cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Regulation of the Human Fc-Neonatal Receptor alpha-Chain Gene FCGRT by MicroRNA-3181

FCGRT encodes the alpha-chain component of the neonatal Fc receptor (FcRn). FcRn is critical for the trafficking of endogenous and exogenous IgG molecules and albumin in various tissues. Few regulators of FcRn expression have been identified. We investigated the epigenetic regulation of FcRn by two microRNAs (hsa-miR-3181 and hsa-miR-3136-3p) acting on FCGRT. The binding of candidate microRNAs to the 3′-untranslated region of FCGRT was evaluated using luciferase reporter constructs in CHO cells. The effect of microRNAs on FCGRT mRNA and FcRn protein expression was evaluated using specific microRNA mimics and inhibitor transfections in A549, HEK293 and HepG2 cells. Hsa-miR-3181 mimic reduced luciferase reporter activity by 70.1% (10 nM, P < 0.0001). In A549, HEK293 and HepG2 cells, hsa-miR-3181 decreased FCGRT mRNA expression (48.6%, 51.3% and 43.5% respectively, 25 nM, P < 0.05). The hsa-miR-3181 mimic decreased the expression of FcRn protein by 40% after 48 h (25 nM, P < 0.001). The mature form of hsa-miR-3181 was detected in samples of human liver. These data suggest that hsa-miR-3181 is an epigenetic regulator of FCGRT expression. The identification of this regulator of FCGRT may provide insights into a potential determinant of interindividual variability in FcRn expression.
Patient handoffs: standardized and reliable measurement tools remain elusive.

Article-at-a-Glance Background Numerous quality improvement projects on patient handoffs have been conducted, yet standardized, reliable measurement tools remain elusive. Handoff Quality Measures Classified by Primary Handoff Purpose The literature review, which yielded approximately 400 relevant articles, led to the identification of seven primary functions for patient handoffs, each of which implies different interventions to improve them: (1) Framing 1, information processing is the most prevalent in the patient handoff literature; (2) Framing 2, stereotypical narratives, emphasizes highlighting deviations from typical narratives, such as a patient who is allergic to the preferred antibiotic for treating his or her diagnosed condition; (3) Framing 3, resilience, takes advantage of the transparency of the thought processes revealed through the conversation to identify erroneous assumptions and actions; (4) Framing 4, accountability, emphasizes the transfer of responsibility and authority; (5) Framing 5, social interaction, considers the perspective of the participants in the exchange; (6) Framing 6, distributed cognition, addresses how a transfer to a new care provider affects a network of specialized practitioners performing dedicated roles who may or may not be transitioning at the same time; (7) Framing 7, cultural norms, relates to how group values (instantiated as social norms for acceptable behavior) in an organization or suborganization are negotiated and maintained over time. Discussion The diversity of handoff measurement approaches suggests a lack of consensus about the primary purpose of a handoff, as well as about what interventions are most promising for improving handoff processes. Recognizing that there are simultaneously multiple purposes for handoffs is a critical precursor to quality improvement.
Atrial Natriuretic Peptide

The atria and other mammalian tissues contain a family of three peptides with natriuretic, diuretic, vasorelaxant, and other properties. This peptide family consists of atrial natriuretic peptide, brain natriuretic peptide, and C-type natriuretic peptide. Atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) is a polypeptide secreted by atrial muscle cells that acts as an endogenous antagonist of the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system. It is believed to be involved in regulation of salt and fluid balance as well as blood pressure. Its main systemic effects include vasodilation, natriuresis, and diuresis …
CityBeat: real-time social media visualization of hyper-local city data

With the increasing volume of location-annotated content from various social media platforms like Twitter, Instagram and Foursquare, we now have real-time access to people's daily documentation of local activities, interests and attention. In this demo paper, we present CityBeat, a real-time visualization of hyper-local social media content for cities. The main objective of CityBeat is to provide users -- with a specific focus on journalists -- with information about the city's ongoings, and alert them to unusual activities. The system collects a stream of geo-tagged photos as input, uses time series analysis and classification techniques to detect hyper-local events, and compute trends and statistics. The demo includes a visualization of this information that is designed to be installed on a large-screen in a newsroom, as an ambient display.
Golf Swing Rotational Velocity: The Essential Follow-Through.

