cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
An RFID-based inventory management framework for efficient emergency relief operations

Emergency disaster management has emerged as a vital tool to reduce the harm and alleviate the suffering the disasters can cause to their victims. A significant task of planners involved in the emergency disaster management is the ability to plan for and satisfy the vital needs of the people located in the emergency shelters, such as the Superdome shelter at New Orleans. As clearly stated by Whybark [1], the management of the stored vital commodities can be improved within the emergency disaster management if there were more effective tracking and monitoring systems. This study proposes a comprehensive framework for the development of a humanitarian emergency inventory management system based on the real-time tracking of emergency supplies and demands through the integration of emerging technologies such as Radio Frequency Identification Devices (RFID). The proposed approach combines an offline planning strategy with online control techniques in a unified framework that is robust with respect to disruptions to the transportation system and unexpected peaks in consumption of vital commodities in the aftermath of a disaster.
Differential Binding of 14C-Cortisone in Fetal, Placental, and Maternal Liver Tissue in A/Jax and C57BL Mice

When 14C-cortisone was given to pregnant A/Jax and C57BL mice, the concentration of radioactivity firmly bound to fetal tissue was significantly higher in A/Jax mice than in C57BL mice. Differences in the binding of cortisone to tissue proteins may explain the differential incidences of cleft palate in A/Jax and C57BL mice.
Learnability and generalisation of Arabic broken plural nouns.

The noun plural system in Modern Standard Arabic lies at a nexus of critical issues in morphological learnability. The suffixing “sound” plural competes with as many as 31 non-concatenative “broken” plural patterns. Our computational analysis of singular–plural pairs in the Corpus of Contemporary Arabic explores what types of linguistic information are statistically relevant to morphological generalisation for this highly complex system. We show that an analogical approach with the generalised context model is highly successful in predicting the plural form for any given singular form. This model proves to be robust to variation, as evidenced by its stability across 10 rounds of cross-validation. The predictive power is carried almost entirely by the CV template, a representation which specifies a segment's status as a consonant or vowel only, providing further support for the abstraction of prosodic templates in the Arabic morphological system as proposed by McCarthy and Prince.
Conduction electron resonance used to determine size of palladium nanoparticles in proton conducting ceramics.

Abstract A technique for determining the size of metallic nanoparticles incorporated into a ceramic is demonstrated using conduction electron paramagnetic resonance (CEPR). The resonances associated with palladium nanoparticles in a perovskite material are identified and studied as a function of temperature. As this line shape changes with temperature, the point at which the skin depth of the palladium is the same as the size of the nanoparticles is clearly identified due to a microwave saturation effect. This allows for a determination of their average size, which, in this case is 75 ± 20 nm. This is the first example of CEPR being used to determine metallic nanoparticle size in a technologically relevant, embedded in a non EPR-inert material system.
L-Gulono-1,4-lactone oxidase expression rescues vitamin C-deficient Arabidopsis (vtc) mutants.

Vitamin C (L-ascorbic acid) has important antioxidant and metabolic functions in both plants and animals, humans have lost the ability to synthesize it. Fresh produce is the major source of vitamin C in the human diet yet only limited information is available concerning its route(s) of synthesis in plants. In contrast, the animal vitamin C biosynthetic pathway has been elucidated since the 1960s. Two biosynthetic pathways for vitamin C in plants are presently known. The D-mannose pathway appears to be predominant in leaf tissue, but a D-galacturonic acid pathway operates in developing fruits. Our group has previously shown that transforming lettuce and tobacco with a cDNA encoding the terminal enzyme of the animal pathway, L-gulono-1,4-lactone oxidase (GLOase, EC 1.1.3.8), increased the vitamin C leaf content between 4- and 7-fold. Additionally, we found that wild-type (wt) tobacco plants had elevated vitamin C levels when fed L-gulono-1,4-lactone, the animal precursor. These data suggest that at least part of the animal pathway may be present in plants. To further investigate this possibility, wild-type and vitamin-C-deficient Arabidopsis thaliana (L.) Heynh (vtc) plants were transformed with a 35S:GLOase construct, homozygous lines were developed, and vitamin C levels were compared to those in untransformed controls. Wild-type plants transformed with the construct showed up to a 2-fold increase in vitamin C leaf content compared to controls. All five vtc mutant lines expressing GLOase had a rescued vitamin C leaf content equal or higher (up to 3-fold) than wt leaves. These data and the current knowledge about the identity of genes mutated in the vtc lines suggest that an alternative pathway is present in plants, which can bypass the deficiency of GDP-mannose production of the vtc1-1 mutant and possibly circumvent other steps in the D-mannose pathway to synthesize vitamin C.
Regulation of Prostaglandin Endoperoxide H Synthase-2 Expression by 2,3,7,8-Tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin

We have examined the molecular mechanisms for 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD)-stimulated prostaglandin synthesis in Mardin Darvey canine kidney cells (MDCK). TCDD stimulates prostaglandin synthesis in these cells, at least in part, by elevating prostaglandin endoperoxide H2 synthase-2 (PGHS-2) levels. TCDD-stimulated transcription of the PGHS-2 gene was maximal (6-fold) within 2 h and resulted in a 100-fold increase in PGHS-2 mRNA and a 25-fold increase in PGHS-2 protein levels by 4 h. Transient transfection experiments using luciferase-reporter plasmids demonstrated that control element(s) responsible for TCDD activation of the murine PGHS-2 promoter in MDCK cells are located in the first 965 nucleotides upstream from the PGHS-2 transcriptional initiation site. A canonical xenobiotic response element, similar to those that control transcription of other well-known TCDD-sensitive genes, is present at position -157, but does not appear to be sufficient for halogenated aromatic hydrocarbon (HAH) activation of the PGHS-2 promoter. TCDD failed to stimulate transcription from the PGHS-2 promoter when reporter plasmids were transfected into Hepa 1c1c7 cells, a line which contains the functional aryl hydrocarbon receptor. It seems likely that inappropriate expression of PGHS-2 may contribute to the toxic effects of TCDD and other HAHs. In particular, PGHS-2 expression may affect those toxic reactions that involve inappropriate cellular growth, such as dermal hyperplasia and tumor formation. It is also likely that elevated synthesis of prostaglandins, which are potent regulators of immune function, could play a role in the immunotoxicity associated with HAH exposure.
Transfer of crude oil from contaminated water to bird eggs

Abstract Paris of breeding mallard ducks were exposed to oiled water for 2 days during the first week of incubation. Hatching success of ducks exposed to 100 ml of Prudhoe Bay crude oil per square meter of water surface was significantly less than that of controls. Hatching success of ducks exposed to 5 ml of crude oil per square meter of water surface was less than that of controls but the difference was not significant. The presence of oil on the eggs of ducks exposed to oiled water was confirmed by chemical analysis. Thermocouple probes were used to monitor the egg and nest temperatures of some of the ducks in each of the three groups. Incubation temperatures of oiled females were not significantly different from those of the controls. The incubation behavior of females exposed to oiled water and the first-week survival of their ducklings was not affected by the oil.
Total-Ionizing-Dose Effects in Modern CMOS Technologies

This review paper discusses several key issues associated with deep submicron CMOS devices as well as advanced semiconductor materials in ionizing radiation environments. There are, as outlined in the ITRS roadmap, numerous challenges ahead for commercial industry in its effort to track Moore's Law down to the 45 nm node and beyond. While many of the classical threats posed by ionizing radiation exposure have diminished by aggressive semiconductor scaling, the question remains whether there may be unknown, potentially worse threats lurking in the deep submicron regime. This manuscript provides a basic overview of some of the materials, devices, and designs that are being explored or, in some cases, used today. An overview of radiation threats and how radiation effects can be characterized is also presented. Last, the paper provides a detailed discussion of what we know now about how modern devices and materials respond to radiation and how we may assess, through the use of advanced analysis and modeling techniques, the relative hardness of future technologies
Maintenance of certification: Good intentions gone awry.

Physicians currently practice in an environment of everincreasing scrutiny and review. We are held to performance standards and quality outcomes that meet society's expectations and that are used to gauge the adequacy of our clinical expertise and service. These performance measures have evolved as precise, definitive, quantitative assessments of clinical competency through which we are judged on a regular basis and often compensated accordingly. With the development and ubiquity of the electronic medical record, these metrics can be readily assessed and held as a guide for areas of needed practice improvement. Moving as we have from an era of purely artful medicine to one of scientifically sound, evidence-based diagnostics and therapeutics, the justification for such objective measures of our performance seems both reasonable and prudent. There remains, of course, room for the art of medicine to be practiced as years of experience coupled with a highly nuanced understanding of patients' clinical presentations leads to rational deviation from accepted guidelines and algorithms: as every seasoned clinician realizes, one size simply does not fit all. In our efforts to be responsive to a society that demands ever more demonstrable evidence of our continued competence as practitioners, certifying bodies—in the case of internal medicine and cardiovascular medicine, the American Board of Internal Medicine—embarked on two initiatives in the past 25 years. First, time-limited certification was established in 1990. Second, and more recently, a formal program for maintenance of certification (MOC) was developed that went far beyond taking a simple secure examination, as described in the overview by Baron et al. [1] in this issue of the journal. MOC requires continued, lower-level study and evaluation, as well
Mechanistic pathways and biological roles for receptor-independent activators of G-protein signaling.

