cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Electrochemical effects of surface-modified glass microspheres in polyvinylpyridine and polystyrene sulfonate composite electrodes

Tailoring the interfacial region of composite modified electrodes has been a topic of discussion for over a decade. This research examines the electrochemical effects of the formation of unique interfacial regions in surface-modified glass microsphere/polyvinylpyridine composite modified electrodes and surface-modified glass microsphere/polystyrene sulfonate composite modified electrodes. The surfaces of the glass microspheres are modified with different organic functional groups by binding organosilanes to the surfaces of the glass microspheres through a siloxane linkage. This research showed that surface-modified glass microspheres can alter the electrochemical flux through both surface-modified glass microsphere/ polyvinylpyridine composites and surface-modified glass microsphere/polystyrene sulfonate composites of hydroquinone, Ru(bpy) 3 2+), and ferricyanide. It was also shown that the polymer itself plays a crucial role in the formation and the properties of the interfacial region. The interfacial region was imaged using fluorescence microscopy, and the microscopy showed that a highly concentrating interfacial region is formed for all of the surface-modified glass microsphere/polymer composites studied regardless of whether there is an electrochemical effect. Further studies with smaller particles are necessary to obtain a large enough interfacial region to be useful for sensor development.
Silicon compilation of switched-capacitor networks

Design techniques and methodologies for silicon compilation of switched-capacitor (SC) networks consisting of SC blocks is described in this paper. It requires a set of specifications and a circuit description of each SC block. The operational amplifier (opamp) synthesis is based on the selection and assembly of primitive modules to form an opamp circuit topology. Style selection is done through a decision-decomposition tree to provide an initial result. The result is finalized through an iterative algorithm using SPICE program. The layout strategy and architecture are such that they eliminate any crossover of sensitive signals by undesired signals; thus avoiding any special routing algorithm for sensitive routing. The result is a stand alone layout of a SC block which can be placed and routed with other SC blocks or analog and digital cells using a general auto placement and router tool. >
Sequential Volume Reduction With Capsular Plications Relationship Between Cumulative Size of Plications and Volumetric Reduction for Multidirectional Instability of the Shoulder

Purpose: To quantify the relationship between the amount of shoulder capsule imbricated with a simple stitch and the degree of glenohumeral volume reduction in a multidirectional instability model. Secondary purposes were to identify the number of arthroscopic plication stitches required to reduce the shoulder volume equal to that of an open lateral-based inferior capsular shift and to compare volume reductions between suture anchor and suture-only capsular plication stitches.Study Design: Controlled laboratory study.Methods: Twelve fresh-frozen cadaveric shoulders (mean age, 64.4 years) were dissected to the level of the rotator cuff. A viscous liquid was injected into each joint, and measurements were taken before and after six 1-cm arthroscopic capsular plication stitches were performed. The sizes of the capsular plications were measured to quantify the amount of capsule imbricated with each simple stitch. A repeated random-intercept regression model was fitted for each outcome, with significance set a...
Stability of conditioned pain modulation in two musculoskeletal pain models: investigating the influence of shoulder pain intensity and gender

Several chronic pain populations have demonstrated decreased conditioned pain modulation (CPM). However there is still a need to investigate the stability of CPM paradigms before the measure can be recommended for implementation. The purpose of the present study was to assess whether shoulder pain intensity and gender influence CPM stability within and between sessions. This study examined two different musculoskeletal pain models, clinical shoulder pain and an experimental model of shoulder pain induced with eccentric exercise in healthy participants. Patients in the clinical cohort (N = 134) were tested before surgery and reassessed 3 months post-surgery. The healthy cohort (N = 190) was examined before inducing pain at the shoulder, and 48 and 96 hours later. Our results provide evidence that 1) stability of inhibition is not related to changes in pain intensity, and 2) there are sex differences for CPM stability within and between days. Fluctuation of pain intensity did not significantly influence CPM stability. Overall, the more stable situations for CPM were females from the clinical cohort and males from the healthy cohort.
How to Turn the Reaction Coordinate into Time

What are the internal motions of an ion channel protein when it “gates” between closed and open-channel conformations? In 2005, Zhou, Pearson, and Auerbach (ZPA) ( Biophys. J . 89:3680–3685) showed that Φ, a parameter derived from the forward and backward rate constants of a chemical reaction
Management implications of capybara (Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris) social behavior

Capybaras (Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris) are the world's largest rodent. Free-living populations are commercially harvested for their meat and leather in Colombia, Venezuela and Argen- tina; however, there is concern that legal and illegal harvesting is not sustainable. Since capybaras are considered an economic resource, there have been several attempts to explore the effect of different hunting strategies on its population dynamics. Two previous population models have been developed with this goal; however neither included capybara social behavior that may affect population dynamics. We developed an age-structured, density-dependent model of capybara herd dynamics to explore the demographic conse- quences of different hunting strategies. We then added infanticide and female reproductive suppression to explore the demographic consequences of such behavior. We conducted five different simulations and used ANOVA to estimate the effect of hunting females, hunting males, hunting both males and females, and the independent effects of reproductive sup- pression and infanticide on population size after 50 years. Our model suggests that sup- pression has the largest effect on population size, followed by hunting females and males hunting, female hunting, male hunting and infanticide. Thus, to develop more real- istic harvesting models, managers should determine the degree of reproductive suppres- sion and the frequency of infanticide by males.
Asthma Research: Future Directions for Emergency Medicine

