cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
The Case For Treating Partial Breast Over Five Days

Over the past couple decades, the integration of screening mammography has resulted in earlier detection of breast cancer patients. For favorable early stage patients, studies have shown that breast conserving therapy with lumpectomy followed by whole breast radiation is equivalent to mastectomy. Due to the logistical challenges of an extended six-week whole breast radiation course, the concept of treating only the portion of the breast at greatest risk of recurrence following lumpectomy has been increasingly investigated. This notion is nested in the fact that the vast majority of recurrences following surgery occur in the peri-lumpectomy region (not in other regions of the breast) and thus a more limited volume may suffice in appropriately selected patients. The reduction of normal tissues that receive high-dose radiation allows an increased daily dose to be safely delivered, thereby allowing shortening the overall treatment time to one week. This treatment algorithm has been coined accelerated partial breast irradiation or APBI and is the context of this review article.
Social interactions in multiscale CVEs

A multiscale Collaborative Virtual Environment (mCVE) is a virtual world in which multiple users can independently resize themselves to work together on different sized aspects of very large and complicated structures. Interactions among users in an mCVE differ in many ways from those in traditional collaborative virtual environments. In this paper we explore collaboration-related issues affected by multiscale, such as social presence, perception of proximity, and cross-scale information sharing. We also report results of an experiment with our mCVE prototype system, which show the impact of multiscale capabilities on social interactions.
Efficacy of High Dose Per Fraction Radiation for Implanted Human Prostate Cancer in a Nude Mouse Model

Purpose: SBRT is a new therapeutic paradigm using large dose per fraction treatments (aggressive hypofractionation). While SBRT has shown efficacy for treating patients with lung, liver and spine tumors, to our knowledge there have been no preclinical studies evaluating the efficacy of this treatment for prostate cancer. We investigated the dose-response characteristics of SBRT for treating human prostate cancer in a nude mouse model.Materials and Methods: Nude mice were injected subcutaneously into the right flank with C4-2 prostate cancer cells grown in culture. A dose escalation trial was performed to assess toxicity and response. Tumor bearing animals were radiated with 3 fractions (1 per week) for a total dose of 15 Gy in 11, 22.5 Gy in 9 and 45 Gy in 10, while 8 untreated animals served as controls. The mice were weighed, and tumor volume and PSA measurements were performed at baseline and weekly until 4 weeks after treatment.Results: There was no treatment related toxicity. There was a significant ...
Heart rate slopes during 6‐min walk test in pulmonary arterial hypertension, other lung diseases, and healthy controls

Six-minute walk test (6MWT) continues to be a useful tool to determine the functional capacity in patients with vascular and other lung diseases; nevertheless, it has a limited ability to predict prognosis in this context. We tested whether the heart rate (HR) acceleration and decay slopes during the 6-m walk test are different in patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH), other lung diseases, and healthy controls. In addition, we assessed whether the HR slopes are associated with clinical worsening. Using a portable, signal-morphology-based, impedance cardiograph (PhysioFlow Enduro, Paris, France) with real-time wireless monitoring via a Bluetooth USB adapter we determined beat-by-beat HR. We included 50 subjects in this pilot study, 20 with PAH (all on PAH-specific treatment), 17 with other lung diseases (obstructive [n = 12, 71%] or restrictive lung diseases [5, 29%]), and 13 healthy controls. The beat-by-beat HR curves were significantly different among all three groups of subjects either during the activity or recovery of the 6MWT. HR curves were less steep in PAH than the other two groups (P < 0.001). HR acceleration rates were slower in patients with PAH or other lung diseases with progression of their disease (P < 0.001). In conclusion, the acceleration and decay slopes during 6MWT are different among patients with PAH, other lung diseases, and healthy controls. The HR slopes during 6MWT were steeper in patients without clinical worsening.
The influence of animal advocacy groups in state courts of last resort.

Since the 1970s, animal advocacy groups have attempted to improve the treatment of non-human animals by influencing public opinion and lobbying for legislation that protects animals. Empirical assessments of these efforts have reported mixed results. Animal advocacy groups also use litigation as a means of improving the treatment of nonhuman animals, but there has been limited empirical testing of the effectiveness of animal advocacy litigation. To fill this gap in the literature, this study examines the 188 animal law cases decided in state supreme courts from 1973 through 2005. It looks specifically at whether the participation of an animal advocacy organization increases the chance of a favorable decision, while controlling for legal and political influences on case outcomes. Logistic regression reveals that the presence of animal advocacy groups does not exert a statistically significant impact on case outcomes. Further analysis demonstrates, however, that animal advocacy groups are significantly more likely than nongroup litigators to pursue cases that are difficult to win.
C145 as a short-latency electrophysiological index of cognitive compensation in Alzheimer's disease.

