cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
The Unique NH2-terminally Deleted (ΔN) Residues, the PXXP Motif, and the PPXY Motif Are Required for the Transcriptional Activity of the ΔN Variant of p63

p63, a member of the p53 family of transcription factors, is known to be involved in epithelial development. However, its role in tumorigenesis is unclear. Contributing to this uncertainty, the TP63 locus can express multiple gene products from two different promoters. Utilization of the upstream promoter results in expression of the TAp63 variant with an activation domain similar to p53. In contrast, the NH2-terminally deleted (DeltaN) p63 variant, transcribed from a cryptic promoter in intron 3, lacks such an activation domain. Thus, the TAp63 and DeltaNp63 variants possess a wide ranging ability to up-regulate p53 target genes. Consequentially, the disparity in transactivation potential between p63 variants has given rise to the hypothesis that the DeltaNp63 variant can serve as oncoprotein by opposing the activity of the TAp63 variant and p53. However, recent studies have revealed a transcriptional activity for DeltaNp63. This study was undertaken to address the transcriptional activity of the DeltaNp63 variant. Here, we showed that all NH2-terminally deleted p63 isoforms retain a potential in transactivation and growth suppression. Interestingly, DeltaNp63beta possesses a remarkable ability to suppress cell proliferation and transactivate target genes, which is consistently higher than that seen with DeltaNp63alpha. In contrast, DeltaNp63gamma has a weak or undetectable activity dependent upon the cell lines used. We also demonstrate that an intact DNA-binding domain is required for DeltaNp63 function. In addition, we found that the novel activation domain for the DeltaNp63 variant is composed of the 14 unique DeltaN residues along with the adjacent region, including a PXXP motif. Finally, we demonstrated that a PPXY motif shared by DeltaNp63alpha and DeltaNp63beta is required for optimal transactivation of target gene promoters, suggesting that the PPXY motif is requisite for DeltaNp63 function.
SOME PROPERTIES OF ESTIMATORS OCCURING IN THE THEORY OF LINEAR STOCHASTIC PROCESS

A linear stochastic process is a process defined by $${{x}_{t}}~=~\sum\limits_{i=0}^{t-1}{~{{\alpha }^{i}}}{{\mu }_{t-1}}+~z~$$ (1) where (µt, t ≥ 1) is a process of independent and identically-distributed random variables with zero mean and constant variance σ µ 2 , α i are coefficients and z is a constant (i.e., α txo assuming xo to be a fixed constant with a probability one).
Proceedings from the Symposium

Spongospora subterranea f. sp. subterranea is the causal agent of powdery scab. The research conducted in the US on this disease has been limited. Worldwide, until recently, the research on this disease focused primarily on how to control the mop-top virus, which is vectored by Spongospora subterranea. In recent years, this disease has become a concern in the US and worldwide even in areas where the mop-top virus has not yet occurred. This disease has been difficult to research because it is an obligate parasite and needs a host to complete its life cycle. It is distributed in an aggregated dispersed fashion within a field and is confined to specific production areas where the soil temperature and moisture levels are optimum. There is no single control method for this disease. There is interesting but difficult research to be performed. With the finding of mop-top virus in the US in 2002, there is a need for us to have first hand current knowledge if this disease. The four papers that compromise these proceedings review the biology, epidemiology and control methods and provide the current research areas that are being performed around the world on powdery scab, as well as, address the relationship to the mop top virus. S. subterranea f. sp. subterranea: causal agent of powdery scab and vector of mop-top virus
Visual to Parametric Interaction (V2PI)

Typical data visualizations result from linear pipelines that start by characterizing data using a model or algorithm to reduce the dimension and summarize structure, and end by displaying the data in a reduced dimensional form. Sensemaking may take place at the end of the pipeline when users have an opportunity to observe, digest, and internalize any information displayed. However, some visualizations mask meaningful data structures when model or algorithm constraints (e.g., parameter specifications) contradict information in the data. Yet, due to the linearity of the pipeline, users do not have a natural means to adjust the displays. In this paper, we present a framework for creating dynamic data displays that rely on both mechanistic data summaries and expert judgement. The key is that we develop both the theory and methods of a new human-data interaction to which we refer as “ Visual to Parametric Interaction” (V2PI). With V2PI, the pipeline becomes bi-directional in that users are embedded in the pipeline; users learn from visualizations and the visualizations adjust to expert judgement. We demonstrate the utility of V2PI and a bi-directional pipeline with two examples.
Functional and Transcriptional Characterization of Human Embryonic Stem Cell-Derived Endothelial Cells for Treatment of Myocardial Infarction

