cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Silver-Iodide Seeding and Rainfall from Convective Clouds

Abstract Summer convective clouds over a fairly isolated mountain range over southeastern Arizona were seeded by means of airborne silver-iodide generators. The selection of days to be seeded was made according to a randomization scheme involving the examination of pairs of days. After a program conducted during the period 1957 to 1960 failed to show that rainfall was increased, the experimental procedures were changed and a second set of tests were performed during 1961, 1962 and 1964. This report deals with the analysis of rainfall measured by networks of recording rain gages over the mountain target. The data do not support a hypothesis that rainfall was increased as a result of the silver-iodide seeding.
Signal sequences activate the catalytic switch of SRP RNA.

The signal recognition particle (SRP) recognizes polypeptide chains bearing a signal sequence as they emerge from the ribosome, and then binds its membrane-associated receptor (SR), thereby delivering the ribosome–nascent chain complex to the endoplasmic reticulum in eukaryotic cells and the plasma membrane in prokaryotic cells. SRP RNA catalytically accelerates the interaction of SRP and SR, which stimulates their guanosine triphosphatase (GTPase) activities, leading to dissociation of the complex. We found that although the catalytic activity of SRP RNA appeared to be constitutive, SRP RNA accelerated complex formation only when SRP was bound to a signal sequence. This crucial control step was obscured because a detergent commonly included in the reaction buffer acted as a signal peptide mimic. Thus, SRP RNA is a molecular switch that renders the SRP-SR GTPase engine responsive to signal peptide recruitment, coupling GTP hydrolysis to productive protein targeting.
Hepatocytes mediate coenzyme A transfer to specific carbohydrate-derivatized surfaces.

Freshly isolated chicken and rat hepatocytes adhere with carbohydrate specificity to surfaces derivatized with N-acetylglucosamine and galactose respectively. Previously (Brandley, B.K. and Schnaar, R.L. (1985) J. Biol. Chem.260, 12474–12483) we reported that metabolically radiolabeled chicken hepatocytes covalently transferred phosphate radiolabel specifically to N-acetylglucosamine-derivatized surfaces. We now report that rat hepatocytes transfer phosphate radiolabel specifically to galactose-derivatized surfaces. Transferred radiolabel from both species to their appropriate carbohydrate-derivatized surface was identified as CoASH. After specific adhesion via the appropriate carbohydrate, CoASH is apparently released from cells and undergoes disulfide exchange with the cleavable immobilization linker we used to tether the sugars to the artificial surfaces. Although CoASH from lysed cells can undergo similar disulfide exchange, the data suggest that other, perhaps physiological mechanisms may be responsible for the carbohydrate-specific radiolabel transfer.
Cell-Mediated Immunity to Cytomegalovirus Infection in Normal Subjects and Cardiac Transplant Patients

Two assays of cell-mediated immunity, lymphocyte transformation and interferon production, were adapted to test for specific immunity to cytomegalovirus (CMV). Normal individuals seropositive for CMV had a mean transformation index of 7.9 in response to antigen of the Davis strain of CMV, whereas all of 14 seronegative normal individuals had transformation indexes of G3.0. Interferon production in seropositive and seronegative individuals was not statistically different. One to two months after CMV mononucleosis (after the termination of viruria), normal individuals had increased transformation indexes. Recipients of cardiac transplants within six months after transplant had normal levels of antibody to CMV; lymphocyte transformation and interferon production in these subjects were markedly decreased and returned to normal by three years and between one and three years after transplant, respectively. A syndrome of unexplained fever, hepatitis, pneumonitis, leukopenia, and atypical lymphocytes was common in a group of recipients with primary CMV infection. Shedding of virus was frequent in these symptomatic patients and in patients with repeat infection during the first three years after transplant. These assays appear to identify periods of immune deficits correlating with increased incidence of infection with CMV.
Long-term followup after mobile-bearing total knee replacement.

Clinical, radiographic, lanalyses and survivorship were done on the initial cementless series of 309 posterior cruciate-retaining meniscal-bearing and rotating-platform New Jersey LCS® total knee replacements followed up for 10 to 20 years (mean, 12.4 years). Clinical results in patients surviving at least 10 years using a strict knee scoring scale were similar for posterior cruciate ligament-retaining and posterior cruciate ligament-sacrificing designs. Good to excellent results were seen in 97.9% of primary posterior cruciate-retaining-bearing prostheses and in 97.9% of primary rotating-platform prostheses. Radiographic analysis of minimum 10-year followup radiographs showed generally stable fixation of all components with gross migration seen in one tibial component (0.6%) in a patient with a failed high tibial osteotomy. Significant osteolysis was present requiring bearing exchange and bone grating in three patients with cementless rotating-platform prostheses (1.8%) who had multiple knee surgeries at an average of 10.2 years from the index surgery. Survivorship of the primary cementless posterior cruciate-retaining meniscal-bearing prostheses with an end point of revision for any mechanical reason was 97.4% at 10 years and 83% at 16 years; using an end point of a poor clinical knee score, the survivorship was 98.9% at 10 and 16 years, respectively. Survivorship of the primary cementless rotating-platform prostheses with end points of revision for any mechanical reason or a poor clinical knee score was 98.3% survivorship at 10 and 18 years, respectively. In the current study, no cementless rotating-bearing patella loosened, fractured, or dissociated in patients without prior knee surgery although one cementless rotating-bearing patella (0.6%) in a patient who had multiple knee surgeries wore through the inferior marker wire after 10.8 years, causing metallosis that required revision.
Constitutive soxR Mutations Contribute to Multiple-Antibiotic Resistance in Clinical Escherichia coli Isolates

