cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Fast proteomic protocol for biomarker fingerprinting in cancerous cells.

The advance of novel technologies that will enable the detection of large sets of biomarker proteins, to greatly improve the sensitivity and specificity of an assay, represents a major objective in biomedical research. To demonstrate the power of mass spectrometry (MS) detection for large scale biomarker screening in cancer research, a simple, one-step approach for fast biomarker fingerprinting in complex cellular extracts is described. MCF-7 breast cancer cells were used as a model system. Fast proteomic profiling of whole cellular extracts was achieved on a linear trap quadrupole (LTQ) mass spectrometer by one of the following techniques: (a) data dependent liquid chromatography (LC)-MS/MS of un-labeled cell extracts, (b) data dependent LC-MS/MS with pulsed Q dissociation (PQD) detection of iTRAQ labeled samples, and (c) multiple reaction monitoring (MRM)-MS of low abundant proteins that could not be detected with data dependent MS/MS. The data dependent LC-MS/MS analysis of MCF-7 cells enabled the identification of 796 proteins (p<0.001) and the simultaneous detection of 156 previously reported putative cancer biomarkers. PQD detection of iTRAQ labeled cells resulted in the detection of 389 proteins and 64 putative biomarkers. MRM-MS analysis enabled the successful monitoring of a panel of low abundance proteins in one single experiment, highlighting the utility of this technique for targeted analysis in cancer investigations. These results demonstrate that MS-based technologies relying on a one-step separation protocol have the potential to revolutionize biomarker research and screening applications by enabling fast, sensitive and reliable detection of large panels of putative biomarkers. To further stimulate the exploration of proteins that have been previously reported in the literature to be differentially expressed in a variety of cancers, an extensive list of ~1,100 candidate biomarkers has been compiled and included in the manuscript.
Nuclear Hat1p Complex (NuB4) Components Participate in DNA Repair-linked Chromatin Reassembly

Chromatin is disassembled and reassembled during DNA repair. To assay chromatin reassembly accompanying DNA double strand break repair, ChIP analysis can be used to monitor the presence of histone H3 near the lesion. The chromatin assembly factor Asf1p, as well as the acetylation of histone H3 lysine 56, have been shown to promote chromatin reassembly when DNA double strand break repair is complete. Using Gal-HO-mediated double strand break repair, we have tested each of the components of the nuclear Hat1p-containing type B histone acetyltransferase complex (NuB4) and have found that they can affect repair-linked chromatin reassembly but that their contributions are not equivalent. In particular, deletion of the catalytic subunit, Hat1p, caused a significant defect in chromatin reassembly. In addition, loss of the histone chaperone Hif1p, when combined with an allele of H3 that mutates lysines 14 and 23 to arginine, has a pronounced effect on chromatin reassembly that is similar to that observed in an asf1Δ. The role of Hat1p and Hif1p is at least partially redundant with the role of Asf1p. Consistent with a more prominent role for Hif1p in chromatin reassembly than either Hat1p or Hat2p, Hif1p exists in complex(es) independent of Hat1p and Hat2p and influences the activity of an H3-specific histone acetyltransferase activity. Our data directly demonstrate the role of the nuclear HAT1 complex (NuB4) components in DNA repair-linked chromatin reassembly.
EFFECT OF LONG-TERM INSULIN EXPOSURE ON INSULIN BINDING IN TETRAHYMENA PYRIFORMIS

Previous studies have indicated that Tetrahymena pyriformis can bind the vertebrate hormone insulin. Conventional microscopic studies were conducted to determine the effect of acute and long-term (LTE) insulin exposure on insulin binding. Stock cultures included cells never exposed to insulin and cultures grown in medium containing 6 mg/ml insulin. Logarithmic cultures were exposed to porcine insulin concentrations of 0 and 6 mg/ml for 1 h (insulin treated, (IT)) after 0, 48 h, 1, 3, or 6 months of LTE insulin exposure. 24 h after the 1 h insulin treatment, the cells were fixed, exposed to porcine insulin (antigen), processed immunocytochemically using a primary antibody to porcine insulin and a secondary antibody immunocytochemistry kit, and examined for staining intensity by video image analysis. Morphological observations confirm that T. pyriformis does bind insulin whether or not the cells have had prior exposure to insulin. IT increases insulin binding (up-regulation) in previously unexposed cells (control, P < 0.01) and produces a further amplification in cells having prior acute exposure (48 h) to insulin (P < 0.01). However, LTE exposure to insulin (1, 3 and 6 months) caused a decrease in insulin binding (down-regulation) after IT (P < 0.01) such that LTE-IT cells were not different from control cells following 1, 3 or 6 months of chronic insulin exposure to insulin. Staining intensity was not different between IT cells and cells cultured with insulin throughout the six month study. Results suggest that insulin binding sites of T. pyriformis are subject to regulatory processes similar to those of metazoans.
Nuclear numbers in encysted dormant embryos of differentArtemia salina populations

