cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Forward-Looking InSAR Processing for Moving Target Imaging

We present an interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) technique for jointly estimating a target's shape and velocity vector based on a forward-looking (i.e., extreme high-squint) data collection. The proposed approach is to apply a multiple-parameter convex optimization technique to the interferometric phase measured for each focused scattering center in the SAR imagery. Multiple interferometric measurements are made from the SAR imagery using an overlapping subaperture approach. In this study, we present the mathematical formulation of the proposed technique, apply it to simulated data, and evaluate performance by comparing the resulting spatial and velocity estimates to truth data.
IMMUNODIAGNOSIS OF SCHISTOSOMIASIS

The most efficacious and practical means of diagnosing human schistosomiasis is based on the detection of infection-specific antibodies. Because of their high sensitivity and specificity, antibody assays remain the most practical assays for epidemiologic studies and patient management. Antibody assays are particularly useful in the diagnosis of schistosomiasis in visitors from developed countries to endemic areas. These patients are often lightly infected, and tests that depend on detection of ova or circulating antigens are not reliable for these type of light and acute infections. Initial screening may be performed in the field or laboratory with the FAST-ELISA, using adult microsomal antigens. Species-specific confirmation is obtained by immunoblots with the same antigens.
Water quality trends in Texas estuaries

Coastal watersheds in Texas have experienced significant human population growth over the past several decades, yet there have been no comprehensive assessments of water quality trends in Texas estuaries. Here, analysis of historical estuarine water quality data indicates regional "hot spots" of change. Galveston Bay and Oso Bay, which have highly urbanized watersheds, currently exhibit symptoms of eutrophication. Symptoms of eutrophication were also found in the Baffin Bay-Upper Laguna Madre complex, which has a sparsely populated but agriculturally-intensive watershed. Increasing salinity was observed in estuaries of the central Texas coast and are attributed to long-term decreases in freshwater inflow. Another artifact of decreasing freshwater inflow is a reduction in the delivery of carbonate minerals to estuaries, which manifests as decreases in pH. With findings from this study, targeted studies can now be directed at the estuaries that are experiencing water quality degradation in order to guide future management efforts.
Infrared spectroscopy data- and physics-driven machine learning for characterizing surface microstructure of complex materials

There is a need to characterize complex materials and their dynamics under reaction conditions to accelerate materials design. Adsorbate vibrational excitations are selective to adsorbate/surface interactions and infrared (IR) spectra associated with activating adsorbate vibrational modes are accurate, capture details of most modes, and can be obtained operando. Current interpretation depends on heuristic peak assignments for simple spectra, precluding the possibility of obtaining detailed structural information. Here, we combine data-based approaches with chemistry-dependent problem formulation to develop physics-driven surrogate models that generate synthetic IR spectra from first-principles calculations. Using synthetic IR spectra of carbon monoxide on platinum, we implement multinomial regression via neural network ensembles to learn probability distributions functions (pdfs) that describe adsorption sites and quantify uncertainty. We use these pdfs to infer detailed surface microstructure from experimental spectra and extend this methodology to other systems as a first step towards characterizing complex interfaces and closing the materials gap. Knowing compositional motifs of nanoparticle catalysts in operando conditions is crucial towards understanding their catalytic behavior. Here, the authors develop a physics-driven machine learning approach to predict adsorption sites for a CO molecule over platinum nanoparticles in a multitude of coordination environments.
The Four Horsemen in Popular Culture

This paper examines the popularity of the Four Horsemen within media today by looking at thetelevision shows Supernatural and Sleepy Hollow. These two examples of Four Horsemen portrayals allow viewers to imagine a hopeful victory over the apocalypse that other depictions of apocalyptic events don’t allow for. This paper studies the history of the Book of Revelation and its depiction in popular culture to better understand the importance of these optimistic outcomes in which apocalypse is averted
Altering potato isoprenoid metabolism increases biomass and induces early flowering

Isoprenoids constitute the largest class of plant natural products and have diverse biological functions including in plant growth and development. In potato (Solanum tuberosum), the regulatory mechanism underlying the biosynthesis of isoprenoids through the mevalonate pathway is unclear. We assessed the role of 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-CoA reductase (HMGR) homologs in potato development and in the metabolic regulation of isoprenoid biosynthesis by generating transgenic lines with down-regulated expression (RNAi-hmgr) or overexpression (OE) of one (StHMGR1 or StHMGR3) or two genes, HMGR and farnesyl diphosphate synthase (FPS; StHMGR1/StFPS1 or StHMGR3/StFPS1). Levels of sterols, steroidal glycoalkaloids (SGAs), and plastidial isoprenoids were elevated in the OE-HMGR1, OE-HMGR1/FPS1, and OE-HMGR3/FPS1 lines, and these plants exhibited early flowering, increased stem height, increased biomass, and increased total tuber weight. However, OE-HMGR3 lines showed dwarfism and had the highest sterol amounts, but without an increase in SGA levels, supporting a rate-limiting role for HMGR3 in the accumulation of sterols. Potato RNAi-hmgr lines showed inhibited growth and reduced cytosolic isoprenoid levels. We also determined the relative importance of transcriptional control at regulatory points of isoprenoid precursor biosynthesis by assessing gene-metabolite correlations. These findings provide novel insights into specific end-products of the sterol pathway and could be important for crop yield and bioenergy crops.
Genetic disease and intellectual disability as contraindications to transplant listing in the United States: A survey of heart, kidney, liver, and lung transplant programs.

