cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Contesting neoliberal knowledge politics in restoration governance: the restorationist’s dilemma

The success of ecological restoration efforts is tightly coupled with the effectiveness of many U.S. environmental policies. Yet scholars have raised questions about the ability of restoration to p...
The association between maternal lipid profile after birth and offspring risk of autism spectrum disorder

Abstract Purpose Maternal obesity has been consistently associated with offspring risk for ASD, as well as lipid metabolism derangements. However, few ASD studies have examined maternal lipids in conjunction with maternal prepregnancy body mass index (BMI). Methods This nested case-control study was based on the Boston Birth Cohort, a prospective cohort study of mother-child dyads recruited at the Boston Medical Center. Maternal blood samples were collected shortly after delivery and analyzed for total plasma cholesterol, HDL, and triglyceride (TG) concentrations. Low-density lipoprotein (LDL) was subsequently calculated by the Friedewald equation. Cases were identified using ASD diagnoses in children’s medical records. The odds of ASD were estimated with continuous lipid levels for a linear relationship, and we further explored the nonlinear relationship using the tertile of each lipid analyte with the highest tertile as the reference group. Logistic regression was used to estimate the risk of ASD adjusting for potential confounders. The analyses were performed separately for mothers with normal weight and overweight/obese based on maternal prepregnancy BMI. Results One standard deviation decrease in postpartum maternal LDL was associated with increased odds of ASD aOR 1.35 [1.04–1.75]. There was no association between postpartum maternal HDL and TG levels and ASD risk. Decreasing levels of LDL were not associated with ASD risk in normal-weight mothers (aOR 1.2 [0.83–1.75]), but the ASD risk was more pronounced in overweight and obese mothers (aOR 1.54 [1.03–2.27]). Follow-up analysis of nonlinear association models showed that, when compared to the highest tertile, lower maternal LDL concentrations were associated with approximately two times increased risk of ASD (first tertile: aOR 2.49 [1.27–4.87] and second tertile: aOR 2.79 [1.42–5.48]). A similar pattern was observed with overweight/obese mothers but not in normal-weight mothers. Conclusions Lower maternal postpartum plasma LDL concentration was associated with increased odds of ASD in offspring among children born to overweight and obese mothers. Our findings suggest that both maternal BMI and lipids should be considered in assessing their role in offspring ASD risk, and additional longitudinal studies are needed to better understand maternal lipid dynamics during pregnancy among normal-weight and overweight/obese mothers.
Evaluation of Injectable Naloxone-Releasing Hydrogels

The opioid epidemic in the United States is a serious public health crisis affecting over 1.7 million Americans. In the last two decades, almost 450 000 people have died from an opioid overdose, wi...
Ultrasensitive point-of-care immunoassay for secreted glycoprotein detects Ebola infection earlier than PCR

Ebola virus (EBOV) hemorrhagic fever outbreaks have been challenging to deter due to the lack of health care infrastructure in disease-endemic countries and a corresponding inability to diagnose and contain the disease at an early stage. EBOV vaccines and therapies have improved disease outcomes, but the advent of an affordable, easily accessed, mass-produced rapid diagnostic test (RDT) that matches the performance of more resource-intensive polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assays would be invaluable in containing future outbreaks. Here, we developed and demonstrated the performance of a new ultrasensitive point-of-care immunoassay, the EBOV D4 assay, which targets the secreted glycoprotein of EBOV. The EBOV D4 assay is 1000-fold more sensitive than the U.S. Food and Drug Administration-approved RDTs and detected EBOV infection earlier than PCR in a standard nonhuman primate model. The EBOV D4 assay is suitable for low-resource settings and may facilitate earlier detection, containment, and treatment during outbreaks of the disease.
Education and Social Media: Research Directions to Guide a Growing Field:

Social media play an increasing role in our everyday lives and in education. Teachers and administrators may use social media for professional learning, to find materials for use in the classroom, ...
Identifying Nonadditive Contributions to the Hydrophobicity of Chemically Heterogeneous Surfaces via Dual-Loop Active Learning

Hydrophobic interactions drive numerous phenomena involving surfaces that are chemically heterogeneous at the nanoscale. Nonadditive contributions to the hydrophobicity of such surfaces depend on the chemical identities and spatial patterns of polar and nonpolar groups in ways that remain poorly understood. Here, we develop an active learning framework that utilizes molecular dynamics (MD) simulations, enhanced sampling, and a convolutional neural network to predict the hydration free energy (a thermodynamic descriptor of hydrophobicity) for nearly 200,000 chemically heterogeneous self-assembled monolayers (SAMs). Analysis of this data set reveals that SAMs with distinct polar groups exhibit substantial variations in hydrophobicity as a function of their composition and patterning, but the clustering of nonpolar groups is a common signature of highly hydrophobic patterns. Further MD analysis relates such clustering to the perturbation of interfacial water structure. These results provide new insight into the influence of chemical heterogeneity on hydrophobicity via quantitative analysis of a large set of surfaces, enabled by the active learning approach.
Computationally Efficient Zero Noise Extrapolation for Quantum Gate Error Mitigation

