cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
A method for determination of urinary iodine by ammonium persulfate digestion-flow injection catalytic spectrophotometry with no needs of highly toxic arsenic reagent

Objective To establish a catalytic spectrophotometric method for determination of iodine in urine without the use of highly toxic arsenic reagents and with good precision and accuracy. Methods Combined flow injection analysis (FIA) with new catalytic spectrophotometry, a new method for determination of iodine with no need of arsenic reagents was developed by the author. An ammonium persulfate digestion-flow injection catalytic spectrophotometry for determination of iodine in urine was established. Standard serial solutions and urine samples were all digested by ammonium persulfate before testing. The standard curve linearity in the range of 0 - 1 200 μg/L, detection limit, precision and accuracy in determining urinary iodine were tested. Results A good calibration relation of C = aA2 + bA + d (C: iodine concentration, A: measuring absorbance peak area from FIA) of the newly developed method existed in the range of 0 - 1 200 μg/L. The linear correlative coefficient was 0.999 8. The FIA analysis speed was 60 samples per hour. The detection limit for urinary iodine was 7.1 μg/L. Precision: The intra-assay coefficients of variation (CV) were 0.3% - 3.0% (n = 6) when measuring 9 urine samples with iodine concentration of 61.8 - 806.8 μg/L; the intra-assay CV were 0.2% - 1.7% (n = 6) when measuring 5 urinary iodine national standard materials with iodine concentration of 76.9 - 883.0 μg/L; the inter-assay CV were 1.0% - 1.2% when measuring 6 batches of 3 urinary iodine national standard materials with iodine concentration of 76.9 - 232.0 μg/L. Accuracy: The average recovery rate was 98.3% with a range of 91.2% - 104.6% when measuring 20 urine samples with iodine concentration ranged from 18.9 to 807.1 μg/L. The test results of 5 urinary iodine national standard materials were all within the given value range and the relative deviations ranges were - 2.9% - 0.7%. No significant difference was found between the results of the 48 urine samples determined by the current standard method (WS/T 107.1-2016) and the new method (t = 0.029, P > 0.05). Conclusions The new method has a wide standard curve range, high sensitivity, good precision and accuracy, and is simple and easy to operate, with automatic sampling, rapid analysis, and no need for toxic arsenic reagent which is difficult to obtain and can pollute the environment. The method is suitable for widely application and can be used as a reliable technical method for urinary iodine detection. Key words: Urine; Iodine; Arsenic; Flow injection analysis; Catalytic spectrophotometry
Simple Approach: Heat Treatment to Improve the Electrochemical Performance of Commonly Used Anode Electrodes for Lithium-Ion Batteries.

The lithium-ion battery (LIB) industry has been in high demand for simple and effective methods to improve the electrochemical performance of LIBs. Here, we treated three different widely studied a...
Tax Credits vs. Corporate Social Responsibility: The Entertainment Industry's Challenge to State Anti-Abortion Bills

Corporations are consistently finding themselves at the forefront of social conversations as corporate boycotts and corporate social responsibility methods are becoming more ubiquitous in society. There has never been a better example of this than the entertainment industry’s response to Georgia’s LIFE Act, known colloquially as The Heartbeat Bill, which aimed to limit a woman’s access to an abortion once a fetal heartbeat could be detected. The Government of the State of Georgia offers the United States’ most expansive, sweeping, and beneficial tax credits to entertainment corporations and production companies that choose to film projects in-state. After public outcry in response to the introduction of that legislation, the entertainment corporations that benefit from Georgia’s tax incentives were forced to reckon with a moral and business dilemma: whether to remain in Georgia and continue to collect the financial benefits of filming in the state or to leave the state altogether out of support and solidarity with the women that the Government was seeking to control. This Article proposes to answer that dilemma through different legal perspectives including the dissection of Georgia’s tax incentives, an historical outlining of various boycotts of similar magnitude, and a feminist legal theory perspective. While boycotts can be an effective tool for change, in this case, entertainment corporations should continue to do business with the state and use the benefit of the Georgia tax incentives and remaining in Georgia to benefit local woman. To help the women of Georgia, these corporations should create or donate to pro-women organizations that help women in need of healthcare, child care, and employment, assist with voter registration, and combat widespread voter suppression. By remaining in Georgia, these corporations can thus fulfill their obligations to their shareholders while also participating in a positive and progressive social movement. Sometimes the most effective way to be an ally to women is to fight on the ground and in the trenches, so to speak, alongside them. In leaving the state, entertainment corporations are doing the exact opposite of what their intended actions are and, ultimately, are leaving the women of Georgia vulnerable.
NUMA-AWARE DATA MANAGEMENT FOR NEUTRON CROSS SECTION DATA IN CONTINUOUS ENERGY MONTE CARLO NEUTRON TRANSPORT SIMULATION

