cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
The Reactive Site of Trypsin Inhibitors

Virgin soybean trypsin inhibitor has 1 NH2-terminal aspartic acid or asparagine residue and no COOH-terminal residues that can be released by carboxypeptidase B. Upon incubation with 1 mole % of trypsin for 24 hours at pH 3.75, virgin inhibitor is converted to a modified inhibitor which has 2 NH2 terminals aspartic acid or asparagine and isoleucine. Approximately 1 mole of arginine is released from it by the action of carboxypeptidase B. Reduction and carboxymethylation of virgin inhibitor leads to formation of one major fragment as judged by Sephadex chromatography; the same treatment of modified inhibitor leads to formation of two fragments. The sum of the amino acid compositions of these two fragments accurately corresponds to the amino acid composition of soybean trypsin inhibitor. The smaller fragment is composed of approximately 64 amino acids and has NH2-terminal aspartic acid or asparagine residue and a COOH-terminal arginine residue. It is concluded that the modification reaction consists of conversion of single chain inhibitor to two chains held by a single disulfide bond by tryptic cleavage of a single Arg-Ile bond located approximately between residues 64 and 65. Evidence is also presented that modification of chicken ovomucoid consists of conversion of single chain to two chain protein by cleavage of a single Arg-Ala bond. The fragments may be held by a disulfide bond or bonds. Compilation of considerable amount of evidence obtained by others suggests that part of the reactive site of many, or possibly all, naturally occurring trypsin inhibitors consists of a trypsin-accessible Arg-X or Lys-X bond contained within a disulfide loop.
Dimethylsulfoniopropionate and Methanethiol Are Important Precursors of Methionine and Protein-Sulfur in Marine Bacterioplankton

Organic sulfur compounds are present in all aquatic systems, but their use as sources of sulfur for bacteria is generally not considered important because of the high sulfate concentrations in natural waters. This study investigated whether dimethylsulfoniopropionate (DMSP), an algal osmolyte that is abundant and rapidly cycled in seawater, is used as a source of sulfur by bacterioplankton. Natural populations of bacterioplankton from subtropical and temperate marine waters rapidly incorporated 15 to 40% of the sulfur from tracer-level additions of [35S]DMSP into a macromolecule fraction. Tests with proteinase K and chloramphenicol showed that the sulfur from DMSP was incorporated into proteins, and analysis of protein hydrolysis products by high-pressure liquid chromatography showed that methionine was the major labeled amino acid produced from [35S]DMSP. Bacterial strains isolated from coastal seawater and belonging to the α-subdivision of the division Proteobacteria incorporated DMSP sulfur into protein only if they were capable of degrading DMSP to methanethiol (MeSH), whereas MeSH was rapidly incorporated into macromolecules by all tested strains and by natural bacterioplankton. These findings indicate that the demethylation/demethiolation pathway of DMSP degradation is important for sulfur assimilation and that MeSH is a key intermediate in the pathway leading to protein sulfur. Incorporation of sulfur from DMSP and MeSH by natural populations was inhibited by nanomolar levels of other reduced sulfur compounds including sulfide, methionine, homocysteine, cysteine, and cystathionine. In addition, propargylglycine and vinylglycine were potent inhibitors of incorporation of sulfur from DMSP and MeSH, suggesting involvement of the enzyme cystathionine γ-synthetase in sulfur assimilation by natural populations. Experiments with [methyl-3H]MeSH and [35S]MeSH showed that the entire methiol group of MeSH was efficiently incorporated into methionine, a reaction consistent with activity of cystathionine γ-synthetase. Field data from the Gulf of Mexico indicated that natural turnover of DMSP supplied a major fraction of the sulfur required for bacterial growth in surface waters. Our study highlights a remarkable adaptation by marine bacteria: they exploit nanomolar levels of reduced sulfur in apparent preference to sulfate, which is present at 106- to 107-fold higher concentrations.
Chapter 1. Morphogenesis of a Complex Organ: Vertebrate Palate Development

Publisher Summary This chapter indicates several issues of interest to developmental biologists. It indicates a few problems that seem important for the understanding of craniofacial developmental biology. The developing secondary palate is an attractive system for morphogenetic studies. Being much less complex than the development of the whole embryo, palate morphogenesis provides examples of the fundamental problems found within developmental biology. During early stages of development, for example, epithelial–mesenchymal interactions between oral ectoderm and adjacent cranial, neural crest-derived ectomesenchyme result in the determination of bilateral palate morphogenetic fields. The determination of polarity in the secondary palate is observed along the anteroposterior axis. Interactions among cells, tissues, and the extracellular matrix milieu result in the induction, determination, and expression of a number of phenotypes including ectodermally derived nasal, oral, and medial edge palatal epithelia, and ectomesenchyme-derived chondrogenesis, osteogenesis, and fibrogenesis. Programmed cell death of medial edge epithelia during mammalian palate fusion is a fascinating developmental problem. Phylogenetic differences among Reptilia, Aves, and Mammalia offer significant developmental questions for the craniofacial developmental biologists.
The Effects of Flash‐Weakening and Damage on the Evolution of Fault Strength and Temperature

