cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Late Wisconsin climate in northeastern USA and southeastern Canada, reconstructed from fossil beetle assemblages

Mean July and January temperatures are reconstructed from radiocarbon-dated fossil beetle assemblages, yielding a synthesis of palaeoclimatic history of the regions south of the Laurentide Ice Sheet in North America from 35 000 to 8500 yr BP. Mean July temperatures close to the last glacial maximum were 11–12°C colder than present; mean January temperatures were possibly 10–19°C colder. Mutual climatic range analyses of the beetle assemblages show warming of mean summer temperatures as early as 13.7 kyr, although ice-proximal sites were consistently about 5°C cooler than ice-distal sites. Late-glacial mean summer temperatures peaked between 12 and 11 kyr, then remained fairly constant through the early Holocene. Mean winter temperatures did not reach modern values until after 10 kyr.
Arrhythmogenic right ventricular dysplasia/cardiomyopathy: review for the clinician.

Abstract Although hypertrophic obstructive cardiomyopathyremains the most common cause of sudden cardiac death in young people, rarer causes, such as arrhythmogenic right ventricular dysplasia (ARVD), are now being increasingly recognized to lead to sudden cardiac death in the younger population. Recent advances in the understanding of the genetic inheritance, etiopathogenesis, diagnosis, and treatment options of ARVD have prompted a lot of research in this form of right ventricular cardiomyopathy. The purpose of this report is to review the etiopathogenesis, clinical manifestations, diagnosis and treatment modalities for ARVD, and recent advances in the understanding of this disease entity.
Quartz nanopore membranes for suspended bilayer ion channel recordings

A method is described for fabricating 25−75 μm thick fused quartz membranes containing a single conical shaped nanopore (orifice radius ranging from 10 to 1000 nm). The quartz nanopore membrane (QNM) provides an excellent solid support structure for lipid bilayers in ion channel recordings due to the large electrical resistivity of fused quartz. Electrical measurements demonstrate that the leakage current through 1,2-diphytanoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (DPhPC) bilayers suspended across a 500−1000 nm radius QNM orifice is immeasurably small, corresponding to a bilayer resistance greater than 1012 ohms. Translocation of single-stranded DNA oligomers (poly dA 50-mer and poly dA 20-mer) through a protein ion channel (α-hemolysin) reconstituted in a DPhPC bilayer suspended across the QNM orifice is demonstrated.
Sharp Observability Estimates for a System of Two Coupled Nonconservative Hyperbolic Equations

We consider a system of two coupled nonconservative wave equations. For this system, we prove several observability estimates. Those observability estimates are sharp in the sense that they lead by duality to the controllability (exact or approximate) of the coupled system with a single control acting through one of the equations only while keeping the same controllability time as for a single equation. Existing results in the literature either require two controls, or in the case of a single control, they have a controllability time that blows up as the coupling parameter goes to zero. Our proofs rely on: (i) Carleman estimates, (ii) energy estimates and (iii) localizing arguments. The results obtained complement and improve, in some sense, earlier results while at the same time providing new uniqueness results.
Identifying and improving retrieval for procedural questions

People use questions to elicit information from other people in their everyday lives and yet the most common method of obtaining information from a search engine is by posing keywords. There has been research that suggests users are better at expressing their information needs in natural language, however the vast majority of work to improve document retrieval has focused on queries posed as sets of keywords or Boolean queries. This paper focuses on improving document retrieval for the subset of natural language questions asking about how something is done. We classify questions as asking either for a description of a process or asking for a statement of fact, with better than 90% accuracy. Further we identify noncontent features of documents relevant to questions asking about a process. Finally we demonstrate that we can use these features to significantly improve the precision of document retrieval results for questions asking about a process. Our approach, based on exploiting the structure of documents, shows a significant improvement in precision at rank one for questions asking about how something is done.
Insights into fungal pathogenesis from the iatrogenic epidemic of Exserohilum rostratum fungal meningitis

In 2012 the medical community in the United States faced an unprecedented outbreak of fungal meningitis caused by Exserohilum rostratum associated with injections of contaminated lots of methyprednilsone acetate. Rapid response by public health authorities led to the identification of the cause of the outbreak and the epidemic quickly abated, even though new cases were still being reported many months later. Although the cause of the outbreak is known there are many uncertainties regarding the management of infected individuals and the long term risk for those who were exposed to this organism. The epidemic of E. rostratum infections illustrates how an organism that normally has low pathogenic potential for humans can transform into a very dangerous pathogen when conditions are changed such that skin barriers are breached while it is simultaneously delivered with an immunosuppressive drug. Furthermore, this epidemic highlights the potential threats to human and animal health from the fungal kingdom.
Characteristics and chemical composition of skins gelatin from cobia (Rachycentron canadum)

