cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Accuracy of quality measurement for the Hospital Acquired Conditions Reduction Program.

The Centres for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced the Hospital Acquired Conditions Reduction Program (HACRP) in 2013, which penalises the 25% of hospitals in USA with the highest rates of hospital-acquired conditions (HACs). CMS uses two domains to measure the incidence of conditions for this programme—the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality’s Patient Safety Indicators (PSI-90) (Domain 1) and the National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN) hospital-associated infection measures (Domain 2). Domain 2 constitutes 85% of the total score used to levy financial penalties against hospitals. The PSI-90 composite is derived from Medicare claims; the NHSN measures are derived from an electronic registry managed by the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention. While many agree that reducing harm from hospitalisations is an important national priority, there are concerns that the PSI-90 composite is not valid,1 2 the NHSN measures may undercount events among hospitals looking to avoid financial penalties,3 and neither have robust auditing mechanisms to ensure data accuracy.4 We used data from the Michigan Surgical Quality Collaborative (MSQC),5 a prospective clinical registry, to replicate the HACRP measures according to publicly available specifications from CMS.6 Data for this registry are collected by trained nurse abstractors and audited regularly to ensure accuracy. We constructed our MSQC clinical registry cohort using the same HACRP measurement periods for Domain 1 (July 1, 2014 to September 30, 2015) and Domain 2 (January 1, 2015 to December 31, 2016). These are the measures and time periods referenced by …
Through Partisan Eyes: My Friendships, Literary Education, and Political Encounters in Italy (1956-2013). With Sidelights on My Experiences in the United States, France, and the Soviet Union

Frank Rosengarten’s Through Partisan Eyes is a remarkably powerful antidote to the pervasive view of Italy as a museum. His memoir brings poignantly into relief a vibrant scene of intellectuals (in the capacious definition of the term that encompasses scholars, artists, and many others who help shape a society’s self-representation and its broader world view) grappling with urgent social and political issues of national and international import. From as far back as his graduate student years at Columbia University, through the decades he spent as a university professor, to his current activities as a remarkably productive independent scholar, Rosengarten’s thinking, research, and writing have always been ineluctably intertwined with a deep concern for social justice and what in today’s parlance one would term the plight of the subalterns. He has never adopted the stance of the scholar gazing at his/her object of study with aesthetic detachment or moral indifference — nor has he ever tried to. It is, precisely and paradoxically, because he views and engages the world around him “through partisan eyes” that Rosengarten’s recollections of and reflections on his life, career, friendships and encounters differ refreshingly and, often, strikingly from what one normally expects to find and frequently encounters in memoirs of scholars and academics. Whereas most Americans are drawn to Italy as a museum of past glories and masterpieces, for Rosengarten, the museum, the archive, the literary canon stimulate meditations on the living material situations and conditions of people hankering for social justice and equity.
Optimal multi-unit mechanisms with private demands

Abstract A seller can produce multiple units of a single good. The buyer has constant marginal value for each unit she receives up to a demand, and zero marginal value for units beyond the demand. The marginal value and the demand are drawn from a distribution and are privately known to the buyer. We show that under natural regularity conditions on the distribution, the optimal (revenue-maximizing) selling mechanism is deterministic. It is a price schedule that specifies the payment based on the number of units purchased. Further, under the same conditions, the revenue as a function of the price schedule is concave, which in turn implies that the optimal price schedule can be found in polynomial time. We give a more detailed characterization of the optimal prices when there are only two possible demands.
2 – Ion Transport Across Energy-Conserving Membranes

Ion transport is integral to the chemiosmotic theory. In this chapter, we describe the basic permeability properties of membranes and the abilities of ionophores to induce additional pathways of ion permeation, bearing in mind that what is discussed is equally applicable to energy-conserving and non-energy-conserving membranes—after all, the only significant distinction between the two is the presence of the proton pumps in the former. In Part 3, this generality will become apparent when ionophores are seen to insert into all the membranes of intact cells with frequently complex results.
SMACKtivism: A Program Redesign so Good, You Won’t Know What Hit You

This essay describes the context, mission, guiding principles, signature pedagogies, curriculum, and anticipated benefits and limitations of our newly designed EdD in Learning and Teaching in Social Contexts. As we prepare to launch our new program (pending approval), our key development efforts are focused on implementing leading-edge coursework centering on problems of practice through a blend of online interactions and applied, real-world experiences. Our primary objective is to equip scholar-practitioners with the expertise to initiate and sustain systematic approaches to transformative and justice-oriented improvement within their local educational communities, both during and following their time in the program.
Data Anomaly Detection for Structural Health Monitoring of Bridges using Shapelet Transform.

