cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Raf-mediated cardiac hypertrophy in adult Drosophila

In response to stress and extracellular signals, the heart undergoes a process called cardiac hypertrophy during which cardiomyocytes increase in size. If untreated, cardiac hypertrophy can progress to overt heart failure that causes significant morbidity and mortality. The identification of molecular signals that cause or modify cardiomyopathies is necessary to understand how the normal heart progresses to cardiac hypertrophy and heart failure. Receptor tyrosine kinase (RTK) signaling is essential for normal human cardiac function, and the inhibition of RTKs can cause dilated cardiomyopathies. However, neither investigations of activated RTK signaling pathways nor the characterization of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy in the adult fly heart has been previously described. Therefore, we developed strategies using Drosophila as a model to circumvent some of the complexities associated with mammalian models of cardiovascular disease. Transgenes encoding activated EGFR(A887T), Ras85D(V12) and Ras85D(V12S35), which preferentially signal to Raf, or constitutively active human or fly Raf caused hypertrophic cardiomyopathy as determined by decreased end diastolic lumen dimensions, abnormal cardiomyocyte fiber morphology and increased heart wall thicknesses. There were no changes in cardiomyocyte cell numbers. Additionally, activated Raf also induced an increase in cardiomyocyte ploidy compared with control hearts. However, preventing increases in cardiomyocyte ploidy using fizzy-related (Fzr) RNAi did not rescue Raf-mediated cardiac hypertrophy, suggesting that Raf-mediated polyploidization is not required for cardiac hypertrophy. Similar to mammals, the cardiac-specific expression of RNAi directed against MEK or ERK rescued Raf-mediated cardiac hypertrophy. However, the cardiac-specific expression of activated ERK(D334N), which promotes hyperplasia in non-cardiac tissues, did not cause myocyte hypertrophy. These results suggest that ERK is necessary, but not sufficient, for Raf-mediated cardiac hypertrophy.
A cell line resource derived from honey bee (Apis mellifera) embryonic tissues.

A major hindrance to the study of honey bee pathogens or the effects of pesticides and nutritional deficiencies is the lack of controlled in vitro culture systems comprised of honey bee cells. Such systems are important to determine the impact of these stress factors on the developmental and cell biology of honey bees. We have developed a method incorporating established insect cell culture techniques that supports sustained growth of honey bee cells in vitro. We used honey bee eggs mid to late in their embryogenesis to establish primary cultures, as these eggs contain cells that are progressively dividing. Primary cultures were initiated in modified Leibovitz’s L15 medium and incubated at 32°C. Serial transfer of material from several primary cultures was maintained and has led to the isolation of young cell lines. A cell line (AmE-711) has been established that is composed mainly of fibroblast-type cells that form an adherent monolayer. Most cells in the line are diploid (2n = 32) and have the Apis mellifera karyotype as revealed by Giemsa stain. The partial sequence for the mitochondrial-encoded cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (Cox 1) gene in the cell line is identical to those from honey bee tissues and a consensus sequence for A. mellifera. The population doubling time is approximately 4 days. Importantly, the cell line is continuously subcultured every 10–14 days when split at a 1:3 ratio and is cryopreserved in liquid nitrogen. The cell culture system we have developed has potential application for studies aimed at honey bee development, genetics, pathogenesis, transgenesis, and toxicology.
Hierarchical holographic modeling for risk identification in complex systems

Describes an application of hierarchical holographic modeling (HHM) to risk identification in a process for the acquisition of a large-scale data retrieval and management system. The HHM provided an efficient means to examine the scope and depth of the analysts' and the program managers' understanding, and gaps in understanding, of risk issues in the database acquisition. Statistical analysis building on the HHM added insight to information collected from interviews and program documents.
Getting a Cue: The Need to Belong and Enhanced Sensitivity to Social Cues

To successfully establish and maintain social relationships, individuals need to be sensitive to the thoughts and feelings of others. In the current studies, the authors predicted that individuals who are especially concerned with social connectedness--individuals high in the need to belong--would be particularly attentive to and accurate in decoding social cues. In Study 1, individual differences in the need to belong were found to be positively related to accuracy in identifying vocal tone and facial emotion. Study 2 examined attention to vocal tone and accuracy in a more complex social sensitivity task (an empathic accuracy task). Replicating the results of Study 1, need to belong scores predicted both attention to vocal tone and empathic accuracy. Study 3 provided evidence that the enhanced performance shown by those high in the need to belong is specific to social perception skills rather than to cognitive problem solving more generally.
Servant Leadership: Setting the Stage for Empirical Research:

Executive Summary Servant Leadership received attention in the popular press, but little empirical research exists to support the theory or the anecdotal evidence used in the popular press material...
Strategies for reducing excess morbidity and mortality in blacks with systemic lupus erythematosus

