cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
In situ XAFS analysis of the LixNi0.8Co0.2O2 cathode during cycling in lithium batteries

Abstract The layered LiNi 0.8 Co 0.2 O 2 system has drawn interest as a cathode material for lithium battery high-power applications. In order to determine the charge compensation mechanism and structural perturbations occurring in the system during cycling, in situ battery X-ray absorption fine-structure spectroscopy (XAFS) measurements were conducted on a cell cycled at a moderate rate and typical Li-ion battery operating voltages (3.0–4.1 V). The XAFS data collected at the Ni and Co edges approximately every 30 min during cycling revealed details about the response of the cathode to Li insertion and extraction. These measurements on the Li x Ni 0.8 Co 0.2 O 2 cathode (0.29 x 3+ Jahn–Teller ion. An analysis of the metal–metal distances suggests, contrary to a qualitative analysis of the X-ray absorption near-edge structure (XANES), that Co 3+ is oxidized to the maximum extent possible (within the Li content range of this experiment) at x =0.47±0.04, while Ni 3+ is oxidized in equal and linear increments proportional to the battery's state-of-charge. XAFS results on discharge show an almost completely reversible process with charge compensation through Co 4+ and Ni 4+ site reduction and a return to the original structural state.
Replication of Epstein–Barr virus in human epithelial cells infected in vitro

Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), a member of the herpes group of viruses and the aetiological agent of infectious mononucleosis, is usually thought of as a lymphotrophic virus with the ability to transform B lymphocytes. So the association of EBV with nasopharyngeal carcinoma is puzzling, especially given the lack of success of attempts to infect epithelial cells with EBV in culture and the apparent lack of EBV receptors on epithelial cells. Circumvention of the apparent requirement for membrane receptors by techniques of transfection, microinjection and receptor transplantation has clearly demonstrated that there is no inherent barrier to EBV replication in nonlymphoid cells, including epithelial cell types. Our ability routinely to detect EBV DNA by in situ hybridization in epithelial cells of the oropharynx from persons with acute infectious mononucleosis suggests that, in vivo, EBV regularly gains access to and replicates lytically in epithelial cells. We report here in vitro evidence for direct infection by EBV and replication of the virus in cultured normal human epithelial cells.
Thermal Analysis of Brazing Seal and Sterilizing Technique to Break Contamination Chain for Mars Sample Return

The potential to return Martian samples to Earth for extensive analysis is in great interest of the planetary science community. It is important to make sure the mission would securely contain any microbes that may possibly exist on Mars so that they would not be able to cause any adverse effects on Earth’s environment. A brazing sealing and sterilizing technique has been proposed to break the Mars-to-Earth contamination chain. Thermal analysis of the brazing process was conducted for several conceptual designs that apply the technique. Control of the increase of the temperature of the Martian samples is a challenge. The temperature profiles of the Martian samples being sealed in the container were predicted by finite element thermal models. The results show that the sealing and sterilization process can be controlled such that the samples’ temperature is maintained below the potentially required level, and that the brazing technique is a feasible approach to break the contamination chain. © (2015) COPYRIGHT Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE). Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
What is the feasibility of imaging coronary arteries during routine echocardiograms in children

Abstract Background: Abnormalities of coronary artery (CA) origins may be associated with sudden death. No data exist regarding the feasibility of routine echocardiographic imaging of CA in pediatrics. Objective: Our aim was to determine the feasibility of imaging CA origins during routine echocardiograms. Methods: One hundred randomly selected children without clinical evidence of heart disease were studied. The mean age was 13.8 ± 6.4 years. Location of CA origins were tallied with clock-face reference. Results: The left CA origin was imaged in 98% with the origin most commonly at 3:30 o'clock. The right CA origin was imaged in 95% with the origin most commonly at 11 o'clock. Four abnormalities of CA were discovered: right CA origin from the left coronary sinus n=2, circumflex from right CA origin n=1, and small left CA origin to pulmonary artery fistula n=1. Conclusion: We conclude that imaging of CA origins during routine pediatric echocardiograms is feasible with a potentially life-saving result. (J Am Soc Echocardiogr 2002;15:1127-31.)
Intravenous Administration of Bovine Plasma Albumin.

Conclusions1. Methyl alcohol is preferable to ammonium sulfate for the preparation of bovine albumin for intravenous use. 2. Bovine albumin can be prepared which gives a low incidence of reactions when administered intravenously to man.
Pharmakogenetik in kolorektalen Karzinomen

Dieser Beitrag fasst die aktuelle Literatur molekularer Faktoren zusammen, die die Wirksamkeit und Toxizitat der zur Therapie kolorektaler Karzinome verwendeten Medikamente bestimmen konnen. Neben dem Einfluss von Genexpressionsspiegeln auf Toxizitat und Ansprechen der Therapie wird die Rolle genomischer Polymorphismen diskutiert. Als genetische Marker werden die Expression und Polymorphismus-Varianten von Genen evaluiert, die eine pradiktive Rolle fur die Therapie mit Fluoropyrimidinen, Topoisomerase-Inhibitoren und Platin-Komplexen spielen.
Conservation of Distantly Related Membrane Proteins: Photosynthetic Reaction Centers Share a Common Structural Core