The effects of fluid pressurization in altering the fault strength and limiting the temperature rise during earthquake slip are modeled for the case of a thin, but finite, shear zone, with state-dependent properties that are chosen to represent conditions along a mature fault at moderate seismogenic depth. We include the effects of flash-weakening at highly stressed asperity contacts by extending the model of Rice [1999; 2006] to treat the relative motion between gouge particles as equal to either 1) the slip rate or 2) the product of the particle diameter and the strain rate. At slips exceeding a few centimeters, the strength evolution is relatively insensitive to the difference between these two formulations, but the predicted temperature rise is considerably greater for the strain-rate dependent case. Our calculations demonstrate how increasing levels of damage can significantly limit the reduction in fault strength, resulting in more rapid heating and ultimately leading to the predicted onset of melting following relatively modest slips.
Metabolic Effects of Ethanol in Perfused Rat Liver

Abstract In the present study, ethanol oxidation by the perfused rat liver has been used to investigate the interrelationships between the pathways of glucose metabolism, fatty acid oxidation, and the citric acid cycle. In the absence of exogenous fatty acids, the production of glucose from alanine was stimulated 2-fold by 10 mm ethanol, whereas, in the presence of 1 mm oleate, ethanol caused an inhibition of net glucose production. Measurements of the rates of ethanol utilization and acetate formation showed that over 80% of the ethanol metabolized was converted to acetate. The increased rate of generation of reducing equivalents in the cytosol during ethanol oxidation increased the oxidation-reduction state of pyridine nucleotides in both the intra- and extramitochondrial compartments. This fact was established by analyses of the tissue content of pyridine nucleotides and substrate couple ratios, and directly by surface fluorometry. Changes of flavin and pyridine nucleotide fluorescence intensity from the surface of the liver showed that the transfer of reducing equivalents from cytosol to mitochondria during ethanol oxidation was very rapid. Analyses of intermediates in the gluconeogenic pathway of livers perfused in the absence of fatty acids indicated an activational site at the glyceraldehyde-3-P dehydrogenase step upon ethanol addition. The stimulatory effect of ethanol on gluconeogenesis from alanine, therefore, results from the increased availability of the NADH in the cytosol. On the other hand, when ethanol was added to livers perfused in the presence of oleate, an inhibitory site was observed between fructose-1, 6-di-P and fructose-6-P. Measurement of the tissue levels of the known modifiers of phosphofructokinase and fructose diphosphate phosphatase indicated that this effect was caused primarily by deinhibition of phosphofructokinase resulting from a fall of the citrate content. Oxidation of NADH produced during ethanol metabolism inhibited the activity of the citric acid cycle. Sites of inhibition were identified at the citrate synthase and iso-citrate dehydrogenase steps. The relative strengths of the inhibitory interactions at these sites were dependent on the rate of β oxidation. It is proposed that a coordinated inhibition of citrate synthase and isocitrate dehydrogenase is mediated primarily by the increased state of reduction of intramitochondrial pyridine nucleotides.
Discrimination of spilled oils by high speed gel permeation chromatography with ultraviolet spectrometric detector

High speed gel permeation chromatography (GPC) with ultraviolet spectrometric detector was applied to the discrimination of oils spilled into sewer pipes and into the sea. HSG-15 (polystyrene gel, Shimadzu) and tetrahydrofuran were used as a stationary phase and an eluent, respectively. The chromatogram was obtained by measuring the absurbancy of the eluate with a spectrophotometer adjusted to the wavelength of 254 nm and others. The discrimination capability was considerably enhanced by comparing the profiles of the chromatograms at several detection wavelengths. The change of profiles with weathering of the oil was very small.
A Review of: "Occupational Therapy: Performance, Participation, and Well-being (2005)".

Editors Christiansen and Baum have reinvented previous editions of the text into a user friendly, three-section book that presents a case for quality of life as an indicator of health. Using the co...
Special Operations Forces’ Turn: Recommendations for Leading the Way in Governance and Development in the Afghan Districts Post-DSTs

The work of the Provincial Reconstruction Teams (PRTs) and District Support Teams (DSTs) in Afghanistan emphasized building the district government structures, improving their capacity, and mobilizing economic development. With the completion of the mandate of the PRTs and DSTs, the Special Operations Forces (SOF) will take a greater role in governance and development activities in districts and communities throughout the country. In 2014, security responsibility will fall under the Afghan security forces, but the war is not over. SOF will remain in the districts through the early fall of 2014. This practice note examines the role of the DSTs and how SOF should engage in governance and development in the districts. It provides recommendations from the field despite the challenging and minimal resources available in a district. With the right strategic approaches, SOF should be able to maximize the impact of their stability operations; however, it must not be forgotten that achieving stability will depend on whether Afghans are willing to take the lead.
Comparing Public–Private Partnerships with Conventional Procurement: Incorporating Considerations from Benefit–Cost Analysis

