cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
A Scoping Review of Physical Performance Outcome Measures Used in Exercise Interventions for Older Adults With Alzheimer Disease and Related Dementias.

Background and Purpose: There is growing evidence that exercise interventions can mitigate functional decline and reduce fall risk in older adults with Alzheimer disease and related dementias (ADRD). Although physical performance outcome measures have been successfully used in older adults without cognitive impairment, additional research is needed regarding their use with individuals who have ADRD, and who may have difficulty following instructions regarding performance of these measures. The purpose of this scoping review was to identify commonly used physical performance outcome measures, for exercise interventions, that are responsive and reliable in older adults with ADRD. Ultimately, we aimed to provide recommendations regarding the use of outcome measures for individuals with ADRD across several domains of physical performance. Methods: A scoping review was conducted to broadly assess physical performance outcome measures used in exercise interventions for older adults with ADRD. Exercise intervention studies that included at least 1 measure of physical performance were included. All physical performance outcome measures were abstracted, coded, and categorized into 5 domains of physical performance: fitness, functional mobility, gait, balance, and strength. Criteria for recommendations were based on (1) the frequency of use, (2) responsiveness, and (3) reliability. Frequency was determined by the number of studies that used the outcome measure per physical performance domain. Responsiveness was assessed via calculated effect size of the outcome measures across studies within physical performance domains. Reliability was evaluated via published studies of psychometric properties. Results and Discussion: A total of 20 physical performance outcome measures were extracted from 48 articles that met study inclusion criteria. The most frequently used outcome measures were the 6-minute walk test, Timed Up and Go, repeated chair stand tests, short-distance gait speed, the Berg Balance Scale, and isometric strength measures. These outcome measures demonstrated a small, medium, or large effect in at least 50% of the exercise intervention studies. Good to excellent reliability was reported in samples of older adults with mild to moderate dementia. Fitness, functional mobility, gait, balance, and strength represent important domains of physical performance for older adults. The 6-minute walk test, Timed Up and Go, repeated chair stand tests, short-distance gait speed, Berg Balance Scale, and isometric strength are recommended as commonly used and reliable physical performance outcome measures for exercise interventions in older adults with mild to moderate ADRD. Further research is needed on optimal measures for individuals with severe ADRD. Conclusions: The results of this review will aid clinicians and researchers in selecting reliable measures to evaluate physical performance outcomes in response to exercise interventions in older adults with ADRD.
BCL9 Upregulation in Adrenocortical Carcinoma: A Novel Wnt/β-Catenin Activating Event Driving Adrenocortical Malignancy

Background B-Cell CLL/Lymphoma 9 ( BCL9 ) is a recently described oncogene that promotes tumorigenesis via activation of the Wnt/β-Catenin signaling cascade. Though constitutively active Wnt/β-Catenin signaling is a molecular hallmark of adrenocortical carcinoma (ACC), a potential role for BCL9 to promote Wnt/β-Catenin pathway dysregulation in adrenocortical tumorigenesis remains to be elucidated. Study Design This study involved a retrospective analysis at a tertiary academic referral center of 27 patients with adrenocortical tumors, including in vitro investigation of BCL9 . The Wnt signaling pathway polymerase chain reaction (PCR) array analysis queried comparative mRNA expression profiles of canonical Wnt pathway components including BCL9 . Real-time quantitative PCR determined BCL9 mRNA expression levels in tumor samples. Expression levels of BCL9 mRNA were evaluated for correlation with tumor characteristics. RNA interference (RNAi) gene silencing was performed in ACC cell lines SW-13 and NCI-H295R to test the role of BCL9 on clonal cell growth. Results Expression levels of the BCL9 gene were found to be significantly elevated in ACC compared with normal adrenal tissue (p BCL9 mRNA levels and the malignant status of adrenocortical tumors (p BCL9 inhibited clonal cell growth of SW-13 cells (p Conclusions The gene BCL9 is overexpressed in malignant adrenocortical tumors and promotes clonal ACC cell growth. These findings suggest that BCL9 overexpression may serve as an alternative driver of constitutive Wnt/β-Catenin activation in ACC and could represent a potential molecular and diagnostic marker of tumor malignancy.
Pevonedistat, a new partner for 5-azacitidine.

