cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Ice properties of single-layer stratocumulus during the Mixed-Phase Arctic Cloud Experiment: 2. Model results

[1] Measurements from the US Department of Energy Atmospheric Radiation Measurement Program's 2004 Mixed-Phase Arctic Cloud Experiment (M-PACE) provide a unique opportunity to study poorly understood ice formation processes in mixed-phase stratocumulus. Using meteorological, aerosol, and ice nucleus measurements to initialize large-eddy simulations with size-resolved microphysics, we compare predicted liquid and ice mass, number, and size distribution with observations from a typical flight. We find that ambient ice nuclei appear insufficient by a few orders of magnitude to explain observed ice, consistent with past literature. We also find that two processes previously hypothesized to explain the discrepancy, shatter of freezing drops and fragmentation during ice-ice collisions, were not significant sources of ice based on parameterizations from existing studies. After surveying other mechanisms that have been hypothesized to explain ice formation in mixed-phase clouds generally, we find two that may be strong enough: (1) formation of ice nuclei from drop evaporation residuals, a process suggested by sparse and limited measurements to date, and (2) drop freezing during evaporation, a process suggested only by inference at this time. The first mechanism can better explain the persistence of mixed-phase conditions in simulations of less vigorous stratus observed during the Beaufort Arctic Storms Experiment (BASE). We consider conditions under which emission of nuclei from the ocean surface or activation through cloud-phase chemistry could provide alternative explanations for M-PACE observations. Additional process-oriented measurements are suggested to distinguish among ice formation mechanisms in future field studies.
Pathology of the calcified zone of articular cartilage in post-traumatic osteoarthritis in rat knees.

Objectives This study aimed to investigate the pathology occurring at the calcified zone of articular cartilage (CZC) in the joints afflicted with post-traumatic osteoarthritis (PTOA). Methods Rats underwent bilateral anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) transection and medial meniscectomy to induce PTOA. Sham surgery was performed on another five rats to serve as controls. The rats were euthanized after four weeks of surgery and tibial plateaus were dissected for histology. The pathology of PTOA, CZC area and the tidemark roughness at six pre-defined locations on the tibial plateaus were quantified by histomorphometry. Results PTOA developed in the knees, generally more severe at the medial plateau than the lateral plateau, of rats in the experimental group. The CZC area was unchanged in the PTOA joints, but the topographic variations of CZC areas that presented in the control knees were reduced in the PTOA joints. The tidemark roughness decreased in areas of the medial plateau of PTOA joints and that was inversely correlated with the Mankin’s score of PTOA pathology. Conclusion Reduced tidemark roughness and unchanged CZC area differentiate PTOA from primary osteoarthritis, which is generally believed to have the opposite pathology at CZC, and may contribute to the distinct disease progression of the two entities of arthropathy.
The impact of donor obesity on outcomes after cadaver pancreas transplants.

We examined the impact of donor obesity on surgical complications and graft function after pancreas transplants. From January 1994 through December 2001, we performed 711 cadaver pancreas transplants. We analyzed outcomes for three groups based on donor body mass index (BMI): 30 (n = 81). Donor characteristics were similar between the three groups except for donor cause of death. Cerebrovascular deaths were more common in the BMI > 30 group (p = 0.002), while trauma deaths were more common in the BMI 30 group, surgical complications, most notably surgical infections and thrombosis, were significantly more common; in addition, technical failure rates were higher and short-term graft survival was inferior. The incidence of technical failure was 9.7% in the BMI 30 group (p = 0.04). However, when we looked at only technically successful transplants, we found minimal differences in the three groups with regard to graft survival at 1 and 3 years posttransplant. Donor obesity increased the incidence of surgical complications in our pancreas recipients, but did not affect initial graft function posttransplant. Technically successful transplants using obese donors results in good graft function at 1 and 3 years posttransplant.
Differentiation: Field dependence, spatial ability, and hemispheric specialization1

Psychological differentiation, as measured by field independence, is studied in relationship to cerebral hemispheric differentiation as assessed through dichotic listening and spatial task performance. Predictions regarding right-hemisphere functions and field independence were confirmed. More differentiated versus less differentiated right-hemisphere superiorities are distinguished and discussed in light of the field-dependence construct. The dimension of integration, characteristic of increasing differentiation, frames the prediction that field independents are better able to utilize the right hemisphere on typically left-hemisphere tasks. The results are discussed in relationship to the potential role of cerebral mechanisms underlying different defensive styles, and in regard to the neuropsychological search for covariance between psychological and neurophysiological parameters.
Circular Dichroism Measurements of the Tetracyclines IV. 5-Hydroxylated Derivatives

