cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
University-industry technology interchange through a unique engineering projects course

A program for student design projects involving the University of Maine (UM) and the MITRE Corporation is presented. In this program, students are required to complete MITRE-originated design projects satisfactorily in order to graduate. Both electrical engineering faculty and MITRE personnel participate in the guidance of the students. Other features of the program include: student selection by MITRE based on interviews at UM and MITRE; MITRE support for students during the Christmas and spring breaks and during the summer; student project presentations at MITRE and UM; and support for items such as student travel and faculty time and travel. To date, all students have completed their design work, built working prototypes during the summer, and finished their presentations and written reports midway through their senior year. >
High-dose chemotherapy for recurrent medulloblastoma: time for a reappraisal.

M ore than a decade ago, Finlay et al. published a landmark article in which they demonstrated that a subset of patients with recurrent brain tumors of diverse histologic diagnosis could be salvaged with high-dose chemotherapy followed by autologous stem cell rescue. The preparatory regimen included only 2 drugs: thiotepa and etoposide. Hematopoietic growth factors were used to enhance count recovery. Observations from this early series suggested that patients with minimal residual disease at the time of high-dose chemotherapy may be the appropriate candidates for this retrieval strategy. Patients with bulky, metastatic recurrent disease or disease that has not responded to retrieval chemotherapy may not be the best candidates for this intervention. The toxicity of this approach was also a concern in this early series. Overall, 5 of the 45 patients (11%) were long-term survivors and all of them had highgrade gliomas. Subsequent publications from these and other investigators have further defined the role of high-dose chemotherapy in patients with recurrent medulloblastoma. Dunkel et al. suggested that patients treated with prior combined modality therapy (ie, radiotherapy and chemotherapy) had a worse outcome compared with patients who were treated with chemotherapy only (25 6 15% vs 43 6 16%). In the series by Gururangan et al., 12 of the 20 patients (60%) were irradiated after high-dose chemotherapy and autologous bone marrow rescue and 7 of these 12 patients were long-term survivors. Taken together, these data suggest that a select group of patients may be able to achieve durable disease control; this subgroup consists of young patients treated with chemotherapy alone as initial therapy followed by high-dose chemotherapy and radiotherapy at the time of disease recurrence. In a large prospective French series, infants with local recurrences of medulloblastoma after initial treatment with surgical resection and chemotherapy alone could be salvaged with surgical resection, high-dose chemotherapy, and radiotherapy. In contrast, patients with metastatic recurrent disease had a much worse outcome. See referenced original article on pages 1805 11, this issue.
Isolation of the chitinolytic bacteria Xanthomonas maltophilia and Serratia marcescens as biological control agents for summer patch disease of turfgrass

Abstract A mycelial baiting method was used to isolate chitinolytic bacteria from soils known to harbor Magnaporthe poae, the causal agent of summer patch on Kentucky bluegrass. Two bacterial isolates, identified as Xanthomonas maltophilia 34S1 and Serratia marcescens 9M5, suppressed summer patch symptom development in Kentucky bluegrass cv. Baron by more than 70 and 50%, respectively, when compared to untreated control plants in growth chamber studies. Further studies indicated that time of application and concentration of bacteria influenced the degree of disease suppression. In general, bacteria were least effective in suppressing disease when they were applied to plants at dates closest to planting, and were most effective when applied up to 4 wk after planting. In bacterial concentration experiments, the highest degree of disease suppression was observed when plants were treated with the highest concentration of X. maltophilia 34S1. In contrast, the highest concentration of S. marcescens 9M5 did not provide the highest amount of disease control. Instead, less disease suppression was observed for plants treated with bacterial concentrations greater than the observed optimal concentration of 109 cfu ml−1. Survival of both bacteria was monitored in soil and the rhizosphere after application of three different bacterial concentrations. Populations of both bacteria in the rhizosphere stabilized 18 days after the final bacterial application, regardless of the concentration. For both bacteria, however, significant differences in non-rhizosphere soil populations, which steadily declined over time, were observed between the highest and lowest concentrations used throughout the sampling period.
The Caenorhabditis elegans hif-1 gene encodes a bHLH-PAS protein that is required for adaptation to hypoxia

Hypoxia-inducible factor, a heterodimeric transcription complex, regulates cellular and systemic responses to low oxygen levels (hypoxia) during normal mammalian development or tumor progression. Here, we present evidence that a similar complex mediates response to hypoxia in Caenorhabditis elegans. This complex consists of HIF-1 and AHA-1, which are encoded by C. elegans homologs of the hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF) α and β subunits, respectively. hif-1 mutants exhibit no severe defects under standard laboratory conditions, but they are unable to adapt to hypoxia. Although wild-type animals can survive and reproduce in 1% oxygen, the majority of hif-1-defective animals die in these conditions. We show that the expression of an HIF-1:green fluorescent protein fusion protein is induced by hypoxia and is subsequently reduced upon reoxygenation. Both hif-1 and aha-1 are expressed in most cell types, and the gene products can be coimmunoprecipitated. We conclude that the mechanisms of hypoxia signaling are likely conserved among metazoans. Additionally, we find that nuclear localization of AHA-1 is disrupted in an hif-1 mutant. This finding suggests that heterodimerization may be a prerequisite for efficient nuclear translocation of AHA-1.
Quaternary ammonium ion blockade of IK in nerve axons revisited. Open channel block vs. state independent block