In this issue of Blood , Swords et al report on promising data from a phase 1b combination study of the hypomethylating agent 5-azacitidine and pevonedistat, an inhibitor of the NEDD8-activating enzyme. 1
Rare Earth Elements Geochemistry and Nd Isotopes in the Mississippi River and Gulf of Mexico Mixing Zone

Rare earth elements (REE) concentrations were measured in surface waters collected across the salinity gradient in the Mississippi River estuary (i.e., Mississippi River plume, MRP), which includes the near-shore portion of the Louisiana Shelf. In addition, the neodymium (Nd) isotope compositions of two river water samples, and the acid leachable fractions of the associated suspended particulate matter (SPM), were quantified to compare Mississippi River water, and SPM with Gulf of Mexico waters. Despite the spatial limitations associated with sampling due to the size of the Mississippi River system, this study provides some important insights into the REE geochemistry of the MRP. The Mississippi River and its estuarine waters are enriched in the heavy REE (HREE) compared to the light REE (LREE) when normalized to shale composites. All water samples from the estuary also exhibit substantial negative Ce anomalies. In contrast to the majority of other estuaries investigated, removal of REE in the low salinity reaches of the Mississippi River estuary is less substantial. For example, approximately 50% of the river borne Nd is removed in the low salinity region (S < 10) of the Mississippi River estuary compared to the estimated global average of ca. 70% removal of Nd for estuaries worldwide. We propose that the relatively low REE removal in the Mississippi estuary reflects the high pH (~8) of the Mississippi River, where REE complexation with carbonate ions and natural organic ligands act to stabilize REE in solution. The Nd isotope composition of Mississippi River water near its outflow to the Gulf of Mexico is eNd(0)= -10.5. The acid leachable fraction of the associated SPM is more radiogenic (-9.95 ≤ eNd(0) ≤ -9.77), and closer to the generally more radiogenic Gulf of Mexico (eNd(0) = -9.0). Sequential extraction of the Mississippi River bank sediment reveals substantially different Sm/Nd ratios for the operationally defined fractions of the sediment, which suggests variations in Nd isotope compositions between the labile fractions and the bulk sediment.
Three Population Covariate Shift for Mobile Phone-based Credit Scoring

Mobile money platforms are gaining traction across developing markets as a convenient way of sending and receiving money over mobile phones. Recent joint collaborations between banks and mobile-network operators leverage a customer's past mobile phone transactions in order to create a credit score for the individual. In this work, we address the problem of launching a mobile-phone based credit scoring system in a new market without the marginal distribution of features of borrowers in the new market. This challenge rules out traditional transfer learning approaches such as a direct covariate shift. We apply a market-based re-weighting scheme of Original Market Borrowers that accounts for the differences in the original and new markets. The goal of applying this generalized covariate shift to three populations is to understand the repayment behavior of a fourth: New Market Borrowers who will self-select into a loan product when it becomes available. To test the approach we use real-world data sets from two Sub-Saharan countries in Africa consisting of 200,000 customers' telephone records. Our results demonstrate that the market-based re-weighting scheme improves the credit scoring model in the new market compared to other more direct methods.
Resources as the Basis for Sustainable Competitive Advantage in Social Entrepreneurial Ventures

This conceptual paper explores one possible application of the resource-based theory of the firm (RBT) to social entrepreneurial ventures (SEVs). First, the paper argues that, despite some seeming ...
How Do Instructional Designers Manage Learners' Cognitive Load? An Examination of Awareness and Application of Strategies.

This study examined how practicing instructional designers manage cognitive load in a standardized scenario as they select and implement instructional strategies, message design, content sequencing, delivery medium, and technology within various domains with learners at different levels of expertise. The study employed a quasi-experimental, mixed methods design to gain insight into how practicing instructional designers perceive their awareness of strategies to manage cognitive load and implement those strategies within a standardized design scenario. The results of the study indicated that both novice and expert practitioners frequently used several strategies to manage extraneous load (worked examples, completion tasks, and dual modality) as prescribed by theory, as well as the simple-to-complex presentation strategy to manage intrinsic load. While participants frequently acknowledged differences in the levels of learner expertise within the instructional scenario, few employed strategies prescribed to address the expertise reversal effect as outlined by theory. Based on the results of this study, we present a framework to assist designers with managing for cognitive load in their everyday design practices.
A new feature set for masking-based monaural speech separation

We propose a new feature based on a gammatone filter bank for improving monaural speech separation using neural networks. This new feature encodes not only the local information of cochleagram, and spectrotemporal context, similar to previous approaches, but also captures time-frequency dynamics in the spectrotemporal context using an image processing technique. Speech separation was achieved by computing optimal time-frequency masks using two types of neural networks (DNN and LSTM) to determine the interactions between feature and training model properties. The performance of our feature was evaluated in a variety of simulated environments having different non-stationary noises and reverberation times and quantified using three objective measures. Experimental results show that the proposed monaural feature set improves the objective speech intelligibility, speech quality and signal-to-noise ratio compared to prior feature sets in noisy and reverberant environments with particular benefit in speech intelligibility.
Seed Germination of Rhododendron carolinianum: Influenceof Light and Temperature

Abstract Seeds of Rhododendron carolinianum Rehd. (Carolina rhododendron) were germinated at 25°C (77°F) or an 8/16 hr thermoperiod of 25°/15°C (77°/59°F) with daily photoperiods of 0, 1/2, 1/2 twice daily, 1, 2, 4, 8, 12, or 24 hr. For both temperatures, no germination occurred during a 30-day period for seeds not subjected to light. At 25°C (77°F) increasing photoperiods increased germination with germination of 26 and 39% occurring by day 30 for the 12 and 24 hr photoperiods, respectively. The alternating temperature of 25°/15°C (77°/59°F) enhanced germination when light was limiting. At this temperature germination ≥58%occurred by day 30 for photoperiods ≥4 hr. For photoperiods ≥8 hr, 30-day germination ≥70% was realized.
Grandchildren’s Perceptions of Grandparents’ Use of Relational Maintenance Behaviors:

The purposes of this study were to examine (a) grandchildren’s perceptions of the extent to which their grandparents’ use relational maintenance behaviors; (b) grandchildren’s perceived differences...
Compositors Tapes and Library of Congress Braille Production

During the 1978 Braille Production Conference in Madrid, Dr. Van Vliet of the Netherlands described his successful application of compositor tapes in the braille production process. He discussed how he adapted the tapes to serve as an input to a computerized braille production system as an alternative to manual text entry. Compositor tapes are the storage media used by computers that compose print books. The tapes, either magnetic or paper, are used to drive typesetting machinery for printing a book.
Juvenile Delinquency and the Transition to Monopoly Capitalism

L'A. identifie 3 forces macrosociologiques (la position sociale du jeune, les relations sur le marche prive, la pauvrete et l'inegalite) cruciales pour la comprehension de la delinquance et analyse comment celles-ci evoluent ensemble dans le processus de transformation historique des Etats-Unis vers le capitalisme monopoliste. La these est que ces contraintes ont contribue a la delinquance en agissant collectivement pour diminuer la capacite des institutions sociales a maintenir un controle social informel. Des implications politiques sont egalement considerees.
Measurement of Atom Resolvability in CryoEM Maps with Q-scores

Abstract CryoEM density maps are now at the point where resolvability of individual atoms can be achieved. However, resolvability is not necessarily uniform throughout the map. We introduce a quantitative parameter to characterize the resolvability of individual atoms in cryoEM maps, the map Q-score. Q-scores can be calculated for atoms in proteins, nucleic acids, water, ligands, and other solvent atoms, using models fitted to or derived from cryoEM maps. Q-scores can also be averaged to represent larger features such as entire residues and nucleotides. Averaged over entire models, Q-scores correlate very well with the estimated resolution of cryoEM maps for both protein and RNA. Assuming the models they are calculated from are well-fitted to the map, Q-scores can thus be used as another measure to indicate resolvability of features in cryoEM maps at various scales, from entire complexes down to individual atoms. Q-score analysis of multiple cryoEM maps of the same proteins derived from different labs confirms reproducibility of structural features down to water and ion atoms.
Destructive Procedures of the Head and Face

Orofacial pain, affecting more than 35 million adults in the United States alone, is an often unrecognized and poorly diagnosed condition with detrimental consequences to the quality of life of patients. Many orofacial pain syndromes have targets for which interventional and surgical management need to be considered along with medical management. Though understanding the pathophysiology of orofacial pain is challenging, trigeminal neuralgia, which is one of the most devastating and common types of orofacial pain, can serve as a window to understand orofacial pain. Percutaneous interventional procedures such as radiofrequency ablation (RFA), glycerol rhizotomy (GR), and percutaneous balloon compression (PBC) of the trigeminal ganglion and its branches along with microvascular decompression surgery (MVD) are some of the most commonly used interventional procedures to treat medically refractory trigeminal neuralgia. The V2 and V3 branches of the trigeminal nerve are most commonly affected and are thus the most frequent targets for intervention and have led to development of new approaches for isolated treatment. Procedures targeting these branches may be performed using conventional fluoroscopic-, ultrasound-, or CT-guided imaging, including combined flat panel CT and fluoroscopy. The use of ultrasound has expanded the safety and ability to perform directed intervention on peripheral branches, as well as to target the trigeminal branches themselves. Similarly, principles of these destructive procedures can be applied to other pain conditions of the head and face.
Examining demographic characteristics and food access indicators from the location of vegan soul food restaurants in the south.

Objective: There have been a number of soul food restaurants serving exclusively vegan meals opening up across the country to appeal to African Americans and others interested in eating healthier s...
The V-Sign: A Simple Radiographic Sign of Shoulder Subluxation

Introduction Shoulder subluxation is a common finding associated with orthopedic pathology. This study assesses the inter- and intra-observer reliability of a new radiographic sign used to identify glenohumeral subluxation. Methods Shoulders of 55 consecutive patients presenting with shoulder pain were reviewed for the presence of a "V-sign". Three shoulder surgeons reviewed all radiographs at three separate time periods in a randomized fashion. Inter- and intra-observer reliabilities were calculated. Results The V-sign was identified in 26 (47%) shoulders. Intra-rater reliability was satisfactory for all the three surgeons, with kappa values of 0.85, 0.78, and 0.77, respectively. Inter-rater reliability was similarly satisfactory, with a value of 0.71. The surgeons demonstrated 100% agreement on the direction of subluxation when a V-sign was documented. Discussion The V-sign is a reproducible radiographic sign that can be used to detect glenohumeral subluxation in patients presenting with shoulder pain.
Talking With the 'Hermit Regime'| Talking With the Hermit Regime: North Korea, Media, and Communication — Introduction

