cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Easy-Assist: An Intelligent Haptic-based Affective framework for Assisted Living

Unlike the younger population that uses wearables such as smartwatches for monitoring health on daily basis, elderly people need assistance in the use of technology and interpreting the data obtained through these smart connected frameworks. The current monitoring systems are primarily designed to monitor the physiological signals on daily basis. The aim of this proposed research, Easy-Assist, is to help older people to maintain their emotional well-being. This research is focused on developing a wearable affective framework, which can help in detecting the emotions of the user in addition to monitoring their physiological signals. The proposed framework can be used in an automated assisted living environment, where the user’s emotional state can be balanced using a haptic-based emotional elicitation system after the user’s emotion is recognized, detected and interpreted in real-time. The proposed framework is validated using a fall detection algorithm deployed in a custom-built watch wearable, built using off-the-shelf components and an emotion detection framework built using a single board computer. A dataset of 21700 samples acquired using the proposed framework yielded a maximum efficiency of 97.25%, 96 %, and 94 %, in classifying the state and emotion classes into Alert, Active and Normal classes respectively, using multi-class SVM model. The overall latency of the proposed research was in few orders of milli-seconds.
The Math of Music: An Algorithm of Allegros

Math and music, two things that to most people, seem entirely different. However, they are more alike in countless ways than they are different. As early as the Greek philosophers, there have been brilliant people who have dedicated their time to creating a link between math and music. It is in this attitude, that I attempt to bridge the relationship between math and music. At its core, music is created entirely of mathematics. The humming of strings and the strike of a piano key may indeed carry out sound, but it also carries a plethora of mathematical equations and theorems to support it. Whether it be a relation of Hertz, or even a derivative of a famous mathematical equation like Pythagorean’s Theorem, this paper promotes the ideal that mathematics can be used to describe every type of music. Whether you prefer rock to classical, rap to pop, all music is broken down into notes and chords. Sound is created using electronic equipment that has been perfected over centuries. Instruments have been refined to make the most brilliant sound that their materials allow, all of this and more is in part due to the brilliant relationship that music and mathematics share.
Therapeutic Suggestion in Postoperative Pain Control: A Randomized Controlled Trial.

Objectives There is conflicting research on the effect of therapeutic suggestion in the perioperative period. This study systematically compared subjective and objective measures of postoperative pain, nausea and vomiting, urinary and bowel function, and global perception of symptomatic improvement between participants receiving perioperative therapeutic suggestion versus routine perioperative care during minimally invasive pelvic reconstructive surgery. Methods This was a single-blinded, randomized controlled trial of participants undergoing vaginal hysterectomy with minimally invasive sacrocolpopexy and concomitant prolapse repairs. The intervention group received perioperative therapeutic suggestion, whereas the control group did not. Primary outcomes included postoperative pain scores and analgesic use. Secondary outcomes included a postoperative nausea and vomiting scale, the Pelvic Floor Distress Inventory Questionnaire-Short Form 20, the Patient Global Impression of Improvement scale, and time to return of bowel and bladder function. Results Sixteen participants were randomized to each group. Final analysis included 15 intervention and 14 control participants. Overall measures of postoperative pain and analgesic use were low across all participants without a significant difference between intervention and control groups (opioid: 52.5; interquartile range [IQR], 25.5-58.9 vs 66 IQR, 7.3-125.8; morphine milligram equivalents; P = 0.64; acetaminophen: 2225 mg; IQR, 500-2600 mg vs 2800 mg; IQR, 650-4775 mg; P = 0.38). There were no statistically significant differences in secondary outcomes of urinary symptoms, bowel function, and subjective improvement of prolapse symptoms. Conclusions No differences in postoperative pain, analgesic use, return of bowel and bladder function, or pelvic organ prolapse symptoms were noted in participants receiving perioperative therapeutic suggestion versus routine perioperative care.
Retinoic acid rewires the adrenergic core regulatory circuitry of neuroblastoma but can be subverted by enhancer hijacking of MYC or MYCN

ABSTRACT Neuroblastoma cell identity depends on a core regulatory circuit (CRC) of transcription factors that collaborate with MYCN to drive the oncogenic gene expression program. For neuroblastomas dependent on the adrenergic CRC, treatment with retinoids can inhibit cell growth and induce differentiation in both primary neuroblastomas and cell lines; however, the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. Here we show that when MYCN-amplified neuroblastomas cells are treated with all-trans retinoic acid (ATRA), histone H3K27 acetylation and methylation become redistributed to decommission super-enhancers driving the expression of PHOX2B and GATA3, together with the activation of new super-enhancers that drive high levels of MEIS1, HIC1 and SOX4 expression. These findings indicate that treatment with ATRA can reprogram the enhancer landscape to collapse the adrenergic CRC, resulting in downregulation of MYCN expression, while upregulating a new retino-sympathetic CRC that causes proliferative arrest and sympathetic differentiation. Thus, we provide mechanisms that account for the beneficial effects of retinoids against high-risk neuroblastoma and explain the rapid downregulation of expression of MYCN despite massive levels of gene amplification.
Data Gathering in Wireless Sensor Networks

