cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Advances of molecular biotechnologies in human papillomavirus detection

Cervical cancer is closely connected with human papillomavirus (HPV) infection.Early detection,especially genotype testing of HPV,is important for early warning,prevention and therapy of cervical cancer.With rapid development of molecular biotechnologies,several assays in HPV detection are widely used.In this paper,the application and progress of nucleic acid hybridization,PCR and gene chip technology are reviewed. Key words: Papillomavirus infections; Molecular biotechnology
Structure and distribution of chalky deposits in the Pacific oyster using x-ray computed tomography (CT)

Oysters are unusual among bivalves in that they possess chambers, often filled with soft, chalky calcite, that are irregularly scattered throughout the shell. Because the function of these so-called chalky deposits is still unclear, evaluating the growth and distribution of chalk is important for elucidating the ecological function of this unique shell trait. Specimens of the Pacific oyster Magallana gigas, an oyster well known for chalk expression, were grown in Bodega Harbor, Bodega Bay, CA. At the end of an 11 month growing period, specimens were culled and selected animals were submitted for x-ray computed-tomography imaging. Three-dimensional reconstructions of oyster shells were used to assess the overall distribution of chalk, and also to better understand the relationship between chalk and other structures within the shell. Results indicate that chalky deposits underly sculptural features on the shell exterior, such as external ridges and changes in growth direction, and also that there is a relationship between chalk formation and oyster processes of cementation. Overall, chalk is useful for a cementing lifestyle because it enables morphological plasticity needed to conform to irregular substrates, but also acts as a cheap building material to facilitate rapid growth.
A Model for a Standardized and Sustainable Pediatric Anesthesia-Intensive Care Unit Hand-Off Process.

Background and Objectives: The hand-off process between pediatric anesthesia and intensive care unit (ICU) teams involves the exchange of patient health information and plays a major role in reducing errors and increasing staff satisfaction. Our objectives were to (1) standardize the hand-off process in children’s ICUs, and (2) evaluate the provider satisfaction, efficiency and sustainability of the improved hand-off process. Methods: Following multidisciplinary discussions, the hand-off process was standardized for transfers of care between anesthesia-ICU teams. A pre-implementation and two post-implementation (6 months, >2 years) staff satisfaction surveys and audits were conducted to evaluate the success, quality and sustainability of the hand-off process. Results: There was no difference in the time spent during the sign out process following standardization—median 5 min for pre-implementation versus 5 and 6 min for post-implementation at six months and >2 years, respectively. There was a significant decrease in the number of missed items (airway/ventilation, venous access, medications, and laboratory values pertinent events) post-implementation compared to pre-implementation (p ≤ 0.001). In the >2 years follow-up survey, 49.2% of providers felt that the hand-off could be improved versus 78.4% in pre-implementation and 54.2% in the six-month survey (p < 0.001). Conclusion: A standardized interactive hand-off improves the efficiency and staff satisfaction, with a decreased rate of missed information at the cost of no additional time.
Harvested opening size affects cohort development and failures in a second-growth northern hardwood forest

Abstract Group selection is one potential tool in contemporary, uneven-aged silviculture for mitigating increased dominance by shade-tolerant species while continuing to meet stocking goals and harvest quotas. However, recent experimental group-selection openings in northern hardwood forests on some sites in the Upper Great Lakes region have failed to meet management goals of increased tree diversity and timely natural regeneration. Few observational studies have documented the long-term stand development of nascent cohorts following group-selection prescriptions. This study revisits a long-term group-selection experiment which previously found that opening size had little effect on regeneration diversity and found that large areas devoid of saplings and dominated by understory vegetation were common more than a decade following harvest. Our goals were to reassess the state of stand development and diversity within harvested openings, as well as look for early post-harvest indicators of regeneration success or failure after 23 years. At 23 years post-harvest, we found that opening size had little effect on regeneration diversity but rather influenced patterns of cohort development. Smaller openings (6–20 m diameter) showed signs of self-thinning, while larger openings (30–46 m diameter) showed divergent developmental patterns including both self-thinning and ongoing sapling recruitment. Most areas of regeneration failures persisted through 23 years, and the largest openings (46 m diameter) were most likely to display regeneration failure, with 42% of subplots devoid of saplings but containing dense understory vegetation. The density of understory vegetation at 2 years post-harvest had no effect on year-23 sapling density. Instead, only seedling/sapling density in year 2 correlated with regeneration success after 23 years. These results suggest that in northern hardwood forests in the upper Great Lakes region, opening creation alone may not produce the desired effects of increased canopy diversity and sustained timber yields. Canopy openings >30 m diameter appear more likely to result in partial, multi-decade regeneration failures compared to smaller openings; however, our results highlight the importance of advance regeneration for preventing these failures. Thus, simultaneously achieving management goals of increased tree diversity and adequate regenerative stocking with group selection likely requires additional inputs (e.g. herbivore protection, planting, scarification, herbicides, repeated thinning, etc.) beyond the current status quo.
Comprehensively Stress Testing the Economy in Closed Form

