cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Evaluation of active Rac1 levels in cancer cells: A case of misleading conclusions from immunofluorescence analysis

A large number of aggressive cancer cell lines display elevated levels of activated Rac1, a small GTPase widely implicated in cytoskeleton reorganization, cell motility, and metastatic dissemination. A commonly accepted methodological approach for detecting Rac1 activation in cancer cells involves the use of a conformation-sensitive antibody that detects the active (GTP-bound) Rac1 without interacting with the GDP-bound inactive form. This antibody has been extensively used in fixed cell immunofluorescence and immunohistochemistry. Taking advantage of prostate and pancreatic cancer cell models known to have high basal Rac1-GTP levels, here we have established that this antibody does not recognize Rac1 but rather detects the intermediate filament protein vimentin. Indeed, Rac1-null PC3 prostate cancer cells or cancer models with low levels of Rac1 activation still show a high signal with the anti-Rac1-GTP antibody, which is lost upon silencing of vimentin expression. Moreover, this antibody was unable to detect activated Rac1 in membrane ruffles induced by epidermal growth factor stimulation. These results have profound implications for the study of this key GTPase in cancer, particularly because a large number of cancer cell lines with characteristic mesenchymal features show simultaneous up-regulation of vimentin and high basal Rac1-GTP levels when measured biochemically. This misleading correlation can lead to assumptions about the validity of this antibody and inaccurate conclusions that may affect the development of appropriate therapeutic approaches for targeting the Rac1 pathway.
Advance Care Planning: A Forgotten Art

Advance care planning is a vital aspect of health care for all adults. This chapter discusses the background of advance care planning and also discusses the barriers that were overcome to make advance care planning a standard of care in health planning, though it remains grossly underrecognized and underutilized. The authors outline current issues with implementation of advance care planning in health systems and cancer care including allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplant. The authors conclude with expert opinion for the current use of advance care planning and future directions using current technology.
Examining the conceptual and empirical distinctiveness of Agreeableness and "dark" personality items.

OBJECTIVE A growing research literature has focused on what have been termed "dark" personality traits/constructs. More recently, the "dark factor" of personality has been proposed as a unifying framework for this research. To date, little work has rigorously investigated whether the traits/constructs investigated in the context of the dark factor can be captured by existing models of normative personality, namely Agreeableness from the Five-factor Model. Thus, the "dark factor" may be an instance of the "jangle" fallacy, where two constructs with different names are in fact the same construct. METHOD We used a preregistered approach that made use of bass-ackward factor analysis, structural equation modeling, and nomological network analysis to investigate the distinction between the D factor and Agreeableness. RESULTS Agreeableness and the D factor were similar in their coverage of antagonistic personality content, strongly negatively related (latent r = -.90), and showed near perfect profile dissimilarity (rICC = -.99). CONCLUSIONS The results suggested that the D factor can be understood as the opposite pole of Agreeableness (i.e., antagonism) and not as a distinct construct. We discuss the implications for researchers interested in continuing to advance the study of antagonistic personality traits.
Ex situ upgrading of pyrolysis vapors over PtTiO2: extraction of apparent kinetics via hierarchical transport modeling

Chemical reaction kinetics enable predictive scaling studies and process sensitivity analyses that can substantially accelerate commercial deployment of new catalytic transformation technologies. The absence of suitable kinetic parameters for catalytic fast pyrolysis (CFP) of biomass feedstocks has precluded such de-risking simulation activities. In this work we consider ex situ CFP using a Pt/TiO2 catalyst in a packed bed vapor phase upgrading reactor (VPU) with co-fed H2. We develop a multiscale simulation framework to de-couple apparent kinetics from both intraparticle and reactor-scale transport phenomena. The transport model is integrated with a kinetic scheme that predicts (1) lumped yields of product partially deoxygenated compounds, hydrocarbons, light gases, water, and coke, as well as (2) active site concentration and deactivation of the catalyst. We employ recent advancements in mathematical treatments of cascading reaction systems in the context of an axial-dispersion packed bed reactor model to achieve a rapidly-solving simulation framework that is amenable to iterative regression for kinetic parameter extraction. Results demonstrate accurate predictions of CFP yields within 5% for a variety of conditions, including different reaction times, Pt loadings, and variations in feedstock attributes.
Analog Coherent Detection for Energy Efficient Intra-Data Center Links at 200 Gbps Per Wavelength

