cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Intracellular diadenosine polyphosphates : A novel family of inhibitory ligands of the ATP-sensitive K+ channel

Abstract Intracellular diadenosine polyphosphates (Ap n A) are signal molecules that alert the cell under stress conditions. Herein, we review evidence that has recently identified a novel target for Ap n A, namely the ATP-sensitive K + (K ATP ) channel. These channels are abundant in pancreatic (β-cells and cardiac myocytes where they are essential in coupling the cellular metabolic state with membrane excitability. The potency and efficacy of Ap n A to inhibit K ATP channel activity were first described in cardiac K ATP channels, and appear similar to those of intracellular ATP, the primary ligand of K ATP channels. Also, the inhibitory ligand action of Ap n A is dependent upon the operative condition of K ATP channels and the presence of nucleotide diphosphates. In addition to a direct antagonism of channel opening, an indirect effect of Ap n A on K ATP channel activity nas been associated with inhibition of adenylate kinase, a catalytic system believed essential for the regulation of channel opening. At present, the precise role for Ap n A-induced K ATP channel inhibition remains to be established. Yet, it is known that, under glucose challenge of pancreatic β-cells, intracellular concentrations of Ap n A do increase to micromolar levels necessary to block K ATP channels, leading to insulin secretion. Thus, the Ap n A-mediated K ATP channel gating represents a previously unrecognized pathway of channel regulation.
Development of de Novo Copper Nitrite Reductases: Where We Are and Where We Need To Go

The development of redox-active metalloprotein catalysts is a challenging objective of de novo protein design. Within this Perspective we detail our efforts to create a redox-active Cu nitrite reductase (NiR) by incorporating Cu into the hydrophobic interior of well-defined three-stranded coiled coils (3SCCs). The scaffold contains three histidine residues that provide a layer of three nitrogen donors that mimic the type 2 catalytic site of NiR. We have found that this strategy successfully produces an active and stable CuNiR model that functions for over 1000 turnovers. Spectroscopic evidence indicates that the Cu(I) site has a lower coordination number in comparison to the enzyme, whereas the Cu(II) geometry may more faithfully reproduce the NiR type 2 center. Mutations at the helical interface successfully produce a hydrogen bond between an interfacial Glu residue and the Cu-ligating His residue, which allows for the tuning of the redox potential over a 100 mV range. We successfully created constructs ...
Estimating actual evapotranspiration from stony-soils in montane ecosystems

Abstract Quantification of evapotranspiration (ET) is crucial for understanding the water balance and for efficient water resources planning. Agricultural settings have received most attention regarding ET measurements while less knowledge is available for actual ET (ETA) in natural ecosystems, many of which have soils containing significant amounts of stones. This study is focused on modelling ETA from stony soil, particularly in montane ecosystems where we estimate the contribution of stone content on water retention properties in soil. We employed a numerical model (HYDRUS-1D) to simulate ETA in natural settings in northern Utah and southern Idaho during the 2015 and 2016 growing seasons based on meteorological and soil moisture measurements at a range of depths. We simulated ETA under three different scenarios, considering soil with (i) no stones, (ii) highly porous stones, and (iii) negligibly porous stones. The simulation results showed significant overestimation of ETA when neglecting stones in comparison to ETA measured by eddy covariance. ETA estimates with negligibly porous stones were lower for all cases due to the decrease in soil water storage compared with estimates made considering highly porous stones. Assumptions of highly porous or negligibly porous stones led to reductions in simulated ETA of between 10% and 30%, respectively, compared with no stones. These results reveal the important role played by soil stones, which can impact the water balance by altering available soil moisture and thus ETA in montane ecosystems.
Differences in visitor characteristics and experiences on episodic free admission days

To increase access, most U.S. museums provide free admission opportunities, either through episodic free days or other means. Although studies document the effects of museums transitioning from pai...
Framing and counter-framing a Peace March in Russia: the use of Twitter during a hybrid war

Framing is vital to the capacity of social movements to enlist popular support and sustain contentious collective action. Using the case of a Peace March held in Moscow on 21 September 2014, the ar...
SUIS: Simplify the use of geospatial web services in environmental modelling

Abstract Today environmental scientists heavily rely on geospatial web services (GWS). However, many online facilities are under-utilized by the environmental modelling community because accessing the disparate service interfaces requires highly specialized technical expertise. This paper proposes a Simple Universal Interface for Services (SUIS) framework which is a client framework for accessing heterogeneous services via a single unified interface to simplify service access. The supported services including Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC), Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) and Representational State Transfer (REST) services. SUIS relieves modellers from having to learn the details of service technologies such as protocols, bindings, and schemas. SUIS4j, a Java implementation of the SUIS framework, is developed and tested to combine multiple operational GWS to demonstrate geoprocessing workflows in agricultural drought monitoring and coastal ocean modelling. The results confirm the expected benefits. SUIS is demonstrated to support simplified use of geospatial cyberinfrastructure for ad-hoc environmental model integration.
Smart EMG-based Socks for Leg Muscles Contraction Assessment

