cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Quality assurance for intraoperative electron radiotherapy clinical trials: Ionization chamber and mailable thermoluminescent dosimeter results

Ionization chamber and thermoluminescent dosimeter measurements were made to verify the dosimetry data provided to the Radiation Therapy Chart Review office of interinstitutional electron intraoperative radiotherapy clinical trials. The ionization measurements included intraoperative radiotherapy applicator output and depth dose measurements made at the stated 80% and 50% depths at 14 different radiotherapy facilities. Mailable thermoluminescent dosimeter measurements, including output and depth dose measurements were made at 16 institutions. The mailable thermoluminescent dosimeter results show similar inter-institutional agreement, both for output and depth dose comparison, with the corresponding ion chamber results for intraoperative radiotherapy applicators. These results are compared to similar measurements made for conventional electron applicators.
Providing end-to-end perspectives in software engineering

In order to better prepare students for professional practice, we have created a software engineering curriculum that provides an end-to-end perspective that begins with the business context of software, and goes all the way to the ongoing management of software services after deployment. This paper examines how the theoretical aspects of this broad-based curriculum may be effectively delivered through a single course within a traditional computer science program. This curriculum is under a diverse set of constraints and requirements, such as the need for pedagogical consistency, faculty development, consideration of the learning style of computer science students, and a need for an effective continuous improvement process. Our approach uses “engineering-oriented” analysis frameworks such as Porter's Five Forces model for the business aspects, and attribute-driven design for software architectures, an “inverted” classroom mode of teaching where lectures are delivered on line with interactions and exercises that promote active learning reserved for the classroom, case studies developed from real projects to serve as concrete examples, open discussion boards and weekly short quizzes for concept refinement and retention, and a paper-based project where students apply the concepts learned. Faculty development and replication outside the current site are also discussed.
Dappled Theories in a Uniform World

Abstract It has been argued, most trenchantly by Nancy Cartwright, that the diversity of the concepts and regularities we actually use to describe nature and predict and explain its behavior leaves us with no reason to believe that our foundational physical theories actually “apply” outside of delicately contrived systems within the laboratory. This paper argues that, diversity of method notwithstanding, there is indeed good reason to think that the foundational laws of physics are universal in their scope.
A fiber-coupled photon-counting optical receiver based on NbN superconducting nanowires for the Lunar Laser Communication Demonstration

We have designed and demonstrated a multimode fiber-coupled optical receiver based on NbN superconducting nanowires for the Lunar Laser Communications Demonstration and achieved error-free operation at 622 Mb/s over the ~400,000 km link.
On the possible origin and evolution of the genetic code.

The genetic code is examined for indications of possible preceding codes that existed during early evolution. Eight of the 20 amino acids are coded by ‘quartets’ of codons with four-fold degeneracy, and 16 such quartets can exist, so that an earlier code could have provided for 15 or 16 amino acids, rather than 20. If two-fold degeneracy is postulated for the first position of the codon, there could have been 10 amino acids in the code. It is speculated that these may have been phenylalanine, valine, proline, alanine, histidine, glutamine, glutamic acid, aspartic acid, cysteine and glycine. There is a notable deficiency of arginine in proteins, despite the fact that it has six codons. Simultaneously, there is more lysine in proteins than would be expected from its two codons, if the four bases in mRNA are equiprobable and are arranged randomly. It is speculated that arginine is an ‘intruder’ into the genetic code, and that it may have displaced another amino acid such as ornithine, or may even have displaced lysine from some of its previous codon assignments. As a result, natural selection has favored lysine against the fact that it has only two codons. The introduction of tRNA into protein synthesis may have been a cataclysmic and comparatively sudden event, since duplication of tRNA takes place readily, and point mutations could rapidly differentiate members of the family of duplicates from each. Two tRNAs for different amino acids may have a common ancestor that existed more recently than the separation of the prokaryotes and eukaryotes. This is shown by homology of two E. coli tRNAs for glycine and valine, and two yeast tRNAs for arginine and lysine.
Managing Water Levels and Flows For Improved Economical, Environmental and Ecological Benefits in Lake Ontario and in the St. Lawrence River

A five-year $20,000,000 study of how Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River can be better managed has just come to a conclusion. Three alternative operating policies that balance competing objectives in different ways have been presented to the International Joint Commission for their consideration. After due public discussion, the IJC will be selecting one (or none) of those three to implement, with the primary purpose of improving the environmental and ecological state or quality of the basin over what it is now. At the same time the policy has to meet other objectives such as those related to recreational and commercial boating and navigation, hydropower, shoreline protection, water supply reliability, and flood protection. This paper and talk summarizes the manner in which this joint Canadian and US study arrived at economic, environmental and ecological indicators whose values were functions of what can be managed, namely lake and river levels and river flows. Also of interest is the political process of plan selection and implementation, and the institutional impact of adapting a new policy for managing water in the basin.
Spherical-harmonic decomposition for molecular recognition in electron-density maps

