cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Investigating “rapid revisit” observations of cygnss

The Cyclone Global Navigation Satellite System (CYGNSS) mission launched Dec. 2016 and will provide ocean surface wind speed measurements from an eight satellite constellation using GPS reflectometry observations. The nature of CYGNSS coverage results in some locations on Earth experiencing multiple wind speed measurements within a short period of time (a “clump” of observations in time resulting in a “rapid revisit” series of measurements). Such observations could seemingly provide indications of regions experiencing rapid changes in wind speeds, and therefore be of scientific utility. Simulation studies of these measurements have been conducted including an analysis of the statistics of the duration of a “clump” and the maximum clump durations. The results show that the duration of a “clump” can extend as long as a few hours at higher latitudes, with gaps between clumps ranging from 6 to as high as 12 hours depending on latitude. The conference presentation will report initial results from “rapid revisit” analyses using on-orbit CYGNSS measurements.
Walking Drosophila aim to maintain a neural heading estimate at an internal goal angle

While navigating their environment, many animals track their angular heading via the activity of heading-sensitive neurons. How internal heading estimates are used to guide navigational behavior, however, remains largely unclear in any species. We found that normal synaptic output from heading neurons in Drosophila is required for flies to stably maintain their trajectory along an arbitrary direction while navigating a simple virtual environment. We further found that if the heading estimate carried by these neurons is experimentally redirected by focal stimulation, the fly typically turns so as to rotate this internal heading estimate back towards the initial angle, while also slowing down until this correction has been made. These experiments argue that flies compare an internal heading estimate with an internal goal angle to guide navigational decisions, highlighting an important computation underlying how a spatial variable in the brain is translated into navigational action.
Potential of methylene blue to block oxygen radical generation in reperfusion injury.

Superoxide and hydroxyl radical generation have been implicated in a variety of pathological conditions, including ischemic injury in myocardial, renal, and skin-flap tissue, as reperfusion of the ischemic tissue presumably leads to a burst of free radical generation 1–4,14. Tissue hypoxia during ischemia results in the conversion of xanthine dehydrogenase to xanthine oxidase and concomitant breakdown of ATP to hypoxanthine 14. Upon reperfusion the xanthine oxidase oxidizes the hypoxanthine, and large quantities of superoxide, hydrogen peroxide, and possibly hydroxyl radicals are produced. Previous attempts to inhibit oxygen radical toxicity have focused on removing the superoxide or hydroxyl radicals after their production.
MicroRNAs in osteosarcomagenesis.

The etiology of osteosarcoma (OS) remains enigmatic. Particular clinical and molecular patterns, observed with high frequency in OS, suggest that it results from some yet-to-be-discovered central driver. How else can biology generate such an aggressive, metastatic, genetically and chromosomally unstable malignancy with virtually no apparent precursor neoplasms that are partway along a disease path toward OS? With this conundrum as a backdrop, the discovery of every new native molecule with power to impact a cell’s biology is usually quickly followed by a search to see if this type of molecule contains the key to unlock OS biology.
Microwave Detection of Stress-Induced Fatigue Cracks in Steel and Potential of Crack Opening Determination Using a New Phase Sensitive Approach Based on a Waveguide Magic Tee

Detection and evaluation of surface cracks in metals is an important facet of nondestructive testing and evaluation (NDTE namely, dominant mode, higher-order mode and open-ended coaxial lines [1–4]. Evaluation of crack properties (crack width, depth, load estimation or other useful information) is the next step in fully determining the threat that a crack may pose to a structure. Surface crack detection, using open-ended rectangular waveguides is primarily based on changes in the phase of the reflection coefficient at the waveguide aperture when a crack is scanned. Therefore, a phase sensitive system may be used for this purpose. The use of a magic tee based approach has the advantage of quick and interactive phase adjustments-adjustments are made immediately by the turn of a knob. In this way optimization is an easy and effective process.
M3 receptor autoimmunity: losing tolerance to a familiar protein.

The sera of Sjogren’s syndrome patients frequently contain autoantibodies to proteins normally localized in intracellular compartments. These include the Ro/SSA and La/SSB ribonucleoproteins, which are expressed in the nuclei; fodrin, which mediates interactions between the cytoskeleton and plasma membrane, and as-yet-uncharacterized proteins that appear to be associated with the Golgi complex. Theories to explain the loss of tolerance to the classical Sjogren’s autoantigens generally begin with the premise that under normal circumstances they are exposed to the immune system at levels so low that tolerance can be maintained through peripheral mechanisms.
Getting on track: aligning the achievement gap conversation with ethical educational practice

ABSTRACTResearch developments on tracking as an educational practice have led to a renewed need to investigate the ways it is conceptualized and operationalized. This article addresses the educatio...
Teacher perceptions of gifted and talented certification practices in a Southern California school district: A replication study

This study focused on a partial replication of a mixed-methods study of teachers regarding certification practices in Gifted and Talented Education (GATE). Data sources included Likert survey quest...
Pulmonary Hypertension in Advanced Heart Failure: Assessment and Management of the Failing RV and LV.