The number of nuclei in dormant cysts from world-wide populations of the brine shrimp,Artemia salina (L.) was determined. These nuclear numbers proved to be quite constant considering the diversity of geographical localities, ploidies, and modes of reproduction represented by these populations. We believe this constancy indicates a tight coupling between the development and dormancy of these embryos. Chromosome counts onArtemia from Jamnagar, India indicated this population to be triploid.
Bringing Redox Reactivity to a Redox Inactive Metal Center – E–I (E = C, Si) Bond Cleavage with a Thorium Bis(α-diimine) Complex

As the reactivity of transition-metal complexes with redox-active ligands has gained significant attention in recent years, we have begun expanding to the actinides. Here, we report the synthesis, characterization, and reactivity of (MesDABMe)2Th(THF) {1, MesDABMe = [MesNC(Me)=C(Me)NMes]2–, Mes = 2,4,6-trimethylphenyl, THF = tetrahydrofuran}, which cleaves the C–I bond in CH3I with subsequent Th–I and C–C bond formation to produce (MesDABMe)(MesDAB)ThI {2, MesDAB = [MesN=C(Me)C(Me)2NMes]–}. When 2 is crystallized in acetonitrile, the solvated adduct (MesDABMe)(MesDAB)ThI(NCCH3) (2-MeCN) is isolated. The reaction of 2 equiv. of 1 with Me3SiI produces (MesDABMe)2ThI (3) and Me3SiSiMe3. In 3, one MesDABMe ligand is now monoanionic and provides an electron to cleave the Si–I bond. This represents a rare example of the reactivity of thorium with a redox-active ligand.
Opioids, the Enteric Nervous System, and Postoperative Ileus

Postoperative ileus, which is characterized by quiescence of the intestinal musculature, reflects the operation of a neural program in the enteric nervous system (ENS) in which the synapses that form the propulsive motor circuits are “locked” into an inactive state. In the inactive state, a component of the inhibitory motor innervation of the musculature remains active, and as a consequence, responsiveness of the muscle to electrical signals from pacemaker cells called interstitial cells of Cajal is suppressed. Physiological ileus is the normal absence of motility that occurs for varying lengths of time in different digestive states. Physiological motor quiescence becomes pathological when the synapses in the neural microcircuits for the motor programs in the ENS program library are rendered inoperative for abnormally long periods. In this state of paralytic ileus, the basic circuits are “locked” in an inactive state, while unremitting activity of inhibitory motor neurons continuously suppresses autogenic muscular activity. Release and actions of endogenous opioid peptides within the ENS inactivate the synaptic microcircuits and might account for the accompanying paralytic ileus. This hypothesis is based in part on the known actions of opioid peptides and opiates on the cellular neurophysiology of enteric neurons. The prototype opiate is morphine, which acts to delay gastric emptying and intestinal transit, to suppress intestinal secretion of water and electrolytes, and to suppress transport of bile into the duodenum—all of which are related to suppression of neuronal excitability and synaptic transmission in the ENS.
Effect of Humidity on Moisture Content and Forms of Lactose in Dried Whey

Summary 1. Dried wheys in which crystalline beta lactose is present as a solid phase contain less water when in equilibrium with an atmosphere of constant relative humidity below 65 per cent than do dried wheys in which alpha hydrate is the solid phase. The difference is largely accounted for by the molecule of water of crystallization present in the alpha hydrate crystals. 2. Stabilized dried wheys do not absorb excessive amounts of water until the relative humidity exceeds 40–50 per cent. 3. Temperature exerts no marked effect upon the equilibrium moisture content of samples exposed to constant relative humidity. The equilibrium is attained more rapidly at the higher temperatures. 4. If an appreciable amount of lactose in the glass state is present at relative humidities between 30 to 50 per cent the whey will first absorb and then reject water. This process is accompanied by the crystallization of the solid form of lactose present. In this way crystallization of beta lactose at room temperatures may occur. 5. At relative humidities of 65 per cent and above the crystalline beta lactose in dried wheys undergoes conversion to crystalline alpha hydrate. 6. The lower the percentage of lactose in the dry matter the greater the equilibrium moisture content of the dried whey at constant relative humidity.
Synthesis, characterization, and electrochemical properties of μ-oxalate bridged vanadium(III) and (IV) dimers incorporating the Kläui ligand, CpPORCo (R = Me, Et)

Abstract Three novel dimeric vanadium μ-oxalate bridged complexes bearing methoxy (R = OMe) and ethoxy (R = OEt) versions of the CpPORCo− (η5-cyclopentadienyltris-(dialkylphosphito-κ1P) cobaltate(III), Klaui) ligand have been synthesized and presented along with previously synthesized complexes. Of specific interest are the dimeric vanadium(IV) complexes of each, [(CpPORCo)VO]2(μ-O4C2). The complexes were characterized via magnetic, spectral, and X-ray diffraction studies with a focus on electrochemical analysis.
Advances in PSII deposited DLC coatings for use as barriers to corrosion

