cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Intra-Hepatic Depletion of Mucosal-Associated Invariant T Cells in Hepatitis C Virus-Induced Liver Inflammation

Background & Aims Chronic hepatitis affects phenotypes of innate and adaptive immune cells. Mucosal-associated invariant T (MAIT) cells are enriched in the liver as compared with the blood, respond to intra-hepatic cytokines, and (via the semi-invariant T-cell receptor) to bacteria translocated from the gut. Little is known about the role of MAIT cells in livers of patients with chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection and their fate after antiviral therapy. Methods We collected blood samples from 42 patients with chronic HCV infection who achieved a sustained virologic response after 12 weeks of treatment with sofosbuvir and velpatasvir. Mononuclear cells were isolated from blood before treatment, at weeks 4 and 12 during treatment, and 24 weeks after the end of treatment. Liver biopsies were collected from 37 of the patients prior to and at week 4 of treatment. Mononuclear cells from 56 blood donors and 10 livers that were not suitable for transplantation were used as controls. Liver samples were assessed histologically for inflammation and fibrosis. Mononuclear cells from liver and blood were studied by flow cytometry and analyzed for responses to cytokine and bacterial stimulation. Results The frequency of MAIT cells among T cells was significantly lower in blood and liver samples of patients with HCV infection than of controls (median, 1.31% vs 2.32% for blood samples, P = .0048; and median, 4.34% vs 13.40% for liver samples, P = .001). There was an inverse correlation between the frequency of MAIT cells in the liver and histologically determined levels of liver inflammation (r = - . 5437, P = .0006) and fibrosis (r = - . 5829, P = .0002). MAIT cells from the liver had higher levels of activation and cytotoxicity than MAIT cells from blood ( P Conclusions In analyses of paired blood and liver samples from patients with chronic HCV infection before, during, and after antiviral therapy with sofosbuvir and velpatasvir, we found that intrahepatic MAIT cells are activated by monocyte-derived cytokines and depleted in HCV-induced liver inflammation.
Authoring standards-based intelligent content the easy way with lightweight DITA

Lightweight DITA (LwDITA) is a proposed standard and methodology for authoring intelligent technical content. LwDITA aims to ease adoption of the open standard Darwin Information Typing Architecture (DITA) in industry and academia by reducing its dependence on robust XML structures and allowing authors to develop content in a variety of markup languages. LwDITA is designed after three primary authoring formats: 1) a subset of DITA XML elements aimed at an audience of technical communicators (XDITA), 2) an HTML5 format for web content creators (HDITA), and 3) a Markdown format for developers and plain-text aficionados (MDITA). LwDITA is still under development, but some plugins compatible with the DITA Open Toolkit make it functional enough for evaluation and early adoption.
Treatments for Nocturnal Leg Cramps.

Calcium channel blockers or B vitamins may lead to short-term improvement in nocturnal leg cramps. Stretching has mixed results. Quinine is effective but is no longer recommended, and it is not approved for treatment of leg cramps because of potential toxicity.
Identifying the Reaction Mechanisms of Inteins with QM/MM Multiscale Methods

With a series of quantum mechanical calculations ranging from gas phase, to an implicit solvent scheme, to combined quantum/classical simulations, we have provided insight into some of the key steps of intein reactions. These studies may be exploited for many applications involving inteins including molecular switches and sensors as well as controlled drug delivery.
Efficient SAT solving under assumptions

In incremental SAT solving, assumptions are propositions that hold solely for one specific invocation of the solver. Effective propagation of assumptions is vital for ensuring SAT solving efficiency in a variety of applications. We propose algorithms to handle assumptions. In our approach, assumptions are modeled as unit clauses, in contrast to the current state-of-the-art approach that models assumptions as first decision variables. We show that a notable advantage of our approach is that it can make preprocessing algorithms much more effective. However, our initial scheme renders assumption-dependent (or temporary) conflict clauses unusable in subsequent invocations. To resolve the resulting problem of reduced learning power, we introduce an algorithm that transforms such temporary clauses into assumption-independent pervasive clauses. In addition, we show that our approach can be enhanced further when a limited form of look-ahead information is available. We demonstrate that our approach results in a considerable performance boost of the SAT solver on instances generated by a prominent industrial application in hardware validation.
Application note: Discretization for a spray deposition model: Criteria for temporal and spatial differencing

A spray deposition model was developed to simulate spray dispersion in open space and deposition within a citrus tree canopy. It was validated by field tests reported in earlier publications. The model is based on a compartment modeling approach where the spray cloud is spatially partitioned into several compartments, with equal thickness but increasing cross section in the direction of application. The stability of the simulation curves depends concurrently on the compartment thickness (@Dx) and time step (@Dt) used. Simultaneously, the needed computer memory and computational time greatly depend on @Dt. In this application note, the influence of these two parameters on simulated airborne spray mass has been explored and a criterion for selecting a pair of them to optimize simulation output has been established. The criterion, @[email protected]/u"a, establishes a strong relationship of these two parameters with sprayer air velocity, u"a, stressing the importance of u"a in the model. The results provided critical understanding about the sensitivity of the model to the studied parameters and tend to be crucial for successful implementation of the model.
Enabling a Package Query Paradigm on the Semantic Web: Model and Algorithms

