cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Customer Orientation of Service Employees and Rapport: Influences On Service-Outcome Variables in Full-Service Restaurants:

The purpose of this study is to investigate the influence of the construct of “customer orientation in service employees” (COSE) on service-outcome variables. In particular, the study assesses (a) ...
Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1 Latency Model for High-Throughput Screening

Human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) is not eliminated from patients even after years of antiretroviral therapy, apparently due to the presence of latently infected cells. Here we describe the development of a cell-based system of latency that can be used for high-throughput screening aimed at novel drug discovery to eradicate HIV-1 infection.
Shingle-back lizards crush snail shells using temporal summation (tetanus) to increase the force of the adductor muscles

During the crushing of hard objects, the adductor muscles ofTrachydosaurus are activated in an unfused tetanus with the tetanic pulses of the several motor units occurring in synchrony.
Centennial Changes in Surgical Care and Research

Abstract : One hundred years ago, the 21st meeting of the American Surgical Association (ASA) began with R. F. Wier stating in his Presidential Address, I shall turn aside from the well trodden goal of ornate speech and oratorical display and tread for a few minutes the narrow path of scientific investigation. His address, entitled Perforating Ulcer of the Duodenum, essentially was based on 60 cases published by others in the 5 years preceding the meeting, and noted that the outcome of the reported cases was related to the time of operation. All 25 patients in whom closure was carried out 30 or more hours after perforation died, but 8 of the 12 patients in whom closure was performed less than 30 hours after perforation survived. The 33% mortality in those patients was contrasted favorably with the 60% mortality reported by a European surgeon. Wier noted that in 51 of the collected cases, the diagnosis was right or approximately so in 25%. His only patient with a perforated duodenal ulcer presented 4 days after perforation and died quickly after surgical closure.
A comparative study of three evolutionary algorithms for surface acoustic wave sensor wavelength selection

A surface acoustic wave sensor (the zNose™) was utilized to detect fruit defects by measuring and analyzing the volatile compounds emitted by apples. The zNose generates a spectrum with 512 wavelength values. This large number of variables not only increases the processing time, but reduces the classification accuracy due to irrelevant information and noise. In this study, three evolutionary techniques, genetic algorithms (GA), covariance matrix adaptation evolutionary strategy (CMAES), and differential evolution (DE) algorithms, were investigated to select the most relevant wavelengths and reduce data dimensionality of a surface acoustic wave sensor for apple defect detection. Three algorithms were compared for their search quality, search efficiency, and data dimensionality reduction. The whole spectrum, which spans 512 wavelength values, was divided into a different number of windows: with 16, 32 and 64 wavelength values in each window. These three different discretization schemes were tested by the three techniques. Both CMAES and DE yielded the best prediction accuracy with the 64 windows scenario, and GA produced comparable results with 32 windows and 64 windows, which were better than 16 windows. These results suggested that the finer the spectrum was discretized, the better the classification accuracy obtained. The results also showed that CMAES was the most efficient search algorithm with comparable search quality as DE. Three algorithms were further fine-tuned by adjusting their population size which influenced the search space. The parametric study was conducted only for the 64-window case. It was observed that algorithms with larger population size gave better search results. For CMAES, the average cost (classification error rate) for ten random seed runs was 0.0289 with the best search cost of 0.0263 by using twice the default population size (λ). Differential evolution (DE) produced slightly better search results but at the cost of reducing search efficiency. All three algorithms can effectively reduce data dimensionality by 50%, which in turn reduces the computation time.
Group Heterogeneity And Pearson's r:

For many who deal with correlation (as students, teachers, or applied researchers), the connection between group heterogeneity and the magnitude of Pearson's r is difficult to pin down. Confusion abounds because factors that increase score variability do not have a similar effect on r. Three such factors are considered in this paper, with the point made that an increase in sr (and/or in sy) can be associated with an increase or a decrease in r-or possibly with no change in r whatsoever! A helpful distinction is also drawn between (a) properties of the persons or objects that define one's population of interest and (b) properties of the numbers assigned to those persons or objects (or a sample of them) as a result of the measurement process.
Pore region of TRPV3 ion channel is specifically required for heat activation.

Although certain ion channels can be gated by temperature, it is currently unknown how this occurs. Here, the authors identify regions of TRPV3 that are critical for heat sensation, yet independent of other channel gating mechanisms. Ion channels can be activated (gated) by a variety of stimuli, including chemicals, voltage, mechanical force or temperature. Although molecular mechanisms of ion channel gating by chemical and voltage stimuli are understood in principal, the mechanisms of temperature activation remain unknown. The transient receptor potential channel TRPV3 is a nonselective cation channel that is activated by warm temperatures and sensory chemicals such as camphor. Here we screened ∼14,000 random mutant clones of mouse TRPV3 and identified five single point mutations that specifically abolish heat activation but do not perturb chemical activation or voltage modulation. Notably, all five mutations are located in the putative sixth transmembrane helix and the adjacent extracellular loop in the pore region of mouse TRPV3. Although distinct in sequence, we found that the corresponding loop of frog TRPV3 is also specifically required for heat activation. These findings demonstrate that the temperature sensitivity of TRPV3 is separable from all other known activation mechanisms and implicate a specific region in temperature sensing.
IBM eServer z990 improvements in firmware simulation

