cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Erratum to: Commentaries on “The Design of Cultures”

On page 16 of Volume 11, No. 1, of Behavior and Social Issues, the penultimate sentence should begin, “Mammalian examples are the intertwining of the alimentary and respiratory systems” rather than “the alimentary and digestive systems.” BSI regrets the error, which was introduced during editing.
Association Between Myxomatous Mitral Valve Disease and Skeletal Back Abnormalities.

BACKGROUND Myxomatous mitral valve disease (MMVD) is one of the most prevalent valvular heart diseases, while back pain, neck pain and upper-extremity numbness are some of the most common complaints in outpatient settings. Decreased thoracic kyphosis (straight back) is a known cause of hastening back or neck problems, radiculopathy, or even myelopathy. The study aim was to examine the relationship between MMVD, straight back, and the need for cervical fusion. METHODS In this single-center retrospective study, patients who underwent mitral valve repair or replacement due to MMVD (cases) based on age, gender and body mass index (BMI), were matched with patients who underwent coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) surgery and had no history of mitral valve disease (controls). The number of patients in each group who required cervical fusion was also noted. Patients included were aged <65 years at the time of surgery, which was performed between January 2014 and December 2015. Thoracic kyphosis curvature was measured from the length of a perpendicular line drawn from the middle of the anterior border of T8 vertebral body to a vertical line connecting anterior superior T4 and anterior inferior T12 on a lateral chest radiograph (AP distance). An AP distance <12 mm was defined as straight back. A Wilcoxon rank-sum test was used to compare the AP distance between cases and controls, and a chi-square test was used to compare the prevalence of straight back in the two groups. RESULTS The study cohort included 75 patients in the MMVD group and 225 patients in the CABG group. Straight back was present in 27% of the MMVD group versus only 6.7% of the CABG group (p <0.0001) (Odds ratio 5.1; 95% CI 2.4-10.6). The mean AP distance in the MMVD group was 19.8 ± 8 mm, compared to 22.4 ± 6 mm for CABG cohort (p = 0.017). Of those patients with MMVD who had straight back, 10% required cervical fusion, compared to none in the CABG group. CONCLUSIONS MMVD is associated with straight back and a relatively high requirement for cervical fusion. Patients with MMVD should be screened for straight back and, if the condition is identified, should consider preventive measures to obviate the need for cervical fusion.
Gating mechanism of elongating β-ketoacyl-ACP synthases

Carbon-carbon bond forming reactions are essential transformations in natural product biosynthesis. During de novo fatty acid and polyketide biosynthesis, β-ketoacyl-acyl carrier protein (ACP) synthases (KS), catalyze this process via a decarboxylative Claisen-like condensation reaction. KSs must recognize multiple chemically distinct ACPs and choreograph a ping-pong mechanism, often in an iterative fashion. Here, we report crystal structures of substrate mimetic bearing ACPs in complex with the elongating KSs from Escherichia coli, FabF and FabB, in order to better understand the stereochemical features governing substrate discrimination by KSs. Complemented by molecular dynamics (MD) simulations and mutagenesis studies, these structures reveal conformational states accessed during KS catalysis. These data taken together support a gating mechanism that regulates acyl-ACP binding and substrate delivery to the KS active site. Two active site loops undergo large conformational excursions during this dynamic gating mechanism and are likely evolutionarily conserved features in elongating KSs.
Multi-Head Spatio-Temporal Attention Mechanism for Urban Anomaly Event Prediction

Timely forecasting the urban anomaly events in advance is of great importance to the city management and planning. However, anomaly event prediction is highly challenging due to the sparseness of data, geographic heterogeneity (e.g., complex spatial correlation, skewed spatial distribution of anomaly events and crowd flows), and the dynamic temporal dependencies. In this study, we propose M-STAP, a novel Multi-head Spatio-Temporal Attention Prediction approach to address the problem of multi-region urban anomaly event prediction. Specifically, M-STAP considers the problem from three main aspects: (1) extracting the spatial characteristics of the anomaly events in different regions, and the spatial correlations between anomaly events and crowd flows; (2) modeling the impacts of crowd flow dynamic of the most relevant regions in each time step on the anomaly events; and (3) employing attention mechanism to analyze the varying impacts of the historical anomaly events on the predicted data. We have conducted extensive experimental studies on the crowd flows and anomaly events data of New York City, Melbourne and Chicago. Our proposed model shows higher accuracy (41.91% improvement on average) in predicting multi-region anomaly events compared with the state-of-the-arts.
The Effects of True and Perceived Ability on Analysts' Forecasting Behavior

We model the existence of an equilibrium in which analysts adopt a threshold reporting strategy to convey their forecasting ability. Under this strategy, an analyst issues a forecast only if the realized value of her private signal exceeds a threshold value. Higher-ability analysts choose higher threshold levels than lower-ability analysts, and the market correctly interprets all analysts' forecasts. Our model produces implications for using sample mean squared forecast error to measure analysts' ability, offers alternative explanation for the observed bias in analysts' forecasts, and produces testable predictions concerning analysts' decisions to follow a firm and to issue forecasts for firms they follow.
Impact of Catalyst Support Design Parameters on Automotive Emissions

