cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Preliminary studies for the consolidation of guadalupe tuff from the Philippines

Publisher Summary The volcanic tuff used in Manila and surrounding areas was extracted from local quarries. The Mount Mayamot quarry is currently active and the tuff quarried from it, Guadalupe tuff, is being used extensively as cladding material in modern construction. The weathering of tuffs in the Philippines is because of the action of water, both as moisture and as rain. Water-repellents can be used as a protective treatment, but if the tuff has already weathered, a preliminary consolidation is needed. For this purpose, a silicate ester based product appears to be one of the most appropriate treatments. However, the treatment itself influences the weathering characteristics of the stone. This study focuses on the evaluation of the treatment, which is applied to unweathered stones after artificial weathering. This chapter describes the consolidation tests carried out on samples from the Mount Mayamot quarry. The samples were consolidated using Conservare OH Stone Strengthener. Samples of the tuff, both treated and untreated, were artificially aged by wet-dry cycles and alternating with exposure to 100% RH. The results, based on microscopy, IR analysis, water absorption data, and mechanical tests, showed that even relatively short artificial weathering produces significant deterioration for both treated and untreated specimens. The main effect observed in the untreated specimens were increase in porosity, the partial leaching of iron ions decreasing the color of the stone to a depth of 2-mm,and surface deposition of amorphous silica . For the case of the treated samples, similar but less severe erosion around pumice and basalt clasts was observed. Under scanning electron microscope (SEM) examination, the polymerization cracks in the silicate ester were increased by microcracking originating from a single point and attributed to stress-cracking. Some flaking of the consolidant was observed and all samples showed the presence of a faint white efflorescence of amorphous silica.
Naïve Bayes pixel-level plant segmentation

In this paper, we propose a naive Bayes classification method for pixel-level plant segmentation, which can classify plant and background (plant/non-plant) with high accuracy in an image. Unlike existing algorithms, in which statistical information is extracted from a single image and optimization techniques are applied to minimize the segmentation cost function, in the proposed method, statistical information/ features are extracted from a training image dataset (each image includes plant and non-plant background) and a naive Bayes classification method is applied to identify each pixel class in an image. Therefore, the proposed method is less complex than other learning techniques as no (regularized) optimization method need to be applied in the segmentation algorithm. The proposed method is more useful when a limited number of classes/objects needs to be classified, such as the two-class plant/non-plant problem. An image dataset with sufficient images to extract feature information in the training step is also needed. The proposed method is a suboptimal classification but can approach the optimum one if the pixels probability distribution functions (PDFs) are approximated accurately and a posteriori probability of each pixel is available.
Campaign Finance Disclosure

Understanding the effects of campaign finance disclosure is of growing importance as the Supreme Court has weakened other tools of campaign finance regulation. This essay reviews scholarly articles that have examined the Supreme Court’s hypothesized costs and benefits of campaign finance disclosure. Namely, it explains what we know about the information and anti-corruption interests and the extent of chilling effects on political speech (as money). It also ventures beyond the Court’s list of costs and benefits to consider administrative burden, informational benefits to candidates, and access benefits to contributors. Finally, it analogizes to what we know about how other areas of disclosure affect consumer and producer behavior. Most, but not all, evidence implies that the benefits of campaign finance disclosure outweigh the costs. Future scholars should work more on the informational benefits, as we have many open questions about how to optimize disclosure to maximize benefits and minimize costs. Expect...
Fatty acid oxidation is required for active and quiescent brown adipose tissue maintenance and thermogenic programing.

Abstract Objective To determine the role of fatty acid oxidation on the cellular, molecular, and physiologic response of brown adipose tissue to disparate paradigms of chronic thermogenic stimulation. Methods Mice with an adipose-specific loss of Carnitine Palmitoyltransferase 2 (Cpt2A−/−), that lack mitochondrial long chain fatty acid β-oxidation, were subjected to environmental and pharmacologic interventions known to promote thermogenic programming in adipose tissue. Results Chronic administration of β3-adrenergic (CL-316243) or thyroid hormone (GC-1) agonists induced a loss of BAT morphology and UCP1 expression in Cpt2A−/− mice. Fatty acid oxidation was also required for the browning of white adipose tissue (WAT) and the induction of UCP1 in WAT. In contrast, chronic cold (15 °C) stimulation induced UCP1 and thermogenic programming in both control and Cpt2A−/− adipose tissue albeit to a lesser extent in Cpt2A−/− mice. However, thermoneutral housing also induced the loss of UCP1 and BAT morphology in Cpt2A−/− mice. Therefore, adipose fatty acid oxidation is required for both the acute agonist-induced activation of BAT and the maintenance of quiescent BAT. Consistent with this data, Cpt2A−/− BAT exhibited increased macrophage infiltration, inflammation and fibrosis irrespective of BAT activation. Finally, obese Cpt2A−/− mice housed at thermoneutrality exhibited a loss of interscapular BAT and were refractory to β3-adrenergic-induced energy expenditure and weight loss. Conclusion Mitochondrial long chain fatty acid β-oxidation is critical for the maintenance of the brown adipocyte phenotype both during times of activation and quiescence.
Fast multilevel Lagrangian carotid strain imaging with GPU computing

