cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Differential control of the rate of 5′-end-dependent mRNA degradation in Escherichia coli

Many Escherichia coli mRNAs are degraded by a 5′-end-dependent mechanism in which RppH-catalyzed conversion of the 5′-terminal triphosphate to a monophosphate triggers rapid endonucleolytic cleavage by RNase E. However, little is understood about what governs the decay rates of these transcripts. We investigated the decay of three such messages—rpsT P1, yfcZ, and ydfG—to characterize the rate-determining step in their degradation. The steady-state ratio of monophosphorylated to triphosphorylated rpsT P1 and yfcZ mRNA indicates that their decay rate is limited by cleavage of the monophosphorylated intermediate, making RNase E critical for their rapid turnover. Conversely, the decay rate of ydfG is limited by generation of the monophosphorylated intermediate; therefore, either RNase E or its less abundant paralog RNase G is sufficient for rapid ydfG degradation. Although all three transcripts are stabilized when RppH is absent, overproducing RppH does not accelerate their decay, nor does RppH overproduction appear to influence the longevity of most other messages that it targets. The failure of excess RppH to hasten rpsT P1 and yfcZ degradation despite increasing the percentage of each that is monophosphorylated is consistent with the observation that pyrophosphate removal is not the rate-limiting step in their decay. In contrast, neither the ydfG decay rate nor the fraction of ydfG transcripts that are monophosphorylated increases when the cellular concentration of RppH is raised, suggesting that, for some RppH targets, the rate of formation of the monophosphorylated intermediate is limited by an ancillary factor or by a step that precedes pyrophosphate removal.
Improving College Students' Success In Gateway Science Courses: Lessons Learned From An Anatomy And Physiology Workshop

In this study, we evaluated the effectiveness of a two-week pre-anatomy and physiology workshop intended to contribute to student success in anatomy and physiology. The study showed that workshop participants had significantly higher post-test scores, better study habits, and generally felt more confident or prepared for anatomy and physiology. The workshop participants also reported that they understood membrane transport the least and organization of the body the most, information that may be useful in anatomy and physiology curriculum development. Preliminary studies also show that students that participated in the workshop performed significantly better than the general student body, with lower attrition rates in anatomy and physiology.
Trade elasticities, heterogeneity, and optimal tariffs

Abstract We develop a structural estimator for heterogeneous supply and demand in the absence of instrumental variables. Using only readily available bilateral trade data we show how to leverage variation in prices and quantities across multiple markets in order to consistently estimate heterogeneous elasticities. Our elasticity estimates follow intuitive patterns of importer and exporter market power and produce believable distributions and magnitudes. To highlight the flexibility of the estimator, we extend the cornerstone theories of non-cooperative optimal trade policy to a setting where exporters have heterogeneous supply elasticities. Applying our estimates to trade and tariff data worldwide, we show that heterogeneous export supply elasticities provide new avenues for identification. We demonstrate statistically positive and persistent links between non-cooperative optimal tariffs and applied tariffs worldwide.
A cost-effectiveness analysis of self-help smoking cessation methods for pregnant women

Estimates of the cost effectiveness and cost benefit of health promotion-health education methods for pregnant smokers designed to increase birth weight are not available. This paper presents the results of a cost-effectiveness analysis from a recently completed randomized trial to evaluate the effectiveness of self-help smoking cessation methods for pregnant women in public health maternity clinics. The study population--309 pregnant smokers from 3 prenatal clinics--were randomly assigned, during their first clinic visit, to 1 of 3 groups: (a) group 1 received the standard clinic information and advice to quit smoking, (b) group 2 received the standard clinic information and advice to quit plus the manual "Freedom From Smoking in 20 Days" by the American Lung Association, and (c) group 3 received the standard clinic information and advice to quit plus the pregnancy-specific manual "A Pregnant Woman's Self-Help Guide to Quit Smoking." The quit rates by the end of pregnancy were 2 percent for group 1, 6 percent for group 2, and 14 percent for group 3. Analyses also indicated that the method used for group 3 was the most cost effective: group 3 achieved smoking cessation at less than half the cost experienced by the other two groups. Although additional studies are needed concerning the behavioral impact, cost effectiveness, and cost benefit of self-help health education methods for smoking cessation, the methods tested in this trial are promising as solutions to part of the problem of low birth weight among infants of smoking mothers in the United States.
Prediction of tidal water currents from active sonar tracks

Ambient returns from active sonars may contain information that describes in situ environmental characteristics of the ensonified water column. This study seeks to apply Harmonic Analysis in a novel way to derive information about water current flows from the heading and velocity of active sonar tracks. It is hypothesized that tidal current patterns may be extracted from the movement of tracks by applying the appropriate set of harmonic tidal constituents. The technique is tested with data from a sonar installation in an inlet of the Chesapeake Bay estuary. The results suggest that sonar tracks can be used to predict the direction and timing of flood and ebb events over time but lower correlations were found between the model and measured water current velocities.
Pathophysiology of Primary and Secondary Dystonias

