging of deep tissues. Due to the spectral similarity of molecules in the region of overtone vibration, it is difficult to interrogate chemical components using photoacoustic signal at single excitation wavelength. Here we demonstrate that lipids and collagen, two critical markers for many kinds of diseases, can be distinguished by multispectral photoacoustic imaging of the first overtone of C-H bond. A phantom consisting of rat-tail tendon and fat was constructed to demonstrate this technique. Wavelengths between 1650 and 1850 nm were scanned to excite both the first overtone and combination bands of C-H bonds. B-scan multispectral photoacoustic images, in which each pixel contains a spectrum, were analyzed by a multivariate curve resolution-alternating least squares algorithm to recover the spatial distribution of collagen and lipids in the phantom.
Tumor Necrosis Factor-induced Apoptosis Stimulates p53 Accumulation and p21WAF1 Proteolysis in ME-180 Cells

Tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-mediated apoptotic signaling has been characterized by activation of specific protease or protein kinase cascades that regulate the onset of apoptosis. TNF has also been shown to induce oxidative or genotoxic stress in some cell types, and apoptotic potential may be determined by the cellular response to this stress. To determine the role of genotoxic stress in TNF-mediated apoptosis, we examined cellular accumulation of p53 in TNF-treated ME-180 cells selected for apoptotic sensitivity (ME-180S) or resistance (ME-180R) to TNF. Although TNF was able to activate receptor-mediated signaling in either cell line, p53 accumulation was measurable only in apoptotically sensitive ME-180S cells. TNF-induced changes in p53 levels were detected 1 h after treatment, and peak levels were measurable 4–8 h after TNF exposure. TNF was unable to induce p21WAF1 in either cell line but affected the stability of this protein in apoptotically responsive ME-180S cells. Evidence of p21WAF1 proteolysis was detected by monitoring the appearance of a 16-kDa immunoblottable p21WAF1 fragment, which became detectable 4 h after TNF addition and increased in content before the onset of DNA fragmentation (16–24 h). The kinetics of p21WAF1 proteolysis closely paralleled those of poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase, suggesting cleavage of p21WAF1 by activation of an apoptotic protease. Pretreatment of ME-180S cells with the apoptotic protease inhibitor YVAD blocked TNF-induced apoptosis and prevented both poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase and p21WAF1 degradation but did not affect p53 induction. These results provide evidence for the early onset of genotoxic stress in cells committed to TNF-mediated apoptosis and for divergence in propagation of this signal in non-responsive cells. In addition, TNF-induced p21WAF1 proteolysis may be mediated by an apoptotic protease and may contribute to the apoptotic process by disrupting p53 signaling, altering cell cycle inhibition, and limiting cellular recovery from genotoxic stress.
Can a sub-optimal tournament be optimal when the prize can be collectively consumed? The case of college football's national championship

One of the most heated debates in all of sports is the annual debate over major college football's national champion. Since its implementation in 1995, the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) system has often failed to quell the controversy concerning what team is the Division 1 Football Bowl Subdivision football champion. Many of the BCS controversies have spawned changes in the title selection format, while others are perhaps the result of certain changes. What remains now is the cry from some college football fans for an expanded ‘national championship playoff,’ though college and university presidents and many college football coaches continue to resist these cries. We try to explain this resistance to expanding the number of teams invited to compete for the BCS championship and the persistence of the two team playoff format in college football. For three championship eras–pre-BCS, BCS and a futuristic post-BCS expanded playoff–we first relate some of the controversial details to concepts such as optimal t...
Routing and wavelength assignment for an agile optical network

Although having huge bandwidth, today's optical networks suffer the insufficient agility in transporting dynamic traffic such as IP traffic flows, due to its lack of flexible provisioning capability to offer lightpaths that can keep pace with the dynamics of sub-wavelength traffic. In this paper, we introduce an agile optical network, and propose an intelligent routing and wavelength assignment (RWA) algorithm. With this algorithm, the agile optical network can significantly expedite lightpath setup through intelligent lightpath partition/concatenation, and improves the performance for transporting dynamic sub-wavelength traffic, by using some special optical nodes called lightpath cross-connects.
Minimization of residual stress in heat-treated Al–Si–Mg cast alloys using uphill quenching: Mechanisms and effects on static and dynamic properties

Abstract A method to minimize residual stresses in heat-treated Al–Si–Mg cast components is presented. Compact tension specimens, commonly used for fatigue crack growth testing, were machined from sand castings and tested after T61 heat treatment. The specimens prepared using a conventional T61 treatment had significant residual stresses, which severely affected their fatigue crack growth behavior. To reduce these residual stresses, a modified quenching methodology was used. The method consists of a conventional quench followed by an uphill quench, designed to counteract the residual stress effects introduced during the original quench. This article explains the mechanisms of residual stress formation, residual stress effects on fatigue crack growth, and methods to evaluate and control residual stresses. It also elaborates on the benefits of uphill quenching method, its underlying rationale, working principles, and processing parameters. The effects of the uphill quench on static and dynamic properties are also presented and discussed.
On bounds and limit theorems for secondary creep in symmetric pressure vessels

