cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Axonal Transport of Complex Carbohydrates

The classic study of Weiss and Hiscoe (1948) provided an early indication that bulk translocation of intracellular material occurs along axons. They observed that a constricting cuff placed on a nerve caused accumulation of axoplasm proximal to the constriction. When the cuff was removed, the bolus of axoplasm migrated distally along the nerve at a rate of 1–2 mm/day. In the following years, the technique of nerve constriction was used to document the intraaxonal migration of a variety of enzymes and subcellular organelles (reviewed by Grafstein, 1969). Considerable impetus was provided to axonal-transport work by the discovery that various isotopically labeled substances could be used to trace the movement of axonal constituents (Ochs and Burger, 1958; Weiss, 1961; Miani, 1962; Droz and Leblond, 1963; Taylor and Weiss, 1965). These studies led to a general acceptance of the use of radioisotopes to label axonally transported molecules, producing a flood of publications from the mid-1960’s up to the present.
Customer Service Behavior: The Interaction of Service Predisposition and Job Characteristics

The achievement of customer satisfaction in service operations depends to a great extent on employee customer service behavior (CSB). In this study, 123 service providers (77% response rate) responded to a survey assessing service predisposition and job characteristics. Employees also completed a behaviorally based CSB measure developed after interviewing and surveying customers (n=96). Analyses suggest that job characteristics, alone, accounted for a significant amount of CSB variance. Job characteristics did not moderate the relationship between service predisposition and CSB. In contrast to previous work, service predisposition and CSB were not correlated. A service provider typology is presented to explain these findings.
Opportunistic Discovery of Personal Places Using Smartphone and Fitness Tracker Data

It is becoming increasingly important to accurately detect a user's presence at certain locales (such as workplace, home, fitness studio, parks, etc.) during certain times of the day, e.g., to study a user's mobility, health, and fitness behavior or social interaction patterns and to enable the delivery of targeted services. These personal places of significance can be determined using segmentation of location traces into a discrete sequence of places. However, location traces often suffer from data gaps, especially indoors, and this may lead to a large number of small and incomplete segments, where many of these segments actually belong together. Recent developments in health and fitness tracking make it possible to continuously collect and analyze a user's biometric data (such as step counts, calorie burn, and heart rate), including during times when location data may be missing. This opens the opportunity to utilizing biometric data to verify a user's presence at a specific place. Specifically, this paper proposes a novel segmentation approach that opportunistically fills gaps in a user's location traces (collected by the user's smartphone) using readily available, coarse-grained, minute-level biometric data collected from a user's health or fitness wearable. In our analysis of more than 450 subjects' data from a two-year long mobile health study, we demonstrate that our approach yields fewer, but more complete and accurate segments than state-of-the-art approaches.
SRASA: a Generalized Theoretical Framework for Security and Reliability Analysis in Computing Systems

Although there is a pressing need for highly secure and reliable computing systems, there is a glaring lack of formalism under which the properties of reliability and security can be jointly designed into these systems. This gap can primarily be attributed to the evolution of the two subfields. In the work, we introduce a unified generalized theoretical framework, called security and reliability aware state automaton (SRASA), to formally describe the specifications of a computer system that cover both security and reliability. SRASA is a 22-tuple finite state machine model that encompasses both physical and abstract states of the system, which may suffer from passive and active attacks. Three case studies illustrate the interpretation and application of the proposed SRASA theoretical framework. Our analysis and experimental results show that a non-physical attack may exploit unspecified or untested states to implement the malicious purpose, rather than introducing a new state to the system. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first attempt to bridge the current design specification gap between secure and reliable computing systems using a unified automaton approach. A general yet complete methodology that will encompass all aspects of system design, from the functional level specification to the gate level design at any system granularity, may not be feasible or it may be beyond the scope of a single work. Therefore, we aim in this work to (1) give an overview of the current landscape of reliability and security in systems design, (2) introduce a generalized framework to specify and reason about both reliability and security in the system design process, and finally (3) be general enough in the framework specification that it can be adopted or customized to more specific or concrete design instances.
Amyloid and hyaline globules in undifferentiated nasopharyngeal carcinoma

Abstract We characterize the clinicopathological features of two patients (one 38 year old woman and one 42 year old man, both of Chinese ethnicity) with Epstein Barr Virus positive non-keratinizing nasopharyngeal carcinoma from an endemic region with prominent presence of amyloid and one case with both amyloid and abundant intracytoplasmic hyaline globules. The amyloid material was positive for Congo red and showed apple green birefringence when examined under polarized light. The amyloid was immunoreactive for cytokeratins and was located both intra- and extracellularly. Frequently the amyloid had a light microscopical spherical appearance and displayed peripheral radiating fibrils from a central homogenous core. One of the patients had a unique presentation of nasopharyngeal carcinoma with perceived hemoptysis and coughing up two pieces of tumor tissue. In reality, the nasopharyngeal tumor was polypoid and the two fragments were pinched of from the main tumor mass.
What Should a Baccalaureate Curriculum in Conservation Law Enforcement Emphasize in Wisconsin