In response to the global financial crisis of 2008, the Federal Reserve decided to develop and implement stress tests to assess the soundness of the financial system. Each stress test involves crafting a potential real-world scenario and then quantifying the scenario's effect on both financial actors in the economy and the financial system as a whole. There currently exist two weaknesses in the Federal Reserve's stress testing approach. First, the number of stress tests faced by each financial institution is quite small, with many such stress test scenarios mimicking past historical events that are not necessarily reflective of future situations. Second, the Federal Reserve's toolkit is not sufficiently macroprudential in nature, even though the financial crisis did cause many central banks to nominally transition from a microprudential regulatory approach to a macroprudential regulatory approach. In this work, we tackle these two issues. We show how to massively increase the number and types of possible stress tests without increasing the computational burden. To do this, we generate classes of stress tests with potentially very large cardinalities. For each class of stress tests, we then construct in closed form probability distributions that capture the range of possible balance sheet effects both for each individual financial institution and for the entire financial system. The approach that we take towards increasing the number of stress tests is fundamentally macroprudential. We moreover show how the topologies of the bipartite networks linking financial institutions to assets shape stress tests' effects on the financial system.
“Closing the Circle” in Student Assessment and Learning

“Student-centred” learning has become a core value for many colleges and universities. Instructors adopting this approach will focus upon learning activities in addition to teaching activities. Unfortunately, course assessment strategies are frequently not “student-centred,” but treat students as a passive part of the assessment process (Carnegie Mellon University, Why should assessments, learning objectives, and instructional strategies be aligned? Retrieved September 19, 2015, from Eberly Center for Teaching Excellence & Educational Innovation: https://www.cmu.edu/teaching/assessment/basics/alignment.html, 2015). This model ignores the power that students inherently possess with regards to their personal learning. CHEM 121 is the first course of a two semester sequence at Ferris State University (Michigan, USA). Most students take this course during fall semester. The spring semester course is taught out of sequence due to student demand. Many of the students enrolled in the course had failed the course during the prior semester; others had been delayed due to inadequate chemistry and mathematics preparation; still others had waited until “forced” to take the course for their degree program. Over the span of eight years and under the instruction of five different instructors, 27.5% of the spring semester students did not pass CHEM 121. In his effort to teach this course in a more “student-centred” approach, the author decided to use prior students’ course assessment data as a learning intervention during the spring CHEM 1212015 cohort. The author also provided them with time management, learning, and self-assessment strategies. The students achieved a dramatic improvement in their final course grades: only 16.1% of the students did not pass CHEM 121, which was an 11% improvement over the past eight years. This chapter outlines the process used to involve and engage students using assessment information. In addition, it describes the strategies used to promote self-assessment and learning. The author has found that student assessment is more effective when the student is an active participant in teaching and learning.
Moisture and Temperature Effects on the Transient Stresses Around Crack-Like Defects

Moisture and/or temperature can affect the transient character of the stresses near crack-like defects with or without the additional influence of mechanical loads. Although an exhaustive amount of test data have been collected, there lacks a quantitative assessment of how the governing physical, geometric and loading parameters would interact. Without a fundamental understanding of the interaction of moisture and temperature diffusion with mechanical deformation, materials and structural components could not be expected to perform reliably. This is particularly significant to the design of performance composites that are frequently required to sustain severe moisture and temperature environments.
A two-way Bayesian mixture model for clustering in metagenomics

We present a new and efficient Bayesian mixture model based on Poisson and Multinomial distributions for clustering metagenomic reads by their species of origin. We use the relative abundance of different words along a genome to distinguish reads from different species. The distribution of word counts within a genome is accurately represented by a Poisson distribution. The Multinomial mixture model is derived as a standardized Poisson mixture model. The Bayesian network efficiently encodes the conditional dependencies between word counts in a DNA due to overlaps and hence is most consistent with the data. We present a two-way mixture model that captures the high dimensionality and sparsity associated with the data. Our method can cluster reads as short as 50 bps with accuracy over 80%. The Bayesian mixture models clearly outperform their Naive Bayes counterparts on datasets of varying abundances, divergences and read lengths. Our method attains comparable accuracy to that of state-of-art Scimm and converges at least 5 times faster than Scimm for all the cases tested. The reduced time taken, by our method, to obtain accurate results is highly significant and justifies the use of our proposed method to evaluate large metagenome datasets.
Exposing the Underground Establishment Clause in the Supreme Court's Abortion Cases

In Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court held that women have a constitutional right to abortion based on the Due Process Clause. To arrive at this conclusion, the Court implicitly relied on concepts that properly belong to the Establishment Clause - in particular, the Establishment Clause requirement that all laws must be supported by secular purposes, not religious ones. This Article is the first attempt to describe and critically evaluate the Court’s use of Establishment Clause ideas in Roe and later abortion cases. Some brief background is essential in order to grasp the structure and significance of the underlying Establishment Clause dynamic of Roe. The Due Process Clause allows the government to restrict fundamental constitutional liberties (such as abortion) if it has a compelling reason for doing so. States have defended their abortion laws by arguing that protecting unborn human life against homicide is a compelling reason to restrict abortion. This argument, advanced in Roe, directly presented the Supreme Court with the question of whether fetuses are human beings entitled to protection against homicide. The Court, however, refused to answer the question and provided a convoluted, ambiguous explanation for its refusal. Careful interpretation of these ambiguous passages reveals the Court’s underlying concern that neither the judiciary nor the legislature may decide the question of fetal humanity because it is a controversial religious question. When the Court’s rationale is clarified and plainly stated in this way, it becomes clear that Roe’s method of analysis - rejecting the state’s interest not because it is false or unimportant, but because it is religious and therefore an inappropriate basis for political judgment - is identical to the Establishment Clause requirement that legislation must be based on a secular purpose. However, the Court’s analysis is problematic, because Establishment Clause principles are consistent with governmental protection of fetal life. The humanity of the fetus can be plausibly supported, not only on religious grounds, but also on the secular grounds of philosophical, historical, and experiential reasoning. To be clear, I do not argue that these secular grounds prove beyond dispute that fetuses are human beings. Instead, I defend the more modest proposition that a debatable secular case can be made for viewing fetuses as human beings. This conclusion is not strong enough to justify criminalization or restriction of abortion (which is beyond the scope of this Article), but it does prove that such criminalization or restriction would not violate the Establishment Clause. Thus, the Court should revisit the fundamental question that it evaded in Roe and later cases: is the fetus a human being, such that legislatures have a compelling interest in protecting fetal life against abortion?
Optimal Reimbursement and Malpractice Sharing Rules in Health Care Markets

When health care sponsors such as HMOs or PPOs can use "utilization reviews" in order to indicate to the provider what type of treatment to administer to the patient based upon a diagnosis that is established by the provider, it is possible to implement the "first best" levels of investment in cost control efforts and in aggressiveness of treatment. The implementation of the "first best" requires the utilization of the prospective reimbursement rule accompanied by the removal of all malpractice liabilities from the provider. In contrast, when the type of treatment cannot be enforced by the payer, implementation of the "first best" is not feasible if the payer places a higher weight on the welfare of consumers than that of providers in its objective function. In this case, the reimbursement scheme deviates from the prospective rule, and the provider assumes liability to part of the cost incurred by society as a result of unsuccessful medical outcomes. When the payer can enforce treatment only partially by establishing bounds on the range of acceptable treatments, a minimal acceptable standard will be established and the outcome will be an intermediate case between the above two extremes.
Expansion of the xPST framework to enable non-programmers to create intelligent tutoring systems in 3d game environments

Our previous work has demonstrated that the Extensible Problem Specific Tutor (xPST) framework lowers the bar for non- programmers to author model tracing intelligent tutoring systems (ITSs) on top of existing software and websites In this work we extend xPST to enable authoring of tutors in 3D games This process differs substantially from authoring tutors for traditional GUI software in terms of the inherent domain complexity involved, different types of feedback required and interactions generated by various entities apart from the student A tutor for a village evacuation task has been constructed in order to demonstrate the capabilities of using the extended xPST system to create a game-based tutor.
A 16-Moment Fast Solar Wind Model

A 16-moment fast solar wind model based on a bi-Maxwellian velocity distribution is presented. Although the proton heat flux density is found to be significantly smaller than the classical Spitzer-Harm value, it still plays a significant role in shaping the proton temperature anisotropy in the fast solar wind.
Elliptic planar vector fields with degeneracies

This paper deals with the normalization of elliptic vector fields in the plane that degenerate along a simple and closed curve. The associated homogeneous equation Lu = 0 is studied and an application to a degenerate Beltrami equation is given.
Alloying Effects in the γ′ Phase of Co-Based Superalloys

New / 0 Co-based alloys appear to be a promising set of materials for use in the hottest parts of gas turbines. Recent work has shown that these alloys behave similar to conventional Ni-based superalloys and preliminary designs have produced alloys with remarkable strength at high temperatures. Understanding the behavior of solute elements in these alloys is essential for improving their properties and designing viable alloys. In this work, ab initio simulations are used to study the eects of additional elements on fault energies in the 0 phase. Initial investigation shows that both Ta and Ti retain a strong preference for the second sub-lattice in the 0 phase. Calculations also show that these elements increase the superlattice intrinsic stacking fault energy of the 0 precipitates while promoting the stability of the 0 phase relative to other crystal structures. This work indicates that the stability and resistance to dislocation penetration of the 0 phase in these alloys are closely linked and are strongly aected by chemical bonding rather than the size of solute atoms.
Effects of nitrogen rate and harvest moisture content on physicochemical properties and milling yields of rice.

