cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Insight into the binding mode for cyclopentapeptide antagonists of the CXCR4 receptor.

The finding that the chemokine receptor CXCR4 is involved in T-cell HIV entry has encouraged the development of antiretroviral drugs targeting this receptor. Additional evidence that CXCR4 plays a crucial role in both angiogenesis and metastasis provides further motivation for the development of a CXCR4 inhibitor for therapeutic applications in oncology. To facilitate the design of such ligands, we have investigated the possible binding modes for cyclopentapeptide CXCR4 antagonists by docking 11 high/medium affinity cyclopentapeptides to a developed three-dimensional model of the CXCR4 G-protein-coupled receptor's transmembrane region. These ligands, expected to bind in the same mode to the receptor, were docked in the previously deduced receptor-bound conformation [Vabenoet al., in press; doi 10.1002/bip.20508]. Ligand-receptor complexes were generated using an automated docking procedure that allowed ligand flexibility. By comparing the resulting ligand poses, only two binding modes common for all 11 compounds were identified. Inspection of these two ligand-receptor complexes identified several CXCR4 contact residues shown by mutation to be interaction sites for ligands and important for HIV gp120 binding. Thus, the results provide further insight into the mechanism by which these cyclopentapeptides block HIV entry as well as a basis for rational design of CXCR4 mutants to map potential contacts with small peptide ligands.
A Frailty Model for Informative Censoring

To account for the correlation between failure and censoring, we propose a new frailty model for clustered data. In this model, the risk to be censored is affected by the risk of failure. This model allows flexibility in the direction and degree of dependence between failure and censoring. It includes the traditional frailty model as a special case. It allows censoring by some causes to be analyzed as informative while treating censoring by other causes as noninformative. It can also analyze data for competing risks. To fit the model, the EM algorithm is used with Markov chain Monte Carlo simulations in the E-steps. Simulation studies and analysis of data for kidney disease patients are provided. Consequences of incorrectly assuming noninformative censoring are investigated.
Large Pt anomaly in the Greenland ice core points to a cataclysm at the onset of Younger Dryas.

One explanation of the abrupt cooling episode known as the Younger Dryas (YD) is a cosmic impact or airburst at the YD boundary (YDB) that triggered cooling and resulted in other calamities, including the disappearance of the Clovis culture and the extinction of many large mammal species. We tested the YDB impact hypothesis by analyzing ice samples from the Greenland Ice Sheet Project 2 (GISP2) ice core across the Bolling-Allerod/YD boundary for major and trace elements. We found a large Pt anomaly at the YDB, not accompanied by a prominent Ir anomaly, with the Pt/Ir ratios at the Pt peak exceeding those in known terrestrial and extraterrestrial materials. Whereas the highly fractionated Pt/Ir ratio rules out mantle or chondritic sources of the Pt anomaly, it does not allow positive identification of the source. Circumstantial evidence such as very high, superchondritic Pt/Al ratios associated with the Pt anomaly and its timing, different from other major events recorded on the GISP2 ice core such as well-understood sulfate spikes caused by volcanic activity and the ammonium and nitrate spike due to the biomass destruction, hints for an extraterrestrial source of Pt. Such a source could have been a highly differentiated object like an Ir-poor iron meteorite that is unlikely to result in an airburst or trigger wide wildfires proposed by the YDB impact hypothesis.
On a time-dependent bio-reactor model with chemotaxis

Long time dynamics of solutions to a strongly coupled system of parabolic equations modeling the competition in bio-reactors with chemotaxis will be studied. If the parameters of the system are periodic, sufficient conditions for positive periodic solutions will be derived in terms of parabolic eigenvalue problems.
Gangs and gang activity in a non-metropolitan community: The perceptions of students, teachers, and police officers

This study was conducted in a small community in the south which was identified by its police force as having a sizable gang population. Individuals from 3 groups within the community who have frequent, direct contact with gang members participated in the study. Participants completed questionnaires designed to measure their general perceptions of the gangs, the actors associated with gang development, and the community’s response to the gang presence. The results showed striking perceptual differences between the groups, as well as a number of similarities.
Short wavelength bottom-emitting vertical cavity lasers fabricated using wafer bonding

Selectively oxidised 850 nm vertical cavity surface emitting laser diodes which emit through transparent n-type GaP and AlGaAs substrates are reported. The short wavelength bottom-emitting lasers are fabricated using a low temperature inert gas wafer fusion process. Compared to top-emitting lasers, the bottom-emitting lasers bonded to n-type AlGaAs substrates show comparable electrical characteristics, while lasers bonded to n-type GaP substrates exhibit higher series resistance and voltage.
Thermodynamic and Transport Properties of Superconducting Mg 10 B 2

