cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
An experimental investigation of an unsteady adverse pressure gradient turbulent boundary layer: embedded shear layer scaling

An experimental investigation of an unsteady adverse pressure gradient turbulent boundary layer is described. It is demonstrated that the local flow physics is largely dominated by an inflectional instability which gives rise to an embedded shear layer contained within the boundary layer. Experimental measurements are presented which are fully consistent with the presence of clockwise spanwise-oriented coherent vorticity within the embedded shear layer. Using embedded shear layer scaling parameters in the form of the shear layer vorticity thickness and the velocity defect at the upper inflection point, both the mean and the phase-averaged boundary layer velocity profiles exhibit similarity in both space and time over a large wall-normal extent. In a similar manner, the profiles of the streamwise-component turbulence intensity and Reynolds stress also exhibit similarity when scaled with the embedded shear layer parameters. The embedded shear layer scaling of previously published adverse pressure gradient turbulent boundary layer measurements confirms its generic applicability in a wide range of flow-field geometries and extending to high Reynolds numbers.
Policy Inconsistencies and the Political Economy of Currency Crises

Formal models of currency crises have shown that inconsistencies between countries' domestic and exchange rate policies are a major cause of currency crises. To understand why such prolonged inconsistencies exist, we need to go beyond standard economic models and take political economy and behavioral considerations into account. We sketch out ways in which such considerations can be taken into account and highlight recent research that is useful for this project. We also offer some directions for future research and a brief guide to the empirical identification of currency crises and to the measurements of some of the relevant political and economic policy variables.
On cardinalities and compact closures

We show that there exists a Hausdorff topology on the set R of real numbers such that a subset A of R has compact closure if and only if A is countable. More generally, given any set X and any infinite set S , we prove that there exists a Hausdorff topology on X such that a subset A of X has compact closure if and only if the cardinality of A is less than or equal to that of S . When we attempt to replace “than than or equal to” in the preceding statement with “strictly less than,” the situation is more delicate; we show that the theorem extends to this case when S has regular cardinality but can fail when it does not. This counterexample shows that not every bornology is a bornology of compact closure. These results lie in the intersection of analysis, general topology, and set theory.
Stem Cell Lineage Infidelity Drives Wound Repair and Cancer

Tissue stem cells contribute to tissue regeneration and wound repair through cellular programs that can be hijacked by cancer cells. Here, we investigate such a phenomenon in skin, where during homeostasis, stem cells of the epidermis and hair follicle fuel their respective tissues. We find that breakdown of stem cell lineage confinement-granting privileges associated with both fates-is not only hallmark but also functional in cancer development. We show that lineage plasticity is critical in wound repair, where it operates transiently to redirect fates. Investigating mechanism, we discover that irrespective of cellular origin, lineage infidelity occurs in wounding when stress-responsive enhancers become activated and override homeostatic enhancers that govern lineage specificity. In cancer, stress-responsive transcription factor levels rise, causing lineage commanders to reach excess. When lineage and stress factors collaborate, they activate oncogenic enhancers that distinguish cancers from wounds.
Piton: A Manycore Processor for Multitenant Clouds

The shared cloud-based computing paradigm has experienced enormous growth. Multitenant clouds are conventionally built atop datacenters that utilize commodity hardware connected hierarchically with standard network protocols. Piton is a 25-core manycore processor that takes a different perspective, rethinking the architecture of datacenters and specializing processor architecture for Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) clouds. The tile-based manycore processor is designed not only as a single chip, but as a large-scale system. Up to 8,192 chips (204,800 cores) can be seamlessly connected in a flat topology, maintaining a packet-switched network fabric both on and off chip. Shared memory is supported across arbitrary cores in the system, both intrachip and interchip, enabling flexibility and fine-grained resource allocation in shared systems. Piton also targets energy efficiency, critical to datacenters, using a modified multithreaded OpenSPARC T1 core enhanced with an energy-efficient drafting mode. To further facilitate sharing and increase utility for IaaS users and providers, a novel memory traffic shaper partitions bandwidth among cores or applications. Piton reimagines the datacenter architecture, breaking down barriers between chips, nodes, and racks, and enables flexibility, performance, and energy efficiency at scale. Piton has also been open sourced as a research platform called OpenPiton to enable practical full-system manycore research.
Sharing Extraordinary Experiences Fosters Feelings of Closeness.

Every social relationship begins somewhere. Yet, little is known about which initial encounters bring people closer. This article investigates whether feelings of closeness are shaped by the type of experience shared between two individuals. Using different procedures and stimuli, we find that one determining factor is whether unacquainted individuals initially share a relatively more ordinary or extraordinary experience: more extraordinary (vs. ordinary) experiences facilitate greater closeness between unacquainted individuals (Studies 1a-1c). We also find that this closeness-fostering effect does not occur for interactions between well-acquainted individuals (Study 2), when there is presumably little discomfort associated with the interaction. Furthermore, this effect appears to be driven by more extraordinary experiences’ capacity to absorb individuals’ attention (Study 3). Thus, we suggest that extraordinary experiences foster feelings of closeness because they direct unacquainted individuals’ attenti...
Fractional Integrals of Stationary Processes and the Central Limit Theorem

A class of limit theorems involving asymptotic normality is derived for stationary processes whose spectral density has a singular behavior near frequency zero. Generally these processes have ’long-range dependence’ but are generated from strongly mixing processes by a fractional integral or derivative transformation. Some related remarks are made about random solutions of the Burgers equation.
Effect of A1C and Glucose on Postoperative Mortality in Noncardiac and Cardiac Surgeries.

