cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Zinc inhibition of caspase-3 activation does not protect HeLa cells from apoptotic cell death.

Abstract Zinc is proposed to be antiapoptotic for it has been shown to inhibit late events of apoptotic pathways such as Ca 2+ /Mg 2+ -dependent endonuclease cleavage of chromatin DNA, poly-ADP ribose polymerase cleavage, and caspase-3 activity. Because caspase-3 is a critical executioner caspase in apoptosis, this study was undertaken to examine specifically a correlation between zinc inhibition of caspase-3 activation and apoptosis in HeLa cells. Cultured HeLa cells were exposed to 100 μM ZnCl 2 for 1 h prior to 12 h treatment with 1.0 μM doxorubicin (DOX), an important anticancer agent that causes apoptosis in a wide variety of tumor cells. Western blot analysis of HeLa cells treated with DOX for 12 h revealed that DOX caused proteolytic activation of caspase-3 and zinc inhibited this activation. Interestingly, zinc did not inhibit DOX-induced apoptosis as measured by a terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated dUTP nick-end labeling assay. Furthermore, a microculture tetrazolium assay confirmed that cell death occurred in the presence of zinc. These results demonstrate that zinc specifically inhibits DOX-induced activation of caspase-3 in HeLa cells, but does not suppress DOX-induced apoptosis or otherwise cell death, thus suggesting DOX-induced caspase-3 activation may not play a major role in overall cell death and/or non-caspase-3 pathways are involved in DOX-induced apoptosis in HeLa cells.
Characterization of cutability and palatability attributes among different slaughter groups of beef cattle

Fifteen slaughter cattle from five groups (Charolais crossbred bulls, Brahman crossbred steers, Holstein steers, mixed-Exotic crossbred heifers and Hereford-Angus crossbred steers) were randomly selected from a commercial feedlot. Time-on-feed was 108, 114, 102, 108 and 145 days for the aforementioned groups, respectively. Carcasses from Charolais crossbred bulls had the highest percentage yield of chuck and round, but the lowest percentage yield of loin; hereford-Angus crossbred steers had the lowest percentage yield of round and Holstein steers had the lowest percentage yield of rib. Carcasses from Charolais crossbred bulls had the highest percentage yield of major retail-ready subprimals and lean trim, Hereford-Angus crossbred steers had the highest percentage yield of fat trim and Holstein steers had the highest percentage yield of bone from the major wholesale cuts. Mean percentage yields of closely trimmed, boneless retail cuts were highest for carcasses from the bulls and lowest for carcasses from the Hereford-Angus steers. Although Holstein steer carcasses had less fat trim than Brahman-crossbred steers mixed-Exotic heifers, this advantage was largely offset by their higher percentage of bone. Loin steaks from carcasses of Charolais crossbred bulls, Holstein, mixed-Exotic heifers were comparable (P > 0·05)with those of Hereford-Angus steers for shear force and sensory panel tenderness ratings. However, loin steaks from carcasses of Brahman-crossbred steers had significantly higher (P 0·05) were found for flavor desirability of loin steaks among any of the groups. For bottom round steaks, Hereford-Angus steers received the highest palatability ratings while those from Holstein steers received the lowest palatability ratings.
Unconditional Stability of Low-Frequency Oscillation in Liquid Rockets

The m i n i m u m value rtmin of the interaction index c o m patible wi th unstable oscillations in a liquid rocket is advanced as the basic criterion of uncondit ional stability of the system. For systems wi th known constants of the feeding system components , the value of nmin is given explicitly in terms of these constants . For any arbitrary system for which the constants of the feeding system c o m ponents are n o t easily evaluated, the value of nmin of such systems can be obtained directly from certain flow tests of the over-all feeding system. If the interaction index n of the propellant is less t h a n this nmin, the system is u n conditionally stable regardless of the magni tude of the t i m e lag of the system. Any change i n t h e design of the feeding system of certain component constant leading to a larger nmin is stabilizing. The effects of several cons tants are briefly discussed. In particular, the transfer funct ion of the feedback circuit of a servomechanism actuat ing a control capacitance next to the injector tha t will make a given system uncondit ional ly stable is given explicitly i n terms of these constants for both monopropel lant and bipropellant systems.
STELLA-positive subregions of the primitive streak contribute to posterior tissues of the mouse gastrula.

