cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Regulation of gene expression by growth hormone

Growth hormone (GH) plays a pivotal role in many physiological processes in humans, and in other mammalian and non-mammalian vertebrate species, through actions on somatic growth, tissue development and repair, and intermediary metabolism. This review will focus on mechanisms of GH actions on gene expression, primarily from the perspective of the genes that encode proteins stimulated by GH to regulate somatic growth, especially insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-I), but also others that are induced or repressed by GH. Topics to be discussed will include a brief overview of GH-mediated signal transduction pathways and how these cascades alter the functions of responsive transcription factors, with a specific focus on STAT5B, a key member of the signal transducers and activators of transcription family, characterization of essential GH-regulated genes, and elucidation of mechanisms of their regulation from biochemical, genetic, and genomic perspectives.
Impact of Beamforming on Delay Spread in Wideband Millimeter-wave Systems

The harsh propagation environment at millimeter-wave (mmW) frequencies can be countered by using large antenna arrays, which can be steered electronically to create directional beams. Knowledge of the key channel characteristics in this environment, including the delay spread, the coherence time, and the coherence bandwidth, plays a significant role in optimal adaptation of the transmission waveform. In this paper, we focus on analyzing the delay spread of a directional mmW channel. A high delay spread causes inter-symbol interference (ISI), which can be mitigated by concatenating cyclic prefixes (CPs) to data symbols at the expense of lower spectral efficiency. Considering a single mmW link, whose transmitter (Tx) and receiver (Rx) are equipped with uniform planar arrays (UPAs), we study the impact of various beamforming attributes (e.g., antenna-array size, beamwidth, beam direction, and beam misalignment) on the average and root-mean-square delay spread. We use detailed simulations with accurate 3GPP channel models and conduct extensive experiments using a $4\times 8$ UPA at 28 GHz to verify our analysis. Based on this analysis, we study the optimal beamforming configuration at the Rx for a given Tx beamformer so as to maximize the spectral efficiency. Our proposed beam selection method finds the best Rx beam direction that results in a low delay spread and high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). Our extensive simulation and experimental results verify that this method significantly improves the spectral efficiency, almost doubling the data rate in some cases.
Understanding Environmental Pollution: Zero waste, zero emissions

“The time has come for humankind not to expect the Earth to produce more, but rather to do more with what the Earth already produces.” Belgium industrialist, Gunter Pauli How can we speak of zero waste or zero emissions if, as you learned earlier no process is 100% efficient? The answer is that zero waste is a philosophy, one that says there is no waste: what we call “waste” or “pollutant” is really a useful resource. This philosophy recognizes too that, if we aspire to reduce waste by 100%, we accomplish more than if our goal was 40% or 80%. Sections I to III below emphasize dematerialization , reducing the quantities of materials we use. Section I asks how well we are doing in reducing waste and pollution, and looks at the waste that the United States produces. Section II discusses industrial ecology , a discipline with the goal of enmeshing industrial society into the environment. It also raises the idea of increasing our efficiency in resource use 4-fold, perhaps as much as 10- to 20-fold. Section III examines tools useful in working toward zero waste, including life-cycle assessment (LCA) and design for the environment (DfE). Other tools too point toward ways to reduce use of resources: servicizing and product stewardship . Section IV takes us to detoxification ; that is, changing the chemicals we use and how we produce them, “green chemistry.” The intention is to reduce chemical risk to humans and the environment. Finally, Section V asks, is there progress toward zero waste?
Chapter 39 – Cell Culture

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses cell culture technique in which cells are removed from an organism and placed in a fluid medium. Under proper conditions, the cells can live and even grow. The growth can be characterized by cell division (mitosis) or by other processes, such as differentiation, during which the cells can change into specific types that are capable of functions analogous to tissues or organs in the whole organism. By removing the tissue or cells from the insect, it is possible to delineate how individual compounds affect them. Some of the most useful work has been with ecdysone, the insect molting hormone. Certain disease-causing organisms, such as viruses, rickettsia, and certain protozoans, are obligate pathogens. Cell cultures can be extremely useful with such pathogens because this is often the only way to grow them outside a whole animal or plant and make them much easier to study. Some of the early work with insect cell culture was initiated with a group of viruses known as nucleopolyhedrovirus. These viruses cause diseases in a large number of pest insects and thus are potential biological control agents. Cell cultures grown in large volumes can be used to produce these viruses for biologically based pesticides. Some insects are also notorious for their ability to transmit diseases to higher animals and plants. Cell cultures from mosquitoes and other insects can also be used to study these pathogens.
The yeast Hrq1 helicase stimulates Pso2 translesion nuclease activity and thereby promotes DNA interstrand crosslink repair

DNA interstrand crosslink (ICL) repair requires a complex network of DNA damage response pathways. Removal of the ICL lesions is vital, as they are physical barriers to essential DNA processes that require the separation of duplex DNA, such as replication and transcription. The Fanconi anemia (FA) pathway is the principal mechanism for ICL repair in metazoans and is coupled to DNA replication. In Saccharomyces cerevisiae, a vestigial FA pathway is present, but ICLs are predominantly repaired by a pathway involving the Pso2 nuclease, which is hypothesized to use its exonuclease activity to digest through the lesion to provide access for translesion polymerases. However, Pso2 lacks translesion nuclease activity in vitro, and mechanistic details of this pathway are lacking, especially relative to FA. We recently identified the Hrq1 helicase, a homolog of the disease-linked enzyme RecQ-like helicase 4 (RECQL4), as a component of Pso2-mediated ICL repair. Here, using genetic, biochemical, and biophysical approaches, including single-molecule FRET (smFRET)– and gel-based nuclease assays, we show that Hrq1 stimulates the Pso2 nuclease through a mechanism that requires Hrq1 catalytic activity. Importantly, Hrq1 also stimulated Pso2 translesion nuclease activity through a site-specific ICL in vitro. We noted that stimulation of Pso2 nuclease activity is specific to eukaryotic RecQ4 subfamily helicases, and genetic and biochemical data suggest that Hrq1 likely interacts with Pso2 through their N-terminal domains. These results advance our understanding of FA-independent ICL repair and establish a role for the RecQ4 helicases in the repair of these detrimental DNA lesions.
COVID-19 and Radiology Resident Imaging Volumes-Differential Impact by Resident Training Year and Imaging Modality.

Rationale and Objectives The COVID-19 pandemic has greatly impacted radiology departments across the country. The pandemic has also disrupted resident education, both due to departmental social distancing efforts and reduced imaging volumes. The purpose of this study was to assess the differential impact the pandemic had on radiology resident imaging volumes by training year and imaging modality. Materials and Methods All signed radiology resident reports were curated during defined prepandemic and intrapandemic time periods. Imaging case volumes were analyzed on a mean per resident basis to quantify absolute and percent change by training level. Change in total volume by imaging modality was also assessed. The number of resident workdays assigned outside the normal reading room was also calculated. Results Overall percent decline in resident imaging interpretation volume from the prepandemic to intrapandemic time period was 62.8%. R1s and R2s had the greatest decline at 87.3% and 64.3%, respectively. Mammography, MRI and nuclear medicine had the greatest decline in resident interpretation volume at 92.0%, 73.2%, and 73.0%, respectively. During the intrapandemic time period, a total of 478 resident days (mean of 14.5 days per resident) were reassigned outside of the radiology reading room. Conclusion The COVID-19 pandemic caused a marked decrease in radiology resident imaging interpretation volume and has had a tremendous impact on resident education. The decrease in case interpretation, as well as in-person teaching has profound implications for resident education. Knowledge of this differential decrease by training level will help residency programs plan for the future.
Comparative risk of musculoskeletal adverse reactions among new users of dipeptidyl peptidase-4 inhibitors: A retrospective cohort study

Abstract Background The effects of dipeptidyl peptidase-4 inhibitors (DPP4Is) on joint pain have been controversial. Objective To assess the comparative musculoskeletal (MSk) risk of DPP4Is vs. non-DPP4Is. Methods This study used a national claims database from January 2007 to December 2014. Exposure included the initiation of DPP4Is against the initiation of non-DPP4Is: metformin, sulfonylureas, thiazolidinediones, meglitinides, and glucagonlike peptide-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1 RAs). Insulin was not included in this study. Outcomes were newly diagnosed MSk conditions (arthralgia, arthropathy, and rheumatoid arthritis or other inflammatory polyarthropathies). Individuals exposed to DPP4Is were matched to those exposed to non-DPP4Is using a propensity score (PS). Balance between the DPP4I's group and the non-DPP4I's group was assessed using standardized differences for both continuous and categorical variables. Cox regressions were used to estimate hazard ratios (HRs) for MSk conditions. Results Among PS-matched cohorts, incidence rates (IRs) for MSk conditions did not differ between DPP4I initiators and non-DPP4I initiators (HR = 1.01, 95% CI: 0.97–1.05). After stratifying non-DPP4Is by drug class, the results still showed that DPP4I initiators had similar MSk risk when compared to initiators of metformin, sulfonylureas, meglitinides, and GLP-1 RAs. However, thiazolidinedione initiators had higher risk of MSk conditions than DPP4I initiators (HR = 1.05, 95% CI: 1.00–1.10). Conclusions This head-to-head comparison study estimated comparative MSk risks among different antidiabetic drugs. The risk of MSk conditions among DPP4I initiators were not significantly higher than non-DPP4I initiators.
mPyPl: Python Monadic Pipeline Library for Complex Functional Data Processing.

In this paper, we present a new Python library called mPyPl, which is intended to simplify complex data processing tasks using functional approach. This library defines operations on lazy data streams of named dictionaries represented as generators (so-called multi-field datastreams), and allows enriching those data streams with more 'fields' in the process of data preparation and feature extraction. Thus, most data preparation tasks can be expressed in the form of neat linear 'pipeline', similar in syntax to UNIX pipes, or |> functional composition operator in F#. We define basic operations on multi-field data streams, which resemble classical monadic operations, and show similarity of the proposed approach to monads in functional programming. We also show how the library was used in complex deep learning tasks of event detection in video, and discuss different evaluation strategies that allow for different compromises in terms of memory and performance.
The Unbelievable Truth and the Dilemmas of Ignorance

What shape can resistance take if one’s relationship to the dynamics of power and knowledge seem to work in one’s favor? And how does the form of ignorance structuring white epistemology complicate the case of antiracist white agency, simultaneously bound, as it seems to be, by its own self-interested deception and the attempt to undo the normalizing power that structures its own knowing? These questions became central to a class discussing Peggy McIntosh’s claim that white privilege is like an invisible knapsack providing whites with myriad forms of unjustifiable social, political, and psychological advantages. A debate began about the extent to which whites really are ignorant of their privileges. A young white woman suggested that whites are more aware of their privileges than McIntosh’s argument allowed for. A young black woman retorted, “White people who grew up in the lily white suburbs are not consciously reaping rewards from their privilege; how are they supposed to know about it when they’ve never been exposed?” The white woman indignantly replied, “ask any white person if they want to be black, what do you think they would say?” As Megan Boler might ask, what are the affective investments in each conviction? Was the white student performing a false sense of superiority even as she tried to dismantle it by posing the question? Was the black student potentially threatened by the notion that whites are at least in part conscious of the fact that whiteness functions as property? Which kinds of ignorance were necessary to structure students’ self-understandings and which need to be challenged?
On motivating engineers

Engineers are distinct from other occupations and therefore require specific techniques for proper motivation. This paper presents several motivational techniques specifically focused on motivating engineering professionals. Additionally, several common demotivating practices are described so companies and managers can avoid them. While there are no universal rules that will apply to every individual, this paper will provide some general guidelines that managers can use as a motivational toolbox.
AFRAID: a frequently redundant array of independent disks

Disk arrays are commonly designed to ensure that stored data will always be able to withstand a disk failure, but meeting this goal comes at a significant cost in performance. We show that this is unnecessary. By trading away a fraction of the enormous reliability provided by disk arrays, it is possible to achieve performance that is almost as good as a non-parity-protected set of disks. In particular, our AFRAID design eliminates the small-update penalty that plagues traditional RAID 5 disk arrays. It does this by applying the data update immediately, but delaying the parity update to the next quiet period between bursts of client activity. That is, AFRAID makes sure that the array is frequently redundant, even if it isn't always so. By regulating the parity update policy, AFRAID allows a smooth trade-off between performance and availability. Under real-life workloads, the AFRAID design can provide close to the full performance of an array of unprotected disks, and data availability comparable to a traditional RAID 5. Our results show that AFRAID offers 42% better performance for only 10% less availability, 97% better for 23% less, and as much as a factor of 4.1 times better performance for giving up less than half RAID 5's availability. We explore here the detailed availability and performance implications of the AFRAID approach.
Wrinkling due to mid-dermal elastolysis: two cases and literature review.

Antecedents: L'elastolyse du derme moyen est un trouble acquis des tissus elastiques cliniquement caracterise par un plissement fin de la peau, la plupart du temps au tronc et aux bras. L'analyse histologique revele une bande claire d'elastolyse dans le derme moyen. Objectif: Il existe de nombreux exemples connus d'elastolyse diffuse, mais seul un petit nombre de cas d'elastolyse du derme moyen ont ete signales a ce jour. L'article presente deux patients presentant des signes cliniques et histologiques d'une elastolyse du derme moyen, contient une revue de la documentation et un sommaire des principales caracteristiques de quelques affections communes des tissus elastiques. Methodes: Le premier patient presentait de petits plis et des papules sur tout le haut des bras et de la poitrine ainsi qu'aux aisselles, en plus d'une laxite accrue des paupieres. La seconde presentait des plis d'apparence remarquable, formant des bandes sur les bras, le haut du torse, le dos et l'abdomen. Aucun des deux n'a jamais souffert d'inflammation cutanee, d'urticaire ni d'autre affection sous-jacente liee aux changements constates dans leur peau. Des biopsies ont ete faites sur les lesions et en peripherie. Les tissus ont ete colores a l'hematoxyline et a l'eosine puis avec un colorant pour tissus elastiques. En outre, un echantillon tissulaire preleve sur le patient n° 1 a ete fixe sur lamelle pour examen au microscope electronique. Resultats: La coloration a l'hematoxyline et a l'eosine n'a pas montre de changements specifiques ni revele de scenario diagnostique. Toutefois, la coloration des tissus elastiques a revele une perte tissulaire en forme de bande dans le derme moyen. Le tissu elastique du derme profond s'est colore normalement. L'examen au microscope electronique a confirme ces observations et montre une perte substantielle du tissu elastique, limitee toutefois au derme moyen. Conclusion: Nous avons presente deux cas d'elastolyse du derme moyen et etudie la documentation. A ce jour, les effets patho-physiologiques de l'elastolyse du derme moyen n'ont pas ete elucides et il n'existe pas de therapie probante.
Cocaine and exercise: temporal changes in plasma levels of catecholamines, lactate, glucose, and cocaine

To determine the combined sympathoadrenal effects of cocaine and exercise in awake animals, rats were assigned to one of four treatment groups: saline-rest (SR), saline-exercise (SE), cocaine-rest (CR), and cocaine-exercise (CE). Venous blood samples from jugular catheters were obtained at -40, 0-4, 7, 10, 13, 16, 19, 26, and 36 min after intravenous injection of cocaine (5 mg/kg) or saline and the simultaneous onset of a 16-min treadmill run (26 m/min, 10% grade). CE increased plasma epinephrine (24.2 nM at 16 min), norepinephrine (28.0 nM at 10 min), and lactate (11.2 mM at 4 min) to levels 2-5 times greater than either treatment (SE and CR) alone (P<0.05) and 11-35 times higher that SR. Blood glucose values were significantly depressed in CE (-33% vs. SE) but increased in CR (+26% vs. SR). Plasma cocaine peaked < 2 min after injection in both CR and CE, and the peak was 69% higher in CE (P<0.05); however, the plasma elimination half-life (12-14 min) was not different. These results indicate that the combined effect of the two sympathoadrenal stimulants, exercise and cocaine, amplify the catecholamine responses to levels far greater than when each stimulant is used alone.
Classification with feature selection via mathematical programming

Let a set of training and test samples be given, and the samples from the training set be partitioned into a number of classes, while classification of the test samples is unknown. The classification problem consists in determining classes of the test samples utilizing the information provided by the training set. Usually, not all features of the data set are informative for discovering the classification, and a subset of features relevant to it should be found. This task is called the feature selection. We handle it from the viewpoint of mathematical programming in the following way. We consider several unsupervised clustering principles and use them as constraints, while representing the desirable properties of feature selection as the objective function. In particular, we consider k-means local optimality constraints, pairwise threshold constraints, and biclustering consistency constraints. The involved objectives are used either to maximize separation of classes or to minimize the information loss. The developed optimization-based approach has shown good performance on well-known DNA microarray data sets.
Polysiloxanes for deep UV lithography

Abstract The sensitivity of linear siloxane polymers has been increased in the deep uv by the addition of photoinitiators. The resist system discussed in this paper has a sensitivity of 20mJ/cm 2 at 2537A., with a contrast (γ) of 2.6. When used as a thin imaging layer in a double layer system, 0.75um resolution has been achieved on the PE500 exposure tool. Data is presented on exposure linewidth variation, resist stability, and etch rate in an oxygen plasma.
Formation of perchloroaromatics during trichloroethylene pyrolysis

Abstract Measurements of condensed-phase products of trichloroethylene (C 2 HCl 3 ) pyrolysis in a drop-tube reactor were obtained over a temperature range of 1100–1500 K. A predominance of perchloroaromatics was found, in sharp contrast to the largely unsubstituted polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons obtained from the pyrolysis of a mixture of C 2 HCl 3 and toluene under similar conditions. A second major difference in the products of these fuels was the much lower carbon number distribution in the pure C 2 HCl 3 pyrolysis tars (ranging from C 4 to C 14 ), indicative of a significantly reduced rate of carbon growth in the highly chlorinated system. The perchloroaromatic-containing pyrolysis tars were not found to be active using the S. typhimurium cell mutation assay in the presence of enzymes that simulate metabolism, whereas the C 2 HCl 3 /toluene high-temperature pyrolysis tars were strongly mutagenic.
Text document clustering based on frequent word meaning sequences

Most of existing text clustering algorithms use the vector space model, which treats documents as bags of words. Thus, word sequences in the documents are ignored, while the meaning of natural languages strongly depends on them. In this paper, we propose two new text clustering algorithms, named Clustering based on Frequent Word Sequences (CFWS) and Clustering based on Frequent Word Meaning Sequences (CFWMS). A word is the word form showing in the document, and a word meaning is the concept expressed by synonymous word forms. A word (meaning) sequence is frequent if it occurs in more than certain percentage of the documents in the text database. The frequent word (meaning) sequences can provide compact and valuable information about those text documents. For experiments, we used the Reuters-21578 text collection, CISI documents of the Classic data set [Classic data set, ftp://ftp.cs.cornell.edu/pub/smart/], and a corpus of the Text Retrieval Conference (TREC) [High Accuracy Retrieval from Documents (HARD) Track of Text Retrieval Conference, 2004]. Our experimental results show that CFWS and CFWMS have much better clustering accuracy than Bisecting k-means (BKM) [M. Steinbach, G. Karypis, V. Kumar, A Comparison of Document Clustering Techniques, KDD-2000 Workshop on Text Mining, 2000], a modified bisecting k-means using background knowledge (BBK) [A. Hotho, S. Staab, G. Stumme, Ontologies improve text document clustering, in: Proceedings of the 3rd IEEE International Conference on Data Mining, 2003, pp. 541-544] and Frequent Itemset-based Hierarchical Clustering (FIHC) [B.C.M. Fung, K. Wang, M. Ester, Hierarchical document clustering using frequent itemsets, in: Proceedings of SIAM International Conference on Data Mining, 2003] algorithms.
Multiunit restaurant productivity assessment using three-phase data envelopment analysis

Abstract This paper focuses on uncontrollable variables’ effects on multiunit restaurant productivity using data envelopment analysis (DEA). We argue the importance of first considering managerially uncontrollable (nondiscretionary) variables as inputs in the actual DEA model, with managerially controllable variables considered post hoc for their relationship to the efficiency scores. We illustrate the merits of this approach using data from a chain of 62 full-service restaurants. From a large number of candidate inputs, we arrive at a short list of uncontrollable inputs: hourly server wage, restaurant seats, and a coding variable representing whether the restaurant is a stand-alone facility. Output variables in our model were daily sales and tip percentage. We find that just under 12% of the restaurants operate efficiently and that the average efficiency for the chain is 82%.
Cyclosporine-containing collagen shields suppress corneal allograft rejection

Thirty-seven rabbit eyes with penetrating keratoplasty grafts placed in vascularized beds to enhance the possibility of graft rejection were treated with cyclosporine delivered in collagen shields or drops of olive oil. Treatment was begun either immediately after grafting or at the first sign of immune graft reaction. Mean survival time of the grafts in the collagen shield treated eyes was significantly longer than in the eyes treated with drops. In the eyes treated at the first sign of graft reaction, cyclosporine in collagen shields halted the rejection process; seven of these eyes survived the 120-day observation period, compared to one of the eyes treated with drops. These results indicate that the collagen shield is an effective delivery system for cyclosporine and that topically administered cyclosporine is effective in suppressing the initiation of graft rejection and in reversing a graft reaction in progress.
Using quantile regression to investigate racial disparities in medication non-adherence

Many studies have investigated racial/ethnic disparities in medication non-adherence in patients with type 2 diabetes using common measures such as medication possession ratio (MPR) or gaps between refills. All these measures including MPR are quasi-continuous and bounded and their distribution is usually skewed. Analysis of such measures using traditional regression methods that model mean changes in the dependent variable may fail to provide a full picture about differential patterns in non-adherence between groups. A retrospective cohort of 11,272 veterans with type 2 diabetes was assembled from Veterans Administration datasets from April 1996 to May 2006. The main outcome measure was MPR with quantile cutoffs Q1-Q4 taking values of 0.4, 0.6, 0.8 and 0.9. Quantile-regression (QReg) was used to model the association between MPR and race/ethnicity after adjusting for covariates. Comparison was made with commonly used ordinary-least-squares (OLS) and generalized linear mixed models (GLMM). Quantile-regression showed that Non-Hispanic-Black (NHB) had statistically significantly lower MPR compared to Non-Hispanic-White (NHW) holding all other variables constant across all quantiles with estimates and p-values given as -3.4% (p = 0.11), -5.4% (p = 0.01), -3.1% (p = 0.001), and -2.00% (p = 0.001) for Q1 to Q4, respectively. Other racial/ethnic groups had lower adherence than NHW only in the lowest quantile (Q1) of about -6.3% (p = 0.003). In contrast, OLS and GLMM only showed differences in mean MPR between NHB and NHW while the mean MPR difference between other racial groups and NHW was not significant. Quantile regression is recommended for analysis of data that are heterogeneous such that the tails and the central location of the conditional distributions vary differently with the covariates. QReg provides a comprehensive view of the relationships between independent and dependent variables (i.e. not just centrally but also in the tails of the conditional distribution of the dependent variable). Indeed, without performing QReg at different quantiles, an investigator would have no way of assessing whether a difference in these relationships might exist.
TROUBLED LETTERS BUT NOT NUMBERS: DOMAIN SPECIFIC COGNITIVE IMPAIRMENTS FOLLOWING FOCAL DAMAGE IN FRONTAL CORTEX

A well educated right-handed woman developed severe and stable alexia and agraphia following a circumscribed surgical lesion in the left premotor cortex. The lesion was located in Brodmann's field 6, above Broca's area, in the region traditionally referred to as Exner's area. The alexia and agraphia occurred in a pure form, that is, in the setting of otherwise normal cognitive and neurological function. She was not aphasic or hemiparetic and her visual perception, intellect, memory, oral spelling and drawing were normal. The patterns of impairment of reading and writing closely paralleled one another. Reading of single words and letters was severely impaired, and she was entirely unable to read sentences. She was virtually unable to write recognizable letters, could write no words, and her writing attempts were severely distorted spatially. By contrast, she could easily read all numbers and nonverbal symbols, and she was equally able to write numbers and perform written calculations without difficulty. These striking dissociations provide further evidence of the domain specificity of cognitive/neural representations. They also point to the possible role of premotor cortices in the coactivation of precise sequences of motor and sensory activity patterns involved in reading and writing.
THE DENATURATION OF COVALENTLY INHIBITED SWINE PEPSIN

Studies are reported on the denaturation of freshly prepared, intact swine pepsin, which was inactivated by reaction with diazoacetylglycine ethyl ester, to prevent autolysis. Denaturation about pH 6 was found to involve a small expansion of the molecular domain with some loss of organized secondary structure. On the other hand, increasing concentrations of guanidine hydrochloride induced cooperative transitions in both the native and alkali denatured forms to give a cross-linked random coil. No conditions could be found in which these reactions were reversible. Removal of denaturing conditions usually resulted in aggregation and precipitation of protein. From these studies, it would seem that the active conformation is largely predetermined in the zymogen.
o-Phthalaldehyde and the fluorogenic detection of peptides

Abstract Using a variety of synthetic peptides, it was shown that the reaction of o -phthalaldehyde with peptides to yield fluorescent derivatives was dependent upon the presence of the free ϵ-amino group of lysine.
Privileged Communication in Therapy: Special Problems for the Family and Couples Therapist

Misconceptions concerning the existence and scope of the legal privilege for communications in therapy are considered. Basic limitations on the protection afforded by the privilege are treated, as are some major specific exceptions and waivers, particularly as they raise special difficulties for the therapist who works with groups, couples and families. Practical suggestions for the therapist and directions for policymaking by the helping professions are presented.
Graphical notations, narratives and persuasion: a Pliant Systems approach to Hypertext Tool Design

The Adelard Safety Case Editor (ASCE) is a hypertext tool for constructing and reviewing structured arguments. ASCE is used in the safety industry, and can be used in many other contexts when graphical presentation can make argument structure, inference or other dependencies explicit. ASCE supports a rich hypertext narrative mode for documenting traditional argument fragments. In this paper we document the motivation for developing the tool and describe its operation and novel features. Since usability and technology adoption issues are critical for software and hypertext tool uptake, our approach has been to develop a system that is highly usable and sufficiently "pliant" to support and integrate with a wide range of working practices and styles. We discuss some industrial application experience to date, which has informed the design and is informing future requirements. We draw from this some of the perhaps not so obvious characteristics of hypertext tools which are important for successful uptake in practical environments.
Accelerator Sources for THz Science: A Review

Free Electron Lasers have been around since 1977 providing not only a test bed for the physics of FELs and electron/photon interactions but as a workhorse of scientific research. More than 30 FELs are presently operating around the world spanning a wavelength range from the millimeter region to the hard x-ray using direct current and rf linear accelerators or storage rings as electron sources. The characteristics that have driven the development of these sources are the desire for high peak and average power, high micropulse energies, wavelength tunability, timing flexibility, and wavelengths that are unavailable from more conventional laser sources. Operation of FELs in the far infrared to terahertz regime poses special challenges which have been and are being addressed at a number of facilities around the world. This paper will review a number of former and existing FELs operating in this regime and discuss future efforts. Broadband collective radiation from relativistic electrons also plays a significant role in the production of FIR/THz radiation and several groups are taking advantage of this source for users. Applications for use of the radiation have evolved from simple imaging to complex pump probe tests of insulator/metal transitions and energy flow in organic molecules. We will discuss the technologies for generating the IR/FIR/THz radiation and cover some of the unique applications of such sources.
The organization of home media

The growing volume of digital music, photos and video challenges media management software and organizing schemes alike. Through 20 in situ, two hour interviews we explored the when, why and how of our participants' organizational schemes. We sought and studied significantly larger media collections than in previous studies. For these larger media collections some common assumptions like the distinction between popular and classical music collectors do not hold. Our analysis identifies organizing schemes commonly used on a day-to-day basis. We found that participants often rely on overrides or exceptions to their organizational schemes that they consider idiosyncrasies. However, our findings illustrate that those idiosyncratic behaviors are more common than participants believe. Our analysis reflects upon prior research and on the relationship between physical and digital artifacts, relating computer supported cooperative work systems to contemporary media management applications. Our findings can inform the design of media management and media player software.
The most flexible system component

Oscilloscopes are often found in ATE systems as debug tools. But the high speed capture capabilities can expand their application into a multitude of anticipated and unanticipated testing needs. This paper intends to extend the reader's understanding of the inherent measurement possibilities afforded by this important system component.
Unexpected C−H Activation of Ru(II)−Dithiomaltol Complexes upon Oxidation

Thione-substituted derivatives of maltol are of interest in several applications of metal-based drugs. In order to investigate the effect of the oxygenation on such thione chelates, Ru complexes of 3-hydroxy-2-methyl-4-thiopyrone (thiomaltol or Htma) and 3-hydroxy-2-methyl-4H-thiopyran-4-thione (dithiomaltol or Httma), [Ru(bpy)2(tma)]+, 1, and [Ru(bpy)2(ttma)]+, 2, were synthesized as diamagnetic PF6− salts. Peroxidation of 2 unexpectedly generated products of C−H activation at its pendant methyl group; an air-stable aldehyde [Ru(bpy)2(ttma-aldehyde)]+, 4, was the major product. In addition, an intermediate oxidation product [Ru(bpy)2(ttma-alcohol)](PF6), 3, was characterized. Both 3 and 4 are also formed by reaction of 2 with outersphere oxidants (e.g., Na2IrCl6) and by bulk electrolysis under anaerobic conditions. Similar oxidations of the analogous [Ru(bpy)2(ettma)]+, 2′, complex (3-hydroxy-2-ethyl-4H-thiopyran-4-thione; ethyl dithiomaltol or Hettma) formed the corresponding ketone, [Ru(bpy)2(ettma-ket...
Friction between science and practice: The case of river restoration

The growing public awareness that human activities can harm rivers is leading to rapid growth in efforts to restore river channels to some acceptable, if not natural, state. There is a corresponding increase in criticism from the scientific community that such projects are poorly designed and fail too often. Scientists also complain that design practice does not make use of the best available scientific information and feel that they are not listened to. Tension between scientist and practitioner is not new, unusual, or limited to river restoration projects. Practitioners may be inclined to dismiss criticism from those who do not leave their handiwork on the landscape for all to evaluate. This view, however, misses the point that the job of science is not to address particular cases, but to find the general principles that apply to all cases. Also, it is likely that much of the criticism is basically correct (given the advantage of hindsight). The problem is not faulty criticism, nor that scientists do not have the right to criticize. The problem is that the critique is ineffective, if effectiveness is measured in terms of injecting better ideas and reliability into practice.
Becoming a Member of the Teaching Profession: Learning a Language of Possibility.

Abstract Teacher educators who are responsible for helping prospective teachers grow into their professional roles need to understand the development process. This article provides examples of how the authors introduced and modeled a “language of possibility” in an inquiry group to provide opportunities for two interns, Maureen and Deanna, to acquire and learn a secondary teacher discourse. It illustrates how the discourse supported them in finding ways to control their own professional learning and to act on their emerging philosophies in the midst of powerful challenges from existing classroom norms. Implications for supporting novices in developing a teaching discourse are discussed.
Coups, Elections and the Predatory State

Even in the absence of elections, incumbents face threats to their survival which could induce them to reduce self-interested rent-seeking behavior. I compare the differences in incentives for incumbents to reduce rent extraction when they face a threat of being overthrown as opposed to when they face competitive elections. The key difference between the situations is that while voters do not gain office as a result of removing the incumbent, groups which overthrow the government assume power as a result of their actions. The results show that the threat of a coup sometimes leads incumbents to extract less than they do under elections. When the value of holding office in the future is sufficiently high, however, the threat of a coup cannot discipline the incumbent at all. I also find that incumbents facing both electoral and coup threats are either as likely, or under certain conditions, less likely to be overthrown than incumbents facing just a coup threat. The results are consistent with existing empiri...
A solution method for the unsteady incompressible Navier-Stokes equations in generalized coordinate systems

A solution method based on a fractional step approach is developed for obtaining time-dependent solutions of the three-dimensional, incompressible Navier-Stokes equations in generalized coordinate systems. The governing equations are discretized conservatively by finite volumes using a staggered mesh system. The primitive variable formulation uses the volume fluxes across the faces of each computational cell as dependent variables. This procedure, combined with accurate and consistent approximations of geometric parameters, is done to satisfy the discretized mass conservation equation to machine accuracy as well as to gain favorable convergence properties of the Poisson solver. The discretized equations are second-order-accurate in time and space and no smoothing terms are added. An approximate-factorization scheme is implemented in solving the momentum equations. A novel ZEBRA scheme with four-color ordering is devised for the efficient solution of the Poisson equation. Several two and three-dimensional solutions are compared with other numerical and experimental results to validate the present method.
Comparison of the adherence to the american diabetes association guidelines of diabetes care in primary care and subspecialty clinics.

Diabetes mellitus is a major public health problem with significant morbidity and mortality. Evidence based guidelines have been proposed to reduce the micro and macrovascular complications, but studies have shown that these goals are not being met. We sought to compare the adherence to the American Diabetes Association guidelines for measurement and control of glycohemoglobin (A1c), blood pressure (BP), lipids (LDL) and microalbuminuria (MA) by subspecialty and primary care clinics in an academic medical center. 390 random charts of patients with diabetes from Family Practice (FP), Internal Medicine (IM) and Diabetes (DM) clinics at Michigan State University were reviewed. We reviewed 131, 134 and 125 charts from the FP, IM and DM clinics, respectively. DM clinic had a higher percentage of patients with type 1 diabetes 43/125 (34.4%) compared with 7/131 (5.3%) in FP and 7/134 (5.2%) in IM clinics. A1c was measured in 99%, 97.8% and 100% subjects in FP, IM and DM clinics respectively. B.P. was measured in all subjects in all three clinics. Lipids were checked in 97.7%, 95.5% and 92% patients in FP, IM and DM clinics respectively. MA was measured at least once during the year preceding the office visit in 85.5%, 82.8% and 76.8% patients in FP, IM and DM clinics respectively. A1C was controlled (<7%) in 38.9, 43.3, 28.8% of patients in the FP, IM and DM clinics, respectively (p = 0.034). LDL was controlled (<100 mg/dl or 2.586 mmol/l) in 71.8, 64.9, 64% of patients in the FP, IM and DM clinics, respectively. MA was controlled (<30 mg/gm creatinine) in 60.3%, 51.5% and 60% patients in FP, IM and DM clinics respectively (P = 0.032). BP was controlled (<130/80) in 59.5, 67.2 and 52.8% patients in the FP, IM and DM clinics, respectively. Testing rates for A1C, LDL, and MA were high, in both subspecialty and primary care clinics. However, the degree of control was not optimal. Significantly fewer patients in the DM clinic had A1c <7%, the cause of which may be multifactorial.
Irreversibility and time course of calcium stimulated [3H]glutamate binding to rat hippocampal membranes

Previous studies have indicated that calcium ions induce an irreversible increase of [3H]glutamate binding to rat hippocampal membranes. The present study was intended to provide an estimate of the time-course for this effect. The calcium chelator EGTA and the proteinase inhibitor leupeptin were introduced at various times during the incubation of hippocampal membranes with calcium and the binding of [3H]glutamate subsequently assayed. Both compounds totally blocked the calcium-induced increase in binding when added at the beginning of the incubation period but produced progressively less inhibition when added after longer delays. This method indicates that calcium produces its maximal effect between 5 and 10 min of incubation, a time-course compatible with the hypothesis that calcium stimulates a membrane-bound proteinase which results in the unmasking of [3H]glutamate binding sites.
Bridge between developers and virtual environments: a robust virtual environment system architecture

A new approach is presented to the problems associated with designing and implementing virtual environment applications which supports robust methods of describing and building virtual worlds and interaction techniques. Despite the functional similarities between virtual world and graphical user interface designers, virtual world designers are hindered by a lack of low level support which user interface designers typically get from a toolkit or application framework. Furthermore, a well-defined set of standard interaction techniques and devices has been established for the desktop metaphor which does not exist in the virtual environment arena. The importance of shielding the programmer from the low level details of rendering, network communication, and device software is widely recognized. However, most off-the- shelf virtual reality systems provide only a device polling mechanism through which the entire interface must be built. Polling forces the programmer to delve into the low level details of each device for every interaction technique to be used. We are currently developing a system called the Bridge that is designed to meet the needs and requirements of highly interactive virtual environment applications. The distributed architecture of the Bridge clearly separates the interaction from the application and supports a more efficient, event-driven model. High level descriptions of user-computer dialogues can be easily constructed allowing modification of interaction techniques and styles.
Financial risk management in the design of products under uncertainty

In this paper we extend a recently presented methodology for product design (Bagajewicz, M. (2007). On the role of macroeconomics multi-scale planning and finances in product design. AIChE Journal, 53(12), 3155–3170) to consider uncertainty in the model parameters. We also extend the methodology to the discussion of alternative profitable scenarios and their associated risk. To illustrate the method, we picked wine making. To illustrate the method, we present a simplified consumer preference model, and show how vineyards can guide the selection of wine properties (wine quality), in association with a production rate and a selling price based on their attitude towards financial risk.
The Paleoethnobotanical Assemblage from the 1971–1977 Excavations at the Seip Earthworks

AbstractThis chapter summarizes the paleoethnobotanical data procured from the 1972 through 1975 excavations seasons at the Seip site. Samples from the recent flotation processing of sediment collected from two features (1974 Feature 7 and 1975 Post mold E-3) as well as specimens collected in the field during the 1972, 1973, and 1974 excavations were examined and materials identified. Although the samples were limited in number and site contexts nonetheless a variety of charred plant material, including wood charcoal, bark, nutshell, squash rind, and seeds were identified. At least six distinct taxa of wood have been identified in the samples, with hickory and oak prevalent. The carbonized seed assemblage yielded a few specimens of what may be members of the Eastern Agricultural Complex and one definite squash rind specimen was extracted from the 1974 Feature 7 contents. In addition, the chapter also summarizes the recent paleoethnobotanical research conducted on materials from a variety of Ohio Hopewell ...
Gender and motivation to manage in hierarchic organizations: A meta-analysis

Abstract Research is reviewed that compares women's and men's motivation to manage as assessed by the Miner Sentence Completion Scale, a projective measure designed to reveal respondents' motivation to meet the role requirements that traditionally characterized managerial positions in hierarchic organizations. An analysis of the predominantly masculine definition of this type of managerial role provides the theoretical context for a quantitative integration of 51 data sets covering a period of over 30 years and consisting mainly of samples of business students. Although men scored higher in motivation to manage than women, these sex differences were relatively small. On five of the subscales of the instrument, men scored higher than women; on two subscales, women scored higher. The implications of these findings are discussed in relation to several aspects of women's participation in managerial roles, including prejudice against female managers and the possible evolution of managerial roles toward more androgynous role definitions.