cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Performance of BGP among mobile military networks

As tactical military networks deploy new IP-capable radios (e.g., JTRS), it is expected that network connectivity will increase both within and among Service and Coalition networking domains (e.g., Army, Navy, NATO). However, unmanaged use of this increased connectivity may result in violation of some mission-critical operational limits. One mechanism known to (coarsely) manage large-scale IP networks is BGP routing policy. As such, this paper begins the study of BGP's applicability to manage an evolution of the GIG in which IP-based tactical radios proliferate (i.e., the Future GIG). To this end, this paper first presents a modification to BGP that allows for dynamic management of its peering sessions to accommodate network node mobility. Next, since it is known that BGP can have performance issues (e.g., slow convergence), this paper uses network emulation1 to perform a performance assessment of our modified BGP protocol. Specifically, for ten independent realizations of a mobile wireless networking model, our modified BGP protocol is evaluated with respect to its generated protocol overhead, its ability to develop valid routes to destinations (e.g., reachability), and its influence on network's outage events. Furthermore, our modified BGP protocol is compared to the OSPF and OSPF-MDR routing protocols for mobile networks with increasing number of nodes. Our results show that our modified BGP's overhead growth is significantly higher than both OSPF variations, but the network's average reachability and median outage times are similar. To decrease the significant overhead seen from BGP, this paper also presents a second modification to the BGP protocol based on the use of a connected dominating set (CDS) backbone. Here, the emulation results show that the use of a CDS backbone can significantly decrease BGP's overhead with little impact on the network's average reachability and median duration of its outage events. Lastly, it was found that the maximum network outage times for both modified BGP protocols can be several percent greater than that experienced by either OSPF-based routing protocol. However, the occurrence rate of such long network outage events (i.e., those greater than 60 secs) was also seen to be infrequent for networks whose average shortest paths was low (i.e., less than 3 hops).
Parabolic equation relating free and total drug concentrations in cases of nonlinear plasma protein binding

In many cases of nonlinear drug-protein binding, investigators have fitted data to the classical Langmuir model with two classes of binding sites involving four parameters. For human serum albumin binding of tolmetin and salicylate, a simple two-parameter parabolic equation relating free to total concentrations fitted the binding data better. Thus, the free fraction corresponding to the serum or plasma drug concentration in the blood sample taken from a subject can be estimated directly from the parabolic model. This is not the case when the Langmuir model is used to describe nonlinear binding data since the positive root of a cubic equation must be obtained to estimate the free from the total concentration. The direct relationship between free and total drug concentrations would be useful in many clinical situations.
Safety Control of Hidden Mode Hybrid Systems

In this paper, we consider the safety control problem for hidden mode hybrid systems (HMHSs), which are a special class of hybrid automata in which the mode is not available for control. For these systems, safety control is a problem with imperfect state information. We tackle this problem by introducing the notion of nondeterministic discrete information state and by translating the problem to one with perfect state information. The perfect state information control problem is obtained by constructing a new hybrid automaton, whose discrete state is an estimate of the HMHS mode and is, as such, available for control. This problem is solved by computing the capture set and the least restrictive control map for the new hybrid automaton. Sufficient conditions for the termination of the algorithm that computes the capture set are provided. Finally, we show that the solved perfect state information control problem is equivalent to the original problem with imperfect state information under suitable assumptions. We illustrate the application of the proposed technique to a collision avoidance problem between an autonomous vehicle and a human driven vehicle at a traffic intersection.
Female sex and oral contraceptive use accelerate nicotine metabolism.

Several studies have reported that female smokers have a higher risk of lung cancer than male smokers. This could be related to sex differences in nicotine metabolism and related smoking behavior. This study tested the hypothesis that women metabolize nicotine more rapidly than men and that among women oral contraceptive users metabolize nicotine more rapidly than nonusers of oral contraceptives. Two hundred seventy-eight healthy volunteers who were twins and 16 who were siblings of twins recruited from the Northern California Twin Registry received an infusion of deuterium-labeled nicotine and cotinine with frequent blood sampling. The plasma clearances of nicotine and cotinine the clearance of nicotine to cotinine (an index of cytochrome P450 [CYP] 2A6 activity) and the ratio of trans-3-hydroxycotinine to cotinine (another indicator of CYP2A6 activity) were measured. The clearances of nicotine and cotinine the clearance of nicotine to cotinine and the trans-3-hydroxycotinine/cotinine ratio were significantly higher in women than in men (nicotine clearance 15.6 ± 4.3 mL - min/-1 - kg/-1 in men versus 18.8 ± 6.6 mL -- min/-1 - kg/-1 in women; P < .001); they were also higher among women taking oral contraceptives than in those who were not taking oral contraceptives (nicotine clearance 22.5 ± 6.6 mL -- min/-1 -- kg/-1 in women taking oral contraceptives versus 17.6 ± 6.1 mL - min/-1 -- kg/-1 in those who were not; P < .05). Women who were menopausal or postmenopausal were not different from men. Among oral contraceptive users nicotine metabolism was accelerated among those taking combined and estrogen-only contraceptives but not progesterone-only contraceptives. Conclusions: Sex hormones influence nicotine metabolism. Nicotine and cotinine metabolism is faster in women than in men and is faster in women taking oral contraceptives compared with those who are not. Accelerated nicotine metabolism appears to be a result of estrogen. Sex-related differences in nicotine clearance could affect smoking behaviors as well as response to nicotine medications and could be a marker for altered metabolism of nicotine-derived carcinogens. (authors)
Animal population dynamics: Identification of critical components

