cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Progress and Problems in Blood-Compatible Polymers

Compatibility with blood means, in broadest terms, no adverse effect on blood or any of its components. The complex nature of blood with its formed elements, coagulation system, and multitude of proteins puts not only a variety of restrictions, largely undefined, on the blood-contacting surface, but also makes the determination of blood compatibility an added significant problem. Further complicating the matter is the reverse requirement—no adverse effects by the blood on the polymer. Of the possible adverse effects of a foreign surface on blood, thrombogenesis—promotion of clotting—being most obvious and of immediate consequence, has received, the most attention. Fortunately, this very serious and disabling aspect of incompatibility can be overcome sufficiently by the administration of systemic anticoagulants such as heparin or coumadin to permit the use of the lifesaving devices such as heart-lung and kidney machines and artificial heart valves. Early postulates as to factors increasing thromboresistance included increased hydrophobicity, increased negative surface charge, and increased surface smoothness. The first real indication that thromboresistance was within grasp was the finding by a group at the University of Wisconsin (1) that heparin, ionically bonded to a surface, did provide a very significant degree of thromboresistance.
The H+-Translocating ATPase in Vacuolar Membranes of Neurospora Crassa

In mid-logarithmic phase, cells of Neurospora crassa contain numerous small vacuoles, about the size of mitochondrial These vacuoles apparently fuse and develop into larger vacuoles in old cultures. The vacuoles, which contain high concentrations of basic amino acids — arginine, Ornithine, and lysine — and approximately equal amounts of anionic charges present as polyphosphate, are believed to function as storage reservoirs for nitrogen and phosphate (Weiss 1973; Cramer et al. 1980). Indeed, under conditions of nitrogen or phosphate depletion the vacuolar reserves can be mobilized and used for cell maintenance (Legerton and Weiss 1979). Because the vacuoles contain a majority of the organism’s hydrolytic enzymes and have an internal acid pH, they presumably also function like animal cell lysosomes (Matile 1978).
Abstract 3545: Identifying the effects of lung cancer exosomes on non-tumorigenic human bronchial epithelial cells

Lung cancer is the leading cause of death from cancer in most industrialized countries and many lung cancer patients remain undiagnosed until the development of locally advanced or metastatic lung cancer. Despite extensive research, universal biomarkers for the early diagnosis of lung cancer remain elusive, and therapies for treating lung cancer patients remain ineffective and unfocused. This makes the identification of new diagnostic biomarkers and therapeutic targets for the treatment of lung cancer a critical need for patients. Exosomes, nanovesicles secreted by a variety of cell types, are known to transfer bioactive molecules such as proteins and nucleic acids that induce physiological changes in recipient cells. Exosomes secreted by cancer cells have been shown to promote tumor initiation, progression, and metastasis in various cancer types, but have been understudied in lung cancer. Our study aims to identify the effects lung cancer secreted exosomes may have on non-cancerous cells of the tumor microenvironment by assessing their tumorigenic effects on normal lung epithelial cells. To that end, we treated normal lung epithelial cells with exosomes derived from a panel of human non-small lung cancer cell lines. Treated cells acquired the ability to invade and migrate. As a proxy for metastasis, cancer exosomes are also being assayed for their ability to permeabilize a monolayer of normal lung epithelial cells. Further assessing the molecules within cancer exosomes critical for promoting these oncogenic behaviors in non-tumorigenic cells could lead to the discovery of potential diagnostic biomarkers and therapeutic targets for inhibiting tumor growth in affected patients. Citation Format: Hana Kubo, Sean E. Humphrey, Sarunya Kitdumrongthum, Feng Tian, Sarah Allen, Andrea L. Kasinski. Identifying the effects of lung cancer exosomes on non-tumorigenic human bronchial epithelial cells [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2018; 2018 Apr 14-18; Chicago, IL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2018;78(13 Suppl):Abstract nr 3545.
Design and Construction of Full-Scale Testing Apparatus for Evaluating Performance of Catch Basin Inserts

AbstractAs stormwater runoff flows over impervious surfaces, it suspends and transports various pollutants from their original locations and often conveys them into municipal separate storm sewer s...
The Health Design Research Innovation Project

ABSTRACT: The Health Design Research Innovation Project (HDI) is a program of interdisciplinary research and coursework exploring urban health and environments through the processes of human-centered design leading to innovation. Supported by a local foundation, HDI is entering its third year of a four-year pilot and involves collaboration between design research and public health faculty. This work integrates social determinants of health into the consideration of design solutions for housing insecurity and urban living environments. Scale, economics, and resources are factors in the built environment that influence the health of a space, especially in urban settings. The faculty here have developed a research program, including an interdisciplinary course piloted spring 2016, which examines how Health and Design research inform innovative thinking for behavioral health in underserved communities, especially around topics such as eviction, shelter and wraparound services. This program is predicated on the struggle of a society with multifaceted health challenges. These challenges now require knowledge contributions from multiple disciplines (O'Campo 2012). The HDI Program seeks to challenge and train students to meet these new challenges. KEYWORDS: Health Research, Social Justice Design, Advocacy, Housing Insecurity, Design Research, Culture of Health
Is overall survival in multiple myeloma associated with a shortage in health care providers? A SEER database analysis.

