cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Universal tumor antigens as targets for immunotherapy

Background Clinically successful Ag-specific cancer immunotherapy depends on the identification of tumor-rejection Ags. Historically, tumor Ags have been identified by analyzing cancer patients’ own T-cell or Ab responses. Methods The unveiling of the human genome and optimized immunological analytical tools, particularly ‘reverse immunology’, have made it possible to screen any given protein for immunogenic epitopes. These advances enable the immunological characterization of universal tumor-associated gene products that mediate critical functions for tumor growth and development. Results Four examples of candidate universal tumor Ags reviewed here include the telomerase reverse transcriptase (hTERT), the inhibitor of apoptosis survivin, the p53-interacting protein MDM2, and the cytochrome P4S0 isoform 1B1 – each at various levels of preclinical and clinical development. Discussion The cardinal feature of universal TAA is that they are expressed in (nearly) all tumors and in no normal tissues. They are directly involved in the malignant phenotype of the tumor. Certain peptides derived from such Ags are expressed on the tumor-cell surface, as evidencedby Ag-specific, MHC-restricted T-cell anti-tumor reactivity in vitro. It is hoped that these features imply a pre-existin g, high-affinity T-cell pool that can be activatedin vivo in patients, without immuno-selection of variant tumor cells no longer expressing the Ag of choice.
Carbon budgeting in plant–soil mesocosms under elevated CO2: locally missing carbon?

Summary Studies have suggested that more carbon is fixed due to a large increase in photosynthesis in plant–soil systems exposed to elevated CO2 than could subsequently be found in plant biomass and soils –- the locally missing carbon phenomenon. To further understand this phenomenon, an experiment was carried out using EcoCELLs which are open-flow, mass-balance systems at the mesocosm scale. Naturally occurring 13C tracers were also used to separately measure plant-derived carbon and soil-derived carbon. The experiment included two EcoCELLs, one under ambient atmospheric CO2 and the other under elevated CO2 (ambient plus 350 μL L− 1). By matching carbon fluxes with carbon pools, the issue of locally missing carbon was investigated. Flux-based net primary production (NPPf) was similar to pool-based primary production (NPPp) under ambient CO2, and the discrepancy between the two carbon budgets (12 g C m− 2, or 4% of NPPf) was less than measurement errors. Therefore, virtually all carbon entering the system under ambient CO2 was accounted for at the end of the experiment. Under elevated CO2, however, the amount of NPPf was much higher than NPPp, resulting in missing carbon of approximately 80 g C m− 2 or 19% of NPPf which was much higher than measurement errors. This was additional to the 96% increase in rhizosphere respiration and the 50% increase in root growth, two important components of locally missing carbon. The mystery of locally missing carbon under elevated CO2 remains to be further investigated. Volatile organic carbon, carbon loss due to root washing, and measurement errors are discussed as some of the potential contributing factors.
Production of Organometallic Polymers by the Interfacial Technique. XXXII. Reaction Variables in the Synthesis of Oligomeric Tin Poly(cobalticinium Esters) and Thermal Properties of the Products

Abstract The synthesis of oligomeric tin poly(cobalticinium esters) is presented as a function of the particular reaction variables stirring rate, pH and amount of added base, mole ratio of reactants, concentration of reactants, and volume of organic phase. Factors which decrease the solubility of the stannane apparently act to increase the yield of polyester. The thermal characterization of I was carried out via DSC and TGA. The products generally exhibit endotherms below 150 to 200[ddot]C which may be related to Tg. Above 200[ddot]C, degradation occurs in air by an oxidative mode.
Inheritance and recombination of strain-specific characters in tobacco streak virus

Abstract The genetics of symptom determinants and serological type of tobacco streak virus (TSV) were investigated by picking single-lesion hybrid clones of virus originating from heterologous combinations of nucleoprotein components of strains with contrasting characters. A dwarfing of chronically diseased Xanthi-nc tobacco leaves required two factors from different components of the HF strain. In hybrid clones between HF and other strains, each factor was usually, but not always, perpetuated in the component that had provided it to the cross, and was masked. Its presence was demonstrated by backcrossing the hybrid to the HF parent or by crossing with other hybrid clones carrying a single dwarfing determinant in the complementary component. Factors conditioning toothed (t) or entire (e) margins on chronically diseased leaves were carried in each of the particle types. These factors were mutually exclusive when both were present in heterologous combinations of particles, the functional type apparently being determined by chance. The presence of two d (dwarfing) determinants masked t or e determinants, but did not prevent their replication. A determinant conditioning failure of Xanthi tobacco to recover from necrotic symptoms was carried only in the top component, and disappeared from functional particles on aging. Determinants for two serological types were also mutually exclusive and were carried by all three particle types. There appeared to be a linkage between the dwarfing determinants and the serological determinants. Recombinations of other characteristics (lesion type on Vigna cylindrica, chronic symptoms on Xanthi tobacco, and serological type) appeared about as often as would be expected on the basis of random assortment. Redundance in genetic information among particle types of TSV is common; recombination greatly increases variation.
Water depths and treatment performance of pilot-scale free water surface constructed wetland treatment systems for simulated fresh oilfield produced water