Discrimination based on disability is prohibited in organ transplantation, yet studies suggest it continues in listing practices for intellectual disability and genetic diseases. It is not known if this differs between adult and pediatric programs, or by organ type. We performed an online, forced-choice survey of psychosocial listing criteria for adult and pediatric heart, kidney, liver, and lung transplant programs in the United States. Of 650 programs contacted, 343 (52.8%) submitted complete. A minority of programs had formal listing guidelines for any condition considered (Down Syndrome, Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, Becker Muscular Dystrophy, DiGeorge Syndrome, and Wolf Hirschhorn Syndrome; and mild [IQ < 70] and severe [IQ < 35] intellectual disability), although a majority had encountered most. Pediatric programs were significantly (P < .02) more lenient in the level of contraindication to listing for all genetic conditions considered except Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, and for mild and severe intellectual disability. Level of contraindication differed significantly by organ type (heart, lung, liver, and kidney) for Duchenne Muscular dystrophy (P = <.001), Becker Muscular Dystrophy (P < .001), DiGeorge Syndrome (P < .001), Wolf-Hirschhorn syndrome (P = .0012), and severe intellectual disability (P < .001). There is significant variation among transplant programs in availability of guidelines for as well as listing practices regarding genetic diseases and intellectual disability, differing by both adult vs pediatric program, and organ type. Programs with absolute contraindications to listing for specific genetic diseases or intellectual disability should reframe their approach, ensuring individualized assessments and avoiding elimination of patients based on membership in a particular group.
Automated abstraction of myocardial perfusion imaging reports using natural language processing.

Findings and interpretations of myocardial perfusion imaging (MPI) studies are documented in free-text MPI reports. MPI results are essential for research, but manual review is prohibitively time consuming. This study aimed to develop and validate an automated method to abstract MPI reports. We developed a natural language processing (NLP) algorithm to abstract MPI reports. Randomly selected reports were double-blindly reviewed by two cardiologists to validate the NLP algorithm. Secondary analyses were performed to describe patient outcomes based on abstracted-MPI results on 16,957 MPI tests from adult patients evaluated for suspected ACS. The NLP algorithm achieved high sensitivity (96.7%) and specificity (98.9%) on the MPI categorical results and had a similar degree of agreement compared to the physician reviewers. Patients with abnormal MPI results had higher rates of 30-day acute myocardial infarction or death compared to patients with normal results. We identified issues related to the quality of the reports that not only affect communication with referring physicians but also challenges for automated abstraction. NLP is an accurate and efficient strategy to abstract results from the free-text MPI reports. Our findings will facilitate future research to understand the benefits of MPI studies but requires validation in other settings.
Cognitive regulation outdoes behavior regulation in predicting state standardized test scores over time

Individual differences in self-regulation have been a topic of increased empirical research. However, few investigations have been conducted on how sub-components of self-regulation differentially predict education outcomes over time. We examined cognitive and behavior regulation as predictors of middle-school students’ (n = 127) long-term academic achievement. It has been previously reported that behavior regulation, not cognitive regulation, predicts state standardized test scores in the first year (Modrek et al. 2019). However, here we show that after two years, this pattern flips in that cognitive regulation, not behavior regulation, predicts state standardized test scores for both math and English. We analyzed the mediating role of learning using structural equation modeling, suggesting the differing roles of self-regulation in education where certain facets may or may not affect students’ long-term outcomes.
Correlation Between Tolerance for Disagreement and Postsecondary Enrollment Among African American Men

The study explored the concept of disagreement within family and societal structures, hypothesizing that for certain individuals to dramatically break with family and social traditions, they must have a high level of disagreement. Using McCroskey’s Tolerance for Disagreement scale, the findings indicated that those African American men who were included in the study had significantly higher levels of Tolerance for Disagreement than African American men who did not pursue postsecondary education.
MONEY MAKES THE WORLD GO ’ROUND:THE PECUNIARY WORLDVIEW OF MODERN AMERICAN PROVERBS