Surface electromyography (sEMG) increasingly plays an important role for prevention, diagnosis and rehabilitation in healthcare field. In this context, the continuous monitoring of the electrical potentials produced by muscles appears to be effective to detect abnormal events in a fast way. The recent progresses in EMG technologies have allowed for the development of low invasive and reliable EMG-based wearable device. These devices promote long-term monitoring, however they are often very expensive and not easy to be positioned appropriately. Moreover they use mono-use pre-gelled electrodes that can cause skin redness. To overcome the issues, a prototype of a new smart sock has been realized. It detects EMG signals coming from the Gastrocnemius-Tibialis muscles of the leg. Such muscles appear relevant for assessment of age-related changes in gait, sarcopenia pathology, postural anomalies, fall risk, etc. The developed socks are minimally invasive, lightweight and can send the data through a Bluetooth low energy connection. Moreover, they are equipped with reusable stretchable and non adhesive hybrid polymer electrolytes-based electrodes for high biocompatibility. In the paper it has been described, as a case study, the use of the socks to detect the risk of falling.
A Combinatorial Algorithm for Large-Scale Power System Islanding

Intentional Controlled Islanding (ICI) is an online measure employed to prevent cascaded system outage after a disturbance in the power system. By switching off select lines, the system operator can create smaller, easier to control islands. An algorithm for ICI should be fast to implement in real time, as well as capable of integrating islanding requirements such as coherency of the generators in an island and minimum disruption of the power balance caused by the switching of lines. In this work, we approximate the solution to a common ICI formulation by employing a combinatorial approximation scheme of the normalized cut. This approach is easily implementable and numerically robust, exhibits high computational efficiency and allows for a natural integration of islanding requirements (such as generator minimum load and inflexible lines) into the problem solution. Experimental results on systems with up to 3000 buses verify the effectiveness of our approach.
AAV-CRISPR Gene Editing Is Negated by Pre-existing Immunity to Cas9

Adeno-associated viral (AAV) vectors are a leading candidate for the delivery of CRISPR-Cas9 for therapeutic genome editing in vivo. However, AAV-based delivery involves persistent expression of the Cas9 nuclease, a bacterial protein. Recent studies indicate a high prevalence of neutralizing antibodies and T cells specific to the commonly used Cas9 orthologs from Streptococcus pyogenes (SpCas9) and Staphylococcus aureus (SaCas9) in humans. We tested in a mouse model whether pre-existing immunity to SaCas9 would pose a barrier to liver genome editing with AAV packaging CRISPR-Cas9. Although efficient genome editing occurred in mouse liver with pre-existing SaCas9 immunity, this was accompanied by an increased proportion of CD8+ T cells in the liver. This cytotoxic T cell response was characterized by hepatocyte apoptosis, loss of recombinant AAV genomes, and complete elimination of genome-edited cells, and was followed by compensatory liver regeneration. Our results raise important efficacy and safety concerns for CRISPR-Cas9-based in vivo genome editing in the liver.
The Globular Cluster Systems of the Early-type Galaxies NGC3379, NGC4406, and NGC4594 and Implications for Galaxy Formation

We have investigated the global properties of the globular cluster (GC) systems of three early-type galaxies: the Virgo elliptical NGC4406, the field elliptical NGC3379, and the field S0 galaxy NGC4594. These galaxies were observed as part of a wide-field CCD survey of the GC populations of a sample of normal galaxies beyond the Local Group. Images obtained with the Mosaic detector on the Kitt Peak 4-m provide radial coverage to at least 24', or 70-100 kpc. We use BVR photometry and image classification to select GC candidates and thereby reduce contamination from non-GCs, and HST data to help quantify the contamination that remains. The GC systems of all three galaxies have color distributions with at least two peaks and show modest negative color gradients. The proportions of blue GCs range from 60-70% of the total populations. The GC specific frequency (S_N) of NGC4406 is 3.5+/-0.5, 20% lower than past estimates and nearly identical to S_N for the other Virgo cluster elliptical included in our survey, NGC4472. S_N for NGC3379 and NGC4594 are 1.2+/-0.3 and 2.1+/-0.3, respectively; these are similar to past values but the errors have been reduced by a factor of 2-3. We compare our results to models for the formation of massive galaxies and their GC systems. Of the scenarios we consider, a hierarchical merging picture -- in which metal-poor GCs form at high redshift in protogalactic building blocks and metal-rich GC populations are built up during subsequent gas-rich mergers -- appears most consistent with the data. [abridged]
Sports Diplomacy: Origins, Theory and Practice: by Stuart Murray (London: Routledge, 2019), 262 pages

