cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
PP171. Hospitalized preterm mild preeclamptics: Is there a difference in outcomes between isolated or superimposed disease?

Introduction Currently the standard of care is to admit and monitor patients with preterm mild preeclampsia. This is particularly important if the disease is superimposed in patients with chpt or with isolated disease if proteinuria is over 500 mg in 24 hours. Despite the common nature of this disease process little is known about the outcomes of these two groups. Objectives The objective of this project is to compare the maternal and neonatal outcomes of patients hospitalized with isolated mild preterm preeclampsia to those with preterm superimposed preeclampsia. Methods All patients admitted between 1/2008 and 12/2011 that were expectantly managed with either mild isolated preterm preeclampsia or chpt with mild superimposed preeclampsia at our tertiary center were evaluated for inclusion in this retrospective cohort study. This study was IRB approved. To be included in the study a patient must have singleton gestation, no overt diabetes, no major chronic medical conditions, no major obstetrical complications, no congenital anomaly, or planned delivery before 37 weeks. Patients with the following maternal complications were excluded: lupus, renal disease, and cardiac disease. Patients with the following obstetrical complications were excluded: multiple gestations, preterm labor, placenta previa, and preterm PROM. Mild preeclampsia and chpt were diagnosed using ACOG criteria. Patients were not included if they had severe disease being treated expectantly. Patients that met inclusion criteria were divided into two groups based on the presence of chpt. All patients were admitted to labor and delivery, treated with corticosteroids if indicated and were managed as inpatients until delivery. All patients had an ultrasound on admission, frequent laboratory evaluations, and daily antepartum testing. Outcomes of interest included latency period in days, incidence of IUGR, incidence of abruption, indication for delivery, maternal complications as well as neonatal morbidity and mortality. Results To date, we have identified 115 patients that met inclusion criteria and were included in this ongoing study. Fifty nine had isolated mild preeclampsia and 56 patients had chronic hypertension with superimposed preeclampsia. The following table compares the results of the two groups. Differences between the groups included age (24 vs. 30 yrs, p Conclusion Patients with preeclampsia were more likely younger, white and delivered vaginally when compared to patients with superimposed disease. While the superimposed patients were more likely older, black, had more pulmonary edema, were more likely treated with antihypertensives both antenatally and postpartum and were delivered by repeat section than patients with isolated disease. Neonatal outcomes were similar between the groups.
Argosomes: intracellular transport vehicles for intercellular signals?

Cell clusters in the immature tissues of developing organisms create morphogen gradients that guide cellular differentiation into specific cell fates. Although the process of simple diffusion in gradient establishment has been well studied, there are other mechanisms by which cells establish morphogen gradients. Christian discusses the recent findings that morphogens may establish gradients through the use of plasma membrane-containing exovesicles, termed "argosomes."
Family ties, parental discipline, and delinquency: A study of youthful misbehavior by parochial high school students

The links among family ties, parental discipline, as measured by the use of physical punishment, and self‐reported acts of misbehavior have intrigued sociologists for almost 75 years. However, the available literature regarding the incidence of youthful misbehavior provides few insights into these putative links for families where the parents make the effort to send their child or children to a parochial school. To this end, a random sample of 74 high school students attending parochial school in a mediumsized southwestern city was obtained. Among the family ties variables, family activities was a more consistent predictor of adolescent misbehavior than youths’ evaluations of their parents and the parental discipline variable was positively related to delinquency: the greater the use of physical punishments, the greater the delinquency. Although no causal significance is assigned to these findings, they do suggest that, first, what the parents of the parochial students in this study do is more important t...
Changes in temporal binding related to decreased vestibular input

Imbalance among patients with vestibular hypofunction has been related to inadequate compensatory eye movements in response to head movements. However, symptoms of imbalance might also occur due a temporal mismatch between vestibular and other balance-related sensory cues. This temporal mismatch could be reflected in a widened temporal binding window (TBW), or the length of time over which simultaneous sensory stimuli may be offset and still perceived as simultaneous. We hypothesized that decreased vestibular input would lead to a widening of the temporal binding window. We performed whole-body rotations about the earth-vertical axis following a sinusoidal trajectory at 0.5 Hz with a peak velocity of 60°/s in four normal subjects. Dichotic auditory clicks were presented through headphones at various phases relative to the rotations. Subjects were asked to indicate whether the cues were synchronous or asynchronous and the TBW was calculated. We then simulated decreased vestibular input by rotating at diminished peak velocities of 48, 24 and 12°/s in four normal subjects. TBW was calculated between ±1 SD away from the mean on the psychometric curve. We found that the TBW increases as amplitude of rotation decreases. Average TBW of 251 ms at 60°/s increased to 309 ms at 12°/s. This result leads to the novel conclusion that changes in temporal processing may be a mechanism for imbalance in patients with vestibular hypofunction.
A general method of design of axial and radial shim coils for NMR and MRI magnets