With the wider availability of sensor technology, a number of Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) systems are deployed to monitor civil infrastructure. The continuous monitoring provides valuable information about the structure that can help in providing a decision support system for retrofits and other structural modifications. However, when the sensors are exposed to harsh environmental conditions, the data measured by the SHM systems tend to be affected by multiple anomalies caused by faulty or broken sensors. Given a deluge of high-dimensional data collected continuously over time, research into using machine learning methods to detect anomalies are a topic of great interest to the SHM community. This paper contributes to this effort by proposing the use of a relatively new time series representation named Shapelet Transform in combination with a Random Forest classifier to autonomously identify anomalies in SHM data. The shapelet transform is a unique time series representation that is solely based on the shape of the time series data. In consideration of the individual characteristics unique to every anomaly, the application of this transform yields a new shape-based feature representation that can be combined with any standard machine learning algorithm to detect anomalous data with no manual intervention. For the present study, the anomaly detection framework consists of three steps: identifying unique shapes from anomalous data, using these shapes to transform the SHM data into a local-shape space and training machine learning algorithm on this transformed data to identify anomalies. The efficacy of this method is demonstrated by the identification of anomalies in acceleration data from a SHM system installed on a long-span bridge in China. The results show that multiple data anomalies in SHM data can be automatically detected with high accuracy using the proposed method.
New solid-state organic scintillators for fast and thermal neutron detection

Detection of special nuclear materials (SNM) requires instruments that can detect and characterize uranium and plutonium isotopes, having at the same time the ability to discriminate among differen...
Care Management of Non-emergent Echocardiographic Diagnosis inNewborns

Background: Echocardiography is the primary tool used by clinicians to identify cardiovascular problems that need immediate attention in the newborn. More commonly, neonatal echocardiography identifies issues where the need for or timing of cardiology assessment is unclear. Objective: The aim of this study is to identify the current practices of pediatric cardiologists regarding non-emergent findings on echocardiograms performed in the standard normal newborn …
Charting a Global Course for GIS Education for 2030

How and why has Geographic Information Systems (GIS) education been advancing in primary and secondary education, globally? How have GIS tools and approaches been spreading beyond geography and GIS...
Characterization of the organizational climate in public schools from the teacher's perception using the Estanones scale

The objective of this work is to determine the degree, direction and significance of the relationship that exists between transformational leadership and the organizational climate in teachers in public management educational institutions. The randomized stratified sample consisted of 120 teachers. The research had a quantitative approach, correlational type, and cross-sectional design. The information was collected with the Transformational Leadership Scale and the Organizational Climate Scale, on the other hand, the content validity and reliability of the instruments were corroborated according to the standards of the scientific community with the Aiken Validity coefficient, the Alpha coefficient of Cronbach and the Kuder-Richardson coefficient (KR-20), respectively.The statistical analysis of the data was done with the Stanonese scale for the description of the qualitative levels of the variables, and the parametric test Pearson's correlation coefficient (r) for the hypothesis test. The results showed direct correlations of moderate intensity; while the dimension of inspirational communication shows a low direct correlation with the organizational climate. Finally, the findings turned out to be statistically significant at a probability level of 0.05.
Online Updating of Nonparametric Survival Estimator and Nonparametric Survival Test

The cumulative hazard function plays an important role not only in survival analysis in biostatistical applications, but also in many other fields including finance and reliability analysis. When the data size exceeds the computer memory, many traditional nonparametric approaches for estimating and testing the cumulative hazard function are not applicable. In this chapter, we develop an online updating nonparametric estimation method for the cumulative hazard function and propose an online testing procedure for equality of cumulative hazard functions under a two-group setting, both based on the empirical likelihood method. Under reasonable regularity conditions, we show several asymptotic properties of our proposed estimator and test statistic. Their performance is illustrated with extensive simulation studies and with an application to a large lymphoma cancer dataset from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) Program.
When CEOs adapt: An investigation of manager experience, policy and performance following recessions

Abstract We examine changes in corporate policies following recessions during CEO tenures to evaluate the value of learning. CEOs with recession experience demonstrate expertise in risk-shifting strategies that can contribute to higher firm value and performance during subsequent recessions. Specifically, Recession CEOs use conservative capital structure and allocation during expansions, providing excess capacity and financial slack to accumulate additional cash reserves during economic contractions, resulting in lower bankruptcy risk. As a result, Recession CEOs are equipped to raise more capital in recessions, which results in higher asset growth fueled by investments in acquisitions and capital expenditures. We also examine prior recessions and find poor performers learn to invest more and perform better in subsequent contractions. Our results are strengthened through cumulative recession experiences, when downturns are deeper, and at cyclical firms, where economic cycles are most impactful and Recession CEOs are more relevant. Finally, we use time-varying industry downturns, matching, and CEO turnovers for inference. Overall, we offer novel evidence of valuable CEO learning around risk-taking following direct managerial experience as a firm policy determinant across economic conditions.
Loneliness vs. Solitude: Recognizing the Difference for Ourselves and for Our Clients in Light of COVID-19

During COVID-19 the practice of social distancing has affected society in various ways. There is still much to learn about the harmful effects of isolation due to social distancing on societal mental health, however, others have noted potentially positive side effects from social distancing such as the observance of solitude (Levine, 2020; Mercier et al., 2021). Solitude and loneliness are distinct experiences (Melvin, 2021). This point of view article contends that Christian social workers should consider the ramifications of both loneliness and solitude in light of COVID-19. This article utilizes Christian scriptures and current literature to define and discuss the differences between loneliness and solitude. There is also a discussion throughout the article about how Christian social workers can recognize and utilize these concepts in their practice with clients and in their own self-care.
Numerical modeling of injection, stress and permeability enhancement during shear stimulation at the Desert Peak Enhanced Geothermal System