The calculation of macroscopic neutron cross-sections is a fundamental part of the continuous-energy Monte Carlo (MC) neutron transport algorithm. MC simulations of full nuclear reactor cores are computationally expensive, making high-accuracy simulations impractical for most routine reactor analysis tasks because of their long time to solution. Thus, preparation of MC simulation algorithms for next generation supercomputers is extremely important as improvements in computational performance and efficiency will directly translate into improvements in achievable simulation accuracy. Due to the stochastic nature of the MC algorithm, cross-section data tables are accessed in a highly randomized manner, resulting in frequent cache misses and latency-bound memory accesses. Furthermore, contemporary and next generation non-uniform memory access (NUMA) computer architectures, featuring very high latencies and less cache space per core, will exacerbate this behaviour. The absence of a topology-aware allocation strategy in existing high-performance computing (HPC) programming models is a major source of performance problems in NUMA systems. Thus, to improve performance of the MC simulation algorithm, we propose a topology-aware data allocation strategies that allow full control over the location of data structures within a memory hierarchy. A new memory management library, known as AML, has recently been created to facilitate this mapping. To evaluate the usefulness of AML in the context of MC reactor simulations, we have converted two existing MC transport cross-section lookup “proxy-applications” (XSBench and RSBench) to utilize the AML allocation library. In this study, we use these proxy-applications to test several continuous-energy cross-section data lookup strategies (the nuclide grid, unionized grid, logarithmic hash grid, and multipole methods) with a number of AML allocation schemes on a variety of node architectures. We find that the AML library speeds up cross-section lookup performance up to 2x on current generation hardware (e.g., a dual-socket Skylake-based NUMA system) as compared with naive allocation. These exciting results also show a path forward for efficient performance on next-generation exascale supercomputer designs that feature even more complex NUMA memory hierarchies.
Role of Intermediation when Equity is placed with Select Investors

We analyze the role of placement agents in non-underwritten equity deals placed with a limited investor base. We posit that stronger, better firms can place their unregistered shares directly with investors; whereas issuers’ reliance on agents to place relatively more liquid pre-registered shares is an indication of weakness. Indeed, direct placements of unregistered shares evoke a significantly positive response, while intermediated, best-effort deals of pre-registered shares are met with a significantly negative response. Drawing upon these insights, we create a new reputation measure for placement agents which, unlike traditional reputation measures, is consistently and positively associated with deal-announcement wealth effects.
Webcam modelling in Korea: censorship, pornography, and eroticism

The South Korean government enforces strict censorship against pornography. In spite of such regulations, there is a vibrant webcam modelling industry in Korea that operates under the radar. I exam...
Who Turns to Clientelism? Opportunistic Politicians, Patronage Appointments, and Vote Buying in Brazil

Programmatic and clientelistic exchanges between voters and politicians coexist in many countries. Why do some politicians engage in clientelism while others do not? Existing explanations highlight economic development, political competition, and incumbency. By contrast, this study emphasizes a crucial but overlooked factor—namely, politicians’ motivations. Investigating politicians’ prior party-switching behavior, I distinguish policy-motivated from office-motivated politicians. I propose that the latter, whom I call opportunists, are more likely to engage in clientelism. Exploiting a close-elections regression discontinuity design across Brazilian municipalities, I show that opportunists resort to patronage appointments in both lower-ranking and senior government jobs. Analyses of public opinion, judicial data, and surveys of politicians reveal that opportunists also engage in vote buying. Moreover, I show a connection between clientelism and poor provision of public services: opportunistic mayors worsen public health care, increasing infant mortality rates. These findings emphasize the importance of intrinsic motivations in understanding elite political behavior.
The role of redundant verbal labels in 8- and 10-month-olds’ working memory

Verbal labels have been shown to help preverbal infants' performance on various cognitive tasks, such as categorization. Redundant labels also aid adults' visual working memory (WM), but it is not known if this linguistic benefit extends to preverbal infants' WM. In two eye-tracking studies, we tested whether 8- and 10-month-old infants' WM performance would improve with the presence of redundant labels in a Delayed Match Retrieval (DMR) paradigm that tested infants' WM for object-location bindings. Findings demonstrated that infants at both ages were unable to remember two object-location bindings when co-presented with labels at encoding. Moreover, infants who encoded the object-location bindings with labels were not significantly better than those who did so in silence. These findings are discussed in the context of label advantages in cognition and auditory dominance.
Regulation of Arginine and Proline Catabolism in Bacillus licheniformis

The enzymes in the arginine breakdown pathway (arginase, ornithine-delta-transaminase, and Delta'-pyrroline-5-carboxylate dehydrogenase) were found to be present in Bacillus licheniformis cells during exponential growth on glutamate. These enzymes could be coincidentally induced by arginine or ornithine to a very high level and their synthesis could be repressed by the addition of glucose, clearly demonstrating catabolite repression control of the arginine degradative pathway. The strongest catabolite repression control of arginase occurred when cells were grown on glucose and this control decreased when cells were grown on glycerol, acetate, pyruvate, or glutamate. The proline catabolite pathway was present in B. licheniformis during exponential growth on glutamate. The proline oxidation and the Delta'-pyrroline-5-carboxylate dehydrogenase in this breakdown pathway were induced by l-proline to a high level. The Delta'-pyrroline-5-carboxylate dehydrogenase was found to be under catabolite repression control. Arginase could be induced by proline and arginine addition induced proline oxidation, suggesting a common in vivo inducer for these convergent pathways.
Catalytic Hydrogenation of Esters to Alcohols

