cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Abstract 4407: Inhibition of STAT3 in primary trastuzumab-resistant HER2-positive cells leads to decrease cell viability

Breast Cancer is the second leading cause of cancer related death in women. Approximately, 20%-30% of breast cancer patients overexpress Human Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor 2 (HER2). HER2 Is a Tyrosine Kinase receptor involved in proliferation and survival and its overexpression makes it a good target for patients with HER2 positive breast cancer. Trastuzumab (TRA) is a recombinant monoclonal antibody that binds HER2 receptor and inhibits its signaling. Unfortunately, clinical studies have demonstrated that 30% of patients that overexpress HER2 do not respond to Trastuzumab treatment. Therefore, understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying Trastuzumab resistance is essential to develop new therapies to treat these breast cancer patients. Previous studies in our lab demonstrated that a decrease in cell growth of HER2 overexpressing cells occurred when IGF2 and HER2 were inhibited. Nevertheless, these cells overcame the growth inhibition and the resulting proliferative growth coincided with an increase in STAT3 activation. STAT3 is a transcription factor that promotes cell proliferation and can regulate apoptosis in cancer cells. These findings lead us to hypothesize that blocking STAT3 together with IGF2 and HER2 will inhibit proliferation and cell viability of Trastuzumab resistant breast cancer cells. We treated Trastuzumab-resistant HER2 positive JIMT1 cells with HER2, IGF2, and/or STAT3 inhibitors. After 24 hours of treatment, there was a marked difference in cell morphology observed between the treatment groups. Cell viability was measured using WST-1, a reagent that measures mitochondrial activity. A significant decrease in cell viability was observed when cells were treated for 24 hours with a commercially available STAT3 inhibitor (Sttatic). There was no difference between the treatment groups when STAT3 was inhibited by Stattic or when STAT3 was inhibited in combination with IGF2 and/or HER2 inhibitors. These findings suggest that in Trastuzumab-resistant HER2 positive JIMT1 cells, STAT3 activation overcomes the inhibition of the HER2 and IGF2 proliferation pathways resulting in cell death prevention. Our study demonstrate that Trastuzumab-resistant HER2 positive JIMT1 cells can activate STAT3 as an alternative pathway to evade apoptosis and promote chemoresistance. Our data also illustrate the challenge of treating cancer based on single therapies since tumors have many alternative pathways to promote growth. Citation Format: Xousaen M. Helu, Alfida Fernandez, Daisy D. De Leon. Inhibition of STAT3 in primary trastuzumab-resistant HER2-positive cells leads to decrease cell viability. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 107th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2016 Apr 16-20; New Orleans, LA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2016;76(14 Suppl):Abstract nr 4407.
Direct Mapping Method for Time Difference of Arrival based geolocation

This paper applies the Direct Mapping Method (DMM) to emitter geolocation based on Time Difference of Arrival (TDOA) estimation. Conventional TDOA systems estimate emitter locations based on the intersections of ellipsoids in 3D space. However, the analytical solution does not consider different propagation speeds. Over the ocean, a radio signal from a ship may travel to another ship via ducting, for which the propagation speed is slower. The same transmission may reach an aircraft via line-of-sight propagation through the atmosphere. DMM provides a simple and visually attractive means of incorporating propagation effects when ships and airplanes cooperatively locate a naval emitter.
Long-term outcomes of pediatric and adolescent mediastinal germ cell tumors: a single pediatric oncology institutional experience

To evaluate the epidemiologic, demographic, and clinical characteristics, as well as prognostic factors and long-term outcomes of mediastinal germ cell tumors (MGCT) in children. A retrospective study of pediatric patients diagnosed with a primary MGCT between January 1963 and August of 2014 was performed. Twenty-five patients were identified. Six children with teratomas were treated with resection alone (median age 7.8 years, range newborn to 15 years) and were cured without recurrence or progression. Nineteen children were treated for a malignant MGCT (median age 11.7 years, range 7 months–18 years); 5 year overall survival (OS) was 0.39 ± 0.12. For malignant non-seminomatous mediastinal germ cell tumors, platinum-based chemotherapy regimen (OS 0.56 vs 0.14, p = 0.03), complete surgical resection with negative margins (OS 0.73 vs 0.11, p = 0.03); and localized disease (OS 0.76 vs 0.0, p = 0.004) demonstrated a survival advantage. Initial surgical resection is appropriate for teratomas. Localized disease, complete resection, and platinum-based chemotherapy are associated with improved survival in malignant non-seminomatous mediastinal germ cell tumors. Neoadjuvant, platinum-based three drug regimens followed by delayed surgical resection is the appropriate treatment modality for malignant mediastinal germ cell tumors.
Tobacco Smoke and Ras Mutations Among Latino and Non-Latino Children with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia.

