cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
A Content Analysis of Experimental Technologies in Award-Winning Creative Strategies

ABSTRACTExperimental technologies are defined as technologies that were not originally developed to help create or deliver advertising messages but are employed to do so. Drawing upon the conceptual model of creativity and DDB Worldwide's “ROI of creativity,” award-winning creative strategies that incorporate experimental technologies are categorized as affective or reactive to describe the type of consumer response they are intended to elicit. A total of 82 award-winning creative strategies were analyzed. Findings suggest that experimental technologies are more often incorporated in award-winning strategies for non-technology-related products than other categories. In addition, award-winning strategies incorporating experimental technologies appear more likely to elicit affective consumer responses. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.
IMF Conditionality and the United Kingdom, 1944–70: ‘My Appeal was Essentially Based on Bogus Dignity’

Robert Gilpin (1987: 122) has characterized the conflict between domestic economic autonomy and international economic stability as the ‘fundamental dilemma’ of international monetary relations, arguing that ‘the manner in which this dilemma has or has not been resolved in large measure defines the subsequent phases in the history of the international monetary system.’ This chapter examines the postwar evolution of the mechanisms by which conflicts between domestic economic autonomy and international monetary imperatives were reconciled, and how these mechanisms affected Britain up through the early 1970s.
Computing Odor Images

This perspective examines psychophysical methods that may reveal the algorithms that encode odor images by integrating current data from sensory measurement into a computational model of odor perception. There is evidence that algorithms used by the nervous system to process odor sensations require input from only a few odorants, between three and eight. Furthermore, the number of recognizable odors in foods that contribute anything to the aroma of all foods is approximately 250. This may imply that it is the ratio of a small number of key odorants (KOs) that create a multitude of food odors. Studies with large mixtures of odorants (formulated to be of equal potency) show that a subject’s ability to detect individual odorants in these mixtures was vanishingly small. These large mixtures had weak and nondescript but similar odor character. If only a few stimulants are used to represent complex images, it is direct evidence of the simplicity and therefore the tractability of the computational process.
A Radical Pathway for Minocycline Toxicity: Role of Cytochrome c and Sulfite

Minocycline (MC) is a second-generation semi-synthetic analogue of tetracycline. MC has been used as an antibiotic and for the treatment of various diseases such as acne vulgaris, sexually transmitted diseases, and rheumatoid arthritis. MC is currently being explored in various clinical trials for the treatment of cardiovascular diseases such as stroke, vascular aneurisms, and coronary by-pass surgery. However, the clinical use of MC has been associated with potential side effects. It has been demonstrated that MC interacts with cytochrome c (Cyt-c) and inhibits its peroxidase activity. However, molecular mechanism involved in the interaction between Cyt-c and MC is not studied. In this study, UV-visible spectroscopic measurements were carried out to understand the reaction between ferric cytochrome c (Fe3+Cyt-c) and MC. MC reduces Fe3+Cyt-c to ferrous cytochrome c (Fe2+Cyt-c). The reduction of Fe3+Cyt-c increases with increasing concentration of MC. Electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spin trapping studies using 5,5-dimethyl-1-pyrroline-N-oxide (DMPO) were performed with Fe3+Cyt-c, MC, and sulfite. An EPR spectrum corresponding to the sulfite radical adducts of DMPO (DMPO-SO3–) was obtained. The formation of DMPO-SO3– was very low in the absence of MC. Interestingly, the addition of MC enhanced the DMPO-SO3– adducts. Furthermore, the formation of DMPO-SO3– adducts increased with increasing concentration of MC. From these results, we propose a mechanism that the Fe3+Cyt-c oxidizes MC to MC radical, which subsequently oxidizes sulfite to sulfite radical. Our results suggest that Fe3+Cyt-c could have a novel role in the deleterious effects of MC in biological systems by increasing the production of sulfite radical.
Conservation of biodiversity as a strategy for improving human health and well-being

The Earth's ecosystems have been altered by anthropogenic processes, including land use, harvesting populations, species introductions and climate change. These anthropogenic processes greatly alter plant and animal communities, thereby changing transmission of the zoonotic pathogens they carry. Biodiversity conservation may be a potential win-win strategy for maintaining ecosystem health and protecting public health, yet the causal evidence to support this strategy is limited. Evaluating conservation as a viable public health intervention requires answering four questions: (i) Is there a general and causal relationship between biodiversity and pathogen transmission, and if so, which direction is it in? (ii) Does increased pathogen diversity with increased host biodiversity result in an increase in total disease burden? (iii) Do the net benefits of biodiversity conservation to human well-being outweigh the benefits that biodiversity-degrading activities, such as agriculture and resource utilization, provide? (iv) Are biodiversity conservation interventions cost-effective when compared to other options employed in standard public health approaches? Here, we summarize current knowledge on biodiversity-zoonotic disease relationships and outline a research plan to address the gaps in our understanding for each of these four questions. Developing practical and self-sustaining biodiversity conservation interventions will require significant investment in disease ecology research to determine when and where they will be effective.This article is part of the themed issue 'Conservation, biodiversity and infectious disease: scientific evidence and policy implications'.
Engaging Engineering Students in Geoscience through Case Studies and Active Learning.