With the IBM eServerTM z900, simulation methods" and tools for verification of code that is to be embedded in the memory of the system (firmware) were introduced. Since that time, firmware developers have simulated their code prior to the availability of new system hardware components, thereby reducing the time required to bring a large computer system to market. With the z990 system, code simulation efficiency has been improved. The simulation coverage for host and service firmware has been increased from approximately 60% in the z900 to 85% in the z990 by introducing new concepts and extensions. For the first time, the central electronic complex (CEC) firmware simulator, CECSIM, has been enabled to run code in a logical partition (LPAR). This was a prerequisite for code verification of the intra-CEC connectivity, HiperSocketsTM For verification of HiperSockets, a Linux® operating system is loaded into an LPAR. Code verification is accomplished more easily, more effectively, and with better coverage using Linux debugging features because of the ease of performing functional tests with Linux. Another major improvement was the connection of the channel code simulator for the networking I/O adapter OSA-Express to the CECSIM environment to provide a comprehensive verification that covers the entire path of firmware interaction between the CEC and the I/O channels. For the simulation of card control code, a combined software and hardware verification approach was introduced. The overall functionality was verified with a system simulation model, and the base hardware accesses were verified by attaching real hardware. In addition, the cage controller code was integrated into the simulation environment. As a result, the firmware interfaces between the support element (SE) and the cage controller as well as between the cage controller and the hardware have been tested.
What Really Happens in the Home: The Medication Environment of Urban, Minority Youth.

Background Asthma disproportionately affects minority youth. Understanding the home medication environment and its relation to medication adherence can shape interventions to improve health outcomes. Objective The objective of this study was to describe the asthma medication environment in the homes of urban minority youth and to determine predictors of medication use and technique in this population. Methods Baseline data from 2 cohorts of minority youth with asthma in Chicago were combined for cross-sectional analysis. Bilingual research assistants (RAs) collected data in the home. RAs asked caregivers and children to self-report medications using pictures and observed children's asthma medications and inhaler technique. Results The sample contained 175 mainly Latino youth (85.6%) ranging from 5 to 18 years old. Most were on public insurance (80%) and had uncontrolled asthma by self-report (89.7%). Only 27.4% had a spacer, 74.9% had a quick relief medicine, and 48.6% had any controller medicine. RA observations of controllers agreed with children (36%) and parental self-report (42.3%) but did not match the specific observed controllers. Children reported less parental help with medications (43%) than their parents (58.1%). One child was able to properly demonstrate 100% of the inhaler steps and 35.6% achieved >70% of inhaler steps. A better medication technique was associated with having a controller ( b = 12.2, SE = 3.0, P b = 8.05, SE = 3.5, P = .023), and a spacer ( b = 9.3, SE = 3.54, P = .009). Conclusions This rigorous evaluation of the home medication environment of high-risk youth demonstrated that many families lack critical medications, devices, and a technique for proper management of asthma.
“Return of the Native”: Sterling Brown’s A Negro Looks at the South and the Work of Signifying Ethnography

In this essay, Retman explores Sterling Brown's radical use of signifying ethnography in his posthumous collection A Negro Looks at the South (2007), a work of mostly unpublished essays written in the early 1940s when Brown journeyed as a participant observer to take stock of African American life in the South. Employing the methodology of anthropology and the genres of travelogue and documentary book, Brown attends to the silenced voices, ignored stories, displaced songs, and unmarked memorial sites of the South's black inhabitants. He charts a narrative of the region altogether different from the white-authored Southern histories that preceded it. Indeed, A Negro Looks bears witness to the myriad ways in which Brown's own mobility is constrained within the segregated spaces of the South, including its official monuments and markers. This is an ethnography that, in part, dramatizes the ways the ethnographer cannot gain access to his field. As Brown interrogates the practice of anthropology that he himself deploys, he adopts oppositional or signifying methods of observation and representation, different ways of seeing, hearing, moving and telling, in his fieldwork. Retman argues that Brown uses signifying ethnography to craft a radical counterhistory: as he dismantles glorified depictions of the South, Brown locates alternative geographies of dissent in which to secure modern black political identities.
Caloric restriction attenuates β-amyloid neuropathology in a mouse model of Alzheimer’s disease

This study was designed to explore the possibility that caloric restriction (CR) may benefit Alzheimer's disease (AD) by preventing beta-amyloid (Abeta) neuropathology pivotal to the initiation and progression of the disease. We report that a CR dietary regimen prevents Abeta peptides generation and neuritic plaque deposition in the brain of a mouse model of AD neuropathology through mechanisms associated with promotion of anti-amyloidogenic alpha-secretase activity. Study findings support existing epidemiological evidence indicating that caloric intake may influence risk for AD and raises the possibility that CR may be used in preventative measures aimed at delaying the onset of AD amyloid neuropathology.
Proteolysis of SNARE proteins alters facilitation and depression in a specific way

