cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Flipping Signal-Processing Instruction [SP Education]

The conventional approach to university education, prevalent for hundreds of years, involves a lecture by the professor during the scheduled class period and students working on exercises outside of class. Flipping a classroom refers to reversing the traditional role of in- and out-of-class activities. This instructional approach is sometimes also called inverting a classroom. In a flipped paradigm, the students are introduced to topics and basic concepts using video lectures or other means during their time outside of the classroom and spend the scheduled class period working on exercises under the supervision of the instructor. Instead of being a "sage on the stage" the instructor now becomes a "guide on the side" [1]. The conventional paradigm treats the student as an empty container into which knowledge is poured, while the flipped paradigm treats the student as an active learner who reconstructs knowledge from information. The flipped classroom began to receive increasing attention in the early 2000s (e.g., [2] and [3]) and has become much more accessible to instructors recently with the advent of low-cost screencasting software, e.g., [4], and Web-based course and video management tools. My institution, the University of Wisconsin-Madison (UW-Madison), recently opened a new teaching facility in 2011 called WisCEL [5] that is specifically designed for interactive, student-centered approaches to teaching and is perfectly suited for the flipped classroom format.
Islamization of Economics in Iranian Universities

The revolutionary “spring of freedom” did not last long in the Iranian universities. The revolutionary movement had turned the universities into centers of political activity, where crowds gathered and rival political groups clashed. Control over the Tehran University soccer field for mass rallies became a sign of a political organization's power. On 11 February 1979, the first tank liberated from the Shah's army was driven to the campus of Tehran University; the Organization of the People's Mujahedin set up its headquarters in the Faculty of Sciences, and the Organization of People's Fadaʾian Guerrillas in the Faculty of Engineering. Between them, the university mosque became the headquarters for an “Imam's committee,” where fourteen- and fifteen-year-olds stored weapons captured from the Shah's artillery. When the universities reopened shortly after the February insurrection, similar divides were made within academic buildings of all universities. Various groups partitioned public areas, claimed various rooms, and even parceled out the walls for poster space. Life was as chaotic in the universities as it was outside. However, the difference was that while the Islamic Republic was gaining political hegemony in Iranian society, it was losing the ideological battle in the universities, where radical groups were recruiting and training student activists, many of whom were political organizers in factories, farms, and neighborhoods. The students and faculty who supported the Islamic regime constituted only a small minority.
Zoster immune globulin. A further assessment.

Abstract The prophylactic efficacy of zoster immune globulin was evaluated in 21 immunocompromised children (under therapy for leukemia or other malignant processes) who had household exposures to varicella. In six of the children who had serum antibody to antigen on the membrane of cells infected with Varicella Zoster virus, evidence of varicella did not develop. The remaining 15 children who did not have detectable Varicella Zoster antibody became infected. Varicella was severe in one, mild in nine and subclinical in five children. All 15 children, had persistence of Varicella Zoster antibody for months to years after infection. Administration of zoster immune globulin appeared to be an effective method to modify varicella in immunocompromised patients. (N Engl J Med 290:243–245, 1974)
Two-color polarization spectroscopy of rubidium

Abstract We report on two-color, two-photon polarization spectroscopy in a room-temperature rubidium vapor. We use two separate lasers, a strong pump at 780 nm to induce an anisotropy in the atomic polarization and a weak probe at 776 nm to interrogate this anisotropy. The lasers are resonant with the 5 2 S 1/2 → 5 2 P 3/2 and 5 2 P 3/2 → 5 2 D 5/2 transitions in rubidium, respectively. Finally, we have used our polarization spectroscopy signal as an error signal to lock the 776 nm laser. This modulation-free locking scheme allows us to detune the lock point of the second laser by adjusting the detuning of the laser used for the first transition.
THE ENHANCEMENTS AND TESTING FOR THE MCNPX 2.6.0 DEPLETION CAPABILITY

Monte Carlo–linked depletion methods have gained recent interest due to the ability to model complex three-dimensional geometries using continuous-energy cross sections. The integration of CINDER90...
Lithium ordering and NMR linewidth in Li0.33TiS2

Abstract The low temperature 7 Li linewidths and second moments have been analyzed for Li 0.33 TiS 2 and Li 0.97 TiS 2 . Moment calculations demonstrate that the linewidth is a sensitive indicator of order on a two dimensional lattice of dipoles. The calculated dipolar second moment is not consistent with a simple √3 a o superlattice in Li 0.33 TiS 2 , but is consistent with a random arrangement of lithium ions and several more complex superlattices recently proposed by Kanamori and Kaburagi.
Edge-on Observations of Saturn's E and G Rings in the Near-IR

Abstract We observed Saturn's E and G rings and several small moons in the near infrared close to the time of Earth's crossing of the ring plane in August 1995. A combined radial profile of the E and G rings in a methane filter in the K band was obtained. The peak values of the E-ring vertically integrated normalized flux are 64.9 ± 10.6 m at J , 40.0 ± 4.1 m in a methane filter in the H band, and 37.2 ± 1.9 m in the methane K band. The G-ring peak vertically integrated flux is 10.1 ± 3.5 m at methane K . The infrared magnitudes of Hyperion, Mimas, Janus, Epimetheus, and Helene are also reported.
Utilizing Oral Histories to Understand the Social Networks of Oregon Fishermen in Alaska

