cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Anatomical, biochemical, and photosynthetic responses to recent allopolyploidy in Glycine dolichocarpa (Fabaceae).

 Premise of the study: Previous studies have shown that polyploidy has pronounced effects on photosynthesis. Most of these studies have focused on synthetic or recently formed autopolyploids, and comparatively little is known about the integrated effects of natural allopolyploidy, which involves hybridity and genome doubling and often incorporates multiple genotypes through recurrent origins and lineage recombination.  Methods: Glycine dolichocarpa (designated T2) is a natural allotetraploid with multiple origins. We quantifi ed 21 anatomical, biochemical, and physiological phenotypes relating to photosynthesis in T2 and its diploid progenitors, G. tomentella (D3) and G. syndetika (D4). To assess how direction of cross affects these phenotypes, we included three T2 accessions having D3-like plastids (T2 D3 ) and two accessions having D4-like plastids (T2 D4 ).  Key results: T2 accessions were transgressive (more extreme than any diploid accession) for 17 of 21 phenotypes, and species means differed signifi cantly in T2 vs. both progenitors for four of 21 phenotypes (higher for guard cell length, electron transport capacity [ J max ] per palisade cell, and J max per mesophyll cell; lower for palisade cells per unit leaf area). Within T2, four of 21 parameters differed signifi cantly between T2 D3 and T2 D4 (palisade cell volume; chloroplast number and volume per unit leaf area; and J max per unit leaf area).  Conclusions: T2 is characterized by transgressive photosynthesis-related phenotypes (including an ca. 2-fold increase in J max per cell), as well as by signifi cant intraspecies variation correlating with plastid type. These data indicate prominent roles for both nucleotypic effects and cytoplasmic factors in photosynthetic responses to allopolyploidy.
Smoking-induced gene expression changes in the bronchial airway are reflected in nasal and buccal epithelium

Cigarette smoking is a leading cause of preventable death and a significant cause of lung cancer and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Prior studies have demonstrated that smoking creates a field of molecular injury throughout the airway epithelium exposed to cigarette smoke. We have previously characterized gene expression in the bronchial epithelium of never smokers and identified the gene expression changes that occur in the mainstem bronchus in response to smoking. In this study, we explored relationships in whole-genome gene expression between extrathorcic (buccal and nasal) and intrathoracic (bronchial) epithelium in healthy current and never smokers. Using genes that have been previously defined as being expressed in the bronchial airway of never smokers (the "normal airway transcriptome"), we found that bronchial and nasal epithelium from non-smokers were most similar in gene expression when compared to other epithelial and nonepithelial tissues, with several antioxidant, detoxification, and structural genes being highly expressed in both the bronchus and nose. Principle component analysis of previously defined smoking-induced genes from the bronchus suggested that smoking had a similar effect on gene expression in nasal epithelium. Gene set enrichment analysis demonstrated that this set of genes was also highly enriched among the genes most altered by smoking in both nasal and buccal epithelial samples. The expression of several detoxification genes was commonly altered by smoking in all three respiratory epithelial tissues, suggesting a common airway-wide response to tobacco exposure. Our findings support a relationship between gene expression in extra- and intrathoracic airway epithelial cells and extend the concept of a smoking-induced field of injury to epithelial cells that line the mouth and nose. This relationship could potentially be utilized to develop a non-invasive biomarker for tobacco exposure as well as a non-invasive screening or diagnostic tool providing information about individual susceptibility to smoking-induced lung diseases.
Regular Hermite Interpolation in an Arbitrary Connected Open Subset of a Topological Vector Space

Abstract We establish the existence of regular Hermite interpolations in an arbitrary connected open subset S of a topological vector space E : given N points x10, …, xN0 in S and given directions xki ∈ E for all k ∈ {1, …, N}, i ∈ {1, …, m} such that xkl ≠ 0, we prove that there exists an E -polynomial p: R → E with values in S such that p (i) (k) = x ki ∀k ∈ {1, …, N}, i ∈ {0, …, m}, p(t) ∈ S, p′(t) ≠ 0 ∀t ∈ [l, N].
Diet and feeding behavior of semi-free ranging mandrills in an enclosed gabonais forest

Twelve wild born mandrills (Mandrillus sphinx), six males, six females, were studied in a 1.4-ha forest enclosure in Gabon Africa. Seventy-six percent of their food was obtained from the ground (45% unidentified food objects foraged from the leaf litter, 21% from ground plants, and 10% animal matter) while 23% was taken from arboreal sources (10% from trees, 10% from vines, and 3% from shrubs). Plant parts eaten include seeds, roots, fruits, stem pith, apical branch ends, mature and immature leaves, nuts, buds, blossoms, and bark. There were significant dietary differences between sexes. There were also individual dietary differences both in preferred foods and arboreal vs terrestrial foraging locations. At nearly all times of the day at least 70% of the study group was on the ground. Sixty-four percent of their time was spent feeding, with females spending more time feeding than males. High rates of feeding were seen throughout the day, with high individual variances, which is explained by individual food preferences and a temporal partitioning of the food resources. These findings are compared to those observed in wild mandrills and other baboons.
Signatures of Quark-Gluon Plasma Formation in Nuclear Collisions: News from QM96