In the presence of suitable catalysts esters react with hydrogen to form alcohols. The reaction is reversible, the relative concentrations of esters and alcohols at equilibrium being determined by the temperature and particularly by the pressure of hydrogen. The conversion of esters to alcohols may proceed either by hydrogenation or by hydrogenolysis. There is no experimental basis for the choice of one hypothesis over another, the use of the term hydrogenation in this chapter is matter of convenience and does not imply a choice of mechanism. The catalyst most suitable for the preparation of alcohols from esters by reacting with hydrogen under pressure is copper chromium oxide. This chapter deals almost exclusively with this catalyst, However, certain other catalysts of limited usefulness are considered. Keywords: catalytic hydrogenation; esters; alcohols; copper chromium oxide catalysts; structure; preparation; evaluation; experimental consideration
Offices of Goodness: Influence without Authority in Federal Agencies

Inducing governmental organizations to do the right thing is the central problem of public administration. If Congress or another principal wants a federal executive agency to pay attention to a value that constrains or conflicts with the agency’s overall mission — that additional value is here labeled, generically, "Goodness" — the principal often creates a subsidiary agency office — an "Office of Goodness." Both policymakers and scholars should care about how and when Offices of Goodness work. Yet while Offices of Goodness are frequently established in federal agencies, they are nearly invisible in scholarship. And the resulting knowledge gap is currently particularly problematic, because President Obama has just proposed a new Office of Goodness, within the National Security Agency, to increase oversight of surveillance activities. An Office of Goodness’s success is far from guaranteed; to actually increase Goodness in its agency, its staff must skillfully use a highly constrained toolkit, and they must avoid the twin shoals of impotence or capture/assimilation. This Article analyzes the relevant dynamics. The Article begins by describing a paradigmatic Office of Goodness, the Department of Homeland Security’s Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, and the details of four controversies — information-sharing relating to the Occupy movement; laptop border searches; Border Patrol’s Spanish-language assistance for police; and data retention by the National Counterterrorism Center. These examples ground the more general discussion that follows, which is also informed by both theory and other case studies. The Article canvasses tools available to an Office of Goodness — inclusion in working groups; clearance authority; advice-giving; training and technical assistance; program review; complaint investigation; outreach; document generation; and congressional reporting. It then explains why Office influence and commitment are continually threatened, and argues that both depend crucially on external reinforcement, from Congress, the White House, non-governmental organizations, the courts, or other agencies. Office of Goodness efficacy should not be taken for granted. Unless the goal is purely cosmetic, each Office’s tools must be carefully prepared, and its influence and commitment purposefully produced and maintained. By focusing inside federal agencies and on personnel who offer advice rather than run agency operations, the Article adds to both the "structure and process" strand of positive political theory and research into public administration and bureaucratic theory. Its ambition is to raise the salience of the Office of Goodness strategy, placing it more prominently on the menu of "internal separation of powers" devices for further analysis and assessment.
Domain Name Dispute Resolution in U.S. Courts: Should ICANN be Given Deference?

Established in 1998, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) is a private, non-profit corporation that administers the Internet domain name system. Through its Uniform Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP), ICANN has also become an important vehicle for resolving domain name disputes that result from “cybersquatting." The UDRP requires that parties to a domain name dispute submit to arbitration that conforms to ICANN rules. Although the parties maintain the right to seek judicial review of UDRP decisions, however, the level of deference that courts should grant those decisions remains unclear. To address this issue, this Note reviews the technological and legal history of the domain name system. This Note also examines ICANN's origins, purposes, and structure, comparing them to those of federal administrative agencies. In doing so, this Note concludes that courts reviewing UDRP decisions should grant ICANN the same deference granted to federal agencies.
Percutaneous stellate ganglion block suppressing VT and VF in a patient refractory to VT ablation.

Percutaneous Stellate Ganglion Block Suppressing VT and VFIntroduction Electrical storm is a condition characterized by multiple episodes of ventricular tachycardia (VT) or ventricular fibrillation (VF) in a short period of time. Case Presentation An 80-year-old male with a history of ischemic cardiomyopathy presented with multiple ICD shocks. As a last resort, he underwent percutaneous left, followed by right, stellate ganglion block under fluoroscopic guidance. Since his discharge, he has been managed with alternating, biweekly left and right stellate ganglion blocks, and he has received no ICD shocks. Discussion This case illustrates the potential of ongoing, temporary percutaneous stellate ganglion blockade in suppressing ventricular arrhythmogenesis.
Hydrogen at High Pressures and Temperatures: Implications for Jupiter

