cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
4.8 A Highly Linear Super-Resolution Mixed-Signal Doherty Power Amplifier for High-Efficiency mm-Wave 5G Multi-Gb/s Communications

As the millimeter-wave (mm-wave) spectrum is believed to drive the next wireless communication revolution, there is a growing need for architectural research on advanced transmitter (TX) or power amplifier (PA) that can radically push the performance envelope of mm-wave power amplification to the next level [1]. This is especially true for future mm-wave 5G deployment that extensively employs high peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR) waveforms and poses demanding TXs/PAs requirements, including linearity, peak efficiency, power back-off (PBO) efficiency, and capability of supporting multi-Gb/s modulation [2–7].
(221) μ-Opioid Receptor Binding Potential is Higher among Non-Hispanic Black Compared to Non-Hispanic White Adults

Ethnic group differences in pain perception and prevalence have been well documented. These disparities persist despite controlling for other factors (e.g., sex, socioeconomic status), suggesting differences in endogenous pain modulation. One potential mechanism underlying this disparity might be differences in mu-opioid receptor (MOPR) function, given that MOPRs critically contribute to pain modulation. Previous work demonstrated racial differences in the association between the MOPR gene (OPRM1) and pain perception; however, no study has reported whether differences in MOPR physiology support these genetic findings. The present study sought to address this knowledge gap by examining differences between 24 Black and 26 age-, sex-, education-matched White healthy participants in mu-selective agonist binding (i.e., [ 11 C]-Carfentanil) during a 90-minute dynamic high resolution research tomograph PET imaging session. Participants underwent two counterbalanced scans following application of: 1) 10% capsaicin cream to induce pain and 2) a control cream. Only data from the control scan are presented. Participants also completed a battery of quantitative sensory testing to quantify pain sensitivity outside of the scanner. PET volumes of interest (VOIs) analysis (40 VOIs) demonstrated significant differences between Black and White participant groups in [ 11 C]-Carfentanil binding potential in left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) and right ventral striatum (vS) VOIs after Bonferroni correction [dlPFC: t48=3.6, p p .001). Results suggest that Black individuals might have greater MOPR availability due to lower MOPR occupancy by endogenous opioids than White peers, with higher binding potential (i.e., lower endogenous opioid binding) associated with greater pain sensitivity across the sample. If replicated, findings have implications for physiological differences underlying ethnicity-related pain disparities, highlighting the need for tailored treatments in historically underserved populations.
Chronic Intrahippocampal Infusion of HIV-1 Neurotoxic Proteins: A Novel Mouse Model of HIV-1 Associated Inflammation and Neural Stem Cell Dysfunction

HIV-1 infection causes chronic neuroinflammation resulting in cognitive decline associated with diminution of survival of neural stem cells (NSC). In part, this is attributable to production of toxic viral proteins (gp120 and tat) by infected cells in the brain that can activate microglia. Here, we evaluated a novel model for HIV-1 neuropathogenesis by direct administration of viral proteins into the hippocampus. Chronic administration of either HIV-1 gp120 or tat over 14 days significantly decreased NSC proliferation, survival and neuroblast formation (by 32–37%) within the hippocampal subgranular zone as detected by doublecortin/BrdU or Ki67-positive cells. Intrahippocampal administration of gp120 or tat induced microglial activation within the hippocampus as determined by increases in microglial number and increases in the volume of the microglia (2.5–3-fold, evaluated by double IBA-1/CD68 staining). We further assessed inflammatory responses within the hippocampus by RNAseq and Ingenuity Pathway Analysis. There was a significant mRNA upregulation of numerous inflammatory mediators including Il1b, Icam1, Il12a, Ccl2, and Ccl4. These data suggest that chronic administration induces a prolonged inflammatory state within the hippocampus that negatively affects NSC survival potentially leading to cognitive dysfunction.
Molecular Profiling in Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma

Pancreatic cancer (PC) is a highly lethal malignancy, and therapeutic advances over the last decade have translated into a survival benefit that can at best be characterized as modest. Approximately 53,670 people develop exocrine PC each year in the United States, and almost all are expected to die from the disease [1]. PC is expected to become the second leading cause of cancer-related mortality in the United States, second only to lung cancer in the next decade [1]. In the absence of validated predictive biomarkers to guide selection of therapy, clinical trial design in PC, over the last several decades, has defaulted to an “all-comers” approach. In clinical practice, it is well known that the inherent biology and response to treatment can be quite varied among patients with PC, arguing for their phenotypic/genotypic characterization, and biomarker-enriched treatment strategies.
A Perfectly Good Personal Foundation: Some Reasons for Doubt

This chapter kicks off the final section of the book by offering a range of data that have a bearing on whether foundational reality is perfectly good. Toward that end, I do two main things. First, I explicate and defend a deductive version of the problem of evil, with an aim to note the key moves in the recent history of the debate on the argument, and to show where things stand at the present moment. I offer reasons for thinking that despite a long run of apparent victory on the side of the critic (esp. Plantinga), things are no longer so clear. Second, I offer a cumulative case argument against a good personal foundation of reality: horrors, hiddenness, revulsion, inhospitable environment, teleological evil, religious diversity, evolution, languishing, pointless pain, the ineffectiveness of prayer, and idolatry. I conclude by arguing that the deductive argument from evil, along with the cumulative case from the other 11 lines of data, makes the hypothesis of Liberal Naturalism at least as probable as theism.
Short-Term Efficacy and Safety of Tolvaptan in Patients with Left Ventricular Assist Devices.