The traditional search model of finding links on the Web is unsatisfactory for the increasingly complex tasks that seek to leverage the diverse, increasingly structured and semantically annotated data on the Web. A good example is when users seek to find collections or packages of resources that meet some constraints e.g., a collection of learning resources that cover some topics and have a good average rating or a collection of tourist attractions in a city such that total cost and total travel time for visiting all attractions meet the given constraints. For such queries, the goal is the return a set of constraint-qualifying collections or packages. However, using the traditional “set of links” query paradigm, such queries can only be satisfied by issuing multiple queries, reviewing answer lists and manually assembling packages to suit a user’s desired constraints.
Life History Patterns and Reproductive Biology of Neotropical Salamanders

The life cycles and reproductive biology of salamanders have been studied for over 75 years (e.g. Ritter and Miller 1899, Ritter 1903). Initial investigations have emphasized descriptive natural history (e.g. Blanchard 1928, Burger 1935, Lynn and Dent 1941, Pope and Pope 1951, Gordon 1952, Taub 1961), but more recent workers have attempted to understand and interpret life history phenomena in terms of the selective pressures bearing on salamander populations (e.g. Organ 1961, Tilley 1968, Bruce 1969, Salthe 1969, Highton 1970, Maiorana 1976). Implicit in this recent approach is the view that a life history pattern is a complex set of interdependent features representing an adaptive and dynamic compromise to pertinent selective pressures.
The Basics of Positron Emission Tomographic (PET) Imaging

Positron Emission Tomographic (PET) imaging is accomplished through the coincident detection of the 511 keV photons arising from the annihilation of positrons in material. PET imaging presents several advantages over other medical imaging techniques but also presents unique imaging challenges. PET detection efficiency is increased when compared to Single Photon Emission Computerized Tomographic (SPECT) techniques because electronic collimation of the detected photon removes the requirement for inefficient lead collimation. PET transaxial images have the best spatial and temporal resolution and quantitative accuracy of all nuclear medicine imaging modalities. Current manufacturers of PET instrumentation have optimized spatial resolution to near the limits imposed by the physics of positron flight and annihilation. Absolute quantitation is achieved using the fact that the total path length traveled by both annihilation photons is a constant regardless of the origin of the annihilation. This allows precise attenuation correction without iteration. The availability of biologically relevant tracers enables PET users to quantify in vivo physiological parameters through the application of mathematical models to static or a series of dynamic images. The desirability of absolute activity quantification and accurate parametric physiological images increases the importance of camera performance and image quality for PET.
Advancements in ruminant trace mineral nutrition : feed science

Major advances in the field of trace mineral nutrition occurred in the 20th century. All of the trace minerals recognised as being important in ruminant nutrition, with the exception of iron, were first shown to be essential in the 1900s. Between 1920 and 1960 naturally occurring deficiencies of iodine, copper, cobalt, manganese, selenium and zinc were first reported in cattle. Today it is common to supplement a number of trace minerals to ruminant diets to ensure that requirements are met.
Informating Crisis: Expanding Critical Perspectives in Crisis Informatics

Over the past 20 years, the practices of crisis preparedness, response, and recovery have become increasingly dependent on information and communication technology (ICT) to accomplish their work. More recently, crisis informatics has developed an analysis of these phenomena from social and computational perspectives. To further to assess the consequences and opportunities of technological developments in the field, we re-interpret the concept of informating, first developed by Zuboff to describe the impacts of technological changes on the workplace during the 1980s. We draw on four contemporary examples of how ICT is changing the way we conceive of and respond to natural hazards to offer a new reading of the concept of informating in the growing field of crisis informatics. We then argue that this concept suggests the adoption of a more critical agenda for crisis informatics research to better respond to contemporary challenges presented by climate change and natural hazards.
Evaluation of Irradiance Transposition Models When Utilized with Single Axis Tracking PV Systems in the Southwestern United States

This work examines the accuracy of commonlyused irradiance decomposition and transposition models when modeling single-axis tracking photovoltaic (PV) arrays in the southwestern United States. Inputs to the models include measured one-minute global horizontal, diffuse horizontal, and direct normal irradiance. The bias and variability associated with decomposition models’ predictions are analyzed and compared according to sky clearness and solar zenith angle, with results varying widely depending on the model employed. Separately, transposition model predictions are compared to measured plane-of-array (POA) irradiance at an operating PV plant with single-axis tracking. Goodagreement is found between the transposition models’ predictions and measured irradiance on clear sky days, with an absolute mean bias difference of $< 2$% for all anisotropic models. The decomposition and transposition models are then combined, with their predictions compared to measured POA irradiance at a second tracking PV plant on an annual and seasonal basis. Morevariability and bias are seen when both decomposition and transposition are performed, though good agreement with measured data is still possible with some model combinations.
pH-dependent gating mechanism of the Helicobacter pylori urea channel revealed by cryo-EM.