The soxRS regulon of Escherichia coli and Salmonella enterica is induced by redox-cycling compounds or nitric oxide and provides resistance to superoxide-generating agents, macrophage-generated nitric oxide, antibiotics, and organic solvents. We have previously shown that constitutive expression of soxRS can contribute to quinolone resistance in clinically relevant S. enterica. In this work, we have carried out an analysis of the mechanism of constitutive soxS expression and its role in antibiotic resistance in E. coli clinical isolates. We show that constitutive soxS expression in three out of six strains was caused by single point mutations in the soxR gene. The mutant SoxR proteins contributed to the multiple-antibiotic resistance phenotypes of the clinical strains and were sufficient to confer multiple-antibiotic resistance in a fresh genetic background. In the other three clinical isolates, we observed, for the first time, that elevated soxS expression was not due to mutations in soxR. The mechanism of such increased soxS expression remains unclear. The same E. coli clinical isolates harbored polymorphic soxR and soxS DNA sequences, also seen for the first time.
A new software architecture for parallel computation and visualization

Abstract A novel mathematical data model is investigated as a basis for software environments integrating high performance numerical computation, spontaneous visualization, computation steering, and visual programming in the context of distributed, parallel or network computing. By implementing this data model using enhanced versions of several existing software technologies, we plan to create an entirely new sort of computational environment that will make it much easier for scientists to focus the coming generation of high performance, parallel computers on compute-intensive scientific problems.
Military Cohesion and Regime Maintenance Explaining the Role of the Military in 1989 China and 1998 Indonesia

Why are certain militaries in authoritarian regimes more effective in carrying out the task of regime maintenance than others? This is the central question of this article, which explains the Chinese and Indonesian militaries’differing responses to government orders to suppress the Tiananmen Square demonstrations of 1989 and the protests prior to the downfall of Indonesian President Suharto in 1998. The article argues that the varying level of effectiveness in dealing with protestors is attributable to how governments employ institutional controls or “stick” mechanisms and the effect these controls have on military organizational cohesion. Specifically, the article notes that the efficacy of a regime's institutional controls does not just center on having mechanisms to monitor, prevent, and punish malfeasance within the military. Instead, militaries are likely to be successful in suppressing demonstrations if authoritarian leaders do not implement policies that undermine the organizational integrity of th...
Interdisciplinary Teaching in Economics: How is as Important as Why

Interdisciplinary courses have a place in college curricula, but not enough consideration has been given to how these courses are taught. I am suggest ing in this article that how we teach in terdisciplinary courses may be as im portant as that we teach them. Let me begin with an example from my own discipline?economics?that brings out the importance of interdisciplinary courses, but also highlights why our pedagogy is worth considering as well. During the 1950s, U.S. economists had sufficiently noted the severe pov erty and deprivation throughout the Third World that they began giving these countries special attention. The focus of their contributions was to help "them" to be like "us." Because we had industrialized and grown, increas ing our standards of living and broad ening the menu of available goods and services, so could they ... if they would simply do what we had done. So foreign advisers were quick to jump in and tell them how to do what we did. By the 1960s, the imposition of first world economic thinking had indeed resulted in growth throughout much of the Third World. But, at the same time, some of the problems that economists had intended to address not only had failed to disappear, but had worsened. Poverty, income distribution, and em
Information Technology Service Management and Opportunities for Information Systems Curricula

Historically, information systems (IS) programs have taught two of the three areas of information technology (IT) management: strategy and management, and applications development. Academic programs have ignored the third area, IT operations. IT operations management is becoming increasingly important as it is recognized as consuming as much as 90% of the IT budget and as acquisition of software becomes more prevalent than development of custom applications. Along with the shift of management focus to IT operations, standards such as the IT infrastructure library (ITIL) have been adopted by businesses to guide the development of processes for IT operations that facilitate evolution to IT service management. This shift to servitizing IT management, creates an opportunity for IS programs to align with business practices by innovating in the teaching of IT service management. Several methods of incorporating ITSM material into educational programs are explored.
Parallel multipole BEM simulation of two-dimensional suspension flows

