cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
p35/Cdk5 pathway mediates soluble amyloid-beta peptide-induced tau phosphorylation in vitro.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is pathologically characterized by deposition of amyloid-beta peptides (Abeta) as senile plaques and by the occurrence of neurofibrillary tangles (NFTs) composed primarily of hyperphosphorylated tau protein. Activation of cyclin-dependent kinase 5 (Cdk5) via its potent activator p25 has recently been shown to promote phosphorylation of tau at AD-specific phosphoepitopes, and increased cleavage of p35 to p25 has been demonstrated in AD patients, suggesting that Cdk5 may represent a pathogenic tau protein kinase. We were interested in the potential effect of soluble forms of Abeta on Cdk5-mediated AD-like tau phosphorylation, insofar as previous studies of human biopsies and aged canine and primate brains have shown that dystrophic neurites appear before the formation of neuritic plaques. We transfected N2a cells with a p35 vector (N2a/p35 cells) and, after differentiation, challenged these cells with Abeta(1-42) peptide in soluble form (sAbeta(1-42)). Results show that sAbeta(1-42) at relatively low levels (1-5 microM) dose-dependently increases tau phosphorylation at AD-specific phosphoepitopes in differentiated N2a/p35 cells compared with controls, an effect that is blocked by antisense oligonucleotides against p35. sAbeta(1-42)-induced tau phosphorylation is concomitant with an increase in both p25 to p35 ratio and Cdk5 activity (but not protein levels). Additionally, blockade of L-type calcium channels or inhibition of calpain completely abolishes this effect. Taken together, these data indicate that sAbeta is a potent activator of the p25/Cdk5 pathway, resulting in promotion of AD-like tau phosphorylation in vitro.
On the evolution of male workers in the Hymenoptera

The effects of brood sex-ratio (investment ratio) and the presence of ‘laying workers’ on relatedness in the Hymenoptera are analyzed. It is shown that the conditions of brood composition that generate degrees of relatedness favorable to the evolution of eusocial type helping behavior among females will select against such helping behavior among males, and vice versa (see Fig. 1). Thus, societies in the Hymenoptera can be expected to have male workers or female workers, but not both. It is argued that the conditions leading to degrees of relatedness favorable to male helping are quite restrictive and unlikely to be met in haplodiploid species.
Dietary Fat and Ruminally Protected Amino Acids for High Producing Dairy Cows

Eight early lactation Holstein cows, used in a replicated 4 x 4 Latin square design, were fed the following diets: control; control plus ruminally protected amino acids (15 g methionine and 20 g lysine); control plus added fat (.32 kg 60:40 animal and vegetable blend and .36 kg of Ca salts of fatty acids); control plus ruminally protected amino acids plus added fat. The objective was to examine the effect of ruminally protected forms of lysine and methionine and dietary fat on milk yield and composition. Cows were fed for ad libitum consumption of total mixed diets consisting of 50% forage and 50% concentrate on a DM basis. Added fat increased milk, fat, and 4% FCM yield but decreased milk protein percentage. Ruminally protected amino acids increased milk protein percentage. The combined effect of fat and ruminally protected acids increased milk fat percentage and yield more than the sole addition of either supplement. Added fat increased the percentage and yield of long-chain fatty acids in milk. Plasma free fatty acids were also increased by fat addition. Adding ruminally protected amino acids to fat-supplemented diets may help alleviate the milk protein depression found with added fat.
Systems-based discovery advances drug development.

Drug development expenditures continue to escalate, in part reflecting inefficiencies in current drug discovery paradigms. Traditional drug discovery has been dichotomous, focusing either on phenotypic effects of distinct agents in biological systems, without knowledge of respective targets, or on target-based activities of specific molecules in cell-free assays. Driven by advances in biology, engineering, and informatics, new paradigms integrate phenotypic with target-based algorithms into comprehensive, systems-level approaches offering value-added strategies for optimized drug discovery. Clinical Pharmacology & Therapeutics (2013); 93 4, 285–287. doi:10.1038/clpt.2013.21
Polynomial Time Approximations for Multi-Path Routing with Bandwidth and Delay Constraints

In this paper, we study the problem of multi-path routing with bandwidth and delay constraints, which arises in applications for video delivery over bandwidth-limited networks. Assume that each link in the network has a bandwidth and a delay. For a given source-destination pair and a bandwidth requirement, we want to find a set of source to destination paths such that the delay of the longest path is minimized while the aggregated bandwidth of the set of paths meets the bandwidth requirement. This problem is NP-hard, and the state of the art is a maximum flow based heuristic. We first construct a class of examples showing that the maximum flow based heuristic could have very bad performance. We then present a fully polynomial time approximation scheme that can compute a (1+ � )-approximation with running time bounded by a polynomial in 1/� and the input size of the instance. Given the NP-hardness of the problem, our approximation scheme is the best possible. We also present numerical results confirming the advantage of our scheme over the current state of the art.
Surface Characteristics of Sodium (β‐Alumina Electrolytes

