cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
A strategy to identify differentially expressed genes using representational difference analysis and cDNA arrays.

Representational difference analysis (RDA) combined with cDNA arrays is an effective approach to identify differentially expressed genes. To identify differentially expressed genes in c-Myc transgenic mouse liver, we compared the virtues of probing commercially available cDNA arrays with either radiolabeled cDNA pools or radiolabeled difference products (DP2) derived from RDA using c-Myc transgenic and normal mouse liver. Probing commercial and custom arrays with DP2 products led to the identification of transcripts of low abundance that were missed when the arrays were initially probed with PCR-amplified cDNA pools. Although DP2 probes also detected abundant transcripts that are highly differentially expressed, they failed to identify abundant transcripts with low differential expression that were detected with cDNA pools. The combined use of radiolabeled cDNA and DP2 products to probe arrays allows a more comprehensive identification of differentially expressed transcripts that are abundant or rare. Our method has the additional benefit of eliminating false-positive transcripts that lack true differential expression and frequently contaminate DP2 pools. Using this method we identified 16 differentially expressed genes in c-Myc transgenic liver, one of which is novel.
Political Trust among Chicago Latinos

Existing research establishes that political trust is not only an important determinant of individual political behavior and government effectiveness, but may also measure the health of civic society. This article presents evidence that assimilation is corrosive of political trust, focusing specifically on the incorporation of Latinos in Chicago. Various strands of assimilation theory predict that as Mexicans naturalize and join the electorate, and as Puerto Ricans migrate to the mainland, they will be increasingly cynical about politics. This theory is tested with data from a recent survey of the Latino population in Chicago. Mexican American citizens are found to be less trusting of government, while Mexican-descent non-citizens remain more idealistic. Puerto Ricans born on the island of Puerto Rico are found to be more trusting than are Puerto Ricans born in the United States.
Laser acceleration of light ions from high-intensity laser-target interactions

A systematic theoretical study of laser-irradiated targets made of material with increasing atomic number has been performed. The formation of energetic light ions resulting from the interaction of an intense ultrashort pulse laser with thin planar targets is investigated theoretically with a two-dimensional relativistic electromagnetic particle-in-cell model. A common parameter, the areal electron density of the foil, can be used to describe qualitatively targets made of different material. By varying either the laser intensity or the target thickness we observe a gradual transition of various ion acceleration mechanisms from one into another. Light ions, such as H+, Li3+, C6+, and Al13+, can be accelerated to GeV energies with existing laser systems at a laser fluence of 10–20 J/μm2.
Genus embeddings for some complete tripartite graphs

The voltage graph construction of Gross is extended to the case where the base graph is non-orientably embedded. An easily applied criterion is established for determining the orientability character of the derived embedding. These methods are then applied to derive both orientable and non-orientable genus embeddings for some families of complete tripartite graphs.
Nuclear transfer: epigenetics pays a visit.

Nuclear transfer, an essential step in animal cloning, results in the reprogramming of nuclei from a restricted, somatic cell programme to the totipotent pattern typical of the early embryo. A key variable in the success of cloning could be the resetting of the epigenetic status of the donor nucleus, including patterns of DNA methylation. New experiments offer insights into this poorly understood process.
The effect of phytohemagglutinin on the DNA-dependent RNA polymerase activity of nuclei isolated from human lymphocytes.

Abstract 1. DNA-dependent RNA polymerase activity was studied in nuclei from human peripheral blood lymphocytes, incubated with and without phytohemagglutinin. Bivalent cation and (NH4)2SO4 requirements for maximum activity were the same in both resting and phytohemagglutinin-stimulated cells. 2. Nuclei obtained from lymphocytes incubated with phytohemagglutinin for 2–4 h showed an increased RNA polymerase activity in low salt (without (NH4)2SO4) but no increase over controls in high salt (0.4 M (NH4)2SO4). 3. Lymphocytes incubated for 20, 46, and 72 h with phytohemagglutinin had a progressive increase in RNA polymerase activity per nucleus in both high and low salt conditions. 4. The ratio of activity in high/low salt was consistently higher in resting than in phytohemagglutinin-stimulated cells. 5. The pattern of increased RNA polymerase activity in phytohemagglutinin-stimulated lymphocytes was essentially similar to that of regenerating liver cells and hormone-activated target cells in a number of systems.
Structural evidence suggests that antiactivator ExsD from Pseudomonas aeruginosa is a DNA binding protein

The opportunistic pathogen P. aeruginosa utilizes a type III secretion system (T3SS) to support acute infections in predisposed individuals. In this bacterium, expression of all T3SS-related genes is dependent on the AraC-type transcriptional activator ExsA. Before host contact, the T3SS is inactive and ExsA is repressed by the antiactivator protein ExsD. The repression, thought to occur through direct interactions between the two proteins, is relieved upon opening of the type III secretion (T3S) channel when secretion chaperone ExsC sequesters ExsD. We have solved the crystal structure of Δ20ExsD, a protease-resistant fragment of ExsD that lacks only the 20 amino terminal residues of the wild-type protein at 2.6 A. Surprisingly the structure revealed similarities between ExsD and the DNA binding domain of transcriptional repressor KorB. A model of an ExsD-DNA complex constructed on the basis of this homology produced a realistic complex that is supported by the prevalence of conserved residues in the putative DNA binding site and the results of differential scanning fluorimetry studies. Our findings challenge the currently held model that ExsD solely acts through interactions with ExsA and raise new questions with respect to the underlying mechanism of ExsA regulation.
Characterization of the deafwaddler mutant of the rat plasma membrane calcium-ATPase 2.