Photosynthesis was established on Earth more than 3 billion years ago. All available evidences suggest that the earliest photosynthetic organisms were anoxygenic and that oxygen-evolving photosynthesis is a more recent development. The reaction center complexes that form the heart of the energy storage process are integral membrane pigment proteins that span the membrane in vectorial fashion to carry out electron transfer. The origin and extent of distribution of these proteins has been perplexing from a phylogenetic point of view mostly because of extreme sequence divergence. A series of integral membrane proteins of known structure and varying degrees of sequence identity have been compared using combinatorial extension-Monte Carlo methods. The proteins include photosynthetic reaction centers from proteobacteria and cyanobacterial photosystems I and II, as well as cytochrome oxidase, bacteriorhodopsin, and cytochrome b. The reaction center complexes show a remarkable conservation of the core structure of 5 transmembrane helices, strongly implying common ancestry, even though the residual sequence identity is less than 10%, whereas the other proteins have structures that are unrelated. A relationship of sequence with structure was derived from the reaction center structures; with characteristic decay length of 1.6 A. Phylogenetic trees derived from the structural alignments give insights into the earliest photosynthetic reaction center, strongly suggesting that it was a homodimeric complex that did not evolve oxygen.
Competition and Cooperation Among Parasitic Hymenoptera Related to Biological Control

Since the earliest days of this century the interactions of parasitic Hymenoptera that attack the same host species have been reported from time to time in connection with studies on the natural enemy fauna of pest insects. These studies indicate that the synchronous attack by two or more parasitic species on an individual of a host population, multiple parasitism, is of little, if any, importance in the economy of that population, whereas the attack by two or more parasitic species on a sequence of a host’s developmental stages and instars, sequential parasitism, may be highly important, especially from the standpoint of host regulation. Since the host-regulating capacity of a parasite species may vary both seasonally and geographically, sequential parasitism is highly conducive to continuity in the conservation of the host’s food supply, the practical measure of regulative parasitism. The cooperative as well as the competitive aspects of sequential parasitism are discussed. The parasite fauna of the black scale, Saissetia oleae (Bernard), is used to exemplify these aspects of parasitism.
Ascorbic Acid Is Cytotoxic to Dividing Human Tenon's Capsule Fibroblasts: A Possible Contributing Factor in Glaucoma Filtration Surgery Success

• Successful glaucoma filtration surgery depends on the incomplete healing of the surgical wound, with formation of a filtration bleb. In most other tissues, however, complete healing is the rule. I have explored the possibility that the high concentration of ascorbic acid normally present in aqueous humor inhibits wound healing after filtration surgery. At the concentration normally present in aqueous humor (1.1 mmol/L), ascorbic acid decreased the plating efficiency of cell suspensions of human Tenon's capsule fibroblasts by a mean (±SD) of 40%±10%. When added to low-density monolayer cultures of fibroblasts, ascorbic acid decreased the cell number by 90%±5%, an effect that was completely prevented by catalase. When added to confluent cultures, the cell number was decreased by only 14%±2%. If ascorbic acid has similar effects on fibroblasts in vivo, it may contribute to the incomplete wound healing that characterizes successful glaucoma surgery.
Mechanisms and Use of Calcium-Sensitizing Agents in the Failing Heart

Depressed cardiac contractility is central to many forms of cardiac disease and reflects the heart’s inability to generate adequate force despite being provided physiological activator calcium and chamber load. Yet, successful methods to enhance cardiac contractility have remained elusive. Agents such as dobutamine or milrinone that work through the β-receptor-cAMP-protein kinase A pathway are used to manage acute hemodynamic decompensation, but short-term and, particularly, long-term use can increase risks of arrhythmia and worsen outcome. These and other data have led to the conclusion that successful heart failure management should probably avoid the targeting of contractility improvement. Leading hypotheses for the failure of existing inotropic therapies is that they increase activator calcium, worsen arrhythmia, activate maladaptive Ca2+-dependent signaling cascades, and increase myocardial oxygen consumption, making hearts less efficient. An alternative approach to avoid such complications would be to directly influence the manner by which intracellular calcium is transduced into muscle force. The class of molecules that achieve this are often termed “calcium sensitizers” and have attracted growing clinical interest for more than 20 years.1 The mechanisms by which such effects are achieved vary widely and include direct activators of motor proteins such as myosin, enhancers of force generated by a cross-bridge, and agents that augment Ca2+–troponin C (TnC) binding and its consequences. To date, many such drugs have had additional effects, such as inhibiting cAMP phosphodiesterase (PDE3a), that likely contributed to their vasodilation/venodilation and Ca2+-dependent increases in heart rate and contractility. Other agents, such as levosimendan, also inhibit ATP-sensitive potassium channels, which can induce further effects. This review discusses basic molecular mechanisms for drugs that alter the myofilament response to calcium, how such agents affect muscle and whole-organ physiology, and what their clinical testing has revealed. In doing so, we attempted to bridge the …
Vitamin A Nutrition of the Equine: Growth, Serum Biochemistry and Hematology