Abstract Water depth may enhance performance of constructed wetland treatment systems (CWTSs) for renovation of complex mixtures such as fresh oilfield produced waters (FOPWs) that contain constituents such as oil and divalent metals (i.e. Cd, Cu, Ni, and Zn). The purpose of this research was to evaluate the influence of water depth on treatment performance of a free water surface pilot-scale CWTS for renovating simulated FOPW. A CWTS was designed with an oil-water separator and wetland cells with fixed hydraulic retention time (HRT), surface area, volume, water depth, hydraulic loading rate (HLR), and mass loading rate (MLR) as treatment variables. Replicated wetland series were constructed with different water depths and four cells for each series. For wetland series with water depths of 15 and 23 cm, rates of removal of oil marker compounds (0.44–1.17 day −1 ) were greater than rates of removal for wetland series with water depths of 46 and 56 cm (no removal–0.12 day −1 ). As water depth decreased (i.e. from 56 to 15 cm) and sediment redox potential increased (i.e. from −250 to 234 mV) in the wetland series, concentrations of oil marker compounds decreased in outflows of the wetland cells. For wetland series with water depths of 46 and 56 cm, rates of removal for Cd, Cu, Ni, and Zn (0.31–1.11 day −1 ) were greater than rates of removal for wetland series with water depths of 15 and 23 cm (0.003 and 0.23 day −1 ). As water depth increased (i.e. from 15 to 56 cm) and sediment redox potential decreased in the wetland series, Cd, Cu, Ni, and Zn concentrations decreased in outflows of the wetland cells. From these results, water depth either enhanced or decreased treatment performance of a CWTS depending on the targeted constituent (i.e. oil, Cd, Cu, Ni, and Zn) due to changes in the sediment redox potential and dissolved oxygen content in the wetland cells. Data from this study indicated that sequential wetland cells could enhance the treatment of complex mixtures like FOPW by establishing specific conditions in each wetland cell targeting removal of different classes of constituents.
Relationship of germinal centers in lymphoid tissue to immunological memory. I. Evidence for the formation of small lymphocytes upon transfer of primed splenic white pulp to syngeneic mice.

The fate, proliferation, and developmental potentialities of cell suspensions made from white pulp containing large germinal centers have been studied in the mouse by transfer of cells labeled with thymidine-3H to lethally irradiated, syngeneic recipients. Radioautographic analyses were made using both smears and sections of a variety of tissues. Thymidine-3H-labeling patterns of white pulp showed that, initially, labeling occurred in a majority of blast and "intermediate cells" but in very few or no small lymphocytes. After intravenous transfer, most of the labeled cells localized in the lymphoid tissues of spleen, lymph nodes, and Peyer's patches. Few cells migrated to the thymus, lung, liver, and intestinal mucosa. Both after intravenous and after intraperitoneal transfer there was a rapid increase in the incidence of labeled small lymphocytes and a decrease of labeled blasts and intermediate cells. This was accompanied by an increase in the grain count of the small lymphocytes and a progressive decrease in the grain counts of the blast cells. Exposure of nonlabeled donor cells to thymidine-3H at various time intervals after transfer indicated that dividing cells were present early after transfer but that their incidence progressively decreased. Between 24 and 48 hr, very little cell division was detectable.
Population-based analysis of oral and oropharyngeal carcinoma: changing trends of histopathologic differentiation, survival and patient demographics.

Objectives/Hypothesis: To examine demographic, histologic, and survival trends of oral cavity and oropharyngeal (OC/OP) squamous cell carcinoma (SCCA) patients over the past 3 decades. To test the hypothesis that decreased histologic differentiation and increased disease-specific survival is related to a decline in smoking rates and an increased percentage of human papillomavirus (HPV)-related tumors. Study Design: Retrospective cohort analysis was done using the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End-Results (SEER) database of the national cancer institute. Methods: SEER data were used to design seven cohorts: 1975–1979, 1980–1984, 1985–1989, 1990–1994, 1995–1999, 2000–2004, and 2005–2006. Incidence rates, histologic tumor grade. and 5-year survival rates were analyzed over time. Further subgroup analysis was performed according to subsite, age, gender, and stage. Results: In both OC and OP, well-differentiated (grade I) tumors decreased significantly over time, from 33% to 16% between 1975 and 2006 (P < .001). In contrast, poorly differentiated tumors (grade III) significantly increased from 23% to 34% (P < .001). Over time, 5-year survival rates of less differentiated tumors improved 57%, whereas survival of well-differentiated tumors improved only 15.5%. Tonsil, posterior oropharynx and tongue subsites showed the greatest improvement in survival over time. Conclusions: Comprehensive population-based analysis of oral cavity and oropharyngeal carcinoma from 1975 to 2006 demonstrated significant trends toward decreased tumor differentiation and increased survival over time. These findings support the influence of HPV in OC/OP carcinoma and may have implications for treatment, prognosis, and possibly prevention. Laryngoscope, 2010
Understanding and Execution of Discharge Instructions

