cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
The Culinary Origins of Human Occupation: Part 2 (Communication and Interaction Skills)

In a previous paper (Ellerin, 2013), the concept of energy metabolism was introduced as the central theme of evolutionary biology and thus an essential component of a biological understanding of human occupation. As noted there, the threat to the food supply that compelled the Plio-Pleistocene ancestors of human beings to adopt meat-eating prompted the development of stone tool technology. The fabrication and use of stone tools selected for motor and process skills that would later prove essential for occupational activity. This paper describes how tool skills, like genes, need to be transmitted between group members and between generations to ensure species survival, for which the development of language, sociability, and a propensity to learn, all assisted by a prolonged period of postpartum dependency, were crucial elements in the development of the communication and interaction skills that would later complete the cardinal occupational skill set of human beings. Tool manufacture and tool use cultivate...
THE ETHICAL CONSULTANT

ABSTRACT Students in a business calculus class were asked to serve as consultants for a troubled candy company. Their duties included interviewing a company representative, from whom they extracted the information for a relatively standard calculus extremum problem. The students' reports, turned in as homework, reflected their ability to distinguish useful from irrelevant information, solve the extremum problem, and reconcile the mathematical solution with the ethical considerations of the hypothetical candy company.
Statistical issues in neutralizing antibodies

Frequently the question of the effects of neutralizing antibodies (NAbs) is stated, but not clearly. Some ask: “Are we sure NAbs are important?” And others ask: “Are we sure NAbs are NOT important?” These two questions can lead to different statistical designs and different approaches to the investigation of the impact of NAbs. In addition, one must consider the time frame in which the question is relevant. During a 6-month period, one may see divergent curves, but if they come together at 2 years, is the short-term benefit or risk really important? If there are no differences at 6 months, does that mean NAbs are not important? Both of these questions are obviously, just that, questions. Short-term studies do not answer long-term questions and vice versa. Therefore, from a design perspective, more specificity in the question is key. How the question is stated is important. Is the hypothesis the presence of NAbs worsens the effectiveness of the treatment, or is the hypothesis the presence of NAbs does not worsen the treatment effectiveness? Each of these hypotheses, although similar in nature and inference, leads to different study designs. In the first hypothesis, this is a one-sided test that looks for an increase in worsening among NAb+ patients vs NAb− patients. This is a standard null hypothesis, and the design would compute a response rate or average outcome variable for patients who develop NAb+ vs NAb− and would test the response to treatment between these groups. Although this is not a randomized trial, because we cannot assign patients to be NAb+ or NAb−, we nevertheless can make these comparisons, with the clear caution that we are only looking for associations and not cause. This classic hypothesis and study design is not capable of demonstrating causation. Whatever characteristics are associated with developing NAb+ …
Electromagnetic reflection from a conducting surface: Geometrical optics solution

The reflection of electromagnetic waves from a smooth conducting surface at high frequencies is studied in this paper. Both the incident and reflected fields are expanded in asymptotic series of the form E = exp [iks(r)]\Sigma\min{m=0}\max{\infty}(ik)^{-m}e_{m}(r) , where s is the phase function, and { e_{m} } are amplitude vectors. Explicit formulas based on a ray technique are given for calculating the first two orders of the electric field, magnetic field, and surface current. When the conducting surface is a paraboloid (or a sphere) and the incident field is a plane wave in its axial direction, our solution recovers the exact solution (or the first two orders of the exact asymptotic solution), As a special case, our result is compared with the work of Schensted. It appears that the latter is only partially correct.
Slag-Refractory Interaction in Slagging Coal Gasifiers

The combustion chamber of slagging coal gasifiers is lined with refractories to protect the steel shell of the gasifier from elevated temperatures and corrosive attack of the coal slag. Refractories composed primarily of Cr2O3 have been found most resistant to slag corrosion, but they continue to fail performance requirements. Post-mortem analysis of high-chromia refractory bricks collected from commercial gasifiers suggests that slag penetration and subsequent spalling of refractory are the cause of the short service life of gasifier refractories [1]. Laboratory tests were conducted to determine the penetration depth of three slags representative of a wide variety of coals in the United States into chromia-alumina and two high-chromia refractories. Variables tested were refractory-slag combinations and two partial pressures of O2. Slag penetration depths were measured from spliced images of each refractory. Samples heated to 1470°C for 2 hrs had maximum penetration depths ranging from 1.99±0.15 mm to at least 21.6 mm. Aurex 95P, a highchromia refractory containing 3.3% phosphorous pentoxide (P2O5), showed the least slag penetration of all refractories tested. P2O5 likely reacts with CaO and MgO in the slag, forming an immiscible Ca-Mg phosphate phase. The extraction of basic components from slag causes an increase in slag viscosity restricting the molten slag penetration into the refractory.
A study of time reversal violation in two mechanisms through spin dependent total cross section measurements