Abstract The motion of a large number of cylinders of circular cross-section in various two-dimensional flows is studied using a completed double-layer indirect boundary integral formulation. This type of formulation, with specified velocity boundary conditions, results in a Fredholm integral equation of the second kind. Discretization of this type of equation produces linear systems which are generally well-conditioned and suitable for iterative solution. However, the equilibrium and rigid body motion equations necessary to close the system disrupt the diagonal dominance of the matrix, resulting in high condition numbers. A preconditioner based on the known structure of the matrix is used to significantly reduce the condition number, to a point where the number of iterations to achieve a solution is independent of the number of particles in the system. Under these conditions, the solution of a highly populated N×N matrix is proportional to N2. The computational cost quickly becomes excessive as the number of particles in the system increases. This has been the main drawback in using the Boundary Element Method for studying suspension flows. The operation count required to solve an N×N linear system can be drastically reduced to O (N log N) by using a first-shift multipole formulation, in conjunction with a matrix-free iterative linear equation solver. Even with such a reduction in the operation count, dynamic simulation of systems involving large numbers of particles can still only be solved using large-scale parallelization. It is therefore important to establish the multipole technique is suitable for parallelization. It is shown here that this is the case, provided that the implementation of the multipole method is appropriate. Having established that large scale dynamic simulations can be performed in acceptable times, the results of several such simulations are presented. Analysis is performed on the simulation results, to illustrate the usefulness of the particle-level simulation approach in the investigation of suspension flow.
Strategies for resolving coherence breaks in reading

In two experiments, participants read passages containing an elaborate description of a main character that was either consistent, inconsistent, or neutral with respect to actions carried out by that character later in the text. The descriptions and subsequent target actions were separated by filler material that created a coherence break at either a local level or a global level. In Experiment 1, reading times for critical sentences containing the target actions were significantly longer when the early description and the critical sentences were inconsistent. This was true for both the local and global coherence conditions. In Experiment 2, resolution of global inconsistencies improved memory for the regions of the text that involved the inconsistencies, whereas resolution of local inconsistencies did not. The results are discussed in terms of the different strategies readers may use to resolve local and global coherence breaks.
Improvement in severe onchocercal skin disease after a single dose of ivermectin

Abstract purpose: Skin disease is the most common clinically important manifestation of onchocerciasis. Ivermectin, a newly available drug, is well tolerated and effective in Onchocerca volvulus infection. However, little information is available regarding its effect on onchocercal skin disease. The purpose of this study was to examine, in patients with well-characterized onchodermatitis, the effect of a single dose of ivermectin. subjects and methods: Twenty-one persons with severe onchodermatitis were followed over a 6-month period. In order to evaluate the effect of ivermectin on their skin lesions, photographic transparencies were made before treatment and at 3 and 6 months after treatment. These were then evaluated in a blinded fashion. results: Following a single dose of 150 μg/kg, there was a significant improvement in dermatitis in the first 3 months after treatment. All 14 persons with the worst skin disease showed improvement. The drug had no demonstrable effect on depigmented lesions over the period of observation. Treatment was well tolerated. conclusion: Single-dose ivermectin shows promise as the first acceptable treatment for severe onchocercal dermatitis.
Intramural virtual electrodes in ventricular wall: effects on epicardial polarizations.

Background— Intramural virtual electrodes (IVEs) are believed to play an important role in defibrillation, but their existence in intact myocardium remains unproven. Here, IVEs were detected by use of optical recordings of shock-induced transmembrane potential (Vm) changes (ΔVm) measured from the intact epicardial heart surface. Methods and Results— To detect IVEs, isolated porcine left ventricles were sequentially stained with a Vm-sensitive dye by 2 methods: (1) surface staining (SS) and (2) global staining (GS) via coronary perfusion. Shocks (2 to 50 V/cm) were applied across the ventricular wall in an epicardial-to-endocardial direction during the action potential plateau via transparent mesh electrodes, and shock-induced ΔVm were measured optically from the same epicardial locations after SS and GS. Optical recordings revealed significant differences between ΔVm of 2 types that became more prominent with increasing shock strength: (1) for weak shocks, SS-ΔVm were larger and faster than GS-ΔVm; (2) fo...
Determination of As, Cd, Cr, and Hg in SRM 2584 (trace elements in indoor dust) by high-resolution inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry.

Standard reference material (SRM) 2584 (Trace Elements in Indoor Dust) was developed as a reference standard for evaluating field methods and for validating laboratory and reference methods for the assessment of lead contamination and exposure. In addition to lead, the toxic trace elements As, Cd, Cr, and Hg, at approximately 17, 10, 140, and 5 μg g–1, respectively, have been certified in the SRM. These four analytes were successfully determined by use of high-resolution inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (HR-ICP–MS). Isobaric interferences at masses of As and Cr were resolved by using the high resolution mode (nominal 8000) and the medium resolution mode (nominal 3000), respectively, of the instrument.
Self-organized criticality as Witten-type topological field theory with spontaneously broken Becchi-Rouet-Stora-Tyutin symmetry

