cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Genetic inactivation of the psaB gene in Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 disrupts assembly of photosystem I

The reaction center of photosystem (PS) I is comprised of a heterodimer of homologous polypeptides, PsaA and PsaB. In order to investigate the biogenesis of PS I, the psaB gene was inactivated by targeted mutagenesis in the unicellular cyanobacterium Synechocystis 6803. This mutation resulted in disruption of stable PS I assembly, but PS II assembled normally. Expression of the psaA gene was not affected by the mutation, but PsaA protein was not detected, indicating that stable PsaA homodimers did not form. The ability to inactivate psaB makes it a viable target for site-directed mutagenesis.
The concept of decentralized and secure electronic marketplace

For commerce (electronic or traditional) to be effective, there must be a degree of trust between buyers and sellers. In traditional commerce, this kind of trust is based on such things as societal laws and customs, and on the intuition people tend to develop about each other during interpersonal interactions. The trustworthiness of these factors is based, to a large extent, on the geographical proximity between buyers and sellers. But this proximity is lost in e-commerce. In conventional electronic marketplaces the trust among participants is supported by a central server which imposes certain trading rules on all transactions. But such centralized marketplaces have serious drawbacks, among them: lack of scalability, and high cost. In this paper we propose the concept of Decentralized Electronic Marketplace (DEM) which allow buyers and sellers to engage in commercial transactions, subject to an explicitly stated set of trading rules, called the law of this marketplace--which they can trust to be observed by their trading partners. This trust is due to a decentralized, and thus scalable, mechanism that enforces the stated law of the DEM. We implement an electronic marketplace for airline tickets in order to illustrate the feasibility of the proposed concepts for decentralized and secure electronic marketplace.
Light response characteristics of net CO2 exchange in brackish wetland plant communities.

Photosynthetic responses to incident photon flux density (400-700 nm; PPFD) was studied in a grass community consisting of Spartina patens and Distichlis spicata and a mixed community having the two grasses and a sedge, Scirpus Olneyi. Net community CO2 exchange and incident PPFD were monitored from dawn to dusk in a large open gas exchange system, and a hyperbolic light response model was fit to the data for each day. Light response curves from five growing seasons were evaluated for seasonal trends in the compensation value, initial slope, and maximum net CO2 exchange rate calculated from the model at PPFD=1670 μmol m-2s-1.All response curves were curvilinear. Data from approximately 30% of the 113 days studied fit saturation curves which occurred primarily in spring and fall. Approximately 5% of all curves constructed required a different response curve for the morning and afternoon. These occurred during mid-summer and were interpreted to be evidence of water stress.The compensation flux density was very high early in the growing season, but rapidly decreased and during the months June, July and August, it averaged near 100 and 120 μmol m-2s-1 in the mixed and grass communities. The initial slope and maximum net CO2 exchange rate increased from early May to maxima in July and declined thereafter. Mid-summer mean values for the mixed and grass communities respectively were 34.3±10.3 mmol mol-1 and 39.1±9.1 mmol mol-1 for the initial slope and 20.3±4.2 μmol m-2s-1 and 23.0±3.8 μmol m-2s-1 for maximum net CO2 exchange. Daytime respiration accounted for approximately 20% of maximum gross photosynthesis in both communities.Photosynthetic efficiency, CO2 assimilated per unit total incident solar radiation, was approximately 4.1% and 4.7% at dawn or dusk and 2.3% and 2.6% at midday for the mixed and grass community. Gross photosynthesis, maximum photosynthesis plus midday respiration, accounted for 2.7% and 3.0% of total incident solar radiation in the mixed and grass communities.
Stochastic Modeling to Identify the Normal Response of an Optic Nerve Head to Small Increases in Intraocular Pressure

Glaucoma is one of the leading causes of blindness worldwide. Although elevated intraocular pressure (IOP) is the main risk factor for the development of the disease, its role remains unclear. Several studies have explored the hypothesis that an IOP-induced altered biomechanical environment within the optic nerve head (ONH), and the lamina cribrosa in particular, may contribute to disruption of the retinal ganglion cell axons, and the subsequent loss of vision associated with glaucoma [1–3]. Identifying the normal ONH biomechanical environment, however, has proven challenging. This has been in part because of the difficulty in accessing the ONH directly for experimentation, but also because of the difficulty in reconstructing models of the relevant structures with which to estimate its biomechanics. Few models represent only a small subset of the possible variations in ONH characteristics in a population, with the consequent lack of statistical power in the predictions.Copyright © 2011 by ASME
HCLIE: a logic-based requirement language for new software engineering paradigms

It is a paradigm of software engineering that a complete representation of the problem domain (called requirement theory) is repeatedly refined by correctness-preserving transformations into the program itself. The design of a requirement theory has to allow for such a design methodology. The authors argue that currently available languages intended to yield requirement theories fail to meet these demands. They present a logic-based requirement language, which can be used to specify the requirements for software systems under the emerging methodology. The language presented is based on first-order predicate logic but augments standard first-order logic by introducing hierarchies and exceptions to its generalisations, in order to allow for a more natural description of the problem domain.
3D flower-structured graphene from CO2 for supercapacitors with ultrahigh areal capacitance at high current density

