cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Spray pyrolysis synthesis of particles possessing magnetic and luminescent properties: Application of magnetic/luminescent particles in immunoassays

Many types of fluorescent nanoparticles have been investigated as alternatives to conventional organic dyes in biochemistry. In addition, magnetic beads are another type of particle that have a long history of biological applications. In this work we apply flame spray pyrolysis in order to engineer a novel type of nanoparticle that has both luminescent and magnetic properties. The particles have magnetic cores of iron oxide doped with cobalt and neodymium and luminescent shells of europium-doped gadolinium oxide (Eu:Gd2O3). Measurements on a Vibrating Sample Magnetometer showed an overall paramagnetic response of these composite particles. Fluorescence spectroscopy showed spectra typical of the Eu ion in a Gd2O3 host; a narrow emission peak centered near 615 nm. Our synthesis method offers low-cost, high-rate synthesis allowing a wide range of biological applications of magnetic/fluorescent core/shell particles. We demonstrate an immunoassay using the magnetic and fluorescent properties of the particles for separation and detection purposes.
The ompU Paralogue vca1008 Is Required for Virulence of Vibrio cholerae

We made single and combined mutations in ompU, ompT, and the two putative porin genes vca1008 and vc0972. The fitness of the strains was tested in vitro and in the infant mouse model of intestinal infection. We also studied the transcriptional induction of vca1008 in vitro and during mouse infection. We show that vca1008 is induced during infection and is necessary and sufficient (in the absence of ompU, ompT, and vc0972) for infection.
Ageing Management of Dry Storage Systems for Long-Term Storage

Nuclear reactors generate used nuclear fuel, which needs to be safely managed. After discharge from operating nuclear reactors, the used nuclear fuel stored during a certain period of time in reactor pool is removed for reprocessing, disposal, or storage elsewhere.A need for additional storage exists because of delays in used nuclear fuel disposition decisions and the continually increasing volume of used nuclear fuel discharged from reactors. Interim storage of used nuclear fuel is an essential part of the Nuclear Fuel Cycle providing nuclear safety and ensuring protection to the public.Interim storage of used nuclear fuel currently used includes:• Dry storage in vaults, casks and containers• Wet storage, in silos, pools, outside reactor operating areasInterim dry storage systems were originally designed for limited periods, generally 40–60 years. Interim dry storage is safe as shown by important industrial feedback and the operational records, even from severe accidents.With extended interim dry storage, technical and safety investigations are presently being carried out concerning used nuclear fuel behavior, and the storage structures and their system components to demonstrate and justify the ability of the systems to store safely and securely the used nuclear fuel for a much longer period of time.These investigations are part of the ageing management program for the storage system which should address a description of the ageing that could adversely affect structures and components important to safety.This paper provides highlights of issues related to managing effects on dry cask storage systems for long-term interim storage and transportation of used nuclear fuel.Copyright © 2014 by ASME
Measurement of dollar value of services in a capitated dental plan.

A number of attempts have been made to develop measures of the cost of resources expended to produce specific services that are more equitable than fees. Two conceptually different relative value methods (RVU and RTCU) and UCR fee-for-service were used to measure the dollar value of care produced in three consecutive years under a network-type capitation dental plan. While each yielded a different total, the values were relatively close in the first year. How ever, they diverged in the second and third years even when an inflation factor was kept constant for all three. In addition, the dollar value of specific services varied markedly over the three methods. The relative merits of the different systems are discussed, as well as possible reasons for the divergence. It is concluded that the RTCU system is preferable, but that great care must be taken to keep any system current, regardless of specific derivation.
Spatial compound imaging for fiber-bundle optic microscopy

Coherent fiber bundles with high core density give both flexibility and high resolution to microscopy. Despite of these advantages, fiber bundles inevitably have uncovered region between adjacent cores. The region results in structural artifact known as pixelation effect. Many kinds of image processing techniques have been introduced to remove this pixelation artifact such as frequency domain filter and Gaussian filter. However, these methods fundamentally have limitation because they use the information of adjacent pixels to make up for these uncovered area; therefore, they cannot avoid blurring effect as a result. To overcome this problem, we introduce spatial compound imaging method to overcome this pixelation artifact. The method uses multiple frames taken with small deviation of position. Some parts of these images include information which is devoid of in other images. The total amount of information increase as more images are added up and we can expect the improvement of resolution in the final images. At the same time, the duplicated parts among these images can be averaged to improve SNR ratio. For these improvements, we essentially need sophisticated registration algorithm. The pixelation artifact is troublesome again in registration process because its structural artifacts are strong features shared with whole images. However, we can solve this problem by using reference image and divide the sample images into two parts: effective and ineffective regions. We used effective regions for registration. We used USAF target to evaluate our method and we could get a result that SNR and resolution are both critically increase.
Force-displacement measurements in a beam-reflection scanning force microscope: calibration issues

