cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Keeping plant shrinkage in the demographic loop

Plant demographers using matrix tools have paid special attention to vital rates of reproduction, growth and survival. The demographic implications of plants regressing in size, or shrinking, have been overlooked. Shrinkage has either been ignored during demographic censuses or lumped with other demographic processes such as stasis or growth under the assumption that they have similar demographic effects. We carried out a comparative prospective analysis using classical vital rate elasticities in size-based projection matrices of 80 herbaceous perennial species. We analysed the correlations of the elasticities of each demographic vital rate with the demographic life-history traits (life span, population growth rate, etc.). We also conducted a comparative loop analysis to understand the effects of shrinkage on demographic parameters linked to size plasticity. We classified loops into 'recruitment' (growth that contributes to reproduction), 'size plasticity' (where individuals fluctuate in size) and 'size rigidity' (no change in size class), and used them as the basis to explain ecological characteristics of the species. Our results with classical vital rates demonstrate that considering shrinkage as a separate vital rate increases our understanding of factors that contribute to demographic equilibrium (e.g. minimized departure from population growth rate at equilibrium) and buffering (e.g. higher speed of recovery after disturbance), and to reproductive strategies (e.g. mean age of parents of offspring). The loop analysis results support the findings with vital rate analyses and also reveal new patterns: high growth rates are not exclusively dominated by high elasticities of recruitment, but also by size-plastic loops, and long-lived species experience a marginal increase in the demographic importance of size plasticity. Synthesis. This study illustrates the necessity for exploring individual demographic vital rates, as opposed to grouping them, to advance our understanding of how different biological processes affect population dynamics. Shrinkage is demographically important because it aids in demographic buffering, increases survival and is related to maintenance-reproduction trade-offs. However, shrinkage cannot be fully explored only with traditional elasticity approaches; because shrinkage for some species is a fundamental plastic trait, its importance is more appropriately captured with loop analyses. © 2010 The Authors. Journal compilation
Teaching French via Driver Education

ABSTRACT The subject of driver education has immense appeal for students and offers the foreign language teacher a wealth of instructional possibilities. Such topics as automobile nomenclature, driving regulations, and learning how to drive, when taught in the foreign language, can be used to present (1) vocabulary, (2) grammar, and (3) comparative cultures. Instructional materials—consisting of driving manuals, international road signs, and cars themselves—serve to introduce vocabulary and to stimulate class discussion. The article also touches upon Asher's concept of the Total Physical Response with students responding to foreign language commands by performing actual or simulated driving tasks. A /though the essential aspect of the driving unit is to teach language and culture, a good secondary focus is to help students review for the written portion of the state driving examination.
THE EFFECTS OF SELECTION FOR LARVAL BEHAVIOR ON ADULT LIFE‐HISTORY FEATURES IN DROSOPHILA MELANOGASTER

Selection for late-life fecundity and longevity in adult Drosophila melanogaster is well known to modify numerous characteristics of life history and physiology. We report experiments here in which selection applied to behavior affects features in an identical fashion. Selection for feeding rate of larval D. melanogaster modifies caloric intake, as measured by the uptake and incorporation of labeled glucose. Selection for slow larval feeding produced lines of D. melanogaster in which larvae synthesized significantly less lipid prior to pupation and eclosed to have low early-life fecundity and a long life as adults. They also had greater lifetime fecundity, but lower viability of egg to hatched adult. Alternatively, fast-feeding larvae incorporated more lipid before pupation and eclosed with high early-fecundity that declined rapidly throughout their short adult life. Slow-feeding populations also had a significantly enhanced expression of the stress-resistance genes CuZn-SOD, CATALASE, and HSP70. Selection on larval feeding behavior reproduced the antagonistic evolutionary trade-off found under selection for adult life span and mimicked the physiological response in life span as seen in many species when dietary restriction is imposed on adults. Thus, nutrient acquisition during development appears to share a common evolutionary and genetic basis with the allocation processes that determine adult life-history traits and the related phenotypic dietary restriction phenomena.
Thoc1/Hpr1/p84 Is Essential for Early Embryonic Development in the Mouse

The yeast TREX complex physically couples elongating RNA polymerase II with RNA processing and nuclear RNA export factors to facilitate regulated gene expression. Hpr1p is an essential component of TREX, and loss of Hpr1p compromises transcriptional elongation, RNA export, and genome stability. Despite these defects, HPR1 is not essential for viability in yeast. A functional orthologue of Hpr1p has been identified in metazoan species and is variously known as Thoc1, Hpr1, or p84. However, the physiological functions of this protein have not been determined. Here, we describe the generation and phenotypic characterization of mice containing a null allele of the Thoc1 gene. Heterozygous null Thoc1 mice are born at the expected Mendelian frequency with no phenotype distinguishable from the wild type. In contrast, homozygous null mice are not recovered, indicating that Thoc1 is required for embryonic development. Embryonic development is arrested around the time of implantation, as blastocysts exhibit hatching and blastocyst outgrowth defects upon in vitro culture. Cells of the inner cell mass are particularly dependent on Thoc1, as these cells rapidly lose viability coincident with Thoc1 protein loss. While Hpr1p is not essential for the viability of unicellular yeasts, the orthologous Thoc1 protein is required for viability of the early mouse embryo.
$L$-like Combinatorial Principles and Level by Level Equivalence