Abstract From extensive circular dichroism measurements of a variety of tetracycline (TC) derivatives in the presence and absence of a variety of chelating ions, it is concluded that 5-hydroxytetracycline possesses an identical solution conformation to that possessed by all fermentation-derived, bioactive TC species in dilute aqueous solutions at pH 7.5 or below. These conditions resemble those encountered under normal physiological circumstances. In alkaline solutions, the conformation of of 5-hydroxytetracycline diverges from the non-5-hydroxylated subclass of TC species. This divergence is rationalized as due to a buttressing effect of colinear peri-substituents at positions 4, 5, and 6 and is assisted by the possibility of hydrogen bonding between the 5 and 12a hydroxyl groups. Chelation, in alkaline solutions, with Mg ions “locks” the molecule into a conformation which has been detected by others in nuclear magnetic resonance studies in concentrated non-aqueous solvents and in X-ray studies with the 5, 12a-diacetoxy analogue. Parallel studies with a variety of model TC species and Ca ions provide strong support for the hypothesis that both Ca and Mg ions bind at the BCD juncture and that, above pH 7.5, the Ca ion binds to the A ring between 4-NMe2 and 12a-OH, whereas Mg ion does not do this. If a 5-OH group is present, the Ca ion still binds as before, whereas the Mg ion will bind to the AB rings between 5-OH and 12a-OH. These factors are discussed in conjunction with the various conformations potentially available to the molecule.
NMR Characteristics of Photomechanics and Thermomechanics of Azobenzene Polymer Networks

Azobenzene polymer networks have drawn interests in the area of adaptive materials and structures due to their novel photo-responsive material coupling. These materials undergo a complex light driven molecular conformation change of the azobenzene chromophore when the material is exposed to ultraviolet (UV) or blue-green light. This photoisomerization process is characterized by a molecular conformation change from a rod shaped molecule to a strongly kinked molecule, also known as trans-cis photoisomerization under UV light exposure. Exposure to blue-green light can lead to a trans-cis-trans photoisomerization or a relaxation from the kinked cis state back to the trans rod state. The latter process is of strong interests for adaptive structure applications because the relaxation back to the trans state can be controlled by the orientation of polarized light. When these azobenzene molecules undergo this process in a polymer network, bending and twisting deformation can be controlled by the polarization orientation of the blue-green light. To better understand the distribution of the molecular conformation changes that influences macroscopic polymer deformation, we have conducted solid state Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (ss-NMR) tests on fluorine doped azobenzene polymer networks. Here, we illustrate measurable chemical shifts due to blue light exposure near the 450 nm wavelength using a static ss-NMR probe. The results are compared to ss-NMR at different temperatures using Magic Angle Spinning (MAS) NMR to understand any potential influences of heat relative to photoisomerization.Copyright © 2012 by ASME
A two-dimensional polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis system for the analysis of mammalian cell surface proteins

Abstract A detailed analysis of mammalian cell surface proteins is described by a new two-dimensional polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis technique. The first dimension gel contains 2% acrylamide, 0.1% sodium dodecyl sulfate, 0.3% Triton CF10 and 9 M urea. A combination of the detergents and urea permits the separation of poorly soluble, hydrophobic cell surface proteins. Under these conditions, the molecular size of proteins has a limited contribution to the final separation due to a low acrylamide concentration. Differences in charge properties, hydrophobicity, and glycosylation are the elements determining the resolution. In the second dimension, the proteins are separated primarily according to molecular weights, by a conventional polyacrylamide gel system in the presence of 0.1% sodium dodecyl sulfate. In this study, proteins of C6 rat glioma cell line are characterized. Cell surface proteins are specifically radiolabeled with 125 I by a lactoperoxidase method, and compared with presumptive integral surface proteins which are resistant to extraction with 0.1 M NaOH. Also studied are total cellular proteins, fucose- and glucosamine-containing glycoproteins, and protein species with variable susceptibility to weak trypsin digestion. The electrophoresis system allows an unambiguous identification of each protein species.
Mineral Content of Grasses Grown for Seed in Low Rainfall Areas of the Pacific Northwest and Analysis of Ash from Gasification of Bluegrass (Poa pratensis L.) Straw

Straw residue from grass seed production, along with clippings from turfs derived from that seed, represent a potential supply of feedstock for bioenergy production. Harvesting straw from these production systems removes minerals, including macronutrients and carbon that ultimately must be replaced to sustain soil quality and subsequent crop production. In addition, certain mineral constituents of straw contribute to slag formation at common operating temperatures in thermochemical reactors. The objective of this research was to determine whether genotypic differences in the concentrations of minerals that impact thermochemical conversion and represent macronutrient loss existed within and among Kentucky bluegrass (Poa pratensis L.), perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne L.), and tall fescue [Schedonorus phoenix (Scop.) Holub]. Grasses were grown at two contrasting locations in the low rainfall region of the Pacific Northwest, and mineral analyses were performed on vegetative tissues from each. Differences i...
Continuous solid-phase synthesis and disulfide cyclization of peptide-PNA-peptide chimeras.