Abstract Analysis of force-displacement measurements obtained with a commercial beam-reflection scanning force microscope on rigid samples in the contact regime reveals the need for previously unpublished calibration procedures. The measured cantilever deflection is linearly proportional to the sample displacement to lowest order as expected, but the proportionality coefficient is dependent on the cantilever/sample immersion medium via its refractive index. An additional term which is cubic in the sample displacement becomes significant at large cantilever deflections, amounting to about 8% of the total signal at the largest measurable deflections. This non-linearity apparently derives from a cross-sectional non-uniformity in the intensity of laser light used to monitor cantilever deflections. The importance of these considerations to studies in fluid media and on biological and other soft materials is illustrated employing gelatin films in air and in water. Appropriate calibration measures are discussed.
Transcriptional Regulation of the Human Sterol 12α-Hydroxylase Gene (CYP8B1): ROLES OF HEPATOCYTE NUCLEAR FACTOR 4α IN MEDIATING BILE ACID REPRESSION *

Sterol 12α-hydroxylase catalyzes the synthesis of cholic acid and controls the ratio of cholic acid over chenodeoxycholic acid in the bile. Transcription of CYP8B1is inhibited by bile acids, cholesterol, and insulin. To study the mechanism of CYP8B1 transcription by bile acids, we have cloned and determined 3389 base pairs of the 5′-upstream nucleotide sequences of the human CYP8B1. Deletion analysis of CYP8B1/luciferase reporter activity in HepG2 cells revealed that the sequences from −57 to +300 were important for basal and liver-specific promoter activities. Hepatocyte nuclear factor 4α (HNF4α) strongly activated human CYP8B1 promoter activities, whereas cholesterol 7α-hydroxylase promoter factor (CPF), an NR5A2 family of nuclear receptors, had much less effect. Electrophoretic mobility shift assay identified an overlapping HNF4α- and CPF-binding site in the +198/+227 region. The human CYP8B1 promoter activities were strongly repressed by bile acids, and the bile acid response element was localized between +137 and +220. Site-directed mutagenesis of the HNF4α-binding site markedly reduced promoter activity and its response to bile acid repression. On the other hand, mutation of the CPF-binding site had little effect on promoter activity and bile acid inhibition. A negative nuclear receptor, small heterodimer partner markedly inhibited transactivation of CYP8B1 by HNF4α. Mammalian two-hybrid assay confirmed that HNF4α interacted with small heterodimer partner. Furthermore, bile acids and farnesoid X receptor reduced the expression of nuclear HNF4α in HepG2 cells and rat livers and its binding to DNA. Bile acids and farnesoid X receptor also inhibited mouse HNF4α gene transcription. In summary, our data revealed the critical roles HNF4α play on CYP8B1transcription and its repression by bile acids. Bile acids repress human CYP8B1 transcription by reducing the transactivation activity of HNF4α through interaction of HNF4α with SHP and reduction of HNF4α expression in the liver.
Optimizing of thienopyridine therapy by multiple electrode platelet aggregometry in clopidogrel low responders undergoing PCI.

One possible cause of stent thrombosis is an insufficient effect of clopidogrel. In a prospective study, we aimed to optimize the platelet inhibition of clopidogrel low responders (CLR) by multiple electrode platelet aggregometry (MEA)-guided therapy modifications and to evaluate specific major adverse cardiac and cerebrovascular events (MACCE). ADP-induced platelet aggregation was measured by MEA in 1,005 consecutive patients after stent implantation and 600 mg clopidogrel loading dose. All patients received at least 100 mg aspirin/day. In 118 patients (11.7%), ADP values remained in the reference range generated in 150 controls and were defined as CLR. Significant independent predictors of CLR were acute coronary syndrome (ACS) (OR = 6.54), diabetes (OR = 2.07), use of diuretics (OR = 1.93) or proton pump inhibitors (OR = 1.64) and male gender (OR = 1.83). Ninety-nine CLR were switched to clopidogrel 150 mg/day, leading to an adequate response in 54/99. Subsequently, 44 patients were changed to ticlopidine 2 × 250 mg/day, resulting in an inhibition in 24/44. The remaining 20 patients received 2 × 100 mg cilostazol/day in addition to 75 mg clopidogrel/day. After its recent availability, 19/118 primary CLR were treated with 5–10 mg prasugrel/day. One patient was a prasugrel low responder. The total thienopyridine low response-rate was 2% in our population. The specific MACCE rate (death, non-fatal target vessel myocardial infarction, non-fatal stroke) of the CLR under optimized treatment (except prasugrel) was 2.0% at 30 days and 3.0% during a mean follow-up of 44 weeks. Clopidogrel low response is present in 1/10 patients and more frequent in ACS-PCI. MEA-guided optimizing of thienopyridine therapy is feasible and results in a very low specific MACCE rate. Low response to all thienopyridines is rare.
Long-term analysis of the surgical management of pelvic support defects