We force and construct a model in which GCH and level by level equivalence between strong compactness and supercompactness hold, along with certain additional \L-like" combinatorial principles. In particular, this model satisfles the following properties:
Beyond Darwin: evolvability and the generation of novelty

Marc Kirschner graduated in biochemistry from Northwestern University, moving to Berkeley for his doctoral research and with positions at Berkeley, Oxford University and Princeton before he took a professorship at University of California San Francisco where with Andrew Murray he did seminal research on the control of the cell cycle in Xenopus egg extracts that led to the discovery of how cyclin drives the cell cycle, and with Tim Mitchison on the dynamic instability of microtubules. In 1993 he moved to Harvard where in 2003 he became the founding Chair of the HMS Department of Systems Biology and was named the John Franklin Enders University Professor in 2009. The two books he wrote with John Gerhart, Cells, Embryos and Evolution (Blackwell, 1997) and The Plausibility of Life: Resolving Darwin’s Dilemma (Yale University Press, 2005), reflect his deep and longstanding interest in how biological systems evolve. Here he gives his view of the evolution of evolvability and its profound importance for understanding and applying biology. Marc Kirschner
Current Trends in Reducing Cardiovascular Risk Factors in the United States: Focus on Worksite Health and Wellness

Health care in the United States (US) is changing with a broad provision of health care services to every American due to the Affordable Care Act (ACA) slated to begin in January of 2014. An important aspect of the ACA is that US companies may begin to offer health insurance incentives to employees for participating in health and wellness initiatives. Moreover, since US employers directly absorb many of the financial costs associated with the high degree of cardiovascular (CV) risk factors present in their personnel, employers may be financially vested in improving employee health. However, employers must also consider the costs of developing and maintaining programs to improve employee health and their return on investment (ROI). This review will identify key risk factors to address in a worksite health and wellness program and to examine the performance of such programs in improving CV risk factors and their ROI.
Microscopical measurement of orientation of high‐impact polystyrene extruded sheet

The polystyrene–butadiene copolymer particles in high-impact polystyrene sheet respond to forces imposed on the sheet. Measurement of the ellipticity of these particles in thin microtome sections provides a measure of orientation of extruded sheet.
High Physiological Levels of LMP1 Result in Phosphorylation of eIF2α in Epstein-Barr Virus-Infected Cells

LMP1 is an Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)-encoded membrane protein essential for the proliferation of EBV-infected lymphoblasts (E. Kilger, A. Kieser, M. Baumann, and W. Hammerschmidt, EMBO J. 17:1700-1709, 1998). LMP1 also inhibits gene expression and induces cytostasis in transfected cells when it is expressed at levels as little as twofold higher than the average for EBV-positive lymphoblasts (M. Sandberg, A. Kaykas, and B. Sugden, J. Virol. 74:9755-9761, 2000; A. Kaykas and B. Sugden, Oncogene 19:1400-1410, 2000). We have found that in three different clones of EBV-infected lymphoblasts the levels of expression of LMP1 in individual cells in each clone ranged over 100-fold. This difference is due to a difference in levels of the LMP1 transcript. In these clones, cells expressing high levels of LMP1 incorporated less BrdU. We also found that induction of expression of LMP1 or of a derivative of LMP1 with its transmembrane domain fused to green fluorescent protein instead of its carboxy-terminal signaling domain resulted in phosphorylation of eIF2α in EBV-negative Burkitt's lymphoma cells. This induction of phosphorylation of eIF2α was also detected in EBV-infected lymphoblasts, in which high levels of LMP1 correlated with high levels of phosphorylation of eIF2α. Our results indicate that inhibition of gene expression and of cell proliferation by LMP1 occurs normally in EBV-infected cells.
Validation of the normalized difference vegetation index as a measure of neighborhood greenness.

Purpose To assess the validity of a Geographic Information Systems (GIS) measure, the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), as a measure of neighborhood greenness for epidemiologic research. Methods Using remote-sensing spectral data, NDVI was calculated for a 100-m radial distance around 124 residences in greater Seattle. The criterion standard was rating of greenness for corresponding residential areas by 3 environmental psychologists. Pearson correlations and regression models were used to assess the association between the psychologists’ ratings of greenness and NDVI. Analyses were also stratified by residential density to assess whether the correlations differed between low and high density. Results The mean NDVI among this sample of residences was 0.27 (standard deviation [SD], 0.11; range, −0.04 to 0.54), and the mean psychologist rating of greenness was 2.84 (SD, 0.98; range, 1–5). The correlation between NDVI and expert ratings of greenness was high ( r = 0.69). The correlation was equivalently strong within each strata of residential density. Conclusions NDVI is a useful measure of neighborhood greenness. In addition to showing a strong correlation with expert ratings, this measure has practical advantages, including availability of data and ease of application to various boundaries, which would aid in replication and comparability across studies.
Electronics from the bottom up: An approach to 21st century electronic devices