Abstract In the minimal standard model, MSM, if CP violation is included via the CKM matrix, spin dependent cross sections odd under time-reversal vanish. However these cross sections are not necessarily zero if the MSM is extended to include new CP violating mechanisms, e.g., through the exchange of neutral or charged Higgs bosons. Thus a precision measurement of T-odd total cross sections using polarized beams and targets could be a valuable test of time-reversal asymmetries and their mechanisms.
Inviscid hypersonic flow around blunt bodies

Nonequilibrium flow, angles of attack and vapor injection effects on subsonic flow field of blunt body
Insulin Receptors in Human Circulating Lymphocytes: Application to the Study of Insulin Resistance in Man

125I-insulin binds to circulating human lymphocytes and is displaced by unlabeled insulin. We have compared the binding and displacement curves of 125I-insulin from the circulating lymphocytes of normal subjects with those of insulin resistant obese and acromegalic patients and insulin sensitive hypopituitary subjects. The initial 125I-insulin binding (maximal percent 125I-insulin bound) for normal subjects had a mean value of 2.9 ng/ml (range 1.9–3.4) per 70 × 106 cells which is not statistically different from the other patient groups. For the normals, the [Insulin]-50% inhibition 125I-insulin bound (that concentration of insulin necessary to inhibit 50% of the maximal binding) had a mean value of 8.4 ng/ml (range 6.0–12.0 ng/ml). This value is significantly different from the obese patients but not from the acromegalic or the hypopituitary subjects. If the circulating lymphocyte mirrors the changes seen in the major metabolic sites of insulin action, these data suggest that an alteration in the insulin...
Refractory hypoxemia in inferior myocardial infarction from right-to-left shunting through a patent foramen ovale: A case report and review of the literature

Right ventricular (RV) infarction is a well-recognized complication of some acute inferior myocardial infarctions. Recently, there have been numerous case reports of RV infarctions complicated by severe refractory hypoxemia secondary to right-to-left shunting through a patent foramen ovale. An additional case missed by transthoracic echocardiography and cardiac catheterization is reported and the English literature on the subject is reviewed.
Growth mode of tin on a niobium substrate

Abstract The initial stages of the growth of a tin film on a clean niobium substrate have been studied. The tin was evaporated slowly and the Auger signals of both the substrate and the tin overlayer were monitored as a function of the exposure time. The experimental results have been plotted as an AA– t plot for comparison with theoretical models of the different possible modes of the growth of films. The plot was also used to determine the attenuation length of the Sn and Nb Auger electrons.
Product market advertising and new equity issues

Abstract We analyze the interaction between a firm's product market advertising and its corporate financing decisions. We consider a firm that faces asymmetric information in both the product and financial markets and that needs to raise external financing to fund its growth opportunity (new project). Any product market advertising undertaken by the firm is visible to the financial market as well. In equilibrium, the firm uses a combination of product market advertising, equity underpricing, and underfinancing (raising a smaller amount of external capital than the full information optimum) to convey its true product quality and the intrinsic value of its projects to consumers and investors. The following two predictions arise from our theoretical analysis for the relation between product market advertising and equity underpricing around new equity issues. First, firms choose a higher level of product market advertising when they are planning to issue new equity, compared with situations in which they have no immediate plans to do so. Second, product market advertising and equity underpricing are substitutes for a firm issuing new equity. We empirically test the above two predictions and find supporting evidence in the context of firms making initial public offerings and seasoned equity offerings.
Synthesis of nanocomposite thin films with self-assembled structures by pulsed ion beam ablation of MoS2 target

Abstract Nanocomposite films with unusual structures were synthesized by ablating a molybdenum disulfide target with pulsed intense ion beams and depositing the films on substrates kept at 573 K. Microstructure of the films was comprised of 10–100 nm size pure molybdenum boulders in an amorphous matrix of Mo and S, instead of a single homogeneous phase. Tribological studies indicate that frictional contact during the initial run-in period can transform the amorphous matrix into crystalline MoS 2 with basal planes oriented along the direction of sliding. The films appear to have potential for low friction and low wear applications in harsh environments.
ACM SIGPLAN history of programming languages conference SIMULA language summary

SIMULA was conceived in the early sixties by Ole-Johan Dahl and Kristen Nygaard of the Norwegian Computing Center [3 ]. The most prevalent version of the language today is SlMULA-67 [1].SIMULA was designed for system description and system simulation. A system in this case is a collection of interdependent elements with a common goal [4]. A natural way to simulate a system is to describe the life cycle scenarios of its elements. This approach combines the local attributes of elements and the protocols for inter-element communication into a single structure. Elements may exist for the duration of the simulation or be created and destroyed during its course.
The Structure Evolution of a 99.995 Percent High Purity Aluminum during Multi-Forging Process in Room Temperature