A novel, efficient method for the design of axial and radial shim coils to suppress undesired harmonic orders in regions of homogeneity is presented. It uses two or three positional degrees of freedom as in the conventional method, but it is not required that these positions be the zeros of any of the source functions. The use of the method is shown for first- through eighth-order axial gradient coils, radial gradient coils, X-gradient coils, and ZX-gradient coils. >
The Loss of the Romantic: Gain for the Science

This article rejects the idea that the crisis in psychology (if crisis there be) is to be explained by the loss of the romantic, by our failing to take advantage of the kind of literary descriptions of personality that our great writers and other artists provide us. Science gains understanding by reducing information to essentials, not by reproducing the complexity of the phenomena it seeks to explain. In defense of the “objective” approach to psychology, it is also necessary to point out that the study of individuals in all their glorious individuality can be accomplished by objective study, particularly by behavior analysis but also by psychologists following other models. Finally, a cold empirical look at the data shows that our intuition is often quite wrong and very rarely to be preferred to objective data when the latter are available.
Enhanced Production of Morbillivirus Gene-Specific RNAs Following Induction of the Cellular Stress Response in Stable Persistent Infection

Abstract Previous in vitro work demonstrated the incorporation of the major inducible 70k heat shock protein (i.e., 72k HSP) into the biologically active light nucleocapsid (L-NC) variant of canine distemper virus (CDV). Here, in vitro induction of the cellular stress response, characterized by elevated cytoplasmic and intranuclear 72k HSP, enhanced L-NC expression in mink lung cells supporting stable persistent infection by raccoon-origin CDV. Increases in L-NC were correlated to increased viral RNA production in cell-free transcriptional assays. The enhanced production of viral transcripts within infected cells following stress response induction was confirmed by slot blot and Northern blot analysis of total cellular RNA and was reflected in increased total viral protein production. Post-shock increases in viral fusion (F) gene transcripts and F protein were associated with dramatic increases in viral cytopathic effect. Modest induction of cell-free infectious viral progeny was also documented. A similar effect of the cellular stress response upon vital protein expression, cytopathic effect, and cell-free infectious progeny release was demonstrated in murine neuroblastoma cells persistently infected with a canine CDV isolate. Alterations of the persistent viral phenotype were independent of the specific mechanism of stress-response induction (i.e., heat or sodium arsonite), supporting the role of the stress response and not a particular stressor in mediating these changes. These results document the ability of the cellular environment to alter persistent viral RNA metabolism, thereby altering the infection phenotype.
Field-of-view constraints on actively controlled long-baseline stellar interferometry

The field-of-view limitations to actively controlled long-baseline interferometry are investigated. Without resorting to any specific atmospheric model, it is shown that the deleterious effects of nonisoplanatism do not grow with further baseline separation (higher spatial frequency sampled). Numerical calculations, which assume an atmospheric model, plus recently acquired data on the vertical profile of turbulence [Cn2(s)], suggest that the atmosphere induced field-of-view limitation is about 2 arcsec at optical wavelengths and about 50 arcsec at infrared wavelengths.
Interaction of terbium and calcium with chicken cystatin

The emission intensity of the fluorescent lanthanide, terbium, is shown to be enhanced upon binding to chicken cystatin. Fluorescence titrations indicate the presence of a single high affinity binding site per molecule. Binding of the terbium results in a 29% quenching of the fluorescence of the single tryptophan residue in the molecule. Calcium displaces the terbium from cystatin as judged by the decrease of terbium fluorescence in competition titrations. Similar titrations with magnesium or strontium demonstrate that the metal binding site of cystatin exhibits specificity for calcium or terbium. Analysis of the N-terminal sequence of chicken cystatin suggests the presence of a putative consensus sequence for a metal binding site between residues 13 and 24. Calcium causes a 17% decrease in the tryptophan fluorescence of cystatin, indicating that an induced conformational change accompanies metal binding. The increased quenching observed with terbium appears to be the result of resonance energy transfer from tryptophan to terbium. From the critical distance for energy transfer from tryptophan to terbium, it is estimated that the terbium binding site lies approximately 12 A from the single tryptophan residue in the molecule.
Ischemic preconditioning is mediated by erythropoietin through PI-3 kinase signaling in an animal model of transient ischemic attack