Abstract The field equations governing creep in spherical and incompressible cylindrical pressure vessels subject to a nondecreasing internal pressure are reduced to a single equation in the effective stress. Using this equation, bounds are obtained for the effective stress and the displacement at any point in the body at any time. Also, in the case where the pressure tends to a limit as t → ∞. limit theorems are obtained which describe the long term behavior of the effective stress and the displacement.
Corporate psychopaths: implications for the IS workforce

The main purpose of this panel is to raise awareness on the prevalence of corporate psychopathy and draw on preliminary findings on a research in progress to discuss the implications of corporate psychopathy on IT workers. This is an issue that has not received much attention in the Computer and People Research community. The panel will propose measures that IT scholars, educators and practitioners can take to prevent or mitigate the impact of corporate psychopaths.
Upper Esophageal Stenosis: Two Case Reports

Abstract Esophageal stenosis caused by an intrinsic congenital deformity is uncommon in infants and children. The main forms of stenosis are congenital esophageal web, congenital stricture caused by tracheobronchial remnants, and congenital idiopathic muscular hypertrophy. The authors report on two patients who were successfully treated and managed after being diagnosed as having upper esophageal stenosis. One patient underwent resection of the web and primary anastomosis of the esophagus and was discharged 6 days after surgery. After 1 year, this patient has had no symptoms of dysphagia or other postoperative difficulties. The second patient underwent balloon dilatation of the esophageal stricture and was discharged on the day of surgery; however, this patient required numerous repeat dilatations.
The Community of the Blind: Social Organization, Advocacy and Cultural Redefinition

Based on a two-year study of an advocacy organization, this paper describes a social community of prevocationally blind persons. Characteristics of the community include identification, shared experiences and participation, life-long economic dependence on blindness institutions, and mass participation in the blindness advocacy movement. The phenomenon of cultural redefinition within the community is also assessed. Activists create new meanings of blindness and associated concepts as they work out effective means to change their socioeconomic status. It is suggested that advocacy group membership creates a social community and provides a realistic environment in which members lessen the negative effects of stigmatization.
A comparison of barbed and smooth sutures for ovine cesarean delivery.

Abstract Objective To determine the adequacy of barbed and smooth sutures for closing the uterus and fascia in pregnant ewes. Methods Nine ewes that underwent cesarean delivery were randomized to each receive 2 different suture materials for both the uterus and the fascia. The sutures used were: barbed poliglecaprone 25, smooth poliglecaprone 25, braided polyglactin 910, and smooth chromic sutures on the uterus; and barbed polydioxanone (PDO), barbed poliglecaprone 25, braided polyglactin 910, and smooth chromic sutures on the fascia. Results In 4 of the ewes, the fascia suture line failed prematurely, leading to dehiscence prior to planned euthanasia and necropsy. The remaining 5 ewes were euthanized on days 2, 7, or 28. All suture materials (smooth and barbed) were adequate for uterine closures. Barbed PDO, smooth poliglecaprone 25, and braided polyglactin 910 were adequate for fascia closures, whereas both barbed poliglecaprone 25 and smooth chromic resulted in premature suture line ruptures and fascia dehiscence. Conclusion In a small pilot study, absorbable knotless barbed suture was adequate and equivalent to absorbable knotted smooth suture for closing the uterus following ovine cesarean delivery. On the rectus fascia, however, sutures—whether barbed or smooth—with lower tensile strength resulted in fascial dehiscence.
Decoupling the Confounded Effect of Machine Error and Geometric Characteristics of Artifacts in Precision Measurement and Machine Calibration

Inspection is commonly used to scrutinize the quality of manufactured products against established standards and specifications. However, the quality and reliability of many inspection processes are contaminated by various measurement errors. One of the prominent sources for measurement error is the imperfection of the measuring device and its interaction with geometric characteristics of a measured feature. To ensure the quality and reliability of any inspection process, measurement errors need to be addressed for all data acquisition activities. A method is also needed to identify and decouple the effect of confounded errors. If this can be done, then the collected data can be adjusted properly to allow a more meaningful analysis. In this paper, the issue of measurement error identification and reduction for machine calibration and dimension measurement using artifacts with spherical features is discussed. Analytical models are derived to first assess and then decouple the confounded effect of imperfect measuring device and its interaction with geometric characteristics of a measured feature. Finally, case studies are used to illustrate the use and effectiveness of the methodology.
Effect of 20-hydroxyecdysone and diflubenzuron on chitin production by a cockroach cell line