Background: Differentiation of human embryonic stem cells into endothelial cells (hESC-ECs) has the potential to provide an unlimited source of cells for novel transplantation therapies of ischemic diseases by supporting angiogenesis and vasculogenesis. However, the endothelial differentiation efficiency of the conventional embryoid body (EB) method is low while the 2-dimensional method of co-culturing with mouse embryonic fibroblasts (MEFs) require animal product, both of which can limit the future clinical application of hESC-ECs. Moreover, to fully understand the beneficial effects of stem cell therapy, investigators must be able to track the functional biology and physiology of transplanted cells in living subjects over time. Methodology: In this study, we developed an extracellular matrix (ECM) culture system for increasing endothelial differentiation and free from contaminating animal cells. We investigated the transcriptional changes that occur during endothelial differentiation of hESCs using whole genome microarray, and compared to human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs). We also showed functional vascular formation by hESC-ECs in a mouse dorsal window model. Moreover, our study is the first so far to transplant hESC-ECs in a myocardial infarction model and monitor cell fate using molecular imaging methods. Conclusion: Taken together, we report a more efficient method for derivation of hESC-ECs that express appropriate patterns of endothelial genes, form functional vessels in vivo, and improve cardiac function. These studies suggest that hESC-ECs may provide a novel therapy for ischemic heart disease in the future.
Strategies Used by Families to Simplify Tasks for Individuals With Alzheimer's Disease and Related Disorders Psychometric Analysis of the Task Management Strategy Index (TMSI)

Purpose: Little is known about the specific behavioral strategies used by families to manage the physical dependency of persons with Alzheimer’s disease and related disorders (ADRD). This study reports the psychometric properties of the Task Management Strategy Index (TMSI), a measure designed to identify actions taken by caregivers to simplify everyday self-care tasks for persons with ADRD. Relationships between use of these strategies and caregiver and care-recipient characteristics were also examined. Design and Methods: A pool of 20 items was developed and initially tested with 202 family caregivers (Sample 1) recruited for a dementia-management intervention study. Principal axis factor analysis was performed to determine scale structure. Convergent and discriminant evidence was examined using Pearson correlation and multiple regression analyses with a separate sample of 255 family caregivers (Sample 2) recruited for the Philadelphia site of the National Institutes of Health multisite initiative, Resources for Enhancing Alzheimer’s Caregiver Health. Results: Exploratory principal axis factoring yielded one general factor accounting for 60.2% of variance in the first sample. Nineteen items, loading at .3 or above, constituted the final scale (Cronbach’s alpha � .81 in Sample 1 and .74 in Sample 2). In Sample 2, TMSI scores were significantly associated with greater functional dependency of ADRD patients, high self-efficacy, and greater use of positive coping strategies. As expected, caregiver upset with disruptive behaviors and caregiver use of criticism-based strategies were not associated with TMSI scores. Higher caregiver education was significantly associated with greater use of task strategies. Implications: Results provide preliminary evidence that the TMSI is an easily administered, reliable, valid scale. Caregivers with lower education may benefit from instruction in the use of these strategies.
Prevalence of Autoantibody-Negative Diabetes Is Not Rare at All Ages and Increases with Older Age and Obesity

Objective: A significant percentage of nonautoimmune forms of diabetes presents among children in all age groups, with a remarkable increase with age. Design: From October 1992 to October 2004, a total of 859 children less than 18 yr of age were newly diagnosed with diabetes at the Barbara Davis Center for Childhood Diabetes and had blood samples obtained within 2 wk of disease onset for analysis of antiislet autoantibodies to glutamic acid decarboxylase-65, insulinoma-associated antigen-2, insulin, and islet cell autoantibodies. The relationship of autoantibody positivity with human leukocyte antigen (HLA) class II, body mass index (BMI), glycosylated hemoglobin, age, and ethnicity was analyzed. Results: Overall 19% (159 of 859) of these children with newly diagnosed diabetes were negative for all autoantibodies, and autoantibody negativity was significantly increased with age (P < 0.01). The Hispanic and Black subjects had significantly increased autoantibody negativity among older children with higher ...
Syrian Jewry in Transition, 1840–1880

Review of Yaron Harel's book on the Jewish communities of Aleppo and Damascus during the tanzimat era.
Rule-based control for a flexible-link robot

This paper presents a design and implementation case study that focuses on endpoint position control of a two degree-of-freedom robot with very flexible links. Linear and nonlinear conventional control techniques have been shown to be somewhat successful in achieving various control objectives for the laboratory test beds of this and many other studies; however, their reliance on an accurate mathematical model of the process often limits their chances of achieving good endpoint position control. Here the authors investigate an alternative to conventional approaches where they employ rule-based controllers to represent and implement two general forms of knowledge that they have about how to best control the mechanism: i) experience gained from the use of a mathematical model and conventional control; and ii) an intuitive understanding of the dynamics of the two-link flexible robot. The authors begin the case study by assuming that the controls for the two links of the robotic mechanism can be designed and implemented independently and investigate the performance of rule-based fuzzy controllers which only use simple intuitive knowledge about how to control two independent links. Next, the authors show that if the rule-base is augmented with knowledge about the coupling effects between the two links, the controller can achieve improved performance over the uncoupled case. The final portion of the case study, which represents the authors' primary contribution, investigates the use of a two-level hierarchical rule-based controller with a simple upper-level "expert controller" that captures knowledge about how to supervise the application of low-level fuzzy controllers during movements in the robot workspace. Overall, the rule-based supervisory control results have proven to be extremely effective for vibration suppression in the laboratory test bed of this study, comparing favorably (in terms of performance, design complexity, and implementation issues) to a variety of conventional techniques attempted to date (including linear robust designs, feedback linearization, input command shaping, and adaptive approaches). >
Tis better to give than receive? How and when gender and residence-based segments predict choice of donation- versus discount-based promotions

