cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Crystal structure of the multidrug efflux transporter AcrB at 3.1A resolution reveals the N-terminal region with conserved amino acids.

Crystal structures of the bacterial multidrug transporter AcrB in R32 and C2 space groups showing both symmetric and asymmetric trimeric assemblies, respectively, supplemented with biochemical investigations, have provided most of the structural basis for a molecular level understanding of the protein structure and mechanisms for substrate uptake and translocation carried out by this 114-kDa inner membrane protein. They suggest that AcrB captures ligands primarily from the periplasm. Substrates can also enter the inner cavity of the transporter from the cytoplasm, but the exact mechanism of this remains undefined. Analysis of the amino acid sequences of AcrB and its homologs revealed the presence of conserved residues at the N-terminus including two phenylalanines which may be exposed to the cytoplasm. Any potential role that these conserved residues may play in function has not been addressed by existing biochemical or structural studies. Since phenylalanine residues elsewhere in the protein have been implicated in ligand binding, we explored the structure of this N-terminal region to investigate structural determinants near the cytoplasmic opening that may mediate drug uptake. Our structure of AcrB in R32 space group reveals an N-terminus loop, reducing the diameter of the central opening to ∼15 A as opposed to the previously reported value of ∼30 A for crystal structures in this space group with disordered N-terminus. Recent structures of the AcrB in C2 space group have revealed a helical conformation of this N-terminus but have not discussed its possible implications. We present the crystal structure of AcrB that reveals the structure of the N-terminus containing the conserved residues. We hope that the structural information provides a structural basis for others to design further biochemical investigation of the role of this portion of AcrB in mediating cytoplasmic ligand discrimination and uptake.
Effects of riboflavin photoproducts on microbial activity during photosensitization of atrazine transformation.

The contributions and effects of photolysis and microbial assemblages to 37.6 mg/L riboflavin-sensitized atrazine transformation were studied along with the toxicity of the intermediate mixtures. High-performance liquid chromatography analysis revealed that riboflavin significantly enhanced the phototransformation of atrazine (10 mg/L) by reducing the parent compound concentration to less than 20% in 72 h. However, radiotracer measurements indicated atrazine was not mineralized to the same degree after 3 days of exposure. We hypothesize that riboflavin-sensitized transformation of atrazine is primarily photochemical; however, the biological component seems to promote overall atrazine degradation under solar irradiation. Based on the results of spread plate counting or 14C-glucose mineralization measurement, at a test concentration of 12.1 mg/L, lumichrome (a major riboflavin photoproduct) was found to be nontoxic to the test microbial assemblages in a reservoir water sample. Other riboflavin photoproducts and/or certain chemically reactive species were speculated to cause a cytotoxic effect. Overall, our data indicate that riboflavin may be an economical photosensitizing agent for atrazine degradation, but the apparent photoinduced cytotoxicity observed during transformation is of concern to the microbial assemblages that are needed for complete remediation. Further investigation into why the biotic component enhances riboflavin phototransformation of atrazine and the time frame of microbial recovery from riboflavin inhibition is needed. Such work may lead to cost-effective surface water treatment systems involving combined photochemical and microbial degradation processes. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Environ Toxicol 18: 361–367, 2003.
Photoacoustic microscopy with 7.6-μm axial resolution

The axial resolution of photoacoustic microscopy (PAM) is much lower than its lateral resolution, which resolves down to the submicron level. Here we achieved so far the highest axial resolution of 7.6 μm by using a commercial 125 MHz ultrasonic transducer for signal detection, followed by the Wiener deconvolution for signal processing. The axial resolution was validated by imaging two layers of red ink in a wedge shape. Melanoma cells were imaged ex vivo with high axial resolution. Compared with a PAM system with a 50 MHz ultrasonic transducer, our high-axial-resolution PAM system resolved the blood vessels in mouse ears in vivo much more clearly in the depth direction.
A Parallel Computing Framework for Large-Scale Air Traffic Flow Optimization

Optimizing nationwide air traffic flow entails computational difficulty as the traffic is generally modeled as a multicommodity network, which involves a huge number of variables. This paper presents a framework that speeds up the optimization. Nationwide air traffic is modeled using a link transmission model (LTM), to which a dual-decomposition method is applied. The large-scale problem is decomposed into a master problem and a number of independent subproblems, which are easy to solve. As a result, the execution of solving the subproblem is parallelizable. A parallel computing framework is based on multiprocessing technology. The master problem is updated on a server, and a client cluster is deployed to finish the subproblems such that the most computationally intensive part of the optimization can be executed in parallel. The server and the clients communicate via Transmission Control Protocol (TCP)/User Datagram Protocol (UDP). An adaptive job allocation method is developed to balance the workload among each client, resulting in maximized utilization of the computing resources. Experiment results show that, compared with an earlier single process solution, the proposed framework considerably increases computational efficiency. The optimization of a 2-h nationwide traffic problem involving 2326 subproblems takes 6 min using ten Dell workstations. The increased computational workload due to the increased number of subproblems can be mitigated by the extension of computer deployment.
Toll-like receptor-mediated induction of type I interferon in plasmacytoid dendritic cells requires the rapamycin-sensitive PI(3)K-mTOR-p70S6K pathway