Data gathering is one of the primary operations carried out in Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs). It involves data collection with aggregation and data collection without aggregation, referred to as data aggregation and data collection respectively. In the last decade, many techniques for these two applications are proposed, with different focuses, such as accuracy, reliability, time complexity, and so on. This chapter reviews the state of the art of data aggregation and data collection techniques in order to present a comprehensive guidance on how to choose a more appropriate approach for different applications. The definitions of data aggregation and data collection are firstly introduced. Subsequently, the challenges of designing effective data aggregation and data collection methods are discussed. Then some typical data aggregation techniques and their classifications are presented. Particularly, a latest distributed data aggregation algorithm (DAS) is illustrated in details. For data collection, we begin with some new advances and then introduce several new tree-based and cell-based data collection algorithms. Finally, this chapter is ended by pointing out some possible future research directions.
Towards Optimal Configuration of Microservices

The microservice architecture allows applications to be designed in a modular format, whereby each microservice can implement a single functionality and can be independently managed and deployed. However, an undesirable side-effect of this modular design is the large state space of possibly inter-dependent configuration parameters (of the constituent microservices) which have to be tuned to improve application performance. This workshop paper investigates optimization techniques and dimensionality reduction strategies for tuning microservices applications, empirically demonstrating the significant tail latency improvements (as much as 23%) that can be achieved with configuration tuning.
Social Media, the First Amendment, and Democratic Dysfunction in the Trump Era

In the fall of 2019, the congressionally endowed Drake Constitutional Law Center held a symposium on the book, Democracy and Dysfunction, authored by University of Texas law professor Sandy Levinson and Yale law professor Jack Balkin. Several scholars offered commentary on the book. This Article focuses on how the Internet is not what it used to be. The Internet is now a major reason why the U.S. political system has broken down. While several other books have made this argument at length, this Article synthesizes these viewpoints in a concise and useful manner. In 1997, the U.S. Supreme Court treated Internet 1.0 as a sacrosanct technology. The Internet has changed dramatically since then with Facebook, Google, and Amazon becoming among the world’s most dominant companies and social media platforms taking charge. Yet the Court has still provided these companies with the utmost protection. Unfortunately, Internet 2.0 contains encrypted websites allowing dangerous collaborations, salacious materials, a Dark Web, and even postings designed to sabotage elections. It is no accident that the Russians succeeded at influencing the 2016 U.S. presidential election. People’s privacy is also being invaded. And President Donald Trump tweets messages with racist, sexist, and otherwise inflammatory elements on social media. This Article shows how the poisonous social media mentioned above and the absence of useful restrictions have caused political dysfunction. The Article also shows how several often-praised First Amendment cases have contributed to these problems, as have the imprecise and detrimental algorithms employed by these companies. Moreover, the Article asserts that the provisions of 42 U.S.C. § 230 could be used by these private entities to support cleansing efforts that are necessary and thereby avoid government controls.
Tunneling dynamics of an oscillating universe model

Quasiclassical methods for non-adiabatic quantum dynamics can reveal new features of quantum effects, such as tunneling evolution, that are harder to reveal in standard treatments based on wave functions of stationary states. Here, these methods are applied to an oscillating universe model introduced recently. Our quasiclassical treatment correctly describes several expected features of tunneling states, in particular just before and after tunneling into a trapped region where a model universe may oscillate through many cycles of collapse and expansion. As a new result, the oscillating dynamics is found to be much less regular than in the classical description, revealing a succession of cycles with varying maximal volume even when the matter ingredients and their parameters do not change.
Efficient execution in the secondary mortgage market: a stochastic optimization model using CVaR constraints

Efficient execution is a significant task faced by mortgage bankers attempting to profit from the secondary market. The challenge of efficient execution is to sell or securitize a large number of heterogeneous mortgages in the secondary market in order to maximize expected revenue under a risk tolerance. This paper develops a stochastic optimization model to perform efficient execution that considers secondary marketing functionality including loan-level efficient execution, guarantee fee buy-up or buy-down, servicing retain or release, and excess servicing fee. Since efficient execution involves random cash flows, lenders must balance between expected revenue and risk. We employ a CVaR risk measure in this efficient execution model that maximizes expected revenue under a constraint. By solving the efficient execution problem under different risk tolerances specified by a CVaR constraint, an efficient frontier could be found. The model is formulated as a mixed 0-1 linear programming problem. A case study shows that realistic instances of the efficient execution problem can be solved in acceptable time (approximately one minute) with CPLEX-90 solver on a PC. CVaR
A flow-cytometric method for the quantitative analysis of intracellular and surface membrane antigens.

