cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Thermal Simulation and Measurement for EV charger Full SiC Power Module

Recently, electrical vehicle (EV) charger demand has been grown rapidly due to electrical vehicle development, so we designed a full SiC power module for EV charger system. The power consumption and thermal performance of EV charger module were evaluated by simulation software. Besides, we did the thermal resistance measurement of full SiC module and calibrated the Rjc (junction-case) .The simulation results show that we can reduce the size of heatsink because of higher system efficiency caused by full SiC power module. The advantage of using SiC chip in EV charger power module lose less power than silicon power module because of SiC chip’s electrical characteristic.
Classroom in an iPod: Creating a Course on Masonâ€™s iTunes University

Looking for new ways to deliver course content to your students? This presentation shows faculty how to use George Masonâs iTunes University site to host audio and video content for their courses and the multimedia projects their students create. Participants will learn how to create a course on iTunes University; how to upload, organize, and tag content; and how to set up RSS feeds. Resources describing the various digital formats iTunes accepts will be provided, as well as information about converting files types. Also included are tips on creating a podcast, the most common digital format found on iTunes University, as well as the suggestions for creating audio and video recordings of course lectures.
Do modular products lead to modular organisations? Evidence from open source software development

This study examines whether a modular product architecture leads to a modular organisational architecture or the mirroring hypothesis under the context of open source software development. We develop new metrics of product and organisational modularity and provide empirical evidence supporting the mirroring hypothesis. We also extend prior literature by showing that the number of organisational members contributes positively to organisational modularity. Furthermore, we show that organisational modularity is a dynamic concept and tends to vary during different stages of the product development life cycle. Our findings have important theoretical and practical implications.
Facet-Specific Photocatalytic Degradation of Organics by Heterogeneous Fenton Chemistry on Hematite Nanoparticles

Hematite nanoparticles are abundant in the photic zone of aquatic environments, where they play a prominent role in photocatalytic transformations of bound organics. Here, we examine the photocatal...
Challenges in supporting social practices around personal data for long-term mental health management

We discuss the importance of designing self-tracking technologies for serious mental illness (SMI) that allow individuals with SMI to collect, share, and sense-make over data with a dynamic set of support system members. Our collaborative work with individuals diagnosed with bipolar disorder has suggested the following design and technical challenges for supporting social practices around personal data in long-term mental health management: allowing for fine-grained control over data disclosure by individuals with SMI, supporting dynamism in relationships and roles over long-term use of a system, and allowing individuals flexibility in the variables that they self-track. We discuss these challenges and how they relate to the goals of predictive modelling and intervention in mental health personal informatics systems.
A common-mesocosm experiment recreates sawgrass (Cladium jamaicense) phenotypes from Everglades marl prairies and peat marshes.

PREMISE The southern Florida Everglades landscape sustains wetlands of national and international importance. Sawgrass (Cladium jamaicense), the dominant macrophyte in the Everglades, has two phenotypes that vary in size and density between Everglades marl prairies and peat marshes. Marl prairies have recently been hypothesized to be a newly formed habitat developed after European colonization as a result of landscape-scale hydrologic modifications, implying that sawgrass marl phenotypes developed in response to the marl habitat. We examined whether sawgrass wetland phenotypes are plastic responses to marl and peat soils. METHODS In a common-mesocosm experiment, seedlings from a single Everglades population were grown outdoors in field-collected marl or peat soils. Growth and morphology of plants were measured over 14 mo, while soil and leaf total nitrogen, total phosphorus, total carbon, and plant biomass and biomass allocation were determined in a final harvest. RESULTS Sawgrass plant morphology diverged in marl vs. peat soils, and variations in morphology and density of mesocosm-grown plants resembled differences seen in sawgrass plants growing in marl and peat habitats in Everglades wetlands. Additionally, sawgrass growing in marl made abundant dauciform roots, while dauciform root production of sawgrass growing in peat was correlated with soil total phosphorus. CONCLUSIONS Sawgrass from a single population grown in marl or peat soils can mimic sawgrass phenotypes associated with marl vs. peat habitats. This plasticity is consistent with the hypothesis that Everglades marl prairies are relatively new habitats that support plant communities assembled after European colonization and subsequent landscape modifications.
Gun ownership and sleep disturbance

Although there is no empirical evidence linking gun ownership with better sleep, speculation is widespread in gun culture. We assess the direct association between gun ownership and sleep disturbance and whether gun ownership moderates the association between neighborhood fear and sleep disturbance. We use four waves of cross-sectional data from the General Social Survey (2010-2018) and logistic regression to model sleep disturbance as a function of gun ownership and test the statistical interaction of gun ownership and neighborhood fear. Our analyses demonstrate that gun ownership is unrelated to sleep disturbance across sleep specifications. None of the statistical interactions between gun ownership and neighborhood fear reached statistical significance. Although being afraid to walk alone at night in one's neighborhood is associated with restless sleep, owning a gun is no consolation. In ancillary analyses, we observed that gun ownership is unrelated to sleep disturbance across survey years and a range of subpopulations. In the first empirical study of gun ownership and sleep, we find consistent evidence to suggest that people who own guns do not report better sleep in general or in the context of living in a dangerous neighborhood. Our analyses are important because they contribute to our understanding of the epidemiology of sleep. They also challenge theoretical perspectives and cultural narratives about how having a gun in the home helps individuals and their families to feel safe, secure, and protected. Additional research is needed to replicate our findings using longitudinal data and more reliable measures of sleep disturbance.
Relevante moderierende Variablen: Ein Erklärungsansatz auf Basis der Construal Level Theory

