cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Racial disparity in early graft failure after infrainguinal bypass

Background: Racial disparities have been shown to be associated with increasing healthcare costs. We sought to identify racial disparities in 30-d graft failure rates after infrainguinal bypass in an effort to define targets for improved health care among minorities. Methods: The 2005e2011 National Surgical Quality Improvement Program database was queried for patients with peripheral arterial disease who underwent infrainguinal bypass as their primary procedure. A bivariate analysis was done to assess pre and intraoperative risk factors across race (whites, blacks, and Hispanics). Multivariate logistic regression was performed to assess the independent association of race with 30-d graft failure. Results: Of a total of 16,276 patients, 12,536 (77.0%) were whites, 2940 (18.1%) blacks, and 800 (4.9%) Hispanics. Black patients were more likely to be younger, female, current smokers, and on dialysis (P < 0.001, all). In addition, whites were less likely to present with critical limb ischemia compared with blacks and Hispanics (44.2 versus 55.4 versus 52.8%, respectively; P < 0.001). Similarly, fewer whites underwent femoral-tibial (31.4 vs. 34.7 vs. 38.6% respectively) or popliteal-tibial level bypasses (8.9 versus 13.4 versus 16.1%, respectively) than blacks and Hispanics (P < 0.001, all). There was no difference in the use of autogenous conduit across the groups (P ¼ 0.266). Proportionally more blacks than whites developed early graft failure (6.7 versus 4.5%; P < 0.001) but there was no difference comparing Hispanics to whites (6.0 versus 4.5%; P ¼ 0.057). On multivariable analysis, black race remained independently associated with early graft failure (adjusted odds ratio ¼ 1.26, 95% confidence interval 1.05e1.51; P ¼ 0.011). Conclusions: More blacks and Hispanics present with critical limb ischemia, requiring distal revascularization. Even when controlling for anatomic differences and degree of peripheral arterial disease, black race remained independently associated with early graft failure after infrainguinal bypass. These results identify a target for improved outcomes.
A genetic algorithm based approach to maximizing real-time system value under resource constraints

For many embedded systems, different real-time applications are consolidated to the same hardware platform to meet the growing demand for diverse functionalities. Due to functionality differences, the values that different applications contribute to the system may not be the same. When system resources are limited and not all applications can be executed with guaranteed QoS, decisions have to be made as to which applications should be selected and how their tasks are deployed on available processors so that the system value is maximized and all the selected applications meet their deadlines. However, making the optimal decision for the application selection and task deployment (ASTD) problem is NP-hard. In this paper, we present a genetic algorithm (GA) based approach for the ASTD problem. We experimentally compare the performance of GA-based approach with the optimal approach chosen by enumerating all possible choices on a small scale, and with other heuristic approaches existed in the literature on a large scale. The results show that the system value obtained by the GA-based approach is close to the optimal value and can be twice as large as the value obtained by other heuristic approaches.
An equation of state for the CH4-CO2-H2O system: II. Mixtures from 50 to 1000°C and 0 to 1000 bar

An equation of state (EOS) for mixtures in the CH4-CO2-H2O system has been developed. The model is based on the highly accurate endmember EOS presented in the previous article and on an empirical mixing rule. The mixing rule is based on an analogy with high order contributions to the virial expansion for mixtures. Comparison with experimental data indicates that the mixed system EOS can predict both phase equilibria and volumetric properties for the binaries with accuracy close to that of the experimental data for a temperature range from 50 to 1000°C and a pressure range from 0 to 1000 bar (or to 3000 bar with less accuracy). For temperatures below the critical point of water, there is very little PVTX (density) data. However, even for temperatures for which sufficient data exists we found that parameterization from PVTX data alone did not lead to a free energy that would accurately predict liquid-vapor equilibria. On the other hand, using this data alone we obtain a free energy that predicts both liquid-vapor equilibria and the PVTX properties of the binaries with roughly experimental accuracy. There are very few data inside the ternary. However, the mixing rule contains third order parameters, which require evaluation from ternary mixtures. For the single temperature for which we have data, the adjustment of one parameter gives good prediction of phase equilibrium in the ternary. The resulting EOS predicts that the presence of a small amount of CO2 can significantly affect the solubility of CH4. The application of this EOS to the study of fluid inclusions is discussed. The presence of CH4 in CO2rich fluid inclusions can significantly affect the predicted trapping pressure.
Preliminary report on the use of zinc in vivo to protect against nitrogen mustard toxicity in female Balb/cJ mice.