Lagrangian carotid strain imaging (LCSI) involves estimation of deformation in the carotid artery due to blood pressure variations under cardiac pulsation. Local strain over a cardiac cycle is tracked, which is computationally intensive. We incur long offline processing times for LCSI which becomes a limiting factor for clinical adoption. We report on the computational speedup obtained for a parallelized implementation of LCSI using CUDA programming for fast computation. LCSI is currently performed using a multi-level block matching algorithm written in C++ using the Insight Toolkit (ITK) system. We have implemented this code on a NVIDIA k40 GPU for running CUDA kernels called from the ITK C++ code. The multi-level algorithm consists of three processing stages; stage 1 performs block matching at the coarsest level while level 3 performs block-matching at the finest scale on radiofrequency signals. The regularization step which incurred the largest computational time was implemented on the GPU. Cross-correlation was then implemented with the regularization step thereby avoiding a CPU to GPU data transfer. Shared memory was used in the regularization step to further reduce processing time. The computation time per frame pairs for LCSI with our initial implementation was about 316.41 secs for an in vivo human carotid data set, thereby taking 131 minutes for an entire loop over a cardiac cycle with 25 frames. GPU implementation of regularization provided per frame results in 99.92 secs, a speedup of 3.16X. Further optimization with implementation of cross correlation on the GPU and use of shared memory improved the computation time to 23 secs per frame, a speed up of 13.75X, reducing processing time to 9.5 minutes over a cardiac cycle.
Sale of Alcohol in Pharmacies: Results and Implications of an Empirical Study

Alcohol misuse continues to be a major concern in the health care community. Within this community, pharmacists are ideally positioned to play a major role in preventive efforts in dealing with alcohol misuse. The objective of the study was to follow-up on important findings from a 1996 statewide survey of Indiana pharmacists regarding their opinions and practices related to the sale of alcohol in pharmacies. Of the 1,280 registered Indiana pharmacies, one-half were chosen using a systematic random selection process. From the 640 pharmacies contacted, 476 pharmacists responded completely to the questionnaire, providing a 74.4% response rate. Findings reveal that independent pharmacies had significantly reduced their sale of alcohol since 1996 while there was no significant change among retail chain pharmacies. Pharmacies that generated a greater share of their business from prescription drugs were less likely to sell alcohol products. Compared to five years ago, significantly more pharmacists in 2001 believed that pharmacies should not sell alcohol. In addition, more than half of pharmacists who worked in pharmacies that sold alcohol felt it differed from their professional values. Twenty-three percent of pharmacists reported inquiring about their patients' alcohol habits, a significant increase over 1996. More pharmacists thought alcohol was an important contributing factor to morbidity in 2001 compared with 1996. The data also revealed that pharmacists were more likely to ask patients about their alcohol habits if they considered alcohol use to be a more important cause of morbidity.
The “Marital Conventionalization” Argument; Implications for the Study of Religiosity and Marital Satisfaction:

The “marital conventionalization” argument set forth by Edmonds, Withers, and Dibatista (1972) claims that empirical relationships observed between measures of religiosity and marital satisfaction ...
Information Integration in Modulation of Pragmatic Inferences During Online Language Comprehension

Upon hearing a scalar adjective in a definite referring expression such as "the big…," listeners typically make anticipatory eye movements to an item in a contrast set, such as a big glass in the context of a smaller glass. Recent studies have suggested that this rapid, contrastive interpretation of scalar adjectives is malleable and calibrated to the speaker's pragmatic competence. In a series of eye-tracking experiments, we explore the nature of the evidence necessary for the modulation of pragmatic inferences in language comprehension, focusing on the complementary roles of top-down information - (knowledge about the particular speaker's pragmatic competence) and bottom-up cues (distributional information about the use of scalar adjectives in the environment). We find that bottom-up evidence alone (e.g., the speaker says "the big dog" in a context with one dog), in large quantities, can be sufficient to trigger modulation of the listener's contrastive inferences, with or without top-down cues to support this adaptation. Further, these findings suggest that listeners track and flexibly combine multiple sources of information in service of efficient pragmatic communication.
Revisiting measurement invariance in intelligence testing in aging research: Evidence for almost complete metric invariance across age groups.