Several methods for automatically constructing a protein model from an electron-density map require searching for many small protein-fragment templates in the density. We propose to use the spherical-harmonic decomposition of the template and the maps density to speed this matching. Unlike other template-matching approaches, this allows us to eliminate large portions of the map unlikely to match any templates. We train several first-pass filters for this elimination task. We show our new template-matching method improves accuracy and reduces running time, compared to previous approaches. Finally, we extend our method to produce a structural-homology detection algorithm using electron density.
The village woman who winked and taught me the basics of medicine.

postoperative nausea and vomiting. Anesthesiology 2002; 97: 1387–92. 113Oddby-Muhrbeck E, Eksborg S, Bergendahl HT, Muhrbeck O, Lonnqvist PA. Effects of clonidine on postoperative nausea and vomiting in breast cancer surgery. Anesthesiology 2002; 96: 1109–14. 114Loewen PS. Anti-emetics in development. Expert Opin Investig Drugs 2002; 11: 801–05. 115Carlo GD, Izzo AA. Cannabinoids for gastrointestinal diseases: potential therapeutic applications. Expert Opin Investig Drugs 2003; 12: 39–49. 116Timmons ME, Bower FL. The effect of structured preoperative teaching on patients’ use of patient-controlled analgesia (PCA) and their management of pain. Orthop Nurs 1993; 12: 23–31. 117Knoerl DV, Faut-Callahan M, Paice J, Shott S. Preoperative PCA teaching program to manage postoperative pain. Medsurg Nurs 1999; 8: 25–33. 118Sala Blanch X, Moya Ruiz C, Edo Cebollada L. Usefulness of an anesthesia information sheet before the preoperative visit. Rev Esp Anestesiol Reanim 2000; 47: 10–14. 119Gillies MA, Baldwin FJ. Do patient information booklets increase perioperative anxiety? Eur J Anaesthesiol 2001; 18: 620–22. ANAESTHESIA I
Does histamine play a role in the secretogogic effect of avian pancreatic "gastrin"?

SummaryInvestigation was made of what role histamine plays in the gastric secretion induced by a new avian pancreatic polypeptide (APP). Use of an anticholinergic agent (glycopyrrolate bromide) was made to block the gastric effects of histamine in adult chickens. However, this agent was without effect on the stimulatory action of APP as measured by secretory volume, H+, pepsin, and protein levels. The pancreatic polypeptide action, therefore, is not mediated by histamine release in chickens, and, in fact, APP may be avian gastrin.
POSTER: Sechduler: a security-aware kernel scheduler

Trustworthy operation of safety-critical infrastructures necessitates efficient solutions that satisfy both realtimeness and security requirements simultaneously. We present Sechduler, a formally verifiable security-aware operating system scheduler that dynamically makes sure that system computational resources are allocated to individual waiting tasks in an optimal order such that, if feasible, neither realtime nor security requirements of the system are violated. Additionally, if not both of the requirements can be satisfied simultaneously, Sechduler makes use of easy-to-define linear temporal logic-based policies as well as automatically generated Buchi automaton-based monitors, compiled as loadable kernel modules, to enforce which requirements should get the priority. Our experimental results show that Sechduler can adaptively enforce the system-wide logic-based temporal policies within the kernel and with minimal performance overhead of 3 % on average to guarantee high level of combined security and realtimeness simultaneously.
Altering erythrocyte membrane composition with phospholipid exchange protein

Abstract 1. 1. In establishing a protocol for the use of a phospholipid (PL) † exchange protein (PLEP) preparation to incorporate fluorescent lipids into membrane fragments, the potential for the PLEP preparation to alter membrane composition was investigated. 2. 2. Cholesterol was removed from erythrocyte ghosts and PL content was increased after incubation of the membranes with phosphatidylcholine (PC) vesicles and a nonspecific bovine liver PLEP preparation. 3. 3. The elevated PL/cholesterol ratio of the ghosts decreased fluorescence polarization of diphenylhexatriene (DPH), indicating an increased average membrane fluidity. 4. 4. The increased PL/cholesterol ratio and reduced DPH fluorescence polarization were prevented by including cholesterol in the PC vesicles during the initial incubation of ghosts with PLEP preparation and lipid. 5. 5. In addition, the PC content of ghost membranes was elevated after incubation with PLEP preparation and either PC or mixed PC-cholesterol vesicles.
In vitro integration of human skin dermis with porous cationic hydrogels.

