cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Colonial Music in Colombia

The list of memorable European musicians working in New Granada begins with a chance arrival at Cartagena in 1537—Juan Perez Materano. Dispatched from Spain with a royal appointment to head the music in a Mexican or Central American cathedral, he landed first at Cartagena. In a letter to Charles V dated October 7, 1537, the Cartagena civil officials laud his voice and bearing: these have proved so agreeable during his stopover that they have prevailed upon him to stay and to become chantre of the already functioning Cartagena cathedral, rather than continuing to Yucatan. Arriving between first and second bishops of Cartagena, Perez Materano found a wooden cathedral but with a “very imposing and good” coro dominated by an elegant choirbook stand. By the time this primitive cathedral was burned in February of 1552, he was already teaching or was soon to teach Juan de Castellanos, the imitator of Ercilla. Castellanos in his long poem on the foundation of New Granada calls Perez Materano a “Josquin dez Prez” in theoretical knowledge.
Representative Structural Element - A New Paradigm for Multi-Scale Structural Modeling

Abstract : Under the sponsorship of AFOSR, we have successfully achieved the objective to establish a new paradigm for multiscale structural modeling to provide a systematic approach for efficient high-fidelity modeling of aerospace structures featuring multiscale heterogeneities and anisotropy. The proposed approach uses the concept of representative structural element, later renamed to be structure genome (SG) to emphasize the potential of this concept to bridge materials genome and structural analysis, and to better align with the Materials Genome Initiative (MGI). In this project, we have formulated the general theory for mechanics of structure genome (MSG), carried out a critical assessment of the proposed approach, and applied this approach to predict static failure and imperfect interfaces, construct models for hyperelastic materials, elastoplastic materials, viscoplastic materials, damaged materials, smart laminates, aperiodic materials, and last but not least, applied this approach to create new theories for laminates and micromechanics, and to provide a versatile solution for general free-edge stress problems.
Photochemical ring-opening in 2,3-diphenyl aziridines. Transient-spectral and kinetic behavior of azomethine ylides and related photointermediates.

By employing laser pulses at various wavelengths for nanosecond flash photolysis, a comprehensive time-resolved study has been performed on transient azomethine ylides photogenerated from several 2...
In Situ Conductance Analysis of Zinc Oxide Nucleation and Coalescence during Atomic Layer Deposition on Metal Oxides and Polymers.

Real time in situ conductance is collected continuously during atomic layer deposition (ALD) of zinc oxide films, and trends are used to study ALD nucleation on polypropylene, nylon-6, SiO2, TiO2, ...
Speech Community: Reflections Upon Communication

From Hymes (1962) onward, communication scholars, anthropologists, linguists, sociolinguists, and scholars in ethnic studies have not only used the term speech communities, but have extended its si...
Debt Contracts and the Need for Mandatory Accounting Changes

We use incomplete contracts theory to explain the inclusion or exclusion of changes to GAAP based on which debt covenants are written. We posit that GAAP is often incomplete with respect to unanticipated future developments (innovations), which can lead to post contractual opportunism and thus destroy ex ante incentives. We argue that the choice to include GAAP changes depends on the effectiveness of accounting standard setters to act as an arbiter who 'completes' GAAP ex post. Our evidence indicates that the accounting standard setters achieve mixed success. The GAAP changes we study appear to address inefficiencies associated with opportunism by lenders but not by borrowers. Further, we find that the frequency of credit agreements that rely on standard setters to complete GAAP has decreased by more than fifty percent from 1996 to 2005. This trend is at least partly explained by the actions of standard setters and is consistent with reduced regulatory responsiveness to contracting needs.
Distinguishing hypothetical willingness from behavioral intentions to initiate HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP): Findings from a large cohort of gay and bisexual men in the U.S.

Abstract Rationale Much of the data on the acceptability of HIV Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) is based on willingness to take PrEP (i.e., hypothetical receptivity) rather than actual intentions (i.e., planned behavioral action) to do so. Objective We sought to examine differences between hypothetical willingness and behavioral intentions to begin PrEP in a national sample of gay and bisexual men (GBM) across the U.S. Methods We utilized data collected in 2015 to examine differences between those Unwilling (42.6% n = 375), Willing but not intending (41.4%, n = 365), and willing and Intending to take PrEP (15.9%, n = 140) in a multivariable, multinomial logistic regression. Results Men with less education had higher odds of Intending to take PrEP. Compared to men unsure about PrEP's efficacy, those who believed PrEP was at least 90% efficacious had higher odds of Intending to take PrEP. Those who saw themselves as appropriate candidates for PrEP had higher odds of Intending to take PrEP while those who saw themselves as inappropriate candidates for PrEP had lower odds of Intending to take PrEP in comparison to men unsure if they were appropriate candidates. Increased motivation for condom non-use because of perceived sexual pressure by partners was associated with higher odds of Intending to take PrEP. The groups did not differ by risk behavior nor recent STI diagnosis. Conclusions Overall, the distinction between willingness and intentions to take PrEP was meaningful and may help explain disparities between PrEP acceptability and uptake. While much of the literature has focused on hypothetical willingness to take PrEP, these results highlight the importance of simultaneously assessing willingness and intentions when examining correspondence with uptake and developing interventions to increase PrEP uptake.
Parental acceptance of human papillomavirus vaccinations and community pharmacies as vaccination settings: A qualitative study in Alabama.