The widespread application of supercapacitors, which store electrical charge on high-surface-area conducting materials, is limited by their small accessible area and low areal mass loading of active materials due to their microporous structures. Herein, we report that 3D cauliflower-fungus-like graphene (CFG) with hierarchical mesoporous-structure and large fully accessible surface area, which was synthesized directly from CO2via the one-step exothermic approach, exhibited an ultrahigh areal capacitance up to 1.16 F cm−2 at a high current density up to 10 A g−1. The excellent performance remained almost unchanged with increasing temperature to 55 °C. Furthermore, the 3D CFG electrode can reach a high efficient-mass-loading of 11.16 mg cm−2, which meets the current commercial requirement (about 10 mg cm−2). This solves a critical issue that the enhancement of mass loading usually sacrifices the mass capacitance.
Molecular simulations of green leaf volatiles and atmospheric oxidants on air/water interfaces

Green leaf volatiles (GLVs) are oxygenated hydrocarbons that are emitted by plants, especially under stress conditions such as mechanical damage and local weather changes. GLVs can react with photochemically-generated oxidants (e.g., OH radicals) in atmospheric water drops, and contribute to the formation of secondary organic aerosols (SOAs). Here we investigated the adsorption of a gas phase GLV, 2-methyl-3-buten-2-ol (MBO) and OH radicals on atmospheric air/water interfaces using classical molecular dynamics (MD) simulations and potential of mean force (PMF) calculations. Our models can reproduce experimental values of the free energy of hydration of MBO and ˙OH, as well as 1-octanol/water partition coefficients of MBO determined experimentally in this study. Both MBO and ˙OH have a strong thermodynamic incentive to remain at the air/water interface, with their density profiles overlapping significantly at the interface. These results suggest that chemical reactions between MBO and ˙OH are more likely to take place at the interface, rather than inside the bulk of water droplets or in the vapor phase. We found a significant number of contacts between MBO and ˙OH in our simulations, which could lead to reactions between these two species.
Effects of substitution on the reactivity of alkyl aryl tetrafluoro-λ6-sulfanes

Abstract The preparation of aliphatic aryl tetrafluoro-λ6-sulfanes was achieved by direct addition of readily available chlorotetrafluorosulfanyl arenes to alkenes and alkynes. Systematic substitution of the ligands bound to the tetrafluoro-λ6-sulfanyl group enabled investigations of the substituent effects on the reactivity of aryl tetrafluoro-λ6-sulfanyl-substituted products. The modulation of reactivity was effected by variation of electron-withdrawing or electron-donating effects. All isolable products were fully characterized. In addition structural characterization of these compounds suggested insights into the influence of the substituents on the nature of bonding at the tetrafluoro-λ6-sulfanyl group.
Physically based modeling and simulation with dynamic spherical volumetric simplex splines

In this paper, we present a novel computational modeling and simulation framework based on dynamic spherical volumetric simplex splines. The framework can handle the modeling and simulation of genus-zero objects with real physical properties. In this framework, we first develop an accurate and efficient algorithm to reconstruct the high-fidelity digital model of a real-world object with spherical volumetric simplex splines which can represent with accuracy geometric, material, and other properties of the object simultaneously. With the tight coupling of Lagrangian mechanics, the dynamic volumetric simplex splines representing the object can accurately simulate its physical behavior because it can unify the geometric and material properties in the simulation. The visualization can be directly computed from the object's geometric or physical representation based on the dynamic spherical volumetric simplex splines during simulation without interpolation or resampling. We have applied the framework for biomechanic simulation of brain deformations, such as the brain shifting during surgery and brain injury under blunt impact. We have compared our simulation results with the ground truth obtained through intra-operative magnetic resonance imaging and real biomechanic experiments. The evaluations demonstrate the excellent performance of our new technique.
Evaluation and Management of the Older Adult with Chronic Kidney Disease

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) has a high prevalence in the elderly population. Almost half of the population reaches moderate impairment (CKD 3) by 65 years of age. This article describes CKD staging in the geriatric population and several common clinical presentations of renal disease. Diagnosis and treatment regimens of CKD are discussed. Geriatric patients are at an increased risk for renal dysfunction from many causes. Some causes are inherent with aging, such as gross structural and cellular changes, decrease in physiologic function, and lowered vascular compensatory reserve. Exposures, including medications and diagnostic testing, are contributors to acute kidney injury.
On the trail of an auditory rabbit

The auditory “rabbit,” or saltation, effect has previously been described as arising when a small number of auditory pulses (e.g., three) are presented at each of three positions in space, in rapid succession: P1,P1,P1,P2,P2,P2,P3,P3,P3, The pulses appear to be spread evenly in space, occupying positions not only at their physical places of origin, but also between those places. The present experiments measured direction and amount of spatial displacement effects quantitatively: Localization was measured for the next to last pulse in a sequence of three or four pulses presented rapidly at several spatial locations. Direction of displacement of this pulse was found to depend on its physical location relative to other pulses in the series. Magnitude of the displacement depended on the number of pulses in the series, and on the spatial location of the last pulse in the series relative to that of other pulses.
Long-Term Free-Ranging Recording Using Data Integral to Pulse Frequency Signal Transformation

