cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Methods for determination of low molecular weight carbonyl compounds in the atmosphere: A review

Abstract Determination of carbonyl compounds in the ambient atmosphere is receiving increasing attention because of the critical role these compounds play in tropospheric organic chemistry. Currently, field measurements are very limited mainly because of the analytical challenges posed by trace concentrations and interferences arising from atmospheric co-pollutants. We review here the methods used for determination of carbonyl compounds, from an atmospheric chemistry perspective, emphasizing the principles, advantages and limitations. Since a large number of varied types of methods have been used specifically for determination of formaldehyde, it is considered separately from other carbonyls. It is clear that despite more than a decade of work, many problems related to sampling, interferences and artifacts have not been resolved. Because of the increasing demand for time-series measurements in field studies, an automated method for continuous sampling and analysis of carbonyls is very much required. Important issues to be considered in the development of a suitable field method and potential approaches are discussed.
Helices and surface coils for low-field in vivo ESR and EPR imaging applications

Abstract Single-turn, flat-loop surface coils are described for low-field electron paramagnetic resonance studies at L band with a home-built spectrometer on aqueous nitroxide samples. The loops were compared with helix resonators and found to be more sensitive, especially for applications where the microwave probe surrounds or is immersed into the aqueous sample. The overall signal to noise for a flat loop of dimensions 0.7 cm diameter, 4.1 cm length, and 0.8 mm gap at 1.86 GHz was equal to or better than that in an X -band cavity aqueous flat cell. The only disadvantage of this surface coil is the depth sensitivity, which falls off exponentially with the distance from the coil plane.
Public Reporting and Pay-for-Performance: Safety-Net Hospital Executives' Concerns and Policy Suggestions:

Safety-net hospitals (SNHs) may gain little financial benefit from the rapidly spreading adoption of public reporting and pay-for-performance, but may feel compelled to participate (and bear the costs of data collection) to meet public expectations of transparency and accountability. To better understand the concerns that SNH administrators have regarding public reporting and pay-for-performance, we interviewed 37 executives at randomly selected California SNHs. The main concerns noted by SNH executives were that human and financial resource constraints made it difficult for SNHs to accurately measure their performance. Additionally, some executives felt that market-driven public reporting and pay-for-performance may focus on clinical areas and incentive structures that may not be high-priority clinical areas for SNHs. Executives at SNHs suggested several policy responses to these concerns—such as offering training programs for SNH data collectors—that could be relatively inexpensive and might improve the...
Evidence for a Transport-Trap Mode of Drosophila melanogaster gurken mRNA Localization

The Drosophila melanogaster gurken gene encodes a TGF alpha-like signaling molecule that is secreted from the oocyte during two distinct stages of oogenesis to define the coordinate axes of the follicle cell epithelium that surrounds the oocyte and its 15 anterior nurse cells. Because the gurken receptor is expressed throughout the epithelium, axial patterning requires region-specific secretion of Gurken protein, which in turn requires subcellular localization of gurken transcripts. The first stage of Gurken signaling induces anteroposterior pattern in the epithelium and requires the transport of gurken transcripts from nurse cells into the oocyte. The second stage of Gurken signaling induces dorsovental polarity in the epithelium and requires localization of gurken transcripts to the oocyte's anterodorsal corner. Previous studies, relying predominantly on real-time imaging of injected transcripts, indicated that anterodorsal localization involves transport of gurken transcripts to the oocyte's anterior cortex followed by transport to the anterodorsal corner, and anchoring. Such studies further indicated that a single RNA sequence element, the GLS, mediates both transport steps by facilitating association of gurken transcripts with a cytoplasmic dynein motor complex. Finally, it was proposed that the GLS somehow steers the motor complex toward that subset of microtubules that are nucleated around the oocyte nucleus, permitting directed transport to the anterodorsal corner. Here, we re-investigate the role of the GLS using a transgenic fly assay system that includes use of the endogenous gurken promoter and biological rescue as well as RNA localization assays. In contrast to previous reports, our studies indicate that the GLS is sufficient for anterior localization only. Our data support a model in which anterodorsal localization is brought about by repeated rounds of anterior transport, accompanied by specific trapping at the anterodorsal cortex. Our data further indicate that trapping at the anterodorsal corner requires at least one as-yet-unidentified gurken RLE.
Panbiogeography: Its origin, metamorphosis and decline