Previous studies with cultured normal human fibroblasts indicated that treatment of cells with zinc before exposure to an alkylating agent enhanced cell survival by seven- to ninefold. To establish whether a similar zinc-induced protective response could be elicited in vivo, we conducted a preliminary experiment in which Balb/cJ female mice were treated with zinc (2 mg kg-1 body weight) or saline by intraperitoneal (i.p.) injection at 48, 36, 24 and 12 h before i.p. administration of the alkylating agent nitrogen mustard (4 mg kg-1 body weight). Of the animals that received saline before nitrogen mustard, 57% died as compared with only 20% in the group treated with zinc before administration of the alkylating agent. As was observed in the studies of cells in culture, the results described in this report may suggest the existence in Balb/cJ female mice of a zinc-mediated protective response against nitrogen mustard toxicity.
MiniBooNE oscillation results and implications

The MiniBooNE Collaboration has reported first results of a search for νe appearance in a νμ beam. With two largely independent analyses, no significant excess was observed of events above background for reconstructed neutrino energies above 475 MeV and the data are consistent with no oscillations within a two neutrino appearance-only oscillation model. An excess of events (186 ± 27 ± 33 events) is observed below the 475 MeV oscillation search cut. This low-energy excess cannot be explained by a two-neutrino oscillation model. This report presents an overview of the MiniBooNE first result and decribes some initial cross checks and investigations associated with the low energy excess.
Response of a biologically inspired MEMS differential microphone diaphragm

The development of a novel, biologically inspired acoustic sensor is presented. The primary goal of this effort is to construct a miniature device that is capable of detecting the orientation of an incident sound source with an accuracy of 2°. The design approach follows from our investigation of the mechanics of directional hearing in the parasitoid fly, Ormia ochracea. This animal has been shown to be able to detect changes in the line of bearing of an incident sound that are as small as 2°. The tympanal structures of the ears of this animal suggest a novel approach to designing very small directionally sensitive microphones. A microphone diaphragm design is presented that has been fabricated using silicon microfabrication technology. Measurements of the static deflection due to intrinsic stress and of the response to sound are shown to be in excellent agreement with predictions. Predicted results indicate that this microphone concept could lead to a practical differential microphone with self-noise as low as 20 dBA.
SU-FF-T-164: Compartmentalized Modulated Electron and Photon IMRT Planning

Purpose: Electron radiotherapy is an option for shallow tumors due to sharp distal falloff. Optimization tools to perform Modulate Electron Radiotherapy (MERT) plans using photonMLCs produced promising results. This study optimizes MERT with IMRT for targets that can't be treated alone with electrons. Methods and Materials: Distances from the external contour to PTV distal border were calculated from CT scans of a post‐mastectomy chest wall patient, and mapped onto a beams eye view plane. This map is converted to an energy map by binning effective depths. A MERT plan was done for the PTV portion that can be treated with MERT using the MERTgui that can interactively shape fields. Treatment head simulations using BEAMnrc and MCSIM Monte Carlo dose calculations were performed for apertures separately and resulting dose were then combined with different weights using another gui. Dose from the MERT plan was exported to Eclipse and the IMRT‐PTV was generated by subtracting MERT‐PTV from the original PTV. This new PTV was divided into sub‐ptv regions to provide reasonable gradient between the distal and proximal subsections of the new PTV relative to the MERT‐PTV. The IMRT plan was then optimized and combined with the MERT electron plan in CERR. Results: Compartmentalized MERT+IMRT plan resulted in good target organ coverage while decreasing dose to organs at risk such as heart, contralateral lung, but increased dose to the ipsilateral lung. With the MERT+IMRT plan, D20 decreased from 21Gy to 4Gy for heart, and 11Gy to 2Gy for contralateral lung, while increasing dose from 27Gy to 33Gy for ipsilateral lung.Conclusion: A four step optimization process in which optimization tools were devised to plan compartmentalized MERT and IMRT. Compartmentalized optimization of MERT and IMRT allows planning of targets that were not ideal for MERT‐only planning.
Experiments in Bayesian Diagnostics with IUID-Enabled Data

The Department of Defense (DOD) has recognized the importance of improving asset management and has created Item Unique Identification numbers (IUIDs) to improve the situation. IUIDs will be used to track financial and contract records and obtain location and status information about parts in DoD inventory. IUIDs will also support data collection for weapon systems from build, test, operations, maintenance, repair, and overhaul histories. In addition to improving the overall logistics process, IUIDs offer an opportunity to utilize asset-specific data to improve system maintenance and support. An Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) Pilot Project to implement IUID on a Navy weapon system presents an immediate opportunity to evaluate this use of IUID data. This paper reports on experiments conducted to see if a set of asset-specific diagnostic classifiers trained on subsets of data is more accurate than a general, composite classifier trained on all of the data. In general, it is determined that the set is more accurate than the single classifier given enough data. However, other factors play an important role such as system complexity and noise levels in the data. Additionally, the improvements found do not arise until larger amounts of data are available. This suggests that future work should concentrate on tying the process of data collection to the estimation of the associated probabilities.
Analysis of trace level peptides using capillary electrophoresis with UV laser-induced fluorescence

