cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
The Influence of Arm Position on Thoracic Response in Side Impacts

The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of arm position on thoracic response and injury severity in side impacts. A total of sixteen non-destructive side impact tests and four destructive side impact tests were preformed using four human male cadavers. Single-axis strain gages were placed on the lateral and posterior regions of ribs three through eight on the impacted side, and the lateral region of ribs three through eight on the non-impacted side. Thoracic rods attached to ribs five, seven, and nine were used to measure lateral rib deflection. For the non-destructive tests, four test conditions with different arm positions were evaluated for each cadaver by performing displacement-controlled, low-energy, lateral impacts, 16 kg at 3 m/s, with a pneumatic impactor. The results of these tests showed that the highest average peak forces, peak rib deflections, and peak rib strains were observed when only the ribs were impacted and lowest when the shoulder was impacted. In addition, higher average peak forces, peak rib deflections, and rib strains were observed when the arm was placed parallel with the thorax versus 45 degrees. For the destructive tests, two test conditions were evaluated by performing high-energy lateral impacts, 23.4 kg at 12 m/s, with a pneumatic impactor. Only one destructive test was performed per cadaver with the arm placed at either 45 degrees or parallel with the thorax. Using rib fractures as the parameter for AIS, both tests conducted with the arm at 45 degrees resulted in an AIS = 4 due to the large number of ribs with multiple fractures which resulted in a flail chest. Conversely, both tests conducted with the arm parallel with the thorax resulted in an AIS=3. The analysis of thoracic strain gage time histories showed that, in general, the rib fracture timing varied with respect to thoracic region. Using scaled rib 5 deflection, lateral fractures on the impacted side occurred between 4.2 mm and 34.9 mm, posterior fractures on the impacted side occurred between 19.0 mm and 37.8 mm, and lateral fractures on the non-impacted side occurred between 60.2 mm and 74.3 mm of deflection. It was found that AIS = 1 injuries occurred at scaled rib deflections of 4.2 mm to 8.6 mm (2% to 3% compression), AIS = 2 at 9.6 to 17.4 mm (4% to 7% compression), and AIS = 3 at 13.1 mm to 20.1 mm (5% to 9% compression) measured at rib five. In conclusion, the results of the current study show that in low-energy side impacts both the arm and shoulder reduce impactor force, rib deflection, and rib strain. In high-energy side impacts, the position of the arm has a considerable effect on both the total number and distribution of rib fractures.
Cognition in Practice: Psychology and anthropology II

The question is, “Why does the mind with its durable cognitive tools remain the only imaginable source of continuity across situations for most cognitive researchers – while we isolate the culturally and socially constituted activities and settings of everyday life and their economic and political structures and cyclical routines from the study of thinking, and so ignore them?” It is not this form of the question, however, that has exercised the minds of cognitivists. Rather, (negative) reactions to the study of cognition-in-context follow from strong beliefs and longstanding practices that create a taken-for-granted divide between cognitive processes and the settings and activities of which they are a part. I believe that the particulars of this position must be confronted. Cognitivists might well rejoin, “why take up the study of everyday thought in context?” For the very term “everyday,” when applied to thought, has been imbued with pejorative connotations. Its analytic meaning typically has been derived by comparison to the ostensibly superior canons of scientific thought. Moreover, the study of activity in situ has been damned as a rejection of theory and a move towards descriptive particularism. Even granting intrinsic value to the study of “what people really do,” it has been made to appear that doing so requires a lamentable sacrifice of methodological rigor – assumed to be impossible to achieve outside the experimental context – in order to gain relevance to the concerns of everyday cognition.
Reversing the Brain Drain? Skilled returnees as brokers of knowledge transfer

The process by which increasing rates of skilled return migration lead to economic growth in developing regions of the world is largely a mystery in empirical research. Using data from interviews a...
Measuring stakeholder identification with nonprofit causes: the development and validation of the identification with social causes scale

Nonprofit organizations (NPOs) achieve desired outcomes by fostering organizational identification. However, little research has explored how identification with the cause or the recipients of supp...
Validation of lymphocyte to monocyte ratio in resected small bowel adenocarcinoma as a predictor of survival.

e15799Background: Lymphocyte to monocyte ratio (LMR) has been described as a prognostic factor in many solid tumors including colorectal adenocarcinoma. LMR has not been investigated as a prognosti...
SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY AND THE QUALITY OF LIFE

LBL-10028 Preprint Submitted to Les Nouvelles SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY AND THE QUALITY OF LIFE Melvin Calvin October 1979 TWO-WEEK LOAN COPY is a Library Circulating Copy which may borrowed for two weekso For a lnfoo Division; copy~ call I Prepared for the U.S. Department of Energy under Contract W-7405-ENG-48
Principal Instructional Leadership for Teacher Participation in Professional Development: Evidence from Japan, Singapore, and South Korea