Abstract Porous poly(DMAA-co-AMTAC) hydrogels, fabricated using the inverted colloid crystal method, were used to observe their integration with human skin. Full thickness human breast skin explants discarded from surgeries were cultured for up to 10 days at the air–liquid interface using a Transwell culture system. Cylindrical, disk- or other shaped hydrogels were placed inside the skin explants fitting punctures produced by punch biopsies or scalpels and full section histological analysis of the skin explants with the inserted hydrogel was then performed. In addition, separated hydrogels were cultured up to 7 days with human fibroblasts. The results indicate that poly(DMAA-co-AMTAC) hydrogels induce substantial extracellular matrix material deposition, maintain dermal integrity in the contact areas with the skin and permit dermal fibers to integrate into the hydrogel pores. Different types of cells remaining in the explants migrated into the hydrogels pores, including red blood cells. Fibroblasts adhered to and colonized separately cultured hydrogels. We plan to use this type of soft material as an interface to permit skin integration with percutaneous devices in contact with skin.
Reflections on the United States military 1941-1987.

This article, 'Reflections on the United States Military 1941-1987' written by my grandmother, Mary Mandels, illustrates her passion for life. Her outreach article was considered most appropriate for publication in this forum. Her career activities are outlined in the prior article 'Mary Elizabeth Hickox Mandels, 90, Bioenergy Leader' while her accomplishments were fully recognized, for instance, nationally through the American Chemical Society and through her induction into the Hall of Fame at the US Army Soldier Systems Center in Natick, Massachusetts. As illustrated, along with Dr Elwyn Reese at Natick's Pioneering Research Laboratory, she headed a bioengineering group that is particularly remembered for developing a process for the enzymatic conversion of waste cellulosic biomass into soluble sugars that could be fermented to ethanol for an alternate liquid fuel (gasohol). This technology remains a subject of interest with growing environmental concerns and an oil shortage crisis.
Electrostatic energy in a semiconductor surface space-charge layer

Abstract The electrostatic energy associated with a semiconductor space-charge layer and the corresponding external charge distribution is calculated. Assuming this to be the dominant contribution to the free energy, the equilibrium configuration of a dielectric-coated semiconductor is obtained for two fairly general models of the external charge distribution. It is found that, under some conditions, metastable configurations can occur with respect to both the strength of a charge sheet outside the dielectric and the distribution of charge within the dielectric. The results are applied to some published experimental data on the effects of progressively etching away a grown oxide layer on silicon.
Physical growth in Brachmann-de Lange syndrome.

Growth in 30 patients with Brachmann-de Lange syndrome (BDLS) was evaluated and found to be deficient in 27/30, with 17/27 having intrauterine growth retardation (IUGR). In 12/27 Patients, endocrine evaluations have been completed. Seven of 12 were normal and 4/12, one with empty sella, had “classical” growth hormone deficiency with extreme short stature, markedly delayed skeletal maturation and subnormal growth hormone secretion in response to provocative stimuli. One of 12 patients had discordance between insulin growth factor I levels and growth hormone responses to insulin and clonidine suggestive of end organ resistance to growth harmone. It appears that the hypothalmamic-pituitary function is compromised in at least some BDLS patients. Thus, endocrine evaluations are warranted for the patients with short stature. © 1993 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
A quick reply to Putnam's paradox

let T be an ideal theory, by our lights ... Now T is consistent (by hypothesis) and has (only) infinite models. So by the completeness theorem ... T has a model of every infinite cardinality. Pick a model M of the same cardinality as THE WORLD. Map the individuals of M one-to-one into the pieces of THE WORLD, and use the mapping to define relations of M directly in THE WORLD. The result is a satisfaction relation SAT-a "correspondence" between the terms of L [that is, the first-order language in which T is expressed] and sets of pieces of THE WORLD-such that the theory T comes out tr-ue ... provided we just interpret "true" as TRUE(SAT). (Putnam 1977, pp. 125-6)
HERCULES: Strong Patterns towards More Intelligent Predictive Modeling

Recent work has shown that program analysis techniques to select meaningful code features of programs are important in the task of deciding the best compiler optimizations. Although, there are many successful state-of-the-art program analysis techniques, they often do not provide a simple method to extract the most expressive information about loops, especially when a target program is computationally intensive with complex loops and data dependencies. In this paper, we introduce a static technique to characterize a program using a pattern-driven system named HERCULES. This characterization technique not only helps a user to understand programs by searching pattern-of-interests, but also can be used for a predictive model that effectively selects the proper compiler optimizations. We formulated 35 loop patterns, then evaluated our characterization technique by comparing the predictive models constructed using HERCULES to three other state-of-the-art characterization methods. We show that our models outperform three state-of-the-art program characterization techniques on two multicore systems in selecting the best optimization combination from a given loop transformation space. We achieved up to 67% of the best possible speedup achievable with the optimization search space we evaluated.
Community Outreach through Genomics Education Partnership

