cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
An in vitro study of glyceride absorption

Abstract A comparative study on the absorption of labeled fatty acids and mono-, di-, and triglycerides has been carried out utilizing an in vitro procedure with rat intestine. With this preparation, unesterified fatty acids appeared to have been absorbed with results comparable to those with the intact animal as evidenced by the conversion of fatty acids into triglycerides and the appearance of chylomicron-like particles on the serosal side. Di- and triglycerides were not absorbed to an appreciable extent. Unlike the higher glycerides, the monoglyceride was readily hydrolyzed by an enzyme found in the mucosal solution and was associated with increases in the activities of the lipid fractions of the intestinal tissue similar to those when fatty acids were employed. The relationship of this enzyme to the absorption of monoglycerides has been discussed.
The vertebrate head-segmented or a single morphogenetic structure?

ABSTRACT A brief historical review of the discussion and evidence for a segmented head is given. The idea that the head is made up of a number of segments is accepted, and the number of segments is identified as five and one-half. The half is due to the fact that the sclerotomie segments alternate with myotomic ones. If the head is segmented, then structures can be assigned to segments. Several figures and a table summarize these assignments. A segmented head is viewed as part of the hypothesis that the vertebrate arose from a cephalochordate-like ancestor lacking a complex pharynx and having a better developed head.
Use of phytotoxic plant residues for selective weed control

Abstract Both fall- and spring-planted grasses were evaluated for weed-suppressing ability after desiccation by freezing, glyphosate or paraquat. Populations of Portulaca oleracea L. and Digitaria ischaemum (Schreb.) Muhl. were reduced by 70% and 98%, respectively, by residues of sorghum ( Sorghum bicolor L.). Total weed biomass and weight of several indicator species were also consistently reduced with residues of barley ( Hordeum vulgare L.), oats ( Avena sativa L.), wheat ( Triticum aestivum L.) and rye ( Secale cereale L.), as well as the sorghums. In general, the larger-seeded vegetables, particularly legumes, grew normally or were sometimes stimulated by the cover-crop residues, whereas several species of smaller-seeded vegetables were severely injured. The use of Populus wood shavings as a control mulch allowed separation of physical and chemical aspects of the residues. Glasshouse experiments with two soils confirmed both weed-suppressing and crop-stimulating effects of sorghum residues. Water extracts of sorghum herbage were toxic to indicator species in sterile bioassays: this suggests that phytotoxins are directly released by the plant residues.
A population-based study of the association of medical manpower with county trauma death rates in the United States.

Objective To determine the association between measures of medical manpower available to treat trauma patients and county trauma death rates in the United States. The primary hypothesis was that greater availability of medical manpower to treat trauma injury would be associated with lower trauma death rates. Summary Background Data When viewed from the standpoint of the number of productive years of life lost, trauma has a greater effect on health care and lost productivity in the United States than any disease. Allocation of health care manpower to treat injuries seems logical, but studies have not been done to determine its efficacy. The effect of medical manpower and hospital resource allocation on the outcome of injury in the United States has not been fully explored or adequately evaluated
An evolutionary perspective on substance abuse

Abstract This article describes how recent advances in understanding the evolutionary functions of emotions can help to reconcile diverse approaches to substance abuse. Emotions can be understood as specialized states that prepare individuals to cope with opportunities and threats. Drugs that artificially induce pleasure or block normal suffering disrupt these evolved mechanisms, and thus should tend to interfere with adaptive behavior, even if the drugs are medically safe. Nonetheless, we routinely use drugs quite safely to block defenses like pain, cough, and anxiety. This apparent contradiction is explained by the relatively small costs of defenses compared to the potentially huge costs of not expressing a defensive response when it is needed. An evolutionary perspective has implications for substance abuse research, treatment, and social policy. This perspective suggests that the search for etiology needs to address the human tendency to abuse drugs separately from individual differences in these tendencies, that clinical treatments that take account of the broad range of patients' emotional life are well justified, and that social policies need to address substance use and abuse not as diseases to be cured but as human tendencies that need to be managed. To prepare for future drugs that will likely alter emotions safely, we urgently need a better understanding of the adaptive function of the emotions.
Saving the Enemy

The growing number of female suicide bombers in the Muslim world has recently received a lot of attention by academics and journalists in the West. This developing literature has tended to understand these women as victims or pawns of Islamic patriarchy. This article offers critical review of the causal accounts of female suicide bombing in order to show how these discourses of victimization reify a masculinist justification for American empire. This narrative of empire produces Islam as a religion/culture of patriarchy and, thus, reads Muslim women as needing rescue from their religion and their men in order to validate military intervention in Iraq and Afghanistan. Working from the post-colonial insights of Gayatri Spivak, this article argues that female suicide bombers reflect a subaltern status in the war on terror. As such, these conceptualizations of the causes of female suicide bombing proffer a narrative of masculine rescue against the barbaric force of Islamic patriarchy, rendering the war on ter...
What are atypical eating disorders

