cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Plasmin effect on platelet glycoprotein Ib-von Willebrand factor interactions

We have studied the effect of streptokinase on platelets in platelet- rich plasma (PRP) and of plasmin on washed platelets. By three and one- half minutes after the addition of 50,000 IU/mL streptokinase to PRP, the maximum rate of ristocetin-induced platelet agglutination declined 40%, and by 60 minutes, it declined 70%. During the same time interval, the thrombin time increased from 20 seconds to over 120 seconds. At a concentration as low as 50 IU/mL, streptokinase reduced the maximum rate of ristocetin-induced platelet agglutination by 50% and prolonged the thrombin time to 1.5 times control value. Streptokinase added to PRP also caused inhibition of platelet aggregation following stimulation by 2.9 mumol/L adenosine diphosphate, 0.25 U/mL thrombin, and 0.025 mg/mL collagen. Plasmin, 0.05 to 1.0 CU/mL, reduced ristocetin-mediated agglutination of washed platelets in the presence of von Willebrand factor (vWF) from 66% of control to 2% of control, following a one-hour incubation. Autoradiograms produced following sodium dodecyl-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) of plasmin- treated 125I-surface-labeled platelets demonstrated progressive loss of a protein with a molecular weight (mol wt) of 180,000; simultaneously, a protein with mol wt 135,000 appeared on autoradiograms produced following SDS-PAGE of the surrounding platelet medium. These proteins are similar in molecular weight to glycoprotein (gp) Ib, a platelet surface receptor for vWF, and glycocalicin, a proteolytic fragment of gpIb. By use of an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) based immunoinhibition assay for glycocalicin, we were able to demonstrate that plasmin treatment of washed platelets released a glycocalicin- related antigen into the surrounding medium and that appearance of this material corresponding to loss of vWF-dependent, ristocetin-induced agglutination.
Polarization Symmetries in Direct Reactions: \( ^3He{\left( {\vec t,d} \right)^4}He \) and \( ^2H{\left( {\vec d,p} \right)^3}H \)

The observable consequences of particle symmetry or charge symmetry in reactions of the type b(a,c)c’ are well known. Here, the final-state particles c and c’ are the charge-symmetric members of an isospin doublet or are identical particles, c = c’. The symmetries imposed on the angular distributions of the cross section and the analyzing powers have been given by Barshay and Temmerl) and Simonius2):
Functional Data Analysis for Big Data: A Case Study on California Temperature Trends

In recent years, detailed historical records, remote sensing, genomics and medical imaging applications as well as the rise of the Internet-of-Things present novel data streams. Many of these data are instances where functions are more suitable data atoms than traditional multivariate vectors. Applied functional data analysis (FDA) presents a potentially fruitful but largely unexplored alternative analytics framework that can be incorporated directly into a general Big Data analytics suite. As an example, we present a modeling approach for the dynamics of a functional data set of climatic data. By decomposing functions via a functional principal component analysis and functional variance process analysis, a robust and informative characterization of the data can be derived; this provides insights into the relationship between the different modes of variation, their inherent variance process as well as their dependencies over time. The model is applied to historical data from the Global Historical Climatology Network in California, USA. The analysis reveals that climatic time-dependent information is jointly carried by the original processes as well as their noise/variance decomposition.
Identifying Pore Wetting Thresholds of Surfactants in Direct Contact Membrane Distillation

Abstract Direct contact membrane distillation (DCMD) is a potential on-site water treatment option for water reuse at solar energy facilities that require water for cooling and cleaning of panels/mirrors. Surfactants, which are often used as part of panel washing, can negatively impact the hydrophobic DCMD membranes and diminish the quality of the treated water. In this work, surfactant effects on DCMD were evaluated to assist in developing standard operating procedures for the reuse of wash waters by on-site DCMD systems. A non-ionic surfactant and an anionic surfactant were tested in a bench-scale DCMD system using commercially available hydrophobic membranes of varying materials and pore sizes. The surfactant concentration at which pore wetting occurred was determined using a novel graphical method developed for this work and verified analytically. All membranes evaluated had reduced hydrophobicity after being exposed to the surfactants, and all membrane materials evaluated were determined to have lower pore wetting concentrations for the non-ionic surfactant than of the anionic surfactant. Pore size had no significant effect on pore wetting concentrations. Overall, it was determined that the membrane material had the most significant effect on membrane performance, with PTFE membranes being able to tolerate higher concentrations of both surfactant types before pore wetting.
Influence of speaking style adaptations and semantic context on the time course of word recognition in quiet and in noise