Abstract Donation promotions that tie product purchase to charitable contributions are common in the marketplace. Yet little is known about the sensitivity of different consumer segments to such promotions, particularly relative to traditional discount-based promotions. To address this void, the authors consider the extent to which consumers in traditional demographic segments based on gender and residence vary in their propensity to choose donation versus discount promotions. An experiment along with a field study using in-market data show that female and rural consumers exhibit higher choice probabilities for donation promotions than male and urban consumer segments. The experimental results also demonstrate that interdependence, at least in part, underlies the effect of these demographic and geographic segmentation variables on promotion choice. In addition to providing new theoretical insights involving interdependence and promotion choice, these results offer pragmatic guidance for managers targeting donation versus discount promotions to various consumer segments.
Non-contraceptive applications of the levonorgestrel intrauterine system

Intrauterine progestins have many important current and potential gynecologic applications. This article describes the evidence for use of intrauterine progestin for common gynecologic conditions beyond its important role in contraception. The pharmacology of and selection criteria for use of the levonorgestrel intrauterine device is discussed, and the evidence for use of intrauterine progestin delivery for menorrhagia, endometriosis management, uterine fibroids, adenomyosis and endometrial hyperplasia is reviewed.
Electrostatic Interactions between Arginines and the Minor Groove in the Nucleosome

Proteins rely on a variety of readout mechanisms to preferentially bind specific DNA sequences. The nucleosome offers a prominent example of a shape readout mechanism where arginines insert into narrow minor groove regions that face the histone core. Here we compare DNA shape and arginine recognition of three nucleosome core particle structures, expanding on our previous study by characterizing two additional structures, one with a different protein sequence and one with a different DNA sequence. The electrostatic potential in the minor groove is shown to be largely independent of the underlying sequence but is, however, dominated by groove geometry. Our results extend and generalize our previous observation that the interaction of arginines with narrow minor grooves plays an important role in stabilizing the deformed DNA in the nucleosome.
Effects of a Family-Implemented Treatment on the Repetitive Behaviors of Children with Autism

The restricted and repetitive behaviors of children with autism can interfere with family functioning as well as learning and socialization opportunities for the child. To date, neither pharmacological nor comprehensive behavioral treatments have been found to be consistently effective at significantly reducing children’s engagement in repetitive behaviors. We developed Family-Implemented Treatment for Behavioral Inflexibility (FITBI) to target the full variety of repetitive behaviors found in autism. For the current study, a therapist and parents of five children with autism (mean age = 48 months) co-implemented FITBI in a clinic setting over a 12-week treatment period. Using single case design methodology, significant reductions in repetitive behaviors were found for all participants and maintenance of treatment effects for 4 of 5 participants.
A Time-Frequency-Based Approach to Phase and Phase Synchrony Estimation

Time-varying phase synchrony is an important bivariate measure that quantifies the dynamics between nonstationary signals and has been widely used in many applications including chaotic oscillators in physics and multichannel electroencephalography recordings in neuroscience. Current state-of-the-art in time-varying phase estimation uses either the Hilbert transform or the complex wavelet transform of the signals. Both of these methods have some major drawbacks such as the assumption that the signals are narrowband for the Hilbert transform and the nonuniform time-frequency resolution inherent to the wavelet analysis. In this paper, a new phase estimation method based on the Rihaczek distribution and Reduced Interference Rihaczek distribution belonging to Cohen's class is proposed. These distributions offer phase estimates with uniformly high time-frequency resolution which can be used for defining time and frequency dependent phase synchrony. Properties of the phase estimator and the corresponding phase synchrony measure are evaluated both analytically and through simulations showing the effectiveness of the new measures compared to existing methods.
Effectiveness of Conservation Reserve Programs and Land ‘Slippage’ in Southwestern Kansas

Historically land reserve programs have been used to reduce soil erosion. Slippage, which occurs when the number of acres enrolled in a reserve program is not met by an equivalent reduction of acreage in production, has limited reserve success, however. This study addresses the effect of slippage on conservation reserves in southwestern Kansas from 1988–1994. Slippage has varied considerably on both spatial and temporal bases. At one extreme the programs were 100% successful in removing land from production, but at the other extreme, slippage rendered reserve programs nearly useless. Overall, slippage in the study area has greatly reduced conservation reserve effectiveness.
Loss of oral contraceptive efficacy by concurrent antibiotic administration.