Abstract Purpose To determine parents’ knowledge and attitudes regarding human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccinations in their adolescent children and to describe parents’ perceptions of adolescent vaccinations in community pharmacies. Methods In-depth interviews were completed with parents or guardians of children ages 11–17 years from Alabama's Lee and Macon counties. One-hour long, open-ended telephonic or in-person interviews were conducted until the saturation point was reached. Using ATLAS.ti software and thematic analysis, interview transcripts were coded to identify themes. Results Twenty-six parents were interviewed, most of whom were female (80.8%) and white (50%). A total of 12 themes were identified. First, two themes emerged regarding elements facilitating children's HPV vaccination, the most common being positive perception of the HPV vaccine. Second, elements hindering children's vaccination contained seven themes, the top one being lack of correct or complete information about the HPV vaccine. The last topic involved acceptance/rejection of community pharmacies as vaccination settings, and the most frequently cited theme was concern about pharmacists’ clinical training. Conclusions Physician-to-parent vaccine education is important, and assurances of adequate pharmacy immunization training will ease parents’ fears and allow pharmacists to better serve adolescents, especially those who do not see physicians regularly.
Fear-Potentiated Startle and Fear Extinction in a Sample of Undergraduate Women Exposed to a Campus Mass Shooting.

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a common psychological disorder that affects a substantial minority of individuals. Previous research has suggested that PTSD can be partially explained as a disorder of impaired fear inhibition. The current study utilized a previously validated fear acquisition and extinction paradigm in a sample of 75 undergraduate women who were exposed to a campus mass shooting that occurred in 2008. We used a protocol in which conditioned fear was first acquired through the presentation of one colored shape (reinforced conditioned stimulus, CS+) that was paired with an aversive airblast to the larynx (unconditioned stimulus, US) and a different colored shape that was not paired with the airblast (non-reinforced conditioned stimulus, CS−). Fear was extinguished 10 minutes later through repeated presentations of the CSs without reinforcement. Number of clinically significant posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) immediately following the mass shooting were positively associated with fear-potentiated startle (FPS) to the CS+ and CS- during late periods of acquisition. During early periods of fear extinction, PTSS was positively associated with FPS to the CS+. Results from the current study suggest that PTSS is related to altered fear inhibition and extinction during an FPS paradigm. In line with similar research, women with greater PTSS demonstrated a greater “fear load,” suggesting that these women experienced elevated fear to the CS+ during extinction after conditioned fear was acquired.
Endoglin moves and shapes endothelial cells.

Vascular malformations result from improper blood vessel responses to molecular and mechanical signals. Two studies now show that endothelial cell migration and cell shape changes are perturbed in mutants lacking the TGFβ/BMP co-receptor endoglin, leading to arteriovenous shunts. Endoglin coordinates endothelial cell responses to ligand–receptor signalling and flow-mediated mechanical cues.
Functorial Rings of Quotients I

The term “ring of quotients” is meant in the classical sense: arising from the inversion of members of a subsemigroup of regular elements. We study functors which assign to each object in a category A of commutative rings with identity, a ring of quotients. (The total ring of quotients A R is not functorial.) There is a maximum such, A H , obtained by inverting all the elements which remain regular under any non-zero A-morphism. Under reasonable hypotheses, A H is a categorical reflection and the maximum subobject of A R over which all homomorphisms from A to B R ’s extend; and, the subcategory of all A R ’s is the epireflective hull of all B R ’s. For f-rings, A H is the closure under bounded inversion. For archimedean f-rings, it is the simultaneous closure under bounded inversion and countable l-inversion. For rings of real-valued functions, A H is the closure under inversion of functions without zeroes. ( A sequel will treat the analogue for the “complete” ring of (Johnson-Utumi) quotients.)
Using FPGA Technique for Design and Implementation of a fuzzy Inference System

