cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Perceptions of the Students toward Studio Physics

The purpose of this study was not only to report the development process of the studio model, but also to determine the students’ perceptions about the studio model. This model retains the large lecture component but combines recitation and laboratory instruction into studio model. This research was based on qualitative analysis. The data of the study was collected with survey and interview done about studio model during two semesters in Colorado School of Mines, U.S. The results of the study showed that the students found the interactive-engagement method of learning physics to be a positive experience. They liked the integration of homework and laboratory activities, working in groups, and having the opportunity to interact, individually, with lecturers. In short, the teaching-learning method presented here, studio model had made a positive impact on students’ perceptions about the physics course.
A Periplasmic Location Is Essential for the Role of the ApbE Lipoprotein in Thiamine Synthesis in Salmonella typhimurium

ApbE is a lipoprotein in Salmonella typhimurium , and mutants unable to make this protein have a reduced ability to make thiamine (vitamin B 1 ) and require it as a supplement for optimal growth in minimal glucose medium. Polyclonal antibodies specific to ApbE were used to determine that wild-type ApbE is located exclusively in the inner membrane. The periplasmic, monotopic topology of ApbE was determined by using computer-based hydrophobicity plots, LacZ and PhoA gene fusions, and proteinase protection experiments. This extracellular location of ApbE is required for its function, since a cytoplasmic form (ApbE cyto ) did not allow an apbE mutant to grow in the absence of thiamine. A periplasmic form of ApbE (ApbE peri ) lacking the lipoprotein modification allowed an apbE mutant to grow in the absence of thiamine, indicating that soluble ApbE could function in thiamine synthesis and that lipoation and membrane association were not required. Alteration of the amino acid implicated in membrane sorting for other lipoproteins did not result in a relocalization of ApbE to the outer membrane, suggesting that additional sorting determinants exist for ApbE.
Comparison of Freezing-Level Altitudes from the NCEP Reanalysis with TRMM Precipitation Radar Brightband Data

Abstract A global climatology of the altitude of the freezing level (0°C isotherm) is computed using 20 yr of 6-hourly output from the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) reanalysis system. Mean statistics discussed include monthly means and climatological monthly means. Variance statistics include the standard deviation of the 6-hourly values with the month and the standard deviation of the monthly means. In the Tropics, freezing levels are highest (∼5000 m) and both intramonth and interannual variability is lowest. Freezing levels are lower and variability is higher in the subtropics and midlatitudes. In 1998 there are unusually high freezing levels in the eastern Pacific Ocean relative to the 20-yr climatology, consistent with elevated sea surface temperatures associated with the 1997–98 El Nino. Freezing levels return to near-climatological values during the last half of 1998. The individual monthly means for 1998 and the 20-yr climatology are compared with monthly means of the altitu...
Comment on "Potential of integrated field spectroscopy and spatial analysis for enhanced assessment of soil contamination: A prospective review" by Horta et al.

) of sites around the world, soils are heavilycontaminated with a wide variety of chemicals, both inorganic and or-ganic. It has been clear for sometime that,regrettably, the overwhelm-ing majority of these sites cannot be reclaimed, because the extent ofthe endeavor is beyond the ﬁnancial means of most countries. Never-theless, to protect human populations and prevent ecotoxicologicalrisks, it is crucial to thoroughly characterize the extent of the contami-nation at existing sites. Current analytical methods to assess the levelof chemical contamination of soils are deemed too onerous, and signif-icantlycheaperalternativesarebeingactivelysought.Inthatrespect,inan article published recently in Geoderma, Horta et al. (2015) suggestthat “current tiered investigation approaches and sampling strategiescan be improved by using new technologies such as proximal sensing.Design of sampling can be aided by on-the-go proximal soil sensing;and expedited by subsequent adaptive spatially optimal sampling andprediction procedures enabled by ﬁeld spectroscopic methods and ad-vanced geostatistics. Field deployment of portable visible & near infra-red [wavelength 400–2500 nm] (Vis–NIR) and X-ray ﬂuorescence(PXRF) spectroscopies will require special calibration approaches butshowhugepotentialforsynergisticuse.”Wefeel,however,thatthisup-beat perspective is unfounded, for various reasons, and that, in anyevent, the maps that would result from using this proposed synergisticmethod would not be as useful as claimed by Horta et al. (2015).Theideathattheuse ofVis–NIRcould advantageouslyreplace time-consuming and expensive analytical laboratory techniques in the mon-itoring of soil contamination with trace metals has been promotedimplicitly or explicitly by a number of researchers for several years(e.g., Kemper and Sommer, 2002; Bray et al., 2009; Wu et al., 2011;Shi et al., 2014), even though, intrinsically, Vis–NIR cannot “see” thesechemicalelementsinsoilsatall,unlesstheirconcentrationisexception-allyhigh(N4000mgkg
Biomarkers of PTA