Abstract The developmental relationship between the posterior embryonic and extraembryonic regions of the mammalian gastrula is poorly understood. Although many different cell types are deployed within this region, only the primordial germ cells (PGCs) have been closely studied. Recent evidence has suggested that the allantois, within which the PGCs temporarily take up residence, contains a pool of cells, called the Allantoic Core Domain (ACD), critical for allantoic elongation to the chorion. Here, we have asked whether the STELLA-positive cells found within this region, thought to be specified PGCs, are actually part of the ACD and to what extent they, and other ACD cells, contribute to the allantois and fetal tissues. To address these hypotheses, STELLA was immunolocalized to the mouse gastrula between Early Streak (ES) and 12-somite pair (-s) stages (~ 6.75–9.0 days post coitum, dpc) in histological sections. STELLA was found in both the nucleus and cytoplasm in a variety of cell types, both within and outside of the putative PGC trajectory. Fate-mapping the headfold-stage (~ 7.75–8.0 dpc) posterior region, by which time PGCs are thought to be segregated into a distinct lineage, revealed that the STELLA-positive proximal ACD and intraembryonic posterior primitive streak (IPS) contributed to a wide range of somatic tissues that encompassed derivatives of the three primary germ layers. This contribution included STELLA-positive cells localizing to tissues both within and outside of the putative PGC trajectory. Thus, while STELLA may identify a subpopulation of cells destined for the PGC lineage, our findings reveal that it may be part of a broader niche that encompasses the ACD and through which the STELLA population may contribute cells to a wide variety of posterior tissues of the mouse gastrula.
Structural and thermal analysis of lipid vesicles encapsulating hydrophobic gold nanoparticles.

The structure and stability of hybrid lipid vesicles containing bilayer-encapsulated hydrophobic nanoparticles is dependent upon lipid phase behavior. By embedding stearylamine-stabilized gold nanoparticles in dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine/dipalmitoylphosphatidylglycerol vesicles, we show that encapsulation at lipid to nanoparticle ratios from 10 000:1 to 5000:1 leads to bilayer thickening and hydrophobic mismatch, favoring nanoparticle inclusion in gel phase vesicles. High loadings lead to large increases in the gel to fluid melting temperature upon heating and significant hysteresis on cooling, which cannot be attributed solely to excess free ligand. This behavior is due to a cooperative effect of excess free SA ligand and nanoparticle embedment. Nanoparticle clustering was observed during lipid melting and could be reversed upon lipid freezing owing to lateral capillary forces within the bilayer. The impact of nanoparticle embedment on vesicle structure and properties at such low concentrations is rem...
Applications of some strong set-theoretic axioms to locally compact T₅ and hereditarily scwH spaces

Under some very strong set-theoretic hypotheses, hereditarily normal spaces (also referred to as T5 spaces) that are locally compact and hereditarily collec- tionwise Hausdor can have a highly simplied structure. This paper gives a structure theorem (Theorem 1) that applies to all such !1-compact spaces and another (Theorem 4) to all such spaces of Lindelof number @1. It also introduces an axiom (Axiom F) on crowding of functions, with consequences (Theorem 3) for the crowding of countably compact subspaces in certain continuous preimages of !1. It also exposes (Theorem 2) the ne structure of perfect preimages of !1 which are T5 and hereditarily collectionwise Hausdor. In these theorems, \T5 and hereditarily collectionwise Hausdor " is weakened to \hereditarily strongly collectionwise Hausdor." Corollaries include the consistency, modulo large cardinals, of every hereditarily strongly collectionwise Hausdor manifold of dimension > 1 being metrizable. The concept of an alignment plays an important role in formulating several of the structure theorems.
A new generation of 90 Mb/s systems: bandwidth efficient, field tested 16-QAM

16-QAM (quadrature amplitude modulation) digital satellite broadcast equipment and satellite communications (SATCOM) systems that double the spectral efficiency of currently operational satellite links is described. It is shown that with this field-proven system, data transmission at a rate of 90 Mb/s (two multiplexed DS-3 signals) is feasible in a transmission bandwidth of 30 MHz. Extensive operational satellite tests performed over the T-303 satellite of AT&T demonstrated a BER >
Inference of gene regulatory networks from genome-wide knockout fitness data

Motivation: Genome-wide fitness is an emerging type of high-throughput biological data generated for individual organisms by creating libraries of knockouts, subjecting them to broad ranges of environmental conditions, and measuring the resulting clone-specific fitnesses. Since fitness is an organism-scale measure of gene regulatory network behaviour, it may offer certain advantages when insights into such phenotypical and functional features are of primary interest over individual gene expression. Previous works have shown that genome-wide fitness data can be used to uncover novel gene regulatory interactions, when compared with results of more conventional gene expression analysis. Yet, to date, few algorithms have been proposed for systematically using genome-wide mutant fitness data for gene regulatory network inference. Results: In this article, we describe a model and propose an inference algorithm for using fitness data from knockout libraries to identify underlying gene regulatory networks. Unlike most prior methods, the presented approach captures not only structural, but also dynamical and non-linear nature of biomolecular systems involved. A state–space model with non-linear basis is used for dynamically describing gene regulatory networks. Network structure is then elucidated by estimating unknown model parameters. Unscented Kalman filter is used to cope with the non-linearities introduced in the model, which also enables the algorithm to run in on-line mode for practical use. Here, we demonstrate that the algorithm provides satisfying results for both synthetic data as well as empirical measurements of GAL network in yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae and TyrR–LiuR network in bacteria Shewanella oneidensis. Availability: MATLAB code and datasets are available to download at http://www.duke.edu/~lw174/Fitness.zip and http://genomics.lbl.gov/supplemental/fitness-bioinf/ Contact:wangx@ee.columbia.edu or mssamoilov@lbl.gov Supplementary information:Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online
The Relationship Between the Judged Desirability of a Trait and the Probability That the Trait Will Be Endorsed