From the viewpoint of 2007, one can trace the history of an interesting and contentious trend in biogeography and evolution that began with Croizat’s concept of panbiogeography in 1958. After a quiescent period of about 16 years, some young biologists in New York and in New Zealand read Croizat’s books and became enthusiastic supporters of his ideas. In New York, in the early 1970s, panbiogeography was combined with a part of Hennig’s phylogenetic method to create vicariance biogeography. In 1986, the name of the latter was changed to cladistic biogeography. In the meantime, Croizat’s followers in New Zealand sought to maintain panbiogeography in its original form without reference to phylogeny. This idea reached its peak of popularity in 1989–1990 and then began to fade. In comparison, cladistic biogeography became much more widespread, especially when its followers began publishing laudatory books and papers. Its decline became noticeable after the turn of the century as the dispersal counterrevolution began to have its effect. It served a useful purpose by engaging the interest of young biologists who otherwise may not have become aware of biogeography.
Gene-environment interaction and the GNB3 gene in the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities study.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the interaction between the G-protein beta-3 (GNB3) 825C>T polymorphism and physical activity in relation to prevalent obesity and hypertension. The GNB3 825C>T genotype was measured in a sample of 14 716 African Americans (AAs) and whites from the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) study, and logistic regression was used to test for genetic effects and gene–environment interactions. The GNB3 825C>T variant was not independently associated with prevalent obesity or hypertension in either AA or whites. However, we observed a significant interaction (P T polymorphism, obesity status and physical activity in predicting hypertension in the AA subjects. AA homozygotes for the 825T allele who were both obese and had a low activity level were 2.7 times more likely to be hypertensive, compared to non-obese, active 825C homozygotes (OR=2.71, 95% CI=1.19–6.17, P T variant may influence hypertension prevalence in AAs.
Properties of glutaraldehyde-modified bovine hepatic fructose-1,6-diphosphatase.

Abstract Incubation of bovine hepatic fructose-1,6-diphosphatase ( d -fructose-1,6-diphosphate 1-phosphohydrolase, EC 3.1.3.11) with glutaraldehyde, a bifunctional cross-linking agent, alters both the catalytic and allosteric properties of the enzyme. The catalytic activity was decreased at both pH 6.5 and pH 9.0, and the enzyme was desensitized to inhibition by AMP and Fru-1,6- P 2 . The pH optimum of the glutaraldehyde-treated enzyme was shifted towards alkaline pH. These changes may be due to the fixing of a neutral activity conformer of fructose-1,6-diphosphatase into a conformer with alkaline activity.
Low back stress, muscle usage, and the appearance of transient load movement during manual lifting

Abstract Neuromuscular involvement should be considered in biomechanical evaluations of a worker's job-related stresses as a potential aid to understanding and reducing the rising incidence of low back problems in industry. Because such interactions have seldom been investigated in multisegmental movements, the present study was undertaken to determine the effects of the involvement of the neuromuscular system during lifting by creating conditions in which subjects had prior knowledge (PK) of a load's magnitude as well as when they had no prior knowledge (NK). Two groups of subjects, experienced and inexperienced lifters ( N =40), lifted loads varying from 6.8 to 13.6 kg under both the PK and NK conditions. Results indicated that two general patterns of load movement were used by the subjects: smooth and oscillatory (irregular transient), with higher peak L4/L5 forces and higher peak trunk movements found in the oscillatory pattern. Significant differences on all stress values were demonstrated by the inexperienced lifters. The inclusion of lift preparation and load knowledge considerations in training programmes and biomechanical models is recommended.
Sex differences in forgiveness and mental health in recently married couples

Using self-report assessments, from a positive psychology framework, we examined recently-married couples for potential sex-related differences in (1) overall marital forgiveness, (2) perceptions of partner's forgiveness, and (3) relationships between sex, marital satisfaction, marital forgiveness, and self-reported mental health. Participants were 311 community-based couples married less than a year. Men reported more marital forgiveness in the marriage and more empathy toward their spouse after a still-troublesome transgression than did females. Furthermore, females perceived their male partners as being more forgiving of them than male partners perceived their female partners’ forgiveness. Marital satisfaction, severity of hurts, and sex accounted for variance in marital forgiveness. Sex, severity of hurts, frequency of transgressions, marital satisfaction, and marital forgiveness accounted for variance in mental health symptoms.
Immune response of lymphocytes from patients with multiple sclerosis to phytohemagglutinin, basic protein of myelin and measles antigens.

The effect of phytohemagglutinin (PHA), basic protein (BP) and various measles antigens was studied in vitro on “whole blood cultures” from MS patients and controls. Lymphocytes from both MS patients and controls did not transform in vitro in the presence of basic protein and measles antigens. Quantitative studies with a liquid scintillation technique after incorporation of tritiated thymidine showed impaired lymphocyte transformation with PHA in 9 out of 26 MS patients. There was a correlation between duration of the disease and transformation of lymphocytes from MS patients.
Combination of Two but Not Three Current Targeted Drugs Can Improve Therapy of Chronic Myeloid Leukemia

Chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) is a cancer of the hematopoietic system and has been treated with the drug Imatinib relatively successfully. Drug resistance, acquired by mutations, is an obstacle to success. Two additional drugs are now considered and could be combined with Imatinib to prevent resistance, Dasatinib and Nilotinib. While most mutations conferring resistance to one drug do not confer resistance to the other drugs, there is one mutation (T315I) that induces resistance against all three drugs. Using computational methods, the combination of two drugs is found to increase the probability of treatment success despite this cross-resistance. Combining more than two drugs, however, does not provide further advantages. We also explore possible combination therapies using drugs currently under development. We conclude that among the targeted drugs currently available for the treamtent of CML, only the two most effective ones should be used in combination for the prevention of drug resistance.
Faculty perceptions of online homework software in accounting education