Abstract The deafwaddler mutant in mice was the first spontaneous mutant discovered in the plasma membrane Ca 2+ pump (PMCA) [Street, V.A. et al., 1998, Nat. Genet. 19, 390–394]. A nucleotide substitution in deafwaddler results in a Gly to Ser transition at amino acid 283 in the small cytoplasmic loop of PMCA isoform 2 (PMCA2). PMCA2 is abundant in the stereocilia of auditory and vestibular hair cells, neurons of the spiral ganglion, and participates in inner ear development. Mice that are homozygous for deafwaddler are deaf and have poor balance. However, the balance and hearing disorders of the deafwaddler mice appear to be less severe than homozygotes for a functionally null frameshift mutant or homozygous PMCA2 knockout mice, suggesting that deafwaddler PMCA2 retains some biological activity. To examine the enzymic effects of the deafwaddler mutant, PMCA2 wild-type and deafwaddler were produced by transient expression in COS cells as well as baculovirus-mediated expression in Sf9 insect cells. Membrane preparations were assayed for calcium transport and ATPase activity. No significant differences in the regulation by calmodulin of the wild-type and deafwaddler PMCA2b were found. Steady-state transport assays and pre-steady-state ATPase assays of these two proteins revealed that the K 0.5 for Ca 2+ , K 0.5 for calmodulin, degree of activation by calmodulin and rate of activation by Ca–calmodulin were nearly identical. However, calcium transport of the deafwaddler pump was reduced to 30% of the wild-type activity. Although calcium transport activity was reduced in the deafwaddler pump, total phosphoenzyme formation from ATP was slightly higher for deafwaddler than for wild-type. 50 μM LaCl 3 (which blocks the E 1 P to E 2 P conformational transition) increased the steady-state level of phosphoenzyme 3-fold for the wild-type but had no effect on the deafwaddler. Taken together, the kinetic data suggest that the deafwaddler mutation affects PMCA2 by slowing the E 1 P to E 2 P transition, resulting in approximately 70% reduction in the PMCA2-mediated Ca 2+ export.
Guided ion beam and theoretical study of the reactions of Ir+ with H2, D2, and HD.

We present the kinetic energy dependence of reactions of the late third-row transition metal cation Ir+ with H2, D2, and HD measured using a guided ion beam tandem mass spectrometer. A flow tube ion source produces Ir+ ions in its electronic ground state term and primarily in the ground spin−orbit level. Corresponding state-specific reaction cross sections are obtained. The kinetic energy dependence of the cross sections for forming IrH+ and IrD+ are analyzed to give a 0 K bond dissociation energy of D0(Ir+−H) = 3.12 ± 0.06 eV. Ab initio calculations at the B3LYP/HW+/6-311+G(3p), BHLYP/HW+/6-311+G(3p), and QCISD(T)/HW+/6-311+G(3p) levels performed here show reasonable agreement with the experimental bond energies and with the previous theoretical values available. Theory also provides the electronic structures of these species and the reactive potential energy surfaces. We also compare this third-row transition metal system with those of the first-row and second-row congeners Co+ and Rh+. We find that Ir+...
ArK x-ray production cross sections in collisions with highly ionized Cu at 50–70 MeV

The projectile charge state dependence of ArK x-ray production in collisions with Cu11+ through Cu22+ions has been investigated at ∼1 MeV/amu. A distinct change in the behaviour of the cross section as a function of charge stateq was observed forq≧19 where CuL shell vacancies are brought into the collision. The assumption that the vacancy production is predominantly due to 2pσ-2pπ electron promotion via rotational coupling leads to a consistent description of the data.
MMT nightly tracking logs: a web-enabled database for continuous evaluation of tracking performance

Over the past few years, the MMT Observatory has developed a number of web browser front ends for operation interfaces and staff access to internal databases. Among these is a facility for viewed reduced tracking logs in both time series and FFTs for convenient examination of tracking performance. Part of the back-end software also keeps the tracking data in a searchable database, allowing data over long periods of time to be collected and analyzed to look for trends, the influence of environmental factors on tracking, and help detect tracking degradation in a timely manner.
Socratic Political Philosophy in Xenophon's Symposium

