cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Longitudinal Vehicle Controller Design for IVHS Systems

This paper describes a combined throttle/brake control algorithm designed to control intervehicle spacing within a fully automated "platoon" of vehicles. The control algorithm is developed using a modified sliding control method due to the inherent nonlinearities that exist in current automotive vehicles. Tne controller is designed using a simplified four state vehicle model and then simulated on a more complete nine state model. Simulations are shown for a two vehicle platoon and for a four vehicle platoon. The four vehicle platoon simulations illustrate the need for "feedforward" platoon information to eliminate disturbance amplification within the platoon. It is shown that communicating the lead vehicle's velocity and acceleration to all platoon vehicles is sufficient to prevent this amplification.
Model Predictive Control of Erythropoietin Administration in the Anemia of ESRD

Background Variable hemoglobin (Hb) response to erythropoiesis-stimulating agents (ESAs) may result in adverse outcomes. New methods are needed to determine the appropriate dose of ESA to maintain the target Hb level. Design (1) Observational study to develop an algorithm for model predictive control (MPC) by using an artificial neural network model of Hb response to ESA. (2) Computer simulation to test MPC versus a conventional anemia management protocol (AMP). (3) Clinical trial to test MPC. Setting & Participants The MPC was developed from historic data from 186 long-term hemodialysis patients at the University of Louisville, KY. Testing by simulation occurred in 60 hypothetical patients generated from random sampling of the 186 patients. The trial included 9 hemodialysis patients who received ESA doses based on MPC recommendations over 6 months. Predictor Management by means of MPC or AMP. Outcome of Interest Achieved Hb level and variability measured by means of the difference between achieved Hb level and target Hb level of 11.5 g/dL and erythropoietin dose. In the trial, Hb level deviation from target was compared in the same subjects between the study (last 4 of 6 months on MPC) and control (4 months on AMP immediately proceeding the study period) periods. Results In simulation, achieved Hb levels were 12.3 ± 0.6 g/dL for AMP and 11.6 ± 0.4 g/dL for MPC ( P P P P = 0.8), mean SDs were 0.86 ± 0.60 g/dL for AMP and 0.64 ± 0.33 g/dL for MPC ( P = 0.4), and mean absolute differences from target were 1.19 ± 0.79 g/dL for AMP and 0.79 ± 0.50 g/dL for MPC ( P = 0.02). Conclusion MPC of ESAs may result in improved anemia management.
Quality coordination and complementary products

This article models the choice of price and quality, where products are complementary; and components can be provided by either one or two monopolists. The firms have to choose price and quality simultaneously, but can coordinate in the latter dimension. We consider two specifications for the quality of the composite good: ‘bottleneck’ and additive set-ups. In both cases, a single monopolist may produce lower quality as compared to dual ownership, if the latter is modelled as a single-stage quality-and-price setting game. When separate markets for components of the composite good are added to the model, we provide an example where dual ownership leading to higher quality also yields higher consumer surplus (but not total welfare) than a single monopolist.
Application of 2-dimensional difference gel electrophoresis (2D-DIGE) to the study of thrombin-activated human platelet secretome.

Thrombin is an agonist inducing platelet activation. We combined two-dimensional difference gel electrophoresis (2D-DIGE) and mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) to analyse differentially expressed proteins secreted from thrombin-stimulated platelets. Human washed platelets, from healthy volunteers, were stimulated with thrombin 0.5 U/ml at 37°C without stirring and the secreted proteins were resolved by 2D-DIGE. By image analysis, 1094 spots were detected in the 2D gel. The spots whose mean intensity showed at least a five-fold change intensity increase or decrease in the thrombin-activated platelet gel in comparison with unstimulated control were digested by trypsin and subjected to MALDI-TOF MS analysis. Peptides from mass spectra of in-gel digest samples were matched against available databases, using the Mascot search engine (Matrix Science) for peptide mass fingerprint. In the activated platelet secretome, transferrin, glutathione-transferase, WD repeat protein, ER-60, thrombospondin-1 precursor and th...
Output feedback control of switched nonlinear systems using multiple Lyapunov functions

Abstract This work presents a hybrid nonlinear control methodology for a broad class of switched nonlinear systems with input constraints. The key feature of the proposed methodology is the integrated synthesis, via multiple Lyapunov functions, of “lower-level” bounded nonlinear feedback controllers together with “upper-level” switching laws that orchestrate the transitions between the constituent modes and their respective controllers. Both the state and output feedback control problems are addressed. Under the assumption of availability of full state measurements, a family of bounded nonlinear state feedback controllers are initially designed to enforce asymptotic stability for the individual closed-loop modes and provide an explicit characterization of the corresponding stability region for each mode. A set of switching laws are then designed to track the evolution of the state and orchestrate switching between the stability regions of the constituent modes in a way that guarantees asymptotic stability of the overall switched closed-loop system. When complete state measurements are unavailable, a family of output feedback controllers are synthesized, using a combination of bounded state feedback controllers, high-gain observers and appropriate saturation filters to enforce asymptotic stability for the individual closed-loop modes and provide an explicit characterization of the corresponding output feedback stability regions in terms of the input constraints and the observer gain. A different set of switching rules, based on the evolution of the state estimates generated by the observers, is designed to orchestrate stabilizing transitions between the output feedback stability regions of the constituent modes. The differences between the state and output feedback switching strategies, and their implications for the switching logic, are discussed and a chemical process example is used to demonstrate the proposed approach.
Internet privacy and institutional trust insights from a national survey

