cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
KIFCI, a novel putative prognostic biomarker for ovarian adenocarcinomas: delineating protein interaction networks and signaling circuitries

Background: Amplified centrosomes in cancers are recently garnering a lot of attention as an emerging hub of diagnostic, prognostic and therapeutic targets. Ovarian adenocarcinomas commonly harbor supernumerary centrosomes that drive chromosomal instability. A centrosome clustering molecule, KIFC1, is indispensable for the viability of extra centrosome-bearing cancer cells, and may underlie progression of ovarian cancers. Methods: Centrosome amplification in low- and high- grade serous ovarian adenocarcinomas was quantitated employing confocal imaging. KIFC1 expression was analyzed in ovarian tumors using publically-available databases. Associated grade, stage and clinical information from these databases were plotted for KIFC1 gene expression values. Furthermore, interactions and functional annotation of KIFC1 and its highly correlated genes were studied using DAVID and STRING 9.1. Results: Clinical specimens of ovarian cancers display robust centrosome amplification and deploy centrosome clustering to execute an error-prone mitosis to enable karyotypic heterogeneity that fosters tumor progression and aggressiveness. Our in silico analyses showed KIFC1 overexpression in human ovarian tumors (n = 1090) and its upregulation associated with tumor aggressiveness utilizing publically-available gene expression databases. KIFC1 expression correlated with advanced tumor grade and stage. Dichotomization of KIFC1 levels revealed a significantly lower overall survival time for patients in high KIFC1 group. Intriguingly, in a matched-cohort of primary (n = 7) and metastatic (n = 7) ovarian samples, no significant differences in KIFC1 expression were detectable, suggesting that high KIFC1 expression may serve as a marker of metastases onset. Nonetheless, KIFC1 levels in both primary and matched metastatic sites were significantly higher compared to normal tissue . Ingenuity based network prediction algorithms combined with pre-established protein interaction networks uncovered several novel cell-cycle related partner genes on the basis of interconnectivity, illuminating the centrosome clustering independent agenda of KIFC1 in ovarian tumor progression. Conclusions: Ovarian cancers display amplified centrosomes, a feature of aggressive tumors. To cope up with the abnormal centrosomal load, ovarian cancer cells upregulate genes like KIFC1 that are known to induce centrosome clustering. Our data underscore KIFC1 as a putative biomarker that predicts worse prognosis, poor overall survival and may serve as a potential marker of onset of metastatic dissemination in ovarian cancer patients.
Photo-oxidation of methanol using MoO3TiO2: Catalyst structure and reaction selectivity

Abstract Laser Raman spectra, UV-visible spectra, and photo-catalytic activity measurements are described which show that supported MoO 3 TiO 2 catalysts prepared by impregnation possess a layer of surface molybdate species coordinated to the titania support. The saturation coverage of this surface molybdate monolayer corresponds to a surface density of ca. 4 × 1014 Mo atoms per cm2 of TiO2. The properties of this surface monolayer are markedly different from bulk MoO3, as reflected in different vibrational frequencies for the surface molybdate species and for bulk MoO3, and in the higher photo-catalytic activity of the surface molybdate relative to bulk MoO3. The photo-efficiency of the TiO2 catalyst containing the surface molybdate monolayer is about one-fifth of the photo-efficiency of pure TiO2, but the selectivity for suppressing secondary oxidation reactions is significantly greater. The major photo-assisted oxidation product on TiO2 is methyl formate, independent of methanol conversion. In contrast, the molybdate monolayer catalyst has nearly 100% selectivity for dimethoxymethane (the reversible condensation product of CH2O + 2 CH3OH) at low conversions. For both catalysts the selectivity of the primary oxidation step appears to be insensitive to the mode of excitation (i.e., thermal vs photo-assisted). Photo-induced changes in selectivity at a given conversion are due primarily to differences in adsorbate coverage at the different operating temperatures required to give equal conversion for dark vs light reactions.
FEMINIST SCIENCE: Methodologies that Challenge Inequality

The feminist goal of challenging inequality requires distinctive methods such as combining social action with research and using participatory approaches. These methods strengthen scientific standards of good evidence and open debate, but they conflict with elitism and careerism in academia and hence are rarely used. Nonhierarchical structures must be created.
Scheduling Multiple Partially Overlapped Channels in Wireless Mesh Networks