This is an ambitious book in its breadth, interpretation, and intent. An associate professor at Australia’s Bond University and a Fellow at Edinburgh University’s Academy of Sport, Stuart Murray is...
Observations of Lyman-alpha Absorption in a Triple Quasar System

We have obtained follow-up observations of the quasar pair LBQS 0107-025A,B and new observations of the nearby quasar LBQS 0107-0232 with the Hubble Space Telescope Faint Object Spectrograph. Extended wavelength coverage of LBQS 0107-025A and B using the G270H grating was also obtained. This triple system is unique in providing sensitivity to coherent Ly-alpha absorption on transverse scales of approximately 1 Mpc at z < 1. Monte Carlo simulations were used to establish the confidence level for matches between absorption features in different lines of sight as a function of velocity separation. Pairwise, there are 8, 9, and 12 lines that match between spectra. Three instances of matches between all three lines of sight were found with velocity separations of less than 550 kms^-1. Two of the pairings have coincident lines within |Delta v| < 200 kms^-1 that would occur with less than 10% probability by chance. Taking into account the equivalent widths of the lines, one of these triple coincidences is significant at the 99.99% confidence level, based on Monte Carlo simulations with random line placements. Matches with strong lines preferentially have small velocity separations. These same simulations are used to demonstrate that the distribution of matches for a population of absorbers randomly distributed in velocity space is peaked toward |Delta v| = 0, which has implications for the statistical significance of matches. One of the triple coincidences appears to be a strong absorber with a sheet-like, but inhomogeneous, geometry and a coherence length approaching or exceeding 1 Mpc.
Supply and Demand Trends of World Gold Reserves

Gold is a deliberate metal whose monetary history has been important across the globe. In this case, the gold-exchange system served as a means of limiting inflation and providing currency stability. India and China have emerged as huge and crucial markets, and as a result, the global market for gold has undergone a fundamental and profound change. This paper provides insight into the growth and demand and supply of gold worldwide. The study's main objectives are: 1. To discover how much official gold World government possesses 2. An endeavour to understand the demand and supply of gold by studying the global market 3. The aim of this study is to explore the evolution of Indian jewellery production. 4. To study the growth and behaviour of global gold reserves and the growth and behaviour of global gold demand and supply. This is an empirical study. Co-efficient of variation, percentage method, linear trend, and compound growth rate are statistical tools that are used. Secondary data collected from books, newspapers, journals, the internet, and recordings is all considered secondary. Because it was found that the two trend coefficients were statistically significant at the 5% level, it has been assumed that the trend in the two components is upward. The annual growth rate of the world gold reserves, global demand, and global supply of gold is 6.83% and 8.42%, respectively. Growth in global demand and supply of gold was found to be greater than in the world's gold reserves. In terms of the compound growth rates, world gold reserves are increasing at 0.84% per year, while global demand and supply of gold are both increasing at 8.91% per year. It is important to concentrate on the question of whether gold is a significant asset in India in terms of ongoing research.
Medical Encounters: Knowledge and Identity in Early American Literatures

The conquest and colonization of the Americas resulted in all kinds of exchanges, including the transmission of diseases and the sharing of medicines to treat them. In this book, Kelly Wisecup examines how European settlers, Native Americans, and New World Africans communicated medical knowledge in early America, and how the colonists represented what they learned in their literatures. Against the prevailing view that colonial texts provide insight only into their writers' perspectives, Wisecup demonstrates that Europeans, Natives, and Africans held certain medical ideas in common, including a conception of disease as both a spiritual and a physical entity, and a belief in the power of special rituals or prayers to restore health. As a consequence, medical knowledge and practices operated as a shared form of communication on which everyone drew in order to adapt to a world of devastating new maladies and unfamiliar cures. By signaling one's relation to supernatural forces, to the natural world, and to other people, medicine became an effective means of communicating a variety of messages about power and identity as well as bodies and minds. Native Americans in Virginia and New England, for example, responded to the nearly simultaneous arrival of mysterious epidemics and peoples by incorporating colonists into explanations of disease, while British American colonists emphasized to their audiences back home the value of medical knowledge drawn from cross-cultural encounters in the New World.
Youth Aggression and Violence: A Psychological Approach

Contents: Preface. Introduction. Overview of Aggression. Abnormal Manifestations of Youthful Aggression. The Child's Contribution: Genetic, Biological, and Temperamental Factors. Family Factors. Television and Media Violence. Social and Cultural Factors. Psychological Processes in Hyperaggressive Youths. Aggressive Youths and Their Peers. Youthful Homicide. School Aggression. Intervention and Prevention. Summary and Questions.
Anatomy of the Lacrimal System

A thorough understanding of lacrimal system anatomy is essential for the successful management of the tearing patient. In this section, the embryology, osteology, nasal and paranasal sinus anatomy, and secretory and excretory components of the lacrimal system are described in detail with clinical and surgical correlates.
Mixed-signal gradient flow bearing estimation