We investigated the relationship between principal instructional leadership and teacher participation in multiple types of professional development in Japan, Singapore, and South Korea. Using the Teaching and Learning International Survey dataset of 2013, we employed two-level logistic regression models to estimate the rigorous effects of principal instructional leadership that were separated out from teacher-level effects. We found that the influence of principal instructional leadership on teachers’ participation in professional development varied across types of learning activities and countries. Our analysis suggests that principal instructional leadership can influence teachers’ participation in mentoring, mentoring, peer observation, and coaching compared to the other types of professional development. Our study builds on and extends research on cross-national characteristics of teacher learning by adding evidence about the relations between principal leadership and teacher professional development in the three Asian countries.
Assessing New Public Mana gement's Focus on Performance Measurement in the Public Sector: A Look at No Child Left Behind

New Public Management, with its emphasis on debureaucratization, decentralization, and accountability, has attempted to make public sector organizations function in the same way as those in the private sector. Its implications for traditional governmental entities, including the public school system, are yet to be fully determined. The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) of 2001 was intended to decrease achievement gaps caused by race, class, first language, and learning abilities. The act's foci of accountability, testing, sanctions, and rewards in the educational process are central to the federal government's framework for shaping the goals and outcomes of educational policy across the United States. The present research indicates that the development and use of performance measures to hold educators accountable and improve performance is limited by organized employee groups and enhanced by minority student populations. At this time, significant increases in student performance as a result of NCLB efforts ...
Laminar Burning Velocity Measurement Using the Filtered Broadband Natural Emissions of Species

Laminar flame speed plays a fundamental role in understanding hydrocarbon chemistry and is the basis of turbulent flame modeling. The main objective of this research is to visualize a flame and measure its speed using a new optical diagnostic technique, which is based on the natural radiative emissions of various species, mainly hydrocarbons, water and carbon dioxide. This new technique has two main advantages over the Schlieren method. First only one optical access is needed, and second, the preheat zone and the flame front can be observed, and their radiative emission can be quantified. In addition, the condition of the unburned gas in front of the flame can be studied using the new technique to evaluate some of the hypotheses behind unstretched flame speed measurement, such as the trivial change of the unburned gas state. To evaluate and validate the new optical diagnostic technique, the flame propagation of methane, oxygen and nitrogen mixtures was studied using species infrared radiative emissions at...
Solid electrolyte interphase formation between the Li0.29La0.57TiO3 solid-state electrolyte and a Li-metal anode: an ab initio molecular dynamics study

An ab initio molecular dynamics study of an electrochemical interface between a solid-state-electrolyte Li0.29La0.57TiO3 and Li-metal is performed to analyze interphase formation and evolution when external electric fields of 0, 0.5, 1.0 and 2.0 V A−1 are applied. From this electrochemical stability analysis, it was concluded that lithium-oxide (Li2O) and lanthanum-oxide (La2O3) phases were formed at the electrolyte/anode interphase. As the electric field increased, oxygen from the electrolyte diffused through the Li-metal anode, increasing the amount of O from deeper crystallographic planes of the electrolyte that reacted with Li and La. A strong reduction of Ti was expected from their Bader charge variation from +3.5 in the bulk to +2.5 at the interface. Due to the loss of Li atoms from the anode to form Li-oxide at the interphase, vacancies were created on the Li-metal, causing anode structure amorphization near the Li-oxide phase and keeping the rest of the anode structure as BCC. Therefore, the interface was unstable because of the continuous Li-oxide and La-oxide formation and growth, which were more pronounced when increasing the external electric field.
The financial evolution of endovascular aneurysm repair delivery in contemporary practice.

Abstract Objective The fiscal impact of endovascular repair (EVR) of aortic aneurysms and the requisite device costs have previously highlighted the tenuous long-term financial sustainability among Medicare beneficiaries. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services have since reclassified EVR remuneration paradigms with new Medicare Severity Diagnosis-Related Groups (MS-DRGs) intended to better address the procedure's cost profile. The impact of this change remains unknown. The purpose of this analysis was to compare EVR-specific costs and revenue among Medicare beneficiaries both before and after this change. Methods All infrarenal EVRs performed in fiscal years (FYs) 2014 and 2015, before the MS-DRG change, and those performed in FYs 2017 and 2018, after the MS-DRG change, were identified using the DRG codes 238 (n = 108) and 269 (n = 84), respectively. We then identified those who were treated according to the instructions for use guidelines with a single manufacturer's device and billed to Medicare (n = 23 in FY14-15; n = 22 in FY17-18). From these cohorts, we determined total procedure technical costs, technical revenue, and net technical margin in conjunction with the hospital finance department. Results were then compared between these two groups. Results The two cohorts demonstrated similar demographic profiles (FY14-15 vs FY17-18 cohort: age, 78 years vs 74 years; median length of stay, 1.0 day vs 1.0 day). Mean total technical costs were slightly higher in the FY17-18 group ($24,511 in FY14-15 vs $26,445 in FY17-18). Graft implants continued to account for a significant portion of the total cost, with the device cost accounting for 56% of the total procedure costs in both cohorts. Net revenue was greater in the FY17-18 group by $5800 ($30,698 in FY14-15 vs $36,498 in FY17-18), resulting in an increased overall margin in the FY17-18 group compared with the FY14-15 group ($6188 in FY14-15 vs $10,053 in FY17-18). Conclusions Device costs remain the single greatest cost driver associated with EVR delivery. DRG reclassification of EVR to address total procedure and implant costs appears to better address the requisite associated procedure costs and may thereby better support long-term fiscal sustainability of this procedure for hospitals and health systems alike.
Effect of Fatigue on Individual SAC305 Solder Joints Reliability at Elevated Temperature