Electrical conductivities and shock temperatures were measured for shock-compressed liquid H 2 and D 2 . Conductivities were measured at pressures of 93-180 GPa (0.93-1.8 Mbar). Calculated densities and temperatures were in the range 0.28-0.36 mol/cm 3 and 2000-4000 K. The resistivity data are interpreted in terms of a continuous transition from a semiconducting to metallic, primarily diatomic fluid at 140 GPa and 3000 K. Shock temperatures up to 5200 K were measured at pressures up to 83 GPa. These data are interpreted in terms of a continuous dissociative phase transition above 20 GPa. The continuous transition from a molecular to monatomic fluid means that Jupiter has no distinct core-mantle boundary. The dissociation model derived from the temperature measurements indicates a dissociation fraction of about 5% at 140 GPa and 3000 K. The isentrope of hydrogen was calculated starting from the surface temperature of Jupiter (165 K). At a metallization pressure of 140 GPa in Jupiter, the temperature is about 4000 K and about 10% of the hydrogen molecules are dissociated. The electrical conductivity was calculated along this isentrope by deriving a scaling relationship from the measured conductivities. The results indicate that hydrogen becomes metallic much closer to the surface of Jupiter than thought previously, a possible explanation of the very large magnetic field of Jupiter, but the metallic conductivity of the molecular fluid is two orders of magnitude lower than predicted for the monatomic fluid.
Funding Roller Coaster for Public Higher Education

Cyclical fluctuations in state spending on higher education, combined with a persistent decline in the priority attached to higher education in state budgets, have produced serious financial problems at public universities. The results, which include rapid increases in tuition and difficulties in maintaining educational quality, are unlikely to be reversed any time soon. The authors of this Policy Forum urge public universities and state governments to find ways to smooth spending patterns over the cycle and to make sure that people who can least afford to pay are insulated from tuition increases.
Case Study: Ebus Hybrid Electric Buses and Trolleys

Evaluation focuses on the demonstration of hybrid electric buses and trolleys produced by Ebus Inc. at the Indianapolis Transportation Corporation and the Knoxville Area Transit.
HOT SPIN-AND-BURST TEST METHODS FOR AIRCRAFT TURBINE WHEELS

Methods are described for suspension-system vibration damping, automatically controlled induction heating through radiation pyrometers, rotating-disk temperature measurement, and unattended operation with a safety-interlock system.
Robust relationship between reading span and speech recognition in noise

AbstractObjective: Working memory refers to a cognitive system that manages information processing and temporary storage. Recent work has demonstrated that individual differences in working memory capacity measured using a reading span task are related to ability to recognize speech in noise. In this project, we investigated whether the specific implementation of the reading span task influenced the strength of the relationship between working memory capacity and speech recognition. Design: The relationship between speech recognition and working memory capacity was examined for two different working memory tests that varied in approach, using a within-subject design. Data consisted of audiometric results along with the two different working memory tests; one speech-in-noise test; and a reading comprehension test. Study sample: The test group included 94 older adults with varying hearing loss and 30 younger adults with normal hearing. Results: Listeners with poorer working memory capacity had more difficul...
Optimal Testing of the Live Organ Donor for Blood‐Borne Viral Pathogens: The Report of a Consensus Conference

In 2011, live donor transmission events involving Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and Hepatitis C virus (HCV) prompted consideration of changing the process of live donor testing and evaluation in the United States. Following CDC recommendations for screening all live donors with nucleic acid testing for HIV, HCV and Hepatitis B (HBV), a consensus conference was convened to evaluate this recommendation. Workgroups focused on determining whether there was an evidence based rationale for identifying live donors at increased risk for HIV, HBV and HCV, testing options and timing for diagnosing these infections in potential donors and consent issues specific to potential increased risk donor utilization. Strategies for donor assessment were proposed. Based on review of the limited available evidence as well as guidance documents and policies currently in place in the United States and other countries, the conference participants recommended that HIV, HBV and HCV NAT should not be required for live donor evaluation; the optimal timing of live donor testing for these blood borne pathogens has not been determined.
Characterizing the Structure of Preserved Information in Quantum Processes

We introduce a general operational characterization of information-preserving structures—encompassing noiseless subsystems, decoherence-free subspaces, pointer bases, and error-correcting codes—by demonstrating that they are isometric to fixed points of unital quantum processes. Using this, we show that every information-preserving structure is a matrix algebra. We further establish a structure theorem for the fixed states and observables of an arbitrary process, which unifies the Schrodinger and Heisenberg pictures, places restrictions on physically allowed kinds of information, and provides an efficient algorithm for finding all noiseless and unitarily noiseless subsystems of the process.
Ends and Means in Planning

The word planning is given a bewildering variety of meanings. To some it means socialism. To others, the layout and design of cities. To still others, regional development schemes like TVA, measures to control the business cycle, or “scientific management” in industry. It would be easy to overemphasize what these activities have in common; their differences are certainly more striking than their similarities. Nevertheless, there may be a method of making decisions which is to some extent common to all these fields and to others as well, and that the logical structure of this method can usefully be elaborated as a theory of planning.
Evidence-Based Medicine: A Survey of American Urological Association Members