Tolvaptan is an effective therapy for heart failure patients with symptomatic congestion and hyponatremia. The efficacy of its use in patients with continuous-flow left ventricular assist devices (LVADs) is unknown. The aim of this study was to assess the clinical efficacy and safety of tolvaptan in LVAD patients. We retrospectively reviewed medical records of patients who underwent LVAD implantation between January 2014 and August 2018. Among 217 consecutive LVAD patients, tolvaptan was used in 20 patients. Mean age was 46 ± 14 years old and 14 patients were males. The duration of tolvaptan therapy was 4 (interquartile range 1-8) days. Urine volume significantly increased from 2,623 ± 1,109 ml/day before tolvaptan to 4,308 ± 1,432 ml/day during tolvaptan therapy (p 150 mEq/L). The 90-day overall survival following tolvaptan therapy was 89% in both the tolvaptan group and a propensity score-matched non-tolvaptan group (p = 0.918). Survival free of heart failure readmissions was also comparable between the groups (p = 0.751). In conclusion, short-term use of tolvaptan following LVAD implantation is a safe and effective therapy to augment diuresis and improve hyponatremia.
A Facile Method for the Separation of Methionine Sulfoxide Diastereomers, Structural Assignment, and DFT Analysis.

Methionine (Met) oxidation is an important biological redox node, with hundreds if not thousands of protein targets. The process yields methionine oxide (MetO). It renders the sulfur chiral, producing two distinct, diastereomerically related products. Despite the biological significance of Met oxidation, a reliable protocol to separate the resultant MetO diastereomers is currently lacking. This hampers our ability to make peptides and proteins that contain stereochemically defined MetO to then study their structural and functional properties. We have developed a facile method that uses supercritical CO2 chromatography and allows obtaining both diastereomers in purities exceeding 99 %. 1 H NMR spectra were correlated with X-ray structural information. The stereochemical interconversion barrier at sulfur was calculated as 45.2 kcal mol-1 , highlighting the remarkable stereochemical stability of MetO sulfur chirality. Our protocol should open the road to synthesis and study of a wide variety of stereochemically defined MetO-containing proteins and peptides.
SINGULARISM about Episodic Memory

In the philosophy of memory, singularism is the view that episodic memories are singular mental states about unique personally experienced past events. In this paper, I present an empirical challenge to singularism. I examine three distinct lines of evidence from the psychology of memory, concerning general event memories, the transformation of memory traces and the minimized role temporal information plays in major psychological theories of episodic memory. I argue that singularist views will have a hard time accommodating this evidence, facing a problem of transitional gradation. I then look at some potential consequences for the larger debate, highlighting the way in which singularism has featured in three important recent arguments in the philosophy of memory.
Gentle ND:YAG Laser Therapy in the Treatment of Cutaneous Venous Malformations.

Background: Venous malformations (VMs) are congenital vascular malformations that grow progressively and never resolve on their own. Cutaneous VMs are difficult to treat due to risk of injury and d...
Pediatric Aural Foreign Body Extraction: Comparison of Efficacies Among Clinical Settings and Retrieval Methods.

ObjectivesTo compare the efficacy of aural foreign body (FB) extractions among medical care settings and determine if certain methods of extraction resulted in higher failure rates and procedural c...
Probabilistic Blocking and Distributed Bayesian Entity Resolution

Entity resolution (ER) is becoming an increasingly important task across many domains (e.g., official statistics, human rights, medicine, etc.), where databases contain duplications of entities that need to be removed for later inferential and prediction tasks. Motivated by scaling to large data sets and providing uncertainty propagation, we propose a generalized approach to the blocking and ER pipeline which consists of two steps. First, a probabilistic blocking step, where we consider that of [5], which is ER record in its own right. Its usage for blocking allows one to reduce the comparison space greatly, providing overlapping blocks for any ER method in the literature. Second, the probabilistic blocking step is passed to any ER method, where one can evaluate uncertainty propagation depending on the ER task. We consider that of [12], which is a joint Bayesian method of both blocking and ER, that provides a joint posterior distribution regarding both the blocking and ER, and scales to large datasets, however, it does it a slower rate than when used in tandem with [5]. Through simulation and empirical studies, we show that our proposed methodology outperforms [5, 12] when used in isolation of each other. It produces reliable estimates of the underlying linkage structure and the number of true entities in each dataset. Furthermore, it produces an approximate posterior distribution and preserves transitive closures of the linkages.
Moving Target Defense Considerations in Real-Time Safety- and Mission-Critical Systems

