cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Age, Fatigue, and Excitation-Contraction Coupling in Masseter Muscles of Rats

The purpose of this study was to determine if masseter muscle endurance changes with increasing age and, if so, to examine mechanisms of fatigue. Characteristics of fatigue were measured under isometric conditions using high-frequency stimulation of anterior deep masseter (ADM) muscles of male Fischer 344 rats, 5 to 24 months old, and fed a hard (HD) or a soft (SD) diet. Potentiating effects of caffeine on ADM muscle performance in vitro were also examined. Fatigability increased by 48% with age in muscles of HD rats. Muscles of SD rats were highly fatigable at all ages. Increased HD fatigability was associated with significantly decreased concentrations of Na 1 /K 1 -adenosine triphosphatase (22%) and decreased responsiveness to caffeine postfatigue (29%). The pH levels decreased similarly in fatigued muscles of all groups. We conclude that the age-related increase in fatigability is associated with alterations in excitation-contraction coupling mechanisms. However, differences between SD and HD on ADM muscles represent possible fiber-type transitions.
UAV-Video Registration Using Block-Based Features

We present a new approach aimed at fast multiframe registration of airborne video collected by moving platforms such as unmanned aerial vehicles. Registration is used to enable separating the moving objects from the stationary background, which is similar to estimating the egomotion of the sensor. The proposed registration algorithm is used to match the moving background and remap video frames into a common co-ordinate system in order to stabilize that segment of video. The major modules include dense feature detection, sparse prominent edge and corner-based feature block identification, feature block region matching to extract control points, confidence weighted robust projective transformation estimation and image warping to register a segment of frames within a given temporal window. The proposed method is shown to produce good results with small image registration error.
Detecting And Mitigating Rod Drive Control System Degradation In Westinghouse PWR's

A study of the effects of aging on the Westinghouse Control Rod Drive (CRD) System was performed as part of the US NRC's Nuclear Plant Aging Research (NPAR) Program. For the study, the CRD system boundary includes the power and logic cabinets associated with the manual control rod movement, and the control rod mechanism itself. The aging-related degradation of the interconnecting cables and connectors and the rod-position-indicating system also were considered. The authors present the results of that study pertaining to the electrical and instrumentation portions of the CRD system, including ways to detect and mitigate system degradation. >
Limiting abuse: marine protected areas, a limited solution

Abstract Designation of marine protected areas (MPAs) is increasing as humans seek to combat overexploitation of marine resources and preserve the integrity of the ocean’s unique biodiversity. At present there are over 1300 MPAs. The primary legal responsibility for the designation of MPAs falls to individual countries, but protection of the marine environment at large scales is also critical because ocean circulation does not honor legal boundaries and often exceeds the influence of any one nation or group of nations. There are many reasons for establishing MPAs; the papers we surveyed principally referred to scientific, economic, cultural, and ethical factors. Two approaches predominated: fisheries management and habitat protection. Although the major threat to terrestrial systems is habitat loss, the major threats to the world’s oceans are fisheries overexploitation, coastal development, and chemical and biological pollution. MPAs may provide conservation of formerly exploited species as well as benefits to the fishery through leakage of ‘surplus’ adults (spillover) and larvae (larval replenishment) across reserve boundaries. Higher order effects, such as changes in species richness or changes in community structure and function, have only been superficially explored. Because many MPAs are along coastlines, within shipping lanes, and near human centers of activity, the chance of chemical and biological pollution is high. Use of MPAs to combat development and pollution is not appropriate, because MPAs do not have functional boundaries. The ocean is a living matrix carrying organisms as well as particles and therefore even relatively environmentally sensitive uses of coastal ecosystems can degrade ecosystem structure and function via increasing service demands (e.g. nutrient and toxics transformation) and visitation. Whether an MPA is effective is a function of the initial objectives, the level of enforcement, and its design. Single reserves need to be large and networked to accommodate bio-physical patterns of larval dispersal and recruitment. Some authors have suggested that reserve size needs to be extremely large — 50–90% of total habitat — to hedge against the uncertainties of overexploitation. On a local scale, marine protected areas can be effective conservation tools. On a global scale, MPAs can only be effective if they are substantively representative of all biogeographic zones, single reserves are networked within biogeographic zones, and the total amount of area reserved per zone is 20% or greater. The current size and placement of protected areas falls far short of comprehensive or even adequate conservation objectives.
Applied Ecology: An Integrative Paradigm for the 1980s