In this study, a purity of 99.995percent high purity aluminum was multi-directionally forged up to a maximum cumulative strain of 4.5 at room temperature. The macro and micro structure evolution in the multi-directionally forge process was investigated by structure observations and hardness measurements. The results show that the inhomogeneous deformation of multi-directional forging results in that the structure and hardness is quite different between the easy deformation zone and stagnant zone. Dynamic recrystallization occurs in easy deformation zone of high purity aluminum sample at room temperature as the cumulative true strain is 1.5 (3 forging passes), while the structure in the stagnant zone is still not recrystallizated even at a cumulative true strain of 4.5 (9 forging passes). The recrystallized grain size in the easy deformation zone is reduced with the number of forging passes, and the area of recrystallize grains increase with the number of forging passes.
Numerical Modeling of Turbulent Flow and Heat Transfer Within a Bayonet Tube

This paper presents a numerical study of turbulent flow and heat transfer in a bayonet tube under steady state. First, various turbulent models and wall treatment methods have been tested and validated against the experimental result from a turbulent air jet. The proper combination of turbulent model and wall treatment is then recommended for the turbulent flow within a bayonet tube. The study focuses on the heat transfer performance at the interface of working fluid and the outer tube wall under different Reynolds numbers. Various geometry parameters are considered in this work and the impact of geometry on the heat transfer performance is investigated. Results indicate that the heat transfer at the bottom of the bayonet tube is enhanced compared with that at the straight part. At low Re (< 8000), the maximum Nu occurs at the stagnation point, while the position of the maximum Nu moves away from the stagnant point as Re exceeds 8000. The results are believed to be helpful for the optimized design of a bayonet tube with fully turbulent flows.Copyright © 2007 by ASME
Estradiol enhances Akt activation in cortical explant cultures following neuronal injury

We have previously demonstrated that estradiol reduces cell death in cortical explant cultures following injury induced by metabolic inhibition in a receptor-dependent fashion. In this study, we examined whether cell death involves apoptosis and assessed the potential mediators of estradiol’s actions. Cortical explant cultures were generated from postnatal day 3 rat pups. On day 7 in vitro, explants were injured by exposure to 1 mM 2-DG/2 mM KCN for 2 h to model the metabolic inhibition observed during ischemia. Explants were fixed in 4% paraformaldehyde at 2, 6, 10 and 24 h following the injury period and 18-μm thick sections were cut on a cryostat and stained with cresyl violet to assess cell death. The same sections were also labeled by TUNEL to determine whether cell death occurred by apoptosis. Other sections were used for immunohistochemistry to determine whether cells that stained positive for activated caspase 3 were also immunopositive for NeuN, a neuronal marker, or GFAP, an astrocyte marker. Protein was extracted for Western blot analysis from a separate set of explants collected at 0, 0.5, 1, 2 and 4 h following the conclusion of the injury. Estradiol treatment significantly reduced the number of cells undergoing apoptotic cell death as indicated by nuclear condensation visualized by cresyl violet staining (P<0.05). TUNEL staining revealed that the majority of pyknotic and fragmented nuclei were also TUNEL positive. Furthermore, caspase 3 activation appeared to be restricted to neurons. To examine a possible mechanism by which estradiol prevents apoptosis, we examined the level of activation of Akt kinase, which mediates antiapoptotic signals. Potential activation was measured by phosphorylation of Akt at Ser473 by Western blot analysis. In the absence of estradiol, pAkt levels were significantly increased at 2 h following the termination of injury. Explants that were pretreated with estradiol exhibited elevated levels of pAkt at 1 h following injury. Treatment with ICI 182,780 prevented the effect of estradiol. These studies suggest that estradiol prevents injury-induced apoptosis and that Akt activation may mediate these protective effects.
Public Report Cards for In-Hospital Cardiac Arrest Empowering the Public With Location-Specific Data

Each year, there are ≈200 000 cardiac arrests in hospitalized patients in the United States1 and survival rates remain very poor. Article see p 1415 In this issue of Circulation , Kolte et al2 present new findings about regional variability in resuscitation rates and outcomes across the United States. The authors reviewed records of >800 000 in-hospital cardiac arrest (IHCA) events from 2003 to 2011, and identified that cardiac arrest in hospitalized patients was common with an incidence of 2.85/1000 admissions. Most notably, they reported significant variability in IHCA across states with a nearly 6-fold difference in incidence and 2-fold difference in outcomes. With this substantial variance across states, it is likely that the differences within states are even greater. These findings are disturbing and clearly signal that where you live and where you arrest matter. As with any good study, this work raises more questions than it answers. Namely, what are the factors driving this variability and how can we narrow the gap between which hospitalized patients live and which die? Ultimately, this information is critically important to patients for making informed decisions about the locations where they receive health care. First, this variability could be driven by differences in hospital capabilities. Clearly hospitals vary in the services they provide, areas of excellence, and approach to the management of critically ill patients. Differences across hospitals could relate to structural variables (eg, size, staffing ratios, teaching status) and process variables (eg, targeted temperature management, emergency cardiopulmonary bypass). Comprehensive strategies for cardiac arrest management at resuscitation-specific centers may also apply bundles of care that could collectively rather than individually impact …
Leucocyte response to the injection of leucogenenol in rabbits and mice.