Objective To evaluate if shoulder and pelvic angular velocities differ at impact or peak magnitude between professional and amateur golfers. Golf swing rotational biomechanics are a key determinant of power generation, driving distance, and injury prevention. We hypothesize that shoulder and pelvic angular velocities would be highly consistent in professionals. Methods Rotational velocities of the upper-torso and pelvis throughout the golf swing and in relation to phases of the golf swing were examined in 11 professionals and compared to 5 amateurs using three-dimensional motion analysis. Results Peak rotational velocities of professionals were highly consistent, demonstrating low variability (coefficient of variation [COV]), particularly upper-torso rotational velocity (COV=0.086) and pelvic rotational velocity (COV=0.079) during down swing. Peak upper-torso rotational velocity and peak X-prime, the relative rotational velocity of uppertorso versus pelvis, occurred after impact in follow-through, were reduced in amateurs compared to professionals (p=0.005 and p=0.005, respectively) and differentiated professionals from most (4/5) amateurs. In contrast, peak pelvic rotational velocity occurred in down swing. Pelvic velocity at impact was reduced in amateurs compared to professionals (p=0.019) and differentiated professionals from most (4/5) amateurs. Conclusion Golf swing rotational velocity of professionals was consistent in pattern and magnitude, offering benchmarks for amateurs. Understanding golf swing rotational biomechanics can guide swing modifications to help optimize performance and prevent injury.
Diet, physical activity and screen time but not body mass index are associated with the gut microbiome of a diverse cohort of college students living in university housing: a cross-sectional study.

Modifiable lifestyle factors (e.g. dietary intake and physical activity) are important contributors to weight gain during college. The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether associations exist between body mass index, physical activity, screen time, dietary consumption (fat, protein, carbohydrates, and fiber), and gut microbial diversity during the first year of college. Racially/ethnically diverse college students (n = 82; 61.0% non-white) at a large Southwestern university completed self-reported physical activity and 24-h recall dietary assessments, height and weight measurements, and provided one fecal sample for gut microbiome analysis. Fecal microbial community composition was assessed with Illumina MiSeq next-generation sequencing of PCR amplified 16S rRNA genes. Post-hoc analyses compared microbial diversity by groups of high and low physical activity and fiber intake using QIIME and LEfSe bioinformatics software. No statistically significant differences were observed between body mass index and gut microbiome abundance and diversity. Median daily consumption of dietary fiber was 11.2 (7.6, 14.9) g/d, while the median self-reported moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) was 55.7 (27.9, 79.3) min/d and screen time 195.0 (195.0, 315.0) min/d. Microbial analysis by LEfSe identified Paraprevotellaceae, Lachnospiraceae, and Lachnospira as important phylotypes in college students reporting greater MVPA, while Enterobacteriaceae and Enterobacteriales were more enriched among students reporting less MVPA (p < 0.05). Barnesiellaceae, Alphaproteobacteria, and Ruminococcus were more abundant taxa among those consuming less than the median fiber intake (p < 0.05). Post-hoc analyses comparing weighted UniFrac distance metrics based on combined categories of high and low MVPA and fiber revealed that clustering distances between members of the high MVPA-low fiber group were significantly smaller when compared to distances between members of all other MVPA-fiber groups (p < 0.0001). Habitual fiber consumption and MVPA behaviors help explain the differential abundance of specific microbial taxa and overall gut microbial diversity differences in first-year college students.
Clinico-epidemiological profile of hepatitis A virus and hepatitis E virus co-infection in pediatric age group: a hospital based retrospective study

Background: Hepatitis-A virus (HAV) and Hepatitis E virus (HEV) are two major hepatotropic viruses of great public health importance in the developing countries like India. Both HAV and HEV are enterically transmitted and there are speculations that their co-infection might be associated with a more severe clinical course and increased rate of mortality. The objective of this study is to determine the prevalence, clinical features and biochemical parameters of Hepatitis A and Hepatitis E co-infection in hospitalized patients at a tertiary care centre in Uttarakhand. Methods: It is a retrospective study, covering a period of 4years and conducted in Himalayan Institute of Medical Sciences, SRHU Jolly Grant, Dehradun. Records of the patients with Hepatitis A and Hepatitis E co-infection were retrieved and analyzed. Results: Out of total 125 patients of acute viral hepatitis, 13 patients had HAV and HEV co-infection. 100% of the patients with co-infection presented with complaints of fever and jaundice, followed by 76.92% with vomiting, 69.23% with pruritis, 61.53% with pain in abdomen and 23.07% with altered sensorium. Mean Bilirubin, ALT, AST were 8.69±7.27 mg/dl, 2030.69±1726.93IU/L and 1880.07±1881.11IU/L respectively. Average duration of stay was 8.2 days. Encephalopathy was seen in 2 patients. However, no mortality was reported. Conclusions: Co-infection of HAV and HEV is not rare in pediatric age group. Knowledge about this will be of immense help for planning of future vaccination strategies and for better sanitation program in developing countries like India.
Case Study of Crash Severity Spatial Pattern Identification in Hot Spot Analysis

Traffic crash hot spot analyses allow identification of roadway segments that may be of safety concern. Understanding geographic patterns of existing motor vehicle crashes is one of the primary ste...
Esclavitud y tráfico de esclavos en el Pacífico suramericano durante la era de la abolición