Publisher Summary This chapter describes a novel method that allows discrimination between intracellular and plasma membrane antigens and their quantitative measurement. It illustrates the procedure for studying human neutrophils along with advantages, limitations, and potential technical obstacles of this approach. The new flow-cytometric approach measures total cellular antigen and plasma membrane (exposed) antigen. Because flow cytometry measures each cell individually, subpopulations of cells with distinct antigen distributions are easily identified, and errors because of the calculation of average antigen content are eliminated. A further advantage of this method is that aliquots of the same samples used for flow cytometry may be inspected by fluorescence microscopy, thus permitting morphological examination of the intracellular antigen distribution as well as correlation with the quantitative results. The major requirements of this strategy are that the molecule studied must be immunoreactive, accessible to antibody, and not extracted or excessively altered by fixation and permeabilization. The new approach analyzes trafficking of the complement C3b/C4b receptor (CR1) of human neutrophils. As the flow cytometer measures all cell-associated fluorescence, it is essential that all of the immune reagents should be highly purified. Thus, affinity-purified specific antibodies are preferable to whole antisera or immunoglobulin fractions.
Transducer Placement and Poor Calibration

Transducer placement and measurement artifacts occasionally interfere with the interpretation of urodynamic tracings. The orientation of the microtransducer catheter (lateral, anterior, posterior) may dramatically alter the pressure measured within the urethra, especially during urethral closure pressure profiles. In addition, the placement of the abdominal pressure measuring transducer in a scarred vagina or into stool in the rectum may greatly influence the ability to measure the total intra-abdominal pressure. Routinely, care is taken to avoid these artifacts by constantly checking transducer placement before any type of profile is recorded.
Abstract 3461: RSK2 is a driver of estrogen receptor positive breast cancer

For unknown reasons, high levels of active Ser/Thr protein kinase RSK in estrogen receptor α (ERα)-positive (ER+) breast cancer patients correlate with better responsiveness to anti-estrogen therapies. Investigation of these surprising observations led us to discover an unanticipated mechanism in which ERα controls RSK2 nuclear accumulation. RSK2 is retained in the nucleus by physical association with ERα and this interaction is disrupted by anti-estrogen treatment. Consistent with these findings, in primary human ER+ breast tissue organoids, 4-hydroxy-tamoxifen (4-OHT) drove export of RSK2 to the cytoplasm. Importantly, RSK2 nuclear accumulation is critical for the expression of the oncogene, cyclin D1. This conclusion is supported by the observations that a RSK2 mutant, which cannot accumulate in the nucleus, does not rescue cyclin D1 in cells silenced for endogenous RSK2. Analysis of RNAseq data shows that ERα and RSK2 cooperatively regulate a transcriptional program, which includes cyclin D1. The physiological relevance of these conclusions is supported by our observations that in ∼60% of ER+ breast cancer patients, active nuclear RSK correlates with ERα and cyclin D1 levels. Taken together, these findings suggest that responsiveness to endocrine-based therapy is driven by reduced RSK2 nuclear accumulation, which in turn reduces expression of cyclin D1 and of other tumor-promoting effectors. Based on these observations we hypothesized that nuclear RSK2 cooperates with ERα and is a physiologically relevant driver of ER+ breast cancer. To test this hypothesis we generated a transgenic mouse model in which the MMTV promoter controls expression of RSK2 fused with the nuclear localization signal (NLS) of SV40. Strikingly, in ∼50% of transgenic mice forced nuclear accumulation of RSK2 in the mammary gland caused hyperplasia and ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS). These results are the first demonstration that RSK2 can drive proliferation and transformation in vivo. Transgenic animals had a 4-fold increase in the number of cyclin D1 expressing cells and a 6-fold increase in Ki67 levels. Surprisingly, in vivo expression of nuclear RSK2 expanded the population of ER+ cells. These results demonstrate, for the first time, that nuclear RSK2 drives the amplification of the cell population relevant to ER+ breast cancer. In agreement with these observations we found that overexpression of ERα in the mouse mammary gland expands exclusively, by ∼3 fold, the cell population that co-expresses ERα and active nuclear RSK. These results further support our hypothesis that RSK2 cooperates with ERα and is an important drug target for ER+ breast cancer. Citation Format: Katarzyna Ludwik, Deborah Lannigan. RSK2 is a driver of estrogen receptor positive breast cancer. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 106th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2015 Apr 18-22; Philadelphia, PA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2015;75(15 Suppl):Abstract nr 3461. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2015-3461
Adaptive control of space robot system with an attitude controlled base

The authors discuss adaptive control of a space robot system with an attitude-controlled base on which the robot is attached. An adaptive control scheme in joint space is proposed. Since most tasks are specified in inertia space, instead of joint space, the authors discuss the issues associated to adaptive control in inertia space and identify two potential problems, unavailability of the joint trajectory (since mapping from inertia space trajectory is dynamics-dependent and subject to uncertainty), and nonlinear parameterization in inertia space. For a planar system, the linear parameterization problem is investigated, the design procedure of the controller is illustrated, and the validity and effectiveness of the proposed control scheme are demonstrated. >
Building the synovium: cadherin-11 mediates fibroblast-like synoviocyte cell-to-cell adhesion

