cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Equity and the Social Distribution of Job Accessibility in Detroit

Racial minorities and low-income households are confined to the urban core of many metropolitan regions in the United States while a growing share of jobs is located at the suburban periphery. Yet many studies of transportation accessibility find that these social groups are not disadvantaged in their ability to reach jobs because central locations are a benefit in the metropolitan competition for jobs. To what extent is the ability to reach jobs different among categories of race, ethnicity, income, and poverty status? A comparison is made among social groups using an innovative method of accessibility incorporating household income-level to account for the vast difference in accessibility between the modes of automobile and public transit. Most racial minorities and low-income persons are found to be advantaged in their ability to reach jobs, but a troubling number are nevertheless extremely disadvantaged by virtue of lacking an automobile in spite of residing in advantaged locations.
Retinular and eccentric cell morphology in the neural plexus of Limulus lateral eye.

Retinular and eccentric cells of Limulus lateral eye are stained by intracellular iontophoretic injection of Procion M4R. Eccentric cell branching can be divided into multiple neuropile, long lateral branches and distal collaterals. Retinular cells possess only short axon spines. This morphology is discussed in relation to the known physiology of cell interactions.
Turbulent natural convection heat transfer from a vertical plate to the power-law fluid at high prandtl numbers

Abstract A simple analytical technique for turbulent natural convection heat transfer from an isothermal vertical plate to a power-law fluid is developed. The model is based on the assumption that the turbulent heat transfer rate is controlled by the flow characteristic near the surface in the limit of large Prandtl numbers. The formulation proposed in this work agrees well with the correlations available in the literature.
A direct technique for the simultaneous determination of 10 drug candidates in plasma by liquid chromatography-atmospheric pressure chemical ionization mass spectrometry interfaced to a prospekt solid-phase extraction system

Abstract New drug candidates are being synthesized at an ever increasing rate and, until recently, the pharmacokinetics of only a few of these could be evaluated. Our laboratory is taking a novel approach to rapid multiple pharmacokinetic screening of potential drug candidates in which mixtures of new substances are co-administered to animals and analyzed simultaneously in plasma using liquid chromatography with tandem MS/MS detection in conjunction with a Prospekt automated on-line solid-phase extraction system. Plasma is sampled via an autosampler and extracted by the Prospekt with the eluent being introduced directly via a reverse phase HPLC column and a heated nebulizer interface to the mass spectrometer. Generic extraction and chromatographic conditions generally give good recoveries. The chromatographic run-times are less than 8 min. The accuracy and precision of these assays are carefully controlled with recoveries generally in the range 80–120% and coefficients of variation less than 20%. Lower quantifiable limits range from 2.5 to 5 ng ml −1 . This approach considerably reduces the number of animals needed to screen drug candidates and its power is illustrated by determination of the pharmacokinetics of 10 substances after their simultaneous administration to dogs.
Differentiation in the salivary glands of Drosophila melanogaster: Characterizaion of the glue proteins and their developmental appearance

The larval salivary glands of Drosophila melanogaster, which are widely used for cytogenic studies, are also useful for studying the regulation of specific protein synthesis during differentiation. These glands synthesize and secrete massive amounts of a glue which attaches the pupae to the substrate during metamorphosis. We find six major proteins in this glue. They show wide quantitative and qualitative variation among wild-type strains of D. melanogaster. Four of the proteins are glycosylated, and one of these is further modified so that its mobility on SDS polyacrylamide gels is greater than the mobility of its unmodified precursor. The glue proteins begin to be made at about 106 hr after egg deposition. The synthesis of four of the proteins begins coordinately, while one protein begins to be made slightly earlier and one slightly later. The proteins are synthesized for approximately 14 hr until puparium formation, when the glue is released from the salivary glands. Synthesis of five of the glue proteins stops abruptly within a few minutes after the glue is released. The sixth protein continues to be synthesized for at least 30 min after glue release.
Characterization of volume-sensitive organic osmolyte efflux and anion current in Xenopus oocytes

Cell swelling activates an outwardly rectifying anion current in numerous mammalian cell types. An extensive body of evidence indicates that the channel responsible for this current is the major pathway for volume regulatory organic osmolyte loss. Cell swelling also activates an outwardly rectifying anion current in Xenopus oocytes. Unlike mammalian cells, oocytes allow the direct study of both swelling-activated anion current and organic osmolyte efflux under nearly identical experimental conditions. We therefore exploited the unique properties of oocytes in order to examine further the relationship between anion channel activity and swellingactivated organic osmolyte transport. Swelling-activated anion current and organic osmolyte efflux were studied in parallel in batches of oocytes obtained from single frogs. The magnitude of swelling-activated anion current and organic osmolyte efflux exhibited a positive linear correlation. In addition, the two processes had similar pharmacological characteristics and activation, rundown and reactivation kinetics. The present study provides further strong support for the concept that the channel responsible for swelling-activated Cl− efflux and the outwardly rectifying anion conductance is also the major pathway by which organic osmolytes are lost from vertebrate cells during regulatory volume decrease.
The association between Hirschsprung's disease and multiple endocrine neoplasia type 2a: a systematic review.

