cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
3-Deazaadenosine, an inhibitor of adenosylhomocysteine hydrolase, inhibits reproduction of Rous sarcoma virus and transformation of chick embryo cells.

Abstract 3-Deazaadenosine, a known potent inhibitor of adenosylhomocysteine hydrolase, exerts an inhibitory effect on the reproduction of Rous sarcoma virus (RSV-BH) and on the malignant transformation of chick embryo cells by this virus. The inhibitory effect is reversible. The increased capacity for glucose uptake, a biochemical characteristic of chick embryo cells transformed by RSV-BH, is inhibited by 3-deazaadenosine, and the ability of the infected cells to grow in suspension is blocked. After prolonged exposure to 3-deazaadenosine, the morphological phenotype characteristic of transformed cells largely disappeared, and transformed cells resembled noninfected cells. Deazaadenosine inhibits the reproduction of Sindbis virus, Newcastle disease virus, and vesicular stomatitis virus to a lesser degree than RSV-BH. Deazaadenosine, 0.1 m M , has no effect on DNA or protein synthesis in cells, and only a slight effect on RNA synthesis. No incorporation of 3-deaza[ 14 C]adenosine into cellular nucleic acids was found. Deazaadenosine produces an increase in the intracellular level of adenosylhomocysteine, with the concomitant appearance of a relatively large amount of 3-deazaadenosylhomocysteine; the ratio of intracellular adenosylmethionine to adenosylhomocysteine, or (adenosylhomocysteine + 3-deazaadenosylhomocysteine) is decreased from 150 to 19, and 1.4 respectively. It is postulated that 3-deazaadenosine inhibits virus activities by its ability to inhibit adenosylhomocysteine hydrolase, resulting in an inhibition of methylation reaction(s) required for virus growth and replication.
The encapsulation of particles and bubbles by an advancing solidification front

An insoluble particle, a solid sphere or a spherical bubble, submerged in a liquid and approached by an advancing solidification front, may be captured by the front or rejected. The particle behaviour is determined by an interplay among van der Waals interactions, thermal conductivity differences between the particle and the melt, solid–liquid interfacial energy, the density change caused by the liquid–solid phase transition, and in the case of a bubble, the Marangoni effect at the liquid–gas interface. We calculate the particle velocity and the deformation of the front when the particle is close to the front, using the lubrication approximation, and investigate how the particle speed, relative to the front, depends on the parameters that characterize the described effects.
Non-adiabatic contributions to static two-pion-exchange nuclear potentials

Recent evidence of the importance of the pion in the dynamics of few-nucleon systems is reviewed. Calculations of the triton binding energy and the nucleon-nucleon phase shifts, and the application of chiral perturbation theory to few-nucleon systems, have highlighted the role of the pion. Qualitative aspects of chiral constraints in few-nucleon forces are reviewed, and the connection between the static Brueckner-Watson and Taketani-Machida-Ohnuma two-pion-exchange two-nucleon forces is shown to be the same as that between the Weinberg and Coon-Friar two-pion-exchange three-nucleon forces. Compact expressions for these forces are given in the Appendix.
Treatment of esophageal disruption by intubation. A new method of management.

Abstract Esophageal intubation was employed to seal esophageal leaks in patients with malignant tracheoesophageal fistula; anastomotic leak following esophagogastrectomy; and instrumental or spontaneous perforation in the normal, the inflamed, and the carcinomatous esophagus. In all these instances the Celestin tube controlled the esophageal spillage and facilitated spontaneous healing of the defect. Esophageal intubation is not recommended as an alternative to suture repair for ordinary perforations of the esophagus. The procedure, however, seems to be an effective treatment for disruption of the esophagus in life-threatening situations in which operative intervention poses prohibitive risks and in situations in which the direct operative approach is not applicable.
Distribution of manganese between coexisting biotite and hornblende in plutonic rocks

Abstract The distribution of manganese between coexisting biotite and hornblende for 80 mineral pairs from igneous rocks of diverse provenance (including Southern California, Sierra Nevada, Boulder, and Boulder Creek batholiths and the Jemez Mountains volcanics) has been determined by neutron activation analysis. Data on the distribution ratio ( K d = Mn hornblende Mn biotite ) indicate that an equilibrium distribution of Mn is closely approached, though not completely attained, in most samples from plutonic environments. Comparison of Kd values of mineral pairs with bulk chemical composition of host rocks reveals no correlation. Because initial crystallization temperatures vary with rock composition, the lack of correlation of composition with Kd suggests that the equilibrium distribution of Mn between biotite and hornblende reflects exchange at subsolidus temperatures rather than initial crystallization temperatures. The highest Kd values are for volcanic rocks, in which rapid quenching prevents subsolidus redistribution of Mn. For sample pairs from the Southern California and Sierra Nevada batholiths there is a positive correlation of Kd with TiO2 content of biotite. Though the evidence is not compelling, Kd may also correlate with the rate of cooling and/or the presence or absence of sphene in the rock.
Wideband multi-beam antenna apertures using metamaterial-based superstrates

