cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Casp8p41: The Protean Mediator of Death in CD4 T-cells that Replicate HIV

HIV cure is now the focus of intense research after Timothy Ray Brown (the Berlin patient) set the precedent of being the first and only person cured. A major barrier to achieving this goal on a meaningful scale is an elimination of the latent reservoir, which is thought to comprise CD4-positive cells that harbor integrated, replication-competent HIV provirus. These cells do not express viral proteins, are indistinguishable from uninfected CD4 cells, and are thought to be responsible for HIV viral rebound—that occurs within weeks of combination anti retroviral therapy (cART) interruption. Modalities to engineer transcriptional stimulation (reactivation) of this dormant integrated HIV provirus, leading to expression of cytotoxic viral proteins, are thought to be a specific way to eradicate the latently infected CD4 pool and are becoming increasingly relevant in the era of HIV cure. HIV protease is one such protein produced after HIV reactivation that cleaves procaspase-8 to generate a novel protein Casp8p41. Casp8p41 then binds to the BH3 domain of BAK, leading to BAK oligomerization, mitochondrial depolarization, and apoptosis. In central memory T cells (TCMs) from HIV-infected patients, an elevated Bcl-2/procaspase-8 ratio was observed, and Casp8p41 binding to Bcl-2 was associated with a lack of reactivation-induced cell death. This was reversed by priming cells with a specific Bcl-2 antagonist prior to reactivation, resulting in increased cell death and decreased HIV DNA in a Casp8p41-dependent pathway. This review describes the biology, clinical relevance, and implications of Casp8p41 for a potential cure.
Video haze removal and poisson blending based mini-mosaics for wide area motion imagery

In this work we consider three different haze removal approaches to dehaze videos with applications wide area motion imagery (WAMI). Out of three, we mainly focused on dark channel haze removal method. Most of the haze-free nonsky outdoor images contain at least one color channel with average intensity close to zero; this channel is called dark channel and provides a good estimate of the transmission of haze which is used to remove haze from image. By utilizing neighborhood consistency in temporal direction of videos we apply haze removal algorithm sequentially. Once the haze-free images are produced, we register them in order to generate mini-mosaics and apply poison blending to remove seam effect from the mini-mosaics. Additionally, in order to avoid dehazing each image, we create the mini-mosaic first and the apply dehazing on the mini-mosaic only. Experimental results on synthetic image sequences and WAMI indicate we obtain good haze-free and mosaiced results in both approaches.
MORTALITY IN PREGNANT WOMEN WITH CONGENITAL HEART DISEASE: A SUBANALYSIS OF THE CALIFORNIA PREGNANCY-ASSOCIATED MORTALITY REVIEW

Background: Heart disease accounts for ∼10% of mortality and morbidity during pregnancy. Congenital heart disease (CHD) is the most common cardiac condition affecting women during pregnancy. Despite improvements in survival and quality of life for patients with CHD, pregnancy remains high risk or
Video Modeling of SBIRT for Alcohol Use Disorders Increases Student Empathy in Standardized Patient Encounters.

The purpose of this study was to assess the usefulness of adding video models of brief alcohol assessment and counseling to a standardized patient (SP) curriculum that covers and tests acquisition of this skill. The authors conducted a single-center, retrospective cohort study of third- and fourth-year medical students between 2013 and 2015. All students completed a standardized patient (SP) encounter illustrating the diagnosis of alcohol use disorder, followed by an SP exam on the same topic. Beginning in August 2014, the authors supplemented the existing formative SP exercise on problem drinking with one of two 5-min videos demonstrating screening, brief intervention, and referral for treatment (SBIRT). P values and Z tests were performed to evaluate differences between students who did and did not see the video in knowledge and skills related to alcohol use disorders. One hundred ninety-four students were included in this analysis. Compared to controls, subjects did not differ in their ability to uncover and accurately characterize an alcohol problem during a standardized encounter (mean exam score 41.29 vs 40.93, subject vs control, p = 0.539). However, the SPs’ rating of students’ expressions of empathy were significantly higher for the group who saw the video (81.63 vs 69.79%, p < 0.05). The findings did not confirm the original hypothesis that the videos would improve students’ recognition and knowledge of alcohol-related conditions. However, feedback from the SPs produced the serendipitous finding that the communication skills demonstrated in the videos had a sustained effect in enhancing students’ professional behavior.
Uniting the Pre-Health Humanities with the Introductory Composition Course.