Specific adhesion among like cells is a key determinant of the architecture of tissues. Homophilic (like binds like) adhesive interactions between cells are mediated by cadherins. These integral membrane glycoproteins have a crucial role in tissue morphogenesis during development and the maintenance of tissue integrity in adults. There is also an increasing recognition of a regulatory role for cadherins in a variety of cell functions, including cell migration. The recent identification of cadherin-11 expression in fibroblast-like synoviocytes (FLSs) has shed light on the mechanisms of synovial tissue organization and differentiation. Moreover, cadherin-11 expression in FLSs might also provide insight into pathways that determine the mesenchymal tissue response of the synovium to inflammation.
Black rings in Taub-NUT space

We construct the most generic three-charge, three-dipole-charge, BPS black-ring solutions in a Taub-NUT background. These solutions depend on seven charges and six moduli, and interpolate between a four-dimensional black hole and a five-dimensional black ring. They are also instrumental in determining the correct microscopic description of the five-dimensional BPS black rings.
Plasma and Cerebrospinal Fluid Pharmacokinetics of O6-Benzylguanine and Time Course of Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cell O6-Methylguanine-DNA Methyltransferase Inhibition in the Nonhuman Primate

O6-Benzylguanine (O6BG) enhances the cytotoxicity of the nitrosoureas by irreversibly binding and inhibiting the DNA repair enzyme O6-methyl-guanine-DNA methyltransferase (MGMT). The plasma and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) pharmacokinetics of O6BG and its active metabolite, O6-benzyl-8-oxoguanine, were studied in a nonhuman primate model after 200 mg/m2 had been injected i.v. The parent drug and the metabolite were measured with a reverse-phase HPLC assay. A pharmacokinetic model incorporating separate compartments for O6BG and the O6-benzyl-8-oxoguanine metabolite, first-order conversion of O6BG to the metabolite, and additional first-order elimination rate constants for each compound, was simultaneously fitted to the parent drug and metabolite plasma concentration time data. Elimination of O6BG from plasma was rapid; it had a half-life of 1.6 h and a clearance of 68 ml/min/m2. On the basis of the pharmacokinetic model, essentially all of the O6BG was converted to O6-benzyl-8-oxoguanine. The plasma pharmacokinetic profile of the metabolite differed considerably from that the parent drug. The half-life (14 h) was 10-fold longer and the area under the curve (2420 microM/h) was 11-fold higher than that of O6BG (212 microM/h). The clearance rate of O6-benzyl-8-oxoguanine was 6.4 ml/min/m2. The CSF:plasma ratio was 4.3% for O6BG and 36% for O6-benzyl-8-oxoguanine, and the metabolite area under the curve was 90-fold higher than that of O6BG in CSF. The excellent CSF penetration of the active metabolite provides a rationale for the use of O6BG as a chemosensitizing agent for brain tumors. We also studied the duration of MGMT inhibition in peripheral blood mononuclear cells. By 2 h after a 200 mg/m2 dose of O6BG, > 98% of MGMT activity was suppressed, and > 95% suppression of enzyme activity persisted at 18 and 48 h after the dose. By 2 weeks after the treatment, MGMT levels had returned to baseline. Persistent high concentrations of the active metabolite appear to provide a pharmacological explanation for the prolonged suppression of MGMT activity.
Ontology design for strategies to metrics mapping

With the growth of enterprise resource planning technologies and automatic data collection, businesses are flooded with data But the wealth of data has not translated into the knowledge required to articulate strategies at the top levels of the decision hierarchy, because of the lack of connectivity between business strategies and the underlying performance data This has deprived top-level executives of the ability to connect enterprise strategies to objectives and performance metrics in a systematic fashion In this paper, we describe the design of an ontology that captures and connects a comprehensive set of business strategies, objectives, and performance metrics by grounding our work in design-science research It reflects the involvement of a large multi-national manufacturing company and a high-tech provider of services The ontology we have designed enables the development of strategy support systems for tracking the implementation and assessment of business strategies.
Tweakable Ciphers: Constructions and Applications

Tweakable ciphers are a building block used to construct a variety of cryptographic algorithms. Typically, one proves (via a reduction) that a tweakable-cipher-based algorithm is about as secure as the underlying tweakable cipher. Hence improving the security or performance of tweakable ciphers immediately provides corresponding benefits to the wide array of cryptographic algorithms that employ them. We introduce new tweakable ciphers, some of which have better security and others of which have better performance than previous designs. Moreover, we demonstrate that tweakable ciphers can be used directly (as opposed to as a building block) to provide authenticated encryption with associated data in a way that (1) is robust against common misuses and (2) can, in some cases, result in significantly shorter ciphertexts than other approaches.
Optical microchip detection of nuclear magnetic resonance

We demonstrate optical detection of nuclear magnetic resonance on a microchip. A theoretical optimization indicates detection limits that are competitive with that demonstrated by microcoils in high magnetic fields, without requiring superconducting magnets.
A proposed mechanism for loss of heterozygosity in rice hybrids