Field studies were conducted from 2011 to 2013 near Stuttgart, Arkansas. The impacts of nitrogen rate (0, 45, 90, 135, and 180 kg of N/ha) and harvest moisture content (HMC) (23, 19, and 15%, wet basis) on physicochemical properties and milling yields were determined. Trends were similar for the cultivars evaluated: Cheniere, CL XL745, and Wells. Milled rice yields were only minimally impacted by either N rate or HMC level. Increasing N rate reduced kernel length and thickness of brown rice, chalkiness of brown rice and head rice, and viscosities of head rice flour, and it increased brown rice and head rice crude protein content and head rice yield (HRY). In terms of milling yields and head rice functionality, these data suggest that N rates as low as 90 kg of N/ha could be utilized, should production recommendations be changed. Significant interactions between N rate and HMC level were infrequent and were associated with the 0 kg of N/ha rate, unrealistic for rice production. Decreasing HMC from 23 to 19...
Digital product innovation within four classes of innovation networks

The increased digitization of organizational processes and products poses new challenges for understanding product innovation. It also opens new horizons for information systems research. We analyse how ongoing pervasive digitization of product innovation reshapes knowledge creation and sharing in innovation networks. We argue that advances in digital technologies 1 increase innovation network connectivity by reducing communication costs and increasing its reach and scope and 2 increase the speed and scope of digital convergence, which increases network knowledge heterogeneity and need for integration. These developments, in turn, stretch existing innovation networks by redistributing control and increasing the demand for knowledge coordination across time and space presenting novel challenges for knowledge creation, assimilation and integration. Based on this foundation, we distinguish four types of emerging innovation networks supported by digitalization: 1 project innovation networks; 2 clan innovation networks; 3 federated innovation networks; and 4 anarchic innovation networks. Each network involves different cognitive and social translations - or ways of identifying, sharing and assimilating knowledge. We describe the role of five novel properties of digital infrastructures in supporting each type of innovation network: representational flexibility, semantic coherence, temporal and spatial traceability, knowledge brokering and linguistic calibration. We identify several implications for future innovation research. In particular, we focus on the emergence of anarchic network forms that follow full-fledged digital convergence founded on richer innovation ontologies and epistemologies calling to critically re-examine the nature and impact of modularization for innovation.
Noninvasive Monitoring of Breast Cancer during Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy Using Optical Tomography with Ultrasound Localization

The purposes of this study were 1) to investigate the feasibility of using optical tomography in the near-infrared (NIR) spectrum combined with ultrasound (US) localization (NIR/US) in monitoring tumor vascular changes and assessing tumor pathological response during chemotherapy and 2) to compare the accuracy of NIR/US with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in predicting residual cancer after neoadjuvant chemotherapy. Eleven female patients were studied during treatments with a combined imager consisting of a commercially available US system coupled to an NIR imager. Contrast-enhanced MRI was performed before treatment and surgery. Tumor vascular content was assessed based on total hemoglobin concentration and volume obtained from NIR data. A percentage blood volume index (%BVI) was calculated as the percentage ratio of the product of total hemoglobin concentration and volume normalized to pretreatment values. At treatment completion, pathologic assessment revealed three response groups: complete or near-complete responders (A), partial responders (B), and nonresponders (C). The mean %BVIs of groups A, B, and C at the treatment completion were 29.1 +/- 6.9%, 46.3 +/- 3.7%, and 86.8 +/- 30.1%, respectively (differences statistically significant, P < .04). At the end of cycle 2, the %BVI of group A was noticeably lower than that of the partial (P = .091) and nonresponder groups (P = .075). Both NIR/US and MRI were equally effective in distinguishing different response groups in this pilot study. Our initial findings indicate that NIR/US using %BVI can be used during chemotherapy to repeatedly monitor tumor vascular changes. NIR/US also may evaluate pathologic response during treatment allowing for tailoring therapies to response.
Biomechanical responses of a pig head under blast loading: a computational simulation

A series of computational studies were performed to investigate the biomechanical responses of the pig head under a specific shock tube environment. A finite element model of the head of a 50-kg Yorkshire pig was developed with sufficient details, based on the Lagrangian formulation, and a shock tube model was developed using the multimaterial arbitrary Lagrangian-Eulerian (MMALE) approach. These two models were integrated and a fluid/solid coupling algorithm was used to simulate the interaction of the shock wave with the pig's head. The finite element model-predicted incident and intracranial pressure traces were in reasonable agreement with those obtained experimentally. Using the verified numerical model of the shock tube and pig head, further investigations were carried out to study the spatial and temporal distributions of pressure, shear stress, and principal strain within the head. Pressure enhancement was found in the skull, which is believed to be caused by shock wave reflection at the interface of the materials with distinct wave impedances. Brain tissue has a shock attenuation effect and larger pressures were observed in the frontal and occipital regions, suggesting a greater possibility of coup and contrecoup contusion. Shear stresses in the brain and deflection in the skull remained at a low level. Higher principal strains were observed in the brain near the foramen magnum, suggesting that there is a greater chance of cellular or vascular injuries in the brainstem region.
Individual differences in hedonic experience: Further evidence for the construct validity of the ACIPS