The J Craig Venter Institute (JCVI) has recently partnered with undergraduate university faculty to expand the scope of education and outreach program as part of the NIAID’s BRC initiative, by joining forces with faculty members participating in the Genomics Education Partnership (GEP). The goal of the GEP is to provide opportunities for undergraduate students to participate in genomics research and gain hands on experience. Faculty members trained on annotation methodologies and tools during the Prokaryotic Annotation Workshop conducted at JCVI, impart their knowledge in the classroom as part of the semester course. As a pilot project, we are currently collaborating with 3 groups lead by a faculty member, spread across 3 universities in the community curation of bacterial genomes. Each participating undergraduate group collectively annotates a specific bacterial genome that was sequenced at JCVI and run through the automatic annotation pipeline. Remote access to genome sequence data, pre-computed gene predictions, search results, automatic annotation and bioinformatics analysis is provided through our web-based manual annotation tool, MANATEE. The students log into JCVI genome databases with user specific ids and password and learn to annotate single genes, entire metabolic pathways leading to analysis of a question that may be unique to the genome being analyzed. Users of the genome data receive dedicated support and guidance from our in house annotation experts on the usage of JCVI’s tools and annotation methodologies. Through this exercise, the undergraduate students are introduced to concepts of genomics and bioinformatics and gain deeper understanding of the concepts of cellular metabolism and disease pathology, which may lead them to making scientific research their career path. Some groups are focusing on genome specific pathways and plan to conduct wet lab experiments to understand unique genome features. We are highly encouraged that this model of web based, remote access, community annotation has been successful and propose to leverage the community of annotators to update annotations of pathogen genomes in Pathema-BRC.
Silicon modified birth reduction and reductive alkylation of polynuclear aromatics

Abstract A trimethylsilyl substituent is used to control regiochemistry, overreduction, and prevent bond cleavage during the metal/ammonia reduction of aromatic and polynuclear aromatic compounds. The trimethylsilyl group is then removed by tetrabutylammonium fluoride and replaced by either hydrogen or primary alkyl, the latter case representing overall reductive alkylation. Results are presented for naphthalene together with its 1-methyl, 2-methyl and 2-methoxy derivatives, phenanthrene and its 9-methyl and 9-ethyl derivatives, biphenyl and triptycene.
Distributed anomaly detection using 1-class SVM for vertically partitioned data

There has been a tremendous increase in the volume of sensor data collected over the last decade for different monitoring tasks. For example, petabytes of earth science data are collected from modern satellites, in situ sensors and different climate models. Similarly, huge amount of flight operational data is downloaded for different commercial airlines. These different types of data sets need to be analyzed for finding outliers. Information extraction from such rich data sources using advanced data mining methodologies is a challenging task not only because of the massive volume of data but also because these data sets are physically stored at different geographical locations with only a subset of features available at any location. Moving these petabytes of data to a single location may waste a lot of bandwidth. To solve this problem, in this paper, we present a novel algorithm which can identify outliers in the entire data without moving all the data to a single location. The method we propose only centralizes a very small sample from the different data subsets at different locations. We analytically prove and experimentally verify that the algorithm offers high accuracy compared to complete centralization with only a fraction of the communication cost. We show that our algorithm is highly relevant to both earth sciences and aeronautics by describing applications in these domains. The performance of the algorithm is demonstrated on two large publicly available data sets: (i) the NASA MODIS satellite images and (ii) a simulated aviation data set generated by the ‘Commercial Modular Aero-Propulsion System Simulation’ (CMAPSS). © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Statistical Analysis and Data Mining 4: 393–406, 2011 (A shorter version of this paper was published in NASA Conference on Intelligent Data Understanding 2010.)
Temperature-stable low-power ring oscillator design for ASIC applications

A temperature-stable, low-power ring oscillator design with a wide tuning frequency range, for implementation in an ASIC is presented. The design uses a new arrangement of chain delay elements consisting of a current-starved inverter and a CMOS capacitor. The delay is controlled by changing the current through the delay elements. The simulation results show that the frequency of the presented oscillator is stable against ambient temperature variations, with less than 0.5% deviation in frequency when the temperature was changed from 0 to 50°C. The oscillation frequency is highly sensitive to the control voltage (sensitivity ~10 mV) with a tuning range of 203 MHz for 0.9 V increase in the input voltage, and simulated power consumption of 1.2 nW. The design and simulation results of the ring oscillator with 180 nm technology are presented and discussed. The presented design is applicable in advanced sensing systems, including biomedical, chemical, and other sensors.
THE EFFECT OF PRICE ON EUROPE'S EXPORTS TO THE UNITED STATESa