The mechanism of blockade of the delayed rectifier potassium ion channel in squid giant axons by intracellular quaternary ammonium ions (QA) appears to be remarkably sensitive to the structure of the blocker. TEA, propyltriethyl-ammonium (C3), and propyltetraethylammonium (TAA-C3) all fail to alter the deactivation, or “tail” current time course following membrane depolarization, even with relatively large concentrations of the blockers, whereas butyltriethylammonium (C4), butyltetraethylammonium (TAA-C4), and pentytriethyammonium (C5) clearly do have such an effect. The relative electrical distance of blockade for all of these ions is ∼0.25–0.3 from the inner surface of the membrane. The observations concerning TEA, C3, and TAAC3 suggest that these ions can block the channel in either its open or its closed state. The results with C4, TAA-C4, and C5 are consistent with the open channel block model. Moreover, the sensitivity of block mechanism to the structure of the blocker suggests that the gate is located close to the QA ion binding site and that TEA, C3, and TAA-C3 do not interfere with channel gating, whereas C4, TAA-C4, C5, and ions having a longer hydrophobic “tail” than C5 do have such an effect. The parameters of block obtained for all QA ions investigated were unaffected by changes in the extracellular potassium ion concentration.
Identifying the Propofol Binding Site(S) in Heterologously Expressed Human Alpha1 Beta3 Gaba-A Receptors using a Photoreactive Propofol Analog

Propofol, a widely used intravenous general anesthetic, potentiates GABA-A receptor (GABAAR) function at anesthetic concentrations, and “knock-in” mice expressing a single mutation at position 15 in the β3 subunit M2 helix (βM2-15) have reduced sensitivity to many of the anesthetic effects of propofol. However, the location of propofol's binding site(s) remains to be determined. Here we use a photoactive analog of propofol, [3H]m-azipropofol(2-isopropyl-5-[3-(trifluoromethyl)-3H-diazirin-3-yl]phenol), an aryl diazirine with broad amino acid side chain reactivity, to identify propofol binding site(s) in affinity-purified, expressed human α1β3 GABAARs in detergent/asolectin solution. m-Azipropofol acts as a tadpole anesthetic with potency (EC50 = 3μM) similar to propofol, and it acts as a low efficacy GABAAR potentiator (Hall et al. 2010, J Med. Chem. 53, 5667). Irradiation of GABAAR for 30 min at 365nm resulted in [3H]m-azipropofol photoincorporation into both the α1 and β3 subunits that was inhibitable by propofol and non-radioactive m-azipropofol with IC50s of 28±3 μM and 6.7±1 μM, respectively. Individual amino acids photolabeled by [3H]m-azipropofol were identified by protein microsequencing of subunit fragments generated by enzymatic or chemical digestion. In β3, there was propofol-inhibitable photolabeling of β3Met-286, an amino acid that is photolabeled by [3H]azietomidate in the etomidate binding site at the β3M3-α1M1 interface (Li et al. 2006, J Neurosci. 26, 11599, Chiara et al. 2012, Biochem. 51, 836). In α1, [3H]m-azipropofol photolabeled α1Ile-239 within α1M1, located one helical turn below α1Met-236 that is photolabeled by [3H]azietomidate. Consistent with propofol and m-azipropofol binding to this etomidate site, they completely inhibit [3H]azietomidate photolabeling with IC50s of 46±3 μM and 23±3 μM, respectively. Both β3Met-286 and α1Met-236 are in close proximity to βM2-15, which docking calculations suggest may also be part of this propofol binding site.
Short-cut method for flotation rates modelling of industrial flotation banks

Abstract The knowledge of the distributed performance of a flotation bank, consisting of a number of cells in series, is a key factor for different purposes such as process design, scale-up, diagnosis, operation, control and optimization. A common practice in plant operation is to develop mass balances around the whole flotation bank in order to characterize the overall recovery, typically in rougher flotation. However, testing to fit flotation rate models are seldom developed on industrial flotation banks because they are high consumers of human labor during sampling, mineral samples preparation and chemical analysis development. In this paper a short-cut method is proposed which allows obtaining the relevant information for flotation rate modeling in a flotation bank with minimum effort and cost, and within a reasonable accuracy (less than 1–2% error in estimating cell recovery along the bank). The procedure considers two mass balances, one around the first cell of the bank and the second is the overall mass balance around the whole flotation bank, with a total of only 5 sampling streams. Examples developed in four rougher flotation banks located in three industrial concentrators illustrate the merit of this procedure.
Enhancing molecular approaches for diagnosis of fungal infections