Abstract Emerging technologies are providing a variety of tools for accounting educators. One of these tools is Online Homework Software (OHS). This study collects survey data from accounting faculty in the U.S.A. who were queried as to the utilization and perception of OHS in undergraduate accounting courses. Analysis of the survey data indicated five differences between OHS users and nonusers: (1) years of teaching, (2) number of course sections taught, (3) Accounting AACSB accreditation status, (4) faculty rank, and (5) courses taught by the respondents. Faculty indicated the tool is helpful when teaching in the online format and that OHS saves faculty time by reducing the time spent grading and processing student work. Users of OHS raised concerns about whether and how the tool helps students learn, how the students view the tool, and the cost of OHS. The data reported in this study are relevant to educators who have never used OHS as well as those who are currently using OHS. The data collected is important in promoting dialog concerning OHS usage and developing recommendations for continued improvements in the software.
Trace fear conditioning enhances synaptic and intrinsic plasticity in rat hippocampus.

Experience-dependent synaptic and intrinsic plasticity are thought to be important substrates for learning-related changes in behavior. The present study combined trace fear conditioning with both ...
The financial viability of exporting graduate business education in a developing economy

The popularity of graduate business education around the world has increased the demand for US-based universities to deliver Masters in Business Administration (MBA) programs in other countries. Based on the experience gained in implementing a United States Agency for International Development (USAID) sponsored project in Bosnia-Herzegovina to establish a sustainable graduate business education program, this study evaluates the financial viability of offering an MBA program in a foreign location, specifically in a developing country. The results show that program length, size, tuition, and finding the right local partner are some of the key elements to the success of the program.
More Diverse Yet Less Tolerant? How the Increasingly Diverse Racial Landscape Affects White Americans’ Racial Attitudes

Recent Census Bureau projections indicate that racial/ethnic minorities will comprise over 50% of the U.S. population by 2042, effectively creating a so-called “majority–minority” nation. Across four experiments, we explore how presenting information about these changing racial demographics influences White Americans’ racial attitudes. Results reveal that exposure to the changing demographics evokes the expression of greater explicit and implicit racial bias. Specifically, Whites exposed to the racial demographic shift information preferred interactions/settings with their own ethnic group over minority ethnic groups; expressed more negative attitudes toward Latinos, Blacks, and Asian Americans; and expressed more automatic pro-White/anti-minority bias. Perceived threat to Whites’ societal status mediated the effects of the racial shift information on explicit racial attitudes. These results suggest that rather than ushering in a more tolerant future, the increasing diversity of the nation may instead yie...
Edmund Burke's discontents and the interpretation of political culture

The rhetorical action of Burke's classic defense of party is its inducement to see that, by interpreting political culture as he does, reader and author collaborate in the recovery of public virtue. To the extent that Burke is successful, even historically‐distanced readers enter into a process by which we become, simultaneously, interpreters of the text and interpreted by it.
A branched pathway governing the activation of a developmental transcription factor by regulated intramembrane proteolysis.

Summary The proteolytic activation of the membrane-associated transcription factor pro-σ K is controlled by a signal transduction pathway during sporulation in the bacterium Bacillus subtilis . The pro-σ K processing enzyme SpoIVFB, a membrane-embedded metalloprotease, is held inactive by two other integral-membrane proteins, SpoIVFA and BofA. We demonstrate that the signaling protease SpoIVB (IVB) triggers pro-σ K processing by cleaving the extracellular domain of the SpoIVFA regulator at multiple sites. In vitro, these cleavages do not disrupt the interactions between SpoIVFA, SpoIVFB, and BofA, suggesting that IVB-dependent activation of the processing enzyme results from a conformational change in this complex. Our data further suggest that when IVB is unable to cleave SpoIVFA, it can still activate pro-σ K processing through a second protease, CtpB. Finally, we demonstrate that CtpB, like IVB, triggers pro-σ K processing by cleaving SpoIVFA. We propose that IVB regulates intramembrane proteolysis through two proteolytic pathways, both of which converge on the same regulator.
Detecting and Deterring Insufficient Effort Responding to Surveys

Responses provided by unmotivated survey participants in a careless, haphazard, or random fashion can threaten the quality of data in psychological and organizational research. The purpose of this study was to summarize existing approaches to detect insufficient effort responding (IER) to low-stakes surveys and to comprehensively evaluate these approaches. In an experiment (Study 1) and a nonexperimental survey (Study 2), 725 undergraduates responded to a personality survey online. Study 1 examined the presentation of warnings to respondents as a means of deterrence and showed the relative effectiveness of four indices for detecting IE responses: response time, long string, psychometric antonyms, and individual reliability coefficients. Study 2 demonstrated that the detection indices measured the same underlying construct and showed the improvement of psychometric properties (item interrelatedness, facet dimensionality, and factor structure) after removing IE respondents identified by each index. Three approaches (response time, psychometric antonyms, and individual reliability) with high specificity and moderate sensitivity were recommended as candidates for future application in survey research. The identification of effective IER indices may help researchers ensure the quality of their low-stake survey data. This study is a first attempt to comprehensively evaluate IER detection methods using both experimental and nonexperimental designs. Results from both studies corroborated each other in suggesting the three more effective approaches. This study also provided convergent validity evidence regarding various indices for IER.
The structure and properties of amorphous indium oxide

