cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
A framework for assessing methods of deriving frequency data from PMU voltage angles in the presence of measurement noise

This paper examines the effects of using the derivative of a voltage angle signal to derive a frequency signal from Phasor Measurement Unit (PMU) data in the presence of measurement noise. By expressing the Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR) of the angle signal and the derived frequency signals in terms of correlation functions, the asymptotic behavior of numerical derivatives are studied. This provides insight as to how the derivative operation will potentially damage noise-corrupted PMU data to be analyzed by a mode meter. In particular the commonly used first order backwards difference (the ‘diff’ function in MATLAB), the first order central difference, the second order backwards difference, and an angle differencing approach are studied. Data measured from PMUs in the WECC system are analyzed as are data simulated form a reduced-order model of the WECC system in order to better understand the correlation-based SNR expressions. The results presented herein provide a framework for the incorporation of measurement noise effects in mode meter algorithm performance and certification studies, and can provide a theoretical basis for the selection of a derivative filter for use in the preprocessing step of a mode meter algorithm.
Highly Stable TTF Radical Dimers in a Five-State [3]Catenane

A [3]catenane ‘molecular flask,’ which has been conceived and designed to create highly stabilized, redox-controlled tetrathiafulvalene (TTF) dimers, enables the spectrophotometric investigation of their interactive properties at an unprecedented level of detail. The [3]catenane—prepared through facile template-directed synthesis, utilizing a “threading-followed-by-clipping” protocol based around the Cu2+-catalyzed Eglinton coupling of a bispropargyl-functionalized TTF derivative, in the presence of cyclobis(paraquat-4,4′-biphenylene) as the template, to produce the doubly threaded TTF architecture framed by structural butadiyne moieties—creates the ideal arrangement and an ultrahigh local concentration of the encircled TTF units within the mechanically interlocked framework to form stable dimers across two of the five discrete oxidation states of the molecule. These dimerization events represent an affinity umpolung, such that the inversion in electronic affinity repulses the traditional TTF-bipyridinium interaction which is replaced by stabilizing mixed-valence (TTF) 2 •+ and radical-cation (TTF•+)2 states inside the ‘molecular flask.’ A suite of spectroscopic data, which were collected in solution under ambient conditions, are consistent with a highly stabilized paramagnetic mixed-valence dimer, as well as a diamagnetic radical-cation dimer upon the one- and two-electron oxidation events of the [3]catenane. Additional supporting high level quantum mechanical calculations have been employed to describe the relative energetic landscape charted by the [3]catenane across five oxidation states and numerous translational forms.
Combined acoustic emission and multiple lead potential drop measurements in detailed examination of crack initiation and growth during interlaminar testing of ceramic matrix composites

Abstract This article presents a novel approach in which the methods of acoustic emission and direct current potential drop are utilized as complimentary techniques to monitor crack initiation and growth in interlaminar testing of ceramic matrix composites. The method presented here can be used in localizing cracks, monitoring of crack growth, and has potential to reveal the nature of damage. It is argued that using the first derivative of time dependent electrical resistance/potential drop provides information on individual events during the failure of a ceramic matrix composite under different types of loading. The results discussed here pertain to a particular method of testing for interlaminar properties of ceramic matrix composites. However, the use of presented approach can be extended to other testing methods and materials.
The Rational Design of Therapeutic Peptides for Aminopeptidase N using a Substrate-Based Approach.

The M1 family of metalloproteases represents a large number of exopeptidases that cleave single amino acid residues from the N-terminus of peptide substrates. One member of this family that has been well studied is aminopeptidase N (APN), a multifunctional protease known to cleave biologically active peptides and aide in coronavirus entry. The proteolytic activity of APN promotes cancer angiogenesis and metastasis making it an important target for cancer therapy. To understand the substrate specificity of APN for the development of targeted inhibitors, we used a global substrate profiling method to determine the P1–P4′ amino acid preferences. The key structural features of the APN pharmacophore required for substrate recognition were elucidated by x-ray crystallography. By combining these substrate profiling and structural data, we were able to design a selective peptide inhibitor of APN that was an effective therapeutic both in vitro and in vivo against APN-expressing prostate cancer models.
Scale effects on double-screw granular mixing