Investigators at the Institute of Neurology, University College London, UK, and centers in Slovenia and Spain compared electrophysiological features of primary and secondary dystonia, using transcranial magnetic stimulation of motor cortex and eye blink conditioning.
The A’s Have It: Developing Apolipoprotein A-I Mimetic Peptides Into a Novel Treatment for Asthma

New treatments are needed for patients with asthma who are refractory to standard therapies, such as individuals with a phenotype of "type 2-low" inflammation. This important clinical problem could potentially be addressed by the development of apolipoprotein A-I (apoA-I) mimetic peptides. ApoA-I interacts with its cellular receptor, the ATP-binding cassette subfamily A, member 1 (ABCA1), to facilitate cholesterol efflux out of cells to form nascent high-density lipoprotein particles. The ability of the apoA-I/ABCA1 pathway to promote cholesterol efflux from cells that mediate adaptive immunity, such as antigen-presenting cells, can attenuate their function. Data from experimental murine models have shown that the apoA-I/ABCA1 pathway can reduce neutrophilic airway inflammation, primarily by suppressing the production of granulocyte-colony stimulating factor. Furthermore, administration of apoA-I mimetic peptides to experimental murine models of allergic asthma has decreased both neutrophilic and eosinophilic airway inflammation, as well as airway hyperresponsiveness and mucous cell metaplasia. Higher serum levels of apoA-I have also been associated with less severe airflow obstruction in patients with asthma. Collectively, these results suggest that the apoA-I/ABCA1 pathway may have a protective effect in asthma, and support the concept of advancing inhaled apoA-I mimetic peptides to clinical trials that can assess their safety and effectiveness. Thus, we propose that the development of inhaled apoA-I mimetic peptides as a new treatment could represent a clinical advance for patients with severe asthma who are unresponsive to other therapies.
Finite Element Method Simulation of 3D Deformable Solids

This book serves as a practical guide to simulation of 3D deformable solids using the Finite Element Method (FEM). It reviews a number of topics related to the theory and implementation of FEM approaches: measures of deformation, constitutive laws of nonlinear materials, tetrahedral discretizations, and model reduction techniques for real-time simulation. Simulations of deformable solids are important in many applications in computer graphics, including film special effects, computer games, and virtual surgery. The Finite Element Method has become a popular tool in many such applications. Variants of FEM catering to both offline and real-time simulation have had a mature presence in computer graphics literature. This book is designed for readers familiar with numerical simulation in computer graphics, who would like to obtain a cohesive picture of the various FEM simulation methods available, their strengths and weaknesses, and their applicability in various simulation scenarios. The book is also a practical implementation guide for the visual effects developer, offering a lean yet adequate synopsis of the underlying mathematical theory. Chapter 1 introduces the quantitative descriptions used to capture the deformation of elastic solids, the concept of strain energy, and discusses how force and stress result as a response to deformation. Chapter 2 reviews a number of constitutive models, i.e., analytical laws linking deformation to the resulting force that has successfully been used in various graphics-oriented simulation tasks. Chapter 3 summarizes how deformation and force can be computed discretely on a tetrahedral mesh, and how an implicit integrator can be structured around this discretization. Finally, chapter 4 presents the state of the art in model reduction techniques for real-time FEM solid simulation and discusses which techniques are suitable for which applications. Topics discussed in this chapter include linear modal analysis, modal warping, subspace simulation, and domain decomposition.
Out-of-School Time Activity Participation, School Engagement and Positive Youth Development: Findings from the 4-H Study of Positive Youth Development

The relations in early adolescence among out-of-school-time activities and indicators of youth development were assessed through the use of 8th grade data from the longitudinal, 4-H Study of Positive Youth Development. Hierarchical multiple linear regressions indicated that “hanging out” with friends without set plans and excessive media use were associated with lower behavioral engagement with school, lower academic achievement, and higher rates of risk behaviors. Youth who ate dinner with their family reported higher levels of emotional engagement, lower depression and risk behaviors, and better grades. Engagement in civic activities was associated with higher levels of emotional engagement. Behavioral and emotional engagement were both associated with better grades and lower depression. Emotional school engagement was also associated with lower rates of risk behaviors. Implications of the findings for evaluating the role of out-of-school-time activities and behavioral and/or emotional school engagement in academic achievement and youth development are discussed.
Comparative field responses to diel and annual thermal regimens among sceloporine lizards, with specific reference to sceloporus malachiticus