Here, a scenario is proposed, according to which a generic self-organized critical (SOC) system can be looked upon as a Witten-type topological field theory (W-TFT) with spontaneously broken Becchi-Rouet-Stora-Tyutin (BRST) symmetry. One of the conditions for the SOC is the slow driving noise, which unambiguously suggests Stratonovich interpretation of the corresponding stochastic differential equation (SDE). This, in turn, necessitates the use of Parisi-Sourlas-Wu stochastic quantization procedure, which straightforwardly leads to a model with BRST-exact action, i.e., to a W-TFT. In the parameter space of the SDE, there must exist full-dimensional regions where the BRST symmetry is spontaneously broken by instantons, which in the context of SOC are essentially avalanches. In these regions, the avalanche-type SOC dynamics is liberated from overwise a rightful dynamics-less W-TFT, and a Goldstone mode of Fadeev-Popov ghosts exists. Goldstinos represent moduli of instantons (avalanches) and being gapless are responsible for the critical avalanche distribution in the low-energy, long-wavelength limit. The above arguments are robust against moderate variations of the SDE's parameters and the criticality is 'self-tuned'. The proposition of this paper suggests that the machinery of W-TFTs may find its applications in many different areas of modern science studying various physical realizations of SOC. It alsomore » suggests that there may in principle exist a connection between some SOC's and the concept of topological quantum computing.« less
Simultaneous Gene Deletion of Gata4 and Gata6 Leads to Early Disruption of Follicular Development and Germ Cell Loss in the Murine Ovary

Granulosa cell formation and subsequent follicular assembly are important for ovarian development and function. Two members of the GATA family of transcription factors, GATA4 and GATA6, are expressed in ovarian somatic cells early in development, and their importance in adult ovarian function has been recently highlighted. In this study, we demonstrated that the embryonic loss of Gata4 and Gata6 expression within the ovary results in a strong down-regulation of genes involved in the ovarian developmental pathway (Fst and Irx3) as well as diminished expression of the pregranulosa and granulosa cell markers SPRR2 and FOXL2, respectively. Postnatal ovaries deficient in both Gata genes show impaired somatic cell proliferation and arrested follicular development at the primordial stage, where oocytes are either enclosed by one layer of squamous granulosa cells or remain in germ cell nests/clusters. Furthermore, germ cell nests and primordial follicles are predominantly localized to the central region of the Sf1Cre; Gata4(flox/flox) Gata6(flox/flox) ovaries, where the boundary between the medulla and cortex is almost nonexistent. Lastly, most of the oocytes are lost early in development in conditional double mutant ovaries, which confirms the importance of normally differentiated granulosa cells as supporting cells for oocyte survival. Thus, both GATA4 and GATA6 proteins are fundamental regulators of granulosa cell differentiation and proliferation, and consequently of proper follicular assembly during normal ovarian development and function.
$$\bar pp$$ elastic scattering in the backward hemisphere from 686 to 1098 MeV/celastic scattering in the backward hemisphere from 686 to 1098 MeV/c

We present differential cross-sections for\(\bar pp\) elastic scattering for cosθc.m.<0 at six laboratory momenta from 686 MeV/c to 1098 MeV/c. The data are dominated by the secondary diffraction peak which moves slowly to larger values of |t| as the beam momentum increases. There is no evidence for a third diffraction peak or for direct-channel effects in these data.
Indian Children and Their Guardians Ad Litem

One of the primary goals of the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) is to limit the influence or bias of state workers in decisions placing American Indian children out of their home and community. While this focus usually concerns state social workers, the officials who most often seek removal of a child, or the courts, the body that issues the orders and opinions, guardians ad litem (GALs) receive less attention. Despite this lack of attention, GALs exert a similar level of influence as state social workers. In Adoptive Couple v. Baby Girl, the role of the GAL was unusual but critical – the GAL, while officially appointed by the court, was handpicked by the adoptive parents. The role of the GAL remains understudied in the ICWA literature, though GALs continue to exert enormous influence in the courts. Unfortunately, many GALs throughout the nation subvert the national policy embodied by the ICWA by advocating against the implementation of the statute in case after case.
A New Automated and High Speed Machinery System for Filling High Viscous Liquids

The application of automation to industries brings revolution for manufacturing techniques and allows more sophisticated, flexible, reliable, and cost-effective manufacturing process control. Automation is to use control system to reduce human labor intervention during manufacturing processes and production. It plays very important role and puts strong impact in industries. Automation is not only significantly increasing the production speed but also more accurately controlling product quality. The automated manufacturing can maintain consistent quality, shorten lead time, simplify material handling, optimize work flow, and meet the product demand for flexibility and convertibility in production. The current economic globalization requires significant labor cost reduction through industry automation, better machine tools, and efficient production process. This paper is to design and develop a new automated and high speed machinery system for filling high viscous liquids. It includes the design of automated and high speed machinery, computer aided modeling and simulation of automated mechanical system, and prototype testing. The major advantages of this new automated and high speed liquid filling system include reliable function, high volume filling rates, good sealing capacity, and cost-effective manufacturing process. This new automated and high speed manufacturing systems has been analyzed by computer aided modeling and simulation, and verified through prototype testing. Both results indicate that this automated and high speed manufacturing systems can keep high product quantity and reliable product quality.
The Globalization of Production and the Changing Benefits of Conquest