Abstract Double screw pyrolyzers, featuring twin rotating screws, can be used to convert biomass into bio-oil via fast pyrolysis. Understanding the granular mixing dynamics within a double screw pyrolyzer is crucial to maximizing bio-oil yields. This study aims to investigate the effect of scale on mixing effectiveness in a cold-flow double screw pyrolyzer. Select operating conditions featuring changes in screw rotation speed, dimensionless screw pitch, screw rotation orientation, and particle size are compared for three double screw mixers of differing scales. Conclusions from this study provide additional insights into pyrolyzer scale-up and the mixing dynamics in larger scale granular mixers and the role that particle size plays in mixer scale-up. Advanced 360° optical visualization techniques, paired with non-invasive composition analysis were used to determine the mixing effectiveness of the screw mixer. In terms of mixer scale, counter-rotating down pumping screw rotation conditions saw decreases in the mixing effectiveness of the system with increasing mixer scales. The up-pumping screw rotation orientation remains a poor mixing condition at all mixer scales, while for a co-rotating screw rotation condition, increasing the mixer scale from 1x to 1.5x greatly increased the mixing effectiveness, but further increasing the mixer scale to 2x decreased the mixing effectiveness. In terms of the effects of particle size on mixer scale-up, at a mixer scale of 1x, decreasing the biomass particle size yields dramatic increases in mixing effectiveness, but at a 2x mixer scale, the same decrease in biomass particle size yields significantly less improvement in mixing effectiveness. Additionally, results indicate that scaling up with smaller biomass particle sizes results in significantly greater losses in mixing effectiveness than when scaling up with larger biomass particles.
Association of changes in vaginal microbiome with oligoclonal T-cell expansion and early response to chemoradiation for cervical cancer.

8Background: The composition of the vaginal microbiome has been shown to affect clearance of HPV virus and transformation to invasive cancer. Clinical studies correlating the vaginal microbiome with immune activation and response to cancer treatment are lacking. We profiled intratumoral T-cell clonality during radiation therapy and correlated it with the diversity of the vaginal flora. Methods: Thirty patients with newly diagnosed locally advanced cervical cancer were enrolled on a prospective study to characterize changes in the cervical microbiome during chemoradiation. Cervical samples were obtained before radiation therapy and during the 1st, 3rd, and 5th week of radiation therapy. The vaginal microbiome was characterized using 16 sRNA gene sequencing to produce operational taxonomic units (OTU’s) representing individual bacterial species. Disease response was categorized as early response (ER), late response (LR), or nonresponse (NR) on the basis of clinical examination at brachytherapy and 3-month P...
Character-Aware Neural Networks for Arabic Named Entity Recognition for Social Media

Named Entity Recognition (NER) is the task of classifying or labelling atomic elements in the text into categories such as Person, Location or Organisation. For Arabic language, recognizing named entities is a challenging task because of the complexity and the unique characteristics of this language. In addition, most of the previous work focuses on Modern Standard Arabic (MSA), however, recognizing named entities in social media is becoming more interesting these days. Dialectal Arabic (DA) and MSA are both used in social media, which is deemed as another challenging task. Most state-of-the-art Arabic NER systems count heavily on handcrafted engineering features and lexicons which is time consuming. In this paper, we introduce a novel neural network architecture which benefits both from character- and word-level representations automatically, by using combination of bidirectional LSTM and Conditional Random Field (CRF), eliminating the need for most feature engineering. Moreover, our model relies on unsupervised word representations learned from unannotated corpora. Experimental results demonstrate that our model achieves state-of-the-art performance on publicly available benchmark for Arabic NER for social media and surpassing the previous system by a large margin.
Functional Organization of the Glomerulus: Presence of Glycosaminoglycans (Proteoglycans) in the Glomerular Basement Membrane

Since the first descriptions of the structural organization of glomerular capillaries with the electron microscope in the 1950s, scientists have struggled to understand the structural basis of glomerular filtration. They have attempted to relate the special fine-structural features of the glomerulus to its special filtration function. Similarly, since the original description of the characteristic patterns of changes in glomerular organization seen in various glomerular diseases, described at about the same period, scientists have struggled to understand the structural basis for the abnormal glomerular function found in these diseases. In spite of nearly 30 years of research on this topic, its understanding is still incomplete and relatively rudimentary. However, there has been continual progress in growth of understanding of these problems during that period.
Representation Sharing and Transfer in Deep Neural Networks

We have emphasized in the previous chapters that in deep neural networks (DNNs) each hidden layer is a new representation of the raw input to the DNN. The representation at higher layers is more abstract than that at lower layers. In this chapter, we show that these feature representations can be shared and transferred across related tasks through techniques such as multitask and transfer learning. We will use multilingual and crosslingual speech recognition as the main example, which uses a shared-hidden-layer DNN architecture, to demonstrate these techniques.
Does pediatric obesity indicate child neglect

Comorbidities and caretaker behaviors differentiate the mere presence of childhood obesity from reportable child neglect. Virtual Mentor is a monthly bioethics journal published by the American Medical Association.
Feasibility of The Incredible Years Parent Program for Preschool Children on The Autism Spectrum in two U.S. sites

