cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Prognostic impact and risk factors of cancer-associated thrombosis events in stage-IV cancer patients treated with immune checkpoint inhibitors.

Background Cancer-associated thrombosis (CAT) is a major cause of mortality in cancer patients. Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) have been associated with multiple side effects including CAT. The aim of this study is to investigate risk factors and prognostic impact associated with CAT events during ICIs treatment. Methods This is a multi-center retrospective study that included stage IV cancer patients treated with ICIs. Results We identified 552 cancer patients treated with ICIs. During follow-up time, 58 (10.5%) patients developed 67 venous thromboembolism (VTE) events while on ICIs. Anticoagulation use at the time of ICIs treatment start was associated with significantly higher VTE incidence rate (IRR: 2.23). No significant difference in VTE IRR was observed depending on response to ICIs treatment, aspirin use, or Khorana VTE risk score. Melanoma as primary cancer, Khorana score, ECOG status, and anemia at baseline were able to predict mortality. Conclusions The incidence of CAT in stage-IV cancer patients treated with ICIs was higher in our study compared to previous reports. Control group of patients who did not receive ICIs is needed for better identification of CAT risk factors. Khorana score was a good predictor of mortality but not CAT risk and needs to be further validated in a homogenous group of patients.
What do taxpayers prefer: Lower taxes or a better year-end position? A research note

Abstract What do people prefer, lower taxes or better year-end position? To our knowledge this is the first study that examines which component of individuals’ tax outcome, total tax or year-end position, drives their perceptions regarding their tax outcome as well as the legislation responsible. Based on prior economic and tax literature, especially borrowing from prospect theory and mental accounting, we predict that people are more likely to anchor on their prepayment position rather than on the total taxes in forming their perceptions about their tax position and their views on tax law changes. Based on a sample of 98 U.S. taxpayers we find that our predictions are supported. Specifically, we find that (1) people prefer a better year-end position than lower taxes; and (2) this preference is consistent regardless of whether they are in a refund or tax due position. Implications for public policy and accounting practitioners are also discussed.
Evaluation of Methods for Monitoring Landfill Barriers

Physical principles of methods and systems are being described and discussed with respect to their applicability for long term reliable control of different barriers. Emphasis is put on the detection and localization of leakages.
Investigation of Mist Cooling for the Electra KrF Laser Hibachi

An experimental investigation has been conducted to examine nozzle-generated, gas/liquid mist cooling with ultra-thin, evaporating liquid films as a cooling mechanism for the Electra KrF laser dual-foil hibachi structure. Experiments have been conducted within the Electra KrF laser using a prototypical dual-foil hibachi structure cooled with either forced convection air or an air/water mist. Test runs up to 10,000 shots at 5 Hz have been successfully performed. Mist cooling results for a moderate air velocity of 15 m/s and a water mass fraction of 15% show that the hibachi foils can be maintained below 150 °C when operated at full power pulsed conditions. The data indicate that mist cooling can decrease foil cooling time constant by nearly an order of magnitude compared to forced convection using air only.
Explaining the Staggered Board Discount

We argue that the documented discount on firms with staggered boards is not evidence that staggered boards destroy firm value. Instead, firms that are already discounted relative to industry peers choose to adopt a staggered board. We find that when the macroeconomic environment is weak, deeply discounted firms, especially those in industries undergoing extensive merger activity, are more likely to choose (or retain) staggered boards than other types of firms. We use three econometric techniques to control for the decision to have a staggered board and find that the staggered board discount suggested by OLS regressions drops, and in some cases, even becomes a small premium. Staggered boards do not necessarily cause a loss of firm value after adoption but rather, are a symptom of other underlying factors that cause the market to impute a discount to the firm.
Comparison of n/sup +/p and p/sup +/n structures in indium phosphide solar cells

The expected performances of n/sup +/p and p/sup +/n indium phosphide solar cells are compared. PC-1D, a quasi-one-dimensional computer program based on solving semiconductor transport equations by a finite-element method, was used to model n/sup +/p and p/sup +/n indium phosphide solar cell structures. The calculations show that the n/sup +/p structure offers a better short-circuit current, but that the p/sup +/n structure offers improved open-circuit voltage and overall gain in cell efficiency. The radiation resistance of p/sup +/n InP cells is compared to that of n/sup +/p cells. It is shown that the conflicting results obtained in experiments indicate the need for a systematic reevaluation of the comparative radiation resistance of the two InP cell configurations. >
High-Level Development, Modeling and Automatic Generation of Hardware-Dependent Software

With the increasing software content in modern embedded systems, software development clearly dominates the design cost. The development of Hardware-dependent Software (HdS) is especially challenging due to its tight coupling with the underlying hardware. Therefore, automatic generation of all embedded software including the HdS is highly desirable to meet today’s shortened time-to-market demands.
Family caring and children's reading and math skills