Recently, there has been increased use of fuzzy logic in control applications. The kernel of a fuzzy logic controller (FLC) is a fuzzy inference engine which includes the knowledge base, the decision making logic, and the defuzzification unit, as shown in Figure 1. For most of the reported applications, fuzzy inference algorithms of the FLCs were implemented in software and executed on a standard Von Neumann type processor or mucrocontroller. Although software-based FLCs are in general more economical and flexible, they often have difficulty in dealing with control systems that require very high processing and I/O handling speeds. For this reason, in the recent years, a number of hardware fuzzy inference systems have been reported or proposed [1–5, 7, 9–16] that reflect the diversity in fuzzy inference methods in technoloies related to hardware design. In general, analog hardware is relatively simple but lacks accuracy and reliability; on the other hand, digital hardware is accurate and reliable but is more complex and lacks speed if an iterative algorithm is unavoidable. In recent years, rapid advances in digital technology allow system designers to design custom computing machines based on a variety of technologies: full custom application-specific IC (ASIC), standard-cell, gate array, FPGA, programmable logic device (PLD), standard IC, etc.. Among these, FPGA is especially suitable for fast implementation and quick hardware verification. Besides technology alternatives, design decisions have to be made based on tradeoffs on performance, hardware resource anf flexibility. In general, higher performance can be achieved at the expense of more hardware resource and less flexibility.
Effects of ammonium on ion channels and transporters in colonic secretory cells.

Basolateral ammonium produces an inhibition of Cl− secretion the magnitude of which is dependent on the NH4 + to K+ concentration ratio. Inhibition is maximal at a mole fraction ratio of 0.25 K+ to NH4 +. This anomalous mole fraction effect is due to effects on the basolateral K+ channel as well as Na+-K+-2Cl− cotransporter. However, only Cl− loading, not K+ loading, appears affected in an anomalous mole fraction manner. Transepithelial current is only slightly inhibited relative to equilmolar K+ by NH4 +. As in other systems, both Na+-K+-ATPase and Na+-K+-2Cl− can act in Na+-NH4 +-ATPase and Na+-NH4 +-2Cl− transport modes. NH4 + conducts through most K+ channels and thus likely through the apical K+ channel present in native crypt cells. This suggests that, similar to the kidney, colonic secretory cells have the capacity to secrete NH4 + when in a K+-secreting mode with elevated basolateral NH4 + levels.
Getting Started: Change Your Data into Structured Data

Starting with this chapter, we will focus on building our own applications on the Semantic Web. And indeed, before any application can be created, we have to have data first. While it is not hard to find large amounts of structured data on the Web (for example, from the open data cloud), it is also important to understand how to create your own RDF data. Therefore your application has a starting point, and your domain can eventually become part of the Semantic Web.
A human in vitro platform for the evaluation of pharmacology strategies in cardiac ischemia

Cardiac ischemic events increase the risk for arrhythmia, heart attack, heart failure, and death and are the leading mortality condition globally. Reperfusion therapy is the first line of treatment for this condition, and although it significantly reduces mortality, cardiac ischemia remains a significant threat. New therapeutic strategies are under investigation to improve the ischemia survival rate; however, the current preclinical models to validate these fail to predict the human outcome. We report the development of a functional human cardiac in vitro system for the study of conduction velocity under ischemic conditions. The system is a bioMEMs platform formed by human iPSC derived cardiomyocytes patterned on microelectrode arrays and maintained in serum-free conditions. Electrical activity changes of conduction velocity, beat frequency, and QT interval (the QT-interval measures the period from onset of depolarization to the completion of repolarization) or action potential length can be evaluated over time and under the stress of ischemia. The optimized protocol induces >80% reduction in conduction velocity, after a 4 h depletion period, and a partial recovery after 72 h of oxygen and nutrient reintroduction. The sensitivity of the platform for pharmacological interventions was challenged with a gap junction modulator (ZP1609), known to prevent or delay the depression of conduction velocity induced by ischemic metabolic stress. ZP1609 significantly improved the drastic drop in conduction velocity and enabled a greater recovery. This model represents a new preclinical platform for studying cardiac ischemia with human cells, which does not rely on biomarker analysis and has the potential for screening novel cardioprotective drugs with readouts that are closer to the measured clinical parameters.
The Referendum – a question of the common weal

In the context of the 2014 Referendum on independence, Professor Storrar argues for a paradigm shift in Scottish Christians’ practical theological thinking about their nation. He makes the case for a move from thinking about Scotland in terms of church, state and national identity, centred on notions of sovereignty, to thinking in terms of the congregation, public sphere and civic identity, centred on notions of the common good. He concludes by considering what an ecumenical Protestant style of imagining the common good might look like. [The full text of this article is not available online]
Astronomical time scale of the Turonian constrained by multiple paleoclimate proxies

