cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
GCCS: A Graphical Coordination Language for System Specification

We present GCCS, a graphical coordination language for hierarchical concurrent systems. GCCS, which is implemented in the Concurrency Factory design environment, represents a coordination model based on process algebra. Its coordination laws, given as a structural operational semantics, allow one to infer atomic system transitions on the basis of transitions taken by system components. We illustrate the language's utility by exhibiting a GCCS-coordinated specification of the Rether real-time ethernet protocol. The specification contains both graphical and textual components.
Techniques for Textual Document Indexing and Retrieval via Knowledge Sources and Data Mining

Efficient document retrieval that answers a user query is achieved by indexing. The current technique uses word stems to index a document [1]. Such a technique suffers from the inability to match words in a query with their related words such as synonyms, hypernyms and hyponyms [2] in the documents. Therefore, there are recent attempts to index the document based on conceptual terms, however, the knowledge sources are usually incomplete. As a result, past research reveals that although using conceptual terms for document indexing can solve some of the problems, it cannot outperform the word-stem-based model [3, 4, 5, 6]. To remedy the deficiency of the knowledge sources, we propose a phrase-based indexing model where we parse a document into phrases based on the conceptual terms in domain specific knowledge sources, and calculate the similarity between two documents using both the similarity between the concepts and the common word stems in them. Including word stems in addition to concepts in document similarity evaluation compensates for the shortcoming of using concept terms alone caused by the incompleteness of the knowledge sources.
Elements of Moral Cognition: Toward a Universal Moral Grammar

The moral sense is a distinct and original power of the human mind. … Our knowledge of moral philosophy, of natural jurisprudence, of the law of nations, must ultimately depend, for its first principles, on the evidence and information of the moral sense. – James Wilson, Lectures on Law Hobbes … [believes] that justice is founded on contract solely, and does not result from the construction of man. I believe, on the contrary, that it is instinct, and innate, that the moral sense is as much a part of our constitution as that of feeling, seeing, or hearing. … The moral sense, or conscience, is as much a part of man as his leg or arm. – Thomas Jefferson, Letter to Peter Carr Being men, they all have what Dr. Rush calls a moral faculty; Dr. Hutcheson a moral sense; and the Bible and the generality of the world, a conscience . – John Adams, Letter to John Taylor All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood. – Article 1, Universal Declaration of Human Rights The main arguments of this book have been relatively simple and straightforward. In Chapter 1, I began by asking whether the theory of moral cognition is usefully modeled on aspects of Chomsky's theory of Universal Grammar.
Systolic Heart Failure: Knowledge Gaps, Misconceptions, and Future Directions

ABSTRACT Background: Systolic heart failure is the final manifestation of several cardiovascular conditions. The 2001 American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association guidelines depicting the progression of heart failure (HF) from stage A through stage D are aimed at the early treatment of risk factors. However, treatment is often delayed until stage C, and as a result HF continues to impose a major burden on our healthcare industry. Methods: We conducted an extensive literature review of the MEDLINE/PubMed database with the purpose of elucidating knowledge gaps and misconceptions regarding systolic HF. Results: Long-term beta adrenergic blocking is the only pharmacologic intervention that reverses left ventricular remodeling. Whether beta adrenergic blocking prevents or delays left ventricular remodeling in patients at risk of HF is presently unknown. A knowledge gap also exists regarding the phenotype of patients that derives a mortality benefit from implantable cardioverter defibrillator thera...
Healing traditions in Black women's writing: Resources for poetry therapy

“Healing Traditions” identifies 54 Black women writers whose memoirs, poetry, and song lyrics provide resources for mental health practice in general and bibliotherapy in particular. Evans locates issues relevant to Black women’s perspectives, highlights themes found in leading artists’ work, and offers an in-depth poetry curriculum for creative approaches to empowerment. In this article, readers find three extensive lists of culturally relevant resources and learn keywords in memoirs, poems, and songs. Writers presented—named “Revolutionary Petunias” after Alice Walker’s poem—are a diverse group, including Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf (President of Liberia), Jan Willis (Buddhist religion professor), Stacy Ann Chin (Chinese-Jamaican poet), Nina Simone (legendary songstress), and Mary J. Blige (songwriter of complex emotion). After an overview of resources, Evans then provides case studies of five Southern Black women poets and recommends 25 poems that address “hurt, healing, and hope.” She suggests how close rea...
Power-optimal encoding for DRAM address bus

This paper presents Pyramid code, an optimal code for transmitting sequential addresses over a DRAM bus. Constructed by finding an Eulerian cycle on a complete graph, this code is optimal for conventional DRAM in the sense that it minimizes the switching activity on the time-multiplexed address bus from CPU to DRAM. Experimental results on a large number of testbenches with different characteristics (i.e. sequential vs. random memory access behaviors) are reported and demonstrate a reduction of bus activity by as much as 50%.
Defining and predicting 'intrauterine fetal renal failure' in congenital lower urinary tract obstruction.

