cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Specific GATA-Binding Elements in the GnRH Promoter Are Required for Gene Expression Pulse Activity: Role of GATA-4 and GATA-5 in This Intermittent Process

Recent evidence reveals that several GATA factors act as versatile transcriptional modulators in neuroendocrine gene expression. The rat GnRH promoter is expressed in an episodic fashion that requires a portion of the promoter termed the neuron-specific enhancer (NSE) for activity. In this study, we examined whether certain GATA regulatory elements in the NSE are necessary for this intermittent activity. When injected into individual living GT1-7 cells, luciferase reporter constructs containing mutations of either GATA-A- or GATA-B-binding sites resulted in a marked reduction in gene expression pulse frequency, while mutations of both sites virtually abolished pulses. In subsequent studies, RT-PCR and western blot analysis revealed for the first time that GATA-5 and GATA-6 were expressed in GT1-7 cells, but electrophoretic mobility shift assays demonstrated further that GATA-5 bound to one of these GATA sites: GATA-A. Chromatin immunoprecipitation analysis revealed that all three factors, GATA-4, GATA-5, and GATA-6, were associated with the GnRH promoter in vivo. Interestingly though, immunoneutralization of GATA-5 or GATA-4 (reported to bind GATA-B) abolished gene expression pulses, but injection of GATA-6 antibody did not, indicating that of these factors just GATA-5 and GATA-4 are critical for intermittent activity. Finally, gel shift competition experiments revealed an interaction between proteins binding at the GATA-A site and those associating with an adjacent OCT1 site, previously shown to be necessary for pulse formation. These findings indicate that episodic GnRH gene expression pulses are mediated by GATA-5 and GATA-4, likely acting through the GATA-binding sites in the GnRH NSE region. Moreover, our observations that factors associated with GATA sites may also interact with OCT1 sites and that both are critical for pulse activity raise the intriguing possibility that GnRH pulse elaboration is a highly complex process that may require the coordinated interaction of several NSE-binding elements of the GnRH promoter.
Development and Integration of Engine Simulation Projects Into the Mechanical Engineering Curriculum at Missouri S&T

The main objective of this paper was to report the development of instructional engineering projects and necessary tutorials that utilize the GT-POWER software for engine simulations in combustion-related courses at Missouri S&T as part of the Partners for the Advancement of Collaborative Engineering Education (PACE) program. Students teamed up to perform modeling of engine performance and emission characteristics so that they could learn state-of-the art engine technology and explore innovative design procedures routinely employed by the leading automotive companies. The projects included understanding and comparison of simple hand calculations using typical textbook assumptions with detailed and complicated software calculations. Such projects would help to bridge the gap between the theoretical and simple concepts learned by students in the classroom and the practical and advanced skills desired by industry. Various tools available for studying engine combustion fueled by alternative fuels were also introduced.Copyright © 2009 by ASME
Negative Ion Photoelectron Spectroscopy of SiN

Negative ion photoelectron spectra of SiN - have been recorded using the 355 nm (3.493 eV) and 266 nm (4.661 eV) photodetachment wavelengths. The spectra exhibit resolved vibrational features corresponding to transitions to the X 2 Σ + and A 2 Π states of SiN. Franck-Condon analyses yield the first experimental spectroscopic parameters, r e and ω e , for the anion ground state, X 1 Σ + . We also determined the first experimental adiabatic electron affinity as 2.949 ′ 0.008 eV. The anion dissociation energy D 0 (SiN) is then obtained from the electron affinities of Si and SiN and the dissociation energy of the neutral.
Screening, Assessment, Treatment, and Outcome Evaluation of Behavioral Difficulties in an RTI Model

Outcomes for students classified as emotionally disturbed (ED) are among the poorest for any disability group and include disturbingly low graduation rates, poor academic achievement, high rates of school suspensions and school dropouts, and chronic interpersonal problems. Additionally, these students are often underserved within the school setting with an overall prevalence rate of less than one percent. This underservice may be partially due to the definition of ED provided in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEA, 2004), which is vague, contradictory, and redundant. Additionally, IDEA does not provide guidelines for how to assess for ED, thus, assessment procedures and prevalence rates widely differ by state. We propose the use of a Response to Intervention (RTI) model for the assessment and treatment of students with ED. Within an RTI model, students are provided evidence-based interventions implemented with integrity, and their response to these interventions is continuous...
Mycoplasma hominis infection of Trichomonas vaginalis is not associated with metronidazole-resistant trichomoniasis in clinical isolates from the United States