The urea channel of Helicobacter pylori (HpUreI) is an ideal drug target for preventing gastric cancer but incomplete understanding of its gating mechanism has hampered development of inhibitors for the eradication of H. pylori. Here, we present the cryo-EM structures of HpUreI in closed and open conformations, both at a resolution of 2.7 A. Our hexameric structures of this small membrane protein (~21 kDa/protomer) resolve its periplasmic loops and carboxyl terminus that close and open the channel, and define a gating mechanism that is pH dependent and requires cooperativity between protomers in the hexamer. Gating is further associated with well-resolved changes in the channel-lining residues that modify the shape and length of the urea pore. Site-specific mutations in the periplasmic domain and urea pore identified key residues important for channel function. Drugs blocking the urea pore based on our structures should lead to a new strategy for H. pylori eradication.
Behavioral responses of juvenile white sturgeon (Acipenser transmontanus) to manipulations of nutritional state and predation risk

Predation and reduced energetic intake have been highlighted as potential mechanisms of recruitment failure in sturgeon populations. These two factors may interact, as foraging carries with it costs of increased predation risk, requiring behavioral trade-offs. We expect that juvenile sturgeon should express predator avoidance behaviors while they are within vulnerable size ranges, yet these behaviors should be modified by nutritional state. To evaluate behavioral trade-offs of juvenile white sturgeon, we designed an experiment to test the interacting effects of acute nutritional state and predation risk on the spatial distribution and movement of small groups (n = 6). Groups were assigned to one of four treatments, designed as a full factorial of nutritional state (well-fed or starved 24-h) and predation risk (largemouth bass present or absent), and eight replicates were conducted for each treatment. Juvenile sturgeon displayed a predicted and adaptive response to predation risk and predator aggression levels by reducing activity levels and displaying marked freezing behavior. Sturgeon responded strongly to nutritional deprivation through increased activity and increased near-neighbor distance, which was likely an adaptive response to increase encounter rates with benthic food items. Both of these responses to starvation were suppressed in the presence of predators. This study has provided experimental evidence that predators can abruptly reduce the foraging activity of white sturgeon, possibly reducing growth rates and extending the period of juvenile vulnerability. Future conservation planning should consider the interacting effects of multiple stressors experienced by sturgeon at early life-stages, as introduced predators and degraded foraging habitats may have interacting effects.
The Justification of Induction

The “problem of induction” is perhaps as clear a paradigm of a purely philosophical difficulty as one is likely to find: it has been advanced in many different forms, for which a wide variety of disparate solutions have been proposed, about the correctness of which few philosophers have tended to agree. It has been variously characterized as subject to an inductive solution, a deductive solution, a linguistic resolution, or as incapable of solution; it has been diversely appraised as an important problem, as an unimportant problem, and as no problem at all. Perhaps even more remarkably, it appears to be a problem possessing no practical significance for anyone at all, since the particular form that its solution might take seems to be a matter of no more and no less practical consequence than whether it is amenable to any resolution after all. No doubt a problem whose “successful’ resolution has no different practical implications than no solution at all has the sine qua non of every truly philosophical problem. It thus appears to be a paradigm, indeed.
Acoustic texture rendering for extended sources in complex scenes

Extended stochastic sources, like falling rain or a flowing waterway, provide an immersive ambience in virtual environments. In complex scenes, the rendered sound should vary naturally with listener position, differing not only in overall loudness but also in texture, to capture the indistinct murmur of a faraway brook versus the bright babbling of one up close. Modeling an ambient sound as a collection of random events such as individual raindrop impacts or water bubble oscillations, this variation can be seen as a change in the statistical distribution of events heard by the listener: the arrival rate of nearby, louder events relative to more distant or occluded, quieter ones. Reverberation and edge diffraction from scene geometry multiply and mix events more extensively compared to an empty scene and introduce salient spatial variation in texture. We formalize the notion of acoustic texture by introducing the event loudness density (ELD), which relates the rapidity of received events to their loudness. To model spatial variation in texture, the ELD is made a function of listener location in the scene. We show that this ELD field can be extracted from a single wave simulation for each extended source and rendered flexibly using a granular synthesis pipeline, with grains derived procedurally or from recordings. Our system yields believable, realtime changes in acoustic texture as the listener moves, driven by sound propagation in the scene.
Cooperative Lactation and the Mother-Infant Nexus