The aim of this study was to identify predictors of ‘intrauterine fetal renal failure’ in fetuses with severe congenital lower urinary tract obstruction (LUTO). We undertook a retrospective study of 31 consecutive fetuses with a diagnosis of LUTO in a tertiary Fetal Center between April 2013 and April 2015. Predictors of ‘intrauterine fetal renal failure’ were evaluated in those infants with severe LUTO who had either a primary composite outcome measure of neonatal death in the first 24 h of life due to severe pulmonary hypoplasia or a need for renal replacement therapy within 7 days of life. The following variables were analyzed: fetal bladder re-expansion 48 h after vesicocentesis, fetal renal ultrasound characteristics, fetal urinary indices, and amniotic fluid volume. Of the 31 fetuses included in the study, eight met the criteria for ‘intrauterine fetal renal failure’. All of the latter had composite poor postnatal outcomes based on death within 24 h of life (n = 6) or need for dialysis within 1 week of life (n = 2). The percentage of fetal bladder refilling after vesicocentesis at time of initial evaluation was the only predictor of ‘intrauterine fetal renal failure’ (cut-off <27 %, area under the time–concentration curve 0.86, 95 % confidence interval 0.68–0.99; p = 0.009). We propose the concept of ‘intrauterine fetal renal failure’ in fetuses with the most severe forms of LUTO. Fetal bladder refilling can be used to reliably predict ‘intrauterine fetal renal failure’, which is associated with severe pulmonary hypoplasia or the need for dialysis within a few days of life.
LL‐37 as a therapeutic target for late stage prostate cancer

BACKGROUND—The antimicrobial peptide, LL-37 (leucine-leucine-37), stimulates proliferation, angiogenesis and cellular migration, inhibits apoptosis and is associated with inflammation. Since these functional processes are often exaggerated in cancer, the aim of the present study was to investigate the expression and role of LL-37 in prostate cancer (PCa) and establish its value as a therapeutic target. METHODS—We evaluated the expression of LL-37 and the murine orthologue, Cathelicidin Related Anti-Microbial Peptide (CRAMP) in human and murine prostate tumors, respectively. Compared to normal/benign prostate tissue, both LL-37 and CRAMP were increasingly overexpressed with advancing grades of primary prostate cancer and its metastasis in human tissues and in the Transgenic Adenocarcinoma Mouse Prostate (TRAMP) model, correspondingly. We subsequently knocked down CRAMP in the highly tumorigenic TRAMP-C1 cell line via a RNA interference (RNAi) strategy to examine the importance of CRAMP on cellular proliferation, angiogenesis, invasion, apoptosis, activation of signaling pathways and tumor kinetics. RESULTS—Abrogation of CRAMP expression led to decreased proliferation, invasion, type IV collagenase, and the amount of phosphorylated Erk1/2 and Akt signaling in vitro. These results were paralleled in vivo. Syngenic implantation of TRAMP-C1 cells subjected to CRAMP knockdown resulted in a decreased tumor incidence and size, and the down regulation of protumorigenic mechanisms. CONCLUSIONS—CRAMP knockdown in a murine prostate cancer model analogously demonstrated the tumorigenic contributions of LL-37 in PCa and its potential as a novel therapeutic target for the treatment of PCa and potentially, other cancers over-expressing the peptide.
Viability of cryopreserved BM progenitor cells stored for more than a decade.

Background PBPC or BM is increasingly being harvested in remission for possible use in the event of relapse. Although the value of this approach has not been demonstrated, the long-term storage of progenitor cell components has become commonplace in many facilities. Methods We used multi-parameter flow cytometry to determine the viability of 11 long-term cryopreserved BM components (mean = 11.8 years) in liquid phase nitrogen. The components, prepared for autotransplantation but deaccessioned after confirming patient death, were carefully thawed, washed, and assayed immediately. The flow cytometry assay was performed according to the ISHAGE protocol, modified by the addition of 7AAD for analysis of progenitor viability (CD45 + CD34 + 7AAD – ) and total leukocyte viability (CD45 + 7AAD – ). In addition, total viability was assessed by fluorescence microscopy using acridine orange dye exclusion; granulocyte–monocyte colony-forming units (CFU-GM) were measured after 14 days culture. Results Leukocyte viability by flow cytometry and fluorescence microscopy agreed well (r 2 = 0.55, slope=0.83, P + cells, comparable CFU-GM activity, increased CD34 viability, but decreased total cell viability, the latter most likely due to an increased proportion of differentiated myeloid cells. Discussion The results indicate that BM products can be cryopreserved for more than a decade without apparent loss of progenitor activity, as measured by these laboratory surrogates. This agrees with clinical anecdotes describing successful engraftment with long-term stored BM, and argues that expiration dates cannot be set for cryopreserved hematopoietic stem-cell components stored in liquid phase nitrogen.
Effects of buprenorphine on behavioral tests for antidepressant and anxiolytic drugs in mice

Rationale Buprenorphine (BPN) has been shown to rapidly improve mood in treatment-resistant depressed patients in small clinical studies. However, BPN’s effects in preclinical tests for mood and antidepressant efficacy are largely unexplored.
Potentiation of 1,3-bis(2-chloroethyl)-1-nitrosourea (BCNU)-induced cytotoxicity in 9L cells by pretreatment with 6-thioguanine.