Abstract Three generic signatures of quark-gluon plasma production in nuclear collisions are reviewed. First, we discuss whether the recent J Ψ suppression data in Pb + Pb are the “smoking gun” for the deconfinement transition. Second, claims that the excess production of low mass dileptons provides evidence for chiral restoration are reviewed. Finally, the pion interferometry time delay signature of a rapid cross-over region in the QCD equation of state is analyzed.
Transcriptional Analysis of Aggressiveness and Heterogeneity across Grades of Astrocytomas

Astrocytoma is the most common glioma, accounting for half of all primary brain and spinal cord tumors. Late detection and the aggressive nature of high-grade astrocytomas contribute to high mortality rates. Though many studies identify candidate biomarkers using high-throughput transcriptomic profiling to stratify grades and subtypes, few have resulted in clinically actionable results. This shortcoming can be attributed, in part, to pronounced lab effects that reduce signature robustness and varied individual gene expression among patients with the same tumor. We addressed these issues by uniformly preprocessing publicly available transcriptomic data, comprising 306 tumor samples from three astrocytoma grades (Grade 2, 3, and 4) and 30 non-tumor samples (normal brain as control tissues). Utilizing Differential Rank Conservation (DIRAC), a network-based classification approach, we examined the global and individual patterns of network regulation across tumor grades. Additionally, we applied gene-based approaches to identify genes whose expression changed consistently with increasing tumor grade and evaluated their robustness across multiple studies using statistical sampling. Applying DIRAC, we observed a global trend of greater network dysregulation with increasing tumor aggressiveness. Individual networks displaying greater differences in regulation between adjacent grades play well-known roles in calcium/PKC, EGF, and transcription signaling. Interestingly, many of the 90 individual genes found to monotonically increase or decrease with astrocytoma grade are implicated in cancer-affected processes such as calcium signaling, mitochondrial metabolism, and apoptosis. The fact that specific genes monotonically increase or decrease with increasing astrocytoma grade may reflect shared oncogenic mechanisms among phenotypically similar tumors. This work presents statistically significant results that enable better characterization of different human astrocytoma grades and hopefully can contribute towards improvements in diagnosis and therapy choices. Our results also identify a number of testable hypotheses relating to astrocytoma etiology that may prove helpful in developing much-needed biomarkers for earlier disease detection.
A wireless smart sensor network based on multi-function interferometric radar sensors for structural health monitoring

Structural health monitoring calls for sensors that are low-cost, low-profile, and power-constraint. It also requires the sensors to form a network to accurately monitor the low-frequency response that often occurs in many civil structures such as long-span bridges. However, the existing sensors are either not practical for wireless implementation, does not have enough accuracy, or are not cost-effective. This paper presents a multi-function interferometric radar sensor that can easily form a smart sensor network by the merit of the ZigBee mesh networking function integrated in the sensor. The radar sensor, integrated with a micro-controller, works in the arctangent-demodulated interferometric mode to monitor the structure's displacement with an accuracy of sub-millimeter. Experimental results show that the smart sensor network using the multi-function radar sensors serves as a good alternative for monitoring structural health.
“It’s Easier to Ask Someone I Know”: Call Center Technicians’ Adoption of Knowledge Management Tools

This article traces the early implementation phase of a set of knowledge management tools in four customer call support centers within a multinational corporation. Through a case study analysis, this article addresses two fundamental issues. First, the article investigates how the organization keeps a new type of knowledge worker--the relatively unskilled, low-paid customer call support technicians who staff the phones at centers around the United States--current with the latest information on those products they support. Second, data from the case study suggest specific innovation factors that discourage technicians from adopting the knowledge tools. Keywords: communication in organizations; call centers; diffusion of innovations; knowledge management; organizational learning ********** In the organizational communication literature, a number of scholars have recently written about the significance of the effective collection and dissemination of information across knowledge workers (Contractor & Monge, 2002; Flanagin, 2002; Herndon, 1997; Johnson & Chang, 2000; Rogers & Allbritton, 1995; Trethewey & Corman, 2001; Tucker, Meyer, & Westerman, 1996; Zorn, 2002). Such employees, however, are frequently characterized as specialized professionals working in short-term project teams. Less attention has been paid to another essential type of knowledge worker. These are low-paid, relatively unskilled customer support technicians who staff the phones for credit card companies, banks, utilities, and countless help desks across the country. The study of this new type of employee is as vital as studying "traditional" knowledge workers like lawyers, doctors, research and development (RD the industry average to recruit and train a new technician ranges between $5,000 to $18,000 (Jones, 1999, p. 25). Thus, one difficult communication problem facing Techtronics and a number of other knowledge-intensive organizations is how to keep these low-paid, relatively unskilled customer service technicians up-to-date on the rapidly changing technologies they support for consumers. The present article is structured as follows. First, I introduce how knowledge management tools function. I then review the literature on the diffusion characteristics of successful technological innovations within organizations. My research site and methods for the current study are then outlined. After detailing results from this case study, the article concludes with implications for knowledge management practitioners. The conclusion also notes how the study merits heuristic value to communication scholars interested in furthering diffusion of innovation theory within organizations. …
Transvenous occlusion of patent ductus arteriosus in 56 consecutive dogs.