Robust production of type I interferon (IFN-alpha/beta) in plasmacytoid dendritic cells (pDCs) is crucial for antiviral immunity. Here we show involvement of the mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) pathway in regulating interferon production by pDCs. Inhibition of mTOR or its 'downstream' mediators, the p70 ribosomal S6 protein kinases p70S6K1 and p70S6K2, during pDC activation by Toll-like receptor 9 (TLR9) blocked the interaction of TLR9 with the adaptor MyD88 and subsequent activation of the interferon-regulatory factor IRF7, which resulted in impaired IFN-alpha/beta production. Microarray analysis confirmed that inhibition of mTOR by the immunosuppressive drug rapamycin suppressed antiviral and anti-inflammatory gene expression. Consistent with this, targeting rapamycin-encapsulated microparticles to antigen-presenting cells in vivo resulted in less IFN-alpha/beta production in response to CpG DNA or the yellow fever vaccine virus strain 17D. Thus, mTOR signaling is crucial in TLR-mediated IFN-alpha/beta responses by pDCs.
Recognizing connotative meaning in military chat communications

Over the last five to seven years the use of chat in military contexts has expanded quite significantly, in some cases becoming a primary means of communicating time-sensitive data to decision makers and operators. For example, during humanitarian operations with Joint Task Force-Katrina, chat was used extensively to plan, task, and coordinate predeployment and ongoing operations. The informal nature of chat communications allows the relay of far more information than the technical content of messages. Unlike formal documents such as newspapers, chat is often emotive. "Reading between the lines" to understand the connotative meaning of communication exchanges is now feasible, and often important. Understanding the connotative meaning of text is necessary to enable more useful automatic intelligence exploitation. The research project described in this paper was directed at recognizing user connotations of uncertainty and urgency. The project built a matrix of speech features indicative of these categories of meaning, developed data mining software to recognize them, and evaluated the results.
GPU-Based Parallel EDF-Schedulability Analysis of Multi-modal Real-Time Systems

Real-time multi-modal systems are useful in modeling embedded systems that dynamically change computational requirements over time (e.g., adaptive cruise control systems). For meeting timing constraints of such multi-modal systems, Earliest-Deadline-First (EDF) is an attractive real-time scheduling algorithm due to its optimality on uniprocessor platforms. However, checking EDF-schedulability of a real-time multi-modal system is a difficult problem that requires substantial computational effort. Today's cost efficient and massively parallel GPU platforms can be effectively leveraged to solve this difficult problem. Existing algorithms for EDF-schedulability of real-time multi-modal systems cannot exploit the entire computational power of a GPU, therefore, in this research, we develop a parallel algorithm leveraging the advantages of a GPU device. Experimental results establish the superior performance of our proposed algorithm upon a low end GPU over the implementation of existing algorithms on a cluster of computers using either MPI or OpenMP. In addition to performance, our proposed algorithm is a cost effective and power efficient alternative against comparable algorithms for multi-core and parallel computing platforms.
THE DETERMINATION OF STRAIN IN GLASS BY A RADIATION METHOD1

The method of determining the strain in glass by a radiation measuring instrument is given and its adaptability if developed on a commercial basis.
Co-authorship in the academic library literature: A survey of attitudes and behaviors

A survey of co-authors in the literature of academic librarianship was conducted to get a better understanding of how and why these authors work together. Findings examine the benefits of collaboration, working relationships, the division of labor, and name order assignment on the article.
EVOLUTION OF ALGEBRAIC TERMS 1: TERM TO TERM OPERATION CONTINUITY

This study was inspired by recent successful applications of evolutionary computation to the problem of finding terms to represent arbitrarily given operations on a primal groupoid. Evolution requi...
Endovascular repair of late abdominal aortic aneurysm rupture owing to mixed-type endoleak following endovascular abdominal aortic aneurysm repair.

We report the successful endovascular repair of a ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) in a multimorbid patient 8 months after endovascular abdominal aortic aneurysm repair (EVAR). A 74-year-ol...
Host-pathogen interactions. XXXVII. Abilities of the Polygalacturonase-inhibiting proteins from four cultivars of Phaseolus vulgaris to inhibit the endopolygalacturonases from three races of Colletotrichum lindemuthianum