Four diets were fed to pony fillies for 40 weeks. One group received a basal diet low in carotene, designated mildly deficient. Other groups were fed basal diet plus vitamin A propionate equivalent to 12 (control), 1,200 (mildly intoxicated) or 12,000 (severely intoxicated) microgram retinol/kg body weight/day. The mildly deficient group exhibited impairment of growth and hematopoiesis with decreased serum concentrations of iron, albumin and cholesterol prior to depletion of liver vitamin A. Growth was depressed in mildly intoxicated and severely intoxicated fillies. The latter became debilitated and died in less than 40 weeks with reduced serum concentrations of iron, albumin and cholesterol. Significant associations were calculated between dietary vitamin A and vitamin A concentrations in plasma, liver and kidney, and between plasma vitamin A and liver and kidney vitamin A. Plasma retinyl ester increased logarithmically with plasma total vitamin A and linearly with kidney vitamin A. The data suggest that increases in retinyl ester due to excessive dietary vitamin A occur prior to appearance of clinical signs and perhaps reflect kidney vitamin A levels. Calculated estimates of optimal vitamin A intake fo maximal growth averaged 1.4 times the current National Research Council recommendation, for liver secreted serum constituents 5.4 times and for red blood cell criteria 10 times. Thus the recommended intake of 12 microgram/kg for weanling horses appears less than optimal. The data suggest hematologic criteria and serum biochemistries may be more sensitive indicators of vitamin A nutriture than growth.
Stretched call model for next generation cellular networks

This paper examines the possibility of implementation of relaying in 3G cellular systems by allowing calls between a mobile terminal and base station to be forwarded by some other mobile device in the cell. This "stretched" call provides improvements in throughput, capacity, energy savings and coverage. The main contribution of this paper is to enumerate the problems that are introduced due to relaying, and how they could be resolved. We consider cdma2000, UTRA-FDD and UTRA-TDD technologies of 3G cellular, and discuss stretched models suitable for best throughput and delay metrics.
‘Kid tested, mother approved’: the relationship between advertising expenditures and ‘most-loved’ brands

In this research, we examine the relationship between advertising expenditures and perceptions regarding popular brands as held by children and mothers in the United States. Our findings show that traditional media advertising expenditures positively relate with brand affinity for children and mothers, while product placement relates positively with children's brand affinity but not with mothers' brand affinity. A closer examination of advertising budgets reveals that marketers for the top children's brands devote most of their advertising to TV and magazine advertisements, indicating that they still believe that traditional media play a key role in reaching the youth market. Additionally, the advertisers spend disproportionately higher amounts to reach Hispanic and African American populations.
G250(P) To save eye or to save life: Can we improve survival of children with Retinoblastoma in Developing Countries?Expirience from Children’s Hospital Lahore

Purpose The Children’s Hospital Lahore is a tertiary government centre with 45 paediatricOncology beds. It receives over 500 new cancer patients per year. The purpose of this study was to analyse treatment and outcome of children with biopsy proven retinoblastoma and discuss various factors causing poor survival. Materials and methods Retrospective review of 48 patients enrolled between January 2011 – October 2013 was done. Data regarding age, stage, histopathology, treatment, outcome and impact of delayed presentation were analysed. Patients were treated according to UKCCSG Retinoblastoma protocol along with Enucleation. Results Total 48 patients with age ranging from 1 to 10 (94% Conclusion Mortality of 17% can be reduced by early diagnosis and strategies to combat complications. Majority of patients have advanced extra ocular disease at presentation and a high rate of abandoning treatment. The successful management of retinoblastoma depends on the ability to detect the disease while it is still intraocular. The extent of disease progression usually correlates with the extent of delay in diagnosis. In developing countries, late referrals are strongly associated with orbital and metastatic disease. The prognosis can significantly be improved by public awareness to seek early treatment and establishing safe and effective shared care oncology pathways, multidisciplinary team approach and providing strong social support and extensive psychosocial counselling.
Expression of two Escherichia coli acetyl-CoA carboxylase subunits is autoregulated