A method has been devised for recording low-frequency dc physiologic signals for extended periods. The signal is transformed to a pulse train that can be recorded on a portable ECG tape recorder. The reproducing circuit permits the construction of an analog signal proportional to the average of the original signal.
Emergence of Long Range One-Dimensional Nanostructures in a Disordered Two-Dimensional System: Mn-Doped Ti1+δS2

Multiple microscopic techniques have been employed to study Mn-intercalated Ti1+δS2 at different length scales. The introduction of Mn intercalates resulted in the formation of two distinct types of one-dimensional structures; both exhibited extremely high aspect ratios, with lengths exceeding hundreds of micrometers. The smaller of the two features were only a few nanometers wide, while the larger one-dimensional structures had widths on the order of magnitude of one hundred nanometers. The one-dimensional structures were detected on samples with a range of Mn-doping levels but were especially common in samples with a 15% Mn-doping concentration. In these samples, a high density of parallel linear structures could be found at lengths ranging from the nanometer to micrometer scale. One-dimensional structures were never found in Ti1+δS2 samples without Mn dopants. We utilized Monte Carlo simulations to better understand these structures, which arise from interactions between the two species of intercalates...
Direct overwrite by short pulses on double-layered MO media

We found that laser pulses in the order of one nanosecond create significant through-thickness temperature gradients in an MO layer. Applying this effect to double-layered media, expansion of the laser power range for a writing process was demonstrated experimentally. These results imply that a combination of short and long pulses could provide a new approach to direct overwrite.© (1990) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
The Problem of Objectivity in Judicial Decision-Making

Efforts to study the regularities of the judicial role-set have centered upon the decisionmaking processes of the appellate judges, which have produced limited results. It is suggested that studying the judicial decision-maker in the context of his organizational environment would be more fruitful. At the lower-level courts a typology of six judicial role patterns is discerned: the Intellectual-Scholar; the Routineer-Hack; the Political AdventurerCareerist; the Judicial Pensioner; the Hatchet-Man; the Tyrant-Showboat-Benevolent Despot. The differential quality of their performance contributes to the maximization of the court organization as an administrative mechanism. In no other area of judicial behavior has judicial decision-making been subjected to as much criticism and scrutiny as in the case of the sentencing power and the manner in which it is exercised by the judges of our criminal courts. The quality of "objectivity"
TH-E-218-09: Extracting Patient-Specific Radiobiological Parameters for Radiobiologically Adaptive Radiotherapy Based on Radiation Response for Lung Cancer

Purpose: Radiobiologically adaptive radiation therapy (RT) has not been used, largely, because the patient/tumor/organ specific radiobiological parameters are difficult to obtain. We introduce a method to extract such parameters for lungcancer based on the PET/CT data acquired before and during RT. Methods: Changes in lungtumor volume measured from PET/CT data acquired before and during RT were analyzed by a two‐component model, assuming that lungtumor cells comprise both radiosensitive and radioresistant components. This model consists of 4 major parameters: radiosensitivity parameter as, potential doubling time for the radiosensitive cells Tp, initial fraction of radioresistant cells h, and the disintegration half‐life of radiation‐damaged cells (Td). The parameter h can be determined using the pre‐treatment PET with Fluoromisonidazoles. The tumor volume change measured with PET provides a strong constraint to as and Tp because it does not depend on the disintegration process. The model was used to determine the patient specific radiobiologically optimal dose and fractionation for the remaining part of RT using the model parameters determined for the patient. The method was tested using the data from 6 lungcancer patients. Results: Significant variations of the model parameters were found between patients. For example, for the patient data studied, as varies between 0.031 to 0.091 Gy‐1, the potential doubling time changes from 14 to 26 days and Td varied from 3.6 and 90 days. The calculated optimal doses and/or fractionations for the remaining part of RT based on the patient specific model parameters are also patient specific, varying by 50% for the data considered. Conclusions: The change in lungtumor volume observed from PET/CT in the early part of RT provides a means to probe radiobiological properties of the tumor, allowing the delivery of individualized, radiobiologically adaptive RT in the remaining course of the treatment.
Service‐learning: Students’ transformative journey from communication student to Civic‐minded professional

This essay chronicles the service‐learning journey of 12 students who conducted communication audits for non‐profit community agencies. Using knowledge of communication theory and multiple data‐gathering and analysis methods, students assessed communication clarity and efficiency within the community agencies. Students reported gaining richer understanding of organizational communication concepts and greater confidence in their communication skills than they possessed previously. Students said that these experiences raised their awareness of community needs, helping them develop more realistic attitudes about community involvement and demonstrating for them the importance of assuming community leadership roles. Representatives from community agencies reported high levels of satisfaction with the projects.
Autoranging compensation for variable baseline chemical sensors