The co-occurrence of Hirschsprung’s disease (HSCR) and multiple endocrine neoplasia type 2 (MEN2) is a relatively rare event. The basis for this association is the presence of a “Janus” mutation in the RET proto-oncogene––a mutation that acts simultaneously as both a gain-in-function and a loss-of-function mutation. To date, four mutations in the exon 10 region of RET that are known to cause MEN2A have been implicated in this association: C620, C618, C611 and C609. We performed a systematic review of the published literature on this association to determine its incidence, the prevalence and phenotype of HSCR associated with the 4 RET mutations mentioned above. A systematic literature-based search for relevant articles was conducted using three online databases. After exclusion of ineligible publications, we recorded data on all patients with a diagnosis of HSCR or MEN2A with a “Janus” RET mutation, as well as those who carried the mutation but were unaffected. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS. The literature search yielded 885 publications, of which 36 articles, incorporating data on 341 individuals, were eligible for inclusion in the final analysis. Co-occurrence of HSCR and MEN2A was recorded in 84 cases (24.6 %). HSCR occurred alone in 64 carriers of a “Janus” mutation (18.8 %) and MEN2A occurred in isolation in 173 cases (50.7 %). Twenty individuals (5.9 %) were found to carry a “Janus” mutation after screening on the basis of family history but were unaffected by either MEN2A or HSCR. The most common mutation recorded was the C620 mutation [114 cases (48.1 %)]. There was a relatively high incidence of long-segment aganglionosis (29.3 %) and total colonic aganglionosis (17.3 %) in this cohort. This trend was particularly notable in those with C620 mutations, only 33 % of whom had short-segment disease. While the overall incidence of HSCR co-occurring with MEN2A is low, both conditions occur with a relatively high frequency in families with a RET mutation at exon 10. The proportion of cases of long-segment HSCR and total colonic aganglionosis is higher than that in the general population with HSCR in those with C620 and C618 mutations. These findings re-inforce the importance of RET mutation testing in HSCR when a family history of either HSCR or MEN2 is present. In families with MEN2A and known exon 10 RET mutations, the threshold for investigation for HSCR in those with gastrointestinal symptoms should be very low. High-quality prospective longitudinal studies of large HSCR populations are required to shed greater light on this rare but important phenomenon.
Increasing the Use of Electronic Resources in the Humanities.

ELECTRONIC PUBLISHING and the use of electronic sources in the humanities open up new possibilities for research and the exchange of ideas while simultaneously providing solutions for how to overcome the crisis in scholarly publishing. In order to improve the usage and academic acceptance of electronic resources in the humanities, it is necessary not only to provide digital data that fulfills the same standards of quality as printed scholarly data, but also to enhance the education and training of scholars and students in using these sources appropriately, to establish a system that ensures precise long term access to these data, and to expand the role that electronic sources play in scholarly publishing. The latter includes the way in which electronic sources are reviewed and evaluated in the tenure and post-tenure process. We must also remain aware of user demands and user behavior, as the success of electronic sources depends on their practical use and usability.
Predicting adverse outcome with exercise SPECT technetium-99m sestamibi imaging in patients with suspected or known coronary artery disease

The goal of this study was to determine the ability of exercise single-photon emission computed tomographic (SPECT) technetium-99m (Tc-99m) sestamibi imaging to predict adverse events in a population with a comparable distribution of men (n = 114) and women (n = 115). Consecutive patients referred for evaluation of chest pain syndrome, known coronary artery disease, or residual ischemia after acute myocardial infarction underwent imaging using a single-headed SPECT camera. Clinical readings were reviewed and scored by independent observers as normal or abnormal. Follow-up, defined as time from scanning until an event, late revascularization, or patient response averaged 19.2 +/- 5.2 months and was 90% complete (229 of 255 patients). Cardiac death and nonfatal infarction were corroborated by chart review or physician contact. Patients were excluded from analysis if a revascularization procedure was performed within 1 month of imaging. There were 172 patients with normal scans (67%) and 83 with abnormal scans (33%). Of the patients in whom followup was obtained, 2 of 155 with normal scans (0.8%/year) and 6 of 74 with abnormal scans (5.4%/year) had cardiac events. Statistical analysis using the Kaplan-Meier survival curves suggests a significant difference in event-free survival between normal and abnormal scans. Patients with abnormal scans portended a worse outcome (chi-square = 8.04, p <0.005). Thus, exercise SPECT Tc-99m sestamibi scintigraphy is useful for prognostication in a mixed population of patients with suspected or known coronary artery disease in which women comprised 50% of the patient cohort.
Examining the Retention of Nontraditional Latino(a) Students in a Career-Based Learning Community

Learning communities are designed to increase student persistence and academic achievement and are a retention strategy to increase these outcomes for 1st-year college students. This article examin...
Invited commentary on Australian fetal alcohol spectrum disorder diagnostic guidelines