e19588 Background: The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services designates counties as Primary Care Health Professional Shortage Areas (HPSAs) based on a population to physician ratio. If the r...
Offloading, Footwear and Immobilization

Diabetic foot ulcers have taught us the role of offloading. All neuropathic foot wounds require offloading to heal. The use of airbed or water bed for pressure sores is again an example of off loading. Foot pressure measurement and preparing proper foot wears is a new science. The whole footwear including insole and outsole requires modifications in many patients. But it should be kept in mind that for foot ulcers to heal best treatment is total contact cast and not the foot wears. To prevent toe deformities after forefoot surgery, specialized footwear with fillers in the insole is essential.
A comparison study: Periodontal practice approach of dentists and dental hygienists.

Objectives The aim of this study was to investigate periodontal practice methods of dentists and dental hygienists to compare their knowledge and treatment approach in managing periodontal disease. Methods An electronic survey was designed to assess and capture three aspects of data: (a) knowledge of periodontics; (b) practice approaches in non-surgical periodontal therapy; and (c) factors affecting clinical care. The survey was distributed to dentists and dental hygienists who graduated from the same dental school within 5 years (2012-2016). Results were analysed by chi-square test, Fisher's exact test and logistic regression model. Results Out of total 117 participants, 111 of them reported their profession (n = 77 in the dental programme, n = 34 in the dental hygiene programme). The results showed no statistical difference in basic periodontal knowledge between dentists and dental hygienists (P = .12). Only 13% of the surveyed population identified appropriate recall intervals for periodontal maintenance and more dental hygienists reported periodontal re-evaluations being performed within their offices compared with dentists (91% vs 70%, P = .02). Almost half of the participants who reportedly performed periodontal re-evaluations (46%) charged for the re-evaluation procedure, despite it not being covered by dental insurance. More hygienists reported being familiar with and performing adjunct therapy compared to dentists in the study (P Conclusion In general, dentists and hygienists in the study were found to have similar periodontal knowledge and practice approaches. However, differences in performing periodontal re-evaluation and adjunct therapy were significant. Further studies are needed to investigate clinical barriers that impact evidence-based periodontal care.
Disability, Federal Disability Benefits, and Health Care Access After the Affordable Care Act:

Limited research considers whether differences in health care access and utilization exist for individuals with a disability with and without receipt of federal disability benefits in the Affordabl...
Replication-transcription conflicts promote adaptive evolution

In 2013, we discovered that encounters between the replication and transcription machineries allow bacteria to evolve at an accelerated rate by promoting mutagenesis in lagging strand genes. Though we proposed that this process is adaptive, it is also possible that the increased mutation frequency in lagging strand genes could be the result of reduced purifying selection (neutral selection).Due to the low number of available genome sequences at the time of publication, we were unable to distinguish between these two models with a high level of confidence. Here, we utilized the wealth of newly available bacterial genome sequences to examine these two possibilities. To test the adaptive hypothesis, we analyzed convergent mutation patterns. To test the neutral hypothesis, we performed in silico modeling. Our results clearly demonstrate that the neutral model cannot explain the increased mutagenesis of lagging strand genes. Additionally, our evolutionary convergence data strongly support the adaptive hypothesis. We conclude that encounters between the replication and transcription machineries in lagging strand gene accelerate the discovery of beneficial mutations.
Lewin’s Democratic Style of Situational Leadership: A Fresh Look at a Powerful OD Model:

Kurt Lewin’s (1890-1947) democratic style of leadership was infused into his methods and research. Lewin’s democratic style combines degrees of leadership and freedom as an effective situational mo...
Nanoscale refractory doped titanium nitride field emitters.

Refractory materials exhibit high damage tolerance, which is attractive for the creation of nanoscale field-emission electronics and optoelectronics applications that require operation at high peak current densities and optical intensities. Recent results have demonstrated that the optical properties of titanium nitride, a refractory and CMOS-compatible plasmonic material, can be tuned by adding silicon and oxygen dopants. However, to fully leverage the potential of titanium (silicon oxy)nitride, a reliable and scalable fabrication process with few-nm precision is needed. In this work, we developed a fabrication process for producing engineered nanostructures with gaps between 10 and 15 nm, aspect ratios larger than 5 with almost 90° steep sidewalls. Using this process, we fabricated large-scale arrays of electrically-connected bow-tie nanoantennas with few-nm free-space gaps. We measured a typical variation of 4 nm in the average gap size. Using applied DC voltages and optical illumination, we tested the electronic and optoelectronic response of the devices, demonstrating sub-10-V tunneling operation across the free-space gaps, and quantum efficiency of up to 110-3 at 1.2 μm, which is comparable to a bulk silicon photodiode at the same wavelength and three orders of magnitude higher than with nearly identical gold devices. Tests demonstrated that the titanium silicon oxynitride nanostructures did not significantly degrade, exhibiting less than 5 nm of shrinking of the average gap dimensions over few-μm2 areas after 10 hours of operation. Our results will be useful for developing the next generation of robust and CMOS-compatible nanoscale devices for high-speed and low-power field-emission electronics and optoelectronics applications.
公共理性与整全义理 (Public Reason and Comprehensive Doctrines)