Background and Aims Childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) is a biologically heterogeneous disease, and mutations in the KRAS and NRAS oncogenes are present at diagnosis in about one-fifth of cases. Ras mutations were previously associated with environmental exposures in leukemias as well as in many other cancer types. This study examined whether Ras mutation could define a unique etiologic group of childhood ALL associated with tobacco smoke, a well-established mutagen and carcinogen. Methods We included 670 children with ALL enrolled in a case-control study in California (1995–2013), including 50.6% Latinos. Parental and child exposure to tobacco smoke was obtained from interviews. Sanger sequencing was used to detect the common KRAS and NRAS hotspot mutations in diagnostic bone marrow DNA. ALL cases were also characterized for common chromosome abnormalities. In case-case analyses, logistic regression analyses were used to estimate odds ratios to describe the association between tobacco smoke exposure and childhood ALL with Ras mutations. Results KRAS or NRAS mutations were detected in ∼18% of children diagnosed with ALL. Ras mutations were more common among Latino cases compared with non-Latino whites and in high-hyperdiploid ALL. No associations were observed between parental smoking or child's passive exposure to smoke and Ras positive ALL. Conclusions The apparent lack of association between tobacco smoke and Ras mutation in childhood ALL suggests that Ras mutations do not specifically define a tobacco-related etiologic pathway. Reasons for racial and ethnic differences in ALL are not well understood and could reflect differences in etiology that warrant further examination.
Keeping the spotlight on cytochrome P450

This review describes the recent advances utilizing photosensitizers and visible light to harness the synthetic potential of P450 enzymes. The structures of the photosensitizers investigated to date are first presented along with their photophysical and redox properties. Functional photosensitizers range from organic and inorganic complexes to nanomaterials as well as the biological photosystem I complex. The focus is then on the three distinct approaches that have emerged for the activation of P450 enzymes. The first approach utilizes the in situ generation of reactive oxygen species entering the P450 mechanism via the peroxide shunt pathway. The other two approaches are sustained by electron injections into catalytically competent heme domains either facilitated by redox partners or through direct heme domain reduction. Achievements as well as pitfalls of each approach are briefly summarized. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled: Cytochrome P450 biodiversity and biotechnology, edited by Erika Plettner, Gianfranco Gilardi, Luet Wong, Vlada Urlacher, Jared Goldstone.
2D phaseless super-resolution

In phaseless super-resolution, we only have the magnitude information of continuously-parameterized signals in a transform domain, and try to recover the original signals from these magnitude measurements. Optical microscopy is one application where the phaseless super-resolution for 2D signals arise. In this paper, we propose algorithms for performing phaseless super-resolution for 2D or higher-dimensional signals, and investigate their performance guarantees.
PRAMIS: Probabilistic Risk Assessment Model Integration System

This document has been designed for users of the Probabilistic Risk Assessment Model Integration System (PRAMIS) computer developed by the authors at Sandia National Laboratories for easy assembly of the individual parts of the NUREG-1150 plant analyses into overall risk results. PRAMIS assembles the following files associated with the NUREG-1150 analyses in matrix format to obtain risk: the Latin hypercube sample, the results of the systems analysis, the results of the accident progression analysis, the results of the source term/partitioning analysis, and the results of the consequence analysis. In addition, various intermediate and conditional quantities are calculated when requested by user-specified input; the fractional contribution to risk of individual plant damage states, accident progression bins and source term groups are determined, and a file containing the original Latin hypercube sample and user-specified dependent variables is generated for use as input to the SAS statistical package. This report provides a tutorial that details how to use the PRAMIS program. The PRAMIS program is written in ANSI standard FORTRAN 77 to make the code as machine-independent as possible.
Civil Legal Aid and Domestic Violence: A Review of the Literature and Promising Directions

This note summarizes extant research on civil legal aid, which includes provision of legal services for indigent and low-income individuals, and its applications for DV and IPV victims, and concludes with suggestions for improving service delivery and research in the field. Results of searches of online databases for peer-reviewed and non-peer reviewed articles, reports, analyses, and evaluations of civil legal aid in the United States were analyzed and critically assessed. Civil legal aid is a promising but underfunded and underexplored avenue for responding to and reducing domestic violence (DV), intimate partner violence (IPV), and their devastating effects. Providing civil counsel in divorce, custody, and protective order proceedings can significantly improve outcomes for DV and IPV victims and their children as well as serve as a cost-effective strategy for reducing violence and generating positive social returns.
Direct interaction of taurine with the NMDA glutamate receptor subtype via multiple mechanisms

Taurine has neuroprotective capabilities against glutamate-induced excitotoxicity through several identified mechanisms including opening of the Cl−channel associated with GABAAand glycine receptors, or a distinct Cl−channel. No existing work has however shown a direct interaction of taurine with the glutamate NMDA receptor. Here we demonstrate such direct interactions using electrophysiological and receptor binding techniques on rat medial prefrontal cortical (mPFC) slices and well-washed rat cortical membrane. Electrically evoked field potential responses were recorded in layer 4/5 of mPFC in the presence of picrotoxin to prevent opening of Cl−channels gated by GABA or taurine. Applied taurine markedly diminished evoked-response amplitude at the peak and latter phases of the response. These phases were predominantly sensitive to the NMDA antagonist, MK-801, but not the AMPA/kainate receptor antagonist CNQX. Furthermore, this taurine effect was blocked by APV pretreatment. Taurine (0.1 mM) decreased spermine-induced enhancement of specific (3H) MK-801 binding to rat cortical membrane in the presence of glycine, though it was ineffective in the absence of spermine. Our preliminary work shows that taurine diminished the apparent affinity of NMDA receptor to glycine in the presence of spermine. These results indicate that taurine may directly interact with the NMDA receptor through multiple mechanisms.
Dynamical Systems & Dynamic Axioms