We present a new technique for designing a multi-beam, low-profile, high-gain antenna aperture. The proposed design method relies on loading a feed antenna array with a metamaterial-based superstrate. An effective medium approach is used to design the superstrate using magneto-dielectric slabs, which are then realized using low-pass type miniaturized element frequency selective surfaces. Using this technique, a low-profile multi-beam antenna with an overall thickness of 2λ 0 , inclusive of the separation between the feed antenna and superstrate, is designed to operate at 8-10 GHz. To achieve such a wide bandwidth, the superstrate is designed to work in a true-time-delay fashion at 9 GHz with over 20% bandwidth. When paired with a focal plane array composed of multiple feed antennas, the entire arrangement acts as a multiple-beam, high-gain antenna aperture. Measurement results confirm the wide-angle scanning properties of the proposed antenna in the ±45° range.
Exploring women's daily lives and participation in the informal labour market in Mumbai, India

Dramatic reductions in trade barriers during the past 10 years have caused unprecedented economic growth in India. Little is known about the impact of globalisation on the informal labour market, especially the impact on women. We interviewed women working in four occupations in Mumbai's informal labour market, gathering information about their daily lives, job responsibilities, and how the circumstances of their jobs have changed over the last 5 years. We construct a typical day in the lives of these women, discuss similarities and differences in the issues they face, and consider the policy implications of our results.
High resolution foreground cleaned CMB map from WMAP

We perform an independent foreground analysis of the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) maps to produce a cleaned cosmic microwave background (CMB) map (available online) useful for cross-correlation with, e.g., galaxy and x-ray maps. We use a variant of the Tegmark-Efstathiou technique that assumes that the CMB has a blackbody spectrum, but is otherwise completely blind, making no assumptions about the CMB power spectrum, the foregrounds, WMAP detector noise or external templates. Compared with the foreground-cleaned internal linear combination map produced by the WMAP team, our map has the advantage of containing less non-CMB power (from foregrounds and detector noise) outside the Galactic plane. The difference is most important on the angular scale of the first acoustic peak and below, since our cleaned map is at the highest ${(12.6}^{\ensuremath{'}})$ rather than lowest ${(49.2}^{\ensuremath{'}})$ WMAP resolution. We also produce a Wiener filtered CMB map, representing our best guess as to what the CMB sky actually looks like, as well as CMB-free maps at the five WMAP frequencies useful for foreground studies. We argue that our CMB map is clean enough that the lowest multipoles can be measured without any galaxy cut, and obtain a quadrupole value that is slightly less low than that from the cut-sky WMAP team analysis. This can be understood from a map of the CMB quadrupole, which shows much of its power falling within the Galaxy cut region, seemingly coincidentally. Intriguingly, both the quadrupole and the octopole are seen to have power suppressed along a particular spatial axis, which lines up between the two, roughly towards $(l,b)\ensuremath{\sim}(\ensuremath{-}110\ifmmode^\circ\else\textdegree\fi{},60\ifmmode^\circ\else\textdegree\fi{})$ in Virgo.
Vela OB1: Probable New Members and Hertzsprung-Russell Diagram

Several dozen stars are identified as probable previously unrecognized members of the association Vel OB1, including the Vela X-1 binary pulsar system. Based on a variable extinction analysis of 70 stars, the distance and ratio of total to selective absorption of the association are determined to be 1750 pc and 3.70, respectively. Vel OB1 may be significantly larger than previously appreciated, perhaps up to 600 by 300 pc in the sense of longitude by latitude. This physical extent, and the fact that the H-R diagram includes both low-mass evolved yellow supergiants and massive, early-type supergiants, indicates that Vel OB1 is probably not coeval.
Indolic glucosinolates at the crossroads of tryptophan metabolism

In plants the amino acid tryptophan (Trp) is used to synthesize proteins and a wide variety of compounds that control development and defense. Recent studies in the reference plant Arabidopsis thaliana have elucidated a number of tryptophan secondary metabolism pathways derived from the Trp metabolite, indole-3-acetaldoxime (IAOx), particularly the pathway for synthesis of indolic glucosinolate (IG) herbivory defense compounds. Analyses of mutants, natural variants, and transgenic strains with perturbations in the IG pathway have revealed that regulation of this pathway is networked at many levels, including interfaces with Trp synthesis, other Trp secondary metabolism pathways, other glucosinolate synthesis pathways, and sulfur metabolism. Transcriptional regulatory mechanisms have been particularly well characterized, but additional mechanisms such as metabolic channeling may also contribute to the homeostasis of Trp secondary metabolism. The IG pathway thus serves as a paradigm for regulatory cross-talk between primary and secondary metabolism and among inter-related secondary metabolic processes.
Phosphoproteins Regulated by the Interaction of High-Density Lipoprotein With Human Skin Fibroblasts