Surfaces of sodium β/β″-alumina ceramics were characterized via techniques such as scanning electron microscopy, secondary ion mass spectroscopy, and electron spectroscopy for chemical analysis to determine the nature of the resistive surface film that leads to the phenomenon of asymmetric polarization in a sodium-sulfur cell. The results indicated that the resistive surface film is soda rich, has submicrometer thickness, and is removable by a surface treatment. A mechanism consistent with these observations is proposed for the formation of the resistive surface film on sodium β/β″-alumina during the sintering process.
Fault Tolerance in MANETs Using a Task-to-Resource Reallocation Framework

We propose an efficient method to re-allocate resources available on Mobile Ad-hoc Networks in the event of a network attack or a node failure. By utilizing a structure we call a resource fitness cache, we identify a way to reduce the number of messages required to find a suitable replacement resource among remaining nodes on the network, assuming that redundancy is present in among the resources. Our approach employs an arbitrator node that triggers the allocation. The arbitrator is chosen based on which node first needs access to a resource that has become unavailable. Initial results show a 40-74% improvement in densely-connected networks, versus the baseline un-cached case. Our results were generated using the Omnet++ 4.0 discrete event network simulator.
The Potential Perils of Praise in a Democratic Interactive Classroom

Abstract The traditional wisdom of teacher praise can be challenged on the grounds that it undermines development of values fundamental to a democratic society. Teacher praise discourages freedom of expression, creates dependency on the teacher, and promotes conformity by conditioning students to measure their worth by their ability to please others. This article presents styles of teacher talk more consonant with the principles and goals of democratic leadership and interactive teaching. Advocated discourse patterns encourage self-evaluation and self-reflection, enabling students to develop a set of standards by which to judge their own behavior and achievement as well as the security that comes from confidence in their own decisions. Preparing democratic citizens requires establishing the classroom as an arena for critical conversation and respectful dialogue.
Static Fatigue, Time Effects, and Delayed Increase in Penetration Resistance after Dynamic Compaction of Sands

Dynamically compacted sands often exhibit a drop in cone penetration resistance immediately after compaction, but a gradual increase in the resistance occurs in a matter of weeks and months. An explanation of the former is sought in analysis of the stress state immediately after a dynamic disturbance, and a justification for the latter is found in the micromechanics process of static fatigue (or stress corrosion cracking) of the micromorphologic features at the contacts between sand grains. The delayed fracturing of contact asperities leads to grain convergence, followed by an increase in contact stiffness and an increase in elastic modulus of sand at the macroscopic scale. Time- dependent increase in small-strain stiffness of sand under a sustained load is a phenomenon confirmed by earlier experiments. It is argued that the initial drop in the cone penetration resistance after dynamic compaction is caused by a drop in the horizontal stress after the disturbance. The subsequent gradual increase in the penetration resistance is not a result of increasing strength, but it is owed to the time-delayed increase in stiffness of sand, causing increase in horizontal stress under one-dimensional strain conditions. This process is a consequence of static fatigue at contacts between grains. The strength of sand after dynamic compaction increases as soon as the fabric of the compacted sand is formed and is little affected by the process of grain convergence in the time after compaction. Contact stiffness, with its dependence on static fatigue, holds information about the previous loading process, and it is a memory parameter of a kind; this information is lost after a dis- turbance, such as dynamic compaction, in which new contacts are formed. The scanning electron microscope (SEM) observations, discrete element simulations, and energy considerations are carried out to make the argument for the proposed hypothesis stronger. DOI: 10.1061/ (ASCE)GT.1943-5606.0000611. © 2012 American Society of Civil Engineers. CE Database subject headings: Sand (soil type); Soil compaction; Fatigue; Corrosion; Cracking; Cone penetration; Discrete elements. Author keywords: Sand behavior; Dynamic compaction; Static fatigue; Stress corrosion cracking; Micro-fracturing; Grain convergence; Multiscale analysis; Static cone penetration; Sand aging; Discrete element simulations.
SNPs and Other Features as They Predispose to Complex Disease: Genome-Wide Predictive Analysis of a Quantitative Phenotype for Hypertension

Though recently they have fallen into some disrepute, genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have been formulated and applied to understanding essential hypertension. The principal goal here is to use data gathered in a GWAS to gauge the extent to which SNPs and their interactions with other features can be combined to predict mean arterial blood pressure (MAP) in 3138 pre-menopausal and naturally post-menopausal white women. More precisely, we quantify the extent to which data as described permit prediction of MAP beyond what is possible from traditional risk factors such as blood cholesterol levels and glucose levels. Of course, these traditional risk factors are genetic, though typically not explicitly so. In all, there were 44 such risk factors/clinical variables measured and 377,790 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) genotyped. Data for women we studied are from first visit measurements taken as part of the Atherosclerotic Risk in Communities (ARIC) study. We begin by assessing non-SNP features in their abilities to predict MAP, employing a novel regression technique with two stages, first the discovery of main effects and next discovery of their interactions. The long list of SNPs genotyped is reduced to a manageable list for combining with non-SNP features in prediction. We adapted Efron's local false discovery rate to produce this reduced list. Selected non-SNP and SNP features and their interactions are used to predict MAP using adaptive linear regression. We quantify quality of prediction by an estimated coefficient of determination (R(2)). We compare the accuracy of prediction with and without information from SNPs.
Visualizing chromosome structure/organization

