cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Experimental results of two free-flying robots capturing and manipulating a free-flying object

This paper presents the results of laboratory experiments performed at the Aerospace Robotics Laboratory (ARL) at Stanford University from 1987 to 1993 that successfully demonstrate a team, of two-armed free-flying robots capturing, transporting, and docking a large, freely moving object. In these experiments, the object and robots float on a thin cushion of air over a granite surface plate, simulating with high fidelity in two dimensions the drag-free, zero-gravity conditions of space. A human user indicates a desired object location and orientation through a graphical user interface. The self-propelled robots then capture and so position the object, with no additional input required from the user: the human is at the task-defining level. On command, the robot team docks the captured object with a stationary second object. The paper discusses the experimental facility, the control hierarchy that supports object-based task-level control, and the controllers for the object and robots. Experimental results are then presented for the capture, transportation, and docking of the object.
Fertility in Context: Exploring Egocentric Neighborhoods in Accra

As recently as 1988 the total fertility rate (TFR) in the Greater Accra Region of Ghana was 4.7 children per woman (compared to the national average of 6.4). The most recent (2008) Ghana Demographic and Health Survey estimates the TFR in the Greater Accra Region to be down to 2.5 (compared to 4.0 for the country as a whole). Within the core metropolis of the Greater Accra Region—the Accra Metropolitan Assembly or Accra Metropolis, our data (described below) suggest that fertility has dropped to near replacement level as of 2008–2009. Within Accra, as throughout the nation, this has been accomplished especially through a delay in marriage and reductions in exposure within marriage, accompanied by an increase in the use of abortion and modern contraceptives. At the same time, reported levels of abortion and contraceptive utilization remain substantially below what would be expected in order to achieve Accra’s low fertility. Thus, the exact proximate determinants of the decline remain a bit murky.
Head wear as a function of isolated asperities on the surface of magnetic tape

The use of smooth magnetic tapes in devices that provide air-film lubrication generally results in low head wear. When high wear is encountered under these conditions, the explanation may not be obvious. This paper discusses the possibility of high head wear as a function of random asperities not evident using standard techniques of surface characterization. The evidence of asperities by a direct optical method and through the indirect approach of measuring electrical dropouts is illustrated.
Hibernians Versus Hebrews? A New Look at the 1902 Jacob Joseph Funeral Riot

On July 29, 1902 a massive funeral procession for Jacob Joseph, the esteemed Chief Rabbi of the Orthodox community, wound its way through the streets of New York's Lower East Side. The solemn occasion was marred, however, when the procession was attacked by a group of factory workers. As the melee blossomed into a full-scale riot, a contingent of New York City policemen arrived and proceeded to pummel and arrest the mourners rather than the instigators. Historians have consistendy cited this ugly incident as a vivid example of Irish Catholic antisemitism, noting that both the workers and policemen were “predominantly Irish.” Indeed, it was a quest to learn more about the roots of Irish Catholic antisemitism that drew this historian to the subject. And yet, a thorough examination of the incident produced a startling result: a dearth of Irish defendants and a flawed historiography that ultimately call into question the validity of the Jacob Joseph Funeral Riot as an example of Irish Catholic antisemitism.
Short-term activity cycles in ants: age-related changes in tempo and colony synchrony

Summary. This paper examines the characteristics of the spontaneous acivity levels of individual worker ants of Leptothorax allardycei and explores the influence of spontaneous worker activity on colony activity patterns. While there are substantial differences among workers in the characteristics of their spontaneous activity, all of the variation occurs within the colony. There are virtually no differences in the levels of spontaneous activity between colonies. Variation among workers is due to age; workers decline exponentially in their probability of becoming active, p~, at a rate of -0.02 per day. I built computer models under four different sets of assumptions about the spontaneous activity patterns of workers, and performed simulations to test the ability of colonies of simulated workers to synchronize their movement activity. The most realistic results are obtained with models in which workers already have an underlying propensity to oscillate and which interact with one another to produce Type 1 phase resetting. The simulations generate predictions concerning the ability of colonies to synchronize, the most significant of which is that the average age of workers in a colony is very important in determining the extent of colony synchrony, while the distribution of ages is not.
Black Arts in the Maelstrom

arts.2 It is particularly welcome because of its international framework: the conference was held in the United States, and the book contains important contributions from American artists and critics.3 More work is still required to map the post-war development of overlapping generations of artists of Asian and Afro-Caribbean cultural backgrounds, but Shades of Black shows very well the impact these artists have had on the visual arts in Britain. *** 1980s Britain was a fraught society. The Thatcherite years saw a series of major confrontations between government and governed, of which the race riots of the early and mid decade and the miners' strike were among the most prominent. Less visible but no less crucial were shifts in the cultural terrain affecting all arts institutions, including those in the visual arts. The Thatcher regime reconfigured the political landscape in ways that were as alienating to most artists as they were to many intellectuals and writers: changes that affected the whole quarter century that followed. Only from the vantage point of the new century is it possible to look back at particular strands of cultural activity, and analyse them in the light of the experience of those who were fighting to create new cultural forms and opportunities.4 The exhibition A New Spirit in Painting5 in 1981 is often cited as the most visible demonstration of changes that brought an end to the dominance of
Improving the Accuracy of Impedance Calculation for Distribution Power System