Background/objectives Invariance of intelligence across age is often assumed but infrequently explicitly tested. Horn and McArdle (1992) tested measurement invariance of intelligence, providing adequate model fit but might not consider all relevant aspects such as sub-test differences. The goal of the current paper is to explore age-related invariance of the WAIS-R using an alternative model that allows direct tests of age on WAIS-R subtests. Methods Cross-sectional data on 940 participants aged 16-75 from the WAIS-R normative values were used. Subtests examined were information, comprehension, similarities, vocabulary, picture completion, block design, picture arrangement, and object assembly. The two intelligence factors considered were fluid and crystallized intelligence. Self-reported ages were divided into young (16-22, n = 300), adult (29-39, n = 275), middle (40-60, n = 205), and older (61-75, n = 160) adult groups. Results Results suggested partial metric invariance holds. Although most of the subtests reflected fluid and crystalized intelligence similarly across different ages, invariance did not hold for block design on fluid intelligence and picture arrangement on crystallized intelligence for older adults. Additionally, there was evidence of a correlated residual between information and vocabulary for the young adults only. This partial metric invariance model yielded acceptable model fit compared to previously-proposed invariance models of Horn and McArdle (1992). Conclusion Almost complete metric invariance holds for a two-factor model of intelligence. Most of the subtests were invariant across age groups, suggesting little evidence for age-related bias in the WAIS-R. However, we did find unique relationships between two subtests and intelligence. Future studies should examine age-related differences in subtests when testing measurement invariance in intelligence.
Research and infrastructure challenges for applications and services in the year 2021

The Applications and Services in the Year 2021 workshop was successfully organized on January 27--28, 2016 in Washington DC through funding support from the National Science Foundation (NSF). The goal of the workshop was to foster discussions that bring together applications researchers in multidisciplinary areas, and developers/operators of research infrastructures at both national, regional, university and city levels. Discussions were organized to identify grand challenge applications and obtain the community voice and consensus on the key issues relating to applications and services that might be delivered by advanced infrastructures in the decade beginning in 2020. The timing and organization for the workshop is significant because today's digital infrastructure is undergoing deep technological changes and new paradigms are rapidly taking shape in both the core and edge domains that pose fundamental challenges. The key outcomes of the discussions were targeted to enhance the quality of peoples' lives while addressing important national priorities, leveraging today's cutting edge applications such as the Internet of Things, Big Data Analytics, Robotics, The Industrial Internet, and Immersive Virtual/Augmented Reality. This report summarizes the workshop efforts to bring together diverse groups for delivering targeted short/long talks, sharing latest advances, and identifying gaps that exist in the community for 'research' and 'infrastructure' needs that require future NSF funding.
Acoustic adaptation to city noise through vocal learning by a songbird.

Anthropogenic noise imposes novel selection pressures, especially on species that communicate acoustically. Many animals—including insects, frogs, whales and birds—produce sounds at higher frequenc...
Proceedings of the International Conference for High Performance Computing, Networking, Storage and Analysis

HPC Matters. That's the tag line of this year's conference on high performance computing, networking, storage, and analysis (SC), and this volume, containing the accepted technical papers and papers of the ACM Gordon Bell prize finalists, captures the best current research in all aspects of HPC.
Designing ISAR Lab Experiments for EO-SAR ATR

Radar-based automatic target recognition (ATR) experiments rely on accurate and repeatable synthetic aperture radar (SAR) measurements performed in an anechoic chamber. Yet, the chamber poses challenges to joint electro-optic (EO) and SAR experiments. Here, we present an open-room approach that is suitable for simultaneous EO collection. The local measurement technique, data processing, and SAR ATR feature extraction are discussed with emphasis on EO fusion and the various tradeoffs at each stage. Examples of inverse SAR imagery at Ka-band demonstrate the relatively inexpensive, fast, and repeatable measurements. Finally, candidate EO fusion experiments are discussed.
In defense of the possibilism–actualism distinction

In Modal Logic as Metaphysics, Timothy Williamson claims that the possibilism–actualism (P–A) distinction is badly muddled. In its place, he introduces a necessitism–contingentism (N–C) distinction that he claims is free of the confusions that purportedly plague the P–A distinction. In this paper I argue first that the P–A distinction, properly understood, is entirely coherent and historically well-grounded. I then look at the two arguments Williamson levels at the P–A distinction and find them wanting and show, moreover, that, when the N–C distinction is broadened (as per Williamson himself) so as to enable necessitists to fend off contingentist objections, the P–A distinction can be faithfully reconstructed in terms of the N–C distinction. However, Williamson’s critique does point to a genuine shortcoming in the common formulation of the P–A distinction. I propose a new definition of the distinction in terms of essential properties that avoids this shortcoming.
Long Term Complications of the Indwelling Central Line Catheters

The ability of providing a route for continuous infusion and the delivery of medications on an outpatient basis has been made possible by the catheters designed by Broviac and Hickman, initially utilized for patients requiring long term parenteral nutrition.(1)
Beta-Propeller Protein-Associated Neurodegeneration (BPAN) Detected in a Child with Epileptic Spasms.

This report discusses a 13-year-old girl diagnosed with beta-propeller protein-associated neurodegeneration (BPAN). BPAN is an X-linked neurodegeneration disorder associated with a mutation in the WDR45 gene. It typically presents in childhood with encephalopathy, developmental delay, and seizures. Following an initial static phase, these symptoms then progress to dementia, dystonia, and parkinsonism in early adulthood. Our child initially presented with epileptic spasms, global developmental delay, speech delay, hypotonia, spasticity, scoliosis, and gait disturbance. While these symptoms remained unchanged in early childhood, they depicted accelerated deterioration at age 12-13 rather than in adulthood. Her diagnosis was made based on her clinical presentation and review of imaging that led to specific genetic testing confirming the condition. The imaging findings were of markedly low signal on gradient T2* sequences in the globus pallidus and substantia nigra and T1 hyperintensity in the substantia nigra, with associated diffuse brain volume loss. Unlike other cases reported in the literature, there was no classic area of central hypointensity on T1 imaging in the substantia nigra.
Brake adjustment: Ca2+ entry pathway provides a novel target for acute pancreatitis therapy.