This interpretative commentary recovers the largely overlooked significance of a work that illuminates, by portraying in a subtle comic drama, the new perspective on existence, the new way of life, that Socrates introduced in and through his founding of political philosophy. The famous “problem of Socrates” as a turning point of world history (Nietzsche) remains a cynosure of controversy and puzzlement. How did Socrates understand the character of, and the relation between, civic virtue and his own philosophic virtue? What is the meaning of Socratic “eros”? What kind of educative influence did Socrates intend to have, on and through his varied followers and associates? And what diverse effects did he actually have? Xenophon's Symposium, viewed in the context of his other writings, affords a playful, but thereby deeply revealing, perspective—from the viewpoint of a slightly skeptical intimate.
A (2n + 1)-dimensional quantum group constructed from a skew-symmetric matrix

Abstract Beginning with a skew-symmetric matrix, we define a certain Poisson–Lie group. Its Poisson bracket can be viewed as a cocycle perturbation of the linear (or “Lie–Poisson”) Poisson bracket. By analyzing this Poisson structure, we gather enough information to construct a C ∗ -algebraic locally compact quantum group, via the “cocycle bicrossed product construction” method. The quantum group thus obtained is shown to be a deformation quantization of the Poisson–Lie group, in the sense of Rieffel.
Toppling failures from alpine cliffs on ben Lomond, Tasmania

Large cliff failures involving forward toppling over a basal hinge have occurred on more than half of the plateau edge of Ben Lomond, northeastern Tasmania. This mode of failure, which is readily identified from the columnar structure of the dolerite involved, has affected up to 107 m3 of rock at a time and a total of more than 50 × 106 m3 in all the cases which can still be identified. It represents perhaps the most important form of cliff retreat, amounting to a rate of 0.2 mm yr−1 over the last 100,000 years. Topographic evidence and joint surveys suggest that two different mechanisms have produced the topples on Ben Lomond. One has involved failure in the sediments underlying the dolerite with consequent foundering and cambering of large sections of the plateau edge. This mechanism accounts for relatively few of the Ben Lomond topples, though it includes the largest individual cases. The second mechanism, dominant in most of the topples, involved slab failure in the cliffs. Both modes of failure have been facilitated by vertical weaknesses within the bedrock and both require an initially steep cliff profile. Because of the latter requirement, which is not met on the other mountains of northeastern Tasmania, large-scale topples are found only on Ben Lomond, and only there where glacial steepening of the cliff has been possible. Following the initial failure, topples of both types have migrated downslope by block sliding for distances up to 2 km.
Invisible barcode with optimized error correction

The demands to connect between paper media and digital worlds are increasing, and an "electronic clipping system", which overprints an invisible barcode into analog media, is an example of connecting these worlds. However, depending on the combination of the target paper media, the ink used in the media, and the invisible ink, we cannot always correctly decode the information. In this paper, we introduce a new 2D barcode encoding and decoding method which overcomes such problems. In our method, we divide the 2D code data area into several blocks, and do not use for encoding the blocks where many of the bits in the block have high probabilities of bit errors. The decoder determines the skipped blocks from the image itself. The experimental results proved that our method greatly improved the probability of correct information decoding for the invisible barcode.
Broadcast Strategies for MISO and Multiple Access Channels

This paper studies the use of layered coding in fading multiple- input single-output (MISO) and multiple access channels (MAC). In this setting, the transmitter(s) have no knowledge of the channel state while the receiver has accurate knowledge of it. The channel is assumed to be slowly fading in amplitude with a rapid change in phase. This is used to model a system with low mobility where the surrounding scattering environment is rich and changing quickly. In this setting, codebooks with rates greater than that supported by the channel undergo an outage. Our goal is to layer multiple codebooks at different rates such that the overall average throughput of the channel is maximized. The inherent difficulty in studying such channels is in determining an absolute decoding order at the receiver. In this paper, we focus on a class of strategies based on channel norm that has a natural decoding ordering. We use existing results for single antenna systems to obtain a "good" resource allocation policy for these channels.
On Doing an Analysis of Equity and Closing the Opportunity Gap.

Is public education equitable and does it provide an equal opportunity to all children and youths? Equity in public school funding is a critical issue facing all communities and has been addressed by the courts in all but five states. A key focus is on funding gaps between rich and poor school districts. Recently, attention has turned to the relationship between funding gaps and the opportunity gaps that have real and important impacts on student outcomes. This research provides a comprehensive analysis of equity in a western state of the U.S.A. Fifteen quantitative statistics, weighted for high-cost students, sparsity, district population, and the cost of education, are calculated and discussed. It was found that there are large opportunity gaps among school districts and they are linked to local wealth. This makes the quality of education a function of local wealth that abridges equal opportunities to learn and to be successful, for children and youth in schools and classrooms. Implications for closing the opportunity gap are discussed in the final section.
Fibrous nanoinclusions in massive rose quartz: The origin of rose coloration