Discharge from the acute care hospital is increasingly recognized as a time of heightened vulnerability for lapses in safety and quality. The capacity of patients to understand and execute discharge instructions is critical to promote effective self-care. This study explores factors that predict understanding and execution of discharge instructions in a sample of 237 recently discharged older adults. A study nurse conducted a postdischarge home visit to ascertain patient understanding and assess execution of instructions. Health literacy, cognition, and self-efficacy were important predictors of successful understanding and execution of instructions. Neither discharge diagnosis nor complexity of discharge instructions was found to be a significant predictor of these outcomes. Results indicate a need to implement reliable protocols that identify patients at risk for poor understanding and execution of hospital discharge instructions and provide customized approaches to meet them at their respective levels.
Closed-Loop Dynamics of Cooperative Vehicle Formations With Parallel Estimators and Communication

The control of cooperative formations of vehicles can be based on parallel estimation, where each vehicle determines its control action from a locally maintained estimate of the entire observable formation state. Vehicles may communicate with one another allowing the local estimates to incorporate information from other estimators in the formation. This paper studies the dynamics that arise in this situation and provides a complete analysis of the formation stability for this class of decentralized control problems. In the absence of communication, the local estimator-controllers' open-loop dynamics necessarily appear in the closed-loop system dynamics, giving a more stringent closed-loop stability condition than in the single controller case. The estimators achieve consensus if and only if the controllers' open-loop dynamics are stable. Communication amongst the estimators can be used to specify the complete system dynamics and we present a framework for the analysis and design of communicated information links in the formation. We relate the complete closed-loop system poles to the transmitter and receiver gains, and the spectral properties of the Laplacian of the graph describing the communication links within the formation. These results also apply to parallel estimation problems in other applications including power system control and redundant channel control architectures.
A THEORY OF SPATIAL STRUCTURE IN ECOLOGICAL COMMUNITIES AT MULTIPLE SPATIAL SCALES

A theory of spatial structure in ecological communities is presented and tested. At the core of the theory is a simple allocation rule for the assembly of species in space. The theory leads, with no adjustable parameters, to nonrandom statistical predictions for the spatial distribution of species at multiple spatial scales. The distributions are such that the abundance of a species at the largest measured scale uniquely determines the spatial- abundance distribution of the individuals of that species at smaller spatial scales. The shape of the species-area relationship, the endemics-area relationship, a scale-dependent com- munity-level spatial-abundance distribution, the species-abundance distribution at small spatial scales, an index of intraspecific aggregation, the range-area relationship, and the dependence of species turnover on interpatch distance and on patch size are also uniquely predicted as a function solely of the list of abundances of the species at the largest spatial scale. We show that the spatial structure of three spatially explicit vegetation census data sets (i.e., a 64-m 2 serpentine grassland plot, a 50-ha moist tropical forest plot, and a 9.68- ha dry tropical forest plot) are generally consistent with the predictions of the theory, despite the very simple statistical assumption upon which the theory is based, and the absence of adjustable parameters. However, deviations between predicted and observed distributions do arise for the species with the highest abundances; the pattern of those deviations indicates that the theory, which currently contains no explicit description of interaction mechanisms among individuals within species, could be improved with the incorporation of intraspecific density dependence.
High-temperature multi-nuclear NMR investigation of analcime

Two analcimes of hydrothermal and diagenetic origin were investigated by in situ 29 Si, 27 Al, and 23 Na NMR from room temperature to 550 degrees C, and by TGA and DSC. The two samples dehydrate at different temperatures, and the high-temperature NMR behavior is closely related to the dehydration. The diagenetic analcime (CR-6) has higher surface area, and thus its dehydration starts and is completed at lower temperatures than the hydrothermal analcime (Hilaire). The 29 Si chemical shifts and 27 Al peak maxima become first more shielded and then less shielded with increasing temperature and are related to changes in the Si-O-Si and Si-O-Al bond angles caused by thermal expansion, distortion of framework due to H 2 O loss at high temperature, and the decreased bond length caused by rigid unit modes (RUMs). Changes in the 27 Al NMR peak widths are also correlated to H 2 O loss at high temperature and are due to the increased mobilities of H 2 O and Na. Paramagnetic impurities and motion of H 2 O and Na play important roles in the T 1 relaxation of 27 Al. The 23 Na NMR peak maxima become first more negative and then less negative with increasing temperature, with the most negative values occurring near the temperature of maximum H 2 O loss. The 23 Na peak width decreases, increases, and then again decreases with increasing temperature. These results are best interpreted as due to Na undergoing exchange between the 24(c) Na sites and other sites, possibly the 16(b) H 2 O sites, combined with collapse of the cages. The less negative 23 Na peak and increasing and then decreasing 23 Na peak widths at high temperature are due to the effects of motional averaging of the intensity due to the (+ or -1/2, 3/2) satellite transitions.
Evidence from two small randomised controlled trials suggests that probiotics may reduce the duration of persistent diarrhoea in children.

