cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
HDAC Dependent Transcriptional Repression of Bmp-7 Potentiates TGF-β Mediated Renal Fibrosis in Obstructive Uropathy

Purpose: Recombinant BMP-7 inhibits the pathogenesis of renal injury in response to various stimuli. However, little is known about the molecular regulation of endogenous BMP-7 and its renal protective functions. We examined transcriptional regulation of Bmp-7 and its role in the pathogenesis of renal injury resulting from urinary tract dysfunction.Materials and Methods: Obstruction induced renal injury was modeled in vivo in mice by unilateral ureteral obstruction and in vitro in primary kidney cells by treatment with transforming growth factor-β, a profibrotic cytokine that is increased in the obstructed kidney.Results: Unilateral ureteral obstruction resulted in the loss of BMP-7 expression in conjunction with histone deacetylation and transcriptional repression of the Bmp-7 promoter. The histone deacetylase inhibitor trichostatin A stimulated Bmp-7 expression in primary kidney cells. Trichostatin A also inhibited the expression of transforming growth factor-β dependent profibrotic genes in a manner th...
Myeloperoxidase-mediated oxidation of methionine.

The myeloperoxidase-mediated oxidation of methionine was studied using a purified canine myeloperoxidase preparation. The system required the simultaneous presence of myeloperoxidase, H2O2, and a halide anion. When 0.1 mM H2O2 was used, the system has a pH optimum of approximately pH 5–5.5. Bromide and iodide were much more effective than chloride in the myeloperoxidase-mediated oxidation of methionine. Horseradish peroxidase was unable to oxidize methionine whether chloride or iodide was used. In contrast, lactoperoxidase oxidized methionine in the presence of iodide but not chloride. Based on studies of (1) the effect of various inhibitors and singlet oxygen quenchers, as well as (2) the effect of D2O on the oxidation of methionine, by the myeloperoxidase system, OCl−, or methylene blue, it was shown that the oxidation of methionine by the myeloperoxidase system was not mediated by OCl− or 1O2. The mechanism of the myeloperoxidase-mediated oxidation of methionine remains unclear. However, it may be one mechanism by which the myeloperoxidase system damage microorganisms.
Categorical perception of affective and linguistic facial expressions

Two experiments investigated categorical perception (CP) effects for affective facial expressions and linguistic facial expressions from American Sign Language (ASL) for Deaf native signers and hearing non-signers. Facial expressions were presented in isolation (Experiment 1) or in an ASL verb context (Experiment 2). Participants performed ABX discrimination and identification tasks on morphed affective and linguistic facial expression continua. The continua were created by morphing end-point photo exemplars into 11 images, changing linearly from one expression to another in equal steps. For both affective and linguistic expressions, hearing non-signers exhibited better discrimination across category boundaries than within categories for both experiments, thus replicating previous results with affective expressions and demonstrating CP effects for non-canonical facial expressions. Deaf signers, however, showed significant CP effects only for linguistic facial expressions. Subsequent analyses indicated that order of presentation influenced signers’ response time performance for affective facial expressions: viewing linguistic facial expressions first slowed response time for affective facial expressions. We conclude that CP effects for affective facial expressions can be influenced by language experience.
Reconsidering syllabic minimality in Spanish truncation

It is well known that the minimal size of a content word in Spanish is bimoraic monosyllable. It is also well established that the minimal size of a Spanish foot is also a monosyllable, as long as it is bimoraic. Accordingly, this study defends that the shape of Spanish truncated words is minimally a bimoraic single syllable as well, and offers an optimality theoretical analysis of the data.
Advancing the identification and evaluation of distributed rainfall‐runoff models using global sensitivity analysis

[1] This study provides a step-wise analysis of a conceptual grid-based distributed rainfall-runoff model, the United States National Weather Service (US NWS) Hydrology Laboratory Research Distributed Hydrologic Model (HL-RDHM). It evaluates model parameter sensitivities for annual, monthly, and event time periods with the intent of elucidating the key parameters impacting the distributed model's forecasts. This study demonstrates a methodology that balances the computational constraints posed by global sensitivity analysis with the need to fully characterize the HL-RDHM's sensitivities. The HL-RDHM's sensitivities were assessed for annual and monthly periods using distributed forcing and identical model parameters for all grid cells at 24-hour and 1-hour model time steps respectively for two case study watersheds within the Juniata River Basin in central Pennsylvania. This study also provides detailed spatial analysis of the HL-RDHM's sensitivities for two flood events based on 1-hour model time steps selected to demonstrate how strongly the spatial heterogeneity of forcing influences the model's spatial sensitivities. Our verification analysis of the sensitivity analysis method demonstrates that the method provides robust sensitivity rankings and that these rankings could be used to significantly reduce the number of parameters that should be considered when calibrating the HL-RDHM. Overall, the sensitivity analysis results reveal that storage variation, spatial trends in forcing, and cell proximity to the gauged watershed outlet are the three primary factors that control the HL-RDHM's behavior.
An approach to formal modeling and analyzing of organization decision information systems

