cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Phosphorylation of Ser640 in Muscle Glycogen Synthase by DYRK Family Protein Kinases

Abstract Glycogen synthase, a key enzyme in the regulation of glycogen synthesis by insulin, is controlled by multisite phosphorylation. Glycogen synthase kinase-3 (GSK-3) phosphorylates four serine residues in the COOH terminus of glycogen synthase. Phosphorylation of one of these residues, Ser640 (site 3a), causes strong inactivation of glycogen synthase. In previous work, we demonstrated in cell models that site 3a can be phosphorylated by an as yet unidentified protein kinase (3a-kinase) distinct from GSK-3. In the present study, we purified the 3a-kinase from rabbit skeletal muscle and identified one constituent polypeptide as HAN11, a WD40 domain protein with unknown function. Another polypeptide was identified as DYRK1A, a member of the dual-specificity tyrosine phosphorylated and regulated protein kinase (DYRK) family. Two isoforms of DYRK, DYRK1A and DYRK1B, co-immunoprecipitate with HAN11 when coexpressed in COS cells indicating that the proteins interact in mammalian cells. Co-expression of DYRK1A, DYRK1B, or DYRK2 with a series of glycogen synthase mutants with Ser/Ala substitutions at the phosphorylation sites in COS cells revealed that protein kinases cause phosphorylation of site 3a in glycogen synthase. To confirm that DYRKs directly phosphorylate glycogen synthase, recombinant DYRK1A, DYRK2, and glycogen synthase were produced in bacterial cells. In the presence of Mg-ATP, both DYRKs inactivated glycogen synthase by more than 10-fold. The inactivation correlated with phosphorylation of site 3a in glycogen synthase. These results indicate that protein kinase(s) from the DYRK family may be involved in a new mechanism for the regulation of glycogen synthesis.
Platform-independent optical character and curve recognition system

Alphanumerics and other characters can be decomposed into a minimal number of components, namely, line segments and, circular and elliptical arcs. The combination and relative location of these components (i.e. the character signature) uniquely determine the character identity. We are developing a pattern recognition engine, Software Engineering Engine (SEE), which computes the set of all line segments, circular and elliptical arcs that a given digital curve represents. From this obtained set, the original line segment or geometric arc that best fits the digital curve is extracted. Thus, the underlying shape of the digital curve can be determined with subpixel accuracy. SEE computes all this in linear time in the number of pixels in the digital curve. To further recognize characters, SEE will determine the linear, circular and elliptical components that comprise each character. SEE will then compare this character signature from the image with signatures in a character-signature database to secure the best fit. This approach has applications to the interpretation of engineering symbols and will be extended to interpret dimensionality associated with geometric objects indicated in an engineering sketch.
Lifestyle behaviors in women undergoing in vitro fertilization: a prospective study

Objective To determine the lifestyle behaviors of women before and during an IVF cycle. Design Prospective survey. Setting Private academically affiliated infertility center. Patient(s) One hundred eighteen women, ages 18–44, scheduled to undergo an assisted reproductive technology (ART) cycle using their own eggs. Intervention(s) None. Main Outcome Measure(s) Lifestyle history and daily habit survey. Result(s) In the month before their IVF cycle, 92% exercised, 3% smoked, 73% drank alcohol, 76% drank caffeinated beverages, 14% took herbs, and 30% underwent acupuncture. During their ART cycle, 100% exercised, 2% smoked, 49% drank alcohol, 77% drank caffeine, 12% took herbs, and 47% underwent acupuncture. Conclusion(s) This is the first prospective assessment of numerous lifestyle habits during an ART cycle. A number of surprising observations were made. Despite physician recommendation against it, some ART patients took herbs while cycling. Patients continue to exercise regularly and drink caffeine daily, and almost half continued to drink alcohol. Lifestyle behavior counseling should be considered for patients pursuing ART. Clinical Trial Registration Number NCT01119391.
NOx storage and reduction in model lean NOx trap catalysts studied by in situ DRIFTS

Abstract NOx storage and reduction on a model Pt/BaO/Al2O3 catalyst was studied by means of in situ DRIFTS measurements. To examine the effect of ceria addition, experiments were also conducted using Pt/BaO/Al2O3 to which Pt/CeO2 was added as a physical mixture in a 74:26 weight ratio. For the former catalyst, DRIFT spectra acquired during NO/O2 and NO2/O2 storage indicated the formation of nitrite at 200 °C during the initial stages of adsorption, while increasing the adsorption temperature appeared to facilitate the oxidation of nitrite to nitrate. The ceria-containing catalyst afforded similar DRIFT spectra under these conditions, although the presence of cerium nitrates was observed at 200 and 300 °C, consistent with NOx storage on the ceria phase. DRIFT spectra acquired during NOx reduction in CO and CO/H2 showed that Ba nitrate species remained on the surface of both catalysts at 450 °C, whereas the use of H2-only resulted in complete removal of stored NOx. The observation of Ba carbonates when CO was present suggests that the inferior reduction efficiency of CO may arise from the formation of a crust of BaCO3 on the Ba phase, which inhibits further NOx reduction. DRIFT spectra acquired during lean-rich cycling (6.5 min lean, 1.0 min rich) with CO/H2 as the rich phase reductants revealed that a significant concentration of nitrates remained on the catalysts at the end of the rich phase. This implies that a large fraction of nitrate is not decomposed during cycling and thus cannot participate in NOx abatement through storage and regeneration.
A new histomorphometric method to assess growth plate chondrodysplasia and its application to the toothless (tl, Csf1(null)) osteopetrotic rat.