Zero noise extrapolation (ZNE) is a widely used technique for gate error mitigation on near term quantum computers because it can be implemented in software and does not require knowledge of the quantum computer noise parameters. Traditional ZNE requires a significant resource overhead in terms of quantum operations. A recent proposal using a targeted (or random) instead of fixed identity insertion method (RIIM versus FIIM) requires significantly fewer quantum gates for the same formal precision. We start by showing that RIIM can allow for ZNE to be deployed on deeper circuits than FIIM, but requires many more measurements to maintain the same statistical uncertainty. We develop two extensions to FIIM and RIIM. The List Identity Insertion Method (LIIM) allows to mitigate the error from certain CNOT gates, typically those with the largest error. Set Identity Insertion Method (SIIM) naturally interpolates between the measurement-efficient FIIM and the gate-efficient RIIM, allowing to trade off fewer CNOT gates for more measurements. Finally, we investigate a way to boost the number of measurements, namely to run ZNE in parallel, utilizing as many quantum devices as are available. We explore the performance of RIIM in a parallel setting where there is a non-trivial spread in noise across sets of qubits within or across quantum computers.
Integrated approach to detect inconspicuous contents

This paper describes an integrated approach for detecting inconspicuous contents in text. Inconspicuous contents can be an opinion or goal that may be disguised in some way to mislead automated methods but keeps a clear message for humans (e.g., terrorist sites). Our methodology hypothesizes that patterns that convey inconspicuous contents can be extracted, represented, generalized, and matched in unknown text. The proposed approach is meant to complement data-intensive methods (e.g. clustering). Data-intensive methods are fast but are susceptible to variations in frequency, do not discern meaning, and require a large corpus for training. Our approach relies on manual engineering for natural language interpretation and pattern extraction using no more than ten examples, but is sufficiently fast to complement a real-time application.
The Symbiotics as Binary Stars

Symbiotic stars have become an important testing ground of various theories of binary star evolution. Several physically different models can explain them, but in each case certain fairly restrictive conditions must be met, so if we manage to identify a definite object with a model, it will tell us a lot about the structure and evolutionary stage of the stars involved. I envisage at least three models that can give us a symbiotic object: I have called them, respectively, the PN symbiotic, the Algol symbiotic, and the novalike symbiotic. Their properties are briefly discussed. The most promising model is one of a binary system in the second stage of mass transfer, actually at the beginning of it: The cool component is a red giant ascending the asymptotic branch, expanding but not yet filling its critical lobe. The hot star is a sub-dwarf located in the same region of the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram as the central stars of planetary nebulae. It may be closely related to them, or it may be a helium star, actually a remnant of an Algol primary which underwent the first stage of mass transfer. In these cases, accretion on this star may not play a significant role (PN symbiotic). Perhaps more often, the subdwarf is a “rejuvenated” degenerate dwarf whose nuclear burning shells were ignited and are maintained by accretion of material coming from the red giant in the form of a stellar wind. Eruptions are often inevitable: this is the novalike symbiotic. A third alternative is a system in the first stage of mass transfer, where the photons needed for ionization of the nebula come from an accretion disk surrounding a main sequence star: an Algol symbiotic.
Role of intermittency in free turbulent flows.

A theoretical analysis of the effects of intermittency on turbulent transport processes in free turbulent flows is presented. Turbulent fluctuations, in addition to those in the fully turbulent fluid, are produced by the intermittency effects. It is shown that these additional fluctuations are significant for scalar quantities introduced in the turbulent fluid, but are insignificant for the velocity field based on Townsend's measurements. Dynamic equations governing the mean quantities and the fluctuations for both the velocity and temperature fields, including the intermittency effects, are derived. Based on these equations, the turbulent transport processes for momentum and heat are analyzed. It is found that 1) the turbulent Prandtl number is proportional to the intermittency factor, and 2) the mean velocity (defect) and temperature profiles are not the same, and the spread of the temperature profile is wider. A two-dimensional wake flow is worked out as a numerical example. The relevance of the present results to the hypersonic wake problem is discussed.
LIFE IN EXTREME ENVIRONMENTS: BIOLOGICAL WATER REQUIREMENTS

Living organisms have a high and, within narrow limits, apparently irreducible requirement for water. Most cells require a water activity, Aw, of 0.9 or higher for growth, but the extremely halophilic bacteria grow at Aw=0.75, and a few fungi can grow slowly at Aw=0.62. Attempts in several laboratories to induce xerotolerant mutations in microorganisms have so far produced negative results. In the Antarctic dry desert, where the prevailing Aw and relative humidity do not exceed 0.45 in the biological temperature range, no species capable of growing at or near this Aw has been found, and the region is abiotic. Experiments with Neurospora crassa in our laboratory have shown that cell-membrane damage is an important sequel to lowered Aw. Failure to find xerotolerant mutants may mean that extensive reorganization of the plasma membrane, requiring more than one mutation, may be needed to confer xerotolerance. Water activities in the aqueous ammonia clouds of Jupiter (Lewis's hydrogen-rich model B) have been estimated between the 366°K and 257°K levels. They range from 0.975 to 0.718. The corresponding pH's run from 10.8 to 12.9. For the solar-composition model of Weidenschilling and Lewis, the water activity of the aqueous ammonia layer is 0.863, and the pH is 12.4.
Livin' with NCX and lovin' it: a 45 year romance.