Chelator peptides were extended from the N-terminus of peptide nucleic acid (PNA) dodecamers, which in turn were extended from the N-termini of disulfide-bridged peptide ligand analogues, using Fmoc coupling for all residues. The cysteine thiols were cyclized on a solid support, either before or after PNA extension. This simplified synthetic approach might allow preparation of a variety of multipeptide disulfide-bridged PNA chimeras.
The differential impact of state finance on the Romanian party system

Abstract This article explores the influence that state finance has had on the Romanian party system by examining the entry and exit of parties throughout the period of 1990 – 2004 and focusing on the number of parties that gained representation in the parliament as well as the party incumbency rate. I find that state finance has had a limited influence on the party system as a whole but has been influential for specific parties. I argue that the influence of state finance partly depends on when the system was introduced. In developing party systems, the influence of state finance on individual parties is more differential.
Line tension approaching a first-order wetting transition: experimental results from contact angle measurements.

The line tension values of n-octane and 1-octene on a hexadecyltrichlorosilane coated silicon wafer, are determined by contact angle measurements at temperatures near a first-order wetting transition ${T}_{w}.$ It is shown experimentally that the line tension changes sign as the temperature increases toward ${T}_{w}$ in agreement with a number of theoretical predictions. A simple phenomenological model possessing a repulsive barrier at ${l}_{0}=5.1\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.2\mathrm{nm}$ and a scale factor of $B=78\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}6$ provides a quantitative description of the experiments.
Maximizing Kolmogorov Complexity for accurate and robust bright field cell segmentation

Analysis of cellular processes with microscopic bright field defocused imaging has the advantage of low phototoxicity and minimal sample preparation. However bright field images lack the contrast and nuclei reporting available with florescent approaches and therefore present a challenge to methods that segment and track the live cells. Moreover, such methods must be robust to systemic and random noise, variability in experimental configuration, and the multiple unknowns in the biological system under study. A new method called maximal-information is introduced that applies a non-parametric information theoretic approach to segment bright field defocused images. The method utilizes a combinatorial optimization strategy to select specific defocused images from each image stack such that set complexity, a Kolmogorov complexity measure, is maximized. Differences among these selected images are then applied to initialize and guide a level set based segmentation algorithm. The performance of the method is compared with a recent approach that uses a fixed defocused image selection strategy over an image data set of embryonic kidney cells (HEK 293T) from multiple experiments. Results demonstrate that the adaptive maximal-information approach significantly improves precision and recall of segmentation over the diversity of data sets. Integrating combinatorial optimization with non-parametric Kolmogorov complexity has been shown to be effective in extracting information from microscopic bright field defocused images. The approach is application independent and has the potential to be effective in processing a diversity of noisy and redundant high throughput biological data.
Synthesis and Antiviral Activity of Certain 5‘-Modified Analogs of 2,5,6-Trichloro-1-(β-d-ribofuranosyl)benzimidazole

A series of 5‘-modified 2,5,6-trichlorobenzimidazole ribonucleosides has been synthesized and tested for activity against two human herpesviruses and for cytotoxicity. The 5‘-methoxy, 5‘-ethoxy, and 5‘-butoxy analogs of 2,5,6-trichloro-1-(β-d-ribofuranosyl)benzimidazole (TCRB) were prepared by coupling the appropriate 5-O-alkyl-1,2,3-tri-O-acetyl-β-d-ribose derivatives with 2,5,6-trichlorobenzimidazole followed by removal of the protecting groups. The 5‘-deoxy-5‘-fluoro, -5‘-chloro, -5‘-bromo, -5‘-iodo, -5‘-azido, and -5‘-thiomethyl derivatives were synthesized in a similar fashion. All of these 5‘-modified derivatives had significant activity against HCMV in plaque and yield reduction assays (IC50's = 0.5−14.2 μM) but had little activity (IC50's > 100 μM) against HSV-1. This pattern is similar to the antiviral activity profile observed for TCRB. The 5‘-halogenated derivatives were more active than the other 5‘-modified derivatives with antiviral activity well separated from cytotoxicity. In general, cyto...
Implications for phonetic symbolism: The relationship between pure tones and geometric figures

In studies of phonetic symbolism, the most commonly cited attribute of speech relevant to the phenomenon has been frequency. The present study was conducted in order to examine the relationship between pure tone frequencies and geometric figures. A pure tone oscillator was constructed which produced tones in a continuous sweep from 4-12,250 Hz. Six geometric shapes were employed and varied along three binary dimensions (size, complexity, and density) producing a total of 48 stimulus figures. Twelve male and twelve female subjects adjusted pure tone frequencies until they "best fit" the visually presented geometric figure in a complete within-subject, block-randomization design of 48 trials. There was consistency in the assignment of pure tone frequencies to the dimensions of the geometric figures. Round figures (circles and ellipses) generally received lower frequency assignments than other figures, and the shape by size interaction was also found to be statistically significant. The results are interpreted in light of recent research in psycholinguistics and in particular to the hypothesis of a "universal phonetic symbolism".
Immunomodulation by chemotherapeutic agents against Leishmaniasis