OBJECTIVE Hemoglobin A 1c (A1C) is used in assessment of patients for elective surgeries because hyperglycemia increases risk of adverse events. However, the interplay of A1C, glucose, and surgical outcomes remains unclarified, with often only two of these three factors considered simultaneously. We assessed the association of preoperative A1C with perioperative glucose control and their relationship with 30-day mortality. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS Retrospective analysis on 431,480 surgeries within the Duke University Health System determined the association of preoperative A1C with perioperative glucose (averaged over the first 3 postoperative days) and 30-day mortality among 6,684 noncardiac and 6,393 cardiac surgeries with A1C and glucose measurements. A generalized additive model was used, enabling nonlinear relationships. RESULTS A1C and glucose were strongly associated. Glucose and mortality were positively associated for noncardiac cases: 1.0% mortality at mean glucose of 100 mg/dL and 1.6% at mean glucose of 200 mg/dL. For cardiac procedures, there was a striking U-shaped relationship between glucose and mortality, ranging from 4.5% at 100 mg/dL to a nadir of 1.5% at 140 mg/dL and rising again to 6.9% at 200 mg/dL. A1C and 30-day mortality were not associated when controlling for glucose in noncardiac or cardiac procedures. CONCLUSIONS Although A1C is positively associated with perioperative glucose, it is not associated with increased 30-day mortality after controlling for glucose. Perioperative glucose predicts 30-day mortality, linearly in noncardiac and nonlinearly in cardiac procedures. This confirms that perioperative glucose control is related to surgical outcomes but that A1C, reflecting antecedent glycemia, is a less useful predictor.
Regulation of Locomotor activity in fed, fasted, and food-restricted mice lacking tissue-type plasminogen activator

Circadian rhythms of physiology and behavior are driven by a circadian clock located in the suprachiasmatic nucleus of the hypothalamus. This clock is synchronized to environmental day/night cycles by photic input, which is dependent on the presence of mature brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) in the SCN. Mature BDNF is produced by the enzyme plasmin, which is converted from plasminogen by the enzyme tissue-type plasminogen activator (tPA). In this study, we evaluate circadian function in mice lacking functional tPA. tPA−/− mice have normal circadian periods, but show decreased nocturnal wheel-running activity. This difference is eliminated or reversed on the second day of a 48-h fast. Similarly, when placed on daily cycles of restricted food availability the genotypic difference in total wheel-running activity disappears, and tPA−/− mice show equivalent amounts of food anticipatory activity to wild type mice. These data suggest that tPA regulates nocturnal wheel-running activity, and that tPA differentially affects SCN-driven nocturnal activity rhythms and activity driven by fasting or temporal food restriction.
High-accuracy Decoding of Complex Visual Scenes from Neuronal Calcium Responses

The brain contains billions of neurons defined by diverse cytoarchitectural, anatomical, genetic, and functional properties. Sensory encoding and decoding are popular research areas in the fields of neuroscience, neuroprosthetics and artificial intelligence but the contribution of neuronal diversity to these processes is not well understood. Deciphering this contribution necessitates development of sophisticated neurotechnologies that can monitor brain physiology and behavior via simultaneous assessment of individual genetically-defined neurons during the presentation of discrete sensory cues and behavioral contexts. Neural networks are a powerful technique for formulating hierarchical representations of data using layers of nonlinear transformations. Here we leverage the availability of an unprecedented collection of neuronal activity data, derived from ~25,000 individual genetically-defined neurons of the parcellated mouse visual cortex during the presentation of 118 unique and complex naturalistic scenes, to demonstrate that neural networks can be used to decode discrete visual scenes from neuronal calcium responses with high (~96%) accuracy. Our findings highlight the novel use of neural networks for sensory decoding using neuronal calcium imaging data and reveal a neuroanatomical map of visual decoding strength traversing brain regions, cortical layers, neuron types, and time. Our findings also demonstrate the utility of feature selection in assigning contributions of neuronal diversity to visual decoding accuracy and the low requirement of network architecture complexity for high accuracy decoding in this experimental context.
Chapter 1 – A Practical Guide to the Preparation of Ca2+ Buffers