Abstract Gelatin was obtained from cobia ( Rachycentron canadum ) skins, which is an important commercial species for marine fish aquaculture, and it was compared with gelatin from croaker ( Micropogonias furnieri ) skins, using the same extraction methodology (alkaline/acid pre-treatments). Cobia skins gelatin showed values of protein yield, gelatin yield, gel strength, melting point, gelling point and viscosity higher than the values found from croaker skins gelatin. The values of turbidity and Hue angle for cobia and croaker gelatins were 403 and 74 NTU, and 84.8° and 87.3°, respectively. Spectra in the infrared region had the major absorption band in the amide region for both gelatins, but it showed some differences in the spectra. The proline and hydroxyproline contents from cobia skins gelatin (205 residues/1000 residues) was higher than from croaker skins gelatin (188 residues/1000 residues). SDS-PAGE of both gelatins showed a similar molecular weight distribution to that of standard collagen type I. Therefore, cobia skins could be used as a potential marine source of gelatin obtainment for application in diversified industrial fields.
Demo abstract: mediascope: selective on-demand media retrieval from mobile devices

Motivated by an availability gap for visual media, where images and videos are uploaded from mobile devices well after they are generated, we explore the selective, timely retrieval of media content from a collection of mobile devices.We envision this capability being driven by similarity-based queries posed to a cloud search front-end, which in turn dynamically retrieves media objects from mobile devices that best match the respective queries within a given time limit.Building upon a crowd-sensing framework, we have designed and implemented a system called MScope that provides this capability.MScope is an extensible framework that supports nearest-neighbor and other geometric queries on the feature space (e.g., clusters, spanners), and contains novel retrieval algorithms that attempt to maximize the retrieval of relevant information.From experiments on a prototype, MScope is shown to achieve near-optimal query completeness and low to moderate overhead on mobile devices.
Stability of Allozyme and Mitochondrial DNA Markers among Three Year-Classes of Lake Trout Propagated from Seneca Lake, New York

Abstract Lake trout Salvelinus namaycush representing three year-classes (1988, 1989, and 1990) of gametes collected from adults captured in Seneca Lake, New York, were examined for allelic variation at 18 polymorphic loci and for mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) haplotype variation, mtDNA was digested with the four restriction endonucleases Ava I, Bam H I, Hin f I, and Taq I. Analysis of allelic frequencies among these three year-classes of the Seneca strain and a previously analyzed collection (1983 year-class, also a wild egg taken from Seneca Lake) indicated temporal heterogeneity (P < 0.01) at three loci: two for proline dipeptidase (PEPD-1,2*) and one for malic enzyme (NADP+) (mMEP-1*). However, cluster analysis of genetic distances demonstrated that all four Seneca Lake samples exhibited a much lower level of differentiation than observed among other strains stocked into Lake Ontario. Mitochondrial DNA haplotype frequencies were not significantly different among the 1988, 1989, and 1990 year-class samples...
Developing a clinical competency examination in radiology: Part II—Test results☆☆☆★★★

Background: This is the second of two articles introducing a clinical competency examination in radiology. The first article described the structure, administration, and postexamination student comments for two versions of the radiology competency examination. This article reports the results obtained from these two administrations of the examinations. Objective: To measure and identify potential outcome predictors of student aptitude in clinical film interpretation. Design: Experimental. Methods: An examination was developed to simulate the radiologic interpretive skills needed in clinical chiropractic practice. Two versions of the examination were given to a class of 210 ninth trimester students in a 10-trimester chiropractic program. Linear regression and bivariate correlations were performed on possible predictors of student success and test scores on the version 2 examination. Results: On version 1 of the examination, students were able to identify an average of 59.6% of the normal cases as normal and 51.6% of abnormal cases as abnormal. On version 2, 55.6% of the normal cases were recognized as normal and 58.2% of abnormal cases as abnormal. On both versions, students were less successful at correctly categorizing, managing, or naming pathologic conditions they found. Of the predictors evaluated, only the students' grades in the third radiology course (tumors, arthritides, and extremity trauma) and the scores on the diagnostic imaging section of National Boards part II were significant predictors. Discussion: Our results should cause some concern for educators who use content-based radiology curricula. Students demonstrated poor abilities to recognize, categorize, manage, and identify common radiographic pathologic conditions. Educators cannot rely on National Board scores and course grades to determine student clinical competency. More radiology clinical competency exercises that emphasize film interpretation need to be incorporated into content-based curricula. (J Manipulative Physiol Ther 1999;22:63–74)
Effect of Vitamin E Deficiency on Ubiquinone Levels in Rat and Rabbit Liver

IN a series of publications by Green and others1–9 it wag reported that the concentration of ubiquinone in animal tissues is depressed in tocopherol deficiency and that this vitamin (or a structurally related form) is specifically required for its maintenance or restoration. Investigations by Draper and others10–13 indicated that all the well-characterized lesions observed in vitamin E deficiency are amenable to treatment with certain structurally unrelated synthetic antioxidants, notably N,N′-diphenyl-p-phenylenediamine (DPPD). These latter experiments led to the conclusion that functional displacement of tocopherol by DPPD occurs in metabolism and that the biological role of the vitamin is entirely attributable to its antioxidant properties. However, Green et al. reported that neither DPPD nor ‘Santoquin’ (1,2-dihydro-6-ethoxy-2,2,4-trimethylquinoline, another antioxidant which is active as a dietary substitute for tocopherols) was effective in maintaining ubiquinone levels1,6,7 and they concluded that vitamin E plays a specific non-antioxidant part in the metabolism of this quinone. In view of these reports we have investigated the effect of vitamin E deficiency and DPPD administration on ubiquinone concentrations in rat and rabbit liver. Liver was chosen because it can be extensively, if not entirely, depleted of tocopherols and might, therefore, be expected to show maximal changes in ubiquinone content.
A revision of Solanum section Brevantherum (Solanaceae)

