cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Is Voting in Churches (or Anywhere Else) Unconstitutional?: The Polling Place Priming (PPP) Effect

A substantial social science literature has demonstrated the power of situational cues on behavior, decisions, choices, attitudes, and emotions. Moreover, recent findings demonstrate that the place where a citizen casts a ballot – Town Hall, a fire station, a school, a church, a library – can itself influence that citizen’s vote, by priming particular concepts, values, or ideals that nudge the voter in a particular direction. More important, that effect – what we call the Polling Place Priming Effect or the PPP Effect – nudges voters in a predictable direction – that is, it leads to a systematic, non-random bias in individuals’ decision-making. For example, school locations activate pro-education concepts and norms, and thus lead to votes supportive of education, specifically, allocating more tax dollars toward education. Voting in churches activates conservative Christian values, leading to support for conservative candidates who express such values, and activates anti-abortion norms as well.Here we discuss the legal and policy implications of the PPP Effect, focusing on the specific question of the constitutionality of voting in churches. We then connect these findings with similar challenges to voting procedures. We suggest that both the church challenges and these other analogous disputes – and courts’ responses to these challenges – fail to fully take into account the unconscious nature of the influence on a citizen’s decision-making, and warrant a reconsideration of First Amendment and Equal Protection jurisprudence. Drawing on recent scholarship in the abortion rights context, we articulate a plausible approach to grounding such challenges that does consider that unconscious influence. We then connect our discussion with recent steps toward reducing or altogether eliminating the use of polling places, by addressing its relationship to calls for absentee or convenience voting. We close by broadening our discussion and identifying other legal and policy contexts to which the PPP Effect might be relevant, and suggesting empirical research that might address such possibilities.
Superoxide chemical transformation of diolepoxide polyaromatic hydrocarbon DNA adducts: Determination of benzo[α]pyrene-r-7,t-8,9,c-10-tetrahydrotetrol by gas chromatography

Benzo[a]pyrene-r-7,t-8,9,c-10-tetrahydrotetrol (100 pg, 342 fmol) was measured using the following sequence of steps: (1) chemical transformation with potassium superoxide to 2,3-pyrenedicarboxylic acid; (2) electrophore derivatization with pentafluorobenzyl bromide; (3) sample clean-up by high-performance liquid chromatography and (4) measurement by gas chromatography with electron-capture detection and by gas chromatography with electron-capture negative-ion mass spectrometry. The overall, absolute yields obtained by the two procedures were 69% and 60%, respectively. This work completes the first stage towards the establishment of a general method for detecting diolepoxide polyaromatic hydrocarbon DNA adducts by gas chromatography.
Boiling Down to the M‐Word at the California Supreme Court

This article examines oral arguments in a seminal case before the California Supreme Court about same-sex couples' right to marry. Working with video of the proceeding, from which I captured images and made transcripts, I propose that participants used certain pragmatic displays—in particular, gesture, metaphor, and prosody—as metapragmatic devices simultaneously to advance their shared task of legal categorizing and to position themselves and one another as winners, losers, and bystanders. Participants integrated these displays multimodally with their words in order to make arguments as well as to repurpose arguments made in preceding turns. The article contributes to the literature on stance-taking and format-tying techniques and also contributes to the literature on the construction of social identity through courtroom interaction. In particular, it demonstrates that the deployment of this repertoire to help achieve stances inside the courtroom also helped project those stances outward to competing social views on sexual orientation.
Shouldering Risks: The Culture of Control in the Nuclear Power Industry

Shouldering Risks: The Culture of Control in the Nuclear Power Industry. Constance Perin. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2005. 379 pp.
Evidence integration in model-based tree search

Research on the dynamics of reward-based, goal-directed decision making has largely focused on simple choice, where participants decide among a set of unitary, mutually exclusive options. Recent work suggests that the deliberation process underlying simple choice can be understood in terms of evidence integration: Noisy evidence in favor of each option accrues over time, until the evidence in favor of one option is significantly greater than the rest. However, real-life decisions often involve not one, but several steps of action, requiring a consideration of cumulative rewards and a sensitivity to recursive decision structure. We present results from two experiments that leveraged techniques previously applied to simple choice to shed light on the deliberation process underlying multistep choice. We interpret the results from these experiments in terms of a new computational model, which extends the evidence accumulation perspective to multiple steps of action.
Cloning and characterization of a Pseudomonas mendocina KR1 gene cluster encoding toluene-4-monooxygenase.