Chinese Abstract: 审议民主理论家对罗尔斯的公共理性观提出了三层批评：对整全义理的限制不正当地压抑了潜在议程与抗争；公共理性的适用范围过于狭隘；其躲避式的方法有碍于整全义理通过对话交流而转化。本文对此一一回应：只要将罗尔斯对政治观念与整全义理的界分修正为实质性道德观念与整全义理的界分，即可消解第一层担忧；第二层批评误解了文明相待的义务与相互性判准之间的关系；第三层批评基于不可靠的心理学假说，误判了公共理性的实践后果. English Abstract: This paper amends and defends Rawls’s idea of public reason against three criticisms: that its constraint on comprehensive doctrines does injustice to certain agendas and contestations; that its scope of application is too narrow; and that its method of evasion hinders transformation of comprehensive doctrines through dialogical engagement. In response to the first criticism, I argue that, instead of abandoning Rawls’s distinction between political conceptions and comprehensive doctrines altogether, we could replace it with one that is between substantive moral conceptions and comprehensive doctrines. Meanwhile, the second criticism can be rebutted by clarifying the relationship between the duty of civility, on the one hand, and the criterion of reciprocity, on the other hand, in Rawls’s theory, whereas the third criticism relies on implausible psychological assumptions and misjudges the practical consequences of public reason.
Investigation of Different Constituent Encoders in a Turbo-code Scheme for Reduced Decoder Complexity

A large number of papers have been published attempting to give some analytical basis for the performance of Turbo-codes. It has been shown that performance improves with increased interleaver length. Also procedures have been given to pick the best constituent recursive systematic convolutional codes (RSCC's). However testing by computer simulation is still required to verify these results. This thesis begins by describing the encoding and decoding schemes used. Next simulation results on several memory 4 RSCC's are shown. It is found that the best BER performance at low E(sub b)/N(sub o) is not given by the RSCC's that were found using the analytic techniques given so far. Next the results are given from simulations using a smaller memory RSCC for one of the constituent encoders. Significant reduction in decoding complexity is obtained with minimal loss in performance. Simulation results are then given for a rate 1/3 Turbo-code with the result that this code performed as well as a rate 1/2 Turbo-code as measured by the distance from their respective Shannon limits. Finally the results of simulations where an inaccurate noise variance measurement was used are given. From this it was observed that Turbo-decoding is fairly stable with regard to noise variance measurement.
Cardiovascular Disease in Endocrine Disorders

Cardiovascular symptoms are often the first signs and symptoms of underlying endocrinopathies. This chapter reviews endocrine disorders with a focus on cardiovascular changes and presentations.
Lumbercamp Singing and the Two Traditions

Une discussion des contextes de l'execution traditionnelle de chansons dans les etats du nord-est et les provinces maritimes delimite deux traditions dans les contextes d’execution: la publique, qui est dominee par les hommes, et la domestique, ou les femmes sont preponderantes. On compare les repertoires et les styles dans les deux traditions, ainsi que leurs roles dans le contexte general de la musique regionale traditionnelle.
Skulls to the Living, Bread to the Dead: The Day of the Dead in Mexico and Beyond

Reviewed Medium: book Authors: Stanley H. Brandes Year: 2006 Pages: 232 Publisher: Blackwell Publishing ISBN: 978-1-4051-5247-1 (hard cover). Prices: $64.95 USD(hard cover).
Fast Methods for Computing Isosurface Topology with Betti Numbers

Betti numbers can be used as a means for feature detection to aid in the exploration of complex large-scale data sets. We present a fast algorithm for the calculation of Betti numbers for triangulated isosurfaces, along with examples of their use. Once an isosurface is extracted from a data set, calculating Betti numbers only requires time and space proportional to the isosurfaces, not the data set. Because the overhead of obtaining Betti numbers is small, our algorithm can be used with large data.
Managing security in high-performance distributed computations

We describe a software infrastructure designed to support the development of applications that use high-speed networks to connect geographically distributed supercomputers, databases, and scientific instruments. Such applications may need to operate over open networks and access valuable resources, and hence can require mechanisms for ensuring integrity and confidentiality of communications and for authenticating both users and resources. Yet security solutions developed for traditional client-server applications do not provide direct support for the distinctive program structures, programming tools, and performance requirements encountered in these applications. To address these requirements, we are developing a security-enhanced version of a communication library called Nexus, which is then used to provide secure versions of various parallel libraries and languages, including the popular Message Passing Interface. These tools support the wide range of process creation mechanisms and communication structures used in high-performance computing. They also provide a fine degree of control over what, where, and when security mechanisms are applied. In particular, a single application can mix secure and nonsecure communication, allowing the programmer to make fine-grained security/performance tradeoffs. We present performance results that enable us to quantify the performance of our infrastructure.
Self‐Determination, Causal Agency, and Mental Retardation