In this paper, we explore the use of partially overlapped channels in wireless mesh networks that consist of multiple 802.11-based access points. We propose novel channel allocation and link scheduling algorithms in the MAC layer to enhance network performance. Due to different traffic characteristics in multi-hop WMNs compared to those in one-hop 802.11 networks, we perform our optimization based on end-to-end flow requirement, instead of the sum of link capacity. In addition, we discuss other factors affecting the performance of POC, including topology, node density, and distribution.
The Independent Evolution Method Is Not a Viable Phylogenetic Comparative Method

Phylogenetic comparative methods (PCMs) use data on species traits and phylogenetic relationships to shed light on evolutionary questions. Recently, Smaers and Vinicius suggested a new PCM, Independent Evolution (IE), which purportedly employs a novel model of evolution based on Felsenstein’s Adaptive Peak Model. The authors found that IE improves upon previous PCMs by producing more accurate estimates of ancestral states, as well as separate estimates of evolutionary rates for each branch of a phylogenetic tree. Here, we document substantial theoretical and computational issues with IE. When data are simulated under a simple Brownian motion model of evolution, IE produces severely biased estimates of ancestral states and changes along individual branches. We show that these branch-specific changes are essentially ancestor-descendant or “directional” contrasts, and draw parallels between IE and previous PCMs such as “minimum evolution”. Additionally, while comparisons of branch-specific changes between variables have been interpreted as reflecting the relative strength of selection on those traits, we demonstrate through simulations that regressing IE estimated branch-specific changes against one another gives a biased estimate of the scaling relationship between these variables, and provides no advantages or insights beyond established PCMs such as phylogenetically independent contrasts. In light of our findings, we discuss the results of previous papers that employed IE. We conclude that Independent Evolution is not a viable PCM, and should not be used in comparative analyses.
Microbial Electrolytic Carbon Capture for Carbon Negative and Energy Positive Wastewater Treatment

Energy and carbon neutral wastewater management is a major goal for environmental sustainability, but current progress has only reduced emission rather than using wastewater for active CO2 capture and utilization. We present here a new microbial electrolytic carbon capture (MECC) approach to potentially transform wastewater treatment to a carbon negative and energy positive process. Wastewater was used as an electrolyte for microbially assisted electrolytic production of H2 and OH– at the cathode and protons at the anode. The acidity dissolved silicate and liberated metal ions that balanced OH–, producing metal hydroxide, which transformed CO2 in situ into (bi)carbonate. Results using both artificial and industrial wastewater show 80–93% of the CO2 was recovered from both CO2 derived from organic oxidation and additional CO2 injected into the headspace, making the process carbon-negative. High rates and yields of H2 were produced with 91–95% recovery efficiency, resulting in a net energy gain of 57–62 kJ/...
Donor Splice-Site Mutation (210+1G_C) in the ApoB Gene Causes a Very Low Level of ApoB-100 and LDL Cholesterol

To the Editor: Apolipoprotein (apo) B, the main protein in LDL, exists in 2 isoforms in plasma: apoB-100, which is produced in the liver, and apoB-48, which is a naturally occurring truncation of apoB-100 and is secreted in the intestine in response to dietary fat. Heterozygous subjects for hypobetalipoproteinemia (HBLP), an autosomal codominant disorder, have LDL cholesterol (C) levels between 0.52 and 1.29 mmol/L (20 to 50 mg/dL) and are asymptomatic.1 In contrast, homozygous and compound heterozygous subjects have levels of LDL-C that range from undetectable to <0.26 mmol/L (10 mg/dL) and have variable clinical symptoms including retinitis pigmentosa, fat malabsorption, acanthocytosis, ataxia, and debilitating neurological diseases.1 The reasons for the variability in clinical symptoms have been unclear. Welty et al2 previously reported an asymptomatic, 54-year-old subject heterozygous for an apoB-44.4 truncation who had an undetectable plasma level of LDL-C and a very low level of apoB-100, findings suggesting that he was a compound heterozygote with a second apoB gene mutation. To locate this …
Minimizing the effects of data centers on microgrid stability

With the integration of renewable energy sources and large-scale smart buildings, the electricity grid becomes more prone to instabilities due to unexpected fluctuations in energy consumption. Data centers are a type of smart building because of their innate automation and controllable load. Load controlling in data centers has been studied extensively with scheduling/migration, peak power shaving, load shifting, etc. However, previous studies have not considered how changes in data center power consumption may impact the stability of the electric grid. This paper first shows that well-known power management mechanisms in data centers may lead to voltage instability in the grid. We propose a new method that considers both workload performance constraints and minimizes the instability-causing effects on the grid. Our simulation studies show that our policy can preserve the grid stability 97% of the time and reduces the maximum instability observed by 27%, while effectively managing the workload performance.
Impedance Behavior of Controllers for Compliant Positioning of a Pneumatically Actuated System