Cooperative care of infants is theorised as a critically important social behaviour with profound implications for human evolution. Allomaternal nursing in humans is one part of this evolutionary cooperative care package. Shared investment in the provisioning of human milk, both through shared breastfeeding and use of expressed human milk, remains a vital strategy in promoting infant survival and health throughout the world. This chapter brings together perspectives on cooperative breastfeeding and human milk feeding from biological anthropology, history, cultural anthropology, and global public health. The overall purpose of this chapter is to highlight the biocultural dimensions of cooperative lactation strategies and their continued relevance in understanding the importance of shared investment in the health and well-being of human infants.
Brainstem Auditory Evoked Potentials

Brainstem auditory evoked potentials (BAEPs) are electrical field potentials generated by stimulation of the auditory pathways. With repetitive auditory stimulation, reproducible electrical potentials can be elicited and recorded from scalp electrodes. These waves are generated by specific brain regions and occur at predictable intervals. Clinically, this neurophysiological property is useful to evaluate the integrity of auditory pathways (plus, by extension, neighboring CNS structures) and to localize defective transmission. This chapter summarizes the methodology and clinical application of BAEPs in the investigation of disorders affecting auditory pathways and the surrounding brainstem.
How Moving is Sometimes Thinking

I argue that different types of movement—gesture, marking, blocking, dancing, and whole-body engagements—can contribute to (or scaffold, or enable) thinking or can even constitute thinking in various forms of problem solving, memory, and reasoning ability. But I also argue that not all movement is thinking; specifically, resisting the threat of pan-narrativism, movement does not constitute narrative, although narrative reflects the structure of action.
The Public Health Impact of Implementing a Concentration‐Based Microbiological Criterion for Controlling Salmonella in Ground Turkey

Despite initiatives to improve the safety of poultry products in the United States, progress has stalled, and salmonellosis incidence is still above Healthy People 2020's goal. One strategy to manage Salmonella and verify process control in poultry establishments is to implement microbiological criteria (MC) linked to public health outcomes. Concentration-based MC have been used by the food industry; however, the public health impact of such approaches is only starting to be assessed. This study evaluated the public health impact of a concentration-based MC for Salmonella in raw ground turkey consumed in the United States using a quantitative risk assessment modeling approach. The distribution of Salmonella concentration in ground turkey was derived from USDA-FSIS monitoring surveys. Other variables and parameters were derived from public databases, literature, and expert opinion. Based on considered concentrations, implementing a MC of 1 cell/g led to an estimated 46.1% reduction (preventable fraction, PF) in the mean probability of illness when consumer cooking and cross-contamination were included. The PF was consistent across scenarios including or excluding cross-contamination and cooking, with slightly lower mean PF when cross-contamination was included. The proportion of lots not compliant with the 1 cell/g MC was 1.05% in the main scenarios and increased nonlinearly when higher Salmonella concentrations were assumed. Assumptions on concentration variability across lots and within lots had a large impact, highlighting the benefit of reducing this uncertainty. These approach and results can help inform the development of MC to monitor and control Salmonella in ground turkey products.
Gender Differences in Perceptions of Technology, Technology Readiness, and Spatial Cognition:

With developments in new technologies such as mobile mapping and mixed reality (virtual and augmented reality), there is demand for insight into how individual differences influence technology read...
5 ns electric pulses induce Ca2+-dependent exocytotic release of catecholamine from adrenal chromaffin cells.

Abstract Previously we reported that adrenal chromaffin cells exposed to a 5 ns, 5 MV/m pulse release the catecholamines norepinephrine (NE) and epinephrine (EPI) in a Ca2+-dependent manner. Here we determined that NE and EPI release increased with pulse number (one versus five and ten pulses at 1 Hz), established that release occurs by exocytosis, and characterized the exocytotic response in real-time. Evidence of an exocytotic mechanism was the appearance of dopamine-β-hydroxylase on the plasma membrane, and the demonstration by total internal reflection fluorescence microscopy studies that a train of five or ten pulses at 1 Hz triggered the release of the fluorescent dye acridine orange from secretory granules. Release events were Ca2+-dependent, longer-lived relative to those evoked by nicotinic receptor stimulation, and occurred with a delay of several seconds despite an immediate rise in Ca2+. In complementary studies, cells labeled with the plasma membrane fluorescent dye FM 1-43 and exposed to a train of ten pulses at 1 Hz underwent Ca2+-dependent increases in FM 1-43 fluorescence indicative of granule fusion with the plasma membrane due to exocytosis. These results demonstrate the effectiveness of ultrashort electric pulses for stimulating catecholamine release, signifying their promise as a novel electrostimulation modality for neurosecretion.
Elimination of Undetectable Attacks on Natural Gas Networks