AbstractThe job duties of a conservation law enforcement (CLE) officer have been expanding and getting more complex. Many baccalaureate programs are now offered in conservation law enforcement, but...
Patterns of Early p21 Dynamics Determine Proliferation-Senescence Cell Fate after Chemotherapy

Chemotherapy is designed to induce cell death. However, at non-lethal doses, cancer cells can choose to remain proliferative or become senescent. The slow development of senescence makes studying this decision challenging. Here, by analyzing single-cell p21 dynamics before, during, and days after drug treatment, we link three distinct patterns of early p21 dynamics to final cell fate. Surprisingly, while high p21 expression is classically associated with senescence, we find the opposite at early times during drug treatment: most senescence-fated cells express much lower p21 levels than proliferation-fated cells. We demonstrate that these dynamics lead to a p21 "Goldilocks zone" for proliferation, in which modest increases of p21 expression can lead to an undesirable increase of cancer cell proliferation. Our study identifies a counter-intuitive role for early p21 dynamics in the cell-fate decision and pinpoints a source of proliferative cancer cells that can emerge after exposure to non-lethal doses of chemotherapy.
Integrating Life Cycle Assessment and Agent-Based Modeling: A Dynamic Modeling Framework for Sustainable Agricultural Systems

Abstract As food demand increases, it is critical to develop effective strategies and evaluate their potential in reducing Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions and other environmental footprints of large-scale agricultural systems. This study addresses the challenge by developing a dynamic system modeling framework integrating Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), Agent-Based Modeling (ABM), and Techno-Economic Analysis (TEA). LCA and TEA were coupled with dynamic simulation models of crop yields, costs, and prices, allowing for the estimation of life-cycle environmental impacts and profitability of crop planting activities under changing climate and economic conditions. The framework was demonstrated by a case study for an agricultural system, including 1,000 farms in the United States over a 30-year time frame. The results indicated that information exchange among farmers, farmers' environmental awareness, access to environmental information, and farm size are key factors driving the system's environmental impacts. The results can provide a broad range of stakeholders (e.g., policymakers, nonprofits, agriculture companies) with insightful information to tailor their strategies for effectively managing the environmental footprints of large-scale agricultural systems. The integrated modeling framework has the potential to address sustainability challenges in other systems that are dynamic, involve human behaviors, and have complex interactions among human and nature systems.
Resolving electrical stimulus triggered molecular binding and force modulation upon thrombin-aptamer biointerface.

Abstract Experimental and computational approaches are utilized to investigate the influence of electrostatic fields on the binding force between human coagulation protein thrombin and its DNA aptamer. The thiolated aptamer was deposited onto gold substrate located in a liquid cell filled with binding buffer, then the thrombin-functionalized atomic force microscopy (AFM) probe was repeatedly brought into contact with the aptamer-coated surface under applied electrical potentials of −100, 0, and 100 mV respectively. Force drops during the pull-off process were measured to determine the unbinding forces between thrombin and aptamer in a range of loading rates spanning from ~3 × 102 to ~1 × 104 pN/s. The results from experiments showed that both of the binding strength and propensity of the complex are drastically diminished under positive electrode potential, whereas there is no influence on the molecular binding from negative electrode potential. We also used a theoretical analysis to explain the nature of electrostatic potential and field inside the aptamer-thrombin layer, which in turn could quantify the influence of the electrostatically repulsive force on a thrombin molecule that promotes dissociation from the aptamer due to positive electrode potential, and achieve good agreement with the experimental results. The study confirms the feasibility of electrostatic modulation upon the binding interaction between thrombin and aptamer, and implicates an underlying application perspective upon nanoscale manipulation of the stimuli responsive biointerface.
Endoscopic Sinus Surgery for Pediatric Patients

Endoscopic sinus surgery (ESS) is considered a safe and effective intervention for select pediatric sinus disorders, including both chronic and acute conditions. Surgical intervention is most commonly considered for patients with pediatric chronic rhinosinusitis who have failed medical management. Outcomes and rates of success of surgical intervention vary significantly, which can be largely attributed to a lack of consensus on indications, technique, concurrent medical therapy, and postoperative management. More investigation is necessary to build an evidence-based surgical paradigm and to identify which pediatric patients would benefit most from surgical intervention.
A 33-Year-Old Woman with Pain and Swelling in the Right Calf and Persistent Fever

We describe a case of disseminated mycobacterium tuberculosis infection (TB) with an initial presentation of focal myositis. The initial diagnosis of TB infection was suggested by muscle biopsy findings. The case illustrates that although uncommon, TB can infect muscle in immunocompromised hosts. Febrile focal myositis should raise a clinical suspicion for an infectious etiology.
Quantitative phase imaging of erythrocytes under microfluidic constriction in a high refractive index medium reveals water content changes.