Ceramic monolithic catalyst supports have been an integral part of automotive emissions control systems since the early 70's. This investigation examines the impact of physical (cell density, frontal area, volume) and material (porosity, thermal mass) design parameters on vehicle emissions and pressure drop. This study indicates that CO and HC emissions can be reduced by larger volume and/or higher cell density substrates. Materials changes have little or no impact on catalyst performance. Pressure drop is increased by using a longer substrate, and dramatically reduced with a larger frontal area part.
A discrete-event systems model for congestion control

Abstract This paper presents a discrete-event systems approach to the modeling of a packet-switched communication link shared by multiple users for the purpose of end-to-end congestion control. It introduces a discrete-event system model for the interaction between a shared communication link and the users, which captures the behavior that the link users receive acknowledgments for successfully transmitted packets with a delay that is proportional to the level of congestion in the link. An end-to-end congestion control scheme for this system model is presented that uses the concept of an observer from supervisory control theory. The link model and controllers are implemented in both a Java programming language simulation and the NS2 network simulation software for analysis.
Distance Education Applications in Rural Special Education: Where We've Been and Where We're Going

In the last decade, distance education applications in rural special education have expanded rapidly with the growing use of telecommunications technologies. Distance education has been used in dir...
A2A receptor dependent and A2A receptor independent effects of extracellular adenosine on murine thymocytes in conditions of adenosine deaminase deficiency

Adenosine deaminase (ADA) deficiency causes severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID) and is accompanied by T-cell depletion and accumulation of both intracellular and extracellular adenosine (extAdo) and deoxyadenosine. To better understand the causes of T-cell depletion in vivo and to discriminate between extracellular and intracellular effects of exogenously added adenosine in vitro, we investigated mechanisms of 2 different effects of adenosine on murine thymocytes. These effects of adenosine include direct induction of apoptosis in about 6% to 15% thymocytes and inhibition of T-cell receptor (TCR)-induced activation of the majority of thymocytes with inhibited ADA. A2A adenosine receptors, but not A2B, A1, or A3 receptors, are shown to be mostly responsible for extAdo-triggered signaling (cyclic adenosine monophosphate [cAMP] accumulation) in murine thymocytes and this prompted studies of the effects of extAdo on thymocytes from A2AR gene-deficient mice. It is found that direct apoptotic effects of extAdo on CD4+CD8+ double positive (DP) thymocytes are completely accounted for by signaling through A2AR, with no contribution of intracellular lymphotoxicity or of compensating A2BRs because only A2AR +/+, but not A2AR −/− thymocytes were susceptible to apoptotic effects of extAdo. Studies of the effects of cAMP-raising agents support observations of extAdo/A2AR/cAMP–triggered apoptosis in DP thymocytes. Unexpectedly, the extAdo strongly inhibited TCR-triggered activation of both A2AR +/+ and A2AR −/− thymocytes in the presence of ADA inhibitors. This was confirmed with thymocytes from ADA gene-deficient mice, suggesting the existence of A2AR-independent effects of extAdo on thymocytes. The presented data raises questions about the identity and functional role of A2AR-expressing thymocytes in T-cell differentiation and of the role of TCR-antagonizing effects of extAdo in conditions of ADA SCID.
Implementation of floating point fast discrete cosine transform

A 32 bit floating-point one-dimensional discrete cosine transform unit was designed based on the Vetterli and Ligtenberg fast DCT flow-graph using Mentor Graphics' and Synopsys' tools. The floating-point algorithm and the VHDL code of the DCT unit is described, and the simulation results of the output are presented.
Function of the c-Myc oncoprotein

The c-Myc protein, the product of the c-myc proto-oncogene, is a nuclear phosphoprotein with DNA binding properties. Deregulated c-myc expression participates in the development of experimentally induced tumors, and its expression appears to be abnormal in many naturally occurring malignancies. Although the precise molecular mechanism of c-Myc activity in oncogenesis and in normal cell proliferation is unknown, recent advances have uncovered a series of molecular and cellular properties of c-Myc. These properties include nuclear localization, transcriptional activation, oligomerization nonspecific and specific DNA binding. Recently, the c-Myc protein was found to heterodimerize with Max, a protein that cooperates with c-Myc to bind specifically to a core DNA sequence, CAC(G/A)TG. These characteristics suggest that c-Myc participates in the regulation of gene transcription in normal and neoplastic cells.
A freshwater conservation assessment of the Upper Mississippi River basin using a coarse- and fine-filter approach