There currently exists an environmental spectrum ranging from ecology (i.e. a basic, theoretical research approach) to environmental science (i.e. an applied, problem-solving testing approach). It is suggested that applied ecology be recognized as an integrative paradigm which encompasses the principles, concepts, and procedures, of both ecology and environmental science in an attempt (a) to unite reductionist and holistic research approaches and educational philosophies, (b) to generate a new synthesis for addressing important ecological topics such as biotic diversity and ecosystem regulation, (c) to educate personnel across the total environmental spectrum, and (d) to develop transdisciplinary ‘centres of excellence’ which serve as vital industrial-academic-governmental focal-points for long-term, integrative research endeavours.At present there is a dire need to develop unifying theory and coherent principles regarding the patterns, processes, and interactions, of both the natural and man-made environment. There also exists an urgent need to help solve problems related to world food production, energy resource management, genetic diversity, and environmental contamination, among many others. Further, the progress of emerging fields of study, such as landscape ecology and systems communications, will be likely to be impeded if such fields are not recognized as the synthetic interactions of numerous related disciplines. These fields of study hold great research potential for systematically addressing the above-mentioned problem-areas, but require the flexibility to merge new research approaches, technologies, and scientific theories, in an efficient, cost-effective manner. It is suggested that applied ecology serve as an integrative paradigm for these new and vital interdisciplinary fields of knowledge.
Design of perfect reconstruction FIR multifilters

The design of perfect reconstruction FIR multifilters is discussed in this paper. The Schur algorithm is applied to factorize the polyphase matrix of multifilters into lattice blocks. The multifilters are characterized by the chain parameters in each lattice block. The complete parameterization of paraunitary multifilters and a class of biorthogonal multifilters are derived. The parameterizations are minimal and result in simple design methods using unconstrained optimization.
American Black Bears as Hosts of Blacklegged Ticks (Acari: Ixodidae) in the Northeastern United States

Ticks and whole blood were collected from American black bears (Ursus americanus Pallas) between October 2011 and October 2012 across four counties in northwestern New Jersey, an area where blacklegged ticks (Ixodes scapularis Say) and their associated tick-borne pathogens are prevalent. Adult American dog ticks (Dermacentor variabilis Say) were the most frequently collected tick species in late spring, whereas adult and nymphal blacklegged ticks were found in both the late spring and fall months. Additionally, for blacklegged ticks, we determined the quality of bloodmeals that females acquired from black bears compared with bloodmeals from white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus Zimmerman), the most important host for the adult stage of this tick species. Measures of fecundity after feeding on each host species were not significantly different, suggesting that the bloodmeal a female blacklegged tick acquires from a black bear is of similar quality to that obtained from a white-tailed deer. These results establish the American black bear as both a host and quality bloodmeal source to I. scapularis. Thus, black bears may help support blacklegged tick populations in areas where they are both present. In addition, samples of black bear blood were tested for DNA presence of three tick-borne pathogens. Anaplasma phagocytophilum Foggie and Babesia microti Franca were found in 9.2 and 32.3% of blood samples, respectively. All blood samples were quantitative polymerase chain reaction-negative for Borrelia burgdorferi Johnson, Schmid, Hyde, Steigerwalt, & Brenner. Although circulating pathogens were found in blood, the status of black bears as reservoirs for these pathogens remains unknown.
Investigating a Dynamic Loop Scheduling with Reinforcement Learning Approach to Load Balancing in Scientific Applications

The advantages of integrating reinforcement learning (RL) techniques into scientific parallel time-stepping applications have been revealed in research work over the past few years. The object of the integration was to automatically select the most appropriate dynamic loop scheduling (DLS) algorithm from a set of available algorithms with the purpose of improving the application performance via load balancing during the application execution. This paper investigates the performance of such a dynamic loop scheduling with reinforcement learning (DLS-with-RL) approach to load balancing. The DLS-with-RL is most suitable for use in time-stepping scientific applications with large number of steps. The RL agent's characteristics depend on a learning rate parameter and a discount factor parameter. An application simulating wavepacket dynamics that incorporates a DLS-with-RL approach is allowed to execute on a cluster of workstations to investigate the influences of these parameters. The RL agent implemented two RL algorithms: QLEARN and SARSA learning. Preliminary results indicate that on a fixed number of processors, the simulation completion time is not sensitive to the values of the learning parameters used in the experiments. The results also indicate that for this application, there is no advantage of choosing one RL technique over another, even though the techniques differed significantly in the number of times they selected the various DLS algorithms.
Magnetic Properties and Associated Microstructure of Zinc‐Bearing Square‐Loop Ferrites

Zinc oxide was added to square-loop ferrite compositions in order to obtain a lower coercive force and higher magnetic saturation induction than that usually possible from standard commercial square-loop ferrites. Curie temperatures, hysteresis loops, initial permeabilities, magnetization curves, and switching times for these zinc-bearing square-loop ferrites were determined, and representative curves of these parameters are given. Grain structure and etchpit density were also studied, and typical photomicrographs are presented. Zinc oxide can be added to square-loop ferrites to great advantage, but if too much is added, the useful magnetic properties degenerate completely.
Function approximation and neural-fuzzy approach to machining process selection