Trichomonas vaginalis is a protozoan parasite that is the cause of the most common non-viral sexually transmitted disease, trichomoniasis. Metronidazole and tinidazole are the only drugs approved for treatment of T. vaginalis infections in the USA. However, drug resistance exists and some patients are allergic to these medications. Furthermore, the exact mechanism of metronidazole resistance remains undefined and current testing methods require several weeks before results are available. Identification of the mechanism of drug resistance may lead to the development of molecular tools to detect drug resistance, and quicker results for clinical treatment. In a recent study, Chinese T. vaginalis isolates that were polymerase chain reaction (PCR) positive for Mycoplasma hominis DNA demonstrated greater in vitro resistance to metronidazole than isolates with no evidence of M. hominis infection. To evaluate this finding in isolates from a distinct epidemiologic setting, we tested 55 T. vaginalis isolates collected from patients in the USA through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention metronidazole susceptibility testing service. One half of the isolates demonstrated resistance to metronidazole by an in vitro sensitivity assay. Of the metronidazole-resistant T. vaginalis isolates, 18% were PCR positive for M. hominis, as were 22% of the metronidazole-susceptible T. vaginalis isolates (p = 0.746). We also observed no change in metronidazole sensitivity of two infected T. vaginalis isolates after they were cleared of their M. hominis infection by culturing the isolates in antibiotics. Thus, M. hominis infection of USA T. vaginalis isolates did not correlate with in vitro resistance to metronidazole.
High pressure anode operation of direct methanol fuel cells for carbon dioxide management

Abstract Experiments with independent pressurization of the direct methanol fuel cell anode and cathode allow for the observation of DMFC operation with carbon dioxide gas formation suppressed. Results indicate that the limiting current density is strongly related to the applied pressure, and, therefore, to the presence of CO2 in the liquid phase. An additional experiment where CO2 is allowed to accumulate in recycled anode fuel solution over a period of time and is then stripped from solution using nitrogen gas indicates that the presence of CO2 in anode fuel solution at any pressure contributes to significant decreases in power and current density. Because CO2 bubbles are ubiquitous in direct methanol fuel cells, this finding is key to the optimization of these systems.
Mary Whiton Calkins (1863-1930), fourteenth president of the American Psychological Association.

Relatively little has been published about the life and contributions of Mary Whiton Calkins (1863–1930), fourteenth president of the American Psychological Association. A student of William James, Josiah Royce, and Hugo Munsterberg at Harvard in the 1890s, Calkins completed all the requirements for the Ph.D. but was not granted the degree because she was a woman. Calkins's contributions to psychology include the invention of the paired-associate technique, the founding of one of the early psychological laboratories, and the development of a system of self-psychology. She published prolifically in both psychology and philosophy but was always more interested in theoretical and philosophical issues than in laboratory psychology. Although in the latter half of her career Calkins moved away from psychology into philosophy, her work contained a unifying theme: the emphasis on the importance of the self.
Whose role is it to collect patients’ stories?

Richards persuasively discusses the power of patient narratives in allowing health systems to learn and improve, highlighting how an independent not-for-profit company, Patient Opinion, does this in the NHS.1 At the same time, Patient Opinion is having to respond to NHS England’s launch of a …
Quick algorithms for computing either displacement, velocity or acceleration of an oscillator

Accurate and efficient algorithms are derived for computing any desired response quantity of a single-degree-of-freedom linear oscillator subjected to an arbitrary forcing function. These algorithms are based on linear interpolation of the excitation between discrete points sampled uniformly in time. In the special case of the undamped oscillator, the displacement algorithm is equivalent to a previously published algorithm for this situation which was derived using a finite element approach. However, contrary to the claim made by the authors of this latter algorithm, it does not give an exact solution of the equation of undamped motion for an arbitrary forcing function.
Hemifield asymmetry in the potency of exogenous auditory and visual cues

Neurologically normal subjects misperceive the midpoints of lines (PSE) as reliably leftward of veridical center, a phenomenon known as pseudoneglect. This leftward bias reflects the dominance of the right cerebral hemisphere in deploying spatial attention. Transient visual cues, delivered to either the left or right endpoints of lines, modulate PSE such that leftward biases are increased by leftward cues, and are decreased by rightward cues, relative to a no-cue control condition. We ask whether lateralized auditory cues can similarly influence PSE in a tachistoscopic visual line bisection task, and describe how visual and auditory cues, in spatially synergistic or antagonistic combinations, jointly influence PSE. Our results demonstrate that whereas auditory and visual cues both modulate PSE, visual cues are overall more potent than auditory cues. Visual and auditory cues are weighted such that visual cues are significantly more potent than auditory cues when visual cues are delivered to left hemispace. Visual and auditory cues are equipotent when visual cues are delivered to right hemispace. These results are consistent with the existence of independent lateralized networks governing the deployment of visuospatial and audiospatial attention. An analysis of the weighting of unisensory visual and auditory cues which optimally predicts PSE in multisensory cue conditions shows that cues combine additively. There was no evidence for a superadditive multisensory cue combination.
Urban and rural perceptions of ecological risks to water environments in southern and eastern Nevada