A phenomenon, loss of heterozygosity (LOH), was discovered in hybrid plants involving a selected plant (named AMR) of the Chinese rice cultivar ‘ZhongxinNo. 1’ as one parent. In these hybrids and some of their progenies, somatic variations were manifested by molecular genotypes and/or morphological phenotypes in vegetative parts of the same plant. Random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) markers for the parents have been followed through the F3 generation. RAPD markers were uniformly present or absent in all plants within some or all F2 panicle rows derived from F1 hybrids involving AMR. In contrast, RAPD markers segregated in the Mendelian manner for dominant markers in panicle rows derived from control hybrids. Certain F2 panicle rows from F1hybrids involving the special rice became fixed for all assayed RAPD markers. Genotype fixation was confirmed by molecular assays and field observations of the F3 progenies. We propose a new biological mechanism, called ‘assortment mitosis,’ as being responsible for the observed phenomenon. The use of this mechanism in plant hybrids allows the development of uniform progenies as early as the F2 generation. Therefore, the time required to obtain fixed non-parental type progenies for subsequent performance trials can be drastically shortened. Utilizing this mechanism in plant breeding represents a new approach and requires the modification of conventional plant breeding procedures.
Parental religiosity, abuse history and maintenance of beliefs taught in the family

Both anecdotal and empirical investigations have indicated that childhood sexual abuse may negatively impact one's religiosity as an adult. However, few studies have examined the impact of other forms of abuse on the development of religiosity. In the present study, 167 participants recruited from a Pacific Northwest university completed questionnaires measuring parental religiosity, as well as both physical and emotional abuse history, to assess the impact of these factors on the participants’ maintenance of beliefs taught in the family. Results demonstrated that report of abuse was negatively associated with belief maintenance. Alternatively, parental religiosity was positively associated with belief maintenance, and negatively associated with report of abuse. These findings are discussed in terms of social learning theory and the lifestyle behaviours of religious individuals.
Gene expression during normal and FSHD myogenesis

Background Facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy (FSHD) is a dominant disease linked to contraction of an array of tandem 3.3-kb repeats (D4Z4) at 4q35. Within each repeat unit is a gene, DUX4, that can encode a protein containing two homeodomains. A DUX4 transcript derived from the last repeat unit in a contracted array is associated with pathogenesis but it is unclear how.
EXTRAPOLATION PROCEDURE FOR THE LOW-ENERGY DEUTERON-DEUTERON REACTION CROSS SECTION

A semiempirical study is made of the deuteron-deuteron reaction cross section to determine its energy dependence at low energy and to permit more reliable extrapolation to energies below the experimental range. An energy-dependent correction to the simple WKB form is shown to be indicated by experimental data. The energy-independent normalization factor is then determined by comparison with the experimental data over the range of ten to one hundred kev bombarding energy. This provides a cross-section formula which is more suitable for extrapolation to the region around one kev.
Are there roles for brain cell senescence in aging and neurodegenerative disorders

The term cellular senescence was introduced more than five decades ago to describe the state of growth arrest observed in aging cells. Since this initial discovery, the phenotypes associated with cellular senescence have expanded beyond growth arrest to include alterations in cellular metabolism, secreted cytokines, epigenetic regulation and protein expression. Recently, senescence has been shown to play an important role in vivo not only in relation to aging, but also during embryonic development. Thus, cellular senescence serves different purposes and comprises a wide range of distinct phenotypes across multiple cell types. Whether all cell types, including post-mitotic neurons, are capable of entering into a senescent state remains unclear. In this review we examine recent data that suggest that cellular senescence plays a role in brain aging and, notably, may not be limited to glia but also neurons. We suggest that there is a high level of similarity between some of the pathological changes that occur in the brain in Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases and those phenotypes observed in cellular senescence, leading us to propose that neurons and glia can exhibit hallmarks of senescence previously documented in peripheral tissues.
pCEST: Positive contrast using Chemical Exchange Saturation Transfer.

Abstract Chemical Exchange Saturation Transfer (CEST) contrast utilizes selective pre-saturation of a small pool of exchanging protons and subsequent detection of the decrease in bulk water signal. The CEST contrast is negative and requires detection of small signal change in the presence of a strong background signal. Here we develop a Positive CEST (pCEST) detection scheme utilizing the analogous nature of the CEST and off-resonance T 1 ρ experiments and exploring increased apparent relaxation rates in the presence of the selective pre-saturation. pCEST leads to the positive contrast, i.e., increased signal intensity as the result of the presence of the agent and RF pre-saturation. Simultaneously substantial background suppression is achieved. The contrast can be switched “ON” and “OFF”, similar to the original CEST.
Parasitic Helminths of the American White Pelican, Pelecanus erythrorhynchos, from Florida, U.S.A.