Pink nanofibers were extracted from rose quartz from 29 different pegmatitic and massive vein localities throughout the world. Their width varied from 0.1 to 0.5 μm. On the basis of optical absorption spectra of the fibers and the initial rose quartz, we conclude that these nanofibrous inclusions are the cause of coloration of massive rose quartz worldwide. These fibers do not occur in the rare, euhedral variety of pink quartz. Redox and heating experiments showed that the pink color of the fibers is due to Fe-Ti intervalence charge transfer that produces an optical absorption band at 500 nm. Based on the XRD patterns and characteristics of pleochroism, the best match for these inclusions is dumortierite. However, FTIR and Raman spectra consistently did not exactly match the standard dumortierite patterns, suggesting that this fibrous nanophase may not be dumortierite itself, but rather a closely related material.
Natural history of trisomy 18 and trisomy 13: I. Growth, physical assessment, medical histories, survival, and recurrence risk

The natural history of trisomy 18 and trisomy 13 was investigated using data derived from parent questionnaires and medical records from 98 families with an index case of trisomy 18 and 32 families with an index case of trisomy 13. Data are presented on pregnancy, delivery, survival, medical complications, immunizations, growth, cause of death, cytogenetics, and recurrence risk. Half of the trisomy 18 babies were delivered by C-section. Fetal distress was a factor in half, and the only reason in a third of C-section deliveries. One minute Apgar scores were significantly lower in C-section and breech deliveries. There were more small for gestational age babies than in the general population, but most of the low birth weight newborns were small for gestational age, unlike the general population. Survival in this group of children was better than in other studies due to ascertainment bias. There were more girls than boys at all ages for both conditions, and the sex ratio decreased with time. Growth curves for length, weight, head circumference, and weight vs height are provided. Long-term survival did not appear to be due to mosaicism. We found no adverse reactions attributable to immunizations. At age 1 year there was an average of approximately 2 operations per living child. We report the second case of successful major cardiac surgery in a trisomy 18 child. Almost 70% of deaths were attributed to cardiopulmonary arrest. The sibling recurrence risk for trisomy 18 or trisomy 13 was 0.55%.
Resonance fluorescence lineshapes with intense applied fields

Resonance fluorescence is an old subject, which received a great deal of attention through the twenties and even into the 30’s and 40’s. R. W. Wood’s book presents beautiful pictures of it taken in the twenties. The theory was treated in great detail by Wigner and Weisskopf, and by Heitler [1,2]. It is perhaps a little startling to see the subject getting so much attention at a meeting today. There seem to be two reasons for the renewed interest. First, the development of tunable laser sources allows one to do experiments with intense, accurately resonant sources which may be coherent over many spontaneous decay lifetimes. Previous theoretical treatments of the effect have for the most part used perturbation theory which assumes that the population remains almost entirely in the ground state. This assumption is clearly not valid for the intense resonant fields now available. Further, the perturbation theory is not appropriate for exciting fields which are coherent over long periods of time. The second reason for looking at this area is that this is just the area in which it has been suggested that fruitful experiments might be carried out to test quantum electrodynamics.
Building reconstruction using manhattan-world grammars

We present a passive computer vision method that exploits existing mapping and navigation databases in order to automatically create 3D building models. Our method defines a grammar for representing changes in building geometry that approximately follow the Manhattan-world assumption which states there is a predominance of three mutually orthogonal directions in the scene. By using multiple calibrated aerial images, we extend previous Manhattan-world methods to robustly produce a single, coherent, complete geometric model of a building with partial textures. Our method uses an optimization to discover a 3D building geometry that produces the same set of facade orientation changes observed in the captured images. We have applied our method to several real-world buildings and have analyzed our approach using synthetic buildings.
Effects of Fat on Coronary Circulation in Dogs

The effects of lipemia upon the coronary circulation and myocardial oxygenation, and arterial oxygen and carbon dioxide contents were studied in 13 control dogs and 20 animals with myocardial scars. Acutely induced lipemia caused a significant decrease in the cardiac output, coronary blood flow and myocardial oxygen consumption in both groups of animals. These changes were similar to those observed in experimental coronary artery embolization. The slow intravenous fat infusion did not cause a significant drop in the mean arterial pressures of these dogs. All animals in this series developed hyperpnea during fat infusion. There was a simultaneous lowering of the arterial oxygen saturation and carbon dioxide content. These changes were in some ways similar to those observed by other investigators in experimental pulmonary embolization. However, the slow fat infusion did not produce a significant elevation of the pulmonary arterial pressures of these dogs. These data suggest that the chylomicra, like most macromolecular substances, may produce mechanical interference to the coronary blood flow and impose a limitation to myocardial oxygenation, while the total oxygen consumption of the animal is unaltered by lipemia.
In vitro studies on the fungistatic effect of antihistaminic drugs.

