cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Psychophysical and EMG correlates of force exertion in manual work

Abstract Difficulties in directly assessing the forcefulness of manual work have led to a search for alternative methods of estimating force exertion. The relationships between normalized grip force psychophysical ratings of perceived exertion (RPE) and the electromyogram (EMG) were examined in three studies. In each study, participants performed short duration, repetitive tasks requiring application of grip force to a cylindrical handle. Applied grip force and EMG activity in select forearm muscles (flexor pollicis longus, flexor digitorum superficialis, and extensor digitorum) were recorded. Participants also rated perceived exertion using Borg's CR-10 scale. In all three studies, EMG and RPE were strongly and positively correlated with normalized grip force; however, neither measure (EMG or RPE) was a consistently better predictor of grip force than the other. RPE appeared to be a somewhat better predictor of force in the more complex work task. Combining RPE and EMG measures to predict manual force levels resulted in models explaining 51.7% to 74.2% of the variation in grip force. However, because psychophysical methods are generally easier to implement, RPE may have broader application in future ergonomics studies.
Repair of paraesophageal hernias

Abstract BACKGROUND: Three years ago we proposed the use of laparoscopy and systematic addition of an antireflux procedure to repair paraesophageal hernias. We now present an analysis of the outcome on patients and the evolution of the technique proposed. METHODS: Symptoms and esophageal function were prospectively collected and followed in 41 consecutive patients treated over a 4-year period. Indications for repair included chronic anemia in 15 patients, and previous incarceration in 8. Twenty-two patients had symptoms of reflux. RESULTS: All operations were started laparoscopically, two were converted. Mean operating time was 210 minutes, and mean hospital stay was 4 days. Mean follow-up was 3 years. The operation was effective; all symptoms had improved significantly at last follow-up. CONCLUSIONS: Laparoscopic repair of paraesophageal hernia with the addition of an antireflux procedure, although difficult, lengthy, and not totally without risk, improves symptoms substantially, resolves anemia, and prevents incarceration in nearly all patients.
Estimating the Food Requirements and Prey Size Spectra of Larval American Shad

Abstract Widespread declines in American shad Alosa sapidissima along the Atlantic coast have been attributed to overfishing, a decrease in water quality, and loss of habitat. Recent surveys along the Roanoke River and Albemarle Sound, North Carolina, suggest that stocks are continuing to decline despite extensive management and stock enhancement efforts. Laboratory experiments were conducted to evaluate the effect of prey density on the growth and survival of American shad and to determine whether larvae can survive and grow in a riverine environment with a limited forage base. Larvae were reared from 11 to 20 d posthatch in one of five treatments: (1) no food; (2) low food (1 prey/L), which simulated the prey densities in the Roanoke River; (3) medium food (50 prey/L), which simulated the prey densities typical of coastal watersheds; (4) high food (500 prey/L); and (5) Artemia spp. (500/L). Larval survival was 35 ± 7% (mean ± SE) and was not significantly different among treatments. Treatments with star...
Optical properties of the polyglycine II helix

The circular dichroism spectrum obtained from a dilute aqueous solution of poly (ala-gly-gly) resembles that described for charged polypeptides such as the salt form of poly glutamic acid. A similar spectrum is found for films cast from aqueous solution where x-ray studies reported elsewhere have indicated a poly-glycinc II conformation. Evidence is presented for a heat induced poly-glycine II to unordered state transition similar to that described for collagen. The interpretation of this, the first observation of the optical properties of a poly-amino acid in the poly glycine II conformation, is further rationalized on the basis of spectra obtained from a number of polypeptides whose conformation approaches that of a 31 helix.
Exisulind in the treatment of prostate cancer.

Prostate cancer represents the most common noncutaneous malignancy in men. With the widespread use of prostate-specific antigen screening, as many as one in six men in the USA will be diagnosed with prostate cancer. Significant healthcare resources are currently devoted to the treatment of this disease, specifically aimed at improving the side effects of successful treatment. Surgery or radiation therapy provides the best chance of cure from this disease. However, as many as 50% of patients treated with curative intent will develop a recurrence 10–15 years following treatment. Hormonal ablation via medical or surgical castration provides disease control, but is associated with significant hot flushes, loss of libido and impotence. Selective, apoptotic antineoplastic drugs, such as exisulind, may provide an alternative method to treating or preventing prostate cancer. This drug profile reviews the evidence for the use of exisulind in the treatment of prostate cancer.
The capsid protein encoded by U(L)17 of herpes simplex virus 1 interacts with tegument protein VP13/14.