This conference commemorates, almost to the day, the 45th anniversary of the discovery of the Na+/Ca2+ exchanger (NCX). The discovery was serendipitous, as is so often the case with scientific breakthroughs. Indeed, that is what is so fascinating and romantic about scientific research. I will describe the discovery of NCX, but will begin by explaining how I got there, and will then discuss how the discovery influenced my career path.
On the Decentralized Control of Large-Scale Power Systems

One of the more representative large-scale systems is a multiarea power system. The automatic generation control (AGC) has been over years, a prevailing problem in the operation of interconnected power systems. In the AGC problem of any power system, three operating modes are normally recognized - (i) Basic Control Mode, (ii) Emergency Control Mode, and (iii) Corrective Control Mode. Among the problems - tie-line load and frequency control (LFC) and economic dispatch control (EDC). In this paper an overview of the application of large-scale system decentralized control theory to the load-frequency control problem is presented.
Parallel event-driven waveform relaxation

The implementation of asynchronous waveform relaxation on parallel processors is discussed. Three different approaches, all based on event-driven scheduling techniques, are compared to the standard data-flow scheme. Issues involving the use of priority queues and preemptive scheduling are described. Circuit examples are used to demonstrate that good speedup can be achieved by using the event-driven method. The results indicate that the combination of data-flow and event-driven scheduling, together with a suitable preemptive scheme, provides a speed improvement of 1.5 to 2.5 over standard data-flow scheduling on eight processors. >
Phosphatidylinositol synthase and diacylglycerol platforms bust a move.

Kim et al. (2011) challenge the dogma that phosphatidylinositol synthesis is restricted to the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) by showing that a mobile membrane compartment transports phosphatidylinositol synthase from the ER to numerous cellular compartments, including the plasma membrane. These findings significantly impact our view of phosphoinositide signaling in the cell.
Manifestly Covariant and Manifestly Unitary Formulations of Massive Vector-Boson Theory in Indefinite-Metric Spaces

A theory is formulated in which massive neutral vector bosons are coupled to a conserved current. The scalar bosons are excluded by using a Gupta-Bleuler-type subsidiary condition which requires the use of an indefinite-metric space. There are two different versions of the theory. One version exhibits manifest covariance and simple Feynman rules that are readily renormalized, but is burdened by unitarity problems. The other version is not manifestly covariant, involves reference to special Lorentz frames, and requires nonlocal operators. It is however manifestly unitary and probabilistically interpretable, since the sum of all transition probabilities = 1, and all probabilities are separately positive semidefinite. The two versions are related by a theorem which demonstrates that $S$-matrix elements are identical in the two versions, except for singular cases such as occur in wave-function renormalization terms. This identity also extends to the Proca theory, although, unlike the Proca theory, the theory treated in this work permits vector bosons to be massive, without requiring it; therefore no singularities or consistency problems arise in its $M\ensuremath{\rightarrow}0$ limit. The allowed nontransverse mode in this theory physically behaves like longitudinally polarized Proca bosons. The gauge invariance of this theory is discussed and compared with the gauge invariance of quantum electrodynamics.
Public Value Governance: Moving Beyond Traditional Public Administration and the New Public Management

A new public administration movement is emerging to move beyond traditional public administration and New Public Management. The new movement is a response to the challenges of a networked, multisector, no-one-wholly-in-charge world and to the shortcomings of previous public administration approaches. In the new approach, values beyond efficiency and effectiveness—and especially democratic values—are prominent. Government has a special role to play as a guarantor of public values, but citizens as well as businesses and nonprofit organizations are also important as active public problem solvers. The article highlights value-related issues in the new approach and presents an agenda for research and action to be pursued if the new approach is to fulfill its promise.
Pricing and Index Considerations in Commercial Real Estate Derivatives

It is important for participants in the nascent commercial real estate derivatives market to understand the fundamentals and the subtleties of the appraisal and transaction based indexes that underpin derivatives, as well as the proper pricing of derivatives taking into account the risk and return characteristics of the index. The authors review these considerations including the implications that appraisal lag in the index has for the equilibrium pricing of derivatives such as index swaps, and the use of such vehicles for hedging real estate risk. An important conclusion is that even if the underlying index does not represent the current equilibrium in the property market or if the property market itself is not in equilibrium, we can still use equilibrium analysis in the derivatives market to derive a fair price for an appraisal index based derivative including consideration of the effect of any lagging and smoothing in the index. The analysis highlights informational issues about indexes and property markets that present both danger and opportunity for the facilitation of a well-functioning property derivatives market in the United States and shows how usage of derivatives needs to consider the effect of possible lag in the index.
Neuroscience: the split view of motion.