This paper compares different approximation methods and develops a new method for simplification of Carson's equations to model distribution lines for unbalanced power flow and short-circuit analysis. The comparisons are made for real and imaginary parts of self and mutual impedances. The impedances obtained by application of different approximation methods are utilized for lines and cables of a long feeder with a load and the IEEE 123-node system. The effect of varying ground resistivity and frequency on impedances is observed. The unbalanced power-flow results of both systems are compared for voltage, current, active, and reactive power flow. It is observed that different approximation methods for impedance calculation have considerable effects on the results of power flow, especially on node voltages which are critical for power quality and steady-state analysis of distribution systems.
Proportional Hazards Regression for Cancer Studies

There has been some recent work in the statistical literature for modeling the relationship between the size of cancers and probability of detecting metastasis, i.e., aggressive disease. Methods for assessing covariate effects in these studies are limited. In this article, we formulate the problem as assessing covariate effects on a right-censored variable subject to two types of sampling bias. The first is the length-biased sampling that is inherent in screening studies; the second is the two-phase design in which a fraction of tumors are measured. We construct estimation procedures for the proportional hazards model that account for these two sampling issues. In addition, a Nelson-Aalen type estimator is proposed as a summary statistic. Asymptotic results for the regression methodology are provided. The methods are illustrated by application to data from an observational cancer study as well as to simulated data.
CAUSING AND CURING INFANTILE ESOTROPIA IN PRIMATES: THE ROLE OF DECORRELATED BINOCULAR INPUT (AN AMERICAN OPHTHALMOLOGICAL SOCIETY THESIS)

Purpose: Human infants at greatest risk for esotropia are those who suffer cerebral insults that could decorrelate signals from the 2 eyes during an early critical period of binocular, visuomotor development. The author reared normal infant monkeys, under conditions of binocular decorrelation, to determine if this alone was sufficient to cause esotropia and associated behavioral as well as neuroanatomic deficits. Methods: Binocular decorrelation was imposed using prism-goggles for durations of 3 to 24 weeks (in 6 experimental, 2 control monkeys). Behavioral recordings were obtained, followed by neuroanatomic analysis of ocular dominance columns and binocular, horizontal connections in the striate visual cortex (area V1). Results: Concomitant, constant esotropia developed in each monkey exposed to decorrelation for a duration of 12 to 24 weeks. The severity of ocular motor signs (esotropia-angle; dissociated vertical deviation; latent nystagmus; pursuit/optokinetic tracking asymmetry; fusional vergence deficits), and the loss of V1 binocular connections, increased as a function of decorrelation duration. Stereopsis was deficient and motion visual evoked potentials were asymmetric. Monkeys exposed to decorrelation for 3 weeks showed transient esotropia but regained normal visuomotor behaviors and binocular V1 connections. Conclusions: Binocular decorrelation is a sufficient cause of infantile esotropia when imposed during a critical period of visuomotor development. The systematic relationship between severity of visuomotor sign, and severity of V1 connectivity deficit, provides a neuroanatomic mechanism for several of these signs. Restoration of binocular fusion and V1 connections, after short durations of decorrelation, helps explain the benefits of early repair in human strabismus.
A Temporal Proper Orthogonal Decomposition (TPOD) Method for Closed-Loop Flow Control

Motivated by closed-loop flow control applications, a new formulation of the proper orthogonal decomposition (POD) is presented which is capable of characterizing not only the controlled and natural states of a given flow but also the transient behavior between these states. This approach, which is termed temporal POD (TPOD) extracts the optimum frameof-reference and the temporal information regarding the dynamics of the system in the presence of the flow control. The TPOD concept is developed in this paper and demonstrated experimentally in an application involving a circular cylinder in cross flow at ReD = 5,000 with active plasma flow control. The resulting model is shown to properly capture the correct dynamics of the first TPOD mode, including the natural, forced and transient regimes.
Psychological Illness in Presidents: A Medical Advisory Commission and Disability Determinations

Although the 25th Amendment is intended to provide for instances of presidential disability, critics claim that it is impractical since it requires vice presidents and cabinet members to move overtly against the president--which they are unlikely to do. Also, they warn that medical information about the president is likely to be concealed. To overcome these problems, they recommend that a Medical Advisory Commission be established at the outset of every presidential administration to examine the president annually and then provide formal medical input so that the vice president and cabinet would be "compelled" to act in the presence of medically determined "inability," whether physiological or psychological. This paper argues, however, that such a proposal is badly flawed and quite unworkable, particularly in the case of psychological illness where accurate diagnosis typically depends on long-term, continuous doctor-patient interaction rather than through sporadic and superficial interchange. It concludes that less draconian measures in implementing the Amendment are far more sensible, such as those proposed by the Working Group on Presidential Disability which are discussed here. Language: en
Conceptualizing in assembly tasks