With the rapid development of sequencing technologies in the past decade, many eukaryotic genomes have been resolved at the primary sequence level. However, organization of the genome within nuclei and the principles that govern such properties remain largely unclear. Optimization of fluorescence probe-based hybridization technologies combined with new advances in the instrumentation for microscopy has steadily yielded more structural information on chromosome organization in eukaryote model systems. These studies provide static snapshots of the detailed organization of chromatin. More recently, the successful application of a chromatin tagging strategy utilizing auto fluorescent fusion proteins opened a new era of chromatin studies in which the dynamic organization of the genome can be tracked in near real time. This review focuses on these new approaches to studying chromatin organization and dynamics in plants, and on future prospects in unraveling the basic principle of chromosome organization.
Molecular modelling of fullerene-porphyrin dyads

Computational studies have been performed on a variety of C60–porphyrin dyads, a class of donor–acceptor materials which have been a subject of considerable attention in recent years. Molecular modelling studies were carried out to clarify the relationship between molecular topology and experimentally determined rates of intramolecular electron and energy transfer in these systems. The systems studied include doubly linked cyclophane-like C60–porphyrin dyads, where structural variations were made computationally on the porphyrin and linker portions, as well as dyads with flexible polyether and rigid steroid linkers. The molecular modelling studies involved building and minimising structures of the various fullerene–porphyrin dyads, followed by molecular dynamics to find the equilibrium and lowest energy conformations. The study confirmed that attractive van der Waals interactions between porphyrin and C60 moieties cause these dyads to adopt unusual conformations in which these groups are in close proximity, often in orientations which are not readily predictable from conventional structural representations. The implications of these computational data for the design of fullerene–porphyrin dyads with specific properties in the context of electron and energy transfer processes are discussed.
Scheduling with dynamic voltage/speed adjustment using slack reclamation in multiprocessor real-time systems

The high power consumption of modern processors becomes a major concern because it leads to decreased mission duration (for battery-operated systems), increased heat dissipation, and decreased reliability. While many techniques have been proposed to reduce power consumption for uniprocessor systems, there has been considerably less work on multiprocessor systems. In this paper, based on the concept of slack sharing among processors, we propose two novel power-aware scheduling algorithms for task sets with and without precedence constraints executing on multiprocessor systems. These scheduling techniques reclaim the time unused by a task to reduce the execution speed of future tasks and, thus, reduce the total energy consumption of the system. We also study the effect of discrete voltage/speed levels on the energy savings for multiprocessor systems and propose a new scheme of slack reservation to incorporate voltage/speed adjustment overhead in the scheduling algorithms. Simulation and trace-based results indicate that our algorithms achieve substantial energy savings on systems with variable voltage processors. Moreover, processors with a few discrete voltage/speed levels obtain nearly the same energy savings as processors with continuous voltage/speed, and the effect of voltage/speed adjustment overhead on the energy savings is relatively small.
New models for optimal truss topology in limit design based on unified elastic/plastic analysis

Abstract This paper presents several equivalent formulations for a structural design problem where the load-carrying capacity is maximized for a prescribed volume subject to bounds on complementary energy and stresses. This limit design model covers the full range of strictly elastic, elastic/plastic and strictly plastic designs and is based on the unified analysis model of Ben-Tal and Taylor [1]. While this design model is convex, it is nonlinearly constrained and is of a very high dimension for topology design problems. Application of duality principles leads to several simpler but nonsmooth equivalent models. In particular, for the case when the design variables do not have explicit bounds, the dual models reduce to a minimization, subject to a single linear constraint, of a pointwise maximum of a finite number of convex functions. More importantly, these simpler design models are of greatly reduced size, since they contain only nodal variables. Further, the two cases of strictly plastic as well as strictly elastic limit design models can be reduced to linear programs both of which, unexpectedly, are shown to be equivalent to the more widely studied model for minimum compliance topology design of elastic trusses. Several numerical examples illustrate the usefulness of these new dual formulations.
An international survey of drug information centers.

