cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Melanoma in Children and Adolescents

Abstract: Melanoma is a life-threatening and rare malignancy in childhood and adolescence. Because it is so uncommon, melanoma may not be recognized readily or considered seriously in a differential diagnosis, resulting in delays in definitive treatment. We review melanoma occurring in 13 patients under 20 years of age who presented to a single tertiary care children's hospital. Five patients had nonmetastatic primary cutaneous melanoma, with Breslow thickness measurement ranging from 0.84 to 7.8 mm. Three patients had metastatic primary cutaneous melanoma, three had metastatic melanoma arising in a congenital giant nevus, and two had primary leptomeningeal melanoma. All of the patients were given definitive surgical treatment; some received adjunctive radiation therapy and chemotherapy. Overall 5-year survival rate was 40.0% for all cutaneous melanomas, which included 100% for clinical stage I disease, and 0% for clinical stage II and III disease. Both patients with primary leptomeningeal melanoma died an average of 6 months following diagnosis. Nonmetastatic primary cutaneous melanoma is a survivable disease if detected early and treated by surgical excision; metastatic and leptomeningeal disease were uniformly fatal. Types of melanoma, risk factors for melanoma, and the role of the dermatologist in primary prevention and detection are discussed.
The geographic concentration of housing vouchers, Blacks, and poverty over time: a study of Cincinnati, Ohio, USA

Using data from the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) concerning Housing Choice Voucher (HCV, formerly called Section 8) recipients, the authors provide a spatial analysis in Cincinnati, Ohio, USA. ‘Hot spot’ analysis is utilized to detect areas with significant densities of voucher recipients compared with the surrounding environs. Results show that the implementation of Cincinnati's HCV program between 2000 and 2005 in conjunction with public housing transformation has not led to a greater dispersion of voucher recipients and either poverty or racial deconcentration. Many HCV households remain concentrated in hot spots. The implications for US low-income housing policy are discussed.
NOTES ON A BOAR HUNT (PFS 2323)

The seal applied to tablet NN 2458 from the Persepolis Fortification archive, PFS 2323, is a large seal that bears a striking image of a boar hunt, remarkable both for its design and exceptional execution. This article briefly examines the specifics of the scene on PFS 2323 and reviews the glyptic evidence for boar hunts in the Achaemenid period.
Photodarkening and photostructural effects in glassy As2Se3

Abstract A systematic study of one-phonon Raman, two-phonon infrared and 75 As nuclear quadrupole resonance measurements on bulk and thin film samples of As 2 Se 3 has separated the photodarkening and photostructural effects. Photodarkening occurs in all samples but photostructural effects are not observed in bulk or well annealed films of As 2 Se 3 .
Ovid, Martial, and Poetic Immortality: Traces of Amores 1.15 in the Epigrams

Martial was clearly well read in Ovid. His epigrams display various turns of phrase and metrical features reminiscent of his predecessor, whom he cites on a number of occasions as an important figure in Roman poetry, sometimes implying that Ovid is second only to Virgil or even the equivalent of the latter in light verse. Here I wish to consider the ways in which one of Ovid’s meditations on his own poetic activity, Amores 1.15, leaves various traces in Martial. Throughout, my goal is not so much to prove that Martial was consciously thinking of Amores 1.15 (or any other text for that matter) when he wrote a given epigram as it is to describe significant and interesting relationships between earlier and later texts—we will see that the epigrammatist’s use of this Ovidian text goes far beyond isolated linguistic
The influence of the atmosphere on geoid and potential coefficient determinations from gravity data

For the precise computation of geoid undulations the effect of the attraction of the atmosphere on the solution of the basic boundary value problem of gravimetric geodesy must be considered. This paper extends the theory of Moritz for deriving an atmospheric correction to the case when the undulations are computed by combining anomalies in a cap surrounding the computation point with information derived from potential coefficients. The correction term is a function of the cap size and the topography within the cap. It reaches a value of 3.0 m for a cap size of 30 deg, variations on the decimeter level being caused by variations in the topography. The effect of the atmospheric correction terms on potential coefficients is found to be small, reaching a maximum of 0.0055 millionths at n = 2, m = 2 when terrestrial gravity data are considered. The magnitude of this correction indicates that in future potential coefficient determination from gravity data the atmospheric correction should be made to such data.
Sustainability and present-day approaches to fisheries management — are the two concepts irreconcilable?

Sustainability may be defined as the maintenance of the quality, diversity and availability of fishery resources in sufficient quantities for present and future generations. But how do modern management systems aim to achieve this in the face of natural fluctuations and human-induced pressures? Using four case study fisheries (northern Atlantic cod and North Sea cod [both Gadus morhua], Pacific sablefish Anoplopoma fimbria, and South African West Coast lobster Jasus lalandii), we examine the components and considerations used in the development of management systems. Historically, these considerations have been biology-based, incorporating reference points appropriate for management goals or targets. Following some quite spectacular failures, however, inputs from disciplines such as socio-economics and ecosystem science are increasingly important drivers behind management decisions, but have the potential to increase management complexity greatly. We identify three areas of particular importance. Precauti...
Rebound hyperthermia follows ethanol-induced hypothermia in rats.