This article examines the conditions under which conquest is likely to reap significant economic rewards. Scholars have largely focused on how the level of popular resistance within the vanquished country influences the benefits of conquest. What needs to be scrutinized in greater depth is how post-World War II economic transformations within the most advanced countries affect the benefits of conquest. This article focuses on examining one particular economic change that has been neglected for the most part in the security and peace literature: the globalization of production. The article delineates four recent changes in the structure of global production and outlines how each of these economic transformations alters the benefits of conquest. The collective impact of the arguments strongly indicates that the benefits of conquest have declined significantly in recent years within the most economically advanced countries.
Palaearctic origin of Leishmania

The hypothesis of a Palaearctic origin of Leishmania in the early Cenozoic, dispersal to the Nearctic in the late Eocene and to the Neotropical in the Pliocene is presented. It is further hypothesized that murid rodents and their immediate ancestors have been important mammalian reservoirs since the origination of Leishmania. Biochemical, molecular, biogeographical, entomological, mammalalogical and ecological support for these hypotheses are reviewed.
Cell manipulation in microsystems for clinical and biological applications

The mission of the center is to develop and promote living-cell-based microdevices as key technologies in medicine and biological sciences. By integrating engineering methods and biological research into novel microsystem technologies, we aim to provide unique capabilities to biomedical investigators to probe, manipulate, engineer, and analyze biological cells for diagnostic, prognostic and therapeutic advances and basic biology discovery. This brief review describes our recent work in microchips for blood analysis, microfabricated living cell arrays, and microfluidic gradient generators for studies of cellular chemotaxis.
OPTIMAL GAIT DESIGN FOR SYSTEMS WITH DRIFT ON SO(3)

Geckos that jump, cats that fall, and satellites that are inertially controlled fundamentally locomote in the same way. These systems are bodies in free flight that actively reorientate under the influence of conservation of angular momentum. We refer to such bodies as inertial systems. This work presents a novel control method for inertial systems with drift that combines geometric methods and computational control. In previous work, which focused on inertial systems starting from rest, a set of visual tools was developed that readily allowed one to design gaits. A key insight of this work was deriving coordinates, called minimum perturbation coordinates, which allowed the visual tools to be applied to the design of a wide range of motions. This paper draws upon the same insight to show that it is possible to approximately analyze the kinematic and dynamic contributions to net motion independently. This approach is novel because it uses geometric tools to support computational reduction in automatic gait generation on three-dimensional spaces.
Planar 6H-SiC MESFETs with vanadium implanted channel termination

We use vanadium ion implantation to form a highly resistive surface layer in the wide bandgap semiconductor silicon carbide (SiC). MESFETs are successfully fabricated using this highly resistive layer to isolate gate metal extensions along the channel width from the p-type epilayer. Fabrication and characterization of these devices are described in this paper.
Autoantibodies to OxLDL fail to alter the clearance of injected OxLDL in apolipoprotein E-deficient mice.

This study tests the hypothesis that autoantibodies to oxidation epitopes on oxidized LDL (OxLDL) promote the clearance of OxLDL from the plasma. Human LDL (hLDL) was injected into immune-competent apolipoprotein E-deficient (apoE−/−) mice and immune-deficient apoE−/−/recombination-activating gene-deficient mice that lack mature T and B cells and thus antibodies. There was a progressive decrease in human apoB-100 in the plasma in all mice, but the rate of clearance was not greater in the immune-competent mice than in the immune-deficient mice. Interestingly, oxidized phospholipid (OxPL) epitopes as detected by the EO6 antibody on the hLDL increased over time, suggesting de novo oxidation of the LDL or transfer of OxPL to the particles. Because the native LDL was not extensively modified, we also examined the clearance of copper OxLDL. Although the extensively OxLDL was cleared faster than the native LDL, there was no difference in the rate of clearance as a function of immune status. There appeared to be some transfer of OxPL to the endogenous murine LDL. Together, these results suggest that oxidation-specific antibodies do not participate to any great extent in the clearance of OxLDL from plasma. However, it is possible that such antibodies may bind to oxidation epitopes and modulate lesion formation within the vessel wall.
Assessment Practices and Expert Judgment Methods in Forensic Psychology and Psychiatry An International Snapshot

We conducted an international survey in which forensic examiners who were members of professional associations described their two most recent forensic evaluations (N = 434 experts, 868 cases), focusing on the use of structured assessment tools to aid expert judgment. This study describes (a) the relative frequency of various forensic referrals, (b) what tools are used globally, (c) frequency and type of structured tools used, and (d) practitioners’ rationales for using/not using tools. We provide general descriptive information for various referrals. We found most evaluations used tools (74.2%) and used several (four, on average). We noted the extreme variety in tools used (286 different tools). We discuss the implications of these findings and provide suggestions for improving the reliability and validity of forensic expert judgment methods. We conclude with a call for an assessment approach that seeks structured decision methods to advance greater efficiency in the use and integration of case-relevant ...
Providing Gridded Atmospheric Radiance Products and Services from MODIS and AIRS Instruments on NASA's Aqua Satellite