Abstract Interaction of HDL with cells activates protein kinase C (PKC), a process that may be important in stimulating efflux of excess cellular cholesterol. Here we report that HDL treatment of cholesterol-loaded fibroblasts increases 32P labeling of three acidic phosphoproteins. These phosphoproteins, called pp80, pp27, and pp18 based on apparent Mr in kD, were also phosphorylated by acute treatment of cells with phorbol myristate acetate, suggesting that they are regulated in response to PKC activation. The HDL-stimulated phosphorylation of pp80 and pp18 was significant after only 30 seconds and was sustained for at least 30 and 120 minutes, respectively, while increased phosphorylation of pp27 was transient, reaching a maximum at 10 minutes. Both pp27 and pp18 were phosphorylated on serine/threonine residues, whereas pp80 was phosphorylated on serine/threonine and tyrosine residues. Immunoprecipitation studies suggested that pp80 is the myristoylated alanine-rich C kinase substrate protein, but the i...
Gamma-aminobutyric acid in the medial rat nucleus accumbens: ultrastructural localization in neurons receiving monosynaptic input from catecholaminergic afferents.

Neurons containing gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) in the medial portion of the adult rat nucleus accumbens were characterized with respect to their ultrastructure, sites of termination, and catecholaminergic input. Antisera against GABA-conjugates and the catecholamine-synthesizing enzyme, tyrosine hydroxylase (TH), were localized within single sections by means of peroxidase-antiperoxidase (PAP) and immunoautoradiographic labeling methods. Peroxidase reaction product indicating GABA-like immunoreactivity (GABA-LI) was seen in medium-size (15-20 μm) perikarya containing either round and unindented or invaginated nuclear membranes. The cells with invaginated nuclei were few in number and usually exhibited more intense peroxidase reaction product in sections collected at the same distance from the surface of the tissue. Reaction product for GABA was also detected in proximal (1.5-3.0 μm) dendrites, axons, and terminals. Terminals with GABA-LI formed symmetric junctions on perikarya, proximal dendrites, and dendritic spines of neurons that usually lacked detectable immunoreactivity. Many of the GABAergic terminals also were apposed directly to other unlabeled terminals and to terminals exhibiting either peroxidase labeling for GABA or immunoautoradiographic labeling for TH. Many of the unlabeled terminals associated with the GABAergic axons formed asymmetric junctions on dendritic spines. From 138 TH-labeled, principally dopaminergic terminals that were examined in the medial nucleus accumbens, 4% were associated with the somata of GABAergic neurons and another 14% formed symmetric junctions with proximal dendrites showing GABA-LI. The remaining TH-immunoreactive terminals either lacked recognizable densities or formed symmetric synapses on unlabeled dendrites and spines. A few of the unlabeled dendrites, as well as those containing GABA-LI, received symmetric synapses from both catecholaminergic and GABAergic terminals. We conclude that in the medial portion of the rat nucleus accumbens, GABA is localized to two morphologically distinct types of neurons, one or both of which receive monosynaptic input from catecholaminergic afferents, and that GABAergic terminals form symmetric synapses on other princi-pally non-GABAergic neurons. The results also support earlier physiological evidence showing that GABA may modulate the output of other GABAergic and non-GABAergic neurons through presynaptic associations.
Insecticidal activity of HD-1, a new isolate of Bacillus thuringiensis var. alesti.

Abstract Preparations from fermentation beers of HD-1, a new isolate of Bacillus thuringiensis var. alesti , were 200 times more active in laboratory tests against the pink bollworm, Pectinophora gossypiella , the tobacco budworm, Heliothis virescens , and the cabbage looper, Trichoplusia ni , than a typical commercial formulation, and were 20 times more active than an improved commercial product now undergoing tests. The activity of two preparations of HD-1 and the commercial products in the three test species was also compared against the proposed international standard, E-61, produced by the Institut Pasteur, Paris, France. One lot of HD-1, coded HD-1-PL-1, was adopted as a secondary standard; it had a potency of 16,000 IU/mg. The homology of the international standard to the four test materials was considered.
Narrow-line ytterbium fiber master-oscillator power amplifier

We present modeled and experimental results for an ytterbium-doped fiber amplifier seeded with a narrow-linewidth master oscillator. We include a simplified model used to generate input for a model that numerically solves the coupled differential equations. We find good agreement between the model and measured data.
Systematic comparison of nonmelanoma skin cancer microarray datasets reveals lack of consensus genes.