We have recently described a telemetry/micro-computer system to monitor core temperatures in rats. We implant a miniature transmitter (Mini-mitter) into the peritoneal cavity of the rat, allowing us to obtain temperatures around the clock without handling the animals or disturbing the light-dark cycle. In the present study we describe the temperature effects of ethanol doses ranging from 2 to 6 g/kg. Baseline temperatures were collected for 2 days before drug was administered. Subsequent computer analysis then allowed us to compare experimental results in each animal with its own baseline temperature to allow for individual and circadian temperature differences. In preliminary studies we observed the well-known dose-dependent hypothermic effect of ethanol. However, by observing animals continually over 4 days we also observed a period of rebound hyperthermia beginning at about the time of complete ethanol elimination and persisting for several days. During this period daytime temperatures remained at the normally high night-time level. This may be evidence of a mild abstinence syndrome, or alternatively, may be due to a disruption of the normal circadian temperature rhythm.
Structural characterization and topology of the second potential membrane anchor region in the thromboxane A2 synthase amino-terminal domain

Thromboxane A2 synthase (TXAS) has been proposed to have two membrane-bound regions located in the NH2-terminal domain [Ruan, K.-H., Wang, L.-H., Wu, K. K., and Kulmacz, R. J. (1993) J. Biol. Chem. 268, 19483−19489; Ruan, K.-H., Li, P., Kulmacz, J. R., and Wu, K. K. (1994) J. Biol. Chem. 269, 20938−20942]. To test this hypothesis, a solution structure in membrane mimetic environments of a synthetic peptide corresponding to the second region of the NH2-terminal domain (TXAS residues 33−60) has been investigated by circular dichroism (CD), 2D nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, and peptidoliposome reconstitution. CD spectroscopy indicated that the peptide adopted a structure with significant α-helical content in 30% trifluoroethanol (TFE) or in dodecylphosphocholine (DPC) micelles, which mimic hydrophobic membrane environment. Through a combination of 2D NMR experiments in the presence of TFE or DPC micelles, complete 1H NMR assignments of the peptide have been obtained and the structure of the p...
Is tilting behaviour at low swimming speeds unique to negatively buoyant fish? Observations on steelhead trout, Oncorhynchus mykiss, and bluegill, Lepomis macrochirus

When swimming at low speeds, steelhead trout and bluegill sunfish tilted the body at an angle to the mean swimming direction. Trout swam using continuous body/caudal fin undulation, with a positive (head-up) tilt angle (0, degrees) that decreased with swimming speed (u, cm s−1) according to: 0=(164±96).u(−1.14±0.41) (regression coefficients; mean±2s.e.). Bluegill swimming gaits were more diverse and negative (head down) tilt angles were usual. Tilt angle was −3·0 ± 0.9° in pectoral fin swimming at speeds of approximately 0.2–1.7 body length s−1 (Ls−1; 3–24 cm s−1), −4.5 ±2.6° during pectoral fin plus body/caudal fin swimming at 1·2–1·7 L s−1 (17–24cm s−1), and −5.0± 1.0° during continuous body/caudal fin swimming at 1.6 and 2.5 L s−1 (22 and 35cm s−1). At higher speeds, bluegill used burst-and-coast swimming for which the tilt angle was 0.1±0.6°. These observations suggest that tilting is a general phenomenon of low speed swimming at which stabilizers lose their effectiveness. Tilting is interpreted as an active compensatory mechanism associated with increased drag and concomitant increased propulsor velocities to provide better stabilizing forces. Increased drag associated with trimming also explains the well-known observation that the relationship between tail-beat frequency and swimming speed does not pass through the origin. Energy dissipated because of the drag increases at low swimming speeds is presumably smaller than that which would occur with unstable swimming.
Pressure study of quantum criticality in CeCoIn 5

We report resistivity measurements in the normal state of ${\mathrm{CeCoIn}}_{5}$ down to $40\phantom{\rule{0.3em}{0ex}}\mathrm{mK}$ and simultaneously in magnetic fields up to $9\phantom{\rule{0.3em}{0ex}}\mathrm{T}$ in the $[001]$ crystallographic direction and under pressures up to $1.3\phantom{\rule{0.3em}{0ex}}\mathrm{GPa}$. At ambient pressure the data are consistent with a field tuned quantum critical point coincident with the superconducting upper critical field ${H}_{c2}$, as observed previously. We find that with increasing pressure the quantum critical point moves inside the superconducting dome to lower fields. Thus, we can rule out that superconductivity is directly responsible for the non-Fermi-liquid behavior in ${\mathrm{CeCoIn}}_{5}$. Instead, the data point toward an antiferromagnetic quantum critical point scenario.
A modern guide for Mahāyāna Buddhist life-cycle rites: The Nepāl Jana Jīvan Kriyā Paddhati