The U L 17 protein (pU L 17) of herpes simplex virus 1 (HSV-1) likely associates with the surfaces of DNA-containing capsids in a heterodimer with pU L 25. pU L 17 is also associated with viral light particles that lack capsid proteins, suggesting its presence in the tegument of the HSV-1 virion. To help determine how pU L 17 becomes incorporated into virions and its functions therein, we identified pU L 17-interacting proteins by immunoprecipitation with pU L 17-specific IgY at 16 h postinfection, followed by mass spectrometry. Coimmunoprecipitated proteins included cellular histone proteins H2A, H3, and H4; the intermediate filament protein vimentin; the major HSV-1 capsid protein VP5; and the HSV tegument proteins VP11/12 (pU L 46) and VP13/14 (pU L 47). The pU L 17-VP13/14 interaction was confirmed by coimmunoprecipitation in the presence and absence of intact capsids and by affinity copurification of pU L 17 and VP13/14 from lysates of cells infected with a recombinant virus encoding His-tagged pU L 17. pU L 17 and VP13/14-HA colocalized in the nuclear replication compartment, in the cytoplasm, and at the plasma membrane between 9 and 18 h postinfection. One possible explanation of these data is that pU L 17 links the external face of the capsid to VP13/14 and associated tegument components.
Blue degradation products of rubreserine

The red, o-quinone degradation product of physostigmine (1), rubreserine (3), was refluxed in absolute EtOH under NH 3 gas to afford two blue, isomeric products, compounds 5 and 6. The structures of these two blue compounds were derived from the consideration of their spectral data.
A finite element with a unidirectionally enriched strain field for localization analysis

A methodology is developed for solving problems involving the interaction between micro-scale phenomena, such as localization, and the overall macroscopic behavior of a structure. This is accomplished by enriching the strain field in a single direction within the framework of a Hu-Washizu variational principle. Results are obtained for a viscoplastic bar which is stretched beyond its bifurcation point. The results show that the shear bands in viscplastic solids have a cusped structure, which is accurately resolved by enriching this method.
Building a robust dialogue system with limited data

We describe robustness techniques used in the CommandTalk system at the recognition level, the parsing level, and the dialogue level, and how these were influenced by the lack of domain data. We used interviews with subject matter experts (SME's) to develop a single grammar for recognition, understanding, and generation, thus eliminating the need for a robust parser. We broadened the coverage of the recognition grammar by allowing word insertions and deletions, and we implemented clarification and correction subdialogues to increase robustness at the dialogue level. We discuss the applicability of these techniques to other domains.
Differential regulation of muscarinic M2 and M3 receptor signaling in gastrointestinal smooth muscle by caveolin-1

Caveolae act as scaffolding proteins for several G protein-coupled receptor signaling molecules to regulate their activity. Caveolin-1, the predominant isoform in smooth muscle, drives the formatio...
Neuropilins are positive regulators of Hedgehog signal transduction

The Hedgehog (Hh) pathway is essential for vertebrate embryogenesis, and excessive Hh target gene activation can cause cancer in humans. Here we show that Neuropilin 1 (Nrp1) and Nrp2, transmembrane proteins with roles in axon guidance and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) signaling, are important positive regulators of Hh signal transduction. Nrps are expressed at times and locations of active Hh signal transduction during mouse development. Using cell lines lacking key Hh pathway components, we show that Nrps mediate Hh transduction between activated Smoothened (Smo) protein and the negative regulator Suppressor of Fused (SuFu). Nrp1 transcription is induced by Hh signaling, and Nrp1 overexpression increases maximal Hh target gene activation, indicating the existence of a positive feedback circuit. The regulation of Hh signal transduction by Nrps is conserved between mammals and bony fish, as we show that morpholinos targeting the Nrp zebrafish ortholog nrp1a produce a specific and highly penetrant Hh pathway loss-of-function phenotype. These findings enhance our knowledge of Hh pathway regulation and provide evidence for a conserved nexus between Nrps and this important developmental signaling system.
Faster constraint solving with subtypes

Constraints in predicate or relational logic can be translated into boolean logic and solved with a SAT solver. For faster solving, it is common to exploit the typing of predicates or relations, in order to reduce the number of boolean variables needed to encode the constraint. Here we show how to extend this idea to constraints expressed in a language with subtyping. Our technique, called atomization, refactors the type hierarchy into a flat collection of disjoint atomic types. The constraints are then decomposed into equivalent constraints involving smaller relations or predicates over these new types, which can then be solved in the normal fashion. Experiments with an implementation of this technique within the Alloy Analyzer show improved performance on practical software checking problems.
Retrograde transfer RNA nuclear import provides a new level of tRNA quality control in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