Commentary on: G Bernaola Aponte, CA Bada Mancilla, NY Carreazo Pariasca, et al.. Probiotics for treating persistent diarrhoea in children.Cochrane Database Syst Rev2010;11:CD007401.
The Roman Catholic Church, the Holocaust, and the demonization of the Jews: Response to "Benjamin and us: Christanity, its Jews, and history" by Jeanne Favret-Saada

Following eleven years’ work, in 1998 a high-level Vatican commission instituted by Pope John Paul II offered what has become the official position of the Roman Catholic Church denying any responsibility for fomenting the kind of demonization of the Jews that made the Holocaust possible. In a 2001 book, The popes against the Jews, I demonstrated that in fact the church played a major role in leading Catholics throughout Europe to view Jews as an existential threat. Yet defenders of the church position continue to deny the historical evidence and to launch ferocious ad hominem attacks against scholars who have researched the subject. The anti-Semitism promulgated by the church can be seen as part of the long battle it waged against modernity, with which the Jews were identified.
Mutations altering the cleavage specificity of a homing endonuclease

The homing endonuclease I-CreI recognizes and cleaves a particular 22 bp DNA sequence. The crystal structure of I-CreI bound to homing site DNA has previously been determined, leading to a number of predictions about specific protein–DNA contacts. We test these predictions by analyzing a set of endonuclease mutants and a complementary set of homing site mutants. We find evidence that all structurally predicted I-CreI/DNA contacts contribute to DNA recognition and show that these contacts differ greatly in terms of their relative importance. We also describe the isolation of a collection of altered specificity I-CreI derivatives. The in vitro DNA-binding and cleavage properties of two such endonucleases demonstrate that our genetic approach is effective in identifying homing endonucleases that recognize and cleave novel target sequences.
A theoretical design basis for minimizing CMOS fixed taper buffer area

This paper develops a theoretical basis for the minimization of chip area required for fixed taper buffer design. It modifies the well-known procedure for minimizing delay time in such circuits to derive a minimum number of required stages. Rather than minimize delay time, the procedure realizes a specified buffer delay time using a stage-area scale factor that minimizes the total area of the buffer. Since an integer number of tapered stages must be used while the calculations lead to noninteger results, the effects of roundoff errors are included.
Issues and Management of Joint Hypermobility: A Guide for the Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome Hypermobility Type and the Hypermobility Syndrome

Issues and Management of Joint Hypermobility is a welcome addition to a diminutive set of resources currently available to those who care for children and adults with hypermobility type Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (EDS type III). This 133 page book offers “talking points” for affected adults, parents of children with EDS III, genetic counselors and therapists in their efforts to design and carry out an individualized treatment plan. Within its pages, the author provides a summary of medical research and gives expert opinion, and he reviews symptoms and potential medical problems. The author teaches while he guides the reader through avenues for optimizing good health.
Charge-Transfer State as a Possible Signature of a Zeaxanthin-Chlorophyll Dimer in the Non-photochemical Quenching Process in Green Plants

Quantum chemical calculations of the electronic excited states of a zeaxanthin-chlorophyll dimer show that a zeaxanthin-to-chlorophyll charge-transfer (CT) state lies in the same energy regime as the excited states S 1 of zeaxanthin and Qy of chlorophyll, which are relevant for the nonphotochemical quenching (NPQ) process in green plants. Comparison with an analogous violaxanthin-chlorophyll dimer is made, and possible quenching mechanisms via excitation energy transfer or electron transfer are discussed. It is pointed out that the strongly allowed absorption of the zeaxanthin radical cation present in the CT state can be experimentally used as signature of the zea-chl dimer during the NPQ process.
Invariant imbedding, iterative linearization, and multistage countercurrent processes. V. Temperature as one unknown variable in distillation column calculations

Abstract Quasilinearization is used to solve multicomponent distillation problems with temperature and ( m − 1) concentration variables as the unknowns, where m is the number of components. By including temperature as one unknown, implicit differentiation is no longer necessary, and thus the difficulty encountered in an earlier paper can be avoided. Since all the functions and variables are linearized, the quadratic convergence property of quasilinearization is obtained. A five digit accuracy in concentration is obtained in four iterations with very rough starting values.
Transient electric field at high altitudes due to lightning: Possible role of induction field in the formation of elves