As datacenters continue to scale in size, energy efficiency for short reach (<2 km) links is a major factor for networks that may connect hundreds of thousands of servers. We demonstrate that links based on analog coherent detection (ACD) offer a promising path to simultaneously achieving significantly larger link budgets and improved link energy efficiency. A complete analysis is presented that considers the power consumption of all the photonic and electronic components necessary to realize an ACD link architecture based on 50 Gbaud (GBd) quadrature phase-shift keying (QPSK) signaling combined with polarization multiplexing to achieve 200 Gb/s/λ. These links utilize receivers that incorporate an optical phase-locked loop (OPLL) to frequency- and phase-lock the local oscillator (LO) laser to the incoming signal. QPSK modulation offers compelling advantages both in achievable link budget and in energy efficiency. Indeed, low-complexity electronics based on limiting amplifiers can be used as opposed to the linear front-ends, A/D converters, and digital signal processing (DSP) required for higher-order QAM or PAM formats. Our analysis indicates that links with 13 dB of unallocated budget operating at error rates of <10−12 can be achieved and is compatible with higher error rates that require forward error correction (FEC). We present a comparison of silicon and InP platforms and evaluate both traveling-wave and segmented modulator designs, providing an illustration of the wide design space before converging on the most promising architectures that maximize energy efficiency and minimize laser power. We establish the theoretical potential to achieve picojoule-per-bit energy efficiency targets.
Combined EBUS-IFB and EBUS-TBNA vs EBUS-TBNA Alone for Intrathoracic Adenopathy: A Meta-Analysis.

Abstract Background Endobronchial ultrasound (EBUS)–guided intranodal forceps biopsy (IFB) is considered complementary to EBUS-guided transbronchial needle aspiration (TBNA) (EBUS-TBNA) for patients with intrathoracic lymphadenopathy either when additional tissue is requested for comprehensive molecular testing or for suspected lymphoma and sarcoidosis. This systematic review and meta-analysis investigated the diagnostic yield and complications of combined EBUS-IFB and EBUS-TBNA compared with EBUS-TBNA alone. Methods A systematic search was performed of Medline, Embase, and Google Scholar for studies evaluating the use of EBUS-IFB for diagnosis of intrathoracic adenopathy, and the quality of each study was assessed using the Quality Assessment, Data abstraction and Synthesis-2 tool. Using inverse variance weighting, a meta-analysis of diagnostic yield estimations was performed. The complications related to the procedure were also reviewed. Results Six observational studies with 443 patients undergoing 467 biopsies were included in the final analysis. Meta-analysis yielded a pooled overall diagnostic yield of 67% (312 of 467) for EBUS-TBNA and 92% (428 of 467) for EBUS-TBNA in combination with EBUS-IFB, with an inverse variance-weighted odds ratio of 5.87 (95% confidence interval, 3081 to 9.04; P 2 of 15%. The overall complications included pneumomediastinum (1%), bleeding (0.8%), and respiratory failure (0.6%). The funnel plot analysis illustrated no major publication bias. Subgroup analysis showed increased diagnostic yield for lymphoma (86% vs 30%; P 03) and sarcoidosis (93% vs 58%; P Conclusions The addition of EBUS-IFB to EBUS-TBNA improves the overall diagnostic yield of sampling intrathoracic adenopathy when compared with EBUS-TBNA alone. The complication rates of the combined approach are higher than with EBUS-TBNA, but they are reportedly lower than with transbronchial or surgical biopsies.
Effect of intracorporeal urinary diversion on the incidence of benign ureteroenteric stricture after cystectomy

Objectives To compare ureteroenteric stricture rates after radical cystectomy in patients who undergo an intracorporeal urinary diversion versus other surgical approaches. Methods We retrospectively reviewed health records of all patients who underwent cystectomy with urinary diversion at Mayo Clinic Hospital (Phoenix, AZ, USA) from 1 January 2007 through 1 January 2018. Ureteroenteric stricture was identified by surveillance imaging. Patients were stratified by surgical approach: open radical cystectomy, robot-assisted radical cystectomy with extracorporeal urinary diversion and robot-assisted radical cystectomy-intracorporeal urinary diversion. A Cox proportional hazards model was fitted that included independent predictors of stricture development. Results Of the 573 cystectomies assessed, 236 (41.2%) were carried out robotically. In the robot-assisted radical cystectomy cohort, 39 patients (16.5%) underwent intracorporeal urinary diversion. The median follow-up period was 55, 70 and 71 months for the open radical cystectomy, robot-assisted radical cystectomy-extracorporeal urinary diversion and robot-assisted radical cystectomy-intracorporeal urinary diversion groups, respectively. Subgroup stricture rates were as follows: open radical cystectomy, 8.0%; robot-assisted radical cystectomy-extracorporeal urinary diversion, 9.6%; and robot-assisted radical cystectomy-intracorporeal urinary diversion, 2.6% (P = 0.33). The median time to stricture was 5 months (interquartile range 3.3-11.5 months). In the bivariable analysis, factors that were associated with the development of ureteroenteric stricture were postoperative urinary leak (hazard ratio 3.177, 95% confidence interval 1.129-8.935; P = 0.03) and body mass index (hazard ratio 1.078, 95% confidence interval 1.027-1.132; P = 0.002). On multivariable logistic regression analysis, intracorporeal urinary diversion approach was not associated with the development of ureteroenteric stricture (hazard ratio 0.272, 95% confidence interval 0.036-2.066; P = 0.21). Conclusions Ureteroenteric stricture is a complication that typically occurs within the first postoperative year. Although our results did not support major differences in outcomes between intracorporeal urinary diversion and extracorporeal urinary diversion, the small sample size did not exclude the possibility of a type 2 statistical error.
Reflections on Seaside: muses, ideas, influences

