cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Isolation and characterization of glycoconjugates from B16 mouse melanoma tumors.

Abstract The major glycosaminoglycans isolated from B16 mouse melanoma tumors after Pronase digestion were shown to be a family of chondroitin 4-sulfates with different degrees of sulfation and a wide molecular-weight range. Ultracentrifugation data gave molecular weight values as high as 88 000, in contrast to that of costal cartilage chondroitin 4-sulfate which is about 14 000. A mucin-type sialoglycopeptide, isolated from the tumors by cetylpyridinium chloride precipitation of the Pronase digest, was shown to contain O -glycosylically linked tetra- and tri-saccharides consisting of sialic acid, galactose, and N -acetylgalactosamine. The sialoglycoprotein, which on Pronase digestion gave rise to the glycopeptide, was isolated from the tumor by extraction with lithium diiodosalicylate and affinity chromatography on a wheatgerm agglutinin-Sepharose 4B column. It was homogeneous on the basis of gel filtration on Sepharose 4B and Sephadex G-200 columns, lectin affinity, and ionexchange chromatography. The compounds isolated from the B16 mouse melanoma tumors are similar to those produced by the cultured melanoma cells, which suggests that the latter compounds are not artifacts of the culture system.
Impact of ionic liquid pretreated plant biomass on Saccharomyces cerevisiae growth and biofuel production

Inhibitory compounds generated by the pretreament of lignocellulose processes can have negative impacts on downstream microbial growth and biofuel production. As such they present a significant barrier to the commercialization of biofuels produced using renewable carbon sources. Inhibitors are derived from the transformation of monosaccharides into toxic compounds and can also be an intrinsic component of the pretreatment reagents or biomass. Ionic liquid (IL) pretreatment has recently received attention as a potential alternative to established pretreatment techniques, but there are no published studies on its impact on downstream processes. In this study, sugars produced through the enzymatic hydrolysis of biomass pretreated with the IL 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium acetate ([C2mim][OAc]) were used to assess the impact of IL pretreatment on cell growth and production of ethanol by Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Residual 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium ion ([C2mim]+) in hydrolysates was found to be the primary source of inhibition on downstream microbial growth and ethanol production.
RNP particles at splice junction sequences on Drosophila chorion transcripts

HnRNP particles are located at specific sites on nascent transcripts when chromatin is spread for electron microscopic visualization. To determine if the sequences bound by the particles play a role in RNA processing, we have correlated the nascent transcript morphology of Drosophila chorion s36-1 and s38-1 genes with their nucleotide sequences. We find that RNP particles about 25 nm in diameter are at the splice junctions of the introns in these two transcripts. On the more mature chorion transcripts, a single larger (40 nm) particle is occasionally seen in the same vicinity, which probably results from the coalescence of the two smaller particles. This RNP structure may be involved in bringing splice junctions into close proximity and in maintaining this proximity during the bipartite splicing intermediate stage.
Re-Engineering the Business Curriculum: A Stakeholder Paradigm

Abstract An innovative approach to course development is introduced that may facilitate the learning process and better prepare students to satisfy the changing needs of their future employers. The uniqueness of this method lies in the refocusing of basic business concepts. For years, functional area emphasis has been construed as the most efficient method to teach introductory business concepts to all business majors. This article suggests that a stakeholder approach could assist learning while meeting goals proposed by accrediting agencies and the general public.
Enhanced localized surface plasmon resonance dependence of silver nanoparticles on the stoichiometric ratio of citrate stabilizers

A stoichiometric approach to the synthesis of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) with appreciable enhancements in the localized surface plasmon resonance is presented. Microwave irradiation afforded AgNPs, optimized to a thermodynamic equilibrium by varying the silver to trisodium citrate (Ag0/citrate3−) stoichiometric ratio from 1:1 to 1:10, and ranging in size from 32 to 65 nm (±1–9 nm, hydrodynamic diameter). The concentration-dependent plasmonic enhancements were monitored by UV–Vis absorption spectrophotometry, showing absorption maxima typical of AgNPs, at 440–450 nm. A linear accession in plasmon absorbance intensity, approaching 1:5 (Ag0/citrate3−), followed by a linear depletion, at larger stoichiometries (1:6–1:10), was observed. Size distribution measurements, using dynamic light scattering, showed the highest polydispersity index, 0.547, for 1:10 suspensions and the lowest, 0.305, for the thermodynamic maximum, determined to occur at 1:5. Surface charge measurements approaching 0 mV confirm the destabilizing effect of high concentrations of citrate, leading to greater instances of aggregation and large hydrodynamic diameters. Reaction kinetics data suggests an increased preference for Agn+-citrate, metal/ligand complexation, at 1:10, diminishing nanoparticle production.
Effective interaction strength in superconductors

