cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Tin(IV) sulfide: Novel nanocrystalline morphologies

Abstract Nanocrystalline tin(IV) sulfide (SnS 2 ) with diverse morphologies were controllably synthesized using organic additives, such as cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (C 16 TAB), sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS), p -benzenedicarboxylic acid in ethanol solution under mild reaction conditions. By adjusting the type and concentration of the organic additives, different nanostructured SnS 2 were prepared including flower-like, fiber-, layer-rolled and sheet-like forms. Some other factors on the morphology, size and crystallization of the prepared SnS 2 nanostructures were also investigated, including reaction time and temperature. Various techniques were applied to characterize the prepared SnS 2 nanostructures including X-ray diffraction, Transmission Electron Microscopy and UV–Vis spectroscopy. The trace water or hydration water of SnCl 4 ·5H 2 O brings no impurities in ethanol solution despite tin(IV) ions are easy to hydrolyze, and the pure-phase SnS 2 can be synthesized successfully. Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) shows that the amount of the passivated additive C 16 TAB molecule within SnS 2 is about 6.4 wt.% when the initial molar ratio of C 16 TAB to Sn 4+ is 1:1. This method avoids hydrolyzing and expands the application range of tin salts containing hydration water in synthesizing pure-phase nanocrystalline tin(IV) sulfide.
Identity Development in a Transracial Environment: Racial/Ethnic Minority Adoptees in Minnesota

It has been argued that transracial adopted children have increased risk for problems related to self-esteem and ethnic identity development. We evaluated this hypothesis across four groups of transracial adoptees: Asian (N = 427), Latino (N = 28), Black (N = 6), Mixed/Other (N = 20), and same-race white adoptees (N = 126) from 357 adoptive families. No mean differences were found in adoptee's ratings of affect about adoption, or of curiosity about birthparents. Some differences were found in general identity development and adjustment. There were notable differences in communication about race/ethnicity across groups and between parent and child report.
Beyond postmodernism: Logic as rhetoric

The essay reviews the relationship between logic and rhetoric under the conditions of historicity and shows how (and why) the rules of logic may be construed as projected from the rhetorical practices of actual societies; why and how they are subject to revision; and why there is reason to think it could not be otherwise.
Calculation of the lattice dynamical properties of Ge

Abstract The lattice dynamical properties of Ge are studied employing a frozen phonon approach within an ab initio density-functional pseudopotential formalism. Using the atomic number, atomic mass, and crystal structure as the only input information, we calculate phonon frequencies and mode Gruneisen parameters at Γ and X and the third-order anharmonic parameter for the zone center optical mode. The results are in excellent agreement with available experimental data. An analysis of various energy contributions to the TA (X) mode shows that the proper inclusion of the exchange-correlation energy is crucial for accurate microscopic studies of lattice dynamics.
Novice and expert teachers' conceptions of learners' prior knowledge

This study presents comparative case studies of preservice and first-year teachers' and expert teachers' conceptions of the concept of prior knowledge. Kelly's (The Psychology of Personal Construct, New York: W.W. Norton, 1955) theory of personal constructs as discussed by Akerson, Flick, and Lederman (Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 2000, 37, 363–385) in relationship to prior knowledge underpins the study. Six teachers were selected to participate in the case studies based upon their level experience teaching science and their willingness to take part. The comparative case studies of the novice and expert teachers provide insights into (a) how novice and expert teachers understand the concept of prior knowledge and (b) how they use this knowledge to make instructional decisions. Data collection consisted of interviews, classroom observations, and document analysis. Findings suggest that novice teachers hold insufficient conceptions of prior knowledge and its role in instruction to effectively implement constructivist teaching practices. While expert teachers hold a complex conception of prior knowledge and make use of their students' prior knowledge in significant ways during instruction. A second finding was an apparent mismatch between the novice teachers' beliefs about their urban students' life experiences and prior knowledge and the wealth of knowledge the expert teachers found to draw upon. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Sci Ed88:970–983, 2004
Evolution of a transfer RNA gene through a point mutation in the anticodon

The transfer RNA (tRNA) multigene family comprises 20 amino acid–accepting groups, many of which contain isoacceptors. The addition of isoacceptors to the tRNA repertoire was critical to establishing the genetic code, yet the origin of isoacceptors remains largely unexplored. A model of tRNA evolution, termed “tRNA gene recruitment,” was formulated. It proposes that a tRNA gene can be recruited from one isoaccepting group to another by a point mutation that concurrently changes tRNA amino acid identity and messenger RNA coupling capacity. A test of the model showed that an Escherichia coli strain, in which the essential tRNA_(UGU)^(Thr) gene was inactivated, was rendered viable when a tRNA^(Arg) with a point mutation that changed its anticodon from UCU to UGU (threonine) was expressed. Insertion of threonine at threonine codons by the “recruited” tRNA^(Arg) was corroborated by in vitro aminoacylation assays showing that its specificity had been changed from arginine to threonine. Therefore, the recruitment model may account for the evolution of some tRNA genes.
Signs of the 2009 Influenza Pandemic in the New York-Presbyterian Hospital Electronic Health Records