The abolitionist project, which was foundational to the creation of the Republic of Colombia in 1921, was cut short by the interests of the slaveowning class, particularly those whose economic power was derived from gold mining in the Pacific Coast province of Popayan. In the 1840s, when the country had fragmented and Popayan formed part of New Granada, these elites convinced the government to reopen the slave trade, exporting large numbers of slaves and freedmen to Peru and Panama. This article analyzes the activism of slaveowners from 1822 up through the opening of the slave trade in the Pacific port of Buenaventura. It argues that the struggles to permit or abolish slavery did not lead to linear results and that they played a role in state formation in two dimensions: regional tensions and international alliances. It also intervenes in the debate on the abolition of slavery in the Atlantic world by expanding the frontier of its analysis towards the Pacific, while showing how the new republics of the Andean world formed part of a network of ideas and trade that connected North and South America. In this sense, the history of the abolition of slavery in Colombia, seen in a wider context, speaks to the way in which republican economic and political projects, as well as the history of the forced migrations of Afro-descendants in the region, should be framed transnationally.
Developing Relationships: Building Patient Relationships

Building patient relationships is a key component of clinical practice. Good provider-patient relationships can improve patient outcomes, enhance compliance, and decrease the potential for medico-legal action after adverse events. Surgeon-patient relationships inherently require a high degree of trust. Strong communication and setting clear expectations can help optimize surgical care, and assist in building a clinical practice.
Topic Modeling with Contextualized Word Representation Clusters.

Clustering token-level contextualized word representations produces output that shares many similarities with topic models for English text collections. Unlike clusterings of vocabulary-level word embeddings, the resulting models more naturally capture polysemy and can be used as a way of organizing documents. We evaluate token clusterings trained from several different output layers of popular contextualized language models. We find that BERT and GPT-2 produce high quality clusterings, but RoBERTa does not. These cluster models are simple, reliable, and can perform as well as, if not better than, LDA topic models, maintaining high topic quality even when the number of topics is large relative to the size of the local collection.
A 3.5-mV Input Single-Inductor Self-Starting Boost Converter With Loss-Aware MPPT for Efficient Autonomous Body-Heat Energy Harvesting

A single-inductor self-starting boost converter is presented, which is suitable for thermoelectric energy harvesting from human body heat. In order to extract maximum energy from a thermoelectric generator (TEG) at small temperature gradients, a loss-aware maximum power point tracking (MPPT) scheme was developed, which enables the harvester to achieve high end-to-end efficiency at low input voltages. The boost converter is implemented in a 0.18- $\mu \text{m}$ CMOS technology and is more than 75% efficient for a matched input voltage range of 15–100 mV, with a peak efficiency of 82%. Enhanced power extraction enables the converter to sustain operation at an input voltage as low as 3.5 mV. In addition, the boost converter self-starts with a minimum TEG voltage of 50 mV leveraging a dual-path architecture without using additional off-chip components.
Endophthalmitis following Intravitreal Anti-Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor Therapy: Changes in Incidence and Outcomes over a 9-Year Period.

Aims: To evaluate whether the incidence, microbial spectrum, and visual outcomes of endophthalmitis following intravitreal injections have changed over time. Methods: Retrospective cohort study of ...
Genome-Wide Association Study and Genomic Prediction for Soybean Cyst Nematode Resistance in USDA Common Bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) Core Collection

Soybean cyst nematode (SCN, Heterodera glycines) has become the major yield-limiting biological factor in soybean production. Common bean is also a good host of SCN, and its production is challenged by this emerging pest in many regions such as the upper Midwest USA. The use of host genetic resistance has been the most effective and environmentally friendly method to manage SCN. The objectives of this study were to evaluate the SCN resistance in the USDA common bean core collection and conduct a genome-wide association study (GWAS) of single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers with SCN resistance. A total of 315 accessions of the USDA common bean core collection were evaluated for resistance to SCN HG Type 0 (race 6). The common bean core set was genotyped with the BARCBean6K_3 Infinium BeadChips, consisting of 4,654 SNPs. Results showed that 15 accessions were resistant to SCN with a Female Index (FI) at 4.8 to 9.4, and 62 accessions were moderately resistant (10 < FI < 30) to HG Type 0. The association study showed that 11 SNP markers, located on chromosomes Pv04, 07, 09, and 11, were strongly associated with resistance to HG Type 0. GWAS was also conducted for resistance to HG Type 2.5.7 and HG Type 1.2.3.5.6.7 based on the public dataset (N = 276), consisting of a diverse set of common bean accessions genotyped with the BARCBean6K_3 chip. Six SNPs associated with HG Type 2.5.7 resistance on Pv 01, 02, 03, and 07, and 12 SNPs with HG Type 1.2.3.5.6.7 resistance on Pv 01, 03, 06, 07, 09, 10, and 11 were detected. The accuracy of genomic prediction (GP) was 0.36 to 0.49 for resistance to the three SCN HG types, indicating that genomic selection (GS) of SCN resistance is feasible. This study provides basic information for developing SCN-resistant common bean cultivars, using the USDA core germ plasm accessions. The SNP markers can be used in molecular breeding in common beans through marker-assisted selection (MAS) and GS.
Telehealth Optimization – Role of Clinical Athletic Trainers In Orthopedic/Sports Medicine Practice