In order to measure trace level peptides (< 1 μM) in exceedingly small sample sizes (< 100 pl) from neuronal or subneuronal samples, sophisticated separation and detection methods are required. Novel instrumentation is described that employs UV laser excitation of fluorescamine labeled peptides for fluorescence detection in capillary electrophoresis. Small injections of standard analyte mixtures or biological samples are efficiently separated on the basis of their electrophoretic mobilities in an electric field applied across the capillary. For sensitive detection, we use the 354 nm line from a helium-cadmium laser for excitation, a reflecting microscope objective for fluorescence collection, and a photomultiplier tube for photon counting. A large excess of fluorescamine derivatizes amino acids and peptides down to concentrations of 10 nM with a previously unreported but manageable fluorescence background resulting from reagent hydrolysis and impurities. This detection method gives a linear working range of four orders of magnitude and a limit of detection for labeled Aplysia californica egg-laying hormone of 2.3 × 10−9 M. Finally, assays of individual Aplysia c. neurons produce electropherograms unique to the identified neuron type and peaks corresponding to peptide standards.
Permanent prostate brachytherapy using high V150

Abstract Purpose Prostate brachytherapy sometimes requires the volume receiving >150% of the prescribed dose (V150) to be >50% to obtain satisfactory coverage. There has been concern expressed that high V150 may be associated with higher rates of urinary retention and morbidity. Methods and materials We reviewed 207 consecutive cases of prostate brachytherapy treated with palladium 103 ( 103 Pd; n=140) or iodine 125 ( 125 I; n=67). Prescribed doses for 103 Pd monotherapy and boost were 124 and 90 Gy, respectively; for 125 I, the corresponding doses were 160 and 120 Gy. Patients were evaluated at baseline, 1 month, 3 months, and every 6 months thereafter. Results Median follow-up at the time of analysis was 18 months. For 103 Pd, the mean intraoperative volume and V150 were 30.3 cm 3 and 72%, respectively; corresponding values for 125 I were 38.3 cm 3 and 59%, respectively. Two of the patients treated with iodine and 9 treated with palladium experienced acute urinary retention, which was not statistically significant ( P = .48). The rectal V100 for 103 Pd was significantly less than that for 125 I ( P 103 Pd were 8.5, 19.7, and 8.2, respectively; for 125 I, the values were 7.4, 17.1, and 13.4, respectively. At 12 months, the AUA scores returned to baseline in the 103 Pd-treated patients, whereas scores in 125 I-treated patients remained elevated ( P = .005). High V150 did not appear to cause undue risk of urinary retention or morbidity based on logistic regression analysis of patients treated with monotherapy performed with either isotope. Conclusions The risk of urinary retention was low, despite high V150 values for both isotopes. In patients treated with brachytherapy alone, no significant increase in urinary morbidity was seen in relation to V150. AUA scores returned to baseline in 103 Pd-treated patients at 1 year, whereas 125 I-treated patients demonstrated continued elevation.
A stochastic model for determining the necessary staff level in a service industry

Determining sufficient staff levels and providing quality, economical and efficient service is a problem that is difficult for some staffing managers to solve. The objectives in this paper are to derive a stochastic model for determining the necessary staff levels in various service environments such as hospitals, banks, or in manufacturing settings where the demand for a good staff is erratic. In order to assess the proper staff levels, an equation must be used which involves previous service demand hours that are considered as a distribution integrated within the statistical capability scale distribution. The most important property of this staffing model is that the results are independent of the mix of the jobs, the variation of the in-service time for jobs, and the stationary or nonstationary job arrival rate.
Hydrogen cyanide generation by μ-opiate receptor activation: possible neuromodulatory role of endogenous cyanide

Hydrogen cyanide, a gaseous molecule, is produced by white blood cells during phagocytosis. The present study examined the possibility that neuronal-like cells may also produce cyanide following activation. Rat pheochromocytoma (PC12) cells exhibited a low level of cyanide generation that was significantly increased by mu-opiate agonists (hydromorphone, morphine) and blocked by naloxone. A variety of other agonists including bradykinin, nicotine and glutamate did not generate cyanide in PC12 cells. Systemic administration of hydromorphone to rats increased brain cyanide levels by 61% after 15 min. Using microdialysis probes implanted in the cortical-hippocampal areas of the anesthetized rat or in the hypothalamus of the conscious hamster, a 2- to 5-fold increase in cyanide generation was seen after hydromorphone administration and this increase was blocked by naloxone. To determine whether cyanide release by hydromorphone has functional significance in a neuronal system, cyanide enhancement of N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA)-induced increased [Ca2+]i was measured in rat cerebellar granule cells. Hydromorphone enhanced the response to NMDA similar to cyanide and the hydromorphone effect was blocked by cyanide scavengers. These data show that cyanide generation is increased in neuronal tissue by a mu-opiate receptor agonist and it is proposed that endogenous cyanide may modulate the NMDA receptor response.
Results and expectations with image-integrated brainstem stereotactic biopsy.