Molecular tests can improve the diagnosis of fungal infections. Despite the increasing application for fungal detection, molecular tests are still not accepted as a diagnostic criterion to define invasive fungal diseases. This limitation is largely due to a lack of a standardized method. Method standardization can be achieved by following a consensus protocol developed by a working group, by performing a molecular test in a centralized laboratory or by using a commercial assay that provides a standardized method and quality-controlled reagents. Forming a consortium or a working group consisting of large-scale diagnostic mycology laboratories can accelerate the process of validating and implementing a commercial molecular assay for clinical use through a joint effort between industry partners and clinicians. Development of molecular tests not only for the detection of fungi but also for the identification of antifungal drug resistance directly in blood, bronchoalveolar lavage fluid, cerebrospinal fluid, and formalin-fixed and paraffin-embedded tissues greatly enhances fungal diagnostic capacities. Advances of developing quantitative assays and RNA detection platforms may provide another avenue to further improve fungal diagnostics.
Extended-Duration Venous Thromboembolism Prophylaxis in Hospitalized Acutely Ill Medical Patients: A Review of the Evidence.

Objective: To evaluate the risks and benefits of extended-duration thromboprophylaxis (EDT) beyond hospitalization in acutely ill medical patients. Data Sources: PubMed was searched from inception ...
Growth Retardation: Impaired Height Velocity

Growth results from an increase in cell number and/or cell size. Availability of basic building materials (nutrition) and the ability to utilize them (normal organ systems) influence growth. Genes, the blueprints for the organ systems, determine growth efficiency. 1,2 Clinical assessment of growth is based on serial measurements of height and weight over time. Change occurring in relation to time is a velocity. In evaluating growth velocity, it should be noted that there may be no measurable growth during a single 3-month period in a normal child. 3 Subsequent to birth, height and weight velocity decelerate. 4,5 Height velocity decelerates from 25 cm/y to a minimal basal velocity of 5 cm/y by the third year of life. Programmed genetic variation as to what basal velocity is achieved, and how rapidly the deceleration occurs for a normal population, is graphically indicated as the percentile rankings on
Temperature dependent leakage power characteristics of dynamic circuits in sub-65 nm CMOS technologies

The temperature dependent subthreshold and gate oxide leakage power characteristics of domino logic circuits are evaluated in this paper. The preferred input vectors and node voltage states that minimize the total leakage power consumption are identified at the lower and upper extremes of a typical die temperature spectrum. New low leakage circuit design guidelines are presented based on the results. The significantly increased gate dielectric tunneling current, as described in this paper, dramatically changes the leakage power characteristics of dynamic circuits in the sub-65nm CMOS technologies. Furthermore, the leakage power savings provided by the dual threshold voltage domino logic circuit techniques are all together reduced due to the significance of the gate dielectric tunneling in the nanometer CMOS technologies
Ultrafast optical spectroscopy of multiferroic LuFe 2 O 4

Temperature-dependent femtosecond optical spectroscopy is used to track polaron dynamics in the spin and charge frustrated system LuFe 2 O 4 , revealing the influence of charge and spin ordering on polaron excitation, redressing, and coupling to on-site excitations.
Fragmentation vs. functionalization: chemical aging and organic aerosol formation

Abstract. The transformation process that a carbon backbone undergoes in the atmosphere is complex and dynamic. Understanding all these changes for all the species in detail is impractical; however, choosing different molecules that resemble progressively higher stages of oxidation or aging and studying them can give us an insight into general characteristics and mechanisms. Here we determine secondary organic aerosol (SOA) mass yields of two sequences of molecules reacting with the OH radical at high NOx. Each sequence consists of species with similar vapor pressures, but a succession of oxidation states. The first sequence consists of n-pentadecane, n-tridecanal, 2-, 7-tridecanone, and pinonaldehyde. The second sequence consists of n-nonadecane, n-heptadecanal and cis-pinonic acid. Oxidized molecules tend to have lower relative SOA mass yields; however, oxidation state alone was not enough to predict how efficiently a molecule forms SOA. Certain functionalities are able to fragment more easily than others, and even the position of these functionalities on a molecule can have an effect. n-Alkanes tend to have the highest yields, and n-aldehydes the lowest. n-Ketones have slightly higher yields when the ketone moiety is located on the side of the molecule and not in the center. In general, oxidation products remain efficient SOA sources, though fragmentation makes them less effective than comparable alkanes.
Improving Eating Behaviors in Dementia Using Behavioral Strategies