Abstract DSM-III includes a category of atypical eating disorder for patients with disordered eating who cannot be classified into other categories. The authors’ assessment of 25 such cases showed that they could be classified into three groups: (1) ten patients who engaged in vomiting and/or laxative abuse for weight control but did not binge-eat, (2) ten patients who were of low weight and who resembled patients with anorexia nervosa but did not meet current DSM-III criteria, and (3) five patients not further classifiable who formed a heterogeneous group. In the authors’ view, this suggests that anorexia nervosa and bulimia are not distinct diagnostic entities but areas on a continuum of eating problems.
Language and Migration to the United States

The ethnographic study of migration into the United States has shown that the culturally specific ways people are made into distinct and hierarchically ranked kinds are a key force organizing human movement. Among migrants, such people-making is transnational, unfolding across nation-state borders and involving encounters with regimes of social difference produced at multiple scales of interaction. This article explores the influential role language ideologies and practices play in transnational people-making, concentrating on orders of indexicality: the ways language creates and stratifies personae (images of people associated with patterned ways of using language). Orders of indexicality offer a useful way to conceptualize how regimes of social difference are generated and challenged. I examine, first, the indexical orders that erect nation-state borders, focusing on U.S. linguistic nationalism and covert racializing discourses. I then consider the scholarship on the indexical orders generated by migran...
Regulation of Neonatal Sertoli Cell Development by Thyroid Hormone Receptor α1

Abstract Neonatal hypothyroidism increases adult Sertoli cell populations by extending Sertoli cell proliferation. Conversely, hyperthyroidism induces premature cessation of Sertoli cell proliferation and stimulates maturational events like seminiferous tubule canalization. Thyroid hormone receptors α1 and β1, which are commonly referred to as TRα1 and TRβ1, respectively, are expressed in neonatal Sertoli cells. We determined the relative roles of TRα1 and TRβ1 in the thyroid hormone effect on testicular development and Sertoli cell proliferation using Thra knockout (TRαKO), Thrb knockout (TRβKO), and wild-type (WT) mice. Triiodothyronine (T3) treatment from birth until Postnatal Day 10 reduced Sertoli cell proliferation to minimal levels in WT and TRβKO mice versus that in their untreated controls, whereas T3 had a diminished effect on TRαKO Sertoli cell proliferation. Seminiferous tubule patency and luminal diameter were increased in T3-treated WT and TRβKO testes. In contrast, T3 had no effect on these...
Mesodermal patterning defect in mice lacking the Ste20 NCK interacting kinase (NIK).

We have previously shown that the Drosophila Ste20 kinase encoded by misshapen (msn) is an essential gene in Drosophila development. msn function is required to activate the Drosophila c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK), basket (Bsk), to promote dorsal closure of the Drosophila embryo. Later in development, msn expression is required in photoreceptors in order for their axons to project normally. A mammalian homolog of msn, the NCK-interacting kinase (NIK) (recently renamed to mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase kinase kinase 4; Map4k4), has been shown to activate JNK and to bind the SH3 domains of the SH2/SH3 adapter NCK. To determine whether NIK also plays an essential role in mammalian development, we created mice deficient in NIK by homologous recombination at the Nik gene. Nik(−/−) mice die postgastrulation between embryonic day (E) 9.5 and E10.5. The most striking phenotype in Nik(−/−) embryos is the failure of mesodermal and endodermal cells that arise from the anterior end of the primitive streak (PS) to migrate to their correct location. As a result Nik(−/−)embryos fail to develop somites or a hindgut and are truncated posteriorly. Interestingly, chimeric analysis demonstrated that NIK has a cell nonautonomous function in stimulating migration of presomitic mesodermal cells away from the PS and a second cell autonomous function in stimulating the differentiation of presomitic mesoderm into dermomyotome. These findings indicate that despite the large number of Ste20 kinases in mammalian cells, members of this family play essential nonredundant function in regulating specific signaling pathways. In addition, these studies provide evidence that the signaling pathways regulated by these kinases are diverse and not limited to the activation of JNK because mesodermal and somite development are not perturbed in JNK1-, and JNK2-deficient mice.
Policy Based SLA Management in Enterprise Networks

The Differentiated Services Architecture defines the mechanisms that are needed to offer multiple classes of services in an IP network. While this model offers significant scaling advantages over the signaling-oriented approach of Integrated Services, the management of a differentiated services network remains a complex problem. Since the operation of a differentiated network involves numerous access routers, core routers and servers, a consistent operation is difficult to achieve by independently configuring each device. In this paper, we explore a scheme to enable a network administrator to manage and configure DiffServ networks from a central location and also abstract away the specific details of device configuration, and allow him/her to express the management of the network in terms of application-oriented performance metrics. This leads to a simplification of network management task, which can be exploited to support business needs of an enterprise network, such as honoring Service Level Agreements provided to its customers.
Using BDDs to verify multipliers