Calcium (Ca2+) is a critical regulator of an immense array of biological processes, and the intracellular [Ca2+] that regulates these processes is ~ 10,000 lower than the extracellular [Ca2+]. To study and understand these myriad Ca2+-dependent functions requires control and measurement of [Ca2+] in the nano- to micromolar range (where contaminating Ca2+ is a significant problem). As with pH, it is often essential to use Ca2+ buffers to control free [Ca2+] at the desired biologically relevant concentrations. Fortunately, there are numerous available Ca2+ buffers with different affinities that make this practical. However, there are numerous caveats with respect to making these solutions appropriately with known Ca2+ buffers. These include pH dependence, selectivity for Ca2+ (e.g., vs. Mg2+), ionic strength and temperature dependence, and complex multiple equilibria that occur in physiologically relevant solutions. Here we discuss some basic principles of Ca2+ buffering with respect to some of these caveats and provide practical tools (including freely downloadable computer programs) to help in the making and calibration of Ca2+-buffered solutions for a wide array of biological applications.
Community-Level Use of Risk Analysis: A Case Study

The first few months of implementation of the risk analysis component of SARA Title HI by Durham County, North Carolina, are described. Members of a subcommittee of the Local Emergency Planning Committee (LEPC) investigated the sources of potential release of extremely hazardous substances in the county, projected zones of vulnerability using specialized software, and identified segments of the community having the highest priority for emergency planning. Without the expert technical assistance that was volunteered or donated, the members of the Subcommittee could not have fulfilled their mission of using risk analysis to support the planning requirements of the law. The process of analysis itself may be credited with reduction of potential risk in the community.
Racism in medicine: planning for the future.

African Americans and other minority populations have not benefited to the same degree as the majority of Americans from the advances in health care in our country. The vestiges of racism have resulted in inequities which exist in training, medical practice, medical decision making, the work environment and biomedical research. Recommendations are made to eliminate racial and ethnic bias in healthcare through monitoring and increasing the number and the distribution of medical trainees proportionate to the diversity of the U.S. population; through improvements in the medical school curriculum to include the impact of race and ethnicity on healthcare outcomes as well as the effect of physicians' attitudes on health; through the inclusion of an adequate number, mix and distribution of health care professionals relative to the diversity of the participants in health plans with due process for patients and physicians; and through increased participation in peer review research funding, training and as subjects in biomedical research directed to improve the quality of healthcare for diverse populations.
Role of calcium in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease and transgenic models.

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder of the elderly that is characterized by memory loss. Neuropathologically, the AD brain is marked by an increased Aβ burden, hyperphosphorylated tau aggregates, synaptic loss, and inflammatory responses. Disturbances in calcium homeostasis are also one of the earliest molecular changes that occur in AD patients, alongside alterations in calcium-dependent enzymes in the post-mortem brain. The sum of these studies suggests that calcium dyshomeostasis is an integral part of the pathology, either influencing Aβ production, mediating its effects or both. Increasing evidence from in vitro studies demonstrates that the Aβ peptide could modulate a number of ion channels increasing calcium influx, including voltage-gated calcium and potassium channels, the NMDA receptor, the nicotinic receptor, as well as forming its own calcium-conducting pores. In vivo evidence has shown that Aβ impairs both LTP and cognition, whereas all of these ion channels cluster at the synapse and underlie synaptic transmission and hence cognition. Here we consider the evidence that Aβ causes cognitive deficits through altering calcium homeostasis at the synapse, thus impairing synaptic transmission and LTP. Furthermore, this disruption appears to occur without overt or extensive neuronal loss, as it is observed in transgenic mouse models of AD, but may contribute to the synaptic loss, which is an early event that correlates best with cognitive decline
Epitypic-Idiotypic Dominance as An Evolutionary Answer to the Intercellular Communication Problem

Immunodominance is a ubiquitous occurrence in the immune system, the extensiveness of which has been insufficiently appreciated. Dominance is expressed at the level of recognition of antigenic and MHC determinants, at the level of competition between cells, and at the level of the organism. A partial listing of specific cases in which dominance plays a part is listed in Table 1. In the discussion to follow, I would like to consider dominance as an example of convergent evolution based upon the need for the intercellular regulatory machinery to be based on unambiguous signs rather than assuming it is the automatic consequence of natural selection, acting on diverse populations of lymphocytes.
Little evidence for late-onset ADHD in a longitudinal sample of women.

Objective Individuals with late-onset symptoms of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are presenting to providers at increasing rates. Recent birth-cohort studies reveal evidence for late-onset ADHD, but conclusions are challenged by measurement methods as well as presence of participant impairment and psychiatric comorbidities. We examined the occurrence of late-onset ADHD in a small but thoroughly investigated group of diverse (47% white) women followed from childhood to adulthood. Method From a larger, 16-year longitudinal study, a subsample of young women without childhood ADHD (N = 87) was assessed at four time points between childhood and adulthood via a multimethod, multiinformant approach. We used a stepped diagnostic procedure to identify those who initially met symptom criteria for ADHD after childhood and then evaluated them for remaining DSM ADHD diagnostic criteria, including impairment, cross-situational symptoms, and comorbid diagnoses. Results Of 87 participants, 17 met ADHD symptom criteria after childhood. Fifteen showed no evidence of childhood onset, 10 showed clear evidence of impairment, and nine had cross-situational symptoms. Of these nine, all but one showed clinically significant co-occurring or preexisting psychiatric diagnoses and/or substance use that might account for ADHD symptoms. Conclusions Although 19.5% of women from our subsample without childhood ADHD met symptom criteria for ADHD during adolescence/adulthood, only one showed the needed combination of impairment and cross-situational symptoms without significant co-occurring mental health problems. It is possible that uncomplicated cases of adult ADHD do arise, yet we find little supporting evidence herein. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).
Dinámicas de dominación y sumisión en Perra brava de Orfa Alarcón