In this multidisciplinary study, we used an Internet-based tool to investigate perception of ecological risks to water environments due to most relevant hazards (urban development, drought, urban water consumption, interbasin water transfer from rural to urban areas, and water-intensive landscaping) in urban and rural Nevada. Rural participants' perception of risk was higher than urban participants for only "interbasin water transfer from rural to urban areas" while for the other four hazards the effect of residence location was not significant. The principal component analysis on fourteen scales identified three factors that we named Ecological Impact, Benefits & Equity due to Hazards, and Controllability of Hazards. Urban people perceived Ecological Impact due to the five hazards to water environments higher than rural people while rural people perceived Benefits & Equity due to Hazards higher than urban people. Participants' ratings in the survey represent their judgments of benefits and equity due to the hazards to water environments in urban Nevada (not in rural Nevada). Therefore, rural people seem to perceive that urban people benefit from the risky human activities of urban development, urban water consumption, interbasin water transfer, and water-intensive landscaping, yet rural people incur the costs. The two groups' risk judgments did not differ significantly in Controllability of Hazards. Participants who perceived higher ecological impact due to risks to water environments had less water-intensive (more desert-friendly) landscape in their gardens. And finally we found that rural laypeople perceived greater need to regulate risks to water environments than urban laypeople, urban experts, and rural experts, and the latter three groups were not significantly different from each other.
The crystal structure of dimethylphenyltin(IV) acetate

Dimethylphenyltin(IV) acetate, (CH3)2(C6H5)SnOC(O)CH3, crystallizes in the orthorhombic space group Pbca with a 10.068(3), b 15.065(7), c 14.976(5) A; Z = 8; V 2271(2) A3. The structure was determined from 1793 observed out of 2348 unique reflections and refined on an R factor of 0.034. The geometry at tin is trigonal bipyramidal, with the oxygen atom of the acetate and the carbonyl oxygen of the adjacent symmetry-related (12 + x, 12 − y, 1 − z) acetate occupying the axial positions of the trans-C3SnO2 polyhedron to result in a polymer whose backbone, formed by the repetition of SnOC(O) fragment, adopts a conformation that is closer to the zig-zag configuration of trimethyltin acetate than to the helical form of triphenyltin acetate.
Effects of pretreatment with 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin on the capacity of hepatic and extrahepatic mouse tissues to convert procarcinogens to mutagens for Salmonella typhimurium auxotrophs.

Using the conventional Ames test, the conversion of three procarcinogens, 7,12-dimethylbenz(a)anthracene (DMBA), benzo(a)pyrene (BaP), and N-2-fluorenylacetamide (FAA) to intermediary metabolites mutagenic to Salmonella typhimurium tester strains TA-98, TA-100, but not TA-1538 was much more efficient in hepatic S-9 fractions prepared from TCDD-pretreated mice than in analogous fractions from untreated mice. In general, renal and pulmonary S-9 fractions from TCDD-pretreated mice also generated more back mutations than the corresponding controls however, statistical significance could not be demonstrated in every case. Exceptions were with DMBA, for which pulmonary S-9 fractions of TCDD-pretreated mice produced fewer mutations than corresponding fractions from control animals and with FAA, for which renal S-9 fractions of pretreated mice produced approximately the same numbers of mutations as fractions from control animals. Quantitation of the generation of metabolites cytotoxic to bacteria grown on nutrient agar revealed that TCDD pretreatment resulted in increases in the capacity of S-9 fractions from mouse hepatic tissue to generate cytotoxic metabolites from BaP and FAA but not from DMBA. The kidney was more responsive than the liver or lung to monooxygenase induction by the dioxin with BaP or DMBA as substrates but analyses of metabolite profiles with hplc indicated that TCDD pretreatment appeared to produce no qualitative differences in metabolites generated in the tissues studied. Differences of ratios of metabolites were noted with respect to DMBA metabolites cochromatographing with 7-hydroxymethyl-12-methylbenz(a) anthracene and trans-8,9-dihydro-8,9-dihydroxy-7,12-dimethylbenz(a)anthracene. Pretreatment of mice with TCDD produced 2- to 10-fold increases in the amounts of these two metabolites in comparison with slight to moderate increases in quantities of most other metabolites and a decrease in those eluting with 12-hydroxymethyl-7-methylbenz(a)anthracene. The effect was particularly prominent in the kidney. In general, the data indicated an overall positive correlation between the activity of tissue monooxygenases and capacity of the same tissues to metabolically convert procarcinogens to mutagens in the Ames system.
Resonance Raman measurement of macular carotenoids in normal subjects and in age-related macular degeneration patients.

Purpose Dietary carotenoids lutein and zeaxanthin may play a protective role against visual loss from age-related macular degeneration (AMD) through antioxidant and light screening mechanisms. We used a novel noninvasive objective method to quantify lutein and zeaxanthin in the human macula using resonance Raman spectroscopy and compared macular pigment levels in AMD and normal subjects.
On the dislocation fields in terms of the dynamic Green's function

The expressions for the velocity and strain fields due to moving dislocation loops are obtained as line integrals over the loop and the history of the motion. These expressions do not contain non-integrable singularities.
A scanning tunneling microscope study of single platinum atoms, platinum dimers and trimers on highly-oriented pyrolytic graphite