A series of In2O3 thin films, ranging from X-ray diffraction amorphous to highly crystalline, were grown on amorphous silica substrates using pulsed laser deposition by varying the film growth temperature. The amorphous-to-crystalline transition and the structure of amorphous In2O3 were investigated by grazing angle X-ray diffraction (GIXRD), Hall transport measurement, high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), electron diffraction, extended X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS), and ab initio molecular dynamics (MD) liquid-quench simulation. On the basis of excellent agreement between the EXAFS and MD results, a model of the amorphous oxide structure as a network of InO x polyhedra was constructed. Mechanisms for the transport properties observed in the crystalline, amorphous-to-crystalline, and amorphous deposition regions are presented, highlighting a unique structure-property relationship.
Catecholamine Quantification in Body Fluids Using Isocratic, Reverse Phase HPLC‐CoulArray Multi‐electrode Chemical Detector System: Investigation of Sensitivity, Stability, and Reproducibility

Abstract Catecholamines (CATs) neurotransmitters regulate a number of physiological and behavioral functions. These amines are released from the nerve endings and are present in ultramicro quantities in plasma and other body fluids. For meaningful evaluation of their concentration, it is essential that the technology used for their measurement is highly sensitive, efficient, and stable. Among various methods used for their measurement, recently developed high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC‐ECD), combined with a CoulArray multielectrode detector system, is found to be the most suitable for detecting picogram concentrations of CATs in small samples of human plasma and other body fluids, as well as tissues. In this paper, we describe systematic investigations of various factors involved in contributing to the reliability and reproducibility of CATs measurement. These factors include sensitivity of detection, limits of linear relationship between concentration and the response factor, stability of th...
The acoustic Doppler current profiling system at AOML

The design and performance of the data acquisition and logging system of the acoustic Doppler current profiler on the NOAA ship Malcolm Baldrige are described. The accuracy of the absolute current measurements is limited by the ability to determine ship movement and orientation. Methods of processing TRANSIT satellite and Global Positioning System navigational data are evaluated. Methods of precisely determining the ADCP transducer alignment relative to the ship are described, and the results are shown. >
Relationship between Airport Efficiency and Surface Traffic

The focus of this paper is to identify and validate relationships between an airport efficiency metric and aggregate factors related to surface traffic movement. For validation, data from Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW) International airport is analyzed. Taxi time is used as the metric of efficiency with aggregate surface traffic count, taxi distance, and number of stops identified as large contributing factors to inefficiency. Simple linear and log-linear functional forms are used in regression to find the effect these factors have on taxi time, with variations of both models fitting the data with adjusted R values greater than 0.95. Predictive capability of the models was tested on an independent dataset. Linear models estimated 71% of the taxi times within one minute of the observed data while log-linear models estimated just fewer than 65% of the taxi times within one minute of the observed data. Estimates and prediction results indicate the need for testing alternate functional forms for the relationship between taxi time and the above mentioned factors of efficiency.
Bridging the chasm between bench and bedside: translational research in acute lung injury

the gap between clinical practice and scientific discovery, often referred to as the gap between the bench and the bedside, is a huge void in some disease processes. Translational research is often focused on bridging that gap. Acute lung injury (ALI) is an excellent example of how critical that
The Role of the Long-Term Follow-up Clinic in Discovering New Emerging Late Effects in Adult Survivors of Childhood Cancer

Our understanding of late effects in long-term survivors of childhood cancer is continually evolving as significant numbers of survivors are entering middle to later adulthood. Effects of conventional treatment on premature aging are being recognized, as are long-term effects of newer therapies. Clinicians in long-term follow-up clinics are in a unique position to monitor for recognized late effects and to be alert to signs and symptoms of late effects that have not been previously reported in the pediatric cancer literature. This article presents 2 young adult survivors who displayed subtle signs of impaired cerebral blood flow due to carotid artery stenosis many years after being treated with neck irradiation. When the first patient presented nearly a decade ago in the clinic with symptoms, premature carotid artery disease was not a radiation-related late effect that had been reported previously in survivors of childhood cancer. These cases are used to illustrate the key role of long-term follow-up clinics in identifying new and emerging treatment-related late effects and underscore the importance of lifetime surveillance and the need for collaboration between pediatric and adult health care providers.
PATTERNS OF ENDEMISM FOR NEARSHORE GASTROPOD MOLLUSCS: A NEW VIEW OF THE GULF OF CALIFORNIA

