cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Environmental utilization space between science and politics

This paper addresses the issue of operationalizing, or quantifying, sustainable development as a practical guideline for day-to-day environmental policy-making. It criticizes attempts at quantifying some environmental utilization space and argues that the uncertainty of scientific knowledge about the unintended environmental repercussions of consumptive choices casts serious doubt about attempts to justify government intervention in non-sustainable lifestyles.
The (f)utility of flexion-extension C-spine films in the setting of trauma.

Abstract Background Flexion-extension radiographs are often used to assess for removal of the cervical collar in the setting of trauma. The objective of this study was to evaluate their adequacy. We hypothesized that a significant proportion is inadequate. Methods This was a retrospective review of C-spine clearance at a level 1 trauma center. A trauma-trained radiologist interpreted all flexion-extension radiographs for adequacy. Studies performed within 7 days of injury were considered acute. Results Three hundred fifty-five flexion-extension radiographs were examined. Ninety-five percent% of these studies were inadequate (51% because of the inability to visualize the top of T1, whereas 44% had less than 30° of angulation from neutral). Two hundred ten studies were performed acutely; of these, 97% were inadequate. When performed 7 days or longer from injury, 91% were inadequate. Conclusions Injury to the C-spine may harbor significant consequences; therefore, its proper evaluation is critical. The majority of flexion-extension films are inadequate. As such, they should not be included in the algorithm for removal of the cervical collar. If used, adequacy must be verified and supplemental radiographic studies obtained as indicated.
Discrete frequency-coding waveform design for netted radar systems

A novel method is proposed to design discrete frequency-coding waveforms (DFCWs) for the netted radar systems. Some of the designed results are presented and they indicate that the proposed algorithm is effective for the DFCW design.
Special Education History, Current Status and Future: India

Education of all children in public schools, including those with disabilities, continues to be an unresolved issue in many countries around the globe. While education of all children is mandated by law and considered a basic human right in many countries, the current status of implementation varies. India, for example, is an ancient country that adopted several laws and policies for its citizens with disabilities after gaining independence from British rule. Today, India legally requires the education of all children in schools; however, despite this, millions of children with disabilities continue to remain out of school or receive little or no education. This paper discusses the special education history, legal system, current status and future for people with disabilities in India.
Stability of a microwave heated fluid Layer

When a time harmonic electromagnetic wave impinges on a slab a certain portion of the wave creates heat within the slab through dipolar and ohmic heating. The electrical and thermal properties of the material dictate the dynamical nature of the heating process, as well as the steady-state temperature profile. The material considered here is a slab of fluid. We consider the case where the fluid is bounded by thin rigid layers of transparent material. The steady-state heating profile governs the types of convective motions that can occur and also affects the stability characteristics of temperature, pressure and velocity perturbations introduced in the slab. The main objective here is to examine such stability characteristics, initially in the linear regime. Both rigid-rigid and rigid-free configurations are considered.
Thrombosis of the deep venous drainage of the brain in adults. Analysis of seven cases with review of the literature.

Objectives: To characterize the clinical, radiographic, and pathologic findings in thrombosis of the deep venous drainage of the brain. To highlight clinical and radiographic findings that may lead to the diagnosis of disease and distinguish it from dural sinus thrombosis. To review the published literature on this disorder. Design: Retrospective review of the medical and radiographic records of seven patients from three institutions over the past 10 years. Review of the English language literature from 1971 to the present. Results: All seven patients had risk factors for cerebral venous thrombosis. Five patients presented with a short, rapidly progressing course characterized by headache, nausea and vomiting, and decline in level of consciousness. All five patients died or were rendered severely disabled. Computed tomographic scans, magnetic resonance imaging, and magnetic resonance angiography showed findings associated with deep cerebral vein thrombosis in three of four, in five of five, and in three of three patients, respectively. Transfemoral catheter angiography was diagnostic in two of two patients. Twenty-one reported cases of deep cerebral venous thrombosis were identified in the literature. Conclusions: When the two populations are combined and compared with large series of patients with dural sinus thrombosis, patients with deep venous system thrombosis are more commonly women, tend to present with a more rapidly declining time course, altered consciousness, and long tract signs. Death or long-term sequelae are far more likely to occur in internal cerebral vein thrombosis than with dural sinus thrombosis. Unenhanced computed tomography can demonstrate findings that are strongly suggestive of the diagnosis. Magnetic resonance imaging and magnetic resonance angiography are confirmatory. Angiography may still be necessary when the diagnosis is not clear.
Periodic fever syndrome with relapsing glomerulonephritis: a case report and teaching points