BACKGROUND: The histologic diagnosis of an intrinsic brainstem tumor remains problematic due to controversies in methods of biopsy. Despite the widespread use of biopsy techniques, stereotactic brain stem biopsy has received limited attention due to potential morbidity and limited sample size. METHODS: To evaluate the safety and efficacy of brain stem stereotactic biopsy using a dedicated computed tomography (CT)-stereotactic operating room suite, we reviewed our outcomes in 40 consecutive patients over a 13-year interval. This study included patients with midbrain lesions (n = 20), pontine lesions (n = 18), and medullary lesions (n = 2). Midline lesions were approached via a coronal, transthalamic trajectory; lateral brain stem lesions usually were approached via a transcerebellar route. RESULTS: A histologic diagnosis was achieved in 38 patients (95%). All patients had an immediate, intraoperative, postbiopsy CT scan to check for hemorrhage (none occurred). Morbidity was limited to one patient (2.5%) who developed a transient diplopia; there was no mortality. CONCLUSIONS: Stereotactic biopsy for intrinsic brain stem lesions proved as safe and effective as biopsy in the supratentorial compartment. Using high-resolution stereotactic imaging, an appropriate intraparenchymal trajectory, limited sampling, and specific neuropathologic tests, stereotactic techniques within the brain stem were performed with low risk and high accuracy. Biopsy results facilitated specific management strategies for each patient.
The evolution of coordination in outsourced software development projects: a comparison of client and vendor perspectives

Abstract This paper examines the coordination of outsourced information system (IS) development, focusing on two sets of questions: How are these projects coordinated, and why? How do the coordination mechanisms evolve during a project, and why? Coordination mechanisms were classified into standards, plans, formal mutual adjustment, and informal mutual adjustment. Two studies were conducted, including seven and four cases from vendor and client perspectives, respectively. Based on these cases, the coordination mechanisms used in outsourced IS projects are examined, factors influencing the evolution of coordination mechanisms are identified, and a model of evolution of coordination is developed. The cases also revealed three scenarios for the evolution of coordination (non-coordination, consistent coordination, late coordination). The results show the client as pulling the outsourcing relationship toward a hierarchy structure, characterized by informal mutual adjustment, while the vendor pulls the relationship toward a market structure, characterized by standards, plans, and formal mutual adjustment. Implications for future research and practice are examined.
Fenoxycarb as a long term protectant for stored rough rice.

Fenoxycarb controlled four major species of stored-product insects for 18 mo in rough rice treated with 5 or 10 ppm and stored in small bins. Malathion controlled susceptible insects but began to lose efficacy after 6-9 mo. Angoumois grain moths, Sitotroga cerealella (Olivier); lesser grain borers, Rhyzopertha dominica (F.); rice weevils, Sitophilus oryzae (L.); and red flour beetles, Tribolium castaneum (Herbst); were released near the bins and allowed equal access to all treatments. Several thousand of each species were released at approximately monthly intervals. All treatments were invaded approximately equally. Toxicity of fenoxycarb to adult insects was inconsequential but both rates virtually eliminated reproduction by Angoumois grain moths, lesser grain borers, and rice weevils in the bins and in laboratory bioassays for 18 mo. Angoumois grain moths resistant to malathion were controlled by fenoxycarb. Fenoxycarb did not affect germination of seed rice when applied alone or in combination with the fungicides carboxin and captafol.
Tandem duplication. A novel type of triplet repeat instability

Triplet repeat sequence (TRS) inserts containing (CTG.CAG)(n) (17-175 units in length) were tandemly duplicated when propagated in plasmids in Escherichia coli. The products of this novel type of TRS genetic instability are tracts of as many as 34 multiple units, which contain the entire TRS as well as 129 base pairs of nonrepetitive flanking sequence. The duplication process required the presence of two or more TRS-containing units. Close proximity (170 base pairs) of the TRS to the R6K gamma origin of replication of the pUTminiTn5Cm-derived constructs stimulated the tandem duplication process. These events are proposed to occur due to secondary structure formation, stalling of DNA synthesis, and slippage-mediated misalignment of the complementary strands relative to each other during DNA replication. This mechanism may account for the TRS-associated duplications in protein kinase and metalloprotease genes in neuroblastomas and melanomas, as well as the massive repeat expansions in type II triplet repeat neurological diseases.
Using positional distribution to identify splicing elements and predict pre-mRNA processing defects in human genes