Abstract One of the clocks that record the Earth history is (quasi-) periodic astronomical cycles. These cycles influence the climate that can be ultimately stored in sedimentary rocks. By cracking these (quasi-) periodic sedimentation signals, high resolution astronomical time scale (ATS) can be obtained. Paleoclimate proxies are widely used to extract astronomical cycles. However different proxies may respond differently to astronomical signals and non-astronomical noises including tectonics, diagenesis, and measurement error among others. Astronomical time scale constructed based on a single proxy where its signal-to-noise ratio is low may have uncertainty that is difficult to evaluate but can be revealed by utilizing other proxies. Here, we test eight astronomical age models using two astrochronological methods from four paleoclimate proxies (i.e., color reflection L* and b*, natural gamma radiation, and bulk density) from the Turonian to the Coniacian of the Cretaceous Period at the Demerara Rise in the equatorial Atlantic. The two astrochronological methods are time calibration using long eccentricity bandpass filtering (E1 bandpass) and tracking the long eccentricity from evolutive harmonic analysis (tracking EHA). The statistical mean and standard deviation of four age models from the four proxies are calculated to construct one integrated age model with age uncertainty in each method. Results demonstrate that extracting astronomical signals from multiple paleoclimate proxies is a valid method to estimate age model uncertainties. Anchored at the Cenomanian/Turonian boundary with an age of 93.9 ​± ​0.15 ​Ma from biostratigraphy, the ages for CC11/CC12 (calcareous nannofossil zones), Turonian/Coniacian (CC12/CC13), CC13/CC14, and Coniacian/Santonian boundaries are 91.25 ​± ​0.20 ​Ma, 89.87 ​± ​0.20 ​Ma, 86.36 ​± ​0.33 ​Ma, and 86.03 ​± ​0.32 ​Ma in E1 bandpass method, compared with 91.17 ​± ​0.36 ​Ma, 89.74 ​± ​0.38 ​Ma, 86.13 ​± ​1.31 ​Ma, and 85.80 ​± ​1.33 ​Ma respectively in tracking EHA method. These results are consistent with previous studies within error and provide a reliable estimation of uncertainties of the ages.
High Density and Low-Temperature Interconnection Enabled by Mechanical Self-Alignment and Electroless Plating

In this work, we propose and demonstrate the use of metal electroless plating along with mechanical self-alignment as a method to create high density scalable interconnects between chiplets using a low temperature process flow. Void free and selective bonding of a copper pillar array at 50 ^m pitch using electroless nickel deposition is demonstrated at a temperature of 95°C and atmospheric pressure. Mechanical self-alignment using precision ruby balls is demonstrated to attain alignment accuracies within 2 μm.
World War II Japanese American Internment in the American Southwest

Sites of WWII Japanese Internment create a complex landscape of confinement that spreads across the United States with 13 sites concentrated in the states of Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, and Colorado...
Medical Student Utilization of a Novel Web-Based Platform (Psy-Q) for Question-Based Learning in Psychiatry: Pilot Questionnaire Study.

Background: Medical students are turning to new and expanding web-based resources for learning during their psychiatry clerkships; however, there have not been concomitant efforts by educators to utilize web-based tools to promote innovative teaching. Objective: Utilizing a free learning platform (Psy-Q) created by our team, we sought to explore how digital technology may engage medical student learners, promote colearning between educators and medical students, and support sustainability of web-based platforms through crowdsourcing. Methods: Between 2017 and 2019, seven medical schools offered access to the platform during medical students’ psychiatry clerkships. Use of the web-based platform was voluntary and not monitored or related to clerkship evaluation. Medical students completed a paper and pencil assessment of the platform at the end of their clerkship. Anonymous and aggregated website use data were gathered in accordance with institutional review board approval. Results: A total of 203 medical students across seven distinct psychiatry clerkships completed the survey. Of these students, 123 (60.6%) reported using the platform and reported accessing a mean of 45 questions. The most common device used to access the platform was a laptop and the second most common was a smartphone. The most common location to access the platform was home and the second most common was the hospital. Although few students contributed new questions, website utilization data suggested that all rated the quality and difficulty of the questions. Higher quality questions were medical students’ main suggestion for further improvement. Conclusions: Our results suggest the feasibility and potential of educator- and learner-created web-based platforms to augment psychiatry education and develop relevant accessible resources in the digital sphere. Future work should focus on measuring objective educational outcomes of question taking and writing, as well as optimizing technology and exploring sustainable trainee-faculty partnership models for the creation and curation of content.
A CRISPR/Cas9 vector system for neutrophil-specific gene disruption in zebrafish

Abstract Tissue-specific knockout techniques are widely applied in biological studies to probe the tissue-specific roles of specific genes in physiology, development, and disease. CRISPR/Cas9 is a widely used technology to perform fast and efficient genome editing in vitro and in vivo. Here, we report a robust CRISPR-based gateway system for tissue-specific gene inactivation in zebrafish. A transgenic fish line expressing Cas9 under the control of a neutrophil-restricted promoter was constructed. As proof of principle, we transiently disrupted rac2 or cdk2 in neutrophils using plasmids driving the expression of sgRNAs from U6 promoters. Loss of the rac2 or cdk2 gene in neutrophils resulted in significantly decreased cell motility, which could be restored by re-expressing Rac2 or Cdk2 in neutrophils in the corresponding knockout background. The subcellular location of Rac activation and actin structure and stress in the context of neutrophil migration was determined in both the wild-type and rac2 knockout neutrophils in vivo. In addition, we evaluated an alternative approach where the Cas9 protein is ubiquitously expressed while the sgRNA is processed by ribozymes and expressed in a neutrophil-restricted manner. Cell motility was also reduced upon rac2 sgRNA expression. Together, our work provides a potent tool that can be used to advance the utility of zebrafish in identification and characterization of gene functions in neutrophils.
Looking after the Filipina caregiver: Ambiguity and unknowability across Jenifer K Wofford's Nurse Drawings