Abstract There is a growing interest in the use of population dynamics models in environmental risk assessment and the promulgation of environmental regulatory policies. Unfortunately, because of species and areal differences in the physical and biotic influences on population dynamics, such models must almost inevitably be both complex and species- or site-specific. Given the emormous variety of species and sites of potential concern, this fact presents a problem; it simply is not possible to construct models for all species and circumstances. Therefore, it is useful, before building predictive population models, to discover what input parameters are of critical importance to the desired output. This information should enable the construction of simpler and more generalizable models. As a first step, it is useful to consider population models as composed to two, partly separable classes, one comprising the purely mechanical descriptors of dynamics from given demographic parameter values, and the other describing the modulation of the demographic parameters by environmental factors (changes in physical environment, species interactions, pathogens, xenobiotic chemicals). This division permits sensitivity analyses to be run on the first of these classes, providing guidance for subsequent model simplification. We here apply such a sensitivity analysis to network models of mammalian and avian population dynamics.
Asymptotic behaviour of a multiple step, multiple-reactant combustion model on bounded domains

Under certain conditions and in certain regimes several multiple-step, multiple-reactant combustion phenomena have been successfully modelled in recent years by "reduced mechanisms". In particular, Peters and Williams used the approximate scheme CH4+O2→3X, 3X + 02→2H20+C02 to model methane-air flames. Here X is a certain corngination of H and CO, and plays the role of an intermediate species. We here consider on bounded domains the reactiondiffusion equations corresponding to the Peters-Williams mechanism. For no-flux boundarv conditions on the mass fractions and either fixed Dirichlet or no-flux boundary conditions on the temperature, we show that the temperature and mass fractions always converge to (nonnegative) constant steady-states. We are largely able to explicitly compute these steady-states from the initial and boundary data, and we show that two distinct steady-state scenarios occur, depending on whether a certain parameter (explicitly computable from the initial data) is positive or nonpositive...
Gangliogliomas in childhood.

Ganglioglioma is a tumour of the central nervous system composed of an admixture of dysplastic nerve cells resembling pleomorphic ganglion cells, and glial elements, which may be astrocytic and/or oligodendroglial in appearance. A series of 12 patients aged between 9 months and 15 years 9 months, all of whom had suffered epilepsy refractory to medical treatment for up to 8 years, is presented. Computed tomographic and magnetic resonance scans were of prime use in localisation of the tumours. Calcification was noted preoperatively in 4 of 12 cases. The majority of patients obtained at least partial relief from symptoms after complete or partial resection. Histologically, 11 of the tumours included grade 1 astrocytic elements and the remaining one exhibited grade 2 areas. The diagnosis of ganglioglioma should be suspected in a child with refractory, longstanding epilepsy. Prognosis of these tumours is determined by the astrocytic component; if this is of low grade, surgical excision may result in marked symptomatic improvement or cure.
w-hyponormal operators II

A continuation of the study of thew-hyponormal operators is presented. It is shown thatw-hyponormal operators are paranormal. Sufficient conditions which implyw-hyponormal operators are normal are given. The nonzero points of the approximate and joint approximate point spectra are shown to be identical forw-hyponormal operators. The square of an invertiblew-hyponormal operator is shown to bew-hyponormal.
IL4 Receptor ILR4α Regulates Metastatic Colonization by Mammary Tumors through Multiple Signaling Pathways

IL4, a cytokine produced mainly by immune cells, may promote the growth of epithelial tumors by mediating increased proliferation and survival. Here, we show that the type II IL4 receptor (IL4R) is expressed and activated in human breast cancer and mouse models of breast cancer. In metastatic mouse breast cancer cells, RNAi-mediated silencing of IL4Rα, a component of the IL4R, was sufficient to attenuate growth at metastatic sites. Similar results were obtained with control tumor cells in IL4-deficient mice. Decreased metastatic capacity of IL4Rα "knockdown" cells was attributed, in part, to reductions in proliferation and survival of breast cancer cells. In addition, we observed an overall increase in immune infiltrates within IL4Rα knockdown tumors, indicating that enhanced clearance of knockdown tumor cells could also contribute to the reduction in knockdown tumor size. Pharmacologic investigations suggested that IL4-induced cancer cell colonization was mediated, in part, by activation of Erk1/2, Akt, and mTOR. Reduced levels of pAkt and pErk1/2 in IL4Rα knockdown tumor metastases were associated with limited outgrowth, supporting roles for Akt and Erk activation in mediating the tumor-promoting effects of IL4Rα. Collectively, our results offer a preclinical proof-of-concept for targeting IL4/IL4Rα signaling as a therapeutic strategy to limit breast cancer metastasis.
“Then, then”: The Two Poetic Moments of Robert Herrick's UPON JULIA’S CLOTHES