A questionnaire was developed to characterize the location, operation, personnel, reference resources, and functions of drug information centers in countries throughout the world other than the United States. The questionnaire was mailed to 100 drug information centers or pharmacy practitioners (primarily faculty) in 65 countries. The majority of drug information centers responding to this questionnaire were located at and funded by university based hospitals. Most were open eight hours per day and engaged in the following activities: answering requests for information, publishing pharmacy bulletins, teaching, continuing education, and providing information directly to pharmacy and therapeutics committees. Additional information gathered from this survey included: common references and journals maintained by drug information centers, user demographics, and a request profile. Although many similarities among the information centers were found, interesting observations regarding their differences may be mad...
Effect of Height and Color on the Efficiency of Pole Traps for Aethina tumida (Coleoptera: Nitidulidae)

Olfactory cues released by adult bees, brood, pollen, and honey from a honey bee, Apis mellifera L., colony are the primary stimuli that guide the beetle Aethina tumida Murray (Coleoptera: Nitidulidae) to host colonies. To investigate the response of adult A. tumida to visual stimuli, we tested the influence of color and height on trap efficiency. Two pole trap colors (black and white) were evaluated at three heights (46 cm, 1 m, and 3 m) from October 2008 to December 2009. A. tumida were trapped in the greatest numbers between 17 April and 15 May 2009. The lowest numbers were captured during the winter and fall. The trapping results showed that both color and trap height significantly influenced capture. The average catch in the white traps (mean ± SE, 2.47 ± 0.30) was significantly higher than that of the black traps (1.53 ± 0.29) probably because white is more reflective than black. Among the heights evaluated, there were more beetles caught when traps were positioned at 46 cm (the same height as the entrance of the hives) with 3.07 ± 0.51 beetles compared with beetles captured at 1 m (1.88 ± 0.30) or 3 m (1.06 ± 0.18) high. Male and female beetles exhibited similar responses to trap color and height. The relationship between the numbers of beetles in colonies and capture rates in traps was very poor and did not provide a basis to evaluate trap efficiency. In addition, because capture rates seemed generally low in relationship to the number of beetles in the apiary, substantial improvements to the trap may be necessary.
Vote Buying and Village Outrage in an Election in Northern Thailand : Recent Legal Reforms in Historical Context

Vote buying has long been considered a major obstacle to democracy in Thailand. As reiterated in explanations of Thailand's 2006 military coup, vote buying in Thai electoral politics has often been attributed to traditional village culture and rural ignorance. Placing a 1995 northern Thai election for kamnan (subdistrict head) in historical context, this essay suggests that vote buying did not typify village electoral politics but was an aberration that reached its zenith during the mid-1990s. Legal ambiguities, not rural apathy or ignorance, impeded villagers' ability to protest corrupt practices and safeguard their internal democracy. These ambiguities emerged as new democratic laws implemented in 1992 and 1995 to decentralize power conflicted with older laws dating from the days of absolute monarchy. Subsequent legal reforms appear to have mitigated the importance of vote buying in village electoral politics. How these reforms will affect national electoral politics remains to be seen.
An Empirical Evaluation of Generalized Cooccurrence Matrices

A comparative study of generalized cooccurrence texture analysis tools is presented. A generalized cooccurrence matrix (GCM) reflects the shape, size, and spatial arrangement of texture features. The particular texture features considered in this paper are 1) pixel-intensity, for which generalized cooccurrence reduces to traditional cooccurrence; 2) edge-pixel; and 3) extended-edges. Three experiments are discussed-the first based on a nearest neighbor classifier, the second on a linear discriminant classifier, and the third on the Battacharyya distance figure of merit.
The Producing Oil Mine in Kansas

to a depth of 230 feet (Abernathy and Jewett, 1946). The miners then started a shaft 7x7 feet wide, and the excavated material was brought to the surface in large buckets pulled up by mules. After mining about 50 feet of limestone, a thick shale was encountered which was easier to excavate (Fig. 2). To save time and money a large room was excavated at about 150 feet where the miners could sleep and eat. That way they could continue their work without interruption (G.W. Hosack, pers. comm. 2011).
Recent advances in polymer shape memory

Traditional shape memory polymers (SMPs) are those capable of memorizing a temporary shape and recovering to the permanent shape upon heating. Although such a basic concept has been known for half a century, recent progresses have challenged the conventional understanding of the polymer shape memory effect and significantly expanded the practical potential of SMPs. In this article, notable recent advances in the field of SMPs are highlighted. Particular emphasis is placed on how the new developments have changed the conventional view of SMPs, what they mean for practical applications, and where the future opportunities are.
FdTonB is involved in the photoregulation of cellular morphology during complementary chromatic adaptation in Fremyella diplosiphon.