There is a rather common suspicion among many psychologists that subjects tend to give what are considered to be socially desirable responses to items in personality inventories. This suspicion has been given public expression in a recent article by Gordon (3, p. 407) who comments upon ". . . the motivation of a majority of respondents to mark socially acceptable alternatives to items, rather than those which they believe apply to themselves." We have here two problems. One concerns the truthfulness of a subject's answers to items in a personality inventory, i.e., whether the response accurately describes the subject. The answer to this question implies that we have available some independent criterion in terms of which the inventory response is to be evaluated. The other problem concerns the relationship between a subject's response to an item and the social desirability of that item, i.e., whether the subject tends to give a positive answer to an item that is socially desirable and a negative answer to an item that is not. The answer to this question implies that we have available some measure of the social desirability of the item to which the response can be related. It is this problem we wish to report upon here.
Housing dependent cold-stress induces phenotypic variations in mouse models: A source of preclinical irreproducibility

283 Objectives The trend in animal care is towards housing with individually ventilated cages (IVC) due to reduced labor costs and higher stocking densities. The air flow within IVCs together with vivarium temperatures of 20-22 C induces chronic cold stress, in part because air moving within the cages rapidly remove any behaviorally maintained microclimates. We have previously shown large variations in tumor size (3 fold) and FDG uptake (4 fold) based on whether animals are housed in static or IVCs. In this work, we calculate the energy expenditure required to maintain temperature for 2 mouse strains, one with and one without fur, in both static caging and IVC. Methods To quantify the degree of cold-stress associated with increased non-shivering thermogenesis, we acclimated mice (SCID and nudes, n = 5) at 21 C, 26 C, or 31 C in a cross-over study design. After an acclimation period, we quantified non-shivering thermogenesis with thermography and global energy expenditures measured with indirect calorimetry (calorie/min). Using these metrics of cold-stress and regression modeling, we derived the formulaic relationships that we then used to calculate the cold-stress associated with individually ventilated caging. Results Caloric energy expenditure increased by 18.9% +/- 0.2% and 48.3% +/- 0.6% in hirsute and nude mice, respectfully, housed in IVC compared to static cages. Conclusions Hirsute and nude mice increase global energy expenditure on thermal regulatory functions when housed in IVCs. This suggests housing conditions may not be suitable for scientific models, notably models of oncology. Moreover, this seemingly mild cold-stress is not trivial and may contribute to the great difficultly replicating murine experiments across institutions that vary in housing types. Housing dependent variations in physiology is likely a major bottleneck for translational research.
Video Review in Self-Assessment of Pharmacy Students' Communication Skills

The objectives of this study were to develop a student self-assessment activity of a video-recorded counseling session and evaluate its impact on student self-perceptions of specific communication skills. This activity was incorporated into a core-communications course within the third professional year of a Doctor of Pharmacy curriculum. Student counseling sessions were video-recorded and released to students for self-assessment review. After watching their recorded counseling sessions, students completed an eight-question, paper-based survey which evaluated the impact of self-assessment on communication skill perceptions. Most students (95.6%) agreed or strongly agreed that their self-assessment process was valuable in developing their communication skills. The greatest change in assessment was associated with the use of eye contact (49.5%). Approximately 40% of students noted changes in perceptions for appropriate rate of speech (42.1%), voice volume (39.8%), and facial expressions (37.2%). Overall, self-assessment of video-recorded counseling sessions impacted students’ perceptions of both verbal and non-verbal communication skills.
Velocity-jump instabilities in Hele-Shaw flow of associating polymer solutions