WHEN as in silks my Julia goes,Then, then (me thinks) how sweetly flowesThat liquefaction of her clothes.Next, when I cast mine eyes and seeThat brave Vibration each way free;O how that glittering ...
Deuterium effect on the phosphorescence lifetime of biacetyl crystal and vapor

Abstract Phosphorescence lifetimes of biacetyl- h 6 and biacetyl- d 6 are reported for the vapor at room temperature and crystalline material at 77°K. Radiationless rate constants are calculated and the results are compared with data obtained in rigid EPA glass at 77°K.
Protease-activated receptor 1 (PAR1) and PAR4 heterodimers are required for PAR1-enhanced cleavage of PAR4 by α-thrombin

Thrombin is a potent platelet agonist that activates platelets and other cells of the cardiovascular system by cleaving its G-protein-coupled receptors, protease-activated receptor 1 (PAR1), PAR4, or both. We now show that cleaving PAR1 and PAR4 with α-thrombin induces heterodimer formation. PAR1-PAR4 heterodimers were not detected when unstimulated; however, when the cells were stimulated with 10 nm α-thrombin, we were able to detect a strong interaction between PAR1 and PAR4 by bioluminescence resonance energy transfer. In contrast, activating the receptors without cleavage using PAR1 and PAR4 agonist peptides (TFLLRN and AYPGKF, respectively) did not enhance heterodimer formation. Preventing PAR1 or PAR4 cleavage with point mutations or hirugen also prevented the induction of heterodimers. To further characterize the PAR1-PAR4 interactions, we mapped the heterodimer interface by introducing point mutations in transmembrane helix 4 of PAR1 or PAR4 that prevented heterodimer formation. Finally, we show that mutations in PAR1 or PAR4 at the heterodimer interface prevented PAR1-assisted cleavage of PAR4. These data demonstrate that PAR1 and PAR4 require allosteric changes induced via receptor cleavage by α-thrombin to mediate heterodimer formation, and we have determined the PAR1-PAR4 heterodimer interface. Our findings show that PAR1 and PAR4 have dynamic interactions on the cell surface that should be taken into account when developing and characterizing PAR antagonists.
Membrane disruption and early events in the aggregation of the diabetes related peptide IAPP from a molecular perspective.

The aggregation of proteins is tightly controlled in living systems, and misfolded proteins are normally removed before aggregation of the misfolded protein can occur. But for reasons not clearly understood, in some individuals this degradation process breaks down, and misfolded proteins accumulate in insoluble protein aggregates (amyloid deposits) over time. Of the many proteins expressed in humans, a small but growing number have been found to form the long, highly ordered β-sheet protein fibers that comprise amyloid deposits. Despite a lack of obvious sequence similarity, the amyloid forms of diverse proteins are strikingly similar, consisting of long, highly ordered insoluble fibers with a characteristic crossed β-sheet pattern. Amyloidogenesis has been the focus of intense basic and clinical research, because a high proportion of amyloidogenic proteins have been linked to common degenerative diseases, including Alzheimer’s disease, type II diabetes, and Parkinson’s disease.The apparent link between a...
Medium effects on binary collisions with the Delta resonance.

To facilitate the relativistic heavy-ion calculations based on transport equations, the binary collisions involving a \ensuremath{\Delta} resonance in either the entrance channel or the exit channel are investigated within a Hamiltonian formulation of \ensuremath{\pi}NN interactions. An averaging procedure is developed to define a quasiparticle \ensuremath{\Delta}* and to express the experimentally measured NN\ensuremath{\rightarrow}\ensuremath{\pi}NN cross section in terms of an effective NN\ensuremath{\rightarrow}N\ensuremath{\Delta}* cross section. In contrast to previous works, the main feature of the present approach is that the mass and the momentum of the produced \ensuremath{\Delta}*'s are calculated dynamically from the bare \ensuremath{\Delta}\ensuremath{\leftrightarrows}\ensuremath{\pi}N vertex interaction of the model Hamiltonian and are constrained by the unitarity condition. The procedure is then extended to define the effective cross sections for the experimentally inaccessible N\ensuremath{\Delta}*\ensuremath{\rightarrow}NN and N\ensuremath{\Delta}*\ensuremath{\rightarrow}N\ensuremath{\Delta}* reactions. The predicted cross sections are significantly different from what are commonly assumed in relativistic heavy-ion calculations. The \ensuremath{\Delta} potential in nuclear matter has been calculated by using a Bruckner-Hartree-Fock approximation. By including the mean-field effects on the \ensuremath{\Delta} propagation, the effective cross sections of the NN\ensuremath{\rightarrow}N\ensuremath{\Delta}*, N\ensuremath{\Delta}*\ensuremath{\rightarrow}NN and N\ensuremath{\Delta}*\ensuremath{\rightarrow}N\ensuremath{\Delta}* reactions in nuclear matter are predicted. It is demonstrated that the density dependence is most dramatic in the energy region close to the pion production threshold. \textcopyright{} 1996 The American Physical Society.
Substrate Diffusion and Consumption in Rectangular Capillary-Tissue Bed