Este articulo analiza la relacion de sumision y dominacion consensual entre Fernanda y el narcotraficante Julio, en la novela Perra Brava (2010) de la autora mexicana Orfa Alarcon. El marco teorico se basa en los estudios de Andrea Beckmann, Staci Newmahr y Margot Weiss sobre el BDSM consensual, asi como en la dialectica del senor y el esclavo de Friedrich Nietzsche. El articulo examina como la relacion entre Fernanda y Julio cambia cuando Julio modifica su actitud hacia Fernanda. Se propone que cuando Julio reconoce que Fernanda posee valores eticos similares a los suyo, el comienza a tratarla como su igual, es decir, como un superior. Debido a esto, la posicion de inferior absoluto que Fernanda tenia se transforma. Sin embargo, aun cuando los papeles de los dos personajes se modifican, nunca se invierten. Su relacion representa deseos y afectos complejos, asi como historias personales que reflejan y critican dinamicas de genero y poder en el mundo del trafico de drogas en Mexico.
A Psychometric Evaluation of the Revised Childhood Anxiety Sensitivity Index (CASI-R) in a Child and Adolescent Sample

The multifactorial nature of anxiety sensitivity (AS) in children has been assessed almost solely with the Childhood Anxiety Sensitivity Index (CASI; Silverman et al. Journal of Clinical Child Psychology, 20(2), 162–168, 1991); however, multiple studies have suggested that the item content of the CASI is too limited to adequately assess multiple AS factors in youth. Here we examined the psychometric properties of the Revised Childhood Anxiety Sensitivity Index (CASI-R; Muris Behaviour Research and Therapy, 40, 299–311, 2002), developed to assess a higher-order global AS factor and four lower-order factors. In a non-clinical sample of youth aged 8–14 we (a) examined the psychometric properties of the CASI-R, comparing findings for children aged 11 and younger with those aged 12 and older, (b) evaluated and compared the internal consistency of the four-factor CASI-R and the three- and four-factor CASI, and (c) examined and compared the convergent validity of the CASI and CASI-R subscales with child-reported anxiety symptoms. Reliability estimates for the CASI-R total, Cardiovascular, and Respiratory scales were high for all youth; the Cognitive Dyscontrol and Publicly Observable Reactions scales yielded low estimates of internal consistency for the younger group. Compared to the parallel CASI scales, these CASI-R scales demonstrated stronger internal consistency in both the older and younger groups. Comparatively larger correlations between the CASI-R physical and cognitive scales with symptoms of panic and between the CASI-R social scale and symptoms of social anxiety were observed. These findings suggest continued use and examination of the CASI-R in child and adolescent non-clinical and clinical samples to comprehensively assess the AS construct in youth.
Determination of Lead and Cadmium in Grain by Graphite Furnace Atomic Absorption Spectrometry

[Objective]To establish the method of determining lead and cadmium in grain by graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry,and observe the effect of simplified digestion on results.[Methods]A total of 0.50 g sample,added with 6.5 ml HNO3 was digested on eclectic cooker,constant volume at 25 ml.The matrix interference was eliminated by adding ammonium dihydrogen phosphate as matrix modifier in graphite oven automatic sampler.[Results]The characteristic mass of lead and cadmium was 10.7 pg and 1.37 pg,respectively,the detection limit was 10 μg/kg and 1.0 μg/kg,respectively.Recovery and precision were 95.9%～105.1% and 1.7%～ 3.4%,respectively.The method passed the blind sample examination of national proficiency-testing program,the analyzed results of reference material matched the result of certificate.[Conclusion]With simplified digestion process,the method can also determine lead and cadmium in grain correctly.
Resilience factors, race/ethnicity and sleep disturbance among diverse older females with hypertension.