ABSTRACT This study reports on a case study–based curricular intervention designed to help undergraduate engineering students make connections between geoscience and its applications. Teaching through case studies resulted in a measurable and significant improvement in the confidence that students had in their ability to apply geoscience concepts in an engineering context. Before the intervention, students in the Bachelor of Science program in Mining Engineering at Colorado School of Mines struggled to solve problems using geoscience concepts in upper division courses. This motivated faculty to revise the required geoscience courses to better demonstrate how geoscience can be applied to solve engineering problems. There were three elements to the revision: each topic was introduced in an applied context, students gave case study presentations on geoscience in mining, and active learning techniques were employed during lecture sessions. In this paper, teaching materials are presented for a faculty-led case...
Characterizing and Predicting Yelp Users’ Behavior

A business’ revenue is significantly dependent on Yelp user ratings (Luca, Reviews, reputation, and revenue: the case of Yelp.com. Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 12-016, 2016; Anderson and Magruder J Econ J. 122(563):957–989, 2012). Knowing the characteristics of Yelp users will influence their business practices that would eventually help improve their Yelp ratings and consequently their revenue. We categorize Yelp users based on the average number of stars given by each user for their reviews. We determine the common characteristics and differences of users between these user groups; and determine whether these characteristics change by business category. We conclude that users whose average rating falls between 3.7 and 4.0 are the most influential and socially connected and that the type of business does not affect the characteristics of the users. Additionally, we design a two-stage predictive model to predict the average star rating of users given their features or attributes and compare its performance to standard models such as random forest and generalized additive model.
Recent advances in estimating protein and energy requirements of ruminants

Considerable efforts have been made in gathering scientific data and developing feeding systems for ruminant animals in the past 50 years. Future endeavours should target the assessment, interpretation and integration of the accumulated knowledge to develop nutrition models in a holistic and pragmatic manner. We highlight some of the areas that need improvement. A fixed metabolisable-to-digestible energy ratio is an oversimplification and does not represent the diversity of existing feedstock, but, at the same time, we must ensure the internal consistency and dependency of the energy system in models. For grazing animals, although data exist to compute energy expenditure associated with walking in different terrains, nutrition models must incorporate the main factors that initiate and control grazing. New equations have been developed to predict microbial crude protein (MCP) production, but efforts must be made to account for the diversity of the rumen microbiome. There is large and unexplained variation in the efficiency of MCP synthesis (9.81–16.3 g MCP/100 g of fermentable organic matter). Given the uncertainties in the determination of MCP, current estimates of metabolisable protein required for maintenance are biased. The use of empirical equations to predict MCP, which, in turn, is used to estimate metabolisable protein intake, is risky because it establishes a dependency between these estimates and creates a specificity that is not appropriate for mechanistic systems. Despite the existence of data and knowledge about the partitioning of retained energy into fat and protein, the prediction of retained protein remains unsatisfactory, and is even less accurate when reported data on the efficiency of use of amino acids are employed in the predictive equations. The integrative approach to develop empirical mechanistic nutrition models has introduced interconnected submodels, which can destabilise the predictability of the model if changed independently.
Incentivizing exploration via information asymmetry

As self-interested individuals make decisions over time, they utilize information revealed by others in the past and produce information that may help others in the future. So how can we incentivize exploration for the sake of the common good?
Phenylalanine Increases Membrane Permeability

Biological membranes are a crucial aspect of living systems, controlling the organization and distribution of different chemical components. Control of membrane permeability is especially important for processes such as electron transport in metabolism and signal propagation in nerve cells. In this work, we show that the amino acid phenylalanine produces increased membrane permeability, which is likely responsible for some of the deleterious symptoms associated with high biological phenylalanine concentrations that occur with the genetic disorder phenylketonuria.
Biomarkers of inflammation in infants with cystic fibrosis.

There are urgent needs for clinically relevant biomarkers to identify children with cystic fibrosis (CF) at risk for more progressive lung disease and to serve as outcome measures for clinical trials. Our objective was to investigate three targeted biomarkers in a population of asymptomatic CF infants. Urine, blood and lung function data were collected for 2 years from clinically stable infants diagnosed with CF by newborn screening. A subset of CF infants had bronchoscopy with lavage performed at 6 months and 1 year. Urine was collected quarterly from healthy control infants. Expectorated sputum and urine were collected quarterly for 2 years from clinically stable CF adults. Desmosine, club cell secretory protein (CCSP) and cathepsin B concentrations were measured and compared. Mixed effects models were used to identify associations between biomarker concentrations and clinical characteristics. Receiver operator characteristic curves were generated to investigate the sensitivity and specificity of the biomarkers. Urinary cathepsin B was significantly higher in CF infants compared to healthy infants (p = 0.005). CF infant airway and urinary cathepsin B concentrations were significantly lower compared to adult CF subjects (p = 0.002 & p = 0.022, respectively). CF infant airway CCSP was significantly higher than adult CF subjects (p < 0.001). There was a significant correlation between CF infant plasma CCSP and BALF CCSP (p = 0.046). BALF CCSP was negatively associated with IL-8 (p = 0.017). There was no correlation between biomarker concentration and FEV0.5. Cathepsin B and CCSP show promise as biomarkers of inflammation in CF infants. Further study is needed.
CoYoT1 Clinic: Home Telemedicine Increases Young Adult Engagement in Diabetes Care.