Background In June of 2009, the World Health Organization declared the first influenza pandemic of the 21st century, and by July, New York City's New York-Presbyterian Hospital (NYPH) experienced a heavy burden of cases, attributable to a novel strain of the virus (H1N1pdm). Methods and Results We present the signs in the NYPH electronic health records (EHR) that distinguished the 2009 pandemic from previous seasonal influenza outbreaks via various statistical analyses. These signs include (1) an increase in the number of patients diagnosed with influenza, (2) a preponderance of influenza diagnoses outside of the normal flu season, and (3) marked vaccine failure. The NYPH EHR also reveals distinct age distributions of patients affected by seasonal influenza and the pandemic strain, and via available longitudinal data, suggests that the two may be associated with distinct sets of comorbid conditions as well. In particular, we find significantly more pandemic flu patients with diagnoses associated with asthma and underlying lung disease. We further observe that the NYPH EHR is capable of tracking diseases at a resolution as high as particular zip codes in New York City. Conclusion The NYPH EHR permits early detection of pandemic influenza and hypothesis generation via identification of those significantly associated illnesses. As data standards develop and databases expand, EHRs will contribute more and more to disease detection and the discovery of novel disease associations.
Focal Adhesions: Paradigm for a Signaling Nexus

The vascular wall contains intimal endothelium and medial smooth muscle that act as contiguous tissues with tight spatial and functional coordination in response to tonic and episodic input from the bloodstream and the surrounding parenchyma. Focal adhesions are molecular bridges between the intracellular and extracellular spaces that integrate a variety of environmental stimuli and mediate 2-way crosstalk between the extracellular matrix and the cytoskeleton. Focal adhesion components are targets for biochemical and mechanical stimuli that evoke crucial developmental and injury response mechanisms including cell growth, movement, and differentiation, and tailoring of the extracellular microenvironment. Focal adhesions provide the vascular wall constituents with flexible and specific tools for exchanging cues in a complex system. The molecular mechanisms that underlie these vital communications are detailed in this review with the goal of defining future targets for vascular tissue engineering and for the therapeutic modulation of disordered vascular growth, inflammation, thrombosis, and angiogenesis.
Compressed ultrasound video image quality evaluation using a Likert scale and Kappa statistical analysis

Experiments using NASA's Advanced Communications Technology Satellite were conducted to provide an estimate of the compressed video quality required for preservation of clinically relevant features for the detection of trauma. Bandwidth rates of 128, 256 and 384 kbps were used. A five point Likert scale (1 equals no useful information and 5 equals good diagnostic quality) was used for a subjective preference questionnaire to evaluate the quality of the compressed ultrasound imagery at the three compression rates for several anatomical regions of interest. At 384 kbps the Likert scores (mean plus or minus SD) were abdomen (4.45 plus or minus 0.71), carotid artery (4.70 plus or minus 0.36), kidney (5.0 plus or minus 0.0), liver (4.67 plus or minus 0.58) and thyroid (4.03 plus or minus 0.74). Due to the volatile nature of the H.320 compressed digital video stream, no statistically significant results can be derived through this methodology. As the MPEG standard has at its roots many of the same intraframe and motion vector compression algorithms as the H.261 (such as that used in the previous ACTS/AMT experiments), we are using the MPEG compressed video sequences to best gauge what minimum bandwidths are necessary for preservation of clinically relevant features for the detection of trauma. We have been using an MPEG codec board to collect losslessly compressed video clips from high quality S- VHS tapes and through direct digitization of S-video. Due to the large number of videoclips and questions to be presented to the radiologists and for ease of application, we have developed a web browser interface for this video visual perception study. Due to the large numbers of observations required to reach statistical significance in most ROC studies, Kappa statistical analysis is used to analyze the degree of agreement between observers and between viewing assessment. If the degree of agreement amongst readers is high, then there is a possibility that the ratings (i.e., average Likert score at each bandwidth) do in fact reflect the dimension they are purported to reflect (video quality versus bandwidth). It is then possible to make intelligent choice of bandwidth for streaming compressed video and compressed videoclips.© (1998) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
52 INTESTINAL Na UPTAKE DECREASES AFTER HIGH SALT DIE (HS) IN YOUNG BUT NOT IN ADULT RAT