Publisher Summary The self‐determination construct has proved to be useful in explaining the motivational variables that cause people to act based on personal choice and preference as opposed to other, external causal factors. This chapter presents an overview of the respective theoretical applications of the self-determination construct to identify personal characteristics that lead people to act as causal agents in their lives and to become more self‐determined. Subsequent to this, the chapter introduces Causal Agency Theory that has been developed from the respective theoretical models of self‐determination and that serves as a means to better understand how people become self-determined. The chapter presents an examination of the historical meanings of the self‐determination construct, within both psychology and disability services, upon which the work has been based and which frames the understanding of the construct.
Household Change and Racial Inequality in Economic Well-Being, 1960 to 1980:

This essay focuses on the impact of increased female headship and decreased number of children in [U.S.] households during the 1960s and 1970s on economic well-being....The research goes beyond simply documenting how levels of economic well-being changed when female headship increased and number of children decreased and shows that differences in economic well-being between population subgroups changed as a result of these demographic trends. Moreover not only was there change in absolute levels of economic well-being for blacks and whites but also differences between blacks and whites changed. (EXCERPT)
Remote sensing of rough surface spectra with multi-frequency microwave radiometry

Plans for an experiment to test the relationship between near-nadiral multi-frequency brightness temperatures and rough surface spectra are described. The underlying small-slope theory of emission from a rough surface is reviewed, and modeling results are presented to suggest an experimental configuration to be used. The validity of predictions of the second order small slope theory is also investigated through comparison with higher order computations.
Lithium compartmentation in brain by 7Li MRS: effect of total lithium concentration.

In previous work at 4.7 T, the individual components of biexponential 7Li transverse (T2) spin relaxation in rat brain in vivo were tentatively identified with intra- and extracellular Li. The goal in this work was to estimate Li's compartmental distribution as a function of total Li concentration in brain from the biexponential decays. Here a localized, biexponential 7Li T2 MR spin-relaxation study with isotopically enriched 7LiCl is reported in rat brain in vivo at 7 T. Additionally, a simple linear interpolation using the biexponential T2 values to estimate intracellular Li from individual monoexponential T2 decays was assessed. Intracellular T2 was 14.8 ± 4.3 ms and extracellular T2 was 295 ± 61 ms. The fraction of intracellular brain Li ranged from 37.3 to 64.8% (mean 54.5 ± 6.7%) and did not correlate with total Li concentration. The estimated intracellular Li concentration ranged from 47 to 80% (mean 68.3 ± 8.5%) of the total brain Li concentration and was highly correlated with it. The monoexponential estimates of the intracellular-Li fractions and derived concentrations averaged about 15% higher than the corresponding biexponential estimates. This work supports the previous conclusion that a large fraction of Li in the brain is within the intracellular compartment. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
HIGHLIGHTING DIFFERENCES BETWEEN CONDITIONAL AND UNCONDITIONAL QUANTILE REGRESSION APPROACHES THROUGH AN APPLICATION TO ASSESS MEDICATION ADHERENCE

The quantile regression (QR) framework provides a pragmatic approach in understanding the differential impacts of covariates along the distribution of an outcome. However, the QR framework that has pervaded the applied economics literature is based on the conditional quantile regression method. It is used to assess the impact of a covariate on a quantile of the outcome conditional on specific values of other covariates. In most cases, conditional quantile regression may generate results that are often not generalizable or interpretable in a policy or population context. In contrast, the unconditional quantile regression method provides more interpretable results as it marginalizes the effect over the distributions of other covariates in the model. In this paper, the differences between these two regression frameworks are highlighted, both conceptually and econometrically. Additionally, using real-world claims data from a large US health insurer, alternative QR frameworks are implemented to assess the differential impacts of covariates along the distribution of medication adherence among elderly patients with Alzheimer's disease.
Differences in the Response of Wheat, Soybean and Lettuce to Reduced Blue Radiation¶

Although many fundamental blue light responses have been identified, blue light dose-response curves are not well characterized. We studied the growth and development of soybean, wheat and lettuce plants under high-pressure sodium (HPS) and metal halide (MH) lamps with yellow filters creating five fractions of blue light. The blue light fractions obtained were < 0.1, 2 and 6% under HPS lamps, and 6, 12 and 26% under MH lamps. Studies utilizing both lamp types were done at two photosynthetic photon flux levels, 200 and 500 mumol m-2 s-1 under a 16 h photoperiod. Phytochrome photoequilibria was nearly identical among treatments. The blue light effect on dry mass, stem length, leaf area, specific leaf area and tillering/branching was species dependent. For these parameters, wheat did not respond to blue light, but lettuce was highly sensitive to blue light fraction between 0 and 6% blue. Soybean stem length decreased and leaf area increased up to 6% blue, but total dry mass was unchanged. The blue light fraction determined the stem elongation response in soybean, whereas the absolute amount of blue light determined the stem elongation response in lettuce. The data indicate that lettuce growth and development requires blue light, but soybean and wheat may not.
Political Environment and Voluntary Disclosure: Evidence from the Carbon Disclosure Project