Abstract Background: Young adults with type 1 diabetes (T1D) experience poor glycemic control, disengagement in care, and are often lost to the medical system well into their adult years. Diabetes providers need a new approach to working with the population. The goal of this study was to determine whether an innovative shared telemedicine appointment care model (CoYoT1 Clinic [pronounced as “coyote”; Colorado Young Adults with T1D]) for young adults with T1D improves care engagement, satisfaction, and adherence to American Diabetes Association (ADA) guidelines regarding appointment frequency. Subjects and Methods: CoYoT1 Clinic was designed to meet the diabetes care needs of young adults (18–25 years of age) with T1D through home telemedicine. Visits occurred every 3 months over the 1-year study (three times by home telemedicine and one time in-person). Outcomes were compared to patients receiving treatment as usual (control). Results: Compared with controls, CoYoT1 patients attended significantly more cl...
Spatial Clustering of Pedestrian Activity and the Built Environment Characteristics

Promoting pedestrian activity has attracted increasing attention as an important strategy for the improvement of public health and urban revitalization. The impact on physical activity underpinned ...
Building infrastructure in the digital age: case study of the Isis Bibliography of History of Science, 2002-2018

The IsisCB Explore went online in 2015 as a foundational digital resource for historians of science. Built on the History of Science Society’s 100-year-old Isis Bibliography of the History of Science, this service is meant to lay the groundwork for a digital infrastructure to support historical work in the relatively new digital environment where so much modern scholarship now takes place. In order to create this resource, the director of the project, Stephen Weldon, has learned how to shape traditional historical methods, practices, and resources to fit the new digital paradigm. Computer and networking technologies have been built out of the needs and practices of technologists, natural scientists, and business innovators, all of whom employ it in very specific ways, quite different from the practices of humanistic scholarship, and history in particular. As a result, the digital environment is not especially friendly to historical work or products. As a result, it has taken a great deal of effort to understand and refactor historical data so that it functions well within a digital knowledge ecology, a “knowledge infrastructure,” as Christine Borgman refers to it. This paper describes the difficulties (epistemological, cultural, and economic) that make the creation of tools like the IsisCB Explore service challenging for historians and suggests some ways forward.
The Effects of Photocoagulation on the Electroretinogram and Dark Adaptation in Diabetic Retinopathy

The use of laser photocoagulation as a treatment for diabetic retinopathy provides the opportunity to examine changes in the human electroretinogram (ERG) and dark adaptation after a specified area of the retina has been destroyed. The purpose of our investigation was to measure the ERG following fixed increments of laser treatment in patients with diabetic retinopathy. In one group of patients the ERG was measured after 15–18% of the retina had been treated and in a second group the ERG was measured periodically as the photocoagulated area was increased from 3% to 18%. In addition, dark adaptation thresholds were measured before and after treatment.
WorkMail: Collaborative Document Workflow Management by Email

Processing documents is a critical and crucial aspect for enterprises. The management of documents involves several people and can be a long and time-wasting process. We developed a document workflow engine based on email paradigm. Exploiting a web application, the subject of the workflow, the document, can be sent as an email attachment. Our solution overcomes the current limitation in the use of Document Workflow software, especially regarding user experience. With our system there is no need for users to learn how a new framework works. In addition, users with different roles have different customized view of the document. Moreover a suggest feature has been implemented; the system suggests a possible receiver for the document, depending on the document flow.
Near-IR to Mid-IR Supercontinuum Generation for High-Order Modes Using AsSe Multimode Fiber

We investigate the supercontinuum generation of the first four LP modes in an AsSe multimode fiber. Numerical results show that the supercontinuum spectra spanning from near-IR to mid-IR of high-order spatial modes are broader than that of the fundamental mode.
Dynamic Regulation of Endothelial Cell-Specific Molecule 1 in Diabetic Mouse Kidney

Performing glomerular gene expression profiling in diabetic mouse models with differential susceptibility to nephropathy (DN), we identify endothelial cell-specific molecule 1 (Esm-1) as a novel ca...
TIME SERIES MODELS FOR VEHICLE RANDOM VIBRATION SIMULATION TESTS.