Natural gas pipeline system operations rely heavily on Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems. While the SCADA systems introduce many advantages, they also introduce more vulnerabilities by providing opportunities for malicious cyber-attackers. If the cyber-attacks properly modify pressures, flows, and the topology the operator believes is present simultaneously, the cyber-attacks can be undetectable. While this topic has received attention for electrical grids, other cyber-physical systems have seen much less study on this topic. Natural gas networks are employed extensively to power generators in the electrical grid, so attacks on natural gas networks are very important. We have not seen any research on this topic for natural gas networks yet. The particular nonlinear equations which model natural gas networks make the analysis much more difficult. In this paper, we study undetectable attacks on natural gas networks in a signal processing perspective by describing the steady-state mathematical model and sensor measurements. We propose a countermeasure to eliminate undetectable attacks by protecting sensors in specific locations. We present an example that describes how an operator can be misled if the proposed countermeasure is not applied. In such cases, the operator could apply inappropriate control which could damage the system or cause a loss of critical gas supply to customers.
An 82-mW Δ Σ-Based Filter-Less Class-D Headphone Amplifier With -93-dB THD+N, 113-dB SNR, and 93% Efficiency

A low-power 113-dB SNR, -93-dB total harmonic distortion (THD)+N, digital input Δ Σ-based filter-less Class-D amplifier for wireless headphone applications is presented. This performance is achieved by the following architecture improvements: 1) variable-frequency-Δ Σ Class-D with digital feed-forward and switching-frequency reduction, 2) common-mode-stabilized power stage, 3) current digital-to-analog converter direct drive, and 4) rotational first-order dynamic-element-matching techniques. It operates on a single 1.8-V power supply with no external passive components except for a supply decoupling capacitor. The Class-D headphone amplifier achieves 82-mW non-clipping output power with 93% efficiency at a 16-Ω and 33-μH load condition. The complete system was fabricated in a 40-nm CMOS process and occupies 1.33-mm² die area.
Tumor isoimmunity

Einige neue Ergebnisse auf dem Gebiete der Tumor-Immunitat werden mit der Literatur in Einklang gebracht, und eine Hypothese zur spontanen Tumorbildung wird vorgeschlagen. Ferner wird auf die Notwendigkeit eingegangen, bei Tumor-Isoimmunitats-Experimenten Spontantumoren zu verwenden an Stelle von lange transplantierten, vonin vitro entstandenen oder durch Karzinogene erzeugten Tumoren.
CalmWear: A Smart Tactile Sensory Stimulation Clothing

The emotional and physical health benefits that come by being touched in safe ways are well established. Tactile sensory stimulation has been reported to help calm the arousal in people with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), Sensory Processing Disorder as well as Anxiety Disorders. Anxiety disorders which effect around 265 million people worldwide can benefit from innovation into design-based, non-pharmacological interventions. Smart clothing and textiles have the potential to not only to sense and collect physiological data about the wearer but also to act on the body with embedded actuation capabilities such as promoting tactile stimuli. This study presents a novel reactive smart clothing that can respond to changes in vital signs of the body with tactile stimulation. CalmWear features tactile actuating through a strategically located and textured air bladder that provides automated and dynamic compression in response to change in heart rate variability and respiration rate as indicators of anxiety. CalmWear offers novel ways of complementing care to empower people with anxiety disorders with its ubiquitous nature and its affordance.
Data Safety and Monitoring Boards Should Be Required for Both Early- and Late-Phase Clinical Trials

Summary Phase I and II clinical trials increasingly combine therapeutic and toxicity endpoints. Recently, therapeutic agents have even achieved U.S. Food and Drug Agency approval based on early phase trials alone. These developments point to new challenges in assuring the safety of human research subjects and patients. Given their size and use of real-world patients, phase III studies warrant independent monitoring by a Drug Safety Monitoring Board (DSMB). Requirements should also be extended to include many phase I and II clinical trials. Measures should be taken to establish and standardize minimum qualifications for service on a DSMB.
The economic analysis of immigration

Abstract The study of labor flows across labor markets is a central ingredient in any discussion of labor market equilibrium. These labor flows help markets reach a more efficient allocation of resources. This paper surveys the economic analysis of immigration. It investigates the determinants of the immigration decision by workers in source countries and the impact of that decision on the host country’s labor market. The survey stresses the ideas and models that economists use to analyze immigration, and delineates the implications of these models for empirical research and for our understanding of the labor market effects of immigration. © 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
Developing a laboratory animal model for perinatal endocrine disruption: the hamster chronicles.

At the biomedical, regulatory, and public level, considerable concern surrounds the concept that inappropriate exposure to endocrine-disrupting chemicals, especially during the prenatal and/or neon...
Habit formation in children: Evidence from incentives for healthy eating

We present findings from a field experiment conducted at 40 elementary schools involving 8000 children and 400,000 child-day observations, which tested whether providing short-run incentives can create habit formation in children. Over a 3- or 5-week period, students received an incentive for eating a serving of fruits or vegetables during lunch. Relative to an average baseline rate of 39%, providing small incentives doubled the fraction of children eating at least one serving of fruits or vegetables. Two months after the end of the intervention, the consumption rate at schools remained 21% above baseline for the 3-week treatment and 44% above baseline for the 5-week treatment. These findings indicate that short-run incentives can produce changes in behavior that persist after incentives are removed.
Managing Excessive Predation in a Predator-Prey Setting: The Case of Piping Plovers