Abstract Creation of an Enhanced Geothermal System relies on stimulation of fracture permeability through self-propping shear failure that creates a complex fracture network with high surface area for efficient heat transfer. In 2010, shear stimulation was carried out in well 27-15 at Desert Peak geothermal field, Nevada, by injecting cold water at pressure less than the minimum principal stress. An order-of-magnitude improvement in well injectivity was recorded. Here, we describe a numerical model that accounts for injection-induced stress changes and permeability enhancement during this stimulation. We use the coupled thermo-hydrological–mechanical simulator FEHM to (i) construct a wellbore model for non-steady bottom-hole temperature and pressure conditions during the injection, and (ii) apply these pressures and temperatures as a source term in a numerical model of the stimulation. A Mohr–Coulomb failure criterion and empirical fracture permeability is developed to describe permeability evolution of the fractured rock. The numerical model is calibrated using laboratory measurements of material properties on representative core samples and wellhead records of injection pressure and mass flow during the shear stimulation. The model captures both the absence of stimulation at low wellhead pressure (WHP ≤1.7 and ≤2.4 MPa) as well as the timing and magnitude of injectivity rise at medium WHP (3.1 MPa). Results indicate that thermoelastic effects near the wellbore and the associated non-local stresses further from the well combine to propagate a failure front away from the injection well. Elevated WHP promotes failure, increases the injection rate, and cools the wellbore; however, as the overpressure drops off with distance, thermal and non-local stresses play an ongoing role in promoting shear failure at increasing distance from the well.
Oxidation of Bromide by the Human Leukocyte Enzymes Myeloperoxidase and Eosinophil Peroxidase: FORMATION OF BROMAMINES (∗)

Myeloperoxidase and eosinophil peroxidase catalyzed the oxidation of bromide ion by hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) and produced a brominating agent that reacted with amine compounds to form bromamines, which are long-lived oxidants containing covalent nitrogen-bromine bonds. Results were consistent with oxidation of bromide to an equilibrium mixture of hypobromous acid (HOBr) and hypobromite ion (OBr-). Up to 1 mol of bromamine was produced per mole of H2O2, indicating that bromamine formation prevented the reduction of HOBr/OBr- by H2O2 and the loss of oxidizing and brominating activity. Bromamines differed from HOBr/OBr- in that bromamines reacted slowly with H2O2, were not reduced by dimethyl sulfoxide, and had absorption spectra similar to those of chloramines, but shifted 36 nm toward higher wavelengths. Mono- and di-bromo derivatives (RNHBr and RNHBr2) of the βamino acid taurine were relatively stable with half-lives of 70 and 16 h at pH 7, 37°C. The mono-bromamine was obtained with a 200-fold excess of amine over the amount of HOBr/OBr- and the di-bromamine at a 2:1 ratio of HOBr/OBr- to the amine. In the presence of physiologic levels of both bromide (0.1 mM) and chloride (0.1 M), myeloperoxidase and eosinophil peroxidase produced mixtures of bromamines and chloramines containing 6 ± 4% and 88 ± 4% bromamine. In contrast, only the mono-chloramine derivative (RNHCl) was formed when a mixture of hypochlorous acid (HOCl) and hypochlorite ion (OCl-) was added to solutions containing bromide and excess amine. The rapid formation of the chloramine prevented the oxidation of bromide by HOCl/OCl-, and the chloramine did not react with bromide within 1 h at 37°C. The results indicate that when enzyme-catalyzed bromide or chloride oxidation took place in the presence of an amine compound at 10 mM or higher, bromamines were not produced in secondary reactions such as the oxidation of bromide by HOCl/OCl- and the exchange of bromide with chlorine atoms of chloramines. Therefore, the amount of bromamine produced by myeloperoxidase or eosinophil peroxidase was equal to the amount of bromide oxidized by the enzyme. Bromide was preferred over chloride as the substrate for both enzymes.
Facility management practices in higher education buildings

Purpose – Facility management (FM) is important to the business success of companies and organizations. Nowadays, teaching FM is often spread over several disciplines, including architecture, management, business, and construction. The purpose of this paper is to present a case study completed by a team of three graduate students in the course “Introduction to Facility Management,” offered by a large southern university in the USA in the spring 2007 semester.Design/methodology/approach – The students studied several aspects of FM, such as strategic and tactical planning, space allocation, maintenance and repair, operations and energy management, benchmarking and condition assessment, and life cycle costs, in buildings on the university's campus. Assisted by the Office of the Vice President for Facilities and using software contributed by an external commercial engineering and construction company, the students collected the data and conducted the analyses shown in this paper as part of their tasks for the...
How Do Volatile Anesthetics Inhibit Ca2+-ATPases?