Abstract [Nowak RM, Hurd SS, Skobeloff EM, Taggart VS: Asthma research: Future directions for emergency medicine. Ann Emerg Med February 1996:27:244-249.
TRANSONIC FLUTTER COMPUTATIONS FOR THE NLR 7301 AIRFOIL INSIDE A WIND TUNNEL

A numerical investigation of the transonic twodegree-of-freedom bending/torsion flutter characteristics of the NLR 7301 section is carried out using a time domain method. The simulations include the wind tunnel walls in order to improve aerodynamic predictions by modeling experimental flow conditions more closely. An implicit, time accurate, two-dimensional, compressible, thin-layer Navier-Stokes flow solver is coupled with a two-degree-of-freedom structural model. A three-block grid is used for the discretization of the domain including the airfoil and wind tunnel walls. Solid and porous wall boundary conditions are implemented and tested for the domain boundaries representing the tunnel walls. Computations of the steady transonic aerodynamic characteristics show good agreement with the experimental results when a 50% porosity wall boundary condition is assumed for the wind tunnel walls. The aeroelastic computations improved the prediction of limit-cycle flutter amplitudes compared to the unbounded flow calculations.
Survival of Juvenile Salmonids Passing through Bypass Systems, Turbines, and Spillways with and without Flow Deflectors at Snake River Dams

Abstract Using yearling chinook salmon Oncorhynchus tshawytscha and steelhead O. mykiss tagged with passive integrated transponders (PITs), we estimated passage survival through bypass systems, turbines, and spill bays with and without flow deflectors at Snake River dams relative to survival of fish released into the tailrace below the dam. Actively migrating fish were collected and marked with PIT tags at Snake River dam smolt collection facilities. Groups of tagged fish were then released through hoses into different passage routes; releases were coincident with a tailrace release approximately 1–2 km below the dam. Relative survival was estimated by the use of tag–recapture models for paired releases from detections of individual PIT-tagged fish at juvenile collection or detection facilities at downstream dams. Detection sites included Little Goose, Lower Monumental, McNary, John Day, and Bonneville dams, depending on the release location and year. Standard errors of relative survival probability estim...
Body fatness and bioelectrical impedance in non-obese pre-menarcheal girls: comparison to anthropometry and evaluation of predictive equations

Objectives: To determine in non-obese pre-menarcheal girls if bioelectrical impedance (BIA) is a better predictor of body fatness than triceps skinfold (TSF) or body mass index (BMI) and to cross-validate published equations for determination of fat-free mass (FFM) from BIA in pre-menarcheal girls. Design: Cross-sectional analysis of data from 132 non-obese pre-menarcheal girls. The relationship of percent body fat (%BF), derived from isotopic dilution of H2 18 O to TSF, BMI, and %BF by BIA, calculated from measures of height, weight and resistance was examined by correlation analysis. Setting: Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Clinical Research Center in Cambridge, MA, USA. Subjects: Pre-menarcheal girls aged 8‐12 y were recruited from local schools, MIT summer day camp and by word of mouth. Results: TSF accounted for 68% of the explained variance (R 2 ) in the prediction of %BF measured by H2 18 O, compared to 38% for BMI and 70% for BIA. Prediction of FFM by comparison of published equations was evaluated in this population. The predictive ability differed by Tanner stage. Kushner’s equation (Kushner et al, 1992), based solely on height 2 /resistance was the only equation that provided estimates that did not differ significantly from measured values among all Tanner stages. Conclusions: BIA appears to be a valid and reliable measure of FFM but is no better than TSF in predictions of body fat. Sponsorship: Studies were conducted at the General Clinical Research Center at MIT and were supported by NIH grants RR-00088, DK-HD50537, and DK46200. Descriptors: bioelectrical impedance; validation; anthropometry; girls
Photoacoustic brain imaging: from microscopic to macroscopic scales

Human brain mapping has become one of the most exciting contemporary research areas, with major breakthroughs expected in the coming decades. Modern brain imaging techniques have allowed neuroscientists to gather a wealth of anatomic and functional information about the brain. Among these techniques, by virtue of its rich optical absorption contrast, high spatial and temporal resolutions, and deep penetration, photoacoustic tomography (PAT) has attracted more and more attention, and is playing an increasingly important role in brain studies. In particular, PAT complements other brain imaging modalities by providing high-resolution functional and metabolic imaging. More importantly, PAT’s unique scalability enables scrutinizing the brain at both microscopic and macroscopic scales, using the same imaging contrast. In this review, we present the state-of-the-art PAT techniques for brain imaging, summarize representative neuroscience applications, outline the technical challenges in translating PAT to human brain imaging, and envision potential technological deliverables.
A Scalable Parallel Wideband MLFMA for Efficient Electromagnetic Simulations on Large Scale Clusters

