cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
ScanFold: an approach for genome-wide discovery of local RNA structural elements-applications to Zika virus and HIV.

In addition to encoding RNA primary structures, genomes also encode RNA secondary and tertiary structures that play roles in gene regulation and, in the case of RNA viruses, genome replication. Methods for the identification of functional RNA structures in genomes typically rely on scanning analysis windows, where multiple partially-overlapping windows are used to predict RNA structures and folding metrics to deduce regions likely to form functional structure. Separate structural models are produced for each window, where the step size can greatly affect the returned model. This makes deducing unique local structures challenging, as the same nucleotides in each window can be alternatively base paired. We are presenting here a new approach where all base pairs from analysis windows are considered and weighted by favorable folding. This results in unique base pairing throughout the genome and the generation of local regions/structures that can be ranked by their propensity to form unusually thermodynamically stable folds. We applied this approach to the Zika virus (ZIKV) and HIV-1 genomes. ZIKV is linked to a variety of neurological ailments including microcephaly and Guillain-Barre syndrome and its (+)-sense RNA genome encodes two, previously described, functionally essential structured RNA regions. HIV, the cause of AIDS, contains multiple functional RNA motifs in its genome, which have been extensively studied. Our approach is able to successfully identify and model the structures of known functional motifs in both viruses, while also finding additional regions likely to form functional structures. All data have been archived at the RNAStructuromeDB (www.structurome.bb.iastate.edu), a repository of RNA folding data for humans and their pathogens.
Solar Array Fault Detection using Neural Networks

In this paper, we describe a Cyber-Physical system approach to fault detection in Photovoltaic (PV) arrays. More specifically, we explore customized neural network algorithms for fault detection from monitoring devices that sense data and actuate at each individual panel. We develop a framework for the use of feedforward neural networks for fault detection and identification. Our approach promises to improve efficiency by detecting and identifying eight different faults and commonly occurring conditions that affect power output in utility scale PV arrays.
Vanadium-Catalyzed Cross Metathesis: Limitations and Implications for Future CatalystDesign

Self-metathesis of terminal olefins using vanadium(V) alkylidenes is presented. Under various reaction conditions, incomplete conversion is observed due to decomposition of the metallocyclobutane i...
A qualitative analysis of the social and cultural contexts that shape screen time use in Latino families living on the U.S.-Mexico border

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to understand how first generation Latino parents, whose primary language is Spanish and live in a colonia on the U.S.-Mexico border, use screen time in their homes.Methods: A purposeful sampling approach was used to recruit eligible parents of pre-adolescents (ages 9-14) who were native Spanish speakers, and living on the U.S.-Mexico border. Three focus groups in Spanish (two with mothers and one with fathers) were conducted. Data were codified using a general inductive approach based on grounded theory. A consensus process was repeated until a final codebook was developed.Results: Screen time allowed parents to foster familismo (family cohesiveness and bonding) and respeto (respect). Parents knew that a healthy balance of media use is important, but broader social contexts (marital discord and economics) challenged the enforcement of familial screen time rules and parents were often permissive.Conclusions: Our study addressed research gaps by examining the understudied social and cultural contexts (practices, routines, rules, and beliefs) that shape children's screen time use among a sample of Latino immigrants living on the U.S.-Mexico border. This sample of parents indicated that familismo and respeto (i.e., cohesiveness and bonding) influence familial decision-making including screen time.
Reversal of Infected Host Gene Expression Identifies Repurposed Drug Candidates for COVID-19

Abstract Repurposing existing drugs is a timely option to cope with COVID-19. We predicted therapeutic candidates that could reverse the gene expression of coronavirus-infected host cells. Thirteen expression signatures computed from various experimental conditions and preclinical models could be reversed by those compounds known to be effective against SARS- or MERS-CoV, as well as the drug candidates recently shown to be effective against SARS-CoV-2. We selected ten novel candidates to further evaluate their in vitro efficacy against SARS-CoV-2 infection. Four compounds bortezomib, dactolisib, alvocidib and methotrexate inhibited the formation of virus infection-induced cytopathic effect in Vero E6 cells at 1 µM, yet such a concentration seems toxic to the cells as well. While the evaluation in other permissive cells and the prediction of toxicity are needed to optimize and minimize their antiviral activity and cytotoxicity, respectively, this computational approach has the potential to rapidly and rationally identify drug candidates against COVID-19.
Rates of Vascular Events in Patients With Migraine: A MarketScan ® Database Retrospective Cohort Study