The integration of neural networks and fuzzy logic provides an unique tool to improve the performance of solving ill-defined, nonlinear problems. In this paper, we first show a theoretical result that a class of fuzzy systems is a function approximator. This result extends Wang-Mendel's work which is based on the Stone-Weierstrass theorem to a broader class of functions. Then we propose a neural-fuzzy technique for machining process selection (MPS), which usually is a crucial step in a semiconductor manufacturing environment and it constitutes a critical link between computer-aided design (CAD) and computer-aided manufacturing (CAM). Given the complexity of MPS process, a direct mathematical formulation and optimization to meet design specifications and cost constraints can be difficult or even formidable. By incorporating artificial neural networks learning and adaptation capability with fuzzy logic's structured knowledge manipulation and reasoning, we are able to reduce the neural network training time and improve its prediction accuracy. Primary experimentation confirms the theoretical analysis and shows that the proposed technique is promising and has potential to be adopted in a real manufacturing environment.
Potential Effects of a Forest Management Plan on Bachman's Sparrows (Aimophila aestivalis): Linking a Spatially Explicit Model with GIS

By combining a spatially explicit, individual-based population simulation model with a geo- graphic information system, we have simulated the potential effects of a US. Forest Service managementplan on the population dynamics of Bachman's Sparrow (Aimophila aestivalis) at the Savannah River Site, a US. Department of Energy facility in South Carolina Although the Forest Service's management plan explicitly sets management goals for many species, most of the prescribed management strategy deals with the endan- geredRed-cockaded Woodpecker (Picoides borealis) because of legal requirements. We explored how a species (the sparrow) that is not the target of specific management strategies but that shares some habitat require- ments with the woodpecker, would fare under the management plan. We found that the major components of the proposed management plan may allow the sparrow population to reach and exceed the minimum management goal set for this species, but only after a substantial initial decline in sparrow numbers and a prolonged transition period. In the model, the sparrow population dynamics were most sensitive to demo- graphic variables such as adult and juvenile survivorship and to landscape variables such as the suitability of young clearcuts and mature pine stands. Using various assumptions about habitat suitability, we esti- mated that the 50-year probability of population extinction is at least 5% or may be much higher ifjuvenile survivorship is low. We believe, however, that modest changes in the managementplan mightgreatly increase the sparrow population and presumably decrease the probability of extinction. Our results suggest that
Short-term K(+) deprivation provokes insulin resistance of cellular K(+) uptake revealed with the K(+) clamp.

We aimed to test the feasibility of quantifying insulin action on cellular K+ uptake in vivo in the conscious rat by measuring the exogenous K+ infusion rate needed to maintain constant plasma K+ c...
A World of Taxpayers? It's Not a Small World after All

This paper closely examines the language, history and intent underlying the Internal Revenue Code to develop a paradigm for analyzing the extent to which foreigners are subject to the tax laws of the United States. The paper concludes that while some Code provisions were clearly intended to have a broad scope, most others should be read with a significantly more narrow focus. Central to the resolution of such matters is the use of the term "taxpayer" in the Internal Revenue laws. This paper demonstrates that, contrary to certain judicial and administrative dicta, applying the term taxpayer with a circumscribed and contextual meaning can provide a reasoned basis for determining the proper scope of specific U.S. tax provisions.
Personalized Circulating Tumor DNA Biomarkers Dynamically Predict Treatment Response and Survival In Gynecologic Cancers.

Background High-grade serous ovarian and endometrial cancers are the most lethal female reproductive tract malignancies worldwide. In part, failure to treat these two aggressive cancers successfully centers on the fact that while the majority of patients are diagnosed based on current surveillance strategies as having a complete clinical response to their primary therapy, nearly half will develop disease recurrence within 18 months and the majority will die from disease recurrence within 5 years. Moreover, no currently used biomarkers or imaging studies can predict outcome following initial treatment. Circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) represents a theoretically powerful biomarker for detecting otherwise occult disease. We therefore explored the use of personalized ctDNA markers as both a surveillance and prognostic biomarker in gynecologic cancers and compared this to current FDA-approved surveillance tools.
The Worlds of the Greek Novels

