cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
The Structure and Function of Insulin: Decoding the TR Transition

Crystal structures of insulin are remarkable for a long-range reorganization among three families of hexamers (designated T(6), T(3)R(3)(f), and R(6)). Although these structures are well characterized at atomic resolution, the biological implications of the TR transition remain the subject of speculation. Recent studies indicate that such allostery reflects a structural switch between distinct folding-competent and active conformations. Stereospecific modulation of this switch by corresponding d- and l-amino-acid substitutions yields reciprocal effects on protein stability and receptor-binding activity. Naturally occurring human mutations at the site of conformational change impair the folding of proinsulin and cause permanent neonatal-onset diabetes mellitus. The repertoire of classical structures thus foreshadows the conformational lifecycle of insulin in vivo. By highlighting the richness of information provided by protein crystallography-even in a biological realm far removed from conditions of crystallization-these findings validate the prescient insights of the late D. C. Hodgkin. Future studies of the receptor-bound structure of insulin may enable design of novel agonists for the treatment of diabetes mellitus.
Comments on Levine and Forrence, “Regulatory Capture, Public Interest, and the Public Agenda: Toward a Synthesis”

Michael Levine and Jennifer Forrence show quite well that neither the "capture" nor "public interest" view of regulation is adequate. Their critique of the literature is useful and provides a sound basis for launching their ambitious inquiry. Their call for a synthesis is a welcome one-one in which, I might add, Roger Noll has joined, most recently in the Brookings Papers on Economic Activity (Noll:48-58). As Levine and Forrence seek to account for regulatory outcomes, they challenge us to think about why we have some outcomes and not others. We would all agree, I think, with the authors that we need to better explain when regulators are captured or act in the general interest. If we are to understand regulatory outcomes, we must explore in greater depth some of the subjects that Levine and Forrence raise in the latter part of their paper-namely, agenda-setting, slack, political dominance, and testability of hypotheses. I will consider each in turn. To account for regulatory outcomes, as this article seeks to do, I believe it is important to understand how issues become part of the public agenda. If, as Levine and Forrence argue, whether a regulatory outcome is captured or Burkean depends on whether the issue is on the public agenda, then we must attempt to understand how various actors seek to manipulate the pub-
Ice sheet load cycling and fluid underpressures in the Eastern Michigan Basin, Ontario, Canada

Strong fluid underpressures have been detected in Paleozoic strata in the eastern Michigan Basin, with hydraulic heads reaching ~400 m below land surface (~4 MPa underpressure) and ~200 m below sea level in strata where unusually low permeabilities (~10−20–10−23 m2) were measured in situ. Multiple glaciations, including three with as much as 3 km of ice cover at the site in the last 120 ka, suggest a causal link with the underpressures. We examined this possibility using a one-dimensional groundwater flow model incorporating mechanical loading from both ice weight and lithospheric flexure. Because hydrologic and mechanical changes during glaciation are not well characterized and subsurface properties are imperfectly known, the model was used inversely to estimate flexural loads and loosely constrained permeabilities by matching observed pressures. Acceptable matches were obtained for a surprisingly wide range of scenarios with permeabilities close to measured values and plausible flexural loads. Matches were not obtained when too many parameters were preselected, or when permeabilities were constrained to be significantly larger than measured values. In successful model runs groundwater expulsion under glacial-mechanical loads caused the underpressuring, and flexural loads were important if aquifer and sub-glacial pressures were significantly elevated during glaciation. Simulated fluid pressures in the low-permeability strata fluctuated by 30–40 MPa during glacial cycles but resulted in advective transport of only tens of meters or less. Although other mechanisms cannot be ruled out, we conclude that glacial-mechanical forcing of a water-saturated system can explain the observed underpressures.
AN HST ARCHIVAL STUDY OF MASSIVE YOUNG CLUSTERS

We discuss the existence of two morphological types of Massive Young Clusters (MYCs): Super Star Clusters (SSCs), which are compact, and Scaled OB Associations (SOBAs), which are more extended. The size distribution indeed appears to be bimodal at the high end of the mass spectrum. However, for lower masses such behavior is not observed. The existence and size distribution of superbubbles around MYCs is also studied. Evidence is found for the existence of a molecular cloud confinement effect in the early stages of the superbubble evolution.
Managerial Stock Ownership As A Corporate Control Device: When Is Enough, Enough?