Abstract Signal processing via heterotrimeric G-proteins in response to cell surface receptors is a central and much investigated aspect of how cells integrate cellular stimuli to produce coordinated biological responses. The system is a target of numerous therapeutic agents and plays an important role in adaptive processes of organs; aberrant processing of signals through these transducing systems is a component of various disease states. In addition to G-protein coupled receptor (GPCR)-mediated activation of G-protein signaling, nature has evolved creative ways to manipulate and utilize the Gαβγ heterotrimer or Gα and Gβγ subunits independent of the cell surface receptor stimuli. In such situations, the G-protein subunits (Gα and Gβγ) may actually be complexed with alternative binding partners independent of the typical heterotrimeric Gαβγ. Such regulatory accessory proteins include the family of regulator of G-protein signaling (RGS) proteins that accelerate the GTPase activity of Gα and various entities that influence nucleotide binding properties and/or subunit interaction. The latter group of proteins includes receptor-independent activators of G-protein signaling (AGS) proteins that play surprising roles in signal processing. This review provides an overview of our current knowledge regarding AGS proteins. AGS proteins are indicative of a growing number of accessory proteins that influence signal propagation, facilitate cross talk between various types of signaling pathways, and provide a platform for diverse functions of both the heterotrimeric Gαβγ and the individual Gα and Gβγ subunits.
Two scale response and damage modeling of composite materials

This paper presents an adaptive multi-level computational model that combines a conventional displacement-based finite element model with a microstructural Voronoi cell FEM (VCFEM) for multi-scale analysis of composite structures with non-uniform microstructural heterogeneities as obtained from optical or scanning electron micrographs. Three levels of hierarchy, with different resolutions, are introduced to overcome shortcomings posed by modeling and discretization errors. These are: (a) level-0 of pure macroscopic analysis; (b) level-1 of macro-micro coupled modeling for implementing switching criteria from macroscopic analyses to pure microscopic analyses; and (c) level-2 regions of pure microscopic modeling. An example of a double lap aluminum composite bonded joint with perfect interface is solved to demonstrate the ability of the multi-scale computational model in analyzing complex heterogeneous structures. For damaging materials, a continuum damage mechanics (CDM) model is developed for fiber-reinforced composites with interfacial debonding. The model is constructed from and calibrated with rigorous micromechanical analysis of the representative volume element using the VCFEM that is followed by homogenizing microscopic variables using asymptotic homogenization. The CDM results are compared with those obtained by homogenization of micromechanical analysis and the range of validity of homogenized solutions is identified.
Influence of wavelength and pulse duration on peripheral thermal and mechanical damage to dentin and alveolar bone during IR laser ablation

The objective of this study was to measure the peripheral thermal damage produced during the laser ablation of alveolar bone and dentin for clinically relevant IR laser systems. Previous studies have demonstrated that a char layer produced around the laser incision site can inhibit the wound healing process. Moreover, in the case of dentin, a char layer is unsightly and is difficult to bond to with restorative materials. Thermal damage was assessed using polarized light microscopy for laser pulse widths from 500 ns to 300 microseconds at 2.94 micrometer and 9.6 micrometer. Water- cooling was not employed to alleviate thermal damage during the laser irradiation. At 9.6 micrometer, minimal thermal damage was observed for pulse widths on the order of the thermal relaxation time of the deposited laser energy in the tissue, 3 - 4 microseconds, and peripheral thermal damage increased with increasing pulse duration. At 2.94 micrometer, thermal damage was minimal for the Q-switched (500 ns) laser system. This study shows that 9.6 micrometer CO2 laser pulses with pulse widths of 5 - 10 microseconds are well suited for the efficient ablation of dentin and bone with minimal peripheral damage. This work was supported by NIH/NIDCR R29DE12091.
Linguistic relativism and selective adaptation for speech: A comparative study of English and Thai

The effect of repeated exposure to prevoiced and voiced stimuli on the voiced/voiceless category boundary was compared for monolingual native English speakers and bilingual native speakers of Thai. The English speakers, for whom the two adaptors were members of the same phoneme class, showed equivalent shifts towards the adapting stimulus under both conditions. The Thai subjects, who perceived the two adaptors as belonging to two distinct phoneme classes, showed a shift of the voiced/voiceless boundary only for the voiced adaptation condition; exposure to the prevoiced adaptor had no effect. Since Eimas and Corbit (1973) first demonstrated selective adaptation for the linguistic feature of voicing, their technique has been used with other categories and classes of speech (Cooper & Blumstein, 1974; Eimas, Cooper, & Corbit, 1973; Morse, Kass, & Turkienicz, 1976). The procedure is simple: repeti­ tion of a token taken from one end of a linguistic continuum leads to a shift in the category boundary, towards the adapting stimulus. In the original demonstration, subjects adapted with a Iba/ found stimuli previously lying on the Iba-pal boundary to be more Ipal-like, while those exposed to Ipa/ re­ ported just the reverse. The first studies of selective adaptation used as adaptors stimuli chosen from the extreme ends of the continuum, stimuli which could be considered "good" exemplars of their phoneme class. It was, therefore, of both empirical and theoretical interest to test the effect of adaptors closer to the category boundary, which, although they were not as "good" exemplars acoustically, would still be unambiguously perceived as belonging to one or the other phoneme class. Using the voice onset time (YOT) continuum, ,Anderson (1976) and Miller (Note 1) found that stimuli close to the preadaptation category boundary produced less adaptation than more extreme stimuli. Miller (Note 1) interpreted these results to support the existence of feature detectors selectively tuned to overlapping distributions of YOT values. The closer the stimulus to the optimal values, the more strongly the feature detector fires, and the greater the This research was funded by Grant R03 MH 26168 from NIMH and FRAP 11184 from the Research Foundation of the City University of New York. The author wishes to thank Drs. F. S. Cooper and A. M. Liberman for making available the facilities of Haskins Laboratories, Ralph Bianca for gathering the data, and the Thai Student Association of Columbia University for providing volunteers. Above all, thanks are due to the Thai students themselves, who endured not only the experimental sessions, but a 3-h round-trip subway ride as well. 347
Organizational learning curve in software installation: an empirical investigation