Twelve insect cell lines were tested for their ability to synthesize chitin. Three of the 7 lepidopteran lines tested (UMN-PIE, IAL-PID2, MRRL-CH) produced a hyamine-resistant material, that was digested by chitinase. The material did not withstand a more rigorous base digestion, and 20-hydroxyecdysone and diflubenzuron had no consistent effect on the production of the, material. One of the 5 cockroach cell lines (UMBGE-4), which is an ecdysone-producing vesicle line, produced a material resistant to a strong base which was degraded to chitobiose andN-acetylglucosamine by chitinase. Production of this material by the cells is increased by 20-hydroxyecdysone and inhibited by diflubenzuron. The UMBGE-4 vesicles are covered with microvilli which bear membrane plaques and produce extra cellular material that resembles insect cuticle.
FISCAL POLICY IN A GROWING ECONOMY WITH PUBLIC CAPITAL

Public capital subject to congestion is introduced into an endogenous growth model and the transitional dynamic paths under alternative fiscal policies are characterized. Several new insights are obtained from this more general framework. During the transition, the two capital stocks always approach their common equilibrium growth rate from opposite directions. Government policy induces the more volatile response in the capital stock upon which it impinges most directly: private capital in the case of a tax, public capital in the case of expenditure. Finally, we characterize a time-varying income tax that enables the decentralized economy to replicate both the first-best transitional dynamics and steady-state equilibrium of a centrally planned economy. The steady-state component corrects for externalities that arise when government expenditure deviates from its social optimum, and the effects of congestion. The transitional component corrects for myopic behavior by the representative agent along the adjustment path.
Alternatives for Supporting Multiple Cryptographically-Isolated User Groups in Frequency-Hopping Systems

Most traditional coded and interleaved frequency-hop systems either avoid multiple-access interference through the use of orthogonal hopping patterns or tolerate the MAI that results from non-orthogonal hopping patterns. While the former method typically has better performance, all the users' hopping patterns must be coordinated to maintain orthogonality. Because the processing gain of frequency-hop systems relies on the secrecy of the hopping pattern, having a potentially large number of users with knowledge of coordinated hopping patterns may be undesirable. Rather, multiple smaller groups that are cryptographically isolated from each other are preferred. In this paper, we discuss alternatives for supporting multiple such cryptographically-isolated user groups in frequency-hopping spread spectrum systems. Tradeoffs among interference rejection, data rate, and number of supportable users are considered for a variety of channel access schemes and hopping pattern designs. In addition, the impact of improved receiver capabilities, such as multiuser detection, to the trade space is investigated.
Circadian pattern of ventricular tachyarrhythmias in patients with implantable cardioverter-defibrillators.

Objectives. This study examined the temporal patterns of ventricular tachycardia detections by implantable cardioverter-defibrillators for circadian variability. Background. Previous studies of circadian arrhythmia patterns have been methodologically limited by very brief observational periods. Late-generation implantable cardioverter-defibrillators accurately record the times of arrhythmia detections during unlimited follow-up. Methods. Forty-three patients with late-generation implantable cardioverter-defibrillators were followed up for 226 ± 179 days (mean ± SD). The times of all recorded episodes of ventricular tachyarrhythmias were retrieved from the data log of each device during follow-up. Results. The weighted distribution of 830 ventricular tachyarrhythmia episodes from the 43 patients fit a single harmonic sine curve model with a peak between 2 and 3 p.m. (95% confidence interval 1:13 to 4:13 p.m. , R = 0.75, p p.m. and 95% confidence intervals for peak frequencies between 11:38 a.m. and 5:07 p.m. Episodes recorded during continuous antiarrhythmic drug therapy did not fit the model (p > 0.05). Conclusions. The distribution of ventricular tachyarrhythmias detected by late-generation implantable cardioverter-defibrillators follows a circadian pattern, with a peak tachycardia frequency between noon and 5 p.m. This pattern was not observed in patients receiving antiarrhythmic drug therapy. Knowledge of circadian periodicity for these events has implications for patient management.
Jeffreys's Nursing Universal Retention and Success model: Overview and action ideas for optimizing outcomes A–Z

Summary Background Nursing student persistence, retention, and success are universally desired outcomes yet remain elusive and challenging worldwide. Objectives The aim of this study is to provide nurse educators with an organizing framework and action ideas for optimizing student outcomes. Conceptual Model Jeffreys's Nursing Universal Retention and Success (NURS) model presents a globally-applicable framework for examining the multidimensional factors that affect undergraduate and graduate nursing student retention and success in order to make a positive difference. Discussion This article presents a brief overview of the empirically-based NURS model and indicates that retention decisions, persistence, and optimal outcomes will be based on the interaction of student profile characteristics, student affective factors, academic factors, environmental factors, academic outcomes, psychological outcomes, outside surrounding factors, and professional integration factors. Conclusion An A–Z list of action ideas provides nurse educators with a springboard for further developing ideas tailored to individual program and student needs. Recommendations for global collaborative partnerships and networks are presented.
Ninth Graders' Attitudes towards Selected Uses of Technology.