Pseudomonas mendocina KR1 metabolizes toluene as a carbon source by a previously unknown pathway. The initial step of the pathway is hydroxylation of toluene to form p-cresol by a multicomponent toluene-4-monooxygenase (T4MO) system. The T4MO enzyme system has broad substrate specificity and provides a new opportunity for biodegradation of toxic compounds and bioconversions. Its known activities include conversion of a variety of phenyl compounds into the phenolic derivatives and the complete degradation of trichloroethylene. We have cloned and characterized a gene cluster from KR1 that determines the offO activity. To clone the T4MO genes, KR1 DNA libraries were constructed in Escherichia coli HB101 by using a broad-host-range vector and transferred to a KR1 mutant able to grow on p-cresol but not on toluene. An insert consisting of two SacI fragments of identical size (10.2 kb) was shown to complement the mutant for growth on toluene. One of the SacI fragments, when cloned into the E. coli vector pUC19, was found to direct the synthesis of indigo dye. The indigo-forming property was correlated with the presence of T4MO activity. The T4MO genes were mapped to a 3.6-kb region, and the direction of transcription was determined. DNA sequencing and N-terminal amino acid determination identified a five-gene cluster, tmoABCDE, within this region. Expression of this cluster carrying a single mutation in each gene demonstrated that each of the five genes is essential for T4MO activity. Other evidence presented indicated that none of the tmo genes was involved in the regulation of the tmo gene cluster, in the control of substrate transport for the T4MO system, or in major processing of the products of the tmo genes. It was tentatively concluded that the tmoABCDE genes encode structural polypeptides of the T4MO enzyme system. One of the tmo genes was tentatively identified as a ferredoxin gene. Images
Do conservative governments make a difference in monetary policy? A study of the U.S. and the U.K.

This paper offers an empirical test of the Simon's proposition: Do conservative governments make a difference in monetary policy? Using quarterly data on the inflation rate and the GDP gap, the authors test the hypothesis during the tenure of two regimes: conservatives and non-conservatives, and for two countries, the U.S. and the U.K. Under the assumption that the monetary authority followed a Taylor rule, they evaluate monetary policies pursued by alternative regimes in the two countries. Alternatively, they assume that the monetary authority adjusts money growth in response to deviations of inflation and GDP from their target levels. The estimation results were mixed. The Simon's hypothesis was supported in the U.K. during the Thatcher regime, but not in the U.S. during the Reagan's tenure. The findings for the U.S. in contrast to those obtained for the U.K. indirectly validate the Simon's contention that monetary policy in the U.S. is subject to manipulation by interest groups “Perhaps the ultimate test of the conservative status of government is its willingness to pursue stable monetary policy.” William E. Simon, 1980, p. 8
Prediction of gasoline yield in a fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) riser using k-epsilon turbulence and 4-lump kinetic models: A computational fluid dynamics (CFD) approach

Abstract Fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) is an essential process for the conversion of gas oil to gasoline. This study is an effort to model the phenomenon numerically using commercial computational fluid dynamics (CFD) software, heavy density catalyst and 4-lump kinetic model. Geometry, boundary conditions and dimensions of industrial riser for catalytic cracking unit are conferred for 2D simulation using commercial CFD code FLUENT 6.3. Continuity, momentum, energy and species transport equations, applicable to two phase solid and gas flow, are used to simulate the physical phenomenon as efficient as possible. This study implements and predicts the use of the granular Eulerian multiphase model with species transport. Time accurate transient problem is solved with the prediction of mass fraction profiles of gas oil, gasoline, light gas and coke. The output curves demonstrate the breaking of heavy hydrocarbon in the presence of catalyst. An approach proposed in this study shows good agreement with the experimental and numerical data available in the literature.
Perceptions Of Federal Management In The Clinton Era

This article examines aspects of planning, budgeting and reorganization in order to evaluate what improvements have been undertaken during the Clinton presidency to improve government performance in the United States national government 1 . The authors develop a model of government reform based upon a series of escalating steps. These are: (1) internal government improvements; (2) fundamental restructuring and reorganization of agency operations; (3) programme reforms, driven by internal management; (4) programme reforms – driven by policy and political change; (5) reform of the political system itself. The authors conclude that while the National Performance Review and Government Performance and Results Act are the centre-pieces of this effort, reform will continue in the US after NPR and GPRA wither away because the time is right for reform for a variety of reasons discussed in the article. The findings are then focused in a broader context in terms of their applicability to western democracies which could result in smaller more successful governments in the twenty-first century.
Time Oscillations of Escape Rates in Periodically Driven Systems

We provide an explicit solution of the problem of activation escape from a metastable state of a periodically driven Brownian particle, including both the exponent and the prefactor. We find the instantaneous and time-average escape rates, and a crossover in their field dependence, from weak to exponentially strong, with amplitude and period of the driving field. The results apply for an arbitrary ratio between the field amplitude and the noise intensity, and between the field period and the relaxation time of the system.
MECHANISMS OF FACULTATIVE SEX-RATIO VARIATION IN ZEBRA FINCHES (TAENIOPYGIA GUTTATA )