Transport and thermodynamic properties of a sintered pellet of the newly discovered ${\mathrm{MgB}}_{2}$ superconductor have been measured to determine the characteristic critical magnetic fields and critical current densities. Both resistive transition and magnetization data give similar values of the upper critical field, ${H}_{c2}$, with magnetization data giving ${\mathrm{dH}}_{c2}/dT\phantom{\rule{0ex}{0ex}}=\phantom{\rule{0ex}{0ex}}0.44\mathrm{T}/\mathrm{K}$ at the transition temperature of ${T}_{c}\phantom{\rule{0ex}{0ex}}=\phantom{\rule{0ex}{0ex}}40.2\mathrm{K}$. Close to the transition temperature, magnetization curves are thermodynamically reversible, but at low temperatures the trapped flux can be on the order of 1 T. The value of ${\mathrm{dH}}_{c}/\mathrm{dT}$ at ${T}_{c}$ is estimated to be about $12\mathrm{mT}/\mathrm{K}$, a value similar to classical superconductors like Sn. Hence, the Ginzburg-Landau parameter $\ensuremath{\kappa}\ensuremath{\sim}26$. Estimates of the critical supercurrent density, ${J}_{c}$, using hysteresis loops and the Bean model, give critical current densities on the order of ${10}^{5}\mathrm{A}/{\mathrm{cm}}^{2}$. Hence the supercurrent coupling through the grain boundaries is comparable to intermetallics like ${\mathrm{Nb}}_{3}\mathrm{Sn}$.
Ecologically defining the mistreatment of adolescents.

Abstract Ecologically defined, the problem of adolescent/family conflict for otherwise “normal” families is a reaction to crisis in the life cycle of the family. A family's success in weathering the crisis is indicated by their successful maturation to the next stage of the cycle; we can assume that in such cases the ratio of stress to coping ability was such that the family could integrate that stress. When conflict escalates to abuse and neglect, however, the indication is that stress has outstripped coping ability, and the implication is for stress-reducing intervention quite unlike the standard existing interventions in either the juvenile justice or child welfare systems, which negatively label family members, make them adversaries, fragment their coping capabilities, and even subject them at times to situations worse than those for which they needed help originally. The interventions called for are those that support beleaguered families; that are based on conceptualizations of people as adaptable and capable of solving their own problems if they are given adequate supports.
Two-stage Reimplantation for Treating Prosthetic Shoulder Infections

Background Two-stage reimplantation for prosthetic joint infection reportedly has the lowest risk for recurrent infection. Most studies to date have evaluated revision surgery for infection using an anatomic prosthetic. As compared with anatomic prostheses, reverse total shoulder arthroplasty is reported to have a higher rate of infection.
ADENYLATE KINASE ACTIVITY IN THE KIDNEY OF DEVELOPING GUINEA PIG

Experiments performed in our laboratories have revealed that the equilibrium constant, an expression of the relationship between the rate of synthesis and catabolism of ATP, is significantly higher in the newborn than in the adult. This could be due either to a higher turnover rate or to a rate limiting step in the generation of ATP. In order to test the latter alternative, we performed measurements of adenylate kinase, the enzyme which catalyses the phosphorylation of ADP to ATP. The measurements were done on kidneys obtained from guinea pigs (4-7 days and 6-8 weeks of age). Tissue extract was obtained by homogenizing the kidney and centrifuging it at 100,000 x g. The supernate was used for the enzyme assay. Activity was measured spectrophotometrically by coupling ADP with glucose, hexokinase, glucose-6-phosphate-dehydrogenase and NADP and monitoring formation of NADPH at 340 mu. The results (mean±SE) are expressed in umoles ATP formed/min (unit) per mg protein. The results demonstrate that the amount of adenylate kinase per mg of protein is similar in the newborn and the adult guinea pig. Thus, the higher equilibrium constant observed in the kidney of the newborn should reflect a higher turnover rate of the adenine nucleotides.
Primary bone cancer incidence in black and white residents of New York state

Some descriptive epidemiologic characteristics of primary bone cancers were presented for black and white residents of New York State (1975-1980) using data from the population-based New York State Cancer Registry. Average annual race- and age-specific incidence rates were calculated for 1975 to 1980 for three histologic types (i.e., osteosarcoma, Ewing's sarcoma, and chondrosarcoma). The significantly lower incidence of Ewing's sarcoma in blacks versus whites was confirmed, whereas lower rates for chondrosarcoma in blacks supported findings from the Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) Program. A higher rate of osteosarcoma in blacks versus whites in the less than 15-year age group, although not statistically significant, was consistent with findings from another population-based registry in the US. This difference was due to osteosarcoma of the leg, and could be related to racial differences in growth rates during childhood. Comparisons with data from Africa suggest certain similarities in patterns as well as some possible differences, which could provide general clues to etiology (i.e., genetic versus environmental factors).
Crossover Heterogeneity in the Absence of Hotspots in Caenorhabditis elegans