Abstract The ability of endo polygalacturonases isolated from three races of Colletotrichum lindemuthianum to form phytoalexin elicitor-active oligogalacturonides was studied in the absence and presence of endo polygalacturonase-inhibiting proteins (PGIPs) isolated from four varieties of Phaseolus vulgaris . Endo polygalacturonases (each 40 kDa on SDS-PAGE) from the α, β, and γ races of Colletotrichum lindemuthianum were purified by ion-exchange and fast-protein-liquid gel-permeation chromatographies. The polygalacturonases from the three races formed elicitor-active oligogalacturonides at the same rate. PGIPs (each 41 kDa) were purified from four different cultivars of Phaseolus vulgaris (cvs Great Northern, Pinto, Red Kidney, and Small Red) by affinity chromatography through a Sepharose- endo polygalacturonase column. The PGIPs from all four cvs of P. vulgaris were able to increase the lifetimes of phytoalexin elicitor-active oligogalacturonides generated by the endo polygalacturonases. We observed no significant differences in the rate and pattern of formation of elicitor-active oligogalacturonides by the three enzymes in the presence of each of the four PGIPs. Our data indicate that the interaction between endo polygalacturonases and their inhibitor proteins does not per se explain race-cultivar specificity.
Annual reversible plasticity of feeding structures: cyclical changes of jaw allometry in a sea urchin

A wide variety of organisms show morphologically plastic responses to environmental stressors but in general these changes are not reversible. Though less common, reversible morphological structures are shown by a range of species in response to changes in predators, competitors or food. Theoretical analysis indicates that reversible plasticity increases fitness if organisms are long-lived relative to the frequency of changes in the stressor and morphological changes are rapid. Many sea urchin species show differences in the sizes of jaws (demi-pyramids) of the feeding apparatus, Aristotle's lantern, relative to overall body size, and these differences have been correlated with available food. The question addressed here is whether reversible changes of relative jaw size occur in the field as available food changes with season. Monthly samples of the North American Pacific coast sea urchin Strongylocentrotus purpuratus were collected from Gregory Point on the Oregon (USA) coast and showed an annual cycle of relative jaw size together with a linear trend from 2007 to 2009. Strongylocentrotus purpuratus is a long-lived species and under field conditions individuals experience multiple episodes of changes in food resources both seasonally and from year to year. Their rapid and reversible jaw plasticity fits well with theoretical expectations.
Drug-induced rotation in rats without lesions: Behavioral and neurochemical indices of a normal asymmetry in nigro-striatal function

Normal unoperated rats were tested for rotation (i.e., circling behavior) in a spherical “rotometer” and dose-response relationships were generated using d-amphetamine, apomorphine, L-Dopa, haloperidol, and scopolamine. The rotation induced by amphetamine was significantly antagonized by alphamethyl-p-tyrosine and haloperidol, but not by diethyl-dithiocarbamate. The rotation elicited by apomorphine was unaffected by alpha-methyl-p-tyrosine. Rotation was not necessarily in the same direction with high and low doses of amphetamine, or amphetamine and apomorphine administered a week apart from each other. Dopaminergic-cholinergic interactions were evident, since pilocarpine antagonized amphetamine-induced rotation whereas scopolamine did not; scopolamine elicited rotation in the same direction as that induced by amphetamine. Left and right striatal dopamine and tel-diencephalic norepinephrine levels were determined in rats injected with various doses of amphetamine and tested for rotation. There were significant bilateral differences in striatal dopamine which were related to the direction of rotation. Since amphetamine was found to be equally distributed to the two sides of the brain, the difference in striatal dopamine appeared to be the neurochemical substrate for rotation in normal rats. These results suggest that normal rats have asymmetrical levels of striatal dopamine as well as an asymmetrical complement of striatal dopamine receptors.
Fault tolerance in artificial neural networks

Different strategies for overcoming hardware failures in artificial neural networks are presented. The failure of one or more units in the hidden layer of layered feedforward networks is especially addressed. Different types of retraining techniques are investigated, and required retraining efforts are correlated with the internal representations for specific classification tasks. Subsequently, a practical technique is introduced to achieve true fault tolerance, i.e., to have the network continue to function correctly after failure of one or more hidden units. To achieve this fault-tolerant behavior, hidden units are randomly disabled for some pattern presentations during a standard backpropagation training phase. Prolonged training in this mode can achieve fault tolerance even with respect to fault patterns for which the network is not specifically trained
Use of the ADM1 to investigate the effects of acetoclastic methanogen population dynamics on mesophilic digester stability.

The ADM1 was employed to assess the effect of variations in solids hydrolysis and acetoclastic methanogen process characterizations on municipal digester stability relating to excess acetate utilization capacity. First-order single- and dual-pathway hydrolysis rate functions and single and competitive acetoclastic methanogen rate functions were implemented in the ADM1. The acetate capacity number (ACN), defined as the ratio between the maximum acetate utilization rate and the average acetate production rate, was used to index digester instability. Simulations of a single CSTR at steady state indicate a similar ACN can be obtained with a 12-day SRT digester dominated by Methanosarcina sp and a 24-day SRT digester dominated by Methanosaeta sp . An increase in ACN with a decrease in SRT representing Methanosarcina sp . selection was observed for particulate feed loadings from 40 g COD/L to 90 g COD/L. Feeding frequency and dual-pathway hydrolysis were found to have less effect on the ACN than the competitive acetoclastic model structure.
Evidence of a polycrystalline phase in amorphous Ge films evaporated at room temperature