In patients with heart failure with reduced ejection fraction, the presence of pulmonary hypertension (PH-LHD) has a significant impact on their prognosis. The purpose of this review is to explain the methods of diagnosing PH-LHD and then discuss the available therapeutic options. We begin by examining the methods of assessment of PH-LHD—echocardiography, cardiopulmonary exercise testing, and right heart catheterization—with a particular focus on the importance of accurate measurement to ensure the proper determination of PH-LHD. We then focus primarily on management of PH-LHD, with an examination of trials of therapeutic options, use of mechanical circulatory support, and transplantation. This review highlights the complexities in diagnosis and management of PH-LHD. We outline a number of useful ways to maximize the yield of diagnostic testing, as well as give suggestions on the use of medical therapies, the role of both temporary mechanical support and left ventricular assist device, and finally the ways to best bridge these patients to transplantation.
Examining Mortality to Identify Opportunities for Improved Care Among Adults with HIV in a Single Academic Medical Center

Abstract Mortality for people living with HIV (PLWH) has dramatically decreased since the mid-1990s and the proportion of deaths attributable to non-AIDS-related conditions has increased. Deceased ...
Leveraging Behavioral Economics to Reduce Low-value Prostate Cancer Screening

Behavioral economic principles model decision-making behavior, and offer promising and unexplored mechanisms for understanding the etiology of low-value care in urologic oncology. Clinical decision support built around these principles is poised to substantially reduce wasteful spending in prostate cancer screening.
Expansive framing as pragmatic theory for online and hybrid instructional design

This article explores the complex question of how instruction should be framed (i.e., contextualized). Reports from the US National Research Council reveal a broad consensus among experts that most instruction should be framed with problems, examples, cases, and illustrations. Such framing is assumed to help learners connect new knowledge to broader “real world” knowledge, motivate continued engagement, and ensure that learners can transfer their new knowledge to subsequent contexts. However, different theories of learning lead to different assumptions about when such frames should be introduced and how such frames should be created. This article shows how contemporary situative theories of learning argue that frames should be (a) introduced before instructional content, (b) generated by learners themselves, (c) used to make connections with people, places, topics, and times beyond the boundaries of the course, and (d) used to position learners as authors who hold themselves and their peers accountable for their participation in disciplinary discourse. This expansive approach to framing promises to support engagement with disciplinary content that is productive (i.e., increasingly sophisticated, raising new questions, recognizing confusion, making new connections, etc.) and generative (i.e., supporting transferable learning that is likely to be useful and used in a wide range of subsequent educational, professional, achievement, and personal contexts). A framework called Participatory Learning and Assessment (PLA) is presented that embeds expansively framed engagement within multiple levels of increasing formal assessments. This paper first summarizes PLA as theory-laden design principles. It then presents PLA as fourteen more prescriptive steps that some may find easier to implement, allowing them to learn as they go. Examples are presented from several courses from an extended program of design-based research using this approach in online and hybrid secondary, undergraduate, graduate, and technical courses.
The Swearer's Prayer

At the time elite Americans abandoned or modified Christian theologies of perdition, American procedural law relied ever more strongly on the traditional link between law and the theology of divine punishment: the testimonial oath. While conventional histories of American evidence law tell a rather straightforward modernization story of a move from premodern sacral modes of prooftaking to rational forensic modes of examination, this paper shows that oathtaking did not diminish under modern law reform but significantly expanded with the influence of New York's code of 1848. For the first time in America, procedure codes required all pleadings to be sworn by the parties, and all parties and interested witnesses were made competent to take the oath and testify on the stand. Lawyers at first expected the dread of cross examination to deter perjury, but they quickly adjusted their theories in practice to detect lying under oath, which they believed had become rampant under the codes. The lawyers' faith in their ability to detect truth were stymied as racialized witnesses came before the bar. In order to account for racial disqualifications on testimony in a world increasingly open to party testimony (and perjury), lawyers revived an older theology of perdition, swirling together supposedly premodern and rational modes of investigation well into the twentieth century.
Erythrocytes Reveal Complement Activation in Patients with COVID-19

COVID-19, the disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus, can progress to multi-organ failure characterized by respiratory insufficiency, arrhythmias, thromboembolic complications and shock. The mortality of patients hospitalized with COVID-19 is unacceptably high and new strategies are urgently needed to rapidly identify and treat patients at risk for organ failure. Clinical epidemiologic studies demonstrate that vulnerability to organ failure is greatest after viral clearance from the upper airway, which suggests that dysregulation of the host immune response is a critical mediator of clinical deterioration and death. Autopsy and pre-clinical evidence implicate aberrant complement activation in endothelial injury and organ failure. A potential therapeutic strategy warranting investigation is to inhibit complement, with case reports of successful treatment of COVID-19 with inhibitors of complement. However, this approach requires careful balance between the host protective and potential injurious effects of complement activation, and biomarkers to identify the optimal timing and candidates for therapy are lacking. Here we report the presence of complement activation products on circulating erythrocytes from hospitalized COVID-19 patients using flow cytometry. These findings suggest that novel erythrocyte-based diagnostics provide a method to identify patients with dysregulated complement activation.
Impact of phenolic compounds on progression of Xylella fastidiosa infections in susceptible and PdR1 -locus containing resistant grapevines