Purpose: We investigated the attitudes and opinions of urologists toward evidence-based medicine.Materials and Methods: In April of 2005 we contacted members of the American Urological Association listed with an e-mail address to participate in a web based survey. Participants were asked to characterize their level of agreement with statements referring to the role of evidence-based medicine in urology, to indicate their level of understanding of 15 evidence-based medicine related terms and to report their familiarity with 6 evidence-based medicine related resources.Results: Of 8,100 American Urological Association members 714 (8.8%) responded to this survey. There was widespread agreement (median score 9) with the concept that evidence-based medicine improves patient care and that every urologist should be familiar with critical appraisal techniques. Select terms such as median/mean, selection bias and type I error were well understood (“understand and could explain to others”) by 86%, 57% and 17%, respe...
Subverting bacterial resistance using high dose, low solubility antibiotics in fibrin.

Antibiotics (ABs) delivered from fibrin were evaluated for control of multi-drug resistant (MDR)Staphylococcus aureus. ABs having low aqueous solubility (≤1 mg/ml) were encapsulated by fibrin (composed of fibrinogen, thrombin, Factor XIIIa and calcium chloride) and examined. Electron microscopy revealed fibrin-caged, tetracycline crystals that were 0.26 to 2.8 μm in size and bound within the reticular matrix. Antibiograms documented thatS. aureus ATCC 27659 was resistant to erythromycin (ERY), penicillin G (PEN), streptomycin (STR), sulfamethoxazole-trimethoprim (SXT) and tetracycline (TET). However, low solubility formulations of STR (10 mg/ml) or SXT (0.5 mg/ml), delivered from fibrin and evaluated by the agar disk diffusion assay, produced zones of growth inhibition after 18–24h at 37°Cin vitro, indicating renewed susceptibility ofS. aureus ATCC 27659 to these ABs. ERY, PEN and TET were unable to overcome resistance at concentrations up to 10 mg/ml.In vivo, intraperitoneal (i.p.) injection of 150 mg/kg STR delivered from fibrin resulted in 100% survival of rats with MDRS. aureus peritonitis as compared with control rats receiving i.p. STR (150 mg/kg) in 0.9% saline. The results demonstrate that some low solubility ABs delivered from fibrin are efficacious in controlling infection mediated by MDRS. aureus.
Distinct Genetic Signatures for Variability in Total and Free Serum Thyroxine Levels in Four Sets of Recombinant Inbred Mice

Linkage analysis demonstrates the unique contribution of chromosomal loci to the variability of total and free thyroxine in different sets of recombinant inbred mice.
NONCONVEX AND NONMONOTONE PERTURBATIONS OF EVOLUTION INCLUSIONS OF SUBDIFFERENTIAL TYPE

In this paper we prove the existence of strong solutions for evolution inclusions of the form −\(\dot x\)(t) ∈ ∂ϕ(x(t))+F(t,x)) defined in a separable Hilbert space, where ∂ϕ(·) denotes the subdifferential of a proper, closed, convex function ϕ(·) andF(t,x) is a multivalued nonconvex, nonmonotone perturbation satisfying a general growth condition.
Monitoring and fault-tolerant control of distributed power generation: Application to solid oxide fuel cells

This paper presents a hierarchical structure for fault detection and fault-tolerant control of distributed energy resources (DERs). The structure consists of distributed monitoring and control systems that perform local fault diagnosis and control system reconfiguration, together with a supervisor that communicates with the local controllers and provides high-level oversight and contingency measures in the event that local fault recovery is not possible. To realize this structure, an observer-based output feedback controller is initially designed for each DER to regulate its output in the absence of faults. The design accounts explicitly for practical implementation issues such as measurement sampling and plant-model mismatch. Fault detection is performed by comparing the output of the observer with that of the DER, and using the discrepancy as a residual. An explicit characterization of the minimum allowable sampling rate that guarantees both closed-loop stability and residual convergence in the absence of faults is obtained and used as the basis for deriving (1) a time-varying threshold on the residual which can be used to detect faults for a given sampling period, and (2) controller reconfiguration laws that determine the feasible fall-back control configurations that preserve stability. Finally, the design and implementation of the fault detection and fault-tolerant control architecture are demonstrated using a simulated model of a solid oxide fuel cell plant.
Effects of thermal rates on the thermomechanical behaviors of amorphous shape memory polymers

Shape memory polymers (SMPs) are polymers that can recover a large pre-deformed shape in response to environmental stimuli, such as temperature, light, etc. For a thermally triggered (or activated) amorphous SMP, the pre-deformation and recovery of the shape require the temperature of the material to traverse the glass transition temperature T g under constrained or free conditions. In this paper, effects of thermal rates on the thermomechanical behaviors of amorphous SMPs are investigated. Under uniaxial compression, during a temperature cycle (cooling followed by heating), the stress decreases to zero as the temperature decreases to below the glass transition temperature, and increases to a value larger than the initial stress (termed stress overshoot) as the temperature is raised above the glass transition temperature. These observations are examined by a thermoviscoelasticity model that couples the nonequilibrium structural relaxation and temperature dependent viscoelastic behavior of the material. In addition, using this model, stress-temperature behaviors during temperature cycles with various thermal rate conditions and tensile loading conditions are studied.
Temperature and photocontrol of onoclea spore germination.