The molecular mechanisms of short-term plasticity observed during synaptic transmission are unknown. To determine whether the soluble N-ethylmaleimide-sensitive factor attachment protein receptor (SNARE) proteins play a role in short-term plasticity, Botulinum toxins A, E, and F, were used to disrupt SNARE protein function in cultured hippocampal neurons. Although low concentrations of all of the toxins significantly reduced evoked release, they differentially affected short-term plasticity as assessed by the paired-pulse ratio, regardless of the initial release probability and size of the readily releasable pool of the synapse. The toxin effects on the paired-pulse ratio resulted in different phenotypes dependent on the toxin cleavage site. Together, these data indicate proteolysis of SNARE proteins alters facilitation and depression in a specific way.
The effect of homozygous deletions upon heterozygote formation in bacteriophage T4D.

Experiments were designed to investigate the effect of homozygous deletions upon the frequency and the average length of heterozygous regions in bacteriophage T4D. A long deletion, rdf 41, which covers at least the whole r II region, was found to increase the heterozygosity for r 48, while no increase was observed when a short deletion was employed. The long deletion was found to increase the average length of amber -HETs by a length approximately the size of the r II region. A drastic reduction in average HET length was found in FUDR crosses homozygous for the long deletion rdf 41, indicating that the type of HET that does increase in FUDR is very short. In the cross with no deletion in either parent, premature lysis HETs were found to be much longer than normal lysis HETs. Assuming that redundancy HETs are long compared to heteroduplex HETs this result indicates that redundancy HETs are made earlier in the latent period than heteroduplex HETs. A fluctuation in HET frequencies was found for different markers, especially in FUDR. About half of all HETs, both in normal crosses and in FUDR crosses, was found to be parental for outside markers. In non-FUDR crosses, polarized segregation was shown by 12 out of 27 multi-marker HETs after normal lysis and 5 out of 22 multi-marker HETs after premature lysis. In FUDR crosses, 24 out of 77 multi-marker HETs showed polarity.
A work-stealing scheduler for X10's task parallelism with suspension

The X10 programming language is intended to ease the programming of scalable concurrent and distributed applications. X10 augments a familiar imperative object-oriented programming model with constructs to support light-weight asynchronous tasks as well as execution across multiple address spaces. A crucial aspect of X10's runtime system is the scheduling of concurrent tasks. Work-stealing schedulers have been shown to efficiently load balance fine-grain divide-and-conquer task-parallel program on SMPs and multicores. But X10 is not limited to shared-memory fork-join parallelism. X10 permits tasks to suspend and synchronize by means of conditional atomic blocks and remote task invocations.In this paper, we demonstrate that work-stealing scheduling principles are applicable to a rich programming language such as X10, achieving performance at scale without compromising expressivity, ease of use, or portability. We design and implement a portable work-stealing execution engine for X10. While this engine is biased toward the efficient execution of fork-join parallelism in shared memory, it handles the full X10 language, especially conditional atomic blocks and distribution.We show that this engine improves the run time of a series of benchmark programs by several orders of magnitude when used in combination with the C++ backend compiler and runtime for X10. It achieves scaling comparable to state-of-the art work-stealing scheduler implementations---the Cilk++ compiler and the Java fork/join framework---despite the dramatic increase in generality.
Reconceptualizing Validity for Classroom Assessment

This article explores the shortcomings of conventional validity theory for guiding classroom assessment practice and suggests additional theoretical resources from sociocultural theorg and hermeneutics to complement and challenge conuentionaZ theorg. To illuminate these concerns and possibilities in a concrete context, the author uses her own classroom experience in teaching a qualitative research methods course. The importance of examining cases of assessment practice in context for developing, teaching, and evaluating validity theorg is discussed.
Functional and morphologic pathology of equine aortic insufficiency.

Twelve horses and 3 mules with grade II or louder prolonged diastolic murmurs were selected for functional and histopathologic study. Aortic insufficiency was demonstrated in all mules and in all except two horses on the basis of murmurs, jet lesions and/or pathologic and incompetent valve cusps. In 15 control animals lesions resulting in aortic insufficiency were not found.A thick fibrous band was present on all aortic valve cusps judged to be definitely insufficient. This band occurred at the line of valvular closure, parallel to the free edge, and allowed eversion of the peripheral portion of the cusp. Endothelial covered villi were present on the ventricular surface of those valves with band lesions. There was fibroblastic proliferation in a rich ground substance within the villi, on the surface of the ventricularis and throughout all layers of the valve. A nodular lesion microscopically similar to nonbacterial thrombotic endocarditis in man was also found on the ventricular surface. This lesion also ...
Improve retrieval accuracy for difficult queries using negative feedback