This Special Section epitomizes communication scholarship on North Korea with a total of nine articles. Topics vary from news coverage of North Korea and public diplomacy to media representations of North Korea and North Koreans’ use of digital media technologies. As the first kind of curated journal dedicated to North Korea–related scholarship in communication, journalism, and media studies, the Special Section aims to stimulate intellectual dialogues among scholars, researchers, and practitioners. The collection of articles offers implications for not only theoretical and methodological perspectives but also policy makers and practitioners alike.
Effect of Active Video Games on Healthy Children's Fundamental Motor Skills and Physical Fitness: A Systematic Review.

Objective: The present study aimed to synthesize the most updated literature regarding the casual evidence of the effects of active video games (AVGs) on fundamental motor skills (FMS; locomotor skills and object control skills) and physical fitness among healthy children. Methods: Electronic databases were searched through October 2020. Peer-reviewed randomized control trials (RCTs) and quasi-experimental designs examining the effectiveness of AVGs on FMS and physical fitness development among healthy children (3–12 years) were screened. Results: A total of nine RCTs and one quasi-experimental study were included. Of the five studies examining the effect of AVGs on FMS, two reported significant improvements, while three reported no significant improvements in motor skills development as compared to control. Of the five studies assessing the effects of AVGs on physical fitness, four reported significant improvements in physical fitness such as balance, agility, and speed, whereas one reported significant improvements in skill-related executive function, but not in physical competence. Conclusions: Overall, the current available evidence supports AVGs as an effective means to improve physical fitness, such as balance, postural stability, and agility, among healthy children. However, the findings of AVGs on healthy children’s object control and locomotor skills remain inconclusive.
A 2-Year-Old Girl with Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children (MIS-C)

EMERgENCY MEdICINE RESIdENCY CPC From the Case Records of the Alpert Medical School of Brown University Residency in Emergency Medicine A 2-Year-Old girl with multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children (mIS-C) ReBecca LeVin, MD;eLizaBetH S JacoBS, MD dR REbECCA lEVIN: A 2-year-old otherwise healthy female presented to the pediatric emergency department (ED) with fever, fussiness and worsening rash DR lEVIN: The definition of MIS-C is vague, and many febrile pediatric patients (especially early in their illness presentation) have not yet developed secondary symptoms of a viral illness (such as cough, rhinorrhea, or GI symptoms) Like many MIS-C patients, our patient appropriately received empiric antibiotic coverage with ceftriaxone before a multidisciplinary team determined the patient's ultimate diagnosis DR ElIzAbETh JACObS: One must certainly entertain the diagnosis of Kawasaki disease in this patient [Extracted from the article] Copyright of Rhode Island Medical Journal is the property of Rhode Island Medical Society and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use This abstract may be abridged No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract (Copyright applies to all Abstracts )
Medical Maker Response to COVID-19: Distributed Manufacturing Infrastructure for Stopgap Protective Equipment

Unprecedented maker efforts arose in response to COVID-19 medical supply gaps worldwide. Makers in the U.S., participated in peer-production activities to manufacture personal protective equipment (PPE). Whereas, medical makers, who innovate exclusively for points of care, pivoted towards safer, reliable PPE. What were their efforts to pivot medical maker infrastructure towards reliable production of safe equipment at higher volumes? We interviewed 13 medical makers as links between institutions, maker communities, and wider regional industry networks. These medical makers organized stopgap manufacturing in institutional spaces to resolve acute shortages (March–May) and chronic shortages (May–July). They act as intermediaries in efforts to prototype and produce devices under regulatory, material, and human constraints of a pandemic. We re-frame their making efforts as repair work to offer an alternate critical view of optimism around making for crisis. We contribute an understanding of these efforts to inform infrastructure design for making with purpose and safety leading to opportunities for community production of safe devices at scale.
Psychometric Evaluation of a 10-Item Health Insurance Knowledge Scale

Background College students are a priority population for health insurance literacy interventions. Yet, there are few psychometric studies on measuring health insurance knowledge - a core construct of health insurance literacy. Methods We administered a health insurance survey to 2,250 college students. We applied Classical Test Theory and Item Response Theory methods to estimate psychometric properties of the Kaiser Family Foundation's 10-item health insurance knowledge quiz. Results The scale is unidimensional, and a two-parameter logistic model best fit the data. IRT estimates indicated varying item discriminations (a range: 0.717-2.578) and difficulties (b range: -0.913-1.790). Precision of measurement was maximized for students half a standard deviation below the mean (θ = -0.686) health insurance knowledge ability. Conclusions This scale can be used to identify gaps in health insurance knowledge among college students and be applied in clinical and community health education practice.
Delayed Union, Nonunion, and Pseudarthrosis