Pierce's disease is of major concern for grapevine (Vitis vinifera) production wherever the bacterial pathogen Xylella fastidiosa and its vectors are present. Long-term management includes the deployment of resistant grapevines such as those containing the PdR1 locus from the wild grapevine species Vitis arizonica, which do not develop Pierce's disease symptoms upon infection. However, little is understood about how the PdR1 locus functions to prevent disease symptom development. Therefore, we assessed the concentrations of plant defense-associated compounds called phenolics in healthy and X. fastidiosa-infected PdR1-resistant and susceptible grapevine siblings over time. Soluble foliar phenolic levels, especially flavonoids, in X. fastidiosa-infected PdR1-resistant grapevines were discovered to be significantly lower than those in infected susceptible grapevines. Therefore, it was hypothesized that PdR1-resistant grapevines, by possessing lowered flavonoid levels, affects biofilm formation and causes reduced X. fastidiosa intra-plant colonization, thus limiting the ability to increase pathogen populations and cause Pierce's disease. These results therefore reveal that differences in plant metabolite levels might be a component of the mechanisms that PdR1 utilizes to prevent Pierce's disease.
Equity as Meta-Law

With the merger of law and equity almost complete, the idea of equity as a special part of our legal system or a mode of decision-making has fallen out of view. This Article argues that much of equity is best understood as performing a vital function. Equity and related parts of the law solve complex and uncertain problems — including interdependent behavior and misuses of legal rules by opportunists — and do so in a characteristic fashion: as meta-law. From unconscionability to injunctions, equity makes reference to, supplements, and sometimes overrides the result that law would otherwise produce, while primary law operates without reference to equity. Equity operates on a domain of fraud, accident, and mistake, and employs triggers such as bad faith and disproportionate hardship to toggle into a “meta”-mode of more open-ended scrutiny. This Article provides a theoretical account of how a hybrid law, consisting of relatively simple and general primary-level law and relatively intense and directed second-order equity can regulate behavior better through these specialized modes than would homogeneous law alone. The Article tests this theory on the ostensibly most unpromising aspects of equity, the traditional equitable maxims, as well as equitable fraud, defenses, and remedies. Equity as meta-law sheds light on how the fusion of law and equity spawned multifactor balancing tests, polarized interpretation, and led to the confusion of equity with standards, discretion, purely public law, and “mere” remedies. Viewing equity as meta-law also improves on the tradeoff between formalism and contextualism and ultimately promotes the rule of law.
The impact of standard postoperative opioid prescribing guidelines on racial differences in opioid prescribing: A retrospective review

Abstract Background Racial disparities in opioid prescribing are widely documented, though few studies assess racial differences in the postoperative setting specifically. We hypothesized standard opioid prescribing schedules reduce total opioids prescribed postoperatively and mitigate racial variation in postoperative opioid prescribing. Methods This is a retrospective review of adult general surgery cases at a large, public academic institution. Standard opioid prescribing schedules were implemented across general surgery services for common procedures in late 2018 at various timepoints. Interrupted time series analysis was used to compare mean biweekly discharge morphine milligram equivalents prescribed in the preintervention (Jan–Jun 2018) versus postintervention (Jan–Jun 2019) periods for Black and White patients. Linear regression was used to compare mean difference in discharge morphine milligram equivalents among White and Black patients in each study period, while controlling for demographics, chronic opioid use, and procedure/service. Results A total of 2,961 cases were analyzed: 1,441 preintervention and 1,520 postintervention. Procedural frequencies, proportion of Black patients (17% Black), and chronic opioid exposure (7% chronic users) were similar across time periods. Interrupted time series analysis showed significantly lower mean level of morphine milligram equivalents prescribed postintervention compared with the predicted nonintervention trend for both Black and White patients. Adjusted analysis showed on average in 2018 Black patients received significantly higher morphine milligram equivalents than White patients (+19 morphine milligram equivalents, 95% confidence interval 0.5–36.5). There was no significant difference in 2019 (–8 morphine milligram equivalents, 95% confidence interval –20.5 to 4.6). Conclusion Standard opioid prescribing schedules were associated with the elimination of racial differences in postoperative opioid prescribing after common general surgery procedures, while also reducing total opioids prescribed. We hypothesize standard opioid prescribing schedules may mitigate the effect of implicit bias in prescribing.
Thirty Days of Aspirin for Venous Thromboembolism Prophylaxis Is Adequate Following Total Knee Arthroplasty, Regardless of the Dose Used.