We report a topographic study of platinum clusters on highly-oriented pyrolytic graphite (HOPG) using a scanning tunneling microscope operating in air. The particles were produced by evaporation of platinum onto the graphite-surface in high vacuum. The simultaneous finding of single platinum atoms, clusters and small particles on an otherwise clean and atomically flat surface shows that the platinum-HOPG surface interaction is strong enough to yield stable images of Pt atoms and yet is not strong enough to annihilate the Pt-Pt interaction. Small flat platinum clusters on HOPG can be imaged with atomic resolution of the cluster and the surrounding graphite lattice. We show the adsorption site distribution for the monomers. The Pt-dimers show a very broad bond length distribution on graphite with an average of 2.46 A. We found two types of Pt-trimers, one which is almost linear and one of triangular form. The average nearest neighbour distance of the trimers is 2.61 A.
International Constitutional Law and Anti-Corruption Measures in the European Union's Accession Negotiations: Romania in Comparative Perspective

A. Bulgaria, Romania and Turkey 629 B. Enlargement and International Constitutional Law. 633 C. Enlargement and Corruption 635 Table 1: Ratification of COE Conventions by Pre2004 EU Member States 639 Table 2: Ratification of COE Conventions by Class of 2004 EU Member States 639 Table 3: Ratification of COE Conventions by EU Candidate States 640
Synthesis of diphosphoinositol pentakisphosphate by a newly identified family of higher inositol polyphosphate kinases.

Abstract Inositol (1,4,5) trisphosphate (Ins(1,4,5)P 3 ) is a well-known messenger molecule that releases calcium from intracellular stores. Homologues with up to six phosphates have been characterized and recently, homologues with seven or eight phosphate groups, including pyrophosphates, have been identified. These homologues are diphosphoinositol pentakisphosphate (PP-InsP 5 /InsP 7 ) and bis(diphospho)inositol tetrakisphosphate (bis-PP-InsP 4 /InsP 8 ) [1], the rapid turnover of which [2] is regulated by calcium [2] and adrenergic receptor activity [3]. It has been proposed that the high-energy pyrophosphates might participate in protein phosphorylation [4]. We have purified InsP 6 kinase [5] and PP-InsP 5 kinase [6], both of which display ATP synthase activity, transferring phosphate to ADP. Here, we report the cloning of two mammalian InsP 6 kinases and a yeast InsP 6 kinase. Furthermore, we show that the yeast protein, ArgRIII, is an inositol-polyphosphate kinase that can convert InsP 3 to InsP 4 , InsP 5 and InsP 6 . We have identified a new family of highly conserved inositol-polyphosphate kinases that contain a newly identified, unique consensus sequence.
Direct slicing of STEP based NURBS models for layered manufacturing

Abstract Direct slicing of CAD models to generate process planning instructions for solid freeform fabrication may overcome inherent disadvantages of using stereolithography format in terms of the process accuracy, ease of file management, and incorporation of multiple materials. This paper will present the results of our development of a direct slicing algorithm for layered freeform fabrication. The direct slicing algorithm was based on a neutral, international standard (ISO 10303) STEP-formatted non-uniform rational B-spline (NURBS) geometric representation and is intended to be independent of any commercial CAD software. The following aspects of the development effort will be presented: (1) determination of optimal build direction based upon STEP-based NURBS models; (2) adaptive subdivision of NURBS data for geometric refinement; and (3) ray-casting slice generation into sets of raster patterns. The development also provides for multi-material slicing and will provide an effective tool in heterogeneous slicing processes.
Proceedings of the 36th SIGCSE technical symposium on Computer science education

Welcome to St. Louis for the 36th year of the SIGCSE Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education. We are excited about SIGCSE 2005 and we hope you have as much fun as we have had in planning this event. There is much to see and do with a record number of paper presentations, panels, special sessions, and workshops. We also suggest you take the time to relax and stroll along the Mississippi to visit the famous Gateway to the West arch. Or enjoy a reunion with old friends, find an experienced colleague and discuss topics of common interest over dinner, make plans for collaboration, or meet new friends in the inviting renaissance environment of the conference setting.We are pleased to announce the winners of the two annual SIGCSE awards: Kim Bruce for Outstanding Contributions to Computer Science Education and Andrew McGettrick for Lifetime Service. Kim will give the opening keynote talk on Thursday morning. Other invited speakers for the Symposium are Mordechai (Moti) Ben-Ari and Maria Klawe. You may recall that Moti was the SIGCSE 2004 outstanding contributions award winner but was unable to make his presentation at the symposium in 2004. We are delighted that Moti will be joining us to present his keynote talk on Friday morning. We are also honored that Maria Klawe will present the final keynote address at the luncheon on Saturday.This year we experienced a 4% increase in submitted papers (following on the heels of a 37% increase last year). In all, 330 papers were submitted! Approximately 1650 blind reviews were completed, with each paper receiving at least 4 reviews and most receiving 5 or 6 reviews. An all time high of 104 papers will be presented. All submissions of Panels, Special Sessions, Workshops, Birds of a Feather, and Posters were reviewed carefully and selections were made based on considerations of quality, diversity of topics, and available space. In addition to the technical sessions, and invited talks, we again provide a Thursday first-timer's lunch and the Thursday evening reception. This year, the luncheon will be held Saturday as a culminating event, where the final keynote address will be given. A large exhibit hall is the location of vendor presentations where you can view and experiment with the latest in instructional software, hardware, and publications. Events co-located with the symposium include the SIGCSE Doctoral Consortium, the ACM SIGCSE Student Research Competition, and a CRA-W workshop for women CS educators.
p53 abnormalities in human parathyroid carcinoma