This paper investigates the influence of “family caring” on children’s reading and mathematics test scores, controlling for the family’s resources. Family caring is the parents’ habits regarding nurturing their children; it is measured by the behavior of parents during the pregnancy and infancy of their child. Three hypotheses are developed and are empirically tested using three generations of data from the British NCDS. Controlling for family resources, family caring as measured here, is found to be strongly correlated with children’s reading and math skills. There is evidence that particularly low levels of family resources or family caring can be compensated for by larger investments of the other. Since the data cover three generations of the same families, the study documents that the cross-generational correlations in family resources and in family caring behaviors are of approximately the same order of magnitude.
An approach to adaptive beam-forming for wide-band systems using a subband decomposition

The purpose of this work is to introduce two variations of an approach to adaptive beam-forming for wide-band sensor array systems using a subband decomposition. Subband decomposition facilitates a computational complexity efficient approach to the adaptive beam-forming problem. We derive optimal adaptive weights in the subband domain using two optimality criteria: (a) maximum SINR, and (b) minimum MSE. It is shown that, unlike the narrow-band case where these criteria yield the same weights up to an overall multiplicative constant, here the two criteria result in different adaptive weights. Explicit conditions for this approach are given. Further, an approach for avoiding spatial mismatch errors is shown.
Analysis of software halts in the tandem GUARDIAN operating system

A systematic methodology is given to investigate the dependability of operational software. The methodology combines several techniques. Time series analysis is used to characterize the occurrence of software failures. Markov reward modeling is used to determine the loss in service due to failures of software components, and to identify major bottlenecks. The effectiveness of built-in fault tolerance is also evaluated. The methodology is illustrated using the software halt data from the Tandem GUARDIAN operating system. The results show that the occurrences of software halts are not correlated with each other in time. Interrupt a handling and memory management are found to be the major bottlenecks in the measured system. The fault tolerance in the measured system was shown to reduce the service loss by nearly 90%. >
The Market Effects of Breaking a String of Meeting or Beating Analysts’ Expectations: Downward Revision of Future Cash Flows or Increase in Cost of Equity Capital?

: This paper parses the negative market reaction to breaking a string of consecutively meeting or beating analysts’ expectations (hereafter MBE). Using a set of firms that break a string of MBE relative to a control set of firms that do not, I show that, on average, breaking a string of MBE is associated with both decreases in expectations regarding future cash flows and increases in the cost of equity capital. Depending on the length of the string before a break, increases in the cost of equity capital are between 110 and 150 basis points over a three-month period across the break. Overall, my evidence suggests that breaking a string of MBE increases the perceived uncertainty of firms’ future cash flows and investors’ required rate of return.
A Hopf Algebra Structure on Rational Functions

Abstract We consider an indefinite inner product on the algebra of rational functions over the complex numbers, and we obtain a coproduct, which is dual of the usual multiplication, that gives a structure of infinitesimal coalgebra on the rational functions. We also obtain a representation of the finite dual of the classic polynomial Hopf algebra as a Hopf algebra of proper rational functions.
Novel Bicyclic Piperazine Derivatives of Triazolotriazine and Triazolopyrimidines as Highly Potent and Selective Adenosine A2A Receptor Antagonists

A series of bicyclic piperazine derivatives of triazolotriazine and triazolopyrimidines was synthesized. Some of these analogues show high affinity and excellent selectivity for adenosine A2a receptor versus the adenosine A1 receptor. Structure−activity-relationship (SAR) studies based on octahydropyrrolo[1,2-a]pyrazine and octahydropyrido[1,2-a]pyrazine with various capping groups are reported. Among these analogues, the most potent and selective A2a antagonist 26h has a Ki value of 0.2 nM and is 16 500-fold selective with respect to the A1 receptor. Among a number of compounds tested, compounds 21a and 21c exhibited significantly improved metabolic stability. Compounds 21a, 21c, and 18a showed good oral efficacy in rodent catalepsy models of Parkinson's disease.
Structure, water sorption, and transport properties of crosslinked N-vinyl-2-pyrrolidone/N,N′-methylenebisacrylamide films

Abstract Crosslinked N-vinyl-2-pyrrolidone (NVP) free-standing films were prepared by UV-induced photopolymerization in the presence of water using N,N′-methylenebisacrylamide (MBAA) as the crosslinker. A series of crosslinked films were prepared at various prepolymerization water contents and NVP/MBAA ratios. The films underwent phase separation during polymerization. Cryogenic scanning electron microscope (CryoSEM) was used to characterize the morphology of the films. The influence of monomer/crosslinker ratio and prepolymerization water content on morphology and water transport was characterized. Higher water content or higher monomer content in the prepolymerization mixture led to more open structures and, in turn, higher water permeability.
Pharmacokinetic study of infusional valspodar.