The development of the multilevel fast multipole algorithm (MLFMA) and its multiscale variants have enabled the use of integral equation (IE) based solvers to compute scattering from complicated structures. Development of scalable parallel algorithms, to extend the reach of these solvers, has been a topic of intense research for about a decade. In this paper, we present a new algorithm for parallel implementation of IE solver that is augmented with a wideband MLFMA and scalable on large number of processors. The wideband MLFMA employed here, to handle multiscale problems, is a hybrid combination of the accelerated Cartesian expansion (ACE) and the classical MLFMA. The salient feature of the presented parallel algorithm is that it is implicitly load balanced and exhibits higher performance. This is achieved by developing a strategy to partition the MLFMA tree, and hence the associated computations, in a self-similar fashion among the parallel processors. As detailed in the paper, the algorithm employs both spatial and direction partitioning approaches in a flexible manner to ensure scalable performance. Plethora of results are presented here to exhibit the scalability of this algorithm on 512 and more processors.
Suicide and attempted suicide: study of perceived sex differences.

The study investigated social evaluations of suicidal behavior as a function of sex. A 2 × 2 × 2 factorial design was used with the following factors: sex of S, sex of concept, suicidal behavior of concept (suicide, attempted suicide). 202 evening school college students rated the concepts on evaluative, potency, activity, and masculinity semantic differential scales. Results support the hypothesis that suicide is considered more masculine than attempted suicide and partially support the hypothesis that suicide is considered more potent than attempted suicide.
Barriers to the Use of Intravenous Tissue Plasminogen Activator for In-hospital Strokes

Background Patients who have ischemic strokes (ISs) while hospitalized for other conditions may be less likely to receive intravenous tissue plasminogen activator (IV tPA) when compared to patients who have strokes in the community. This study explored possible barriers to IV tPA use in these patients. Methods Stroke diagnosis was confirmed by chart review for all adult patients admitted to Bellevue Hospital between January 1, 2004 and December 31, 2008 who were discharged with a primary or secondary International Classification of Diseases, 9th edition code for transient ischemic attack, intracerebral hemorrhage, or IS. Circumstances at stroke onset were recorded for all patients who had strokes while hospitalized for another reason. Results Seventy-nine in-hospital IS cases were identified; 18 (23%) occurred P Conclusions Seventy percent of in-hospital IS cases in our single hospital retrospective study were postoperative, clinically subtle, or had contraindications to IV tPA, preventing its use. Of the remaining untreated patients, the biggest barrier to IV tPA administration was delay in stroke discovery, which was largely dependent on observation by hospital staff or family rather than patient report.
Partners for Life: a theoretical approach to developing an intervention for cardiac risk reduction

Long-term maintenance of behavioral change to reduce health risk factors is essential to producing a positive effect on medical outcomes. This study examines whether an ongoing, long-term relationship can be used to help patients diagnosed with coronary artery disease adhere to a risk-reducing behavioral intervention and maintain healthy behavioral changes. One hundred and sixty patients with diagnosed coronary artery disease will be randomized to a standard behavioral treatment group or to a standard behavioral treatment group including a couples intervention and followed for 18 months. The treatment in both groups follows tenets of cognitive behavioral and Self-Determination Theories as well as the Transtheoretical Model of Behavior Change. In addition, the couples intervention is designed to (1) change the patient's environment to facilitate cardiac risk-reducing behavioral changes, (2) optimize social reinforcement and motivation for behavior change, and (3) decrease relationship stress. Behavioral outcomes assessed include adherence to an exercise regimen, adherence to dietary recommendations and adherence to lipid-lowering medication. Lipid values, psychological variables and relationship variables are assessed throughout the study and at follow-up. While we expect both groups of cardiac patients to successfully adapt new health behaviors, we expect the couples intervention to be superior in helping maintain long-term health behaviors.
A complex mechanism of call recognition in the katydid Neoconocephalus affinis (Orthoptera: Tettigoniidae).

SUMMARY Acoustic pattern recognition is important for bringing together males and females in many insect species. We used phonotaxis experiments on a walking compensator to study call recognition in the katydid Neoconocephalus affinis , a species with a double-pulsed call and an atypically slow pulse rate for the genus. Call recognition in this species is unusual because females require the presence of two alternating pulse amplitudes in the signal. A Fourier analysis of the stimulus-envelopes revealed that females respond only when both the first and second harmonics of the AM spectrum are of similar amplitude. The second harmonic is generated by the amplitude difference between the two pulses making up a pulse-pair. Females respond to double pulses that have been merged into a single pulse only if this amplitude modulation is preserved. Further experiments suggest that females use a resonance mechanism to recognize the pulse rate of the call, supporting a neural model of rate recognition in which periodic oscillations in membrane potential are used to filter the pulse rate of the signal. Our results illustrate how a reduction in pulse rate extends the opportunities for females to evaluate fine-scale temporal properties of calls, and provide further evidence for the importance of oscillatory membrane properties in temporal processing. The results are discussed with regard to evolutionary changes in call recognition mechanisms within the genus.
Increased activity of some folic acid enzyme systems in infectious mononucleosis.