Objective To estimate the baseline rates of vascular events among people with migraine. Background Several novel medications that target the calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) pathway are approved to treat people with migraine. Given that the CGRP pathway also plays a role in maintaining cardiovascular homeostasis, determining the baseline rates of vascular events among people with migraine will help inform the safety of these novel medications. Methods In this retrospective cohort study, patients 18- to 64-year-old patients with migraine were identified from the MarketScan® database (January 2013-December 2017) and were categorized into 4 vascular risk categories: migraine with aura; and high, medium, and low vascular risk. Event rates (per 1000 person-years [PY]) for 19 vascular events were estimated overall, by risk category, and by baseline characteristics. Results Among 1,195,696 patients with migraine, 4.8% (57,853/1,195,696) had migraine with aura, and 2.8% (33,949/1,195,696), 15.5% (184,782/1,195,696), and 77.9% (931,059/1,195,696) were at high, medium, and low risk of vascular events, respectively. Rates of ischemic stroke (per 1000 PY) were 5.1 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 5.0, 5.2) overall, 8.6 (95% CI: 8.1, 9.1) for patients with migraine aura, 47.2 (95% CI: 45.3, 49.0) in the high-risk group, 9.4 (95% CI: 9.1, 9.7) in the medium-risk group, and 2.9 (95% CI: 2.9, 3.0) in the low-risk group. Rates of acute myocardial infarction (per 1000 PY) were 1.8 (95% CI: 1.8, 1.9) overall, 1.9 (95% CI: 1.7, 2.2) for patients with migraine aura, 14.0 (95% CI: 13.0, 14.9) in the high-risk group, 3.9 (95% CI: 3.7, 4.1) in the medium-risk group, and 1.1 (95% CI: 1.0, 1.1) in the low-risk group. High-risk patients had the highest rates of each of 19 evaluated vascular events, and rates were higher for men, older age groups, and those with higher comorbidity scores, medication usage, and medical utilization. Conclusion Our findings provide recent rates of vascular disease in patients with migraine. In the future, this information will be useful to help inform clinical risk:benefit decision making when assessing the use of therapies such as CGRP antagonists for migraine.
Kinetic Modeling of Spacecraft Surfaces in a Plume Backflow Region

Plasma–surface interactions caused by electric propulsion devices are an important spacecraft aspect of the design that is difficult to measure in ground-based facilities. The negatively biased solar panel surfaces attract the slow-moving charge exchange (CEX) ions generated inside an ion core plume, which can cause surface sputtering on the protective coatings of the solar panels. We use a fully kinetic particle-in-cell direct simulation Monte Carlo (PIC-DSMC) approach that models both electron and ion trajectories to allow us to fully characterize the plasma sheath formed near these surfaces and to understand how the plasma sheath affects the trajectories of CEX ions, their incident energies and angles, and surface sputtering rates. We find that, outside the plasma core, the ion and electron distribution functions are highly non-Maxwellian, and the assumption of electron temperatures is questionable. We introduce a novel floating potential ground boundary condition that enables us to emulate the spacecraft ground for a high range of plasma number densities and surface charging conditions. Finally, we estimate the erosion of the surface using the kinetic results and surface yield empirical relations.
Temperature-dependent lattice dynamics in iridium

The characterization of simple elemental systems is key to benchmarking first-principles modeling of electronic and vibrational behaviors of materials. A large body of literature has been built for most elemental systems in the periodic table. However, surprisingly little neutron work has been performed to probe the vibrational properties of iridium, likely due to its large neutron absorption cross section. Nonetheless, iridium is of significant scientific and technological interest due to large relativistic electron effects and electron-phonon coupling, particularly in strongly correlated iridate compounds. Here, we report temperature-dependent inelastic neutron scattering measurements of the vibrational properties of iridium, from which we extract key thermodynamic properties. To overcome the challenge of the large neutron absorption of iridium, we developed a simple postprocessing correction procedure. The measured densities of phonon states compare well with quasiharmonic density functional theory calculations, although the obtained experimental phonon Gr\"uneisen parameters are much larger than expected, reaching as high as $\ensuremath{\gamma}=4.5$, indicating substantial anharmonicity.
Factors Associated With Morbidity Following Total Pancreatectomy and Islet Autotransplantation: A NSQIP Analysis.

Abstract Background Total pancreatectomy with islet autotransplantation is a therapeutic surgical option for patients with chronic pancreatitis leading to significant reduction in pain, improvement in quality of life, and potential for preservation of partial to full endocrine function. Data on the factors associated with short-term morbidities are limited. Methods We queried the American College of Surgeons National Surgery Quality Improvement Project for patients undergoing total pancreatectomy with islet autotransplantation from 2005 to 2015. We determined 30-day morbidity and mortality and performed univariate and multivariate analysis to determine the preoperative and intraoperative factors associated with development of postoperative infectious complications. Results The rate of 30-day postoperative morbidity in 384 patients undergoing total pancreatectomy with islet autotransplantation was 36% with an overall mortality of 1%. Postoperative infectious complications developed in 29% of patients and were associated with increased operative time (P = .016),and higher postoperative wound class (P = .045). After risk adjustment, only increased operative time was independently associated with increased rates of infectious complications (OR=1.1, 95% CI = 1.01-1.13, P = .02). Conclusions Total operative time is independently associated with increased postoperative infectious complications in total pancreatectomy with islet autotransplantation. Future interventions aimed at optimizing islet isolation, surgical approach, and refinement of patient selection criteria present opportunities for reducing operative time and potentially reducing the morbidity of this surgical procedure.
Review credibility as a safeguard against fakery: the case of Amazon