By studying the X-ray photoelectron spectra, a mixture of amorphous and polycrystalline phases is detected in Ge thin films prepared at about room temperature and ≈ 10−6 Torr pressure. The thin films are characterized by two distinct peaks in the valence band spectra, a very low electrical conductivity (10−3 Ω−1 cm−1) and a high Hall coefficient (3 × 10 cm3/C). The polycrystallinity of the films increased upon Ar bombardment. It is concluded that the films prepared in this investigation are thermodynamically metastable leading to amorphous to polycrystalline phase transition during preparation before becoming stable. Mit Rontgenphotoelektronenspektren wird eine Mischung von amorphen und polykristallinen Phasen in dunnen Ge-Schichten nachgewiesen, die bei etwa Raumtemperatur und ≈ 10−6 Torr Druck hergestellt wurden. Die dunnen Schichten sind durch zwei getrennte Maxima in den Valenzbandspektren, eine sehr niedrige elektrische Leitfahigkeit (10−3 Ω−1 cm−1) und einen hohen Hallkoeffizienten (3 × 103 cm3/C) charakterisiert. Der polykristalline Charakter der Filme nimmt mit Ar-Beschus zu. Es wird geschlossen, das die praparierten Schichten thermodynamisch metastabil sind und zu einem Phasenubergang amorph–polykristallin wahrend der Herstellung fuhren, bevor sie stabil werden.
For the butterflies i never chased, i grieve: Incorporating grief and loss issues in treatment with survivors of childhood sexual abuse

Abstract As treatment for survivors of childhood sexual abuse receives increased attention, the need for therapist sensitivity to related issues of grief and loss becomes important. In addition to grieving the loss of a normal, innocent childhood, adult survivors may experience emotional pain due to subsequent losses in adulthood precipitated by the consequences of abuse (i.e., difficulty in developing and maintaining healthy intimate relationships, loss of mental health). The death of one's abuser may produce a conflicted grief reaction resulting from intense feelings of anger or ambivalence, particularly in the case of incest. This report discusses the dynamics of grief and loss central to childhood sexual abuse. Assessment strategies are presented, and therapeutic interventions, including the use of ritual, creative writing, and art, are described through the use of case studies. Also termination issues and implications for clinicians working with survivors are discussed.
Adding an Extra Helping of Service when You Already Have a Full Plate: Building an Embedded Librarian Program.

The librarians at Northern Kentucky University's W. Frank Steely Library have successfully added a new embedded librarianship program to their established reference and instruction services, without the support of increased staffing. In fact, this program was established and has matured during a period of staff reductions. The decisions made in planning and implementing this new service, which allowed for a significant expansion of programming, are detailed.
Effusive flow conductance of shielded circular channels

Abstract A circular shield coaxial with the conductance channel and spaced a small distance from the channel entrance is used to establish a well defined gas density gradient inside the effusion cell. The gradient and the resultant channel conductance are calculated by previously presented methods with the additional approximation that the plane of entrance to the channel is taken to be a partial absorber and a partial diffuse reflector with the absorption coefficient being the conventional Clausing factor of the channel. Transmission coefficients are calculated for a number of reduced geometries, and a practical means of fabricating shielded conductance elements is described.
GROM-RD: resolving genomic biases to improve read depth detection of copy number variants

Amplifications or deletions of genome segments, known as copy number variants (CNVs), have been associated with many diseases. Read depth analysis of next-generation sequencing (NGS) is an essential method of detecting CNVs. However, genome read coverage is frequently distorted by various biases of NGS platforms, which reduce predictive capabilities of existing approaches. Additionally, the use of read depth tools has been somewhat hindered by imprecise breakpoint identification. We developed GROM-RD, an algorithm that analyzes multiple biases in read coverage to detect CNVs in NGS data. We found non-uniform variance across distinct GC regions after using existing GC bias correction methods and developed a novel approach to normalize such variance. Although complex and repetitive genome segments complicate CNV detection, GROM-RD adjusts for repeat bias and uses a two-pipeline masking approach to detect CNVs in complex and repetitive segments while improving sensitivity in less complicated regions. To overcome a typical weakness of RD methods, GROM-RD employs a CNV search using size-varying overlapping windows to improve breakpoint resolution. We compared our method to two widely used programs based on read depth methods, CNVnator and RDXplorer, and observed improved CNV detection and breakpoint accuracy for GROM-RD. GROM-RD is available at http://grigoriev.rutgers.edu/software/.
General deviance and psychological distress: impact of family support/bonding over 12 years from adolescence to adulthood

Comorbidity occurs within and across various domains of human pathology and may be diverse manifestations of a single, general dysfunction in early family support and bonding. Family socialisation, pseudomaturity, and self-derogation theories were tested using cross-sectional and 12-year prospective data from a community sample assessed in late adolescence (age 18) and again in adulthood (age 30). All of the hypotheses and expected findings received some support in the data analyses. these have confirmed that: (1) general deviance and psychological distress were significantly correlated for both men and women and therefore are overlapping and comorbid disorders; (2) both general distress and psychological distress were significantly predicted by family support/bonding in cross-sectional analyses for men and women; (3) family support/bonding fully accounted for the cross-sectional association between general deviance and psychological distress for men and substantially reduced the association between these constructs for the women; (4) over time family support/bonding reduced psychological distress for the women and general deviance for the men; (5) both theories of pseudomaturity and self-derogation explained many of the prospective effects from late adolescence into adulthood; (6) sexual involvement, although an indicator of general deviance, related negatively with indicators of psychological distress; (7) different patterns were evident for the developmental periods of adolescence compared with adulthood; and (8) many of the processes differed by sex. Copyright © 1997 Whurr Publishers Ltd.
Case Development in Educational Administration