Acetyl-CoA carboxylase (ACC) catalyzes the first step of fatty acid biosynthesis, the synthesis of malonyl-CoA from acetyl-CoA using ATP and bicarbonate. In Escherichia coli and most other bacteria, ACC is composed of four subunits encoded by accA, accB, accC, and accD. Prior work from this laboratory showed that the in vivo expression of the accBC operon had a strikingly nonlinear response to gene copy number (Li, S.-J, and Cronan, J. E., Jr. (1993) J. Bacteriol. 175, 332-340) in that the presence of 50 or more copies of the accBC operon resulted in only a 2-3-fold increase in AccB and AccC. We now report that AccB functions to negatively regulate transcription of the accBC operon. Expression of a chimeric protein consisting of the N terminus of E. coli AccB and the C-terminal bioinylation domain of Bacillus subtilis AccB down-regulated transcription of the E. coli accBC operon. A truncated form of AccB consisting of the N-terminal 68 amino acids of E. coli AccB was sufficient to negatively regulate the accBC operon. In vivo bypass of acetyl-CoA carboxylase activity by expression of a malonyl-CoA synthase from Rhizobium trifolii allowed construction of strain deleted for the accA and accB genes. Unexpectedly, the deltaaccB mutation could not be resolved from the deltaaccA mutation. Transcription of the accBC operon in the deltaaccB deltaaccA strain continued well into stationary phase under growth conditions that normally result in greatly decreased transcription. These data support a model in which AccB acts as an autoregulator of accBC operon transcription.
The Americans With Disabilities Act: New Obligations for Hospitality Operators

The Americans with Disabilities Act is new federal legislation prohibiting discrimination against disabled individuals in employment and in the provision of goods, services, and facilities in public accommodations. Since nearly all hospitality establishments are covered by the Act's requirements, the new law has the potential to require significant changes in the way hospitality operators do business.Among necessary considerations for hospitality employers under the Act are whether a particular applicant or employee is "disabled," whether the person is "qualified" for the job in question, what the "essential" functions of the job are, what constitutes "reasonable accommodation" of the disabled individual, and whether a particular accommodation constitutes an "undue hardship" for the employer.Among necessary considerations for hospitality operators under the Act are what modifications are necessary to remove architectural barriers for disabled patrons and whether the modifications in question are "readily ...
Ethnopsychopharmacology considerations for Asians and Asian Americans

Asians comprise more than 60% of the world's population and are the fastest growing minority group in the United States. Today's psychiatrist must learn to recognize and appreciate the unique factors that influence mental health outcomes in this group. Asian Americans are affected by psychiatric disorders at similar rates as non-Asians, but are significantly underrepresented in psychiatric clinics. When Asians and Asian Americans do present for psychiatric treatment, they often do so with higher severity of illness, and variable levels of compliance. Studies over the past three decades have suggested that pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic profiles of various psychotropic medications may be different in Asians, leading to differences in dosage requirements and side-effect profiles. These variations appear to be largely determined by genetic predisposition, but are also influenced by other factors such as environment, social support, cultural perceptions, and physicians' prescribing habits. In this paper, we provide an overview of biological and socio-cultural issues as they relate to psychopharmacology in Asians and Asian Americans, with the hope that a better understanding of these issues will lead to improved mental health care delivery to this population both in the United States, as well as in Asian countries.
6-Ethyl-5,7-di­methyl-6H-1,4-diazepine-2,3-dicarbo­nitrile

In the title compound, C11H12N4, the diazepine ring exhibits a boat conformation, where the displacements of the C atoms attached to the nitrile groups and the C atom attached to the ethyl group are 0.591 (1), 0.585 (1) and 0.845 (1) A from the base of the boat.
Critical Thinking Skills among Elementary School Students: Comparing Identified Gifted and General Education Student Performance.

Education reform efforts, including the current adoption of Common Core State Standards, have increased attention to teaching critical thinking skills to all students. This study investigated the critical thinking skills of fourth-grade students from a school district in Texas, including 45 identified gifted students and 163 general education students. Identified gifted students outperformed general education students on both the Cornell Critical Thinking Test and the Test of Critical Thinking (d = 1.52 and d = 1.36, respectively). There was no evidence of main effects or interaction effects for gender in measures of critical thinking within these samples. Critical thinking scores of students in the three schools did not differ significantly, nor were differences in scores associated with length of exposure to the gifted education program. The association of higher ability with advanced critical thinking skills, but at the same time, the lack of evidence of an effect of the gifted education programs (whic...
A Task-Centric Memory Model for Scalable Accelerator Architectures

This article presents a memory model for parallel compute accelerators with task-based programming models that uses a software protocol, working in collaboration with hardware caches, to maintain a coherent, single address space view of memory without requiring hardware cache coherence. The memory model supports visual computing applications, which are becoming an important class of workloads capable of exploiting 1,000-core processors.
Singular-Value-Decomposition Based Four Port De-embedding and Single-step Error Calibration for On-chip Measurement

We present the 4-port based two-step on-chip parasitics de-embedding and single-step error calibration results for on-chip transistor measurements on a 0.13 mum RF CMOS process. SVD is used for solving the unknown 4-port transmission parameters and quantifying the measurement errors in the single-step approach. Despite the less accurate on-chip standards compared to standards on an impedance standard substrate, single-step error calibration gives reasonable Y-parameters for the examined transistor.
Self-identity in marriage and widowhood.