The pharmacokinetics of valspodar (PSC 833), a selective second-generation P-glycoprotein modulator, was evaluated as part of a Phase I study to modulate paclitaxel therapy in 15 patients with refractory malignancies. Valspodar was given intravenously at 1.42 mg/kg/h for 2 hours, followed by a 27-hour continuous infusion at 0.42 mg/kg/h. Serial blood samples were obtained after intravenous infusion of valspodar and paclitaxel. Valspodar disposition was best described by a linear two-compartment model. The median (range) valspodar clearance was 0.40 ml/min/kg (0.07-1.40 ml/min/kg). The 20-fold interpatient variability in valspodar clearance was not correlated with age, body weight, or gender but might be associated with coadministered medications that were metabolized via cytochrome P450 3A-mediated elimination. Valspodar whole-blood concentrations were maintained above the target threshold of 1000 ng/ml for a median of 32 hours. The pharmacokinetic model generated from this study allows for application in future studies to optimize the use of valspodar.
Matrix effects on the ductility of aluminium-based composites deformed under hydrostatic pressure

Recent work on aluminium alloy composites and on Al-Ni composites has revealed a significant effect of super-imposed hydrostatic pressure on the ductility of these materials. Previous studies have not, however, focused on the effects of the matrix alloy composition and ageing condition on the pressure-induced ductility response of these materials. Composites based on three different matrix compositions were studied in this investigation
A mix-of-modes evaluation model for transportation systems

A benefit-cost model is presented for determining the optimal choice among alternative transportation systems--each an improvement of the basic transportation system which is postulated to be operational during a planning horizon of several years. Although the model is developed for travel between two cities, it can be extended to a full network of many cities. Each transportation system consists of several inter-city major transportation modes as well as intra-city feeder modes. Relative benefits and costs are considered for travellers, operating firms and the general public along selected attribute dimensions. Important variables include the expected demand for trips between the two cities, measures of value for each attribute and mode combination and various discounting and weighting parameters. A sensitivity analysis is suggested for testing the responsiveness of the evaluation model to individual and joint changes in these variables and parameters. The benefit cost model and sensitivity analysis are illustrated using an hypothetical example which involves two alternative changes to a basic system consisting of seven modes and four attribute dimensions over a planning horizon of 5 years. /Author/
LIBERALISM BEYOND BORDERS

While citizens of developed countries enjoy lives of unmatched affluence, over a billion people struggle to subsist on incomes of less than $1/day. Can't we conclude that their poverty constitutes a glaring injustice? The answer almost certainly is yes—but not because some countries are rich, nor because of inadequate levels of redistribution. Liberal political theory traditionally maintains that persons are rights-holders, and the primary duty owed them is noninterference. Corrupt and tyrannical governments flagrantly violate the liberty rights of their captive populations. External governments conspicuously fail to respect noninterference, however, when they erect barriers to trade between foreign nationals and their own citizens, subsidize domestic industries, prevent innocent movement across borders by would-be workers, and when they tender assistance to abusive states (such as foreign aid that lines the pockets of kleptocrats and enhances their power). The theory advanced here is similar to that of Rawls in rejecting an international difference principle, but unlike Rawls it advances an account of international justice as continuous with domestic principles of justice.
Humoral Immunosuppressive Substance in Mice Bearing Plasmacytomas

The mechanism by which plasmacytomas (PC) depress the primary immune response to sheep red cells was investigated by determining the ability of normal spleen cells to produce antibody when enclosed in Millipore chambers and implanted in PC-bearing mice. Chamber-enclosed normal spleen cells implanted in PC-bearing mice responded poorly to the sheep red cells when compared to similar cells enclosed in chambers and implanted in normal mice or in mice with other lymphoid and nonlymphoid tumors. The data suggest that PC-induced immune suppression is mediated by a humoral factor.
Impact of personal relevance and contextualization on word-picture matching by people with aphasia.

Purpose To determine the effect of personal relevance and contextualization of images on the preferences and word-picture matching accuracy of people with severe aphasia. Method Eight adults with a...
Dc SQUID near the quantum noise limit

Abstract A series of dc SQUIDs has been fabricated in an attempt to obtain quantum-limited sensitivity. Typically, the SQUID inductance, L, is 2 pH, the capacitance and critical current of each tunnel junction are 0.5 pF and 0.5 mA, and the shunt resistance for each junction is 1Ω. The measured spectral density of the voltage noise S v contains a 1/f component that extends typically to 100 kHz or higher. When the 1/f component is subtracted out, the best energy sensitivity achieved to date is e 1 Hz = S v 2 L ( ∂ V ∂Φ ) 2 2 h , where ∂V/∂Φ is the transfer coefficient.
Normalized velocity profiles of field-measured turbidity currents

Multiple turbidity currents were recorded in two submarine canyons with maximum speed as high as 280 cm/s. For each individual turbidity current measured at a fixed station, its depth-averaged velocity typically decreased over time while its thickness increased. Some turbidity currents gained in speed as they traveled downcanyon, suggesting a possible self-accelerating process. The measured velocity profiles, first in this high resolution, allowed normalizations with various schemes. Empirical functions, obtained from laboratory experiments whose spatial and time scales are two to three orders of magnitude smaller, were found to represent the field data fairly well. The best similarity collapse of the velocity profiles was achieved when the streamwise velocity and the elevation were normalized respectively by the depth-averaged velocity and the turbidity current thickness. This normalization scheme can be generalized to an empirical function Y = exp(–α X β ) for the jet region above the velocity maximum. Confirming theoretical arguments and laboratory results of other studies, the field turbidity currents are Froude-supercritical.
Semi-parametric single-index two-part regression models