Crossovers play mechanical roles in meiotic chromosome segregation, generate genetic diversity by producing new allelic combinations, and facilitate evolution by decoupling linked alleles. In almost every species studied to date, crossover distributions are dramatically nonuniform, differing among sexes and across genomes, with spatial variation in crossover rates on scales from whole chromosomes to subkilobase hotspots. To understand the regulatory forces dictating these heterogeneous distributions a crucial first step is the fine-scale characterization of crossover distributions. Here we define the wild-type distribution of crossovers along a region of the C. elegans chromosome II at unprecedented resolution, using recombinant chromosomes of 243 hermaphrodites and 226 males. We find that well-characterized large-scale domains, with little fine-scale rate heterogeneity, dominate this region’s crossover landscape. Using the Gini coefficient as a summary statistic, we find that this region of the C. elegans genome has the least heterogeneous fine-scale crossover distribution yet observed among model organisms, and we show by simulation that the data are incompatible with a mammalian-type hotspot-rich landscape. The large-scale structural domains—the low-recombination center and the high-recombination arm—have a discrete boundary that we localize to a small region. This boundary coincides with the arm-center boundary defined both by nuclear-envelope attachment of DNA in somatic cells and GC content, consistent with proposals that these features of chromosome organization may be mechanical causes and evolutionary consequences of crossover recombination.
Relation of Status Incongruence to Personal Space

The relation of status incongruence to personal space was investigated. Status incongruence was defined by age differences between the subject and a variety of targets, and personal space was defined as the magnitude of interpersonal distance a subject maintained between himself/herself and a target of a given age. Status incongruence was found to influence the amount of personal space in two experiments (n = 30 and n = 96). This relation of status incongruence to personal space was not found to vary with subject gender.
Preventing recursion deadlock in concurrent object-oriented systems

This paper presents solutions to the problem of deadlock due to recursion in concurrent object-oriented programming languages. Two language-independent, system-level mechanisms are proposed: a novel technique using multi-ported objects, and a named-threads scheme that borrows from previous work in distributed computing. The authors compare the solutions, and present an analysis of their relative merits. >
The seismicity, seismotectonics and earthquake hazards of Libya, with detailed analysis of the 1935 April 19, M = 7.1 earthquake sequence

SUMMARY We have investigated the seismicity of Libya in order to understand better the earthquake hazards, the tectonics of the region, and the present-day evolution of the Sirt basin. We first relocated all events occurring between 1931 and 1988 using a bootstrap location technique. We then determined focal mechanisms from firstmotion data. Finally, we used waveform modelling techniques to determine source parameters for the 1935 main shock and its two largest aftershocks. Relocation of the 1930s’ events are in some cases significantly different from those given by the International Seismological Summary (ISS). The first-motion results suggest a combination of strike-slip and normal faulting for the 1935 and 1939 sequences. The waveform modelling results of the 1935 mainshock suggest a strike-slip mechanism with one fault plane similar to the strike of the eastern edge of the Hun Graben. About 5 hr after the mainshock, an aftershock (mb = 6.0) occurred about 40 km to the south, which was followed about 9 hr later by another aftershock (mb = 6.4) in the same area. Waveform modelling results for this earthquake sequence suggest focal depths ranged from 15-21km, with rupture lengths of 14-16 km. An average displacement of 1.8 m is estimated for the mainshock, but no surface rupture has been noted for the event. In the vicinity of the Hun Graben area, the number of large earthquakes that have been reported through history is an indication that the area is seismically active. Most of the activity appears to be concentrated along the eastern margin of the NW-SE trending Hun Graben. The focal mechanisms suggest that the maximum compressive stress in northwestern Libya is oriented WNW. In the north-eastern part of the country, the stress direction changes to a more NE-SW orientation, as evidenced by the 1963 February 21 Al-Marj and the 1967 Al-Jabal Al-Akhdar mainshocks.
Immunotherapy of Neuromyelitis Optica

Neuromyelitis optica (NMO) is a chronic inflammatory disease of the central nervous system that affects the optic nerves and spinal cord resulting in visual impairment and myelopathy. There is a growing body of evidence that immunotherapeutic agents targeting T and B cell functions, as well as active elimination of proinflammatory molecules from the peripheral blood circulation, can attenuate disease progression. In this review, we discuss the immunotherapeutic options and the treatment strategies in NMO. We also analyze the pathogenic mechanisms of the disease in order to provide recommendations regarding treatments.
Citizenship in a communitarian perspective

This article argues that a good citizen accepts several basic responsibilities toward the common good of the nation, but is otherwise free to follow his or her own preferences. Thus all citizens may be called upon to serve in the armed forces or national service, be expected to vote and to serve on juries and obey the laws while having the freedom to worship as they wish, maintain secondary loyalty to their country of origin, and so on.
Picosecond Dynamics of Silver Nanoclusters. Photoejection of Electrons and Fragmentation

Silver colloids of particle diameter 40−60 nm have been synthesized using a chemical reduction method in aqueous medium. These nanoclusters are photoactive and exhibit transient bleaching in the 400−500 nm region followed by a strong absorption in the visible−near-infrared region when subjected to 355 nm laser-pulse excitation. The transient bleaching of the surface plasmon absorption band is a monophotonic process, while the absorption growth in the red region is a biphotonic process arising from the photoejection of electrons. The 40−60 nm clusters were observed to break up into smaller clusters (5−20 nm) with 355 nm laser-pulse excitation. The choice of excitation wavelength provides the size selectivity in the fragmentation of the clusters. For example, when the excitation wavelength was switched to 532 nm, only larger (or irregularly shaped) particles were found to break up.
Avoiding Interruptions — A QoE Reliability Function for Streaming Media Applications