Abstract Background This study examined the relationships between resilience and sleep disturbance in a diverse sample of older women with a history of hypertension and whether this relationship is moderated by individuals’ race/ethnicity. Methods Sample includes 700 females from a community-based study in Brooklyn, New York with a mean age of 60.7 years (SD=6.52). Of the participants, 28.1% were born in the U.S.; 71% were African-descent, 17.4% were European and 11.6% were Hispanics descents. Data were gathered on demographics and sleep disturbance using the Comprehensive Assessment and Referral Evaluation (CARE) and the Stress Index Scale (SIS). Resilience Factors were assessed with both the Index of Self-Regulation of Emotion (ISE) and religious health beliefs. Chi-Square, Anova, Student t-tests, and multilinear regression analysis were conducted to explore associations between resilience factors and sleep disturbance. Associations between resilience factors and sleep disturbance were examined using stratified multilinear regression analysis in three models by race/ethnicity. Regression models was conducted examining the interaction between resilience factors and stress Results Resilience factor, ISE emerged as the strongest independent predictor of sleep disturbance [B(SE) = −0.368(0.008); p Conclusions Results of our study suggest that resilience factors might be a more important protective factor for sleep disturbance among diverse older females.
Isolation and characterization of mesenchymal stem cells in orthopaedics and the emergence of compact bone mesenchymal stem cells as a promising surgical adjunct

Isolation and characterization of mesenchymal stem cells in orthopaedics and the emergence of compact bone mesenchymal stem cells as a promising surgical adjunct
A neuro-symbolic method for understanding free-text medical evidence.

Objective We introduce Medical evidence Dependency (MD)-informed attention, a novel neuro-symbolic model for understanding free-text clinical trial publications with generalizability and interpretability. Materials and methods We trained one head in the multi-head self-attention model to attend to the Medical evidence Ddependency (MD) and to pass linguistic and domain knowledge on to later layers (MDinformed). This MD-informed attention model was integrated into BioBERT and tested on 2 public machine reading comprehension benchmarks for clinical trial publications: Evidence Inference 2.0 and PubMedQA. We also curated a small set of recently published articles reporting randomized controlled trials on COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) following the Evidence Inference 2.0 guidelines to evaluate the model's robustness to unseen data. Results The integration of MD-informed attention head improves BioBERT substantially in both benchmark tasks-as large as an increase of +30% in the F1 score-and achieves the new state-of-the-art performance on the Evidence Inference 2.0. It achieves 84% and 82% in overall accuracy and F1 score, respectively, on the unseen COVID-19 data. Conclusions MD-informed attention empowers neural reading comprehension models with interpretability and generalizability via reusable domain knowledge. Its compositionality can benefit any transformer-based architecture for machine reading comprehension of free-text medical evidence.
Association of Differential Leukocyte Count With Incident Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm Over 22.5 Years: The ARIC Study.

Objective: Leukocytes contribute to the development of abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA). We evaluated whether associations of differential leukocyte counts with AAA persist after accounting for trad...
Induced triploidy reduces mercury bioaccumulation in a piscivorous fish

We compared mercury bioaccumulation in triploid and diploid walleye (Stizostedion vitreum) in Narraguinnep Reservoir, Colorado, USA, and made several hypotheses that sex- and ploidy-specific differ...
Adherence to clinical follow-up recommendations for liver function tests: A cross-sectional study of patients with HCV and their associated risk behaviors.

Abstract This study examined whether patients with Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection adhered to their physicians’ recommendation and HCV clinical guidelines for obtaining a regular liver function test (LFT), and whether high-risk behaviors are associated with behavioral adherence. A cross-sectional survey was administered to 101 eligible patients with HCV who were recruited from health centers in New Jersey and Washington, DC. Adherence outcomes were defined as the patients’ self-report of two consecutive receipts of LFTs in accordance with their physicians’ recommended interval or the clinical guidelines for a LFT within 3–6 months. 67.4% of patients (66/98) reported a receipt of their physicians’ recommendation for a LFT. The rate of adherence to physician recommendation was about 70% (46/66), however over 50% (52/101) of patients with HCV did not obtain regular LFTs. 15.8% (16/101) of patients continued to use injection drugs. Patients who used injection drugs had 0.87 (adjusted odds ratio (aOR) = 0.13, 95% confidence interval 0.03–0.59) times lower odds adhering to their physician recommendation, relative to non-users. Patients with HIV co-infection had increased odds of adhering to the clinical guidelines (odds ratio 3.41, 95% confidence interval 1.34–8.70) vs. patients who did not report HIV co-infection. Additionally, patients who had received a physician’s recommendation had 7.21 times (95% confidence interval of 2.36–22.2) greater odds adhering to the clinical guidelines than those who had not. Overall, promoting HCV patient-provider communication regarding regular LFTs and reduction of risk behaviors is essential for preventing patients from HCV-related liver disease progression.
The Friluftsliv Response: Connection, Drive, and Contentment Reactions to Biophilic Design in Consumer Environments

Abstract It is well documented that context and physical surroundings impact consumers. However, little is known about how to direct the overall design of an environment to enhance consumer experience. Evidence suggests that design principles that tap into the benefits of response to nature may serve to improve the well-being of people in the environment. While research on the implications of such design for consumer responses is growing, a conceptual framework that delineates these responses and their effects on experience has not been established. The current research develops, proposes, and tests a conceptual framework for consumer responses to environments that incorporate materials, textures, shapes, colors, and patterns that quote nature. It shows that when present in a consumer context, these biophilic design elements elicit what we label the friluftsliv response: a response characterized by a positive connection to place that elicits both drive and contentment-based affective reactions. The results indicate that consumer environments rich in biophilic design elements can positively influence important marketing variables, such as situational consumer anxiety and retailer choice.
"What is Centrism?": An Examination of Centrism as a Conservative Political Philosophy