Abstract Background Parent strain and burden are high in families raising children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Caregivers of young children with ASD are particularly vulnerable to stress. Yet, few interventions address the direct needs of this growing population of parents. This pilot trial describes the feasibility, acceptability, and short-term outcomes of The Incredible Years Parent Program for Preschool Children on the Autism Spectrum or with Language Delays (IY-ASD) in two U.S. locations. Method We recruited caregivers of children ages to 2–6 years old with ASD to participate in a non-randomized pilot trial of IY-ASD. We aimed to describe our program delivery process and assess 1) participant retention rates and reasons for program/research discontinuation; 2) caregiver acceptability of IY-ASD; and 3) pre- and post-intervention measures of parenting stress, caregiver coping, and child behavior. Results Of the 50 parents who enrolled, 42 completed IY-ASD (84%). We analyzed data for 36 participants after accounting for partners and a participant lost to follow-up. Program acceptability was high. Total and child-related parenting stress significantly decreased at posttest. We found no statistically significant changes in caregiver coping, parent-related stress, or challenging child behaviors. Conclusions IY-ASD is a feasible and acceptable program for parents raising young children with ASD. A randomized controlled trial is needed to rigorously test the effectiveness of the intervention. Future research should consider a longer program period (i.e., 15–16 weeks); ASD-specific outcome measures; and, longer-term follow-up to examine program effects beyond post-intervention, as well as potential IY-ASD modifications to meet the diverse needs of participants.
Oil spill modeling in deep waters: Estimation of pseudo-component properties for cubic equations of state from distillation data.

Highlights • Pseudo-components for high-pressure deep-water oil spill models • Estimation of Peng-Robinson EOS parameters for distillation-cut pseudo-components • Modeling of the non-ideal chemistry of hydrocarbons in deep waters • New correlations to calculate chemical properties of petroleum fractions • Validated with 614 oils from the ADIOS oil library Abstract Deep-water oil spills represent a major, localized threat to marine ecosystems. Multi-purpose computer models have been developed to predict the fate of spilled oil. These models include databases of pseudo-components from distillation cut analysis for hundreds of oils, and have been used for guiding response action, damage assessment, and contingency planning for marine oil spills. However, these models are unable to simulate the details of deep-water, high-pressure chemistry. We present a new procedure to calculate the chemical properties necessary for such simulations that we validate with 614 oils from the ADIOS oil library. The calculated properties agree within 20.4% with average values obtained from data for measured compounds, for 90% of the chemical properties. This enables equation-of-state calculations of dead oil density, viscosity, and interfacial tension. This procedure enables development of comprehensive oil spill models to predict the behavior of petroleum fluids in the deep sea.
Systematic Review: United States Workforce for Autism-Related Child Healthcare Services.

Objective A diversity of health professional disciplines provide services for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in the United States. We conducted a systematic review examining the availability, distribution, and competencies of the US workforce for autism-related child health care services, and assess studies’ strength of evidence. Method We searched PubMed, PsychINFO, Embase, and Google Scholar from 2008 to 2018 for relevant US-based studies. Two investigators independently screened and evaluated studies against a set of prespecified inclusion criteria and evaluated strength of evidence (SOE) using a framework designed to integrate a mixed-methods research. Results Of 754 records identified, 33 studies (24 quantitative, 6 qualitative, and 3 mixed-methods) were included. Strength of evidence associated was low-to-moderate, with only 8 studies (24%) satisfying criteria for strong SOE. Geographies and provider cadres varied considerably. The most common specialties studied were pediatricians (n = 13), occupational therapists (n = 12), speech therapists (n = 11), physical therapists (n = 10), and child psychiatrists (n = 8). Topical areas included the following: provider availability by service area and care delivery model; qualitative assessments of provider availability and competency; role of insurance mandates in increasing access to providers: and disparities in access. Across provider categories, we found that workforce availability for autism-related services was limited in terms of overall numbers, time available, and knowledgeability. The greatest unmet need was observed among minorities and in rural settings. Most studies were short term, were limited in scope, and used convenience samples. Conclusion There is limited evidence to characterize the availability and distribution of the US workforce for autism-related child health care services. Existing evidence to date indicates significantly restricted availability.
Physical Activity, Body Composition, and Perceived Quality of Life of Adults with Visual Impairments

Relatively little is known about the health and fitness of adults with visual impairments. This article documents the physical activity levels and body-composition profiles of young and middle-aged...
Harlequin Color Change in a Neonate.

Harlequin Color Change in a Neonate A male neonate with Ebstein’s anomaly had respiratory distress immediately after birth. On the third day of life, a clearly demarcated erythema developed on one ...
Shared Vision for Change in STEM Education: Linking Research to Practice in RED Projects

This Research to Practice Work in Progress paper addresses the importance of creating shared vision for change in STEM education. While many educational reform initiatives accomplish their goals in the short-term, only systemic change can truly improve quality and inclusion in engineering and computing education. Developing shared vision is an often repeated recommendation for effective and sustainable change from organizational consultants and scholars of higher education). In our work, we have found that embracing stakeholders as full partners through sharing vision is a proactive way to expose concerns and incorporate a variety of viewpoints into the change process. Shared vision is a useful concept that can be made more accessible and actionable through social scientific research on how change-making teams engage and empower stakeholders to collaborate on their projects.
Capturing Subdiffusive Solute Dynamics and Predicting Selectivity in Nanoscale Pores with Time Series Modeling.