We take an analytical approach to study fundamental rate-delay-reliability trade-offs in the context of media streaming. We consider the probability of interruption in media playback (buffer underflow) as well as the number of initially buffered packets (initial waiting time) as the Quality of user Experience (QoE) metrics. We characterize the optimal trade-off between these metrics as a function of system parameters such as the packet arrival rate and file size, for different channel models. In the first model, we assume packets arrive according to independent Poisson processes from multiple servers or peers. We use random linear network coding to simplify the packet requests at the network layer and avoid duplicate packet reception. This allows us to model the receiver's buffer as a queue with Poisson arrivals and deterministic departures. For this model, we show that for arrival rates slightly larger than the play rate, the minimum initial buffering required to achieve certain level of interruption probability remains bounded as the file size grows. This is not the case when the arrival rate and the play rate match. In the second model, we consider channels with memory, which can be modeled using Markovian arrival processes. We characterize the optimal trade-off curves for the infinite file size case, in such Markovian environments.
Myocardial fibrosis of left ventricle: Magnetic resonance imaging in noncompaction

This report describes a 24-year-old female with left ventricular noncompaction. Cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) imaging demonstrated the characteristic features of noncompaction. We were also able to noninvasively document the presence and extent of myocardial fibrosis depicted on myocardial delayed enhancement (MDE). Magnetic resonance imaging can be performed simply and give much information about the morphologic and tissue characteristics of left ventricular wall in noncompaction. In particular, MDE imaging is useful to demonstrate the associated myocardial scaring that may result in heart failure and arrhythmia. J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2008. © 2008 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
Competing Approaches to Predicting Supreme Court Decision Making

Political scientists and legal academics have long scrutinized the U.S. Supreme Court's work to understand what motivates the justices. Despite significant differences in methodology, both disciplines seek to explain the Court's decisions by focusing on examining past cases. This retrospective orientation is surprising. In other areas of government, for example, presidential elections and congressional decision making, political scientists engage in systematic efforts to predict outcomes, yet few have done this for court decisions. Legal academics, too, possess expertise that should enable them to forecast legal events with some accuracy. After all, the everyday practice of law requires lawyers to predict court decisions in order to advise clients or determine litigation strategies.The authors thank Michael Cherba, Nancy Cummings, David Dailey, Alison Garvey, Nick Hershman, and Robin Rimmer for their assistance. Their project is supported in part by National Science Foundation grants SES-0135855 and SES 0136679. The foundation bears no responsibility for the results or conclusions.
Building Democracy: An Examination of Religious Associations in South Africa and Zimbabwe

This paper explores the dynamics of regime change in South Africa and Zimbabwe through an examination of civil society's role, but more particularly mainline Christian religious associations, in democratising and consolidating democracy. After surveying state–civil society debates, an analysis of the nature and purpose of civil society in these two countries is undertaken. In both countries, a vibrant, diverse civil society exists that builds or strengthens democratic possibilities; however, Zimbabwean civil society is weaker for reasons that include regime type, the particularities of the liberation struggle, and constitutional limitations. The paper concludes with prescriptions for strengthening civil society in South Africa based on lessons learned from Zimbabwe.
Normalized amplitude modulation features for large vocabulary noise-robust speech recognition

Background noise and channel degradations seriously constrain the performance of state-of-the-art speech recognition systems. Studies comparing human speech recognition performance with automatic speech recognition systems indicate that the human auditory system is highly robust against background noise and channel variabilities compared to automated systems. A traditional way to add robustness to a speech recognition system is to construct a robust feature set for the speech recognition model. In this work, we present an amplitude modulation feature derived from Teager's nonlinear energy operator that is power normalized and cosine transformed to produce normalized modulation cepstral coefficient (NMCC) features. The proposed NMCC features are compared with respect to state-of-the-art noise-robust features in Aurora-2 and a renoised Wall Street Journal (WSJ) corpus. The WSJ word-recognition experiments were performed on both a clean and artificially renoised WSJ corpus using SRI's DECIPHER large vocabulary speech recognition system. The experiments were performed under three train-test conditions: (a) matched, (b) mismatched, and (c) multi-conditioned. The Aurora-2 digit recognition task was performed using the standard HTK recognizer distributed with Aurora-2. Our results indicate that the proposed NMCC features demonstrated noise robustness in almost all the training-test conditions of renoised WSJ data and also improved digit recognition accuracies for Aurora-2 compared to the MFCCs and state-of-the-art noise-robust features
Predicting lead–acid battery electrode performance using finite difference equations