Delayed union occurs when a bone fails to unite within an average anticipated time. For a given fracture, healing time varies with location and configuration as well as the specific bone and age group. These criteria apply to reconstructive procedures as well as fractures (Figs. 41-1 A-D and 41-2 A-C). If the condition persists for 3 consecutive months with no evidence of progression toward healing, the condition is arbitrarily defined as a nonunion. The clinical signs of nonunion may be pain, tenderness, erythema, heat, swelling, and instability at the fracture site, although not all are present in all cases. Stiffness, deformity, and contracture may occur secondarily. Stress x-ray films or fluoroscopy will show motion at the fracture site. Nonunions are rare in the hand, presumably because of the relatively good blood supply there. When nonunions do occur in the hand, reduced blood supply by severe injury is a relatively frequent cause, along with inability to stabilize bone fragments.
Task Switching and Multi-Robot Teams

Determining whether it is possible for a single human to manage a team of multiple robots is an important question given current trends in robotics. Restricting attention to managing a team of multiple robots where a single human must be able to analyze video from each robot, we review how neglect time and interaction time of the interface-robot system provide a test for feasibility of a team. We then present a feasibility test that is applicable if the cost of switching attention between multiple robots or multiple tasks can become prohibitive. We then establish that switch costs can be high, and show that different tasks impose different switch costs.
Correlates of faculty publication productivity: A cross-national analysis

This study is a cross-national empirical analysis ofthe correlates of faculty publication productivity ina ten-country sample. The countries included in thestudy are as follows: Australia, Brazil, Chile, HongKong, Israel, Japan, Korea, Mexico, the UnitedKingdom, and the United States. Publicationproductivity was measured as number of articlespublished over a three-year period. By reviewing thefindings of related literature on the professoriate inthe developed world, the study seeks to determine theextent to which these hold for less developed academicsystems as well, and more broadly, to identifysimilarities and differences in the patterns ofpublication productivity across the examined nations.The statistical analyses conducted for each countryreveal differences that clearly challenge theunqualified application of established researchproductivity models to other national contexts.
Income Inequality Hypothesis

The income inequality hypothesis asserts that an individual's health is influenced not only by their own level of income, but by the level of inequality in the area in which they live. It has been an integral element of the social determinants of health literature. The hypothesis draws on several interrelated fields of study, including psychosocial research on chronic stress, social capital research on the strength of community ties, as well as work from political economy on the health effects of neoliberalism. New research has signaled the need for a more global approach to the hypothesis. Keywords: epistemology; inequality; medical sociology; quantitative methods; social gradient
Ethical issues in credit card solicitation of college students: The responsibilities of credit card issuers, higher education, and students

Credit card companies aggressively solicit college students, without regardfor the consequences of high credit car debt for these customers. Theethical conflict of the sale of easy credit to college students too oftenresults in hazardous outcomes akin to the solicitation of youth by cigarettecompanies. This paper will investigate the dangers that credit card use presents to theyoung customer, the unethical manner in which the companies that issue these cards promote their products to this audience, and the role of institutions of higher education. A majority of students are not only using credit unwisely (average balances of over $1000 regardless of who reports the data) but are payingexorbitant interest (18%–22%). The credit card companies call this``responsible'' use. They are collecting enough interest and fees to morethan cover losses resulting from bankruptcy. They use a variety ofmarketing techniques to lure college students – glitzy `MTV' type shows,free prizes and gifts, special interest rate offers, and now they can pretendthrough `educational services' to explain to college students why credit cards are important.This paper investigates the ethical considerations of credit card solicitationof college students as a result of research into factors that influence thenumber of credit cards held by these students. Current solicitation policiesof colleges and universities are also presented.
Eden McCallum: A Network-Based Consulting Firm (TN) (A) & (B)

Eden McCallum pioneered the network-based ("virtual") consulting firm model in the UK. Contracting freelance consultants on a per-project basis keeps overheads lean so that Eden McCallum's fees are a fraction of the big firms' rates. Their flexible, low-cost model has attracted top-notch corporate clients, resulting in steady double-digit annual growth in its first nine years. In January 2009, however, the global economic crisis has dramatically reshaped the competitive landscape and the founders must decide between pursuing their high-growth strategy versus retrenching - including cutting costs and pulling out of their first international expansion that they had launched the prior year. This case explores how the elements of a firm's innovative model reinforce each other and what happens when the environment changes.
Markers of Nonselective and Specific NK Cell Activation