Das nachfolgende Kapitel stellt die theoretischen Uberlegungen zum moderierenden Effekt der psychologischen Distanz auf die persuasive Wirkung von Anekdoten und Statistiken dar. Dabei wird auch auf die Besonderheiten des unrealistisch komparativen Optimismus und des Message Framing eingegangen.
Pay Secrecy, Discrimination, and Autonomy

A question facing nearly all private firms is whether they may keep employee pay secret. Many think it is obvious that firms are obligated to disclose a good deal of pay information once we properly appreciate the severity of pay discrimination in our economy and the autonomy-related interests that would be served by pay disclosure. This article puts forth a dissenting voice against the vast majority of recent commentary. It exploits a fissure between reasons we have to support certain coercive regulations and reasons firms have to act in the absence of such regulation. While acknowledging that we may need transparency regulations for firms that fail to act morally, it argues that otherwise moral firms need not disclose pay on the surveyed grounds.
A Genealogy of the Sacrament-Fetish Divide

The encounter of western colonial powers with “native” peoples led to a discourse on fetishism wherein a line was drawn between the bodies of the “natives” and their idols and the bodies of Europeans and their sacramental-objects. Separating them represents a political division while also embodying unresolvable paradoxes and tensions. Taking a look at fetishism in Charles de Brosses, Auguste Comte, Emile Durkheim, and W. E. B. Du Bois, it was frequently as if the tradition in which western anthropologists stood played no part in the object they sought to analyze. Juxtaposing Kant, Schleiermacher, and Hegel, we further see modern theoretical confusion between Judaism, fetishism, and Christianity. Lastly, Jean-Yves Lacoste completes their projects, revealing how knowledge of the Absolute cannot be achieved outside of a fuller domain of embodied experience, where an overabundance of meaning allows an understanding of an embodied, material reality.
Leveraging Nuclear Receptors as Targets for Pathological Ocular Vascular Diseases

Vasculogenesis and angiogenesis are physiological mechanisms occurring throughout the body. Any disruption to the precise balance of blood vessel growth necessary to support healthy tissue, and the inhibition of abnormal vessel sprouting has the potential to negatively impact stages of development and/or healing. Therefore, the identification of key regulators of these vascular processes is critical to identifying therapeutic means by which to target vascular-associated compromises and complications. Nuclear receptors are a family of transcription factors that have been shown to be involved in modulating different aspects of vascular biology in many tissues systems. Most recently, the role of nuclear receptors in ocular biology and vasculopathies has garnered interest. Herein, we review studies that have used in vitro assays and in vivo models to investigate nuclear receptor-driven pathways in two ocular vascular diseases associated with blindness, wet or exudative age-related macular degeneration, and proliferative diabetic retinopathy. The potential therapeutic targeting of nuclear receptors for ocular diseases is also discussed.
ESD Protection Design Overview in Advanced SOI and Bulk FinFET Technologies

The FinFET era brings new challenges to ESD protection. An overview of ESD design in advanced SOI and bulk FinFET technologies are presented. The design innovations and device optimizations are explored to achieve an effective ESD protection. The predictive ESD modeling and simulations are studied to optimize ESD protection and ensure first-time-right chip ESD design in FinFET technologies.
Auditor Litigation Risk: A Review of Past Perspectives, Recent Developments, and Emerging Issues

This review synthesizes key perspectives and trends in research and practice on the topic of auditor litigation, beginning with the immediate post-SOX era and ending in 2019. Although fears of catastrophic auditor liability in this period have not yet materialized, audit firms may be facing new vulnerabilities. This paper provides a summary of emerging concerns for the near future, with a focus on the outcome of recent court cases, SEC enforcement actions, increased litigation and insurance costs, changes in audit reporting standards, technological advancements, and cybersecurity. Future research is suggested to explore these topics.
Neurosurgical Economic and Readmission Trends After Extracranial Ventricular Shunts in the United States From 2009 to 2013