This paper presents a computer model that includes the effects of paste conductivity and electrolyte diffusion on the capacity of lead acid batteries. The model simulates the discharge of a complete cell by using finite difference equations to represent electrolyte diffusion in the positive and negative plates as well as in the space between them. The critical volume fraction relates the maximum amount of active material that can be reacted before the paste conductivity limits the reaction. The model uses this and other physical parameters to predict cell capacity. These predictions are then compared with experimental results.
Transient behaviour of an ammonia synthesis reactor

Abstract The dynamic behaviour of a widely used type of ammonia synthesis reactor (The Tennessee Valley Authority Reactor) is simulated on a digital computer. The mathematical model, which retains the major processes of transport and accumulation of enthalpy and matter, is solved by a series of finite difference analogs which proved to be highly efficient. The transient behaviour of the reactor is interpreted physically, and frequency responses and simplified transfer functions are proposed for operation within the linear range.
Miniaturized Antennas and Planar Bandpass Filters With Self-Biased NiCo-Ferrite Films

Miniaturized microwave devices are realized by using magnetodielectric substrate comprising thin magnetic films that exhibit both high permittivity and high permeability at gigahertz frequency. We have fabricated and tested miniature circular patch antennas and hairpin bandpass filters with the alumina and Rogers substrate loaded with self-biased NiCo-ferrite films that exhibit excellent uniformity and low loss at frequencies exceeding 1.5 GHz. The measured results of magnetic hairpin bandpass filters have improved the central resonant frequency shift from 1.55 to 1.44 GHz, and a large resonant frequency tunability of about 23%-34% of the - 3-dB bandwidth was achieved. For the circular patch antenna, we observed an improvement of 0.8 dB in gain and a large resonance frequency tunability of 100%-320% of the antenna -10-dB bandwidth.
Enhancement of external forced convection by ionic wind

An ionic wind is formed when air ions are accelerated by an electric field and exchange momentum with neutral air molecules, causing air flow. Because ionic winds can generate flow with no moving parts and have low power consumption, they offer an attractive method for enhancing convection heat transfer from a surface. In the present work, corona discharges are generated between a steel wire and coppertape electrode pair on a flat plate, perpendicular to the bulk flow direction such that the ensuing ionic wind is in the direction of the bulk flow. The corona discharge current is characterized, and experimental measurements of heat transfer from a flat plate are reported. Infrared images demonstrate that the cooling occurs along the entire length of the wire, and local heat transfer coefficients are shown to increase by more than 200% above those obtained from bulk flow alone. The magnitude of the corona current and the heat flux on the flat plate are varied. The heat transfer coefficient is shown to be related to the fourth root of the corona current both analytically and experimentally, and heat transfer enhancement is seen to be solely a hydrodynamic effect. Variation of the spacing between electrodes demonstrates that while the local peak enhancement is largely unaffected, the area of heat transfer enhancement is dependent on this spacing.
Emerging technology in diabetes care: the real-time diabetes monitoring system.

ABSTRACTThe majority of telemedicine interventions for diabetes have failed to show objective improvements in outcomes. We describe the Real-Time Diabetes Monitoring System (RT-DMS), which augments our successful telemedicine system for pediatric patients with type 1 diabetes by allowing automated uploads of glucometer readings. The addition of automatic transfer of glucometer readings enables RT-DMS to improve patient compliance and increases monitoring by physicians. The system is scalable for use by both children and adults with all forms of diabetes and has the potential to significantly improve clinic workflow, allowing RT-DMS to serve as a model for managing chronic disease using telemedicine.
Does Your SEM Really Tell the Truth?-How Would You Know? Part 4: Charging and its Mitigation

This is the fourth part of a series of tutorial papers discussing various causes of measurement uncertainty in scanned particle beam instruments, and some of the solutions researched and developed at NIST and other research institutions. Scanned particle beam instruments, especially the scanning electron microscope (SEM), have gone through tremendous evolution to become indispensable tools for many and diverse scientific and industrial applications. These improvements have significantly enhanced their performance and made them far easier to operate. But, the ease of operation has also fostered operator complacency. In addition, the user-friendliness has reduced the apparent need for extensive operator training. Unfortunately, this has led to the idea that the SEM is just another expensive "digital camera" or another peripheral device connected to a computer and that all of the problems in obtaining good quality images and data have been solved. Hence, one using these instruments may be lulled into thinking that all of the potential pitfalls have been fully eliminated and believing that, everything one sees on the micrograph is always correct. But, as described in this and the earlier papers, this may not be the case. Care must always be taken when reliable quantitative data are being sought. The first paper in this series discussed some of the issues related to signal generation in the SEM, including instrument calibration, electron beam-sample interactions and the need for physics-based modeling to understand the actual image formation mechanisms to properly interpret SEM images. The second paper has discussed another major issue confronting the microscopist: specimen contamination and methods to eliminate it. The third paper discussed mechanical vibration and stage drift and some useful solutions to mitigate the problems caused by them, and here, in this the fourth contribution, the issues related to specimen "charging" and its mitigation are discussed relative to dimensional metrology.
Amend the ECPA: Fourth Amendment Protection Erodes as E-Mails Get Dusty