Abstract Findings of an empirical investigation conducted to determine the presence of an organizational learning curve in the implementation of software packages for business applications are presented in this paper. Time spent by teams on the implementation of forty software packages on various mainframe, mini, and turnkey systems over a period of six years is analyzed. There is an organizational learning curve in the process of software implementation, and its magnitude varies from 6 to 36 percent. Higher rates of learning were observed for packages implemented on mainframes than those on mini-computers and turn-key systems. The paper suggests that these findings can be utilized for measuring and improving organizational productivity in the areas of software development and implementation and cost-benefit analysis of large systems projects.
Role of Vertical Shafts in the Movement of Ground Water in Carbonate Aquifers

Vertical shafts are roughly cylindrical voids in carbonate rocks. They range in diameter from inches to tens of feet and in height from inches to hundreds of feet. They are produced by vertically descending ground water from perched ground-water reservoirs or surface water. These features are common throughout the Interior Lowlands and Appalachian Plateaus Provinces. Vertical shafts form the headwater termini of complex drainage networks that aggregate the waters into master drains which carry the water to big springs. The drains evolve through time as base level is lowered but retain a dendritic pattern. Shafts are very short lived and occur only near the edge of the clastic caprock in the study area in south central Kentucky. Shafts are formed by free flowing sheets or films of vadose water streaming down the walls in supercritical flow. These waters are undersaturated with respect to calcite at both top and bottom of the shaft, although there is a measurable uptake of CaCO3 as the water traverses the shaft walls. The shafts act as aeration chambers, and there is much loss of carbon dioxide from the ground water during movement through this segment of the underground route.
Coronary arteriovenous fistula.

Angiocardiography and physical findings established the diagnosis of a coronary arteriovenous aneurysm in a 6-year-old asymptomatic schoolgirl. During the 7 years that have ensued, her heart size, electrocardiogram, and general condition have remained normal. Review of the literature discloses 13 autopsy-proved coronary artery fistulas and 8 cases wherein the diagnosis was established by exploratory thoracotomy or cardiac catheterization. The data indicate a wide variation in the clinical significance of the lesion and lead to the conclusion that management is best established on an individual basis.
Scalability of silicon photonic microring based switch

High radix switches are essential for reducing network latency. A possible way to realize them is by using silicon photonic microrings which have been demonstrated to have small foot prints and very fast switching times. By cascading multiple 2 by 2 switches high radix ones can be achieved. However, the scalability of such microring-resonator based switch fabrics is limited by optical power loss and crosstalk. In this work we employ detailed physical layer device models to determine the scalability of such switches. Our results show that a high radix switch with low cross talk and insertion loss is feasible.
Thermal risk assessment and rankings for reaction hazards in process safety

Reaction hazards remain the most serious concern in the chemical industry in spite of continual research and attention devoted to them. Many commercial calorimeters, such as the Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC), are useful screening tools for thermal risk assessment of reaction hazards. Some important thermodynamic and kinetic parameters, including onset temperature, adiabatic time to maximum rate, and maximum adiabatic temperature, were analyzed in this paper. A kinetic-based model under adiabatic conditions was developed, and the adiabatic time to maximum rate was estimated. Correlations between onset temperature (T o) and activation energy (E a), and between onset temperature (T o) and adiabatic time to maximum rate (TMR ad) were found, and were illustrated by some examples from the previous literature. Based on the heat of reaction and the adiabatic time to maximum rate, a thermal risk index (TRI) was defined to represent the thermal risk of a specific reaction hazard relative to di-tert-butyl peroxide (DTBP), and the results of this index were consistent with those of the reaction hazard index (RHI). The correlations and the thermal risk index method could be used as a preliminary thermal risk assessment for reaction hazards.
DNA repair following exposure of human lymphocytes to 4-nitroquinoline-1-oxide.