The epidemiology of systemic lupus erythematosus suggests that the excess morbidity and mortality in blacks with the disease is related to lower socioeconomic status. Poverty and factors associated with poverty are powerful predictors of poor outcome in a variety of chronic diseases, and lupus appears to be no exception. A body of studies in other illnesses suggests ways to neutralize, at least partially, the disadvantages of lower socioeconomic status, even though the root causes of poverty may be insurmountable. These include improving access to quality health care; targeting educational programs to promote recognition and understanding of the disease and the comorbid conditions that affect outcome; implementing programs to improve self-monitoring and adherence to medical regimens; developing opportunities to facilitate homemaking, childrearing, and working outside the home; and applying psychosocial interventions to enhance self-confidence and social support. Improved access to quality health care may actually lead to a decrease in health care costs.
North American tick-borne diseases

Etude de la fievre pourpree des montagnes rocheuses, epidemiologie, manifestations cliniques, diagnostic, diagnostic differentiel, traitement, pronostic. Maladie de Lyme avec les memes etudes, et enfin bref rappel sur la tularemie, la fievre Q, les fievres recurrentes, la babesiose et la fievre a tique du Colorado
Firewall modules and modular firewalls

A firewall is a packet filter placed at an entry point of a network in the Internet. Each packet that goes through this entry point is checked by the firewall to determine whether to accept or discard the packet. The firewall makes this determination based on a specified sequence of overlapping rules. The firewall uses the first-match criterion to determine which rule in the sequence should be applied to which packet. Thus, to compute the set of packets to which a rule is applied, the firewall designer needs to consider all the rules that precede this rule in the sequence. This “rule dependency” complicates the task of designing firewalls (especially those with thousands of rules), and makes firewalls hard to understand. In this paper, we present a metric, called the dependency metric, for measuring the complexity of firewalls. This metric, though accurate, does not seem to suggest ways to design firewalls whose dependency metrics are small. Thus, we present another metric, called the inversion metric, and develop methods for designing firewalls with small inversion metrics. We show that the dependency metric and the inversion metric are correlated for some classes of firewalls. So by aiming to design firewalls with small inversion metrics, the designer may end up with firewalls whose dependency metrics are small as well. We present a method for designing modular firewalls whose inversion metrics are very small. Each modular firewall consists of several components, called firewall modules. The inversion metric of each firewall module is very small - in fact, 1 or 2. Thus, we conclude that modular firewalls are easy to design and easy to understand.
Problem-based Learning in Real Estate Education

Executive Summary. Problem-based learning is an educational technique that employs real world problems, scenarios and cases in order to enhance the problem solving and critical thinking skills of s...
Education Without Boundaries: Faculty Training And Support

This paper looks at two specific issues related to faculty success in the online classroom. The first, an effective faculty training program, is crucial in building a cadre of competent online faculty to meet the growing demands for web-based classes. However, the training programs offered vary significantly from on-the-job training to intensive immersion programs which take place before the first online teaching assignment. The second issue is ongoing support including administrative, academic, and technical support. While effective training is instrumental in getting the faculty member prepared for cyberspace, the support services available while teaching the online class are often responsible for how smoothly the course runs.
The effect of tribomaterial pairings on wear of an aluminum slider under high sliding speeds and high contact pressure

Abstract A unique high-speed electromagnetic tribometer based on a minor caliber electromagnetic launcher was used to study metal on metal wear under high sliding speeds and high contact pressures. Large scale melting of the slider occurred and was correlated to the sliding conditions, pressure and velocity, as well as slider–guider material properties. A series of experiments were conducted to study the response of a 6061-T6 aluminum slider on four different guider materials, C11000-H2 copper, 1018 steel, 1045 steel and CP titanium (grade 2) at sliding speeds from 0 to 1200 m/s and contact pressures from 100 to 225 MPa. A transition from a severe plastic deformation to melt lubrication wear region occurred under a critical combination of sliding speed and contact pressure. Test results showed that the guider thermal properties influenced this transition condition, such that a guider with a higher volumetric thermal mass resulted in a higher transition condition than one with a lower volumetric thermal mass. The overall impact of the different guider materials tested on the transition condition is within 6% of the baseline C11000-H2 copper.
Nutrient Reduction in an In-Series Constructed Wetland System Treating Landfill Leachate

The effectiveness of an in-series surface flow constructed wetland designed to treat landfill leacbate was determined by conducting pollutant removal efficiency studies over a 4 month period. The first step in the study involved the characterization of the leacbate generated within the landfill. At the same time, ten in-series parallel wetlands with a 10:1 length to aspect ratio were constructed, with each cell designed for a maximum water depth of 0.5m. Cells were planted with a variety of vascular aquatic plants including Sagittaria spp., Pontedaria sp., Scirpus spp., Phragmities sp., Typha sp., Juncus spp., and Zizaniopsis sp.. This system is a component of a solid waste facility of a closed-loop design incorporating recycling, composting and constructed wetlands to treat leacbate mixed with septage on site. The system is characterized by a varying hydraulic loading rate and retention time.
A New MI-Based Visualization Aided Validation Index for Mining Big Longitudinal Web Trial Data