The tiny resort town of Seaside Florida is one of those places like Letchworth Garden City, England from the 1920’s, Sea Ranch, California from the 1960’s, and more recently Hammarby Sjostad in Sto...
Electrical Harmonic Energy Measurement Based on Wavelet Packet Decomposition and Reconstruction Algorithm

In order to study the accurate measurement of electric energy in complex industrial field, a method of harmonic electric energy measurement based on wavelet packet decomposition and reconstruction algorithm, as well as the calculation formula of harmonic power and the principle of harmonic electric energy measurement are proposed. Using db42 wavelet function to carry out harmonic energy metering simulation analysis, the results show that: The fundamental frequency of the simulation signal is 50 Hz, two-layer wavelet packet transform is adopted, the simulation input signals within 40 fundamental wave cycles are taken, and the sampling frequency fs is 800 Hz. Conclusion: The three-phase harmonic energy metering device based on virtual instrument technology has realized the measurement of each harmonic active power and reactive power, and the accuracy reaches 0.2 s.
The vision of typhoon lengkieki.

Around 1775, Typhoon Lengkieki decimated the population in the Micronesian Pingelap Atoll, leaving only a handful of survivors to repopulate the islands. Their ancestors have a high incidence of the autosomal recessive disorder achromatopsia, or total colorblindness, and genetic analysis of the Pingelapese has revealed the mutation responsible.
PubChem structure–activity relationship (SAR) clusters

Developing structure–activity relationships (SARs) of molecules is an important approach in facilitating hit exploration in the early stage of drug discovery. Although information on millions of compounds and their bioactivities is freely available to the public, it is very challenging to infer a meaningful and novel SAR from that information. Research discussed in the present paper employed a bioactivity-centered clustering approach to group 843,845 non-inactive compounds stored in PubChem according to both structural similarity and bioactivity similarity, with the aim of mining bioactivity data in PubChem for useful SAR information. The compounds were clustered in three bioactivity similarity contexts: (1) non-inactive in a given bioassay, (2) non-inactive against a given protein, and (3) non-inactive against proteins involved in a given pathway. In each context, these small molecules were clustered according to their two-dimensional (2-D) and three-dimensional (3-D) structural similarities. The resulting 18 million clusters, named “PubChem SAR clusters”, were delivered in such a way that each cluster contains a group of small molecules similar to each other in both structure and bioactivity. The PubChem SAR clusters, pre-computed using publicly available bioactivity information, make it possible to quickly navigate and narrow down the compounds of interest. Each SAR cluster can be a useful resource in developing a meaningful SAR or enable one to design or expand compound libraries from the cluster. It can also help to predict the potential therapeutic effects and pharmacological actions of less-known compounds from those of well-known compounds (i.e., drugs) in the same cluster.
Characterization of a monoclonal antibody that recognizes an arabinosylated (1-->6)-beta-D-galactan epitope in plant complex carbohydrates.

Abstract Monoclonal antibody CCRC-M7 is a representative of a group of antibodies with similar binding specificity that were generated using the plant cell-wall pectic polysaccharide, rhamnogalacturonan I, as immunogen. The epitope recognized by CCRC-M7 is present in several plant polysaccharides and membrane glycoproteins. Selective enzymatic or chemical removal of arabinosyl residues from rhamnogalacturonan I reduced, but did not abolish, the ability of CCRC-M7 to bind to the polysaccharide. In contrast, enzymatic removal of both arabinosyl and galactosyl residues from rhamnogalacturonan I completely abolished binding of CCRC-M7 to the resulting polysaccharide. Competitive ELISAs using chemically defined oligosaccharides to compete for the CCRC-M7 binding site showed that oligosaccharides containing (1 → 6)- linked β- d -galactosyl residues were the best competitors among those tested, with the tri-, penta-, and hexa-saccharides being equally effective. The combined results from indirect and competitive ELISAs suggest that the minimal epitope recognized by CCRC-M7 encompasses a (1 → 6)-linked β-galactan containing at least three galactosyl residues with at least one arabinosyl residue attached.
Implementation of pipelined LMS adaptive filter for low-power VLSI applications

In this paper, we described the implementation of a pipelined low-power 6 taps adaptive filter, based on the least-mean square (LMS) algorithm. The process of the power characterization procedure is very efficient and can be easily set in synthesis based design flows without too much additional effort. The architecture shows a novel tradeoff between algorithmic performance and power dissipation. In this work, we also characterized the power with a natural top-down design methodology with iterative improvement.
Hierarchical segmentation and identification of thoracic vertebra using learning-based edge detection and coarse- to-fine deformable model

Precise segmentation and identification of thoracic vertebrae is important for many medical imaging applications whereas it remains challenging due to vertebra's complex shape and varied neighboring structures. In this paper, a new method based on learned bonestructure edge detectors and a coarse-to-fine deformable surface model is proposed to segment and identify vertebrae in 3D CT thoracic images. In the training stage, a discriminative classifier for object-specific edge detection is trained using steerable features and statistical shape models for 12 thoracic vertebrae are also learned. In the run-time, we design a new coarse-to-fine, two-stage segmentation strategy: subregions of a vertebra first deforms together as a group; then vertebra mesh vertices in a smaller neighborhood move group-wise, to progressively drive the deformable model towards edge response maps by optimizing a probability cost function. In this manner, the smoothness and topology of vertebra's shapes are guaranteed. This algorithm performs successfully with reliable mean point-to-surface errors 0.95±0.91 mm on 40 volumes. Consequently a vertebra identification scheme is also proposed via mean surface meshes matching. We achieve a success rate of 73.1% using a single vertebra, and over 95% for 8 or more vertebra which is comparable or slightly better than state-of-the-art [1].
Bayesian flood frequency analysis with paleohydrologic bound data