There are approximately 10 million women in the United States who are currently taking oral contraceptives on a daily basis. Although the actual number is not known, it is also estimated that a large number of these same women are on concomitant drug therapy. In recent years there have been a number of published reports linking a loss of contraceptive efficacy with the concurrent administration of other drugs, including antibiotics. Whereas the actual risk of drug interaction between antibiotics and oral contraceptives is yet unknown, it is important that women who are on oral contraceptive therapy be aware of possible contraceptive failure. This article review: the published incidence of oral contraceptive/antibiotic interaction. alone with a discussion of the possible mechanisms by which this occurs. recommendations are also presented for the health management of women taking oral contraceptives and other prescribed drugs.
Insight into the flow-condition-based interpolation finite element approach: solution of steady-state advection-diffusion problems

The flow-condition-based interpolation (FCBI) finite element approach is studied in the solution of advection–diffusion problems. Two FCBI procedures are developed and tested with the original FCBI method: in the first scheme, a general solution of the advection–diffusion equation is embedded into the interpolation, and in the second scheme, the link-cutting bubbles approach is used in the interpolation. In both procedures, as in the original FCBI method, no artificial parameters are included to reach stability for high Peclet number flows. The procedures have been implemented for two-dimensional analysis and the results of some test problems are presented. These results indicate good stability and accuracy characteristics and the potential of the FCBI solution approach. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Nephrotoxicity Associated with Intravenous Colistin in Critically Ill Patients

Study Objectives. To determine the frequency of nephrotoxicity associated with colistin therapy by using a standardized definition and to identify risk factors for colistin-induced nephrotoxicity in critically ill patients. Design. Single-center, retrospective cohort analysis. Setting. University-affiliated tertiary care center. Patients. Forty-nine adults admitted to an intensive care unit who received intravenous colistin for at least 48 hours between July 2007 and July 2009. Measurements and Main Results. Nephrotoxicity was determined by using the standardized RIFLE criteria: risk, injury, failure, loss, and end-stage renal disease. Patients who had end-stage renal disease or required renal replacement therapy before initiation of colistin were excluded. Of the 49 patients included in the analysis, 15 (31%) developed nephrotoxicity, and only two patients (4%) had irreversible cases. Patients with chronic kidney disease (40% in the group with nephrotoxicity vs 3% in the group without nephrotoxicity, p=0.002) and hypertension (87% vs 56%, p=0.037) at baseline had a higher risk of developing nephrotoxicity. In addition, patients with nephrotoxicity were more likely to have received intravenous contrast material (33% vs 0%, p=0.002). The risk of developing nephrotoxicity was 6.5 times higher in patients who had been given at least two concomitant nephrotoxic agents compared with no other nephrotoxic agents (p=0.034). Conclusion. The frequency and severity of colistin-induced nephrotoxicity in critically ill patients was consistent with previous reports in non—critically ill patients. Most cases of nephrotoxicity demonstrated in this study were mild and reversible. Patients receiving colistin therapy who have hypertension or chronic kidney disease should be monitored closely, and administration of additional nephrotoxic agents should be avoided in all patients when possible. Large, prospective trials are warranted to confirm these results.
Neural network approach for obstacle avoidance in 3-D environments for UAVs

In this paper a controller design is proposed to get obstacle free trajectories in a three dimensional urban environment for unmanned air vehicles (UAVs). The controller has a two-layer architecture. In the upper layer, vision-inspired Grossberg neural network is proposed to get the shortest distance paths. In the bottom layer, a model predictive control (MPC) based controller is used to obtain dynamically feasible trajectories. Simulation results are presented for to demonstrate the potential of the approach.
Scalable Social Analytics for Live Viral Event Prediction

Large-scale, predictive social analytics have proven effective. Over the last decade, research and industrial efforts have understood the potential value of inferences based on online behavior analysis, sentiment mining, influence analysis, epidemic spread, etc. The majority of these efforts, however, are not yet designed with realtime responsiveness as a first-order requirement. Typical systems perform a post-mortem analysis on volumes of historical data and validate their “predictions” against already-occurred events. We observe that in many applications, real-time predictions are critical and delays of hours (and even minutes) can reduce their utility. As examples: political campaigns could react very quickly to a scandal spreading on Facebook; content distribution networks (CDNs) could prefetch videos that are predicted to soon go viral; online advertisement campaigns can be corrected to enhance consumer reception. This paper proposes CrowdCast, a cloud-based framework to enable real-time analysis and prediction from streaming social data. As an instantiation of this framework, we tune CrowdCast to observe Twitter tweets, and predict which YouTube videos are most likely to “go viral” in the near future. To this end, CrowdCast first applies online machine learning to map natural language tweets to a specific YouTube video. Then, tweets that indeed refer to videos are weighted by the perceived “influence” of the sender. Finally, the video’s spread is predicted through a sociological model, derived from the emerging structure of the graph over which the video-related tweets are (still) spreading. Combining metrics of influence and live structure, CrowdCast outputs sets of candidate videos, identified as likely to become viral in the next few hours. We monitor Twitter for more than 30 days, and find that CrowdCast’s real-time predictions demonstrate encouraging correlation with actual YouTube viewership in the near future.
Integumental taurine transport in Mytilus gill: short-term adaptation to reduced salinity.