What does the US public believe about the credibility of institutional actors when it comes to protecting information privacy online? Drawing on perspectives of environmental risk, this article addresses the question through a nationally representative telephone survey of 1200 adults who go online at home. A key result is that a substantial percentage of internet users believes that major corporate or government institutions will both help them to protect information privacy and take that privacy away by disclosing information to other parties without permission. This finding and others raise questions about the dynamics of risk-perception and institutional trust on the web.
A Laplace transform BEM for axisymmetric diffusion utilizing pre-tabulated Green's function

Abstract This paper presents a boundary element algorithm for the solution of axisymmetric diffusion equation in the Laplace transform domain. The free-space Green's function of the governing modified Helmholtz equation is not available in closed form. The difficulty is overcome by a combination of methods, including series expansion, pre-tabulated Green's function, and direct numerical integration. The resulting algorithm is highly efficient. A few examples are provided, which demonstrate the accuracy of the proposed scheme.
Translocation of AT1- and AT2-Receptors by Higher Concentrations of Angiotensin II in the Smooth Muscle Cells of Rat Internal Anal Sphincter

Previous studies have reported bimodal effects by angiotensin II (Ang II) in the rat internal anal sphincter (IAS), a concentration-dependent contraction (at lower concentrations) and relaxation (at higher concentrations). The experiments suggest the above-mentioned responses are the result of Ang II subtype I receptor(s) (AT1-R) and subtype II receptor(s) (AT2-R) activation, respectively. These studies determined the role and mechanism of AT2-R-induced relaxation of the smooth muscle cells (SMCs) from the IAS in response to Ang II. Laser confocal microscopy showed that in the basal state, the AT1-Rs reside in the plasma membrane, whereas AT2-Rs are present in the cytosol. Higher concentrations of Ang II caused movement of AT1-R and AT2-R in opposite directions to the cytosol and the membrane, respectively. Losartan (AT1-R antagonist) but not S -(+)-1-([4-(dimethylamino)-3-methylphenyl]methyl)-5-(diphenylacetyl)-4,5,6,7-tetrahydro-1 H -imidazo(4,5- c )pyridine-6-carboxylic acid (PD123319; AT2-R antagonist) selectively inhibited these movements. These results are based on biotinylation assays, confocal images, and Western blot analyses of the densities of AT1-Rs and AT2-Rs in the plasma membrane versus cytosolic fractions of the IAS SMCs. Ang II in higher concentrations did not change the total contents of Ang II receptors. These data combined with the functional data using measurements of IAS SMC lengths suggest that internalization of AT1-R and externalization of AT2-R may be responsible for the activation of the AT2-R, which leads to the relaxation of the IAS with higher concentrations of Ang II.
Testing an Attachment Model of Latina/o College Students' Psychological Adjustment.

The present study examined the influence of attachment relationships on the psychological adjustment of Latina/o university students (N = 80) attending predominantly White institutions of higher ed...
The Hidden Strengths in Family Business: Functional Conflict

Conflict is likely in family businesses. Although some types of conflict are negative and should be minimized, other types are helpful and should be understood and encouraged to improve decisions. Using Jehn's (1997) framework, three types of conflict are identified and related to family business issues. A framework for conflict resolution is presented. Finally, recommendations for introducing and managing positive conflict in family businesses are offered.
Universal hypothesis testing in the learning-limited regime

Given training sequences generated by two distinct, but unknown distributions sharing a common alphabet, we seek a classifier that can correctly decide whether a third test sequence is generated by the first or second distribution using only the training data. To model ‘limited learning’ we allow the alphabet size to grow and therefore probability distributions to change with the blocklength. We prove that a natural choice, namely a generalized likelihood ratio test, is universally consistent (has a probability of error tending to zero with the blocklength for all underlying distributions) when the alphabet size is sub-linear in the blocklength, but inconsistent for linear alphabet growth. For up-to quadratic alphabet growth, in a regime where all probabilities are of the same order, we prove the universally consistency of a new test and show there are no such tests when the alphabet grows quadratically or faster.
Problem areas and inconsistencies in the WHO classification of thymoma

The morphologic classification of thymoma has undergone numerous revisions in recent years and has been under continuous debate for the past several decades. With the introduction of the World Health Organization (WHO) schema for the classification of thymic epithelial neoplasms in 1999, a major step was taken toward achieving uniformity in the nomenclature of these tumors. A more recent iteration of the WHO morphologic classification of thymic epithelial neoplasms has now been published. Although these efforts have certainly contributed to clarifying many issues related to the pathology of thymoma, several problem areas and inconsistencies still remain surrounding this proposed schema. The purpose of this review is to address these problem areas, in particular as it relates to terminology, histopathologic criteria for diagnosis, and the prognostic significance for the various categories of the WHO schema.
GStream: A General-Purpose Data Streaming Framework on GPU Clusters