In this paper, we proposed a semi-parametric single-index two-part regression model to weaken assumptions in parametric regression methods that were frequently used in the analysis of skewed data with additional zero values. The estimation procedure for the parameters of interest in the model was easily implemented. The proposed estimators were shown to be consistent and asymptotically normal. Through a simulation study, we showed that the proposed estimators have reasonable finite-sample performance. We illustrated the application of the proposed method in one real study on the analysis of health care costs.
Enkephalin-mediated inhibition of forskolin-stimulated rabbit luteal adenylyl cyclase activity.

Abstract Forskolin at 25–100 μM elicited 10- to 15-fold stimulation of rabbit luteal adenylyl cyclase activity in the absence of guanine nucleotides. Addition of saturating concentrations of GTP or guanyl-5′-yl imidodiphosphate [GMP-P(NH)P] inhibited forskolin stimulation by 15–25% and 35–45%, respectively, in Na + -free media. The further addition of 8 μM [D-Ala 2 , Met 5 ] enkephalin amide (Da-ENK) caused an additional 16–24% inhibition of activity in the presence of GTP plus forskolin, but did not alter enzymatic activity in the presence of forskolin alone or forskolin plus GMP-P(NH)P. Inhibition by guanine nucleotide alone or Da-ENK plus GTP was only observed in the presence of forskolin. Maximal inhibition by Da-ENK was observed at 25 μM forskolin. Da-ENK reduced the IC 50 for GTP by 2.3-fold but did not alter the IC 50 for GMP-P(NH)P. Addition of Na + above 3 mM attenuated the inhibitory responses to GTP and GTP plus Da-ENK, but not to GMP-P(NH)P or GMP-P(NH)P plus Da-ENK. Above 100 mM, Na + inhibited enzymatic activity in the presence of forskolin, forskolin plus GTP and forskolin plus GMP-P(NH)P in the absence and presence of Da-ENK. These findings suggest that the rabbit corpus luteum contains an inhibitory receptor for opiate peptides that couples to adenylyl cyclase.
Role of the interface in glass-epoxy composites

Abstract The role of the interface between glass filters and matrix resin has been investigated as a function of chemical structure of the coupling agent and solvents used for deposition. Physical properties and water take-up at room and elevated temperatures show coupling agents can produce a modified resin in the vicinity of the interface. An additional improvement in physical properties of a particulate composite system can be achieved by the addition of an innerlayer in addition to the coupler. The innerlayer extends the region of modified resin. Fracture surfaces show the break at the glass-resin interface with debonding when poor adhesion exists; however, with improved adhesion fracture occurs deep in the matrix resin when coupler is capable of forming covalent bonding with epoxy resin or curing agent.
Tracking and High School English Learners: Limiting Opportunity to Learn

Programs and policies related to the education of English learners are often based on the belief that fluency in English is the primary, if not sole, requirement for academic success. While English is in fact necessary for academic success in U.S. schools, so is a strong base in content-area academics. This study investigated the effects of track placement and English proficiency on secondary English learners’ academic achievement while taking students’ previous schooling and length of time enrolled in U.S. schools into account. In the case of a variety of outcomes, track placement was a better predictor of achievement than proficiency in English. Results indicate that track placement is a better predictor of English learners’ academic performance than proficiency in English, highlighting the importance of quality instruction for English learners.
Scanline algorithms in compressed domain

The scanline algorithms are popular in a computer graphics for complex geometric manipulations. The main characteristic of the scanline algorithms is that a geometric transformation is decomposed into multiples transforms with each pass operating only along row or column scanlines. This leads to conversion of 2D image manipulation problems to straightforward 1D problems resulting in simple and systematic methods. The goal of this work is to examine the scanline approach for manipulation of transform-compressed images without decompressing them. We show how the scanline algorithms for rotation and projective mapping can be developed for JPEG/DCT images. The performance of the proposed scanline algorithms is evaluated with respect to quality, speed, and control and memory overhead.
Time-resolved photodissociation of toluene ion

Time-resolved photodissociation (TRPD) was observed for toluene ion at wavelengths from 450 to 480 nm, and for toluene-d8 ion for wavelengths from 430 to 459 nm. Dissociation was found to be slow, with unimolecular rate constants in the range 920–3600 s−1 for toluene ion, and 200–1000 s−1 for toluene-d8 ion (decreasing with increasing wavelength). Rate—energy curves for both species were drawn using Rice—Ramsperger—Kassel—Marcus (RRKM) fitting, where the RRKM parameters were found to be E0 = 2.11 (2.13) eV, and ΔS‡(1000K) = − 11.7 (−12.4) cal K−1 for toluene (toluene-d8) ions. These kinetic parameters are very similar to those previously found for the analogous dissociation of methylnaphthalene ions. A fast dissociation component was also observed, contributing about 30% to the total amount of dissociation, and was attributed largely to the presence of cycloheptatriene ion in the parent ion population. TRPD of authentic cycloheptatriene ions showed their dissociation to be fast (> 5 × 104 s−1. These results neither supported nor ruled out a very slow dissociation to tropylium ion with E0 much less than 2.1 eV, as suggested by several photoionization studies.
An improved model for four-terminal junction field-effect transistors