Net sodium absorption in the jejunum was determined in 20, 40 and 80 day-old rats. The jejunum was perfused in vivo (10 ml/100 g BW/h) with an isotonic electrolyte solution containing C14 PEG 4000 (MW range 2500-6000) 5 g/l, which was used as a marker of water absorption. In 20 d controls (C) there was a significantly higher net sodium absorption (48.3±2.45 /uEq/min/g dry weight) than in 40 d (27.3±2.57) p<0.01 and in 80 d (32.8±2.53) p<0.01. HS was accomplished by replacing the drinking water with isotonic saline for 4 days prior to study. In 20 d HS rats net sodium absorption was significantly decreased compared to 20 d C (34.6±0.9) p<0.01, but there were no differences compared to controls in 40 d HS (33.1±2.79) or in 80 d HS (34.1±2.91). In the kidney locally produced dopamine DA will contribute to the natriuretic response to salt load (Kidney Int 1987, 31: 258). When 20 d HS were fed benserazide, an inhibitor of L-dopa decarboxylase, prior to study, the net sodium absorption significantly increased compared to untreated 20 d HS to the same magnitude as in controls (49.9±1.81) p<0.01. There was no effect of benserazide in 40 d HS and 80 d HS.
Persistent clustered main memory index for accelerating k-NN queries on high dimensional datasets

Similarity search implemented via k-nearest neighbor-- k-NN queries on multidimensional indices is an extremely useful paradigm for content-based image retrieval. As the dimensionality of feature vectors increases the curse of dimensionality sets in, i.e., the performance of k-NN search of disk-resident indices in the R-tree family degrades rapidly due to the overlap in index pages in high dimensions. This problem is dealt with in this study by utilizing the double filtering effect of clustering and indexing. The clustering algorithm ensures that the largest cluster fits into main memory and that only clusters closest to a query point need to be searched and hence loaded into main memory. We organize the data in each cluster according to the ordered-partition--OP-tree main memory resident index, which is not prone to the curse of dimensionality and highly efficient for processing k-NN queries. We serialize an OP-tree by writing its dynamically allocated nodes into contiguous memory locations, optimize its parameters, and make it persistent by writing it to disk. The time to read and write clusters constituting an OP-tree with a single sequential access to disk benefits from higher data transfer rates of modern disk drives. The performance of the index is further improved by applying the Karhunen---Loeve transformation--KLT to the dataset, since this results in a more efficient computation of distances for k-NN queries. We compare OP-trees and sequential scans with and without a KL-transformation and with and without using a shortcut method in calculating Euclidean distances. A comparison against the OMNI-sequential scan is also reported. We finally compare a clustered and persistent version of the OP-tree against a clustered version of the SR-tree and the VA-file method. CPU time is measured and elapsed time is estimated in this study. It is observed that the OP-tree index outperforms the other two methods and that the improvement increases with the number of dimensions.
Major- and minor-metal composition of three distinct solid material fractions associated with Juan de Fuca hydrothermal fluids (northeast Pacific), and calculation of dilution fluid samples

Abstract Three distinct types of solid material are associated with each sample of the hydrothermal fluid that was collected from the vents of the Southern Juan de Fuca Ridge. The solid materials appear to be representative of deposits on ocean floors near mid-ocean ridges, and interpretation of the chemistry of the hydrothermal solutions requires understanding of them. Sr isotopic evidence indicates that at least two and probably all three of these solid materials were removed from the solution with which they are associated, by precipitation or adsorption. This occurred after the “pure” hydrothermal fluid was diluted and thoroughly mixed with ambient seawater. The three types of solid materials, are, respectively, a coarse Zn- and Fe-rich material with small amounts of Na and Ca; a finer material also rich in Zn and Fe, but with alkali and alkaline-earth metals; and a scum composed of Ba or Zn, with either considerable Fe or Si, and Sr. Mineral identification is uncertain because of uncertain anion composition. Only in the cases of Ba and Zn were metal masses greater in solid materials than in the associated fluids. For all other metals measured, masses in fluids dwarf those in solids. The fluids themselves contain greater concentrations of all metals measured, except Mg, than seawater. We discuss in detail the relative merits of two methods of determining the mixing proportions of “pure” hydrothermal solution and seawater in the fluids, one based on Sr isotopes, and another previously used method based on Mg concentrations. Comparison of solute concentrations in the several samples shows that degree of dilution of “pure” hydrothermal solutions by seawater, and amounts of original solutes that were removed from it as solid materials, are not related. There is no clear evidence that appreciable amounts of solid materials were not conserved (lost) either during or prior to sample collection.
Wavelength-scalable hollow optical fibres with large photonic bandgaps for CO 2 laser transmission

Conventional solid-core optical fibres require highly transparent materials. Such materials have been difficult to identify owing to the fundamental limitations associated with the propagation of light through solids, such as absorption, scattering and nonlinear effects. Hollow optical fibres offer the potential to minimize the dependence of light transmission on fibre material transparency. Here we report on the design and drawing of a hollow optical fibre lined with an interior omnidirectional dielectric mirror. Confinement of light in the hollow core is provided by the large photonic bandgaps established by the multiple alternating submicrometre-thick layers of a high-refractive-index glass and a low-refractive-index polymer. The fundamental and high-order transmission windows are determined by the layer dimensions and can be scaled from 0.75 to 10.6 micro m in wavelength. Tens of metres of hollow photonic bandgap fibres for transmission of carbon dioxide laser light at 10.6 micro m wavelength were drawn. The transmission losses are found to be less than 1.0 dB m(-1), orders of magnitude lower than those of the intrinsic fibre material, thus demonstrating that low attenuation can be achieved through structural design rather than high-transparency material selection.
Transformation of NIH/3T3 to Anchorage Independence by H-Ras Is Accompanied by Loss of Suppressor Activity