Abstract 9L Rat brain tumor cells were treated with 0.2 μM 6-thioguanine for 48 hr, which produced a 40% cell kill, a small (15%) inhibition of cell growth, and an accumulation of cells in S-phase.-Maximum incorporation of [ 14 C]6-thioguanine into cellular DNA occurred after 24 hr of incubation; 70% of the label was incorporated into DNA as 6-thio-2'-deoxyguanosine. Pretreatment of 9L cells for 48 hr with 0.2 μM 6-thioguanine potentiated the cytotoxicity of 1,3-bis (2-chloroethyl)-1-nitrosourea (BCNU) by 50% with a dose enhancement ratio of 1.5, and caused a 30% increase in the number of BCNU-induced sister chromatid exchanges (SCEs) and a 50% increase in DNA crosslinks formed, compared to treatment with BCNU alone. Used as a single agent, 6-thioguanine induced a significant number of SCEs. Results suggest that these effects may be related to the increased formation of DNA crosslinks, possibly as the result of the formation of S 6 -(2-chloroethyl)-6-thioguanine in cellular DNA.
Effect of chronic protein ingestion on rat central nervous system tyrosine levels and in vivo tyrosine hydroxylation rate

Groups of young adult male rats ingested ad libitum for two weeks diets containing 2%, 5%, 10% or 20% protein. They were then killed early in the daily dark period, 30 min after receiving m-hydroxybenzylhydrazine (100 mg/kg i.p., to allow measurement of in vivo tyrosine hydroxylation rate). Tyrosine levels in retina, hypothalamus and cerebral cortex were lowest in rats ingesting 2% protein, and rose progressively to a plateau in rats ingesting 10% protein. No consistent increase occurred between 10% and 20% protein. Tyrosine hydroxylation rate in retina and hypothalamus, but not prefrontal cortex rose in parallel with the increments in tyrosine level between 2% and 10% protein, showing no further increase between 10% and 20% protein. These changes were found to be related to the level of protein, not caloric intake. And, the low rates of hydroxylation observed in rats consuming low protein (2%) were found not to be attributable to low endogenous tyrosine hydroxylase activity. Together, the results indicate that the differences in tyrosine levels in some regions of the central nervous system (retina, hypothalamus) produced by chronic variations in protein intake may influence directly the rate of tyrosine hydroxylation, and thus perhaps the overall rate of catecholamine synthesis. This relationship might provide the hypothalamus (a region important in food intake control) with a signal for monitoring and ultimately modulating the chronic level of protein intake.
Protein Kinase C Activates Store-operated Ca2+ Channels in Human Glomerular Mesangial Cells

Abstract Store-operated Ca2+ channels (SOC) are expressed in cultured human mesangial cells and activated by epidermal growth factor through a pathway involving protein kinase C (PKC). We used fura-2 fluorescence and patch clamp experiments to determine the role of PKC in mediating the activation of SOC after depletion of internal stores by thapsigargin. The measurements of intracellular Ca2+ concentration ([Ca2+]i) revealed that the thapsigargin-induced Ca2+ entry pathway was abolished by calphostin C, a protein kinase C inhibitor. The PKC activator, phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (PMA), promoted a Ca2+ influx that was significantly attenuated by calphostin C and La3+ but not by diltiazem. Neither PMA nor calphostin C altered the thapsigargin-induced initial transient rise in [Ca2+]i. In cell-attached patch clamp experiments, the thapsigargin-induced activation of SOC was potentiated by PMA and abolished by both calphostin C and staurosporine. However, SOC was unaffected by thapsigargin when clamping [Ca2+]i with 1,2-bis (o-Aminophenoxy)ethane-N,N,N′,N′tetraacetic acid tetra(acetoxymethyl)ester. In the absence of thapsigargin, PMA and phorbol 12, 13-didecanoate evoked a significant increase inNP O of SOC, whereas calphostin C did not affect base-line channel activity. In inside-out patches, SOC activity ran down immediately upon excision but was reactivated significantly after adding the catalytic subunit of 0.1 unit/ml of PKC plus 100 μm ATP. Neither ATP alone nor ATP with heat-inactivated PKC rescued a rundown of SOC. Metavanadate, a general protein phosphatase inhibitor, also enhanced SOC activity in inside-out patches. Bath [Ca2+] did not significantly affect the channel activity in inside-out patch. These results indicate that the depletion of Ca2+ stores activates SOC by PKC-mediated phosphorylation of the channel proteins or a membrane-associated complex.
Increased Body Mass Index Negatively Affects Patient Satisfaction After a Posterior Fusion and Instrumentation for Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis

Abstract Study Design Retrospective. Summary of Background Data Previous studies have reported the correlation of body mass index (BMI) with non-spine surgical outcomes; however, only a few reviewed the correlation of BMI to outcomes after spine surgery. Objectives To review the influence of preoperative BMI on the follow-up clinical and functional outcomes after posterior-only fusion (PSF) and instrumentation for adolescent idiopathic scoliosis in a larger patient cohort. Methods Retrospective review of a consecutive series of patients treated with PSF for adolescent idiopathic scoliosis from 2002 to 2009 at a single institution. There were 3 categories: underweight (UW), normal weight (NML), and overweight (OW). Percent correction of the major curve was collected at 2 years postoperatively and patient outcome scores were analyzed preoperatively and at 2 years postoperatively. Differences between groups were analyzed using analysis of variance, with p Results A total of 459 patients at an average age of 15.0 years (range, 10.0–21.3 years) treated with PSF instrumentation were included. At 2 years, all groups achieved and maintained equal percent correction with no differences between groups. Regarding preoperative Scoliosis Research Society (SRS) outcome scores, OW patients reported more pain than NML (p = .002) and UW patients (p Conclusions At follow-up, preoperative overweight adolescents reported more pain and lower mental, activity, and appearance domain scores after surgery than UW and NML patients despite equal percent curve correction. This information may help the surgeon with preoperative counseling of OW patients by stressing that their own assessment of outcome is influenced by BMI, which may help promote a healthy weight management program in this patient group.
Strengthening Emergency Medicine in Poland: A Training and Partnership Model

. Objective: To report a qualitative evaluation of the Partnerships in Health Care/EMS Project between Poland and the United States. The goal of the partnership was to strengthen the emergency medical services (EMS) system in three Polish cities, Krakow, Bialystok, and Lodz. Methods: The Polish participants were interviewed in Poland approximately eight months after a U.S.-based training program. They were asked to evaluate the effectiveness of the partnership project and discuss their experiences incorporating U.S. emergency medicine (EM) knowledge and technology in the Polish EMS system. Results: The Polish physicians identified three major factors that had the greatest impact on the implementation of U.S. EM knowledge in Poland. These factors were the substantive differences between Polish and U.S. EM knowledge and technology, staffing differences in Polish and U.S. ambulances, and the differing role the EMS system plays in the delivery of primary care in the two countries. Conclusions: The Polish physicians succeeded in training EM providers in the three cities, thus strengthening clinical skills of EMS providers. They also were able to adapt the principles of U.S. EM that they had learned to fit the specific circumstances that characterize Polish emergency care. As in the United States, the health care system in Poland is inseparable from the social, political, and economic realities of the nation.
On the errors incurred calculating derivatives using Chebyshev polynomials

Abstract The severe errors associated with the computation of derivatives of functions approximated by Chebyshev polynomials are investigated. When using standard Chebyshev transform methods, it is found that the maximum error in the computed first derivative grows as N2, where N + 1 is the number of Chebyshev polynomials used to approximate the function. The source of the error is found to be magnification of roundoff error by the recursion equation, which links coefficients of a function to those of its derivative. Tight coupling between coefficients enables propagation of errors from high-frequency to low-frequency modes. Matrix multiplication techniques exhibit errors of the same order of magnitude. However, standard methods for computing the matrix elements are shown to be ill-conditioned and to magnify the differentiation errors by an additional factor of N2. For both the transform and matrix methods, the errors are found to be most severe near the boundaries of the domain, where they grow as (1 −x 2 ) −1 2 as x approaches ± 1. Comparisons are made with the errors associated with derivatives of functions approximated by Fourier series, in which case it is reported that the errors only grow linearly with N and are evenly distributed throughout the domain. A method for reducing the error is discussed.
THE HARM OF IMMORALITY

A central problem in moral theory is how it is to be defended against those who think that there is no harm in being immoral, and that immorality can be in one's self-interest, assuming the perpetrator is not caught and punished. The argument presented here defends the idea that being immoral prevents one from having self-respect. If it makes sense to think that one cannot be happy without self-respect, then the conclusion follows that one cannot be both immoral and happy. Immorality is harmful because its self-disrespecting nature keeps immoralists from being happy. This is the harm of immorality.
Isolation of components of the chloroplast protein import machinery

Components of the protein import machinery of the chloroplast were isolated by a procedure in which the import machinery was engaged in vitro with a tagged import substrate under conditions that yielded largely chloroplast envelope-bound import intermediates. Subsequent detergent solubilization of envelope membranes showed that six envelope polypeptides copurified specifically and, apparently, stoichiometrically with the import intermediates. Four of these polypeptides are components of the outer membrane import machinery and are associated with early import intermediates. Two of these polypeptides have been characterized. One is a homolog of the heat shock protein hsp70; the other one is a channel-protein candidate.
A Look, by Simulation, at the Validity of Some Asymptotic Distribution Results for Rotated Loadings.