This study investigates whether the political leaning of the state where a given firm is headquartered is related to that firm’s decision to voluntarily disclose information about the firm’s carbon emissions. Our study includes a sample of U.S. firms (the S&P 500) surveyed by the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) in an effort to compile data on corporate efforts to reduce carbon emissions. We find that a state’s political leaning is strongly related to the disclosure decision, with firms headquartered in more Democratic (Republican) states being more (less) likely to disclose carbon emissions information to the CDP. Furthermore, firms in more Democratic (Republican) states are more (less) likely to permit public disclosure of their survey responses and tend to receive higher (lower) disclosure scores from the CDP. These results hold after controlling for variables such as size, leverage, industry, stock price volatility and the number of geographic segments operated by the firm. Our results are consistent with the hypothesis that political power and public political sentiment have a significant impact on the firm’s willingness to voluntarily disclose information about carbon emissions.
VLSI implementation of a 256*256 crossbar interconnection network

Despite the fact that a crossbar interconnection network is desirable in parallel processing systems due to its flexibility of configuration and simplicity of control, many of the crossbars developed up to this time are small in size. The paper presents the analysis of VLSI layout size and signal delay of the previous crossbar circuits. Also a circuit with better layout size and signal delay is presented in comparison. Based on the new circuit, the feasibility of the implementation is shown for a 256*256 crossbar on a 1cm/sup 2/ CMOS VLSI chip. >
Absolute measurement of subnanometer scale vibration of cochlear partition of an excised guinea pig cochlea using spectral-domain phase-sensitive optical coherence tomography

ABSTRACT Direct measurement of absolute vibration parameters from different locations within the mammalian organ of Corti is crucial for understanding the hearing mechanics such as how sound propagates through the cochlea and how sound stimulates the vibration of various structures of the cochlea, namely, basilar membrane (BM), recticular lamina, outer hair cells and tectorial membrane (TM). In this study we demonstrate the feasibility a modified phase-sensitive spectral domain optical coherence tomography system to provide subn anometer scale vibration information from multiple angles within the imaging beam. The system has the potential to provide depth resolved absolute vibration measurement of tissue microstructures from each of the delay-encoded vibration images with a noise floor of ~0.3nm at 200Hz. Keywords: Phase-sensitive Optical coherence tomography, image processing, spectral interferometry, biomedical optical imaging, optical vi brometry, optical interfero metry, hearing research.
Symbolic computation of the Hartree-Fock energy from a chiral EFT three-nucleon interaction at N2LO

Abstract We present the first of a two-part Mathematica notebook collection that implements a symbolic approach for the application of the density matrix expansion (DME) to the Hartree–Fock (HF) energy from a chiral effective field theory (EFT) three-nucleon interaction at N2LO. The final output from the notebooks is a Skyrme-like energy density functional that provides a quasi-local approximation to the non-local HF energy. In this paper, we discuss the derivation of the HF energy and its simplification in terms of the scalar/vector–isoscalar/isovector parts of the one-body density matrix. Furthermore, a set of steps is described and illustrated on how to extend the approach to other three-nucleon interactions. Program summary Program title: SymbHFNNN Catalogue identifier: AEGC_v1_0 Program summary URL: http://cpc.cs.qub.ac.uk/summaries/AEGC_v1_0.html Program obtainable from: CPC Program Library, Queen's University, Belfast, N. Ireland Licensing provisions: Standard CPC licence, http://cpc.cs.qub.ac.uk/licence/licence.html No. of lines in distributed program, including test data, etc.: 96 666 No. of bytes in distributed program, including test data, etc.: 378 083 Distribution format: tar.gz Programming language: Mathematica 7.1 Computer: Any computer running Mathematica 6.0 and later versions Operating system: Windows Xp, Linux/Unix RAM: 256 Mb Classification: 5, 17.16, 17.22 Nature of problem: The calculation of the HF energy from the chiral EFT three-nucleon interaction at N2LO involves tremendous spin–isospin algebra. The problem is compounded by the need to eventually obtain a quasi-local approximation to the HF energy, which requires the HF energy to be expressed in terms of scalar/vector–isoscalar/isovector parts of the one-body density matrix. The Mathematica notebooks discussed in this paper solve the latter issue. Solution method: The HF energy from the chiral EFT three-nucleon interaction at N2LO is cast into a form suitable for an automatic simplification of the spin–isospin traces. Several Mathematica functions and symbolic manipulation techniques are used to obtain the result in terms of the scalar/vector–isoscalar/isovector parts of the one-body density matrix. Running time: Several hours
Instability and focusing of internal tides in the deep ocean