AbstractA diffusion equation can be used to estimate the oxygen concentration profiles for a highly-regular capillary bed of skeletal muscle. In reality, the capillaries may be arranged more or less randomly in normal tissues. The oxygen concentration, along with its time-wise distribution, may be uneven. Heterogeneity in the tissue bed is much more commonly considered. This article presents a mathematical analysis of the capillary-tissue exchange of substrate in microcirculation in rectangular regions where multiple capillaries are embedded with arbitrary characteristics. A matching technique is used to help solve the associated governing equations.
Physical Simulation of Maximum Seasonal Soil Freezing Depth in the United States Using Routine Weather Observations

Abstract An existing, physically based soil freezing model applicable to humid climates is modified for use in the central and western United States. Simulations using the state-of-the-art Simultaneous Heat and Water (SHAW) model indicated that the original model required the addition of a water budgeting scheme and alteration of the equation for soil thermal conductivity. Using only daily temperature, liquid precipitation, snowfall, and snow cover, this new model allows the simulation of maximum seasonal frost depths at several thousand U.S. stations. Comparison of the model-derived maximum frost depths with observed and soil temperature–inferred soil freezing maxima at 32 arid and semiarid locations indicates excellent agreement. Observed maximum soil freezing depths, ranging from 0 to over 100 cm, are simulated, with an average absolute error of 5.4 cm. At individual stations, the seasonal penetration and thawing of soil freezing tracks that of the observations very closely, regardless of ambient soil ...
Are Initiatives to Speed the New Drug Approval Process Working

Over the last two decades, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has adopted several initiatives designed to speed the approval of new drugs. In the 1970s, the agency implemented a therapeutic rat...
Corporate Social Responsibility and Different Stages of Economic Development: Singapore, Turkey, and Ethiopia

The U.S. and U.K. models of corporate social responsibility (CSR) are relatively well defined. As the phenomenon of CSR establishes itself more globally, the question arises as to the nature of CSR in other countries. Is a universal model of CSR applicable across countries or is CSR specific to country context? This article uses integrative social contracts theory (ISCT) and four institutional factors – firm ownership structure, corporate governance, openness of the economy to international investment, and the role of civil society – to examine CSR in Singapore, Turkey, and Ethiopia. Field research results illustrate variation across the institutional factors and suggest that CSR is responsive to country differences. Research findings have implications for consideration of the tradeoff between global and local CSR priorities and practices.
Development of an Instrument to Assess Learning Strategies

Items to measure learning strategies were extracted from students' written narratives about their study and learning habits. A resulting 79-item instrument was administered to 321 graduate and undergraduate students. From factor analysis of the correlation matrix four factors were identified: (I) reflective metacognition, (II) procedural metacognition, (III) rote memorization, and (IV) procrastination. There were significant positive correlations between GPA and Factors I and II and a significant negative correlation between Factor IV and GPA.
A new search algorithm for discrete stochastic optimization

We present a new method for finding a global optimal solution to a discrete stochastic optimization problem. This method resembles the simulated annealing method for discrete deterministic optimization. However, in our method the annealing schedule (the cooling temperature) is kept fixed, and the mechanism for estimating the optimal solution is different from that used in the original simulated annealing method. We state a convergence result that shows that our method converges almost surely to a global optimal solution under mild conditions. We also present empirical results that illustrate the performance of the proposed approach on a simple example.
The traveling salesman problem: An update of research

During the course of the last few years, attacks on the traveling salesman problem have resulted in a variety of often innovative and rather powerful computational procedures. In this article, we present a review of these results for problems defined on weighted and unweighted graphs. Some account of computational behavior for exact algorithms is provided; however, the primary coverage deals with the strategy of particular procedures. In addition, we include some aspects of nonexact algorithms with major interest confined to the establishment of worst-case bounds.
Noise in phototransistor optical isolators

Abstract Noise measurements were performed on several commercially available phototransistor optical isolators in order to examine the signal detection limits of typical devices. It was found that, in general, phototransistor optical isolators are very noisy devices exhibiting all of the common types of noise usually found in bipolar junction transistors. A large number of devices exhibited burst noise which dominated their low-frequency noise performance. The noise performance of devices without burst noise was dominated by 1 f noise or flicker noise at low frequencies and by shot noise at high frequencies. Experimental data indicates that in most cases the electrical noise contribution of the LED is negligible and that the dominant source of noise is the phototransistor.
Influence of parent, child, and contextual factors on the quality of the home environment