Summary 1. We identified priority sites for freshwater conservation in the Upper Mississippi River (UMR) basin using a coarse- and fine-filter approach to defining biodiversity elements as building blocks. Fine-filter species included federally listed threatened and endangered, imperilled, declining, endemic, disjunct and wide-ranging species. We had species data for over 1300 individual occurrences of species and communities identified as fine-filter elements. The coarse-filter elements are ecosystems (‘Aquatic Ecological Systems’) defined using physical attributes of streams and lakes, and stratified to represent key zoogeographical and physiographical gradients. 2. We used relative ecosystem integrity, species population viability and expert opinion to generate an initial ‘portfolio’ of 600 freshwater areas of biodiversity significance representing the best examples of the species and ecosystem elements. Representation targets were met for all ecosystem types and for an average of 45% for species groups. 3. The application of a coarse- and fine-filter approach to identify biodiversity conservation priorities in the UMR demonstrates the contribution of each component – even in an area with relatively rich fine-filter data. For a large assessment area, data, even if plentiful, will be uneven, and community-level diversity is not catalogued. Thus, the coarse filter allows for greater confidence that a broad suite of species and key environmental gradients are captured in a conservation portfolio, while fine-filter data provide greater confidence that species of conservation and management interest are addressed adequately.
Electronic commerce: the impact of the Internet on sales practices in the car industry

E-commerce and Internet technologies are fundamentally changing the way companies do business. While much attention is paid to the profitability among the dot-coms and the viability of the new business models, there is much less focus on the impact of the Internet on the work practices of actual workers. As companies are developing new business models, existing work processes have to be adapted to the new environment in which communication is mediated by e-mail and the Internet. This new environment is marked by ubiquitous information access, asynchronous information exchange, and written communication. Depending on the extant information asymmetry and the degree and nature of the contact that workers need with their colleagues, customers, and trading partners, these attributes present both opportunities and challenges. In sales, for instance, a work context characterized by high equivocality, the increasing reliance on lean media like e-mail presents considerable challenges for sales people whose ability to “read” customers is curtailed. In this paper, we report on a two part study that investigates (1) the impact of Internet technologies on the work practices of car sales associates and (2) the antecedents of Internet technology use and sales performance among car sales associates engaged in Internet sales. In the first part of the study, we interviewed car sales associates engaged in Internet sales and, based on their description of the changes in their work lives, we developed a model to predict the use of Internet technology for car sales and sales performance. Since the online sales environment offers sales associates less information about their customers, our central hypothesis is that the initial assumptions with which sales associates enter into a sales encounter play a very significant role in predicting the outcome of the Internet-mediated sales encounter. We test this and other hypotheses using data collected via a national survey of 155 randomly selected sales associates. We’re assuming the sale; we’re assuming you’re acquiring the car, we’re assuming we’re at the right price, and if we do everything we need to do correctly, you’ll buy it from us. And we don’t do anything to deter from that assumption until you, the customer, puts us off that track. [QQ, 04/05/00]
Coupling of low-energy electrons in the optimally doped Bi 2 Sr 2 CaCu 2 O 8 + δ superconductor to an optical phonon mode

Laser-based photoemission with photons of energy 6 eV is used to examine the fine details of the very low-energy electron dispersion and associated dynamics in the nodal region of optimally doped Bi2212. A ``kink'' in the dispersion in the immediate vicinity of the Fermi energy is associated with scattering from an optical phonon previously identified in Raman studies. The identification of this phonon as the appropriate mode is confirmed by comparing the scattering rates observed experimentally with the results of calculated scattering rates based on the properties of the phonon mode.
Mutagenicity of Nitrogen Compounds from Synthetic Crude Oils: Collection, Separation, and Biological Testing

Short-term mutagenesis assays have been used to test complex environmental mixtures, in order to 1) serve as predictors of long-range health effects, 2) guide chemical separation procedures for the isolation and concentration of biologically active materials, 3) identify chemical agents responsible for biological activity, and 4) determine priorities for further, extensive testing. Organic extraction coupled with chemical-class fractionation is a prerequisite for most of these assays.
Differential prefrontal and subcortical circuitry engagement during encoding of semantically related words in patients with late-life depression.

Objective Verbal memory difficulties are common among individuals with late-life depression (LLD), though there is limited knowledge about disruptions to underlying cerebral circuitry. The purpose of this study is to examine aberrations to cerebral networks implicated in encoding novel verbal semantic material among older adults with LLD. Methods Twenty-four older adults with early-onset LLD and 23 non-depressed comparisons participated in the study. Participants completed a word list-learning task while undergoing functional magnetic resonance imaging. Results In the context of equivalent recall and recognition of words following scanning and similar hippocampal volumes, patients with LLD exhibited less activation in structures known to be relevant for new learning and memory, including hippocampus, parahippocampal gyrus, insula, and cingulate, relative to non-ill comparisons. An important region in which the LLD group displayed greater activation than the non-depressed comparison group was in left inferior frontal gyrus, an area involved in cognitive control and controlled semantic/phonological retrieval and analysis; this region may be critical for LLD patients to consolidate encoded words into memory. Conclusions Functional irregularities found in LLD patients may reflect different modes of processing to-be-remembered information and/or early changes predictive of incipient cognitive decline. Future studies might consider mechanisms that could contribute to these functional differences, including hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis functioning and vascular integrity, and utilize longitudinal designs in order to understand whether functional changes are predictive of incipient cognitive decline. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
ARPP-39, a membrane-associated substrate for cyclic AMP-dependent protein kinase present in neostriatal neurons.