Summary Background DNA microarray technology has revealed vast numbers of gene expression alterations associated with human malignancies. Assigning validity and biological significance to these changes, however, remains a considerable hurdle. Recently, microarray analysis has been applied to the study of nonmelanoma skin cancer. Objectives To compare experimental data rigorously in order to strengthen conclusions regarding the pathogenesis of basal cell carcinoma (BCC) and squamous cell carcinoma (SCC), and to evaluate systematically the experimental and statistical parameters that may impact the degree of consensus among differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between studies. Methods We performed a systematic comparison of 10 studies that applied DNA microarray technology to study BCC/SCC. Results A total of 1133 DEGs collectively reported across the studies were compared, and 64 DEG overlaps were found: 18 DEG overlaps in SCC vs. SCC study comparisons, 18 DEG overlaps in BCC vs. BCC study comparisons and 28 DEG overlaps in BCC vs. SCC study comparisons. We documented differences in several experimental methods that may account for the relative lack of consensus between studies, including sample type, tissue procurement/handling, microarray chip and statistical analysis. The two most dysregulated biological pathways across all studies involved genes with enzymatic and structural/adhesion functions. Conclusions DEGs that were found to overlap across two or more studies and biological pathways with the largest representation of DEGs across studies may be particularly relevant to disease pathogenesis and serve as targets for future therapy. In future work, more consistent experimental methods across laboratories may improve the validity of reported DEGs and strengthen conclusions drawn from microarray data.
Trace Element Concentrations of Iowa Surface Soils

Trace elements in the environment have received considerable attention in recent years. This study was carried out to assess the concentrations of 15 trace elements in 171 representative Iowa surface soils obtained from 30 counties, representing 41 major soil series in Iowa, which constitute 63.5% of the Iowa landscape. This was coupled with analysis of eight major elements. The trace metals were determined either by atomic absorption spectrophotometry or an argon plasma emission spectrometer in soil digests. The ranges, means, median, standard deviations, and frequency distribution of the elements studied are reported. Results showed that, in general, concentrations of the trace elements were significantly correlated (P < 0.01) with those of the major elements studied. With a few exceptions, the concentrations of trace elements were intercorrelated (P < 0.01), suggesting their presence in soils predominantly as mineral constituents.
Thought control strategies in patients with severe obsessive–compulsive disorder: Treatment effects and suicide risk

Abstract Individuals with obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD) often use maladaptive strategies to control intrusive thoughts (e.g., thought suppression) that may paradoxically increase their frequency. Exposure and response prevention (ERP) treatment has been associated with decreased use of these disadvantageous strategies and increased use of advantageous ones. This study examines changes in thought control strategies among patients with severe OCD receiving ERP in an intensive residential setting. Thought suppression has also been associated with suicidality; thus, we tested whether suicide risk moderated changes in thought control from admission to discharge. Consistent with prior research, patients reported decreased use of worry and punishment, and increased use of distraction and social control. Suicide risk moderated changes in the use of distraction, such that high risk patients employed this strategy less frequently at admission, but no group differences remained at discharge. Additionally, only high risk patients increased their use of distraction over treatment. Furthermore, increased use of distraction and decreased use of self-punishment predicted reduced symptoms at discharge. These findings suggest that OCD patients at high risk for suicide may particularly benefit from interventions that facilitate focused distraction from intrusive thoughts. Further, dispositional use of distraction and self-punishment strategies may be worthwhile targets in the treatment of OCD.
Formation of Galactic Halos from Seeded Hot Dark Matter

I summarize work done with Jens V. Villumsen1) on the formation of galactic halos in a flat universe dominated by massive neutrinos. We find that the halos generated are well approximated by isothermal spheres, generating flat rotation curves, in agreement with galactic rotational velocity observations. Further, it affirms the assumption used in the calculation of the Tremaine-Gunn limit2). However, we find that with a massive object dominating the central region the core radius becomes an ill-defined quantity, so with a large fraction of the inner region made up of some other material, such as baryons, it is possible to produce small galaxies with low velocity dispersions.
Essential Role of the SycP Chaperone in Type III Secretion of the YspP Effector

The Ysa type III secretion (T3S) system enhances gastrointestinal infection by Yersinia enterocolitica bv. 1B. One effector protein targeted into host cells is YspP, a protein tyrosine phosphatase. It was determined in this study that the secretion of YspP requires a chaperone, SycP. Genetic analysis showed that deletion of sycP completely abolished the secretion of YspP without affecting the secretion of other Ysps by the Ysa T3S system. Analysis of the secretion and translocation signals of YspP defined the first 73 amino acids to form the minimal region of YspP necessary to promote secretion and translocation by the Ysa T3S system. Function of the YspP secretion/translocation signals was dependent on SycP. Curiously, when YspP was constitutively expressed in Y. enterocolitica bv. 1B, it was recognized and secreted by the Ysc T3S system and the flagellar T3S system. In these cases, the first 21 amino acids were sufficient to promote secretion, and while SycP did enhance secretion, it was not essential. However, neither the Ysc T3S system nor the flagellar T3S system translocated YspP into mammalian cells. This supports a model where SycP confers secretion/translocation specificities for YspP by the Ysa T3S system. A series of biochemical approaches further established that SycP specifically interacts with YspP and protected YspP degradation in the cell prior to secretion. Collectively, the evidence suggests that YspP secretion by the Ysa T3S system is a posttranslational event.
Truth and Equivocation: Liguori's Moral Theology and Newman's Apologia