In the past case studies have been viewed principally as instructional tools for developing particular skills. Consequently the cases have been limited to the “issue” and “descriptive” variety. In the future considerable attention should be given to the case study as a research tool. In this regard, “substantive” cases dealing with social science concepts or advanced field practices represent a fruitful area for case development. Cases of all types will need to have immediate relevance to the current problems of practitioners, to cover a wide range of problems, roles, organizational types and environments and to seek to advance knowledge in a systematic way. There is a need for the classification of available cases and for preparation of many more cases, especially of the substantive type, perhaps by graduate students in the universities.
Petite Induction in Yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, by Phenanthridinium Compounds : Promotive Effects of Propidium Iodide on Mutagenesis by Ethidium Bromide or 8-Deaminoethidium Chloride

Promotive effects of propidum iodide (PI) on petite induction by 8-deaminoethidium chloride (8-DAEC) were examined. 8-DAEC was a potent petite inducer in growing yeast cells but not in resting yeast cells. Addition of PI promoted the petite induction by 8-DAEC throughout the cultivation time at a concentration that was ineffective by itself. In resting cells, petites were scarcely induced by either 8-DAEC or PI or both, even after prolonged incubation. Notable sectored colony induction was observed after prolonged incubation of the yeast cells with either 8-DAEC or PI in phosphate·buffer. The petite induction by ethidium bromide (EB) was not accelerated but was delayed in PI-pretreated cells, whereas the simultaneous presence of PI promoted the EB mutagenesis.These results suggested that the simultaneous presence of PI and petite inducer in growth medium was required in order to exhibit the promotive effects. Possible mechanisms of the differences in the process of petite induction between resting and growing cells are discussed.
Quantum optics: Correlations on a chip

Researchers have developed a semiconductor structure capable of supporting quantum correlations between photons and strong single-photon nonlinearities, thus paving the way for the development of chip-based devices for quantum secure communications and quantum information processing.
Inversion‐recovery‐prepared dixon bSSFP: Initial clinical experience with a novel pulse sequence for renal MRA within a breathhold

Purpose To evaluate the capability of a new breath-hold non-contrast-enhanced MRA method (Non-contrast Outer Radial Inner Square k-space Scheme, NORISKS) to visualize renal arteries by comparing the method with a routine clinical but significantly longer non-contrast-enhanced (non-CE) MRA technique.
Optimizations on the Parallel Virtual File System implementation integrated with Object-Based Storage Devices

Object-Based Storage Devices (OSDs) offer an object-based data layout instead of using the traditional block-based design. Object storage ideas are increasingly being used in parallel file systems and cloud storage. Previous work has implemented the Parallel Virtual File System (PVFS) on OSDs by moving the metadata and data operations to the OSDs. In this paper, we present two new methods to further improve the performance of the existing PVFS-OSD implementation. These methods are using object collections to represent traditional directories on OSDs and delaying the creation of an OSD object until it is accessed by a write operation. The optimization methods are not particular to PVFS-OSD implementation and could be used with other parallel file systems-object storage implementations too. Experimental evaluations show that using collections yields up to 29 times of improvement in throughput; whereas delaying the creation of OSD objects provides 25% throughput improvement.
Zinc elevates neuropeptide Y levels in rat pheochromocytoma cells by a mechanism independent of L-channel mediated inhibition of release.

Abstract Both zinc and neuropeptide Y (NPY) have been implicated as playing a role in seizures and feeding behavior. We investigated the hypothesis that zinc could regulate levels of NPY, and found that chronic exposure to 50–100 μM zinc increased levels of cellular NPY in cultured PC12 cells grown in the presence of nerve growth factor. Zinc’s effect on NPY was specific, time- and concentration-dependent, and independent of inhibition of NPY release secondary to blockade of dihydropyridine-sensitive calcium channels. These results are consistent with a role for zinc in regulating hippocampal NPY following high-frequency neuronal activity.
Estimating grassland biomass and leaf area index using ground and satellite data

Abstract We compared estimates of regional biomass and LAI for a tallgrass prairie site derived from ground data versus estimates derived from satellite data. Linear regression models were estimated to predict LAI and biomass from Landsat-TM data for imagery acquired on three dates spanning the growing season of 1987 using co-registered TM data and ground measurements of LAl and biomass collected at 27 grassland sites. Mapped terrain variables including burning treatment, land-use, and topographic position were included as indicator variables in the models to acccount for variance in biomass and LAI not captured in the TM data. Our results show important differences in the relationships between Kauth-Thomas greenness (from TM), LAI, biomass and the various terrain variables. In general, site-wide estimates of biomass and LAI derived from ground versus satellite-based data were comparable. However, substantial differences were observed in June. In a number of cases, the regression models exhibited signific...
Vibrational frequencies and structural determination of methoxygermane