Brain plasticity and cognitive compensation in the elderly are of increasing interest, and Alzheimer's disease (AD) offers an opportunity to elucidate how the brain may overcome damage. We provide neurophysiological evidence of a short-latency ERP component (C145) linked to stimulus relevancy that may reflect cognitive compensation in early-stage Alzheimer's disease (AD). Thirty-six subjects with early-stage, mild AD and 36 like-aged normal elderly (Controls) had their EEG recorded while performing our Number-Letter task, a cognitive/perceptual paradigm that manipulates stimulus relevancies. ERP components, including C145, were extracted from ERPs using Principal Components Analysis. C145 amplitudes and spatial distributions were compared among Controls, AD subjects with high performance on the Number-Letter task, and AD subjects with low performance. Compared to AD subjects, Control subjects showed enhanced C145 processing of visual stimuli in the occipital region where differential processing of relevant stimuli occurred. AD high performers recruited central brain areas in processing task relevancy. Controls and AD low performers did not show a significant task relevancy effect in these areas. We conclude that short-latency ERP components can detect electrophysiological differences in early-stage AD that reflect altered cognition. Differences in C145 amplitudes between AD and normal elderly groups regarding brain locations and types of task effects suggest compensatory mechanisms can occur in the AD brain to overcome loss of normal functionality, and this early compensation may have a profound effect on the cognitive efficiency of AD individuals.
Uniparental inheritance of mitochondrial genes in yeast: dependence on input bias of mitochondrial DNA and preliminary investigations of the mechanism.

In Saccharomyces cerevisiae, previous studies on the inheritance of mitochondrial genes controlling antibiotic resistance have shown that some crosses produce a substantial number of uniparental zygotes , which transmit to their diploid progeny mitochondrial alleles from only one parent. In this paper, we show that uniparental zygotes are formed especially when one parent (majority parent) contributes substantially more mitochondrial DNA molecules to the zygote than does the other (minority) parent. Cellular contents of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) are increased in these experiments by treatment with cycloheximide, alpha-factor, or the uvsρ5 nuclear mutation. In such a biased cross, some zygotes are uniparental for mitochondrial alleles from the majority parent, and the frequency of such zygotes increases with increasing bias. In two- and three-factor crosses, the cap1, ery1, and oli1 loci behave coordinately, rather than independently; minority markers tend to be transmitted or lost as a unit, suggesting that the uniparental mechanism acts on entire mtDNA molecules rather than on individual loci. This rules out the possibility that uniparental inheritance can be explained by the conversion of minority markers to the majority alleles during recombination. Exceptions to the coordinate behavior of different loci can be explained by marker rescue via recombination. Uniparental inheritance is largely independent of the position of buds on the zygote. We conclude that it is due to the failure of minority markers to replicate in some zygotes, possibly involving the rapid enzymatic destruction of such markers. We have considered two general classes of mechanisms: (1) random selection of molecules for replication, as for example by competition for replicating sites on a membrane; and (2) differential marking of mtDNA molecules in the two parents, possibly by modification enzymes, followed by a mechanism that "counts" molecules and replicates only the majority type. These classes of models are distinguished genetically by the fact that the first predicts that the output frequency of a given allele among the progeny of a large number of zygotes will approximately equal the average input frequency of that allele, while the second class predicts that any input bias will be amplified in the output. The data suggest that bias amplification does occur. We hypothesize that maternal inheritance of mitochondrial or chloroplast genes in many organisms may depend upon a biased input of organelle DNA molecules, which usually favors the maternal parent, followed by failure of the minority (paternal) molecules to replicate in many or all zygotes.
Distribution of intrarenal blood flow following aortic clamping and declamping

Acute renal failure has frequently been reported following operations which require cross-clamping the abdominal aorta below the renal arteries. In the past 10 years, incidences of up to 47% decreased renal function, 37% oliguria, and 11% mortality have been reported [30]. Although modern developments in patient care, anesthesia, and operative technique have reduced the incidence of renal failure to 3-5% [20, 401, the mortality of this complication approaches 25% despite aggressive therapy [ 11. Recent measures to prevent this sequela have focused on adequate replacement of crystalloid during operation. Using this technique, Thompson et al. reported a mortality from renal failure of only 0.2% in 673 cases of aortoiliac surgery [41]. Despite these improvements, the underlying etiology of renal failure following aortic surgery remains obscure. Early animal experiments demonstrated acute tubular necrosis, which was attributed to aortic crossclamping, per se, and was reversed by direct or pharmacologic renal nerve blockade [27,31]. Subsequent investigators, however, were unable to substantiate these findings [5, 17, 20, 221, and it was generally concluded that aortic cross-clamping has no detrimental renal effect separate from laparotomy alone [9, 151. Recently, however, reports by Abbott and Berkowitz and their colleagues have contested this conclusion [l, 21. Using the 133Xe washout technique to measure the distribution of intrarenal blood flow, these investigators demonstrated decreased cortical blood flow with increased juxtamedullary and outer medullary flow during aortic crossclamping. They suggested that this technique detects more subtle renal damage than previously appreciated by other measurements and that, in fact, aortic crossclamping does contribute to renal complications. Recently, microsphere techniques have been introduced to quantitate the distribution of intrarenal blood flow directly. Several investigators have compared the microsphere and xenon washout techniques and have reported discrepancies, especially under abnormal physiologic conditions [23, 35, 37, 391. Criticism of the xenon technique prompted the present study, which was designed to analyze the distribution of intrarenal blood flow during aortic clamping and declamping using a direct microsphere technique. The results of this study do not support previously reported shifts of intrarenal blood flow measured by xenon-133 washout.
Impedance control network resonant step-down DC-DC converter architecture