Leishmaniasis is caused by protozoan parasites of the genus Leishmania and causes a wide spectrum of clinical manifestations ranging from self-healing cutaneous lesions to the fatal visceral form. The use of pentavalent antimony, the mainstay of therapy of Leishmaniasis is now limited by its toxicity and alarming increase in unresponsiveness, especially in the Indian subcontinent. Furthermore, other anti-leishmanial drugs are unaffordable in many affected countries and as vaccination based approaches have not yet proved to be effective, chemotherapy remains the only alternative, emphasizing the need for identifying novel drug targets. In this review, we have described the different host immune signaling pathways that could be considered as potential drug targets for Leishmania chemotherapy.
Antibody Drug Conjugates: Preclinical Considerations

The development path for antibody drug conjugates (ADCs) is more complex and challenging than for unmodified antibodies. While many of the preclinical considerations for both unmodified and antibody drug conjugates are shared, special considerations must be taken into account when developing an ADC. Unlike unmodified antibodies, an ADC must preferentially bind to tumor cells, internalize, and traffic to the appropriate intracellular compartment to release the payload. Parameters that can impact the pharmacological properties of this class of therapeutics include the selection of the payload, the type of linker, and the methodology for payload drug conjugation. Despite a plethora of in vitro assays and in vivo models to screen and evaluate ADCs, the challenge remains to develop improved preclinical tools that will be more predictive of clinical outcome. This review will focus on preclinical considerations for clinically validated small molecule ADCs. In addition, the lessons learned from Mylotarg®, the first in class FDA-approved ADC, are highlighted.
Genre as Tool in the Transmission of Practice Over Time and Across Professional Boundaries

In this article, we are concerned with the processes through which a central activity in the natural sciences—classification—is instantiated in the writing practices of psychotherapists. We examined several psychotherapists' grammatical, lexical, and rhetorical strategies for writing their initial evaluations of their clients' problems. Using membership categorization device analysis from ethnomethodology, we examined several therapists' written initial evaluations for their use of microlevel categories and categorizations derived both from clients' own (oral) representations and the therapists' professional repertoire. The resulting analysis suggests that clients' emic, contextually grounded expressions are absorbed into a monological account reflecting the therapist' s professional interpretive framework. The therapist thus translates the client' s concerns into a set of meanings compatible with the classifications of psychopathology of the American Psychiatric Association's (1994) Diagnostic and Statis...
On the performance of endmember extraction algorithms for hyperspectral image analysis

In this paper, we investigate the performance of an endmember extraction algorithm when it is implemented in different fashions. The implementation fashion is changed by the use of a dimensionality reduction process, parallel or sequential mode. This results in four different versions of a single algorithm. We take the Automatic Target Generation Process (ATGP) algorithm as a study case due to its excellent performance. The experimental results show that a dimensionality reduction process can not only reduce computational complexity but also improve performance by compacting useful information into a low-dimensional space; the parallel mode can provide better performance than the sequential mode with the increase of computational complexity. Instructive recommendations in the selection or implementation of endmember extraction algorithms for practical applications are provided.
Nonequilibrium segregation in an FeNiTi alloy and a ductile-brittle-ductile transition

Abstract Brittleness in an Fe19.8Ni2.71Ti ternary alloy has been investigated and a theoretical calculation performed based on a regular solution model. The alloy showed a ductile-brittle-ductile transition with aging time. This was due to the grain boundary segregation of titanium and its subsequent desegregation into the matrix, deeply related to a precipitation reaction in the matrix. The calculated results of the nonequilibrium segregation of the elements were semiquantitatively in agreement with the experimental.
Do enthalpy and entropy distinguish first in class from best in class

A drug molecule should bind to its target with high affinity and selectivity. Because the binding affinity is a combined function of the binding enthalpy and the binding entropy, extremely high affinity requires that both terms contribute favorably to binding. The binding enthalpy, however, is notoriously more difficult to optimize than the binding entropy, a fact that has resulted in thermodynamically unbalanced molecules that do not achieve optimal potency. In fact, with current technologies, the enthalpic optimization of drug candidates may take years and only appear in second-generation products. Within that context, it is not surprising that structure/activity relationships (SARs) that explicitly incorporate the interplay between enthalpy and entropy and accelerate the optimization process are being developed and gaining popularity.
A Custom-Built Fast Scanning STED Microscope with a Large Field of View

