cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Purification and characterization of a novel transglutaminase from filarial nematode Brugia malayi

A transglutaminase (pTGase) was purified from filarial nematode, Brugia malayi. The steps used for purification were thermoprecipitation, ammonium sulfate precipitation, gel filtration on Superose 12 HR 10/30, ion-exchange chromatography on a Mono-Q column and further gel filtration on Superose 12 HR 10/30. The last step yielded an electrophoretically homogenous enzyme protein with 2200-fold purification and a reproducible yield of approximately 20%. The purified enzyme had a molecular mass of 56 kDa, specific activity of 2.25 U/mg protein and an isoelectric point of 7.2. The enzyme was active in the basic pH range with an optimum activity at pH 8.5. The pTGase activity was Ca(2+)-dependent and was inhibited by ammonia, primary amines, EDTA, and -SH group blocking reagents. The enzyme activity was also inhibited by high salt (NaCl and KCl) concentrations, detergents, metal ions, and organic solvents. Ampholine (pH 6-8) at 1% (by vol.) caused about 20% inhibition of pTGase activity but at 3% (by vol.) the inhibition increased up to 80%. Similarly, the micromolar concentrations of GTP inhibited the enzyme activity only moderately but at millimolar concentration a significant inhibition was observed. The stability of the pTGase was not affected by 0.1% SDS or other physical parameters such as freezing and thawing. Further, the pTGase was found to be highly thermostable (stable at 60 degrees C for several hours) with optimum activity observed at 55 degrees C. The distinct substrate specificity, unique N-terminal sequence along with the other physico-chemical properties studied, suggested that pTGase is a novel member of transglutaminase family.
Equilibrium shape of NaCl crystals: A first-principles calculation.

It has recently been observed that the shape of NaCl crystals in stable coexistence with the vapor, while strictly cubical at low temperature, undergoes a corner-rounding transition at ${T}_{0}$\ensuremath{\approxeq}650 \ifmmode^\circ\else\textdegree\fi{}C. A first-principles theory of the thermal evolution of the NaCl crystal shape is presented. The theory takes proper account of the statistical mechanics of atomic-scale interface fluctuations and provides a framework for understanding the qualitative differences observed between the thermal evolution of NaCl and that of metal crystals. Corner rounding occurs for NaCl via an energy-entropy crossover mechanism. The role of steplike excitations in building vicinal surfaces is particularly emphasized. Estimates of ${T}_{0}$ depend directly and sensitively on the energy per unit length of steps. Our calculations lead to a value of ${T}_{0}$ about a factor of 2 too high. We attribute this discrepancy to the neglect of atomic relaxation effects at and near surface steps.
In Vitro Conversion of Environmental Estrogenic Chemical Bisphenol A to DNA Binding Metabolite(s)

Abstract In the present study we have investigated the ability of bisphenol A to be converted to reactive metabolite(s) and its potential to bind to DNA. In this in vitro study we show that bisphenol A is oxidized by 70% to bisphenol o-quinone. The evidence for the formation of bisphenol o-quinone was shown by UV, IR and GC-MS. The new product, bisphenol o-quinone, had a maximum UV absorption at 386 nM, the appearance of an IR characteristic of unsaturated carbonyl (1690 cm−1) and a mass of 242. The chemical reaction of deoxyguanosine monophosphate (dGMP) or DNA with bisphenol o-quinone produced 6-8 adducts. The in vitro incubation of DNA with bisphenol A in the presence of peroxidase activation system also produced one major and seven minor adducts. The chromatographic mobilities of major DNA adducts four and six formed by bisphenol A in the presence of peroxidase activation system closely matched those of spots four and six obtained by chemical reaction between DNA or dGMP with bisphenol o-quinone. Based on these data it appears that bisphenol A is converted to DNA binding metabolites in vitro. Whether irreversibile binding of bisphenol A to DNA through metabolic activation may be responsible for some of the toxic effects produced by bisphenol A is not clear.
The Pathophysiology of Pericardial Disease—Contributions Derived from Echocardiography/Doppler Studies in Animal Models

The use of acute and chronically prepared animal models of pericardial disease free of the confounding influences of other disease processes have greatly accelerated the development of echocardiographic and Doppler diagnostic methods and have allowed the correlation of these noninvasive findings with hemodynamic abnormalities.
Developmental Changes in Alcohol Pharmacokinetics in Rats