This study examines the role of ritual in the Mahāyānā Buddhist community of Nepal and presents a translation of a modern ritual guidebook, «Nepāl Jana Jīvan Kriyā Paddhati», that outlines Vajrayāna Buddhist life-cycle rites
Deprotection reaction kinetics in chemically amplified photoresists determined by sub-millisecond post exposure bake

Chemically amplified photoresists require a post exposure bake (PEB) to induce deprotection using a UV generated acid-catalyst. While reaction pathways for deprotection have been proposed, key challenges remain in modeling the reaction kinetics. In this work, we used a scanning line-focused laser beam as an alternate PEB method, to quantify the deprotection reaction kinetics of an ESCAP-type and a 193 nm model resist system at high temperatures in millisecond time frames. Results were compared with conventional PEB at 115°C for seconds time frames. Results show that the deprotection kinetics follow simple first-order reaction models only under laser PEB conditions, with more complex kinetics observed under hot plate PEB. FT-IR and NMR spectroscopies were used to characterize the reaction byproducts. Results suggest potential differences in deprotection mechanisms between the two PEB temperature and time regimes. The deprotection behavior obtained using this l-PEB technique enables a deeper understanding of the reaction kinetics of photoresists, critical for current DUV and future EUV technologies.
Lagrangian stochastic dispersion model simulations of tracer data in nocturnal flows over complex terrain

Abstract A three-dimensional Lagrangian stochastic dispersion model (LSDM), which has been formulated to predict dispersion in three-dimensional nocturnal flows over complex terrain, is described. The model uses a Langevin equation in the lateral direction and a pure random-walk equation in the vertical direction. The performance of the model has been evaluated using the U.S. Department of Energy's ASCOT tracer databases collected during the 1984 field study in the Brush Creek valley in western Colorado, and the 1991 field study near the Rocky Flats Plant northwest of Denver. Both field experiments were performed in complex terrain regions where three-dimensional drainage flows were observed at night. The input wind fields and turbulence parameters required by the Lagrangian stochastic dispersion model are derived from meteorological data collected during the tracer experiments. The model-predicted concentrations are extensively compared with the corresponding observed concentrations. Several statistical measures calculated to quantitatively assess the performance of the model are presented. The agreement between the predicted and observed concentrations is satisfactory.
Editorial: Lipid Kinases and Bone Homeostasis: Lessons Learned From Phosphoinositide 3‐Kinase Isoform–Specific Knockouts

Bone homeostasis is maintained throughout life by coordinated osteocyte regulation of bone resorption by osteoclasts and bone formation by osteoblasts. Many pathologic bone states such as osteoporosis, inflammatory arthritis, and bone metastasis have increased numbers, survival, or function of osteoclasts resulting in enhanced bone resorption outpacing bone formation. Differentiation, survival, recruitment, and resorptive activity of osteoclasts and their precursors are highly regulated by intracellular signals stimulated by soluble mediators, extracellular matrix, and adjacent cells. In this issue of Arthritis & Rheumatology, Gyoőri and colleagues describe a specific role for the enzyme phosphoinositide 3-kinase β (PI3Kβ) in the regulation of osteoclast-mediated bone resorption (1), suggesting that a specific inhibitor of this enzyme isoform may be a novel antiresorptive agent.
The yeast gene MSC2, a member of the cation diffusion facilitator family, affects the cellular distribution of zinc.

The sequence of the yeast gene YDR205W places it within the family of cation diffusion facilitators: membrane proteins that transport transition metals. Deletion of YDR205W was reported to result in an increase in unequal sister chromatid recombination and was named meiotic sister chromatid recombination 2 (MSC2; Thompson, D. A., and Stahl, F. W. (1999)Genetics 153, 621–641). We report here that amsc2 strain shows a phenotype of decreased viability in glycerol-ethanol media at 37 °C. Associated with decreased growth is an abnormal morphology typified by an increase in size of both cells and vacuoles. Addition of extracellular Zn2+ completely suppresses the morphological changes and partially suppresses the growth defect. Regardless of the concentration of Zn2+ in the media, the msc2 strain had a higher Zn2+content than wild type cells. Zinquin staining also revealed thatmsc2 had a marked increase in fluorescence compared with the wild type, again reflecting an increase in intracellular Zn2+. The deletion strain accumulated excess Zn2+ in nuclei-enriched membrane fractions, and when grown at 37 °C in glycerol-ethanol media, it showed a decreased expression of Zn2+-regulated genes. The expression of genes regulated by either Fe2+ or Cu2+ was not affected. An epitope-tagged Msc2p was localized to the endoplasmic reticulum/nucleus. These results suggest that Msc2p affects the cellular distribution of zinc and, in particular, the zinc content of nuclei.
Properties of an erythrocyte membrane lipoprotein fraction