In eukaryotes, transfer RNAs (tRNAs) are transcribed in the nucleus yet function in the cytoplasm; thus, tRNA movement within the cell was believed to be unidirectional—from the nucleus to the cytoplasm. It is now known that mature tRNAs also move in a retrograde direction from the cytoplasm to the nucleus via retrograde tRNA nuclear import, a process that is conserved from yeast to vertebrates. The biological significance of this tRNA nuclear import is not entirely clear. We hypothesized that retrograde tRNA nuclear import might function in proofreading tRNAs to ensure that only proper tRNAs reside in the cytoplasm and interact with the translational machinery. Here we identify two major types of aberrant tRNAs in yeast: a 5′, 3′ end-extended, spliced tRNA and hypomodified tRNAs. We show that both types of aberrant tRNAs accumulate in mutant cells that are defective in tRNA nuclear traffic, suggesting that they are normally imported into the nucleus and are repaired or degraded. The retrograde pathway functions in parallel with the cytoplasmic rapid tRNA decay pathway previously demonstrated to monitor tRNA quality, and cells are not viable if they lack both pathways. Our data support the hypothesis that the retrograde process provides a newly discovered level of tRNA quality control as a pathway that monitors both end processing of pre-tRNAs and the modification state of mature tRNAs.
F‐center photoionization in the semicontinuum model

The L-band calculation of Page, Strozier, and Hygh (PSH) is re-examined. Using the semicontinuum model, the dipole strength and photo cross-section are calculated for ground state to continuum state absorption of light. The results do not agree with those of PSH. The salient difference is that the dipole strength is structureless and leads to a cross-section similar to that of hydrogen. From this it is concluded that this simple model does not account for the L-band structure. Die L-Band-Berechnung von Page, Strozier und Hygh (PSH) wird wiederholt. Mit dem Semi-kontinuum-Modell werden die Dipolstarke und der Photonenwirkungsquerschnitt fur die Licht-absorption vom Grundzustand zum Kontinuumszustand berechnet. Die Ergebnisse stimmen nicht mit denen von PSH uberein. Der wesentliche Unterschied besteht darin, das im vorliegenden Fall die Dipolstarke strukturlos ist und zu einem Wirkungsquerschnitt fuhrt, der dem von Wasserstoff ahnlich ist. Daraus wird geschlossen, das dieses einfache Modell die L-Band-Struktur nicht erklart.
The management of software engineering: part iii: software design practices

Software engineering may be defined as the systematic design and development of software products and the management of the software process. Software engineering has as one of its primary objectives the production of programs that meet specifications, and are demonstrably accurate, produced on time, and within budget. This paper in five parts discusses the principles and practices used by the IBM Federal Systems Division for the design, development, and management of software. Part III, on software engineering design practices, deals with activities bounded by requirements definition on one side and program implementation on the other. Three levels of design practices are defined, dealing with construction and verification of software systems, modules within systems, and individual programs. At each stagae, new level of mathematical rigor and precision for creating and evaluating software designs is introduced.
Estimating Particle Sulfate Concentrations Using MISR Retrieved Aerosol Properties

Understanding the spatial distribution of fine particle sulfate (SO4 2-) concentrations is important for optimizing emission control strategies and assessing the population health impact due to exposure to SO4 2-. Aerosol remote sensors aboard polar orbit satellites can help expand the sparse ground monitoring networks into regions currently not covered. We developed a generalized additive model (GAM) using MISR fractional aerosol optical depths (AODs) scaled by GEOS-Chem aerosol profiles to predict ground-level SO4 2- concentrations. This advanced spatial statistical model was compared with alternative models to evaluate the effectiveness of including simulated aerosol vertical profiles and adopting an advanced statistical model structure in terms of improving the AOD- SO4 2- association. The GAM is able to explain 70% of the variability in SO4 2- concentrations measured at the surface, and the predicted spatial surface of annual average SO4 2- concentrations are consistent with interpolated contours from ground measurements. Comparisons with alternative models demonstrate significant advantages of using model-scaled lower-air fractional AODs instead of their corresponding column values. The nonlinear association between SO4 2- concentrations and fractional AODs makes the GAM a more suitable model structure than conventional linear regressions.
Robust Persistent Neural Activity in a Model Integrator with Multiple Hysteretic Dendrites per Neuron

Short-term memory is often correlated with persistent changes in neuronal firing rates in response to transient inputs. We model the persistent maintenance of an analog eye position signal by an oculomotor neural integrator receiving transient eye movement commands. Previous models of this network rely on precisely tuned positive feedback with <1% tolerance to mistuning, or use neurons that exhibit large discontinuities in firing rate with small changes in eye position. We show analytically how using neurons with multiple bistable dendritic compartments can enhance the robustness of eye fixations to mistuning while reproducing the approximately linear and continuous relationship between neuronal firing rates and eye position, and the dependence of neuron pair firing rate relationships on the direction of the previous saccade. The response of the model to continuously varying inputs makes testable predictions for the performance of the vestibuloocular reflex. Our results suggest that dendritic bistability could stabilize the persistent neural activity observed in working memory systems.
Coherence, Entanglement, and Reductionist Explanation In Quantum Physics