Abstract Background The optimal length of aspirin prophylaxis to minimize venous thromboembolism (VTE) following total knee arthroplasty (TKA) remains unknown. This study aimed to determine the timing of VTE after TKA in patients who received low and high dose aspirin, and determine if 30 days of prophylaxis remains adequate. Methods We retrospectively reviewed records of 9208 patients undergoing primary TKA between 2010 and 2020 who received either low (81 mg twice daily, n = 4413) or high (325 mg twice daily, n = 4795) dose aspirin for VTE prophylaxis. Symptomatic VTEs occurring within 90 days of surgery were identified from medical records and phone call logs. Major bleeding events (MBE) within the first 30 days were also documented. Time to event was recorded. Results Overall, 88 patients (1.0%) developed symptomatic VTE, with no significant differences in incidence between the low (n = 40, 0.9%) and high (n = 48, 1.0%) dose groups (P = .669). The median time to VTE was 8 days (interquartile range [IQR] 2-15.5), median time to deep vein thrombosis was 12 days (IQR 5-18), and median time to pulmonary embolism was 5 days (IQR 1.5-15). There was a similar distribution in time to VTE in both the low and high dose groups. Aside from a single DVT occurring at day 44, all VTE occurred within 30 days of surgery. During the prophylactic time period, 41 patients (0.4%) developed MBE, which tended to occur more frequently (0.6% vs 0.3%, P = .018) and earlier in the high dose group. Conclusion Based on the findings, a 30-day low or high dose aspirin regimen remains optimal for prevention of VTE without increasing MBE in TKA patients.
Reducing Industry Complexity with International Standards: Current Efforts for Services, E-commerce, Artificial Intelligence

The global business environment has grown increasing complex due to economic, cultural, demographic, legal, trade, and political (to name a few) changes, differences, and disparity among nations and geographical regions. This complexity is exacerbated by rapid advances in technology which could be employed appropriately as accelerators or inappropriately as barriers to beneficial change to society. One of the ways industries seek to reduce complexity is through the development and use of standards that cover many areas of manufacturing, hardware, software, telecommunication, consumer products, business processes, construction, etc. In the last few decades, the advent of service innovation, e-commerce, and now digital platforms powered by AI have all given rise to international standardization efforts. In this paper we discuss some of these standardization efforts that are service-related and representative which are of interest to the Service Science community with the aim of informing and encouraging stakeholders to participate, contribute, and produce synergy among academic and industry partners.
How Chinese firms approach investment risk: strong leaders, cancellation, and pushback

How do Chinese firms assess investment risk? I argue that major Chinese firms tend to invest in countries whose leaders they perceive as strong. However, their perception of a host country leader’s...
Qualitative Descriptive Study of Illegal Behaviors Among Those With Gambling Disorder in South Korea: Their Efforts for Recovery and Role of Mental Health Care Providers.

The prevalence of Gambling Disorder among Koreans suggests that it is relatively higher than other countries. This study explored gambling-related crimes and related mental health care needs of those with Gambling Disorder on a case-by-case basis. Participants (n = 6) included men attending Gamblers Anonymous in South Korea with gambling debts and histories of illegal acts. Thematic analysis of qualitative interviews identified themes: (1) Meaning of Gambling Disorder in life, (2) Initiation of illegal acts stemming from Gambling Disorder, and (3) Life after addiction, efforts for recovery, and mental health care needs. Gambling Disorder destroyed lives and created criminal victims thereby threatening familial and community health.
Mode of death and outcomes of implantable cardioverter defibrillators in transthyretin amyloid cardiomyopathy.

Abstract Introduction Transthyretin cardiac amyloidosis (ATTR-CM) may associate with sudden cardiac death. We report on the mode of death and outcomes with implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICDs) in a cohort with ATTR-CM. Methods A single center observational cohort study of patients with ATTR-CM diagnosed between 2005 and 2019. ICD implant was at discretion of treating cardiologists. Medians are expressed with 25th,75th percentiles. Results Eighty-four patients with ATTR-CM (age 73.5 ± 9.7 years, 94% male, median follow-up 21.1 months (11.4–38.1). Nineteen patients (23%) underwent ICD implantation – 18 for primary and 1 for secondary prevention.. In the primary prevention ICD group, 1 patient had 2 inappropriate shocks, 1 patient had appropriate ATP on 3 occasions. One patient (mixed ischemic cardiomyopathy and ATTR-CM) with secondary prevention ICD had 15 appropriate shocks in 3 episodes of VT storm. In patients without ICD, ambulatory monitoring review (14,764 h) did not reveal sustained ventricular arrhythmia. Excluding the one patient with secondary prevention ICD, 5 (28%) in the primary prevention ICD group and 22 (34%) in the non-ICD group died, p = 0.14. Mode of death did not vary between both groups. Conclusions Patients with ATTR-CM and primary prevention ICD infrequently receive appropriate device therapy without differing in mode of death, which was mainly related to progressive heart failure, compared to those without ICD.
The Political Construction of Business Interests: Coordination, Growth, and Equality