Theories of symbolic interaction and ethnomethodology assume that everyone undertakes a complex process of construction of reality, including self-identity, in interaction with significant others. ...
Smoking cessation is associated with decreased mortality and improved amputation-free survival among patients with symptomatic peripheral artery disease

Objective Although smoking cessation is recommended for all patients with peripheral artery disease, there are little data regarding the prevalence of smoking among patients at the time of angiography or the effect of smoking cessation on clinical outcomes. Methods Consecutive patients with claudication or critical limb ischemia who underwent peripheral angiography from 2006 to 2013 were included in an observational cohort analysis. Smoking status was assessed at the time of angiography and during follow-up clinic visits. Kaplan-Meier analysis was used to assess the relationship between smoking cessation, mortality, and amputation-free survival. Results Among 739 patients (423 men and 316 women; mean age, 60 ± 12 years), 204 (28%) remained active smokers at the time of lower extremity angiography. At the time of angiography, the mean number of cigarettes smoked per day was 16 ± 10, and the mean pack-years was 40 ± 25. During the course of the subsequent year, 61 patients (30%) successfully quit smoking and maintained continued abstinence. Baseline medication use between groups did not differ significantly. The mean ankle-brachial index was also similar for quitters vs nonquitters (0.53 ± 24 vs 0.49 ± 0.22; P = .3). During follow-up to 5 years, patients who quit smoking had significantly lower all-cause mortality (14% vs 31%; hazard ratio, 0.40; 95% confidence interval, 0.18-0.90) and improved amputation-free survival (81% vs 60%; hazard ratio, 0.43, 95% confidence interval, 0.22-0.86) compared with patients who continued smoking, with most of the difference driven by reduced mortality among patients who quit smoking. The findings remained significant on multivariable analysis. Conclusions Approximately one-third of active smokers with peripheral artery disease successfully quit smoking ≤1 year after lower extremity angiography. Patients who quit smoking have lower mortality and improved amputation-free survival compared with patients who continue smoking.
Initial in vivo experience with steady-state subzone-based MR elastography of the human breast

Purpose: To describe initial in vivo experiences with a subzone-based, steady-state MR elastography (MRE) method. This sparse collection of in vivo results is intended to shed light on some of the strengths and weaknesses of existing clinical MRE approaches and to indicate important areas of future research. Materials and Methods: Elastic property reconstruction results are compared with data compiled from the limited existing body of published studies in breast elasticity. Mechanical parameter distributions are also investigated in terms of their implications for the nature of biological soft tissue. Additionally, a derivation of the statistical variance of the elastic parameter reconstruction is given and the resulting confidence intervals (CIs) for different parameter solutions are examined. Results: By comparison with existing estimates of the elastic properties of breast tissue, the subzone-based, steadystate MRE method is seen to produce reasonable estimates for the mechanical properties of in vivo tissue.
Infectious Hematopoietic Necrosis Virus Matrix Protein Inhibits Host-Directed Gene Expression and Induces Morphological Changes of Apoptosis in Cell Cultures

Infectious hematopoietic necrosis virus (IHNV) infection in tissue culture cells has previously been shown to result in the shutdown of host protein synthesis, cell rounding, and cell death. We report here an investigation of the cytopathogenicity of the viral phosphoprotein (P or M1), matrix (M or M2), and nonvirion (NV) proteins in cultured fish cells. The expression of M alone potently inhibited reporter gene expression from a viral and an interferon (IFN)-inducible promoter, whereas P and NV did not produce a similar effect. Northern blot analysis further revealed a reduction in the steady-state level of reporter mRNA when the M gene was cotransfected into cells; conversely, M mRNA was not drastically reduced in the same cells. By immunofluorescence confocal microscopy, fragmented nuclei were found in some cells expressing M protein but not in cells expressing P, NV, or β-galactosidase protein. Electron microscopy revealed the morphological changes associated with apoptosis in the M-transfected cells. Furthermore, IHNV infection was shown to produce DNA “laddering” in cultured cells. Taken together, these data suggested at least two functions for M protein in an IHNV infection: down regulation of host transcription and the induction of programmed cell death. In the course of these experiments, we also discovered that NV expression was associated with cell rounding, the first biological effect on cells to be attributed to the NV gene.
General Approach to Payment Adjustments for Flexible Pavements

The quest for developing a payment adjustment plan for contractors considering several distress indicators simultaneously is hindered by three issues: (1) different measurement units for the distress indicators; (2) possible correlation among those indicators; and (3) variation in each of the indicators. In this study, three procedures are compiled together to cope with the preceding issues. First, normalization of each distress indicator is employed to create a dimensionless indicator. Second, principal components analysis, a multivariate statistical technique, is applied to eliminate the possible correlation among the distress indicators. Finally, through a proposed reliability analysis procedure, the pay factor is determined by the ratio of the reliability of the uncorrelated principal components of the as-built pavement over that of the as-designed pavement. Reliability refers to the level of confidence that exists in the distress indicators, not to exceed a certain limit. The results showed that pay factors based on multiple distress indicators are usually lower than those based on one single indicator when the variation in influencing factors such as asphalt concrete thickness is large.
Can a monkey with a computer create art