Moving-target defenses (MTDs) have been widely studied for common general-purpose and enterprise-computing applications. Indeed, such work has produced highly effective, low-overhead defenses that are now commonly deployed in many systems today. One application space that has seen comparatively little focus is that of safety- and mission-critical systems, which are often real-time systems (RTS) with temporal requirements. Furthermore, such systems are increasingly being targeted by attackers, such as in industrial control systems (ICS), including power grids. The strict timing requirements of these systems presents a different design objective than is common in general-purpose applications -- systems should be designed around the worst-case performance, rather than the average case. Perhaps in part due to these alternative design considerations, many real-time systems have not benefited from much of the work on software security that common general-purpose and enterprise applications have, despite the ubiquity of real-time systems that actively control so many applications we as a society have come to rely on, from power generation and distribution, to automotive and avionic applications, and many others.This paper explores the application of moving-target defenses in the context of real-time systems. In particular, the worst-case performance of several address-space randomization defenses are evaluated to study the implications of such designs in real-time applications. These results suggest that current moving-target defenses, while performant in the average case, can exhibit significant tail latencies, which can be problematic in real-time applications, especially if such overheads are not considered in the design and analysis of the system. These results inform future research directions for moving-target defenses in real-time applications.
A PMU-based Data-Driven Approach for Estimating the Injection Shift Factors

One effective way to estimate the impact of contingencies is to utilize linear distribution sensitivity factors, such as injection shift factor and line outage distribution factor. Compared to other impact estimation approaches, estimating the line flows with sensitivity factors is computationally less demanding, as a linearized DC power flow model is utilized. However, the accuracy of the power flow model is highly dependent on the received system information. Hence, wrong or missing system information can yield inaccurate results. Phasor Measurement Units provide measurements that can be used to estimate sensitivity factors such that the impact of wrong system model information can be minimized. This paper introduces a new methodology, based on the alternating direction method of multipliers, to leverage PMU data for estimating sensitivity factors. The developed methodology is particularly applicable to near real-time conditions, where the speed of estimation is of essence. The performance of the developed method is compared with the traditional estimation methods for multiple testbeds.
Polynomial Time Reinforcement Learning in Correlated FMDPs with Linear Value Functions.

Many reinforcement learning (RL) environments in practice feature enormous state spaces that may be described compactly by a "factored" structure, that may be modeled by Factored Markov Decision Processes (FMDPs). We present the first polynomial-time algorithm for RL with FMDPs that does not rely on an oracle planner, and instead of requiring a linear transition model, only requires a linear value function with a suitable local basis with respect to the factorization. With this assumption, we can solve FMDPs in polynomial time by constructing an efficient separation oracle for convex optimization. Importantly, and in contrast to prior work, we do not assume that the transitions on various factors are independent.
Technological issues of high-pressure grinding rolls operation in ore comminution processes

The issues concerning operating parameters of HPGR were presented in the article. The High-Pressure Grinding Rolls technology is currently the most efficient method of crushing in hard ore industry, but the issue still needs extensive investigations in order to increase the performance efficiency. In the first section the basic issues of HPGR technology were described, focusing on various technological operating parameters of the device. The key relationships were also initially determined. In the next sections the analysis of the impact of parameters on the comminution results and interactions among parameters were investigated. The functional regressive relationships for the press throughput, gap and energy consumption were determined considering the operating pressure and speed as independent variables. The best model was obtained for the specific energy consumption index, but two remaining models also show high level of accuracy. It appears that parameters related to the energy consumption of the device and the operating pressure are these of the major importance from the technological point of view.
Splicing in Adenovirus and Other Animal Viruses

Publisher Summary This chapter describes splicing of adenovirus transcripts. The splicing mechanism removes intronic sequences from nuclear transcripts, and thus brings together RNA sequences encoded by distant positions on the genome. Therefore, the effect of the splicing mechanism is intimately related to genome topology. The sequences conserved in mRNA are called “exons,” and those which lie between cap and poly (A) and which are removed by the splicing mechanism “introns.”Adenovirus splicing serves the virus during the two main stages, the early and the late, of infection. During the early stage of infection, splicing processes RNA from early transcription units to allow the encoding of several related mRNAs and gene products from a single gene. In contrast, at the late stage of infection, splicing facilitates the expression of the major late transcription unit, which utilizes an unusual processing pathway, with splicing a crucial feature, to produce upwards of 20 different mRNA species from a single major late primary RNA transcript.
A New Strategy for Reducing the Threat of Dangerous Øday Sales to Global Security and the Economy