The junction field-effect transistor (JFET) has isolated top- and bottom-gate terminals and therefore is useful for signal mixing applications. Existing models for the four-terminal JFET often have the same form as the three-terminal JFET model, however, in which only a single pinch-off voltage is used to describe the current-voltage characteristics. In this paper, a more general four-terminal JFET model is developed. Two different pinch-off voltages are involved in the improved model to account more comprehensively for the effects of both depletion regions associated with the top- and bottom-gate junctions. Results simulated from a device simulator are also included in support of the model.
Low-cost program-level detectors for reducing silent data corruptions

With technology scaling, transient faults are becoming an increasing threat to hardware reliability. Commodity systems must be made resilient to these in-field faults through very low-cost resiliency solutions. Software-level symptom detection techniques have emerged as promising low-cost and effective solutions. While the current user-visible Silent Data Corruption (SDC) rates for these techniques is relatively low, eliminating or significantly lowering the SDC rate is crucial for these solutions to become practically successful. Identifying and understanding program sections that cause SDCs is crucial to reducing (or eliminating) SDCs in a cost effective manner. This paper provides a detailed analysis of code sections that produce over 90% of SDCs for six applications we studied. This analysis facilitated the development of program-level detectors that catch errors in quantities that are either accumulated or active for a long duration, amortizing the detection costs. These low-cost detectors significantly reduce the dependency on redundancy-based techniques and provide more practical and flexible choice points on the performance vs. reliability trade-off curve. For example, for an average of 90%, 99%, or 100% reduction of the baseline SDC rate, the average execution overheads of our approach versus redundancy alone are respectively 12% vs. 30%, 19% vs. 43%, and 27% vs. 51%.
Characteristics of high-affinity and low-affinity adenosine binding sites in human cerebral cortex.

The binding characteristics of human brain cortical membrane fractions were evaluated to test the hypothesis that there are A1 and A2 adenosine binding sites. The ligands used were 2-chloro[8-3H]adenosine and N6-[adenine-2,8-3 H]cyclohexyladenosine.
Updating the ACM/IEEE 2008 Curriculum in Information Technology (Abstract Only)

At the direction of the ACM Education Board, the IT2017 Task Group was formed with the charge of updating the joint ACM and IEEE Computer Society Curriculum Guidelines for Undergraduate Degree Programs in Information Technology, known as IT2008. The revised document, called IT2017, should be appropriately forward looking given the significant advances in information technology that have occurred since 2008. Participants attending the BOF will contribute their insights and assist with the revision process to update IT2008. Discussions will center on delineating knowledge areas and learning outcomes specific to IT; exploring the current and future roles of IT in computing disciplines; recommending changes to improve the usefulness of the report; and planning further communications to fully engage the academic and professional community in the revision process. The objective is to ensure that the updated document is a forward-looking curriculum framework of the disciplinary content and practices in the field of information technology and remains relevant into 2020 and beyond for incoming students, computing departments with IT programs, accreditation bodies, and employers in the U.S. and anywhere else in the world.
Separating subgraphs in k-trees: Cables and caterpillars

The class of k-trees has the property that the minimal sets of vertices separating two nonadjacent vertices u and v of a k-tree Q induce k-complete subgraphs. We show that the union T of these subgraphs belongs to a subclass of (k - 1)-trees which generalizes caterpillars. The maximum order of a monochromatic set of vertices in the optimal coloring of this (k - 1)-tree T determines the length of the minimal collection of k vertex-disjoint paths between the two vertices of Q, the u, v-cable, which is spanned on all vertices of T.
Earthquake Impacts and Hazard Adjustment by Acutely Hazardous Materials Facilities Following the Northridge Earthquake

Abstract Hazardous materials pose a problem of great significance for earthquake hazard reduction because severe earthquakes can simultaneously fail independent systems for on‐site release mitigation and off‐site emergency response. Unfortunately, the potential for major earthquake‐initiated hazmat releases (EIHRs) has received little attention from earthquake researchers and planners. This study assessed the extent of on‐site and off‐site damage to fixed‐site hazmat facilities and the hazard adjustments (i.e., hazard assessment, hazard mitigation, and emergency preparedness actions) that these facilities implemented before and after the Northridge earthquake. Data on the occurrence of chemical containment and infrastructure systems impacts confirms that hazmat facility infrastructure is vulnerable to seismic impacts. Hazard adjustments were undertaken after the earthquake, but were unrelated to the level of earthquake impact. These results suggest that comprehensive EIHR loss estimation studies should be...
Influence of ApoA-I Structure on the ABCA1-mediated Efflux of Cellular Lipids