The proliferation and hypertrophy of growth plate chondrocytes set the pace and pattern for growth of endochondral bones. Complex signaling pathways regulating chondrocyte differentiation during development and growth have been discovered in recent years, but as yet little is known about how chondrocytes are able to orient themselves to align properly with respect to the direction of bone growth. Histomorphometric methods developed for analysis of growth plates rely to a significant extent on assessments of the relative heights of the zones of proliferating and hypertrophic chondrocytes. In a growing number of osteopetrotic mutations, however, it is becoming apparent that growth plates lack clearly demarcated zones of chondrocyte differentiation, and they show other notable histological abnormalities that cannot be measured with standard approaches. This is particularly true of mutations in which osteoclasts are altogether absent. We therefore developed a new approach that measures the salient features of...
Deposition and properties of CBD and CSS CdS thin films for solar cell application

Abstract We deposited cadmium sulfide (CdS) thin films using the chemical-bath deposition (CBD) and close-spaced sublimation (CSS) techniques. The films were then treated in CdCl 2 vapor at 400 °C for 5 min. The CSS CdS films had hexagonal structure, and good crystallinity. The CdCl 2 treatment did not produce major changes, but there was a decrease in the density of planar defects. The untreated CBD CdS films had cubic structure and poorer crystallinity than the CSS films. After the CdCl 2 treatment, these films recrystallized to the hexagonal phase, resulting in better crystallinity and a lower density of planar defects. The conformal coverage and the presence of bulk oxygen are the key issues in making the CBD films more suitable for photovoltaic applications.
A novel translation and modulation invariant discrete-discrete uncertainty measure

The quantification of signal localization simultaneously in time and in frequency is fundamental to a variety of signal processing applications where time-frequency analysis is to be performed on nonstationary signals. In this paper, we develop novel joint localization measures defined on equivalence classes of finitely supported discrete-time signals. These measures bear strong analogies to the well-known continuous-time Heisenberg-Weyl inequality. In particular, they are invariant to signal translations and modulations and admit an intuitive interpretation in terms of the temporal and spectral variance of the signal energy. The new measures are used to design optimal wavelet quadrature mirror filter banks that exhibit improved localization relative to the Haar and Daubechies analysis filters.
HIV testing in US EDs, 1993-2004.

Abstract Objectives The aims of the study were to (1) estimate the incidence rates (IRs) of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) testing among 13-year-old to 64-year-old patients in US emergency departments (EDs); (2) determine ED compliance with Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommendations for HIV testing for patients with nonsexual blood or body fluid exposures, sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), and sexual assaults; and (3) ascertain if HIV testing in EDs varies by patient demographic characteristics. Methods The ED visits from the National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey databases (1993-2004) were analyzed. Visits for nonsexual blood or body fluid exposures, STDs, and sexual assaults were identified using diagnosis and cause codes. Incidence rates for HIV testing were estimated by year. Odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals were estimated from multivariable logistic regression models using HIV testing as the outcome and demographic characteristics as covariates. Results The average IR of HIV testing for 13-year-old to 64-year-old patients from 1993 to 2004 was 0.31%. Of all patients, 35.1% with nonsexual blood or body fluid exposures, 20.4% with sexual assaults, and 2.6% with STDs were tested for HIV. The HIV testing was more frequent among Hispanics (OR, 1.39 [1.06-1.81]), blacks (OR, 1.52 [1.19-1.94]), patients with Medicaid (OR, 2.35 [1.81-3.03]), Medicare (OR, 1.95 [1.20-3.16]), and self-pay/no charge/other type of insurance (OR, 1.74 [1.35-2.23]), and those visiting EDs in the northeastern United States (OR, 1.57 [1.04-2.38]). Conclusions The HIV testing rates are low in US EDs and have changed little for a 12-year period. Compliance with CDC recommendations for HIV testing is poor and not in accordance with risk for infection. Hispanics, blacks, and those without private health care insurance are being tested more frequently than other ED patients.
Second phases in CdS/CuInSe 2 solar cells

Though second phases consisting of Cu 2-x Se or In 2 O 3 are known to occur in CuInSe 2 deposited by various methods and on a variety of substrates, establishing whether these second phases are present in CdS/CuInSe 2 heterojunction solar cells has been complicated by the additional material layers in the solar cells. Hence the effect of second phases on the electrical properties and device performance has not been specified in detail in previous studies of this structure. In this paper the authors investigate the use of x-ray diffraction to determine whether second phases are present in CdS/CuInSe 2 solar cells prepared by chemical spray pyrolysis. On phase in the CuInSe 2 of the solar cells. An attempt to remove Cu 2-x Se by chemically selective etches failed, perhaps because the diffraction peak attributed to Cu 2-x Se actually had a different cause. Future studies will attempt to determine this cause. If a second phase is the cause, both removing it or preventing its formation will be studied in an effort to determine its effect on solar cell efficiency.
Visualization study of flow in axial flow inducer.