Bryant’s Binary Decision Diagrams (BDDs) [6] have been successfully used for verifying combinational circuits [12, 181. However, multiplier circuits are difficult to verify using BDDs since the size of the BDD representing multiplication grows exponentially in the number of input bits [6, 71. This paper presents a method for using BDDs to verify multipliers that avoids this exponential complexity. The method has been used to verify a 16 by 16 bit combinational multiplier, the C6288 circuit from the ISCAS85 benchmarks [5]. This is the only ISCAS85 benchmark circuit that could not be verified using the techniques described by Fujita et al. [12] and Malik et al. [la].
Kin selection, genomics and caste-antagonistic pleiotropy

Kin selection is a fundamentally important process that affects the evolution of social behaviours. The genomics revolution now provides the opportunity to test kin selection theory using genomic data. In this commentary, we discuss previous studies that explored the link between kin selection and patterns of variation within the genome. We then present a new theory aimed at understanding the evolution of genes involved in the development of social insects. Specifically, we investigate caste-antagonistic pleiotropy, which occurs when the phenotypes of distinct castes are optimized by different genotypes at a single locus. We find that caste-antagonistic pleiotropy leads to narrow regions where polymorphism can be maintained. Furthermore, multiple mating by queens reduces the region in which worker-favoured alleles fix, which suggests that multiple mating impedes worker caste evolution. We conclude by discussing ways to test these and other facets of kin selection using newly emerging genomic data.
Biological significance of nitric oxide-mediated protein modifications.

Nitric oxide (NO), despite an apparently simple diatomic structure, has a wide variety of functions in both physiology and pathology and within every major organ system. It has become an increasing...
Surface-Plasmon Resonance Characterization of a Near-Field Transducer

Surface-plasmon resonance of a lollipop near-field transducer integrated in a planar solid immersion mirror for heat-assisted magnetic recording has been studied by a pump-probe photo-thermal measurement without medium coating and by recording on a phase-change medium. The resonant behaviors, including the resonant wavelength, the Q factor, on and off resonance photo-thermal signal, are consistent with our simulations. For lollipops of 190 nm in disk diameter and 20 nm thick, there are two resonant modes in the measured spectroscopic range (710 nm-950 nm). Recording on a phase-change medium shows that the wavelength of the short resonant mode is not sensitive to the presence of the medium while the wavelength of the long resonant mode exhibits significant red-shift. On resonance, the plasmon efficiency enables the pronounced near-field transducer recording.
Improved analytical instrumentation: potential for impact in biological sciences

Recent advances in instrumentation and the resulting improved capabilities are discussed including elemental analysis, Raman spectroscopy, spectroscopic imaging, high-throughput analysis, X-ray crystallography, and mass spectrometry.
Theory of quantum impurities in spin liquids

We describe spin correlations in the vicinity of a generalized impurity in a wide class of fractionalized spin liquid states. We argue that the primary characterization of the impurity is its electric charge under the gauge field describing singlet excitations in the spin liquid. We focus on two gapless $U(1)$ spin liquids described by $(2+1)$-dimensional conformal field theories (CFT): the staggered flux (sF) spin liquid, and the deconfined critical point between the N\'eel and valence-bond-solid (VBS) states. In these cases, the electric charge is argued to be an exactly marginal perturbation of the CFT. Consequently, the impurity susceptibility has a $1∕T$ temperature dependence, with an anomalous Curie constant, which is a universal number associated with the CFT. One unexpected feature of the CFT of the sF state is that an applied magnetic field does not induce any staggered spin polarization in the vicinity of the impurity (while such a staggered magnetization is present for the N\'eel-VBS case). These results differ significantly from earlier theories of vacancies in the sF state, and we explicitly demonstrate how our gauge theory corrects these works. We discuss implications of our results for the cuprate superconductors, organic Mott insulators, and graphene.
Computation of optimal singular controls

A class of singular control problems is made nonsingular by the addition of an integral quadratic functional of the control to the cost functional; a parameter \epsilon > 0 multiplies this added functional. The resulting nonsingular problem is solved for a monotonically decreasing sequence \{\epsilon; \epsilon_{1} > \epsilon_{2} > ... > \epsilon_{k} > 0\} . As k \rightarrow \infty and \epsilon_{k} \rightarrow 0 the solution of the modified problem tends to the solution of the original singular problem. A variant of the method which does not require that \epsilon \rightarrow 0 is also presented. Four illustrative numerical examples are described.
The Politics of Ports: Privatization and the World's Ports

The recent controversy over a foreign-owned company running a US port brought attention to the creeping privatization of work in ports worldwide. Since the 1980s, there has been a head-long rush to privatize ports. The pace can be best described as rapid and chaotic. For some economists privatization is seen as a method to increase efficiency. But the process has substantial critics. For many privatization is perceived as problematic. There is evidence that the process does not indeed lead to savings and greater efficiency. Instead, the process has been haphazard and far from uniform in its application. Even where there is an entrenched presence, savings from privatization have yet to be realized. Others have made the point that the process cannot be transferred to ports in the developing world. That is, the multiplicity of ports and transportation problems in the interior make privatization more like wishful thinking than a policy that can work.
The role of transcendence in a holistic view of successful aging: a concept analysis and model of transcendence in maturation and aging.