A semiempirical extension of the BCS model to intermediate- and strong-coupling superconductors is used to derive a set of simple rules by which the following thermodynamic quantities can be related to one another: the absolute-zero energy gap $2{\ensuremath{\Delta}}_{0}$; the critical field ${H}_{0}$; the critical temperature ${T}_{c}$; the jump $\ensuremath{\Delta}\mathrm{C}$ in specific heat at ${T}_{c}$; and the slope at ${T}_{c}$ of the critical-field curve, ${(\frac{\mathrm{dh}}{\mathrm{dt}})}_{1}$. The procedure determines an "effective interaction strength" ${N}_{0}{V}^{*}$ (larger than the value of ${N}_{0}V$ obtained from $\frac{{T}_{c}}{{\ensuremath{\Theta}}_{D}}$) for each superconductor. A "temperature-variation" of this ${N}_{0}{V}^{*}$ is the major departure from the original BCS model. ${N}_{0}{V}^{*}$ is obtained for 9 superconductors from their specific-heat jumps, and used to predict values of the ratios ${(\frac{\mathrm{dh}}{\mathrm{dt}})}_{1}$, $\frac{{\ensuremath{\Delta}}_{0}}{k{T}_{c}}$, and $\frac{\ensuremath{\gamma}{{T}_{c}}^{2}}{{V}_{m}{{H}_{0}}^{2}}$ which agree well with experiment. The resulting values for the "effective cutoff" ${\ensuremath{\Theta}}_{c}$ lie close to $\frac{{\ensuremath{\Theta}}_{D}}{9}$.
Statistical analysis of intrahelical ionic interactions in α-helices and coiled coils

There are many controversies concerning whether ionic interactions in α-helices and coiled coils actually contribute to the stabilisation and formation of these structures. Here we used a statistical approach to probe this question. We extracted unique α-helical and coiled coil structures from the protein database and analysed the ionic interactions between positively and negatively charged residues. The ionic interactions were categorized according to the type, spacing and order of the residues involved. Separate datasets were produced depending on the number of α-helices in the coiled coils and the mutual orientation of the helices. We compared the frequency of residue configurations able to form ionic interactions with their probability to form the interaction. We found a correlation between the two variables in α-helices, antiparallel two-stranded coiled coils and parallel two-stranded coiled coils. This indicates that some ionic interactions are indeed important for the formation and stabilisation of α-helices and coiled coils. We concluded that the configurations, which have simultaneously a large probability to form the ionic interaction and a frequent occurrence, are those, which have the most stabilising effect. These are the 4RE, 3ER and 4ER interactions.
Comment on "Does the Center of Flexure Depend on Poisson's Ratio?"

D the center of flexure depend on Poisson's ratio? In his recent Note Leko concludes that it does not, but a more accurate conclusion is that it all depends on how the center of flexure is defined. If the definition adopted by such authorities as Goodier, Timoshenko, and Sokolnikoff is used, then the center of flexure definitely does depend on Poisson's ratio. This is evident from example calculations in the well-known treatises of Timoshenko and Sokolnikoff. On the other hand if Trefftz's definition is used the center of flexure is independent of Poisson's ratio, as Trefftz pointed out in 1935. It is important to recognize that the Note under discussion is based on Leko's own definition of center of flexure, which is radically different from previous proposals. Leko fixes the position of the center of flexure by introducing the requirement that "the resultant moment due to horizontal shear stresses is zero." This requirement differs sharply from traditional thinking in the classic problem of the center of flexure of a channel section. It is probably futile to argue about definitions, and interested readers will have to decide for themselves which of the various definitions of center of flexure is most natural or useful,
A mathematical model of comprehensive test-and-treat services and HIV incidence among men who have sex with men in the United States.

Background Early diagnosis and treatment of HIV infection and suppression of viral load are potentially powerful interventions for reducing HIV incidence. A test-and-treat strategy may have long-term effects on the epidemic among urban men who have sex with men (MSM) in the United States and may achieve the 5-year goals of the 2010 National AIDS Strategy that include: 1) lowering to 25% the annual number of new infections, 2) reducing by 30% the HIV transmission rate, 3) increasing to 90% the proportion of persons living with HIV infection who know their HIV status, 4) increasing to 85% the proportion of newly diagnosed patients linked to clinical care, and 5) increasing by 20% the proportion of HIV-infected MSM with an undetectable HIV RNA viral load. Methods and Findings We constructed a dynamic compartmental model among MSM in an urban population (based on New York City) that projects new HIV infections over time. We compared the cumulative number of HIV infections in 20 years, assuming current annual testing rate and treatment practices, with new infections after improvements in the annual HIV testing rate, notification of test results, linkage to care, initiation of antiretroviral therapy (ART) and viral load suppression. We also assessed whether five of the national HIV prevention goals could be met by the year 2015. Over a 20-year period, improvements in test-and-treat practice decreased the cumulative number of new infections by a predicted 39.3% to 69.1% in the urban population based on New York City. Institution of intermediate improvements in services would be predicted to meet at least four of the five goals of the National HIV/AIDS Strategy by the 2015 target. Conclusions Improving the five components of a test-and-treat strategy could substantially reduce HIV incidence among urban MSM, and meet most of the five goals of the National HIV/AIDS Strategy.
RNA pseudoknots that interact with components of the translation apparatus

Cette revue bibliographique traite de la structure en pseudo-noeud de l'ARN, des conditions de sa formation, et du role de cette structure tri-dimensionnelle dans les interactions de l'ARN avec les proteines ou au cours du processus de traduction
The respiration of brain mitochondria and its regulation by monovalent cation transport.