Abstract This study examines the effects of different listener-oriented speaking styles and semantic contexts on online spoken word recognition using eyetracking. In Experiment 1, different groups of listeners participated in a word-identification-in-noise and in a pleasantness-rating task. Listeners heard sentences with high- versus low-predictability semantic contexts produced in infant-directed speech, Clear Speech, and Conversational Speech. Experiment 2 (in silence) and 3 (in noise) investigated the time course of visual fixations to target objects when participants were listening to different speaking styles and contexts. Results from all experiments show that relative to conversational speech, both infant-directed speech and Clear Speech improved word recognition for high-predictability sentences, in quiet as well as in noise. This indicates that established advantages of infant-directed speech for young listeners cannot be attributed only to affect; the acoustic enhancements in infant-directed speech benefit adult speech processing as well. Furthermore, in silence (Experiment 2) lexical access was facilitated by contextual cues even in conversational speech; but in noise (Experiment 3) listeners reliably focused the target only when a combination of contextual cues and listener-adapted acoustic–phonetic cues were available. These findings suggest that both semantic cues and listener-oriented acoustic enhancements are needed to facilitate word recognition, especially in adverse listening conditions.
The Formation of Turkish Republicanism: by Banu Turnaoğlu, Princeton, Princeton University Press, 2017, pp. 296 (Including bibliography and index), $39.95 (Hardcover), ISBN 9780691172743

In the high-level Ottoman bureaucratic jargon, the term ‘republicanism’ was a derogatory expression. Intellectuals and statesmen used it in a pejorative sense, and contended that it was antithetica...
Security Analysis of Multiple SDN Controllers Based on Stochastic Petri Nets

Distributed control plane architecture in SDN solves the problem of single point of failure. However, it does not protect the network from security attacks. Therefore, we investigate SDN with multiple controllers’ attacks using Stochastic Petri Net. We identify attacker actions and model the attacker scenarios against the control plane. We analyze the developed SPN attack graph and study the uncertainty of the attacker such as the number of attackers in the network and attacker rates.
Accuracy and Precision of Three Consumer-Grade Motion Sensors During Overground and Treadmill Walking in People With Parkinson Disease: Cross-Sectional Comparative Study.

Background: Wearable motion sensors are gaining popularity for monitoring free-living physical activity among people with Parkinson disease (PD), but more evidence supporting the accuracy and precision of motion sensors for capturing step counts is required in people with PD. Objective: This study aimed to examine the accuracy and precision of 3 common consumer-grade motion sensors for measuring actual steps taken during prolonged periods of overground and treadmill walking in people with PD. Methods: A total of 31 ambulatory participants with PD underwent 6-min bouts of overground and treadmill walking at a comfortable speed. Participants wore 3 devices (Garmin Vivosmart 3, Fitbit One, and Fitbit Charge 2 HR), and a single researcher manually counted the actual steps taken. Accuracy and precision were based on absolute and relative metrics, including intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs) and Bland-Altman plots. Results: Participants walked 628 steps over ground based on manual counting, and Garmin Vivosmart, Fitbit One, and Fitbit Charge 2 HR devices had absolute (relative) error values of 6 (6/628, 1.0%), 8 (8/628, 1.3%), and 30 (30/628, 4.8%) steps, respectively. ICC values demonstrated excellent agreement between manually counted steps and steps counted by both Garmin Vivosmart (0.97) and Fitbit One (0.98) but poor agreement for Fitbit Charge 2 HR (0.47). The absolute (relative) precision values for Garmin Vivosmart, Fitbit One, and Fitbit Charge 2 HR were 11.1 (11.1/625, 1.8%), 14.7 (14.7/620, 2.4%), and 74.4 (74.4/598, 12.4%) steps, respectively. ICC confidence intervals demonstrated low variability for Garmin Vivosmart (0.96 to 0.99) and Fitbit One (0.93 to 0.99) but high variability for Fitbit Charge 2 HR (–0.57 to 0.74). The Fitbit One device maintained high accuracy and precision values for treadmill walking, but both Garmin Vivosmart and Fitbit Charge 2 HR (the wrist-worn devices) had worse accuracy and precision for treadmill walking. Conclusions: The waist-worn sensor (Fitbit One) was accurate and precise in measuring steps with overground and treadmill walking. The wrist-worn sensors were accurate and precise only during overground walking. Similar research should inform the application of these devices in clinical research and practice involving patients with PD.
Augmented Reality for Acetabular Component Placement in Direct Anterior Total Hip Arthroplasty

Abstract Background Malposition of the acetabular component of a hip prosthesis can lead to poor outcomes. Traditional placement with fluoroscopic guidance results in a 35% malpositioning rate. We compared the (1) accuracy and precision of component placement, (2) procedure time, (3) radiation dose, and (4) usability of a novel 3-dimensional augmented reality (AR) guidance system vs standard fluoroscopic guidance for acetabular component placement. Methods We simulated component placement using a radiopaque foam pelvis. Cone-beam computed tomographic data and optical data from a red-green-blue-depth camera were coregistered to create the AR environment. Eight orthopedic surgery trainees completed component placement using both methods. We measured component position (inclination, anteversion), procedure time, radiation dose, and usability (System Usability Scale score, Surgical Task Load Index value). Alpha = .05. Results Compared with fluoroscopic technique, AR technique was significantly more accurate for achieving target inclination (P = .01) and anteversion (P = .02) and more precise for achieving target anteversion (P Conclusion A novel 3-dimensional AR guidance system produced more accurate inclination and anteversion and more precise anteversion in the placement of the acetabular component of a hip prosthesis. AR guidance was faster and easier to use than standard fluoroscopic guidance and did not involve greater radiation dose.
Poly(Beta-Amino Ester) Nanoparticles Enable Nonviral Delivery of CRISPR-Cas9 Plasmids for Gene Knockout and Gene Deletion