Background: Prior to COVID-19, telehealth (TH) implementation in most health systems was minimal. The transition to high rates of TH was dramatic in response to COVID-19, and many health systems struggled to develop optimal, efficient TH workflows. Hypothesis/Purpose: The primary purpose of this study was to evaluate the role of clinically integrated athletic trainers (ATs) into the TH transition of a major orthopedic academic center through growth of TH visits as well as physician satisfaction. Methods: Workflows and tip sheets were designed to include considerations of TH visit increases, adoption of appropriate technology platforms and optimal staff models. The rapid rate of TH adoption by orthopedic providers as well as the rates of TH visits were monitored. Growth of TH and in person (IP) visits was reviewed over a 4 month period. The percentage of TH visits compared to total visits was calculated. These results were then subjectively reviewed by physician leadership for satisfaction and effectiveness of the TH clinic. Results: TH became common practice in March due to COVID-19 social distancing measures. In mid-May, the organization lifted restrictions to allow for greater IP visits. March – June, TH visits were 291, 702, 408 and 193, respectively. IP visits were 862, 393, 730 and 788 for months March – June, respectively. Percentage of TH visits was highest in April, accounting for 64% of all visits (Figure 1). At the beginning of TH implementation (March), the organizational electronic medical record platform was used for virtual visits. There was a high drop-rate, inability to share images and overall patient dissatisfaction. TH visits were transitioned to a 3rd party platform in April. Initial concerns were that it required more man-power to run: families had to be emailed a link, patients were manually checked-in/out, and documentation had to be collected. ATs were used exclusively to coordinate and execute the visits. Physician satisfaction for TH visits resulted in compliance and increased desire to continue a virtual-based clinic. Discussion/Conclusion: While the future of TH is not clear health systems will increasingly rely on this modality. Developing optimal workflows will be critical for further acceptance, effectiveness, and managing the financial costs/returns of providing this service. A clinically integrated athletic training team can be utilized to develop, monitor and maintain a TH system, both for sports medicine and general orthopedic practices.
Pleadings, Proof, and Judgment: A Unifed Theory of Civil Litigation

The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent pleadings decisions—Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly and Ashcroft v. Iqbal—have injected considerable chaos into the system of civil litigation. The decisions impose an uncertain “plausibility” requirement and appear to endorse an increased power of district courts to dismiss complaints—a power that may be employed in an unprincipled, normatively problematic manner. The current pleading issues resemble similar issues that have arisen with summary judgment and judgment as a matter of law. This Article argues that there has been a significant failure at both the doctrinal and theoretical levels to relate these three procedural devices to the evidentiary proof process in particular and the system of civil litigation as a whole. It introduces a theory of “procedural accuracy” that explains, clarifies, and provides content to the standards for each device, explains how the theory fits, and explains important aspects of the doctrine for each device. Finally, and most importantly, I defend the theory and its standards as normatively desirable in light of procedural values that underlie the system of civil litigation as a whole.
Taxicab Economics: The Freedom to Contract for a Ride

In an era of free enterprise and exchange, the taxicab is one of the last industries held tightly to the public breast. Local laws in many cities regulate how many taxicabs are on the roads, what they charge, how old a vehicle can be, and how much English a driver must know. Nonetheless, many of the problems associated with taxicab service are just the ones such laws are designed to meet. Nearly all of us have endured the pain of not being able to hail a taxicab, 'felt' overcharged, had a fruitless exchange with a driver who could not speak the language, or ridden in a jalopy unfit for the road. Still, proponents of these laws stand by their position, warning that the consequences of removing restrictions on price and entry are even worse. This Article canvasses the features of economic regulation - price and entry constraints - to determine if local taxicab markets are unsuited for market control. This Article plans to answer several sets of questions by its end. To begin, what are the regulatory regimes in the taxicab industry? What do the regulations cover? Thus, I begin by setting out the instruments of economic regulation in the taxicab industry. Since it is often useful to illustrate by way of example, four large cities (New York, London, Washington, and Indianapolis) are discussed. In attempt to ascertain whether there are good arguments for regulating the taxicab industry, I visit the debate on economic regulation in taxicab markets. The economic rationales for price and entry regulation are considered. Taxicab markets display few, if any, of the symptoms traditionally-associated with a monopoly or an excessively competitive market. Thereafter, I turn to the non-economic rationales for economic regulation of taxicab markets. Finally, what sort of regulatory regime, if any, is appropriate? What are the options? To answer this, three alternatives to full-fledged economic regulation in taxicab markets are put forward and considered in turn. Specifically, this Part discusses briefly split-pricing, partial regulation, and deregulation as possible regimes and starting points for future analyses of taxicab markets. After reviewing the options, I conclude that deregulation is the best choice in large cities.
Design of an InP-based deeply etched waveguide grating for the implementation of entire C- or L-band rejection filters

In this paper, design and study of a deeply-etched grating that provides a reflection transfer function suited for implementation of an entire C- or L-optical communications band rejection filter, is presented, for applications in InP-based integrated optics.
Solar corona–induced fluctuations on spacecraft signal amplitude observed during solar superior conjunctions of the Cassini spacecraft