The publication of Australian fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) diagnostic guidelines marks an important step forward in Australia’s efforts to prevent FASD. But do we need yet another set of FASD guidelines? At the 5th International FASD Conference, the ever growing number of FASD diagnostic guidelines was identified as a core area of concern by leaders in FASD worldwide. All agreed we need to strive to adopt a single set of guidelines. It is essential that FASD diagnosis advance to incorporate new knowledge and technology. But to date, the field of FASD has seen multiple sets of guidelines published that do not address the important question-How is the performance of these new guidelines superior to the performance of existing guidelines to warrant/justify their introduction into the medical literature?
Synchronization of ultra-low power wireless sensor nodes

Radio activation in ultra-low-power wireless sensor nodes can require 5–6 orders of magnitude higher power than the sensor's average power consumption. Therefore, accurate timers that allow multiple sensor nodes to synchronize their radio communication are of critical concern for minimizing radio energy consumption. In this paper, we review ultra-low power timers and demonstrate their importance for the overall sensor node energy budget. We also propose a multistage gate-leakage-based timer with boosted charging and temperature compensation that reduces the synchronization uncertainty by 4.7× compared to the best prior gate-leakage-based timer with 660pW power consumption. Effective temperature sensitivity is reduced to 31ppm/°C.
Effects of N-acetylcysteine on cytokines in non-acetaminophen acute liver failure: Potential mechanism of improvement in transplant-free survival

Background N-Acetylcysteine (NAC) improves transplant-free survival in patients with non-acetaminophen acute liver failure (ALF) when administered in early stages of hepatic encephalopathy. The mechanisms of this benefit are unknown. Aim To determine whether NAC improves transplant-free survival in ALF by ameliorating the surge of pro-inflammatory cytokines. Methods Serum samples were obtained from 78 participants of the randomized, ALF Study Group NAC Trial with grade 1 or 2 hepatic encephalopathy on randomization. Concentrations of ten cytokines, chosen to represent a wide array of inflammatory responses, were determined by multiplex enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay ELISA. Results In univariate analysis, predictors of transplant-free survival included NAC administration (P = 0.012), admission bilirubin (P = 0.003), international normalized ratio INR (P = 0.0002), grade 1 vs. grade 2 encephalopathy (P = 0.006) and lower admission interleukin (IL)-17 concentrations (P = 0.011). IL-17 levels were higher in patients with grade 2 vs. grade 1 encephalopathy on randomization (P = 0.007) and in those who progressed to grade 3 or grade 4 encephalopathy over the following 7 days (P ≤ 0.01). Stepwise multivariate logistic regression analysis identified only NAC administration and lower IL-17 concentrations as independent predictors of transplant-free survival. In patients with detectable IL-17 concentrations on admission, 78% of those who received NAC vs. 44% of those who received placebo had undetectable levels by day 3–5 (P = 0.042), and the mean decrease in IL-17 concentrations between admission and late samples was significantly greater in patients who received NAC vs. placebo (P = 0.045). Conclusions N-acetylcysteine (NAC) may improve transplant-free survival in patients with non-acetaminophen ALF by ameliorating the production of IL-17, which is associated with progression of hepatic encephalopathy and poor outcome.
Kinematic controllability and decoupled trajectory planning for underactuated mechanical systems

We introduce the notion of kinematic controllability for second-order underactuated mechanical systems. For systems satisfying this property, the problem of planning fast collision-free trajectories between zero velocity states can be decoupled into the computationally simpler problems of path planning for a kinematic system followed by time-optimal time scaling. While this approach is well known for fully actuated systems, until now there has been no way to apply it to underactuated dynamic systems. The results in this paper form the basis for efficient collision-free trajectory planning for a broad class of underactuated mechanical systems including manipulators and vehicles in space and underwater environments.
Effects of Bromocriptine and Perphenazine on Male Accessory Sex Glands. I. The Seminal Vesicles

The effects of bromocriptine and perphenazine on C3H/HeJ mouse seminal vesicles were studied. The response of the stroma and parenchyma of the glands to the hormones differed. Testosterone repressed stromal proliferation. Prolactin had no observable stromal effect but influenced the response of the parenchyma. In castrated mice, low levels of prolactin were associated with abnormal epithelial mitotic activity and atypical cytology while elevated prolactin levels resulted in a nonatrophic epithelium similar to that from the seminal vesicles of intact individuals. In the absence of testicular testosterone, prolactin may exert an inhibitory influence on glandular proliferation.
Psychometric Properties of the Community Integration Questionnaire in a Heterogeneous Sample of Adults With Physical Disability