The dimensions of electronic devices are now firmly in the nanometer regime, but we continue to think about devices and to educate the next generation of device engineers using concepts that were developed for micrometer sized devices. This presentation will outline a new approach and argue that it is time to incorporate new ways of thinking in device engineering research, practice, and education.
Remnant colloform pyrite at the haile gold deposit, South Carolina: A textural key to genesis

Auriferous iron sulfide-bearing deposits of the Carolina slate belt have distinctive mineralogical and textural features—traits that provide a basis to construct models of ore deposition. Our identification of paragenetically early types of pyrite, especially remnant colloform, crustiform, and layered growth textures of pyrite containing electrum and pyrrhotite, establishes unequivocally that gold mineralization was coeval with deposition of host rocks and not solely related to Paleozoic tectonic events. Ore horizons at the Haile deposit, South Carolina, contain many remnants of early pyrite: (1) fine-grained cubic pyrite disseminated along bedding; (2) fine-grained spongy, rounded masses of pyrite that may envelop or drape over pyrite cubes; (3) fragments of botryoidally and crustiform layered pyrite, and (4) pyritic infilling of vesicles and pumice. Detailed mineral chemistry by petrography, microprobe, SEM, and EDS analysis of replaced pumice and colloform structures containing both arsenic compositional banding and electrum points to coeval deposition of gold and the volcanic host rocks and, thus, confirms a syngenetic origin for the gold deposits. Early pyrite textures are present in other major deposits of the Carolina slate belt, such as Ridgeway and Barite Hill, and these provide strong evidence for models whereby the sulfide ores formed prior to tectonism. The role of Paleozoic metamorphism was to remobilize and concentrate gold and other minerals in structurally prepared sites. Recognizing the significance of paragenetically early pyrite and gold textures can play an important role in distinguishing sulfide ores that form in volcanic and sedimentary environments from those formed solely by metamorphic processes. Exploration strategies applied to the Carolina slate belt and correlative rocks in the eastern United States in the Avalonian basement will benefit from using syngenetic models for gold mineralization.
Synthetic data experiments using system dynamics models: A survey of results and a research agenda

In this section the System Dynamics Review presents problems having the potential to stimulate system dynamics research. Articles may address real-world dynamic problems that could be approached fruitfully from the system dynamics perspective, or methodological problems affecting the field. A paper submitted to the Research Problems section should concisely motivate and define a problem and start a process of conceptualization or formulation that can open the way for further studies. Manuscripts not exceeding 2,000 words should be sent to George P. Richardson, Milne 308, Rockefeller College, S.U.N.Y., Albany, NY 12222, U.S.A.
[μ-N,N,N',N'-Tetra-kis(2-pyridyl-meth-yl)butane-1,4-diamine]-bis-[dichlorido-copper(II)] trihydrate.

The title dinuclear copper complex, [Cu2Cl4(C28H32N6)]·3H2O, is located on a crystallographic inversion center. The unique CuII ion is coordinated in a slightly distorted square-pyramidal environment in which the N atoms of the dipicolyl­amine group and a chloride ligand form the basal plane. The apical position is occupied by a second chloride atom. While the Cu—N distances of the pyridine N atoms are the same within expermental error, the Cu—N distance to the tertiary N atom is slightly elongated. The apical Cu—Cl distance is elongated due to typical Jahn–Teller distortion. One of the water O atoms was refined as disordered over two sites with occupancies 0.734 (17):0.266 (17) and another with half occupancy. H atoms for the disordered solvent atoms were not included in the refinement.
Intermittent connectivity control in mobile robot networks

In this paper, we consider networks of mobile robots responsible for accomplishing tasks, captured by Linear Temporal Logic (LTL) formulas, while ensuring communication with all other robots in the network. The robots operate in complex environments represented by appropriate transition systems (TS). We propose an intermittent communication framework, which is based on a LTL statement that enforces the robots to meet and communicate at pre-determined points in the environment infinitely often. Our approach combines an existing model checking method with a novel technique that aims to reduce the state-space of the TS satisfying at the same time the LTL statement.
Der celluläre cytotoxische Test in der Tumorimmunologie

Die cytotoxische Reaktion von Lymphocyten gegen Krebszellen in vitro liefert ein Mas fur die Sensibilisierung eines Patienten gegen seinen eigenen Tumor. Die technischen Schwierigkeiten dieses in vitro-Testes und die Moglichkeiten einer weiteren Standardisierung und Vereinfachung werden diskutiert. Kritisch sind insbesondere die Methodik der Lymphocytenisolie-rung und die Zuchtung von Target-Zellen unter Erhaltung ihrer Antigenstruktur. Die Spezifitat der Reaktion mus durch Kontrollen sowohl bei den Lymphocyten wie bei den Target-Zellen gesichert werden.
ASHP national survey of pharmacy practice in acute care settings—1996