Abstract The vibrational frequencies and corresponding normal mode assignments of methoxygermane (CH3OGeH3) are examined theoretically using the gaussian 98 set of quantum chemistry codes. All normal modes were successfully assigned to one of 11 types of motion predicted by a group theoretical analysis (C–H stretch, Ge–H stretch, C–O stretch, Ge–O stretch, H–C–H bend, H–Ge–H bend, Ge–O–C bend, CH3 rock, CH3 twist, GeH3 rock, and GeH3 twist). Theoretical infrared and Raman intensities are reported. The molecular orbitals and bonding of methoxygermane are examined.
Stability of product limited continuous culture systems

An investigation was made of the stability of product limited continuous cultures of Saccharomyces carlsbergensis and Pseudomonas ovalis. No oscillations were found in pH or glucose concentration during the steady state, and no overshoot resulted from changing from one steady state to another.
How international exchange, technology, and institutions affect workers : an introduction

In a world of deepening trade links, rapid technological change, and weakening institutions, workers in rich and poor countries alike are concerned about their incomes and the security of their work. In contrast to the substantial quantity of analysis on industrial countries, relatively little careful work has been done on these issues in developing countries, especially in the context of the recent globalization of economic relations. Empirical work suggests that disequalizing trends in some developing countries may have been caused by the entry of low-income countries such as China into world production or by the greater quality and technological requirements of contemporary trade in goods. Whatever the source, these results raise questions about the viability of institutional mechanisms for supporting the income security and working conditions of workers. Many labor market regulations are already ineffective owing to weak enforcement capabilities. However, in most developing countries, there will be a rising fraction of workers in formal labor contracts, rising demands for formal mechanisms for dealing with income insecurity, and a potentially larger role for unions in an important segment of the workforce. Thus, it is of increasing importance to set the policy and institutional framework in a fashion that is both consistent with competitive pressures and supportive of workers' participation and security.
RNA enzyme-directed gene therapy

ticular sequence in the target RNA to be cleaved in cells in tissue culture is designated as the substrate for the enzyme, which is custom designed to form the appropriate complex with the substrate. The sequence encoding the enzyme is delivered to the cells on a plasmid and is
Large-scale electromagnetic modelings based on high-order methods: Nanoscience applications

This paper presents large-scale computations and theoretical or computational aspects of the spectral element methods for solving Maxwell's equations that have potential applications in nanoscience for surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) and solar cell devices. We study the surface-enhanced electromagnetic fields near the surface of metallic nanoparticles using spectral element discontinuous Galerkin method. We solve Maxwell's equations in time-domain and provide accuracy and efficiency of our method compared to the conventional finite difference method. We demonstrate light transmission properties for nanoslab and nanoslits, and time-averaged electric fields over the cross sections of nanoholes in a hexagonal array.
Coronary artery involvement in pediatric Takayasu’s arteritis: Case report and literature review

Takayasu’s arteritis (TA) is a form of chronic vasculitis that typically occurs in young adult Asian females, but it can also present in younger patients not fitting this classic profile. In these cases, the sequelae are generally similar to those found in adults. The disease predominantly affects the aorta and its primary branches. However, the coronary arteries are also affected in up to 20% of cases, which may precipitate myocardial infarction. Imaging of the coronary arteries therefore becomes critically important in the evaluation of a patient with possible Takayasu’s arteritis. We present a case of a pediatric patient with TA who had no symptoms of angina but who was found to have significant coronary artery involvement on diagnostic imaging. This necessitated tailoring of traditional management.
Differential flatness based control of a rotorcraft for aggressive maneuvers

We propose a new method to control a multi-rotor aerial vehicle. We show that the system dynamics are differentially flat. We utilize the differential flatness of the system to provide a feed forward input. The system model derived allows for arbitrary changes in yaw and is not limited to small roll and pitch angles. We demonstrate in hardware the ability to follow a highly maneuverable path while tracking a time-varying heading command.
Constructing and Implementing Motion Programs for Robotic Marionettes

This technical note investigates how to produce control programs for complex systems in a systematic manner. In particular, we present an abstraction-based approach to the specification and optimization of motion programs for controlling robot marionettes. The resulting programs are based on the concatenation of motion primitives and are further improved upon using recent results in optimal switch-time control. Simulations as well as experimental results illustrate the operation of the proposed method.
Comparison of clinically nonpalpable prostate-specific antigen-detected (cT1c) versus palpable (cT2) prostate cancers in patients undergoing radical retropubic prostatectomy