Abstract Objective Document safety and efficacy of transvenous catheter occlusion of patent ductus arteriosus (PDA) over a wide range of ductal and patient sizes. Animals, materials and methods Retrospective study of fifty-six consecutive dogs referred to Colorado State University with diagnosis of PDA. All cases utilized the transvenous approach, via the femoral vein. Occlusion was achieved using a coil (Flipper™) in dogs with PDA minimal dimension of ≤4 mm. Amplatzer ® duct occluder or Amplatzer ® vascular plugs were used in dogs with PDA minimal dimension >4 mm, or if a coil was unstable following deployment. Results Ductal occlusion was achieved using the transvenous route alone in 54/56 dogs (96.4%). Occlusion was achieved using detachable Flipper™ coils in 39/42 dogs (92.9%) in which coil occlusion was attempted, with 38/39 dogs (97.4%) requiring only a single coil. In 16 dogs, occlusion was achieved using an Amplatzer ® duct occluder or vascular plug. Post-procedure residual ductal flow was absent or only mild in 36/39 (92.3%) dogs in which it was assessed. Procedural mortality rate was 1.7%, and major complication rate 7.0%. Conclusion Transcatheter occlusion via a transvenous approach is a safe and effective method for treating PDA in dogs and is useful for small dogs (
Delayed localization of synelfin (synuclein, NACP) to presynaptic terminals in cultured rat hippocampal neurons

Synelfin is a presynaptic protein of unknown function that is differentially regulated in the avian song control circuit during the critical period for song learning; in humans, it gives rise to an amyloidogenic peptide found in senile plaques of Alzheimer's disease. To gain insight into the potential involvement of synelfin in synapse development, we investigated its expression in neurons cultured from the embryonic rat hippocampus. These neurons express a variety of defined synaptic proteins, and form numerous synaptic connections after several days in culture. Synapsin I, a synaptic vesicle-associated protein, was detected within one day after the neurons were put in culture, but significant immunoreactivity for synelfin was not detected until approximately 5 days in vitro (DIV). By 3 DIV, synapsin-positive puncta (previously shown to correspond to presynaptic specializations) were detected surrounding the soma and proximal dendritic processes, whereas comparable aggregations of synelfin did not appear until several days later. By 14 DIV the punctate concentrations of synelfin and synapsin overlapped completely. Thus synelfin is expressed in these cultured neurons and eventually becomes localized to presynaptic terminals, but it is absent from these specializations when they first form. We conclude that presynaptic terminals can change in molecular composition, and that synelfin is associated with later stages in synaptic development or modulation.
A two-step of synthesis of allenes from olefins

Abstract In a two-step sequence, of which the first step involves addition of dibromocarbene to an olefin and the second involves reaction of the resulting substituted 1,1-dibromo cyclo propane with magnesium or sodium, allenes are obtained. The overall structural change involves the insertion of a single carbon atom between the two of the original double bond and therefore represents a novel way of increasing carbon chain lengths by one atom.
Trends in the education and practice of alternative medicine clinicians

Abstract: This study projects that the per capita supply of alternative medicine clinicians (chiropractors, naturopaths, and practitioners of oriental medicine) will grow by 88 percent between 1994 and 2010, while physician supply will grow by 16 percent. This increase is associated with growth in the number and size of alternative medicine colleges and in the opportunities these graduates have for licensure and practice. This study calls for an assessment of the education and regulation of clinicians across the range of disciplines who will be providing patient care in the twenty-first century.
The number of intestinal bacteria is not critical for the enhancement of antitumor activity and reduction of intestinal toxicity of irinotecan by the Chinese herbal medicine PHY906 (KD018)