No matter in what currency, money rules personal and financial life to a remarkable degree, and it is not surprising that international and national proverb collections contain a plethora of examples from antiquity to the modern age. Many monetary proverbs were coined in the United States with modern American proverbs reflecting this preoccupation with pecuniary issues quite distinctly. Based on about 110 such proverbs coined after the year 1900 it is shown that they contain folk wisdom regarding business, trade, sales, purchase, payment, price, etc. with money playing a dominant role. This can be seen as a reflection of a general American worldview or mentality stemming from the fact that capitalism is part of the social and economic structure of the country. The proverbs under discussion are from The Dictionary of Modern Proverbs (2012) edited by Charles Doyle, Wolfgang Mieder and Fred Shapiro. Some of the modern proverbs give solid financial advice, especially regarding investment in the stock market. While many of them indicate a definite preoccupation with materialistic matters and an interest in accumulating wealth, there are also proverbs that deal with such socio-economic aspects as the widening schism between richness and poverty. There can be no doubt that money and wealth in all their iterations are part of the American capitalist worldview. There are numerous other components to the image of a general American mentality, but business and finance certainly belong to it.
Yttrium-90 radioembolization in desmoplastic small round cell tumor with recurrent hepatic metastasis following hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy

We report a case of a 26-year-old male who was diagnosed with metastatic desmoplastic small round cell tumor initially treated with systemic chemotherapy followed by tumor debulking and hyperthermic intra-peritoneal chemotherapy. The patient was in complete remission by clinical and imaging criteria for 11 months, until he developed bi-lobar hepatic disease, which was successfully treated with selective internal radiation therapy by Yttrium-90. The patient demonstrated liver-specific complete response on follow-up imaging obtained 18 months after the procedure.
External carotid artery to internal carotid artery transposition to augment flow for a superficial temporal artery to middle cerebral artery bypass associated with severe external carotid artery stenosis.

Donor vessel quality can impact the outcome of extracranial-intracranial (EC-IC) bypass. External carotid artery (ECA) disease may produce embolism into the anastomosis and cerebral territory and possibly reduce flow in the superficial temporal artery (STA). Previously reported remedies to ECA stenosis include ECA endarterectomy, stenting, and angioplasty. Clinical presentation A middle-aged patient with chronic left MCA occlusion, progressive ischemic symptoms on maximal medical therapy, and imaging confirmation of compromised hemodynamic reserve was evaluated for EC-IC bypass. Angiography demonstrated severe ECA origin stenosis. An ECA-ICA transposition was performed, primarily to eliminate the risk of emboli and secondarily to possibly improve the STA flow. The patient sustained an excellent radiological and clinical outcome, and the STA donor cut-flow was increased modestly by 22% (45 to 55 mL/min). This case is the first report of an ECA to internal carotid artery transposition as an option in the management of ECA stenosis in preparation for an STA-MCA bypass for the purpose of flow augmentation.
Differential effect of conflicts on vaccination: Boko Haram insurgency vs. other conflicts in Nigeria.

The Boko Haram insurgency is one of the most devastating violent crises that Nigeria has encountered in recent years. This paper compares the relative effect of the Boko Haram insurgency, as compar...
The Elderly Spine Surgery Patient: Pre- and Intraoperative Management of Drug Therapy.

Spine surgery is one of the most common surgeries for adults greater than 65 years of age. Optimizing and caring for the elderly patient presenting for spine surgery requires planning and multidisciplinary input from surgeons, primary care physicians, and anesthesiologists. Controversies exist surrounding appropriate perioperative management of complicated chronic medication regimens and the ideal selection of intraoperative therapy for these patients. In this article we present an overview of the controversies anesthesiologists face as they work with the elderly patient’s primary doctor and surgical team to achieve a safe perioperative course. Specifically, we discuss the interaction of geriatric physiology and pathophysiology with medications used in the perioperative period. While care of the geriatric spine surgery patient is nuanced, the anesthesiologist can work together with medical personnel, surgeons, and pharmacy to provide safe and effective care.
BioPAX – biological pathway data exchange format

Pathway information is vital for successful modeling of cellular systems. The over 215 on-line pathway databases vary widely in representation and coverage of biological processes, making their combined use extremely difficult. Future pathway information systems for querying, visualization, and analysis must support standard exchange formats to successfully integrate data on a large scale. BioPAX (www.biopax.org) is a data exchange format for biological pathways developed by pathway databases, such as BioCyc, WIT, Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG), aMAZE, Integrating Network Objects with Hierarchies (INOH), PATIKA, Reactome, Biomolecular Interaction Database (BIND), and others. Level 1 supports metabolic pathways. Level 2 adds support for molecular interactions. Level 3 will add additional support for signal transduction and genetic regulatory networks. The ultimate goal of BioPAX is to enable seamless collection and use of pathway information so that it may be efficiently applied to answer biological questions. Keywords: pathway data integration; pathway database; standard exchange format; ontology; information system
Chinese Reflexive Ziji: Syntactic Reflexives vs. Nonsyntactic Reflexives