In both fruitflies and vertebrates, signals from photoreceptor cells are immediately split into two opposing channels in the downstream neurons. This might facilitate the computation of visual motion. See Letter p.300 Towards the end of the nineteenth century, Ramon y Cajal, the founding father of neuroscience, observed similarities between the vertebrate retina and the insect eye. His conclusions were based purely on anatomy. Now, using state-of-the-art genetics and electrophysiology, Alexander Borst and colleagues confirm the similarity between vertebrate and insect retinal circuitry, this time at the functional level. They have distinguished motion-sensitive neurons responding to abrupt increases in light (ON-neurons), from those specific for light decrements (OFF-neurons), in the fruitfly Drosophila. Clearly, the selection pressure for efficient motion detection through variations in light intensity has generated similar circuitries in these evolutionarily distant species.
The TIM gene family: emerging roles in immunity and disease

The search for cell-surface markers that can distinguish T helper 1 (T(H)1) cells from T(H)2 cells has led to the identification of a new gene family, encoding the T-cell immunoglobulin mucin (TIM) proteins, some of which are differentially expressed by T(H)1 and T(H)2 cells. The role of the TIM-family proteins in immune regulation is just beginning to emerge. Here, we describe the various TIM-family members in mice and humans, and discuss the genetic and functional evidence for their role in regulating autoimmune and allergic diseases.
The Potential for Dose Dumping in Normal Tissues with IMRT for Pelvic and H&N Cancers

Abstract The purpose of this study is to understand the potential for dose dumping in normal tissues (>85% of prescription dose) and to analyze effectiveness of techniques used in reducing dose dumping during IMRT. Two hundred sixty-five intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) plans for 55 patients with prostate, head-and-neck (H&N), and cervix cancers with 6-MV photon beams and >5 fields were reviewed to analyze why dose dumping occurred, and the techniques used to reduce dose dumping. Various factors including gantry angles, depth of beams (100 – SSD), duration of optimization, severity of dose-volume constraints (DVC) on normal structures, and spatial location of planning treatment volumes (PTV) were reviewed in relation to dose dumping. In addition, the effect of partial contouring of rectum in beam’s path on dose dumping in rectum was studied. Dose dumping occurred at dmax in 17 pelvic cases (85% to 129%). This was related to (1) depth of beams (100 SSD [source-to-skin distance]), (2) PTV located between normal structures with DVC, and (3) relative lack of rectum and bladder in beam’s path. Dose dumping could be reduced to 85% by changing beam angles and/or DVC for normal structures in 5 cases and by creating “phantom structures” in 12 cases. Decreasing the iterations (duration of optimization) also reduced dose dumping and monitor units (MUs). Part of uncontoured rectum, if present in the field, received a higher dose than the contoured rectum with DVC, indicating that complete delineation of normal structures and DVC is necessary to prevent dose dumping. In H&N, when PTV extends inadvertently into air beyond the body even by a few millimeters, dose dumping occurred in beam’s path (220% for 5-field and 170%, 7-field plans). Keeping PTV margins within body contour reduced this type of dose dumping. Beamlet optimization, duration of optimization, spatial location of PTV, and DVC on PTV and normal structures has the potential to cause dose dumping. However, these factors are an integral part of IMRT inverse planning. Therefore, understanding these aspects and use of appropriate technique/s would reduce or eliminate the dose dumping and minimize time to obtain optimum plan.
Experimental comparison of parametric, non-parametric, and hybrid multigroup classification

Highlights? The proposed hybrid method dominates almost all the other methods on classification performance. ? Logistic regression and neural network provides worst relative performance under most scenarios. ? This shows that the data complexities have adverse impact on the multinomial logistic regression. ? The results indicate that all classification methods are adversely affected by the nonstatic data. ? This study demonstrates the effectiveness of the hybrid method in improving classification accuracy. This study evaluates the relative performance of some well-known classification techniques, as well as a proposed hybrid method. The proposed hybrid method is a combination of k-nearest neighbor (kNN) and linear programming (LP) method for four group classification. Computational experiments are conducted to evaluate the performances of these classification techniques. Monte Carlo simulation is used to generate dataset with varying characteristics such as multicollinearity, nonlinearity, etc. for the experiments. The experimental results indicate that LP approaches, in general, and the proposed hybrid method, in particular, consistently have lower misclassification rates for most data characteristics. Furthermore, the hybrid method utilizes the strengths of both methods - k-NN and linear programming - resulting in considerable improvement in the classification accuracy. The results of this study can aid in the design of various hybrid techniques that combine the strengths of different methods to improve classification accuracy and reliability.
Nitrogen transformations in sludge amended soils

A laboratory batch incubation study was conducted to evaluate the decomposition and N-transformation in the following soil: sludge mixtures representing, 0, 170 and 400 tons of sludge/ha. Soils selected for this study were Mecklenburg clay and Enon sandy loam of the Piedmont region in North Carolina. Soil—sludge mixtures were adjusted to pH 6.7 and 65–70% of water-holding capacity. Samples were taken at 0, 21, and 42 days of incubation to measure parameters. The rate of CO2 evoluted from the treatments was directly related to the amount of sludge in the soil and also to the N-mineralization. The amount of N-mineralized during the first 21 days of incubation was a function of the rate of dried sludge added to both soils. The greatest amount of N-mineralized was 141.0 and 109.5 μg/g in the 400 tons/ha treatment by 21 days for Mecklenburg clay and Enon sandy loam soils, respectively. In both soils, the nitrification rate rapidly increased (P < 0.05) during the first 21 days and subsequently decreased by 42 days of incubation.
Cannabinoid interactions with glucocorticoid receptors in rat hippocampus.