The scope and nature of reductionist explanation in physics is analyzed, with special attention being paid to the situation in quantum mechanics. Five different senses of “reduction” are identified. The strongest of these, called “strong reduction,” is the one that purports to capture the relations between macroscopic and microscopic physics. It is shown that the criteria for strong reduction are violated by explanations in quantum mechanics which involve “entangled states.” The notion of “coherence” in physical systems is also defined. It is shown that, contrary to many current views, the invocation of coherence does not necessarily lead to the violation of strong reduction. However, entangled systems also exhibit coherence. Therefore, the subclass of coherent systems that are entangled presents problems for strong reduction.
Laparoscopic Single-stage Fowler-Stephens Orchidopexy in a Case of Orchidogastric Fusion

This report describes laparoscopic Fowler-Stephens orchidopexy for cryptorchidism resulting from orchidogastric fusion in an infant born with gastroschisis. At 11 months of age, the left testicle remained impalpable, and diagnostic laparoscopy was performed. Intraoperatively, a normal-appearing testicle was found attached to the stomach. The testicle was dissected, mobilized down to the left inguinal ring, exteriorized through a transscrotal trocar, and subsequently fixated in the lower left scrotum. On follow-up 5 months later, both testicles were normal in size and location. Single-stage laparoscopic Fowler-Stephens orchidopexy is easily accomplished in cases of orchidogastric fusion resulting from a long vas deferens.
Private Higher Education's Surprise Roles

I and debate greatly outstrip understanding when it comes to the roles played by the world’s rapidly expanding private higher education. Depictions often simplify or otherwise mislead. One key to understanding the misunderstanding and, in turn, to addressing the subject matter more effectively, is to appreciate the surprise emergence of most private roles. Neither central policymakers nor scholars generally design or anticipate the roles. They are often shocked by the reality evolving, usually from multiple actors, activities, and choices—mostly uncoordinated within any national framework. The characterization of surprise is particularly apt in two (commonly interrelated) settings: first, private higher education is new, growing rapidly, or changing form and, second, its roles are mostly distinctive from those in public higher education. Of course, it is important to recognize and explore places where there is less surprise and more central steering. But surprise is salient even where private higher education is not new or highly distinctive—and it is salient across most different types of private higher education institutions (commercial, elite, religious, forand nonprofit, etc.). Thus, the theme of surprise is widely applicable. However, this article must limit itself to a sketch related to the dimension of privatesector newness (the first point, above).
Implementation of Just in Time and revamped engineering math courses to improve retention and graduation rates

We have created Just in Time Math (JITM) course for freshmen engineering students who show deficiency in math. The result has shifted the traditional emphasis on math prerequisite requirements for engineering classes to an emphasis on engineering motivation for math, with a “just-in-time” structuring of the new math sequence. Students still have to follow the traditional math sequences, however, the pre-requisites for some of the core engineering courses have changed from Calculus I to the newly developed Math classes. We have also incorporated engineering examples into the traditional and engineering mathematics courses. Since 2009, we have been offering cohorts of about 25 engineering freshmen every fall on a voluntary basis. The preliminary results indicate moderate improvements in the retention rate and GPA of participating students.
High-speed optical imaging of afferent flow through rat olfactory bulb slices: voltage-sensitive dye signals reveal periglomerular cell activity

Fast, multiple-site optical recording and video imaging techniques were combined to visualize the olfactory processing stream as it flowed through rat olfactory bulb slices stained with the voltage-sensitive dye RH155. A 464 element photodiode detector array was used to record the voltage-sensitive dye signals. Focal electrical stimulation of the olfactory nerve layer evoked relatively large optical responses in the olfactory nerve and glomerular layers but only small responses within the external plexiform layer. With paired-pulse stimulation, glomerular attenuation was evident in signals recorded from the glomerular and external plexiform layers but not from the olfactory nerve layer. At very high recording speeds ( < 0.2 msec/frame), the presynaptic component of the olfactory processing stream could be followed as it flowed through the olfactory nerve layer and into the glomerular layer, where its amplitude rapidly declined. This decline was followed by a reciprocal rise in a postsynaptic depolarization that was largely restricted to the glomerular layer. Spatiotemporal interactions between overlapping afferent streams within the glomerular layer were observed and partially characterized. The optically recorded glomerular layer response was largely resistant to bath application of GABAA receptor antagonists but was sensitive to manipulations of external chloride concentration and to bath application of a stilbene derivative, 4-acetamido-4'isothiocyanatostilbene-2,2'-disulfonic acid known to block Cl- conductances. It is suggested the the voltage-sensitive dye signals recorded from the glomerular layer reflect activity in periglomerular cells and that Cl- efflux through non-GABAA chloride channels contributes to the postsynaptic depolarization of these cells after olfactory nerve stimulation.
High-LET radiotherapy and experiences in improving rural health care in India.