While recognizing a fundamental distinction between syntactic use of reflexives and nonsyntactic use of reflexives, we propose that this distinction is not necessarily one of lexical ambiguity, contrary to what has been commonly assumed (e.g., Baker (1995)). Instead, we posit just one type of referentially dependent element – reflexives – which avail themselves of two options for being related to their antecedents, namely, syntactic binding and discourse coreference. We focus on Chinese reflexive ziji but will also consider reflexives in American English and British English. Data from these languages indicate that obligatory binding (as stated in Principle A of Chomsky (1986)) is something of a special case and should not be taken as a general model for a cross-linguistic approach to reflexives. We also show that argument structure is relevant to long-distance binding in Chinese, and thus the syntactic binding domain can be defined in terms of relative OBLIQUENESS of grammatical relations rather than a purely tree-configurational relation, e.g., C-COMMAND.
Study on Inclusions in CuCr25 Prepared by Thermit Reduction-Electromagnetic Casting

We prepared the CuCr alloy by thermit reduction-electromagnetic casting. But there are the defects such as stomata and oxide inclusions in CuCr alloy. In this paper, the existing state and distribution of inclusions and stomata in CuCr alloy are systematically analyzed. The alloy was characterized via SEM, EDS and metallographic microscope, in which the existing state and micro-structural defects of inclusions are analyzed. The results show that: there are three distinct areas: copper-rich areas, chromium-rich areas and the inclusion areas. Inclusions are mainly in the form of stomata and Al2O3 phase, mainly locating in the copper-rich phase and the interface area of chromium-rich phase and the copper-rich phase. Then, the composition of phases of the smelting slags and alloy were characterized via XRD. The results show that: the slag consists of Al2O3 and a little of Cr, the alloy consists of Cr, Cu and a little of Al2O3.
Incentivizing Parental Support for College Tuition through the Tax Code

University tuition costs continue to increase, while education continues to be important. Efforts to alleviate this problem must be undertaken carefully as to not simply aggravate the problem. To this end, this Article proposes that parental contribution towards university tuition be treated more favorably by the tax code, and in particular, be treated as tax deductible. Universities already expect parental contributions as part of a child’s financial aid package, and this proposed tax deduction may help fulfill that expectation. Furthermore, this proposed deduction would spare students some reliance on the loan system, including the risk of default. This proposed deduction, finally, may be structured in a cost-neutral way. Specifically, the funds used for this deduction would be the taxpayer funds saved from the decrease in loan defaults and loan interest subsidies, which currently cost tens of billions of tax dollars.
Wealth constraint and contractual arrangements

We examine how a project owner optimally selects a project operator and motivates him to deliver an unobservable effort when potential operators are wealth con strained. We show that, when potential operators' abilities are common knowledge, an operator's share of realized profit can be increasing, invariant, or decreasing in his ability depending on the nature of production technology. However, when potential operators are privately informed about both their abilities and their effort supply, a bunching contract arises in equilibrium for a general class of production technology. In the case of bunching, all potential operators are selected equally often and awarded an equal share of realized profit. The finding provides an explanation for the relative uniformity of contract terms in many practical settings. JEL classification: D440, D820, LI40
An Expectancy/Value Perspective on the Demotivating Effects of Prejudice

This study examined whether expecting prejudice is demotivating. Women were led to believe they were being evaluated for a co-manager position. They were randomly assigned to receive information that the evaluator held negative attitudes toward women or that he did not. We hypothesized that compared to women led to believe that the evaluator was unprejudiced, women led to believe the evaluator was prejudiced would: (a) have lower expectations for being chosen as co-manager; (b) place less value on being chosen as co-manager; and (c) be less motivated to perform a task that would influence selection as co-manager. We predicted that the effect of prejudice on motivation would be mediated by expectations and valuing of success. Results were consistent with predictions.
Aspects of Deconstruction: The "Easy Case" of the Under-Aged President

When the deconstructionist says that all cases are to some degree problematic, the mainstream legal scholar gleefully pulls out a favorite crystal-clear case and asserts “not this one!” Judging from the law review commentary, the most popular of these “easy cases” concerns the constitutional mandate that the President shall be at least thirty-five years of age. Deconstructionists say that all interpretation depends on context. Radical deconstructionists add that, because contexts can change, there can be no such thing as a single interpretation of any text that is absolute and unchanging for all time.
Katrien Devolder: The ethics of embryonic stem cell research

A reader picking up Katrien Devolder’s study for guidance in thinking about the ethics of human embryonic stem cell research will be surprised. Devolder actually presents no arguments either for or against such research. Unlike many studies that focus on the moral status of the early embryo, Devolder takes no position on this issue. While an opening chapter details the many medical and scientific benefits of this research, Devolder does not argue that these benefits justify human embryonic stem cell research. Instead, Devolder has a focused ‘‘epistemic’’ objective of critically examining various ‘‘middle-ground’’ positions that have been offered as ways of easing (or escaping) the extreme polarization that has marked the stem cell debate. That polarization is expressed in what Devolder calls ‘‘the Problem’’:
Ebooks vs. print books: readers' choices and preferences across contexts