Increased levels of activity for the formate activating enzyme and N5,N10-methylene FH4 dehydrogenase have been found in the leukocytes from patients with infectious mononucleosis; in addition dihydrofolic reductase, an enzyme not found in mature circulating leukocytes, has been detected in infectious mononucleosis cells. Glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase activity is less in infectious mononucleosis leukocytes than in normal leukocytes. These findings are similar to the results obtained in acute and chronic myelogenous leukemia and indicate that the leukocytes seen in infectious mononucleosis have the enzymatic apparatus associated with synthesis of DNA.
The Association of the Escherichia coli Chromosome with the Cell Membrane

The notion that the bacterial chromosome is attached to the membrane is by now firmly embedded in the folklore of bacterial structure. It is derived from a series of experiments on the segregation of the Escherichia coli chromosome and its plasmids, which Jacob et al. (1963) used for their original postulation of the replicon model. Unfortunately, in the subsequent years this notion remains more compelling for its logical appeal than for the rigorousness of the experimental evidence. In any case, this aspect of the replicon model has not contributed very much to our understanding of genome segregation or of the regulation of its synthesis. Despite this, no one so far has presented a serious alternative for the physical basis for chromosome segregation.
Revision of the Palaearctic species and review of the Oriental species of Ooctonus (Hymenoptera: Mymaridae), with notes on extralimital taxa

The fairyfly genus Ooctonus Haliday (Hymenoptera: Mymaridae) from the Palaearctic region is revised. Twelve speces are recognized, including the newly described O. lokomotiv Triapitsyn sp. n. (Far East of Russia), O. saturn Triapitsyn sp. n. (Far East of Russia, and Japan), O. spartak Triapitsyn sp. n. (Kyrgyzstan), O. tretiakovi Triapitsyn sp. n. (Far East of Russia), and O. us Triapitsyn sp. n. (Japan, and Republic of Korea). All the species are redescribed, illustrated, and diagnosed, as is the Oriental species O. himalayus Subba Rao, based mainly on non-type specimens from Nepal (its male is newly described). Taxonomic notes are provided on the other three previously described Oriental species of Ooctonus and one new Oriental species, O. lapen Triapitsyn sp. n., is described from Nepal. Extralimital records are included for the species with Holarctic distribution. Twenty-five new synonymies are proposed: O. major Foerster syn. n., O. elegantissimus Soyka syn. n., O. austriacus Soyka syn. n., O. silvestris Soyka syn. n., and O. isotomus Mathot syn. n. under O. insignis Haliday; O. acutiventris Soyka syn. n., O. askhamensis Hincks syn. n., O. collinus Soyka syn. n., O. stammeri Soyka syn. n., O. viennensis Soyka syn. n., O. niger Soyka syn. n., and O. americanus Girault syn. n. under O. vulgatus Haliday; O. amoenus (Foerster) syn. n., O. hemipterus igneus Debauche syn. n., O. foersteri Soyka syn. n., O. wagneri Soyka syn. n., and O. pechlaneri Soyka syn. n. under O. hemipterus Haliday; O. atroflavus Soyka syn. n., O. diversicornis Soyka syn. n., and O. auripes Whittaker syn. n. under O. notatus Walker; O. polonicus Soyka syn. n., O. montanus Soyka syn. n., O. remonti Mathot syn. n., and O. dovrensis Solem & Sveum syn. n. under O. sublaevis Foerster; and O. flaviventris Donev syn. n. under O. novickyi Soyka. Ooctonus sevae Risbec (from Madagascar) is transferred to Gonatocerus Nees ab Esenbeck as Gonotocerus (Lymaenon) sevae (Risbec), comb. n. Lectotypes are designated for O. austriacus Soyka, O. elegantissimus Soyka, O. foersteri Soyka, O. heterotomus Foerster, O. major Foerster, and O. sub- 4 · Zootaxa 2381 © 2010 Magnolia Press laevis Foerster. Separate keys are provided to females of Ooctonus from the Palaearctic region, to both sexes of the European species, and also to females of the known Oriental species of Ooctonus. A brief diagnosis of the genus is given based on its world fauna, and information on the distribution and known host associations of Ooctonus species is provided. A historical account of the Walter Soyka collection of microhymenoptera is presented, with references to the Arnold Foerster collection of Mymaridae.
Nonlinear Model Reduction for CFD Problems Using Local Reduced Order Bases