Emerging accelerating architectures, such as GPUs, have proved successful in providing significant performance gains to various application domains. However, their viability to operate on general streaming data is still ambiguous. In this paper, we propose GStream, a general-purpose, scalable data streaming framework on GPUs. The contributions of GStream are as follows: (1) We provide powerful, yet concise language abstractions suitable to describe conventional algorithms as streaming problems. (2)We project these abstractions onto GPUs to fully exploit their inherent massive data parallelism.(3) We demonstrate the viability of streaming on accelerators. Experiments show that the proposed framework provides flexibility, programmability and performance gains for various benchmarks from a collection of domains, including but not limited to data streaming, data parallel problems and numerical codes.
Diversity patterns among early gastropods: contrasting taxonomic and phylogenetic descriptions

Paleobiologists have used taxonomic data for several types of diversity studies. Some systematists have charged that this practice obfuscates actual historical patterns of clades because many traditionally defined higher taxa are not monophyletic. Some have questioned whether ranked taxa ever represent comparable units, even when monophyletic. This study contrasts diversity patterns implied by phylogenetic estimates with those implied by ranked taxa. Early Paleozoic gastropods are useful as a test case because their generic taxonomy does not reflect the phylogenetic systematic philosophy, and fewer than one third of the genera represent monophyletic clades. Phylogenetic diversity is described in two ways: (1) numbers of lineages (i.e., observed plus phy- logenetically implied "ghost lineages"), and (2) numbers of monophyla (i.e., clades whose sister taxa are other clades rather than species). "Monophyla" as tallied here are monophyletic relative to their contemporaries and older clades; however, they can be paraphyletic relative to "future" monophyla. Phylogenetic diversity is tallied with both maximum and minimum "ghost lineage" interpolations in order to reflect different possible speciation patterns and timings of speciation. Phylogenetic diversity as implied by a stricter cladistic criterion (i.e., taxa that are monophyletic relative to their contemporaries, older taxa and younger taxa) is discussed also. First differences between substage-to-substage standing diversities reveal significant congruence between generic data and both types of phylogenetic data. Taxonomic and phylogenetic data imply a major extinction event at the end of the Ordovician, although the phylogenetic data suggest greater extinction levels than do the taxonomic data. Both data sets also suggest diversity-dependent diversification reminiscent of logistic growth, which is the pattern predicted if one or a few major ecologic factors were constraining the diversification of gastropods. However, diversity described by strict Hennigian taxa is not highly congruent with diversity as described by either lineages or monophyla. Comparing subclade dynamics requires extensive redefinition of traditional orders, but lineages, monophyla and genera all suggest that the two major subclades had different logistic diversification patterns, with one ("murchisonioids") having a higher K than the other ("euom- phaloids"). The concern that phylogenetic and taxonomic data might imply very different evolu- tionary histories is not borne out by gastropods, despite the nonphylogenetic nature of their tra- ditional taxonomy.
WHY EXACTLY IS COMMITMENT IMPORTANT FOR RATIONALITY

Gary Becker and others have done important work to broaden the content of self interest, but have not departed from seeing rationality in terms of the exclusive pursuit of self-interest. One reason why committed behavior is important is that a person can have good reason to pursue objectives other than self interest maximization (no matter how broadly it is construed). Indeed, one can also follow rules of behavior that go beyond the pursuit of one's own goals, even if the goals include non-self-interested concerns. By living in a society, one develops possible reasons for considering other people's goals as well, which takes one beyond an exclusive concentration on one's own goals, not to mention the single-minded pursuit of one's own self interest. The recognition of other people's goals may be a part of rational thought. If rational behavior may depart from the relentless pursuit of one's own goals, commitment has to be important in a theory of rationality. Furthermore, seeing the role of commitment in human behavior can have explanatory importance in allowing us to understand behavior patterns that are hard to fit into the narrow format of contemporary rational choice theory. Commitment is, thus, important both for practical reason and for causal explanation.
The role of ubiquitylation in immune defence and pathogen evasion

As discussed here, ubiquitylation is involved in many aspects of the immune system, including the innate immune response to pathogens, antigen presentation and the activation of the adaptive immune system. As a result, pathogens have evolved many ways to exploit this form of immune regulation.
Aromatase Inhibitor for Treatment of a Recurrent Abdominal Wall Endometrioma in a Postmenopausal Woman

Objective Treat an abdominal wall endometrioma in a post-menopausal patient. Design Case report. Setting Academic medical center. Patient(s) A post-menopausal women with a large recurrent abdominal wall endometrioma. Intervention(s) The patient was managed with the combination of an aromatase inhibitor, a progestin, and serial cyst aspiration. Main Outcome Measure(s) Serum and cyst estradiol levels as well as sonographic demonstration of resolution. Result(s) Serum and cyst estradiol levels were significantly diminished and the cyst diminished in size. Conclusion(s) Taken together, this case demonstrates a novel approach for managing and monitoring medical therapy for unusual clinical presentations of endometriosis. Furthermore, it illustrates that endometriotic implants can be a source of circulating estrogen in postmenopausal women, and that this source of estrogen is generated by increased aromatase activity.
Discriminant feature extraction using empirical probability density estimation and a local basis library