The results of the 1996 ASHP national survey of pharmaceutical services in nonfederal community hospitals are presented and compared with the findings of the 1994 ASHP survey. A questionnaire was mailed to pharmacy directors at hospitals randomly sampled from those registered by the American Hospital Association. A total of 713 usable surveys were returned, for a net response rate of 37.1%. Inpatient pharmaceutical services were provided an average of 17.4 hours per weekday and ambulatory care pharmaceutical services 13.3 hours per weekday. Pharmacy directors were more likely to have duties beyond the department than in 1994 (24% versus 12%). The percentage reporting a patient-focused-care model increased from 18% in 1994 to 33% in 1996. The percentage reporting some automation of drug distribution increased from 55% in 1994 to 65% in 1996. Provision of ambulatory care pharmaceutical services was indicated by 63% of respondents, and 35% indicated providing home infusion services. Compared with 1994, pharmacy departments provided more clinical services to inpatients. The most commonly offered clinical pharmacy services for inpatients were drug-food interaction screening, drug-use evaluations, adverse-drug-reaction programs, and medication error management programs. The percentage providing pharmaceutical care to some extent increased from 44% to 60%. The percentage reporting that pharmacists had the authority to initiate or modify medication orders increased from 35% to 56%. A well-controlled formulary system was in place at 60% of hospitals, while 39% reported restrictions on prescribing. Nearly three fourths of respondents reported a therapeutic interchange policy. Mean inventory cost per patient day was $4.67, a decrease from $5.62 in 1994. About 68% of inpatient pharmacy expenditures went for drugs and fluids, 27% for staff, and 5% for other noncapital expenditures. The 1996 ASHP survey revealed continued growth in various activities related to patient care, such as implementation of patient-focused care, enhanced clinical services, and therapy management programs. Although the provision of pharmaceutical care increased, ample room for growth remains.
The endocrine effects of dietary brominated diphenyl ether-47 exposure, measured across multiple levels of biological organization, in breeding fathead minnows.

The goal of the present study was to evaluate the reproductive function of fathead minnows (Pimephales promelas) exposed to brominated diphenyl ether-47 (BDE-47) at doses lower than those used in previous studies. This was accomplished by evaluating the impacts of BDE-47 exposures across multiple levels of biological organization. Breeding pairs were exposed to BDE-47 via diet for 21 d, during which reproductive success was monitored. At the conclusion of the exposure, fish were euthanized to assess the effects of BDE-47 on sex steroid-related and thyroid-related transcripts, plasma androgen levels, gonadosomatic index (GSI), and secondary sexual characteristics. Several alterations in gene expression were noted including a >2.1-fold decrease in hepatic estrogen receptor α (erα) and a 2.9-fold decrease in ovarian aromatase (arom). In addition, BDE-47-exposed males experienced increases in deiodinase 2 (dio2) expression in brain tissue (∼1.5-fold) and decreases in hepatic transthyretin (ttr) expression (∼1.4-fold). Together, these gene expression alterations suggest the potential for BDE-47 to disrupt endocrine signaling. There were no significant differences in plasma hormone levels, GSI, secondary sexual characteristics, or reproductive success. Overall, the present study demonstrates that exposure to BDE-47 is capable of altering both sex steroid-related and thyroid-related transcripts but that these observed alterations do not necessarily manifest themselves at higher levels of biological organization for the endpoints selected. Environ Toxicol Chem 2016;35:2048-2057. © 2016 SETAC.
First-principles calculations reveal controlling principles for carrier mobilities in semiconductors

Carrier mobilities remain a key qualifying factor for materials competing for next-generation electronics. It has long been believed that carrier mobilities can be calculated using the Born approximation. Here, we introduce a parameter-free, first-principles approach based on complex-wavevector energy bands which does not invoke the Born expansion. We demonstrate that phonon-limited mobility is controlled by low-resistivity percolation paths, which arise from fluctuations that are beyond the Born approximation. We further demonstrate that, in ionized-impurity scattering, one must account for the effect of the screening charge, which cancels most of the Coulomb tail. Calculated electron mobilities in silicon are in agreement with experimental data. The method is easy to use and can provide guidance in the search for high-mobility device designs.
Communications protocol system integration, interface and interoperability

Heterogeneous communications protocol systems are integrated together to fulfill complex tasks and their interoperability is a major hurdle for the network reliability and quality of services. After a general overview, I shall discuss an approach to this problem using a formal approach. Based on the characteristics of the application domain we identify a new equivalence relation of states of non-deterministic systems and design a polynomial time minimization algorithm to deal with the state explosion problem for formal analysis. We apply our technique to GMPLS protocols and obtain a significant state space reduction. We discuss integrated system verification and interoperability testing with the minimized state system without resorting to the global state space information.
Spatial and temporal patterns in the calling behavior of beluga whales, Delphinapterus leucas, in Cook Inlet, Alaska