We have characterized a Fremyella diplosiphon TonB protein (FdTonB) and investigated its function during complementary chromatic adaptation. Sequence similarity analysis of FdTonB (571 aa) led to identification of several conserved domains characteristic of TonB proteins, including an N-terminal transmembrane domain, a central proline-rich spacer and a C-terminal TonB-related domain (TBRD). We identified a novel glycine-rich domain containing (Gly-X) n repeats. To assess FdTonB function, we constructed a ΔtonB mutant through homologous recombination based upon truncation of the central proline-rich spacer, glycine-rich domain and TBRD. Our ΔtonB mutant exhibited an aberrant cellular morphology under green light, with expanded cell width compared to the parental wild-type (WT) strain. The cellular morphology of the ΔtonB mutant recovered upon WT tonB expression. Interestingly, tonB expression was found to be independent of RcaE. As ΔtonB and WT strains respond in the same way when grown under iron-replete versus iron-limited conditions, our results suggest that FdTonB is not involved in the classic TonB function of mediating cellular adaptation to iron limitation, but exhibits a novel function related to the photoregulation of cellular morphology in F. diplosiphon.
The shortwave radiative forcing bias of liquid and ice clouds from MODIS observations

Abstract. We present an assessment of the plane-parallel bias of the shortwave cloud radiative forcing (SWCRF) of liquid and ice clouds at 1 deg scales using global MODIS (Terra and Aqua) cloud optical property retrievals for four months of the year 2005 representative of the meteorological seasons. The (negative) bias is estimated as the difference of SWCRF calculated using the Plane-Parallel Homogeneous (PPH) approximation and the Independent Column Approximation (ICA). PPH calculations use MODIS-derived gridpoint means while ICA calculations use distributions of cloud optical thickness and effective radius. Assisted by a broadband solar radiative transfer algorithm, we find that the absolute value of global SWCRF bias of liquid clouds at the top of the atmosphere is about 6 W m−2 for MODIS overpass times while the SWCRF bias for ice clouds is smaller in absolute terms by about 0.7 W m−2, but with stronger spatial variability. If effective radius variability is neglected and only optical thickness horizontal variations are accounted for, the absolute SWCRF biases increase by about 0.3–0.4 W m−2 on average. Marine clouds of both phases exhibit greater (more negative) SWCRF biases than continental clouds. Finally, morning (Terra)–afternoon (Aqua) differences in SWCRF bias are much more pronounced for ice clouds, up to about 15% (Aqua producing stronger negative bias) on global scales, with virtually all contribution to the difference coming from land areas. The substantial magnitude of the global SWCRF bias, which for clouds of both phases is collectively about 4 W m−2 for diurnal averages, should be considered a strong motivation for global climate modelers to accelerate efforts linking cloud schemes capable of subgrid condensate variability with appropriate radiative transfer schemes.
Lasso-Kalman smoother for tracking sparse signals

Fixed-interval smoothing of time-varying vector processes is an estimation approach with well-documented merits for tracking applications. The optimal performance in the linear Gauss-Markov model is achieved by the Kalman smoother (KS), which also admits an efficient recursive implementation. The present paper deals with vector processes for which it is known a priori that many of their entries equal to zero. In this context, the process to be tracked is sparse, and the performance of sparsity-agnostic KS schemes degrades considerably. On the other hand, it is shown here that a sparsity-aware KS exhibits complexity which grows exponentially in the vector dimension. To obtain a tractable alternative, the KS cost is regularized with the sparsity-promoting l 1 norm of the vector process - a relaxation also used in linear regression problems to obtain the least-absolute shrinkage and selection operator (Lasso). The Lasso (L)KS derived in this work is not only capable of tracking sparse time-varying vector processes, but can also afford an efficient recursive implementation based on the alternating direction method of multipliers (ADMoM). Finally, a weighted (W)-LKS is also introduced to cope with the bias of the LKS, and simulations are provided to validate the performance of the novel algorithms.
ASTROPHYSICAL IMPLICATIONS OF THE CONTINUITY EQUATION PLASMA OSCILLATION.

THERE are several periodic astrophysical phenomena which may involve the periodic generation of pulses of charged particles1–5. The periodicity of pulsars, for example, is usually attributed to a dynamical origin6, but may instead have a plasma-physical origin. A characteristic feature of the continuity equation oscillation discovered recently is the periodic production of pulses of ions and electrons from the oscillating region. This oscillation arises from the time delay associated with the transit of charged and neutral particles across the oscillating region, which brings about a relaxation oscillation of the charged particle number density within it7–9.
Behavioral Change Theories Can Inform the Prediction of Young Adults' Adoption of a Plant-based Diet

Abstract Objective Drawing on the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) and the Transtheoretical Model (TTM), this study (1) examines links between stages of change for following a plant-based diet (PBD) and consuming more fruits and vegetables (FV); (2) tests an integrated theoretical model predicting intention to follow a PBD; and (3) identifies associated salient beliefs. Design Cross-sectional. Setting Large public university in the northeastern United States. Participants 204 college students. Main Outcome Measures TPB and TTM constructs were assessed using validated scales. Outcome, normative, and control beliefs were measured using open-ended questions. Analysis The overlap between stages of change for FV consumption and adopting a PBD was assessed using Spearman rank correlation analysis and cross-tab comparisons. The proposed model predicting adoption of a PBD was tested using structural equation modeling (SEM). Salient beliefs were coded using automatic response coding software. Results No association was found between stages of change for FV consumption and following a PBD. Results from SEM analyses provided support for the proposed model predicting intention to follow a PBD. Gender differences in salient beliefs for following a PBD were found. Conclusions and Implications Results demonstrate the potential for effective theory-driven and stage-tailored public health interventions to promote PBDs.
Non-centrosomal microtubule formation and measurement of minus end microtubule dynamics in A498 cells