The antihistaminic drugs have been shown to be of some value in the therapy of cutaneous diseases. In 1950, Carson and Campbell (1) at the Army Medical School, reported that several cases of tinea pedis (athlete's foot) responded well to the local application of a cream containing two percent Pyribenzamine. On the basis of this observation, the authors undertook a study to determine whether the effect noted was solely against the allergic manifestations incited by the fungi causing the disease or against the fungi themselves. Their results suggested that di-phenyl-pyraline and Pyribenzamine possessed fungistatic activity. Landis and Krop (2) studied the influence of histamine upon the fungistatic action of various antihistamines. They were able to show that the! fungistatic action was prevented by suitable amounts of histamine, and the authors established the minimum fungistatic levels for a number of the antihistaminic drugs. Other investigators (3, 4, 5) have reported both in vitro and in vivo studies on certain of the antihistamines.
Neutrinos in IceCube/KM3NeT as probes of dark matter substructures in galaxy clusters

Galaxy clusters are one of the most promising candidate sites for dark matter (DM) annihilation. We focus on DM ($\ensuremath{\chi}$) with mass in the range of 10 GeV--100 TeV, annihilating through the channels $\ensuremath{\chi}\ensuremath{\chi}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}{\ensuremath{\mu}}^{+}{\ensuremath{\mu}}^{\ensuremath{-}}$, $\ensuremath{\chi}\ensuremath{\chi}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}\ensuremath{\nu}\overline{\ensuremath{\nu}}$, $\ensuremath{\chi}\ensuremath{\chi}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}t\overline{t}$, or $\ensuremath{\chi}\ensuremath{\chi}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}\ensuremath{\nu}\overline{\ensuremath{\nu}}\ensuremath{\nu}\overline{\ensuremath{\nu}}$, and forecast the expected sensitivity to the annihilation cross section into these channels by observing galaxy clusters at IceCube/KM3NeT. Optimistically, the presence of DM substructures in galaxy clusters is predicted to enhance the signal by 2--3 orders of magnitude over the contribution from the smooth component of the DM distribution. Optimizing for the angular size of the region of interest for galaxy clusters, the sensitivity to the annihilation cross section, $⟨\ensuremath{\sigma}v⟩$, of heavy DM with mass in the range of 300 GeV--100 TeV will be $\mathcal{O}({10}^{\ensuremath{-}24}\text{ }\text{ }{\mathrm{cm}}^{3}\text{ }{\mathrm{s}}^{\ensuremath{-}1})$ for full IceCube/KM3NeT live time of 10 years, which is about one order of magnitude better than the best limit that can be obtained by observing the Milky Way halo. We find that neutrinos from cosmic ray interactions in the galaxy cluster, in addition to the atmospheric neutrinos, are a source of background. We show that significant improvement in the experimental sensitivity can be achieved for lower DM masses in the range of 10--300 GeV if neutrino-induced cascades can be reconstructed to $\ensuremath{\approx}5\ifmmode^\circ\else\textdegree\fi{}$ accuracy, as may be possible in KM3NeT. We, therefore, propose that a low-energy extension ``KM3NeT-Core,'' similar to DeepCore in IceCube, be considered for an extended reach at low DM masses.
The Influence of High Environmental Temperature on Thyroid Size of Domestic Fowl

Abstract CHANGES in egg size, egg production and body weight of domestic fowl are influenced by seasonal fluctuations. It is also known that environmental temperature plays an important role in regulating thyroid activity. Maqsood and Reineke (1950) reported that thyroid activity in mice is determined principally by temperature regulating capacity. Surrounding air temperature is one of the primary factors influencing thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) output which in turn governs thyroxine elaboration by the thyroid. Thyroxine in turn controls the rate of metabolism of the organism. Ring (1939), using rats attributed the increase in metabolic rate, which followed exposure to cold, to increased thyroid activity. Low temperatures result in an increase, and high temperatures in a decrease of TSH elaboration. Dempsey and Astwood (1943) measured TSH secretion rate by noting the rate of thyroid enlargement in rats fed graded doses of thiouracil. Rate and degree of thyroid enlargement in rats maintained at …
Change, exchange, and rearrange: protein engineering for the biotechnological production of fuels, pharmaceuticals, and other chemicals

Enzymes are indispensable in the effort to produce chemicals from fuels to pharmaceuticals in an ecologically friendly manner. They have the potential to catalyze reactions with high specificity and efficiency without the use of hazardous chemicals. Nature provides an extensive collection of enzymes, but often these must be altered to perform desired functions under required conditions. Advances in protein engineering permit the design and/or directed evolution of enzymes specifically tailored for such industrial applications. Recent years have seen the development of improved enzymes to assist in both the conversion of biomass into fuels and chemicals, and the creation of key intermediates in pharmaceutical production.
Museums and Cultural History. A Review Article

In 1893, University of Pennsylvania botanist William P. Wilson travelled to Chicago's World Columbian Exposition. Like Henry Ford, who drew inspiration for his internal combustion engine from a display at the fair, and Henry Adams and William Dean Howells, who saw in the fair an idealized expression of American cultural unity, Wilson left the fair with his mind racing. What set Wilson's imagination on fire was the prospect of building a museum to perpetuate the lessons of the Chicago fair, especially its lessons about the need for American manufacturers to gain access to overseas markets and natural resources.' To make a long story short, Wilson persuaded Philadelphia's civic leaders, who still regretted their failure to build a museum for commercial displays from the 1876 Centennial Exhibition, to underwrite his idea. Before the Columbian fair closed, Wilson raced back to Chicago and filled twenty-four railroad box cars with exhibit materials that would become the nucleus for the Philadelphia Commercial Museum-an institution that opened its doors in 1899 with Wilson as its director. During the ensuing decade, Wilson and his curators continued their habit of attending international expositions around the world and acquiring commercial, textile, and ethnological collections that would facilitate the drive by American manufacturers and farmers to penetrate foreign markets. By the time he died in 1927, Wilson had built his institution into a clearinghouse of information about foreign economies and cultures and
Controller design with actuator constraints