In classical microscopy the resolution is limited to ∼200-300 nm due to Abbe's diffraction limit. In the past two decades several techniques emerged to overcome this limit, among which the STimulated Emission Depletion (STED) microscopy attracted wide interest (Hell and Wichmann, Opt. Lett. 19:780-782, 1994). We built a resonant scanning STED microscope, which achieves a lateral resolution in biological samples of ∼40 nm in a large scanning area of ∼40x40 μm acquired at ∼10 nm/pixel.In STED microscopy, two beams are required: one excites the sample as in classical confocal microscopy, while the other one, with a donut-shape profile, de-excites the fluorophores by stimulated emission, which avoids the fluorescence emission. Only the tiny volume located at the center of the donut will emit fluorescence. The size of this emitting spot defines the resolution of the STED images and strongly depends on the quality and the intensity of the STED beam. To be able to acquire images of ∼4000x4000 points at a speed of 16,000 lines per second, an 8 KHz resonant scanning mirror synchronized with a 96 Mhz frame grabber were used. Channels, receptors and signaling molecules in isolated cardiac mitochondria, cardiomyocytes, smooth muscle cells and epithelial cells were immunolabeled after fixation and/or in vivo with specific antibodies and Atto-647N as the secondary antibody. At fast scanning speed the photobleaching of samples was considerably reduced, allowing repeated imaging of the same area and the acquisition of a stack of planes for 3D reconstruction. With this microscope, we have uncovered a discrete distribution of proteins within a single mitochondrion, and that plasma membrane proteins are distributed in discernable clusters of different sizes. Supported by NIH and AHA.
Linking Fatigue Measures on a Common Reporting Metric

Context Fatigue is one of the most common and debilitating symptoms experienced by patients living with chronic conditions and is also commonly experienced in the general U.S. population. Linking fatigue scores from some of the most widely used measure of fatigue to the same metric will facilitate interpretation of fatigue outcomes.
Validation of the A Posteriori Error Estimator Based on Polynomial Preserving Recovery for Linear Elements

The purpose of this work is to investigate the quality of the a posteriori error estimator based on the polynomial preserving recovery (PPR). The main tool in this investigation is the computer-based theory. Also, a comparison is made between this estimator and the one based on the superconvergence patch recovery (SPR). The results of this comparison were found to be in favour of the estimator based on the PPR. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Usual breakfast eating habits affect response to breakfast skipping in overweight women.

Objective This randomized, cross-over trial was designed to investigate the metabolic and appetitive responses to skipping breakfast in overweight women who were habitual breakfast Eaters or Skippers. Methods Nine Eaters and nine Skippers were studied on two separate days during which subjects ate breakfast (B) or had no breakfast (NB), followed by a standard lunch meal 4 h later. Blood sampling for hormones and metabolites was performed after lunch, and appetite was rated throughout the day. Results Interactions between day and habitual breakfast pattern were seen for area under the curve (AUC) for insulin and free fatty acids (FFA). Both insulin (P = 0.020) and FFA (P = 0.023) AUC were higher on the NB day for Eaters but similar on both days for Skippers. Eaters had higher pre lunch hunger AUC on the NB day (P = 0.015) as well as lower pre lunch satiety AUC under both conditions (P = 0.019). Conclusions Overall, this study showed that the adverse effects of skipping breakfast (higher insulin and FFA responses to lunch, increased hunger, and decreased satiety) were found primarily in habitual breakfast eaters. This suggests that meal skipping may have enhanced effects in habitual Eaters due to entrainment of metabolic and appetitive regulatory systems.
Attractive interactions between negatively charged dust particles levitated at the plasma-sheath boundary Layer

The magnitude and structure of the ion wakefield potential below a single negatively-charged dust particle levitated in the plasma sheath region was calculated and measured. Attractive and repulsive components of the interaction force were extracted from a trajectory analysis of low-energy collisions between different mass particles in a well-defined electrostatic potential.
Distribution of proteins associated with synaptic vesicle endocytosis in the mouse and goldfish retina.

Current models of synaptic transmission require retrieval of membrane from the presynaptic terminal following neurotransmitter exocytosis. Dynamin, a GTPase, is thought to be critical for this retrieval process. At ribbon synapses of retinal bipolar neurons, however, compensatory endocytosis does not require GTP hydrolysis, suggesting that endocytosis mechanisms may differ among synapses. To understand better the synaptic vesicle recycling at conventional and ribbon synapses, the distributions of dynamin and two associated proteins, amphiphysin and clathrin, were examined in the retinas of goldfish and mouse by using immunocytochemical methods. Labeling for dynamin, clathrin, and amphiphysin was distributed differentially among conventional and ribbon synapses in retinas of both species. Ribbon synapses of photoreceptors and most bipolar cells labeled only weakly for dynamin relative to conventional synapses. Amphyiphysin labeling was strong at many ribbon synapses, and labeling in rod terminals was stronger than in cone terminals in the mouse retina. Clathrin labeling was heterogeneous among ribbon synapses. Similarly to the case with amphiphysin, mouse rod terminals showed stronger clathrin labeling than cone terminals. Among conventional synapses, there was heterogeneous labeling for all three endocytic proteins. Some labeling for each protein might have been associated with postsynaptic terminals. The differential distribution of labeling for these proteins among identified synapses in the retina suggests considerable heterogeneity in the molecular mechanisms underlying synaptic membrane retrieval, even among synapses with similar active zone ultrastructure. Thus, as with exocytosis, mechanisms of synaptic membrane retrieval may be tuned by the precise complement of proteins expressed within the synaptic terminal. J. Comp. Neurol. 484:440–457, 2005. © 2005 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
THE IMPACT MAXIMUM BENEFIT AMOUNTS HAVE ON THE LENGTH OF TIME FAMILIES RECEIVE AFDC‐BASIC BENEFITS