The purpose of this study was to examine factors related to the quality of the home environments mothers provide for their infants. Data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth on 602 mothers with infants between 12 and 23 months of age were used for this study. Consistent with Belsky's model of the determinants of parenting, the quality of the home environment was influenced by maternal characteristics, child characteristics, and contextual factors. A positive linear relation was found between scores on a family risk index and the probability that infants were experiencing a relatively unsupportive home environment. Le but de cette etude etait d'examiner les facteurs lies a la qualite des milieux familiaux que les meres offrent a leurs bebes. Des donnees tirees de l'Etude Longitudinale Nationale sur la Jeunesse effectuee sur 602 meres avec des bebes de 12 a 23 mois ont ete utiliseees pour cette etude. En accord avec le modele des determinants de parentage de Belsky, la qualite du milieu familial etait influencee par des caracteristi-ques maternelles, des caracteristiques infantiles et des facteurs contextuels. Une relation lineaire positive a ete decelee entre les scores sur un index de risque familial et la probabilite que les bebes vivaient dans un milieu familial offrant relativement peu de soutien.
Large scale air—sea interactions with a simple general circulation model

We have coupled Lorenz's (1960) two-layer atmospheric model to a “copper plate” ocean to obtain a simple model that can be used to study the effects of large-scale sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies on the dynamics of the atmosphere. With 164 degrees of freedom, the atmospheric model mimics the observed northern hemisphere energy cycle in fair detail. In three experiments, each lasting one year, we consider an ocean ( a ) with fixed temperature that depends only on latitude; ( b ) with fixed large-amplitude SST anomalies; and ( c ) with temperature determined by heat exchange with the air. Only in ( b ) are significant dynamical effects observed. These consist of a weak monsoon response in the subtropics and a tendency for storms to intensify over warm water at higher latitude. Experiment ( c ) developed SST anomalies that resemble the observed anomalies; however, the atmosphere and ocean in ( c ) differ insignificantly from the atmosphere and re-computed “slave ocean” in ( a ), even when the flows are averaged in reference frames moving with the anomalies. Our results suggest that the atmosphere may be too noisy to be much affected by SST anomalies on time scales over which the anomalies are themselves predictable. DOI: 10.1111/j.2153-3490.1976.tb00671.x
The internationalization of Indian SMEs in B‐to‐B markets

Purpose – The study aims to examine the effect of market orientation on the international performance of Indian SMEs in the business‐to‐business market; assess the potential moderating effect of environmental uncertainty, along with market orientation, on SMEs' performance; and discuss implications to guide SME owners/managers in their efforts to successfully expand internationally in turbulent markets.Design/methodology/approach – Surveys were sent to a random cross‐sectional industry sample of SMEs located in India. The data consisted of 150 responses.Findings – Market orientation and international orientation are positively related to export performance and the relationship between the market orientation and international performance of Indian SMEs is moderated by market turbulence.Research limitations/implications – The data were collected at a single point in time, and therefore do not allow the determination of cause and effect or the impact of changes over time. Data were collected with a reliance ...
Delays and interruptions: A self-perpetuating paradox of communication technology use

In contemporary knowledge work organizations, work is often accomplished through communication. Consequently, communication disruptions often translate into work disruptions. In this paper, we identify two types of communication disruptions with implications for the relative organization of work: delays and interruptions. Communication delays contribute to work disorganization when a worker is unable to move forward with a task due to insufficient information, while interruptions derail the flow of activities directed toward the accomplishment of a task. Communication technologies are often designed with the intention of improving work organization by reducing communication delays (first-order effect), but the use of these technologies may, in practice, inadvertently contribute to an increase in work interruptions (second-order effect). We illustrate these first and second-order impacts of communication media use in a descriptive model. Then, using this model as our point of departure, we draw on prior research on personal control, relationships, and organizational culture to offer testable propositions regarding likely worker responses (third-order effect) to either communication delays or interruptions with further implications for the organization of work. Our argument suggests that communication technology use may not result in either more or less organized work overall but, rather, may simply shift the locus of control over the flow of work.
Ultrastructural and cytochemical changes in cultured human lung cells.

Human diploid cells (WI-38) in culture show marked ultrastructural and cytochemical differences from the various mesenchymal cells present in the fetal lung. The cultured cells show hypertrophic RER cisternae studded with helical polyribosomes. A complex system of microtubules and filaments develops in the cultured cells, which also show an abundance of microvesicles formed at both the cell surface and in the Golgi. The vesicles at the cell surface are actively engaged in pinocytosis of macromolecules in the medium, and those in the Golgi represent primary lysosomes. Microtubules and filaments are very labile structures, and appear to play a role in the maintenance of cell form and in intracytoplasmic flow. Secondary lysosomes, residual bodies, and autophagic vacuoles increased with passage level. It is not clear, however, whether this change is associated with cellular degradative processes or whether it pertains to the aging process in vitro .
Comparative transcriptomics of the response of Escherichia coli to the disinfectant monochloramine and to growth conditions inducing monochloramine resistance