We present an intuitive strategy for predicting the effect of sequence variation on splicing. In contrast to transcriptional elements, splicing elements appear to be strongly position dependent. We demonstrated that exonic binding of the normally intronic splicing factor, U2AF65, inhibits splicing. Reasoning that the positional distribution of a splicing element is a signature of its function, we developed a method for organizing all possible sequence motifs into clusters based on the genomic profile of their positional distribution around splice sites. Binding sites for serine/arginine rich (SR) proteins tended to be exonic whereas heterogeneous ribonucleoprotein (hnRNP) recognition elements were mostly intronic. In addition to the known elements, novel motifs were returned and validated. This method was also predictive of splicing mutations. A mutation in a motif creates a new motif that sometimes has a similar distribution shape to the original motif and sometimes has a different distribution. We created an intraallelic distance measure to capture this property and found that mutations that created large intraallelic distances disrupted splicing in vivo whereas mutations with small distances did not alter splicing. Analyzing the dataset of human disease alleles revealed known splicing mutants to have high intraallelic distances and suggested that 22% of disease alleles that were originally classified as missense mutations may also affect splicing. This category together with mutations in the canonical splicing signals suggest that approximately one third of all disease-causing mutations alter pre-mRNA splicing.
On heuristics for determining the thickness of a graph

We present an empirical analysis of some heuristics for the graph thickness problem, i.e., decomposing a graph into the minimum number of planar subgraphs. The problem has applications in database systems, e.g., the layout of E-R diagrams. The heuristics are based on some algorithms for finding a maximal planar subgraph of a nonplanar graph. Empirical results show that a randomized heuristic is a practical tool for solving this problem. We also improve upon a previously derived upper bound for the thickness of a graph with respect to its size.
Efficient Combinatorial Optimization under Uncertainty. 1. Algorithmic Development

This paper presents hierarchical improvements to the combinatorial stochastic annealing algorithm using a new and efficient sampling technique. The Hammersley sequence sampling technique is used for updating discrete combinations, reducing the Markov chain length, determining the number of samples automatically, and embedding better confidence intervals of the samples. The improved algorithm, Hammersley stochastic annealing, can significantly improve computational efficiency over traditional stochastic programming methods. Three distinctive example functions considered proved the efficiency improvement of Hammersley stochastic annealing to be up to 99.3% better than the traditional counterparts. Thus, this new method can be a useful tool for large-scale combinatorial stochastic programming problems. Application of this new algorithm to a real world problem of solvent selection under uncertainty is presented in part 2 of this series.
Mechanisms causing muscle wasting in uraemia: From cultured cells to patients

Summary: Loss of muscle mass is a common problem in patients with acute or chronic renal failure. the mechanisms causing this problem involve blocking the metabolic responses that must be activated to maintain protein balance whenever protein intake is reduced (e.g. by anorexia or for other reasons). In uraemia, the ability to reduce degradation of essential amino acids or protein is blocked and muscle protein is lost; the signal is metabolic acidosis. In cultured myocytes, isolated muscles and patients, acidification increases the degradation of branched-chain amino acids and protein. This response requires glucocorticoids and involves stimulation of the activity of specific enzymes, branched-chain ketoacid dehydrogenase and components of the ATP-ubiquitin-proteasome dependent proteolytic pathway. the response also involves increased transcription of genes encoding these enzymes. Understanding regulation of these pathways could improve therapy of uraemia and other catabolic illnesses because the same pathways are activated in cancer, sepsis, burns, starvation and muscle denervation.
A field method for the cephalometric x-ray study of skulls in early Nubian cemeteries.

The cephalometer, a clinical and research instrument employed by the orthodontic profession to record standardized x-rays of the human skull, has been modified for research work in remote areas where the usual laboratory facilities are not available. This cephalometer was specifically designed to record cephalograms (head radiographs) on the living Nubian population and their extensive skeletal record. The cephalometer consists of a light, portable tripod stand and an aluminum beam to which is attached at one end a Wehmer cephalostat (head holder), and on the other end an isotope radiation source. Hence, the radiation source and the cephalostat were held in the standard relationship of five feet from source to the mid-saggittal plane of the cranium. Ytterbium-169, with a half life of 32.5 days, was used to expose the film. The isotope and the use of the new Experimental Polaroid X-ray Film permitted the x-ray examination of Nubian skulls with no conventional power source or darkroom facilities.
Testing whether treatment is ‘better’ than control with ordered categorical data: an evaluation of new methodology

A new test procedure is presented for the problem of testing whether a treatment is better than a control when there is ordered categorical data. The new test is based on the methodology developed for general 'one-sided' alternatives by Cohen and Sackrowitz. An evaluation of the test is made by comparing the power and expected p-values of the test with those of the Wilcoxon-Mann-Whitney test in examples. As predicted by the theoretical work by Cohen and Sackrowitz, the new test is seen to be preferable to the Wilcoxon-Mann-Whitney test. Computer programs to assist implementation of the new test are made available.
Tools for efficient epistasis detection in genome-wide association study