Acute pancreatitis (AP) is accompanied by intense abdominal pain that often requires hospital admission, but no therapies directed at causes of the disease yet exist (1). Evidence accumulated over decades of research revealed that the initial events of AP target the pancreatic acinar cell, where digestive enzymes are produced (1). Especially during the past 25 years, a hypothesis that has gained wide acceptance is that an excess of acinar cell cytosolic Ca 2+ (Ca 2+ cyt ) is a key initial trigger of AP pathology (1-3). This Ca 2+ cyt overload likely contributes to premature trypsin activation, a hallmark of AP pathology, as well as a plethora of other responses (4,5). Depending on its extent and persistence, Ca 2+ cyt overload in the acinar cell may perturb cellular energetics, confound complex secretory functions and homeostatic processes like autophagy, or induce cell death.
Лечение метаболического синдрома методом бесстеплерного одноанастомозного гастрошунтирования: рандомизированное клиническое исследование в сравнении со степлерной технологией

BACKGROUND: The authors have developed an original method of laparoscopic gastric bypass significantly reducing financial costs when conducting this surgical treatment of obesity. In the presented article for the first time describes the evaluation of the effectiveness of the proposed to introduce a new type of staplerless gastric bypass compared to the standard stapler method. AIMS: to evaluate the effectiveness of the author’s method of laparoscopic gastric bypass for the treatment of metabolic syndrome with obesity. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This prospective, randomized controlled trial presents the results of surgical treatment of 80 patients with metabolic syndrome. Patients were randomized into two groups of 40 people. In the first group, the author’s method of laparoscopic mini-gastric bypass with a band-separated pouch was implemented, and in the second group, the standard laparoscopic mini-gastric bypass with a standard (stapler-separated) gastric pouch was used. Procedures were performed in the period from 2015 to 2016 with an average follow up period of 3 years. The postoperative change of weight loss and the changes of the main manifestations of the metabolic syndrome, as well as the change in the cardiovascular risk index in the comparison groups were assessed. RESULTS: In both groups there were no significant differences by sex and age. In the first group there were 39 women and 1 man, and in the second group 36 women and 4 men aged 36.75±8.6 years and 40.47±11.0 years, respectively (p=0.097). Three years after surgery, all 80 patients were examined using analysis of variance. At the same time, it was revealed that the change in body mass index after operations, which was 14.02±5.05 kg/m 2 in the first group, and 12.38±5.7 kg/m 2 (p=0.170) in the second group, was found equally good bariatric effect of two compared methods of gastric bypass. The main indicators of blood pressure, as well as laboratory data reflecting the state of carbohydrate and fat metabolism, statistically significantly decreased in both groups to normal values, which suggests a pronounced metabolic effect of both gastric bypass methods. It was established that cardiovascular risk in the first group decreased from 5.4±0.9 to 2.9±0.4 (p<0.001), and in the second group from 5.1±1.1 to 3.1±0.32 (p<0.001). CONCLUSIONS: The results of the use of various types of laparoscopic gastric bypass in the surgical treatment of metabolic syndrome after three years indicate a significant reduction in body weight, normalization of carbohydrate and fat metabolism. In a comparative aspect, the author’s and standard gastric bypass techniques equally positively affect the elimination of the main manifestations of the metabolic syndrome, but the proposed author’s method has insignificant advantages in terms of weight loss.
Long-acting approaches for delivery of antiretroviral drugs for prevention and treatment of HIV: a review of recent research.

Despite significant advances in treatment and prevention of HIV-1 infection, poor adherence to daily combination antiretroviral therapy (ART) regimens remains a major obstacle toward achieving sust...
Detection of OG:A lesion mispairs by MutY relies on a single His residue and the 2-amino group of 8-oxoguanine

MutY glycosylase excises adenines misincorporated opposite the oxidatively damaged lesion, 8-oxo-7,8-dihydroguanine (OG), to initiate base excision repair and prevent G to T transversion mutations. Successful repair requires MutY recognition of the OG:A mispair amidst highly abundant and structurally similar undamaged DNA base pairs. Herein we use a combination of in vitro and bacterial cell repair assays with single-molecule fluorescence microscopy to demonstrate that both a C-terminal domain histidine residue and the 2-amino group of OG base are critical for MutY detection of OG:A sites. These studies are the first to directly link deficiencies in MutY lesion detection with incomplete cellular repair. These results suggest that defects in lesion detection of human MutY (MUTYH) variants may prove predictive of early-onset colorectal cancer known an MUTYH-associated polyposis. Furthermore, unveiling these specific molecular determinants for repair makes it possible to envision new MUTYH-specific cancer therapies.
Soiling Quantification Using an Image-Based Method: Effects of Imaging Conditions