Background: Although successful aging is most often defined by the absence of disease and disability, older adults consistently report aging successfully even in the presence of chronic illness and functional limitations. A more holistic way of looking at old age suggests transcendence may be an important missing criterion for successful aging. Aim: Transcendence, a late life developmental process, appears to have a profound effect within the spiritual domain but is an abstract, complex, and unfamiliar concept. A clear understanding of the meaning of transcendence is necessary to explore the concept’s usefulness as a potential basis for future interventions to increase successful aging. Method: Walker and Avant’s method of concept analysis was adapted to analyze literature from philosophy, theology, developmental psychology, sociology, psychiatry, and nursing in order to gain a thorough understanding of transcendence. Results: Antecedents, attributes, referents, and consequences of transcendence were iden...
Borel Subgroups; Reductive Groups

Throughout this chapter G denotes a connected affine group, and all algebraic groups are understood to be affine.
Novel animal model of calvarial defect: part III. Reconstruction of an irradiated wound with rhBMP-2.

BACKGROUND Recombinant human bone morphogenetic protein-2 (rhBMP-2) has been shown to be an effective therapy in the acute calvarial defect wound and in calvarial defects complicated by chronic scar. The authors compared the effectiveness of rhBMP-2 with the accepted standard of autologous graft for repair of irradiated calvarial defects. METHODS Nineteen adult New Zealand White rabbits underwent subtotal calvariectomy. Four days postoperatively, animals received 15 Gy to their wound. Six weeks postoperatively, scars were debrided and defects reconstructed in one of four groups: empty (n = 3), vehicle (buffer solution/absorbable collagen sponge; n = 3), cryopreserved autograft, (n = 3), or rhBMP-2 repair (rhBMP-2/absorbable collagen sponge, n = 10). Animals underwent computed tomography imaging at 0, 2, 4, and 6 weeks, followed by euthanization and histological analysis. Percent healing was determined and a 4 × 3 mixed model analysis of variance was performed on healing versus treatment group/postoperative time. RESULTS According to radiopacity, rhBMP-2/sponge and autografts were statistically equivalent, with 99 and 89 percent healing at 6 weeks. Empty and vehicle treatment groups, with 35 and 34 percent healing, were inferior to the rhBMP-2/sponge and autograft groups (p < 0.05). Histologically, bone in the surgical control (autograft) group was less cellular and trabecular than bone formed after rhBMP-2/sponge treatment. CONCLUSIONS rhBMP-2 therapy was as effective in reconstructing calvarial defects in the unfavorable irradiated wound as in the acute, favorable calvarial wound. Compared with cryopreserved autologous graft, rhBMP-2-regenerated bone resulted in equal defect coverage, similar thickness, and greater cellularity. Further studies are necessary to demonstrate the long-term viability and remodeling rhBMP-2/sponge-generated bone.
Competency-based UK Urban Spatial Planning Education

AbstractSpatial planning to inform actions and interventions that go well beyond traditional notions of urban planning is now an integral part of UK domestic policy making. Education in spatial planning is now required as a condition of becoming a Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI) chartered town planner. All RTPI-accredited planning programmes have incorporated spatial planning education into their curricula. Unaccredited UK urban planning programmes and programmes in geography, environmental studies, and other disciplines related to the built environment are also teaching spatial planning. The RTPI does not prescribe particular content for spatial planning education and grants universities wide discretion on what to teach. While Geographical Information Systems (GIS) software and related spatial information technology are now widely used in urban planning, the RTPI does not require UK urban planning programmes to teach GIS or spatial thinking concepts from the emerging field of Geographical Informatio...
Detecting local undo conflicts in multi-user CAD

ABSTRACTMulti-user computer-aided design (CAD) is an emerging technology that facilitates collaboration by allowing users to work on the same design at the same time. This paper provides a classification of the types of conflicts that can occur during the use of local undo in multi-user CAD, and describes a method for detecting those conflicts. This method can be used to prevent and warn the user about undo conflicts as well as provide users with information about the cause of the conflict so they can collaborate to resolve it. This method has been successfully implemented and tested in Brigham Young University’s NXConnect multi-user CAD prototype.
Evidence gaps and ethical review of multicenter studies

Large, multicenter clinical studies are the backbone of evidence-based prevention and healthcare. Ethical review of multicenter research is usually conducted by the institutional review board (IRB) of each participating institution. However, variation in interpretation of regulations by IRBs is common and can have ethical and scientific implications (1, 2). Recent mandates in the United States aim to reduce the administrative burden and to expedite multicenter research by conducting ethical review with a single, central IRB of record (CIRB). Yet the quality of ethical review must not suffer. We characterize current models of ethical review in the United States and identify research gaps that must be addressed before such policies are instituted. Multicenter studies are designed to expedite participant enrollment but are hampered by the current review process. Requests from disparate IRBs to modify study procedures and consent forms may prevent participation of affected centers or require resubmissions to IRBs of all participating centers. Exclusion of clinical centers or modifications to procedures may unequally distribute the benefits and burdens of research. In September 2015, 16 federal agencies and departments issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) that would amend federal regulations to mandate a CIRB for federally funded multicenter research (3). The NPRM public comment period ends 7 December 2015. In 2014, the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) issued a draft policy mandating ethical review by a CIRB for NIH-funded multicenter research (4). In July 2015, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the 21st Century Cures Act mandating a change in regulations to facilitate CIRBs (5).
Discernment of Broken Magnet and Static Eccentricity Faults in Permanent Magnet Synchronous Motors