The four-herb Chinese medicine PHY906(KD018) has been shown to both enhance the in vivo antitumor activity of irinotecan (CPT-11) against colon cancer tumor allografts and alleviate intestinal toxicity caused by CPT-11. Since intestinal bacteria can metabolize CPT-11 and PHY906, we investigated whether intestinal bacteria play a critical role in the in vivo activity of PHY906 in murine Colon-38 tumor-bearing mice. Intestinal bacteria were depleted using streptomycin/neomycin for 10 days before and during treatment with PHY906 and/or CPT-11. qPCR using 16S DNA group-specific primers was used to quantify the levels of the major intestinal bacteria. Both PHY906 and antibiotic treatment changed the profile of intestinal bacteria species: Lactobacillus/Enterococcus, Bacteroides, Clostridium leptum, and E. rectale/C. coccoides. Antibiotic treatment did not alter the ability of PHY906 to enhance the antitumor activity of CPT-11. Antibiotic treatment alone partially reduced animal body weight loss in CPT-11-treated mice. However, PHY906 treatment was able to protect against the body weight loss in the CPT-11/antibiotic treatment group. H&E and PCNA staining of intestine showed that antibiotic treatment partially reduced the intestinal damage caused by CPT-11 but not as effectively as PHY906 treatment. Antibiotic treatment plus PHY906 conferred the most effective protection of intestine histological structure against damage by CPT-11. Both PHY906 and antibiotic treatment inhibited CPT-11-associated inflammatory processes, including infiltration of the intestine by neutrophils, MCP1 and TNF-alpha mRNA expression in the intestine, and expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines G-CSF and MCP1 proteins in the plasma. However, whereas antibiotic treatment suppressed the mRNA expression of two important intestinal progenitor/stem cell markers, Olfm4 and Lgr5, PHY906 treatment resulted in enhanced expression of these two stem cell markers. Alterations in the population of intestinal bacteria did not affect the abilities of PHY906 to enhance CPT-11 antitumor activity or reduce the intestinal toxicity associated with CPT-11 treatment. The major species of intestinal bacteria do not appear to play a role in PHY906’s enhancement of the therapeutic index of CPT-11 in tumor-bearing mice. Thus, patients with different intestinal bacterial profiles may still benefit from PHY906 treatment alongside CPT-11.
Runoff Scaling in Large Rivers of the World

Runoff and precipitation scaling with respect to drainage area is analyzed for large river basins of the world, those with mean annual runoff in excess of 10 k3/yr. The usefulness of the specific runoff (runoff per unit drainage area, m/yr) to categorize runoff scaling laws across the complete spectrum of climatic and hydrologic conditions is evaluated. It is found that (1) runoff scales with drainage are in those river basins with specific runoff in excess of 0.15 m/yr (r2 = 0.88); (2) runoff scaling with drainage area shows remarkably high statistical correlation (r2= 0.97) in river basins with specific runoff equal to or larger than 1.0 m/yr; (3) runoff does not Inc.rease with Inc.reasing drainage area in river basins with specific runoff below 0.15 m/yr, where no discernible statistical association was found between runoff and drainage area; and (4) precipitation depth (m/yr) is inversely proportional to drainage area raised to a fractional exponent in river basins with specific runoff in excess of 0....
Lipid rafts constrain basal α1A-adrenergic receptor signaling by maintaining receptor in an inactive conformation

Abstract We have reported that the α 1A -adrenergic receptor (α 1A AR) in rat-1 fibroblasts is a lipid raft protein. Here we examined whether disrupting lipid rafts by methyl-β-cyclodextrin (MCD) sequestration of cholesterol affects α 1A AR signaling. Unexpectedly, MCD increased α 1A AR-dependent basal inositol phosphate formation and p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase activation in a cholesterol-dependent manner. It also initiated internalization of surface α 1A AR, which was partially blocked by receptor inhibition. Binding assays revealed MCD-mediated increases in receptor agonist affinity as well as reciprocal decreases in inverse agonist affinity, a behavior that is usually interpreted as a shift toward the active receptor conformation. In untreated cells a fraction of the receptor was found to be present in preassociated receptor/G protein complexes, which rapidly dissociate upon receptor stimulation. Consistent with MCD-induced signaling, raft disruption resulted in an increase in receptor/G protein complexes. These results strongly suggest that lipid rafts constrain basal α 1A AR activity; however, preassembled receptor/G protein complexes could still provide a mechanism for accelerating α 1A AR signaling following stimulation.
A fast multipole method based calculation of the capacitance matrix in a stratified medium

An efficient, static fast multipole method (FMM) based algorithm is presented for the evaluation of the parasitic capacitance of 3-D microstrip signal lines in stratified dielectric media. The effect of dielectric interfaces on the capacitance matrix is included in the stage of the FMM when multipole expansions are used to form local multipole expansions, by the use of interpolated multipole-to-local translation functions. The increase in computational complexity and memory usage due to the presence of stratified media is therefore very small. The algorithm retains the structure and the O(N) computational cost and memory use of the free-space FMM, where N is the number of conductor patches.
Nutrient‐determined dominance in multispecies chemostat cultures of diatoms1

Thalassiosira gravida was rapidly displaced from ammonium-limited chemostats at moderate (D = 0.03. h-‘) and low (D = 0.01 *h-l) dilution rates by Skeletonema costatum or Chaetoceros septentrionalis. Reduced temperature or reduced light did not favor Thalassiosira. Chaetoceros displaced Skeletonema at D = O.O3*h-’ but the two species coexisted at D = 0.01-h-‘. A brief temperature increase triggered changes in population densities in chemostats with coexisting species, leading to an increase in the less abundant species. Reduced turbulence did not change the pattern of coexistence. Nutrient-dependent growth-rate kinetics for the three species were deduced from rates of displacement in competition experiments and from published uptake kinetic and chemical composition data. The kinetics deduced by the two methods were qualitatively similar. Nutricrit kinetics apparently do not explain the survival of natural populations of T. gruvida in the field. On the basis of these results, a nutrient-based functional group of phytoplankton is defined to include S. costatum and C. septentrionalis and exclude T. gravidu.
Virtual (3D) collaborative environments: an improved environment for integrated product team interaction?