An approach to modeling and analyzing of the behavior of information systems by means of Petri nets is presented. The method provides a formal model which can, simply and explicitly, represent the concurrent, cyclic, asynchronously coordinated, alternative activities taking place within a complex organizational information system. It is also able to represent quantitative (temporal) information and to give the results of the system performance in terms of time. A simple ticket reservation procedure is examined to demonstrate the suitability and ease use of the method. >
Coarse automated registration of visual imagery with three-dimensional light detection and ranging models

An automated, fast, robust registration of visual images with three-dimensional data generated from light detection and rang- ing (LiDAR) sensor is described. The method is intended to provide a coarse registration of the images, suitable for input into other algo- rithms or where only a rough registration is required. Our approach consists of two steps. In the first step, two-dimensional lines are extracted as features from both the visual and the LiDAR data. In the second step, a novel and efficient search is performed to recover the external camera parameters, and thus the camera matrix (as a calibrated camera is assumed). An error metric involving line match- ings is used to guide the search. We demonstrate the performance of our algorithm on both synthetic and real-world data. © The Authors. Published by SPIE under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. Distribution or reproduction of this work in whole or in part requires full attribution of the original publication, including its DOI. (DOI: 10.1117/1.JEI.22.3.033035)
Systems Modeling in Developmental Toxicity

High-throughput or high-content studies are now providing a rich source of data that can be applied to in vitro profiling of chemical compounds for biological activity and potential in vivo toxicity. EPA's ToxCast™ project, and the broader Tox21 consortium, as well as other projects worldwide, are providing high-throughput and high-content screening data (HTS-HCS) focusing on the in vitro targets and cellular bioactivity profiles for thousands of chemical compounds in commerce or entering the environment. A goal of chemical profiling is to rapidly identify and efficiently classify signatures of biological activity that are potentially diagnostic of in vivo toxicities using automated technologies. Predictive modeling of developmental toxicity faces several challenges: correlating in vitro concentration–response with internal dose–response kinetics; understanding how in vitro bioactivity profiles extrapolate from one cell-type or technology platform to another; and linking individual targets of in vitro bioactivity to complex signatures associated with pathways of in vivo toxicity. Toxicity in the intact organism is an expression of complex and interwoven events that follow from cellular perturbations. As such, multicellular computer models known as ‘virtual tissues’ that recapitulate developmental events can provide a technology platform to simulate non-linear behaviors of dynamical systems and to model perturbations. A virtual embryo, for example, might be envisaged as a toolbox of computational (in silico) models that execute morphogenetic programs to simulate developmental toxicity. Keywords: computational toxicology; high-throughput; screening; developmental toxicity; chemical profiling; toxicity pathways; predictive models; risk assessment; mechanistic models; systems biology; virtual tissues
The Delaware Way: How We Do Corporate Law and Some of the New Challenges We (and Europe) Face

In this article, originally addressed to the European Policy Forum, Vice Chancellor Strine provides an overview of Delaware's approach to corporate law and identifies some of the challenges that approach now faces. These challenges include: the potential threat to economic efficiency that might result if the federal government further expands its role in corporate governance; the difficulties presented by the increasing separation of capital from capital, i.e., the reality that more and more of the stock of operating corporations is held by institutional investors, whose interests are not entirely aligned with those of the individuals whose capital they control; and, finally, the pressures that globalization presents not only for the United States, but for all advanced liberal democracies, seeking to preserve the societal benefits obtained through the corporate form in their humane approach to capitalism while simultaneously seeking to include the developing nations in an international market for goods and services.
Diverting The Mentally Ill Out of the Virginia Criminal Justice System

As more and more individuals suffering from serious mental illnesses are arrested for a variety of crimes, the Virginia jails and prisons are being slowly transformed into psychiatric hospitals. Because the choice given a mentally ill defendant is very narrow-- either plead not guilty by reason of insanity and face potential life-long involuntary psychiatric hospitalization or, ignore the mental illness and plead guilty--this article argues for a third alternative. Drawing from the six other situations in which a criminal defendant may avoid either prosecution or conviction, this article proposes that mentally ill defendants also be given an opportunity to avoid conviction. The proposal entails allowing a defendant diagnosed with a mental illness to agree to a form of "psychiatric probation" in which the defendant agrees to follow the dictates of his psychiatrist via his probation offer. Essentially, the defendant forfeits his right to refuse psychiatric medication and treatment for a finite period of time. At the end of that time period, the defendant would appear again before the judge, and so long as he had been compliant with his probation, the criminal charge would be dismissed. This article argues that both the civil commitment system and the criminal justice system are currently failing the mentally ill. It details how incarcerating the mentally ill for behavior that stems from psychosis accomplishes nothing. It also notes that failing to treat mentally ill people because they are not violent enough endangers both the mentally ill and the rest of society. It points out that while forced psychiatric treatment remains controversial, arresting the mentally ill and punishing them for actions resulting from their delusions is now common. The article concludes with a model statute aimed at facilitating treatment for the mentally ill while still respecting their civil rights.
Chromosomal analysis of blastocysts from balanced chromosomal rearrangement carriers