Zero-day (“Oday”) vulnerabilities are defects in software that are unknown to computer users and software manufacturers. They can be “exploited” for cyber espionage and cybercrime purposes or even “weaponized” to execute commands that cause our nation’s computer systems — including those deployed by critical infrastructure sectors — to malfunction. In recent years, the market for these vulnerabilities has proliferated worldwide. Since the global market is unregulated and many companies do not screen their customers, criminals, terrorists, rogue governments, the Chinese People’s Liberation Army, and other nations and individuals seeking to exploit these vulnerabilities for “malicious cyber activities” may be gaining unprecedented access to them.This report provides recommendations for mitigating the threat emanating from this global, unregulated market. It acknowledges the immense challenge of regulation and proceeds from the premise that eliminating dangerous Oday sales is virtually impossible. Such transactions are “intangible” and often anonymous, and determined buyers and sellers could frequently circumvent regulations. The threat of dangerous Oday sales to buyers seeking to deploy them for malicious purposes is also one of the most global threats that exist today. Oday discoverers, exploiters, purchasers, brokers, perpetrators, software vendors, and victims reside in nations throughout the world and therefore no single country can mitigate the threat acting alone. While acknowledging these challenges, this report proposes initial measures that would begin to mitigate the current threat, rendering it more difficult and costly to sell Odays to those who seek us harm.
Roles of Prolyl Isomerases in RNA-Mediated Gene Expression

The peptidyl-prolyl cis-trans isomerases (PPIases) that include immunophilins (cyclophilins and FKBPs) and parvulins (Pin1, Par14, Par17) participate in cell signaling, transcription, pre-mRNA processing and mRNA decay. The human genome encodes 19 cyclophilins, 18 FKBPs and three parvulins. Immunophilins are receptors for the immunosuppressive drugs cyclosporin A, FK506, and rapamycin that are used in organ transplantation. Pin1 has also been targeted in the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease, asthma, and a number of cancers. While these PPIases are characterized as molecular chaperones, they also act in a nonchaperone manner to promote protein-protein interactions using surfaces outside their active sites. The immunosuppressive drugs act by a gain-of-function mechanism by promoting protein-protein interactions in vivo. Several immunophilins have been identified as components of the spliceosome and are essential for alternative splicing. Pin1 plays roles in transcription and RNA processing by catalyzing conformational changes in the RNA Pol II C-terminal domain. Pin1 also binds several RNA binding proteins such as AUF1, KSRP, HuR, and SLBP that regulate mRNA decay by remodeling mRNP complexes. The functions of ribonucleoprotein associated PPIases are largely unknown. This review highlights PPIases that play roles in RNA-mediated gene expression, providing insight into their structures, functions and mechanisms of action in mRNP remodeling in vivo.
A laser that sings a different tune

A new type of cascade laser has been built that can be tuned in wavelength and gain, and can even be made to emit beams of more than one wavelength at the same time.
Gravitational radiation from an orbiting pulsar

We describe an experiment which establishes, with a high degree of confidence, the existence of gravitational radiation as predicted by general relativity. The experiment involves observations of binary pulsar PSR 1913 + 16, measurements of which now reveal a rate of change of orbital period within about 15% of that predicted by the general relativistic “quadrupole formula.” We show that the gravitation theories of Rosen, Ni, and Lightman-Lee predict an orbital periodincrease, regardless of the relative masses of the pulsar and its (assumed compact) companion. The Brans-Dicke theory predicts a much more rapid period decrease than does general relativity, unless the masses and internal structures of the two bodies are very similar. Thus, in the absence of additionalad hoc assumptions, general relativity is the only well-studied theory of gravity consistent with our data.
Book Review of What's the Economy For, Anyway? Why it's Time to Stop Chasing Growth and Start Pursuing Happiness

Author: John De Graaf and David K. Batker; What's the Economy For, Anyway? provides a thought- provoking wake-up call about a myriad of U.S. economic challenges and discusses their impact on the lives of ordinary individuals. The book is highly recommended for anyone who teaches or conducts research about the gross domestic product (GDP), household spending, credit and debt, affluenza, government and employer benefits, income taxes, work-life balance, health finance, happiness, and more.
Being Good for Goodness Sake: The Influence of Family Involvement on Motivations to Engage in Small Business Social Responsibility

Small family and nonfamily firms are acknowledged to serve as important facilitators of social responsibility within their communities; however, both have received relatively little attention in the literature for these efforts or their motivation for undertaking them. Grounded in Enlightened Self-Interest (ESI) and intentions, we explore motivations for participation in socially responsible behaviors and the moderating effect of family involvement. We develop measures for small business social responsibility (SBSR), ESI, and SBSR intentions. Our analyses indicate positive direct effects exist for both SBSR intentions and ESI on engagement in SBSR. We find that family involvement strengthens the relationship between ESI and participation in civic SBSR, thus suggesting that family firms may be partially motivated to "do good" in visible forms of SBSR to protect their own interests.
E-Voting as a Teaching Tool

Electronic voting systems are widely used in elections. This paper describes using an e-voting system as the basis for a project in an undergraduate computer security class. The goal of the project was to teach the students how to use the Flaw Hypothesis Methodology to perform a penetration study.
Constant-temperature magneto-gasdynamic channel flow