Joan Lepick for the results on mice. * Supported in part by Research Career Development Award GM-19,470, U. S. Public Health Service. et al, 1948) or a Coulter counter. Wright' s stain was used for differential counts (Stitt et al, 1948). The number of neutrophils, lymphocytes, eosinophils, basophils, and monocytes was determined by twice counting 100 cells, usually by each of 2 individuals. If duplicate counts of both neutrophils and lymphocytes agreed within 5 cells, the counts were averaged. In case of a disagreement of over 5 cells, 2 additional counts were made and the results
Acculturation and Depressive Symptoms in Hispanic Older Adults: Does Perceived Ethnic Density Moderate their Relationship?

The negative impact of low acculturation on mental health in Hispanic older adults is widely known. The current study examined whether this association varied by a perceived density of people with same racial/ethnic backgrounds in neighborhoods. We hypothesized that the negative impact of low acculturation on mental health would be pronounced when they lived in neighborhoods with a low density of Hispanics. Using data from the Sacramento Area Latino Study on Aging (n = 1,267), hierarchical regression models of depressive symptoms were estimated with sets of predictors: (1) demographic variables, (2) acculturation, (3) perceived density of Hispanics in neighborhoods, and (4) an interaction between acculturation and perceived density of Hispanics. Supporting the hypothesis, the impact of acculturation on depressive symptoms was found to be moderated by the perceived density of Hispanics in neighborhoods. Findings suggest the importance of neighborhood characteristics in the lives of immigrant older adults.
The control of turbulent end-wall boundary layers using surface suction

An experimental evaluation of the effects of spatially-limited (i.e. localized) surface suction on a turbulent junction flow was performed using Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV). The results indicate that surface suction can (1) weaken both the instantaneous turbulent vortex and its associated surface interactions in the symmetry plane, (2) effectively eliminate the presence of the average turbulent necklace vortex in the symmetry plane, and (3) weaken the average downstream extensions of the vortex. It was also established that suction effectively reduces the low frequency component of the Reynolds-stress in both the symmetry plane and trailing-edge cross-stream planes, and stabilizes the behavior of the trailing vortex legs.
Analysis of human ITPase nucleobase specificity by site-directed mutagenesis

Inosine triphosphate (ITP) pyrophosphohydrolase, or ITPase, is an intracellular enzyme that is responsible for the hydrolysis of the acidic anhydride bond between the alpha and beta phosphates in ITP, and other noncanonical nucleoside triphosphates, producing the corresponding nucleoside monophosphate and pyrophosphate. This activity protects the cell by preventing noncanonical nucleoside triphosphates from accumulating in (deoxy) nucleoside triphosphate ((d)NTP) pools and/or being integrated into nucleic acids. This enzyme is encoded by the ITPA gene in mammals. It has been reported that Itpa homozygous-null knock-out mice die before weaning and have gross cardiac abnormalities. Additionally, certain variations in the human ITPA gene have been linked to adverse reactions to the immunosuppressive prodrugs azathioprine and 6-mercaptopurine and protection against ribavirin-induced hemolytic anemia. These drugs are bioactivated to form noncanonical nucleoside triphosphates. Human ITPase enzymes engineered to modulate nucleobase specificity may be valuable tools for studying the role of ITPase in heart development and drug metabolism or developing gain-of-function mutants or inhibitory molecules. Based on x-ray crystallography and amino acid sequence data, a panel of putative human ITPase nucleobase specificity mutants has been generated. We targeted eight highly conserved amino acid positions within the ITPase sequence that correspond to amino acids predicted to directly interact with the nucleobase or help organize the nucleobase binding pocket. The ability of the mutants to protect against exogenous and endogenous noncanonical purines was tested with two Escherichia coli complementation assays. Nucleobase specificity of the mutants was investigated with an in vitro biochemical assay using ITP, GTP and ATP as substrates. This methodology allowed us to identify gain-of-function mutants and categorize the eight amino acid positions according to their ability to protect against noncanonical purines as follows: Glu-22, Trp-151 and Arg-178, essential for protection; Phe-149, Asp-152, Lys-172 and Ser-176, intermediate protection; His-177, dispensable for protection against noncanonical purines.
Cosmological perturbation theory using the Schrodinger equation