Prognostic biomarkers may indicate the likelihood of disease development and speed of progression or may serve as predictive indicators of responsiveness to treatment. Joint injuries, particularly severe injuries, may result in post-traumatic osteoarthritis (PTOA), and pre- and post-injury prognostic biomarkers are needed to enhance primary and secondary prevention approaches for PTOA. Several macromolecules from joint structures found in serum, urine, and synovial fluid are promising biochemical markers for monitoring joint metabolism and health before and after joint injury. The use of metabolic profiling (analysis of small molecules) as a predictive tool for osteoarthritis (OA) has increased in the past decade. Although there is some question as to whether PTOA and idiopathic OA are comparable conditions, there is some evidence to suggest that components of their pathogenesis are similar. Potentially, biomarkers important to the high-risk PTOA profile translate to idiopathic OA. Further work is needed to confirm the utility of macromolecules and metabolites as biomarkers for PTOA, particularly focusing on those strongly correlated to clinical efficacy measures important to the patient (e.g., symptoms, physical function, and quality of life) and the causal pathway of PTOA.
Reconstruction of Locally Frequency Sparse Nonstationary Signals From Random Samples

The local sparsity property of frequency modulated (FM) signals stems from their instantaneous narrowband characteristics. This enables their reconstruction from few random signal observations over a short-time window. It is shown that for linear FM signals, the sparsity of the local frequencies is equal to the window length, thus adding another specification to the window selection requirements, beside the conventional temporal and spectral resolutions. Stable signal reconstruction within a sliding window depends on the underlying probability distribution function guiding the random sampling intervals. Both simulations and computational EM modeling data are used to demonstrate the effectiveness of local reconstructions. We consider both monocomponent FM signals and multi-component signals, corresponding to maneuvering targets and human gait Doppler signatures, respectively.
Dietary Vitamin D3 Suppresses Pulmonary Immunopathology Associated with Late-Stage Tuberculosis in C3HeB/FeJ Mice

Tuberculosis (TB) is a significant human disease caused by inhalation of Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Left untreated, TB mortality is associated with a failure to resolve pulmonary immunopathology. There is currently widespread interest in using vitamin D3 (VitD3) as an adjunct therapy for TB because numerous in vitro studies have shown that VitD3 has direct and indirect mycobactericidal activities. However, to date, there have been no in vivo studies addressing whether VitD3 affects experimental TB outcome. In this study, we used C3HeB/FeJ mice to determine whether dietary VitD3 influences the outcome of experimental TB. We observed that although M. tuberculosis burdens did not differ between mice on a VitD3-replete diet (VitD(HI) mice) and mice on a VitD3-deficient diet (VitD(LO) mice), the inflammatory response in VitD(HI) mice was significantly attenuated relative to VitD(LO) controls. Specifically, the expression of multiple inflammatory pathways was reduced in the lungs at later disease stages as were splenocyte IL12/23p40 and IFN-γ levels following ex vivo restimulation. Dietary VitD3 also suppressed the accumulation of T cells in the mediastinal lymph nodes and lung granulomatous regions while concomitantly accelerating the accumulation of F4/80(+) and Ly6C/Ly6G(+) lineages. The altered inflammatory profile of VitD(HI) mice also associated with reductions in pulmonary immunopathology. VitD receptor-deficient (vdr(-/-)) radiation bone marrow chimeras demonstrate that reductions in pulmonary TB immunopathology are dependent on hematopoietic VitD responsiveness. Collectively, our data support a model wherein the in vivo role of VitD3 during TB is not to promote M. tuberculosis killing but rather to function through hematopoietic cells to reduce M. tuberculosis-elicited immunopathology.
Irrigation and Fertilizer Placement Affect Root and Canopy Growth of Trees Produced in In-ground Fabric Containers

Abstract Live oak (Quercus virginiana Mill.) and Chinese elm (Ulmus parvifolia Jacq. ‘Drake’) were transplanted from 3.8 liter (#1) containers into 35-cm (14 in) fabric containers in sandy soils. Irrigation or fertilizer was applied all inside, half-in half-out (50/50), or all outside the fabric container during a 2-year production cycle. For live oak, neither irrigation nor fertilizer placement increased fine root mass within the fabric container. Maximum trunk diameter was achieved by applying both irrigation and fertilizer inside the container. For Chinese elm, applying either fertilizer or irrigation inside or half-in half-outside the container increased fine root mass within the harvested root ball. Elm shoot growth was greatest with 50/50 placement of both irrigation and fertilizer. Field site influenced the effect of Irrigation on shoot growth, but not root mass. Greater fine root mass occurred in the heavier soil type
Application of Genetic Programming for Electrical Engineering Predictive Modeling: A Review

The purpose of having computers automatically resolve problems is essential for machine learning, artificial intelligence and a wide area covered by what Turing called‘machine intelligence’. Genetic programming (GP) is an adaptable and strong evolutionary algorithm with some features that can be very priceless and adequate to get computers automatically to address problems starting from a high-level statement of what to do. Using the concept from natural evolution, GP begins from an ooze of random computer programs and improve them progressively through processes of mutation and sexual recombination until solutions appear. All this without the user needing to know or determine the form or structure of solutions in advance. GP has produced a plethora of human-competitive results and applications, involving novel scientific discoveries and patent-able inventions. The goal of this paper is to give an introduction to the quickly developing field of GP. We begin with a gentle introduction to the basic representation, initialization and operators utilized in GP, completed by a step by step description of their utilization and application. Then, we progress to explain the diversity of alternative representations for programs and more advanced specializations of GP. Despite the fact that this paper has been written with beginners and practitioners in mind, for completeness we also provide an outline of the theoretical aspect available to date for GP.
Effect of alloxan on lactation and replacement therapy with insulin in the rat.