This study describes a cyclic AMP-regulated phosphoprotein that displays a distinct cellular and regional distribution in rat brain. The protein is found only in neostriatal regions, where it is enriched in nerve cells and not in afferent or efferent axons or in glial cells. On subcellular fractionation, it appears tightly associated with particulate components, possibly the synaptic plasma membrane fraction. The protein may therefore be specifically enriched in dendrites and/or somata of neostriatal neurons. Following phosphorylation in vitro with [γ-32P]ATP and cyclic AMP-dependent protein kinase, the protein contains phosphoseryl residues on multiple thermolytic peptides. The specific cellular and subcellular localization we have observed suggests that this protein, termed ARPP-39 (cyclic AMP-regulated phosphoprotein,M r=39,000) may be important in receptor-regulated, cyclic AMP-mediated functions in distinct neostriatal neurons.
Spectrum of acetylene in the 5-micron region

Abstract Three Π u -Σ g + bands, 2ν4 + ν5 at 1959.697 and 1940.003 cm−1 and 3ν5 at 2169.166 cm−1, accompanied by fifteen Σ+-Π, Σ−-Π, Δ-Π, and Π-Π “hot” bands occurring in the region between 1830 and 2250 cm−1 were measured and analyzed. The Σ u + -Σ g + band 3ν4 + ν5 at 2560.600 cm−1 was also measured. The upper states of many of the transitions investigated are involved in strong vibrational-rotational interactions causing some effects not previously seen in the vibration-rotation spectra of simple linear molecules. The results obtained were combined with the available information from other regions of the spectrum to calculate an internally consistent set of constants for the ground state, for the Π -states 0001100 and 0000011 as well as for the various higher excited states of the bending vibrations of C2H2.
Eosinophilic esophagitis: a clinical, endoscopic, and histopathologic review

b s r T s o g a o Eosinophilic esophagitis is a chronic condition driven by an aberrant immunologic/antigenic response and manifested clinically and pathologically by esophageal dysfunction and eosinophilic infiltration, respectively. Although significant progress has been made in elucidating disease pathogenesis, diagnosis requires clinical, endoscopic, and pathologic correlation. As a result, communication between the gastroenterologist and pathologist is of special value. This article provides the reader with a review of the literature regarding pathogenesis, endoscopic and histologic findings, management, and follow-up focusing primarily on adult patients. Eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE), as conceptually defined by the 2011 updated consensus recommendations, “represents a chronic, immune/antigen-mediated esophageal disease characterized clinically by symptoms related to esophageal dysfunction and histologically by eosinophil predominant inflammation.”1 Although this general defiition seems clear, diagnosis and treatment of EoE at times ay be anything but straightforward. Until recently, a ubMed search on the subject retrieved numerous articles ith no clear agreement on diagnostic criteria. As a result, onsensus recommendations for diagnosis and treatment ere published in 2007 and later updated in 2011.1,2 The 2011 updated recommendations1 emphasize that EoE is a linicopathologic disease and provide the following uidelines for diagnosis: ● Clinically, EoE is characterized by symptoms of esophageal dysfunction. ● Pathologically 1 or more biopsy specimen must show eosinophil-predominant inflammation. Multiple biopsy specimens must be obtained from the proximal and distal esophagus.
Depolarization inactivation of dopamine neurons: terminal release characteristics.

The functional consequences of chronic treatment with haloperidol (0.5 mg/kg s. c. for 21–23 days) on striatal extracellular levels of dopamine and excitatory amino acids, aspartate and glutamate, were examined using microdialysis techniques. Our studies indicate that, in both awake and anesthetized animals, chronic haloperidol treatment does not appear to change basal outflow of dopamine and its response to an exogenous antagonist (i. e., a challenge dose of haloperidol). Furthermore, in chronic haloperidol and vehicle-treated animals, extracellular dopamine levels were decreased below our limit of detection following perfusion of tetrodotoxin through the probe, or into the medial forebrain bundle, suggesting that in both groups of animals extracellular dopamine levels are neuronally derived and seemed to depend equally on impulse flow. However, some differences were observed between the vehicle and haloperidol-treated animals: the excitatory action of 30 mM K+ on extracellular dopamine levels was decreased, and extracellular levels of glutamate were significantly increased, in animals treated chronically with haloperidol. The alterations in extracellular glutamate levels suggests that events at the terminal may be involved in maintaining the “normal” extracellular dopamine levels. Furthermore, the decrease in response to stimulation by K+ suggests that chronic haloperidol treatment may decrease the responsivity of the striatal dopamine system to stimuli. © 1993 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
Anti-American Themes in British Radicalism from the “Tariff of Abominations” to the Crisis of Secession: The Case of Thomas Perronet Thompson

