cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Vapor-phase silylationof alcohols for air analysis

Abstract Vapor-phase oxygenated organics at the parts per billion (109) level are difficult to identify or quantify because many are polar or reactive compounds which adsorb or decompose on surfaces within analytical apparatus. The traditional approach to facilitate such analyses has been to reduce the surface activity of collection containers, concentration adsorbents and chromatographic columns through a variety of procedures. This paper presents a novel concept in air analysis in which reactive trace compounds of interest are derivatized to stable products. A mixture of low-molecular-weight alcohols at sub-parts per million levels were converted into their silyl derivatives upon whole air collection, then these derivatives were concentrated in a freezeout loop and thermally transferred to a cryogenically controlled gas chromatograph equipped with a glass capillary column for temperature-programmed separation and flame-ionization detection. Silylated alcohols proved to chromatograph with better resolution and sensitivity than their parent compounds and, unlike the free alcohols, could be stored in stainless-steel canisters without degradation. Of five commercial silylating reagents surveyed, trimethylsilylimidazole and N,O-bis(trimethylsilyl)acetamide showed potential for effective gas-phase derivatization even in the presence of excess moisture. Silyl derivatives were identified by gas chromatography—mass spectrometry techniques.
Kullback-leibler information and interval estimation

This article examines the underlying concepts in making up an interval estimate of the normal population mean, and then suggests an alternative but "ad hoc" approach based on Kullback- Leibler information measure. In this new approach, both the sample information and sample precision are kept as separate entities, and this surprisingly shortens the interval estimate.
Semiparametric Analysis With Grouped Dependent Variables and Application to Physicians' Provision of Charity Care

We present estimators for semiparametric regression models where the dependent variable is grouped, that is, known to fall in a specified group with observable thresholds while its true value remains latent. Income, weeks unemployed, and treatment length are examples of such variables. Because the model is not amenable to direct estimation, estimators are derived from a transform in which the index emerges as the partially linear component in a vector of identities. n asymptotic normality of the proposed estimator is derived. The analytical results are applied to study physicians' provision of charity care, using data in which charity care is grouped.
Teaching in the Operating Room: Results of a National Survey

Background With the institution of the work-hour restrictions in 2003, less time may be available for surgical residents to learn operative technique and judgment. While numerous studies have evaluated the use of surgical simulation training to enhance operative skills, little is known about the quality of teaching that takes place in the operating room (OR). The purpose of this study was to assess residents' perception of faculty teaching in the OR in order to target ways to improve operative education. Methods A request for resident participation in an online survey was sent to the Program Coordinator at all 255 ACGME-accredited general surgery residency programs. Results A total of 148 programs (59%) participated in the survey, and anonymous responses were submitted by 998 of 4926 residents (20%). Most residents reported that attending surgeons verbalize their operative approach (55%), include residents in intraoperative decisions (61%), and offer technical advice (84%). However, few residents reported that faculty help to identify the resident's personal educational operative goals preoperatively (18%) or discuss areas of improvement with residents (37%). Of all cases scrubbed in the past year, most residents feel as though they only actually performed the procedure between 26% and 50% (29%) or between 51% and 75% (32%) of the time. However, more than half of all residents (51%) log these procedures for ACGME as primary surgeon 76%–100% of the time. Conclusions This study demonstrates that from the residents' perspective, a number of opportunities exist to improve teaching in the OR, such as guiding residents with preoperative preparation and providing them with constructive feedback. These findings also suggest that residents may be logging cases without feeling as though they actually perform the operations.
A Taxonomy of Knowledge Types for Use in Curriculum Design

This article proposes the use of a taxonomy to help curriculum planners distinguish between different kinds of knowledge. Nine categories are suggested: empirical, rational, conventional, conceptual, cognitive process skills, psychomotor, affective, narrative, and received. Analyzing lessons into the sources of their resident knowledge helps the teacher proceed in a less dogmatic manner, distinguishing between categories of knowledge based upon where that knowledge originates. This taxonomy facilitates a meta-narrative on the nature of knowledge — how it is discovered, invented, decided upon, and so on — and the form that it takes in human experience and learning.
Direct evidence for models of heterosis provided by mutants of Arabidopsis blocked in the thiamine pathway.

Auxotrophic mutants genetically blocked at different steps of the thiamine pathway dramatically demonstrate the biochemical mechanism of hybrid vigor due to simple and perfect dominance at two unlinked loci. Heteroallelic hybrids of mutants requiring the pyrimidine moiety of thiamine display allelic complementation and thus furnish clear biochemical and genetic evidence for the superdominance hypothesis. Hybrids of low- and high-temperature-requiring leaky mutants demonstrate that heterozygosity at a single gene locus may confer developmental homeostasis on the heteroallelic combinations superior to that of the homoallelic parents. The results of this study on the autogamous plant, Arabidopsis, and of recent reports on the outbreeding species, Drosophila, render untenable the generalization that high versus low temperature dependent heterosis is determined by the breeding system.
Real wage response to monetary shocks: A disaggregated analysis