[1] It is valuable to construct likelihood functions that rigorously incorporate measurement errors and annual peak discharge, historical, and paleohydrologic bound information in Bayesian flood frequency analyses. Estimates of primary posterior modes for common three-parameter frequency distributions are constructed using simulated annealing and the simplex method. Parameter and flood frequency probability intervals are calculated directly by systematic parameter space integration. Bayesian flood frequency analyses with annual peak discharge, historical, and paleohydrologic bound data for the Santa Ynez River, California, and the Big Lost River, Idaho, demonstrate that paleohydrologic bounds reduce quantile biases by placing large observed peak discharges in their proper long-term contexts and substantially narrow peak discharge confidence intervals when estimating floods with low exceedance probabilities.
Toxic effects of fermented and unfermented sorghum meal diets naturally contaminated with mycotoxins

Male weanling rats fed diets containing fermented and unfermented tannin-free sorghum meals naturally contaminated with traces of ochratoxin A, zearalenone, and an unidentified toxic substance developed anorexia. Mean changes in body weight over a 28-day feeding period for rats fed fermented and unfermented sorghum meal and ANCR casein diets of 8% protein were -2.8, +13.8, and +100.5 g, respectively. Rats fed fermented sorghum meal developed alopecia; hematological findings showed a decreased mean corpuscular volume, hypochromic microcytosis, balanced leukopenia, and hypoproteinuria . Histological findings showed testicular hypoplasia of the germinal epithelium and no mature spermatozoa. Necrosis and mineralization in Henle's loop were also observed. No damage was apparent to the liver, cerebellum, cerebrum, spleen, or adrenal glands.
Marital adjustment and psychological distress in Japan

This study was conducted to examine the association between marital adjustment and psychological distress in a large, probability sample of married adults in Japan (N = 710) from the Midlife Development in Japan (MIDJA) study. Results indicate that positive and negative dimensions of marital adjustment were significantly associated with dimensional and categorical measures of psychological distress. Furthermore, the associations between marital adjustment and psychological distress remained significant when statistically controlling for neuroticism, quality of friend and family relationships, and demographic variables. These results demonstrate that the well-established association between marital adjustment and psychological distress found in European-American countries is also found in Japan. Findings support continued research on marital functioning and psychological distress in East Asian countries.
Determinants of conifer distributions across peatland to forest gradients in the coastal temperate rainforest of southeast Alaska

Sarah M. Bisbing,* David J. Cooper, David V. D’Amore and Kristin N. Marshall 1 Department of Natural Resources Management and Environmental Sciences, California Polytechnic State University, 1 Grand Ave San Luis Obispo, 93407, CA, USA 2 Forest and Rangeland Stewardship, Colorado State University, 1472 Campus Mail, Fort Collins, CO, 80523, USA 3 USDA Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station, 11175 Auke Lake Way, Juneau, AK, 99801, USA 4 School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences, University of Washington, Box 355020, Seattle, WA, 98195, USA
An overview on memristor crossabr based neuromorphic circuit and architecture

As technology advances, artificial intelligence becomes pervasive in society and ubiquitous in our lives, which stimulates the desire for embedded-everywhere and human-centric intelligent computation paradigm. However, conventional instruction-based computer architecture was designed for algorithmic and exact calculations. It is not suitable for handling the applications of machine learning and neural networks that usually involve a large sets of noisy and incomplete natural data. Instead, neuromorphic systems inspired by the working mechanism of human brains create promising potential. Neuromorphic systems possess a massively parallel architecture with closely coupled memory and computing. Moreover, through the sparse utilizations of hardware resources in time and space, extremely high power efficiency can be achieved. In recent years, the use of memristor technology in neuromorphic systems has attracted growing attention for its distinctive properties, such as nonvolatility, reconfigurability, and analog processing capability. In this paper, we summarize the research efforts in the development of memristor crossbar based neuromorphic design from the perspectives of device modeling, circuit, architecture, and design automation.
Executive Oversight of Rulemaking in Arizona: The Governor's Regulatory Review Counsel - The First Three Years

Executive oversight describes a system of regulatory reform implemented by the executive branch of government. Generally, executive oversight involves monitoring administrative agency rulemaking in order to make the regulatory process more efficient and effective. The goal is to protect society from the harms of overregulation: unnecessary paper work, disincentives to economic expansion, reduced business innovation, and higher costs to businesses, service providers and consumers. The federal government and many state governments involve their executives in oversight of administrative rulemaking. In Arizona, executive oversight is primarily the responsibility, of the Governor's Regulatory Review Council, which Governor Bruce Babbitt created by executive order in 1981. This article will explore the effectiveness of the Governor's Regulatory Review Council (GRRC) in achieving its objectives to increase the efficacy and efficiency of Arizona's administrative process. The article will describe the establishment, operation, and effect of the GRRC during its first three years, from June, 1981 to June, 1984.
Theories of counter-factual and subjunctive conditionals in contexts of strategic interaction