In the course of investigating boundary-layer flow in continuous plasma accelerators with crossed electric and magnetic fields, it was found advantageous to have at hand simple closed-form solutions for the magneto-gas dynamic flow in the duct which could serve as free-stream conditions for the boundary layers. Nontrivial solutions of this sort are not available at present. and in fact, as in the work of Resler and Sears, the variation of conditions along the flow axis must be obtained through numerical integration. Consequently, some simple solutions of magneto-gasdynamic channel flow were sought, possessing sufficient algebraic simplicity to serve as free-stream boundary conditions for analytic investigations of the boundary layer in a physically reasonable accelerator. In particular, since the cooling of the accelerator tube is likely to be an important physical problem because of the high gas temperatures required to provide sufficient gaseous conductivity, channel flow with constant temperature appears interesting. Some simple algebraic solutions for the case of a constant temperature plasma are developed in the following paragraphs.
ICREATINE-CREATININE METABOLISM AND THE HORMONES IV. EFFECT OF PARENTERAL INJECTIONOF THE SEX HORMONES, WITH AND WITHOUT SALINE AND CREATININE, UPON CREATINE-CREATININE EXCRETION INTHE 90-DAY CASTRATE RAT

IN THE FIRST PAPER of this series (1) it was shown that parenteral injection of theelin or testosterone propionate caused a more intense creatinuria in the castrate than in the same animal before castration. This would indicate that these hormones either assisted in the formation or excretion of creatine. It is also possible that they were assisting in the transformation of creatinine into creatine through their water and salt retaining effects (2) and to the fact that, in some in-stances, creatinine retention occurred. These results were obtained in the first few weeks following removal of the ovaries and testes. We desired to obtain further information upon creatine-creatinine excretion in the 90-day castrate rat. It is possible that in this preparation a somewhat different creatinine-creatine equilibrium would be established, the results of which may differ rom those obtained above with normal animals and recent castrates. The results obtained are given in this paper.
PRESSURE DEPENDENCE OF THE SUPERCONDUCTING TRANSITION TEMPERATURE OF THORIUM.

Abstract The pressure dependence of the superconducting transition temperature of thorium metal to 160 kbar is reported.
An empirical examination of the "pain-behavior" construct.

Observable means of communicating pain and suffering, “pain behaviors,” have been postulated to comprise an important construct relevant in both the development and the maintenance of chronic pain [Fordyce, W. E. (1976). Behavioral Methods for Chronic Pain and Illness, C V. Mosby, St. Louis, Mo.]. Two groups of professionals who have direct contact with chronicpain patients (i.e., physicians and psychologists) participated in a study designed (a) to identify the latent or underlying characteristics of pain behaviors and (b) to assess the degree of agreement of these characteristics between health professionals with very different training. Multidimensional scaling and hierarchical clustering statistical techniques were employed to identify the latent structure of pain behaviors. Two primary pain behavior dimensions were identified, namely, audible-visible and affective-behavioral. Four clusters of pain behaviors were identified and labeled distorted ambulation or posture, negative affect, facial/audible expressions of distress, and avoidance of activity. The two samples of health-care providers identified virtually equivalent latent characteristics of pain behaviors. The data suggest that there is consistency in the pain-behavior construct and that the latent structure is generally congruent with Fordyce's original conceptualization. The results provide an empirically derived basis for the assessment of pain behaviors.
Regulation of T-cell receptor Dβ1 promoter by KLF5 through reiterated GC-rich motifs

Rearrangement of T-cell receptor (TCR) and immunoglobulin genes by a common V(D)J recombination machinery is regulated by developmentally specific chromatin changes at the target locus, a process associated with transcription. At the TCRβ locus, the Eβ enhancer and the Dβ1 promoter regulate germline transcription originating near the TCR Dβ1 gene segment. The Dβ1 promoter contains 3 GC-rich motifs that bind a common set of nuclear proteins from pro–T-cell lines. Mutations that diminish the binding of nuclear proteins also diminish the activity of the Dβ1 promoter in transcriptional reporter assays. Using a yeast one-hybrid approach, 3 Kruppel-like factors—KLF3, KLF5, and KLF6—and a novel zinc finger protein were identified in a thymus library, all of which bound the GC-rich motif in a sequence-specific manner. Of these genes, KLF5 mRNA was expressed in a restricted manner in lymphoid cells and tissues, with highest expression in pro–T-cell lines and Rag-deficient thymocytes. Antibody supershift studies and chromatin immunoprecipitation assay confirmed that KLF5 bound the Dβ1 promoter. In reporter gene assays, KLF5 but not KLF6 efficiently transactivated the Dβ1 promoter, whereas a dominant-negative KLF5 construct inhibited reporter expression. These data suggest that reiterated GC motifs contribute to germline TCRβ transcription through binding of KLF5 and other Kruppel family members and that restricted expression of KLF5 may contribute to lineage-specific regulation of germline TCRβ transcription.
Analysis of two-photon absorption in tapered fibers

We show that the rate of two-photon absorption in atomic vapors can be enhanced in tapered optical fibers with diameters less than the wavelength of the incident light.
Anti-Inflammatory Cytokines