Cook Inlet beluga whales (CIBs) are an endangered population residing in Cook Inlet, Alaska. We characterized the calling behavior of CIBs to improve our understanding of sounds produced by this population. Bottom-moored hydrophones were deployed at Eagle Bay in summer 2009 and at Trading Bay in summer and winter 2009. CIB sounds were qualitatively analyzed and categorized as a whistle, pulsed call, or click train. A total of 4,097 calls were analyzed, and 66 unique whistle contours were identified. Whistles were quantitatively analyzed using a custom Matlab program. A chi-square test showed the call category usage at Eagle Bay during summer 2009 and those at Trading Bay during summer 2009 and winter 2009–2010 differed significantly (P < 0.001). Pulsed calls were more common during summer months, and click trains within the frequency band (12.5 kHz) were more common in Eagle Bay. The variation in calling behavior suggests differences in habitat usage or in the surrounding environment, including background noise. With the proposed development projects in Cook Inlet and the potential increase in ambient noise level due to ocean acidification, it is important to understand how this endangered population uses sound, and what anthropogenic factors may influence that use.
Femtosecond Laser Nanofabrication of Metal Structures Through Multiphoton Photoreduction

Metal mirco- and nano-structures play important role in various areas such as catalysts or in plasmonics field. A recent application with growing interest that also incorporates metal nanostructures is metamaterials. Metamaterials are artificial materials that have unique structures engineered to have extraordinary electric and magnetic response. To generate these structures, most fabrication techniques can allow mass production but are non-controllable or are limited in two dimensions. Electron beam and nanoimprint lithography and focused ion beam milling are well known for making two dimensional arrays of structures. However these techniques suffer from high cost, low throughput and are only limited to two dimensions.
Military personnel sustaining Lisfranc injuries have high rates of disability separation

Objectives Lisfranc injuries are relatively uncommon midfoot injuries disproportionately affecting young, active males. Previous studies in civilian populations have reported relatively good results with operative treatment. However, treatment results have not been specifically examined in military personnel, who may have higher physical demands than the general population. The purpose of this study was to examine rates of return to military duty following surgical treatment of isolated Lisfranc injuries. Methods Surgical records and radiographic images from all active duty US military personnel treated for an isolated Lisfranc injury between January 2005 and July 2014 were examined. Demographic information, injury data, surgical details and subsequent return to duty information were recorded. The primary outcome was ability to return to unrestricted military duty following treatment. The secondary outcome was secondary conversion to a midfoot arthrodesis following initial open reduction internal fixation. Results Twenty-one patients meeting inclusion criteria were identified. Median patient age was 23 years, and mean follow-up was 43 months. Within this cohort, 14 patients were able to return to military service, while seven required a disability separation from the armed forces. Of the 18 patients who underwent initial fixation, eight were subsequently revised to midfoot arthrodesis for persistent pain. Discussion Military personnel sustaining Lisfranc injuries have high rates of persistent pain and disability, even after optimal initial surgical treatment. Military surgeons should counsel patients on the career-threatening nature of this condition and high rates of secondary procedures.
Fostering Preservice Teachers' Development: Engagement in Practice and Learning.

Given the benefits associated with authentic field experiences (Edwards, 1996; McMahan, Malone, Fredrickson, & Dunlap, 2015; Siwatu, 2011 ), it is not uncommon to include early field experiences prior to student teaching as a way to engage university students with teaching diverse students in an authentic school setting. This study explored preservice teachers’ perceptions of their pedagogical growth and development as an aspiring teacher in a structured field experience placement prior to student teaching. Data was analyzed using qualitative techniques and revealed three main themes. The following themes reflected preservice teachers’ perceptions of their growth: viewing through a prescriptive lens, valuing the collaborative experience, and fostering self-awareness. While preservice teachers valued the collaborative experience, they expressed a superficial level of pedagogical learning and their thinking reflected a narrow scope from a prescriptive lens. Our findings suggest a need for teacher educators to help preservice teachers’ develop a deeper understanding of the dynamics of teaching during their initial experiences of learning to teach in authentic settings.
Predicting outcome based on minimal residual disease (MRD) using multiparameter flow cytometry (FC) in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) patients (Pts).

6565 Background: Most AML pts will experience relapse caused by persistent leukemic cells during complete remission (CR). The aim of our study was to predict outcome in AML pts in CR by assessing their MRD using standard 4-colour FC panels available at our institute. Methods: We queried our AML database between 1/2004 to 10/2010 for newly diagnosed untreated AML pts >18 years of age who achieved CR after one induction regimen. Treatment included 7+3 or similar intensive approaches. The gating strategy used a series of Boolean regions that best defined the diagnostic abnormal population based on its expression patterns using three 4-colour FC panels (F7-CD38,CD10,CD19,CD34; F9-C11b,CD33,CD13,CD34; F38-CD15,CD56,CD7,CD34). The same regions were applied to post-induction samples, and the number of residual events was determined. Results: 140 AML patients with a median age of 64 (range 24-93) years, including 74 females (52.8%) were analyzed; 67 (47.8%) patients relapsed. Eighty-eight (62.8%) pts were CD34-po...
Introduction: What Are Creative Art Spaces and Why Do They Exist?