To shrink the cost and protracted length of total system and product development life cycles (DLCs), many organizations (including the U.S. Army) have moved away from serial to concurrent collaboration through the use of cross-functional, integrated product teams (IPTs). In addition and more recently, a growing number of these organizations are also using life size three-dimensional (3D) virtual collaborative environments (VCEs). This enabling technology provides individuals and IPTs with views almost as realistic as physical prototypes, and offers the capability to rapidly change perspectives to view the outside, inside, top, and underside of synthetic system and product model(s) - even full scale. This paper addresses and provides an answer to a central research question: do 3D VCEs provide an improved environment for IPT team interaction? The answer is yes, they do!.
Aptamer:toxin conjugates that specifically target prostate tumor cells

We have used RNA aptamer:gelonin conjugates to target and specifically destroy cells overexpressing the known cancer biomarker prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA). Aptamer:toxin conjugates have an IC50 of 27 nmol/L and display an increased potency of at least 600-fold relative to cells that do not express PSMA. The aptamer not only promotes uptake into target cells but also decreases the toxicity of gelonin in non-target cells. These results validate the notion that "escort aptamers" may be useful for the treatment of specific tumors expressing unique antigen targets.
Epidemiology of ankle fractures in Rochester, Minnesota

The epidemiology of ankle fractures was examined among Rochester. Minnesota, residents during the 3-year period 1979-1981. Ankle fractures occurred with an overall age- and sex-adjusted incidence rate of 187 per 100,000 person-years; this is higher than in earlier population-based studies. The most frequent cause of ankle fractures was sports-related trauma. The incidence of fractures associated with moderate trauma, on the other hand, increased markedly in middle-aged women, but declined in elderly women. Diabetes mellitus and obesity were associated with fractures in middle-aged and older adults. Of accepted classifications, the Lauge-Hansen system provided the most clinically relevant information.
OSTα‐OSTβ: A major basolateral bile acid and steroid transporter in human intestinal, renal, and biliary epithelia

The cellular and subcellular localization and mechanism of transport of the heteromeric organic solute transporter (OST) OST-OST was examined in human and rodent epithelia. The two subunits of the transporter were expressed together in human small intestine, kidney, and liver, tissues that also express the apical sodium-dependent bile acid uptake transporter ASBT (SLC10A2). Indirect immunofluorescence microscopy localized OST and OST to the basolateral membrane of mouse, rat, and human ileal enterocytes, renal proximal tubular cells, and cholangiocytes. Transport in OST-OST– expressing Xenopus laevis oocytes was unaffected by depletion of intracellular adenosine triphosphate, or by changes in transmembrane Na ,K ,H ,o r Cl concentration gradients. However, the oocytes demonstrated robust substrate efflux and trans-stimulation, indicating that transport occurs by facilitated diffusion. Madin Darby canine kidney cells coexpressing mouse Ost and Ost exhibited enhanced apical to basolateral transport of the major glycine and taurine conjugated bile acid species. In conclusion, the selective localization of OST and OST to the basolateral plasma membrane of epithelial cells responsible for bile acid and sterol reabsorption, the substrate selectivity of the transporter, and the facilitated diffusion transport mode collectively indicate that OST-OST is a key basolateral transporter for the reabsorption of these important steroid-derived molecules. Supplementary material for this article can be found on the HEPATOLOGY website (http://interscience.wiley.com/jpages/ 0270-9139/suppmat/index.html). (HEPATOLOGY 2005;42:1270-1279.)
In vitro selection, characterization, and application of deoxyribozymes that cleave RNA

Over the last decade, many catalytically active DNA molecules (deoxyribozymes; DNA enzymes) have been identified by in vitro selection from random-sequence DNA pools. This article focuses on deoxyribozymes that cleave RNA substrates. The first DNA enzyme was reported in 1994 and cleaves an RNA linkage. Since that time, many other RNA-cleaving deoxyribozymes have been identified. Most but not all of these deoxyribozymes require a divalent metal ion cofactor such as Mg2+ to catalyze attack by a specific RNA 2′-hydroxyl group on the adjacent phosphodiester linkage, forming a 2′,3′-cyclic phosphate and a 5′-hydroxyl group. Several deoxyribozymes that cleave RNA have utility for in vitro RNA biochemistry. Some DNA enzymes have been applied in vivo to degrade mRNAs, and others have been engineered into sensors. The practical impact of RNA-cleaving deoxyribozymes should continue to increase as additional applications are developed.
Measurement of OS services and its application to performance modeling and analysis of integrated embedded software

Performance analyses for embedded software construction with existing components require knowledge of performance characteristics of both application software and operating system (OS) services, especially those services that are critical for real-time applications. Since end users normally do not control the structure and implementation of OS services, but have to use them to meet the system-level performance constraints, it is essential and critical to characterize the performance of OS services with measurements. As such measurements are taken for performance analysis, not for comparison, the measurement methods should be different from those traditionally, used for comparison. In this paper we present an end-to-end method for measuring the performance of timing and scheduling services in selected real-time OSs for the performance modeling and analysis. The proposed method takes the factors of both OS implementations and application configurations into account to obtain the measured performance close to what applications will experience at runtime. The results have shown that the performance characteristics of OS services can be measured without instrumenting the kernel source code, and hence, can be reused for the analysis of a family of applications.
Optimizing system monitoring configurations for non-actionable alerts