Changes in the deformability of red blood cells can reveal a range of pathologies. For example, cells which have been stored for transfusion are known to exhibit progressively impaired deformability. Thus, this aspect of red blood cells has been characterized previously using a range of techniques. In this paper, we show a novel approach for examining the biophysical response of the cells with quantitative phase imaging. Specifically, optical volume changes are observed as the cells transit restrictive channels of a microfluidic chip in a high refractive index medium. The optical volume changes indicate an increase of cell’s internal density, ostensibly due to water displacement. Here, we characterize these changes over time for red blood cells from two subjects. By storage day 29, a significant decrease in the magnitude of optical volume change in response to mechanical stress was witnessed. The exchange of water with the environment due to mechanical stress is seen to modulate with storage time, suggesting a potential means for studying cell storage. A team at Duke University in the United States led by Han Sang Park has developed a novel approach to investigate the deformability of cells. The technique uses quantitative phase microscopy to measure optical volume as cells are squeezed through a constriction. The team used this approach to study changes in red blood cells that had been stored for up to 29 days. The older cells had a larger volume before constriction, and their volume changed less when they were squeezed. The increased optical volume may be due to changes in hemoglobin concentration during storage, while the smaller change in volume may be because of less water exchange during constriction of older cells. Further investigation will reveal how these biophysical properties change during storage, affecting how readily cells can pass through narrow blood vessels.
Community detectability and structural balance dynamics in signed networks.

We investigate signed networks with community structure with respect to their spectra and their evolution under a dynamical model of structural balance, a prominent theory of signed social networks. The spectrum of the adjacency matrix generated by a stochastic block model with two equal-size communities shows detectability transitions in which the community structure becomes manifest when its signal eigenvalue appears outside the main spectral band. The spectrum also exhibits ``sociality'' transitions involving the homogeneous structure representing the average tie value. We derive expressions for the eigenvalues associated with the community and homogeneous structure as well as the transition boundaries, all in good agreement with numerical results. Using the stochastically generated networks as initial conditions for a simple model of structural balance dynamics yields three outcome regimes: two hostile factions that correspond with the initial communities, two hostile factions uncorrelated with those communities, and a single harmonious faction of all nodes. The detectability transition predicts the boundary between the assortative and mixed two-faction states and the sociality transition predicts that between the mixed and harmonious states. Our results may yield insight into the dynamics of cooperation and conflict among actors with distinct social identities.
Provider-to-provider telemedicine improves adherence to sepsis bundle care in community emergency departments.

IntroductionSepsis is a life-threatening emergency. Together, early recognition and intervention decreases mortality. Protocol-based resuscitation in the emergency department (ED) has improved surv...
Lemierre’s Syndrome: A Case Report of a Child With Partial Treatment of Streptococcal Pharyngitis

Lemierr e’s syndrome (LS) is a complication of acute oropharyngeal infections leading to septic thrombophlebitis of the internal jugular vein. Since initial discovery, the incidence of LS has decreased due to development of modern antibiotics. In our case report, a child with partially treated streptococcal pharyngitis presented with neck pain, neck swelling and limited range of motion of her neck. Although the patient was well appearing and with an atypical presentation of LS, the diagnosis of LS was confirmed with a computed tomography (CT). As a result, appropriate treatment was quickly initiated to prevent further complication and provide a favorable outcome for the patient. Typical presenting symptoms of LS include fever, dysphagia, neck pain and arthralgia that should lead to the ordering of appropriate laboratory studies and imaging. CT imaging aids in both the diagnosis and management of LS. The use of anticoagulation therapy remains controversial in the management of LS. In addition, there are no generalized guidelines for the treatment of LS, but antibiotic therapy directed at anaerobic coverage can significantly reduce morbidity and mortality in otherwise healthy children. Due to potentially fatal complications, it is crucial to keep LS on the differential diagnosis list in pediatric patients with fever, neck pain, neck swelling, or dysphagia in the week following an oropharyngeal infection. Int J Clin Pediatr. 2020;9(1):4-8 doi: https://doi.org/10.14740/ijcp347
Yoga for Functional Fitness in Adults with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities.