The offspring sex ratio at independence in a colony of Zebra Finches (Tae- niopygia guttata) was significantly male biased. Three possible proximate causes of this bias were examined. (1) The first was that there is a sex-biased laying sequence followed by brood reduction. Males were significantly more likely to hatch from earlier-laid eggs than females, but there was no evidence of increased mortality among late-laid nestlings. (2) The second was that there is sex-biased mortality due to sex-specific growth rates. Male and female offspring had similar rates of mass increase, tarsus growth, and wing-chord growth. (3) The third was that there is sex-biased provisioning by one or both parents, increasing survival probabilities of preferred sex. There was evidence that males fed male-biased broods more frequently than female-biased broods. Fledging age, fledging mass, and the number of days to independence were similar for male and female offspring, suggesting that sex-biased provisioning had no significant biological effect. Although none of the hypotheses adequately explained the observed sex-ratio bias, results from this and other studies suggest that sex- biased laying sequences followed by brood reduction are most likely to cause skewed offspring sex ratios in nature. The implications of a sex-biased laying sequence and of sex-biased provisioning by the male are discussed in reference to the potential evolutionary conflict between males and females over control of offspring sex ratios. Received 5 October 1994, accepted 21 June 1995.
Fitness and Age: Review of Carroll and Hannan's Demography of Corporations and Industries

The Demography of Corporations and Industries (2000) by Glenn R. Carroll and T. Michael Hannan is a welcome addition to a body of empirical analysis of firms and industries that studies the effects of technological change and other changes that occur over time. The book contains a wealth of facts, and some new insights too. It will make useful secondary reading in some graduate courses in economics, and I would recommend it to anyone whose research relates to the concept of creative destruction.
Biogeochemistry of microbial mats under Precambrian environmental conditions: a modelling study

Microbial mats have arguably been the most important ecosystem on Earth over its 3.5 Gyr inhabitation. Mats have persisted as consortia for billions of years and occupy some of Earth’s most hostile environments. With rare exceptions (e.g. microbial mats developed on geothermal springs at Yellowstone National Park, USA), today’s mats do not exist under conditions analogous to Precambrian habitats with substantially lower oxygen and sulphate concentrations. This study uses a numerical model of a microbial mat to investigate how mat composition in the past might have differed from modern mats. We present a numerical model of mat biogeochemistry that simulates the growth of cyanobacteria (CYA), colourless sulphur bacteria (CSB), and purple sulphur bacteria (PSB), with sulphate-reducing bacteria (SRB) and heterotrophic bacteria represented by parameterized sulphate reduction rates and heterotrophic consumption rates, respectively. Variations in the availability of light, oxygen, sulphide, and sulphate at the upper boundary of the mat are the driving forces in the model. Mats with remarkably similar biomass and chemical profiles develop in models under oxygen boundary conditions ranging from 2.5 × 10 − 13 to 0.25 m M and sulphate boundary concentrations ranging from 0.29 to 29 m M , designed to simulate various environments from Archean to modern. The modelled mats show little sensitivity to oxygen boundary conditions because, independent of the overlying oxygen concentrations, cyanobacterial photosynthesis creates similar O 2 concentrations of 0.45‐0.65 m M in the upper reaches of the mat during the photoperiod. Varying sulphate boundary conditions have more effect on the biological composition of the mat. Sulphide generated from sulphate reduction controls the magnitude and distribution of the PSB population, and plays a part in the distribution of CSB. CSB are the most sensitive species to environmental change, varying with oxygen and sulphide.
Development and status of MINDO/3 and MNDO

Abstract The historical development of MINDO/3 and MNDO is outlined in relation to the parallel developments of the ab initio SCF approach. It is pointed out that both treatments are purely empirical so far as chemistry is concerned and complement one another, MINDO/3 and MNDO allowing calculations to be carried out when ab initio methods of comparable performance are inapplicable because they need one-thousand times more computing time.
International Mind Alcoves: The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Libraries, and the Struggle for Global Public Opinion, 1917–54

AbstractIn 1918, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (CEIP) partnered with libraries to develop International Mind Alcove collections in the United States and abroad. These collections aimed to help put an end to war by encouraging international understanding and developing cosmopolitan perspectives across the globe. During the programme’s forty-year history, the alcoves grew from a group of small informal collections to a well-funded and highly organized operation. As the programme evolved, it utilized libraries, books, and the media to advocate for internationalism, educate the public about other nations, and instil cross-cultural understanding in children before they became embroiled in political controversy. The Mind Alcove programme and the work of librarians in its creation represents a significant episode in library history, placing the library profession within the early twentieth-century development of international organizations and global information networks that are the forerunners...
Two results on special points

We show that there is a nowhere ccc -compact space which has a remote point. We show that it is consistent to have a non-compact -compact separable space X such that every point of the remainder is a limit of a countable discrete subset of non-isolated points of X. This example shows that one cannot prove in ZFC that every locally compact non-compact space has discrete weak P -points.
Tissue-Engineered Large Intestine Resembles Native Colon With Appropriate In Vitro Physiology and Architecture