Volatile anesthetics at concentrations that are used in clinical practice to induce anesthesia selectively inhibit activity of the plasma membrane Ca2+-transport ATPase (Kosk-Kosicka, D., and Roszczynska, G.(1993) Anesthesiology 79, 774-780). We have investigated the mechanism of the inhibitory action of several anesthetics on the purified erythrocyte Ca2+-ATPase by employing fluorescence spectroscopy measurements that report changes in the environment of intrinsic tryptophans and of an extrinsic probe attached in the active site of the enzyme. We have shown that the observed inhibition of the Ca2+-dependent activation of the enzyme correlates well with the elimination of the Ca2+-induced conformational change that is important for the proper function of the enzyme. Analysis of the anesthetics effects on the total tryptophan fluorescence indicates a significant effect on enzyme conformation. Similar changes have been observed in the sarcoplasmic reticulum Ca2+-ATPase. We propose that volatile anesthetics inhibit Ca2+-ATPase by interacting with nonpolar sites in protein interior, in analogy to the binding demonstrated for myoglobin, hemoglobin, and adenylate kinase (Schoenborn, B. P., and Featherstone, R. M.(1967) Adv. Pharmacol. 5, 1-17; Tilton, R. F., Kuntz, I. D., and Petsko, G. A.(1984) Biochemistry 23, 2849-2857). Such binding is expected to modify conformational substate(s) of the enzyme and perturb its function. We view this process as an example of a general phenomena of interaction of small molecules with internal sites in proteins.
Ethanol consumption and resistance are inversely related to neuropeptide Y levels

Genetic linkage analysis of rats that were selectively bred for alcohol preference identified a chromosomal region that includes the neuropeptide Y (NPY) gene. Alcohol-preferring rats have lower levels of NPY in several brain regions compared with alcohol-non-preferring rats. We therefore studied alcohol consumption by mice that completely lack NPY as a result of targeted gene disruption. Here we report that NPY-deficient mice show increased consumption, compared with wild-type mice, of solutions containing 6%, 10% and 20% (v/v) ethanol. NPY-deficient mice are also less sensitive to the sedative/hypnotic effects of ethanol, as shown by more rapid recovery from ethanol-induced sleep, even though plasma ethanol concentrations do not differ significantly from those of controls. In contrast, transgenic mice that overexpress a marked NPY gene in neurons that usually express it have a lower preference for ethanol and are more sensitive to the sedative/hypnotic effects of this drug than controls. These data are direct evidence that alcohol consumption and resistance are inversely related to NPY levels in the brain.
Examining teachers' beliefs about and implementation of a balanced literacy framework

While many embrace balanced literacy as a framework for quality literacy instruction, the way in which teachers operationalise the tenets of balanced literacy can vary greatly. In the present study, 581 teachers in the United States completed questionnaires concerning: (a) their beliefs about literacy skills and literacy instructional strategies that are most essential to reading success; and (b) their implementation of balanced literacy instruction in their classrooms. Results reveal that teachers varied in their implementation of reading and writing routines, with teachers reporting participating less frequently in writing activities. Teachers' implementation of balanced literacy routines varied as a function of the grade level they taught, but not additional certifications or years of experience. In addition, teachers' participation in reading and writing routines was related to their literacy beliefs, particularly their belief in the importance of code-based literacy skills.
Individual value structure and diversity attitudes: The moderating effects of age, gender, race, and religiosity

Purpose – To investigate how an individual's value structure influences his/her attitudes toward others who are dissimilar and the moderating effects of age, gender, race, and religiosity on this relationship.Design/methodology/approach – A sample of 165 respondents completed the 56‐item Schwartz Value Survey (SVS), which measures the four value types of openness to change, self‐transcendence, conservation, and self‐enhancement, and the 15‐item Miville‐Guzman Universality‐Diversity Scale Short (M‐GUDS‐S), which measures diversity attitudes. The relationships between the variables were explored using hierarchical regression.Findings – Respondents who scored higher on the values of openness to change and self‐ transcendence had more positive diversity attitudes than those who scored lower. Respondents who scored higher on self‐enhancement had less positive diversity attitudes than those who scored lower. The prediction that those who score higher on conservation would have less positive diversity attitudes ...
Cubic spline as an alternative to methods of machine learning

Approximation of unknown functions in multiple dimensions is an important topic in many areas of industrial engineering, such as nonlinear control. Currently, approaches such as neural networks or fuzzy systems are used to create highly nonlinear surfaces from data. Here we show the capabilities of a very simple classical numerical method such as cubic spline to compete with state of the art machine learning techniques such as Artificial Neural Networks (ANN), Fuzzy Systems (FS), Support Vector Machine (SVM), and Extreme Learning Machines (ELM). Machine learning techniques have many issues such as choosing rules or building a network architecture that can be avoided. Without randomness in the initialization process, there is no need to run the same problem hundreds of times to get a good result. The proposed methods are tested on a variety of problems pertaining to industrial applications against many popular algorithms. Experimental results show that simple cubic splines are indeed competitive in terms of computation time and approximation accuracy when compared with adaptive methods.
The universe at infrared wavelengths

This article discusses the status of infrared astronomy after the mission of the Infrared Astronomical Satellite (IRAS). Important scientific results from IRAS include: the origin of the interplanetary dust cloud, the formation of solar type stars, the energetics of the interstellar medium, the discovery of ultra-luminous infrared galaxies and their possible relation to the origin of quasars, and the large scale structure of the universe.
Human hepatitis delta antigen is a nuclear phosphoprotein with RNA-binding activity.