[1] Space and time behaviors of electric field perturbation vector at high altitudes driven by lightning return stroke are examined in terms of its three individual components (i.e., electrostatic, induction, and radiation) with transmission line model, by specifying the current form in a return stroke channel, which is presumed to be vertically oriented. The result shows that at 90 km altitude, the induction E-field dominates in a small region with a radius of ∼11 km (depending on the speed of return stroke) directly above the lightning region, with a magnitude comparable to radiation field and a relatively longer timescale. We conclude that in addition to the radiation field considered in previous theoretical modeling, the induction component in lightning E-field is likely one new energy source for the creation of elves. This might be able to explain the observed pancake shape of some elves with a luminous central part, while the more complete modeling including the formation mechanism of elves is required.
Naturally elevated metal contents of soils in northeastern North Dakota, USA, with a focus on cadmium

Purpose Association of element concentrations for the escarpment soils of northeastern North Dakota formed from different geologic parent materials was determined based on geochemical data. These soils overlie the Cretaceous Pierre Formation, and parent materials consist of shale rich glacial till, residual shale, and colluvial materials. Materials and methods Samples were analyzed for cadmium and other trace elements using nitric acid digestion followed by optical emission spectroscopy. Morphologic and laboratory analysis of soil cores indicate high clay content, indicative of the influence of shale residuum on the parent materials of the escarpment soils. Results and discussion An average, cadmium concentration of 0.24±0.22 mg/kg was determined for 136 samples from eight (approx. 2.4 m deep) cores. The concentration of molybdenum had a range between 0.00 and 7.99 mg/kg. Zinc levels determined in the samples had a wide range between 18.76 and 128.02 mg/kg. Principal component analysis revealed that elevated trace element concentrations for the shale-rich portion of the soils in northeastern North Dakota are linked to a variety of factors including organic matter content, pH, elevation, and electrical conductivity. Conclusions Results of this study suggest that erosion and transport of Cretaceous shales downslope on the escarpment have resulted in enriched trace element concentrations in the soils.
Renal and Anti-Aldosterone Actions of Vasopressin-2 Receptor Antagonism and B-Type Natriuretic Peptide in Experimental Heart Failure

Background— Hemodynamic and neurohumoral function can affect the efficacy of diuretic therapy in congestive heart failure. Arginine vasopressin increases water reabsorption through the V2 receptor in the collecting duct, whereas B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) decreases sodium reabsorption in the collecting duct. We hypothesized that combining BNP to the V2-receptor antagonist tolvaptan (TLV) would enhance renal excretory function by augmenting sodium excretion together with aquaresis without adversely affecting renal hemodynamics in experimental congestive heart failure. Methods and Results— Congestive heart failure was induced in 3 groups (n=6 per group) of dogs by tachypacing. A acute experiment was done after 10 days. After baseline measurements, study groups received a 0.1 mg/kg IV bolus of TLV alone (TLV), TLV in combination with BNP (TLV+BNP; 50 ng/[kg · min]), or BNP alone (BNP). Mean arterial pressure increased with TLV, remained unchanged with TLV+BNP, and decreased with BNP (+5±1mm Hg versus −1±1 mm Hg versus −15±1 mm Hg; P <0.05). Renal blood flow and glomerular filtration rate were preserved with all regimens. Urine flow increased in all 3 groups but significantly more so with TLV+BNP (TLV: +0.4±0.1 mL/min versus TLV+BNP: +2.4±0.5 mL/min versus BNP: +0.8±0.3 mL/min; P <0.05). Only TLV+BNP and BNP were natriuretic ( P <0.05), whereas only TLV and TLV+BNP increased electrolyte-free water excretion ( P <0.05). Compared with TLV alone, TLV+BNP prevented an increase in aldosterone ( P <0.05). Conclusions— Coadministration of TLV and BNP in experimental HF resulted in a beneficial profile of renal, neurohumoral, and hemodynamic actions, specifically potent diuresis with natriuresis, neutral effect on mean arterial pressure, and lack of aldosterone activation.
Bandwidth Exchange for enabling forwarding in wireless access networks

Cooperative forwarding in wireless networks has shown to yield benefits of rate and diversity gains, but it needs to be incentivized due to the energy and delay costs incurred by individual nodes in such cooperation. In this paper we consider an incentive mechanism called Bandwidth Exchange (BE) where the cooperating nodes flexibly exchange the transmission bandwidth (spectrum) as a means of providing incentive for forwarding data. The advent of cognitive radios with the ability to flexibly change their carrier frequency as well as their transmission bandwidth makes this form of incentive particularly attractive compared to other incentive mechanisms that are often based on abstract notions of credit and shared understanding of worth. Specifically, we consider a N-node wireless network and use a Nash Bargaining Solution (NBS) mechanism to study the benefits of BE in terms of rate and coverage gains.
EFFECT OF COLD STORAGE ON THE QUALITY CHARACTERISTICS OF ‘AU‐RUBRUM’ PLUMS