We conducted three investigations to examine the convergent and discriminant validity of the Anticipatory and Consummatory Interpersonal Pleasure Scale (ACIPS; Gooding and Pflum, Psychiatry Research, 2014). In Study One, we used Mechanical Turk to individually administer the ACIPS to a diverse group of community adults aged 25-69. Reports of greater social/interpersonal pleasure was associated with greater sense of interpersonal connectedness with others, higher need to belong, and less likelihood of reporting anxiety during social interactions. In Studies Two and Three, participants were tested in group settings. Studies with undergraduate participants indicated that ACIPS scores are associated with measures of prosocial interactions and sociability as well as measures of anhedonia. Despite differences in testing conditions (i.e., online vs. paper administration) and heterogeneity in the samples in terms of educational level, geographical location, and age, the ACIPS demonstrated good convergent and discriminant validity. Taken together, these studies add to the increasing body of evidence for the construct validity of the ACIPS.
Electrogenerated chemiluminescence of tris(2,2'-bipyridyl)ruthenium(II) ion-exchanged in nafion-silica composite films

The voltammetry and electrogenerated chemiluminescence (ECL) of tris(2,2‘-bipyridyl)ruthenium(II) (Ru(bpy)32+) ion-exchanged in Nafion and Nafion−silica composite materials have been investigated. The major goal of this work was to investigate and develop new materials and immobilization approaches for the fabrication of ECL-based sensors with improved reactivity and long-term stability. Nafion−silica composite materials with varying contents of Nafion (53−100 wt % relative to silica) were prepared via the two-step acid/base hydrolysis and condensation of tetramethoxysilane. The Nafion doped sols were spin cast on glassy carbon electrodes, dried, and then ion-exchanged with Ru(bpy)32+. The shapes of the cyclic voltammetric curves and the amount of Ru(bpy)32+ exchanged into the films strongly depends on the amount of Nafion incorporated into the hybrid sol. Nafion−silica films with a low content of Nafion ion-exchanged less Ru(bpy)32+ and exhibited tail-shaped voltammetry at 100 mV/s. The ECL of immobilize...
The Archive and the Internet

The American Historical Association has been in the forefront of professional academic organizations that have seen the potential of the Internet for fomenting the production and circulation of academic scholarship and for contributing to the teaching of history. This has been no more apparent than in the AHA Workshop, “Entering the Second Stage of Online History Scholarship,” carried out in the days before the 118th annual meeting of the American Historical Association and under its auspices. In the AHA Workshop, the topic was electronic scholarly publishing: maintaining its quality, mediating its use and access, and assessing its impact on the changing shape of the profession. It took into account the perspectives of all those involved in scholarly production: authors, journal editors, department chairs, university press publishers and editors, and, at the same time, those involved in mediating its use and access at the technical level, that is, the librarians and technicians.
Use of Artificial Habitat Structures in U.S. Lakes and Reservoirs: A Survey from the Southern Division AFS Reservoir Committee

Abstract In 1999, the Southern Division American Fisheries Society Reservoir Committee conducted a survey to identify state agency goals, uses, and perceived effectiveness of artificial habitat structures in lakes and reservoirs. Of those states surveyed, 82% conducted some type of enhancement. In most states, 20% percent of water bodies received enhancement although respondents usually believed a larger portion of lakes and reservoirs (>40%) needed enhancement. Although several objectives were identified, most structures were placed to attract fish to increase angler catch rates. When asked to rate the effectiveness of structures on a scale of one (very satisfied) to five (very dissatisfied) with regards to agency objectives, most structures received a mediocre rating with mean values lying between two and three. Although abut 60% of states reported evaluation of structures, evaluations usually were testing for differences in fish abundance or angler catch rates between habitat structures and control are...
Augmented taurine release is not the mechanism of ischemic preconditioning’s cardioprotection