Failure due to thermal cycling is common at the solder joint level of electronic assemblies due to the mismatch in the coefficient of thermal expansions between the carrier and printed circuit board. Combined damage mechanisms of creep and fatigue are presented in thermal cycling conditions. Recent studies showed that fatigue damage is dominant during ramps, while creep damage is dominant during dwell times. The amount of damage is highly aggregated when the temperature is elevated. So, it is essential to explore the effect of both damage mechanisms on solder joint reliability, especially at elevated temperatures. In this work, an accelerated shear fatigue test on individual solder joints is used to study the effect of elevated temperature at different stress levels on fatigue life. Individual SAC305 solder joints were cycled in stress-controlled fatigue at various temperature levels of 25°C, 60°C and 100°C using Instron micro-tester machine with a customized fixture. The stress amplitudes include 16, 20, and 24MPa. Hysteresis (stress-strain) loops were generated at different testing conditions, and the inelastic work per cycle is calculated. The results showed that increasing the stress level leads to increasing the inelastic work per cycle and decreasing fatigue life. The fatigue life of the solder joint is reduced significantly with increasing temperature at certain stress levels. Also, the inelastic work per cycle is significantly increased with increasing temperature. The effect of temperature found to create more damage than increasing stress levels. Further experiments with different testing conditions are in progress to study the effect of both creep and fatigue. It would help in quantifying both damages at several temperatures and stress levels.
Exploring Reinforcement Learning Method in Bidding Strategy Development for Day-Ahead Electricity Market

This paper introduces the detailed process of applying reinforcement learning to solve market participant bidding strategy problem. The process includes the setup of market clearing environment, reinforcement learning structure, and Q-learning algorithm. A comprehensive study on three specially designed problems demonstrates the Q-learning method can achieve significantly higher profit than the baseline method, which employs marginal cost as the offer price. The study provides insights to the learning process and the performance of Q-learning and demonstrates the performance varies with the changing condition of the environment, and tends to degrade with more complex patterns or random disturbances in the environment.
Lenticulostriate Vasculopathy and Neurodevelopmental Outcomes in Preterm Infants: A Retrospective Cohort Study

Lenticulostriate vasculopathy (LSV), defined by linear echogenicities in the thalamus and basal ganglia on ultrasound, is a finding reported on 5-20% of screening cranial ultrasounds in preterm infants. However, its significance for predicting future neurodevelopmental outcomes is unclear. Purpose: Describe the incidence of LSV in a cohort of very preterm infants in one level 3 neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) and the association between this radiologic finding and 2-year neurodevelopmental outcomes. Methods: This was a retrospective cohort study of infants born at one large, urban academic institution between 1/1/2010 and …
Interactive Planning and Supervised Execution for High-Risk, High-Latency Teleoperation

Ground-based teleoperation of robot manipulators for on-orbit servicing of spacecraft represents an example of high-payoff, high-risk operations that are challenging to perform due to high latency communications, with telemetry time delays of several seconds. In these scenarios, confidence of operating without failure is paramount. We report the development of an Interactive Planning and Supervised Execution (IPSE) system that takes advantage of accurate 3D reconstruction of the remote environment to enable operators to plan motions in the virtual world, evaluate and adjust the plan, and then supervise execution with the ability to pause and return to the planning environment at any time. We report the results of an experimental evaluation of a representative on-orbit telerobotic servicing task from NASA’s upcoming OSAM-1 mission to refuel a satellite in low earth orbit; specifically, to change the robot tool to acquire the fuel supply line and then to insert it into the satellite fill/drain valve. Results of a pilot study show that the operators preferred, and were more successful with, the IPSE system when compared to a conventional teleoperation implementation.
Rapid tool for evaluation of acido‐basic properties of solid catalysts at high reaction temperature conditions using 2-propanol and benzyl alcohol as probe molecules

Abstract We introduce a simple, fully automated and practical methodology to measure the relative activity of heterogeneous catalysts using probe molecules at operating temperature conditions employed in industrial processes. The applicability of this approach was demonstrated by studying the conversion and selectivity of model probe molecules, isopropanol and benzyl alcohol reactions at 250−450 °C, on γ-Al2O3, MM clay, ZnO and Fe2O3. Catalyst was packed into the bed of in-house fabricated bench-top unit, automated vapor generation unit was used to pass probe molecules through the bed, and the products were sampled by on-line GC. Amongst the probe molecules, benzyl alcohol was found to be more suitable for evaluation of surface acido‐basic properties, as it exhibited high conversion at all the studied temperatures, along with concomitant formation of toluene and benzaldehyde based on the relative presence of surface active sites, acidic sites yield toluene, and strong basic sites yield benzaldehyde.
Alcohol and Rape: An "Economics-of-Crime" Perspective *