Abstract The genetic origin, structure, and biochemical properties of the delta antigen (HDAg) of a human hepatitis delta virus (HDV) were investigated. A cDNA fragment containing the open reading frame encoding the HDAg was transcribed into RNA and used for in vitro translation in rabbit reticulocyte lysates. The HDAg open reading frame was also inserted into an expression vector containing a simian virus 40 T-antigen promoter and expressed into COS 7 cells. In both systems, a protein species of 26 kilodaltons was synthesized from this open reading frame and could be specifically immunoprecipitated with antisera obtained from patients with delta hepatitis. A similar protein was also synthesized from antigenomic-sense monomeric HDV RNA in both systems, although the efficiency of translation was lower than that of the isolated open reading frame. This protein was found to be phosphorylated at the serine residues. Immunoperoxidase studies with anti-HDV sera demonstrated that the HDAg was expressed mainly in the nuclei of the transfected COS 7 cells. Moreover, the HDAg was shown to bind the genomic RNA of HDV. These studies indicate that HDAg is encoded by the antigenomic-sense RNA of HDV and is a nuclear phosphoprotein associated with an RNA-binding activity.
Optimizing Cardiovascular Gene Therapy: Increased Vascular Gene Transfer With Modified Adenoviral Vectors

Background Adenovirus is widely used as a vector for gene transfer to the vasculature. However, the efficiency of these vectors can be limited by ineffective viral-target cell interactions. Viral attachment, which largely determines adenoviral tropism, is mediated through binding of the adenoviral fiber coat protein to the Coxsackievirus and adenovirus receptor, while internalization follows binding of the adenoviral RGD motif to α v -integrin receptors. Modifications of the fiber coat protein sequence have been successful for targeting the adenovirus to more prevalent receptors in the vasculature, including heparan sulfate–containing receptors and α v -integrin receptors. Hypothesis Modified adenoviral vectors targeted to receptors more prevalent in the vasculature result in an increased transfer efficiency of the virus in vitro and in vivo even in the presence of clinically relevant doses of heparin. Design We tested 2 modified E1- and E3-deleted Ad5 type adenoviral vectors containing the β-galactosidase gene. AdZ.F(pK7) contains multiple positively charged lysines in the fiber coat protein that target the adenovirus to heparan sulfate receptors, while AdZ.F(RGD) contains an RGD integrin-binding sequence in the fiber coat protein that allows binding to α v -integrin receptors. The gene transfer efficiency of these modified viruses was compared in rat aortic smooth muscle cells in vitro and in an in vivo porcine model of balloon-induced arterial injury. Because of the use of heparin during most vascular surgical procedures and the concern that heparin might interfere with the binding of AdZ.F(pK7) to heparan sulfate receptors, the effect of heparin on the in vitro and in vivo transfer efficiency of these 2 modified adenoviruses was evaluated. Results In vitro infection of rat aortic smooth muscle cells with AdZ.F(pK7) and AdZ.F(RGD) resulted in significantly higher levels of β-galactosidase expression compared with the unmodified adenovirus (mean ± SEM, 1766.3 ± 89.1 and 44.8 ± 3.4 vs 10.1 ± 0.7 mU per milligram of protein; P P Conclusions Modifications of the adenovirus that lead to receptor targeting resulted in significantly improved gene transfer efficiencies. These improvements in transfer efficiencies observed with the modified vectors decreased slightly in the presence of heparin. However, AdZ.F(pK7) was still superior to AdZ.F(RGD) and AdZ.F despite heparin administration. These data demonstrate that modifications of adenoviral vectors that enhance binding to heparan sulfate receptors significantly improve gene transfer efficiency even in the presence of heparin and suggest an approach to optimize gene transfer into blood vessels.
Dynamical Patterns in the Development of Clapping.

The development of a complex rhythmical behavior-clapping-is modeled using a formal, explicit model of coupled oscillator dynamics. Even though this behavior manifests a good deal of nonstationarity and high variability within and across subjects, results indicate that these properties may be dynamically modeled quantitatively as well as qualitatively. Results suggest that clapping goes through a less stable period of relative coordination between 3 and 7 years before more stable absolute coordination is achieved. Nevertheless, in that the clapping behavior is affected in highly predictable ways by inertial loading of the limbs, the same underlying dynamic seems responsible for the coordination of both the younger and older children. Developmentally, the behavior of the coordination variable (relative phase) changes from a nonconstant magnitude in younger clappers to a constant magnitude in older clappers. These results suggest that development of proficiency in rhythmic motor skills displays developmental changes that can be understood well in dynamical terms.
Injection Valve for Ultrahigh-Pressure Liquid Chromatography