The authors previously developed the so-called local discriminant basis (LDB) method for signal and image classi3cation problems. The original LDB method relies on di4erences in the time–frequency energy distribution of each class: it selects the subspaces where these energy distributions are well separated by some measure such as the Kullback–Leibler divergence. Through our experience and experiments on various datasets, however, we realized that the time–frequency energy distribution is not always the best quantity to analyze for classi3cation. In this paper, we propose to use the discrimination of coordinates based, instead, on empirical probability densities. That is, we estimate the probability density of each class in each coordinate in the wavelet packet=local trigonometric bases after expanding signals into such bases. We then evaluate a power of discrimination of each subspace by selecting the m most discriminant coordinates in terms of the “distance” among the corresponding densities (e.g., by the Kullback–Leibler divergence among the densities). This information is then used for selecting a basis for classi3cation. We will demonstrate the capability of this algorithm using both synthetic and real datasets. ? 2002 Pattern Recognition Society. Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
Statistically Efficient Estimations Using Cortical Lateral Connections

Coarse codes are widely used throughout the brain to encode sensory and motor variables. Methods designed to interpret these codes, such as population vector analysis, are either inefficient, i.e., the variance of the estimate is much larger than the smallest possible variance, or biologically implausible, like maximum likelihood. Moreover, these methods attempt to compute a scalar or vector estimate of the encoded variable. Neurons are faced with a similar estimation problem. They must read out the responses of the presynaptic neurons, but, by contrast, they typically encode the variable with a further population code rather than as a scalar. We show how a non-linear recurrent network can be used to perform these estimation in an optimal way while keeping the estimate in a coarse code format. This work suggests that lateral connections in the cortex may be involved in cleaning up uncorrelated noise among neurons representing similar variables.
Oxidized lipids activate autophagy in a JNK-dependent manner by stimulating the endoplasmic reticulum stress response

Excessive production of unsaturated aldehydes from oxidized lipoproteins and membrane lipids is a characteristic feature of cardiovascular disease. Our previous studies show that unsaturated lipid peroxidation-derived aldehydes such as 4-hydroxy-trans-2-nonenal (HNE) promote autophagy in rat aortic smooth muscle cells (RASMC). In this study, we examined the mechanism by which HNE induces autophagy. Exposure of RASMC to HNE led to the modification of several proteins, most of which were identified by mass spectrometry and confocal microscopy to be localized to the endoplasmic reticulum (ER). HNE stimulated the phosphorylation of PKR-like ER kinase and eukaryotic initiation factor 2α and increased heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) abundance. HNE treatment also increased LC3-II formation and the phosphorylation of JNK and p38. Pharmacological inhibition of JNK, but not p38, prevented HNE-induced HO-1 expression and LC3-II formation. Inhibition of JNK increased cell death in HNE-treated cells. Pretreatment with the chemical chaperone phenylbutryic acid prevented LC3-II formation as well as JNK phosphorylation and HO-1 induction. Taken together, these data suggest that autophagic responses triggered by unsaturated aldehydes could be attributed, in part, to ER stress, which stimulates autophagy by a JNK-dependent mechanism and promotes cell survival during oxidative stress.
Maternal Regulation of Infant Reactivity From 2 to 6 Months

Previous research has investigated the effect of maternal soothing behaviors on reducing infant reactivity but not the differential effects of specific maternal behaviors on infant stress responses. The present study investigated maternal regulation of 2- and 6-month-olds' responses to an inoculation and found a significant decline with age in both the intensity and duration of infants' crying. Maternal affection and touching decreased from 2 to 6 months, whereas maternal vocalizing and distraction behaviors increased. At both ages, the combination of maternal holding/rocking and vocalizing was associated with decreases in all levels of infant reactivity. Neither strategy alone, however, was found to be effective. Feeding/ pacifying behaviors were effective only when initial distress was at a low or moderate level, which suggests that the effectiveness of maternal regulatory behaviors may depend on the intensity of infants' crying.
Planar near-field to far-field transformation using an array of dipole probes

A method is presented for computing far-field antenna patterns from measured near-field data measured by an array of planar dipole probes. The method utilizes the near-field data to determine some equivalent magnetic current sources over a fictitious planar surface which encompasses the antenna. These currents are then used to find the far fields. The near-field measurement is carried out by terminating each dipole with 50 /spl Omega/ load impedances and measuring the complex voltages across the loads. An electric field integral equation (EFIE) is developed to relate the measured complex voltages to the equivalent magnetic currents. The mutual coupling between the array of probes and the test antenna modeled by magnetic dipoles is taken into account. The method of moments with Galerkin's type solution procedure is used to transform the integral equation into a matrix one. The matrix equation is solved with the conjugate gradient-fast Fourier transformation (CG-FFT) method exploiting the block Toeplitz structure of the matrix. Numerical results are presented for several antenna configurations to show the validity of the method. >
Implicit self-esteem compensation: Automatic threat defense.