Abstract OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to determine the success of various procedures to correct defects of pelvic support and to elucidate the role of sacrospinous ligament fixation in primary versus nonprimary vaginal operations. STUDY DESIGN: This study was a retrospective analysis, covering 23 years, of 486 patients treated for pelvic support defects, grouped according to the location and severity of the defect; type of repair, and outcome. RESULTS: For primary repairs the recurrences were more frequent the more severe the defect, but this relationship did not hold for repeat surgery. Sacrospinous ligament fixation, when performed concurrently with vaginal hysterectomy for patients with third-degree prolapse in primary cases reduced the rate of recurrence from 15.8% to 6.7%. CONCLUSION: The original degree and type of pelvic support defect is important in selecting the appropriate operative procedure for the highest likelihood of cure. There may be a wider role for sacrospinous ligament fixation in primary operations for patients with severe defects.
The latency of response in relation to Bloch's law at threshold'

Bloch’s law failed to hold for latencies of response in a threshold experiment where frequencies ofresponse did, nevertheless, obey the law. Dark-adapted Ss were instructed to respond as soon as they detected flashes of various luminances and durations. The frequency of response increased with increases in stimulus energy (luminance times duration); it was constant when energy was constant. The latency of response, measured from stimulus onset. varied inversely with energy; it also varied inversely with the luminance of flashes that were constant in energy. The results were consistent with data from earlier threshold and simple reaction time experiments.
Some synthetic studies in the isoquinoline series

Abstract The synthesis of some new phenolic N-acyl-1-benzyl-1,2,3,4-tetrahydroisoquinolines ( 18 , 20 , 21 , and 27 ) is described; oxidation of the latter compounds under various conditions afforded no isolable products. The structures of doryafranine ( 8 ) and doryanine ( 33 ), alkaloids from Doryphora sassafras , are confirmed by synthesis. The advantageous use of the N-carbethoxy group as the precursor of the N-methyl group of N-methyl-1,2,3,4-tetrahydroisoquinolines is illustrated in new syntheses of the alkaloids armepavine ( 5 ) and N-methylcoclaurine ( 6 ).
Self-Monitoring of Strain and Damage by Carbon Fiber Polymer-Matrix Composite

Self-monitoring of damage and dynamic strain in a continuous crossply (0°/90°) carbon fiber polymer-matrix composite by electrical resistance (R) measurement was achieved. With a static/cyclic tensile stress along the 0° direction, R in this direction and R perpendicular to the fiber layers were measured. Upon tension to failure, R in the 0° direction first decreased (due to increase of degree of 0° fiber alignment) and then increased (due to 0° fiber breakage), while R perpendicular to the fiber layers increased monotonically (due to increase of degree of 0° fiber alignment and delamination). Upon cyclic tension, R (0°) decreased reversibly, while R perpendicular to the fiber layers increased reversibly, though R in both directions changed irreversibly by a small amount after the first cycle. For a 90° unidirectional composite, R (0°) increased reversibly upon tension and decreased reversibly upon compression in the 0° direction, due to piezoresistivity.
Fibrin sealants and topical agents in hepatobiliary and pancreatic surgery: a critical appraisal

Introduction Fibrin sealants and topical hemostatic agents have been used extensively in hepatobiliary and pancreatic (HPB) surgery to promote coagulation and clot formation decreasing the need for allogeneic blood transfusion and to act as tissue sealants, ideally preventing biliary, enteric, and pancreatic leaks.
Genetics of Four Male-Sterile, Female-Fertile Soybean Mutants

Mutations affecting male cell and organ development may produce male-sterile, female-fertile plants that have application in plant breeding. In studies designed to test recombination frequencies and allelism, four such mutants were identified independently in soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] populations that were characterized by chromosomal instability. The objectives of this study were to determine the inheritance of these four mutants and to test allelism with the seven known male-sterile, female-fertile soybean mutants. Allelism tests were done with male-sterile, female-fertile plants as female parents and known heterozygotes as male parents. All four mutants were inherited as single recessive nuclear genes. Male-sterile mutants (MSM)-1, MSM-2, MSM-3, and MSM-4 were nonallelic to each other. Mutants MSM-1, MSM-2, and MSM-3 were nonallelic to known mutants. They were assigned Genetic Type Collection numbers T357H, T358H, and T359H and the gene loci were assigned the symbols Ms7 ms7, Ms8 ms8, and Ms9 ms9, respectively. Mutant MSM-4 was allelic to T259H (Ms2 ms2) and was designated T360H Ms2 ms2 (Ames). The T259H Ms2 ms2 mutant becomes T259H Ms2 ms2 (Eldorado). Dehisced anthers from MSM-1 and MSM-4 were similar in phenotype. Aborted pollen grains of MSM-2 and MSM-3 were different in phenotype from each other and from the seven known male-sterile, female-fertile soybean mutants. These four independently derived male-sterile, female-fertile mutants could be used in plant breeding to produce hybrid seed.
Utilization of retired people as mental health aides with children.