The infinite-horizon model predictive controller (IH-MPC) can globally stabilize discrete linear systems in the presence of actuator constraints as long as their eigenvalues lie in the closed unit disk. These conditions are proven to be necessary and sufficient, i.e., if the system cannot be stabilized by IH-MPC, then there exists no other stabilizing control law. Finally, the form of infinite-horizon optimal controller (IH-OC), which is a limiting case of IH-MPC, coupled with an asymptotic observer is shown to stabilize certain classes of linear systems with output feedback in the presence of asymptotically vanishing disturbances. >
Towards the Development of Rationally Designed Phospholamban Mutants For Treatment of Heart Failure

PLN is the endogenous inhibitor of the sarco(endo)plasmic reticulum Ca2+-ATPase (SERCA), the integral membrane enzyme responsible for 70% of the Ca2+ shuttling into the SR, inducing cardiac muscle relaxation in humans. Dysfunctions in SERCA:PLN interactions have been implicated as having a critical role in cardiac disease. Inspired by the success of S16E, a pseudo-phosphorylated form of PLN which successfully reduced the progression of the cardiac failure in murine models and large animals upon delivery via rAAV gene therapy, I wish to further develop paradigms to rationally design therapeutic mutations based on the foundation of biophysical data known about the system, thereby “tuning” phospholamban structural dynamics to directly affect SERCA function. The present study utilizes a combination of NMR spectroscopy and coupled-enzyme assays to investigate the functional contribution of the structural dynamics of both loss-of-function (LOF) and naturally occurring malignant mutants of phospholamban, and draw correlations between the structural dynamics of the inhibitor to the activity of its target enzyme. These studies further develop the model by which the control of enzyme function is performed by altering the structural dynamics of a small inhibitor can then be translated to other membrane enzymes, such as the Na/K-ATPase.
Media Effects on Contemporary Politics

One of the major questions in the development of present-day politics has been what effect does the media have on contemporary politics . The media has become a single most used tool of influence in many democratic processes to inspire the public and dictate the behavior of candidates and voters. Analysts have perceived the effect of media as the comportment and demean us in which the media influences political choices and actions. Studies indicate that over the years, the media has not only been key in shaping political events, but has also been vital in providing reliable source of information to citizens of a nation which they require in order to be self-governing and free. This paper focuses on the media effects on contemporary politics. This paper aims to contribute to the analysis of the effects of the media in the campaign, using data from many online databases.
Immune Regulation of the Hypothalamic-Hypophysial-Adrenal Axis: A Role for Thymosins and Lymphokines

Considerable evidence suggests that the central nervous system is able to modulate the course of immunogenesis. It is also apparent that certain products of the immune system are able to influence the hypothalamic-hypophysial-adrenal axis. Evidence is discussed to support the concept that the thymosins and lymphokines constitute part of a bidirectional circuit through which the immune system regulates itself via a neuroendocrine axis. The possibility that there exists a micro-environmental circuit consisting of a releasing factor and ACTH within the immunologic compartment is also considered.
Abstract WP430: Utility of Prolonged Transcranial Doppler Monitoring in the Detection of Vasospasm and Stroke after Subarachnoid Hemorrhage: Is 10 days enough?

Background: Transcranial Doppler (TCD) monitoring is commonly used to identify cerebral vasospasm in patients with subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) though its utility after day 10 has been questioned....
Hispanic Psychiatry: From Margin to Mainstream

The advent of the 21st century offers a unique opportunity for a reassessment of the epistemological bases of American psychiatry and its diverse components. The case of Hispanic/Latino psychiatry in the U.S. exemplifies the complexities of this process including a reaffirmation of its singular characteristics, and a struggle to gain recognition from and full acceptance into ‘mainstream’ psychiatry. After a brief review of the history of Hispanic communities in the U.S., relevant issues such as acculturation and the response of the host society to the waves of immigrants from ‘south of the border’ are discussed. The growth and increasing visibility of Hispanic psychiatry are demonstrated by an examination of existing organizations, workforce, academic enrollment and productivity, and the contributions of its Latin American and Spanish streams. The receptivity of American psychiatry and the accomplishments and failures on the way towards a true integration are assessed. The journey of Hispanic psychiatry f...
The quality of patient-doctor communication about end-of-life care: a study of patients with advanced AIDS and their primary care clinicians.