This essay examines Jenifer K Wofford’s Nurse Drawings, a collection of line drawings that center the figure of the Filipina nurse and caregiver. Rather than simply verify the overlooked labor Fili...
Identification of a pocket factor that is critical to Zika virus assembly

Zika virus (ZIKV) is an emerging mosquito borne flavivirus and a major public health concern causing severe disease. Due to the presence of a lipid membrane and structural heterogeneity, attaining an atomic resolution structure is challenging, but important to understand virus assembly and life cycle mechanisms that offer distinct targets for therapeutic intervention. We here use subvolume refinement to achieve a 3.4 A resolution structure and identify two distinct lipid moieties. The first arises from the inner leaflet and is coordinated by hydrophobic residues of the M and E transmembrane helices that form a binding pocket not previously characterized. The second lipid arises from the outer leaflet coordinate between two E protein helices. Structure-based mutagenesis identifies critical hydrophobic interactions and their effect on the virus life cycle. Results show that lipids play an essential role in the ZIKV assembly pathway revealing a potential target of lipid based antiviral drug development. Here, the authors provide a 3.4 A resolution structure of mature Zika virus (ZIKV) and identify two lipid moieties, coordinated by hydrophobic residues of the M and E transmembrane helices and between two helices of E protein, that play an essential role in the ZIKV assembly pathway.
The Asian exposure of U.S. firms: Operational and risk management strategies

This paper examines the Asian currency exposure of U.S. firms with regard to their international operational and risk management strategies. We find that contemporaneous and lagged changes in real exchange rates have significant impacts on firm value for about 30% of the U.S. firms with Asian operations. The effects of a strong dollar are heterogeneous, with both significantly positive and significantly negative coefficients. The exchange exposure coefficients are then estimated as a function of international operational and risk management variables. A strong dollar has an adverse effect on firm value when the firm has a negative initial exposure position, and is related to exports and local sales activities of the firms. However, asset deployment in Asia raises the exposure in absolute terms regardless of initial exposure condition. Variables for hedging incentives explain exposure in both positive and negative exposure cases. Finally, a disaggregate study by country shows significant intra-regional differences, indicating the different ways in which the U.S. firms used their Asian subsidiaries operationally. D 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
Dry heat sterilization as a method to recycle N95 respirator masks: the importance of fit

In times of crisis, including the current COVID-19 pandemic, the supply chain of filtering facepiece respirators, such as N95 respirators, are disrupted. To combat shortages of N95 respirators, many institutions were forced to decontaminate and reuse respirators. While several reports have evaluated the impact on filtration as a measurement of preservation of respirator function after decontamination, the equally important fact of maintaining proper fit to the users’ face has been understudied. In the current study, we demonstrate the complete inactivation of SARS-CoV-2 and preservation of fit test performance of N95 respirators following treatment with dry heat. We apply scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM/EDS), X-ray diffraction (XRD) measurements, Raman spectroscopy, and contact angle measurements to analyze filter material changes as a consequence of different decontamination treatments. We further compared the integrity of the respirator after autoclaving versus dry heat treatment via quantitative fit testing and found that autoclaving, but not dry heat, causes the fit of the respirator onto the users face to fail, thereby rendering the decontaminated respirator unusable. Our findings highlight the importance to account for both efficacy of disinfection and mask fit when reprocessing respirators to for clinical redeployment.
SNX10 and caspase-5 sort out endosomal LPS for a gut-wrenching Slug-fest.

Endosomes are important cellular compartments for sorting internalized cargo and immune sensing. In this issue, Wang et al describe a novel signaling pathway induced by endocytosed bacterial outer membrane vesicles, where sorting nexin 10 and caspase-5 act at the endosome to promote cytosolic exposure of LPS and initiate signaling to alter epithelial layer integrity. This study presents the first example of a specialized function for caspase-5, distinct from the inflammasome function executed by the closely related paralog caspase-4.
Mapping the Scientific Literature

That science is a mosaic of specialties, and not a unified whole either socially or intellectually, is a frequently made assumption, but one which has only recently become the subject of systematic study. Most scientists have intuitive notions as to the subdivisions of their fields, but gaining an overall perspective on the scientific mosaic is impossible for any observer, however broadly trained. The continuing coverage of Science Citation Index (SCI) provides cross-disciplinary data appropriate to objective studies of the structure of the scientific literature. Pioneering studies by Garfield1 and Price2 utilized citation data to establish patterns of development within particular fields of science. Garfield conceptualized the citation relationships as directed lines connecting later documents with earlier ones. The totality of such relationships constitutes a “historical map”, in that case, for genetics. Price’s published study, a classic in conceptualizing the literature of science, presented citation data in the form of a matrix drawn from the literature of physics and depicting the development of a narrowly defined specialty. In a series of unpublished working papers, Price made several preliminary attempts to examine the structure of physics.3
Hospital and corporate information services: introducing a new column.