We introduce the theory of nonlinear cosmological perturbations using the correspondence limit of the Schrodinger equation. The resulting formalism is equivalent to using the collisionless Boltzmann (or Vlasov) equations, which remain valid during the whole evolution, even after shell crossing. Other formulations of perturbation theory explicitly break down at shell crossing, e.g., Eulerean perturbation theory, which describes gravitational collapse in the fluid limit. This Letter lays the groundwork by introducing the new formalism, calculating the perturbation theory kernels that form the basis of all subsequent calculations. We also establish the connection with conventional perturbation theories, by showing that third-order tree-level results, such as bispectrum, skewness, cumulant correlators, and three-point function, are exactly reproduced in the appropriate expansion of our results. We explicitly show that cumulants up to N = 5 predicted by Eulerian perturbation theory for the dark matter field δ are exactly recovered in the corresponding limit. A logarithmic mapping of the field naturally arises in the Schrodinger context, which means that tree-level perturbation theory translates into (possibly incomplete) loop corrections for the conventional perturbation theory. We show that the first loop correction for the variance is σ2 = σ + (-1.14 - n)σ for a field with spectral index n. This yields 1.86 and 0.86 for n = -3 and -2, respectively, to be compared with the exact loop order corrections 1.82 and 0.88. Thus, our tree-level theory recovers the dominant part of first-order loop corrections of the conventional theory, while including (partial) loop corrections to infinite order in terms of δ.
On a kinetic formulation of elasto-viscoplasticity

Abstract A kinetic formulation of elasto-viscoplasticity is proposed. It consists ofa non-linear Maxwell-like viscoelastic constitutive equation (CE) that describes the evolution of the recoverable (elastic) part of the total Finger strain tensor, a thermodynamic formulation of stress tensor dependence on the elastic strain tensor, and a kinetic equation for a scalar “bonding” factor. The set of CEs does not contain any mathematical yield criterion but predicts anisotropic yield values for stress as a transition from solid-like deformations to flow through a bifurcation. The set of CEs proposed is shown to be globally Hadamard stable. The dissipative stability is also discussed briefly. In the case when the elastic strains are sufficiently small, the second-order approach is developed. Within this approach, several problems of simple shearing are analyzed to illustrate the model behavior.
Production of near-zero-energy projectile-frame protons in H + 2 -He collisions at 4 keV

The dominant processes for producing near-zero-energy projectile-frame protons in H{sub 2}{sup +}-He collisions at 4-keV ion energy have been experimentally identified. The 1{ital s}{sigma}{sub {ital u}} to 2{ital p}{pi}{sub {ital u}} and 3{ital d}{sigma}{sub {ital g}} transitions that produce these protons occur at internuclear separations of the H{sub 2}{sup +} ion that are 2.5--3 times the equilibrium separation.
A micromechanics model for the prediction of static strength of off-axis unidirectional laminates

In this paper a micromechanics model using the concentric cylinder assemblage model and the Mori-Tanaka average stress scheme is used to predict the static strength of unidirectional angle ply laminates. The predicted strengths agree with experimental results for Glass/Epoxy and Graphite/Epoxy systems.
The PMD effect in OSNR monitoring

Polarization-mode dispersion (PMD) effect on monitoring optical signal-to-noise ratio (OSNR) by polarization-nulling technique has been investigated. Without PMD, the maximum and minimum optical power is measured using the polarization-nulling method to provide accurate OSNR. Due to the difference in arrival time for the two component pulses, it is impossible to transfer the pulse to a linear polarization state. The output power after the polarizer will depend on both OSNR and differential group delay (DGD). It is shown that the accuracy of the polarization-nulling method can be reduced significantly by PMD. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 44: 558–560, 2005; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/mop.20696
SUDDEN DEATH IN THE FRAMINGHAM HEART STUDY DIFFERENCES IN INCIDENCE AND RISK FACTORS BY SEX AND CORONARY DISEASE STATUS

The frequency of and risk factors for sudden death in men and women with and without prior coronary heart disease were investigated in the population-based Framingham Heart Study. The cohort initially consisted of 2,336 men and 2,873 women. Over 26 years, 146 men died suddenly (46% of all male coronary heart disease deaths). A total of 69 men without and 77 men with prior evidence of coronary heart disease were victims of sudden death. Out of 50 sudden deaths in women (34% of female coronary heart disease deaths), 34 occurred in women without prior coronary disease and 16 in women with prior coronary disease. Incidence rates for sudden death were substantially greater in men than in women and in both men and women with, as opposed to without, prior coronary heart disease. The classic coronary heart disease risk factors, left ventricular hypertrophy, age, serum cholesterol, number of cigarettes smoked daily, relative weight, and systolic blood pressure, emerged from multiple logistic regression analysis of sudden death in men without prior coronary heart disease. However, in men with prior coronary disease, only left ventricular hypertrophy and intraventricular block, and no other classic risk factors, were positive predictors of sudden death. For women without prior coronary disease, significant factors were age, vital capacity, hematocrit, serum cholesterol (marginal), and serum glucose (marginal). In women with prior coronary disease, only hematocrit was a consistent predictor. Reasons for the substantial differences in sudden death risk profiles between men and women are not entirely clear, but limitations in data may partially account for these sex differences.
Inverted papilloma of renal pelvis:Flexible ureteroscopic diagnosis and treatment

A case is reported of inverted papilloma of the renal pelvis in a patient with previous transitional cell carcinoma of the bladder. The renal pelvic lesion was diagnosed and treated with a flexible ureteropyeloscope. Although nephroureterectomy was avoided, the patient must be carefully followed endoscopically and radiographically for recurrence of lesions throughout the urinary tract. This case represents the first report of the endoscopic diagnosis and treatment of an inverted papilloma of the renal pelvis. It demonstrates the vast potential for endoscopic diagnosis, treatment, and surveillance throughout the urinary tract.
The validity of self-reported smoking: a review and meta-analysis.