Abstract Plasma source ion implantation (PSII) is a non-line of sight process for implanting complex shaped targets without the need for complex fixturing. The breakdown initiation of materials coated with diamondlike carbon (DLC) produced by PSII occurs at defects in the DLC, which expose the underlying material, thus establishing a galvanic couple between the coating and exposed material at the base of the defect. Pitting and oxidation of the base metal leads to the development of mechanical stress in the coating and eventually spallation of the coating. This paper presents current progress in attempting to mitigate the breakdown of these coatings by implanting the parent material before coating with DLC. Ideally the parent material would be implanted with chromium or molybdenum, which are known to improve corrosion resistance, however the necessary organometallics needed to implant these materials with PSII are not yet available. Here the effects of carbon, nitrogen, and boron implantation on the susce...
Batterers' Experiences of Being Violent: A Phenomenological Study

Nine male batterers were interviewed about their experiences of being violent in domestic relationships. Interviews were analyzed using a phenomenological method to uncover themes in the structure of violent experiences. Results indicated two levels of themes: Contextual themes that described comparisons of self with other, forming the relational setting for violence, and focal themes that described experiences of being violent. Results were discussed in terms of social learning theory and gender-role attitudes, concluding that for some men, being violent in domestic relationships is a failed attempt to assert a preferred identity and avoid a devalued one. The violence ultimately reproduces the relational context of perceived polarized identities from which it emerges. Implications of findings for the victim were discussed and suggestions made to expand treatment interventions to focus on the polarized and unstable terms by which the men in this study framed their identities in domestic relationships.
A platinum micro-electrode for intracerebral exploration with a chronically fixed stereotaxic device.

Abstract A platinum-iridium micro-electrode for intracerebral exploration with a self-contained stereotaxic device is described. The substitution of a durable paint for glass insulation previously recommended for such electrodes eliminates the needs of a glass micro-forge. An analysis is given of a amplitude and sign of a sample of spikes successively recorded from 500 units. Eighty-five per cent were negative in sign. The low noise level achieved with this electrode and a satisfactory amplifying system makes possible an extensive study of individual units of small amplitude.
Robotic machine learning of anaphora

Our contribution tackles the problem of learning to understand anaphoric references in the context of robotic machine learning; e.g. Get the large screw. Put it in the left hole. Our solution assumes the probabilistic theory of learning spelt out in earlier publications. Associations are formed probabilistically between constituents of the verbal command and constituents of a presupposed internal representation. The theory is extended, as a first step, to anaphora by learning how to distinguish between incorrect surface depth and the correct tree-structure depth of the anaphoric references.
Imaging in biological tissues by means of diffraction tomography with photon density waves

In biological tissues it is possible to generate photon density waves with wavelength below 5 cm. When these kind of waves encounter optical inhomogeneities with diameters in the millimeter and centimeter range, typical scattering effects occur. These scattering effects can be compared to the well known effect of ultrasound scattering. Ultrasound gets scattered at regions with different compressibility and density, while photon density waves are scattered at regions with different absorption and scattering coefficient. In this study, analytical solutions for the time dependent photon diffusion equation are used to estimate photon density wave diffraction effects caused by spherical optical inhomogeneities. The detectability of tumors and hemorrhages in the brain, based on the diffraction pattern generated by these heterogeneities, is discussed in detail.© (1995) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
Detecting Parameter Changes Using Experimental Nonlinear Dynamics and Chaos

A method of detecting parameter changes using analytical and experimental nonlinear dynamics and chaos is applied to a piecewise-linear oscillator. Experimental data show the chaotic nature of the system through phase portraits, Poincare maps, frequency spectra and bifurcation diagrams. Unstable periodic orbits were extracted from each chaotic time series obtained from the system with six different parameter values. Movement of the unstable periodic orbits in phase space is used to detect parameter changes in the system.
Quantum mechanical studies of photodesorption of ammonia from a metal surface: Isotope effects, final state distributions, and desorption mechanisms

The photodesorption dynamics of ammonia from a copper surface is studied quantum mechanically using empirical potential energy surfaces. The desorption is facilitated by substrate‐mediated electronic excitation and subsequent de‐excitation of the adsorbate, which are simulated in our model as Franck–Condon pump and dump between two electronic states. The delayed de‐excitation populates metastable predesorption states which lay above the desorption limit. The slow decay of these resonances via energy transfer from an internal mode to the desorption mode results in incomplete and rather slow desorption. The desorbed molecules have significant vibrational excitation and their translational energy distributions are highly structured, due to the dominance of the predesorption mechanism. The desorption yield depends sensitively on the time delay between the excitation and de‐excitation. Strong isotope effects are observed, consistent with experimental findings. The anomalously large NH3 yield relative to ND3 is...
Explaining sex differences in dental caries prevalence: saliva, hormones, and "life-history" etiologies.