Two cell cycle regulators have been implicated in the pathogenesis of parathyroid neoplasms: rearrangement/overexpression of the PRAD1/cyclin D1 gene in parathyroid adenomas and inactivation of the retinoblastoma tumor suppressor gene in parathyroid carcinomas. We examined parathyroid tumors for evidence of molecular genetic abnormalities in another cell cycle regulator, the p53 tumor suppressor gene. Allelic loss of the p53 gene was observed in parathyroid carcinomas from 2 of 6 genetically informative patients. Moreover, 2 of 9 patients' parathyroid carcinomas had nuclear p53 protein detectable by immunohistochemical analysis, a finding that often reflects mutational stabilization of the p53 protein. Of these two p53-immunopositive carcinomas, 1 had p53 allelic loss and 1 was genetically uninformative. In contrast, none of 20 informative parathyroid adenomas exhibited p53 allelic loss; 1 of 19 adenomas had a focal region of nuclear p53 protein staining. Single strand conformation polymorphism analysis o...
Sensitive dependence to initial conditions for one dimensional maps

This paper studies the iteration of maps of the interval which have negative Schwarzian derivative and one critical point. The maps in this class are classified up to topological equivalence. The equivalence classes of maps which display sensitivity to initial conditions for large sets of initial conditions are characterized.
2-D DIGE identification of differentially expressed heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoproteins and transcription factors during neural differentiation of human embryonic stem cells

Neural stem cells (NSC) are progenitors that can give rise to all neural lineages. They are found in specific niches of fetal and adult brains and grow in vitro as non-adherent colonies, the neurospheres. These cells express the intermediate filament nestin, commonly considered an NSC marker. NSC can be derived as neurospheres from human embryonic stem cells (hESC). The mechanisms of cellular programming that hESC undergo during differentiation remain obscure. To investigate the commitment process of hESC during directed neural differentiation, we compared the nuclear proteomes of hESC and hESC-derived neurospheres. We used 2-D DIGE to conduct a quantitative comparison of hESC and NSC nuclear proteins and detected 1521 protein spots matched across three gels. Statistical analysis (ANOVA n = 3 with false discovery correction) revealed that only 2.1% of the densitometric signal was significantly changed. The ranges of average ratios varied from 1.2- to 11-fold at a statistically significant p-value <0.05. MS/MS identified 15 regulated proteins previously shown to be involved in chromatin remodeling, mRNA processing and gene expression regulation. Notably, three members of the heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoprotein family (AUF-1, and FBP-1 and FBP-2) register a 54, 70 and 99% increased expression, highlighting them as potential markers for NSC in vitro derivation. By contrast, Cpsf-6 virtually disappears with differentiation with an 11-fold drop in NSC, highlighting this protein as a novel marker for undifferentiated ESC.
Organization of food search in the kelp crab, Pugettia producta (Randall)

Abstract Food search was activated by chemical stimuli in specimens of the kelp crab, Pugettia producta (Randall). No differences were found between laboratory-and field-tested animals. In both, food search consisted of two components: near field (non-locomotor leg and chela probing) and far field (locomotion) search. Leg and chela probing were initiated at threshold concentrations one log unit or more below that of locomotion and were initiated prior to and in the absence of locomotion. Locomotion was limited in its activation to instances in which leg and chela probing were first initiated but failed to contact food. These results indicate that chemosensory stimuli selectively activate nearby rather than distant food search. Up to 14 days of food deprivation failed to alter this response hierarchy and threshold concentrations for near field search acts were identical for satiated and starved animals.
Myths of brief family therapy task intervention

The steps of brief treatment promoted by Watzlawick, Weakland and Fisch (1974) and Haley (1976, 1987) elude the novice family practitioner, especially in deriving end-of-the session task interventions from earlier assessment. The gap between the suggested procedure and the beginning clinician's results is just starting to surface in brief therapy research. This paper compares the above authors' interactional and problem-solving approaches, contextualizing their theories in light of training issues emerging from preliminary research. The ensuing “myths of brief family therapy task intervention” typically espoused by the neophyte are thus demystified, making what experience teaches more accessible.
Auditory Perception and Sound Source Determination

memory: Measuring recollection, journal of Experi mental Psychology: General (in press). 8. J.A. Debner and L.L. Jacoby, Unconscious perception: Attention, awareness, and control, manuscript submitted for publication (1992). 9. C.W. Eriksen, Discrimination and learning without awareness: A methodological survey and evaluation, Psychological Review, 67, 279-300 (1960); D. Holender, Semantic activation without conscious identification in dichotic listening, parafoveal vision, and visual masking: A survey and appraisal, Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 9, 1-23 (1986). 10. L. Weiskrantz, Blindsight: A Case Study and Implications (Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1986). 11. J.R. Vokey and J.D. Read, Subliminal mes sages: Between the devil and the media, American Psychologist, 40, 1231-1239 (1985). 12. L.L. Jacoby, Measuring recollection: Strate gic vs. automatic influences of associative context, in Attention and Performance XV, C. Umilta and M. Moscovitch, Eds. (Bradford, Cambridge, MA, in press).
The use of nitride intermediates in the preparation of metals. A study of the reduction of Nb 2 O 5 with NH 3