OBJECTIVES. The purpose of this study was to identify circumstances in which biochemical assessments of smoking produce systematically higher or lower estimates of smoking than self-reports. A secondary aim was to evaluate different statistical approaches to analyzing variation in validity estimates. METHODS. Literature searches and personal inquiries identified 26 published reports containing 51 comparisons between self-reported behavior and biochemical measures. The sensitivity and specificity of self-reports of smoking were calculated for each study as measures of accuracy. RESULTS. Sensitivity ranged from 6% to 100% (mean = 87.5%), and specificity ranged from 33% to 100% (mean = 89.2%). Interviewer-administered questionnaires, observational studies, reports by adults, and biochemical validation with cotinine plasma were associated with higher estimates of sensitivity and specificity. CONCLUSIONS. Self-reports of smoking are accurate in most studies. To improve accuracy, biochemical assessment, prefera...
Fragmented inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate receptors retain tetrameric architecture and form functional Ca2+ release channels.

Inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate receptor isoforms are a family of ubiquitously expressed ligand-gated channels encoded by three individual genes. The proteins are localized to membranes of intracellular Ca2+ stores and play pivotal roles in Ca2+ homeostasis. Previous studies have demonstrated that IP3R1 is cleaved by the intracellular proteases calpain and caspase both in vivo and in vitro. However, the resultant cleavage products are poorly defined, and the functional consequences of these proteolytic events are not fully understood. We demonstrate that IP3R1 is cleaved during staurosporine-induced apoptosis, yielding N-terminal fragments encompassing the ligand-binding domain and the majority of the central modulatory domain together with a C-terminal fragment containing the channel domain and cytosolic tail. Notably, these fragments remain associated with the membrane after initiation of apoptotic cleavage. Furthermore, when recombinant IP3R1 fragments, corresponding to those predicted to be generated by caspase or calpain cleavage, are stably coexpressed in cells, they physically associate and form functional channels. These data provide novel insights regarding the regulation of IP3R1 during proteolysis and provide direct evidence that polypeptide continuity is not required for IP3R activation and Ca2+ release.
Teaching in the Electronic Boardroom

Managers spend a significant portion of their time working in groups. Recent advantages in information technology have led to the development of computer-based tools to make group meetings more pro...
Retrieval of atmospheric temperature and moisture pro .les from hyperspectral sounding data using a projected principal components transform and a neural network

A novel statistical method for the retrieval of atmospheric temperature and moisture profiles has been developed and evaluated with simulated clear-air hyperspectral sounding data. The algorithm is imple- mented in two stages. First, a Projected Principal Components (PPC) trans- form is used to reduce the dimensionality of and optimally extract geophys- ical profile information from the spectral radiance data. Second, a multi- layer feedforward neural network (NN) is used to estimate the desired geo- physical parameters from the projected principal components. The perfor- mance of this method (henceforth referred to as the PPC/NN method) was evaluated using simulated clear-air observations from the 2378-channel At- mospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS). One particularly noteworthy result of the present work is a comparative study between the PPC/NN method and an iterated minimum-variance (IMV) method. The retrieval performance of the PPC/NN algorithm exceeds that of the IMV method over most of the atmosphere while requiring less computation. The retrieval performance of both the PPC/NN and IMV methods is significantly better than that of linear regression.
Nontuberculous mycobacterial disease mortality in the United States, 1999-2010: a population-based comparative study.

Background Environmental nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) are ubiquitous organisms with which humans commonly interact. The epidemiologic characteristics of NTM diseases including mortality rate and its associated factors remain largely unknown. In this study, we explored the geographical area of exposure and mortality and comorbid conditions of affected persons to determine environment, host, and host-pathogen interactive factors. Methods We analyzed mortality related to nontuberculous mycobacterial infections from 1999 through 2010 by examining multiple-cause-of-death data from the National Center for Health Statistics. Among those who died with these diseases, we analyzed age-adjusted mortality rates, trends, associations with demographic variables, and comorbid conditions and correlated this information with similar data for tuberculosis-related mortality during the same time. Measurements and Mean Results From 1999 through 2010, nontuberculous mycobacterial disease was reported as an immediate cause of death in 2,990 people in the United States with a combined overall mean age-adjusted mortality rate of 0.1 per 100,000 person-years. A significant increase in the number of NTM related deaths was seen from 1999 through 2010 (R2 = 0.72, p<0.0001), but it was not significant after adjustment for age. Persons aged 55 years and older, women, those living in Hawaii and Louisiana, and those of non-Hispanic, white ethnicity had higher mortality rates. Compared to tuberculosis-related mortality, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, bronchiectasis, HIV, interstitial lung diseases, and tobacco use were significantly more common in persons with nontuberculous mycobacteria-related deaths. Conclusions Nontuberculous mycobacteria-related death numbers are rising and are unevenly distributed. The strong association of nontuberculous mycobacterial disease with age suggests that its prevalence will increase as the United States population ages.
Generalized scoring rules and the frequency of coalitional manipulability