"What is Centrism?" takes up the issue of the ambiguous and disputed term "centrism" as it has existed in the United States since the mid-twentieth century, and attempts to clarify what it meant intellectually and in terms of its particular political positions, and how the latter in particular have evolved. The paper concludes that, while commonly termed "liberalism" in American discourse, it is actually classical conservatism, updated for a twentieth century liberal society by technocratically-minded professionals. While the adaptations were not insignificant, the derivation is evident in its fundamental premises as its attacking radical and revolutionary ideology on the grounds of society's presumably analysis-defeating complexity and the badness of human nature, which made dramatic social a danger worse than any problem it could ameliorate; counseled acquiescence in the existing order that kept the danger of revolutionary upheaval in check, with change considered cautiously and conducted with an eye to preserving what exists rather than deliberately constructing new arrangements in the name of emancipatory ideologies; and championed the privilege of elites as necessary; with all this evident even in more novel features of centrism such as the pluralist and civil politics of compromise and consensus, and the technocratic conception of its favored elite. The paper also traces how centrism, interacting with the concrete realities of the mid-twentieth century and after, leading it to a New Deal-Cold War moderate-civil rights politics then, but as the century drew to a close leading it toward a substantially neoliberal-neoconservative-identitarian stance.
Linearity and Gaussianity of Interest Rate Data: An Empirical Time Series Test

It is generally accepted that people’s economic-choice behavior is motivated by the utility they derive from actual or expected consumption of real goods. The ratio of marginal utility from any such consumption today as opposed to the marginal utility of future consumption leads to real interest rates, and to relative prices denominated in units of consumption goods (or, utils per consumption). But, trading is done with prices given in terms of money. This intertemporal preference for consumption denominated in monetary terms is the basis for interest rate behavior. Thus, while consumption unit prices reflect people’s choices regarding intertemporal consumption behavior, in order to study the true consumption choices one needs to know how the prices denominated in consumption units are related to the money prices.
A Generalization of Short-Cut Fusion and its Correctness Proof

Short-cut fusion is a program transformation technique that uses a single, local transformation—called the \tt foldr-build rule—to remove certain intermediate lists from modularly constructed functional programs. Arguments that short-cut fusion is correct typically appeal either to intuition or to “free theorems”—even though the latter have not been known to hold for the languages supporting higher-order polymorphic functions and fixed point recursion in which short-cut fusion is usually applied. In this paper we use Pitts' recent demonstration that contextual equivalence in such languages is relationally parametric to prove that programs in them which have undergone short-cut fusion are contextually equivalent to their unfused counterparts. For each algebraic data type we then define a generalization of \tt build which constructs substitution instances of its associated data structures, and use Pitts' techniques to prove the correctness of a contextual equivalence-preserving fusion rule which generalizes short-cut fusion. These rules optimize compositions of functions that uniformly consume algebraic data structures with functions that uniformly produce substitution instances of those data sructures.
Chapter 9 cAMP-Mediated Regulation of Amiloride-Sensitive Sodium Channels: Channel Activation or Channel Recruitment?

Publisher Summary The chapter presents a discussion on the mechanisms, whereby intracellular cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) increases amiloride-sensitive sodium ion (Na + ) channel activity. In some tissues, such as the rat distal colon and human nasal epithelia amiloride-sensitive Na + channel activity is not stimulated by CAMP. The peptide hormone vasopressin and its analogs, vasotocin and oxytocin, increase amiloride-sensitive Na + transport across mammalian collecting ducts and amphibian epithelia (that is, toad urinary bladder, frog skin and colon, and Xenopus A6 renal epithelial cells) two- to fourfold through an increase in intracellular cAMP. This increase in Na + transport develops rapidly over a period of 5–30 minutes and is initiated by the binding of vasopressin to V 2 receptors situated in the basolateral membrane. This in turn leads to the stimulation of adenylate cyclase via the heterotrimeric G protein, Gα s , and a concomitant increase in intracellular cAMP, which results in increased Na + channel activity. The fact that membrane-permeable cAMP analogs, inhibitors of phosphodiesterase, and activators of adenylate cyclase, all mimic the vasopressin induced activation of amiloride sensitive Na + channels clearly indicates that the action of vasopressin is mediated by cAMP. The chapter summarizes the data supporting activation of quiescent channels through a protein kinase A (PKA) mediated phosphorylation of a channel subunit or an associated regulatory protein.
Molecular cloning and expression of two cDNAs encoding asparagine synthetase in soybean