Ecosystems involve interspecies interactions that can be influenced by human interventions. Prior work shows interventions that ignore these interactions cause efficiency-reducing ecosystem externalities. We show inefficiencies may also be attributable to nature, via interspecies interactions generating excessive competition or predation. Ecosystem management therefore may involve correcting both ecological and economic inefficiencies. We explore ecosystem management to correct ecological inefficiencies from predation. The inefficiencies are shown to be akin to anthropogenic externalities arising when humans harvest resources under open access conditions, and so the solution is to “regulate” predators. Viewing the ecological inefficiencies in this manner facilitates the choice of controls. We examine predator removal and predator exclosures that shelter prey from predation. Using a numerical example of the Great Lakes Piping Plover, an endangered bird, and Merlins, a falcon that predates on plovers, we find using predator exclosures can yield a win-win outcome that increases both prey and predator populations.
Surface-plasmon enhanced nonlinear photoelectric emission from thin silver films

In this experiment, unamplified 100-fs CPM laser pulses are employed to couple, optically and resonantly, to the single metal boundary surface-plasmon polaritons (SMSPs) of a 430-Ả thick Ag film. Because the phase velocity of the SMSP is slower than that of a photon of the same energy, direct coupling to a photon field is forbidden. However, using attenuated total internal reflection (ATR) geometry, this momentum matching condition is fulfilled with the aid of a glass prism by adjusting the incident angle of the incoming laser until the photon matches the SMSP dispersion.1 The experiment was performed in a vacuum chamber of 3 × 10-8 Torr with an extraction voltage of 0.5 kV applied to a Cu ring anode.
Selective salpingography for the diagnosis and treatment of early tubal pregnancy

Objective To determine whether selective salpingography can accurately diagnose and treat patients with early ectopic pregnancies (EPs). Design Prospective clinical case study. Setting Selective salpingography was performed in an outpatient setting under IV sedation. Patients Selective salpingography was performed in 10 women who had clinical presentation suggestive of EP, two consecutive abnormal hCG measurements Intervention Selective salpingography was performed under fluoroscopy. A cervical cannula was placed, and the tubal ostium was cannulated with a curved selective salpingography catheter (Bard Gynecology and Radiology, Covington, GA). Methotrexate (MTX) (25 or 50mg) was injected into the affected tube through the selective salpingography catheter. Main Outcome Measure The accuracy of selective salpingography in the diagnosis of early EP was determined by the rate of fluoroscopic imaging of an ampullary radiolucency upon injection of contrast material through the selective salpingography catheter. Resolution of the EP after injection of MTX into the tube was detected by serial declining hCG measurements. Results Selective injection of contrast material into the fallopian tubes detected seven ampullary pregnancies in 10 patients. Two patients demonstrated neither tubal pregnancy nor intrauterine pregnancy. One patient with apparent bilateral proximal cornual occlusions on selective salpingography underwent laparoscopy, followed by salpingostomy of an ampullary pregnancy. All 7 patients who received MTX through the selective salpingography catheter completely resolved the EP. Four patients demonstrated patent fallopian tubes on hysterosalpingograms performed 3 to 6months later. Conclusion Selective salpingography may diagnose early tubal pregnancies of some patients with equivocal clinical, laboratory, and sonographic findings. These patients can be successfully treated at the same time with a single dose of MTX delivered into the affected tube. Selective salpingography reduced the need for laparoscopy and operative intervention. Selective salpingography is a simple and relatively inexpensive diagnostic and therapeutic alternative in patients with suspected early tubal pregnancy.
On Covering Points with Minimum Turns

We study the problem of finding a polygonal chain of line segments to cover a set of points in ℝd, d≥2, with the goal of minimizing the number of links or turns in the chain. A chain of line segments that covers all points in the given set is called a covering tour if the chain is closed, and is called a covering path if the chain is open. A covering tour or a covering path is rectilinear if all segments in the chain are axis-parallel. We prove that the two problems Minimum-Link Rectilinear Covering Tour and Minimum-Link Rectilinear Covering Path are both NP-hard in ℝ10.
Clinical characterization of primary acquired melanosis.