SUMMARY Most studies of international demand determinants have found income to be the significant explainer of variations in both imports and exports, while price appeared to have only marginal importance. The present study deals with exports to the United States from eight European countries and gives support to a rather different conclusion: Two price variables—a price index of imports from a particular country, and an index of general-import prices—were significant and sometimes showed high elasticities. United States national income, on the other hand, was a poor explainer of imports from a country supplying finished manufactures, while industrial output was a fair explainer of imports from the suppliers of raw and semimanufactured materials. Of the two successful price variables, general-import prices showed the higher numerical price elasticities. This fact was contrary to the theoretical expectation, and arguments were advanced for believing that there might be greater downward bias in the direct- than in the cross-price elasticities of demand. It was concluded that in general the higher of the two calculated elasticities came closer to the true price elasticity for the country concerned. However, the findings, if taken at face value, also suggest that a European exporting country may be more successful in gaining dollar earnings at the expense of its rivals than at the expense of domestic United States producers. Elasticity with respect to United States domestic prices was low or insignificant; and total imports showed little price response. If it were in fact difficult for the non-dollar world together or even for Europe alone, to adjust its dollar earnings by means of price, it would still be possible for the countries involved to adjust both their dollar and their overall balances. For to the extent that they reduced prices competitively they would be induced to substitute imports from one another for those from the United States. Finally, if the behaviour of overall United States imports can be taken as typical for manufacturing countries' imports, while particular countries' exports to the world as a whole respond to price much as do those to the United States, we can infer that their balance-of-trade adjustments to price will be mainly on the export, rather than on the import, side.
CAREER DEVELOPMENTS AND TRANSITIONS OF MIDDLE‐AGED WOMEN

Job transition behaviors of women (N = 71; M = 42.5 yrs.) in their middle years of professional careers who had changed jobs within the previous 3 years were investigated. They were employed in a major utility company in a midwestern city where 11% of the jobs had been eliminated. The women were classified according to job transition attitudes and behaviors into groups labeled Wanters–Planners or Creators (n = 12); Wanters–Nonplanners or Maintainers (n = 15); Nonwanters–Planners or Conventionalists (n = 28); and Nonwanters–Nonplanners or Reactors (n = 16). Significant differences were obtained from three developmental perspectives: Person, Situation, and Person-by-Situation aspects of job-leaving/job-procuring behaviors. Three multivariate analyses of variance were followed by appropriate one-way analyses of variance and post hoc chi-square and Tukey's tests to identify the variations among the groups. Three multivariate discriminant analyses correctly classified the women into the four groups.
The Stock Market Reaction to Significant Tender Offer Repurchases of Stock: Size and Purpose Perspective

This paper uses event methodology to examine the impact of common stock repurchases on the repurchasing firm's common stock returns, including examination of various subsamples to test the effects of size and purpose of repurchase. Although the market reacts positively to general repurchase announcements, it reacts negatively to those repurchases used to fend off takeover attempts and does not react at all to stock repurchases for employee stock option plan (ESOP) purposes.
Preresonance hyper-Raman scattering studies of ethylene glycol

Abstract The first reported experimental example of clearly preresonant hyper-Raman scattering is presented. the preresonance hyper-Raman spectrum of liquid ethylene glycol is obtained with 426 nm excitation and compared with the corresponding preresonance Raman spectrum. The spectra are analyzed in terms of the conventional vibronic expansion, and it is shown that, by comparing peak heights in the Raman and hyper-Raman spectra, the relative magnitude of one- and two-photon dipole transition moments of contributing electronic states may be determined. Tentative symmetry assignments for contributing states are also discussed. The results demonstrate the applicability of preresonance hyper-Raman scattering when studying electronic transitions in the VUV.
Normative epistemology and naturalized epistemology

A number of philosophers have argued that a naturalized epistemology cannot be normative, and thus that the norms that govern science cannot themselves be established empirically. Three arguments for this conclusion are here developed and then responded to on behalf of naturalized epistemology. The response is developed in three stages. First, if we view human knowers as part of the natural world, then the attempt to establish epistemic norms that are immune to scientific evaluation faces difficulties that are at least as severe as the purported difficulties for naturalized epistemology. Second, some examples of the ways in which norms are proposed and evaluated in the course of scientific research are considered and it is concluded that science has no need for trans‐scientific norms. Finally, the three arguments introduced at the outset have no force when they are viewed in the light of the preceding discussion.
A GaAs avalanche diode analysis and an approximate indirect measurement of hole saturation velocity

GaAs avalanche diodes are observed to operate at frequencies considerably lower than those of Si or Ge diodes with similar doping profiles and dc characteristics. This observed behavior and the analysis shown in this paper enable us to evaluate an approximate hole saturation velocity in GaAs. Small signal impedances and Q's of GaAs avalanche diodes with breakdown voltages of 17, 36, and 58 are calculated based on the approximated hole saturation velocity of 2 \times 10^{6} cm/s. The model assumes an abrupt p+-n junction, e.g., zinc diffusion on n-type material, and a realistic electric field in the space-charge region.
Simulation evaluation of the advanced control concept for the NASA V/STOL research aircraft (VSRA)

Two candidate control systems for the Vertical/Short Takeoff and Landing (V/STOL) Research Aircraft (VSRA) are described, both of which are limited-authority, digital, fly-by wire variants of the original YAV-8B Harrier control system. The performance of these systems was compared with that of an ideal, full-authority system in simulated, adverse-weather V/STOL shipboard operations using the Ames Research Center's Vertical Motion Simulator. Both systems showed some performance degradation relative to the ideal, but both were adequate to meet VSRA program objectives. The favored system, selected because of safety considerations, was further simulated using a precision visual hovering task that verified its acceptability.
Topoisomerase II cleavable complex formation within DNA loop domains.