Joseph L. Rife, Vanderbilt UniversityStephen M. Trzaskoma, University of New HampshireThe Worlds of the Greek NovelsSince Perry (1967) and Reardon (1971) theorized ancient Greek prose fiction as a literary response to particular societal developments, an important strand of criticism has sought to connect the texts with the real world of their authors and readers. The culmination of these investigations can be seen in the publication of Piccolo mondo antico (Liviabella Furiani and Scarcella, eds., 1989), Le Monde du roman grec (Baslez, Hoffman, and Trede, eds., 1992), and Fiction as History (Bowersock, 1994). More recently the discussion has been dominated by explorations of how the novels speak to the construction of a Greek identity in provincial Roman society. Much, however, remains to be done in connecting the novels to the societies that produced them. This panel seeks to reinvigorate a conversation in which the novels and related texts are seen as products of real people immersed in particular arrangements of society and material culture. Potential participants are encouraged to consider how elements of ancient fiction arose or were deployed as reflections of the worlds around them, but we are particularly interested in how the worlds presented in the ancient novels are conscious constructs that can be read as intentionally fictional—as explorations of reality, in other words, whether for the purpose of criticism or idealization through manipulation and distortion.We invite abstracts for papers of 15-20 minutes that investigate these broad themes in social history and literary production while focusing on one or more of the following topics: urban and rural landscapes; ritual and sanctuaries; elite and non-elite status; education; slavery; social organization, gender, and kinship; material manifestations of texts (inscriptions and papyri); athletic competition; spectacle and its local contexts; doctors and medicine; and law and order. Papers should seek not merely to catalog how the texts straightforwardly portray features of provincial life, but analyze how these elements are part of a literary and ideological construction that can be contextualized through reference to the real world or representations of it. Another approach that would be welcome is the appraisal of how recent scholarship has developed techniques for performing such analyses.The panel will include a brief introduction and a formal response by the organizers, but the intent is to leave sufficient time for a general discussion with the audience.
Lump-Sum Distributions at Job Change, Distributions Through 2012

This paper focuses on the decisions that workers make at job change upon receipt of a lump-sum payment from an employment-based retirement plan. The number and level of the lump-sum distributions (LSDs) are estimated, followed by a discussion of what individuals do with these distributions and an analysis of important determinants of the decision to roll over the distributions compared with using the assets for other reasons. These results are derived from recently released data from the U.S. Census Bureau -- The Pension and Retirement Plan Coverage Topical Module 11 of the 2008 Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP) -- which includes lump-sum data for individuals through March 2012. This research updates prior studies on LSDs done by the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI). What workers choose to do with their retirement plan assets upon job change can profoundly affect their financial resources in retirement, particularly in the case of younger workers and those with large balances. Since a common option is to take all the assets as a lump-sum distribution, a key question is whether participants roll their retirement assets over to another tax-qualified savings vehicle (such as an IRA), retain it in other savings, or use it for consumption. The average amount of LSDs in 2012 dollars was $20,781, with a median (mid-point) amount of $12,355. In terms of the value at the time of the distributions, the average amount was $15,934 and the median amount was $10,000. Preservation of benefits appears to have improved after 1986, with some evidence it has continued to improve through 2012. Moreover, recipients who did not use their LSD for tax-qualified savings were more likely to use it to improve their financial condition, paying down debt or buying a home, rather than spending it on pure consumption. The PDF for the above title, published in the November 2013 issue of EBRI Notes, also contains the fulltext of another November 2013 EBRI Notes article abstracted on SSRN: “Views on the Value of Voluntary Workplace Benefits: Findings from the 2013 Health and Voluntary Workplace Benefits Survey.”
Review of Global Legal Pluralism: A Jurisprudence of Law Beyond Borders by Paul Schiff Berman

In Global Legal Pluralism: A Jurisprudence of Law Beyond Borders, Paul Schiff Berman ambitiously reinvigorates the time-honoured concept of legal pluralism, applies it on a global scale, and yokes it to an ethical framework inspired by procedural liberalism and cosmopolitanism. Briefly stated, legal pluralism is an analytical concept that addresses the existence of more than one mechanism for generating rules and adjudicating disputes within any given social or political field.
The Social Influence of the Manager on Customer Contact Employee Behavior: A Structured Abstract

The controls of customer contact employee behavior can be thought of as falling into one of two broad groups, formal and informal controls (Jaworski 1988). Under Jaworski (1988), formal controls are the written, management-initiated mechanisms that influence the probability that employees will behave in the manner desired by the firm and informal controls are the unwritten, usually worker-based mechanisms that influence the individual employee’s behavior. While informal controls, such as self controls, have been shown to positively strongly and positively influence customer contact employee outcomes (e.g. Brown, Mowen, Donavan, and Licata 2002; Pappas and Flaherty 2005; Dean 2007; Babakus, Yavas, and Ashill 2009), they also present greater challenges to managers as they are undocumented and controlled by employees. As a result, it is important to understand which methods are available to managers to influence the “unwritten rules” that guide employee behavior. To that end, this paper examines the social influence of the manager on two informal controls, the customer contact employee’s customer orientation and intrapreneurial orientation.
Structured fluid theory