Solar power generation continues to grow as a dominant renewable energy source. Soiling because of dust accumulation is one of the important challenges facing large-scale solar photovoltaic (PV) plant operations, particularly, in the arid regions. The assessment and mitigation of soiling effects on large arrays of PV panels are often limited by the area coverage and how often data can be collected. To overcome this limitation, in this article, we propose a method to directly use images to quantify soiling on PV panels. A prototype lab system and image processing algorithm are developed to test the feasibility of the method. Specifically, a metric called black/white ratio is calculated from images of a surrogate surface with controlled dust loadings. Effects of different camera settings and view angles are investigated using lab experiments. The experimental results show that dust loading can be quantified under a range of proper imaging conditions, which indicates the potential to use aerial images for PV panel soiling quantification in the future.
Impact of Timing of Smoking Cessation on 30-Day Outcomes in Veterans Undergoing Lobectomy for Cancer

The adverse effects of tobacco use on postoperative outcomes are well documented. While smoking cessation is associated with overall improvement in long-term survival for lung cancer patients, the effects of cessation shortly before lung surgery are unclear. This study compares thirty-day outcomes after lobectomy between active smokers, recent quitters, and non-smokers. Patients who underwent lobectomy for cancer at national Veterans Affairs medical centers from 2012-2018 were retrospectively identified in the Veterans Affairs Surgical Quality Improvement Program (VASQIP) database. The sample was stratified into three groups: smokers within two weeks of surgery ("active smokers"), those who quit between two weeks and three months prior to surgery ("recent quitters"), and "non-smokers". Propensity score matching was performed to compare groups. Of 5,715 patients who met inclusion criteria, 2,696 were non-smokers, 774 were recent quitters, and 2,245 were active smokers. After propensity matching, 572 patients comprised each group. Compared to recent quitters, active smokers had 48% higher odds of suffering a pulmonary complication (95% confidence interval (CI): 1.03-2.14; p=0.035) and 72% higher odds of suffering multiple complications (CI: 1.07-2.76; p=0.026). Relative to non-smokers, active smokers had 81% higher odds of pulmonary complications (CI: 1.34-2.65; p=0.003). No differences were detected in outcomes comparing recent quitters to non-smokers. Veterans undergoing lobectomy for cancer who quit 2 weeks before surgery had less pulmonary complications than active smokers. Recent quitters have similar outcomes to non-smokers. Surgeons should therefore encourage patients to quit smoking, including just prior to lung surgery.
Crossing the Line: Direct Estimation of Cross-Border Cigarette Sales and the Effect on Tax Revenues

Differences in excise taxes across jurisdictions create incentives for consumers to cross the border and to purchase in lower-tax jurisdictions. This paper introduces a discrete choice model to examine tax avoidance and state border crossing in the market for cigarettes. We exploit a rich dataset of consumer location choices and demographics to estimate a consumer's tradeoff between distance and price when choosing a location to maximize utility. Using the estimates from our location and demand models, we reconsider a recent public policy issue among states and simulate tax avoidance under alternative cigarette excise tax levels.
Auto-hydrolysis of red clover as "green" approach to (iso)flavonoid enriched products.

Abstract Optimal parameters for the auto-hydrolysis of (iso)flavone glycosides to aglycones in ground Trifolium pratense L. plant material were established as a “green” method for the production of a reproducible red clover extract (RCE). The process utilized 72-h fermentation in DI water at 25 and 37 °C. The aglycones obtained at 25 °C, as determined by UHPLC-UV and quantitative 1H NMR (qHNMR), increased significantly in the a uto-hydrolyzed ( A RCE) (6.2–6.7% w/w biochanin A 1, 6.1–9.9% formononetin 2) vs a control e thanol ( E RCE) extract (0.24% 1, 0.26% 2). After macerating ARCE with 1:1 (v/v) d iethyl ether/ h exanes (ARCE- d/h ), 1 and 2 increased to 13.1–16.7% and 14.9–18.4% w, respectively, through depletion of fatty components. The final extracts showed chemical profiles similar to that of a previous clinical RCE. Biological standardization revealed that the enriched ARCE-d/h extracts produced the strongest estrogenic activity in ERα positive endometrial cells (Ishikawa cells), followed by the precursor ARCE. The glycoside-rich ERCE showed no estrogenic activity. The estrogenicity of ARCE-d/h was similar to that of the clinical RCE. The lower potency of the ARCE compared to the prior clinical RCE indicated that substantial amounts of fatty acids/matter likely reduce the estrogenicity of crude hydrolyzed preparations. The in vitro dynamic residual complexity of the conversion of biochanin A to genistein was evaluated by LC-MS-MS. The outcomes help advance translational research with red clover and other (iso)flavone-rich botanicals by inspiring the preparation of (iso)flavone aglycone-enriched extracts for the exploration of new in vitro and ex vivo bioactivities that are unachievable with genuine, glycoside-containing extracts.
Engineering of a Small Protein Scaffold to Recognize Sulfotyrosine with High Specificity