Balanced chromosomal rearrangements (CRs) are among the most common genetic abnormalities in humans. In the present study, we have investigated the degree of consistency between the chromosomal composition of the blastocyst inner cell mass (ICM) and trophectoderm (TE) in carriers with balanced CR, which has not been previously addressed. As a secondary aim, we have also evaluated the validity of cleavage-stage preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) based on fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) of blastocysts from CR carriers. Blastocyst ICM and TE were screened for chromosomal aneuploidy and imbalance of CR-associated chromosomes based on whole-genome copy number variation analysis by low-coverage next-generation sequencing (NGS) following single-cell whole-genome amplification by multiple annealing and looping-based amplification cycling. The NGS results were analyzed without knowledge of cleavage-stage FISH results. NGS results for blastocyst ICM and TE from CR carriers were 86.49% (32/37) consistent. Of the 1702 (37 × 46) chromosomes examined, 99.47% (1693/1702) showed consistency. However, only 40.0% (18/45) of all embryos had consistent results for chromosomes involved in CR, as determined by blastocyst NGS and cleavage-stage FISH. Of the 85 CR-affected chromosomes analyzed by FISH, 37.65% (32/85) were incongruous with NGS results, with 87.5% (28/32) showing imbalanced composition by FISH but balanced composition by NGS. These results indicate that chromosomal composition of blastocyst ICM and TE in balanced CR carriers is highly consistent, and that PGD based on cleavage-stage FISH is inaccurate; therefore, using blastocyst TE biopsies for NGS-based PGD is recommended for identifying chromosomal imbalance in embryos from balanced CR carriers.
Farm Budgeting and Long-Run Supply Curves

Approaches to economic analysis stand on two levels. First is the level of economic theory, the general framework used to visualize and to understand the problem as a whole. Second is the working level of specific methods and techniques. Neither theory nor method can be laid down in tight prescriptions. Economic theory is a way of thinking and it must be continually adjusted to new conditions. Research methods, too, need to be reshaped to fit each problem just as machine-tool makers design new dies and forms for each new machine. The real task is to build the tools to fit the problems as they arise. Theoretical Framework
Relationship Between Pimpling of Egg Shells, Environmental Temperature, and Carbonic Anhydrase Activity of Certain Body Tissues

Abstract Excessive pimpling of the egg shell was accompanied by a significant decrease in carbonic anhydrase (CA) concentration of the uterus and kidney. However, exposure of hens laying eggs with either smooth or pimpled shells to 32.2 C resulted in significant increases in CA in uterus and kidney and a significant decrease in shell thickness. The CA content of blood was significantly decreased by high temperature, whereas no significant temperature effects were observed on liver, lung or ileum.
Analysis of Death Causes and YPLL of Residents in Shahekou District of Dalian City

[Objective]To understand the mortality,causes of death,years potential of life lost (YPLL) of local residents with malignant tumor,and provide scientific basis for carrying out further health education and comprehensive control.[Methods]The death monitoring data of Shahekou district during 2002—2007 year were obtained to code the death cause,according to International Classification of Disease (ICD-10),then were input into Access database for analysis.[Results]The total number of resident deaths was 21 634,the mortality was 575.60/100 000,standardized mortality was 378.99/100 000.The mortality for male was 661.37/100,000 and 489,51/100 000 for female,gender ratio was 1.35/1.male mortality was higher than female obviously (χ2=484.96,P=0.00).Top 5 of death causes were:circulatory system disease,tumor,respiratory system,injure and poisoning,endocrine diseases.Top 5 for YPLL were:tumor,circulatory system disease,injures,congenital malformation and digestive diseases.Top 5 for AYLL (premature death index) were:perinatal disease,congenital malformation,injures and poisoning,musculoskeletal and connective tissue disorders,nervous system diseases.[Conclusion] The main death causes were circulatory system disease and tumor.It is necessary to strengthen the national health education to reduce mortality and burden of disease.
Introduction to Kinetic Theory of Plasma

The main object of kinetic theory is to produce a description of the macroscopic behaviour of large systems by considering the microscopic behaviour of their atomic and molecular parts. This should lead to a logical simplification in our understanding of matter, although perhaps at the expense of technical or formal complications. While the macroscopic behaviour of fluids is expressed in terms of variables such as velocity, density, pressure, temperature, electric current etc., with equations of state which describe “the properties of matter”, the behaviour of the molecular components follows simple mechanical laws.
Still Second Class: Sexual Harassment of Graduate Students