With electronic book (ebook) sales and readership rising, are ebooks positioned to replace print books? This study examines the preference for ebooks and print books in the contexts of reading purpose, reading situation, and contextual variables such as age, gender, education level, race/ethnicity, income, community type, and Internet use. Additionally, this study aims to identify factors that contribute to ebook adoption. The results of this study support the notion that ebooks have firmly established a place in people's lives, but are not yet positioned to take over all the roles of print books. Both print books and ebooks have unique attributes and serve irreplaceable functions in meeting people's reading needs, which may vary by individual demographic, contextual, and situational factors.
Systolic array realization of a trajectory planning algorithm in robotics

A parallel pipeline architecture using systolic arrays is proposed for a collision-free trajectory planning algorithm. A systolic array for realizing the pseudo-inverse of a Jacobian matrix is proposed, and the systolic design for a minimum norm trajectory planner and collision-free trajectory planner are described. The computer system architecture can compute the collision-free trajectory of a robot fast enough for real-time operation. Specifically, the computation time needed to determine the trajectory of the end-effector using the systolic array is about 21.8 mu s, which is very short when compared to the reaction time of the robotic manipulator. Hence, the structure is well suited for real-time operations. >
Strategic HRM: Too Important for an Insular Approach

Strategic human resource management (SHRM) is the choice, alignment, and integration of an organization's HRM system so its human capital resources most effectively contribute to strategic business objectives. Kaufman's review (this issue) of four books in the field revealed key differences in two areas: the intended audience (academics and general managers versus researchers only) and orientation (the use of field observer and participant observation methods versus ivory tower scientism). Overemphasis on the latter produces research that is relevant only to academics and that is not used in organizations. I argue, as have others, that in addition to rigor, a successful scientific discipline must prove itself relevant to the society in which it is embedded. Hence, the objectives of SHRM should be twofold: to influence academic thinking and conceptualizing, but also to alter the way managers set priorities and make decisions. To do that, researchers have to work directly with managers. The challenge is to create models that reflect a broader view of performance as well as more complete taxonomies of internal and external factors that help shape business and HR strategies. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Lightning and Power Surge Damage to Appliances

Lightning rarely damages appliances by direct stroke to the appliance. Damage is usually caused by direct strokes to the power lines or by induced surges. Induced surges are caused by the release of bound charges on the line when overhead clouds lose charge because of a strike to objects other than the line. The direct stroke produces a large voltage, while induced surges usually have a lower magnitude voltage. Lightning usually damages appliance electrical insulation which leads to a continuation of the damage by the 60-Hz power that has the appearance of a non- lightning-related failure. Lightning or power surge damage can probably be ruled out if the equipment has failed because of certain problems such as an open conductor or a bad bearing. Electric lamps can provide a clue as to whether a high-voltage surge occurred in the electrical system because the filaments often open when subjected to such surges. Equipment can be protected by a design to withstand the highest normal voltage spikes expected. Proper grounding and bonding also is important. For critical components or equipment, surge arresters may be required.
Effects of the antiglucocorticoid RU 38486 on the induction of learned helpless behavior in Sprague-Dawley rats

Learned helplessness (LH) is induced by exposure to an inescapable or uncontrollable stressor which results in an inability to escape or avoid the same stressor when subsequently presented in a different context. In order to understand which central mechanisms may influence the expression of the learned helpless phenotype, we have pursued an experimental approach that seeks to elucidate the behavioral effects of glucocorticoid (GC) hormones in this animal model of depression. We have previously shown that the induction of LH behavior is enhanced by adrenalectomy, an effect that is reversed by corticosterone. In this study, our aim was to attempt to locate CNS sites responsible for the observed effects of glucocorticoids on learned helpless behavior by introducing the type II GC receptor antagonist, RU 38486 to discrete brain regions. We did not observe a significant effect in LH with acute systemic, acute dentate gyrus or intracerebroventricular injection of RU 38486 in contrast to previous studies using the Porsolt swim test, another animal model of depression. However, we were able to observe a significant change upon chronic administration to the dentate gyrus. These findings suggest that glucocorticoids exert a long-term influence on stress-induced behavior, presumably by affecting glucocorticoid responsive genes in the dentate gyrus.
Commonplace Intersections within a High School Mathematics Leadership Institute.