The influence of apolipoprotein (apo) A-I structure on ABCA1-mediated efflux of cellular unesterified (free) cholesterol (FC) and phospholipid (PL) is not well understood. To address this issue, we used a series of apoA-I mutants to examine the contributions of various domains in the molecule to ABCA1-mediated FC and PL efflux from mouse J774 macrophages and human skin fibroblasts. Irrespective of the cell type, deletion or disruption of the C-terminal lipid-binding domain of apoA-I drastically reduced the FC and PL efflux (∼90%), indicating that the C-terminal amphipathic α-helix is required for high affinity microsolubilization of FC and PL. Deletion in the N-terminal region of apoA-I also reduced the lipid efflux (∼30%) and increased the Km about 2-fold compared with wild type apoA-I, whereas deletion of the central domain (Δ123–166) had no effect on either Km or Vmax. These results indicate that ABCA1-mediated lipid efflux is relatively insensitive to the organization of the apoA-I N-terminal helix-bundle domain. Alterations in apoA-I structure caused parallel changes in its ability to bind to a PL bilayer and to induce efflux of FC and PL. Overall, these results are consistent with a two-step model for ABCA1-mediated lipid efflux. In the first step, apoA-I binds to ABCA1 and hydrophobic α-helices in the C-terminal domain of apoA-I insert into the region of the perturbed PL bilayer created by the PL transport activity of ABCA1, thereby allowing the second step of lipidation of apoA-I and formation of nascent high density lipoprotein particles to occur.
The effects of role strain on the consumer decision process for groceries in single-parent households

Abstract Single-parent families are becoming a larger part of American society. But what is known about their decision-making processes? Role strain is of particular interest when studying single parents because of their need to serve multiple family roles otherwise carried out by dual-parent families. In this study, the consumer decision process for single parents is empirically examined in the context of grocery shopping. Role strain was found to have a significant effect on problem recognition style and reactive shopping behaviors. Advertising positively influenced proactive shopping behaviors and had a negative relationship with reactive shopping behaviors. Implications for food retailers are provided.
Selecting a threshold for two-dimensional echocardiograms

Thresholding has been extensively used to separate myocardium from two-dimensional echocardiograms. We present a critical review of the existing threshold based methods, and propose a new interactive method that uses the known average wall thickness at the indicated region to determine a reference global threshold. The thickness of the wall as seen in the thresholded image is important for quantization of cardiac parameters such as ventricular volume, ejection fraction, etc. In echocardiograms, owing to the characteristics of the imaging environment, the cardiac wall thickness depends on the threshold. Many existing methods concentrate on extracting continuous wall regions. In our scheme we select a threshold that yields walls of proper thickness, and then attempt to get a continuous region. In our scheme, a user picks two points on a clearly visible section of the wall where the thickness is known. We compute a threshold by analyzing the regional histogram at that wall section, so that average thickness of the regional thresholded pattern is equal to the known wall thickness. This gives a reference threshold that is varied locally by regional three-dimensional morphology, to get local thresholds. The thresholding scheme suppresses noise and generates smooth boundaries.© (1992) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
Chimerism Reveals a Role for the Streptokinase β-Domain in Nonproteolytic Active Site Formation, Substrate, and Inhibitor Interactions

Abstract Streptokinase (SK) and staphylokinase form cofactor-enzyme complexes that promote the degradation of fibrin thrombi by activating human plasminogen. The unique abilities of streptokinase to nonproteolytically activate plasminogen or to alter the interactions of plasmin with substrates and inhibitors may be the result of high affinity binding mediated by the streptokinase β-domain. To examine this hypothesis, a chimeric streptokinase, SKβswap, was created by swapping the SK β-domain with the homologous β-domain of Streptococcus uberis Pg activator (SUPA or PauA, SK uberis), a streptokinase that cannot activate human plasminogen. SKβswap formed a tight complex with microplasminogen with an affinity comparable with streptokinase. The SKβswap-plasmin complex also activated human plasminogen with catalytic efficiencies (k cat/K m = 16.8versus 15.2 μm −1 min−1) comparable with streptokinase. However, SKβswap was incapable of nonproteolytic active site generation and activated plasminogen by a staphylokinase mechanism. When compared with streptokinase complexes, SKβswap-plasmin and SKβswap-microplasmin complexes had altered affinities for low molecular weight substrates. The SKβswap-plasmin complex also was less resistant than the streptokinase-plasmin complex to inhibition by α2-antiplasmin and was readily inhibited by soybean trypsin inhibitor. Thus, in addition to mediating high affinity binding to plasmin(ogen), the streptokinase β-domain is required for nonproteolytic active site generation and specifically modulates the interactions of the complex with substrates and inhibitors.
Embolization of an hepatic artery pseudoaneurysm following laparoscopic cholecystectomy

Vascular injuries during laparoscopic cholecystectomy can occur in an analogous fashion to biliary injuries, with potential laceration, transection, and occlusion of blood vessels. A patient presented with symptomatic hemobilia 1 month following laparoscopic cholecystectomy and was found to have a right hepatic artery pseudoaneurysm which communicated with the common bile duct. This was successfully embolized with several embolic agents, resulting in rapid resolution of all signs and symptoms. The patient has been free of symptoms during a follow-up period of 1 year. A brief discussion of hepatic artery pseudoaneurysms is presented.
Surface orientation from texture: Isotropy or homogeneity (or both)?