Abstract Hirsh AT, Braden AL, Craggs JG, Jensen MP. Psychometric properties of the Community Integration Questionnaire in a heterogeneous sample of adults with physical disability. Objective To investigate the psychometric properties of the Community Integration Questionnaire (CIQ) in a mixed sample of adults with physical disabilities. Design Cross-sectional, survey study. Setting Academic and community medical clinics, national registry, and self-referral. Participants Community-dwelling adults with spinal cord injury (n=146), multiple sclerosis (n=174), limb loss (n=158), or muscular dystrophy (n=273). Interventions Not applicable. Main Outcome Measures CIQ, General Health item from the Medical Outcomes Study 36-Item Short-Form Health Survey, and Mental Health Scale from the Medical Outcomes Study 36-Item Short-Form Health Survey. Results Based on the original scoring procedures, the CIQ Total scale and Home Integration subscale demonstrated acceptable internal consistency; however, reliability indices for the Social Integration and Productive Activities subscales were suboptimal. The exploratory factor analysis yielded a 4-factor solution (accounting for approximately 63% of the variance) that did not replicate the original factor structure of the CIQ. The results of the confirmatory factor analyses indicated that a modified 3-factor solution provided the best fit to the data from our samples. Using a revised scoring system based on these findings, the CIQ demonstrated improved reliability relative to the original scoring and good concurrent validity. Conclusions The results provide general support for the validity of the CIQ as a measure of participation in adults with physical disabilities. However, our results indicate that some small modifications to the original scoring system are needed to optimize its use in this patient group. Additional research is needed to refine the measurement of participation in these and other populations.
Phase Separation of Glasses in the System SrO-B2O3-SiO2

The region of stable liquid-phase separation in the system SrO-B2O3SiO2 was found to extend from the SrO-SiO2 binary join, across the ternary region, to the SrO-B2O3 join. The boundary of the region rich in network-forming oxides lies between the SiO2-B2O3 boundary and the 2.5-mol% SrO isopleth, whereas the maximum SrO content is between 30.3 and 35.2 mol% (42 to 48 wt%) SrO at an SiO2: B2O3 ratio of 4:1. The microstructures of glasses quenched from the immiscibility region were characterized by scanning electron microscopy. Evidence is presented of both stable and metastable phase separation and of microseparation and coring in disperse-phase spheres rich in network-forming oxides.
Recent Development of the Fast Multipole Boundary Element Method for Modeling Acoustic Problems

Some recent development of the fast multipole boundary element method (BEM) for modeling acoustic wave problems in both 2-D and 3-D domains are presented in this paper. First, the fast multipole BEM formulation for 2-D acoustic wave problems based on a dual boundary integral equation (BIE) formulation is presented. Second, some improvements on the adaptive fast multipole BEM for 3-D acoustic wave problems based on the earlier work are introduced. The improvements include adaptive tree structures, error estimates for determining the numbers of expansion terms, refined interaction lists, and others in the fast multipole BEM. Examples involving 2-D and 3-D radiation and scattering problems solved by the developed 2-D and 3-D fast multipole BEM codes, respectively, will be presented. The accuracy and efficiency of the fast multipole BEM results clearly demonstrate the potentials of the fast multipole BEM for solving large-scale acoustic wave problems that are of practical significance.Copyright © 2009 by ASME
Analysis of management actions, human behavior, and process reliability in chemical plants. II. Near‐miss management system selection

To understand the behavior patterns of managers, engineers, and operators, in Part II, a game-theoretic decision model is developed for a specific plant to balance the advantages and disadvantages of having a Near-miss Management System (NMMS) with different sophistication levels. Assuming that management and engineering preferences differ from those of the process operators, the tradeoffs between them are balanced. As anticipated, it is shown that the choices of the management and engineering team, and the operators, for the selection of a NMMS, are sensitive to the contributing factors. This article introduces a theoretical approach, illustrated using hypothetical data, which should be effective in industrial operations. Attempts to obtain data for validation of the framework were unsuccessful because of confidentiality and liability issues associated with industrial data. © 2007 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Process Saf Prog, 2008
Balance vertices in trees

A new notion of balanced bipartitions of the vertices in a tree T is introduced and studied. It gives rise to a new central set of vertices in T, each of which can be considered to be a discrete version of the center of gravity of T. We seek vertices x, called balance vertices, such that the two sums of the distances from x to all the vertices in each of two subtrees of T are as equal as possible, where the two subtrees have only x in common, but, together, contain all the vertices of T. We discuss some of the computation involved in a first step in determining the balance vertices. We prove that the median vertices, the center vertices, and the balance vertices may be arbitrarily far apart. We also prove that the set of balance vertices of a tree T consists of a single vertex or two adjacent vertices; the proof involves a new type of “double orientation” of the edges of T. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Networks 34: 264–271, 1999
Group Buying on the Web: A Comparison of Price-Discovery Mechanisms

Web-based group-buying mechanisms are being widely used for both business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-consumer (B2C) transactions. We survey currently operational online group-buying markets, and then study this phenomenon using analytical models. We build on the literatures in information economics and operations management in our analytical model of a monopolist offering Web-based group-buying under different kinds of demand uncertainty. We derive the monopolist's optimal group-buying schedule under varying conditions of heterogeneity in the demand regimes, and compare its profits with those that obtain under the more conventional posted-price mechanism. We further study the impact ofproduction postponement by endogenizing the timing of the pricing and production decisions in a two-stage game between the monopolist and buyers. Our results have implications for firms' choice of price-discovery mechanisms in e-markets, and for the scheduling of production and pricing decisions in the presence (and absence) of scale economies of production.
Population impacts of endangered short-tailed albatross bycatch in the Alaskan trawl fishery