Abstract This paper presents a disaggregated analysis and investigates empirically the real wage response during the monetary cycle, using the disaggregated quarterly data for the U.S. manufacturing industry. I find, like Leiderman, a countercyclical real wage response during the monetary cycle. I also find that while both unanticipated and anticipated money changes have significant effects on the real wage in the durable goods sector, anticipated money changes do not affect the real wage in the nondurable goods sector. This sharply contrasts with the neutrality result and provides a new insight to the sectoral behavior of the real wages.
Tradeoffs in designing accelerator architectures for visual computing

Visualization, interaction, and simulation (VIS) constitute a class of applications that is growing in importance. This class includes applications such as graphics rendering, video encoding, simulation, and computer vision. These applications are ideally suited for accelerators because of their parallelizability and demand for high throughput. We compile a benchmark suite, VIS- Bench, to serve as a proxy for this application class. We use VISBench to examine some important high level decisions for an accelerator architecture. We propose a highly parallel base architecture. We examine the need for synchronization and data communication. We also examine GPU-style SIMD execution and find that a MIMD architecture usually performs better. Given these high level choices, we use VISBench to explore the microarchitectural design space. We analyze area versus performance tradeoffs in designing individual cores and the memory hierarchy. We find that a design made of small, simple cores achieves much higher throughput than a general purpose uniprocessor. Further, we find that a limited amount of support for ILP within each core aids overall performance. We find that fine-grained multithreading improves performance, but only up to a point. We find that word-level (SSE-style) SIMD provides a poor performance to area ratio. Finally, we find that sufficient memory and cache bandwidth is essential to performance.
Supplier Performance in Vertical Alliances: The Effects of Self-Enforcing Agreements and Enforceable Contracts

The paper examines the significance of enforceability and adaptability in governing vertical alliances and their performance ramifications for suppliers. Literature on supplier relations suggests that suppliers are skeptical of close ties with their buyers (Helper 1991, Helper and Sako 1995). Such skepticism persists in spite of the fact that buyers are writing longer (enforceable) contracts with fewer suppliers. In this context, the paper develops a transaction cost economics (TCE)-based model that distinguishes between the verifiable and nonverifiable aspects of governance attributes (of safeguards, incentive intensity, and adaptability) in explaining supplier performance variations. The paper argues that the following factors prove valuable for suppliers: (1) the adaptive and collaborative orientation fostered by the original equipment manufacturer's (OEM's) credible commitment to the exchange and by information sharing on the part of the supplier, (2) the presence of certain nonverifiable safeguards, and (3) the incentives inherent in target pricing. These assertions have been tested using data from the home appliance industry. Results indicate that information sharing together with (1) OEM dependence and (2) target pricing does indeed enhance supplier performance. Also, results suggest that while nonverifiable safeguards can help, verifiable safeguards do not have a positive association with supplier interests. Under certain conditions then, suppliers can venture into closer relationships with buyers and benefit.
Architectural runtime configuration management in support of dependable self-adaptive software

The dynamic nature of some self-adaptive software systems can result in potentially unpredictable adaptations, which may be detrimental to overall system dependability by diminishing trust in the adaptation process. This paper describes our initial work with architectural runtime configuration management in order to improve dependability and overall system usefulness by maintaining a record of reconfigurations and providing support for architectural recovery operations. Our approach---fully decoupled from self-adaptive systems themselves and the adaptation management processes governing their changes---provides for better adaptation visibility and self-adaptive process dependability. We elaborate on the vision for our overall approach, present early implementation and testing results from prototyping efforts, and discuss our future plans.
Effect of Intra-arterial Insulin on Tissue Cholesterol and Fatty Acids in Alloxan-Diabetic Dogs

Insulin and saline were injected into the right and left femoral arteries respectively of 19 alloxan-diabetes-mellitus dogs for 1 to 28 weeks. A significant increase of artery tissue cholesterol and total fatty acids was found on comparing the insulin-administered right leg with the saline-administered left leg. Similarly, a significant increase of total fatty acids in muscle was found on comparing the right with the left leg of the alloxan-diabetes mellitus dogs. No significant differences were observed in the normal animals when the insulin-injected side was compared with the noninjected.
Can surgeons improve survival in stage IV melanoma

Successful systemic management of stage IV melanoma continues to be elusive because of the paucity of effective therapies. This has fueled the continued interest in surgical resection. Several single-institution studies and a current, large, multi-institutional phase III trial have demonstrated a survival benefit for patients who underwent surgical resection for melanoma metastases. Incorporating these results into new approaches using multimodality treatment may enhance survival in patients with stage IV melanoma. J. Surg. Oncol. 2008;97:462–468. © 2008 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
High-Order Mismatch-Shaping in Multibit DACs

This brief reports a high-order mismatch-shaping technique for multibit ΔΣ digital-to-analog converters (DACs). It builds upon the vector-based method but with two key improvements. First, a new vector quantization (VQ) scheme exploits the information in all vector variables. This VQ scheme allows the second-order mismatch shaping for large input signals and makes possible the stable third- and fourth-order mismatch shaping. Second, a hardware-efficient method maintains the average of the vector variables bounded. Simulations under various conditions prove its validity.
Application of Machine Learning Techniques for Prediction of Radiation Pneumonitis in Lung Cancer Patients