We examine two models for human perception of shape from texture, based on two assumptions about the surface texture: isotropy and homogeneity. Observers made orientation judgments on planar textured surfaces. Surface textures were either isotropic or anisotropically stretched or compressed. If subjects used an isotropy assumption, they would make biased orientation estimates for the anisotropic textures. In some conditions some observers showed no bias for the anisotropic textures relative to the isotropic textures. In general, even when the observers showed bias, the biases were significantly less than those predicted if the observer used only deviation from isotropy as a cue. Observers appear to use both the deviation from isotropy and a texture gradient or affine texture distortion cue for shape from texture.
Response characteristics of a reversible electrochemical sensor for the polyion protamine.

We describe here in detail the first reversible electrochemical sensors for the polyion protamine. Potentiometric sensors were proposed in recent years, mainly for the determination of the polyions heparin and protamine. Such potentiometric polyion sensors functioned on the nonequilibrium extraction of polyions into a hydrophobic membrane phase via ion pairing with lipophilic ion exchangers. This made it difficult to design sensors that operate in a truly reversible fashion. The reversible sensors described here utilize the same basic response mechanism as their potentiometric counterparts, but the processes of extraction and ion stripping are now fully controlled electrochemically. Spontaneous polyion extraction is avoided by using membranes containing highly lipophilic electrolytes that possess no ion-exchange properties. Reversible extraction of polyions is induced if a constant current pulse of fixed duration is applied across the membrane, followed by a baseline potential pulse. The key theoretical r...
Laser interferometric measurement of polymer thin film thickness changes during processing

A simple interferometric technique is described for monitoring thickness changes in solution-cast polymer films as they are dried and cured. This paper follows a freshly spun solution of polyamic acid in NMP as it is converted into a cured polyimide film of 6 μm in thickness. The technique is shown to be nearly quantitative despite the effects of thermal expansion and cure-related refractive index changes.
Technologies for Powered Ankle-Foot Orthotic Systems: Possibilities and Challenges

Ankle-foot orthoses (AFOs) can be used to ameliorate the impact of impairments to the lower limb neuromuscular motor system that affect gait. Existing AFO technologies include passive devices with fixed and articulated joints, semiactive devices that modulate damping at the joint, and active devices that make use of a variety of technologies to produce power to move the foot. Emerging technologies provide a vision for fully powered, untethered AFOs. However, the stringent design requirements of light weight, small size, high efficiency, and low noise present significant engineering challenges before such devices will be realized. Once such devices appear, they will present new opportunities for clinical treatment of gait abnormalities.
Friends' Influence on Adolescents' Adjustment to School

Adolescents may be influenced both by their friends' behaviors and by the features of their friendships. To examine both types of influence, seventh and eighth graders (N = 297) were asked in the fall of a school year to report their involvement and disruption at school. The students also described the positive and negative features of their best friendships. Teachers reported on the students' involvement, disruption, and grades. These assessments were repeated in the following spring. Students whose friends in the fall described themselves as more disruptive increased in self-reported disruption during the year. Girls' self-reported disruption was more influenced by that of their very best friend than was boys'. Students whose very best friendships had more positive features increased in their self-reported involvement during the year. Students whose friendships had more negative features increased in their self-reported disruption, but only if their friendships also had many positive features. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings, and the adequacy of different methods for estimating friends' influence, were discussed.
Theoretical study of nucleophilic substitution at sulfur in sulfinyl derivatives.

A series of gas-phase nucleophilic substitution reactions at sulfur of methanesulfinyl derivatives by small anions (chloride, cyanide, hydroxide, methoxide, amide, and phosphide, identical to the leaving group in each case) were examined by Hartree−Fock, MP2, and DFT computations. In most cases, substitution was found to follow an addition−elimination mechanism, resulting in a triple-well potential energy surface with small barriers of activation on either side of the central, tetracoordinate-sulfur minimum. The geometries of the central minima, as in the analogous methanesulfenyl cases, are unsymmetrical trigonal bipyramidal, with the nucleophiles and leaving groups occupying apical positions and the sulfur lone pair an equatorial position. The apparent exception, cyanide, may undergo an SN2 displacement.
Earnings management and auditor specialization in the post-sox era: An examination of the banking industry