NK cell activation is controlled by the integration of signals from cytokine receptors and germline-encoded activation and inhibitory receptors. NK cells undergo two distinct phases of activation during murine CMV (MCMV) infection: a nonselective phase mediated by proinflammatory cytokines and a specific phase driven by signaling through Ly49H, an NK cell activation receptor that recognizes infected cells. We sought to delineate cell surface markers that could distinguish NK cells that had been activated nonselectively from those that had been specifically activated through NK cell receptors. We demonstrated that stem cell Ag 1 (Sca-1) is highly upregulated during viral infections (to an even greater extent than CD69) and serves as a novel marker of early, nonselective NK cell activation. Indeed, a greater proportion of Sca-1(+) NK cells produced IFN-γ compared with Sca-1(-) NK cells during MCMV infection. In contrast to the universal upregulation of Sca-1 (as well as KLRG1) on NK cells early during MCMV infection, differential expression of Sca-1, as well as CD27 and KLRG1, was observed on Ly49H(+) and Ly49H(-) NK cells late during MCMV infection. Persistently elevated levels of KLRG1 in the context of downregulation of Sca-1 and CD27 were observed on NK cells that expressed Ly49H. Furthermore, the differential expression patterns of these cell surface markers were dependent on Ly49H recognition of its ligand and did not occur solely as a result of cellular proliferation. These findings demonstrate that a combination of Sca-1, CD27, and KLRG1 can distinguish NK cells nonselectively activated by cytokines from those specifically stimulated through activation receptors.
A Harness Control Application for Hand-Held Devices

This document describes the design of a Harness control application for hand-held devices. Some features and future directions are covered, as well as the limitation caused by the current state of the development tools for mobile computers. Section 1 describes the general idea of mobile interfaces to the Harness metacomputing system. In section 2 some of the mobile control application design issues for Harness are described, while section 3 analyzes the functionality of this application. Section 4 covers some other possibilities of the users collaboration utilizing Harness proxy plugins. Section 5 gives our conclusions about the most appropriate way of implementation and porting of the control application.
Time-delay modelling for multi-layer power systems

Modelling of multi-layer power system interactions will become increasingly important as market mechanisms and feedback controls become more tightly coupled into the physical system layer. Time-delays are an important aspect of that inter-layer coupling. This paper integrates deterministic, nonlinear time-delays into a systematic hybrid (continuous/discrete) system model. The paper addresses issues arising in the implementation of implicit numerical integration techniques, and computation of trajectory sensitivities. Applications that have the form of inverse problems are motivated.
Characterization of a soluble protein of Coccidiodes immitis with activity as an immunodiffusion-complement fixation antigen.

A 48-kilodalton (kDa) electrophoretically distinct antigen from Coccidioides immitis mycelial- and spherule-endospore-phase filtrates was previously associated by immunoblotting with the immunodiffusion band that corresponds to complement-fixing activity (ID-CF). To characterize this antigen and its precursor, both mycelial- and spherule-endospore-phase filtrates were fractionated by size exclusion chromatography, lectin affinity chromatography, and nondenaturing electrophoresis. By size exclusion chromatography, most of the protein and carbohydrate of the crude filtrates eluted in a peak of average molecular size less than 30 kDa, although other components were detected. ID-CF activity was associated with the component at a relative mobility of 110 kDa. Fractions containing the ID band that corresponded to tube precipitin activity occurred from 200 to 40 kDa. The appearance of the 48-kDa band in denaturing sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE) specifically coincided with the fractions containing ID-CF activity. Nondenaturing PAGE of filtrates showed silver-stainable and immunoblot-reactive bands in the region of 110 kDa. Prior treatment with pronase destroyed this electrophoretically separable antigen, whereas periodate had no effect. Trypsin did not affect the 110-kDa band in unheated or unreduced antigen. Mycelial filtrates were chromatographed on lentil lectin or concanavalin A-Sepharose 4B to deplete them of glucose- or mannose-containing carbohydrate. The effluent fraction contained ID-CF activity and, upon denaturing electrophoresis, the 48-kDa antigen. The 110-kDa protein represents the ID-CF antigen which is heat labile and denatured to a 48-kDa band by sodium dodecyl sulfate-PAGE. Images
Militant Modern Atheism

Militant modern atheism, whose most eloquent champion is Richard Dawkins, provides an effective and necessary critique of fundamentalist forms of religion and their role in political life, both within states and across national boundaries. Because it is also presented as a more general attack on religion (tout court), it has provoked a severe reaction from scholars who regard its conception of religion as shallow and narrow. My aim is to examine this debate, identifying insights and oversights on both sides. Two distinct conceptions of religion are in play. For Dawkins and his allies (most notably Dan Dennett) religions are grounded in doctrines, propositions about supernatural entities, events and processes which the devout believe. Their beliefs prompt them to actions, which they support or rationalize by reference to the doctrines. Dawkins and Dennett view the acceptance of the doctrines as resting on cognitive misfiring -- these are delusions to be outgrown or spells to be broken. By contrast, the religious scholars who criticize the militant atheists often view religion as centered in social practices that inform and enrich human lives. To the extent that there are doctrines that atheists might subject to epistemic evaluation, these are to be viewed as pieces of scaffolding, that are, in principle, dispensable. I argue that militant modern atheism is incomplete (and likely counter-productive) so long as it fails to attend systematically to the roles religion fulfills in human lives. Yet it is important to achieve public clarity about the literal falsehood of the doctrines on which fundamentalists rely. The challenge is to develop a well-articulated and convincing version of secular humanism. Meeting that challenge is, I claim, one of the central problems of philosophy today. Language: en
The Future of Scholarly Communication Deborah Shorley and Michael Jubb, editors