Newman's Apologia pro vita sua is remembered as a work of literature, a lasting monument of religious autobiography. Yet it was also a work of religious controversy, perhaps the most ephemeral of literary genres. Indeed, it was primarily a work of controversy; Newman, who almost never wrote except for an occasion, had called upon autobiography as the ultimate debating technique in a dispute which had come to center upon the personal honesty of one of the disputants. Truthfulness was pressed into service in an argument which, after all, was about “truth, for its own sake”, as “a virtue with the Roman clergy.” The artfulness of Newman's candour was successful in its purpose; and in the triumphant vindication of his personal integrity, the original controversy was virtually obliterated, leaving behind a work of autobiographical art.
Adaptive network dynamics — Modeling and control of time-dependent social contacts

Real networks consisting of social contacts do not possess static connections. That is, social connections may be time dependent due to a variety of individual behavioral decisions based on current network connections. Examples of adaptive networks occur in epidemics, where information about infectious individuals may change the rewiring of healthy people, or in the recruitment of individuals to a cause or fad, where rewiring may optimize recruitment of susceptible individuals. In this paper, we will review some of the dynamical properties of adaptive networks, and show how they predict novel phenomena as well as yield insight into new controls. The applications will be control of epidemic outbreaks and terrorist recruitment modeling.
Threshold effects of respiratory muscle work on limb vascular resistance

The purpose of this study was to determine whether the human diaphragm, like limb muscle, has a threshold of force output at which a metaboreflex is activated causing systemic vasoconstriction. We ...
Gender and player characteristics in video game play of preadolescents

The present study explores the relation among different characteristics of preadolescents and their video game habits and preferences. Specifically, the predictive power of age, gender, and psychological adjustment on time spent playing video games and game preference was explored. Children ages 10-15 were given two surveys: a video game habits survey and the BASC-II self-report assessment of personality. Results confirm previous findings of significant gender differences in both time spent playing video games and game type preference. For preadolescents, males were found to spend more time overall playing video games, but for both males and females time spent playing increased with age. No relation was found between time spent playing video games and negative psychological adjustment, as assessed by the BASC-II. Game type preference was predicted by several psychological characteristics. For example, females' positive feelings about the self were associated with increased likelihood of electing First Person Shooters as a favored game type, and males' internalizing difficulties were associated with decreased likelihood of electing Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games (MMORPGs). The current findings confirm previous results with preadolescents, an under-studied age group, and lend novel insight into the psychological processes that contribute to video game preference.
hCG-induced loss of LH-hCG receptor and desensitization of adenylate cyclase.

Experimental evidence has been accumulated to support the concept that gonadotropins are involved in the regulation of their own receptors (1–2). Exposure of ovarian follicles to hCG (LH) in vivo or in vitro results in a decline in the capacity of follicles to produce cyclic AMP in response to further hCG (LH) stimulation (3,4). Direct measurement of LH-stimulated adenylate cyclase activity in ovarian follicles and corpora lutea demonstrated that desensitization is due to decreased response of adenylate cyclase to subsequent gonadotropin stimulation (5). Furthermore, studies have shown that the desensitization of hCG-sensitive adenylate cyclase is closely related to the loss of hCG receptors (6,7). The present-report demonstrates that hCG-induced loss of hCG (LH) receptors and desensitization of adenylate cyclase were both time and concentration-dependent and displayed a close correlation.
Psychological Adjustment of Adolescents With Sickle Cell Disease: Relations With Demographic, Medical, and Family Competence Variables

Objective: Investigate the hypothesis that family competence in addressing challenges associated with sickle cell disease (SCD) contributes to adolescents' adjustment. Method: During routine clinic appointments, 80 adolescents (M age = 14.4 years) and their parents independently completed the Self-Report Family Inventory (SFI), which assesses family competence, and measures of adolescent adjustment problems. Information related to disease severity was obtained from clinic files. Results: Regression analyses controlling for demographic and medical variables revealed that higher family competence was associated with fewer internalizing and externalizing behaviors by the adolescent; these relations were particularly true for younger adolescents and for girls. Parental reports of somatic complaints in girls were predicted by parental ratings of family competence. Discussion: Interventions for adolescents with SCD should be family-centered and should focus on strengthening the family's ability to manage stressors associated with parenting an adolescent with a chronic illness.
Using conference servers for sip-based vertical handoff between ip and cellular networks

The Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) is the preferred signaling protocol for creating and terminating multimedia sessions in an IP network. Also, voice over IP is becoming the favored means of voice communication mainly because of its low cost when compared to voice communication over traditional networks like cellular and PSTN. Therefore, seamless transfer of calls or handoff between the traditional and IP networks becomes important.We describe a technique to achieve seamless mid-call handoffs in a scenario where a handoff occurs between the cellular network and the IP network. The technique we describe makes use of a network element acting as an ISDN gateway, SIP conference server and SIP proxy server. We have measured handoff delays from IP to ISDN network and vice-versa. When using the proposed soft-handoff technique, these delays are 0.10 s and 0.02 s, respectively. Finally, we share the results and some of the challenges we faced while implementing the overall mechanism on a dual-mode handset.
Heterogeneity of human adipose blood flow