In ischemic preconditioning (IPC) a brief ischemic period protects the heart from a subsequent ischemic insult by an unknown mechanism. Osmotic swelling has been proposed to be a major cause of cell death when ischemic tissue is reperfused. The present study tests whether the preconditioned heart during reperfusion might release more taurine, an important osmolyte in the cardiac myocytes, to decrease cellular osmolarity, oppose swelling, and preserve viability. We collected the coronary effluent from isolated rabbit hearts for 10 min before and 10 min after preconditioning with 5 min of global ischemia. The heart then experienced 15 min of global ischemia and effluent was collected during reperfusion for 40 min. A control group was studied similarly but without the preconditioning ischemia. Fifteen min of ischemia was chosen to avoid any taurine release caused by ischemic cell death. Taurine was measured with HPLC. In the IPC group there was a postischemic release over baseline of 5.09 +/- 1.51 micromol (approx 3.3% of the total taurine pool), whereas in the control group the release was not significantly different, 5.72 +/- 1.67 micromol. The percent of the taurine pool lost from each heart during reperfusion was calculated based on an assumption of a total content of 20 microM taurine/gm wet weight. Since the amount of taurine released by the isolated rabbit heart following ischemia was not different in preconditioned and non-preconditioned hearts, we conclude that reduced swelling through taurine release is not the mechanism of the cardioprotective effects of IPC.
Site-Specific Chemoenzymatic Labeling of Aerolysin Enables the Identification of New Aerolysin Receptors

Aerolysin is a secreted bacterial toxin that perforates the plasma membrane of a target cell with lethal consequences. Previously explored native and epitope-tagged forms of the toxin do not allow site-specific modification of the mature toxin with a probe of choice. We explore sortase-mediated transpeptidation reactions (sortagging) to install fluorophores and biotin at three distinct sites in aerolysin, without impairing binding of the toxin to the cell membrane and with minimal impact on toxicity. Using a version of aerolysin labeled with different fluorophores at two distinct sites we followed the fate of the C-terminal peptide independently from the N-terminal part of the toxin, and show its loss in the course of intoxication. Making use of the biotinylated version of aerolysin, we identify mesothelin, urokinase plasminogen activator surface receptor (uPAR, CD87), glypican-1, and CD59 glycoprotein as aerolysin receptors, all predicted or known to be modified with a glycosylphosphatidylinositol anchor. The sortase-mediated reactions reported here can be readily extended to other pore forming proteins.
Comments on "Propagation of EM pulses excited by an electric dipole in a conducting medium" [with reply]

Comments that the authors of the original paper (see Song and Chen, ibid., vol.41, no.10, p.1414-1421, 1993) wish to determine the transient electromagnetic field generated in a conducting medium by an impulsive current in a short electric dipole. Their approach and their results, however, seem to be questionable. To start with, their choice of a delta-function excitation causes serious mathematical difficulties which have been overlooked. Because the spectrum of the delta-function pulse extends over all frequencies with equal Fourier amplitudes, the assumption that the conducting medium, specifically sea water, is characterized by frequency independent permittivity and conductivity is incorrect. The authors reply that they are aware that the conductivity and permittivity of sea water is frequency dependent. They made the approximation of constant conductivity and permittivity for two reasons. First, the exciting impulse current contains all the frequency components from zero to /spl infin/. The second reason for the assumption of constant conductivity and permittivity is that with this assumption we are able to obtain an exact solution for the EM field excited by an impulse current. >
Quantitative estrogen receptor values and growth of carcinoma of the breast before surgical intervention

Quantitative estrogen receptor (ER) values in patients with breast carcinoma were correlated with the natural history of the disease before surgical intervention. The natural history was expressed as an index of growth. This was determined as a ratio between tumor size (centimeters) and duration of symptoms (weeks). An inverse correlation was found between amount of ER and growth. Tumors with high positive (above 101 fmol/mg/protein) ER values has grown significantly slower (P less than 0.05) than tumors with low positive (below 50 fmol/mg protein) or negative ER values. These two latter groups had a similar natural history. Recognition of the fact that there is slow growth in carcinomas with high ER as well as of the fact that growth is as rapid in carcinomas with low ER levels as it is in carcinomas with negative ER values, demonstrates the importance of quantitative ER determinations, their prognostic value, and their usefulness in planning therapy.
Our Story: The Parent and LGBTQ Child Relational Process

This study explores the parent-lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) child relational process, before and after the child discloses his or her sexual orientation and/or gender identity to his or her parent(s). Eleven parent-adult child dyads were interviewed in this grounded theory study. Participants included children representing the full LGBTQ spectrum and their parents. Results indicate that parent-child dyads experience a relational process occurring in five sequential phases, the last one continuing indefinitely. Parent-LGBTQ child close relationships manifest societal beliefs regarding LGBTQ identities. Dyad members share an evolving relational identity and construct a shared narrative that shifts in response to familial life events and broader societal changes.
Frequency Response Options for People With Low-Frequency Sensorineural Hearing Loss

Six listeners with low-frequency sensorineural hearing loss completed objective and subjective speech recognition tasks while listening to signals spectrally shaped to replicate traditional low-pass amplification and various alternative schemes. The alternative schemes included high-pass, broadband, and K-bass responses. Both objectively and subjectively, listeners achieved greater benefit from the alternative amplification schemes than from low-pass amplification. A case example is presented in which a person with low-frequency hearing loss and a previous history of unsuccessful hearing aid use has been using high-frequency emphasis amplification successfully for the past 6 years. The results call into question the clinical practice of providing amplification only in the region of hearing loss for listeners with low-frequency impairments.
Using Culture Gap Analysis to Manage Organizational Change