Fitting mathematical models with a direct connection to experimental observables to the outputs of molecular simulations can be a powerful tool for extracting important physical information from th...
Total Hip Instability and the Spinopelvic Link

Advances in technology, implant design, and surgical technique have lowered the dislocation rate in primary total hip arthroplasty (THA). Despite these advances, there remain a large number of instability episodes without a known etiology. Recent research suggests that the pelvic and lumbar spine interrelationship may be the explanation in prosthetic dislocations without a known cause. In this review, we describe the biomechanics, measurements, diagnoses, classification, management, and outcomes of total hip and revision total hip instability as it relates to spinopelvic alignment. As a person goes from standing to sitting, lumbar lordosis decreases, and the sacrum and entire pelvis tilts posteriorly with sacrum and coccyx rotating posterior-inferiorly, resulting in increased acetabular cup anteversion to accommodate femoral flexion. A fused spine and associated fixed acetabulum can result in abnormal pelvic femoral motion, impingement, and dislocation. Classifying the spinopelvic mechanics by sacral motion based on sitting and standing lateral radiographs provides an understanding of how the acetabulum behaves in space. This information helps appropriate cup positioning, reducing the risk of femoral side impingement and subsequent dislocation. Surgical techniques to consider in the spinopelvic at-risk patient are positioning considerations in acetabular cup inclination and anteversion, high offset femoral stems, high offset acetabular liners, dual mobility articulations, and removal of impinging structures. Future research is needed to define the safest order of operation in concomitant hip and spine pathology, the effects on pelvic femoral biomechanics in spine surgery, and whether preoperative and intraoperative management strategies have a long-term beneficial effect on the dislocation rate.
Results related to self-injectivity of the group ring

From the early 1960s to the early 1970s, there was much activity leading up to a proof that if the group ring R[G] is right self-injective, then G is finite. Unfortunately, it is difficult to find this fact both stated and proven in print and in full generality. This article presents new renditions of the main proofs, and chronicles what the author learned while sorting out the literature for this period.
Can Industrial-Scale Solar Hydrogen Supplied from Commodity Technologies Be Cost Competitive by 2030?

Summary Expanding decarbonization efforts beyond the power sector are contingent on cost-effective production of energy carriers, like H2, with near-zero life-cycle carbon emissions. Here, we assess the levelized cost of continuous H2 supply (95% availability) at industrial-scale quantities (∼100 tonnes/day) in 2030 from integrating commodity technologies for solar photovoltaics, electrolysis, and energy storage. Our approach relies on modeling the least-cost plant design and operation that optimize component sizes while adhering to hourly solar availability, production requirements, and component inter-temporal operating constraints. We apply the model to study H2 production costs spanning the continental United States and, through extensive sensitivity analysis, explore system configurations that can achieve $2.5/kg levelized costs or less for a range of plausible 2030 technology projections at high-irradiance locations. Notably, we identify potential sites and system configurations where PV-electrolytic H2 could substitute natural gas-derived H2 at avoided CO2 costs (≤$120/ton), similar to the cost of deploying carbon capture and sequestration.
The bite force-gape relationship as an avenue of biomechanical adaptation to trophic niche in two salmonid fishes.

All skeletal muscles produce their largest forces at a single optimal length, losing force when stretched or shortened. In vertebrate feeding systems, this fundamental force-length relationship translates to variation in bite force across gape, which affects the food types that can be eaten effectively. We measured the bite force-gape curves of two sympatric species: king salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) and pink salmon (O. gorbuscha). Cranial anatomical measurements are not significantly different between species, however, peak bite forces are produced at significantly different gapes. Maximum bite force is achieved at 67% of maximum gape for king salmon and 43% of maximum gape for pink salmon. This may allow king salmon to use greater force when eating large or elusive prey. In contrast, pink salmon do not require high forces at extreme gapes for filter feeding. Our results illustrate that the bite force-gape relationship is an important ecophysiological axis of variation.
Comparison of dementia risk after age 50 between individuals with and without HIV infection.