Background: Yoga is an effective intervention to improve functional fitness in adults with and without disabilities, but little research exists regarding yoga's impact on functional fitness for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDDs). Aims: The purpose of this study was to examine the benefits of a group yoga intervention on the functional fitness of adults with IDDs. Methods and Materials: This yoga intervention included 12 sessions of yoga over 7 weeks (60-min sessions twice a week) at a special population recreation and leisure program. The functional fitness test was used to examine physical functioning before and after the yoga intervention. Results and Conclusions: Eight adults completed the baseline and posttest measures (age mean = 31; standard deviation = 6.55; 50% male). There were significant improvements in lower-body strength (9.00 ± 4.63 vs. 11.50 ± 3.16, P = 0.04, 28% improvement), upper-body strength (11.25 ± 3.54 vs. 14.25 ± 3.37, P = 0.018, 27% improvement), and agility and balance (9.29 ± 4.1 vs. 6.60 ± 1.54, P = 0.036, 29% improvement). Functional fitness often declines for people with IDD at a faster rate than the general population; thus, these significant changes indicate that a yoga intervention may enhance functional fitness for people with IDD. Clinicians or other healthcare providers might consider yoga as a means to improve functional fitness in adults with IDDs.
Hybrid PET/MRI enables high-spatial resolution, quantitative imaging of amyloid plaques in an Alzheimer's disease mouse model.

The emergence of PET probes for amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles, hallmarks of Alzheimer disease (AD), enables monitoring of pathology in AD mouse models. However, small-animal PET imaging is limited by coarse spatial resolution. We have installed a custom-fabricated PET insert into our small-animal MRI instrument and used PET/MRI hybrid imaging to define regions of amyloid vulnerability in 5xFAD mice. We compared fluorine-18 [18F]-Florbetapir uptake in the 5xFAD brain by dedicated small-animal PET/MRI and PET/CT to validate the quantitative measurement of PET/MRI. Next, we used PET/MRI to define uptake in six brain regions. As expected, uptake was comparable to wild-type in the cerebellum and elevated in the cortex and hippocampus, regions implicated in AD. Interestingly, uptake was highest in the thalamus, a region often overlooked in AD studies. Development of small-animal PET/MRI enables tracking of brain region-specific pathology in mouse models, which may prove invaluable to understanding AD progression and therapeutic development.
Random Offset Block Embedding Array (ROBE) for CriteoTB Benchmark MLPerf DLRM Model : 1000$\times$ Compression and 2.7$\times$ Faster Inference

Deep learning for recommendation data is the one of the most pervasive and challenging AI workload in recent times. State-of-the-art recommendation models are one of the largest models rivalling the likes of GPT-3 and Switch Transformer. Challenges in deep learning recommendation models (DLRM) stem from learning dense embeddings for each of the categorical values. These embedding tables in industrial scale models can be as large as hundreds of terabytes. Such large models lead to a plethora of engineering challenges, not to mention prohibitive communication overheads, and slower training and inference times. Of these, slower inference time directly impacts user experience. Model compression for DLRM is gaining traction and the community has recently shown impressive compression results. In this paper, we present Random Offset Block Embedding Array (ROBE) as a low memory alternative to embedding tables which provide orders of magnitude reduction in memory usage while maintaining accuracy and boosting execution speed. ROBE is a simple fundamental approach in improving both cache performance and the variance of randomized hashing, which could be of independent interest in itself. We demonstrate that we can successfully train DLRM models with same accuracy while using $1000 \times$ less memory. A $1000\times$ compressed model directly results in faster inference without any engineering. In particular, we show that we can train DLRM model using ROBE Array of size 100MB on a single GPU to achieve AUC of 0.8025 or higher as required by official MLPerf CriteoTB benchmark DLRM model of 100GB while achieving about $2.7\times$ (170\%) improvement in inference throughput.
Nilpotence and duality in the complete cohomology of a module

Suppose that G is a finite group and k is a field of characteristic $$p>0$$ . We consider the complete cohomology ring $${\mathcal {E}}_M^* = \sum _{n \in {\mathbb Z}} \widehat{{\text {Ext}}}^n_{kG}(M,M)$$ . We show that the ring has two distinguished ideals $$I^* \subseteq J^* \subseteq {\mathcal {E}}_M^*$$ such that $$I^*$$ is bounded above in degrees, $${\mathcal {E}}_M^*/J^*$$ is bounded below in degree and $$J^*/I^*$$ is eventually periodic with terms of bounded dimension. We prove that if M is neither projective nor periodic, then the subring of all elements in negative degrees in $${\mathcal {E}}_M^*$$ is a nilpotent algebra.
Towards addressing unauthorized sharing of subscriptions

Subscription-based business is booming in recent years, especially in the entertainment sector such as video and music streaming. Usually one subscription account can be shared among family members for the convenience of subscribers. However, account sharing also creates challenges for service provider, as many account owners share their subscriptions outside of the household. The widely spread practice of unauthorized sharing causes huge revenue loss for service providers. However, service providers are very cautious to pursue violators because identifying unauthorized shared accounts is a challenging task. First, the sheer volume of unstructured and noisy data makes it prohibitive to manually process the data. Moreover, it is legitimate for family members to share an account from any location and use many devices as they want. It is tricky to differentiate between unauthorized and legitimate sharing. In this paper, we propose an efficient solution to address the account sharing problem. Based on usage log data, our solution builds user profiles by accumulating and representing geolocation and device usage information. Then we estimate the risk of unauthorized sharing by analyzing the usage pattern of each account. The proposed solution can identify a large number of shared accounts and help service providers to recoup a significant amount of lost revenue.
Glutamine synthetase and transferase