Today's competitive business climate and the complexity of IT environments dictate efficient and cost effective service delivery and support of IT services. This is largely achieved through automating of routine maintenance procedures including problem detection, determination and resolution. System monitoring provides effective and reliable means for problem detection. Coupled with automated ticket creation, it ensures that a degradation of the vital signs, defined by acceptable thresholds or monitoring conditions, is flagged as a problem candidate and sent to supporting personnel as an incident ticket. This paper describes a novel methodology and a system for minimizing non-actionable tickets while preserving all tickets which require corrective action. Our proposed method defines monitoring conditions and the optimal corresponding delay times based on an off-line analysis of historical alerts and the matching incident tickets. Potential monitoring conditions are built on a set of predictive rules which are automatically generated by a rule-based learning algorithm with coverage, confidence and rule complexity criteria. These conditions and delay times are propagated as configurations into run-time monitoring systems.
Error concealment techniques for encoded video streams

In this paper we describe two error-recovery approaches for MPEG encoded video over ATM networks. The first approach aims at reconstructing each lost pixel by spatial interpolation from the nearest undamaged pixels. The second approach recovers lost macroblocks by minimizing intersample variations within each block and across its boundaries. Moreover, a new technique for packing ATM cells with compressed data is also proposed.
Prediction of new donors for organic superconductors

Abstract The donors of all known one- or two-dimensional organic superconductors are based on a core organic molecule that is either tetrathiafulvalene (denoted as TTF) or tetraselenafulvalene (denoted as TSeF) or some mixture of these two molecules. Coupling X, with appropriate acceptors, Y, leads to superconductivity. The oxidized form of X may be X + or X 2 + species in the crystal. From ab initio quantum mechanical calculations (HF/6–31G ∗∗ ), we find that all known organic superconductors involve an X that deforms to a boat structure while X + is planar. This leads to a coupling between charge transfer and the boat deformation phonon modes that we believe is responsible for the superconductivity of these materials. Based on this idea we have developed similar organic donors having the same properties and suggest that with appropriate electron acceptors they will also lead to superconductivity.
The Health Profile of Incarcerated Male Youths

Objective. To identify the health needs of adolescent males incarcerated in a juvenile justice facility and to compare their health profiles with those of male adolescents in the community. Methods. Cross-sectional surveys were conducted of incarcerated (N = 202) and school (N = 379) samples of male youths. Questionnaires were self-administered and completed before admission health screens (incarcerated youth) or in classrooms (school sample). Health status was assessed by the Child Health and Illness Profile, Adolescent Edition, using scale and item means and by categorizing each youth9s pattern of health into 1 of 13 mutually exclusive health profile types. Results. Compared with school counterparts, incarcerated male youths had significantly worse health status as demonstrated by poorer health and functioning scores in perceived well being, self-esteem, physical discomfort, acute, chronic, and psychosocial disorders, family involvement, physical activity, interpersonal problem-solving, risk behaviors, and academic performance. Three profile types—High Risks, High Risks/Low Resilience, and Worst Health—accounted for patterns of health for 69.8% of incarcerated youth versus 37.3% of an age-matched school sample. Just 6.4% of incarcerated males were in the Excellent/Good Health profile types, which contrasted with 34.2% of the age-matched school sample. Conclusions. The health profiles of incarcerated male youths were worse than those of male youths in school. Our results indicate that rehabilitation programs will need to address incarcerated youth9s basic health needs as well as modifying their risk and antisocial behaviors.
CnidBase: The Cnidarian Evolutionary Genomics Database

CnidBase, the Cnidarian Evolutionary Genomics Database, is a tool for investigating the evolutionary, developmental and ecological factors that affect gene expression and gene function in cnidarians. In turn, CnidBase will help to illuminate the role of specific genes in shaping cnidarian biodiversity in the present day and in the distant past. CnidBase highlights evolutionary changes between species within the phylum Cnidaria and structures genomic and expression data to facilitate comparisons to non-cnidarian metazoans. CnidBase aims to further the progress that has already been made in the realm of cnidarian evolutionary genomics by creating a central community resource which will help drive future research and facilitate more accurate classification and comparison of new experimental data with existing data. CnidBase is available at http://cnidbase.bu.edu/.
Management Control in Inter-organizational Relationships: The Case of Franchises