(Received 18 December 2006 and in revised form 7 April 2007) The interaction of tidal currents with sea-floor topography results in the radiation of internal gravity waves into the ocean interior. These waves are called internal tides and their dissipation due to nonlinear wave breaking and concomitant threedimensional turbulence could play an important role in the mixing of the abyssal ocean, and hence in controlling the large-scale ocean circulation. As part of on-going work aimed at providing a theory for the vertical distribution of wave breaking over sea-floor topography, in this paper we investigate the instability of internal tides in a very simple linear model that helps us to relate the formation of unstable regions to simple features in the sea-floor topography. For two-dimensional tides over one-dimensional topography we find that the formation of overturning instabilities is closely linked to the singularities in the topography shape and that it is possible to have stable waves at the sea floor and unstable waves in the ocean interior above. For three-dimensional tides over two-dimensional topography there is in addition an effect of geometric focusing of wave energy into localized regions of high wave amplitude, and we investigate this focusing effect in simple examples. Overall, we find that the distribution of unstable wave breaking regions can be highly non-uniform even for very simple idealized topography shapes.
A noninvasive ultrasonic diagnostic method for determining the mechanical properties of ovine tibia under repetitive loading

Medial tibial stress syndrome (MTSS) is pain or discomfort in the leg from repetitive running on hard surfaces or forcible excessive use of foot flexors [1]. MTSS accounts for nearly 60% of all overuse injuries seen in the leg [1]. Excessive stress and cyclic loading over time can lead to MTSS. Studies have shown that accumulation of microdamage (linear microcracks or diffuse damage) due to fatigue loading may lead to bone fracture [2]. Early diagnosis is extremely critical for proper treatment and reduces complications. Other studies have also suggested that microdamage accumulation may have influence on bone's bulk properties [3]. Quantitative ultrasound (QUS) has been widely used to assess bone quality non-invasively, it is also radiation free, repeatable, safe, relatively accurate, and suitable for multiple skeleton sites. QUS can provide useful information in diagnosing MTSS and predicting fracture risk. Studies have shown that ultrasound correlates not only with the bone density but also with the bone stiffness [4]. The objective of this study is to evaluate the ability of QUS in early prediction of bone attenuation under repetitive loading. In this study, 8 ovine tibias were scanned by a scanning confocal acoustic diagnostic (SCAD) system to determine the mechanical property changes after cyclic loading.
HLA class II alleles and measles virus-specific cytokine immune response following two doses of measles vaccine

Measles virus-specific T cells and the production of cytokines play a critical role in the immune response following measles immunization. To understand the genetic factors that influence variation in IFN-γ and IL-4 responses following measles immunization and to provide insight into the factors influencing both cellular and humoral immunity to measles, we assessed associations between human leukocyte antigen (HLA) class II genes and measles-specific Th1 and Th2-type cytokine responses in peripheral blood lymphocytes from 339 children previously vaccinated with two doses of measles-mumps-rubella vaccine (MMR-II). Median values for measles-specific IFN-γ and IL-4 secretion levels were 40.73 and 9.71 pg/ml, respectively. The global tests suggested associations between measles-specific IFN-γ response and alleles of the DRB1 and DQB1 loci (P=0.07 and P=0.02, respectively). Specifically, DRB1*0301, *0901, and *1501 alleles were significantly associated with IFN-γ secretion. The alleles that suggested evidence of an HLA association with IL-4 secretion were DRB1*0103, *0701, and *1101. Th1 cytokine responses and DQB1 allele associations revealed that the alleles with the strongest association with IFN-γ secretion were DQB1*0201, *0303, *0402, and *0602. Specific alleles with a suggestive association with low measles-specific Th2 cytokine responses were DQB1*0202 and *0503. In addition, DPB1*0101, *0201, and *0601 alleles provided suggestive evidence of an HLA association with measles-induced IFN-γ response, while DPB1*0501 was associated with an IL-4 response. These data suggest that IFN-γ and IL-4 cytokine responses to measles may be genetically restricted in part by HLA class II genes, which in turn can restrict the cellular immune response to measles vaccine.
Body mass, sexual dimorphism and femoral proportions of Proconsul from Rusinga and Mfangano Islands, Kenya