This paper addresses the need for a broad-base signal conditioning module designed to process chemical sensor signals in such a way that the output of the conditioning circuits ensures similar baseline and dynamic range, regardless of fabrication variation and sensor drift. These baseline compensation circuits are demonstrated in the context of processing resistance changes from composite polymer chemical sensors and tin-oxide chemical sensors. Because of the initial highly variable baseline state of chemiresistors, a large number of bits in an A/D converter are required to translate the sensor information from an array of these sensors into a digital format for use by a microprocessor. In this work, we present a generic circuit for auto-calibrating and compensating for the baseline of a variety of chemiresistive devices in order to improve concentration measurement resolution and analyte discrimination. The measurement circuits optimize sensor resolution via baseline compensation. Dynamic range is standardized to a constant size regardless of initial baseline resistances. The resulting dynamic range can be as much as two orders smaller than an uncompensated circuit and achieve the same sensor accuracy. Simulations have also shown a factor of 68 improvement in resolution.© (2002) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
Helix Capping Interactions Stabilize the N-Terminus of the Kinesin Neck Coiled-Coil

In an effort to understand how specific structural features within the kinesin neck, a region of the heavy chain located between the catalytic core and stalk domains, may contribute to motor processivity (an ability to remain attached to the microtubule filament), we have prepared several synthetic peptides corresponding to the neck region of human conventional kinesin and determined their secondary structure content and stability by CD spectroscopy. Our results show that the coiled-coil dimerization domain within the human kinesin neck region corresponds to residues 337 to 369 in solution, and thus is in excellent agreement with the recent X-ray crystallographic structures of rat brain kinesin. Further, we show that the first and last heptads of this region are absolutely critical for creating the high stability and association of the dimeric structure. Interestingly, addition of the 7 N-terminal neck-linker residues (330-336) to the coiled-coil domain significantly increased its stability (Delta GdnHCl midpoint of 1 M or an increase of approximately 1.5 kcal/mol), indicating that a strong structural link exists between the neck-linker and coiled-coil region. Subsequent high-resolution structural analysis of the residues located at the junction of the neck-linker and coiled-coil revealed the presence of the two helix capping motifs, the capping box (a reciprocal interaction of Thr 336 with Gln 339) and the hydrophobic staple (a hydrophobic packing interaction of Leu 335 with Trp 340). Substitution of Leu 335 and Thr 336 (the capping residues) with Gly completely eliminated the increased stability of the coiled-coil region observed in the presence of the neck-linker residues. Correspondingly, substitution of Trp 340, the first hydrophobic core d position residue of the coiled-coil, with an Ala residue resulted in a greater than expected decrease in stability and helicity of the coiled-coil structure. Subsequent analysis of the X-ray structure and substitution analysis of Lys 341 revealed that Trp 340 makes an important interchain hydrophobic interaction with Lys 341 of the opposite chain. Taken together these results reveal that a set of strong intra- and inter-chain interactions made up of the helix "capping box," "hydrophobic staple," and the newly identified "Leu-Trp-Lys sandwich" motifs stabilize the kinesin neck coiled-coil structure, thus preventing it from fraying and unfolding.
MRI-based attenuation correction and medical image registration on GPU

In this paper, we propose to implement mutual information algorithms with functional data-parallelism to speed up the medical image registration process. Experimental results showed that the GPU implementation improves the registration computational performance with a speedup factor of 18.36×. Additional speedup can be achieved with diligent data profiling. In addition, we suggest the use of the proposed implementation in attenuation correction of MRI/PET image pairs.
A sputtered zirconia primer for improved thermal shock resistance of plasma sprayed ceramic turbine seals

The development of plasma-sprayed yttria stabilized zirconia (YSZ) ceramic turbine blade tip seal components is discussed. The YSZ layers are quite thick (0.040 to 0.090 in.). The service potential of seal components with such thick ceramic layers is cyclic thermal shock limited. The most usual failure mode is ceramic layer delamination at or very near the interface between the plasma sprayed YSZ layer and the NiCrAlY bondcoat. Deposition of a thin RF sputtered YSZ primer to the bondcoat prior to deposition of the thick plasma sprayed YSZ layer was found to reduce laminar cracking in cyclic thermal shock testing. The cyclic thermal shock life of one ceramic seal design was increased by a factor of 5 to 6 when the sputtered YSZ primer was incorporated. A model based on thermal response of plasma sprayed YSZ particles impinging on the bondcoat surface with and without the sputtered YSZ primer provides a basis for understanding the function of the primer.
Evidence for conceptual combination in the left anterior temporal lobe.