Germination of Onoclea sensibilis L. spores is controlled by light and temperature. Temperatures of 30 C can induce maximal germination in the dark to a level of 60 to 95% of that induced by a saturating dose of red light (0.38 joules/square meter) providing the spores are placed at the elevated temperature immediately after being sown. Maximum dark germination occurs with a minimum exposure of 16 to 24 hours at 30 C, suggesting that the temperature treatment is required for the induction of germination rather than for the germination process per se. Interaction of temperature and light for induction of germination shows nonadditive behavior. Germination induced by light and temperature applied consecutively never exceeded that which could be induced by a saturating dose of red light alone. Imbibition of the spores at 25 C in the dark for 12 or more hours prior to incubation at 30 C results in a loss of thermosensitivity. Dose response curves for red light induction of germination after varying times of imbibition at 25 C show no concomitant loss of sensitivity of the spores to red irradiation. This suggests that the mechanism and/or pathway of thermoinduction of germination differs from that of photoinduction. The loss of thermosensitivity as a result of presoaking at 25 C can be prevented if the spores are imbibed at 25 C in osmotic agents such as 0.3 molar mannitol or 0.1 gram per liter of polyethylene glycol 400 or in 0.08% dimethylsulfoxide or 10 micrograms per milliliter of herbicide SAN 9789 (4-chloro-5-(methylamino)-2-(α,α,α-trifluoro-m-tolyl-3-(2H)pyridazinone). The latter two substances are hypothesized to act upon membranes. These results suggest that the degree of hydration and possibly changes in membrane properties play a role in the change in sensitivity of Onoclea spores to temperature.
PP2A Activation by β2-Adrenergic Receptor Agonists NOVEL REGULATORY MECHANISM OF KERATINOCYTE MIGRATION

Abstract Understanding the mechanisms that regulate cell migration is important for devising novel therapies to control metastasis or enhance wound healing. Previously, we demonstrated that β2-adrenergic receptor (β2-AR) activation in keratinocytes inhibited their migration by decreasing the phosphorylation of a critical promigratory signaling component, the extracellular signal-related kinase (ERK). Here we demonstrate that β2-AR-induced inhibition of migration is mediated by the activation of the serine/threonine phosphatase PP2A. Pretreating human keratinocytes with the PP2A inhibitor, okadaic acid, prevented the β2-AR-induced inhibition of migration, either as isolated cells or as a confluent sheet of cells repairing an in vitro “wound” and also prevented the β2-AR-induced reduction in ERK phosphorylation. Similar results were obtained with human corneal epithelial cells. In keratinocytes, immunoprecipitation studies revealed that β2-AR activation resulted in the rapid association of β2-AR with PP2A as well as a 37% increase in association of PP2A with ERK2. Finally, β2-AR activation resulted in a rapid and transient 2-fold increase in PP2A activity. Thus, we provide the first evidence that β2-AR activation in keratinocytes modulates migration via a novel pathway utilizing PP2A to alter the promigratory signaling cascade. Exploiting this pathway may result in novel therapeutic approaches for control of epithelial cell migration.
Electronic properties and chemistry of Ti/GaAs and Pd/GaAs interfaces.

Photoemission experiments have shown that strong chemical reactions occur at clean Pd/GaAs(110) and Ti/GaAs(110) interfaces formed at room temperature in ultrahigh vacuum. In both cases elemental Ga was found dispersed in the metal film, which also had a metal-As compound segregated to its surface. In addition, what appears to be elemental As was observed on the Pd-covered surfaces. Subsurface reactions were identified well below monolayer (ML) coverages. The evolution of band bending with increasing metal coverage starting near 0.001 ML is strongly dependent on the metal and results in Schottky-barrier heights of 0.73 (0.70)\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.05 eV for Ti and 1.01 (0.42)\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.05 eV for Pd on n-type (p-type) GaAs(110). Strong emission from the transition-metal d orbitals in the band-gap region of the GaAs was observed for coverages \ensuremath{\gtrsim}0.01 ML and represents the first direct spectroscopic identification of occupied interface states responsible for Fermi-level pinning. The latter observation together with differing coverage dependences for the final pinning positions for Pd and Ti indicate a new mechanism for the formation of a Schottky barrier. It is suggested that rebonding between the transition metal and the GaAs at the interface produces partially occupied d orbitals which lie in the semiconductor band gap. In addition, several refinements of the photoemission technique and data analysis are discussed and shown to be relevant to both the accurate determination of band bending and the chemical characterization of the interface.
Precopulatory sexual interaction in an arctiid moth (Utetheisa ornatrix): Role of a pheromone derived from dietary alkaloids