This paper deals with the discernment of broken magnet and static eccentricity faults in permanent magnet synchronous motors through the stator phase current. Broken magnet and static eccentricity faults exhibit very similar fault patterns in back-electromotive force (emf) and flux spectrums. Therefore, it is essential to separate these faults from each other for a true diagnosis. In this study, stator emf and phase current waveforms are analyzed in detail to identify the discerning components and characterize their dynamic behaviors. Two-dimensional time-stepping finite-element simulations and experimental results show that the fault classification process can be implemented by using fault-dependent in-phase current fault signatures.
Symmetry breaking via LexLeader feasibility checkers

This paper considers matrix models, a class of CSPs which generally exhibit significant symmetries. It proposed the idea of LexLeader feasibility checkers that verify, during search, whether the current partial assignment can be extended into a canonical solution. The feasibility checkers are based on a novel result by [Katsirelos et al., 2010] on how to check efficiently whether a solution is canonical. The paper generalizes this result to partial assignments, various variable orderings, and value symmetries. Empirical results on 5 standard benchmarks shows that feasibility checkers may bring significant performance gains, when jointly used with DOUBLELEX or SNAKELEX.
N-ethylmaleimide-sensitive protein(s) involved in cortical exocytosis in the sea urchin egg: localization to both cortical vesicles and plasma membrane

The exocytotic release of secretory products from fragments of sea urchin egg cortex has been shown to be inhibited by covalent modification of membrane sulfhydryl groups with N-ethylmaleimide (NEM). Exocytotically competent preparations of reconstituted cortex, formed by recombination of purified cortical vesicles (CVs) with fragments of egg plasma membrane (PM) were also inhibited by treatment with NEM. The cellular localization of sulfhydryl-containing constituent(s) responsible for inhibition was investigated by treating CVs and/or PM with NEM prior to reconstitution. Both native cortex and cortex reconstituted with NEM-treated components were challenged with calcium-containing buffers. Exocytosis was monitored by phase-contrast microscopy, and quantitated by light scattering. Evidence for CV-PM fusion was obtained with an immunofluorescence-based assay that permits visualization of the transport of CV content proteins across the PM. Cortex reconstituted by recombination of NEM-treated CVs with untreated PM or by recombination of untreated CVs with NEM-treated PM was exocytotically competent, whereas cortex formed by recombination of NEM-treated CVs with NEM-treated PM was inactive. These results: (1) support the hypothesis that the mechanism of exocytosis in native and reconstituted cortex is the same; (2) provide evidence that both CV and plasma membranes participate in the release of CV contents from reconstituted cortex; and (3) suggest that sulfhydryl-containing protein(s) present on the surface of purified CVs and plasma membrane are involved in exocytosis.
Renal Teratomas: Case Report and Review of the Literature

AbstractIntrarenal teratomas are extremely rare. We report the second case of an intrarenal teratoma in an adult, which occurred in a horseshoe kidney.
Inclined Interface Richtmyer-Meshkov Instability: Reshock Study

The Richtmyer-Meshkov instability (RMI) [1, 2] is created when a shockwave impacts a fluid interface that has a density gradient that is misaligned to the shock front. The RMI is considered to be the impulsive limit of the Rayleigh-Taylor Instability (RTI) [3]. The instability stems from the baroclinic term in the vorticity equation (Eqn. 1) which is driven by the misalignment of the pressure gradient and the density gradient of the system.
The Role of GM-CSF in Chronic Infections

Significant progress has been made in understanding wound healing. Various growth factors interact in a complex manner resulting in eventual wound healing. GM-CSF, platelet derived growth factor, tumor necrosis factor, alpha and various angiogenesis factors may have a significant role and in the future, may have to be combined for the maximum benefit in wound healing.
Augmenting the Efficacy of Chemo- and Radio-Therapy by Nutraceuticals: Evidence from Pre-clinical and Clinical Trials