It has long been accepted that managerial stock ownership, beyond some range of possible entrenchment, can be an effective means of aligning the interests of professional managers with those of a firm s outside owners to the benefit of firm performance. In this paper, we offerevidence on the effectiveness of managerial stock ownership as a corporate control device by analyzing the behavior of 81 thrift institutions operating over the six-year period, 1989-1994. Based on the estimation of stochastic cost and profit frontiers, as well as other performance measures, our results suggest that managerial stock ownership provides an effective corporate control device. However, this device is only effective as managerial holdings surpass about 33% of outstanding shares for improvements in cost efficiency and about 40% for profit efficiency.
Reinterpretation of Thermal Dilepton Emission Rate by Spectral Functions

We reinterpret the dilepton emission rate from a hadronic gas expected to be produced in heavy ion collisions in terms of the spectral functions available from the $e^+e^-$ annihilation and the $\tau$ lepton decays experiments. We take into account all possible hadronic state especially the multi-pion contributions to the dilepton emission and the parity mixing phenomenon due to the soft final-state corrections. A new compilation of the experimental data for the spectral functions is presented.
TU‐G‐204‐09: The Effects of Reduced‐ Dose Lung Cancer Screening CT On Lung Nodule Detection Using a CAD Algorithm

Author(s): Young, S; Lo, P; Kim, G; Hsu, W; Hoffman, J; Brown, M; McNitt-Gray, M | Abstract: PURPOSE: While Lung Cancer Screening CT is being performed at low doses, the purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of further reducing dose on the performance of a CAD nodule-detection algorithm. METHODS: We selected 50 cases from our local database of National Lung Screening Trial (NLST) patients for which we had both the image series and the raw CT data from the original scans. All scans were acquired with fixed mAs (25 for standard-sized patients, 40 for large patients) on a 64-slice scanner (Sensation 64, Siemens Healthcare). All images were reconstructed with 1-mm slice thickness, B50 kernel. 10 of the cases had at least one nodule reported on the NLST reader forms. Based on a previously-published technique, we added noise to the raw data to simulate reduced-dose versions of each case at 50% and 25% of the original NLST dose (i.e. approximately 1.0 and 0.5 mGy CTDIvol). For each case at each dose level, the CAD detection algorithm was run and nodules greater than 4 mm in diameter were reported. These CAD results were compared to "truth", defined as the approximate nodule centroids from the NLST reports. Subject-level mean sensitivities and false-positive rates were calculated for each dose level. RESULTS: The mean sensitivities of the CAD algorithm were 35% at the original dose, 20% at 50% dose, and 42.5% at 25% dose. The false-positive rates, in decreasing-dose order, were 3.7, 2.9, and 10 per case. In certain cases, particularly in larger patients, there were severe photon-starvation artifacts, especially in the apical region due to the high-attenuating shoulders. CONCLUSION: The detection task was challenging for the CAD algorithm at all dose levels, including the original NLST dose. However, the false-positive rate at 25% dose approximately tripled, suggesting a loss of CAD robustness somewhere between 0.5 and 1.0 mGy. NCI grant U01 CA181156 (Quantitative Imaging Network); Tobacco Related Disease Research Project grant 22RT-0131.
An indeterminate nodule in the cirrhotic liver discovered by surveillance imaging is a prelude to malignancy

Background Surveillance imaging often shows indeterminate lesions in the cirrhotic liver, which may represent early hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), dysplastic or regenerative nodules, or vascular shunts. The risk of HCC after identification of an indeterminate nodule is not well described. Methods We identified 252 patients with cirrhosis and at least one indeterminate nodule discovered on surveillance imaging over a 4-year period. The incidence of HCC development within 2 years of nodule identification was measured along with baseline risk factors associated with developing HCC. Results The incidence of HCC in this population was 21% (53 of 252), and risk factors associated with HCC included chronic viral hepatitis, male gender, and low platelet count. The median time from identification of an indeterminate nodule to diagnosis of HCC was 2.7 months. Patients with indeterminate nodules who developed HCC were more likely have to have an indeterminate nodule with arterial enhancement. Conclusions The 2-year incidence of HCC in the setting of cirrhosis and an indeterminate nodule discovered by surveillance imaging may be as high as one in five persons. Early follow-up imaging, biopsy, or empiric treatment should be considered for those at higher risk. Further, this population is well suited for early detection biomarker and chemoprevention studies. J. Surg. Oncol. 2014; 110:967–969. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Language in the Law

During the past few decades, we have seen a new and sustained interest in the study of language in law, an interest that has produced important works throughout the humanities and social science disciplines. The new materials span different disciplines and they bring into play a dazzling array of theoretical and empirical claims. This article presents the views of three major schools: language and law studies, conversation analysis, and the approach to studying legal language as a social discourse. Keywords: Conversation Analysis; discourse; forensic linguistics; law; legal language; ideology; stereotyping
Anatomical Scans Predict Acute Spatial Neglect (S47.005)