Lung cancer patients who receive radiotherapy as part of their treatment are at risk radiation-induced lung injury known as radiation pneumonitis (RP). RP is a potentially fatal side effect to treatment. Hence, new methods are needed to guide physicians to prescribe targeted therapy dosage to patients at high risk of RP. Several predictive models based on traditional statistical methods and machine learning techniques have been reported, however, no guidance to variation in performance has not been provided to date. Therefore, in this study, we compare several widely used classification algorithms in the machine learning field are used to distinguish between different risk groups of RP. The performance of these classification algorithms is evaluated in conjunction with several feature selection strategy and the impact of the feature selection on performance is further evaluated.
The near field in the mixing of a round jet with a cross-stream

In the mixing of a jet with a cross-stream, it is found that in the near field, defined as the region of the flow from the jet exit to a distance of a few diameters downstream of this exit, a considerable amount of dynamical adjustment takes place. This near-field region characterizes the subsequent behaviour and development of the jet, its wake and the cross-stream in the vicinity of this mixing region. The rapid evolution of the flow gives rise to a pair of bound vortices attached to the lee side of the jet boundary, to fast development of the turbulent and mean vorticity, to a vortex-shedding system, and to the largest rates of entrainment of cross-stream flow into the jet. Furthermore, it is found that the geometrical configuration of the boundaries at the jet exit plays an important role in the mixing and development processes.An intrinsic method is proposed for the delineation of the flow boundaries between the jet and the cross-stream. Calculations of mass, momentum and vorticity fluxes have been made. The vorticity flux gives evidence of the rapid stretching and tilting of the vorticity vector field in the near-field region.
Loose synchronization of multithreaded replicas

Although multithreading can improve performance, it is a source of nondeterminism in application behavior. Existing approaches to replicating multithreaded applications either synchronize replicas at the interrupt level, at the expense of performance, or use a nonpreemptive deterministic scheduler at the expense of concurrency. This paper presents a loose synchronization algorithm for ensuring deterministic replica behavior while preserving concurrency. The algorithm synchronizes replica threads only on state updates by enforcing an equivalent order of mutex acquisitions across replicas.
RNA polymerase III transcribes human microRNAs

Prior work demonstrates that mammalian microRNA (miRNA or miR) expression requires RNA polymerase II (Pol II). However, the transcriptional requirements of many miRNAs remain untested. Our genomic analysis of miRNAs in the human chromosome 19 miRNA cluster (C19MC) revealed that they are interspersed among Alu repeats. Because Alu transcription occurs through RNA Pol III recruitment, and we found that Alu elements upstream of C19MC miRNAs retain sequences important for Pol III activity, we tested the promoter requirements of C19MC miRNAs. Chromatin immunoprecipitation and cell-free transcription assays showed that Pol III, but not Pol II, is associated with miRNA genomic sequence and sufficient for transcription. Moreover, the mature miRNA sequences of approximately 50 additional human miRNAs lie within Alu and other known repetitive elements. These findings extend the current view of miRNA origins and the transcriptional machinery driving their expression.
The locomotor and postural repertoires of Ateles geoffroyi and Colobus guereza, and a reevaluation of the locomotor category semibrachiation

The locomotor repertoire of Ateles geoffroyi includes quadrupedal walking and running, climbing, brachiation and arm-swinging, bipedalism, and leaping. Its postural repertoire is characterized by below branch suspensory activities. In contrast, the locomotor repertoire of Colobus guereza consists primarily of quadrupedal galloping and bounding, and leaping. It does not brachiate or walk bipedally and rarely performs arm-swinging. The Colobus guereza postural repertoire is characterized by above branch sitting postures. Ateles geoffroyi is a highly mobile primate, whereas Colobus guereza is essentially sedentary. In the past, there has been a tendency to group Ateles and Colobus in a single locomotor category, semibrachiation. Comparison of the very different repertoires of these two species points out some of the shortcomings of the category semibrachiation. First, no locomotor pattern or group of patterns has been described as semibrachiation (i.e., no animals semibrachiate). Secondly, the locomotor diversity of animals included in the category is so much greater than the similarities that the category obscures more than it conveys. The usefulness of retaining this category is therefore questioned.
Factors affecting wood energy consumption by U.S. households

About 23% of energy derived from woody sources in the U.S. was consumed by households, of which 70% was used by households in rural areas in 2005. We investigated factors affecting household-level wood energy consumption in the four continental U.S. regions using data from the U.S. Residential Energy Consumption Survey. To account for a large number of zero observations (i.e., households that do not burn wood), left-censored Tobit models were estimated. Urban/rural location is a key determinant of level of household wood energy consumption. Wood energy consumption elasticity with respect to non-wood energy price changes was 1.55 at the U.S. level, and a much higher 2.30 among rural households. While household wood energy consumption was affected primarily by non-wood energy price in rural areas, it was influenced mainly by household size and level of income in urban areas. Elasticity of wood energy consumption with respect to income can be positive or negative depending on household urban/rural location, region and income level. Newer houses were found to use less wood energy than older ones, and greater urbanization was found to have negative effect on wood energy use. Our findings suggest that policies reducing relative wood energy cost or increasing non-wood energy prices in the residential sector will result in greater wood energy consumption in the U.S. The effect of policies may vary by region and are likely to be more effective in U.S. rural areas and in the U.S. Midwest in particular.
ARTS: automated randomization of multiple traits for study design