In recent years, dietary agents such as isoflavone genistein, curcumin, indole-3-carbinol (I3C), 3,3’-diindolylmethane (DIM), (-)-epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG), resveratrol, and lycopene have received increased attention as anti-cancer agents. There has been a growing interest in investigating the effects of these dietary agents known as nutraceuticals on the inhibition of cancer cell growth in combination with chemotherapeutics or radiotherapy. The results from pre-clinical in vitro and in vivo experimental studies have demonstrated that the anti-cancer effects of chemotherapeutics and radiotherapy could be enhanced by combination treatment with nutraceuticals. Experimental evidence have also shown that the enhanced anti-cancer effects of nutraceuticals could in part due to deregulation of NF-κB, Akt, MDR, COX-2, AR, MAPK, and apoptotic signaling pathways that are known to play critical roles in cell survival and therapeutic resistance. In this chapter, we are summarizing the current evidence from pre-clinical and clinical trials demonstrating the effects and the molecular mechanisms of nutraceutical intervention in combination treatments, and we believe that this information would allow researcher to have a fresh look at the potential value of nutraceutical in cancer therapy.
Direct spray pyrolysis of aluminum chloride solution for alumina preparation

The effects of pyrolysis mode and pyrolysis parameters on Cl content in alumina were investigated, and the alumina products were characterized by XRD, SEM and ASAP. The experimental results indicate that the spray pyrolysis efficiency is higher than that of static pyrolysis process, and the reaction and evaporation process lead to a multi-plot state of the alumina products by spray pyrolysis. Aluminum phase starts to transform into γ-Al2O3 at spray pyrolysis temperature of 600 °C, which is about 200 °C lower than that of static pyrolysis process. The primary particle size of γ-Al2O3 product is 27.62 nm, and Cl content in alumina products is 0.38% at 800 °C for 20 min.
A Finite Spectrum Unmixing Set For \mathcal{G}\mathcal{L}{\text{(3,}}\mathcal{R}{\text{)}}

The construction of a finite spectrum unmixing set is a very important step in design of universal adaptive controllers. Equipped with a switching function, which alternates the sign of the gain parameter, reference [6] provides an algorithm to globally stabilize minimum phase systems of relative degree one without knowing the sign of the high frequency gain (see also [5]). Reference [3] extends this technique to the multivariable setting by introducing a switching regulation law, which rotates among the elements of a finite spectrum unmixing set. In his Ph.D. dissertation [4], Martensson showed the existence of a finite spectrum unmixing set of \mathcal{G}\mathcal{L}{\text{(}}m{\text{,}}\mathcal{R}{\text{)}} for any natural number m, and approached the problem crystallographically with the construction of the finite order spectrum unmixing group A m . Unfortunately, the order of the above unmixing group is far more than would be convenient for application. In the case of dimension 3, A 3 is a group of order slightly less than 4000, while numerical experiments on randomly generated matrices suggest that the 12-element group T of rotation of the 3-dimensional cube is unmixing (for S O(3)). The purpose of this note is to show that the group T is unmixing except for a few points (matrices), a property which we call weak unmixing. The unmixing set with minimum cardinality is not a group.
A new method to address unmeasured confounding of mortality in observational studies

Introduction The prior event rate ratio (PERR) overcomes “unmeasured confounding” by adjusting study outcomes for all confounding (measured and unmeasured) by comparing exposed to unexposed cohort outcomes prior to study entry when neither group is receiving treatment. However, PERR cannot address “unmeasured confounding” of death since prior events cannot occur. Methods This study's goal is to determine whether a new method, built on the concepts that led to the PERR development, reliably overcomes unmeasured confounding for death. In contrast to the PERR, which precedes study onset, the new mortality analysis uses exposed and unexposed cohorts, not taking the treatment medication, at the end of the study. It is called the post-treated event rate ratio (PTERR). Results Theoretical and simulation studies were used to evaluate the likelihood for reliable results using of this new analytic strategy. Also, prior empiric studies, which used both the UK GPRD and THIN databases to examine and validate the PERR method, were used to ascertain the validity of the PTERR method. Conclusion In the aggregate the results provide strong evidence that the PTERR method to evaluate unmeasured confounding will be a valuable analytic tool.
Legal status and immigrants’ educational investment decisions

We develop a two-period model of educational investment where current legal status and expectations about future legal status affects educational investment decisions. The theoretical model predicts that educational investment among illegal immigrants is a decreasing function of deportation probability. The theoretical model also suggests that which group (illegal or legal immigrants), will invest more in education depends on subjective beliefs and relative returns to education. Next we analyze educational investment using data from the two waves of New Immigrant Survey, supplemented with enforcement data. Empirical results show that an increase in deportation probability reduces educational investment among illegal immigrants. Empirical results also show that legalization increases the probability of investment in education by 15.5 percentage points among illegal immigrants.
The Vore Site Local Fauna

Twelve species of vertebrate animals have been recorded for the Vore Site Local Fauna, Bison being the most common form with estimates of individuals present lying between 15,000 and 25,000 animals...
Educating the Educator: Use of Pulse Oximetry in Athletic Training.

The 5th edition of the "Athletic Training Education Competencies" expanded the scope of knowledge and skill set of entry-level athletic trainers related to the domain of "Acute Care of Injuries and Illnesses." One of these major changes includes the introduction of adjunct airway techniques, such as oropharyngeal and nasopharyngeal airways and suction. Another new addition includes the use of pulse oximetry to assess oxygen saturation levels. The addition of these acute care knowledge and skill competencies were incorporated into the athletic training curriculum to reflect the National Athletic Trainers' Association's currently published position statement recommendations, as well as those in development. This article provides athletic training educators (ATE) with a resource on how to use and teach pulse oximetry within their educational programs. (Contains 7 tables and 1 figure.) Language: en
Update on Merkel Cell Carcinoma.