The carcinogen 4-nitroquinoline-1-oxide (4NQO) is known to induce unscheduled DNA synthesis when administered to a number of mammalian cells. This effect was demonstrated in human lymphocytes. The degree of unscheduled DNA synthesis was found to be correlated with time and with 4NQO concentration. 4NQO was demonstrated to inhibit DNA replication in actively dividing lymphocytes. In addition, human lymphocytes treated with the mitogen phytohemagglutinin-M (PHA-M) were allowed to incorporate bromodeoxyuridine (BUdR) into one chain of DNA in replicative synthesis. Following this, the BUdR was removed and the cells were incubated with 4NQO and tritiated thymidine. DNA isolated from these cells was fractionated by cesium chloride gradient centrifugation into a BUdR-containing fraction of replicated DNA and a light fraction of DNA which had not yet replicated when incubated with BUdR. 3H-thymidine was found in the heavy fraction of DNA from 4NQO-treated cells which contained no newly replicated DNA. It was concluded that this represented repair synthesis. Synthese reparatrice de l'adn conseutive a l'action de l'oxyde'1 de nitroquinoline'4 sur les lymphocytes humains L'oxyde-1 de nitroquinoline-4 (ONQ4) est un agent cancerigene connu pour son effet stimulateur sur la synthese reparatrice de l'ADN lorsqu'on l'administre aux cellules de cerains mammiferes. La presente etude montre un effet analogue sur les lymphocytes humains. On a constate que le degre de synthese reparatrice de l'ADN est en correlation avec la duree de contact et le degre de concentration de l'ONQ4. L'ONQ4 a inhibe la replication de l'ADN dans les lymphocytes en voie de division active. D'autre part, des lymphocytes humains traites par un agent mitogene, la photyohemagglutinine-M (PHA-M), ont qu incorporer de la bromodesoxyuridine (BUdR) dans une chaine de l'ADN en synthese replicative, apres quoi on a retire la BUdR et incube les cellules avec de l'ONQ4 et de la thymidine tritee. L'ADN isole a partir de ces cellules a ete fractionne par centrifugation en gradient de chlorure decesium et on a obtenu, d'une part, une fraction d'ADN replique contenant de la BUdR et, d'autre part, une legere fraction d'ADN onon encore replique lors de l'incubation avec de la BUdR. La presence de thydidine-3H a ete decelee dans la fraction lourde de l'ADN isole a partir de cellules traitees par de l'ONQ4 qui contenaient de l'ADN qui ne s'etait pas replique recemmment. Les auteurs en concluent qu'une synthese rese reparatrice a ainsi ete realisee part, une legere fraction d'ADN non encore replique lors de l'incubation avec de la BUdR. La presence de thymidine-3H a ete decelee dans la fraction lourde de l'ADN isole a partir de cellules traitees par de l'ONQ4 qui contenaient de l'ADN qui ne s'etait pas replique recemment. Les auteurs en concluent qu'une synthese reparatrice a ainsi ete realisee.
Randomized Controlled Trials of Psychopharmacological Interventions of Children and Adolescents with Conduct Disorder: A Descriptive Analysis

This study reviews and assesses published psychopharmaceutical randomized controlled trials targeting youths with the singular diagnosis of conduct disorder. Computerized database searches were completed to identify all randomized controlled trials. Fifteen studies were located and reviewed. Of the 15 studies, none were longer than 10 weeks in length, and none had more than 100 participants. The majority were conducted in inpatient hospital settings, with all-male participants. Methodological quality reporting of trials was poor and inconsistent. Findings indicate that there is a need to plan and implement future, lengthy conduct disorder medication trials that follow the Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials guidelines. The relevance for social work practice and policy is discussed.
ATR Pathway Inhibition Is Synthetically Lethal in Cancer Cells with ERCC1 Deficiency

The DNA damage response kinase ATR and its effector kinase CHEK1 are required for cancer cells to survive oncogene-induced replication stress. ATR inhibitors exhibit synthetic lethal interactions, with deficiencies in the DNA damage response enzymes ATM and XRCC1 and with overexpression of the cell cycle kinase cyclin E. Here, we report a systematic screen to identify synthetic lethal interactions with ATR pathway-targeted drugs, rationalized by their predicted therapeutic utility in the oncology clinic. We found that reduced function in the ATR pathway itself provided the strongest synthetic lethal interaction. In addition, we found that loss of the structure-specific endonuclease ERCC1-XPF (ERCC4) is synthetic lethal with ATR pathway inhibitors. ERCC1-deficient cells exhibited elevated levels of DNA damage, which was increased further by ATR inhibition. When treated with ATR or CHEK1 inhibitors, ERCC1-deficient cells were arrested in S-phase and failed to complete cell-cycle transit even after drug removal. Notably, triple-negative breast cancer cells and non-small cell lung cancer cells depleted of ERCC1 exhibited increased sensitivity to ATR pathway-targeted drugs. Overall, we concluded that ATR pathway-targeted drugs may offer particular utility in cancers with reduced ATR pathway function or reduced levels of ERCC4 activity.
War Voting : Interstate Disputes, the Economy, and Electoral Outcomes

This article explores the interactive effects of the economy and the use of force on incumbent parties’ electoral performance. Research on the diversionary use of force assumes that leaders (especi...
Gene expression under chronic heat stress in populations of the mustard hill coral (Porites astreoides) from different thermal environments