Developmental changes in the pharmacokinetics of alcohol could influence the outcome of alcohol exposure during different periods of postnatal development. Hence, the development of the ability to absorb and metabolize alcohol in the rat was examined by administering an acute dose (2.5 g/kg) of ethanol in milk formula by intragastric intubation to rats of 1, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 15, 21, 30, and 60 days of age. Each animal in a particular litter was assigned a different time point following intubation when its blood alcohol concentration (BAC) was determined from a tail blood sample. At all ages tested, maximum BACs occurred between 1.25 and 1.5 hr following intubation. However, maximum BACs decreased with age from 155 mg/dl in 1-day-old rats to 111 mg/dl in 60-day-old rats. Furthermore, the rate of alcohol clearance was slower in the younger rats. By linear regression analysis, the elimination rate of alcohol in 1-day-old rats was estimated to be 7.5 mg/dl/hr which increased to 42.2 mg/dl/hr in 60-day-old-rats. By 8 hr following intubation, rats that were 21 days of age and older had completely cleared the alcohol, whereas the younger rats (1-15 days of age) had not. No consistent sex differences were seen in either the maximum BAC or clearance rate. Since developmental changes in the ability to clear alcohol occur throughout the first 60 postnatal days in the rat, controlling for these changes is essential when looking for critical periods of an organ's vulnerability to damage by alcohol.
Nonlinear wave loads on a vertical cylinder

Abstract Nonlinear contributions due to elevation of the free surface, the dynamic head, and the second-order velocity potential on the wave loads are presented in closed-form expressions. Such nonlinearities resulting from large-amplitude ocean waves are associated with the irrotational flow interacting with a fixed bottom-mounted vertical cylinder piercing the surface. These are expressed in the form of dynamic, waterline and quadratic forces all of which depend on the square of the wave amplitude. The appropriate modifications are made to both the classical Morison equation and the well-known linear diffraction theory of MacCamy and Fuchs for accounting the second-order effects. A limited comparative study is performed to verify the present theoretical derivations. In general, satisfactory agreements have been obtained with the test results from various laboratory studies by different researchers. However, under certain environmental conditions, some discrepancies still exist with the measured results.
Organic Crystal Engineering with Piperazine-2,5-diones. 4. Crystal Packing of Piperazinediones Derived from 2-Amino-7-cyano-4-methoxyindan-2-carboxylic Acid

Piperazine-2,5-diones derived from 2-amino-7-cyano-4-methoxyindan-2-carboxylic acid were prepared in meso, racemic, and enantiomerically pure forms, crystallized from dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO), and the supramolecular organization in the crystals determined by X-ray crystallography. These molecules were designed to bear two strongly polar p-methoxybenzonitrile moieties either aligned or opposed. In contrast with nonpolar or weakly polar piperazinediones of similar size and shape, which exclude DMSO to form ladder-like tapes by reciprocal intermolecular amide-to-amide hydrogen bonding, these more strongly polar piperazinediones participate in hydrogen bonding with included DMSO. In cocrystals of the enantiomerically pure compounds, the p-methoxybenzonitrile dipoles were aligned in the three-dimensional lattice but opposed by the dipoles of included DMSO. These cocrystals exhibited second harmonic properties comparable to urea. A second cocrystal possessing aligned p-methoxybenzonitrile dipoles was observed ...
Valéry and Houellebecq: The Death (or the Return) of the Subject

In this article, I examine two authors who may appear dissimilar in the extreme: Paul Valery and Michel Houellebecq. Most commonly associated with Monsieur Teste and Pure Poetry, Valery is considered a hermetic author, inaccessible to a large public, while Houellebecq is perhaps the only contemporary French author who has attained planetary status as a bestselling novelist. Often dismissed by critics who ascribe his fame less to literary merits than to politically incorrect provocations, Houellebecq has also been labelled a New Reactionary. More specifically, he is viewed as representing the "return" of the subject as opposed, and in reaction, to the "death" of the subject which the progressive thinkers of the 1960s and 1970s, and Valery before them, had theorized. The putative Houellebecquian return of the subject proves, however, to be much more ambivalent than categorical, hence amenable to an opposite interpretation. By means of a pervasive use of contradiction, Houellebecq even seems to obliquely rea...
Inventory control in serial systems under radio frequency identification

Abstract The widely adopted slap-and-ship radio frequency identification strategy provides valuable information to retailers. On the other hand, suppliers struggle to find benefits even though they are submerged with new data. Radio frequency identification provides complete visibility of their shipments, including the time and location of every pallet, case or even item. We provide a novel model relying on such data that is capable of producing better inventory and shipping control policies. We first propose a comprehensive inventory model for serial systems that captures both the supply and distribution information. We show that the underlying cost-to-go can be decomposed into two lower dimensional functions. In a special case, the optimal replenishment and shipping policies are base stock with respect to the underlying positions. In addition, we also analytically study the value of radio frequency identification in terms of the expected total minimum cost over a finite time horizon by introducing partial radio frequency deployment scenarios. Results indicate that additional cost reductions are possible with broader deployments.
Exciton Formation, Relaxation, and Decay in PCDTBT

The nature and time evolution of the primary excitations in the pristine conjugated polymer, PCDTBT, are investigated by femtosecond-resolved fluorescence up-conversion spectroscopy. The extensive study includes data from PCDTBT thin film and from PCDTBT in chlorobenzene solution, compares the fluorescence dynamics for several excitation and emission wavelengths, and is complemented by polarization-sensitive measurements. The results are consistent with the photogeneration of mobile electrons and holes by interband π−π* transitions, which then self-localize within about 100 fs and evolve to a bound singlet exciton state in less than 1 ps. The excitons subsequently undergo successive migrations to lower energy localized states, which exist as a result of disorder. In parallel, there is also slow conformational relaxation of the polymer backbone. While the initial self-localization occurs faster than the time resolution of our experiment, the exciton formation, exciton migration, and conformational changes ...
THE IDOL OF HISTORY