What do we mean by “a creative space?” For us it is a physical space where people gather, work, inspire each other, learn new things, and connect. Participating in the space brings us into relation...
Evaluation of Coronary Artery Disease and Coronary Anomalies with a Handheld Smartphone

The purpose of this study was to determine the diagnostic accuracy of an iPhone for evaluation of the coronary arteries on coronary CT angiography (CTA) in comparison to a standard clinical workstation. Fifty coronary CTA exams were selected to include a range of normal and abnormal cases including both coronary artery disease (CAD) of varying severity and coronary artery anomalies. Two cardiac radiologists reviewed each exam on a standard clinical workstation initially and then on an iPhone 6 after a washout period. Coronary stenosis was evaluated on a 4-point scale and presence of coronary anomalies was recorded. Two additional cardiac radiologists reviewed all cases in consensus on the standard workstation and these results were used as the reference standard. When reader results were compared to the reference standard, there was no significant difference in agreement for per-vessel stenosis scores using either the iPhone or standard clinical workstation. The intraobserver intertechnology agreement on a per-vessel basis for obstructive CAD were 97.4% (299/307, kappa = 0.777) and 97.5% (317/325, kappa = 0.804) for the two readers. All cases of coronary anomalies were identified by both readers regardless of the device used. Coronary CTA examinations can be interpreted on a smartphone with diagnostic accuracy comparable to a standard workstation. 3D visualization app on the iPhone may facilitate urgent coronary CTA review when a workstation is not available.
Supported Molybdenum Carbide Catalysts: Structure-Function Relationships for Hydrodenitrogenation

Early transition metal carbides and nitrides have been shown to be active for the hydrotreatment of model compounds and petroleum crudes. In this paper we describe our investigations of the structural and compositional properties of γ-Al2O3-supported molybdenum carbides and efforts to correlate these properties with their pyridine and quinoline hydrodenitrogenation (HDN) activities. The HDN activities of the materials scaled linearly with the loading and oxygen chemisorptive uptake. Oxygen chemisorption results also suggested that the molybdenum carbide particles were highly dispersed and perhaps raft-like. Using temperature programmed desorption and infrared spectroscopy of carbon monoxide, we were able to identify two types of sites on the carbides; sites “on top” of the particle and sites at the perimeter. We have tentatively concluded that the most active sites for HDN were “on top” of the supported carbide particles.
Nationwide Trends in Hospitalizations and In-Hospital Mortality in Granulomatosis With Polyangiitis (Wegener's).

Objective Granulomatosis with polyangiitis (Wegener's) (GPA) is a type of antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibody–associated vasculitis that often entails severe end-organ damage and treatment-related complications that frequently lead to hospitalization and death. Nationwide trends in hospitalizations and in-hospital mortality over the past 2 decades are unknown and were evaluated in this study. Methods Using the National Inpatient Sample, the largest all-payer inpatient database in the US, trends in hospitalizations with a discharge diagnosis of GPA (formerly Wegener's granulomatosis; International Classification of Disease, Ninth Revision, Clinical Modification code 446.4) between 1993 and 2011 were studied. Analyses were performed using hospital-level sampling weights to obtain US national estimates. Results From 1993 to 2011, the annual hospitalization rate for patients with a principal diagnosis of GPA increased by 24%, from 5.1 to 6.3 per 1 million US persons (P < 0.0001 for trend); however, in-hospital deaths in this group declined by 73%, from 9.1% to 2.5% (P < 0.0001 for trend), resulting in a 66% net reduction in the annual in-hospital mortality rate. The median length of stay declined by 20%, from 6.9 days in 1993 to 5.5 days in 2011 (P = 0.0002 for trend). Infection was the most common principal discharge diagnosis when GPA was a secondary diagnosis, including among those who died during hospitalization. Conclusion The findings from these nationally representative, contemporary inpatient data indicate that the in-hospital mortality of GPA has declined substantially over the past 2 decades, while the overall hospitalization rate for GPA increased slightly. Infection remains a common principal hospitalization diagnosis among GPA patients, including hospitalizations resulting in mortality.
Wot the L: Analysis of Real versus Random Placed Nets, and Implications for Steiner Tree Heuristics

The NP-hard Rectilinear Steiner Minimum Tree (RSMT) problem has been studied in the VLSI physical design literature for well over three decades. Fast estimators of RSMT cost (which reflects routed wirelength) are a required ingredient of modern physical planning and global placement methods. Constructive estimators build heuristic RSMTs whose costs are used as wirelength estimates; notably, these include FLUTE[8]. Analytic and lookup table-based estimators include the methods of Cheng[7] and Caldwell et al. [3]; the latter is based on both the number of points and the aspect ratio of the pointset in the RSMT instance. We observe that the physical design literature has numerous evaluations of RSMT heuristics and estimators on random pointsets, and that the relative merits of heuristics and estimators have been determined based on this use of random pointsets. In this paper, we show that a pointset attribute which we call L-ness highlights the difference between real placements and random placements of net pins. We explain why placements of netlists in practice result in pointsets with much higher L-ness than random pointsets, and we confirm this difference empirically for both academic and commercial placement tools. We further present an improved lookup table-based RSMT cost estimator that includes an L-ness parameter. Last, we illustrate how differences between Steiner tree heuristics can change depending on whether real or random pointsets are used in the evaluation.
PoIiCym: rapid prototyping of resource management policies for HMPs