Background Genome-wide association study (GWAS) aims to find genetic factors underlying complex phenotypic traits, for which epistasis or gene-gene interaction detection is often preferred over single-locus approach. However, the computational burden has been a major hurdle to apply epistasis test in the genome-wide scale due to a large number of single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) pairs to be tested.
Using genome-wide transcriptional profiling to elucidate small-molecule mechanism

Transcriptional profiling with DNA microarrays can be used to measure the genome-wide transcriptional response to small molecules. Recent progress in the analysis of gene-expression data has relied on the generation of databases of profiles documenting the transcriptional effects of various compound treatments and genetic perturbations. A positive correlation between the transcriptional response induced by a novel small molecule and a database profile can provide insight into the molecule's mechanism. Transcriptional profiling can also be used to assess a small molecule's specificity for its target and to facilitate analysis of pathways downstream of the target.
Factors involved with qualitative syntheses: A new focus for research in science education

This article describes the nature of qualitative syntheses and reports such efforts as a new focus for research in science education. It uses Project Synthesis as conceived by Norris Harms as an example of a Qualitative Synthesis. It identifies four features for such research efforts: (1) They involve research teams structured to provide a variety of perspectives and viewpoints. (2) They involve a wide variety of data sources, including massive sets of data from a variety of sources and perspectives. Much of these data are qualitative and often gathered initially for a variety of purposes. (3) They include at least one conceptual scheme for accomplishing a synthesis. Most include a set of goals as one organizer and a set of critical incidents as another. Studies involving more than two such dimensions provide even more meaningful and useful synthesis. (4) They conclude with an analysis of meaning, a formulation of an overarching scheme, and a new model to be used for further thinking, research, and analysis. Such synthesis efforts also end with a set of recommendations for action and/or hypotheses to be tested.
Presidential Address: Virtual Kinship, Real Estat, and Diaspora Formation—The Man Lineage Revisited

UNLIKE OUR HISTORIAN FRIENDS, anthropologists do not have the luxury of drawing a line in the sands of time and declaring a closure date for our research. Ethnography never ends. Even the demise of the original field-worker does not conclude the enterprise, given the inevitability of re-studies (usually conducted by younger scholars eager to overthrow past paradigms). This article is a product of contemporary ethnography; it describes a project that has a beginning but no clear end. At some point during the 1990s, the research took on a life of its own and, if anyone is in charge, it is certainly not the ethnographer. In many respects, therefore, the project parallels the digital revolution: decentered, unpredictable, and "out of control."1 My address focuses on the long-term consequences of international migration and the historical dynamics of diaspora formation. The research is longitudinal in the sense that it tracks a single, tightly bound kinship group during thirty-five years of field research.2 From its inception, this has been what anthropologists refer to as a multisited ethnography, even though that term had not been invented when the research began (see Marcus 1995). The project started in 1969 as a "typical" (for that era) village study, focusing on a Cantonese community of two thousand people. The village, known as San Tin, lies smack on what was-in the 1960s-the front line of the cold war, four hundred yards south of the border between British Hong Kong and Mao Zedong's Cultural Revolution China. San Tin is the home of the Man lineage, one of the five major surname groups that dominated political life in the Hong Kong New Territories until the 1960s (Baker 1966). After a year and a half in this village, I moved to London and conducted a follow-up study of restaurant workers who had emigrated from San Tin (J. Watson 1974; 1975b, 103-31). Since that initial engagement, I have tracked San Tin people all over the world-to Holland, Belgium, Germany, and Scandinavia during the 1970s; from there to Canada in the 1980s; and
Performance of a conceptual and physically based model in simulating the response of a semi-urbanized watershed in San Antonio, Texas

The need for accurate hydrologic analysis and rainfall–runoff modelling tools has been rapidly increasing because of the growing complexity of operational hydrologic and hydraulic problems associated with population growth, rapid urbanization and expansion of agricultural activities. Given the recent advances in remote sensing of physiographic features and the availability of near real-time precipitation products, rainfall–runoff models are expected to predict runoff more accurately. In this study, we compare the performance and implementation requirements of two rainfall–runoff models for a semi-urbanized watershed. One is a semi-distributed conceptual model, the Hydrologic Engineering Center-Hydrologic Modelling System (HEC-HMS). The other is a physically based, distributed-parameter hydrologic model, the Gridded Surface Subsurface Hydrologic Analysis (GSSHA). Four flood events that took place on the Leon Creek watershed, a sub-watershed of the San Antonio River basin in Texas, were used in this study. The two models were driven by the Multisensor Precipitation Estimator radar products. One event (in 2007) was used for HEC-HMS and GSSHA calibrations. Two events (in 2004 and 2007) were used for further calibration of HEC-HMS. Three events (in 2002, 2004 and 2010) were used for model validation. In general, the physically based, distributed-parameter model performed better than the conceptual model and required less calibration. The two models were prepared with the same minimum required input data, and the effort required to build the two models did not differ substantially. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Phosphorous-31 nuclear magnetic resonance studies of cellular systems