In the last few years, a number of asymptotic results for the distribution of unrotated and rotated factor loadings have been given. This paper investigates the validity of some of these results based on simulation techniques. In particular, it looks at principal component extraction and quartimax rotation on a problem with 13 variables. The indication is that the asymptotic results are quite good.
Interactions among soil biota in desert ecosystems

Abstract In desert systems, the availability of soil nitrogen can be the single most limiting factor controlling plant growth during periods of adequate soil moisture. Decomposition and nitrogen-mineralization rates prior to or during peak periods of plant growth can therefore be critical. Decomposition rates in deserts are generally high, and are relatively independent of rainfall. These high rates can be attributed to a combination of abiotic weathering, the types of microflora and microfauna associated with plant litter, and the adaptations of the soil biota to moisture pulses. The factors controlling litter decomposition and subsequent nitrogen mineralization are dependent upon the location of the organic matter in the habitat. The breakdown of surface litter occurs primarily through either abiotic weathering or by termite consumption. Microarthropods do not appear to have any role in the decomposition of surface litter owing to abiotic constraints on activity. The decomposition of roots, and buried litter, however, has been shown to be dependent on the presence of soil microarthropods. Microbial-microfaunal activity in the root region of desert plants may also have a significant effect on the short-term cycling of nitrogen in arid systems.
Pleiotropic functions of a conserved insect-specific Hox peptide motif.

The proteins that regulate developmental processes in animals have generally been well conserved during evolution. A few cases are known where protein activities have functionally evolved. These rare examples raise the issue of how highly conserved regulatory proteins with many roles evolve new functions while maintaining old functions. We have investigated this by analyzing the function of the `QA9 peptide motif of the Hox protein Ultrabithorax (Ubx), a motif that has been conserved throughout insect evolution since its establishment early in the lineage. We precisely deleted the QA motif at the endogenous locus via allelic replacement in Drosophila melanogaster . Although the QA motif was originally characterized as involved in the repression of limb formation, we have found that it is highly pleiotropic. Curiously, deleting the QA motif had strong effects in some tissues while barely affecting others, suggesting that QA function is preferentially required for a subset of Ubx target genes. QA deletion homozygotes had a normal complement of limbs, but, at reduced doses of Ubx and the abdominal-A ( abd-A ) Hox gene, ectopic limb primordia and adult abdominal limbs formed when the QA motif was absent. These results show that redundancy and the additive contributions of activity-regulating peptide motifs play important roles in moderating the phenotypic consequences of Hox protein evolution, and that pleiotropic peptide motifs that contribute quantitatively to several functions are subject to intense purifying selection.
Inhibitors and Promoters of Thalamic Neuron Adhesion and Outgrowth in Embryonic Neocortex: Functional Association with Chondroitin Sulfate

When embryonic thalamic neurons are plated onto living slices of mouse forebrain, cell attachment and neurite outgrowth on different layers of the developing cerebral cortex vary dramatically, in ways that correlate with the timing and pattern of thalamocortical innervation. These layer-specific differences can be eliminated from embryonic day 16 slices by enzymatic removal of chondroitin sulfate (CS). The cortical plate (a zone avoided by thalamic axons in vivo) possesses inhibitory activity (anti-adhesive, neurite repelling) and the intermediate zone and subplate (in which thalamic axons normally grow) possess stimulatory activity (adhesive, neurite promoting), both of which are chondroitinase sensitive. These opposing activities appear not to reflect the presence of different CS proteoglycans (CSPGs) in different zones, but rather the presence of differentially localized CS-binding molecules, which can be competed away by soluble CS. This model reconciles conflicting reports on the actions of CSPGs in neural development, and suggests a role for CSPGs in the organization of matrix-bound cues in the brain.
Expectations About Couple Therapy: A Qualitative Investigation

Little is known about clients’ expectations about couple therapy. The present study provides the qualitative results of a mixed-methods investigation into client expectations about couple therapy. Participants were 20 individuals from 10 couples enrolled in couple therapy. Participants were interviewed with their partner prior to the first session of couple therapy using a semi-structured interview. Results of the qualitative content analysis of interview data indicated that couple members formed pre-therapy expectations about their therapist, the therapy process, therapy topics, partner behavior, and therapy outcomes. Expectations were fairly consistent across couples, with some diversity in expectations specific to couples’ presenting problems.
Conjecture concerning the modes of excitation of the quark-gluon plasma.

It is a widely held belief that at temperatures much higher than the confinement scale of quantum chromodynamics (QCD), quarks and gluons become free, giving rise to a new form of matter, called the quark-gluon plasma. It is conjectured here that the characterization of the plasma as a free or weakly interacting gas of quarks and gluons is valid only for short distances and short time scales of the order 1/T, but that at scales larger than 1/${g}^{2}$T (where ${g}^{2}$ is the running QCD coupling) the plasma exhibits confining features similar to that of the low-temperature hadronic phase. The confining features are manifest in the long-range, i.e., long-wavelength, low-frequency, modes of the plasma. To examine the long-range real-time response of the plasma goes beyond the capabilities of current lattice-gauge-theory techniques. However, some properties of these modes can be determined indirectly. An attempt is made to characterize the long-range modes of excitation by examining the static high-temperature limit, focusing upon the static screening lengths of colored and neutral local operators. Since ${g}^{2}$ is not small at temperatures likely to be accessible in heavy-ion collisions, the nonperturbative effects associated with vestiges of confinement are likely to be important in the phenomenological analysis of measurements made at accelerators.
Conjuring with Islam, II