OBJECTIVE To compare risk of dementia after age 50 by HIV status among individuals in a primary care setting. DESIGN Observational cohort study; participants were identified from 2013 to 2017 and followed through 2019. METHODS Participants were people with HIV (PWH) on antiretroviral therapy (ART) and demographically similar people without HIV (PWOH), all at least 50 years old and with no prior diagnosis of dementia. The study setting was Kaiser Permanente Northern California, an integrated healthcare delivery system in the United States. Incident dementia diagnoses and baseline data on sociodemographics, smoking, alcohol use, other substance use, and clinical factors were gathered from the electronic health record. Cumulative proportion of incident dementia by HIV status was assessed using Kaplan--Meier curves. Unadjusted and adjusted hazard ratios for incident dementia by HIV status were generated using Cox proportional hazards models with age as the time scale. RESULTS The study included 5381 PWH and 119 022 PWOH (average age at baseline: 57 and 58 years, respectively). Incident dementia was diagnosed in 117 PWH and 2427 PWOH. By age 80, 25.8% of PWH and 13.8% of PWOH had been diagnosed with dementia, corresponding with an unadjusted hazard ratio of 1.98 (95% CI 1.64-2.39). After adjustment for sociodemographic, substance use, and clinical factors, including frequency of outpatient visits, the risk of dementia among PWH remained elevated (vs. PWOH, adjusted hazard ratio = 1.58, 95% CI 1.31-1.92). CONCLUSION Compared with PWOH, PWH were at 58% higher risk for dementia despite HIV treatment with ART. Research is needed to investigate the potential benefits of targeted risk factor management or earlier cognitive screening in this population.
Evaluating RNR-Based Targeted Treatment and Intervention Dosage in the Context of Traumatic Exposure:

Best practices in juvenile justice call for the individualized matching of services to assessed dynamic risk factors, with services delivered at sufficient dosage. However, prior work has largely i...
Negotiating Power within School Structures

Schools are unique institutions where structural and cultural dynamics shape the actions of humans. Teachers work within structures of power to establish themselves as legitimate authority figures ...
Finding the volume dial in stem cell manufacturing: Bioinspired and bioengineered approaches to scale up

Abstract Cell therapy is on the precipice of a human health revolution where we will no longer be limited by therapeutic efficacy but instead by the ability to get therapies to patients. Therefore, there is a critical need to consider the logistics of scale and biomanufacturing, even during the discovery and proof-of-concept phases of development. We also need to approach these challenges through a lens unique to cell therapy, rather than constraining future innovation on historical success in tangential fields. Should we aim to directly mimic the elegant hierarchies of expansion and differentiation in the body? Can we decouple stem cell expansion and differentiation to rewire native systems and achieve other manufacturing constraints? Can we let the body take over some of the manufacturing burden? As there are likely many routes to a solution, the challenge of scalable manufacturing of stem cell therapies is prime for innovation by bioengineers.
Production, Specification, and Some Transport Characteristics of Cellulose Acetate Ultrafiltration Membranes for Aqueous Feed Solutions

A precise and detailed understanding of the scientific basis of ultrafiltration separation in all its aspects is a necessary condition for its fullest technological development and practical utilization. There are several approaches to the subject [1–3]. This paper presents one other approach; that an ultrafiltration membrane is also a reverse osmosis membrane is the essence of this approach. This means that, just as in reverse osmosis, in ultrafiltration also, both the chemical nature and the porous structure of the membrane surface in contact with the feed solution govern the separation and permeability characteristics of the membrane under the operating conditions of the process. At the membrane-solution interface, whatever solute-solvent-membrane material interactions can prevail, they do prevail whether the solute is small or big, the solvent is aqueous or nonaqueous, the average pore size on the membrane surface is small or big, the osmotic pressure of the feed solution is significant or insignificant, or the operating pressure used for the process is high or low. This means then that all the factors governing solute and solvent transport through reverse osmosis membranes also govern such transport through ultrafiltration membranes.
Analysis of Footings Subjected to Biaxial Bending

Foundations of tall chimneys and towers, bridge piers and columns of multistory buildings are subjected to vertical loads eccentric about both axes of symmetry. The case of large eccentricities, where compressive stresses on the soil develop only over a portion of the area of the footing, was studied in the paper. A numerical procedure using successive approximations and based on Newton-Raphson's Method was developed to determine the maximum stress on the soil. The method is general and can be applied to any soil for which a realistic stress-strain relationship can be found. An illustrative example of a practical design problem was discussed. Three stress-strain relationships, namely linear parabolic and uniform, were used in the solution of the problem. It was shown that the maximum stress depends on the stress-strain relationship assumed for the behavior of the soil. The method may be applied also to study combined axial load and biaxial bending of columns made of masonry and other materials of negligible tensile strength.
THz investigations of condensed phase biomolecular systems.