Background: The aim of the study was to define the association between federal payer insurance and neurosurgical economic trends and readmissions after extracranial ventricular shunts (EVS) procedures and investigate these trends from 2009 to 2013 in the United States. Methods: We identified the procedure of insertion, replacement, or removal of EVS by applying the International Classification of Disease, Ninth Edition, Clinical Modification (ICD-9-CM) Procedure Codes of 231-235, 239, 242 and 243. Data were extracted for years 2009 to 2013. Year-wise distributions of index stays, readmission, percent readmission, cost for index stays and cost for readmissions for patients requiring EVS procedures who possess Medicare insurance (ME-patients) and Medicaid insurance (MD-patients) were described. Z-test statistic was used to compare the two groups. Results: During the 5 years of study, we recorded 149,220 index stays and 29,655 readmissions within 30 days involving the procedures of insertion, replacement, or removal of an EVS. Throughout the study period, hospital readmissions involving patients requiring procedures involving EVS consistently demonstrated both the highest annual mean cost for readmissions and the highest percentage of patient readmissions in regard to all neurosurgical procedures. The differences between the annual index stays and readmissions for ME-patients versus MD-patients requiring EVS were extremely statistically significant throughout the entire study period (P < 0.0001, P < 0.0001). The mean cost of readmissions within 30 days for all patients varied significantly from $19,005 to $23,499, with an average cost of $21,279 for readmissions occurring annually during the study period (P = 0.0161). The differences between the mean cost for index stays and readmissions for ME-patients versus MD-patients requiring EVS were extremely statistically significant throughout the entire study period (P < 0.0001, P < 0.0001). Conclusions: Federal payer insurance has a significant association with neurosurgical economic and patient readmission trends after EVS procedures in hospitals in the US. Further study is needed to investigate the etiology of these differences between patients’ payer insurance and their impact on clinical outcomes after EVS procedures. J Neurol Res. 2020;10(4):122-126 doi: https://doi.org/10.14740/jnr600
Enhancing Recall Using Data Cleaning for Biomedical Big Data

In clinical practice, large amounts of heterogeneous medical data are generated on a daily basis. This data has the potential to be used for biomedical research and as a diagnostic reference for physicians. However, leveraging heterogeneous data for analysis requires integrating it first. Integration process includes a pre-processing data cleaning phase that eliminates inconsistencies and errors originating from each data source. In this paper, we describe a workflow for cleaning heterogeneous biomedical data sources. Our novel data cleaning approach can be applied for replacement of missing text and to improve the number of relevant cases retrieved by search queries. When the threshold for missing category replacement is met, our results show that our method achieves a missing content replacement precision of 85%, which represents an improvement of 18% over the baseline state of our datasets.
Incorporating home visits in a primary care residency clinic: the patient and physician experience

Purpose Home visits, once a popular but now uncommon form of health care delivery, are on the rise. Few studies have focused on the value the experience brings to resident physicians and their patients. Methods A 6-month pilot was conducted with 11 residents who participated in 32 home visits with 11 patients. Patient and resident experiences were captured through a survey following the home visits. Results In all, 100% of patients and a majority of residents were very interested in being a part of and incorporating future home visits, respectively. Every patient in the survey said that the visits resulted in increased trust of their doctor. The top reasons residents regarded home visits as important included: 1) good for patient care, 2) strengthened relationships with patients, and 3) improved understanding of environmental and social factors affecting patients. Conclusions Our pilot found that home visits were beneficial to both patients and residents and may be a significant part of the future direction of health care. Ultimately, our hope is to better meet patients' needs by incorporating home visits in residency training and making them a more common practice.
A Weighted Version of the Erdős-Kac Theorem

Abstract Let ω ( n ) denote the number of distinct prime factors of n and let τ k ( n ) denote the k-fold divisor function. Adapting a method of Granville and Soundararajan, we evaluate the centralized moments of ω ( n ) , weighted by τ k ( n ) , and deduce a weighted version of the Erdős-Kac Theorem.
Outcome Assessment of a Writing‐Skill Improvement Initiative: Results and Methodological Implications

This paper reports the outcome assessment of our accounting department's writing‐skill improvement initiative. We employ complementary experimental designs to examine the effects of professionally relevant writing experiences on accounting students' writing‐skill development. Using a between‐subjects experimental design, we compare the writing skills of accounting students who participated in our writing initiative with the writing skills of other business students who did not participate. Using a within‐subjects experimental design, we track improvements of accounting students' writing skills over time. Results from both outcome assessment methodologies indicate that accounting students' writing skills improve as students participate in our writing initiative. This paper provides insight into the features of a successful writing initiative and offers methodological suggestions for conducting outcome assessments of writing initiatives.
What Is an Unjust Act

This essay proposes an operational or functional definition of an unjust act, an objective definition that would allow one to identify an unjust act across societies and cultures. It distinguishes between “injustice” and a “just act,” justice being defined at least in part subjectively, unlike the proposed operational definition of an unjust act. It expands on the definition and addresses the role of knowledge and responsibility and choice in unjust acts, relying heavily on Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics, and talks about the role of time and place in unjust acts. Using the essay’s operational definition, it addresses some examples of what an unjust act is and what it is not, including lying and insults. It considers the role of power and privilege in unjust acts and looks into some applications of the definition: parenting, incapacity, incarceration, and war. It proposes kindness as the opposite of an unjust act.
Is an Apolitical Kingdom of God Possible