Introduction 1. Collective political engagement and the welfare state 2. The political origins of coordinated capitalism 3. The political origins of Danish employers' associations 4. British experiments in national employers' organization 5. Sectional parties, divided business in the United States 6. The origins of sector coordination in Germany 7. Twenty-first century breakdown: challenges to coordination in the post-industrial age 8. Institutional sources of firms' preferences for the welfare state 9. Employers, coordination, and active labor market policy in post-industrial Denmark 10. Employers, coordination, and active labor market policy in post-industrial Britain 11. The failure of coordination and rise of dualism in Germany 12. The political foundations of redistribution and equality Conclusion: 13. Social solidarity after the crisis of finance capitalism.
Connecting Social Psychology and the Sociology of Sport: Using Goffman as a Framework for Sociological Sports Research

Research on the sociology of sports has much to contribute to public discourse on sports and is well positioned to do so through the connection between sociology of sports and social psychology. This article uses the work of Erving Goffman (1967) as a framework for situating research in the sociology of sports into the themes of courage and gameness, integrity, and composure. This framework provides a way of organizing research in the field and also highlights areas where further research is needed.
Nitroxides in Synthetic Radical Chemistry

Nitroxides are persistent organic free radicals utilized in synthesis as carbon radical trapping agents and as oxidants. Since nitroxides trap carbon radicals at close to diffusion-controlled rates, carbon radicals are either trapped directly or undergo fast cyclizations or rearrangements before trapping. The resulting alkoxyamines are typically reduced to the alcohol or oxidized to the ketone. Alkoxyamines bearing radical-stabilizing groups on the alkyl fragment undergo reversible homolysis on heating, allowing cyclizations or intermolecular olefin additions based on the persistent radical effect. Nitroxides are widely used as oxidants, either by a single electron transfer mechanism or, most commonly, via the oxoammonium salt. Oxoammonium salts oxidize alcohols by two different mechanisms, depending on the pH. Strongly acidic conditions favor oxidation of secondary over primary alcohols, whereas mild acidic or basic conditions give the opposite selectivity. The oxoammonium can be utilized stoichiometrically or catalytically with a primary cooxidant. Optically active nitroxides effect kinetic resolution and desymmetrization. Sulfides, allylic CH bonds, and benzylic ethers also undergo oxidation. Activation of nitroxides by complexation with metals provides an electrophilic oxygen trap for nucleophiles such as enamines and hydride. Electron-poor nitroxides abstract activated hydrogens, and add to phenols, resulting in quinone formation. Keywords: nitroxide; radical; oxoammonium salt; alkoxyamine; persistent; redox; oxidant; single electron transfer; hydrogen abstraction
Transmission Expansion in the New Environment

This chapter gives an account of the regulatory rules, rights and responsibilities essential for adequate transmission expansion in the new environment of the market-based electricity industry. We point out that the lack of incentives for transmission system expansion is the major cause for the current trend of declining reliability. The trend will continue unless the su cient capital for the system expansion can be raised by the transmission owners/providers. The market mechanism needed for attracting such capital is presented in this chapter. It is important to recognize that in the new environment the role of transmission provider is no longer limited to managing physical transmission grids but also includes providing the communication infrastructure for transmitting accurate and transparent information regarding the system status to market participants in near real time. From the perspective of serving market participants as real customers through this new infrastructure the transmission provider is an active economic entity with the objective of pro t maximization. With this in mind then the transmission expansion becomes merely a necessary ingredient for creating symbiotic relationship between the transmission provider and her customers. We conclude with describing a few indispensable tools in development for accommodating the evolving demand of customers in the market as presented in the chapter.
Multiclass support vector machines for articulatory feature classification

This ongoing research project investigates articulatory feature (AF) classification using multiclass support vector machines (SVMs). SVMs are being constructed for each AF in the multi-valued feature set (Table 1), using speech data and annotation from the IFA Dutch “Open-Source” (van Son et al. 2001) and TIMIT English (Garofolo et al. 1993) corpora. The primary objective of this research is to assess the AF classification performance of different multiclass generalizations of the SVM, including one-versus-rest, one-versus-one, Decision Directed Acyclic Graph (DDAG), and direct methods for multiclass learning. Observing the successful application of SVMs to numerous classification problems (Bennett and Campbell 2000), it is hoped that multiclass SVMs will outperform existing state-of-the-art AF classifiers. One of the most basic challenges for speech recognition and other spoken language systems is to accurately map data from the acoustic domain into the linguistic domain. Much speech processing research has approached this task by taking advantage of the correlation between phones, the basic units of speech sound, and their acoustic manifestation (intuitively, there is a range of sounds that humans would consider to be an “e”). The mapping of acoustic data to phones has been largely successful, and is used in many speech systems today. Despite its success, there are drawbacks to using phones as the point of entry from the acoustic to linguistic domains. Notably, the granularity of the “phoneticsegmental” model, in which speech is represented as a series of phones, makes it difficult to account for various subphone phenomena that affect performance on spontaneous speech. Researchers have pursued an alternative approach to the acoustic-linguistic mapping through the use of articulatory modeling. This approach more directly exploits the intimate relation between articulation and acoustics: the state of one’s speech articulators (e.g. vocal folds, tongue) uniquely determines the parameters of the acoustic speech signal. Unfortunately, while the mapping from articulator to acoustics is straightforward, the problem of recovering the state of the articulators from an acoustic speech representation, acoustic-to-articulatory inversion, poses a formidable challenge (Toutios and Margaritis 2003). Nevertheless, re-
Biosynthesis of soluble elastin by pig aortic tissue in vitro.