A visualization study of the flow through a three ft dia model of a four bladed inducer, which is operated in air at a flow coefficient of 0.065, is reported in this paper. The flow near the blade surfaces, inside the rotating passages, downstream and upstream of the inducer is visualized by means of smoke, tufts, ammonia filament, and lampblack techniques. Flow is found to be highly three dimensional, with appreciable radial velocity throughout the entire passage. The secondary flows observed near the hub and annulus walls agree with qualitative predictions obtained from the inviscid secondary flow theory.
Electron transport in amorphous metals

Abstract Electron transport measurements—resistivity, thermopower, magnetoresistivity and Hall effect—in non-magnetic amorphous metals are surveyed and compared with predictions from several theoretical models proposed to describe electron scattering in highly disordered metals.
Longitudinal susceptibility and the question of zero magnons in low-temperature magnetic insulators

The longitudinal susceptibility of the low-temperature Heisenberg ferromagnet is treated in random-phase approximation (RPA) in order to discuss whether a zero magnon (spin-density mode in the collisionless regime) can exist. In the unrenormalized RPA, this mode is found at large wave vectors in systems which have an exchange anisotropy which enhances the repulsion between spin-density fluctuations. It is shown, however, that (with the possible exception of certain two-dimensional systems) spin-wave damping suppresses this mode. A similar approach is applied to the low-temperature Heisenberg antiferromagnet. For systems with non-negligible anisotropy, it is shown that, with the possible exception of certain two-dimensional systems, spin-wave damping suppresses the zero-magnon mode. An argument is then given which suggests that the mode does not exist in the isotropic antiferromagnet either.
Pancreatic resection in the elderly.

Abstract Background Elderly patients undergoing pancreatic resection present unique challenges in postoperative care. Although mortality rates among elderly patients after pancreatectomy at high-volume centers is known to be low, the anticipated decline in functional status and nutritional parameters has received little attention. Functional decline is an unrecognized but critically important consequence of pancreatic resection in older patients. Study design This study is a retrospective review, validation cohort, of older and younger patients undergoing major pancreatic resection. The setting is the state of California (database of all hospitals in the state) and The University of California, San Francisco (UCSF; a tertiary care referral center). The study population is a consecutive sample of older (greater than or equal to 75 years) and younger (16 to 74 years) patients from California (January 1990 to December 1996; n=3,113) and UCSF (January 1993 to November 2000; n=218), who underwent radical pancreaticoduodenectomy, distal pancreatectomy, or total pancreatectomy for neoplasia. The main outcomes measures were length of stay, complications, mortality, discharge disposition, supplemental nutrition requirement, and readmissions. Results Elderly patients had higher mortality rates than the young statewide (10% versus 7%, p=0.006). Although the 3% mortality at UCSF was the same for both groups, older patients were more often admitted to the ICU (47% versus 20%, p=0.003), treated for major cardiac events (13% versus 0.5%, p Conclusions Older patients are more likely than younger patients to require an ICU stay, suffer a cardiac complication, and experience compromised nutritional and functional status after major pancreatic resection.
If a picture is worth a thousand words…3D modelling of a Bronze Age tower in Oman

AbstractThree-dimensional imagery is rapidly transforming the reconstruction, visualization and conceptualization of ancient monuments. We report (and reflect on the value of) digital reconstruction of a third-millennium bc megalithic tower and surrounding landscape using a combination of architectural drawing, 3D photogrammetry and geographic information systems (GIS) mapping. Our results indicate that at least 181 metric tons of limestone (mean boulder weight 386kg) were hewn to create a monument 20m in diameter and at least 4m high. In addition to considering possible practical functions, including water extraction and a potential defensive purpose, we argue that this tower’s central significance lay in its monumentality. At least sixty comparable Umm an-Nar period towers are known; and, as much as the model itself, the process of planning and executing a 3D model led us to recognize that a community of skilled builder/architects used a sophisticated mental template (with variation on a theme) to desig...
Δ9-Tetrahydrocannabinol increases prefrontal cortical catecholaminergic utilization and impairs spatial working memory in the rat: blockade of dopaminergic effects with HA966