Technology has become affordable and available for science teachers of all grade levels. This study presents the results of collecting attitudinal data from over 240 ninth grade physical science students prior to the integration of technology into their science curriculum. The data were evaluated utilizing a probabilistic model, which corrects for the nonlinearity of rating scale responses. Results indicate that surveyed students, on average, were supportive of the integration of a wide range of technology into their classroom. Although students were generally positive, they were statistically more supportive of activities that involved the sending of electronic messages to other students when a comparison was made to their attitudes toward the collecting of data with computer probes. The results suggest that physical science teachers may want to initiate the integration of technology into classes by first requiring students to use electronic mail to share data collected without the aid of a computer. This activity could, in turn, be followed by labs that require the collecting of data with computer probes and subsequent sharing of that data with other students through electronic mail.
ESTROGEN MODULATION OF OSTEOCLAST LYSOSOMAL ENZYME SECRETION

Osteoclast-mediated bone resorption is accomplished by secretion of lysosomal proteases into an acidic extracellular compartment. We have previously demonstrated that avian osteoclasts and human osteoclast-like giant cell tumor cells respond in vitro to treatment with 17β-estradiol (17β-E2) by decreased bone resorption activity. To better understand the mechanism by which this is accomplished, we have investigated the effects of 17β-E2 treatment on lysosomal enzyme production and secretion by isolated avian osteoclasts and multinucleated cells from human giant cell tumors in vitro. Isolated cells were cultured with bone particles in the presence of either vehicle or steroid. The conditioned media and cells were harvested, and the levels of cathepsin B, cathepsin L, β-glucuronidase, lysozyme, and tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase (TRAP) activities were determined. There was a steroid dose-dependent decrease in secreted levels of these enzymes. Cell-associated levels of cathepsin L, β-glucuronidase, and lysozyme decreased, whereas cell-associated levels of cathepsin B and TRAP increased. These changes were measurable at 10−10 M and maximal at 10−8 M 17β-E2. The changes were detectable at 4–18 h of treatment and increased through 24 h of treatment. The response was steroid specific, since the inactive estrogen isomer, 17β-E2, failed to alter the activity levels. Moreover, the effects of 17β-E2 were blocked when the cells were treated simultaneously with the estrogen antagonist ICI182–780 in conjunction with 17β-E2. Human osteoclast-like cells obtained from giant cell tumors of bone responded similarly to estrogen with respect to cathepsin B, cathepsin L, and TRAP activities. However, secretion of β-glucuronidase and lysozyme were not altered by treatment with 10−8 M 17β-E2. These data indicate that estrogen effects on osteoclast resorption activity may be mediated by decreasing the secretion of cathepsin B, cathepsin L, and TRAP.
Gobi Partners and DMG

Tom Tsao, founding general partner of Gobi Partners, an early stage venture capital firm in China, must decide how to manage his firm's largest investment after the departure of the CEO. Tsao has temporarily stepped in as CEO, but finding a replacement with the necessary technical and language skills is difficult. Moreover, the company is facing significant challenges in winning business and restructuring its own operations. Should Tsao stay on as CEO? Revisit one of the candidates who had withdrawn? Try harder to sell the company? At what price? The case provides an opportunity to discuss the issue of active investment management in an emerging market from the perspectives of the many stakeholders involved.
Primitive Accumulation and the Labor Subsidies to Capitalism

It is argued in this paper, following the insights of Rosa Luxemburg and others, that primitive accumulation is a constant and ongoing process integral to capital accumulation. Concentrating on wor...
First JECSS Workshop

The first Japan and East China Seas Study (JECSS) workshop convened at Tsukuba University, about 60 km north of Tokyo, Japan, June 1–4, 1981, to assess hydrographic data, review descriptive and theoretical Work, and promote future cooperation for studying the Japan Sea and East China Sea and marginal seas of the Western North Pacific Ocean. The conveners were Takashi Ichiye of Texas A&M University and Kenzo Takano of Tsukuba University, and the workshop was funded by the Hidaka Foundation, which was founded by Koji Hidaka, patriarch of dynamic oceanography in Japan. There were 41 participants: seven from the United States, six from Korea, one from the Peoples Republic of China, and 27 from Japan. Twenty-four papers were presented, and topics included the Japan Sea, the East China Sea, and marginal seas in general. Subjects concerned descriptive physical oceanography; internal waves, tides, and shelf waves; circulation modeling; data assessment; remote sensing; and sedimentology and marine chemistry. The seasonal change of the Tsushima Current, a branch of the Kuroshio in the Japan Sea, was determined by the Tohoku University group; preliminary results of the NOAA R/V Oceanographer cruise in Spring 1980 were presented; and the numerical modeling of the Japan Sea circulation, the tides of the Yellow Sea, and the barotropic current of the East China Sea were discussed. The papers presented will be published in 1982 in La Mer, a journal of the Japanese-French Oceanographical Society.
MOCK THETA FUNCTIONS AND QUANTUM MODULAR FORMS