Drawing on my experiences at a teaching-focused university, I show how locating the health humanities in first-year or introductory composition courses improves learning and offers an economical, flexible, and far-reaching approach to bringing a health humanities education to all baccalaureate-level learners, regardless of whether they aspire to careers in the health professions. In terms of improving learning, health humanities composition courses support the disciplinary aims of both fields. Accessible, relevant issues in the health humanities, such as interventions in health debates or representations of illness and healthcare settings, nourish the cognitive and social conditions needed to develop college-level writing skills. The health humanities’ emphases on interdisciplinarity and suspending judgment also inform students’ writing abilities. Composition trains students to write rhetorically by considering purpose, context, genre, mode, and other factors when addressing an audience. This approach to writing helps pre-health humanists communicate intentionally and compassionately about health topics as well as the larger issues they call into question. Because students enroll in health humanities composition courses at an early, formative moment in their studies, they are poised to carry or “transfer” their knowledge to other courses, including those that might prepare them for the workforce.
Seven Myths of Boards of Directors

Corporate governance experts pay considerable attention to issues involving the board of directors. Because of the scope of the board’s role and the vast responsibilities that come with directorship, companies are expected to adhere to common best practices in board structure, composition, and procedures. While some of these practices contribute to board effectiveness, others have been shown to have no or a negative bearing on governance quality.We review seven commonly accepted beliefs about boards of directors:1. The chairman should be independent2. Staggered boards are bad for shareholders3. Directors that meet NYSE independence standards are independent4. Interlocked directorships reduce governance quality5. CEOs make the best directors6. Directors have significant liability risk7. The failure of a company is the board’s faultWe ask:• Why isn’t more attention paid to board processes rather than structure?• Why aren’t more governance practices voluntary rather than required?• Would flexible standards lead to better solutions or more failures?• When do directors deserve the blame for a company’s failure and when is it the fault of management, the marketplace, or luck?• How can shareholders more effectively monitor board performance?The Stanford Closer Look series is a collection of short case studies through which we explore topics, issues, and controversies in corporate governance and executive leadership. In each study, we take a targeted look at a specific issue that is relevant to the current debate on governance and explain why it is so important. Larcker and Tayan are co-authors of the books Corporate Governance Matters and A Real Look at Real World Corporate Governance.
Multi-Level Cultural Intervention for the Prevention of Suicide and Alcohol Use Risk with Alaska Native Youth: a Nonrandomized Comparison of Treatment Intensity

Suicide and alcohol use disorders are primary determinants of health disparity among Alaska Native people in contrast to the US general population. Qungasvik, a Yup’ik word for toolbox, is a strengths-based, multi-level, community/cultural intervention for rural Yup’ik youth ages 12–18. The intervention uses “culture as intervention” to promote reasons for life and sobriety in young people using local expertise, high levels of community direction, and community based staff. The intervention is grounded in local practices and adaptive to local cultural differences distinctive to rural Yup’ik communities. The current study compares the effectiveness of high-intensity intervention in one community (treatment), operationalized as a high number of intervention activities, or modules, implemented and attended by youth, contrasted to a lower intensity intervention in a second community (comparison) that implemented fewer modules. A Yup’ik Indigenous theory of change developed through previous qualitative and quantitative work guides intervention. In the model, direct intervention effects on proximal or intermediate variables constituting protective factors at the individual, family, community, and peer influences levels lead to later change on the ultimate prevention outcome variables of Reasons for Life protective from suicide risk and Reflective Processes about alcohol use consequences protective from alcohol risk. Mixed effects regression models contrasted treatment and comparison arms, and identified significant intervention effects on Reasons for Life (d = 0.27, p < .05) but not Reflective Processes.
Using a simple game engine in teaching CS1: conference workshop

This workshop covers the use of a pedagogically-focused game engine in teaching early computer science courses. Creation of computer games appears to be highly motivating for many students just starting in computer science, and the use of some sort of game engine seems essential. The approach taken here is to use a very simple game engine that will not only facilitate creation of games, but will also provide students with an opportunity to use predefined objects in a meaningful, motivating, and natural context early in the course. The intent is for students to write programs that use branching, looping, variables, construction of objects, and method calls, all while using the classes provided by the game engine.
Addressing Clay Mineralogy Effects on Performance of Chemically Stabilized Expansive Soils Subjected to Seasonal Wetting and Drying

AbstractPremature failures in chemically stabilized expansive soils cost millions of dollars in maintenance and repair. One reason for these failures is the inability of existing stabilization desi...
Corporate Social Responsibility: A Case Study of San Francisco’s Apparel Procurement

The presence of sweatshops in the apparel and textile industry has been referenced in history as far back as the 1800s when the term “sweatshop” was coined to bring public attention to factories and workshops that used “sweated labor” (Micheletti & Stolle, 2007). Contemporary anti-sweatshop activism gained momentum in the 1990s with publicized scandals about Nike’s manufacturing and celebrity Kathy Lee Gifford’s child labor subcontractors. Over the last two decades U.S. consumers have become increasingly aware of how goods are produced overseas, especially in the apparel and textile industry. Consumer awareness and public activism have encouraged change. Claeson (2009) points out that activists have succeeded in raising awareness about the global sweatshop problem.
Actin Cross-Linking Toxin Is a Universal Inhibitor of Tandem-Organized and Oligomeric G-Actin Binding Proteins