This enzyme (or enzymes) catalyzes the following reactions: 1. Glutamate + ATP + NH3 → glutamine + ADP + Pi (glutamine synthesis). 2. Glutamine + NH2OH →γ-glutamylhydroxamate + NH3 (glutamyl transfer reaction). 3. Glutamine + H2O → Glutamate + NH3 (arsenolysis of glutamine).
Environmental Politics: Stakeholders, Interests, and Policymaking

The second edition of Environmental Politics: Stakeholders, Interests, and Policymaking shows students that environmental politics is fundamentally a clash of competing stakeholders’ interests, and environmental policy the result of their reconciliation. But developments in environmental policymaking over the past several years have been little short of earthshaking. The text not only marks changes in the formal lawmaking process itself, but covers recent elements reshaping environmental politics, such as: the new environmentally activist posture of business the dramatic shift of policymaking influence from the federal to state and local levels the participation of new actors on the environmental policy stage, most notably the faith community the U-turn of organized labor, from opponent of environmentalists to their collaborator the consolidation of the varying missions of environmental advocacy groups to fight global warming the emergence of science from its historic political neutrality to open advocacy the increasing role of both the media and the judiciary Written by an expert with more than 25 years of "smoke-filled room" experience in environmental policymaking, Environmental Politics: Stakeholders, Interests, and Policymaking gives students an insider's view of how policies are forged. By examining current environmental issues through a stakeholder lens, this book not only provides a unique perspective into how policies are adopted, but also illuminates the transformative power of global warming as a political force.
Improving customer experience via text mining

Improving customer experience on company web sites is an important aspect of maintaining a competitive edge in the technology industry. To better understand customer behavior, e-commerce sites provide online surveys for individual web site visitors to record their feedback with site performance. This paper describes some areas where text mining appears to have useful applications. For comments from web site visitors, we implemented automated analysis to discover emerging problems on the web site using clustering methods and furthermore devised procedures to assign comments to pre-defined categories using statistical classification. Statistical clustering was based on a Gaussian mixture model and hierarchical clustering to uncover new issues related to customer care-abouts. Statistical classification of comments was studied extensively by applying a variety of popular algorithms. We benchmarked their performance and make some recommendations based on our evaluations.
Effects of near-ultraviolet irradiation on growth and oxidative metabolism of bacteria

Kashket, E. R. (Harvard Medical School, Boston, Mass.) and A. F. Brodie. Effects of near-ultraviolet irradiation on growth and oxidative metabolism of bacteria. J. Bacteriol. 83:1094-1100. 1962.-The effects of irradiation with near-ultraviolet light (360 mmu) have been studied with Escherichia coli W and a strain of Pseudomonas aeruginosa. The growth of the aerobe P. aeruginosa was inhibited by light on minimal salts media containing succinate, glutamate, or glucose as sole carbon sources. The facultative anaerobe E. coli was capable of growth under irradiation on a fermentable carbon source, such as glucose, but with a smaller yield of cells on limiting substrate, as compared to unirradiated control cultures. The rate of growth of aerobic irradiated cells on glucose was equal to that of anaerobic growth on that carbon source, and there was a greater accumulation of end products of glucose catabolism aerobically in the light as compared to dark controls. When irradiated in media containing carbon sources from which energy was obtainable only by oxidative phosphorylation, such as succinate or malate, E. coli cells were still capable of oxidizing these substrates but could not grow on them. This bacteriostatic effect of 360-mmu light could be reversed by the addition of glucose, which resulted in the growth of irradiated cells. Visible (400 to 600 mmu) light was found to have no effect. Irradiated E. coli cells in succinate were found to contain no naphtho- or benzoquinones, compounds which are more sensitive to 360-mmu irradiation than other components of the respiratory chain. It is suggested that the effect of 360-mmu light on whole cells is the destruction of light-sensitive components, such as the benzoquinone Q(8) and naphthoquinone K(2)C(45) of E. coli W, which are essential for obtaining energy from oxidative metabolism.
Knowledge Discovery and Information Visualization for Terrorist Social Networks