We surveyed 525 graduate students (61.7% females and 38.3% males) regarding their exposure to sexual and gender-based harassing events. Thirty-eight percent of female and 23.4% of male participants self-reported that they had experienced sexual harassment from faculty or staff; 57.7% of female and 38.8% of male participants reported they had experienced sexual harassment from other students. We explored the relation between sexual harassment and negative outcomes (trauma symptoms, campus safety, and institutional betrayal) while also considering associations with other types of victimization (sexual assault, stalking, and dating violence) during graduate school. Our results update and extend prior research on sexual harassment of graduate students; graduate-level female students continue to experience significantly more sexual harassment from faculty, staff, and students than their male counterparts, and sexual harassment is significantly associated with negative outcomes after considering other forms of ...
Abnormal Trading Behavior of Specific Types of Institutional Shareholders Before Firm Bankruptcy and its Ramifications for Firm Bankruptcy Prediction

This paper examines the behavior of corporate insiders and certain groups of institutional investors (short-term, transient, top-performing, and those with fiduciary responsibility) in the eight quarters leading up to a firm’s bankruptcy filing. Using a matched sample based on year, industry and probability of future bankruptcy, we find that corporate insiders display reduced net trading activity in the quarters before bankruptcy. In contrast, we find that our identified groups of institutional shareholders display abnormal selling activity several quarters before bankruptcy. We then use this information to enhance the predictive capabilities of Campbell et al.’s (2008) bankruptcy model and find the variables measuring the absolute value of net purchases by corporate insiders along with the changes in ownership by specific groups of institutional shareholders improves the predictive capabilities of the Campbell et al (2008) bankruptcy prediction model.
Local Sustainability: Balancing Quality and Equality?

This paper attempts to link four themes which are interrelated, but not often discussed together in local sustainability discourses. They are: the tension between achieving both environmental quality and human equality; the possibilities offered by Local Agenda 21 (LA21); what a sustainable community or society might look like and some good practice guidelines for local governments in their pivotal role as key facilitators of local sustainability. Environmentalists and environmental educators are good on notions of what they perceive as ‘environmental quality’, but are poor, or very poor on notions of ‘human equality’. Human equality has always been an implicit agreement as opposed to an explicit goal, safely tucked away in the notion of ‘quality of life’. One of the guiding principles of LA21 is that people normally excluded from the decision making process (women, indigenous people and young people) need to be integrally involved in decision making within a framework which stresses the importance of public participation. The reason for this inclusive form of participation is that these groups are seen as having had little impact on the production of local environments, although they are sometimes disproportionately affected by them, by virtue of their social role. Using a set of 13 themes that were developed by community consultations In Britain that would feature in a sustainable community or society, the paper looks at the potential for integrating quality and equality concerns. The paper finishes by looking at some good practice guidelines or ways that local governments, as decision makers nearest local peoples, could be integrating quality and equality concerns into emerging local sustainability strategies.
Automated Analysis of Orientational Order in Images of Fibrillar Materials

Nanofibers are a ubiquitous structural motif in a variety of functional materials. In the field of organic electronics, π–π-stacking of conjugated polymers leads to fibrillar morphologies with a wide array of fiber packing behavior. Fiber orientation and alignment are known to influence the charge transport properties of devices such as organic field effect transistors. The solution processing methods used to create these devices give rise to large variations in these structural parameters—however, they are only observable with imaging techniques such as atomic force microscopy (AFM). To bring more rigorous quantification of orientation and alignment to these materials, a comprehensive image analysis tool is introduced to quantify the two-dimensional orientation and alignment of nanofibers from AFM images. It has been developed in MATLAB and packaged as a stand-alone application, so that researchers with no computational expertise can produce publication-ready figures directly from their images. AFM frequ...
Biotic and abiotic controls on co-occurring nitrogen cycling processes in shallow Arctic shelf sediments

The processes that convert bioavailable inorganic nitrogen to inert nitrogen gas are prominent in continental shelf sediments and represent a critical global sink, yet little is known of these pathways in the Arctic where 18% of the world's continental shelves are located. Moreover, few data from the Arctic exist that separate loss processes like denitrification and anaerobic ammonium oxidation (anammox) from recycling pathways like dissimilatory nitrate reduction to ammonium (DNRA) or source pathways like nitrogen fixation. Here we present measurements of these co-occurring processes using 15N tracers. Denitrification was heterogeneous among stations and an order of magnitude greater than anammox and DNRA, while nitrogen fixation was undetectable. No abiotic factors correlated with interstation variability in biogeochemical rates; however, bioturbation potential explained most of the variation. Fauna-enhanced denitrification is a potentially important but overlooked process on Arctic shelves and highlights the role of the Arctic as a significant global nitrogen sink.
The influence of knowledge, experience, and education on gender disparity in entrepreneurial self-efficacy

Prior research suggests significant gender disparities in entrepreneurial self-efficacy (ESE). Cultural norms, gender role stereotypes, and resulting diverse self-beliefs are often used to explain ...
Remaining Hurdles for Tissue-Engineering the Temporomandibular Joint Disc