Six retired men and women were trained to function as mental health aides with primary-grade children in public schools. This paper describes the program for recruiting and training these retired people and presents data indicating that they profited from their participation and that the youngsters benefited significantly from contact with them.
Collective Decision Making in Bacterial Viruses

For many bacterial viruses, the choice of whether to kill host cells or enter a latent state depends on the multiplicity of coinfection. Here, we present a mathematical theory of how bacterial viruses can make collective decisions concerning the fate of infected cells. We base our theory on mechanistic models of gene regulatory dynamics. Unlike most previous work, we treat the copy number of viral genes as variable. Increasing the viral copy number increases the rate of transcription of viral mRNAs. When viral regulation of cell fate includes nonlinear feedback loops, very small changes in transcriptional rates can lead to dramatic changes in steady-state gene expression. Hence, we prove that deterministic decisions can be reached, e.g., lysis or latency, depending on the cellular multiplicity of infection within a broad class of gene regulatory models of viral decision-making. Comparisons of a parameterized version of the model with molecular studies of the decision structure in the temperate bacteriophage λ are consistent with our conclusions. Because the model is general, it suggests that bacterial viruses can respond adaptively to changes in population dynamics, and that features of collective decision-making in viruses are evolvable life history traits.
Velocity‐independent microfluidic flow cytometry

Pressure-driven flow in microfluidic channels is characterized by a distribution of velocities. This distribution makes it difficult to implement conventional flow cytometry data analysis. We have demonstrated a method to measure velocity as an independent parameter when performing microfluidic flow cytometry. This method allows velocity-independent analysis of particles such as beads or cells, and allows flow cytometry analysis of extended objects, such as long DNA molecules. It allows accurate flow cytometry in transient and nonuniform flows. This general measurement method could be used in the future to measure the velocity of particles in a variety of existing microfluidic devices without the need for changes in their design.
Enhancement of osteoblast function upon electrical stimulation on anodized titanium

Currently used titanium implants in orthopedics have a limited lifespan of only 10–15 years. The limited ability of the titanium implant to remain bonded to juxtaposed bone is one of the leading reasons for implant failures. In order to improve cytocompatibility properties, it has been proposed to modify titanium through anodization to create a nanotubular topography. Additionally, electrical stimulation has been used in orthopedics to heal bone non-unions and fractures. In this study, these two approaches were combined as the efficacy of electrical stimulation to promote osteoblast density on anodized titanium was investigated. To examine this, a 5-day osteoblast proliferation experiment was conducted with 1V, 5V, 10V and 15V constant bipolar pulses. Results showed that under electrical stimulation, osteoblast proliferation on anodized titanium was enhanced at lower voltages compared to what was observed on conventional titanium. Moreover, compared to non-stimulated conventional titanium, osteoblast proliferation was enhanced 72% after 5 days of culture on anodized nanotubular titanium at 15V of electrical stimulation. Additionally, osteoblasts on anodized nanotubular titanium not only showed a more well-spread cell morphology, but also expressed more filipodia on their surfaces than the osteoblasts on conventional titanium. Cumulatively, these results suggest that coupling the positive influences of electrical stimulation and nanotubular features on anodized titanium may improve osteoblast responses necessary for enhanced orthopedic implant efficacy.
RELATION OF PROTEIN SYNTHESIS AND TRANSGLUTAMINASE ACTIVITY TO FORMATION OF THE CROSS-LINKED ENVELOPE DURING TERMINAL DIFFERENTIATION OF THE CULTURED HUMAN EPIDERMAL KERATINOCYTE

When serially cultivated human epidermal keratinocytes are placed in suspension culture they stop growing and form, beneath the plasma membrane, an insoluble envelope consisting of protein cross-linked by epsilon- (gamma-glutamyl)lysine. The formation of envelopes in suspended cells is preceded by a sharp decline in the rate of protein synthesis, and most envelopes appear only after the average rate of protein synthesis has fallen to a very low level. If protein synthesis is reduced over 98 percent with cycloheximide or emetine at the time that surface-grown cells are placed in suspension culture, cross-linked envelopes form in most of the cells. This shows that the precursor of the envelope and the cross-linking enzyme are already in the cytoplasm in most cells of growing surface cultures. The process of envelope formation by suspension cultures is actually accelerated by the inhibitors of protein synthesis; an increased number of cells with cross-linked envelopes is observable within 4-6 h after the addition of cycloheximide. The inhibitor also induces a large fraction of the cells of surface cultures to form enveloped within a few days. These findings suggest that arrest of protein synthesis leads to activation of the cross-linking process. Agents known to inhibit transglutaminase-mediated protein cross-linking-putrescine, iodoacetamide, and ethylene glycol-bis(beta-aminoethyl ether)N,N,N',N'-tetraacetate (EGTA)- also prevent envelope formation. Though the activity of the cross-linking transglutaminase depends on the presence of cellular Ca++, we have not been able to activate the cross-linking process by high external Ca++ concentration or ionophores.
Branch Points and Free Actions On ℝ-Trees