Abstract The Na+ and K+ permeability properties of rat brain mitochondria were determined to explain the influences of these cations upon respiration. A new procedure for isolating exceptionally intact mitochondria with minimal contamination by synaptosomes was developed for this purpose. Respiration was uncoupled by Na+ and less so by K+. Uncoupling was maximal in the presence of EDTA plus Pi and was decreased by Mg2+. Maximal uncoupler-stimulated respiration rates were inhibited by Na+ but largely unaffected by K+. The inhibition by Na+ was relatively insensitive to Mg2+. Membrane Na+ and K+ conductances as well as neutral exchanges (Na+/H+ and K+/H+ antiport activities) were determined by swelling measurements and correlated with metabolic effects of the cations. Cation conductance, i.e. electrophoretic Na+ or K+ permeation, was increased by EDTA (Na+ > K+) and decreased by Mg2+. Magnesium preferentially suppressed Na+ conductance so as to reverse the cation selectivity (K+ > Na+). Neutral cation/H+ exchange rates (Na+ > K+) were not influenced by chelator or Mg2+. The extent of cation-dependent uncoupling of respiration correlated best with the inner membrane conductance of the ion according to an empirical relationship derived with the model K+ conductor valinomycin. The metabolic influences of Na+ and K+ can be explained in terms of coupled flow of these ions with protons and their effect upon the H+ electrochemical gradient although alternative possibilities are discussed. These in vitro studies are compared to previous observations in situ to assess their physiological significance.
INFECTIOUS MYXOMATOSIS (SANARELLI) IN PREGNANT RABBITS

Pregnancy in rabbits alters the reactivity of the tissues to the virus of infectious myxomatosis. The livers of pregnant animals with the myxoma have a central acidophilic necrosis. Secondary lesions in the lungs are much more numerous and larger in the pregnant than in the non-gravid animals. In like manner the lesions in the spleen are more extensive in the pregnant rabbit. On the other hand the skin lesions of the pregnant animal are decreased in size.
A re-analysis of short-exposure turbulent effects on passive imaging

In 1966, D. L. Fried developed a theoretical framework for describing the modulation transfer function (MTF) of optical turbulence effects for short-exposure imaging, thereby extending Hufnagel and Stanley's model for longexposure imaging through turbulence. In his analysis Fried assumed the independence of phase perturbations about the mean tilt factor and this tilt factor. In this reanalysis this assumption is deleted, resulting in a new term in the derivation. This term exhibits several new features, including superresolution at high spatial frequencies under moderate turbulence levels, and turbulence strength dependent degradation of the MTF at high turbulence levels.
Target market selection and marketing effort under uncertainty: The selective newsvendor

Abstract We consider a firm that markets, procures, and delivers a good with a single selling season in a number of different markets. The price for the good is market-dependent, and each market has an associated demand distribution, with parameters that depend on the amount of marketing effort applied. Given long procurement lead-times, the firm must decide which markets it will serve prior to procuring the good. We develop a profit maximizing model to address the firm’s integrated market selection, marketing effort, and procurement decisions. The model implicitly accounts for inventory pooling across markets, which reduces safety stock costs but increases model complexity. The resulting model is a nonlinear integer optimization problem, for which we develop specialized solution methods. For the case in which budget constraints exist, we provide a novel solution approach that uses a tailored branch-and-bound algorithm. Our approach solves a broad range of 3000 test instances in an average of less than 2 seconds, significantly outperforming a leading commercial global optimization solver.
Separation and reconvery of lead by Cation exchange process combined with precipitation

Wastewater generated by circuit board industries contain high levels of toxic heavy metals such as lead, nickel, chromium, cadmium, copper, as well as other components. The recovery of these metals is very important not only in the aspect of environmental protection but also in that they are valuable raw materials. The most common methods for the treatment of wastewater containing heavy metals include precipitation and adsorption. A new application of ion exchange combined with precipitation for recovery and concentration of toxic heavy metals, in particular, lead, is presented in this article. The combined process consisted of the saturation of a cation-exchange column with a mixture of Pb{sup 2+}, Ni{sup 2+}, or Cd{sup 2+} and elution with a NaCl solution. Precipitation of lead salt (PbCl{sub 2}) was caused purposely by introducing the NaCl solution containing anions (Cl{sup {minus}}) that formed PbCl{sub 2} of very low solubility in the cation-exchange column. The unprecipitated ions (Ni{sup 2+} or Cd{sup 2+}) were eluted whereas the precipitated lead salt stayed in the column. After the complete precipitation of the lead salt and the elution of nickel or cadmium ions, a solubilizing reagent solution (CH{sub 3}COONa or methane sulfonic acid) was fed to the column tomore » dissolve and elute the lead precipitate. The combined process was demonstrated to be efficient in the separation and concentration of lead.« less
Summary of wenner-gren international symposium receptor-receptor interactions among heptaspanning membrane receptors: From structure to function