A kinetics study of the reduction of Nb2O5 with NH3 was conducted at 600° to 1300°C, using vertical fixed-bed, flow-through reactors, with the goal of using the nitride as an interme-diate in the preparation of niobium (columbium) metal via a thermal decomposition step. The effects of reactor materials (stainless steel, nickel, molybdenum, graphite, alumina, and Vycor) upon ammonia reactivity toward Nb2O5 were investigated. At low temperatures, the metal reactor systems were more catalytically reactive, yielding faster rates of reac-tion and a greater degree of nitride conversion, whereas at high temperatures, the non-metal reactor systems performed better. In general, the initial reaction rate-temperature data exhibited a maximum, associated with oxynitride formation, near 700°C for the metal reactor systems and 800° to 900°C for the nonmetal reactor systems, followed by a mini-mum, associated with NbO2 formation, at 800° to 850°C for the metal reactor systems and 950° to 1000°C for the nonmetal reactor systems where NbN formation commences. A sec-ond maximum, associated with the hexagonal NbN phase, occurred at 1200°C. The ranges of activation energies for these regions were from 15 to 30 kcal/mole for region I, 8 to 22 kcal/mole for region II, and 10 to 22 kcal/mole for region III.
Differences in the phosphate oxygen requirements for self-cleavage by the extended and prototypical hammerhead forms

The hammerhead self-cleaving motif occurs in a variety of RNAs that infect plants and consists of three non-conserved helices connected by a highly conserved central core. A variant hammerhead, called the extended hammerhead, is found in satellite 2 transcripts from a variety of caudate amphibians. The extended hammerhead has the same core as the prototypical hammerhead, but has unusually conserved sequence and structural elements in its peripheral helices. Here we present the results of a thiophosphate substitution interference analysis of the pro-Rp phosphate oxygen requirements in the two hammerhead forms. Five pro-Rp phosphate oxygens, all in the central core, were found to be important for self-cleavage by the prototypical hammerhead. A similar set of core positions were important for self-cleavage by the extended hammerhead, but five non-core positions were also found to be important. Thiosubstitution at one of these positions had the most severe effect on self-cleavage observed in this analysis. Mn2+ did not alleviate this negative effect, indicating that this position was not part of a divalent cation binding site. We propose that novel tertiary interactions in the extended hammerhead help form the same catalytic core structure as that used by the prototypical plant virus hammerhead.
Prediction of sunspot numbers

A formula for predicting smoothed annual sunspot numbers is developed. A first approximation to the prediction of a future value in a cycle is the mean of all past values for that part of the cycle. This estimate can be improved by adding to the mean a correction proportional to the departure of earlier values of the cycle from the mean cycle. These correction factors are determined by the method of least squares. Sunspot data for 1834 through 1943 are used, and statistical reasons for rejecting data of earlier years are presented. Reliability of the method is discussed on the basis of the standard deviations of predictions made for each of the years of the ten cycles in question, using all the prediction formulas developed. The prediction of three-month means is also discussed.
Reduplicative Paramnesia: A Disconnection Syndrome of Memory

A case of post-traumatic reduplicative paramnesia (Capgras syndrome) is presented in which the patient experiences duplications in all three spheres of orientation (time, place, person). We postulate that these duplications are the result of a disconnection of new memory registration from past memory stores. The patient is unable to integrate present cues with premorbid experience, and bases judgments of his present orientation upon recollections from the past. A deep lesion at the right posterior hippocampus and temporo-parieto-occipital junction is suggested as the site of this postulated primary memory disconnection, based upon neuropsychological testing and CAT scan results. This right temporal atrophy and memory disconnection appears to have induced immature personality changes.
Analog computational models of concept formation

This paper proposes and describes a method of inductive concept learning, a method suitable for implementation in parallel computational mode with analog VLSI neural-net circuitry. The approach is consonant with the original Perceptron approach. However, weights along linear links are not learned adaptively. Instead, the net depends upon the frequency of occurrence to adjust the strength of activation generated by an input and the attention paid to the input. Of critical importance are the relative magnitudes of the information complexity of the concept to be learned and the complexity of the implementation hardware. If the former exceeds the latter, the concept cannot be learned. The manner in which failure is signaled and hardware complexity is increased is described in this paper.
Role of concept definition, teaching examples, and practice on concept learning from prose