Stakeholders in today’s tumultuous scholarly communication world struggle constantly to make sense of that environment. Whether one is a researcher at any given stage of the investigatory process, a library leader determining strategic priorities, or a funder seeking to maximize the impact of an investment, the resources, policies, and even the expectations of colleagues and the broader community are constantly changing. In such an exciting but unruly context, where something just imagined today may very well transform our environment tomorrow, any effort to anticipate what the future may hold is of great interest.
Search for long-range Coulomb interaction in disordered metals

Abstract The theory of disordered electron systems predicts that the dynamical Coulomb interaction (ω > 0) is strongly enhanced and in particular long ranged. This modification of the Coulomb interaction has many important consequences on the behavior of disordered electron systems. However, its effect has only been observed indirectly. Therefore we have looked for a direct observation of this long-ranged character. We used a sandwich of two disordered metal films separated by an insulating layer. For a long-range Coulomb interaction the two films should assist each other in screening. The In(T) dependence of the resistance, i.e., the Coulomb anomaly, is used to determine the strength of the Coulomb interaction. The coupled two films represent a tunneling junction with a tunneling resistance of a few μΩ. The electronic properties of the junction, in particular, the tunneling time, are measured by means of weak localization. The thickness of the tunneling barrier is chosen so that the tunneling time of the conduction electrons is larger than the thermal coherence time ℏ / kBT. Our measurements do not support the current theory of the long-range character of the dynamical Coulomb interaction and represent a challenge to our present understanding of the Coulomb effect in disordered electron systems.
Importance of diagnostic aspects in ostertagism.

Abstract Diagnostic methods which reveal only the presence of Ostertagia in grazing animals are of little importance since all will acquire some degree of infection when grazed in the temperate regions of the world. Ostertagia infections may be (1) light—no disease or performance losses occur; (2) moderate—disease may or may not be overtly visible but performance losses occur or (3) heavy—disease is overt with or without death loss. The differentiation of these levels of infection is a quantitative matter insofar as the number of parasites correlates with the degree of pathology and is much less certain than is the presence or absence of infection. Historically, the quantitative parasite egg count in feces (eggs per gram (e.p.g.)), combined with the usual subjective and objective information obtained in clinical examinations has been the procedure used to obtain a quantitative estimate of the level of infection. More recently, the use of plasma pepsinogen levels as an indication of gastric pathology has been adopted by some laboratories. Neither of these methods have met with the desired level of accuracy, but they do have considerable value when their limitations are recognized. In the present era of emphasis on epidemiologically based control programs we are faced with yet another aspect of diagnosis, namely that of a quantitative estimate of numbers of infective stages (L3) on herbage. Methods to assess the number of L3 on forage are not satisfactory for routine clinical use. This paper evaluates the primary objectives of diagnosis as applied to the herd and flock. It briefly evaluates current methodology insofar as the diagnosis of parasitic gastroenteritis is concerned. The use of e.p.g. counts in clinical practce is discussed. Examples applicable to herds of weaner and stocker cattle are presented.
HCN: A plausible source of purines, pyrimidines and amino acids on the primitive earth

Dilute (0.1M) solutions of HCN condense to oligomers at pH 9.2. Hydrolysis of these oligomers yields 4,5-dihydroxypyrimidine, orotic acid, 5-hydroxyuracil, adenine, 4-aminoimidazole-5-carboxamide and amino acids. These results, together with the earlier data, demonstrate that the three main classes of nitrogen-containing biomolecules, purines, pyrimidines and amino acids may have originated from HCN on the primitive earth. The observation of orotic acid and 4-aminoimidazole-5-carboxamide suggests that the contemporary biosynthetic pathways for nucleotides may have evolved from the compounds released on hydrolysis of HCN oligomers.
SV40 large T antigen targets multiple cellular pathways to elicit cellular transformation

DNA tumor viruses such as simian virus 40 (SV40) express dominant acting oncoproteins that exert their effects by associating with key cellular targets and altering the signaling pathways they govern. Thus, tumor viruses have proved to be invaluable aids in identifying proteins that participate in tumorigenesis, and in understanding the molecular basis for the transformed phenotype. The roles played by the SV40-encoded 708 amino-acid large T antigen (T antigen), and 174 amino acid small T antigen (t antigen), in transformation have been examined extensively. These studies have firmly established that large T antigen's inhibition of the p53 and Rb-family of tumor suppressors and small T antigen's action on the pp2A phosphatase, are important for SV40-induced transformation. It is not yet clear if the Rb, p53 and pp2A proteins are the only targets through which SV40 transforms cells, or whether additional targets await discovery. Finally, expression of SV40 oncoproteins in transgenic mice results in effects ranging from hyperplasia to invasive carcinoma accompanied by metastasis, depending on the tissue in which they are expressed. Thus, the consequences of SV40 action on these targets depend on the cell type being studied. The identification of additional cellular targets important for transformation, and understanding the molecular basis for the cell type-specific action of the viral T antigens are two important areas through which SV40 will continue to contribute to our understanding of cancer.
Varied Mechanisms Underlie the Free Sialic Acid Storage Disorders