This Note argues that Congress should amend section 2703(a) of the Electronic Communications Privacy Act ("ECPA") to bring it in line with modern technology and practices. The Congress enacted the ECPA in 1986 to draw clear lines as to where Fourth Amendment protection extends with emerging technologies. In 1986, e-mail technology was still very new. Most e-mail users dialed-up to their e-mail servers using a modem and downloaded their communications to a home computer, with the server acting only as a medium for temporary storage. Using this rationale, the ECPA draws a distinction between e-mails in electronic storage on third-party servers for 180 days or less and those in electronic storage longer than 180 days. E-mails in storage for 180 days or less are afforded full Fourth Amendment protection at a probable cause standard while those in storage for longer than 180 days may be compelled for disclosure at a mere subpoena standard. Today, technology has greatly changed how people access their e-mail. While some users employ applications like Microsoft Outlook, which download e-mails to their home computers, many other users use web-based e-mail clients, like Gmail, which store e-mail communications permanently on third-party servers. Under current laws, users of the latter are afforded less Fourth Amendment protection than users of the former for essentially doing the same activity after 180 days pass. This distinction is unconstitutional.The Sixth Circuit was the first circuit court to properly address this issue, in Warshak v. United States, and its panel decision held that e-mail users have a reasonable expectation of privacy with their e-mails stored on third-party servers so long as the service provider does not maintain a policy that they would actively audit the users' communications. The Sixth Circuit vacated the panel opinion en banc for lack of ripeness and did not reach the underlying constitutional issues.This Note recommends that Congress amend the ECPA to bring it in line with current e-mail communication technology. Congress should update the ECPA by eliminating the 180-day distinction of section 2703(a). By doing so, Congress will statutorily extend Fourth Amendment protection to communications that e-mail users today reasonably expect to have protected.
Genome-wide footprinting: ready for prime time?

The Perspective by Sung, Baek and Hager discusses consensus, remaining issues and hurdles for genomic footprinting. High-throughput sequencing technologies have allowed many gene locus–level molecular biology assays to become genome-wide profiling methods. DNA-cleaving enzymes such as DNase I have been used to probe accessible chromatin. The accessible regions contain functional regulatory sites, including promoters, insulators and enhancers. Deep sequencing of DNase-seq libraries and computational analysis of the cut profiles have been used to infer protein occupancy in the genome at the nucleotide level, a method introduced as 'digital genomic footprinting'. The approach has been proposed as an attractive alternative to the analysis of transcription factors (TFs) by chromatin immunoprecipitation followed by sequencing (ChIP-seq), and in theory it should overcome antibody issues, poor resolution and batch effects. Recent reports point to limitations of the DNase-based genomic footprinting approach and call into question the scope of detectable protein occupancy, especially for TFs with short-lived chromatin binding. The genomics community is grappling with issues concerning the utility of genomic footprinting and is reassessing the proposed approaches in terms of robust deliverables. Here we summarize the consensus as well as different views emerging from recent reports, and we describe the remaining issues and hurdles for genomic footprinting.
Derivation and Characterization of a CD4-Independent, Non-CD4-Tropic Simian Immunodeficiency Virus

UNLABELLED CD4 tropism is conserved among all primate lentiviruses and likely contributes to viral pathogenesis by targeting cells that are critical for adaptive antiviral immune responses. Although CD4-independent variants of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) have been described that can utilize the coreceptor CCR5 or CXCR4 in the absence of CD4, these viruses typically retain their CD4 binding sites and still can interact with CD4. We describe the derivation of a novel CD4-independent variant of pathogenic SIVmac239, termed iMac239, that was used to derive an infectious R5-tropic SIV lacking a CD4 binding site. Of the seven mutations that differentiate iMac239 from wild-type SIVmac239, a single change (D178G) in the V1/V2 region was sufficient to confer CD4 independence in cell-cell fusion assays, although other mutations were required for replication competence. Like other CD4-independent viruses, iMac239 was highly neutralization sensitive, although mutations were identified that could confer CD4-independent infection without increasing its neutralization sensitivity. Strikingly, iMac239 retained the ability to replicate in cell lines and primary cells even when its CD4 binding site had been ablated by deletion of a highly conserved aspartic acid at position 385, which, for HIV-1, plays a critical role in CD4 binding. iMac239, with and without the D385 deletion, exhibited an expanded host range in primary rhesus peripheral blood mononuclear cells that included CCR5(+) CD8(+) T cells. As the first non-CD4-tropic SIV, iMac239-ΔD385 will afford the opportunity to directly assess the in vivo role of CD4 targeting on pathogenesis and host immune responses. IMPORTANCE CD4 tropism is an invariant feature of primate lentiviruses and likely plays a key role in pathogenesis by focusing viral infection onto cells that mediate adaptive immune responses and in protecting virions attached to cells from neutralizing antibodies. Although CD4-independent viruses are well described for HIV and SIV, these viruses characteristically retain their CD4 binding site and can engage CD4 if available. We derived a novel CD4-independent, CCR5-tropic variant of the pathogenic molecular clone SIVmac239, termed iMac239. The genetic determinants of iMac239's CD4 independence provide new insights into mechanisms that underlie this phenotype. This virus remained replication competent even after its CD4 binding site had been ablated by mutagenesis. As the first truly non-CD4-tropic SIV, lacking the capacity to interact with CD4, iMac239 will provide the unique opportunity to evaluate SIV pathogenesis and host immune responses in the absence of the immunomodulatory effects of CD4(+) T cell targeting and infection.
North Atlantic Deep Water and climate variability during the Younger Dryas cold period