In this paper, we introduce a step-down resonant dc-dc converter architecture based on the newly-proposed concept of an Impedance Control Network (ICN). The ICN architecture is designed to provide zero-voltage and near-zero-current switching of the power devices, and the proposed approach further uses inverter stacking techniques to reduce the voltages of individual devices. The proposed architecture is suitable for large-step-down, wide-input-range applications such as dc-dc converters for dc distribution in data centers. We demonstrate a first-generation prototype ICN resonant dc-dc converter that can deliver 330 W from a wide input voltage range of 260 V–410 V to an output voltage of 12 V.
Neural Correlates of Tasting Concentrated Quinine and Sugar Solutions

Behavioral, ethological, and electrophysiological evidence suggests that the highly unpleasant, bitter taste of a concentrated quinine hydrochloride (QHCL) should activate the human amygdala. In th...
Kissing cousins-evidence for a common vascular cell precursor.

A population of stem cells that are capable of differentiating into endothelial and smooth muscle cells has been identified, offering improved prospects for vascular tissue engineering.
Predictors of Bullying and Victimization in Childhood and Adolescence: A Meta-analytic Investigation

Research on the predictors of 3 bully status groups (bullies, victims, and bully victims) for school-age children and adolescents was synthesized using meta-analytic procedures. The primary purpose was to determine the relative strength of individual and contextual predictors to identify targets for prevention and intervention. Age and how bullying was measured were also considered as moderators. From an original pool of 1,622 studies conducted since 1970 (when research on bullying increased significantly), 153 studies were identified that met criteria for inclusion. A number of common and unique predictors were found for the bully status groups. The implications of the meta-analytic findings for future research on bullying and victimization prevention and intervention are discussed.
How Hsp70 Molecular Machines Interact with Their Substrates to Mediate Diverse Physiological Functions

Hsp70 molecular chaperones are implicated in a wide variety of cellular processes, including protein biogenesis, protection of the proteome from stress, recovery of proteins from aggregates, facilitation of protein translocation across membranes, and more specialized roles such as disassembly of particular protein complexes. It is a fascinating question to ask how the mechanism of these deceptively simple molecular machines is matched to their roles in these wide-ranging processes. The key is a combination of the nature of the recognition and binding of Hsp70 substrates and the impact of Hsp70 action on their substrates. In many cases, the binding, which relies on interaction with an extended, accessible short hydrophobic sequence, favors more unfolded states of client proteins. The ATP-mediated dissociation of the substrate thus releases it in a relatively less folded state for downstream folding, membrane translocation, or hand-off to another chaperone. There are cases, such as regulation of the heat shock response or disassembly of clathrin coats, however, where binding of a short hydrophobic sequence selects conformational states of clients to favor their productive participation in a subsequent step. This Perspective discusses current understanding of how Hsp70 molecular chaperones recognize and act on their substrates and the relationships between these fundamental processes and the functional roles played by these molecular machines.
Using qualitative knowledge for quantitative simulation of the human spatial orientation system

Theory formation is an important scientific goal. This process often involves the development of complex mathematical models which are first qualitatively tested before being fine tuned quantitatively. The authors explore the quantitative fine tuning aspect of theory formation. The scientific domain chosen for this work is the human orientation system. The particular experiment for the modeling is space-borne. The scarceness of data leads to fine tune the model parameters for each astronaut. The authors are currently developing a computer tool for automatic, reliable and rapid convergence toward the best parameter fit for each individual subject using qualitative knowledge of the general model formulated. >
Indeterminate colitis: a significant subgroup of pediatric IBD.