Ramanujan’s last letter to Hardy concerns the asymptotic properties of modular forms and his ‘mock theta functions’. For the mock theta function f.q/, Ramanujan claims that as q approaches an even-order 2k root of unity, we have We prove Ramanujan’s claim as a special case of a more general result. The implied constants in Ramanujan’s claim are not mysterious. They arise in Zagier’s theory of ‘quantum modular forms’. We provide explicit closed expressions for these ‘radial limits’ as values of a ‘quantum’ q-hypergeometric function which underlies a new relationship between Dyson’s rank mock theta function and the Andrews‐Garvan crank modular form. Along these lines, we show that the Rogers‐Fine false #-functions, functions which have not been well understood within the theory of modular forms, specialize to quantum modular forms.
Measuring the health of populations: explaining composite indicators

Indicators that summarise the health status of a population and that provide comparable measures of a population disease burden are increasingly vital tools for health policy decision making. Decisions concerning health systems across the world are greatly affected by changes in disease profiles and population dynamics, and must develop the capacity to respond to such changes effectively within the resources of each nation. Decisions must be based on evidence of the patterns of diseases, their risk factors and the effectiveness of alternative interventions. This paper focuses on the main approaches used for developing summary measures that include mortality and morbidity occurring in a population. It discusses the rationale for composite measures and reviews the origins of each main approach. The paper also examines methodological differences among these approaches making explicit the value choices that each entails, outlines the advantages and limitations of each measure, and shows how they relate to one another.
Managing Murder Parents as Mediators of Children's Experience

This investigation is a case study of the responses of children and their parents to a murder in their neighborhood. Through participant observation and intensive interviews with parents, the authors describe how parents took action both collectively and individually to manage their children's fears and to find meaning in an act of unusual brutality and deceit. The authors anticipated correctly that this study could provide an opportunity to examine the potential impact of distal violence on middle-class children. An unanticipated outcome was the substantial effect of the homicide on the neighborhood parents themselves as reflected in their sense-making activities that continued long after the resolution of the murder itself.
Candidate generation for 45 degree routing for mixed-signal layout

This paper presents an efficient methodology for automatic 45-degree and 90-degree routing of mixed-signal layouts. Non-Manhattan geometries in routing have the advantage of lowering the bound on the shortest route between terminals as well as lowering the via count through use of metal bends. These non-Manhattan routed designs can be employed to reduce interconnection length, signal delay, circuit area, and power consumption over 90-degree routing. When combined with our previous and ongoing work in routing digital and analog circuits, the routing technique presented here will provide an improved mixed-signal routing environment. The algorithm described in this paper generates candidate routes with 45 and 135-degree segments for any two terminal net. Each candidate is guaranteed to be shorter or as short as the Manhattan distance between the terminals.
Phylogenetically and spatially conserved word pairs associated with gene-expression changes in yeasts

Background Transcriptional regulation in eukaryotes often involves multiple transcription factors binding to the same transcription control region, and to understand the regulatory content of eukaryotic genomes it is necessary to consider the co-occurrence and spatial relationships of individual binding sites. The determination of conserved sequences (often known as phylogenetic footprinting) has identified individual transcription factor binding sites. We extend this concept of functional conservation to higher-order features of transcription control regions.
Conservation of sequences adjacent to the telomeric C4A2 repeats of ciliate macronuclear ribosomal RNA gene molecules

We sequenced and compared the telomeric regions of linear rDNAs from vegetative macronuclei of several ciliates in the suborder Tetrahymenina. All telomeres consisted of tandemly repeated C4A2 sequences, including the 5' telomere of the 11 kb rDNA from developing macronuclei of Tetrahymena thermophila. Our sequence of the 11 kb 5' telomeric region shows that each one of a previously described pair of inverted repeats flanking the micronuclear rDNA (Yao et al., Mol. Cell. Biol. 5: 1260-1267, 1985) is 29 bp away from the positions to which telomeric C4A2 repeats are joined to the ends of excised 11 kb rDNA. In general we found that the macronuclear rDNA sequences adjacent to C4A2 repeats are not highly conserved. However, in the non-palindromic rDNA of Glaucoma, we identified a single copy of a conserved sequence, repeated in inverted orientation in Tetrahymena spp., which all form palindromic rDNAs. We propose that this sequence is required for a step in rDNA excision common to both Tetrahymena and Glaucoma.
Scenario Based Optimization: A Framework for Statically Enabling Online Optimizations