The simplest case of structured fluid theory is shown to correspond to a type of Maxwell fluid which exhibits normal stress differences. A nonlinear problem related to the deformation of suspended liquid drops as induced by inertial effects is solved and the influence of structured fluid parameters investigated.
Attitudes toward Life and Aging: An Exploratory Comparison of Elderly and Young Adults:

~esearch 'has yielded few differences in fear of death by the young ancl the old, though the elderly do report unhappiness more often than the young (Veroff & Depner, 1978). To explore attitudes toward life and aging, two exploratory Likert-type scales were constructed: an 11-item scale to assess atcicudes toward aging and a 13-item scale to assess attitudes toward one's current 1ife.l The attitude toward aging scale was completed anonymously by 64 senior citizens in the community (M,, = 69.8 yr., SD = 5.9) and 71 college students (M,,, = 27.6 yr., SD = 9.6). The attitudes toward current life scale was given to 36 senior citizens in rhe community (M,, = 66.3 yr., SD = 4.4) and 52 college students (M:,,, = 25.2 yr., SD = 9.8). The senior citizens reported significantly less fear of aging than the young adulcs (mean scores -7.4 and 1.2, SD = 11.5 and 10.0; t = 4.57, df = 134, two-tailed p < ,001). The two groups did not differ in scores on attitudes toward their current life (mean scores 24.8 and 21.8, SD = 8.7 and 7.9; t = 1.42, df = 61). The scores of the groups on these scales were uncelared to sex, age (within each group), and educational level (some college' education versus none for the elderly, years of college for the young adults). For the college students, scores on the scale assessing current attitudes toward life were negacively correlated with scores on fear of death (Lester, 1967) ( r = -.43, df = 46, two-tailed p < ,001). Students with positive atcicudes toward their current life had less fear of death. The present data scggest that senior citizens and college students are equally positive about their current life, bur the senior citizens have much less fear of aging.
Electrophoresis of human hexokinases in acrylamide gel.

SummaryThe isoenzymes of hexokinase of several human tissues have been examined by disc electrophoresis. An infant with hemolytic anemia was found to have a band that migrated faster than hemoglobin. His father displayed the same abnormality whereas the mother's zymogram was normal.
P4-09-16: Factors Affecting the Development of Axillary Lymph Node Metastases in T1a-T1b Breast Cancers.

Background: The presence of axillary nodal metastases is a poor prognostic indicator in patients with breast cancer. In the majority of patients, axillary nodal involvement correlates with tumor size and most commonly in tumors greater that 1 cm. Many series report an incidence of axillary nodal metastases in 3–37% of patients with tumors less than or equal to 2 cm. The presence of axillary nodal metastases will often change the stage of the cancer and role of adjuvant systemic treatment; therefore, it is important to understand what features are associated with these small lymph node positive tumors. The purpose of this study is to identify characteristics of T1a and T1b breast cancers that present with axillary nodal metastasis. Methods: A retrospective review of a prospective database identified 878 patients with T1a and T1b breast cancer. Pathologic features including tumor grade, hormone receptor status, lymphatic and vascular invasion, Her-2 neu status, and tumor histology were examined in patients with and without axillary nodal metastases. Pearson9s χ 2 test along with stepwise linear regression analysis were used to determine which factors were associated with the development of axillary nodal metastases. Results: There were 289 T1a lesions and 589 T1b lesions studied. Four independent variables were found to be associated with axillary nodal metastases in T1a-T1b breast cancer. As illustrated in Table 1, a significant difference was seen in nodal positivity among patients with ER negative tumors compared to those with ER positive tumors (p=.0000). An increased incidence of nodal positivity was also observed among patients with LVI compared with those without LVI (p= .0000). A significant difference was observed in nodal positivity among patients with perineural invasion compared to those without (p=.0006). An increased incidence of nodal positivity was also observed among T1a and T1b tumors with a higher histologic grade (p= 0409, p= .0001). Of note, when comparing T1a to T1b breast cancers, there was no significant difference found among the identified exposure variables of interest. Conclusion: In this series, the overall prevalence of nodal positivity in T1a and T1b breast cancer is 12%. An absence of a relationship between T1a and T1b cancers with nodal positivity was observed. However, the presence of nodal positivity showed a significant correlation with ER negativity, LVI, perineural invasion, and higher histologic grades. Citation Information: Cancer Res 2011;71(24 Suppl):Abstract nr P4-09-16.
Research Infrastructure for Empirical Science of F/OSS.