Objectives. Serum prostate-specific antigen (PSA) testing has led to increased detection of clinically localized prostate cancer. We analyzed the clinical characteristics and outcome of digitally palpable (cT2) and PSA detected (cT1c) prostate cancers. Methods. We evaluated 4453 patients with clinically localized prostate cancer who underwent radical retropubic prostatectomy (RRP) between 1987 and 1995 at the Mayo Clinic. Overall, 1041 (23.4%), 1076 (24.2%), and 2336 (52.5%) patients had cT1c, cT2a, and cT2b/c disease, respectively. Patients were analyzed with regard to Gleason score, preoperative PSA, pathologic stage, deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) ploidy, margin status, tumor volume, and adjuvant treatment. Survival outcomes at 5 and 7 years were estimated using the Kaplan-Meier method with respect to the end points of systemic/local clinical progression and clinical and/or PSA progression (greater than 0.2 μg/mL). Multivariate analysis was employed to estimate the relative risk of progression associated with each clinical stage when adjusted for the above factors. Results. Clinical T1c tumors were more likely to be organ confined (76% versus 54%), have a Gleason score less than 7 (75% versus 61%), and be diploid (80% versus 70%) than cT2b/c tumors (P <0.001). Clinical T1c disease closely resembled cT2b/c disease with respect to preoperative PSA. Considering pathologic stage, DNA ploidy, and tumor volume, cT1c tumors were comparable to cT2a lesions. Of the patients with T1c cancers, 96.2% had clinically significant cancer on the basis of pathologic grade and tumor volume. The 5 (and 7 year) systemic/local clinical progression-free and PSA progression-free survivals for cT1c tumors were 97.7 ± 0.7% (96.4 ± 1.1%) and 82.2 ± 1.7% (72.9 ± 3.8%), respectively. There was a significant survival advantage at 5 and 7 years regarding both end points for cT1c and cT2a compared with cT2b/c tumors (P <0.001). Multivariate analysis revealed a continued benefit in PSA and systemic/local clinical progression for cT1c tumors compared with cT2b/c tumors adjusting for the above factors. Conclusions. Clinical T1c tumors are clinically significant cancers. When compared with digitally palpable tumors, progression-free survival rates for cT1c tumors are similar to cT2a lesions, but are significantly better than cT2b/c lesions. This supports continued use of serum PSA to detect potentially curable prostate cancer.
Identification of Human Parainfluenza Virus Type 2 (HPIV-2) V Protein Amino Acid Residues That Reduce Binding of V to MDA5 and Attenuate HPIV-2 Replication in Nonhuman Primates

Human parainfluenza virus type 2 (HPIV-2), an important pediatric respiratory pathogen, encodes a V protein that inhibits type I interferon (IFN) induction and signaling. Using reverse genetics, we attempted the recovery of a panel of V mutant viruses that individually contained one of six cysteine-to-serine (residues 193, 197, 209, 211, 214, and 218) substitutions, one of two paired charge-to-alanine (R175A/R176A and R205A/K206A) substitutions, or a histidine-to-phenylalanine (H174F) substitution. This mutagenesis was performed using a cDNA-derived HPIV-2 virus that expressed the V and P coding sequences from separate mRNAs. Of the cysteine substitutions, only C193S, C214S, and C218S yielded viable virus, and only the C214S mutant replicated well enough for further analysis. The H174F, R175A/R176A, and R205A/K206A mutants were viable and replicated well. The H174F and R205A/K206A mutants did not differ from the wild-type (WT) V in their ability to physically interact with MDA5, a cytoplasmic sensor of nonself RNA that induces type I IFN. Like WT HPIV-2, these mutants inhibited IFN-β induction and replicated efficiently in African green monkeys (AGMs). In contrast, the C214S and R175A/R176A mutants did not bind MDA5 efficiently, did not inhibit interferon regulatory factor 3 (IRF3) dimerization or IFN-β induction, and were attenuated in AGMs. These findings indicate that V binding to MDA5 is important for HPIV-2 virulence in nonhuman primates and that some V protein residues involved in MDA5 binding are not essential for efficient HPIV-2 growth in vitro. Using a transient expression system, 20 additional mutant V proteins were screened for MDA5 binding, and the region spanning residues 175 to 180 was found to be essential for this activity.
Tracing turbidity current deposits down the slope of an Alpine Basin

ABSTRACT Black pelagic limestones were deposited in the sedimentation basin of the Nappe de Morcles (High Calcareous Alps) during the Upper Jurassic. This deep-water sequence, which generally reaches 100-150 meters in thickness, was interrupted at least nine times by coarse-grained clastic beds laid down by turbidity currents. The main constituents of these clastic beds are broken or intact reef-organisms, oolites, and clastic minerals, displaying well-characterized graded-bedding. This foreign material originated in the northern margin of the basin along which fringing reefs were growing. As these clastic beds are traced out to sea, as indicated by the regional paleogeography, they disappear one by one; moreover, peculiar topographic conditions allow the study of the textural modifications of a given bed at least 40 kilometers down the basin slope, along the inferred main direction of flow of the turbidity currents. Particularly interesting is the behavior of the apparent maximum diameter of a given clastic component (index of clasticity) measured at the bottom of the bed, since it may reveal the horizontal grading along the direction of flow. The variations of clasticity along the inferred direction of flow of turbidity currents are in general agreement with the experimental data as well as with the mechanics admitted for this peculiar type of sedimentation. However, further studies are required to ascertain their possible use in correlation.
Robust optimization based backtrace method for analog circuits