We study fracturelike flow instabilities that arise when water is injected into a Hele-Shaw cell filled with aqueous solutions of associating polymers. We explore various polymer architectures, molecular weights, and solution concentrations. Simultaneous measurements of the finger tip velocity and of the pressure at the injection point allow us to describe the dynamics of the finger in terms of the ‘‘finger mobility,’’ which relates the velocity to the pressure gradient. The flow discontinuities, characterized by jumps in the finger tip velocity, which are observed in experiments with some of the polymer solutions, can be modeled by using a nonmonotonic dependence between a characteristic shear stress and the shear rate at the tip of the finger. A simple model, which is based on a viscosity function containing both a Newtonian and a non-Newtonian component, and which predicts nonmonotonic regions when the non-Newtonian component of the viscosity dominates, is shown to agree with the experimental data. @S1063-651X~99!08910-2#
Cognitive and emotional influences in anterior cingulate cortex

Anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) is a part of the brain’s limbic system. Classically, this region has been related to affect, on the basis of lesion studies in humans and in animals. In the late 1980s, neuroimaging research indicated that ACC was active in many studies of cognition. The findings from EEG studies of a focal area of negativity in scalp electrodes following an error response led to the idea that ACC might be the brain’s error detection and correction device. In this article, these various findings are reviewed in relation to the idea that ACC is a part of a circuit involved in a form of attention that serves to regulate both cognitive and emotional processing. Neuroimaging studies showing that separate areas of ACC are involved in cognition and emotion are discussed and related to results showing that the error negativity is influenced by affect and motivation. In addition, the development of the emotional and cognitive roles of ACC are discussed, and how the success of this regulation in controlling responses might be correlated with cingulate size. Finally, some theories are considered about how the different subdivisions of ACC might interact with other cortical structures as a part of the circuits involved in the regulation of mental and emotional activity.
Rethinking the Colonial Conquest of Manchuria: The Japanese Consular Police in Jiandao, 1909–1937

Historians often characterize Japan's foreign policy regarding China during the 1920s as dominated by economic priorities and a commitment to peaceful cooperation within a collaborative system of treaty port imperialism. In that narrative, the Manchurian Incident of 1931 thus stands as a watershed moment in modern East Asian history when Japan returned to a policy of acquiring formal colonial territory. Akira Iriye made this thesis famous with his groundbreaking international history of East Asia during the 1920s. More recently, Peter Duus has reinforced this paradigm in his summary of Japan's informal empire, pondering why it was that ‘just when Japan appeared to be emerging as the paramount foreign economic power in China within the framework of the treaty system, it embarked on a new policy of establishing direct political control over Manchuria’ in the autumn of 1931. Similarly, Mark Peattie has also suggested that ‘in the overheated atmosphere of the 1930s, the Japanese empire once more became expansive,’ clearly emphasizing the notion that a return to previously abandoned patterns of colonial conquest was underway.
The 7th international biannual conference of Russian Communication Association, 17–18 September 2014, St. Petersburg, Russia

Russian Communication Association held its 7th international biannual conference on 17–18 September 2014. Set against the beautiful backdrop of Tsarskoe Selo, well known as a summer residence of th...
Toward an enhanced understanding and implementation of photopolymerization reactions

Photopolymerization reactions proceed rapidly at ambient conditions and are able to exhibit both temporal and spatial control, nevertheless their full potential has been limited by a lack of understanding of the polymerization kinetics and polymer network evolution as well as a lack of custom, functional monomers, and polymerization mechanisms. For the last 15 years, our group has sought to address these limitations by reaction engineering at both the fundamental and applied levels with a focus on increasing the understanding, potential, and implementation of photopolymerization reactions. In particular, we have modeled and experimentally validated the complex spatially dependent polymerization kinetics and network heterogeneity, and we have implemented these systems for applications improvement or development in lithography, microdevice fabrication, biomaterials, biodetection, dental materials, and surface coatings. © 2008 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 2008
Citation ranking versus peer evaluation of senior faculty research performance: a case study of Kurdish scholarship

The purpose of this study is to analyze the relationship between citation ranking and peer evaluation in assessing senior faculty research performance. Other studies typically derive their peer evaluation data directly from referees, often in the form of ranking. This study uses two additional sources of peer evaluation data: citation content analysis and book review content analysis. Two main questions are investigated: (a) To what degree does citation ranking correlate with data from citation content analysis, book reviews, and peer ranking? (b) Is citation ranking a valid evaluative indicator of research performance of senior faculty members? Citation data, book reviews, and peer ranking were compiled and examined for faculty members specializing in Kurdish studies. Analysis shows that normalized citation ranking and citation content analysis data yield identical ranking results. Analysis also shows that normalized citation ranking and citation content analysis, book reviews, and peer ranking perform similarly (i.e., are highly correlated) for high-ranked and low-ranked senior scholars. Additional evaluation methods and measures that take into account the context and content of research appear to be needed to effectively evaluate senior scholars whose performance ranks relatively in the middle. Citation content analysis data did appear to give some specific and important insights into the quality of research of these middle performers, however, further analysis and research is needed to validate this finding. This study shows that citation ranking can provide a valid indicator for comparative evaluation of senior faculty research performance.
Numerical Simulation and Experimental Validation of Residual Stresses in Water-Quenched Aluminum Alloy Castings