F/OSS research faces a new and unusual situation: the traditional difficulties of gathering enough empirical data have been replaced by issues of dealing with enormous amounts of freely available data from many disparate sources (forums, code, bug reports, etc.) At present no means exist for assembling these data under common access points and frameworks for comparative, longitudinal, and collaborative research. Gathering and maintaining large F/OSS data collections reliably and making them usable present several research challenges. For example, current projects usually rely on “web scraping” or on direct access to raw data from groups that generate it, and both of these methods require unique effort for each new corpus, or even for updating existing corpora. In this paper we identify several common needs and critical factors in F/OSS empirical research, and suggest orientations and recommendations for the design of a shared research infrastructure.
Defect in pyridine nucleotide dependent superoxide production by a particulate fraction from the cranulocytes of patients with chronic granulomatous disease.

Particulate fractions from normal human granulocytes preactivated with opsonized zymosan were found to catalyze superoxide production in the presence of reduced pyridine nucleotides. Similar preparations from three patients with X-linked chronic granulomatous disease produced no detectable superoxide. The failure to produce superoxide was not due to an inhibitor, since cell-free preparations from the patients' granulocytes had no effect on superoxide production by normal particles. Particles from the mothers of two of the patients produced superoxide at diminished rates; superoxide production by particles from the third mother was normal. These findings suggest that chronic granulomatous disease represents either a defect in a pyridine nucleotide-dependent superoxide-forming oxidase or a lesion in the apparatus responsible for activating the oxidase.
Glycan analysis by reversible reaction to hydrazide beads and mass spectrometry.

Investigation into glycoproteins and their associated glycans is the key to understanding the function of glycoproteins in biological pathways and disease development. Current methods for glycan analysis are generally based on multiple preparation processes to separate glycans from proteins and other molecules prior to analysis. During the multistep purification processes, glycans are continuously lost and the procedure increases the difficulty for accurate quantitative analysis of glycans. Here we describe the development of a novel technique, which uses hydrazide beads to capture glycans. It is based on the conjugation of glycans to hydrazide beads through the formation of reversible hydrazone, washing out unbound nonglycans, then releasing captured glycans by acids. The results showed that the glycans were able to be isolated from concatenate peptides by using hydrazide beads. This technique was also applied to the analysis of glycans from sera sample. The integrated capture-release on the solid-phase ...
The End-of-Life Experiences of 9/11 Civilians: Death and Dying in the World Trade Center

This bioethics analysis of trapped civilians in the World Trade Center (WTC) on September 11, 2001, is based on a review of materials in the public domain. Death and dying experiences are divided into three major groups: sudden death, of which there was virtually no suffering or foreknowledge; deaths in which there was a maximum of 102 minutes of suffering; and death by falling or jumping, in which an autonomous decision may have been exercised as a palliative approach. A content analysis of publicly available records of this event reveals many types of end-of-life decisions were being made within the 102-minute time frame from aircraft impact to collapse. Many WTC occupants experienced intensified suffering directly consequent to unprepared emergency dispatchers and inaccurate instructions. Truthtelling and appropriate end-of-life dialogues could have reduced loss of life, suffering, and led to qualitatively improved dying experiences.
Stimulation of surfactant phospholipid biosynthesis in the lungs of rats treated with silica

The effects of intratracheally instilled silica (10 mg/rat) on the biosynthesis of surfactant phospholipids was investigated in the lungs of rats. The sizes of the intracellular and extracellular pools of surfactant phospholipids were measured 7, 14 and 28 days after silica exposure. The ability of lung slices to incorporate [14C]choline and [3H]palmitate into surfactant phosphatidylcholine (PC) and disaturated phosphatidylcholine (DSPC) was also investigated. Both intra- and extra-cellular pools of surfactant phospholipids were increased by silica treatment. The intracellular pool increased linearly over the 28-day time period, ultimately reaching a size 62-fold greater than controls. The extracellular pool also increased, but showed a pattern different from that of the intracellular pool. The extracellular pool increased non-linearly up to 14 days, and then declined. At its maximum, the extracellular pool was increased 16-fold over the control. The ability of lung slices to incorporate phospholipid precursors into surfactant-associated PC and DSPC was elevated at all time periods. The rate of incorporation of [14C]choline into surfactant PC and DSPC was maximal at 14 days and was nearly 3-fold greater than the rate in controls. The rate of incorporation of [3H]palmitate was also maximal at 14 days, approx. 5-fold above controls for PC and 3-fold for DSPC. At this same time point, the microsomal activity of cholinephosphate cytidylyltransferase was increased 4.5-fold above controls, but cytosolic activity was not significantly affected by silica treatment. These data indicate that biosynthesis of surfactant PC is elevated after treatment of lungs with silica and that this increased biosynthesis probably underlies the expansion of the intra- and extra-cellular pools of surfactant phospholipids.
Une grève, sanglante et poétique (A Strike, Bloody and Poetic): French Film Noir and the Defeat of the Popular Front

