cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Feasibility and safety of high-intensity interval training for the rehabilitation of geriatric inpatients (HIITERGY) a pilot randomized study.

High-intensity interval training (HIIT) has been shown to be more effective than moderate-intensity continuous training (MICT) for the physical rehabilitation. However, data on its suitability for older hospitalized patients is scarce. Randomized controlled trial in a hospital setting. Inclusion of 100 patients, ≥65 years old, hospitalized for rehabilitation after an acute medical condition, in a two-week rehabilitation program of either four HIIT or three MICT sessions per week. Completion was defined as participation in all but two planned sessions accomplishing ≥50% of each session. We assessed: upper-limb muscle strength (handgrip isometric strength test), lower-limb muscle strength (quadriceps and ankle flexion and extension tests); gait speed and spatio-temporal parameters (instrumented walkway), and exercise capacity (6-min walk test). All adverse events were recorded as safety endpoints. An intention-to-treat analysis showed a 44% completion rate for the HIIT group (95% CI, 30–59) and 77% for MICT (95% CI, 55–82). A modified intention-to-treat analysis restricted to patients who participated in ≥1 session showed an 88% completion rate in the HIIT group (95%CI, 69–97) and an 80% completion rate in MICT (95%CI, 65–90). The exercises most frequently undertaken were the pedal exerciser (54%) and the NuStep (32%). There were no significant differences in the various measures. No serious adverse events occurred. A HIIT rehabilitation program for this population was feasible, safe and had a high adherence rate. Clinicatrials.gov ID: NCT02318459. Trial registration date: November 7th, 2014. Retrospectively registered. This study adheres to the CONSORT guidelines.
Gas barrier properties evaluation for boron nitride nanosheets-polymer (polyethylene-terephthalate) composites

Hexagonal boron nitride nanosheets (BNNS) are dispersed in polyethylene-terephthalate (PET) via temperature-induced solution processing. The BNNS/PET composites are evaluated for carbon dioxide (CO2) and oxygen (O2) permeation reduction. The free-standing composite membranes have shown a maximum 96% permeation reduction at very minute filler loading (0.005 wt% BNNS) in comparison to the base polymer when subjected to an 8 h test run. Interestingly, BNNS loading beyond 0.005 wt% rendered complete permeation reduction. The inclusion of high aspect ratio BNNS, homogeneous dispersion inside PET and the wiggling effect around nanosheets per flake have increased the tortuous path for the gas flow. The experimental results have been verified through Bharadwaj’s, Neilson’s, Lape’s and Cussler’s models. The dispersion state is assessed via scanning electron microscope (SEM) while x-ray diffraction (XRD) has confirmed the formation of composites. Tensile testing results showed the enhanced mechanical robustness of BNNS/PET composites as a function of filler loading.
Decreased Cortisol Among Hikers Who Preferentially Visit and Value Biodiverse Riparian Zones

While outdoor recreationists often report increases to their well-being for time spent in nature, the mechanisms through which local ecologies affect human health have been difficult to quantify, and thus to manage. We combine data from pre-post salivary cortisol measures, GPS tracks, visitor photos, and surveys from 88 hikers traversing several types of landscape within peri-urban public lands in southwest Idaho, USA. We find that time in biodiverse riparian areas and areas of perceived aesthetic value correlates with decreases in salivary cortisol and improved well-being for hikers. Wildlife sightings were not associated with changes in salivary cortisol, but were associated with riparian travel and aesthetic preferences, indicating an indirect pathway for ecosystem services. Additionally, wildlife sightings decreased on high-use days, even though hikers did not perceive a negative impact of their recreational activity. These results suggest that cultural and physiological ecosystem services of nature depend on the ecological community of the area. Preferential visitation and high service value of riparian areas by hikers and wildlife alike target shared riparian areas as hot spots for management efforts to promote both ecological and human health within an increasingly urbanizing world.
An Empirical Study on Factors Affecting Success of Small and Medium Enterprises with Special Reference to Elpitiya DS Division

Small scale businesses provide a greater contribution to the economic development in a developing country like Sri lanka. However most of them fail within first few years. The problem statement in this research is that there is insufficient knowledge relating to the factors contributing to the failure or success of small businesses in Elpitiya divisional secretariate. The study was undertaken with the objective of identifying the key factors affect the success/failure of small business enterprises and create awareness of how people should initiate and lead their businesses by looking at factors influencing business which may help to reduce the risk of failure and raise probabilities for success. The study considered eight factors that influence the business success. These factors are: founder experience, socio economic background, skills and knowledge, values and expectation, industry characteristics, management and resources, labour and technology and financial base. The theoretical framework has been drawn out and questionnaire was designed based on the factors chosen. The data were collected from 200 respondents which comprise 100 successful and 100 failed entrepreneurs. Hypotheses were developed to study the determinants and tested with SPSS and few hypotheses were accepted. The analysis revealed that the most significant factors affecting success of businesses were education, management and resources, financial base, and socio economy. Findings of this study are useful for entrepreneurs and policy makers of the country.
Rhetoric and Reality in the United States of America: Trump, Populism and Health Policy

There is no formal national populist radical right party (PRR) in the United States. Rather, the PRR is led by political actors within existing parties, like Donald Trump and the Republican Party. Trump exhibits predisposition to PRR through his xenophobic, authoritarian and populist policies. Yet, health policy under the Trump administration has delivered few concrete policies, PRR or otherwise. Where Trump has had policy success is with welfare and liberal chauvinistic policies, which seek to rein in the role of government in the welfare state and deny benefits to out-groups, such as minorities and immigrants. These policy successes include changes to the public welfare Medicaid programme and the public charge rule. These policy successes have occurred because of its overlap with the policy preferences of the broader Republican Party. The US failed response to COVID-19 is due in part to Trump’s reliance on PRR policies. While Donald Trump lost his bid for re-election in 2020, his candidacy and administration provide a blueprint for future officials to leverage PRR policy for electoral success while also further establishing PRR policies within the Republican Party.
Ensemble Riemannian Data Assimilation: Towards High-dimensional Implementation

Abstract. This paper presents the results of the Ensemble Riemannian Data Assimilation for relatively high-dimensional nonlinear dynamical systems, focusing on the chaotic Lorenz-96 model and a two-layer quasi-geostrophic (QG) model of atmospheric circulation. The analysis state in this approach is inferred from a joint distribution that optimally couples the background probability distribution and the likelihood function, enabling formal treatment of systematic biases without any Gaussian assumptions. Despite the risk of the curse of dimensionality in the computation of the coupling distribution, comparisons with the classic implementation of the particle filter and the stochastic ensemble Kalman filter demonstrate that with the same ensemble size, the presented methodology could improve the predictability of dynamical systems. In particular, under systematic errors, the root mean squared error of the analysis state can be reduced by 20 % (30 %) in Lorenz-96 (QG) model.
Corporate Culture in M&As: Evidence from CEO Letters to Shareholders

This paper examines the role of corporate culture for mergers and acquisitions. To quantify corporate culture, I run a textual analysis of the language used in CEOs' annual letters. This analysis categorizes firms into three different corporate cultures: collaborative, innovative, and customer-centric. Using the novel measure of corporate culture, I find that firms with more similar corporate cultures are more likely to merge. Second, buyers' announcement returns are higher if targets have more similar corporate cultures. Finally, the cultural integration of two merged firms is positively related to post-merger performance and is negatively associated with ex post divestiture. In sum, this paper shows that cultural differences have meaningful impacts on mergers.
Aminopyridine complexes of Cr(III) basic carboxylates as potential polymer precursors: Synthesis, characterization, and crystal structure of [Cr3O(propionate)6(X-aminopyridine)3]+ (X=3 or 4)

Abstract Synthesizing one- and two-dimensional arrays of trinuclear chromium(III) basic carboxylate complexes could give rise to new materials with interesting magnetic properties. Trinuclear chromium(III) basic carboxylate complexes where a substituted pyridine ligand could be used to link the trinuclear complexes together could serve as avenue to the synthesis of such arrays. Toward this end, the syntheses, crystal structures, and properties of [Cr3O(propionate)6(4-aminopyridine)3]+ and [Cr3O(propionate)6(3-aminopyridine)3]+ are presented.
Generative representations for evolving families of designs

Since typical evolutionary design systems encode only a single artifact with each individual, each time the objective changes a new set of individuals must be evolved. When this objective varies in a way that can be parameterized, a more general method is to use a representation in which a single individual encodes an entire class of artifacts. In addition to saving time by preventing the need for multiple evolutionary runs, the evolution of parameter-controlled designs can create families of artifacts with the same style and a reuse of parts between members of the family. In this paper an evolutionary design system is described which uses a generative representation to encode families of designs. Because a generative representation is an algorithmic encoding of a design, its input parameters are a way to control aspects of the design it generates. By evaluating individuals multiple times with different input parameters the evolutionary design system creates individuals in which the input parameter controls specific aspects of a design. This system is demonstrated on two design substrates: neural-networks which solve the 3/5/7-parity problem and three-dimensional tables of varying heights.
Buying a piece of anthropology

This is the second part of a two-part article by David Price examining how research on stress under Human Ecology Fund sponsorship found its way into the CIA 's Kubark interrogation manual (for Part 1 see our June issue). This issue of ANTHROPOLOGY TODAY also features a short comment by Roberto Gonzalez on the use of Ralph Patai's The Arab mind in training interrogators who worked in Iraq, including at Abu Ghraib (p. 23). See also news, p. 28, for a pledge initiated by the Network of Concerned Anthropologists in response to anthropologists ' concerns around this issue.
Subjectivities of Violence and the Dilemmas of Transitional Governance

With that decree from the South African Ministry of Justice, Winnie Mandela was banished in 1977 to remote Brandfort, in a continuation of the legalized violence that had earlier flung her, pregnant with a threatened miscarriage of daughter Zindzi, to the prisons of apartheid South Africa. In the secretly filmed 1984 documentary, South Africa Belongs to Us, and in her autobiography, Part of My Soul Went With Him, which was compiled from a series of personal interviews, the much younger Winnie speaking from that isolated outpost reflected on the transformative impact of state violence on her personal and political identity.
Theory of Single-Atom lmaging in the Scanning Tunneling Microscope

The tunneling-current density is computed in the vacuum region between two planar metal electrodes, on each of which is an adsorbed atom. Scanning of one atom (taken as the tip) past the other (the sample) permits plotting of tip displacement versus lateral separation for constant current. The calculation shows the extent to which scanning-tunneling-microscope images of an individual atom are visible. It confirms that for low bias, the microscope images the Fermi-level local density of states of the sample at the position of the tip.
cDNA Library Screening

cDNA libraries are collections of recombinant DNA sequences, derived from and representing entire mRNA populations present at a given stage of development or differentiation in certain tissues or cell types. cDNA libraries can be self-made and tailored according to individual experimental needs. Alternatively, they can be purchased from a commercial distributor, if the library representing the desired mRNA source is available. In any case, the collection of cDNA sequences is cloned into a vector, a plasmid or phage, allowing the manipulation of the cloned sequences and propagation of the whole library in suitable host bacteria.
The participation of females in the labor force and rates of personal violence (suicide and homicide)

This study explored the relationship between the participation of married women in the labor force, both part-time and full-time, and rates of personal violence (suicide and homicide) in the continental United States. The participation of married women in the labor force was related to homicide rates. Homicide rates were higher in states where a greater percentage of married women worked full-time. In contrast, suicide rates were more strongly related to indices of social integration (e.g., interstate migration and divorce rates). These results are discussed in terms of differences in social attitudes in the various regions of the United States and the stresses created by women's working.
The Early 1990s Change in ENSO–PSA–SAM Relationships and Its Impact on Southern Hemisphere Climate

AbstractThis study uncovers an early 1990s change in the relationships between El Nino–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and two leading modes of the Southern Hemisphere (SH) atmospheric variability: the southern annular mode (SAM) and the Pacific–South American (PSA) pattern. During austral spring, while the PSA maintained a strong correlation with ENSO throughout the period 1948–2014, the SAM–ENSO correlation changed from being weak before the early 1990s to being strong afterward. Through the ENSO connection, PSA and SAM became more in-phase correlated after the early 1990s. The early 1990s is also the time when ENSO changed from being dominated by the eastern Pacific (EP) type to being dominated by the central Pacific (CP) type. Analyses show that, while the EP ENSO can excite only the PSA, the CP ENSO can excite both the SAM and PSA through tropospheric and stratospheric pathway mechanisms. The more in-phase relationship between SAM and PSA impacted the post-1990s Antarctic climate in at least two aspects:...
Online Stochastic Routing Incorporating Real-Time Traffic Information

In this paper, online stochastic routing policies are developed to identify the optimal next action (path choice) at the current decision node (intersection) for travelers on the basis of their preference for future paths with the shortest travel time, the lowest travel time variability, or a combination, given the network conditions. A modified label-correcting algorithm is provided to solve for the shortest path that results from the proposed routing policies. Its running time is bounded by O(mn2), where m and n are the number of arcs and nodes, respectively, in the network. Since real-time traffic information is usually available with a certain level of accuracy, the proposed online routing policy integrates an existing information fusion model, which provides real-time short-term arc travel time distributions by considering information accuracy. Numerical experiments are used to demonstrate the performance of the proposed routing policies and algorithms, as well as the impacts of real-time information...
Spaceflight Promotes Biofilm Formation by Pseudomonas aeruginosa

Understanding the effects of spaceflight on microbial communities is crucial for the success of long-term, manned space missions. Surface-associated bacterial communities, known as biofilms, were abundant on the Mir space station and continue to be a challenge on the International Space Station. The health and safety hazards linked to the development of biofilms are of particular concern due to the suppression of immune function observed during spaceflight. While planktonic cultures of microbes have indicated that spaceflight can lead to increases in growth and virulence, the effects of spaceflight on biofilm development and physiology remain unclear. To address this issue, Pseudomonas aeruginosa was cultured during two Space Shuttle Atlantis missions: STS-132 and STS-135, and the biofilms formed during spaceflight were characterized. Spaceflight was observed to increase the number of viable cells, biofilm biomass, and thickness relative to normal gravity controls. Moreover, the biofilms formed during spaceflight exhibited a column-and-canopy structure that has not been observed on Earth. The increase in the amount of biofilms and the formation of the novel architecture during spaceflight were observed to be independent of carbon source and phosphate concentrations in the media. However, flagella-driven motility was shown to be essential for the formation of this biofilm architecture during spaceflight. These findings represent the first evidence that spaceflight affects community-level behaviors of bacteria and highlight the importance of understanding how both harmful and beneficial human-microbe interactions may be altered during spaceflight.
Laser Linking For Defect Avoidance And Customization

A laser linking technology has been developed which allows the formation of connections after fabrication in order to circumvent defects for yield enhancement in wafer-scale silicon circuits. This technique also facilitates rapid-turnaround customization. A number of digital signal processing systems have now been implemented with applications to speech, radar and image processing. In order to expedite technology transfer a new link structure has been developed which can be fabricated using a standard MOS process and has been demonstrated using the MOSIS silicon foundry.
Hypertonic Stress Activates Glycogen Synthase Kinase 3β-mediated Apoptosis of Renal Medullary Interstitial Cells, Suppressing an NFκB-driven Cyclooxygenase-2-dependent Survival Pathway

The survival of renal medullary interstitial cells (RMICs) requires their adaptation to rapid shifts in ambient tonicity normally occurring in the renal medulla. Previous studies determined that cyclooxygenase-2 (COX 2) activation is critical for this adaptation. The present studies find that these adaptive mechanisms are dampened by the simultaneous activation of an apoptotic pathway linked to a glycogen synthase kinase 3β (GSK 3β). Inhibition of GSK 3 by LiCl or specific small molecule GSK inhibitors increased RMIC survival following hypertonic stress, and transduction of RMICs with a constitutively active GSK 3β (AdGSK 3βA9) significantly increased apoptosis, consistent with a proapoptotic role of GSK 3β. Following GSK 3β inhibition, increased survival was accompanied by increased COX 2 expression and COX 2 reporter activity. In contrast, GSK 3β overexpression reduced COX 2 reporter activity. Importantly, enhanced RMIC survival produced by GSK 3β inhibition was completely dependent on COX 2 because it was abolished by a COX 2-specific inhibitor, SC58236. The signaling pathway by which GSK 3β suppresses COX 2 expression was then explored. GSK 3β inhibition increased both NFκB and β-catenin activity associated with decreased IκB and increased β-catenin levels. The increase in COX 2 following GSK 3β inhibition was entirely blocked by NFκB inhibition using mutant IκB adenovirus. However, adenoviral overexpression of β-catenin did not increase COX 2 levels. These findings suggest that GSK 3β negatively regulates COX 2 expression and that GSK 3β inhibitors protect RMICs from hypertonic stress via induction of NFκB-COX 2-dependent pathway.
The influence of some symbionts on the shell-selection behaviour of the hermit crabs, Pagurus pollicarus and Pagurus longicarpus

Abstract The influence of some symbionts on the shell-selection by the hermit crabs Pagurus pollicarus and P. longicarpus was examined by placing individual hermit crabs with two similar shells in a choice situation and recording the shell occupied after 12 hr. One shell contained a symbiont species and the other did not. The results indicated that organisms normally found on or in empty shells influence the shell-section by these species of hermit crab. P. pollicarus preferred shells occupied by the sea anemone Calliactis tricolor or by the hydroid Hydractina echinata as opposed to bare shells. P. longicarpus also preferred shells with H. echinata. Both crab species rejected shells with the barnacle Balanus amphitrite. Shells containing the molluscs Crepidula fornicata or C. plana were rejected by the smaller hermit crab P. longicarpus. These molluscs appeared to exert no influence on P. pollicarpus unless they were large or abundant, at which point their weight or occlusion of available space possibly has negative effects on the crab.
Relevance of studying T cell responses in SIV-infected rhesus macaques

HIV infection, once established, is never cleared. Rare individuals do, however, control viral replication to low levels. These successful immune responses are primarily linked to certain class I MHC alleles (MHC-I). Because of this association, many AIDS vaccines in development are designed to generate virus-specific CD8+ T cells. The Merck STEP phase 2b efficacy trial of one such vaccine was recently halted, and declared a failure. Thus, basic questions regarding what constitutes an effective T cell response and how such responses could be elicited by vaccination remain open. The best animal model available to explore such issues is simian immunodeficiency virus infection of rhesus macaques, which serves as the primary proving ground for AIDS vaccines.
ML-PDA: Advances and a new multitarget approach

Developed over 15 years ago, the maximum-likelihood-probabilistic data association target tracking algorithm has been demonstrated to be effective in tracking very low observable (VLO) targets where target signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs) require very low detection processing thresholds to reliably give target detections. However, this algorithm has had limitations, which in many cases would preclude use in real-time tracking applications. In this paper, we describe three recent advances in the ML-PDA algorithm which make it suitable for real-time tracking. First we look at two recently reported techniques for finding the ML-PDA track estimate which improves computational effciency by one order of magnitude. Next we review a method for validating ML-PDA track estimates based on the Neyman-Pearson lemma which gives improved reliability in track validation over previous methods. As our main contribution, we extend ML-PDA from a single-target tracker to a multitarget tracker and compare its performance to that of the probabilistic multihypothesis tracker (PMHT).
Nuclear Reactions in Stars. IV. Buildup from Carbon

Reactions leading to the formation of C, O, and Ne at temperatures T of about 10/sup 8/ deg K, in the core of red giant stars, were studied previously. The nuclear reactions and resulting nucleogenesis are now studied for a gas consisting of C/sup 12/, O/sup 16/, and Ne/sup 20/ at 6 x 10/sup 8/ to 10 x 10/s up 8/ deg K and densities around 10/sup 4/ g/cc. The basic reaction rates are calculated and a set of simultaneous differential equations for various abundances as a function of time is solved numerically. The C/sup 12/ is destroyed by compound nucleus formation from C + C collisions in about 10/sup 5/ and 1 years, respectively, at 6 x 10/sup 8/ and 8.5 x 10/sup 8/ deg K. The net result is the production of some additional amounts of O/sup 16/ and Ne/sup 20/; appreciable amounts of Na/sup 23/ and the three stable magnesium isotopes (mainly Mg/sup 24/) and decreasing amounts of Al/sup 27/, Si, etc. The ratio of Na/sup 23/ to Mg/sup 24/ produced is almost 1/2, appreciably larger than the "cosmic" ratio. During the carbon burning, protons and alphas are released. At temperatures below 7 x 10/sup 8/ degmore » K, neutrons are produced very copiously through the sequence C/sup 12/(p, gamma )N/sup 13/; N/sup 13/ yields C/sup 13/; C/sup 13/( alpha ,n)O/sup 16/. If small amounts of metals i n the Fe-region (up to about one metal nucleus per 1000 C/sup 12/ nuclei) were present originally, each metal nucleus will absorb about 30 neutrons, At temperatures above 8 x 10/sup 8/ deg K, N/sup 13/ is photodisintegrated and the neutron production is appreciably less. (auth)« less
Status and latest results from MIPP

Abstract We briefly review the need for high quality hadron production data. The Main Injector Particle Production experiment (MIPP) at Fermilab collected data in 2005/2006 and published final results on forward neutron production and the charged kaon mass. Preliminary results on other topice, including particle production on the NuMI target, have also been presented. We provide a summary of past results and an outlook.
The “Significantly Worse” Phenomenon A Study of Student Achievement in Different Content Areas by School Location

Students in central-city schools face many hardships and problems when compared to their suburban counterparts. To a large extent these problems and hardships prevent students in central-city schoo...
Effects of exposure to below‐freezing temperatures, soil moisture content and nitrogen application on phyllochron in cool‐season grasses

Accumulated temperature may provide an indicator of the phenology of cool-season grass to assist in the timing of management operations but its value is highly dependent on a reliable measure of phyllochron, i.e. time between the elongation of successive leaves. Field and controlled environment studies with Italian ryegrass (IRG, Lolium multiflorum Lam.) and tall fescue (TF, Festuca arundinacea Schreb.) measured leaf-appearance responses to accumulated temperature with varying conditions of exposure to low temperatures, soil moisture content and nitrogen application. In a controlled environment, soil volumetric water contents below 20% (equivalent to moisture potentials greater than −0·1 MPa) or more frequent exposure to below-freezing air temperatures increased the phyllochron values on the main tiller of IRG and TF. There was no evidence of an interaction between soil moisture content and cold exposure on phyllochron values. Nitrogen application resulted in only small reduction in phyllochron values. In field studies over 4 years the phyllochron values in IRG during the months of January to March were 184, 180, 180 and 167 accumulated °C above 0°C leaf−1, more than double the mean value measured in a controlled environment. A greater understanding of the impact of variable low temperatures and of soil moisture potential on the phyllochron is necessary before accumulated temperature can be used to indicate changes in development stages in grasses in different environments.
Recency and summation effects of nonreward in children.

Abstract This study was designed to investigate the effects of recency and summation of frustrative nonreward on children's performance. Kindergarten children performed a lever-pulling task on a three-lever apparatus. Session I consisted of 100% reinforcement; sessions II and III consisted of three partial reinforcement patterns presented in random order. Analysis of latency at the third lever confirmed the recency hypothesis; i.e., when a single nonreward was administered in two different patterns a greater FE occured after the more immediate nonreward than after a nonreward that was separated from the time of measurement by a rewarded response. The analyses for latency also supported the notion of the summation properties of nonreward since two successive nonrewards yielded a greater FE than a single nonreward. Analysis of movement time showed no evidence of recency and suggestive support for summation effect. Discussion focused on the concept of reward expectancy in studies of the FE in children.
The International Congress on Toxoplasmosis.

Abstract Toxoplasma gondii is an important pathogen in both veterinary and human medicine. Infection during pregnancy can result in fetal transmission and a congenital infection syndrome. In immune-compromised hosts reactivation of latent infection can result in encephalitis. It has been estimated that as many as one-third of the human population harbours this zoonosis. The Seventh International Congress on Toxoplasmosis, organised by Louis M. Weiss and Kami Kim (Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY) was held on 23–27 May 2003 in Tarrytown, New York. At this meeting 133 investigators from 14 countries presented 102 papers on research involving this model Apicomplexan parasite. The presented research covered the epidemiology, immunology, cellular biology and molecular biology of this pathogen.
Endonuclease G promotes cell death of non-invasive human breast cancer cells

The invasiveness of breast cancer cells was shown to be associated with the suppressed ability to develop apoptosis. The role of cell death DNases/endonucleases has not been previously examined in relation with the invasiveness of breast cancer cells. We have compared the activity of the endonucleases in seven human breast cancer cell lines different in the level of invasiveness and differentiation. The invasiveness of cell lines was confirmed by an in vitro Matrigel-based assay. The total endonuclease activity in the differentiated non-invasive (WDNI) cell lines was higher than that in the poorly differentiated invasive (PDI) cells. The expression of EndoG strongly correlated with the degree of estrogen receptor expression and showed an inverse correlation with vimentin and matrix metalloproteinase-13. The EndoG-positive WDNI cells were more sensitive to etoposide- or camptothecin-induced cell death than EndoG-negative PDI cells. Silencing of EndoG caused inhibited of SK-BR-3 WDNI cell death induced by etoposide. Human ductal carcinomas in situ expressed high levels of EndoG, while invasive medullar and ductal carcinomas had significantly decreased expression of EndoG. This correlated with decreased apoptosis as measured by TUNEL assay. Our findings suggest that the presence of EndoG in non-invasive breast cancer cells determines their sensitivity to apoptosis, which may be taken into consideration for developing the chemotherapeutic strategy for cancer treatment.
ULTRAVIOLET HEADLAMP TECHNOLOGY FOR NIGHTTIME ENHANCEMENT OF ROADWAY MARKINGS AND PEDESTRIANS

Motorists driving at night are two to three times more likely to be involved in a crash than during the day. Although, about half of the motor vehicle deaths occur at night, death rates based on miles driven are about four times higher at night than during the day. Nighttime driving also frustrates a large number of people, the majority of which are seniors. There is an effort under way to evaluate the use of supplemental ultraviolet (UV) automobile headlights to increase nighttime visibility. Research conducted in Sweden has shown very promising results, and a preliminary field research effort recently completed in the United States found that the visibility of pavement markings increased 25 percent with UV, and subjects generally favored its use. An extensive field study was conducted to determine the conditions under which driver performance could be improved with fluorescent traffic control devices and auxiliary UV headlights. Several static tests were done to evaluate fluorescent pavement markings, p...
Reprint of “A large scale field analysis examining the effect of magnetically-treated baits and barriers on teleost and elasmobranch behavior”

Abstract Recent studies have demonstrated that elasmobranchs (i.e. sharks, skates and rays) are sensitive and often deterred by electrosensory stimuli (e.g. permanent magnets and electropositive metals). These studies have, however, produced mixed results; but due to the importance of reducing elasmobranch bycatch in fisheries and/or directed shark capture in beach nets, future research on electrosensory repellents is imperative. At the same time, understanding the potential influence of these materials on other marine animals is equally important so that the techniques may be selectively applied to achieve conservation goals while having little impact on non-target species. In the present study, both bait and barrier experiments were conducted in the Bahamas to assess how barium-ferrite (BaFe12O19) permanent magnets might influence teleost and elasmobranch behavior. For both the bait and barrier experiments, teleost species exhibited no significant associations between behavior and treatment type. Furthermore, elasmobranchs exhibited significant behavioral variation towards magnetically-treated baits, in comparison to baited controls and procedural controls. However, during the barrier experiment blacknose sharks (Carcharhinus acronotus) and southern stingrays (Dasyatis americana) exhibited no significant behavioral changes to magnetically-treated barrier regions, whereas Caribbean reef (Carcharhinus perezi) and nurse (Ginglymostoma cirratum) sharks did. This study is the first large-scale analysis of teleost behavior around magnetically-treated baits and barriers, and provides further support to the hypothesis suggesting that electrosensory repellents target and observably alter the behavior of aquatic organisms containing electroreceptors. In addition, the species-specificity of elasmobranch responses which occurred during the barrier experiment provides valuable information for future conservation engineering applications in fishing gears and beach nets.
Interpretation of microelectrode recordings from the dorsal roots of cat

Abstract Intradural dorsal roots of cat were probed with KCl-filled micropipette electrodes and electrical measurements undertaken to explain several of the observed phenomena. The most important observations are: ( i ) It is possible to penetrate into the cytoplasm of units possessing full-scale resting potentials, that upon stimulation these units produce full-scale action potentials, and that the site of generation of these action potentials appears to be the point of penetration. ( ii ) It is possible to record from units that are spontaneously active without entering their cytoplasm and that in this case one can sometimes record monophasic action potentials of 60 to 80 mv which are associated with negligible resting potentials. In explanation of the first it is suggested that the axolemma is everywhere excitable and that the process of penetration disrupts the myelin locally to create an artificial node of Ranvier. In explanation of the second it is suggested that the microelectrode can split the myelin lamellae to form about the tip a lacuna filled with cerebrospinal fluid and possessed, therefore, of no significant potential with respect to the extracellular cerebrospinal fluid.
Physical properties of water-blown rigid polyurethane foams containing epoxidized soybean oil in different isocyanate indices

To explore the potential of isocyanate usage reduction, water-blown rigid polyurethane foams were made by replacing 0, 20, and 50% of Voranoll® 490 in the B-side of the foam formulation by epoxidized soybean oil (ESBO) with an isocyanate index ranging from 50 to 110. The compressive strength, density, and thermal conductivity of foams were measured. The foam surface temperature was monitored before and throughout the foaming reaction as an indirect indication of the foaming temperature. Increasing ESBO replacement and/or decreasing isocyanate index decreased the foam's compressive strength. The density of the foam decreased while decreasing the isocyanate index to 60. Further decrease in isocyanate index resulted in foam shrinkage causing a sharp increase in the foam density. The thermal conductivity of foams increased while decreasing the isocyanate index and increasing the ESBO replacement. Mathematical models for predicting rigid polyurethane foam density, compressive strength, and thermal conductivity were established and validated. Similar to compressive strength, the foaming temperature decreased while decreasing the isocyanate index and increasing the ESBO replacement. Because of the lower reactivity of ESBO with isocyanate, the rate of foaming temperature decrease with decreasing isocyanate index was in the order of 0% > 20% > 50% ESBO replacement. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2009
Simian virus 40 Vp2/3 small structural proteins harbor their own nuclear transport signal

Abstract We have used a microinjection approach to identify a domain of the simian virus 40 (SV40) structural proteins Vp2 and Vp3(Vp2/3) responsible for their nuclear transport. By using both synthetic peptides, containing small regions of Vp2/3 conjugated to bovine serum albumin (BSA), and β-galactosidase-Vp3 fusion proteins, we have narrowed this nuclear transport signal (NTS) to 9 amino acids (198 to 206 of Vp3 or 316 to 324 of Vp2), Gly-Pro-Asn-Lys-Lys-Lys-Arg-Lys-Leu. The porter proteins carrying the NTS or mutant NTS were microinjected into the cytoplasm of TC7 cells and their subcellular localization following the subsequent incubation period was determined immunologically using anti-BSA IgG or anti-β-galactosidase. The 9-residue NTS peptide localized BSA into the nucleus of injected cells, changing lysine-202 to threonine or valine abolished this accumulation while changing arginine-204 to lysine did not grossly affect transport. A peptide containing the carboxyl-terminal 13 residues of Vp3 failed to localize BSA to the nucleus. Several single or double point mutations at Vp3 residues 202 and 204 have been introduced by site-directed mutagenesis. Vp3 residues 194–234, containing either a wild-type or mutated sequence at 202 and/or 204, were expressed in Escherichia coli as Vp3-β-galactosidase fusion proteins. Addition of the carboxyl-terminal 40 residues, but not an internal 150 residues, to otherwise cytoplasmic β-galactosidase promoted entry of the fusion protein into the nucleus. Changing lysine-202 into threonine, valine, or methionine abolished this nuclear accumulation as did changing arginine-204 into lysine. A double mutant at both positions was also blocked. We have also observed that the lectin wheat germ agglutinin inhibits the nuclear accumulation of BSA carrying the Vp2/3 NTS while the lectin concanavalin A had no affect. These data indicate that even small nuclear proteins can contain NTS's which most likely utilize a mechanism for nuclear import similar to that described for other larger proteins.
From Villamaura to Palermo: two songs of the Mafia

Abstract As Jane and Peter Schneider's work has shifted over the past three decades, from the Mafia in a Sicilian village to the antimafia movement in Palermo, their epistemology has changed too, from a world systems approach influenced by Wallerstein, to a more political process-centered approach that shows their ethnographic skills to best advantage. Whereas their first book, Culture and Political Economy in Western Sicily, placed the Island in its Mediterranean historical/economic framework, the second, Reversible Destiny, shows how culture and politics intertwine in the slow, halting and reversible struggle to displace the Mafia from Sicilians' lives and mentalities. These ‘two songs’ of the Mafia reflect changes in both the Schneiders' opera and in the growth of middle-range theory in today's social scientific treatments of Italy.
Revision rates and complication incidence in single- and multilevel anterior cervical discectomy and fusion procedures: an administrative database study.

Abstract Background context The natural history of cervical degenerative disease with operative management has not been well described. Even with symptomatic and radiographic evidence of multilevel cervical disease, it is unclear whether single- or multilevel anterior cervical discectomy and fusion (ACDF) procedures produce superior long-term outcomes. Purpose To describe national trends in revision rates, complications, and readmission for patients undergoing single and multilevel ACDF. Study design Administrative database study. Patient sample Between 2006 and 2010, 92,867 patients were recorded for ACDF procedures in the Thomson Reuters MarketScan database. Restricting to patients with >24 months follow-up, 28,777 patients fulfilled our inclusion criteria, of which 12,744 (44%) underwent single-level and 16,033 (56%) underwent multilevel ACDFs. Outcome measures Revision rates and postoperative complications. Methods We used the MarketScan database from 2006 to 2010 to select ACDF procedures based on Current Procedural Terminology coding at inpatient visit. Outcome measures were ascertained using either International Classification of Disease version 9 or Current Procedural Terminology coding. Results Perioperative complications were more common in multilevel procedures (odds ratio [OR], 1.4; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.2–1.6; p Conclusions In this study, we report rates of adverse events and the need for revision surgery in patients undergoing single versus multilevel ACDFs. Increasing number of levels fused at the time of index surgery correlated with increased rate of reoperations. Multilevel ACDF patients requiring additional surgery more often underwent more extensive revision surgeries.
Magnetic resonance imaging on an NMR spectrometer. An experiment for the physical chemistry laboratory

We converted a conventional Fourier-transform NMR spectrometer into an MRI imager by installing a triple-axis gradient probe and medical imaging software. This arrangement permits imaging of materials that fit into a 5-mm NMR tube to a resolution of 0.05 mm or better. The experiment introduces the student to the physical principles underlying MRI such as gradients, spin echoes, multidimensional spectroscopy, and relaxation. Students employ a multi-slice-multi-echo (MSME) method to image a biological specimen and measure the transverse relaxation time, T2, of water in selected regions of interest. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Concepts Magn Reson Part A 30A: 133–139, 2007
Lead (Pb) in old Antarctic ice: Some from dust, some from other sources

[1] Recently published data on amounts and isotopic compositions of lead (Pb) and on amounts of mineral dust in pre-industrial Antarctic ice can be further interpreted by means of simple calculations. These show that two distinct types of Pb were provided by the atmosphere to the continent in varying proportions during Pleistocene and Holocene time. One type of Pb is that contained in the mineral lattices of dust. It has non-radiogenic isotopic proportions. The other type of Pb is not associated with dust minerals, is more radiogenic, and is consistent with an origin in emissions from ocean island volcanoes worldwide, or from some Antarctic volcanoes.
Efficient LR(1) processor construction

Strings from LR(k) grammars can be recognized and parsed in linear time by a processor that is directed by a pre-computed parsing table. This paper deals with two questions of practical importance: the effort required to generate an LR(k)parsing table for a grammar and the size of the table generated. Knuth has described an algorithm for checking an arbitrary context-free grammar for the LR(k) condition and producing a parsing table, if possible. The time-complexity of this algorithm and the size of the table it produces are each exponential functions of the grammar size. Thus, for very large grammars — such as those defining the syntax of a programming language — it is not feasible to use this algorithm directly. This paper presents a practical method of checking large cfgs for the LR(1) condition and generating the corresponding parsing table. It significantly decreases both the computation required to produce the parsing table and the size of the resulting table. It operates as follows. The given grammar G is partitioned into a number of parts. Each part is checked for LR(1)-ness and individual parsing tables are generated, using the Knuth algorithm. Certain conditional modifications to these tables are then made; if the conditions are satisfied, the grammar G is LR(1) and the modified tables can be combined into a single parsing table for G. Because of the exponential nature of the Knuth algorithm, this process of partitioning, computing and combining can greatly improve the efficiency of the table generation procedure. Using this method LR(1) parsers for a number of programming languages, including ALGOL, have been constructed. The empirical evidence obtained has verified the efficacy of this method: in one programming language example, table construction time was reduced by a factor of nine and the table size was reduced by a factor of three.
Solvent Strength Characterization of Carbon Dioxide Expanded Fluorinated Solvents

CO2-expanded solvents have been investigated as media for chemical reactions, separation, and materials processing. The tunability of CO2-expanded fluorinated solvents was examined by two complementary approaches: solvatochromic characterization, which elucidates specific solute/solvent interactions, and Hansen solubility parameter estimation, which describes bulk solvent properties. The π* (dipolarity/polarizability) of CO2-expanded ethoxynonafluorobutane (ENB), as determined from solvatochromic measurements, decreased with increasing CO2 expansion pressure, in agreement with its volume expansion behavior. Analogous to cosolvent tuning in supercritical fluids, the solvent strength of ENB was manipulated with the addition of strong hydrogen-bond-accepting and -donating cosolvents, 2,2,2-trifluoroethanol (TFE; α = 1.51) and N-methyl-2-pyrrolidinone (NMP; β = 0.78), respectively. The Hansen solubility parameters of ENB and CO2-expanded ENB (at 8−20 bar) were estimated from fluorous/organic miscibility stud...
Simplified renormalizable T' model for tribimaximal mixing and Cabibbo angle

In a simplified renormalizable model where the neutrinos have Pontecorvo-Maki-Nakagawa-Sakata (PMNS) mixings ${tan﻿}^{2}{\ensuremath{\theta}}_{12}=\frac{1}{2}$, ${\ensuremath{\theta}}_{13}=0$, ${\ensuremath{\theta}}_{23}=\ensuremath{\pi}/4$ and with flavor symmetry ${T}^{\ensuremath{'}}$ there is a corresponding prediction where the quarks have Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa (CKM) mixings $\mathrm{tan}﻿2{\ensuremath{\Theta}}_{12}=\frac{\sqrt{2}}{3}$, ${\ensuremath{\Theta}}_{13}=0$, ${\ensuremath{\Theta}}_{23}=0$.
What can computer science learn from a fine arts approach to teaching

Two pedagogical techniques of IT programs are compared, a traditionally taught computer science (CS) major and an IT certificate program using a fine arts approach to pedagogy. The latter graduates a higher percentage of women than of males. Although the two programs are quite different in the nature of the material and what students are expected to learn, CS instructors can borrow from the certificate program in ways that could increase attraction to and retention of women in CS, especially by allowing students to hear each other articulate what they are learning; mentioning practical applications of theoretical principles; and requiring that students display their knowledge and solutions to their peers.