We report a case of relapsing mesangial and endocapillary proliferative glomerulonephritis (GN) associated with a periodic fever syndrome. The patient presented 11 times in >4 years with acute febrile episode followed in 1-3 days by hematuria, thrombocytopenia and other symptoms of acute GN with variable severity of acute kidney injury. In three episodes, the patient required renal replacement therapy for 7, 10 and 2 treatments, respectively. Shortly after the acute symptoms of the febrile episode had resolved each time, the kidney function would recover and the serum creatinine would return to baseline. Two kidney biopsies obtained during separate episodes showed acute tubular injury along with morphological changes resembling post-infectious GN but with no clinical evidence to support an infectious etiology. Multiple treatment regimens were unable to control the disease. Symptoms were alleviated by rituximab but did not completely remit. Stable remission of the periodic fever and GN was finally achieved after anakinra therapy was initiated 18 months ago. Since then, the patient had several episodes of documented infection without high fever and nephritic kidney manifestations. His kidney function remained stable with normal serum creatinine.
Disjoint-path routing: Efficient communication for streaming applications

Streaming is emerging as an important programming model for multicores. Streaming provides an elegant way to express task decomposition and inter-task communication, while hiding laborious orchestration details such as load balancing, assignment (of stream computation to nodes) and computation/communication scheduling from the programmer. This paper develops a novel communication optimization for streaming applications based on the observation that streaming computations typically involve large, systematic data transfers between known communicating pairs of nodes over extended periods of time. From the above observation, we advocate a family of routing algorithms that expend some over overheads to compute disjoint paths for stream communication. Disjoint-path routing is an attractive design point because (a) the overheads of discovering disjoint paths are amortized over large periods of time and (b) the benefits of disjoint path routing are significant for bandwidth-sensitive streaming applications. We develop one instance of disjoint-path routing called tentacle routing - a backtracking, best-effort technique. On a 4×4 (6×6) system, tentacle routing results in 55% (84%) and 28% (41%) mean throughput improvement for high-network-contention streaming applications, and for all streaming applications, respectively.
An exhaustive genome assembly algorithm using k-mers to indirectly perform N-squared comparisons in O(N)

We present an algorithm that indirectly makes N/sup 2/ sequence comparisons in O(N) with respect to the size of the genome. This algorithm is very applicable in assembling whole genomes from the thousands of DNA sequence fragments that are generated in shotgun sequencing. First, we assume that fragments that share k-mers should overlap in the final assembly. We then catalog all k-mers that exist in the shotgun library and infer links between fragments that share k-mers. These links are then used to represent edges in a graph. This graph is generated in O(N) yet represents the result of comparing every fragment to every other fragment.
Detection and visualization of tandem repeats in DNA sequences

One conspicuous feature of DNA is the extent to which nucleotide subsequences repeat in the genome. Several strongly repetitive tandem (or contiguous) repeats are known to be associated with genetic diseases, while weaker repetitive structures are thought to be representative of historical events associated with sequence repetition. Thus, it is important to develop sensitive and rapid automation of the detection and identification of repeat sequences. A new algorithm for examining periodic patterns in DNA sequences is developed. The algorithm uses the short-time periodicity transform to compute the closest periodic sequence of fixed length at each nucleotide position in a given sequence to be analyzed. Each such subsequence is then compared to its closest periodic sequence to provide a quantitative measure of the amount of repetition within the sequence. In addition to being used to detect the presence of repeat subsequences in DNA, the periodicity explorer algorithm provides a potentially useful visualization of periodic patterns in a DNA sequence through a graphical display of the relative energy in the optimal periodic projections of the analyzed sequences, i.e., the DNA periodogram. Computationally, the algorithm is linear in the length of the analyzed sequence.
Full Fault Resilience and Relaxed Synchronization Requirements at the Cache-Memory Interface

While multicore platforms promise significant speedup for many current applications, they also suffer from increased reliability problems as a result of ever scaling device size. The projected elevation in fault rate, together with the diverse behavior of fault manifestation, argues for highly efficient solutions of full fault resilience. Traditional duplication and checkpointing strategies typically impose sizable overhead in checkpointing execution results, or in constantly synchronizing two threads for value checking. To reduce such overhead while at the same time delivering full fault resilience, we propose an integrated fault detection and checkpointing framework, wherein the comparison and checkpointing process is performed at the cache-memory interface. By sharing a single cache between two duplicated threads, execution results can be directly verified in the cache before being written back, thus strictly protecting the memory against execution faults. Meanwhile, as unconfirmed data are allowed to be written into the cache, one thread can run well ahead of the other, thus relaxing the straightjacket of the strict execution synchronization model. If a cache block is constantly updated, further synchronization relaxation can be achieved through extending the cache design to duplicate a cache block and skip the comparison of the intermediate values.
INFLATION DRIVEN BY A VECTOR FIELD