Many commercial fishermen from the Newport, Oregon area began fishing in Alaska during the historical fishing boom times of the 1960s to 1980s. Since then, they have continued to be involved in fishing in Alaska. Many of these individuals began fishing in Alaska because of their connections, opportunity, adventure, and money. Drawing on oral histories, this study examines the ways in which this network of fishermen allowed them to become established in a new region. The article explores how connections through this social network draw parallels with traditional ethnic enclaves and facilitate their capacity to adapt to declining resources in one region through transferring fishing ef fort to another.
Well Location in Capture Zone Design Using Simulation and Optimization Techniques

A new computational methodology for capture zone design for contaminated ground-water remediation is described. This method has been implemented in a computer model which utilizes both simulation and optimization techniques. The procedure determines the well locations and pump rates which will produce a desired ground-water flow field at minimum cost. In this paper, the design procedure is described along with an example of its use on a hypothetical aquifer system. Numerical experiments are presented which determine the effect on remediation cost of alternate well locations. It is found that different well locations can have a major impact on the overall cost of remediation.
ADSORPTION CHARACTERISTICS OF FUNCTIONAL SOY PROTEIN PRODUCTS

The moisture adsorption characteristics of three commercial functional soy protein products (two isolates and one concentrate) in the temperature range of 10 to 40C were studied. The temperature showed significant effect on both the change of moisture content during adsorption and equilibrium moisture content. The rate of moisture adsorption of a soy protein isolate at water activity of 0.84 increased, but its equilibrium moisture content decreased with the increase of temperature. The suitability of Peleg and GAB equations for modeling the change of moisture content during adsorption and adsorption isotherms was respectively examined, and the constants in both equations were determined. In the temperature range of 10C to 40C, the relative errors of predicted change in moisture content at water activity of 0.84 and predicted isotherms of a soy protein isolates were ranged from 1.36% to 4.85% and 2.80% to 3.63%, respectively. The two equations can be used to predict the change in moisture content during adsorption and isotherms of functional soy protein products at different temperatures with satisfactory accuracy.
Unravelling the ethical decision-making process: Clues from an empirical study comparingFortune 1 000 executives and MBA students

Using a nationwide survey, this study compared the ethical values and decision processes ofFortune executives and MBA students. Statistically significant differences in ethical values were found by class of respondent, gender, and professed decision approach. MBAs were also found to process ethical decisions differently than business professionals.
Placement‐Oriented Design and Delivery of Concrete Reinforcement

The use of reinforced concrete in the United States is steadily increasing, and with it the need for designed and fabricated reinforcing bars (rebar). Traditionally, the detailing of the rebar is done by the fabricator, who is required to have the shop drawings approved by the civil engineer in charge of the structural design. Subsequently, the rebar is fabricated and shipped to the site where an independent subcontractor places the rebar according to the detail design. Research has shown that the delivery of construction material is strongly related to the productivity of construction processes, such as laying rebar. However, traditional rebar fabrication and shipment is geared towards minimizing the set‐up time of the rebar bending machine. As a result, rebar is cut, bent, and bundled according to shape and size without considering the sequence of placing the bars. This paper presents an alternative way to design and deliver concrete reinforcement that is based on computer integration and feature‐based ...
Navigating by index and guided tour for fact finding

The primary mechanism for navigating a website consists of pages with lists of links (or indexes). Such indexes are most effective when they convey the necessary hint (or scent) to anticipate the content they point to. When indexes fail to do so, users who are seeking specific information need to click on a link just to explore where it leads to, and then go back to the index to select another item. In a study with 150 participants, we explored whether guided tour navigation -- which enables users to linearly browse items without going back to the index -- could outperform scentless indexes in fact-finding tasks. Our results suggest that indexes remain a better solution than guided tours, even when lacking information scent. Guided tours, however, improve user's performance when the target content is found in the first half of collection with 20 items. Implications for designing effective navigation patterns are discussed.
Interest Groups and Investment: A Further Test of the Olson Hypothesis

Mancur Olson's institutional sclerosishypothesis may be evident in the effects ofinterest groups on investment in physicalcapital. To test this proposition, we usecross sectional data on 42 countries forwhich information on the number of interestgroups is available to estimate the effectof those groups on the share of GDP thatgoes into physical investment. The resultsindicate that interest groups have adifferent effect on physical investment inOECD and non-OECD countries. In the OECDcountries, we find support for thehypothesis that interest groups harminvestment in physical capital. Indeveloping countries, interest groupseither have no effect on physicalinvestment or they have a slight beneficialimpact.
Inference for Quantitation Parameters in Polymerase Chain Reactions via Branching Processes With Random Effects

The quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) is a widely used tool for gene quantitation and has been applied extensively in several scientific areas. The current methods used for analyzing qPCR data fail to account for multiple sources of variability present in the PCR dynamics, leading to biased estimates and incorrect inference. In this article, we introduce a branching process model with random effects to account for within-reaction and between-reaction variability in PCR experiments. We describe, in terms of the observed fluorescence data, new statistical methodology for gene quantitation. Using simulations, PCR experiments, and asymptotic theory we demonstrate the improvements achieved by our methodology compared to existing methods. This article has supplemental materials online.
Statistical analysis of single-track instrument sampling in spaceborne aerosol remote sensing for climate research

Abstract We examine likely effects of pixel-wide along-track sampling on climatological means of aerosol optical thickness (AOT) derived from observations with satellite instruments such as CALIOP and APS by sub-sampling AOT retrievals from a wide-swath imaging instrument (MODIS). The advantage of using daily pixel-level aerosol retrievals from MODIS rather than aerosol transport models to assess the results of along-track sampling is that limitations caused by the presence of clouds are implicit in the satellite dataset, so that their seasonal and regional variations are captured coherently. However, imager data can exhibit latitudinal (cross-track) variability of monthly global mean AOTs caused by a scattering-angle dependence. This makes it difficult to separate natural variability from viewing-geometry artifacts complicating direct comparisons of an along-track sub-sample with the full imager data. To work around this problem, we introduce “latitudinal-track” sampling which, by design, captures the cross-track AOT variability of the original imager data. We show that the latitudinal-track standard error of global monthly mean AOTs is much smaller than the longitudinal-track one. This allows us to attribute the difference between the two errors to MODIS viewing-geometry artifacts and obtain an upper limit on AOT errors caused by along-track sampling. We conclude that single-track instruments provide AOT sampling sufficient for climate applications. Since AOT is believed to be the most variable characteristic of tropospheric aerosols, our results imply that pixel-wide along-track coverage also provides adequate statistical representation of the global distribution of aerosol microphysical parameters.
From Shame to Pride: History of Recovering from Judaeo-Christian Homophobia

Since the 16th century A.D., the Judaeo-Christian culture has been recovering from its homophobic response to military male rapes by its enemies during its prior 3,000 years. Judaeo-Christian culture's militaries have become strong enough to resist any further enemy threats of male rape. Judaeo-Christian culture gradually gained military, political and economic world dominance and spread cultural homophobia globally. As the culture has become more secure during the last 500 years, its homophobia has slowly subsided. By the late 20th century, the culture had become secure enough to tolerate the emergence of the gay identity movement. Still, Western culture remains homophobic enough to polarize most male bisexuality into straight and gay identities and lifestyles. As cultural recovery from homophobia progresses, bisexuality may gain more acceptance.
Equivalence by descent: pedigree analysis with inbreeding and gametic phase disequilibrium.

In the presence of gametic phase disequilibrium and inbreeding, multiple locus genotype frequencies cannot be written solely in terms of identity by descent (IBD) probabilities. Following Cockerham & Weir (1973) we introduce the concept of ‘equivalence by descent’ (EBD), an extension of the concept of IBD to include non-allelic genes. Two genes are said to be EBD if they derive ultimately from the same founding gamete of a pedigree. Allelic genes that are EBD are also IBD. For two loci 11 EBD probabilities, the ‘J-coefficients,’ are required and for three loci 117 J-coefficients are required to write genotype probabilities. It is shown how the 117 J-coefficients for three loci can be reduced to a basic set of 37. Computer programs, written in the algebraic programming language, MAPLE™, are described which are capable of calculating the two- and three-locus J-coefficients for any pedigree, subject only to size limitations. The MAPLE™ packages are available from the author upon request.
Simultaneous heat and mass transfer during the cooling of a deep bed of biological products under varying inlet air conditions

The cooling and dehydration of a deep bed of high moisture content cherry pits was investigated experimentally and the data were analysed by writing three heat and mass transfer balances. The inlet air conditions were changed continuously during the test period; the initial product temperature distribution within the bed was not uniform. The set of coupled equations resulting from the transfer balances were solved numerically with the aid of a digital computer. The empirical and theoretical heat and mass transfer agreed well.
Vitamin A and Bone Health: The Balancing Act

The role of vitamin A status as it relates to bone health is historical yet controversial. Population-based studies have linked high dietary intake of preformed vitamin A, which is obtained from animal-source foods, fortified foods, and some supplements, to greater risk of osteoporosis and hip fracture. In contrast, carotenoids, some of which are vitamin A precursors from plants, are associated with improved bone health. Carotenoids may be a biomarker that reflects a generally healthy lifestyle, which includes fruit and vegetable consumption. Current dietary recommendations to increase fruit and vegetable intake in the Dietary Guidelines for Americans will result in greater intakes of provitamin A carotenoids if consumers comply. This could lead to artificially high intakes of vitamin A in dietary analyses. However, multiple factors affect the bioconversion of provitamin A carotenoids to the active form of vitamin A. The human body will strive to maintain vitamin A balance by down-regulating provitamin A carotenoid bioconversion. If high preformed vitamin A intake is associated with poor bone health and provitamin A carotenoids are protective, future studies are needed to clarify the associations between total body stores of vitamin A, dietary intake of the pre- and pro-forms, and bone health throughout the life cycle.
Reduction of results to the isothermal calorimetric process and to the standard-state process in solution-reaction calorimetry☆