If the cultural or religious historian crosses the political boundaries he is aware that this is an abstraction from actual life, and he does not forget that the political unities, whether large or small, remain the conditions of all cultural life…. It is significant that the symbol in which the Bible expresses the meaning of history is political: “Kingdom of God,” and not “Life of the Spirit” or “economic abundance.” The element of centeredness which characterizes the political realm makes it an adequate symbol for the ultimate aim of history. —Paul Tillich, Systematic Theology III
Supporting cooperative awareness with local event mechanisms: the groupdesk system

An event distribution model for a computer based cooperative working environment is presented. The proposed model aims to provide information about the on-going and past activities of collaborating users, based on the semantics and contextual relationships of the shared artifacts and contributes to increase the awareness of the ongoing state of affairs without overloading the user with additional information. GroupDesk, a prototype implementation of this model is introduced. The system provides a simple environment for the coordination of cooperative document production. Support for shared awareness is achieved by visualizing the event information using the desktop metaphor.
Class, property, and structural endogamy: Visualizing networked histories

Class, property, and structural endogamy: Visualizing networked histories LILYAN A. BRUDNER and DOUGLAS R. WHITE University of California, Irvine The problem central to this study, of delineating the properties that qualify individuals as members of a class, was opened by Bourdieu: 1 The individuals grouped in a class that is constructed in a particular respect [such as a socio-occupational category taken as an indicator of position in the relations of production governing economic practices] ... bring along with them ... secondary properties which may function as the real principles of selection and exclusion. Bourdieu goes on to identify several ways this problem poses a dilemma for the sociologist who attempts to de¢ne class objectively, on the basis of similarities and diierences in ``class situation.'' First, speci¢c eco- nomic criteria are commonly grounded in processes whereby selection and exclusion in the social ¢eld may also operate to govern quali¢cation and practices. Second, ``objective'' classi¢cations can themselves be classi¢ed as objects, possibly revealing how social analysts diier in what they take to be the primary de¢ning criteria 2 of such class group- ings. Third, diierences in the criteria for class indicators ^ even down to formal and o¤cial quali¢cations for achievements ^ may mask hidden criteria (caught up, for example, in the very struggles between social groups or classes). For Bourdieu, 3 The division into classes performed by sociology leads to the common root of the classi¢able practices which agents produce and of classi¢able judgments they make of other agents' practices and their own. The habitus is both the generative principle of objectively classi¢able judgments and the system of classi¢cations ... of these practices. Bourdieu's problematic is the generation of life-styles of ``classi¢ed and classifying practices'' by diierent internalized cultural dispositions or habitus 4 (``structured and structuring structures'') located in a class of conditionings (``objectively classi¢able conditions of existence'') and a Theory and Society 26 : 161^208, 1997. s 1997 Kluwer Academic Publishers. Printed in the Netherlands.
Subjective Quality of Speech Over Packet Networks as a Function of Packet Loss, Delay and Delay Variation

An expanding proportion of voice traffic is being carried by packet networks. Speech quality can be impaired in qualitatively new ways in packet networks when packets are lost or the spacing between them is distorted. Three parameters that characterize the performance of packet networks were examined for their relative impact on speech quality as judged by human observers: network delay or latency, packet loss, and packet delay variation or “jitter.” We manipulated these variables via a network emulator made available by NIST. This report summarizes five laboratory experiments that examined the variables in a variety of experimental procedures for presenting and judging speech. The experiments agreed in showing that the relative importance of the variables for affecting speech quality was, in decreasing order: packet loss, jitter, delay. The effect on speech quality of 200 ms of network delay was shown to be equivalent to the effect of one percentage point of packet loss. Many consumers also traded off some speech quality for a free, added feature, unified messaging.
Urokinase-Type Plasminogen Activator Receptors Associate with β1 and β3 Integrins of Fibrosarcoma Cells: Dependence on Extracellular Matrix Components