Salla disease and infantile sialic acid storage disorder are autosomal recessive neurodegenerative diseases characterized by loss of a lysosomal sialic acid transport activity and the resultant accumulation of free sialic acid in lysosomes. Genetic analysis of these diseases has identified several unique mutations in a single gene encoding a protein designated sialin (Verheijen, F. W., Verbeek, E., Aula, N., Beerens, C. E., Havelaar, A. C., Joosse, M., Peltonen, L., Aula, P., Galjaard, H., van der Spek, P. J., and Mancini, G. M. (1999) Nat. Genet. 23, 462–465; Aula, N., Salomaki, P., Timonen, R., Verheijen, F., Mancini, G., Mansson, J. E., Aula, P., and Peltonen, L. (2000) Am. J. Hum. Genet. 67, 832–840). From the biochemical phenotype of the diseases and the predicted polytopic structure of the protein, it has been suggested that sialin functions as a lysosomal sialic acid transporter. Here we directly demonstrate that this activity is mediated by sialin and that the recombinant protein has functional characteristics similar to the native lysosomal sialic acid transport system. Furthermore, we describe the effect of disease-causing mutations on the protein. We find that the majority of the mutations are associated with a complete loss of activity, while the mutations associated with the milder forms of the disease lead to reduced, but residual, function. Thus, there is a direct correlation between sialin function and the disease state. In addition, we find with one mutation that the protein is retained in the endoplasmic reticulum, indicating that altered trafficking of sialin is also associated with disease. This analysis of the molecular mechanism of sialic acid storage disorders is a further step in identifying therapeutic approaches to these diseases.
ON THE APPROXIMATION OF MOMENTS FOR CONTINUOUS TIME THRESHOLD ARMA PROCESSES

. An approximating sequence of Markov processes with transitions at times 0, 1/n, 2/n,…, where n is large, was used in Brockwell and Hyndman (On continuous time threshold autoregression. Int. J. Forecasting 8 (1992), 157–73) and Brockwell (On continuous time threshold ARMA processes. J. Stat. Planning Inference 39 (1994). 291–304) to fit continuous time threshold autoregressive moving-average (CTARMA) models with boundary width 2δ > 0 to both simulated and real data. In this paper we approximate CTARMA processes with δ= 0 by a new sequence of continuous processes and show that the distribution and conditional moments of these approximating processes converge to those of the process itself. This result provides us with a new method for estimating the conditional moments, which enables inference in such models. Some numerical examples illustrate the value of the latter approximation in comparison with the more direct representation of the proces obtained from the Cameron-Martin-Girsanov formula (see, for example, Brockwell (On continuous time threshold ARMA processes. J. Stat. Planning Inference 39 (1994). 291–304) and Brockwell and Stramer (On the approximation of continuous time threshold ARMA processes. Ann. Inst. Statist. Math., to appear (1995))).
The response of selected terrestrial organisms to the Martian environment - A modeling study

An energy balance model has been developed to investigate how the Martian atmospheric environment could influence a community of photosynthetic microorganisms with properties similar to those of a cyanophyte (blue-green algal mat) and a lichen. Surface moisture and soil nutrients are assumed to be available. The model was developed to approximate equatorial equinox conditions and includes parameters for solar and thermal radiation, convective and conductive energy transport, and evaporative cooling. Calculations include the diurnal variation of organism temperature and transpiration and photosynthetic rates. The influences of different wind speeds and organism size and resistivity are also studied. The temperature of organisms in mats less than a few millimeters thick will not differ from the ground temperature by more than 10 K. Water loss is actually retarded at higher wind speeds, since the organism temperature is lowered, thus reducing the saturation vapor pressure. Typical photosynthetic rates lead to the production of 1 millionth to 100 billionths mole O2 per sq cm/day.
λ-repressor oligomerization kinetics at high concentrations using fluorescence correlation spectroscopy in zero-mode waveguides

Fluorescence correlation spectroscopy (FCS) has demonstrated its utility for measuring transport properties and kinetics at low fluorophore concentrations. In this article, we demonstrate that simple optical nanostructures, known as zero-mode waveguides, can be used to significantly reduce the FCS observation volume. This, in turn, allows FCS to be applied to solutions with significantly higher fluorophore concentrations. We derive an empirical FCS model accounting for one-dimensional diffusion in a finite tube with a simple exponential observation profile. This technique is used to measure the oligomerization of the bacteriophage λ repressor protein at micromolar concentrations. The results agree with previous studies utilizing conventional techniques. Additionally, we demonstrate that the zero-mode waveguides can be used to assay biological activity by measuring changes in diffusion constant as a result of ligand binding.