Listening to the talks delivered at the symposium during this 2 1/2-d meeting left me with the feeling that this was a field that has truly come of age in the past few years. Although the earliest observations, a number of them by the organizers of the meeting, on receptor-receptor interactions go back almost two decades, it is really only in the past few years that the molecular basis of these interactions has begun to be clarified. The initial skepticism is now subsiding as more and more examples of receptor oligomerization are identified. At the meeting, three types of receptor oligomerization were discussed: homo-oligomerization; hetero-oligomerization, where both partners are seven transmembrane (7TM)-spanning receptors; and hetero-oligomerization, where a 7 TM-spanning receptor is complexed with a structurally different class of molecule. Although interesting papers were presented in each area, I found myself most intrigued by the papers dealing with hetero-oligomerization between different 7TM-spanning receptors. Most striking were examples where novel functions were created by the heterodimerization process, such as novel opioid binding patterns or the acquisition of novel signaling pathways, as in the case of D1-D2 dopamine receptor heterodimerization. In this connection, to me, one of the most interesting discussions concerned the possibility that a number of currently so-called orphan receptors might have no personal ligands but, rather, function to bestow novel properties on other 7TM-spanning receptors by oligomer formation. Thus, these orphans might convey a new signaling function or an altered ligand- binding specificity on a known receptor. If this were the case then, for such an orphan, all efforts to identify its function by expressing it alone would be doomed to fail. Another potentially interesting function of some orphan receptors might be to act as chaperones for other receptors, helping to bring them to the cell surface and stabilizing their membrane expression.
Initial report of a variable stiffness duodenoscope for use during endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography.

Goals To evaluate a new variable stiffness duodenoscope. Background Variable stiffness colonoscopies have been in use for nearly a decade. We report the initial experience with a new, variable stiffness duodenoscope for use during endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP). Study Retrospective, single tertiary referral academic center. Among the first 50 patients to undergo ERCP with the variable stiffness cope, 3 patients in whom the variable stiffness duodenoscope was instrumental in procedural success are discussed in detail. Results In the first 50 patients in whom the variable stiffness duodenoscope was used, the variable stiffness function was critical to procedural success in 3 patients (6%). One patient had a gastric bypass with Roux-en-Y anatomy, 1 patient had a large J-shaped stomach that could not be traversed by a routine duodenoscope, and 1 patient had a duodenal stenosis that could not be traversed by a routine duodenoscope. In these 3 patients, the variable stiffness function allowed for procedure success. Conclusions Although most ERCPs can be accomplished with standard duodenoscopes, in cases in which extra endoscope stiffness was felt to be required, the variable stiffness function was extremely helpful.
Misdiagnosis of erythema migrans

BACKGROUND : Erythema migrans is a clinical diagnosis that carries possible long-term repercussions. Despite widespread awareness of the clinical presentation of erythema migrans, incorrect diagnosis occurs. PATIENTS AND METHODS : We describe 13 cases in which erythema migrans was misdiagnosed and discuss some pitfalls in diagnosis. These cases were seen at a tertiary referral center in Connecticut, a state where Lyme disease is endemic. The patients selected for inclusion were those who most clearly illustrate potential difficulties involved in making the diagnosis of erythema migrans. RESULTS : The diagnosis of erythema migrans was missed in 5 patients due to atypical presentations. Eight patients with skin eruptions closely mimicking erythema migrans were incorrectly diagnosed with erythema migrans. CONCLUSIONS : There are pitfalls associated with the diagnosis of erythema migrans that may result in overdiagnosis or underdiagnosis.
Effects of Trace Elements on Corrosion in Total Immersion and under Wet/Dry Conditions

Abstract The effects of 13 trace elements in a base line solution that is considered to represent flue gas desulfurization environments have been studied by electrochemical measurements for five alloys that were totally immersed or immersed for 1 h/day. Polarization resistance and corrosion potential measurements were performed continuously for 10 electrodes per test solution over a 6-day period, resulting in approximately 600 measurements per test. A computerized system was used to store test data and analyze results. Very large differences in corrosion behavior were observed for the five alloys in a solution containing a given combination of trace elements and for a given alloy in solutions containing different combinations of trace elements. A statistical analysis has been performed to determine the trace elements that have significant effects on corrosion behavior.
Predicting cross-country results using feature selection and evolutionary computation