This narrative inquiry weaves Schwab's commonplaces of curriculum and Clandinin, Pushor, and Murray Orr's narrative commonplaces through stories of conflict between a professional developer and 30 ...
Dynamical mean-field theory for strongly correlated inhomogeneous multilayered nanostructures

Dynamical mean field theory is employed to calculate the properties of multilayered inhomogeneous devices composed of semi-infinite metallic lead layers coupled via barrier planes that are made from a strongly correlated material (and can be tuned through the metal-insulator Mott transition). We find that the Friedel oscillations in the metallic leads are immediately frozen in and do not change as the thickness of the barrier increases from one to 80 planes. We also identify a generalization of the Thouless energy that describes the crossover from tunneling to incoherent ohmic transport in the insulating barrier. We qualitatively compare the results of these self-consistent many-body calculations with the assumptions of non-self-consistent Landauer-based approaches to shed light on when such approaches are likely to yield good results for the transport.
Sterol Composition and Biosynthetic Genes of the Recently Discovered Photosynthetic Alveolate, Chromera velia (Chromerida), a Close Relative of Apicomplexans

Chromera velia is a recently discovered, photosynthetic, marine alveolate closely related to apicomplexan parasites, and more distantly to perkinsids and dinoflagellates. To date, there are no published studies on the sterols of C. velia. Because apicomplexans and perkinsids are not known to synthesize sterols de novo, but rather obtain them from their host organisms, our objective was to examine the composition of the sterols of C. velia to assess whether or not there is any commonality with dinoflagellates as the closest taxonomic group capable of synthesizing sterols de novo. Furthermore, knowledge of the sterols of C. velia may provide insight into the sterol biosynthetic capabilities of apicomplexans prior to loss of sterol biosynthesis. We have found that C. velia possesses two primary sterols, 24-ethylcholesta-5,22E-dien-3β-ol, and 24-ethylcholest-5-en-3β-ol, not common to dinoflagellates, but rather commonly found in other classes of algae and plants. In addition, we have identified computationally three genes, SMT1 (sterol-24C-methyltransferase), FDFT1 (farnesyl diphosphate farnesyl transferase, squalene synthase), and IDI1 (isopentenyl diphosphate Δ-isomerase), predicted to be involved in sterol biosynthesis by their similarity to analogous genes in other sterol-producing eukaryotes, including a number of algae.
Effect of 20-epi-1α,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 on the proliferation of human neuroblastoma: role of cell cycle regulators and the Myc–Id2 pathway

Abstract The antiproliferative effects of 1α,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 [1,25(OH)2D3] and its epimer, 20-epi-1α,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 [20-epi-1,25(OH)2D3], in six human neuroblastoma (NB) cell lines (SH-SY5Y, NB69, SK-N-AS, IMR5, CHP134, and NGP) were investigated. We determined the ability of 1,25(OH)2D3 and 20-epi-1,25(OH)2D3 to influence cell viability by the 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay, cell proliferation by bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU) incorporation, and their antineoplastic effect on colony formation in a soft agar assay. A concentration-dependent decrease in cell viability, inhibition of DNA synthesis, and suppression of clonal proliferation was observed with both compounds. 20-epi-1,25(OH)2D3 was more potent in suppressing the proliferation of all six NB cell lines. To understand the mechanisms of action, we examined the effect of 20-epi-1,25(OH)2D3 on the Myc–Id2 cell proliferative network and also on key regulators of the cell cycle. For the first time, we show that 20-epi-1,25(OH)2D3 down-regulated Myc and Id2 expression by western blot analysis. Semi-quantitative reverse transcription–polymerase chain reaction (RT–PCR) analysis revealed that 20-epi-1,25(OH)2D3 induced the expression of retinoic acid receptor-β and p21Cip1, and down-regulated the expression of cyclin D1 resulting in decreased phosphorylation of retinoblastoma protein (pRB). In sum, we show that 20-epi-1,25(OH)2D3 exerts strong antiproliferative effects by regulating key growth control networks (Myc–Id2–pRB) in NB cells.
Looking at Body Image: The Organization of Self‐Knowledge About Physical Appearance and Its Relation to Disordered Eating

This study examined the organization of self-knowledge, with special attention to beliefs about physical appearance, in three groups of college-aged women: high body dissatisfaction with symptoms of disordered eating; high body dissatisfaction with no symptoms of disorder; and low body dissatisfaction. In the nondisordered, dissatisfied group, negative beliefs about physical appearance were organized in the self-structure in a way that isolated those beliefs and might minimize their impact and importance. This group also displayed adaptive types of self-concept organization (evaluative integration for those with important negative self-beliefs and compartmentalization for those with important positive beliefs) and effective coping strategies. Features of self-structure that characterize the nondisordered, dissatisfied group may provide a useful model for helping individuals with disordered eating cope with their negative physical appearance beliefs.
The organotypic hippocampal slice culture model for examining neuronal injury.

Organotypic hippocampal slice culture is an in vitro method to examine mechanisms of neuronal injury in which the basic architecture and composition of the hippocampus is relatively preserved 1. The organotypic culture system allows for the examination of neuronal, astrocytic and microglial effects, but as an ex vivo preparation, does not address effects of blood flow, or recruitment of peripheral inflammatory cells. To that end, this culture method is frequently used to examine excitotoxic and hypoxic injury to pyramidal neurons of the hippocampus, but has also been used to examine the inflammatory response. Herein we describe the methods for generating hippocampal slice cultures from postnatal rodent brain, administering toxic stimuli to induce neuronal injury, and assaying and quantifying hippocampal neuronal death.
Dispersed single-phase-step Michelson interferometer for Doppler imaging using sunlight.