Protein tyrosine O-sulfation is an essential post-translational modification required for effective biological processes such as hemostasis, inflammatory response, and visual phototransduction. Because of its unstable nature under mass spectrometry conditions and residing on low-abundance cell surface proteins, sulfated tyrosine (sulfotyrosine) residues are difficult to detect or analyze. Enrichment of sulfotyrosine-containing proteins (sulfoproteins) from complex biological samples are typically required before analysis. In this work, we seek to engineer the phosphotyrosine binding pocket of a Src Homology 2 (SH2) domain to act as an antisulfotyrosine antibody mimic. Using tailored selection schemes, several SH2 mutants are identified with high affinity and specificity to sulfotyrosine. Further molecular docking simulations highlight potential mechanisms supporting observed characteristics of these SH2 mutants. Utilities of the evolved SH2 mutants were demonstrated by the detection and enrichment of sulfoproteins.
Myosin IIA associates with NK cell lytic granules to enable their interaction with F-actin and function at the immunological synapse

NK cell cytotoxicity requires the formation of an actin-rich immunological synapse (IS) with a target cell and the polarization of perforin-containing lytic granules toward the IS. Following the polarization of lytic granules, they traverse through the actin-rich IS to join the NK cell membrane in order for directed secretion of their contents to occur. We examined the role of myosin IIA as a candidate for facilitating this prefinal step in lytic NK cell IS function. Lytic granules in and derived from a human NK cell line, or ex vivo human NK cells, were constitutively associated with myosin IIA. When isolated using density gradients, myosin IIA-associated NK cell lytic granules directly bound to F-actin and the interaction was sensitive to the presence of ATP under conditions of flow. In NK cells from patients with a truncation mutation in myosin IIA, NK cell cytotoxicity, lytic granule penetration into F-actin at the IS, and interaction of isolated granules with F-actin were all decreased. Similarly, inhibition of myosin function also diminished the penetration of lytic granules into F-actin at the IS, as well as the final approach of lytic granules to and their dynamics at the IS. Thus, NK cell lytic granule-associated myosin IIA enables their interaction with actin and final transit through the actin-rich IS to the synaptic membrane, and can be defective in the context of naturally occurring human myosin IIA mutation.
Stabilization of Routing in Directed Networks

Routing messages in a network is often based on the assumption that each link, and so each path, in the network is bidirectional. The two directions of a path are employed in routing messages as follows. One direction is used by the nodes in the path to forward messages to their destination at the end of the path, and the other direction is used by the destination to inform the nodes in the path that this path does lead to the destination. Clearly, routing messages is more difficult in directed networks where links are unidirectional. (Examples of such networks are mobile ad-hoc networks and satellite networks.) In this paper, we present the first stabilizing protocol for routing messages in directed networks. We keep our presentation manageable by dividing it into three (relatively simple) steps. In the first step, we develop an arbitrary directed network where each node broadcasts to every reachable node in the network. In the second step, we enhance the network such that each node broadcasts its shortest distance to the destination. In the third step, we enhance the network further such that each node can determine its best neighbor for reaching the destination.
In the Wake of the Financial Crisis: Rethinking Responsible Investment

Rethinking “Responsible Investment” in the wake of the financial crisis is a daunting theme, and one best accomplished with some humility. Responsible Investment is a beguilingly simple but elusive notion. As we survey the damage wrought by the crisis and attempt to build some safety and soundness into the financial system, how could the notion of Responsible Investment not be viewed as a useful approach in the capital markets? Responsible Investment is, by definition, a valuable notion. Responsibility is quintessential for fiduciaries—those investing on behalf of others. The question then is perhaps not whether Responsible Investment might be a good idea, but what is holding it back? What would cause Responsible Investment to lose its rather platitudinous moniker—responsible—and simply become “investment”? If markets are efficient, because information is sufficient and investors are rational,1 then Responsible Investment would be nothing worthy of comment. Irresponsible investment would represent the occasional excess, indiscretion, or folly. The current situation, however, appears more complex and the problems more intractable. We have a tragedy of the commons.2 No single actor has the power, or perhaps even the motive, to solve
Learning and Behavior: A Contemporary Synthesis