The increased interest in HPLC at elevated pressures, beyond the conventional 6000 psi (400 bar), has created a demand for injection systems capable of withstanding pressures beyond the 20 000 psi (1380 bar). To achieve high-resolution separations, an appropriate length of columns packed with sub 2-μm packing materials, a 30 000−40 000 psi (2070−2760 bar) pressure range is desirable. A new air-actuated needle valve injection system rated to withstand pressures of up to 40 000 psi (2760 bar) has been evaluated. Under isocratic chromatographic conditions, injecting 200 nL and operated at ∼20 000 psi (1380 bar), the system showed a peak area reproducibility of ∼2.5% RSD, contrasting the 5% RSD of a pressured-balanced injection system operated under similar conditions. Programmed for partial loop injections using injection times of 300−700 ms (injection volumes in the range of 1−2.5 μL) and operated at pressures close to 30 000 psi (2070 bar), the reproducibility in peak area for the amounts injected was ∼1.5...
Schema mappings, data exchange, and metadata management

Schema mappings are high-level specifications that describe the relationship between database schemas. Schema mappings are prominent in several different areas of database management, including database design, information integration, data exchange, metadata management, and peer-to-peer data management systems. Our main aim in this paper is to present an overview of recent advances in data exchange and metadata management, where the schema mappings are between relational schemas. In addition, we highlight some research issues and directions for future work.
Degradation behavior of nanoreinforced epoxy systems under pulse laser

Nanocomposites using EPON 824 as their matrix were exposed to pulse laser at 532 nm for various time intervals. The developed nanomaterials used for this study were manufactured using EPON 824 with multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) at a loading rate of 0.15% by weight and nanoclays at a loading rate of 2% by weight as reinforcements. The effect of laser irradiation on polymer composites has been investigated. The degradation mechanism for the epoxy was of a laser induced burning nature. Of all specimens tested, the ultimate strength of the MWCNT-reinforced specimens decreased the most as a function of radiation time; the nanoclay-reinforced epoxy retained the most strength after 2 min of laser radiation. In addition, the threshold fluence for decomposition indicated that less energy was required to initiate decomposition in the MWCNT-reinforced epoxy than in the nanoclay-reinforced epoxy. This can be attributed to the high thermal conductivity of the carbon nanotubes. Measurement of surface damage in the material was observed via electron microscopy. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy was used to investigate changes to the molecular structure as a function of exposure time. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2009
A comparison of two view materialization approaches for disease surveillance system

The effectiveness of a disease surveillance system such as RODS depends heavily on the performance of the underlying data management components. Given that such system's core functionality is to support decision making and data mining, the response time of complex queries involving aggregation requires special attention. Traditionally, materialized views have been advocated to address this issue. The question that this paper examines is which approach implementing materialized views is more suitable in a disease surveillance environment. Our comparison focuses on the two most common approaches, namely, the Cache Tables approach and the Data Warehousing approach. Our evaluation shows that the choice of an approach is not limited by the cost-performance but by the cost-flexibility of usage as well.
Increased β2-adrenoceptors in the superior cervical ganglia of genetically hypertensive rats

[125I]Iodocyanopindolol binding sites were characterized by autoradiography in the superior cervical ganglia of Wistar-Kyoto (WKY) rats. A high concentration of (-)-[125I]iodocyanopindolol binding sites, characterized as beta-adrenoceptors by (-)-propranolol displacement, was distributed throughout the ganglia and in the postganglionic (internal carotid) nerve. ICI 118,551, a beta 2-selective antagonist, displaced more than 85% of the binding sites, whereas CGP 20712A, a beta 1-selective antagonist, displaced less than 10% of the binding sites, indicating that the beta-adrenoceptors were primarily of the beta 2-subtype. Emulsion autoradiography demonstrated that at least part of the binding sites were associated with principal ganglion cells. Unilateral deafferentation did not modify the number of binding sites in the superior cervical ganglia of WKY or spontaneously hypertensive rat (SHR). These results suggest that at least part of these receptors may correspond to prejunctional beta 2-adrenoceptors originated in principal ganglion cells. The concentration of beta 2-receptors was increased in the superior cervical ganglia of young and adult SHR when compared to age-matched WKY rats (49% and 39%, respectively). There were no differences in beta 2-adrenoceptor number in the stellate ganglia of young and adult WKY and SHR. These results suggest that beta 2-adrenoceptor stimulation may be selectively enhanced in some peripheral sympathetic ganglia in SHR and this could play a role in the development and maintenance of the increased sympathetic activity in this strain.
The formation and oxidation of BC3, a new graphitelike material