How to improve search accuracy for difficult topics is an under-addressed, yet important research question. In this paper, we consider a scenario when the search results are so poor that none of the top-ranked documents is relevant to a user's query, and propose to exploit negative feedback to improve retrieval accuracy for such difficult queries. Specifically, we propose to learn from a certain number of top-ranked non-relevant documents to rerank the rest unseen documents. We propose several approaches to penalizing the documents that are similar to the known non-relevant documents in the language modeling framework. To evaluate the proposed methods, we adapt standard TREC collections to construct a test collection containing only difficult queries. Experiment results show that the proposed approaches are effective for improving retrieval accuracy of difficult queries.
Arrhythmogenic Dose of Epinephrine in Isoflurane- or Sevoflurane-anesthetized Horses

SUMMARY The effect of anesthesia with xylazine-guaifenesinketamine and maintained with isoflurane or sevoflurane on the arrhythmogenic dose of epinephrine (ADE) was measured in 8 horses. The hypothesis to be tested was that the ADE for sevoflurane would not be different than the ADE of isoflurane. When horses were at a stable plane (1.25 × minimal alveolar concentration [MAC]) of inhalant anesthesia, graded increasing concentrations (0.25, 0.5, 0.75, 1.0, 1.25, 1.5, 1.75, to a maximum of 2.0 µg/kg/min) of epinephrine were infused for 10 minutes or until 4 ventricular premature contractions (VPCs) or other serious arrhythmia occurred. The ADE was defined as the dose at which the above criteria were met or the highest dose administered. Base-apex electrocardiogram (ECG), heart rate (HR), direct arterial blood pressures, temperature, and arterial blood gases were monitored. The mean ADE for sevoflurane (4 horses = 1.31 ± 0.29, 4 horses >2.0 µg/kg/min) was not significantly different from the mean ADE for isoflurane (4 horses = 1.06 ± 0.52, 4 horses >2.0 µg/kg/min). Numerous arrhythmias were seen, and atrial fibrillation developed in 3 horses, but no horse had fatal ventricular fibrillation. Systolic pressure was significantly higher at ADE with sevoflurane than isoflurane. The dose of epinephrine required to produce significant ventricular arrhythmias (arrhythmogenic dose of epinephrine or ADE) has been used as a measure of the
Wavelets, vision and the statistics of natural scenes

The processing of spatial information by the visual system shows a number of similarities to the wavelet transforms that have become popular in applied mathematics. Over the last decade, a range of studies have focused on the question of ‘why’ the visual system would evolve this strategy of coding spatial information. One such approach has focused on the relationship between the visual code and the statistics of natural scenes under the assumption that the visual system has evolved this strategy as a means of optimizing the representation of its visual environment. This paper reviews some of this literature and looks at some of the statistical properties of natural scenes that allow this code to be efficient. It is argued that such wavelet codes are efficient because they increase the independence of the vectors9 outputs (i.e. they increase the independence of the responses of the visual neurons) by finding the sparse structure available in the input. Studies with neural networks that attempt to maximize the ‘sparsity’ of the representation have been shown to produce vectors (neural receptive fields) that have many of the properties of a wavelet representation. It is argued that the visual environment has the appropriate sparse structure to make this sparse output possible. It is argued that these sparse/independent representations make it computationally easier to detect and represent the higher–order structure present in complex environmental data.
Point spread function optimization for MRI reconstruction

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) requires reconstruction of an image from non-uniformly sampled Fourier domain data. The point spread function (PSF) is strongly affected by the Fourier weights, also called density compensation function (DCF). We formulate the DCF selection as an optimization problem with linear matrix inequality (LMI) constraints. The maximum sidelobe level of the PSF is minimized while the mainlobe width is held constant. Our approach is in contrast to existing suboptimal approaches where a DCF is first found based on local sampling density, and then a secondary windowing function is applied to reduce sidelobes. Reconstructions of simulated data demonstrate that our approach produces more accurate and visually better looking images.
Reflexive ethnography: a guide to researching selves and others; decolonizing methodologies: research and indigenous peoples

Reflexive Ethnography:. Guide to Researching Selves and Others. Charlotte Aull Davies. New York: Routledge Press, 1999. viii. 257 pp., bibliography, index. Decolonizing Methodologies: Research and Indigenous Peoples. Linda Tuhiwai Smith. New York: Zed Books, 1999. ix. 208 pp., notes, index.
The Role of TLR4 in Chemotherapy-Driven Metastasis

Tumor resistance to cytotoxic drugs is one of the main obstacles to successful cancer therapy. Emerging evidence suggests that chemoresistance is promoted by substances released from dead and damaged cells that activate the host repair program orchestrated by Toll-like receptor-4 (TLR4). TLR4 is often overexpressed in malignant and tumor-infiltrating immune cells. In addition to endogenous ligands released by therapy-induced tumor destruction, TLR4 is directly activated by paclitaxel, one of the most commonly used chemotherapeutic drugs against various human cancers. TLR4 activation promotes local and systemic inflammation, leading to induction of multiple circuits that create a regenerative environment favoring local recurrence and metastasis. Of particular importance is TLR4-mediated recruitment of endothelial progenitors derived from immature myeloid cells. These cells play a major role in rebuilding tumor-associated lymphatic and blood vessels, thereby promoting lymphatic and hematogenous metastasis. The latter is further enhanced by the premetastatic niche generated by mobilization of myeloid provascular cells to distant organs. This review summarizes the recent evidence demonstrating that paclitaxel and other clinically used anticancer drugs actively induce metastasis even while shrinking the primary tumor. Better understanding of the mechanisms underlying TLR4-dependent chemotherapy-driven metastasis might be the key to overcoming challenges of cancer eradication.
Dental Crown Size and Sex Hormone Concentrations : Another Look at the Development of Sexual Dimorphism