The present study examined Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC)-induced alterations in monoamine transmission in the rat forebrain as well as the effects of the enantiomers of 3-amino-1-hydroxypyrrolid-2-one (HA966) on the monoamine response to THC. Activation of dopamine (DA) and norepinephrine (NE) but not serotonin (5-HT) turnover in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) was observed after THC (5 mg/kg i.p.) administration. Both enantiomers of HA966 completely prevented the effects of THC on PFC DA turnover and partially blocked the THC-induced rise in NE metabolism. The cognitive consequences of THC exposure were also examined. THC significantly impaired spatial working, but not reference, memory in rats, and this effect was ameliorated by HA966. Thus, HA966 prevents the THC-induced increases in PFC DA turnover and impairments of prefrontal cortical working memory function. Furthermore, these data suggest that cognitive impairments displayed by marijuana self-administering humans may be related to PFC DA hyperactivity and that HA966 may prevent this effect.
Comparison of two methods of right atrial volume assessment using cardiac magnetic resonance imaging: area-length method versus multislice volumetric method

Background Right atrial (RA) volume evaluation is not as well characterized as left atrial (LA) volume assessment. RA volumes are most accurately assessed by the multislice volumetric (MSV) method; however, this method is time consuming requiring manual tracing of RA endocardial borders over several slices. The area-length (AL) method can also be used to estimate RA volume. Although well established for the assessment of LA size, the application of the AL method to the RA is not as well established. We sought to determine the accuracy, limits of agreement, inter-observer, and intra-observer variability of the AL method compared to the MSV method on the measurement of RA volume. Methods We prospectively studied 67 patients who underwent cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (CMR) for a clinically indicated reason. CMR images were acquired on 3 Tesla (Siemens Trio) or 1.5 Tesla (Siemens Aera) scanner using cine steady-state free precession (SSFP) sequence. RA volumes using MSV method were measured from a stack of long-axis slices acquired parallel to the left ventricular 2 chamber plane, which spanned the entire RA and right ventricle (RV). RA volumes using the AL method were measured from a 4-chamber and 2-chamber view of the RA and RV. The RA appendage was included in the RA volumes. RA volumes calculated by MSV and AL methods were compared using Pearson’s correlation, regression analysis and Bland-Altman analysis. Inter-observer and intra-observer variability was assessed on a random sample of 10 patients and analyzed by intra-class correlation coefficients and Bland-Altman analysis. Results Mean indexed RA volumes (RAVI) by AL method did not differ significantly when compared with the MSV method (63.7 ± 26.2 vs 62.1 ± 22.7 ml/m 2 ,p=0 .29). The AL method correlated highly with MSV method (r = 0.86); however, Bland-Altman analysis demonstrated wide limits of agreement (mean difference 1.7 ± 13.4 ml/m 2 ). Intraobserver analysis revealed excellent agreement for both
Algorithm for Writing a Scientific Manuscript.

We present an algorithm for the construction of a strong initial draft. It is designed to overcome writer's block and to assist scientists who are not native English speakers. The writing starts with making figures and tables. These suggest several terse summary statements, the few major conclusions or observations the author will present to the scientific community. After identification of the audience, the specific community addressed, materials and methods are written to explain how the tables and figures were generated. Results are initially restricted to describing the logical data relations in each table and figure. The discussion then converts each data relationship into mechanistic cause-and-effect interpretations suitable for the abstract. A brief epilogue deals with the submission and the fate of the final manuscript once submitted. Although other models for the initial draft exist, this model has worked for us and new researchers in our laboratories and addresses problems we encountered while editing manuscripts.
Productivity and quality of public hospital medical staff: A dominican case study

Medical care personnel constitute a major portion of health-care costs and are an important determinant of quality. Personnel policy, especially regarding physicians and nurses, is central to the level and type of care provided, and ultimately to the resources expended. There is increasing evidence that state health systems in many Latin American countries face the apparently paradoxical situation of oversupply of physicians coupled with the undersupply of physician services. Yet, productivity of medical staff in public facilities in Latin America is a relatively unexplored area. Further, little is known about the relationship between productivity of medical staff and quality of services provided in developing countries. Taking the case of a large public hospital in the Dominican Republic, this study examines the quality of hospital structure and process as it relates to the functions and performance of physicians, and to a lesser extent, nurses. Based on a patient-based survey, data were collected on physician and nurse time allocations in outpatient, emergency, surgery and inpatient wards, the types of services provided, and the time costs of providing them. The analysis focuses on medical staff performance according to the professional levels of physicians and nurses providing care, and the time spent attending to patients and conducting supervisory tasks. The gap between contracted and expended physician hours is examined. The paper concludes with a discussion of the policy implications for hospital management, particularly as they relate to incentives for medical personnel.
Das vernetzte Fahrzeug Voraussetzungen, Anforderungen und Perspektiven