BACKGROUND Indeterminate colitis (IC) is a subgroup of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) that cannot be characterized as either ulcerative colitis (UC) or Crohn's disease (CD). Our aims are to determine the prevalence of IC in our pediatric patient population and to describe its clinical presentation, natural history,and disease distribution. METHODS We performed a retrospective database analysis of all children diagnosed with IBD at the Johns Hopkins Children's IBD Center between 1996 and 2001. Patient demographics, including age, sex, and age at disease onset, were tallied. Disease distribution was identified on the basis of a review of all endoscopic, colonoscopic, histopathological, and radiological records. All of the patients were followed up clinically to determine the extent of disease progression on the basis of the initial diagnosis of IC. RESULTS Among 250 children registered in the database, 127 (50.8%) had a diagnosis of CD, 49 (19.6%) had UC, and 74(29.6%) had IC. Patients with IC had a significantly younger mean +/- SEM age (9.53 +/- 4.8 years) at diagnosis compared with patients with CD (12.4 +/- 3.8 years; P < 0.001) but not compared with patients with UC (7.41 +/- 3.5 years). Among the patients with IC, 59 (79.7%) had a pancolitis at diagnosis, and the remaining 15 had left-sided disease that progressed to a pancolitis within a mean of 6 years. Twenty-five patients (33.7%) with an initial diagnosis of IC were reclassified to either CD or UC after a median follow-up of 1.9 years (range 0.6-4.5 years). Forty-nine patients (66.2%) maintained their diagnosis of IC after a mean follow-up of 7 years (SEM 2.5 years). CONCLUSIONS IC is a distinct pediatric subgroup of IBD with a prevalence that is higher than that observed in adults. Children with IC have an early age of disease onset and a disease that rapidly progresses to pancolitis. Longitudinal studies are needed to determine the clinical implications of this pediatric IBD subgroup.
Free Ride, Take It Easy: An Empirical Analysis of Adverse Incentives Caused by Revenue Sharing

A fundamental belief in professional sport leagues is that competitive balance is needed to maximize demand and revenues; therefore, leagues have created policies attempting to attain proper competitive balance. Further, research posits that objectives of professional sport teams’ owners include some combination of winning and profit maximization. Although the pursuit of wins is a zero sum game, revenue generation and potential profit making is not. This article focuses upon the National Football League’s potential unintended consequences of creating the incentive for some teams to free ride on the rest of the league’s talent and brand. It examines whether an owner’s objectives to generate increased revenues and profits are potentially enhanced by operating as a continual low-cost provider while making money from the shared revenues and brand value of the league. The present evidence indicates that, overall, being a low-cost provider is more profitable than increasing player salaries in an attempt to win additional games.
Male discrimination of receptive and unreceptive female calls by temporal features

In murky, crowded ponds in South Africa, female clawed frogs, Xenopus laevis (Daudin), vocalize to signal reproductive state. Female calls consist of acoustically similar clicks delivered in trains with characteristic rates. The rapping call of a sexually receptive female has a more rapid click rate [81 ms mean interclick interval (ICI)] than the ticking call of an unreceptive female (219 ms ICI). Rapping stimulates male advertisement calling, whereas ticking suppresses an already calling male. We examined how males label and discriminate female click rates. A labeling boundary experiment revealed that males perceive click rates between the means of rapping and ticking as lying on a continuum. They respond to 98 and 160 ms ICI as though to rapping and ticking, respectively. However, calling evoked by a click rate equally common to both calls (120 ms ICI) did not differ from the response to either rapping or ticking. A second experiment evaluated whether males discriminate click rates both labeled as ticking (180 and 219 ms ICI). Ticking suppresses advertising males, and suppressed males habituate (resume calling) to prolonged ticking. Both ticking stimuli suppressed males with equal effectiveness, and males habituated in equivalent amounts of time. When the stimulus was switched during habituation, no dishabituation occurred. We conclude that male labeling of click trains as rapping or ticking reflects an ambiguity resulting from the overlap in ICIs naturally occurring in the calls. Males do not respond differentially to click rates within the ticking category. Males thus combine discriminating and non-discriminating strategies in responding to the salient feature of female calls.
Transfer learning through indirect encoding

An important goal for the generative and developmental systems (GDS) community is to show that GDS approaches can compete with more mainstream approaches in machine learning (ML). One popular ML domain is RoboCup and its subtasks (e.g. Keepaway). This paper shows how a GDS approach called HyperNEAT competes with the best results to date in Keepaway. Furthermore, a significant advantage of GDS is shown to be in transfer learning. For example, playing Keepaway should contribute to learning the full game of soccer. Previous approaches to transfer have focused on transforming the original representation to fit the new task. In contrast, this paper explores transfer with a representation designed to be the same even across different tasks. A bird's eye view (BEV) representation is introduced that can represent different tasks on the same two-dimensional map. Yet the problem is that a raw two-dimensional map is high-dimensional and unstructured. The problem is addressed naturally by indirect encoding, which compresses the representation in HyperNEAT by exploiting its geometry. The result is that the BEV learns a Keepaway policy that transfers from two different training domains without further learning or manipulation. The results in this paper thus show the power of GDS versus other ML methods.
Commonwealth and “Commonism”

Both Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri in Commonwealth (2008) and Peter Linebaugh in The Magna Carta Manifesto (2009) want to put the commons and communism—understood as a form of society in which private property has been replaced by property in common—“back on the agenda.” They even insist that just such a social and economic order “grounded in the common” is “already in process” and that communism is thus more relevant and possible than ever. To a certain extent, they are right. We need a functioning commons if human society is to remain viable. But we also need a functioning commercial economy capable of feeding the billions that human society has and most likely will continue to produce.
INPUTS TO SEROTONERGIC NEURONS REVEALED BY CONDITIONAL VIRAL TRANSNEURONAL TRACING