SummaryChronic diabetes was induced in rats on day 4 of lactation by intraperitoneal injection of 15 mg/100 g body weight of alloxan. The reduction in insulin secretion caused a reduction of milk secretion of 16% on day 14, of 8% on day 16, and 9% on day 18. On day 20 milk secretion was 5% above the control group. When 2 units of insulin were administered daily, milk secretion increased 45% on day 14, 21% on day 16, 22% on day 18, and 61% on day 20 in comparison with the group treated with alloxan. Their milk production slightly exceeded the production of normal animals injected with 2 units of insulin. The DNA content of the mammary glands of the 2 groups was not significantly different.
ACCUMULATION OF LIPIDS IN THE LEUKOCYTES OF RATS FED ATHEROGENIC DIETS.

Wistar rats were fed various atherogenic diets containing 5% cholesterol, 0.3% thiouracil, 2% bile salt, and 40% fat (butter, corn oil, peanut oil, or medium-chain triglycerides (MCT)). Blood specimens were obtained weekly for counting lipid-laden leukocytes (lipophages) and serum cholesterol levels were determined. The lipophages in circulating blood were defined as leukocytes, usually monocytes and lymphocytes, containing more than one vacuole stainable with oil red O in the cytoplasm. Rats fed the butter diet showed significantly higher numbers of lipophages and higher levels of serum total cholesterol than any other group, and grossly recognizable atherosclerosis of the thoracic and abdominal aorta was present only in these rats. The number of lipophages in circulating blood did not necessarily correspond to levels of blood cholesterol; the group of rats fed MCT had a relatively high level of blood cholesterol and low count in lipophages. Lipidosis on the aortic valve of the heart was noted on rats of all groups after two months on the diet. Postprandial hyperlipemia did not affect the frequency of circulating lipophages in these hypercholesterolemic rats compared with the rats fasted for 16 hr in the same group.
STUDIES ON THE PENICILLINASE OF STAPHYLOCOCCUS ALBUS.

Summary and conclusionsThe properties of penicillin G-beta-lactamase from 12 strains of Staph. albus (Staph. epidermidis) were compared with those of Staph. aureus 60/1. The enzymes from both sources were similar in that: 1) they were inducible; 2) they were intra as well as extracellular; the extracellular enzymes were filterable through Millipore filters of 0.3 μ porosity, but not through Seitz filters; 3) their pH optima were close (pH 6.4–6.6). The enzyme activities of acetone-ether extracted cells of 24 hr-induced broth cultures of Staph. albus varied from 0.1–80.3 units/ml (pH 6.4, 37°C); that of corresponding Staph. aureus cells was 18.2 units/ml. Vmax values varied over a similar range. Km values varied from 9.1 to 83.3 μM penicillin G for Staph. albus strains; Km for Staph. aureus 60/1 was 10.0 μM. There was a close correlation between MIC and enzyme activity for Staph. albus strains, particularly when activity was measured at substrate conc. equal to MIC (Fig. 4). When thus compared, the strains...
Excretion of Penicillin in Bile.

ConclusionsThe administration of penicillin in man results in the excretion of the substance by the liver in somewhat higher concentrations than are present in the blood stream. No penicillin could be demonstrated in the gastric juice.
Macdonald, D. W., and P. Barrett. 2001. Mammals of Europe. Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey, 312 pp. ISBN 0-691-09160-9, price (paper), $24.95.

D. W. Macdonald, P. Barrett. 2001. Mammals of Europe. Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey, 312 pp. ISBN 0-691-09160-9, price (paper), $24.95. Having great respect for my old mammalian field guide (Corbet and Ovenden 1980), I took Mammals of Europe in hand with high expectations. Also, following recent comprehensive works on European mammals (Niethammer and Krapp 1978–2001; Mitchell-Jones et al. 1999), the time seemed ripe for more detailed information to be incorporated into field guides for the general public. To my satisfaction, the authors were able to upgrade the book's quality in many novel ways. This field guide describes the mammals of Europe in a most colorful way, both visually and literally. The color figures are some of the most vivid I have seen in a field guide. Although expanded species descriptions fill the field guide, the language remains enjoyable and easy to follow. In general, the appearance of the book is more appealing than previously published field guides. Besides some minor shortcomings that are …
Analysis on the curative effect of psychological treatment on 100 amputation patients

Objective: To explore the effect of psychological treatments conducting on amputation patients, and to guide the treatment of the mental health recovery in amputation patients. Methods: SCL-90 was applicated to evaluate the conditions of the patients' the mental health before and after the treatment. Results: The results showed that each factor in amputation patients' SCL-90 test was bigger than that of the healthy mode before the treatment, and after the treatment the results of factors decreased. Conclusion: Psychological treatment on amputation patients is very necessity, its curative effect is also affirmed.
Thermal analysis methods for the estimation of thermal life of magnet wire II. Refinement of correlation for high temperature enamels