Der Weg zum vollstaendig vernetzten Fahrzeug ist vorgezeichnet, wichtige Etappen zu diesem Ziel sind bereits in Angriff genommen worden. Die informationstechnischen Loesungen in Form von geeigneten Plattformen, Software und Service-Modellen sind vorhanden, entsprechende sichere Uebertragungsprotokolle sind verfuegbar. Zukuenftig werden Cloud-basierte Backend-Systeme dabei einen hoeheren Stellenwert einnehmen. Damit wird es unter anderem auch moeglich sein, dass unterschiedliche Anbieter gemeinsam ueber offene Schnittstellen neue Dienste entwickeln und fuer die Fahrer bereitstellen. Von zentraler Bedeutung wird es sein, die wertvollen Daten mithilfe der aus der Cloud bereitgestellten Rechenleistung zuegig zu verarbeiten und den relevanten Stakeholdern bereitzustellen. Hierfuer wird in Zukunft eine neue Art der Zusammenarbeit zwischen IT- und Automobilindustrie und weiteren Industrien noetig sein, um das enorme Potenzial der vernetzten Fahrzeuge tatsaechlich nutzen zu koennen. (A)
Improving Accuracy in Mitchell's Logarithmic Multiplication Using Operand Decomposition

Logarithmic number systems (LNS) offer a viable alternative in terms of area, delay, and power to binary number systems for implementing multiplication and division operations for applications in signal processing. The Mitchell algorithm (MA), proposed, reduces the complexity of finding the logarithms and the antilogarithms using piecewise straight line approximations of the logarithm and the antilogarithm curves. The approximations, however, result in some loss of accuracy. Thus, several methods have been proposed in the literature for improving the accuracy of Mitchell's algorithm. In this work, we investigate a new method based on operand decomposition (OD) to improve the accuracy of Mitchell's algorithm when applied to logarithmic multiplication. In the OD technique proposed, for reducing the amount of switching activity in binary multiplication, the two inputs to be multiplied are together decomposed into four binary operands and the product is expressed as the sum of the products of the decomposed numbers. We show that applying operand decomposition to the inputs as a preprocessing step to Mitchell's multiplication algorithm significantly improves the accuracy. Experimental results indicate that the proposed algorithm for logarithmic multiplication reduces the error percentage of Mitchell's algorithm by 44.7 percent on the average. It is also shown that the OD method yields further improvement when combined with the other correction methods proposed in the literature
Dynamic Service Aggregation for Efficient Use of Resource in Interactive Video Delivery

To support future interactive information delivery services there is a need to balance individual interactivity with the desire to maximize the number of supported sessions. Currently, few techniques have demonstrated the ability to renegotiate and scale service parameters per session in progress as required to adapt to differing terminal equipment characteristics and network congestion. This paper addresses this problem through the definition of decomposable service groups that permit aggregation of interactivity, terminal characteristics, and levels of service scaling. The proposed approach applies the characteristics of end applications and data storage requirements to the design of a data scaling mechanism.
MIMO STAP clutter mitigation performance demonstration using acoustic Arrays

This paper demonstrates MIMO STAP radar techniques for Doppler-spread clutter mitigation using a 5-element transmit speaker array and a 16-element receive microphone array. Doppler-spread clutter is mitigated by ldquovirtualrdquo transmit beampattern nulling using partially-adaptive beamspace slowtime MIMO STAP (SLO-MO) on received audio data. For a transmit beamspace dimension of three, the ability of SLO-MO processing to achieve a 30 dB suppression of Doppler-spread clutter using only a single adaptive transmit degree of freedom is demonstrated. Additionally, MIMO acoustic array processing is shown to be useful in understanding factors which impact radar performance like clutter spatial spread.
Identification and characterization of the viral interaction determinant of the subgroup A avian leukosis virus receptor.

The cellular receptor for subgroup A avian leukosis viruses (ALV-A) has a small, 83-amino-acid extracellular domain containing a motif that is related in sequence to the ligand binding repeats of the low-density lipoprotein receptor. Extensive mutagenesis of the ALV-A receptor has identified two acidic amino acids (Asp-46 and Glu-47) and an adjacent aromatic amino acid (Trp-48) in the carboxy-terminal portion of this low-density lipoprotein receptor-related motif that are crucial for efficient viral entry. In addition, a 19-amino-acid peptide derived from this region efficiently and specifically blocked subgroup A viral infection when oxidized to form a disulfide bond previously predicted to form in the native receptor (C. Belanger, K. Zingler, and J. A. T. Young, J. Virol. 69:1019-1024, 1995). Thus, the charged and aromatic amino acid determinants that are required for viral infection appear to lie on a small loop region of the ALV-A receptor. Previously, a single aromatic and one or more charged residues on the CD4 receptor for human and simian immunodeficiency viruses, and the MCAT receptor for ecotropic murine leukemia viruses, were shown to be important for viral entry. These results suggest that different retroviruses may recognize related determinants on structurally divergent cellular receptors.
A New Look at Interpretations of the Early Iron Age in East Africa