The absence of native large intestine has been linked to significant morbidities, including changes in water and sodium absorption, production of short chain fatty acids, and lack of storage capacity.1 Ileal pouch substitution has a number of serious complications as well, including inflammation and dilation of the pouch, high stool frequency, and pelvic sepsis resulting from pouch leak.2 The cumulative frequency of pouchitis at major referral centers approaches 50% over 10 years.3,4 Therapy directed at relieving pouch morbidity includes revision or conversion to end-ileostomy, transrectal catheter drainage, antibiotics, and steroids.5 Ileal mucosal adaptation in the pouch by colonic metaplasia and the presence of chronic inflammation have been postulated to increase long-term neoplasia.6 Our laboratory first reported making tissue-engineered small intestine by the transplantation of organoid units on a polymer scaffold into the omentum of the Lewis rat.7 Organoid units are multicellular units derived from neonatal rat intestine, containing a mesenchymal core surrounded by a polarized intestinal epithelium, and contain all of the cells of a full-thickness intestinal section.8 We speculated that tissue-engineered colon (TEC) could be produced by adapting the technique of organoid unit transplantation, and that the resulting tissue could be an effective in vivo large intestine substitute with physiologic function that does not require ileal mucosal adaptation.9 We produced TEC in Lewis rats from both neonatal rats and from TEC itself and characterized the resulting tissue by histology, immunohistochemistry, and Ussing chamber studies.
A Case of Chronic Conjunctivitis following Rituximab Therapy

The activity of the anti-CD20 monoclonal antibody, rituximab in B-cell non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, with relatively minimal toxicity has been well established. Adverse effects such as low-grade fever, urticaria, bronchospasm, sporadic tachycardia, and hypotension have been described. However, only a single case of rituximab-related, transient conjunctivitis has been documented in literature. We report an occurrence of chronic, bilateral conjunctivitis in an 88-year-old female diagnosed with stage IV, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL), who was maintained on rituximab for 12 months. In contrast to the previously described case, our patient developed severe conjunctival inflammation approximately three to four weeks following rituximab induction. Resolution of conjunctivitis occurred within two months after cessation of rituximab treatment.
Notch signaling in skeletal stem cells

The skeleton originates from stem cells residing in the sclerotome and neural crest that undergo proliferation, migration, and commitment. The development of the skeletal stem cells is influenced by many signaling pathways that govern cell fate determination, proliferation, differentiation, and apoptosis. This review will focus on Notch signaling functions in regulating the different cell types that form the skeletal system as well as the interplay between them to maintain homeostasis. Osteochondroprogenitors require Notch signaling to maintain multipotency and to prevent premature differentiation into osteoblasts. Subsequently, overactivation of Notch signaling suppresses osteoblast maturation. Moreover, Notch signaling in osteochondroprogenitors is required for chondrocyte proliferation and hypertrophy and suppresses terminal differentiation. Translational studies demonstrated a crucial role of Notch signaling in osteosarcoma and osteoarthritis, where concepts derived from developmental pathways are often recapitulated. This brings hope of taking advantage of the molecular mechanisms learned from development to approach the pathological processes underlying abnormal bone/cartilage metabolism or tumorigenesis. Pharmacological agents that target Notch receptors or ligands in a tissue-specific fashion would offer new opportunities for treating bone/cartilage diseases caused by dysregulation of Notch signaling.
Possible violation of the Delta I = 1/2 rule in non-mesonic hypernuclear weak decay

The weak decays of strange mesons and free hyperons strongly favor {Delta}I=1/2 amplitudes over {Delta}I=3/2 amplitudes. It is now known to what extent this rule applies to the non-mesonic interactions of the type {Lambda}p {yields} np and {Lambda}n {yields} nn. This paper examines existing data on non-mesonic decays of light hypernuclei in order to obtain a quantitative estimate of the relative strength of the two isospin channels., The data show that a pure {Delta}I=1/2 decay amplitude is ruled out at the 1.6{sigma} level, and favor a solution where either: (1) both isospin channels contribute about equally, or (2) the {Delta}I=3/2 channel dominates by an order of magnitude.
Global engineering education: issues, strategies and predictions

This paper reviews results from a workshop on Global Engineering Education held at Arizona State University in Tempe, Arizona, February 26 and 27, 2004. The motivation for this workshop came from a desire to get practitioners of global engineering education experiences together to talk about issues. The workshop proceeded through four stages: inspirational presentations, discernment of the issues, development of barriers and strategies to vault the barriers and summary conclusions. Twenty-six participants from 17 industries and universities from five countries selected 6 major issue areas. Each issue area was discussed and plans were developed to improve the progress toward global engineering education.
Synergizing people, process, and technology to motivate knowledge sharing and collaboration Industry case study

Intel is the world's largest Semiconductor chip manufacturing company with over 95,000 employees and 164 sites in 63 countries across the globe. Not only does Intel's IT group keep Intel's business operations running, it also contributes to Intel's business transformation via user experience research and architecture path finding for leading edge technologies. IT sees social computing as a strategic way to improve collaboration, foster innovation, and facilitate learning. Our research has identified the best opportunities for using social computing and other technologies to boost collaboration and productivity across Intel. To keep achieving maximum benefit from its collaboration efforts, Intel IT continues to invest in social capabilities and also partners with Intel HR to help address cultural and motivational barriers. Beyond improving personal productivity, we are looking to enable efficiency in Intel's business divisions for product design, manufacturing, and sales, through the use of cutting-edge social technologies, including social analytics, immersive video/sketching, federated identity and access management, and cross system activity stream aggregation. Our goal is to continue to transform collaboration across Intel into a seamless and unified experience that brings together relevant information, people, and business intelligence to fully support employee and business workflows.
Convergence properties of the strongly damped nonlinear Klein-Gordon equation