1. The temperatures determined from thermogravimetric and/or differential scanning calorimetry or differential thermal analysis experiments will usually serve as an accurate predictor of the results of long-term thermal life testing. 2. These methods may also prove valuable as a quality control tool when standardized for the enamels in production use.
Cellular and subcellular effects of ischemia on the pancreatic acinar cell

Rat pancreatic slices were incubated at 37°Cin vitro, in order to determine if complete ischemia would reproduce the subcellular alterations seen in human pancreatic acinar cells following shock. The ultrastructural alterations observed were similar to those seen in humans and in animal models of hypovolemic shock. These changes ranged from dilated endoplasmic reticulum and swollen mitochondria (reversible changes) to mitochondrial flocculent densities and later stages (evidence of cell death). In thisin vitro study the pancreas remained in an apparently reversible stage longer than liver, heart, kidney, and brain treated similarly. However, once the pancreatic cells died, necrotic breakdown occurred very rapidly, perhaps due to intracellular release of lysosomal and zymogen granule hydrolases.
Factor VIII coagulant antigen in hemophilic plasma: A comparison of five alloantibodies

Five independent alloantibodies directed to factor VIII coagulant antigen (VIII:CAg) were assessed against normal, von Willebrand's disease, and severe hemophilia A plasmas. Immunoradiometric assays (IRMAs) were developed for each antibody, one of which had arisen “spontaneously” and four in transfused hemophiliacs. The correlations between assays were very high for normal, vWd, and both CRM+ and CRM- hemophiliacs. This suggests that IRMAs maybe developed from almost any reasonably high titered alloantibody and used with confidence in diagnosing CRM- hemophilia A in utero by fetoscopy.
Survival in Bilateral Metachronous (Asynchronous) Wilms Tumors

The survival of patients with Wilms tumors has improved dramatically during the last few decades. In contrast, the bilateral form of the disease, especially when the tumors are not concurrent, is still considered by many to hold a much worse prognosis. A review of 50 cases reported during the last 20 years reveals that the survival of patients with metachronous Wilms tumors has improved in parallel with survival of patients with unilateral disease and, when matched for extent of tumor spread, survivals for the last decade are almost identical to those of bilateral synchronous disease and unilateral Wilms tumors.
Driver Behavior in Road Tunnels: Association with Driver Stress and Performance

Complex traffic environments can affect driver stress and driving performance negatively. Driving through tunnels can be particularly stressful, and these segments have been associated with higher crash rates. However, the constraints of the natural environment (e.g., mountains, waterways) often restrict the flexibility to make major modifications in tunnels. The purpose of this study was to evaluate stress as drivers traversed along an interstate route that included tunnel and nontunnel segments, as well as a 75-m transition period before the tunnels. Data from 50 drivers, including information from electrocardiogram recordings such as heart rate and standard deviation of interbeat intervals (SDNN), were collected. Driving performance measures included vehicle speed and braking. Multivariate and univariate analyses of variance were used to identify increases in drivers’ stress during several road segments: the transition to a tunnel entrance, within a tunnel, and open road segments. The largest variation...
Effect of high-temperature transient creep on response of reinforced concrete columns in fire

Structural members experience significant creep deformations in later stages of fire exposure, and are susceptible to failure due to high-temperature creep effects. However, in current practice creep deformations are not fully accounted for in evaluating fire resistance. This paper presents an approach to account for high-temperature transient creep in evaluating fire resistance of reinforced concrete (RC) columns. A three dimensional finite element based numerical model is built in ABAQUS to trace the behavior of RC columns under fire. Temperature induced transient creep strains in concrete and reinforcing steel are explicitly accounted for in the analysis. The model also accounts for temperature induced degradation in concrete and reinforcing steel, and material and geometrical nonlinearities. The model is applied to evaluate the effect of high-temperature creep on the response of fire exposed RC columns. Results from the analysis clearly indicate that high-temperature transient creep significantly influence the extent of deformations when the temperatures in concrete exceed 500 °C, and this in turn influences failure time of RC columns. Thus, neglecting temperature dependent transient creep strains can lead to underestimation of predicted deformations and this can result in un-conservative fire resistance estimation in RC columns.
Word-Pair Priming with Biased Homonyms: N400 and LPC Effects

Abstract In an ERP investigation of biased homonym processing in minimal context, isolated homonym primes (e.g., ruler) preceded targets that were associated with either the dominant (e.g., inch) or subordinate (e.g., king) meaning of the homonym, were unrelated words (e.g., claw), or were nonwords (e.g., smole), presented 250 ms later in a lexical decision paradigm. Both dominant and subordinate associates elicited smaller amplitude N400s and LPCs than unrelated word targets. The N400 priming effect was greater for dominant than subordinate associates, reflecting sensitivity to meaning frequency and lexical competition between the two homonym meanings. The LPC priming effect was similar for dominant and subordinate associates, reflecting post-lexical relational processing between prime and target. In this paradigm, priming effects of meaning frequency due to automatic spreading activation extended only to the N400 time window; shortly thereafter, effects of lexical dominance disappeared and reprocessing of the binary relatedness of the homonym prime and subsequent word target took precedence.
Characterization of heme oxygenase and biliverdin reductase gene expression in zebrafish (Danio rerio): Basal expression and response to pro-oxidant exposures.