Ischemic preconditioning (IP) protects the brain from subsequent, prolonged, and lethal ischemia in experimental studies. Erythropoietin (EPO) participates in the brain's intrinsic response to injury and may play a role in preconditioning. By using a middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAo) model of transient ischemic attack (TIA), we sought to determine whether EPO is required for IP in the protective response against focal ischemic stroke. Rats underwent three 10-min MCA occlusions or sham surgery. Three days later, animals underwent 2 hr of MCAo and 22 hr of reperfusion. Experimental TIAs reduced infarct volumes by 55% (P < 0.05), inhibited DNA fragmentation, and improved neurological outcome by 50% (P < 0.05) after ischemic stroke. EPO and its receptor were up-regulated by IP in the ipsilateral hemisphere by 24 hr after IP, before ischemic stroke and soluble EPO receptor attenuated neuroprotection by IP (88% reduction, P < 0.05). Pretreatment with the PI-3 kinase inhibitor wortmannin abolished the protective effect of IP against ischemic injury (P < 0.05). IP may be mediated in part by EPO through a PI-3 kinase pathway.
Emerging Therapies for Glioblastoma

Importance Glioblastoma is the most common primary malignant brain tumor, but despite multimodal treatment with surgery, radiotherapy, and temozolomide chemotherapy, the prognosis is poor, with a median survival of 16 to 19 months and poor quality of life throughout the disease course. New treatments are needed. Evidence Review Articles were identified through a search of PubMed references from March 2005 through January 2014, using the terms glioblastoma , glioma , malignant glioma , and brain neoplasm , as well as by search of the authors’ files. Clinical trials were identified in the Clinicaltrials.gov registry. Findings Advances in the understanding of the molecular biology of glioblastoma are being rapidly translated into innovative clinical trials, capitalizing on improved genomic, epigenetic, transcriptional, and proteomic characterization of glioblastomas as well as host factors, including the brain microenvironment and immune system interactions. Therapies targeting tumor growth factor receptors and downstream pathways, angiogenesis, modulation of cancer stemlike cells, cell cycle regulation, oncolytic viruses, new radiotherapy techniques, and immunotherapy, including vaccines and modulation of immune checkpoints (eg, programmed cell death 1 and cytotoxic T-lymphocyte antigen 4), are under investigation. In addition to novel agents, techniques to circumvent the blood-brain barrier to facilitate central nervous system drug exposure are being developed. Conclusions and Relevance Glioblastoma is an aggressive tumor with heterogeneous molecular features and complex host interactions, many of which are amenable to therapeutic intervention. Meaningful treatment advances will depend on identifying agents that target mechanistic vulnerabilities that are relevant to specific subgroups of patients; increasing patient enrollment into clinical trials is essential to accelerate the development of patient-tailored treatments.
Native-species seed additions do not shift restored prairie plant communities from exotic to native states

Exotic- and native-dominated communities can exist as alternate states in landscapes, but whether exotic-dominated states are persistent in the face of propagule pressure from native species is not well known. Here, we asked whether adding native seeds to low diversity, exotic-dominated patches would shift them to a more diverse, native state by using a long-term experiment with tallgrass prairie species in Iowa, USA. Previous work established that community assembly history led to alternate exotic or native states of perennial species. We added native seeds to plots in the spring after removing aboveground biomass with fire. We found that an experimental seed addition did not cause a shift from exotic to native states. Plots seeded eight years earlier in spring and without a priority effect continued to have the highest abundance and diversity of native species and lowest proportion of exotics. Our results suggest that exotic-dominated states in restorations can persist in the face of native species propagule pressure. Thus, assembly history can play a strong role in generating and maintaining alternate states over long time frames that are relevant to restoration. New restoration projects in exotic-dominated landscapes should maximize effort toward establishing native species during initial stages of restoration.
Electrochemical performance of TiO2 and NiO as fuel cell electrode additives

Transition metal oxides (TMOs) have been studied as electrode materials in PEM fuel cells. We have investigated the electrochemical properties of nickel oxide (NiO) and titanium oxide (TiO2) mixed with carbon-supported platinum (Pt/C) as electrocatalyst using steady-state voltage–current density measurements with various fuels. We found that in each case studied, the performance of TiO2 and NiO with Pt/C catalyst is higher than for the Pt/C electrocatalyst alone.
Designing for Responsiveness with Computational Sprinting

The tight thermal constraints of mobile devices, which limit sustainable performance, and the bursty nature of interactive mobile applications call for a new design focus: enhancing user responsiveness rather than sustained throughput. To that end, this article explores computational sprinting, wherein a mobile device temporarily exceeds sustainable thermal limits to provide a brief, intense burst of computation in response to user input. By enabling tenfold more computation within the timescale of human patience, sprinting has the potential to fundamentally change the user experience that an interactive application can provide.
Cyclic motions near a Hopf bifurcation of a four-dimensional system