Atmospheric temperature and moisture profile sounding data spanning more than three decades comprise one of the longest continuous US polar orbiting satellite data records available today. NASA's Aqua satellite launched on May 4, 2002 carries two well calibrated independent IR grating spectrometers, AIRS and MODIS. Both AIRS and MODIS have been used for extensive research and are truly flagship instruments for the Earth Science community, but neither offers an operational product with gridded calibrated radiances. Radiance data are very useful and have been used for operational weather forecasting models, and to determine observed global trends in temperature, ozone, albedo, desertification, aerosols, etc. The radiances are only available in their native orbital swath form at full resolution that can be awkward and bulky to work with. Their co-location on Aqua provides a unique opportunity for common observation of the same air mass with two different instruments over a long time period.
"Trap-door" and "clamshell" surgical approaches for the management of pediatric tumors of the cervicothoracic junction and mediastinum.

Abstract Background/Purpose For pediatric tumors of the cervicothoracic junction, an isolated cervical or thoracic surgical approach provides insufficient exposure for achieving complete resection. We retrospectively examined “trap-door” and “clamshell” pediatric thoracotomies as a surgical approach to these tumors. Methods We searched our database for pediatric patients with cervicothoracic tumors who underwent clamshell or trap-door thoracotomy between 1991 and 2013, reviewing tumor characteristics, surgical technique, completeness of resection, morbidity, and outcome. Results Trap-door (n = 13) and clamshell (n = 4) thoracotomies were performed for neuroblastoma (n = 9), non-rhabdomyosarcoma soft tissue sarcoma (n = 4), germ cell tumor (n = 2), rhabdomyosarcoma (n = 1), and neuroendocrine small cell carcinoma (n = 1). Fourteen of these cervicothoracic tumors were primary, and three were metastatic. Gross total resection was achieved in 15 patients (94%). Operative complications included vocal cord paralysis (n = 2), mild upper-extremity neuropraxia (n = 2), and hemidiaphragm paralysis (n = 1), All but one involved encased nerves. Overall survival was 61% for the series and 80% for patients with primary tumors. Eleven (73%) of 15 patients who underwent gross total resection had no evidence of recurrence. Three patients with metastatic disease died of distant progression within 1.3 years. Conclusions Gross total resection of primary cervicothoracic tumors can be accomplished with specialized exposure in pediatric patients with minimal morbidity.
Openness in processing social information among attachment types

Previous empirical and theoretical work suggests differences among attachment types with regard to their openness in perceiving and organizing social information. To examine these hypothesized differences, participants were given two sets of information characterizing the same target person, one set depicting an insecurely attached person, the other portraying a securely attached person. Proposed differences in openness to incorporating new information, differentiation in cognitive representations of others, and recall were assessed. As hypothesized, avoidant individuals were less open to new information than were secure subjects, and they differentiated their representations less than did both secure and anxious-ambivalent individuals. Moreover, as expected, there were no significant differences between secure and anxious-ambivalent individuals on the dimensions of openness and differentiation. However, avoidant individuals did not evidence poorer recall of the stimulus material. Theoretical and clinical implications of avoidant individuals’relatively more rigid, simplistic models of others are explored.
Knowledge Acquisition and Memory Effects Involving an Expert System Designed as a Learning Tool for Internal Control Assessment

The assessment of internal control is a consideration in all financial statement audits, as stressed by the Statement on Auditing Standards (SAS) No. 78. According to this statement, “the auditor should obtain an understanding of internal control sufficient to plan the audit” (Accounting Standards Board, 1995, p. 1). Therefore, an accounting student will progress through the auditing course with the responsibility of learning how and why internal controls are assessed. Research in expert systems applied to auditing has shown that there is strong support for the constructive dialogue used in expert systems as a means of encouraging their use in decision making (Eining, Jones, & Loebbecke, 1997). The purpose of this study is to provide the student or novice auditor with a method for developing a more comprehensive understanding of internal controls and the use of internal controls in audit planning. The results of the study reinforce previous findings that novices do better when an expert system applies analogies along with declarative explanations, and clarifies the length of time in which the use of active learning in a training system can provide an improvement to declarative knowledge, but procedural knowledge must be acquired over a longer time frame.
Efficient synthesis of β-(1,6)-linked oligosaccharides through microwave-assisted glycosylation

A microwave-assisted glycosylation method was developed for efficient synthesis of oligosaccharides. Di-functional AB monomers, 2,3,4-tri-O-acetyl-α-d-galactopyranosyl bromide (3a) and 2,3,4-tri-O-acetyl-α-d-glucopyranosyl bromide (3b) were designed and synthesized as weakly reactive monomers to avoid unwanted glycosylation or degradation during preparation and storage. The glycosylations of these monomers gave low conversions and low molecular weight oligosaccharides at rt, reflux, and under low microwave energy irradiation. However, the glycosylation became very effective when high microwave energy was applied, giving 100% conversion and producing oligosaccharides with Mn = 4.76 kDa for 3a and Mn = 4.05 kDa for 3b. The acetylated oligosaccharides were further subjected to deprotection for structural analysis, which indicated the oligosaccharides contain predominantly linear β-(1,6)-glycosyl linkages. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part A: Polym. Chem. 2013, 51, 3693–3699
Cloning of guinea pig IL-4: Reduced IL-4 mRNA after vaccination or Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection

Interleukin-4 (IL-4), a pleiotropic cytokine produced by T-helper type 2 (Th2) cells, is involved in promoting humoral immune responses, allergic reactions and asthma. Previous studies suggested an important role for IL-4 in susceptibility to pulmonary tuberculosis; however, the role of IL-4 has not been studied in the guinea pig, a highly relevant model for this disease. In the present study, we cloned a cDNA for guinea pig IL-4 and examined, for the first time, mRNA expression by real-time RT-PCR in cultured guinea pig cells. High levels of IL-4 mRNA expression were detected in spleen T cells of naive animals after in vitro stimulation with PMA plus ionomycin for 4-24 h. The expression of IL-4 mRNA was low in spleen and lymph node cells immunized with ovalbumin (OVA) plus Complete Freund's Adjuvant (CFA) in response to OVA (Th1), but significantly higher in the guinea pigs immunized with OVA plus alum (Th2). BCG vaccination reduced the expression of IL-4 mRNA in both spleen and lung digest cells compared to naive guinea pigs, while levels of IFN-γ were similar in both groups. Furthermore, lung cells from Mycobacterium tuberculosis-infected guinea pigs stimulated in vitro with PPD or MPT64 showed low levels of IL-4 mRNA expression. Thus, BCG vaccination or M. tuberculosis infection modulates IL-4 mRNA expression in the guinea pig. Cloning of guinea pig IL-4 will allow us to address the role of IL-4 in vaccine-induced resistance to pulmonary TB in a highly relevant animal model.
Eggs of floodwater mosquitoes. X. Conditioning and hatching of winterized eggs of Aedes sticticus (Diptera: Culicidae).

Aedes sticticus (Meigen) is a univoltine species that may have 2 or more broods of larvae each spring. The final conditioning of winterized eggs is a result of rising temperature in the spring. Because eggs occur at all horizons on flood plains and particularly along zones of maximum flood, they may be submerged at different times and after different exposures to spring like temperatures. Embryos remain viable after limited exposure to all post-cold temperatures between 8° and 32°C. Higher temperatures shorten the duration of viability. A temperature of 15°C for both conditioning and hatching caused the highest percentage of hatch over any temperature likely to be experienced in the spring. Prolonged exposures (150 days) to 8°C permitted a moderate survival of embryos.
Deriving folds of macromolecular complexes through electron cryomicroscopy and bioinformatics approaches.

Abstract Intermediate-resolution (7–9A) structures of large macromolecular complexes can be obtained by electron cryomicroscopy. This structural information, combined with bioinformatics data for the individual protein components or domains, can lead to a fold model for the entire complex. Such approaches have been demonstrated with the 6.8 A structure of the rice dwarf virus to derive models for the major capsid shell proteins.
Risk of Infection by the Fungal Pathogen Entomophaga maimaiga Among Lepidoptera on the Forest Floor

The entomopathogenic fungus Entomophaga maimaiga causes epizootics in gypsy moth, Lymantria dispar (L.), populations and persists in forests as a reservoir of spores in soil at the bases of trees. To investigate whether E. maimaiga infects Lepidoptera living in leaf litter, we collected and reared larvae in leaf litter, understory vegetation, and on tree boles within a 200-cm radius around trunks of red oak, Quercus rubra L., trees. Among the 358 lepidopteran larvae reared, only one gelechiid larva (out of 84 collected) and one larva of the noctuid Sunira bicolorago (out of 20 individuals from this species) were infected by E. maimaiga. Our collections included 67 gypsy moth larvae, of which 25 (37%) were infected by E. maimaiga. The majority of infected gypsy moth larvae were collected during the second half of June, when few nontarget Lepidoptera were present in the oak leaf litter. A bioassay of Zanclognatha laevigata Grote, a herminiine noctuid whose larvae spend their entire lives in leaf litter, yielded no infection. Because laboratory host specificity studies had demonstrated high levels of infection only in lymantriid larvae, we also caged larvae of the lymantriid Orgyia leucostigma (J. E. Smith) over soil at the bases of trees or in understory vegetation. Levels of infection for O. leucostigma remained consistently lower than among caged gypsy moth larvae, and infection was always higher in the soil than on the understory vegetation. We conclude that, aside from gypsy moth larvae, E. maimaiga infections among litter-dwelling lepidopteran larvae were rare, and we hypothesize that infection of other lymantriids in the field will depend on whether they visit the ground level for a significant period of time.
ID: 126: ROLE OF SYNDECAN-1 IN MECHANICAL STRESS-INDUCED LUNG ENDOTHELIAL CELL INFLAMMATORY RESPONSES MEDIATED BY INTEGRIN BETA4