Merkel cell carcinoma (MCC) is an aggressive cutaneous neuroendocrine carcinoma. Incidence of MCC continues to rise, and risk factors include advanced age, pale skin, chronic sun exposure, and immune suppression. Diagnosing MCC utilizes a combination of morphology and immunohistochemistry. Merkel cell polyomavirus (MCPyV) is present in approximately 70–80% of MCCs and represents a key pathogenic driver in those MCCs. In contrast, MCPyV-negative MCCs arise through progressive accumulation of ultraviolet-light induced somatic mutations. Staging of MCC proceeds according to the American Joint Commission on Cancer (AJCC) 8th Edition, which utilizes features of the primary tumor together with regional lymph node(s) (clinically and/or pathologically detected) and/or distant metastases. Many potentially useful biomarkers have been studied to refine risk stratification in MCC. In recent years, the host immune infiltrate has been leveraged as immune checkpoint blockade has emerged as an efficacious mode of treatment for patients with advanced MCC.
Rapid Catalyst Capture Enables Metal-Free para-Hydrogen-Based Hyperpolarized Contrast Agents.

Hyperpolarization techniques based on the use of para-hydrogen provide orders of magnitude signal enhancement for magnetic resonance spectroscopy and imaging. The main drawback limiting widespread applicability of para-hydrogen-based techniques in biomedicine is the presence of organometallic compounds (the polarization transfer catalysts) in solution with hyperpolarized contrast agents. These catalysts are typically complexes of platinum-group metals, and their administration in vivo should be avoided. Herein, we show how extraction of a hyperpolarized compound from an organic phase to an aqueous phase combined with a rapid (less than 10 s) Ir-based catalyst capture by metal scavenging agents can produce pure para-hydrogen-based hyperpolarized contrast agents, as demonstrated by high-resolution nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy and inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectroscopy (ICP-AES). The presented methodology enables fast and efficient means of producing pure hyperpolarized aque...
Temperature Dependence of Non-Fickian Water Transport and Swelling in Glassy Gelatin Matrices

The effect of temperature on the swelling kinetics of glassy gelatin matrices exposed to water was studied. The movement of two distinct and characteristic swelling boundaries was measured directly using an optical microscope. Swelling rate constants associated with these moving boundaries demonstrated Arrhenius behavior over the temperature range of 15 to 40°C. The apparent activation energy for non-Fickian water transport into the gelatin glassy core was determined to be 8.1 kcal/mol, and 3.5 kcal/mol was found for the outer expansion of the swelling gelatin network due to water sorption. These findings are compared with activation energies for other solvent–glassy polymer systems, and possible reasons for the unexpectedly low value for non-Fickian water transport in the glassy gelatin solid are considered.
Developing Competency-Based Emergency Management Degree Programs in Public Affairs and Administration

Over the last decade, the world has experienced catastrophic disasters both natural and human-made. In 2001, terrorist attacks occurred on September 11th. Between 2004 and 2005, there were both the...
Private virtual infrastructure for cloud computing

Cloud computing places an organization's sensitive data in the control of a third party, introducing a significant level of risk on the privacy and security of the data. We propose a new management and security model for cloud computing called the Private Virtual Infrastructure (PVI) that shares the responsibility of security in cloud computing between the service provider and client, decreasing the risk exposure to both. The PVI datacenter is under control of the information owner while the cloud fabric is under control of the service provider. A cloud Locator Bot pre-measures the cloud for security properties, securely provisions the datacenter in the cloud, and provides situational awareness through continuous monitoring of the cloud security. PVI and Locator Bot provide the tools that organizations require to maintain control of their information in the cloud and realize the benefits of cloud computing.
Genetic variation and psoriasis

Psoriasis is a common chronic inflammatory skin disease with a strong genetic basis, characterized by complex alteration in epidermal growth and differentiation. The genetic basis of psoriasis has been appreciated for nearly 100 years, but only recently have several of the genetic variants involved in psoriasis pathogenesis been identified. These genetic variants so far identified are the HLA-Cw*0602 allele of the HLA-C gene on chromosome 6, the p40 subunit of the IL-12 and IL-23 cytokines (IL12B), the IL-23 receptor and SNF313, a gene implicated in protein ubiquitinylation. Psoriasis patients have also been shown to have an increased number of copies of the beta-defensin gene cluster on chromosome 8. Beta-defensin 2, which is located in this region, is amongst the most highly up-regulated proteins in lesional skin and has cytokine-like properties in addition to potent antimicrobial activity. Although several additional genes remain to be identified, the variants that have so far been described support the autoimmune basis of psoriasis indicating that the disease may be mediated by T-cells reacting against (self)antigen(s) in the binding pocket of HLA-C, with contribution from the recently described Th17 subset of T-cells which are maintained by the IL-23 cytokine axis. These genetic variants together with pro-inflammatory environment caused by exaggerated antimicrobial response (beta-defensins) and dysregulation of signaling pathways (ubiquination), suggest the type of mechanism by which psoriasis can arise. Elucidation of the genetic basis of psoriasis and the underlying pathogenic mechanisms hold the potential for eventual cure of this enigmatic disorder.
In Vivo MEASUREMENT OF LUNG BURDENS OF NUCLIDES EMITTING SOFT, PENETRATING RADIATIONS