Previous researchers hypothesized that tooth types forming during early childhood should be less sexually dimorphic than those forming during later childhood, if sex hormone concentration differences between males and females increase progressively throughout childhood and can affect tooth size. Descriptive tooth size data have recently been cited in support of this hypothesis, particularly with respect to differences in sexual dimorphism among the tooth types of tooth classes. The present study tests this hypothesis for the mesiodistal dimension of human permanent teeth using published data for incisor, premolar, and molar tooth classes from seven diverse populations. The sample size for each tooth type per population was at least 50. This study also tests a modification of this hypothesis which takes into account the postnatal testosterone surge in males and the low levels of sex hormones in both sexes prior to puberty. Predictions are developed for both the original and modified hypotheses. The "D" statistic, the total area of nonoverlap between the phenotypic distributions of males and females, is used to quantify sexual dimorphism. Comparison of D values for different tooth types within tooth classes across these seven populations does not strongly support either hypothesis. These results suggest that gross changes in sex hormone concentrations during development are not related to population-wide patterns of sexual dimorphism among the tooth types of human permanent tooth classes, as recent studies indicate. This finding is consistent with other studies which suggest that sex hormones have only a minor role in generating crown size sexual dimorphism.
Abortion access and state variation in observed unintended pregnancy

Objective The state-level proportion of pregnancies that are unintended is an important social and public health indicator, and comparisons between states inform policy discussions. Unintended pregnancy is measured as a composite of abortions and unintended births, each of which is measured with error. We investigate whether between-state differences in abortion access and demand may bias comparisons between states’ unintended pregnancy proportions when pregnancy intentions are misreported.
Primitive Cells and Tissue Regeneration

In the last few years, several experimental studies have used stem cells of different sources to reconstitute damaged tissues.1 The brain and the heart have been the most investigated organs because of the long-standing view of the lack of regenerating potential of neurons and myocytes.2,3 Bone marrow stem cells (BMSCs) have been reported capable of transdifferentiating in various cell lineages distinct from the site of origin4 and, because of this property, they may constitute a new form of cellular therapy. Neuronal and myocardial growth mediated by bone marrow cells (BMCs) has been demonstrated, but these results have been challenged5,6 and the issue of BMSC transdifferentiation has become highly controversial. Heated debates at scientific meetings, letters in high-profile journals, and reports with contradicting observations have raised questions on the plasticity of BMSCs.5–7 If negative results would be more cautiously interpreted instead of being blown out of context, it is likely that the actual role that adult stem cells play in the repair of tissues and organs would be better understood and appreciated. This is particularly relevant when negative data are dropped as “valid” statements from the podium and are quoted before they undergo peer review and publication.6 A good example of the opposite approach is found in the study of Chen and colleagues8 in this issue of Circulation Research . The authors have utilized, among other sophisticated techniques, confocal microscopy to identify and characterize an important new function of human pluripotent adult mesenchymal BMSCs. In this report, an unequivocal demonstration was obtained on the ability of these cells to deliver vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) to an ischemic region of the brain. VEGF accumulation coupled with endogenous activation of endothelial cells and VEGF synthesis promoted vessel formation after stroke. BMSCs via VEGF secretion acted …
Assignment of the lowest electronic transitions in benzene

The nature of assignments of electronic transitions is discussed, and the importance of using all available assignment criteria is pointed out. The five lowest observed transitions in benzene are assigned to electronic π-π*-transitions described according to the irreducible representations of the D6h point group. This is done by means of all available criteria. The results of a new experimental technique are shown to be very useful for the assignment.
Community Foundation Strategy Doing Good and the Moderating Effects of Fear, Tradition, and Serendipity

This research provides detailed descriptive information about decision-making behaviors and processes of community foundation boards. Our study responds to Graddy and Morgan’s (2006) call for resea...
Constitutive activation of gene expression by thyroid hormone receptor results from reversal of p53-mediated repression.