Abstract While heme is an important cofactor for numerous proteins, it is highly toxic in its unbound form and can perpetuate the formation of reactive oxygen species. Heme oxygenase enzymes (HMOX1 and HMOX2) degrade heme into biliverdin and carbon monoxide, with biliverdin subsequently being converted to bilirubin by biliverdin reductase (BVRa or BVRb). As a result of the teleost-specific genome duplication event, zebrafish have paralogs of hmox1 (hmox1a and hmox1b) and hmox2 (hmox2a and hmox2b). Expression of all four hmox paralogs and two bvr isoforms were measured in adult tissues (gill, brain and liver) and sexually dimorphic differences were observed, most notably in the basal expression of hmox1a, hmox2a, hmox2b and bvrb in liver samples. hmox1a, hmox2a and hmox2b were significantly induced in male liver tissues in response to 96 h cadmium exposure (20 μM). hmox2a and hmox2b were significantly induced in male brain samples, but only hmox2a was significantly reduced in male gill samples in response to the 96 h cadmium exposure. hmox paralogs displayed significantly different levels of basal expression in most adult tissues, as well as during zebrafish development (24 to 120 hpf). Furthermore, hmox1a, hmox1b and bvrb were significantly induced in zebrafish eleutheroembryos in response to multiple pro-oxidants (cadmium, hemin and tert-butylhydroquinone). Knockdown of Nrf2a, a transcriptional regulator of hmox1a, was demonstrated to inhibit the Cd-mediated induction of hmox1b and bvrb. These results demonstrate distinct mechanisms of hmox and bvr transcriptional regulation in zebrafish, providing initial evidence of the partitioning of function of the hmox paralogs.
Response to Comment on Rickels et al. Intranasal Glucagon for Treatment of Insulin-Induced Hypoglycemia in Adults With Type 1 Diabetes: A Randomized Crossover Noninferiority Study. Diabetes Care 2016;39:264-270.

Rickels et al. (1) report the results of a randomized crossover noninferiority study, making the firm assertion that intranasal glucagon was highly effective in treating insulin-induced hypoglycemia in type 1 diabetes. Unfortunately, the methods described in their article fail to support such a strong claim. We have several concerns about their ambitious conclusion. First, because of the controlled and artificial environment, this was not an effectiveness but an efficacy trial. Testing effectiveness requires carrying out the comparison in a “real-world setting” of severe hypoglycemia. Second, the design of the study does not seem appropriate considering that the intention was to prove intranasal glucagon was clinically equivalent to …
Out of Many, One: Computational Reconstruction of Mouse Skin using Single-Cell Transcriptomics

Mammalian skin is a complex and heterogeneous tissue with several distinct compartments and stem cell populations. Joost et al. (2016) now use single-cell RNaseq to comprehensively reconstruct this complexity, revealing spatial and pseudotemporal differences between transcriptional programs in distinct compartments and a common basal program in skin stem cell populations.
Recent advances and applications of power electronics and Motor Drives - Electric machines and motor drives

In this paper, current advances in electric motors and power converters for variable speed applications are presented. A short overview of both electric machines and power converters are given. Permanent magnet assisted synchronous reluctance motors (PMa-SynRM) are introduced and their effects are studied. Also, a novel soft switched AC-link buck-boost converter for AC-AC power conversion is presented. This configuration uses two bi-directional switches per leg of the converter resulting in a 12 bi-directional switch topology. Power transfer is accomplished via a link inductor which is first charged from the input, then discharged to the output with a precisely controllable current PWM technique which results in near zero harmonics at all frequencies below twice the link frequency, as there are two power transfers for each link cycle. Capacitance in parallel with the link inductor produces zero-voltage switching for both turn-on and turn-off.
Police Officer-Civilian Confrontations Caught on Camera: the Influence of Contextual Frames on Judgements of Excessive Force

In the present studies, participants viewed a brief staged video of a physical confrontation between a police officer and a civilian. Participants were then asked if the police officer had used excessive force. When people view videos of police officer-civilian confrontations, their judgements concerning the use of excessive force by officers are likely constrained by various framing factors. Our studies were designed to investigate the effects of two different contextual frames on participants’ judgements of police officer use of excessive force. 1) We investigated how informational frames accompanying a confrontation video, might frame judgments about use of excessive force, and 2) we investigated how demographic frames, or demographic characteristics, might frame judgments of excessive force. In Study 1, an informational frame warned participants that the confrontation video captured a very brief segment of an event that transpired over a longer period of time. In Study 2, the video was accompanied with an informational frame in which a rationale for the activity of the police officer was explained. Police officer gender was experimentally manipulated in both studies: participants saw a video of either a female or a male police officer affecting an arrest. Participant demographic information was also collected. Logistic regression analysis showed that judgments of excessive force were related to participant demographic characteristics but not to police officer gender. The informational frames appeared to have no effect on excessive force judgments. The results have implications for future research regarding the types of factors that frame people’s judgments of the use of force by police officers when watching police officer-civilian confrontation videos. The results also have implications for efforts to provide a context for these types of videos when they appear in television news programs.
Modulation of NF-κB activity by HDAC inhibitors (NVP-LAQ824 and NVP-LBH589) regulates lethal interactions with the nucleoside analog fludarabine in human leukemia cells