Web-delivered clinical trials generate big complex data. To help untangle the heterogeneity of treatment effects, unsupervised learning methods have been widely applied. However, identifying valid patterns is a priority but challenging issue for these methods. This paper, built upon our previous research on multiple imputation (MI)-based fuzzy clustering and validation, proposes a new MI-based Visualization-aided validation index (MIVOOS) to determine the optimal number of clusters for big incomplete longitudinal Web-trial data with inflated zeros. Different from a recently developed fuzzy clustering validation index, MIVOOS uses a more suitable overlap and separation measures for Web-trial data but does not depend on the choice of fuzzifiers as the widely used Xie and Beni (XB) index. Through optimizing the view angles of 3-D projections using Sammon mapping, the optimal 2-D projection-guided MIVOOS is obtained to better visualize and verify the patterns in conjunction with trajectory patterns. Compared with XB and VOS, our newly proposed MIVOOS shows its robustness in validating big Web-trial data under different missing data mechanisms using real and simulated Web-trial data.
Rain Gauges to Range Conditions: Collaborative Development of a Drought Information System to Support Local Decision-Making

AbstractDrought monitoring and drought planning are complex endeavors. Measures of precipitation or streamflow provide little context for understanding how social and environmental systems impacted by drought are responding. Here the authors report on collaborative work with the Hopi Tribe—a Native American community in the U.S. Southwest—to develop a drought information system that is responsive to local needs. A strategy is presented for developing a system that is based on an assessment of how drought is experienced by Hopi citizens and resource managers, that can incorporate local observations of drought impacts as well as conventional indicators, and that brings together local expertise with conventional science-based observations. The system described here is meant to harness as much available information as possible to inform tribal resource managers, political leaders, and citizens about drought conditions and to also engage these local drought stakeholders in observing, thinking about, and helpin...
15.5 The Olympics and the Marketing of Sports: Sponsorship

Few contemporary marketing strategies have grown more rapidly than corporate sport sponsorship as evidenced by sponsorship expenditures tripling in the past ten years. The proliferation of sponsorship opportunities, coupled with recessionary economic conditions, has required sponsoring companies to emphasize strategic market planning processes including the establishment of specific sponsorship objectives measuring impact on business. Kuzma, Shanklin & McCally (1993) advocated that a sponsorship arrangement will be consummated only when what the sponsorship offers, or the sponsorship inventory, matches what the prospective sponsor seeks to achieve. Unfortunately, previous inquiries failed to explore relationships between these variables which, therefore, became the purpose of the current exploratory study of active corporate sponsors (N = 78). Regression analysis (p<.05) revealed significant relationships to exist between distinctive objectives and inventory criteria which provides sport sponsorship organizers an empirically-based benchmark for customizing proposals containing criteria directly related to the fulfillment of prospective sponsors desired outcomes.
The Technique of Robotic Nerve Sparing Prostatectomy: Extraperitoneal Approach

Extraperitoneal robotic-assisted radical prostatectomy approaches the prostate in a manner identical to open retropubic radical prostatectomy, with comparable avoidance of abdominal structures and of the steep Trendelenburg position, but with robotic instruments as the surgical tools. The advantages of extraperitoneal robotic surgery to access and remove the prostate are only somewhat counterbalanced by an increased level of difficulty in learning to safely and reliably access the extraperitoneal space of Retzius, avoid or manage inadvertent peritoneotomy, and approach the seminal vesicles and vasa deferentia anteriorly (see Chapter 36). Once mastered by the robotic surgeon, virtually all patients can benefit from this approach, which is associated with a decreased risk of ileus and other abdominal complications. In fact, the extraperitoneal approach to robotic radical prostatectomy is ideally suited for those who pose additional challenges to robotic radical prostatectomy, such as obese men, men with prior abdominal surgery, and/or men with concomitant inguinal hernia(s).
An Analysis of CAD Modeling Procedure Data Collection Using Synchronous and Retrospective Think Aloud Techniques

CAD is a critical tool for engineers in the 21st century. To improve CAD usage and education, methods for assessing and evaluating modeling procedures and decision making are necessary. To this end, two common verbal data collection methods are assessed for analyzing CAD modeling procedures. Stimulated recall and concurrent think aloud are compared to each other and screen capture video data. While the concurrent think aloud method seems to increase the necessary modeling time, the think aloud requirement does not affect the proportion of time spent on particular activities. A novel method of using Cohens Kappa with time usage data was implemented to compare the audio methods to screen capture video data. Neither audio method showed significant agreement with the video data when corrected for chance agreement. It is likely that both video and audio data are required to observe significant insights with respect to CAD modeling procedures and decisions. Drawbacks and benefits associated with alternative methods are also highlighted.
Cartels, Combinations and the Public Interest

HE current denunciation of international cartels by the AtTtorney General's staff and by other government officials who, according to press reports, have said that the German cartels were a weapon of economic warfare which might well endanger peace settlements, has raised in the minds of many the question whether cartels are entirely and always a Machiavellian device for the exploitation of the public and a weapon of economic warfare. The position taken by the former Assistant Attorney General, Mr. Arnold, against these combinations was carried to such extremes that a semi-humorous commentator remarked that he had
Restructuring of Enterococcus faecalis biofilm architecture in response to antibiotic-induced stress.