The Younger Dryas, the last large millennial-scale climate oscillation (12.9–11.6 ka), has been widely attributed to a massive meltwater discharge event that disrupted ocean circulation and plunged the circum–North Atlantic back into a near-glacial state. Low-resolution deep-water reconstructions indicate lower North Atlantic Deep Water (NADW) production during the Younger Dryas, though the Δ 14 C record requires some deep-water production. Herein, we reconstruct deep-water mass variations using a southern Gardar Drift sediment core with an expanded Younger Dryas section. We show that southern-sourced water invaded the deep North Atlantic to start the Younger Dryas, but was replaced by NADW within 500 yr. Southern-sourced waters briefly reappeared at the end of the Younger Dryas. These deep-water reorganizations to start and end the Younger Dryas suggest that increased meltwater fluxes were limited temporally and focused on regions where deep-water convection occurred during the deglaciation.
Optical Transport SDN for High-Capacity Inter-Datacenter Networks

We review the key technologies and new management models i.e. transport software-defined networking (SDN) to support the scaling of capacity as well as operation of fast-growing inter-datacenter optical backbone networks.
Abstract 1104: Perturbation of 60S ribosomal biogenesis results in ribosomal protein L5 and L11-dependent p53 activation

Ribosomal proteins play an important role in p53 activation in response to ribosomal stress. Multiple ribosomal proteins, including L5, L11, L23, and S7, have been shown to bind and inhibit MDM2, leading to p53 activation. However, it is not known whether ribosomal protein inhibition of MDM2 is specific to certain, but not all, ribosomal proteins. Here, we show that L29 and L30, two ribosomal proteins from the large ribosome subunit, do not bind to MDM2 and do not inhibit MDM2-mediated p53 suppression, indicating that the ribosomal protein regulation of the MDM2-p53 feedback loop is specific. Interestingly, direct perturbation of the 60S ribosomal biogenesis by knocking down either L29 or L30 drastically induced the level and activity of p53, leading to p53-depedent cell cycle arrest. Furthermore, this p53 activation requires ribosomal proteins L5 and L11, as knocking down either L5 or L11 completely abolished p53 activation induced by knockdown of L29 or L30. Consistently, knockdown of L29 or L30 enhances the interaction of MDM2 with L5 and L11. These results suggest that direct perturbation of the 60S ribosomal biogenesis activates p53 via L5 and L11-mediated MDM2 suppression. Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 101st Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2010 Apr 17-21; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2010;70(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 1104.
FACTORS ASSOCIATED WITH PREHOSPITAL DELAY IN PATIENTS WITH ST-ELEVATION MYOCARDIAL INFARCTION

Delay to reperfusion therapy in ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) leads to adverse clinical outcomes. While interventions have successfully standardized door-to-balloon times to less than 90 minutes at centers with percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) capabilities, the symptom-onset-to-
Response Surface Approximations for Cost Optimization of Dropped Ply Composite Laminates with Uncertainty

The design for uncertainty of a composite laminated plate with internally terminated plies (referred to as dropped plies) is considered in the present paper. It is assumed that the structure will be built from future materials, with little information available on uncertainty in the material properties. Fuzzy set theory is used to model the uncertainty. Response surface approximations are used throughout the study, mainly to reduce the high computational cost associated with design for. uncertainly. Dimensional analysis, higher order polynomials (than the traditional quadratic polynomials), stepwise regression, statistical design of experiments as well as a detailed error analysis are used to construct response surface approximations that are global in nature and accurate over the entire design space. The design optimization trades off costs associated with material property characterization versus costs associated with increased structural weight. The optimum results are presented in the form of design charts, trading off the cost with the minimum allowable possibility of failure.
ATCT-32A PHASE II STUDY OF TEMOZOLOMIDE IN THE TREATMENT OF ADULT PATIENTS WITH SUPRATENTORIAL LOW-GRADE GLIOMA