A computer can be pr ogr ammed to s ear ch thr ough the s olution of millions of equations to find a few hundr ed whos e gr aphical dis play is aes thetically pleas ing to humans . This paper des cr ibes s ome methods for per for ming s uch an ex haus tiv e s ear ch, cr iter ia for automatically j udging aes thetic appeal, and ex amples of the r es ults .
The Influence of Age and Stimuli on the Explanations of "Same" and "Different" by Young Children

ness of the stimuli, from objects to pictures to words without visual referents. Three possible explanations are proposed. First of all, an order or practice effect might have contributed to the absence of variation in performance. For all subjects, the tasks were presented in the same order beginning with Object items, then Picture items, then Word items. This order was agreed upon so as to avoid a failure effect that might have occurred if the most abstract, and assumedly most difficult, task were presented first. Possibly an order or practice effect masked an otherwise increasing level of difficulty in the task-stimuli. Secondly, while the visual stimuli changed, the task, including the verbal stimuli and the response, remained essentially the same. In the other investigations that used objects or pictorial stimuli, the subjects were required to first select the items that were either the same or different. This selection task preceded the verbal task of explaining the similarities or differences between the selected items. Following this procedure, children as young as three-years, seven-months were able to explain differences (Webb et al., 1973) and children at least as young as six-years, six-months were able to explain similarities (Greenfield et al., 1966; Olver and Hornsby, 1966). No children younger than six-years, six-months were included in these two studies. In light of
Release of Unpackaged Adult Codling Moths from Rotary or Fixed-Wing Aircraft

Average rates of recovery from releases of unpackaged Adult Laspeyresia pomonella (L.) from a fixed-wing aircraft and a helicopter were 72.3 and 86.2%, respectively, of the recovery from ground releases (based on catches of released male months in traps baited with virgin females). The low recover of moths released from the fixed-wing aircraft was attributed primarily to physical damage inflicted during the passage through the release tube and the entry into the fast-moving air stream. When these rates of recovery in the filed were checked by releasing male moths from fixed-wing aircraft over a snowfield in January, retrieving these moths, and releasing them again in a heated greenhouse, the 2 rates were found to be similar.
Evaluation on sampling methods for vaccination coverage study in children

Objective To compare and evaluate three sampling methods in order to determine the optimal one for the vaccination coverage survey in children.Methods PPS,systematic sampling and stratified cluster sampling methods were used to analyze the vaccination coverage among children aged 1-2 years in Tianjin which included vaccination card rate,certificate rate,card-certificate matching rate and vaccination coverage rate.Results A total of 2 965,1 073 and 192 children were surveyed by PPS,systematic sampling and stratified cluster sampling separately.There were no significant differences of certificate rates in between(χ2=0.794,P0.05;χ2=0.003,P0.05;χ2=0.15,P0.05),however,the card rates were statistically different(χ2=12.25,P0.05;χ2=194.85,P0.05;χ2=24.652,P0.05).The differences of almost all vaccination related parameters analyzed by systematic sampling method were not significant compared to those surveyed by PPS(P0.05),except for the coverage of OPV(P0.05).While,compared to PPS and systematic sampling method,the differences of majority vaccination-related parameters analyzed by stratified cluster sampling method were statistically significant(P0.05)except for the coverage of DPT and MV(P0.05)and for the coverage of OPV,DPT and on time shot of the first MV(P0.05).There was as high as 87.5% result consistence between PPS and systematic sampling.Conclusions PPS method can be replaced by systematic sampling one which is able to save manpower and resources under higher vaccination coverage situation.While,stratified cluster sampling method can be used for the inspection of the work in subordinate unit.
Aqueous process to limit hydration of thin-film inorganic oxides

Abstract Aqueous-processed aluminum oxide phosphate (AlPO) dielectric films were studied to determine how water desorbs and absorbs on heating and cooling, respectively. In-situ Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy showed a distinct, reversible mono- to bidentate phosphate structural change associated with water loss and uptake. Temperature programmed desorption measurements on a 1-μm thick AlPO film revealed water sorption was inhibited by an aqueous-processed HfO2 capping film only 11-nm thick. The HfO2 capping film prevents water resorption, thereby preserving the exceptional performance of AlPO as a thin-film dielectric.
Intracellular Cytokine Staining on PBMCs Using CyTOFTM Mass Cytometry

In this protocol, we use a CyTOF™ mass cytometry to collect single-cell data on a large number of cytokines/chemokines as well as cell-surface proteins that characterize T cells and other immune cells. The current selected mass window in AW 103-203 includes the lanthanides used for most antibody labeling, along with iridium and rhodium for DNA intercalators. The output data are in the format as .txt and .fcs files, which is compatible with many analysis programs. This protocol could be adapted to include tetramers into the staining panel, but we have not optimized for that purpose. The principal steps of intracellular cytokine staining are as follows: First, cells are activated for a few hours using either a specific peptide or a non-specific activation cocktail. An inhibitor of protein transport (e.g. Brefeldin A) is added to retain the cytokines within the cell. Next, EDTA is added to remove adherent cells from the activation vessel. After washing, antibodies to cell surface markers are added to the cells. The cells are then fixed in paraformaldehyde and permeabilized. We use a gentle detergent, saponin, as the permealization buffer because it is less destructive to surface and intracellular epitopes compared to harsh detergents or methanol. After permeabilization, the metal-conjugated anti-cytokine antibodies are added into the cell suspension. The stained cells are then sequentially introduced into the mass cytometry for signal intensity analysis.
Pragmatic Quality Assessment for Automatically Extracted Data