Four experiments demonstrated implicit self-esteem compensation (ISEC) in response to threats involving gender identity (Experiment 1), implicit racism (Experiment 2), and social rejection (Experiments 3-4). Under conditions in which people might be expected to suffer a blow to self-worth, they instead showed high scores on 2 implicit self-esteem measures. There was no comparable effect on explicit self-esteem. However, ISEC was eliminated following self-affirmation (Experiment 3). Furthermore, threat manipulations increased automatic intergroup bias, but ISEC mediated these relationships (Experiments 2-3). Thus, a process that serves as damage control for the self may have negative social consequences. Finally, pretest anxiety mediated the relationship between threat and ISEC (Experiment 3), whereas ISEC negatively predicted anxiety among high-threat participants (Experiment 4), suggesting that ISEC may function to regulate anxiety. The implications of these findings for automatic emotion regulation, intergroup bias, and implicit self-esteem measures are discussed.
Use of bidirectional barbed suture in laparoscopic myomectomy: evaluation of perioperative outcomes, safety, and efficacy.

Abstract Study Objective To compare perioperative outcomes during laparoscopic myomectomy using a bidirectional barbed suture vs conventional smooth suture. Design Retrospective analysis of 138 consecutive laparoscopic myomectomies performed by a single surgeon over 3 years (Canadian Task Force classification II-2). Setting Major university teaching hospital. Patients One hundred thirty-eight women with symptomatic uterine myomas. Interventions In women undergoing laparoscopic myomectomy from February 2007 through April 2010, conventional smooth sutures were used in 31 patients, and bidirectional barbed suture in 107 patients. Measurements and Main Results The primary indications for laparoscopic myomectomy in either group were pelvic pain or pressure and abnormal uterine bleeding. Use of bidirectional barbed suture was found to significantly shorten the mean (SD) duration of surgery (118 [53] minutes vs 162 [69] minutes; p Conclusion Use of bidirectional barbed suture seems to facilitate closure of the hysterotomy site in laparoscopic myomectomy.
The neuroprotective properties of palmitoylethanolamine against oxidative stress in a neuronal cell line

Background: N-acylethanolamines (NAEs) are lipids upregulated in response to cell and tissue injury and are involved in cytoprotection. Arachidonylethanolamide (AEA) is a well characterized NAE that is an endogenous ligand at cannabinoid and vanilloid receptors, but it exists in small quantities relative to other NAE types. The abundance of other NAE species, such as palmitoylethanolamine (PEA), together with their largely unknown function and receptors, has prompted us to examine the neuroprotective properties and mechanism of action of PEA. We hypothesized that PEA protects HT22 cells from oxidative stress and activates neuroprotective kinase signaling pathways. Results: Indeed PEA protected HT22 cells from oxidative stress in part by mediating an increase in phosphorylated Akt (pAkt) and ERK1/2 immunoreactivity as well as pAkt nuclear translocation. These changes take place within a time frame consistent with neuroprotection. Furthermore, we determined that changes in pAkt immunoreactivity elicited by PEA were not mediated by activation of cannabinoid receptor type 2 (CB2), thus indicating a novel mechanism of action. These results establish a role for PEA as a neuroprotectant against oxidative stress, which occurs in a variety of neurodegenerative diseases. Conclusions: The results from this study reveal that PEA protects HT22 cells from oxidative stress and alters the localization and expression levels of kinases known to be involved in neuroprotection by a novel mechanism. Overall, these results identify PEA as a neuroprotectant with potential as a possible therapeutic agent in neurodegenerative diseases involving oxidative stress.
Self-breaking of the standard model gauge symmetry

If the gauge fields of the standard model propagate in TeV-size extra dimensions, they rapidly become strongly coupled and can form scalar bound states of quarks and leptons. If the quarks and leptons of the third generation propagate in 6 or 8 dimensions, we argue that the most tightly bound scalar is a composite of top quarks, having the quantum numbers of the Higgs doublet and a large coupling to the top quark. In the case where the gauge bosons propagate in a bulk of a certain volume, this composite Higgs doublet can successfully trigger electroweak symmetry breaking. The mass of the top quark is correctly predicted to within 20%, without the need to add a fundamental Yukawa interaction, and the Higgs boson mass is predicted to lie in the range 165--230 GeV. In addition to the Higgs boson, there may be a few other scalar composites sufficiently light to be observed at upcoming collider experiments.
Altered heart rate-arterial pressure relation during head-out water immersion in conscious dog.