Abstract Two experiments were performed to evaluate the effects of definition adjunct questions on concept learning. Each experiment included 132 undergraduates at a large midwestern university. In both experiments, subjects studied a passage containing matched or unmatched application questions only, matched or unmatched application questions preceded by a definition question, definition questions only, or no questions at all. The critical attributes of the to-be-learned concepts were more salient in the sets of examples and nonexamples presented in the matched application questions than in the unmatched application questions. Subjects took a criterion test which consisted of novel matched and unmatched application questions. In both experiments, only unmatched application adjunct questions preceded by a definition question produced significantly higher performance on the criterion questions than definition questions only. The discussion focused on the importance of definition questions for effective use of different types of application questions.
Open source patient-controlled analgesic pump requirements documentation

The dynamic nature of the medical domain is driving a need for continuous innovation and improvement in techniques for developing and assuring medical devices. Un-fortunately, research in academia and communication between academics, industrial engineers, and regulatory authorities is hampered by the lack of realistic non-proprietary development artifacts for medical devices. In this paper, we give an overview of a detailed requirements document for a Patient-Controlled Analgesic (PCA) pump developed under the US NSF's Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Scholar-in-Residence (SIR) program. This 60+ page document follows the methodology outlined in the US Federal Aviation Administrations (FAA) Requirements Engineering Management Handbook (REMH) and includes a domain overview, use cases, statements of safety & security requirements, and formal top-level system architectural description. Based on previous experience with release of a requirements document for a cardiac pacemaker that spawned a number of research and pedagogical activities, we believe that the described PCA requirements document can be an important research enabler within the formal methods and software engineering communities.
Measuring the leakage of door assemblies during standard fire exposures

The results of applying the tentative, high temperature, International Standards Organization test methods DP 5925 Part 3, which was developed to measure smoke leakage of door assemblies during the course of a standard fire endurance test, are reported. A critical analysis reveals that the basic objective of the test method is limited in its utility in that fire scenarios in high-rise buildings may not be adequately simulated. Independent of this limitation, the analysis then identifies certain theoretical problems with the test method and its procedures. These lead to a conclusion that the test method is not generally reliable. An alternative test concept which appears to remove this limitation and all of its problems is described, and its development is advocated.
Efficacy of citicoline as an acute stroke treatment

Background: Ataxia telangiectasia mutated (ATM) kinase plays a central role in maintaining genomic stability and regulating the response of cells exposed to agents that induce DNA damage. ATM regulated pathways also enable cancer cells to resist the lethal effects of genotoxic cancer treatments. The pharmacological inhibition of these pathways may thus sensitise cancer cells to chemo- and radiotherapy. Objectives: This review outlines the role of ATM in regulating components of the DNA damage response pathway. The potential of inhibitors that target ATM regulated pathways to act as chemo- and radiosensitising agents is also discussed. Results/conclusions: Inhibitors that target ATM and its downstream targets are likely to be effective as chemo- and/ or radiosensitising agents. Their effective use will, however, require a better understanding of when and how ATM influences the sensitivity of cancer cells to particular genotoxic agents.
Birth of piglets from in vitro-produced, zona-intact porcine embryos vitrified in a closed system.

As the importance of swine models in biomedical research increases, it is essential to develop low-cost, high-throughput systems to cryopreserve swine germplasm for maintenance of these models. However, porcine embryos are exceedingly sensitive to low temperature and successful cryopreservation is generally limited to the use of vitrification in open systems that allow direct contact of the embryos with liquid nitrogen (LN2). This creates a high risk of pathogen transmission. Therefore, cryopreservation of porcine embryos in a “closed” system is of very high importance. In this study, in vitro-produced (IVP) porcine embryos were used to investigate cryosurvival and developmental potential of embryos cryopreserved in a closed system. Optimal centrifugal forces to completely disassociate intracellular lipids from blastomeres were investigated using Day-4 embryos. Cryosurvival of delipidated embryos was investigated by vitrifying the embryos immediately after centrifugation, or after development to blastocysts. In this study, centrifugation for 30 min at 13,000 g was adequate to completely delipidate the embryos; furthermore, these embryos were able to survive cryopreservation at a rate comparable to those centrifuged for only 12 min. When delipidated embryos were vitrified at the blastocyst stage, there was no difference in survival between embryos vitrified using OPS and 0.25 mL straws. Some embryos vitrified by each method developed to term. These experiments demonstrated that porcine embryos can be cryopreserved in a closed system after externalizing their intracellular lipids. This has important implications for banking swine models of human health and disease.
Reduced function of γ-aminobutyric acidA receptors in tottering mouse brain: Role of cAMP-dependent protein kinase