Sceloporus malachiticus is a diurnal iguanid lizard occupying upland and montane areas through much of Mexico and Central America. In Costa Rica, where field observations were made, this species utilizes various habitats between elevations from about 600 to more than 3,000 meters. In response to the diel march of temperature, activity usually demonstrated a unimodal peak in the late morning hours, prior to the onset of cloud caver. Body temperatures generally exceed those of both ambient air and substratum; active animals exhibit a greater differential than inactive ones. Body temperatures range from 8.4 °C to 34.4 °C, of which the voluntary activity range is 22.0 to 34.4 °C (X28.6 °C). No significant differences were found among different size or sex groupings. Basking behavior is common throughout the range of activity in all groups. Neither hibernation nor acclimation is exhibited in montane S. malachiticus.In comparing these thermal responses with other sceloporines, the most conspicuous feature of this population of S. malachiticus is its low thermal preferendum. Among the collective voluntary activity ranges and preferenda reported for other members of the genus there is an obvious contrast with the results obtained. Further evidence acquired during this study indicates that thermal preferenda among sceloporines are more characteristic of their autecology than their phylogeny.
SOME PHYSIOLOGICAL EFFECTS OF FRACTIONATED JELLYFISH TOXIN

The cardiovascular effects of nematocyst toxin from Stomolophus meleagris (Cabbagehead jellyfish) were studied in rats. The toxin was separated into six fractions by molecular weight. Toxin fractions were studied individually, in order to determine if activities were localized in different fractions which could account for the cardiovascular effects produced by whole toxin. Rats were anaesthetized and heparinized; electrocardiograms and carotid arterial pressures were recorded simultaneously. Each record consisted of a control section, obtained prior to toxin administration, followed without interruption by the experimental section. All materials were infused via the jugular vein. Arterial blood samples were secured for plasma electrolyte analysis during the control and experimental periods. Effects produced by the fractions were assessed by comparing experimental data with corresponding control values. Only the heaviest fraction (mol wt > 300,000) retained the lethality associated with whole toxin. This fraction also produced other effects (cardiac arrhythmias, hyperkalemia, hyponatremia, nemolysis) typically induced by whole toxin, but lacked the characteristic pressor activity. This activity was most apparent in the three fractions of intermediate molecular weight (1,000–10,000; 10,000–50,000; 50,000–100,000), which lacked the properties of the heaviest fraction, but were effective in altering ECG interval lengths: the P-R interval was shortened; the QRS and Q–T intervals were lengthened. The lightest fraction (mol wt <1,000) produced aberrant effects including hypernatremia, lengthening of the P-R interval, and shortening of the QRS interval. All fractions produced bradycardia. The results suggest that this toxin contains pressor substances which are related to substances capable of modifying myocardial conduction times, and that these can be separated from components which cause hemolysis and alter plasma electrolyte balance. The cardiac arrhythmias produced by the toxin, as well as its lethality, may result from the activity of specific high molecular weight components, or from synergistic effects of the lighter components. The inconsistent effects produced by the lightest fraction may reflect the presence of salts or other contaminants introduced during toxin preparation.
Analytical global sensitivity analysis with Gaussian processes

Methods for efficient variance-based global sensitivity analysis of complex high-dimensional problems are presented and compared. Variance decomposition methods rank inputs according to Sobol indices that can be computationally expensive to evaluate. Main and interaction effect Sobol indices can be computed analytically in the Kennedy and O'Hagan framework with Gaussian processes. These methods use the high-dimensional model representation concept for variance decomposition that presents a unique model representation when inputs are uncorrelated. However, when the inputs are correlated, multiple model representations may be possible leading to ambiguous sensitivity ranking with Sobol indices. In this work, we present the effect of input correlation on sensitivity analysis and discuss the methods presented by Li and Rabitz in the context of Kennedy and O'Hagan's framework with Gaussian processes. Results are demonstrated on simulated and real problems for correlated and uncorrelated inputs and demonstrate the utility of variance decomposition methods for sensitivity analysis.
Perceptions of molecular epidemiology studies of HIV among stakeholders

Background: Advances in viral sequence analysis make it possible to track the spread of infectious pathogens, such as HIV, within a population. When used to study HIV, these analyses (i.e., molecular epidemiology) potentially allow inference of the identity of individual research subjects. Current privacy standards are likely insufficient for this type of public health research. To address this challenge, it will be important to understand how stakeholders feel about the benefits and risks of such research. Design and Methods: To better understand perceived benefits and risks of these research methods, in-depth qualitative interviews were conducted with HIV-infected individuals, individuals at high-risk for contracting HIV, and professionals in HIV care and prevention. To gather additional perspectives, attendees to a public lecture on molecular epidemiology were asked to complete an informal questionnaire. Results: Among those interviewed and polled, there was near unanimous support for using molecular epidemiology to study HIV. Questionnaires showed strong agreement about benefits of molecular epidemiology, but diverse attitudes regarding risks. Interviewees acknowledged several risks, including privacy breaches and provocation of anti-gay sentiment. The interviews also demonstrated a possibility that misunderstandings about molecular epidemiology may affect how risks and benefits are evaluated. Conclusions: While nearly all study participants agree that the benefits of HIV molecular epidemiology outweigh the risks, concerns about privacy must be addressed to ensure continued trust in research institutions and willingness to participate in research.
On the local density dependence of electronic stopping of ions in solids