Abstract Membrane vesicles and fragments were prepared from ghosts of red blood cells by extracting the water soluble proteins (50 % of the total). On incubation in 8 M urea, about half of the remaining protein and of the lipid could be extracted. The remaining lipid (50 % of the total in the ghost) and protein (25 % of the total in the ghost) were present in small membrane fragments that could be sedimented by centrifugation at high speed. The protein of the pellet was solubilized by use of detergents. The major component (over 80% of the total) has a molecular weight of 95 000 determined by gel electrophoresis. It contains most of the protein bound hexose of the ghost and lesser amounts of other sugars. It is intensively labelled by application of non-penetrating protein reagents to the intact cell, and is presumably located, at least in part, on the outer face of the membrane. The lipids associated with the urea pellet were not essentially different from those of the original ghost. It is suggested that a small fraction of the lipid is hydrophobically bonded to the pellet protein and that the remainder is held by lipid-lipid interactions.
Notes on Metalib® Implementation at Texas A&M University

Abstract Between late 2004 and January 2006, Texas A&M University Libraries implemented Metalib®, Ex Libris'™ federated search software. This article outlines the implementation process, including selection criteria, implementation decisions, and staff and faculty training techniques. Special attention is paid to describing search configuration changes and user interface modifications. The implementers made many of their implementation choices based on usability training, which is briefly described. The article ends with a set of conclusions as to successes and failures in the project and a list of recommended features to look for in selecting a federated search system.
Lysophosphatidic acid inhibits anti-Fas-mediated apoptosis enhanced by actin depolymerization in epithelial ovarian cancer

Conflicting reports exist on the effect of actin depolymerization in anti-Fas-induced apoptosis. Lysophosphatidic acid (LPA) has been found to inhibit apoptosis in variable cell types. In this study, we evaluated LPA's protective effects on anti-Fas-induced apoptosis enhanced by actin depolymerization and possible mechanisms in epithelial ovarian cancer. OVCAR3 cells were pretreated with vehicle or LPA, then treated with Cytochalasin D (Cyto D), followed with anti-Fas mAb to induce apoptosis. Cells were stained with apoptotic markers and analyzed by flow cytometry. We report that LPA inhibited anti-Fas-induced apoptosis enhanced by actin depolymerization. Immunoprecipition of Fas death-inducing signaling complex (DISC) and Western blot suggested that the actin depolymerization accelerated caspase-8 activation, while LPA inhibited the association and activation of caspase-8 at the DISC. LPA inhibited caspase-3 and 7 activation induced by anti-Fas and/or Cyto D in cytosols. Phosphorylation of ERK and Bad112 by LPA may play a role in preventing caspase-3 activation through mitochondrial pathway induced by Cyto D. Our investigation found that LPA inhibited anti-Fas-induced apoptosis enhanced by actin depolymerization, and LPA may protect epithelial ovarian cancer from immune cell attack and cytoskeleton disrupting reagents induced apoptosis through multiple pathways.
The role of protein kinase C in reorganization of the cortical cytoskeleton during the transition from oocyte to fertilization-competent egg.

Fertilization-competent amphibian eggs (metaphase II) are programmed to undergo an actin-myosin based contraction of the cortical cytoplasm (i.e., cortical contraction) in response to an elevation of intracellular-free calcium which accompanies fertilization. This ability to undergo cortical contraction is acquired within a few hours after the meiotically-arrested oocyte is triggered to resume meiosis by exposure to progesterone. This report examines the timing of changes in the contractile potential of the cortical cytoplasm as the oocyte becomes the egg, and in addition, the signal transduction events which induce these changes. We use the bisected oocyte system developed by Christensen et al. ('84; Nature 310: 150-151) to assess the changes in cortical potential during the meiotic resumption. Immediately after progesterone treatment (less than 5% of the way through the meiotic resumption) the cortex acquires the ability to form a contractile ring, an ability which gradually disappears during the meiotic resumption. Eighty percent of the way through the meiotic resumption the cortex of the hemisphere rapidly acquires the ability to undergo cortical contraction. In contrast, when bisected in a medium containing protein kinase C (PKC) agonists, the cortex of the hemisphere undergoes cortical contraction much earlier (i.e., 50% through the meiotic resumption). In addition, treatment of oocytes with PKC agonists alone can mimic the complete spectrum of changes in cortical potential induced by progesterone, suggesting that PKC has a role in reorganization of the cortical cytoskeleton which occurs as a normal response to progesterone. In support of this, antagonists of PKC block the progesterone-induced reorganization of the cortical cytoskeleton. © 1992 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
Cell‐type dependent modulation of Notch signaling by the amyloid precursor protein