Although some work has been done to better predict the outcome of sporting events, it has focused on mainstream sports such as football and has typically employed forecasting or machine learning techniques. This work focuses on the sport of cross-country, and uses feature selection and evolutionary computation to better predict National Meet results. Feature Selection is utilized to find the most optimal feature set and a Particle Swarm Optimizer (PSO) to find the most optimal weight set. The best results are attained using the PSO, with an improvement over the current system of 2.5% for Women and 0.3% for Men.
A Feasibility Study of Life-Extending Controls for Aircraft Turbine Engines Using a Generic Air Force Model

Abstract : Turbine engine controllers are typically designed and operated to meet required or desired performance criterion within stability margins, while maximizing fuel efficiency. The U.S. Air Force turbine engine research program is seeking to incorporate sustainable cost reduction into this approach, by considering a life-cycle design objective if the life of the engine is considered as an objective during the design of the engine controller. Specifically during aircraft takeoff, the turbine engines are subject to high temperature variations that aggravate the stress of the material used in their construction and thus a negative effect in their life spans. Therefore, the control strategy needs to be re-evaluated to include operating cost, and extending the life of the engine is one way to reduce that. Life-Extending Control (LEC) is an area that deals with control action, engine component life usage, and designing an intelligent control algorithm embedded in the FADEC. This paper evaluates the LEC, based on critical components research, to demonstrate how an intelligent engine control algorithm can drastically reduce the engine life usage, with minimum sacrifice in performance. Finally, a generic turbine engine is extensively simulated using a sophisticated non-linear model of the turbine engine. The paper concludes that LEC is worth consideration and further research should include development of the damage models for turbine engines, and experimental research that could correlate the damage models to actual damage for turbine engines. This could lead to implementation of online damage models in real-time that will allow for more robust damage prevention.
From Hot Ashes to a Cool Recovery: Reducing Risk by Acting on Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery Lessons Learned

This case discusses the importance of business continuity and disaster recovery planning (BCDRP) well in advance of a disaster. While the Visiting Nurses Association (VNA) of Texas experienced a de...
The effect of membrane capacitance on non-linear summation of synaptic potentials*

When transmitter substances act on post-synaptic membranes the usual effect is to produce an increase in membrane conductance. At excitatory synapses the increase in conductance produces a depolarization which is not related linearly to the underlying conductance change. Therefore, in order to obtain a measure of the conductance change, it is necessary to correct the amplitude of the depolarization for this non-linearity. The correction factor most commonly used was derived without considering the capacitance of the post-synaptic membrane. The effect of capacitance is considered here and a modified correction factor derived.
Intracranial calcifications in childhood medulloblastoma: relation to nevoid basal cell carcinoma syndrome.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Medulloblastoma is one of the most common posterior fossa tumors to occur in children. Our purpose was to document the frequency, location, and time of occurrence of intracranial calcifications in cranial CT studies of children with medulloblastoma. METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed cranial CT studies of 56 patients diagnosed with medulloblastoma from 1983 through 1997 for the presence of intracranial calcifications. The findings were compared with 159 cranial CT studies of patients who were evaluated in the emergency department (control group). Thirty-two patients with medulloblastoma without shunts were compared with 118 patients from the control group without shunts. Similarly, 24 patients with medulloblastoma with shunts were compared with 41 patients from the control group with shunts. RESULTS: Overall, three (9%) patients with medulloblastoma without shunts, four (16%) patients with medulloblastoma with shunts, and four (10%) patients from the control group with shunts had falx calcification. Only the two children carrying the diagnoses of medulloblastoma and nevoid basal cell carcinoma syndrome, however, had calcification of the falx cerebri shown on the cranial CT scans obtained during the peridiagnostic period. Both were diagnosed with medulloblastoma before the age of 3 years and later developed jaw cysts and multiple basal cell carcinomas in the radiation field. CONCLUSION: Previous studies have shown that falx calcification is a major component of nevoid basal cell carcinoma syndrome. Our two cases illustrate the importance of considering the diagnosis of nevoid basal cell carcinoma syndrome when falx calcification is present in young patients with medulloblastoma. If the concomitant diagnosis of nevoid basal cell carcinoma syndrome is made, alternative types of therapy should be sought to minimize radiation therapy sequelae.
Tomographic imaging of airglow from airborne spectroscopic measurements

A description is given of the methodology based on a single, aircraft-mounted spectroscopic imager to tomographically reconstruct airglow perturbations induced by atmospheric gravity waves. In this configuration, the imager passes under the airglow structure to gather multiple-angle views of the wave structure in a relatively short amount of time. Under the assumption that the airglow structure does not change significantly during the acquisition interval, the data can be tomographically inverted to estimate the 2D (horizontal-vertical) airglow structure. We develop an inversion strategy for this image formation task and illustrate its applicability by inverting time-sequential imaging data taken from different vantage points during the ALOHA-93 campaign to reconstruct atmospheric gravity wave structures.
Can fault‐exposure‐potential estimates improve the fault detection abilities of test suites?