Abstract A study was performed to investigate improved oxidation resistance in a graphitic material containing high concentrations of substitutional boron. The method of producing such samples was the chemical vapor deposition (CVD) reaction between boron trichloride and benzene at temperatures near 973 K. This reaction is known to produce a novel material containing about 25% boron, and having the chemical formula BC3. The material was produced and examined for chemical composition, crystal structure, and microstructure. The compound BC3 has a hexagonal crystal structure similar to that of graphite. Maximum deposition rates were between 0.01 and 0.05 μm/day. Annealing the product of this reaction at 1173 K for 72 hours results in a crystalline material having a layered structure with an interlayer spacing slightly larger than that of graphite. Thermal analysis of the BC3 as a coating on T-300 carbon fibers was conducted. Thermal analysis data suggest that this novel compound has a much greater resistance to oxidation than T-300 carbon fibers in the temperature range 673 to 1073 K.
Immobilization of imidazolium ionic liquids on hydrotalcites using silane linkers: retardation of memory effect

We report a new covalent surface immobilization of silane-modified imidazolium ionic liquids on hydrotalcite-like materials (HTs) and provide detailed characterization of the resulting surface chemistry using PXRD, CP-MAS, TGA and FT-IR. We show that this immobilization interferes with the “memory effect” of HTs and explore the stability of the resulting complexes to hydrolysis.
The Relation Between the Time Mothers and Children Spent Together and the Children’s Trait Emotional Intelligence

Parenting practices have been shown to predict children’s emotional intelligence. The time that mothers and children spend in joint activity is an important aspect of the parent–child relationship, and it has been found to be influential in different domains of children’s development. However, it has not been investigated in relation to children’s emotional intelligence. This is a void in the literature that needs to be filled. This research gathers preliminary data to study the time mothers and children spent together in joint activity, the types of activities that they develop when they are together, and the relation that those activities have with the children’s trait emotional intelligence. Data was collected for both mothers and children (N = 159) using self-report questionnaires. Correlations between time variables and trait emotional intelligence dimensions were computed using Pearson’s Product-Moment Correlation Coefficient. Partial correlations between the same variables controlling for responsive parenting were also computed. The time mothers and children spent together in different activities correlated with different dimensions of trait emotional intelligence, even after partialling out the effect of responsive parenting. However, different mother–child joint activities correlated differently with trait emotional intelligence dimensions. The amount of time mothers spent with their children and the quality of their interactions are important in terms of children’s trait emotional intelligence, not only because those times of joint activity reflect a more positive parenting, but because they are likely to promote modeling, reinforcement, shared attention, and social cooperation.
Conditioned fear in adult rats is facilitated by the prior acquisition of a classically conditioned motor response

Early in eyeblink classical conditioning, amygdala-dependent fear responding is reported to facilitate acquisition of the cerebellar-dependent eyeblink conditioned response (CR), in accord with the two-process model of conditioning (Konorski, 1967). In the current study, we predicted that the conditioned fear (e.g., freezing) observed during eyeblink conditioning may become autonomous of the eyeblink CR and amenable to further associative modification. Conditioned freezing was assessed during and following Pavlovian fear conditioning in Long-Evans rats that had or had not undergone eight prior sessions of eyeblink conditioning. The amplitude and frequency of the tone conditioned stimulus (CS) was held constant across both forms of conditioning. Following fear conditioning in Experiment 1, freezing to the tone CS, but not the context, was facilitated in rats that previously experienced CS-unconditioned stimulus (US) paired eyeblink conditioning. In Experiment 2, freezing immediately following each fear conditioning trial was enhanced in rats subjected to the antecedent eyeblink conditioning, indicating a faster acquisition rate. Finally, in Experiment 3, faster acquisition was seen only in those rats fear conditioned in the same context used for the prior eyeblink conditioning. Taken together, the data indicate that the conditioned fear associated with the context and CS as a result of eyeblink conditioning can be built upon or strengthened during subsequent learning.
Neural stem/progenitor cells display a low requirement for oxidative metabolism independent of hypoxia inducible factor‐1alpha expression

Neural stem/progenitor cells (NSPCs) are multipotent cells within the embryonic and adult brain that give rise to both neuronal and glial cell lineages. Maintenance of NSPC multipotency is promoted by low oxygen tension, although the metabolic underpinnings of this trait have not been described. In this study, we investigated the metabolic state of undifferentiated NSPCs in culture, and tested their relative reliance on oxidative versus glycolytic metabolism for survival, as well as their dependence on hypoxia inducible factor-1alpha (HIF-1α) expression for maintenance of metabolic phenotype. Unlike primary neurons, NSPCs from embryonic and adult mice survived prolonged hypoxia in culture. In addition, NSPCs displayed greater susceptibility to glycolytic inhibition compared with primary neurons, even in the presence of alternative mitochondrial TCA substrates. NSPCs were also more resistant than neurons to mitochondrial cyanide toxicity, less capable of utilizing galactose as an alternative substrate to glucose, and more susceptible to pharmacological inhibition of the pentose phosphate pathway by 6-aminonicotinamide. Inducible deletion of exon 1 of the Hif1a gene improved the ability of NSPCs to utilize pyruvate during glycolytic inhibition, but did not alter other parameters of metabolism, including their ability to withstand prolonged hypoxia. Taken together, these data indicate that NSPCs have a relatively low requirement for oxidative metabolism for their survival and that hypoxic resistance is not dependent upon HIF-1α signaling.
Restricted rotation of the amino group in 1-methylcytosine

Restricted rotation of the amino group of 1-methylcytosine in dimethylformamide solution has been observed by 220 MHz proton magnetic resonance. A rotational rate k = 138 sec−1 is estimated at room temperature.
Interaction of PGBx and peroxides with cytochrome c and inhibition of lipid peroxidation.