Online reviews remain a reliable source for customers when making purchase decisions. Yet, the pervasiveness of fake reviews jeopardises this reliability and questions the quality of this content. ...
Technocapital@BigLaw.com

The transformative potential of technology in legal practice is well recognized. But wholly apart from how law firms actually use technology is the question of what law firms say about how they use and relate to technology—in particular, how law firms communicate whether technology matters and has value in what they do. In the past, firms in the BigLaw category, especially at the top echelon, have grounded their reputations on the credentials and achievements of their lawyers. In this paper, we explore whether elite law firms use technology similarly by describing it as an additional tool of inter-firm competition—a sort of “technocapital” that wields power in the war for clients, talent, and reputation generally. Based on an in-depth review of the websites of fifty-one nationally recognized and highly ranked law firms, the article analyzes differences in how firms use tech as a means of promoting themselves. We found that elite law firms adopt one of three distinct approaches. The most prestigious firms generally refrain from making claims about technology that might undercut the preeminence of their lawyers. Rather, tech is simply one among many organizing themes for describing what their lawyers do, whether on behalf of an industry or with regard to particular legal issues arising in the course of legal representations. A second group of firms couples their description of work for tech clients and on tech matters with claims of expertise in harnessing technology to provide conventional legal services better and faster. Finally, a small subset of firms describe tech as transformative of their practices and identities, and integral to their claims of being innovators. These firms’ descriptions of tech reveal its role as a kind of capital being used to distinguish themselves both from traditional law firms and from new entrants to the legal market. These variations in law firms’ descriptions of the importance and role of technology in their organizations offer insight into the ways in which tech serves as a new form of capital in the ongoing competition for status in the legal services market.
Reinforcement Learning on Human Decision Models for Uniquely Collaborative AI Teammates.

In 2021 the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory held an internal challenge to develop artificially intelligent (AI) agents that could excel at the collaborative card game Hanabi. Agents were evaluated on their ability to play with human players whom the agents had never previously encountered. This study details the development of the agent that won the challenge by achieving a human-play average score of 16.5, outperforming the current state-of-the-art for human-bot Hanabi scores. The winning agent's development consisted of observing and accurately modeling the author's decision making in Hanabi, then training with a behavioral clone of the author. Notably, the agent discovered a human-complementary play style by first mimicking human decision making, then exploring variations to the human-like strategy that led to higher simulated human-bot scores. This work examines in detail the design and implementation of this human compatible Hanabi teammate, as well as the existence and implications of human-complementary strategies and how they may be explored for more successful applications of AI in human machine teams.
Chapter 30. Recent Advances in Antisense Technology

Publisher Summary The treatment of disease, by the modulation of biological processes, can be undertaken at the level of the gene, the messenger RNA (mRNA) or the protein. Since the 1970's, proteins associated with disease pathology have been the major focus of drug discovery efforts. More recently, however, the goal of creating specific drugs to act directly on the mRNA is now the focus of significant research and development efforts. This paradigm is a method of affecting the expression of a gene, by interfering with the translation of the gene's mRNA into a functional protein. This exploits the susceptibility of formally single stranded mRNA to undergo sequence-specific high-affinity binding to a complementary oligonucleotide sequence called the anti-sense sequence, via Watson-Crick hydrogen bonding. By binding to the mRNA, the anti-sense oligomer can, by any one of the several mechanisms, interfere with and arrest cytosolic translation of the mRNA into protein. Each mechanism assumes that the anti-sense oligomer has found and bound to the target mRNA. The first is translational (ribosomal) blockade, where the antisense strand hybridizes to the sense strand and prevents the ribosome from completely reading the mRNA message, resulting in the synthesis of truncated nonfunctional protein. The second is binding of a DNA-like anti-sense oligonucleotide to the mRNA and activation of RNase H, an enzyme that specifically cleaves the RNA strand of a RNA-DNA duplex. The cleavage, by RNase H of the RNA strand, results in the destruction of the message and arrest of protein production.
Traveling the wild frontier of ultra low-power design