2443 Previously, we reported that sequential administration of the benzamide HDAC inhibitor MS-275 (24h) followed by the nucleoside analog fludarabine (F) resulted in synergistic induction of apoptosis in human leukemia cells (Maggio et al, Cancer Res. 64, 2590; 2004). In the present study we have extended this concept to structurally different HDAC inhibitors, the hydroxamic acid derivatives NVP-LAQ824 and NVP-LBH589, and have investigated involvement of reactive oxygen species (ROS) as well as activation of the NF-κB and JNK pathways in mechanisms of lethality. Pre-exposure (24 h) of U937 cells to low, non-toxic concentrations of either NVP-LAQ824 (40nM) or NVP-LBH589 (15nM) followed by addition of F (0.4μM) induced a dramatic increase in cell death (≥75%). Induction of apoptosis correlated with activation of caspases 3, -7, -8 and -9, and mitochondrial injury (loss of mitochondrial membrane potential and cytoplasmic release of cytochrome c, AIF and Smac/DIABLO). Analysis of ROS generation revealed a HDACI-induced early peak which persisted for 4-6 hours. This was accompanied by increased activation of NF-κB (8-16h), which returned to basal levels after 24h, but was unaccompanied by changes in phospho-JNK. In contrast, exposure to F alone did not modify either ROS or JNK activation, but triggered a marked activation of NF-κB. However, administration of F to cells pretreated with NVP-LAQ824 (24 h), in contrast to F administered alone, generated a marked increase in phosphorylated JNK. Interestingly, addition of F to NVP-LAQ824-pretreated cells failed to trigger NF-κB activation. Moreover, interference with NVP-LAQ824-induced NF-κB activation by genetic means (i.e., in U937 cells expressing an IκB “super-repressor”), promoted the pro-apoptotic actions of F as well as activation/phosphorylation of JNK. Additional studies employing the free-radical scavenger Mn-TBAP and U937/TAM67 cells (c-Jun dominant negative) yielded data supporting a model wherein preexposure of U937 to LAQ824 induces ROS, which in turn triggers an NF-κB antiapoptotic response. These events, through an as yet to be determined mechanism, attenuate NF-κB activation by subsequently administered F, thereby enhancing JNK activation and apoptosis. Collectively, these results are in agreement with recent evidence demonstrating that HDAC inhibitor-mediated modulation of NF-κB activation status represents a critical determinant of lethal responses to these agents, and further suggest that this phenomenon represents an important mechanism regulating interactions between certain hydroxamic acid HDACIs and nucleoside analogs such as fludarabine in human leukemia cells.
Visionary Politics: Technologies of Government in the Capital of Innovation

Taking up experiments in “civic innovation” as windows into the making of new urban worlds, I attempt in this essay to map out the parameters of a novel framework for municipal rule and account for...
Perspectives on Asian Urbanization: An East-West Comparison

The incredible rate of increase in the world population and an even faster growth of towns, cities, and urban agglomerations has taken place only recently. However, humans have lived in settlement clusters of sufficient sizes to be called “urban” for at least 5,500 years. Whitehouse(1977:31) pointed out: that there were towns in the third millennium B.C. not only in the areas of the three main civilizations [Egypt, Mesopotamia and Indus Valley], but also in Turkmenia(Central Asia), in highland Iran and Afghanistan and on the coasts and islands of the Persian Gulf.
Stories We’ve Told: 50 Years of CRLA Archives and Histories

The purpose of this historical overview of the College Reading and Learning Association (CRLA) is to examine the CRLA archives to determine phases in the organization’s narrative development, to uncover trends, and to ascertain overarching principles in the dialog between the written record and living memory. The two-phase research study began with a thorough reading of all organizational documents in the CRLA archives. The second phase included oral histories featuring former CRLA leaders selected from a wide period. Archival data provided the foundation for the oral history questions, thus providing living dialogues between the written documents of the organization and those involved at the time of their creation. Findings revealed noticeable trends in organizational focus, increasing professionalization in the field and the organization, and a distinctive organizational flavor that sets CRLA apart from similar organizations.
Indirect Trauma-Sensitive Supervision in Child Welfare

Trauma-informed child welfare practice must also include the dimension of organizational responsiveness to the effects of indirect trauma upon staff. Supervision must be considered primary among those supportive strategies. This chapter describes a supervisory approach to mitigating the effects of indirect trauma that can be immediately applied within an operational competency framework. The framework includes both a description of the qualities of effective supervision for indirect trauma, and the competencies, or content, of the supervisory approach.
Sensory Stream Adaptation in Chaotic Networks