America's self-perception has long been influenced by the opinions of America held by foreigners. Admiration for the United States was strong among British radicals in the early and mid-nineteenth century, but there was an alternative position, one that was negative toward America. While some historians have assumed that respect for the United States was a dominant fixture in British radicalism, others have shown that disinterest, or equivocation, or even hostility, was more prevalent. This article explores some of the reasons behind anti-Americanism. Special attention is given to economic matters, slavery, and foreign policy from the late 1820s to the early 1860s, and to the writings and speeches of the radical M.P. and political economist Thomas Perronet Thompson (1783–1869). Thompson's thoughts and activities repay consideration because they point to the range of responses – some of which have been underestimated by historians – that the United States could evoke.
Analysis and modeling of spatial correlation structure in small-scale rainfall in Central Oklahoma

Abstract Spatial correlation structure in small-scale rainfall is analyzed based on a dense cluster of raingauges in Central Oklahoma. This cluster, called the EVAC PicoNet, consists of 53 gauges installed in 25 measurement stations covering an area of about 3 km by 3 km. Two raingauges are placed in 24 stations and five in the central station. Three aspects of the estimated spatial correlation functions are discussed: dependence on time-scale ranging from 1 min to 24 h, inter-storm variability, and dependence on rainfall intensity. The results show a regular dependence of the correlogram parameters on the averaging time-scale, large differences of the correlograms in the individual storms, and the dominance of storms with high spatial variability on the average large sample characteristics. The authors also demonstrate and discuss the ambiguities in correlation estimates conditioned on rainfall intensities. The findings of this study have implications for raingauge network design, rainfall modeling, and conclusive evaluation of radar and satellite estimates of rainfall.
UNDERSTANDING WHAT THE NUMBERS MEAN: A STRAIGHTFORWARD APPROACH TO GRE PREDICTIVE VALIDITY

Descriptions of validity results for the GRE® General Test based solely on correlation coefficients or percentage of the variance accounted for are not merely difficult to interpret, they are likely to be misinterpreted. Predictors that apparently account for a small percentage of the variance may actually be highly important from a practical perspective. This study used 2 existing data sets to demonstrate alternative methods of showing the value of the GRE as an indicator of 1st-year graduate grades. The combined data sets contained 4,451 students in 6 graduate fields: biology, chemistry, education, English, experimental psychology, and clinical psychology. In one set of analyses, students within a department were divided into quartiles based on GRE scores and the percentage of students in the top and bottom quartiles earning a 4.0 average was noted. Students in the top quartile were 3 to 5 times as likely to earn 4.0 averages compared to students in the bottom quartile. Even after controlling for undergraduate grade point average quartiles, substantial differences related to GRE quartile remained.
Finite element analysis of multiconductor transmission lines in multilayered dielectric media

In this work, we illustrate the analysis of inhomogeneous quasi-TEM multiconductor transmission lines in multilayered dielectric media using finite element method. We specifically determine the per unit length of capacitance and the inductance matrices of two circular wires in layer surrounded by two different dielectric layers, three conductors in three different dielectric layers, and four conductors in three different dielectric layers between two grounds. Excellent agreement with results obtained previously by integrated equation method and method of moment is demonstrated. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 50: 2743–2747, 2008; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/mop.23750
The Development of a Factorizable Multigrid Algorithm for Subsonic and Transonic Flow

The factorizable discretization of Sidilkover for the compressible Euler equations previously demonstrated for channel flows has been extended to external flows.The dissipation of the original scheme has been modified to maintain stability for moderately stretched grids. The discrete equations are solved by symmetric collective Gauss-Seidel relaxation and FAS multigrid. Unlike the earlier work ordering the grid vertices in the flow direction has been found to be unnecessary. Solutions for essential incompressible flow (Mach 0.01) and supercritical flows have obtained for a Karman-Trefftz airfoil with it conformally mapped grid,as well as a NACA 0012 on an algebraically generated grid. The current work demonstrates nearly 0(n) convergence for subsonic and slightly transonic flows.
One-micrometer, radiation-hardened complementary metal oxide semiconductor for cryogenic analog applications

Results are presented of a process-development effort to achieve a 1-Mrad silicon (Si) radiation-hardening capability at temperatures down to 40 K, using Texas Instruments high volume, 1-micrometer commercial process. The one-micrometer process was characterized at 77 K and 40 K: radiation effects on the baseline SiO2 gate dielectric and N-channel field effect transistor edges were observed, as were freeze-out and hot-carrier effects of the lightly doped drain implants. These freeze-out phenomena were confirmed, using SUPREM, MINIMOS, and MEDICI. The simulated data compared favorably with measured results. Simulations were run, using various implant doses and profiles to eliminate the freeze-out and hot-carrier effects in the new process. Devices having these simulated profiles were processed, and the results are presented.© (1994) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
Student presentations in the classroom

For many years, the author has been involving his students in classroom teaching of their own classes. The day-to-day practice is described, and the advantages and disadvantages for both the instructor and the students are discussed. Comparisons with the Moore Method of teaching are made.
Estimation of the lattice heat capacity of rare‐earth compounds