Successful hospital and corporate libraries offer customized resources and services to meet the needs of their dynamic organizations. Concepts such as customer-driven, service-oriented and value-added are central to these libraries. Serving decision markers and integrating the library into the decision-making process of the organization is critical. Future articles in this new column will furlher explore the underlying philosophies and the specialized resources and services that characterize these libraries.
A Meta‐Analysis of the Effects of Common Management Actions on the Nest Success of North American Birds

Management strategies for the recovery of declining bird populations often must be made without sufficient data to predict the outcome of proposed actions or sufficient time and resources necessary to collect these data. We quantitatively reviewed studies of bird management in Canada and the United States to evaluate the relative efficacy of 4 common management interventions and to determine variables associated with their success. We compared how livestock exclusion, prescribed burning, removal of predators, and removal of cowbirds (Molothrus ater) affect bird nest success and used meta-regression to evaluate the influence of species and study-specific covariates on management outcomes. On average, all 4 management interventions increased nest success. When common species and threatened, endangered, or declining species (as defined by long-term trend data from the North American Breeding Bird Survey) were analyzed together, predator removal was the most effective management option. The difference in mean nest success between treatment and control plots in predator-removal experiments was more than twice that of either livestock exclusion or prescribed burning. However, when we considered management outcomes from only threatened, endangered, or declining species, livestock exclusions resulted in the greatest mean increase in nest success, more than twice that of the 3 other treatments. Our meta-regression results indicated that between-species variation accounted for approximately 86%, 40%, 35%, and 7% of the overall variation in the results of livestock-exclusion, prescribed-burn, predator-removal, and cowbird-removal studies, respectively. However, the covariates we tested explained significant variation only in outcomes among prescribed-burn studies. The difference in nest success between burned and unburned plots displayed a significant, positive trend in association with time since fire and was significantly larger in grasslands than in woodlands. Our results highlight the importance of comparative studies on management effects in developing efficient and effective conservation strategies.
Calmodulin-stimulated cyclic nucleotide phosphodiesterase (PDE1C) is induced in human arterial smooth muscle cells of the synthetic, proliferative phenotype

The diversity among cyclic nucleotide phosphodiesterases provides multiple mechanisms for regulation of cAMP and cGMP in the cardiovascular system. Here we report that a calmodulin-stimulated phosphodiesterase (PDE1C) is highly expressed in proliferating human arterial smooth muscle cells (SMCs) in primary culture, but not in the quiescent SMCs of intact human aorta. High levels of PDE1C were found in primary cultures of SMCs derived from explants of human newborn and adult aortas, and in SMCs cultured from severe atherosclerotic lesions. PDE1C was the major cAMP hydrolytic activity in these SMCs. PDE expression patterns in primary SMC cultures from monkey and rat aortas were different from those from human cells. In monkey, high expression of PDE1B was found, whereas PDE1C was not detected. In rat SMCs, PDE1A was the only detectable calmodulin-stimulated PDE. These findings suggest that many of the commonly used animal species may not provide good models for studying the roles of PDEs in proliferation of human SMCs. More importantly, the observation that PDE1C is induced only in proliferating SMCs suggests that it may be both an indicator of proliferation and a possible target for treatment of atherosclerosis or restenosis after angioplasty, conditions in which proliferation of arterial SMCs is negatively modulated by cyclic nucleotides.
Nerve growth factor stimulates the tyrosine phosphorylation of MAP2 kinase in PC12 cells

NGF treatment of PC12 cells results in the rapid activation of MAP2 kinase. We report here that the induction of enzyme activity was correlated with the phosphorylation of MAP2 kinase, detected by metabolic labeling of the enzyme and with anti-phosphotyrosine antibodies. NGF stimulated the phosphorylation of MAP2 kinase on tyrosine, as well as serine and threonine residues. Western blot analysis using a polyclonal anti-phosphotyrosine antibody demonstrated that the tyrosine phosphorylation of MAP2 kinase was maximal within 2 min following NGF exposure and preceded the induction of MAP2 kinase activity. The NGF-stimulated tyrosine phosphorylation of an identified substrate provides direct evidence for the participation of a tyrosine kinase in the mechanism of action of NGF.
Abstract 1569: Multivalent melanoma vaccine using primary human melanoma cells and a vaccinia virus based antigen retrieval system