Abstract : This paper gives a method to determine a person's hypothetical conceptualization of an object -- its breakdown into subassemblies, subsubassemblies, and so on -- from the person's sequence of requests for pieces given a group of conceptualizations, there is a typical one. The hypothesis that assembly instructions presenting a typical conceptualization will yield better structural and functional performance than those presenting a minority one is supported experimentally. Conceptualizations are derived from objects built from memory (and incorrectly) by people who first studied typical or minority instructions. A new distance measure determines how far these conceptualizations are from those presented in the instructions. People studying typical instructions yield typical conceptualizations, and importantly, people studying minority instructions also yield typical conceptualizations, although they are significantly less typical than those from typical instructions. From the theoretical construct of conceptualizations and the methods of measuring them a practical principle, and a way to implement it, are found. The principle: When a single set of procedural instructions is designed, it should present the conceptualization that the majority of people to be instructed by it bring to the situation naturally. (Author)
Kinect based 3D object manipulation on a desktop display

Gesture-based controllers such as the Microsoft Kinect are low cost devices that allow a user to interact with complex, three-dimensional simulations using an interface argued to be more natural than game controllers, joy sticks, or a mouse and keyboard. This paper presents a controlled experimental evaluation of the use of Microsoft Kinect to support a 3D object manipulation task. Users were asked to match the orientation of objects with a manipulation interface that displayed either a self-avatar hand and arm or a sphere, both corresponding to users' arm gestures and wrist rotation. Our results show that while there was no overall difference in performance between the self-avatar and sphere visual display conditions, there were clear differences in the two visual display conditions as a function of gender and video-game experience.
Robot motion path planning in time-varying environment using quadtree data structure and parallel processing

A time-efficient algorithm for robot visual guidance in a dynamic environment using a quadtree data structure and parallel processing is described. The results of motion analysis are used for the selection of the best path. Visual guidance is achieved by solving the equation of the path and the equations of the motion of the obstacles for collision points. The underlying motion equations are obtained using the Lagrange interpolation formula. Image processing and visual guidance are performed on a 16-node attached hypercube array processor by exploiting the inherent parallelism, problem regularity, and data locality of the low-level vision operators and motion equations. >
Comparison of macroinvertebrate communities of intermittent and perennial streams in the dry forest of Guanacaste, Costa Rica

The 7 m-wide Canal Oeste passes over a series of first-order, intermittent streams on hillsides on its way to irrigate the lowlands of Guanacaste, Costa Rica. Streams passing under lined portions of the canal have maintained intermittent flow, while those under unlined portions of the canal have become perennial, thus providing a unique opportunity to examine the impact of drastically altered hydrology on macroinvertebrate communities of dry forest streams. Macroinvertebrates were studied from the end of the dry season through a wet season. Macroinvertebrate recolonization of intermittent streams at the beginning of the wet season was rapid, led by small bodied taxa such as chironomids and oligochaetes with short life cycles and/or great tolerance for low oxygen and spates. As additional, less tolerant taxa arrived, most likely aerially from adjacent perennial streams, the fauna of intermittent streams progressively became similar to that of perennial streams of the area within 3–4 months of rewetting. The great resilience of the macroinvertebrate community is clearly demonstrated by its ability to adjust with few modifications to a complete switch from intermittent to perennial hydroperiod. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Docetaxel extravasation causing significant delayed tissue injury.

Abstract Purpose. Docetaxel is a relatively new taxane that has not been associated with significant tissue injury after extravasation. We present a case of a patient who had grade 4 tissue toxicity after extravasation of docetaxel infused through a peripheral intravenous site. Case report. A 71-year-old female was being treated for recurrent ovarian cancer with docetaxel and carboplatin. Shortly after the docetaxel infusion began, she experienced docetaxel extravasation into the dorsum of her left hand. The infusion was halted, and then the administration was continued in a peripheral intravenous site in the other upper extremity. Erythema was noted by the patient on the dorsum of her left hand 6 days after infiltration. The following day, the patient noted severe pain, decreased function, and blistering along with increased erythema. The patient presented to the gynecology oncology clinic 11 days after the extravasation injury occurred. Conservative management was undertaken, and over the next 4 weeks the patient had resolution of the skin changes and full return of function. Conclusion. Docetaxel can cause significant delayed tissue injury if extravasation occurs.
Effects of puberty and diabetes on metabolism of insulin-sensitive fuels.