Bacterial biofilms are intrinsically resistant to antimicrobial treatment, which contributes to microbial persistence in clinical infections. Enterococcus faecalis is an opportunistic pathogen that readily forms biofilms and is the most prevalent enterococcal species identified in healthcare-associated infections. Since intrinsic resistance to multiple antibiotics is common for enterococci, and antibiotic resistance is elevated in biofilm populations, it is imperative to understand the mechanisms involved. Previously, we identified two glycosyltransferase genes whose disruption resulted in impaired nascent biofilm formation in the presence of antibiotic concentrations subinhibitory for parent growth and biofilm formation. The glycosyltransferases are involved in synthesis of the cell-wall-associated rhamnopolysaccharide Epa. Here we examined the effect of epa mutations on the temporal development of E. faecalis biofilms, and on the effects of antibiotics on pre-formed biofilms using scanning electron microscopy. We show that ΔepaOX mutant cells arrange into complex multidimensional biofilms independent of antibiotic exposure, while parent cells form biofilms that are monolayers in the absence of antibiotics. Remarkably, upon exposure to antibiotics parent biofilm cells restructure into complex three-dimensional biofilms resembling those of the ΔepaOX mutant without antibiotics. All biofilms exhibiting complex cellular architectures were less structurally stable than monolayer biofilms, with the biofilm cells exhibiting increased detachment. Our results indicate that E. faecalis biofilms restructure in response to cellular stress whether induced by antibiotics in the case of parent cells, or by deficiencies in Epa composition for the ΔepaOX strain. The data demonstrate a link between cellular architecture and antibiotic resistance of E. faecalis biofilms. Studying how the architecture of bacterial biofilms can change on exposure to antibiotics could help tackle persistent clinical infections. Enterococcus faecalis is one of the most prevalent bacteria involved in healthcare situations. Its resistance to antibiotics is elevated by the formation of biofilms. Gary Dunny and colleagues at the University of Minnesota, USA studied genetic factors related to the response of E. faecalis biofilms to antibiotics. They identified mutations that caused the bacterial cells to produce structurally altered biofilms and found that similar structural alterations were induced in biofilms made by normal cells in the presence of antibiotics. The altered architecture can make the biofilms less stable and therefore more easily disrupted by treatments. Learning more about the mechanisms underlying these structural changes in biofilms might lead to new options in treating antibiotic resistant infections.
American elm cultivars: Variation in compartmentalization of infection by Ophiostoma novo‐ulmi and its effects on hydraulic conductivity

Summary Five cultivars and two populations of wild-type seedlings of American elm (Ulmus americana), 3 and 4 years old, were examined for differences in their abilities to compartmentalize and resist infection by artificially inoculating with Ophiostoma novo-ulmi. Morphological characteristics of tree defence, often referred to as the compartmentalization of decay in trees model, were used as a conceptual framework, with particular emphasis on the limiting of tangential spread of infection within the xylem and barriers that limit spread outwards to cells formed after infection. To investigate the change in functional xylem over time, 3-year-old trees were assessed at multiple time points following inoculation for hydraulic conductivity. Three and four-year-old cut trees were placed in 0.1% w/v safranin O for 18 to 24 hr to indicate functional xylem. Transverse sections of the stained stems were used to calculate per cent of sap-conducting xylem area and the per cent of circumference conducting of first formed cells and later formed cells. At each collection time, trees were assessed for disease severity on a 1–12 scale, based on the percentage of permanent wilt in the crown. There was considerable variation between cultivars in disease severity and their capacity to localize and resist infection. “Prairie Expedition,” which had the lowest disease severity rating in 2015 and the second lowest in 2016, consistently limited the spread of infection into newly formed xylem and had functional xylem around the entire circumference of the stem at 90 days post-inoculation. “Valley Forge” in 2016 had the lowest overall disease severity rating and was the only cultivar to consistently limit the tangential spread of infection within extant xylem. This research identifies key characteristics that some cultivars have to resist and limit infection and provides new information that can be used in disease screening programmes to evaluate other cultivars and older plant material.
An Analysis of the Work Roles of CEOs of Small Firms

The work roles of CEOs who start and manage their own firms were analyzed and contrasted with CEOs who are nonowner-managers. Significant differences emerged concerning the importance of three work...
The structure of coxsackievirus B3.