Terrorist social networks present information about the relationships between terrorists which is important for investigators in combating the war of terrorism. A good analysis of terrorist social networks is essential for discovering knowledge about the structure of terrorist organizations. Typical social network analysis techniques discover patterns of interactions between social actors, for examples, detecting subgroup and identifying central individuals. Such knowledge is important for developing effective combating strategies against terrorism. A typical terrorist social network has several hundreds to thousands of nodes. Given the large number of nodes and links, it is difficult to integrate the extracted pattern with the global structure of the terrorist social network to further analyze the related actors. With the support of interactive visualization tools, investigators can further explore the network by selecting the focus of interests and extract the useful information and patterns. In this chapter, we present a social network analysis and interactive visualization technique for complex terrorist social networks. Case studies are presented to illustrate how such techniques are capable to extract the hidden relationships among terrorists in the network through user interactions.
A History of the Automobile Lender Provision of Bapcpa

This paper begins with a comparision of the status of auto lenders under BAPCPA (i.e., the new consumer bankruptcy law) and under pre-BAPCPA bankruptcy law. It concludes that the situation of the auto lenders has been considerably improved, probably more so than for any other large identifiable creditor group. The biggest gain for auto lenders is a prohibition of lien stripping under chapter 13 plans if the motor vehicle was acquired within 2.5 years of filing for personal purposes (or within one year of filing if acquired for other reasons).The paper then provides a historical and political account for how BAPCPA came to take this form. The National Bankruptcy Review Commission made recommendations that would have considerably compromised the position of auto lenders in bankruptcy. The original bills introduced in the House of Representatives at the behest of a broad creditor coalition did not embrace these recommendations and did contain provisions favored by auto lender interests, but those bills did not embrace a broad prohibition of lien stripping in chapter 13. The lien stripping prohibition was added by amendment, on behalf of auto lender interests, made in a markup session of the Senate Judiciary Committee in 1998. Other creditor interests then acquiesced in this amendment, even though it was manifestly contrary to their interests. The paper, which is based in part on interviews with a number of lawyer/lobbyists involved in the process, speculates about the reasons for this acquiesence.
A biplanar cephalometric stereoradiography technique

A biplanar cephalometric stereoradiography (BCSR) technique was developed for accurate three-dimensional assessment of structures that can be identified by markers or anatomical landmarks that are visible on both lateral closed and posteroanterior cephalometric radiographs. The accuracy and precision of the technique were determined by means of a phantom and clinical radiographs. On the phantom, three-dimensional coordinates were determined by the BCSR technique and were measured directly with an electronic digital caliper. The accuracy of the BCSR technique was found to be within 0.5% of the measured distances. On clinical radiographs, the lengths of plates and screws, used as rigid fixation devices, were measured on two subsequent sets of biplanar radiographs and were found to be within the accuracy of our current digitizer (±0.381 mm). The stability of interosseous wires was tested against implants and other interosseous wires on two subsequent sets of biplanar radiographs through a comparison of the distances between two devices. These comparisons confirmed the stability of interosseous wires. The BCSR technique proved to be an accurate method for measurements in three dimensions.
Species comparison of hepatic and pulmonary metabolism of benzene.

Benzene is an occupational hazard and environmental toxicant found in cigarette smoke, gasoline, and the chemical industry. The major health concern associated with benzene exposure is leukemia. Studies using microsomal preparations from human, mouse, rabbit, and rat to determine species differences in the metabolism of benzene to phenol, hydroquinone and catechol, indicate that the rat is most similar, both quantitatively and qualitatively, to the human in pulmonary microsomal metabolism of benzene. With hepatic microsomes, rat is most similar to human in metabolite formation at the two lower concentrations examined (24 and 200 μM), while at the two higher concentrations (700 and 1000 μM) mouse is most similar in phenol formation. In all species, the enzyme system responsible for benzene metabolism approached saturation in hepatic microsomes but not in pulmonary microsomes. In pulmonary microsomes from mouse, rat, and human, phenol appeared to competitively inhibit benzene metabolism resulting in a greater proportion of phenol being converted to hydroquinone when the benzene concentration increased. The opposite effect was seen in hepatic microsomes. These findings support the hypothesis that the lung plays an important role in benzene metabolism, and therefore, toxicity.
Zinc complexes of the carbahemiporphyrazines

Zinc can be inserted into the carbahemiporphyrazines by use of the organometallic reagent diethylzinc; in the case of benziphthalocyanine, concomitant alkylation of an α-carbon position and metalation occurs.
Duplicate Presentations on Prostate Cancer at American Urological Association and European Association of Urology Annual Meetings

Purpose: We determined the rate of duplicate research presentations at recent American Urological Association and European Urological Association annual meetings.Materials and Methods: We cross-referenced all clinical research presentations related to prostate cancer presented at the 2006 American Urological Association and European Urological Association annual meetings with those presented at the corresponding annual meetings in 2005, 2006 and 2007 using a defined search strategy based on author names, abstract titles, study design and objectives. All data abstraction was performed in duplicate by 2 independent reviewers to ensure accuracy.Results: We identified 282 and 312 abstracts on prostate cancer clinical research at the 2006 European Urological Association and American Urological Association annual meetings, respectively. The overall duplication rate of American Urological Association abstracts was 19.2% (60 of 312). Of duplicated abstracts 80.0% (48 of 60) were presented at the European Urologic...
Subjective and external assessments of quality of life in schizophrenia: relationship to insight.