The Gulf of California, Mexico, is often viewed as an insular environment for marine faunas. Moreover, its geographical history, geomorphology, latitudinal orientation and a convergence of three different water masses at the mouth of the Gulf make it an ideal setting for isolation, and probably contribute to the expectations of high endemism. However, rigorous analyses of biogeographic patterns are an essential prerequisite to an understanding of evolutionary processes in the Gulf and other biogeographic realms. A new 'sliding window' technique is presented here to test whether the Gulf of California is an isolated habitat. Endemism in the Gulf of California is evaluated by comparing the number of endemic gastropods for the Gulf of California with the number of endemic gastropods found in neighbouring coastlines of the same coastal length by using 'sliding window' analysis. Range sizes and diversity within the Gulf are compared with regions outside of the Gulf using variations of'sliding window' analysis. In addition, examining range endpoints and the percentage of ranges that lie across the mouth of the Gulf of California tests the hypothesis that the mouth acts as a barrier to migration into and out of the Gulf. The results of these analyses do not support the hypothesis that the nearshore Gulf of California faunas are structured by this supposed isolated body of water.
Decreased Transcription of ChREBP-α/β Isoforms in Abdominal Subcutaneous Adipose Tissue of Obese Adolescents With Prediabetes or Early Type 2 Diabetes Associations With Insulin Resistance and Hyperglycemia

Insulin resistance associated with altered fat partitioning in liver and adipose tissues is a prediabetic condition in obese adolescents. We investigated interactions between glucose tolerance, insulin sensitivity, and the expression of lipogenic genes in abdominal subcutaneous adipose and liver tissue in 53 obese adolescents. Based on their 2-h glucose tests they were stratified in the following groups: group 1, 2-h glucose level 140 mg/dL. Liver and adipose tissue insulin sensitivity were greater in group 1 than in group 2 and group 3, and muscle insulin sensitivity progressively decreased from group 1 to group 3. The expression of the carbohydrate-responsive element-binding protein (ChREBP) was decreased in adipose tissue but increased in the liver (eight subjects) in adolescents with impaired glucose tolerance or type 2 diabetes. The expression of adipose ChREBPα and ChREBPβ was inversely related to 2-h glucose level and positively correlated to insulin sensitivity. Improvement of glucose tolerance in four subjects was associated with an increase of ChREBP/GLUT4 expression in the adipose tissue. In conclusion, early in the development of prediabetes/type 2 diabetes in youth, ChREBPβ expression in adipose tissue predicts insulin resistance and, therefore, might play a role in the regulation of glucose tolerance.
Estimating the Benefits of Public Health Policies that Reduce Harmful Consumption

For products such as tobacco and junk food, where policy interventions are often designed to decrease consumption, affected consumers gain utility from improvements in lifetime health and longevity but also lose utility associated with the activity of consuming the product. In the case of anti-smoking policies, even though published estimates of gross health and longevity benefits are up to 900 times higher than the net consumer benefits suggested by a more direct willingness-to-pay estimation approach, there is little recognition in the cost-benefit and cost-effectiveness literature that gross estimates will overstate intrapersonal welfare improvements when utility losses are not netted out. This paper presents a general framework for analyzing policies that are designed to reduce inefficiently high consumption and provides a rule of thumb for the relationship between net and gross consumer welfare effects: where there exists a plausible estimate of the tax that would allow consumers to fully internalize health costs, the ratio of the tax to the per-unit long-term cost can provide an upper bound on the ratio of net to gross benefits.
Horizon dynamics of evaporating black holes in a higher dimensional inflationary universe

Spherically symmetric Black Holes of the Vaidya type are examined in an asymptotically de Sitter, higher dimensional spacetime. The various horizons are located. The structure and dynamics of such horizons are studied.
PA-8000: a case study of static and dynamic branch prediction

While many dynamic branch prediction schemes have been proposed and studied, few have been compared to static branch prediction. Fewer yet have been implemented side-by-side on the same machine to allow full performance evaluation. The Hewlett-Packard PA-8000 microprocessor implements both a simple dynamic prediction scheme and static prediction, selectable by the application programmer. This paper studies the PA-8000's trade-off between static and dynamic prediction, and the compiler optimizations needed to support an innovative static branch prediction convention while maintaining object code compatibility with earlier revisions of the PA-RISC architecture.
The Campanian Villas of C. Marius and the Sullan Confiscations

By the end of the Republic the Bay of Naples had become a preferred setting for the pleasure villas of wealthy Romans, a centre of fashion and of cultivated ease. The villa of C. Marius at Misenum, though not the first of which we hear, is the earliest coastal Campanian estate whose appointments are explicitly described as having been luxurious. In an epistle of Seneca ( Ep . 51. 11) Marius is said to have built the villa, and on a height; of the location Seneca says, vaguely, in regione Baiana , for the subject of the epistle is the depravity of Baiae, and the author took pleasure in contrasting the character of the early villas in the area with the moral decadence of the imperial resort; the elder Pliny locates the site of Marius' villa more precisely: in Misenensi . From Plutarch's somewhat fuller account come a first indication of date, a different impression of architectural character, and the names of two subsequent owners of the property. He states that after the Social War, when Sulpicius proposed Marius, others Sulla, for command in the Mithridatic War, the detractors of Marius urged him to look after his failing health and to go to the warm baths at Baiae:
Packet Acquisition for Time-Frequency Hopped Asynchronous Random Multiple Access