Previous studies have found that chronic administration of delta9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), a psychoactive cannabinoid, can induce brain aging-like degenerative changes in hippocampal structures (e.g., pyramidal cell loss, glial reactivity). Normal aging changes in the hippocampus appear to be partly corticosteroid-dependent. Because THC is similar in molecular structure to corticosteroids (CORT), therefore, we have suggested that THC may act to induce pathology in the hippocampus through CORT receptors. The possibility of THC interactions with CORT receptors was tested more directly in the present studies. Binding of [3H]dexamethasone (DEX) to hippocampal cytosol, in vitro, was inhibited partially, but not completely, by 100-fold excess unlabeled THC and cannabidiol (CBD), a non-psychoactive cannabinoid. Even at 10,000-fold molar excess, moreover, THC could displace only 50% of radiolabeled DEX binding and CBD could inhibit only 22% of tracer binding. Scatchard plot analyses also pointed to a possible non-competitive site for cannabinoid interaction with glucocorticoid receptors. In addition, several studies utilizing the synthetic steroid RU-28362 indicated that THC interacts primarily with the type II class of glucocorticoid receptors. In a separate study, adrenalectomized rats were treated daily for 14 days with 5-10 mg/kg THC or vehicle, and examined 24 h later for [3H]CORT binding in hippocampal cytosol. In THC-treated animals, the Bmax for type II binding was reduced to a degree almost comparable to the down-regulation seen after chronic stress or high corticosteroid administration.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Survey of target plate heat flux in diverted DIII-D tokamak discharges

A series of observations is presented concerning divertor heat flux, qdiv, in the DIII-D tokamak, and it is shown that many features can be accounted for by assuming that the heat flux flows preferentially along field lines because τ|| < τ⊥ in the scrape-off layer (SOL). Exceptions to this agreement are pointed out and the discrepancies explained by means of two dimensional (2-D) effects. About 80% of the discharge input power can be accounted for. The power deposited on the target plate due to enhanced losses during edge localized modes (ELMs) is less than 10% of the total target power in most cases. X point height scans for lower single null (LSN) diverted discharges show that the peak heat flux variation is primarily due to flux expansion and secondarily due to transport of energy across the magnetic field in the divertor. At the outer strike point qdiv,peak Pin(Ip - Ip,0)G(gin)(1/Bt)4/9(Bdiv/Bmp)f(Ldivχ⊥), where G is a linear function of the inner gap, gin, over a specified range and f describes cross-field energy transport in the divertor. Evidence of radial in-out asymmetries (comparing the outer strike point with the inner strike point or centre-post) and toroidal asymmetries in qdiv is presented and the heat flux peaking due to tile gaps and misalignment of tiles is examined. For magnetically balanced double null (DN) discharges with downward ∇B ion drift, it is found that qdiv is inherently higher in the lower divertor than in the upper divertor, having a 3:1 downward bias. Examples of heat flux reduction by gas puffing deuterium or neon in LSN and DN discharges are given. At least a threefold reduction of the peak heat flux in both the upper and lower divertors of a DN discharge, using D2 puffing, is reported.
Pollen and Macrofossils from Wisconsinan Interstadial Sediments in Northeastern Georgia

Pollen and plant macrofossil analyses and dating (both TAMS and conventional 14 C) of wetland sediments from the Nodoroc Site in the Piedmont region of northeastern Georgia identified two depositional episodes of interstadial (ca. 26,000-22,000 yr B.P.) and mid- to late Holocene (<3600 yr B.P.) age. Interstadial pollen assemblages were dominated by Pinus and Quercus, with Carya, Picea, and Abies also present in significant amounts. The interstadial assemblages had lower Pinus and higher Quercus pollen percentages than apparently contemporaneous assemblages from sites in the southern Appalachians and Coastal Plain. Interstadial macrofossils included two needle morphotypes of Pinus subgenus Pinus, possibly indicating local occurrence of two Pinus species. One of the needle morphotypes is consistent with Pinus banksiana, but other species cannot be ruled out. Comparison of conventional and TAMS 14C dates illustrates problems in obtaining accurate age models from wetlands and ponds characterized by shallow or fluctuating water levels, low sedimentation rates, and vegetation growing on the depositional surface.
Myosin II is a negative regulator of oligodendrocyte morphological differentiation.