Abstract Using a panel of state-level data over the years 1982–2000, this study explores the potential relationship between alcohol policy, alcohol consumption, and rape by considering a number of theoretical and methodological issues. First, the potential relationship is examined in the context of an economics-of-crime model, controlling for various deterrence and opportunity cost variables. Second, unlike most studies, consumption of liquor and wine are considered as well as consumption of beer. A third focus is on the potential endogeneity of alcohol consumption. A fourth consideration dictates the focus on rape-rates rather than other violent crime rates. Several studies have discovered a tendency for relatively high alcohol consumption by both offenders and victims. Since rape victims are virtually all female, and at least some alcohol policy variables appear to have differential impacts on females and heavy-drinking males, an examination of policy impacts for rape-rates, unlike other types of violent crime, can suggest the nature of the alcohol-consumption–violence relationship. The empirical results support an “alcohol-increases-potential-victims-vulnerability” hypothesis. In the context of the economic theory of crime, this lowers the expected cost of rape to potential offenders and raises rape-rates. Tests for endogeneity of alcohol consumption and resulting simultaneous equation estimates reinforce this implication because they suggest that potential victims respond to relatively high rape-rates by reducing alcohol consumption.
Patient and Stakeholder Engagement in the PCORI Pilot Projects: Description and Lessons Learned.

BACKGROUND Patients and healthcare stakeholders are increasingly becoming engaged in the planning and conduct of biomedical research. However, limited research characterizes this process or its impact.
Complex neural networks as future tools in imagery analysis

Brain networks are uniquely capable of generating and integrating information collected from multiple sources in real time. The application of structural and information theoretical measures to such networks has begun to unravel the crucial ingredients that ensure their rapid and robust performance. We suggest the use of information theoretical measures in applications that mimic some of these biological processing principles. We discuss candidate measures, their implementation in neural networks, their applicability to various sets of artificial and natural stimuli, and their future use in the automated analysis of aerial images.
OTM'10 keynote

Dr Michael Brodie is Chief Scientist of Verizon Services Operations in Verizon Communications, one of the world’s leading providers of communications services. Dr Brodie works on large-scale strategic Information Technology opportunities and challenges to deliver business value from advanced and emerging technologies and practices. He is concerned with the Big Picture, core technologies and integration within a large scale, operational telecommunications environment.
Rule, pattern, and meaning in the second-language teaching of grammar

This is a position paper aimed at the interface between meaning-oriented linguistics generally and instructed language learning. The alliance between usage-based linguistics and form-focused instruction in language teaching stands to benefit from advances on both sides: a recognition by theoretical linguists that systematic meanings of grammatical forms are responsible for observed, emerging patterns of usage; and a greater willingness on the part of advocates of the teaching of grammar to engage in focusing upon individual, meaningful grammatical forms, as distinct from unanalyzed, holistic form. Explicit knowledge of forms and their meanings can usefully guide the practice of teachers and, potentially, the performance of learners. Pending the wide availability of practical analyses, teachers' and learners' focused grammatical inquiry on authentic discourse can yield useful insights about both language structure and discourse.
Activation of Akt kinase by granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF): evidence for the role of a tyrosine kinase activity distinct from the Janus kinases.

Activation of the serine/threonine kinase Akt has been shown to be a critical component for growth factor and cytokine stimulation of cell survival. Although some of the immediate upstream activators of Akt have been defined, the roles of tyrosine kinases in the activation of Akt are not well delineated. Granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) regulates the proliferation, differentiation, and survival of neutrophilic granulocytes. G-CSF exerts its actions by stimulating several signaling cascades after binding its cell surface receptor. Both Jak (Janus) and Src families of tyrosine kinases are stimulated by incubation of cells with G-CSF. In this report, we show that G-CSF stimulation of cells leads to activation of Akt. The membrane-proximal 55 amino acids of the G-CSF receptor cytoplasmic domain are sufficient for mediating Akt activation. However, activation of Akt appears to be downregulated by the receptor's carboxy-terminal region of 98 amino acids, a region that has been shown to be truncated in some patients with acute myeloid leukemia associated with severe congenital neutropenia. Furthermore, we demonstrate that G-CSF–induced activation of Akt requires the activities of Src family kinases but can be clearly dissociated from G-CSF–stimulated activation of Stats (signal transducers and activators of transcripton) by the Jak kinases. Thus, cytokine activation of the Jak/Stat and other signaling cascades can be functionally separated.
Parent Management Training