The possibility of inflationary models in which inflation is driven by a vector field rather than a scalar field is discussed. The vector field ${A}^{\ensuremath{\rho}}$ is taken to be self-coupled through a ``potential'' V(\ensuremath{\xi}), where \ensuremath{\xi}=${A}^{\ensuremath{\rho}}$${A}_{\ensuremath{\rho}}$. If V has a flat region, where \ensuremath{\Vert}\ensuremath{\xi}V'\ensuremath{\Vert}\ensuremath{\ll}V, then the Universe can undergo a period of isotropic inflation in which the space is approximately de Sitter. Because the vector field's stress tensor is not isotropic, the Universe will exit inflation into an anisotropic expansion. If the stable minimum of V occurs at \ensuremath{\xi}=${\ensuremath{\xi}}_{0}$=0, then this anisotropy will damp away during the reheating period. If this minimum occurs at a nonzero value of ${\ensuremath{\xi}}_{0}$, then the anisotropy can be small at late times if collisionless particles, such as gravitons, are generated during reheating. In this case, the observed limits on anisotropy of the cosmic microwave background require that ${\ensuremath{\xi}}_{0}$\ensuremath{\lesssim}${(10}^{15}$ GeV${)}^{2}$. Finally, even if V does not have the flat region needed for de Sitter inflation, it is possible to have anisotropic inflation in which the Universe expands at different exponential rates in different directions. The conditions under which this can occur are discussed, and the stability of the resulting solutions is analyzed.
The combination of green tea and tamoxifen is effective against breast cancer

Epidemiologic data have suggested that green tea may prevent breast cancer. Studies in our laboratory have provided evidence that green tea extract inhibits breast cancer growth by a direct anti-proliferative effect on the tumor cells, as well as by indirect suppressive effects on the tumor-associated endothelial cells. In this study, we asked whether concurrent administration of green tea may add to the anti-tumor effects of standard breast cancer therapy. We observed that green tea increased the inhibitory effect of tamoxifen on the proliferation of the ER (estrogen receptor)-positive MCF-7, ZR75, T47D human breast cancer cells in vitro. This combination regimen was also more potent than either agent alone at increasing cell apoptosis. In animal experiments, mice treated with both green tea and tamoxifen had the smallest MCF-7 xenograft tumor size, and the highest levels of apoptosis in tumor tissue, as compared with either agent administered alone. Moreover, the suppression of angiogenesis in vivo correlated with larger areas of necrosis and lower tumor blood vessel density in treated xenografts. Green tea decreased levels of ER-alpha in tumors both in vitro and in vivo. We also observed that green tea blocked ER-dependent transcription, as well as estradiol-induced phosphorylation and nuclear localization of mitogen-activated protein kinase. To our knowledge, this study is the first to show the interaction of green tea with the ER pathway, as well as provide mechanistic evidence that the combination of green tea and tamoxifen is more potent than either agent alone in suppressing breast cancer growth. These results may lead to future improvements in breast cancer treatment and prevention.
Variation in species richness and species pool size across a pH gradient in forests of the southern Blue Ridge Mountains

PARTEL (Ecology 83: 2361-2366, 2002) and EWALD (Folia Geobot. 38: 357-366, 2003) suggest that the relationship between local species density and soil pH is determined by regional species pool size, which in turn reflects the relative abundance of soil types during the evolutionary history of the flora. Ewald observed that calcareous sites in Central Europe have higher species density and larger species pools than acidic sites, and argues that this is the consequence of a Pleistocene bottleneck for acidophiles. The flora of the southern Blue Ridge Mountains USA has always been associated with primarily acidic soils. We used vegetation and soil data from 3328 100 m 2 southern Blue Ridge forest plots to examine the generality of the Partel-Ewald hypothesis. The Blue Ridge flora with less than 20% of species confined to sites above pH 4.7 contrasts dramatically with that of Europe. However, regional species pool size increases with pH. Genus- and family-level pools increase with pH, suggesting an ancient origin for this pattern. Mean species density is also strongly positively correlated with soil pH. Thus, both regional species pool size and plot species density of southern Blue Ridge forests fail to conform to predictions derived from the work of Partel and Ewald. The increase in species pool with increase in pH exhibited by southern Blue Ridge forests appears to reflect broad species distributions and tolerance for high pH conditions among species that grow predominantly under acid conditions. We conclude that richness on higher pH sites is a consequence of generally more favorable conditions for plant growth and/or establishment. Ewald may be correct in asserting that the abundance of high pH specialists in Central Europe is an historical artifact, but our data contradict the assertion of Partel and Ewald that evolution of a flora in a primarily low pH environment will necessarily translate into a negative correlation between pH and species density in local vegetation.
Electroluminescence and Magnetic Field Quenching of Photoluminescence of Spark-Processed Si

Light emitting, spark-processed silicon (sp-Si) is a captivating material whose physical properties have not yet been fully investigated and understood. This paper presents some new, but preliminary, observations. Firstly, we found that magnetic fields influence the photoluminescence intensity of UV/blue luminescing sp-Si. Specifically, magnetic field cycles (from positive to negative field strengths) reduce the PL light intensity by about 6%. Secondly, an electroluminescing device, based on sp-Si, which emits in the green spectral range, is described and its emission spectrum is shown. Thirdly, the PL spectrum of laser-processed silicon is presented. It is shown that laser-processed silicon and UV/blue emitting sp-Si display identical PL spectra.
Performance of BCJR-DFE based detectors over recording channels using pattern-dependent noise prediction