Summary: Collecting data from large studies on high-throughput platforms, such as microarray or next-generation sequencing, typically requires processing samples in batches. There are often systematic but unpredictable biases from batch-to-batch, so proper randomization of biologically relevant traits across batches is crucial for distinguishing true biological differences from experimental artifacts. When a large number of traits are biologically relevant, as is common for clinical studies of patients with varying sex, age, genotype and medical background, proper randomization can be extremely difficult to prepare by hand, especially because traits may affect biological inferences, such as differential expression, in a combinatorial manner. Here we present ARTS (automated randomization of multiple traits for study design), which aids researchers in study design by automatically optimizing batch assignment for any number of samples, any number of traits and any batch size. Availability and implementation: ARTS is implemented in Perl and is available at github.com/mmaiensc/ARTS. ARTS is also available in the Galaxy Tool Shed, and can be used at the Galaxy installation hosted by the UIC Center for Research Informatics (CRI) at galaxy.cri.uic.edu. Contact: ude.ciu@csneiamm Supplementary information: Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
An evaluation of Merino wool quality. I. The incidence of coarse fibres in two Australian Merino flocks.

The fibre length and diameter distributions of the wool of two Merino flocks were evaluated at the neck, mid-side and breech positions, to determine the incidence of fibres which were off-type by reason of excessive length, diameter or possession of a medulla.The ranges of fibre lengths for 10·5–11·0 months' growth were 1·0–17·5 cm. in flock 1 and 1·0–16·5 cm in flock 2. There was no evidence of a bi-modal length distribution in either flock.Fibre diameters at 15–16 months were observed in the range 6–69 μ in flock 1 and 5–52 μ in flock 2. Medullated fibres ranged from 7 to 50 μ in flock 1 and 5–64 μt in flock 2. The incidence of medullation increased in an antero-posterior direction from 0·17 to 0·28% in flock 1 and 0·11 to 0·28% in flock 2.Tests for homogeneity of variance were applied to the estimates of fleece characters in this study as well as estimates of other workers. From these comparisons it is suggested that sheep in the present study are representative of the Merino breed in staple length, fibre diameter and to a lesser extent crimp frequency. The considerable between-animal variation in the observed incidence of medullation should aid in selection against that character with a consequent improvement in wool quality.
Organizations and Fraud in the Savings and Loan Industry

Les AA. etudient les phenomenes de fraude dans le cadre organisationnel des etablissements financiers aux Etats-Unis. Ils evaluent l'hypothese selon laquelle, pendant les annees 1980, les etablissement bancaires qui menaient a bien des strategies financieres risquees etaient plus sujets a la fraude que les etablissements qui menaient des strategies conventionnelles. Les donnees collectees semblent confirmer cette hypothese. Les etablissements financiers qui pratiquaient une mauvaise gestion des portefeuilles d'actions, qui accordaient des emprunts malgre des garanties fragiles ou qui connaissaient de fortes augmentations de capital ont ete en plus grand nombre coupables de fraude
Immigration and the Labor Market Outcomes of Natives in Developing Countries: A Case Study of South Africa

AbstractUsing South African census data from 2001, 2007, and 2011, I examine the effect that immigration had on labor market outcomes of native-born black South Africans. Using instrumental variables to control for the potential endogenous location choices of immigrants to South Africa, the results show that immigrant inflows decreased the employment-to-population ratios and total annual income of black native-born South Africans. Additionally, results suggest a negative effect of immigrant inflows on the employment ratio and total annual income of black native-born South Africans employed in the formal sector. Results show that immigration caused an intersectoral employment shift. For black male South Africans, the composition of the employed labor force shifted to the formal sector, and for black female South Africans, the composition of the employed labor force shifted to the informal sector.
The Case of the Uncooperative Husband

This article analyzes the recent spousal consent search case of Georgia v. Randolph. It concludes that, although the majority is correct in its result, many of the criticisms leveled by the dissent are accurate.
Definition and Multi-Dimensional Comparative Analysis of Ad Hoc Communities in Twitter

We here present an early-stage prototype tool for defining and analyzing communities in Twitter. The tool takes a set of Twitter users and profiles them based on their tweets. This profiling is based on earlier work, where we map entities mentioned in tweets to Wikipedia entries, which in turn lets us profile a user based on the Wikipedia categories are related to his or her tweets. From here, we can define ad hoc topic-based communities (e.g., all users who discuss Wikipedia topic K). The tool is focused on contrast analysis, where we have baseline behavior or another community to compare against.
Comparing tissue PO2 measurements by recessed microelectrode and phosphorescence quenching.