Abstract We use time-dependent density functional theory to calculate the electronic stopping S e in binary Ni-Ni atomic collisions and for a Ni projectile along channeling directions in a Ni crystal. Our results show that when S e is reported as a function of the ground state target electronic density ρ 0 the stopping is not a single-valued function of the local density, as assumed in formalisms that date back to the origins of quantum mechanics, but shows loops, suggesting that it is inaccurate to model stopping as a dissipative force of the type F = β ( ρ 0 ) v , as it is customarily done in non-adiabatic molecular dynamics simulations of ion-solid interactions. We compare our results with S e in a uniform electron gas where the above definition for the force holds, and conclude on the validity of using jellium as a crude approximation for more realistic inhomogeneous electron gases.
A History of Generalized Metrizable Spaces

Metrizable spaces, together with compact spaces, occupy a central position in general topology. Both classes of spaces have been generalized in a wide variety of ways. For example, locally compact and countably compact spaces are two well-known and especially useful generalizations of compact spaces. This paper is a history of the search for generalizations of metrizable spaces.
Insomnia Due to Mental Illness

When insomnia is clearly caused by an underlying mental disorder and exists solely in the presence of a psychiatric disorder, it has traditionally been viewed as secondary and is labeled insomnia due to mental disorder (IMD). The insomnia, however, is not simply occasional disturbed sleep and must be considered significant by the patient with daytime impairment. Recent research suggests, however, that IMD is not necessarily a disorder that falls secondary to psychiatric illness. Instead, insomnia is now viewed as a comorbid illness that often requires its own specific intervention.
Enhanced Cavitation and Hydration Crossover of Stretched Water in the Presence of C60.

We performed molecular dynamics simulations on systems containing stretched water and a C60 buckyball molecule. Our goals were to understand how the presence of the hydrophobic impurity influences the rate of cavitation in stretched water and how the change in pressure (an increase in the value of negative pressure) affects the nature of hydrophobic hydration. Our simulations show that the presence of a buckyball increases the rate of cavitation in water under negative pressure. When studying the influence of the degree of stretching on hydration, we observed that at pressures above −100 MPa the mechanism of hydrophobic hydration is the one that characterizes hydration of a small particle. At some pressure below −100 MPa, there is a crossover in the mechanism of hydration where dewetting occurs by forming cavities next to the surface of the buckyball, and this is characteristic of hydrophobic hydration of large particles.
Effects of Ketamine on Cardiovascular and Respiratory Responses to a Moderate 40 Percent Hemorrhage in Rats

Background Currently, ketamine is recommended for analgesic use on the battlefield for Soldiers with severe hemorrhage. However, there have been few human or animal studies to support such use. Bec...
"It's Like Waking": Making Meaning in and of Christopher Nolan's Memento

Christopher Nolan’s Memento (2000) is about interpretation—a concern it figures pretty directly in the protagonist’s struggle to make sense of a life that exists for him only in the form of series of fragmentary texts. Because this character, Leonard Shelby, suffers from anterograde amnesia (an inability to create new memories), his immediate experience is a constant, frantic, sifting of signs. Strangely, he becomes a poignant model for human engagement with the world—for the difficulties involved in making meaning. But ultimately, his efforts at reading the texts that surround him, the text he has himself become, serve as a cautionary tale, as a kind of running commentary on the negative consequences of reading badly. At the same time, the record of his experience, which is designed to mirror that experience, functions as a tutorial on reading, as—at once—an exhortation to read carefully and well and as an ongoing test of the skills the film itself is working to inculcate. Memento not only requires close reading but provides a rationale for the practice. It is designed to make a case, in its unfolding, for why reading well matters.
Spatiotemporal Variability of Tropical Cyclone Precipitation Using a High-Resolution, Gridded (0.25° × 0.25°) Dataset for the Eastern United States, 1948–2015

AbstractTropical cyclones (TCs) are an important source of precipitation for much of the eastern United States. However, our understanding of the spatiotemporal variability of tropical cyclone prec...
Laser Powder Bed Fusion Parameter Selection via Machine-Learning-Augmented Process Modeling