I recall Tuesday September 11, 2001, as "black Tuesday," the day when commercial airplanes were turned into weapons of mass destruction as suicidal bombers destroyed two major monuments of United States commercial prowess in New York City, damaged a wing of the United States central military command in Washington, D.C., and took their own lives as well as those of nearly three thousand persons, many, but not all, of them American citizens. Black Tuesday was the worst terrorist attack on American soil. Its agents were identified as nineteen Arab men, all Muslim and all linked to a global terrorist network, Al-Qaeda, based in Afghanistan but directed by a Saudi dissident in exile, Osama bin Laden. Since black Tuesday Islam has been invoked, written about, challenged, and defended in a variety of forums. It is almost as if a new religious tradition had come onto the everyday screen of middle-of-the-road Americans. On Friday September 14, with the ravages of Tuesday still fresh in mind, I got a phone call from my former college roommate, a retired businessman. He was aghast at the carnage, but he was also eager to get behind the episode and to grapple with its causes. "Look," he reasoned, "I am Joe Six-Pack. I'm your average work-hard, play-hard American. I want to know about Islam. I want to learn the ABCS of the Arab world, I want to understand why they hate us so much." Though the question seemed new to Joe Six-Pack, it is in fact a very old question, one confronting Americans at least since the Iranian revolution of 1979-1980. The return of an aging cleric from Paris to Tehran, the toppling of a supposedly invincible American ally, the eighteen-month Iranian hostage crisis-all brought Islam onto the television screens and into the headlines, into the awareness and imagination of average Americans over two decades ago. What is interesting now, six months after September 11, is the pervasive amnesia about that earlier crisis. Most Americans, including most American scholars and certainly nearly all journalists, do not link the two periods. I think the linkage between the periods is one of the instructive lessons of history, and I will focus on it in the pages that follow. In the confusion and perplexity that marked first the Iranian revolution, then the Iranian hostage crisis, Clifford Geertz, the distinguished anthropologist from Prince-
Application of metal laminates to aircraft structures: prediction of penetration performance

A major thrust of the transportation industries in the US is the incorporation of advanced structural materials in airplanes and automobiles. These advanced materials include metal matrix composites, where particulate or whisker reinforcements stiffen and strengthen a ductile phase matrix. In aerospace structures, specific stiffness, improved strength, and weight reduction are key factors. Both in the certain parts of the airframe structure and in the engine fan containment area, increased emphasis is being given to the ability of the material to resist penetration from engine debris and other projectiles which might impact the aircraft structures. Experimental measurements of the ballistic limit velocity of a material versus material thickness gives a method to rank the relative penetration performance of aircraft structural materials. Dynamic finite element analysis aids in understanding the experimental results and in predicting the aircraft debris containment response. For certain aluminum alloys and metal laminates, the relationship between the ballistic limit velocity and plate thickness is linear, while for an aerospace titanium alloy, the ballistic penetration response is more complex.
Dynactin Is Required for Transport Initiation From the Distal Axon

Dynactin is a required cofactor for the minus-end-directed microtubule motor cytoplasmic dynein. Mutations within the highly conserved CAP-Gly domain of dynactin cause neurodegenerative disease. Here, we show that the CAP-Gly domain is necessary to enrich dynactin at the distal end of primary neurons. While the CAP-Gly domain is not required for sustained transport along the axon, we find that the distal accumulation facilitates the efficient initiation of retrograde vesicular transport from the neurite tip. Neurodegenerative disease mutations in the CAP-Gly domain prevent the distal enrichment of dynactin thereby inhibiting the initiation of retrograde transport. Thus, we propose a model in which distal dynactin is a key mediator in promoting the interaction among the microtubule, dynein motor, and cargo for the efficient initiation of transport. Mutations in the CAP-Gly domain disrupt the formation of the motor-cargo complex, highlighting the specific defects in axonal transport that may lead to neurodegeneration.
The right to research

This paper argues that research be recognised as a right of a special kind – that it be regarded as a more universal and elementary ability. It suggests that research is a specialised name for a generalised capacity to make disciplined inquires into those things we need to know, but do not know yet. I maintain that knowledge is both more valuable and more ephemeral due to globalisation, and that it is vital for the exercise of informed citizenship. I acknowledge the 30% of the total world population in poorer countries who may get past elementary education to the bottom rung of secondary and post‐secondary education, and state that one of the rights that this group ought to claim is the right to research – to gain strategic knowledge – as this is essential to their claims for democratic citizenship. I then explore the democratisation of the right to research, and the nexus between research and action, using the Mumbai‐based Partners for Urban Knowledge Action and Research (PUKAR) as an example.
Further development of selective physisorption for measuring catalyst surface area

Platinum supported on silica is used as a model supported catalyst for the purpose of demonstrating that the selective physisortion method yields the fractional catalyst surface area of supported catalysts, inclucing metal compounds catalysts for which the method is primarily intended. The selective physisorption results with nitrous oxide as adsorbate are compared with hydrogen chemisorption results for this purpose. Experimental and theoretical refinements of the method developed earlier in our laboratory are presented that allow rather accurate determination of the catalyst surface area. The refinements also make the method effctive even when the catalyst covers a small portion of the total surface area. Because of the nature of physisorption, the method should be applicable to any supported catalyst including metal compounds catalysts, provided a suitable adsorbate is used. Adsorbates other than nitrous oxide and carbon dioxide which are suitable for selective physisorption, are suggested.
Normal statistics applied to nondestructive cell counting techniques