The purpose of this experimental pilot study was to determine the short- and long-term efficacy of directed verbal prompts and positive reinforcement on the level of eating independence (LEI) of elderly nursing home patients with dementia. Twenty-four subjects from a dementia unit were randomly selected and randomly assigned to three experimental groups and three control groups. The LEI scale was used to measure eating frequency and task performance at six consecutive meals during pretest and posttests, T2 and T3. During the treatment phase, which consisted of nine consecutive meals, prompts were administered to each experimental group and positive reinforcement was given when a subject completed eating tasks. Short-term effects were assessed on 2 consecutive days following treatment (T2) and long-term effects on 2 consecutive days, 7 days following treatment. Significant differences were found in eating performance but not infrequency. Experimental groups retained treatment at both posttests. The dementi...
Characterization of magnetic recording heads for drive-specific applications

Window margin, time interval and waveform analysis techniques that better describe salient on-track performance issues are described. Many of these techniques can be extended to accommodate the addition of off-track and peak shift effects. >
Coexistent psoriasis and lupus erythematosus: Successful therapy with etretinate

The coexistence of psoriasis and lupus erythematosus complicates therapy, because treatment modalities for one disease may cause worsening of the other. Recent findings suggest that some retinoids are effective in the treatment of psoriasis, as well as for manifestations of lupus erythematosus. Two patients are reported suffering from psoriasis and lupus erythematosus. In both patients psoriasis was exacerbated during hydroxychloroquine treatment. Methotrexate worsened the leukopenia in two patients. Both diseases were subsequently well controlled with etretinate.
Selecting for evolvable representations

Evolutionary algorithms tend to produce solutions that are not evolvable: Although current fitness may be high, further search is impeded as the effects of mutation and crossover become increasingly detrimental. In nature, in addition to having high fitness, organisms have evolvable genomes: phenotypic variation resulting from random mutation is structured and robust. Evolvability is important because it allows the population to produce meaningful variation, leading to efficient search. However, because evolvability does not improve immediate fitness, it must be selected for indirectly. One way to establish such a selection pressure is to change the fitness function systematically. Under such conditions, evolvability emerges only if the representation allows manipulating how genotypic variation maps onto phenotypic variation and if such manipulations lead to detectable changes in fitness. This research forms a framework for understanding how fitness function and representation interact to produce evolvability. Ultimately evolvable encodings may lead to evolutionary algorithms that exhibit the structured complexity and robustness found in nature.
Fabrication of compliant mechanisms on the mesoscale

Abstract. The fabrication of compliant mechanisms on the mesoscale requires collaboration of mechanical engineering design, with materials science and engineering fabrication approaches. In this paper, a review of current fabrication approaches to produce mesoscale devices is given, highlighting the benefits and limitations of each technique. Additionally, a hierarchy is provided, eliminating fabrication techniques that do not completely satisfy the mechanical design requirements of the compliant mechanisms. Furthermore, the lost mold-rapid infiltration forming process (LM-RIF) is described, and compared to existing fabrication approaches. Finally, prototype mesoscale compliant mechanisms are fabricated, demonstrating the versatility of the LM-RIF process to produce both metal and ceramic devices, as well as ability of a fabrication process to work in collaboration with mechanical design.
From Online to Batch Learning with Cutoff-Averaging

We present cutoff averaging, a technique for converting any conservative online learning algorithm into a batch learning algorithm. Most online-to-batch conversion techniques work well with certain types of online learning algorithms and not with others, whereas cutoff averaging explicitly tries to adapt to the characteristics of the online algorithm being converted. An attractive property of our technique is that it preserves the efficiency of the original online algorithm, making it appropriate for large-scale learning problems. We provide a statistical analysis of our technique and back our theoretical claims with experimental results.
A property regarding degenerate pivots for linear assignment networks

Given an extreme point of an assignment polytope of size m, there exist 2m−1mm−2 alternative basis representations according to the choice of the m - 1 degenerate basic variables. This note establishes the basis structure which admits the maximum degenerate pivots and that which admits the minimum degenerate pivots. It is shown that the upper bound is achieved if and only if the basis is a chain graph and that the lower bound is achieved if the degenerate basic arcs all originate at some facility or all terminate at some location.
Reconsidering the Implementation Strategy in Faith-Based Policy Initiatives:

Despite their hypothesized potential to change lives and promote social policy goals, the track record of faith-based public policies is less than stellar. Using survey, administrative, and organizational case study data from a California faith-based initiative, we find that the commonly used implementation strategy—featuring a top-down, short-term approach that funds isolated local organizations—demonstrates little power to nurture enduring programs and partnerships at the community level. Our analysis of why this is so suggests the possible viability of an alternative implementation strategy that takes community social service networks as the unit of action and analysis. A next step for policy and research might be carefully monitored local demonstrations that foster government partnerships with a broad cross-section of community and faith-related organizations within a single locale, seeking to develop a coordinated continuum of community care by patiently building network capacity for the long haul.
Temperature stability of ferrite substrates in microwave integrated circuits

With the increasing use of ferrites in microwave integrated circuits, it becomes important to determine the temperature stability of the effective values of dielectric constant and unmagnetized permeability of ferrites in this application. This paper reports the results of such measurements on several ferrites. The test samples were slabs 2 × 0.5 × 0.032 in. In order to provide a basis for understanding the intrinsic properties of the ferrites, the slabs were tested first by completely copper plating the sample except for an iris at each end. The resonant frequencies of the samples were measured at room temperature and at an elevated temperature, first without a bias field, then with a bias field. From the measurements, data were obtained on the intrinsic dielectric constant and the unmagnetized permeability, and their temperature coefficients. Formulas are given to calculate the effective values from the intrinsic values. The original plating was then removed and the sample replated as a microstrip line. The magnetic filling factor was obtained from measurements on the microstrip line.
The case for and against initiating either hydroxyurea therapy, blood transfusion therapy or hematopoietic stem cell transplant in asymptomatic children with sickle cell disease.