A noniterative receiver, namely Bahl-Cocke-Jelinek-Raviv (BCJR)-decision feedback equalizer (DFE), for achieving near capacity performance for intersymbol interference channels was proposed earlier. In this paper, we investigate the performance of BCJR-DFE receivers for recording channels with pattern-dependent media noise. To account for the media noise, we integrated pattern-dependent noise prediction (PDNP) into the BCJR-DFE receiver and evaluated its performance by comparing it to conventional iterative (turbo)-coded recording channels. Numerical simulations suggest that PDNP BCJR-DFE receivers provide superior or comparable performance as a turbo receiver, albeit with lower computation complexity and longer processing delays.
Liquid Crystal Infrared Modulation

Experimental liquid crystal 8-12μm infrared modulators have been fabricated and operated utilizing the cholesteric-nematic phase change effect occurring with cyanobiphenyl liquid crystals. A one mil thick film of 4-cyano-4'-pentyl-biphenyl has an average transmission over the whole 8-12μm region of ≈87%. Experiments to determine modulator response times and contrast are discussed as well as some of the basic limitations of infrared modulation using liquid crystals.
Model-Building and Reduction of Model Bias in Electron Density Maps

Model-building is a key element of interpretation of electron density maps. Once a model is built it can then be used to further improve the map and hence improve the quality of a new model. It is helpful in this process to have effective methods for automated model-building and for ensuring that the resulting maps are minimally biased by the model. Many powerful methods for automatic interpretation of macromolecular electron density maps have been developed recently. Here we describe one method based on the identification of regular secondary structure and extension with fragments from known structures. We then describe the use of density modification procedures (“prime-and-switch”) to reduce the model bias in maps calculated from models. Finally we describe how these prime-and-switch maps can be used as part of procedures to improve molecular replacement models just after initial placement and how this can extend the range of molecular replacement.
Chromatin Structure of Epstein–Barr Virus Latent Episomes

EBV latent infection is characterized by a highly restricted pattern of viral gene expression. EBV can establish latent infections in multiple different tissue types with remarkable variation and plasticity in viral transcription and replication. During latency, the viral genome persists as a multi-copy episome, a non-integrated-closed circular DNA with nucleosome structure similar to cellular chromosomes. Chromatin assembly and histone modifications contribute to the regulation of viral gene expression, DNA replication, and episome persistence during latency. This review focuses on how EBV latency is regulated by chromatin and its associated processes.
Bacterial wilt disease: Host resistance and pathogen virulence mechanisms

Abstract Bacterial wilt (BW), caused by Ralstonia solanacearum, is one of the most destructive bacterial diseases of Solanaceous species worldwide. The species infects plants in more than 200 species and 50 families and was ranked second in a list of the top 10 most scientifically and economically important bacterial plant pathogens [1]. The molecular mechanisms underlying resistance and the functions of R. solanacearum effectors are beginning to be uncovered, and much remains to be discovered. In this mini-review, we provide a summary of host resistance and R. solanacearum virulence mechanisms, with a focus on tomato.
The economic impact of multisystemic therapy through midlife: a cost-benefit analysis with serious juvenile offenders and their siblings.

OBJECTIVE This study investigated the economic benefits of multisystemic therapy (MST) versus individual therapy (IT) using arrest data from 176 serious juvenile offenders and 129 of their closest-in-age siblings who participated, on average, 25 years earlier in a randomized clinical trial (Borduin et al., 1995). METHOD Two types of benefits of MST were evaluated: (a) The value to taxpayers was derived from measures of criminal justice system expenses (e.g., police and sheriffs' offices, court processing, community supervision), and (b) the value to crime victims was derived from measures of both tangible (e.g., property damage and loss, health care, lost productivity) and intangible (e.g., pain, suffering, reduced quality of life) losses. RESULTS Reductions in criminality in the MST versus IT conditions were associated with lasting benefits to both taxpayers and crime victims, with cumulative benefits of MST estimated at $35,582 per juvenile offender and $7,798 per sibling. Overall, every dollar spent on MST recovered $5.04 in savings to taxpayers and crime victims in the 25 years following treatment. CONCLUSIONS This study represents the most comprehensive cost-benefit analysis of an MST clinical trial to date and demonstrates that an evidence-based treatment such as MST can produce modest economic benefits well into adulthood. Implications of the authors' findings for policymakers and public service agencies are discussed.
Surface hydration amplifies single-well protein atom diffusion propagating into the macromolecular core.