Picornaviruses are small, nonenveloped, icosahedral viruses. The mature virions are approximately 300 A in diameter and the interior of the capsid shell is packed with single-stranded plus sense RNA (Mw ∼ 8×106 Daltons) (Rueckert 1990). The virus capsid is composed of 60 protomers, each consisting of one copy of the viral proteins VP1, VP2, VP3 and VP4 arranged in a T= 1 (Pseudo T = 3) icosahedral lattice (CASPAR and KLUG 1962) (Fig. 1). Atomic resolution structures have been determined for all Picornaviridae genera (Hogle et al. 1985; Rossmann et al. 1985; Luo et al. 1987; Acharya et al. 1989) with the exception of the hepatoviruses. Their structures demonstrate conservation of the eight-stranded antiparallel β-sandwich of VP1, VP2 and VP3 while VP4, which is completely interior, is not well defined in many of the structures. The regions of most structural dissimilarity for VP1, VP2 and VP3 occurs at the NH2- and COOH-terminals and the loops that connect the β-strands. Many of the differences at the COOH-terminals and β-strand loops present themselves on the surface of the virion and give each virus its unique surface topology and hence define how these viruses interact with cells and mediate early steps in the viral life cycle including receptor recognition and viral uncoating.
Pediatric Nerve Conduction Studies and EMG

A variety of neuromuscular conditions affect children, ranging from severe, usually fatal disorders, such as spinal muscular atrophy type I (Werdnig-Hoffman syndrome) to relatively mild problems, such as benign congenital hypotonia. The evaluation of children in the EMG laboratory requires special care because of the discomfort of the tests. Moreover, other considerations, such as slower baseline nerve conduction velocities and conditions that generally do not present in adulthood, such as congenital myasthenic syndromes, can make the pediatric neurophysiological examination especially challenging. This chapter reviews both the common pediatric neuromuscular conditions and their assessment in the EMG laboratory.
500 A CASE OF “MALIGNANT ACUTE RESPIRATORY DISTRESS SYNDROME.”

A multitude of risk factors have been associated with the presentation of acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). We describe a case of ARDS in which the etiology was unusual and unexpected. A 65-year-old Hispanic female with a past medical history of asthma presented with severe respiratory distress to the emergency room. Her other symptoms included shortness of breath, wheezing, nonproductive cough, and weight loss for the past 2 months. She was treated on two separate occasions for suspected pneumonia and asthma exacerbation with antibiotics and bronchodilators. However, her symptoms did not resolve, and she was in acute hypoxemic respiratory failure on presentation (PaO2/FiO2 ratio
Chapter 9 High-Resolution Video-Enhanced Differential Interference Contrast (VE-DIC) Light Microscopy

Publisher Summary Differential interference contrast (DIC) light microscopy was an immediate success after its introduction in the 1960s because it could produce high-contrast optical images of the edges of objects and fine-structural detail within transparent specimens. DIC contrast depends on gradients in optical path and not on absolute values of optical path (OP). As a result, DIC methods can produce clear optical sections of relatively thick transparent specimens. Resolution in DIC microscopy is also superior to phase contrast. VE–DIC has been important in many aspects of cell biology, including measuring the assembly dynamics of individual microtubules and forced production by microtubule assembly/disassembly. The quality of images in VE–DIC microscopy depends critically on both the quality of the image projected onto the camera detector by the microscope as well as on the electronic contrast enhancement capabilities of the camera. The chapter describes the basic concepts of DIC image formation and analog and digital contrast enhancement, the practical aspects of component selection, alignment and specimen chambers for VE–DIC, and several test specimens for measuring microscope and video performance.
Hepatic FoxOs induce apolipoprotein M and are required for sphingosine-1-phosphate to bind high density lipoproteins

ABSTRACT The FoxO family of transcription factors play an important role in mediating insulin action on glucose, lipid, and lipoprotein metabolism. Liver-specific triple FoxO knockout mice (L-FoxO1,3,4) have defects in expression of genes related to glucose production, bile acid synthesis, and high density lipoprotein (HDL)-cholesterol uptake. We have now identified Apolipoprotein M (Apom) as a novel transcriptional target of liver FoxO. ApoM is a liver-secreted apolipoprotein that is bound to HDL in the circulation, and it serves as a chaperone for the bioactive lipid, sphingosine-1-phosphate (S1P). Several recent studies have demonstrated that S1P bound to ApoM induces unique effects, compared to S1P bound to albumin. We now show that liver FoxOs are required for ApoM mRNA and protein expression, and that ApoM is a transcriptional target of FoxOs. Moreover, while total plasma S1P levels are similar between control and L-FoxO1,3,4 mice, S1P is nearly absent from HDL in L-FoxO1,3,4 mice, and is instead increased in the lipoprotein depleted fraction. We also observed that leptin receptor deficient db/db mice have low hepatic Apom mRNA, and low levels of ApoM and S1P in HDL, without changes in total plasma S1P. These data demonstrate that FoxO transcription factors are novel regulators of the ApoM-S1P pathway, and indicate a potential link between hepatic insulin action and HDL function.
Households and work in their economic contexts: State-level variations in gendered housework performance before, during, and after the great recession