Parent management training (PMT) employs a therapist as a consultant who works directly with a parent (mediator) to alleviate the problem behavior of a child (target). The basic PMT format consists primarily of instruction by the therapist in parenting techniques, structured modeling, role plays and practice sessions, and homework assignments for the parent to practice skills with the child (see McMahon & Forehand, 2003; Patterson & Forgatch, 2005). This format is based on the assumption that the interactions between parent and child contribute to the development and/or maintenance of child problem behaviors; PMT targets problematic parenting strategies and replaces them with a repertoire of skills that effectively manage, and eventually improve, the child's behavior, as well as improve broader parent–child interactional patterns.
eHealth Solutions for Healthcare Disparities

Paralleling emerging trends in cyber-health technology, concerns are mounting about racial, ethnic, disparities in health care utilization and outcomes. eHealth Solutions for Health Care Disparities brings these currents together, challenging readers to use, promote, and develop new technology-based methods for closing these gaps. Edited by a leading urban health advocate and featuring 16 expert contributors, the book examines cyber-strategies with the greatest potential toward effective, equitable care, improved service delivery and better health outcomes for all. Chapters go well beyond the possibilities of the Electronic Medical Record to discuss emerging roles for information technology in promoting healthful behavior changes (e.g., nutrition, weight loss, smoking cessation), disease prevention (e.g., cancer, HIV), and healthcare utilization, patient education and medicine compliance). The rise of e-Patients and the transformation of the doctor-patient relationship are also discussed. Opportunities for Web based products and interventions are explored in terms of tracking disparities, improving healthcare utilization and health outcomes, reducing disparities and monitoring trends among patients, whether they have Internet capabilities or not.
Bebop: A Symbolic Model Checker for Boolean Programs

We present the design, implementation and empirical evaluation of Bebop—a symbolic model checker for boolean programs. Bebop represents control flow explicitly, and sets of states implicitly using BDDs. By harnessing the inherent modularity in procedural abstraction and exploiting the locality of variable scoping, Bebop is able to model check boolean programs with several thousand lines of code, hundreds of procedures, and several thousand variables in a few minutes.
Cosmic (p,q,r) strings

The spectrum of (p, q) bound states of F- and D-strings has a distinctive square-root tension formula that is hoped to be a hallmark of fundamental cosmic strings. We point out that the BPS bound for vortices in N = 2 supersymmetric Abelian-Higgs models also takes the square-root form. In contrast to string theory, the most general supersymmetric field theoretic model allows for (p, q, r) strings, with three classes of strings rather than two. Unfortunately, we find that there do not exist BPS solutions except in the trivial case. The issue of whether there exist non-BPS solutions which may closely resemble the square-root form is left as an open question.
Monounsaturated Fatty Acids and Cholesterol Metabolism: Implications for Dietary Recommendations

Dietary fat is known to affect serum concentrations of total and lipoprotein cholesterol. However, all components of dietary triglycerides--saturated, monounsaturated, and polyunsaturated fatty acids--do not have identical effects on serum cholesterol levels. Until recently, most attention has been given to saturated fatty acids, which raise cholesterol levels, and polyunsaturated fatty acids, which are thought by many to lower cholesterol levels. Monounsaturates in contrast have been given little attention. However, recent studies carried out in our laboratory and in others have shown that monounsaturates can have favorable effects when substituted for saturated fatty acids in the diet. In this exchange, the monounsaturates reduce low density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol levels, but do not lower high density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol levels. In contrast, an HDL-lowering action has been noted for polyunsaturates. Also, monounsaturates appear to alter lipoproteins more favorably than carbohydrates, which can raise triglycerides and lower HDL cholesterol levels. Therefore, monounsaturated fatty acids appear to have more potential for use in cholesterol-lowering diets than previously recognized.
A dimeric, extracellular, heat-stable aminopeptidase produced by a marine pseudomonad

Abstract An extracellular aminopeptidase (Alteromonas aminopeptidase III) of a marine pseudomonad, designated Alteromonas B-207, was purified to homogeneity. The enzyme was found to have a native molecular weight of 63 000 by exclusion chromatography and a subunit weight of 33 000 by SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. Cross-linking with dimethyladipimidate prevented dissociation of the dimer. The enzyme has a pH optimum of 9.3, a temperature optimum of 70°C and is stable at 60°C for approx. 1 h. It has high specificity for l -leucyl-β-naphthylamide and, of the peptides tested, it shows a preference for l -Leu, Gly and l -Pro over l -α-Asp and l -Lys. The enzyme is inhibited by 1,10-phenanthroline, added to the enzyme-substrate reaction mixture, and by EDTA when the enzyme is dialyzed against 10−3 M soln. Activity can be partially restored to EDTA-dialyzed enzyme by removal of the EDTA and incubation of the enzyme with Zn2+. Atomic absorption data also implicate zinc as a required metal. Sulfhydryl- and serine- inhibitors have no effect on the enzyme.
Effect of Mechanical Loading on Three-Dimensional Cultures of Embryonic Stem Cell-Derived Cardiomyocytes