Insulin's ability to stimulate glucose metabolism is reduced during normal puberty; these changes are exaggerated in adolescents with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM). Because the effects...
Constancy of P travel times from Nevada explosions to Oroville dam station 1970-1976

abstract The suggestion is tested that variations in P travel-times to a station near a large dam might signal an impending local earthquake, perhaps induced by the reservoir. P travel-times to the Oroville station (relative to Jamestown) from precisely located underground nuclear explosions at the Nevada Test Site from December 1970 to March 1976 provide a suitable stochastic time series of uniform precision. Fluctuations before, during and after the 1975 Oroville earthquake sequence (main shock M L = 5.7) are analyzed for significance. Although the ray paths pass within 5 km of the focal region, no fluctuations in semi-annual mean residuals occurred greater than 0.01 ± 0.06 sec. At a high probability level there is no evidence that the seismic source process at Oroville altered the constancy of P velocities in crustal rocks between the focal zone and the dam.
Measurement of Vibration Resulting from Non-contact Ultrasound Radiation Force

In modal testing, the most common excitation method is a transducer in mechanical contact with the object under test. While this method is effective, there are delicate structures where it is desirable to excite vibrations without physical contact. The ultrasound radiation force provides a noncontact excitation method resulting from the nonlinear interaction of sound waves scattering from an object. The incident ultrasound consists of sine waves with frequencies of f 1 and f 2; the resulting radiation force has a component at the difference frequency f 1−f 2. By combining the difference frequency radiation force with a scanning vibrometer, previous studies have demonstrated completely non-contact measurements of resonance frequencies and operating deflection shapes of structures ranging from microcantilevers to classical guitars. In the current study, a 19.6 by 8.1 by 0.37 mm clamped-free brass cantilever, with a resonance frequency of 610 Hz, was excited using the radiation force from a focused ultrasound transducer. By mounting the transducer on a computer-controlled translation stage, it enabled measurements of the edge-spread function for the transducer; measuring this distribution is an important first step towards quantifying the applied radiation force.
Pancreatic enzymes prepared in bicarbonate solution for administration through enteral feeding tubes.

Purpose The dissolution and physicochemical effects of preparing delayed-release pancrelipase in a sodium bicarbonate solution before administration via an enteral feeding tube were studied. Methods Several doses of four delayed-release pancrelipase products (Creon, Pancreaze, Ultresa, Zenpep) were studied. The intact contents of pancrelipase capsules was added to 20 mL of 8.4% sodium bicarbonate solution to dissolve the enteric coating and liberate the enzymes into solution. In addition to visual observation, the pH, relative particle count, and osmolality of each admixture were assessed immediately and 5, 10, 20, and 30 minutes after admixture preparation. Results The only dose of Creon that was completely dissolved at 30 minutes was the 24,000 lipase unit dose. None of the doses of Pancreaze and only the lowest dose (23,000 lipase units) of Ultresa were completely dissolved at 30 minutes. However, Zenpep doses of 20,000 and 40,000 lipase units were completely dissolved 30 minutes after preparation. Higher doses of each pancrelipase product did not completely dissolve. The baseline pH of the solvent decreased slightly at the first few time points after pancrelipase was added. The relative particle count increased over time and with increasing doses. The osmolality of the mixtures varied by pancrelipase product. Conclusion The dissolution of enteric coated granules in sodium bicarbonate varied with the pancrelipase product and dose. Zenpep 40,000 lipase units was found to most efficiently dissolve in sodium bicarbonate, possibly due to the consistent size of the product’s granules and visibly thinner and uniform enteric coating.
Procedural Norms and Tolerance: A Reassessment*

This paper is both a criticism and extension of a small existing literature on procedural norms and tolerance which has been influential in several interpretations of American politics but which suffers from both conceptual and empirical shortcomings. The existing literature concludes that tolerance is not widely distributed in the American mass public: unpopular groups such as Communists or atheists would not be allowed political activity by most Americans despite supposed acceptance by all of the principle of minority rights. The literature suggests that hostile attitudes towards the issue or group involved prevents application of the tolerant general norm in specific instances. By failing to adequately measure or control for either issue orientation or general norms, however, the existing literature risks misrepresenting the actual extent and character of tolerance. This study discusses the weaknesses of the existing literature, describes how such weaknesses can be eliminated, and reports data which modify and expand the findings of past research for an updated set of issues, groups, and political acts.
Asymptotic observer design using backpropagation through time

This paper describes a technique that can be employed to design an asymptotic observel: This technique designs an asymptotic observer such that the cumulative mean-squared tracking error over a specified time interval is held below a given tolerance. As a consequence, an appropriate choice of the time interval and the required tolerance will ensure nominal stability and performance. The design methodology presented would be applicable to systems with low noise levels, where standard observer design techniques lead to large observer gains. The technique is employed to design an observer for a 2DOF spring mass system.
Control of Flies in Manure of Chickens and Rabbits by Cockerels in Southern California