We study motions near a Hopf bifurcation of a representative nonconservative four-dimensional autonomous system with quadratic nonlinearities. Special cases of the four-dimensional system represent the envelope equations that govern the amplitudes and phases of the modes of an internally resonant structure subjected to resonant excitations. Using the method of multiple scales, we reduce the Hopf bifurcation problem to two differential equations for the amplitude and phase of the bifurcating cyclic solutions. Constant solutions of these equations provide asymptotic expansions for the frequency and amplitude of the bifurcating limit cycle. The stability of the constant solutions determines the nature of the bifurcation (i.e., subcritical or supercritical). For different choices of the control parameter, the range of validity of the analytical approximation is ascertained using numerical simulations. The perturbation analysis and discussions are also pertinent to other autonomous systems.
Effects of Litter Addition on Ectomycorrhizal Associates of a Lodgepole Pine (Pinus contorta) Stand in Yellowstone National Park

Increasing soil nutrients through litter manipulation, pollution, or fertilization can adversely affect ectomycorrhizal (EM) communities by inhibiting fungal growth. In this study, we used molecular genetic methods to determine the effects of litter addition on the EM community of a Pinus contorta stand in Yellowstone National Park that regenerated after a stand-replacing fire. Two controls were used; in unmodified control plots nothing was added to the soil, and in perlite plots perlite, a chemically neutral substance, was added to maintain soil moisture and temperature at levels similar to those under litter. We found that (i) species richness did not change significantly following perlite addition (2.6 +/- 0.3 species/core in control plots, compared with 2.3 +/- 0.3 species/core in perlite plots) but decreased significantly (P < 0.05) following litter addition (1.8 +/- 0.3 species/core); (ii) EM infection was not affected by the addition of perlite but increased significantly (P < 0.001) in response to litter addition, and the increase occurred only in the upper soil layer, directly adjacent to the added litter; and (iii) Suillus granulatus, Wilcoxina mikolae, and agaricoid DD were the dominant organisms in controls, but the levels of W. mikolae and agaricoid DD decreased significantly in response to both perlite and litter addition. The relative levels of S. granulatus and a fourth fungus, Cortinariaceae species 2, increased significantly (P < 0.01 and P < 0.05, respectively) following litter addition. Thus, litter addition resulted in some negative effects that may be attributable to moisture-temperature relationships rather than to the increased nutrients associated with litter. Some species respond positively to litter addition, indicating that there are differences in their physiologies. Hence, changes in the EM community induced by litter accumulation also may affect ecosystem function.
Urinary tract fistulas in Crohn's disease: surgery versus medical therapy.

Crohn's disease was described in 1932 (1) with subsequent reports of complicating bladder fistulas appearing 4–5 yr later. However, Moisey and Williams (2) noted that as early as the second century A.D., Rufus of Ephesus had described fistulas between the bowel and bladder.
Reactive self-tracking solar concentrators: concept, design, and initial materials characterization

Etendue limits angular acceptance of high-concentration photovoltaic systems and imposes precise two-axis mechanical tracking. We show how a planar micro-optic solar concentrator incorporating a waveguide cladding with a nonlinear optical response to sunlight can reduce mechanical tracking requirements. Optical system designs quantify the required response: a large, slow, and localized increase in index of refraction. We describe one candidate materials system: a suspension of high-index particles in a low-index fluid combined with a localized space-charge field to increase particle density and average index. Preliminary experiments demonstrate an index change of aqueous polystyrene nanoparticles in response to a low voltage signal and imply larger responses with optimized nanofluidic materials.
In the Matter of University Governance During the 1960's

Using cases of contested dismissals from institutions of higher learning reported in the American Association of University Professors Bulletin between 1963 and 1970, it is the thesis of this paper that the significance of the 1960's, as far as university governance is concerned, lies in the challenge to the concentration of power of academic administrators by some faculty. The data show that since 1967 the average number of contested dismissals per year increased markedly, that a new category of conflict centering on university governance became prominent, and that there did not appear to be an increase in pressure from conservative forces outside the academic community. A struggle between faculty and administration over university governance should be a dominant theme in institutions of higher learning for at least the next few years.
Tritium Target Performance at RTNS-II

The Rotating Target Neutron Source (RTNS-II) uses a 360-keV deuteron beam and the 3H(d, n)4He reaction to generate 14-MeV neutrons. The neutrons are used for fusion materials damage studies. The tritium target consists of a band of titanium tritide on copper alloy substrates of 23- or 50-cm diameter. During operation, the substrates are internally cooled and rotated at ~4000 rpm to withstand beam intensities in excess of 100 mA. Neutron production data have been accumulated for fifty-eight 23-cm and five 50-cm targets. From these data, using a non-linear least-squares fitting procedure, target performance parameters have been obtained which permit a quantitative comparison of individual targets. Average parameters are obtained for the 23- and 50-cm targets.
An adjustable self-equalizing photo detector

An optically-wideband adjustable self-equalizing photo-detector (ASEPD), capable of reviving eye closure due to limited bandwidth of electro-optical components in an optical link, is presented. The ASEPD enables use of various slower electro-optical components in faster data links.
Investigating the shape bias in typically developing children and children with autism spectrum disorders