To accurately evaluate fatigue life, durability and dynamics of mechanical systems, random vibration simulation tests are required. The success of a simulation test depends heavily on how accurately service loads can be reproduced in a laboratory. Many sophisticated and expensive systems have been developed for these kinds of simulation tests. However, because of high cost and complexity, the usage of these complicated systems is limited. In this paper, an innovative approach to reconstruct service load histories with time series models for random vibration simulation tests will be introduced. With the new approach, service load histories can be accurately regenerated without using sophisticated computer and control systems, and highly accurate random vibration simulation tests can be conducted at low cost and within a short time.
Developmental Trajectories of Maternal Sensitivity across the First Year of Life: Relations among Emotion Competence and Dyadic Reciprocity.

Objective. Maternal sensitivity is a commonly used construct to capture the quality of mother–child interactions, but inconsistencies in conceptualizing and defining maternal sensitivity limit unde...
Methods of Assessing Perspectives on Torture

The chapters in this section of the book describe our findings regarding the ways that ordinary people from around the world reason about and feel about the use of torture by governments. These findings are based on the quantitative and qualitative responses to the rights’ item, “The government has the right to order the torture of prisoners in time of war,” and to the emotional/motivational scenario, “Military officials are torturing somebody suspected of having information about terrorists. What would you want to do?”
Applying robotic process automation (RPA) in auditing: A framework

Abstract Robotic process automation (RPA) has been widely adopted in many industries, including the accounting industry, to automate well-defined and repetitive tasks; however, its application to auditing has lagged behind because of the unique nature of this industry. This study applies RPA in the auditing area. An RPA framework is proposed that frees auditors from doing repetitive and low-judgment audit tasks and enables them to focus on tasks that require professional judgment. This paper also demonstrates the feasibility of RPA by implementing a pilot project that applies RPA to the confirmation process.
Molecular biology of meniscus pathology: Lessons learned from translational studies and mouse models

Injury to any individual structure in the knee interrupts the overall function of the joint and initiates a cascade of biological and biomechanical changes whose endpoint is often osteoarthritis (OA). The knee meniscus is an integral component of knee biomechanics and may also contribute to the biological homeostasis of the joint. Meniscus injury altering knee function is associated with a high risk of OA progression, and may also be involved in the initiation of OA. As the relationship between meniscus injury and OA is very complex; despite the availability of transcript level data on human meniscus injury and meniscus mediated OA, mechanistic studies are lacking, and available human data are difficult to validate in the absence of patient-matched noninjured control tissues. As similarities exist between human and mouse knee joint structure and function, investigators have begun to use cutting-edge genetic and genomic tools to examine the usefulness of the mouse as a model to study the intricate relationship between meniscus injury and OA. In this review, we use evidence from human meniscus research to identify critical barriers hampering our understanding of meniscus injury induced OA and discuss strategies to overcome these barriers, including those that can be examined in a mouse model of injury-mediated OA.
Developing and Testing Automatic Models of Patient Communicative Health Literacy Using Linguistic Features: Findings from the ECLIPPSE study

Patients with diabetes and limited health literacy (HL) may have suboptimal communication exchange with their health care providers and be at elevated risk of adverse health outcomes. These difficu...
Finding the Finals Fairy: Outreach and stress release during finals

Salisbury University (SU) Libraries has a visitor who comes at the end of every semester, staying for approximately one week. Her name is familiar to the students, and her arrival is heralded on social media and via posters around campus. She is the Finals Fairy. She serves many purposes, but her primary function is to provide stress relief to students in the midst of their finals. Susan Brazer first came up with the idea in the fall 2011, and SU Libraries has continued with her every fall and spring semester since.
Developmental patterns of CBF and BOLD responses to visual stimulus

To investigate the developmental changes of cerebral blood flow (CBF) and hemodynamic responses to changing neural activity, we used the arterial spin label (ASL) technique to measure resting CBF a...
Landau Levels in Inhomogeneously Strained Photonic Crystals

We theoretically demonstrate the emergence of highly degenerate Landau levels in inhomogeneously strained 2D photonic crystals. This provides a novel mechanism for engineering high density of states in photonic media.
The Essential Guide to Effective School Counseling Programs: by Rebecca Groves Brannock, California, Cognella, 2019, 198 pp., £68.95 (paperback), ISBN-13: 9781516533039

“We need to be the change we want to see happen. We are the leaders we have been waiting for” (Mamatha Gandhi). This is one of the powerful quotes Rebecca Brannock included in her book to describe ...
Single-cell analysis identifies a key role for Hhip in murine coronal suture development