Abstract The objective of this study is the design and calibration of a whole body counter crystal detection system for the in vivo measurement of lung burdens of the nuclides 90Sr, 239Pu and uranium (natural and enriched) at levels of fractions of the MPC. The study is divided into two parts, (1) the design, construction and performance of the crystal detection system, and (2) calibration of the system for the three nuclides using appropriate lung phantoms. A major problem in the measurement of small amounts of these low energy photon emitters (90Sr-bremsstrahlung, 239Pu-17 keV X-ray, uranium-90 keV and 186 keV γ-rays, is the reduction of background in the low energy region of the spectrum. Accordingly, the first part of the experiment involved the reduction of low energy background by optimization of crystal thickness for detection of photons in this energy region and by use of anti-coincidence methods for reduction of the Compton continuum. Experiments performed on several thicknesses of a 4.5 in. dia. CsI crystal, utilizing S2/B as a figure of merit, show that a thickness of 1 mm is very close to optimum for all three nuclides. To further reduce the background, an experiment was performed using a 3 in. dia. × 1 mm. thick CsI crystal optically coupled to a 3 in. dia. × 1 in. thick NaI crystal, the crystal pair being viewed by a single multiplier phototube. The principle of rise-time discrimination was used to attenuate the low energy background due to Compton events in the CsI crystal. The results of the experiment show a reduction of 40 per cent at the Compton edge and 70 per cent in the low energy region for a point source of 137Cs. Overall background reduction was 75 per cent from approximately 30 keV to 750 keV. The second part of the study, now in progress, involves the calibration of an 8 in. dia. × 1 mm thick CsI crystal optically coupled to an 8 in. dia. × 4 in. thick NaI crystal for the in vivo measurement of the three nuclides. This part of the experiment, utilizing appropriate lung phantoms, will define the lower limit of detectability for the anti-coincidence system, and the variance in the measurement between the two probable extremes of source configuration in the lung, i.e. a point source and a distributed source.
Seismic Reflection Results From Precambrian Crust

Results of crustal reflection profiling in the Precambrian can provide decisive information on such features as faulting, extension vs. compression and crustal scale deformation in general, vertical vs. horizontal movements, intrusions, mafic differentiates, underplating, and plate tectonics even though targets in the Precambrian are complex. Mylonite zones are probably the best crustal reflectors so that a moderately dipping reflector separating the ancient Archean gneiss terrain from younger Archean greenstone belts in Minnesota is probably a thrust fault marking the suture zone between the two terrains. This structure implies the operation of plate tectonics at least by the late Archean. The 3.6 b.y. Minnesota gneiss terrain is underlain by a thick (10 km) sequence of layered deformed rocks, whose presence restricts early Archean events. A proterozoic suture in southeastern Wyoming is marked by a thick mylonite zone and a change in crustal structure that has persisted through time. The Adirondack anorthosite and granulite terrain is underlain by a thick layered sequence in the lower crust. Formation of a late Proterozoic basin filled with 10–12 km of interlayered sedimentary rocks in Texas and Oklahoma may have been accompanied by crustal underplating.
Skocpol, Theda (1947–)

Theda Skocpol, currently the Victor S. Thomas Professor of Government and Sociology at Harvard University, analyzes and researches the principal historical transformations of society. Skocpol's work is an exemplar of historical comparative research. She has asked, and of course answered, ‘big’ questions: What are the causes of social revolutions? Why has the United States welfare state developed as it has? What is happening to American civic life and democracy? These three questions have guided the three distinct yet overlapping tracks Skocpol's research has followed. The answers proffered by Skocpol and the concepts she developed and deployed to do so, causal historical analysis, state and polity autonomy, policy feedback, and diminished democracy, are described and discussed.
The Limits of Reform/The Promise and Paradox of Civil Service Reform Patricia W. Ingraham and David H. Rosenbloom, editors

(1996). The Limits of Reform/The Promise and Paradox of Civil Service Reform Patricia W. Ingraham and David H. Rosenbloom, editors. Journal of Public Administration Education: Vol. 2, No. 1, pp. 92-96.
Abstract WMP108: Defining Optimal Thresholds for Achieving Clinical Benefit in Spontaneous Intraventricular Hemorrhage

Introduction: Fibrinolytic therapy for spontaneous intraventricular hemorrhage (IVH) appears to reduce mortality with uncertain benefit on long-term functional outcomes. Threshold for volume of IVH...