The effect of surface hydration water on internal protein motion is of fundamental interest in molecular biophysics. Here, by decomposing the picosecond to nanosecond atomic motion in molecular dynamics simulations of lysozyme at different hydration levels into three components---localized single-well diffusion, methyl group rotation, and nonmethyl jumps---we show that the effect of surface hydration is mainly to increase the volume of the localized single-well diffusion. These diffusive motions are coupled in such a way that the hydration effect propagates from the protein surface into the dry core.
Sensitivity Analysis of GERT Networks

Abstract Sensitivity is an important concept in network evaluation, review, and improvement (design). A sensitivity analysis details the changes in the performance measure as a function of changes in parameters (components) of a network. Equations are obtained to calculate the change in the performance measure due to changes in its several parameters. These equations are used in improving the system performance and in calculating the range of variations of the performance measure. System improvement in GERT networks is achieved by increasing the equivalent probability and by decreasing the equivalent time and cost. The range is used in finding the effect of parameter variations on the confidence limits of the equivalent time and cost.
Surface nematic order in iron pnictides

Electronic nematicity plays an important role in iron-based superconductors. These materials have a layered structure and the theoretical description of their magnetic and nematic transitions has been well established in the two-dimensional approximation, i.e., when the layers can be treated independently. However, the interaction between iron layers mediated by electron tunneling may cause nontrivial three-dimensional behavior. Starting from the simplest model for orbital nematic in a single layer, we investigate the influence of interlayer tunneling on the bulk nematic order and a possible preemptive state where this order is only formed near the surface. We found that the interlayer tunneling suppresses the bulk nematicity, which makes favorable the formation of a surface nematic order above the bulk transition temperature. The purely electronic tunneling Hamiltonian, however, favors a nematic order parameter that alternates from layer to layer. The uniform bulk state typically observed experimentally may be stabilized by the coupling with the elastic lattice deformation. Depending on the strength of this coupling, we found three regimes: (i) surface nematic and alternating bulk order, (ii) surface nematic and uniform bulk order, and (iii) uniform bulk order without the intermediate surface phase. The intermediate surface-nematic state may resolve the current controversy about the existence of a weak nematic transition in the compound ${\mathrm{BaFe}}_{2}{\mathrm{As}}_{2\ensuremath{-}x}{\mathrm{P}}_{x}$.
Progress in dendritic cell vaccine targeting MUC1

Dendritic cells(DCs),as antigen-presenting cells,play a crucial role in priming tumor-specific immunity.The use of DCs for cancer vaccination is an effective approach for the induction of antitumor immunity.MUC1 is one member of the mucin family,which is a group of high molecular weight glycoproteins.MUC1 is overexpressed on many epithelial malignancies and considered as an opportune target antigen for cancer immunotherapy.This article reviews the biological specificity of MUC1,presentation of MUC1 by DC,and efficacy of DC vaccine immunotherapy targeting MUC1 tumor antigens.
Bioluminescence-Based Monitoring of Virus Vector-Mediated Gene Transfer in Mice

In vivo bioluminescence imaging (BLI) is a powerful technology that gives information on biological processes in living animals over multiple time points. Importantly BLI can also yield anatomical localization of signal which can provide important information when performing biodistribution studies of different macromolecules. This is of particular interest for gene therapy vectors such as adeno-associated virus (AAV) vectors in which knowledge of in vivo gene expression profiles help characterize what target tissues or organs the vector may be useful for. It can also be utilized to assess novel vector systems for their ability to overcome specific in vivo barriers of effective gene therapy. Here we describe BLI of AAV-encoded firefly luciferase (Fluc) expression in mice after intravascular delivery. This protocol can be amended for use with different virus vectors (e.g., lentivirus, adenovirus) as well as nonviral gene delivery (e.g., plasmid DNA, liposomes).
Mitochondrial ATP synthase: Progress toward understanding the relationship between its unique structure and its biological function

One of the most challenging problems in biology today is to understand the molecular mechanism by which mitochondria synthesize ATP. The process is catalyzed by an unusually complex molecule called the ATP synthase, the substructure of which is comprised of a number of different polypeptide chains. Here, we briefly review progress made to date in obtaining nucleotide binding and structural information about the F1 moiety of the rat liver ATP synthase complex. Also, implications of this information for the function of the enzyme in synthesizing ATP is discussed.
Performance of hair breeds and prolific wool breeds of sheep in southern Illinois: effect of breed of service sire on lamb production of Suffolk and Targhee ewes.

The effects of year, age of ewe, sex of lamb, breed of ewe, and breed of service ram on fertility, prolificacy, lamb survival, lamb weaning weight, and ewe productivity of Suffolk and Targhee ewes mated to Finnsheep, Combo-6, Booroola Merino, St. Croix, and Barbados rams were estimated. Mat- ings were in four consecutive years using three rams per breed of service ram each year, with a total of 758 ewe-year observations. There was a significant effect of year on fertility, prolificacy, and ewe productivity. Two- and three-year-old ewes had lowest (P < .05) fertility rates, whereas 3-, 4-, and 5+-yr-old ewes had higher ( P < .O 1) prolificacy and ewe productivity than 2-yr-old ewes. Ram lambs were .9 kg heavier (P < .01) at weaning than were ewe lambs. Suffolk ewes gave birth to .13 more ( P < .05) lambs per ewe lambing, and their lambs were 1.4 kg heavier (P < .01) than lambs from Targhee ewes. Ewes mated to St. Croix and Barbados rams had higher (P < .lo) fertility rates than ewes mated to Finnsheep rams. Lambs sired by Barbados, Finnsheep, and St. Croix rams had higher (P < .05) survival rates to weaning than lambs sired by Booroola Merino rams. The heaviest (P < .01) lambs at weaning were those sired by Finnsheep and Combo-6 rams. Ewes mated to hair-breed rams had greater (P < .05) performance for the fitness traits of fertility and lamb survival but lower (P < .Ol) lamb weaning weights than ewes mated to wool-breed rams. This resulted in a nonsignificant advantage of 1.2 kg in ewe productivity of ewes mated to hair-breed rams over ewes mated to wool-breed rams.
Model based scenario specification for development and test of automated driving functions