Heterogeneous Multiprocessors (HMPs) are becoming pervasive in current modern embedded platforms (e.g. mobile devices). These platforms often provide better power-performance tradeoffs than their homogeneous predecessors; however, novel and intelligent resource management policies are required to manage the added complexity of heterogeneous platforms and exploit their power-performance benefits. In this paper we propose PoliCym, a framework for the prototyping, validating, and deploying resource management policies for heterogeneous platforms. PoliCym provides two main benefits to resource management policy developers and to the research community: 1) a trace-based offline simulator allows policies to be quickly prototyped, debugged, and validated on top of arbitrary platform configurations; and 2) a light-weight sensing-actuation interface allows the same policies to be efficiently deployed on top of Linux-based systems without the need for implementation changes or additional development cycles. We evaluate our light-weight interface in terms of overhead and validate the PoliCym offline simulator for an ARM big.LITTLE based HMP platform running Linux.
Detectors of Ultraheavy Cosmic Rays

Ultraheavy cosmic rays have been measured by both passive and electronic detectors. These detectors are reviewed, and the requirements are given for a detector to make the next major step in this area.
Evaluation of Ferulic Acid Uptake as a Measurement of Allelochemical Dose: Effective Concentration

Soil solution concentrations of allelopathic agents (e.g., phenolic acids) estimated by soil extractions differ with extraction procedure and the activities of the various soil sinks (e.g., microbes, clays, organic matter). This led to the hypothesis that root uptake of phenolic acids is a better estimator of dose than soil solution concentrations based on soil extracts. This hypothesis was tested by determining the inhibition of net phosphorus uptake of cucumber seedlings treated for 5 hr with ferulic acid in whole-root and split-root nutrient culture systems. Experiments were conducted with 11 ferulic acid concentrations ranging from 0 to 1 mM, phosphorus concentrations of 0.25, 0.5, or 1 mM, and solution pH values of 4.5, 5.5, or 6.5 applied when cucumber seedlings were 9, 12, or 15 days old. The uptake or initial solution concentration of ferulic acid was regressed on ferulic acid inhibition of net phosphorus uptake. Attempts were made to design experiments that would break the collinearity between ferulic acid uptake and phosphorus uptake. The original hypothesis was rejected because the initial ferulic acid solution concentrations surrounding seedling roots were more frequently and consistently related to the inhibition of net phosphorus uptake than to ferulic acid uptake by these roots. The data suggest that root contact, not uptake, is responsible for the inhibitory activity of phenolic acids.
Challenges in the Development of Immunoisolation Devices

Abstract Immunoisolation devices can be used to transplant cells for treating a variety of human diseases without the need for immunosuppressive drugs. Transplanted cells are enclosed within a material that provides protection from the immune system while allowing adequate transport of nutrients, oxygen, waste products, and therapeutic products. There are three types of immunobarrier devices: (1) intravascular, (2) extravascular macrocapsules, and (3) microcapsules. Challenges exist which prevent the widespread applications of cell encapsulation therapies: tissue supply, effective immune protection of encapsulated cells, and maintenance of cell viability post-transplantation. This chapter discusses approaches that can be used to overcome these problems and focuses specifically on the maintenance of cell viability and function in the treatment of type 1 diabetes, including use of vascularizing membranes, in situ oxygen supply, exogenous oxygen supply, reduction of islet cell aggregate size, and manipulation of encapsulant properties. One method to enhance cell viability by increasing oxygen permeability of the encapsulating material with perfluorocarbons (PFCs) is discussed in detail, and a mathematical model is used to predict the extent of enhancement of islet viability and function.
Tailored Surgery for Early Breast Cancer: the Very Young Woman

Even though the majority of breast cancer occurs in postmenopausal women, a substantial number of very young women are afflicted each year. For the purposes of this chapter, the definition of “very young women” will be those 35 years of age and under; however, in the literature “young age” ranges anywhere from less than 25 to less than 50 years of age. In the USA, women less than 40 years old account for approximately 6.5% of all newly diagnosed cases of breast cancer, with those under 30 years representing 0.6% of the total new cases. Each year there are approximately 1,200 new cases of breast cancer diagnosed in women under 30 years, and there are nearly 250,000 women in the USA under the age of 40 years currently living with breast cancer [22].
Dynamic adhesion characterization of cancer cells under blood flow-mimetic conditions: effects of cell shape and orientation on drag force