ABSTRACTMost organizations have gaps between their existing and their desired cultures. These culture gaps provide insight to an organization's ability to change and effective targets of change. Engineering and technical managers concerned about the cultures of their organizations in the midst of ISO 9000 certification processes, rapid changes and growth, and dramatic market and technological restructuring now have a tool and a process for evaluating their organizations.We devised an instrument to measure these culture gaps. We applied this instrument in a university-based R&D facility for pilot testing and then conducted a full study at the headquarters of a life insurance firm. We found that divisions having people who were supportive, tolerant, fair, and cooperative had higher teamwork scores. High pay for good performance, employment security, praise for performance, and opportunities for professional growth corresponded with higher levels of employee commitment. Managers can use information about the...
Restudy of pyroxene-pyroxene equilibration temperatures for ordinary chrondrite meteorites

Experimental verification of the conclusions of Van Schmus and Koffman (1967) that the equilibration temperatures of ordinary chondrites are roughly the same regardless of classification, and that these temperatures range from 770 to 860 C. The higher average relative equilibrium temperatures found are attributed to improvements in microprobe techniques, and better standards and correction procedures introduced over the last six years. Agreement is expressed with their conclusion that ordinary chondrites embody equilibria achieved within the metamorphic temperature regime and not under igneous temperatures as postulated earlier by Craig (1964) and Mueller (1964).
Effects of β2-agonists on airway tone and bronchial responsiveness

In evaluating the clinical consequences of beta(2)-agonist therapy, it is important to consider the possibility of reduced asthma control and increased bronchial responsiveness with regular or long-term use. Some studies have noted reductions in protective effects but not complete loss of protection with short-acting beta(2)-agonist therapy. These reductions vary, depending on the use of nonspecific, indirect, or immunologic challenges, but it appears there is a greater loss of protective effect against indirect stimuli. Tachyphylaxis to the bronchodilatatory effects of long-acting beta(2)-agonists appears to be minimal. Individuals homozygous for arginine at locus 16 of the beta(2)-adrenergic receptor gene have a decline in pulmonary function during beta(2)-agonist use, and they are at greater risk of asthma exacerbations during beta(2)-agonist therapy than patients with other genotypes. Important questions for further research are whether small differences in tachyphylaxis and bronchoprotection have relevant clinical effects and to what extent tachyphylaxis and tolerance to bronchoprotection are caused by pharmacogenetic interactions.
State of stress near the San Andreas fault: Implications for wrench tectonics

Borehole elongations or breakouts in central California show that the direction of regional maximum horizontal stress is nearly perpendicular to the San Andreas fault and to the axes of young thrust-related anticlines. This observation resolves much of the controversy over shear-stress magnitude in the crust and around the San Andreas fault specifically. A low shear stress of 10–20 MPa (100–200 bar) or less on the San Andreas fault, suggested by heat-flow and seismic observations, is compatible with a high regional deviatoric stress (100 MPa, 1 kbar) when the observed principal stress directions are considered. Therefore, the San Andreas fault is a nearly frictionless interface, which causes the transpressive plate motion to be decoupled into a low-stress strike-slip component and a high-stress compressive component. These observations suggest that standard concepts of transpressive wrench tectonics—which envisage drag on a high-friction fault—are wrong. The thrust structures are largely decoupled from the strike-slip fault.
Reactive sputtering of RuO2 films

Abstract The growth rate, resistivity and intrinsic stress of RuO 2 films deposited by reactive sputtering with an O 2 Ne or an O 2 Ar gas mixture were investigated as a function of the following sputtering parameters: gas composition, gas pressure, sputtering power and substrate bias. We found that stoichiometric RuO 2 films could be obtained over a wider range of sputtering conditions in the O 2 Ne mixture than in the O 2 Ar mixture.
The Next Decade in Vocational Psychology: Mission and Objectives

Abstract This article discusses the 10 separate analyses of vocational psychology's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats that appear in this special issue, entitled “Vocational Psychology in the Next Decade.” After identifying points of convergence, attention turns to summarizing, in the form of a mission statement, what vocational psychologists seem intent on doing in the coming years. The mission for vocational psychology in the next decade concentrates on advancing scientific understanding of vocational behavior and providing information to shape career interventions and inform public policy. Eight objectives that aim to execute this mission are proposed and discussed. The article closes with a consideration of how the Journal of Vocational Behavior can implement strategies to realize the eight objectives and thus contribute to fulfilling vocational psychology's mission.
On the Triplets of Helium

It is well known that the inversion of the helium triplets and their deviation from interval rule are due to the spin-other-orbit and to the magnetic spin-spin interactions (respectively), which may be neglected in comparison with the spin-orbit interaction in treating the spectra of heavy elements. The preliminary calculation of Heisenberg is compared with the correct calculation of Breit for the lowest triplet. The extension to higher triplets, by Araki, is simplified and generalized, and the comparison with experiment is discussed.
Function and regulation of FoxF1 during Xenopus gut development.