Thyroid hormone receptor (T3R) is a member of the steroid hormone receptor gene family of nuclear hormone receptors. In most cells T3R activates gene expression only in the presence of its ligand, L-triiodothyronine (T3). However, in certain cell types (e.g., GH4C1 cells) expression of T3R leads to hormone-independent constitutive activation. This activation by unliganded T3R occurs with a variety of gene promoters and appears to be independent of the binding of T3R to specific thyroid hormone response elements (TREs). Previous studies indicate that this constitutive activation results from the titration of an inhibitor of transcription. Since the tumor suppresser p53 is capable of repressing a wide variety of gene promoters, we considered the possibility that the inhibitor is p53. Evidence to support this comes from studies indicating that expression of p53 blocks T3R-mediated constitutive activation in GH4C1 cells. In contrast with hormone-independent activation by T3R, p53 had little or no effect on T3-dependent stimulation which requires TREs. In addition, p53 mutants which oligomerize with wild-type p53 and interfere with its function also increase promoter activity. This enhancement is of similar magnitude to but is not additive with the stimulation mediated by unliganded T3R, suggesting that they target the same factor. Since p53 mutants are known to target wild-type p53 in the cell, this suggests that T3R also interacts with p53 in vivo and that endogenous levels of p53 act to suppress promoter activity. Evidence supporting both functional and physical interactions of T3R and p53 in the cell is presented. The DNA binding domain (DBD) of T3R is important in mediating constitutive activation, and the receptor DBD appears to functionally interact with the N terminus of p53 in the cell. In vitro binding studies indicate that the T3R DBD is important for interaction of T3R with p53 and that this interaction is reduced by T3. These findings are consistent with the in vivo studies indicating that p53 blocks constitutive activation but not ligand-dependent stimulation. These studies provide insight into mechanisms by which unliganded nuclear hormone receptors can modulate gene expression and may provide an explanation for the mechanism of action of the v-erbA oncoprotein, a retroviral homolog of chicken T3R alpha.
Oblivion, Memory, and Irony in Medieval Montecassino: Narrative Strategies of the “Chronicles of St. Benedict of Cassino”

The dissolution of the Lombard political unity in southern Italy and the Muslim military activities in that area rendered the ninth century a crucial yet troubled period for the history of this part of the Italian peninsula. The abbey of Montecassino was deeply affected by those events as well. Its riches, in fact, made it an easy target for the Muslims, who, after imposing heavy tributes on the monastery, sacked and destroyed it in 883. Several years had to pass before Saint Benedict’s monks could return to Montecassino. In the difficult period of exile they put a lot of effort in the reconstruction of their community’s identity as well as in reaffirming its role as repository of southern Italy’s memory. In this process of reconstruction the texts known as the “Chronicles of Saint Benedict of Cassino” had the fundamental task of describing as well as explaining the events that had provoked the crisis of southern Lombard Italy.
Bifurcation Analysis of the Wound Rotor Induction Motor

This work deals with the bifurcation phenomena that occur during the open-loop operation of a single-fed three-phase wound rotor induction motor. This paper demonstrates the occurrence of saddle-node bifurcation, hysteresis, supercritical saddle-node bifurcation, cusp and Hopf bifurcation during the individual operation of this electromechanical system. Some experimental results associated with the bifurcation phenomena are presented.
Synthesis of molybdenum and tantalum complexes that contain diamido/donor ligands of the type [(3,5-Cl2C6H3NCH2CH2)2NMe]2- or [(3,5-Cl2C6H3NCH2)2C(2-C5H4N)(CH3)]2-

The palladium-catalyzed reaction between diethylenetriamine and 2 equiv of 3,5-dichlorobromobenzene gave (3,5-Cl2C6H3NHCH2CH2)2NH. Methylation of the central nitrogen with methyl iodide gave (3,5-Cl2C6H3NHCH2CH2)2NMe (H2[ArClNNMe]). The palladium-catalyzed reaction between (H2NCH2)2C(2-C5H4N)(CH3) and 3,5-dichlorobromobenzene gave (3,5-Cl2C6H3HNCH2)2C(2-C5H4N)(CH3) (H2[ArClNpy]). Molybdenum compounds that were prepared include [Et3NH]{[ArClNNMe]MoCl3} (1a), [ArClNNMe]Mo(CCMe3)(CH2CMe3) (2), [ArClNNMe]MoCl(CH2R) [R = CMe3 (4a) or SiMe3 (4b)], [Et3NH]{[ArClNpy]MoCl3} (5), and Mo[ArClNpy]2 (6). Tantalum complexes that were prepared include [ArClNNMe]TaMe3 (7) and [ArClNpy]TaMe3 (8). X-ray studies of 1a, 4a, 6, and 7 are reported.
TALEN-Mediated Homologous Recombination Produces Site-Directed DNA Base Change and Herbicide-Resistant Rice

Over the last decades, much endeavor has been made to advance genome editing technology due to its promising role in both basic and synthetic biology. The breakthrough has been made in recent years with the advent of sequence-specific endonucleases, especially zinc finger nucleases (ZFNs), transcription activator-like effector nucleases (TALENs) and clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPRs) guided nucleases (e.g., Cas9). In higher eukaryotic organisms, site-directed mutagenesis usually can be achieved through non-homologous end-joining (NHEJ) repair to the DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) caused by the exogenously applied nucleases. However, site-specific gene replacement or genuine genome editing through homologous recombination (HR) repair to DSBs remains a challenge. As a proof of concept gene replacement through TALEN-based HR in rice (Oryza sativa), we successfully produced double point mutations in rice acetolactate synthase gene (OsALS) and generated herbicide resistant rice lines by using TALENs and donor DNA carrying the desired mutations. After ballistic delivery into rice calli of TALEN construct and donor DNA, nine HR events with different genotypes of OsALS were obtained in T0 generation at the efficiency of 1.4%-6.3% from three experiments. The HR-mediated gene edits were heritable to the progeny of T1 generation. The edited T1 plants were as morphologically normal as the control plants while displayed strong herbicide resistance. The results demonstrate the feasibility of TALEN-mediated genome editing in rice and provide useful information for further genome editing by other nuclease-based genome editing platforms.
Influence of pancreatic perfusates upon the carbohydrate metabolism of depancreatized animals