Since the publication in English in 1965 of Jan Vansina's Oral Tradition , historians of Africa have been increasingly concerned with developing methods which confirm the historical value of oral traditions. Independent proof for the historicity of oral traditions is often lacking; consequently the historian is usually left with comparative analysis as his primary analytical method. Archeologists such as Merrick Posnansky, Frank Willett, and John Sutton have in part attempted to show linkages between oral traditions and archeological evidence. Posnansky, especially, has contributed much to the idea that it is possible to combine the two sources to obtain a more comprehensive view of Hfeways usually referred to as ‘prehistoric’ Recent research, though, now suggests that the concept ‘prehistoric’ must be questioned, particularly in cases where there is a demonstrated tie between archeological evidence and oral traditions. When archeology affirms the accuracy of oral traditions which explain, comment on, interpret, or locate activities and sites which predate a literate tradition, then the germaneness of the concept must be critically questioned. It is my position here that when archeological evidence confirms the historical value of oral traditions about preliterate life, then those cultural phenomena in that time period should be considered historic rather than prehistoric. To retain ‘prehistory’ as a concept in this context ignores and even militates against the historiographies and historical concepts of other cultures. The ramifications of this relativist perspective are considerable both for the study of history and of prehistory. Given this logic, historians must begin to reassess and expand their concepts of what history is and prehistorians must prepare to forfeit part of the temporal domain previously considered as prehistory.
Ionization in the Atmosphere of Mars

Assuming that the atmosphere at the surface of Mars consists of ⅕ oxygen and ⅘ other gases, as nitrogen, etc., the composition of the atmosphere to great heights is calculated, just as was done for the earth, from the actions of gas diffusion and gravity. The electron density in the atmosphere of Mars due to the ultraviolet light of the sun is found to have a maximum value of 1.1 ×105at a height of 440 km above the surface on a summer day, and 0.55×105at 310 km on a winter day: On a summer day the skip distances for 100, 80, 60 and 50-meter waves are 0, 730, 1410 and 2240 km, respectively, and the shortest wave for reliable long distance wireless communication over the surface of Mars is about 47 meters. Winter and night values of these quantities are greater. Because of the skip distances for waves below 100 meters, it would seem that conditions on Mars are not very advantageous for short-wave communication, and it may be conjectured that no wireless apparatus exists there for waves below 100 meters. Waves longer than about 100 meters will not pierce through the atmosphere of the earth. These calculations, apart from other considerations, support the conclusion that only a very optimistic experimenter would look for successful wireless communication between the earth and Mars.
Sixth grade mathematics teachers’ intentions and use of probing, guiding, and factual questions

This case study of a first-year and an experienced teacher presents an analysis of the place and frequency of three types of questions: probing, guiding, and factual. We examined the use of these questions in the course of five lessons, in order to study the relationship between the part of the lesson and types of questions asked. In addition, we interviewed the teachers to gain insights into their reasons for asking different types of questions. Both teachers asked many more factual questions than other types of questions regardless of their teaching strategies. Both asked more probing questions during the summary part of the lessons than in other parts. The first year teacher asked more probing questions overall than the experienced teacher, except in a lesson in which the experienced teacher engaged student with manipulatives. Guiding questions were rarely used by either teacher. In the interviews, both teachers said asking higher order questions was important for better students’ learning, even though they asked relatively few probing or guiding questions. Using the indicators we developed for question types, we found that the two teachers were aware of the functions of questions they used. Even after a considerable amount of time had elapsed, they were able to recall the lesson from a video clip and explain why they used questions with particular students or in a specific situation
Frequent polymorphism at drug resistance sites in HIV-1 protease and reverse transcriptase.

Background: Failure of antiretroviral therapy may result from the selection of preexisting, drug-resistant HIV-1 variants, but the frequency and type of such variants have not been defined. Objective: We used single genome sequencing (SGS) to characterize the frequency of polymorphism at drug resistance sites in protease (PR) and reverse transcriptase (RT) in plasma samples from antiretroviral naive individuals. Methods: A total of 2229 pro-pol sequences in 79 plasma samples from 30 patients were analyzed by SGS. A mean of 28 single genome sequences was obtained from each sample. The frequency of mutations at all PR and RT sites was compared to those associated with drug resistance. Results: We detected polymorphism at one or more drug resistance sites in 27 of 30 (90%) patients. Polymorphism at positions 179 and 215 of RT was most common, both occurring in 23% of patients. Most (68%) of other drug resistance sites were polymorphic with an average of 3.2% of genomes per sample containing at least one variant from wild type. Seven drug resistance sites were polymorphic in more than 1% of genomes: PR position 33; RT positions 69, 98, 118, 179, 210, and 215. Although frequencies of synonymous polymorphism were similar at resistance and nonresistance sites, nonsynonymous polymorphism were significantly less common at drug resistance sites, implying stronger purifying selection at these positions. Conclusions: HIV-1 variants that are polymorphic at drug resistance sites pre-exist frequently as minor species in antiretroviral naive individuals. Standard genotype techniques have grossly underestimated their frequency.
A Very Clear Blue Line: Behavioral Economics, Public Choice, Public Art and Sea Level Rise