Implicit expectations induced by predictable stimuli sequences affect neuronal response to upcoming stimuli at both single cell and neural population levels. Temporally regular sensory streams also phase entrain ongoing low frequency brain oscillations but how and why this happens is unknown. Here we investigate how random recurrent neural networks without plasticity respond to stimuli streams containing oddballs. We found the neuronal correlates of sensory stream adaptation emerge if networks generate chaotic oscillations which can be phase entrained by stimulus streams. The resultant activity patterns are close to critical and support history dependent response on long timescales. Because critical network entrainment is a slow process stimulus response adapts gradually over multiple repetitions. Repeated stimuli generate suppressed responses but oddball responses are large and distinct. Oscillatory mismatch responses persist in population activity for long periods after stimulus offset while individual cell mismatch responses are strongly phasic. These effects are weakened in temporally irregular sensory streams. Thus we show that network phase entrainment provides a biologically plausible mechanism for neural oddball detection. Our results do not depend on specific network characteristics, are consistent with experimental studies and may be relevant for multiple pathologies demonstrating altered mismatch processing such as schizophrenia and depression.
Associations of Prepregnancy Morbid Obesity and Prenatal Depression with Gestational Weight Gain.

Objectives Pregnancy outcomes and infant growth and development are influenced by various prenatal and postnatal factors. Gestational weight gain (GWG) is an important indicator of pregnancy management and outcomes. Information about the interaction between prenatal obesity and depression on GWG among low-income women is limited. There also is a lack of information about morbid obesity and GWG. The purpose of this study was to examine the associations of prepregnancy weight status, including morbid obesity as a separate group, and prenatal depression with GWG using electronic medical records in an academic prenatal clinic serving a largely low-income population. Methods Retrospective data were obtained from existing electronic medical records for pregnant women receiving care from an academic outpatient obstetrics/gynecology clinic, largely serving the low-income population of eastern North Carolina between January 2012 and May 2013 (N = 410). Results Approximately 74% of the study sample was low-income women (either Medicaid insured or uninsured). There was a high prevalence of obesity (28.3%), morbid obesity (14.1%), and prenatal depression (17.8%). A majority of women exceeded Institute of Medicine GWG recommendations (45%), whereas 30% fell below recommendations and 25% met the recommendations. Morbidly obese women had a lower than recommended average weight gain and were less likely to exceed recommendations than to meet them (odds ratio 0.32, 95% confidence interval 0.15-0.70, P = 0.004). Consistent with other findings, obese and overweight women had a higher than recommended average weight gain. Conclusions GWG recommendations should continue to incorporate prepregnancy weight status. Separate recommendations should be considered for morbidly obese women, who tend to fall below current recommendations. Further studies are needed to understand the difference in weight gain or loss among overweight, obese, and morbidly obese women and to help inform prenatal care interventions aimed at promoting healthy weight gain.
Educational Leaders as Sherpas: How Leaders’ Actions Promote Collective Teachers' Efficacy

Educational leaders continually search for effective practices to improve schools. A quantitative study was conducted to determine what transformative behaviors a leader could use to improve collective teacher efficacy at the level of the entire faculty and at the level of grade level teams. The purpose of this article is to suggest ways a leader could use the inverse relationship between transformational leadership and collective teacher efficacy to create higher levels of collective teacher efficacy in a school as a means to enhance performance. The Collective Efficacy Scale (Goddard, 2001) was modified to measure the perceptions of teachers at both levels; entire faculty’s collective efficacy and the collective efficacy of their team. Thus, this article also provides leaders with important information regarding teaming within schools. The significant difference found between collective teacher efficacy at the level of school and team, provides important information for leaders to consider as they support various professional learning teams. Success for all would be promoted as leaders increase efficacy within teams by employing the concepts of developing leadership teams and purposeful learning communities (Hill & Lundquist, 2008).
When a transmembrane channel isn't, or how biophysics and biochemistry (mis)communicate.

Annexins are a family of soluble proteins that bind to acidic phospholipids such as phosphatidylserine in a calcium-dependent manner. The archetypical member of the annexin family is annexin A5. For many years, its function remained unknown despite the availability of a high-resolution structure. This, combined with the observations of specific ion conductance in annexin-bound membranes, fueled speculations about the possible membrane-spanning forms of annexins that functioned as ion channels. The channel hypothesis remained controversial and did not gather sufficient evidence to become accepted. Yet, it continues to draw attention as a framework for interpreting indirect (e.g., biochemical) data. The goal of the mini-review is to examine the data on annexin-lipid interactions from the last ~30 years from the point of view of the controversy between the two lines of inquiry: the well-characterized peripheral assembly of the annexins at membranes vs. their putative transmembrane insertion. In particular, the potential role of lipid rearrangements induced by annexin binding is highlighted.
State Representation of Linear Dynamical Systems

We have indicated in the introduction the two possible representations of dynamical systems.
Proton MRS for the Evaluation of Temporal Lobe Epilepsies