The amyloid precursor protein is a ubiquitously expressed transmembrane protein that has been long implicated in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease but its normal biological function has remained elusive despite extensive effort. We have previously reported the identification of Notch2 as an amyloid precursor protein interacting protein in E18 rat neurons. Here, we sought to reveal the physiologic consequences of this interaction. We report a functional relationship between amyloid precursor protein and Notch1, which does not affect Delta ligand binding. First, we observed interactions between the amyloid precursor protein and Notch in mouse embryonic stem cells lacking both presenilin 1 and presenilin 2, the active proteolytic components of the gamma-secretase complex, suggesting that these two transmembrane proteins can interact in the absence of presenilin. Next, we demonstrated that the amyloid precursor protein affects Notch signaling by using Notch-dependent luciferase assays in two cell lines, the human embryonic kidney 293 and the monkey kidney, COS7. We found that the amyloid precursor protein exerts opposing effects on Notch signaling in human embryonic kidney 293 vs. COS7 cells. Finally, we show that more Notch Intracellular Domain is found in the nucleus in the presence of exogenous amyloid precursor protein or its intracellular domain, suggesting the mechanism by which the amyloid precursor protein affects Notch signaling in certain cells. Our results provide evidence of potentially important communications between the amyloid precursor protein and Notch.
A Study in Merger: Formation of the International Mercantile Marine Company

Generalizations about the merger movement in America at the turn of the century have too open been predicated upon inadequate information about the motives and mechanisms involved and the results achieved. This has been particularly true of those combinations in which the firm of J. P. Morgan & Company was involved. The International Mercantile Marine Company merger of 1902 has hitherto been misrepresented as a promotion of Wall Street. The subsequent course of this venture shows how even a combination of the world's most astute bankers and shipping men could be misled in analysis and held powerless to affect their own destiny by the march of economic and political events. Not all the grand combinations of the early twentieth century yielded lush promotional profits; neither should the evidence of overcapitalization in such combinations always be accepted at face value.
Alternative approach to no integrability field theory

This is another paper in a series which illustrates that foregoing the rules of traditional calculus opens up a realm of possibilities. We study the ''aesthetic field theory'', although the techniques are more general. We introduce a new integration procedure which is consistent with aesthetic principles. There is a single change function associated with each point rather than many change quantities at a point (there is a change quantity associated with each path going through any point in our previous work). The integration procedure is consistent with the rules of traditional calculus when the integrability equations are satisfied. We find that the new procedure, when applied to the data associated with the loop lattice, leads to multiple maxima and minima on a plane. Another lattice solution (point lattice) does not show evidence of being bounded in certain domains of the region studied. In the summation-over-paths method all the paths from the origin point are needed to calculate the field. Knowledge of the field on one hypersurface is not sufficient to obtain the field on the succeeding hypersurface. In the present approach to no integrability, we can calculate the field on one hypersurface from knowledge of the field on the proceeding hypersurface (without requiring knowledge of the past history). Thus, the new approach enables us to obtain this desirable feature of a hyperbolic theory without requiring the field to be arbitrary on a hypersurface.
Malaria as a Reemerging Disease

Malaria is a clear example of a reemerging disease. The annual number of cases (incidence) fell sharply 30-35 years ago as the result of a malaria eradication campaign (1, 2). At that time, malaria was eliminated from Europe, most Asian regions of the USSR, the United States, and most of the Caribbean (3). However, it was not eradicated in Southeast Asia, South America, or Africa, and has reemerged in Sri Lanka, Madagascar, and elsewhere (3). Thus, the incidence of malaria today is greater than 40 years ago and is increasing because of antimalarial drug resistance (4, 5), insecticide resistance (6), and the effects of civil strife—dislocation of susceptible refugee populations from nonendemic areas to areas with malaria transmission (7, 8). The incidence of malaria complications (morbidity) and deaths (mortality) is likewise increasing because of drug resistance (9). These changes also reflect the failure thus far of alternative control strategies, such as vaccine development. The net result is that the increasing morbidity and mortality of malaria affect not only the health of the developing world, but also (prevent) its economic development. This review begins by examining the two major reasons that the malaria eradication campaign was unsuccessful, antimalarial drug resistance and insecticide resistance. It then examines alternative malaria control strategies such as the development of antimalarial agents effective against drug-resistant parasites, of bednets and curtains impregnated with pyrethroid insecticides, and of malaria vaccines, concluding with a discussion of
Impurity states in doped fullerenes: C59B and C59N