Recent evidence suggests that corals can acclimatize or adapt to local stress factors through differential regulation of their gene expression. Profiling gene expression in corals from diverse environments can elucidate the physiological processes that may be responsible for maximizing coral fitness in their natural habitat and lead to a better understanding of the coral's capacity to survive the effects of global climate change. In an accompanying paper, we show that Porites astreoides from thermally different reef habitats exhibit distinct physiological responses when exposed to 6 weeks of chronic temperature stress in a common garden experiment. Here, we describe expression profiles obtained from the same corals for a panel of 9 previously reported and 10 novel candidate stress response genes identified in a pilot RNA-Seq experiment. The strongest expression change was observed in a novel candidate gene potentially involved in calcification, SLC26, a member of the solute carrier family 26 anion exchangers, which was down-regulated by 92-fold in bleached corals relative to controls. The most notable signature of divergence between coral populations was constitutive up-regulation of metabolic genes in corals from the warmer inshore location, including the gluconeogenesis enzymes pyruvate carboxylase and phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase and the lipid beta-oxidation enzyme acyl-CoA dehydrogenase. Our observations highlight several molecular pathways that were not previously implicated in the coral stress response and suggest that host management of energy budgets might play an adaptive role in holobiont thermotolerance.
Acute-on-Chronic Liver Failure: Can We Agree on a Definition?

Acute-on-chronic liver failure (ACLF) has recently received more recognition. It is a condition characterized by acute clinical deterioration in patients with chronic liver disease and is often associated with a precipitant event. It is a form of decompensated cirrhosis characterized by the presence of extrahepatic organ failure and high short-term mortality. Several definitions have been recently proposed for ACLF; however, larger prospective studies are still needed to refine our understanding of this new entity. This article explores the most recently proposed definitions, classification, and prognostic models of ACLF.
P3b reflects maltreated children's reactions to facial displays of emotion

Processing of emotion information by maltreated and control children was assessed with event-related brain potentials (ERPs). Maltreated children, for whom negative facial displays may be especially salient, and demographically comparable peers were tested to increase knowledge of differential processing of emotion information. ERPs were measured while children responded to pictures depicting facial displays of anger, fear, and happiness. Maltreated children showed larger P3b amplitude when angry faces appeared as targets than did control children; the two groups did not differ when targets were either happy or fearful facial expressions or for nontargets of any emotional content. These results indicate that aberrant emotional experiences associated with maltreatment may alter the allocation of attention and sensitivity that children develop to process specific emotion information.
Recovery from disturbance requires resynchronization of ecosystem nutrient cycles

Nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) are tightly cycled in most terrestrial ecosystems, with plant uptake more than 10 times higher than the rate of supply from deposition and weathering. This near-total dependence on recycled nutrients and the stoichiometric constraints on resource use by plants and microbes mean that the two cycles have to be synchronized such that the ratio of N:P in plant uptake, litterfall, and net mineralization are nearly the same. Disturbance can disrupt this synchronization if there is a disproportionate loss of one nutrient relative to the other. We model the resynchronization of N and P cycles following harvest of a northern hardwood forest. In our simulations, nutrient loss in the harvest is small relative to postharvest losses. The low N:P ratio of harvest residue results in a preferential release of P and retention of N. The P release is in excess of plant requirements and P is lost from the active ecosystem cycle through secondary mineral formation and leaching early in succession. Because external P inputs are small, the resynchronization of the N and P cycles later in succession is achieved by a commensurate loss of N. Through succession, the ecosystem undergoes alternating periods of N limitation, then P limitation, and eventually co-limitation as the two cycles resynchronize. However, our simulations indicate that the overall rate and extent of recovery is limited by P unless a mechanism exists either to prevent the P loss early in succession (e.g., P sequestration not stoichiometrically constrained by N) or to increase the P supply to the ecosystem later in succession (e.g., biologically enhanced weathering). Our model provides a heuristic perspective from which to assess the resynchronization among tightly cycled nutrients and the effect of that resynchronization on recovery of ecosystems from disturbance.
Speckle noise suppression for quantitative analysis of tissue optical properties with OCT

Measurement of tissue optical properties can be used for noninvasive monitoring of analytes and tissue characterization. Noninvasive measurement of tissue optical properties (attenuation, scattering coefficient, optical thickness, etc.) can be performed with optical coherence tomography (OCT) technique. However, speckle noise substantially deteriorates the accuracy of the measurements with this technique. In this paper, we studied suppression of speckle noise for accurate measurement of backscattering signal with the OCT technique. The backscattering signal variance resulted from speckle noise was experimentally determined for a scattering standard and human skin. The dependence of speckle and electronic noise on the range of spatial and temporal averaging of OCT signals was studied. Our results demonstrated that the accuracy of measurement of backscattering signals with OCT technique from skin can be 0.65% and may reach 0.1-0.2% if optimum averaging parameters are used.
A dual polarized circular patch rectifying antenna at 2.45 GHz for microwave power conversion and detection

A novel circular patch rectifying antenna (rectenna) has been developed which converts microwave energy into DC power at 2.45 GHz. Dual polarization is achieved by two orthogonal microstrip feed lines. Rectification is achieved by GaAs Schottky-barrier diodes located on each feed line. A 48% conversion efficiency from microwave power to DC power was achieved. The design was based on a nonlinear circuit analysis. >
Formation of glutathione adducts of carbon tetrachloride metabolites in a rat liver microsomal incubation system