Abstract Escherichia coli growth in biofilms and growth at a suboptimal temperature of 20 °C have been shown to decrease sensitivity to monochloramine (Berry, D., C. Xi, L. Raskin. 2009. Environ. Sci. Technol. 43, 884–889). In order to better understand why growth conditions affect sensitivity to monochloramine, a comparative transcriptomic approach was used to identify common patterns of differentially-expressed genes under these growth conditions and during monochloramine exposure. This approach revealed a set of differentially-expressed genes shared under multiple conditions (planktonic growth at 20 °C, biofilm growth, and exposure of planktonic cells to monochloramine), with nine genes shared under all three conditions. Functional gene categories enriched in the shared gene sets included: general metabolic inhibition, redox and oxidoreductase response, cell envelope integrity response, control of iron and sulfur transport metabolism and several genes of unknown function. Single gene deletion mutant analyses verified that loss of 15 of the 24 genes up-regulated during monochloramine exposure as well as during other tested conditions increased E. coli sensitivity to monochloramine up to two fold. Constitutive expression of down-regulated genes in single gene mutants yielded mixed results, indicating that the expression of some down-regulated genes actually decreases sensitivity to monochloramine. These results contribute to the understanding of the bacterial response to disinfectants by characterizing the overlap between growth condition associated stress responses and monochloramine-associated stress responses. This characterization highlights the bacterial responses responsible for decreased sensitivity to monochloramine under different growth conditions.
Development of alternative plasma sources for cavity ring-down measurements of mercury.

We have been exploring innovative technologies for elemental and hyperfine structure measurements using cavity ring-down spectroscopy (CRDS) combined with various plasma sources. A laboratory CRDS system utilizing a tunable dye laser is employed in this work to demonstrate the feasibility of the technology. An in-house fabricated sampling system is used to generate aerosols from solution samples and introduce the aerosols into the plasma source. The ring-down signals are monitored using a photomultiplier tube and recorded using a digital oscilloscope interfaced to a computer. Several microwave plasma discharge devices are tested for mercury CRDS measurement. Various discharge tubes have been designed and tested to reduce background interference and increase the sample path length while still controlling turbulence generated from the plasma gas flow. Significant background reduction has been achieved with the implementation of the newly designed tube-shaped plasma devices, which has resulted in a detection...
Abstract IA6: Genetic strategies for next generation of breast cancer therapies

One of the major challenges for modern cancer treatments is the ability to eliminate tumor cells without affecting normal cell homeostasis. We propose to identify the “Achilles9 heel” of cancer cells using the novel concept of the “noncancer addition.” Additionally to alterations in bona-fide cancer genes, in a tumor cell, multiple normal regulatory networks have been rearranged in order to adapt to the tumorigenic state. As consequence of this divergence, survival of cancer cells also depends on noncancer genes that are essential to maintain the tumor homeostasis. Therefore, we postulate that interfering with these noncancer dependencies will result in system failure, that is, the cessation of the tumorigenic state. We are combining the power of interactome-prediction models with the state-of-the-art RNAi-genetic approaches to block the function of every gene in the entire genome to find genetic synthetic lethal interactions between noncancer genes and bona-fide cancer genes. Recently, we have applied this strategy searching for novel therapeutic alternatives for ErbB2 positive breast cancer patients. ErbB2 is a receptor tyrosine kinase found overexpressed in 20-40% of breast tumors (ErbB2+ tumors) and correlates with poor prognosis. Different targeted therapies have been developed to specifically inhibit its activity. Unfortunately, the majority of these patient tumors eventually progress acquiring resistance. Thus, there is the need to find alternative tumor targets to develop specific, more efficient, treatments for these patients. By combining genome-wide RNAi loss-of-function screens with system biology interactome models we have recently found that the JAK/STAT3 pathway is activated in ErbB2 overexpressing breast cancers through an autocrine loop mediated by the secretion of Interleukin-6 (IL-6). Importantly, blockage of this pathway strongly reduced the viability of ErbB2+ cancer cells. The identification of Stat3 as a tumor target in ErbB2+ tumors opens new avenues for patients which tumors have become refractory to standard protocols. Citation Format: Jose M. Silva. Genetic strategies for next generation of breast cancer therapies [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Special Conference on Chemical Systems Biology: Assembling and Interrogating Computational Models of the Cancer Cell by Chemical Perturbations; 2012 Jun 27-30; Boston, MA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2012;72(13 Suppl):Abstract nr IA6.
Salt marsh community structure in the Tijuana Estuary, California

Abstract Vegetation of the Tijuana Estuary salt marsh was investigated in relationship to measured environmental factors over a one-meter elevation gradient. Elevation was a good indicator of the changing environment, with lower elevations having higher salinity, more inundation, higher soil organic matter and more clay than upper elevations. Dominance of vascular plants changed gradually with elevation. Spartina foliosa dominated the lowest elevations, then Salicornia bigelovii and Batis maritima, Jaumea carnosa, Suaeda californica, Frankenia grandifolia, Monanthochloe littoralis , and Salicornia subterminalis , with Salicornia virginica common at all but the highest elevations studied. The vegetation could not be separated into realistic zones or associations on the basis of occurrence measured in 0·25 m 2 quadrats. The most discernible change in composition across the elevation gradient corresponds to the replacement of the tall Spartina foliosa with a mixture of low-growing succulents at 6–7 dm above Mean Sea Level. Species interactions of joint occurrence and cover were investigated to develop hypotheses concerning the role of competition in determining species distributions. It is hypothesized that Salicornia virginica , which has a bimodal distribution over the elevation gradient, is limited in the central part of its range by competition with Batis maritima or Salicornia bigelovii or both. And, because of their common co-occurrence and mutual abundance, it is hypothesized that Batis maritima and Salicornia bigelovii are not competitors.
Low-dose-rate extrapolation of data from animal carcinogenicity experiments— analysis of a new statistical technique