The temporomandibular joint (TMJ) disc, a fibrocartilaginous structure between the mandible and temporal bone, is implicated in temporomandibular disorders (TMDs). TMDs symptomatically affect approximately 25% of the population, of which 70% have internal derangement of the disc. Treatments lack efficiency, motivating novel therapies, including tissue-engineering toward TMJ disc regeneration. Recent developments in scaffold-based or scaffold-free approaches, cell sources, and biochemical and mechanical stimulation have resulted in constructs exhibiting native tissue mechanics. Safety and efficacy of tissue-engineered implants have shown promising results in orthotopic animal studies. However, many hurdles need to be overcome in tissue-engineering approaches, and clinical and regulatory pathways. Future studies present an opportunity for clinicians and researchers to work together toward safe and effective clinical trials.
An Assessment of the Relationships between Attitudes toward Patriotism, Environmentalism, and the Purchase of Organic Apparel in US Consumers: An Abstract

Patriotism is a sense of loyalty and emotional attachment to an individual’s country, which can influence purchasing behaviors and attitudes toward foreign-made products. In addition, the characteristics and activities associated with environmentalism may vary across different consumer groups. Moreover, as consumers are trying to expand their organic lifestyle to clothing, opportunities to effectively communicate the value of organic apparel that connects with consumers are needed. However, few studies have focused on the influence of patriotism on attitudes toward organic apparel and environmental awareness. The purpose of the current study is to investigate the relationships between attitudes toward patriotism, environmentalism, and the purchase of organic clothing and the variation they lead to consumers’ behaviors.
Dermal Calcium Loss Is Not the Primary Determinant of Parathyroid Hormone Secretion during Exercise.

Introduction Exercise can cause a decrease in serum ionized calcium (iCa) concentration, which stimulates parathyroid hormone (PTH) secretion and activates bone resorption. We postulated that dermal Ca loss during cycling exercise is the major determinant of the serum iCa, PTH, and bone resorption (C-terminal telopeptide of type 1 collagen [CTX]) responses. Methods To investigate this, women (n = 13) and men (n = 12) age 18 to 45 yr performed the same exercise bout under cool (18°C) and warm (26°C) conditions. Exercise was 60 min of cycling at ~75% of peak aerobic power. Sweat samples were obtained during exercise using a skin patch method, and blood samples were obtained before and during exercise and during 60 min of recovery. Results Sweat volume and estimated sweat Ca loss were 50% higher for the warm condition than the cool condition. Despite this, there were no differences between thermal conditions in the changes (mean, 95% confidence interval [95% CI]) in iCa (cool, -0.07 mg·dL; 95% CI, -0.16 to 0.03); warm, -0.07 mg·dL; 95% CI, -0.20 to 0.05), PTH (cool, 34.4 pg·mL; 95% CI, 23.6-45.2; warm: 35.8 pg·mL; 95% CI, 22.4-49.1), or CTX (cool, 0.11 ng·mL; 95% CI, 0.08-0.13; warm, 0.15 ng·mL; 95% CI, 0.11-0.18). Adjusting for exercise-related shifts in plasma volume revealed a marked decline in vascular iCa content in the first 15 min of exercise (cool, -0.85 mg·dL; 95% CI, -1.01 to -0.68; warm, -0.85 mg·dL; 95% CI, -1.05 to -0.66), before substantial sweat Ca loss had occurred. Conclusions This indicates that dermal Ca loss was not the primary trigger for the increases in PTH and CTX during exercise. Further research is necessary to understand the causes and consequences of the disruption in Ca homeostasis during exercise and specifically the extravascular shift in iCa.
Bereavement Accommodations in the Classroom: Experiences and Opinions of School Staff.

Background Bereaved children often struggle in the school environment and school personnel often feel inadequately prepared to support them. This pilot study explored the experiences and opinions of school staff regarding approaches to addressing the needs of bereaved students in the classroom. Methods Teachers/school personnel (N = 29) completed written open-ended questions about their experiences with bereaved students and opinions regarding a bereavement-focused accommodation (ie, 504) plan. Responses were summarized using qualitative content analysis. Results Most participants (93%) reported interacting with bereaved students and: (1) providing emotional support; (2) making classroom accommodations; (3) collaborating with the family/community; and (4) referring the student for counseling. Many (72%) expressed interest in a templated bereavement plan (21% did not respond; 7% said no) with education/resources for school personnel and suggested accommodations for students. Conclusions Teachers encountering grieving students would welcome a templated bereavement plan to help meet students' needs. Such a plan would allow staff to become more knowledgeable about grief and provide guidance for developing specific strategies to accommodate grieving students both emotionally and academically.
Gaharitrema droneni n. gen., n. sp. (Digenea: Zoogonidae) from the Pudgy Cuskeel, Spectrunculus grandis (Ophidiiformes: Ophidiidae), from Deep Waters Off Oregon, with Updated Keys to Zoogonid Subfamilies and Genera.