During their development as myelinating cells, oligodendrocyte progenitors (OPC) undergo dramatic changes in the organization of their cytoskeleton. These changes involve an increase in cell branching and in lamella extension, which is important for the ability of oligodendrocytes to myelinate multiple axons in the CNS. We have previously shown that the levels of the actin-associated motor protein nonmuscle myosin II (NMII) decrease as oligodendrocyte differentiate and that inhibition of NMII activity increases branching and myelination, suggesting that NMII is a negative regulator of oligodendrocyte differentiation. In agreement with this interpretation, we have found that overexpression of NMII prevents oligodendrocyte branching and differentiation and that OPC maturation is accelerated in NMII knockout mice as shown by a significant increase in the percentage of mature MBP+ cells. Although several pathways have been implicated in oligodendrocyte morphogenesis, their specific contribution to the regulation of NMII activity has not been directly examined. We tested the hypothesis that the activity of NMII in OPC is controlled by Fyn kinase via downregulation of RhoA-ROCK-NMII phosphorylation. We found that treatment with PP2 or knockdown of Fyn using siRNA prevents the decrease in myosin phosphorylation normally observed during OPC differentiation and that the inhibition of branching induced by overexpression of constitutively active RhoA can be reversed by treatment with Y27632 or blebbistatin. Taken together, our results demonstrate that Fyn kinase downregulates NMII activity, thus promoting oligodendrocyte morphological differentiation. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Equity and Empowerment in PDS Work: A Review of Literature (1999 to 2006)

In this paper we examine the degree to which recent research and writing about professional development school activity indicates progress toward fulfilling the professional development school model's commitment to providing equitable educational opportunities and outcomes, especially from a critical pedagogy perspective. Our review of 95 papers and articles from 1999 to 2006 found little published evidence of even a rhetorical commitment to equitable pedagogy and student outcomes. In those cases where equity was mentioned as a factor, it was nearly always in terms only of improved test scores, with no mention of the empowerment of students, teachers, or community.
Sex differences in noninvasive estimates of left ventricular pressure energetics but not myocardial oxygen demand in young adults

Abstract Background Sex differences in arterial stiffness and wave reflections may lead to disproportionate increases in afterload and myocardial work in women. We examined sex differences in arterial stiffness, pressure from wave reflections, measures of left ventricular (LV) energetics and myocardial work. Methods 99 Healthy adults participated in this study 84 were selected (42 females, 42 males) to be matched for potential confounders of central hemodynamic burden such as age, BMI, and mean arterial pressure. Aortic pressure waves were derived from the radial artery using a generalized transfer function. Pulse contour analysis and wave separation analysis were used to obtain: pulse wave velocity (PWV) as a measure of aortic stiffness, augmentation index (AIx) and reflection index (RIx) as measures of global wave reflections, LV pressure effort (Δ E w ) as a measure of LV energy required to overcome wave reflections and the subendocardial viability ratio (SEVR) as a proxy of myocardial work. Results Women exhibited higher Δ E w ( p p p p w in women ( r = 0.81, p r = 0.14, p > 0.05). There were no sex differences for SEVR ( p = 0.4). Conclusion Women had higher pressure from wave reflections which was associated with greater LV pressure effort compared to men. Although women had increased LV pressure effort, proxies of myocardial perfusion and work were not affected.
Interaction of polyamines and light on biochemical processes involved in leaf senescence

Abstract The rapid senescence of detached oat leaves in darkness is first manifested by a sharp rise in RNase activity (about 50% within 1 h), then by a rise in protease activity (indicated by an increase in non-protein α-amino nitrogen within 6 h) and ultimately by chlorophyll degradation (beginning after 18 h). These degradative changes are delayed or prevented by low concentrations (1–10 mM) of the naturally-occurring polyamines cadaverine, putrescine, spermidine and spermine. The tetraamine spermine is generally more active than the triamine spermidine, which is in turn more active than the diamines putrescine and cadaverine. All the polyamines are more active than kinetin or cycloheximide. As little as 10 min of exposure to 1 mM spermine, especially at the beginning of the dark period, produces a marked retardation of chlorophyll degradation over a 48 h period, and 60 min of exposure saturates the effect. In the light, all polyamines promote, rather than retard, the disappearance of chlorophyll but, as in the dark, they inhibit the rise in RNase and non-protein α-amino nitrogen. The photobleaching of chlorophyll in the presence of polyamines is proportional to the duration of exposure to high irradiance (16.5 Wm−2) fluorescent light. Such light is more effective toward the end of the 48 h post-excision test period than at the beginning. Calcium ion (1–10 mM) supplied together with the polyamines diminishes their action in dark and light, indicating probable involvement of an initial ionic attachment mechanism. The loss of chlorophyll from the leaves of four species of dicotyledonous plants (pea, bean, rape, tobacco) in the darkness is similarly retarded by 1–10 mM polyamines. In rape, the most rapidly senescing species, 1 mM spermine almost completely arrests chlorophyll degradation over a 96 h period. It is suggested that polyamine metabolism in plants may be related to normal physiological control mechanisms as in microorganisms and animals, and that polyamines could find use as anti-senescence agents for plants.
Heroin-Specific Stimuli Reinstate Operant Heroin-Seeking Behavior in Rats After Prolonged Extinction