Aluminum alloy castings are normally water quenched after solution treatment to improve mechanical properties. Rapid water quenching can result in high-residual stress and severe distortion which significantly affect functionality and performance of the products. To optimize product design and durability, one needs to model and predict residual stress and distortion produced in the water-quenched components. In this article, a finite element-based approach was developed to simulate the transient heat transfer and residual stress development during water quenching. In this approach, an iterative zone-based heat transfer algorithm was coupled with material constitutive model called mechanical threshold stress (MTS). With the integrated models, a good agreement was achieved between the numerically predicted and the experimentally measured residual stresses in the aluminum alloy frame-shape casting. The integrated FEA-based heat transfer and residual stress models were also applied to a water-quenched cast aluminum cylinder head with a great success.
Outcomes of a vocational program for persons with AIDS.

Advances in medical treatment combined with changes in the demographics of persons who are becoming infected with autoimmune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) have transformed this illness from a rapidly progressing to a chronically disabling condition in a short period of time. This paper describes the development, implementation, and outcomes of a program of vocational services for persons with AIDS. This program was studied using a single group design, in which participatory action research strategies were used to investigate and improve the program as it unfolded. In addition to examining the overall outcomes of services, the study aimed to discover which components were most helpful to participants and which participants were most likely to benefit from the program. Of 129 participants of who initially enrolled, 39 dropped out before finishing the program. Sixty of the 90 participants who completed the program achieved employment, returned to school, or began a volunteer position or internship. Consequently, the overall success rate was 46.5 per cent and the success rate for program completers was 66.7 per cent. The occupational narrative, which participants told in their initial assessment interview, was closely associated with both program completion and successful outcomes. This association adds support to the importance of narrative for understanding participants and predicting future behavior, as well as for the therapy process.
Implementation of evolutionary fuzzy systems

Evolutionary fuzzy systems are discussed in which the membership function shapes and types and the fuzzy rule set including the number of rules inside it are evolved using a genetic (evolutionary) algorithm. In addition, the genetic parameters (operators) of the evolutionary algorithm are adapted via a fuzzy system. Benefits of the methodology are illustrated in the process of classifying the iris data set. Possible extensions of the methods are summarized.
Molecular dynamics computer simulation of local dynamics in polyisoprene melts

Abstract Fully atomistic molecular dynamics computer simulations of cis-polyisoprene melts have been performed. Two different methods were used to generate four initial configurations. The local polymer dynamics were substantially independent of initial chain configuration. The ratios of correlation times for different CH vectors in the chain backbone match experiment very well. Absolute correlation times from the simulation are about 2.5 times slower than experimental values. The correlation functions obtained from the simulations are strongly non-exponential, in general agreement with experiment. The local dynamics in these simulations are fairly isotropic, in marked contrast to results reported from simulations of polyethylene melts by Takeuchi and Roe. Several analysis techniques indicate that the spatial extent of the cooperative motion that accompanies conformational transitions in polyisoprene melts is about 1–2 repeat units. A similar length scale was found recently in simulations of polyisoprene in a dilute solution.
Ingres versus Delacroix

This article offers a reassessment of the origins and early history of the legendary rivalry between Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres and Eugene Delacroix. It argues that this dichotomy, which perpetuated the age-old polarity of line versus colour in conventional French Academic theory, did not arise from the dramatic confrontations of the two artists' works at the Salons of 1824 and 1827–28, as is commonly assumed; rather, it emerged more fitfully over the course of the 1830s and 1840s. This belated and essentially retrospective personalization of the by-then rather hackneyed and cliched neoclassicism-versus-Romanticism debate is attributed to the emergence of a media-driven cult of artistic celebrity and to the increasing politicization of the form– as well as the content – of cultural discourse in post-Revolutionary, post-Imperial France.
Research Note: Presence and Impact of Salmonella Contamination in Commercial Broiler Hatcheries

Egg fragments from hatching trays, swabs of belting material, and paper pads from three broiler hatcheries were sampled for the presence and level of salmonellae. Salmonella serotypes were recovered from 71, 80, and 74% of the egg fragments, belting material, and paper pads, respectively. Overall, salmonellae were found in 75, 91, and 67% of the samples taken at Hatchery 1,2, and 3, respectively. Thirty-eight of 40 randomly selected samples contained greater than 10(3) salmonellae cells per sample. All of the Salmonella serotypes encountered in the present study had previously been isolated from poultry. The presence and persistence of salmonellae contamination in the hatchery suggests that the vulnerable day-of-hatch chick may be at a greater colonization risk in the hatchery than during grow-out. Contamination and penetration of the shell of hatching eggs may constitute the most important link (or critical control point) in the transmission of salmonellae to young birds and eventually the consumer. An effective intervention method may have to be employed at this point to break the transmission link and significantly impact the overall problem of Salmonella colonization in poultry.
Differential expression of mGluR5 metabotropic glutamate receptor mRNA by rat striatal neurons