Summary Taurine, a principal osmolyte in molluscan integument, is actively transported from sea water by Mytilus gill by means of a Na + -dependent process. In this study we examined the response of this transport to reductions in external salinity, i.e. the response to reductions in osmotic concentration as well as Na + concentration. Acute exposure of isolated gill tissue to 60 % artificial sea water (ASW) resulted in a greater than 85 % inhibition of taurine uptake, substantially more than the 45 % inhibition predicted on the basis of the acute reduction in external [Na + ]. Within 60min, however, taurine transport recovered to the level predicted by the Na + concentration in dilute sea water. Isolated gills acutely exposed to 60% ASW made isosmotic to normal (100 %) ASW with mannitol had rates of taurine uptake comparable to gills acclimated for 60min. Taurine uptake by gill tissue exposed to 60% ASW for 60min and then returned to 100% ASW for 90min was not significantly different from that of control gills held in 100% ASW. Glucose uptake by the gill during acute exposure to reduced salinity responded in a pattern similar to that of taurine. Gill tissue increased by 20 % in wet mass within 2 min of exposure to 60% ASW, but returned to control mass within 30-60 min, presumably reflecting cell volume regulation. Long-term (12 days) exposure to reduced salinities was not accompanied by increases in taurine transport over that of gills observed following the 60min 'short-term' acclimation. These results suggest that Mytilus gill undergoes a rapid (albeit incomplete) recovery from the extreme inhibition of transport associated with abrupt changes in salinity, and the extent of recovery is defined by the availability of Na + in the external medium. The extreme sensitivity of taurine uptake observed after acute exposure of gills to reduced salinity is related to the osmotic concentration of the medium, and is possibly linked to a change in cell volume.
Method for multi-focus image fusion based on union of wavelet transform and block search

For the multi-focus image fusion using 2D Discrete Wavelet Transform(DWT),the selection of low frequency coefficients decides the contour and affects the edge details of the fused image,therefore,DWT get the average definition of the whole image,losing the partial definition;while the method based on block pasting can preserve the local clear part.Because of this,this paper proposes a new method used for image fusion,first using DWT method,then searching the clear blocks,using the block pasting method.Experiments show that the method proposed is better than the wavelet transform method.
Tangled Hierarchies: Gödel, Escher, Bach and Gravity's Rainbow (An Abstract of Work in Progress)

Douglas Hofstadter tells us in Godel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid (1979) that the rapid development of computer technology in the past two decades has brought about a new kind of perspective on just what thought is--its powers and weaknesses, as well as its idiosyncracies. This has been made possible through computer experimentation with what he calls "alien, yet hand-tailored forms of thought--or approximations of thought." The results of this experimentation are reflected in the theory and designs developed in the artificial intelligence (AI) field, and many of these developments are considered at some length in Godel, Escher, Bach.
Insight into the Salivary Gland Transcriptome of Lygus lineolaris (Palisot de Beauvois)

The tarnished plant bug (TPB), Lygus lineolaris (Palisot de Beauvois) is a polyphagous, phytophagous insect that has emerged as a major pest of cotton, alfalfa, fruits, and vegetable crops in the eastern United States and Canada. Using its piercing-sucking mouthparts, TPB employs a “lacerate and flush” feeding strategy in which saliva injected into plant tissue degrades cell wall components and lyses cells whose contents are subsequently imbibed by the TPB. It is known that a major component of TPB saliva is the polygalacturonase enzymes that degrade the pectin in the cell walls. However, not much is known about the other components of the saliva of this important pest. In this study, we explored the salivary gland transcriptome of TPB using Illumina sequencing. After in silico conversion of RNA sequences into corresponding polypeptides, 25,767 putative proteins were discovered. Of these, 19,540 (78.83%) showed significant similarity to known proteins in the either the NCBI nr or Uniprot databases. Gene ontology (GO) terms were assigned to 7,512 proteins, and 791 proteins in the sialotranscriptome of TPB were found to collectively map to 107 Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) database pathways. A total of 3,653 Pfam domains were identified in 10,421 sialotranscriptome predicted proteins resulting in 12,814 Pfam annotations; some proteins had more than one Pfam domain. Functional annotation revealed a number of salivary gland proteins that potentially facilitate degradation of host plant tissues and mitigation of the host plant defense response. These transcripts/proteins and their potential roles in TPB establishment are described.
Inoperable cancer of the esophagus: use of the Mousseau-Barbin tube in palliative surgery.