Cardiomyocytes selected from murine embryonic stem cells (ESCs) using the cardiac-specific promoter alpha-myosin heavy chain were embedded into collagen and fibronectin scaffolds. A custom-built device was used to expose these constructs to mechanical loading (10% stretch at 1, 2, or 3 Hz) or no loading. Constructs were evaluated using reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction, histology, and immunohistochemistry. Mechanical loading significantly affected gene expression, and these changes were dependent on the frequency of stretch. A 1 Hz cyclical stretch resulted in significantly lower gene expression, whereas a 3 Hz cyclical stretch resulted in significantly greater gene expression than in unstretched controls. These constructs also developed cardiac-specific cell structures similar to those found in vivo. This study describes a 3-dimensional model to examine the direct effect of mechanical loading on the differentiation of ESC-derived cardiomyocytes embedded in a defined extracellular matrix scaffold. A technique was also developed to isolate the areas within the constructs undergoing the most homogeneous strain so that the effect of mechanical loading on gene expression could be directly evaluated. These experiments emphasize that ESC-derived cardiomyocytes are actively responding to cues from their environment and that those cues can drive phenotypic control and cardiomyocyte differentiation.
Recovery of recombinant bacterial plasmids from E. coli transformed with DNA from microinjected mouse cells

We have previously described the isolation of thymidine kinase positive (TK+), human beta-globin gene-containing colonies following co-microinjection of mouse TK- L cells with two recombinant pBR322 plasmids, one containing the TK gene of herpes simplex virus type I (plasmid pXl), and the second containing a human genomic DNA fragment within which is the human beta-globin gene (plasmid pRKl). DNA isolated from one such clone was used in bacterial transformation experiments with a selection for tetracycline-resistant colonies (that is, for cells containing pRKl). A total of forty-two tetracycline-resistant colonies were isolated, thirty of which contained circular pRK1 molecules identical to those originally injected. The remaining twelve colonies contained unique plasmids that were grouped into five different classes of recombinant molecules. All five of these unique recombinant classes appear to contain a common deletion endpoint occurring at a specific region of the pBR322 segment of pRKl. Four of the unique recombinant classes appear to have arisen from the deletion of a segment of a pRKl trimer or dimer molecule, while the fifth class appears to have resulted from recombination between pRKl and pXl followed by a deletion event within this recombinant. It is uncertain whether these deletions are occurring within the eukaryotic cell or upon subsequent transformation of the bacterial cell. If the latter, then the passage of the plasmid DNA through the eukaryotic cell alters a specific site of the pBR322 DNA in such a way that deletions can occur at a high frequency in this region when the plasmid DNA is introduced back into a bacterial cell. Thus, we have established a prokaryote-eukaryote-prokaryote DNA transfer and recovery system which should be useful in studies on DNA replication and the regulation of gene expression in higher eukaryotes.
Diastereoselective hydride addition to [Tp'W(CO)(PhCCMe)(NH=CRR')][BAr'4]: Effects of equilibrium and kinetic acidity

A series of alkyl and aryl amido, imine, azavinylidene, and amine complexes containing the [Tp‘W(CO)(PhCCMe)]+ fragment have been synthesized. Reaction of Na[HBEt3] with an E/Z mixture of [Tp‘W(CO)(PhCCMe)(NHCMeEt)][BAr‘4] results in hydride addition at the imine carbon to form the amido complex with high diastereoselectivity. This high diastereoselectivity reflects differentiation between methyl and ethyl groups on the substrate imine carbon. A competing reaction forms an azavinylidene complex as a minor product via deprotonation of the coordinated imine ligand in the reagent. The ratio of amido to azavinylidene products tracks the E to Z isomer ratio and suggests that different reaction pathways characterize these two isomers. Relative pKa's of the various imine and amine complexes have been measured in THF, and kinetic acidity measurements of related imine complexes have been used to help understand these results.
Event Recommendation using Twitter Activity

User interactions with Twitter (social network) frequently take place on mobile devices - a user base that it strongly caters to. As much of Twitter's traffic comes with geo-tagging information associated with it, it is a natural platform for geographic recommendations. This paper proposes an event recommender system for Twitter users, which identifies twitter activity co-located with previous events, and uses it to drive geographic recommendations via item-based collaborative filtering.
Neutralizing antibodies as a prognostic indicator in the progression of acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS)-related disorders: a double-blind study.

A double-blind longitudinal study for the presence of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) neutralizing antibodies (NAb) in the sera of 36 patients with acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS), 149 prodromal homosexual subjects, and 33 heterosexual subjects has been carried out. All AIDS patients and 68% of prodromal homosexual subjects (101/149) were found to be HIV-1 antibody positive by Western blot assay. All heterosexual subjects were HIV-1 antibody negative. Neutralizing antibody(s) was determined by testing the protective activity of sera against HIV-1 infection of human T-cell line H9. Study subjects were divided into NAb(+) (antibody titer, >1:40) and NAb(−) (antibody titer, <1:40) groups. During the 24-month observation period 2 of 80 (3%) HIV-1(+) NAb(+) individuals progressed to AIDS and died, as compared to 5 of 21 (24%) of HIV-1(+) NAb(−) subjects who progressed to AIDS. Similarly, among the NAb(+) AIDS patients 8 of 23 (35%) died, while 10 of 13 (77%) of the NAb(−) patients died during the course of the study. In addition, the absence or reduction of HIV-1 p17 and p24 antibodies directed against HIV-1 antigens as well as the low titer or absence of NAb appears to be closely related to the clinical progression of the disease. These studies suggest that a decrease in the virus neutralization capacity of the sera and a decrease or complete loss of HIV-1 p17 and p24 antibodies may be useful as prognostic indicators for the progression of disease in HIV-1-seropositive patients.
Optical transitions in semiconductor superlattices with small band offset in one band and large in the other