Women remain largely responsible for the management and performance of domestic labor despite many shifts in both women’s and men’s economic activities. The Great Recession changed the economic lan...
Somatotopic Arrangement of Eight Distinct Skin Areas in the Human Primary Somatosensory Cortex Derived from Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging

Blood oxygen level dependent (BOLD) functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used to investigate cortical activity associated with peripheral tactile stimuli in a small cohort of healthy humans. MR-safe automated pneumatic stimulators modeled after the Wartenberg pinwheel were used to generate tactile stimuli at regular intervals on eight disparate areas of skin. The phase-encoded BOLD responses of voxels in the cerebral cortex were characterized by the maximal normalized cross-correlation coefficients at time delays between an idealized response and the measure time course. Overall at the group level, the somatotopic organization of the somatosensory cortex (SI) follows the accepted homunculus model, but a noticeable amount of variation was observed between individual study participants. The surface areas of cortical regions in SI activated by tactile stimulation of different body parts were calculated, giving an estimate of cortical magnification factors. Data collected with the participant actively attending the stimuli were compared to data collected before the attention task. No significant attention-related changes were observed in the somatotopic maps or in time courses of voxels well-correlated to stimuli.
A clostripain‐like protease plays a major role in generating the secretome of enterotoxigenic Bacteroides fragilis

Bacteroides fragilis toxin (BFT) is a protein secreted by enterotoxigenic (ETBF) strains of B. fragilis. BFT is synthesized as a proprotein (proBFT) that is predicted to be a lipoprotein and that is cleaved into two discrete fragments by a clostripain-like protease called fragipain (Fpn). In this study, we obtained evidence that Fpn cleaves proBFT following its transport across the outer membrane. Remarkably, we also found that the disruption of the fpn gene led to a strong reduction in the level of >100 other proteins, many of which are predicted to be lipoproteins, in the culture medium of an ETBF strain. Experiments performed with purified Fpn provided direct evidence that the protease releases at least some of these proteins from the cell surface. The observation that wild-type cells outcompeted an fpn- strain in co-cultivation assays also supported the notion that Fpn plays an important role in cell physiology and is not simply dedicated to toxin biogenesis. Finally, we found that purified Fpn altered the adhesive properties of HT29 intestinal epithelial cells. Our results suggest that Fpn is a broad-spectrum protease that not only catalyzes the protein secretion on a wide scale but that also potentially cleaves host cell proteins during colonization.
Dual-energy CT-derived microvascular perfused blood volume and lung function and %emphysema in the MESA Lung study

Prior findings suggest that pathways relevant to emphysema pathogenesis converge on the pulmonary microvasculature. We measured microvascular perfused blood volume (mPBV) in the peripheral 2cm of lung with iodine-enhanced dual-energy CT (DECT) to examine the vascular hypothesis of emphysema in a multicenter, population-based cohort. The Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA) Lung Study performed iodine-enhanced DECT at functional residual capacity, non-contrast full-lung CT at total lung capacity, and spirometry on a subset of the MESA cohort in 2017-18. mPBV was calculated by material decomposition on DECT. Percent emphysema (%emph: voxels DECT scans were acquired for 719 participants, 68 of whom were excluded due to scan quality. Of the remaining 651 participants, mean age was 71+8yrs, 55% were male, 40% White, 30% Black, 17% Hispanic, 14% Chinese, and 51% ever smokers; 10% had COPD (FEV1/FVC mPBV was greater in men (p Microvascular perfused blood volume on DECT was associated with body size and was lower among former smokers and with greater percent emphysema, suggesting the presence of microvascular damage from smoking and with emphysema.
A Case Study on Ablation Breakdown of High Voltage Cable Buffer Layer

The ablation of high voltage cable buffer layer has puzzled the field of high voltage cable for nearly 20 years. It has been studied that the development process of this kind of fault is that the buffer layer of high-voltage cable develops from whiteness, ablation to cable breakdown. More and more high-voltage cable related personnel pay attention to such failures. With the development of research, the reason and mechanism of this kind of fault are gradually clear. Based on a typical case of ablation failure of buffer layer of high voltage cable, this paper analyzes the failure phenomenon and mechanism. It eliminates the possibility that the buffer belt may be affected by moisture due to the water breaking out of the cable. The resistivity and moisture content of the buffer belt of different cable sections are tested, and the gap between the buffer layer and the aluminum sheath is measured, which verifies the theoretical analysis results. It is found that the volume resistivity and water content are both higher than the existing standards. The results of this paper lay the foundation for the further study of this fault type.
Closing the gender gap in college attendance: Variation by family background in China over time.