Summary 1. Experience with the use of the Mousseau-Barbin tube in 10 cases of inoperable carcinoma of the esophagus is described. Included in this series are 4 cases of malignant esophagotracheal and esophagobronchial fistulas. 2. One patient survived over 1 year following intubation and radiotherapy and his case is reported in detail. 3. The operative technique for intubation is described using a combined peroral-abdominal approach. 4. The operative mortality was 10 per cent. The one fatality occurred in a patient with the tumor located in the cervical esophagus. 5. It is concluded that this method provides significant short-term palliation in inoperable cancer of the esophagus.
The influence of a liquid metal fast breeder reactor environment on incipient boiling superheat.

An analytical investigation is presented of the influence of a fast reactor environment on the incipient boiling superheat of the sodium coolant. Calculated results show that for the size range of ...
On Estimating the Rate of Return to Capital in Colombia

The historical rate of return to capital in any country is a matter of interest both because it provides a basis for assessing the contribution of capital investment to the growth process and also because it is a key guide for estimating the opportunity cost of capital—a figure which in turn has a major role to play in the evaluation of projects by the public sector. The historical rate of return can be obtained for any year by taking the ratio of (a) that part of the national income which accrues to capital during the year to (b) the value of the national capital stock at the beginning of the year, with both (a) and (b) expressed in terms of prices of the same year. The problem is that we do not have direct information on either factor.
Hürthle Cell Lesions

Hurthle cell changes are frequently seen in reactive/hyperplastic conditions and can be extensive, resulting in the formation of nodules that must be distinguished from their neoplastic counterparts, Hurthle cell adenomas and Hurthle cell carcinoma. The primary goal of thyroid FNA in the management of Hurthle cell nodules is to separate those for which surgery is indicated, i.e., Hurthle cell adenomas and carcinomas, from those that can be managed conservatively, i.e., adenomatous nodules with oncocytic changes and Hashimoto’s thyroiditis. The distinction between Hurthle cell adenomas and carcinomas is not possible on cytology because of the inability of cytology to establish the presence of capsular and/or vascular invasion. Therefore, rendering a diagnosis of Hurthle cell neoplasm implies that these lesions should be excised to exclude a malignancy. The criteria for diagnosing “follicular neoplasm, Hurthle cell type,” or “suspicious for a follicular neoplasm, Hurthle cell type” are moderately to markedly cellular aspirate that consists exclusively or predominantly (>75 %) of Hurthle cells with little or no colloid and lack of background lymphocytes. The Hurthle cells can be either small with high N/C ratio (≥50 %) (small cell dysplasia) or large with at least 2× variability in nuclear size (large cell dysplasia). The differential diagnosis includes other neoplasms such as oncocytic and tall cell variants of papillary thyroid carcinoma, medullary carcinoma, parathyroid adenoma, and metastatic renal cell carcinoma.
Revisiting fetal dose during radiation therapy: Evaluating treatment techniques and a custom shield

To create a comprehensive dataset of peripheral dose (PD) measurements from a new generation of linear accelerators with and without the presence of a newly designed fetal shield, PD measurements were performed to evaluate the effects of depth, field size, distance from the field edge, collimator angle, and beam modi-fiers for common treatment protocols and modalities. A custom fetal lead shield was designed and made for our department that allows external beam treatments from multiple angles while minimizing the need to adjust the shield during patient treatments. PD measurements were acquired for a comprehensive series of static fields on a stack of Solid Water. Additionally, PDs from various clinically relevant treatment scenarios for pregnant patients were measured using an anthropomorphic phantom that was abutted to a stack of Solid Water. As expected, the PD decreased as the distance from the field edge increased and the field size decreased. On aver-age, a PD reduction was observed when a 90° collimator rotation was applied and/or when the tertiary MLCs and jaws defined the field aperture. However, the effect of the collimator rotation (90° versus 0°) in PD reduction was not found to be clini-cally significant when the tertiary MLCs were used to define the field aperture. In the presence of both the MLCs and the fetal shield, the PD was reduced by 58% at a distance of 10 cm from the field edge. The newly designed fetal shield may effectively reduce fetal dose and is relatively easy to setup. Due to its design, we are able to use a broad range of treatment techniques and beam angles. We believe the acquired comprehensive PD dataset collected with and without the fetal shield will be useful for treatment teams to estimate fetal dose and help guide decisions on treat-ment techniques without the need to perform pretreatment phantom measurements.
Memory in the era of innovative architectures

There is much buzz in the industry today about the “Post Moore's Law” state we are entering. Yet the opportunities for architectural innovation seem more prevalent than ever: 3D integration, advanced packaging solutions, specialized devices with specialized processes, new architectures and resiliency are just some areas of opportunity as we run out of an ability to scale in two dimensions.
PS54. Open Repair of Intact Thoracoabdominal Aortic Aneurysms in the ACS-NSQIP

Objective Repair of thoracoabdominal aortic aneurysms (TAAA) is uncommon. Studies using national data report mortality rates of 20% while single institution studies report 5-8% mortality. Clinical trials are currently evaluating branched and fenestrated endografts. The purpose of this study is to establish a benchmark for future comparisons with endovascular trials using open repair of TAAA in the National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (NSQIP) database.
Epithelial stem cells, hair follicles, and tumor formation.