Terahertz (THz) spectroscopic investigations of crystalline dipeptide nanotubes are discussed in the frequency region from 0.6 (2 cm−1) to 3 THz (100 cm−1). The THz region provides access to collective modes of biomolecular systems and is therefore sensitive to the large scale motions important for understanding the impact of environmental stimuli in biomolecular systems. The focus of this chapter is on THz spectral changes observed in this region when crystals of alanyl isoleucine (AI) and isoleucyl alanine (IA) nanotubes are exposed to water. Of biological significance is the water permeability through hydrophobic pore regions as exemplified in the disparate behavior of these two dipeptide nanotubes. AI is known from X‐ray studies and confirmed here to act reversibly to the exchange of water while IA does not accept water into its pore region. Both quantum chemical and classical calculations are performed to better understand the subtle balance that determines guest molecule absorption and conduction through these hydrophobic channels. Examination of the vibrational character of the THz modes with and without water suggests water mode coupling/decoupling with collective modes of the nanotube may play an important role in the permeability dynamics.
Calmodulin-cardiac troponin C chimeras : effects of domain exchange on calcium binding and enzyme activation

Calmodulin (CaM) and the cardiac isoform of troponin C (cTnC) are close structural homologs, but cTnC cannot activate most CaM target enzymes. To investigate structure-function relationships, we constructed a series of CaM.cTnC chimeras and determined their ability to bind Ca2+ and activate CaM target enzymes. Previously, we exchanged domain 1 and found that the chimeras exhibited profoundly impaired activation of smooth muscle myosin light chain kinase (smMLCK) and had differential effects on other CaM target enzymes (George, S. E., VanBerkum, M. F. A., Ono, T., Cook, R., Hanley, R. M., Putkey, J. A., and Means, A. R. (1990) J. Biol. Chem. 265, 9228-9235). One of the domain 1 chimeras was a potent competitive inhibitor of smMLCK. We now extend our study of CaM.cTnC chimeras by exchanging all of the remaining functional domains of CaM and cTnC. We determined the ability of the chimeras to bind Ca2+ and activate phosphodiesterase (PDE) and smMLCK. Chimeras containing both domains 3 and 4 of cTnC exhibited high affinity Ca2+ binding that was indistinguishable from cTnC, whereas chimeras containing either domain 3 or 4 of cTnC demonstrated Ca2+ affinity that was intermediate between CaM and cTnC. All of the CaM.cTnC chimeras showed near-maximal PDE activation but required 5-775-fold higher concentrations than CaM to produce half-maximal PDE activation. In contrast, all of the chimeras showed impaired ability to activate smMLCK, and some were potent competitive inhibitors of smMLCK activation by CaM.
Design of the wavelength-division optical network

The authors consider the wavelength-division optical network (WON), a generalization of the ShuffleNet concept. Motivated by the potential drawback of large delays in poorly designed WONs, they introduce and use a queuing-network model of the WON that provides a general framework for analyzing the performance of these networks. This performance model is used to formulate the virtual-topology design problem. Using the optimization technique of simulated annealing, a number of instances of the virtual-topology design problem were solved. The results have been very encouraging and have yielded significant-and sometimes dramatic-improvement in delay and throughput, compared to previously proposed, unoptimized design approaches such as ShuffleNet and the Manhattan street network. The authors discuss their experiences with the optimization algorithm and outline continuing efforts in this area. >
Management of Postoperative Arrhythmias and Junctional Ectopic Tachycardia

The critical postoperative period in children who have undergone palliative or corrective surgery for congenital heart disease is often complicated with cardiac arrhythmias. In spite of improved myocardial preservation techniques and better understanding of the surgical anatomy of the conduction system, postoperative arrhythmias are inevitable. Although most arrhythmias are transient, they can be associated with high mortality and morbidity if vigorous appropriate management is not instituted. This is especially true for postoperative junctional ectopic tachycardia. Lack of atrioventricular synchrony and reduced diastolic time secondary to a fast heart rate lead to decreased cardiac output, and the patient's condition tends to deteriorate rather rapidly. Recent advances in the management of postoperative arrhythmias have been gratifying. The most encouraging response has been that of junctional ectopic tachycardia to intravenous amiodarone. Also, the practice of routinely placing temporary epicardial wires in all patients undergoing surgery for congenital heart disease has provided a very useful diagnostic and therapeutic tool. Early recognition, precise diagnosis, and timely therapy can be very effective in avoiding adverse hemodynamic consequences of postoperative arrhythmias.
The European Union's Shareholder Voting Rights Directive from an American Perspective: Some Comparisons and Observations

The European Union ("EU") has recently celebrated its 50th anniversary. This article is based upon my presentation in the symposium celebrating the anniversary held at Fordham Law School sponsored by the Journal of International Law. The paper looks at how the European Union ("EU") has recently approached company law issues (related to corporate governance of publicly traded corporations) and particularly shareholder voting rights through the recent EU directive on the exercise of certain rights of shareholders in listed companies ("voting rights directive"). While there are many different forces that influence the development of company law. The paper focuses on three significant themes that influence the development of company law in the United States. Those influences are the role of ownership, the focus of company law and federalism. These have also influenced the development of EU company law but with differences. The paper discusses the themes and compare how they have influenced the US and EU's agenda on company law. The paper's primary focus is on the EU voting rights directive as it compares to the US and reflects on these themes.
Species Competition and Predation