Abstract We consider the nonlinear Klein-Gordon equation u tt + α(− Δ + γ)u i + (− Δ + m 2 )u + λ ¦u¦ p − 1 u = 0 over a domain Ω in R 3 . In [2], Aviles and Sandefur established global existence of strong solutions when α > 0 for p > 3. For each α > 0 let u α be such a solution. In this paper we show that if Ω is a bounded domain with smooth boundary then there exists a sequence α k and a global weak solution v of the undamped equation (where α = 0) such that lim αk → 0 u αk = v in L 2 (Ω) uniformly on any finite interval [0, T ] with T > 0. We also show that if u is a strong local solution with α = 0, then for smooth enough initial data there exists an interval [0, T ] such that lim α ↓ 0 u α = u uniformly in a much stronger norm. We conclude by noting a connection between these two results and by discussing the difficulty of extending the first result to the case Ω = R 3 . We also note (in section 2) a natural extension of Theorem 1.1 to bounded domains in R n , n > 3.
Curious cases: Altered dose-response relationships in addiction genetics☆

Dose-response relationships for most addictive substances are "inverted U"-shaped. Addictive substances produce both positive features that include reward, euphoria, anxiolysis, withdrawal-relief, and negative features that include aversion, dysphoria, anxiety and withdrawal symptoms. A simple model differentially associates ascending and descending limbs of dose-response curves with rewarding and aversive influences, respectively. However, Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM) diagnoses of substance dependence fail to incorporate dose-response criteria and don't directly consider balances between euphoric and dysphoric drug effects. Classical genetic studies document substantial heritable influences on DSM substance dependence. Linkage and genome-wide association studies identify modest-sized effects at any locus. Nevertheless, clusters of SNPs within selected genes display 10(-2)>p>10(-8) associations with dependence in many independent samples. For several of these genes, evidence for cis-regulatory, level-of-expression differences supports the validity of mouse models in which levels of expression are also altered. This review documents surprising, recently defined cases in which convergent evidence from humans and mouse models supports central influences of altered dose-response relationships in mediating the impact of relevant genomic variation on addiction phenotypes. For variation at loci for the α5 nicotinic acetylcholine receptor, cadherin 13, receptor type protein tyrosine phosphatase Δ and neuronal cell adhesion molecule genes, changed dose-response relationships conferred by gene knockouts in mice are accompanied by supporting human data. These observations emphasize desirability of carefully elucidating dose-response relationships for both rewarding and aversive features of abused substances wherever possible. They motivate consideration of individual differences in dose-response relationships in addiction nosology and therapeutics.
3T3 variants lacking receptors for epidermal growth factor are susceptible to transformation by Kirsten sarcoma virus.

TODARO et al.1 have reported that transformation of established cell lines by murine (Kirsten, Molony) and feline sarcoma viruses resulted in the loss of receptors for the polypeptide mitogen epidermal growth factor (EGF). The phenomenon showed several forms of specificity; (1) transformation by other viruses such as avian arcoma viruses, polyoma virus or SV40 did not lead to the loss of EGF receptors, (2) transformation by Kirsten murine sarcoma virus did not lead to the loss of cellular receptors for another mitogenic peptide known as multiplication stimulating activity (MSA)2, and (3) in a related observation, human fibrosarcoma cell lines had high levels of EGF receptors but low levels of MSA receptors2. From these observations Todaro et al.2 formulated the following hypothesis: “Cell growth in an organism is controlled in part by the particular display of specific growth factor receptors responding to hormones produced by other cells. In the normal situation those cells that produce a specific growth factor do not respond to it. But the inappropriate production by a target cell of an active hormone, that it also has receptors for, may be sufficient to serve as a stimulus for cell division. Persistent uncontrolled production of the growth factor may then serve as a continuous endogenous stimulus and lead to inappropriate cell growth.” As one alternative, this group has suggested that transformation by murine sarcoma virus might lead to “the production of endogenous EGF or a related substance that binds to EGF receptors”1; and have in fact suggested that “the sarcoma genes code for an EGF related substance”1. This model suggests that the phenotypic expression of viral transformation can be broken at two possible points. If the sarcoma gene product is altered to such a degree that it is unable to bind to the appropriate mitogen receptor, the cell will remain untransformed. Alternatively, untransformed cell lines lacking specific mitogen receptors should not show phenotypic transformation (that is, focus formation) when exposed to the appropriate virus, as the sarcoma gene product produced as a consequence of the transformation event will be unable to stimulate cell division if the appropriate receptor is absent. We have recently isolated and characterised variant Swiss 3T3 cell lines which grow to low cell densities, do not show a mitogenic response to added EGF, do not bind labelled EGF, even at concentrations of hormone 10-fold greater than required for receptor saturation by the parent cell line, and respond to a variety of other mitogens3. According to the model proposed by Todaro et al.1 transformation of these cells by a murine sarcoma virus should not lead to the characteristic alteration in cell density, as the EGF receptor postulated to be ‘responsive’ to the murine sarcoma gene product is not present. Our studies, however, suggest these EGF receptorless variants are as susceptible to transformation by Kirsten sarcoma virus as the parent 3T3 line.
Penicillin failure in the treatment of streptococcal pharyngo-tonsillitis.