The clinical literature suggests that exposure to environmental stimuli previously associated with heroin availability may precipitate relapse. However, experimental studies elucidating the significance of learned associations between drug availability and reinstatement of heroin-seeking behavior in the rat are still scarce. To examine the role of environmental stimuli in reinstatement of heroin-seeking behavior, rats were trained to associate discriminative stimuli (DS+) with intravenous heroin availability vs. nonreward [i.e., availability of intravenous saline (DS-)]. The animals then were subjected to extinction training during which the discriminative stimuli were not presented, and lever pressing did not result in drug or saline infusion. The resistance to extinction varied greatly among animals (2.5-11.4 weeks). When the discriminative stimuli were reintroduced, the DS+ reinstated responding while the DS- did not. The average number of responses for heroin during the reinstatement trial (12.8) paralleled the average responding for heroin during discrimination training (12.6), suggesting that the associations between environmental stimuli and drug availability are long-lasting and powerful motivators of drug-seeking behavior.
Bioenergetics of Camel Crickets (Ceuthophilus carlsbadensis, C. longipes and C. Conicaudus) from Carlsbad Caverns National Park, New Mexico

Abstract 1. 1. Camel crickets in Carlsbad Caverns National Park exhibit linear long-term weight loss patterns for combined sexes of 1.05 mg/hr for Ceuthophilus carlsbadensis , 0.261 mg/hr for C. conicaudus , and 0.321 mg/hr for C. longipes . 2. 2. From these patterns, maximal foraging intervals for females and males, respectively, of 5.1 and 4.4 days for C. carlsbadensis , 4.6 and 5.7 days for C. longipes , and 5.0 and 4.2 days for C. conicaudus were predicted. 3. 3. Calculated metabolic rates (cal/hr) of 1.04 for C. carlsbadensis and 0.52 for C. longipes were half that predicted for epigean species of similar size.
Sucrose intake as a function of its cost and the cost of chow.

Abstract The avid consumption of pure carbohydrate solutions, which often results in a distortion of nutrient balance, is generally presumed to be driven by their taste. In the first of two experiments, we examined the effect of consumption cost on rats' intake of three concentrations of sucrose solution (8%, 16%, and 32%) when a nutritionally complete chow was concurrently freely available. In the second experiment, we examined the intake of 24% sucrose solution and chow as the consumption costs of both were varied. Increasing the cost of sucrose resulted in a reduction in the percent calories taken from sucrose; the steepness of the decline in intake with price was inversely related to the sucrose concentration and to the cost of chow. Chow calories were substituted for relatively expensive sucrose calories. An increase in the cost of chow resulted in a reduction in the percent of calories taken from chow and a protein-poor diet. The cost of sucrose did not affect the slope of the chow intake curve, presumably because, despite its sweet taste, sucrose was not a substitute for the protein, fat, and micronutrients in chow. Total caloric intake was conserved in all cases. Thus, the avid consumption of sucrose solution is curtailed when it is costly; but the degree of change in intake with cost depends on the cost of an alternative food. These results suggest that diet selection involves a comparison not only of the taste and post-ingestive consequences of available foods, but also of the cost of calories and nutrients in the foods. Selection appears to be guided first by caloric requirements and the relative cost of calories, then by nutrient requirements and the relative cost of nutrients, and finally by taste.
Date of birth in the occurrence of inflammatory bowel disease

Background: It has been speculated that prenatal or perinatal exposure to infections affects the risk for developing inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). The aims of the study were to investigate the seasonal and monthly variations of birth dates among patients with Crohn's disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC). Methods: The Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) comprises data of all patients admitted to hospitals in England. The data between April 1997 and March 2006 served to analyze birth dates of subjects with CD and UD, using the entirety of patients in the HES as controls. Results: Monthly birth dates were aggregated for the same months across consecutive birth years from January 1920 to December 1989 to determine whether a seasonal birth pattern existed among patients with CD and UC. No different seasonal birth patterns were observed between IBD patients and controls. A second analysis of individual months of birth, year after year, found that rates of births among IBD patients fluctuated from month to month. These fluctuations were different for CD and UC, with an overall weak correlation of r = 0.078, P = 0.018. There was a slight trend for stronger correlations to occur during more recent decades of birth, with r = 0.237 (P = 0.009) and r = 0.168 (P = 0.067) for the last 2 decades 1970–1979 and 1980–1989, respectively. Conclusions: The patterns of birth dates among IBD patients do not support the contention that seasonally or monthly varying environmental factors during early childhood shape the subsequent risk of developing IBD. (Inflamm Bowel Dis 2008)
Helping the public find information the U.S. Government Information Locator Service (GILS)