OBJECTIVE: To determine if location of brain injury can predict acute egocentric spatial neglect. BACKGROUND: Spatial neglect is a common consequence of right hemisphere injury where individuals fail to respond to stimuli on their contralesional side. Previous studies have suggested that admission imaging can predict the presence of neglect using support vector machines. While neglect is usually categorized as present or absent, the severity of symptoms is often graded. Our aim was to see if support vector regression could predict the severity of neglect. DESIGN/METHODS: We tested 160 patients with acute right hemisphere stroke on a variation of a popular cancellation detection task (Ota et al., 2001). Performance was scored using a continuous measure of neglect severity (Rorden & Karnath, 2010) that provides an index from 0 (no deficit) to 1 (most severe deficit). Lesion maps were manually drawn on the mean diffusivity image generated from the DWI sequence. We normalized scans to standard space and computed fractional injury to 189 brain areas. For classification we use the libSVM toolbox with default support vector regression settings. RESULTS: 24/160 patients had some level of egocentric attentional bias. Support vector regression provided was able to use fractional injury r=0.591731 p=1.7272e-16. Infarct in 26 areas within the central MCA territory were significantly associated with severity of neglect. CONCLUSIONS: The severity of acute spatial neglect can be predicted based on the location of brain injury. This suggests potential for new tools for computer aided prognosis. Study Supported by: R01NS047691 References Ota H, Fujii T, Suzuki K, Fukatsu R, Yamadori A (2001) Dissociation of body-centered and stimulus-centered representations in unilateral neglect. Neurology 57: 2064-2069. Rorden C, Karnath HO. (2010) A simple measure of neglect severity. Neuropsychologia. 48(9):2758-63. Disclosure: Dr. Posner has nothing to disclose. Dr. Krebs has nothing to disclose. Dr. Rorden has nothing to disclose. Dr. Hillis has received personal compensation in an editorial capacity for Behavioural Neurology.
Expression of CYP26b1 and related retinoic acid signalling molecules in young, peripubertal and adult dog testis.

The objective of the study was to elucidate mRNA expression of CYP26b1 (cytochrome P450, family 26, subfamily B, polypeptide 1) and signalling molecules ALDH1 (aldehyde dehydrogenase 1), CRABPII (cellular retinoic acid-binding protein II), RARα (retinoic acid receptor alpha) and STRA8 (stimulated by retinoic acid gene 8) in dog testis from different post-natal developmental ages. Testicular tissue samples were collected from medium-sized mixed breed dogs at different ages such as young ( 8 months; N = 4) were used to evaluate relative mRNA expression. Genes of RA-degrading enzyme CYP26b1, ALDH1 involved in RA synthesis and genes of carrier protein CRABPII involved in RA metabolism were turned on during the post-natal testicular development in dogs. Their expression pattern differs at different developmental ages (p < 0.05), and the levels of mRNA expression were compensated towards a normal developmental response for the sexual maturity and continuous spermatogenesis. The mRNA expression of RARα, one of the RA receptors participates in RA signalling in connection to spermatogenesis, was recorded in young and adult stages at varying degree. STRA8 is one of the responsive genes with regard to meiosis, and this functional gene product was expressed in all ages with the changing level (p < 0.01). In summary, the expression pattern of RA signalling molecules differed from young to adult ages, and it is expected that these changes are to compensate towards a normal developmental response for the sexual maturity and continuous spermatogenesis.
Associations between genetic heterozygosity and morphological variability in freshwater sculpins, genus Cottus (Teleostei: Cottidae)

Abstract Estimates of genetic (allozyme) variance and size-independent morphological variance were compared among six species (32 samples) to examine the association between levels of genetic heterozygosity, polymorphism and morphological variability among populations and species of freshwater sculpins. A strong positive linear association exists between heterozygosity and morphological variance, with samples clustering into two parallel groups having equal slopes: one characterizing three populations of three different species, and the other characterizing the remaining 29 populations. No environmental or biological factors otherwise differentiating the two groups have been identified. Morphological variation is also significantly correlated with degree of genetic polymorphism, but to a lesser extent and with no suggestion of multiple relationships.
Uma introdução ao capitalismo dirigido pelas finanças

Finance-led capitalism always has had a propensity for financial crises at key moments of its territorial expansion when bringing hitherto state-run economies into the orbit of market regulation. The current crisis, however, is different. Not only has it emanated from the center rather than hit somewhere at the periphery, but it also has revealed deep structural flaws in the institutional architecture of contracts, funds, and markets that have made up the new, deregulated system of finance. We are facing a systemic crisis, always an event of epic proportions and lasting impact. We want to shed light on this significant moment.
Nonlinear responses to nitrogen and strong interactions with nitrogen and phosphorus additions drastically alter the structure and function of a high arctic ecosystem

[1] Significant changes in ecosystem CO2 exchange and vegetation characteristics were observed following multiple additions of nitrogen (N) and factorial additions of N and phosphorus (P) to prostrate dwarf-shrub, herb tundra in Northwest Greenland. Ecosystem CO2 exchange and vegetation cover and composition were very sensitive to low rates of N inputs (0.5 g m−2 y−1), indicating that even low rates of atmospheric N deposition may alter high arctic ecosystem structure and function. Increasing N addition from 1 to 5 g N m−2 y−1 did not alter CO2 exchange or vegetation characteristics, suggesting the ecosystem had become N saturated. Factorial additions of both N and P released the ecosystem from N saturation and dramatically increased gross ecosystem photosynthesis (+500%) and ecosystem respiration (+250%), such that the ecosystem switched from a small source of CO2 to a small sink for CO2 at midday during the 2005 growing season. Changes in the component fluxes of CO2 exchange were largely explained by a doubling of the normalized difference vegetation index, a 100% increase in vascular plant cover and dramatic increases in the abundance of several previously rare grass species. Our results clearly demonstrate that high arctic prostrate dwarf-shrub, herb tundra is highly sensitive to low levels of N addition and that future increases in N deposition or N mineralization will likely lead to change in carbon cycling and vegetation characteristics, but the magnitude of the response will be constrained by P availability.
Unification Theorem for the Two Basic Dualities of Homothetic Demand Theory