The hair follicle is a remarkable structure that undergoes a phase of sustained growth (anagen), followed by a period of cellular degeneration and rearrangement (catagen), and succeeded by an interval of rest (telogen) (Dry 1926; Chase et al. 1951; Chase 1954; Kligman 1959). This cycle can be repeated many times during the life of a hair follicle. In humans, individual hair follicles cycle independently. However, in many mammals, especially those used in experimental carcinogenesis (e.g., mouse, rat, and rabbit), hair follicles cycle in synchrony (Johnson 1958). The equilibrium that exists between new cell formation and epithelial cell loss due to terminal differentiation are prime examples of a self-renewing or “steady-state” tissue. By definition, the growth and regeneration of all self-renewing tissues (e.g., epidermis, hair follicle, intestinal epithelium, and hematopoietic system) are governed by stem cells. These cells are believed to be long-lived; they have great potential for cell division; and they are ultimately responsible for homeostasis of continuously renewing tissues (Potten et al. 1979; Wright and Alison 1984; Potten and Morris 1988). It is also generally accepted that a subpopulation of cells having stem cell characteristics are the target cells that interact with carcinogens and eventually become transformed (Boutwell 1964; Stenbach et al. 1981; Van Duuren et al. 1975; Argyris 1985; Morris et al. 1986).
Trained Cohorts of University Students are a Useful Resource for Conducting Dietary Surveys in Mongolia.

Background:Population-based dietary assessment is important for informing national nutrition policy. The developing country setting presents challenges for robust implementation of dietary surveys,...
Unfinished Business: Disentangling Sex, Gender, and Sexuality in Sociological Research on Gender Stratification

Focusing on two major strands of research on gender stratification, labor market inequality and health disparities, we argue that cisnormativity and heteronormativity obscure the rich variation in how people experience their own sense of gender and sexuality, as well as how others perceive them. Although researchers’ reliance on static notions of gender and sexuality is starting to shift, there is room for improvement, especially in the area of gender inequality. To highlight the advancements in researchers’ thinking, we spotlight exemplary work that incorporates gender expansive realities using empirically and/or theoretically grounded approaches. We conclude by outlining best practices to measure gender identity, sexual identity, gender expression, gender conformity, and other facets of gender and sexuality.
The Effects of Election Festivals on Voter Turnout: A Field Experiment Conducted During a Presidential Election

During the final days of the 2017 general election, Civic Nation coordinated a series of non-partisan election festivals designed to encourage voter turnout in targeted precincts across the country. Previous experimental research conducted in low-salience elections (Addonizio, Green and Glaser, 2007) and presidential elections (Green and McClellan, 2017) indicates that festivals held at polling sites significantly increase voter turnout. The present study revisits the effectiveness of festivals as an inducement to voting in low- and medium-salience elections. In 2017, 104 precincts were randomly assigned to treatment or control, making the current study larger than previous experiments. Festivals appear to have had a modest positive effect on turnout in 2017; however, this effect was smaller than estimated in previous research. Heavy rains in 85% of the sites as well as limited community outreach prior to Election Day may explain the weaker treatment effects observed in 2017.
FRAGMATIC: in silico locus prediction and its utility in optimizing ddRADseq projects

Reduced-representation genomic methods are an invaluable data acquisition tool for conservation geneticists, yet a priori estimates of locus recovery are difficult for non-model organisms. We present a simple in silico approach (FRAGMATIC) that predicts locus recovery in ddRAD sequencing which utilizes genomic data for related organisms. Its applicability was tested by quantifying prediction accuracy versus genetic distances across five non-model organisms and reference genomes for related organisms of varying phylogenetic distance. We additionally examined sensitivity of the method using one organism (Danio rerio) with an available genome. FRAGMATIC supports population genomic projects in non-model species by providing a priori estimates of targeted ddRAD loci that, in turn, will curb wasted sequencing effort and optimize cost-efficiency. Validation shows that while predictive error is minimized when applied to a closely related reference genome, in silico estimates may also be robust to deeper (e.g. within-family) relationships, although weak correlation suggests that specific characteristics of genome architecture may be more predictive than genetic distance. This indicates that a more extensive exploration of genomes, including a broader taxonomic scope (e.g. beyond vertebrates), may be informative. All code is freely available at: https://github.com/tkchafin/fragmatic .
Nonconvex regularization for sparse genomic variant signal detection