High-LET/Radiotherapy/Rural health care/India A brief back ground of high-LET radiotherapy developments and its current status will be presented. In addition, based on my experience in developing a program on cancer prevention and early detection in rural India, the gulf between sophisticated developments in cancer diagnosis and treatment and the basic needs in the developing world will be presented with some possible solutions.
Effects of supplemental viscous damping on inelastic seismic response of asymmetric systems

This paper investigates the effects of supplemental viscous damping on the seismic response of one-storey, asymmetric-plan systems responding in the inelastic range of behaviour. It was found that addition of the supplemental damping reduces not only deformation demand but also ductility and hysteretic energy dissipation demands on lateral load resisting elements during earthquake loading. However, the level of reduction strongly depends on the plan-wise distribution of supplemental damping. Nearly optimal reduction in demands on the outermost flexible-side element, an element generally considered to be the most critical element, was realized when damping was distributed unevenly in the system plan such that the damping eccentricity was equal in magnitude but opposite in algebraic sign to the structural eccentricity of the system. These results are similar to those noted previously for linear elastic systems, indicating that supplemental damping is also effective for systems expected to respond in the inelastic range. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Accurate closed-form capacitance extraction formulas for metal fill in RFICs

Metal fill patterning in modern IC processes forces many floating metal structures to exist in the fabricated design. The number of these structures makes electrostatic capacitance extraction difficult and the capacitance impact may be neglected or incorrectly approximated. In this paper closed-form, semi-empirical formulas are presented for a single layer of floating metal fill between two parallel plates. The new formulas have been applied to calculating the ground capacitance of a MIM capacitor. The maximum error was less than 1% for a wide range of metal fill dimensions in a 0.18µm process.
Complex taste--taste of D-amino acids.

The taste of amino acids (AAs) has been investigated by many researchers (e.g. Yoshida and Saito, 1969; Schiffman et al., 1982) and AAs are known to have complex taste. For the comparison of both taste quality and taste intensity of various AAs, we performed human psychophysical experiment regarding the taste of AAs using a category-ratio scale, the labeled magnitude scale (LMS; Green et al., 1993). In this report, we demonstrate the taste of D-AAs in comparison to the taste of L-enantiomers that we previously reported (Hayakawa and Kawai, 2004).
Customizing search results for non-native speakers

Blog posts, news articles and other webpages are present on the web in multiple languages. Standard search engines evaluate the relevance of the candidate documents to the given query. However, when considering documents with overlapping content, many of them written in a foreign language other than the user's own native tongue, it is beneficial to promote documents that are easy enough for the user to read. Here, we show how to rank a collection of foreign documents based on both: a) relevance to the query, and b) the comprehension difficulty of the document. We design effective ranking operators that evaluate the difficulty of a foreign document with respect to the user's native language. We show that existing search engines can easily augment their scoring function by incorporating the proposed comprehensibility metrics. Finally, we provide extensive experimental evidence that the comprehensibility-aware ranking model significantly improves the standard relevance-based ranking paradigm.
Ectopic eye development in Drosophila induced by directed dachshund expression

The dachshund gene encodes a nuclear protein that is required for normal eye development in Drosophila. In the absence of dachshund function, flies develop with severely reduced or no eyes. We show that targeted expression of dachshund is sufficient to direct ectopic retinal development in a variety of tissues, including the adult head, thorax and legs. This result is similar to that observed with the highly conserved Drosophila gene eyeless, which can induce ectopic eye formation on all major appendages. Here, we show that dachshund and eyeless induce the expression of each other and that dachshund is required for ectopic retinal development driven by eyeless misexpression. These results suggest that the control of eye development requires the complex interaction of multiple genes, even at the very highest regulatory levels.
Vehicle-to-vehicle connectivity on two parallel roadways with a general headway distribution

Abstract Vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2V) connectivity via a multihop connectivity process underlies vehicular ad hoc networks that enable vehicles to disseminate traffic-related information through short-range wireless communication. In this paper, we propose analytical models for the vehicle connectivity on two parallel roadways, assuming general distributions for vehicle headways. Specifically, we derive models for the expectation, variance and probability distribution of information propagation distance. Closed form approximation to the expectation is developed and is numerically shown to agree well with the exact models. Monte Carlo simulation results further validate the proposed models. Through simulations, the developed models are also shown to have overcome the deficiencies associated with the commonly used one-roadway models and models with the Poisson assumption for vehicle distribution.
Violation Probability in Processor-Sharing Queues