Abstract Ample scholarship has noted a global trend in the reversal of the gender gap in college attendance and completion, with women gradually reaching parity or even surpassing men. While the findings are encouraging, this study asks: do all women benefit equally? More specifically, do women from all family backgrounds reach parity with men in college enrollment over time? This question is especially important to address in countries like China that have gone through a rapid process of marketization and changes in gender attitudes. By analyzing nationally representative data from China, the study finds that an overall decrease in gender inequality over time can create a perception of parity while at the same time masking differential experiences of women from different family backgrounds. Only women from socioeconomically advantaged family backgrounds reach parity or surpass men. Moreover, gender inequality becomes more contingent on family background over time such that women's opportunity to access college relative to that of men increasingly depends on their family background. This study makes several notable contributions to understanding and reducing gender inequality in higher education.
Red cell structure and its breakdown

In writing this chapter for “Protoplasmatologia,” I have tried to confine the material to a consideration of the problems of the red cell and its breakdown as they appear at the moment. The problems of 1955 are very different from those which presented themselves tea years ago, as will he realized by anybody who compares this chapter with my monograph. “Hemolysis and Related Phenomena.” 1948. In these ten years. the situation has changed because of six new departures: the observation of fine structure. made with the electron microscope, the realization that there are many varieties of ghosts which have properties of their own, the increasing amount of evidence that some of the simplifying hypotheses regarding the osmotic behaviour of the red cell have broken down, the observation of the hitherto negleeted fragmentation phenomena, the realization that many Iytic reactions cannot be described by the equations for simple chemical reactions. and. finally. the appreciation of the fact that the mammalian red cell has a complex metabolism and that this metabolism is concerned with processes such as active ion transport.
Characterization of a Human T-cell Protein Tyrosine Phosphatase Expressed in the Baculovirus System

Phosphorylation of proteins on tyrosyl residues has been implicated in signal transduction and the control of cell growth, proliferation, differentiation and transformation. This process is regulated by the interplay of protein tyrosine kinases and protein tyrosine phosphatases (PTPases, review: Tonks and Charbonneau, 1989). A PTPase of 35 kDa (PTPase 1B) was previously purified to homogeneity from human placenta and characterized (Tonks et al., 1987a,b). Subsequently, a related PTPase of 48 kDa was cloned from human T-cells (Cool et al, 1989). The T-cell PTPase mainly differed from purified placenta PTPase 1B in having an additional 98 residues at the C-terminus. To address the function of this region, a truncated enzyme (TCAC11.PTPase) was generated by inserting a stop codon behind Arg 317 (Cool et al., 1990). Both forms of the enzyme were expressed in the baculovirus system using recombinant Autographa californica nuclear polyhedrosis virus (Ac-NPV) as the (Summers and Smith, 1988). In this manuscript, we describe the high level expression of both forms of the PTPase, their purification and their enzymatic properties.
Staged Cities: Mega-events, Slum Clearance, and Global Capital

In 1991, the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) held their joint international conference in Bangkok, bringing over 10,000 delegates from more than 160 countries to the city. In the months before the event, the Thai government forcibly removed over 2,000 slum dwellers from the areas immediately surrounding the new $90 million Queen Sirikit National Convention Center that hosted the conference. Hundreds of shanties in informal settlements were destroyed and a huge metal wall was erected to conceal the devastation left behind. Similarly, when the World Bank and IMF held their conference in the Philippines in 1976, President
Transient regional climate change: analysis of the summer climate response in a high-resolution, century-scale, ensemble experiment over the continental United States

[1] Integrating the potential for climate change impacts on policy and planning decisions requires quantification of the emergence of subregional climate changes that could occur in response to transient changes in global radiative forcing. Here we report results from a high-resolution, century-scale ensemble simulation of climate in the United States, forced by atmospheric constituent concentrations from the Special Report on Emissions Scenarios A1B scenario. We find that 21st century summer warming permanently emerges beyond the baseline decadal-scale variability prior to 2020 over most areas of the continental United States. Permanent emergence beyond the baseline annual-scale variability shows much greater spatial heterogeneity, with emergence occurring prior to 2030 over areas of the southwestern United States but not prior to the end of the 21st century over much of the south central and southeastern United States. The pattern of emergence of robust summer warming contrasts with the pattern of summer warming magnitude, which is greatest over the central United States and smallest over the western United States. In addition to stronger warming, the central United States also exhibits stronger coupling of changes in surface air temperature, precipitation, and moisture and energy fluxes, along with changes in atmospheric circulation toward increased anticylonic anomalies in the midtroposphere and a poleward shift in the midlatitude jet aloft. However, as a fraction of the baseline variability, the transient warming over the central United States is smaller than the warming over the southwestern or northeastern United States, delaying the emergence of the warming signal over the central United States. Our comparisons with observations and the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 3 ensemble of global climate model experiments suggest that near-term global warming is likely to cause robust subregional-scale warming over areas that exhibit relatively little baseline variability. In contrast, where there is greater variability in the baseline climate dynamics there can be greater variability in the response to elevated greenhouse forcing, decreasing the robustness of the transient warming signal.
Implementing Product-Line Features with Component Reuse