Research and evaluation of algorithms and system architectures for automated driving advanced to a stage where transition from prototyping to series development seems practicable in some extent. While particular systems for environmental perception play a key role in advanced driving assistance systems, we still lack feasible methods for specification and validation of complex driving scenarios. This leads to increased effort in testing and inconsistent requirement definition along different development phases. In this paper we propose a methodology for abstract positional and temporal description of driving scenarios. The approach utilizes a movie related and omniscient view composed of sequential acts. Each act combines both states and interactions of distinct participants as well as the rudimental scenery. Selective events trigger changes in conduct leading to transitions between acts. Graphical visualization provides simple presentation of complex scenarios. Rule sets provide consistency checks and support semi-automated generation of test cases. The presented methodology facilitates model based test specification and requirements design constituting a consistent characterization of system environment from early concept and development to validation.
Three-dimensional image guidance for transcranial focused ultrasound therapy

A dual-mode ultrasound array (DMUA) imaging system for monitoring and delivery of transcranial focused ultrasound (tFUS) therapy is described. A DMUA prototype operating in the frequency range 2.4 – 4.2 MHz has been shown to generate tFUS beams at therapeutic levels in rat brains in vivo based on two-dimensional image guidance. Furthermore, real-time ultrasound thermography was shown to be feasible using beamformed DMUA imaging data. In this paper, we demonstrate the use of 3D DMUA imaging for guidance of tFUS beam to specific locations within the brain defined with reference to the bregma. The results demonstrate the ability of the DMUA prototype to clearly resolve the lambda, bregma and the medial suture lines, which allows the precise placement of the focal spot at the target location in a repeatable manner within a single experiment session and from one session to another. This has significant impact on tFUS applications requiring multiple treatments of the same target region, e.g. temporal lobe epilepsy.
Electrostatic microcolumns for surface plasmon enhanced electron beamlets

Microcolumns are widely used for parallel electron-beam lithography because of their compactness and the ability to achieve high spatial resolution. A design of a large array of electrostatic microcolumns for our recent surface plasmon enhanced photoemission sources is optimized numerically. Because of the compactness, one million of microcolumns can be put within 1 cm2 area. To avoid the trade-off between resolution and throughput, each microcolumn has one beamlet and there is no crossing point between any of the beamlets. An aperture self-aligned fabrication process is developed to make the optimized microcolumns.
Analgesics and Sedatives

Of primary importance for the clinical anesthesiologist is the realization that the older adult is often not an ordinary, straightforward patient. Aging affects the pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of the most commonly used anesthetic drugs, and opioids and benzodiazepines do not represent an exception to this rule. This chapter will portray the unique features and pharmacological differences of sedative/analgesic drugs in the elderly along with evidence-based practical strategies to reduce side effects and improve patient safety.
Association between fetal myocardial performance index and fetal heart rate monitoring: a prospective observational cohort study.

Objective: To evaluate whether the left myocardial performance index (MPI) changes in association with the fetal heart rate (FHR) tracing during labor.Study design: Women with term, singleton pregn...
Spatial Scaling Using Temporal Correlations and Ensemble Learning to Obtain High-Resolution Soil Moisture

A novel algorithm is developed to downscale soil moisture (SM), obtained at satellite scales of 10–40 km to 1 km by utilizing its temporal correlations to historical auxiliary data at finer scales. Including such correlations drastically minimizes the size of the training set needed, accounts for time-lagged relationships, and enables downscaling even in the presence of short gaps in the auxiliary data. The algorithm is based upon bagged regression trees (BRT) and uses correlations between high-resolution remote sensing products and SM observations. The algorithm trains multiple RTs and automatically chooses the trees that generate the best downscaled estimates. The algorithm was evaluated using a multiscale synthetic data set in north central Florida for two years, including two growing seasons of corn and one growing season of cotton per year. The time-averaged error across the region was found to be 0.01 m3/m3, with a standard deviation of 0.012 m3/m3 when 0.02% of the data were used for training in addition to temporal correlations from the past seven days, and all available data from the past year. The maximum spatially averaged errors obtained using this algorithm in downscaled SM were 0.005 m3/m3, for pixels with cotton land cover. When land surface temperature (LST) on the day of downscaling was not included in the algorithm to simulate “data gaps,” the spatially averaged error increased minimally by 0.015 m3/m3 when LST is unavailable on the day of downscaling. The results indicate that the BRT-based algorithm provides high accuracy for downscaling SM using complex nonlinear spatiotemporal correlations, under heterogeneous micrometeorological conditions.
A comparison of two computer-based prognostic systems for AIDS.