INTRODUCTION “The idol of communism, which spread social strife, enmity and unparalleled brutality everywhere, which instilled fear in humanity, has collapsed.” These words, spoken by Russian president Boris Yeltsin before a joint session of the U.S. Congress in 1992, brought a tumultuous response from America's political leaders. The evocation of the theme of idolatry by a former member of the Communist Party was striking, all the more so because it must have called to his listeners' minds the dramatic scenes of the destruction of the statues of Lenin then taking place throughout the Communist world. Nothing of the kind had been seen since the end of the Pagan era, when temples of the old gods were toppled throughout the Roman Empire. The events that historian Edward Gibbon, in his classic The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, described as happening in Alexandria in A.D. 389 might just as well have applied to what was happening in Minsk or Tirana: “The huge idol [of Serapis] was overthrown and broken into pieces, [its] limbs ignominiously pulled through the streets.” Yeltsin's use of “idol” here was of course more figurative than literal. It followed the meaning first given to the term by philosopher Francis Bacon in the seventeenth century, when he identified an idol not with a physical object representing a god, but with false beliefs.
Biology of Leptosphaeria maculans

(1992). Biology of Leptosphaeria maculans. Canadian Journal of Plant Pathology: Vol. 14, No. 1, pp. 30-35.
Matters of Method

(1997). Matters of Method. Theory & Research in Social Education: Vol. 25, No. 2, pp. 216-219.
Ferrocene-conjugated m-phenylenediamine conducting polymer-incorporated peroxidase biosensors.

Abstract The development and characteristics of a reagentless amperometric biosensor employing horseradish peroxidase incorporated in an electrochemically deposited ferrocene-modified phenylenediamine film on a glassy carbon electrode is reported. The horseradish peroxidase/poly( m -aminoanilinomethylferrocene)- modified glassy carbon electrode reagentless biosensor measured hydrogen peroxide and other organic peroxides in both aqueous and organic medium by reduction at a low applied potential of −0.05 V (vs Ag/AgCl) without interference from molecular oxygen. When modified with glucose oxidase, the new bienzyme electrode measured glucose sensitively and selectively, demonstrating the suitability of the above peroxide biosensor for other oxidoreductase enzyme-based biosensors.
Westward equatorial electrojet during daytime hours

The phenomenon of the depression of the geomagnetic horizontal field during the daytime hours of magnetically quiet days at equatorial stations is described. These events are generally seen around 0700 and 1600 LT, being more frequent during the evening than the morning hours. The evening events are more frequent during periods of low solar activity and in the longitude region of weak equatorial electrojet currents. The latitudinal extent of the phenomenon is limited to the normal equatorial electrojet region, and on some occasions the phenomenon is not seen at both stations, separated by only a few hours in longitude. During such an event, the latitudinal profile of the geomagnetic vertical field across the equator is reversed, the ionospheric drift near the equator is reversed toward the east, the q type of sporadic E layer is completely absent, and the height of the peak ionization in the F2 region is decreased. It is suggested that these effects are caused by a narrow band of current flowing westward in the E region of the ionosphere and within the latitude region of the normal equatorial electrojet, due to the reversal of the east-west electrostatic field at low latitudes.
Autoignition of H2/CO at elevated pressures in a rapid compression machine

Autoignition of H2/O2 and H2/CO/O2 mixtures has been studied in a rapid compression machine at pressures from 15 to 50 bar, temperatures from 950 to 1100 K, and equivalence ratios from 0.36 to 1.6. In addition, the effect of change in relative concentrations of H2 and CO is investigated by replacing H2 with CO, while keeping the total fuel mole fraction of the combined H2/CO fuel constant. Under the experimental conditions of intermediate temperature and high pressure, reactions involving formation and consumption of HO2 and H2O2 are important. Results show that for H2 autoignition, the mechanism of O'Conaire et al. agrees well with the experimental data, although some improvements can still be made. At all the pressures investigated, replacement of some amount of H2 by CO in a reacting mixture leads to an increase in ignition delay, even with small amounts of CO addition. The inhibition effect of CO addition is also observed to be much more pronounced with increasing pressure. For H2/CO mixtures, the existing mechanisms of Li et al., Davis et al., and GRI-Mech 3.0 fail to describe the experimental trend of ignition delay. At a pressure of 50 bar, ignition delays are seen to decrease monotonically with O2 addition, although such an effect is rather weak. Kinetic analysis further demonstrates that under the present experimental conditions, CO + HO2 = CO2 + OH is the primary reaction responsible for the mismatch of experimental and calculated ignition delays. Significant improvements in the ignition delay predictions can be made by reducing this reaction rate. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Chem Kinet 38: 516–529, 2006
5-HT causes an increase in cAMP that stimulates, rather than inhibits, oocyte maturation in marine nemertean worms

In the nemertean worms Cerebratulus lacteus and Micrura alaskensis, 5-HT (=5-hydroxytryptamine, or serotonin) causes prophase-arrested oocytes to mature and complete germinal vesicle breakdown (GVBD). To identify the intracellular pathway that mediates 5-HT stimulation, follicle-free oocytes of nemerteans were assessed for GVBD rates in the presence or absence of 5-HT after being treated with various modulators of cAMP, a well known transducer of 5-HT signaling and an important regulator of hormone-induced maturation in general. Unlike in many animals where high levels of intra-oocytic cAMP block maturation, treatment of follicle-free nemertean oocytes with agents that elevate cAMP (8-bromo-cAMP, forskolin or inhibitors of phosphodiesterases) triggered GVBD in the absence of added 5-HT. Similarly, 5-HT caused a substantial cAMP increase prior to GVBD in nemertean oocytes that had been pre-injected with a cAMP fluorosensor. Such a rise in cAMP seemed to involve G-protein-mediated signaling and protein kinase A (PKA) stimulation, based on the inhibition of 5-HT-induced GVBD by specific antagonists of these transduction steps. Although the downstream targets of activated PKA remain unknown, neither the synthesis of new proteins nor the activation of MAPKs (mitogen-activated protein kinases) appeared to be required for GVBD after 5-HT stimulation. Alternatively, pre-incubation in roscovitine, an inhibitor of maturation-promoting factor (MPF), prevented GVBD, indicating that maturing oocytes eventually need to elevate their MPF levels, as has been documented for other animals. Collectively, this study demonstrates for the first time that 5-HT can cause immature oocytes to undergo an increase in cAMP that stimulates, rather than inhibits, meiotic maturation. The possible relationship between such a form of oocyte maturation and that observed in other animals is discussed.
Focal segmental glomerulosclerosis in adults

The lesion of focal segmental glomerulosclerosis (FSGS) presents even greater problems of definition, interpretation and treatment in adults than it does in children, to the point where the specificity and utility of the appearance can even be questioned. The histological diagnosis of FSGS in adults can be interpreted only if the clinical circumstances are known, but a group of nephrotic patients with FSGS can be separated from a much larger group of non-specific, probably secondary but similar lesions arising in many circumstances. This group appears even so to have a diverse aetiology, the majority being idiopathic, but a significant minority showing a family history and/or mutations in genes relating to several intracellular or surface podocyte proteins, as discussed in other articles in this symposium. This heterogeneity makes conclusions with regard to prognosis and treatment difficult to draw. Today, in contrast to 20 or even 10 years ago, it seems useful to treat all adult nephrotic patients with FSGS using an adequate course of corticosteroids lasting at least 4-6 months to establish whether they fall or not into the 20-30% who will respond to this treatment with decrease or loss of proteinuria. The prognosis of such responders (who may well suffer relapse) is relatively benign with regard to renal function, but the majority of the remainder evolve into renal failure. Their management remains a source of controversy in the absence of a proper database of randomized trials: more prolonged (up to 24 months) use of lower-dose corticosteroids with cyclosporine for 12 months or more has support from uncontrolled studies, but cyclophosphamide appears to be of less obvious benefit.
Multitarget tracking and monopulse signal processing for spawning targets

A monopulse radar is able to derive accurate angular measurements via intelligent processing of its sum and difference channel returns. Recently there have emerged techniques for angular estimation of several unresolved targets, meaning targets that are, in principle, merged within the same radar beam, can be extracted separately. The key is the joint exploitation of information in several range bins. Here we show the performance of this approach in a high-fidelity simulation: we observe considerable improvement in track RMSE, but little corresponding gain in track completeness. Coupled with a hidden Markov model on target number, however, the performance is impressive.
A VLSI chip for computing the medial axis transform of an image

We describe a new special purpose VLSI architecture for computing the medial axis transform of an image. The architecture is systolic and is based on an algorithm that achieves a high degree of parallelism. The proposed algorithm computes the skeleton of multiple objects in an image in linear time by making 2 scans over the 4 distance transform of the image. The algorithm is mapped onto a linear systolic array of simple processing elements (PEs) and for an N/spl times/N image, the architecture requires N PE's. The entire array can be realized in a single VLSI chip. The proposed hardware can perform thinning on a 512/spl times/512 image in 2.59 msec and on a 256/spl times/256 image in 0.327 msec. A prototype CMOS VLSI chip implementing the proposed architecture has been designed and verified.
Effects of Intravenous Triacylglycerol Emulsions on Hepatic Metabolism and Blood Metabolites in Fasted Dairy Cows

The objective was to determine the effects of intravenous infusion of triacylglycerol (TAG) emulsions derived from different lipid sources on energy metabolism during a 4-d fast. Six nonpregnant, nonlactating multiparous Holstein cows were randomly assigned to treatments in a replicated 3 x 3 Latin Square design. Treatments included intravenous infusion of tallow, linseed oil, or fish oil emulsions at a rate of 0.54 g of TAG/kg of body weight per day; infusions were concurrent with a 4-d fast. The emulsions were administered for 20 to 30 min every 4 h throughout the 4-d fast. Cows were fed ad libitum for 24 d between the fast/infusion periods. Infusion of tallow, linseed oil, or fish oil emulsions increased plasma concentrations of palmitic acid, linolenic acid, and eicosapentaenoic and docosahexaenoic acids, respectively. Infusion of linseed oil emulsion decreased plasma TAG concentrations compared with tallow and fish oil treatments, which were similar. Infusion of the tallow emulsion resulted in the highest concentrations of plasma nonesterified fatty acid (NEFA), insulin, and glucose, whereas the infusion derived from linseed oil had the lowest NEFA and beta-hydroxybutyric acid concentrations. The different TAG emulsions had no effect on total or peroxisomal oxidation of [1-(14C)]oleic acid in liver homogenates. Liver TAG content increased 12.0, 7.8, and 14.1 microg/microg of DNA during the fast for tallow, linseed oil, and fish oil treatments, respectively; linseed oil was different from fish oil and tended to be different from tallow.
Late Somatic Effects of Radiation Exposure in Laboratory Mice1

The effects of radiation injury are usually divisible into two temporal categories, acute and delayed. The amount of information on the acute effects of radiation in mammals is much greater than the amount of information on delayed effects, in spite of the importance of the latter. The more obvious reasons for this include the long time necessary for such studies and the corresponding greater expense. Even so, information on the delayed effects of radiation in mammals is accumulating rapidly. The nature and description of the delayed effects which follow are based largely on my experience with irradiated mouse populations. Studies of the pattern of delayed radiation injury in mice can be very informative but the degree of applicability to higher animals and man is not clear at present. Summaries of delayed radiation effects can be found in a number of good radiobiology texts; some with general biological orientation (e.g., 1), while others are more concerned with human radiation effects (e.g., 2). Long-term studies of laboratory mice exposed to radiation have been done on animals injected with Sr90 (5), exposed to an atomic explosion (8), or exposed to whole body x-rays (4), as well as many others. In this article some more » interesting and well-studied delayed radiation effects in mice will be discussed. « less
FtsA Mutants of Bacillus subtilis Impaired in Sporulation

Spore formation in Bacillus subtilis involves a switch in the site of cell division from the midcell to a polar position. Both medial division and polar division are mediated in part by the actin-like, cytokinetic protein FtsA. We report the isolation of an FtsA mutant (FtsAD265G) that is defective in sporulation but is apparently unimpaired in vegetative growth. Sporulating cells of the mutant reach the stage of asymmetric division but are partially blocked in the subsequent morphological process of engulfment. As judged by fluorescence microscopy and electron microscopy, the FtsAD265G mutant produces normal-looking medial septa but immature (abnormally thin) polar septa. The mutant was unimpaired in transcription under the control of Spo0A, the master regulator for entry into sporulation, but was defective in transcription under the control of σF, a regulatory protein whose activation is known to depend on polar division. An amino acid substitution at a residue (Y264) adjacent to D265 also caused a defect in sporulation. D265 and Y264 are conserved among endospore-forming bacteria, raising the possibility that these residues are involved in a sporulation-specific protein interaction that facilitates maturation of the sporulation septum and the activation of σF.
Concentric supervision of security applications: a new security management paradigm

This paper questions the status quo regarding security management (SM) tools that function in an isolated, monolithic fashion. People work best by interacting with others and with their systems to see the "big picture" to interpret individual events. Our view of SM called concentric supervision of security applications (CSSA) is a continuous cycle of information flow. CSSA processing of status information and control of security features does not replace existing notions. It serves to enhance the existing ad hoc and segmented "engineered" solutions so that SM systems support "the way people work". We divide management functions into three phases: administration, operations, and assessment. Different skills, authority, and data are needed to perform tasks in each phase, but some information must flow for efficient and effective functionality. We give suggestions on some linkages by describing typical SM scenarios and how they might function. Parallels are drawn with related issues in network management systems and relationships to current management approaches are discussed.
Secondary calcification and dissolution respond differently to future ocean conditions

Abstract. Climate change threatens both the accretion and erosion processes that sustain coral reefs. Secondary calcification, bioerosion, and reef dissolution are integral to the structural complexity and long-term persistence of coral reefs, yet these processes have received less research attention than reef accretion by corals. In this study, we use climate scenarios from RCP 8.5 to examine the combined effects of rising ocean acidity and sea surface temperature (SST) on both secondary calcification and dissolution rates of a natural coral rubble community using a flow-through aquarium system. We found that secondary reef calcification and dissolution responded differently to the combined effect of pCO2 and temperature. Calcification had a non-linear response to the combined effect of pCO2 and temperature: the highest calcification rate occurred slightly above ambient conditions and the lowest calcification rate was in the highest temperature–pCO2 condition. In contrast, dissolution increased linearly with temperature–pCO2 . The rubble community switched from net calcification to net dissolution at +271 μatm pCO2 and 0.75 °C above ambient conditions, suggesting that rubble reefs may shift from net calcification to net dissolution before the end of the century. Our results indicate that (i) dissolution may be more sensitive to climate change than calcification and (ii) that calcification and dissolution have different functional responses to climate stressors; this highlights the need to study the effects of climate stressors on both calcification and dissolution to predict future changes in coral reefs.
Twitinfo: aggregating and visualizing microblogs for event exploration

Microblogs are a tremendous repository of user-generated content about world events. However, for people trying to understand events by querying services like Twitter, a chronological log of posts makes it very difficult to get a detailed understanding of an event. In this paper, we present TwitInfo, a system for visualizing and summarizing events on Twitter. TwitInfo allows users to browse a large collection of tweets using a timeline-based display that highlights peaks of high tweet activity. A novel streaming algorithm automatically discovers these peaks and labels them meaningfully using text from the tweets. Users can drill down to subevents, and explore further via geolocation, sentiment, and popular URLs. We contribute a recall-normalized aggregate sentiment visualization to produce more honest sentiment overviews. An evaluation of the system revealed that users were able to reconstruct meaningful summaries of events in a small amount of time. An interview with a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist suggested that the system would be especially useful for understanding a long-running event and for identifying eyewitnesses. Quantitatively, our system can identify 80-100% of manually labeled peaks, facilitating a relatively complete view of each event studied.
Unique Pathway for Cholesterol Uptake in Fat Cells

The biologic features of high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol delivery to the cell have mostly been investigated in hepatocytes, the consensus termination point of the reverse cholesterol transport pathway. It has long been known that the delivery of HDL cholesterol to the hepatocyte does not involve the internalization and degradation of the lipoprotein particle, as is the case for the apolipoprotein (apo)B-containing lipoproteins, but rather it is based on the selective unloading of the cholesterol cargo from the particle into the cell.1 With the discovery that the scavenger receptor type BI (SR-BI) acts as the hepatic HDL receptor,2 the final events of HDL cholesterol delivery have been well characterized: HDL binds to SR-BI through apolipoprotein AI (apoAI), the cholesteryl ester (CE) cargo of HDL is selectively unloaded into the cell where it is trafficked back into forming lipoproteins or into the bile, and the lipid-poor apoAI returns in the circulation for another round of peripheral cholesterol collection.3 Even though this appears to be a systemic mechanism for redistribution of peripheral cholesterol to a central organ in charge of cholesterol disposal, it is possible that alternative processes might have developed so that particular non-hepatic cell types can acquire needed cholesterol from the HDL. See page 1669 Adipocytes might be unique in their need of acquiring cholesterol, because of their limited ability to synthesize their own.4 This can be caused by a preferential utilization of acetate for fatty acid synthesis or reduced efficiency of enzymes downstream of squalene synthase in the pathway of cholesterol synthesis.5 In addition, the membrane …
Winter mortality of Aceria chondrillae, a biological control agent released to control rush skeletonweed (Chondrilla juncea) in the western United States

Classical biological control of weeds is based on the assumptions that: (1) plant species are in part invasive in their introduced range because of the absence of coevolved specialist herbivore arthropods and plant pathogens; and (2) that these specialist herbivores can regulate host-plant populations. Although the need for quantitative post-release monitoring studies testing these assumptions has been acknowledged repeatedly, the number of assessments is still remarkably small and usually restricted to systems with notable impact of an agent species. However, studying systems where biological control agents cause no observable target weed reductions may be important to identifying factors that limit the population size or impact of biological control agents. Three biological agents were released for the control of the herbaceous perennial rush skeletonweed, Chondrilla juncea in North America between 1975 and 1977. Although all three species are widely established, weed densities are increasing and there is little quantitative information on factors limiting biological control efficacy. We examined the winter biology and survivorship of the rush skeletonweed gall mite Aceria chondrillae at two rush skeletonweed field sites in south-western Idaho over 2 years. Gall mite winter mortality was high (>90%) in both years and for both sites. Gall mites were more abundant on plants that produced rosettes in fall and rush skeletonweed plants growing on southern aspect were 3.4 times more likely to produce rosettes than those growing on northern aspects. Our data suggest that A. chondrillae population densities are limited by its high winter mortality. The gall mites may require fall rosettes to successfully survive the winter, which are commonly absent on north-facing aspects, impairing the efficacy of A. chondrillae to control rush skeletonweed in the intermountain western United States.
Atmospheric turbulence-induced signal fades on optical heterodyne communication links.