Code-coverage-based test data adequacy criteria typically treat all coverable code elements (such as statements, basic blocks or outcomes of decisions) as equal. In practice, however, the probability that a test case can expose a fault in a code element varies: some faults are more easily revealed than others. Thus, several researchers have suggested that if one could estimate the probability that a fault in a code element will cause a failure, one could use this estimate to determine the number of executions of a code element that are required to achieve a certain level of confidence in that element's correctness. This estimate, in turn, could be used to improve the fault-detection effectiveness of test suites and help testers distribute testing resources more effectively. This conjecture is intriguing; however, like many such conjectures it has never been directly examined empirically. If empirical evidence were to support this conjecture, it would motivate further research into methodologies for obtaining fault-exposure-potential estimates and incorporating them into test data adequacy criteria. This paper reports the results of experiments conducted to investigate the effects of incorporating an estimate of fault-exposure probability into the statement coverage test data adequacy criterion. The results of these experiments, however, ran contrary to the conjectures of previous researchers. Although incorporation of the estimates did produce statistically significant increases in the fault-detection effectiveness of test suites, these increases were quite small, suggesting that the approach might not be able to produce the gains hoped for and might not be worth the cost of its employment. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
“Suspension plasty”: Trapeziometacarpal joint reconstruction using abductor pollicis longus

Abstract Painful arthrosis of the trapeziometacarpal joint (thumb basal joint) is the most common degenerative condition leading to dysfunction of the critical thumb ray. An arthroplastic reconstruction of this joint should be simple in concept, use only autogenous tissue, achieve pain relief, maintain thumb ray length and mobility at the metacarpal base, restore stability for power pinch and grasp function, and achieve predictable, reproducible long-term results. “Suspensionplasty,” as described in this report, has been used by the author since 1981. Initially, the technique was conceived as a method for salvaging failed silicone trapezium implant arthroplasties. Since 1982, Suspensionplasty has been used as the author's procedure of choice for trapeziometacarpal reconstruction of the thumb. It has proven to satisfy the above criteria for arthroplastic reconstruction.
Conditioning the Instructor's Behavior: A Class Project in Psychology of Learning

A project in conditioning for a Psychology o f Learning class is described. Students work as a group to select a target behavior and implement conditioning procedures using an ABAB design. The instructor serves as the subject of the experiment. Each student describes the experiment in an APA-style paper, which counts for 25% of the course grade. The project is popular with students; their experiments are often successful and fun.
30 years of adaptive neural networks: perceptron, Madaline, and backpropagation

Fundamental developments in feedforward artificial neural networks from the past thirty years are reviewed. The history, origination, operating characteristics, and basic theory of several supervised neural-network training algorithms (including the perceptron rule, the least-mean-square algorithm, three Madaline rules, and the backpropagation technique) are described. The concept underlying these iterative adaptation algorithms is the minimal disturbance principle, which suggests that during training it is advisable to inject new information into a network in a manner that disturbs stored information to the smallest extent possible. The two principal kinds of online rules that have developed for altering the weights of a network are examined for both single-threshold elements and multielement networks. They are error-correction rules, which alter the weights of a network to correct error in the output response to the present input pattern, and gradient rules, which alter the weights of a network during each pattern presentation by gradient descent with the objective of reducing mean-square error (averaged over all training patterns). >
Baby Boomers: Hope For The Best Or Plan For The Worst?

In The Long Baby Boom, Jeff Goldsmith challenges the growing consensus that the projected increases in spending for Medicare and Social Security threaten the economic future of the United States. His effort to debunk the “catastropharians”—Goldsmith’s term for those who warn that, left unchecked, the federal spending generated by baby-boom retirement will lead to an unsustainable budget deficit for future generations—begins with an insightful discussion of baby-boomers’ values, attitudes, and behavior. Goldsmith makes three observations about baby boomers that should inform policy change: they are interested in continuing to work, their confidence in government is limited, and they accept that Social Security and Medicare will provide limited postretirement support. Goldsmith further asserts that baby boomers will be able to self-finance a significant percentage of their social needs, thus reducing the shift to younger workers. In addition, he argues, the wealth amassed by the top quartile will fuel future economic growth. Goldsmith says past is not prologue. He understands that the heterogeneity of the boomer population is significant. He stratifies them into three groups: Set for Life; Might Be OK; and Struggling and Anxious. His vision is flexible policy that gives greater choice and control over public benefits. Rejecting the onesize-fits-all solutions of the past is a promising approach to ending the practice of giving social subsidies to those who do not need them. Goldsmith’s optimism springs largely from his assumptions about boomers’ wealth. His data, however, are at odds with other analyses. For instance, the Center for Retirement Research (CRR) found that even if households work to age sixty-five and annuitize all of their financial assets, including receipts from reverse mortgages, 44 percent would still be “at risk” of being unable to maintain their standard of living in retirement.1 Also, baby boomers are not all building reserves for retirement. Instead, many spend all of their earnings and more, contributing to the negative savings rate and huge credit card debt among the working population.2 Like most policy experts, Goldsmith selects information that advances his thesis. When the issues are as complex as Social Security and Medicare, however, the policy community has a responsibility to reconcile different data and conclusions to shape effective policy for a heterogeneous population. Since nearly all baby boomers will need and use Medicare, any discussion of boomers’ financial health must include the potential impact of private health care spending. The CRR study found that when health care (out-ofpocket payments) was factored in, the percentage of “at risk” households climbed from 44 percent to 61 percent.3 In addition, the CRR estimated that an individual and couple should have $102,000 and $206,000, respectively, earmarked for health care when they reB o o k R e v i e w s
Identifying Future Scientists: Predicting Persistence into Research Training