The CRISPR-Cas9 system is a powerful gene-editing tool with wide-ranging applications, but the safe and efficient intracellular delivery of CRISPR components remains a challenge. In this study, we utilized biodegradable poly(beta-amino ester) nanoparticles to codeliver plasmid DNA encoding Cas9 and short guide RNA (sgRNA), respectively, to enable gene knockout following a CRISPR-mediated cleavage at one genomic site (1-cut edit), as well as gene deletion following DNA cleavage at two sites flanking a region of interest (2-cut edits). We designed a reporter system that allows for easy evaluation of both types of edits: gene knockout can be assessed by a decrease in near-infrared fluorescent protein (iRFP) fluorescence, whereas deletion of an expression stop cassette turns on a red-enhanced nanolantern fluorescence/luminescence dual reporter. Nanoparticles enabled up to 70% gene knockout due to small indels, as well as 45% gain-of-function expression after a 600-bp deletion edit. The efficiency of 2-cut edits is more sensitive than 1-cut edits to Cas9 and the sgRNA expression level. We demonstrate promising biodegradable nanoparticle formulations for gene editing. Our findings also provide new insights into the screening and transfection requirements for different types of gene edits, which are applicable for designing nonviral delivery systems for the CRISPR-Cas9 platform.
Calcium-dependent activation of guanylate cyclase by S100b

Calcium concentration in the dark-adapted retinal rod outer segment is in the 200 to 600 nM range, and the guanylate cyclase of rod outer segments is thought to be activated in response to a fall in calcium concentration triggered by light. Calcium-binding proteins that mediate such activation, i.e., activation in the absence of or presence of low nanomolar calcium concentrations, have been identified and termed GCAPs (Guanaylate Cyclase Activating Proteins). In the course of our search for GCAP-like proteins in bovine retina, we isolated a protein fraction that stimulated rod outer segment cyclase activity at calcium concentrations higher than those in dark-adapted rod outer segments. We purified the protein responsible for this calcium-dependent stimulation of cyclase activity and found it to be of 6-7 kDa molecular weight as judged by electrophoresis under denaturing conditions and about 40 kDa by gel filtration analysis. Maximum stimulation of cyclase activity was observed at 3-4 micromolar concentration of the protein. It required about 1.5 micromolar free calcium concentration for half-maximal activation of the enzyme. Partial amino acid sequencing of peptide fragments of the activator suggested that the protein was identical with S100b, a previously described calcium-binding protein. Further characterization with antibody specific for S100b supported this possibility. However, the protein isolated in our laboratory and termed CD-GCAP (Calcium-Dependent Guanylate Cyclase Activator Protein) was found to differ significantly from commercially available S100b in the magnitude and calcium dependence of cyclase activation. It was also found to be inactivated by hydroxylamine while S100b was resistant. Investigation into these differences showed that purification methods had a significant influence on the properties of the activator, producing a less active (S 100b) or more active (CD-GCAP) protein, but that it was, otherwise, one and the same protein. We conclude from this study that rod outer segment guanylate cyclase, unlike any cyclase known so far, is capable of activation by two different types of calcium-binding proteins, one that activates in response to a decrease in calcium concentration, and the other, described here, which activates in response to an increase in calcium-concentration. We hypothesize that this cyclase and others like it will be colocalized with one or the other type of activator depending upon the physiological requirement, i.e., activation in response to decreasing or increasing calcium concentration.
Parameter Estimation in Three-Phase Power Distribution Networks Using Smart Meter Data

Accurate estimates of network parameters are essential for advanced control and monitoring in power distribution systems. The existing methods for parameter estimation either assume a simple single-phase network model or require widespread installation of micro-phasor measurement units (micro-PMUs), which are cost prohibitive. In this paper, we propose a parameter estimation approach, which considers three-phase series impedance and only leverages readily available smart meter measurements. We first build a physical model based on the linearized three-phase power flow manifold, which links the network parameters with the smart meter measurements. The parameter estimation problem is then formulated as a maximum likelihood estimation (MLE) problem. We prove that the correct network parameters yield the highest likelihood value. A stochastic gradient descent (SGD) method with early stopping is then adopted to solve the MLE problem. Comprehensive numerical tests show that the proposed algorithm improves the accuracy of the network parameters.
Chinaâ€™s Reactions to COVID-19 Outbreaks in Wuhan before Lockdown: The Impact of Three Weeks Delay

Background: Wuhan, China was the original epicenter of COVID-19 pandemic The goal of the current study is to understand the infection transmission dynamics be
The Interrelated Mechanics of Poroelastic Gels in Time- and Frequency-Domain Detected by Indentation

The force response of poroelastic materials including poroelastic gels to indentation is known to be time- and space-dependent (i.e., a function of indenter shape and size). Despite the complexity ...
Does the Rome Statute Empower Individuals or Organisations to Trigger the Jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court