The three basic atmospheric propagation effects, absorption, scattering, and turbulence, are reviewed. A simulation approach is then developed to determine signal fade probability distributions on heterodyne-detected satellite links which operate through naturally occurring atmospheric turbulence. The calculations are performed on both angle-tracked and nonangle-tracked downlinks, and on uplinks, with and without adaptive optics. Turbulence-induced degradations in communication performance are determined using signal fade probability distributions, and it is shown that the average signal fade can be a poor measure of the performance degradation.
Multicomponent adsorption equilibria of nonideal mixtures

Experimental gas-solid adsorption measurements were made on the binary and ternary mixtures of H2S, CO2, and C3H8 on H-mordenite molecular sieve zeolite at 30°C. The C3H8 containing binaries and the ternary mixture exhibited nonideal behavior, as evidenced by the azeotropelike crossovers in the composition domains and by the peaks in the total amount adsorbed surface. The ternary data were successfully predicted with the activity coefficients calculated by the spreading-pressure-dependent equation. Models that neglect the spreading-pressure dependence can only qualitatively predict the nonidealities.
Calculation and Simulation of Interdiffusion Coefficients and Ordering Kinetics in Binary Alloys.

Rate equations for thermally activated atomic exchange were used to calculate chemical diffusion coefficients for an initially disordered simple-cubic lattice and for a body-centered lattice with equilibrium long-range order. The results show that the chemical enhancement as a function of the enthalpy of mixing saturates, in contrast with results of conventional mean-field theories. Simulations in a disordered alloy agree with the calculations. The existence of longrange order is shown to increase the apparent activation energy for diffusion. The present theory is also shown to provide a simple method of calculating ordering kinetics and equilibrium longrange order, and good agreement with previous experiments and simulations is achieved.
Transient Exposure of Neonatal Female Mice to Testosterone Abrogates the Sexual Dimorphism of Abdominal Aortic Aneurysms

Rationale: Abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAAs) exhibit marked sexual dimorphism with higher prevalence in men. Similarly, AAAs induced by angiotensin II (AngII) infusion into mice exhibit a higher prevalence in males. Testosterone promotes AAA pathology in adult male mice through regulation of angiotensin type 1A receptors (AT1aR) in abdominal aortas. However, mechanisms for sexual dimorphism of regional aortic angiotensin receptor expression and AAA formation are unknown. Objective: To define the role of developmental testosterone exposures in sexual dimorphism of AAAs, we determined if exposure of neonatal female mice to testosterone confers adult susceptibility to AngII-induced AAAs. Methods and Results: One-day–old female hypercholesterolemic mice were administered a single dose of either vehicle or testosterone. Neonatal testosterone administration increased abdominal aortic AT1aR mRNA abundance and promoted a striking increase in AngII-induced AAAs in adult females exhibiting low serum testosterone concentrations. AngII-induced atherosclerosis and ascending aortic aneurysms were also increased by testosterone administration to neonatal females. In contrast, neonatal testosterone administration in males had no effect on AngII-induced vascular pathologies. Deficiency of AT1aR in smooth muscle cells reduced effects of neonatal testosterone to promote AAAs in adult females but did not alter atherosclerosis or ascending aortic aneurysms. Testosterone increased AT1aR mRNA abundance and hydrogen peroxide generation in cultured abdominal aortic SMCs. Increased AT1aR mRNA abundance was maintained during progressive passaging of female smooth muscle cells. Conclusions: These data reveal an unrecognized role of transient sex hormone exposures during neonatal development as long-lasting mediators of regional aortic AT1aR expression and sexual dimorphism of AAAs.
Folding-based electrochemical DNA sensor fabricated on a gold-plated screen-printed carbon electrode

Here we report a folding-based electrochemical DNA (E-DNA) sensor fabricated on a gold-plated screen-printed carbon electrode and show that the E-DNA sensor is not required to be fabricated on a relatively flat gold surface; the sensor works comparably well when fabricated on an electrodeposited gold film with a surface roughness factor of ∼7.
Artificial Recruitment of TFIID, but Not RNA Polymerase II Holoenzyme, Activates Transcription in Mammalian Cells

In yeast cells, transcriptional activation occurs when the RNA polymerase II (Pol II) machinery is artificially recruited to a promoter by fusing individual components of this machinery to a DNA-binding domain. Here, we show that artificial recruitment of components of the TFIID complex can activate transcription in mammalian cells. Surprisingly, artificial recruitment of TATA-binding protein (TBP) activates transiently transfected and chromosomally integrated promoters with equal efficiency, whereas artificial recruitment of TBP-associated factors activates only chromosomal reporters. In contrast, artificial recruitment of various components of the mammalian Pol II holoenzyme does not confer transcriptional activation, nor does it result in synergistic activation in combination with natural activation domains. In the one case examined in more detail, the Srb7 fusion failed to activate despite being associated with the Pol II holoenzyme and being directly recruited to the promoter. Interestingly, some acidic activation domains are less effective when the promoter is chromosomally integrated rather than transiently transfected, whereas the Sp1 glutamine-rich activation domain is more effective on integrated reporters. Thus, yeast and mammalian cells differ with respect to transcriptional activation by artificial recruitment of the Pol II holoenzyme.
Radical Prostatectomy with Bladder Neck Preservation: Impact of a Positive Margin