Actions of groups on ℝ-trees are natural generalizations of actions of groups on ℤ-trees (simplicial trees). The latter, known as Bass-Serre Theory, has become a standard tool in combinatorial group theory. This theory says that a group action on a ℤ-tree is equivalent to a combinatorial presentation of the group. On the other hand, actions of groups on ℝ-trees arise from groups of isometries of hyperbolic spaces, and have significant applications in the study of hyperbolic manifolds. Morgan, Shalen, Culler and others define and analyze compactification of representation space R(G) of a group G in SL(2, ℂ) and SO (n,1). For a valuation of the function field of a subvariety of R(G), they define an ℝ-tree on which G acts. This is applied notably when G = π 1(M), M a hyperbolic manifold. The tree and action then give a codimension-1 measured lamination on M. Applications include the theory of incompressible surfaces in 3-manifolds and the description of a natural boundary for Teichmuller space. The points at infinity correspond to πl (M)-actions on ℝ-trees.
High-Throughput Random Access Using Successive Interference Cancellation in a Tree Algorithm

Random access is well motivated and has been widely applied when the network traffic is bursty and the expected throughput is not high. The main reason behind relatively low-throughput expectations is that collided packets are typically discarded. In this paper, we develop a novel protocol exploiting successive interference cancellation (SIC) in a tree algorithm (TA), where collided packets are reserved for reuse. Our SICTA protocol can achieve markedly higher maximum stable throughput relative to existing alternatives. Throughput performance is analyzed for general d-ary SICTA with both gated and window access. It is shown that the throughput for d-ary SICTA with gated access is about (ln d)/(d - 1), and can reach 0.693 for d = 2. This represents a 40% increase over the renowned first-come-first-serve (FCFS) 0.487 tree algorithm. Delay performance is also analyzed for SICTA with gated access, and numerical results are provided.
Surface Particle Sizes on Armoured Gravel Streambeds: Effects of Supply and Hydraulics

Most gravel-bed streams exhibit a surface armour in which the median grain size of the surface particles is coarser than that of the subsurface particles. This armour has been interpreted to result when the supply of sediment is less than the ability of the stream to move sediment. While there may be certain sizes in the bed for which the supply is less than the ability of the stream to transport these sizes, for other sizes of particles the supply may match or even exceed the ability of the channel to transport these particles. These sizes of particles are called ‘supply-limited’ and ‘hydraulically limited’ in their transport, respectively, and can be differentiated in dimensionless sediment transport rating curves by size fractions. The supply- and hydraulically limited sizes can be distinguished also by comparing the size of particles of the surface and subsurface. Those sizes that are supply-limited are winnowed from the bed and are under-represented in the surface layer. Progressive truncation of the surface and subsurface size distributions from the ﬁne end and recalculation until the size distributions are similar (collapse), establishes the break between supply- and hydraulically limited sizes. At sites along 12 streams in Idaho ranging in drainage area from about 100 to 4900 km2, sediment transport rating curves by size class and surface and subsurface size distributions were examined. The break between sizes that were supply- and hydraulically limited as determined by examination of the transport rate and surface and subsurface size distributions was similar. The collapse size as described by its percentile in the cumulative size distribution averaged D36 of the surface and D73 of the subsurface. The discharge at which the collapse size began to move averaged 88 per cent of bankfull discharge. The collapse size decreased as bed load yield increased and increased with the degree of selective transport. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Parent Involvement in Preschool: Predictors and the Relation of Involvement to Preliteracy Development.

The present study examined the relation between parent involvement in preschool and children's preliteracy skills. It also examined socioeconomic status (SES), parent depression, and single-parent status as predictors of parent involve- ment. Participants were 163 preschool-aged children from mostly low-income families, their parents, and their teachers. Teachers rated parent involvement, and preliteracy skills were assessed with standardized tests. Greater parent involve- ment was associated with stronger preliteracy skills. SES was positively associ- ated with involvement, although involvement still predicted preliteracy develop- ment controlling for SES. No significant relation was found between depression and parent involvement. Single-parent status was associated with less involve- ment, and data were consistent with single-parent status partially mediating the relation between SES and involvement. These findings extend work with older children, and provide a step toward understanding possible mechanisms in the relation between SES and parent involvement.
A Dozen Reasons For Gasoline Taxes

Motor fuel taxes at state and federal levels have traditionally been earmarked for transportation investments, supporting road construction, maintenance, operations, and increasing public transit. Recently, elected officials have been reluctant to raise fuel taxes despite increases in the cost of transportation programs. Other forms of support, especially borrowing and local sales taxes, are playing larger roles in transportation finance. Raising fuel taxes would be more effective, efficient, and equitable than the alternatives that are increasingly more popular.
An O-Phosphotransferase Catalyzes Phosphorylation of Hygromycin A in the Antibiotic-Producing Organism Streptomyces hygroscopicus