This study used semistructured interviews and grounded theory to look for characteristics among college undergraduates that predicted persistence into Ph.D. and M.D./Ph.D. training. Participants in the summer undergraduate and postbaccalaureate research programs at the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine were interviewed at the start, near the end, and 8–12 months after their research experience. Of more than 200 themes considered, five characteristics predicted those students who went on to Ph.D. and M.D./Ph.D. training or to M.D. training intending to do research: 1) Curiosity to discover the unknown, 2) Enjoyment of problem solving, 3) A high level of independence, 4) The desire to help others indirectly through research, and 5) A flexible, minimally structured approach to the future. Web-based surveys with different students confirmed the high frequency of curiosity and/or problem solving as the primary reason students planned research careers. No evidence was found for differences among men, women, and minority and nonminority students. Although these results seem logical compared with successful scientists, their constancy, predictive capabilities, and sharp contrast to students who chose clinical medicine were striking. These results provide important insights into selection and motivation of potential biomedical scientists and the early experiences that will motivate them toward research careers.
The effect of surgical margins on outcomes for low grade MPNSTs and atypical neurofibroma

Author(s): Bernthal, Nicholas M; Putnam, Angelica; Jones, Kevin B; Viskochil, David; Randall, R Lor | Abstract: Background and objectivesWhile convention defines atypical neurofibroma as benign and low-grade malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumors (MPNSTs) as malignant, sparse outcomes data exist for these tumors. This study reviews clinical outcomes of surgically resected low-grade MPNST and atypical neurofibroma, focusing on the effect of surgical margins on outcome.MethodsThis study is a retrospective review of 23 patients who underwent surgical resection of a low-grade MPNST or atypical neurofibroma. Treatment characteristics of adjuvant therapy and surgical margin were noted. Endpoints of local recurrence, presence of metastatic disease, disease-specific survival, and overall survival were reviewed.ResultsEighteen of 23 patients (78%) had microscopically positive margins on the resection. Disease-specific survival was 100% for both atypical neurofibroma patients and those with low-grade MPNST, regardless of surgical margin. Local recurrence in terms of recurrence of measureable disease occurred in 2/12 (16.7%) of LGMPNST patients and 1/11 (9.1%) of atypical NF patients, all of whom had microscopically positive surgical margins.ConclusionsIn a study dedicated exclusively to "intermediate" nerve sheath tumors, no patients developed metastatic disease nor died of disease despite a high rate of microscopically positive surgical margins (78%). While positive margins did lead to increased rates of local recurrence, these data suggest that surgeons potentially can temper their zeal for negative surgical margins in the setting of low-grade MPNST and atypical neurofibroma, as surgical morbidity may be more important than a presumed survival benefit of wide resection.
Double-layer Color Effects in Porcelain Systems

The color of an unshaded body porcelain was determined at three thicknesses on white, gray, and three chromatic backings. Spectral absorption and scattering coefficients of the porcelain were determined from the diffuse reflectance at one thickness on the white and gray backings. These optical coefficients, when utilized with the Kubelka-Munk reflectance theory, accurately predicted the color of the other sample configurations studied. The scattering of the body porcelain was found to decrease with increasing wavelength within the visible spectrum, in accordance with scattering theory for particles not substantially less than the wavelength of the scattered light. For the filtering effects of a translucent material in optical contact with a backing, the Kubelka-Munk reflectance theory described the interaction between the optical absorption and scattering within the translucent material and the reflectance of the backing.
Optimizing redundant-data clustering for interactive walkthrough applications

In modern walkthrough applications, storing massive datasets has become easy and inexpensive due to the availability of gigantic disk-based storage devices including hard drives, DVDs, and Blu-ray discs. However, fetching data from these devices for processing and rendering in interactive environments remains a bottleneck as data transfer speed has not kept pace with the sizes of both the secondary storage and main memory.Out-of-core algorithms are commonly used as a solution to transfer data efficiently from the secondary storage to main memory. Existing algorithms strongly rely on suitable data layout algorithms to reduce the data fetch time. However, in spite of all commonly used techniques, the total time required to seek and transfer data can still easily exceed the budget for total data fetch time. In this work, we propose an orthogonal approach to aggregate data and store them redundantly in multiple places in the storage device to ensure consistent data fetching performance. We pose this as a linear integer programming problem to minimize the amount of redundancy subject to the fetch time budget constraint. We provide an implementation on datasets with hundreds of millions of triangles to demonstrate how this data clustering can be created in practice and how the optimal solution is found.
Compound versus multigranular exocytosis in peritoneal mast cells