We show that optical transitions in superlattices (SLs) with small band offset in one band and large in the other have unique characteristics that are not found in `standard' SLs (i.e. those with significant offsets in both bands). We demonstrate this using a simple analytical model, which allows us to express wave function overlaps between various conduction and valence subband states in a way that keeps the physics clearly in evidence. It is found that, because of the very different confinement properties of the conduction and the valence band states, optical transitions in such large-small offset SLs can actually take place between any pair of conduction and valence subband states both at the SL Brillouin zone centre and at the zone edges, as long as the states have the same parity. We also obtain analytical expression for the dependence of the wave function overlap on the SL geometry, and we identify the geometrical condition required to maximize the intensity of specific transitions. The above results, demonstrated analytically, are found to be in very good agreement with numerical calculations obtained via a rigorous multiband formalism, thus providing verification for the analytical model and for its predictions.
Control of modulated vibration using an enhanced adaptive filtering algorithm based on model-based approach

Abstract Conventional adaptive filtering algorithms, typically limited to the control of single or multiple sinusoids, are not appropriate to control modulated vibrations, especially in the presence of rich side band structures. To overcome this deficiency, a new control algorithm is proposed that introduces a feedback loop with the model predictive sliding mode control (MPSMC) in the adaptive filtering system. Several amplitude and frequency modulation cases are first computationally studied, and conventional and proposed methods are comparatively evaluated in terms of estimation error, performance in time and frequency domains, stability, and uncertainty in the reference signal. To experimentally validate the proposed algorithm, an active strut (with longitudinal vibrations) is constructed. Overall, the proposed adaptive algorithm yields superior reductions at the main frequencies and at side bands; also, good attenuation is found on a broadband basis.
Disability and risk of school related injury.

Objective: Approximately six million children with disabilities attend school in the United States. Cognitive and physical limitations may compromise their ability to handle environmental hazards and hence increase their risk for injury. The objective of this study was to describe the epidemiology of school related injury among children enrolled in 17 special education schools in one large, urban school district. Design: Altogether 6769 schoolchildren with disabilities were followed up from 1994–98. Injury and population data were collected from pupil accident reports and existing school records. Associations were estimated through generalized estimating equations. Results: A total of 697 injuries were reported for a rate of 4.7/100 students per year. Children with multiple disabilities had a 70% increased odds of injury compared with the developmentally disabled (odds ratio (OR) 1.7, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.3 to 2.3). The physically disabled (OR 1.4, 95% CI 1.0 to 1.9) had a modest increased odds of injury. Cuts, bruises, and abrasions composed almost three fourths of all injuries; almost half of these injuries were to the face. Falls (34%) and insults by other students (31%) were the most common external causes. More than a fourth of injuries were sports related, and 21% occurred on the playground/athletic field. Injury patterns differed across disabilities. Conclusions: Although limited to one school district, the population studied is the largest cohort thus far of schoolchildren with disabilities. With this large study base, potentially high risk groups were identified and circumstances of injury described. This information is imperative for developing and improving school based injury prevention measures.
Piezoelectric networking with enhanced electromechanical coupling for vibration delocalization of mistuned periodic structures- : Theory and experiment

In this research, an approach to vibration delocalization of nearly periodic structures using piezoelectric networks with active coupling enhancement is presented. Piezoelectric networks are synthesized to reduce mode localization by absorbing the vibratory mechanical energy into the electric circuits and distributing it through an additional strong electrical wave channel. The system electromechanical coupling effect is further increased through the use of active actions via negative capacitance circuits, which will enhance the treatment's delocalization capability. The integrated system is analyzed through modal analysis and transfer matrix analysis. A localization index is defined based on the Lyapunov exponent and used to evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed treatment. Experiments are carried out to validate the theoretical findings. The results demonstrated that, for the range of investigation, the system vibration localization level can be effectively reduced by piezoelectric networking, and the system performance can be further improved by the active coupling enhancement approach via negative capacitance circuits.
The lower hybrid drift instability at the magnetopause

When the interplanetary magnetic field is northward, wave-particle cross-field transport may contribute to solar wind-magnetosphere coupling. Such transport is studied here through the use of hybrid computer simulations (particle ions, fluid electrons with nonzero mass) carried out in the x-y plane of plasma with a density gradient in the x direction, no average flow speed, and a magnetic field B = B(x){cflx z}. At early times, the lower hybrid drift instability grows on the plasma gradient. However, at times long compared to an ion gyroperiod, the fluctuations coalesce to longer wavelengths in the y-direction and nondiffusive density x-profiles emerge which exhibit plateaus and inclusions qualitatively similar to those observed by ISEE near the magnetopause. These results call into question critical assumptions of quasilinear theories of cross-field transport by this instability.
Modulation of the ERK pathway of signal transduction by cysteine proteinase inhibitors.