Biogeochemistry represents the interaction of biology, chemistry, and geology in the Earth system. For many processes, an understanding of biological uptake and emission, chemical processing, and geological sequestration is necessary to resolve the sources and sinks of a particular constituent. For example, to discover the sources and sinks of atmospheric carbon dioxide, it is important to understand how biota take up carbon dioxide and chemically convert the carbon to organic carbon, and then how this organic carbon is used either to produce energy by biota or is deposited to the land or ocean surface and can become sequestered in geological formations.
Surgical correction of the cauliflower ear

The cauliflower ear presents a challenge to the surgeon. Patients complain of discomfort and appearance. Three patients were treated surgically via a posterior approach to remove the hardened segment and re-sculpture a leaf of cartilage left in place. An acceptable cosmetic result was achieved and all patients are currently pain free.
Surgical correction of internal coxa saltans: a 20-year consecutive study.

PurposeTo report the complications associated with surgical correction of internal snapping hip.Study DesignRetrospective review.MethodsA review of 92 cases of internal coxa saltans (12 bilateral) from 1982 to 2002 was performed to identify complications following primary surgical correction. An inguinal approach was used for iliopsoas tendon fractional lengthening. The average follow-up time per patient was 5.4 years.ResultsA total of 40 complications occurred in 32 patients. Complications included persistent hip pain (n = 6), sensory deficit (n = 8), and hip flexor weakness persisting longer than 1 month (n = 3). Additionally, painful bursa formation (n = 1), hematoma requiring reexploration (n = 1), and superficial infection (n = 1) were noted. Some patients developed recurrent snapping after a 3-month snapping-free interval (n = 9), and some patients never had complete resolution of snapping and were considered failures (n = 11). Of these failures/recurrences, 8 patients had a second tenotomy with 4 f...
Styrene Production from Ethylbenzene on Platinum in a Zirconia Electrochemical Reactor

The vapor‐phase electrochemical oxidative dehydrogenation of ethylbenzene on platinum‐paste electrodes was studied at 575°–600°C in a stabilized‐zirconia electrochemical reactor. Styrene and carbon dioxide were the major products. The dehydrogenation rate increased markedly with anodic current, reaching an ethylbenzene‐concentration‐dependent asymptote at large current densities. The rate of deep oxidation of ethylbenzene to and was linear in current density. Both rates were strongly inhibited by gas‐phase hydrogen. These results can be rationalized by an electrode mechanism in which the dominant charge‐transfer reaction is exchange between chemisorbed oxygen on the electrode and oxygen ions in the electrolyte lattice. Styrene and were formed primarily by catalytic reactions of ethylbenzene and neutral dissociatively adsorbed oxygen, although at least one other parallel charge‐transfer reaction was evident. The current dependence of the dehydrogenation rate results from an oxidative dehydrogenation reaction on the surface whose rate is sensitive to the amount of oxygen on the electrode surface. A simple kinetic model is presented which quantitatively describes these experimental observations.
Factors associated with falls in hospitalized adult patients.

Abstract Introduction Despite efforts in hospitals to identify patients at risk for falls and to prevent these incidents, falls among hospitalized patients are not a rare event and continue to be a major health care concern, occurring in approximately 700,000–1,000,000 hospitalized patients per year. Purpose The purpose of this study was to examine intrinsic, extrinsic, and workforce factors that contribute to falls among hospitalized adult patients. Methods A retrospective correlational design was used to examine 160 patients admitted to a medical–surgical unit over the year 2012. Analytical weighting was applied to the study sample to conduct bivariate and multivariate analysis. Findings In multivariate analysis, the variables age, narcotic/sedative use, and overnight shift, significantly predicted the likelihood of a fall during the hospitalization. Cardiovascular disease, neuromusculoskeletal disease, evening shift, the implementation of fall prevention strategies and higher RN to unlicensed assistive personnel staffing ratios decreased the likelihood of a fall during the hospitalization. In addition, patients at high risk for falls using the Hendrich I fall scale were nearly 17% more likely to fall during the hospitalization. Conclusions Many factors influence the occurrence of a fall in hospitalized patients. Fall risk assessment and the implementation of fall prevention strategies are both effective strategies in the clinical area to identify and decrease the probability of a fall. The presence of the RN is significant in fall prevention in medical–surgical patients.
Proteolytic cleavage of chromogranin A (CgA) by plasmin. Selective liberation of a specific bioactive CgA fragment that regulates catecholamine release