Cell adhesion to and detachment from the endothelium plays an essential role in numerous biological processes such as cancer cell metastasis, cell migration, and cell–cell communication. However, little is known about the effect of cell shape and orientation on the drag force leading to cell detachment. To further investigate these factors, we cultured cancer cells in a microfluidic channel, and recorded the shape and orientation of the cells under constant fluid flow rate. Results showed that cell morphology varied dynamically with respect to time. In particular, we discovered two distinct shapes of cells at the moment of detachment: the circular shape, and the elongated shape whose long axis is perpendicular to the flow. Based on the experimental observations, we designed and reconstructed two cellular solid models (a hemispherical model and an elongated model) to calculate the drag force using a finite-element method. The hemispherical model yielded much higher pressure drag force than that of the elongated models irrespective of orientation, though the total drag force of the hemispherical model was slightly lower. We also examined the effect of the orientation on the drag force using five different orientations to the flow. The cells of which the long axes were perpendicular to the flow exhibited larger pressure drag force than cells oriented in other directions, though the friction drag force was comparable. In summary, when cells detach from the surface, the fraction of the pressure force becomes larger, demonstrating the determinative role of cell adhesion and/or detachment. Significantly, our observation that two cancer cell subpopulations exist exhibiting different morphological dynamics and required drag forces for detachment implies redundant mechanisms for cancer cells to achieve the transition from the adherent type to the circulating type during metastasis.
Pore-scale modeling of multiphase flow through porous media under triaxial stress

Abstract In reality, most of the fluid and rock interactions occur in the presence of multiple fluid phases. Such exchanges, thus, are very important when different fluids, under the influence of external forces, coexist in the pore space. In this work, the response of Berea sandstone under quasi-static loading conditions is modeled in the presence of multiple fluid phases. The solid matrix is characterized by hyperelasticity, while the fluids are assumed to be incompressible and Newtonian. The behavior of the sample was investigated during the exertion of confining stresses at the grain boundaries followed by a sequence of drainage and imbibition cycles, using the Volume of fluid (VOF) method, to investigate the effect of triaxial loading on fluid distribution. We further investigated the role of stress on relative permeability, initial water saturation, residual oil saturation and trapped oil globule size distribution. Our results indicate relative permeability alteration due to compaction and changes in the pore geometry. Relative permeability of the oil phase during drainage was reduced, while there was a slight decrease in relative permeability of water. Furthermore, the initial water saturation increased due to a general shift in the pore/throat diameter distribution towards smaller values leading to the wetting phase occupying more pore throats. Finally, higher confining stress conditions resulted in a greater distribution of disconnected oil globules compared to a smaller distribution of globules at zero stress conditions.
Thermal characterization of three-dimensional printed components for light-emitting diode lighting system applications

This study investigated the thermal properties of three-dimensional (3-D) printed components with the potential to be used for thermal management in light-emitting diode (LED) applications. Commercially available filament materials with and without a metal filler were characterized with changes to the print orientation. 3-D printed components with an in-plane orientation had >30 % better effective thermal conductivity compared with components printed with a cross-plane orientation. A finite-element analysis was modeled to understand the effective thermal conductivity changes in the 3-D printed components. A simple thermal resistance model was used to estimate the required effective thermal conductivity of the 3-D printed components to be a viable alternative in LED thermal management applications.
Posterior Nerve-Sparing Multilevel Cervical Corpectomy and Reconstruction for Metastatic Cervical Spine Tumors: Case Report and Literature Review.

Background Cervical spine metastases with circumferential spinal cord compression often are treated with combined anteroposterior decompression and stabilization. In patients with large anterior neck masses, previous radiotherapy to the neck, or previous anterior neck surgery, however, anterior approaches may pose additional risk. In such cases, posterior-only approaches that allow for circumferential decompression and anterior column reconstruction may be beneficial. Case Description We present the case of a 70-year-old man with follicular thyroid carcinoma metastatic to the cervical spine causing spinal cord compression. We used a posterior-only approach for a C6–C7 partial corpectomy and posterior decompression and fusion from C2 to T2. Our technique involved preoperative embolization of the right vertebral artery to safely gain access to the ventral surface of the spinal cord and vertebral bodies. Anterior column support was provided by a chest tube/polymethylmethacrylate construct, allowing the implant to be placed within the anterior column from a posterior approach without nerve root sacrifice. The patient tolerated the procedure well. He had no postoperative neurologic deficits. Two months later, he underwent a total thyroidectomy followed by stereotactic radiotherapy to the tumor bed (2700 cGy total, 3 fractions). At 1-year follow-up, he was active and without significant pain or focal neurologic deficits. Conclusions We propose a novel approach to ventral/circumferential cervical spine tumors that combines epidural decompression and cervical stabilization via a posterior-only approach. By using a chest tube/polymethylmethacrylate construct, anterior column support can be achieved through a posterior approach without nerve root sacrifice.
Thermal Buckling Analysis and Optimization of Curvilinearly Stiffened Plates with Variable Angle Tow Laminates

This paper presents results from thermal buckling analysis and optimization of stiffened composite panels with variable angle tow (VAT) laminates and curvilinear stiffeners. Considering the meshing...