Online optimization allows the continuous restructuring and adaptation of an executing application using live information about its execution environment. The further advancement of performance monitoring hardware presents new opportunities for online optimization techniques. While managed runtime environments lend themselves nicely to online and dynamic optimizations, such techniques remain difficult to successfully achieve at the binary level. Binary level Dynamic optimizers introduce virtual layers which at the binary level produces overhead that is often prohibitive. Another challenge comes from the lack of source level information that can significantly aid optimization.In this paper we present a new static/dynamic collaborative approach to online optimization that takes advantage of the strength of static optimization and the adaptive nature of dynamic optimization techniques. We call this hybrid optimization framework Scenario Based Optimization (SBO). Statically we multiversion and specialize functions for different dynamic scenarios that can be identified by monitoring micro-architectural events. Using these events to infer the current scenario, we dynamically reroute execution to the relevant code tuned to that scenario. We have implemented our static SBO infrastructure in GCC 4.3.1 and designed our Dynamic Introspection Engine using the Perfmon2 infrastructure. To demonstrate the effectiveness of our Scenario Based Optimization framework we have designed an SBO optimization we call the Online Aiding and Abetting of Aggressive Optimizations (OAAAO). Using SPEC2006 this optimization shows a speedup of 7% to 10% for a number of benchmarks and in our best case (h264ref) a 17% speedup over native execution compiled at the -O2 optimization level.
Accuracy of Body Mass Index-defined Obesity Status in US Firefighters.

Obesity is a significant problem affecting United States (US) firefighters. While body mass index (BMI) is widely used to diagnose obesity, its use for this occupational group has raised concerns about validity. We examined rates and types of misclassification of BMI-based obesity status compared to body fat percentage (BF%) and waist circumference (WC). Male career firefighters (N = 994) from 20 US departments completed all three body composition assessments. Mean BMI, BF%, and WC were 29 kg/m2, 23%, and 97 cm, respectively. Approximately 33% and 15% of BF%- and WC-defined obese participants were misclassified as non-obese (false negatives) using BMI, while 8% and 9% of non-obese participants defined by BF% and WC standards were identified as obese (false positives) using BMI. When stratified by race/ethnicity, Pacific Islanders showed high rates of false positive misclassification. Precision in obesity classification would be improved by using WC along with BMI to determine firefighters' weight status.
Class differences in syntactic complexity in the Flemish town of Maaseik

The linguistic foundation of Bernstein's code theory is tested in a bidimensional sociolinguistic investigation. Not only class, but also situation is controlled. In the Flemish town of Maaseik each of eight informants (four middle class and four working class) have been interviewed in two different situations, one formal and one informal. In the formal situation standard Netherlandic was spoken and in the informal the local dialect. Five measures of syntactic complexity constituted the linguistic variable. The results in the formal situation corroborate those of Bernstein: the middle-class subjects exhibit a greater degree of syntactic complexity than the working-class subjects. In the informal situation all subjects exhibit about the same degree of syntactic complexity, and for the middle-class subjects this degree is less than that in the formal situation (as might be expected). The striking result is that the working-class informants exhibit significantly higher complexity in the informal situation. In the discussion these findings are compared to those of previous studies, Bernsteinian and other. In an appendix sample data for formal and informal styles from one middle- and one working-class subject are presented. (‘elaborated’ and ‘restricted’ codes, social vs. cognitive meaning, syntactic variation; Flemish cf. Maaseik, Belgium).
The Protective Role of the Hypothalamic‐Pituitary‐Adrenal Axis against Lethality Produced by Immune, Infectious, and Inflammatory Stress

We have shown that ADX and HYPOX rats exhibit a markedly increased sensitivity to the lethal effects of IL-1-beta and LPS compared to sham controls with an intact HPAA. These results indicated that the reports of lethal effects of cytokines and LPS which generates cytokines in mice with a compromised HPAA were not idiosyncratic or specific to mice but represented a general response that would have been expected in any organism with a compromised HPAA. We further demonstrated that protection against lethal effects due to IL-1-beta or LPS could be produced by treating ADX rats with glucocorticoid in a quantity estimated to be equivalent to corticosterone secretion provoked during stress. In contrast, we found that acutely stalk-sectioned rats with pituitaries disconnected from hypothalamic regulation did not show a markedly increased susceptibility to lethal effects of LPS as did ADX or HYPOX rats. Although a minority of stalk-sectioned rats were killed by LPS, the majority of rats were protected from lethal actions of LPS. This response suggested that an intact pituitary-adrenal axis without the normal hypothalamic control could still provide significant protection presumably due to generation of cytokines which stimulated the pituitary over several hours. The results from our lethality studies clearly underscore the importance of activating the stress axis and increasing glucocorticoid secretion to protect against potentially lethal effects of cytokines that can be induced by immune, infectious, or inflammatory stimuli. Cytokine-stimulated effects can initially result in beneficial actions to the host by promoting immune/inflammatory responses that are protective in nature and help defend against a variety of invading stimuli (infectious, immune, inflammatory, traumatic, neoplastic). Normally the HPAA responds to cytokine stimulation by ultimately increasing glucocorticoid secretion in order to counterregulate cytokine actions, modulate the host response, and protect the host from excessively catabolic effects of unregulated cytokine generation and actions. For many years, clinicians have recognized that patients with deficient glucocorticoid secretion (e.g., Addison's disease or pituitary ACTH deficiency) require increased glucocorticoid replacement during episodes of fever, infection, or inflammatory stress. However, the reasons why stress-equivalent glucocorticoid replacement were required were not entirely clear. Now, we understand that glucocorticoids are critically important for protecting the host against its own defense mechanisms so that the stimulation of cytokines can facilitate a protective response against an invading insult without also killing the host.
A Semiotic Analysis of Interactions Between End Users and Information Systems