Background The long time pharmacokinetics of highly lipid soluble compounds is dominated by blood-adipose tissue exchange and depends on the magnitude and heterogeneity of adipose blood flow. Because the adipose tissue is an infinite sink at short times (hours), the kinetics must be followed for days in order to determine if the adipose perfusion is heterogeneous. The purpose of this paper is to quantitate human adipose blood flow heterogeneity and determine its importance for human pharmacokinetics.
Theoretical Investigation of Polarization-Insensitive Multimode Interference Splitters on Silicon-on-Insulator

An ultracompact polarization-insensitive 1times2 multimode interference (MMI) splitter based on silicon-on-insulator is investigated theoretically. The impact of the insulator index on the size of the MMI and the polarization-dependent performance is analyzed. A polarization-insensitive 1times2 MMI splitter of 4 mum by 16.5 mum is shown as an example. Relaxed tolerances on MMI width (> plusmn100 nm) and length (> plusmn0.7 mum) are obtained for both polarizations while the polarization differential loss is kept in range of 0.1 dB and its excess loss is kept below 0.5 dB. In addition, a wide operation wavelength window of 150 nm is obtained for both polarizations as well.
Accelerated Hantzsch electrospray synthesis with temporal control of reaction intermediates

Complex chemical reactions can occur in electrosprayed droplets on the millisecond time scale. The Hantzsch synthesis of 1,4-dihydropyridines was studied in this way using on-line mass spectral analysis to optimize conditions and characterize the product mixture. Changing the distance between the nanospray source and the MS inlet allowed exploration of reaction progress as a function of droplet time-of-flight. Desolvation of the charged microdroplets is associated with transformation from starting material to intermediates and eventually to product as the distance is increased. Results of the on-line experiments require a termination step that discontinuously completes the desolvation process and allows the generated gaseous ions to be used to characterize the state of the system at a particular time. The intermediates seen correspond to those known to occur in the bulk solution-phase reaction. Off-line collection of the sprayed reaction mixture allowed the recovery of 250 mg h−1 of desired reaction product from a single sprayer, permitting characterization by NMR and other standard methods. A thin film version of the accelerated reaction is described and it could be controlled through the temperature of the collection surface.
Gender-dependent differential phosphorylation in the ERK signaling pathway is associated with increased MMP2 activity in rat aortic smooth muscle cells.

Background The present experiments were conducted to explore the role of mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathways, potential upstream regulators of MMPs, in abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAAs). Methods Rat aortic smooth muscle cells (RASMCs) from males and females were treated with media containing interleukin (IL)-1β (2 ng/mL), a concentration known to be present in AAAs. Levels of both total and phosphorylated (activated) extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK), c-Jun amino terminal kinase/stress-activated protein kinase (JNK/SAPK), and p38 were examined by Western blotting at various time intervals up to 60 min. Similar experiments were conducted following exposure of RASMCs to elastase (6 U/mL), a concentration known to induce AAA formation in rodents. Finally, media was assayed for MMP activity by zymography. Results Total ERK (t-ERK) was consistently no different in females compared with males prior to or following IL-1β exposure. In contrast, levels of phosphorylated ERK (p-ERK) were significantly higher in males than females throughout the postexposure period (P Conclusions These data provide evidence implicating alterations in p-ERK signaling via the up-regulation of MMPs as a potential explanation for gender-related discrepancies in AAA formation.
Applying Cost Accounting to Operating Room Staffing in Otolaryngology: Time-Driven Activity-Based Costing and Outpatient Adenotonsillectomy

Objectives(1) To describe the application of a detailed cost-accounting method (time-driven activity-cased costing) to operating room personnel costs, avoiding the proxy use of hospital and provider charges. (2) To model potential cost efficiencies using different staffing models with the case study of outpatient adenotonsillectomy.Study DesignProspective cost analysis case study.SettingTertiary pediatric hospital.Subject and MethodsAll otolaryngology providers and otolaryngology operating room staff at our institution.ResultsTime-driven activity-based costing demonstrated precise per-case and per-minute calculation of personnel costs. We identified several areas of unused personnel capacity in a basic staffing model. Per-case personnel costs decreased by 23.2% by allowing a surgeon to run 2 operating rooms, despite doubling all other staff. Further cost reductions up to a total of 26.4% were predicted with additional staffing rearrangements.ConclusionTime-driven activity-based costing allows detailed und...
Towards Assurance for Plug & Play Medical Systems