Abstract We show a fundamental unity underlying the main alternative approaches to counter-factual and subjunctive conditionals. The unifying idea is that of a family of partitions. The theory is then applied to counter-factuals in decision theory and in normal form and extensive form games. The structure of the decision problem, or of the game, naturallydetermines the partitions used in interpreting these conditionals.
Displacements of the Earth's surface due to atmospheric loading: Effects on gravity and baseline measurements

Atmospheric mass loads and deforms the earth's crust. By performing a convolution sum between daily, global barometric pressure data and mass loading Green's functions, the time dependent effects of atmospheric loading, including those associated with short-term synoptic storms, on surface point positioning measurements and surface gravity observations are estimated. The response for both an oceanless earth and an earth with an inverted barometer ocean is calculated. Load responses for near-coastal stations are significantly affected by the inclusion of an inverted barometer ocean. Peak-to-peak vertical displacements are frequently 15-20 mm with accompanying gravity perturbations of 3-6 micro Gal. Baseline changes can be as large as 20 mm or more. The perturbations are largest at higher latitudes and during winter months. These amplitudes are consistent with the results of Rabbel and Zschau (1985), who modeled synoptic pressure disturbances as Gaussian functions of radius around a central point. Deformation can be adequately computed using real pressure data from points within about 1000 km of the station. Knowledge of local pressure, alone, is not sufficient. Rabbel and Zschau's hypothesized corrections for these displacements, which use local pressure and the regionally averaged pressure, prove accurate at points well inland but are, in general, inadequate within a few hundred kilometers of the coast.
Market Triads: A Theoretical and Empirical Analysis of Market Intermediation

Drawing on Simmel's analysis of the triad, this paper develops the concept of the intermediary in market settings. Intermediaries are third-party actors who represent a joining force rather than a divisive force in markets. Based on an analysis of executive search firms in the labor market for chief executive officers, this paper sets forth the conditions under which the intermediary role emerges and describes the process by which intermediaries join buyers and sellers together.
Abnormal electrical properties of myocytes from chronically infarcted canine heart. Alterations in Vmax and the transient outward current

BACKGROUNDReentrant ventricular arrhythmias can occur in the surviving muscle fibers of the epicardial border zone of the canine heart 5 days after coronary artery occlusion. To understand the cellular basis of these arrhythmias, we developed a method of dispersing myocytes (IZs) from the epicardial border zone.METHODS AND RESULTSWe compared the electrophysiological properties of IZs with those of cells dispersed from the epicardium of control noninfarcted (NZs) and of sham-operated animals (NZsham). Transmembrane action potentials of IZs are reduced in total action potential amplitude and maximum upstroke velocity compared with NZs. However, resting potential of IZs is no different from that of NZs. Action potential duration at -10 mV is significantly reduced in IZs compared with control, and IZ potentials do not show the typical "spike and dome" morphology that is evident in all NZs. Using Vmax as an indirect measure of the peak inward current available for the upstroke of the action potential, we found...
Trends in survival outcomes of B-lineage acute lymphoblastic leukemia in elderly patients: analysis of Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results database

B-lineage acute lymphoblastic leukemia (B-ALL) in the elderly population is generally considered to have a poor prognosis. It is unclear whether their survival has improved in the current era. Using the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results database, we selected 717 elderly patients (age≥60) with B-ALL diagnosed between 1992 and 2011. Overall survival (OS) was compared based on their period of diagnosis and age. Patients in the age group 60-69 had an improvement in OS over time, both 1-year OS (49.4% in 2002-2011 vs. 33.1% in 1992-2001) and 5-year OS (20.4% in 2002-2011 vs. 8.1% in 1992-2001, p=0.002). Patients≥70 years had no significant improvement in 1-year OS or 5-year OS (5-year OS 5.5% in 1992-2001 vs. 9.7% in 2002-2011, p=0.326). Hence, there are discrepancies in the improvement of OS among elderly patients with B-ALL. Further focus of research in elderly patients with B-ALL is needed to improve their outcome.
Opening Darwin's black box: teaching evolution through developmental genetics

When biologists are asked to discuss the evidence for evolution at public forums, they usually use well-established microevolutionary examples. Although these examples show the efficacy of evolution within species, they often leave audiences susceptable to the arguments of creationists who deny that evolution can create new structures and species. Recent studies from evolutionary developmental biology are beginning to provide case studies that specifically address these concerns. This perspective presents some of this new evidence and provides a framework in which to explain homology and phylogeny to such audiences.
The influence of stream sediment particle size on bacterial abundance and community composition