When dental caries rates are reported by sex, females are typically found to ex- hibit higher prevalence rates than males. This finding is generally true for diverse cultures with different subsistence systems and for a wide range of chronological periods. Exceptions exist, but are not common. In this paper, we present new data for sex differences in dental caries rates among the Guanches (Tenerife, Canary Islands), summarize results of meta-analyses of dental caries prevalence, and emphasize new research that stresses the critical role of female hor- mones and life-history events in the etiology of dental caries. Among the Guanches, corrected tooth-count caries rates for females (8.8%, 158/1,790) are approximately twice the frequency of caries among males (4.5%, 68/1,498). Higher caries prevalence among females is often explained by one of three factors: 1) earlier eruption of teeth in girls, hence longer exposure of girls' teeth to the cariogenic oral environment, 2) easier access to food supplies by women and frequent snacking during food preparation, and 3) pregnancy. Anthropologists tend to favor explanations involving behavior, including sexual division of labor and women's domestic role in food produc- tion. By contrast, the causal pathways through which pregnancy contributes to poorer oral health and higher caries rates are deemphasized or discounted. This paper presents recent research on physiological changes associated with fluctuating hormone levels during individual life histories, and the impact these changes have on the oral health of women. The biochemical composition of saliva and overall saliva flow rate are modified in several important ways by hormonal fluctuations during events such as puberty, menstruation, and pregnancy, making the oral environment significantly more cariogenic for women than for men. These results suggest that hormonal fluctuations can have a dramatic effect on the oral health of women, and constitute an important causal factor in explaining sex differences in caries rates. Am. J. Hum.
Physiological responses of insects to heat

Postharvest quarantine treatments using high temperatures have been developed for various commodities. There are a wide range of insect pests that are the target of these treatments. In order to make heat treatments effective against these pests, the effects of high temperatures on insect physiology must be understood. Insects, being poikilothermic, are particularly sensitive to heat. Nearly every system studied in insects has demonstrated sensitivity to heat. Studies on the effects of heat in insect metabolism demonstrate some adaptability to thermally challenging environments. Respiration, as to be expected, is also effected by heat, and as the body temperature of the insect increases, there are concomitant increases in both metabolism and respiration up to a critical thermal limit. The effects of heat on the nervous and endocrine systems is another area where elevated temperatures wreck havoc. Changes in behavior and development have been documented as resulting from heat treatments. Among the most studied responses of insects to heat is the elicitation of heat shock proteins. The impact of these proteins on thermotolerance are still being investigated. Models of thermal damage leading to the death of the insect are discussed as well as current studies in describing the events of thermal death.
Structural investigations of alumino-metalloaminocarbene complexes

Abstract [Al(NMe 2 ) 3 ] 2 combines with Fe(CO) 5 and Mn 2 (CO) 10 forming bimetallic compounds Fe 2 (CO) 8 [C(NMe 2 )OAl(NMe 2 ) 2 ] 2 and Mn 2 (CO) 9 [C(NMe 2 )OAl 2 -(NMe 2 ) 5 ]. X-ray diffraction analyses reveal the formation of aluminometallocarbene compounds with central connectivities, MC[NMe 2 )][OAl(NMe 2 )(μ-NMe 2 ) 2 ].
Age Differences and Changes in Midline-Crossing Inhibition in the Lower Extremities

Background. The effects of crossing the body midline on the lower extremities of individuals 65 years of age and older was investigated. Methods. The subjects were 10 individuals 65‐79 years of age, 10 individuals 80 years and older, and 10 individuals 20‐35 years. The total testing phase consisted of 2 sets of 30 trials per leg on 2 days. The subjects performed trials that involved movements ipsilaterally, contralaterally, and directly in front of the anterior superior iliac crest of the leg being tested. Reaction time and movement time scores were recorded. Results. Individuals 65 years of age and older were found to exhibit slower reaction times to movements in a contralateral direction when compared with movements made in the ipsilateral direction whereas individuals 80 years of age and older were also found to exhibit slower reaction times to movements in a contralateral direction when compared with movements made in the midline and ipsilateral direction. Conclusions. These findings indicate that the effects of midline-crossing inhibition on the lower extremities reemerge in individuals 65 years and older, whereas in early development this effect disappears by 8 or 9 years of age.
Mesenchymal Target Cell Specificity of Egg Granuloma-Derived Fibroblast Growth Factor in Schistosomiasis

We previously demonstrated that egg granulomas isolated from the liver of mice infected with Schistosoma mansoni secrete factors that stimulate fibroblast proliferation in vitro. Because this growth factor also stimulated thymocyte proliferation, we further investigated the mesenchymal target cell specificity of this factor. We now report that granulomas also secrete material that promotes growth of aortic smooth muscle and endothelial cells. We found that the activities that stimulate fibroblast and smooth muscle cell growth share similar physicochemical properties (Mr, 30-40 kilodaltons [kDa]; pI, approximately 6.5), a result suggesting that they are the same or related molecules. In contrast, fractions (Mr, less than 10 kDa; pI, 6.7-7.5) that maximally stimulated endothelial cells had minimal or no effects on the other two cell types. We postulate that soluble granuloma products might also stimulate in vivo proliferation of vascular smooth muscle and endothelial cells and contribute to the pathology of the intrahepatic vessels in schistosomiasis.
miRNA profiling in pancreatic cancer and restoration of chemosensitivity