Recently, the Office of the Prosecutor (OTP) of the ICC has received the complaints from Congolese and Rwandan individual persons and associations, claiming to pursue Rwandan leaders for the crimes reportedly committed in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Accordingly, this situation raises the issue of whether individual persons or organisations may trigger the ICC’s jurisdiction pursuant to the suit filed to the ICC’s Prosecutor. By looking at the provisions of the Rome Statute, the International Criminal Court founding treaty, this paper analyses the role of individuals and organisations in the functioning of the ICC. It argues that, although the ICC’s Prosecutor may decide to open an investigation, acting under his proprio motu powers, on the basis of communications and information he has received from them, individuals, groups, intergovernmental or non-governmental organisations play no role in triggering the ICC’s jurisdiction rather than providing the mere communications and information on crimes within the jurisdiction of the ICC.
Strategic, Emotional, and Motivational Influences on Metacognition in Older Adulthood

While older adulthood is often associated with a decline in cognitive functions, there are numerous studies that suggest that metacognitive functioning remains relatively intact. This disparity between, for example, explicit memory functioning and ones’ insight and control over memory among older adults raises some interesting questions. Can older adults use metacognitive strategies to help compensate for declining memory functions? What role do interest, emotions, and knowledge have on metacognitive judgments? The current chapter discusses both intrinsic and extrinsic motivational influences, and the role of strategy, in older adults’ metacognitive processes.
Flat-Band-Enabled Triplet Excitonic Insulator in a Diatomic Kagome Lattice.

The excitonic insulator (EI) state is a strongly correlated many-body ground state, arising from an instability in the band structure toward exciton formation. We show that the flat valence and conduction bands of a semiconducting diatomic Kagome lattice, as exemplified in a superatomic graphene lattice, can possibly conspire to enable an interesting triplet EI state, based on density-functional theory calculations combined with many-body $GW$ and Bethe-Salpeter equation. Our results indicate that massive carriers in flat bands with highly localized electron and hole wave functions significantly reduce the screening and enhance the exchange interaction, leading to an unusually large triplet exciton binding energy ($\ensuremath{\sim}1.1\text{ }\text{ }\mathrm{eV}$) exceeding the $GW$ band gap by $\ensuremath{\sim}0.2\text{ }\text{ }\mathrm{eV}$ and a large singlet-triplet splitting of $\ensuremath{\sim}0.4\text{ }\text{ }\mathrm{eV}$. Our findings enrich once again the intriguing physics of flat bands and extend the scope of EI materials.
Training human service staff to implement behavioral skills training using a video-based intervention.

The current study evaluated the efficacy of a video-based training to teach 4 staff working in a human service setting to use behavioral skills training (BST) to teach job-related skills to others. Low levels of BST integrity were observed during baseline. Immediately after viewing a 13-min training video, 2 participants implemented BST at mastery (i.e., 100% integrity). The remaining 2 participants required brief supplemental performance feedback to reach criterion performance. The effects of the training generalized to training 2 novel skills and maintained in follow-up probes conducted 1 to 4 weeks posttraining. A social validity measure indicated high levels of satisfaction with the video-based training and high acceptability of BST. Implications of these findings for organizational training practices and directions for future research are discussed.
Influence of vegetation and vegetation management on Culex mosquitoes in surface stormwater habitats

Stormwater drainage infrastructure creates abundant, nutrient-rich habitats in urban landscapes vulnerable to colonization by undesirable organisms, including vector mosquitoes and invasive aquatic macrophytes. The overall aim of our study was to identify consequences from cattails (Typha spp.) and their management to the seasonal abundance and adult fitness parameters of Culex pipiens and Cx. restuans developing in these surface stormwater habitats. We surveyed juvenile mosquitoes in 36 stormwater management structures (ditches and detention basins) with differing plant species composition and frequency of mowing. Effects of litter biomass, litter type (cattail, turfgrass) and exogenous enrichment with orthophosphate on oviposition site selection were evaluated in aquatic mesocosms. Individual laboratory experiments investigated effects of litter factors on juvenile development rate and survivorship, and adult body size and starvation resistance. We observed a greater abundance of both Cx. pipiens and Cx. restuans larvae in stormwater management structures with recently mowed vegetation. Additionally, we found a significant interaction between mowing and dominant plant type for Cx. pipiens, with the greatest number of larvae observed in mowed turfgrass habitats. For both Culex species, increasing litter biomass and the addition of orthophosphate enhanced oviposition rates in mesocosms, but the two species differed in their relative response to litter type. Similarly, we detected differences in the effects of litter type and biomass on Cx. pipiens and Cx. restuans development and adult fitness traits. Our results suggest asymmetrical effects from invasion and management of cattails in stormwater ditches and detention basins on potential risks posed by these two vector species.
Reflections on the Trial of Vichy Collaborator Paul Touvier for Crimes against Humanity in France