The non-invasive optical phosphorescence quenching technique has been used in animal experiments to obtain intravascular PO2 distributions in brain (Wilson et al., 1988), carotid body (Rumsey et al., 1991), eye (Shonat et al., 1992a, 1992b, Cranstoun et al., 1996), heart (Rumsey et al., 1994), tumors (Wilson et al., 1991, Torres-Filho et al., 1994, Vinogradov et al., 1996, Cerniglia et al., 1997), and to measure PO2 in microvessels and in the perivascular tissue of subcutaneous tissue and skeletal muscle (Torres-Filho and Intaglietta, 1993, Kerger et al., 1995, 1996, Intaglietta et al., 1996, Torres-Filho et al., 1996). Tissue PO2 has also been measured by phosphorescence quenching in solid tumors by Helmlinger et al. (1997), along with tissue pH by another optical method.
Signal Transduction Pathways of EMT Induced by TGF-β, SHH, and WNT and Their Crosstalks

Epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) is a key step in development, wound healing, and cancer development. It involves cooperation of signaling pathways, such as transformation growth factor-β (TGF-β), Sonic Hedgehog (SHH), and WNT pathways. These signaling pathways crosstalk to each other and converge to key transcription factors (e.g., SNAIL1) to initialize and maintain the process of EMT. The functional roles of multi-signaling pathway crosstalks in EMT are sophisticated and, thus, remain to be explored. In this review, we focused on three major signal transduction pathways that promote or regulate EMT in carcinoma. We discussed the network structures, and provided a brief overview of the current therapy strategies and drug development targeted to these three signal transduction pathways. Finally, we highlighted systems biology approaches that can accelerate the process of deconstructing complex networks and drug discovery.
Influence of Feed Restriction on Fertility in Male Domestic Fowls

Abstract RESULTS of investigations relative to the influence of inanition on reproduction in male rats reported by several investigators, including Siperstein (1921), Mason (1933), and Mulinos and Pomerantz (1940 and Mulinos and Pomerantz (1941), indicate that food limitation sufficient to cause marked loss in body weight of adults results in impaired spermatogenesis and testicular atrophy. Breneman (1941) has observed that limitation of the diet of young chicks causes a retardation of testis growth. Inanition in pigeons has been shown to be related to suppression of spermatogenesis and reduction of testis size (McCarrison, 1919; Marrian and Parkes, 1928). The object of the experiments reported herein was to observe the influence of feed restriction on fertility of adult male domestic fowls. PROCEDURE Eighteen Rhode Island Red males hatched in February, 1941, were used in these experiments. The cockerels were reared on range and placed in batteries one foot by two feet in size on December 1. An . . .
On the Transformation of the Internal Audit by Public Security Forces

At present,the public security military audit is accelerating the development from the traditional audit to a modern audit. This development needs a new way of breaking the limitations of traditional audit,and of relying on military service-orientation,of focusing on the audit mechanism,of promoting the audit technology innovation as the key,of sharing audit results for the channel,and of effectively improving service levels and auditing services,to continue to promote the reform and innovation audit.
Protective Effect of Soybean Polypeptides on Acute Liver Injury in Mice

Mice with acute liver injury were modeled through CCl4 induction and orally administered with soybean polypeptides at doses of 3, 1.8 and 0.6 g/kg·d for 30 d, respectively. Effects of soybean polypeptides on glutamic-oxaloacetic transminase (GOT), glutamic-pyruvic transminase (GPT) and alkaline phosphataes (ALP) in serum and triglyceride (TG), total cholesterol (TC), malondialdehye (MDA) and glutathione peroxidase (GSH) levels in liver were investigated. Results indicated that CCl4- induced mice model with liver injury was successfully established. Soybean polypeptides significantly decreased the levels of GOT, GPT and AST in serum and TG, TC and MDA in liver, and obviously increased the level of GSH in liver in a dose- dependent manner. Therefore, soybean polypeptides have an excellent protective capability against acute liver injury in mice induced by CCl4.
Investigation of human eye pupil sizes as a measure of visual sensation in the workplace environment with a high lighting colour temperature

Among indoor environmental quality components, such as lighting, thermal, acoustic and spatial conditions, lighting quality is one of the significant factors that affect human environmental health ...
Detection of adulteration in grated cheese by using calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, and lactose indices

Les rapports moyens calcium/phosphore et calcium/magnesium se situent respectivement a 1,55 et 23,3 pour les fromages a râper authentiques (Parmesan et Romano). Les fromages de brebis ne presentent pas le meme rapport Ca/Mg que les fromages a base de lait de vache
3D to 2D via Top-View Plans

Having become proficient at correlating 2D pictures with top plan numeric view representations learners used the Construction Box to create their own task card puzzles for peers to solve without the aid of the digital interface. These included 2D pictures of Soma assemblies and later, top plan view diagrams that they drew by hand. These tasks required adept mental transformation skills moving among the SOC representations. The Extended Construction Box module was created to allow users to construct digital cube figures with holes or overhangs within the first octant of a 3D coordinate space. Learners then developed a top plan view coding system that allowed for holes or overhangs. They also used their knowledge of top plan views to represent rectangular prisms made up of unit cubes.
Growing and Handling of Mycobacterium tuberculosis for Macrophage Infection Assays