Erythrocytes containing the oxygen storage protein hemerythrin were isolated from the sipunculid Phascolopsis gouldii and examined by ^^PNMR at 5°C. These cells were shown to possess phosphorylethanolamine (PEA), 2-aminoethylphosphonic acid (2-AEP), mannose-1-phosphate, and nucleotide triphosphates (NTP) as the major soluble phosphorus metabolites. The concentration of PEA in these cells was established to be greater than 20 mM. The intracellular pH was measured to be 7.2±0.1 in fully aerobic cells and 6.5±0.1 in anaerobic cells. The free magnesium concentration in aerobic cells was 0.34 mM and 85% of the ATP +2 was complexed to Mg . PEA was found to bind to P. gouldii methemerythrin (Kp=7.0±0.4M ). Scatchard and Hill plots revealed that this interaction was best characterized in terms of negative cooperativity or non-specific binding. In addition, PEA was found to be a potent inhibitor of azide binding to methemerythrin (metHr) at pH 7.2. No significant effect of 2-AEP on azide binding at pH 7.2 was observed. Erythrocytes from the sipunculid Themiste zostericola were also subjected to analysis by ^^P-NMR and were found to possess a resonance corresponding to phosphomonoesters in addition to the metabolites mentioned previously for P. gouldii. Erythrocytes from Themiste zostericola contained unusually high levels of 2-AEP. For aerobic erythrocytes, an intracellular pH of 7.1±0.1 was determined. The +2 percentage of ATP complexed to Mg was estimated to be 43 to 51%, and
Relay Channel With Private Messages

The relay channel with private messages (RCPM) is a generalized relay channel model where in addition to the traditional communication from source to destination (assisted by relay), the source has a private message for the relay, and the relay has a private message for the destination. This paper develops coding strategies for this channel based on decode-and-forward and compress-and-forward schemes. Achievable rate regions as well as outer bounds on the capacity region are obtained for the discrete memoryless relay channel with private messages. Then, the Gaussian versions of this channel are studied and achievable rate regions are characterized. Numerical results are provided that give insights into the trade-offs between private messaging and relayed messaging in this hybrid three-node network.
Endocytic Trafficking Routes of Wild Type and ΔF508 Cystic Fibrosis Transmembrane Conductance Regulator

Intracellular trafficking of cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) is a focus of attention because it is defective in most patients with cystic fibrosis. ΔF508 CFTR, which does...
Transforming Growth Factor-β-mediated Chondrogenesis of Human Mesenchymal Progenitor Cells Involves N-cadherin and Mitogen-activated Protein Kinase and Wnt Signaling Cross-talk

The multilineage differentiation potential of adult tissue-derived mesenchymal progenitor cells (MPCs), such as those from bone marrow and trabecular bone, makes them a useful model to investigate mechanisms regulating tissue development and regeneration, such as cartilage. Treatment with transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) superfamily members is a key requirement for the in vitro chondrogenic differentiation of MPCs. Intracellular signaling cascades, particularly those involving the mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinases, p38, ERK-1, and JNK, have been shown to be activated by TGF-βs in promoting cartilage-specific gene expression. MPC chondrogenesis in vitro also requires high cell seeding density, reminiscent of the cellular condensation requirements for embryonic mesenchymal chondrogenesis, suggesting common chondro-regulatory mechanisms. Prompted by recent findings of the crucial role of the cell adhesion protein, N-cadherin, and Wnt signaling in condensation and chondrogenesis, we have examined here their involvement, as well as MAP kinase signaling, in TGF-β1-induced chondrogenesis of trabecular bone-derived MPCs. Our results showed that TGF-β1 treatment initiates and maintains chondrogenesis of MPCs through the differential chondro-stimulatory activities of p38, ERK-1, and to a lesser extent, JNK. This regulation of MPC chondrogenic differentiation by the MAP kinases involves the modulation of N-cadherin expression levels, thereby likely controlling condensation-like cell-cell interaction and progression to chondrogenic differentiation, by the sequential up-regulation and progressive down-regulation of N-cadherin. TGF-β1-mediated MAP kinase activation also controls WNT-7A gene expression and Wnt-mediated signaling through the intracellular β-catenin-TCF pathway, which likely regulates N-cadherin expression and subsequent N-cadherin-mediated cell-adhesion complexes during the early steps of MPC chondrogenesis.
Quantitative analysis of sugar constituents of glycoproteins by capillary electrophoresis