Metabotropic glutamate receptors (mGluRs) mediate the effects of glutamate neurotransmission on intracellular second messenger systems. Among the seven distinct mGluR receptor isoforms currently identified, the mGluR5 isoform is expressed particularly prominently in the striatum, where it may contribute to neuronal plasticity, motor behaviors, and excitotoxic injury. mGluR5 mRNA expression in striatal enkephalinergic, somatostatinergic, and cholinergic neurons was examined using double label in situ hybridization techniques. mGluR5 expression is abundant in a large number of medium-sized striatal cells but is absent in a significant minority of neurons. Double label in situ hybridization with 35S-dATP- and digoxygenin-dUTP-tailed oligonucleotide probes demonstrated that mGluR5 message is highly expressed by enkephalinergic striatal neurons but is not detectable in cholinergic or somatostatin interneurons. In addition, some nonenkephalin, presumably substance P, neurons were also strongly labeled for mGluR5. The differential expression of mGluR5 in striatal projection neurons vs. interneurons may contribute to the selective vulnerability of these neurons to disease processes.
A Distributed Algorithm for Finding Nucleolus-Stable Payoff Divisions

The agents in multiagent systems can coordinate their actions and handle tasks jointly by forming coalitions. One of the important steps in this process is the fair division of payoff generated from such a joint effort among all coalition members. The nucleolus is widely recognized as a fair way of distributing the revenue in a coalition. While we have efficient algorithms for computing the nucleolus using linear programming based techniques, we believe that such approaches are infeasible in multiagent settings where the loci of decision making is distributed among all agents in the system, and there is no central agent that can aggregate all data and compute for all agents. Towards this end, in this paper we present a distributed algorithm that computes the nucleolus-stable payoff division for any multiagent system modeled as a characteristic form game. We empirically show that our algorithm has many desirable properties - it searches only a small fraction of the solution space, evenly distributes the computational load among all agents, and executes reasonably quickly for this hard problem.
IDEOLOGUES OR PRAGMATISTS

We study a model of electoral control where the politician is a policy expert, but the voter is not. First, we focus on the case of an “ideologue”, namely a politician who always wants the same policy implemented regardless of the state. We show that the voter’s lack of policy expertise comes at no cost to him, but may come at an electoral cost to the politician. Next, we turn to the case of a “pragmatist”, namely a politician whose preferences are state contingent. We show that the voter’s lack of policy expertise does come at a cost to him. As a consequence, the voter may fare better with an ideologue than with a pragmatist. This can occur even if the pragmatist’s preferences are arbitrarily close to and perfectly correlated with the voter’s.
Current Micrometeorological Flux Methodologies with Applications in Agriculture

Methodologies with Applications in Agriculture Tilden P. Meyers a and Dennis D. Baldocchi b May 28, 2003 a NOAA/Air Resources Laboratory, Atmospheric Turbulence and Diffusion Division, 456 S. Illinois Avenue, Oak Ridge, TN 37830-2456, email: meyers@atdd.noaa.gov b Ecosystem Science Division, Dept of Environmental Science, Policy & Management & Berkeley Atmospheric Science Center, 151 Hilgard Hall, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, email: baldocchi@nature.berkeley.edu
EFNEP Reaches Refugee Youth Using a Mobile Van

New groups of refugees settled in apartments far from city services. Their children lacked access to organized after-school activities and the opportunity to practice English. The Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program (EFNEP) wanted to reach and teach the young refugees but lacked the staff and budget to do so. This article discusses how the EFNEP formed a partnership with a city parks and recreation department to reach refugee youth while providing organized activities and nutrition education. Educators should learn: what new groups live in their county, where they live, what schools their children attend, and other agencies assisting them.
A New Short-Bar Method for 4TP Admittance Standards Calibration by Using a Modified Z-Matrix Expression to Improve Signal-to-Noise Ratio $(S/N)$ for Higher Impedances

This paper describes how to calibrate four-terminal-pair (4TP) admittance standards using a new short-bar method with a modified Z-matrix expression containing a coefficient C 1 . The short-bar method is an effective way of measuring of a signal to the standard with better signal-to-noise ratio (S/N) for higher impedance standards, particularly 1 pF. This allows a 1-pF capacitor to be calibrated using direct measurement at frequencies reported for calibrations. As this method does not require the equivalent circuit for interpolation using measurements at frequencies beyond the reported frequencies, it can be applied to 4TP admittance calibration, where the 4TP sections have the same mechanical structure as lower impedance standards.
Clinical Practice Guidelines for Pediatric Complicated Appendicitis: The Value in Discipline.