On the basis of the experimental data reported in literature, the contributions of cation mass (m) and molar volume (V) to lattice heat capacity (C) were analyzed. The volumetric-mass formula, Cx=(l —f)·C1+f·C2+Cm·(mx — mx′), was presented for estimating the heat capacities of rare-earth compounds. In the formula C1 and C2 represent the lattice heat capacities of two reference substances respectively, f = Vx—V1/V2—V1 and Cm represents the lattice heat capacity variation with the variation 1 g of cation mass. The equation relating the Cm with temperatures was derived as follows: Cm = 0.084 e −0.0074T −0.27 e −0.045T, and mx and mx′ (= (1 - f) m1+fm2) represent the practical and “assumed” cation masses of the substance in question respectively.
N-alkylation of benzimidazoles and benzotriazole via phase transfer catalysis

Abstract N-methyl and other N-alkyl benzimidazoles and benzotriazoles were prepared by 18-crown-6 catalysis involving basic aqueous solutions of the heterocycles and organic solutions of alkyl iodides or bromides.
Treatment with hyperfractionated cyclophosphamide, vincristine, doxorubicin, and dexamethasone combined with cytarabine and methotrexate results in poor mobilization of peripheral blood stem cells in patients with mantle cell lymphoma

Hyper-CVAD (fractionated cyclophosphamide, vincristine, doxorubicin, and dexamethasone combined with cytarabine and methotrexate) is an intense chemotherapy regimen frequently used for hematologic malignancies including mantle cell lymphoma. To address whether treatment with hyper-CVAD impairs mobilization of peripheral blood stem cells, we retrospectively analyzed mobilization data from 77 consecutive adult patients with mantle cell lymphoma who underwent peripheral blood stem cell (PBSC) mobilization for planned autologous stem cell transplant (ASCT). Compared to patients treated with alternative regimens, patients treated with hyper-CVAD collected fewer CD34+ cells, required more total days of pheresis, and more frequently required a second mobilization attempt, despite being more likely to have undergone mobilization with a VP16-containing regimen. In multivariable linear regression analysis, treatment with hyper-CVAD was associated with a significant reduction in total CD34+ cells mobilized (p < 0.00...
Synthesis and degradation of photolabile dendrimers based on o-nitrobenzyl ether photolabile cores

Two dendrimer cores, 1a and 2a, that contain o-nitrobenzyl photolabile moieties, lack hydrolytically sensitive ester linkages and possess three and six sites for dendron attachment, respectively, have been alkylated to provide methylated core analogs 1b and 2b as well as second-generation benzylaryl ether dendrimer 1c and third-generation dendrimer 2c. These dendrimers undergo clean photocleavage as indicated by the evolution of isosbestic points in the UV spectra during photolysis. In addition, the nature of the photodegradation products was confirmed by observing the photolyses by both 1H NMR and GPC.
Initial Observations in the Validation of a Hybrid Test Protocol for Motion Preservation Devices on a Biomechanical Spine Tester

Motion preservation of the cervical spine has been attractive from several vantage points. Clinically, the ability to limit adjacent level disease has been an important consideration. In addition, the cervical loading conditions may not be as demanding compared to other spinal segments, e.g., the lumbar region. Thus, devices that are designed to preserve motion for the cervical spine are widely perceived as promising technologies and require new methods of evaluation in order to more accurately predict clinical performance.Copyright © 2008 by ASME
Incorporating the Other: Val Plumwood's Integration of Ethical Frameworks

Val Plumwood's recent attempt to formulate a "contextual" theory of vegetarianism that integrates concern for animals, ecology, and unprivileged societies involves heavy criticism of Carol J. Adams. Plumwood's theory, although claiming to be "contextual," involves an unnecessary degree of abstraction both in its engagement with Adams's thought and in its attempt to formulate a universal narrative. Plumwood consistently misrepresents Adams's work and demonstrates an alignment with dominant discourses that favor "meat." By representing the rejection of these discourses as alienated and deviant, Plumwood risks muting the radical critique that western vegetarianism represents and absorbing it within the exploitative dominant viewpoint.
A cellular basis of immunity in experimental Brucella infection.

Brucella suis, Brucella abortus, and Brucella melitensis were shown by microscopic and cultural procedures to multiply extensively within normal rat, mouse, and guinea pig monocytes maintained in vitro in cell cultures for 3 days. Intracellular growth of brucellae had no observable toxic effects on most monocytes, although many of the cells became completely engorged with brucellae within 3 days. Non-smooth brucellae and strain 19 multiplied slowly within normal monocytes. In contrast, "immune" monocytes) i.e. those derived from animals previously infected with smooth brucellae, greatly restricted the intracellular growth of smooth and non-smooth brucellae and strain 19. Growth of smooth Brucella, within either normal or "immune" monocytes, was not influenced by addition of Brucella antiserum to the culture medium. Desensitization of immunized guinea pigs did not diminish the refractory state of their monocytes. Cellular resistance did not develop when animals were vaccinated with heat-killed brucellae, though these animals did produce agglutinating antibody. Similarly, vaccination of animals with living, rough B. suis failed to induce a refractory state in their monocytes, even though the vaccinated animals developed delayed hypersensitivity to smooth Brucella antigen. In vivo studies of Brucella survival in the spleens of normal and vaccinated mice (treated with streptomycin to prevent extracellular survival) gave strong support to the in vitro demonstrations of acquired "cellular immunity." Some implications of these results are discussed.
Time-Frequency HOP Signals Part II: Coding Based upon Quadratic Congruences