This article traces the historical and legal background of France’s prosecution of Paul Touvier in the 1990s, concluding that Touvier’s conviction for crimes against humanity was legally and morally justified. Touvier’s victims and descendants were honored by his conviction, his decades-long evasion of the law was remedied, and the principles expounded at Nuremberg were resurrected and applied. The author is skeptical, however, about the application of the trial to broader questions about the action of the Vichy government. Indeed, this essay suggests that efforts to transform Touvier’s trial into an authoritative judgement on Vichy France resulted in inevitable disappointment.
The Hague Convention on the Protection of Children And Co-operation in Respect of Inter-Country Adoption

The legal, ethical and political implications of intercountry adoptions exploded into the American spotlight in 2009, when Nancy Hansen, an American adoptive grandmother from Tennessee, pinned a note on her daughter’s adopted 7-year old Russian child, Artyom Savelyev, and booked him on a one-way flight back to Moscow. In the note Hansen alleged that the boy suffered from “severe psychopathic issues” and that the family, fearful for its safety, “no longer wish[ed] to parent [him]”. Whatever the cause, the outcome is not disputed: over the last year the flow of Russian children to American homes has slowed to a trickle, leaving some 600,000 Russian children in need of permanent homes—pawns in a game of international politics in which the players all claim to be acting in the best interests of the children, but which children seem invariably to lose.
Invasive Fungal Infections and Approaches to Their Diagnosis

Abstract Invasive fungal infections have become a major source of morbidity and mortality over the past three decades. The use of aggressive chemotherapy, organ transplantation, and the availability and widespread use of immunosuppressive treatments for many medical ailments has resulted in large populations at risk for fungal disease. Early diagnosis and prompt therapy are instrumental to successful treatment of these infections. Unfortunately, conventional methods for diagnosing fungal disease are slow and insensitive. Important advances in diagnosing invasive mycoses have been realised over the years, particularly in laboratory-based testing. Rapid culture-independent methods for detection of infection, and for identifying fungi in the laboratory, and reference guidelines for antifungal susceptibility testing have been developed and validated for use in the clinical laboratory. We will review these technological advances and our understanding of their clinical application and impacts.
Effect of eukaryotic initiation factor 4F on AUG selection in a bicistronic mRNA

Artificial bicistronic mRNAs based on rabbit beta-globin and bacterial chloramphenicol acetyltransferase protein-coding sequences were tested for translation activity in a mouse astrocytoma cell-free extract. This cell extract exhibited an apparent preference for 5'-distal or internal initiation over 5'-proximal ("first AUG") initiation. 5'-Distal initiation appeared to be 5'-cap independent, suggesting that nonstandard initiation was responsible. This conclusion was based on a lack of inhibition of internal initiation by added cap analog and insensitivity of internal initiation to the presence or absence of a 5'-cap structure. Exogenous reticulocyte initiation factors were tested for effect on 5'-proximal initiation. The only factor with a significant effect was found to be eukaryotic initiation factor 4F, or the cap-binding protein. Addition of this factor promoted 5'-end initiation as evident by a general increase in 5'-proximal open reading frame (ORF) product relative to 5'-distal ORF product. The relative expression of 5'-proximal to 5'-distal ORFs in bicistronic or multicistronic mRNAs may very well be dependent on activity levels of eukaryotic initiation factor 4F and possibly other mRNA-dependent initiation factors.
High Molecular Weight Derivatives of Human Fibrinogen Produced by Plasmin II. MECHANISM OF THEIR ANTICOAGULANT ACTIVITY

Abstract Correlation of the anticoagulant potency of plasmin digests of fibrinogen with the concentration of the recognized degradation products in the digests indicated that the high molecular weight fibrinogen Fragments X and Y, described in the accompanying article, were more potent anticoagulants than the end stage Fragments D and E. Findings in crude digests were corroborated by studies of the relative activity of individual purified degradation products as anticoagulants in a thrombin time system. Evidence was obtained by analytical ultracentrifugation that complexes formed chiefly between fibrin monomer and the degradation products, but also between Fragment X and other degradation products both before and after the addition of thrombin. Some of the complexes were not clottable by thrombin; others were clotted slowly. The nonclottable complexes composed of fibrin monomer and degradation products appeared to be primarily responsible for the hemorrhagic tendency of patients with fibrinolytic syndromes.
Role of a Cl-bearing flux in the origin of depleted ocean floor magmas

[1] Plagioclase-hosted melt inclusions from ocean floor lavas are characterized by great diversity in their minor and trace element compositions. The incompatible element contents of the inclusions range from enriched to ultradepleted. Ultradepleted inclusions in lavas sampled from areas such as the Galapagos Platform and the Endeavour Segment of the Juan de Fuca Ridge have Ti/Zr values as high as 3000. Such high Ti/Zr (low Ti and much lower Zr, as little as >2 ppm) suggest a source material that was melted past the point of the exhaustion of clinopyroxene (harzburgite melting). Nevertheless, these same inclusions have (La/Sm)n > 0.25 (although with low La and Sm concentrations), low K2O (0.01–0.04 wt%), and high Cl (up to 1600 ppm). In addition, examination of melt inclusion data from over 30 locations worldwide shows that there is a correlation between the level of enrichment of the host lava and the trend in K2O versus Cl described by the inclusion population. Melt inclusions from enriched lavas are characterized by relatively low Cl contents at a given K2O and no high Cl inclusions. A wide range of Cl contents and uniformly low K2O characterizes inclusions from depleted lavas. Transitional lavas exhibit either intermediate slopes or two separate trends. In contrast, other incompatible elements, such as P, Ti, and the high field strength elements (HFSE), behave coherently. The paradox presented by high Cl and (La/Sm)n together with low HFSE and K2O in melt inclusion populations from depleted lavas, coupled with uniformly high incompatible element contents in enriched lava inclusions, is inconsistent with their derivation by variable degrees of melting. Correlation of Ti/Zr with Cl in the ultradepleted inclusions, plus the absence of high Cl contents in inclusions from enriched lavas supports the contention that this signal is a mantle phenomenon and not the result of alteration at or near the seafloor. The close association of ultradepleted and normal mid-ocean ridge basalt (NMORB) melt inclusions, sometimes in the same phenocryst, together with the existence of a complete array of melt compositions (i.e., not two distinct populations), demonstrates that the magma types were part of the same magma production episode. This combination of characteristics exhibited by melt inclusions may be produced by the interaction of a harzburgite source with a Cl, light rare earth element–bearing fluid derived from deep hydrothermal circulation. Fluctuation of magma supply may allow the upper mantle to be periodically cooled and altered by hydrothermal fluids, then undergo melting during resurgence of the magma supply. The ultradepleted component produced by that fluxed harzburgite may comprise as much as 5–10% of the array of magmas that make up NMORB magmas. If this is true, it has important implications for the thermal and mass budget and perhaps the rheology of the upper mantle and lower crust.
Leadership training to improve nurse retention

wallis a. & kennedy k.i. (2013) Journal of Nursing Management 21, 624–632 Leadership training to improve nurse retention Aim This paper discusses findings from an evaluation of a training programme designed to promote collaborative, team-based approaches to improve nurse retention within health care organizations. Background A year-long leadership training programme was designed and implemented to develop effective teams that could address retention challenges in a diverse set of organizations in Colorado ranging from public, private to non-profit. Evaluation An evaluation, based on a combination of participant observation, group interviews, and the use of standardized tests measuring individual emotional intelligence and team dynamics was conducted to assess the effectiveness of the training programme. Key issues What role do the emotional intelligence of individual members and organizational culture play in team effectiveness? Conclusions Out of five teams participating in the training programme, two performed exceptionally well, one experienced moderate success and two encountered significant problems. Team dynamics were significantly affected by the emotional intelligence of key members holding supervisory positions and by the existing culture and structure of the participating organizations. Implications for nursing management Team approaches to retention hold promise but require careful development and are most likely to work where organizations have a collaborative problem-solving environment.
Population and Habitat Ecology of Deer on Devils Tower National Monument

White-tailed (Odocoileus virginianus) and mule deer (0. hemionis) currently use Devils Tower National Monument and adjacent private agricultural lands year round or migrate from the Monument to other areas. In 1989, a game fence was constructed on the west and north borders of the Monument. Enclosure of the Monument by additional fencing could alter habitat use of deer substantially and create many of the problems associated with island reserves. National Park Service management policy directs the Monument to predict changes in the natural resources under its stewardship. Because current deer use of the Monument is not well documented, the Department of Zoology and Physiology and the Wyoming Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit, in cooperation with the Devils Tower National Monument, initiated a study in June 1990 to document current population numbers and habitat ecology of white-tailed and mule deer on the Monument as a baseline for monitoring long-term changes in the deer herd.
Understanding Collaborative Governance from the Structural Choice - Politics, IAD, and Transaction Cost Perspectives

Defined as the process of establishing, steering, facilitating, operating, and monitoring cross-sectoral organizational arrangements to address public policy problems, collaborative governance has emerged as an institutional form valued by both professional and research audiences across a growing range of policy arenas. Practice has preceded theory, however, and we know far more about particulars than how to explain from broader theoretical perspectives the emergence and viability of collaborative governance. This paper explores how three well established and related theoretical perspectives — structural choice politics, the institutional analysis and development (IAD) framework, and transaction cost analysis — can be used to bring theoretical clarity to the phenomenon of collaborative governance. In addition to suggesting research propositions from the three perspectives, the paper also proposes directions for future research.
Confronting Issues of Gender and Ethnicity: Women's Experiences as Aspiring Urban Principals.