Abstract Using the Car—Parrinello method we have investigated theoretically the properties of the recently synthesized C59B and of the yet hypothetical C59N molecules. We show that doping induces important changes in both ionic and electronic properties of C60. The highest occupied molecular orbital is strongly localized and can act either as an electron acceptor state (C59B) or as a donor state (C59N). A parallel is drawn between this and the case of deep impurity states in semiconductors. Based on these results we speculate on potentially interesting properties of materials derived from these molecules.
Invited talk: Employing the smartphone (and the smart human) as the mobile sensor

Cellphones have been adopted faster than any other technology in human history. As of 2010, the number of cellphone subscribers exceeds 4.5 billion. Recently cellphones (more accurately smartphones) have attracted the attention of networking and ubiquitous computing research communities due to their potential for acting as sensor nodes for city-wide sensing applications. In this talk, I will describe two pieces of my work for employing the smartphone as the mobile sensor. The location information captured in the cellphone are in terms of low level data units, and it is difficult to use these logs for building high level context-based search and collaborative sensing applications. In this first piece of work, we studied the problem of discovering spatiotemporal mobility patterns and mobility profiles from cellphone based location logs. In order to capture the mobility behaviors of cellphone users at a level of abstraction suitable for reasoning and analysis, we introduced formal definitions for the concepts of mobility path (denoting a user's travel from one end-location to another), mobility pattern (denoting a popular travel for the user supported by his mobility paths), and mobility profile (providing a synopsis of a user's mobility behavior by integrating the frequent mobility patterns, contextual data, and time distribution data for the user). Our results from this Mobility Profiler project yield important lessons for employing the smartphone as a mobile sensor. From our experiments on the Reality Mining dataset, we find that users spend approximately 85% of their time in 3–5 favorite locations, such as home, work, shopping. The remaining 15% of user's time is spent in locations that each appear with less than 1% of total time. In the second work, we focused on the practical issues for deploying a crowdsourced sensing system. Despite the ubiquitous availability of the sensor and smartphone devices, the-state-of-the-art falls short of the ubiquitous computing vision. We argue that the reason for this gap is the lack of an infrastructure to task/utilize these devices for collaboration. We proposed that Twitter can provide an “open” publish-subscribe infrastructure for sensors and smartphones, and pave the way for crowdsourced sensing and collaboration applications. We designed and implemented a crowdsourced sensing system over Twitter, and deployed a crowdsourced weather radar and noise mapping application using our system. Our results from real-world Twitter experiments show promise for the feasibility of this approach.
An explicit inverse based fast direct volume integral equation solver for electromagnetic analysis

A fast direct solver that bypasses the need of a numerical inversion and factorization is developed to reduce the computational cost of a volume integral equation (VIE) based analysis of electromagnetic problems. The explicit inverse is achieved by analytically converting the inverse of the VIE system matrix to the sum of a few matrix-matrix multiplications. The matrix solution thus becomes a few matrix-vector multiplications, the computation of which is accelerated by the ℋ2-matrix based fast algorithms, achieving linear CPU cost and memory consumption across a range of electric sizes. The proposed method applies to inhomogeneous materials having a very large contrast ratio. Numerical results demonstrate its superior performance compared to conventional VIE solvers.
C-terminal Phenylalanine of Bacteriophage T7 Single-stranded DNA-binding Protein Is Essential for Strand Displacement Synthesis by T7 DNA Polymerase at a Nick in DNA

Single-stranded DNA-binding protein (gp2.5), encoded by gene 2.5 of bacteriophage T7, plays an essential role in DNA replication. Not only does it remove impediments of secondary structure in the DNA, it also modulates the activities of the other replication proteins. The acidic C-terminal tail of gp2.5, bearing a C-terminal phenylalanine, physically and functionally interacts with the helicase and DNA polymerase. Deletion of the phenylalanine or substitution with a nonaromatic amino acid gives rise to a dominant lethal phenotype, and the altered gp2.5 has reduced affinity for T7 DNA polymerase. Suppressors of the dominant lethal phenotype have led to the identification of mutations in gene 5 that encodes the T7 DNA polymerase. The altered residues in the polymerase are solvent-exposed and lie in regions that are adjacent to the bound DNA. gp2.5 lacking the C-terminal phenylalanine has a lower affinity for gp5-thioredoxin relative to the wild-type gp2.5, and this affinity is partially restored by the suppressor mutations in DNA polymerase. gp2.5 enables T7 DNA polymerase to catalyze strand displacement DNA synthesis at a nick in DNA. The resulting 5'-single-stranded DNA tail provides a loading site for T7 DNA helicase. gp2.5 lacking the C-terminal phenylalanine does not support this event with wild-type DNA polymerase but does to a limited extent with T7 DNA polymerase harboring the suppressor mutations.
Measurement and impact of comorbidity in older cancer patients