Power concerns have been at the forefront for the last decade, yet were always considered a second order citizen with respect to other design metrics. Today however, few will dispute that CMOS has entered the “power-limited scaling regime,” with power dissipation becoming the limiting factor on what can be integrated on a chip and how fast it can run. Many approaches have been proposed over to address the concerns regarding both active and standby power. Yet, none of these provides a persistent answer enabling technology scaling may go on in the foreseeable future. Fortunately, a number of researchers are currently engaging in ultra-low power design (ULP), providing a glimpse on potential innovative solutions as well as clear showstoppers. In this talk, we first will present a perspective on power roadmaps and challenges. The second part of the presentation will present some of the solutions currently being considered in the ULP community. The talk will conclude with some long-term perspectives.
The Future of Modified Fibers

The future of fiber technology for medical and specialty applications depends largely on the future needs of our civilization. It has been said that unmet needs drive the funding that sparks ideas. In this regard recent emphasis on United States homeland security has encouraged new bio-fiber research, resulting in the development of anti-bacterial fibers for producing clothing and filters to eliminate pathogens and enzyme-linked fibers to facilitate decontamination of nerve toxins from human skin [1]. Magnetic fibers may also have future security applications including fiber-based detectors for individual and material recognition. Interest in smart and interactive textiles is increasing with a projected average annual growth rate of 36% by 2009 [2]. More specific markets including medical textiles and enzymes will grow even more rapidly. Among the medical textiles are interactive wound dressings, implantable grafts, smart hygienic materials, and dialysis tubing. Some of the medical and specialty fibers inclusive of these types of product areas are discussed in this book. A recent review of the surface modification of fibers as therapeutic and diagnostic systems relevant to some of these new product areas has been published by Gupta [3]. In his review he examined current technology for medical textile structures [3] withmore » a focus on woven medical textile materials.« less
Is Community Organizing ''The Greatest Job'' One Could Have?

This article provides descriptive information on community organizers in Chicago with the intent of building knowledge on organizing careers. Data came from 41 organizers who responded to a mailed survey. Respondents were largely long-time, career organizers. None reported having a social work degree. The survey data confirm the widespread impression that organizing is characterized by long hours, modest salaries (median of $33,215) given the demands of their jobs, and few fringe benefits. But organizing is also characterized by great job satisfaction, considerable autonomy, and a strong sense of ''professional'' solidarity. Implications of survey findings for social work education are discussed.
Chapter 8 The average local ionization energy: concepts and applications

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses the concepts and applications of average local ionization energy. Ionization energy has been measured experimentally at a high level of accuracy for a large number of atoms and molecules. For molecules, it can be important to distinguish between the adiabatic and the vertical ionization energies. The former corresponds to the neutral molecule and the ion, both being in the ground states, which may or may not have similar geometries. The latter refers to the situation in which the positions of the nuclei are the same in the ion, as in the neutral molecule, which may not be the ion's ground vibrational state. The chapter focusses on vertical ionization energies. The average local ionization energy has many interesting and significant aspects and applications. It is related to local temperature and atomic shell structure, it is linked to electronegativity and shows promise as a measure of local polarizability. It permits the characterization of bonds and radical sites and in conjunction with volume—the prediction of molecular and group polarizabilities. It is an effective guide to reactivity toward electrophiles, especially when complemented by the electrostatic potential.
Gaining the service quality advantage.

Companies that achieve a very high degree of service quality in their approach to doing business will gain incalculable benefits.
Giant cell adenocarcinoma of the lung.

The 63 giant cell adenocarcinomas of the lung which were found among 592 primary lung carcinomas in 25,785 necropsies during the period from 1945 through 1957 at the Los Angeles County Hospital were studied in detail by histochemical methods. These tumors constitute 10.3% of the primary pulmonary lung carcinomas in this group. Giant cell adenocarcinomas can be separated from the other types of lung carcinomas only by their characteristic morphology and by the demonstration of intracytoplasmic mucin. Their most striking clinical feature was the short survival time which paralleled that of small cell carcinoma of the lung.
AIDs, activism, and the politics of health.

THE trends toward empowering patients and questioning scientific expertise antedated the epidemic of the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). As early as the late 1960s, observers noted an increase in the involvement of patients and their advocates in health care organization, provision, financing, and research.1 , 2 Moreover, despite their traditional public emphasis on charitable activities, large health organizations like the American Cancer Society have long traditions of political advocacy.3 Nevertheless, the entry of AIDS activists into the health care scene has added a jarring new dimension to what was previously a genteel dialogue between patient advocates and clinicians, researchers, and policy makers. . . .
19.3: Distinguished Student Paper: Quantum Dots-enhanced LCD Color and Optical Efficiency

We optimized the emission spectrum of a quantum dot (QD) backlight and achieved ∼140% color gamut in CIE 1976 color space. The QD-based LCD not only exhibits a wide color gamut but also improves the optical efficiency. Our systematic photometric analysis provides useful guidelines to further optimize the QD backlight design.
Selective depletion of the plasmatocytes in Galleria mellonella following injection of bacteria