Value for money (VfM) analyses have been used in evaluating various approaches to highway projects to help government officials determine whether a public-private partnership (PPP) is likely to be preferable for financial reasons to conventional approaches. VfM is a tool that focuses primarily on the financial impacts of procurement models from the perspective of the agency sponsoring a project. Nonfinancial impacts, such as benefits to users or nonusers of a facility, are not generally considered or are relegated to a qualitative evaluation. Benefit-cost analysis (BCA) has been used by public agencies in planning and project development phases to determine whether an investment is worth making. BCA is a more comprehensive tool than VfM that is capable of quantifying and monetizing nonfinancial impacts, such as benefits to users or nonusers that may accrue from earlier delivery of a project. This paper discusses how BCA considerations may be incorporated into a more analytically comprehensive approach to ...
Why am I here

There are many important issues that constantly surround us, issues that we confront every day and night as we care for the injured. Most cannot be adequately addressed in a few minutes because of their scope and influence on our professional lives and the lives of our patients. None, however, are unimportant. Allow me to list a few of these: ● Solving the problem of alcohol as a trauma potentiator ● The importance of rehabilitation as the final pathway for our patients ● Profitability in trauma: how are we going to do more with less? ● Recognizing the importance of spirituality to us and our patients However, following the advice of one of my good friends and predecessors in EAST, I have decided to play from my strengths in this address. I will speak to you today as a surgical specialist, one who began his surgical career and training as a general surgery resident with an interest in trauma, and one who has been most fortunate to be asked by his colleagues to serve in various positions in this organization. In so doing, I hope to provide for you an answer to a simple question I have often posed for myself: ● Why am I here? I am sure many of you have been asking yourselves this same question. In fact, I have had some members come right up to me and ask me just how in the hell is it that I have come to be president of EAST? But because I hold this organization and this office in such great esteem, I have been thinking critically about this. Each morning and night when I sit at my desk at home with the EAST gavel in front of me, I am reminded that as a surgical specialist, my roots, like those of my specialty of plastic surgery, are in trauma. Furthermore, this may well be the reason that I am where I am today. It is not by a mistake or mere providence that we come to the positions we occupy in our professional and personal lives. We must all discern why we are where we are. In my case, I feel that there is something I have to contribute, and I must figure out what that is and thereby answer this question: why am I here? In my professional life, I frequently find myself wearing two hats, that of a plastic surgeon and that of a plastic surgical traumatologist. Perhaps a better metaphor would be to say that I often stand with one foot in the boat of trauma and one foot on the dock of plastic surgery. Generally, all seems well until the dock moves relative to the boat, or the boat begins to sail away from the dock. Either could produce a certain amount of personal discomfort. Fortunately, I have not yet had to jump onto to the dock or into the boat, and it is my intention not to do so. However curious I might find my position to be, it is clear to me that I should examine the important interdependence of trauma and the surgical specialist as we deliver care to our injured patients. To do this, I would like to address several questions: ● Is trauma care important to the surgical specialist? ● Are the surgical specialists important to trauma? ● What problems exist that may threaten our interdependence, and how do we solve them?
Opening Europe's telephone business to competition

On January 1st 1998, by decision of the European Union's 15 member states, all of their telecommunications markets were to have been opened to full competition. In practice, it will take longer in many of the countries, sometimes quite a bit longer. The objective was to create a deregulated and harmonized single market in telecommunications. The former phone monopolies lost most of their exclusive rights and new operators were given the right to compete within a pro-competitive framework. In time, the 15 countries in the European Union (EU) will become a single, unified telecommunications market. By year-end, 13 will be open to competition (Portugal and Greece have received extensions to 1 January 2000 and 1 January 2001, respectively). The new regime will pit existing telecommunications players (such as the former telephone monopolies, cable TV operators, managed network service providers, foreign telecom operators, and major Internet service providers) against new players, including rail and power companies and entrants backed by industrial interests. All are fighting for a share of a European telecommunications market estimated at US $105-$110 billion.
The Src homology 3 binding domain is required for lysophosphatidic acid 3 receptor-mediated cellular viability in melanoma cells