En la actualidad existe un gran interes en torno a la influencia del control de gestion en el desarrollo teorico y practico de las relaciones interorganizacionales. El presente estudio busca analizar el impacto de las relaciones entre firmas sobre las herramientas de control de gestion, tomando como ejemplo un caso especifico: la relacion entre el franquiciador y sus franquiciados, la cual, hasta la fecha, no ha recibido la debida atencion (Van der Meer-Kooistra y Vosselman, 2006). Contribuciones anteriores senalan que los estudios de caso pueden ser utiles para determinar los factores que influyen en el tipo de herramientas de control de gestion que deben establecerse para un buen manejo de las relaciones entre firmas. Resultados de algunas investigaciones demuestran que el franquiciador emplea ciertos mecanismos cuantitativos de control con el proposito de evitar comportamientos oportunistas, relacionados con el pago de regalias y otros requerimientos financieros, por parte de sus franquicias. Asimismo, los franquiciadores hacen uso de herramientas cualitativas para asegurar el cumplimiento de condiciones relacionadas con “saber hacer” (know-how), la resolucion de problemas no financieros inesperados, y promover las relaciones personales y la confianza. Este trabajo presenta un esquema general de la relacion franquiciador-franquiciado con base en el modelo propuesto por Van der Meer-Kooistra y Vosselman (2000). Para probar este modelo, se ha tomado en cuenta la perspectiva del franquiciador (outsourcer) en la misma medida en que se considero originalmente para la construccion del modelo. Los resultados indican que esta relacion muestra varias similitudes con el patron basado en la burocracia y algunas semejanzas con patrones basados en la confianza.
Publicly Accessible Intuitions: “Neutral Reasons” and Bioethics

This article examines Leon Kass's contention that a choice for physician-assisted suicide is “undignified.” Although Kass is Jewish rather than Christian, he argues for positions that most Christians share, and he argues for these positions without presupposing the truth of specific religious claims. I argue that although Kass has some important intuitions, he too readily assumes that these intuitions will be shared by his audience, and that this assumption diminishes the force of his argument. An examination of the limitations of Kass's argument is helpful insofar as it illustrates the real challenge faced by religious believers who wish to defend their beliefs in the “public forum.” For it illustrates that what needs to be made “accessible” is the Judeo-Christian understanding of man and his place in the world. While I do not wish to claim that this task is impossible, I do think that it is far more difficult than most realize. Like all important tasks, however, unless we wrestle with the difficulties i...
Systematics and Population Genetics of Sphagnum Macrophyllum and S. Cribrosum (Sphagnaceae)

To clarify long-standing disagreements about the taxonomic and phylogenetic status of Sphagnum macrophyllum and S. cribrosum, twenty-five samples of S. macrophyllum and twenty-four of S. cribrosum, including the rare wave-form morphotype, were sampled from ten states of the eastern United States. The data set included intensive sampling from three populations in North Carolina. Three anonymous genomic regions (rapdA, rapdB and rapdF) were sequenced for all the samples; two (nuclear) LEAFY introns (LEAFY1 and LEAFY2) and one chloroplast locus (trnG) were sequenced for all the samples excluding the twenty-two within-population North Carolina samples. The results showed that S. macrophyllum and S. cribrosum are reciprocally monophyletic with maximum parsimony bootstrap support and significant Bayesian posterior probabilities. Genetic analyses based on neutral coalescence models suggest that the simplest allopatric speciation model—the isolation model with no subsequent gene flow and constant population sizes—cannot be rejected. Nevertheless, some topological conflicts among loci suggest the possibility of limited interspecific hybridization. This study also showed that the morphologically distinctive wave-form is nested within S. cribrosum and wave-form samples from Singletary Lake make up a clade of nearly identical plants. Interestingly, S. macrophyllum and S. cribrosum are morphologically highly similar but are reciprocally monophyletic and highly differentiated, whereas the unique and morphologically divergent wave-form is genealogically derived from within normal S. cribrosum.
Sphingolipids and Cancer

Sphingolipids regulate processes that are dysregulated in cancer such as cell growth and death, adhesion and motility. Changes in sphingolipid metabolism in cancer cells that result in an altered sphingolipid composition may contribute to unlimited proliferation in cancer cells and aide progression, invasion and metastasis. Thus, exogenous sphingolipid metabolites such as ceramides and sphingoid bases have been used both in vivo and in vitro to reverse aberrant cell behavior and suppress tumorigenesis. Here we review the role of sphingolipids and sphingolipid metabolites in cancer development, prevention and treatment.
Self-reported social skills impairment explains elevated autistic traits in individuals with generalized social anxiety disorder

Screening for autism in individuals with generalized social anxiety disorder (GSAD) is complicated by symptom overlap between GSAD and autism spectrum disorder (ASD). We examined the prevalence of self-reported autistic traits within a sample of participants with a diagnosis of GSAD (n=37) compared to individuals without a GSAD diagnosis (NOSAD; n=26). Of the GSAD sample participants, 70.84% self-reported autistic traits above a cut-off of 65 on the Autism Quotient-Short (AQ-S) and reported significantly more autistic traits on 3 of 5 AQ-S subscales compared to the NOSAD group. Diagnosis uniquely predicted variation in the social skills subscale above and beyond the other subscales and other predictors. Furthermore, variation in the social skills subscale largely explained group differences on the other subscales. Our results suggest caution in utilizing measures like the AQ-S with clinical populations characterized by social difficulties such as individuals with a GSAD diagnosis.
Optimization in Question