The antibiotic hygromycin A (HA) binds to the 50S ribosomal subunit and inhibits protein synthesis in gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria. The HA biosynthetic gene cluster in Streptomyces hygroscopicus NRRL 2388 contains 29 open reading frames, which have been assigned putative roles in biosynthesis, pathway regulation, and self-resistance. The hyg21 gene encodes an O-phosphotransferase with a proposed role in self-resistance. We observed that insertional inactivation of hyg21 in S. hygroscopicus leads to a greater than 90% decrease in HA production. The wild type and the hyg21 mutant were comparably resistant to HA. Using Escherichia coli as a heterologous host, we expressed and purified Hyg21. Kinetic analyses revealed that the recombinant protein catalyzes phosphorylation of HA (K(m) = 30 +/- 4 microM) at the C-2''' position of the fucofuranose ring in the presence of ATP (K(m) = 200 +/- 20 microM) or GTP (K(m) = 350 +/- 60 microM) with a k(cat) of 2.2 +/- 0.1 min(-1). The phosphorylated HA is inactive against HA-sensitive Delta tolC E. coli and Streptomyces lividans. Hyg21 also phosphorylates methoxyhygromycin A and desmethylenehygromycin A with k(cat) and K(m) values similar to those observed with HA. Phosphorylation of the naturally occurring isomers of 5'''-dihydrohygromycin A and 5'''-dihydromethoxyhygromycin A was about 12 times slower than for the corresponding non-natural isomers. These studies demonstrate that Hyg21 is an O-phosphotransferase with broad substrate specificity, tolerating changes in the aminocyclitol moiety more than in the fucofuranose moiety, and that phosphorylation by Hyg21 is one of several possible mechanisms of self-resistance in S. hygroscopicus NRRL 2388.
Effect of early skin-to-skin mother-infant contact during the first 3 hours following birth on exclusive breastfeeding during the maternity hospital stay.

This was a nurse-driven, hospital-based, prospective cohort study of data collected in 19 hospitals in San Bernardino and Riverside counties by California Perinatal Services Network on all mothers (n = 21 842) who delivered a singleton infant (37-40 weeks gestation) between July 2005 through June 2006. Multivariate ordinal logistic regression showed that maternal infant-feeding method intention (measured prior to birth), sociodemographic characteristics, intrapartum variables, and early skin-to-skin mother-infant contact during the first 3 hours following birth (controlling for delivery hospital) were correlated with exclusive breastfeeding during the maternity hospitalization. Compared with mothers with no early skin-to-skin contact, exclusive breastfeeding was higher in mothers who experienced skin-to-skin contact for 1 to 15 minutes (odds ratio [OR] 1.376; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.189-1.593), 16 to 30 minutes (OR 1.665; 95% CI, 1.468-1.888), 31 to 59 minutes (OR 2.357; 95% CI, 2.061-2.695), and more than 1 hour (OR 3.145; 95% CI, 2.905-3.405). The results demonstrate a dose-response relationship between early skin-to-skin contact and breastfeeding exclusivity.
Inhibitory Effect of Charcoal-Treated Aqueous Porcine Corpus Luteum Extract upon Ovulation in the Rabbit

AbstractAdministration of charcoal-treated aqueous extract of porcine corpus luteum on Days 0, 1, and 2 after mating inhibited coitus-induced ovulation in the rabbit. Inhibition of ovulation was evidenced by a significant (P < 0.01) inhibition of the coitus-induced rise in serum progesterone and lack of formation of corpora lutea. Administration of charcoal-treated heart or lung extract had no significant effect upon the formation of corpora lutea or on the coitus-induced rise in serum progesterone. Administration of the same extract 3 and 4 days after coitus-induced ovulation had no significant effect upon serum progesterone and further formation of corpora lutea. These data are consistent with the existence of an LH binding inhibitor in porcine corpus luteum extract which acts to inhibit the ovulatory response to the coitus-induced LH surge.
A General Theorem on an Optimum Stepped Impedance Transformer

With the assistance of a mathematical theorem demonstrated by Eaton in a companion paper, it is shown rigorously, in the limit of small impedance transformation, that the familiar binomial impedance transformer, consisting of equal quarter-wave steps, is the shortest, monotonic, maximally-flat, stepped, transmission-line transformer having steps commensurate in length with the midband guide-wavelength, and coincident zeros at the midband frequency. It is shown how this theorem places very severe limitations on any effort to improve on the performance of a quarter-wave transformer by increasing the number of its impedance steps without a corresponding increase in its length.
Tourism global production networks and uneven social upgrading in Kenya and Uganda

ABSTRACTThis paper addresses how the growth of tourism global production networks (GPNs) based in Kenya and Uganda created uneven social upgrading outcomes for workers and communities. A tourism GPN and social upgrading framework follows a global political economy approach to analyzing tourism development and labor in diverse tourism geographies. Two tourism GPNs are investigated: Mombasa, Kenya, and Murchison Falls National Park, Uganda. Four main findings emerge: (1) governance relationships between tour operator and accommodation firms directly impacted social upgrading outcomes for hotel workers and indirectly for excursion workers; (2) excursion workers and community members had precarious connections to tourism GPNs; (3) public governance and collective power were key components to social upgrading while supporting its unevenness; and (4) societal embeddedness constructions around gender and regional space influenced worker and community social upgrading potential. Social upgrading is shaped by a co...
Streaming Min-max hypergraph partitioning