This central chapter develops a logical characterization of the dynamics of hybrid programs in differential dynamic logic. It investigates fundamental compositional reasoning principles that capture how the truth of a property of a more complex hybrid program relates to the truth of corresponding properties of simpler program fragments. This leads to dynamic axioms for dynamical systems, with one axiom for each type of dynamics. These dynamic axioms enable rigorous reasoning about CPS models and begin an axiomatization of differential dynamic logic, which turns the specification logic dL into a verification logic for CPS. While more advanced aspects of loops and differential equations will be discussed in subsequent chapters, this chapter lays a pivotal foundation for all dynamical aspects of differential dynamic logic and its hybrid programs.
Exploring Religiosity and Spirituality in the Sexual Decision-Making of Black Gay and Bisexual Men

Many Black gay and bisexual men (BGBM) practice consistent religious worship and spirituality in order to cope with social challenges. This study utilized data from in-depth qualitative interviews conducted to explore personal meanings of religiosity and spirituality and how these constructs affect partner choices and sexual behaviors among BGBM. Interviews were conducted with 26 BGBM in Los Angeles, California, from September to November 2015. In-depth interviews yielded themes related to BGBM’s understanding of religiosity and spirituality and how their personal beliefs influenced their partner choices and sexual risks. Implications for church-based and community-based interventions are discussed.
Effects of prenatal androgenization and postnatal steroid treatment on growth hormone, insulin-like growth factor I and II, insulin, thyroxine, and triidothyronine concentrations in beef heifers.

A 2 x 3 factorial arrangement of treatments was used to elucidate the mechanism(s) by which prenatal androgenization improves postnatal rate and efficiency of growth and composition of gain in beef heifers. Fifteen control (C) and 15 prenatally androgenized (PA) Angus x Simmental heifers (prenatal treatment, Pretrt) received no (N), estrogen (E), or estrogen and testosterone (ET) implants postnatally (postnatal treatment, Posttrt) to evaluate whether the postpubertal growth response after prenatal androgenization could be induced in prepubertal heifers. Blood was collected from the heifers at 6 +/- 1, 9 +/- 1, and 12 +/- 1 mo of age and analyzed from serum concentrations of growth hormone (GH), IGF-I, IGF-II, insulin, thyroxine (T4), and triiodothyronine (T3). Season of the year had a greater effect on hormone concentrations than either Pretrt or Posttrt, and there were no Pretrt x Posttrt interactions. Prenatal treatment, PA, had no effect on GH; however, Posttrt E and ET increased (P < .001) GH concentrations. Prenatal treatment, PA, increased (P < .05) IGF-I concentrations, and there was a nonsignificant increase (P = .11) in IGF-I concentrations with Posttrt E and ET. Concentrations of IGF-II were unaffected by Pretrt PA; however, they were lower (P < .01) in the Posttrt E and ET groups. Insulin, T4, T3, BW, and ADG were not affected by Pretrt and Posttrt. Concentrations of GH and IGF-I were increased in heifers that received Pretrt PA and(or) Posttrt E and ET in a manner to support improved growth performance; however, BW and ADG were similar. In prepubertal beef heifers, factors in addition to increased GH and IGF-I seem to be necessary for improved growth performance.
Recommitment to Advancing Tax Ethics

The ethical environment in which tax professionals operate is multifaceted whereby the profession’s responsibilities include honesty, competence, objectivity along with compliance with tax laws. In the recent past there has been an ethical crisis within the tax profession, as excessive cases of ethical failures have weakened the tax profession in the eyes of the public. These ethical dilemmas arise from the stress inherent between serving the client and upholding the public interest. Tax professionals are required to accept the obligation to act in a way that will serve the public interest and exhibit a responsibility to the profession. Our voluntary compliance-based system functions on the public’s perception that all tax professionals have their ethical obligations at the forefront of their professional attention. Compliance to essential ethical principles may potentially be affected by self-interest, self-review, advocacy, familiarity and intimidation threats. In resolving those conflicts, a tax professional should comply with five ethical principles: Integrity, Objectivity, Competence, Confidentiality, and Professional Behavior. Collaboration between academia and the tax profession has been slowly advancing over the past several years. The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business has encouraged that accounting education embrace ethics in its curricula. Tax ethics research remains a challenging arena to produce practice driven benefits to the tax profession. This paper will present assertions to heighten ethical initiatives for tax professionals to assist in restoring public confidence and the advancement of ethical tax professionals. This undertaking can manifest into a rededication to ethical professionalism to enhance its future.
Validation of Population-Based Arterial Input Function for Kinetic Analysis of 11C-PK11195 PET Images of the Brain