Gaharitrema droneni n. gen., n. sp. (Digenea: Zoogonidae: Lepidophyllinae) is described from the intestine of the pudgy cuskeel, Spectrunculus grandis (Gunther, 1877) (Ophidiiformes: Ophidiidae), collected at 2,800 m depth from the northeastern Pacific Ocean off Oregon. The new genus is distinguished from BrachyenteronManter, 1934 and SteganodermaStafford, 1904, the 2 closest lepidophylline genera, and from 4 other zoogonid genera erected since 2007, the last major revision of the family, by a combination of diagnostic features including a pyriform or spindle-shaped body, smooth testes and ovary, narrow ceca that reach with the vitellarium into the hindbody, an unspecialized ventral sucker, non-filamented eggs, a claviform cirrus pouch, and an unpocketed ejaculatory duct and metraterm, and the new genus lacks circumoral spines. We present updated keys to the 3 subfamilies of the Zoogonidae Odhner, 1902, as well as to the genera of the Cephaloporinae Yamaguti, 1934 and the Lepidophyllinae Stossich, 1903. A listing of the parasites known from S. grandis also is presented. This study documents the third family of digeneans (Zoogonidae) known to parasitize S. grandis, and it is a new host record (i.e., the first zoogonid reported from this host species). We discuss the relatively impressive presence of the Zoogonidae and their hosts within the deep sea. Specifically, of the 35 genera we recognize within this digenean family, 14 (40%) have deep-sea representatives. At least 37 species within 27 genera and 19 families within 11 orders of deep-sea fish are known to harbor zoogonids. Furthermore, of the 37 known deep-sea fish species parasitized by zoogonids, only 5 (13.5%) harbor 2 or more zoogonid species; the remaining 32 (86.5%) harbor only 1 parasite species each, indicating strong host specificity. Finally, the dietary ecology of S. grandis is presented, allowing us to speculate that Gaharitrema droneni may be utilizing gastropods and polychaetes as well as S. grandis to complete its life cycle in the deep sea.
Antibacterial potential of plant extracts on ESBL and carbapenemase producing pathogens

The extensive spread of antibiotic resistance among pathogens is critically challenging the healthcare system with treatment options. Often, the physicians are left with no choice but to use high doses of antibiotics to combat infectious diseases in spite of the associated toxicity. In an attempt to investigate plant sources as an alternative source of drugs, the current study evaluated the antibacterial activity of extracts obtained from six commonly available plants against 16 pathogens isolated from skin, respiratory and urinary tract. Among these, 14 multi drug resistant pathogens and 7 ESBL producers were identified. Also, 4 isolates showed both ESBL and carbapenemase production whereas 2 S. aureus isolates showed ESBL production and resistance to Streptogramins. The plants used in our study included garlic, cinnamon, Indian borage, clove, green tea and onion. The qualitative analysis of antibacterial activity was carried out by well diffusion method for water and methanol extracts of these plants. The results indicated garlic and Indian borage water extracts to be active against both gram negative and gram positive test pathogens. The observed zones of inhibition were in the range of 11-27 mm (Indian borage) and 9-21 mm (garlic) against the test pathogens. However, no synergy was observed when these extracts were combined.
The skills required for entry-level public relations: An analysis of skills required in 1,000 PR job ads.

Abstract Preparing professionals to work in any industry means linking educational competencies and career requirements. With its own career-defining skills, the field of public relations is no different. Knowing the demands of the industry creates an opportunity to supply the most relevant education that gets early professionals hired. By analyzing 1000 job postings, this study unearths the most frequently requested entry-level public relations job skills by employers. While the study reaffirms the relevance of traditional skills like written communication, it also highlights advancing skills in digital and social media. It further demonstrates a clear call for soft skills like organizational skills, leadership abilities and ability to work in teams.
Backward Waves Leaving a Metamaterial

The medium is composed of plane-parallel monolayers consisting of the Huygens elements. In the molecular optics model, expressions are obtained for the reflected field, the field within the medium, and (in the case of a layer of finite thickness) the field behind the medium. The extinction theorem is considered, and the expression for the refractive index is introduced. Under certain conditions, such a medium can behave like the medium with unit, zero, or negative real part of the refractive index at a given frequency. The condition for the realization of a magnetic mirror is formulated. In the case of a layer of the medium with finite thickness, it is shown that the backward waves leave the medium.
Profiling monoterpenol glycoconjugation in Vitis vinifera L. cv. Muscat of Alexandria using a novel putative compound database approach, high resolution mass spectrometry and collision induced dissociation fragmentation analysis

In this work we present a novel approach for the identification of plant metabolites using ultrahigh performance liquid chromatography coupled to accurate mass time-of-flight mass spectrometry. The workflow involves developing an in-house compound database consisting of exact masses of previously identified as well as putative compounds. The database is used to screen accurate mass spectrometry (MS) data to identify possible compound matches. Subsequent tandem MS data is acquired for possible matches and used for structural elucidation. The methodology is applied to profile monoterpene glycosides in Vitis vinifera cv. Muscat of Alexandria grape berries over three developmental stages. Monoterpenes are a subclass of terpenes, the largest class of plant secondary metabolites, and are found in two major forms in the plant, "bound" to one or more sugar moieties or "free" of said sugar moieties. In the free form, monoterpenes are noted for their fragrance and play important roles in plant defense and as attractants for pollinators. However, glycoconjugation renders these compounds odorless, and it is this form that the plant uses for monoterpene storage. In order to gain insight into monoterpene biochemistry and their fate in the plant an analysis of intact glycosides is essential. Eighteen monoterpene glycosides were identified including a monoterpene trisaccharide glycoside, which is tentatively identified here for this first time in any plant. Additionally, while previous studies have identified monoterpene malonylated glucosides in other grapevine tissue, we tentatively identify them for the first time in grape berries. This analytical approach can be readily applied to other plants and the workflow approach can also be used for other classes of compounds. This approach, in general, provides researchers with data to support the identification of putative compounds, which is especially useful when no standard is available.
Studies on the Mechanism of Protein Synthesis