Abstract When income elasticities of demand are all unity, every dollar being spent in the same proportions at all levels of income, a homogeneous-first-degree, concave utility function exists to serve as an unequivocal measure of real output. Dual to it, and with identical concavity and homogeneity properties, is the minimized-cost-per-unit-of-output, a function of prices. Distinct from this production dual is the indirect-utility dual, representing, except for algebraic sign, the maximized level of utility attainable as a function of prices relative to income. These basic alternative dualities are shown to be related by a unifying theorem: The logarithm of either of the pair of production-dual functions has for its indirect-utility dual the logarithm of the other function. What is shown to be the same thing, the indirect-utility dual of the output function is, except for sign, the reciprocal of the output's production-dual.
What Causes Endothelial Cell Activation in Preeclamptic Women

Preeclampsia is a hypertensive disorder of pregnancy and a leading cause of fetal and maternal morbidity and mortality. It is associated with proteinuria, pathological edema, coagulation abnormalities, reduced uteroplacental blood flow, and intrauterine growth restriction. The cause of preeclampsia is not known, but there is good evidence that it is associated with endothelial cell activation and dysfunction. Many investigators have demonstrated markers of endothelial cell activation in women with preeclampsia. Indicators of endothelial activation include increased circulating levels of von Willebrand factor, endothelin, soluble vascular cell adhesion molecule, thrombomodulin, and cellular fibronectin as well as increased growth factor activity.1,2 Perhaps the most important indicator of endothelial cell dysfunction is decreased plasma and urinary levels of prostacyclin, because the endothelium is the main source of prostacyclin.3–5 Factors present in the blood of preeclamptic women cause endothelial cell activation. For example, exposure of endothelial cells to plasma or serum from preeclamptic women causes activation of nuclear factor-κB and increased expression of intercellular adhesion molecule-1 and vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 compared with plasma or serum from normal pregnant women.6,7 Treatment with antioxidants prevents these effects, so oxidative stress appears to mediate the effects of plasma factors. The question remains what factor or factors present in the blood of preeclamptic women causes endothelial cell activation. To date, a number of possible candidates have been suggested.
Competitive Inhibition of Thyroidal Uptake of Dietary Iodide by Perchlorate Does Not Describe Perturbations in Rat Serum Total T4 and TSH

BackgroundPerchlorate (ClO4−) is an environmental contaminant known to disrupt the thyroid axis of many terrestrial and aquatic species. ClO4− competitively inhibits iodide uptake into the thyroid ...
The Labor Shortage, Patient Safety, and Length of Stay: New Era of Change Agents Prompts Process Improvements through Lab Automation

ebru The stark reality of hospital economics is undeniable today. Hospital administrators are justifiably concerned about the flow of resources, technology, and human capital that can shake the very foundations of the health care system. Among the many variables that can affect the efficacy of the health care environment, three in particular are prompting dramatic changes to clinical laboratory processes—and greater demand for automation:
The thermoregulatory-vascular remodeling hypothesis: An explanation for essential hypertension

The supposition that temperature homeostasis has precedence over blood pressure homeostasis, that vascular remodeling ensues, that hypertension is the consequence and that sodium chloride ingestion sets the sequence in motion, constitutes the thermoregulatory-vascular remodeling hypothesis. Because the cardiovascular system plays a role in both temperature and blood pressure regulation, the ingestion of sodium chloride creates conflict between temperature homeostasis and blood pressure homeostasis. Vasodilatation would lower the blood pressure following the ingestion of sodium chloride, but increased blood flow to the cutaneous circulation would increase heat loss and decrease core body temperature. Regional vasodilatation that does not involve the cutaneous circulation could lower the blood pressure without lowering the core temperature, but if temperature homeostasis has precedence over blood pressure homeostasis, and if regional vasodilatation incompletely restores blood pressure homeostasis, then elevations in blood pressure may persist following the ingestion of sodium chloride. The kidneys gradually excrete the excess sodium chloride, thereby normalizing the blood pressure, but prolonged elevations in blood pressure lead to vascular remodeling, sustained increases in peripheral resistance, and a higher baseline blood pressure. Following countless sodium chloride ingestions, essential hypertension develops. The thermoregulatory-vascular remodeling hypothesis predicts that antihypertensive medications that are vasodilators will accelerate heat loss due to increased blood flow to the cutaneous circulation. As a result, either core body temperature will decrease or there will be a compensatory increase in the metabolic rate. This prediction could be tested experimentally. The main clinical implication of the thermoregulatory-vascular remodeling hypothesis is that avoiding the ingestion of sodium chloride is the key to preventing essential hypertension.
Purine metabolism in primitive erythrocytes.