A mixed-signal architecture for estimating the 3-D direction cosines of a broadband traveling wave impinging on an array of four sensors is presented. The architecture implements gradient flow, which converts the problem of resolving time delays between sensor observations into the problem of estimating relative amplitudes of spatial and temporal derivatives over the array. Direction cosines of the source are obtained through least-squares adaptation on the derivative signals. Least-squares adaptive cancellation of common-mode leakthrough and correlated double sampling in finite-difference derivative estimation reduce common-mode offsets and 1/f noise for increased differential sensitivity. Experimental results from an integrated circuit for acoustic localization demonstrate decimation of time delays with 5 /spl mu/s resolution at 2 kHz sampling rate.
Rhizobins, a group of peptides in the free-amino-Acid pool of the soybean-Rhizobium system.

Abstract Free-living Rhizobium (according to Bergey's Manual of Systematic Bacteriology, [1984, The Williams & Wilkins Co., Baltimore], Bradyrhizobium) japonicum was found to release a peptide into the nutrient media. Soybean nodules contained this peptide and exuded it into the soil. The name “rhizobin A” is suggested for this peptide. Nodules also contained another peptide, rhizobin B, as well as an unidentified, ninhydrin-positive compound, rhizobin C. The three peptides were confined to the free-amino-acid pool of the soluble fraction and eluted consecutively from a cation-exchange column. Rhizobin A was isolated in a highly purified form; its molecular mass was approximately 1,600 daltons as determined by Sephadex gel filtration and mass spectrometry. The amino-acid composition could be determined only approximately, because a long time was necessary for acid hydrolysis, possibly due to unusual linkages. The rhizobin concentration in soybean nodules continually increased during 50 days of growth, from 2 to approximately 400 μg/g (fresh weight). When combined nitrogen was added to nodulated soybean and subsequently removed, nitrogenase activity, nodulation, and nodule growth first decreased and then recovered. The relative amount of rhizobin A followed a similar pattern. Rhizobins were not detected in the roots, stems, and leaves of nodulated soybean plants. They were present in Lupinus nodules, but absent in alder nodules.
Divisibility Relations Satisfied by the Invariant Factors of A Matrix Product

I wish to thank Israel Gohberg for the pleasure that I have found studying some of the beautiful books he has coauthored.
Divided we fall: resolving occlusions using causal reasoning

An image of a scene with occlusions can yield only partial knowledge about disconnected fragments of the scene. If this were the only knowledge available, programs attempting to interpret the scene would have to conclude that the scene fragments would collapse in a jumble. But they won't. We describe a program that exploits commonsense knowledge of naive physics to make sense of scenes with occlusion. Our causal analysis focuses on the static stability of structures: what supports what. Occluded connections in a link-and-junction scene are inferred by determining the stability of each subassembly in the scene, and connecting parts when they are unstable. The causal explanation that is generated reflects a deeper understanding of the scene than mere model matching; it allows the seeing agent to predict what will happen next in the scene, and determine how to interact with it.
Functional expression of 8-hydroxy-5-deazaflavin-dependent DNA photolyase from Anacystis nidulans in Streptomyces coelicolor.

The gene encoding Anacystis nidulans 5-deazaflavin-dependent photolyase (phr) was inserted into the Streptomyces vector pIJ385 to form a transcriptional fusion with the neomycin resistance (aph) gene. The resulting plasmid, pANPL, was introduced into Streptomyces coelicolor, a host which exhibits no detectable photolyase activity and provides 5-deazaflavins. Transformants expressed functional photolyase and could be cultured at much higher cell densities than A. nidulans. A two-step affinity protocol was used to purify photolyase to homogeneity. High-pressure liquid chromatographic analysis established the presence of 5-deazaflavin cofactors in the enzyme, showing that this expression system allows heterologous production of 5-deazaflavin-class photolyases. Images
On the Design of a Multigigabit IP Router

The emergence of gigabit speed networks hinges upon the existence of high performance internetworking units, such as IP routers. In this paper, we present an architecture and we discuss the implementation of a multigigabit IP router. For this implementation, two special purpose VLSI chips are required; the rest can be built using off-the-shelf components. IP header processing of received packets is handled by a specialized chip. Memory management, another well-known performance bottleneck, is simplified and efficiently implemented using special VLSI support. Searching for the next hop address in the routing table, which is the major contributor to the delay in traditional IP protocol implementations, is significantly reduced by using a special configuration of Content Addressable Memories (CAMs).
Situating Race in College Students’ Search for Purpose and Meaning: Who am I?