As the world population ages, oncologists are increasingly confronted with the problem of comorbidity in cancer patients. This has stemmed an increasing interest into approaching comorbidity in a systematic way, in order to integrate it in treatment decisions. So far, data on the subject have been widely scattered through the medical literature. This article is aimed at reviewing the available data on the interaction of comorbidity and prognosis. This overview should provide an accessible source of references for oncological investigators developing research in the field. Various methods have been used to sum comorbidity. However, a major effort remains to be done to analyze how various diseases combine in influencing prognosis. The main end-point explored so far is mortality, with which comorbidity globally is reliably correlated. A largely open challenge remains to correlate comorbidity with treatment tolerance, and functional and quality of life outcomes, as well as to integrate it in clinical decision-making.
Public Service Reform and Motivation: Evidence From an Employment At-Will Environment:

For nearly three decades, traditional public sector management practices have been challenged by proponents of the new public management (NPM). Public human resource management (PHRM) is frequently a target of such reform efforts given the crucial role it plays in the public management function. Traditional civil service systems, based on merit and neutral competence, have frequently been criticized for their intractability, inefficiency, and ineffectiveness. The recent trend of eliminating tenure for public employees through employment at-will (EAW) policies has received considerable attention as a mechanism for improving public sector efficiency. However, recent scholarship suggests that EAW policies have a number of obstacles to overcome. Using a 2005 survey of human resource professionals in the state of Georgia, this article assesses the impact of the EAW environment on public employee motivation. The analysis suggests that EAW policies have a significant negative impact on motivation in the workplac...
Probing chiral dynamics by charged-pion correlations

The environment generated in the mid-rapidity region of a high-energy nuclear collision endows the pionic degrees of freedom with a time-dependent effective mass. Its specific evolution provides a mechanism for the production of back-to-back charge-conjugate pairs of soft pions which may present an observable signal of the non-equilibrium dynamics of the chiral order parameter.
Incorporating prior information into association studies

Summary: Recent technological developments in measuring genetic variation have ushered in an era of genome-wide association studies which have discovered many genes involved in human disease. Current methods to perform association studies collect genetic information and compare the frequency of variants in individuals with and without the disease. Standard approaches do not take into account any information on whether or not a given variant is likely to have an effect on the disease. We propose a novel method for computing an association statistic which takes into account prior information. Our method improves both power and resolution by 8% and 27%, respectively, over traditional methods for performing association studies when applied to simulations using the HapMap data. Advantages of our method are that it is as simple to apply to association studies as standard methods, the results of the method are interpretable as the method reports p-values, and the method is optimal in its use of prior information in regards to statistical power. Availability: The method presented herein is available at http://masa.cs.ucla.edu Contact: eeskin@cs.ucla.edu
Identific ation of interface residues involved in protein-protein and protein-DNA interactions from sequence using machine learning approaches

The ability to identify protein-protein interaction sites and to detect specific amino acid residues that contribute to the specificity and affinity of protein interactions has important implications for problems ranging from rational drug design to analysis of metabolic and signal transduction networks. We have developed a two-stage method consisting of a Support Vector Machine (SVM) and a Bayesian classifier for predicting which surface residues of a protein participate in protein-protein interactions. This approach exploits the fact that interface residues tend to form clusters in the primary amino acid sequence. Our results show that the proposed two-stage classifier outperforms previously published sequence-based methods for predicting interface residues. We also present results obtained using the two-stage classifier on an independent test set of 7 CAPRI (Critical Assessment of PRedicted Interactions) targets. The success of the predictions is validated by examining the predictions in the context of the 3-dimensional structures of protein complexes.
Differential thermal lens spectrometry based on high-frequency modulation and rotoreflective double-beam configuration

A rotoreflected beam thermal lens spectrometer incorporating high-frequency modulation and the conventional double-beam concept is reported. The former enables a steady-state thermal lens to be generated, while the latter provides a means to produce a differential response that corrects for the reference absorbance automatically. The feasibility of this approach is demonstrated, and a method for improvement based on high-frequency polarization modulation is also proposed.
SELECTIVE NONOPERATIVE MANAGEMENT OF BLUNT GRADE 5 RENAL INJURY

Purpose: We determined the feasibility of a nonoperative approach to blunt grade 5 renal injury.Materials and Methods: We retrospectively reviewed the records of all patients with grade 5 renal injury who presented to our level 1 trauma center from 1993 to 1998. Those treated nonoperatively and surgically were assigned to groups 1 and 2, respectively. Each group was compared with respect to the initial emergency department evaluation, computerized tomography findings, associated injuries, duration of hospital stay and intensive care unit stay, transfusion requirements, complications and followup imaging.Results: Of 218 renal injuries evaluated 13 were grade 5. In group 1, 6 patients were treated nonoperatively and in group 2, 7 underwent exploration. Each group had similar average hospitalization (12.0 and 12.8 days, respectively). Patients in group 1 had fewer intensive care unit days (4.3 versus 9.0), significantly lower transfusion requirements (2.7 versus 25.2 units, p = 0.0124) and fewer complication...
Encopresis Responsive to Non-psychiatric Interventions With Remittance of Familial Psychopathology