Abstract Injection of a suspension of a bacterial pathogen, Bacillus cereus, into larvae of the wax moth, Galleria mellonella, resulted in the disappearance of plasmatocytes from the haemolymph. This depletion effect was dose dependent, and occurred within 5 min of injection of the bacteria. Similar effects, though of lesser intensity, followed injection of a number of other species of both pathogenic and nonpathogenic bacteria. This rapid and specific reaction may play a part in the natural response of insects to the injection of foreign bodies.
Synchronous behavior pattern of key glycolytic enzymes: Glucokinase, phosphofructokinase, and pyruvate kinase

Abstract In thyroid hormone deficient rats, the hepatic concentration of FAD was significantly reduced. This reduction appeared to be due to decreased activity of hepatic flavokinase, which was also observed under these conditions. Administration of large doses of riboflavin to hypothyroid rats restored the concentration of FAD to normal, probably by producing greater saturation of the enzyme with its substrate. Riboflavin also had a slightly stimulatory effect upon flavokinase activity. Similarities between riboflavin deficiency and thyroid hormone deficiency were noted with respect to the hepatic levels of FAD, the activity of several flavoprotein enzymes, and the response to correction of the deficiency. The feature common to both conditions appears to be reduced formation of FAD from riboflavin. In hyperthyroid animals, hepatic FAD levels were not increased above normal, despite a substantial increase in flavokinase activity. The results provide further evidence for an apparent upper limit in the hepatic concentration of FAD. The increase in flavokinase produced by thyroxine, like increases in activity of certain flavoprotein enzymes, was not blocked by treatment with actinomycin-D.
Reduction of Einstein's equations for vacuum space-times with spacelike U(1) isometry groups*

We consider vacuum space-times with spacelike U(1) isometry groups which are defined on manifolds of the form R × Bn, where Bn is an arbitrary S1-bundle over the two-sphere. We reduce the Einstein equations for this problem to a system of “harmonic map” equations defined over the base manifold R × S2 equipped with a Lorentzian metric determined uniquely by the solution of an associated nonlinear elliptic system. The harmonic map fields (which have a range space diffeomorphic to the hyperbolic two-plane) represent the unconstrained, dynamical degrees of freedom of the gravitational field. We give a complete discussion of the existence and uniqueness of solutions of the associated elliptic system and also display a Geroch-type solution generating technique for globally transforming the space of solutions associated with any one non-trivial bundle, R × Bn → R × S2, to that of any other such bundle. The basic techniques could readily be generalized to treat S1-bundles over R × M where M is a compact two-manifold of arbitrary genus. In the higher genus cases the Teichmuller space of conformally diffeomorphic Riemannian metrics over M arises as an additional component of the configuration manifold. For M ≈ S2 this space collapses to a point, which slightly simplifies the analysis.
Metadata Management in a Data Staging Repository

DataStaR is a data staging repository currently in development at Cornell University Library designed to support the curation of scientific research data. DataStaR employs a semantic metadata management architecture that provides several key benefits to users and librarians—a Web-based interface to create metadata and export valid XML in multiple standards, the ability to reuse previously created metadata in a straightforward manner, and compatibility with emerging semantic Web technologies. This paper reviews considerations that informed the DataStaR project by presenting high-level use cases. It follows with a description of DataStaR's metadata architecture, focusing on the semantic Web components that facilitate metadata reuse and the creation of metadata according to multiple standards. It concludes with a description of how a user may interact with the system.
Identification and estimation of LAS in waters and effluents

The detergent industry of the United States has replaced alkylbenzene sulfonate (ABS) derived from tetrapropylene by linear alkylate sulfonate (LAS) in its formulations in an effort to eliminate waste surfactants from the nation's pollution load. The effectiveness of this move will be assessed by the monitoring of sewage treatment plant effluents and receiving waters by numerous agencies during the next several years. Most of the analytical methods available respond to a whole range of surfactants and are not specific for LAS. This deficiency can be avoided by use of the desulfonation-gas chromatography technique, which gives unequivocal proof of the presence or absence of LAS and is readily applicable at the range of interest in the neighborhood of one part per million. Examples are given of examination of various samples for presence and semiquantitative estimation of LAS. A simple procedure is described for prepurification and separation of anionic surfactants from other components of the sample.
Bounds on orthogonal arrays and resilient functions