The inadequate penetration of penicillins into the tonsillar tissues and tonsillar surface fluid and microbiologic interactions between Group A beta-hemolytic streptococci (GABHS) and other pharyngo-tonsillar bacterial flora can account for their failure in eradicating GABHS pharyngo-tonsillitis (PT). These interactions include the presence of beta-lactamase producing bacteria (BLPB) that “shield” GABHS from penicillins, the absence of bacteria that interfere with the growth of GABHS, and the coaggregation between GABHS and Moraxella catarrhalis. In the treatment of acute tonsillitis, the use of cephalosporins can overcome these interactions by eradicating aerobic BLPB, while preserving the potentially interfering organisms and eliminating GABHS. In treatment of recurrent and chronic PT, the administration of clindamycin or amoxicillin-clavulanatecan eradicates both aerobic and anaerobic BLPB, as well as GABHS.
A Randomized, Controlled Trial of Bright Light Therapy for Agitated Behaviors in Dementia Patients Residing in Long-Term Care

Background Agitated behaviors are common in dementia patients residing in chronic care settings. Their occurrence may be associated with lack of adequate exposure to sunlight and with circadian rhythm disturbances. Objective Prior research has suggested that bright light therapy (BLT) may reduce agitated behaviors in dementia patients. The aim of this study was to test the efficacy of BLT in a randomized, controlled, crossover clinical trial. Method Fifteen patients with dementia and agitated behaviors residing in a chronic care facility were randomized in a crossover design to morning BLT for 1 hour per day or to a control condition with dim light exposure. Patients were treated in either condition for 4 weeks, followed by 1 week on no treatment, prior to being crossed over to the other condition. Results Eight out of 15 patients completed the entire study. The rest completed at least 2 weeks of study. Patients randomized to the BLT condition exhibited a statistically significant improvement in nocturnal sleep from a mean of 6.4 hours/night to 8.1 hours/night 4 weeks later (p<0.05). The sleep of patients in the control condition did not improve significantly. There were no other significant differences between baseline and follow-up, nor between BLT and control treated patients on the other outcome measures, which included the Behavioral Pathology in Alzheimer Disease scale (Behave-AD) and the Cornell Scale for Depression in Dementia. Conclusion Patients with dementia in chronic care who exhibit agitated behaviors sleep more hours at night when administered morning BLT. However, BLT does not lead to improvements in agitated behaviors in institutionalized patients with dementia with non-disturbed sleep–wake cycles. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
X-ray Crystal Structures and the Facile Oxidative (Au−C) Cleavage of the Dimethylaurate(I) and Tetramethylaurate(III) Homologues

Dimethylaurate(I) has been prepared as the crystalline tetrabutylammonium salt for comparison with the known tetramethylaurate(III) analogue. The linear structure of dimethylaurate(I) and the square-planar structure of tetramethylaurate(III) have both been confirmed by X-ray crystallography. One-electron oxidation of dimethylaurate(I) by either ferrocenium or arenediazonium cations produces the metastable dimethylgold(II) intermediate, which can be trapped as the paramagnetic 9,10-phenanthrenequinone (PQ) adduct. Otherwise, dimethylgold(II) is subject to rapid reductive elimination of ethane and affords metallic gold (mirror). The analogous oxidation of tetramethylaurate(III) by ferrocenium, arenediazonium, or nitrosonium cations also proceeds via electron transfer to generate the putative tetramethylgold(IV) intermediate. The highly unstable (CH3)4AuIV spontaneously undergoes homolytic cleavage to produce methyl radical and the coordinately unsaturated trimethylgold(III), which can be intercepted by adde...
Buried channel silicon-on-insulator MOSFETs for hot-electron spectroscopy

Hot-carrier degradation in deep sub-micron MOSFETs can lead to shifts in the threshold voltage, reduction in effective mobility and transconductance, and reduced device reliability. Voltage and current stress measurements are often used to determine the hot-carrier degradation mechanisms. However, direct measurements of the hot-carrier distribution are difficult to make because the inversion layer in a conventional MOSFET is buried beneath the MOS gate material. In this paper, we describe a novel buried-channel silicon-on-insulator MOSFET that is suitable for hot-electron spectroscopy using a scanning-probe microscope.
Aortic Dissection in Taiwan