69 Objectives: Use of an arterial input function (AIF) is the gold standard for kinetic modeling of dynamic PET images. The aim of this study was to assess the accuracy of kinetic analysis of 11C-PK11195 PET of the brain using a population-based AIF (PBAIF). The final goal is to possibly eliminate the need for AIF. Materials: Arterial blood sampling was performed in 19 healthy controls who were administered 11C-PK11195. Each subject underwent 60 min of dynamic PET imaging of the brain on a Siemens mCTTM PET/CT (Knoxville, TN) starting simultaneously with the administration of 10.33±1.76 mCi of 11C-PK11195. Arterial blood sampling started concurrently with PET data acquisition and at 25 sec intervals for the first 10 min. Additional blood samples were withdrawn at 15, 20, 30, 45, and 60 min post-injection. Activity concentration of each blood sample was measured using a gamma counter and then the corresponding AIF was deduced. Six of the subjects underwent a repeat PET scan on the same day to assess the limits of agreement (LOA) of 11C-PK11195 kinetics. The PBAIF was generated as follows: The individual AIFs were each normalized by the corresponding injected dose and their peaks aligned. AIF curves were then averaged on a time point-by-time point basis. Metabolite correction was applied to both the subject-based AIF (SBAIF) and PBAIF. PBAIF’s were rescaled using the subject-specific injected dose. Patients were imaged on an MR. Brain structures were segmented on the MR T1 images using FreeSurfer v8.0 (Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Charlestown, MA). PET dynamic images were then rigidly co-registered to the MR-T1 dataset, the MR volumes of interest (VOI) were overlaid on the dynamic PET dataset, and finally the respective time-activity-curves were extracted. Kinetic analysis was performed using PMOD v3.9 for the thalamus (T), gray matter (GM), and white matter (WM) using both a 1-tissue-2-compartment model with restricted K1/k2 that was previously determined from the brain cortex (VT2), as well as Logan plots (VTL). Kinetic analysis was performed using SBAIF and then repeated with PBAIF. Results: In the test-retest studies, the limits of agreement (LOA) as determined by Bland-Altman analysis, for T, GM, and WM were [-68.90%,28.11%], [-79.38%,59.69%] and [-72.25%,40.39%] for VT2 and [-64.3%,26.29%], [-56.33%,21.73%] and [-55.33%,20.16%] for VTL. Comparison of PBAIF and the SBAIF showed 2.72±13.32% and 14.96±9.7% difference in the peaks amplitudes and areas under the curve respectively. The variabilities in PBAIF- vs SBAIF- based VT2 and VTL were within the corresponding LOA’s for the three VOI respectively. Conclusions: The variability in PBAIF-based kinetic parameters of 11C-PK11195 in brain were within the corresponding LOA’s. Our results showed a PBAIF may be used for kinetic analysis of 11C-PK11195 in the brain.
Assembling the dinosaur: fossil hunters, tycoons, and the making of a spectacle: by Lukas Rieppel, Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press, 2019, 325 pp., $29.95 (hardback), ISBN: 9780674737587

Based largely on Rieppel’s dissertation, Assembling the Dinosaur is the latest book dealing with dinosaur paleontology during the last third of the nineteenth century and the first decade of the tw...
Partitioned method of valid moment marginal model with Bayes interval estimates for correlated binary data with time-dependent covariates

The fit of marginal models to longitudinal data should include modelling all extra variation among responses and covariates. This paper proposes a Partitioned Method of Valid Moments marginal regression model for binary outcomes with Bayes method while using lagged coefficients. Time-dependent covariates are factored in through composite likelihoods. A simulation study highlights the properties of the model coefficients. Modeling cognitive impairment diagnosis in NACC Alzheimer clinical data are demonstrated. Sensitivity analyses are conducted to evaluate the impact of the prior distribution on the posterior inferences.
Procedural extensions of SQL: understanding their usage in the wild

Procedural extensions of SQL have been in existence for many decades now. However, little is known about their magnitude of usage and their complexity in real-world workloads. Procedural code execu...
Compactification of the moduli space of minimal instantons on the Fano threefold $$V_4$$ V 4

We study semistable sheaves of rank 2 with Chern classes $$c_1=0$$ , $$c_2=2$$ and $$c_3=0$$ on the Fano threefold $$V_4$$ of Picard number 1, degree 4 and index 2. We show that the moduli space of such sheaves is isomorphic to the moduli space of semistable rank 2, degree 0 vector bundles on a genus 2 curve. This also provides a natural smooth compactification of the moduli space of Ulrich bundles of rank 2 on $$V_4$$ .
Simulation in acute care pediatrics: New paradigms in care

Simulation offers tremendous promise to improve health care delivery especially in acute care areas. It can be an efficient mode to learn, probe and improve crisis resource management, unit risk assessment, establish an environment for discussing error without punishment, investigating human performance, assessing situation readiness, implement new protocols, test run new instruments, improve interdepartmental coordination, learn new concepts or procedural skills and also in establishing systems and usability of a new unit. Simulation based learning relies heavily on reflective practice, a key foundational concept of adult learning. PediSTARS India is actively working towards addressing the challenges of implementing simulation based interventions to better the care of sick children in India.
Queering Telemachus: Ocean Vuong, Postmemories and the Vietnam War