Pneumatic actuators are frequently selected for use in machines intended for human interaction because of their clean operation and natural compliance. However, the compliance, coupled with friction, can also make motion control difficult, leading to the use of more aggressive controllers, such as high-gain PID or sliding mode control, which result in stiff closed-loop system behavior. Model-based options are needed to obtain behavior that provides a better trade-off of compliance and accurate position control. In particular, Model Predictive Control (MPC) is suggested; through the use of constrained optimal control, it offers a framework for minimizing tracking error while enforcing force constraints that ensure low impedance behavior.This paper assesses the suitability of controllers for pneumatic systems to positioning applications in which human-machine interaction is anticipated. MPC is compared against commonly-used alternatives for such scenarios: sliding mode, PID, and impedance control. Results are shown in simulation, and use spectral analysis of the impedance and closed loop tracking to characterize the balance of compliance and accuracy for each of the controllers.Copyright © 2015 by ASME
Vibration of Support Excited in Coaxial Flow

The dynamic response of slender tubes in coaxial flow with forced motion of the tube support structure is investigated. The steady-state response of fixed-free tubes was studied for various flow velocities of water and levels of base excitation. The data shows: (1) fluid flow acts as an excitation mechanism at low levels of base excitation, (2) for sufficient base excitation, the fluid flow acts as a damping mechanism, and (3) for sufficiently high levels of base excitation, the response is bounded by the case of zero flow velocity. When fluid flow acts as a damping mechanism, it is shown that the peak response can be described as the product of a linear function of base excitation and a nonlinear function of flow velocity. It is found that the Euler-beam equation with viscous damping may be used to describe the response for the first two modes where the damping parameter is a linear function of the flow velocity. (Shaker equipment limited the experimental studies to the first two modes.) The damping due to coaxial flow of water was found to be almost two hundred times that in air for the highest flow velocity used.
Electron transport in acceptor-sensitized polymer-oxide solar cells: the importance of surface dipoles and electron cascade effects.

Fullerene and acenequinone compounds have been examined as electron mediators between a p-type semiconductive polymer and two n-type oxide semiconductors. Composite interlayer materials and photovoltaic test cells were assembled and studied for their fluorescence quenching, current–voltage, and quantum efficiency behavior to characterize the efficacy of the acceptor-sensitizers as electron-selective interlayers. The sensitizers are generally more effective with titanium dioxide than with zinc oxide, due to the difference in magnitude of dipole-induced vacuum level shifts at the respective oxide interfaces. In titanium dioxide-based solar cells, where dipole effects are weak, photovoltage and fill factor increase in a trend that matches the increase in the first reduction potential of the acceptor-sensitizers. Photosensitization of the oxide semiconductor by the acceptor-sensitizers is observed to operate either in parallel with the polymer as an alternate photosensitizer or in series with the polymer in a...
Hemodialysis for near-fatal sodium phosphate toxicity in a child receiving sodium phosphate enemas.

Objective This study aimed to demonstrate the importance of considering hemodialysis as a treatment option in the management of sodium phosphate toxicity. Methods This is a case report of a 4-year-old who presented to the emergency department with shock, decreased mental status, seizures, and tetany due to sodium phosphate toxicity from sodium phosphate enemas. Results Traditional management of hyperphosphatemia with aggressive hydration and diuretics was insufficient to reverse the hemodynamic and neurological abnormalities in this child. This is the first report of the use of hemodialysis in a child without preexisting renal failure for the successful management of near-fatal sodium phosphate toxicity. Conclusions Hemodialysis can safely be used as an adjunctive therapy in sodium phosphate toxicity to rapidly reduce serum phosphate levels and increase serum calcium levels in children not responding to conventional management.
Human factor VIII (antihemophilic factor): activa- tion and inactivation by phospholipases.