Rationale Simvastatin, an HMG-CoA reductase inhibitor, has protective effects on mechanically stressed human lung endothelial cells (EC) that are mediated by the attenuation of agonist-induced integrin β4 (ITGB4) tyrosine phosphorylation. In addition, overexpression of ITGB4 constructs harboring mutations in tyrosine phosphorylation sites within the cytoplasmic tail results in decreased mechanical stress-induced inflammatory cytokine release by EC. However, the mechanisms by which ITGB4 phosphorylation is regulated is unknown. A molecule of interest in this context is syndecan-1, a cell-surface proteoglycan that binds extraceullar matrix components but also binds the ITGB4 cytoplasmic domain, is expressed by EC, and has been implicated as a mediator of acute lung injury (ALI). Thus, we hypothesized that syndecan-1 is an effector of lung endothelial cell inflammatory responses mediated by ITGB4 in response to mechanical stress. Methods To investigate the effects of simvastatin on ITGB4 and syndecan-1 expression human pulmonary artery EC lysates treated with simvastatin (5 µM, 16 h) were subjected to Western blotting for ITGB4 and syndecan-1. Simvastatin-treated EC were then used for immunoprecipitation (IP) of syndecan-1 followed by Western blotting for ITGB4. To study the role of syndecan-1 in EC inflammatory responses to mechanical stress mediated by ITGB4, EC were transfected with syndecan-1 siRNA prior to cyclic stretch (18% CS) and lysates were collected for immunoprecipitation of ITGB4 followed by Western blotting with a phospho-tyrosine antibody. Finally, syndecan-1-silenced EC were subjected to 18% CS and the media was collected for measurement of IL-6 and IL-8 levels. Results Simvastatin treatment of EC resulted in both a dramatic increase in ITGB4 and a marked decreased in syndecan-1 expression levels. In addition, syndecan-1 association with ITGB4 was markedly decreased in EC treated with simvastatin. In EC subjected to 18% CS, ITGB4 phosphorylation was significantly decreased after syndecan-1 knockdown. Finally, silencing of syndecan-1 was associated with a significant decrease in CS-induced EC IL-6 and IL-8 expression (76% and 66%, respectively, p Conclusion Our results implicate syndecan-1 as an important mediator of EC ITGB4 tyrosine phosphorylation affected by both simvastatin and mechanical-stress. These findings represent a novel area of investigation that may ultimately yield new therapeutic targets and strategies for patients with ventilator-induced lung injury, a form of ALI precipitated by excessive lung stretch.
A Comparison Among 5 Methods for the Clinical Diagnosis of Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders.

Background Despite the prevalence of fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD) and the importance of accurate identification of patients, clinical diagnosis may not be consistent across sites due to the heterogeneous nature of FASD and the characteristics of different diagnostic systems used. Here, we compare 5 systems designed to operationalize criteria recommended for the diagnosis of effects of prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE). We determined the extent of consistency among them as well as factors that may reduce intersystem reliability. Compared are: Emory Clinic, Seattle 4-Digit System (Diagnostic Guidelines for Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders: The 4-Digit Diagnostic Code, Seattle, WA, University Publication Services, 2004), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Fetal Alcohol Syndrome: Guidelines for Referral and Diagnosis, Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA, 2004), Canadian Guidelines (CMAJ, 172, 2005, S1), and the Hoyme Modifications (Pediatrics, 115, 2005, 39). Methods Subjects were 1,581 consecutively registered patients applying for evaluation at a university-based clinic treating alcohol and drug-exposed children. Records of the multidisciplinary evaluation (pediatric, social, psychological) were abstracted. Diagnostic criteria for all 5 systems were applied, and patients were diagnosed according to each of the systems. We compared results using Cohen's Kappa to evaluate the extent of agreement. Results Percent of individuals diagnosed with FASD ranged from 4.74% (CDC) to 59.58% (Hoyme). Examination using Cohen's Kappa found modest agreement among systems, particularly when individual diagnoses, Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS), partial FAS (pFAS), and Alcohol-Related Neurodevelopmental Disorder (ARND) were used. Examination of diagnostic criteria found almost perfect agreement on growth (weight; height), with limited overlap for physical features (palpebral fissures, hypoplastic philtrum, upper vermillion) and for neurobehavioral outcomes. Child's race and age influenced agreement among systems, with African American and older children more frequently diagnosed. Conclusions Results suggest problems in convergent validity among these systems, as demonstrated by a lack of reliability in diagnosis. Absence of an external standard makes it impossible to determine whether any system is more accurate, but outcomes do suggest areas for future research that may refine diagnosis.
Optimizing the Surface Enhanced Raman Signal for Accurate Identification of DNA Base Pairs

DNA sequencing currently lacks optical based techniques such as Raman spectroscopy. We have identified previous issues that prevented sequencing with Raman measurements and proposed a solution for base pair identification via surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy.