cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Effects of morphine/CP55940 mixtures on an impulsive choice task in rhesus monkeys.

µ-Opioid receptor agonists are commonly used to treat pain despite their adverse effects. In preclinical studies, cannabinoid receptor agonists increase the potency of opioids for producing antinociceptive but not reinforcing effects. It is unknown whether other adverse effects of these drugs, such as impairment of complex behavior, are enhanced by their co-administration. This study characterized the effects of morphine (µ-opioid receptor agonist; 0.32-5.6 mg/kg, subcutaneously) and CP55940 (CB1/CB2 cannabinoid receptor agonist; 0.0032-0.32 mg/kg, subcutaneously), alone and in mixtures, in monkeys (n=3) choosing between one pellet delivered immediately and two pellets delivered after a delay. Two consecutive choices of the immediate or delayed reward decreased or increased, respectively, the delay. The median adjusted delay, indicating indifference between the immediate and delayed reinforcers, was increased by morphine (3.2 mg/kg) and CP55940 (0.01-0.032 mg/kg). Performance after administration of morphine (0.32 and 1 mg/kg)/CP55940 (0.0032-0.032 mg/kg) mixtures was not different from performance after CP55940 alone. Neither morphine, CP55940, nor mixtures decreased the median adjusted delay (i.e. increased impulsivity). These findings failed to confirm previous studies showing that morphine increases impulsivity, perhaps because of procedural differences among studies. Treatment of pain often requires repeated drug administration; thus, it remains to be determined whether the present findings predict the effects of chronically administered morphine/CP5540 mixtures on impulsive choice.
Algorithms and Heuristics

This chapter describes fundamental algorithms and heuristics used by ANALYZE for some of its commands. The purpose of this presentation is to deepen one’s understanding of the results obtained from syntax-based explanations (EXPLAIN and SYNTAX commands) and from the TRACE, BASIS, RATEOF and REDUCE commands.
Challenges and Outlook

Constrained deformation of materials is a ubiquitous phenomenon in the engineering world. In a majority of situations it creates real problems that limit the performance of materials and devices and generate reliability concerns; in others the problem is actually induced by design for the purpose of achieving specific functionalities. In previous chapters we have treated thermo-mechanical deformation influenced by physical constraint due to the outside media bonded to the material or the internal material heterogeneities. Attempts were made to establish a unified theme encompassing past developments as well as new analyses. The deformation characteristics were addressed from a continuum modeling point of view, without elaboration on the attributes of microstructural details (molecular configuration, crystal structure, grain size, texture, crystal defect density, defect interaction etc.). Although this is a simplified way to deal with the overwhelmingly complex problem spanning a wide range of length scales, it serves the critical purpose of facilitating a mechanistic framework for basic understanding, which is frequently lacking even in the research community. It goes without saying that, in real-life engineering design and analysis, only the simple approach matters.
Mitochondrial Gene Products

Publisher Summary Three kinds of genes have been described in mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA): (1) structural genes for components of the oxidative-phosphorylation system, (2) genes coding for ribonucleic acid (RNA) components of the mitochondrial translation apparatus, and (3) genes coding for proteins of the translation, RNA processing, and intron transposition machineries. The number and type of genes in each of these three categories greatly vary in different organisms. The presence of genes of the third category has so far been documented only in mtDNA from yeast and filamentous fungi, with some indications of their occurrence also in plant cells. This chapter discusses various mitochondrial gene products and reviews the available information concerning the mitochondrial gene products in different eukaryotic cells. In many cases, only the genes have been identified and the existence of the corresponding gene products has been inferred by analogy with other organisms or from the effects of mutations.
Fibroblast growth factor reversal of the corneal myofibroblast phenotype.

Purpose Keratocytes give rise to fibroblasts and myofibroblasts in wounded cornea. It is well established that treatment of fibroblasts with transforming growth factor (TGF) beta will induce myofibroblast differentiation. We investigated whether this differentiation could be reversed by the administration of fibroblast growth factor (FGF). Methods Cultured corneal myofibroblasts were plated at 200 cells/mm(2), and cells were grown in DMEM/F12 containing (1) 10% FBS or (2) 10% FBS with FGF and heparin or (3) 1% FBS or (4) 1% FBS with TGF-beta. As distinguished from the fibroblast phenotype, the myofibroblast phenotype was identified by the assembly of alpha-smooth muscle (SM) actin protein into the stress fiber cytoskeleton. To further characterize growth factor regulation of the two phenotypes, the phenotypic expression of TGF-beta receptor types I and II, cadherins, and connexin 43 by immunocytochemistry, Western blot analysis, and immunoprecipitation and of alpha-SM actin mRNA in Northern blot analysis were evaluated. Results Corneal myofibroblasts replated and grown in the presence of FGF-1 or FGF-2 (20 ng/ml) plus heparin (5 microg/ml) in 10% FBS medium had decreased expression of alpha-SM actin protein, TGF-beta receptors, and cadherins. Thus, FGF-heparin decreased the myofibroblast phenotype and promoted the fibroblast phenotype. Administration of either 20 ng/ml FGF or 5 microg/ml heparin alone was not effective. Addition of TGF-beta further enhanced the expression of alpha-SM actin mRNA and protein and cell surface expression of TGF-beta receptors in myofibroblast cultures. Conclusions FGF-1 or -2 and heparin promoted the fibroblast phenotype and reversed the myofibroblast phenotype. This finding supports the idea that corneal myofibroblasts and fibroblasts are alternative phenotypes rather than terminally differentiated cell types.
Fabrication and Characterization of Ceramic Superconducting Composite Wire

Sheathed high Tc superconducting ceramic wire composites have been fabricated by wire drawing and by hydrostatic extrusion. A number of different superconducting ceramic compositions have been fabricated including YBa2Cu3O7 (“1–2–3”), and the Bi-Sr-Ca-Cu-O system. Under certain circumstances, a displacement reaction occurs at the interface between the ceramic superconductor and the containment tube; the nature of this reaction and its prevention are discussed.
Advances in Microbial Insect Control in Horticultural Ecosystem

The use of microbial organisms as biological control agents has progressed significantly since Metschnikoff launched the first attempt at microbial insect control with Metarhizium anisopliae in 1879. Following the lead of Metschnikoff, entomopathogenic nematodes, fungi, bacteria and viruses have been extensively studied for commercialization and practical use as biopesticides in inundative releases against insect pests in various cropping systems. However, compared with chemical insecticides, these microbial products represent less than 2 % of the total insecticide market share. Factors such as control efficacy, cost, formulation, shelf life, application techniques, and persistence have limited the commercial use of these microbial control agents in insect pest management. This review discusses research advances for entomopathogens, especially commercialization, formulation and application techniques, for microbial biocontrol of insect pests in the horticultural ecosystem.
Factors Associated with Adherence to Mammography Screening Among Insured Women Differ by Income Levels

Abstract Background Breast cancer is the second leading cause of cancer mortality, yet mammography screening rates remain less than optimal and differ by income levels. The purpose of this study was to compare factors predicting mammography adherence across income groups. Methods Women 41 to 75 years of age (N = 1,681) with health insurance and with no mammogram in the last 15 months were enrolled to participate in an interventional study. Binary logistic regression was used to estimate multivariable-adjusted odds ratios (ORs) for demographic and health belief factors predicting mammography adherence for each income group: 1) low, less than $30,000, 2) middle, $30,000 to 75,000, and 3) high, greater than $75,000 per year. Results Being in the contemplation stage (vs. precontemplation) of obtaining a mammogram predicted mammography adherence across all income groups and was the only predictor in the middle-income group (OR, 3.9; 95% CI, 2.61–5.89). Increase in age was associated with 5% increase (per year increase in age) in mammography adherence for low-income (OR, 1.05; 95% CI, 1.01–1.09) and high-income (OR, 1.05; 95% CI, 1.02–1.08) women. Having a doctor recommendation predicted mammography adherence only in low-income women (OR, 10.6; 95% CI, 2.33–48.26), whereas an increase in perceived barriers predicted mammography adherence only among high-income women (OR, 0.96; 95% CI, 0.94–0.99). In a post hoc analysis, high-income women reported difficulty in remembering appointments (53%) and lack of time to get a mammogram (24%) as key barriers. Conclusions For all income groups, being in contemplation of obtaining a mammogram predicted mammography adherence; however, age predicted mammography adherence for low- and high-income groups, whereas doctor recommendation and perceived barriers were unique predictors for low- and high-income women, respectively. Health care providers should be aware of differences in factors and emphasize strategies that increase mammography adherence for each income group.
“[L]ooking at Me My Body Across Distances”: Toni Morrison’s A Mercy and Seventeenth-Century European Religious Concepts of Race

Shook situates Toni Morrison’s A Mercy (2008)—a tale of an African slave girl, Florens, set in 1680s–1690s Virginia—within early modern English Christian religious discourses to encourage a multidisciplinary discussion between early modern English studies, race studies, and contemporary American fiction. In A Mercy, Morrison revises the national origins myth of American religious freedom by using a popular genre, historical fiction, to illustrate how seventeenth-century English Christianity yields a racial hierarchy in early colonial North America. Shook focuses on Jacob Vaark’s investment in benevolent slavery and disavowal of his Barbados rum-trade; then, charts the formation of Florens’ blackness via Christian examination; and concludes by suggesting that Florens’s “I” provides a new view into the early modern archive of blackness.
Potential risk to human skin cells from exposure to dicloran photodegradation products in water.

Abstract Exposure to sunlight and certain pesticides can induce phototoxic responses. Long- and short-term exposure to the photoactivated pesticides can cause a variety of skin diseases. However, assessment of pesticide phototoxicity on human skin is difficult. In the present study, human skin keratinocytes were cultured in several forms: monolayer cell sheet, three-dimensional culture, and keratinocyte-fibroblast co-culture. A common fungicide, dicloran (DC, 2,6‑dichloro‑4‑nitroaniline), was irradiated with simulated sunlight for 2 (DC-PD-2h) and 4 (DC-PD-4h) hours. Dicloran, and two purified intermediate photodegradation products, 2‑chloro‑1,4‑benzoquinone (CBQ) and 1,4‑benzoquinone (BQ), were applied in toxicity tests independently with the keratinocyte culture models. The cell migration, cell differentiation, pro-inflammatory molecule production, and dermal fibroblast cell activation were all measured in the keratinocytes treated with the chemicals described above. These parameters were used as references for dicloran phototoxicity assessment. Among all tested chemicals, the DC-PD-4h and BQ demonstrated elevated toxicities to the keratinocytes compared to dicloran based on our results. The application of DC-PD-4h or BQ significantly delayed the migration of keratinocytes in monolayer cell sheets, inhibited the keratinocyte differentiation, increased the production of pro-inflammatory molecules by 3D keratinocyte culture, and enhanced the ability of 3D cultured keratinocytes in the activation of co-cultured dermal fibroblast cells. In contrast, dicloran, DC-PD-2h, and CBQ showed minimal effects on the keratinocytes in all assays. The results suggested that the four-hour photodegraded dicloran was likely to induce inflammatory skin diseases in the natural human skin. The 1,4‑benzoquinone, which is the predominant degradation product detected following 4 h of irradiation, was the main factor for this response. Photoactivation increased the risk of skin exposed to dicloran in nature. Our models provided an efficient tool in the assessment of toxicity changes in pesticide following normal use practices under typical environmental conditions.
An analysis of the role of host factors in transcription antitermination in vitro by the Q protein of coliphage lambda.

We used two different approaches to study the requirement for Escherichia coli Nus factors for the activity of bacteriophage lambda late antiterminator Q. Using an in vitro coupled transcription-translation assay, based on Q-dependent synthesis of galactokinase from a pR′-tR′-galK template, we showed that mutations in the host nusB and nusE genes do not affect Q activity. A mutation in nusA (nusAl) only partially affects Q action at all temperatures tested. Defective Q function in the nusAl mutant extract could be restored by the addition of pure NusA but not by excess Q. In a pure transcription system, measurement of the run-off transcript produced by Q-mediated suppression of tR′ revealed that NusA is greatly stimulatory to Q activity, whereas NusB and S10, in the presence or absence of NusA, have no effect. Unidentified E. coli factor(s) present in an S30 extract efficiently suppress the natural pausing by RNA polymerase at + 15, + 16 of pR′ without affecting Q activity. These results show that NusA is the only host protein that directly participates in Q function.
Cued distractor rejection disrupts learned distractor rejection

Effective visual search relies on the ability to ignore distracting information. Explicitly cuing individuals to ignore a stimulus consistently leads to a pattern of visual attention first attendin...
Mouse Extraocular Muscles and the Musculotopic Organization of Their Innervation

The organization of extraocular muscles (EOMs) and their motor nuclei was investigated in the mouse due to the increased importance of this model for oculomotor research. Mice showed a standard EOM organization pattern, although their eyes are set at the side of the head. They do have more prominent oblique muscles, whose insertion points differ from those of frontal-eyed species. Retrograde tracers revealed that the motoneuron layout aligns with the general vertebrate plan with respect to nuclei and laterality. The mouse departed in some significant respects from previously studied species. First, more overlap between the distributions of muscle-specific motoneuronal pools was present in the oculomotor nucleus (III). Furthermore, motoneuron dendrites for each pool filled the entire III and extended beyond the edge of the abducens nucleus (VI). This suggests mouse extraocular motoneuron afferents must target specific pools based on features other than dendritic distribution and nuclear borders. Second, abducens internuclear neurons are located outside the VI. We concluded this because no unlabeled abducens internuclear neurons were observed following lateral rectus muscle injections and because retrograde tracer injections into the III labeled cells immediately ventral and ventrolateral to the VI, not within it. This may provide an anatomical substrate for differential input to motoneurons and internuclear neurons that allows rodents to move their eyes more independently. Finally, while soma size measurements suggested motoneuron subpopulations supplying multiply and singly innervated muscle fibers are present, markers for neurofilaments and perineuronal nets indicated overlap in the size distributions of the two populations. Anat Rec, 302:1865-1885, 2019. © 2019 American Association for Anatomy.
Factors Influencing the Function of Presynaptic α2-adrenoceptors in Rat Brain

Tricyclic antidepressants, such as desipramine, alter the number and function of α 2 -adrenoceptors in rat brain. Since desipramine is a potent inhibitor of the neuronal uptake of noradrenaline, its effects upon α 2 -adrenergic receptor number and function in rat hippocampus were compared to those of cocaine, a classical inhibitor of noradrenaline uptake. Rats were injected intraperitoneally, twice daily for 1 or 14 days with desipramine, 10 mg/kg, or cocaine, 3 mg/kg. Both drugs decreased the specific binding of [ 3 H]clonidine to neural membranes isolated from the hippocampus. Desipramine also decreased markedly the ability of clonidine to inhibit the release of [ 3 H]noradrenaline from noradrenergic neurons in rat hippocampal slices. In contrast, cocaine did not alter the effects of clonidine on presynaptic hippocampal α 2 -adrenoceptors. Both cocaine and clonidine in vitro enhanced markedly the release of [ 3 H]noradrenaline during field stimulation. These observations indicate that drugs which cause a sustained increase in synaptic noradrenaline content do not necessarily alter the sensitivity to clonidine of presynaptic α 2 -adrenoceptors. Furthermore, they suggest that changes in receptor number as measured by binding studies might reflect alterations in the density of postjunctional α 2 -adrenoceptors.
Scalable Machine Learning in the R Language Using a Summarization Matrix

Big data analytics generally rely on parallel processing in large computer clusters. However, this approach is not always the best. CPUs speed and RAM capacity keep growing, making small computers faster and more attractive to the analyst. Machine Learning (ML) models are generally computed on a data set, aggregating, transforming and filtering big data, which is orders of magnitude smaller than raw data. Users prefer “easy” high-level languages like R and Python, which accomplish complex analytic tasks with a few lines of code, but they present memory and speed limitations. Finally, data summarization has been a fundamental technique in data mining that has great promise with big data. With that motivation in mind, we adapt the \(\varGamma \) (Gamma) summarization matrix, previously used in parallel DBMSs, to work in the R language. \(\varGamma \) is significantly smaller than the data set, but captures fundamental statistical properties. \(\varGamma \) works well for a remarkably wide spectrum of ML models, including supervised and unsupervised models, assuming dimensions (variables) are either dependent or independent. An extensive experimental evaluation proves models on summarized data sets are accurate and their computation is significantly faster than R built-in functions. Moreover, experiments illustrate our R solution is faster and less resource hungry than competing parallel systems including a parallel DBMS and Spark.
Virtual Human Standardized Patients for Clinical Training

Since Dr. Howard Barrows (1964) introduced the human standardized patient in 1963, there have been attempts to game a computer-based simulacrum of a patient encounter; the first being a heart attack simulation using the online PLATO system (Bitzer M, Nursing Research 15:144–150, 1966). With the now ubiquitous use of computers in medicine, interest and effort have expended in the area of Virtual Patients (VPs). There are excellent summaries in the literature (Talbot TB, International Journal of Gaming and Computer Mediated Simulations 4:1–19, 2012) that explain the different types of virtual patients along with their best case applications, strengths and limitations.
A Social Network Analysis of Cooperation and Support in an HIV Service Delivery Network for Young Latino MSM in Miami

Purpose: The study aimed to identify HIV prevention, testing, and care services prioritizing young Latino men who have sex with men (MSM) in an HIV service delivery network in Miami-Dade County, Fl...
Post-implementation of a Safe Harbor law in the U.S.: Review of state administrative data.

Abstract Background Safe harbor laws have been implemented to change the way systems of care respond to juveniles exploited in commercial sex in the U.S., yet there is little research on the way these laws have impacted the identification and rehabilitation of juveniles. Objective Using administrative data, this study investigates the impact of a safe harbor law enacted in one state in the U.S. Participants and Setting This study examines secondary data on juveniles with prostitution-related charges from 2007 to 2017 (n = 17); juveniles who were screened for human trafficking by juvenile court personnel (n = 56,937); (3) screenings for human trafficking with juveniles in the juvenile justice system (n = 12,223); and (4) juveniles who were reported to the child welfare agency as possible victims of human trafficking (n = 697). The number of criminal cases of human trafficking involving victims under the age of 18 years old from 2007 to 2017 were analyzed by calendar year (n = 61). Methods Aggregate, administrative data was accessed and analyzed. Results Findings show that juvenile justice and juvenile court personnel are screening for trafficking at an increasing rate and making referrals to the child welfare system as mandated by law. However, a relatively low percentage of these cases are substantiated, confirmed and/or result in criminal charges to the trafficker. Despite safe harbor mandates that prohibit the charging of juveniles with prostitution offenses, there is evidence that this is still occurring in small numbers. Conclusions Based on these findings, researchers have identified next steps to facilitate future investigations of safe harbor laws.
Forecasting oil well performance in tight formation using the connected reservoir storage model

Abstract Tight reservoir development requires complex fracture networks to economically produce hydrocarbons. The accurate prediction of a production well regarding this type of reservoir is not only critical for reservoir management but also challenging due to multiple and compound flow mechanisms. For wells producing from tight formations, curve fitting based forecasting models are destined to fail in the long term because they do not capture flow mechanisms or the physics governing fluid flow in the reservoir. Based on diffusivity theory, this paper presents the Connected Reservoir Storage Model (CRSM) employing only production rate and bottomhole flowing pressure (BHFP) to derive the reservoir behavior and can be used to predict production performance under variable operating conditions. This approach is easy to implement as the CRSM can be determined with no foreknowledge of reservoir geometry or reservoir parameters. The novelty of the CRSM is utilizing only production data to characterize extreme tight formations for performance forecasting under variable operational conditions. This paper will demonstrate the ability of the CRSM to predict production performance and compare the result to two classical empirical techniques currently used in unconventional reservoir predictions, and the validation is done via numerical simulation. Based on the CRSM, this paper also reveals the interrelated paradigms among well performance, increasing reservoir connected volume, and rate forecasts with uncertainties.
Abstract A10: Constitutive HIF activity enhances T-cell antitumor immunity and memory T-cell formation in the murine adoptive cell therapy model

Purpose: To determine if unrestrained hypoxia inducible factor (HIF) activity in CD8 T cells improves antitumor response. Methods: CD8 T cells were isolated from von Hippel Lindau (VHL)-deficient (VHL KO) mice, which have unrepressed HIF1 and HIF2 activity, as well as from VHL/HIF1/HIF2 triple-deficient (TKO) and WT mice. Following in vitro activation, T cells were transferred to melanoma (B16) tumor-bearing mice and monitored for tumor progression and survival. In other studies, activated VHL KO and TKO CD8 cells were mixed with WT CD8 cells and transferred to B16 or adenocarcinoma (MC38) tumor-bearing mice; after 7-10 days, donor T cells were analyzed from tumors, spleens, and draining lymph nodes (LN). Results: Single transfer of VHL KO CD8 T cells to B16 tumor-bearing mice resulted in delayed tumor growth and prolonged survival compared to transfer of CD8 T cells from TKO or WT donors. Co-transfer of VHL KO cells with WT cells into B16 tumor-bearing mice resulted in superior accumulation of VHL KO cells in all tissues including tumors. In contrast, mixed transfer of TKO cells with WT cells to B16 tumor-bearing mice resulted in poorer accumulation of TKO cells in all tissues including tumors. VHL KO tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) had superior expression of tissue resident memory (TRM) phenotype markers CD103 and CD69 compared to WT and TKO TILs. Similarly in the MC38 tumor model, VHL KO cells showed improved accumulation in all tissues compared to WT cells. Conclusions: Here we demonstrate that VHL deletion in CD8 T cells results in superior efficacy in delaying tumor growth and improving recipient survival, greater accumulation in multiple solid tumor models, and increased development of the TRM phenotype. Further, TKO recipients demonstrated increased tumor growth, reduced survival, reduced TIL numbers, and absence of TRM phenotype following adoptive transfer, confirming the HIF dependency of the VHL-deletion phenotype. Taken together, these data demonstrate that T cells with constitutive HIF activity provide a more robust antitumor response. Therefore, manipulation of HIF regulation could offer new tools for enhanced T-cell efficacy in adoptive cellular therapy for solid tumors. Citation Format: Colette R. Lauhan, Deborah Witherden, Ilkka Liikanan, Ananda Goldrath. Constitutive HIF activity enhances T-cell antitumor immunity and memory T-cell formation in the murine adoptive cell therapy model [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Special Conference on the Advances in Pediatric Cancer Research; 2019 Sep 17-20; Montreal, QC, Canada. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2020;80(14 Suppl):Abstract nr A10.
Cross validation of analytical solutions against the computational model predictions of the response of end bearing energy pile

Predictions of responses of a single energy pile to a combined mechanical and thermal loading are presented. They were obtained from computational and analytical models. The former model provided predictions based on a coupled thermal hydro-mechanical finite element analysis while the predictions of the latter were obtained from the recently derived analytical solutions. The energy pile is surrounded by a single uniform soil layer underlain by a very stiff bedrock. Two scenarios of temperature history were considered. In the first scenario the pile remained in a net heated state while the second one induced a net cooled state. In both loading scenarios a compressive axial load was applied at the pile head prior to the thermal loading. The net heating induced an upward axial displacement, tensile strain and compressive stress while the net cooling induced a downward vertical pile displacement, compressive strain and tensile stress. In spite of different methods of obtaining the soil stiffness for computational and analytical models the predictions of the axial pile displacement, stress and strain show a very good agreement.
Using time series of MODIS land surface phenology to model temperature and photoperiod controls on spring greenup in North American deciduous forests

Abstract The timing of leaf emergence in temperate and boreal forests is changing, which has profound implications for a wide array of ecosystem processes and services. Spring phenology models, which have been widely used to predict the timing of leaf emergence, generally assume that a combination of photoperiod and thermal forcing control when leaves emerge. However, the exact nature and magnitude of how photoperiod and temperature individually and jointly control leaf emergence is the subject of ongoing debate. Here we use a continuous development model in combination with time series of land surface phenology measurements from MODIS to quantify the relative importance of photoperiod and thermal forcing in controlling the timing of canopy greenup in eastern temperate and boreal forests of North America. The model accurately predicts biogeographic and interannual variation in the timing of greenup across the study region (median RMSE = 4.6 days, median bias = 0.30 days). Results reveal strong biogeographic variation in the period prior to greenup when temperature and photoperiod influence greenup that covaries with the importance of photoperiod versus thermal controls. Photoperiod control on leaf emergence is dominant in warmer climates, but exerts only modest influence on the timing of leaf emergence in colder climates. Results from models estimated using ground-based observations of cloned lilac are consistent with those from remote sensing, which supports the realism of remote sensing-based models. Overall, results from this study suggest that apparent changes in the sensitivity of trees to temperature are modest and reflect a trade-off between decreased sensitivity to temperature and increased photoperiod control, and identify a transition in the relative importance of temperature versus photoperiod near the 10 °C isotherm in mean annual temperature. This suggests that the timing of leaf emergence will continue to move earlier as the climate warms, and that the magnitude of change will be more pronounced in colder regions with mean annual temperatures below 10 °C.
Atomic structure of light-induced efficiency-degrading defects in boron-doped Czochralski silicon solar cells

Boron-doped Czochralski (Cz) Si is the most commonly used semiconductor in the fabrication of solar cells. The minority carrier lifetime of boron-doped Cz Si decreases upon exposure to light due to B–O-related defects, which reduce the performance of ∼109 solar modules worldwide. Using electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR), we have identified the spin-active paramagnetic signatures of this phenomenon and gained insights into its microscopic mechanism. We found a distinct defect signature, which diminished when the degraded sample was annealed. The second signature, a broad magnetic field spectrum, due to the unionized B acceptors, was present in the annealed state but vanished upon light exposure. These observations show that, on degradation, nearly all the ∼1016 cm−3 B atoms in Cz Si complexed with interstitial O atoms, whereas only ∼1012 cm−3 of these complexes created defects that were recombination-active. The formation rate of these recombination-active defects correlated with the decay of the minority carrier lifetime. The line shape parameters linked these defects to both B and O impurities in Cz Si.
Enzyme organization in DNA precursor biosynthesis.

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses the process by which DNA precursors are synthesized and delivered to replication sites and consider the possibility of physical or functional linkage between enzymes of deoxyribonucleoside 5‘-triphosphate (dNTP)’ synthesis and those directly involved in the replication. DNA replication has been shown in both prokaryotic and eukaryotic systems to involve the cooperative function of numerous proteins associated at replication forks. Many metabolic pathways involve multifunctional enzymes or tightly associated multienzyme complexes. Examples of the former are the fattyacyl- CoA synthetase enzyme in vertebrate cells and the eukaryotic “CAD protein” and UMP synthetase, which catalyze the first three and last two reactions, respectively, of the six steps in de novo pyrimidine-nucleotide synthesis. Examples of tightly but non-covalently bound aggregates include the well-known pyruvate and α-ketoglutarate dehydrogenase complexes of mitochondria. The potential biological advantages of enzyme association are fairly obvious and might include: maintenance of locally high metabolite concentrations without the need for physical compartmentation within a membrane; protection of the solvation capacity of cell water, because average concentrations of most metabolites are kept low, even though local concentrations may be much higher; efficiency of regulation of both enzyme synthesis and metabolic fluxes; and relative rapidity with which a metabolic process can respond to changes in the intracellular environment.
Phosphotransferase System of Staphylococcus aureus: Its Requirement for the Accumulation and Metabolism of Galactosides

The phosphotransferase system of Staphylococcus aureus was characterized. Mutants defective in enzyme I and heat-stable (HPr) protein as well as in the two components specific to lactose accumulation, factor III and enzyme II, were isolated. Colorimetric assays for each of the components are presented based on the formation of o-nitrophenyl-β-d-galactoside-6-phosphate by the system and its hydrolysis by the staphylococcal 6-phospho-β-galactosidase. The components were partially purified and their molecular weights were estimated: enzyme I, 100,000 ± 15%; HPr, 10,000 ± 15%; factor III, 30,000 ± 15%; 6-phospho-β-galactosidase, 45,000. Enzyme II is a membrane-bound protein.
Nerds Cereal and Red Stools

To the Editor.— In addition to the numerous caveats described in the paper by Willoughby et al (Pediatrics 1987;79:851-857), a number of other serious criticisms should be noted. General recommendations for the use of soy bean formula frequently included the assumption that some risk factor existed in the child, limiting the use of milk-based formulas. Indeed, in the 20 infants reported by Willoughby et al, 11 are said to have had other risk factors, such as hyperbilirubinemia in six, ventricular septal defects in two, and one each with low birth weight, twinning, and Pierre-Robin anomalad.
The relevance of aggression and the aggression of relevance: The rise of the accreditation marketing machine

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to illustrate how language functions to construct relevance at moments of articulation and how language functions as an aggressive marketing practice to promote a self‐regulated (production‐oriented) system of accreditation.Design/methodology/approach – Drawing on the political theory of Laclau and Lacanian psychoanalytical theory of desire and aggressivity, a linguistic case study is used to illustrate the construction and promotion of accreditation and relevance.Findings – Aggressive competitive behavior in the area of higher education accreditation sets up inter‐institutional antagonisms at the local and global level which may prove socially divisive and restrict the distribution of knowledge for the social good with the possible implication of restricting economic growth for competitively weaker countries.Research limitations/implications – The micro analysis of language restricts the size of the data set considered in a single article.Practical implications – St...
Write Optimization Using Asynchronous Update on Out-of-Core Column-Store Databases in Map-Reduce

Column-store databases feature a faster data reading speed compared with traditional row-based databases. However, optimizing write operations in a column-store database is a well-known challenge. Most existing works on write performance optimization focus on main-memory column-store databases. In this work, we extend the research on column-store databases in the Map-Reduce environment. We propose a data storage format called Time stamped Binary Association Table (or TBAT) without the need of global indexing. Based on TBAT, a new update method, called Asynchronous Map-Only Update (or AMO Update), is designed to replace the traditional update. A significant improvement in speed performance is shown in experiments when comparing the AMO update with the traditional update.
Discovery of water vapour around IRC+10216 as evidence for comets orbiting another star

Since 1995, planets with masses comparable to that of Jupiter have been discovered around approximately 60 stars. These planets have not been seen directly, but their presence has been inferred from the small reflex motions that they gravitationally induce on the star they orbit; these motions result in small periodic wavelength shifts in the stellar spectrum. The presence of analogues of the smaller bodies in our Solar System cannot, however, be determined using this technique, because the induced reflex motions are too small-so an alternative approach is needed. Here we report the observation of circumstellar water vapour around the ageing carbon star IRC+10216; water is not expected in measurable quantities around such a star. The only plausible explanation for this water is that the recent evolution of IRC+10216, which has been accompanied by a prodigious increase in its luminosity, is causing the vaporization of a collection of orbiting icy bodies-a process considered in an earlier theoretical study.
State Selection in Accelerated Systems

The problem of state selection when multiple metastable states compete for occupation is considered for systems that are accelerated far from equilibrium. The dynamics of the supercurrent in a narrow superconducting ring under the influence of an external electric field is used to illustrate the general phenomenology.
Pollapese Catholicism as Strategy

Indigenous groups creatively incorporate outside institutions, including Christianity, for local purposes. Furthermore, people who see themselves as observing tradition may also construe themselves as being Christian and citizens of a nation. Despite the original external origins of Christianity, meaning becomes locally constructed and asserted for local purposes so that religion as practiced is about local, regional, or national concerns rather than commitment to particular dogmas, institutions, and hierarchy. A case in point are the people of Pollap in the Caroline Islands of Micronesia, who converted to Christianity in the middle of the twentieth century through the efforts of a Catholic catechist. Today the islanders practice a vibrant version of Catholicism in which local symbols and beliefs infuse imported Catholic ritual, and in which biblical verses and imagery support secular, political strategies. Pollapese seem less concerned with theology and more with behavior that demonstrates good character. As they attempt to exploit and reconcile potentially conflicting guides for behavior from the realms of religion, tradition, and government, they make strategic use of their understandings of Catholicism's dictates for political and social purposes.
Suppressors of the ndc10-2 mutation: a role for the ubiquitin system in Saccharomyces cerevisiae kinetochore function.

We have isolated a new conditional-lethal mutation, ndc10-2, in the NDC10/CBF2/CTF14 gene that encodes the 110-kD subunit of the Saccharomyces cerevisiae CBF3 kinetochore complex. At the restrictive temperature of 37°, ndc10-2 cells are able to assemble anaphase spindles, but fail to segregate their DNA, consistent with a defect in kinetochore function. To identify other factors that play a role in kinetochore assembly or function, we isolated both dosage and second site suppressors of the ndc10-2 mutation. These screens identified UBC6 as a dosage suppressor, and mutations in UBC6 and UBC7 as second-site suppressors of ndc10-2 heat sensitivity. Both UBC6 and UBC7 encode ubiquitin-conjugating enzymes that function in ubiquitin-mediated protein degradation. Furthermore, overexpression of a mutant ubiquitin suppresses the ndc10-2 mutation. These results implicate the ubiquitin system in the regulation of ndc10-2 function and suggest a role for the ubiquitin system in kinetochore function.
Microfinanzas y vivienda para inmigrantes en los E.E.U.U.: una herramienta sustentable

Preventing neighborhood deterioration through the updating of housing stock is an opportunity for promoting sustainable development. Updating dwellings suffering from not only deterioration but also those created on an incremental basis and with small resources, creates social opportunities, decreases the consumption of land, energy, and other resources, thus promoting sustainable development. Although the United States has many years of practice and theory in issues related to neighborhood revitalization and development, sectors of population lacking access to financial opportunities still remain. Current financial and housing opportunities are proving to be unaccessable for some important groups such as immigrants. Developing countries have a record of creating original strategies to alleviate problems related to housing. Microfinance for housing has evolved as one of those ideas which have emerged in an attempt to alleviate conditions facing the poor. The main goal of this article is to present an analysis of the key characteristics of a microfinance program for housing, which has been, implemented in some of the poorest counties in Texas along the U.S.-Mexico border. The program began in 2000 and appears to be working with constant clientele. Findings on this research set the groundwork for the implementation of similar programs across the U.S.
A regression model to identify successful learner traits with CAI

This descriptive study examined the personality traits and instructional time factors of successful and nonsuccessful students who utilized computer-assisted instruction (CAI) to learn psychopharmacological nursing. Data from this study support the contention that there is beginning evidence to imply that there are certain individual traits that can be utilized to predict successful learning with CAI. The stepwise multiple regression analysis utilized in this study identified 17 variables that contributed to successful learning. Specific academic, cognitive, demographic, and philosophical indicators emerged as the most consistent predictors of learning associated with these psychopharmacological lessons presented on the PLATO system. These results and others are explored in terms of their educational implications, and suggestions are made for future research that can be used to plan more effective and efficient use of computers in nursing education.
Determinants of the length of time a firm’s book-to-market ratio is greater than one

This paper examines the factors associated with the length of time that a firm’s market value is below its book value. From 1990 to 2010, approximately 19 % of firm quarter observations have a market value below their book value, and 46 % experience a market value below its below book value for more than 1 year. I investigate firm characteristics—accounting aggressiveness, asset liquidity, debt covenants, and cash flows; firm actions—merger, liquidation or an internal adaptation of resources; and accounting rules and their association with the length of time a firm’s book-to-market (BTM) ratio is greater than one. This paper extends the research on the adaptation option and also brings to light the unusual sample of observations that persist with a BTM ratio greater than one.
A microRNA miR-34a-Regulated Bimodal Switch Targets Notch in Colon Cancer Stem Cells

microRNAs regulate developmental cell-fate decisions, tissue homeostasis, and oncogenesis in distinct ways relative to proteins. Here, we show that the tumor suppressor microRNA miR-34a is a cell-fate determinant in early-stage dividing colon cancer stem cells (CCSCs). In pair-cell assays, miR-34a distributes at high levels in differentiating progeny, whereas low levels of miR-34a demarcate self-renewing CCSCs. Moreover, miR-34a loss of function and gain of function alter the balance between self-renewal versus differentiation both in vitro and in vivo. Mechanistically, miR-34a sequesters Notch1 mRNA to generate a sharp threshold response where a bimodal Notch signal specifies the choice between self-renewal and differentiation. In contrast, the canonical cell-fate determinant Numb regulates Notch levels in a continuously graded manner. Altogether, our findings highlight a unique microRNA-regulated mechanism that converts noisy input into a toggle switch for robust cell-fate decisions in CCSCs.
Where are they now? A case study of health-related Web site attrition.

BACKGROUND.: When considering health-related Web sites, issues of quality generally focus on Web content. Little concern has been given to attrition of Web sites or the "fleeting" nature of health information on the World Wide Web. Since Web sites may be available for an uncertain period of time, a Web page may not be a sound reference. OBJECTIVE.: To address the issue of attrition, a defined set of health-related Web sites was examined at two separate time intervals. METHODS.: To determine the degree of attrition, Web sites obtained and recorded from a previous study were revisited approximately three years later. From December 1998 to May 1999, 184 Web sites were collected from which health claims were identified. During May and June 2002, the previously recorded URL for each Web site was entered into the address field of the browser Netscape Navigator. It was documented whether the original Web site could not be found, moved to a different URL location, or the URL and site location was found unchanged from the original search. For a Web site whose URL remained unchanged, it was also noted whether the site had maintained currency, (i.e. updated) since the original posting. To ensure that inaccessibility may not be due to temporary server problems, another attempt was made to access the sites at different periods of time. RESULTS.: When each URL address from the original set of 184 Web sites was re-entered into the address field of the browser, 108 (59%) of the sites could not be found, 31 (17%) had moved to a new URL address, and 45 (24%) of the sites could be found from the original URLs obtained in the previous study. Of the Web sites that moved to a new URL address, 7 sites provided a link from the original URL to redirect the viewer to the new location. Of the Web sites still in existence, 17 (38%) provided update information from the original posting. CONCLUSIONS.: It can be difficult to locate information that was previously found on the Web, and if a reference to an item is provided, there is no guarantee that viewers will be able to find the site at a later time. Enhancements in Web technologies such as the Internet Archive may improve this situation. Future research that is directed toward making sure Web site viewers know the site will be accessible at a later time will enhance the Web as a valuable medical information resource. [J Med Internet Res 2002;4(2):e10]
Use what you have: authentic assessment of in‐class activities

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to share a practical approach to formative, authentic assessment of Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) outcomes within individual sessions of course‐integrated information literacy. This method does not require extra class time and assists librarians in modifying their teaching techniques to improve student learning.Design/methodology/approach – By implementing authentic assessment of worksheets already integrated into library instruction sessions, librarians measure student learning of ACRL outcome 2.2.b “identify keywords, synonyms, and related terms for the information needed.”Findings – Librarians consider this initial foray into authentic assessment a success, with the methodology only requiring a few adjustments. Results of student learning revealed an overall understanding by students of how to identify keywords and synonyms, but uncovered a weakness in topic development.Research limitations/implications – This study is based on a three‐class...