A model reduction framework based on the concept of local reduced-order bases is presented. The offline phase of the method builds the local reduced-order bases using an unsupervised learning algorithm. In the online phase of the method, the choice of the local basis is based on the current state of the system. Inexpensive rank-one updates to the local bases are performed during the online phase for increased accuracy. Applications to nonlinear CFD simulations show that the method is effective in producing small and accurate reduced order models.
Implicit LES Computation of a Vortical-Gust/Wing Interaction for Transitional Flow

This paper presents high-order implicit LES computations of the interaction of a parallel vortical gust with an AR = 4.0 wing having a NACA0012 cross section. A grid resolution study determined the proper spanwise spacing needed to capture the transitional flow on the wing and the initial gust free flow is described. Three different cases are then considered. The baseline case examines the direct impingement of a vortical gust on the leading edge of the wing. The unsteady flow physics of the gust encounter is described and correlated with the unsteady aerodynamics of the lift, drag and pitching moment. Two further cases are studied where the gust vortex passes over the upper surface and under the lower surface of the wing. These additional cases will elucidate what impact the position of the gust vortex has on the resulting unsteady aerodynamics.
Countercations Direct One- or Two-Electron Oxidation of an Al(III) Complex and Al(III)–Oxo Intermediates Activate C–H Bonds

Hydrogen abstraction by aluminum(III)–oxo intermediates via reaction pathways reminiscent of late transition metal chemistry has been observed. Oxidation of M+[(IP2–)2Al]− (IP = iminopyridine, M = Na, Bu4N) yielded [Na(THF)(DME)][(IP–)(IP2–)Al(OH)] (3) or [(IP–)2Al(OH)] (4), via O-atom transfer and subsequent C–H activation or proton abstraction, respectively.
Psychometric Properties of the Abbreviated Multidimensional Acculturation Scale and the Multigroup Ethnic Identity Measure With Japanese Sojourners

The current study examined psychometric properties of the Japanese version of Abbreviated Multidimensional Acculturation Scale (AMAS-ZABB-JP) and the 20-item Multigroup Ethnic Identity Measure (MEIM-JP) with 273 Japanese sojourners and immigrants to the United States. The theoretical six-factor structure for the AMAS-JP and two-factor structure for the MEIM-JP was consistent with the literature. The subscales of the AMAS and MEIM showed expected patterns of correlation with each other and with additional variables (i.e., number of years in the United States), providing evidence for construct validity. Cronbach's alpha reflected high levels of reliability for both scales. Despite strong psychometric findings, there were translational and cultural-based findings that suggest the need for further research.
Abstract B41: HGFL-Ron signaling enhances breast cancer stem cell populations

Abstracts: AACR Special Conference: Advances in Breast Cancer; October 17-20, 2015; Bellevue, WA The Ron receptor tyrosine kinase is overexpressed in a high fraction of human breast cancers (BCs). Ron and its ligand, the Hepatocyte Growth Factor-Like protein (HGFL), play important roles during BC initiation, progression, and therapeutic resistance, with overexpression of this signaling cascade associated with increased BC metastasis and poor prognosis in humans. Reports demonstrate that a small subpopulation of cancer cells, called the breast cancer stem cells (BCSCs), are essential for the development and maintenance of BC, leading to tumor formation and recurrence. Despite the role of HGFL-Ron signaling as a key regulator of BC, nothing is known about this signaling pathway in BCSC populations. To investigate the function of HGFL-Ron signaling in BCSCs, the expression levels of Ron and HGFL were analyzed in BCSCs. mRNA analyses show increased levels of Ron and HGFL in BCSC-enriched Mammospheres (MSs) compared to parental BC epithelial cells. Next, the association between Ron signaling and the BCSC population was examined. Aldefluor assays of several Ron replete and depleted human and murine BC epithelial cell lines show that Ron overexpression increases the BCSC population. In vivo, flow cytometry analyses of breast tumors for BCSC markers show that Ron signaling is associated with increases in the BCSC population. MS formation assays using several Ron replete and depleted human and murine BC cell lines also demonstrate that cells expressing high levels of Ron have increased MS formation. Ex vivo studies of sorted BCSCs further support that Ron signaling enhances the MS formation ability of BCSCs. Interestingly, our data suggest that both genetic ablation and chemical inhibition of Ron signaling is sufficient to decrease BCSC MS formation ability. Mammosphere culture over several passages also suggest that Ron signaling BCSCs have higher self-renewal capabilities than Ron deficient BCSCs, highlighting the role of HGFL-Ron signaling in regulating BCSC function. Recent preliminary studies correlate Ron signaling in BCSCs with increased β-catenin and NF-κB pathways, suggesting these as the potential molecular mechanisms through which Ron signaling promotes BCSC function in BC. Overall, our data provide (i) the first evidence demonstrating both HGFL and Ron as critical factors regulating the BCSC population and (ii) that this regulation might occur in a β-catenin and NF-κB pathway dependent manner. These studies suggest both Ron and HGFL as potential therapeutic targets to eradicate BCSCs and improve the outcome of BC patients. Citation Format: Sasha J. Ruiz-Torres, Susan E. Waltz. HGFL-Ron signaling enhances breast cancer stem cell populations. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Special Conference on Advances in Breast Cancer Research; Oct 17-20, 2015; Bellevue, WA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Mol Cancer Res 2016;14(2_Suppl):Abstract nr B41.
Vertebral osteophytosis and dysphagia. Two case reports of the syndrome recently termed ankylosing hyperostosis.