Abstract 1. 1. The activities of AMP kinase, GMP kinase, NDP kinase, PNPase and HGPRTase were determined in the erythrocytes of seal, eel, hagfish and dogfish. 2. 2. Erythrocytic NDP kinase activities were high and electrophoretically heterogeneous in all species examined. 3. 3. Patterns of nucleotide extracts of whole blood and erythrocytes in seal, sand dab, skate, hagfish, dogfish, nurse shark and stingray were similar when determined by high-pressure liquid chromatography. Patterns of the whole blood of eel and lemon shark, however, were strikingly different in containing large amounts of GDP and GTP.
Parables as metaphors and examples

This essay surveys previous research on the rhetorical nature of parables and presents a revised view of their functions as metaphors and examples. It then considers the implications of this analysis for the study of narrative in religious and secular discourse.
The Sage handbook of grounded theory

edited by Antony Bryant and Kathy Charmaz, Los Angeles, Sage Publications, 2008, 623 pp., £90 (hbk), ISBN 978 1412923460 One’s first perception of The Sage handbook of grounded theory is that it is...
Tackling representation, annotation and classification challenges for temporal knowledge base population

Temporal Information Extraction (TIE) plays an important role in many natural language processing and database applications. Temporal slot filling (TSF) is a new and ambitious TIE task prepared for the knowledge base population (KBP2011) track of NIST Text Analysis Conference. TSF requires systems to discover temporally bound facts about entities and their attributes in order to populate a structured knowledge base. In this paper, we will provide an overview of the unique challenges of this new task and our novel approaches to address these challenges. We present challenges from three perspectives: (1) Temporal information representation: We will review the relevant linguistic semantic theories of temporal information and their limitations, motivating the need to develop a new (4-tuple) representation framework for the task. (2) Annotation acquisition: The lack of substantial labeled training data for supervised learning is a limiting factor in the design of TSF systems. Our work examines the use of multi-class logistic regression methods to improve the labeling quality of training data obtained by distant supervision. (3) Temporal information classification: Another key challenge lies in capturing relations between salient text elements separated by a long context. We develop two approaches for temporal classification and combine them through cross-document aggregation: a flat approach that uses lexical context and shallow dependency features and a structured approach that captures long syntactic contexts by using a dependency path kernel tailored for this task. Experimental results demonstrated that our annotation enhancement approach dramatically increased the speed of the training procedure (by almost 100 times), and that the flat and structured classification approaches were complementary, together yielding a state-of-the-art TSF system.
Observations in a cavity beneath grinnell glacier

ABSTRACT During a 3-year period, several aspects of the glacier-rock interface were studied in a cavity beneath 5-8 m of ice near the terminus of Grinnell Glacier, Montana, U.S.A. Continuous week-long records of the summer sliding rate revealed a very uniform speed of about 12 m a-' during the summer, a value about 20 per cent higher than the average annual sliding rate. Several decimetre-sized rock fragments were broken from the glacier bed near the lee sides of bedrock ledges and transported down-glacier. In the course of a two-week long experiment, the glacier abraded its bed significantly and non-uniformly. It is of interest that significant quarrying and abrasion occurred under thin ice with relatively little entrained debris. KEY WORDS Glacier sliding Subglacial erosion INTRODUCTION Subglacial cavities provide easy access to the bases of glaciers, where information can be gathered on a variety of processes and features at the ice-rock interface. A more complete understanding of these processes is essential for continued advances in studies of the dynamics of temperate glaciers and of erosion and deposition by glaciers. A number of topical questions can be addressed through studies conducted in subglacial cavities. For example: Is the sliding motion of the ice steady, or is it jerky, as might be expected if sliding is influenced significantly by rock-to-rock friction? What is the debris content of the ice? What can be observed regarding the poorly understood phenomena of glacial quarrying and abrasion? Is there any indication that at the base of a 'temperate' glacier, ice might locally freeze to its bed? SITE DESCRIPTION
Demonstration of covalent sidewall functionalization of single wall carbon nanotubes by NMR spectroscopy: Side chain length dependence on the observation of the sidewall sp3 carbons

Carboxylic acid-functionalized single walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) prepared via the reaction of an amino acid, NH2(CH2) n CO2H where n = 1 (glycine, GLY), 5 (6-aminohexanoic acid, AHA), 10 (11-aminoundecanoic acid, AUDA), with fluorinated single walled carbon nanotubes (F-SWNTs) have been characterized by MAS 13C NMR spectroscopy. The ease of observing the aliphatic CH2 groups and the resolution of the signal are dependent on the length of the amino acid’s aliphatic chain. We have proposed that where substituent chains are short (making NMR data collection difficult) chemical modification to extend the chain length should alleviate analysis problems. In this regard, we have investigated the esterification of the carboxylic acid termini. The amino acid-functionalized SWNTs were esterified with an appropriate alcohol to ensure parity of the overall substituent length, i.e., GLY-SWNT (C1) + 1-dodecanol (C12) = DOD-GLY-SWNT (1), AHA-SWNT (C5) + 1-octanol (C8) = OCT-AHA-SWNT (2), and AUDA-SWNT (C10) + 1-propanol (C3) = PRO-AUDA-SWNT (3). The 13C NMR shift for the sp3 nitrogen-substituted carbon atoms of the SWNT sidewall is observed at δ ≈ 75 ppm. Increasing the length of SWNT sidewall functional groups enhances the ability to observe the sidewall sp3 carbon. The methylene carbon signal intensity is less attenuated in the dipolar dephasing spectrum of the ester-functionalized SWNTs than their associated amino acid derivatives, suggesting more motional freedom of the side chain in the solid state. The confirmation of the dipolar dephasing spectral effects was assisted by the characterization of the ester of AUDA-SWNT with 1,3-propanediol: PPD-AUDA-SWNT (4).
Daily oscillation of phospholipase C β4 in the mouse suprachiasmatic nucleus