A case report of an adolescent with primary encopresis is presented in which the patient responded to standard medical interventions despite apparent significant psychopathology in the child and family. Psychological symptoms proved to be secondary and resolved with successful medical treatment and with attending to other concerns, such as this patient's school problems. Behavioral and medical literature related to encopresis is reviewed. It indicates that encopresis is associated more consistently with physiological abnormalities of the bowel rather than definable psychological disorders.
Multiple paternity in wild-caught Drosophila mojavensis

Female remating frequency and sperm allocation patterns can strongly influence levels of sperm competition and reproductive success in natural populations. In the laboratory, Drosophila mojavensis males transfer very few sperm per copulation and females remate often, suggesting multiple paternity should be common in nature. Here, we examine female sperm loads, incidence of multiple paternity, and sperm utilization by genotyping progeny from 20 wild-caught females at four highly polymorphic microsatellite loci. Based on indirect paternity analyses of 814 flies, we found evidence for high levels of multiple paternity coupled with relatively low reproductive output, consistent with the high levels of female remating predicted in this sperm-limited species. Overall, we found little evidence for last - male sperm precedence though some temporal variation in sperm utilization was observed, consistent with laboratory findings.
Opportunistic packet Scheduling and Media Access control for wireless LANs and multi-hop ad hoc networks

In the wireless LANs or mobile ad hoc networks, a node with multi-packets in its queue waiting for delivery to several neighboring nodes may choose to schedule a candidate receiver with good channel condition for transmission. By choosing a receiver with good channel condition, the Head-of-Line (HOL) blocking problem can be alleviated and the overall system throughput can be increased. Motivated by this observation, we introduce the Opportunistic packet Scheduling and Media Access control (OSMA) protocol to exploit high quality channel condition under certain fairness constraints. We base our design on CSMA/CA so that it can be simply incorporated into the 802.11 standard. The key mechanisms of OSMA protocol are multicast RTS and priority-based CTS. In the OSMA protocol, RTS includes a list of candidate receivers. Among those who are qualified to receive data, the one with the highest order would be granted to catch the channel by replying CTS in the first place. The ordering list is updated dynamically according to certain scheduling policy such as Round Robin (RR) and Earlier timestamp First (ETF), and also other performance metrics, ex., fairness and timeliness, can be enhanced. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first paper to exploit the multiuser diversity in the CSMA/CA based wireless networks. We evaluate the OSMA using ns-2 and our simulation results show that this protocol can improve the network throughput significantly.
Incorporating phylogenetic-based covarying mutations into RNAalifold for RNA consensus structure prediction

RNAalifold, a popular computational method for RNA consensus structure prediction, incorporates covarying mutations into a thermodynamic model to fold the aligned RNA sequences. When quantifying covariance, it evaluates conserved signals of two aligned columns with base-pairing rules. This scoring scheme performs better than some other approaches, such as mutual information. However it ignores the phylogenetic history of the aligned sequences, which is an important criterion to evaluate the level of sequence covariance. In this article, in order to improve the accuracy of consensus structure folding, we propose a novel approach named PhyloRNAalifold. It incorporates the number of covarying mutations on the phylogenetic tree of the aligned sequences into the covariance scoring of RNAalifold. The benchmarking results show that the new scoring scheme of PhyloRNAalifold can improve the consensus structure detection of RNAalifold. Incorporating additional phylogenetic information of aligned sequences into the covariance scoring of RNAalifold can improve its performance of consensus structures folding. This improvement is correlated with alignment characteristics, such as pair-wise identity and the number of sequences in the alignment.
Using air-ground data link and operator-provided planning data to improve ATM decision support system performance

Decision support systems (DSS) are being developed for many air traffic management (ATM) applications. Examples include conflict detection, conflict resolution, evaluation of user reroute requests, and flow management. The usefulness of these systems, and hence their capability to provide benefits to airspace users, is strongly dependent on their ability to accurately predict aircraft trajectories. Although current prototypes achieve adequate trajectory prediction accuracy using available information, deficiencies in the available information set limit achievable prediction accuracy. Improved prediction accuracy may enable development of more advanced ATM DSS, providing greater benefit to airspace users. This paper describes a study evaluating the use of two possible additional data sources to improve trajectory prediction: air-ground data link of aircraft speed and wind information, and additional flight planning information received from aircraft operators. Incorporation of air-ground data link reports into a prototype DSS was found to significantly improve trajectory prediction accuracy and stability. Work is underway on evaluating the prediction accuracy benefits of additional flight planning information.