Thirty-three species of helminths (22 trematodes, 3 cestodes, 7 nematodes, and 1 acanthocephalan) were recovered from 29 American white pelicans, Pelecanus erythrorhynchos, collected in Florida, U.S.A., between 1982 and 2001. The number of helminth species per infected bird ranged from 3 to 17 (x = 11). Three species of Contracaecum (Contracaecum rudolphii, Contracaecum multipapillatum, and Contracaecum micropapillatum) were the most prevalent and abundant helminths. One cestode species (Paradilepis longivaginosus) was considered a specialist in white pelicans, 9 species were considered generalists in pelicaniform birds, and the remainder of the species were considered true bird generalists. White pelicans shared 14 species of helminths with brown pelicans, Pelecanus occidentalis, and the most prevalent helminths appear to have been acquired in marine habitats.
Differential expression of the ASGM1 antigen on anti-reovirus and alloreactive cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL)

SUMMARY Anti-reovirus cytotoxic effectors were found to be: (i) H-2 restricted; (ii) virus specific; (iii) non-lytic (in 4 h) for natural killer (NK)-sensitive YAC-1 cells; and (iv) positive for the Thy-1 and Lyt-2 lymphocyte markers. Thus, anti-reovirus cytotoxic effectors have the functional and phenotype characteristics of cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL). A significant fraction of anti-viral CTL, as well as alloreactive CTL, were also found to be positive for the asialo GM1 (ASGM1) cell surface antigen, generally considered to be a NK cell marker. ASGM1 expression on these CTL, as determined by sensitivity to antibody plus complement (C), appeared to be highly variable and dependent on two factors—the nature of the antigenic stimulus (viral vs. alloantigen), and the mouse strain from which the CTL originated. Thus, ASGM1 antigen expression on CTL appears to be regulated and may be under the control of lymphokines, development differentiation signals and/or other strain-dependent genetic factors.
Association of fatty acid ethyl esters in meconium and cognitive development during childhood and adolescence.

Objective To examine associations between amounts of fatty acid ethyl esters (FAEEs) in meconium and cognitive development in school-aged children exposed to alcohol and drugs in utero. Study design A secondary analysis of a prospective cohort of children, primarily African American and of low socioeconomic status, that was recruited at birth. FAEEs were quantified with gas chromatography via a flame ionization detector. Meconium was analyzed for FAEEs in 216 newborns; 191 of these infants were assessed for IQ at ages 9, 11, and 15 years with the Wechsler Intelligence Scales for Children-Fourth Edition. Results Longitudinal mixed model analyses indicated that, after we controlled for maternal and child covariates, greater concentrations of FAEEs (ethyl myristate, ethyl oleate, ethyl linoleate, and ethyl linolenate) were associated with lower Wechsler Intelligence Scales for Children-Fourth Edition Verbal Comprehension Index, Working Memory Index, and Full-Scale IQ scores. Associations of FAEEs with Verbal Comprehension Index, Working Memory Index, and Full-Scale IQ did not vary over time. No associations of FAEEs with Perceptual Reasoning and Processing Speed Indices were found. Conclusion Elevated levels of FAEEs in meconium are potential markers for identifying newborns at risk for poor cognitive development related to prenatal alcohol exposure.
The mechanobiology of mitral valve function, degeneration, and repair

In degenerative valve disease, the highly organized mitral valve leaflet matrix stratification is progressively destroyed and replaced with proteoglycan rich, mechanically inadequate tissue. This is driven by the actions of originally quiescent valve interstitial cells that become active contractile and migratory myofibroblasts. While treatment for myxomatous mitral valve disease in humans ranges from repair to total replacement, therapies in dogs focus on treating the consequences of the resulting mitral regurgitation. The fundamental gap in our understanding is how the resident valve cells respond to altered mechanical signals to drive tissue remodeling. Despite the pathological similarities and high clinical occurrence, surprisingly little mechanistic insight has been gleaned from the dog. This review presents what is known about mitral valve mechanobiology from clinical, in vivo, and in vitro data. There are a number of experimental strategies already available to pursue this significant opportunity, but success requires the collaboration between veterinary clinicians, scientists, and engineers.
Negative impedance instability compensation in buck converter using state space pole placement control

In aerospace power systems, multiple power converters and multiple voltage power systems interact with each other and can result in unstable operation. When a dc-dc converter is loaded with a constant power load, it shows instability. This is because of the negative impedance characteristic of constant power load. Some poles of the converter with a constant power load are in the right half plane of the s-plane. This paper presents a compensation technique for buck converter using state space pole placement control. With a state space pole placement control, the unstable poles are relocated to the stable region, i.e. left half plane.
Ultrasonic attenuation in metallic glasses at low temperatures

Results are reported of ultrasonic attenuation measurements on amorphous ${\mathrm{Pd}}_{0.40}$${\mathrm{Ni}}_{0.40}$${\mathrm{P}}_{0.20}$ at frequencies 25-450 MHz (transverse) and temperatures down to 0.3 K. The saturation behavior of attenuation as a function of ultrasonic amplitude is consistent with the prediction of the two-level-system tunneling theory. Contrary to the predictions of this theory, however, a linear frequency dependence and essentially no temperature dependence of the total saturable attenuation changes were observed at temperatures below about 1 K as in PdSi-based alloys reported previously. The frequency and temperature dependence of the completely saturated attenuation is described by $\ensuremath{\omega}\mathrm{ln}(\frac{T}{{T}_{0}})$ at temperatures 0.3-2 K.
Approaches to uncertainties in facility layout problems: Perspectives at the beginning of the 21st Century