Appendicitis has been written about since surgical journals began. There have been randomized trials about when to operate, how to operate (open vs laparoscopic), what antibiotics to use, whether to use drains or not, or, as reported in JAMA Surgery, whether to let the patient choose to be operated on. Frankly, one would think that after almost 100 years since the development of anesthesia and antibiotics, we would have at least figured out appendicitis. It appears that we have not. If the standing-room-only attendance at the 2015 plenary session of the American College of Surgeons meeting is an indication, surgeons continue to seek information about the best treatment scheme. Although the article by Willis et al1 does not completely illuminate the path (and, in full disclosure, I must confess myWest Coast bias against the routine use of drains), it does demonstrate that no matter what technique is used, if everyone in the hospital uses the same protocol and pays attention to following the plan (clinical practice guidelines), the patients in the hospital will do better than they did before. It reminds me of dieting—I always do better when I actually stick to theplan! It’s the season for resolutions; let’smake a plan and stick to it. Both patients andphysicianswill be better for it.
A prospective evaluation of U-clips for arterial microvascular anastomoses.

Background The nitinol U-clip (Medtronic, Inc.; Minneapolis, MN, USA) is similar to conventional suturing but eliminates knot tying, thereby decreasing ischemia time. This study is the first clinical trial of this new technology for arterial microsurgical anastomoses in free tissue transfer. Methods We performed a prospective clinical trial of nitinol U-clips for 25 consecutive arterial microsurgical anastomoses. Standard microsurgical techniques and instruments were used, and the primary outcome was free flap survival. The secondary outcomes were ischemia time, operating room (OR) time, number of clips used, and recipient/donor-site complications. Significant recipient/donor-site complications were defined as those requiring re-operation. Descriptive statistics were used and minimum follow-up was 3 months. Results All anastomoses were successful (25/25). The most common etiology of the defect was cancer resection (92%), and 44% of the recipient vessels had been irradiated prior to surgery. Mean ischemia time was 29 minutes (range 12 to 54 minutes), and mean OR time was 7.4 hours. On average, seven U-clips were used per arterial anastomosis (range 5 to 12). At 3-month follow-up, there was a 100% flap survival rate with no significant recipient-site or donor-site complications. Conclusion This study suggests that the nitinol U-clip provides rapid, reproducible microvascular arterial anastomoses.
EFFECTS OF NONUNIFORM WAVE ENERGY IN THE LITTORAL ZONE

Bi-weekly monitoring of four closely-spaced permanent beach profile stations located on the northeast end of Monomoy Island (Cape Cod) has revealed major variations in the amount of erosion and accretion occurring along this portion of the Massachusetts shoreline During the 27-month monitoring period a close relationship was observed between changes in the beach and offshore portions of the profiles Three distinct types of bars were noted (1) Subtidal bars which are parallel to the shoreline and located one to two thousand feet off those portions of the shoreline undergoing relatively small amounts of beach erosion, (2) Subtidal bars which are perpendicular to the shoreline and attached to areas of the shore undergoing large amounts of erosion, and (3) Large intertidal bars which are oriented obliquely to the shoreline and associated with the formation of the ebb-tidal delta and the resulting wave refraction patterns The large variations in erosion and accretion occurring along the beach at any one time are related to the nonumform distribution of energy within the waves arriving at this section of the coastline This nonunifortuity of wave energy is attributed to refraction of the waves around the irregular bathymetry offshore from Monomoy, and it appears to produce shoreline protuberances of sand which are flanked updrift and downdrift by erosional zones.
A dynamic mesh adaption procedure for unstructured hexahedral grids

Hexahedral elements can be subdivided anisotropically without mesh quality problems that are associated with tetrahedral meshes. Furthermore, hexahedral meshes yield more accurate solutions than their tetrahedral counterparts for the same number of edges. Our adaption procedure uses an edge data structure that facilitates efficient subdivision by allowing individual edges to be marked for refinement or coarsening. Pyramids and prisms are used as buffer elements between refined and unrefined hexahedra to eliminate hanging vertices. Preliminary results indicate that this new adaption procedure is a viable alternative to adaptive tetrahedral schemes. (Author)
Production of interferon in embryonated eggs and in cell cultures infected with simian virus 5.