Summary Delivery of bacterial toxins to host cells is hindered by host protective barriers. This obstruction dictates a remarkable efficiency of toxins, a single copy of which may kill a host cell. Efficiency of actin-targeting toxins is further hampered by an overwhelming abundance of their target. The actin cross-linking domain (ACD) toxins of Vibrio species and related bacterial genera catalyze the formation of covalently cross-linked actin oligomers. Recently, we reported that the ACD toxicity can be amplified via a multivalent inhibitory association of actin oligomers with actin assembly factors formins, suggesting that the oligomers may act as secondary toxins. Importantly, many proteins involved in nucleation, elongation, severing, branching, and bundling of actin filaments contain G-actin-binding Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome protein (WASP)-homology motifs 2 (WH2) organized in tandem and therefore may act as a multivalent platform for high-affinity interaction with the ACD-cross-linked actin oligomers. Using live-cell single-molecule speckle (SiMS) microscopy, total internal reflection fluorescence (TIRF) microscopy, and actin polymerization assays, we show that, in addition to formins, the oligomers bind with high affinity and potently inhibit several families of actin assembly factors: Ena/vasodilator-stimulated phosphorprotein (VASP); Spire; and the Arp2/3 complex, both in vitro and in live cells. As a result, ACD blocks the actin retrograde flow and membrane dynamics and disrupts association of Ena/VASP with adhesion complexes. This study defines ACD as a universal inhibitor of tandem-organized G-actin binding proteins that overcomes the abundance of actin by redirecting the toxicity cascade toward less abundant targets and thus leading to profound disorganization of the actin cytoskeleton and disruption of actin-dependent cellular functions.
Separation of radio-frequency interference from SAR signals via dictionary learning

This paper investigates the concept of employing dictionary learning to adaptively capture the principal components of radio-frequency interference (RFI) in order to improve the efficiency as well as robustness of RFI extraction/ separation from ultra-wideband (UWB) synthetic aperture radar (SAR) signals. Interference sources here pose critical challenges for UWB systems since RFI might have significant bandwidth overlap with the spectrum of our SAR signals of interest. Moreover, RFI components often exhibit nonstationary, time-varying characteristics; hence, they are difficult to predict and model accurately. In this paper, we propose a dictionary learning framework to adaptively capture RFI components within a local spatiotemporal neighborhood. We then exploit these learned RFI dictionaries to improve the noise-source separation process via sparse recovery: interferences are represented as a sparse subspace spanned by a few dictionary atoms while SAR signals are modeled as a sparse linear combination of time-shifted transmitted pulses. We validate the effectiveness and illustrate the robustness of our proposed framework via extensive RFI-SAR separation results, using both simulated data and real-world data collected by the U.S. Army Research Laboratory (ARL) UWB BoomSAR system.
Interdisciplinary Design Activities and Patterns

In this chapter, we provide a reflective and analytical description of the interdisciplinary design activities of E-Rebuild, identify driving design questions and salient design patterns that capture and frame the essence of E-Rebuild development, and discuss distilled meta-generalizations that help to decompose the interdisciplinary learning game design processes to inform future work related to design, research, and deployment. The description of salient patterns of interdisciplinary game design in this chapter provides a contextualized design narrative/account of core design processes along with an analytical synthesis of core design pattern elements—a design problem statement with its context and specifics, the solution or technique to solving the stated problem, and the pattern of transferring or scaling this design solution or design move.
Lexical frequency and syntactic variation: Subject pronoun use in Mandarin Chinese

Abstract With the rise of exemplar theory, the role of lexical frequency in language variation has been the object of considerable study. Recently, Erker and Guy (2012) extended the analysis of frequency to morphosyntactic variation and examined the role of frequency in variation between null and overt subject personal pronouns (SPPs) in Spanish. Their results suggest that frequency either activates or amplifies the effects of other constraints, such as co-reference. This study extends the study of frequency effects on SPP variation to Mandarin Chinese. Results of multivariate analysis of 6,691 tokens collected from Mandarin speakers in Harbin, China indicate that the effect of frequency on Chinese SPP variation is less than that of other well-established constraints such as co-reference and person and number. The results suggest that the role of frequency in this area of the grammar has been considerably exaggerated. Rather, well-established linguistic constraints provide a better explanation for SPP variation than frequency.
Intestinal epithelial tight junction barrier regulation by autophagy-related protein ATG6/beclin 1.