Abstract We conduct a decision analysis that explores the effects of trawl-related fishery mortality on achieving the population recovery goals for the US federally-endangered short-tailed albatross ( Phoebastria albatrus ), proposed by the US Fish and Wildlife Service. A population model is constructed and its parameters estimated using data on counts of the numbers of albatross chicks and eggs at Torishima Island, Japan, where 83% of the world’s population of this species is found. Bayesian inference is used to assign probabilities to alternative plausible rates of fishing mortality and as the basis for population projections with different levels of trawl mortality to determine their effects on achieving the population recovery goals. The analyses of the impact of trawl mortality on the Torishima short-tailed albatross population suggests that exceeding the current expected incidental take in the Alaskan groundfish trawl fishery, two in any 5-year period, by as much as a factor of 10 would have little impact on when the proposed recovery goals for the species are achieved. A quantitative approach that addresses uncertainty, such as that outlined in this study, could aid the process to evaluate allowable limits in light of species recovery goals by addressing both take limits and recovery goals within the same framework.
A general integrative genomic feature transcription factor binding site prediction method applied to analysis of USF1 binding in cardiovascular disease

Transcription factors are key mediators of human complex disease processes. Identifying the target genes of transcription factors will increase our understanding of the biological network leading to disease risk. The prediction of transcription factor binding sites (TFBSs) is one method to identify these target genes; however, current prediction methods need improvement. We chose the transcription factor upstream stimulatory factor l (USF1) to evaluate the performance of our novel TFBS prediction method because of its known genetic association with coronary artery disease (CAD) and the recent availability of USF1 chromatin immunoprecipitation microarray (ChIP-chip) results. The specific goals of our study were to develop a novel and accurate genome-scale method for predicting USF1 binding sites and associated target genes to aid in the study of CAD. Previously published USF1 ChIP-chip data for 1 per cent of the genome were used to develop and evaluate several kernel logistic regression prediction models. A combination of genomic features (phylogenetic conservation, regulatory potential, presence of a CpG island and DNaseI hypersensitivity), as well as position weight matrix (PWM) scores, were used as variables for these models. Our most accurate predictor achieved an area under the receiver operator characteristic curve of 0.827 during cross-validation experiments, significantly outperforming standard PWM-based prediction methods. When applied to the whole human genome, we predicted 24,010 USF1 binding sites within 5 kilobases upstream of the transcription start site of 9,721 genes. These predictions included 16 of 20 genes with strong evidence of USF1 regulation. Finally, in the spirit of genomic convergence, we integrated independent experimental CAD data with these USF1 binding site prediction results to develop a prioritised set of candidate genes for future CAD studies. We have shown that our novel prediction method, which employs genomic features related to the presence of regulatory elements, enables more accurate and efficient prediction of USF1 binding sites. This method can be extended to other transcription factors identified in human disease studies to help further our understanding of the biology of complex disease.
In vivo immortalization of murine peritoneal macrophages: a new rapid and efficient method for obtaining macrophage cell lines.

Although several murine macrophage (m4) cell lines from different sites have previously been ob- tamed by in vitro infection with theJ2 murin#{231} retrovirus, which carries the v-raf and v-myc oncogenes, it was not possible to immortalize thioglycolate-elicited peritoneal macrophages (Pm4s) by this in vitro procedure. A tech- nique utilizing in vivo injection of the J2 virus has been developed to overcome this problem. The J2 virus immor- talized Pm4s in a very efficient manner in vivo because no exogenous growth factors were required for the in vitro proliferation of these cells and numerous continuous cloned cell lines were readily established. In contrast, Pm4s obtained from uninfected mice or Pm4s infected in vitro with the J2 virus did not proliferate. The in vivo immortalized cells had many of the morphological and functional characteristics of m4s. Analysis of two of the clones, PMJ2-PC and PMJ2-R, demonstrated intracellular expression of the product of the v-raf gene, presence of m�-associated cell surface antigens, interleukin-6 secre- tion induced by lipopolysaccharide, and biological re- sponse modifier-induced cytotoxic activity against tumor cells. In addition, one of the clones, PMJ2-PC, constitu- tively expressed major histocompatibiity complex (MHC) class II antigens, and in the other clone, PMJ2-R, MHC class II antigen expression was induced by recombinant murine interferon-y. This method of utilizing the J2 virus in vivo represents a novel technique for obtaining hematopoietic cell lines from cells that are difficult to im- mortalize in vitro. J. Leukoc. Rio!. 53: 475-478; 1993. duced in vivo by Abelson leukemia virus (7), we explored the possibility of using the J2 virus to immortalize penitoneal macrophages (Pm4s) in vivo. In this report, we demonstrate that no immortalization of Pm4s resulted from in vitro infee- tion ofthese cells with theJ2 virus but, in contrast, injection of the J2 virus into the peritoneal cavity of mice resulted in the immortalization of cells that maintain many of the properties and functions of m4s. 2 virus was obtained from supernatants of exponentially growing cultures of AMJ2-C11 cells by a previously de- senibed technique (4). Three days after intrapenitoneal injec- tion with i ml of iO% Brewer's thioglycollate (Difeo, Detroit, MI), C57B1/6J mice (Jackson Laboratories, Bar Harbor, ME) were injected with 0.5 ml of the J2 viral suspension or medium alone (mock infected). Two days after infection the animals were sacrificed and Pm4s harvested as previously
Delay management in delay-tolerant networks