The effect of cold storage (0°C) and maturity on the physical, chemical and sensory characteristics of plums (cv. ‘AU-Rubrum’) was determined. The size, weight, soluble solids and total sugar contents of the more mature fruit were significantly higher (P<0.05) and the “L” and hue angle were significantly lower (P<0.05) than plums in the less mature class. ‘AU-Rubrum’ fruit contained glucose, fructose and sorbitol but had no sucrose. Artificially ripening fruit at 20°C had a significant effect (P<0.01) on all color values for both maturity 1 and 2 fruit. The titratable acidity and sugar contents of the fruit ripened at 20°C were lower for ripened than for unripened fruit. Storage of the plums at 0°C for 5 weeks followed by subsequent ripening at 20°C had no significant effect on physical, chemical or sensory characteristics. Data indicate that ‘A U-Rubrum’ plums which have one-half red ground color (maturity 1) will develop full color and complete the normal ripening process. Data also indicate that the plums can be stored for at least 5 weeks at O°C without loss of quality and that the cultivar has potential for shipping to distant markets.
A system-wide approach to adaptive traffic control

A key problem in traffic engineering is the optimization of the flow of vehicles through a given road network. Improving the timing of the traffic signals at intersections in the network is generally the most powerful and cost-effective means of achieving this goal. Recent efforts have resulted in the development of an approach for optimal centralized signal timing that eliminates the need for an open-loop model. The approach is based on a neural network (NN) serving as the basis for the control law, with the internal NN weight estimation occurring real-time in closed-loop mode via the simultaneous perturbation stochastic approximation algorithm. This paper investigates the application of such a non-network-model-based approach and illustrates the approach through a simulation on a nine-intersection, mid-Manhattan, New York network. The simulated traffic network contains varying short and long-term congestion behavior and short-term stochastic, nonlinear effects. The approach results in a net 10% reduction in vehicle wait time relative to the performance of the existing, in-place strategy.
Turbomachinery Blade Vibration and Dynamic Stress Measurements Utilizing Nonintrusive Techniques

The vibration of large turbomachinery blading is well known to be one of the most important design factors in modern turbomachinery. Typically, blade vibration is dominated by the unsteady flow phenomena and the interaction effects set up by vibration of blades within a high-velocity compressible fluid medium. This paper addresses the feasibility of developing an in-service noninterference measuring/monitoring system for steam turbine and gas turbine jet engine blade vibrations and stresses. The major purpose of such a measurement system is to provide a technically feasible, cost-effective means to isolate potential turbine and fan blade failures before they occur; thus minimizing costly machinery failure and risk of injury. The techniques that are examined include magnetic, inductive, optical, and laser and acoustic Doppler measurement methods. It appears likely that the most feasible and promising approach would include use of a few properly chosen measurement points on the blading in combination with use of advanced finite-element computational techniques and vibration modal methods. The modal analysis, performed experimentally and/or computationally, is especially useful in converting vibration measurements to the desired dynamic stresses.
Methodologies for Earthquake Hazard Assessment: Model Uncertainty and the WGCEP-2002 Forecast

Model uncertainty is prevalent in probabilistic seismic hazard analysis (PSHA) because the underlying statistical signatures for hazard are unknown. Al- though methods for incorporating parameter uncertainty of a particular model in PSHA are well understood, methods for incorporating model uncertainty are more difficult to implement because of the high degree of dependence between different earthquake-recurrence models. We show that the method used by the 2002 Working Group on California Earthquake Probabilities (WGCEP-2002) to combine the prob- ability distributions given by multiple earthquake-recurrence models has several ad- verse effects on their results. In particular, WGCEP-2002 uses a linear combination of the models that ignores model dependence and leads to large uncertainty in the final hazard estimate. Furthermore, model weights were chosen based on data, which has the potential to systematically bias the final probability distribution. The weight- ing scheme used in the Working Group report also produces results that depend on an arbitrary ordering of models. In addition to analyzing current statistical problems, we present alternative methods for rigorously incorporating model uncertainty into PSHA.
Hydrologic Impacts of Mechanical Seeding Treatments on Sagebrush Rangelands

In and around the Great Basin, United States, restoration of shrub steppe vegetation is needed where rangelands are transitioning to annual grasslands. Mechanical seedbed preparation can aid native species recovery by reducing annual grass competition. This study was designed to investigate the nature and persistence of hydrologic and erosion impacts caused by different mechanical rangeland seeding treatments and to identify interactions between such impacts and related soil and vegetation properties. A cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum L.)–dominated site was burned and seeded with native grasses and shrubs in the fall of the year. An Amazon-drill and a disk-chain seeder were used to provide varying levels of surface soil disturbance. An undisturbed broadcast seeding was used as a control. Simulated rainfall was applied to 6 large (32.5-m 2 ) plots per treatment over 3 growing seasons at a rate of 63.5 mm ? h 21 . Rainfall was applied for 60 minutes under dry antecedent moisture conditions and for 30 minutes, 24 hours later under wet antecedent moisture conditions. The disk-chain created the largest reduction in infiltration and increase in sediment yield, which lasted for 3 growing seasons posttreatment. The Amazon-drill had a lesser impact, which was insignificant after the second growing season posttreatment. Surface soil properties showed little correlation with treatment-induced hydrologic and erosion impacts. Hydrologic recovery was strongly correlated with litter dynamics. The seeding treatments were unsuccessful at establishing seeded plant species, and the site once again became dominated by cheatgrass. A continuous upward trend in biomass production and surface litter cover was observed for all treatments between the beginning and end of the study because of cheatgrass invasion. Although the initial goal of using mechanical seeding treatments to enhance recovery of native grass species failed, cheatgrass production provided sufficient biomass to rapidly replenish surface litter cover necessary for rapid hydrologic stability of the site.
The Being of a Thing and Its Meaning in Social Communication