Abstract As part of the National Information Infrastructure, the U.S. federal government is establishing a Government Information Locator Service (GILS). GILS will identify and describe public information resources throughout the federal government and provide assistance in obtaining the information. It will be decentralized and will supplement other agency and commercial information dissemination mechanisms. The public will use GILS directly or through intermediaries, including the Government Printing Office and the National Technical Information Service, as well as federal depository libraries, other public libraries, and private sector information services. Direct users will have access to a GILS Core accessible on the Internet without charge. Intermediate access may include kiosks, 800 numbers, electronic mail, bulletin boards, FAX, and offline media such as floppy disks, CD-ROM, and printed works. GILS will use network technology and the American National Standards Institute Z39.50 standard for information search and retrieval so that information can be retrieved in a variety of ways. Direct users may have access to many other major federal and nonfederal information resources, linkages to data systems, and electronic delivery of information products. An Office of Management and Budget Bulletin in 1994 will provide implementing guidance to agencies. The National Institute of Standards and Technology will also establish a Federal Information Processing Standard specifying a GILS Profile and its application for agencies establishing information locators.
A short synthesis of GYKI 52466

Abstract The synthesis of GYKI 52466 has been achieved in a short six step sequence which proceeds in an overall yield of 11.5%.
Wide-band guided-wave acoustooptic Bragg cells in GaAs-GaAlAs waveguide

One of the key components in future GaAs-based monolithic integrated acoustooptic modules or circuits is an efficient and wide-band acoustooptic Bragg cell. In this paper, design, fabrication, and performance characteristics of compact miniaturized GaAs-GaAlAs waveguide acoustooptic Bragg cells that operate at the acoustic frequency from 190 to 625 MHz are reported. A 201 MHz bandwidth has been obtained with the Bragg cell that employs a single tilted-finger chirp transducer centering at 360 MHz. The acoustic propagation losses in the GaAs-GaAlAs waveguides that were measured using acoustooptic Bragg diffraction as a probe are also presented.
Positron Annihilation Studies of Age‐Induced Changes in Animal Lenses

Both, the sulfhydryl (SH) concentration and the state of the sulfur in the eye lens have always been of great interest with respect to age-induced changes and alterations associated with cataract formation. In the present experiments the positron annihilation lifetime technique is employed to study changes in the nucleus and the cortex and changes due to aging of lens material from selected species of animals. In all cases where the lens material is separated into the nucleus and the cortex, the intensity of the longest-lived component, I3, is found to be larger in the nucleus than the cortex. This change is opposite to the change in SH concentration, in particular the glutathione (GSH) concentration. La concentration du sulfhydryl (SH) et l'etat due souffre dans le cristallin, dans leurs rapports avec les changements produits par le vieillissement et les alterations associees avec la formation des cataractes, retiennent depuis longtemps l'attention des chercheurs. Dans les experiences dont il est ici question, nous avons essaye d'utiliser la technique d'annihilation des positrons de vie moyenne pour etudier les changements produits dans le nucleus et le cortex et les alterations dues au vieillissement dans le cristallin de certaines especes animales. Dans tous les cas ou le cristallin etait separe en nucleus et cortex, l'intensite de la composante la plus ancienne, I3, s'est averee plus forte dans le nucleus que dans le cortex. Ce qui est exactement a l'oppose de ce qui se passe dans le cas des changements observes dans la concentration du sulfhydryl (SH), et plus particulierement dans celle du glutathione (GSH).
No panacea for drainage after percutaneous nephrolithotomy.

Background and Purpose: The optimal postoperative drainage system for patients undergoing percutaneous nephrolithotomy (PCNL) has not yet been determined. Each of the different tubes available has ...
A Lower Multinomial Bound for the Total Overstatement Error in Accounting Populations

A lower bound on the total error in an accounting population is required, in conjunction with the point estimate of the total error amount and the upper bound, when adjusting an account to determine the amount of the adjustment. This paper extends the multinomial methodology for obtaining an upper bound on the total overstatement or understatement error in an accounting population to the determination of a lower bound on the total overstatement or understatement error. The methodology for obtaining a lower multinomial bound differs in several important respects from that for obtaining an upper bound. The proposed lower bound may be computed for up to 25 errors in the sample and provides tighter limits than the widely used Stringer bound.
Santa Claus’ Towers of Hanoi

Two new variants of the Towers of Hanoi problem are proposed. In both variations, one is allowed to put a bigger disk directly on the top of a smaller one under some restrictions. We give procedures to solve these two versions, and prove the optimality of our procedures. Our solution also resolves a problem, which is similar to one of our versions, proposed by D. Wood in 1981.
Sediment as a Cause of MACROCYSIS Gametophyte Non-Survival

Survival of Macrocystis spp. gametophytes is a function of sediment depth on the surface to which they attach. Relative survival varies as an exponential function of calculated mean depth in all cases. If spores attach to a surface prior to sediment settlement, no survival is noted after four days at depths above 500 microns. If spore inoculation occurs after settlement, no survival is noted for calculated mean depths above 40 microns. Microscopic examination of silt dispersal patterns showed that below 40 micron depths the percentage of non-occluded surface was also an inverse exponential function of mean sediment depth. We infer that motile zoospores cannot pass through even the finest silt particles. Comparatively better survival is noted with attachment prior to deposition.