Analysts and program evaluators have rightly focused on the impact policies have on participants achieving programs’ goals and objectives. Yet a potentially neglected aspect of these analyses is the impact policies themselves have on who is initially eligible to participate in the programs and the impact policy parameters have on the length of time people participate in the program. This article reports the findings of a study on the length of time families receive AFDC (now TANF) benefits in two counties in a high benefit state, Wisconsin, between 1987 and 1989 and a low benefit state, Texas, from mid-1989 through 1992 and the influence the states’ maximum benefits have on who is eligible to receive benefits and how families lose eligibility. Results of a life table analysis indicate that families in Texas receive benefits over significantly less time. However, results of a multivariate analysis indicate that when selected personal and familial attributes are held constant, the difference disappears.
Rho Kinase–Induced Nuclear Translocation of ERK1/ERK2 in Smooth Muscle Cell Mitogenesis Caused by Serotonin

There is now considerable evidence supporting a mitogenic action of serotonin (5-HT) on vascular smooth muscle cells (SMC) that might participate in pulmonary hypertension (PH). Our previous studies have demonstrated that 5-HT-induced proliferation depends on the generation of reactive oxygen species and activation of extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) 1/ERK2. Activation of Rho kinase (ROCK) in SMC also may be important in PH. We undertook the present study to assess the role of Rho A/ROCK and its possible relation to ERK1/ERK2 in 5-HT-induced pulmonary artery SMC proliferation. We found that this stimulation of SMC proliferation requires Rho A/ROCK as inhibition with Y27632, a ROCK inhibitor, or dominant negative (DN) mutant Rho A blocks 5-HT-induced proliferation, cyclin D1 expression, phosphorylation of Elk, and the DNA binding of transcription factors, Egr-1 and GATA-4. 5-HT activated ROCK, and the activation was blocked by GR 55562 and GR127935, 5-HT 1B/1D receptor antagonists, but not by serotonin transport (SERT) inhibitors. Activation of Rho kinase by 5-HT was independent of activation of ERK1/ERK2, and 5-HT activated ERK1/ERK2 independently of ROCK. Treatment of SMC with Y27632 and expression of DNRho A in cells blocked translocation of ERK1/ERK2 to the cellular nucleus. Depolymerization of actin with cytochalasin D (CD) and latrunculin B (latB) failed to block the translocation of ERK, suggesting that the actin cytoskeleton does not participate in the translocation. The studies show for the first time to our knowledge combinational action of SERT and a 5-HT receptor in SMC growth and Rho A/ROCK participation in 5-HT receptor 1B/1D-mediated mitogenesis of vascular SMCs through an effect on cytoplasmic to nuclear translocation of ERK1/ERK2.
Setting Boundaries: The Anthropology of Spatial and Social Organization

Setting Boundaries: The Anthropology of Spatial and Social Organization. Deborah Pellow. ed. Westport, CT: Bergin and Garvey, 1996. viii. 243 pp., index, references, notes, figures, contributors.
Queueing and throughput advantages of asymmetric packet switch modules over symmetric switch modules under bursty and imbalanced traffic

This paper analyzes the performance of output channel grouped asymmetric packet switch modules in ATM networks, under geometrically bursty input traffic with input/output traffic imbalance. The switch module considered has n inputs and m outputs. A packet destined for a particular output address (out of g) needs to access only one of the r available physical output ports; m=gr. The motivation for the study of these switch modules is that they are the key building blocks in many large multistage switch architectures. A combination of exact derivation and numerical analysis yields the saturation throughput of input buffered switch modules for a wide range of traffic nonuniformity factors and burstiness. Results show a degradation in the maximum throughput, under input/output imbalance, as the average burst length increases. An interesting observation is that asymmetric switches tend to diminish the throughput advantage of output-buffered switch module over input-buffered switch module under any traffic nonuniformity and burstiness. Our results also indicate that increasing the number of output ports per output address can significantly improve the switch performance, especially when traffic is highly nonuniform and bursty. >
Interview: Professor Andrew Feinberg speaks to Epigenomics