Following the method of perfusion introduced by Clark1, the effect of pancreatic perfusates upon the carbohydrate metabolism of entire animals was studied. The respiratory metabolism, the blood sugar, and the D:N ratio were studied in cats and dogs after depancreatization.Perfusates were made by perfusing aseptically and at body temperature the pancreases of cats, dogs, pigs, and oxen with Locke's solution. The first perfusates were made with an alkaline medium, later perfusates were made with Locke's solution modified by the substitution of HCl varying in strength from 0.1 per cent. to 0.7 per cent. for sodium bicarbonate.Respiratory quotients were obtained by a modified Jaquet method, the animal being confined in a respiration chamber through which a continuous stream of air was drawn for ventilation and from which a continuous sample of air was removed for analysis. In a later modification the stream of air from the respiration chamber was directed into a large gasometer for a twenty-minute period and ...
Five new species of Acanthobothrium van Beneden, 1849 (Cestoda: Tetraphyllidea) in elasmobranchs from the northwest Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico with first records from smooth-hound sharks and guitarfish

Five new species of Acanthobothrium van Beneden, 1849 are described from elasmobranchs from Atlantic coastal waters of the United States and western Gulf of Mexico. Acanthobothrium cairae sp. nov., a category 3 species, from the roughtail stingray Dasyatis centroura (Mitchill), from New England coastal waters of Narragansett Bay, Rhode Island is differentiated from congeners by a combination of characteristics including hook lengths, testis number (82–166) and distribution, bilobed ovary and 8 large muscle fascicles symmetrically encircling the reproductive organs. Four new category 1 species of Acanthobothrium from four new host species from the Gulf of Mexico are Acanthobothrium lentiginosum sp. nov. from the rhinobatid (guitarfish), Rhinobatos lentiginosus Garman; Acanthobothrium schalli sp. nov. from two species of triakid sharks, Mustelus canis canis Mitchill and M. norrisi Springer; and Acanthobothrium ulmeri sp. nov. and A. westi sp. nov., both from the skate Raja texana Chandler (Rajidae). Acanthobothrium floridensis Goldstein, 1964 is reported from a new host, R. texana off the Texas coast in the western Gulf of Mexico, a new locality for this species. These species are differentiated by a combination of characters including size, bothridial size, total hook length, ratio of total hook length to bothridium length, ratio of bothridial length to cephalic peduncle length, ovarian shape, position of the genital pore, testis number and distribution. Biogeographically these records from sharks and the guitarfish are new for Acanthobothrium and add two new host families to the distribution of Acanthobothrium in coastal waters of the western Atlantic Ocean. Acanthobothrium is now known to occur in six families of elasmobranchs in the Gulf of Mexico: skates (Rajidae), rays (Dasyatidae, Gymnuridae, Myliobatidae), sharks (Triakidae) and guitarfish (Rhinobatidae) making it the most diverse geographical region for these cestodes in the eastern coastal waters of North America.
Biopsy and specimen collection in chronic rhinosinusitis

Biopsy, aspiration, swab, and irrigation of the nose and sinuses are methods used in specimen collection and culture when chronic rhinosinusitis is suspected. Biopsy may be indicated to identify the presence of fungal elements in the mucus or tissues, suspected neoplasm, or inflamed bone. Aspiration directly from the maxillary sinus is considered to be the gold standard for culture, but it is painful. Direct endoscopic-guided culture of the middle meatus appears to be a viable substitute, with swab and suction methods having similar rates of microbiological contamination. Topical delivery methods for irrigating sinus cavities may utilize spray bottles, nebulizers, or a bulb syringe; these have various degrees of efficacy in dispersing materials to the sinuses. Use of the bulb syringe appears to offer broad distribution with limited risk of sample contamination. Specimens must be handled carefully to avoid loss of fungal elements. Advantages and indications of various methods are reviewed.
Heterogeneity of Peptide Hormones

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses that peptide hormones are synthesized in a larger precursor form that find its way into the circulation. Metabolic fragments of the usual biologically active form of the hormone are detected in circulation with some antisera. Where precursor or fragment molecules represent a significant fraction of hormone, the interpretation of hormonal concentrations, whether measured by bioassay or radioimmunoassay, is more complicated than when a single hormonal form predominates. Studies reveal that many peptide hormones are found in more than one form in plasma and in glandular and other tissue extracts. These forms may or may not have biological activity and may represent either precursor or metabolic product of the well-known, well-characterized, biologically active hormone. These observations of heterogeneity have introduced complications into the interpretation of hormonal concentrations as measured by radioimmunoassay.
The Conn Conservatory of Music at Elkhart, Indiana: 1896-1903.