In this paper, we show how the maturation of several technologies for product-line analysis and component design, implementation and customization provides an interesting basis for systematic product-line development. Independent work in the largely separate reuse (“domain analysis”) and OO (“code and design”) communities has reached the point where integration and rationalization of the activities could yield a coherent approach. We outline a proposed path from the set of common and variable features supporting a product-line, to the reusable elements to be combined into customized feature-oriented components and frameworks to implement the products.
Local Extrema in Normed Linear Spaces

In ℝ d , it is possible to give conditions which are necessary in order that a function f have a local extremal value on a subset D, expressed in terms of the vanishing of its gradient ∇f (§0.5). In this chapter, we shall obtain analogous variational conditions which are necessary to characterize local extremal values of a function J on a subset Open image in new window of a lineat space Open image in new window supplied with a norm which assigns a “length” to each y Є Open image in new window
Syzygies and the Integral Manifolds of the Spatial N-Body Problem

In the N-body problem, the integral manifolds of the spatial problem are considerably more complex than the corresponding planar manifolds. One source of that complexity is the anomalous behavior near syzygies. This note summarizes recent work with Hildeberto Cabral on the local structure of the integral manifolds at the syzygies.
Accretion rate of cosmic spherules measured at the South Pole

Micrometeorites are terrestrially collected, extraterrestrial particles smaller than about 1 mm, which account for most of the mass being accreted to the Earth1,2. Compared with meteorites, micrometeorites more completely represent the Earth-crossing meteoroid complex3,4 and should include fragments of asteroids, comets, Mars and our Moon, as well as pre-solar and interstellar grains3,6. Previous measurements of the flux of micrometeoroids that survive to the Earth's surface have large uncertainties owing to the destruction of particles by weathering7,8,9, inefficiencies in magnetic collection or separation techniques7,8,9, low particle counts10,11, poor age constraint7,8,9,12,13 or highly variable concentrating processes12,13. Here we describe an attempt to circumvent these problems through the collection of thousands of well preserved and dated micrometeorites from the bottom of the South Pole water well, which supplies drinking water for the Scott–Amundsen station. Using this collection, we have determined precise estimates of the flux and mass distribution for 50–700-µm cosmic spherules (melted micrometeorites). Allowing for the expected abundance of unmelted micrometeorites14 in the samples, our results indicate that about 90% of the incoming mass of submillimetre particles evaporates during atmospheric entry. Our data indicate the loss of glass-rich and small stony spherules from deep-sea deposits7,8, and they provide constraints for models describing the survival probability of micrometeoroids15,16.
jSMTLIB: tutorial, validation and adapter tools for SMT-LIBv2

The SMT-LIB standard defines an input format and response requirements for Satisfiability-Modulo-Theories automated reasoning tools. The standard has been an incentive to improving and comparing the increasing supply of SMT solvers. It could also be more widely used in applications, providing a uniform interface and portability across different SMT tools. This tool paper describes a tutorial and accompanying software package, jSMTLIB, that will help users of SMT solvers understand and apply the newly revised SMT-LIB format; the tutorial also describes fine points of the SMT-LIB format which, along with a compliance suite, will be useful to SMT implementors. Finally, the tool suite includes adapters that allow using some older solvers, such as Simplify, as SMT-LIB compliant tools.
Hysteresis-induced chaotic dynamics in a transmission line model

We consider a transmission line model connected to a nonlinear component at one boundary and a linear resistor at the other boundary. We show that when the nonlinearity at the boundary is hysteretic, chaotic behavior occurs, which propagates along the transmission line creating a complex pattern which is an example of severe signal distortion. In a real circuit, such signals, could be transmitted into the primary circuitry and cause major disruption of the device.
The 6300Å Predawn Enhancement: Excitation by Protoelectrons from the Magnetic Conjugate Point

Incoherent scatter and tilting filter photometer data from Arecibo Observatory were combined to search for a contribution to the 6300 A predawn enhancement due to impact excitation by photoelectrons from the magnetic conjugate point. Prior to about 105 deg conjugate solar zenith angle, calculations of the 6300 A intensities due to dissociative recombination gave good agreement with the observed intensities. Then, with the arrival of conjugate photoelectrons (confirmed by plasma line enhancements), the observed intensities rose above the calculated, the difference increasing until a plateau was achieved at a conjugate solar zenith angle of about 95 deg. The difference or residual intensity is attributed to direct photoelectron impact excitation. Significant day-to-day variations in the onset angle and intensity have a strong negative correlation with ionospheric electron density.