[1] During the superior solar conjunctions of interplanetary spacecraft, the emitted radio signals undergo increased amplitude scintillation, phase scintillation, and spectral broadening due to the intervening charged particles of the solar corona. The magnitude of these parameters generally increases as the angle between the spacecraft and the center of the Sun (Sun-Earth probe (SEP) angle) decreases as observed by the tracking station on Earth. During periods of quiescent background, the scintillation and spectral broadening measurements of spacecraft in the ecliptic follow well-defined trends of established models as a function of SEP angle and link frequency. The amplitude data acquired from the Cassini solar superior conjunctions of May 2000 and June 2001 during the maximum of Solar Cycle 23 were analyzed. The X band (8.4 GHz) and Ka band (32 GHz) scintillation measurements from the signal amplitude, the autocorrelation function of the amplitude, and the histogram of the amplitude samples acquired during quiescent periods were found to be consistent with models based on previous studies with other wavelengths. Amplitude autocorrelation functions of the signal amplitude yield information on the limiting scale sizes of the charged-particle blobs which constitute the solar corona. Evidence for very fast fluctuations at X band (∼3 ms) was observed at SEP angles near 0.6°. The histograms of the open-loop receiver amplitude samples were found to be consistent with the Rice distribution. The transition from strong to weak scintillation at Ka band was clearly captured in a Cassini 2001 solar conjunction pass that occurred near an SEP angle of 0.6° (2.3 RS) as was expected for this frequency. The existing scintillation models were validated for Ka band, which is planned as a link frequency for deep space communications for upcoming missions. These results from this study are useful in providing information on solar activity on spacecraft signals at both X band and Ka band, which can be used to develop telecommunication strategies during solar superior conjunctions of planetary spacecraft.
Persuasion: An Annotated Bibliography

In keeping with the mission of J. ALWD, this bibliography focuses on books and articles that tell us something about how to persuade in legal writing. The backbone of the bibliography is scholarship that dedicates itself explicitly to the task of illuminating something about the mysterious phenomenon of persuasion in legal communication. Included here are articles such as those addressing the use of policy arguments, classical rhetoric, and metaphors in legal writing. But also included are articles and books that can tell us something important about persuasion in legal writing but that have, for whatever reason, not discussed writing or law practice explicitly. These include ruminations on argumentation theory, “framing” of legal arguments, and semiotics. Together, they tell a riveting story of how lawyers go about the business of convincing people.My goal here was to set out a kind of “greatest hits” of persuasion; a starter list for someone who wants to learn more about the topic. In doing so, my focus was on works that analyze persuasion deeply and theoretically, and less so on “how to” lists. This is not a judgment on the utility of the shorter “how to” lists of persuasion, which are valuable tools and eminently useful to both practitioners and academics. But I thought this bibliography should be a celebration of the renaissance of the discipline of persuasion and rhetoric in law and legal writing, and the treatment of persuasion as a theoretical, academic pursuit. So the works that follow are (mostly) those that go beyond a statement of what is persuasive toward a more analytical examination of why or how something persuades.
Morphology and Biogenesis of Cellulose and Plant Cell-Walls

Publisher Summary The chapter focuses on the relevant aspects of composition, structure, and evolution of the plant cell-walls. The chemical and physical properties of the structural polysaccharides and their biosynthesis are reviewed. The chapter reviews the development of present knowledge concerning the physicochemical properties of cellulosic microfibrils. The biological processes that account for the production and properties of the cell wall materials and the cell organelles that are instrumental in the execution of these processes are also discussed in the chapter. Plant cell-wall polysaccharides show correlation between biosynthesis with the organelles and functions of the cell, as a programmed sequence of events that is responsible for division, growth, and differentiation processes. This correlation involves not only the production and molecular properties of the polysaccharides, but also the architecture and function of the cell wall in which they serve as highly specific, structural materials.
Tight-Binding Models of Amorphous Systems: Liquid Metals

A tight-binding approach to the electronic structure of disordered systems is developed for a simple one-orbital model of a liquid metal. An equation is derived for a one-electron continuum Green's function from which the electronic density of states can be obtained. Utilizing an analogy between this Green's function and the $T$ matrix of multiple-scattering theory, results are obtained corresponding to the quasicrystalline approximation (QCA) of Lax and the self-consistent approximation (SCA) of Schwartz and Ehrenreich. Moments of the spectral function are also analyzed. Calculations were made using random and hard-sphere pair distribution functions. The QCA in this model is quite inadequate, and the SCA, while a considerable improvement, proves to involve a questionable approximation to the three-body distribution function.
5 CLONING AND CHARACTERIZATION OF NEWBORN OVARY HOMEOBOX GENE (NOBOX) IN CATTLE