In many applications, the data is of rich structure that can be represented by a hypergraph, where the data items are represented by vertices and the associations among items are represented by hyperedges. Equivalently, we are given an input bipartite graph with two types of vertices: items, and associations (which we refer to as topics). We consider the problem of partitioning the set of items into a given number of components such that the maximum number of topics covered by a component is minimized. This is a clustering problem with various applications, e.g. partitioning of a set of information objects such as documents, images, and videos, and load balancing in the context of modern computation platforms. In this paper, we focus on the streaming computation model for this problem, in which items arrive online one at a time and each item must be assigned irrevocably to a component at its arrival time. Motivated by scalability requirements, we focus on the class of streaming computation algorithms with memory limited to be at most linear in the number of components. We show that a greedy assignment strategy is able to recover a hidden co-clustering of items under a natural set of recovery conditions. We also report results of an extensive empirical evaluation, which demonstrate that this greedy strategy yields superior performance when compared with alternative approaches.
Gold Rush to Glory

A Tribute to the Stone Family?Winners of the Colorado Section Society for Range Management 2005 Excellence in Rangeland Conservation Award. DOI:10.2458/azu_rangelands_v28i1_lamb
Political Myth as Strategic Communication: Analysis of Chinese Dream’s Rhetoric and English News Media’s Interpretation

ABSTRACTWithin a meaning-centered framework that integrates theories of strategic communication, political myth and the Encoding-Decoding model, this research examines the Chinese government’s rhetoric and English news media’s interpretations surrounding the Chinese Dream campaign. Findings show that English news media made largely oppositional readings, in contrast to the meanings encoded by the Chinese government. The research proposes that this was caused by the inherent tensions in China’s rhetoric, the top-down approach of propaganda, and the anticommunism ideology of the Western media, among others. This research provides an empirical case to illustrate Hallahan et al.’s (2007) proposition that meaning and influence are two fundamental emphases of strategic communication. It also provides an operational framework for analysis of political myth, which consists of four constructs, namely ways meaning is created, meaning created, meaning interpreted, and power relations manifested.
Do We Have Enough Ethics in Government Yet?: An Answer from Fiduciary Theory

This article demonstrates how employees’ widely recognized status as fiduciaries provides a substantive standard for evaluating whether particular government ethics restrictions are appropriate. As a theoretical matter, the fiduciary obligation embodies those principles that government ethics regulation ought to express. As a practical matter, it incorporates the flexibility that ethics regulation requires. Part I shows how government ethics regulation has evolved into a set of complicated rules. Part II argues that fiduciary theory provides a principled basis for evaluating those rules. Part III proposes a methodology, based on the fiduciary principle, for determining the appropriateness of a particular set of ethics regulations. Part IV then applies this methodology to analyze four areas of ethics regulation for government employees: their acceptance of gifts; their own personal financial interests and investments; their receipt of compensation for nonexpressive activity; and their receipt of compensation for expressive activity. Using this fiduciary standard, the article concludes that many executive branch restrictions are too strict, while many congressional ethic restrictions have been, until very recently, too lax.
Strength and Design of Metal Beam-Columns

Review of literature on behavior, strength, and design of metal members subjected to combined axial compression and bending; author also gives some original interpretations and some recasting of previously published material to give unified treatment to subject. (46 refs.)
Inner Stress of Ceramic Green Sheet after Solvent Vaporization

Inner stress of alumina green sheet was evaluated by using green sheets composed of alumina particles with surface areas of 2.0, 6.0 and 13.4m2/g. Suspensions were prepared by mixing alumina, solvent, plasticizer and acrylic polymer. Inner stress was calculated by measuring the camber of green sheet formed on PET film after drying. The camber was first observed at the last stage of the constant rate drying period. As the weight loss increased, the camber increased during the decreasing rate drying period. As the surface area of alumina increased, inner stress of green sheet increased at the same solid content of suspension. It was found that the inner stress is affected by the storage modules (G′), tan σ and the free polymers in the suspension.
Bacteriophages Lysing the Marine Fouling Bacteria

In order to obtain the fundamental data to control the formation of marine microbiofouling by bacteriophages, titanium and aluminum alloy plates were immersed at Okunouchi Bay in Seto Inland Sea, and the marine fouling bacteria attached were isolated and characterized. Then the bacteriophages lysing the marine fouling bacteria were located and characterized. The results obtained were as follows;(1) Nineteen strains of fouling bacteria were isolated from the surface of the test plates. As the result of their characterization, they belonged to the following genera; Pseudomonas (8 strains), Vibrio (5 strains), Flavobacterium (4 strains) and Moraxella-Acinetobacter (one strain). It was found that motile bacterial strains were dominant on the surface of the titanium plate, while non-motile bacterial strains were dominant on the surface of the aluminum alloy plate.(2) The bacteriophages lysing the marine fouling bacteria were isolated from seawater of Aki-Nada, Hiroshima Bay and other places. Thirteen of the 19 strains of the fouling bacteria were susceptible to the bacteriophage-lysates enriched from the seawater. All of the bacteriophage strains had hexagonal heads and their diameter were 54-58nm.
Studies on the Function of Intracellular Ribonucleases : II. The Interaction of Ribonucleoprotein and Enzymes