Males of Utetheisa ornatrix have a pair of brushlike glandular structures, the coremata, which they evert from the abdomen during close-range precopulatory interaction with the female. Males experimentally deprived of coremata are less acceptable to females. The principal chemical associated with the coremata, identified as a pyrrolizine (hydroxydanaidal), has a proven pheromonal role: males raised under conditions where they fail to produce hydroxydanaidal are also less likely to succeed in courtship, and the compound itself, as its (-)-isomer, is capable of inducing the principal receptive response (wing raising) of the female. Evidence is presented indicating that Utetheisa derive hydroxydanidal from defensive pyrrolizidine alkaloids that they sequester from their larval foodplants (Crotalaria spp.). It is proposed that in addition to signalling male presence to the female, hydroxydanaidal may provide the means whereby the female assesses the alkaloid content of the male and therefore his degree of chemical protectedness. The argument is made that such pheromonal assessment of defensive capacity may occur also in other insects, including danaid butterflies, many of which share with Utetheisa a dependence on pyrrolizidine alkaloids for sex-pheromone production.
The role of serum in the epithelial outgrowth of mouse skin explants.

SUMMARY An experimental system is described which facilitates the measurement of epithelial outgrowth in vitro. Using this system the properties of the serum component supporting epithelial spread have been studied. It has been found that appreciable epithelial outgrowth occurs in concentrations of cow serum greater than 0.5% and that maximal outgrowth occurs at concentrations of 1% or greater. Only minimal outgrowth is apparent during the first day of culture. The lack of epithelial outgrowth in the absence of serum is not due to reduced cell viability since replacing serum after 3 days leads to cellular outgrowth. Though this activity is found in several sera studied (cow, fetal calf, human, horse, mouse and chicken), there are considerable quantitative differences between species. Epithelial cell outgrowth does not occur in the presence of medium plus bovine fibrin, serum albumin or thrombin. The serum component is heat labile and non-dialysable. It appears to be needed continuously and does not require DNA synthesis for its effect.
Screening for early breast cancer: pros and cons.

Health benefits and risks of breast cancer screening programs have been both criticized and defended. This paper summarizes and evaluates those arguments, discusses changes that have already occurred, and looks at prospects for further improvement. Early detection of breast cancer can undoubtedly reduce mortality. X-ray mammography also undoubtedly carries a risk of causing breast cancer at some future time. Both benefits and risks can be estimated. In terms of breast cancer mortality, adding mammography to a program of annual breast examinations of average U.S. women is questionable for women under age 55 but likely to be beneficial for older women. However, the break-even point is closely related to the average radiation exposure of breast tissue, and might be as early as age 50 in a few centers now using optimum techniques and equipment. For women with below-average risks of breast cancer the age would be higher, and for a few women with a high probability of developing breast cancer it would be lower. The break-even point should be significantly exceeded before mammographic screening becomes worth the time, trouble, and other costs. Breast cancer screening programs have been improved significantly since criticisms were first publicized in mid-1975. Partial improvements include reduction in radiation exposure (at least in some centers), guidelines from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and the American Cancer Society (ACS) for restricting the screening of women under 50, and changes in the patient consent form signed by screenees in the NCI-ACS program. There has been a rapid and marked increase in both professional and public awareness of the need to balance the benefits of screening with its risks and costs. Future improvements should further define the optimum design and application of breast cancer screening programs.
Marketing Curriculum Development: Model and Application

Curriculum review has always been a critical task in education, especially in a dynamic discipline like marketing. Because this problem will become even more critical in the future due to demographic changes and rising accreditation standards in universities, new methods of reviewing curriculum need to be explored. For this reason, a model was designed that can be applied to any marketing program to systematically guide the development or the review of a curriculum. The model does not provide simplistic answers, but a comprehensive process. In addition, the model can be re-applied to insure that the curriculum matches the growth of the discipline, faculty, and the institution.
Linear and symmetric allocation methods for partially defined cooperative games

A partially defined cooperative game is a coalition function form game in which some of the coalitional worths are not known. An application would be cost allocation of a joint project among so many players that the determination of all coalitional worths is prohibitive. This paper generalizes the concept of the Shapley value for cooperative games to the class of partially defined cooperative games. Several allocation method characterization theorems are given utilizing linearity, symmetry, formulation independence, subsidy freedom, and monotonicity properties. Whether a value exists or is unique depends crucially on the class of games under consideration.
Parallel search for the best alternative