Sediment features may play a major role in determining benthic bacterial community structure. In this study, sediment samples were collected on four dates over the course of a year from a Northeast Ohio stream and fractionated into different particle size classes. Abundance of bacteria of various taxa on differentially sized sediment fractions was determined using fluorescent in situ hybridization which relies on taxon-specific oligonucleotide probes that hybridize to rRNA in intact cells. The differences among the size classes were generally small in comparison to the large seasonal changes observed. These seasonal changes differed greatly among taxa; for some, peaks in the number of cells hybridizing a particular probe were in the spring (Domain Bacteria, α-Proteobacteria), while others peaked in the summer/fall (γ-Proteobacteria and the Cytophaga-Flavobacterium). At the species level, the abundances of Burkholderia cepacia and Acinetobacter calcoaceticus were highest in the summer on sediments of all sizes. Seasonal differences appeared to be more of a factor driving community differences than sediment particle size.
The Effect of Light on the Geotropic Responses of Phycomyces Sporangiophores

The geotropic responses of Phycomyces sporangiophores were studied under varying intensities of illumination, using a low speed centrifuge and a fixed beam of blue light. This light has a strongly inhibitory effect on the transient geotropic response, reducing it to 36 per cent of its magnitude in darkness. The inhibition does not vary systematically with light intensity over a range of 400-fold. The light sensitivity of the transient geotropic response thus differs from the light-growth response system, which shows the same growth rate in light and darkness. By contrast, the slower long term geotropic response is enhanced by light of moderate intensities, but is strongly inhibited by high intensities. At and above a mean intensity of about 1 µw/cm2, the long term response is completely removed. If the intensity is lowered from an inhibitory level, either to darkness or to a low level, the geotropic response appears after a time lag of 20 minutes. Furthermore an increase in intensity from one level to another, both levels normally enhancing, results in a transient reversal in the long term geotropic response, also after a time lag of 20 minutes. Thus it is suggested that light is acting at some intermediate step in the long term geotropic sensory system, a step that normally requires 20 minutes for completion.
A multi-parent assignment method for analyzing atmospheric chemistry mechanisms

Abstract A new chemical mechanism analysis tool known as multi-parent assignment (MPA) is used to explore reactant contributions to ozone formation in the SAPRC-99 atmospheric chemistry mechanism. Mathematical details of MPA, which extends an earlier method by accounting for multiple reactants, are presented. MPA uses reaction rate information and mechanism stoichiometry to trace reaction pathways within a mechanism from products back to parent reactants. The net contribution of different reactants to products, such as O3 or OH, is then determined. Three formulas for assigning products among multiple reactants in a reaction are defined and compared. MPA analysis of an urban ozone formation scenario at three different NOx levels shows that all individual reactants contribute in some degree to ozone formation. NO and NO2 contributions vary greatly depending on VOC/NOx ratio and on how parent reactants are weighted in individual reactions. The most productive hydrocarbons on a ppm O3 per ppmC basis are generally aldehydes, followed by alkenes and higher aromatics, and then alkanes and lower aromatics. Reactant contributions to ozone are shown to vary with time, and shifts in limiting reactant behavior are also observed.
Aromatic Heterocycles Containing Arsenic and Sulfur: The Synthesis of 1,2- and 1,3-Thiaarsole and the Gas-Phase Molecular Structure of 1,2-Thiaarsole

The reaction of chloromethyl ethynyl sulfide with Bu2SnH2/LDA affords 2,3-dibutyl-2,3-dihydro-1,3-thiastannole which on reaction with AsBr3 followed by DBU affords 1,3-thiaarsole in 22% yield. The ...
The effects of fatigue on judgments of interproduct similarity

Abstract Similarity scaling often requires subjects to produce such a large number of judgments that fatigue may become a problem. Yet it remains unclear just how respondent fatigue affects similarity perceptions and resulting judgments. The present study uses a categorization perspective to examine the effects of fatigue on similarity judgments. The results suggest that subjects rely increasingly on category membership as they progress through a similarity judgment task.
The effects of thermal injury on transcellular permeability and intestinal P-glycoprotein in rats.

Abstract This study was designed to assess intestinal drug transport via transcellular absorption and intestinal P-glycoprotein content following thermal injury in rats using propranolol as a marker substrate. Male, Sprague Dawley rats (n=30) underwent either a 30% total body surface area full thickness burn or sham treatment. Twenty-four hours later, animals were anesthetized, underwent laparotomy and the proximal jejunum was cannulated. The jejunal segment was perfused with buffer containing [ 3 H ] propranolol. Following euthanasia, jejunal tissue was harvested for Western immunoblotting of P-glycoprotein and villin, and immunohistochemical analysis of P-glycoprotein. Dramatic structural changes in jejunal integrity were observed following thermal injury; however, no significant differences in the absorption characteristics of propranolol following thermal injury were observed. Mean effective permeability of propranolol was 5.67±1.79 and 5.85±1.67 cm / s ×10 −5 for burn and sham groups, respectively (P>0.05). P-glycoprotein and villin content in the jejunum were significantly decreased in burn animals. The transcellular transport of propranolol is unaffected 24 h following thermal injury in rats, despite alterations in intestinal P-glycoprotein content. The decrease in P-glycoprotein and villin content in thermally injured animals may reflect loss of mature enterocytes at the villus tips.
Applying adaptive leadership to successful change initiatives in academia