Experiments performed on a cell line (A498) derived from a human kidney carcinoma revealed non-centrosomal microtubules in the peripheral lamella of many cells. These short microtubules were observed in glutaraldehyde-fixed cells by indirect immunofluorescence, and in live cells injected with rhodamine-labeled tubulin. The non-centrosomal microtubules were observed to form de novo in living cells, and their complete disassembly was also observed. Low-light-level fluorescence microscopy, coupled to imaging software, was utilized to record and measure the dynamic behavior of both ends of the non-centrosomal microtubules in these cells. For each, the plus end was differentiated from the minus end using the ratio of their transition frequencies and by measuring total assembly at each end. For comparative purposes, dynamics of the plus ends of centrosomally nucleated microtubules were also analyzed in this cell line. Our data reveal several striking differences between the plus and minus ends. The average pause duration was nearly 4-fold higher at the minus ends; the percentage of time spent in pause was 92% at the minus ends, compared to 55% at plus ends. Dynamicity was decreased 4-fold at the minus ends, and the average number of events per minute was reduced from 7.0 at the plus end to 1.5 at the minus ends. The minus ends also showed a 6-fold decrease in frequency of catastrophe over the plus ends. These data demonstrate that in living cells, microtubules can form at sites distant from the perinuclear microtubule organizing center, and once formed, non-centrosomal microtubules can persist for relatively long periods.
Bootstrapping Chord over MANETs - All Roads Lead to Rome

This paper presents a novel approach on bootstrapping chord and other ring-based peer-to-peer (P2P) systems over mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs). Only inter-neighbor communication is used to build the ring topology in node ID space of structured P2P systems. Upon this ring entire chord could be put into normal operation without lengthy stabilization. RAN protocol suite is proposed. It includes three patterns: distributed exhaustive, virtual centralized exhaustive, and random. Two exhaustive patterns adapt well to the disturbance caused by mobility. Simulation results show that the distributed exhaustive pattern has optimal overall performance. Once again the superiority of decentralization is demonstrated.
Uniform Law and Its Impact on National Laws Limits and Possibilities

This report surveys uniform laws in federalism in the United States for synthesis in an international report comparing uniform laws in federal countries.
Evaluation of the Association Between 25-OH Vitamin D Levels and Severity of Bronchiolitis in Pediatric Patients

Mary Fairchok MD,1,2,3,5 Christina Schofield MD,1 Wei-Ju Chen PhD,2,5 Mary Pugh BS,3,5 Michelande Ridore BA,2,5 John C. Arnold MD,4 and Eugene V. Millar PhD2,5 . 1. Madigan Army Medical Center, Tacoma WA; 2. Infectious Disease Clinical Research Program, Department of Preventive Medicine and Biostatistics, Uniformed Services University, Bethesda MD; 3. Pediatrics, Mary Bridge Children's Hospital, Multicare, Tacoma, WA; 4. Naval Medical Center San Diego, CA; 5. Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine, Bethesda MD
In vivo visualization of oxidative changes in microvessels during neutrophil activation

This study was designed to characterize temporal changes of oxidative metabolism in microvascular endothelium in vivo associated with neutrophil adhesion and diapedesis. The rat mesentery was loaded with dichlorofluorescein (DCFH) diacetate, a hydroperoxide-sensitive fluorescent probe that is trapped within viable cells as a nonfluorescent form and is converted to fluorescent dichlorofluorescein (DCF) by hydroperoxides. The fluorescent light emission was recorded with digital microscopy and its camera response was calibrated by superfusion of the mesentery with known concentrations of hydroperoxides. After rinsing with a precursor-free solution, it was possible to observe both the neutrophil adhesion and fluorescence changes in venular endothelium during superfusion with platelet-activating factor (PAF, 100 nM) by alternately changing light sources. In the PAF-treated animals, DCF fluorescence in the venular wall was markedly elevated concurrent with an increase in the number of adherent neutrophils. An onset of a significant DCF fluorescence was observed as early as 10 min after PAF application. The venular oxidative changes were co-localized with neutrophils adhering to the endothelium or migrating into the interstitium. The oxidative impact in the venular wall superfused with 100 nM PAF for 40 min was equivalent to that induced by the 10-min superfusion of 0.8 mM of tert-butyl hydroperoxide. Pretreatment with dipyridyl, an iron chelator, or dimethylthiourea, a hydroxyl radical scavenger, significantly attenuated the PAF-induced oxidative changes in the venule but had little effect on neutrophil adhesion. These findings suggest that an endothelial cell-dependent mechanism involving an iron-catalyzed reaction may have a role in enhancement of neutrophil-mediated oxidative stress in venular endothelium.
Effect of Soil Moisture and Soil Temperature on the Release of Aldicarb from Granular Formulations