The LPA3 receptor is a G protein-coupled receptor that binds extracellular lysophosphatidic acid and mediates intracellular signaling cascades. Although we previously reported that receptor inhibition using siRNA or chemical inhibition obliterates the viability of melanoma cells, the mechanism was unclear. Herein we hypothesized that amino acids comprising the Src homology 3 (SH3) ligand binding motif, R/K-X-X-V/P-X-X-P or (216)-KTNVLSP-(222), within the third intracellular loop of LPA3 were critical in mediating this outcome. Therefore, we performed site-directed mutagenesis of the lysine, valine and proline, replacing these amino acids with alanines, and evaluated the changes in viability, proliferation, ERK1/2 signaling and calcium in response to lysophosphatidic acid. Our results show that enforced LPA3 expression in SK-MEL-2 cells enhanced their resiliency by allowing these cells to oppose any loss of viability during growth in serum-free medium for up to 96 h, in contrast to parental SK-MEL-2 cells, which show a significant decline in viability. Similarly, site-directed alanine substitutions of valine and proline, V219A/P222A or 2aa-SK-MEL-2 cells, did not significantly alter viability, but adding a further alanine to replace the lysine, K216A/V219A/P222A or 3aa-SK-MEL-2 cells, obliterated this function. In addition, an inhibitor of the LPA3 receptor had no impact on the parental SK-MEL-2, 2aa-SK-MEL-2 or 3aa-SK-MEL-2 cells, but significantly reduced viability among wt-LPA3-SK-MEL-2 cells. Taken together, the data suggest that the SH3 ligand binding domain of LPA3 is required to mediate viability in melanoma cells.
Quantitation and Characterization of Thyrotropin-Releasing Hormone in Vagal Nuclei and Other Regions of the Medulla Oblongata of the Rat

: Since evidence is now available to support a nonendocrine autonomic function for thyrotropin-releasing hormone (TRH), quantitative measurements of TRH were made in nuclei of the vagal complex and other areas of the caudal medulla oblongata of the rat. Regions containing the dorsal motor nucleus of the vagus (DMN), nucleus tractus solitarius (NTS), hypoglossal nucleus, dorsal column nuclei, descending nucleus V (DNV), nucleus ambiguus (NA), raphe nuclei (MR) dorsomedial and ventromedial reticular formation, and inferior olivary nuclei were isolated from 300-μm-thick frozen sections of medulla by the micropunch technique. Each region was pooled bilaterally, homogenized in 0.1 M HCl, and vacuum-dried. Extracts were assayed for TRH by specific radioimmunoassay (RIA). TRH levels varied 100-fold among medulla nuclei. Highest content (ng/mg protein ± SEM) was found in DMN (14 ± 1.38) and NTS (4.7 ± 0.68), whereas lowest levels occurred in the DNV and MR (0.13, 0.06). Nearly 65% of the total medullary TRH was localized in nuclei associated with vagal complex (DMN, NTS, NA). Characterization of tissue immunoreactivity (TRHi) in these regions suggests the presence of TRH, since (1) medullary tissue extracts competed with 125I-TRH for antibody binding sites with the same affinity as authentic TRH; (2) TRHi in tissue extracts co-migrated with synthetic TRH when subjected to reverse-phase high performance liquid chromatography and Sephadex G-10 chromatography; and (3) rat serum TRH peptidases degraded TRHi and authentic TRH at similar rates. Another group of rats was subjected to unilateral (right side) vagotomy. At 33 weeks post-vagotomy, the vagal preganglionic cell population in the ipsilateral DMN was depleted 50–75%, while the contralateral side was unaffected. Interestingly, the content of TRH in the ipsilateral (right) DMN remained unchanged, whereas TRH in the contralateral DMN increased by 50%. In contrast, TRH was significantly elevated in the NA on the ipsilateral side of the lesion. TRH in both ipsi- and contralateral NTS was unchanged when compared with sham-operated controls. These results indicate that (1) TRH is present in several specific loci of the medulla; (2) very high levels are found in the vagal complex; and (3) vagotomy may alter TRH in the contralateral DMN and ipsilateral NA.
Leveraging MAC-layer information for single-hop wireless transport in the Cache and Forward Architecture of the Future Internet

Cache and forward (CNF) Architecture is a novel architecture aimed at delivering content efficiently to potentially large number of intermittently connected mobile hosts. It uses a reliable hop-by-hop transport mechanism where in-network storage is leveraged to store the entire file in each node, before forwarding it towards the destination(s). Links between nodes may be wired, or wireless, 802.11 a/b/g, cellular, or satellite, or some other upcoming wired/wireless technology. A key aspect in the CNF architecture is to choose the link-layer protocol with parameters such that it optimizes the performance of the link between two CNF nodes. In this paper we propose cross-layer aware transport protocol (CLAP) as a potential candidate for a reliable link-layer protocol between two CNF nodes connected by 802.11 a/b/g link. Leveraging upon MAC layer status information, CLAP quickly adapts its flow control rate to bandwidth fluctuations and maximizes link utilization efficiency. Due to the self-interference problem in wireless links, where ACK packets corresponding to a given flow interfere with the DATA packets of the same flow, CLAP's error control algorithm is based on aggregate negative acknowledgements (NACKs) which reduce the reverse traffic and hence the interference with the data traffic. Since CLAP performs transport layer functionality, we compare it with TCP-SACK -a popular variation of TCP. CLAP significantly outperforms TCP-SACK in both noise-free and noise-prone wireless environments, with throughput gains upward of 150%. For multiple flows, CLAP leverages the fairness characteristics of the underlying MAC layer to achieve fair bandwidth sharing among flows.
Contribution of first-principles energetics to Al-Mg thermodynamic modeling