Automatically extracted data is rarely “clean” with respect to pragmatic (real-world) constraints—which thus hinders applications that depend on quality data. We proffer a solution to detecting pragmatic constraint violations that works via a declarative and semantically enabled constraint-violation checker. In conjunction with an ensemble of automated information extractors, the implemented prototype checks both hard and soft constraints—respectively those that are satisfied or not and those that are satisfied probabilistically with respect to a threshold. An experimental evaluation shows that the constraint checker identifies semantic errors with high precision and recall and that pragmatic error identification can improve results.
The Effects of Protein Dynamics on Immune System Signaling Pathways

Activation of signaling pathways in immune cells can be initiated by binding of membrane proteins, known as B-cell receptors (BCRs) or T-cell receptors (TCRs), to fragments of an antigen. The proteins spleen tyrosine kinase (Syk) and zeta-chain associated protein kinase 70 (ZAP-70) are among the first proteins to be activated upon engagement of the BCR or TCR. Recruitment of these proteins to phosphorylated immunoreceptor tyrosine activation motifs (ITAMs) associated with the TCR or BCR activates the kinase whereupon it initiates downstream signaling pathways, eventually leading to an immune response. Syk and ZAP-70 are paralogs, with Syk being present in B-cells and ZAP-70 in T-cells. Additionally, ZAP-70 and Syk share the domain architecture of tandem SH2 domains (tSH2) linked to a kinase domain. The tSH2 is responsible for binding the phosphorylated ITAMs. Despite similarities in the structure and function of these two kinases, there are key differences in their intrinsic activity and specificity. Using the technique of hydrogen exchange by mass spectrometry (HX/MS) we have identified the Inter-SH2 linker as being significantly different in ZAP-70 compared to Syk. HX/MS experiments indicate that the Inter-SH2 linker of the Syk tSH2 is very flexible and potentially disordered unless bound to a phosphorylated ITAM. This is not the case for the ZAP-70 tSH2, which shows protection even in the apo state. These findings suggest that the intrinsic flexibility of these proteins may be the cause of some of the observed differences in auto-inhibition, activity, and specificity.
Optimization of the linear quantification range of an online trypsin digestion coupled liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry (LC–MS/MS) platform

ABSTRACTTandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS)-based proteomic workflows with a bottom-up approach require enzymatic digestion of proteins to peptide analytes, usually by trypsin. Online coupling of trypsin digestion of proteins, using an immobilized enzyme reactor (IMER), with liquid chromatography (LC) and MS/MS is becoming a frequently used approach. However, finding IMER digestion conditions that allow quantitative analysis of multiple proteins with wide range of endogenous concentration requires optimization of multiple interactive parameters: digestion buffer flow rate, injection volume, sample dilution, and surfactant type/concentration. In this report, we present a design of experiment approach for the optimization of an integrated IMER-LC–MS/MS platform. With bovine serum albumin as a model protein, the digestion efficacy and digestion rate were monitored based on LC–MS/MS peak area count versus protein concentration regression. The optimal parameters were determined through multivariate surface respon...
Study of aluminum particle combustion in solid propellant plumes using digital in-line holography and imaging pyrometry

Abstract The combustion of molten metals is an important area of study with applications ranging from solid aluminized rocket propellants to fireworks displays. This work uses digital in-line holography (DIH) to experimentally quantify the three-dimensional position, size, and velocity of aluminum particles during combustion of ammonium perchlorate (AP) based solid-rocket propellants. In addition, spatially resolved particle temperatures are simultaneously measured using two-color imaging pyrometry. To allow for fast characterization of the properties of tens of thousands of particles, automated data processing routines are proposed. Using these methods, statistics from aluminum particles with diameters ranging from 15 to 900 µm are collected at an ambient pressure of 83 kPa. In the first set of DIH experiments, increasing initial propellant temperature is shown to enhance the agglomeration of nascent aluminum at the burning surface, resulting in ejection of large molten aluminum particles into the exhaust plume. The resulting particle number and volume distributions are quantified. In the second set of simultaneous DIH and pyrometry experiments, particle size and velocity relationships as well as temperature statistics are explored. The average measured temperatures are found to be 2640 ± 282 K, which compares well with previous estimates of the range of particle and gas-phase temperatures. The novel methods proposed here represent new capabilities for simultaneous quantification of the joint size, velocity, and temperature statistics during the combustion of molten metal particles. The proposed techniques are expected to be useful for detailed performance assessment of metalized solid-rocket propellants.
The Biology of IgE: The Generation of High-Affinity IgE Antibodies