Introduction: The perception of an asymptomatic sickle cell disease (SCD) state is a misnomer. Children without overt symptoms, likely have subclinical disease beginning in infancy with progression into adulthood. Predictive models of SCD severity are unable to predict a subgroup of asymptomatic children likely to develop severe SCD. The introduction of penicillin prophylaxis, conjugated pneumococcal and Haemophilus influenzae type B vaccines have dramatically decreased the rate of life-threatening infections, while use of hydroxyurea in children has decreased pain and acute chest syndrome events. Use of transcranial Doppler coupled with regular blood transfusion therapy has decreased the rate of overt strokes and premature death associated with strokes. Currently, therapy for asymptomatic children includes hydroxyurea, regular blood transfusion or allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplant (allo-HSCT). Areas covered: The pros and cons of initiating hydroxyurea, regular blood transfusion or allo-HSCT i...
Design and initial operation of the LDX facility

The levitated dipole experiment (LDX) explores the physics of high-temperature plasmas confined by a dipole magnetic field. Stable high-beta plasma has been created and confined by the magnetic field of a superconducting coil. Discharges containing trapped electrons form when microwaves cause strong perpendicular heating at cyclotron resonance. To eliminate the losses to the supports, the magnetic dipole (a superconducting solenoid) will be magnetically levitated for several hours. The dipole magnetic field is generated by a Nb3Sn floating coil (F-coil), a maximum field of 5.3 T, operating for up to 2 h. A NbTi charging coil (C-coil) surrounds a portion of the vacuum chamber and induces the current in the floating coil. After the F-coil is lifted to the center of the chamber, the levitation coil (L-coil), made from high-temperature superconductor, magnetically supports it. In the first year of operation, the device has been operated in a supported mode of operation while experience has been gained in the cryogenic performance of the F-coil and the integration of the F-coil and C-coil. Current work focuses on the integration of the F and L coils in preparation for first levitation tests. © 2006 Published by Elsevier B.V.
Structural basis for the specific interaction of lysine-containing proline-rich peptides with the N-terminal SH3 domain of c-Crk

Abstract Background: Proline-rich segments in the guanine nucleotide exchange factor C3G bind much more strongly to the N-terminal Src homology 3 domain (SH3-N) of the proto-oncogene product c-Crk than to other SH3 domains. The presence of a lysine instead of an arginine in the peptides derived from C3G appears to be crucial for this specificity towards c-Crk. Results In order to understand the chemical basis of this specificity we have determined the crystal structure of Crk SH3-N in complex with a high affinity peptide from C3G (PPPALPPKKR, K d ∼2 μ M) at 1.5 a resolution. The peptide adopts a polyproline type II helix that binds, as dictated by electrostatic complementarity, in reversed orientation relative to the orientation seen in the earliest structures of SH3–peptide complexes. A lysine in the C3G peptide is tightly coordinated by three acidic residues in the SH3 domain. In contrast, the co-crystal structure of c-Crk SH3-N and a peptide containing an arginine at the equivalent position (determined at 1.9 a resolution) reveals non-optimal geometry for the arginine and increased disorder. Conclusion The c-Crk SH3 domain engages in an unusual lysine-specific interaction that is rarely seen in protein structures, and which appears to be a key determinant of its unique ability to bind the C3G peptides with high affinity.
Photon‐ and electron‐stimulated desorption from rare earth oxides

Resonance in the photon‐stimulated desportion (PSD) spectra of La, Ce, and Er oxides are reported at photon energies near the La(4d), Ce(4d), and Er(3d) edges. These resonances, also seen in soft x‐ray absorption (SXA), arise from excitations of d electrons to the 4f shell. Comparisons of SXA and PSD show how PSD can be used to determine surface valency. ESD data from Ce and Er oxides is used to establish the importance of the 5p level in the electronic pathways which lead to desorption.
Basic Psychological Needs Satisfaction, Motivation, and Exercise in Older Adults