Pancreatic cancers relapse due to small but distinct population of cancer stem cells (CSCs) which are in turn regulated by miRNAs. The present study identifies a series of miRNAs which were either upregulated (e.g. miR-146) or downregulated (e.g. miRNA-205, miRNA-7) in gemcitabine resistant MIA PaCa-2 cancer cells and clinical metastatic pancreatic cancer tissues. Gemcitabine resistant MIA PaCa-2 cells possessed distinct ALDH-positive CSC fraction expressing stem cell markers OCT3/4 and CD44 and chemoresistance marker class IIIβ-tubulin (TUBB3) which decreases on transfection with miR-205 resulting in the restoration of chemosensitivity to gemcitabine.
Interference with topoisomerase IIα potentiates melphalan cytotoxicity

We studied the consequences of interfering with DNA topoisomerase IIalpha (topo IIalpha) activity on melphalan-induced cytotoxicity. In order to accomplish our goal we used three different approaches to interfere with topo IIalpha. These include: i) use of three V79 Chinese hamster lung fibroblast-derived mutant cell lines, V507, V511, and V513 that are dysfunctional in topo IIalpha activity; ii) treatment of cells with etoposide (VP-16) which inhibits topo IIalpha through the formation of DNA-enzyme cleavable complex; and iii) exposure of cells to merbarone or ICRF-187 (Zinecard) that inhibits the activity of topo IIalpha by restricting its access to DNA. Based on clonogenic survival assays, all three approaches resulted in a significant potentiation of cytotoxicity of melphalan suggesting that topo IIalpha plays an important role in processing of DNA damage induced by melphalan. Furthermore, using alkaline elution assay, we show that melphalan-induced DNA cross-link formation and its repair is faster in V511 cells compared to the parental V79 cells. However, melphalan-induced sister chromatid exchanges (SCE) are found to be significantly higher in V511 cells compared to V79 cells. In addition, we find an excellent correlation between melphalan-induced SCE and cytotoxicity. These results could be explained on the assumption that topo IIalpha plays an important role in damage processing through excision repair of melphalan-induced DNA cross-links. However, in the absence of topo IIalpha the damages are primarily processed by recombination repair which may be prone to deleterious genetic alterations resulting in increased lethality as the frequency of recombination increases. In summary, our results demonstrate that: i) topo IIalpha deficiency is associated with increased sensitivity to melphalan; ii) deficiency of topo IIalpha is associated with an increase in melphalan-induced SCE; iii) increase in melphalan-induced SCE is associated with an increase in cytotoxicity; and iv) downregulation of topo IIalpha may be a useful approach to modulate the cytotoxicity of melphalan in combination chemotherapy regimens. These results have several important clinical implications. First, interference with topo IIalpha using agents such as VP-16 or ICRF-187 may provide a useful approach to enhance the efficacy of melphalan in combination chemotherapy regimens. Second, tumors which develop resistance to topo IIalpha-directed drugs due to quantitative or qualitative alterations in topo IIalpha may show increased susceptibility to a chemotherapy regimen containing melphalan.
Manufacturability of rapid-thermal oxidation of silicon: oxide thickness, oxide thickness variation, and system dependency

The dependence of oxide thickness, and oxide thickness variation within a wafer and wafer-to-wafer on process variables was studied in rapid-thermal processing systems that differed in chamber configuration and construction, incoherent light source, and pyrometers used for temperature measurement. Mechanisms for oxide growth and oxide thickness variation in rapid-thermal oxidation are discussed. Thermally induced stress, lamp configuration, and convective cooling affected the oxide thickness variation within a wafer. Wafer-to-wafer oxide thickness variation depended on the material of chamber construction, quartz or metal, and was related to residual heating for longer oxidations. For the same processing conditions, the oxide thickness was different for different systems, due to temperature error and a photonic component to rapid-thermal oxidation. Analysis of empirical oxide thickness models revealed a silicon orientation effect and a mechanism related to oxidant transport that was common to rapid-thermal oxidation in different systems. >
Emerging Space Commerce and State Economic Development Strategies

Space is a location from which numerous private and government entities operate just as industries on earth do. When government policy changed in the late 1980s, commercial space industries began to spin off from the U.S. government space program and separately evolve. At the dawn of the 21st century, space commerce has stabilized into viable business operations. Motivated by profit, a distinct industrial location pattern and operation of space commerce are emerging from government space activities. Since 1989, states have implemented space commerce economic development strategies, and by 2004, more than a dozen states have funded such strategies. The Oklahoma strategy is presented to highlight current economic development strategies for space commerce.
Interventional cardiology versus minimally invasive cardiac surgery.