Large, painless anterior cervical hyperostoses produced dysphagia and aspiration in this series of two cases. Both patients exhibited ossification of the anterior longitudinal ligament of the spine. The literature pertinent to the arthrogenic causes of dysphagia is reviewed and the pathological anatomy, etiologies of osteophytic conditions, analysis of previously reported cases and a rational diagnostic approach to the problem are discussed. Surgical excision of the offending osteophytes is indicated in those patients who do not respond satisfactorily to conservative therapy.
On the Wrong Side of the Tracks?: Ethical Considerations of the Needle Black Market

Since the late 1980s, needle exchange programs (NEP s) have been great resources for intravenous drug users (IDU s), as they provide both clean needles with which IDUs can inject as well as basic health services, including HIV HIV testing and counseling. However, for reasons such as inconvenience and fear of criminalization, many IDU s opt instead to purchase their needles from illicit street sellers who acquire needles in bulk from NEP s. This ess ay considers the ethical permiss ibility of the sellers’ actions, focusing specifically on the case of a man from Philadelphia who uses the money he obtains from needle resale to feed his addiction. It is ultimately argued that the man’s actions are, in fact, ethical, as his resale of needles positively contributes to the common good by reducing the spread of disease. illicit needle sellers such as the one described in this ess ay should be embraced by the public health community since, with proper training, they can help to facilitate health promoting education for their peers.
Heterogeneous Materials Design for Sustainable Nuclear Waste Storage Using Life Prediction by Conformal Finite Element Analysis

The durability of heterogeneous nuclear waste forms depends on the individual constituent properties as well as their internal morphology and boundary conditions. The end of life is defined by mechanical and chemical failure modes. Chemical failure occurs when increasing porosity reaches a threshold value, creating continuous pathways for the internal material to come in contact with the outside environment. Mechanical failure occurs when the waste form loses its structural strength due to porosity. In this work we employ conformal finite element analysis of heterogeneous waste forms set on the actual microstructure determined by tomography. The model calculates species flux in the constituents and the composite waste form subjected to various storage environments to estimate the development of porosity with time and the subsequent life. The analytical approach with preliminary results is discussed. The method is postulated to be a foundation for design of heterogeneous waste form materials.
Public Health Impact and Economic Costs of Volkswagen’s Lack of Compliance with the United States’ Emission Standards

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently issued a notice of violation against Volkswagen (VW) for installing a defective device in certain models of diesel cars to circumvent emission tests for nitrogen oxides (NOx). We quantified the health and economic impacts of extra NOx emissions attributable to non-compliant vehicles in the U.S. using the EPA’s Co-Benefits Risk Assessment model. We estimated that the total extra NOx emitted over one year of operation would result in 5 to 50 premature deaths, 687 to 17,526 work days with restricted activity, and economic costs of $43,479,189 to $423,268,502, based on various assumptions regarding emission scenarios and risks. This study highlights the potential impacts of VW vehicles’ lack of compliance on the health and well-being of the U.S. population.
Role of lower extremity run-off CT angiography in the evaluation of acute vascular disease

In the acute care setting, radiologists are frequently asked to assist in the evaluation of patients presenting with signs and symptoms of lower extremity peripheral vascular disease. Non-traumatic peripheral vascular emergencies are most commonly the result of thrombosis, either in a native vessel or within a bypass graft or stent. Arterial emboli, peripheral aneurysm with embolus or thrombosis, and direct arterial trauma are additional, less common causes. Traumatic peripheral vascular emergencies include vessel occlusion, transection, pseudoaneurysms, active extravasation, and arteriovenous fistulas. The high morbidity and mortality associated with acute limb ischemia makes rapid diagnosis and early initiation of therapy critical in the management of such patients. Computed tomographic angiography (CTA) offers the vascular specialist a rapid, widely available, and accurate means to diagnose and grade the extent of vascular disease in the acute care setting. In this pictorial essay, the key elements of lower extremity run-off CTA are reviewed, including relevant anatomy, imaging approach, and spectrum of imaging findings.
Preparing Pre-service Secondary Teachers to Teach Science to English Learners: Theory into Practice