Despite their familiar sensitivity to transformation by dominant-acting ras oncogenes, NIH/3T3 cells carry a ras suppressor. When tested by cell fusion they were able to suppress the anchorage-independent phenotype of both mouse and human cells transformed by activated H-ras or N-ras. This suppression occurred without a decrease in expression of the activated ras oncogene. Ras-transformed NIH/3T3 clones cured of their oncogene by benzamide treatment reverted to a nontransformed phenotype, but had lost the ability to suppress other ras transformants, indicating that their initial transformation was accompanied by suppressor loss. In hamster cells an active ras oncogene increased the rate of chromosome segregation by > 100-fold. These results suggest that in vitro transformation of NIH/3T3 cells by ras may be more similar to multistep in vivo tumor development than previously suspected, involving not only expression of an active oncogene but also loss of a suppressor activity, perhaps induced by the clastogenic oncogene.
Electron-hole correlations in semiconductor quantum dots with tight-binding wave functions

The electron-hole states of semiconductor quantum dots are investigated within the framework of empirical tight-binding descriptions for Si, as an example of an indirect-gap material, and InAs and CdSe as examples of typical III-V and II-VI direct-gap materials.
The molecular pharmacology of symplostatin 1: A new antimitotic dolastatin 10 analog

Symplostatin 1, an analog of dolastatin 10, was recently isolated from cyanobacteria of the genus Symploca. Symplostatin 1 is a potent inhibitor of cell proliferation with IC(50) values in the low nanomolar range and it exhibits efficacy against a variety of cancer cell types. Symplostatin 1 caused the formation of abnormal mitotic spindles and accumulation of cells in metaphase at concentrations that had only minor effects on interphase microtubules. At higher concentrations, symplostatin 1 caused the loss of interphase microtubules. Cell cycle analysis revealed that symplostatin 1 caused G(2)/M arrest, consistent with its effects on mitotic spindles. Symplostatin 1 initiated the phosphorylation of Bcl-2, formation of micronuclei and activation of caspase 3, indicating induction of apoptosis. The cellular effects of symplostatin 1 are consistent with other antimitotic tubulin-targeting drugs. Tubulin polymerization experiments indicated that symplostatin 1 potently inhibits the assembly of purified tubulin, suggesting that tubulin may be its intracellular target. Some microtubule-targeting agents are reported to have antiangiogenic activity and therefore the effects of symplostatin 1 on endothelial cell proliferation and invasion were evaluated. Symplostatin 1 was found to be a potent inhibitor of both endothelial cell proliferation and invasion. Because of its potent and broad activity in vitro, symplostatin 1 was evaluated in vivo. Symplostatin 1 was active against murine colon 38 and murine mammary 16/C; however, it was poorly tolerated and the mice were slow to recover from the toxicity. The data indicate that symplostatin 1 has a mechanism of action similar to dolastatin 10.
Use of monoclonal antibodies in diagnosis of rabies virus infection and differentiation of rabies and rabies-related viruses

Abstract A panel of selected monoclonal antibodies directed against the nucleocapsid antigens of rabies and rabies-related viruses allowed the rapid identification both of antigens of rabies virus origin present in impression smears of brains from infected animals and of three rabies-related viruses (Duvenhage, Lagos bat and Mokola). Within the rabies group, the CVS and Flury HEP strains could also be identified. Analysis of several fixed and street rabies viruses reveals great diversity in the reactivity of the viruses with a panel of monoclonal antibodies directed against glycoprotein antigens. Strains of the same geographical area and species origin displayed similar patterns of reactivity, suggesting an antigenic specificity related to animal species or area. The use of hybridoma monoclonal antibodies should provide a more sophisticated method than presently available for the diagnosis of rabies virus infection.
Alignment statistic for identifying related protein sequences

Closely related proteins show an obvious kinship by having numerous matching amino acids in their aligned sequences. Kinship between anciently separated proteins requires a statistical evaluation to rule out fortuitous similarities. A simple statistic is developed which assumes equal probability for all codon pairs, and a table of critical values for amino acid sequence alignments of length 200 or less is presented. Applying this statistic toV andC regions of immunoglobulin chains, aligned on the basis of shared features of three-dimensional structure, provides evidence that theV andC sequences descended from a common ancestor. Similarly the distant evolutionary relationship of dehydrogenases, flavdoxin, and subtilisin, suggested by structural alignments, is verified. On the other hand, the statistic does not verify a common evolutionary origin for the heme binding pocket in globins and cytochromeb5. Empirical evidence from the distribution of MMD values of amino acid pairs in comparisons of misaligned polypeptide chains and from Monte Carlo trials of sequences aligned with arbitrary gaps supports the validity of the statistic.
Is a superovulated oocyte normal