LEARNING THEORY: WHAT IT IS AND HOW IT GOT THIS WAY - Philosophical Roots - Biological Roots - A Science of Learning and Behavior - Tools for Analyzing Learning and Behavior - Summary - LEARNING AND ADAPTATION - Evolution and Behavior - Adaptation in Instrumental Conditioning - Adaptation in Classical Conditioning - Other Parallels between Signal and Response Learning - Summary - THE NUTS AND BOLTS OF CONDITIONING - The Basic Conditioning Experiment - Methods for Studying Classical Conditioning - Things That Affect the Strength of Conditioning - Conditioned Inhibition - Information Value in Conditioning - Summary - THEORIES OF CONDITIONING - The Rescorla-Wagner Model - Some Problems with the Rescorla-Wagner Model - The Role of Attention in Conditioning - Short-Term Memory and Learning - Nodes, Connections, and Conditioning - Summary - WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO BEHAVIOR, ANYWAY? - Memory and Learning - The Modulation of Behavior - Understanding the Nature of the Conditioned Response - Summary - ARE THE LAWS OF CONDITIONING GENERAL? - Everything You Know is Wrong - Special Characteristics of Flavor Aversion Learning - Some Reasons Why Learning Laws May Be General - Associative Learning in Honey Bees and Humans - Conclusion - Summary - BEHAVIOR AND ITS CONSEQUENCES - Basic Tools and Issues - The Relationship between Behavior and Payoff - Theories of Reinforcement - Summary - HOW STIMULI GUIDE INSTRUMENTAL ACTION - Introduction - Categorization and Discrimination - Basic Processes of Generalization and Discrimination - Another Look at the Information Processing System - The Cognition of Time - The Cognition of Space - Summary - THE MOTIVATION OF INSTRUMENTAL ACTION - How Motivational States Affect Behavior - Anticipating Reward and Punishment - Dynamic Effects of Motivating Stimuli - Summary - A SYNTHETIC PERSPECTIVE ON INSTRUMENTAL ACTION - Avoidance Learning - Parallels in Appetitive Learning - A Cognitive Analysis of Instrumental Action - Summary
Abstract 3066: YPEL3, a novel inducer of senescence, is inhibited by estrogen in ER+ mammary tumor cells

It was recently discovered by this laboratory that Yippie-like 3 (YPEL3) is a novel p53 regulated gene that when induced triggers premature senescence in primary and tumor cell lines. Initial screens of human tumor samples uncovered significant decreases in YPEL3 gene expression in ER- verses ER+ breast cancers leading us to believe that estrogen may have a regulatory effect on YPEL3 expression. Using ER+ MCF7 cells, we determined that estrogen is a significant inhibitor of YPEL3 gene expression in cells grown in media with 10% serum verses cells grown in media with charcoal stripped serum (CSS) from which estrogen has been removed. The increase in YPEL3 mRNA expression demonstrated in CSS can be blocked by the addition of estrogen, and as expected tamoxifen competes with this estrogen repressive effect. The effects of estrogen on YPEL3 expression are not observed in MCF10A mammary epithelial cells which are ER negative demonstrating the requirement for the estrogen receptor in the observed effect. Given our observation that YPEL3 induction triggers senescence in breast cancer cells, we employed beta-galactosidase activity as a measurement of senescence and observed an 8-fold increase in senescence in MCF7 cells grown in CSS media. The increase is reduced to less than 3.5-fold with the addition of estrogen to the CSS media, and the increase in cellular senescence is blocked in MCF7 cells stably selected for the loss of YPEL3 (MCF7-shYPEL3) suggesting the need for the absence of estrogen and the presence of YPEL3 in senescence induction. We are currently testing the effects of estrogen on MCF7 cells where p53 has been knocked down using RNAi approaches and are planning to test the effects of RNAi targeting ER-alpha. We believe estrogen is inhibiting YPEL3 expression through its association with the estrogen receptor and their association with p53 thereby inhibiting p53 transactivation of YPEL3. These findings suggest that modulation of YPEL3 by estrogen and its growth suppressive effects may provide a target for future breast cancer therapies. Note: First two authors contributed equally. Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 101st Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2010 Apr 17-21; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2010;70(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 3066.
Beef Tallow Increases the Potency of Conjugated Linoleic Acid in the Reduction of Mouse Mammary Tumor Metastasis

Animal studies consistently show that dietary conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) reduces mammary tumorigenesis including metastasis. Relatively low concentrations of CLA are required for those effects, and a threshold level exists above which there is no added reduction. We reasoned that the concentration of CLA required to effectively alter mammary tumor metastasis may be dependent on the type of dietary fat because select fatty acids can enhance or suppress normal or malignant cell growth and metastasis. For this study, the diets (a total of 12 different groups) differed in fatty acid composition but not in energy from fat (40%). In experiments involving spontaneous metastasis, mice were fed for 11 wk; in experiments in which mice were injected i.v. with tumor cells, they were fed for 7 wk. Mice were then assessed for the effect of CLA concentration on mammary tumorigenesis. Mammary tumor growth was not altered, but metastasis was significantly decreased when beef tallow (BT) replaced half of a defined vegetable fat blend (VFB). That blend reflects the typical fat content of a Western diet. In addition, that same VFB:BT diet lowered the concentration of CLA required to significantly decrease mammary tumor metastasis from 0.1% of the diet to 0.05%. A diet in which corn oil replaced half of the VFB did not lower the threshold from 0.1 to 0.05%. In vitro, the main fatty acid in vegetable oil, linoleic acid, reduced the efficacy of CLA toxicity on mammary tumor cells in culture. Alternatively, fatty acids normally found in BT, such as oleic, stearic, and palmitic acids, either did not change or enhanced the cytolytic effects of CLA isomers on mouse mammary tumor cells in culture. These data provide evidence that dietary BT, itself with negligible levels of CLA, may increase the efficacy of dietary CLA in reducing mammary tumorigenesis.
The Computation of Magnetic Field Strength of Round Coils of Small Cross Section