Purpose. Primary acquired melanosis (PAM) is the name applied to flat, speckled, brown lesions of the conjunctival epithelium. Because there have been reports that many of these lesions progress to melanoma, biopsy of all PAM lesions, regardless of size, is recommended. This study was undertaken to determine the prevalence of PAM, provide a clinical description of the condition, and determine which factors are associated with its presence. Methods. One hundred forty-six consecutive patients, who were outpatients at a corneal and external diseases service, who had no known non-European ancestry, and who were older than 10 years of age underwent careful slit lamp examination. Results. The prevalence of PAM in the study population was 36%. Contrary to earlier reports, PAM is prevalent in young adults as well as in older patients. The presence of PAM was associated with southern European ancestry (P = 0.01), dark brown hair (P = 0.01), facial nevi (P = 0.03), pingueculae or pterygia (P = 0.01), hypertension (P = 0.02), cigarette smoking (P = 0.02), and the absence of ocular surface disease (P = 0.02). Conclusions. Because PAM is common, its transformation to conjunctival melanoma must be extremely rare, and biopsy of all PAM lesions is unwarranted. In the absence of known clinical risk factors for progression to melanoma, interim recommendations are made to perform biopsy only of those lesions that are widespread, large, thickened, dark, palpebral, unusually vascular, or progressive. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 1995 ;36 :1721-1729.
The Professor's viewpoint: should we say what we think in the classroom?

A colleague tells this story: one day after a contracts class, several students came up to speak with her. One student said, “We've been having an argument among the students all year over whether you are a Democrat or a Republican. The Republicans in the class think you're a Republican, and the Democrats think you're a Democrat. Who's right?” My colleague was delighted, because she felt it indicated that she had achieved a neutrality of professorial viewpoint in the classroom, thereby allowing students to feel comfortable expressing their own divergent views. When she later told another law colleague this story, however, the other professor replied, “That's terrible. You should at least tell them where you're coming from and where you stand.”Should health law teachers tell their students “where they're coming from?” Should they disclose their own personal or professional perspectives on the controversial topics they teach? If a professor has come to a considered conclusion on a particular issue, should she tell the students what it is and how she reached it, or should she try to keep her views in check while she engages the students in reaching their own conclusions? And philosophical or political leanings aside, should professors inform students of personal background or experiences that may shape their perspectives on the issues they raise in the classroom, such as their religious convictions, sexual orientation, or health status or encounters with the health care system? This essay reflects on these questions.
Safe Teleradiology: Information Assurance as Project Planning Methodology

The Georgetown University Medical Center Department of Radiology used a tailored version of OCTAVESM, a self-directed information security risk assessment method, to design a teleradiology system that complied with the regulation implementing the security provisions of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) of 1996. The system addressed threats to and vulnerabilities in the privacy and security of protected health information. By using OCTAVESM, Georgetown identified the teleradiology program's critical assets, described threats to the assurance of those assets, developed and ran vulnerability scans of a system pilot, evaluated the consequences of security breaches, and developed a risk management plan to mitigate threats to program assets, thereby implementing good information assurance practices. This case study illustrates the basic point that prospective, comprehensive planning to protect the privacy and security of an information system strategically benefits program management as well as system security.
Fully automated synthesis of [18F]T807, a PET tau tracer for Alzheimer’s disease

The authentic standard T807 and its nitro-precursor T807P as well as t-Boc-protected T807P precursor for radiolabeling were synthesized from (4-bromophenyl)boronic acid, 3-bromo-4-nitropyridine and 3-bromo-6-nitropyridine with overall chemical yield 27% in three steps, 4-7% in three to five steps, and 3-8% in four to five steps, respectively. [(18)F]T807 was synthesized from T807P by the nucleophilic [(18)F]fluorination with K[(18)F]F/Kryptofix 2.2.2 in DMSO at 140 °C followed by reduction with Fe powder/HCOOH through manual synthesis with 5-10% decay corrected radiochemical yield in two steps. [(18)F]T807 was also synthesized from t-Boc-protected T807P by a concurrent [(18)F]fluorination and deprotection with K[(18)F]F/Kryptofix 2.2.2 in DMSO at 140 °C and purified by HPLC-SPE method in a home-built automated [(18)F]radiosynthesis module with 20-30% decay corrected radiochemical yield in one step. The specific activity of [(18)F]T807 at end of bombardment (EOB) was 37-370 GBq/μmol.
Stress-induced anisotropy in granular materials: fabric, stiffness, and permeability

The loading of a granular material induces anisotropies of the particle arrangement (fabric) and of the material’s strength, incremental stiffness, and permeability. Thirteen measures of fabric anisotropy are developed, which are arranged in four categories: as preferred orientations of the particle bodies, the particle surfaces, the contact normals, and the void space. Anisotropy of the voids is described through image analysis and with Minkowski tensors. The thirteen measures of anisotropy change during loading, as determined with three-dimensional discrete element simulations of biaxial plane strain compression with constant mean stress. Assemblies with four different particle shapes were simulated. The measures of contact orientation are the most responsive to loading, and they change greatly at small strains, whereas the other measures lag the loading process and continue to change beyond the state of peak stress and even after the deviatoric stress has nearly reached a steady state. The paper implements a methodology for characterizing the incremental stiffness of a granular assembly during biaxial loading, with orthotropic loading increments that preserve the principal axes of the fabric and stiffness tensors. The linear part of the hypoplastic tangential stiffness is monitored with oedometric loading increments. This stiffness increases in the direction of the initial compressive loading but decreases in the direction of extension. Anisotropy of this stiffness is closely correlated with a particular measure of the contact fabric. Permeabilities are measured in three directions with lattice Boltzmann methods at various stages of loading and for assemblies with four particle shapes. Effective permeability is negatively correlated with the directional mean free path and is positively correlated with pore width, indicating that the anisotropy of effective permeability induced by loading is produced by changes in the directional hydraulic radius.
Unveiling the Formation of Massive Galaxies