Craniofacial development depends on proper formation and maintenance of sutures between adjacent bones of the skull. Within sutures, bone growth occurs through proliferation and differentiation of osteoprogenitors to osteoblasts within the osteogenic front at the edge of each bone, and suture mesenchyme maintains the separation between them. Many genes have been found that cause suture dysgenesis when mutated, particularly of the coronal suture. Such genes are largely studied in isolation, and there is little understanding of the overall transcriptional programs within the suture or of the cell populations in which these programs are organized. We performed single-cell and bulk RNA-seq analyses of the murine coronal suture during embryonic development. Replicate libraries at E16.5 and E18.5 were analyzed. We identified 14 cell type populations when both ages were analyzed together. Seven populations at E16.5 and nine at E18.5 comprised the suture mesenchyme, osteogenic fronts, osteoblasts, and associated cell types. We found a distinct coronal suture mesenchyme population at both ages compared to other neurocranial sutures, which was marked by expression of Hhip, an inhibitor of hedgehog signaling. We examined Hhip-/- mice and found a previously unrecognized coronal suture phenotype. At E18.5, Hhip-/- frontal and parietal bones lack the overlap typical of the WT coronal suture. The osteogenic fronts are closely apposed and the suture mesenchyme is depleted, demonstrating that Hhip function is required for normal coronal suture development. Our transcriptomic approach provides a rich resource for further discoveries of potential normal and abnormal developmental relevance.
Regulation of cardiovascular biology by microsomal epoxide hydrolase

Microsomal epoxide hydrolase/epoxide hydrolase 1 (mEH/EPHX1) works in conjunction with cytochromes P450 to metabolize a variety of compounds, including xenobiotics, pharmaceuticals and endogenous lipids. mEH has been most widely studied for its role in metabolism of xenobiotic and pharmaceutical compounds where it converts hydrophobic and reactive epoxides to hydrophilic diols that are more readily excreted. Inhibition or genetic disruption of mEH can be deleterious in the face of many industrial, environmental or pharmaceutical exposures and EPHX1 polymorphisms are associated with the development of exposure-related cancers. The role of mEH in endogenous epoxy-fatty acid (EpFA) metabolism has been less well studied. In vitro, mEH metabolizes most EpFAs at a far slower rate than soluble epoxide hydrolase (sEH) and has thus been generally considered to exert a minor role in EpFA metabolism in vivo. Indeed, sEH inhibitors or sEH-deficiency increase EpFA levels and are protective in animal models of cardiovascular disease. Recently, however, mEH was found to have a previously unrecognized and substantial role in EpFA metabolism in vivo. While few studies have examined the role of mEH in cardiovascular homeostasis, there is now substantial evidence that mEH can regulate cardiovascular function through regulation of EpFA metabolism. The discovery of a prominent role for mEH in epoxyeicosatrienoic acid (EET) metabolism, in particular, suggests that additional studies on the role of mEH in cardiovascular biology are warranted.
Self-Care Strategies and Psychological Ownership in Athletic Trainers.

CONTEXT Psychological ownership (PO) is a state where an individual feels possession over an object (e.g. PO over the organization where one works, PO over the profession one serves). Understanding PO could provide insight to "vitality of the profession" as defined in the Prioritized Research Agenda for the Athletic Training Profession. OBJECTIVE The purpose of this study was to explore athletic trainers' (AT) PO over their employing organization and the athletic training profession. DESIGN Cross-Sectional Study Setting: Web-based survey Patients or Other Participants: Clinically practicing ATs that were active members of NATA. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S) Demographic variables, Psychological Ownership Questionnaire (POQ), and Psychological Ownership of Athletic Training (POQ-AT) were the primary outcomes measured. Descriptive statistics were calculated for demographic variables, POQ and POQ-AT overall scores, form scores, and dimension scores. Non-parametric tests were used to investigate differences between the POQ and POQ-AT among demographic characteristics. RESULTS ATs indicated greater PO over the athletic training profession (Z=-3.45, p=0.001) than over their employing organization. They indicated greater belongingness (Z=-9.51, p<0.001) and self-identity (Z=-8.71, p<0.001) and less territoriality (Z=-5.52, p<0.001) and accountability (Z=-5.33, p<0.001) over their profession than within their organization. ATs that supervised others indicated greater overall POQ (U=34372, p<0.001) and overall POQ-AT score (U=36624, p=0.014) than ATs that did not supervise others. There was a difference in overall POQ (H(4)=20.47, p<0.001) and overall POQ-AT scores (H(4)=21.34, p<0.001) between groupings of years of experience. CONCLUSIONS ATs indicate greater PO over their profession than their employing organizations. They indicate greater self-identity and belongingness and less territoriality and accountability over the athletic training profession than over their employing organization suggesting ATs are connecting aspirations and accomplishments with the profession but connecting duty and responsibility to their organizations. Years of experience and supervisor status may play a role in the level of organizational PO.
Simulation and Experimental Evaluation of Complete Sensor-Based Coverage in Rectilinear Environments