SummarySV5, a strain of parainfluenza 5, was adapted to grow in 7-8-day-old embryo-nated eggs. SV5 infected egg fluid proved to be capable of inhibiting the growth of Sindbis virus in CE tissue culture both under agar overlay and in fluid medium. The inhibitor substance was found to be acid resistant, sensitive to trypsin digestion, but could not be neutralized by specific SV5 antiserum, and was characterized as an interferon. The yield of SV5 interferon in embryonated eggs was dependent on the dosage of inoculum, and the days of virus growth in the embryonated eggs. Chick embryo cell cultures infected with SV5 or CE fibroblast cultures adsorbed with SV5 supernatant fluid from infected CE cells were resistant to plaque formation by Sindbis virus. SV5 infected CE culture fluid did not protect AG monkey cultures from superinfection with Sindbis virus. AG monkey cells infected with SV5 were resistant to super-infection with Sindbis virus, but these SV5 infected monkey cells did not interfere with the multipl...
Research of HDFS consistency management

HDFS is a storage system of open source cloud computing project Hadoop.It has good fault tolerance and scalability,but the original consistency model of HDFS can not be applied to the task which has high real-time request but high data integrity requirement is not strict.The overall architecture of HDFS,read/write process,and HDFS limitations and shortcomings are analyzed in the view of data consistency.The solutions are proposed.NWR model was introduced into HDFS and read/write lock mechanism was improved as multi-granularity lock mechanism.Experimental results prove that through the above measures,the users are allowed to configure their cloud storage system,and balance the consistency and availability according to their own needs.
A Square-Root Adaptive Filtering Algorithm for Accuracy Estimation of Transfer Alignment

Since the parameters of the Inertial Navigation System(INS) model usually have some deviations from the actual physical process,and the noise statistic characteristic is not exactly known,the normal Kalman filter may behave badly or diverge.For the purpose of estimating transfer alignment accuracy,a square-root adaptive filtering algorithm based on combination of square-root filtering and adaptive filtering algorithm was proposed to meet the estimating accuracy and stability demands.A simplified time-varying noise estimator was set between the time updating and measurement updating process of square-root filtering,which may restrict modeling divergence and computational divergence.Finally,the new algorithm was compared with typical Kalman filtering algorithm and simplified Sage-Husa adaptive algorithm.The digital simulation showed that the algorithm can not only strengthen the filtering convergence capability,but also improve the estimating accuracy,which can estimate the accuracy of transfer alignment efficiently.
Surgical treatment of Lenke 5 adolescent idiopathic scoliosis: Comparison of anterior vs posterior approach

Surgical treatment of Lenke 5 adolescent idiopathic scoliosis: Comparison of anterior vs posterior approach
In Defense of the Restatement of Liability Insurance Law

For most non-contractual legal claims for damages that are brought against individuals or firms, there is some form of liability insurance coverage. The Restatement of the Law Liability Insurance is the American Law Institute’s first effort to “restate” the common law governing such liability insurance policies, and we are the reporters. In a recent essay funded by the insurance industry, Yale Law Professor George Priest launched a strident critique of the Restatement project, arguing that the rules adopted in the Restatement (a) are radically contrary to existing case law, (b) have a naive “pro-policyholder” bias that ignores basic economic insights regarding how insurance works, and (c) will, as a result of (a) and (b), lead to increases in liability insurance premiums and disruption in coverage, to the detriment of individuals and firms that need liability insurance. This essay argues that each of these claims is false. First, the Restatement rules all are grounded in existing law, and most already apply in most jurisdictions. Second, while the Restatement rules are premised on an exhaustive and detailed legal analysis, they also are informed by and consistent with modern economic and psychological research on how insurance markets work. By contrast, Priest’s critique ignores case law and relies on an unrealistic adherence to an outdated, pre-behavioralist model of economic rationality. Finally, because the underlying premises are untrue, Priest’s predictions of market disruption are analytically unsound, and he has not provided any evidence of problems in the insurance markets in which Restatement rules already apply that could provide an empirical foundation for these predictions. Liability insurance companies have access to the best data that could prove or disprove such claims. If the insurance industry believes that broader application of the rules adopted in the Restatement will harm liability insurance markets, it should provide disinterested empirical legal studies researchers with access to the data needed to test that belief, rather than simply attacking the Restatement. The researchers can then use the data to evaluate the comparative effects of the legal rules among which the Restatement is choosing. As an industry that prides itself on sophisticated use of data and analytics, insurers should embrace the use of data to assess which legal rules are economically efficient, rather than simply making claims when there is a paucity of empirical evidence. As economically and empirically minded legal scholars, we would welcome such evidence, and we expect that the American Law Institute would as well.
TCT-520 PROspective, Randomized Comparison of 3-Dimensional Computed Tomography Guidance versus TEE data for Left Atrial Appendage Occlusion (PRO3DLAAO)

Preliminary data comparing 3-dimensional computed tomography (3D-CT) to transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) for left atrial appendage occlusion (LAAO) indicates that 3D-CT provides more accurate measurements and improves case planning. Therefore, we conducted a pilot study comparing 3D-CT to TEE