Macrophage survival assays are a critical component of any Mycobacterium tuberculosis research program. Here we describe the methods that we use routinely for infection of macrophages of various origins. The protocols are efficient, relatively simple and are accepted widely. We provide users with methods for the infection of small numbers of macrophages-more suitable for microscopy; and for larger numbers of macrophages-for flow cytometry analysis or extraction for biochemical characterization.
Immersive Analytics for Multi-objective Dynamic Integrated Climate-Economy (DICE) Models

We are creating an immersive analytics tool for exploring the output of a Dynamic Integrated Climate-Economy (DICE) model, and present early work on the prototype system. DICE models and other Integrated Assessment Models (IAMs) are critical for informing environmental decision making and policy analysis. They often produce complex and multi-layered output, but need to be understood by decision makers who are not experts. We discuss our current and targeted feature set in order to help address this challenge. Additionally, we look ahead to the potential for rigorous evaluation of the system to uncover whether or not it is an improvement over current visualization methods.
Evolution as Physics: The Human & Machine Species

Humans and technology are not in symbiosis. They are one species, not two. Humans, enveloped in artefacts of many kinds and ages (from writing, to airplanes), are evolving as one species, the ‘human & machine species’. This evolution is visible and recorded in our lifetime. Here, I illustrate the evolution of the human & machine species by focusing on commercial aircraft, the cooling of electronics, and modern athletics, which is a special laboratory for witnessing the evolution of animal locomotion. I show that these evolutionary forms of flow organization are in accord with, and can be predicted based on the law of physics that governs evolution in nature, bio and non-bio: the constructal law. Evolution, life and the human & machine species are physics.
Materials Study of NbN and Ta x N Thin Films for SNS Josephson Junctions

Properties of NbN and TaxN thin films grown at ambient temperatures on SiO2/Si substrates by reactive-pulsed laser deposition and reactive magnetron sputtering (MS) as a function of N2 gas flow were investigated. Both techniques produced films with smooth surfaces, where the surface roughness did not depend on the N2 gas flow during growth. High crystalline quality, (111) oriented NbN films with Tc up to 11 K were produced by both techniques for N contents near 50%. The low temperature transport properties of the TaxN films depended upon both the N2 partial pressure used during growth and the film thickness. The root mean square surface roughness of TaxN films grown by MS increased as the film thickness decreased down to 10 nm.
InGaN/GaN dot-in-nanowire monolithic LEDs and lasers on (001) silicon

GaN-based nanowire arrays have been grown on (001)Si substrate by plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy and their structural and optical properties have been determined. InxGa1-xN disks inserted in the nanowires behave as quantum dots with emission ranging from visible to near-infrared. We have exploited these nanowire heterostructure arrays to realize light-emitting diodes and diode lasers in which the quantum dots form the active light emitting media. The fabrication and characteristics of 630nm light-emitting diodes and 1.3μm edge-emitting diode lasers are described.
The Questionable Economic Case for Value-Based Drug Pricing in Market Health Systems

This article investigates the economic theory and interpretation of the concept of "value-based pricing" for new breakthrough drugs with no close substitutes in a context (such as the United States) in which a drug firm with market power sells its product to various buyers. The interpretation is different from that in a country that evaluates medicines for a single public health insurance plan or a set of heavily regulated plans. It is shown that there will not ordinarily be a single value-based price but rather a schedule of prices with different volumes of buyers at each price. Hence, it is incorrect to term a particular price the value-based price, or to argue that the profit-maximizing monopoly price is too high relative to some hypothesized value-based price. When effectiveness of treatment or value of health is heterogeneous, the profit-maximizing price can be higher than that associated with assumed values of quality-adjusted life-years. If the firm sets a price higher than the value-based price for a set of potential buyers, the optimal strategy of the buyers is to decline to purchase that drug. The profit-maximizing price will come closer to a unique value-based price if demand is less heterogeneous.
Efficient route to pre-organized and linear polyaminopolycarboxylates: Cy-TTHA, Cy-DTPA and mono/di- reactive, tert-butyl protected TTHA/Cy-TTHA

Abstract Pre-organized polyaminopolycarboxylate chelators Cy-TTHA and Cy-DTPA were synthesized via modular five-step syntheses from commercially available starting materials in ∼62% and 47% overall yields, respectively. Furthermore, strategies are reported for the efficient preparation of mono- and di-reactive, tert -butyl-protected TTHA/Cy-TTHA to selectively functionalize central chelators’ carboxylic acids.
Low-Intensity Transcranial Current Stimulation in Psychiatry