The anti-inflammatory cytokines are a series of immunoregulatory molecules that control the proinflammatory cytokine response. Cytokines act in concert with specific cytokine inhibitors and soluble cytokine receptors to regulate the human immune response. Their physiologic role in inflammation and pathologic role in systemic inflammatory states are increasingly recognized. Major anti-inflammatory cytokines include interleukin (IL)-1 receptor antagonist, IL-4, IL-6, IL-10, IL-11, and IL-13. Specific cytokine receptors for IL-1, tumor necrosis factor-α, and IL-18 also function as proinflammatory cytokine inhibitors. The nature of anti-inflammatory cytokines and soluble cytokine receptors is the focus of this review. The current and future therapeutic uses of these anti-inflammatory cytokines are also reviewed.
The distributed virtual windtunnel

An implementation of a distributed virtual environment for the shared interactive visualization of large unsteady three-dimensional flowfields is described. Computation of the visualizations is performed on a Convex C3240 computer and the visualization data are transferred over a high-speed network to a Silicon Graphics Iris workstation for rendering. A boom-mounted six-degree-of-freedom head-position-sensitive stereo CRT (cathode ray tube) system is used for display. A hand-position-sensitive glove controller is used for controlling various tracers (e.g., 'smoke') for the visualization of the flow. User commands are sent to the Convex, which interprets these commands and computes the corresponding visualization. With this architecture, several users may share and cooperatively control the visualization generated by the Convex. The distributed architecture is also interesting to those using conventional screen and mouse interfaces. >
North Atlantic warming and the retreat of Greenland's outlet glaciers

Mass loss from the Greenland ice sheet quadrupled over the past two decades, contributing a quarter of the observed global sea-level rise. Increased submarine melting is thought to have triggered the retreat of Greenland's outlet glaciers, which is partly responsible for the ice loss. However, the chain of events and physical processes remain elusive. Recent evidence suggests that an anomalous inflow of subtropical waters driven by atmospheric changes, multidecadal natural ocean variability and a long-term increase in the North Atlantic's upper ocean heat content since the 1950s all contributed to a warming of the subpolar North Atlantic. This led, in conjunction with increased runoff, to enhanced submarine glacier melting. Future climate projections raise the potential for continued increases in warming and ice-mass loss, with implications for sea level and climate.
Sources of nitric oxide and nitrous oxide following wetting of dry soil

A study is presented which is aimed at distinguishing among autotrophic nitrification, denitrification, and abiological processes as sources of NO and N2O production following wetting of dry soil. To distinguish among these processes, combinations of treatments in laboratory incubations of soil were used which included varying soil water content, autoclaving, C2H2 inhibition, and NO2(-) addition. Biological sources of NO and N2O commenced within minutes of wetting dry soil. Acetylene inhibition revealed that emissions of NO were dependent on nitrification, although a combination of NO2(-) production by nitrifiers and abiological reduction of NO2(-) to NO is also possible. NO emissions exceeded N2O emissions, and nitrification was the dominant source of both gases when soil water was below field capacity. It is concluded that NO emissions appear to be more important when good soil aeration favors nitrification, whereas N2O emissions appear more important when elevated soil water favors denitrification.
Magnetoresistance in NiCoO/Py/Cu/Py spin valves

Room temperature transport properties of two sets of CIP spin valve structures were studied. In addition to the conventional collinear four-probe technique, the dependence of the resistivity on the angle between the magnetizations of the free and pinned Py layers has been studied. We have shown that this approach allows one to separate the contributions of giant magnetoresistance, the anisotropic magnetoresistance and the nonmagnetic resistivity, which is not possible by using the conventional four-probe method.
Rotation estimation from spherical images

Robotic navigation algorithms increasingly make use of the panoramic field of view provided by omnidirectional images to assist with localization tasks. Since the images taken by a particular class of omnidirectional sensors can be mapped to the sphere, the problem of attitude estimation arising from 3D rotations of the camera can be treated as a problem of estimating rotations between spherical images. Recently, it has been shown that direct signal processing techniques are effective tools in handling rotations of the sphere, but are limited when the signal is altered by larger rotations of omnidirectional cameras. We present an effective solution to the attitude estimation problem under large rotations. Our approach utilizes a shift theorem for the spherical Fourier transform to produce a solution in the spectral domain.
Are U.S. regional incomes converging? Some further evidence

Abstract Regions of the United States represent a set of economies where the conditions often argued as underlying convergence in per-capita income are satisfied. Stochastic convergence among regions implies the rejections of a unit root in relative per-capita income, a hypothesis which is not supported by conventional tests. Carlino and Mills (1993) allow for an exogenous trend break, but can only reject the unit root hypothesis in three of the eight U.S. regions. We incorporate endogenously determined break points and significantly strengthen their results, being able to reject the unit root hypothesis in seven regions.
Relative Deficiencies of Amino Acids and Nitrogen Per Se in Low Protein Diets for Young Turkeys