High-efficiency multicomponent signals for maximization of signalto-noise ratio are investigated. Maximization of signal-to-noise ratio in colored noise requires control of volume distribution of the signal ambiguity function and transmission of unity efficiency signals. Signal efficiency is defined as the ratio of average power to the peak power. It is concluded that the signals must be frequency hop pulse trains. Quadratic congruences are chosen to place the components in time-frequency space. The number-theoretic properties of these signals provide bounds on the position and amplitude of the various peaks of the signal ambiguity function. The tradeoffs are shown between volume removal, number of component signals, and the time-bandwidth product.
A shared memory module for asynchronous arrays of processors

A shared memory module connecting multiple independently clocked processors is presented. The memory module itself is independently clocked, supports hardware address generation, mutual exclusion, and multiple addressing modes. The architecture supports independent address generation and data generation/consumption by different processors which increases efficiency and simplifies programming for many embedded and DSP tasks. Simultaneous access by different processors is arbitrated using a least-recently-serviced priority scheme. Simulations show high throughputs over a variety of memory loads. A standard cell implementation shares an 8 K-word SRAM among four processors, and can support a 64 K-word SRAM with no additional changes. It cycles at 555MHz and occupies 1.2mm2 in 0.18 µm CMOS.
Feynman Rules for Any Spin

The explicit Feynman rules are given for massive particles of any spin j, in both a 2j+1-component and a 2(2j+l)-component formalism. The propagators involve matrices which transform like symmetric traceless tensors of rank 2j; they are the natural generalizations of the 2×2 four-vector σ µ and 4×4 four-vector γ µ for \(j\frac{1}{2}\). Our calculation uses field theory, but only as a convenient instrument for the construction of a Lorentz-invariant S matrix. This approach is also used to prove the spin-statistics theorem, crossing symmetry, and to discuss T, C, and P.
Analytical expressions for power dissipation of macro-blocks in DSP architectures

Power minimization is an important objective in present day VLSI design. Macromodels for power dissipation can be used to estimate power at a high-level of abstraction. High-level power estimation methods provide the designer with more flexibility to explore design trade-offs early in the design cycle. In this paper, we present closed-form analytical expressions for power consumption of macro-blocks in terms of the word-statistics. We present an analytical expression for total bit transition activity of a signal line in terms of the word-statistics. We also present analytical power models for macro-blocks in DSP architectures in terms of total bit transition activity and other parameters. Experimental results validating the analytical expressions are also included in this paper.
Cell repair through cell fusion in the red alga Griffithsia pacifica.

When an intercalary shoot cell of the red algaGriffithsia pacifica is killed, the cell may be replaced through the wound-healing process of cell repair. During cell repair the cells on either side of the dead cell cut off new cells towards the dead cell. The superjacent cell produces a rhizoid; the subjacent cell produces an atypical shoot cell. The two new cells grow towards each other through the lumen of the dead cell. When they meet, they fuse; the resulting cell expands laterally to fill the cavity of the dead cell and is transformed into a typical intercalary shoot cell, morphologically and physiologically indistinguishable from the killed cell it replaces. The entire cell repair process takes 24–30 hours. Three aspects of cell repair suggest that intercellular communication occurs across the dead cell; these are a precocious division of the cell below the dead cell, a reversible change in the morphology and growth of the shoot cell which participates in repair, and a definite attraction between the two cells which fuse. Thus during cell repair we find evidence not only for cellular redifferentiation through cell fusion, but also for extracellular substances which change pathways of morphogenesis.
Prodrugs of Theophylline Incorporating Ethyleneoxy Groups in the Promoiety: Synthesis, Characterization, and Transdermal Delivery

Two different types of derivatives of theophylline (Th-H) incorporating ethyleneoxy groups into the promoiety have been synthesized. One is a soft alkyl type where N-methyl-N-methoxyethyleneoxycarbonylaminomethyl chlorides have been used to alkylate Th-H in the 7 position. The other is in an acyl type where methoxyethyleneoxycarbonyl chlorides have been used to acylate Th-H in the 7 position. All of the prodrugs were more soluble in the lipid isopropyl myristate (IPM) than Th-H, and three were more soluble in water (AQ) than Th-H. The most water-soluble prodrug gave the highest maximum delivery of total species containing Th-H through hairless mouse skin from IPM (maximum flux, JMMIPM)—more than seven times that of Th-H, while the other two gave more than three times that of Th-H. The acyl-type prodrugs delivered only Th-H, while the soft alkyl types delivered 60–70% Th-H plus intact prodrug. The Roberts–Sloan equation was able to predict the best performer for each type with an average of the absolute difference between the experimental log J MMIPM and calculated log J MMIPM (Δlog J MMIPM) of 0.253 log units. The values for the present prodrugs and previously reported prodrugs that had not been previously included in the Roberts–Sloan data base (n = 23) were included in the previous n = 71 data base to give n = 94. New coefficients for the Roberts–Sloan equation have been obtained.
Mind's response to the body's betrayal: Gestalt/Existential therapy for clients with chronic or life-threatening illnesses.