Packet acquisition for a time-frequency hopped asynchronous random multiple access (RMA) system is investigated. A novel analytical approach to performance evaluation is provided, which enables the waveform designer to quickly evaluate the network performance as various waveform design and RMA protocol parameters and are chosen. The results show that the network throughput is estimated and upper-bounded by the acquisition performance. The performance evaluation procedure is broadly general, allowing for variations in waveform parameters, network topology, network population and population heterogeneity (in, e.g., rate, transmit power, and medium access behavior). To illustrate the accuracy of the analytical results, simulations are performed over a wide range of waveform, RMA protocol and network parameters.
Implementations of real-time system identification using recursive techniques

Recursive identification techniques offer the ability to compute the transfer function of a system in realtime. This mathematical representation of a system may be used for various tasks such as health monitoring and feedback control. This paper presents the mathematical development of the Fast Transversal filter. It follows the work of Juang (1994), but adds to it by the introduction of a forgetting factor to accommodate changes in the plant. The FTF's ability to track plant changes in real time offers applications in adaptive feedback control and adaptive fault detection. An example of the use of the FTF in feedback control is presented for a simple plant. Also, it is demonstrated that the FTF may be used to estimate a mathematical model of a Flight Control Computer for command signals during the Autoland phase. The example shown in this paper is for a B737 Autolander.
Complex rare variation and its role in endophenotypic variation in schizophrenia.

In this issue of Biological Psychiatry, Yeo et al. (1) present some tantalizing (albeit preliminary) evidence that the cumulative number of complex rare sequence variants, specifically copy number variants (CNVs) representing deletions, correlates with postulated endophenotypes for schizophrenia such as general cognitive ability and various structural magnetic resonance imaging measures. I will use the term endophenotype for such quantitative traits because they have heritable components and they show some evidence for genetic correlation with disease liability (2). This evidence for genetic correlation may be indirect as reflected by the observed differences in means between cases, their first-degree relatives, and controls or measured directly by formal quantitative genetic analysis in families. A review of such studies by Burdick et al. (3) concludes that general cognitive ability is an endophenotype for schizophrenia. Multiple studies [e.g., (4)] also support schizophrenia-related endophenotypic status for a number of neuroimaging derived measures. Thus, the focal phenotypes in this study are also likely endophenotypes for schizophrenia.
Qualitative depth from vertical and horizontal binocular disparities, in agreement with psychophysical evidence

The author concentrates on the problem of obtaining depth information from binocular disparities. It is motivated by the fact that implementing registration algorithms and using the results for depth computations is hard in practice with real images due to noise and quantization errors. It is shown that qualitative depth information can be obtained from stereo disparities with almost no computations, and with no prior knowledge (or computation) of camera parameters. The only constraint is that the epipolar plane of the fixation point includes the X-axes of both cameras. Two expressions are derived that order all matched points in the images in two distinct depth-consistent ways from image coordinates only. One is a tilt-related order lambda , which depends only on the polar angles of the matched points, the other is a depth-related order chi . Using lambda for tilt estimation and point separation (in depth) demonstrates some anomalies and unusual characteristics that have been observed in psychophysical experiments, most notably the induced size effect. >
Molecular characterization of the cis-prenyltransferase of Giardia lamblia

ferase of Giardia appears to be more similar to bacterial enzymes than to those of most eukaryotes and because Giardia is missing a candidate dolichol kinase (ortholog to Saccharomyces cerevisiae SEC59 gene product), we wondered how Giardia synthesizes dolichol phosphate (Dol-P), which is used to make N-glycans and glycosylphosphatidylinositol (GPI) anchors. Here we show that cultured Giardia makes anunsaturated polyprenylpyrophosphate (dehydrodolichol), which contains 11 and 12 isoprene units and is reduced to dolichol. The Giardia cis-prenyltransferase that we have named Gl-UPPS because the enzyme primarily synthesizes undecaprenol pyrophosphate isphylogenetically related to those of bacteria and Trypanosoma rather than to those of other protists,metazoans andfungi. In transformed Saccharomyces ,t heGiardia cis-prenyltransferase also makes a polyprenol containing 11 and 12 isoprene units and supports normal growth, N-glycosylation and GPI anchor synthesis of a rer2Δ, srt1Δ double-deletion mutant. Finally,despitetheabsenceofanorthologtoSEC59,Giardia has cytidine triphosphate-dependent dolichol kinase activity. These results suggest that the synthetic pathway for Dol-P is conserved in Giardia, even if some of the important enzymes are different from those of higher eukaryotes or remain unidentified.
Sex differences in HDL ApoC-III in American Indian youth.