We have shown previously that the urokinase-type plasminogen activator receptor (uPAR) physically associates with β2 integrins on human leukocyte membranes. We now report that uPAR associates with certain members of the β1 and β3 integrin families expressed by a nonhematopoietic fibrosarcoma cell line (HT1080) when adherent to certain extracellular matrix molecules. Flow cytometry studies indicated that HT1080 cells expressed uPAR and β1 and β3 integrins. Double staining immunofluorescence was used to label uPAR and β1 and β3 integrins. The staining patterns of uPAR and β1 integrins were strikingly similar when attached to fibronectin, laminin, or vitronectin but not polylysine-coated substrates. Resonance energy transfer (RET) between uPAR and β1 integrins was observed, especially at focal adhesion plaques; this indicates that these molecules are within about 7 nm of each other on these cell membranes. uPAR and β3 integrin coclustering and RET were also observed on tumor cells adherent to vitronectin but not to fibronectin, laminin, or polylysine-coated surfaces. Because N -acetyl-d-glucosamine was found previously to inhibit β2 integrin-uPAR association, we tested the effect of saccharides on the β1-uPAR and β3-uPAR colocalization and RET. Colocalization and RET between uPAR and β1 or β3 integrins were effectively inhibited by N -acetyl-d-glucosamine on extracellular matrix-coated surfaces. To better define which members of β1 and β3 integrin families associate with uPAR, we studied the association of several α subunits with uPAR on tumor cells. We found that: ( a ) α5 colocalizes with uPAR on cells attached to fibronectin-coated surfaces; ( b ) α5 and αv colocalize with uPAR on cells adherent to vitronectin; and ( c ) α3 and α6 associate with uPAR on cells attached to laminin. In further support of physical associations between integrins and uPAR on tumor cells, uPAR was found to coimmunoprecipitate with β1 integrins in Brij-58 lysates of HT1080 cells (as detected by anti-uPAR Western blotting of material isolated from an anti-β1 integrin immunoaffinity column). Thus, uPAR may laterally associate with integrins of tumor cells when attached to specific extracellular matrix elements to enable directional proteolysis for tumor cell migration and invasion.
Dielectron production in Au + Au collisions from STAR

Abstract We present the systematic study of dielectron production from minimum bias Au + Au collisions at s NN = 19.6 , 39 , and 62.4 GeV along with the production from minimum bias Au + Au collisions at 200 GeV for reference. The spectra are compared to simulated hadronic contributions that do not contain ρ-meson contributions. In each comparison, there is an excess in the dielectron yield that is consistent with a medium modified ρ-meson and shows no dependence on s NN . To further understand the excess, the spectra are compared to the simulated hadronic contributions plus model calculations that include contributions from the medium and ρ-mesons with a broadened spectral function. These comparisons are consistent within uncertainties.
Evidence for a direct involvement of hMSH5 in promoting ionizing radiation induced apoptosis.

Although increasing evidence has suggested that the hMSH5 protein plays an important role in meiotic and mitotic DNA recombinational repair, its precise functions in recombination and DNA damage response are presently elusive. Here we show that the interaction between hMSH5 and c-Abl confers ionizing radiation (IR)-induced apoptotic response by promoting c-Abl activation and p73 accumulation, and these effects are greatly enhanced in cells expressing hMSH5{sup P29S} (i.e. the hMSH5 variant possessing a proline to serine change within the N-terminal (Px){sub 5} dipeptide repeat). Our current study provides the first evidence that the (Px){sub 5} dipeptide repeat plays an important role in modulating the interaction between hMSH5 and c-Abl and alteration of this dipeptide repeat in hMSH5{sup P29S} leads to increased IR sensitivity owing to enhanced caspase-3-mediated apoptosis. In addition, RNAi-mediated hMSH5 silencing leads to the reduction of apoptosis in IR-treated cells. In short, this study implicates a role for hMSH5 in DNA damage response involving c-Abl and p73, and suggests that mutations impairing this process could significantly affect normal cellular responses to anti-cancer treatments.
A metamaterial pyramidal horn antenna for high power applications

Horn antennas are widely used in high power microwave systems, mainly due to their high power handling properties. Different variations of the traditional horn antenna geometry have been introduced in the past years to improve the radiation characteristics. Some of these techniques are used to alter the boundary conditions on the walls of the horn antennas allowing for the propagation of hybrid modes (hybrid mode horns). As an example, corrugations can be used to create hard and soft horn antennas with reduced side lobes, increased radiation efficiency and low cross polarization levels. Similar to corrugations, metamaterials can be added to horn antennas to generate hybrid modes.
Relativistic many-body calculations of the energies of n =2 states for the berylliumlike isoelectronic sequence

Energies of the ten (2l2${\mathit{l}}^{\ensuremath{'}}$) states of ions of the beryllium isoelectronic sequence are determined to second order in relativistic many-body perturbation theory. Both the second-order Coulomb interaction and the second-order Breit-Coulomb interaction are included. Corrections for the frequency-dependent Breit interaction are taken into account in lowest order only. The effect of the Lamb shift is also estimated and included. Comparison with experiment and other theoretical data is made. \textcopyright{} 1996 The American Physical Society.
Electroconvulsive treatment for schizophrenia. A ten-year survey in a university hospital psychiatric department

Abstract The use of ECT for schizophrenia has been declining in the University Hospital studied. During the 1960's it was given for the first time to selected patients with all forms of schizophrenia, especially those in their 30's with less than six months of symptoms including a prominent affective component, and who had an unsuccessful trial on phenothiazines. The standard technique has been to give modified seizures every other day using bilateral electrode placement. Most patients received from four to eight treatments. Moderate to good immediate clinical improvement was obtained for three-fourths of the index group. Those with schizoaffective or catatonic schizophrenia, and those treated during a first episode of symptoms which included prominent depression tended to do best.
Comparison of solvent reaction field representations