Andrew Feinberg studied mathematics and humanities at Yale University (CT, USA) in the Directed Studies honors program, and he received his BA (1973) and MD (1976) from the accelerated medical program at Johns Hopkins University (MD, USA), as well as an MPH from Johns Hopkins (1981). He performed a postdoctoral fellowship in developmental biology at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD, CA, USA), clinical training in medicine and medical genetics at the University of Pennsylvania (PA, USA) and genetics research with Bert Vogelstein at Johns Hopkins, discovering altered DNA methylation in human cancer. Dr Feinberg continued to perform seminal work in cancer epigenetics as a Howard Hughes investigator at the University of Michigan (MI, USA), discovering human imprinted genes and loss of imprinting in cancer, and the molecular basis of Beckwith–Wiedemann syndrome. He returned to John Hopkins in 1994 as King Fahd Professor of Medicine, Molecular Biology & Genetics and Oncology, and he holds an Adjunc...
Higher Education and Theological Liberalism: Revisiting the Old Issue

It has long been assumed that higher education has a corrosive effect on religious belief and practice. Contrary to research from the 1970s and 80s, however, recent studies show that the college experience has little effect on the religiosity of college students. In this paper, I reconcile these opposing viewpoints by showing that higher education has a liberalizing effect, but only for a minority of students. A sample of church-going Protestants demonstrates that those with higher education are more theologically liberal, but the type of education matters more than the amount of higher education. Exposure to secular theories and whether one attends secular or religious schools have robust effects on theological liberalism.
Antipneumococcal Activity of Grepafloxacin Compared to That of Other Agents by Time-Kill Methodology

Time-kill studies compared the activities of grepafloxacin with those of ciprofloxacin, levofloxacin, sparfloxacin, amoxicillin-clavulanate, and clarithromycin against 12 pneumococcal strains. Grepafloxacin was bactericidal after 24 h against all strains at a concentration of ≤0.5 μg/ml, while sparfloxacin, levofloxacin, and ciprofloxacin were bactericidal at concentrations of ≤1.0, ≤2.0, and ≤8.0 μg/ml, respectively. Amoxicillin-clavulanate and clarithromycin were bactericidal at 2× the MIC after 24 h against 12 of 12 strains and against all 8 macrolide-susceptible strains, respectively.
Trade and Financial Spillover on Hong Kong SAR from a Downturn in Europe and Mainland China

Hong Kong SAR was hit hard by the global financial crisis, which started out in the U.S. and spilled over to the rest of the world. Three years later, vulnerabilities in the euro area’s financial system and concerns over a hard landing in Mainland China have started to weigh on Hong Kong’s growth prospects. Against this backdrop, this paper aims to quantify the trade and financial spillovers on Hong Kong SAR’s economy from a downturn in the euro area and Mainland China. Based on simulations using a version of the Global Integrated Monetary and Fiscal (GIMF) model and a Global VAR (GVAR) that includes both balance sheet and standard macroeconomic indicators, Hong Kong SAR’s output growth could fall by as much as 1½ times the decline in euro area output growth given its high dependence on external trade and many links with the global financial system. A worsening of the crisis in the euro area could reduce Hong Kong SAR’s output by as much as 4-4½ percent below baseline during the first two years after the shock, pushing Hong Kong SAR back into recession and possible deflation. In the event of a hard landing in China, the model simulations suggest that Hong Kong SAR would be on a sustained downturn with output growth falling by about 3 percentage points below baseline in the first two years. Should these events materialize, countercyclical fiscal response could help cushion, but not fully offset, the impact of slower growth in the euro area or China.
Regulatory Convergence in Nongovernmental Regimes? Cross-National Adoption of ISO 14001 Certifications

Recent globalization discussions have revived the issue of regulatory convergence. Convergence advocates point to the structural pressures of the global economy on countries, while the divergence school points to the embeddedness of domestic regulatory institutions. This paper examines cross-national divergence in adoption rates of ISO 14001, an important international nongovernmental environmental regime developed with the cooperation of multinational firms. ISO 14001 offers a process-based system of voluntary regulation instead of an outcome-based system of public regulation that many firms find cumbersome. Our analysis of data from 59 countries suggests that ISO 14001 adoption rates are likely to be higher in countries whose trading partners have adopted this nongovernmental regime, which are embedded in international networks of nongovernmental organizations, whose governments flexibly enforce stringent environmental regulations with a less adversarial and litigious stance towards firms, and where con...
ULYSSES OBSERVATIONS OF MAGNETIC WAVES DUE TO NEWBORN INTERSTELLAR PICKUP IONS. I. NEW OBSERVATIONS AND LINEAR ANALYSIS

We have examined Ulysses magnetic field data using dynamic spectrogram techniques that compute wave amplitude, polarization, and direction of propagation over a broad range of frequencies and time. Events were identified that showed a strong polarization signature and an enhancement of power above the local proton gyrofrequency. We perform a statistical study of 502 wave events in an effort to determine when, where, and why they are observed. Most notably, we find that waves arising from newborn interstellar pickup ions are relatively rare and difficult to find. The quantities normally employed in theories of wave growth are neutral atom density and quantities related to their ionization and the subsequent dynamics such as wind speed, solar wind flux, and magnetic field orientation. We find the observations of waves to be largely uncorrelated to these quantities except for mean field direction where quasi-radial magnetic fields are favored and solar wind proton flux where wave observations appear to be favored by low flux conditions which runs contrary to theoretical expectations of wave generation. It would appear that an explanation based on source physics and instability growth rates alone is not adequate to account for the times when these waves are seen.
Comparison of recursive sequence based image scrambling algorithms