Abstract Use of data from animal experiments to estimate the human cancer risk due to long-term exposure to very low doses of chemicals in the environment poses a number of biological and statistical problems. One of the statistical problems is to extrapolate the animal dose-response relation from the high dose range where test data are available to low doses, which humans might encounter. We develop the mathematical properties of a new technique for performing this extrapolation. (Strictly speaking, it is an interpolation, since some animals are always tested at the background dose as a control.) The technique is based on maximum-likelihood estimation of parameters in dose-response relations whose form is derived from a general multistage carcinogenesis model. Since the number of stages is itself an unknown, the number of parameters to be estimated is infinite, although only finitely many will be nonzero for any given set of data. Existence and uniqueness properties of the estimates are proved using results of Karlin and Studden and of Krein and Rehtman from the theory of interpolation of polynomials with nonnegative coefficients. The algorithm for calculating the estimates is based on reducing an infinite set of Kuhn-Tucker conditions to an equivalent finite set of conditions, by exploiting properties of lexicographic ordering. This paper deals with the mathematical properties of the estimation technique. Statistical properties will be discussed in a subsequent paper.
α-Helical Peptides Are Not Protonated at the N-Terminus in the Gas Phase

DFT/AM1 ONIOM calculations using B3LY/D95** indicate that protonations of α-helical alaN (N = 14, 17) occur preferentially at the COOH and CO groups near the COOH terminus of the peptides. Protonations at the N-termini lead to local helical unraveling. The preference for protonation at or near the COOH terminus increases with N. Hydration should relatively favor the N-protonated structures, but at the expense of further unraveling. Since α-helices in proteins often form “bundles” that are not well-hydrated, the CO groups at the ends of these helices might be readily protonated.
Massive Dirac neutrinos and SN 1987A

The wrong-helicity states of a Dirac neutrino can provide an important cooling mechanism for young neutron stars. Based on numerical models of the early cooling of the neutron start associated with SN 1987A which self-consistently incorporate wrong-helicity neutrino emission, we argue that a Dirac neutrino of mass greater than 30 keV (25 keV if it is degenerate) leads to shortening of the neutrino burst that is inconsistent with the Irvine-Michigan-Brookhaven and Kamiokande II data. If pions are as abundant as nucleons in the cores of neutron stars, our limit improves to 15 keV.
Design of a Health-Promoting Neighborhood Intervention

Design and implementation of health-promoting community interventions can advance public health and community well-being; however, realization of such programs is often challenging. Even more chall...
Factors related to older women's recovery from hip fractures: Physical ability, locus of control, and social support

Our purpose in conducting this study was to identify the nature of care provided by the informal support network available to older women with hip fractures and to examine the relationships among prior functional ability, locus of control, and reliance on social supports in predicting recovery from hip fractures. One hundred one women who had recently sustained a hip fracture participated in a structured interview process. Overall, the women received more frequent help from their spouse, children, and friends at the time of the interview than during the month before their hip fractures. Women who had higher activities of daily living capabilities prior to the fracture, had a greater internal orientation, and used fewer formal services reported higher levels of current physical functioning.
Small cell carcinoma of the colon arising in a carcinoid tumor.