A predominate motivation theory used to predict exercise behavior is self-determination theory, which posits that motivation is driven by satisfaction of three basic psychological needs: autonomy, competence, and relatedness. This study investigates the relationship between motivation, basic psychological needs satisfaction, and exercise in a sample of older adults. Significant differences were found between older adult exercisers and nonexercisers in intrinsic motivation, self-determined extrinsic motivation, nonself-determined extrinsic motivation, autonomy, competence, and relatedness. This study suggests that self-determination theory is a suitable framework to investigate older adult exercise behaviors.
Control of T Cell Fates and Immune Tolerance by p38α Signaling in Mucosal CD103+ Dendritic Cells

Dendritic cells (DCs) play a crucial role in launching protective adaptive immunity against pathogens while maintaining immune tolerance to self-Ags. However, how intracellular signaling pathways program DCs to mediate tolerogenic responses remains largely unexplored. In this study, we describe that p38α signaling in CD103(+) mesenteric lymph node DCs reciprocally regulates the differentiation of anti-inflammatory induced regulatory T cells and proinflammatory Th1 cells from naive precursors and promotes mucosal tolerance. Deficiency of p38α in CD103(+) DCs inhibited the generation of induced regulatory T cells while promoting Th1 cell development in a TGF-β2-dependent manner. Consequently, loss of p38α in DCs prevented induction of oral tolerance in vivo. Moreover, p38α in CD103(+) DCs was required for optimal expression of retinaldehyde dehydrogenase, a key enzyme for retinoic acid synthesis, which in turn imprinted gut-homing receptors on responding T cells. Consistent with a crucial role of p38α to program the tolerogenic activity of CD103(+) DCs, such DC subset contained constitutive activity of p38α and abundant expression of TGF-β2 and retinaldehyde dehydrogenase. Our studies identify a key mechanism of DC-mediated coupling of T cell differentiation and trafficking that orchestrates mucosal immune tolerance.
Food Powders Flowability Characterization: Theory, Methods, and Applications

Characterization of food powders flowability is required for predicting powder flow from hoppers in small-scale systems such as vending machines or at the industrial scale from storage silos or bins dispensing into powder mixing systems or packaging machines. This review covers conventional and new methods used to measure flowability in food powders. The method developed by Jenike (1964) for determining hopper outlet diameter and hopper angle has become a standard for the design of bins and is regarded as a standard method to characterize flowability. Moreover, there are a number of shear cells that can be used to determine failure properties defined by Jenike's theory. Other classic methods (compression, angle of repose) and nonconventional methods (Hall flowmeter, Johanson Indicizer, Hosokawa powder tester, tensile strength tester, powder rheometer), used mainly for the characterization of food powder cohesiveness, are described. The effect of some factors preventing flow, such as water content, tempera...
Design of a Passively-Adaptive Three Degree-of-Freedom Multi-Legged Robot With Underactuated Legs

This paper discusses the design of a three degree-of-freedom (3-DOF) non-redundant walking robot with decoupled stance and propulsion locomotion phases that is exactly constrained in stance and utilizes adaptive underactuation to robustly traverse terrain of varying ground height. Legged robots with a large number of actuated degrees of freedom can actively adapt to rough terrain but often end up being kinematically overconstrained in stance, requiring complex redundant control schemes for effective locomotion. Those with fewer actuators generally use passive compliance to enhance their dynamic behavior at the cost of postural control and reliable ground clearance, and often inextricably link control of the propulsion of the robot with control of its posture. In this paper we show that the use of adaptive underactuation techniques with constraint-based design synthesis tools allows for lighter and simpler lower mobility legged robots that can adapt to the terrain below them during the swing phase yet remain stable during stance and that the decoupling of stance and propulsion can greatly simplify their control. Simulation results of the swing phase behavior of the proposed 3-DOF decoupled adaptive legged robot as well as proof-of-concept experiments with a prototype of its corresponding stance platform are presented and validate the suggested design framework.
Belatacept for renal rescue in lung transplant patients

Renal failure causes morbidity and mortality after lung transplantation and is aggravated by exposure to nephrotoxic immunosuppressant (IS) drugs. We report an off-label experience using belatacept for lung transplant recipients with severe renal insufficiency to reduce nephrotoxic IS exposure. We analyzed data retrospectively from a consecutive series of lung transplant patients with renal insufficiency in whom belatacept treatment was initiated between June 2012 and June 2014 at the University of Maryland Medical Center. Eight patients received belatacept because of acute or chronic renal insufficiency (median) GFR 24 (IQR 18-26). Glomerular filtration rate (GFR) remained stable in two patients and increased in five. One patient with established renal and respiratory failure received only the induction dose of belatacept and died 4 months later of respiratory and multisystem organ failure. Calcineurin inhibitor or sirolimus exposure was safely withheld or reduced without moderate or severe acute rejection during ongoing belatacept in the other seven patients. FEV1 remained stable over the 6-month study interval. Belatacept use appears to permit safe transient reduction in conventional immunosuppressive therapy and was associated with stable or improved renal function in a small retrospective series of lung transplant recipients with acute or chronic renal insufficiency.
Alignment behaviors of short peptides provide a roadmap for functional profiling of metagenomic data