Abstract Conceptual combination allows for the construction of an infinite number of complex ideas from a finite base. The anterior temporal lobes appear to be important for the process of conceptual combination. In a previous study (Baron et al., 2010) we showed that the neural representation of complex concepts (e.g., young man ) in the left anterior temporal lobe is additive. Specifically, in that region, the representation of a complex concept can be predicted by the superimposition of the voxel-wise neural representations of its constituent concepts (e.g., young + man ). However, this finding could be the result of phonological similarity or the simple co-activation of constituent concepts. Here we use concepts that are only related semantically: boy , girl , woman , man , female , male , child , and adult . The neural representation for each concept was evoked through a visual categorization task. Subsequent brain maps were then analyzed using a searchlight analysis meant to show areas of the cortex where multiplicative (as well as additive) conceptual combination occurred (e.g., areas in which activations for boy correlated with the product of the activations for male and child ). Across all participants, the left anterior temporal lobe showed such an effect.
Time Transient Analysis of Horizontal Rigid Rotor Supported With O-Ring Sealed Squeeze Film Damper

This study addresses the nonlinear dynamic behavior of O-ring seals as the retaining spring in squeeze film dampers (SFDs). An analytical model is developed to predict the restoring and hysteresis forces of elastomer O-rings based on experimental and numerical data. This model takes into account the temperature softening and excitation frequency hardening effects in O-rings as well as the installation conditions in the form of radial and vertical preloads, σ and γ, respectively. Long bearing assumption is adopted for the solution of Reynolds equation. The equations of motion of horizontal unbalanced rigid rotor are derived, and a dimensional analysis is conducted on them. The numerical results substantiates the synchronizing effects of bearing parameter, B and vertical preload, γ, and the asynchronizing effects of O-ring parameter, O and radial preload, σ. It is shown that the variation of temperature and rotational speed as operating conditions influence the rotor response significantly.Copyright © 2013 by ASME
Conduction and dissipation in the shearing flow of granular materials modeled as non-Newtonian fluids

After providing a brief review of the constitutive modeling of the stress tensor for granular materials using non-Newtonian fluid models, we study the flow between two horizontal flat plates. It is assumed that the granular media behaves as a non-Newtonian fluid (of the Reiner–Rivlin type); we use the constitutive relation derived by Rajagopal and Massoudi [Rajagopal, K. R. and M. Massoudi, “A Method for measuring material moduli of granular materials: flow in an orthogonal rheometer,” Topical Report, DOE/PETC/TR-90/3, 1990] which can predict the normal stress differences. The lower plate is fixed and heated, and the upper plate (which is at a lower temperature than the lower plate) is set into motion with a constant velocity. The steady fully developed flow and the heat transfer equations are made dimensionless and are solved numerically; the effects of different dimensionless numbers and viscous dissipation are discussed.
Oviposition of Telenomus nlgrocoxalis Aschm. (Chalcildidæ)

Telenomus nigrocoxalis, a hymenopterous egg-parasite of the Coconut butterfly in British Guiana (Brassolis sophorae L.), was observed under magnification on an egg-mass of the host. After a careful inspection and tapping of the eggs with her antennae, the female decides upon a particular egg and penetrates the shell dorso-laterally with a few strokes of the ovipositor, which is inserted into a minute puncture. The female remains in this position for about four minutes. Now and then a male stops to tap the female on the head and thorax with his antennae.
Using SRM-MS to quantify nuclear protein abundance differences between adipose tissue depots of insulin-resistant mice

Insulin resistance (IR) underlies metabolic disease. Visceral, but not subcutaneous, white adipose tissue (WAT) has been linked to the development of IR, potentially due to differences in regulatory protein abundance. Here we investigate how protein levels are changed in IR in different WAT depots by developing a targeted proteomics approach to quantitatively compare the abundance of 42 nuclear proteins in subcutaneous and visceral WAT from a commonly used insulin-resistant mouse model, Lepr(db/db), and from C57BL/6J control mice. The most differentially expressed proteins were important in adipogenesis, as confirmed by siRNA-mediated depletion experiments, suggesting a defect in adipogenesis in visceral, but not subcutaneous, insulin-resistant WAT. Furthermore, differentiation of visceral, but not subcutaneous, insulin-resistant stromal vascular cells (SVCs) was impaired. In an in vitro approach to understand the cause of this impaired differentiation, we compared insulin-resistant visceral SVCs to preadipocyte cell culture models made insulin resistant by different stimuli. The insulin-resistant visceral SVC protein abundance profile correlated most with preadipocyte cell culture cells treated with both palmitate and TNFα. Together, our study introduces a method to simultaneously measure and quantitatively compare nuclear protein expression patterns in primary adipose tissue and adipocyte cell cultures, which we show can reveal relationships between differentiation and disease states of different adipocyte tissue types.
The Librational Dynamics of Deformable Bodies

The volume average of the strain tensor in a body moving in an inverse-square force field is evaluated. The calculation is carried out assuming the satellite to be an isotropic elastic body whose center of mass moves in a planar orbit. An approximate expression, in terms of its volume and elastic properties, is presented for the strain energy in the satellite. Using this expression the equation of planar librational motion is written explicity. This equation is discussed for both circular and elliptic orbits and is modified to include the effects of energy dissipation in the body. It is shown that the concept of Adiabatic Invariants allows one to analyze the influence of slow changes in the material volume and elasticity.
SOCIAL GRACES: CHRISTIANITY AND GLOBALIZATION