Newborn ovary homeobox (NOBOX) is a homeobox gene that is preferentially expressed in the oocytes and is essential for folliculogenesis in mice. NOBOX knockout mice are infertile, and lack of NOBOX perturbs the expression of many germ-cell-specific genes and microRNAs. Furthermore, mutations in the NOBOX gene associated with premature ovarian failure have been described in humans. However, the temporal and cell-specific expression of NOBOX in bovine oocytes and the potential function of NOBOX in early embryogenesis have not been described previously. The objectives of this study were to clone the complementary (c)DNA encoding for bovine NOBOX, analyze the expression of NOBOX mRNA in bovine tissues including fetal ovaries of different developmental stages, and characterize the temporal expression patterns of NOBOX mRNA during oocyte maturation and early embryogenesis. Based on the sequence of a predicted cDNA for bovine NOBOX, we successfully amplified, using RT-PCR, a cDNA fragment representing the coding region of bovine NOBOX from bovine fetal ovary cDNA. Additional 5′ and 3′ sequences were obtained using rapid amplification of cDNA ends (RACE) procedures. The assembled full-length NOBOX cDNA is 2275 bp with an open reading frame encoding a protein of 500 amino acids with a conserved homeodomain and typical nuclear localization signal. The predicted NOBOX protein shares 61% and 49% amino acid sequence identity with its human and mouse counterparts, respectively. A BLAST search of the bovine genome database at the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) revealed that the bovine NOBOX gene is located on chromosome 4, spans approximately 5.5 kb, and is encoded by 7 exons. Northern blot analysis revealed an approximately 2.3-kb bovine NOBOX RNA transcript. RT-PCR analysis of RNA samples from a panel of 14 different bovine tissues revealed that expression of NOBOX mRNA is restricted to ovarian samples and can be detected in fetal ovaries harvested as early as 105 days of gestation, when primary follicles start to form. Further RT-PCR analysis using RNA isolated from oocytes and granulosa and cumulus cells of antral follicles indicates that bovine NOBOX is expressed in oocytes but not in other follicular cells. Real-time PCR analysis demonstrated that NOBOX mRNA is abundant in germinal vesicle and metaphase II stage oocytes, as well as from pronuclear to 8-cell stage embryos, but barely detectable in embryos collected at the morula and blastocyst stages, suggesting that NOBOX might be a maternal effect gene. Collectively, our results demonstrate that bovine NOBOX is specifically expressed in oocytes and may play a role in early embryonic development in addition to its known function in folliculogenesis.
Numerical Investigation on Optimal Design of Solid Particle Solar Receiver

Solar thermo-chemical processes often require high temperatures that can be achieved by direct absorption of solar energy. The solid particle solar receiver can be used to heat ceramic particles that may serve as a heat transfer and storage medium or as a substrate on which chemical reaction may be performed directly. Using solid particles enclosed in a cavity to absorb concentrated solar radiation can provide efficient absorption of concentrated sunlight. In this work, different solid particle solar receiver designs have been investigated by using computation fluid dynamics (CFD) technique. The gas particle flow with the solid particle solar receiver was simulated by using two-way coupled Euler-Lagrange method. The direct illumination energy source that results from incident solar radiation was predicted by a solar load model using a solar ray tracing algorithm. The detailed information to guide the experiment, such as the particle and gas velocity, temperature, particle solid volume fraction, and cavity efficiency under different designs has been analyzed.Copyright © 2007 by ASME
Lactic acid fermentation in the production of foods from vegetables, cereals and legumes

Lactic acid bacteria perform an essential role in the preservation and production of wholesome foods. Generally the lactic acid fermentations are low-cost and often little or no heat is required in their preparation. Thus, they are fuelefficient. Lactic acid fermented foods have an important role in feeding the world's population on every continent today. As world population rises, lactic acid fermentation is expected to become even more important in preserving fresh vegetables, fruits, cereals and legumes for feeding humanity.
What’s so incomplete about incomplete acquisition?: A prolegomenon to modeling heritage language grammars

Modeling the competence grammar of heritage speakers who exhibit low proficiency in their L1 represents a significant challenge for generative and experimental approaches to bilingual linguistic research. In this paper we revisit the core tenets of the incomplete acquisition hypothesis as developed in recent scholarship (in particular by Montrul (2002 et seq.) and Polinsky (1997, 2006)). Although we adopt many of these fundamental aspects of this research program, in this article we develop an alternative model that provides a more accurate depiction of the process that leads to what these scholars describe as the (later) effects of incomplete acquisition, thus improving the predictive power of this research program.
Testing and extending the unfolding model of voluntary turnover to it professionals

This study examines the turnover decision processes of information technology (IT) personnel for the first time. Our theoretical guide for this investigation was the unfolding model of voluntary turnover (Lee & Mitchell, 1994), the preeminent turnover process model. Most of the 124 leavers used three new decision paths that shared the characteristic of including an alternative job search and evaluation; another significant number used the original five theorized paths. In sharp contrast to earlier findings on the unfolding model, the majority of respondents (88%) reported following paths not among the original five theorized paths.This result strongly suggests that IT professionals likely take numerous routes in deciding to leave current employment, most of which involve some search for and consideration of alternative jobs. A general conclusion for human resource managers is to assume that IT professionals are aware of alternative opportunities and to consider early interventions emphasizing the relative benefits of the current job over labor market competitors. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Some Ostracoda from Rodessa, Pearsall, Sligo, and Upper Hosston Formations (Lower Cretaceous) of Louisiana: ABSTRACT