B cells can undergo affinity maturation through the process of somatic hypermutation (SHM) followed by selection for high-affinity variants. Affinity maturation occurs in germinal centers (GC) and requires T–B cell cooperation. Extra GC B-cell responses are associated with the production of low-affinity antibodies. B cells producing high-affinity IgE during T-dependent responses are not directly selected in GC but are produced by the sequential switching of GC-selected high-affinity IgG-producing B cells. In contrast, natural low-affinity IgE can be generated without cognate T–B cell interactions in lymphopenic conditions. Low- and high-affinity IgE may differentially affect mast cell survival and degranulation and thus determine whether mast cells contribute to a beneficial or pathogenic environment.
On the rules for aquatic locomotion

Why do most fish swim with a relatively constant tail-beat amplitude of approximately 20% of their body length while their speed is linearly correlated with their tail-beat flapping frequency? Scaling analysis and experiments show that this behavior is rooted in minimizing input power for swimming.
Analyzing productive learning behaviors for students using immediate corrective feedback in a blended learning environment

Undergraduate classes in many science and engineering courses are utilizing asynchronous computer platforms to host educational materials such as lecture videos or discussion forums. These platforms also have the ability to provide immediate feedback to students on formative assessment tasks such as homework problems, reading questions, or weekly quizzes. Although there have been a number of studies on computer-based feedback, there is more we need to know about how students interact with immediate feedback, and how those interactions influence their learning. In this study, we characterize introductory physics students' interactions with one computer-based immediate simple corrective feedback tool, the checkable answer feature (CAF), powered by the institutional version of the edX platform. We investigate how much students interact with the CAF, the patterns of interaction, and, ultimately, how these patterns are associated with course performance. We utilize rich quantitative data, including a large volume of server tracking logs that show students use the CAF, as well as performance metrics. Our findings show certain patterns of engagement with feedback reflect productive study strategies and significantly predict higher performance. The findings provide guidance for instructional practice and the continued development of online feedback tools in introductory STEM courses. We analyzed students' interactions with a simple feedback tool for online homework.Higher engagement with the feedback tool is positively correlated to performance.Getting the correct answer on the first try is negatively correlated to performance.Interactions with the feedback explains 25% of variance in cumulative grades.
Randomized controlled trial of a brief acceptance and commitment training for parents of individuals diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders

Abstract We examined the effect of a brief Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) based intervention for eighteen parents of children with autism compared to a matched randomized control group. The treatment group demonstrated statistically significant improvements (p
The Motor Vehicle and Traffic Safety Mandate

The modern era of safety regulation of motor vehicle travel in the United States began in 1965 with Senate hearings on the federal role in traffic safety. Congressional concern was epitomized in the opening statement by Senator Abraham Ribicoff: ...the awful carnage on our roads and streets continues and worsens. . . In the past minute 20 accidents have taken place. One-half hour from now three Americans will be dead who right now are alive. And for every half-hour of this day and the days to follow three more human beings will lose their lives on our nation’s roads and streets. The preliminary 1964 National Safety Council statistics, which try in hard cold numbers to describe our annual toll of suffering, misery and death resulting from our highways, show that we have again set a record. As a result of traffic accidents which occurred in 1964, 47,800 people have already died, and before the records are closed the total is expected to exceed 48,000 which is 10 percent more than 1963 fatalities which numbered 43,400. What is even more significant is that the deaths per 100 million miles traveled rose from 5.3 in 1962 to 5.5 in 1963 and 5.7 in 1964.1
Enhancing Data Curation of Cultural Heritage for Information Sharing: A Case Study Using Open Government Data

The purpose of this paper is to enhance cultural heritage data curation. A core research question of this study is how to share cultural heritage data by using ontologies. A case study was conducted using open government data mapped with the CIDOC-CRM (Conceptual Reference Model). Twelve library-related files in unstructured data format were collected from an open government website, Seoul Metropolitan Government of Korea (http://data.seoul.go.kr). By using the ontologies of the CIDOC CRM 5.1.2, we conducted a mapping process as a way of enhancing cultural heritage information to share information as a data component. We graphed each file then mapped each file in tables. Implications of this study are both the enhanced discoverability of unstructured data and the reusability of mapped information. Issues emerging from this study involve verification of detail for complete compatibility without further input from domain experts.
Rimantadine hydrochloride and amantadine hydrochloride use in influenza A virus infections

Amantadine and rimantadine are oral antiviral drugs useful in the prophylaxis and treatment of influenza A virus infections. This article reviews the pharmacology, antiviral activity and mechanism of action, pharmacokinetics, toxicities, efficacy, and clinical applications of these agents. When administered in equivalent dosages (200 mg per day), rimantadine has prophylactic efficacy comparable to amantadine but lower potential for causing adverse effects. Despite structural similarities, these drugs differ significantly in their pharmacokinetics, and these differences may account for rimantadine's more favorable toxicity profile. Both drugs provide therapeutic benefit if administered early in uncomplicated influenza, and studies are currently in progress to determine the effectiveness of oral rimantadine in preventing or treating the serious complications of influenza A virus infections.