This article examines, from a female perspective, the complexities of gender and ethnicity embedded in successful urban school leadership. The authors use qualitative data, collected from female pa...
A teacher's implementation of authentic assessment in an elementary science classroom

This study describes an elementary school teacher's implementation of authentic assessment strategies in her science classes. After completing a graduate elementary science methods course, this teacher decided to make changes that would align her assessment strategies with her hands-on approach to teaching science. She experimented with a variety of assessment strategies and was successful in the use of science logs, performance assessment, creative drama, scrapbooks, and interviews, while rejecting the use of portfolios. Factors that contributed to the successful implementation included administrative support, close contact with parents, collaboration with university faculty, teacher's ownership, and the teacher's flexibility to try a variety of strategies. The teacher's perception of assessment shifted toward an integrated model wherein instruction and assessment occur simultaneously. Her typical reaction after assessing her students changed from disappointment in how they performed on a test to surprise at how much they knew. © 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
The effects of response-dependent and response-independent methods on delayed alternation

Two frequently used methods of producing delayed alternation were compared at two ITI levels, 20 see and 6 min. One method alternated reward according to a fixed schedule (response independent), while the other demanded placement of reward opposite to the S’s previous response (response dependent). The response-dependent method produced a higher number of correct responses and alternations at both ITIs. Increasing the ITI duration from 20 sec to 6 min produced reliable decreases in the number of correct choices and alternations produced by Ss trained according to either procedure.
Theoretically‐derived, energy‐based criteria for aromaticity

Previous energy-based criteria for aromaticity developed from one electron eigenvalues (using methods ranging from Huckel to ab initio calculations) have not correlated well with experimentally derived criteria such as χ or chemical reactivity data, and are particularly poor for heteroaromatic compounds. Previous work has shown that criteria derived from the lowest π molecular orbitals of heteroaromatic compounds correlate well with χ and chemical reactivity, prompting us to modify Kollmar's procedure for determining aromatic stabilization energies by localizing the lowest π orbital rather than the entire π bonding manifold. This modified procedure was implemented with both the natural (NLMO) and Boys orbital localization methods, and was applied to a set of ten five-membered ring heteroaromatics and to pyridine and its diazine derivatives. The new criterion ΔπL correlated well with χ (R2 = 0.86 (NLMO); R2 = 0.92 (Boys)) for five-membered rings, and with theoretical measures of aromaticity for both sets of heteroaromatics. The Boys procedure gave better overall correlations and was markedly superior for pyrazole and pyridazine.
Comparative anatomy of excretory organs in vestimentiferan tube worms (Pogonophora, Obturata).

In the past, the excretory systems of only few vestimentiferan species have been examined in detail. This study presents comparative data on eight species on the basis of histological serial sections. Ridgeia piscesae was studied by transmission electron microscopy. All species examined possess a central excretory organ consisting of numerous small branching and intertwined excretory tubules. These are connected to voluminous glandular excretory ducts that lead to the exterior by single or paired excretory pores located at the anterior end of the vestimentum. A comparative analysis shows differences among the species with regard to several features, such as the number of excretory pores, presence/absence of excretory grooves and papillae, position of the excretory organ relative to the brain, and the shape of the excretory ducts. Neither podocytes nor coelomoducts could be detected; therefore, there is no indication of the presence of metanephridia. The vestimentiferan excretory system shows some similarities with the design in Athecanephria (Pogonophora, Perviata) and a general resemblance to the design in sabellid polychaetes, even though in the latter metanephridia are clearly present. J. Morphol. 250:1–11, 2001. © 2001 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
Finding your balance in the products and services debate

Software companies must balance product and service revenues to survive bad times and grow rapidly in good times.
Effect of the physicochemical properties on the permeation performance in fully aromatic crosslinked polyamide thin films

Thin-film-composite reverse-osmosis (RO) membranes were prepared by the interfacial polymerization of trifunctional 1,3,5-benzentricarbonyl chloride (TMC) with difunctional 1,3-benzendiamine (MPDA) or 1,4-benzendiamine (PPDA). The meta-positioned polyamide (MPDA/TMC) resulted in higher water flux but lower salt rejection than the para-positioned polyamide (PPDA/TMC). To understand this behavior, we studied various factors including the thickness, rupture strength, chemical properties, and solubilities of the water and salt in the thin-film polyamide. The thin films made from MPDA and PPDA possessed similar thicknesses and rupture strengths adequate for withstanding the RO operation pressure. However, the meta-positioned polyamide had higher hydrophilicity and greater molecular chain mobility than the para-positioned polyamide, resulting in higher water flux. In contrast, the para-positioned polyamide had lower salt solubility and lower molecular chain mobility than the meta-positioned polyamide, thereby possessing higher salt rejection. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 87: 569–576, 2003
Squares in Partial Words

Abstract We investigate the number of positions that do not start a square, the number of square occurrences, and the number of distinct squares in partial words, i.e., sequences that may have undefined positions called holes. We show that the limit of the ratio of the maximum number of positions not starting a square in a binary partial word with h holes over its length n is 15/31 and the limit of the ratio of the minimum number of square occurrences in a binary partial word with h holes over its length n is 103/187, provided the limit of h / n is 0. Both limits turn out to match with the known limits for binary full words (those without holes). We prove another surprising result that the maximal proportion of defined positions that are square-free to the number of defined positions in a binary partial word with h holes of length n is 1/2, provided the limit of h / n is in the interval [ 1 / 11 , 1 ) . We also give a 2 k h tight bound on the number of rightmost occurrences of squares per position in a k -ary partial word with h holes. In addition, we provide a more detailed analysis than earlier ones for the maximum number of distinct squares in a one-hole partial word of length n over an alphabet of size k , bound that is independent of k .
Calcium-ATPase and Insulin in Adolescent Offspring of Essential Hypertensive Parents