Abstract Incubation of a highly purified factor VIII preparation with phospholipase C led to rapid destruction of the factor VIII activity. Phospholipase C acts at the glycerolphosphate bond of phospholipids yielding, e. g., phosphorylcholine and diglyceride. Incubation with phospholipase D, which cleaves only the base moiety and leaves phosphatidic acid, increased factor VIII activity threefold. Specificity of these reactions for phospholipase effect on factor VIII was shown by evidence of absence of proteolysis, demonstration of consistent changes in lipid extracts of enzyme-factor VIII mixtures and in electrophoretic mobility of the substrate, and absence of effects of other lipid extracts and lipoprotein-enzyme mixtures on factor VIII activity. Generation of thrombin in the substrate was not observed. Phospholipids commonly found in lipoproteins were found in the lipid extracts from the factor VIII concentrate. No changes in the lipid extracts of thrombin-factor VIII mixtures were seen. This study shows that factor VIII contains phospholipids which are required for its procoagulant activity.
Mechanism of secretion from the adrenal medulla. 3. Studies of dopamine beta-hydroxylase as a marker for catecholamine storage vesicle membranes in rabbit adrenal glands.

The subcellular distribution of dopamine β-hydroxylase in homogenates of rabbit adrenal glands has been measured to determine the possibility of using the enzyme as a marker to trace the fate of the catecholamine storage vesicle membranes following secretion of adrenaline. Optimal conditions for the assay of the enzyme in each of the subcellular fractions have been determined. These studies show that a large fraction of the total dopamine β-hydroxylase activity of the adrenal glands is present in the 26,000 x g supernatant fraction. Most of the enzyme activity associated with the particulate fraction was retained in the particles when they were washed with sucrose. When the particles were washed with distilled water, however, a large proportion of the enzyme activity was obtained in the supernatant fraction but a significant amount remained in the particulate fraction, indicating that the enzyme was contained within vesicles in both a soluble form and a membranebound form. The distribution of adrenaline and dopamine β-hydroxy1ase in a sucrose density gradient showed a peak of dopamine β-hydroxylase activity near the bottom of the gradient closely associated with the adrenaline storage vesicle fraction, and a second peak near the top of the gradient associated with a less dense particulate fraction.
Seroprevalence of Poliovirus Antibodies in the United States Population, 2009–2010

Polio is eliminated in the United States, with the last indigenous transmission occurring in 1979. However, global eradication of polio has not yet been completed, so importation of poliovirus into the U.S. is still possible. Specimens from the 2009-10 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) were analyzed to evaluate population seroprevalence and assess overall risk from a poliovirus importation. We evaluated prevalence of serum antibodies to all three poliovirus types using the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey during 2009–2010. The overall seroprevalence to poliovirus was 93.9 % for type 1, 97.0 % for type 2, and 83.1 % for type 3. Seroprevalence was higher for type 2 compared to the other types (p < 0.001) and lower for type 3 compared to the other types (p < 0.001). There was a tendency for higher seroprevalence in the younger age groups, but this varied by serotype. Seroprevalence was high (83.1 %–97.0 %) for all three types of poliovirus in the US population during 2009–2010. While there were observed differences by serotype with type 2 having the highest seroprevalence and type 3 having the lowest, consistent with previous observations, no large immunity gaps to poliovirus suggesting an imminent substantial population risk from a poliovirus importation were observed at a population level.
Mechanisms of Hepatic Steatosis

The liver is a highly active metabolic organ that is able to maintain metabolic homeostasis under most circumstances, yet steatosis can develop in response to a wide array of metabolic/toxic/hormonal disruptions. This article will focus on hepatic steatosis that develops in response to high-fat diets and obesity, termed nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), because of its growing prevalence as a public health problem, and alcohol-induced liver injury (ALD), because of the breadth of research on the pathophysiological response to chronic alcohol consumption. While it is likely that the initiating events for hepatic steatosis will be different in ALD and NAFLD, the molecular and biochemical events which contribute to the development and maintenance of fatty liver appear to be similar between these two conditions. Therefore, the focus of this article will be on understanding the critical changes in the metabolic handling of lipids in the liver that contribute to the accumulation of excess lipids. In particular, attention will be paid to understanding the key signal transduction pathways controlling nuclear transcription factors regulating hepatic gene expression that are ultimately responsible for the development of hepatic steatosis. The role of the innate immune response, including the influence of inflammatory cytokines and the complement system, will also be examined. Finally, the growing appreciation for the active role that adipose tissue plays in the development of hepatic steatosis will be discussed.
Differential Expression of Cell-Specific Molecules in Olfactory Receptor Neurons of Humans of Different Ages