In this paper, we propose a new robust approach to signal backtrace for efficiently testing embedded analog modules in a large system. The proposed signal backtrace method is formulated as a solution to a multi-point boundary value problem (BVP), with constraints on the output state and the input. This error constraint minimizes large spurious deviations in the input signal and the corvergence problems that arise if multiple solutions exist or if the desired signal does not exist in the feasible signal space. As an additional attractive advantage, this formulation preserves the core iteration structure of a SPICE-like simulator without modifications, greatly easing implementation.
REDHORSE-REcombination and Double crossover detection in Haploid Organisms using next-geneRation SEquencing data

Next-generation sequencing technology provides a means to study genetic exchange at a higher resolution than was possible using earlier technologies. However, this improvement presents challenges as the alignments of next generation sequence data to a reference genome cannot be directly used as input to existing detection algorithms, which instead typically use multiple sequence alignments as input. We therefore designed a software suite called REDHORSE that uses genomic alignments, extracts genetic markers, and generates multiple sequence alignments that can be used as input to existing recombination detection algorithms. In addition, REDHORSE implements a custom recombination detection algorithm that makes use of sequence information and genomic positions to accurately detect crossovers. REDHORSE is a portable and platform independent suite that provides efficient analysis of genetic crosses based on Next-generation sequencing data. We demonstrated the utility of REDHORSE using simulated data and real Next-generation sequencing data. The simulated dataset mimicked recombination between two known haploid parental strains and allowed comparison of detected break points against known true break points to assess performance of recombination detection algorithms. A newly generated NGS dataset from a genetic cross of Toxoplasma gondii allowed us to demonstrate our pipeline. REDHORSE successfully extracted the relevant genetic markers and was able to transform the read alignments from NGS to the genome to generate multiple sequence alignments. Recombination detection algorithm in REDHORSE was able to detect conventional crossovers and double crossovers typically associated with gene conversions whilst filtering out artifacts that might have been introduced during sequencing or alignment. REDHORSE outperformed other commonly used recombination detection algorithms in finding conventional crossovers. In addition, REDHORSE was the only algorithm that was able to detect double crossovers. REDHORSE is an efficient analytical pipeline that serves as a bridge between genomic alignments and existing recombination detection algorithms. Moreover, REDHORSE is equipped with a recombination detection algorithm specifically designed for Next-generation sequencing data. REDHORSE is portable, platform independent Java based utility that provides efficient analysis of genetic crosses based on Next-generation sequencing data. REDHORSE is available at http://redhorse.sourceforge.net/ .
Circular LPC modeling and constant pitch transform for accurate speech analysis and high quality speech synthesis

In this paper, Circular LPC analysis, a windowless signal modeling method for periodic signals, is re-visited as a high-resolution pitch-synchronous speech spectrum analysis tool. In addition, the Constant Pitch Transform is introduced as an alternative residual signal representation, suitable for speech coding and text-to-speech synthesis applications. Since circular LPC analysis requires exact periodicity, the original narrowband or wideband signal is upsampled to account for fractional pitch periods at original sampling rate. Hence, both methods are formulated to work on the higher sampling rates. The analysis and synthesis using individual pitch cycles are explained in detail. Furthermore, three unique circular LPC synthesis methods are presented to address the problem of initial rest. The results of preliminary experiments show that it is possible to synthesize artifact free speech using the proposed method.
Release of mercury from broken fluorescent bulbs.

Abstract Mercury is a persistent, bioaccumulative toxin. Although the primary human exposure is from ingestion of fish contaminated with methyl mercury (HgCH3 ), exposures to elemental mercury vapor and mercury compounds via inhalation and dermal contact may also occur. Fluorescent bulbs contain mercury. Estimates of the amount of this mercury released when the bulbs are discarded and broken have varied widely. A new method was developed for measuring mercury released from broken bulbs. With the assumption that all mercury released is elemental vapor, it was found that between 17 and 40% of the mercury in broken low-mercury fluorescent bulbs is released to the air during a two-week period immediately following breakage, with higher temperatures contributing to higher release rates. One-third of the mercury release occurs during the first 8 hr after breakage. Many bulbs contain more mercury than the low-mercury bulbs tested. A typical discarded bulb releases between 3 and 8 mg of elemental mercury vapor ov...
The Combined Effects of the Physical Environment and Employee Behavior on Customer Perception of Restaurant Service Quality

Dining in a table-service restaurant is a multilayered experience that involves at least three types of clues. Although food quality is basic, the ambience and service performance greatly influence a customer’s evaluation of a particular establishment. Diners use the following types of clues to judge a restaurant experience: functional—the technical quality of the food and service; mechanic—the ambience and other design and technical elements; and humanic—the performance, behavior, and appearance of the employees. While customers’ perceptions of mechanic clues are positively related to their expectations of the service, humanic clues dominate the influence of mechanic clues. Ideally, managers should orchestrate both humanic and mechanic clues to deliver a consistent service message.