Abstract Globalization is the theological and missiological mandate of today. Society currently fails to grasp the way in which religion has shaped the onset and development of globalization. Ultimately, globalization demands a theological response. Christianity has much to offer, especially because its three central historic claims have to do with grace, making them universal in implication. The existing dynamics of globalization cannot be grasped without studying the relationship between faith, culture, societies, history and economics. Modern corporate capitalism can be a viable economic system only within a framework that offers just laws, human rights protections, and, above all, freedom of religion.
Derivation of the recursive maximum-likelihood identification algorithm

It is shown that the recursive maximum-likelihood identification algorithm, which was obtained previously as an online version of the maximum-likelihood method, can be derived in a straightforward way by using a stochastic approximation approach.
Relative performance information in asset markets: An experimental approach

Abstract An important issue in the study of asset market bubbles is the extent to which traders are influenced by their perceived performance relative to other traders. Extant research on laboratory asset market bubbles has generally kept performance information private, effectively excluding such considerations from experimental control. We provide traders in an experimental market with a 15-period finitely lived asset with periodic performance information for one other trader—either the best performer or the worst performer—and find significant effects on both aggregate market measures, such as market prices and boom duration, and individual subjective satisfaction.
Temporal rule induction for clinical outcome analysis

Clinical outcomes analysis normally covers a particular time period. The sample under study is constantly changing as patients are censored, leave the study or die. In this paper, we present a novel data mining approach to mine temporal rules that reflect characteristics of outcomes analysis. We apply our temporal rule induction algorithm to a set of cancer patients, clinical records that were prospectively collected for 20 years. We analyse clinical data not only based on the static event, such as local recurrence for survival analysis, but also based on the temporal event with censored data for each time unit. The rules extracted from our temporal rule induction algorithm are compared to results from statistical analysis. The importance of this paper is that this novel temporal rule induction algorithm provides valuable insights for clinical data assessment and complements traditional statistical analysis.
Bioadhesive poly(methyl methacrylate) microdevices for controlled drug delivery

Oral delivery is the preferred route of drug administration. However, the breakdown of molecules and low levels of absorption in the gastrointestinal system render the oral delivery of proteins and peptides ineffective. Bioadhesive delivery devices can be used to circumvent these problems by protecting the drug from gastrointestinal denaturation, localizing and prolonging a drug at a specific target site, and maintaining direct contact with the intestinal cells, thereby increasing the drug concentration gradient. Microfabrication technology may offer some potential advantages over conventional delivery technologies. The benefits of microfabrication include the ability to tailor the size, shape, reservoir volume, and surface characteristics of the drug delivery vehicle. In this study, bioadhesive properties were introduced to microfabricated poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) microdevices by attachment of lectins, a group of proteins capable of specifically targeting cells in the gastrointestinal tract. In this process, the PMMA microdevices were chemically modified by aminolysis to yield amine-terminated surfaces. Avidin molecules were covalently bound to the surface of the particles using a hydroxysuccinimide catalyzed carbodiimide reagent and then incubated in an aqueous solution of biotinylated lectin. The lectin-modified microdevices were examined in vitro in terms of their bioadhesive characteristics.
Patriotic Gore, Again

Rejetant les positions du patriotisme fort (A. Oldenquist et A. MacIntyre) et du patriotisme faible (S. Nathanson et Y. Tamir) qui defendent la superiorite du patriotisme sur la morale liberale et la possibilite d'une reconciliation des deux au sein d'une ethique normative, l'A. montre que le liberalisme demeure une approche de la moralite superieure a celle du patriotisme. L'A. rejette la legitimite de la co-nationalite en ce sens qu'elle repose sur une forme particuliere de partialite
Thermally stable Ge/Cu/Ti ohmic contacts to n-type GaN

The performance of a novel Ge/Cu/Ti metallization scheme on n-type GaN has been investigated for obtaining thermally and electrically stable low-resistance ohmic contacts. Isochronal (2 min.) anneals in the 600–740°C temperature range and isothermal (690°C) anneals for 2–10 min. duration were performed in inert atmosphere. For the 690°C isothermal schedule, ohmic behavior was observed after annealing for 3 min. or longer with a lowest contact resistivity of 9.1 × 10−5 Ωcm2 after the 10 min. anneal for a net donor doping concentration of 9.2 × 1017 cm−Ω3. Mean roughness (Ra) for anneals at 690°C was almost constant at around 5 nm, up to an annealing duration of 10 min., which indicates a good thermal stability of the contact scheme.
Frequency-Shaped Randomized Sampling

This paper explores the use of discrete-time randomized sampling as a method to mitigate the effects of aliasing. Two distinct sampling architectures are presented along with second-order characterizations of the resulting sampling error. In the first, denoted simple randomized sampling, non-white sampling processes are shown to frequency-shape the error spectrum, so that its power is minimized in the band of interest. The design of non-white binary processes for use in randomized sampling is considered. In the second model, denoted filtered randomized sampling, a pre-filter, post-filter, and the sampling process are used to achieve a similar effect. In both cases, optimal mean-squared-error solutions are derived. Results from simulation are shown.
The CASZ1/Egfl7 transcriptional pathway is required for RhoA expression in vascular endothelial cells