Young typically developing (TD) children have been observed to utilize word learning strategies such as the noun bias and shape bias; these improve their efficiency in acquiring and categorizing novel terms. Children using the shape bias extend object labels to new objects of the same shape; thus, the shape bias prompts the categorization of object words based on the global characteristic of shape over local, discrete details. Individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) frequently attend to minor details of objects rather than their global structure. Therefore, children with ASD may not use shape bias to acquire new words. Previous research with children with ASD has provided evidence that they parallel TD children in showing a noun bias, but not a shape bias (Tek et al., 2008). However, this sample was small and individual and item differences were not investigated in depth. In an extension of Tek et al., (2008) with twice the sample size and a wider developmental timespan, we tested 32 children with ASD and 35 TD children in a longitudinal study across 20 months using the Intermodal Preferential Looking (IPL) paradigm. Children saw five triads of novel objects (target, shape-match, color-match) in both NoName and Name trials; those who looked longer at the shape match during the Name trials than the NoName trials demonstrated a shape bias. The TD group showed a significant shape bias at all visits, beginning at 20 months of age while the language-matched ASD group did not show a significant shape bias at any visit. Within the ASD group, though, some children did show a shape bias; these children had larger vocabularies concurrently and longitudinally. Degree of shape bias elicitation varied by item, but did not seem related to perceptual complexity. We conclude that shape does not appear to be an organizing factor for word learning by children with ASD.
Birth Order and Political Success: A Study of the 1970 Illinois General Elections:

A questionnaire was used to obtain the birth order of all candidates for contested seats in the Illinois State Senate and General Assembly. It was hypothesized that firstborn and lastborn Ss would ...
Evaluating the sleep/wake cycle in persons with asthma: Three case scenarios

Purpose: To evaluate if wrist actigraphy, a measurement of movement, is an effective tool for assessing sleep/wake patterns and use in clinical practice in persons with asthma. Data sources: Data from three individuals with asthma were utilized to develop three case scenarios. The case scenarios illustrated the use of actigraphy as the measurement tool for sleep patterns as they relate to individuals with varying degrees of asthma control. Conclusions: The person with poorly controlled asthma had less total sleep time and lower sleep efficiency than the person with well-controlled asthma. The actigraph provided useful information on sleep patterns such as daytime napping, nighttime sleep, and sleep efficiency in persons with varying degrees of asthma control. Implications for practice: Nighttime asthma symptoms are often hard for the nurse practitioner (NP) to assess as they are often subjectively reported by patients. The use of actigraph in the clinical setting can provide useful, objective information on the sleep/wake cycles of persons with asthma to aid the NP in providing optimal management of the disease.
Turbulent boundary layers with large streamline curvature effects

It has been shown that turbulent flows are greatly affected by streamline curvature. In spite of this and the fact that curved shear flows are frequently encountered in engineering applications, the predictions of such flows are relatively less developed than the predictions of two-dimensional plane flows. Recently, various attempts were made by different investigators; however, their methods are only successful when the product of the boundary layer thickness to the local surface curvature |kδ| is ∼0.05. The present paper investigates the more general case where 0.1≤|kδ|≤0.5. Results show that the calculated boundary-layer characteristics for arbitrary free stream conditions are in good agreement with measurements.
Trade-offs in activity time and physiological performance for thermoregulating desert lizards, Sceloporus merriami

Average body temperatures (Tb) of summer-active Sceloporus merriami were lower in the morning (33.30C) than in the evening (37.0?) at an arid locality in Big Bend National Park, Texas. During midafternoon, lizards were inactive and retreated to deep crevices and caves. According to a multivariate analysis, overall rates of lizard activities (movements, feeding, and social displays) were similar between morning and evening activity, indicating that lizards were behaving similarly during the different activity periods. However, at 370, estimated rates of metabolism and water loss were greater and sprint speed was lower relative to these rates at 330, suggesting that substantial resource and performance costs may have been imposed by the observed higher evening activity Tb. To investigate this unusual pattern of body temperature variation, I compared the morning and evening distributions of available operative environmental temperatures (Te) as estimated by an array of randomly deployed and oriented copper models of S. merriami placed on rock and ground surfaces within lizard home ranges. In the morning, lizards had access to a wide range of Te (300-600), and a large fraction of the Te distribution was below 360 at the time of peak morning activity. During the morning, a hypothetical increase in Tb to within the interval 36?-38? would have allowed lizards to occupy 900% depending on the exact time), and microclimates below 360 were unavailable until just before dark. The available Te distributions in the evening forced lizards to accept a higher activity Tb, and concomitantly higher metabolic and water loss rates, and lower locomotor performance, or remain inactive in crevices and caves. Thus in the evening, and not in the morning, the gain in usable home range due to accepting a higher Tb was great, and the lizards exploited this fraction at an increased Tb only in the evening. These data suggest that the distribution of available Te can directly influence the cost/benefit economics of lizard body temperature selection.
Scientific research on LTMPF on the International Space Station