Abstract The single-locus mutant mouse tottering ( tg ) displays spontaneous seizures that resemble those in human petit-mal epilepsy. In order to examine alterations in GABA A receptor function which could arise as a result of this mutation, the influx of 36 C1 − was determined using microsacs (membrane vesicles) isolated from the brain of tg/tg and coisogenic C57BL/6J ( + / + ) control mice. In microsacs from both tg/tg and + / + strains, the maximum level of 36 Cl − uptake induced by 50 μM GABA was observed during five seconds of incubation at 28°C. Compared to + / +, the GABA-dependent 36 Cl − uptake in tg/tg microsacs was significantly lower and faded rapidly during longer incubations. The levels of gated 36 C1 − uptake in tg/tg microsacs were 45 ± 6.3%, 65 ± 9.9%, and 33 ± 6.1% of control ( + / + ) values for 3-, 5-, and 10-s incubations, respectively. GABA A receptor-specific agonists (30 μM), muscimol, isoguvacine and THIP (4,5,6,7-tetrahydroisoazolo-[5,4-c]pyridin-3-ol) induced 36 C1 − influx in the order muscimol > GABA > isoguvacine > THIP. This order was similar for both strains, but the agonist-dependent influx was always significantly lower in tg/tg compared to + / +. Treatment of the microsacs with 10 μ M H-89, a membrane-permeant inhibitor of the cAMP-dependent protein kinase (protein kinase A, PKA), was without effect on GABA-gated 36 Cl − uptake in + / +, but increased the gated uptake in tg/tg microsacs by 44 ± 16%. PKA was assayed using [ γ - 32 ]ATP and kemptide as the substrate. Triton ×-100 (0.1%) increased both the basal and 8-Br-CAMP dependent PKA activity in microsacs by 3–4 four fold, showing that most of the enzyme was intravesicular. In the presence of Triton, the basal activity of PKA in the tg/tg preparations was twice that of + / +, while the strain difference was no longer apparent in assays containing 8-Br-cAMP. The data suggest that an abnormal elevation of protein kinase A activity in tottering mouse brain contributes to an impairment of GABA A receptor function. It is suggested that the resulting loss of inhibition could play a role in induction of the seizures which characterize the mutant phenotype.
A generalized data discrimination scheme using kernel machines in the presence of pattern-dependent noise

Abstract This paper describes an application of the nonlinear support vector machines (SVMs) on magnetic recording channels in order to reduce performance deterioration due to pattern-dependent noise. It has been confirmed that SVMs make simple and direct modification of log-likelihood ratios possible. Consequently, at a bit error rate of 10 −4 , this method can improve a bit error rate of the pattern-dependent noise by one order in cooperation with proposed iterative decoding.
Retrospective droughts in the crop growing season: Implications to corn and soybean yield in the Midwestern United States

Abstract The Midwestern United States has experienced many severe droughts in the period of 1916–2007. We reconstructed and examined the occurrence of meteorological, hydrological, and agricultural droughts using a long-term (i.e. 1916–2007) dataset of gridded observed precipitation and simulated soil moisture and runoff from the Variable Infiltration Capacity (VIC) model for Illinois and Indiana. Reconstructed droughts were analyzed for periods of the year relevant for the development of corn and soybean crops including: (i) the beginning of the crop growing period, (ii) the grain filling and reproductive growth period, and (iii) the entire crop crowing season. Our results indicated that the most severe and widespread (affecting more than 90% of the two states) droughts occurred in the 1930s affecting the entire crop growing season for 1930, 1931, 1934 and 1936. The severity and extent of droughts have decreased in the second part of the last century with only one year, 1988, approaching the severity and extent of the droughts of the 1930s. Analysis of long-term trends in drought indices indicated that the two state area has become wetter in the crop-growing season over the last 92 years, mainly due to observed increases in precipitation. Crop yields during the period of 1980–2007 were strongly correlated with the occurrence of meteorological drought and maximum daily temperature during the grain filling and reproductive growth period. Therefore, decreasing trends of maximum daily temperature with increased wetness create favorable conditions for better crop yields in the study domain.
The Learning and Perceptions of Teacher Researchers and Facilitators in a Literacy- Focused, Teacher-Research Course: A Content Analysis of System, Learner, and Spheres of Influence

The purpose of this research was to add to the knowledge base of teacher research in literacy education by focusing on the inquiry processes and learning of literacy teacher researchers from their perspectives. We accomplished this goal through presenting the voices of the teacher researchers, providing individual and collective voices and perspectives that are sometimes missing in discussions of literacy teacher- research inquiries. Using qualitative content analysis methodologies, our results indicated that these educators learned about themselves as system members, learners, and change agents within varying spheres of influence. We provide discussion and implications for research and practice, including conducting teacher research beyond the support of a university community and the constraints that teacher researchers face in this current political climate.
MR quantification of cerebral ventricular volume using a semiautomated algorithm.

PURPOSE A semiautomated border identification algorithm, insensitive to user bias, is evaluated for accuracy and speed in the measurement of ventricular volumes from three-dimensional MR images. METHODS A three-dimensional gradient-echo technique was implemented on a Signa clinical imaging system. Data from phantoms and patients were analyzed for volume using a segmentation algorithm designed with: 1) correction for partial volume averaging; 2) insensitivity to user bias; and 3) speed. Accuracy, precision, and intra- and interobserver variability were determined. RESULTS Average error for phantom studies was 4% to 6%, or 1 to 2 cc across the volumes, which ranged from normal to mild hydrocephalus ( CONCLUSIONS This algorithm allows accurate measurement of ventricular volumes in an efficient, minimally supervised manner.