Two cDNA clones (SAS1 and SAS2) encoding different isoforms of asparagine synthetase (AS; EC 6.3.5.4) were isolated. Their DNA sequences were determined and compared. The amino-terminal residues of the predicted SAS1 and SAS2 proteins were identical to those of the glutamine binding domain of AS from pea, asparagus, Arabidopsis and human, suggesting that SAS1 and SAS2 cDNAs encode the glutamine-dependent form of AS. The open reading frames of SAS1 and SAS2 encode a protein of 579 and 581 amino acids with predicted molecular weights of 65 182 and 65 608 Da respectively. Similarity of the deduced amino acid sequences of SAS1 and SAS2 with other known AS sequences were 92% and 93% for pea AS1; 91% and 96% for pea AS2; 88% and 91% for asparagus; 88% and 90.5% for Arabidopsis; 70.5% and 72.5% for E. coli asnB and 61% and 63% for man. A plasmid, pSAS2E, was constructed to express the soybean AS protein in Escherichia coli. Complementation experiments revealed that the soybean AS protein was functional in E. coli. Southern blot analysis indicated that the soybean AS is part of a small gene family. AS transcript was expressed in all tissues examined, but higher levels were seen in stem and root of light-grown tissue and leaves of dark-treated tissue.
Human B Lymphocyte Malignancies: Exploitation of BLyS and APRIL and Their Receptors

B lymphocyte stimulator (BLyS), also referred to as B cell activating factor of the TNF family, is a recently identified tumor necrosis factor (TNF) family member shown to be critical for maintenance of normal B cell development and homeostasis and it shares significant homology with another TNF superfamily member, a proliferation inducing ligand (APRIL). Currently, three receptors have been identified that transmit signals upon BLyS and APRIL binding and these include B cell maturation antigen, B cell activating factor receptor, and transmembrane activator and CAML interactor. The striking effects of BLyS on normal B cell maintenance and survival and the largely B lineage-restricted pattern of receptor expression, raises the possibility that these TNF family ligands and receptors may be involved not only in B cell autoimmunity, but also in the pathogenesis and maintenance of mature B lineage hematological malignancies. In this article, we will review the spectrum of human B lineage malignancies and discuss current evidence supporting a role for BLyS and APRIL in fueling the growth and survival of specific B cell malignancies.
Subcellular Sites Involved in Lipid Synthesis in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

When the crude ribosomal fraction of Saccharomyces cerevisiae was separated into “light” and “heavy” fractions, fatty acid synthetase was concentrated in the former, whereas acetyl-Coenzyme A synthetase, fatty acid “desaturase,” and squalene oxidocyclase were found in the latter. The “desaturase” sedimented with the ribosomal material and was not solubilized by low concentrations of sodium deoxycholate (DOC). The other two systems found in the “heavy” fraction sedimented with the membranes, but, upon solubilization of the membranes by DOC, these enzyme systems remained as particles.
Should Scholarly Productivity be the Primary Criterion for Tenure Decisions? No!

(1992). Should Scholarly Productivity be the Primary Criterion for Tenure Decisions? No! Journal of Social Work Education: Vol. 28, No. 2, pp. 135-138.
Weed Specificity of Alcohol Ethoxylate Surfactants Applied with Rimsulfuron1

The biological activity of rimsulfuron applied with 33 alcohol ethoxylate surfactants was determined on six economically important weed species. The surfactants had hydrophobes ranging from 6 to 24 carbons and hydrophiles ranging from 3 to 32 ethylene oxides (EOs), and the weeds had different leaf orientations, surface characteristics, and chemical compositions. In general, similar activity was observed among weed species with correlation coefficients ranging from 0.62 to 0.94. A few distinct species-specific differences were identified. For example, increasing surfactant size generally increased rimsulfuron activity on velvetleaf, but activity was reduced on giant foxtail with surfactants having the longest alkyl chain and the highest number of EO units. Increasing surfactant size increased common cocklebur control if the right balance between the hydrophobic and hydrophilic group was maintained. The optimum surfactant type with rimsulfuron across six species from both the empirical and the modeling resu...
Notch and Mef2 synergize to promote proliferation and metastasis through JNK signal activation in Drosophila

Genetic analyses in Drosophila revealed a synergy between Notch and the pleiotropic transcription factor Mef2 (myocyte enhancer factor 2), which profoundly influences proliferation and metastasis. We show that these hyperproliferative and invasive Drosophila phenotypes are attributed to upregulation of eiger, a member of the tumour necrosis factor superfamily of ligands, and the consequent activation of Jun N-terminal kinase signalling, which in turn triggers the expression of the invasive marker MMP1. Expression studies in human breast tumour samples demonstrate correlation between Notch and Mef2 paralogues and support the notion that Notch–MEF2 synergy may be significant for modulating human mammary oncogenesis.
An efficient platform for screening expression and crystallization of glycoproteins produced in human cells