The only known general bounds on the parameters of orthogonal arrays are those given by Rao in 1947 [J. Roy. Statist. Soc. 9 (1947), 128–139] for general OAγ(t,k,v) and by Bush [Ann. Math. Stat. 23, (1952), 426–434] [3] in 1952 for the special case γ = 1. We present an algebraic method based on characters of homocyclic groups which yields the Rao bounds, the Bush bound in case t ⩾ v, and more importantly a new explicit bound which for large values of t (the strength of the array) is much better than the Rao bound. In the case of binary orthogonal arrays where all rows are distinct this bound was previously proved by Friedman [Proc. 33rd IEEE Symp. on Foundations of Comput. Sci., (1992), 314–319] in a different setting. We also note an application to resilient functions. © 1995 John Wiley & Sons, inc.
Heteroaggregation of Multiwalled Carbon Nanotubes and Hematite Nanoparticles: Rates and Mechanisms

The heteroaggregation rates of negatively charged multiwalled carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and positively charged hematite nanoparticles (HemNPs) were obtained over a broad range of nanoparticle distributions using time-resolved dynamic light scattering (DLS). Binary systems comprising CNTs and HemNPs were prepared using low ionic strength solutions to minimize the concurrent occurrence of homoaggregation. To elucidate the mechanisms of heteroaggregation, the structures of CNT–HemNP aggregates were observed using cryogenic transmission electron microscopy (cryo-TEM). An initial increase in the CNT concentration, while keeping the HemNP concentration constant, resulted in a corresponding increase in the rate of heteroaggregation, which occurred through the bridging of HemNPs by CNT strands. At the optimal CNT/HemNP mass concentration ratio (CNT/HemNP ratio) of 0.0316, the heteroaggregation rate reached 3.3 times of the HemNP homoaggregation rate in the diffusion-limited regime. Increasing the CNT/HemNP ratio ab...
Effect of UV Processing Treatments on Soy Oil Conjugated Linoleic Acid Yields and Tocopherols Stability

Photoirradiation has been used to synthesize 20 % conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) in soy oil with an iodine catalyst. CLA yields are affected by ultraviolet (UV) irradiation time, Magnesol® adsorbent treatment, iodine concentration and mixed tocopherols. However, these factors in combination had not been studied. Therefore, the objectives of this study were to determine the effect of (1) a combination of photoirradiation time, Magnesol® adsorbent treatment and added mixed soy tocopherols on CLA yields and the oxidative stability of CLA-rich soy oil, (2) UV light on mixed tocopherol stability, as tocopherols enhance CLA yields during photoirradiation. Soy oil was initially treated with 5 % Magnesol®. Iodine at 0 and 0.35 % was mixed with Magnesol®-treated soy oil and irradiated for 12 and 6 h. The irradiated oil was again treated with Magnesol®, mixed with 0, 0.35 or 0.175 % iodine; 1400 MT and irradiated for 12 or 6 more hours. CLA content in soy oil was determined by conventional gas chromatography-flame ionization detector. The oxidative stability of the oil was determined by measuring peroxide value (PV). The tocopherols stability was determined by high performance liquid chromatography. The results showed that increasing photoirradiation time increased CLA yields and lowered PV. Magnesol® adsorption produced highest CLA yield for all treatments by removing peroxides in RBD soy oil. The γ-tocopherols exhibited highest stability during UV irradiation. The order of tocopherol degradation was α-tocopherol > δ-tocopherol > γ-tocopherols.
A model for enzymatic binding of pollutants in the soil.

Abstract Pollutants released into the environment may be bound to humic acid through abiotic or biologic processes whereby the formation of bound residues usually results in detoxification of the pollutant. Therefore, enhancing the binding of xenobiotic chemicals to humic material can serve as a means to reduce toxicity as well as migration of toxic compounds in the environment. Complex formation can occur by an oxidative coupling reaction leading to oligomeric and polymeric products. We intensively investigated the effect of phenoloxidases (peroxidases, tyrosinases, and laccases) on the binding of substituted phenols and aromatic amines to humus monomers as well as to humic substances. Based on a large number of isolated and identified cross-coupling products, we are able to elucidate the sites and mechanisms of binding and also to determine the efficiency of some coupling reactions. Copolymerization largely depends on the chemical reactivity of the substrates involved. Certain phenolic humus constituent...
Liquid-absent aqueous fluid inclusions and phase equilibria in the system CaCl2NaClH2O☆