Alternative ways are examined for representing a reaction field to treat the important effects of long-range electrostatic interaction with a solvent in electronic structure calculations on the properties of a solute. Several extant boundary element methods for approximate representation of the solvent reaction field in terms of surface charge distributions are considered, and analogous new methods for approximate representation in terms of surface dipole distributions are introduced. Illustrative computational results are presented on representative small neutral and ionic solutes to evaluate the relative accuracy of various methods.
Coordinate-free operators based on one vector. II, Applications in electrodynamics

The coordinate-free methods of the preceding paper are illustrated in three problems. First, the electrodynamics of a homogeneous, isotropic, and gyrotropic medium is investigated; it is shown that such a medium can exhibit optical activity, and the propagation of a plane electromagnetic wave in such a medium is discussed. Then, the electrodynamics of a homogeneous system made anisotropic by a uniform external magnetic field is considered; a description of Faraday rotation is provided, the ionosphere being used in an example. Finally, the reflection and refraction of a plane electromagnetic wave at the interface of two media are described by coordinate-free operators.
Flight performance and metabolism of the moth Spodoptera frugiperda.

Abstract Tethered moths were flown continuously for 4 to 7 hr in a sealed flight mill which allowed the trapping of CO2 and the recording of distance flown. The respiratory rate was approximately 10 cal/km per g or 30 cal/hr per g in flight, and 5 cal/hr per g at rest. In two experiments, the triglyceride content in flown moths had decreased sufficiently to account for the respiratory CO2. In subsequent experiments with a different strain of the same species, the lipid content did not diminish significantly during flight. During sugar absorption, the respiratory rate at rest was several times higher than in unfed moths. Glycogen and trehalose levels rose sharply during absorption, both at rest and in flight.
Upregulation of phagocyte-like NADPH oxidase by cytokines in pancreatic beta-cells: Attenuation of oxidative and nitrosative stress by 2-bromopalmitate

Phagocyte-like NADPH oxidase (Nox2) has been shown to play regulatory roles in the metabolic dysfunction of the islet β-cell under the duress of glucolipotoxic conditions and exposure to proinflammatory cytokines. However, the precise mechanisms underlying Nox2 activation by these stimuli remain less understood. To this end, we report a time-dependent phosphorylation of p47phox, a cytosolic subunit of Nox2, by cytomix (IL-1β+TNFα+IFNγ) in insulin-secreting INS-1 832/13 cells. Furthermore, cytomix induced the expression of gp91phox, a membrane component of Nox2. 2-Bromopalmitate (2-BP), a known inhibitor of protein palmitoylation, markedly attenuated cytokine-induced, Nox2-mediated reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation and inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS)-mediated nitric oxide (NO) generation. However, 2-BP failed to exert any significant effects on cytomix-induced CHOP expression, a marker for endoplasmic reticulum stress. Together, our findings identify palmitoyltransferase as a target for inhibition of cytomix-induced oxidative (ROS generation) and nitrosative (NO generation) stress in the pancreatic β-cell.
Kinetic and Thermodynamic Analysis of Mutant Type II DNA Topoisomerases That Cannot Covalently Cleave DNA

DNA topoisomerase II catalyzes two different chemical reactions as part of its DNA transport cycle: ATP hydrolysis and DNA breakage/religation. The coordination between these reactions was studied using mutants of yeast topoisomerase II that are unable to covalently cleave DNA. In the absence of DNA, the ATPase activities of these mutant enzymes are identical to the wild type activity. DNA binding stimulates the ATPase activity of the mutant enzymes, but with steady-state parameters different from those of the wild type enzyme. These differences were examined through DNA binding experiments and pre-steady-state ATPase assays. One mutant protein, Y782F, binds DNA with the same affinity as wild type protein. This mutant topologically traps one DNA circle in the presence of a nonhydrolyzable ATP analog under the same conditions that the wild type protein catenates two circles. Rapid chemical quench and pulse-chase ATPase experiments reveal that the mutant proteins bound to DNA have the same sequential hydrolysis reaction cycle as the wild type enzyme. Binding of ATP to the mutants is not notably impaired, but hydrolysis of the first ATP is slower than for the wild type enzyme. Models to explain these results in the context of the entire DNA topoisomerase II reaction cycle are discussed.
Reversible photochemical holeburning in Rhodopseudomonas viridis reaction centers

The change in absorption of the band assigned to the primary electron donor in R. viridis reaction centers (P960) has been measured at 1.4–2.1 K following narrow bandwidth excitation at many wavelengths within the P960 absorption band. In all cases nearly the entire band was photobleached (full width at half-maximum about 400 cm−1). This result can be explained by either an ultra-fast decay process from the initially excited state or a substantial difference in the equilibrium nuclear configuration between the ground and excited state of the donor. The latter may arise if the excited state of the donor has substantial charge transfer character. The results suggest a charge separation step which precedes formation of a bacteriopheo-phytin b anion.
A comparison of low temperature neutron and X-ray structures of K2Pt(CN)4Br0.3·3H2O, KCP (Br)