The present revision of Solatium sect. Brevantherum Seithe recognizes 27 species in North and South America, two of which have become naturalized in parts of the Old World. Three species,S. lltisii, S. Goodspeedii, and S. appressum, are described as new. Comparative morphology, geographical distribution, and ecological data provide evidence for species recognition. Some of the most diagnostic features are those associated with the buds, leaves, and the hairs, which range from simple to porrect-stellate and more complex types, described herein as multangulate, dendritic-multangulate, echinoid, and dendriticechinoid.
The distribution of rotational velocities for low-mass stars in the Pleiades

The available spectral type and color data for late-type Pleiades members have been reanalyzed, and new reddening estimates are obtained. New photometry for a small number of stars and a compilation of H-alpha equivalent widths for Pleiades dwarfs are presented. These data are used to examine the location of the rapid rotators in color-magnitude diagrams and the correlation between chromospheric activity and rotation. It is shown that the wide range of angular momenta exhibited by Pleiades K and M dwarfs is not necessarily produced by a combination of main-sequence spin-downs and a large age spread; it can also result from a plausible spread in initial angular momenta, coupled with initial main-sequence spin-down rates that are only weakly dependent on rotation. The new reddening estimates confirm Breger's (1985) finding of large extinctions confined to a small region in the southern portion of the Merope nebula.
Synthesis and cyclic voltammetric study of bis(pentamethylcyclopentadienyl)neptunium dichloride

The compound Cp′2NpCl2 (Cp' = η5-C5(CH3)5) was prepared by the reaction of NpCl4 with Cp'MgCl · (C2H5)2O. The title compound exhibits a oneelectron reversible reduction in acetonitrile at E12 = −0.68 Vvs. saturated calomel electrode (SCE).
Salinity Effects on the Microwave Emission of Soils

Passive microwave remote sensing has been proposed as a method for measuring both surface soil moisture and soil salinity. Since both of these characteristics will vary over an area, it is important to know how information about one of them can be isolated from the remotely sensed data. Water in the soil changes the microwave dielectric constant, which in turn changes the emission. Several dielectric mixing models have been developed and evaluated to describe soil-water-air systems. However, the concentration of salts in water also affects its dielectric properties in a well-known manner. When saline water is mixed with soil, the dielectric properties of this mixture will be different from those of a pure water and soil mixture. Although there are a few theories available to describe this process, very little verification of these theories has been done. In this study, a series of controlled field experiments were conducted using truck-mounted L-and C-band microwave radiometers. Experiments were designed to develop a data set that isolated the effects of salinity and soil moisture. This data set was used to evaluate the importance of each variable and to test proposed dielectric mixing models. The mixing models explained the observed data trends and range of values; however, the observed effects of salinity were not as large as predicted by the models. These differences may be related to model structure or field sampling problems. Variation in profile properties near the surface may also introduce some error.
Factors involved in premarital sexual decision-making.

Abstract Premarital sexual decision‐making in a sample of 434 college students was examined. The purposes of the study were (a) to determine the factors that individuals used in their decision to first have intercourse with a particular partner; (b) to compare males and females on the relative importance of derived factors in decision‐making; and (c) to compare individuals with differing levels of sexual experience on the derived decision factors. Data were collected via questionnaires, and the items were factor analyzed to uncover underlying factors in the decision to have intercourse. The results revealed four basic factors: Positive Affect/Communication, Obligation/Pressure, Arousal/Receptivity, and Circumstantial. Analyses of variance showed that females considered Positive Affect/Communication to be slightly more important than males, whereas males considered Obligation/Pressure to be slightly more important in their decision. In addition, those with more prior sexual experience considered Positive A...
An overview of indoor radon risk reduction in the United States

Radon in the indoor environment is a recognized environmental hazard. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has established several programs to develop, demonstrate, and transfer radon mitigation technology. Administration and management of these programs are shared by EPA's Office of Radiation Programs and Office of Research and Development. One measure of success of these programs is that, by 1990, approximately 90,000 houses have been professionally mitigated in the United States. Future success depends, in part, upon strong motivational campaigns conducted in local communities with regional and national support.
Overcoming the “recency trap” in customer relationship management

Purchase likelihood typically declines as the length of time since the customer’s previous purchase (“recency”) increases. As a result, firms face a “recency trap,” whereby recency increases for customers who do not purchase in a given period, making it even less likely they will purchase in the next period. Eventually the customer is effectively lost to the firm. We develop and illustrate a modeling approach to target a firm’s marketing efforts, keeping in mind the customer’s recency state. This requires an empirical model that predicts purchase likelihood as a function of recency and marketing, and a dynamic optimization that prescribes the most profitable way to target customers. In our application we find that customers’ purchase likelihoods as well as response to marketing depend on recency. These results are used to show that the targeting of email and direct mail should depend on the customer’s recency and that the optimal decision policy enables the average high recency customer, who currently is virtually worthless to the firm, to become profitable.
Dynamic evolvement and formation of refractive microlenses self-assembled from evaporative polyurethane droplets

Abstract This paper proposed a method of microfabrication for the formation of hemispherical refractive microlenses by depositing a colloid evaporative droplet onto hydrophobic surfaces. The microdroplets made of polyurethane (PU) were self-driven by surface tension to evolve their three-dimensional (3D) shapes on the surface-treated substrate. The substrates were coated with low surface energy material (Teflon) to de-pin the fluids obeying classic Young–Laplace equation until drying. Array and size-variation experiments, corresponding to different placement and droplet volume, were performed for the shaping process in which the polymers of the drops were self-assembled to be hemispherical utilizing general principle of minimal surface energy. Using the hydrophobic surfaces, plano-convex shapes with spherical curvature were fabricated with micrometer dimensions (base radius between 70 and 1016 μm). The formed structures were observed to form themselves hemispherically by the de-wetting (de-pinning) process during most of evaporation. Moreover, the gravity flatting effect was further found for the larger drop (radius = 1016 μm) when compared to that of smaller one (radius = 118 μm). In the cases, both the modeling calculations and experimental results were performed and compared to illustrate the similar geometries with the contact angle (∼70°) using dimensionless analysis. In addition, one interesting and significant finding, based on close morphological inspection of the SEM picture, showed that the resulting elongational polymer chains (width ∼200 nm) stretched (extension ∼5 μm) on the surface nearby the corner of the contact area, indicating a shear stress occurrence. Compared to those previous methods operated on (soft-) photolithographic techniques, this present one could rapidly predict and microfabricate the hemispherical formation in terms of the radius, height, and contact angle. It is also potentially appropriate for smaller and complex placement by using drop-on-demand (DOD) nozzle arrays for mass-production process.
The preparation and characterization of benzocyclobutenylidene-, naphtho[b]cyclobutenylidene-, and η2-benzocyclobutadiene-η5-cyclopentadienyldicarbonyliron hexafluorophosphate

Abstract The preparation and characterization of the first isolable cationic mononuclear complexes bearing a η 2 -cyclobutadienoid ligand or a carbene ligand lacking heteroatom stabilization are described. The reaction between 1-bromo-benzocyclobutene and Na[η 5 -C 5 H 5 (CO) 2 Fe] (NaFp) afforded η 1 -1-benzocyclobutenyl-η 5 -cyclopentadienyldicarbonyliron (III). Treatment of III with trityl hexafluorophosphate gave benzocyclobutenylidene-η 5 -cyclopentadienyldicarbonyliron hexafluorophosphate (V). Naphtho [ b ] cyclobutenylidene-η 5 -cyclopentadienyldicarbonyliron hexafluorophosphate (VI) was formed in an analogous manner. Both V and VI gave 1,1-disubstituted cyclobutenes when treated with nucleophilic reagents. η 2 -Benzocyclobutadiene-η 5 -cyclopentadienyldicarbonyliron hexafluorophosphate, (XIX), which was prepared by the oxidation of bis-1,2-(η 5 -cyclopentadienyldicarbonyliron)benzocyclobutene by trityl hexafluorophosphate, afforded trans -1,2-disubstituted benzocyclobutenes when treated with nucleophilic reagents. The η 2 -benzocyclobutadiene ligand of XIX was displaced by I− and trapped as the Diels--Alder adduct by 1,3-diphenylisobenzofuran.
Computer-supported cooperative work: history and focus

CSCW and groupware emerged in the 1980s from shared interests among product developers and researchers in diverse fields. Today, it must overcome the difficulties of multidisciplinary interaction. This article describes the people and the work found under the CSCW umbrella. Issues considered include: research and design areas, software development, office automation, small-group versus systems approach, US and European differences; and the history of groupware. >
Alzheimer's disease-associated polymorphisms in human OGG1 alter catalytic activity and sensitize cells to DNA damage

Abstract Brain tissues from Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients show increased levels of oxidative DNA damage and 7,8-dihydro-8-oxoguanine (8-oxoG) accumulation. In humans, the base excision repair protein 8-oxoguanine-DNA glycosylase (OGG1) is the major enzyme that recognizes and excises the mutagenic DNA base lesion 8-oxoG. Recently, two polymorphisms of OGG1, A53T and A288V, have been identified in brain tissues of AD patients, but little is known about how these polymorphisms may contribute to AD. We characterized the A53T and A288V polymorphic variants and detected a significant reduction in the catalytic activity for both proteins in vitro and in cells. Additionally, the A53T polymorphism has decreased substrate binding, whereas the A288V polymorphism has reduced AP lyase activity. Both variants have decreased binding to known OGG1 binding partners PARP-1 and XRCC1. We found that OGG1−/− cells expressing A53T and A288V OGG1 were significantly more sensitive to DNA damage and had significantly decreased survival. Our results provide both biochemical and cellular evidence that A53T and A288V polymorphic proteins have deficiencies in catalytic and protein-binding activities that could be related to the increase in oxidative damage to DNA found in AD brains.
Infrared and Raman spectra of methylene cyclopropane

Abstract We have prepared a pure sample of methylene cyclo propane and have obtained the i.r. and Raman spectra. Tentative vibrational assignments based upon i.r. vapor phase band contours, the Raman spectrum and depolarization data, and characteristic group frequencies, are proposed. These assignments point out a considerable number of errors in previous studies of methylene cyclo propane.
Effect of anionic polymers on fusion of Sendai virus with human erythrocyte ghosts.

Abstract The effect of anionic polymers (dextran sulfate, heparin and chondroitin sulfate) on fusion of Sendai virus with erythrocyte ghosts was studied. The effect of pH on the activity of these anionic polymers was also investigated. In order to examine the interaction of such polymers with the Sendai virion and erythrocyte ghost surfaces, the binding of virions to erythrocyte ghosts and the aggregation of virions and/or erythrocyte ghosts were also measured with respect to the same parameters. It was found that the anionic polymers suppressed the fusion of Sendai virus with erythrocyte ghosts. The order of effectiveness of the polymers in suppression was dextran sulfate > heparin > chondroitin sulfate, for the application of a same quantity (weight/ml) of the polymers. The lower the pH of the suspending medium, the more effective were the polymers in suppressing virion-erythrocyte ghost aggregation and fusion. The suppression of fusion was dependent on the concentration of the polymers applied: the higher the concentration of the polymer applied, the more the suppression was observed. Evidence from binding studies, turbidity measurements and electrophoretic mobility measurements indicates that the anionic polymers interact preferentially with the virion surface.
Hydrometallation of 1-octene with grignard reagents. Alkylmagnesiums and alkylmagnesium hydrides catalyzed by dicyclopentadienyltitanium dichloride

Abstract The hydrometallation of l-octene by a series of Grignard reagents (EtMgCl, EtMgBr, n-PrMgCl, i-PrMgCl, n-BuMgCl, sec-BuMgCl, iso-BuMgCl, iso-BuMgBr and iso-BuMgI), dialkylmagnesium compounds (Me 2 Mg, Et 2 Mg, n-Pr 2 Mg, iso-Pr 2 Mg, n-Bu 2 Mg, sec-Bu 2 Mg, iso-Bu 2 Mg and t-Bu 2 Mg), alkylmagnesium hydrides (RMgH, where R = Me, Et, T-Bu, Cp and Ph) and magnesium hydrides (MgH 2 , HMgCl and HMgBr) in the presence of 5 mol% dicyclopentadienyltitanium dichloride (Cp 2 TiCl 2 ) in THF has been investigated. The percent yield of octane (produced on hydrolysis of the product) vs. time was plotted for several reactions in order to compare the effect of individual reagents. Most alkylmagnesium compounds with β hydrogen atoms gave primarily the hydrometallation product, although t-Bu 2 Mg produced isomerized starting material. MeMgH gives the best yield of octane on hydrolysis of the reaction mixture. A mechanism is proposed which accounts for all observations.
TH-C-342-01: Image Display, Processing and Analysis (CAD)

Medical imaging is rapidly expanding in the manner in which images are acquired and thus the manner in which they are displayed has also become a very important issue. The presentations in this session will discuss some of the issues associated with three important links in the imaging chain with respect to the display of radiographicimages:Image Display, Processing and Analysis(CAD). In each area the key to success is to develop ways to present image data to the human observer in the most efficient and informative manner, taking into account the perceptual and cognitive capabilities of the human observer. The ultimate goal is to facilitate the decision‐making process and enhance patient care — improving the radiologist's ability to render correct diagnoses with a minimum of errors. Another important consideration is how Image Display, Processing and Analysis(CAD) tools affect workflow. Radiologists are being faced with an ever increasing number of images to interpret overall and within a given case. To the extent possible, these tools should make the interpretation process more efficient rather than prolong the process. The three presentations will focus on the state‐of‐the‐art in Image Display, Processing and Analysis(CAD). Specific imaging applications will be discussed, but the underlying principles extend to medical imaging applications in general. Educational Objectives: 1. Understand the role of the display in the interpretation process and why optimization is important. 2. Understand how image processing or the rendering of image data in new ways can improve the radiologists' interpretation process. 3. Understand the basic nature of CAD and the various ways it is being used (e.g., detection and discrimination) to improve diagnostic accuracy of radiologists.
Are efficient linear taxes inequitable

Abstract I explore the household weights in the Bergson-Samuelson social welfare functions which have a turning point at an efficient linear tax structure (the inverse optima). A tax structure is defined to be inequitable if every inverse optimum has weights that increase with household productivity over part of the productivity range. I find that the inequity of an efficient tax structure depends on the normality of leisure, on the number of households, and on the natureof household demands. An efficient indirect tax structure is not inequitable if the expenditure share of each taxed commodity is constant across households; this has welfare implications for the choice of tax instrument to finance a project accepted under benefit-cost analysis.
CD36 null mice reveal a key role for CD36 in β‐amyloid induced microglial activation

A major pathological feature of Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the senile plaque (SP), composed of β−amyloid fibrils (fAβ), activated microglia, astrocytes and degenerating neurons. Microglial activation may initiate and propagate neuronal degeneration. Activation of microglia involves phosphorylation of the mitogen activated protein (MAP) kinases ERK1/2, a step that may lead to chemokine and neurotoxin production. The microglial fAβ receptors involved in this process remain to be identified. We have shown that class A scavenger receptors mediate adhesion of microglia to fAβ. We investigated whether CD36, a class B scavenger receptor, is expressed on microglia in AD, and whether CD36 plays a role in signalling microglia to secrete neurotoxins and chemokines (such as MCP-1) when they interact with fAβ. Using flow cytometry and immuno-histochemistry, we found that CD36 is expressed on primary microglia in culture, and on microglia in AD brains. Microglia from CD36 null mice produce 80% less H2O2, and 75% less MCP-1 than wild type (WT) microglia, when stimulated with fAβ. In addition, fAβ binding to microglia led to phosphorylation of ERK1/2 in WT but not in CD36 null cells, whereas inhibition of ERK1/2 in WT microglia blocked fAb-induced MCP-1 and H2O2 production. Intra-peritoneal injection of fAβ in CD36 null mice elicited significantly less mononuclear phagocytes than in WT mice. Addition of fAβ to WT but not to CD36 null brain slices, led to migration of neighboring microglia to sites of fAβ deposition. Our data show that binding of fAb to microglial CD36 initiates an intracellular signaling cascade involving phosphorylation of ERK1/2 that lead to secretion of H2O2 and MCP-1, and suggest that CD36 may play an important role in microglial activation in AD.
Who Voted with Hopkins? Institutional Politics and the WPA

Scholars of the politics of public social policy have engaged in contentious debates over “institutional” and “political” theories. Institutional theories hold that U.S. social policy is inhibited by fragmented political institutions and weak executive state organizations. Political theories hold that the United States lacks a left-wing political party and a strong labor movement to push for social policy. Both theories are thus pessimistic about and cannot account for advances in U.S. social policy.
The bacterial hemoglobin from Vitreoscilla can support the aerobic growth of Escherichia coli lacking terminal oxidases

Two Escherichia coli mutants that lack both cytochrome o and d terminal oxidases are able to grow with glucose as the carbon source but not with the aerobic substrates succinate or lactate. One of these, GV101, is a deletion mutant of cytochrome o and a point mutation of cytochrome d. The other, GK100, is a total deletion mutant of all the genes for both cytochromes. When these mutants were transformed with a plasmid containing the gene for the bacterial hemoglobin from Vitreoscilla, they were capable of growth in the presence of succinate or lactate and showed aerobic respiration in the presence of these substrates, unlike the parent strains. Cells transformed with a plasmid containing the gene for the hemoglobin but lacking the native promoter did not express the hemoglobin and did not respire. Membrane vesicles prepared from the cells consumed oxygen in the presence of succinate. This succinate-supported respiration decreased with successive washings of the vesicles but was restored by adding E. coli cytosol containing the hemoglobin or by adding the hemoglobin purified from Vitreoscilla. This respiration was inhibited by cyanide.
Demonstration of 160- and 320-Gb/s SPECTS O-CDMA network testbeds

This letter presents a high-capacity optical code-division multiple-access (O-CDMA) network testbed based on the spectral phase-encoded time-spreading technique. Two 10-Gb/s/user O-CDMA network architectures (time-slotted and time-slotted polarization multiplexed) are investigated. The first O-CDMA network testbed architecture utilizes eight encoders and a decoder to produce 16 users equally distributed in two time slots while the second architecture evenly distributes 32 users in two time slots and two polarizations. The 16-user testbed achieved error-free performance. The 32-user testbed obtained bit-error rates below 10-8 without using forward-error-correction techniques
Direct and Indirect Effects of Brain Volume, Socioeconomic Status and Family Stress on Child IQ

Background: A large literature documents the detrimental effects of socioeconomic disparities on intelligence and neuropsychological development. Researchers typically measure environmental factors such as socioeconomic status (SES), using income, parent’s occupation and education. However, SES is more complex, and this complexity may influence neuropsychological outcomes. Methods: This study used principal components analysis to reduce 14 SES and 28 family stress indicators into their core dimensions (e.g. community and educational capital, financial resources, marital conflict). Core dimensions were used in path analyses to examine their relationships with parent IQ and cerebral volume (white matter, grey matter and total brain volume), to predict child IQ in a sample of typically developing children. Results: Parent IQ affected child IQ directly and indirectly through community and educational capital, demonstrating how environmental factors interact with familial factors in neuro-development. There were no intervening effects of cerebral white matter, grey matter, or total brain volume. Conclusions: Findings may suggest that improving community resources can foster the intellectual development of children.
Simulation of shock waves in flyer plate impact experiments

In this paper we present a newly developed one-dimensional hydrodynamic simulation code and use it to determine the shock evolution in flyer plate impact experiments. The code is Lagrangian with artificial viscosity and uses shock Hugoniot data in its equation-of-state calculations instead of SESAME data tables. First shock calculations for transparent targets show a good agreement with theoretical predictions, making the code suitable for designing future flyer impact experiments at the Nevada Terawatt Facility.
A preclinical training model for chronic care education

Background: Chronic illnesses are not only major health threats for half of the world's population, but these diseases are also increasing rapidly. Medical training, however, has not kept pace with this increase in chronic illness.Methods: I describe two instructional modules whose goals were to teach preclinical medical students to (1) screen for diabetic neuropathies and provide counseling for improved diabetic foot care, and (2) screen for tobacco use and provide counseling for smoking cessation. All educational activities took place during an orientation to the modules or during ambulatory patient encounters. Preclinical students (n = 280), who were supervised by 157 family physicians, screened and counseled a total of 3,640 patients. Program outcomes were assessed by analyzing student's responses to attitudinal questionnaires, student's documentation of the diabetic foot and tobacco use screenings, and postcards on which patients wrote their reactions to screening and counseling. In addition, the phy...
The correct gender of Schinus (Anacardiaceae)

Species of the genus Schinus Linnaeus (1753) (Anacardiaceae) are native to the Americas but are found in many tropical and subtropical parts of the world, where they are cultivated as ornamentals or crops (“pink peppercorns”) or they are invasive weeds. Schinus molle L. (1753: 388) is a cultivated ornamental tree in Australia, California, Mexico, the Canary Islands, the Mediterranean, and elsewhere (US Forest Service 2015). In Hawaii, Florida, South Africa, Mascarene Islands, and Australia, Schinus terebinthifolia Raddi (1820: 399) is an aggressively invasive pest plant, costing governments millions of dollars in damages and control (Ferriter 1997).
Chlorine activation by N 2 O 5 : simultaneous, in situ detection of ClNO 2 and N 2 O 5 by chemical ionization mass spectrometry

Abstract. We report a new method for the simultaneous in situ detection of nitryl chloride (ClNO2) and dinitrogen pentoxide (N2O5) using chemical ionization mass spectrometry (CIMS). The technique relies on the formation and detection of iodide ion-molecule clusters, I(ClNO2)− and I(N2O5)−. The novel N2O5 detection scheme is direct. It does not suffer from high and variable chemical interferences, which are associated with the typical method of nitrate anion detection. We address the role of water vapor, CDC electric field strength, and instrument zero determinations, which influence the overall sensitivity and detection limit of this method. For both species, the method demonstrates high sensitivity (>1 Hz/pptv), precision (~10% for 100 pptv in 1 s), and accuracy (~20%), the latter ultimately determined by the nitrogen dioxide (NO2) cylinder calibration standard and characterization of inlet effects. For the typically low background signals (
Eleven years of occupational mortality in law enforcement: The census of fatal occupational injuries, 1992–2002

Background Occupational injury deaths remain high for Law Enforcement Officers (LEOs). This study describes and compares intentional and transportation-related fatality rates in US LEOs between 1992 and 2002. Methods Workplace injury deaths among LEOs from 1992 to 2002 were categorized into ‘‘Intentional,’’ ‘‘Transportation-related,’’ and ‘‘Other,’’ using the Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries. Occupations included in this analysis were sheriffs and bailiffs, police and detectives, non-public service guards, and correctional officers. Fatality rates were compared among law enforcement occupations, cause of death, and demographics with rate ratios and 95% confidence intervals. Results During the 11-year period, 2,280 workers died from an occupational injury, for a fatality rate of 11.8 per 100,000 across all LEO occupations. Forty-seven percent were homicides (n ¼ 1,072, rate 5.6 per 100,000), 36% transportation-related (n ¼ 815, rate 4.2 per 100,000), 11% were due to other causes (n ¼ 249, rate 1.3 per 100,000), and 5% were workplace suicides (n ¼ 122, rate 0.6 per 100,000). The proportion of fatalities by cause of death differed significantly between occupations (P < 0.0001). Sheriffs and bailiffs experience a high risk for occupational injury death compared to other law enforcement occupations. Of the transportation-related fatalities, LEOs were operating a motor-vehicle in 58% of the incidents and 22% of the fatalities were struck by incidents. Conclusions Transportation-related deaths were nearly as common as homicides as a cause of occupational injury death among US LEOs. Struck by vehicle incidents remain an important and overlooked cause of death. This research points to opportunities for the prevention of transportation-related deaths in law enforcement. Am. J. Ind. Med. 53:940– 949, 2010. 2010 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
Set them free

The creativity and productivity of architects, engineers and many others in the world of computer aided design are being severely hampered because too many designers are without an efficient document management system. Explains the impact that this omission can have and how, once in place, a document management system will leave designers free to concentrate on their core activity – designing.
Low cost MCM package for mobile telecommunication

The multilayer ceramic MCM package offers an attractive alternative to the conventional plastic QFP package in terms of significant size reduction, thickness, and performance at high frequencies for the mobile communication market. The package requirements can be realized at a low cost through multichip modulization in multilayer ceramics. The MCM offers significant advantages over system-on-a-chip solutions. System-on-a-chip development takes 4 to 12 months at a cost of about $200000, but in the case of ceramic modulization, development takes 1 to 2 months at a cost of $10000 to $40000. MC2LIP (multichip multilayer ceramic leaded interposer), as an example of a low cost ceramic MCM, can be designed in the standard footprint of a PQFP. Moreover, reduction of substrate cost and system development cycle time improves assembly productivity. In addition, not only can the cost of the initial stages of research and development be reduced, but also the hybrid LCC can be the solution for the package requirements for the MCM market for consumer products, and is particularly suited to handset applications.
Can Dobutamine Stress Echocardiography Predict Cardiac Events in Nonrevascularized Diabetic Patients Following Acute Myocardial Infarction

Study objective: To determine whether the prognostic value of dobutamine stress echocardiography (DSE) performed early after acute myocardial infarction (AMI) is as high in diabetic patients as in nondiabetic patients. Design: Inception cohort study. Setting: Tertiary cardiac referral center. Patients and interventions: Three hundred thirty-eight patients (116 diabetic and 222 nondiabetic) who underwent DSE after AMI were followed up for cardiac events. Measurements and results: Outcome events were as follows: “hard” events consisted of cardiac death and nonfatal reinfarction, while “all events” included hard events and unstable angina. The mean follow-up duration was 21 6 9 months. DSE results were positive in 69 diabetic patients (59.5%) and 129 nondiabetic patients (58.1%; p 5 0.817). During the follow-up period, there were 25 cardiac deaths, 16 cases of nonfatal reinfarction, and 55 cases of unstable angina. The Kaplan-Meier life table showed that a positive DSE result was associated with a lower event-free survival rate in nondiabetic but not in diabetic patients in terms of hard and all events. By multivariate analysis, a positive DSE result was the strongest independent predictor of future cardiac events in nondiabetic patients. However, in diabetics, a shorter dobutamine time, rather than a positive DSE result, independently predicted cardiac events. Conclusions: Our preliminary data suggest that different DSE variables should be considered when assessing the likelihood of future events in diabetic and nondiabetic patients after AMI. The observation of shorter dobutamine time, instead of DSE positivity, has a higher prognostic value in diabetics. In diabetic patients, the only significant role of DSE positivity is for predicting future unstable angina; however, its predictive value is not as good as in nondiabetic patients. (CHEST 1999; 116:1224 ‐1232)
Molecular sieving by Neurospora cell walls during secretion of invertase isozymes.

Trevithick, John R. (University of Wisconsin Medical School, Madison), and Robert L. Metzenberg. Molecular sieving by Neurospora cell walls during secretion of invertase isozymes. J. Bacteriol. 92: 1010–1015. 1966.—The secretion of invertase by young mycelia of Neurospora was studied. The process of secretion was found to be dependent upon growth. The results indicate that fractionation of light invertase, the monomer, from heavy invertase, the aggregated form, occurs at the cell wall. Neurospora strains wild type, crisp, osmotic, and the double mutant crisp osmotic were tested. An inverse relation exists between the fraction of the total invertase activity of the culture which the mold secretes into the medium and the degree of fractionation, defined as the ratio of the fraction of the invertase secreted into the medium that is light invertase to the fraction of the invertase remaining associated with the cells that is light invertase. The hypothesis is offered that the increased secretion of invertase and decreased degree of fractionation seen in osmotic mutants, and to a lesser extent in the other mutants, can be explained by an increased porosity of the cell wall.
Long-term hypoxia increases endothelial nitric oxide synthase expression in the ovine fetal adrenal.

This study was designed to test the hypothesis that fetal adrenal nitric oxide synthase (NOS) is elevated in response to long term hypoxia (LTH). Pregnant ewes were maintained at high altitude (3,820 m) for approximately the last 100 days of gestation. Between days 138–141 of gestation, adrenal glands were collected from LTH fetuses and age-matched normoxic controls. qRT-PCR and Western analysis were used to quantify NOS expression and NOS distribution was examined by immunohistochemistry and double-staining immunofluorescence for eNOS and 17α hydroxylase (CYP17). nNOS was expressed at very low levels and with no differences between groups. Expression of eNOS was significantly greater in the LTH group compared with control. nNOS was distributed throughout the cortex while the greatest density of eNOS was observed in the zona fasciculata/reticularis area and eNOS co-localized with CYP17. We conclude that LTH enhances eNOS expression in the inner adrenal cortex which may play a role in regulation of cortisol biosynthesis in the LTH fetus.
The n = 1 constraint in population genomics.

A key objective of population genomics is to identify portions of the genome that have been shaped by natural selection rather than by neutral divergence. A previously recognized but underappreciated challenge to this objective is that observations of allele frequencies across genomes in natural populations often correspond to a single, unreplicated instance of the outcome of evolution. This is because the composition of each individual genomic region and population is expected to be the outcome of a unique array of evolutionary processes. Given a single observation, inference of the evolutionary processes that led to the observed state of a locus is associated with considerable uncertainty. This constraint on inference can be ameliorated by utilizing multi-allelic (e.g. DNA haplotypes) rather than bi-allelic markers, by analysing two or more populations with certain models and by utilizing studies of replicated experimental evolution. Future progress in population genomics will follow from research that recognizes the ‘n ¼ 1 constraint’ and that utilizes appropriate and explicit evolutionary models for analysis.