Abstract A systematic approach is developed for extraction of thermochemical quantities for isothermal calorimetric processes from calorimetric results, with consideration of various corrections to the calorimetric process. Strategies are discussed for reduction to standard states of the results from solution-reaction calorimetry, especially when complex reaction mixtures are involved. The treatment is designed to suggest strategies for improved efficiency and accuracy in the calorimetric procedures.
3,4-dihydroxy-6-[18f]-fluoro-L-phenylalanine positron emission tomography in patients with central motor disorders and in evaluation of brain and other tumors.

The use of 3,4-dihydroxy-6-[ 18 F]-fluoro-L-phenylalanine ( 18 F-FDOPA) with positron emission tomography initially centered on studying central motor disorders and evaluating patients with Parkinsonian symptoms, based on its uptake into presynaptic dopaminergic terminals in the putamen and caudate nuclei of the brain. The roles of this tracer have since expanded to include monitoring disease progression, potentially contributing to drug development, and even questioning the current gold standard for making the diagnosis of Parkinson's disease. As with some other amino acids, 18 F-FDOPA has also been effective for visualizing brain tumors, either at time of diagnosis or when monitoring for recurrence, with high sensitivity and overall accuracy. 18 F-FDOPA may be especially useful for imaging patients with low-grade gliomas, as well in the evaluation of patients with neuroendocrine tumors such as carcinoid and pheochromocytoma, in which its role as a precursor for amine neurotransmitter/neurohormones serves as a basis for its differential uptake.
Serum-free culture and characterization of renal epithelial cells isolated from human fetal kidneys of varying gestational age.

Cell cultures were initiated from seven human fetal kidneys that varied in gestational age from 90 days to newborn. The growth medium utilized was a 1:1 mixture of Dulbecco’s modified Eagle’s and Ham’s F12 supplemented with selenium (5 ng/ml), insulin (5µg/ml), transferrin (5µg/ml), hydrocortisone (36 ng/ml), triiodothyronine (4 pg/ml), and epidermal growth factor (10 ng/ml). For all the kidney isolates, initial cell attachment occurred within 12 h through multicell spheroids, and by 24 h a rapidly growing population of cells was obtained. Confluency was reached within 3 to 6 days. A combination of light microscopy, immunohistochemistry, and ultrastructural evaluation was utilized to characterize the resulting cultures as epithelial and homogeneous within each isolate and among the isolates. That is, regardless of gestational age of the fetal kidney used as starting material, an identical or highly similar population of cells was obtained. By light microscopy, the cultures were noted to form very few domes, the number being an indication of transport activity. However, ultrastructural examination revealed that the cells were noted to form domes composed of only a few cells or “micro-domes” that would not be visible by light microscopy. Within the micro-domes as well as other areas of the monolayer an apparent absence of tight junctions was noted by routine transmission electron microscopy. However, by freeze fracture analysis cells were shown to possess sealing strands, the structural component of tight junctions. It is postulated that the tight junctions of fetal epithelial cells are structurally altered as compared to tight junctions in adult renal epithelial cell cultures.
Abstract 5754: Identification of pharmacologically tractable genes that are associated with oncogenic K-Ras dependency in colorectal cancers

Proceedings: AACR 101st Annual Meeting 2010‐‐ Apr 17‐21, 2010; Washington, DC Summary We have previously shown that KRAS mutant lung and pancreatic cancer cells can be classified into two broad groups based on their requirement or dependency for sustained K-Ras activity. By supervised gene expression analyses, we derived a gene expression signature associated with K-Ras dependency, components of which represent candidate therapeutic targets. We have applied this strategy to KRAS mutant colorectal cancers (CRCs), which are notoriously refractory to conventional and targeted therapeutics. Moreover, the KRAS gene is now routinely sequenced to identify CRC patients that harbor KRAS mutations. Thus, patients with KRAS mutation-positive CRCs are given little recourse in terms of treatment options. We have found that, like lung and pancreatic cancer cell lines, KRAS mutant can be classified into K-Ras dependent and K-Ras independent groups. However, whereas K-Ras dependency in KRAS mutant lung and pancreatic cancer cells is associated with a well differentiated epithelial-like phenotype, K-Ras dependent CRC cells do not exhibit such an association. As such K-Ras dependent CRC cells exhibit a distinct molecular profile compared to K-Ras dependent lung and pancreatic cancer cells. We have identified a number of distinct kinase genes whose expression is associated with K-Ras dependency specifically in CRCs. Depletion of these genes by RNAi results in selective cytotoxic effects in K-Ras dependent CRC cells, suggesting that these genes may serve as candidate therapeutic targets in a subset of KRAS mutant CRCs. Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 101st Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2010 Apr 17-21; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2010;70(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 5754.
Diagramming patients' views of root causes of adverse drug events in ambulatory care: an online tool for planning education and research.