The influence of head-out water immersion (WI) (37 degrees C) on baroreflex control of heart rate was studied in five trained, instrumented, conscious dogs. Arterial pressure was raised and lowered using occluder cuffs implanted around the aorta and inferior vena cava. Function curves relating transmural systolic arterial pressure (TSAP = systolic arterial pressure-pleural pressure) to heart rate (HR) were constructed to compare responses in air and during WI. The resting TSAP in air [142 +/- 8 mmHg (mean +/- SE) at 78 +/- 6 beats/min] increased significantly during WI (161 +/- 9 mmHg at 109 +/- 9 beats/min). During WI, the saturation TSAP at the bradycardia plateau of the relation increased significantly, by 19 mmHg, whereas the average gain (slope) of the relation decreased significantly, from -1.426 to -0.752 beats.min-1.mmHg-1. Therefore, WI elicits both a resetting and a decrease of the average gain of the TSAP-HR relation. The heart rate range increased during WI as well. After cholinergic blockade with atropine, WI did not elicit a resetting of the relation and the change in average gain was abolished. However, after beta 1-blockade with metoprolol, the resting TSAP increased significantly during WI and resetting persisted, but the decrease of average gain was abolished. Therefore, the alteration of the TSAP-HR relation in WI is achieved via a modulation of both adrenergic and cholinergic regulation of HR.
Characteristics of Print in Books for Preschool Children.

Children begin to learn about the characteristics of print well before formal literacy instruction begins. Reading to children can expose them to print and help them learn about its characteristics. This may be especially true if the print is visually salient, for studies suggest that prereaders pay more attention to such print than to print that is visually less salient. To shed light on the characteristics of the print that US children see in books, especially those characteristics that may contribute to visual salience, we report a quantitative analysis of 73 books that were chosen to be representative of those seen by preschoolers. We found that print that is visually salient due to colour, variation and other features tends to be more common on the covers of books than in the interiors. It also tends to be more common in recently published books than in older books. Even in recent books, however, the print is much less visually salient than the accompanying pictures. Many studies have examined the be...
2D-2D tunneling field-effect transistors using WSe2/SnSe2 heterostructures

Two-dimensional materials present a versatile platform for developing steep transistors due to their uniform thickness and sharp band edges. We demonstrate 2D-2D tunneling in a WSe2/SnSe2 van der Waals vertical heterojunction device, where WSe2 is used as the gate controlled p-layer and SnSe2 is the degenerately n-type layer. The van der Waals gap facilitates the regulation of band alignment at the heterojunction, without the necessity of a tunneling barrier. ZrO2 is used as the gate dielectric, allowing the scaling of gate oxide to improve device subthreshold swing. Efficient gate control and clean interfaces yield a subthreshold swing of ∼100 mV/dec for >2 decades of drain current at room temperature, hitherto unobserved in 2D-2D tunneling devices. The subthreshold swing is independent of temperature, which is a clear signature of band-to-band tunneling at the heterojunction. A maximum switching ratio ION/IOFF of 107 is obtained. Negative differential resistance in the forward bias characteristics is observed at 77 K. This work bodes well for the possibilities of two-dimensional materials for the realization of energy-efficient future-generation electronics.
Cancer in inflammatory bowel disease

Patients with inflammatory bowel disease, including both ulcerative colitis (UC) and Crohn's disease, are at increased risk for the development of gastrointestinal carcinoma, particularly colorectal adenocarcinoma. The current options to reduce this cancer risk include prophylactic colectomy, periodic endoscopic screening with colectomy performed in those patients found to have dysplastic colonic mucosa, or expectant management with no routine surveillance regimen. Despite the lack of data demonstrating effectiveness of surveillance colonoscopy, this approach has become the standard of care in most communities in the United States. Although it has fallen out of fashion in recent years, prophylactic colectomy remains a good option for reducing cancer risk for select patients with UC.
Removal of As(III) and As(V) in surface modified ceramic filters

A new point-of-use (POU) technology using porous ceramic filters with a ferric-iron coating was used to achieve simultaneous arsenic (III) and (V) removal along with filtrative disinfection. The surface modified ceramic filters (SMCF) were produced using standard ceramic filter methods with combustible materials to create a porous ceramic during firing, followed by coating with a ferric oxide surface coating. A majority of the testing was conducted using 2.0-cm thick, 1.3-cm diameter ceramic plugs to simulate full-scale filters in column studies. The SMCF was capable of filtering arsenic for long periods of time with essentially no As breakthrough. As in source water was reduced from 250 μg/L to less than the 10 μg/L WHO guideline for arsenic for 875 and 1,618 bed volumes (or 360 and 666 effective filter runs) with 0.51 and 2 M iron-coated filters, respectively. There was no significant difference in As(V) or As(III) removal performance over a pH range of 6 to 9. Filtration of lake water containing natural organic matter at 5 mg/L as C reduced performance of As(III) and As(V) removal approximately 34 to 38%, respectively. Other metals including cadmium, copper and chromate were also readily adsorbed by the SMCF while selenate was not.
Extending Single-Molecule Microscopy Using Optical Fourier Processing