The purpose of this study was to document the history of the Conn Conservatory of Music operated by the C. G. Conn musical instrument company of Elkhart, Indiana. Research questions focused on the ...
Using a Bayesian Regression Approach on Dual-Model Windstorm Simulations to Improve Wind Speed Prediction

AbstractWeather prediction accuracy is very important given the devastating effects of extreme-weather events in recent years. Numerical weather prediction systems are used to build strategies to prevent catastrophic losses of human lives and the environment and have evolved with the use of multimodel or single-model ensembles and data-assimilation techniques in an attempt to improve the forecast skill. These techniques require increased computational power (thousands of CPUs) because of the number of model simulations and ingestion of observational data from a wide variety of sources. In this study, the combination of predictions from two state-of-the-science atmospheric models [WRF and RAMS/Integrated Community Limited Area Modeling System (ICLAMS)] using Bayesian and simple linear regression techniques is examined, and wind speed prediction for the northeastern United States is improved using regression techniques. Retrospective simulations of 17 storms that affected the northeastern United States duri...
A Weak Galerkin Method for the Reissner–Mindlin Plate in Primary Form

A new finite element method is developed for the Reissner–Mindlin equations in its primary form by using the weak Galerkin approach. Like other weak Galerkin finite element methods, this one is highly flexible and robust by allowing the use of discontinuous approximating functions on arbitrary shape of polygons and, at the same time, is parameter independent on its stability and convergence. Error estimates of optimal order in mesh size h are established for the corresponding weak Galerkin approximations. Numerical experiments are conducted for verifying the convergence theory, as well as suggesting some superconvergence and a uniform convergence of the method with respect to the plate thickness.
End-organ recovery post-ventricular assist device can prognosticate survival.

Abstract Background This study examines our institutional ventricular assist devices (VADs) experience over two decades to understand trends towards predictors of mortality. Methods Retrospective study of patients aged 0–21 years supported with a VAD from January 1996 to May 2015. Patient data was examined pre and post-VAD implant among survivors and non-survivors. Results Thirty-six patients identified (8 supported by Thoratec® VAD and 28 supported by EXCOR Berlin Heart®). Patient's diagnosis included dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) (n = 19,53%), congenital heart disease (CHD) (n = 12,33%), and other (n = 5,14%). Median age and body surface area (BSA) were 1.0 years[0–7 years] and 0.41[0.24–0.92], respectively. Survival to discharge was 75% with no deaths with DCM. The survival rate for patients with CHD was 42%. Univariate analysis showed diagnosis of CHD, smaller BSA and respiratory failure post-implant (Intermacs criteria) as risk factors for mortality. Median duration of VAD support was lower in non-survivors, 14 vs 63 days (p = 0.03). Renal function at time of transplant or death was normal/pRIFLE Risk category in 20(74%) of survivors and 2(22%) of non-survivors (p = 0.06). Post-implant, peak total bilirubin in the first week trended lower in survivors (p = 0.06). Conclusions Persistent end-organ impairment in the first 2 weeks after VAD placement could be a useful prognostic marker for survival to transplant.
Equity Duration and Portfolio Risk Management

The authors adopt the perspective of a portfolio manager simultaneously holding long and short equity positions and investigate whether portfolio standard deviation is reduced by calibrating the overall portfolio duration to be zero. Although numerous studies have suggested that equity duration may be useful in portfolio risk management, this study directly tests this proposition. The authors first identify some methodological issues involved with measuring equity duration and then explore the use of equity duration as a tool in portfolio risk management. They present strong evidence that equity duration can be used in equity portfolios to reduce volatility and introduce a novel test that involves the comparison of market-neutral portfolios that are duration hedged with those that are duration exposed. Portfolio standard deviations form a “volatility smile” that reaches a minimum when duration is fully hedged. The results suggest that duration may be measuring risk not captured by beta.
The Interplay between Salt Association and the Dielectric Properties of Low Permittivity Electrolytes: The Case of LiPF6 and LiAsF6 in Dimethyl Carbonate

In this article, we present evidence that the dielectric constant of an electrolyte solution can be effectively used to infer the association regime of the salt species from computational methods. As case studies, we consider the low dielectric constant solvent dimethyl carbonate with LiAsF6 and LiPF6 salts at low concentrations. Using both quantum “ab initio” methods as well classical molecular dynamics simulations, we elucidate the salt’s contribution to the dielectric constant as well as the dipolar relaxation times, which act as quantitative signatures. By comparing to previously published measurements, we provide strong evidence for the presence of contact-ion pairs at these low concentrations. Interestingly, these ion pairs increase the dielectric constant of the solution, allowing for significantly improved ionic conductivity as a function of salt concentrations. We also discuss the role of multimeric equilibrium species as contributors to the functional properties of designer electrolytes, such as...
Emerging role of circadian clock disruption in alcohol-induced liver disease.

The detrimental health effects of excessive alcohol consumption are well documented. Alcohol-induced liver disease (ALD) is the leading cause of death from chronic alcohol use. As with many disease...