Functional assignments for short-read metagenomic data pose a significant computational challenge due to perceived unpredictability of alignment behavior and the inability to infer useful functional information from translated protein-fragments/peptides. To address this problem, we have examined the predictability of short peptide alignments by systematically studying alignment behavior of large sets of short peptides generated from well-characterized proteins as well as hypothetical proteins in the KEGG database. Using test sets of peptides modeling the length and phylogenetic distributions of short-read metagenomic data, we observed that peptides from well-characterized proteins had indistinguishable alignments to proteins from the same orthologous family and proteins from different families. Nonetheless, the patterns contained remarkable phylogenetic and structural signals, with alignments of even very short peptides naturally restricted to their orthologous family and/or proteins having similar structural folds. In stark contrast, peptides from “hypothetical proteins” had only sparse hit patterns with low frequencies and much lower identities. By weighting the structure-driven alignments and filtering peptides with behaviors similar to those derived from “hypothetical proteins”, we demonstrate that the accuracy of abundance predictions of protein families is dramatically improved. Evolutionary processes have dispersed protein folds across multiple protein families, precluding accurate functional assignment to short peptides, whose alignment behavior is non-random and driven by structure. Algorithms that filter sparse peptides and weight hit patterns of peptides from “known space” dramatically improve quantification of functions from diverse mixtures of peptides and should substantially improve applications of metagenomic analyses requiring accurate quantitative measures of functional families.
Goddard Space Flight Center: Building a Learning Organization (a)

While reading the Wall Street Journal, Edward Rogers notices an advertisement for a Knowledge Management Architect at the Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. Rogers is an academic whose scholarship centers on developing models of how and why people cooperate intellectually. After submitting his resume and completing the interview process, Rogers is offered the position for a term appointment of three years. After one month on the job, Rogers wonders how he should proceed in helping the Goddard Space Flight Center become a learning organization. It is, in fact, the kind of opportunity Rogers has looked forward to for many years, but what will his plan of attack look like? How can he help this collection of rocket scientists work better together? The A case presents an undisguised picture of a NASA center that is fostering a learning approach to developing the organization. See also the B case (UVA-OB-0835).
A Major Fault in Diabetic Inflammation: Failure of Leucocytic Glycogen Transfer to Histiocytes

The diabetic is allegedly more susceptible to infection than the nondiabetic. Particularly, there has been noted a frequent association of extensive local or systemic infection with the presence of diabetic acidosis. Perillie, Nolan, and Finch [18] have reviewed the humoral immunologic studies in this area and concluded that if lowered resistance to infection is present in patients with diabetes, immunologic factors did not play the essential role in impaired resistance. In contrast, these workers showed that the early neutrophilic phase of the local inflammatory response was significantly delayed and diminished in diabetic patients with acidosis in comparison with normals or nonacidotic patients. The advent of the human skin window technique [20] presents the inflammatory leucocytes with the same clarity of cytologic detail previously available only in the classic hematologic preparations of peripheral blood or marrow aspirates. With this, a new neutrophilic function of cytoplasmic shedding into the exudative fluids was apparent. Before death of the granulocyte in the later stages of inflammation, it could be demonstrated that the neutrophilic cytoplasm peripheral to its nuclear lobes was fragmented in granular or particulate form and shed into the exudative fluids.
An Efficient Method for Clock Skew Scheduling to Reduce Peak Current

Concurrent switching of flip-flops and logic gates produces a current surge in synchronous circuits resulting in power supply noise and integrity issues. It is well known that peak current caused by simultaneous switching can be reduced by clock skew scheduling. It has been shown that this problem may be formulated as an integer linear programming problem. However, such formulation is computationally expensive for designs with large number of flip-flops. In this work, we propose a fast heuristic method to schedule clock skew for reducing peak current. The proposed method is evaluated on ISCAS-89, ITC99 and synthetic benchmark circuits. Results show that the proposed method finds a near-optimal solution within minutes even for the largest benchmark circuits.
Historical Knowledge: Assessment of Outcomes in a History of Psychology Course

17 undergraduate students pre- and posttested on a list of 54 names important in the history of psychology showed a significant postcourse increase in name recognition and awareness of contributions.
Experimental study of dynamic spectrum access for opportunistic mobile communications using USRP devices

Opportunistic spectrum access is regarded as an emerging technique to utilize scarce RF spectrum efficiently. The performance study of opportunistic spectrum often overlooks the impact of unlicensed SU mobility. Many of the methods assume secondary users stationary or with low mobility. In this paper, we investigate the impact of mobility of wireless devices for opportunistic spectrum access and communications using National Instrument Universal Software Radio Peripherals (USPR) 292x devices. Each USRP device sends its geolocation to query the spectrum database for idle channels using dedicated links such as cellular link periodically. If the USRP user is within the contour of idle channels, it gets a list of channels. Then, transmitter and receiver with their respective lists of channels choose a common channel for communications using quorum based rendezvous. Numerical results obtained from experiments are presented to evaluate the proposed approach and we found that the longer (shorter) query interval results in higher (lower) false list of channels for the users.
Work Meets Life: Exploring the Integrative Study of Work in Living Systems [Book Review]