Since the concept of visual art has welcome everyday objects as authentic form and meaning, I have found that Heidegger's Was ist ein ding?/ What is a thing?, 1967, and Habermas's Communication and the Evolution of Society, 1976, can be theoretically used to some extent to support and illustrate the reason of existence and creation by using such objects as genuine constructs of artworks and daily dialogues. I understand Habermas's limits of his theory to verbal language exclusively, but I would like to follow his guidelines only to explore the possibility of semantic or non-verbal representation that links individuals with community, a sort of communication without speech. To strengthen my thesis, I will begin evaluating Heidegger's discussion on the essence of "thing" to deepen human consciousness of living in the world. I will also use visual images to further evaluate communication based on concrete and probable realities.
The Influence of Malloc Placement on TSX Hardware Transactional Memory

In this paper, we demonstrate the impact of the placement policies of memory allocators on the performance of applications that use hardware transactional memory. In particular, commonly used allocators such as the default GNUglib malloc allocator may place objects in such a way that causes hardware transactions to consistently abort, even when running single-threaded. In multithreaded applications, these consistent aborts can force applications to fall back to using locks, significantly limiting the parallelism. We also show that using index-aware allocators can avoid these pathological memory placements. We have observed read-only transactions commit where the ca che footprint exceeds the L2 size, but have never observed tr ansactions commit where the footprint is above the size of th e L3 with TSX-RTM, misses turn into aborts aborts : amplify impac t of misses; wasted cycles; loss of write-set from L1 aborts a lso force slow-path and loss of concurrent execution for TLE Thread-local problem shifts to global impediment Misses be come aborts become serialization
Crowdsourcing Clinical Trials

Pharmaceutical approval today suffers from a serious ethical flaw: newly FDA-approved drugs are de facto "tested" on an unknowing general public in the months and years immediately following drug approval, without either the informed consent of the consuming public or an understanding by the public of the risks that remain. This post-approval human "testing" occurs due to the inherent inability of even the largest clinical trials to detect rare adverse events, as became famously evident following the high profile withdrawal of Vioxx® (rofecoxib) almost a decade ago. Drawing inspiration from successful user-driven rating systems such as those of eBay and Amazon, this Article explores the feasibility of using a consumer-friendly online crowdsourcing platform to allow patients to evaluate the drugs they consume. Using crowdsourcing as a supplement to existing clinical trial practice holds the potential to generate large amounts of data quickly by harnessing the self-interested desire of patients to better understand the risks and benefits of the drugs they are consuming, thereby helping to remove dangerous or useless drugs from the market more quickly. In addition, public participation in drug evaluation will itself serve as an unmistakable signal to patients that drug information remains incomplete despite FDA-approval, helping to address the deficit of informed consent that is at the root of the ethical problem just mentioned. Finally, crowdsourcing has the potential to dramatically reduce costs currently expended for post-approval market surveillance, which currently takes place through cumbersome programs such as Sentinel, MedWatch, and REMS.
Establishing a Value Chain for Human Factors in Nuclear Power Plant Control Room Modernization

Abstract Commercial nuclear power plants in the United States (U.S.) have operated reliably and efficiently for decades. With a second 20-year life extension of operation beyond the plant's original operating licenses now being considered by many utilities, there are opportunities to achieve even greater efficiencies, while maintaining high operational reliabilities, through strategic, risk- and economically-informed, upgrades to plant systems and infrastructure. The U.S. Department of Energy's Light Water Reactor Sustainability (LWRS) program supports the commercial nuclear industry's modernization efforts through research and development (R&D) activities across many areas to help establish the technical and economic bases for modernization activities. The Advanced Instrumentation, Information, and Control Systems Technologies pathway is one R&D focus area for the LWRS program, and has researchers at Idaho National Laboratory working with select utility partners to use human factors and instrumentation and controls R&D to help modernize the plant's main control room. However, some in the nuclear industry have not been as enthusiastic about using human factors R&D to inform life extension decision-making. Part of the reason for this may stem from uncertainty decision-makers have regarding how human factors fits into the value chain for nuclear power plant control room modernization. This paper reviews past work that has attempted to demonstrate the value of human factors, and then describes the value chain concept, how it applies to control room modernization, and then makes a case for how and why human factors is an essential link in the modernization value chain.
Papillary Thyroid Carcinoma: Detection of Copy Gain of Platelet Derived Growth Factor B Using Array Comparative Genomic Hybridization in Combination with Laser Capture Microdissection

Papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC), the most common endocrine malignancy, is thought to be a relatively genome stable neoplasm. In contrast to follicular thyroid carcinoma (FTC), almost all PTCs are diploid (Johannessen et al 1981). PTCs have been shown to be microsatellite stable (Soares et al 1997) and generally show low levels of loss of heterozygosity (Kitamura et al 2000; Gillespie et al 2000). The literature has shown that PTC is associated with several specific molecular genetic events, the best documented of which are ret/PTC rearrangements (REF) and the more recently described BRAF V600E mutation (Puxeddu et al 2004; Kimura et al 2003). Ret/PTC and BRAF mutations appear to largely occur in a mutually exclusive manner (Soares et al 2003). Activating point mutations of the RAS oncogene are also considered to account for the development of a small subset of adult sporadic PTCs (Namba et al 1990).
Inhibition of Streptococcal Hemolysin by Sulfonamide Compounds.

ConclusionsSulfanilamide causes a slight, almost negligible, inhibition of the hemolytic activity of streptococcal and staphylococcal hemotoxin. More marked inhibition of streptococcal hemolysin is produced by prontosil II, normal rabbit serum, rabbit Serum heated to 61°C., eosin, phenol, mercuric chloride, and sodium carbonate. The administration of sulfanilamide in vivo or its addition to serum in vitro does not enhance the inhibitory effect of rabbit serum upon streptococcal hemolysin. Prontosil I was found to have no inhibitory effect upon streptococcal hemolysin.
Experimental and Numerical Investigation of a Valved Multi-Tube PDE

A valved multi-tube PDE system with three tubes arranged in a close-packed configuration has been tested using three different exit nozzle geometries (straight, converging and converging-diverging). The PDE was operated using ethylene-air mixtures with each tube firing at 20 Hz in a sequential pattern. High frequency pressure transducers were installed throughout the flow path to investigate the time-resolved chamber pressure. Numerical simulations were also performed of a single detonation chamber with the same nozzle exit geometries. Analysis of the experimental data revealed that the converging and converging-diverging nozzles had similar behavior and increased the average pressure rise by 40% when compared to the straight nozzle. Although the numerical simulations matched the experimental trends, they over-predicted the static pressure-rise. The numerical results represent an upper bound, in guiding the design of an optimized PDE system.
The effect of artificial light on wildlife use of a passage structure

Abstract Barriers to animal movement can isolate populations, impacting their genetic diversity, susceptibility to disease, and access to resources. Barriers to movement may be caused by artificial light, which is known to disrupt bird, sea turtle, and bat behavior, but few studies have experimentally investigated the effects of artificial light on movement for a suite of terrestrial vertebrates. Therefore, we studied the effect of ecological light pollution on animal usage of a bridge under-road passage structure. On a weekly basis, sections of the structure were subjected to different light treatments including no light added, followed by a Reference period when lights were off in all the structure sections. Sand track data revealed use by 23 mammals, birds, reptiles and amphibians, nine of which had > 30 tracks for species-level analysis. Columbia black-tailed deer (Odocoileus hemionus columbianus) traversed under unlit bridge sections much less when neighboring sections were lit compared to when none were, suggesting avoidance due to any nearby presence of artificial light. Similarly, deer mouse (Peromyscus maniculatus) and opossum (Didelphis virginiana) track paths were less frequent in the lit sections than the ambient. Crossing was correlated with temporal or spatial factors but not light for three of the other species. These findings suggest that artificial light may be reducing habitat connectivity for some species though not providing a strong barrier for others. Such information is needed to inform mitigation of habitat fragmentation in the face of expanding urbanization.
2.13 – Flow Over and Through Biota

This chapter describes the mean and turbulent flow structure near aquatic plants and coral. First, the chapter discusses flow at the scale of individual blades and branches. Second, it discusses the flow at the scale of multiple blades and branches, that is, the canopy scale. Both waves and unidirectional current are described.
Overview of Price and Nonprice Competition

When supply is drastically modified by new technology, it takes on a dimension of shock, resulting in models that contain incomplete information content and more challenging exogenous and endogenous phenomena. We identify new demand parameters for the industry. Consumers can now comparison-shop for bargains and choose between different ways to read books and allocate their time. These options determine their consumption and human capital formation. While technological advances in this industry are now at the General Purpose level, their role still seems unsettled. Advancement in the book industry is of the modern endogenous growth type associated with increasing returns as capital accumulates. The resulting competitive behavior between firms adheres to discriminating pricing in an imperfect market structure within the new global technological environment.
The digital design build studio

The paper will discuss the "Digital Design Build Studio" as a potential model of interdisciplinary research and show how digital design and fabrication methods that become more affordable and available might open up new possibilities to connect academia with practice. The paper will use the AIA pavilion, a Digital Design Build Studio that were taught during the Fall semester of 2010 as case study.