Purpose – To propose Heifetz's adaptive leadership model as the primary process for initiating change in today's more business‐oriented academic environment in which colleges and universities are required to compete to attract students and are facing greater scrutiny and accountability from outside constituencies.Design/methodology/approach – Two case studies are presented that underscore some of the challenges facing today's academic institutions. Heiftez's adaptive leadership model is applied to each case.Findings – Leadership is more than an individual acting in a position. It is a process in which change initiatives must emanate from key stakeholders, all of whom are engaged in that process. The two cases presented in the paper serve to illustrate the greater potential for successful change initiatives offered by the adaptive leadership model.Research limitations/implications – The research examines two specific case studies in which adaptive leadership dimensions are used to examine the success or fa...
Quantitative Aspects of Lewis‐Secretor Interaction in Saliva

Summary. Investigation of quantitative variation in Lewis-Secretor interaction in saliva indicates that: (1) the interaction is competitive but not reciprocal, and (2) homozygous secretors cannot be distinguished from heterozygous secretors on the basis of the inhibition of anti-H.
Comparison of Three Extraction Procedures to Characterize Cheddar Cheese Proteolysis

Abstract Three extraction procedures used to remove proteolytic products from Cheddar cheese were compared using HPLC and SDS-PAGE. The extraction procedures used were developed by 1) Kuchroo and Fox, 2) Harwalkar and Elliott, and 3) McGugan, Emmons, and Larmond Standard amino acids and peptides were separated by HPLC and compared based on absorbance ratios of 255: 270 and 255:265 nm and second-order derivative minimum of the spectra. The Kuchroo and Fox extract had significantly fewer peaks than the other two extracts at 280 and 254 nm. The Harwalkar and Elliott extract had significantly fewer peaks at 220 nm than the other two extracts.
Real Communication through Interview and Conversation Cards.

COMMUNICATIVE competence is being increasingly emphasized as one of the major objectives of foreign language study. Teaching strategies are no longer viewed from a narrow standpoint of methodological orthodoxy or in terms of allegiance to a single teaching method, but rather from a viewpoint of their effectiveness in furthering true ability to communicate in the foreign language. At the same time, there is a growing awareness and a new concern for the student as an individual-
Saints and Aesthetes in J.-K. Huysmans's Artificial Paradises

In this paper we emphasize the persistence of the love of beauty in J.-K. Huysmans's religious works, and we interpret his overall literary production as a systematic search for a new ethics by means of the aesthetic paradigm. Beyond a conversion from profane hedonism to Catholic faith, in the shift from A Rebours to La Cathedrale we see an oscillation between the religion of art and the art of religion, a tension between the attempt to make Beauty moral by legitimizing it through the rhetoric of religion, and the aestheticization of religion through the language of seduction. Even the saint's sacrifice in Sainte Lydwine de Schiedam is a powerful source of aesthetic pleasure. Nevertheless, not even in her mission of pain can Huysman's last aesthete find a new ethos and a new aesthetics. Actually, Sainte Lydwine de Schiedam reinstates, instead of exorcising, the specter of the “always already” which doomed Huysmans's previous works: even as an expiatory victim, the aesthete has arrived too late; Lydwine is just the epigone of a model — Jesus Christ — whose suffering had a greater moral impact upon mankind, and a higher degree of beauty.
Managing water resources sustainably: challenges and solutions for the new millennium

Partout dans le monde, la demande en eau augmente sous la pression des populations, de l'industrialisation et de l'intensification de l'agriculture. Comme d'enormes disparites existent entre les regions ou les pays, il serait bon de considerer la gestion de l'eau de facon plus globale. La premiere priorite est de fournir a tous une eau saine. Au niveau international, on constate un consensus sur les mesures a prendre, resumees dans les principes de Dublin : une gestion sociale et economique de l'eau qui ne neglige pas la protection de l'environnement, une organisation institutionnelle qui evite la fragmentation, la reconnaissance de la valeur economique de l'eau. L'amelioration des connaissances, la sensibilisation du public, les partenariats, sont les valeurs a defendre.
Gas-liquid and thin-layer chromatographic determination of morphine in biologic specimens.

Abstract A sensitive, highly specific gas-liquid Chromatographic method for the quantitative determination of morphine in biological specimens is described. The quantitative method is based on the conversion of morphine to its diacetyl derivative, an approach which is preferable over the procedures that determine morphine as the free base. Preparation of the diacetyl derivative of morphine has several advantages of which a major one is that absolute dryness is not a requisite for quantitative formation of the required derivative. A rapid thin-layer Chromatographie technique for qualitative determination of morphine is also presented.
Developmental physiological optics and visual acuity: a brief review

The development of optical and neural factors affecting visual acuity is reviewed with the aim of determining the age at which the relationship between optical and neural factors become mature. Delayed development of extrastriate cortical and indirect visual pathways may account for differences in acuity assessed by preferential looking and pattern reversal VEPs.
An Extension of Marshall and Olkin's Bivariate Exponential Distribution

Abstract This article extends Marshall and Olkin's bivariate exponential distribution such that it is absolutely continuous and need not be memoryless. The new marginal distribution has an increasing failure rate, and the joint distribution exhibits an aging pattern. It offers an advantage in separately identifying the shock arrival rates and their impacts. Regarding estimation of the model, both maximum likelihood and method-of-moments-type estimation are considered. The former is more efficient but computationally more demanding, whereas the latter is simpler in computation but less efficient. The trade-off between computational burden and efficiency is gauged through Monte Carlo simulations, and it turns out to be favorable for the method-of-moments-type estimation.
Increased hepatic expression is a major determinant of serum alanine aminotransferase elevation in mice with nonalcoholic steatohepatitis.