We introduce a class of voting rules called generalized scoring rules. Under such a rule, each vote generates a vector of k scores, and the outcome of the voting rule is based only on the sum of these vectors---more specifically, only on the order (in terms of score) of the sum's components. This class is extremely general: we do not know of any commonly studied rule that is not a generalized scoring rule.We then study the coalitional manipulation problem for generalized scoring rules. We prove that under certain natural assumptions, if the number of manipulators is O(np) (for any p 1/2) and o(n), then the probability that a random profile is manipulable (to any possible winner under the voting rule) is 1--O(e--Ω(n2p--1)). We also show that common voting rules satisfy these conditions (for the uniform distribution). These results generalize earlier results by Procaccia and Rosenschein as well as even earlier results on the probability of an election being tied.
The Jalapeño virtual machine

Jalapeno is a virtual machine for JavaTM servers written in the Java language. To be able to address the requirements of servers (performance and scalability in particular), Jalapeno was designed "from scratch" to be as self-sufficient as possible. Jalapeno's unique object model and memory layout allows a hardware null-pointer check as well as fast access to array elements, fields, and methods. Run-time services conventionally provided in native code are implemented primarily in Java. Java threads are multiplexed by virtual processors (implemented as operating system threads). A family of concurrent object allocators and parallel type-accurate garbage collectors is supported. Jalapeno's interoperable compilers enable quasi-preemptive thread switching and precise location of object references. Jalapeno's dynamic optimizing compiler is designed to obtain high quality code for methods that are observed to be frequently executed or computationally intensive.
Optimizing the Power-Delay Product of a Linear Pipeline by Opportunistic Time Borrowing

In this paper, we present and solve the problem of power-delay optimal soft linear pipeline design. The key idea is to use soft-edge flip-flops to allow time borrowing among consecutive stages of the pipeline in order to provide the timing-critical stages with more time and trade this timing slack for power saving. We formulate the problem of optimally designing the soft-edge flip-flops and setting the clock frequency and supply voltage so as to minimize the power-delay product of a linear pipeline under different scenarios using both deterministic and statistical static delay models. In our first problem formulation, timing violations are avoided by respecting deterministic worst case path delay bounds. Next, the same problem is formulated for a scenario where stage delays are assumed to be random variables, and we minimize the power-delay product while keeping the probability of timing violations bounded. The soft-edge flip flops are equipped with dynamic error detection (and correction) circuitry to detect and fix the errors that might arise from over-clocking. Although the system is capable of recovering from error, there is a tradeoff between performance and power saving, which is exploited to further minimize the power-delay product of the pipeline in our third formulation. Experimental results demonstrate the efficacy of our proposed algorithms for solving each of the aforesaid problems.
PI3K/Akt pathway restricts epithelial adhesion of Dr+Escherichia coli by down-regulating the expression of decay accelerating factor:

The urogenital microbial infection in pregnancy is an important cause of maternal and neonatal morbidity and mortality. Uropathogenic Escherichia coli strains which express Dr fimbriae (Dr+) are associated with unique gestational virulence and they utilize cell surface decay accelerating factor (DAF or CD55) as one of the cellular receptor before invading the epithelial cells. Previous studies in our laboratory established that nitric oxide reduces the rate of E. coli invasion by delocalizing the DAF protein from cell surface lipid rafts and down-regulating its expression. The phosphoinositide 3-kinase/protein kinase B (PI3K/Akt) cell signal pathway plays an important role in host-microbe interaction because many bacteria including E. coli activate this pathway in order to establish infection. In the present study, we showed that the PI3K/Akt pathway negatively regulated the expression of DAF on the epithelial cell surface and thus inhibited the adhesion of Dr(+) E. coli to epithelial cells. Initially, using two human cell lines Ishikawa and HeLa which differ in constitutive activity of PI3K/Akt, we showed that DAF levels were associated with the PI3K/Akt pathway. We then showed that the DAF gene expression was up-regulated and the Dr(+) E. coli adhesion increased after the suppression of PI3K/Akt pathway in Ishikawa cells using inhibitor LY294002, and a plasmid which allowed the expression of PI3K/Akt regulatory protein PTEN. The down-regulation of PTEN protein using PTEN-specific siRNA activated the PI3K/Akt pathway, down-regulated the DAF, and decreased the adhesion of Dr(+) E. coli. We conclude that the PI3K/Akt pathway regulated the DAF expression in a nitric oxide independent manner.
Inferring Grammar-based Structure Models from 3D Microscopy Data