Abstract Despite numerous investigations, all previous efforts on thermodynamic modeling of Al–Mg have suffered from inaccurate energetics of solid phases. In the present work, the first-principles calculations were performed using VASP based on the pseudo-potentials and a plane wave basis set. The enthalpies of formation of the e - Al 30 Mg 23 phase, end-members of the γ - Al 12 Mg 17 phase, and three laves phases at the Al2Mg composition were calculated at 0 K. Special quasi-random structures (SQS’s) were used to mimic random fcc and hcp solution phases, and their enthalpies of mixing were predicted by first-principles calculations. The Al occupancy in the γ - Al 12 Mg 17 phase is also studied by first-principles calculations, and the sublattice model (Mg)5(Al,Mg)12(Al,Mg)12 was verified as the proper model to describe the γ - Al 12 Mg 17 phase. The complete thermodynamic description of the Al–Mg binary system was evaluated by this combined CALPHAD/first-principles calculations approach and was shown to be in a good agreement with experimental data with better defined energetics of solid phases than the previous modeling.
INTRACELLULAR RECORDING OF THE CONVERGENCE OF INPUT UPON NEURONS IN CAT ASSOCIATION CORTEX.

Abstract Intracellular responses in anterior middle suprasylvian gyrus to peripheral stimuli (light flash, auditory click, and contralateral forepaw shock) and central stimuli (contralateral cortical and thalamic stimulation) were studied in cats anesthetized with chloralose. When cells discharged to peripheral and some central stimuli, spikes arose from asynchronous, summating, depolarizing postsynaptic potentials of 20- to 80-msec duration. Long-duration (30–300 msec) hyperpolarizing potentials also were evoked by one or more peripheral and central stimuli in over one-third of cells studied, and represent inhibitory activity at the recorded cell or at previous central synapses. In many instances, cortical inhibitory mechanisms were responsible for blocking effects during interactions between pairs of stimuli. However, when light flash was the conditioning stimulus, the block usually occurred before the recorded cell, either in cortex, or possibly in precortical areas of neuronal convergence. The data indicate that this portion of suprasylvian gyrus in the cat is unequally responsive to various stimuli, with different synaptic patterns of activity evoked by photic and other peripheral and central inputs.
On the coloration of cubes

The 512 points of an 8 x 8 x 8 cubical array of lattice points in 3-space can be colored in 8 colors so that all 8 colors appear in every collinear set of 8 points. Various extensions of this construction are given.
Pseudogap effects induced by resonant pair scattering

We demonstrate how resonant pair scattering of correlated electrons above ${T}_{c}$ can give rise to pseudogap behavior. This resonance in the scattering $T$ matrix appears for superconducting interactions of intermediate strength, within the framework of a simple fermionic model. It is associated with a splitting of the single peak in the spectral function into a pair of peaks separated by an energy gap. Our physical picture is contrasted with that derived from other $T$-matrix schemes, with superconducting fluctuation effects, and with preformed pair (boson-fermion) models. Implications for photoemission and tunneling experiments in the cuprates are discussed.
Purification and some properties of tobacco streak and Tulare apple mosaic viruses.

Abstract Tobacco streak virus (TSV) was stabilized in extracts by 2-mercaptoethanol and, after clarification of the extracts with hydrated calcium phosphate, concentrated by high speed centrifugation. Host protein was removed from concentrated preparations by acid precipitation and by precipitation with γ-globulin of antiserum to host protein. Purification was completed by two cycles of high (40,000 rpm) and low (10,000) speed centrifugation. TSV measured about 28 mμ in diameter. Centrifugation of purified virus on sucrose density gradients resulted in two closely spaced zones, only the lower of which was infective. Material from the upper zone enhanced infectivity of infective virus; enhancement was more pronounced on the host on which the infectivity-dilution curve was abnormally steep. Tulare apple mosaic virus was purified by the procedure used for TSV. It was slightly larger (32–34 mμ in diameter) than TSV, reacted with homologous antiserum but not with TSV antiserum, and was separable on sucrose density gradients into infectious and noninfectious zones.
Peptoid Polymers: A Highly Designable Bioinspired Material

Bioinspired polymeric materials are attracting increasing attention due to significant advantages over their natural counterparts: the ability to precisely tune their structures over a broad range of chemical and physical properties, increased stability, and improved processability. Polypeptoids, a promising class of bioinspired polymer based on a N-substituted glycine backbone, have a number of unique properties that bridge the material gap between proteins and bulk polymers. Peptoids combine the sequence specificity of biopolymers with the simpler intra/intermolecular interactions and robustness of traditional synthetic polymers. They are highly designable because hundreds of chemically diverse side chains can be introduced from simple building blocks. Peptoid polymers can be prepared by two distinct synthetic techniques offering access to two material subclasses: (1) automated solid-phase synthesis which enables precision sequence control and near absolute monodispersity up to chain lengths of ∼50 mono...
Incurable Sex Offenders, Lousy Judges & The Media: Moral Panic Sustenance in the Age of New Media