Recent research suggests an overwhelming proportion of humans have genomic structural variants (SVs): rearrangements of regions in the genome such as inversions, insertions, deletions and duplications. The standard approach to detecting SVs in an unknown genome involves sequencing paired-reads from the genome in question, mapping them to a reference genome, and analyzing the resulting configuration of fragments for evidence of rearrangements. Because SVs occur relatively infrequently in the human genome, and erroneous read-mappings may suggest the presence of an SV, approaches to SV detection typically suffer from high false-positive rates. Our approach aims to more accurately distinguish true from false SVs in two ways: First, we solve a constrained optimization equation consisting of a negative Poisson log-likelihood objective function with an additive penalty term that promotes sparsity. Second, we analyze multiple related individuals simultaneously and enforce familial constraints. That is, we require any SVs predicted in children to be present in one of their parents. Our problem formulation decreases the false positive rate despite a large amount of error from both DNA sequencing and mapping. By incorporating additional information, we improve our model formulation and increase the accuracy of SV prediction methods.
Inter‐rater agreement of novel high‐resolution impedance manometry metrics: Bolus flow time and esophageal impedance integral ratio

Background Novel high-resolution impedance manometry (HRIM) metrics of bolus flow time (BFT) and esophageal impedance integral (EII) ratio have demonstrated clinical utility, though the reliability of their analysis has not been assessed. We aimed to evaluate the inter-rater agreement of the BFT and EII ratio. Methods HRIM studies including five upright, liquid swallows from 40 adult patients were analyzed by two raters using a customized MATLAB program to generate the BFT and EII ratio. Inter-rater agreement was assessed using the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) for median values generated per patient and also for all 200 swallows. Key results The ICC (95% confidence interval, CI) for BFT was 0.873 (0.759-0.933) for median values and 0.838 (0.778-0.881) for all swallows. The ICC (95% CI) for EII ratio was 0.983 (0.968-0.991) for median values and 0.905 (0.875-0.928) for all swallows. Median values for both BFT and EII ratio were similar between the two raters (P-values .05). Conclusions and inferences The BFT and EII ratio can be reliably calculated as supported by generally excellent inter-rater agreement. Thus, broader utilization of these measures appears feasible and would facilitate further evaluation of their clinical utility.
‘I am … but a pawn in your chess board’: letters, self-presentation, and the making of a lady missionary's career

ABSTRACTThis article explores the epistolary exchanges of a female medical missionary, Mary Ann ‘May’ Harriet Allen, who served with the British Anglican Universities’ Mission to Central Africa (UMCA) in Zanzibar between 1875 and 1882. In particular, it focuses on two sets of letters—the first is set of letters Allen wrote to her father, which he subsequently published in their local newspaper. The second set comprises letters Allen exchanged with her colleagues at the mission. In the first set of letters, Allen cast herself as the protagonist in an African drama typical of Victorian-era missionary publications, a move that obscured the struggles that Allen was facing in her work on Zanzibar, and about which she wrote in letters to her colleagues. Reading these letters against one another offers insight into the techniques of self-actualization available to women in the nineteenth-century mission field, the strategies some women employed to negotiate the contemporary evangelical and patriarchal hierarchie...
DNA Replication and the Cell Cycle

A recurring theme in this text has been the importance of weak forces in providing flexibility in life. This carries with it the proclivity for destabilization. While myriad systems exist for the repair and renewal of the macromolecular and supramolecular entities which comprise and confine the life process, none furnish the possibility of biochemical immortality. Therefore, cell replication is necessary for the complete transmission of genetic information to the progeny and for the rejuvenation of the cell. Since DNA acts as a repository for the cellular information, it is crucial that replication of the genetic information be accurate. In this chapter we will review, briefly, the current view of how this most pivotal of life functions is carried out.
Wheel-Spinning: Students Who Fail to Master a Skill

The concept of mastery learning is powerful: rather than a fixed number of practices, students continue to practice a skill until they have mastered it. However, an implicit assumption in this formulation is that students are capable of mastering the skill. Such an assumption is crucial in computer tutors, as their repertoire of teaching actions may not be as effective as commonly believed. What if a student lacks sufficient knowledge to solve problems involving the skill, and the computer tutor is not capable of providing sufficient instruction? This paper introduces the concept of “wheel-spinning;” that is, students who do not succeed in mastering a skill in a timely manner. We show that if a student does not master a skill in ASSISTments or the Cognitive Tutor quickly, the student is likely to struggle and will probably never master the skill. We discuss connections between such lack of learning and negative student behaviors such as gaming and disengagement, and discuss alterations to ITS design to overcome this issue.
Parallel Computation of Nearly Recurrent Components of Piecewise Constant Vector Fields

We describe a simple way to parallelize the algorithm for computing Morse decompositions and nearly recurrent sets for piecewise constant vector fields. In this chapter, we focus on the most computationally expensive component of the algorithm, namely refinement of the transition graph, which often takes up over 90 % of the running time.
Power Conversion Options for the Cascade ICF Power Reactor

Cascade is an ICF reactor concept with a flowing ceramic granule blanket operating at high temperatures (≤ 1600K). For electical power conversion, we examined three options: (1) conventional Rankin...