Processor-sharing queues are often used to model file transmission in networks. While sojourn time is a common performance metric in the queueing literature, average transmission rate is the more commonly discussed metric in the networking literature. Whereas much is known about sojourn times, there is little known about the average service rate experienced by jobs in processor-sharing queues. We focus here upon performance requirements in the form of an upper bound on the probability of failing to achieve a specified minimum transmission rate or a specified minimum average rate. For an M/G/l processor-sharing queue, we give a closed-form expression for this violation probability. We derive closed-form expressions for the marginal service rate with respect to the violation probability and to the minimum transmission rate, and characterize when each is binding. We then consider the effect of using connection access control by modeling an M/G/l/K processor-sharing queue, and discuss the relationship between queue service rate, queue limit, violation probability, and blocking probability. Finally, we consider a two-class discriminatory processor-sharing queue, and discuss what combinations of class weighting and service rate can be used to achieve specified minimum rate violation probabilities for both classes.
Addiction to Barbiturates and Ethanol: Possible Biochemical Mechanisms

The possible interaction between ethanol and the metabolism of biogenic amines in brain tissue has long been an area of concerted research. However, only recently have viable theories emerged which may lead to an understanding of the particular biochemical interaction that might be responsible for the development of a state of addiction to ethanol. Such theories have been nurtured by a recognition of a common pathway of catabolism for the deaminated derivatives of the biogenic amines and acetaldehyde, the initial metabolite of ethanol.
Commentary: Making meaning—a response to Chokr

L'A. critique la reformulaton de la theorie des groupes de N. Chokr qui ne tient pas compte de ses motivations philosophiques et s'eloigne des questions concernant la theorie de la signification
A new hypothesis: some metastases are the result of inflammatory processes by adapted cells, especially adapted immune cells at sites of inflammation

There is an old hypothesis that metastasis is the result of migration of tumor cells from the tumor to a distant site. In this article, we propose another mechanism for metastasis, for cancers that are initiated at the site of chronic inflammation. We suggest that cells at the site of chronic inflammation might become adapted to the inflammatory process, and these adaptations may lead to the initiation of an inflammatory tumor. For example, in an inflammatory tumor immune cells might be adapted to send signals of proliferation or angiogenesis, and epithelial cells might be adapted to proliferation (like inactivation of tumor suppressor genes). Therefore, we hypothesize that metastasis could be the result of an inflammatory process by adapted cells, especially adapted immune cells at the site of inflammation, as well as the migration of tumor cells with the help of activated platelets, which travel between sites of inflammation. If this hypothesis is correct, then any treatment causing necrotic cell death may not be a good solution. Because necrotic cells in the tumor micro-environment or anywhere in the body activate the immune system to initiate the inflammatory process, and the involvement of adapted immune cells in the inflammatory processes leads to the formation and progression of tumors. Adapted activated immune cells send more signals of proliferation and/or angiogenesis than normal cells. Moreover, if there were adapted epithelial cells, they would divide at a much higher rate in response to the proliferation signals than normal cells. Thus, not only would the tumor come back after the treatment, but it would also grow more aggressively.
Abstract 3454: Establishing role of KRAS mutation on NSCLC radio-sensitivity

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer related mortality in the US of which more than 75% cases are that of non-small cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC). Mutations in the proto-oncogene KRAS have been linked with poor prognosis for NSCLC patients. In this study, we aimed at analyzing the relationship between specific KRAS mutations and NSCLC cell radiosensitivity and protein expression patterns. We analyzed 22 NSCLC cell lines and stratified them according to their KRAS status. Our results show that NSCLC cells harbouring G12C mutations are more sensitive to radiation compared to cells with other KRAS status (SF2 = 0.35 ± 0.16 for G12C vs. 0.63 ± 0.17 for other KRAS mutants vs 0.54 ± 0.15 for wt KRAS). Our protein expression data suggests that G12C mutants have reduced expression of DNA-repair proteins such as ATM, Rad 50, Ku 80 and XRCC1 (p Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 103rd Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2012 Mar 31-Apr 4; Chicago, IL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2012;72(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 3454. doi:1538-7445.AM2012-3454
Secondary Treatment of Wastewater from Synthetic Rubber Production

Abstract Secondary treatment of wastes generated from synthetic rubber production was studied for a nine-month period. Its design criteria were flow of 3.55 MGPD and effluent reductions of BOD by 90 per cent and suspended solids by 95 per cent to 7 mg/l and 10 mg/l respectively. Average reductions of 84.2 per cent for BOD and 85.2 per cent for suspended solids were achieved. The treatment processes included neutralization, coagulation, flocculation, primary clarification, biological treatment, final clarification, and sludge impoundment. Dissolved air flotation aids clarification while aeration provides biological treatment. Raw wastewater was characterized by the presence of salt brine, dilute acid wastes, boiler blowdown, dilute latex, and coagulated rubber solids. Influent concentrations were BOD 72 mg/l, COD 447 mg/l, suspended solids 197 mg/l. Of the total project cost in excess of $2,000,000, approximately 25 per cent was utilized to segregate process wastewater from storm water. The average costs f...
Walking through doorways causes forgetting: environmental effects