Abstract We compare the structure of KCP determined at 77°K by neutron methods with that recently determined at 90°K by x-rays. Both methods find two Pt-Pt distances which are equal within normal error limits. The neutron study shows however that the Pt thermal motion is slightly anisotropic with preferred motion perpendicular to c ; this is contrary to the x-ray result which finds a strongly anisotropic thermal vibration parallel to c . No evidence is found in the neutron study for the occupation by water of a second disordered site located at ∼ c 6 from the normal Br− site at 1 2 1 2 1 2 .
The Impact of Liberalizing Trade in Services on Trade in Goods: An Empirical Investigation

In this paper we use a large dataset to explore whether the liberalization of trade in services is beneficial for the international trade in goods. We find empirical evidence supporting this notion. We investigate which types of trade in services are more important for the international trade in goods and find that trade in transportation and communication services generate the largest impacts on trade in goods. We also investigate which types of trade in goods are likely to benefit from the liberalization of trade in services and find that, under the 2-digit ISTC classification, all the categories are likely to exhibit a positive impact.
A clinical drug library screen identifies astemizole as an antimalarial agent

The high cost and protracted time line of new drug discovery are major roadblocks to creating therapies for neglected diseases. To accelerate drug discovery we created a library of 2,687 existing drugs and screened for inhibitors of the human malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum. The antihistamine astemizole and its principal human metabolite are promising new inhibitors of chloroquine-sensitive and multidrug-resistant parasites, and they show efficacy in two mouse models of malaria.
Nanoparticles reveal that human cervicovaginal mucus is riddled with pores larger than viruses

The mechanisms by which mucus helps prevent viruses from infecting mucosal surfaces are not well understood. We engineered non-mucoadhesive nanoparticles of various sizes and used them as probes to determine the spacing between mucin fibers (pore sizes) in fresh undiluted human cervicovaginal mucus (CVM) obtained from volunteers with healthy vaginal microflora. We found that most pores in CVM have diameters significantly larger than human viruses (average pore size 340 ± 70 nm; range approximately 50–1800 nm). This mesh structure is substantially more open than the 15–100-nm spacing expected assuming mucus consists primarily of a random array of individual mucin fibers. Addition of a nonionic detergent to CVM caused the average pore size to decrease to 130 ± 50 nm. This suggests hydrophobic interactions between lipid-coated “naked” protein regions on mucins normally cause mucin fibers to self-condense and/or bundle with other fibers, creating mucin “cables” at least three times thicker than individual mucin fibers. Although the native mesh structure is not tight enough to trap most viruses, we found that herpes simplex virus (approximately 180 nm) was strongly trapped in CVM, moving at least 8,000-fold slower than non-mucoadhesive 200-nm nanoparticles. This work provides an accurate measurement of the pore structure of fresh, hydrated ex vivo CVM and demonstrates that mucoadhesion, rather than steric obstruction, may be a critical protective mechanism against a major sexually transmitted virus and perhaps other viruses.
CrowdFill: collecting structured data from the crowd

We present CrowdFill, a system for collecting structured data from the crowd. While a typical microtask-based approach would pose specific questions to each worker and assemble the answers, CrowdFill shows a partially-filled table to all participating workers. Workers contribute by filling in empty cells, as well as upvoting and downvoting data entered by other workers. The system's synchronization scheme, based on a careful model of primitive operations, enables workers to collaboratively complete the table without latency overhead. CrowdFill allows the specification of constraints on the collected data, and has mechanisms for resolving inconsistencies. Its compensation scheme takes into account each worker's contribution to the final table, and the varying difficulty of data entry tasks. The paper includes some preliminary experimental results.
Effects of lead time, length bias, and false-negative assurance on screening for breast cancer

This article presents a model of breast cancer screening programs. The model shows the effects of the screening threshold, screen sensitivity, and false-negative assurance on the cumulative mortality rate in the screened population. It shows that factors of screen design and a penalty associated with false-negative assurance can result in excess mortality rates in screened populations--especially in those age classes in which the incidence of rapidly growing tumors is high. Factors related to the magnitude of this effect are described.
Psychosocial Trajectories of Men Monitoring Prostate-Specific Antigen Levels Following Surgery for Prostate Cancer

Purpose/objectives To describe the psychosocial trajectories of men treated surgically for prostate cancer after monitoring their prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels until 24 months post-treatment. Design Descriptive longitudinal study. Setting Urology clinic at Duke University Health System. Sample 12 men diagnosed and treated for prostate cancer. Methods Men were interviewed in their homes at baseline and at 24 months and via telephone at 6, 12, and 18 months. Scores from the Profile of Mood States, Mishel Uncertainty in Illness Scale, Self-Control Schedule, and Cantril's Ladder were entered into a database for analysis. Graphs of individual participants' scores were plotted. Main research variables PSA values, mood state, cognitive reframing, impact of event, quality of life, illness uncertainty, and growth through uncertainty were measured. Findings Three trajectories were identified (i.e., stable, unstable, and mixed) and graphed using a typological or health pattern approach. Conclusions Monitoring PSA levels is critical for men treated for prostate cancer. This study provides preliminary data on the psychological trajectories of men during the first 24 months postprostatectomy. Implications for nursing Rising PSA levels that are associated with the recurrence of disease can cause psychosocial distress among men with prostate cancer.
"Normal" urothelium in patients with bladder cancer: a preliminary report from the National Bladder Cancer Collaborative Group A.