The study of HCI is essentially a multidisciplinary science because “it is concerned with understanding how people make use of devices and systems that incorporate or embed computation, and how such devices and systems can be more useful and usable (Carroll 2003, p. 1).” Researchers of HCI analyze and design user interfaces and new technologies. They also need to understand the tasks and work practices of people and their environments. It is by the collective knowledge of system engineering and human psychology that HCI professionals can offer better computational support to end users.
The Role of Siroheme in Sulfite and Nitrite Reductases

Sulfite and nitrite reductases (SiRs/NiRs) use siroheme, an iron-containing isobacteriochlorin, alongside a [4Fe-4S] cluster to perform the six-electron reduction of sulfite to sulfide or nitrite to ammonia. X-ray crystallographic structures of the catalytic siroheme-containing subunit of Escherichia coli assimilatory SiR provide clues about the relationship between the SiRs and the NiRs, allowing us to use the E. coli enzyme as a model system for other siroheme-containing SiRs and NiRs.1–3 These structures also provide insight into the role of the siroheme in this powerful redox reaction, both as an anchor for the acid/base chemistry that directs substrate formation and as an electronically-flexible cofactor that drives the electron transfer reaction.
Participation in Physical Activity and Risk for Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Mortality Among Postmenopausal Women.

Importance Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a progressive, fatal disease with no known cause. Case studies primarily of athletes and several case-control studies have suggested that high levels of strenuous physical activity (PA) may increase the risk for ALS. This relationship has yet to be evaluated among women in population-based cohort studies. Objective To evaluate the relationship between PA and risk for ALS mortality in a large cohort of postmenopausal women. Design, Setting, and Participants The Women’s Health Initiative (WHI) enrolled 161 809 postmenopausal women, aged 50 to 79 years (mean [SD] age, 63.6 [7.24] years), between 1993 and 1998 into either a clinical trial or an observational study at 40 clinical research centers across the United States. We conducted a cohort study from November 2014 to September 2015 using baseline and mortality data during an average of 9.6 years of follow-up from the entire WHI cohort, through September 1, 2013 (with 1.1% lost to follow-up), to address whether there is a relationship between PA and ALS mortality. Exposures The WHI assessed frequency and duration of mild, moderate, and strenuous PA at baseline via self-administered questionnaire. Main Outcomes and Measures Underlying cause of death from ALS collected from death certificates. Results The WHI enrolled 161 809 women, of whom 165 died of ALS; women who died of ALS were older (median age, 66 years; interquartile range, 61-69 years) compared with the total WHI study population (median age, 63 years; interquartile range, 57-69 years). Age-adjusted ALS mortality rates varied from 7.4 (95% CI, 5.5-9.9)/100 000 person-years for no strenuous PA to 10.6 (95% CI, 5.6-20.0)/100 000 person-years for strenuous PA 3 or more days per week ( P = .07). Adjusted for age and body mass index (calculated as weight in kilograms divided by height in meters squared), the odds ratio for death from ALS for participants with strenuous PA 3 or more days per week compared with no reported strenuous PA was 1.56 (95% CI, 1.02-2.37; P = .04). Conclusions and Relevance To our knowledge, this is the first cohort study to report an increased risk for ALS mortality associated with strenuous PA in postmenopausal women. The association between strenuous PA and ALS risk observed does not compromise the overall benefit of strenuous PA for total mortality, coronary heart disease, and breast cancer reported in other WHI investigations, but it may provide an important clue to the etiology of ALS, if replicated by other studies.
Low-Spin Odd Parity States in 109Pd and Rotation-Aligned Models

The 108Pd(n,γ)109Pd reaction discloses a family of low-spin odd parity states. A Coriolis calculation reveals difficulties in rotation-aligned models for low-spin unfavored states.
Reducing prognostic errors: a new imperative in quality healthcare.