We retrospectively reviewed all patients with a final diagnosis of spontaneous thoracic aortic dissection treated at Linkou Chang Gung Memorial Hospital between January 1989 and December 1994. There were a total of 109 patients with a mean age of 55 +/- 11 years ranging from 19 to 88 years. The male-to-female ratio was 2 to 1 (73 to 36). There was a predilection to present during the colder months, with 69% seen between September 1 and February 28 and only 31% during the warmer half of the year. In most patients, hypertension (85%) was the major predisposing factor with another 7% having Marfan syndrome. The remaining 8% had no obvious underlying disease except for one patient who had an atrial septum defect. Presenting chief complaints in order of frequency included: anterior chest pain 58.7% (64/109), back pain 19.2% (21/109), abdominal pain 10.1% (11/109), consciousness change 3.7% (4/109), neck pain 2.7% (3/109), paraparesis 2.7% (3/109), dyspnea 1.8% (2/109), and hemoptysis 0.9% (1/109). The diagnostic breakdown revealed 46% to be type A (50/109) and 54% type B (59/109). A total of 26 (24%) patients died in hospital (16% were type A and 8% were type B). (Type A included all proximal dissections and those distal dissections that extend retrograde to involve the arch and ascending aorta; Type B refers to the other distal dissections without proximal extension; proposed by Daily et al.) Thoracic aortic dissection remains an important concern in patients with a history of hypertension. Patients seem particularly susceptible during cold weather months. The average age of our patients was only 55 years and 24% of them died during hospitalization. Earlier identification and more aggressive antihypertensive treatment is required.
Adjuvant therapy for ampullary carcinomas: The Mayo Clinic experience

Purpose: To determine the effects of adjuvant radiotherapy and chemotherapy for carcinoma of the ampulla of Vater. Methods and Materials: We retrospectively reviewed the records of 125 patients who underwent definitive surgery for carcinomas involving the ampulla of Vater between April 1977 and February 2005 and who survived more than 50 days after surgery. Twenty-nine of the patients also received adjuvant radiotherapy (median dose, 50.4 Gy in 28 fractions) with concurrent 5-fluorouracil chemotherapy. Adverse prognostic factors were investigated, and overall survival (OS) and local and distant failure were estimated. Results: Adverse prognostic factors for decreased OS by univariate analysis included lymph node (LN) involvement, locally advanced tumors (T3/T4), and poor histologic grade. By multivariate analysis, positive LN status ( p = 0.02) alone was associated with decreased OS. The addition of adjuvant radiotherapy and chemotherapy improved OS for patients with positive LN ( p = 0.01). Median survival for positive LN patients receiving adjuvant therapy was 3.4 years, vs. 1.6 years for those with surgery alone. Conclusions: The addition of adjuvant radiotherapy and 5-fluorouracil chemotherapy may improve OS in patients with LN involvement. The effect of adjuvant therapy on outcomes for patients with poor histologic grade or T3/T4 tumors without LN involvement could not be assessed.
From dimer to crystal: calculating the cohesive energy of rare gas solids

An upper-level undergraduate project is described in which students perform high-level ab initio computational scans of the potential energy curves for Ne2 and Ar2 and obtain the respective Lennard-Jones (LJ) potential parameters σ and e for the dimers. Using this information, along with the summation of pairwise interactions in the face-centered cubic structures of the crystalline solids, the students determine the cohesive energies of solid Ne and Ar. By applying the Debye theory of solids, they then adjust these values to take zero-point vibrational effects into account after obtaining the respective Debye temperatures from published low-temperature heat capacity data. The students also calculate the lattice parameters and solid densities. An assessment of their work is made by comparing their results with experimental data.
Surfactants and bioelectric properties of rat jejunum.

The effects of surfactants on bioelectric properties of rat jejunum were determined. Tween 80 (nonionic) and sodium dodecylsulfate (anionic) increased transmural potential differences 20–34% over values in Krebs-Ringer bicarbonate buffer. Short-circuit currents increased 66–112% and net tissue resistance decreased 19–30%. The cationic surfactant cetrimide decreased transmural potential 23%; short-circuit current decreased 32%, and resistance increased 22%. When sulfate replaced chloride in buffer, surfactant effects were minimized or reversed suggesting a role of C1− flux in the bioelectric effects. Cationic surfactant effects on current and resistance were in the same direction as, but of greater and lesser magnitude, respectively, than alterations observed with bile salts. The nonionic and anionic surfactant increase of transmural potential differences was half that of bile salts. Current and resistance changed in directions opposite to bile salt and cationic surfactant. The current increase was of greater magnitude and resistance decrease less marked. Surfactant molecules may interact specifically with membranes in a more complex manner than simple “detergency.”
FURTHER INVESTIGATION UPON THE INFLUENCE OF ORGAN EXTRACTS OF COLD-BLOODED ANIMALS ON THE BLOOD PRESSURES