A defective tight junction (TJ) barrier is a key pathogenic factor for inflammatory bowel disease. Previously, we have shown that autophagy, a cell survival mechanism, enhances intestinal epithelia...
School Start Times, Delinquency, and Substance Use: A Criminological Perspective

Research finds a lack of sleep during adolescence is associated with a variety of negative outcomes and suggests that early school start times contribute to this problem. Criminologists have largel...
Electrical and magnetic properties of α-HgS (cinnabar)

Electrical-conductivity, Seebeck-coefficient, and magnetic-susceptibility measurements have been carried out on chemical-vapor-transport-grown single crystals of cinnabar in dendritic and tabular form. The results are consistent with previously reported luminescence studies.
Decoding the complexities of human malaria through systems immunology

The complexity of the Plasmodium parasite and its life cycle poses a challenge to our understanding of the host immune response against malaria. Studying human immune responses during natural and experimental Plasmodium infections can enhance our understanding of malaria-protective immunity and inform the design of disease-modifying adjunctive therapies and next-generation malaria vaccines. Systems immunology can complement conventional approaches to facilitate our understanding of the complex immune response to the highly dynamic malaria parasite. In this review, recent studies that used systems-based approaches to evaluate human immune responses during natural and experimental Plasmodium falciparum and Plasmodium vivax infections as well as during immunization with candidate malaria vaccines are summarized and related to each other. The potential for next-generation technologies to address the current limitations of systems-based studies of human malaria are discussed.
Polarización como impermeabilidad: cuando las razones ajenas no importan

espanolResumen: El objetivo de este trabajo es defender la idea de polarizacion como impermeabilidad, un sentido de polarizacion que se ha pasado por alto en la literatura sobre polarizacion politica. Segun este sentido de polarizacion, una persona o un grupo se polariza en la medida en que cada vez sea mas impermeable a las ideas o razones ajenas. De esta manera, y en contra de la idea en la que se basan los sentidos de polarizacion disponibles en la literatura hasta el momento, una poblacion o un grupo puede polarizarse si no ha habido ningun movimiento del centro hacia los extremos del espectro ideologico. Asimismo, se defendera que entender la polarizacion en este nuevo sentido ofrece ventajas por varias razones: i) la polarizacion como impermeabilidad es un sentido de polarizacion mas acorde con algunos de los fenomenos que son relevantes para entender las sociedades democraticas actuales: la economia de la atencion, la personalizacion de la informacion o las camaras de eco; ii) entender la polarizacion de manera estandar, es decir, como un desplazamiento del centro hacia los extremos del espectro ideologico, conlleva ciertos problemas. EnglishAbstract: The aim of this paper is to defend the idea of polarization as impermeability, a sense of polarization that has been overlooked in the debate on political polarization. According to this sense of polarization, a person or group is polarized to the extent that it is impervious to the ideas or reasons of others. In this way, and contrary to the idea on which the senses of polarisation available in literature so far are based, a person or group may be polarised if there has been no movement from the centre to the extremes of the ideological spectrum. Likewise, it will be defended that understanding polarization in this new sense offers advantages for several reasons: i) polarization as impermeability is a sense of polarization more in line with some of the phenomena that are relevant to understanding today’s democratic societies: the economy of attention, the personalization of information or echo chambers; ii) understanding polarization in a standard way, that is, as a shift from the centre towards the ends of the ideological spectrum, entails certain problems.
Sleep-Dependent Consolidation of Second Language Grammar Knowledge: The Role of Awareness.

Sleep plays a role in the consolidation of various aspects of language learning. In this study, we investigated the extent to which sleep-dependent memory consolidation contributes to second language (L2) rule generalization and enhancement of L2 explicit knowledge. One hundred native English speakers were engaged in a meaning-focused training of two German grammar rules. Participants were trained either in the morning or in the evening and tested after a retention interval that was either filled with wakefulness or sleep. During the test, we used a grammaticality judgment test to measure grammatical learning and retrospective verbal reports and source attributions to measure awareness. We found that sleep consolidated learning only for learners who reported awareness of syntactic rules prior to sleep. However, performance based on explicit sources did not differ after a period of sleep and after a period of wakefulness. These findings suggest that sleep may benefit L2 rule generalization only for learners who are aware of the L2 rules before sleep but may not consolidate L2 explicit knowledge.
Keats In and Out of Place: Keats’s Negative Capability: New Origins and Afterlives, edited by Brian Rejack and Michael Theune, Liverpool, Liverpool UP, 2019, x + 291 pp., 6 illustrations.

At face level, these two valuable collections seem very different in their contribution to Keats studies. Keats’s Negative Capability takes as its focus a multifaceted term that has, as many of its...
Physical Mechanisms of Bacterial Killing by Histones

Antibiotic resistance is a global epidemic, becoming increasingly pressing due to its rapid spread. There is thus a critical need to develop new therapeutic approaches. In addition to searching for new antibiotics, looking into existing mechanisms of natural host defense may enable researchers to improve existing defense mechanisms, and to develop effective, synthetic drugs guided by natural principles. Histones, primarily known for their role in condensing mammalian DNA, are antimicrobial and share biochemical similarities with antimicrobial peptides (AMPs); however, the mechanism by which histones kill bacteria is largely unknown. Both AMPs and histones are similar in size, cationic, contain a high proportion of hydrophobic amino acids, and possess the ability to form alpha helices. AMPs, which mostly kill bacteria through permeabilization or disruption of the biological membrane, have recently garnered significant attention for playing a key role in host defenses. This chapter outlines the structure and function of histone proteins as they compare to AMPs and provides an overview of their role in innate immune responses, especially regarding the action of specific histones against microorganisms and their potential mechanism of action against microbial pathogens.
Abstract P200: Effects Of A 2-year Randomized Controlled Trial Physical Activity Intervention On Accelerometer-measured Sleep Characteristics Among Older Adults In Senior Center Communities