Search theoretic models, which characterize the behavior of agents and market outcomes in imperfect information environments, have been of considerable interest in a variety of economic contexts. In labor economics, such models have been used to portray the job search behavior of workers, wage determination, and to analyze labor market equilibrium. In empirical studies, they have been useful in the structural interpretation of labor market histories. There is also a vast literature in the context of consumer price search.1 Optimal sequential search strategies have also been studied in the context of research, development and exploration projects, innovation and choice of substitutable technologies, etc.2 In the search literature, two basic types of search models may be identified: random search and systematic search. Random search is typified by a scenario wherein an agent sequentially samples from the same offer distribution (offers can be prices, rewards, wages, or in general, opportunities, depending on the context), and the search decision is to decide, after obtaining a sample, whether to stop the search process or continue further search. In systematic search models, the agent faces a number of alternatives (sources, options, or projects), each with its own (possibly different) reward distribution, and thus, the agent in determining the search strategy has the choice of which alternative to explore at a point in time.3 A large body of search literature has been developed around the random search model. This assumption of random search, which has been routinely used with
Nerve Growth Factor Induces the Expression of Certain Cytokine Genes and bcl-2 in Mast Cells. Potential Role in Survival Promotion

Nerve growth factor (NGF) promotes mast cell survival in vitro (Horigome, K., Bullock, E. D., and Johnson, E. M., Jr. (1994) J. Biol. Chem. 269, 2695-2702). NGF survival promotion is cell density-dependent, and conditioned medium experiments have shown that NGF increases the production of an autocrine mast cell survival activity. Cytokines are potential candidates for autocrine survival factors. In rat peritoneal mast cells (RPMC), NGF caused an increase in the messenger RNAs for interleukin (IL)-3, IL-4, IL-10, tumor necrosis factor-α, and granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor. This induction was NGF dose-dependent, was blocked by NGF-neutralizing antibodies, and was not observed in the non-mast peritoneal cell population. The immunosuppressive agent, cyclosporin A, blocked both cytokine induction and NGF-activated survival promotion but not survival promotion activated by IL-3 or stem cell factor, suggesting that NGF enhanced RPMC survival by increasing cytokine production. We also examine the effects of NGF on the expression levels of some members of the bcl-2 family and the interleukin-1β-converting enzyme-like cysteine protease families. NGF markedly increased bcl-2 expression but had little or no effect on the other genes studied. The induction of bcl-2 mRNA by NGF was not blocked by cyclosporin A. These data suggest that induced cytokine gene expression but not increased expression of bcl-2 mediates NGF-survival promotion in RPMC.
Liquid Crystalline Materials for Biological Applications.

Liquid crystals have a long history of use as materials that respond to external stimuli (e.g., electrical and optical fields). More recently, a series of investigations have reported the design of liquid crystalline materials that undergo ordering transitions in response to a range of biological interactions, including interactions involving proteins, nucleic acids, viruses, bacteria, and mammalian cells. A central challenge underlying the design of liquid crystalline materials for such applications is the tailoring of the interface of the materials so as to couple targeted biological interactions to ordering transitions. This review describes progress toward the design of interfaces of liquid crystalline materials that are suitable for biological applications. Approaches addressed in this review include the use of lipid assemblies, polymeric membranes containing oligopeptides, cationic surfactant-DNA complexes, peptide-amphiphiles, interfacial protein assemblies, and multilayer polymeric films.
Acceptable compression ratios for CR images for PACS archives

We make a preliminary study with a ROC experiment to determine the acceptable levels of image compression that may be utilized for PACS archives. CR images of 1760 X 2140 pixel size and 10 bit depth are studied. The experiment uses wavelet algorithm for image compression and printed films for image viewing. The 'internal standard' experiment results in an acceptable value of compression ratio of 6 for imperceptible difference (da' equals 1) between the compressed and the uncompressed image. Such ratio would lead a storage reduction factor of 9.6 for these images. The information capacity of the CR images may be extrapolated to be 40 bits per millimeter of viewing area.© (1999) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
Postemergence growth of the ovarian follicles of Aedes aegypti

Growth of the ultimate follicle to the resting stage in Aedes aegypti is linear and reaches maximum development about 60 hr after emergence. Decapitations and ligations at various times after emergence indicate that growth of the follicles is under the control of factors from the head and thorax. Release of head factor occurs within one day after emergence and is relatively sudden. The thoracic factor is released gradually over a 2 to 3 day period. Near normal growth of follicles in isolated abdomens after topical application of juvenile hormone (JH) indicates that the thoracic factor is JH from the corpora allata and demonstrates the feasibility of using this system as a JH assay. When ecdysone was injected simultaneously with JH the follicles failed to grow.
Reply: Attenuated variants of Lesch–Nyhan disease: the case of King James VI/I

Sir, In the 13th century, Jacobus de Voragine described how God punished the murders of St Thomas. The perpetrators were inflicted with a terrible syndrome that included self-injurious behaviour, compulsive–aggressive acts, intellectual deficiency, gout and renal failure. This syndrome is so highly characteristic of Lesch–Nyhan disease that Beck speculated Jacobus must have had first-hand experience with a patient with the disease (Beck, 1991). Now P. Garrard et al. (2010) recall the medical disorder of King James VI/I. As a child, there was evidence of motor and speech delay with awkward coordination that persisted without worsening throughout adulthood. His condition has been compared to cerebral palsy, with prominent writhing …