As much as science and policy have to tell us about coastal policy in an era of climate change, literature and visual art also play a role. Images of the mythical Flood pervade our culture's considerations of climate change, even though projected sea level rise is gradual and not in absolute terms a large amount. Sea level rise is expected to have many adverse consequences. The essay focuses on coastal development. The problems here are familiar. Unwise land use choices repeat themselves despite a series of disasters from which we appear to learn nothing. Mechanisms of risk perception, moral hazard behavior, concealment of risk for personal gain, and manipulation of governmental process to subsidize risky locational decisions all play a role. Lucas v. South Carolina Coastal Council is faulted for undermining South Carolina's effort to prevent unwise land use by banning development in risky coastal locations.Looking to the future, the essay asks whether better risk communication could play a role. It identifies blue line projects, in which artists and activists inscribe a line directly on the ground, either at the level of the current predicted storm surge, or the predicted sea level if the Greenland or Antarctic ice sheets were to melt. Blue line projects are place-based public art. They insert themselves into the daily life of specific communities in a way that is qualitatively different from most current discourse about climate change and sea level rise. The essay examines the legal and political feasibility of blue line projects, as well as their underlying function, inasmuch as people use vision to understand their relationship to land. Private property owners and municipalities committed to addressing global warming should incorporate blue line projects into their strategy for changing norms and behavior in light of climate change.
Design of cubic-phase-free ultrashort-pulse solid-state lasers

Recent developments in solid-state lasers have led to the production of sub 25-fs pulses from Ti:sapphire oscillators and sub 50-fs pulses from Cr:LiSrAlF6 oscillators. Residual cavity cubic phase error is often believed to be the factor limiting pulse duration. Techniques that have been used to reduce this error include reducing the length of the laser rod, using nonstandard prism materials, and including an intracavity Gires-Tournois interferometer. We show that for any choice of laser rod, prism material, and net cavity group delay dispersion (GDD), there exists a wavelength range where cavity cubic phase vanishes. Within this range, the exact zero cubic phase wavelength is dependent upon the ratio of prism material to laser rod material.
Neurovesicles in Brain Development

Long before the nervous system is organized into electrically active neural circuits, connectivity emerges between cells of the developing brain through extracellular signals. Extracellular vesicles that shuttle RNA, proteins, and lipids from donor cells to recipient cells are candidates for mediating connectivity in the brain. Despite the abundance of extracellular vesicles during brain development, evidence for their physiological functions is only beginning to materialize. Here, we review evidence of the existence, content, and functions of extracellular vesicles in brain development.
Use of Para-Aminobenzoic Acid to Inhibit Sulfonamide Action in Bactericidal Tests

ConclusionsP-aminobenzoic acid inhibits the antibacterial action of sulfathiazole but has no effect on pneumococcidal antibodies in fresh defibrinated blood.
Silicon-Oxynitride (SiON) for Photonic Integrated Circuits

We report on the fabrication and analysis of silicon-oxynitride (SiON) as core material for silicon-based planar photonic waveguide circuits. Features of devices made of this particular SiON material are: (1) a silicon-compatible technology (low-cost perspective), (2) a waveguide structure with high dielectric index contrast, allowing a very compact device layout (approximately 10× smaller radius of curvature than conventional doped SiO2 technology), (3) a low optical loss < 0.15 dB/cm, in the 1550 nm telecommunication window and (4) a negligible polarization dependence. The materials aspects and resulting analyses of the SiON layers as well as particular device properties are described.
Cultivating Global Citizens: Population in the Rise of China

Cultivating Global Citizens: Population in the Rise of China. 2010. By SUSAN GREENHALGH. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Pp. xv + 138. £22.95 or US$29.95. ISBN: 978-0-674-05571-1. Susan Gr...
Why do fearful facial expressions elicit behavioral approach? Evidence from a combined approach-avoidance implicit association test

Despite communicating a “negative” emotion, fearful facial expressions predominantly elicit behavioral approach from perceivers. It has been hypothesized that this seemingly paradoxical effect may occur due to fearful expressions’ resemblance to vulnerable, infantile faces. However, this hypothesis has not yet been tested. We used a combined approach-avoidance/implicit association test (IAT) to test this hypothesis. Participants completed an approach-avoidance lever task during which they responded to fearful and angry facial expressions as well as neutral infant and adult faces presented in an IAT format. Results demonstrated an implicit association between fearful facial expressions and infant faces and showed that both fearful expressions and infant faces primarily elicit behavioral approach. The dominance of approach responses to both fearful expressions and infant faces decreased as a function of psychopathic personality traits. Results suggest that the prosocial responses to fearful expressions observed in most individuals may stem from their associations with infantile faces.
A lyophilized human reference plasma for coagulation factors. Evidence for stability of factors I, II, V, and VII through XII.