Background: Targeting daily increases in physical activity (PA) is a common lifestyle strategy for cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk reduction. While less targeted in lifestyle interventions, poor ...
EMG and Joint Angle-Based Machine Learning to Predict Future Joint Angles at the Knee.

Electromyography (EMG) is commonly used to measure electrical activity of the skeletal muscles. As exoskeleton technology advances, these signals may be used to predict human intent for control purposes. This study used an artificial neural network trained and tested with knee flexion angles and knee muscle EMG signals to predict knee flexion angles during gait at 50, 100, 150, and 200 ms into the future. The hypothesis of this study was that the algorithm’s prediction accuracy would only be affected by time into the future, not subject, gender or side, and that as time into the future increased, the prediction accuracy would decrease. A secondary hypothesis was that as the number of algorithm training trials increased, the prediction accuracy of the artificial neural network (ANN) would increase. The results of this study indicate that only time into the future affected the accuracy of knee flexion angle prediction (p < 0.001), whereby greater time resulted in reduced accuracy (0.68 to 4.62 degrees root mean square error (RMSE) from 50 to 200 ms). Additionally, increased number of training trials resulted in increased angle prediction accuracy.
A quantitative yeast aging proteomics analysis reveals novel aging regulators

Calorie restriction (CR) is the most robust longevity intervention, extending lifespan from yeast to mammals. Numerous conserved pathways regulating aging and mediating CR have been identified; however, the overall proteomic changes during these conditions remain largely unexplored. We compared proteomes between young and replicatively aged yeast cells under normal and CR conditions using the Stable-Isotope Labeling by Amino acids in Cell culture (SILAC) quantitative proteomics and discovered distinct signatures in the aging proteome. We found remarkable proteomic similarities between aged and CR cells, including induction of stress response pathways, providing evidence that CR pathways are engaged in aged cells. These observations also uncovered aberrant changes in mitochondria membrane proteins as well as a proteolytic cellular state in old cells. These proteomics analyses help identify potential genes and pathways that have causal effects on longevity.
Fulfilling a Need: A Residency-Based Program to Preserve a Suboxone Treatment Program in a Rural Community.

To respond to an urgent community and educational need, we rapidly created a medication-assisted treatment program for opioid use disorder within our family medicine residency practice. We did this by transitioning a large group of established patients from a single family physician (G.K.) who was
Religion, Terror, and Error: U.S. Foreign Policy and the Challenge of Spiritual Engagement

This book describes how the United States can integrate religious considerations into its foreign policy, moving towards a new leadership paradigm that effectively counters the challenge of Islamist extremism. * A foreword by retired Marine Corps General Anthony Zinni, former Commander-in-Chief of the U.S. Central Command, U.S. Special Envoy to the Middle East, and member of the CSIS Smart Power Commission * Maps that show areas of interest discussed in the text * Epigraphs throughout the book to provide amplification of important insights
What do Elderly Japanese and Japanese Americans Have in Common

A group of six Japanese and Japanese American elderly (age 83–102) living in a retirement community experienced 6 one-hour group sessions sharing reminiscences. Experiences of World War II, war concentration camp, being bilingual/bicultural, Japanese Saturday school, were shared and discussed. Clear evidence of inheritance of Japanese traditional virtues such as doryoku, enryo, gaman and shikataganai was observed despite the differences of their birthplace. Japanese folk songs with English phonetic translation were introduced and enjoyed. Sharing their life stories through activities such as reminiscence and songs positively influenced elders' enthusiasm in more active participation and resulted in extending their meeting hours.
Functional heterogeneity among peritoneal macrophages: III. No evidence for the role of arginase in the inhibition of tumor cell growth by supernatants from macrophages or macrophage subpopulation cultures