Abstract We compare the performances of a Cox model and a neural network model that are used as prognostic tools for a cohort of people living with AIDS. We modeled disease progression for patients who had AIDS (according to the 1993 CDC definition) in a cohort of 588 patients in California, using data from the ATHOS project. We divided the study population into 10 training and 10 test sets and evaluated the prognostic accuracy of a Cox proportional hazards model and of a neural network model by determining the number of predicted deaths, the sensitivities, specificities, positive predictive values, and negative predictive values for intervals of one year following the diagnosis of AIDS. For the Cox model, we further tested the agreement between a series of binary observations, representing death in one, two, and three years, and a set of estimates which define the probability of survival for those intervals. Both models were able to provide accurate numbers on how many patients were likely to die at each interval, and reasonable individualized estimates for the two- and three-year survival of a given patient, but failed to provide reliable predictions for the first year after diagnosis. There was no evidence that the Cox model performed better than did the neural network model or vice-versa, but the former method had the advantage of providing some insight on which variables were most influential for prognosis. Nevertheless, it is likely that the assumptions required by the Cox model may not be satisfied in all data sets, justifying the use of neural networks in certain cases.
Novel evaluation method for electrosurgical ablation by monopolar hot biopsy forceps for colonoscopy

Aim This study evaluates tissue injury, which results from electrosurgical ablation, by correlating lesion depth to tissue impedance, and introduces a newly developed real-time feedback control system that can be applied for preventing excessive tissue injury. Although some previous studies had evaluated such tissue injuries in other ways, a specific mechanism is necessary to actually prevent excessive tissue injury. Materials and methods Ablation tests were performed by using an impedance bridge circuit and gel block that have been developed in two previous studies. Depth of the ablation site was measured with the use of a laser displacement measurement device. To simplify the programing work, voltage was used, as a substitution of tissue impedance, to evaluate tissue injury. Results The depth of the ablation site was found to increase with either increased power setting or ablation duration, and the depth was analyzed to investigate correlation with measured voltage. The real-time feedback control system was developed by achieving communication between LabVIEW and an Arduino microcontroller. Conclusion It is concluded that the depth of the ablation site modestly correlates with the measured voltage under specific conditions, and the newly developed system fulfills the goal of the design.
Transportation and the Peak-Load Problem

This chapter discusses the phenomenon of peak-period travel, such as the morning or evening rush hour for commuters. At the height of the peak period, roads are usually heavily congested and traffic moves very slowly. This is a phenomenon of popular concern because of the heavy time costs involved in traveling at that time. Thereafter, to understand the nature of the peak period, it is essential to examine how and why individuals choose to travel at different times during the peak period. Such an understanding allows for demonstrating the impact of capacity expansion on the buildup of traffic flows and congestion as well as showing how congestion tolls or other forms of regulation can be used to eliminate the heaviest congestion at the height of the peak period to efficiently alter the peak-period pattern of traffic flows and to lower travel costs for all commuters. Commuters seek to minimize the costs of commuting, defined as traveling and scheduling costs. Subsequently, a model that incorporates scheduling costs is critical to a proper evaluation of the impact of significant road capacity expansions.
Regulation of RUNX1 Transcriptional Function by GATA-1 Kinase Recruitment: A Novel Pathway for Megakaryocytic Gene Regulation.

RUNX1 and GATA-1 both play essential roles in the transcriptional programming of normal mammalian megakaryocytic development, deficiencies of either factor having similar phenotypic consequences. We have previously characterized physical and functional interactions between these two factors, and others have confirmed analogous cooperations in Drosophila and Danio homologs. We now present data on molecular mechanisms for the cooperation of these two factors in the transcriptional activation of the megakaryocytic aIIb integrin promoter. In these studies, GATA-2 also physically interacted with RUNX1 but failed to cooperate in transcriptional activation. In fact, increasing amounts of GATA-2 repressed the functional interplay between GATA-1 and RUNX1. Through generation of GATA-2/GATA-1 chimeras, we identified a conserved subdomain within the GATA-1 amino terminus that was both necessary and sufficient for transcriptional cooperation with RUNX1. Coexpression of wild type GATA-1 or of cooperating GATA-2/GATA-1 chimeras, but not of GATA-2 or of non-cooperating chimeras, induced a mobility shift in wild type RUNX1. Using immunoprecipitation followed by immunoblot with a panel of phosphospecific antibodies, we found GATA-1 to induce RUNX1 phosphorylation at recognition sites for cyclin-dependent kinases (cdks). Treatment of cells with roscovitine, a specific cdk inhibitor, blocked the transcriptional cooperation of GATA-1 with RUNX1 and eliminated the RUNX1 mobility shift caused by GATA-1 coexpression. Mutagenesis of RUNX1 identified a cluster of serine/threonine-proline (S/TP) sites collectively required for the transcriptional augmentation and mobility shift induced by GATA-1. In addition, intact DNA binding by RUNX1 was required for cooperation with GATA-1. These results provide a new paradigm for cooperation of interacting transcription factors, in which one partner recruits a kinase leading to phosphorylation and activation of the other partner. Furthermore, these results provide a biochemical basis for the previously inexplicable functional differences between GATA-1, which promotes megakaryocytic maturation, and GATA-2 which promotes proliferation without maturation.
Solar Energy: Potential and Toxicology