Abstract An endogenous biological clock located in the hypothalamic suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) regulates the timing of an organism's physiology and behavior. A variety of receptors are found on SCN pacemaker cells which permit the clock mechanism to respond to extra- and intra-SCN chemical messengers. A subset of these receptors is coupled to G-proteins, which when bound, lead to the activation of a variety of intracellular signaling cascades. One common signaling pathway employs the phosphotidylinositol-specific phospholipase C enzyme to increase intracellular calcium levels. A specific isoform of this enzyme, phospholipase C β4, is of particular interest to circadian biologists because in its absence, mice display a circadian phenotype. Moreover, it has been shown to be associated with receptor types that are involved in clock resetting. Despite compelling data that this enzyme could be a critical component of an intracellular signaling pathway in the SCN, no study to date has investigated the possible oscillation of phospholipase C in any mammalian tissue. In the present study, we analyzed the temporal variation in the number of phospholipase C β4 immunoreactive cells in the SCN. Herein, we show that PLCβ4 levels oscillate in the SCN of mice housed in a light:dark photoperiod. Protein levels reached a significant peak during the early night and a trough during the day. The oscillation was considerably damped in the SCN of mice housed in constant dark conditions indicating the cycle is photoperiod-dependent. These data are critical to understanding the temporal regulation of a variety of inputs to the mammalian central circadian clock.
A note on plane nonlinear creep of free boundaries

On montre que la deformation plane et quasi-statique d'un corps incompressible qui est non-lineairement visqueux du second ordre, et dont les frontieres sont soumises aux tractions donnees, ne peut etre distinguee de celle d'un corps fluide, ayant les memes frontieres et les memes tractions prescrites, qui est lineairement visqueux et incompressible. Ainsi, les solutions donnees prealablement (Berg, 1964) pour le fluage plan des frontieres libres de tractions s'appliquent egalement au fluage plan et nonlineaire du second ordre des frontieres libres de tractions. Cela signifie en particulier que dans le fluage plan les effets visqueux du second ordre ne peuvent pas donner lieu a l'irreversibilite cinematique de la deformation d'une surface libre. Les resultats des effets du second ordre sont quelque peu etendus pour montrer que dans le cas le plus general d'un fluide non-lineaire et incompressible les problemes de fluage plan peuvent se simplifier si l'on incorpore dans le champ de pression une partie des contraintes non-lineairement visqueuses.
Space Telescope Science operations

Abstract The activities which will take place at the Space Telescope Science Institute (ST Sci) in support of science operations will be summarized. These activities follow proposal acceptance and range over planning and scheduling, observation implementation, data processing and archiving, and support of astronomers in all these.
A numerical algorithm for the diffusion equation using 3D FEM and the Arnoldi method

In this paper we introduce a new computational method for solving the diffusion equation. In particular, we construct a "generalized" state-space system and compute the impulse response of an equivalent truncated state-space system. In this effort, we use a 3D finite element method (FEM) to obtain the state-space system. We then use the Arnoldi iteration to approximate the state impulse response by projecting on the dominant controllable subspace. The idea exploited here is the approximation of the impulse response of the linear system. We study the homogeneous and heterogeneous cases and discuss the approximation error. Finally, we compare our computational results to our experimental setup.
Ethnicity and fertility in Liberia: A test of the minority group status hypothesis

Abstract This study examines the relationship between ethnicity and fertility in Liberia, within the context of the minority group status hypothesis. The hypothesis argues that minority group status exerts an independent effect on fertility, net of controls for socioeconomic and demographic variables. Using a subsample of women from the 1974 Liberian census, the study examines interethnic variations in fertility by comparing five ethnic minorities—Bassa, Vai, Grebo, Kru, Kpelle—with the majority group, Americo‐Liberian. With the possible exception of Bassa women, the findings do not support the minority group status hypothesis. Instead, the findings are more congruent with the alternative assimilationist hypothesis which argues that when sociodemographic differences between majority and minority groups are controlled, their fertility levels should converge. The implications of these findings are explored.
Counseling Psychology Research on Sexual (Orientation) Minority Issues: Conceptual and Methodological Challenges and Opportunities