Abstract The distribution of VM-26 (Teniposide)-stabilized cleavable complexes within DNA loops bound to the nuclear matrix was determined to provide further insights into the mode of DNA synthesis inhibition by VM-26. Covalent binding of [3H]VM-26 was 9-fold greater per milligram of nuclear matrix protein compared with high salt-soluble nonmatrix protein of CEM cells. The ratio declined from 9-fold in CEM cells to 4-fold in drug-resistant VM-1/C2 cells, which have decreased nuclear matrix DNA topoisomerase IIα. VM-26 induced a concentration-dependent increase in the frequency of cleavable complex formation with actively replicating matrix DNA. At 25 μM VM-26, the frequency was 32 ± 2 (SEM) complexes per 106 bp of replicating matrix DNA compared with 13 ± 2 (SEM) complexes per 106 bp of nonreplicating DNA in the matrix fraction. VM-26 at concentrations as high as 25 μM stabilized less than 3 complexes per 106 bp in the various nonmatrix DNA domains, since the nonmatrix DNA comprises the DNA loop domains that are distal to the matrix-bound replication sites. A negligible frequency of cleavable complex formation was detected in both the matrix and nonmatrix DNA domains of drug-resistant VM-1/C2 cells. Compared with untreated control cells, VM-26 induced an accumulation of nascent DNA in the nuclear matrix fraction of CEM cells but decreased the amount of nascent DNA in the nonmatrix fraction. The extensive cleavable complex formation on matrix replicating DNA stalled most of the replication forks within 1 kb of the replication sites on the nuclear matrix. The results provide evidence that nascent DNA bound to the nuclear matrix is an important site of VM-26 cleavable complex formation, and that these complexes inhibit DNA synthesis by blocking the movement of nascent DNA away from replication sites on the nuclear matrix.
Identification of Sepsis in Neonates Following Maternal Antibiotic Therapy

To examine the value of current diagnostic tests identifying neonatal sepsis related to intrapartum treatment with antibiotics, we reviewed the charts of 219 mother-infant pairs, of which 139 mothers received intrapartum antibiotics (group 1) and 80 mothers did not (group 2). When compared with group 2 infants, group 1 infants had fewer positive blood cultures (4.3% vs 20%, P < 0.003), blood cultures positive for group B streptococci (GBS) (P < 0.001), and positive urine GBS latex agglutination (LA) tests (P < 0.001). Although the sensitivity of the white blood cell count (WBC) was 81%, the specificity was < 60% in both groups. The specificity of the urine GBS LA test was 92%. These results suggest (1) the WBC will neither confirm nor rule out neonatal septicemia; (2) blood cultures are indicated in suspected neonatal sepsis even if there was maternal intrapartum treatment with antibiotics; and (3) a urine GBS LA test is a useful adjunct in the diagnosis of neonatal GBS septicemia.
Impact of switching from epoprostenol to IV treprostinil on treatment satisfaction and quality of life in patients with pulmonary hypertension

Summary Background Transition from intravenous (IV) epoprostenol to IV treprostinil in patients with pulmonary hypertension (PH) has traditionally been performed by gradually decreasing the epoprostenol dose while increasing the treprostinil dose. Preliminary data suggest that this transition can be performed more rapidly without the need for epoprostenol weaning. We conducted a single center, prospective clinical trial to assess the safety, efficacy, and treatment satisfaction of rapidly switching from epoprostenol to IV treprostinil. Methods This study included patients with PH who had rapidly transitioned from epoprostenol to IV treprostinil. Data collected included clinical status, adverse events, PH symptoms, and previously validated measures of quality of life and treatment satisfaction. Results Ten patients were enrolled in this study. Exercise capacity measured by mean 6-min walk distance was maintained from baseline throughout follow-up. Severity of disease as assessed by WHO functional class was maintained or improved for the majority of patients. Adverse events were minimal during the transition, and all patients remained on IV treprostinil throughout the follow-up period. A favorable impact on quality of life and treatment satisfaction measures was observed by eight weeks following the transition from epoprostenol to IV treprostinil. Specifically, time spent on drug preparation activities decreased by 39.5% with treprostinil compared to epoprostenol. Conclusions Rapidly switching from epoprostenol to IV treprostinil can be achieved without safety concerns, with minimal patient monitoring and without the need for extended hospitalization, while favorably impacting on patients' quality of life.
Transport Data for the Modeling of Electrical Breakdown and Discharges