The biosynthesis of protein was studied in vivo in surving tissue preparations in cell-free homogenates using carbon-14 labeled amino acids. It has been found that free amino acids are the precursors of new ecule is not amino acid pools. The assembley of free amino acids to yield protein appears to proceed in at least four steps. In the first step the amino acid reacts with adenosine triphosphate in the presence of a soluble cytoplasmic enzyme to yield the amino acyl adenylate. We have prepared C-14-valyl adenylatefrom C-14-valine in such a are y low molecular weight ribonucleic acid (RNA) of the cytoplasm. The amino acid attched to the RNA is still activated (i.e., capable of reacting with hydroxzylamine to ith RNA ase or alkali. It is definitely not bound in peptide chains. In the presence of guanosine triphosphate, the labeled this point no longer bound covalently to the ribonucleic acid. Ribonucleoprotein particles labled in vitro with C-14amino acid have not yet yielded any identifiable or functional labeled protein. In vivo studies have in general biologically significant. If C-14-amino acids are injected e liver are removed at various intervals, it is found that radioactivity first appears in the fre intracellular amino acidmore » pool. The soluble RNA fraction is maximally labeled in less than a minute and the ribonucleoprotein particles are then appears to accumlate in the lipoprotein fraction of the microsomes whence it is released into the cell or secreted. If a single well characterized protein such as ein is slightly nly after some 6 mninutes does the rate of labeling of the ferritin equal the established rate of synthesis, Thus it takes approximately 6 minutes for ferritin to be assembled from the free amino acid pool. The kintetics of the incorporation are consistent with a mechanism in which activated amino acids are assembled in stepwise fashion on a template. (auth)« less
Forget about aesthetics in chair design: ergonomics should provide the basis for comfort

Helander and deLooze have proposed a model of seated comfort in which comfort and discomfort are conceptually separate. They argue that ergonomic chairs tend to be overdesigned with insufficient attention paid to aesthetics. This argument is critiqued on both methodological and conceptual grounds. The methodological critique is based on psychometric criteria. The conceptual critique is based on the need for an integrated (ecological) approach in which work context and user characteristics are explicitly considered. An alternative model for an ecological ergonomics is presented.
Probabilistic Bidding Gives Optimal Distributed Resource Allocation

In this paper we consider a fundamental problem of resource allocation in a distributed network. Each user's demands for resources may change dynamically and the processors speeds can vary dynamically. Let v be the maximum number of users competing for a particular resource at any time instant. Let k be the maximum number of resources that a user is willing to get, at any time instant. This problem was previously formulated in [Lynch, 1980]. It has application (1) to two-phase locking in databases (2) to generalized dining philosophers, and (3) to the implementation of a novel extension of the CSP language, called Social-CSP and to many other applications to concurrent programming.
Efficacy of single-dose intravenous phenylbutazone and flunixin meglumine before, during and after exercise in an experimental reversible model of foot lameness in horses

Summary Reasons for performing study: Objective blinded efficacy data during exercise are lacking on the use of single-dose i.v. nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) before, during and after exercise. Hypothesis: Single i.v. doses of either phenylbutazone (PBZ) or flunixin meglumine (FM) would prove more efficacious than negative saline control (SAL) before, during and after exercise in a reversible model of foot lameness. Methods: Six Quarter Horse mares had lameness induced by tightening a set screw against a heart bar shoe 1 h prior to treatment. Randomised blinded treatments included PBZ (4.4 mg/kg bwt i.v.), FM (1.1 mg/kg bwt i.v.), and SAL (1 ml/45 kg i.v.). Heart rate and lameness score (LS) were recorded at rest; every 20 min after lameness induction for 5 h and at the end of 2 min treadmill workloads of 2 and 4 m/s. Heart rate was also recorded from 0.5–60 min post exercise. Results were compared using RM ANOVA and Student-Newman-Keul's test (HR) and Wilcoxon signed rank test (%ΔLS) with significance set at P<0.05. Results: Pre-exercise mean HR was decreased for both NSAIDs compared to SAL from 1:20–4 h post treatment (P 0.05), but mean %ΔLS was decreased for both NSAIDs compared to SAL (P<0.01). Mean recovery HR was decreased for PBZ and FM from 1–60 min compared to SAL (P<0.05). Conclusions: PBZ and FM demonstrated definitive clinical efficacy after single i.v. doses before, during and after exercise. Use of single i.v. doses during competition may mask lameness and may affect the ability of judges in determining the soundness of horses in competition.
Solving connected subgraph problems in wildlife conservation