Comparing interventional cardiology with minimally invasive cardiac surgery 1998 goes back to the early 80s when cardiologists treated coronary artery disease patients with balloon angioplasty under a permanent observation of cardiac surgeons who could offer to the patient the well established Conventional CABG, which already had proven to be safe, effective, durable, reproducible, and complete. At that time some critics predicted PTCA would remain the hobby of some cardiologists. During the last two decades, however, an explosive proliferation in the number of PTCA procedures has occurred, which soon exceed the number of CABG procedures. As technology has advanced and operator experience has increased, the application of PTCA has expanded from dilatation of simple, concentric single-vessel stenotic lesions to progressively more complex lesions in multivessel disease. Within the last 5 years the minimally invasive cardiac surgery has progressed, which allows the performance of even complex cardiac surgery through small incisions with (port-access technique) or without (MIDCAB technique) cardiopulmonary bypass. The rationale of enthusiastic users of these new techniques leads to improved cosmetic results, less surgical trauma, decreased length of hospital stay, reduced cost, and comparable long-term results with respect to conventional CABG. Similar to the prediction about PTCA two decades ago, some critics say that minimally invasive cardiac surgery would remain the hobby of some cardiac surgeons. q 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
Towards an Ontology of Media

This paper addresses the exclusion of physical and technical media from questions of ontology. It is argued, first, that from Aristotle onwards ontology has dealt with the matter and form of things rather than the relations between things in time and space. Second, it is argued that because the Greeks did not distinguish between speech elements and alphabetic letters there has been a tendency for philosophy to neglect writing as its own technical medium. This paper traces these tendencies through a range of philosophical sources: from Aquinas and Descartes to Fichte and Hegel. It is argued, by way of response, that it is only with Heidegger that a philosophical consciousness for technical media first arose, and that today the connections of mathematics and media, and of media and ontology are to be formulated in more precise terms.
Heparin requirements for full anticoagulation are higher for patients on dabigatran than for those on warfarin - a model-based study.

PURPOSE: Dabigatran (D) is increasingly used for chronic anticoagulation in place of warfarin (W). These patients may present for catheter-based procedures requiring full anticoagulation with heparin. This study compares the heparin sensitivity of patients previously on dabigatran, on warfarin, or on no chronic anticoagulant during ablation of atrial fibrillation. PATIENTS AND METHODS: In a retrospective study of patients treated with D, W, or neither drug (N) undergoing atrial ablation, the timing of heparin doses and resulting activated clotting times were collected. First, the initial activated clotting time response to the first heparin bolus was compared. Then, a non-linear mixed effects modelling (NONMEM) analysis was performed, fitting a pharmacokinetic and -dynamic model to the entire anticoagulation course of each patient. Resulting model coefficients were used to compare the different patient groups. RESULTS: Data for 66 patients on dabigatran, 95 patients on warfarin, and 27 patients on no anticoagulation were retrieved. The last dose of dabigatran or warfarin had occurred 27 hours and 15 hours before the procedure. Groups D and N both responded significantly less (P<0.05) to the initial heparin bolus than Group W (approximately 50%). Likewise, the model coefficients resulting from the fit to each group reflected a significantly lower heparin sensitivity in groups D and N compared to W. Clearances of the heparin effect in the model did not differ significantly among groups. CONCLUSION: Patients on warfarin with an average INR of 1.5 or higher are more sensitive to heparin than patients not previously anticoagulated or patients who discontinued dabigatran 27 hours earlier (approximately two half-lives) warfarin.
A Mathematical Model for Electroless Copper Deposition on Planar Substrates

A mathematical model for the electroless deposition of copper on a planar electrode is presented and used to make time-dependent predictions on the various quantities in the system. The model takes into account mass transport by diffusion and migration, Butler-Volmer kinetics at the electrode surface, and mixed potential theory. A finite difference approach is used to solve the equations, and the resultant model is used to predict the concentration profiles, potential response, and plating rate as a function of time and concentration of various reactive components.
Bayesian Probability and Scalar Performance Measures in Gaussian Models

Abstract The transformation of a real, continuous variable into an event probability is reviewed from the Bayesian point of view, after which a Gaussian model is employed to derive an explicit expression for the probability. In turn, several scalar (one-dimensional) measures of performance quality and reliability diagrams are computed. It is shown that if the optimization of scalar measures is of concern, then prior probabilities must be treated carefully, whereas no special care is required for reliability diagrams. Specifically, since a scalar measure gauges only one component of performance quality—a multidimensional entity—it is possible to find the critical value of prior probability that optimizes that scalar measure; this value of “prior probability” is often not equal to the “true” value as estimated from group sample sizes. Optimum reliability, however, is obtained when prior probability is equal to the estimate based on group sample sizes. Exact results are presented for the critical value of “p...
Is There a Trade-Off Between Wound-Healing and Chemical Defenses Among Caribbean Reef Sponges?