AbstractPeople in the U.S. live in a racialized society whereby life experiences, economic opportunities, social relationships, and psychological rewards hinge upon a racial hierarchy that benefits Whites and often disadvantages other races. Studs Terkel once referred to race as “An American Obsession.” Therefore, it is near impossible to nurture the development of good citizens without helping them to situate the role race plays in their lives. Notably, the development of racial identity for many racial minorities is central, whereas for White students it may be peripheral. Yet, the recurring social problems that revolve around race on campuses, in our nation, and abroad touch the lives of most students during college. This article is based on the assumption that intentionally facilitating the racial identity development process for all students needs to be an essential practice for faculty, higher education administrators, and student affairs practitioners. It describes the process qualities and skills ...
Urban Run-Off and Ocean Water Quality in Southern California: What Tools Does the Clean Water Act Provide?

This paper explores the tools available in the Clean Water Act and, to a lesser extent, the Coastal Zone Management Act, to protect ocean water quality from the pollutants in urban run-off, using southern California beaches as an example. It argues that the new effect of the CZMA is to convert much urban run-off from nonpoint to point source pollution, subjecting that run-off to the Clean Water Act's stormwater permitting provisions. Once covered by the Clean Water Act's NPDES permit provisions, moreover, urban run-off to coastal waters must also meet state water quality standards, and the discharge is subject to total maximum daily load (TMDL) requirements. In southern California, the evolution of urban run-off management to protect ocean water quality has recently culminated in the bacteria TMDL for Los Angeles area beaches.
Lowbush blueberries, Vaccinium angustifolium, modulate the functional potential of nutrient utilization and DNA maintenance mechanisms in the rat proximal colon microbiota

Background : The core gut microbiota encodes for a metabolic capacity that often surpasses the metabolic potential of its host. Lowbush wild blueberries (LWB) are a rich source of bioactive compounds, and the gut microbiota is an important modulator of their activity. The objective of this research is to study the effect of a diet enriched with LWB on the gastrointestinal microbiota’s metabolic potential. Methods : Nine three-week-old male Sprague Dawley rats were randomly assigned to two groups. The control group (N=4) was placed on the AIN93 diet, and the treatment group (N=5) was fed the same diet with 8% (w/w) LWB powder substituting for dextrose. The animals consumed the diets for six weeks, after which they were sacrificed. Functional profiles and metabolic potential of the colon microbiota in response to diet were analyzed using deep whole genome sequencing (WGS). Results : Proteins predicted from WGS DNA sequences were assigned to 3,746 COG, 5,577 KEGG, and 4,474 Pfam families. Statistical comparisons of the protein-coding genes revealed significant changes in 25 Gene Ontology (GO), 186 KEGG, and 20 Pfam protein families representing 2.1%, 3.3%, and 0.02% of all hits identified, respectively. Overall, the combined inquires into these databases represented an emphasis on membrane trafficking, DNA regulation, modification and repair, and nutrient metabolism. Protein families that significantly increased by the enrichment of LWBs were involved with amino acid metabolism, 2,4-dienoyl-CoA reductase, metal ion binding, glutamate synthase, REDOX homeostasis, and aryl transferases. In contrast, protein families involved with integrase/recombinase, reverse transcriptase, and transposon/transposase were at a lower abundance. Conclusions : The results from this study reflect the potential impact that LWBs have on the functional repertoire of bacterial communities in the proximal colon. The results demonstrate a higher potential for the metabolism of amino acids and a lower potential for horizontal integration of plasmids and lower phage/transposon activity in the LWB diet, suggesting that the genome at the time of sampling was more stable. This study helps unravel diverse mechanisms of microbial adaptation to LWBs in the diet of mammals and can provide guidance in optimizing functional diets.
A survey of control system validation practices in the food industry

Abstract Over the last decade, there has been a significant increase in use of digital control systems in the food manufacturing industry. The additional tasks with which digital controllers are burdened make their function much more complex than the electro-pneumatic-mechanical systems they replace. Potential control system failures can affect operator and process safety. Proper control system validation measures can prevent such potentially tragic failures. To our knowledge, there does not exist any published information regarding the validation practices within the food manufacturing industry. A nationwide scientific survey of US food manufacturers was conducted to determine such information. This survey also included system integrators and equipment suppliers that sell goods and services to the US food manufacturers. It has been determined that the majority of food manufacturers delegate the responsibility for control system validation to a third-party, such as equipment supplier, system integrator or a consulting firm, with little understanding of the validation process and its importance. Only a few food manufacturing companies utilize validation resources available from equipment suppliers and system integrators. Equipment suppliers and system integrators should combine their efforts to provide the food industry with formal and comprehensive training and maintenance programs for the equipment as well as the system that controls it.
Neuropsychological Consequences of Cancer and Cancer Treatment

Abstract Purpose: This review paper was written to facilitate greater understanding of functional cognitive deficits associated with cancer and cancer treatment. Rehabilitation of patients with can...
Boundary-layer effect on railgun muzzle voltage