Abstract This study examines the impact of auditor specialization on bank loan loss provisions for a large cross-section of US banks for the period 2002–2006. We find a positive relationship between earning (before provision) and loan loss provision, suggesting that bank managers use LLP to smooth earnings in the post-SOX period. However, this relationship is significantly moderated by audit industry expertise, providing strong evidence that industry specialization constrains income smoothing. In further analysis, we find some evidence that auditor specialization is more effective in reducing potentially incoming-increasing earnings management. Our results hold after controlling for self-selection bias and are robust to alternative measures of industry specialization. Overall, our findings support the conclusion that audit industry expertise plays an effective monitoring role in constraining management’s discretionary accounting choices.
Investment in Education

The purpose of this paper is to present new measures of the benefits from education. These measures are based on the incremental effect on human wealth of participation in formal schooling. We define human wealth as the sum of lifetime labor incomes for all individuals in the U.S. population. These incomes include the value of time spent working and the value of nonmarket labor activities, which are defined to include parenting and the enjoyment of leisure. Our estimates of lifetime labor incomes are drawn from an extensive data base on income from work. We have enlarged this data base to incorporate the value of nonmarket activities. We compare our estimates of investment in education and human wealth with estimates based on the expenditures of educational institutions. We find that these expenditures are very much smaller than the benefits of education.
Anchoring Local Translation in Neurons

In probing how protein synthesis in neurons is coupled to extracellular stimuli, Tcherkezian et al. (2010) discover that the receptor protein DCC anchors components of the translation machinery at the plasma membrane. Binding of DCC to its ligand, netrin, triggers the release of these components to initiate spatially restricted protein synthesis.
House-staff training--the need for careful reform.

As the director of an internal medicine training program in a large urban academic medical center, I have mixed feelings about the regulations proposed by the New York State Health Department to mo...
Tapping Capital for Water The History in the United States and Implications for Asia

Urbanization, rapid economic growth and increasing populations in Asia pose great challenges on municipal governments to improve their water supply systems. The successful development of municipal bond markets could open new sources for investments into the water sector. There are three basic prerequisites for the successful sale of municipal debt, namely, the development of a modern and diversified financial sector, investor confidence and issuer familiarity, as well as a conducive regulatory environment. The article provides a detailed account of how these factors evolved in the nineteenth century United States and how they provided the basic tenets for the development of the world’s largest and most efficient municipal bond market. It concludes that the development of the municipal bond market was closely linked to the emergence and expansion of public water supply systems. Taking the US experience into consideration the article explores the potential demand for municipal bonds in China, Indonesia and ...
Estimation of Cumulative Exposures for the National Study of Coal Workers' Pneumoconiosis

Abstract Estimates of cumulative exposure to respirable coal mine dust were derived for a subcohort of Round Four of the National Study of Coal Workers' Pneumoconiosis on the basis of Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) sampling data. The subcohort includes Round Four participants who began mining work in 1970 or later. Using a sample of the MSHA exposure data, a procedure was developed for estimating mean exposures by three-way occupation/mine/year-specific strata. Occupation was defined by a standard MSHA coding scheme for coal mining operations. Where data for a particular three-way stratum were lacking, mean values of the appropriate two-way or one-way strata were substituted in the following order: 1) occupation/year, 2) mine/year (within broad occupational groups), and 3) year (within broad occupational groups). Since some three-way occupation/mine/year estimates had large variances, the three-way means were combined with two-way occupation/year means to minimize the mean squared error. Cum...
Real exchange rate and manufacturing growth in Latin America

The manufacturing sectors in Latin America have been more affected by the currency over/undervaluation than their counterpart in industrialized economies. From a panel data set covering 39 countries and 22 manufacturing sectors (2-digit) within 1995–2008, we formally test the hypothesis that there exists a Latin American effect and then investigate the possible reasons for this distinguished pattern. The use of a disaggregated data is an important feature of our empirical strategy: the undervaluation index (main covariate) is less likely to be determined by the growth rate of a specific manufacturing sector, partially addressing the specification problem that plagues standard cross-country regressions. We then explore the within sector–country variation to study the relationship between currency over/undervaluation and manufacturing sectors growth. We find that the import content of exports might be an important driver of this result at a sectoral level. At a macro-level, the openness and the income per capita of a country are important factors.
Composition of the hemolymph of mygalomorph spiders (orthognatha)

Abstract 1. 1. Cell-free hemolymph of the spiders, Dugesiella echina , Bothriocyrtum californicum, Euagrus comstocki and Atypus bicolor , was analysed for its inorganic and organic constituents. 2. 2. Total hemolymph osmolarity ranged from 482 to 501 mOsm/1. Sodium and chloride concentrations accounted for 89–90.8% of the total hemolymph osmolytes. The pH values ranged from 7.48–7.65. 3. 3. Total carbohydrates (0.81–1.04g/l), lipids (1.29–1.78 mM/1) and protein (39.9–57.6g/l) were recorded. 4. 4. Free amino acids ranged from 469–559μmol/l and accounted for 0.9–1.1% of osmotically active substances. Proline was the most abundant FAA.