Abstract Superovulatory success rates in cattle have improved only slightly in the last ten years. Basic to our goal of increasing numbers of transferable embryos, is an understanding of the effects of superovulation of oocyte development. This paper endeavors to review what is knows of the quality or ‘normalcy’ of superovulated oocytes and hypothesizes protocols that may, with further understanding, yield higher number of viable embryos per superovulatory cycle.
Congenital mesenteric defect: Description of a rare cause of distal intestinal obstruction in a neonate

Abstract INTRODUCTION Internal hernias are a rare cause of bowel obstruction in the neonate and present with bilious vomiting. Newborns may be at risk of loss of significant length of bowel if this rare condition is not considered in the differential diagnosis of bilious emesis. PRESENTATION OF CASE We report a case of a twin with an internal hernia through a defect in the ileal mesentery who presented with neonatal bowel obstruction. The patient had a microcolon on the contrast enema suggesting that the likely etiology was an intra-uterine event most likely a vascular accident that prevented satisfactory meconium passage into the colon. discussion An internal hernia is rarely considered in the differential diagnosis of distal bowel obstruction in a neonate with a microcolon. Congenital trans-mesenteric hernias constitute only 5–10% of internal hernias. True diagnosis of trans-mesenteric hernias is difficult due to lack of specific radiology or laboratory findings to confirm the suspicion. conclusion When clinical and radiological findings are not classical, rare possibilities such as an internal hernia must be considered in the differential diagnosis, to avoid catastrophic bowel loss.
Reading-in-the-small: a study of reading on small form factor devices

The growing ubiquity of small form factor devices such as Palm Pilots and Pocket PCs, coupled with widespread availability of digital library materials and users' increasing willingness to read on the screen, raises the question of whether people can and will read digital library materials on handhelds. We investigated this question by performing a field study based on a university library's technology deployment: two classes were conducted using materials that were available in e-book format on Pocket PCs in addition to other electronic and paper formats. The handheld devices, the course materials, and technical support were all provided to students in the courses to use as they saw fit. We found that the handhelds were a good platform for reading secondary materials, excerpts, and shorter readings; they were used in a variety of circumstances where portability is important, including collaborative situations such as the classroom. We also discuss the effectiveness of annotation, search, and navigation functionality on the small form factor devices. We conclude by defining a set of focal areas and issues for digital library efforts designed for access by handheld computers.
On mechanical control systems with nonholonomic constraints and symmetries

Abstract This paper presents a computationally efficient method for deriving coordinate representations for the equations of motion and the affine connection describing a class of Lagrangian systems. We consider mechanical systems endowed with symmetries and subject to nonholonomic constraints and external forces. The method is demonstrated on two robotic locomotion mechanisms known as the snakeboard and the roller racer. The resulting coordinate representations are compact and lead to straightforward proofs of various controllability results.
Simulation of Offshore Wind Turbine Response for Extreme Limit States

When interest is in estimating long-term design loads for an offshore wind turbine using simulation, statistical extrapolation is the method of choice. While the method itself is rather well-established, simulation effort can be intractable if uncertainty in predicted extreme loads and efficiency in the selected extrapolation procedure are not specifically addressed. Our aim in this study is to address these questions in predicting blade and tower extreme loads based on stochastic response simulations of a 5 MW offshore turbine. We illustrate the use of the peak-over-threshold method to predict long-term extreme loads. To derive these long-term loads, we employ an efficient inverse reliability approach which is shown to predict reasonably accurate long-term loads when compared to the more expensive direct integration of conditional load distributions for different environmental (wind and wave) conditions. Fundamental to the inverse reliability approach is the issue of whether turbine response variability conditional on environmental conditions is modeled in detail or whether only gross conditional statistics of this conditional response are included. We derive design loads for both these cases, and demonstrate that careful inclusion of response variability not only greatly influences long-term design load predictions but it also identifies different design environmental conditions that bring about these long-term loads compared to when response variability is only approximately modeled. As we shall see, for this turbine, a major source of response variability for both the blade and tower arises from blade pitch control actions due to which a large number of simulations is required to obtain stable distribution tails for the turbine loads studied.
Text Chunking using Regularized Winnow

Many machine learning methods have recently been applied to natural language processing tasks. Among them, the Winnow algorithm has been argued to be particularly suitable for NLP problems, due to its robustness to irrelevant features. However in theory, Winnow may not converge for non-separable data. To remedy this problem, a modification called regularized Winnow has been proposed. In this paper, we apply this new method to text chunking. We show that this method achieves state of the art performance with significantly less computation than previous approaches.
Electromagnetic Coherent Tomography Array Imaging in Random Scattering Media