Abstract Metabolism of CCl 4 by rat liver microsomes causes damage to the membrane. GSH diminishes that damage. One mechanism of GSH protection has been characterized. It involves formation of diglutathione carbonate from two molecules of GSH and one molecule of phosgene, an oxygenated metabolite of CCl 4 . The present studies were done to seek other GSH adducts of CCl 4 metabolites and to examine the effect of oxygen tension on their formation. Incubations were carried out in sealed flasks under oxygen concentrations ranging from 0.14 to 21% at 37°. The CCl 4 concentration was 72 μM. 14 CCl 4 and 35 S-GSH were used to label metabolites. High pressure liquid chromatographic analysis of the aqueous phase demonstrated two GSH adducts of CCl 4 metabolites. One adduct was oxygendependent and was identified as diglutathione carbonate by its co-elution with a diglutathione carbonate standard. Its formation showed no evidence of saturation when GSH concentrations as high as 10 mM were used, indicating that the overall process was nonenzymatic. Formation of the other adduct was greatest under the lowest oxygen concentration studied and none occurred at oxygen tensions of 5% or greater. Based on experiments with radiolabeled CCl 4 and GSH, this metabolite appeared to be a product of one molecule each of CCl 4 and GSH. Formation of this adduct had enzymatic characteristics. It was saturable with respect to GSH with an apparent K m of 70 μM, and other thiol compounds that were tested could not substitute for GSH. The adduct was unstable during isolation attempts and was not characterized further. Formation of these two GSH adducts could account for some of the protection by GSH against CCl 4 injury.
A New Focus for Parent Education: Bridging the Gap Between Diagnosis and Intensive Early Intervention Services

Abstract Research has documented positive effects of parent-implemented interventions for children with autism. This article presents a new approach to family training in children with autism desig...
Mill between Aristotle & Bentham

Powerful philosophical conceptions conceal, even while they reveal. By shining a strong light on some genuinely important aspects of human life, Jeremy Bentham’s Utilitarianism concealed others. His concern with aggregating the interests of each and every person obscured, for a time, the fact that some issues of justice cannot be well handled through mere summing of the interests of all. His radical abhorrence of suffering and his admirable ambition to bring all sentient beings to a state of well-being and satisfaction obscured, for a time, the fact that well-being and satisfaction might not be all there is to the human good, or even all there is to happiness. Other things–such as activity, loving, fullness of commitment–might also be involved. Indeed, so powerful was the obscuring power of Bentham’s insights that a question that Wordsworth took to be altogether askable, and which, indeed, he spent eighty-1⁄2ve lines answering–the question what happiness really is–soon looked to philosophers under Bentham’s influence like a question whose answer was so obvious that it could not be asked in earnest. Thus Henry Prichard, albeit a foe of Utilitarianism, was so influenced by Bentham’s conception in his thinking about happiness that he simply assumed that any philosopher who talked about happiness must have been identifying it with pleasure or satisfaction. When Aristotle asked what happiness is, Prichard Martha C. Nussbaum
Preparation and properties of transketolase from pork liver.

Transketolase of pork liver has been purified 90-fold and separated from ribulose 5-phosphate 3-epimerase. The transketolase is most stable between pH 7.5 and 8.5 and below 40 °C. The pH range for optimum activity is between 7.6 and 8.1. Activation by magnesium ions or thiamine pyrophosphate could not be demonstrated, but thiamine pyrophosphate increased the stability of the enzyme. Sulphydryl agents, such as p-chloromercuriphenyl sulphonic acid and N-ethylmaleimide, and heavy metal ions, such as cupric, mercuric, and zinc, at relatively high concentrations inhibited the enzyme.
The Modifying Effects of Food Stamp Program Participation on the Relation between Food Insecurity and Weight Change in Women

Food insecurity has been associated with overweight status in women. A number of hypotheses have been proposed to explain this association, some of which assume that household food insecurity is a cause of overweight. Similar to food insecurity, Food Stamp Program (FSP) participation has been associated with overweight status in women. One longitudinal study has also found a small effect of program participation on obesity status in women. Modeling FSP participation without accounting for the effect of need to participate in the program, as estimated by household food insecurity status, may lead to confounded findings. To estimate the direction and timing of the relation between food insecurity, this study reports on recently available longitudinal data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics. The major finding of this paper is that persistent food insecurity was associated with a smaller weight change, controlling for other income and health-related risk factors for weight change. Among persistently food-insecure women, full participation in the FSP offset the weight change. There were no significant associations between change in food insecurity status and weight change in these data.
Prediction of software reliability using neural networks

Software reliability growth models have achieved considerable importance in estimating reliability of software products. The authors explore the use of feed-forward neural networks as a model for software reliability growth prediction. To empirically evaluate the predictive capability of this new approach, data sets from different software projects are used. The neural networks approach exhibits a consistent behavior in prediction and the predictive performance is comparable to that of parametric models. >
A unified approach to coherent source decorrelation by autocorrelation matrix smoothing