Glycoproteins are involved in diverse biological processes ranging from extracellular contact and recognition to intracellular signaling. Crystal structures of glycoproteins would yield tremendous insight into these processes. But glycoprotein structural analysis has been hindered by difficulties in expressing milligram quantities of stable, homogeneous protein and determining which modifications will yield samples amenable to crystallization. We describe a platform, which we have proven to be effective for rapidly screening expression and crystallization of a challenging glycoprotein target. In this protocol, multiple glycoprotein ectodomain constructs are produced in parallel by transient expression of adherent human embryonic kidney (HEK) 293T cells and are subsequently screened for crystals in microscale quantities by free interface diffusion. As a result, recombinant proteins are produced and processed in a native, mammalian environment, and crystallization screening can be accomplished with as little as 65 microg of protein. Moreover, large numbers of constructs can be generated, screened and scaled up for expression and crystallization, with results obtained in 4 weeks.
SU‐FF‐I‐109: Image Deconvolution in Autoradiography: A Preliminary Study

Purpose: To improve the imagecontrast and resolution of phosphorimaging plate based digital autoradiography (DAR) through a deconvolution algorithm. Method and Materials: The study was conducted with Fuji BAS‐MS2325 phosphorimaging plates. Series of small radioactive sources, typically 100–200 microns in diameter, were constructed on a hydrophobic surface of glass micro slides for different radioactive iodines. The DAR images of these test sources are analyzed using the Richardson‐Lucy (R‐L) deconvolution algorithm to derive the point spread function (PSF) of the radionuclides on the imaging plate. DAR image recovery is performed with the R‐L algorithm using measured PSF. The performance of this methodology is evaluated with a sham DAR image, and demonstrated on actual tumor sections containing radiotracers.Results: The measured PSF shows satisfactory reproducibility for each radionuclide, and can be represented by the sum of three 2‐D Gaussian peaks. Simulations suggest that within a wide range of signal noise ratio (SNR), the deconvolution algorithm can closely recover the radioactivity distributions on tissue sections. In addition, there exists optimal R‐L iteration numbers for different SNR levels in terms of the correlation of radioactivity distribution and restored image intensity. In the reconstructed images of tumor sections, the contrast and details are remarkably improved. Conclusion:Deconvolution improves imagecontrast and detail but amplifies noise. The usefulness of imagedeconvolution lies in the removal of false‐positive pixels and achieving a better defined map of the radioactivity distribution within the tissue section, allowing for quantitative analysis of marker distribution at the loco‐regional level. Our method does not require sophisticated instrument, and can be conveniently conducted in laboratory equipped with ordinary DAR and microscopy devices.
WORD SORTING: THE CULTIVATION OF RULES FOR SPELLING IN ENGLISH

This article describes a teaching strategy, word sorting, that helps students to develop more accurate and automatized word recognition and spelling ability. A series of "sorts" or word categorization activities are described in which students learn about various word features or properties (e.g., phonetic, orthographic, semantic) in a compare/contrast context. Word sorting, a potentially stimulating and challenging activity for teacher and students alike, has immediate applicability in clinic or classroom.
Baclofen reduces tone-evoked activity of cochlear nucleus neurons

Recent evidence suggests that an excitant amino acid may be a neurotransmitter at acoustic nerve synapses in cochlear nucleus (CN). Release of excitant amino acids is reportedly reduced by baclofen, a lipophilic GABA-mimetic used to treat the spasticity of multiple sclerosis and spinal injury. Microiontophoresis of (-)baclofen suppressed spontaneous and tone-evoked activity in CN neurons. GABA inhibited the responses of most neurons responsive to (-)baclofen. However, iontophoresis of these two substances onto the same CN neuron resulted in dramatic differences in time course to maximum effect and to recovery. Onset and offset of (-)baclofen-induced firing reduction were gradual at all doses (currents), but even the highest doses rarely caused total suppression of firing. Inhibition of firing by GABA was abrupt, and total suppression was frequently observed over the range of doses used. GABA desensitization (fading) commonly occurred while the (-)baclofen response never faded. The same CN neurons were also suppressed by D-alpha-aminoadipate, which blocks certain excitatory amino acid receptors, while the GABA antagonist bicuculline had no effect on the (-)baclofen response. These findings support the hypothesis that an excitant amino acid may be a transmitter at acoustic nerve synapses in CN.
Estimation of nonlinear static skin friction on multiple pile segments using the measured hammer impact response at the top and bottom of the pile

Abstract A technique is presented to estimate the nonlinear skin friction of a driven pile using monitored strains and accelerations at the top and bottom of a pile during a hammer blow. The scheme is based on a numerical solution of the 1-D wave equation with nonlinear static skin friction and viscous stiffness proportional damping. The soil–pile system is divided into pile segments based on pile length and the frequency content of the measured signal. Each segment is characterized with independent multilinear (bilinear loading with independent unloading) soil skin friction. The measured strains at the top and bottom of the pile are used to solve for the unknowns, including proportional damping and the loading and unloading stiffness of each pile segment from a least square error comparison of measured and computed particle velocities at the top and bottom of the pile. The technique was applied to four full-scale piles driven into layered sand and clay deposits with measured ultimate static skin frictions varying from 700 to 2700 kN. The analysis was carried out on five separate beginning of restrike blows within 1 week of the static load tests. The approach was shown to give consistent (within 20%) predicted skin frictions vs. displacements of the measured static load test results.