Cell proliferation requires the coordinate synthesis and degradation of many proteins. In addition to the well-characterized involvement of the proteasome in the degradation of several cell cycle-regulated proteins, it has been established that cysteine proteinases are also involved in the control of cell proliferation, but their role is currently not understood. By using both synthetic cysteine proteinase inhibitors and overexpression of T-kininogen (T-KG), a physiologically relevant cysteine proteinase inhibitor, we show that inhibition of cysteine proteinases results in a severe inhibition of the ERK pathway of signal transduction. Mechanistically, this effect appears to be the result of stabilization of the ERK phosphatase MKP-1, which leads to an enhanced dephosphorylation (and hence inactivation) of ERK molecules. These results are specific to cysteine proteinase inhibitors and are not observed when either serine proteinases or the proteasome are inhibited. We hypothesize that inhibition of cysteine proteinases in vivo leads to a dysregulation of the ERK pathway, which results in an inability of the cell to transmit to the nucleus the signals generated by the presence of growth factors, thus resulting in loss of cell proliferation. J. Cell. Biochem. 80:11–23, 2000. © 2000 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
Color quality control in dual use solid state lighting and visible light communication systems using coded inverse multiplexing

A coded inverse multiplexing scheme is proposed using Red-Green-Blue (RGB) LEDs for general lighting with minimal shift in correlated color temperature (∼ 35 K) and visible light communication at modulation rates ∼ 50 MHz.
A FUSE Survey of Interstellar Molecular Hydrogen toward High-Latitude AGNs

We report results from a Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer (FUSE) survey of interstellar molecular hydrogen (H2) along 45 sight lines to AGNs at high Galactic latitudes ( > 20°). Most (39 out of 45) of the sight lines show detectable Galactic H2 absorption from Lyman and Werner bands between 1000 and 1126 A, with column densities ranging from N = 1014.17 to 1019.82 cm-2. In the northern Galactic hemisphere, we identify many regions of low N (≤1015 cm-2) between l = 60° and 180° and at b > 54°. These "H2 holes" provide valuable, uncontaminated sight lines for extragalactic UV spectroscopy, and a few may be related to the "Northern Chimney" (low Na I absorption) and the "Lockman Hole" (low N). A comparison of high-latitude H2 with 139 OB star sight lines surveyed in the Galactic disk suggests that high-latitude and disk H2 clouds may have different rates of heating, cooling, and UV excitation. For rotational states J = 0 and 1, the mean excitation temperature at high latitude, T = 124 ± 8 K, is somewhat higher than that in the Galactic disk, T = 86 ± 20 K. For J ≥ 2, the mean Texc = 498 ± 28 K, and the column-density ratios, N(3)/N(1), N(4)/N(0), and N(4)/N(2), indicate a comparable degree of UV excitation in the disk and low halo for sight lines with N ≥ 1018 cm-2. The distribution of molecular fractions at high latitude shows a transition at lower total hydrogen column density (log N ≈ 20.38 ± 0.13) than in the Galactic disk (log N ≈ 20.7). If the UV radiation fields are similar in disk and low halo, this suggests an enhanced H2 (dust-catalyzed) formation rate in higher density, compressed clouds, which could be detectable as high-latitude, sheetlike infrared cirrus.
RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN BODY-SWAY, HAND-LEVITATION, AND A QUESTIONNAIRE MEASURE OF HYPNOTIC SUSCEPTIBILITY.

Abstract 67 randomly selected college students were administered the body-sway test, a questionnaire measure of tranceability, and an induction procedure utilizing hand-levitation to determine hypnotic susceptibility. The 6 Es varied in age, sex; 5 of them had little experience as hypnotists. All reference to “hypnosis” was omitted from the induction procedure. Significant phi-coefficients between body-sway and levitation (.52), levitation and tranceability frequency (.28) and intensity (25), and body-sway and tranceability intensity (.33) were obtained.
A pattern-based development tool for mobile agents

Mobile agents are a technology that is applicable in several courses. However, the development of applications using mobile agents can be difficult and time-consuming for students. To address this problem, a tool called Mobile Agent Development Environment (MADE) is presented. MADE facilitates the rapid creation of mobile agent based applications through a pattern-based code generating wizard. MADE organizes and offers the creation of mobile agents based on their characteristics and behavior. MADE is based on the IBM Aglets API. MADE also offers easy-to-use plug-ins for course specific domains such as database and networking. Initial testing has shown that 55% of the code needed for simple applications can be generated quickly and automatically using the described tool.