Vertebrate development depends on the formation of a closed circulatory loop consisting of intricate networks of veins, arteries, and lymphatic vessels. The coordinated participation of multiple molecules including growth factors, transcription factors, extracellular matrix proteins, and regulators of signaling such as small GTPases is essential for eliciting the desired cellular behaviors associated with vascular assembly and morphogenesis. We have recently demonstrated that a novel transcriptional pathway involving activation of the Epidermal Growth Factor-like Domain 7 (Egfl7) gene by the transcription factor CASTOR (CASZ1) is required for blood vessel assembly and lumen morphogenesis. Furthermore, this transcriptional network promotes RhoA expression and subsequent GTPase activity linking transcriptional regulation of endothelial gene expression to direct physiological outputs associated with Rho GTPase signaling, i.e., cell adhesion and cytoskeletal dynamics. Here we will discuss our studies with respect to our current understanding of the mechanisms underlying regulation of RhoA transcription, protein synthesis, and activity.
Mechanisms of reflux-induced epithelial injuries in the esophagus

The esophagus is lined by a moist stratified squamous epithelium. In humans, this epithelium, as evidenced by the Bernstein test, has considerable capacity to resist damage even upon direct contact of high concentrations of luminal acid. This intrinsic property of the epithelium to defend itself against luminal acid is called "tissue resistance." Tissue resistance is comprised of a number of important structures and functions, the individual functions of which are described in this review. Moreover, when luminal acidity is sufficiently noxious, tissue resistance can be overcome, leading to heartburn and ultimately cell necrosis. Herein are described the mechanisms by which acid overcomes the epithelial defense to produce these typical signs and symptoms of gastroesophageal reflux disease.
Genetic animal models: focus on schizophrenia

The neurobiology of schizophrenia remains poorly understood. Symptoms of schizophrenia are classically thought to be associated with an imbalance of the dopaminergic system. However, the contribution of other neurotransmitters, in particular glutamate, has been increasingly appreciated. The role of individual components of neurotransmitter systems in aberrant behaviors can be experimentally tested in transgenic animals. Dopamine transporter knockout mice display persistently elevated dopaminergic tone and therefore might be appropriate substrates to evaluate the dopamine hypothesis. Similarly, NMDA receptor-deficient mice can be used to evaluate the glutamate hypothesis of schizophrenia. In this review we discuss how such animal models might be relevant for understanding the neurochemical underpinnings of certain manifestations of schizophrenia.
Dichloromethane alkylates a trithiolato-ruthenium complex to yield a methylene-bridged thioether core. Synthesis and structural comparison to the thiolato-ruthenium precursor.

The previously reported triphosphino/trithiolato-ruthenium anion, [tris-(2-diphenylphosphinothia-phenolato)ruthenium(II)]-, [Ru(DPPBT)3]-, has been isolated as the PPN salt (PPN = bis(triphenylphosphoranylidene) ammonium), 1, from chlorobenzene/ether as light-orange crystalline plates, and the X-ray crystal structure has been determined. In dichloromethane, the cis positioned thiolates are alkylated by solvent yielding the methylene-bridged triphosphino/dithioether/thiolato complex [(bis-(2-diphenylphosphinothiaphenolato)methane)(2-diphenyl-phosphinothiaphenolato)ruthenium(II)]chloride, [Ru((DPPBT)2CH2)(DPPBT)]Cl (2). Dichloromethane solutions of 1 layered with hexanes yield 2 as orange cubes. The ruthenium−sulfur bond distances in the alkylated, thioether product are slightly shorter than in the thiolate precursor. Within 2, the iron−thioether bond distances are comparable to the iron−thiolate distances.
Predictive and Prognostic Role of Functional Imaging of Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinomas

Predicting radiotherapy (RT) treatment response and eventual locoregional disease control is an important component of the ongoing effort to improve the therapeutic ratio in the management of head and neck squamous cell carcinomas. The development of clinically useful predictive and prognostic imaging biomarkers has been limited by significant tumor heterogeneity in both the tumor and its microenvironment. Various advanced imaging techniques have been evaluated in the head and neck squamous cell carcinoma patient, which now offer a strategy to identify and quantify this heterogeneity, characterizing the tumor at baseline and its response to RT. The most promising of these techniques include dynamic contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (DCE-MRI), DCE computed tomography, diffusion-weighted MRI, and (18)F-fluoromisonidazole positron emission tomography (PET) all relying on the spatiotemporal quantification of a contrast agent within a region of interest that can be further analyzed by various pharmacokinetic models. Despite the small study populations, several consistent observations have been reported that warrant further validation. Features associated with a favorable RT response include tumors with an effective vasculature characterized by rapid and high influx rates of the contrast agent and its effective clearance with little or no regions of hypoxia. (18)F-deoxyglucose-PET imaging remains an active area of investigation with the metabolic tumor volume parameter appearing to offer potential predictive value. Characterizing changes during a course of RT may offer greater predictive value. Both DCE-MRI and diffusion-weighted MRI can identify physiological changes within the first 1-2 weeks of treatment that are correlated with long-term clinical outcome. Identifying persistent hypoxia with (18)F-fluoromisonidazole-PET during a course of RT suggests an increased risk of relapse. Whether this is due to an inability to favorably remodel the tumor's vasculature has not been clearly demonstrated to date. Future research goals include the need to further validate these promising imaging biomarkers especially in larger cohorts of patients, characterizing the optimal threshold cutoffs and to refine the predictive value by incorporating the assessments of early tumor responses to therapy that offer the potential for increased specificity because it reflects the biological stress responses.
Student nurses' attitudes regarding older adults: Strategies for fostering improvement through academia