This book is a four-editor, ten-contributor text with an interesting collection of nine essays regarding the relationship of work and life from a variety of viewpoints. These viewpoints are the products of thinking sessions among the authors, who come from fields such as electrical engineering, biology, psychology, neurobiology, marine research, management, and entrepreneurship. This is not a classroom text. It is a series of thought-provoking and informative essays that might be useful for many in our audience. It is recommended as a single chapter per day (maximum) as the content generally needs to be digested before a new chapter is begun.
Realignment of the physical distribution process in omni-channel fulfillment

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to identify the realignment of the physical distribution process for store-based retailers in their efforts to integrate the online channel into their business model. Multiple attributes of the physical distribution process are evaluated to identify associations with order fulfillment methods adopted by omni-channel retailers. Design/methodology/approach – A multi-method approach is used which includes qualitative evaluation of 50 interviews of supply chain executives from large retailers. Additionally, secondary data about firm size, store and distribution networks, online sales, distribution configuration, and order delivery options are used. The findings of qualitative analysis are incorporated into a quantitative classification-tree analysis to identify associations among distribution attributes, order fulfillment methods and order delivery services. Findings – Retailers are developing a consistent omni-channel physical distribution process in which stores undert...
System demonstration: Metavid.org: a social website and open archive of congressional video

We have developed Metavid.org, a site that archives video footage of the U.S. Senate and House floor proceedings. Visitors can search for who said what when and also download, remix, blog, edit, discuss, and annotate transcripts and metadata. The site has been built with Open Source Software (OSS) and the video is archived in an OSS codec (Ogg Theora). We highlight two aspects of the Metavid design: (1) open standards; and, (2) Wiki functionality. First, open standards allow Metavid to function both as a platform, on top of which other sites can be built, and as a resource for "mashing" (i.e., semi-automatically assembling custom websites). For example, Voterwatch.org pulls its video from the Metavid archive. Second, Metavid extends the MediaWiki software (which is the foundation of Wikipedia) into the domain of collaborative video authoring. This extension allows closed-captioned text or video sequences to be collectively edited.
Transposition Flaps: Principles and Locations.

Background Transposition flaps are frequently used to repair defects of the head and neck after tumor extirpation with Mohs micrographic surgery. Objective To review the basic principles underlying single-stage transposition flaps and also their utility relative to location on the head and neck. Materials and methods A review of the literature on transposition flaps was performed with specific reference to the principles of single-stage transposition flaps, including rhomboid flaps and their variations, multilobed flaps, and the locations where transposition flaps are frequently executed on the head and neck. Results Numerous articles have been written with regard to the techniques for designing and executing transposition flaps. The primary advantages of transposition flaps include less undermining as compared to large sliding flaps and the superior ability to displace tension away from the defect and from free margins. Optimal cosmesis with these flaps can be achieved with appropriate sizing of flaps (or lobes), appropriate undermining, and meticulous suturing. Conclusion The versatility of transposition flaps makes them optimal for repair of defects on the head and neck and utilization of the outlined key principles and techniques aid in achieving an aesthetic result.
Information Literacy Instruction That Works: A Guide to Teaching by Discipline and Student Population edited by Patrick Ragains

Ragains's second edition of Information Literacy Instruction That Works, originally published in 2006, is a much expanded and updated work. The book is arranged into four parts and contains 20 chap...
Multiresolution Connectivity: An Axiomatic Approach

In this paper, we introduce an axiomatic framework for the notion of multiresolution connectivity on complete lattices. This framework extends the notion of connectivity classes, introduced by Serra in the late eighties. We introduce multiresolution connectivities by means of two equivalent notions: connectivity measures and connectivity pyramids. We present examples of multiresolution connectivities based on pyramids of dilations and of morphological sampling operators. We study the application of multiresolution connectivity to various image analysis tasks, such as pyramid decompositions, hierarchical segmentations, and multiresolution features.
The Influence of Culture on Leader–Member Exchange and Job Satisfaction of Subordinates: A Vietnamese Study

Experienced human resource professionals recognize the importance of maintaining and promoting employees’ job satisfaction in talent management and retention. Scholars have done extensive research on job satisfaction of workers in developing economies in North America and Western Europe. However, there is limited research available on workers in developing countries, specifically workers in contemporary Vietnam. The chapter investigates Hofstede’s six cultural dimensions of Vietnamese employees on individual levels. The chapter aims to study the relationships between individual cultural dimensions and the quality of the leader–member exchange and between the leader–member exchange (LMX) quality and job satisfaction of Vietnamese employees. Studying the influence of culture on job satisfaction of workers in developing nations is important for both domestic and international managers. Managerial implications, limitations, and future research are also discussed.