Human olfactory receptor neurons (ORNs) express the neuron-specific molecules neuron-specific enolase (NSE; [1]) and protein gene product (PGP) 9.5 [2], as well as the olfactory-specific molecule olfactory marker protein (OMP [3–5]). To determine the relative frequency of expression of these markers throughout the human life span, to investigate the relationship between the expression of these markers and ongoing cell death, and to initiate studies on immune involvement in ORN death, double-staining immunofluorescence techniques with antibodies to NSE or PGP 9.5 and OMP were applied to tissue obtained at autopsy from 16 subjects (10 males, 6 females). Subjects included a 16-week-old fetus, a 24-week-old fetus, a 10-week-old infant, 4 young and middle-aged subjects (24–59 years old; mean, 45 years), 5 old subjects (63–90 years old; mean, 75 years old), and 4 subjects (52–85 years old; mean, 70 years old) in whom the diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) was confirmed by brain histopathology. Post-mortem intervals (range, 2–22 h; median, 8 h) did not differ significantly. The numbers of OMP-immunoreactive and NSE- or PGP 9.5-immunoreactive ORNs in each microscopic field that contained at least one OMP-immunoreactive ORN were counted; the densities of neurons expressing each marker and the ratios of OMP: NSE or PGP 9.5-immunoreactive neurons were calculated. Statistical analyses were performed with Kruskal-Wallis and Dunn’s multiple comparison tests.
Sociobiology or Balanced Biosocial Theory

Increasing numbers of sociologists are showing interest in biosocial theories. We present three central criteria for a balanced biosocial theory, i.e., a theory which provides a balanced integratio...
Hypermanoeuvrability and visual cloaking: new adaptive aerostructures technologies for UAVs

The paper begins with a summary of the performance characteristics of the most important classes of adaptive aerostructures which are relevant for UAVs and the materials which drive them. The paper describes several classes of UAVs that take advantage of the various kinds of adaptive aerostructures technologies. These technologies are shown to be suitable for very small and even hard-launched UAVs, hovering, high speed, low speed and convertible UAVs (i.e. UAVs that can transition between helicopter and aircraft/missile flight modes). The first class of UAVs presented highlights newly invented post-buckled precompressed (PBP) actuators which are particularly well suited to enhancing convertible coleopters or ‘ultra-high performance UAVs.’ These UAVs are capable of hovering for extended periods of time as a helicopter in gusty, windy, dusty, real tactical environments, then popping up, converting and dashing out like a missile at several hundred knots. The paper shows photos (i.e. no computer simulations) of convertible coleopter launches from armoured vehicles, a battle-damage assessment exercise and a live fire sequence with 40mm munitions. The paper concludes with a description of the visual signature suppression (VSS) system which was employed on a 2m UAV. The VSS system was shown to suppress the visual cross section to below 1·8cm 2 which is the threshold for human aircraft observation. Accordingly, VSS equipped aircraft are said to ‘disappear’ in mid flight.
Pomalidomide and Dexamethasone in Relapsed Myeloma: Results of 225 Patients Treated in Five Cohorts Over Three Years,

Abstract 3963 Background: Pomalidomide at doses of 2 or 4 mg/d has demonstrated excellent activity in patients with relapsed multiple myeloma (MM). Between November 2007 and November 2010, we opened 5 sequential phase 2 trials using the pomalidomide at differing doses with weekly dexamethasone (Pom/dex) regimen to study the efficacy of this regimen. Methods: The five cohorts consisted of: Cohort 1 (N=60): relapsed MM with 1–3 prior regimens, 2 mg dose; Cohort 2 (N=34): lenalidomide refractory, 2 mg dose; Cohort 3 (N=35): bortezomib/lenalidomide refractory, 2 mg dose; Cohort 4 (N=35): bortezomib/lenalidomide refractory, 4 mg dose; and Cohort 5 (N=60) lenalidomide refractory, 1–3 prior regimens, 4 mg dose. Pomalidomide was given orally 2 mg daily or 4mg daily on days 1–28 of a 28-day cycle with oral dexamethasone given 40 mg daily on days 1, 8, 15 and 22. Response was assessed by the International Myeloma Working Group Uniform Response criteria. All patients received aspirin 325 mg daily for DVT prophylaxis or full dose anticoagulation. Results: A total of 225 patients were enrolled across all 5 cohorts. One patient was ineligible and excluded from analysis. The median age was 63 years (32.0–88.0). The median time since diagnosis was 53 months. Forty percent had high-risk molecular markers. Eighty-nine percent had received previous IMIDs including thalidomide (53%) and lenalidomide (81%). Sixty-two percent had previous bortezomib and 73% had prior transplant. The median follow-up is 12.6 months, but varies from 9.4 months for the most recent cohort to 30 months for the first cohort. Sixty-nine percent are alive and 30% remain progression free. Toxicities ≥ grade 3 are shown in table 1 and patient outcomes are shown in Table 2. Conclusions: Pom/dex is remarkably active and well tolerated even in heavily pretreated patients. Responses are durable. Response rates and toxicity are similar between the 2 mg and 4 mg doses. Disclosures: Lacy:Celgene: Research Funding. Fonseca:Consulting:Genzyme, Medtronic, BMS, Amgen, Otsuka, Celgene, Intellikine, Lilly Research Support: Cylene, Onyz, Celgene: Consultancy, Research Funding.
An advanced 0.4 mu m BiCMOS technology for high performance ASIC applications