Objective: This study assessed the manner in which insight influenced schizophrenic patients’ evaluation of their objective life conditions and the concurrent validity between patients’ and clinicians’ assessments of patients’ global quality of life. Method: Forty out-patients who fulfilled DSM-III-R criteria for schizophrenia were independently interviewed using the Lancashire Quality of Life Profile and the Standard of Living Interview. Insight was assessed using a self-report questionnaire, the Insight Scale. Results: For insightful patients there was a significant but modest correlation between objective and subjective indicators of quality of life. Likewise, a significant correlation between subjective and external evaluations of global quality of life was limited to those individuals who had good insight. Conclusion: Diminished insight may limit the usefulness of the self-report methodology for assessing quality of life for some individuals with schizophrenia.
A culture system to study oligodendrocyte myelination processes using engineered nanofibers

Primary rat oligodendocytes were cultured in the presence of electron-spun nanofibers of varying sizes as a model to study myelination processes in the mammalian central nervous system. The authors study the role of fiber diameter on the initiation of concentric wrapping by oligodendrocytes. Current methods for studying central nervous system myelination necessitate permissive axonal substrates conducive to myelin wrapping by oligodendrocytes. We have developed a neuron-free culture system in which electron-spun nanofibers of varying sizes substitute for axons as a substrate for oligodendrocyte myelination, thereby allowing manipulation of the biophysical elements of axonal-oligodendroglial interactions. To investigate axonal regulation of myelination, this system effectively uncouples the role of molecular (inductive) cues from that of biophysical properties of the axon. We use this method to uncover the causation and sufficiency of fiber diameter in the initiation of concentric wrapping by rat oligodendrocytes. We also show that oligodendrocyte precursor cells display sensitivity to the biophysical properties of fiber diameter and initiate membrane ensheathment before differentiation. The use of nanofiber scaffolds will enable screening for potential therapeutic agents that promote oligodendrocyte differentiation and myelination and will also provide valuable insight into the processes involved in remyelination.
Asdop - An Auxiliary System Design Optimization Program

Hand calculation techniques used in the design of auxiliary electric power systems are time consuming, tedious and do not provide the engineer with the capability for indepth analyses of proposed system designs. An interactive program has been developed with the capability of performing three- phase short-circuit studies, load-flow studies, motor-start studies, and switchgear/auxiliary transformer impedance optimization studies on electric auxiliary power systems of any complexity. Since this interactive program provides a depth and flexibility of analysis unattainable by hand, the engineer has more time to obtain a greater understanding of the effects of design changes on system performance.
Binding differences of Zn(II) and Cu(II) ions with phytate

Abstract Binding differences have been observed between Zn(II) ions and Cu(II) ions with phytate. In pH 7.00 solutions containing 10 mM phytate, 1 mM Cu(II) or Zn(II) ions, and 0–0.15 M NaCl, all of the Cu(II) ions were bound by phytate as soluble species, whereas an insoluble zinc phytate complex slowly precipitated from solution. More phytate precipitated after 3 hr from zinc phytate solutions of higher ionic strength than from the solutions of lower ionic strength. After 48 hr, the ionic strength of the zinc phytate solution did not affect the amount of phytate precipitated. The zinc: phytate molar ratio in the precipitates collected after 3 hr was 4:1. This binding ratio decreased to 3.5:1 in precipitates collected after 24 and 48 hr. Chemical shift changes in the 31 P NMR spectra of pH 7.00 phytate and zinc phytate solutions, as functions of ionic strength, provided an explanation for these observations. Arguments are presented to support the proposition that Zn(II) ions preferentially bind the 5 axial/1 equatorial phytate conformer in pH 7.00 solutions containing 10 mM phytate and 1 mM Zn(II) ions.
The decomposition and graphical analysis of crime and sanctions data: A cross-national application

This article attempts to illustrate the utility of isoquant map analysis from the field of production theory in microeconomics for the analysis of criminal justice data. Cross-national comparisons of aggregate crime and justice data are used to demonstrate the ability of this technique to reveal important patterns that are often obscured by simple rate comparisons and multivariate treatments such as pooled time-series analysis. For each jurisdiction, aggregate trends in criminal justice processing rates are systematically analyzed as a sequence of two-input production processes: gross imprisonment rates (prison population divided by resident population) can be partitioned in terms of the crime rate and punitiveness (prison population divided by the number of offenses); punitiveness can, in turn, be partitioned in terms of severity and certainty of punishment; certainty of punishment can then be partitioned, seriatim, in terms of the incarceration rate, the conviction rate, and the arrest or clearance rate and the rate at which citizens report crimes. Cross-national data collected by Farrington, Langan, and Wikstrom are used to illustrate the utility of the method for displaying comparisons of the decomposition of aggregate criminal justice data for the United States, England, and Sweden.
Localization of glycogen synthase activity in liver of fasted normal and adrenalectomized rats after injection of dexamethasone