Imaging through discrete random media is an important problem in several applications such as medicine, remote sensing, and security. Discrete random media create scattering which deteriorates the quality of the image and there have been several efforts to mitigate the problem. We propose an array processing method called coherence tomography array (CTA) whose algorithm is derived from that of optical coherence tomography. We use the Monte Carlo method to simulate the imaging scenarios in random scattering media. The results show that CTA can be used to alleviate the clutter effects from discrete random scatterers.
Molecular architecture of Gαo and the structural basis for RGS16-mediated deactivation

Heterotrimeric G proteins relay extracellular cues from heptahelical transmembrane receptors to downstream effector molecules. Composed of an α subunit with intrinsic GTPase activity and a βγ heterodimer, the trimeric complex dissociates upon receptor-mediated nucleotide exchange on the α subunit, enabling each component to engage downstream effector targets for either activation or inhibition as dictated in a particular pathway. To mitigate excessive effector engagement and concomitant signal transmission, the Gα subunit's intrinsic activation timer (the rate of GTP hydrolysis) is regulated spatially and temporally by a class of GTPase accelerating proteins (GAPs) known as the regulator of G protein signaling (RGS) family. The array of G protein-coupled receptors, Gα subunits, RGS proteins and downstream effectors in mammalian systems is vast. Understanding the molecular determinants of specificity is critical for a comprehensive mapping of the G protein system. Here, we present the 2.9 A crystal structure of the enigmatic, neuronal G protein Gαo in the GTP hydrolytic transition state, complexed with RGS16. Comparison with the 1.89 A structure of apo-RGS16, also presented here, reveals plasticity upon Gαo binding, the determinants for GAP activity, and the structurally unique features of Gαo that likely distinguish it physiologically from other members of the larger Gαi family, affording insight to receptor, GAP and effector specificity.
Real-time in vitro observation of cavitation on prosthetic heart valves

A method for real-time in vitro observation of cavitation on a prosthetic heart valve has been developed. Cavitation of four blood analog fluids (distilled water, aqueous glycerin, aqueous polyacrylamide, and aqueous xanthan gum) has been documented for a Medtronic/Hall prosthetic heart valve operating in a Penn State Electric Assist Device at physiologic conditions. For each fluid, cavity growth and collapse occurred in less than one millisecond. The cavity duration time was found to decrease with increasing atrial pressure at constant aortic pressure and beat rate. From this study, it was concluded that cavitation may also occur in blood. >
Study of paclitaxel, etoposide, and cisplatin chemotherapy combined with twice-daily thoracic radiotherapy for patients with limited-stage small-cell lung cancer: a Radiation Therapy Oncology Group 9609 phase II study.

Purpose To determine the response rate, progression-free survival and overall survival, and toxicity of paclitaxel, etoposide, and cisplatin combined with accelerated hyperfractionated thoracic radiotherapy in patients with limited-disease (LD) small-cell lung cancer (SCLC). Patients and Methods LD-SCLC patients with measurable disease, Karnofsky performance score of ≥ 70, and adequate organ function who were previously untreated were eligible for the study. Treatment was as follows. In cycle 1 of chemotherapy, concurrent thoracic radiation therapy was administered. In cycles 2 to 4, chemotherapy was administered alone. In cycle 1, chemotherapy consisted of paclitaxel 135 mg/m2 intravenous over 3 hours on day 1, etoposide 60 mg/m2 intravenous on day 1 and 80 mg/m2 orally on days 2 and 3, and cisplatin 60 mg/m2 intravenous on day 1. In cycles 2 to 4, the paclitaxel dose was increased to 175 mg/m2, with the etoposide and cisplatin doses remaining the same as in cycle 1. The thoracic radiation therapy consis...
Optimization of passively Q-switched lasers

In optimizing passively Q-switched lasers, there is a unique choice of output coupler and unsaturated absorber transmission which maximizes the laser output energy and efficiency for each three-way combination of laser gain medium, absorber medium, and pump intensity (i.e, inversion density). In the present paper, we generalize and solve the three coupled differential equations which describe the passively Q-switched laser to obtain closed form solutions for key laser parameters such as the output energy and pulsewidth. We then apply the Lagrange multiplier technique to determine the optimum mirror reflectivities and unsaturated absorber transmissions as a function of two dimensionless variables. The first variable, z, corresponds to the ratio of the logarithmic round-trip small signal gain to the round-trip dissipative (nonuseful) optical loss and is identical to that which was used in previous treatments to optimize the rapidly Q-switched laser. The second variable, /spl alpha/, is unique to the passively Q-switched laser and is equal to the saturation energy density of the amplifying medium divided by the saturation energy density of the absorber. It is largely determined by the ration of the absorber to stimulated emission cross sections, but also depends on the speed of relaxation mechanisms in the amplifying and absorbing media relative to the resonator photon decay time. Several design curves, valid for all four level amplifying and absorbing media, are then generated. These permit the design of an optimum passively Q-switched laser and an estimate of its key performance parameters to be obtained quickly with the aid of a simple hand calculator. In the limit of large /spl alpha/ (>10), the design curves are virtually indistinguishable from the rapidly Q-switched case. The curves can also be used to perform rapid tradeoff studies of different absorbing materials. The theory can also be applied to CW-pumped, repetitively Q-switched systems through a simple multiplicative factor for the laser gain. The theory is applied to the analysis of a passively Q-switched Nd:YAG laser previously reported in the literature and shown to give excellent agreement with the experimental results. >
Ambidexterity and Global IS Project Success: A Theoretical Model