There is consensus that since the 1990s, we have experienced a spike in public concern over sexual offenders. Analyzing this concern as a moral panic, this paper argues that national television coverage, as it picks up local news, adds heat to the fire by re-naming the villain as an inadequate judicial system. This process helps to sustain a moral panic, while narrowing the available discourse about the nature of appropriate punishment. Drawing upon a well-publicized example of a media event in Vermont, this paper extends the theory of moral panics to add another stage to the process—a stage presented by the advent of cable news programming, the relationship between local and national media, and the explosion of blogs. In order for a panic to sustain over an extended time period, the rhetoric about it must transform. In particular, the claimsmaking about the nature of the problem must evolve. In particular, the panic has evolved from sex offenders as folk devils to an attack on judicial discretion. The development of the outcry over judicial discretion was due, in part, to media distortion of the case. I will thus trace the trajectory of this one case to demonstrate the role of the media in shaping and sustaining the panic.
Avalanche-induced 1/f noise in bipolar transistors

It has been proposed that degradation of low current h FE , as a result of avalanching the emitter-base junction of a bipolar transistor, can be attributed to an increase in surface recombination velocity within the emitter-base space-charge region. This work shows that 1/ f noise is also increased during avalanche and that this increase is consistent with a previously reported correlation between surface recombination velocity and 1/ f noise.
Effect of bortezomib on the efficacy of AAV9.SERCA2a treatment to preserve cardiac function in a rat pressure-overload model of heart failure

Adeno-associated virus (AAV)-based vectors are promising vehicles for therapeutic gene delivery, including for the treatment for heart failure. It has been demonstrated for each of the AAV serotypes 1 through 8 that inhibition of the proteasome results in increased transduction efficiencies. For AAV9, however, the effect of proteasome inhibitors on in vivo transduction has until now not been evaluated. Here we demonstrate, in a well-established rodent heart failure model, that concurrent treatment with the proteasome inhibitor bortezomib does not enhance the efficacy of AAV9.SERCA2a to improve cardiac function as examined by echocardiography and pressure volume analysis. Western blot analysis of SERCA2a protein and reverse transcription-PCR of SERCA2a mRNA demonstrated that bortezomib had no effect on either endogenous rat SERCA2a levels nor on expression levels of human SERCA2a delivered by AAV9.SERCA2a. Similarly, the number of AAV9 genomes in heart samples was unaffected by bortezomib treatment. Interestingly, whereas transduction of HeLa cells and neonatal rat cardiomyocytes by AAV9 was stimulated by bortezomib, transduction of adult rat cardiomyocytes was inhibited. These results indicate an organ/cell-type-specific effect of proteasome inhibition on AAV9 transduction. A future detailed analysis of the underlying molecular mechanisms promises to facilitate the development of improved AAV vectors.
Judging statistical significance by inspection of standard error bars

This paper describes the evaluation of statistical significance by visual comparison of the distance between means relative to the lengths of standard error bars in graphic representations of data. The relationship between the t statistic and means separated by various numbers of standard error bars permits the observer to make quick conservative judgments of the significance of differences between means without computations or extensive tables. When standard error bars touch or overlap, the means do not differ significantly. Means that differ by three times the length of a standard error bar differ significantly at the.05 level as long as the sample size per mean is nine or more.
Environmental Diversity, Socioeconomic Disparity and Regional Development in Contemporary Peru

In general, it is true that "there is no type of specially indispensable natural resource to get a high national income or economic progress ... However, natural wealth may have a beneficial influence on income and economic growth" (HerfindahM970). Peru, by the diversity of its environment, has an extremely rich and diverse natural resource potential. But environmental diversity allows a fragmentation of the territory and determines degrees of unequal spatial accessibility which have grave consequences for the development. These dissimilarities explain the difficulties encountered by those who study the Peruvian reality, and the problems faced by planners and politicians in designing regionalization plans with their different stages. Ί' The division of Peru in three large regions is classic. In fact, when Juan Lopez de Velasco published his Geografia y Descripcion Universal de Ias indias in the XVI century, he proposed the names of "llano", "sierra" and "montaria". These major regions cover areas of different sizes and different sociocultural, economic and political importance. The coast is best developed, but it extends only over 144,000 km2 (11.2% of Peru). The Sierra is a region of fragmented space in the process of slow advancement and unequal development extending over 335,170 km2 (26.1% of Peru). Finally, the jungle or Selva is a region of incipient and slow development which covers over 806,041 km2 (62.7% of the territory). All functional organization of the Peruvian space is tied to some physical frictions which have strongly marked the regional division: The coast forms a N-S oriented corridor, 100 km wide in the north, 40 km in the central zone and almost inexistent in the S. This region is limited by the Pacific Ocean in the W, which by itself forms an opaque space by its difficult communication and also a natural region whose potential is not quite clear yet. According to Pulgar Vidal's classification (1941, 1981), the Coast comprises the Chala and part of the Yunga, up to 1 ,000 m asl. The coastal strip is the part of the Chala which leaves the Yunga as a contact region between the Coast and the Sierra. Some institutions, such as the National Institute of Planning (INP), consider as Coast the altitude between sea-level and 1,000 m while most others include all of the Yunga. However, there exist strong latitudinal differences: the Sierra starts at 500 m in the Department of Piura and rises to 1,000 m in central and S Peru. This fact explains the narrowness of the ecological levels as one moves from S to N. Latitudinal differences permit the identification of three zones: the latitudinal "tropical" region with an area of 892,665 km2 (69.5%) which extends from Ecuador to 12°S; the latitudinal "subtropical" region with an area of 361,210 km2 (28%) from 12°S to 17°S; and the latitudinal "temperate-warm" region with 31,340 km2 (2.5%) from 17°S to the border with Chile (ONERN 1976). Thus, the size of the territory plus its altitudinal and latitudinal subdivisions are the principal reasons for the diversity and environmental variety of Peru.
A model chemically-reacting substance and application to energy conversion processes