Abstract The adherent population of peritoneal exudate cells (PE) obtained from rats and mice was analyzed for arginase activity in order to determine whether this enzyme has a role in tumor-growth-inhibitory activity. Freshly obtained tumor-growth-inhibitory rat PE cells had little or no arginase activity compared to the high levels of enzyme activity of mouse PE cells. Even after culturing, rat PE cells contained arginase activity 10 times less than that observed with comparable numbers of cultured or noncultured mouse cells. Subpopulations of mouse and rat PE macrophages, analyzed for arginase activity, showed that the light-density populations from cultured rat PE cells and noncultured mouse PE cells expressed arginase activities greater than that seen with heavy-density cells. However, the light-density rat PE cells expressed significantly less arginase activity than did the mouse cells. In attempts to test whether the inability of tumor cells to grow in supernatants or dialyzed supernatants from PE macrophage cultures is due to an arginine depletion, 200 μg/ml of the amino acid was added to the supernatants. The tumor-growth-inhibitory activities of such supernatants, as well as those from supernatants from highly active light-density rat PE macrophage cultures, were not abrogated by the addition of arginine. There was no correlation between the high levels of arginase activity of light-density PE macrophages and their antitumor activity and no evidence that the tumor-growth-inhibitory activity of rat or mouse PE macrophages in the macrophage-tumor models we studied was due to an arginine depletion.
Operation of unified constant-frequency integration controlled three-phase active power filter with unbalanced load

The theory and experiments have demonstrated that the unified constant-frequency integration (UCI) controller features excellent performance, simple circuitry, and low cost for the control of three-phase APF connected to either symmetrical or asymmetrical three-phase power systems. In reality, three-phase grid voltages and/or three-phase nonlinear loads may not be balanced all the time, therefore it is vital for an APF to be able to handle unbalanced source or load. Studies have shown that the UCI controlled APF performs satisfactorily in unbalanced systems. In continuation, the performance of a three-phase APF working in unbalanced load with a UCI controller is evaluated in this paper. Simulation and experiment results indicate that with UCI control, sinusoid input current can be realized, whether the loads are balanced or unbalanced.
Neutron Stars as Cosmic Hadron Physics Laboratories: What Glitches Teach Us

Our present theoretical understanding of the crustal neutron superfluid is reviewed, with particular attention to the information concerning its existence and behavior which can be derived from observations of pulsar glitches and postglitch behavior.
RACIAL AND ETHNIC GAPS IN MALE EARNINGS IN A BOOMING URBAN ECONOMY

According to labor market queuing theory, instead of competing against one another on the basis of the wages they are willing to accept, individuals compete against one another for job opportunities (or job slots) at fixed wages. In jockeying for positions in the job queue, success for the individual worker rests on being able to signal to potential employers that he or she possesses a set of attributes (including credentials, behaviors, and attitudes) that firms find desirable. In Lester Thurow's conception of the queue, "one set of factors determines an individual's relative position in the labor queue; another set of factors, not mutually exclusive of the first, determines the actual distribution of job opportunities in the economy. Wages are paid based on the characteristics of the job in question, and workers are distributed across job opportunities based on their relative position in the labor queue. The most preferred workers get the best jobs" [Thurow, 1975, 76]. At the very end of the queue are those who spend little time working at all. Others find work, but because of low wages or a combination of poor pay, part-time jobs, and intermittent work, have trouble making enough income to lift themselves and their families above the poverty line. These are the "working poor." The number of job slots available to be filled in any queue depends, for the most
Comparison of aspirin alone versus aspirin plus ticlopidine after coronary artery stenting.

Abstract This prospective nonrandomized study demonstrated an increased incidence of stent thrombosis, Q-wave myocardial infarction, and cardiac death in a group of patients managed with aspirin alone compared with a group of patients managed with the combination of aspirin and ticlopidine following native coronary artery stenting.
Production by Streptomyces viridosporus T7A of an enzyme which cleaves aromatic acids from lignocellulose

The lignocellulose-degrading actinomycete Streptomyces viridosporus T7A produced an extracellular esterase when grown in a mineral salts-yeast extract medium. Extracellular esterase activity was first detected during the late stationary phase and typically followed the appearance of intracellular activity. When the organism was grown in lignocellulose-supplemented medium, esterase activity was not increased, but lignocellulose-esterified p-coumaric acid and vanillic acid were released into the medium. Polyacrylamide gels showed that several extracellular esterases differing in substrate specificity were produced. Ultrafiltration was used to concentrate the esterase prior to purification. Activity was recovered mostly in the molecular weight fraction between 10,000 and 100,000. Concentrated esterase was further purified by DEAE-Sepharose anion-exchange chromatography to a specific activity 11.82 times greater than that in the original supernatant. There were seven detectable esterase active proteins in the partially purified enzyme solution. Three were similar esterases that may be isoenzymes. The partially purified esterase had a pH optimum for activity of 9.0, a temperature optimum of 45 to 50°C, and a Km and Vmax of 0.030 mM and 0.097 μmol/min per ml, respectively, when p-nitrophenyl butyrate was the substrate. The enzyme was unstable above 40°C but retained activity when stored at 4 or −20°C. It lost some activity (20%) when lyophilized. Substrate specificity assays showed that it hydrolyzed ester linkages of p-nitrophenyl butyrate, α-naphthyl acetate, α-naphthyl butyrate, and lignocellulose. Vanillic and p-coumaric acids were identified as products released from lignocellulose. The enzyme is thought to be a component of the lignocellulose-degrading enzyme system of S. viridosporus.
Colloid Mills: Theory and Experiment