Abstract The criteria traditionally used to distinguish between species of Proconsul have been largely size-related and based primarily on the dentition. We present here new estimates of body mass for seven Proconsul from early Miocene (17·8 mybp) sites on Rusinga and Mfangano Islands, Kenya, derived from cross-sectional diaphyseal and articular dimensions of the femur, structural features that bear a close functional relationship to body mass in living species. The fossil specimens cluster into two major groups: one at just over 9 kg (including the well-known KNM-RU 2036), and the other between about 26 and 38 kg. Since a 3:1 to 4:1 body mass ratio between males and females of the same species is unknown among living primates or indeed land mammals, it seems most probable, contrary to some recent hypotheses, that at least two species of Proconsul are represented at these sites—the larger P. nyanzae and the smaller a new species formerly identified as P. africanus . The P. nyanzae specimens can be further divided into subgroups of about 35–38 kg and 26–28 kg, which may represent males and females of this species. In terms of size and general proportions, the P. nyanzae femora are most similar to those of pygmy chimpanzees, while the smaller Proconsul femora are similar to those of some living cercopithecines. The P. nyanzae femora also show evidence of a relatively mobile (ape-like) hip joint. However, in certain respects the general hindlimb bone proportions of the largest living cercopithecines and smallest great apes are similar, overlapping within the body size range of P. nyanzae , i.e., near 30 kg. The relatively shorter and thus more robust appearing femora of the larger living African apes may be a result of mechanical constraints associated with climbing in an anthropoid with a body mass significantly above this size range.
Dynamic pricing when customers strategically time their purchase: Asymptotic optimality of a two-price policy

We study the dynamic pricing problem of a monopolist firm in presence of strategic customers that differ in their valuations and risk preferences. We show that this problem can be formulated as a static mechanism design problem, which is more amenable to analysis. We highlight several structural properties of the optimal solution, and solve the problem for several special cases. Focusing on settings with low risk-aversion, we show through an asymptotic analysis that the ‘two-price point’ strategy is near-optimal, offering partial validation for its wide use in practice, but also highlighting when it is indeed suitable to adopt it.
Novel role for a complement regulatory protein (CD46) in retinal pigment epithelial adhesion.

PURPOSE There is increasing evidence that the complement system may play a significant role in one of the leading diseases causing blindness in the elderly population, age-related macular degeneration. In this study, a novel role in the retina for a regulatory protein in the complement system, CD46, is proposed. METHODS The retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) was obtained from human donor eyes as well as human immortalized RPE cell lines (ARPE19). Immunohistochemistry and confocal microscopy were used to immunolocalize CD46 and beta1 integrin. Immunoprecipitation experiments with antibodies to either CD46 or beta1 integrin were performed on RPE cell lysates. A cell adhesion assay was used to determine the proportion of RPE cells that adhere to Bruch's membrane explants from donor eyes. RESULTS Immunohistochemistry and confocal microscopy demonstrated that CD46 was polarized to the basal surface of the RPE along with beta1 integrin, shown previously to be involved in RPE adhesion. Immunoprecipitation experiments demonstrated that CD46 and beta1 integrin coprecipitated from RPE cell lysates when either protein was used as the precipitating antibody. The adhesion assay showed that antibodies to either CD46 or beta1 integrin reduced RPE adhesion to the surface of Bruch's membrane compared with the control. CONCLUSIONS These findings suggest that this complement regulatory protein, which protects host cells from autologous complement attack, may have a functional interaction with beta1 integrin in the eye that is related to RPE adhesion to its basement membrane and Bruch's membrane.
Fossil fuel and greenhouse gas mitigation technologies

Within the last two years the world has become well alerted to the Global Greenhouse problem. Certainly the physical science of the potential of the greenhouse effect is quite simple and well understood. When a greenhouse gas such as carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide or chlorofluorocarbons is put into the atmosphere and its concentration increases, the tendency is to trap more of the Earth’s surface reflected solar energy in the atmospheric blanket surrounding the earth. This then tends to cause an increase in the temperature of the Earth’s surface. However, there are at least three things, that are uncertain about this problem. One is the magnitude and future timing of the temperature increase caused by the greenhouse effect. The second is the effect of this temperature increase on global climate warming, and third is the effect of global climate warming on the terrestrial ecology. In fact there is still some uncertainly as to whether there will be a climate warming or a climate cooling and as a result, the US Department of Energy prefers to refer to the topic as studies in the science of “Global Climate Change,” rather to global warming or cooling. Indeed not all climate change is bad. In fact some global warming may be good. Quoting the Russians “global warming will make Siberia that much more livable.”
Differentiation of lingual filiform papillae of the rat in organ culture.

Abstract Explants of 14-day rat foetal tongue were grown in organ culture for periods up to 6 days. Filiform papillae similar to those that develop in vivo developed in the cultures. It is concluded that development of these complex structures can occur in the absence of nervous or vascular influences and is probably dependent on interaction between epithelium and mesenchyme.
Toward an improved understanding of isolated upright reflux: positional effects on the lower esophageal sphincter in patients with symptoms of gastroesophageal reflux.