A method for quantitative analysis of monosaccharides including N-acetylneuraminic acid derived from sialic acidcontaining oligosaccharides and glycoproteins is presented. The analysis is based on the combination of chemical and enzymatic methods coupled with capillary electrophoretic (CE) separation and laser-induced fluorescence (LIF) detection. The present method utilizes a simplified acid hydrolysis procedure consisting of mild hydrolysis (0.1 M TFA) to release sialic acid and strong acid hydrolysis (2.0 N TFA) to produce amino and neutral sugars. Amino sugars released from strong acid hydrolysis of oligosaccharides and glycoproteins were reacetylated and derivatized with 8-aminopyrene- 1,3,6trisulfonate (APTS) along with neutral sugars in the presence of sodium cyanoborohydride to yield quantitatively the highly stable fluorescent APTS adducts. N-acetylneuraminic acid (Neu5Ac), a major component of most mammalian glycoproteins, was converted in a fast specific reaction by the action of neuraminic acid aldolase (N-acylneuraminate pyruvatelyase EC 4.1.3.3) to N-acetylmannosamine (ManNAc) and pyruvate. ManNAc was then derivatized with APTS in the same manner as the other monosaccharides. This method was demonstrated for the quantitation of pure Neu5Ac and the species derived from mild acid hydrolysis of 6 4-sialyl-N-acetyllactosamine and bovine fetuin glycan. Quantitative recovery of the N-acetylmannosamine was obtained from a known amount of Neu5Ac in a mixture of seven other monosaccharides or from the sialylated oligosaccharides occurring in glycoproteins. The sequence of procedures consists of acid hydrolysis, enzymatic conversion and APTS derivatization which produced quantitative recovery of APTS-monosaccharide adducts. The detection limits for sugars derivatized with APTS and detected by CE-LIF are 100 pmol for Neu5Ac and 50 pmol for the other sugars.
Micromechanics modeling of smart composites

This paper discusses a summary of analytical modeling as applied to selected smart composites which include piezoelectric composites, shape memory alloy (SMA) fiber composites, and piezoresistive composites. First we discuss the definition of ‘smart materials’ which exhibit coupling among mechanical, thermal and electromagnetic behavior, then the Eshelby’s formulations based on a simple algebraic method for predictions of two types of smart composites properties are stated; piezoelectric and SMA composites, followed by the percolation model which is applied to obtain the strain‐electric conductivity relations of elastomer composites. The predictions based on these models are shown to be in good agreement with limited experimental results. q 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
VESPA: Variability emulation for System-on-Chip performance analysis

We address the problem of analyzing the performance of System-on-chip (SoC) architectures in the presence of variations. Existing techniques such as gate-level statistical timing analysis compute the distributions of clock frequencies of SoC components. However, we demonstrate that translating component-level characteristics into a system-level performance distribution is a complex and challenging problem due to the inter-dependencies between components' execution, indirect effects of shared resources, and interactions between multiple system-level “execution paths”. We argue that accurate variation-aware system-level performance analysis requires repeated system execution, which is prohibitively slow when based on simulation. Emulation is a widely-used approach to drastically speedup system-level simulation, but it has not been hitherto applied to variation analysis. We describe a framework — Variability Emulation for SoC Performance Analysis (VESPA) — that adapts and applies emulation to the problem of variation aware SoC performance analysis. The proposed framework consists of three phases: component variability characterization, variation-aware emulation setup, and Monte-carlo driven emulation. We demonstrate the utility of the proposed framework by applying it to design variation-aware architectures for two example SoCs — an 802.11 MAC processor and an MPEG encoder. Our results suggest that variability emulation has great potential to enable variation-aware design and exploration at the system level.
Does Loss of CD151 Expression Promote the Metastasis of Hypoxic Colon Cancer Cells

Intratumoral hypoxia increases invasion and metastasis through multiple mechanisms, including changes in gene expression that are mediated by hypoxia-inducible factor 1. In hypoxic colon cancer cells, hypoxia-inducible factor 1 inhibits the expression of CD151, a cell surface molecule that normally tethers epithelial cells to the basement membrane, which may promote metastasis.
A ROBUST SEQUENTIAL BAYESIAN METHOD FOR IDENTIFICATION OF DIFFERENTIALLY EXPRESSED GENES

A DNA microarray experiment measures the expression levels of thousands of genes simultaneously. An important question is to identify genes that express dierentially between two types of tissues or at dierent experimental conditions. Since a large number of genes is compared simultaneously, simple use of significance tests could lead to a large chance of false positive findings. We propose a sequential procedure for estimating the empirical null distribution of multiple hypothesis testing and apply the procedure to identify dierentially expressed genes in microarray experiments. Our procedure can be viewed as a new method to estimate the q-value proposed by Storey’s (2002). The key intuition is to obtain an estimate of the null distribution that is robust to the observations from the alternative distribution. Technically, we borrow strength from missing data literature so that we can avoid estimating the density function corresponding to dierentially expressed genes nonparametrically but focus on estimating the null density. By nature, the former density tends to have a complex structure. Numerical comparisons between our method and Storey’s original method were conducted in simulated and real data examples. The numerical results show that our procedure outperform the originally estimated q-values almost in all scenarios.