Image scrambling is an effective method for providing image security. This paper compares and discusses the effectiveness of some image scrambling algorithms based on recursive sequences such as the fibonacci number, generalized Fibonacci number, gray code, generalized gray code, generalized P-gray code, P-Fibonacci, P-Lucas, P-recursive sequences, and parametric M-sequences for image scrambling. The comparison of these methods for image security is based on three basic types of attacks: data loss attacks, noise attacks and plaintext attacks. The experimental results demonstrate that the scrambling algorithms based on both P-Fibonacci and P-Lucas sequences show better performance when subjected to attacks and also in terms of algorithm execution analysis which shows implementation efficiency and low computational requirements. This makes them suitable for real-time applications.
Decision Making in the Transtheoretical Model of Behavior Change

Decision making is an integral part of the transtheoretical model of behavior change. Stage of change represents a temporal dimension for behavior change and has been the key dimension for integrating principles and processes of change from across leading theories of psychotherapy and behavior change. The decision-making variables representing the pros and cons of changing have been found to have systematic relationships across the stages of change for 50 health-related behaviors. Implications of these patterns of relationships are discussed in the context of helping patients make more effective decisions to decrease health risk behaviors and increase health-enhancing behaviors.
Low level image segmentation with high level 'emergent properties': color based segmentation

A method is presented which incorporates a discontinuity detection process into a multigrid relaxation algorithm, with the goal of recovering significant discontinuities at different scales. Line processes are activated in a deterministic way, depending on local properties of both neighboring line processes (at different scales) and neighboring continuous variables. Computational complexity is O(n) for an image with n pixels, and convergence time is a small multiple of that required by one relaxation step at the finest grid. The scheme is applied to the problem of image segmentation based on color differences. These dissimilarities are detected by considering changes in the relative intensity of the red, green, and blue components of the pixels adjacent to a given discontinuity. A final relaxation step restricted within the detected boundaries is then suggested as a way of 'coloring' the delineated regions in a uniform way. The algorithm has been implemented with high efficiency on a MIMD parallel computer with distributed memory. A coarse grain decomposition is found to be useful for this and other multiscale problems. >
Multiple self awareness group: Format and application to a personal growth experience.

Abstract The “self” has long been studied and accommodated in personality theories and in philosophies and Eastern religions. Constructivists have acknowledged the importance of an individual's construction of the self, both in the realm of clinical research and in psychotherapy. Recent conceptions of self include a nonpathological multiplicity metaphor; in other words, healthy persons can be seen as possessing multiple selves. Originally designed for individual therapy, a set of exercises oriented toward elaboration of multiple self personae (called multiple self awareness; MSA) was adapted and applied to a personal growth therapy group. This article describes the constructivist rationale for the exercises and format, then details its application in the group setting. Specific examples are provided to illustrate the processes evoked by MSA. Inferences are offered regarding the nature of the processes underlying the use of this therapeutic format.
Modulation of cellular and viral promoters by mutant human p53 proteins found in tumor cells.

Abstract Wild-type p53 has recently been shown to repress transcription from several cellular and viral promoters. Since p53 mutations are the most frequently reported genetic defects in human cancers, it becomes important to study the effects of mutations of p53 on promoter functions. We, therefore, have studied the effects of wild-type and mutant human p53 on the human proliferating-cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) promoter and on several viral promoters, including the herpes simplex virus type 1 UL9 promoter, the human cytomegalovirus major immediate-early promoter-enhancer, and the long terminal repeat promoters of Rous sarcoma virus and human T-cell lymphotropic virus type I. HeLa cells were cotransfected with a wild-type or mutant p53 expression vector and a plasmid containing a chloramphenicol acetyltransferase reporter gene under viral (or cellular) promoter control. As expected, expression of the wild-type p53 inhibited promoter function. Expression of a p53 with a mutation at any one of the four amino acid positions 175, 248, 273, or 281, however, correlated with a significant increase of the PCNA promoter activity (2- to 11-fold). The viral promoters were also activated, although to a somewhat lesser extent. We also showed that activation by a mutant p53 requires a minimal promoter containing a lone TATA box. A more significant increase (25-fold) in activation occurs when the promoter contains a binding site for the activating transcription factor or cyclic AMP response element-binding protein. Using Saos-2 cells that do not express p53, we showed that activation by a mutant p53 was a direct enhancement. The mutant forms of p53 used in this study are found in various cancer cells. The activation of PCNA by mutant p53s may indicate a way to increase cell proliferation by the mutant p53s. Thus, our data indicate a possible functional role for the mutants of p53 found in cancer cells in activating several important loci, including PCNA.