A preliminary study of Ostracoda from core samples in the Rodessa Formation (lower Trinity Group), and from the Pearsall, Sligo, and upper Hosston Formations (Coahuila Series), Lower Cretaceous, of the subsurface of northern Louisiana, has yielded 52 species. Only a small fraction of the known ostracode assemblage is dealt with here. On the basis of present limited knowledge, the Rodessa Formation contains common Eocytheropteron, Hechticythere, Rehacythereis?, and Cornicythereis suggesting an open shelf environment. The Sligo Formation contains common Schuleridea, probably representing an open shelf environment, as well as Fabanella and Hutsonia, representing brackish lagoonal or estuarine environments. The upper part of the Hosston Formation contains common Paraschuleridea (open shelf) and Fabanella (brackish water) and a variety of other forms that suggest a range of conditions from lagoonal and estuarine to open shelf habitats. End_of_Article - Last_Page 533------------
Between Body and Mind: Shamans and Politics among the Anga, Baktaman and Gebusi in Papua New Guinea

Etude de la place et du role des chamans chez les Baruya Anga, les Baktaman, les Gebusi et les Etoro de Papouasie-Nouvelle-Guinee d'un point de vue religieux, politique et social et en les situant par rapport aux guerriers et aux « big men ». Chaque categorie de leader represente des cas differents de relations avec le corps et l'intersection entre les genres politiques et les conceptions de pouvoir est a voir en terme d'interrelations entre le corps et l'esprit : le chaman combine une influence sur les deux.
Working memory differences in illusory recollection of critical lures

In the present experiments, we explored the rela- tionship between individual differences in working memory (WM) capacity and susceptibility to false recognitions and their accompanying subjective experiences. Deese/Roediger- McDermott (DRM) associative lists were used to elicit false memories, and remember/know judgments were used to mea- sure the recollective experiences accompanying recognition decisions. We found that WM capacity was related to false recognitions of nonpresented critical lures and to the propor- tion of remember responses given to critical lures, such that higher WM capacity was associated with lower false- recognition rates and with lower proportions of remember responses. Importantly, these WM differences were only found when participants were forewarned about the nature of the DRM task prior to encoding (Exp. 1). When the fore- warning was absent, WM capacity was not related to false recognitionsortothe proportionofremember responsesgiven to critical lures (Exp. 2). These results support the controlled- attention view of WM and suggest that subjective experiences of falsely recognized lures fluctuate as a function of WM capacity.
The railroad strike of 1927: labor and law after the Mexican Revolution

Mexico's rail workers’ struggle of 1926–27 encompassed one of the largest strikes following the 1910–20 revolution, yet contemporary official government statistics omitted any mention of it. The labor struggle involved an independent, militant confederation of transport workers and, opposed to it, the largest rail company in the country (heavily indebted to foreign creditors), the state, and its principal labor ally. While the strike was broken, the confederation leading it obtained an impressive judgment from the nation's supreme court against the authoritarian federal executive power, which, moreover, vindicated the right to strike affirmed in the 1917 Constitution. But the judicial and administrative decisions reached in connection with the strike subsequently served to structure and limit labor's right to strike. This article analyzes the railroad strike of 1927, the judicial and administrative response to it, and its legal significance, which together have contributed to the formation of the nation's...
Study of the Vibromyographic Signal as a Means for Quantifying Muscular Effort

Abstract The present work describes an effort to quantify the level of muscular activation by monitoring and processing muscular vibrations under isometric conditions. The history and nature of vibromyography (VMG) are examined, and a brief review of current VMG literature is presented. In addition, preliminary results from an ongoing study are presented. Although several subjects were included in this feasibility study, the results from only one subject are presented here. The subject was asked to reach 25%, 50%, 75%, and 100% of his maximum isometric elbow extension. A uniaxial accelerometer was placed over his right triceps brachii and monitored the transverse component of the underlying muscle's acceleration. Electromyographic (EMG) data were also recorded from the long and lateral heads of the same muscle. Results were then processed using traditional algorithms and the ability of VMG and EMG to discriminate among the four different effort levels were compared. The data indicated that VMG was able to discriminate between the 75% and 100% effort levels better than EMG. Currently, this protocol is being applied to additional subjects using more advanced signal processing as well as discriminant analyses to improve effort level discrimination as well as fatigue detection.
Neurodevelopmental changes in verbal working memory load-dependency: An fMRI investigation