This lead article of the special issue discusses conceptual and methodological considerations in studying sexual minority issues, particularly in research conducted by counseling psychologists (including the work represented in this special issue). First, the overarching challenge of conceptualizing and defining sexual minority populations is described. Second, the importance and value of scholarship about sexual minority issues are highlighted. Third, challenges in sexual minority research are outlined, using the articles in this special issue for illustrative purposes, and suggestions are offered for consideration in future research. Finally, the article concludes with a discussion of the ways in which counseling psychologists are uniquely positioned to advance knowledge, practice, and social justice through research on sexual minority issues.
Vibrations of Pipes and Their Supporting Beams Caused by Tank Bulging Mode

The vibrations of pipes and their supporting beams caused by the tank bulging mode are analyzed. A computationally efficient semianalytical approach is presented by introducing a local velocity potential for each pipe and developing a reduced order model for the frame structure consisting of the pipes and their supporting beams. To enable the analysis, the system of governing equations and boundary conditions is derived in a variational form. Numerical results show that large bending stress occurs in the supporting beams attached to the lower part of the tank wall. This bending stress can be reduced by decreasing the outer diameter of the supporting beams based on the fact that the dependence of the bulging-mode-induced displacements of the supporting beams on their stiffness is weak. This stress reduction method does not increase but decreases the stiffness of the supporting beams and therefore the cost, unlike many methods for improving structural reliability. A method for reducing the axial compressive stress in the supporting beams is also investigated.
The evaluation and visualization of system performance in chaotic dynamical systems

Abstract This paper first explores the occurrence of chaos in mathematical formulae and then in a model of a process control system and shows that such systems can be exposed by their dependence on the initial values of (state) variables and parametric coefficients. A program that produces the computationally intensive Julia set is demonstrated to illustrate the visual representation of the fate of iterations and to indicate crossover regions between stable, unstable and chaotic operations. A variation on the Julia set, termed the performance map (PM), is then presented that provides an intuitive, color-coded description of system parameter values, which affect stable and chaotic motions of dynamical systems. For the purposes of demonstration, the PM technique is first applied to the familiar Lorenz system of equations and then to a nonlinear feedback control model. In each case, the PM is demonstrated to yield telling graphically interpretable information about the various regions of system performance, which vary from stable, to chaotic, to quasi-periodic motions. The information conveyed by the maps is not readily obtainable by other means. Once a system is visualized, the PM software allows parameter values to be selected from a map, so that the effects of the parameter values can be studied further. By selecting an appropriately colored region of the map, automatic tuning of the parameter gains is achieved; thus ensuring that chaotic and other undesirable motions are avoided and that the resulting system performance will be acceptable. Illustrations of transients taken from the stable and chaotic regions for the examined systems are provided to validate the functionality of the method. The paper then concludes with comments and a statement of future research in PM visualization.
Fetal membranes inhibit prostaglandin but not oxytocin-induced uterine contractions

Abstract OBJECTIVE: Paracrine signaling in fetal membranes and uterus is hypothesized to play a role in the initiation of labor in women. Numerous fetal membrane signals that stimulate uterine contractions have been described. Recently, by means of the dual-chamber, fetal membrane, uteirne muscle model we showed that fetal membranes inhibit spontaneous uterine contractions. This study was designed to test whether human fetal membranes can also inhibit agonist-induced uterine contractions. STUDY DESIGN: A rat uterine muscle strip was mounte dinto the maternal side of a Plexiglas acrylic plastic chamber, Uterino contractions were recorded for 3 hours after the addition of either 50 nmol/L prostaglandin E 2 or 0.1 nmol/L oxytocin to the maternal side of the chamber. During the first and third hours no fetal membranes were present (basal condition). At the beginning of the second hour fetal membranes were inserted into the chamber so that they divided the chamber into maternal and fetal compartments. The membranes were removed before the beginning of the third hour. The integrated force of uterine contractions during the second hour, when the muscle was exposed to fetal membranes, was compared with the basal condition (first and third hours) by repeated-measure analysis of variance. RESULTS: Fetal membranes reversibly inhibited prostaglandin E 2 -induced uterine contractions by 22%. Fetal membranes did not inhibit oxytocin-induced uterine contractions. CONCLUSIONS: Fetal membranes inhibit agonist-induced uterine contractions. The fetal membrane inhibitory system is agonist selective.
Noncommutative optimal control and quantum networks

Optimal control is formulated based on a noncommutative calculus of operator derivatives. The use of optimal control methods in the design of quantum systems relies on the differentiation of an operator-valued function with respect to the relevant operator. Noncommutativity between the operator and its derivative leads to a generalization of the conventional method of control for classical systems. This formulation is applied to quantum networks of both spin and bosonic particles for the purpose of quantum state control via quantum random walks.
Meal energy content is related to features of meal-related ghrelin profiles across a typical day of eating in non-obese premenopausal women.