Background Since American Indians are predisposed to type 2 diabetes (DM2) and associated cardiovascular risk, Cherokee boys and girls (n = 917) were studied to determine whether BMI Z (body mass index Z score) is associated with the apoC-III (apolipoprotein C-III) content of HDL (high density lipoprotein), a previously reported predictor of DM2.
Evaluation of ammonia fibre expansion (AFEX) pretreatment for enzymatic hydrolysis of switchgrass harvested in different seasons and locations

Background: When producing biofuels from dedicated feedstock, agronomic factors such as harvest time and location can impact the downstream production. Thus, this paper studies the effectiveness of ammonia fibre expansion (AFEX) pretreatment on two harvest times (July and October) and ecotypes/locations (Cave-in-Rock (CIR) harvested in Michigan and Alamo harvested in Alabama) for switchgrass (Panicum virgatum). Results: Both harvest date and ecotype/location determine the pretreatment conditions that produce maximum sugar yields. There was a high degree of correlation between glucose and xylose released regardless of the harvest, pretreatment conditions, or enzyme formulation. Enzyme formulation that produced maximum sugar yields was the same across all harvests except for the CIR October harvest. The least mature sample, the July harvest of CIR switchgrass, released the most sugars (520 g/kg biomass) during enzymatic hydrolysis while requiring the least severe pretreatment conditions. In contrast, the most mature harvest released the least amount of sugars (410 g/kg biomass). All hydrolysates were highly fermentable, although xylose utilisation in the July CIR hydrolysate was poor. Conclusions: Each harvest type and location responded differently to AFEX pretreatment, although all harvests successfully produced fermentable sugars. Thus, it is necessary to consider an integrated approach between agricultural production and biochemical processing in order to insure optimal productivity.
Terrestrial analogs for interpretation of infrared spectra from the Martian surface and subsurface: Sulfate, nitrate, carbonate, and phyllosilicate-bearing Atacama Desert soils

[1] Hyperarid ( 6.5 μm) was not suited for salt and phyllosilicate detection because of overlapping spectra from primary silicates (e.g., feldspar), water and carbon dioxide. The visible near-infrared (0.35–2.5 μm) region was suited for detecting carbonate, nitrate, gypsum water of hydration, and phyllosilicate hydroxyls without interference from primary silicates. However, gypsum water of hydration features can obscure phyllosilicate hydroxyl, carbonate and nitrate, features if gypsum levels are high. Overtone/combination absorption features in the midinfrared were determined to be the best indicators of sulfate (4.48–4.70 μm), nitrate (4.12 μm), and carbonate (3.98 μm) because interferences from overlapping primary silicate and water features are not present in this region. Interferences from CO2 and thermal emission effects in the overtone/combination region are possible but may be minimized by corrective techniques. Infrared analysis of Atacama Desert soils can provide insight into the spectral search of sulfate, nitrate, carbonate, and phyllosilicate containing soils on Mars.
Preservation of Anterior and Posterior Leaflet in Mitral Valve Replacement With a Tilting-Disc Valve

An operative technique for mitral valve replacement with preservation of chordae tendineae to both the anterior and posterior leaflets is described. The anterior mitral valve leaflet is completely detached from the annulus and divided into three to four islands of tissue, each with attached chordae tendineae. These islands are transposed under the posterior leaflet and secured with 4-0 polypropylene sutures. The posterior leaflet is completely preserved with no division or manipulation. This technique allows safe implantation of tilting-disc or bileaflet prostheses with excellent preservation of left ventricular function.
Managing cost, performance, and reliability tradeoffs for energy-aware server provisioning

We present ACES, an automated server provisioning system that aims to meet workload demand while minimizing energy consumption in data centers. To perform energy-aware server provisioning, ACES faces three key tradeoffs between cost, performance, and reliability: (1) maximizing energy savings vs. minimizing unmet load demand, (2) managing low power draw vs. high transition latencies for multiple power management schemes, and (3) balancing energy savings vs. reliability costs of server components due to on-off cycles. To address these challenges, ACES (1) predicts demand in the near future to turn on servers gradually before they are needed and avoids turning on unnecessary servers to cope with transient load spikes, (2) formulates an optimization problem that minimizes a linear combination of unmet demand and total energy and reliability costs, and uses the program structure to solve the problem efficiently in practice, and (3) constructs an execution plan based on the optimization decisions to transition servers between different power states and actuates them using system and load management interfaces. Our evaluation on three data center workloads shows that ACES's energy savings are close to the optimal and it delivers power proportionality while balancing the tradeoff between energy savings and reliability costs.
Temporal Trends in Spirituality Research: A Meta-Analysis of Journal Abstracts between 1944 and 2003