This chapter focuses on the preparation of pre-service teachers to teach science to English Learners (ELs) and is based on the SSTELLA (Secondary Science Teaching with English Language and Literacy Acquisition) project that has been implemented in four pre-service teacher education programs in Arizona, California and Texas. The SSTELLA project uses a practice-focused model of teacher education to engage novice teachers in observation, analysis, and experience with explicit models of the instructional approaches they are being prepared to teach. It describes how four SSTELLA practices – Scientific Sense-making, Scientific Discourse, English Language and Literacy Development, and Contextualized Science Activity–are articulated across the coursework and practicum requirements of the teacher education program through the use of instructional exemplars, video cases, and professional development with cooperating teachers and teacher supervisors. Data are presented that show that teacher candidates who participated in the SSTELLA intervention implemented several key practices at a higher level: contextualizing science activity, and engaging students in productive talk and student-student interaction. Furthermore, these teacher candidates showed higher self-efficacy for teaching ELs than candidates who were not part of the intervention.
Immunotherapy: Incorporation in the evolving paradigm of renal cancer management and future prospects

Significant progress has been made in the management of renal cell carcinoma (RCC) during the last few decades. In early stage, localized disease, surgical resection remains the modality of choice, with no therapeutic interventions as options for post-operative therapy other than simple observation and clinical surveillance. However, treatment options in the advanced or metastatic setting are increasing at a dizzying pace, initially with cytokine therapy, then with the increased availability of targeted therapy including novel small-molecule inhibitors of receptor tyrosine kinases and monoclonal antibodies targeting novel proteins, establishing them as the current standard of care. Even more recently, immunotherapy has seen tremendous development in the form of immune checkpoint inhibition and vaccines. Overall, these interventions have gradually changed the landscape of cancer management in general, and metastatic renal cell carcinoma (mRCC) in particular. This is exemplified by the recent United States Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) approval of nivolumab for patients with mRCC after failure of TKI therapy. In this review, we present a brief overview of the current management of mRCC, primarily the clear cell subtype (ccRCC), and discuss the major clinical trials and data on the immunotherapy in advanced or mRCC.
Recurrent Warscape in Beirut public spaces: forty years later (1975-2015)

In the context of a tormented Middle East geopolitics and the ongoing Arabo-Israeli conflict, a civil war erupted in Lebanon in 1975 and went uninterrupted for fifteen long years. As early as the first two-years-round of civil war in 1975-77, violent armed conflict manifested itself in an urban nature and contextualized in the capital Beirut. Back then, the civil war targeted systematically the public spaces and achieved purposefully the dual objective of mutating social practice and mutilating their urban form into a geography of fear. Intriguingly, during the unreconciled civil war aftermath, the display of instability and conflict kept on marking sporadically the same public spaces at different incidents. Three decades following the eruption of urban violence in 1975, intermittent events of social and political nature took place between 2005 and 2015, triggered by the assassination of the prime minister. This paper will tackle the two case studies of public spaces which are the pivots of the recurrent warscape: Place des Martyrs and the seaside hotels’ area, both symbols of social and geographic contestations at simultaneous times of peace and war. Based on an interdisciplinary literature, the socio political manifestations will be highlighted by unfolding them across time and space. Signs of discontentment and instability are manifested under different facets and patterns varying from passive intangible representations to active outbursts. The perpetuation of events hitherto occurring in the same urban spaces will be studied from the perspective of the social and political realities. In the absence of a mono-causal factor for warscape recurrence, mapping conflict in the urban space is a suggested tool to approach the perpetuation issue from a context-specific perspective. It is as well an opportunity to raise the question on the relation between the socio-political claims and their reverberation in the same urban spaces.
EXTENDED REMISSION AND LATE RE-DECOMPENSATION OF DILATED CARDIOMYOPATHY ASSOCIATED WITH A NOVEL RIBONUCLEIC ACID BINDING MOTIF PROTEIN 20 (RBM20) MUTATION

Background: Dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) is the most common cause of heart failure in the young, and is familial in at least 1/3 of cases. Autosomal dominant mutations in RNA-binding motif protein 20 (RBM20), located on chromosome 10, account for ∼3% of DCM. RBM20 is a cardiac-enriched RNA binding
Photon Detection: Current Status

Fluorescence analysis at low-level light intensity is important and inevitable for flow cytometry and cell biology. The photomultiplier (PMT) has been used as a photon-detection device for many years because of its high sensitivity; it can amplify a single photoelectron to millions of electrons by a cascade of dynodes in a vacuum. In addition, the photocathode in the PMT has the advantage of a wide detection area and wide dynamic range through analog photocurrent detection. Recently, microelectromechanical system (MEMS)-based PMTs and many solid-state sensors such as Si photodiodes (PDs), avalanche photodiodes (APDs), and Si photomultipliers (SiPMs) have been developed and improved in UV to near-IR wavelengths. Advancements in photosensors especially for photon detection and potential applications are described in this chapter.
Multi-hypervisor virtual machines: enabling an ecosystem of hypervisor-level services