Production uncertainty is one of the most challenging aspects in manufacturing environments in the 21st century. The next generation of intelligent manufacturing is dynamically depending on the production requirements, and success in designing agile facilities is closely related to what extent these requirements are satisfied. This paper presents the most recent advancements in designing robust and flexible facilities under uncertainty. The focus is on exploring the way uncertainty is incorporated in facility design, namely dynamic and stochastic facility layout problems. Recent approaches are explored and categorized in detail, and previous approaches are briefly reviewed in the related categories. Furthermore, research avenues warranting exploration in the emerging field of facility design are also discussed.
Metal and substrate binding to an Fe(II) dioxygenase resolved by UV spectroscopy with global regression analysis.

Abstract The addition of divalent metal ions or substrate taurine to TauD, an α-ketoglutarate-dependent dioxygenase, alters its UV absorption, as clearly observed by monitoring the protein’s difference spectra. Binding of metal ions leads to a decrease in absorption at ∼297 nm and modulation of other features. A separate signature with enhanced absorption at ∼295 nm is identified for binding of taurine. These narrow (∼700 cm −1 ) and intense (∼0.5 mM −1 cm −1 ) spectral changes are attributed to ligand-induced protein conformational changes affecting the environment of aromatic residues. The changes in the UV difference spectra were exploited to assess directly the thermodynamics and kinetics of ligand interactions in wild-type TauD and selected variants. This approach holds promise as a new tool to probe ligand-induced conformational changes in a wide range of other proteins. Experimental and quantification approaches for a reliable analysis of protein absorption below 320 nm are presented.
Alcohol impairs visual presence/absence detection more for females than for males

Ninety subjects (45 males, 45 females) were given 0.0, 0.5, or 1.0 ml/kg body weight of 190-proof ethanol and tested for chance-level presence/absence detection thresholds with energy-masked presentations of traffic signs and blank inputs. Alcohol produced higher blood alcohol concentration (BAC) levels, and higher detection threshold durations, for females than for males. These results indicate that alcohol influences precortical visual processing and that the influence is greater for females than for males. The higher bioavailability of alcohol in women is likely due to less gastric oxidation of ethanol in women than in men.
Shp-2 mediates v-Src-induced morphological changes and activation of the anti-apoptotic protein kinase Akt

The protein-tyrosine phosphatase Shp-2 is a positive modulator of the Ras/mitogen-activated protein kinase pathway and a putative substrate of the transforming non-receptor tyrosine kinase v-Src. To characterize the role of Shp-2 in cellular transformation and signaling by v-Src, we expressed v-Src in normal and Shp-2-deficient mouse embryo fibroblasts. Expression of Shp-2 was found to be necessary for morphological transformation by v-Src: Shp-2+/+ cells became rounded or spindly upon v-Src expression, whereas Shp-2-deficient cells remained relatively flat. v-Src-induced reorganization of the actin cytoskeleton and the formation of podosomes were compromised in Shp-2-deficient cells. Shp-2 deficiency also reduced v-Src-induced activation of the anti-apoptotic protein kinase Akt. The reduced activation of Akt in Shp-2-deficient cells correlated with a reduction in the association of the p85 regulatory subunit of PI3-kinase with the adapter protein Cbl. Activation of PI3-kinase by v-Src may be mediated by the association of the adapter protein Cbl with the p85 subunit. Since activation of Akt is dependent on PI3-kinase, this suggests that the effect of Shp-2 on Akt activation may be mediated, at least in part, by its effects on the interaction between PI3-kinase and Cbl. The defect in activation of the Akt survival pathway also correlated with enhanced sensitivity of Shp-2-deficient cells to an apoptosis-inducing agent. These results implicate Shp-2 in v-Src-induced cytoskeletal reorganization and activation of the Akt cell survival pathway.
The Colonel Blotto game

In the Colonel Blotto game, two players simultaneously distribute forces across n battlefields. Within each battlefield, the player that allocates the higher level of force wins. The payoff of the game is the proportion of wins on the individual battlefields. An equilibrium of the Colonel Blotto game is a pair of n-variate distributions. This paper characterizes the unique equilibrium payoffs for all (symmetric and asymmetric) configurations of the players’ aggregate levels of force, characterizes the complete set of equilibrium univariate marginal distributions for most of these configurations, and constructs entirely new and novel equilibrium n-variate distributions.
Quantifying changes in material properties of stroke-impaired muscle