In delay-tolerant networks (DTN), nodes explore various opportunities to connect and communicate with each other. A series of encounters of different nodes will create such opportunities and spread a message among many nodes and eventually deliver to the designated destination. We study one common DTN scenario where the message exchanges happen when nodes meet others at certain locations. In this situation, the success of message delivery and the quality of the delivery depend highly on the likeliness of nodes' encounters and time elapsed between encounters. We study two important qualities of service requirements: the probability of two nodes meeting each other (encounter probability) and the time it takes for two nodes to meet (encounter delay). The key considerations are how nodes pick their next locations (mobility patterns) and the features of the dwell time. In this paper, we will study several mobility patterns, including random movement, and activity agenda based movement. We also study an additional message delivery constraint, i.e., a message will be dropped if not delivered within a limited number of locations visited. We develop mathematical formulas using Markov chain as a main tool. Our work is presented as an illustration through case studies. The methodology applies to mobility models alike and is extendable to real trace analysis. We present numerical results when closed form formulas cannot be acquired. Our results help the management of message delivery for DTN, e.g., in selecting a proper time-to-live threshold for a message.
High Performance Lossless ESB Architecture with Data Protection for Mission-Critical Applications

This article reports two techniques for building a high performance lossless Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA). It employs a lossless ESB (Enterprise Service Bus) and a lossless high performance transaction processing (database) cluster.
Variance in radiance recorded from heterogeneous targets in the optical-reflective, middle-infrared, and thermal-infrared regions.

In this paper, the variance in radiance recorded from heterogeneous scenes in the optical-reflective, middle-IR, and thermal-IR regions is considered. The impact of this variance on feature discrimination is considered. Equations are presented, by which the efficacy of standard analytical techniques for given feature mapping tasks may be evaluated using available data. It is also suggested that these equations maybe helpful in development of mission-oriented sensors.
The Maligned F.W. Taylor: A Reply to His Many Critics Conceptual Notes

In this article the author comes to the defense of the designer of the management science known as Taylorism, Frederick W. Taylor. The author traces Taylor's thinking and discusses the impact that he had on the field and addresses both those who have criticized and praised his theories. He notes that Taylor has been regarded, most notably, as being responsible for laying the foundation on which productivity in the modern economy has been improved. The author discusses the contributions that Taylor made on behalf of the worker outlining his concepts for offering incentives to employees, shortening hours of labor and improving working conditions.
VvMJE1 of the grapevine (Vitis vinifera) VvMES methylesterase family encodes for methyl jasmonate esterase and has a role in stress response

The known members of plant methyl esterase (MES) family catalyze the hydrolysis of a C-O ester linkage of methyl esters of several phytohormones including indole-3-acetic acid, salicylic acid and jasmonic acid. The genome of grapevine (Vitis vinifera) was found to contain 15 MES genes, designated VvMES1-15. In this report, VvMES5 was selected for molecular, biochemical and structural studies. VvMES5 is most similar to tomato methyl jasmonate esterase. E. coli-expressed recombinant VvMES5 displayed methyl jasmonate (MeJA) esterase activity, it was renamed VvMJE1. Under steady-state conditions, VvMJE1 exhibited an apparent Km value of 92.9 μM with MeJA. VvMJE1 was also shown to have lower activity with methyl salicylate (MeSA), another known substrate of the MES family, and only at high concentrations of the substrate. To understand the structural basis of VvMJE1 in discriminating MeJA and MeSA, a homolog model of VvMJE1 was made using the X-ray structure of tobacco SABP2, which encodes for methyl salicylate esterase, as a template. Interestingly, two bulky residues at the binding site and near the surface of tobacco SABP2 are replaced by relatively small residues in VvMJE1. Such a change enables the accommodation of a larger substrate MeJA in VvMJE1. The expression of VvMJE1 was compared in control grape plants and grape plants treated with one of the three stresses: heat, cold and UV-B. While the expression of VvMJE1 was not affected by heat treatment, its expression was significantly up-regulated by cold treatment and UV-B treatment. This result suggests that VvMJE1 has a role in response of grape plants to these two abiotic stresses.
The U.S. Demand for Bananas—A Neglected Topic