SYNOPSIS. On Caribbean coral reefs, some sponge species produce chemical defenses, while others do not and are non-fatally grazed by predatory fishes. It has been hypothesized that the latter may compensate for fish grazing by growing faster or rapidly healing wounds. Rates of wound-healing were measured for chemically defended and undefended tubular and vase-shaped sponges on patch reefs in the Florida Keys and Bahamas in 2002. Healing rates were significantly faster during the first few days of the experiment, with rates leveling off after the third day. Chemically undefended sponges healed at significantly faster rates (Callyspongia plicifera, 8% area regenerated per day; Callyspongia vaginalis, 6%; Niphates digitalis, 6%; Xestospongia muta, 6.5%) than chemically defended sponges (Cribrochalina vasculum, 2%; Ircinia campana, 2%; Verongula gigantea, 0%). Orientation of wounds relative to the tidal current had no influence on healing rates. Specimens of Niphates digitalis growing in tubular form had faster healing rates than individuals with vasiform shapes. Our results suggest that Caribbean reef sponges followed two different evolutionary trajectories: chemically defended species deter fish predation and have slow healing rates, while chemically undefended species allocate resources to rapid wound-healing in response to grazing.
Judicial Attitudes Toward Arbitration and the Resurgence of Unconscionability

The Federal Arbitration Act requires enforcement of arbitration agreements, unless generally applicable grounds for revocation of the agreement, including unconscionability, exist. For the most part, claims of unconscionability have been only rarely successful. In the recent past, however, many courts have held arbitration agreements unconscionable. This paper suggests that courts are using an arbitration-specific version of the unconscionability doctrine to circumvent the requirements of the Federal Arbitration Act and permit judicial resolution of claims. Evidence suggests that judges are using unconscionability more frequently and more expansively than in the past. Judges currently find arbitration agreements unconscionable at twice the rate of nonarbitration agreements. Twenty years ago, prior to the Supreme Court's most expansive readings of the Federal Arbitration Act, judges found arbitration and nonarbitration agreements unconscionable at approximately the same rate. Judges are also holding unconscionable specific features of arbitration agreements, such as forum selection clauses, confidentiality requirements, and punitive damages limitations, which are routinely enforced in nonarbitration agreements. To avoid preemption under the Federal Arbitration Act, judges must avoid selective use of the unconscionability doctrine and hold features of arbitration agreements unconscionable only where they would reach the same result in a nonarbitration agreement. In finding an arbitration agreement unconscionable, judges must also demonstrate how the agreement exemplifies general features and characteristics of unconscionable contracts, such as unequal bargaining power, oppression, and unfairness.
Identifying key papers within a journal via network centrality measures

This article examines the extent to which existing network centrality measures can be used (1) as filters to identify a set of papers to start reading within a journal and (2) as article-level metrics to identify the relative importance of a paper within a journal. We represent a dataset of published papers in the Public Library of Science (PLOS) via a co-citation network and compute three established centrality metrics for each paper in the network: closeness, betweenness, and eigenvector. Our results show that the network of papers in a journal is scale-free and that eigenvector centrality (1) is an effective filter and article-level metric and (2) correlates well with citation counts within a given journal. However, closeness centrality is a poor filter because articles fit within a small range of citations. We also show that betweenness centrality is a poor filter for journals with a narrow focus and a good filter for multidisciplinary journals where communities of papers can be identified.
Governing youth as an aesthetic and spatial practice

The Graffiti Transformation Project was a City of Toronto, Canada sponsored programme funding ‘marginalised youth’ to paint over graffitied walls with public murals. I argue the imperatives driving...
UAVs for law enforcement: A case study for connectivity and fuel management

In recent years, a large amount of research has been conducted for the cooperative control and design of multiple unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) that work together to accomplish complex missions such as persistent surveillance. This paper addresses a law enforcement scenario, where the goal is to maximize the situational awareness over an area. In order to achieve this goal, a ground station (base) sends a group of autonomous UAVs to the field, and the UAVs broadcast the monitored information back to the base through multi-hop communications. Typically, the UAVs need to return to the base for refueling in long-run missions. Whenever a UAV returns to the base, the remaining vehicles on the field may require a relocation to avoid any communication loss. Accordingly, the objective of this paper is to identify the influential design variables (i.e. impacting vehicle endurance) and control policies (i.e. aiding decisions about when to return and how to reconfigure) of UAVs on the mission performance as well as to investigate any trade-offs between them. The Monte Carlo simulations indicate that velocity and radius of communication are more influential on the situational awareness than the fuel capacity. Moreover, the influence of fuel capacity is more reduced as the connectivity recovery strategies are utilized by the UAVs.
“Paradigms Lost”: On Theory and Method in Research in Marketing:

Only recently have marketing scientists become concerned with issues in the philosophy of science. This paper points to one neglected area—the implications of a theoretical tradition for the select...
Market accessibility and hotel prices in the Caribbean: The moderating effect of quality-signaling factors