Abstract The Low-Temperature Microgravity Physics Facility (LTMPF) is a state-of-the-art facility for long duration science investigations in microgravity and at low temperature. It will be reusable with full electronics, software and communication support. With the first launch scheduled in 2004, it will have at least five months cryogen lifetime in space and will reside on the Japanese Experiment Module, Exposed Facility (JEM-EF) of the International Space Station (ISS). High-resolution sensors of temperature, pressure and capacitance will be available to accommodate a wide variety of experiments. A LTMPF overview and design requirements will be presented. Experiment selections and approvals are through the NASA Research Announcement and peer-review processes. Three of the current six candidate experiments involve international collaborations.
The preparation of nitridomanganese and nitridochromium macrocyclic complexes by complete intermetal nitrogen atom transfer from nitridomanganese octaethylporphyrin

Atom transfer reactions involve the net transfer of an atom and one or more electrons from a donor molecule to an acceptor [l]. Over the past two decades, metal-centered oxygen atom transfer reactions have been intensively studied. Oxygen atom transfer from M=O containing donor complexes to olefins, paraffins and other substrates has been achieved and a consistent mechanistic picture is beginning to emerge [2]. Relatively few examples of non-oxygen heteroatom transfer have been reported. In most instances, such transfer is not complete, i.e. the atom is shared by both the donor metal and the acceptor group. Holm has described complexes of this type as examples of partial atom transfer [l].
An analysis of Web page and Web site constancy and permanence

We recognize that documents on the World Wide Web are ephemeral and changing. We also recognize that Web documents can be categorized along a number of dimensions, including “publisher,” size, object mix, as well as purpose, meaning, and content. This study is first a preliminary exploration into Web page and Web site mortality rates. It then considers two types of change: Content and structural. Finally, the study is concerned with understanding those constancy and permanence phenomena for different Web document classes. It is suggested that, from the perspective of information maintenance and retrieval, the WWW does not represent revolutionary change. In fact, in some ways the Web is a less sophisticated form than traditional publication practices. Finally, this study explores the “short memory” and “mind changing” of the World Wide Web.
Nonlinear dependence of N incorporation on In content in GaInNAs

Abstract Ga 1− x In x N y As 1− y with a few percent In and N has recently been demonstrated as a 1 eV material lattice-matched to GaAs. Similarly, it is expected that for Ga 0.5− x In 0.5+ x N y As 1− y , which is lattice-matched to InP, band gaps from ∼0.7–0.3 eV should be achievable if a few percent N could be incorporated. Here, we compare the growth of GaInNAs/InP with GaInNAs/GaAs. Epilayers of both alloy compositions were grown under comparable conditions by metal-organic vapor-phase epitaxy (MOVPE) with dimethylhydrazine. For GaInNAs/GaAs, nitrogen concentrations as high as 3% were measured, with corresponding bandgaps down to 0.96 eV. In contrast, for GaInNAs/InP, secondary ion mass spectroscopy (SIMS) measurements show a N concentration at least 100 times smaller in GaInNAs/InP than in GaInNAs/GaAs at comparable growth conditions, and, consistent with this observation, no bandgap depression is seen. Thus, N incorporation in GaInNAs falls off superlinearly with In concentration. Possible reasons for this are discussed.
The Role of the Scale Parameter in the Estimation and Comparison of Multinomial Logit Models

Multinomial logit (MNL) models are widely used in marketing research to analyze choice data, but it is not generally recognized that the unit of the utility scale in a MNL model is inversely relate...
Tech ties: making online connections in social networks

This paper examines the unique social network ties, or 'tech ties' as we call them, that are created through the use of social software (i.e., blogs, instant messaging, meetup.com). The paper discusses how tech ties: a new means for developing social networks; just as effective as non-tech ties in supporting an individual's social network; valuable even when they are weak. Examples of tech ties are also described, primarily focusing on how the Howard Dean US Presidential campaign proved to be phenomenally successful at incorporating the online medium into its fundraising and grassroots mobilisation.
Long term biodegradation in vitro of poly(ether urethane urea): a mechanical property study

Abstract The effect of in vitro exposure to enzymatic and aqueous environments on the performance of poly(ether urethane ureas) (PEUUs) was studied. Stabilized and unstabilized PEUU samples were treated with papain, distilled water, or activating agent solutions. Durations of treatments were two weeks and one month. Treated and untreated samples were subjected to tensile and fatigue testing. A significant decrease in fatigue lifetime and ultimate tensile stress was observed in unstabilized PEUUs with two weeks and one month aqueous and enzymic treatments. For samples treated for one month with papain, optical microscopy indicated a change in the microdeformation mechanism of the PEUU elastomer from micronecking to crazing. The addition of stabilizers in the PEUU eliminated the loss in mechanical performance in all aqueous environments but was not effective against enzymatic degradation.
A study of the effect of ovex on parathion and paraoxon toxicity in rats.