T HE international banana trade with all its social and political implications has long been a fascinating and controversial subject for a variety of investigators. However, rather little demand analysis for this commodity has been published, particularly in the United States where bananas are approximately equivalent in consumption to fresh oranges.' The reasons are fairly clear. In major importing nations such as the United States, there are no producer groups to press for such economic research by public institutions. Jobbers, wholesalers, and small importers are not sufficiently organized to carry out work of this kind, and the few integrated producing and importing firms have no reason to publish economic analysis on a broad scale. This lack of research on the demand side may be critical in coming months and years as various international organizations deliberate trade and tariff policy alternatives for their banana producing and consuming members. For instance, the nations of the European Common Market hope to formulate tariff policies which will favor their banana producing associated territories without greatly damaging their important Latin American commerce. The organization of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) is seeking ways to foster economic development in nations largely dependent on primary agricultural exports such as bananas. The banana producers of the Organization of American States (OAS) have suggested the need for some form of international agreement to enhance foreign exchange earnings from bananas. For each of these groups, much hinges on the nature of current and potential banana markets in the United States, Europe, and elsewhere. The purpose of this paper is to bring the economic status of this important item in U.S. consumption to the attention of U.S. agricultural economists, and to help fill the existing gap in economic analysis by presenting briefly some empirical estimates of the U.S. retail demand for bananas.2 Unfortunately, the impressive story of recent technical ad-
Long-Term Population and Colony Dynamics of Brown Pelicans (Pelecanus occidentalis) in Rapidly Changing Coastal Louisiana, USA

Abstract. Coastal Louisiana has suffered from dramatic coastal land loss. Following translocations to Louisiana in the late 1960s, Brown Pelican (Pelecanus occidentalis) colonies were annually surveyed between 1971 and 2010 using aerial methods. The goals of this study were to describe long-term Brown Pelican colony dynamics, investigate physical changes to nesting islands via satellite imagery, and relate colony dynamics to physical island changes. Thirty Brown Pelican colonies were found, with a mean colony persistence of 5.5 years. Following exponential growth up to 2000, nesting plateaued, declined sharply in 2006 primarily due to land losses following the intense 2005 hurricane season, and stabilized at lower levels until 2010. From 1998 to 2010, island size decreased by a mean of 68.7%, with 10 of the islands vanishing entirely. Colony size was positively correlated to island size. Colonies did not shift between State regions, but appeared to shift within regions. To persist in Louisiana, Brown Peli...
Why Studying the Purchasing Agent is Not Enough

The industrial buying function is substantially more complex than it initially appears. It involves many people at all levels in a firm, often with vastly different views; it often is a protracted ...
Contraction and volume changes of glycerol treated rabbit polymorphonuclear leukocytes induced by ATP and Ca 2 ion.

SummaryRabbit peritoneal polymorpho-nuclear leucocytes treated with a hypotonic and low ionic strength solution containing glycerol, Ca2+ and KCl are contracted by ATP as observed microscopically. Under the same conditions, ATP induces a decrease in cell volume as measured by a Coulter Counter. The measurement of cell volume response gives parallel results to the contractile events observed microscopically in the following respects: (1) The effect of ATP requires Ca2+; (2) AMP and EGTA both fail to elicit a cell response; (3) Chelation of Ca2+ causes a reversal of the contractile and volume responses elicited by ATP and Ca2+. From these parallel observations it is suggested that the microscopically observed contraction of glycerinated polymorphonuclear leukocytes induced by ATP and Ca2+ is a reflection of a generalised decrease in cell volume.
Iodine Nutrition Status in Residents of Gaoxian County,2001-2011

Objective To understand the status of iodine concentration in salt and iodine nutrition condition among residents in Gaoxian county,and thus to provide references for eliminating iodine deficiency disorders( IDD).Methods Monitoring data were collected based on official implementation plans and were statistically analyzed.Results Altogether 3,012 salt samples were detected,with a qualified rate of 99.54%;the coverage rate of iodized salt was 99.93%;300 samples of urinary iodine in children were detected with the median of 171.8ug/L.The goiter rate was below 5%;the test rates of health education in students and in housewives were respectively 76.3% and 78.2%,respectively.Conclusion The hygiene condition of iodine in Gaoxian county is qualified to the national standard and preventive measures should be timely carried out,such health education and advocacy towards key populations.
Application of continuance renal replacement therapy in ICU