Abstract Incubation of normal newborn pig aorta with [14C]valine yielded a labeled protein that was isolated and purified with salt-soluble elastin from copper-deficient pig aorta as carrier. The labeled protein is soluble in strong neutral salt solution in the cold. It coacervates reversibly and can be separated into a hydrophobic phase by centrifugation at 32–37°. The protein migrates on polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis in 6 m urea with a relative mobility of 0.066 ± 0.005. The molecular weight and hydrophobic properties identify the newly synthesized protein with soluble elastin. The comparably high specific activity of the insoluble elastin isolated from the incubation mixture indicates that the soluble protein is a rapidly cross-linked precursor of insoluble elastin.
Defining Roles for Logistics During Routine and Radical Technological Innovation

Technological innovation has become increasingly important to new product development in American industry because of the potential competitive advantage it offers. In this study extensive observation and interviewing over more than two years in one prominent Frtune 500 industrial manufacturer provides strong evidence that logistics can and does play important—and sometimes surprising—roles in the development and launch of new technological products. This article describes logistics activities during the development and launch of technological innovations, identifies key roles played by logistics, relates lessons learned and proposes directions for future research.
Language Lessons on the PLATO IV System.

Abstract In the area of language study, many educators are becoming interested in the teaching potential of Computer-Assisted Instruction (CAI). The purpose of this paper is to enumerate some of the techniques and lesson types that are used in foreign language (FL) courseware on the PLATO IV system at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. First, the PLATO IV system is outlined in terms of technical capabilities and its integration into the curricula of language classes. Then, some FL courseware is described to exemplify many aspects of reading, writing and listening which can be practiced by students on a computer. It is hoped that these examples can serve as a point of departure for development of future FL courseware.
A Novel Carbohydrate Addition Site on the Hemagglutinin Protein of a Highly Pathogenic H7 Subtype Avian Influenza Virus

The highly pathogenic (HP) avian influenza isolate, A/Fowl/Victoria/76 (H7N7), contains two naturally occurring hemagglutinin (HA) variants. The two hemagglutinin proteins differ only in the possession of a potential asparagine-linked glycosylation site at amino acid position 188-190, which is near the proposed receptor binding region of the HA. Expanded virus plaques which possess the addition site exhibit more slowly migrating HA1 subunits and are significantly more lethal in chickens than those which lack the site. When artificial mixtures of the two variants were inoculated in birds, as few as 1 in 1000 particles containing the glycosylation site was sufficient to exhibit 100% lethality in birds. The data raise the possibility that presence of carbohydrate near the receptor site on the H7 avian influenza virus hemagglutinin may influence virulence.
Software development with code maps

Jane is a developer who has been on her team so long that everyone calls her the team historian. Since the product just shipped a few weeks ago, Jane is finally getting around to some code cleanup she had planned for ages—namely, dropping a dependency on a library that is no longer supported. Jane uses her development environment to search for all the places where her product uses the unsupported library. She clicks through the results one by one and reads the code to understand how it uses the library. As she jumps around the code base, she sketches a class diagram on a notepad to capture the architectural dependencies she discovers. Partway through this code-understanding task, there’s a knock at the door. It’s Joe, the newest member of the team. He is working on a bug and is confused about how one of the product’s features is implemented. As the team historian, Jane is used to this type of question. They start the conversation by looking at an architectural diagram tacked to the wall near Jane’s computer. To get into specifics, Jane draws a version of the diagram on the whiteboard, sketching only the relevant parts of the architecture but in more detail than the printed diagram. As she talks Joe through a use case, she overlays the diagram with arrows to show how different parts of the system interact. From time to time, she brings up relevant code in her development environment to relate the diagram back to the code. After several minutes, Joe feels confident he understands the design and heads back to his office. Jane goes back to her own work. Between exploring the search results and answering Joe’s questions, Jane’s development environment now has dozens of open documents. Jane tries to resume her task but cannot find where she left off in all the clutter. She closes all open documents, reissues her original search, finds her place in the search results, and carries on exploring the dependency on the unsupported library.
The effect of sporadic e on television reception