In recent years the modeling of electrical breakdown and electrical discharges has rapidly grown because of the availability of high speed computers. Modeling activity has created considerable demand for reliable transport and rate coefficient data describing the behavior of electrons, ions, excited atoms and molecules, and radiation in gaseous systems. Since a wide range of particle energies, gas mixtures, degrees of excitation ionization and time scales are encountered in these models, the ideal approach is to combine the cross-section data, such as discussed at this meeting by Rees (1982), with transport theories, such as discussed by Allis (1982), by Skullerud (1982), and by Pitchford (1982) in order to calculate the transport coefficients and the reaction rate coefficients for a particular problem. As pointed out by these authors there are many cases where this approach is practical. However, there are many cases for which there are insufficient cross-section data or for which verification of the calculated transport and rate coefficients is desired. One then turns to direct experimental measurements of the coefficients.
Status of the Psychiatric Duty to Protect, Circa 2006

States have responded to the Tarasoff duty to protect by passing statutes in all but 13 states. Such statutes either mandate or permit warning a potential victim. In this study, we analyzed 70 Tarasoff-related cases from a Westlaw-based search between 1985 and 2006. We determined the extent to which clinicians are being held liable for breach of the Tarasoff duty in statutory and nonstatutory states, whether there is language in the statutes that permits warning compared with statutes that mandate warning, and whether recent Tarasoff decisions better reflect the inherent ambiguities in clinical mental health practice. We found 70 appellate cases, and only 6 were plaintiff verdicts. Statutes that mandate warning a victim appear to be the most protective of clinicians. Seven of the 17 remanded cases came from the jurisdictions with permission-to-warn statutes, suggesting that permission rather than a strict mandate to warn may increase the liability for clinicians. Notwithstanding the language of statutes, the protections from Tarasoff are not extended to poor clinical judgment, particularly in the controlled inpatient setting.
On a Varistructured Array of Microprocessors

The varistructure architecture gives the user the opportunity to specify the height and width of his primary memory ``at run time.'' This architecture, first proposed in 1973, has now been simplified to make it schedulable, extended to allow SIMD vector-vector operations, and further extended to provide variable structure within a task. Memory is efficiently utilized in that memory bandwidth can be increased for array processing, yet memory space is not wasted during string processing. The fetch-execute cycle operation is analyzed herein, and some tentative results regarding input-output and data communication between processing entities are reported. On the basis of the simplicity of the fetch-execute cycle, there is hope that this architecture may well be the best way to build minicomputers and large computers using a cellular array of microprocessors.
A recursive algorithm for the exact BER computation of generalized hierarchical QAM constellations

Hierarchical constellations offer a different degree of protection to the transmitted messages according to their relative importance. As such, they find interesting application in digital video broadcasting systems as well as wireless multimedia services. Although a great deal of attention has been devoted in the literature to the study of the bit error rate (BER) performance of uniform quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) constellations, very few results were published on the BER performance of hierarchical QAM constellations. We obtain exact and generic expressions in M for the BER of the generalized hierarchical M-PAM (pulse amplitude modulation) constellations over additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN) and fading channels. We also show how these expressions can be extended to generalized hierarchical M-QAM constellations (square and rectangular). For the AWGN case, these expressions are in the form of a weighted sum of complementary error functions and are solely dependent on the constellation size M, the carrier-to-noise ratio, and a constellation parameter which controls the relative message importance. Because of their generic nature, these new expressions readily allow numerical evaluation for various cases of practical interest.
The right organ for the right recipient: the Ninth Annual American Society of Transplant Surgeons’ State-of-the-Art Winter Symposium

With an increasing number of individuals with end-stage organ disease and the increasing success of organ transplantation, the demand for transplants has steadily increased. This growth has led to a greater need to utilize organs from as many donors as possible. As selection criteria have become less stringent to accommodate increasing demand, transplant outcomes are more strongly influenced by recipient and donor factors; thus, finding the right organ for the right recipient is more important than ever. The Ninth Annual American Society of Transplant Surgeons (ASTS) State-of-the-Art Winter Symposium, entitled "The Right Organ for the Right Recipient," addressed the matching of donor organs to appropriate recipients. Representative dilemmas in the matching of donor organs with recipients were discussed. These included the following: matching by donor and recipient risk characteristics; use of organs with risk for disease transmission; biologic incompatibility; use of organs from donors after cardiac death; the justification for combined organ transplants like liver-kidney and kidney-pancreas; and the role of allocation in facilitating the matching of donors and recipients. Regardless of the particular issue, decisions about donor-recipient matching should be evidence-based, practical, and made with the goal of maximizing organ utilization while still protecting individual patient interests.
Opening Up but Staying Local: Insights from Partnership Formations between Established and Startup Firms

In this paper, we combine perspectives on organizational myopia and organizational learning to investigate how success and failure shapes the reaction of established firms to external partnering opportunities. We provide a dynamic model in which the general tendency of firms to search locally is moderated by their history of prior failure and prior success in R&D. We argue that while prior failure is important to firms? consideration of novel technological solutions, prior success can make them more receptive to solutions at an earlier stage of development. We examine potential and realized partnerships between established and startup firms for 889 emerging technological opportunities in the bio-pharmaceutical industry between 1997 and 2006 and find support for our theoretical model. The study provides insights into how established firms notice, interpret, and respond to emerging partnering opportunities and explicates the role of prior success and failure affecting different myopic tendencies in organizational search.
Icebergs as Unique Lagrangian Ecosystems in Polar Seas