We investigate mathematical formulations and solution techniques for a variant of the Connected Subgraph Problem. Given a connected graph with costs and profits associated with the nodes, the goal is to find a connected subgraph that contains a subset of distinguished vertices. In this work we focus on the budget-constrained version, where we maximize the total profit of the nodes in the subgraph subject to a budget constraint on the total cost. We propose several mixed-integer formulations for enforcing the subgraph connectivity requirement, which plays a key role in the combinatorial structure of the problem. We show that a new formulation based on subtour elimination constraints is more effective at capturing the combinatorial structure of the problem, providing significant advantages over the previously considered encoding which was based on a single commodity flow. We test our formulations on synthetic instances as well as on real-world instances of an important problem in environmental conservation concerning the design of wildlife corridors. Our encoding results in a much tighter LP relaxation, and more importantly, it results in finding better integer feasible solutions as well as much better upper bounds on the objective (often proving optimality or within less than 1% of optimality), both when considering the synthetic instances as well as the real-world wildlife corridor instances.
Reversible jump MCMC for inference in a deterministic individual-based model of tree growth for studying forest dynamics

Scientists use deterministic models to study and forecast the behavior of complex environmental processes, with increasing emphasis on incorporating data to inform model input parameters and accounting for parameter uncertainty. We work with a deterministic, individual-based model (IBM) of tree growth and mortality, which is under development to explore forest dynamics. Some values of IBM input parameters cause premature virtual tree mortality relative to the actual mortality status of an observed tree. This discordance in mortality causes dimension changes in the state of a stochastic implementation of IBM outputs and leads us to address trans-dimensional moves among states with a novel formulation of reversible jump Markov chain Monte Carlo (RJMCMC). In particular, we present an RJMCMC algorithm that uses a continuously supported, multidimensional index—the IBM input parameter—instead of a discrete index typical of model determination applications. We use both synthetic data and data from the Forest Inventory and Analysis database representing two tree species. We compare results for each dataset and species between our reversible jump (RJ) specification and an alternative, non-RJ specification. The RJ formulation compares favorably to the non-RJ formulation with regard to achieving convergence and yielding biologically realistic IBM input parameter estimates. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Atomic Squeezing and Entanglement from Bose-Einstein Condensates

We review several nonlinear atom optical approaches to the generation of entangled particle beams. The systems being considered, which involve both atomic pairs and atom-photon pairs, may find applications in high-precision spectroscopy, atomic interferometry and quantum information processing. All schemes deal with strictly ground atomic states, a considerable advantage, since the resulting entanglement and squeezing is therefore robust against decoherence and immune from the quantum fluctuations caused by the electromagnetic vacuum field modes.
Historical evidence of importance to the industrialization of flat-plate silicon photovoltaic systems. Volume 1: Executive summary

An analysis is given of the Low-Cost Silicon Solar Array Project plans for the industrialization of new production technologies expected to be forthcoming as a result of the project's technology development efforts. In particular, LSSA's mandate to insure an annual production capability of 500 MW peak for the photovoltaic supply industry by 1986 is critically examined. The examination focuses on one of the concerns behind this goal -- timely development of industrial capacity to supply anticipated demand. Some of the conclusions include: (1) construction of small-scale pilot plants should be undertaken only for purposes of technology development; (2) large-scale demonstrations should be undertaken only when the technology is well in hand; (3) commercial-scale production should be left to the private sector; (4) the 500-MW annual output goal should be shifted to Program Headquarters.
Altered expression of Rb and p53 in uveal melanomas following plaque radiotherapy.

Abstract PURPOSE : To examine the expression of proteins in the Rb and p53 tumor suppressor pathways in uveal melanomas following plaque radiotherapy. METHODS : Immunohistochemistry and cell culture studies. Immunohistochemistry for Rb, p16, cyclin D1, p53, HDM2, and Bcl-2 was performed on twelve eyes containing posterior uveal melanomas that were enucleated following plaque radiotherapy. Cell culture studies were performed in three cases. RESULTS : The irradiated eyes were enucleated for radiation complications (five cases), local tumor recurrence (three cases), and other reasons (four cases). On histopathologic examination, all cases showed evidence of tumor cell loss. However, residual tumor cells were present in all cases, including those that were clinically regressed. Residual cells from three of the clinically regressed cases were cultured and demonstrated minimal cell division, marked cell death, and extensive chromosomal damage. Strong p53 staining was observed in six cases (50%) and was significantly associated with recent radiotherapy ( P = .04). Abnormal cytoplasmic staining for Rb was observed in four cases (33%). CONCLUSIONS : Plaque radiotherapy of uveal melanomas induces DNA damage, inhibits cell division, and promotes cell death. These changes may be due, at least in part, to induction of p53, which activates genes involved in both cell cycle arrest and apoptosis. Plaque radiotherapy can also cause alterations in the expression of Rb, but the significance of this finding will require further study.