Measured values of railgun muzzle voltage exceed those predicted from simple armature models by several tens of volts. This excess voltage is called the contact potential and may represent a substantial fraction of the power dissipated in the armature. A simple two-dimensional model for the conductivity and velocity boundary layers has been used to calculate the electric field in the region near the rail surfaces. Calculations were performed for parameters characteristic of the University of Tennessee Space Institute (UTSI) 1-cm square-bore railgun. These calculations showed that the electric field decreased across the boundary-layer thickness and predicted contact potentials from 12.5 to 88.7 V, depending on the choice of boundary-layer parameters. >
Investigation of retrogressive reactions leading to the carbonization of solvent-refined coal

Abstract The carbonization of solvent-refined coal (SRC) samples produced by the liquefaction of an HVc bituminous coal has been studied. Carbonization conditions were 450 °C, 34.4 MPa, for 1 and 5 h hold times. The original SRCs and pyridine-insoluble fractions of the carbonization products have been characterized by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy. Spectral changes demonstrate that the formation of larger molecules during carbonization involve the joining together of aromatic molecules that were originally present, without increasing their size significantly. This is accomplished by the elimination of methylene units and condensation of phenolic functional groups originally present on the aromatic groups in the SRCs.
Detecting Changes in a Poisson Process Monitored at Unequal Discrete Time Intervals

We look at a Poisson process where the arrival rate changes at some unknown time point. We monitor this process only at certain time points. At each time point, we count the number of arrivals that happened in that time interval. In previous work, it was assumed that the time intervals were equal. Since work schedules may prevent employees to monitor the process in the evenings or on weekends, we relax this assumption to allow for monitoring at unequal time intervals. For a loss function consisting of the cost of late detection and a penalty for early stopping, we develop, using dynamic programming, the one and two steps look ahead Bayesian stopping rules. We then compare various observation schemes to determine the best model. We provide some numerical results to illustrate the effectiveness of the detection procedures.
Effects of superimposed hydrostatic pressure on the fracture properties of particulate reinforced metal matrix composites

Etude des effets d'une compression hydrostatique et de la microstructure sur le comportement a la deformation et a la rupture d'un alliage d'aluminium renforce par des particules de carbure de silicium (15% en volume), soumis a un essai de traction. Analyse par microscopie electronique a balayage des surfaces de rupture
Student teaching and the law, by Perry A. Zirkel and Zorka Karanhxa, New York, Association of Teacher Educators, Rowman and Littlefield Education, 2009, xii + 109 pp., US$55.00, ISBN 978-1-60709-510-1

Perhaps the most important book I have read this year was not written for me. However, as a mentor and adviser to students preparing to be teachers I will be introducing this book to its intended a...
A primer of substitution tilings of the Euclidean plane

Abstract This paper is intended to provide an introduction to the theory of substitution tilings. For our purposes, tiling substitution rules are divided into two broad classes: geometric and combinatorial. Geometric substitution tilings include self-similar tilings such as the well-known Penrose tilings; for this class there is a substantial body of research in the literature. Combinatorial substitutions are just beginning to be examined, and some of what we present here is new. We give numerous examples, mention selected major results, discuss connections between the two classes of substitutions, include current research perspectives and questions, and provide an extensive bibliography. Although the author attempts to represent the field as a whole, the paper is not an exhaustive survey, and she apologizes for any important omissions.
Higher Than the Bottom Line: Reflections on Some Recent Macromarketing Literature:

This essay reviews some recent (macro)marketing literature on the subject of where we are and where we are going in our discipline as we approach the year 2000. It addresses some perplexing questions concerning the fate of contemporary consumers at the hands of the businesses that claim to serve them and raises some worrisome issues regarding the potential death of marketing. Somewhere between the extremes of McDonaldization and mass customization, the review locates a small but fertile postmodern terrain in need of cultivation. Herein, it seeks answers among those who train their eyes not so much on the prize as on the stars—in other words, among those who look higher than the bottom line.
Results on nucleon structure functions in quantum chromodynamics

Gluon bremsstrahlung processes inside the nucleon are investigated using the standard renormalization-group analysis. A new method of inverting the moments is applied which leads to analytic results for the parton distributions near $x=1$ and $x=0$. The nucleon is considered as a bound state of three quarks subsequently "renormalized" by gluon bremsstrahlung and quark-antiquark pair production. An "unrenormalized" valence quark distribution peaked at $x=\frac{1}{3}$, with a width related to the nucleon radius, leads to good agreement with deep-inelastic data. However, the gluon distribution obtained seems too steep near $x=0$.
Nickel-doped nanocrystalline glass-ceramic fiber

The spectroscopic properties of Ni(2+)- doped nanocrystalline glass-ceramic fibers are reported. The cerammed fibers show strong fluorescence with peak wavelength at 1250 nm, 3-dB bandwidth at ~250nm, measured lifetimes at >1ms, and low-fluorescence saturation powers (~35mW) for 980-nm diode pumping. Current diode-pumped output powers are ~100microW .
Understanding the mechanism of direct electrochemistry of mitochondria-modified electrodes from yeast, potato and bovine sources at carbon paper electrodes