Traditional safety-critical systems are designed and integrated by a systems integrator. The system integrator can asses the safety of the completed system before it is deployed. In medicine, there is a desire to transition from the traditional approach to a new model wherein a user can combine various devices post-hoc to create a new composite system that addresses a specific clinical scenario. Ensuring the safety of these systems is challenging: Safety is a property of systems that arises from the interaction of system components and it's not possible to asses overall system safety by assessing a single component in isolation. It is unlikely that end-users will have the engineering expertise or resources to perform safety assessments each time they create a new composite system. In this paper we describe a platform-oriented approach to providing assurance for plug & play medical systems as well as an associated assurance argument pattern.
An Agency Problem Analysis Of United States Vs. Microsoft

The Justice Department's antitrust case against Microsoft Corporation has generated considerable interest and passionate opinions, but in general is not well understood. This paper explains the legal basis and proceedings of the case in language accessible to the business community. At this writing, the appeals court has affirmed the trial court's conclusion that Microsoft violated the law in several respects, but has reversed the breakup remedy prescribed by the trial judge. Accordingly, this article examines, as a practical matter divorced from legal technicalities, whether there should be any further action taken at all, and if so, what the remedy should be. Interpreting the illegal conduct as symptoms of an agency problem leads to the conclusion that individual- based, rather than corporate- based, remedies would be more reasonable.
To Auto Scale or Not to Auto Scale

YinzCam is a cloud-hosted service that provides sports fans with real-time scores, news, photos, statistics, live radio, streaming video, etc., on their mobile devices. YinzCam’s infrastructure is currently hosted on Amazon Web Services (AWS) and supports over 7 million downloads of the official mobile apps of 40+ professional sports teams and venues. YinzCam’s workload is necessarily multi-modal (e.g., pre-game, in-game, postgame, game-day, non-gameday, in-season, off-season) and exhibits large traffic spikes due to extensive usage by sports fans during the actual hours of a game, with normal game-time traffic being twenty-fold of that on nongame days. We discuss the system’s performance in the three phases of its evolution: (i) when we initially deployed the YinzCam infrastructure and our users experienced unpredictable latencies and a large number of errors, (ii) when we enabled AWS’ Auto Scaling capability to reduce the latency and the number of errors, and (iii) when we analyzed the YinzCam architecture and discovered opportunities for architectural optimization that allowed us to provide predictable performance with lower latency, a lower number of errors, and at lower cost, when compared with enabling Auto Scaling.
South Platte River Flow Correlations

It is pointed out that an effective management of the water resources of the South Platte River will require a quantitative prior knowledge of what effects changes will have. A computation method is described for evaluating the effects of changes, and applications to the South Platte are made. The validity of the method is established by checks made against the historic performance of the river. Computations are reduced to arithmetic by preparation of tables. An evaluation of the depletion of the river due to pumping has been made and the depletion has been found to approximate one-fifth of the yield of the watershed. Computations indicate that the response of river flow to shutting down of wells will be so sluggish that attempts to put the wells directly into the priority system will be both ineffective and dangerous. The surface and ground waters of the Valley are one water supply.
Should Fermi Have Secured His Water Heater

A common student response to quantitative questions without obvious answers is “I have no idea.” Often these questions can be addressed by Fermi estimation, in which a difficult‐to‐estimate quantity is estimated by combining order of magnitude estimates of easier‐to‐estimate quantities. Although this approach is commonly used for numerical estimates, it can be applied to issues combining science and policy. Either application involves dividing an issue into tractable components and addressing them separately. To learn this method, our natural hazards seminar considered a statement by the Illinois Emergency Management Agency that homeowners should secure water heaters to prevent them from being damaged by earthquakes. We divided this question into subtopics, researched each, and discussed them to reach a synthesis. We estimated the net benefit: the difference between the expected value of damage and the cost of securing. This benefit is positive, indicating that securing is worthwhile, only if the probability of damage during the heater’s life is relatively large, approximately 1%–10%. To assess whether the actual probability is likely to be this high, we assume that major heater damage is likely only for shaking with modified Mercalli intensity VIII (“heavy furniture overturned”) or greater. Intensity data for 200 years of Illinois earthquakes show that this level was reached only in the southernmost part of the state for the 1811–1812 New Madrid earthquakes. As expected, the highest known shaking generally decreases northward toward Chicago, consistent with the fact that we find no cases of earthquake‐toppled water heaters in Illinois. We compared the rate of return on securing a water heater in Chicago to buying a lottery ticket when the jackpot is large and found the latter a better investment. This project let us explore ideas that might otherwise have seemed abstract and difficult to grasp, and suggests that other courses might consider similar projects.
Synthesis of Colloidal Au–Cu2S Heterodimers via Chemically Triggered Phase Segregation of AuCu Nanoparticles

The reaction of colloidal AuCu nanoparticles with dissolved sul-fur and bubbling oxygen in oleyl-amine at 172 °C yields phase-segregated colloidal Au−Cu2S het-erodimers. This prototype system demonstrates an alternative route to colloidal hybrid nanoparticles, which applies element-selective chemical reactions to alloy nanoparticles with preprogrammed compositions.
Autonomic control of the pelvic circulation: In vivo and in vitro studies in pregnant and nonpregnant sheep