Proceedings: AACR 103rd Annual Meeting 2012‐‐ Mar 31‐Apr 4, 2012; Chicago, IL Melanoma is the fifth most diagnosed cancer in men and seventh most diagnosed cancer in women and it is estimated that there will be over 70,000 new cases and 8,000 deaths in 2011. Prevention of both primary and secondary melanomas requires the development of a melanoma specific multi-valent vaccine. We have been involved in developing a vaccinia virus based vaccine consisting of melanoma cell membrane antigens and integrated vaccinia viral proteins, which serve as a potent adjuvant. This melanoma vaccine, referred to as viral membrane oncolysate (VMO), is composed of five primary cell lines derived from patient tumors each independently infected with vaccinia virus and has been shown to induce anti-cancer immune response in clinical trials. Notable results were obtained in node positive subsets of patients that showed a positive response in survival distribution function suggesting that this preparation is an active therapeutic immunogen but the mechanism of immune activation needs to be elucidated. In order for us to define the immunogens that impart the clinical efficacy of the this melanoma VMO vaccine, it is essential to characterize the primary cell lines with respect to their phenotypic characteristics as well as to define the melanoma antigen repertoire so that effective vaccine strategies can be designed that do not rely exclusively on tumor derived primary cells. Our study reveals that all the five primary cell lines expressed antigens, such as gp100, CD146, and tyrosinase, similar to several commercially available melanoma cell lines although at varying concentrations. In addition, the five primary cell lines demonstrated varying migratory/invasive properties using a Boyden Chamber assay and their tumorigenic potential is being tested in nude mice. The cells were also characterized with respect to BRAF mutations. We observed several similarities between the antigenic profile of the primary and established cell lines as well as some unique characteristics. We conclude that using a combination of defined antigens from primary tumor cells is useful in designing a pan-antigen immunotherapeutic vaccine. This melanoma pan antigen vaccine can be an effective tool in primary prevention of melanoma presumably having the highest clinical efficacy when combined with unique antigens from primary cells. Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 103rd Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2012 Mar 31-Apr 4; Chicago, IL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2012;72(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 1569. doi:1538-7445.AM2012-1569
The Fermat point for a taxicab triangle

The Fermat point P for a triangle ABC is the point P the sum of whose distances from the vertices A, B and C is a minimum. This note will show how to find the Fermat point for any triangle using the taxicab metric.
Rate-ratio asymptotic analysis of methane–air diffusion-flame structure for predicting production of oxides of nitrogen

Production rates of oxides of nitrogen in laminar methane–air diffusion flames are addressed, with thermal, prompt, and nitrous oxide mechanisms taken into account, as well as consumption processes collectively termed reburn. For this purpose, it is necessary to extend the well-known four-step flame-chemistry description to six steps, with acetylene taken out of steady-state and one-step production of nitric oxide included. Emission indices are calculated as functions of the rate of scalar dissipation at the stoichiometric mixture fraction for near-atmospheric pressures and shown to be in reasonable agreement with results obtained from numerical integrations. The various mechanisms of NOx production and consumption are verified to be strongly dependent on the flame temperature and on superequilibrium concentrations of radicals, both fuel-derived and from hydrogen–oxygen chemistry; the flame-structure analysis was extended to provide sufficient accuracy in the prediction of these quantities. It was found that for flames in near-normal ambient atmospheres, the prompt mechanism usually is most important. For longer residence times, and especially for ambient pressures and temperatures above standard, the thermal mechanism was found to increase in importance, but this increase was calculated to be offset almost entirely by NO consumption through reburn reactions. Conditions that favor reburn were observed to be those where the ratio of radical concentrations to NO concentrations is small. Longer residence times and higher pressures were demonstrated to lead both to more complete heat release and to smaller superequilibrium radical concentrations whence the correspondence between thermal production and reburn. The nitrous oxide mechanism was found to be generally less important for the conditions considered here.
Clinically significant behavior problems during the initial 18 months following early childhood traumatic brain injury.

Objective: This study looked at the emergence of clinically significant problems in behavior, executive function skills, and social competence during the initial 18 months following traumatic brain injury (TBI) in young children relative to a cohort of children with orthopedic injuries (OI) and the environmental factors that predict difficulties postinjury. Participants: Children, ages 3-7 years, hospitalized for severe TBI, moderate TBI, or OI were seen shortly after their injury (M = 40 days) and again 6 months, 12 months, and 18 months postinjury. Design: Behavioral parent self-reports, demographic data, family functioning reports, and home environment reports were collected at injury baseline and each time point postinjury. Results: Results suggest that, compared with the OI group, the severe TBI group developed significantly more externalizing behavior problems and executive function problems following injury that persisted through the 18-month follow-up. Minimal social competence difficulties appeared at the 18-month follow-up, suggesting a possible pattern of emerging deficits rather than a recovery over time. Conclusions: Predictors of the emergence of clinically significant problems included permissive parenting, family dysfunction, and low socioeconomic status. The findings are similar to those found in school-age children. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved). Language: en
Barrett's esophagus and reflux esophagitis: is there a missing link?