French film noir is generally understood to be derived from, commenting upon, and rewriting the American movement, with the major works coming in the late 1950s and 1960s, at precisely the moment when American noir was declining.1 ‘To be authentic roman noir [the crime novel] — and consequently film noir — had to be American’ is the way Robin Buss (1994, p. 13) presents the impulse in post-war France in the most comprehensive study of the form. This chapter, though, will instead claim that ‘authentic film noir’ is French; that the end of what is generally referred to as poetic realism constituted the beginning of film noir as it was subsequently developed in post-war Hollywood. Both moments were leftist formations that registered first, the defeat of the French Popular Front, and then in the United States the defeat of both the New Deal (the American Popular Front) and, more crucially, of the post-war strike wave, which, like the earlier French wave of strikes from 1936–38, erupted in all corners of life, including very dramatically in the film industry.
Fecal Metabolome in Hmga1 Transgenic Mice with Polyposis: Evidence for Potential Screen for Early Detection of Precursor Lesions in Colorectal Cancer.

Because colorectal cancer (CRC) remains a leading cause of cancer mortality worldwide, more accessible screening tests are urgently needed to identify early stage lesions. We hypothesized that highly sensitive, metabolic profile analysis of stool samples will identify metabolites associated with early stage lesions and could serve as a noninvasive screening test. We therefore applied traveling wave ion mobility mass spectrometry (TWIMMS) coupled with ultraperformance liquid chromatography (UPLC) to investigate metabolic aberrations in stool samples in a transgenic model of premalignant polyposis aberrantly expressing the gene encoding the high mobility group A (Hmga1) chromatin remodeling protein. Here, we report for the first time that the fecal metabolome of Hmga1 mice is distinct from that of control mice and includes metabolites previously identified in human CRC. Significant alterations were observed in fatty acid metabolites and metabolites associated with bile acids (hypoxanthine xanthine, taurine)...
A hybrid ACO algorithm based on Bayesian factorizations and reinforcement learning for continuous optimization

Ant colony optimization (ACO) is an evolutionary computing approach for combinatorial optimization problems. Recently, some extensions of ACO have been proposed in continuous domains. However, these methods did not consider the dependency between variables and thus may fail for some complex optimization problems. In this paper, we use Bayesian factorizations to capture the main dependency of the variables and sample the more reasonable solutions from the probabilistic models obtained. Inspired by multiagent consensus protocols, we use the neighborhood information of the new solution generated by each ant to enhance its local search ability. However, instead of using all of the neighbors of that solution, we try to distinguish the neighbor which can optimize the performance of the ant from all of the neighbors. Given this situation, reinforcement learning is used to determine the optimal strategy for each ant in the iteration by maximizing both the immediate reward and the delayed reward. The proposed algorithm is compared with some other existing continuous ACO algorithms. Experiments indicate that the proposed algorithm clearly outperforms the other methods investigated and can greatly improve the rate of convergence.
Deep learning based automatic volume control and limiter system

Automatic speech recognition is now playing an important role in volume control and adjustment of modern smart speakers. According to the recognition results by using the advanced deep neural network technology, this paper proposes an efficient processing system for automatic volume control (AVC) and limiter. The theoretical analyses, subjective and objective testing results show that the proposed processing system can offer a significant improvement for speech recognition performance during audio playback and improvement for audio playback performance in smart speakers. Driven by input data and audio contents, the proposed AVC is able to adaptively learn and track an effective signal level at the speed corresponding to the width of transient sound; the adaptation is frozen in the case of silence and noise periods. The proposed limiter measures the peaks and can guarantee that no peak will go over the predetermined peak threshold so as to avoid clipping and harmonic distortions.
A Low-Energy Machine-Learning Classifier Based on Clocked Comparators for Direct Inference on Analog Sensors

This paper presents a system, where clocked comparators consuming only $CV^{2}$ energy directly derive classification decisions from analog sensor signals, thereby replacing instrumentation amplifiers, ADCs, and digital MACs, as typically required. A machine-learning algorithm for training the classifier is presented, which enables circuit non-idealities as well as severe energy/area scaling in analog circuits to be overcome. Furthermore, a noise model of the system is presented and experimentally verified, providing a means to predict and optimize classification error probability in a given application. The noise model shows that superior noise efficiency is achieved by the comparator-based system compared with a system based on linear low-noise amplifiers. A prototype in 130-nm CMOS performs image recognition of handwritten numerical digits, by taking raw analog pixels as the inputs. Due to pin limitations on the chip, the images with $28\times 28=784$ pixels are resized and downsampled to give 47 pixel features, yielding an accuracy of 90% for an ideal ten-way classification system (MATLAB simulated). The prototype comparator-based system achieves equivalent performance with a total energy of 543 pJ per ten-way classification at a rate up to 1.3 M images per second, representing $33\times $ lower energy than an ADC/digital-MAC system.
Hunting for Hunster: A Portrait of Thomas Watson Hunster, Art Education Pioneer in the District of Columbia