Abstract Raman spectra and microthermometric data are reported for a new class of aqueous fluid inclusions in quartz from the Bushveld Complex. The inclusions, which are approximated by the system CaCl2NaClH2O, hold special interest because they display the following properties: 1. (1) The inclusions do not contain a liquid phase at room temperature, but they homogenize to an aqueous liquid at elevated temperatures; 2. (2) Initial melting occurs at a reaction point at +29°C, rather than at the CaCl2NaClH2O eutectic point at −52°C, as is generally the case for fluid inclusions approximated by this system; 3. (3) Ice is absent in the subsolidus assemblage despite the high-H2O contents of the inclusions. An aqueous liquid is generated upon heating through decomposition of incongruently melting hydrate daughter minerals; 4. (4) The most abundant minerals in the subsolidus assemblages are antarcticite (CaCl2 · 6H2O) and a second hydrate that may be a new mineral, probably a polymorph of CaCl2 · 4H2O; and 5. (5) The fluid compositions fall outside the compositional limits defined by previous studies of natural fluid inclusions. The inclusions are characterized by a high Ca Na ratio and a very high concentration of total dissolved solids (greater than 52 wt%). Aqueous fluid inclusions that do not contain a liquid phase at ambient temperature may be commonly overlooked or misinterpreted as mineral inclusions. The liquid-absent aqueous inclusions from the Bushveld Complex are spatially associated with a second type of fluid inclusion comprised of antarcticite, halite, vapor, and liquid at 20°C. The two types of inclusions have similar bulk compositions, but they differ radically in melting behavior because their compositions lie on opposite sides of a subsolidus join. Given the topology of the CaCl2NaClH2O phase diagram, small variations in bulk composition in the vicinity of a phase boundary or subsolidus join can result in large differences in the initial melting temperature, equilibrium melting sequence, and phase proportions at 20°C. Conversely, significant constraints on fluid composition may be derived from qualitative observations of the equilibrium melting sequence.
Forecasting the NYSE composite index with technical analysis, pattern recognizer, neural networks, and genetic algorithm: a case study in romantic decision support

The 21st century is seeing technological advances that make it possible to build more robust and sophisticated decision support systems than ever before. But the effectiveness of these systems may be limited if we do not consider more eclectic (or romantic) options. This paper exemplifies the potential that lies in the novel application and combination of methods, in this case to evaluating stock market purchasing opportunities using the "technical analysis" school of stock market prediction. Members of the technical analysis school predict market prices and movements based on the dynamics of market price and volume, rather than on economic fundamentals such as earnings and market share. The results of this paper support the effectiveness of the technical analysis approach through use of the "bull flag" price and volume pattern heuristic. The romantic approach to decision support exemplified in this paper is made possible by the recent development of: (1) high-performance desktop computing, (2) the methods and techniques of machine learning and soft computing, including neural networks and genetic algorithms, and (3) approaches recently developed that combine diverse classification and forecasting systems. The contribution of this paper lies in the novel application and combination of the decision-making methods and in the nature and superior quality of the results achieved.
Determining Community College Workforce Needs: Process Suggestions and Policy Issues.

In 1998, the Iowa Department of Education established the Community College Research Agenda Task Force in an effort to address the increasing data and research needs of the state's 15 community col...
The role of the IGF system in cancer: from basic to clinical studies and clinical applications.

Insulin-like growth factors (IGFs) are important mediators of growth, development, and survival, are synthesized by almost any tissue in the body, and their action is modulated by a complex network of molecules, including binding proteins, proteases and receptors, which all comprise the IGF system. Evidence from in vitro and animal studies suggests that overexpression of IGFs by cancer cells and/or the nearby stroma as well as the type IGF-I receptor by the cancer cells may play a significant role in establishing a transformed phenotype in an increasing number of malignancies. More specifically, IGFs may promote cell cycle progression and inhibition of apoptosis either by directly associating with other growth factors or indirectly by interacting with other molecular systems which have an established role in carcinogenesis and cancer promotion, such as the steroid hormones and integrins. In addition, a growing number of epidemiologic studies suggest that increased serum levels of IGFs and/or altered levels of their binding proteins are associated with increased risk for developing several malignancies. These data indicate that IGF dysregulation should now be considered as an important independent factor for cancer risk, and a potential target for novel antineoplastic therapies and/or preventative strategies in high-risk groups.
The Brookhaven National Laboratory's Multiparticle Spectrometer Drift Chamber System

A system of drift chambers is being built to replace the present spark chambers in the Brookhaven National Laboratory's Multiparticle Spectrometer. This system will handle a beam of ~ 3 million particles per second and have a resolution of 200 pm. A summary of the status of the chambers and the custom integrated circuits is presented. The data acquisition system is described. Prototype chambers have been built and tested with results that are consistent with the expected chamber properties.
A Quantitative Study of the Accuracy of College Students' HIV Risk Estimates1

A mathematical model of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) transmission was used to investigate the ability of college students (N= 162) to accurately estimate the risk of transmission for a variety of scenarios, which varied by HIV prevalence, number of sex partners, number of acts per partner, and the use of condoms. In addition, respondents' perceptions of their own lifetime risk of acquiring HIV were compared with the risk faced by similar referents. Participants badly overestimated the per-act transmission probabilities; all of their estimates differed from corresponding epidemiological estimates by a factor of 10 or more. It appears that their inflated estimates of the cumulative probability of transmission for multiple acts of intercourse were driven by their excessive overestimates of per-act transmission probabilities.
Probabilistic optimization techniques for multicast key management