Understanding how galaxies evolve is one of the key challenges facing astronomers today. In his Perspective, Conselice discusses how researchers are attacking the problem for the most massive galaxies in the universe. The key is to study images of galaxies at highly redshifted wavelengths, representing galaxy formation at the earliest time in the history of the universe. Aiding the search for answers are several new imaging and spectroscopic surveys that may reveal how massive galaxies form and grow.
Use of Tabular Analysis Method to Construct UML Sequence Diagrams

A sequence diagram in UML is used to model interactions among objects that participate in a use case. Developing a sequence diagram is complex; our experience shows that novice developers have significant difficulty. In earlier work, we presented a ten-step heuristic method for developing sequence diagrams. This paper presents a tabular analysis method (TAM) which improves on the ten-step heuristic method. TAM analyzes the message requirements of the use case, while documenting the resulting analysis in a tabular format. The resulting table is referenced to build the sequence diagram. This process aids novice modelers by separating the problem analysis from the learning curve of a modeling tool. Building sequence diagrams with the systematic approach of TAM facilitates consistency with the use case model and the class model. We found that developers effectively developed sequence diagrams using TAM.
Transition operators of diffusions reduce zero-crossing

If u(t,x) is a solution of a one-dimensional, parabolic, secondorder, linear partial differential equation (PDE), then it is known that, under suitable conditions, the number of zero-crossings of the function u(t,-) decreases (that is, does not increase) as time t increases. Such theorems have applications to the study of blow-up of solutions of semilinear PDE, time dependent Sturm Liouville theory, curve shrinking problems and control theory. We generalise the PDE results by showing that the transition operator of a (possibly time-inhomogenous) one-dimensional diffusion reduces the number of zero-crossings of a function or even, suitably interpreted, a signed measure. Our proof is completely probabilistic and depends in a transparent manner on little more than the sample-path continuity of diffusion processes.
Estimating the average of a Lipschitz-continuous function from one sample

We study the problem of estimating the average of a Lipschitz continuous function f defined over a metric space, by querying f at only a single point. More specifically, we explore the role of randomness in drawing this sample. Our goal is to find a distribution minimizing the expected estimation error against an adversarially chosen Lipschitz continuous function. Our work falls into the broad class of estimating aggregate statistics of a function from a small number of carefully chosen samples. The general problem has a wide range of practical applications in areas such as sensor networks, social sciences and numerical analysis. However, traditional work in numerical analysis has focused on asymptotic bounds, whereas we are interested in the best algorithm. For arbitrary discrete metric spaces of bounded doubling dimension, we obtain a PTAS for this problem. In the special case when the points lie on a line, the running time improves to an FPTAS. For Lipschitz-continuous functions over [0, 1], we calculate the precise achievable error as 1 - √3-2, which improves upon the 1/4 which is best possible for deterministic algorithms.
Seller Automata in a Model of Exchange

This model simulates a simple exchange economy made up of geographically dispersed agents with spatially correlated initial endowments who incur transactions costs in the process of trading. Agents are able to advertise globally at no cost in order to inform other agents of potential trading opportunities, but they must pay a transaction cost proportional to the distance traveled to visit an agent in order to engage in trade. Although trade is shown to improve the efficiency of the economy in most cases, the accuracy of advertised information depreciates so rapidly in the process of trading that there is a range of transaction costs where efficiency actually falls as a result of trade. Increasing transaction costs diminish this depreciation of information by curtailing trade, and this trade-off results in a range of transaction costs where efficiency is not decreasing in transaction costs. The effect of trade on inequality depends on the measure of wealth. The presence of highly spatially correlated initial endowments is shown to diminish slightly the benefits of trade relative to the randomly allocated initial endowments case.
Criticality of Heterogeneous Arrays Undergoing Dissolution

Experimental data to establish criticality control specifications for enriched uranium rods undergoing dissolution are extremely limited. A principal difficulty in treating the problem theoreticall...
Methodology Behind the Quarterly Food-at-Home Price Database

The Quarterly Food-at-Home Price Database (QFAHPD) was developed to provide market-level food prices that can be used to study how prices affect food choices, intake, and health outcomes. This report presents a detailed description of the methodology used to construct the QFAHPD. The database, constructed from 1999-2006 Nielsen Homescan data, includes quarterly observations on the mean price of 52 food categories for 35 market groups covering the contiguous United States. Data from 2006 indicate that cross-market price variation can be as much as three to four times greater than annual food price inflation.