Laser powder bed fusion additive manufacturing (AM) is a highly active research area in the materials and manufacturing community, driven by promises of reduced lead time, increased design flexibility, and potentially location-specific process control. However, a complex processing space counters these benefits and results in difficulties when attempting to develop process parameter sets across different component geometries and subgeometries. We develop a procedure for coupling physics-based process modeling with machine learning and optimization methods to accelerate searching the AM processing space for suitable printing parameter sets. We demonstrate the approach first on simple geometries that vary in size to show the methodology and then on a more complicated geometry to show the benefit of locally tailored process parameters on component processing history.
Effects of Salt and Nitrogen Stress on the Growth of Winter Rye

Winter Rye (Secale cereale L.) is an important food stock that are found on most part of the world that are coastal areas, which are now open to threats as global warming causes multiple issues that includes soil salination and high-concentration nitrogen run-off. As of right now, it’s already clear that salt will place a growth stress on most plants in high concentrations and will prohibit critical organs for nutrient intake, yet a number of researches stated that high dose of nitrogen will restore the growth of most wild and commercial plants. We are interested to find out how the interaction between salt and nitrogen can interfere with the growth of winter rye. A standard comprehensive 2-variable greenhouse assay was set up, with different levels of salt and nitrogen. After a 3-week growth period, an ANOVA test was conducted. The plants performance was inhibited when they are exposed to the lowest salt concentration and medium to high levels of nitrogen. In high saline environments, however, the performance of the plant was improved as it’s exposed to medium and particularly, high nitrogen levels. The finding of this study would be useful in ways that few previous studies had focused on the effect of salt and nitrogen stress on the grown of food species in case of global warming and population growth, and the subject should be studied on more food species in future researches.
Decentralized Online Convex Optimization With Event-Triggered Communications

Decentralized multi-agent optimization usually relies on information exchange between neighboring agents, which can incur unaffordable communication overhead in practice. To reduce the communication cost, we apply event-triggering technique to the decentralized multi-agent online convex optimization problem, where each agent is associated with a time-varying local loss function and the goal is to minimize the accumulated total loss (the sum of all local loss functions) by choosing appropriate actions sequentially. We first develop an event-triggered decentralized online subgradient descent algorithm for the full information case, where the local loss function is fully revealed to each agent at each time. We establish an upper bound for the regret of each agent in terms of the event-triggering thresholds. It is shown that the regret is sublinear provided that the event-triggering thresholds converge to zero as time goes to infinity. The algorithm and analysis are further extended to the scenario of bandit feedback, where only the values of the local loss function at two random points close to the current action are disclosed to each agent. We show that the two-point bandit feedback does not degrade the performance of the proposed algorithm in order sense and a regret bound similar to the full information case can be established. Finally, numerical results on the problem of decentralized online least squares are presented to validate the proposed algorithms.
The Production of Complex Syntax in Spontaneous Language by 4-Year-Old Children With Hearing Loss

Purpose Proficiency with complex syntax is important for language and reading comprehension, and production of complex syntax begins to emerge shortly after a young child begins using two-word combinations. Complex syntax production in preschool children with hearing loss who use spoken language has been explored minimally. The purpose of this study was to compare complex syntax production of 4-year-old children with hearing loss to age-matched and language-matched peers with normal hearing. Method Seventy-two children completed a language assessment battery, including a structured language sample. Complex syntax density and number and accuracy of productions of particular types of complex syntax were compared across three groups: 4-year-old children with hearing loss, an age-matched group of children with normal hearing, and an mean length of utterance (MLU)-matched group of children with normal hearing. Results Children with hearing loss had lower complex syntax density and fewer correct productions of coordinated clauses, subordinate clauses, and simple infinitives than their age-matched, but not language-matched, peers. Furthermore, children with hearing loss had lower accuracy than the age-matched group on simple infinitives and lower accuracy than both the age- and MLU-matched groups on full propositional complements and subject relative clauses. Conclusion Children with hearing loss exhibit delays in complex syntax acquisition as compared to their same-age peers and disruptions in development on some complex structures as compared to MLU-matched, younger children. Supplemental Material https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.14080193.
Type 2 Diabetes and Cognitive Status in the Health and Retirement Study: A Mendelian Randomization Approach.