One hundred and forty rats were treated with ovex (p-chlorophenyl p-chlorobenzenesulfonate) 100 mg/kg orally, paired with an equal number of controls, grouped (20 treated and 20 control) and designated as 12, 24, 48, 72, 96, 240, and 360 hr. Ten treated and ten control were given a lethal dose of parathion (100 mg/kg, oral) at the designated times after ovex and the length of survival recorded. Similar groups were killed at the designated times and the liver wt/body wt ratio, and α-naphthyl acetate hydrolyzing activity of 9000X g liver supernate determined. Significant increases in liver wt/body wt ratio and α-naphthyl acetate hydrolyzing activity were observed. When the above increases in liver size and enzyme activity were combined and expressed as a percentage, peak activity was seen at 72 hr (181%) and was present up to 240 hr (129%). Ovex (100 mg/kg oral) pretreatment appeared to provide more protection against parathion than paraoxon toxicity. It increased the rate of parathion metabolism by whole liver homogenates but had only a marginal effect on the rate of metabolism of paraoxon (p < 0.10). Ovex treatment reduced the liver organophosphate content of parathion but not paraoxon-exposed rats. An effect of ovex on plasma and brain organophosphate concentrations was not demonstrated.
Computational design and experimental study of tighter binding peptides to an inactivated mutant of HIV-1 protease.

Drug resistance in HIV-1 protease, a barrier to effective treatment, is generally caused by mutations in the enzyme that disrupt inhibitor binding but still allow for substrate processing. Structural studies with mutant, inactive enzyme, have provided detailed information regarding how the substrates bind to the protease yet avoid resistance mutations; insights obtained inform the development of next generation therapeutics. Although structures have been obtained of complexes between substrate peptide and inactivated (D25N) protease, thermodynamic studies of peptide binding have been challenging due to low affinity. Peptides that bind tighter to the inactivated protease than the natural substrates would be valuable for thermodynamic studies as well as to explore whether the structural envelope observed for substrate peptides is a function of weak binding. Here, two computational methods — namely, charge optimization and protein design — were applied to identify peptide sequences predicted to have higher binding affinity to the inactivated protease, starting from an RT–RH derived substrate peptide. Of the candidate designed peptides, three were tested for binding with isothermal titration calorimetry, with one, containing a single threonine to valine substitution, measured to have more than a ten-fold improvement over the tightest binding natural substrate. Crystal structures were also obtained for the same three designed peptide complexes; they show good agreement with computational prediction. Thermodynamic studies show that binding is entropically driven, more so for designed affinity enhanced variants than for the starting substrate. Structural studies show strong similarities between natural and tighter-binding designed peptide complexes, which may have implications in understanding the molecular mechanisms of drug resistance in HIV-1 protease.
Shared-risk link group (SRLG)-diverse path provisioning under hybrid service level agreements in wavelength-routed optical mesh networks: formulation and solution approaches

The static provisioning problem in wavelength-routed optical networks has been studied for many years. However, service providers are still facing the challenges arising from the special requirements for provisioning services at the optical layer. In this paper, we incorporate some realistic constraints into the static provisioning problem, and formulate it under different network resource availability conditions. We consider three classes of shared risk link group (SRLG)-diverse path protection schemes: dedicated, shared, and unprotected. We associate with each connection request a lightpath length constraint and a revenue value. When the network resources are not sufficient to accommodate all the connection requests, the static provisioning problem is formulated as a revenue maximization problem, whose objective is maximizing the total revenue value. When the network has sufficient resources, the problem becomes a capacity minimization problem with the objective of minimizing the number of used wavelength-links. We give integer linear programming (ILP) formulations for these problems. Because solving these ILP problems is extremely time consuming, we propose a tabu search heuristic to solve these problems within a reasonable time. Experimental results are presented to compare the solutions obtained by an ILP solver, the tabu search heuristic and a divide-and-conquer greedy heuristic.
Agroclimatic shock, income inequality, and poverty: Evidence from Burkina Faso

Abstract This paper examines the impacts of agroclimatic shock on income inequality and poverty, using household-farm data from three agroecological zones of Burkina Faso together with income-source decompositions of the Gini coefficient and the Foster-Greer-Thorbecke poverty index before and after a severe drought. Our findings reveal that, because the poor lack acces to off-farm income, off-farm income increases inequality and fails to shield poor households against agroclimatic risks. The direction of the empirical relationship between changes in inequality and poverty after the drought depends critically on environmental variables and on apparent constraints on income diversification at different points in the income distribution.
Generic Two-Phase Coexistence and Nonequilibrium Criticality in a Lattice Version of Schlögl’s Second Model for Autocatalysis