Descending projections arising from brainstem serotonergic (5HT) neurons contribute to both facilitatory and inhibitory controls of spinal cord "pain" transmission neurons. Unclear, however, are the brainstem networks that influence the output of these 5HT neurons. To address this question, here we used a novel neuroanatomical tracing method in a transgenic line of mice in which Cre recombinase is selectively expressed in 5HT neurons (ePet-Cre mice). Specifically, we injected the conditional pseudorabies virus recombinant (BA2001) that can replicate only in Cre-expressing neurons. Because BA2001 transports exclusively in a retrograde manner, we were able to reveal a subset of the neurons and circuits that are located upstream of the Cre-expressing 5HT neurons. We show that diverse brainstem regions differentially target the 5HT neurons of the dorsal raphe (DR) and the nucleus raphe magnus of the rostroventral medulla (RVM). Among these are several catecholaminergic and cholinergic cell groups, the periaqueductal gray, several brainstem reticular nuclei, and the nucleus of the solitary tract. We conclude that a brainstem 5HT network integrates somatic and visceral inputs arising from various areas of the body. We also identified a circuit that arises from projection neurons of deep spinal cord laminae V-VIII and targets the 5HT neurons of the NRM, but not of the DR. This spinoreticular pathway constitutes an anatomical substrate through which a noxious stimulus can activate 5HT neurons of the NRM and in turn could trigger descending serotonergic antinociceptive controls.
Coronary Blood Flow and Myocardial Ischemia

Technical advances over the past few years now enable clinicians to measure coronary blood flow velocity (1) and myocardial perfusion (2). Such measurements confirm in humans the concepts of coronary physiology developed through animal investigations. This chapter summarizes important coronary physiological principles as the basis for discussing myocardial ischemia.
Early induction of interleukin-10 limits antigen-specific CD4+ T cell expansion, function, and secondary recall responses during persistent phagosomal infection

Diverse pathogens have evolved to survive and replicate in the endosomes or phagosomes of the host cells and establish persistent infection. Ehrlichiae are Gram-negative, intracellular bacteria that are transmitted by ticks. Ehrlichiae reside in the endosomes of the host phagocytic or endothelial cells and establish persistent infection in their vertebrate reservoir hosts. CD4+ T cells play a critical role in protection against phagosomal infections. In the present study, we investigated the expansion, maintenance, and functional status of antigen-specific CD4+ T cells during persistent Ehrlichia muris infection in wild-type and interleukin-10 (IL-10)-deficient mice. Our study indicated that early induction of IL-10 led to reduced inflammatory responses and impaired bacterial clearance during persistent Ehrlichia infection. Notably, we demonstrated that the functional production of gamma interferon (IFN-γ) by antigen-specific CD4+ T cells maintained during a persistent phagosomal infection progressively deteriorates. The functional loss of IFN-γ production by antigen-specific CD4+ T cells was reversed in the absence of IL-10. Furthermore, we demonstrated that transient blockade of IL-10 receptor during the T cell priming phase early in infection was sufficient to enhance the magnitude and the functional capacity of antigen-specific effector and memory CD4+ T cells, which translated into an enhanced recall response. Our findings provide new insights into the functional status of antigen-specific CD4+ T cells maintained during persistent phagosomal infection. The study supports the concept that a better understanding of the factors that influence the priming and differentiation of CD4+ T cells may provide a basis to induce a protective immune response against persistent infections.
Countercyclical Fiscal Policy and Multiyear Perspective on Budgeting

This chapter offers a theoretical exploration towards a new budgetary system to cope with uncertainty and instability. It begins by examining the practice of annual balance, core of the “modern” budgetary theory, and infers that annual budget creates a mismatch between the budget cycle and the continuity of public service provision. The chapter provides multi-year perspective on budgeting as a potential solution, with counter-cyclical fiscal reserves as the means to balance the budget through and across economic cycles. The chapter suggests that states have tried a multi-year perspective by adopting budget stabilization funds (BSF) and shifting annual surpluses from the general fund into BSF. By creating BSF legislation, states institutionalize the counter-cyclical fiscal policy. Then with sufficient fiscal reserves, states can better maintain trend-level public services during recessions. Through panel data (1979–1999) analysis, the chapter provides empirical evidence that BSF did help stabilize state general expenditure in downturns by releasing reserves to fill in spending gaps. Specifically, states that had established a BSF before the three sampled recessions fared better than those that did not; states that established a BSF earlier had better weathered the recessions than those that adopted the fund late. In other words, adopting the counter-cyclical fiscal policy and BSF is a step in moving public budgeting from the annual to a longer-term perspective, which indicates progress towards building a new budgetary system for fiscal stability over the economic cycle.
Violence, Indigeneity, and Archaeological Interpretation in the Central Andes