Background The purpose of this study was to assess the effect of body position on lower esophageal sphincter (LES) structure and function.
Einstein Gravity Emerging From Quantum Weyl Gravity

We advocate a conformal invariant world described by the sum of the Weyl, Dirac, and Yang-Mills action. Quantum fluctuations bring back Einstein gravity so that the long-distance phenomenology is as observed. Formulas for the induced Newton's constant and Eddington's constant are derived in quantized Weyl gravity. We show that the analogue of the trace anomaly for the Weyl action is structurally similar to that for the Yang-Mills action.
TOLERATING FUZZINESS IN KEYWORDS BY SIMILARITY SEARCHES

One feature of a user‐friendly system is the capability to tolerate fuzziness in the form of names or keywords. The following remarks are a first step towards a model for the intuitive human‐like notion of similarity. This model is characterized by using only the context within single words for a definition of similarity measures. These measures are based on maximal common substrings and abstract syllables. In order to obtain an efficient computation of this formal similarity in large lists, a preselection method is given which uses a simple distance between strings and a precomputed binary relation between character‐pairs and keywords.
A Proposed Mechanism for Increased Tear-Film Osmolarity in Contact Lens Wearers

Contact lenses decrease corneal sensitivity and increase tear-film osmolarity. To determine whether the decrease in corneal sensitivity is responsible for the increase in tear-film osmolarity, we studied tear-film osmolarity in normal rabbits and rabbits with surgically induced keratoconjunctivitis sicca before and after the instillation of 0.5% proparacaine. Instillation of proparacaine resulted in a significant increase in tear-film osmolarity. Decreased corneal sensitivity, with a resultant decrease in tear secretory rates, is the most likely cause for increased tear-film osmolarity in wearers of hard contact and extended-wear soft contact lenses.
Organic and inorganic solute transport in renal and intestinal membrane vesicles preserved in liquid nitrogen.

The transport of organic solutes (sugars, amino acids, and metabolic intermediates) and inorganic solutes (Na+/H+ exchange and Na+/SO = 4 cotransport) in renal brush border and in intestinal brush border and basal lateral membrane vesicles is preserved when the vesicles are stored in liquid nitrogen. The preservation allows comparisons among transport systems of renal and intestinal cells obtained from the same animal.
Collisionless intramolecular energy transfer in vibrationally excited SF6

Abstract Infared-infrared double resonance measurements of the ν 3 absorption band of SF 6 using a CO 2 TEA pump laser (0.3 J/cm 2 maximum excitation) and a cw CO 2 probe laser have been carried out. These measurements probe both the coherent and quasi-continuum phases of the multiphoton dissociation process in SF 6 . The spectral and temporal dependences of the induced absorption are obtained. The results give the first direct measurement of collisionless intramolecular vibrational energy redistribution times in a vibrationally excited complex molecule; for an excess energy of three quanta deposited in the ν 3 mode of SF 6 , the ν 3 mode comes into equilibrium with all the remaining vibrational degrees of freedoom with a 3 ± 1 μs time constant.
Some characteristics of muscle‐conditioned media with excitatory and inhibitory influences of neurite outgrowth from early neural tube explants

This study examined the growth of basal plate explants from 40-hr chick embryos containing the trigeminal motor nucleus in the presence of target muscle-conditioned medium (MCM) from day-4, day-10, and day-18 embroys. We had previously found that MCM derived from the 4-day target tissue enhanced neurite outgrowth from explants, while target MCM from 10- and 18-day embryos inhibited it. For the present study, target MCM was treated with trypsin to assess the nature of the active fractions, or pre-incubated in polyornithine-coated dishes to determine the possible in polyornithine-coated dishes to determine the possible presence and relative contributions of substrate-binding vs. soluble components. Both trypsinization and pre-incubation ablished the outgrowth-enhancing potential of the 4-day MCM, indicating a protein or polypeptide substeate-binding active fraction, with no appreciable active souluble component. When the 10-day target MCM were trypsinized, the inhibitory indluence was reversedm and neurite outgrowth was enhanced. Similarly, when the MCM from these embryos was preincinated over polyornithinem the inhibitory influence was lost and was replaced by a stimulatory one. These results suggest that the 10- and 18-day MCM contain an active inhibitory fraction that is a protein or polypeptide, and which binds to a positively charged substate. When this inhibitory fraction is inactivated or depleted, an excitatory soluble fraction is revealed. Such a dual nature in MCM has not been seen previously and may be expressed only when the media are assayed with very early neural tissue.
The role of gender consciousness in challenging patriarchy

This action research project explored how women develop gender consciousness and use this knowledge to take ‘connected action’ to address gendered power relations in their life and work.
An electronic commerce strategic typology: insights from case studies

Growth in electronic commerce (EC) continues to exceed growth rates in traditional markets and continues to offer new and different opportunities than traditional businesses. Its failures, however, suggest that many firms are not following successful strategies and have failed to align their EC strategies with business strategies. Observing practices at 12 companies provided insight into the impact of EC alignment on organizational profitability. A framework for its strategy types, derived from the Miles and Snow typology, was found to be useful in examining the strategic practices of the companies and results were generally consistent with the ideal profiles. Data suggested that companies with medium to high alignment exhibited higher planning formality and were more profitable. Analyzers displayed the highest alignment and online commitment. Both analyzers and prospectors had high profitability but prospectors displayed low alignment. Reactors exhibited the lowest alignment and were the least profitable.