Neurostimulation is rapidly emerging as an important treatment modality for psychiatric disorders. One of the fastest-growing and least-regulated approaches to noninvasive therapeutic stimulation involves the application of weak electrical currents. Widespread enthusiasm for low-intensity transcranial electrical current stimulation (tCS) is reflected by the recent surge in direct-to-consumer device marketing, do-it-yourself enthusiasm, and an escalating number of clinical trials. In the wake of this rapid growth, clinicians may lack sufficient information about tCS to inform their clinical practices. Interpretation of tCS clinical trial data is aided by familiarity with basic neurophysiological principles, potential mechanisms of action of tCS, and the complicated regulatory history governing tCS devices. A growing literature includes randomized controlled trials of tCS for major depression, schizophrenia, cognitive disorders, and substance use disorders. The relative ease of use and abundant access to tC...
Measurement of the Electron Asymmetry in the Beta Decay of Polarized Σ − Hyperons

The electron asymmetry was measured in the beta decay of polarized sigma hyperons ${\ensuremath{\Sigma}}^{\ensuremath{-}}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}n{e}^{\ensuremath{-}}\overline{\ensuremath{\nu}}$ produced in the reaction ${K}^{\ensuremath{-}}p\ensuremath{\rightarrow}{\ensuremath{\Sigma}}^{\ensuremath{-}}{\ensuremath{\pi}}^{+}$ at the ${{Y}_{0}}^{*}(1520)$ resonance. Particles were tracked in a magnetic spectrometer and a large-acceptance, segmented, gas-Cherenkov-scintillation counter array identified electrons. A maximum-likelihood analysis based on 193 events yields the electron asymmetry of ${\ensuremath{\alpha}}_{e}=0.35\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.29$. The result favors a positive value for $\frac{{g}_{1}}{{f}_{1}}$ which is opposite to the Cabibbo-favored sign.
REFERRAL OF OLDER THYROID CANCER PATIENTS TO A HIGH-VOLUME SURGEON: RESULTS OF A MULTIDISCIPLINARY PHYSICIAN SURVEY.

ABSTRACT Objective: Surgical outcomes of thyroid cancer patients are improved with high-volume surgeons. However, age disparities in referral to specialist surgical centers still exist. The factors that influence decision making regarding referral of older thyroid cancer patients to high-volume surgeons remain unknown. Methods: We surveyed members of the Endocrine Society, American College of Physicians, and American Academy of Family Practice. Results: Overall, 270 physicians completed the survey. Patient preference (69%), transportation barriers (62%), and confidence in local surgeon (54%) were the most cited factors decreasing likelihood of referral to a high-volume surgeon. In clinical scenarios, referral rates to a high-volume surgeon were similar for patients aged 40 and 65 years with a 1-cm thyroid nodule diagnostic of thyroid cancer (n = 137 [54%]; n = 132 [52%], respectively) as for an 85-year-old with a 4-cm nodule (n = 148 [59%]). When comorbidities were introduced, more physicians (n = 186 [74...
Structure-function relationships in cellular and viral fps/fes cytoplasmic protein-tyrosine kinases.

A majority of retroviral oncogenes encode protein-tyrosine kinases (PTKs). Both oncogenic PTKs and their normal counterparts can be divided into two classes: receptor-like polypeptides that possess an extracellular region linked by a transmembrane segment to an internal catalytic domain, and cytoplasmic PTKs that are entirely confined to the inside of the cell (see fig. 1). Cytoplasmic PTKs are usually found in association with the plasma membrane and cytoskeleton (Rohrschneider and Gentry, 1984). The cytoplasmic PTKs can be further subdivided into 3 families corresponding to a group of proteins of approximately 60 kDa for which p6Osrc is the prototype, fps/fes gene products, and abl proteins respectively (Hunter and Cooper, 1985).
Bimodal Porous Carbon-Silica Nanocomposites for Li-Ion Batteries

Bimodal porous carbon-silica (BP-CS) nanocomposites exhibit advantageous properties from a design perspective for low-cost lithium-ion battery anodes. The BP-CS nanocomposites were fabricated using cooperative self-assembly of phenolic resin, tetraethylorthosilicate, and Pluronic F127 via a scalable roll-to-roll method. An etching reaction between molten KOH and silica at high temperature (∼700 °C) introduces micropores and increases the surface area from 446 m2/g to 1718 m2/g without the loss of the ordered mesostructure. This large surface area after etching is generally advantageous for electrochemical energy storage. The carbon framework not only provides electrical conductivity but also constrains the volumetric changes of SiO2 during Li+ insertion and extraction to improve the capacity stability on charge–discharge cycling. The bimodal pores of BP-CS facilitate lithium-ion diffusion (mesopores) while maximizing the contact area between the electrolyte and electrode (micropores) as well as providing ...
Teaching Islam in contemporary America: Digital ethnography and the affective challenges of Islamic studies pedagogy

In this article we address the affective dimensions and challenges of teaching about Islam and Islamic studies in the current American political and cultural environment and make two related arguments. First, we explain how the impact of certain kinds of digital media in the past few years has heightened the association of Islam with violence in the minds of many Americans, leading to a classroom affective environment characterized by the “posttraumatic” experience of knowledge about Islam. Second, we argue that the pedagogical use of digital media as a tool for ethnographic and empathic engagement with individual Muslim lives can help meet this particular teaching challenge. We show how the pedagogical employment of digital ethnography can turn the affective power of digital media into a positive learning tool, and model its responsible social and intellectual use.
A reply to critics