Potential archaeological evidence of violence is usually somewhat ambiguous: it can be interpreted in different ways. I argue that our archaeological interpretations are strongly conditioned by – among other factors – the history of representations of indigeneity. In the central Andes, we must contend with unsavory stereotypes of indigenous Andeans as backward, “tough,” and liable to irrational violence. These old but newly reconfigured stereotypes are drawn on for political purposes by both criollo urbanites and Quechua- and Aymara-speaking Andeans themselves. Opposed to them are positive but problematic images of indigenous Andeans steeped in ritual and existing in harmony with society and nature, images with a pedigree in early twentieth-century romantic nativism and in mid-century structuralist anthropology. These stereotypes too are strategically consumed and perpetrated by the crafters of nationalist narratives, the tourism and artesania industries, and self-identified indigenous Andeans. In the oversimplified terms of public imagination, spiritual Andeans are opposed to violent Andeans. This problematic dyad politicizes archaeological interpretation while impoverishing the space of its possibilities, constraining archaeologists to choose between interpretations of the past that seem either distastefully savage or falsely idyllic.
Electron Microscopy of Epiphyseal and Articular Cartilage Matrix in the Femur of the Newborn Infant

The cartilage at the distal end of the femur in newborn infants is divided into two structurally different units. The matrix at the articular surface contains bundles of fibrils which are 250 to 500 Angstrom units in diameter and have the periodic structure of collagen. They end abruptly on the joint surface and do not appear to be covered by a membrane of acellular or cellular matter. In the matrix of the remainder of the cartilage the fibrils are much less densely packed and show slight tendency to form fiber bundles. In this loose network almost all of the fibrils are less than 250 Angstrom units in diameter. In these fibrils no periodic structure has been demonstrated regardless of the staining method employed with both phosphotungstic and osmic acids. Occasional large fibril-like structures without evident periodic banding found in the matrix of the proliferative zone, circular structures in the zone of degenerating cartilage cells, and the stellate prolongations of the periphery of some cartilage cells out to the matrix only suggest the possibility of protoplasmic extensions of the cells into the matrix.
Towards automatic 3D bone marrow segmentation

Current noninvasive evaluation of bone marrow proliferation in leukemia treatment is limited to manually examining marrow tissue in multiple regions of interest (ROIs). The statistics extracted from these ROIs often fail to provide an accurate global characterization of the patient's marrow. We propose an automatic framework for segmenting spinal marrow compartments to characterize the bone marrow from full-body joint PET/CT scans acquired subsequent to bone marrow transplantation. We first apply a graph-cut algorithm to the CT volume to obtain a 3D full-body bone map. We then isolate the spinal column in a single sagittal plane where connected components labeling and iterative thresholding are used to segment the vertebral bodies. This fully automated approach achieves an average accuracy of 91.7% and a worst case accuracy of 80.4% in testing on 51 scans of 17 patients. Finally, we outline a method for rejecting the cortical bone in transverse planes that can be combined with the sagittally segmented vertebral bodies to obtain a 3D map of the vertebral body medullary cavities for the entire spine.
Genetics and Biology of Retroviral Vectors

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses retroviral vectors, based on the Moloney murine leukemia virus, as a method for delivering genes into target cells. This vector system offers the advantages of highly efficient gene transfer and stable gene expression in the target cell by virtue of the integration of the vector genome into the host chromosomal DNA. Retroviral vectors have a wide host range, both in terms of species and cell types, but can infect only dividing cells. The chapter details the genomic organization and life cycle of retroviruses. Retroviruses are single-stranded RNA viruses encoding a characteristic RNA-dependent DNA polymerase. These viruses transform cells by expression of viral oncogenic sequences originally transduced from host-cell genomes or by integration near a cellular oncogene and its subsequent activation. A large body of evidence indicates that viral replication, integration, and production of progeny virus depend on host cell progression through the cell cycle. Retroviruses that contain oncogenic sequences lead to a rapid induction of tumor formation and are termed “acutely transforming retroviruses”. Integration of a retrovirus near a cellular proto-oncogene may drive its transcription under the influence of viral promoter or enhancer elements. Retroviral vectors may be either replication-competent or replication- defective. RSV is an example of a replication-competent vector that carries the src oncogene in addition to viral genes. Virions containing replication-defective vectors are generated in packaging cell lines carrying helper provirus. Retroviral vectors provide a highly efficient method to transfer and stabily express genes in target cells. Their limitations include difficulties in obtaining high titer producer lines, the time involved in establishing a stable clonal producer cell line, and gene inactivation due to a high rate of mutation per replication cycle.
Structural and morphological effects of alkyl side chains on flanking thiophenes of diketopyrrolopyrrole polymers for organic photovoltaic devices