The concept that most bladder carcinomas arise from a widespread reaction of urothelial cells to various carcinogenic stimuli is widely accepted. The evidence for this theory rests largely on retrospective evaluations of nontumorous urothelium obtained from patients with concomitant or sinecomitant bladder cancers. A prospective surveillance study of patients with bladder cancer has been conducted at the University of Tennessee Center for the Health Sciences, a collaborating institution of the National Bladder Cancer Collaborative Group-A, to determine the frequency, distribution, and biologic significance of hyperplasia, dysplasia, carcinoma in situ (CIS), and carcinoma in the cystoscopically unremarkable urothelium of patients with carcinoma of the bladder. Multiple mucosal biopsies were obtained at cystoscopy from preselected sites in 64 patients. Specimens were collected both when tumors were visible and when no tumor was seen. Of the 657 evaluable specimens, 94 (14.3%) were positive for either hyperplasia, dysplasia, carcinoma in situ, or carcinoma (invasive and/or papillary, noninvasive). In general, the frequency of positive biopsies increased with advancing histologic grade of the primary neoplasm. When possible, incomplete resection of the primary tumor was taken into consideration; there was no statistically significant difference between frequency of positive specimens collected from sites adjacent to versus distant from the original neoplasm. Patients were no more likely to have abnormal urothelium when a tumor was cystoscopically visible than when no tumor was apparent, but lesions occurring in the presence of a tumor tended to be of greater histologic severity. The biologic significance of flat, noninvasive urothelial lesions (hyperplasia, dysplasia, CIS) can be determined only after longer periods of observation, but preliminary results indicate a borderline statistical significance (p ≅ 0.10) for these abnormalities in the prediction of subsequent recurrence or new occurrence of bladder cancer.
Unprecedented Fe(IV) Species in a Diheme Protein MauG: A Quantum Chemical Investigation on the Unusual Mössbauer Spectroscopic Properties.

Ferryl species are important catalytic intermediates in heme enzymes. A recent experimental investigation of a diheme protein MauG reported the first case of using two Fe(IV) species as an alternative to compound I in catalysis. Both Fe(IV) species have unusual Mossbauer properties, which was found to originate from novel structural features based on a quantum chemical investigation. With comparison to the previously reported Fe(IV)=O and Fe(IV)-OH species, results here provide the first evidence of a couple of new mechanisms by which proteins influence the properties of ferryl species by directly providing the O via Tyr, or stabilizing exogenous O via hydrogen bonding interaction. These results expand our ability to identify and evaluate high-valent heme proteins and models.
Promoting early literacy

To the Editor .— As a pediatrician who brought Reach Out and Read (ROR) to a community health center in one of the most underserved areas of Washington, DC, I read with great interest the recent article by Klass1 in which she describes literacy promotion by pediatricians who practice “pediatrics by the book.” I fully agree with Dr Klass that promoting early literacy at the well-child visit not only seems like a good idea, but also is increasingly supported by evidence, especially among high-risk inner-city …
Differences among captive callitrichids in the digestive responses to dietary gum

Although many members of the Callitrichidae, a monophyletic family of small, New World monkeys, have been observed to feed on plant exudates, available field data support the generalization that pygmy and common marmosets (Cebuella pygmaea and Callithrix jacchus) feed on gums to a greater extent than most other callitrichids. Because microbial fermentation is required for vertebrates to digest gums, gum-feeding primates may react differently to dietary gum from their relatives that eat little gum. To test this hypothesis, digestion trials were conducted on animals from the two marmoset species, two tamarin species (Saguinus fuscicollis and S. oedipus), and a species of lion tamarin (Leontopithecus rosalia). These species span the range of body sizes within the Callitrichidae. All animals were fed two variations of a homogeneous diet, which differed only in that gum arabic was added to one. Transit time of digesta (TFA) and digestive efficiency (as measured by the coefficients of apparent digestibility of dry matter and energy [ADDM and ADE, respectively]) were compared between diets for each individual. As predicted, the digestive responses of marmosets differed from the responses of the other study species. In marmosets, TFA tended to be longer when gum was added to the diet, while TFA did not change in the other three species. Digestive efficiency decreased in tamarins and lion tamarins with the addition of gum to the diet; marmoset digestive efficiency was unaffected by diet. The results of this research are consistent with the hypothesis that marmosets have digestive adaptations that aid in the digestion of gum that other callitrichids lack. © 1996 Wiley-Liss, Inc.