Chromogranin A (CgA), the major soluble protein in catecholamine storage vesicles, serves as a prohormone that is cleaved into bioactive peptides that inhibit catecholamine release, providing an autocrine, negative feedback mechanism for regulating catecholamine responses during stress. However, the proteases responsible for the processing of CgA and release of bioactive peptides have not been established. Recently, we found that chromaffin cells express components of the plasmin(ogen) system, including tissue plasminogen activator, which is targeted to catecholamine storage vesicles and released with CgA and catecholamines in response to sympathoadrenal stimulation, and high affinity cell surface receptors for plasminogen, to promote plasminogen activation at the cell surface. In the present study, we investigated processing of CgA by plasmin and sought to identify specific bioactive CgA peptides produced by plasmin proteolysis. Highly purified human CgA (hCgA) was produced by expression in Escherichia coli and purification using metal affinity chromatography. hCgA was digested with plasmin. Matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry identified a major peptide produced with a mass/charge ratio (m/z) of 1546, corresponding uniquely to hCgA-(360-373), the identity of which was confirmed by reverse phase high pressure liquid chromatography and amino-terminal microsequencing. hCgA-(360-373) was selectively liberated by plasmin from hCgA at early time points and was stable even after prolonged exposure to plasmin. The corresponding synthetic peptide markedly inhibited nicotine-induced catecholamine release from pheochromocytoma cells. These results identify plasmin as a protease, present in the local environment of the chromaffin cell, that selectively cleaves CgA to generate a bioactive fragment, hCgA-(360-373), that inhibits nicotinic-mediated catecholamine release. These results suggest that the plasminogen/plasmin system through its interaction with CgA may play a major role in catecholaminergic function and suggest a specific mechanism as well as a discrete CgA peptide through which this effect is mediated.
Hysteroscopic metroplasty of the Class Va uterus with preservation of the cervical septum.

Abstract Objective: To assess the safety and efficacy of hysteroscopic resection of the uterine septum in patients with a Class Va septate uterus. Design: Retrospective clinical study. Setting: University outpatient surgical center. Patient(s): Twenty-one patients with Class Va uterus treated between 1985−1998 in the senior author's academic practice. Intervention(s): Hysteroscopic metroplasty with preservation of cervical septum. Main Outcome Measure(s): Intraoperative and postoperative complications; postoperative cumulative pregnancy and delivery rates. Result(s): No long-term complications were encountered. Fourteen of 15 women who attempted pregnancy postoperatively delivered viable neonates; the 15th is in an ongoing pregnancy. Conclusion(s): Surgical correction of the complete uterine septum with preservation of the cervical septum is associated with low morbidity and satisfactory postoperative obstetric outcome.
KARIM MURJI AND JOHN SOLOMOS (eds.), Racialization: Studies in theory and practice

Karim Murji and John Solomos (eds.), Racialization: Studies in theory and practice. New York: Oxford University Press, 2005. Pp. 307. $39.95.The 13 papers in this edited volume, written by noted scholars of race and ethnicity (mainly sociologists) from the United States and United Kingdom, center on racialization – the “processes by which racial meanings are attached to particular issues” (p. 3). In their introduction, Murji and Solomos consider the term's origins and evolution and briefly review the development of race theory.
Sex hormones and biogenic amine turnover of sex offenders in relation to their temperament and character dimensions

Relationships between Cloninger's temperament and character dimensions and plasma sex hormone levels and biogenic amine turnover were studied in male prison inmates convicted of rape (n=61) or child molestation (n=24) and normal male controls (n=25). The participants completed the Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI), which includes the temperament dimensions Novelty Seeking, Harm Avoidance, Reward Dependence and Persistence as well as the character dimensions Self-Directedness, Cooperativeness and Self-Transcendence. Plasma levels of testosterone, dihydrotestosterone, sex hormone binding globulin, luteinizing hormone (LH) and follicle-stimulating hormone were estimated in plasma samples and 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid (5-HIAA), homovanillic acid (HVA), and 3-methoxy-4-hydroxyphenylglycol (MHPG) in urine samples. Both sex offender groups had higher Novelty, Seeking and lower Reward Dependence, Self-Directedness and Cooperativeness scores compared with the controls. Plasma levels of testosterone and dihydrotestosterone were significantly higher in rapists than in controls. Novelty Seeking scores were positively correlated with LH levels in rapists, and with testosterone levels in child molesters. Harm Avoidance scores were negatively correlated with 5-HIAA levels in rapists and with HVA levels in child molesters. In rapists, the calculated free androgen index showed a negative correlation with 5-HIAA. For the sex offender sample as a whole, the subgroup with high testosterone levels had higher Harm Avoidance scores, the subgroup with low HVA levels had lower Cooperativeness scores, and the subgroups with high 5HIAA or MHPG levels had lower Persistence scores. The results indicate that Novelty Seeking behavior in the group of rapists is associated with a hyperactive hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis. In addition, low serotonin turnover and low dopamine turnover seem to be associated with a passive-avoidant behavioral style in rapists and child molesters, respectively.
Estimation of parametric homogeneous stochastic volatility pricing formulae based on option data

This article provides a procedure for the estimation of parametric homogeneous stochastic volatility (SV) pricing formulae based on option data. Our estimator has the advantage of being (i) based on option data, (ii) easy to implement in practice, (iii) with clear statistic properties and (iv) applicable under more general assumptions about pricing formulae and error terms.