Small cell carcinomas of the gastrointestinal tract are rare and clinically aggressive tumors. A case is presented of a 70 year-old woman who presented with small bowel obstruction and was found to have a cecal mass. She underwent right hemicolectomy, and histopathology showed a small cell carcinoma arising in the background of a carcinoid tumor. Although small cell carcinomas of the colon have frequently been found in association with colonic adenomas, this appears to be the first report of a low-grade carcinoid tumor in combination with a small cell carcinoma. Small cell carcinoma (SmCC) of the gastrointestinal (GI) tract is a rare cancer, estimated to comprise of 0.1-1% of all gastrointestinal malignancies. In a systematic review of the 544 cases of GI SmCC reported in the literature between 1970 and 2003, the mean age of presentation was 64 years, with a male predominance (1). The most common sites of origin for these tumors were the esophagus and stomach, then the colon and rectum. A case of a 70 year-old woman who was diagnosed with small cell carcinoma, arising in the background of a carcinoid tumor in the cecum is presented in the current report. Although small cell carcinomas of the colon have frequently been found in association with colonic adenomas, this appears to be the first report of a low-grade carcinoid tumor in combination with a small cell carcinoma. Case Report A 70-year-old woman with a history of osteoarthritis, ascending thoracic aneurysm stable for 10 years, chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) in remission on dasatinib, and hypothyroidism presented with abdominal pain, nausea and vomiting. She had no signs or symptoms of carcinoid syndrome. On Cat-Scan she had a small bowel obstruction and mucosal thickening of the cecum was seen. The patient underwent a colonoscopy, which revealed a cecal mass, and then underwent a right colectomy. Macroscopic examination of the hemicolectomy specimen revealed a firm mass measuring 10×9.5 cm and involving the entire entire cecum, ileocecal valve, and appendix. There was gross involvement of the entire colonic wall and the tumor extended into the pericolic fat. Histologically the appearance was of a small cell carcinoma arising in the background of a carcinoid tumor. The mitotic rate was high with >40 mitoses/10 high-power fields. The tumor stained strongly- positively for synaptophysin, negatively for chromogranin, and negative for the lung markers (thyroid transcription factor 1) TTF-1 and napsyn. Staged with the TNM staging system of malignant tumors, the tumor was pT4 with invasion into the serosa and extension to the radial surface of the colon, pN1 with 73/82 lymph nodes involved with tumor. There were no pulmonary nodules on chest CT. Octreotide scan performed after the surgery showed no abnormal accumulation of radiotracer. Serum carcinoembryonic antigen was within normal limits. Although no chromogranin-A levels were available prior to surgery, one month postoperatively the chromogranin-A levels were 60 ng/ml.
Clarity and recognition of masked and degraded stimuli

Three Ss viewed arrays of four letters which were either varied in duration or followed by visual noise. On half of the trials they rated the clarity of the letters; on the other half they attempted to recognize all of the letters. The results showed that while both clarity and recognition increased in parallel as duration was increased, clarity exceeded recognition accuracy when visual noise followed the array. Thus, Ss said the letters were clear even though they did not have enough time to process them for recognition. These results were interpreted as supporting an information processing model of the effects of visual noise, as compared to a sensory or temporal summation explanation.
ELECTRICAL EXTRACTION OF THE IN-PLANE DIELECTRIC CONSTANT OF FLUORINATED POLYIMIDE

Fluorinated polyimide can potentially replace TEOS as an interlevel dielectric in future ULSI interconnect technologies because its lower dielectric constant offers reduced crosstalk, signal propagation delay, and dynamic power dissipation. One issue associated with polyimides is the anisotropy in dielectric constant, where the smaller out-of-plane dielectric constant, typically measured using parallel-plate capacitors, can misleadingly exaggerate the advantage in reducing crosstalk. In this paper, we present a novel electrical technique to estimate the in-plane dielectric constant of DuPont FPI-136M fluorinated polyimide without requiring dielectric gapfill. A blanket FPI-136M film is deposited over interdigitated inlaid Al(0.5%Cu) structures and the crosstalk capacitance is measured. Identical inlaid structures with air and TEOS passivations are also measured for capacitance calibration. Differences in measured capacitances reflect electric fields fringing in the various passivation dielectrics above the inlaid metal. With the known dielectric constants of air and TEOS, the effective dielectric constant of FPI-136M is interpolated to be 2.8. Interconnect simulations confirm that the effective dielectric constant extraction technique is valid and accurate provided that the passivation layer is sufficiently thick to contain the fringing fields. To estimate the in-plane dielectric constant, we use simulations to determine the combination of in-plane and out-of-plane dielectric constants that is equivalent to the extracted effective dielectric constant. With an out-of-plane dielectric constant of 2.6, the in-plane dielectric constant of FPI-136M is estimated to be 3.0. This technique is applicable to other dieletrics.
Relaxed Specificity of the R1162 Nickase: a Model for Evolution of a System for Conjugative Mobilization of Plasmids

The primary DNA processing protein for conjugative mobilization of the plasmid R1162 is the transesterase MobA, which acts at a unique site on the plasmid, the origin of transfer (oriT). Both MobA and oriT are members of a large family of related elements that are widely distributed among bacteria. Each oriT consists of a highly conserved core and an adjacent region that is required for binding by its cognate MobA. The sequence of the adjacent region is important in determining the specificity of the interaction between the Mob protein and the oriT DNA. However, the R1162 MobA is active on the oriT of pSC101, another naturally occurring plasmid. We show here that MobA can recognize oriTs having different sequences in the adjacent region and, with varying frequencies, can cleave these oriTs at the correct position within the core. Along with the structure of the oriTs themselves, these characteristics suggest a model for the evolution of this group of transfer systems.
Channel width effect on MOSFET breakdown

Wide-channel MOSFETs have typically 10 to 30% lower breakdown voltages than narrow-width (W approximately=L) transistors and are less likely to exhibit clear snapback characteristics. These observations can be explained using a simplified model to determine the width dependence of the MOSFET substrate resistance. The normalized substrate current I/sub sub//W required for source turn-on predicted by this model is found to decrease by an order of magnitude for wide-channel-width transistors in agreement with measured data. This results in the observed decrease in breakdown voltage for wide-channel MOSFETs. >