We present a new method to fit grammar-based stochastic models for biological structure to stacks of microscopic images captured at incremental focal lengths. Providing the ability to quantitatively represent structure and automatically fit it to image data enables important biological research. We consider the case where individuals can be represented as an instance of a stochastic grammar, similar to L-systems used in graphics to produce realistic plant models. In particular, we construct a stochastic grammar of Alternaria, a genus of fungus, and fit instances of it to microscopic image stacks. We express the image data as the result of a generative process composed of the underlying probabilistic structure model together with the parameters of the imaging system. Fitting the model then becomes probabilistic inference. For this we create a reversible-jump MCMC sampler to traverse the parameter space. We observe that incorporating spatial structure helps fit the model parts, and that simultaneously fitting the imaging system is also very helpful.
Learning on the fly: a font-free approach toward multilingual OCR

Despite ubiquitous claims that optical character recognition (OCR) is a “solved problem,” many categories of documents continue to break modern OCR software such as documents with moderate degradation or unusual fonts. Many approaches rely on pre-computed or stored character models, but these are vulnerable to cases when the font of a particular document was not part of the training set or when there is so much noise in a document that the font model becomes weak. To address these difficult cases, we present a form of iterative contextual modeling that learns character models directly from the document it is trying to recognize. We use these learned models both to segment the characters and to recognize them in an incremental, iterative process. We present results comparable with those of a commercial OCR system on a subset of characters from a difficult test document in both English and Greek.
Utility of treatment planning for thermochemotherapy treatment of nonmuscle invasive bladder carcinoma

Purpose: A recently completed Phase I clinical trial combined concurrent Mitomycin-C chemotherapy with deep regional heating using BSD-2000 Sigma-Ellipse applicator (BSD Corporation, Salt Lake City, UT, U.S.A.) for the treatment of nonmuscle invasive bladder cancer. This work presents a new treatment planning approach, and demonstrates potential impact of this approach on improvement of treatment quality. Methods: This study retrospectively analyzes a subset of five patients on the trial. For each treatment, expert operators selected “clinical-optimal” settings based on simple model calculation on the BSD-2000 control console. Computed tomography (CT) scans acquired prior to treatment were segmented to create finite element patient models for retrospective simulations with Sigma-HyperPlan (Dr. Sennewald Medizintechnik GmbH, Munchen, Germany). Since Sigma-HyperPlan does not account for the convective nature of heat transfer within a fluid filled bladder, an effective thermal conductivity for bladder was introduced. This effective thermal conductivity value was determined by comparing simulation results with clinical measurements of bladder and rectum temperatures. Regions of predicted high temperature in normal tissues were compared with patient complaints during treatment. Treatment results using “computed-optimal” settings from the planning system were compared with clinical results using clinical-optimal settings to evaluate potential of treatment improvement by reducing hot spot volume. Results: For all five patients, retrospective treatment planning indicated improved matches between simulated and measured bladder temperatures with increasing effective thermal conductivity. The differences were mostly within 1.3 °C when using an effective thermal conductivity value above 10 W/K/m. Changes in effective bladder thermal conductivity affected surrounding normal tissues within a distance of ∼1.5 cm from the bladder wall. Rectal temperature differences between simulation and measurement were large due to sensitivity to the sampling locations in rectum. The predicted bladder T90 correlated well with single-point bladder temperature measurement. Hot spot locations predicted by the simulation agreed qualitatively with patient complaints during treatment. Furthermore, comparison between the temperature distributions with clinical and computed-optimal settings demonstrated that the computed-optimal settings resulted in substantially reduced hot spot volumes. Conclusions: Determination of an effective thermal conductivity value for fluid filled bladder was essential for matching simulation and treatment temperatures. Prospectively planning patients using the effective thermal conductivity determined in this work can potentially improve treatment efficacy (compared to manual operator adjustments) by potentially lower discomfort from reduced hot spots in normal tissue.
Informal settlements and urban heritage landscapes in South Africa

Informal urban settlements and trade zones represent an increasingly pressing issue for urban heritage developers. In light of the recent revisitation of the UNESCO Recommendation on the Historic Urban Landscape, this article explores the current challenges faced at the intersection of heritage practice, urban planning, and informal communities. Heritage recommendations operate within the domain of soft law and their implementation relies on the voluntarism of public parties and the private sector. Such heritage recommendations are thus rarely taken up outside of city improvement districts with recognizable property-owning stakeholders, commercial infrastructures for security, maintenance, and investor marketing. In South Africa, the particular circumstances of the post-apartheid landscape render urban planning frameworks prone to reinforcing the marginalization of informal stakeholder engagement, ultimately perpetuating a socio-spatial inequality such programs set out to mitigate. The civic practices of new social movements and historical knowledge that emerges from the context of informal and neglected urban environments illustrate emergent answers to the exclusionary dynamics of urban heritage planning.