In the literature on chronic or life-threatening illness, there is an overriding emphasis on clients' psychological coping styles and how they relate to psychological functioning. By contrast, in our approach, we look at the subjective mind/body experiences that clients have of their illness and how their lives are impacted by their illness. As psychotherapists, we address their existential distress, pain, body experience, thoughts, and feelings, as well as their efforts to cope or find meaning in their illness. We summarize Gestalt/Existential therapy for chronic illness, illustrate the approach with three case-vignettes, and stress the importance of attending to each client's unique responses to illness.
Evidence for positive and negative regulation of the Hox-3.1 gene.

Abstract The region-specific patterns of expression of mouse homeobox genes are considered important for establishing the embryonic body plan. A 5-kilobase (kb) DNA fragment from the Hox-3.1 locus that is sufficient to confer region-specific expression to a beta-galactosidase reporter gene in transgenic mouse embryos has been defined. The observed reporter gene expression pattern closely parallels endogenous Hox-3.1 expression in 8- to 9.5-day postcoitum (p.c.) embryos. At 10.5 days p.c. and later, the pattern of beta-galactosidase activity diverges from the Hox-3.1 pattern, and an inappropriately high level of reporter gene expression is observed in posterior spinal ganglia. Inclusion of an additional 2 kb of upstream sequences is sufficient to suppress this aberrant expression in the developing spinal ganglia. Together, these results show that the control of early Hox-3.1 expression is complex, involving at least one positively acting and one negatively acting element.
Black holes and optimum coding

A black hole (BH) communicates information about its event area to an observer. This defines an information channel. We show that if the area is optimally encoded, the probability law on its square root follows approximate exponential decay, and the resulting entropy is precisely the Bekenstein–Hawking result including the important factor of 1 /4. This result arises as well as the solution to: (a) maximum entropy subject to a fixed message length, or (b) minimum Fisher information subject to a normalization condition. A verifiable prediction is a randomly enlarged event area, implying a randomly enlarged irreducible mass value. These effects should be observable as an enhanced number of BH’s with large mass , resulting in an increased occurrence of gravitational lensing, and an enhanced ability to entrap relatively distant stellar objects.  2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
Experimental and Theoretical Studies of Sodium Cation Complexes of the Deamidation and Dehydration Products of Asparagine, Glutamine, Aspartic Acid, and Glutamic Acid

The deamidation and dehydration products of Na+(L), where L = asparagine (Asn), glutamine (Gln), aspartic acid (Asp), and glutamic acid (Glu), are examined in detail utilizing collision-induced dissociation (CID) with Xe in a guided ion beam tandem mass spectrometer (GIBMS). Results establish that the Na+(L) complexes decompose upon formation in our dc discharge/flow tube ion source to form a bis-ligand complex, Na+(L−HX)(HX), composed of a sodium cation, the (L−HX) decomposition product, and HX, where HX = NH3 for the amides and H2O for the acids. Analysis of the energy-dependent CID cross sections for the Na+(L−HX)(HX) complexes provides unambiguous identification of the (L−HX) fragmentation products as 3-amino succinic anhydride (a-SA) for Asx and oxo-proline (O-Pro) for Glx. Furthermore, these experiments establish the 0 K sodium cation affinities for these five-membered ring decomposition products and the H2O and NH3 binding affinities of the Na+(a-SA) and Na+(O-Pro) complexes after accounting for un...
Instabilities of Regression Estimates Relating Air Pollution to Mortality

The instability of ordinary least squares estimates of linear regression coefficients is demonstrated for mortality rates regressed around various socioeconomic, weather and pollution variables. A ridge regression technique presented by Hoer1 and Kennard (Technometrics 12 (1970) 69–82) is employed to arrive at “stable” regression coefficients which, in some instances, differ considerably from the ordinary least squares estimates. In addition, two methods of variable elimination are compared—one based on total squared error and the other on a ridge trace analysis.
Letter to the Glyco-Forum Specificity in heparin/heparan sulphate-protein interactions

At the 22nd Annual Meeting of the Society for Complex Carbohydrates in Puerto Rico, the membership voted almost unanimously to change the name of the Society to 'Society for Glycobiology' and to affiliate with Glycobiology. The benefits to our Society, the field in general, and the Journal are great. Glycobiology will immediately increase its subscriber base by several hundred personal subscriptions. Thus, authors are now even more assured that their work will receive high visibility. The Society now also gains a highly visible and regular means of communication, and will benefit financially both from royalties and from not having to pay for publication of the annual meeting abstracts. Members will find that the combined dues and subscription prices are substantially cheaper than a nonmember subscription. Students are now being offered subcriptions at substantially reduced rates. Glycobiology is now entering its fourth year. The affiliation with the Society for Glycobiology reflects the maturation and acceptance of the Journal, and is clearly beneficial for both the Journal and our field in general.