Abstract Although mitochondria have been used for bio-electrochemistry for over 5 years, little is known about their direct electrochemistry mechanism. This paper focuses on developing a better understanding of the electron transfer mechanism of mitochondria from three different organisms at carbon electrodes. Yeast, potato and bovine mitochondria have been successfully isolated and immobilized onto Toray paper electrodes via vapor deposited silica. Organelle-modified electrodes were first characterized using cyclic voltammetry. Similar electrochemical signals were obtained for all organisms. Direct electron transfer was observed when a metabolite of the Krebs cycle was present in the buffer solution. Control experiments based on the immobilization of two electron carriers contained in mitochondria, cytochrome c and a quinone (coenzyme Q 10 ), tend to show the electron transfer mechanism to the carbon material comes from the quinone pool of the organelles. As quinones are known to be pH-dependent, we further investigated the response of the electrochemical signal of the three isolated mitochondria and the two electron carriers separately. The half wave potentials obtained from the organelles appeared to be pH-dependent and their variations are comparable to coenzyme Q 10 rather than cytochrome c. Finally, extraction of both the cytochrome c and the quinone pool from intact mitochondria was performed to validate our hypothesis that direct electrochemistry of mitochondria happens via the quinone pool. Electrochemistry of immobilized quinone-depleted mitochondria validated the hypothesis that the mitochondria are communicating with the electrodes through the quinone pool.
Experimental Indication of a Naphthalene-Base Molecular Aggregate for the Carrier of the 2175 Å Interstellar Extinction Feature

Experiments where the simple polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) naphthalene (C10H8) is subjected to the energetic environment of a plasma have resulted in the synthesis of a molecular aggregate that has ultraviolet spectral characteristics that suggest it provides insight into the nature of the carrier of the 2175 angstroms interstellar extinction feature and may be a laboratory analog. Ultraviolet, visible, infrared, and mass spectroscopy, along with gas chromatography, indicate that it is a molecular aggregate in which an aromatic double ring ("naphthalene") structural base serves as the electron "box" chromophore that gives rise to the envelope of the 2175 angstroms feature. This chromophore can also provide the peak of the feature or function as a mantle in concert with another peak provider such as graphite. The molecular base/chromophore manifests itself both as a structural component of an alkyl-aromatic polymer and as a substructure of hydrogenated PAH species. Its spectral and molecular characteristics are consistent with what is generally expected for a complex molecular aggregate that has a role as an interstellar constituent.
A flow cytometric technique to accurately measure post-filtration white blood cell counts

Leukocyte-depleted blood products are being used with increasing frequency in hopes of preventing or delaying platelet alloimmunization. However, accurately monitoring the efficiency of leukocyte (WBC) removal is a difficult problem because electronic cell counters are not accurate at very low WBC numbers and hemocytometer counts are tedious and time consuming. A simple flow cytometric technique was developed which accurately and rapidly measures extremely low WBC counts. Using a propidium iodide solution which causes DNA to fluoresce, the residual WBC count was measured in 42 units of blood products after leukocyte depletion using a commercial filter. There was a significant correlation with simultaneous hemocytometer counts, r = 0.672, but residual WBC could be identified in every unit using the flow cytometer, whereas in 19% of the units no WBC were seen using the hemocytometer. Extremely low counts, as low as a single WBC/4 microliters could be reproducibly obtained. In addition, serial dilution studies yielded a correlation coefficient of 0.997. Because most clinical laboratories now have access to flow cytometers, this technique can be widely used.
The Determination of Fatty Acid Primary Amides by Capillary Gas Chromatography

A method has been developed for the determination of 12 primary amides of long-chain fatty acids by capillary column gas chromatography. The method uses no derivatization or sample preparation other than extraction of the sample. A variety of commercial amidecontaining materials have been analyzed successfully. The amides, along with other soluble materials, are first separated from the host using refluxing 2-propanol containing an internal standard. The fatty acid amides are then identified and measured by gas chromatography over a programmed temperature range of 200 to 260 C. The chromatograms obtained show sharp peaks, unique retention times and acceptable reproducibility for quantitation.Cis- trans isomers of several of the fatty acid amides were tested and found to be resolved under the conditions employed.
Compound class modeling of hydropyrolysis

Abstract The primary objective of this work is to extend the utility of compound class modeling for complex kinetic systems. Compound class modeling involves lumping the many species of a complex mixture into classes based on chemical structure and has been applied to many types of reacting systems. Each compound class represents many species, and previous compound class models have not satisfactorily addressed the problem that the chemical characteristics of the classes can change as the reactions progress. This limitation has prevented the full exploitation of compound class models. In this work we extend compound class modeling by following not only the concentration of each class but also the average carbon number and variance of the carbon number distribution for each compound class. The thermal hydropyrolysis of reacting hydrocarbon mixtures will be used as an example of a complex reaction network involving many components. For thermal hydropyrolysis, 10 compound classes were proposed and rate parameters derived from model compound studies were used to estimate the rates of interconversion among compound classes. The compound class model is in qualitative agreement with experimental observations reported in this work and with results available in the literature.
States and Their Struggles With NCLB: Does the Obama Blueprint Get It Right?