A number of abnormalities in calcium homeostasis have been reported in patients with essential hypertension. IN turn, insulin has been shown to influence the activity of the Ca(2+)-ATPase. We have previously shown that normotensive offspring of essential hypertensive individuals have an exaggerated insulin response to a glucose overload. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to evaluate basal and calmodulin-activated Ca(2+)-ATPase in red blood cells and its relationship to the insulin response during an intravenous glucose tolerance test in 27 normotensive adolescents with a family history of essential hypertension (F+) (mean age, 13.9 +/- 0.5 years) and in 10 control subjects matched for age and body mass index with no family history of hypertension (F-). The results (mean +/- SD) were as follows (mumol Pi/[mg protein/h]10(-1)): basal Ca(2+)-ATPase, 4.5 +/- 1.2 in F+ and 5.1 +/- 1.6 in F- (P = NS); calmodulin-activated Ca(2+)-ATPase, 13.6 +/- 3.9 in F+ and 16.2 +/- 1.7 in F- (P < .04). The insulin area under the curve after the glucose load was 3413 +/- 1674 microU/mL per hour in F+ and 2752 +/- 928 in F- (P = NS). Calmodulin-activated Ca(2+)-ATPase showed a negative correlation with the insulin area under the curve (r = -.59, P < .005) and cholesterol levels (r = -.38, P < .03). Urinary calcium excretion was 1.82 +/- 0.9 mmol/d in F+ and 2.47 +/- 0.9 mmol/d in F- (P = NS).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Toxic metal emissions from incineration: Mechanisms and control

Abstract Toxic metals appear in the effluents of many combustion processes, and their release into the environment has come under regulatory scrutiny. This paper reviews the nature of the problems associated with toxic metals in combustion processes, and describes where these problems occur and how they are addressed through current and proposed regulations. Although emphasis in this paper is on problems associated with metals from incineration processes, conventional fossil fuel combustion is also considered, insofar as it pertains to mechanisms governing the fate of metals during combustion in general. This paper examines the release of metals into the vapor phase, with the particle dynamics of a nucleating, condensing, and coagulating aerosol that may be subsequently formed, and with the reactive scavenging of metals by sorbents. Metals can be introduced into combustion chambers in many physical and chemical forms. The subsequent transformations and vaporization of any volatile metal depend on the combustion environment, the presence of chlorine and other species (reducing or oxidizing), on the nature of the reactive metallic species formed within the furnace, and on the presence of other inorganic species such as alumino-silicates. Some insight into how these factors influence metal release can be gained by considering the release of organic sodium during coal char combustion. Once vaporized, a metal vapor cloud will normally pass through its dewpoint to form tiny nuclei, or condense around existing particles. These aerosols are then affected by other dynamic processes (including coagulation) as they evolve with time. This paper shows how current mathematical descriptions of aerosol dynamics are very useful in predicting metal aerosol size distributions in combustion systems. These models are applied to two prototype problems, namely: the prediction of the temporal evolution of a particle size distribution of a self-coagulating aerosol initially composed of nuclei; and the scavenging of nuclei by coagulation with larger sorbent particles. A metal vapor can also react with certain aluminosilicate sorbents. This process, which will occur at temperatures above the dewpoint, is described, and is important, since it allows the high temperatures in incineration processes to be exploited to allow the formation of water-unleachable metal-containing compounds that can be isolated from the environment. Future research problems are also identified.
INF2 Is a WASP Homology 2 Motif-containing Formin That Severs Actin Filaments and Accelerates Both Polymerization and Depolymerization

Formin proteins modulate both nucleation and elongation of actin filaments through processive movement of their dimeric formin homology 2 (FH2) domains with filament barbed ends. Mammals possess at least 15 formin genes. A subset of formins termed "diaphanous formins" are regulated by autoinhibition through interaction between an N-terminal diaphanous inhibitory domain (DID) and a C-terminal diaphanous autoregulatory domain (DAD). Here, we found several striking features for the mouse formin, INF2. First, INF2 interacted directly with actin through a region C-terminal to the FH2. This second interacting region sequesters actin monomers, an activity that is dependent on a WASP homology 2 (WH2) motif. Second, the combination of the FH2 and C-terminal regions of INF2 resulted in its curious ability to accelerate both polymerization and depolymerization of actin filaments. The mechanism of the depolymerization activity, which is novel for formin proteins, involves both the monomer binding ability of the WH2 and a potent severing activity that is dependent on covalent attachment of the FH2 to the C terminus. Phosphate inhibits both the depolymerization and severing activities of INF2, suggesting that phosphate release from actin subunits in the filament is a trigger for depolymerization. Third, INF2 contains an N-terminal DID, and the WH2 motif likely doubles as a DAD in an autoinhibitory interaction.