Abstract OBJECTIVES: Barrett’s esophagus (BE) is associated with esophageal reflux. The development stage of BE is not well described. Epidemiological evidence indicates that the columnar epithelium in BE is acquired and reaches its full length rapidly. We tested the hypothesis that BE might result from direct replacement of erosions in reflux esophagitis (RE). METHODS: At endoscopy, we compared the length and distribution of esophageal erosions in 50 patients with RE with the length and distribution of columnar epithelium in 50 patients with BE. RESULTS: The median length of erosions in RE was 2 cm, less than the median length of columnar epithelium in BE, 5 cm (p CONCLUSIONS: The length and distribution of erosions in RE differ greatly from the length and distribution of columnar epithelium in BE. It is unlikely that BE arises directly from areas of esophagitis. We suggest that BE may develop after loss of a long segment of squamous epithelium, with columnar replacement in the presence of continuing acid reflux.
Nonenzymatic, template-directed ligation of oligoribonucleotides is highly regioselective for the formation of 3'-5' phosphodiester bonds.

We have found that nonenzymatic, template-directed ligation reactions of oligoribonucleotides display high selectivity for the formation of 3'-5' rather than 2'-5' phosphodiester bonds. Formation of the 3'-5'-linked product is favored regardless of the metal ion catalyst or the leaving group, and for several different ligation junction sequences. The degree of selectivity depends on the leaving group: the ratio of 3'-5'- to 2'-5'-linked products was 10-15:1 when the 5'-phosphate was activated as the imidazolide, and 60-80:1 when the 5'-phosphate was activated by the formation of a 5'-triphosphate. Comparison of oligonucleotide ligation reactions with previously characterized single nucleotide primer extension reactions suggests that the strong preference for 3'-5'-linkages in oligonucleotide ligation is primarily due to occurence of ligation within the context of an extended Watston-Crick duplex. The ability of RNA to correctly self-assemble by template-directed ligation is an intrinsic consequence of its chemical structure and need not be imposed by an external catalyst (i.e., an enzyme polymerase); RNA therefore provides a reasonable structural basis for a self-replicating system in a prebiological world.
A Composite Life Cycle of Nonsquall Mesoscale Convective Systems over the Tropical Ocean. Part II: Heat and Moisture Budgets

Abstract The heat and moisture budgets associated with five large nonsquall cloud clusters observed during Phase 3 of the Global Atmospheric Research Program's Atlantic Tropical Experiment (GATE) are investigated. The input data for the budget computations are objectively analyzed fields of wind, temperature and relative humidity that were based on conventional upper-air soundings. Estimates of the radiative heating rate were obtained from Cox and Griffith. A compositing technique is used to summarize the budget results for the growing, mature and dissipating stages of the clusters. The budgets in the growing stage are characterized by a very large low-level, apparent moisture sink separated in height from the region where the apparent heating is realized. In the mature stage, the apparent heating maximum shifts upward, accompanied by the development of a corresponding secondary maximum of apparent drying. A composite of radiative heating estimates from Cox and Griffith shows that the horizontal radiative...
High-Resolution Analysis of Parent-of-Origin Allelic Expression in the Mouse Brain

Genomic imprinting results in preferential expression of the paternal or maternal allele of certain genes. We have performed a genome-wide characterization of imprinting in the mouse embryonic and adult brain. This approach uncovered parent-of-origin allelic effects of more than 1300 loci. We identified parental bias in the expression of individual genes and of specific transcript isoforms, with differences between brain regions. Many imprinted genes are expressed in neural systems associated with feeding and motivated behaviors, and parental biases preferentially target genetic pathways governing metabolism and cell adhesion. We observed a preferential maternal contribution to gene expression in the developing brain and a major paternal contribution in the adult brain. Thus, parental expression bias emerges as a major mode of epigenetic regulation in the brain.
Tail rattling and agonistic behavior in mice: Coincidental or causal?

Twenty-four male mice of the F1 generation of a cross between C57BL/10J X SJL/J mice were weaned and placed either with siblings or isolated immediately until testing. At 65 days of age, subjects were assigned to one of four arena testing situations; alone, alike, different, and none. In addition, leukocyte counts were obtained for all subjects after behavioral testing. Contrary to previous research, the results showed that there is no significant relationship between tail rattling and agonistic behavior. Furthermore, a sequential analysis performed on the interaction of two animals demonstrated that tail rattling does not serve a communicative function. The data strongly suggest, however, that tail rattling is an indicator of stress as measured by white blood cell count. Implications for the use of appropriate phenotypes in behavior-genetic analysis are discussed.
A dynamic solution in N-person cooperative game theory

Abstract We formulate a cooperative game as an extended form game in which each player in turn proposes payoffs to a coalition over M steps. Payoffs at time t are discounted by a penalty function f(t) . If all players in a coalition agree to their payoffs, they receive them. Under a convergence hypothesis verified by computer for three players in many cases, we compute the payoffs resulting from a coalition pattern and give necessary conditions for particular patterns. The resulting solution is related to the Nash bargaining solution and the competitive solution.