Abstract Two donor polymers containing thiophene (T) and thienothiophene (TT) as the electron rich, and diketopyrrolopyrrole (DPP) as the electron poor, moieties were synthesized and utilized in organic photovoltaic (OPV) devices. We appended n -decyl side chains onto the thiophenes directly adjacent to the di-hexyldecyl substituted DPP center core to ensure solubility of the resulting polymers. We observed the impact of active layer morphologies, as determined by grazing-incidence wide angle X-ray scattering (GIWAXS) and atomic force microscopy (AFM), on solar cell characteristics. Compared to devices fabricated with the thiophene-containing polymer P(T-DPP ), devices with poly(thienothiophene- alt -diketopyrrolopyrrole), P(TT-DPP) , exhibited higher average power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 3.0% and short circuit current ( J sc ) of 10.4 mA/cm 2 . This higher performance is attributed to an improved charge transport and extraction as a result of a greater degree of intermixing in P(TT-DPP) and fullerene thin film.
DNA Mismatch Repair Deficiency in Rectal Cancer: Benchmarking Its Impact on Prognosis, Neoadjuvant Response Prediction, and Clinical Cancer Genetics

PurposeDNA mismatch repair deficiency (dMMR) hallmarks consensus molecular subtype 1 of colorectal cancer. It is being routinely tested, but little is known about dMMR rectal cancers. The efficacy of novel treatment strategies cannot be established without benchmarking the outcomes of dMMR rectal cancer with current therapy. We aimed to delineate the impact of dMMR on prognosis, the predicted response to fluoropyrimidine-based neoadjuvant therapy, and implications of germline alterations in the MMR genes in rectal cancer.MethodsBetween 1992 and 2012, 62 patients with dMMR rectal cancers underwent multimodality therapy. Oncologic treatment and outcomes as well as clinical genetics work-up were examined. Overall and rectal cancer–specific survival were calculated by the Kaplan-Meier method.ResultsThe median age at diagnosis was 41 years. MMR deficiency was most commonly due to alterations in MSH2 (53%) or MSH6 (23%). After a median follow-up of 6.8 years, the 5-year rectal cancer–specific survival was 100% ...
A Model for Researching Computer Assisted Cutoff Processes: An Exploratory Study

A computer-assisted cutoff model is presented. The model is positioned as an inexpensive/ flexible, and theoretically justified tool for studying cutoff based decision aids. Examples of screen displays and a discussion about how the model can be used to track decision processes are provided. Finally, an exploratory study addresses problems researchers might face when using the model and recommendations for future applications are detailed.
Decentralized/Relegated Control

Decentralized Control is being pursued as an appealing approach to the control of large space structures. One major problem in decentralized compensator design techniques is the incorporation of various implementation constraints, such as subsystem input bandwidth, sensitivity and robustness requirements, integrity constraints, and so on. Thus, it is of utmost importance to analyze the relegation of such requirements and constraints to the controllers. Relegation is the assignment of control tasks and information channels in view of control effectiveness, on-line computational complexity, controller capabilities, and physical and structural constraints. In this paper one particular form of relegation, namely output set-point relegation will be introduced. Although the presentation here will be brief, the simplicity of the setting will aid in obtaining an analytical solution.
Motor performance differentiates individuals with Lewy body dementia, Parkinson's and Alzheimer's disease.

Abstract Introduction Differential diagnosis of dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB), Parkinson’s disease with dementia (PDD), Parkinson’s disease (PD) and Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is challenging. Comparative motor profiles of these neurodegenerative disorders may aid in earlier diagnosis but have not been extensively studied. Methods Groups were rigorously matched by age, education, and sex. DLB/PDD participants were matched by Mini-Mental State Examination Score to individuals with AD and by Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale motor scores to individuals with PD. Gait, balance, dual task walking and hand dexterity measures were compared between a combined group (n = 21) of individuals with Lewy body dementia (LBD) consisting of those with DLB (n = 11) and PDD (n = 10) to individuals with PD (n = 21) or AD (n = 21). Results Individuals at the same disease stage with LBD walked significantly slower with shorter stride lengths (p Conclusions Motor features distinguish individuals with LBD from those with AD and PD. Measures of gait, balance and finger dexterity provide an additional means of differentiating individuals with LBD from those with AD and PD.
A Highly Resolved Large-Eddy Simulation of a Wind Turbine using an Actuator Line Model with Optimal Body Force Projection

When representing the blade aerodynamics with rotating actuator lines, the computed forces have to be projected back to the CFD flow field as a volumetric body force. That has been done in the past with a geometrically simple uniform three-dimensional Gaussian at each point along the blade. We argue that the body force can be shaped in a way that better predicts the blade local flow field, the blade load distribution, and the formation of the tip/root vortices. In previous work, we have determined the optimal scales of circular and elliptical Gaussian kernels that best reproduce the local flow field in two-dimensions. In this work we extend the analysis and applications by considering the full three-dimensional blade to test our hypothesis in a highly resolved Large Eddy Simulation.
A Description of a Group-Learning Experience.