Although sensor-based coverage is a skill which is applicable to a variety of robot tasks, its implementation has so far been limited, mostly by the physical limitations of traditional mobile robots. This paper presents sensor-based coverage algorithms both for a single robot and for a team of independent robots which have been designed to allow for easy integration on to real robots. The specific robots in question are planar robots called couriers, components of the minifactory, an automated assembly system. The couriers have excellent position sensing, which enables them to perform coverage, but have no explicit range or contact sensors to detect boundaries, which adds to the complexity of the coverage algorithm. A set of experiments from simulation is presented to show the overall efficiency of the single-robot and cooperative coverage processes in a variety of environments. A second set of experiments performed on a real robot demonstrates the ability to reliably perform sensor-based coverage and also illuminates the effects of specific choices in the type of control used.
Possible restoration of superconductivity in the quasi-one-dimensional conductor Li 0.9 Mo 6 O 17 in pulsed high magnetic fields H ≃ 100 T

We present a theoretical study of restoration of superconductivity in the form of the triplet reentrant superconducting phase in a quasi-one-dimensional (Q1D) conductor. Substitution of known band and superconducting parameters of the presumably triplet Q1D superconductor ${\mathrm{Li}}_{0.9}{\mathrm{Mo}}_{6}{\mathrm{O}}_{17}$ into our theoretical equations shows that such restoration can happen in non-destructive pulsed high magnetic field of the order of $H\ensuremath{\simeq}100\phantom{\rule{4.pt}{0ex}}\text{T}$. We investigate in detail how small inclinations of a direction of a magnetic field from its best experimental geometry decrease the superconducting transition temperature of the reentrant phase, which is important for its possible experimental discovery.
Tailoring object descriptions to a user's level of expertise

A question answering program providing access to a large amount of data will be most useful if it can tailor its answers to each individual user. In particular, a user's level of knowledge about the domain of discourse is an important factor in this tailoring if the answer provided is to be both informative and understandable to the user. In this research, we address the issue of how the user's domain knowledge can affect an answer. By studying texts, we found that the user's level of domain knowledge affected the kind of information provided and not just the amount of information, as was previously assumed. Depending on the user's assumed domain knowledge, a description can be either parts-oriented or process-oriented. Thus the user's level of expertise in a domain can guide a system in choosing the appropriate facts from the knowledge base to include in an answer. We propose two distinct descriptive strategies that can be used in a question answering program, and show how they can be mixed to include the appropriate information from the knowledge base, given the user's domain knowledge. We have implemented these strategies in TAILOR, a computer system that generates descriptions of devices. TAILOR uses one of the two discourse strategies identified in texts to construct a description for either a novice or an expert. It can merge the strategies automatically to produce a wide range of different descriptions to users who fall between the extremes of novice or expert, without requiring an a priori set of user stereotypes.
Tumor epithelial cell MMP-9 is a prognostic marker in colorectal cancer

A40 Colorectal cancer is the second leading cause of cancer-related mortality in developed nations. Mortality from colon cancer largely reflects metastasis, the spread of the disease to distant sites. Early diagnosis of pre-metastatic disease and accurate stratification of patients with metastasis is pivotal to decrease mortality rates from colon cancer by effectively administering surgery alone or with chemotherapy. However, specific pathological markers of colorectal cancer metastasis have not emerged. Matrix metalloproteinase 9 (MMP-9) is a key regulator of metastasis and a therapeutic target in colon cancer. Here, MMP-9 overexpression in pure tumor epithelial, but nor stromal, cell populations from patients was associated with metastatic colorectal cancer progression as defined by RT-PCR and confirmed by immunostaining. Thus, tumors with increased MMP-9 expression compared to matched normal adjacent tissues always exhibited metastatic dissemination. In particular, MMP-9 overexpression in tumor epithelial cells, compared to normal epithelial cells, specifically predicted lymph node involvement. Importantly, patients with relative increase of MMP-9 levels in tumor epithelial cells were characterized by more advanced disease stages, with significantly higher proportion of regional lymph nodes harboring metastasis, compared to patients with a relative decrease in MMP-9 expression. Together, these observations suggest tumor epithelial cell MMP-9 is a novel prognostic marker that may be exploited for more efficient disease stage stratification and therapeutic regimen selection in patients with colorectal cancer.
Bioavailability of Vitamin E in Rats Fed Graded Levels of Pectin

Dietary pectin at levels of 0, 3, 6 and 8% was fed ad libitum to rats for 8 wk to evaluate whether the bioavailability of vitamin E fed at 0.001% of the diet was affected by pectin. Rats fed 3% pectin were not different in any vitamin E parameters from those fed 0% pectin. By the end of the study body weights were significantly lower in the 6 and 8% pectin groups after adjusting for their nonsignificant trend of lower food intake. At wk 8, liver vitamin E levels were reduced in the 6 and 8% pectin group compared to values at the start of the study. Both groups had significantly higher red blood cell hemolysis compared to 0% pectin at 8 wk. Fecal fat excretion was not different among the diet groups, but weights of the small and large intestines were significantly increased in rats fed 6 or 8% pectin compared to those fed 0 or 3%. Our results show that 6 and 8 but not 3% dietary pectin decreased vitamin E availability in rats.
High-throughput and in silico screenings in drug discovery