1. None of the extracts examined are very potent in small doses. A noticeable effect, however, is produced upon the blood pressure by the extract of fifteen milligrams of shark testis. 2. A small dose of a five per cent. shark testis extract seems to show more pressor action than a larger dose of the same solution. 3. The fall of blood-pressure is due to a vaso-dilation. 4. After repeated (seven or eight) injections of almost any extract, an injection of more of the same extract, or of another extract, which would be rather potent as a "first" injection, causes very little if any response from the blood-pressure. 5. Continued boiling of an extract destroys the pressor substance. 6. The depressor action is then very pronounced and especially prolonged. 7. The depressor substance will dialyze. 8. The pressor and depressor substances cannot be separated by dialysis, because in the repeated sterilizations the pressor substance disappears. 9. The pressor and depressor substances cannot be separated by absolute alcohol, as each seems to be soluble. The solubility is not, however, very great, at least in the cold. 10. It seems impossible to separate the pressor and depressor substances by means of a difference in solubility in cold physiological salt solution, since the depressor substance is even more soluble in that solution than the pressor. And yet the depressor substance is not nearly all removed by this means, even though it is allowed to stand for some time. 11. After cutting the vagi, the recovery from the effect of the depressor substance is much more rapid than with the vagi intact. The amount of fall of blood-pressure is about equal in either case. 12. Extracts of the testis and pancreas of shark; of the testis and spleen of swordfish; and the spiral valve of dogfish show the presence of a pressor substance. 13. Extracts of the testis, spleen, pancreas and liver of shark; of the testis, liver, spleen and kidney of swordfish, and the spiral valve of dogfish show the presence of a depressor substance. 14. Extracts of shark ovary gave no result. I believe, however, that if sufficient of the parenchymatous tissue of the ovary had been obtained a result would have been given by this organ also.
The Influence of Pulmonary Hemodynamics on Right Ventricular Function in Pulmonary Hypertension

Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is a degenerative disease that can lead to substantial morphometric remodeling of the pulmonary arteries. Previous studies have revealed coupling relationships between right ventricular (RV) function and pulmonary arterial hemodynamics. The objective of this study was to utilize computational fluid dynamics (CFD) to estimate spatially averaged Wall Shear Stress (WSS) for patients with PH and explore correlations between hemodynamics metrics and RV function.© 2013 ASME
Hybrid and forward error correction transmission techniques for unreliable transport of 3D geometry

The continual improvement in computer performance together with the prevalence of high-speed network connections having high throughput and moderate latencies enables the deployment of multimedia applications, such as collaborative virtual environments, over wide area networks (WANs). These applications can serve as simulated environments in scenarios such as emergency response training to catastrophic disasters, military training, and entertainment. Many of these systems use 3D graphics for display and may be required to distribute geometric models on demand between participants. Progressive meshes provide an attractive mechanism for such distribution. Previous uses of progressive meshes have sent data using reliable protocols (TCP). However, such protocols have disadvantages in on-demand settings, in that they: (1) use flow control, which limits performance in WANs; (2) add additional bandwidth when there is loss; (3) treat all loss as an indication of congestion; and (4) require feature-rich multicast support, which is not always available. In this paper, we modify progressive mesh models to allow reconstruction even in the event of packet loss. We use these modifications in two transmission schemes, a hybrid transmission that uses TCP and UDP to send packets and a forward error correction transmission scheme that uses redundancy to decode the information sent. We assess the performance of these transmission schemes when deployed on network testbeds that simulate wide area and wireless characteristics.
Regularity of boundary quasi-potentials for planar systems

We establish local regularity properties for the value function of a variational problem arising in the study of small random perturbations of planar dynamical systems. The approach is to characterize the extremals as solutions to a Hamiltonian system, using the usual Legendre transformation. The differential of the value function is described by a certain stable manifold associated with the Hamiltonian system. The existence and smoothness of this stable manifold is obtained from standard results.
Analysis of spatial pipelining in Opportunistic Large Array broadcasts

The Opportunistic Large Array (OLA) is a simple form of cooperative transmission, in which a group of single-antenna nodes decode the same packet, then a short time later relay the packet simultaneously in orthogonal channels. The authors have previously shown that OLA transmissions can be adequately synchronized so they appear to a receiver as having come from a real array antenna doing transmit diversity. OLAs have been considered as a basis for rapid single-packet broadcasting in multi-hop networks, however, there are few studies that consider the long range, intra-flow interference produced by OLAs transmitting previous packets from the same source. We show that the broadcast throughput from a single source is always degraded if the source transmits a packet before previous co-channel packets have finished propagating across the network. The infinite disc case is treated theoretically, while the finite disc case is treated numerically.
Information technology and the management of corruption

Corruption is a major problem for many parts of the public sector. One dominant vision of corruption restraint - the 'Panoptic vision' - sees information technology (IT) as a key enabler of management control. This paper presents five short case studies of IT and public sector corruption to test the realities of this Panoptic vision. From these it is concluded that, while IT sometimes does detect and remove corruption, it can also have no effect or even provide new corruption opportunities for some public servants. Management of corruption is ultimately shaped more by management decisions and by broader organisational and environmental factors than it is by technology. Put simply, IT-based systems guided by the Panoptic vision affect symptoms of a corrupt system rather than causes. Public managers must therefore adopt a more holistic vision of corruption control. They must