For several years now reports of long distance reception have been coming in from, television viewers. Host frequently these receptions have spanned distances of around 1,000 miles. There has been considerable speculation as to whether these anomalous receptions were tropospheric in origin or transmitted via the sporadic-E region of the ionosphere. A consideration is made here of the type of evidence leading one to conclude that transmission paths up to 500 miles can, roughly speaking, be attributed to tropospheric propagation, while sporadic E accounts for those transmissions of between 500 and about 1,600 miles. The importance of these receptions to television service in the United States lies not so much in the service gained through the long distance receptions themselves, but in the possible interference to a station's fringe area from distant co-channel stations.
A digital technique for the measurement of power losses in high temperature superconductors

A digital power loss measurement technique that enables the fast and accurate measurement of AC power losses in superconductors is described. This technique allows loss measurements at all frequencies limited only by the maximum sampling rate and buffer memory of the digital measuring device. Using the digital technique, power loss measurements on YBa/sub 2/Cu/sub 3/O/sub 7/ are compared to similar measurements using the analog wattmeter. >
Stimulation of the phosphatidyl-inositol pathway can induce T-cell activation

The T-cell antigen receptor (TCR) regulates two signal transduction pathways: the phosphatidylinositol (PtdIns) and tyrosine kinase pathways. Stimulation of T cells with antigen or anti-TCR monoclonal antibodies induces an increase in inositol phosphates and diacylglycerol, the second messengers responsible for the mobilization of cytoplasmic free calcium and activation of protein kinase C-4. The TCR also activates a tyrosine kinase that is not intrinsic to the TCR. The relationship between these two signal transduction pathways and their contribution to later T-cell responses is unclear. Studies using variants of a murine hybridoma suggested that the PtdIns pathway might not be necessary for or be involved in regulating interleukin-2 (IL-2) production. To address the relationship between later T-cell responses and the early biochemical signals, we investigated the ability of a heterologous receptor with defined signal transduction function to induce T-cell activation. The human muscarinic subtype-1 receptor (HM1), which elicits PtdIns metabolism in neuronal cells through a G protein-coupled mechanism, also functionally activates this pathway when expressed in the T-cell line Jurkat-derived host, J-HM1-2.2 (ref.8). We show here that stimulation of HM1 alone induced IL-2 production and IL-2 receptor alpha chain expression. HM1 does not induce the tyrosine kinase pathway, suggesting that this pathway does not directly influence later T cell-activation responses. Instead, our studies indicate that activation of the PtdIns pathway is probably sufficient to induce later T-cell responses.
Spontaneous uroflowmetry in prostatism.

Uroflowmetry is a valuable urodynamic screening procedure in selecting patients with prostatism for surgery. A prospective study was undertaken in which patients were selected for transurethral resection of the prostate by means of nonurodynamic data only. All patients underwent extensive urodynamic testing. Fifty-three patients were studied preoperatively, while 38 were examined at three months and 22 at twelve months postoperatively. A weak correlation was noted between maximum flow rate and symptom scores, pressure variables, and minimum urethral resistance. However, classification of patients by groups of high, medium, and low maximum flow rates did not identify groups of patients with less favorable outcome of surgery, i.e., patients with higher flow rates did as well as those with lower flow rates. A clear role for spontaneous uroflowmetry could not be identified in the preoperative evaluation of patients with prostatism.
The wear of dental amalgam in an artificial mouth: a clinical correlation.

Abstract The wear of dental amalgam by a smear mechanism and amalgam transfer onto the opposing cusp was confirmed by simulated studies in an artificial mouth. The coefficient of wear for dental amalgam was 4.89×10−5. Calculation of the coefficient of friction for the enamel/amalgam couple indicated that friction was overcome by shallow slippage and shear within the amalgam. On the basis of these facts, the good wear performance of both the amalgam and the opposing enamel was rationalized. A retrospective clinical correlation of amalgam wear in an artificial mouth showed a correlation coefficient of 0.938 as far as the mean wear values were concerned. Further the wear rates in both studies were linear except in a narrow region at time zero. The variances, however, in the 2 studies were very different. The desirability of in vitro studies to reproduce the same variance, as well as the same mean values, is a point for further discussion and experimentation.
Long-term (1930–2010) trends in groundwater levels in Texas: Influences of soils, landcover and water use

Abstract Rapid groundwater depletion has raised grave concerns about sustainable development in many parts of Texas, as well as in other parts of the world. Previous hydrologic investigations on groundwater levels in Texas were conducted mostly on aquifer-specific basis, and hence lacked state-wide panoramic view. The aim of this study was to present a qualitative overview of long-term (1930–2010) trends in groundwater levels in Texas and identify spatial patterns by applying different statistical (boxplots, correlation–regression, hierarchical cluster analysis) and geospatial techniques (Moran's I, Local Indicators of Spatial Association) on 136,930 groundwater level observations from Texas Water Development Board's database. State-wide decadal median water-levels declined from about 14 m from land surface in the 1930s to about 36 m in the 2000s. Number of counties with deeper median water-levels (water-level depth > 100 m) increased from 2 to 13 between 1930s and 2000s, accompanied by a decrease in number of counties having shallower median water-levels (water-level depth
Rotating Disk Electrode (RDE) Investigation of BH4− and BH3OH− Electro-oxidation at Pt and Au: Implications for BH4− Fuel Cells