INTRODUCTION: Optimal adjuvant management of low-grade gliomas (LGGs) remains controversial. Radiotherapy has been shown to improve progression-free survival compared to observation, but carries the potential for substantial late toxicity. In an effort to delay or obviate the need for radiotherapy, there has been increasing interest in the use of adjuvant chemotherapy in LGGs. However, there is a dearth of prospective studies with long-term follow-up evaluating the efficacy of adjuvant chemotherapy without radiation in patients with newly diagnosed LGGs. METHODS: Patients over the age of 18 with histologically proven supratentorial LGG (WHO grade II) who underwent subtotal resection or biopsy were eligible for enrollment. All patients received monthly cycles of oral Temozolomide (TMZ) for 12 months or until disease progression. Patients were assessed for radiographic response and progression with MRIs every two months during and after treatment. The primary outcome was objective radiographic response rate; secondary outcomes included progression-free and overall survival. RESULTS: 120 patients were enrolled in the trial (57 oligodendrogliomas, 20 oligoastrocytomas, 43 astrocytomas), with a median follow-up of 6.9 years. Objective responses were seen in 7 patients (6%), and 86% demonstrated stable or improved disease during treatment with TMZ. Median progression-free survival was 4.2 years, and median overall survival was 9.7 years. Partitioning analysis demonstrated favorable results in patients with disease confined to one hemisphere undergoing subtotal resection. Treatment was well tolerated with minimal toxicity. CONCLUSIONS: In this high-risk cohort of newly diagnosed LGGs undergoing subtotal resection or biopsy, adjuvant TMZ alone achieved progression-free survival comparable to that seen in similar cohorts treated with adjuvant radiation. TMZ was very well tolerated, and could be considered as adjuvant therapy in appropriately selected patients. Work is ongoing to determine the demographic, pathologic and molecular characteristics of patients who are optimal candidates for adjuvant TMZ.
Evaluate the Measurement Uncertainty of Formaldehyde in Atmosphere by Acetyl-acetone Spectrophotometer

The result of determing the formaldehyde content in atmosphere by the method of acetyl - acetone spectrophotometer following the method GB/T 15516 - 1995.The factors of the uncertainty from the method have been analyzed comprehensively and systemically, and the uncertainty main source have been obtained.The formaldehy decontent in some samples also has been detected,The result is 0.166±0.01 mg/m~3。
Economic evaluation of neonatal health protection programs for cattle

OBJECTIVE To develop an economic tool that can be used to help cattle producers evaluate benefits of neonatal health programs. DESIGN Computer simulation of a multiple-year spreadsheet model, using economic and production variables. SAMPLE POPULATION Records for a university research farm beef herd. PROCEDURE Data from the university research farm beef herd for each year from 1990 to 1995 were evaluated to determine economic benefits for the cow-calf enterprise that would result from a decrease in morbidity and mortality. A baseline economic evaluation of returns to variable costs was performed, using actual production and marketing information. Actual economic performance was contrasted with a projected simulation in which morbidity and mortality were decreased. Sensitivity analysis for the simulation model assessment of a neonatal health program was also performed. RESULTS Mean-per-cow increase in net income for the herd during the 6-year period for morbidity and mortality reductions of 20, 40, and 60% was $7.44, $14.93, and $22.42, respectively. Sensitivity analysis revealed that net income per cow was not sensitive to errors in projections of morbidity and mortality. CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS Identifying potential economic benefits for implementing a neonatal health plan and quantifying the costs to implement each component of the plan can be used by veterinarians and their clients when formulating a proactive strategy to provide the greatest potential for economic reward.
Firearm Access and Risk of Suicide—Reply

In Reply Mr Kels highlights a confusing aspect of federal and state laws that disqualify certain people from accessing firearms. What types of involuntary mental health interventions result in a gun-prohibiting record that is reportable to the NICS? The question is difficult to answer because commitment practices vary substantially by state and locality. Under federal law, individuals lose their firearm rights if they have been “committed to a mental institution.” In many states, commitment proceedings have 2 stages. The initial stage is a short period (eg, 3-5 days) of hospitalization for the purposes of providing emergency treatment and evaluation of whether patients meet commitment criteria; the second stage is a formal commitment hearing. These admissions are often authorized by an emergency medicine physician or mental health professional and in some states are ratified ex parte by a magistrate. These patients are discharged quite often before a formal hearing is required, so hospitalization never results in a commitment order... Language: en
Real-time dual-comb spectroscopy with a free-running bidirectionally mode-locked fiber laser

Dual-comb technique has enabled exciting applications in high resolution spectroscopy, precision distance measurements, and 3D imaging. Major advantages over traditional methods can be achieved with dual-comb technique. For example, dual-comb spectroscopy provides orders of magnitude improvement in acquisition speed over standard Fourier-transform spectroscopy while still preserving the high resolution capability. Wider adoption of the technique has, however, been hindered by the need for complex and expensive ultrafast laser systems. Here, we present a simple and robust dual-comb system that employs a free-running bidirectionally mode-locked fiber laser operating at telecommunication wavelength. Two femtosecond frequency combs (with a small difference in repetition rates) are generated from a single laser cavity to ensure mutual coherent properties and common noise cancellation. As the result, we have achieved real-time absorption spectroscopy measurements without the need for complex servo locking with accurate frequency referencing, and relatively high signal-to-noise ratio.