Objective To evaluate of the continuous renal replacement therapy(CRRT) results and the relation of survival rate of critical patient in ICU.Methods To treat 94 examples,acute,chronic kidney failure and MOF’s patient,use the CAVH 28 examples and CVVH 66 examples among them.Results ①Age patient divided into four groups,30 years,30～50 years,50～70 years,70 years age class,with increasing at the age survival rate drops gradually,there are significant difference P 0.001.②one organ failure have got 27 examples,survival rate 67%;two organs failure,have got 33 examples,survival rate 10%;three organs failure have got 34 examples, survival rate 9%;there are significant difference, P 0.001.③Carry on statistical analysis to 28 examples of CAVH group and 66 examples of CVVH survival rate,two groups do not have remarkable quality.④The patient through average in hemofiltration for 7 days,around treating blood BUN and blood Cr have obvious decline,there are remarkable qualities, P 0.01.The removing rate which store the alive group and group of the death solute does not have remarkable quality, P 0.05.Conclusion CRRT rescue the effective means of the critical patient,not receive restriction of age,the patient is able to bear at the quality better,can remove the little member material effectively,the survival rate of patient has something to do with age and patient’s organ failure,the older the age,the more failures of internal organs,the higher its death rate. [
Steady-State Distributions Of Parallel Queues

AbstractThis paper is concerned with the steady-state probability distributions for a well-known parallel queue with two identical servers, each having its own queue. Upon the arrival time, the new arrival joins the shortest queue, and stays in that queue until being served. Jockeying between queues is not allowed. To make the problem solvable, the states of the resulting Markov chain are truncated into a banded array. Two steady-state distributions will be derived by using probability generating function and matrix-geometric method: the probability of queue length and the customer sojourn time. Under certain conditions, the sojourn time has a phase-type distribution. Numerical results are presented and the convergence of the truncated model is discussed.
Chronic heart failure model induced by coronary embolization in sheep.

ObjectiveTo create a model of chronic heart failure in a large animal.MethodsHeart failure was induced in sheep by single intracoronary injection of polymer macrobeads, which were administered into...
THE NEW VOLATILE ANESTHETICS

Summary In conclusion, the physiologic response to desflurane, for the most part, closely mimics the response to isoflurane. In the steady state, it is difficult to distinguish these two drugs on the basis of their effect on the central and regional hemodynamics, as well as on pulmonary function. The virtual stability of desflurane, although at first glance impressive, should be considered in light of the excellent safety record of isoflurane following the administration of hundreds of millions of anesthetics. The most consistent difference between these agents relates to the decreased solubility of desflurane, which promotes a more rapid emergence. What the impact of this property will be in terms of the cost of postoperative care has not yet been determined. Whether or not this saving will justify the additional cost of the new technology required for the metered vaporization of desflurane also is unclear.35 The cost of desflurane (Suprane) is currently targeted to compete favorably with isoflurane (For-ane). With the patent for isoflurane scheduled to expire in the near future, one must also consider that a new low-cost alternative to Suprane may soon be available—namely, generic isoflurane.
Time to Treatment: Measuring Quality Breast Cancer Care

To optimize breast cancer care, several organizations have crafted guidelines to define best practices for treating breast cancer. In addition to recommended therapies, ‘timeliness of treatment’ has been proposed as a quality metric. Our study evaluates time to surgical treatment and its effect on overall survival (OS). The National Cancer Data Base (NCDB) was used to identify women diagnosed with invasive breast cancer between 2004 and 2012. Time from diagnosis to surgical treatment was calculated and grouped according to predetermined time intervals. Univariate and multivariate Cox proportional hazard models were used to assess patient and treatment factors related to OS. Overall, 420,792 patients initially treated with surgery were identified. Increased time to surgical treatment >12 weeks was associated with decreased OS [hazard ratio (HR) 1.14, 95 % confidence interval (CI) 1.09–1.20]. When stratified by pathologic stage, stage I patients treated at 8 to 12 weeks (HR 1.19, 95 % CI 1.11–1.28), as well as stage II patients treated at >12 weeks (HR 1.16, 95 % CI 1.08–1.25), had decreased OS compared with patients treated at <4 weeks. Other variables associated with decreased survival were treatment at a community cancer program, Medicaid or Medicare insurance, Black race, increasing age, mastectomy, moderately and poorly differentiated tumor grade, increasing T and N stage, and higher Charlson Index Group. The survival benefit of expedited time to initial surgical treatment varies by stage and appears to have the greatest impact in early-stage disease. Prior to establishing standard metrics, further quantification of the impact on patient outcomes is needed.
Survival and Growth Potential of Aeromonas hydrophila in Reconditioned Pork-Processing-Plant Water

The growth and survival of Aeromonas hydrophila K144 was studied in reconditioned pork-processing-plant water. Neutralization of residual chlorine by thiosulfate permitted growth and long-term survival of the bacterium at temperatures ranging from 5 to 28°C ; growth was also observed at 37 and 42°C but survival times were shorter. The coliform growth response, a bioassay system to measure the amount of nutrients available for microbial growth, for the reconditioned water was 2.91 ± 0.61, which agreed with our observation that this water contained sufficient nutrients to support about 3 log units of growth of A. hydrophila. Our results indicate that residual chlorine levels are necessary to prevent the growth of any A. hydrophila which might contaminate reconditioned water.
Multiple Brain Abscesses in an Immunocompetent Patient With Factor V Leiden Mutation.

Multiple brain abscesses in an immunocompetent patient is a challenging clinical problem in the medical world despite advances in imaging techniques, laboratory diagnostics, surgical interventions,...