Background Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and dementia are leading causes of mortality and disability in the US. T2DM has been associated with dementia; however, causality has not been clearly established. This study tested inferred causality between T2DM and dementia status using a Mendelian randomization approach. Methods Participants (50+ years) from the 2010 wave of the Health and Retirement Study of European or African genetic ancestry were included (n = 10,322). History of T2DM was self-reported. Cognitive status (dementia, cognitive impairment non-dementia, or normal cognition) was defined from clinically validated cognitive assessments. Cumulative genetic risk for T2DM was determined using a polygenic score calculated from a European ancestry T2DM genome-wide association study by Xue et al. (2018). All models were adjusted for age, sex, education, APOE-e4 carrier status, and genetic principal components. Multivariable logistic regression was used to test the association between cumulative genetic risk for T2DM and cognitive status. To test inferred causality using Mendelian randomization, we used the inverse variance method. Results Among included participants, 20.9% had T2DM and 20.7% had dementia or cognitive impairment. Among European ancestry participants, T2DM was associated with 1.66 times odds of cognitive impairment non-dementia (95% confidence interval: 1.55-1.77) relative to normal cognition. A one standard deviation increase in cumulative genetic risk for T2DM was associated with 1.30 times higher odds of T2DM (95% confidence interval: 1.10-1.52). Cumulative genetic risk for T2DM was not associated with dementia status or cognitive-impaired non-dementia in either ancestry (P > 0.05); lack of association here is an important assumption of Mendelian randomization. Using Mendelian randomization, we did not observe evidence for an inferred causal association between T2DM and cognitive impairment (odds ratio: 1.04; 95% confidence interval: 0.90-1.21). Discussion Consistent with prior research, T2DM was associated with cognitive status. Prevention of T2DM and cognitive decline are both critical for public health, however, this study does not provide evidence that T2DM is causally related to impaired cognition. Additional studies in other ancestries, larger sample sizes, and longitudinal studies are needed to confirm these results.
Contrasting Concurrences of Clarence Thomas: Deploying Originalism and Paternalism in Commercial and Student Speech Cases

That’s what First Amendment scholar David L. Hudson, Jr. wrote back in 2002 in the process of lauding United States Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas as “an ardent defender of commercial freespeech rights” and a “forceful advocate for commercial speech.” One of the key cases supporting Hudson’s thesis and proposition is 44 Liquormart, Inc. v. Rhode Island, in which Justice Thomas authored a concurring opinion designed “to attack the Central
Data Acquisition Concepts

The various physical and electrical quantities discussed in this book contain information that the different measurement transducers and techniques seek to define. The physical quantities (temperature, heat flux density, wind velocity, pressure, etc.) have generally been converted into electrical signals which, in turn, are recorded and interpreted. The conversion has been accomplished by a variety of transducers. The information that is presented to the transducer and passed on by it (in converted form) can be classified as to whether the information is in electrical or nonelectrical form.
Institutional Outsiders and Insiders: The Response of Foreign and Domestic Inventors to the Quality of Intellectual Property Rights Protection

We analyze how the quality of intellectual property rights (IPR) protection in developing countries impacts patent applications. We extend institutional economics to propose that firms vary in their interpretation of institutions, specifically arguing that foreign and domestic inventors respond to different institutional signals because of their different positions as institutional outsiders and insiders. Thus, we propose that foreign inventors, as institutional outsiders, respond more positively to the quality of IPR protection in countries with more democratic political systems, whereas domestic inventors, as institutional insiders, respond more positively to the quality of IPR protection in countries with higher quality legal systems.
Expanded Judicial Review of Awards After Hall Street and in Comparative Perspective

The essay addresses whether party preference for more intrusive court review of the facts and law of an aribitral award will (or should) be respected in national arbitration law. The recent U.S. Supreme Court decision in Hall Street rules that expanded review clauses are not enforceable under the Federal Arbitration Act. The essay argues, however, that expanded review of an international arbitral award should still be possible in the U.S. if the parties draft the arbitration clause carefully. For that purpose the parties should include an expanded review clause and should place the arbitral seat in a State that allows expanded review - for example, California. They should also expressly provide that the arbitration be governed by that State’s arbitration law. A respondent seeking to subject an unfavorable award to expanded review could then file for set-aside in the State courts of the seat. Even if the award creditor were to remove to federal court, the essay argues that a federal court should apply the State arbitration law, which, in the case of California, allows expanded review when the parties expressly provide for it. The essay also discusses the options for obtaining expanded review of an award under Swiss, Italian, Swedish, and English law.
Powders, Handling, Dispersion of Powders In Liquids

This article explains the fundamental principles and practical aspects of the three steps in making a good dispersion: wetting the dry powder into the liquid, breaking up the wetted clumps, and preventing reagglomeration of the dispersed particles. It describes a variety of techniques for wetting powders into liquids of low, medium, and high viscosity, noting the design elements that provide effective operation. Simple equations illustrate how particle attractions and repulsions are related to basic physical forces and how the forces may be modified by changes in the chemical environment or by adsorption of dispersants. Several unusual methods of stabilizing dispersions are noted. Finally there is a brief section on evaluating the degree of dispersion, with reference to numerous standard methods, guidance for selecting a method appropriate to the need, and warnings of difficulties that limit the application of the methods. Keywords: Dispersion; Wetting powders; liquids; Deagglomerating; Wetted clumps; Process equipment; Reagglomeration prevention
Familia and Comunidad‐Based Saberes: Learning in an Indigenous Heritage Community