Published histories of American art education seldom include the stories and accomplishments of Black art educators. There is a need to research, teach, and publish these histories to provide a more inclusive and equitable picture of American art education and to encourage more people of color to consider careers in the field. Using primary and secondary sources analyzed and interpreted through the portraiture method paired with Critical Race Theory as a conceptual lens, this article examines the professional life of Thomas Watson Hunster (1851-1929), founder of art education programs for Black K-16 learners in Washington, DC.
FGF1 — a new weapon to control type 2 diabetes mellitus

A hypercaloric diet combined with a sedentary lifestyle is a major risk factor for the development of insulin resistance, type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and associated comorbidities. Standard treatment for T2DM begins with lifestyle modification, and includes oral medications and insulin therapy to compensate for progressive β-cell failure. However, current pharmaceutical options for T2DM are limited in that they do not maintain stable, durable glucose control without the need for treatment intensification. Furthermore, each medication is associated with adverse effects, which range from hypoglycaemia to weight gain or bone loss. Unexpectedly, fibroblast growth factor 1 (FGF1) and its low mitogenic variants have emerged as potentially safe candidates for restoring euglycaemia, without causing overt adverse effects. In particular, a single peripheral injection of FGF1 can lower glucose to normal levels within hours, without the risk of hypoglycaemia. Similarly, a single intracerebroventricular injection of FGF1 can induce long-lasting remission of the diabetic phenotype. This Review discusses potential mechanisms by which centrally administered FGF1 improves central glucose-sensing and peripheral glucose uptake in a sustained manner. Specifically, we explore the potential crosstalk between FGF1 and glucose-sensing neuronal circuits, hypothalamic neural stem cells and synaptic plasticity. Finally, we highlight therapeutic considerations of FGF1 and compare its metabolic actions with FGF15 (rodents), FGF19 (humans) and FGF21.
Editorial: Management of the Small Asymptomatic Pancreatic Cyst: Somehow Along the Way We Forgot About the Patient.

Editorial: Management of the Small Asymptomatic Pancreatic Cyst: Somehow Along the Way We Forgot About the Patient
Using Search-Based Test Generation to Discover Real Faults in Guava

Testing costs can be reduced through automated unit test generation. An important benchmark for such tools is their ability to detect real faults. Fault databases, such as Defects4J, assist in this task. The Guava project—a collection of Java libraries from Google—offers an opportunity to expand such databases with additional complex faults. We have identified 11 faults in the Guava project, added them to Defects4J, and assessed the ability of the EvoSuite framework to detect these faults. Ultimately, EvoSuite was able to detect three faults. Analysis of the remaining faults offers lessons in how to improve generation tools. We offer these faults to the community to assist future benchmarking efforts.
G386(P) Combining quality improvement and human factor training to effect sustainable change

Background There is evidence to suggest that safety interventions combining quality improvement and team work (systems) training are more effective than those adopting either approach alone.1 This has important implications for safety and quality improvement (QI) strategies in hospitals. We piloted an initiative combining these factors as a potential model for cascading QI training. We chose the PICU team who already have an annual programme of team training days. Methods A one day programme was designed consisting of an overview of basic QI methods, an introduction to human factors, and followed by an interactive team treasure hunt with a final session discussing ideas for improvement on PICU. All staff members from domestic to clinical lead, including visiting teams such as psychology and pharmacy were invited to attend. All the improvement ideas were displayed in the staff coffee room and through ‘dot-voting’ the staff agreed which projects to pursue. Each project identified a nursing and clinical lead from the unit. A combination of facilitated learning sessions on QI tools and techniques appropriate to the projects needs and mentoring was used to support the improvement projects in practice. Results Approximately 100 staff attended the training days which generated over 20 ideas for improvement. Two projects have been pursued more actively over a year – improving discharge prior to 3 pm and debriefing after significant events. Each has engaged a range of professionals from a spectrum of seniority from the unit. The considerable success of these individual projects is shared separately. Conclusions This pilot has shown that it is possible to deliver generic training in QI methods and human factors as well as specific improvements through a dedicated project. This has been achieved with no additional time other than the first team training day which was already part of the education programme. The quality improvement methodology and human factor skills are transferrable and have increased the capability of the units’ staff to approach future improvement work. We propose this is a cost effective method of effecting real change as well as training in both quality improvement methods and human factors which others should explore adopting. Reference . McCulloch P, Morgan L, New S, et al. Combining systems and teamwork approaches to enhance the effectiveness of safety improvement interventions in surgery: The safer delivery of surgical services (S3) program. Ann Surg. Ann Surg2017;265:90–96.