This article analyzes challenges states identify in implementing No Child Left Behind (NCLB) with the Obama administration's proposals for Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) reauthorization. Drawing upon information from six states, this study shows that the Obama administration Blueprint for Reauthorization of ESEA responds to a number of state concerns with NCLB but fails to acknowledge the sheer magnitude of the challenges states face. The Blueprint addresses the overall concern for greater flexibility in timing, focus, and remedies that states express. Furthermore, the Blueprint acknowledges but does not fully address the importance of teacher and leader quality and the distributional challenges. The Blueprint falls short, however, in addressing the need for a more robust body of knowledge regarding effective intervention, the pragmatic obstacles to redistribution of high-quality teachers and leaders, and the political and fiscal challenges that states combat in intensifying and funding the...
Host Autophagy Combating S. aureus: α-Toxin Will Be Tolerated

Autophagy regulates the degradation of both cellular components and invading intracellular pathogens. In this issue of Cell Host & Microbe, Maurer et al. (2015) reveal that cellular autophagy decreases host sensitivity to Staphylococcus aureus α-toxin via reduced expression of the toxin receptor ADAM10, thus rendering the host tolerant to disease.
Complementary Variational Approximations for Intermittency and Reaction Dynamics in Fluctuating Environments

We develop variational approximations to the survival probability for chemical reactions that are coupled to a Markovian stochastic environment. These approximations provide upper and lower bounds ...
Fast recovery of free energy landscapes via diffusion-map-directed molecular dynamics

The reaction pathways characterizing macromolecular systems of biological interest are associated with high free energy barriers. Resorting to the standard all-atom molecular dynamics (MD) to explore such critical regions may be inappropriate as the time needed to observe the relevant transitions can be remarkably long. In this paper, we present a new method called Extended Diffusion-Map-directed Molecular Dynamics (extended DM-d-MD) used to enhance the sampling of MD trajectories in such a way as to rapidly cover all important regions of the free energy landscape including deep metastable states and critical transition paths. Moreover, extended DM-d-MD was combined with a reweighting scheme enabling to save on-the-fly information about the Boltzmann distribution. Our algorithm was successfully applied to two systems, alanine dipeptide and alanine-12. Due to the enhanced sampling, the Boltzmann distribution is recovered much faster than in plain MD simulations. For alanine dipeptide, we report a speedup of one order of magnitude with respect to plain MD simulations. For alanine-12, our algorithm allows us to highlight all important unfolded basins in several days of computation when one single misfolded event is barely observable within the same amount of computational time by plain MD simulations. Our method is reaction coordinate free, shows little dependence on the a priori knowledge of the system, and can be implemented in such a way that the biased steps are not computationally expensive with respect to MD simulations thus making our approach well adapted for larger complex systems from which little information is known.
Effects of aqueous polymeric surfactants on silicone-hydrogel soft- contact-lens wettability and bacterial adhesion of Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

Abstract Prevention of Pseudomonas aeruginosa binding to soft-contact lenses (SCLs) may curtail sight-threatening microbial keratitis. Substrate surface wettability is known to modulate adhesion of P. aeruginosa . This study investigates the use of aqueous alkoxylate block co-polymer surfactants for enhanced wettability and antibacterial adhesion of SCLs under leaching conditions. Specifically, Pluronic ® F127 (PF) and three ethylene oxide-butylene oxide (EOBO) surfactants were studied with four commercially available silicone–hydrogel contact lenses: Pure Vision™, Acuvue Advance™, Acuvue Oasys™ and O 2 Optix™. Dilute aqueous PF and EOBO surfactants impregnated all four soft-contact lenses, as demonstrated by surface-tension decline for leached surfactant. For PF surfactant, significant surface-wettability improvement upon rinsing occurred only after overnight leaching. EOBO surfactant showed a similar pattern with O 2 Optix™ lenses. EOBO-pretreated Pure Vision™ lenses, however, showed fast leaching and a significant change in surface energy towards improved wettability. Adhesion assays of P. aeruginosa displayed a small decrease in the binding rate of PAK bacteria for EOBO-pretreated Pure Vision™ lenses, but not for EOBO-pretreated O 2 Optix™ lenses. P. aeruginosa strain-PAO1 bacteria adhesion to all lenses was independent of surface wettability. Despite the ability of polymeric surfactants to lower advancing contact angles under leaching conditions, increased lens wettability is not a universal panacea for antifouling of soft-contact lenses.