Reduction of fly larvae and pupae ( Musca domestica L.) to zero in chicken manure, under cages with a raised wire mesh floor, by cockerel chicks released on the ground was demonstrated in commercial poultry ranches in southern California. Control was maintained with ratios of 20 to 100 hens in cages per one cockerel on the ground. The cockerels developed satisfactorily and were left on the ground until they were 12 to 16 weeks old; extension to 24 weeks was tried successfully when management practices were good in all aspects. The number of chicks needed and the discernible factors in varying conditions were studied to ascertain management practices favorable to fly control by the chicks. Desirable practices are listed in a resume. The use of cockerels was extended in a trial with rabbits; control of fly larvae and pupae in the droppings was obtained with one cockerel per five rabbits.
A Proposal for Integrating Quality Aspects of Employment

The goal of this paper is to revisit the limitation of the US formal labour force statistics and propose to integrate a series of measures for analysing a certain quality aspects of employment into the government’s formal labour force statistics. The conventional definitions and categories used by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) have many limitations, and are of no use at all in capturing quality aspects of employment. After examining some of these problems, the author introduces and proposes the International Labour Office (ILO)’s labour (under-)utilization framework as an alternative. The labour utilization framework adopted in the ILO’s international conferences introduces income-, time-, and skill-related labour underutilization measure as a way to examine a certain quality aspects of employment. Even though this framework is not a complete solution to tasks of labour force statisticians, it is far more superior to the conventional unemployment rate and other narrow labour force statistics.
EXMOVES: Mid-level Features for Efficient Action Recognition and Video Analysis

In this paper we present EXMOVES--learned exemplar-based features for efficient recognition and analysis of actions in videos. The entries in our descriptor are produced by evaluating a set of movement classifiers over spatial-temporal volumes of the input video sequences. Each movement classifier is a simple exemplar-SVM trained on low-level features, i.e., an SVM learned using a single annotated positive space-time volume and a large number of unannotated videos. Our representation offers several advantages. First, since our mid-level features are learned from individual video exemplars, they require minimal amount of supervision. Second, we show that simple linear classification models trained on our global video descriptor yield action recognition accuracy approaching the state-of-the-art but at orders of magnitude lower cost, since at test-time no sliding window is necessary and linear models are efficient to train and test. This enables scalable action recognition, i.e., efficient classification of a large number of actions even in massive video databases. Third, we show the generality of our approach by training our mid-level descriptors from different low-level features and testing them on two distinct video analysis tasks: human activity recognition as well as action similarity labeling. Experiments on large-scale benchmarks demonstrate the accuracy and efficiency of our proposed method on both these tasks.
Study on Mechanical Properties of Electro-spark Overlaying Joints

A new restoring technique of electro-spark overlaying has some features such as less heat input,metallurgical combination and low cost etc.It was widely used in restoring power plant important equipments.In this paper,the weld joints shape is skillfully designed to measure the tensile strength of welding joints,which supplies a solid foundation for widely applying the technology.
Investigation of the prevalence of diabetes status among residents of Qinghai Province

Objective The aim of the study was to assess the prevalence of diabetes among residents of Qinghai Province, so to provide a scientific reference for developing effective intervening measures. Methods A total of 24 villages and 12 towns were selected as the survey sites by using multi-stage cluster random sampling. Permanent residents of the survey sites who aged over 18 were surveyed for diabetes investigation. Results The incidence of diabetes among the residents over 18 years of age was 4.29%,including 11.19% of urban, 1.72% of rural, 2.25% of half-farming half-pastoral, and 1.55% of pastoral areas; the regional differences were statistically significant(χ2=64.56, P=0.001). The prevalence of diabetes varied among people with different body mass indexes, hypertension, occupational physical activities, and family histories of diabetes, high blood pressure, and cardio-cerebrovascular disease. Conclusion The prevalence of diabetes is high in Qinghai Province, suggesting that health education on diabetes for the residents should be strengthened, healthcare awareness of the residents should be improved, unhealthy lifestyle should be changed, and comprehensive prevention and control measures should be taken based on the current status and risk factors for diabetes.
Cimetidine clearance during intermittent and chronic peritoneal dialysis

A case report evaluating the clearance of cimetidine during intermittent peritoneal dialysis and chronic ambulatory peritoneal dialysis is presented. A 50-year-old white man with end-stage renal disease using chronic ambulatory peritoneal dialysis was hospitalized with uremic pericarditis. He was treated with indomethacin and aggressive intermittent peritoneal dialysis. Cimetidine 300 mg every 12 hours was prescribed for ulcer prophylaxis. After taking cimetidine for seven days, the clearance of cimetidine during intermittent peritoneal dialysis was evaluated by collecting blood and dialysate samples during a four-hour dialysis period. The patient was discharged using chronic ambulatory peritoneal dialysis. Cimetidine 300 mg every 12 hours was continued. One week after discharge, the clearance of cimetidine during a four-hour dwell period of chronic ambulatory peritoneal dialysis was measured. Cimetidine clearance was approximately 4 ml/min for both intermittent and chronic ambulatory peritoneal dialysis. Clinically unimportant quantities of cimetidine were removed by intermittent and chronic ambulatory peritoneal dialysis. The need for supplemental doses of cimetidine during peritoneal dialysis is not supported.
Clusters in Reduced Molybdenum and Tungsten Oxide and Sulfide Systems