We have used the whole-cell patch-pipette technique to measure the step increases in the cell membrane capacitance (equivalent to the membrane area) caused by the fusion of secretory granules in degranulating murine mast cells. We have observed that up to 30% of the total membrane expansion caused by degranulation results from large fusion events that cannot be explained by the fusion of single secretory granules. These large events are observed mainly in the initial phase of a degranulation. We have developed a simple mathematical model for a mast cell to test whether these large events are caused by a stimulus-induced, granule-to-granule fusion that occurs before their exocytosis (multigranular exocytosis). Our results suggest that the large fusion events are caused by the exocytosis of granule aggregates that existed before stimulation and that are located at the cell's periphery. We propose a novel mechanism by which granule aggregates can be formed at the periphery of the cell. This mechanism relies on the ability of a transiently fused granule ("flicker") to fuse with more internally located granules in a sequential manner. This pattern may result in the formation of larger peripheral granules that later on can fuse with the membrane. The formation of peripheral granule aggregates may potentiate a subsequent secretory response.
"Seeing things in my head": a synesthete's images for music and notes.

We explored synesthetic experiences (photisms) elicited by music and notes for GS, a 22-year-old female college student, who is a genuine digit synesthete (Mills et al 1999 Cognitive Neuropsychology16 181–191). After extensive interviews, we conducted five studies using synthesizer notes in different octaves and in different instrument sounds. GS described, drew, or selected her photisms from alternatives. The results were: (a) her photisms had shape, color, movement, and texture; (b) different instruments had photisms with different shapes and families of instruments had similar shapes; (c) low-pitched notes were darker and larger than high notes; (d) instrument and pitch affected each other; (e) a given note was perceived as darker after a high note than after a low note; and (f) GS's drawings of notes became more consistent with repeated trials. Theoretical observations are discussed on the basis of these results.
Is all that fluctuates delirium

This case study highlights features suggestive of underlying mental illness in an HIV patient presenting with altered mental status.
Auspicious birth dates among Chinese in California

The number eight is considered lucky in Chinese culture, e.g. the Beijing Olympics began at 8:08 pm on 8/8/2008. Given the potential for discretion in selecting particular dates of labor induction or scheduled Cesarean section (C-section), we consider whether Chinese-American births in California occur disproportionately on the 8th, 18th, or 28th day of the month. We find 2.3% "too many" Chinese births on these auspicious birth dates, whereas Whites show no corresponding increase. The increase in Chinese births is driven by higher parity C-sections: the number of repeat C-sections is 6% "too high" on auspicious birth dates. Sons born to Chinese parents account for the entire increase; daughter deliveries do not seem to be timed to achieve "lucky" birth dates. We also find avoidance of repeat C-section deliveries on the 4th, 14th, and 24th of the month, considered unlucky in Chinese culture. Finally, we replicate earlier work finding that Friday the 13th delivery dates are avoided and document a particularly large decrease among Chinese. For Whites and Chinese in California, mothers with higher levels of education are particularly likely to avoid delivering on the 13th.
Hypnotic enhancement of cognitive-behavioral weight loss treatments--another meta-reanalysis.

In a 3rd meta-analysis of the effect of adding hypnosis to cognitive-behavioral treatments for weight reduction, additional data were obtained from authors of 2 studies, and computational inaccuracies in both previous meta-analyses were corrected. Averaged across posttreatment and follow-up assessment periods, the mean weight loss was 6.00 lbs. (2.72 kg) without hypnosis and 11.83 lbs. (5.37 kg) with hypnosis. The mean effect size of this difference was 0.66 SD. At the last assessment period, the mean weight loss was 6.03 lbs. (2.74 kg) without hypnosis and 14.88 lbs. (6.75 kg) with hypnosis. The effect size for this difference was 0.98 SD. Correlational analyses indicated that the benefits of hypnosis increased substantially over time (r = .74).
Time-resolved methods in biophysics. 8. Frequency domain fluorometry: applications to intrinsic protein fluorescence

Time-resolved fluorescence spectroscopy is an indispensable tool in the chemical, physical and biological sciences for the study of fast kinetic processes in the subpicosecond to microsecond time scale. This review focuses on the development and modern implementation of the frequency domain approach to time-resolved fluorescence. Both intensity decay (lifetime) and anisotropy decay (dynamic polarization) will be considered and their application to intrinsic protein fluorescence will be highlighted. In particular we shall discuss the photophysics of the aromatic amino acids, tryptophan, tyrosine and phenylalanine, which are responsible for intrinsic protein fluorescence. This discussion will be illustrated with examples of frequency domain studies on several protein systems.