A Michelson interferometer is dispersed with a fiber array-fed spectrograph, providing 59 Doppler sensing channels using sunlight in the 510–570 nm wavelength region. The interferometer operates at a single-phase-step mode, which is particularly advantageous in multiplexing and data processing compared to the phase-stepping mode of other interferometer spectrometer instruments. Spectral templates are prepared using a standard solar spectrum and simulated interferometer modulations, such that the correlation function with a measured 1D spectrum determines the Doppler shift. Doppler imaging of a rotating cylinder is demonstrated. The average Doppler sensitivity is ∼12 m/s, with some channels reaching ∼5 m/s.
Enhancement of Host Susceptibility to Staphylococcus aureus Infection by Chronic Ethanol Ingestion–Modification by Glucan Immunostimulation

The susceptibility of chronic ethanol-treated mice to S. aureus infection was ascertained, as was the ability of the immunostimulant glucan to modify ethanol-induced susceptibility to infection. Chronic alcohol-treated mice showed enhanced sensitivity to S. aureus. The administration of glucan significantly prolonged survival in S. aureus infected control and chronic ethanol mice.
Ordering of Poly(3-hexylthiophene) Nanocrystallites on the Basis of Substrate Surface Energy

Molecular dynamics simulations are used to study the influence of functionalized substrates on the orientation of poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) nanocrystallites, which in turn plays a critical role in P3HT-based transistor performance. The effects of alkyl-trichlorosilane self-assembled monolayer packing density, packing order, and end-group functionality are independently investigated. Across these factors, the potential energy surface presented by the substrate to the P3HT molecules is determined to be the main driver of P3HT ordering. Surprisingly, disordered substrates with a smoothly varying potential energy landscape are found to encourage edge-on P3HT orientation, while highly ordered substrates have undesirable potential energy wells that reduce the edge-on orientation of P3HT because of substrate−side-chain interactions.
Guaranteed stability of recursive multi-input-single-output time series models

Recursive time series models can describe effectively and accurately complex systems with time-varying parameters. These simple models can be used in forecasting and control systems. However, these models may be unstable because of plant and measurement noise even when the process is known to be stable. In this paper, we propose an approach to guarantee the stability of time series models by using the Gershgorin Circle Theorem. Data from real patients with Type 1 Diabetes are used to illustrate the performance of the proposed approach. Results show that the proposed method provides stable models. The method can be easily implemented to single- or multi-input-output time series modeling and subspace identification.
$F^2$Dock: Fast Fourier Protein-Protein Docking

The functions of proteins are often realized through their mutual interactions. Determining a relative transformation for a pair of proteins and their conformations which form a stable complex, reproducible in nature, is known as docking. It is an important step in drug design, structure determination, and understanding function and structure relationships. In this paper, we extend our nonuniform fast Fourier transform-based docking algorithm to include an adaptive search phase (both translational and rotational) and thereby speed up its execution. We have also implemented a multithreaded version of the adaptive docking algorithm for even faster execution on multicore machines. We call this protein-protein docking code {\rm F}^2Dock (F^2= {\rm \underline{F}ast\underline{F}ourier}). We have calibrated {\rm F}^2Dock based on an extensive experimental study on a list of benchmark complexes and conclude that {\rm F}^2Dock works very well in practice. Though all docking results reported in this paper use shape complementarity and Coulombic-potential-based scores only, {\rm F}^2Dock is structured to incorporate Lennard-Jones potential and reranking docking solutions based on desolvation energy .
Distribution and Kinetics of the Inflammatory Cell Response to Ocular Challenge with Pseudomonas aeruginosa in Susceptible versus Resistant Mice

This study examined and characterized the distribution and kinetics of the inflammatory cell response to pseudomonas ocular challenge in susceptible C57BL/6J and resistant DBA/2J mice. Initially, in the cornea, the number of neutrophilic leukocytes (PMNs), macrophages/monocytes or lymphocytes was 2–2.5 times greater in resistant versus susceptible mice. The peak cellular response in the cornea was also greater in resistant than in susceptible animals. Further, resistant mice, when compared with susceptible mice, had a shorter duration of inflammatory cells as well as bacteria in the cornea. These data were similar for the cell infiltrate in the anterior chamber, with the exception that PMNs were initially greater in number in C57BL/6J than in DBA/2J mice. Collectively these data suggest that susceptible mice are, in general, cellularly hyporesponsive to pseudomonas ocular challenge when compared with resistant animals. This, together with persistence of inflammatory cells and bacteria in the cornea of susceptible animals, may contribute to their failure to restore corneal clarity following pseudomonas ocular challenge.
Effect of surface reactivity on the nucleation of hydrocarbon thin films through molecular-cluster beam deposition