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses the potential clinical application of proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) in localizing the epileptogenic focus in temporal lobe epilepsies (TLE). A large number of proton-containing metabolites can be detected simultaneously by in situ proton MRS that includes N-acetylaspartate (NAA), choline (Cho), creatine (Cr), lactate, gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), glutamine, glutamate, alanine, lipids, and other neurochemical molecules. The number of neurochemicals detected by MRS highly depends on the acquisition parameters employed, such as echo time and repetition rate of pulse sequences. The single-voxel approach greatly reduces the sensitivity and versatility of MRS in determining the disease focus. Both in situ proton and phosphorous MRS have shown changes in metabolite profiles of the normal brain during development. It is found that in proton MRS studies of normal infants, decreased Cho/Cr, and increased NAA/Cho and NAA/Cr ratios with increasing age are observed. It is suggested that the noninvasive proton MRS appears to be potentially useful in localizing pediatric temporal epileptic foci as well, despite the age-dependent variation in MRS metabolites in the developing brain.
Perceptually realistic behavior through alibi generation

Real-time pedestrian simulation for open-world games involves aggressive behavior simplification and culling to keep computational cost under control, but it is diffficult to predict whether these techniques will become unrealistic in certain situations. We propose a method of perceptually simulating highly realistic pedestrian behavior in virtual cities in realtime. Designers build a highly realistic simulation, from which a perceptually identical "perceptual simulation" is generated. Although the perceptual simulation simulates only a small portion of the world at a time, and does so with inexpensive approximations, it can be statistically guaranteed that the results are perceptually indistinguishable from those of the original simulation.
Breast Disease: Impact of Sex Steroid Replacement

An understanding of the relationship between sex steroidal hormones and breast disease begins with an understanding of the connection between the sex steroids and the breast itself.
Mast Cells, T Cells, and Inhibition by Luteolin: Implications for the Pathogenesis and Treatment of Multiple Sclerosis

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a demyelinating disease of the central nervous system (CNS) mainly mediated by Th1, but recent evidence indicates that Th2 T cells, mostly associated with allergic reactions, are also involved. Mast cells are involved in allergic and inflammatory reactions because they are located perivascularly and secrete numerous proinflammatory cytokines. Brain mast cells are critically placed around the blood-brain barrier (BBB) and can disrupt it, a finding preceding any clinical or pathological signs of MS. Moreover, mast cells are often found close to MS plaques, and the main MS antigen, myelin basic protein (MBP), can activate human cultured mast cells to release IL-8, TNF-alpha, tryptase, and histamine. Mast cells could also contribute to T cell activation since addition of mast cells to anti-CD3/anti-CD28 activated T cells increases T cell activation over 30-fold. This effect requires cell-to-cell contact and TNF, but not histamine or tryptase. Pretreatment with the flavone luteolin totally blocks mast cell stimulation and T cell activation. Mast cells could constitute a new unique therapeutic target for MS.
ON A GENERALIZATION OF THE MORSE INDEX

Publisher Summary This chapter describes an index for the isolated invariant sets of a flow on a compact metric space that, in the case of elementary singular points above, contains (exactly) the information of the Morse index. This index is defined in terms of special isolating neighborhoods called isolating blocks. A singular point of an ordinary differential equation is called elementary if the eigenvalues of the linearized equations all have non-zero real parts. In this case, the set of orbits that tends to the singular point has dimension equal to the number of eigenvalues with negative real part; the unstable manifold has the complementary dimension. Either of these dimensions determines the flow near the singular point up to conjugacy; thus, their importance is not overemphasized by giving them a special name. It is customary to call the dimension of the unstable manifold the Morse index of the singular point. Elementary singular points are examples of invariant sets of the flow that are isolated in the sense that they admit a closed neighborhood in which they are maximal. Any such neighborhood will be called an isolating neighborhood for the invariant set. The definition implies that any larger invariant set is quite a bit larger.
Two-Level Copper Oxide Nanostructured Surfaces for Condensation Heat Transfer

Condensation has been widely explored because of its importance in numerous applications including water desalination, water harvesting, and power generation. Previous studies have shown that the enhancement in condensation heat transfer can be achieved by the design of structured surfaces with desired surface chemistry. Especially, nanostructured surfaces have enhanced thermal transport performance by promoting dropwise condensation that shows lower thermal resistances than film condensation. Thus, the control of surface wettability has drawn significant interest by modulating surface morphology and surface chemistry. In this study, we explore microscopic-level droplet dynamics using various copper surfaces. Nanostructured copper surfaces are prepared by chemical immersion methods using alkaline solution, and further functionalized by using dodecanoic acid in order to provide hydrophobicity. Their wetting properties and condensation process are investigated using an optical microscope by capturing real-time phase change process. The results show that the surface morphology with the highest feature size ratio enables to achieve the highest droplet volume growth rate due to the hindering of pinning of droplets and droplet jumping events. The understanding of condensation behaviors using the copper oxide nanostructured surfaces can provide design rules for efficient surface structures for numerous condensation applications.