We present a thorough electrochemical study of the mechanism of borohydride oxidation on gold and platinum surfaces via cyclic voltammetry and rotating disk and ring-disk electrode voltammetry. We ...
The Role of CXC Chemokines in the Regulation of Angiogenesis in Association with Lung Cancer

Recent evidence demonstrates that members of the CXC chemokine family can act as either angiogenic or angiostatic factors, depending on the presence of the ELR (Glu-Leu-Arg) motif in their NH(2) terminus. As such, these molecules have been shown to regulate tumor growth and metastasis in an animal model of human non-small cell lung cancer. ELR-positive members (for example, IL-8) are tumor-derived proteins that promote tumor growth and metastasis. Conversely, ELR-negative members (for example, IP-10 and MIG) are endogenous factors that inhibit tumor growth and metastasis. The levels of these factors in human tumor specimens may have predictive value for determining which patients are at risk for developing metastasis, and alteration of these CXC chemokine levels may provide a therapeutic intervention.
Some observations on the analytical utility of hollow cathode lamp excited inductively coupled plasma-atomic fluorescence spectrometry for the determination of metallic elements in aqueous solutions

Abstract A commercially available inductively coupled plasma-atomic fluorescence spectrometer (Model 2000 ICP-AFS, Baird Corp., Bedford, MA) has been used for multielement determinations for calcium, chromium, iron, lead, magnesium, potassium, and zinc over a wide range of concentrations. Hollow cathode lamps are used for excitation. Optimum operational conditions, matrix interferences, and acid effects for single- and multielement determinations have been investigated. A “Y”-shaped tubing connector was used for automatic sample dilution and enlargement of working linear ranges of the calibration curves. Acceptable accuracy is shown by the agreement of the ICP-AFS results of standard reference material food and plant samples.
An in situ assay for induced diphtheria-toxin-resistant mutants of diploid human fibroblasts.

The sensitivity of diploid human fibroblasts to the cytotoxic effects of diphtheria toxin (DT) depended on cell growth status. Exponentially growing cells treated with 10(-3)-1 lethal flocculating units (LF) of DT/ml for 4 days survived with a frequency of 4 x 10(-4). However, the DT-resistant phenotype of colonies isolated under these conditions was not stable. When the growth of the cells had been arrested by confluence or deprivation of serum growth factors prior to treatment with DT (4 days, 10(-3)-0.6 LF/ml), the survival decreased to 2 x 10(-6) and the resistance of isolated colonies was stable. An in situ assay for induced DT-resistant mutants was developed in order to avoid problems associated with the possible reduced viability of the mutants relative to that of wild-type cells. A reproducible and linear dose response was obtained for the induction of DT-resistant mutants by ethylnitrosourea. The mutants were induced with high frequency by this compound (e.g., 10(-3) mutants/viable cell at a 37% survival dose); complete expression of the mutant phenotype occurred after 6 generations of growth under nonselective conditions. Isolated mutant colonies showed stable resistance to DT and were cross-resistant to Pseudomonas aeruginosa exotoxin A.
Early Control of H5N1 Influenza Virus Replication by the Type I Interferon Response in Mice

Widespread distribution of highly pathogenic avian H5N1 influenza viruses in domesticated and wild birds continues to pose a threat to public health, as interspecies transmission of virus has resulted in increasing numbers of human disease cases. Although the pathogenic mechanism(s) of H5N1 influenza viruses has not been fully elucidated, it has been suggested that the ability to evade host innate responses, such as the type I interferon response, may contribute to the virulence of these viruses in mammals. We investigated the role that type I interferons (alpha/beta interferon [IFN-α/β]) might play in H5N1 pathogenicity in vivo, by comparing the kinetics and outcomes of H5N1 virus infection in IFN-α/β receptor (IFN-α/βR)-deficient and SvEv129 wild-type mice using two avian influenza A viruses isolated from humans, A/Hong Kong/483/97 (HK/483) and A/Hong Kong/486/97 (HK/486), which exhibit high and low lethality in mice, respectively. IFN-α/βR-deficient mice experienced significantly more weight loss and more rapid time to death than did wild-type mice. HK/486 virus caused a systemic infection similar to that with HK/483 virus in IFN-α/βR-deficient mice, suggesting a role for IFN-α/β in controlling the systemic spread of this H5N1 virus. HK/483 virus replicated more efficiently than HK/486 virus both in vivo and in vitro. However, replication of both viruses was significantly reduced following pretreatment with IFN-α/β. These results suggest a role for the IFN-α/β response in the control of H5N1 virus replication both in vivo and in vitro, and as such it may provide some degree of protection to the host in the early stages of infection.