Dhruv Khullar and Anupam Jena argue that we need to pay more attention to prognosis if we are to ensure that patients get appropriate and safe treatment
A Comparison of Fatty Acid Synthesis by Liver and Kidney.

SummaryThe lipogenic activity of liver and kidney was compared. Kidney slices synthesize fatty acids at a considerably slower rate than do liver slices; an approximate estimate would place the rate of kidney slice lipogenesis at about 10-20% that of the liver slice. Kidney tissue appears to have a lower level of fatty acid synthesizing enzymes than liver but the difference in lipogenic rate of the intact cell is probably related to other factors as well. Kidney cytoplasmic particles suppress lipogenesis in kidney particle-free supernatant while liver cytoplasmic particles stimulate kidney particle-free supernatant lipogenesis, Thus, the presence of cytoplasmic particles in the kidney that inhibit rather than stimulate fatty acid synthesis probably is also related to difference in lipogenic activity between liver and kidney slices.
The Research on Cognition of Social Culture Effect of Eco-tourism——Take Zhangjiajie as the Example

This text discusses the influence of Eco-tourism to social culture effect of traveling destination.Take Zhangjiajie Country forest park as the example,we carry on the sample investigation into local residents,superintendents,and travelers.Besides,to characteristic data which gains,we do the quantitative and qualitative combined analysis in order to research the various influence of Eco-tourism to social culture effect of traveling destination.
Out-of-school virtual worlds based programs: a cross-case analysis

This poster presents a cross-case analysis conducted on two out-of-school programs based on virtual environments: Global Kid's "I Dig Science" curriculum in Teen Second Life and the GLS "casual learning lab" based on the online game World of Warcraft. Using a coding framework representing the shared instructional goals of the programs to analyze ethnographic data from both sites, we compare the nature of learning in the two contexts.
Structural and Dynamical Properties of a Deep Eutectic Solvent Confined Inside a Slit Pore

We performed molecular dynamics (MD) simulations to study the structure and dynamics of the deep eutectic solvent (DES) choline iodide-glycerol (CI.G) at a molar ratio of 1:3, inside slitlike titania [rutile (110)] and graphitic nanopores of width H = 5.2 and 2.5 nm, and at a temperature T = 333 K. DESs share many of the remarkable properties of ionic liquids (ILs) while being more inexpensive; furthermore, and in addition to their fundamental scientific interest, the systems modeled here are relevant to dye-sensitized solar cells and gas separations. Our results show that glycerol can form stable hydrogen bonds with the oxygen atoms in the rutile walls, which account for ∼86% of the total number of hydrogen bonds involving DES species (choline, iodide, and glycerol) in the first layers (near the rutile walls), and for ∼24% of the total hydrogen bonds observed for the DES inside a rutile pore of width H = 5.2 nm. As a result, in these systems, the rutile walls are coated by glycerol layers that are almost...
How to Design a Closer and More Democratic Union

There is no particular need to describe how the compromise on which the birth of the European common currency was based formed the foundation of the current crisis: the common monetary policy was accepted easily by national politicians but turned out to be incompatible with the maintenance of the national control over structural and fiscal policies, as predicted by the work cited in Chapter 2, and with added consequences in financial markets that surprised specialists and policymakers (Pisani-Ferry 2012). This core weakness in the design of the Union is described elegantly by Habermas (2011): member states are functioning as the legislative and executive bodies of the Union, depriving that way the prerogative of power and implementation from the supranational bodies over the national legal systems.
Bruegel iconic correlation system

This chapter addresses the problem of visually correlating objects and events. A new Bruegel visual correlation system based on an iconographic language that permits a compact information representation is described. The description includes the Bruegel concept, functionality, the ability to compress information via iconic semantic zooming, and dynamic iconic sentences. The chapter provides a brief description of Bruegel architecture and tools. The formal Bruegel iconic language for automatic icon generation is outlined. The second part of the chapter is devoted to case studies that describe how Bruegel iconic architecture can be used for the visual correlation of terrorist events, for file system navigation, for the visual correlation of drug traffic and other criminal records, for the visual correlation of real estate and job markets offerings, and for the visual correlation of medical research, diagnosis, and treatment.
Invited) Modeling reliability in GaN HEMTs

In this paper we present modeling reliability concerns in GaN HEMT technology. A theoretical model was developed to model the piezoelectric polarization charge dependence on the applied gate voltage. To model self-heating effects, an elec-tro-thermal device simulator was developed that couples the Monte Carlo-Poisson solver with the energy balance solver for the acoustic and optical phonons. Current collapse was explained as charging the surface states due the Paul-Frenkel tunneling from the gate into the gate to drain extension. Excellent agreement is obtained between the theoretical calculations and the experimental data of the unstressed and the stressed devices with this model.