Abstract Objective Diagram patients’ views of the causes of adverse drug events (ADEs) in ambulatory care, examine characteristics of causes reported by patients, and identify those that have been studied in the medical and social science literatures. Methods Twenty-two primary care patients were interviewed using a root cause analysis approach. Diagrams derived from interviews were consolidated and displayed online as a composite interactive causal diagram. Patient-reported causes were compared to evidence in the social science and medical literatures. Results Patients ascribed 164 causes to ADEs occurring through eight major pathways, including medication nonadherence, prescriber–patient miscommunication, patient medication error, failure to read medication label/insert, polypharmacy, patient characteristics, pharmacist–patient miscommunication, and self medication. Most frequently reported causes were intrapsychic and interpersonal in nature. Most patient-reported causes have been studied, however, several practical and motivational antecedents lack research. Conclusion Conducting root cause analysis with patients reveals multiple logically linked aspects of medication safety in community settings that merit further research and consideration in patient and prescriber education. Practice implications This causal diagram provides a broadly accessible planning tool for reducing ambulatory ADEs by showing a comprehensive picture of potential causes, identifying causal factors supported by evidence, and disclosing likely consequences of change efforts. Also, patient-centered medication safety strategies should address psychological and practical barriers patients face in their everyday lives.
Cell biology: new cog for a familiar machine.

During cell division, intricate cellular machinery separates duplicated DNA into daughter cells. Unexpectedly, the assembly of this crucial apparatus seems to rely on components other than proteins and DNA.
A comprehensive survey of the INAA of reference materials

The nature of summary reports now being prepared for issuance, summarizing the results of detailed INAA Advance Prediction Computer Program (APCP) calculations for many widely used reference materials, is discussed and illustrated. For each material, the best photopeak % σrel value (where it is≤10%) is shown for each of the 12 condition sets (ti/td/tc) calculated from the input elemental composition. These summary reports will be very useful to groups that use various reference materials as multi-element standards.
The political economy of NGOs and information sharing

Abstract To a large extent, information sharing is what nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) do, and the costs of sharing information are falling dramatically. Joining politics and economics, this paper builds an analytical framework to illuminate how these falling costs are affecting information-intensive NGOs in Latin America. Case studies describe the various information-sharing outputs and inputs of nonprofit, NGO production. I argue that the participatory activity of NGOs affects both political and economic realms, and that as the costs of sharing information fall, NGOs will be a more powerful link in the changing balance between states, markets, and civil society.
Effect of structure on temperature stability and solubility of polyester‐urethanes

The composition of crosslinked polyester–urethanes has been varied by adjusting the ratio of ester to urethane groups. The crosslinking density of these materials has been varied by changes in the polyester functionality. The polyester–urethanes have been subjected to solvent extraction, wherein it was found that at high crosslinking densities, the solubility of the polymers is unaffected by the ester-urethane ratio. At low crosslinking densities, solubility increases slightly with increasing urethane concentration. The solubility was also found to increase with decreasing crosslinking density. Data obtained from isothermal heat aging and thermogravimetric analysis, both carried out in air and in inert atmosphere, indicate that thermal stability increases with increasing ester/urethane ratio and is independent of crosslinking density where the ester/urethane ratio is held constant. In addition, data obtained from heat aging and thermogravimetric analysis have indicated that decomposition of the samples occurs as rapidly in inert atmosphere as in air, indicating that the decomposition occurs chiefly by a nonoxidative mechanism.
Text-directed speech enhancement employing phone class parsing and feature map constrained vector quantization

Abstract There are many situations where non-real-time speech enhancement is required. For such applications, employing any available a priori knowledge can lead to more effective enhancement solutions. In this study, a novel text-directed speech enhancement algorithm is developed for usage in non-real-time applications. In our approach, the text of the intended dialogue is used to partition noisy speech into regions of broad phoneme classifications. Classes considered include stops, fricatives, affricates, nasals, vowels, semivowels, diphthongs and silence. These partitions are then used to direct a new vector quantizer based enhancement scheme in which phone-class directed constraints are applied to improve speech quality. The proposed algorithm is evaluated using both objective as well as subjective quality assessment techniques. It is shown that the text-directed approach improves the quality of the degraded speech over a broad range of noise sources (i.e., flat communications channel noise, aircraft cockpit noise, helicopter fly-by noise, and automobile highway noise) and over a broad range of signal-to-noise ratios (i.e., 10, 5, 0 and −5 dB). In each case, the proposed method is shown consistently to exhibit improved objective quality over linear and generalized spectral subtraction, as well as the Auto-LSP constrained iterative enhancement method using the Itakura-Saito measure and a 100-sentence evaluation speech corpus. Subjective quality assessment was conducted in the form of an A-B comparison test. Results of these evaluations demonstrate that, for wideband noise distortions, the proposed algorithm is preferred over the unprocessed noisy speech more than 2 to 1, while the proposed algorithm is preferred over spectral subtraction by more than 3 to 1.
Noninvasive method for the detection of bowel ischemia: Computed tomography detection of absorbed iodinated contrast material