5. to provide the student with opportunities for discussion and for verbalizing his knowledge of mathematical concepts; 6. to provide the elementary education student with some practical experience with the problems encountered in a learning situation; 7. to establish criteria for evaluating the student that would be based not only on his performance on tests but on impressions received from personal contact with him; 8. to involve the student more meaningfully in his own learning experiences as well as in the learning experiences of his classmates; and 9. to provide a relaxed atmosphere in which the student could enjoy learning mathematics.
On parameter estimation for diffusion processes in real-time biosensors

Molecular detection in real-time affinity-based biosensors relies on temporal sampling of the binding process in which target molecules are captured by their respective probes. The capturing process is inherently random, and is readily modeled by a stochastic differential equation. In this paper, we show that when the number of target molecules is much smaller than the number of probe molecules, the binding reaction can be described by the Cox-Ingersoll-Ross (CIR) process. Therefore, determining the number of target molecules requires finding parameters of a temporally sampled CIR process corrupted by noise. For this, we rely on a particle filter. Computational studies demonstrate effectiveness of the proposed scheme, and show that it outperforms competing techniques.
A portable maintenance aid applied to battle damage assessment

Battle damage assessment (BDA) of US Navy aircraft on an aircraft carrier requires quick response, the coordination of multiple skill groups, and effective interchange of complex information. A realistic working demonstration of this capability is described. The BDA demonstration combines concepts for electronic technical manual presentation, data structuring for search and retrieval, computer processing for damage evaluation, and a user interface suited to maintenance and BDA field operations. The demonstration encompasses an innovative approach to aircraft carrier BDA, using electronic data presentation to avoid the use of paper on the aircraft carrier and to provide BDA features not possible in a manual system. >
‘We share similar struggles’: how a Vietnamese immigrant youth organizing program shapes participants’ critical consciousness of interracial tension

AbstractThis article examines Homeward Bound, a political education youth organizing program for Vietnamese immigrant youth in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Inspired by Paulo Freire’s critical pedagogy theory, the program sought to empower learners to challenge their pre-existing knowledge and experience of interracial relations. Drawing on data from observations, interviews, and document reviews, we describe the process by which the program shaped Vietnamese immigrant youth’s critical consciousness of Vietnamese/Asian-black interracial tension. While some participants expressed apprehension and prejudice toward African Americans, particularly in the early days of the program, by the end, participants demonstrated knowledge retained from lessons and activities on the shared history of Vietnamese immigrants and African Americans. Participants also identified roots of and offered solutions to interracial tension. This study illuminates the role of immigrant youth organizing programs in resolving interracial t...
D3TAC: Utilizing distributed computing for DDoS attack traffic analysis on the cloud

Distributed Denial of Service attacks produce large volumes of spoofed network data. Manual analysis of gigabytes of network logs to determine source of the attacks, victim IPs and vulnerability exploitation is time-consuming and error prone. Cloud Computing has recently emerged as a promising technology which allows everyday users to harness the massively parallel processing capabilities of commodity machines as a pay-as-you-go utility service. The contribution of this work is the conceptualization, design and implementation of a distributed DDoS analysis framework that uses the power of the cloud via the MapReduce paradigm to perform an entropy based clustering and security analysis of the key features of attack traffic. We have evaluated our framework on two large and publicly available DDoS attack datasets. Moreover, we achieve 86% speedup in analysis with a modestly sized cluster of ten nodes.
The Historical Slave Trade and Firm Access to Finance in Africa

Access to finance helps explain the link between the historical African slave trade and current gross domestic product. We first present mistrust, weakened institutions, and ethnic fractionalization as plausible historical channels linking the slave trade to modern finance and development. We then show (i) the slave trade is consistently linked to reduced access to the formal and trade credit needed by modern firms, (ii) this shortage particularly reduces capital investment in smaller firms not in business groups, and (iii) the slave trade cannot explain most other business obstacles, suggesting that long-term societal shocks are exceptionally important for finance. Received December 16, 2014; editorial decision June 29, 2017 by Editor Philip Strahan.
Impact of gravity modeling error on integrated GNSS/INS coasting performance

RTCA SC-159 Working Group 2C is developing requirements and test procedures for the integration of GNSS with a variety of grades of inertial measurement units (IMUs). The testing and evaluation of the gravity compensation mechanism is an important consideration in this effort. Models used for estimating and compensating for gravity range from simple models based on latitude and altitude only to complex models such as the spherical harmonics-based EGM2008 model. The residual errors that remain after gravity compensation impact the velocity determination and couple into the position and attitude estimates of the navigation solution. In this work several gravity models are studied and compared, including an analysis of the EGM2008 model using various degrees/orders. The EGM2008 model with a degree/order of 2159 is used as a truth model to test and evaluate several lower fidelity models. In addition, this paper presents an analysis of the impact of gravity compensation on the integrated GNSS/INS solution while coasting without GNSS. A representative extreme-case gravity anomaly region was identified and an aircraft trajectory traversing it was simulated for high, mid, and low-grade IMUs. The results show that the fidelity of the gravity model has a non-trivial impact on the navigation solution and thus must be considered during safety-certification.