Objective: To assess prevalence and quality of end-of-life communication between persons with advanced AIDS and their clinicians and to identify patient and clinician characteristics associated with this communication. Design: Prospective cohort study of 57 patients with AIDS and their primary care clinicians. Setting: University-based and private clinics in Seattle, Washington. Patients: Patients had a prior AIDS-defining illness and a CD4 cell count of less than 100 × 10 6 cells/I. Main outcome measures: Quality of patient-clinician communication about end-of-life care, validated against patient satisfaction and patient-clinician concordance on advance directives and treatment preferences. Results: Patients reported they had communication about end-of-life care with their clinician in 31 of 57 cases (54%) while clinicians reported they had this discussion in 36 of 57 cases (64%). Patients and clinicians gave concordant answers in 42 patient-clinician pairs. In 15 pairs (26%), patients and clinicians disagreed about whether end-of-life communication had occurred. African-American and Hispanic patients were less likely to report having communication than non-Hispanic white patients (chi-square analysis: X 2 = 4.67; P < 0.05); injection drug users and women with high-risk sexual partners were less likely to report communication than homosexual or bisexual men (X 2 = 4.67; P < 0.05). A four-item measure of patients' assessment of the quality of communication about end-of-life care had good internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha 0.81) and was significantly correlated with overall satisfaction with medical care (r 2 = 0.76; P < 0.0001). Patients with lower income reported lower quality of communication (X 2 = 5.82; P = 0.05). If patients assessed quality of communication as high, their clinicians were more likely to know if the patient had a durable power of attorney for health care (X 2 = 4.95; P = 0.03) but were not more likely to predict patients' preferences for life-sustaining treatments. Conclusions: Quality of patient-clinician communication about end-of-life care can be measured in a brief questionnaire; higher quality of this communication is associated with higher satisfaction with care and increased clinician knowledge of patients' advance directives. Since socioeconomic status and ethnicity are associated with both the occurrence and quality of this communication, future interventions in end-of-life care should assess the effect of these variables. Given the important and independent goals of improving patient-clinician communication about end-of-life care and improving the quality of care at the end of life, future studies should test interventions to improve the quality of communication and determine whether improving this communication improves the quality of care at the end of life.
Stress and Electromigration in Thin Film Metallisation

This paper reviews the experimentally established relationship between electromigration and mechanical stress in thin films. A model will be described which calculates the development of stress around sites of electromigration flux divergence in a metallisation track and it is shown how the model can be used to predict the time before electromigration damage occurs. The effect of passivation on the stress state within a metal track is discussed and the behaviour of metallisation under pulsed current testing is interpreted in terms of mechanical stress generation and relaxation.
Endoscopic ultrasound-guided fine-needle aspiration with on-site cytopathology versus core biopsy: a comparison of both techniques performed at the same endoscopic session.

Background: Endoscopic ultrasound (EUS)-guided fine needle aspiration (FNA) with bedside cytopathology is the gold standard for assessment of pancreatic, subepithelial, and other lesions in close proximity to the gastrointestinal tract, but it is time-consuming, has certain diagnostic limitations, and bedside cytopathology is not widely available. Aims: The goal of this study is to compare the diagnostic yield of EUS-guided FNA with on-site cytopathology and EUS-guided core biopsy. Methods: Twenty-six patients with gastrointestinal mass lesions requiring biopsy at a tertiary medical center were included in this retrospective analysis of a prospective cohort. Two core biopsies were taken using a 22 gauge needle followed by FNA guided by a bedside cytopathologist at the same endoscopic session. The diagnostic yield and test characteristics of EUS core biopsy and EUS FNA with bedside cytopathology were examined. Results: The mean number of passes was 3.2 for FNA, and the mean procedure time was 39.4 minutes. The final diagnosis was malignant in 92.3 %. Sensitivity and specificity were 83 % and 100 %, respectively, for FNA, and 91.7 % and 100 %, respectively, for core biopsy. Diagnostic accuracy was 92.3 % for FNA and 84.6 % for core biopsy. The two approaches were in agreement in 88.4 % with a kappa statistic of 0.66 (95 % confidence interval 0.33 – 0.99). Conclusions: An approach using two passes with a core biopsy needle is comparable to the current gold standard of FNA with bedside cytopathology. The performance of two core biopsies is time-efficient and could represent a good alternative to FNA with bedside cytopathology.
Report of detectiion on influenza A virus subtype H1N1 in Lishui

Objective:Detection of influenza virus nucleic acid in Lishui and investigate the retrospective consequence to ascertainment the subtype of influenza virus.Methods:Influenza virus nucleic acid was detected specific by Real-time RT-PCR methods.Results:There are detected in 6 positive samples with influenza A virus subtype,in addition to the existence of subtypes A1,A3 and influenza B virus.Conclusion:Influenza A(H1N1) were imported for the new influenza virus,infection ratio of close contacts is not high;From 2007 to 2009 influenza outbreak in schools in order to mainly influenza B virus;Influenza A virus subtype H1N1 prevention and control has been achieved results recently.
Regression by the Level of Signal in the Quantitative Qnalysis of Physics and Chemistry

Objective To establish a method of regression computation by the level of signal.Methods Write a programme to make computer regress by selecting the standard signals matching the level of the signal to be determined according to the programme and computing the content of substance unknown。Results Compare with full access regression,regression analysis by the level of signal will have much more chances make the result approach to the true value.Conclusions By the computer and the programme to be written,regression by the level of signal realize a intelligentized computing mode for regression.
SEMILAR: A Semantic Similarity Toolkit for Assessing Students' Natural Language Inputs.