Abstract A wide variety of techniques have been developed to deal with coherent signals at a sensor array. Many of these techniques have the structure of a pre-processor followed by a standard adaptive beamforming or angle of arrival estimation algorithm. The pre-processor is designed to reduce the cross-correlations between the arriving signals. A general decorrelation technique of this type called autocorrelation matrix smoothing (AMS) is described in this paper. The processing in AMS consists of a two-dimensional linear filtering operation on the correlation matrix of the array measurements. A number of the previously proposed decorrelation techniques can be interpreted as special cases of AMS, corresponding to different choices for the mask used to filter the correlation matrix. Although the previous methods were not originally formulated in terms of AMS, the unified interpretation points out relations between the techniques and suggests improved techniques. This paper summarizes the basic properties of AMS, explains the unified interpretation of previous decorrelation methods, and describes some extensions for improved decorrelation.
The clumsy child: observations in cases referred to the gymnasium of the Adelaide Children's Hospital over a three-year period.

Group treatment of clumsy children is one part of a multidisciplinary management programme which is provided at The Adelaide Children's Hospital for children who have multiple handicaps. This study reviews 176 children who were referred for treatment. Clumsiness was the most common reason for referral. Not all children benefited from group treatment, and those who had significant degrees of mental retardation, or mild spasticity worsening on effort, needed individual handling. Movement training aims mainly to reduce physical clumsiness, and it is hoped that certain nonspecific benefits may result. The greatest improvement occurred in the ability to mix with others. Group counselling of parents, with a social worker as leader, is considered to have played an essential part in the management of these children's problems. Language: en
Forging Unsupported Metal–Boryl Bonds with Icosahedral Carboranes

In contrast to the plethora of metal-catalyzed cross-coupling methods available for the installation of functional groups on aromatic hydrocarbons, a comparable variety of methods are currently not available for icosahedral carboranes, which are boron-rich three-dimensional aromatic analogues of aryl groups. Part of this is due to the limited understanding of the elementary steps for cross-coupling involving carboranes. Here, we report our efforts in isolating metal-boryl complexes to further our understanding of one of these elementary steps, oxidative addition. Structurally characterized examples of group 10 M-B bonds featuring icosahedral carboranes are completely unknown. Use of mercurocarboranes as a reagent to deliver M-B bonds saw divergent reactivity for platinum and palladium, with a Pt-B bond being isolated for the former, and a rare Pd-Hg bond being formed for the latter.
Goniozus legneri (Hymenoptera: Bethylidae): development, oviposition, and longevity in relation to temperature

Goniozus legneri Gordh is known as a parasite of the carob moth, Spectrobates ceratoniae (Zeller), and of the navel orangeworm, Amyelois transitella (Walker). In this study its development on the pink bollworm, Pectinophora gossypiella (Saunders), was determined at nine constant and three fluctuating temperatures. The duration of the egg-to-prepupal stage varied from 12.8 days at 17°C to 3.1 days at 35°C. The pupal-to-adult stage required an additional 35 days at 17°C and 5.0 days at 35°C. This parasite has ca. 2.5 generations for each generation of its pink bollworm host. At 30°C females live ca. 20.1 days and parasitize ca. 10.9 larvae producing 67.7 cocoons, a much lower value than that reported by others. The heat tolerance, short life cycle, and host searching characteristics of G. legneri indicate that the parasite has potential for release to regulate pink bollworm populations in cotton in Arizona and California.
Quarterly intrinsic disorder digest (January-February-March, 2014)

This is the 5th issue of the Digested Disorder series that represents a reader's digest of the scientific literature on intrinsically disordered proteins. We continue to use only 2 criteria for inclusion of a paper to this digest: The publication date (a paper should be published within the covered time frame) and the topic (a paper should be dedicated to any aspect of protein intrinsic disorder). The current digest issue covers papers published during the first quarter of 2014; i.e., during the period of January, February, and March of 2014. Similar to previous issues, the papers are grouped hierarchically by topics they cover, and for each of the included papers a short description is given on its major findings.
Radioprotective Effects of Sodium Borocaptate on Acute Radiation- Injured Mice

Objective To investigate the radioprotective effects of sodium borocaptate on acute radiation- injured mice. Methods BSH was administrated in peritoneal injection with 0. 2 ml / 20 g. Mice were exposed wholely to60Co γ- ray with the dose of 6 Gy( 0. 8 Gy / min). The count of peripheral blood cells was detected at 3rd,14thday after irradiation. Organ index was detected at 14thday after irradiation. Results Compared to model control group,PLT of BSH( 80 mg / kg) group increased significantly( P 0. 05) at 3rdday after irradiation,PLT,spleen index and thymus index increased significantly( P 0. 01,P 0. 05) at 14thday after irradiation. Conclusion The results showed that BSH had protective effects on PLT and immune system of acute radiation- injured mice.