Background: In the current situation of weak drug pipelines, impending patent expiration of several blockbuster drugs, industry consolidation and changing business models that target special diseases like cancer, diabetes, Alzheimer's and obesity, the pharmaceutical industry is under intense pressure to generate a strong drug pipeline distinguished by better productivity, diversity and cost effectiveness. The goal is discovering high-quality leads in the initial stages of the development cycle, to minimize the costs associated with failures at later ones. Objective: Thus, there is a great amount of interest in further developing and optimizing high-throughput screening and in silico screening, the two methods responsible for generating most of the lead compounds. Although high-throughput screening is the predominant starting point for discovery programs, in silico methods have gradually made inroads by their more rational approach, to expedite the drug discovery and development process. Conclusion: Modern...
The quenching of CdSe quantum dots photoluminescence by gold nanoparticles in solution

The photoluminescence (PL) of CdSe quantum dots (QD) in aqueous media has been studied in the presence of gold nanoparticles (NP) with different shapes. The steady state PL intensity of CdSe QD (1.5-2 nm in size) is quenched in the presence of gold NP. Picosecond bleach recovery and nanosecond time-resolved luminescence measurements show a faster bleach recovery and decrease in the lifetime of the emitting states of CdSe QD in the presence of quenchers. Surfactant-capped gold nanorods (NR) with aspect ratio of 3 and surfactant-capped and citrate-capped nanospheres (NS) of 12 nm diameter were used as quenchers in order to study the effect of shape and surface charge on the quenching rates. The Stern-Volmer kinetics model is used to examine the observed quenching behavior as a function of the quencher concentration. It was found that the quenching rate of NR is more than 1000 times stronger than that of NS with the same capping material. We also found that the quenching rate decreases as the length of the NR decreases, although the overlap between the CdSe emission and the NR absorption increases. This suggests that the quenching is a result of electron transfer rather than long-range (Forster-type) energy transfer processes. The quenching was attributed to the transfer of electron with energies below the Fermi level of gold to the trap holes of CdSe QD. The observed large difference between NR and NS quenching efficiencies was attributed to the presence of the [110] facets only in the NR, which have higher surface energy.
REWARD SYSTEMS IN TOTAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT IN THE PACIFIC BASIN

Reward systems provide a number of important functions in the organization including motivating active participation of organizational members, meeting role expectations, and motivating innovation and strong commitment to the organization (Steers and Porter, 1991). Organizations worldwide are actively grappling with the translation of Deming's (1986) fourteen principles into their own unique versions of Total Quality Management. As they proceed through the stages of transforming their organizational cultures toward continuous quality improvement, they have evolved a number of reward mechanisms to assimilate workers into the TQM culture and to maintain workers' efforts toward continuous quality improvement goals. The present article examines the reward systems in several organizations in the Pacific Basin, which was chosen because of the increasing emphasis upon quality taken by companies in Australia, Asia, and the western U.S.
Current management of esophageal leiomyoma

Morgagni first described leiomyoma as a distinct gastrointestinal neoplasm in 1761, but Munro in 1797 was the first to report a localized intramural leiomyoma of the esophagus. Much of what is known today about the histologic features of esophageal leiomyoma was specified by Virchow in 1863. Sauerbruch reported the first successful surgical treatment of esophageal leiomyoma when he performed an esophageal resection with gastroesophagostomy in 1932. One year later Ohsawa performed the first successful surgical enucleation of this type of tumor. Leiomyoma has traditionally been classified along with leiomyosarcoma as smooth-muscle–cell tumors. Several years ago the term gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST) was introduced as a histogenetically neutral term to refer to all mesenchymal tumors of the GI tract, including those of smooth-muscle–cell origin; but recent evidence indicates that most GISTs comprise a group of neoplasms distinct from true leiomyoma and leiomyosarcoma based on immunohistochemical, ultrastructural, and molecular genetic markers. Pathologists currently classify leiomyoma and GIST as two separate discrete types of tumors. Leiomyoma is the most common mesenchymal tumor of the esophagus but is exceedingly rare in other parts of the GI tract. In contrast GISTs are common in the stomach and intestines but are rarely found in the esophagus. Our objective in preparing this article was to report the currently available techniques for the diagnosis and treatment of esophageal leiomyoma. We have reviewed the English-language literature reporting the various diagnostic and treatment modalities of this condition published between 1900 and 2003. Literature searches were performed on Medline using the following search terms: leiomyoma, esophagus, esophageal mesenchymal tumor, gastrointestinal stromal tumor, and esophageal smooth-muscle tumor.
Internal quality control: planning and implementation strategies

The e rst essential in setting up internal quality control (IQC) of a test procedure in the clinical laboratory is to select the proper IQC procedure to implement, i.e. choosing the statistical criteria or control rules, and the number of control measurements, according to the quality required for the test and the observed performance of the method. Then the right IQC procedure must be properly implemented. This review focuses on strategies for planning and implementing IQC procedures in order to improve the quality of the IQC. A quantitative planning process is described that can be implemented with graphical tools such as power function or critical-error graphs and charts of operating specie cations. Finally, a total QC strategy is formulated to minimize cost and maximize quality. A general strategy for IQC implementation is recommended that employs a threestage design in which the e rst stage provides high error detection, the second stage low false rejection and the third stage prescribes the length of the analytical run, making use of an algorithm involving the average of normal patients’ data. Ann Clin Biochem 2003; 40: 593‐611
Osteoma of soft parts.