The logical key hierarchy (LKH) scheme and its derivatives are among the most efficient protocols for multicast key management. Traditionally, the key distribution tree in an LKH-based protocol is organized as a balanced binary tree, which gives a uniform O(log n) complexity for compromise recovery in an n-member group. In this paper, we study improving the performance of LKH-based key distribution protocols by organizing the LKH tree with respect to the members' rekeying probabilities instead of keeping a uniform balanced tree. We propose two algorithms, which combine ideas from data compression with the special requirements of multicast key management. Simulation results show that these algorithms can reduce the cost of multicast key management significantly, depending on the amount of variation in the rekey characteristics of the group members.
A class of Orlicz-Sobolev spaces with applications to variational problems involving nonlinear Hill's equations☆

Necessary and sufficient conditions are proved for a b(2)-Young function G (with independent variable t) to be convex (resp. concave) in t2 in terms of inequalities between the second derivative of G and the first derivative of its Legendre transform G (with independent variable s). It is then proven that a Young function G is convex (resp. concave) in t2 if and only if G is concave (resp. convex) in s2. These results, along with another set of inequalities for functions G convex (resp. concave) in t2, allow the proof of the uniform convexity and thereby of the reflexivity with respect to Luxemburg's norm ∥f∥G = inf{k > 0: ∝Ω dξ G(f(ξ)k) ⩽ 1} of the Orlicz space LG(Ω) over an open domain Ω ∋RN with Lebesgue measure dξ. When applied to G(t) = ¦t¦pp and G(s) = ¦s¦p′p′ with p−1 + (p′)−1 = 1, the preceding results lead to the shortest proof to date of two Clarkson's inequalities and of the reflexivity of Lp-spaces for 1 < p < +∞. Finally, some of these results are used to solve by direct methods variational problems associated with the existence question of periodic orbits for a class of nonlinear Hill's equations; these variational problems are formulated on suitable Orlicz-Sobolev spaces WmLG(Ω) and thereby allow for nonlinear terms which may grow faster than any power of the variable.
k-sample rank tests using pair-specific scoring functions

In this paper we consider generalizations of the distribution-free one-way ANOVA test procedures studied by Puri (1965), such generalizations allowing for possibly different scoring functions for different pairs of samples. The asymptotic distributions of the test statistics are derived and formulas for the asymptotic relative efficiencies of these tests with respect to a parametric competitor are obtained. Applications of these procedures to settings of ordered and umbrella alternatives are presented and potential advantages of this pair-specific scoring scheme are discussed.
High affinity binding of a calcium channel antagonist to smooth and cardiac muscle

Abstract Specific binding of the Ca 2+ -channel antagonist nitrendipine, a close structural analog of nifedipine, has been measured in microsomal membrane fractions from guinea pig ileal longitudinal smooth muscle. The dissociation constant was 0.18 nanomole per liter and maximum binding was 1.14 picomoles per milligram of protein. Binding with very similar characteristics was found in a rat ventricle preparation. This high affinity binding was sensitive to displacement by a series of 1,4-dihydropyridine analogs of nifedipine with an activity sequence correlating well with that determined for inhibition of mechanical responses in the intact smooth muscle.
Free interferon-α/β receptors in the circulation of patients with adenocarcinoma†‡

BACKGROUND Many viral and neoplastic diseases are resistant to interferon-α/β (IFN-α/β) therapy or develop resistance during the course of IFN treatment. In patients with viral diseases, the authors identified four IFN inhibitors, of which the most important, most likely is a free IFN receptor of type 1 appearing in the circulation that captures and neutralizes IFN-α/β. METHODS Ninety-one cancer patients and 25 healthy individuals were studied. Free circulating IFN receptor-α/β type 1 was studied. The patients were ages 35–75 years. The diagnoses were 24 cases of colon carcinoma, 7 cases of prostate carcinoma, 16 cases of breast carcinoma, 8 cases of ovarian carcinoma, 9 cases of uterine carcinoma, 5 cases of lung carcinoma, 3 cases of astrocytoma, 4 cases of transitional cell carcinoma of the bladder, 1 case of osteosarcoma, 3 cases of multiple myeloma, 4 cases of Hodgkin disease, 2 cases of non-Hodgkin lymphoma, 3 cases of myelodysplastic syndrome, and 2 disseminated tumors of unknown origin. RESULTS All patients were found to have increased free IFN receptor-α/β type 1 in the circulation, with the highest levels reported in patients with adenocarcinoma. CONCLUSIONS High IFN inhibitory activity in patients with cancer may be a significant factor in their increased susceptibility to progressive disease, infectious complications, and resistance to IFN therapy. Ongoing studies are being performed with the objective of overcoming this inhibitory activity. Cancer 2003;98:2730–3. © 2003 American Cancer Society.