To determine the possible significance of in vivo or in vitro enzyme action in ribonucleoprotein systems, rat liver microsomes and ribonucleoprotein particles (RNP) prepared from them by deoxycholate treatment were incubated for 1 hour at 37°C. with crystalline pancreatic ribonuclease (RNase) or various RNase-free crystalline proteolytic enzymes. The extent of the degradation of the RNA of the microsomes and RNP was determined and the protein degradation estimated in both cases. With either microsomes or RNP, RNase (0.5 to 1.0 mg. per ml.) degraded from 75 to 95 per cent of the RNA, with little protein breakdown being apparent when microsomes were used but with significant protein degradation in the RNP. When microsomes were treated with proteolytic enzymes approximately 40 to 50 per cent of the original microsomal protein became nonsedimentable while at the same time 60 to 80 per cent of the RNA was also found to be non-sedimentable. Of the non-sedimentable RNA, approximately one-third was in the form of acid-precipitable RNA while the remainder was in the form of acid-soluble nucleotides. When RNP was treated with proteolytic enzymes, about 95 per cent of the RNA could no longer be sedimented. About half of this appeared as acid-precipitable RNA and half as acid-soluble nucleotides. Both microsomes and RNP contained significant RNase activity with RNP exhibiting about 10 times the specific activity of microsomes. Some of the characteristics of this RNase activity were determined and the results with proteolytic enzymes interpreted in light of this activity.
Relationship between chronic chlamydia pneumonia and peripheral inflammatory response in acute ischemic cerebrovascular disease

Objective To evaluate a possible effect of chronic chlamydia pneumonia (Cpn) infection on peripheral inflamma- tory response of acute ischemic cerebrovascular disease.Methods Serum specific antibodies to chlamydia pneumonia (IgG),C-re- active protein (CRP) level,erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) and white blood cell (WBC) count were measured in 30 acute is- chemic cerebrovascular disease patients and 30 controls.Results The levels of peripheral inflammatory markers (CRP,ESR,WBC) were higher in patients with ischemic cerebrovascular disease than in controls (P＜0.01).The levels of CRP,ESR and WBC were higher in serum Cpn-IgG positive patients,compared with Cpn-IgG negative patients(P＞0.05).Conclusion Chronic chlamydia pneumonia infection which plays a role in peripheral inflammation of acute ischemic cerebrovascular disease,and causes the increase of the levels of peripheral inflammatory markers complicated with other stroke factors.
Analysis on test results of swimming pool water during 2010-2011 in Panzhihua city

Objective: To understand the health situation of swimming pool water in Panzhihua city and to know the existing problems,so as to provide a scientific basis for disease control.Methods: All the samples were collected in June of 2010 and 2011 and then tested according to GB/17220-1998.Evaluation was done according to GB/9667-1996.Results: The qualification rates in 2010 were 90.9%,68.2%,95.5% and 100% for urine,free chlorine,turbidity and pH.And in 2011 the qualification rates were 90.5%,90.5%,100% and 100%,respectively.Conclusion: The health situation of swimming pool water quality in Panzhihua city needs to be further improved and the monitoring agencies should strengthen the monitoring and health management.
Distinct functional responses to stressors of bone marrow derived dendritic cells from diverse inbred chicken lines.

Differences in responses of chicken bone marrow derived dendritic cells (BMDC) to in vitro treatment with lipopolysaccharide (LPS), heat, and LPS + heat were identified. The Fayoumi is more disease resistant and heat tolerant than the Leghorn line. Nitric Oxide (NO) production, phagocytic ability, MHC II surface expression and mRNA expression were measured. NO was induced in BMDC from both lines in response to LPS and LPS + heat stimulation; Fayoumi produced more NO with LPS treatment. Fayoumi had higher phagocytic ability and MHC II surface expression. Gene expression for the heat-related genes BAG3, HSP25, HSPA2, and HSPH1 was strongly induced with heat and few differences existed between lines. Expression for the immune-related genes CCL4, CCL5, CD40, GM-CSF, IFN-γ, IL-10, IL-12β, IL-1β, IL-6, IL-8, and iNOS was highly induced in response to LPS and different between lines. This research contributes to the sparse knowledge of genetic differences in chicken BMDC biology and function.
Regulatory T Cells: A Crisis Averted.

Although regulatory T cells protect people from autoimmunity, two recent papers in Immunity (Malchow et al., 2016; Kieback et al., 2016) demonstrate that these cells are also a crisis averted. Without the proper education in the thymus, these cells will turn on their host and cause autoimmunity.
Design for a coherent-scatter imaging system compatible with screening mammography

A system using a wide-slot beam and simple antiscatter grids or slots has been designed to provide a localized map of tissue type that could be overlaid on the simultaneous conventional transmission image to provide an inexpensive, low dose adjunct to conventional screening mammography. Depth information is obtainable from the stereoscopic viewing angles. The system was demonstrated to produce observable contrast between adipose tissue and a phantom chosen to mimic carcinoma at an exposure comparable with screening mammography. Imaging data was collected over a range of system parameters to optimize contrast and to allow verification of simulation modeling.