In their reduced oxidation states molybdenum and tungsten often show metal-metal (M-M) bonding in both molecular complexes and extended solid state structures. This is particularly true of any highly reduced compounds where the oxidation state is less than four. Whenever electrons are available in the 4d or 5d orbitals these electrons should be considered as valence electrons and may be expected to participate in chemical bonding. For a given oxidation state n+ the metal ion (Mon+ or Wn+) will have a d6-n electron configuration and may form M-M bonds with a maximum bond order sum of 6-n. For example, for Mo3+ structures might be found where each atom forms one M≡M triple bond, three M-M single bonds, six M-M half-bonds, etc. The actual structure adopted will of course depend upon the particular compound, especially the ligand/metal (L/M) ratio. High L/M ratios will of course reduce the possibility that strong M-M bonds can be formed. Compare the contrasting structures of the W2+ compounds (W6Cl8)Cl4 and WCl2(PMe3)4. The former with a L/M ratio of 2 shows a structure with a strongly W-W bonded octahedral cluster unit, whereas the latter with a L/M ratio of 6 exists as a monomeric complex without W-W bonding. In (W6Cl8)Cl4 the d4 electron configuration of W2+ makes possible the formation of the W6 octahedral cluster, where each W atom forms four W-W single bonds.
Abstract 1182: Heparin-binding epidermal growth factor-like growth factor is a pro-differentiating factor in neuroblastoma

Neuroblastoma is the most common cancer in infancy. Current therapies are only modestly effective; patients with high-risk disease have less than a 50% chance of survival. High-risk neuroblastoma is characterized by undifferentiated neuroblasts and low Schwannian stroma content. The tumor stroma contributes to the suppression of tumor growth by releasing soluble proteins, including heparan sulfate proteoglycans (HSPGs), which act to promote neuroblast differentiation. Here we identify heparin-binding epidermal growth factor-like growth factor (HBEGF) as a potent pro-differentiating factor in neuroblastoma. Using microarray analysis, HBEGF mRNA expression is decreased in neuroblastoma compared to benign disease, correlating to an increase in mortality. HBEGF protein is expressed only in stromal compartments of tumor specimens, with tissue from high-stage disease having decreased stroma and HBEGF. Soluble HBEGF increased neuroblast differentiation and decreased proliferation, while HBEGF knockdown decreased neuroblast differentiation. In patient samples, HBEGF expression correlates with SOX10, a neural crest differentiation marker, and the cell cycle inhibitor, CDKN1A. Alternatively, HBEGF negatively correlates with ASCL1, a primitive neuroectodermal marker, and the cell cycle promoter CCND1. HSPGs, including TβRIII, GPC1, GPC3, and SDC3 further promote the differentiating effects of HBEGF treatment by forming a complex with the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) via glycosaminoglycan modifications, leading to activation of the Erk1/2 pathway and upregulation of the inhibitor of DNA binding transcription factor, whose expression correlates with HBEGF in patient samples. Inhibition of EGFR with erlotinib, lapatinib, and gefitinib diminish HBEGF-induced differentiation. These data identify a novel member of the pro-differentiating secretome and support the use of heparan sulfate mimetics in neuroblastoma, while cautioning against the use of EGFR inhibitors for neuroblastoma treatment. Citation Format: Angela L. Gaviglio, Gerard C. Blobe. Heparin-binding epidermal growth factor-like growth factor is a pro-differentiating factor in neuroblastoma. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 107th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2016 Apr 16-20; New Orleans, LA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2016;76(14 Suppl):Abstract nr 1182.
Jak2 Plays a Critical and Non-Redundant Role In Hematopoiesis throughout Pre- and Post-Natal Life