Increasingly more IS projects are globally dispersed. As a result, the success of IS projects can be affected by various global boundaries such as geographical distance, time separation, organizational boundaries and cultural differences. At the same time, system requirements dynamism significantly undermines global IS project performance because it is difficult for global teams to effectively sense and respond to changing system requirements. Therefore, to deliver quality systems on time and within budget in today's dynamic, global environments, process, people, and technology employed by IS projects need to simultaneously exhibit ambidexterity - i.e., both rigor and agility. Drawing upon prior literature and interview data from field studies, this research develops a theoretical model that explains and predicts global IS project success based on ambidextrous project capabilities. Specifically, the model identifies IS project rigor and IS project agility as two key IS project capabilities that moderate the negative effects of global boundary complexity and system requirements dynamism on global IS project success
ABIM Maintenance of Certification 2014: Navigating the Challenges to Find Opportunities for Success

Physicians today are under increased pressures and scrutiny from society, insurers, and governmental agencies to deliver demonstrably highquality, safe patient care and document evidence of their continuing competency as a provider. large group or multispecialty practice or in an academic practice. On the plus side, engaging in practice performance evaluation can also be a financial driver for participation in MOC. As the Patient Safety and Affordable Care Act of 2010 goes into full effect this year, our practices face not only a revaluation of reimbursements, but also movement away from fee-for-service business models to a quality-driven, value-based system. As physicians and practices partner with Accountable Care Organizations or enter into capitated contracts, having the quality data available necessary to obtain these partnerships can be provided, in part, via MOC. Because physicians, practices, and Accountable Care Organizations jointly share risk in these bundled contracts,
Voltage- and calcium-dependent inactivation of calcium channels in Lymnaea neurons.

Ca2+ channel inactivation in the neurons of the freshwater snail, Lymnaea stagnalis, was studied using patch-clamp techniques. In the presence of a high concentration of intracellular Ca2+ buffer (5 mM EGTA), the inactivation of these Ca2+ channels is entirely voltage dependent; it is not influenced by the identity of the permeant divalent ions or the amount of extracellular Ca2+ influx, or reduced by higher levels of intracellular Ca2+ buffering. Inactivation measured under these conditions, despite being independent of Ca2+ influx, has a bell-shaped voltage dependence, which has often been considered a hallmark of Ca2+-dependent inactivation. Ca2+-dependent inactivation does occur in Lymnaea neurons, when the concentration of the intracellular Ca2+ buffer is lowered to 0.1 mM EGTA. However, the magnitude of Ca2+-dependent inactivation does not increase linearly with Ca2+ influx, but saturates for relatively small amounts of Ca2+ influx. Recovery from inactivation at negative potentials is biexponential and has the same time constants in the presence of different intracellular concentrations of EGTA. However, the amplitude of the slow component is selectively enhanced by a decrease in intracellular EGTA, thus slowing the overall rate of recovery. The ability of 5 mM EGTA to completely suppress Ca2+-dependent inactivation suggests that the Ca2+ binding site is at some distance from the channel protein itself. No evidence was found of a role for serine/threonine phosphorylation in Ca2+ channel inactivation. Cytochalasin B, a microfilament disrupter, was found to greatly enhance the amount of Ca2+ channel inactivation, but the involvement of actin filaments in this effect of cytochalasin B on Ca2+ channel inactivation could not be verified using other pharmacological compounds. Thus, the mechanism of Ca2+-dependent inactivation in these neurons remains unknown, but appears to differ from those proposed for mammalian L-type Ca2+ channels.
Attentional Mechanisms of Distractor Suppression

The ability to suppress distractors is critical for the successful completion of goal-oriented behaviors. This is particularly true for everyday behaviors that take time to accomplish and are frequently interrupted by unpredicted events (e.g., spotting a sale on a favorite drink while searching a grocery store for an apple). For one to continue with the intended goal, attention to the distractor must be reactively suppressed (i.e., terminated) so that the goal-oriented behavior may resume. Such reactive suppression can be contrasted with a proactive mechanism that anticipates the appearance of a distractor and suppresses related sensory processing in advance. In this review, I consider three aspects of distractor suppression: (a) the distinction between proactive and reactive mechanisms, (b) the conditions under which reactive distractor rejection can be rapid, and (c) the neural and cognitive processes necessary for controlling proactive and reactive distractor suppression.
A stochastic coupling method for atomic-to-continuum Monte-Carlo simulations