Although some cell counts obtained in situ from monolayers follow a hyperbolic rather than a Poisson or a normal distribution, averaging cell counts from several random fields and then averaging these means produces an approximately normal distribution, sometimes with a slight skewness. Details of the counting and statistical methods for such cell population data are presented.
Reduction of protein translation and activation of autophagy protect against PINK1 pathogenesis in Drosophila melanogaster

Mutations in PINK1 and Parkin cause familial, early onset Parkinson's disease. In Drosophila melanogaster, PINK1 and Parkin mutants show similar phenotypes, such as swollen and dysfunctional mitochondria, muscle degeneration, energy depletion, and dopaminergic (DA) neuron loss. We previously showed that PINK1 and Parkin genetically interact with the mitochondrial fusion/fission pathway, and PINK1 and Parkin were recently proposed to form a mitochondrial quality control system that involves mitophagy. However, the in vivo relationships among PINK1/Parkin function, mitochondrial fission/fusion, and autophagy remain unclear; and other cellular events critical for PINK1 pathogenesis remain to be identified. Here we show that PINK1 genetically interacted with the protein translation pathway. Enhanced translation through S6K activation significantly exacerbated PINK1 mutant phenotypes, whereas reduction of translation showed suppression. Induction of autophagy by Atg1 overexpression also rescued PINK1 mutant phenotypes, even in the presence of activated S6K. Downregulation of translation and activation of autophagy were already manifested in PINK1 mutant, suggesting that they represent compensatory cellular responses to mitochondrial dysfunction caused by PINK1 inactivation, presumably serving to conserve energy. Interestingly, the enhanced PINK1 mutant phenotype in the presence of activated S6K could be fully rescued by Parkin, apparently in an autophagy-independent manner. Our results reveal complex cellular responses to PINK1 inactivation and suggest novel therapeutic strategies through manipulation of the compensatory responses.
Multiobjective evolutionary optimization for visual data mining with virtual reality spaces: application to Alzheimer gene expressions

This paper introduces a multi-objective optimization approach to the problem of computing virtual reality spaces for the visual representation of relational structures (e.g. databases), symbolic knowledge and others, in the context of visual data mining and knowledge discovery. Procedures based on evolutionary computation are discussed. In particular, the NSGA-II algorithm is used as a framework for an instance of this methodology; simultaneously minimizing Sammon's error for dissimilarity measures, and mean cross-validation error on a k-nn pattern classifier. The proposed approach is illustrated with an example from genomics (in particular, Alzheimer's disease) by constructing virtual reality spaces resulting from multi-objective optimization. Selected solutions along the Pareto front approximation are used as nonlinearly transformed features for new spaces that compromise similarity structure preservation (from an unsupervised perspective) and class separability (from a supervised pattern recognition perspective), simultaneously. The possibility of spanning a range of solutions between these two important goals, is a benefit for the knowledge discovery and data understanding process. The quality of the set of discovered solutions is superior to the ones obtained separately, from the point ofview of visual data mining.
An ESR and ENDOR study of the Ag 0 center in KCl and NaCl

Previous workers have determined that the ${\mathrm{Ag}}^{0}$ center produced in alkali halides doped with silver and $\ensuremath{\gamma}$ or x irradiated at 77 K is a silver atom in a substitutional cation site. Through the use of electron-nuclear double resonance (ENDOR) we have measured the hyperfine parameters of the first four neighbor shells about this ${\mathrm{Ag}}^{0}$ center at 4 K in KCl and NaCl. Contrary to a suggestion made in an earlier study, no indication was found of a lattice vacancy near the ${\mathrm{Ag}}^{0}$ center. For both crystals there was an anomalously high contact interaction with shell-4 nuclei. Quadrupole-interaction constants were in most cases quite different from those expected through consideration only of the effect of the extra electron at the silver lattice site. This difference probably is an indication of lattice distortion about the ${\mathrm{Ag}}^{0}$ center. Extra structure which appeared in first-shell ENDOR spectra in both crystals was successfully accounted for as second-order hyperfine structure. Fabrication of the superhyperfine structure of the high-field ESR line from ENDOR parameters yielded good agreement for KCl but showed that not all of the ESR line broadening could be accounted for by interactions with the first four shells for the ${\mathrm{Ag}}^{0}$ center in NaCl.
A simple theory of motor protein kinetics and energetics. II.