Laboratory tests were conducted to investigate effects of soil moisture and soil temperature on the release of aldicarb from both slow and fast release granular formulations. Results showed that increasing soil moisture or soil temperature increases the rate at which aldicarb is released from the different types of granular formulations.
The engineering information system: a guided tour

Caracteristiques de l'Engineering Information System; systeme de recherche interactive mis en place a la Purdue University entre 1973 et 1983. Description des interfaces et du logiciel bibliographique. (INTD)
STOCHASTIC NONLINEAR RESPONSE OF COUPLED TENDON-RIGID BODY SYSTEM

A coupled tendon-rigid body model which may be used for the study of offshore or space structures is presented. A set of fully non-linear equations of motion for a single-tendon tension leg platform are developed. The response is analyzed for random wave and steady current loading. Motion is assumed to be planar and the equations of motion for the elastic tendon and the rigid hull are coupled. The response is determined numerically in the time domain by implementing a finite difference scheme. The responses for a model with a 470 m long tendon and a 50 m long hull exhibit both transient and steady state behavior. When waves forces alone are applied, the system oscillates about its vertical position. A combined load of waves and current produce an oscillation about an offset position, as has been shown in the literature. The analytical model presented in this paper would be useful to the designers of TLPs in determining the overall dynamic response characteristics.
Analysis of Yunnan-Guangdong ±800 kV DC System Operation Enabling Its Low Load Reactive Power Optimization Function

The low load reactive power optimization function (LLRPO-function) of DC power transmission systems plays a quite important role in reactive power compensation and voltage regulation.This paper analyzes Yunnan-Guangdong ±800 kV DC system operation enabling its LLRPO-function,and calculates the amount of reactive power injected into the nearby generation plants and substations,and analyzes the bus voltage sensitivity due to the injection.The results show that the LLRPO-function can significantly reduce the reactive power injection from the low load DC system into the AC system,improve the system voltage level and enrich the means of voltage regulation.Furthermore,certain suggestions for dispatching and operation of the DC systems are presented,and the necessity enabling the LLRPO-function of other DC systems in China Southern Power Grid was discussed.
Quality evaluation of the Indirect Hemagglutination Assay kit for schistosomiasis antibody detection in Hubei Province

Objective To comprehensively evaluate the quality of Indirect Hemagglutination Assay( IHA) kits produced in Hubei province in detecting schistosomiasis antibodies. Methods The IHA kits were tested using an established serum bank from Japanese patients and positive serums of other parasites for sensitivity,specificity,stability and other related indicators to achieve an overall evaluation. Results The kit had high sensitivity and specificity with 97. 33% and 97. 00%,respectively. The Youden 's index was 0. 94. The cross-reaction rates of paragonimiasis,Clonorchis sinensis,Trichinella spiralis and cysticercosis patients' serum were 6. 67%,6. 67%,33. 33% and 6. 67% respectively. Under normal storage conditions,the kit was very stable within its effective dates. Conclusion IHA kits produced in Hubei for Schistosomiasis antibody detection had high sensitivity,specificity and stability.Therefore the kits are suitable for large-scale screening of patients in endemic areas.
End-to-end verification of information-flow security for C and assembly programs

Protecting the confidentiality of information manipulated by a computing system is one of the most important challenges facing today's cybersecurity community. A promising step toward conquering this challenge is to formally verify that the end-to-end behavior of the computing system really satisfies various information-flow policies. Unfortunately, because today's system software still consists of both C and assembly programs, the end-to-end verification necessarily requires that we not only prove the security properties of individual components, but also carefully preserve these properties through compilation and cross-language linking. In this paper, we present a novel methodology for formally verifying end-to-end security of a software system that consists of both C and assembly programs. We introduce a general definition of observation function that unifies the concepts of policy specification, state indistinguishability, and whole-execution behaviors. We show how to use different observation functions for different levels of abstraction, and how to link different security proofs across abstraction levels using a special kind of simulation that is guaranteed to preserve state indistinguishability. To demonstrate the effectiveness of our new methodology, we have successfully constructed an end-to-end security proof, fully formalized in the Coq proof assistant, of a nontrivial operating system kernel (running on an extended CompCert x86 assembly machine model). Some parts of the kernel are written in C and some are written in assembly; we verify all of the code, regardless of language.
The impact of office cholesterol testing.