In a colloid mill utilizing a rotating and a stationary plate, a high shear field exists. Particles rotate, generating a lift force moving them to the rotating plate. When particles collide, a substantial energy transfer occurs because their surface velocities are opposite. A mathematical model has been developed relating the particle rotational speed to the parameters of the colloid mill such as gap size, speed, slip viscosity, and particle size distribution. A slurry of the material being ground is forced into the gap. Grinding is autogenous as a result of collisions between rotating particles. All of the material in the process stream is ground finer than the gap setting and grinding can be optimized by adjusting mill operating parameters. However, the mill is not able to grind the incoming stream to submicrometer sizes and there is molecular contamination from the surface of the B 4 C cones
Mechanisms of thrombopoiesis

Megakaryocytes (MKs) expand and differentiate over several days in response to thrombopoietin (Tpo) before releasing innumerable blood platelets. The final steps in platelet assembly and release represent a unique cellular transformation that is orchestrated by a range of transcription factors, signaling molecules, and cytoskeletal elements. Here we review recent advances in the physiology and molecular basis of MK differentiation. Genome-wide approaches, including transcriptional profiling and proteomics, have been used to identify novel platelet products and differentiation markers. The extracellular factors, stromal-derived factor (SDF)-1 chemokine and fibroblast growth factor (FGF)-4 direct MK interactions with the bone marrow stroma and regulate cytokine-independent cell maturation. An abundance of bone marrow MKs induce pathologic states, including excessive bone formation and myelofibrosis, and the basis for these effects is now better appreciated. We review the status of transcription factors that control MK differentiation, with special emphasis on nuclear factor-erythroid 2 (NF-E2) and its two putative target genes, beta1-tubulin and 3-beta-hydroxysteroid reductase. MKs express steroid receptors and some estrogen ligands, which may constitute an autocrine loop in formation of proplatelets, the cytoplasmic protrusions within which nascent blood platelets are assembled. Finally, we summarize our own studies on cellular and molecular facets of proplatelet formation and place the findings within the context of outstanding questions about mechanisms of thrombopoiesis.
Spatial orientation: visual-vestibular-somatic interaction.

The compensation signals from somatosensory and vestibular receptors, which act to compensate for disturbances produced by the displacement of our eyes relative to other parts of our bodies and for visual disturbances such as tilted frames or moving visual fields, are investigated. Disturbances were evoked by tilting the head and by rotating a large visual display, while compensation signals related to gravity were altered by placing the subjects horizontally on a board or seating them vertically. The first experiment studied the effects of visual disturbance on the ability of supine observers to set a line to the longitudinal body axis while the head was tilted toward one shoulder or while the head was straight. Results showed that the effects of the visual disturbance were greater when the head was tilted than when it was straight, which indicates that the effects of visual disturbance were greater for a task that required compensation. The second experiment compared the performance of supine and erect observers. No differences were found between the performance of observers on a task requiring the use of compensation signals under these two conditions, which suggests that the enrichment of compensatory signals did not reduce the effects of visual disturbancs.
Calmodulin specifically binds three proteins of the dystrophin-glycoprotein complex.

Dystrophin is the ∼400,000 Da. protein (p400K) product of the Duchenne muscular dystrophy gene locus. In the sarcolemma membrane, it is associated with several other proteins, many of which are glycoproteins (abbreviated gp) and include gp156K, p59K, gp50K, gp43K, gp35K, and p25K. Here, we show that dystrophin, gp156K, and p59K are calmodulin-binding proteins, the binding is Ca2+-dependent, and of high-affinity similar to that seen with calmodulin-activated enzymes. Two putative calmodulin-binding sequences were identified, one at either end of the dystrophin sequence.
Ethics-focused dynamic capabilities: a small business perspective

Our analysis of survey data of US small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) explores (1) whether firms have ‘dynamic’ capabilities that change their ethics-focused operational capabilities; (2) what effects those dynamic capabilities have on both ethical and competitive performance; and, (3) whether those effects are contingent on a firm’s entrepreneurial characteristics. Our survey reveals that about a quarter of SMEs self-report high levels of these ethics-focused dynamic capabilities. We use hierarchical OLS to analyze the survey data to find that the general effect of these capabilities is positive on an SME’s ethical performance, and that the performance effects are contingent on an SME’s degree of entrepreneurial orientation and sensitivity to changes in the business context. The main implication is that the extent of heterogeneity in types, roles, and performance effects of ‘higher-than-operations-level’ capabilities is likely underestimated in current dynamic capabilities theory and application.
Beneficiation of a phosphoriferous iron ore by agglomeration methods