Abstract PGB x , a derivative of prostaglandin B 1 , stimulated the oxidation of cytochrome c in the presence of H 2 O 2 . Although the reaction was nonenzymatic, the apparent activation energies of 12 and 4.9 kcal above and below the transition at 21.5 °C were similar to those for oxidation by cytochrome oxidase. Depletion of H 2 O 2 and oxidation of cytochrome c followed similar time courses, suggesting that H 2 O 2 was consumed in the reaction. PGB x was a specific requirement, but organic hydroperoxides (ethyl and T-butyl) could replace H 2 O 2 . Low concentrations of ethyl or t-butyl hydroperoxide initially stimulated the oxidation of cytochrome c ; this stimulation disappeared before completion of the oxidation, but was restored when the hydroperoxide concentration was renewed, suggesting that these hydroperoxides were probably also consumed in the reaction. The concentration of PGB x (8.9 μM) required for half-maximum stimulation of the oxidation was similar to the apparent K d for its dissociation from oxidized cytochrome c (6.8 μM). Binding data and CD spectra suggested that a 1:1 complex between cytochrome c and PGB x was formed, altering the conformation of the heme region. This conformational change caused a shift of the Soret absorption peak from 410 to 406 nm and may be responsible for the enhanced oxidizability of the cytochrome c by H 2 O 2 . Cytochrome c inhibited lipid peroxidation in microsomes, an effect enhanced by the addition of PGB x . In the absence of lipid peroxidation, cytochrome c and PGB x stimulated NADPH oxidation via NADPH-cytochrome c reductase. Thus the inhibition of lipid peroxidation by cytochrome c and PGB x may involve either the removal of hydroperoxides or deviation of electron transfer away from the pathway for lipid peroxidation.
Acute Stressor Exposure Modifies Plasma Exosome-Associated Heat Shock Protein 72 (Hsp72) and microRNA (miR-142-5p and miR-203)

Exosomes, biologically active nanoparticles (40-100 nm) released by hematopoietic and non-hematopoietic cells, contain a variety of proteins and small, non-coding RNA known as microRNA (miRNA). Exposure to various pathogens and disease states modifies the composition and function of exosomes, but there are no studies examining in vivo exosomal changes evoked by the acute stress response. The present study reveals that exposing male Fisher 344 rats to an acute stressor modulates the protein and miRNA profile of circulating plasma exosomes, specifically increasing surface heat shock protein 72 (Hsp72) and decreasing miR-142-5p and -203. The selected miRNAs and Hsp72 are associated with immunomodulatory functions and are likely a critical component of stress-evoked modulation of immunity. Further, we demonstrate that some of these stress-induced modifications in plasma exosomes are mediated by sympathetic nervous system (SNS) activation of alpha-1 adrenergic receptors (ADRs), since drug-mediated blockade of the receptors significantly attenuates the stress-induced modifications of exosomal Hsp72 and miR-142-5p. Together, these findings demonstrate that activation of the acute stress response modifies the proteomic and miRNA profile of exosomes released into the circulation.
Inhibition of the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase pathway contributes to HT29 and Caco-2 intestinal cell differentiation.

Abstract Background & Aims: Phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K), an important mediator of intracellular signal transduction, has been shown to affect proliferation, differentiation, and apoptosis in a number of cells; the role of PI3K in intestinal cell differentiation is not known. Methods: The effect of PI3K inhibition on enterocyte-like differentiation of the human colon cancer cells, HT29 and Caco-2, was assessed using complementary approaches (i.e., chemical inhibition with wortmannin, transfection with a dominant negative p85 mutant, or overexpression of the tumor suppressor gene phosphatase and tensin homologue deleted on chromosome 10 [PTEN]). Brush-border enzyme (intestinal alkaline phosphatase [IAP] and sucrase) activities, IAP messenger RNA levels, and IAP promoter induction were measured. Results: The PI3K inhibitor, wortmannin, in combination with sodium butyrate, synergistically induced IAP and sucrase enzyme activities and IAP messenger RNA levels in a time- and dose-dependent fashion. Consistent with these results, cotransfection using the dominant negative mutant of p85 (Δp85) induced IAP promoter activity. Moreover, overexpression of PTEN, which antagonizes PI3K, significantly augmented the induction of IAP enzyme activity in HT29 and Caco-2 cells treated with sodium butyrate and in spontaneously differentiated Caco-2 cells. Conclusions: Our results show that inhibition of PI3K significantly enhances enterocyte-like differentiation of HT29 and Caco-2 cells. Taken together, our findings suggest a contributory role for the PI3K/PTEN pathway in intestinal cell differentiation. GASTROENTEROLOGY 2001;120:1381-1392