UNLABELLED Some features of the meal-related profile of ghrelin correspond to acute energy intake, suggesting a role in short-term energy homeostasis. Yet, no studies have examined this relationship across a typical day of eating when effects of time of day and or cumulative energy intake may also exist. AIM OF STUDY To examine the relation between ghrelin and acute energy intake by quantifying changes in ghrelin over 24 hours in response to three typical meals and a snack occurring throughout the day. METHODS Fourteen non-obese women consumed three meals and a snack at specific times; total ghrelin was measured repeatedly over 24 hours. RESULTS Significant correlations existed between: 1) meal calories and the post-meal trough (r = - 0.36; p < 0.05), and 2) the sum of breakfast and lunch calories and subsequent dinner rise (r = - 0.45; p < 0.02) and 3) the sum of breakfast and lunch calories and dinner peak (r = - 0.54; p < 0.003). Thus, as energy intake increased across the day, pre-meal rises of subsequent meals were reduced. CONCLUSION Meal-related profiles of ghrelin are not only associated with the energy content of specific meals, but also with the accumulated calories prior to a subsequent meal, suggesting a role in the modulation of acute energy homeostasis.
The Life and Work of Jay R. Gould

Jay Reid Gould has had a formative influence on the development of technical and business communication in the twentieth century. In a career as student, teacher, consultant, and author and editor,...
Exploring students learning behavior with an interactive etextbook in computer science courses

We present empirical findings from using an interactive electronic textbook (eTextbook) system named OpenDSA to teach sophomore- and junior-level Computer Science courses. The web-based eTextbook infrastructure allows us to collect large amounts of data that can provide detailed information about students' study behavior. In particular we were interested in seeing if the students will attempt to manipulate the electronic resources so as to receive credit without deeply going through the materials. We found that a majority of students do not read the text. On the other hand, we found evidence that students voluntarily complete additional exercises (after obtaining credit for completion) as a study aid prior to exams. We determined that visualization use was fairly high (even when credit for their completion was not offered). Skipping to the end of slideshows was more common when credit for their completion was offered, but also occurred when it was not. We measured the level of use of mobile devices for learning by CS students. Almost all students did not associate their mobile devices with studying. The only time they accessed OpenDSA from a mobile device was for a quick look up, and never for in depth study.
Ultrastructure and immunocytochemistry of the isolated human erythrocyte membrane skeleton

Isolated skeletons from human erythrocyte ghosts were studied using immunogold labeling; negative staining; and quick-freeze, deep-etch, rotary replication with Pt/C (QFDERR). Isolated skeletons visualized by QFDERR were similar to the negatively stained skeletons in that the proteins spectrin, actin, and ankyrin could be easily distinguished. However, the quick-frozen skeletons had two fewer filaments (4.2 +/- 0.7) at an actin junction. Immunogold labeling of skeletons with site-specific spectrin antibodies not only confirmed the designation of these filaments as spectrin molecules, but indicated that about 30% of spectrin filaments form non-actin junctions consistent with the hexameric organization of these filaments. Many of the filaments displayed a striking banding pattern indicative of underlying substructure. Isolated skeletons prepared by QFDERR also showed evidence of laterally associated spectrin filaments. These associations, as well as many hexamer junctions, are lost during negative staining. Negative staining also apparently caused approximately 21% of the spectrin filaments to separate into their monomeric subunits. These results indicate that the surface tension imposed during negative staining of isolated skeletons can cause a loss of interactions normally present in the intact membrane skeleton.
Perceived smoking environment and smoking initiation among multi-ethnic urban girls.

Abstract Purpose To examine associations between the perceived smoking environment and smoking initiation among urban multi-ethnic adolescent girls in New York City. Methods Self-report surveys completed in grades 7, 8, and 9 assessed girls' (n = 858) smoking initiation, and perceived smoking environment (family smoking, friends' smoking, smoking norms, and cigarette availability). Carbon monoxide breath samples were collected from girls using a variation of the bogus pipeline procedure. Results Differences were found in smoking prevalence with white girls reporting the highest prevalence of smoking at baseline and greatest increase in smoking prevalence from seventh to eighth grade. Black girls reported an initial increase in smoking prevalence from seventh to eighth grade followed by a decrease from eighth to ninth grade. Family smoking, friends' smoking, smoking norms, and cigarette availability were all associated with smoking initiation at eighth grade but only friends' smoking was associated with smoking initiation at ninth grade. Few ethnic differences were found in risk factors at baseline and racial/ethnic group did not modify associations between risk and smoking initiation. Conclusions Urban adolescent girls of different racial/ethnic backgrounds had similar perceptions of the smoking environment. Despite the similarity of risk factors across racial/ethnic groups, urban white girls are at increased risk to initiate smoking. Preventive interventions that target girls' perceived smoking environment during early adolescence should be effective across ethnic groups.
Rose Blossom Speaks Reflections of Playing a Heroine in the Old-Fashioned Western Melodrama Deadwood Dick

This autoethnographic essay explores the representation of one of the heroines in the old-fashioned western melodrama Deadwood Dick. Through an examination of the author’s experience performing the role of one of the heroines in a local community theatre production, this essay reflects on the way heroines are portrayed in western melodramas. It is observed that the audience plays a major role in the interpretation of the performance, thus allowing for the western melodrama to evolve and adapt to the twenty-first century.