Abstract Purpose: Bladder neck preservation during radical prostatectomy has been correlated with improved continence. However, the hazard of a positive margin at this specific site has discouraged many urologists. We evaluated if preservation of the bladder neck at the time of radical prostatectomy jeopardizes surgical cancer control with consequent deleterious outcomes. Materials and Methods: 675 consecutive patients underwent radical prostatectomy (RP) by a single surgeon (J.E.P.) at Wayne State University during the 1990s decade. The bladder neck was preserved. Margin-positivity was categorized by location and number. Preoperative, pathological and disease status data was prospectively collected into the Karmanos Cancer Institute multidisciplinary prostate cancer database. Results: Analysis was performed on 555 patients who had RP as monotherapy. Positive margins were found in 178 (32%) of these patients. Correlation between specimen Gleason score, prostatic specific antigen (PSA) and margin status, was encountered ( p =0.001). Apical and bladder neck margin-positivity was detected in 104/555 (19%) and 13/555 (2%), respectively. Of those specimens with a positive margin at the bladder neck eight had Gleason score ≥7, three had seminal vesicle invasion and two nodal disease. Only two patients had a positive bladder neck margin as the sole adverse pathological feature. Significant independent predictors of survival included the Gleason score, PSA, pathological stage and presence of positive margins in more than one location. Conclusions: Anatomical preservation of the bladder neck does not increase the percentage of positive margins at this anatomical location and does not compromise disease-free survival.
Exploring supervised and unsupervised methods to detect topics in biomedical text

Background Topic detection is a task that automatically identifies topics (e.g., "biochemistry" and "protein structure") in scientific articles based on information content. Topic detection will benefit many other natural language processing tasks including information retrieval, text summarization and question answering; and is a necessary step towards the building of an information system that provides an efficient way for biologists to seek information from an ocean of literature.
Simulation of electric double layer capacitors with mesoporous electrodes: Effects of morphology and electrolyte permittivity

Electric double layer capacitors Mesoporous electrode morphology Specific area capacitance Diffuse layer Stern layer a b s t r a c t This paper aims to numerically predict the capacitance of electric double layer capacitors (EDLCs) made of mesoporous electrodes consisting of closely packed monodispersed mesoporous carbon spheres in (C2H5)4NBF4/propylene carbonate electrolyte. The model faithfully accounts for the electrode packing morphology and the dependency of electrolyte dielectric permittivity on local electric field. Three sphere packing morphologies were investigated, namely, simple cubic (SC), body-centered cubic (BCC), and facecentered cubic (FCC). A cylindrical mesopore in a mesoporous carbon sphere was also simulated. This study demonstrates that the field-dependent electrolyte dielectric permittivity significantly affects the predicted capacitance of EDLCs. Moreover, the Stern layer needs to be accounted for in order to match predicted specific area capacitance with experimental data. This study also establishes that, for all packing structures, larger sphere diameter results in larger electric field at the electrode surface and thus larger diffuse layer specific area capacitance. For sphere diameter less than 40 nm, SC packing had the largest electrolyte volume fraction. This provided more space for the electric potential to decrease resulting in larger electric field at the electrode surface and diffuse layer specific area capacitance compared with BCC and FCC packings. On the contrary, FCC features the smallest volume fraction resulting in the lowest surface electric field and diffuse layer specific area capacitance. The packing morphologies of electrode spheres were found to have no significant effect on the diffuse layer specific area capacitance for sphere diameter larger than 40 nm.
An Evaluation of Age Estimation Structures for Lake Whitefish in Lake Michigan: Selecting an Aging Method Based on Precision and a Decision Analysis

Abstract Declines in growth and condition of lake whitefish Coregonus clupeaformis in Lakes Huron and Michigan have led to increased mean age in the harvest and greater difficulty in scale age interpretation. We evaluated the precision and efficiency of scale acetate impressions, transverse pectoral fin ray sections, and transverse sagittal otolith sections for three lake whitefish stocks (Bailey's Harbor, Naubinway, and Saugatuck) that were sampled in Lake Michigan during 2004 and 2005. We conducted a decision matrix analysis that incorporated capital, production, and personnel costs and precision of age estimates to determine the best aging method given current management priorities. For the Bailey's Harbor stock, age estimates were systematically lower based on scales (mean = 7.85 years) than based on fin rays (8.44 years) or otoliths (8.78 years); fin ray and otolith estimates did not differ significantly. Similar results were observed for both Naubinway and Saugatuck stocks. For Bailey's Harbor lake ...
Learning tractable graphical models using mixture of arithmetic circuits

In recent years, there has been a growing interest in learning tractable graphical models in which exact inference is efficient. Two main approaches are to restrict the inference complexity directly, as done by low-treewidth graphical models and arithmetic circuits (ACs), or introduce latent variables, as done by mixtures of trees, latent tree models, and sum-product networks (SPNs). In this paper, we combine these approaches to learn a mixtures of ACs (MAC). A mixture can represent many distributions exponentially more compactly than a single AC. By using ACs as mixture components, MAC can represent complex distributions using many fewer components than required by other mixture models. MAC generalizes ACs, mixtures of trees, latent class models, and thin junction trees, and can be seen as a special case of an SPN. Compared to state-of-the-art algorithms for learning SPNs and other tractable models, MAC is consistently more accurate while maintaining tractable inference.