Development of the visceral mesoderm is a critical process in the organogenesis of the gut. Elucidation of function and regulation of genes involved in the development of visceral mesoderm is therefore essential for an understanding of gut organogenesis. One of the genes specifically expressed in the lateral plate mesoderm, and later in its derivative, the visceral mesoderm, is the Fox gene FoxF1. Its function is critical for Xenopus gut development, and embryos injected with FoxF1 morpholino display abnormal gut development. In the absence of FoxF1 function, the lateral plate mesoderm, and later the visceral mesoderm, does not proliferate and differentiate properly. Region- and stage-specific markers of visceral mesoderm differentiation, such as Xbap and α-smooth muscle actin, are not activated. The gut does not elongate and coil. These experiments provide support for the function of FoxF1 in the development of visceral mesoderm and the organogenesis of the gut. At the molecular level, FoxF1 is a downstream target of BMP4 signaling. BMP4 can activate FoxF1 transcription in animal caps and overexpression of FoxF1 can rescue twinning phenotypes, which results from the elimination of BMP4 signaling. The cis-regulatory elements of FoxF1 are located within a 2 kb DNA fragment upstream of the coding region. These sequences can drive correct temporal-spatial expression of a GFP reporter gene in transgenic Xenopus tadpoles. These sequences represent a unique tool, which can be used to specifically alter gene expression in the lateral plate mesoderm.
TriggerHunter: designing an educational game for families with asthmatic children

In this paper, we propose a collaborative and educational game for families with asthmatic children to improve their health. This paper describes design approaches and specifications of a game called TriggerHunter that enables asthmatic children to see asthma triggers in their home environment through an augmented reality technology. The goal of designing a game for tracking asthma triggers in the real world is to educate asthmatic children and their parents about triggers that may cause asthma attacks or worsen symptoms. By providing tailored learning experience that is enjoyable, this interactive game aims to increase awareness of asthma triggers and changes behaviors as to improve pediatric asthma management.
An Opto-Mechanical Subsystem For Space Based Coherent Optical Communication

This paper provides an overview of the opto-mechanical subsystem (OMS) for the Lincoln Laboratory Laser Intersatellite Transmission Experiment. The OMS contains the telescope, relay optics, and beam steering mechanisms. The optical, mechanical and thermal aspects of the OMS design are discussed and the predicted design performance is presented.
Elements of Marketing Strategy: How Important Are They from the Executive Viewpoint?:

In formulating a firm's overall marketing strategy, decisions with respect to its various elements must be made. This paper examines the level of importance marketing executives attach to the elements of marketing strategy. The survey results point out some interesting changes in the ranks of different marketing areas since earlier studies. Two such changes are the relative importance associated with pricing and logistics areas of marketing. Reasons for such changes are discussed in the Discussion and Conclusions sections of the study.
P2 phage amber mutants: Characterization by use of a polarity supressor

Abstract Seventy amber mutants of temperate phage P2 have been characterized, using an Escherichia coli strain which suppresses polarity. Two new genes involved in tail synthesis were defined. The eighteen known P2 late genes can be divided into four transcription units. One of these is transcribed in the opposite direction from the other three. The largest transcription unit contains four head genes, a gene involved in cell lysis, and two tail genes.
Effects of Dietary Exposure to 2,3,7,8-Tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin in Adult Female Mink (Mustela vison)

Adult female mink were fed diets supplemented with 0, 0.001, 0.01, 0.1, 1, 10, or 100 ppb 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD) for up to 125 days. There was a dose-dependent decrease in feed consumption and body weights indicative of the “wasting syndrome” previously reported for mink and other species exposed to chlorinated hydrocarbon compounds. Mortality reached 12.5, 62.5, and 100% by day 28 in the 1-, 10-, and 100-ppb groups, respectively, and by day 125, mortality increased to 62.5 and 100% in the 1- and 10-ppb groups, respectively. Adrenal gland weights were significantly greater in the three highest dose groups compared to the control group. The percentage of band neutrophils was also significantly greater in the TCDD-treated groups compared to the control. LC50 (±SE) values for 28 and 125 days of dietary exposure to TCDD were calculated to be 4.8 ± 4.99 ppb and 0.85 ± 0.64 ppb, respectively. Based on feed consumption of control mink, these LC50 concentrations approximate 0.264 and 0.047 μg TCDD/kg body weight/day for the 28- and 125-day exposure periods, respectively. These results confirm the sensitivity of mink to TCDD.