Abstract Abstract 2238 In early Jak2 murine models, conventional germline knockout of Jak2 tyrosine kinase resulted in embryonic lethality at E12.5 due to severe defects in hematopoiesis. However, what role, if any, that Jak2 plays in late gestational development and post natal life is currently unknown. To achieve some understanding of this, we utilized a conditional knockout approach that allowed for the temporal deletion of Jak2 at various stages of embryonic and postnatal growth. Specifically, Jak2 conditional knockout mice were produced by crossing estrogen receptor inducible Cre mice (RosaCreER) with loxP inserted Jak2 conditional knockout mice (FL/FL). Injection of the bigenic mice with tamoxifen (TM), a synthetic estrogen receptor modulator, accordingly results in a Jak2 null allele. TM was injected into pregnant dams at E12.5 and into postnatal mice at day 4 and day 60. The animals were then euthanized at E16.5 (late gestation), postnatal at day 18 (an active stage of postnatal development) and day 90 (adult stage), respectively. We found that deletion of Jak2 throughout all stages of murine development resulted in marked hypocellular bone marrow, significantly reduced spleen size, an absence of extramedullary hematopoiesis, and profound anemia. Analysis of peripheral blood samples indicated that the Jak2 null mice have significantly decreased hematocrits characterized by increased numbers of abnormal red blood cells that were either immature or lacking hemoglobin. Furthermore, the number of platelets was also significantly reduced in the null mice when compared to aged matched littermate controls. Overall, these results indicate that Jak2 plays a critical and non-redundant role in hematopoiesis throughout all stages of prenatal and postnatal life. Disclosures: No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.
Rolling the Dice: Determining Public Use in Order to Effectuate a 'Public-Private Taking' - a Proposal to Redefine 'Public Use'

The Public Use Clause of the Fifth Amendment has come under increasing constitutional fire in recent years. Furthermore, the government's allowable use of its eminent domain power has also expanded, particularly in the context of economic redevelopment projects. A growing debate has developed regarding the limitations the clause places on the government's ability to use its eminent domain power. Recent United States Supreme Court decisions, in conjunction with decisions from various state courts, have expanded the scope of the public use clause to allow for the use of eminent domain in private developments. This article focuses on the use of eminent domain for these so called "public-private takings". This article begins by exploring the historical development of the eminent domain power and the public use requirement. The article then examines the current constitutional framework of the Public Use Clause. Issue is taken with the current analysis and the conclusion is reached that the existing takings scheme leads to economic inefficiency. Specifically, the use of eminent domain to execute a public private taking imposes significant welfare costs on society and can lead to interest group capture of a government's eminent domain power. The article concludes by offering an alternative analysis framework in order to determine public use in the context of economic redevelopment projects. The goal of the proposed framework is to create a stringent criteria in order to eliminate welfare costs and the threat of interest group capture.
Characterization of piezoresistive and electrothermal sensors in MEMS devices

Displacement sensing with nanometer or sub-nanometer resolution is a necessity in numerous microelectromechanical (MEMS) devices. Acquiring a quantitative knowledge about the characteristics of these sensors can help realize MEMS devices with improved performance. Electrothermal and bulk piezoresistive are two sensing mechanisms whose key features, including their bandwidth, resolution and noise level, are compared in this paper. As a test platform, the sensors are implemented in a MEMS nanopositioner. The results indicate that the bulk piezoresistive sensor has a superior performance compared to the electrothermal sensor.
Negative word of mouth can be a positive for consumers connected to the brand

It is widely accepted, and demonstrated in the marketing literature, that negative online word of mouth (NOWOM) has a negative impact on brands. The present research, however, finds the opposite effect among individuals who feel a close personal connection to the brand—a group that often contains the brand’s best customers. A series of three studies show that, when self–brand connection (SBC) is high, consumers process NOWOM defensively—a process that actually increases their behavioral intentions toward the brand. Study 1 demonstrates this effect using an experimental manipulation of SBC related to clothing brands, and provides process evidence by analyzing coded thought listings. Study 2 provides convergent evidence by measuring SBC associated with smartphones, and followup analyses show that as SBC increases, the otherwise negative effect of NOWOM steadily transforms to become significantly positive. Study 3 replicates these results using a combination of a national survey conducted by J.D. Power investigating hotel stays and data drawn from TripAdvisor. Results of all three studies, set in product categories with varying levels of identity relevance, support the positive effects of NOWOM for high-SBC customers and have implications for both managers and researchers.
On Unmodeled Breaks in the Turn of the Year, Turn of the Month, and January Effects

We produce convincing new evidence that the turn of the year (TOY), turn of the month (TOM), and January effects are critically dependent on the sample period over which they are estimated. The TOY effect is significant in the value‐weight portfolio from 1962 to 1997. It becomes insignificant in the medium‐size portfolio after 1994 and in the equal‐weight and low‐size portfolios after 1997. The TOM effect becomes insignificant in the value‐weight and high‐size portfolios after 1978, in the equal‐weight and medium‐size portfolios after 1997, and in the low‐size portfolio after 1998. January effects are significant in some subperiods but not others.
Management of Hyperviscosity Syndromes