Development of working memory (WM) aptitude parallels structural changes in the frontal-parietal association cortices important for performance within this cognitive domain. The cerebellum has been proposed to function in support of the postulated phonological loop component of verbal WM, and along with frontal and parietal cortices, has been shown to exhibit linear WM load-dependent activation in adults. It is not known if these kinds of WM load-dependent relationships exist for cerebro-cerebellar networks in developmental populations, and whether there are age-related changes in the nature of load-dependency between childhood, adolescence, and adulthood. The present study used fMRI and a verbal Sternberg WM task with three load levels to investigate developmental changes in WM load-dependent cerebro-cerebellar activation in a sample of 30 children, adolescents, and young adults between the ages of 7 and 28. The neural substrates of linear load-dependency were found to change with age. Among adolescents and adults, frontal, parietal and cerebellar regions showed linear load-dependency, or increasing activation under conditions of increasing WM load. In contrast, children recruited only left ventral prefrontal cortex in response to increasing WM load. These results demonstrate that, while children, adolescents, and young adults activate similar cerebro-cerebellar verbal working memory networks, the extent to which they rely on parietal and cerebellar regions in response to increasing task difficulty changes significantly between childhood and adolescence.
12. What’s Reconciliation Got to Do With It? The International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) as Antiwar Profitee

Abstract This article argues that the actions and activities of the ICTY have not been beneficial to achieving reconciliation or stability in the Balkans, but to the contrary are part of the reason that parts of the region have remained unstable. This result should not be unexpected as there is very little evidence, if indeed any, that indicates that protracted tribunals like the ICTY (and unlike, therefore, Nuremberg), have ever had, or even could have, beneficial effects on reconciliation. It argues, further, that the primary beneficiaries of the ICTY have been international human rights lawyers and human rights agencies, and in the region itself, the political parties of indictees. Considering the amounts of money spent on the Tribunal compared to those spent on rebuilding the region it seems that the ICTY has functioned better as an antiwar profiteer than it has as a promoter of peace and reconstruction
GAMMA-GAMMA COINCIDENCE MEASUREMENTS FOLLOWING INELASTIC NEUTRON SCATTERING

Abstract Gamma-gamma coincidences following the inelastic scattering of accelerator-produced monoenergetic neutrons have been experimentally observed. A coincidence system consisting of a neutron collimator and three HPGe γ-ray detectors, is shown to provide important information on the isotopic identification and placement of γ rays. The development and use of the system is described, and initial results are presented.
Cognitive Training: Targeting Cognitive Processes in the Development of Behavioral Interventions

The articles in this series relate to research on the modification of cognitive processes thought to be causally related to behavioral or emotional problems. The examination of the effects of targe...
Aminopeptidase activity in homogenates of various absorptive mucosae m the albino rabbit: implications in peptide delivery

Abstract A methodology was developed to determine the type and activity of aminopeptidases in the conjunetival, nasal, buccal, rectal and vaginal homogenates, relative to duodenal and ileal homogenates, so as to define the aminopeptidase barrier to peptide absorption from non-oral routes. 4-Methoxy-2-naphthylamides of leucine, alanine, arginine and glutamic acid were used as substrates. Based on the pattern of substrate hydrolysis and the effect of activators and inhibitors on the rate of substrate hydrolysis, four to five aminopeptidases were estimated to be present in the mucosal homogenates studied. Aminopeptidase N was present in all these mucosae to the extent of 50–100% of ileal activity, whereas aminopeptidase A was present to the extent of 4–20% of ileal activity. Overall, the differences in aminopeptidase activity among the various non-oral routes were not large. This suggests that, before guidelines can be established to select a given route for optimal peptide delivery, further work is necessary to determine if the non-oral routes differ in non-aminopeptidase activity and in membrane permeability.
A two-phase greedy algorithm to locate and allocate hubs for fixed-wireless broadband access

We study a two-phase, budget-constrained, network-planning problem with multiple hub types and demand scenarios. In each phase, we install (or move) capacitated hubs on selected buildings. We allocate hubs to realized demands, under technological constraints. We present a greedy algorithm to maximize expected demand covered and computationally study its performance.
Correlations between WISC‐R subtests and verbal, performance, and full scale IQ scores for minority group children

The relationship between WISC-R subtest scores and Verbal, Performance, and Full Scale IQs was investigated for a sample comprised of rural Appalachian children. The sample was comprised of both white and black children who might be described as culturally different by virtue of low family income and residence in the mountainous areas of Virginia and North Carolina. Data analysis consisted of computing product-moment correlations (rs) between each of the ten subtests and the Verbal, Performance, and Full Scale IQs. Correlations between individual subtests and the FS IQ ranged from.49 through.63, but none of the differences between these rs were large enough to attain significance. Correlations between the verbal subtests and Verbal IQ ranged from.64 for Comprehension up to.78 for Vocabulary. For the performance subtest, the rs ranged from.54 between Coding and the Performance IQ up to.72 for Object Assembly.
Anomaly matching for the QCD string.

It is found possible to formulate a criterion to be satisfied by a string theory of QCD at short distances arising from the trace anomaly of the QCD stress tensor computed using instantons. It is sensitive to asymptotic freedom and appears to be related to the trace anomaly of the QCD string. Our current understanding of noncritical strings in physical dimensions is limited, but remarkably, a formal treatment of the bosonic string yields numerical agreement both in magnitude and sign for the gauge group SU(2).