Abstract Three experiments were conducted to determine the relative deficiencies of lysine, threonine, valine, and nitrogen per se in a low protein diet composed primarily of corn, soybean meal, and .3% added DL-methionine fed to young turkeys. Diets containing 22, 26, and 30% protein served as controls. A mixture of amino acids (AA) was added to the 22% protein diet. Additional diets were formulated by individually removing lysine, threonine, or valine from the AA mixture and by adding 4% glutamic acid to each to form a 5 × 2 design exclusive of 26 and 30% protein diets. In each experiment, each diet was fed ad libitum to two pens of nine male poults and two pens of nine female poults of a medium body-size variety from 8 to 19 or 20 days of age. Body weight gains and feed consumptions were increased (P
Dynamics of a Dual-Probe Tethered System

References 1Syrmos, V. L., Abdallah, C., Dorato, P., and Grigoriadis, K., “Static Output Feedback—A Survey,” Automatica, Vol. 33, No. 2, 1997, pp. 125– 137. 2Levine, W. S., and Athans, M., “On the Determination of the Optimal Constant Output Feedback Gains for Linear Multivariable Systems,” IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control, Vol. 15, No. 1, 1970, pp. 44–48. 3Moerder,D. D., andCalise, A. J., “Convergence ofNumerical Algorithm for Calculating Optimal Output Feedback Gains,” IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control, Vol. 30, No. 1, 1985, pp. 900–903. 4Calise, A. J., and Prasad, J. V. R., “ApproximateLoopTransfer Recovery Method for Designing Fixed-Order Compensators,” Journal of Guidance, Control, and Dynamics, Vol. 13, No. 2, 1990, pp. 297–302. 5Kucera, V., and DeSouza, C. E., “A Necessary and Suf cient Condition for Output Feedback Stabilizability,”Automatica, Vol. 31, No. 9, 1995, pp. 1357–1359. 6Mukhopadhyay, V., Newsom, J. R., and Abel, I., “Reduced-Order Optimal Feedback Control Law Synthesis for Flutter Suppression,” Journal of Guidance, Control, and Dynamics,” Vol. 5, No. 4, 1982, pp. 50–54. 7Nichols, J. O., “Analysis andCompilation ofMissile AerodynamicData, Volume 1, Data Presentation and Analysis,” NASA CR-2835,May 1977. 8Sofonov, M. G., and Chiang, R. Y., “Robust Control Tool Box for Use with MATLAB,” User’s Guide, MathWorks, Natick, MA, 1986.
Beyond the Basics: Communicative Chinese for Intermediate and Advanced Learners by BAI, JIANHUA, JUYU SUNG, & JANET ZHIQUN XING

The article reviews the book "Beyond the Basics: Communicative Chinese for Intermediate and Advanced Learners," by Jianhua Bai, Juyu Sung and Janet Zhiqun Xing.
Methylprednisolone treatment of patients with steroid-resistant nephrotic syndrome.

Treatment with a combination of pulse methylprednisolone (MP) and an alkylating agent has been reported to induce long-term remission of proteinuria in patients with steroid-resistant nephrotic syndrome (SRNS). We have treated 13 patients with SRNS with a course of pulse MP. There were 8 black patients and 5 white; 10 had a biopsy diagnosis of focal segmental glomerulosclerosis (FSGS) and 3 nil lesion. Initially 5 patients responded and 2 partially responded. Of the responding patients, 5 relapsed while treated with alternate-week MP therapy. Of these relapsing patients, 3 received a second course of MP plus chlorambucil; 2 responded. The patients were observed for a mean of 47 months (range 4–64 months). When last seen only the 3 patients with a biopsy diagnosis of nil lesion were protein free. There were no complications of steroid therapy. Six patients currently have end-stage renal disease and 2 have renal insufficiency. All of the 6 patients with no response to treatment were black. These data suggest that a course of pulse MP therapy alone induces short-term remission of the nephrotic syndrome in some white patients with FSGS, but in almost no blacks. Patients who relapse may respond to retreatment, but addition of an alkylating agent does not appear to induce longterm remission in patients with FSGS.
Targeting minor histocompatibility antigens in graft versus tumor or graft versus leukemia responses

Allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation (alloHCT) represents the only curative therapy for several hematologic malignancies, and shows promise as a nascent treatment modality for select solid tumors. Although the original goal of alloHCT was hematopoietic reconstitution after sub-lethal chemoradiotherapy, recognition of a profound donor lymphocyte-mediated graft-versus-leukemia (GVL) or graft-versus-tumor (GVT) effect has shifted the paradigm from pre-transplant cytoreduction to tumor control via donor lymphocytes. In human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-compatible alloHCT, GVL and GVT reactions are induced primarily by donor T-cell recognition of minor histocompatibility antigens (mHAgs). Here we review the literature regarding mHAg-specific T cells in GVL and GVT reactions, and discuss the prospects of exploiting mHAgs as immunotherapeutic targets.
Simultaneous determination of 1-chloro-2,4-dinitrobenzene, 2,4-dinitrophenyl-S-glutathione and its metabolites for human placental disposition studies by high-performance liquid chromatography.