Global energy demands towards 100 PW necessitated a rethink of approaches to generate the required demand through accelerated use of sustainable resources for both heating and generation of electricity. This is to degrade the global warming potential, lower greenhouses gases, and ultimately ensure against depletion of natural resources which may be required for habituation, agro-use or extraction for construction, catalysis, and fabrication of new materials instead of energy. Of the newer types of sustainable resources, solar energy has drawn considerable interest, due to the ability of the sun (a nuclear fusion reactor) to potentially meet all the demands with regard to heating and electrical generation. Current global production of electricity via solar only top 100 GW (less than 10% of the required load) but show promise. Current solar technologies are dominated by crystal silicon solar cells, although newer approaches using thin-films, CdTe, organic photopolymers, and composite devices have come online to meet the anticipated share for energy and heating, in diverse applications (satellite communication, heating, desalination, pumping of water, and electricity generation). While solar cells directly do not generate carbon dioxide and contribute towards global warming, the manufacturing of these devices does expend considerable energy and generates carbon dioxide, although levelized costs (dollar-per-kilowatt hour) are comparable to a coal-derived generation of energy and the roll-out and market deployment of solar cells is expected to increase. Likewise the environmental and health hazard of disposal of solar components at end-of-life is unknown due to their longevity (25–30 year life cycle), although preliminary studies have shown that semiconductor components such as titania (TiO2) are toxic to human cells, microorganism, and freshwater algae, there is considerable variation in lethality of titania, due to exposure, concertation, and type of titania (anatase or rutile, nano or bulk) and microorganism (Gram-negative or Gram-positive).
Polygenic Risk, Fitness, and Obesity in the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults (CARDIA) Study

Importance Obesity is a major determinant of disease burden worldwide. Polygenic risk scores (PRSs) have been posited as key predictors of obesity. How a PRS can be translated to the clinical encounter (especially in the context of fitness, activity, and parental history of overweight) remains unclear. Objective To quantify the relative importance of a PRS, fitness, activity, parental history of overweight, and body mass index (BMI) (calculated as weight in kilograms divided by height in meters squared) in young adulthood on BMI trends over 25 years. Design, Setting, and Participants This population-based prospective cohort study at 4 US centers included white individuals and black individuals with assessments of polygenic risk of obesity, fitness, activity, and BMI in young adulthood (in their 20s) and up to 25 years of follow-up. Data collected between March 1985 and August 2011 were analyzed from April 25, 2019, to September 29, 2019. Main Outcomes and Measures Body mass index at the initial visit and 25 years later. Results This study evaluated an obesity PRS from a recently reported study of 1608 white individuals (848 women [52.7%]) and 909 black individuals (548 women [60.3%]) across the United States. At baseline (year 0), mean (SD) overall BMI was 24.2 (4.5), which increased to 29.6 (6.9) at year 25. Among white individuals, the PRS (combined with age, sex, self-reported parental history of overweight, and principal components of ancestry) explained 11.9% (at year 0) and 13.6% (at year 25) of variation in BMI. Although the addition of fitness increased the explanatory capability of the model (24.0% variance at baseline and up to 18.1% variance in BMI at year 25), baseline BMI in young adulthood was the strongest factor, explaining 52.3% of BMI in midlife in combination with age, sex, and self-reported parental history of overweight. Accordingly, models that included baseline BMI (especially BMI surveillance over time) were better in predicting BMI at year 25 compared with the PRS. In fully adjusted models, the effect sizes for fitness and the PRS on BMI were comparable in opposing directions. The added explanatory capacity of the PRS among black individuals was lower than among white individuals. Among white individuals, addition of baseline BMI and surveillance of BMI over time was associated with improved precision of predicted BMI at year 25 (mean error in predicted BMI 0 kg/m2[95% CI, −11.4 to 11.4] to 0 kg/m2[95% CI, −8.5 to 8.5] for baseline BMI and mean error 0 kg/m2[95% CI, −5.3 to 5.3] for BMI surveillance). Conclusions and Relevance Cardiorespiratory fitness in young adulthood and a PRS are modestly associated with midlife BMI, although future BMI is associated with BMI in young adulthood. Fitness has a comparable association with future BMI as does the PRS. Caution should be exercised in the widespread use of polygenic risk for obesity prevention in adults, and close clinical surveillance and fitness may have prime roles in limiting the adverse consequences of elevated BMI on health.