Background: Serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT) is a biomarker for hepatitis of various aetiologies including fatty liver disease. Increased serum ALT is thought to be related to its increased release from dying hepatocytes. Aim: We sought to understand the mechanisms by which serum ALT is elevated in a mouse model of experimental fatty liver disease where hepatocyte death is minimal. Methods: To induce fatty liver disease, female A/J mice were fed a methionine-choline deficient (MCD) diet for up to 12 weeks. Serum and liver ALT expression and hepatic inflammation, necrosis and apoptosis were assessed and expressed relative to their expressions in control-diet-fed mice. Results: Feeding mice the MCD diet produced hepatic steatosis with minimal hepatic inflammation or necrosis. Liver cell apoptosis was not significantly increased by MCD diet treatment. Conversely, serum ALT activity was approximately four-fold increased at 12 weeks of diet treatment, and ALT protein expressions in serum were correspondingly increased: ALT1 1.7-fold and ALT2 1.9-fold at 12 weeks. The expressions of ALT1 and ALT2 protein in liver increased over 2–12 weeks of MCD treatment. At 12 weeks, liver ALT1 protein was 2.27±0.31-fold increased and ALT2 protein 4.72±0.48-fold increased relative to their expressions in the mice fed a diet replete with methionine and choline. Liver ALT mRNA expressions were correspondingly increased: ALT1 mRNA 2.58-fold and ALT2 mRNA 4.97-fold at 12 weeks. Linear regression analysis showed a strong correlation between serum and liver tissue expressions for both ALT1 and ALT2. Conclusions: These findings suggest that induction of hepatic expression significantly contributes to increased serum ALT in this model of experimental fatty liver disease, whereas cell death appears not to.
Human-in-the-loop: rethinking security in mobile and pervasive systems

In this paper we argue that pervasive systems introduce human-driven security vulnerabilities that traditional usability design cannot address. We claim that there is a need to understand better the appropriate role of humans in the context of pervasive systems security, and to develop quantifiable and measurable concepts that describe humans and their relationship with our systems. Here, we highlight mobility and sociability as two new sources of security vulnerabilities for pervasive systems, and describe our method for developing quantifiable metrics for these concepts.
Low-Spin-High-Spin Transitions in Transition-Metal-Ion Compounds

Models for low-spin-high-spin transitions in transition-metal-ion compounds are presented. Within a molecular-field scheme, the transition between, and coexistence of, high-spin (Hund's-rule) and low-spin (crystal field) states are described. One- and two-sublattice-spin structures and the influence of magnetic interactions are considered. It is pointed out that the one-sublattice model, which was considered by Chestnut for the singlet-triplet system, applies to the transitions observed in certain organic complexes. We have found that the inclusion of magnetic interactions between ions can yield a magnetically ordered state above a certain transition temperature. This "heat magnetization" is not due to the coupling between levels but rather to a self-consistently determined crystal field splitting. The two-sublattice-spin-structure case exhibits a rich variety of behaviors. These include a low-spin to two-sublattice spin to high-spin transition with the order of the transitions varying with the parameters of the model. Applications to certain ${\mathrm{Fe}}^{2+}$ and ${\mathrm{Co}}^{3+}$ compounds are noted.
Exact Yukawa couplings from topological Landau-Ginzburg models

The Yukawa couplings of (2, 2) superstring vacua of matter fields, corresponding to untwisted (c, c) marginal chiral states, are computed exactly, as functions of the moduli, using d = 3 topological Landau–Ginzburg models.
Is the Family Wealth Squandered? A Test of the Merry-Widow Model

Economists interested in understanding the distribution of income and wealth have employed analytical, simulation, and empirical approaches.' Economic historians also have studied the distribution of wealth, focusing both on the upper tail and the entire distribution using a variety of methods.2 Stanley Lebergott attempts to integrate modeling and the historical literature to highlight the role of the family in wealth accumulation and decumulation.3 Inheritance patterns are critical in the process determining the wealth distribution. Lebergott argues that if people lived forever in a "coma," wealth inequality would grow to be much greater than is observed. In Lebergott's model, death, subdivision of estates among wives and children, and the behavior of wives after husbands' deaths act to dampen what would otherwise be an inexorable march toward higher concentration of wealth over time. The behavior of wives is a key element in his "retention rate" schema. Since widows, he claims, live on average about twelve years after the deaths of their husbands, they have ample opportunity to dissipate their husbands' accumulations.