Abstract The purpose of the paper is to investigate the influence of market accessibility on hotel prices and how this influence is moderated by various quality-signaling factors, such as online user ratings, “thumbs up” (recommendation) percentage, hotel class, and chain affiliation. Using a randomized sample of hotels in the Caribbean islands, we employ a three-level mixed-effect linear regression model to investigate the plausible relationship between market accessibility and hotel prices. After controlling for unobserved island-level and hotel-level characteristics, the model indicates that in most periods, low market accessibility (high flight costs) leads to lower hotel prices, and this influence is mitigated by well-established positive reputations as represented by the quality-signaling factors. Our findings imply that hotels should work to increase their reputations to help buffer the impacts of inaccessibility. In an effort to increase market accessibility, one course of action is to reduce airport landing taxes and fees.
A (tentative) meta-analysis of the ‘place marketing’ and ‘place branding’ literature

Communities, cities, states, nations and regions have progressively applied more marketing and branding concepts and tools to boost exports and attract investors, businesses, visitors, residents, events and other important sources of revenue. These ubiquitous marketing efforts suggest that geographic locations have been managed as resolutely as products and brands. Furthermore, a rising number of practitioners and scholars have written about ‘place marketing’ and ‘place branding’. In the face of increasing interest in this area of study, the initial objective of this investigation was to develop a meticulous meta-analysis of nearly two decades of research on ‘place marketing’ and ‘place branding’. However, the multiplicity of subject matters covered in the literature, combined with the relentless use of case studies and other qualitative methods, hindered the use of the appropriate meta-analysis statistical tools. After a meticulous analysis of 211 articles (out of 259 articles identified), produced by 280 authors and published by 43 periodicals over a two-decade period, this article suggests ways to move the field from a descriptive to a normative stage of building theoretical knowledge.
Selection and Use of Drumming Sites by Male Ruffed Grouse

SINCE the spring of 1956, the density, distribution, and drumming behavior of male Ruffed Grouse (Banasa umbellus) have been under investigation on the Cloquet Forest Research Center, a facility of the University of Minnesota, School of Forestry, about 20 miles west of Duluth, Minnesota. From 1931 to 1934, Ralph T. King carried out one of the first intensive research studies of Ruffed Grouse on this same area. Although few of King's findings have reached publication (King, 1937), many of his original data are available at Cloquet and have enhanced our understanding of the factors influencing the current grouse population. There have been many studies of the drumming of male Ruffed Grouse, but little seems to have been reported concerning either the historical use of sites or the interactions between male grouse. Bent (1932: 142), Allen (1934), Fisher (1939), Graham (1940), Bump et at. (1947: 274), Frank (1947), Hardy (1950), C. D. Fowle ("An analysis of the territorial behavior of the Ruffed Grouse [Bonasa umbellus (L.)]," Ph. D. dissertation, University of Toronto, 1953), Hungerford (1953), Petraborg et al. (1953), Dorney et at. (1958), R. L. Eng ("A study of the ecology of male Ruffed Grouse [Bonasa umbellus L.] on the Cloquet Forest Research Center, Minnesota," Ph. D. dissertation, University of Minnesota, 1959), Ammann and Ryel (1963), and Palmer (1963) all have reported upon various aspects of drumming behavior, some from the life history or behavioral viewpoint, and others by using it as a "tool" for learning more about the abundance or longevity of these grouse. The purpose of this paper is to examine the use of specific drumming sites (and the grouse using them) from a historical viewpoint and, based on Cloquet examples, to point out some behavioral traits which may be used as a valid basis for studying grouse populations and those which can be misinterpreted, resulting in incorrect assumptions concerning Ruffed Grouse population densities, longevity, and age composition. Information on these topics should be useful to wildlife biologists exploiting drumming behavior as a method of measuring changes in population levels, either as a result of natural environmental influences or in response to planned or accidental manipulation of grouse habitat (see also Gullion, 1966). This study has been one phase of a broader study designed to determine the influence of forestry management practices on a Ruffed Grouse
Moeller van den Bruck: Inventor of the “Third Reich”

In December, 1922, a resident of Berlin finished the manuscript of a book which, although far from becoming a best-seller, was destined to make history, if only through its title. The book was Das Dritte Reich, and its author, Arthur Moeller van den Bruck, was a German intellectual, then in his forties, who had a theory purporting to explain Germany's downfall as well as a vision of her recovery and return to a leading position in the world.One may well be uncertain as to whether Moeller, had he lived, would have found himself altogether in agreement with the policies and methods of the regime for which he accidentally furnished so attractive a label, or whether he would have found himself among the dead on the morrow of June 30, 1934; but there can be little doubt that the author of Das Dritte Reich belongs among the contributors to the creed in the name of which Germany is ruled today.Moeller van den Bruck was born in 1876 in the Rhineland, the son of a middle-class architect and Prussian official whose family went back to Lutheran pastor stock in Saxony. From his mother's side he inherited Dutch-Spanish blood and, from her Dutch maiden name, the more romantic-sounding portion of his pen name. His formal education was never completed after he was expelled from the Gymnasium at Dusseldorf as penalty for his indifference in class, resulting from his preoccupation with modern German literature (social lyrics) and philosophy (Nietzsche), which to the lad of sixteen seemed of vastly greater “social significance” than what his teachers had to offer.