A two-dimensional atomistic realization of Schlogl’s second model for autocatalysis is implemented and studied on a square lattice as a prototypical nonequilibrium model with first-order transition. The model has no explicit symmetry and its phase transition can be viewed as the nonequilibrium counterpart of liquid-vapor phase separations. We show some familiar concepts from study of equilibrium systems need to be modified. Most importantly, phase coexistence can be a generic feature of the model, occurring over a finite region of the parameter space. The first-order transition becomes continuous as a temperature-like variable increases. The associated critical behavior is studied through Monte Carlo simulations and shown to be in the two-dimensional Ising universality class. However, some common expectations regarding finite-size corrections and fractal properties of geometric clusters for equilibrium systems seems to be inapplicable.
Monoclonal antibodies to phosphotyrosine.

Phosphotyrosine coupled to KLH, BSA, and OVA was used for the production and screening of antibodies to phosphotyrosine. 800 hybridomas secreting antibodies that bound to phosphotyrosine were detected by ELISA. The most reactive 100 of these 800 were tested subsequently for their ability to bind phosphotyrosine-containing proteins on Western blots. Eight stable hybridoma cell lines were selected for further study, cloned by limiting dilution, and grown as ascites. These antibodies were purified by three different methods, and it was found that affinity chromatography on phosphotyramine-affigel provided the most rapid and effective method. Many phosphotyrosine-containing proteins were detected by using these antibodies in Western blotting and immunoaffinity purification procedures. Binding of anti-phosphotyrosine antibody could be competed by phosphotyrosine or phenylphosphate but not by phosphoserine, phosphothreonine, or free phosphate. These antibodies should be useful for the identification and purification of proteins phosphorylated on tyrosine residues in transformed and growth factor-treated cells.
Geometric Design of Composite Cylindrical Characterization Specimens

The stress field within a highly anisotropic cylinder, even under simple loading conditions, is far from uniform. Thus, like other verbage which has its origins in the stress analysis of isotropic bodies, the terminology "thin-walled cylinder" must be redefined for aniso tropic materials, and is a strong function of elastic moduli. This places a severe burden on the experimentalist who must employ such specimens to characterize composite materials under biaxial states of stress. In this work, a procedure is outlined to determine the proper geometry of anisotropic and laminated cylinders such that elastic stress gradients can be reduced to a predetermined limit. The ap proach consists of combining a modified plane strain elasticity solu tion with shell theory. Parametric studies on materials possessing high and low degrees of anisotropy indicate general guidelines for proper tube geometry for precise characterization under simulated laboratory loading and clamping conditions.
On covert collaboration

In the conventional steganographic framework, a covert message is hidden within a larger, seemingly innocent message. We argue that this framework must be extended in order to adequately model the means and goals of modern collaborative systems. Whereas messages are static objects with a single creator, collaborative systems are dynamically changed by multiple entities according to rules and patterns specific to the given system.The primary contribution of this paper is to frame the general question: When can one steganographically embed collaborative system A into collaborative system B? As a case study, we develop a system for embedding a simple wiki into the Flickr photo sharing service. We develop techniques for steganographically embedding a collaborative system whose update rules are quite different than those of the host service.
Small-molecule agonists and antagonists of the opioid receptor-like receptor (ORL1, NOP): ligand-based analysis of structural factors influencing intrinsic activity at NOP.

The recently discovered fourth member of the opioid receptor family, the nociceptin receptor (NOP) and its endogenous ligand, the heptadecaptide nociceptin, are involved in several central nervous system pathways, such as nociception, reward, tolerance, and feeding. The discovery of small-molecule ligands for NOP is being actively pursued for several therapeutic applications. This review presents a brief overview of the several recently reported NOP ligands, classified as NOP agonists and antagonists, with an emphasis on the analysis of the structural features that may be important for modulating the agonist/antagonist profile (intrinsic activity) of these ligands. Structure-activity relationships in our own series of dihydroindolinone-based NOP ligands and those of the various reported ligands indicate that the lipophilic substituent on the common basic nitrogen present in all NOP ligands plays a role in determining the agonist/antagonist profile of the NOP ligand. This analysis provides a basis for the rational drug design of NOP ligands of desired intrinsic activity and provides a framework for developing pharmacophore models for high affinity binding and intrinsic activity at the NOP receptor. Since NOP agonists and antagonists both have therapeutic value, rational approaches for obtaining both within a high-affinity binding class of compounds are very useful for designing potent and selective NOP ligands with the desired profile of intrinsic efficacy.