Results are reported of a one-year study oh the stability of a lyophilized normal human reference plasma, originally standardized for eight clotting factor activities against a freshly prepared pool of titrated, platelet-poor normal human plasma. The stability of any particular coagulant activity in this reagent was represented mathematically as a function of the observed clotting times obtained under specific assay conditions, where any observed change in the clotting times over the trial period was taken to reflect a change in the stability of the reference plasma. Taking into consideration estimates of variability contributed by different donors of factor-deficient substrate-plasma, different lots of substrate from the same donor, different technologists, and certain age-of-substrate lot trends, there was no statistically significant change in functional activity for Factors V and VII through XII in the reagent when it was stored unreconstituted below –25C. By less rigorous criteria, both clottable fibrinogen (Factor I) and the thrombin-forming potential of prothrombin (Factor II) also were stable during this same period. Based on these results, it was concluded that when suitably prepared, lyophilized human plasma can be used as a stable, secondary standard reference for the assay of coagulation factors.
Reconciliation and the “self-in-community” in post-transitional South African fiction

Since the end of apartheid and South Africa’s first democratic elections in 1994, efforts at reconciliation have been dramatic, most notably in the form of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (...
Individual, Cultural and Structural Predictors of Vaccine Safety Confidence and Influenza Vaccination Among Hispanic Female Subgroups

Rates of influenza vaccination among US Hispanics are lower than for non-Hispanic whites, yet little is known about factors affecting vaccination in this population. Additionally, although Hispanics are a diverse population with culturally distinct subgroups, they are often treated as a homogenous population. This study (1) examines how confidence in vaccine safety and influenza vaccine use vary by Hispanic subgroup and (2) identifies individual, cultural and structural correlates of these outcomes. This study analyzed survey data from 1565 Hispanic women who were recruited at clinic- and community-based sites in Los Angeles. Education, healthcare coverage, acculturation, fatalism, and religiosity were predictors of influenza vaccination behavior and predictors varied by subgroup. These findings provide guidance for how influenza vaccine promotion efforts can be developed for Hispanic subgroups. Confidence in the safety of a vaccine is a major predictor of flu vaccination and an important modifiable target for intervention.
QUICK EVALUATION OF WATER DISINFECTION EFFICACY BY RT-PCR METHOD

Objective To observe the effect of mRNA-based reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction( mRNA-RT-PCR) in detecting viable Escherichia coli using,and to evaluate the water disinfection efficacy. Methods The Uid A gene of Escherichia coli was detected by mRNA-based RT-PCR. Escherichia coli exposed to different disinfection processes were detected using the RT-PCR method compared to the traditional PCR and plating methods. Results The sensitivity of detection was 3. 6 × 103cfu /ml; the new method was suitable for the detection of Escherichia coli after the inactivation of chlorine disinfectant or chlorine dioxide,and was in good agreement with the plating method. While a false positive result was obtained by the traditional PCR. Conclusion This method can be used to detect viable Escherichia coli,and shows to be a promising method for evaluating the efficacy of water disinfection.
A Multi-dimensional Analysis of the Theoretical Basis of Special Education

The approaches to the probe into the theoretical basis of special education vary owing to a multi-dimensional understanding of the term "special education." The theoretical basis of special education or its models can by analyzed according to the organization and development of special education programs,whereas the theoretical basis of special pedagogy can be analyzed according to its disciplinary attributes and independent features.There is a close relationship between the theoretical basis of special education programs and that of special education disciplines.It must be pointed out that the understanding of the theoretical basis of special education needs to attach importance to relevant theories or disciplines behind the theories of special education,and to relevant disciplines behind special education disciplines.
Identification of Novel Regulators of the JAK/STAT Signaling Pathway that Control Border Cell Migration in the Drosophila Ovary

The Janus Kinase/Signal Transducer and Activator of Transcription (JAK/STAT) signaling pathway is an essential regulator of cell migration both in mammals and fruit flies. Cell migration is required for normal embryonic development and immune response but can also lead to detrimental outcomes, such as tumor metastasis. A cluster of cells termed “border cells” in the Drosophila ovary provides an excellent example of a collective cell migration, in which two different cell types coordinate their movements. Border cells arise within the follicular epithelium and are required to invade the neighboring cells and migrate to the oocyte to contribute to a fertilizable egg. Multiple components of the STAT signaling pathway are required during border cell specification and migration; however, the functions and identities of other potential regulators of the pathway during these processes are not yet known. To find new components of the pathway that govern cell invasiveness, we knocked down 48 predicted STAT modulators using RNAi expression in follicle cells, and assayed defective cell movement. We have shown that seven of these regulators are involved in either border cell specification or migration. Examination of the epistatic relationship between candidate genes and Stat92E reveals that the products of two genes, Protein tyrosine phosphatase 61F (Ptp61F) and brahma (brm), interact with Stat92E during both border cell specification and migration.
Sensitivty Analysis and Its Uses

One important issue in DEA which has been studied by many DEA researchers is the efficiency sensitivity to perturbations in the data. Some DEA sensitivity studies focus on the sensitivity of DEA results to the variable and model selection, e.g., Ahn and Seiford (1993). Most of the DEA sensitivity analysis studies focus on the misspecification of efficiency classification of a test DMU. However, note that DEA is an extremal method in the sense that all extreme points are characterized as efficient. If data entry errors occur for various DMUs, the resulting isoquant may vary substantially. We say that the calculated frontiers of DEA models are stable if the frontier DMUs that determine the DEA frontier remain on the frontier after particular data perturbations are made.