This article explores how children and youth learned indigenous heritage saberes (knowings) through intent community participation in Nocutzepo, Mexico. The familia (family) and comunidad (community)-based saberes were valuable for skills acquisition, but most important for learning indigenous forms of belonging, responsibility, and integration into adult life. Understanding indigenous heritage philosophies of learning and familia and comunidad saberes can help expand educators' knowledge about the learning practices of indigenous heritage families and students in schools.
High-Energy Emission from Rotation-Powered Pulsars

Forty years after the discovery of rotation‐powered pulsars, we still do not understand many aspects of their pulsed emission. In the last few years there have been some fundamental developments in acceleration and emission models. I will review both the basic physics of the models as well as the latest developments in understanding the high‐energy emission of rotation‐powered pulsars. The prospects for a revolution of the field is about to take place with the launch of AGILE and GLAST. Prospects for using this large increase in γ‐ray data for the study of pulsar physics will be discussed.
Equity premium in a production economy: A parametric example

Abstract A simple Arrow-Debreu model with production and adjustment cost is developed and it is shown how the production parameters interact in determining the steady state equity premium. We also show that the equity premium is highest in exchange economy.
A rapid-mixing technique to measure transport in suspended animal cells: applications to nucleoside transport in Novikoff rat hepatoma cells.

Publisher Summary The chapter discusses techniques, which permit an operational separation of transport and metabolism. This separation can be achieved by genetic, chemical, or kinetic manipulation, or a combination thereof. The transport of various compounds across mammalian cell membranes is frequently found to occur with a rapidity which necessitates collecting data at intervals of a few seconds. By means of a dual-syringe device, suspended cells can be mixed nearly instantaneously with radioactively labeled substrate and separated from the substrate again within seconds by centrifugation into silicone oil. Depending on the cell-substrate system under investigation, initial transport velocities may be either measured directly or calculated from the time course with which equilibrium across the membrane is attained. With nonmetabolizing systems, the dual-syringe apparatus is adaptable to a variety of experimental protocols-zero-trans, equilibrium exchange, and infinite-cis—which in combination make possible a thorough kinetic characterization of a transport system.
Stage implementation of RFID in hospitals

Objectives: The use of radio frequency identification device (RFID) technology within the healthcare industry was researched and specific instances of implementation of this technology in the hospital environment were examined. Methods: The study primarily makes use of ideas from operations and supply chain management, such as work flow diagrams, value stream mapping, and poka-yokes (mistake proofing measures) for investigations of processes, failures, and solutions. Results: This study presents a step-by-step approach of how to implement the use of RFID tracking systems within the entire hospital. A number of poka-yokes were also devised for improving the safety of the patient and cost effectiveness of the hospital to insure the success of the hospital health care delivery system. Conclusions: Many players in the hospital environment may be impacted. This includes patients, doctors, nurses, technicians, administrators, and other hospital personnel. Insurance and government agencies may be impacted as well. Different levels of training of hospital personnel will be required based on the degree of interaction with the RFID system. References to costs, Return On Investment, change management, ethical and legal considerations are also made to help the reader understand the benefits and implications of the technology in the hospital environment.
‘Rachel's not here’: Constructed dialogue in gossip

Sociolinguistic research has demonstrated that gossip is a co-constructed phenomenon, which allows participants to establish solidarity and build alignments with each other, while evaluating an absent party. Gossip can also serve important social functions, such as helping to establish and reconfirm group norms and values. The present study provides a detailed analysis of an extended gossip episode that occurred within an institutional context: a study group interaction at a U.S. university. Our analysis shows how, in gossip, constructed dialogue both prompts and legitimizes pejorative evaluations towards an absent third party, and is actually the pivot around which group members negotiate values and norms in the process of arriving at a shared moral stance. Our analysis also demonstrates that alignment in gossip interactions is tenuous and must be continuously renewed.
Escherichia coli fumarase A catalyzes the isomerization of enol and keto oxalacetic acid

Fumarase A, a product of the fumA gene of Escherichia coli, has been found to catalyze the isomerization of enol to keto oxalacetic acid (OAA) in addition to catalyzing the fumarase reaction. The kcat/Km for the isomerization is almost identical to that for the fumarase reaction. The isomerization reaction apparently takes place at the same active site as the fumarase reaction since both reactions show a similar sensitivity to inactivation by O2, both reactions are strongly inhibited by 2-hydroxy-3-nitropropionate, and the isomerization reaction is inhibited by fumarate and malate. The isomerization requires the presence of a [4Fe-4S] or [3Fe-4S] cluster, perhaps for structural rather than catalytic reasons. Hydration of enol OAA to the gem diol has been ruled out as a possible mechanism of isomerization on the basis of the preservation of the oxygen on carbon 2 and the position of protonation on carbon 3. The isomerization is not stereospecific in the position of protonation at carbon 3 but appears to be stereoselective, with protonation preferentially occurring in the 3-pro-S position. Porcine fumarase, isopropyl malate isomerase, and dihydroxyacid dehydratase do not catalyze this isomerization. Fumarase A and aconitase, two enzymes with 4Fe-4S clusters that bind a linear 4-carbon dicarboxylic acid moiety in the trans conformation during their normal hydro-lyase reaction, do catalyze this isomerization.
Introduction to Imaging Brain Tumor Metabolism with Positron Emission Tomography (PET)