In this paper, we propose a multiscale coupling approach to perform Monte-Carlo simulations on systems described at the atomic scale and subjected to random phenomena. The method is based on the Arlequin framework, developed to date for deterministic models involving coupling a region of interest described at a particle scale with a coarser model (continuum model). The new method can result in a dramatic reduction in the number of degrees of freedom necessary to perform Monte-Carlo simulations on the fully atomistic structure. The focus here is on the construction of an equivalent stochastic continuum model and its coupling with a discrete particle model through a stochastic version of the Arlequin method. Concepts from the Stochastic Finite Element Method, such as the Karhunen–Loeve expansion and Polynomial Chaos, are extended to multiscale problems so that Monte-Carlo simulations are only performed locally in subregions of the domain occupied by particles. Preliminary results are given for a 1D structure with harmonic interatomic potentials.
Funciones de la madre en la ideología del género articulada en el coloquio Puerperio

In this article, I interpret the rhetoric of wet-nursing in the colloquium Puerperio by Erasmus of Rotterdam as an ideological inversion that led to the legitimization of the roles of nursing and child rearing as the mother's natural duties in the new concepts of the family that originated during the Renaissance. I illustrate how the mother's paradigmatic conduct explored in Puerperio, as well as in Instruction of the Christian Woman by Juan Luis Vives and The Perfect Wife by fray Luis de Leon, occupies a significant place within the discursive practices surrounding family, gender, and the construction of the ideal of female domesticity developed in Spain during the early modern period.
The Session Report Form (SRF): Are Clinicians Addressing Concerns Reported by Youth and Caregivers?

This study explores the relationship between clinician-reported content addressed in sessions, measured with the Session Report Form (SRF), and multi-informant problem alerts stemming from a larger battery of treatment process and progress measures. Multilevel Multinomial Logit Models were conducted with 133 clinicians and 299 youths receiving home-based treatment (N = 3,143 sessions). Results indicate a strong relationship between session content and problems related to youth symptoms and functioning as reported by clinicians in the same session. Session content was related to emotional, family, and friend/peer problems reported by youth and youth behavioral problems reported by caregivers. High-risk problems (alcohol/substance use, harm to self or others) were strongly related to session content regardless of informant. Session content was not related to problem alerts associated with the treatment process, caregiver strain, or client/caregiver strengths. The SRF appears to be a useful measure for assessing common themes addressed in routine mental health settings.
Scaling in Fat Fractals

Fat fractals are fractals with positive measure and integer fractal dimension. Their dimension is indistinguishable from that of nonfractals, and is inadequate to describe their fractal properties. An alternative approach can be couched in terms of the scaling of the coarse grained measure. For the more familiar “thin” fractals, the resulting scaling exponent reduces to the fractal codimension, but for fat fractals it is independent of the fractal dimension. Numerical experiments on several examples, including the chaotic parameter values of quadratic mappings, the ergodic parameter values of circle maps, and the chaotic orbits of area-preserving maps, show a power law scaling, suggesting that this is a generic form. This paper reviews several possible methods for defining coarse-grained measure and associated fat fractal scaling exponents, reviews previous work on the subject, and discusses problems that deserve further study.
Temperament Concepts in Developmental Psychopathology

The concept of temperament is useful for distinguishing between one child and another and between the child and the social environment. Temperament traits have been regarded as the core of personality and have been shown by research to have important associations with developmental psychopathology. For decades, developmental psychopathology research using temperament has been growing vigorously. We found 1,441 peer-reviewed articles on temperament published between 2009 and June of 2012. Seventy percent of these considered temperament in relation to concepts representing the broader domain of developmental psychopathology, such as behavior problems, externalizing, internalizing, and psychiatric diagnoses. Consistent with the vigor of this area of research, numerous major reviews, edited volumes, and monographs on temperament’s relations with developmental psychopathology have appeared in recent years, including Seifer (2000) in the previous edition of this handbook; Caspi and Shiner (2006), Degnan, Almas, and Fox (2010), De Pauw and Mervielde (2010), Kiff, Lengua, and Zalewski (2011), Rothbart (2011), Zentner and Shiner (2012), and Klein, Dyson, Kujawa, and Kotov (2012), just to cite a few of the more recent reviews. We have also contributed reviews (e.g., Bates & Pettit, 2007; Bates, Schermerhorn, & Goodnight, 2010; Bates, Schermerhorn, & Petersen, 2012; Rothbart & Bates, 2006; Wachs & Bates, 2010). This chapter explains our conceptual definition of temperament and how it contributes to the development of psychopathology. This chapter also considers a few measurement issues and some key findings about temperament’s role in developmental psychopathology.