Rationale and Objectives. Although systemic absorption of enterically administered iohexol and its excretion in urine has been previously documented in rats with ischemic bowel, a practical and sensitive method of detecting urinary iohexol has not been available. We proposed to detect the presence of iohexol in the urine of rats with normal and ischemic bowel by use of a computed tomography (CT) number increase in the bladder with the use of CT. Methods. Anesthetized rats (250 g) underwent either sham laparotomy ( n =6), ligation of two vascular arcades to the proximal jejunum ( n =5), ligation of six vascular arcades to the proximal jejunum ( n =6), or ligation of the superior mesenteric artery ( n =6). Rats were hydrated with saline (3.2 ml/hr intravenously). Each received a 3-ml enteric bolus of isotonic iohexol. Serial CT scans and plain film radiographs of the bladder were performed at 2, 4, and 6 hr to detect systemic absorption of contrast from the gut. Urine iohexol concentrations were measured by capillary electrophoresis. CT number and iohexol concentration were compared with evidence from plain film radiographs of bladder opacification. Intestinal ischemia was graded histologically. Results. Histologic evidence of ischemia was present in all six-arcade and five of six superior mesenteric artery (SMA)-ligated animals. No animals in the control or two-arcade group showed evidence of bowel ischemia. Statistically significant increases ( P Conclusions. Experimental intestinal ischemia was reliably detected by bladder opacification after administration of enteric contrast. CT detection of systemic absorption of enteric iohexol was more sensitive than plain film radiographs and may be useful in the diagnosis of intestinal ischemia, although it may not be specific for ischemia.
Scattered speculations on the subaltern and the popular

Subaltern is to popular as gender is to sex, class to poverty, state to nation. One word inclines to reasonableness, the other to cathexis – occupation through desire. ‘Popular’ divides between des...
IL-2 and IL-21 confer opposing differentiation programs to CD8+ T cells for adoptive immunotherapy.

IL-2 and IL-21 are closely related cytokines that might have arisen by gene duplication. Both cytokines promote the function of effector CD8+ T cells, but their distinct effects on antigen-driven differentiation of naive CD8+ T cells into effector CD8+ T cells are not clearly understood. We found that antigen-induced expression of Eomesodermin (Eomes) and maturation of naive CD8+ T cells into granzyme B- and CD44-expressing effector CD8+ T cells was enhanced by IL-2, but, unexpectedly, suppressed by IL-21. Furthermore, IL-21 repressed expression of IL-2Ra and inhibited IL-2–mediated acquisition of a cytolytic CD8+ T-cell phenotype. Despite its inhibitory effects, IL-21 did not induce anergy, but instead potently enhanced the capacity of cells to mediate tumor regression upon adoptive transfer. In contrast, IL-2 impaired the subsequent antitumor function of transferred cells. Gene expression studies revealed a distinct IL-21 program that was characterized phenotypically by increased expression of L-selectin and functionally by enhanced antitumor immunity that was not reversed by secondary in vitro stimulation with antigen and IL-2. Thus, the efficacy of CD8+ T cells for adoptive immunotherapy can be influenced by opposing differentiation programs conferred by IL-2 and IL-21, a finding with important implications for the development of cellular cancer therapies.
Activation of A1, A2A, or A3 adenosine receptors attenuates lung ischemia-reperfusion injury

Objective Adenosine and the activation of specific adenosine receptors are implicated in the attenuation of inflammation and organ ischemia-reperfusion injury. We hypothesized that activation of A 1 , A 2A , or A 3 adenosine receptors would provide protection against lung ischemia-reperfusion injury. Methods With the use of an isolated, ventilated, blood-perfused rabbit lung model, lungs underwent 18 hours of cold ischemia followed by 2 hours of reperfusion. Lungs were administered vehicle, adenosine, or selective A 1 , A 2A , or A 3 receptor agonists (CCPA, ATL-313, or IB-MECA, respectively) alone or with their respective antagonists (DPCPX, ZM241385, or MRS1191) during reperfusion. Results Compared with the vehicle-treated control group, treatment with A 1 , A 2A , or A 3 agonists significantly improved function (increased lung compliance and oxygenation and decreased pulmonary artery pressure), decreased neutrophil infiltration by myeloperoxidase activity, decreased edema, and reduced tumor necrosis factor-α production. Adenosine treatment was also protective, but not to the level of the agonists. When each agonist was paired with its respective antagonist, all protective effects were blocked. The A 2A agonist reduced pulmonary artery pressure and myeloperoxidase activity and increased oxygenation to a greater degree than the A 1 or A 3 agonists. Conclusion Selective activation of A 1 , A 2A , or A 3 adenosine receptors provides significant protection against lung ischemia-reperfusion injury. The decreased elaboration of the potent proinflammatory cytokine tumor necrosis factor-α and decreased neutrophil sequestration likely contribute to the overall improvement in pulmonary function. These results provide evidence for the therapeutic potential of specific adenosine receptor agonists in lung transplant recipients.
PARTICIPATION IN ADVENTURE-BASED ACTIVITIES AND SELF-CONCEPTS OF COLLEGE MEN AND WOMEN