The need for prompt and detailed evaluation of cancers and their treatment is requiring increasingly sophisticated methodologies for in vivo assessment. Morphological detail as provided by CT and MRI has yielded significant advances in diagnostic medicine. In spite of such advances, the means of achieving the clinical goals of improved quality and quantity of life in many cancer patients remain elusive. It is becoming increasingly evident that only with the addition of complementary physiological and biochemical data will further advances occur. While neither in vivo morphological imaging with CT or MRI nor physiological imaging with PET or MRS can provide the resolution of microscopic or cellular level assessment, all can provide macroscopic or regional data. With PET, however, exploration of the kinetics or chemical processes occurring at the cellular level is providing a "biological resolution" not heretofore achieved with in vivo imaging. Application of this complementary morphological and biochemical diagnostic information will likely lead to significant advances in patient management in the immediate future, most of which would probably not be achievable using any individual technique. Efficacy studies should be performed, however, when introducing any new high-technology methodology into clinical practice. A number of retrospective and prospective trials on PET applications in clinical oncology are ongoing sponsored by organizations such as the Institute for Clinical PET and the Western PET Association. Detailed studies also are underway to estimate the "cost" of delivery of PET services to the community (146). Numerous PET feasibility studies in animal models have demonstrated that no one radiotracer serves as the best agent for tumor imaging in all cases. Such studies with radiolabeled amino acids, sugars, and nucleoside derivatives, representatives of the major classes of biomolecules, have demonstrated variable tumor uptake dependent on such parameters as the type of cancer, organ of origin, animal host, and chemical structure of the radioligand. Detailed analysis of tracer uptake using multiple ligands in a variety of animal tumor models and clinical patients suggests that while given types of cancers may be better imaged with certain radiotracers, the use of multitracer imaging provides the specific details necessary for appropriate interpretation of tumor status. In addition, in cases where the diagnosis is uncertain, such information could have a significant impact on patient management by reducing the diagnostic differential. In spite of the many successes achieved with FDG in brain tumor imaging, the most well-known example of the problems that can arise with PET image interpretation is with the use of this agent.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)
On the valuation of an option to exchange one interest rate for another

Abstract This paper studies the problem of pricing a European option on the difference of two interest rates, which is analogous to an option to exchange one asset for another, studied in Margrabe (1978). It is first shown that such option may be valued as exchanging two interest rates implied in relevant futures prices through an extended Black (1976) model, and then by a two-factor Heath-Jarrow-Morton (HJM) model, which shows that introduction of imperfect interest rates movements is essential for pricing such options, for which a one-factor model such as Ho and Lee (1986) should not be applied.
Lowicryl embedding of gastrointestinal tissues

In the present study, we modified the technique described by Altman et al. (J. Histochem. Cytochem., 32:1217-1223, 1984) for rapid embedding of tissues in Lowicryl K4M. To attain good sections of the small intestine that contained villi, crypts, submucosa, and external muscle layers, we cut 100 micron slices of the full thickness of the wall with a vibratome before embedment and then deoxygenated the resin and tissue before polymerization. The sections we obtained compared favorably with the quality of sections from conventional resins.
Corrosion Rate Evaluation and Prediction for Piles Based on Long-Term Field Performance

A study to evaluate corrosion rates was conducted using pile foundations abandoned during the reconstruction of I-15 through Salt Lake Valley, Utah. Corrosion rates were measured for 20 piles extracted from five sites after service lives of 34 — 38 years. Measurements were made of soil index properties, resistivity, pH, cation/anion concentrations, and water table elevation. The critical zone for corrosion was typically located within the groundwater fluctuation zone; but correlations with soil properties were generally poor. Despite low resistivity, average corrosion rates for pile caps in native soil were typically between 2 and 9 μm/year with a maximum of 19 μm/year and did not pose any structural integrity problems. Nevertheless, for abutment piles where chloride concentration was very high, the average pile corrosion rate increased to 13 μm/year within the embankment and the maximum corrosion rate was 48 μm/year in the underlying native soil. Based on data from this and previous studies, equations were developed to predict maximum corrosion loss for piles in nonaggressive soil as a function of time.