A three-state stochastic model of motor protein [Qian, Biophys. Chem. 67 (1997) pp. 263-267] is further developed to illustrate the relationship between the external load on an individual motor protein in aqueous solution with various ATP concentrations and its steady-state velocity. A wide variety of dynamic motor behavior are obtained from this simple model. For the particular case of free-load translocation being the most unfavorable step within the hydrolysis cycle, the load-velocity curve is quasi-linear, V/Vmax = (cF/Fmax-c)/(1-c), in contrast to the hyperbolic relationship proposed by A.V. Hill for macroscopic muscle. Significant deviation from the linearity is expected when the velocity is less than 10% of its maximal (free-load) value--a situation under which the processivity of motor diminishes and experimental observations are less certain. We then investigate the dependence of load-velocity curve on ATP (ADP) concentration. It is shown that the free load Vmax exhibits a Michaelis-Menten like behavior, and the isometric Fmax increases linearly with ln([ATP]/[ADP]). However, the quasi-linear region is independent of the ATP concentration, yielding an apparently ATP-independent maximal force below the true isometric force. Finally, the heat production as a function of ATP concentration and external load are calculated. In simple terms and solved with elementary algebra, the present model provides an integrated picture of biochemical kinetics and mechanical energetics of motor proteins.
In-Cylinder Reaction Chemistry and Kinetics During Negative Valve Overlap Fuel Injection Under Low-Oxygen Conditions

Fuel injection into the negative valve overlap (NVO) period is a common method for controlling combustion phasing in homogeneous charge compression ignition (HCCI) as well as other forms of advanced combustion. During this event, at least a portion of the fuel hydrocarbons can be converted to products containing significant levels of H2 and CO, as well as other short chain hydrocarbons by means of thermal cracking, watergas shift, and partial oxidation reactions, depending on the availability of oxygen and the time-temperature-pressure history. The resulting products alter the autoignition properties of the combined fuel mixture for HCCI. Fuel-rich chemistry in a partial oxidation environment is also relevant to other high efficiency engine concepts (e.g., the dedicated EGR (D-EGR) concept from SWRI). In this study, we used a unique 6-stroke engine cycle to experimentally investigate the chemistry of a range of fuels injected during NVO under low oxygen conditions. Fuels investigated included iso-octane, iso-butanol, ethanol, and methanol. Products from NVO chemistry were highly dependent on fuel type and injection timing, with iso-octane producing less than 1.5% hydrogen and methanol producing more than 8%. We compare the experimental trends with CHEMKIN (single zone, 0-D model) predictions using multiple kinetic mechanisms available in the current literature. Our primary conclusion is that the kinetic mechanisms investigated are unable to accurately predict the magnitude and trends of major species we observed.Copyright © 2013 by ASME
Ferroelectric-based microactuators

Abstract This paper reviews the current state of ferroelectric-based microactuators. The advantages of ferroelectric-based microactuation are considered. Several actuator concepts are discussed including unimorph-based cantilever actuators, membrane-based micropumps, linear positioning actuators using folded geometries of cascaded elementary actuators for both in-plane and out-of-plane displacements, linear stepper motors using inch-worm geometries, and ultrasonic-based micromotors. Optimistic, order-of-magnitude estimates of actuator performance are given based on simple, idealized analysis. Processing issues in fabricating ferroelectric-based microactuators are also considered.
Solving parabolic problems with different time steps in different regions in space based on domain decomposition methods

We describe a method for solving parabolic partial differential equations (PDEs) using local refinement in time. Different time steps are used in different spatial regions based on a domain decomposition finite element method. Extrapolation methods based on either a linearly implicit mid-point rule or a linearly implicit Euler method are used to integrate in time. Extrapolation methods are a better fit than BDF methods in our context since local time stepping in different spatial regions precludes history information. Some linear and nonlinear examples demonstrate the effectiveness of the method.
Gestalt laws of perceptual organization in an embedded figures task: evidence for hemispheric specialization.

An embedded figures task was used to investigate hemispheric specialization for visual parsing. Error data from 40 normal right-handed males revealed a right-hemisphere advantage for parsing governed by the Gestalt laws of organization. In contrast, for parsing that violated those laws, subjects who could perform such parsing at better-than-chance levels showed a left-hemisphere advantage. A simple left hemisphere/analytic, right hemisphere/holistic dichotomy is too ambiguous to account for the results, because it fails to specify the level of visual structure (e.g. whole figures, intermediate components, or elementary segments) that is to be taken as a reference point for defining particular tasks as analytic or holistic; what is analytic from one point of view is holistic from another. We focus instead on principles of perceptual organization that characterize the results of perceptual processing, regardless of whether those results are seen as the outcome of analytic or holistic processing.
Regulation of GM2 ganglioside metabolism in cultured cells

GM2-ganglioside (II3NeuAcGgOse3Cer) is a minor component of adult nervous tissue, but is probably an oncofetal antigen. Its biological role is unknown, but several lines of evidence indicate its potential role in cell adhesion both in the retina and in oligodendrocytes. The biosynthesis of GM2-ganglioside appears to be tightly regulated, since it is a key intermediate in complex ganglioside synthesis. The specific GM3: hexosaminyl-transferase is activated under conditions which activate cyclic AMP-dependent protein kinase, and cell transformation with retroviruses inactivates it. Catabolism of GM2 requires the concerted action of three gene products (alpha-chain, beta-chain and activator protein in a thermolabile alpha beta 2 AP complex referred to as HexA). Defects in either three components results in the neuronal storage of GM2 ganglioside and the manifestations of Tay-Sachs Disease in children or motor neuron disease in adults.