Osteomas of soft tissue are rare tumors. All previously reported cases occurred in the head, usually in the posterior tongue. We present two patients with soft-tissue osteomas in the thigh. Both masses were densely ossified and consisted of mature trabecular bone on computed tomography and magnetic resonance examination. Increased uptake of boneseeking radiopharmaceutical was found on scintigraphy. Histologically, mature lamellar bone was seen with small amounts of cartilage seen in the periphery. Symptoms of mass effect which resolved following surgery were noted. We believe that this previously unrecognized soft-tissue appendicular neoplasm lies at the end of a spectrum of post-traumatic ossifying lesions which includes soft-tissue chondromas and osteochondromas, as well as myositis ossificans.
Tissue optics for a slab geometry in the diffusion approximation

This paper solves the radiative transport equation in a slab using the diffusion approximation in one-dimension. The absorption and scattering coefficients as well as the first moment of the phase function are shown to follow directly from measurement of the diffuse transmission and the collimated transmission, and the diffuse reflection.
Expression of α2-macroglobulin receptor/low density lipoprotein receptor-related protein is increased in reactive and neoplastic glial cells

alpha 2-Macroglobulin receptor/low density lipoprotein receptor-related protein (alpha 2M-R/LRP) is a multi-functional cell-surface receptor that has been implicated in diverse physiologic processes. In normal human brain, alpha 2M-R/LRP is expressed principally by pyramidal neurons with localization to cell bodies and proximal processes. By contrast, alpha 2M-R/LRP is not present in either the cell bodies or processes of most normal macroglia (including astrocytes). In this investigation, we studied the expression of alpha 2M-R/LRP in the brain, following tissue injury or neoplastic transformation, by immunohistochemistry. Significantly increased alpha 2M-R/LRP immunoreactivity was identified in reactive astrocytes, indicating the expression of this receptor is regulated in vivo in response to brain injury. alpha 2M-R/LRP immunoreactivity was also detected in glial cell tumors; this finding is novel since malignant transformation is typically thought to turn off expression of this receptor.
Single-site bismuth alkoxide catalysts for the ring-opening polymerization of lactide.

Salen bismuth alkoxides, where the salen ligand contains 2,4-di-tert-butylphenoxy groups and one of ethylene, cyclohexane or ortho-phenyl as a backbone have been prepared from reactions involving Bi[N(SiMe3)2]3 and the free salen ligand followed by alcoholysis (ButOH, PriOH and 2,6-But2C6H3OH). The molecular structures of the salen ligand with the cyclohexyl back-bone have been determined for the complexes salenBiCl and salenBiOC6H3-2,6-But2. The chloro compound is a dimer with chloride bridges while the phenoxide is monomeric with an unusually distorted five-coordinate geometry. The phenoxide and tert-butoxide complexes have been employed in the ring-opening polymerization of lactides (L- and rac-) to give polylactides, PLAs. With rac-LA heterotactic PLA is formed preferentially, Pr = ∼0.9, in dichloromethane or toluene at room temperature. The reaction is first order in [Bi] and is notably faster than most aluminum and zinc initiators as well as tin(II) octanoate. These results are discussed in terms of a recent report on the polymerization of LA by Peptobismol® and bismuth subsalicylate.
Ground delay program planning: Delay, equity, and computational complexity

The Federal Aviation Administration, in consultation with air carriers, manages Ground Delay Programs, delaying aircraft scheduled to land at capacity constrained airports prior to takeoff to increase the safety and efficiency of air travel. Prior research optimizes Ground Delay Program planning to minimize either delay or a weighted combination of delay and measures of inequity, a key concern in practice. Such approaches have several shortcomings including an inability to find all Pareto-optimal policies and a reliance on (one or many) models relating fundamentally incompatible objectives. This article introduces several two-phase approaches to Ground Delay Program planning that address the problems of weighted sum methods while managing computational burdens, another key concern in practice. A computational study demonstrates the benefits of the new approaches on realistic problem instances.
Low-temperature scanning tunneling microscope-induced luminescence of an InGaN/GaN multiquantum well

We report the scanning tunneling microscope-induced luminescence of an InGaN/GaN multiquantum well. Spectral analysis confirms the dominance of quantum well luminescence. This dominance is discussed in terms of the extent of band bending near the surface. The onset of light emission occurs at a bias larger than the emitted photon energy. This observation agrees with a tunneling in the GaN cap prior to a transport to the quantum well. Luminescence images exhibit features 30–100 nm in size and are discussed in relation to previous studies.