Not very many years ago, what is now often referred to as the Tanglossian Paradigm’ reigned supreme in evolutionary biology. It was widely assumed, at least implicitly, that a central function of biology was to analyze organisms in such a way that the adaptive advantages, indeed the optimality, of their various features could be discerned. If it occurred to some imaginative biologist that snails would have been much better off running on caterpillar tracks, then some work would be needed to show why they were really better off dragging themselves around on a sheet of slime. For if they would have been fitter with the caterpillar tracks, then the omnipotent force of natural selection would surely have seen to it that they were so equipped. I exaggerate, but not all that much.
Stabilization of the Particle-Hole Pfaffian Order by Landau-Level Mixing and Impurities That Break Particle-Hole Symmetry

Numerical results suggest that the quantum Hall effect at $\ensuremath{\nu}=5/2$ is described by the Pfaffian or anti-Pfaffian state in the absence of disorder and Landau-level mixing. Those states are incompatible with the observed transport properties of GaAs heterostructures, where disorder and Landau-level mixing are strong. We show that the recent proposal of a particle-hole (PH)-Pfaffian topological order by Son is consistent with all experiments. The absence of particle-hole symmetry at $\ensuremath{\nu}=5/2$ is not an obstacle to the existence of the PH-Pfaffian order since the order is robust to symmetry breaking.
Protection of Stored Wheat from the Granary Weevil by Vegetable Oils

Vegetable oils (cottonseed, soybean, maize, and peanut) were used to suppress Sitophilus granarius (L.) in wheat grain. Insect progeny production decreased significantly at a 5-ml/kg dosage. At the 10-ml/kg level, complete control was achieved which lasted at least 60 days. These oils also repelled granary weevil adults. There was no obvious effect of the oil treatment on water absorption by the wheat seeds, but 5- or 10-ml/kg dosages reduced seed germination.
Two rapid catalyst-free click reactions for in vivo protein labeling of genetically encoded strained alkene/alkyne functionalities.

Detailed kinetic analyses of inverse electron-demand Diels–Alder cycloaddition and nitrilimine-alkene/alkyne 1,3-diploar cycloaddition reactions were conducted and the reactions were applied for rapid protein bioconjugation. When reacted with a tetrazine or a diaryl nitrilimine, strained alkene/alkyne entities including norbornene, trans-cyclooctene, and cyclooctyne displayed rapid kinetics. To apply these “click” reactions for site-specific protein labeling, five tyrosine derivatives that contain a norbornene, trans-cyclooctene, or cyclooctyne entity were genetically encoded into proteins in Escherichia coli using an engineered pyrrolysyl-tRNA synthetase-tRNACUAPyl pair. Proteins bearing these noncanonical amino acids were successively labeled with a fluorescein tetrazine dye and a diaryl nitrilimine both in vitro and in living cells.
INTENSITY OF TREATMENT IN MALNUTRITION: The Ethical Considerations

SUMMARY Decisions about initiation and withdrawal of life-sustaining artificial nutrition and hydration are complex and sometimes are agonizing to make. Artificial feeding is considered by most medical ethicists to be a medical intervention about which decisions should be made based on the benefits, risks, and burdens of the treatment. State law varies, particularly with regard to the inclusion of artificial feeding in advance directives and in laws about its discontinuance. Conditions in which it is common for patients or families to consider refusal of artificial feeding include terminal cancer, advanced dementia, and persistent vegetative state. Alternative approaches to nutrition, such as offering favorite foods or treating underlying depression, may obviate the need for tube feeding. Competent patients may refuse any medical treatment, including life-sustaining treatment. An appropriate proxy decision maker may also refuse treatment on behalf of a mentally incapacitated patient.
Bilateral lobar lung transplantation--the first two cases in Belgium

In the last twenty years lung transplantation has become an established treatment for end-stage lung failure refractory to medical management. Over this time, better short and long-term results have been achieved due to improvements in organ procurement, perfusion and preservation strategies, newer immunosuppressant regimes and better post-transplant care. The limiting factor for the number of lung transplantation procedures performed is the shortage of available donor organs. This results in longer waiting times for listed patients, with a substantially increased risk of dying prior to transplantation, especially in the paediatric population. Several surgical strategies have evolved to overcome the donor shortage, with lobar transplantation becoming a viable alternative. We describe our initial experience with two young patients with end-stage cystic fibrosis (CF) who required lung transplantation. Given their small size it was not possible to transplant an entire lung from an adult donor in each hemithorax. We describe lobar transplantation as a technique used to overcome this, in the first such operation in Belgium.
Geometry impact on the reduction of Cu interconnect wire resistance

The Cu line resistance has been observed to reduce after processing through higher interconnect levels. In this paper, the geometry impact on the reduction of Cu interconnect wire resistance was studied on a large data set using data mining techniques. The data show that the narrower and higher the Cu lines, the larger the line resistance reduction and that Cu line height has much stronger impact on resistance reduction than line width.
Images of Nursing

Students’ responses to a series of photographs depicting hospital scenes (the Role Projective Test) are analyzed to determine how perceptions changed from freshman to senior year.