Abstract The increasing population of older adults is one of the main issues facing health care systems. Nurses caring for the elderly need to have a positive attitude toward older adults to provide optimal care. Yet, the literature reveals that student nurses' attitudes toward working with older adults tend to be negative. This article presents the current research on student nurses' attitudes toward caring for older adults and outlines practical suggestions for fostering positive attitudes.
Helmholtz resonator enhancement of photoacoustic signals.

A Helmholtz resonator attached to a nonresonant photoacoustic cell enhances the responsivity to trace gas absorption by as much as a factor of 15.3. A simple system model based on a lumped parameter approach predicts the experimentally determined resonance frequency f0 within 6% for all five resonator volumes tried and gives a pressure amplitude response at resonance proportional to f0-5/2, which is the approximate experimental dependence. Optimization of response based on the model shows a pressure amplitude dependence on a1/2, the square root of the radius of the cylindrical tube connecting the cell and the resonator.
The impact of garlic on lipid parameters: a systematic review and meta-analysis

In order to determine the impact of garlic on total cholesterol (TC), TAG levels, as well as LDL and HDL, and establish if any variables have an impact on the magnitude of this effect, a meta-analysis was conducted. A systematic literature search of MEDLINE, CINAHL and the Cochrane Database from the earliest possible date through to November 2007 was conducted to identify randomised, placebo-controlled trials of garlic that reported effects on TC, TAG concentrations, LDL or HDL. The weighted mean difference of the change from baseline (with 95 % CI) was calculated as the difference between the means in the garlic groups and the control groups using a random-effects model. Subgroup and sensitivity analyses were performed to determine the effects on type, brand and duration of garlic therapy as well as baseline TC and TAG levels, the use of dietary modification, and study quality on the meta-analysis's conclusions. Twenty-nine trials were included in the analysis. Upon meta-analysis garlic was found to significantly reduce TC ( - 0.19; 95 % CI - 0.33, - 0.06 mmol/l) and TAG ( - 0.11; 95 % CI - 0.19, - 0.06 mmol/l) but exhibited no significant effect on LDL or HDL. There was a moderate degree of statistical heterogeneity for the TC and TAG analyses. Garlic reduces TC to a modest extent, an effect driven mostly by the modest reductions in TAG, without appreciable LDL lowering or HDL elevation. Higher baseline line TC levels and the use of dietary modification may alter the effect of garlic on these parameters. Future studies should be conducted evaluating the impact of adjunctive garlic therapy with fibrates or statins on TAG concentrations.
Functionally Redundant Isoforms of a Yeast Hsp70 Chaperone Subfamily Have Different Antiprion Effects

Why eukaryotes encode multiple Hsp70 isoforms is unclear. Saccharomyces cerevisiae Ssa1p and Ssa2p are constitutive 98% identical Hsp70's. Stress-inducible Ssa3p and Ssa4p are 80% identical to Ssa1/2p. We show Ssa1p-4p have distinct functions affecting [PSI+] and [URE3] prions. When expressed as the only Ssa, Ssa1p antagonized [URE3] and Ssa2p antagonized [PSI+]. Ssa3p and Ssa4p influenced [URE3] and [PSI+] somewhat differently but overall their effects paralleled those of Ssa1p and Ssa2p, respectively. Additionally, Ssa3p suppressed a prion-inhibitory effect of elevated temperature. Our previously described Ssa1-21p mutant weakens [PSI+] in SSA1-21 SSA2 cells and abolishes it in SSA1-21 ssa2Δ cells. To test if the same mutation affected other prions or altered Ssa2p similarly, we compared effects of a constructed Ssa2-21p mutant and Ssa1-21p on both prions. Surprisingly, [URE3] was unaffected in SSA1-21 SSA2 cells and could propagate in SSA1-21 ssa2Δ cells. Ssa2-21p impaired [URE3] considerably and weakened [PSI+] strongly but in a manner distinct from Ssa1-21p, highlighting functional differences between these nearly identical Hsp70's. Our data uncover exquisite functional differences among isoforms of a highly homologous cytosolic Hsp70 subfamily and point to a possibility that variations in Hsp70 function that might improve fitness under optimal conditions are also important during stress.