ABSTRACTPrevious work has shown a decline in memory for objects carried through a doorway versus across a room. The aim of the current study is to extend this work to understand how variations in perceptual experience during these event shifts influence this finding. First a change in procedure to reduce memory load to a single item was assessed. Next we explored whether performance is influenced by spatial distance versus spatial categories, the ability to perceptually preview the next location, and changes in the colour and texture of the walls. The location updating effect was consistently observed for all manipulations, suggesting that such event transformations have a robust influence on human memory. This suggests that event cognition is driven more by the use of perceptual information to infer or impose a categorical shift from one event to another rather than by the nature of perceptual information available at the time.
Enhancing Nephrology Career Interest through the ASN Kidney TREKS Program

The Kidney Tutored Research and Education for Kidney Students (TREKS) Program is a product of the American Society of Nephrology (ASN) Workforce Committee that seeks to connect medical and graduate students to nephrology. This program starts with a weeklong camp-like course introducing participants to renal physiology through classic and modern experiments. Next, each student is matched with a nephrology mentor at his or her home institution to foster a better understanding of a nephrology career. Lastly, the students are encouraged to participate in scholarly activities and attend the ASN Kidney Week. Now in its third year, with a total of 84 participants, survey data suggest early success of the program, with a self-reported 40% increased interest in nephrology fellowship and/or research careers. In addition, students give high ratings to the course components and mentorship pairings. Continued student tracking will be necessary to determine the long-term program effect.
The Unanticipated Consequences of Postponing the Employer Mandate

The Obama administration's delay in implementing the employer mandate affects other provisions of the ACA, particularly subsidies for purchasing insurance, and creates distorted incentives that may leave the government paying significantly more than planned.
Aging of Adaptive/Acquired Immunity

It is appropriate to begin this chapter by quoting from an article (1) written by Philippa Marrack and John Kappler: Spurred on by the great immunochemists of the early twentieth century, immunologists acted for many years as though one antigen was as good as another. Antigens were used because they were cheap or convenient, so we learned a lot about the properties of immunity to materials such as sheep red blood cells, egg albumin, dinitrophenol, and so on. What immunologists found out, of course, was tremendously important, and most of the principles that are the foundation of modern immunology were learned with these models. This course of action, however, was to some extent misleading, because the fact of the matter is that, in real life, most infectious organisms have spent their millions of years of coevolution with the immune system developing mechanisms of manipulating the system. The upshot is that no invading organism behaves exactly like a sheep red blood cell and, if immunologists really want to understand how infectious diseases interact with their hosts, they have to study the disease and host themselves. Artificial substitutes simply will not do.
A robust iterative super-resolution mosaicking algorithm using an adaptive and directional Huber-Markov regularization

We develop a super-resolution algorithm using directional Huber-Markov regularization.We compare our algorithm with two other state-of-the-art algorithms.We perform quantitative evaluation using six performance metrics. A robust spatial-domain based super-resolution mosaicking algorithm is proposed. This technique incorporates a mosaicking algorithm, and a super-resolution reconstruction algorithm. The main contribution of this paper is the development of a super-resolution algorithm using a Huber Norm-based maximum likelihood (ML) estimation in combination with an adaptive directional Huber-Markov regularization. Another contribution is the development of a no-reference performance metric based on reciprocal singular value curve for quantitative evaluation of the proposed algorithm. Along with the above-mentioned metric, five other performance measurement metrics are used to assess the efficiency of the algorithm. The performance of this algorithm is compared with the performances of two different algorithms: the Tikhonov regularization-based and the total variation (TV)-based super-resolution mosaicking algorithms. Results show that the proposed algorithm outperforms the other two techniques in terms of lowest amount of blur and noise in the output.
Transport and flame properties of natural fibre reinforced polymers

The authors studied the thermal conductivity, water absorption and linear burn rate of natural fibre reinforced polymers (NFRP). High density polyethylene (HDPE) and degradable starch-based polymers were used as matrices.Discrete sisal (Agave Sisalacea) fibres were used as reinforcement. The effect of fibre content, moisture and void fractions on thermal conductivity was studied. From water absorption tests, it was determined that water diffusion in NFRPs corresponds to a Fickian process only in the early stages of diffusion. Diffusivities were obtained for that case. Linear burn rate experiments showed that sisal reinforced polymers burn twice as fast as unreinforced HDPE specimens, however the reinforced specimens show better structural integrity during burning than the unreinforced ones, probably due to an increase in viscosity and melt strength due to the presence of reinforcing fibres.
Abstract A47: Antioxidants perturb the effectiveness of aminoflavone and benzothiazole treatment in breast cancer cell lines derived from African American women