Abstract Background Material properties of muscles are clinically important parameters for evaluating altered muscle function. Stroke survivors display motor impairments almost immediately after the vascular event, and then gradually develop altered muscle properties. Little is known about the magnitude of these changes in muscle material properties, specifically stiffness. Previous measures of stiffness are limited to estimates of joint stiffness or groups of muscles. Thus, our aim was to determine changes in passive muscle stiffness and composition by measuring: (1) shear wave speed using shear wave ultrasound elastography and (2) echo intensity of the B-mode ultrasound images of the biceps brachii muscle in individuals who have had a stroke. Methods Shear wave ultrasound elastography and B-mode ultrasound images of the biceps brachii muscle of the paretic and non-paretic limbs of sixteen stroke survivors were captured at rest. Findings Our main results show that shear wave speed and echo intensity of the paretic side were on average 69.5% and 15.5% significantly greater than those of the non-paretic side, respectively. Differences in shear wave speed between the non-paretic and the paretic muscles were strongly correlated with differences in echo intensity, time since stroke, and with Fugl–Meyer scores. Interpretation Muscle stiffness and muscle composition, as indicated by SW speed and echo intensity, may be altered in stroke-impaired muscle at rest. These findings highlight the potential for SW elastography as a tool for both investigating the fundamental mechanisms behind changes in stroke-impaired muscle, and for evaluation of muscle mechanical properties as part of clinical examination.
The Biobrane stent.

For a successful take, skin grafts must be immobilized when applying dressings. Surgical beds requiring a stent to maintain contact between the graft and wound bed can be treated with Biobrane (Dow B. Hickam, Inc., Sugarland, Texas), which is held in place with skin staples at the periphery. Moistened gauze is placed over the grafted area, the redundant Biobrane stretched over the gauze, and this top layer again stapled at the periphery. When the stent is no longer needed, the top layer of Biobrane and gauze are removed, leaving a graft adherent to the bed and covered with Biobrane. This allows the surgeon to quickly construct an effective stent.
Is physical activity or aerobic power more influential on reducing cardiovascular disease risk factors

ABSTRACTIs physical activity or aerobic power more influential on reducing cardiovascular disease risk factors? Med. Sci. Sports Exerc., Vol. 30, No. 10, pp. 1521-1529, 1998.Purpose:This study determined the relationship between aerobic power (V˙O2max), physical activity (PA), and cardiovascular dis
Correlation In Time Series Regression: The Geary Test

Sociologists have recently become more interested in testing dynamic models of social change via time series regression techniques (e.g., Snyder, 1975; Franke and Kaul, 1978; Burstein and Freudenburg, 1978). The existence of serial correlation in the disturbance term, which would constitute a violation of one of the standard regression model assumptions, is usually tested for in such models via the Durbm-Watson (1950, 1951) d test statrstic. However, the Durbin-Watson test often allows no inference concerning the existence of serial correlation because the critical values of the test cannot be tabulated exactly. Geary †1970∪ proposed a test statistic, tau, which is easy to calculate and has an exact probability distribution. This article discusses serial correlation and its consequences for OLS regression equations, proposes the Geary test as a convenient addition to the Durbin-Watson test, and argues that the Geary test provides additional information, especially in the case of indeterminancy in the Durb...
Psychosocial intervention for pediatric bipolar disorder: current and future directions

Pediatric bipolar disorder (PBD) affects approximately 2% of the population and disrupts mood regulation, psychosocial functioning and quality of life among affected youths and families. Given the significant psychosocial impairment and poor long-term prognosis associated with PBD, psychosocial intervention is considered to be an essential component of a multimodal treatment approach. This relatively young field of research has witnessed significant growth in the evidence base for psychosocial treatments targeting youths in the past decade, particularly family-based interventions grounded in a biopsychosocial framework. This article reviews existing empirically supported interventions for children and adolescents with PBD. Common elements of successful interventions are identified, and future research directions to address current limitations in the field and advance understanding of treatment for PBD are discussed.
Dynamics of functional aging based on latent-class trajectories of activities of daily living.

Purpose This study sought to identify and characterize major patterns of functional aging based on activities of daily living (ADL).
Surface information loss in comprehension

Shortly after a sentence has been comprehended, information about its exact surface form (e.g., its word order) becomes less available. The present research demonstrated this phenomenon during the comprehension of nonverbal stimuli (picture stories). In Experiment 1, significantly more surface (left/right orientation) information was lost after comprehending several picture stories than just one; in Experiment 2, more was lost after comprehending an entire picture story than half of one. In Experiment 3, subjects segmented the picture stories into their constituents; in Experiment 4, significantly more surface information was lost after crossing these constituents' boundaries than before. The present research also investigated why surface information is lost. Four explanations were considered: Surface information loss is the result of performing grammatical transformations (the linguistic hypothesis), exceeding short-term memory limitations (the memory limitations hypothesis), integrating information into gist (the integration hypothesis), shifting from building one substructure to initiating another (the processing shift hypothesis). The linguistic and memory limitations hypotheses were considered inadequate; the integration and the processing shift hypotheses were tested in the last set of experiments. In Experiment 5 (using nonverbal stimuli), the predictions made by the processing shift hypothesis were confirmed; in Experiment 6 (using verbal stimuli), these results were replicated. Other implications of the processing shift hypothesis concerning surface information loss are discussed.