We present in this demo SEMILAR, a SEMantic similarity toolkit. SEMILAR includes offers in one software environment several broad categories of semantic similarity methods: vectorial methods including Latent Semantic Analysis, probabilistic methods such as Latent Dirichlet Allocation, greedy lexical matching methods, optimal lexico-syntactic matching methods based on word-to-word similarities and syntactic dependencies with negation handling, kernel based methods, and some others. We will demonstrate during this demo presentation the efficacy of using SEMILAR to investigate and tune assessment algorithms for evaluating students’ natural language input based on data from the DeepTutor computer tutor.
Role of the Sialophorin (CD43) Receptor in Mediating Influenza A Virus-Induced Polymorphonuclear Leukocyte Dysfunction

Polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMNLs) exposed to influenza A virus (IAV) undergo activation of the respiratory burst followed by depression of cell function when subsequently exposed to particulate or soluble stimuli. The effect of IAV on PMNLs is likely to be mediated through the attachment of IAV to one or more specific receptors. Recently, IAV has been shown to bind to the sialophorin protein (CD43) receptor on PMNL plasma membranes. The present study was performed to determine if the sialophorin receptor was responsible for IAV-induced PMNL dysfunction. When PMNLs were incubated with IAV or CD43 monoclonal antibody (MoAb) for 30 minutes and then exposed to a secondary particulate (opsonized zymosan) or soluble (FMLP or phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate) stimulus, there was significant depression of the PMNL chemiluminescence response compared with the equivalent control (P < .05). When PMNL were incubated with the CD43 MoAb and then cross-linked with a goat antimouse IgG antibody, no depression of PMNL function occurred upon secondary stimulation. Exposure of cells to IAV aggregates also eliminated the PMNL dysfunction that normally occurs due to the virus. Similar to IAV, PMNL dysfunction due to the CD43 MoAb could be overcome by priming the cells with granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor. These findings indicate that IAV-induced PMNL dysfunction is mediated, at least in part, through the sialophorin receptor.
Performance Benchmarking of School Districts in New York State

We used data envelopment analysis to measure the relative performance of New York State school districts in the 2011–2012 academic year and provided detailed alternative improvement pathways for each district. We found that 201 of the 624 (32.2 %) school districts with one or more high schools and 28 of the 31 (90.3 %) school districts with no high school were on the performance frontier. Using a mixed orientation, we found evidence that FTE teachers could be reduced by 8.4 %, FTE teacher support personnel could be reduced by 17.2 %, and FTE building administration and professional staff personnel could be reduced by 9.4 %. In addition, we found that the percentage of students who score 3 or 4 on the English exam could increase by 4.9 % points, 5.0 % points on the mathematics exam, and 5.8 % points on the science exam and the average graduation rate could increase by 5.4 % points.
Considerations for Time Sampling Interval Durations in the Measurement of Young Children’s Classroom Engagement:

Classroom engagement is important to young children’s academic and social development. Accurate methods of capturing this behavior are needed to inform and evaluate intervention efforts. This study compared the accuracy of interval durations (i.e., 5 s, 10 s, 15 s, 20 s, 30 s, and 60 s) of momentary time sampling (MTS) in approximating the duration of classroom engagement as measured by continuous duration recording (CDR). Twenty-four sessions of children in large-group instruction were observed using the Behavioral Observation of Students in School for Early Education (BOSS-EE). In general, shorter intervals produced engagement estimates that more highly correlated with CDR data and had less measurement error relative to estimates from longer intervals. Findings suggest that selection of MTS interval duration may affect the accuracy of estimates for children with low levels of engagement to a greater extent relative to children with high levels of engagement. Implications and future directions are discussed.
The Influence of Familiarity on Evaluations of Liking and Goodness of Several Types of Music

The effect of familiarity upon evaluation of liking and goodness of 12 brief excerpts representing five different genres of music was assessed by three measures: comparison of group mean ratings for genres differing with respect to presumed familiarity, correlation for each S of rated familiarity to evaluations of goodness and liking, and frequency with which familiarity was explicitly cited as justification of liking. Results showed that familiarity operates at several levels of awareness and that the nature of its effect is a function of its means of assessment/variation. Excerpts expected to be familiar were so rated and were better liked than unfamiliar excerpts. The proportion of variance in evaluations of liking and goodness accounted for by rated familiarity varied among individuals but all correlations were positive. Familiarity is infrequently given as a justification of liking except for atypical members of a genre.