BACKGROUND The role of portable cholesterol analyzers in the identification and management of hypercholesterolemia is controversial. This study investigated the effect of free office cholesterol testing on screening behavior and on blood cholesterol reduction in a family practice center. METHODS After a baseline period of 5 months, an office cholesterol analyzer was made available for 1 year to two teams of patients and providers (study group), but not to the other two teams (control group). RESULTS The percentage of patients screened increased from 28% to 52% in the study group, and from 29% to 42% in the control group (difference favoring study group, prevalence odds ratio = 1.47, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.33 to 1.62). Compared with those whose cholesterol tests were sent to outside laboratories, patients screened with the office analyzer were younger (mean age 36 years vs 42 years), and the barrier to those without insurance was reduced. There was no clinically or statistically significant effect on lowering cholesterol (difference favoring study group = 0.01 mmol/L, 95% CI = -0.15 to 0.17). CONCLUSIONS The availability of free office cholesterol testing increased the prevalence of cholesterol testing, particularly for younger patients and those without insurance; however, the testing had no discernible effect of motivating patients to lower their blood cholesterol levels.
Observing Biosynthetic Activity Utilizing Next Generation Sequencing and the DNA Linked Enzyme Coupled Assay.

Currently, the identification of new genes drastically outpaces current experimental methods for determining their enzymatic function. This disparity necessitates the development of high-throughput techniques that operate with the same scalability as modern gene synthesis and sequencing technologies. In this paper, we demonstrate the versatility of the recently reported DNA-Linked Enzyme-Coupled Assay (DLEnCA) and its ability to support high-throughput data acquisition through next-generation sequencing (NGS). Utilizing methyltransferases, we highlight DLEnCA’s ability to rapidly profile an enzyme’s substrate specificity, determine relative enzyme kinetics, detect biosynthetic formation of a target molecule, and its potential to benefit from the scales and standardization afforded by NGS. This improved methodology minimizes the effort in acquiring biosynthetic knowledge by tying biochemical techniques to the rapidly evolving abilities in sequencing and synthesizing DNA.
Neuroscience in the courtroom.

The article discusses the use of neurological evidence, such as brain scans, in courts and how their use could transform judicial views regarding personal credibility and responsibility. According to the author, courts rarely allow the admission of brain scans as evidence at trial for legalistic and scientific reasons. He notes that as neuroscience progresses, judges may see scans as relevant to legal arguments about a defendant's mental state or the credibility of a witness. Topics include how brain science can influence law by providing a better understanding of the neurological causes of antisocial or illegal behavior while challenging traditional ideas about personal responsibility and just punishments. INSETS: A Neurological Struggle with Temptation;Before Brain Scans Can Be Evidence.
Anterior Tibial Stress Fractures: Intramedullary Nail vs Anterior Tension Band Plating☆

Lower extremity stress fractures are common overuse injuries in endurance athletes. Most fractures are low risk and respond well to nonsurgical management involving rest, activity modification, and slow resumption of activities after symptom resolution. However, some high-risk fractures or nonunions warrant surgical intervention to prevent fracture completion and continued symptoms. Anterior stress fractures of the tibial shaft are tension-sided high-risk stress fractures with significant risks of delayed union, nonunion, and fracture propagation. The gold standard surgical treatment has traditionally been antegrade tibial intramedullary nailing. However, the risk of anterior knee pain following intramedullary nail placement has prompted clinicians to seek alternative methods of fixation. Anterior tibial plating with biological augmentation is biomechanically sound in that the plate is placed on the tension side, able to resist tensile stress, and biologically sound in that bone graft may be used to enhance fracture healing. The purpose of this article is to describe the presentation, evaluation, and management of patients with anterior tibial shaft stress fracture. The surgical techniques for intramedullary nail and anterior plating are discussed and illustrated in detail.
The number of male conspecifics affects the odour preferences and the copulatory behaviour of male meadow voles, Microtus pennsylvanicus

We hypothesized that male meadow voles adjust their odour preferences and sexual behaviours in response to the presence and number of male conspecifics they perceive to have visited a sexually receptive female conspecific. Male voles only preferred the odour of the female previously associated with 3 or 5 males to that of the unfamiliar female. Male voles also had a shorter latency to mate and a shorter mating duration when they were paired with the female that was previously associated with the bedding of 3 or 5 males compared to males paired with an unfamiliar female. Mating and reproductive success, however, were similar for males paired with either female. Thus, male voles use public information provided by scent marks of male conspecifics and adjust their responses in favour of a female that they perceive to been visited by several males, although she may represent a high risk of sperm competition.
Using satellite laser ranging to measure ice mass change in Greenland and Antarctica

Abstract. A least squares inversion of satellite laser ranging (SLR) data over Greenland and Antarctica could extend gravimetry-based estimates of mass loss back to the early 1990s and fill any future gap between the current Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) and the future GRACE Follow-On mission. The results of a simulation suggest that, while separating the mass change between Greenland and Antarctica is not possible at the limited spatial resolution of the SLR data, estimating the total combined mass change of the two areas is feasible. When the method is applied to real SLR and GRACE gravity series, we find significantly different estimates of inverted mass loss. There are large, unpredictable, interannual differences between the two inverted data types, making us conclude that the current 5×5 spherical harmonic SLR series cannot be used to stand in for GRACE. However, a comparison with the longer IMBIE time series suggests that on a 20-year time frame, the inverted SLR series' interannual excursions may average out, and the long-term mass loss estimate may be reasonable.