Public cloud software marketplaces already offer users a wealth of choice in operating systems, database management systems, financial software, and virtual networking, all deployable and configurable at the click of a button. Unfortunately, this level of customization has not extended to emerging hypervisor-level services, partly because traditional virtual machines (VMs) are fully controlled by only one hypervisor at a time. Currently, a VM in a cloud platform cannot concurrently use hypervisor-level services from multiple third-parties in a compartmentalized manner. We propose the notion of a multi-hypervisorVM , which is an unmodified guest that can simultaneously use services from multiple coresident, but isolated, hypervisors. We present a new virtualization architecture, called Span virtualization, that leverages nesting to allow multiple hypervisors to concurrently control a guest's memory, virtual CPU, and I/O resources. Our prototype of Span virtualization on the KVM/QEMU platform enables a guest to use services such as introspection, network monitoring, guest mirroring, and hypervisor refresh, with performance comparable to traditional nested VMs.
On Adverbs of (Space and) Time

This paper gives an account of adverbs such as “slowly” and “quickly” in a range of positions, focusing on their interaction with measure phrases in the comparative. To account for the unusual pattern of measure phrases, I arrive at a proposal with the following components: (i) such adverbs need to be treated as measure functions on events in a framework for gradable predicates, (ii) in combination with ‘non-quantized’ events, the measurement distributes over event structure, (iii) the distribution of types measure phrases follows from whether the measurement distributes or not, and consequently, from the aspectual properties of the modified phrase, and (iv) the notion of ‘manner’ involved in such adverbs emerges from distributivity. The analysis sheds new light on the notion of gradability across categories, and especially what it means for a modifier to contribute manner modification.
Adaptation to TKI Treatment Reactivates ERK Signaling in Tyrosine Kinase-Driven Leukemias and Other Malignancies.

FLT3 tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKI) have been tested extensively to limited benefit in acute myeloid leukemia. We hypothesized that FLT3/ITD leukemia cells exhibit mechanisms of intrinsic signaling adaptation to TKI treatment that are associated with an incomplete response. Here we identified reactivation of ERK signaling within hours following treatment of FLT3/ITD AML cells with selective inhibitors of FLT3. When these cells were treated with inhibitors of both FLT3 and MEK in combination, ERK reactivation was abrogated and anti-leukemia effects were more pronounced compared to either drug alone. ERK reactivation was also observed following inhibition of other tyrosine kinase-driven cancer cells, including EGFR-mutant lung cancer, HER2-amplified breast cancer and BCR-ABL leukemia. These studies reveal an adaptive feedback mechanism in tyrosine kinase-driven cancers associated with reactivation of ERK signaling in response to targeted inhibition.
Protein Mimetic and Anticancer Properties of Monocyte-Targeting Peptide Amphiphile Micelles

Monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1) stimulates the migration of monocytes to inflammatory sites, leading to the progression of many diseases. Recently, we described a monocyte-targeting peptide amphiphile micelle (MCP-1 PAM) incorporated with the chemokine receptor CCR2 binding motif of MCP-1, which has a high affinity for monocytes in atherosclerotic plaques. We further report here the biomimetic components of MCP-1 PAMs and the influence of the nanoparticle upon binding to monocytes. We report that MCP-1 PAMs have enhanced secondary structure compared to the MCP-1 peptide. As a result, MCP-1 PAMs displayed improved binding and chemoattractant properties to monocytes, which upregulated the inflammatory signaling pathways responsible for monocyte migration. Interestingly, when MCP-1 PAMs were incubated in the presence of prostate cancer cells in vitro, the particle displayed anticancer efficacy by reducing CCR2 expression. Given that monocytes play an important role in tumor cell migration and inva...
Integrated intelligent transportation and key enablers

The transformation of how we travel is among the greatest technology efforts of our time. In every corner of the automotive industry and associated domains there are massive efforts focused on achieving a vision of integrated transportation systems, safety, low environmental impact, and convenience. Cooperation extends to academia, governments, and private industry.
A piezo-capacitive BAW accelerometer with extended dynamic range using a gap-changing moving electrode

We present for the first time, a frequency-output resonant accelerometer based on the electrostatic softening effect in a bulk acoustic wave (BAW) resonator. The concept of a moving electrode is proposed to enable a self-acting linear range extension for the accelerometer. The device is fabricated in a combined piezoelectric and capacitive HARPSS platform and uses a moving capacitive electrode with nanoscale gaps (100–200nm) to extend its dynamic range. This novel moving electrode mechanism allows large scale factor for low acceleration range, at the same time reduces nonlinear gap-closing behavior at high acceleration range, thereby improving the dynamic range by a few orders of magnitude.
Applying advanced simulation in early stage unconventional ship design

A detailed description of the first, or global, optimization stage of two-stage hydrodynamic optimization framework for high-speed vessels is presented. A key feature of the framework is the application of advanced simulation in the early phases of design through the construction of surrogate models that then drive a global system performance model. The principle objective of the global optimization is to arrive at reasonable combination of principle overall dimensions, ratios, and a buoyancy distribution that are near-optimum in terms of vessel performance. In the study presented, the development of such a model and the associated hydrodynamic performance surrogate models is demonstrated for a large SWATH hullform optimized for both high-speed transit and low-speed cargo transfer operations. Throughout the surrogate model generation process, special attention is paid to ensuring that the speed of surrogate model construction would be compatible with the limited time available for early-stage design studies.