Pregnancy alters the autonomic control of the peripheral circulation. Present in vivo and in vitro studies were designed to investigate the mechanisms of these alterations. In the in vivo studies, pelvic and systemic circulatory responses to intro-arterial and intravenous injections of agonists were monitored in unanesthetized pregnant and nonpregnant ewes. In in vitro studies, a comparison was made of responses to transmural nerve stimulation (TNS) and to norepinephrine (NE) of different blood vessels obtained from pregnant and nonpregnant owes. The results were the following: (1) Pelvic vascular response to all vasoactive stimuli was considerably more depressed during pregnancy than was systemic circulatory response. (2) In vitro reactivity to alpha-derenergic stimulation with NE of different blood vessels obtained from pregnant animals was similar to that of vessels from nonpregnant animals. (3) The response to TNS of blood vessels obtained from pregnant ewes was less than that of vessels from nonpregnant ewes. The conclusions were that (a) the diminished response of the peripheral circulation to vasoactive stimuli during pregnancy is probably largely related to dilution of a given dose of the stimulus in the greater blood volume and flow; and (b) the increased neurogenic tone of the peripheral circulation during pregnancy is most likely related to increased nerve firing rather than neural density in the vessel walls.
Are MIS students learning what they need to land a job

The issue of declining IS enrollments is so troublesome that even ACM/AIS has redesigned its recommended curriculum in an attempt to reverse this trend [1]. Although all majors in most accredited Business Schools are required to take the Introduction to IS course, the real or perceived value of this course is unclear. This paper looks at the real or perceived value of the content of the Introduction to Information Systems course and the possible impact on declining enrollments.
Longitudinal Effects of Religious Media on Opposition to Same-Sex Marriage

Religion and anti-gay prejudice in the United States are closely connected. Yet we still know little about the specific mechanisms through which religious subcultures may shape adherents’ attitudes toward gays and lesbians. This study considers religious media consumption as a unique mechanism through which religious Americans are socialized and embedded within an anti-gay religious subculture. Drawing on panel data from the nationally-representative Portraits of American Life Study, and focusing on opposition to same-sex marriage as a measure of anti-gay prejudice, analyses show that more frequent consumption of religious radio and TV (but not internet) is associated with higher levels of opposition to same-sex marriage over time. These effects remain significant with different model specifications as well as controls for previous attitudes toward same-sex marriage, general media use, sociodemographic and religious characteristics, and intimate contact with gays and lesbians. We propose that consuming religious media over time may influence Americans’ views toward LGBT issues directly through explicit messages about homosexuality and indirectly by embedding Americans within a broader religious subculture (largely, conservative Protestantism) that opposes homosexuality.
The effect of certificate-of-need laws on hospital beds and healthcare expenditures: an empirical analysis.

OBJECTIVE To estimate the effect of certificate-of-need legislation on hospital bed supply and healthcare expenditures. STUDY DESIGN This study uses state data on several variables, including healthcare expenditures, hospital bed supply, and the existence of a certificate-of-need program, from 4 periods (1985, 1990, 1995, and 2000). METHODS We estimate 2 multivariate regression equations. In the first equation, hospital bed supply is the dependent variable, and certificate of need is included as an independent variable. In the second equation, healthcare expenditures is the dependent variable, and hospital bed supply and certificate of need are included as independent variables. RESULTS Certificate-of-need laws have reduced the number of hospital beds by about 10% and have reduced healthcare expenditures by almost 2%. Certificate-of-need programs did not have a direct effect on healthcare expenditures. CONCLUSION Certificate-of-need programs have limited the growth in the supply of hospital beds, and this has led to a slight reduction in the growth of healthcare expenditures.
The Cultural Dimension: How We Understand Preterm Birth

This chapter examines the cultural view, or set of shared understandings, held in the U.S. about preterm birth. Childbirth is understood to be a medical phenomenon; medical authorities guide the interpretation of the childbirth experience, and provide interventions that are supposed to guarantee a successful birth. The medicalized view of childbirth is situated in a broader framework of social reproduction, which is the way a society determines how it will continue across generations. Within the framework of social reproduction in the U.S., fetuses are believed to have an independent existence beginning early in pregnancy, and mothers are thought to be responsible for the outcomes of their pregnancies and for the progress of their children through adulthood. Beliefs about preterm birth in the U.S. reinforce the medicalization framework, and also shift the responsibility from medical authorities to mothers if pregnancy outcomes are not successful. Understandings of preterm birth also support the belief that fetuses exist independent of their mothers, while the compassion generated in the context of care of preterm newborns echoes the cultural premise that such emotions are appropriate for the care of children, while they are inappropriate in other social spheres. There are many similarities between the U.S. and other countries in the cultural views of medicalized childbirth and social reproduction, but there is also more stigmatization of reproduction among specific subgroups in the U.S., so that successful reproduction is thought to be more of an individual than a society-wide concern.