The hyperviscosity syndromes are a group of hematologic disorders characterized by (among other symptoms) the classic triad of visual changes, mucosal bleeding, and neurologic deficits. They include disorders of WBCs (hyperleukocytosis), platelets (thrombocytosis), RBCs (erythrocytosis), and elevated protein levels (paraproteinemia). The symptoms of these disorders are the result of an increase in serum viscosity which leads to a relative hypoperfusion. This hypoperfusion can result in catastrophic end organ damage. In the setting of hyperviscosity syndromes secondary to excess WBCs, this is termed leukostasis. Leukostasis is diagnosed empirically when a patient presents with symptoms of tissue hypoxia and is found to have an underlying leukemia with a hyperleukocytosis (WBC >100,000 thou/mL). Leukostasis is a medical emergency and requires immediate stabilization of the patient, which can range from fluid resuscitation to mechanical ventilation. Signs of tumor lysis syndrome should be monitored for and close coordination with oncology is imperative. Ultimately, patients with hyperviscosity from leukocytosis will require a rapid reduction in WBC through a procedure called leukapheresis. Leukapheresis is a temporizing measure performed to decrease symptoms until the diagnosis is made and treatment of the underlying malignancy is initiated.
Microsurgical Management of Posterior Fossa Vascular Lesions

The microsurgical management of lesions in the posterior fossa is complicated by the labyrinth of critical neurovascular structures that reside in a confined corridor encased by a dense fortress of bone. The complexity of the anatomy and the unforgiving nature of the neurovascular bundle in the posterior fossa have resulted in reluctance on the part of many practitioners to surgically treat lesions in this region. In this chapter, we review the microsurgical treatment of posterior circulation vascular lesions, focusing on the treatment of aneurysms, arteriovenous malformations, and cavernous malformations.
An adaptive conditional servocompensator design for nanopositioning control

In this paper, we propose the design of an adaptive conditional servocompensator along with approximate hysteresis inversion for a piezoelectric nanopositioner to track desired periodic trajectories. The nanopositioner is modeled with a linear system proceeded by a hysteresis operator, which is represented by a Modified Prandtl-Ishlinskii (MPI) operator. The adaptive law, which is equipped with smooth parameter projection for robustness against matched disturbances, is initiated only when the trajectory driven by a continuously-implemented sliding mode control (SMC) enters a boundary layer around the sliding manifold. To reduce the conservativeness of the SMC law, we analytically derive the bound on the hysteresis inversion error. It is shown that, under appropriate conditions, the closed-loop system is well-posed and the tracking error converges exponentially to a periodic solution in the neighborhood of the origin. Experiments conducted on a commercial nanopositioner confirm the theoretical analysis, and demonstrate the efficacy of the proposed controller in comparison with a continuously-implemented SMC without the adaptive internal model. In particular, for a 100 Hz reference trajectory, the mean tracking error is found to be less than 0.015 %, compared to 0.15 % for the case when the adaptive internal model is not used.
Role of adjuvant chemoradiotherapy in T4N0 stage IV head and neck cancer: A National Cancer Database analysis.

BACKGROUND The purpose of this study was to evaluate the role of postoperative adjuvant radiotherapy (surgery + adjuvant RT) versus adjuvant chemoradiotherapy (surgery + adjuvant CRT) in patients with T4N0M0, stage IV head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). METHODS Between 1998 and 2011, 3518 and 885 patients were treated with surgery + adjuvant RT and surgery + adjuvant CRT, respectively. Three-year overall survival (OS) rates were determined and crude and adjusted hazard ratios (HRs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were computed. RESULTS Median follow-up was 41.8 months with 2193 reported deaths. The 3-year OS was 67.5% for surgery + adjuvant RT and 70.5% for surgery + adjuvant CRT (P = .013). For negative margins, the corresponding 3-year OS was 70.1% and 74.9% (P = .005). For positive margins, the corresponding 3-year OS was 56.0% and 60.6% (P = .079). On multivariate analysis, the beneficial effect for adjuvant CRT over adjuvant RT was not significant (HR 0.90; CI 0.79-1.03; P = .124). CONCLUSION In this cohort of patients with T4N0 HNSCC treated with surgery, there was no observed survival benefit of adjuvant CRT over adjuvant RT on multivariate analysis.
Targeting the Sonic Hedgehog Pathway in Brain Cancers: Advances, Limitations, and Future Directions

Abstract Aberrant signaling of the sonic hedgehog (SHH) pathway can result in increased cellular proliferation and cancer. SHH subgroup medulloblastomas (MBs) comprise about a third of the molecular types of this malignant brain tumor, and unfortunately drug resistance limits the efficacy of vismodegib and sonidegib, the only FDA-approved therapies directly targeting the SHH pathway. Emerging literature also suggests important roles of SHH signaling in meningiomas and in glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), the latter being an extremely aggressive tumor and the most common primary brain tumor in adults. This chapter illustrates the roles of the SHH pathway in the pathogenesis of MB, GBM, and meningiomas. In addition, we will cover the existing challenges with current drug therapies and detail recent findings in the regulation of the SHH pathway, findings which advance the discovery of novel drug therapies.