This article surveys the recent application of optical Fourier processing to the long-established but still expanding field of single-molecule imaging and microscopy. A variety of single-molecule studies can benefit from the additional image information that can be obtained by modulating the Fourier, or pupil, plane of a widefield microscope. After briefly reviewing several current applications, we present a comprehensive and computationally efficient theoretical model for simulating single-molecule fluorescence as it propagates through an imaging system. Furthermore, we describe how phase/amplitude-modulating optics inserted in the imaging pathway may be modeled, especially at the Fourier plane. Finally, we discuss selected recent applications of Fourier processing methods to measure the orientation, depth, and rotational mobility of single fluorescent molecules.
Primary adenocarcinoma of the jejunum

Abstract 1. 1. Primary adenocarcinoma of the jejunum is rare, and makes up approximately 0.15 per cent of all gastrointestinal carcinoma. 2. 2. Early diagnosis is difficult, but the condition should be suspected in obscure gastrointestinal cases showing colic, anemia, loss of weight, weakness, intermittent obstruction with vomiting, hematemesis and melena, and in which no definite lesion can be demonstrated by x-ray in other parts of the gastrointestinal tract. 3. 3. Operative mortality is high and ultimate prognosis poor. 4. 4. A case is reported which was carefully observed and x-rayed, and which did not come to operation until fifteen months after onset of symptoms. Resection was performed, followed by an uneventful recovery, and without any evidence of recurrence at the end of a twenty-five month period.
Esophageal reconstruction in very long atresias by elongation of the lesser curvature

The treatment of long esophageal atresias is associated with numerous risks and complications. Bouginage and circular (Livaditis) or spiral myotomy permits the proximal blind pouch to be lengthened by a maximum of 2–3 cm. For longer atresias interposition of a loop of colon or stomach or intrathoracic displacement of the stomach becomes necessary. These measures make actual reconstruction of the esophagus impossible; new means for total preservation of the available esophagus and cardia must be sought. Experimental studies on cadavers have shown that mobilization of the distal esophagus is possible only to a limited extent due to the fixation of the lesser curvature and left gastric artery and that tension on the esophagus affects primarily this curvature. Ligation of the left gastric artery and transverse/diagonal division of the lesser curvature permits mobilization of 6–8 cm of distal esophagus with preservation of the cardia, ensuring that primary anastomosis of the esophageal ends is always possible. We have performed mobilization and transverse division of the lesser curvature using a stapler in five children with an esophageal gap of 4–8 cm. The esophageal anastomoses were tension-free and either intrathoracic or cervical. In one case of atresia without a tracheoesophageal fistula the esophagus was drawn retrosternally to the neck, making a thoracotomy unnecessary. In all patients a semifundoplication was performed as an anti-reflux measure and a pyloroplasty was done to improve gastric emptying. Complications were few after these procedures: one leaking anastomosis in the neck closed spontaneously, two stenoses required bouginage of the anastomosis. In most cases of esophageal atresia, even those with very long gaps, primary anastomosis of the esophagus is possible by elongating the lesser curvature. Substitution plasty can always be avoided. Our results in five children with this procedure have been encouraging.
On Choosing Synonymous Means of Simple Sentence and its Rhetoric Result

According to different standards, simple sentence can be divided into declarative sentence, interrogative sentence, imperative sentence and exclamatory sentence; or special sentence structure and general sentence structure. Different sentences often express the same meaning and there are only certain differences in rhetoric result. In order to express ideas correctly and vividly, people need to pay attention to choose proper sentence structure.
Studies on the Tillering Dynamics, Panicle Formation and Composition of Panicles of Hybrid Rice under Sparse Transplanting Density

The tillering dynamics, composition of panicles and yield under different transplanting densities were studied with two hybrid rice combinations, Zhongyou 6 and Liangyou Peijiu as the materials. The results showed that sparse planting promoted the emergence of tillers and resulted in the delay of maximal tiller stage and elongation of the period of productive tillers. Compared with the planting density of 19.5 hills/m~2, the planting densities of 13.5 hills/m~2 and 7.5 hills/m~2 were delayed one and two weeks, respectively, in maximal tiller stage. With the decrease of planting densities, the percentage of the tillers emerged in the middle and late stages and their productive tiller rate increased. There was a great difference in the number of grains per panicle but not much difference in seed setting percentage between early tillers and late tillers, so the difference in yield was mainly resulted from the difference in the number of grains per panicle. With the decrease of planting densities, the yield of the hybrids with weak tillering capacity decreased dramatically while no yield difference was found in the hybrids with strong tillering capacity.
High‐frequency brain networks undergo modular breakdown during epileptic seizures