WHEN a solenoid, or cylindrical coil, has no iron core, the magnetic field in the space around it or within it may be come used very precised. Formulas have been published1 which take account of the length and thickness of the coil by algebra terms which have been obtained by an integration over the cross section of the coil. This requires a calculation to be made twice, once for the end of the coil nearer the point for which the magnetic field is being computed, and once for the farther end.
Evidence of the Dual Nature of Property Value Recovery Following Environmental Remediation

The literature on home value diminution attributable to environmental degradation and its possible reversal typically ignores indirect effects upon neighborhood characteristics that can exacerbate the overall change in property values, resulting in underestimates of diminution and overestimates of recovery. Furthermore, to the extent that direct price effects and neighborhood transition effects respond differently to remediation efforts, the relatively new postremediation literature misses an important part of the recovery process. This study examines both direct and indirect effects and finds in the case of Houston Environmental Protection Agency Superfund sites that, while the direct value impacts of proximity to toxic waste sites was significantly reduced after remediation, the indirect effects associated with induced demographic changes were much slower to reverse, producing a housing market inertia that stifled full home value recovery.
Dislocation Mobility in Pure Copper at 4.2 °K

Torsional stress pulses of several microseconds duration were applied at 4.2 °K to cylindrical single crystals of copper containing freshly introduced dislocations. Dislocation displacements were measured by means of a double-etch technique, and subsequently the dislocation damping coefficient B was determined to be equal to 0.8 × 10-5 dyn sec/cm2. While B decreases monotonically with decreasing temperature, the value of B at 4.2 °K is greater than that predicted from theoretical calculations of the interaction between a moving dislocation and the conduction-electron gas in copper.
Crystal Structure of Saccharomyces cerevisiae 3′-Phosphoadenosine-5′-phosphosulfate Reductase Complexed with Adenosine 3′,5′-Bisphosphate†‡

Most assimilatory bacteria, fungi, and plants species reduce sulfate (in the activated form of APS or PAPS) to produce reduced sulfur. In yeast, PAPS reductase reduces PAPS to sulfite and PAP. Despite the difference in substrate specificity and catalytic cofactor, PAPS reductase is homologous to APS reductase in both sequence and structure, and they are suggested to share the same catalytic mechanism. Metazoans do not possess the sulfate reduction pathway, which makes APS/PAPS reductases potential drug targets for human pathogens. Here, we present the 2.05 A resolution crystal structure of the yeast PAPS reductase binary complex with product PAP bound. The N-terminal region mediates dimeric interactions resulting in a unique homodimer assembly not seen in previous APS/PAPS reductase structures. The "pyrophosphate-binding" sequence (47)TTAFGLTG(54) defines the substrate 3'-phosphate binding pocket. In yeast, Gly54 replaces a conserved aspartate found in APS reductases vacating space and charge to accommodate the 3'-phosphate of PAPS, thus regulating substrate specificity. Also, for the first time, the complete C-terminal catalytic motif (244)ECGIH(248) is revealed in the active site. The catalytic residue Cys245 is ideally positioned for an in-line attack on the beta-sulfate of PAPS. In addition, the side chain of His248 is only 4.2 A from the Sgamma of Cys245 and may serve as a catalytic base to deprotonate the active site cysteine. A hydrophobic sequence (252)RFAQFL(257) at the end of the C-terminus may provide anchoring interactions preventing the tail from swinging away from the active site as seen in other APS/PAPS reductases.
PUTTING A BAND-AID ON A CORPSE: INCENTIVES FOR NURSES IN THE INDIAN PUBLIC HEALTH CARE SYSTEM

The public Indian health care system is plagued by high staff absence, low effort by providers, and limited use by potential beneficiaries who prefer private alternatives. This artice reports the results of an experiment carried out with a district administration and a nongovernmental organization (NGO). The presence of government nurses in government public health facilities (subcenters and aid-posts) was recorded by the NGO, and the government took steps to punish the worst delinquents. Initially, the monitoring system was extremely effective. This shows that nurses are responsive to financial incentives. But after a few months, the local health administration appears to have undermined the scheme from the inside by letting the nurses claim an increasing number of “exempt days.” Eighteen months after its inception, the program had become completely ineffective. (JEL: D10, I10, J30)
Bond Graph Models for Linear Motion Magnetostrictive Actuators

Bond graph models for the audio range response of a dynamically continuous, linear motion magnetostrictive actuator are formulated and presented. The actuator involves a continuous rod of magnetostrictive material that extends, contracts, and vibrates in modes when energized by magnetic flux produced by a coil. The left end is fixed, force is extracted from the right end. The bond graph model includes dynamics of the energizing coil, the flux routing circuit, magnetic to mechanical energy conversion, and mechanical elements. Constitutive relations for magnetostriction suggest use of a multiport capacitor with ports for magnetic and mechanical power flow ; constraints imposed by modal dynamics require a separate mechanical port for each vibration mode. Values were assigned to bond graph parameters in a non-empirical manner : solely from theory and handbook data. State equations and transfer functions were extracted from the bond graph. For audio range operation, theory (the bond graph model) compared well with experiment (measurements taken on a magnetostrictive actuator designed and built by the author).