ABSTRACT This study examined all journal abstracts published in the PsycInfo and Ageline databases between 1944 and 2003 using “spirituality” as a key word for a subject heading search. The content analysis yielded six themes concerning the nature of these studies: conceptual analysis, measurement, spirituality education, spiritual intervention, discussion of community projects, and review articles. For the historical trends, it was found that a sheer number of published articles increased dramatically from one in 1944 to 283 in 2003. Further, the results also revealed recurring patterns of research interests in which periods concerning a theory-oriented approach to studying spirituality are followed by brief periods concerning more pragmatic approaches. These results may suggest a recursive learning process in that knowledge gained by the theoretical exploration of spirituality is followed by the practical application of that knowledge.
The Murine Gastrin Promoter Is Synergistically Activated by Transforming Growth Factor-β/Smad and Wnt Signaling Pathways

The transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) and Wnt/wingless pathways play critical roles in the specification of cell fate during development and also contribute to cancer formation and progression. Whereas Wnt signaling is clearly pro-oncogenic, TGF-β signaling is cell- and context-dependent, manifesting both inhibitory and proliferative effects. The growth factor, gastrin, has previously been shown to be a downstream target of the Wnt pathway and a promoter of gastrointestinal cancer. In this study, we show that the mouse gastrin promoter is regulated synergistically by TGF-β/Smads and β-catenin/T-cell factor (TCF). Co-transfection of Smad3/Smad4 and β-catenin expression constructs synergistically activated mouse gastrin promoter activity 30–60-fold in AGS cells with minimal effect seen with either construct alone. This activation was further potentiated by TGF-β1 treatment. Mutating either the TCF binding site or the Smad-binding element (SBE) diminished the activation of gastrin expression by Smad3/Smad4 and β-catenin and led to a loss of gastrin promoter responsiveness to TGF-β1 treatment. Wnt and TGF-β regulated endogenous gastrin mRNA levels in AGS cells in a similar fashion, as revealed by small interference RNA studies or overexpression of Smads and TCF4/β-catenin. Electrophoretic mobility shift assays and DNA affinity precipitation assays showed that the putative SBE and T-cell factor (TCF) sites were able to bind a complex containing Smads and β-catenin/TCF4. In addition, the synergy between Smads and β-catenin/TCF4 was dependent on CREB-binding protein (CBP)/P300, as demonstrated by overexpression of CBP or E1A. Moreover, by using a heterogeneous promoter reporter system, we showed that this complex containing Smads/TCF4/β-catenin complex was able to up-regulate transcription at isolated SBE or TCF sites. Thus, the Wnt signaling pathway is able to activate some target genes through its actions as a co-activator at non-TCF sites and has the potential to profoundly alter transcriptional responses to TGF-β signaling.
Biophysical characteristics of the stem and petiole surface of six hemlock (Tsuga) species and a hybrid: implications for resistance to Adelges tsugae

Characteristics of the plant surface significantly affect host-plant selection by phytophagous insects. Surface morphology of six hemlock species (Tsuga spp.) and a hybrid was investigated using low-temperature scanning electron microscopy. Observations focused on trichome presence and placement and cuticle thickness. These characteristics were studied in the context of species-level host-plant resistance to the hemlock woolly adelgid, Adelges tsugae Annand (Hemiptera: Adelgidae), an exotic insect causing massive mortality to eastern hemlocks (Tsuga canadensis (L.) Carr.) and Carolina hemlock (Tsuga caroliniana Engelm.) in the eastern United States. Hemlocks in the native range of the insect do not succumb to infestations and the mechanism of resistance is unknown. We addressed the potential role of plant surface morphology in the adelgid–hemlock interaction by comparing four adelgid-resistant hemlock species and a hybrid with the two adelgid-susceptible hemlock species. We found that trichomes are likely...
OrderMergeDedup: efficient, failure-consistent deduplication on flash

Flash storage is commonplace on mobile devices, sensors, and cloud servers. I/O deduplication is beneficial for saving the storage space and reducing expensive Flash writes. This paper presents a new approach, called OrderMergeDedup, that deduplicates storage writes while realizing failure-consistency, efficiency, and persistence at the same time. We devise a soft updates-style metadata write ordering that maintains storage data consistency without consistency-induced additional I/O. We further explore opportunities of I/O delay and merging to reduce the metadata I/O writes. We evaluate our Linux device mapper-based implementation using several mobile and server workloads--package installation and update, BBench web browsing, vehicle counting, Hadoop, and Yahoo Cloud Serving Benchmark. Results show that OrderMergeDedup can realize 18-63% write reduction on workloads that exhibit 23- 73% write content duplication. It has significantly less metadata write overhead than alternative I/O shadowing-based deduplication. Our approach has a slight impact on the application latency and may even improve the performance due to reduced I/O load.
The effect of 6-mercaptopurine on the synthesis and action of interferon.

SummaryThe purine analog, 6-mercaptopurine, failed to inhibit the synthesis and the action of interferon in primary chicken fetal cells. Actinomycin D, included as a positive control, completely blocked the synthesis and the action of interferon. Several aspects of host resistance to viral infection other than interferon are impaired by 6-mercaptopurine and delayed hypersensitivity may be the more important component.