Abstract A model chemically reacting substance is postulated which describes gaseous reactions in which one substance may be in the solid or liquid phase. This model is a generalization of previous vapor and dissociating gas models. Application is made to various conversion processes to demonstrate the usefulness of this concept.
Acquiring competitive intelligence from social media

Competitive intelligence is the art of defining, gathering and analyzing intelligence about competitor's products, promotions, sales etc. from external sources. The Web comes across as an important source for gathering competitive intelligence. News, blogs, as well as social media not only provide competitors information but also provide direct comparison of customer behaviors with respect to different verticals among competing organizations. This paper discusses methodologies to obtain competitive intelligence from different types of web resources including social media using a wide array of text mining techniques. It provides some results from case-studies to show how the gathered information can be integrated with structured data and used to explain business facts and thereby adopted for future decision making.
AMP-protein kinase may protect against sepsis-induced acute kidney injury through modulation of immune response and endothelial activation

Organ injury is a hallmark of sepsis, in particular acute kidney injury (AKI). Yet the mechanisms involved in sepsis-induced AKI are not well understood. Energy prioritization is an important cell defense mechanism, and thus we hypothesized that exogenous activation of AMP-protein kinase (AMPK), a master regulator of cellular energy metabolism, protects against sepsis-induced AKI.
Six-degrees-of-freedom cervical spine range of motion during dynamic flexion-extension after single-level anterior arthrodesis: comparison with asymptomatic control subjects.

Degenerative changes adjacent to fused cervical vertebrae have been well documented1-7, and may occur as early as seventeen months following surgery7. The reported prevalence of these degenerative changes has ranged from 16% (of 112 patients)6 to 25% (of 374 patients)4 within ten years after the operation, and the changes require adjacent-level surgery in 6% to 10% of patients5,8-11. In a twenty-one-year follow-up study of fifty patients who had undergone anterior cervical spine arthrodesis, 32% developed recurrent pain at an average of 7.2 years after surgery, and 16% required surgery for disc disease at an adjacent level3. The most likely location for adjacent-segment degeneration is unclear, as one study suggested that progressive degeneration occurs with equal frequency superior and inferior to the fused segment12 while another indicated that adjacent-segment degeneration is level-dependent and most prevalent at the C5/C6 and C6/C7 discs4. The degeneration may progress as a result of underlying spondylosis4,13,14, increased motion in adjacent vertebrae2,15-18, or a combination of these factors1,5. Investigations designed to identify mechanical factors that may expedite adjacent-segment degeneration have primarily focused on excessive motion adjacent to the fused segment during flexion-extension. To identify excessive motion, the normal range of motion in asymptomatic subjects must first be defined. This has been previously accomplished by manually identifying anatomic landmarks on two-dimensional lateral radiographs16,19-25. These measurements have inherent limitations, including potential differences between ranges of motion calculated from radiographs collected in static positions compared with dynamic muscle-driven movement26, the high measurement variability associated with manual digitization24,25,27-29, and the inability to assess motion that occurs out of the film plane. Numerous authors have noted the necessity for three-dimensional16,26,30-33, in vivo23,26,30,34 measurements of the cervical spine under dynamic load16,28,34,35. The overall objective of the current study was to evaluate cervical intervertebral range of motion during dynamic flexion-extension in patients who had undergone single-level anterior cervical discectomy and fusion and asymptomatic control subjects. The first aim was to assess differences in intervertebral range of motion, in terms of all six degrees of freedom (three translations and three rotations), between control subjects and patients who had undergone single-level anterior cervical discectomy and arthrodesis. The second aim was to compare static range-of-motion measurements with those obtained during dynamic, functional movement.
Asking Sensitive Behavioral Questions in Telephone Interviews

This article presents the results of a small pilot study to test the feasibility of telephone interviews for collecting highly sensitive data for a study of the etiology of trophoblastic disease. The study design allowed us to compare data from telephone and face-to-face interviews. The results suggest that very sensitive information can be obtained by telephone and that respondents interviewed by telephone may be more willing to report socially proscribed behavior than respondents interviewed face-to-face. A number of unanswered issues are suggested for future research.
Kinetic Modeling of Nanoprecipitation using CFD Coupled with a Population Balance