Abstract The effect of surface reactivity on thin film nucleation through cluster–surface collisions is examined using molecular dynamics simulations with a well-known reactive empirical-bond order potential for hydrocarbons. It has previously been shown through experiments that strongly adhering polymer thin films can be generated through the impact of organic clusters with mica, diamond, or glass surfaces. In this study, molecular clusters of ethylene and acetylene are impacted at hyperthermal velocities of about 1.3 keV per cluster against activated bare 1×1 diamond (111), reconstructed 2×1 diamond (111), and hydrogen-terminated diamond (111) surfaces. As a result of the collisions, the cluster molecules react with each other and the surface nucleating thin hydrocarbon films. The effect of surface and molecular reactivity on thin film nucleation and structure is discussed.
The electrical interaction between artificial pacemakers and patients, with applications to electrocardiography.

Abstract Eleven artificial pacemakers were calibrated prior to surgery. The current delivered by these units to human hearts was then measured at surgery with a current probe. Body surface pacemaker voltages were recorded subsequently in nine cases. The amplitude and shape of the current pulse depends upon the patient load impedance. Patient load impedance consists of myocardial electrode polarization impedance and tissue resistance. For the pacemaker and myocardial electrodes employed, the patient load impedance is well represented by an equivalent circuit consisting of a series parallel arrangement of two capacitors and two resistors. Values of these circuit parameters were determined in nine cases. Tissue resistance is represented by a fraction of the series resistor in the equivalent circuit. The remainder of the equivalent circuit is attributable to polarization. The voltage pulse measured at the body surface is related to the current pulse delivered to the myocardium by a transfer impedance. Since details of the current pulse, which had a rise time of less than a microsecond, were present in surface voltages, the transfer impedance is approximately resistive and independent of frequency up to a megacycle per second. It is concluded that no significant frequency distortion of electrocardiograms is caused by the electrical characteristics of body tissues. The value of the maximal scalar transfer impedance from these studies has been cast into the vectorial form employed by others in torso model studies. Under the conditions discussed, the vectorial transfer impedance has comparable magnitude whether obtained from model studies or from the present pacemaker study.
Determining the probability of detecting cervical spine fractures with computed tomographic scans using the visible human database

Cross-table lateral radiography alone is frequently unreliable for clearing of the cervical spine in cases of acute trauma. Computerized tomography (CT) is a standard procedure for detecting occult cervical spine fractures when cervical spine radiographs are equivocal or inadequate. There is evidence, however, that a significant number of fractures may still be missed by CT scans if too large a distance is used between scanning cuts in the axial plane. The purpose of this study was to determine the probability of detecting hidden fractures of the cervical spine over a wide range of fracture sizes and CT axial cut intervals. Digitized anatomic data of the cervical spine from the Visible Human ProjectTM of the National Library of Medicine were used as a model template for the study. From a series analysis, it was determined that use of the standard 5-mm cut intervals missed 25–75% of fractures, depending on the size of the lesion. The 4-mm cuts were able to detect all of the 3-mm lesions but still missed a significant number of the smaller fractures. The probability of finding occult fractures at the 3-mm axial interval was 100% for all except the smallest fracture sizes. This mathematical analysis suggests that computerized tomography is a less than optimal method for detecting occult fractures of the cervical spine unless the cut interval is 3 mm or less. The addition of sagittal plane reconstruction of these images would further enhance the ability to detect subtle subluxations or fractures.
Effect of Multiple Copies of Puroindoline Genes on Grain Softness

End use quality in wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) is primarily determined by grain hardness or texture. The puroindoline genes Pina and Pinb are the main components of the 15-kDa friabilin protein, which is associated with kernel softness. Pina and Pinb are expressed in diploid wheat species but are silent in tetraploid wheat. The active puroindolines in hexaploid, or bread wheat, were derived from Aegilops tauschii Coss., the D genome diploid donor. The focus of this study was to incorporate active puroindoline genes into the A and B genomes of bread wheat and analyze their impact upon grain softness. Functional copies of Pina and Pinb in disomic substitution lines of T. monococcum L. chromosome 5A m for 5A of T. aestivum and 5S s of Aegilops searsii Feldman & Kislev ex K. Hammer for 5B of T. aestivum were used to produce lines that contained four copies (5A m , 5D; 5S s , 5D) and six copies (5A m , 5S s , 5D) of the puroindolines. There was a direct correlation in grain softness with the increase in copy number of the puroindolines. Northern blots showed increased expression of both Pina and Pinb. Extraction of TX114 soluble proteins indicated that levels of both proteins were also increased. Single kernel characterization system (SKCS) analysis showed a decrease in kernel hardness by approximately 10 points below the value of 71 for 'Chinese Spring' (CS) for each additional copy of Pina and Pinb added. These results indicate that increasing the functional copy number of the puroindolines can impact grain softness in bread wheat.