We developed and validated an HPLC method for determination of 1-chloro-2,4-dinitrobenzene (CDNB) and its glutathione conjugate 2,4-dinitrophenyl-S-glutathione (DNP-SG) to study the kinetics and mechanisms involved in DNP-SG formation and efflux, as a probe for human placental metabolism and transport. This method combines use of 3 μm solid phase, rapid mobile phase gradient with dual wavelength ultraviolet detection to permit determination of a lipophilic parent compound and its hydrophilic metabolites in a single short run. The selectivity, linearity, accuracy, precision, relative recovery and stability of the assay are sufficient for determining CDNB, DNP-SG and its metabolites from buffer and tissue samples to support placental drug metabolism and transport studies.
Use of time-dependent wave-packet theory in electron-molecule scattering

Time-dependent wave-packet theory [B. Ritchie, Phys. Rev. A 45, R4207 (1992)] is applied to electron-molecule scattering. The Schr\"odinger equation is solved in time and space on a numerical grid, thus avoiding use of basis-set expansions. A plane-wave-centered, Gaussian wave packet is propagated through the region of the potential. Once the wave packet has passed outside the range of the potential, the differential cross section is calculated directly from the multidimensional wave function by use of the Huygens-Fresnel integral from optics.
Ergonomic Intervention of Reduced Reach Force and Rate Attenuates High Repetition High Force Induced Bone Osteopenia in Distal Forelimb Bones

Using a rat model of overuse, we have shown that prolonged performance of a high repetition high force (HRHF) reaching and grasping task (12 weeks) induced significant osteopenic changes in distal forelimb bones that were attenuated by 8 weeks of ibuprofen treatment. Here, we evaluated the effectiveness of an ergonomic intervention of switching rats from a high repetition high force (HRHF) task to a reduced force and reach rate task. Trabecular structure in distal radius and ulna bones was examined in young adult rats performing one of three repetitive handle-pulling tasks for 12 wks: 1) HRHF, 2) low repetition low force (LRLF), or 3) HRHF task for 4 wks and then the LRLF task for 8 wks (HRHF-to-LRLF). Distal forelimb bones of HRHF rats showed enhanced bone resorption. In contrast, HRHF-to-LRLF rats showed no bone resorptive changes, and instead showed increased bone formation. These findings support the idea of reduced workload as an effective approach to management of work-related musculoskeletal disord...
The adsorption and partitioning of self-avoiding walk polymer chains into pores from a bulk theta solution

Summary Monte Carlo simulations of self-avoiding walk (SAW) polymer chains on a simple cubic lattice were used to study the adsorption and partitioning of the chains into pores from a bulk Θ solution. The behavior of the SAW chains confined in pores at the bulk Θ temperature was found to differ from that of the Gaussian chains. When confined in a slit or in a square channel, the radius of gyration of a Θ chain perpendicular to the direction of the confinement was shown to increase in comparison with the radius of gyration in bulk solution. The solvent quality in the pore was shown to be better than the Θ solvent, causing the expansion of the chain in the pore. When terminally anchored onto a solid surface, the reduced polymer-surface interaction at the critical adsorption point, e w ca , was found to be −0.252±0.001, which differs from the value of ewca for chains without excluded volume effects, a category including random walks and non-reversing random walks on the lattice. When partitioning into a pore modeled as a slit, the polymer-surface interaction at the critical point was shown to be the same as the critical adsorption point and does not shift with the slit width. But when partitioning into a pore modeled as a square channel, the polymer–surface interaction at the critical point was shown to shift with the width of the square channel. At the critical condition point, the partition coefficient of the SAW Θ chains was greater than one in both types of pores. These results differ from the results of the Gaussian chains; instead, they are similar to that of SAW chains in athermal solvent.
Settling, growth and mortality of young bivalves in the Øresund

Abstract The quantitative aspects of the settling of 11 bivalve species were registered in the Oresund, based on bottom samples from two localities. The time of spatfall and the numbers of settling specimens were related to existing data on occurrence of larvae in the plankton. The number per m2 of settling specimens, the decrease of this number and the growth of the bivalves during the first months after spatfall were calculated. The growth rate in the Oresund seems to be smaller than in most other temperate areas. The possible reasons for this discrepancy are discussed and it is suggested that some of the results previously recorded in the literature on growth of newly settled bivalves are inaccurate on account of inadequate sampling-sieving techniques. By comparing the number of settling specimens of the same species in the two localities it was confirmed that bivalve larvae are able to make a choice of settling place in nature. Causes of the heavy decrease in number of spat during the first months aft...
The economic impact of work and family issues: Child care satisfaction and financial considerations of employed mothers.

This article introduces the role of financial considerations into work-family research by considering the costs and benefits of employed mothers' child care satisfaction. Data from 2 samples offer empirical support for the addition of a fourth factor to a current measure of child care satisfaction so that the measure reflects mothers' satisfaction not only with caregiver attentiveness, communication, and dependability but also with child care-related financial considerations. This article also discusses relationships between child care satisfaction and work-family conflict and job satisfaction for this population. The results of this study provide both organizations and child care providers with a broader picture of the concerns that employed mothers face as they search for reliable, affordable child care.