A sample of 18 students (8 women, 10 men) enrolled in a semester-long adventure-education class and 32 (17 women, 15 men) enrolled in a general health class were administered the Tennessee Self-con...
Device ecologies to support collaborative learning in classrooms

Multi-touch technology has the potential to alter the way collaborative interactions occur among groups working on learning or problem solving activities. Placed within a device ecology in a classroom, the between group and whole class interactions become an important secondary learning environment. This paper will describe the development of a multi-touch classroom, and results from a range of studies that examined the interaction behaviors of students when using multi-touch technology.
Decreased Circulating Soluble Tie2 Levels in Preeclampsia May Result from Inhibition of Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor (VEGF) Signaling

Objectives: Recent studies have found dysregulation in circulating levels of a number of angiogenic factors and their soluble receptors in preeclampsia. In this study, we examined the mechanism of production of soluble Tie2 (sTie2) and its potential connection to the failure of vascular remodeling in preeclamptic pregnancies. Design/Setting/Patients: Serum samples were collected prospectively from 41 pregnant subjects at five different time points throughout pregnancy. Five of these subjects developed preeclampsia. For a second study, serum and placental samples were collected at delivery from preeclamptic and gestational age-matched controls. We examined serum sTie2 levels, and angiopoietin 1, angiopoietin 2, and Tie2 mRNA expression and localization in placental samples from the central basal plate area. We also examined the effects of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and a matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) inhibitor on proteolytic shedding of Tie2 in uterine microvascular endothelial cells. Resul...
Regulation of Stretch-Induced Mechanotransduction by Cytoskeletal Tension

Cytoskeletal tension enables cells to adhere, spread, contract, and migrate. In adherent, non-muscle cells such as endothelial cells and fibroblasts, tension is generated by actomyosin stress fibers applying traction forces to cell-matrix adhesions. Tension extends stress fibers beyond their unloaded lengths and cells maintain a preferred level of fiber strain that depends on actomyosin activity (Lu 2008). Stretching the matrix upon which cells adhere perturbs the cell-matrix traction forces and cells respond by actively re-establishing the pre-existing level of force (Gavara 2006). Sudden large increases or decreases in strain result in rapid stress fiber disassembly and reassembly (Lu 2008), suggesting that perturbing fiber strain from a preferred level stimulates stress fiber turnover.© 2010 ASME
Some aspects of diffusion: fluctuations in reaction diffusion and geometric influences in nonuniform media

We deal with two diffusion problems: Space-integrated conserved entities characterizing very fast - diffusion - controlled reactions, such as time lags, etc. are universal. They are given by relationships which do not reflect the failure of the mean field hydrodynamic equations. We present another application which does not reflect this failure, for determining the surface flux via a diffusion controlled reaction producing a colored product. Another anomalous diffusion process we considered is transport through cellular materials whose cell sizes are highly nonuniform. We have analyzed the effects of extreme nonuniformity by considering fractal-like models of cellular solids. The diffusion current through these models can exhibit anomalous time-dependencies which are not predicted by the diffusion equation. In particular, it is shown that the initial diffusion current can be characterized by a power-law dependence on the time. Furthermore, the exponent of the power law is given in terms of the distribution of cell sizes in the fractal-like cellular solid.
Particle size and shape in a citrate extract of ichthyocol.

Abstract Viscosity, sedimentation, and light-scattering data indicate that an acid-soluble component of carp swim bladder (ichthyocol), capable of reconstitution into typical collagen-like fibrils, disperses as long thin filaments (protofibrils) of weight one to two million, containing about one amino acid residue per angstrom of contour length.
The Kinetic and Spectral Characterization of the E. coli-Expressed Mammalian CYP4A7: Cytochrome b5 Effects Vary with Substrate

The CYP4A gene subfamily is composed of a number of genes that encode cytochromes P450 from various species, including human, which catalyze the hydroxylation of various saturated and unsaturated fatty acids, including arachidonic acid and prostaglandins. CYP4A7, a fatty acid metabolizing cytochrome P450 from rabbit kidney, was expressed in E. coli by adding the first 10 codons of CYP17alpha producing final yields of 20 nmol/L in order to perform detailed kinetic and spectral studies. CYP4A7 metabolized arachidonate, laurate, and myristate, with maximum turnover numbers of 152, 130, and 64.5 min(-1) and corresponding Km values of 74.5, 27, and 16.7 microM, respectively, in the presence of cytochrome b5. In the absence of cytochrome b5, CYP4A7 metabolized laurate and myristate with turnover numbers of 27.4 and 33.6 min(-1) and corresponding Km values of 3.9 and 33 microM, respectively. Arachidonate was not metabolized in the absence of cytochrome b5. Saturation kinetics studies performed with heme-depleted cytochrome b5 (apo cytochrome b5) yielded turnover numbers of 118 and 74 min(-1) and Km values of 74 and 25 microM with laurate and myristate, respectively, indicating that cytochrome b5 is not involved in electron transfer but rather plays a conformational role. Laurate perturbation of the visible absorption spectrum of CYP4A7 allowed for determination of the spectral binding constant (KS) in the absence and presence of cytochrome b5 (13 and 43 microM, respectively). In stopped-flow kinetics experiments, the flavin reduction (approximately 90 s(-1)) and heme reduction (approximately 9 s(-1)) phases of the monooxygenase reaction of CYP4A7 were not altered by the presence of cytochrome b5. Estimations of the rate of CPR (0.3 s(-1)) or cytochrome b5 (9.1 s(-1)) binding with CYP4A7 were also determined.
Adding bounds to kriging