Summary Objective Cortical high-frequency oscillations (HFOs; 100–500 Hz) play a critical role in the pathogenesis of epilepsy; however, whether they represent a true epileptogenic process remains largely unknown. HFOs have been recorded in the human cortex but their network dynamics during the transitional period from interictal to ictal phase remain largely unknown. We sought to determine the high-frequency network dynamics of these oscillations in patients with epilepsy who were undergoing intracranial electroencephalographic recording for seizure localization. Methods We applied a graph theoretical analysis framework to high-resolution intracranial electroencephalographic recordings of 24 interictal and 24 seizure periods to identify the spatiotemporal evolution of community structure of high-frequency cortical networks at rest and during multiple seizure episodes in patients with intractable epilepsy. Results Cortical networks at all examined frequencies showed temporally stable community architecture in all 24 interictal periods. During seizure periods, high-frequency networks showed a significant breakdown of their community structure, which was characterized by the emergence of numerous small nodal communities, not limited to seizure foci and encompassing the entire recorded network. Such network disorganization was observed on average 225 s before the electrographic seizure onset and extended on average 190 s after termination of the seizure. Gamma networks were characterized by stable community dynamics during resting and seizure periods. Significance Our findings suggest that the modular breakdown of high-frequency cortical networks represents a distinct functional pathology that underlies epileptogenesis and corresponds to a cortical state of highest propensity to generate seizures.
Krüppel homolog 1 and E93 mediate Juvenile hormone regulation of metamorphosis in the common bed bug, Cimex lectularius

The common bed bug is an obligate hematophagous parasite of humans. We studied the regulation of molting and metamorphosis in bed bugs with a goal to identify key players involved. qRT-PCR studies on the expression of genes known to be involved in molting and metamorphosis showed high levels of Kruppel homolog 1 [Kr-h1, a transcription factor that plays key roles in juvenile hormone (JH) action] mRNA in the penultimate nymphal stage (N4). However, low levels of Kr-h1 mRNA were detected in the fifth and last nymphal stage (N5). Knockdown of Kr-h1 in N4 resulted in a precocious development of adult structures. Kr-h1 maintains the immature stage by suppressing E93 (early ecdysone response gene) in N4. E93 expression increases during the N5 in the absence of Kr-h1 and promotes the development of adult structures. Knockdown of E93 in N5 results in the formation of supernumerary nymphs. The role of JH in the suppression of adult structures through interaction with Kr-h1 and E93 was also studied by the topical application of JH analog, methoprene, to N5. Methoprene induced Kr-h1 and suppressed E93 and induced formation of the supernumerary nymph. These data show interactions between Kr-h1, E93 and JH in the regulation of metamorphosis in the bed bugs.
Knowledge and Attitudes of Produce and Seafood Processors and Food Safety Educators Regarding Nonthermal Processes.

A needs assessment survey was designed and administered to measure knowledge of and attitudes toward food safety impacts of nonthermal processing technologies of shellfish and produce industry personnel and extension educators. An online survey was sent via e-mail notification with the survey link through professional listserves. The survey evaluated background information, knowledge, attitude, and training needs. A variety of response formats was used. Knowledge/attitude responses were analyzed using descriptive statistics, 1-way ANOVA and t-tests using SPSS software and reported at P 0.9. There were no differences in attitudes and knowledge between the 2 industry groups. The total attitude score, based on a 5-point Likert scale (1 = strongly disagree, 5 = strongly agree), of the produce and shellfish industry and educator respondents toward nonthermal processing technologies was 3.6 ± 0.4, 3.4 ± 0.5, and 3.6 ± 0.4, respectively. Respondent's slightly indifferent attitude may reflect low knowledge regarding the impact of nonthermal processing technologies on food safety and quality. Both groups indicated a desire for information and/or training. For both industry and educators, common preferred formats for outreach resources were printed materials, Internet/web-based materials, and PowerPoint. Educators identified barriers as equipment cost, lack of information, and lack of product validation. While the majority of the respondents were aware of nonthermal processing, they were not knowledgeable, indicating a need for education and outreach in nonthermal processing methods to both shellfish/produce industry and food safety educators.
Targeted Therapies for Glioma Stem Cells

Glioblastoma (GBM) is both the most common primary malignant brain tumor and the most fatal. While GBM exhibits many mechanisms of treatment resistance, many of these may be attributed to cancer stem cells (CSCs), a subpopulation of intratumor cells that possess inherent properties of self-renewal, proliferation, and ability to develop into heterogeneous tumors. Thus, therapies targeting CSCs could potentially advance GBM treatments and result in improved outcomes. Clinical trials currently underway that target CSCs include small molecule inhibitors of signaling pathways, microenvironment inhibitors, and dendritic cell vaccines. The results of these trials will guide future treatments of GBM.
La diversión de los juegos

En la vida cotidiana, los juegos son vistos como parte de la recreacion. Jugar a un juego puede ser divertido, y esta diversion es en si misma la unica razon que se acepta como fundamento para jugarlo. El individuo, en contraste con su postura ante actividades “serias”, se arroga un derecho a quejarse si un juego no demuestra su utilidad en terminos de placer inmediato. Dado que la actividad seria no requiere justificacion en terminos de la diversion que proporciona, no hemos desarrollado una perspectiva analitica de la diversion ni hemos apreciado lo que la diversion puede revelar sobre la interaccion en general. Este articulo se propone explorar cuan lejos se puede llegar si tratamos seriamente a la diversion. El articulo comienza como un abordaje de consideraciones generales sobre la interaccion social, valiendose de los juegos como recurso ilustrativo. Solo mas adelante se postulara la pregunta por la diversion en los juegos, y no sera sino hasta el final que se esbozara algun tipo de respuesta.