This paper is a response to Gary Marshall, Colin Macleod, and Amit Ronʼs careful discussions of my book, A Theory of Governance. The word “governance” is used in two contexts that might initially appear to have little relation to each other. Governance is used, first, as a general term to discuss abstract theories of coordination and organization. And governance is used, second, to narrate a historic shift in public organization and action. A Theory of Governance offers a decentered theory (part one of the book) that seeks to combine a general analysis of various forms of coordination and organization (part two of the book) with a narrative of recent changes in public organization and action (part three of the book). In this paper, I emphasize that decentered theory turns to historical genealogies to avoid determinism, reification, and foundationalism. Contemporary governance is, therefore, the variegated product of contests over meanings, specifically those reform agendas that have sought to spread markets and networks. I conclude the essay with some reflections on the nature and importance of democratic innovations within governance.
Fall risk during opposing stance perturbations among healthy adults and chronic stroke survivors.

Studies examining recovery from SLIPS and TRIPS indicate higher incidence of falls during SLIPS than TRIPS however, differences in the recovery mechanisms during these opposing perturbations have not been examined. We therefore aimed to compare the reactive balance responses contributing to fall risk during SLIPS and TRIPS at comparable perturbation intensity among community-dwelling healthy adults and chronic stroke survivors. Younger adults (N = 11), age-matched adults (N = 11) and chronic stroke survivors (N = 12) were exposed to a single SLIP and TRIP through a motorized treadmill (16 m/s2, 0.20 m). Center of mass (COM) state stability was measured by recording COM position and velocity relative to base of support, i.e., Ḋ COM/BOS and Ẋ COM/BOS, respectively. Trunk and compensatory step kinematics were also recorded. During SLIPS, the incidence of falls among stroke survivors was greater than healthy adults (53.83% vs. 0%), however not for TRIPS. All groups showed higher change in postural stability from liftoff to touchdown during TRIPS than SLIPS. Among healthy adults higher change in Ḋ COM/BOS during TRIPS was accompanied by the ability to control trunk flexion at step touchdown and lower peak trunk velocity as compared with SLIPS, with no significant differences in compensatory step length between the perturbations (p > 0.05). Chronic stroke survivors increased compensatory step length during TRIPS versus SLIPS (p < 0.05) contributing to greater stability change. They were unable to control trunk excursion and peak trunk velocity as compared with the healthy adults leading to lower stability than healthy younger and age-matched adults during SLIPS and lower stability than younger adults during TRIPS. Difficulty in trunk control during SLIPS among all individuals and compensatory step length among stroke survivors emphasizes higher fall risk for SLIPS than TRIPS among these populations.
CATHETER ABLATION VERSUS OTHER STRATEGIES FOR TREATMENT OF ATRIAL FIBRILLATION IN PATIENTS WITH HEART FAILURE WITH REDUCED EJECTION FRACTION: A META-ANALYSIS ON CHANGE IN EJECTION FRACTION

Earlier clinical trials have suggested equivalency of rate versus rhythm control strategies in atrial fibrillation (AF) patients who have heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF). Recent randomized controlled trials (RCTs) have suggested improvement in left ventricular ejection fraction
Building a New Eco-System to Transform a Smarter Logistics Industry with Smarter Logistics Cloud

China is well known as a "World Factory", where logistics is one of the key service industries. The market of logistics in China is huge. The logistics cost is over 18% of Chinese GDP, and it is rapidly growing at 14% increasing rate yearly. However,the logistics industry in China is inefficient and fragmentary. The rate of total logistics cost of entire GDP is even twice times bigger than developed countries. IBM is now working with the Chinese Government and local business partners to deliver a "Smarter Logistics Cloud" by applying IBM technologies such as Smarter Commerce, Cloud, Business Optimization, Business Analytics, Mobile technologies etc. Ningbo is one of the largest ports in China. We will implement in market innovation and start the transformation of service industry from Ningbo, roll it out it China, and eventually spread out to other emerging countries.
Quality and Variety: Evidence from the U.S. Film Industry

This paper assesses film makers’ choices on product quality and variety in film production, which production budget and genre are used to represent quality and variety, respectively. My research is unique in that it exploits the peculiar lack of price variation in the film industry, as ticket prices are the same for each film. I construct a theoretical model of duopoly competition over genre and budget rather than the traditional focus on price. The model predicts that an increase in expected demand will result in an increase in the budgets of the films, as well as an increase in the difference in budget and genre between films. I empirically test these predictions using data on film release dates, budget, genre, and both expected and actual weekly number of tickets sold. The empirical findings confirm the predictions from the theory. If the expected demand of the release week increases by 1%, on average the budgets of the films that will release that week will increase by 0.66%, the difference in budget between the films will increase by 0.83%, and the genre similarity in percentage value will fall by 10.31 percentage points.