Previous studies on classical reception related to the Vietnam War have overlooked the experiences of Vietnamese communities, whether national or diasporic, as they focussed instead on those of American combat veterans. While that scholarship has yielded important insight, it nevertheless has contributed to the disremembering of Vietnamese people that is at the core of the dominant American subjectivity of the Vietnam War, which relegates Vietnamese people to the margins of history as either enemies or victims – or worse, forgotten. To build on this scholarship, this paper closely reads three poems (‘Telemachus,’ ‘Trojan,’ and ‘Odysseus Redux’) in Ocean Vuong’s 2017 poetry collection, Night Sky With Exit Wounds, through the lenses of memory theory and queer of colour critique. I demonstrate how Vuong queers the Homeric Odyssey by subverting the canonical narrative: Odysseus returns home dead, leaving Telemachus to explore his inheritance of war as a queer refugee. Through this queer mythology, Vuong explores the conflicting layers of his intergenerational trauma, which pit refugeehood and queerness not only against each other, but also against Americanness. Overall, this paper argues that Vuong reworks the Homeric Odyssey in order to create his own ‘postmemories’ of the war that challenge historical erasure by defiantly placing the queer refugee at the centre, rather than the periphery, of an American narrative.
Polymer-Tethered Nanoparticle Materials—An Emerging Platform for Multifunctional Hybrid Materials

The grafting of polymeric chains to inorganic (as well as organic) particle interfaces has become an indispensable tool to engineer the physicochemical and/or biochemical properties of material interfaces. For example, polymer grafting is ubiquitously being used to compatibilize particles to polymer matrices to augment the properties of polymers in applications such as biomedical devices, lightweight aircraft wings, energy generation and storage, and for separation and environmental remediation to name a few. The recent emergence of surface-initiated controlled radical polymerization has further expanded the scope of polymer-grafted particulate materials as the precise control of the structure of the polymer grafts, offers new opportunities to tailor the properties of polymer-grafted particle systems. This chapter summarizes recent developments in synthesis of polymer-tethered nanoparticle interfaces that have afforded this fine control in the structure and properties of the resultant composite. Particular emphasis is given to the concept of “one-component hybrid materials”—that is the ability to synthesize multifunctional nanocomposite materials by the self-assembly of polymer-tethered particle systems. The role of polymer-graft modification on the interaction, dynamics, and assembly of particle brush materials is discussed to provide the context to showcase studies that have demonstrated the opportunity to harness the precision-engineered polymer-grafted particle systems for the fabrication of innovative nanocomposite material technologies.
Baculovirus-mediated expression of human multidrug resistance cDNA in insect cells and functional analysis of recombinant P-glycoprotein.

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses the baculovirus-mediated expression of human multidrug resistance ( MDR) cDNA in insect cells. High-level expression of recombinant P-glycoprotein is described with varying degrees of success in several heterologous expression systems, including bacteria, yeast, and insect cells. Heterologous expression of MDR cDNAs in insect cells by recombinant baculovirus expression vectors is quite successful and has contributed significantly to the recent progress in the study of the structure–function relationship of the human MDR1 P-glycoprotein, its substrate interactions, and the role of its posttranslational modifications. The baculovirus expression system is safe because of the high species specificity of baculoviruses that infect insect cells exclusively. Baculoviruses have the capacity to package and express relatively large foreign genes. The wide use of the baculovirus expression system has lead to the development and commercial availability of novel technologies and experimental kits that allow for reliable and rapid expression of heterologous gene products as full-length proteins and as fusion proteins.
Susceptibility of the pupa of the cabbage looper, Trichoplusia ni, to nucleopolyhedrosis virus: I. General responses

Abstract When the response of pupae and the resultant adults of the cabbage looper, Trichoplusia ni, to a nucleopolyhedrosis virus was studied, the pupae and moths emerging from healthy larvae or the few surviving larvae fed polyhedra or injected with virus, did not differ significantly in percentage pupal mortality, percentage emergence, percentage deformed moths, mean longevity, mean matings/female, mean eggs laid, and percentage fertility. The data also indicate that diseased larvae seldom pupate or give rise to moths. Cabbage-looper pupae were susceptible to nucleopolyhedrosis virus administered via injection, but emergence of moths was not prevented unless high titers were injected. This response also depends upon pupal age, but sex was not a significant factor. However, moths emerging from pupae injected with virus were frequently deformed, and many lacked the dark pigmentation of normal adults. No vertical transmission was observed in the limited number of moths emerging from larvae inoculated with polyhedra or virus or from pupae injected with polyhedra.
Markup pricing in petroleum refining

Abstract This paper describes a structural model of markup pricing under joint production with quasi-fixed inputs of capital, labor, and inventories. The price–cost markups are functions of the inverse price elasticity of demand, an industry average conjectural variation elasticity, and the inventory to sales ratio. Our empirical findings suggest significant markups over marginal cost that differ considerably by product. This study also estimates the elasticities of markups with respect to supply and demand shocks.
Measurement of Arcminute-Scale Cosmic Microwave Background Anisotropy with the Berkeley-Illinois-Maryland Association Array

We report the results of our continued study of arcminute-scale anisotropy in the cosmic microwave background (CMB) with the Berkeley-Illinois-Maryland Association array. The survey consists of 10 independent fields selected for low infrared dust emission and lack of bright radio point sources. With observations from the Very Large Array at 4.8 GHz, we have identified point sources that could act as contaminants in estimates of the CMB power spectrum and have removed them in the analysis. Modeling the observed power spectrum with a single flat band power with an average multipole of leff = 6864, we find ΔT = 14.2 μK at 68% confidence. The signal in the visibility data exceeds the expected contribution from instrumental noise with 96.5% confidence. We have also divided the data into two bins corresponding to different spatial resolutions in the power spectrum. We find ΔT1 = 16.6 μK at 68% confidence for CMB flat band power described by an average multipole of leff = 5237 and ΔT2 < 26.5 μK at 95% confidence for leff = 8748.
Autonomous navigation through case-based learning

This paper presents an unconventional approach to vision-guided autonomous navigation. The system recalls information about scenes and navigational experience using content-based retrieval from a visual database. To achieve a high applicability and adaptability to various road types, we do not impose a priori scene features, such as road edges, that the system must use, but rather the system automatically selects features from images during supervised learning. A new self-organizing scheme called recursive partition tree (RPT) is used for automatic construction of a vision-and-control database, which quickly prunes the data set in the content-based search and results in a low time complexity of log(n) for retrieval from a database of size n. Experimental results are reported in both indoor and outdoor navigation.
The Male Body, Beauty and Aesthetics in Modern British Culture

This article examines the topics of the male body, beauty and beauty culture in nineteenth- and twentieth-century Britain. By exploring work ranging from the study of sport and physical culture to disability and disfigurement in the First World War and queer history, this piece argues that historians should place at the centre, not marginalize, examinations of physical appearance, aesthetics and the adornment and manipulation of the body. Such an approach, it is argued, will only serve to enhance the field of masculinity studies and enrich understandings of the British past.
Why Philosophy? Why Now? Engineering Responds to the Crisis of a Creative Era

This chapter asks why philosophers and engineers are now meeting together at international workshops and answers from an engineering perspective using an analogy to Kuhn. Specifically, the chapter suggests that engineers are now seeking conceptual clarification using philosophy in the technological crisis of a creative era in the same way that scientists sought conceptual clarification using philosophy in the scientific crisis that came in the wake of the discovery of relativity and quantum mechanics. The chapter starts by enumerating a number of ways in which philosophers and engineers are strange bedfellows. It continues with a cursory sociotechnical review of recent times. It carries on by making the connection to Kuhn, and it concludes with three specific ways in which philosophy can help engineers achieve greater methodological, pedagogical, and epistemological clarity. Although the chapter wonders whether newly philosophical engineers will persist in their reflections, it suggests that, regardless, the encounter should be productive for engineering and philosophy, both.
Engine Dynamic Analysis With General Nonlinear Finite-Element Codes, Part 1: Overall Approach and Development of Bearing Damper Element

There is currently a considerable interest and level of activity in developing computational schemes to predict general engine dynamic behavior. The general feeling among researchers working on engine vibration problems is that various modes of operation, such as blade-loss events, require a high level of analysis sophistication to realistically model the engine. Proper account of system nonlinearities (particularly at the bearings, dampers and rubs) appears to be necessary if analytical predictions are to be realistic. The approach described in this paper seeks to make use of already proven general finite-element nonlinear time-transient computer codes which are available on the open market. The work specifically described in this paper covers the first phase of a three-phase NASA-Lewis-sponsored research grant on engine dynamic simulation with available finite element codes. The first phase was concentrated on the development of a bearing-damper element computer software package suitable for “plug-in” to available finite element codes.
The multilevel relational (MLR) data model

Many multilevel relational models have been proposed; different models offer different advantages. In this paper, we adapt and refine several of the best ideas from previous models and add new ones to build the new Multilevel Relational (MLR) data model. MLR provides multilevel relations with element-level labeling as a natural extension of the traditional relational data model. MLR introduces several new concepts (notably, data-borrow integrity and the UPLEVEL statement) and significantly redefines existing concepts (polyinstantiation and referential integrity as well as data manipulation operations). A central contribution of this paper is proofs of soundness, completeness, and security of MLR. A new data-basedsemantics is given for the MLR data model by combining ideas from SeaView, belief-based semantics, and LDV. This new semantics has the advantages of both eliminating ambiguity and retaining upward information flow. MLR is secure, unambiguous, and powerful. It has five integrity properties and five operations for manipulating multilevel relations. Soundness, completeness, and security show that any of the five database manipulation operations will keep database states legal (i.e., satisfy all integrity properties), that every legal database state can be constructed, and that MLR is noninterfering. The expressive power of MLR also compares favorably with several other models.
New insights into idiopathic infantile arterial calcinosis. Three patient reports.

• We describe the occurrence of idiopathic infantile arterial calcinosis in three newborn siblings. Unusual features in this disease include ultrasonographic prenatal diagnosis in the second two siblings and ultrastructural studies of the third patient that might shed light on the pathophysiologic characteristics of this disease. Ruthenium-red staining for proteoglycans showed a clearly abnormal structure for the granules in areas of calcification. The granules appeared disorganized, with loss of their normal honeycomb interconnections. They also varied in size and density. In addition, matrix vesicles that might serve as nucleation sites for crystalline calcium phosphate were observed in zones of calcification. (AJDC. 1990;144:229-233)
Tumors of the cervical sympathetic chain—Diagnosis and management

Background Tumors originating from the cervical sympathetic chain are uncommon but important entities in the differential diagnosis of parapharyngeal space masses. Methods We conducted a retrospective review of patients presenting with tumors of the cervical sympathetic chain. Results Twenty-four patients presented between 1994 and 2010. Presenting symptoms were dysphagia (n = 7.29%), neck mass (n = 7.29%), throat fullness (n = 4.17%), and Horner syndrome (n = 2.8%). Although radiologic images showed classic lateral displacement of the carotid arteries in 10 patients (42%), in 9 patients (38%) the radiologic findings demonstrated splaying of the carotid arteries similar to carotid body tumor, and in 5 patients (20%), the findings were indeterminate. Twenty-one patients underwent surgical removal of the tumors with pathology revealing 10 paragangliomas, 10 schwannomas, and 1 neurofibroma. Horner (57%) and first-bite (33%) syndromes were the most common complications. Conclusions Although anterolateral displacement of the carotids is suggestive of a sympathetic tumor, absence of these findings does not rule out this entity. To this end, we have included in this review a guide to preoperative radiologic diagnosis of parapharyngeal space lesions. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Head Neck, 2013
General theory of anisotropic transport coefficients for single crystals

Abstract Electrons, holes, protons and certain vacancies, are believed to move long distances in crystal channels particular to the diffusants. Transport properties in a crystal should therefore be direction-dependent. Based on the assumption that the diffusants move only through the channels and by using a correlated walk model an expression for the diffusion coefficient D microm is derived as follows: D μ = Σ channels D j cos 2 μ j , where D j is the diffusion coefficient which would result from the channel j only (disregarding all other channel contributions), and cos microm j is the directional cosine relative to the channel direction j and the measurement direction microm. The channel diffusion coefficient D j can in principle be measured by preparing a sample in the form of a fine needle long along the crystal channel j . By using the above formula, it is shown that diffusion coefficients, electrical and thermal conductivities for the common cubic (sc, fcc, bcc and diamond-like) crystals are isotropic. For most other crystals including hcp and tetragonal crystals, the transport coefficients are anisotropic, and the experimental data should be analyzed by the use of the above formula.
Investigation of a QTL region for loin eye area and fatness on pig Chromosome 1

Previously, quantitative trait loci (QTL) for tenth-rib backfat (TENTHRIB) and loin eye area (LEA) were identified on pig Chromosome 1 (SSC 1) near microsatellite S0008 from a three-generation Berkshire × Yorkshire cross (BY). This work attempted to refine these QTL positions and identify genes associated with these QTL. Genotypes of BY (n = 555) were determined by PCR-RFLP or PCR tests for 13 polymorphisms identified in BY F0 individuals for candidate genes, BAC end sequences, and genomic clones. Using least-squares regression interval mapping, the LEA QTL was estimated at S0008; the TENTHRIB QTL position was shifted approximately 1 cM downstream from S0008. Of the genes/sequences mapped in the QTL region, CL349415 was significantly associated with TENTHRIB (p = 0.02) and solute carrier family 2, member 12 (SLC2A12) was significantly associated with LEA (p = 0.02). These results suggest that the gene(s) responsible for the LEA and TENTHRIB QTL effects are tightly linked to S0008 or that the high informativeness of S0008 relative to surrounding markers is influencing the QTL position estimates. In addition, janus kinase 2 (JAK2) was mapped to a suggestive LEA QTL region and showed association with LEA (p = 0.009), fatness, color, and pH traits in BY.
Common Mode Noise Reduction for Power Converters with Parasitic Capacitance Cancellation

In this paper, a method using negative capacitance to cancel the CM parasitic capacitance of power converters is proposed. Both the theoretical analysis and experiments show that the proposed method is easy to implement and efficient to reduce CM noise.
The accuracy of eye‐gaze judgement: A signal detection approach

Two studies are reported which tested the hypothesis that eye-gaze discriminability declines with increased interpersonal distance and that this decline produces an overestimation bias. Signal detection theory was used to provide separate indices of discriminability and bias. Discriminability declined with both increased distance and, in one study, with decreased lighting. The tendency of the subject to guess that gaze was occurring when it was not mirrored the changes in discriminability, supporting the hypothesis.
Ecology in policymaking: Water and the restoration of America's Snake River Plain

Abstract Myth presented as science complicates green engineering attempts to restore the natural condition of degraded ecosystems. Ecologists have yet to provide a widely accepted theory of how rivers and wetlands functioned before human disturbance, and engineers cannot restore what science cannot describe. In the American West, where the powerful Snake River feeds the Columbia en route to the Pacific Ocean, water developers and their opponents both use the language of science to defend or attack one of the world's most sprawling network of dams and hydropower projects. The case of the Snake River shows how thoroughly mythic thinking and grandiose expectations for nature have saddled the policy process with ambiguous language and goals.
Experiment Research of Rock Anchor Foundation on Sandstone Ground in Transmission Line

Rock anchor foundation can be widely used for the practical transmission line engineering in mountain areas. On strong-weathered sandstone ground, ten sets of uplift static load test of single rock anchor foundation were carried out. Based on the testing results, the typical failure modes and the ultimate uplift bearing capacity of foundations were obtained. Internal force distribution and effective anchorage depth were investigated through stain measurements. Design parameters of rock anchor foundation on sandstone ground were proposed, which can provide a reference for transmission line engineering design.
Plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 regulates cell adhesion by binding to the somatomedin B domain of vitronectin

Plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 (PAI-1) binds to the somatomedin B (SMB) domain of vitronectin. It inhibits the adhesion of U937 cells to vitronectin by competing with the urokinase receptor (uPAR; CD87) on these cells for binding to the same domain. Although the inhibitor also blocks integrin-mediated cell adhesion, the molecular basis of this effect is unclear. In this study, the effect of the inhibitor on the adhesion of a variety of cells (e.g., U937, MCF7, HT-1080, and HeLa) to vitronectin was assessed, and the importance of the SMB domain in these interactions was determined. Although PAI-1 blocked the adhesion of all of these cells to vitronectin-coated wells, it did not block adhesion to a variant of vitronectin which lacked the SMB domain. Interestingly, HT-1080 and U937 cells attached avidly to microtiter wells coated with purified recombinant SMB (which does not contain the RGD sequence), and this adhesion was again blocked by the inhibitor. These results affirm that PAI-1 can inhibit both uPAR- and integrin-mediated cell adhesion, and demonstrate that the SMB domain of vitronectin is required for these effects. They also show that multiple cell types can employ uPAR as an adhesion receptor. The use of purified recombinant SMB should help to further define this novel adhesive pathway, and to delineate its relationship with integrin-mediated adhesive events. © 2001 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
Model membranes: spherical shells bounded by one bimolecular layer of phospholipids.

The conditions are described which lead to the formation of small spherical vesicles bounded by singlelipid membranes. These membranes appear as triple-layered structures in electron micrographs and thus resemble theunit membrane configuration of cellular boundaries. The theory of light scattering by spherical shells is found applicable to the vesicles described here; size determinations by electron microscopy (r=195 A) and by light scattering (r=225 A) give reasonably close values. The refractive index of the membranes as determined by differential refractometry is found to be 1.46 for green incident light of wavelength 5461 A.
Tobacco Cessation and Prevention Practices Reported by Second and Fourth Year Students at US Medical Schools

Background Tobacco dependence counseling is recommended to be included as core curriculum for US medical students. To date, there has been little information on students’ self-reported skills and practice opportunities to provide 5A’s (Ask, Advise, Assess, Assist, and Arrange) counseling for tobacco cessation.
Schottky barrier of nonuniform contacts to n‐type and p‐type silicon

A current‐voltage measurement and thermionic emission theory have been applied to discrete parallel diodes (nonuniform diodes) with the unusual result that the sum of the apparent Schottky barriers to n Si and p Si is not equal to the band gap of Si.
Nonlinear finite element analysis of shells: Part I. three-dimensional shells

Abstract A nonlinear finite element formulation is presented for the three-dimensional quasistatic analysis of shells which accounts for large strain and rotation effects, and accommodates a fairly general class of nonlinear, finite-deformation constitutive equations. Several features of the developments are noteworthy, namely: the extension of the selective integration procedure to the general nonlinear case which, in particular, facilitates the development of a ‘heterosis-type’ nonlinear shell element; the presentation of a nonlinear constitutive algorithm which is ‘incrementally objective’ for large rotation increments, and maintains the zero normal-stress condition in the rotating stress coordinate system; and a simple treatment of finite-rotational nodal degrees-of-freedom which precludes the appearance of zero-energy in-plane rotational modes. Numerical results indicate the good behavior of the elements studied.
Computer-aided analysis of visually complex ichnofabrics in deep-sea sediments

Ichnofabrics typically represent the overprinting of multiple episodes of bioturbation (and sometimes also bio-erosion), which can be quite difficult to sort out. Deep-sea ichnofabrics demonstrate this problem most strongly, since rates of sedimentation are low and rates of bioturbation often are high. Computer-aided analysis of ichnofabrics can be a useful aid in their description and interpretation. Digital enhancement, involving point-by-point modification and spatial convolution of computer-scanned images, can improve the visualization of key features of an ichnofabric. Specific aspects of the visual texture can be extracted from the image, or all aspects of the ichnofabric can be represented with more equal emphasis than in the original image
Music Videos: The Look of the Sound

Offrant un environnement, une experience, une ambiance et un ton, les clips videos ont donne corps a une tension fondamentale dans la culture «jeune» americaine: le sentiment d'instabilite qui alimente la quete d'achats de biens de consommations et celle de l'appartenance