Global warming and its disproportionate impact on polar regions have led to increased iceberg populations. Southern Ocean studies in the northwest Weddell Sea have verified substantial delivery of terrestrial material accompanied by increased primary production and faunal abundance associated with free-drifting icebergs. It is hypothesized that input and utilization of macro- and micronutrients are promoted by conditions unique to free-drifting icebergs, leading to increased production, grazing, and export of organic carbon. In Arctic regions, increased freshwater input from meltwater acts to stratify and stabilize the upper water column. As has been observed in the Southern Ocean, Arctic-region icebergs should drive turbulent upwelling and reduce stratification, potentially leading to increased nitrate delivery to the local ecosystem. Increasing populations of icebergs in polar regions can potentially be important in mediating the drawdown and sequestration of CO2 and can thus impact the oceanic carbon c...
Lysophosphatidic acid targets vascular and oncogenic pathways via RAGE signaling

The endogenous phospholipid lysophosphatidic acid (LPA) regulates fundamental cellular processes such as proliferation, survival, motility, and invasion implicated in homeostatic and pathological conditions. Hence, delineation of the full range of molecular mechanisms by which LPA exerts its broad effects is essential. We report avid binding of LPA to the receptor for advanced glycation end products (RAGE), a member of the immunoglobulin superfamily, and mapping of the LPA binding site on this receptor. In vitro, RAGE was required for LPA-mediated signal transduction in vascular smooth muscle cells and C6 glioma cells, as well as proliferation and migration. In vivo, the administration of soluble RAGE or genetic deletion of RAGE mitigated LPA-stimulated vascular Akt signaling, autotaxin/LPA-driven phosphorylation of Akt and cyclin D1 in the mammary tissue of transgenic mice vulnerable to carcinogenesis, and ovarian tumor implantation and development. These findings identify novel roles for RAGE as a conduit for LPA signaling and suggest targeting LPA–RAGE interaction as a therapeutic strategy to modify the pathological actions of LPA.
Basis of metamemory judgments for text with multiple‐choice, essay and recall tests

Accuracy of metamemory for text was compared for multiple-choice, essay and recall tests. Essay and recall tests were scored with Latent Semantic Analysis (LSA), number of correct idea units and number of word matches. Each measure was correlated with college students' predictions and posttest confidence judgments across texts to determine metamemory accuracy. Metamemory accuracy varied for different types of tests with multiple-choice tests generally producing greater accuracy than essay tests. However, metamemory accuracy for essay and recall tests depended on the measure used to score them. Number of correct idea units produced the highest metamemory accuracy, word matches produced an intermediate level, and LSA produced the lowest accuracy. Students used the quantity of output in their judgments, so performance measures that related most strongly to quantity matched judgments better than measures based on answer quality. The results are compatible with an accessibility account of judgments about performance on text. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Metrological concepts for enhancing the reliability of food and nutritional measurements

Metrology is a specialized discipline that deals with the science of measurements, irrespective of the field of application and regardless of the size of the measurement uncertainty. Incorporating metrological approaches into the measurement process enhances the reliability of analytical findings. These developments include: high-quality reference standards, validated methods, robust sampling practices, proven calibration approaches, natural matrix reference materials, speciation chemistry, assessment of measurement uncertainty and establishment of traceability links, certified reference materials to facilitate one aspect of traceability, and proficiency testing, among others.
Cross-Lagged Associations Between Substance Use-Related Media Exposure and Alcohol Use During Middle School

Purpose This study examines the reciprocal longitudinal associations between alcohol or other drug (AOD)-related media exposure and alcohol use among middle school students, and explores whether these associations differ by ethnicity or gender.
Simple Algebras with Involution

The study of algebras with involution and especially the simple ones first arose in Albert’s work on the multiplication algebras of Riemann matrices. This led him to the systematic study of algebras with involution for their own sake. His results were published in Structure of Algebras ([39]). A part of this chapter is devoted to presenting these results and recent extensions of them.
Estimating And Analyzing The Cost Efficiency Of Subchapter S Banks

This paper strives to evaluate the economic performance of Subchapter S Financial Institutions in Wisconsin. While there is a limited collection of research regarding Subchapter S banks, this paper expands the literature by investigating this research into their x efficiency. This study measures performance differentials of Subchapter S banks against banks organized as C Corporations of similar size. The purpose of this paper is to determine the extent to which having this form of flow through ownership impacts efficiency levels.
Historical Notes: The Alexander G. Ruthven Award

In 1942, an effort was made to establish an award for outstanding achievement in herpetology by an established professional, to be named the Alexander G. Ruthven Award. Financial constraints at the time prevented the realization of the effort. It would be 47 years before such an award was finally established.