Hepatic glycogen synthase activity was localized in normal and adrenalectomized (ADX) rats after fasting overnight and in fasted ADX rats after injection of dexamethasone (DEX) 2–8 h prior to sacrifice to stimulate glycogen synthesis. Cryostat sections were incubated in medium containing substrate to demonstrate glycogen synthase activity as indicated by glycogen synthesized during incubation. Sections from fasted normal rats showed limited dispersed glycogen synthase activity in both periportal and centrilobular regions. In contrast, activity for glycogen synthase in hepatocytes from fasted ADX rats appeared as large aggregates in random hepatocytes throughtout the lobule. Two hours after injection of DEX the reaction product appeared as aggregates in some hepatocytes, but other cells revealed dispersed enzyme activity. Glycogen synthase activity was evident in more hepatocytes after 4 h treatment with DEX and after 8 h virtually all hepatocytes contained abundant reaction product. The results suggest that synthase activity becomes concentrated in limited regions of selected hepatocytes in fasted ADX rats. DEX stimulation of glycogen synthesis for 4–8 h results in increased enzyme activity. © 1993 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
Configuration Space Analysis and Synthesis of Planar Variable Kinematic Joints

This paper presents a new approach to the analysis and synthesis of planar variable kinematic joints using a configuration space approach. The advantage of this approach is that the configuration space representation contains both the joint topology and the configuration variables. Based on the same configuration space, different combinations of higher pair equivalent revolute and prismatic joints can be used to analyze and synthesize planar variable kinematic joints. Two practical examples will be presented to illustrate the proposed method.Copyright © 2012 by ASME
Antibody suppression by cadmium.

• Mice exposed to subclinical doses of cadmium chloride for ten weeks and inoculated with antigen six weeks after discontinuance of exposure had a remarkable decrease in antibody-forming cells, particularly IgG. These results indicate that immunosuppression produced by environmental contaminants may persist for several months after exposure to the contaminant.
Selenite (Se75) as a tumor‐scanning agent

Selenite (Se75) is a useful scanning agent for visualization of a wide variety of neoplasms in the brain, skeletal system, and chest. Although tumor specificity is not absolute, this agent shows a relatively high selectivity for lesions containing actively metabolizing cells. Other advantages include ready availability, low cost, long ‘shelf-life,’ and convenient gamma-energy spectrum for imaging. The major disadvantage is a relatively long biologic retention, which limits the size of the dose which can be administered. Selenite is recommended, therefore, as a secondary scanning agent, to be used in conjunction with shorter-lived radiopharmaceuticals. When so used, Se75-selenite often increases the diagnostic accuracy of scanning procedures.
Structure of Aluminum Hydroxide Gel III: Mechanism of Stabilization by Sorbitol

The effect of sorbitol on the aging of aluminum hydroxide gel, prepared by the reaction of aluminum chloride solution with strong ammonia solution to a final pH of 7.0, was studied by potentiometric titration, acid-consuming capacity, pH, hydroxide to aluminum ratio, chloride activity, X-ray diffraction, and IR spectroscopy. Gels containing sorbitol lost less than 10% of their acid-consuming capacity during a 6-month aging period compared with a loss of more than 60% for an identical gel without sorbitol. The mechanism by which sorbitol stabilizes the gel appears to be inhibition of the secondary polymerization reaction which takes place upon aging. Another polyhydroxy compound, quercetin, also stabilizes aluminum hydroxide gel.
High-resolution light microscopy for interpretation of renal biopsies

Routine transmission electron microscopy is recommended for all renal biopsies. However, most of the diagnostic lesions in renal pathology are 0.2 micron or larger, and are therefore visible by light microscopy. These lesions are difficult to evaluate in paraffin sections due to problems inherent in the method itself. Full utilization of the resolving power of the light microscope or high-resolution light microscopy is possible with resin (plastic) histotechnology. The replacement of conventional histotechnology by epoxy histotechnology allows the visualization of most subcellular structures needed for accurate diagnosis in renal pathology. Electron microscopy remains a very helpful tool for selected morphological problems.
Admittance of a waveguide-fed aperture loaded with a dielectric plug

The admittance of a rectangular aperture antenna, loaded with a dielectric plug, was previously formulated as a boundary-value problem [1], and the results are summarized. Calculations and supporting measurements show that a TE 03 mode can be strongly excited in the plug, resulting in a resonant perturbation of the admittance.