A model study has been conducted for Flash Nanoprecipitation (FNP)—a novel approach to produce functional nanoparticles. A population balance equation with the FNP kinetics has been integrated into a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation of a custom-designed microscale multi-inlet vortex reactor (MIVR) to yield conditions comparable to the real experimental settings. In coping with the complicated aggregation model in the CFD code, a new numerical approach, the conditional quadrature method of moments (CQMOM), has been proposed, which is capable of solving the multivariate system efficiently and accurately. It is shown that the FNP process is highly influenced by mixing effects in the microreactor, and thus coupling CFD with the kinetics model is essential in obtaining valid comparisons with experiments.
Spectral velocity discretizations for the Vlasov-Maxwell equations

Abstract Two Hermite based spectral methods are examined. A method based on an asymmetric expansion in Hermite polynomials offers theoretical advantages over other spectral basis sets for the treatment of the velocity variables in the Vlasov-Maxwell equations of plasma kinetic theory. It provides for exact conservation of energy, momentum, and particles (in a fully discrete system, not just as the discretization is refined), and this conservation is not effected by the use of velocity space filters during time-stepping. The asymmetric Hermite method exactly solves the spatially uniform problem (plasma oscillations), and both Hermite based methods exactly recover the temporal behavior of retained moments for free streaming in a periodic system. Yet the cost of these Hermite methods scales only linearly with the number of degrees for freedom, just like a finite difference method, and in fact the number of runtime operations required per degree of freedom in the asymmetric method can be essentially identical...
Applying color theory to creating scientific visualizations

In this talk, we highlight the process of building effective color maps for producing explanatory and aesthetically engaging scientific visualizations. We describe hands on techniques and tips we have developed over the many years we have designed visualizations ourselves. We address how you can also use these applied methods to build your own color maps that support static, interactive and animated displays. In this talk, we will go through at least two examples. The first is a visualization and anmation sequence depicting a computationally generated perfect storm and the second is an interactive visual depiction of a computationally modeled supernova or stellar explosion. We also hope to cover newly emerging visualization efforts during this presentation.
The pattern of intestinal substrate oxidation is altered by protein restriction in pigs.

Background & Aims: Previous studies indicate that amino acids and glucose are the major oxidative substrates for intestinal energy generation. We hypothesized that low protein feeding would lower the contribution of amino acids to energy metabolism, thereby increasing the contribution of glucose. Methods: Piglets, implanted with portal, arterial, and duodenal catheters and a portal flow probe, were fed isocaloric diets of either a high protein (0.9 g/[kg/h] protein, 1.8 g/[kg/h] carbohydrate, and 0.4 g/[kg/h] lipid) or a low protein (0.4 g/[kg/h] protein, 2.2 g/[kg/h] carbohydrate, and 0.5 g/[kg/h] lipid) content. They received enteral or intravenous infusions of [1- 13 C]leucine (n 5 17), [U- 13 C]glucose (n 5 15), or enteral [U- 13 C]glutamate (n 5 8). Results: CO2 production by the splanchnic bed was not affected by the diet. The oxidation of leucine, glutamate, and glucose accounted for 82% of the total CO2 production in high protein—fed pigs. Visceral amino acid oxidation was substantially suppressed during a low protein intake. Although glucose oxidation increased to 50% of the total visceral CO2 production during a low protein diet, this increase did not compensate entirely for the fall in amino acid oxidation. Conclusions: Although low protein feeding increases the contribution of enteral glucose oxidation to total CO2 production, this adaptation is insufficient. To compensate for the fall in amino acid oxidation, other substrates become increasingly important to intestinal energy generation.
Habermas, Systematically Distorted Communication, and the Public Sphere

The work of the German political philosopher, Jurgen Habermas, provides the framework for the analysis of the formation of national identities in the public sphere, and their erosion by means of systematically distorted communication. The object of this article is an exhibit that traveled throughout Germany, one designed to undermine a myth concerning Germany's “unmasterable” past, the legacy of its brutal conduct in World War Two. The history of the exhibit and its reception trace a path from courageous confrontation to prudent retreat in the face of systematically distorted communication. The article concludes by reflecting on the rhetorical significance of systematically distorted communication.
Electrochemical graphite intercalation with nitric acid solutions

Abstract Aqueous nitric acid solutions were used to intercalate graphite in an electrolysis cell under constant current conditions. The graphite potential required for intercalation increased with decreasing acid concentration from 70 to 65 wt.% nitric acid. Intercalation did not occur in 50 and 30 wt.% acid solutions. Limited studies showed no correlation of graphite intercalation potential with graphite thickness or surface area. The intercalation compounds were unstable in acid solutions. The voltage decay during spontaneous deintercalation in 70 wt.% HNO3 mirrored many of the features observed during intercalation.