Abstract The Snake River iron ore deposit, in the northern Yukon, Canada, is an enormous, potentially valuable natural resource. Conservative estimates indicate that the deposit contains some thirty thousand million tons of ore. Unfortunately the chemical quality of the mine-run ore falls significantly below established industrial specifications, in particular the phosphorus content is not acceptable. Previous mineralogical examination of the deposit has indicated that the gangue constituents are finely disseminated throughout the ore. An outline is given for the selective agglomeration of the ore to concentrate the phosphorus minerals during grinding. The ground ore is then further treated to agglomerate selectively the iron fraction, which can then be separated from the remaining gangue constituents by differential settling. Successful beneficiation has been achieved on both the crude Snake River ore and a jig concentrate, with some concentrates assaying 69.0% Fe and
Local softness and chemical reactivity in the molecules CO, SCN− and H2CO

Abstract Fukui functions (softnesses) are calculated for three species - formaldehyde, the thiocyanate ion and carbon monoxide. The fukui function for a molecule has been defined as the derivative of electron density with respect to the change of number of electrons, keeping the positions of nuclei unchanged; this differentiation is performed by finite difference. Local softness and fukui function are proportional. The calculated results, expressed in terms of contour maps and condensed values of fukui functions, substantiate the previous argument that fukui functions serve as reactivity indices for chemical reactions. Particularly, it is confirmed that: (1) a nucleophilic reagent approaches the carbon atom in formaldehyde from the direction perpendicular to the molecular plane, while an electrophilic reagent approaches the oxygen atom in the molecular plane; (2) the sulphur end is softer than the nitrogen end in the thiocyanate ion; and (3) carbon monoxide behaves like a Lewis acid in bonding with transition metals.
Longevity, Lifestyle, and Anticipating the New Demands of Aging on the Transportation System

The baby boom generation is placing new demands on the transportation sector. This paper focuses on who the baby boomers are, how they differ from previous generations of older people, and what this means for transportation. The paper identifies key transportation research questions, policy issues, and practical implications associated with aging Americans. There has never before been such a large number of older people in the United States, and they have the expectation and efficacy to live longer and better. Researchers need to consider conducting a nationwide travel demand forecast for older people in urban, suburban and rural regions. More research is also needed into the roles that social networks and technology may play in facilitating safe mobility. Policymakers need to rapidly institute cross-generational programs to manage the transfer of knowledge from older transportation professionals to the next generation. Policymakers should also consider mandating lifelong driver education. As for the aging individual, personal transportation planning needs to be recognized as being as important as health and financial security planning for old age. If boomers choose to age in place mostly in suburban or rural settings, there is an opportunity for public-private partnerships to develop new transportation services to meet required and desired transportation needs.
Thermal methods for crystallizing biological macromolecules

Abstract While thermal methods are generally preferred for controlling crystal growth processes because of their simplicity and controllability, they surprisingly have not been widely used for protein crystal growth. Proteins which exhibit a temperature dependent solubility can in principle be grown using these techniques. Two thermal gradient methods have been successfully applied to protein crystallization. The first method was developed as a means to control and localize nucleation in protein solutions. The viability of this "thermonucleation" technique was demonstrated using the well-known protein lysozyme, whose solubility increases with increasing temperature. This technique has now been extended to include the nucleation of proteins exhibiting retrograde solubility and cases where solubility-temperature relationships are unknown. The second method, a thermal gradient transport technique, was successfully used for the first time to grow a lysozyme crystal. Supersaturation gradients were calculated from the temperature gradients and calculated growth rates were compared with the actual growth rates. The possibility of combining these two techniques to grow protein crystals is discussed.
Soluble inhibitors/deactivators of cellulase enzymes from lignocellulosic biomass.

Abstract Liquid hot water, steam explosion, and dilute acid pretreatments of lignocellulose generate soluble inhibitors which hamper enzymatic hydrolysis as well as fermentation of sugars to ethanol. Toxic and inhibitory compounds will vary with pretreatment and include soluble sugars, furan derivatives (hydroxymethyl fulfural, furfural), organic acids (acetic, formic and, levulinic acid), and phenolic compounds. Their effect is seen when an increase in the concentration of pretreated biomass in a hydrolysis slurry results in decreased cellulose conversion, even though the ratio of enzyme to cellulose is kept constant. We used lignin-free cellulose, Solka Floc, combined with mixtures of soluble components released during pretreatment of wood, to prove that the decrease in the rate and extent of cellulose hydrolysis is due to a combination of enzyme inhibition and deactivation. The causative agents were extracted from wood pretreatment liquid using PEG surfactant, activated charcoal or ethyl acetate and then desorbed, recovered, and added back to a mixture of enzyme and cellulose. At enzyme loadings of either 1 or 25 mg protein/g glucan, the most inhibitory components, later identified as phenolics, decreased the rate and extent of cellulose hydrolysis by half due to both inhibition and precipitation of the enzymes. Full enzyme activity occurred when the phenols were removed. Hence detoxification of pretreated woods through phenol removal is expected to reduce enzyme loadings, and therefore reduce enzyme costs, for a given level of cellulose conversion.