The ordinary kriging interpolation algorithm is extended by the inclusion of explicit lower and upper bounds on the estimate. The associated estimation variance is written as the ordinary kriging variance plus a non-negative correction term.
Structural Damping-Induced Thermal Noise in Fiber Interferometric Systems

Fiber thermal noise caused by structural damping is analyzed using a 1-D model based on the Fluctuation-Dissipation Theorem. The result provides a new perspective on the precision limit of fiber interferometric systems at low frequencies.
Statistical and information properties of head direction cells

The human channel capacity for identifying sensory stimuli is compared with channel capacities based on neurophysiological findings. Studies have shown that cells in the postsubiculum (PoS) and the anterior dorsal thalamus (ADN) of the rat discharge as a function of the animal’s head direction in the horizontal plane. We compute the statistical properties of the firing rates of head direction (HD) cells and the potential amount of information transmitted by these cells according to two theoretical models. Thecell response model for single cells indicates that information transmitted is much less than 0.5 bits. Thepopulation response model developed for cell ensembles generates values in the range of 1–3.2 bits, suggesting that a cell population can distinguish between two and nine head directions, depending on the value used for the standard deviation of directions over which a cell fires. These values are similar to those found in human psychophysical studies of the channel capacity for unidimensional sensory attributes.
Invasive breast carcinoma cells from patients exhibit MenaINV- and macrophage-dependent transendothelial migration

Metastasis is a complex, multistep process of cancer progression that has few treatment options. A critical event is the invasion of cancer cells into blood vessels (intravasation), through which cancer cells disseminate to distant organs. Breast cancer cells with increased abundance of Mena [an epidermal growth factor (EGF)–responsive cell migration protein] are present with macrophages at sites of intravasation, called TMEM sites (for tumor microenvironment of metastasis), in patient tumor samples. Furthermore, the density of these intravasation sites correlates with metastatic risk in patients. We found that intravasation of breast cancer cells may be prevented by blocking the signaling between cancer cells and macrophages. We obtained invasive breast ductal carcinoma cells of various subtypes by fine-needle aspiration (FNA) biopsies from patients and found that, in an in vitro transendothelial migration assay, cells that migrated through a layer of human endothelial cells were enriched for the transcript encoding MenaINV, an invasive isoform of Mena. This enhanced transendothelial migration required macrophages and occurred with all of the breast cancer subtypes. Using mouse macrophages and the human cancer cells from the FNAs, we identified paracrine and autocrine activation of colony-stimulating factor-1 receptor (CSF-1R). The paracrine or autocrine nature of the signal depended on the breast cancer cell subtype. Knocking down MenaINV or adding an antibody that blocks CSF-1R function prevented transendothelial migration. Our findings indicate that MenaINV and TMEM frequency are correlated prognostic markers and CSF-1 and MenaINV may be therapeutic targets to prevent metastasis of multiple breast cancer subtypes.
American Mobility and the Expansion of Public Education

Educational institutions and intergenerational mobility are closely related; access to schools is a major determinant of a child's future success. This article offers new insight into this relationship with a study of mobility at the beginning of the United States' expansion of public schools in the early twentieth century. A new intergenerational data set is used to establish high rates of income mobility at the start of the century and a negative relationship between school quality and mobility. Educational attainment estimates reveal that this was a product of high-income families being more responsive to improving schools than poor families.
Archaeaplankton in the Columbia River, its estuary and the adjacent coastal ocean, USA

PCR-amplified 16S rRNA genes from particle-attached and free-living Archaea in the Columbia River estuary, particle-attached Archaea in the river, and Archaea in the adjacent coastal ocean were cloned, and 43 partial sequences were determined. There was a high diversity of Archaea in the estuary, especially among the particle-attached Archaea, with representatives from four major phylogenetic clusters. Eighteen of 21 estuarine clones were closely related to clones from the river and the coastal ocean or to clusters of marine and soil clones identified in other studies. This contrasts with a similar study of the estuarine bacterial community that found 62% of bacterial 16S rRNA clones to be unique to the estuary. Archaea in the estuary were primarily allochthonous, and therefore, unlike the bacteria, probably do not form a native estuarine community.