African American women are more prone to develop breast cancer at a younger age and present with a more aggressive, hormone-independent form of the disease than those belonging to other ethnic groups. Currently there are limited targeted pharmacologic therapies for this type of breast cancer. Both Aminoflavone (NSC 686288) and 5F-203 (2-(4-Amino-3-methylphenyl)-5-fluorobenzothiazole) have shown promise as potential new pharmacologic options. The purpose of our study is to determine whether the antioxidants luteolin, resveratrol, and tempol differentially perturb the growth inhibitory effects of aminoflavone- and 5F-203-treatment in a panel of MCF-7, CRL 2335, and MDA-MB-468 breast cancer cells. The CRL 2335 and MDA-MB-468 cells are derived from African-American patients and are estrogen receptor and progesterone receptor negative while the MCF-7 cell line is derived from a Caucasian patient and is estrogen receptor and progesterone receptor positive. The results from Alamar Blue™ reduction assays show that in MCF-7 cells the antioxidants (1 M-1mM) caused a dose-dependent increase in Aminoflavone-mediated growth suppression, while the antioxidants (1 M-10 M) caused a dose-dependent decrease in 5F-203-mediated growth suppression. In contrast, the antioxidants had a lesser effect on the growth of CRL-2335 cells and MDA-MB-468 that were treated with Aminoflavone or 5F-203. These results were confirmed by phase-contrast microscopy of the cell lines and correlated to changes in the number of sub-G1 cells observed by flow cytometry. The results suggest that the antioxidant milieu of breast cancer cells may be important to differential drug-response. Further studies are currently underway to correlate these observed responses to differential changes in glutathione levels along with quantitative RT 2 -PCR analysis of changes in expression of oxidative stress-responsive genes.
Update on matter radii of carbon nuclei

New results for matter radii of C nuclei have prompted an update on the experimental and theoretical research on this topic. Newest results for $^{22}\mathrm{C}$ suggest a major change may be needed in our understanding of the separation energy of that nucleus.
Electrocatalytic Alcohol Oxidation with Ruthenium Transfer Hydrogenation Catalysts

Octahedral ruthenium complexes [RuX(CNN)(dppb)] (1, X = Cl; 2, X = H; CNN = 2-aminomethyl-6-tolylpyridine, dppb = 1,4-bis(diphenylphosphino)butane) are highly active for the transfer hydrogenation of ketones with isopropanol under ambient conditions. Turnover frequencies of 0.88 and 0.89 s–1 are achieved at 25 °C using 0.1 mol % of 1 or 2, respectively, in the presence of 20 equiv of potassium t-butoxide relative to catalyst. Electrochemical studies reveal that the Ru–hydride 2 is oxidized at low potential (−0.80 V versus ferrocene/ferrocenium, Fc0/+) via a chemically irreversible process with concomitant formation of dihydrogen. Complexes 1 and 2 are active for the electrooxidation of isopropanol in the presence of strong base (potassium t-butoxide) with an onset potential near −1 V versus Fc0/+. By cyclic voltammetry, fast turnover frequencies of 3.2 and 4.8 s–1 for isopropanol oxidation are achieved with 1 and 2, respectively. Controlled potential electrolysis studies confirm that the product of isopro...
Examining Practical, Everyday Theory Use in Design Research

This paper discusses how theories (as objects) are used in articles published in Design Studies. While theory and theory construction have been given time and attention in the literature, less is k ...
Students’ beliefs about teaching and learning and their perceptions of student-centred learning environments

ABSTRACTStudent-centred learning requires students to be an active participant in knowledge construction. Due to the unique self-directed aspects that characterise student-centred instruction, students may feel uncomfortable and find themselves unprepared for the demands associated with student-centred learning environments (SCLEs). This qualitative case study explored 11 students’ beliefs about teaching and learning and how their beliefs influenced their perceptions of a SCLE in a graduate programme. The results showed that students’ prior knowledge as well as their beliefs about teaching and learning influenced their perceptions of the SCLE. This study suggests that teachers and educational practitioners acknowledge students’ individual differences in their beliefs and prior knowledge, and provide personal support and guidance.
Assessment of Phonological Awareness: Review of Methods and Tools

The importance of phonological awareness to the acquisition and development of reading skills is well documented. Recent attention to the critical nature of phonological awareness has highlighted the need for appropriate assessment tools. This article reviews the current state of phonological awareness assessment by examining norm-referenced, criterion-referenced, and curriculum-based instruments available for practitioners' and researchers' use. Prior to discussing specific assessment types, additional information about phonological awareness is provided, including a definition of phonological awareness, an overview of the relationship of phonological awareness to reading ability, factors influencing what to assess, and an overview of the effectiveness of phonological awareness training. Information about specific assessment instruments include technical adequacy, intended use, and limitations. Implications for practice are presented.