An advanced 0.4 mu m BiCMOS technology has been developed for high-performance ASIC (application-specific integrated circuit) applications. The technology consists of a core 3.3 V CMOS process featuring 0.4 mu m effective channel lengths into which a high-performance n-p-n device module has been integrated. The ECL (emitter coupled logic) circuits are designed to operate with a conventional supply voltage of 5.2 V while the CMOS circuits are powered from an internally regulated 3.3 V supply. The n-p-n device features trench isolation and a self-aligned polysilicon emitter-base structure with a 0.4 mu m final emitter width. A peak Ft of 20 GHz and a minimum ECL delay of 41 ps at Ig=300 mu A have been achieved. This technology features silicided polysilicon local interconnection and up to 4 layers of metallization. A 51 mu m/sup 2/ 6T CMOS SRAM cell is available for applications requiring embedded SRAM. >
Indisciplina e Dispersão na Sala de Aula: Um desafio ao Educador Contemporâneo

Este artigo tem por objetivo analisar e refletir sobre a indisciplina e dispersao na sala aula, principais desafios que aflige a educacao contemporânea. Trata-se de um estudo bibliografico que aborda essa problematica. Assim, para esse momento se recorre aos estudos e pesquisa de diversos autores.Na educacao contemporânea muito se fala em indisciplina e desmotivacao na sala de aula, e isso nos leva a refletir sobre ate que ponto a familia e a escola vem desempenhando o seu papel, ja que o aluno encontra-se cercado de estimulos novos, decorrente das novas tecnologias?
A Review of the Field on Children's Exposure to Environmental Contaminants: A Risk Assessment Approach.

Background: Children must be recognized as a sensitive population based on having biological systems and organs in various stages of development. The processes of absorption, distribution, metabolism and elimination of environmental contaminants within a child’s body are considered less advanced than those of adults, making them more susceptible to disease outcomes following even small doses. Children’s unique activities of crawling and practicing increased hand-to-mouth ingestion also make them vulnerable to greater exposures by certain contaminants within specific environments. Approach: There is a need to review the field of children’s environmental exposures in order to understand trends and identify gaps in research, which may lead to better protection of this vulnerable and sensitive population. Therefore, explored here are previously published contemporary works in the broad area of children’s environmental exposures and potential impact on health from around the world. A discussion of children’s exposure to environmental contaminants is best organized under the last four steps of a risk assessment approach: hazard identification, dose-response assessment, exposure assessment (including children’s activity patterns) and risk characterization. We first consider the many exposure hazards that exist in the indoor and outdoor environments, and emerging contaminants of concern that may help guide the risk assessment process in identifying focus areas for children. A section on special diseases of concern is also included. Conclusions: The field of children’s exposures to environmental contaminants is broad. Although there are some well-studied areas offering much insight into children exposures, research is still needed to further our understanding of exposures to newer compounds, growing disease trends and the role of gene-environment interactions that modify adverse health outcomes. It is clear that behaviors of adults and children play a role in reducing or increasing a child’s exposure, where strategies to better communicate and implement risk modifying behaviors are needed, and can be more effective than implementing changes in the physical environment.
Neuronal Progenitors in the Adult Brain: From Development to Regulation

Publisher Summary Cell proliferation occurs in the adult brain, as does neurogenesis, and cells that give rise to neurons and glia in vivo and in vitro have been identified in the adult central nervous system (CNS). Studies have identified cells with stem cell–like properties in the adult mammalian brain. The bulk of evidence suggests that these cells exhibit characteristics of glial cells, a finding that may elucidate basic mechanisms of neurogenesis and make isolating stem cells a more tractable problem. This chapter reviews the evidence that neural stem cells exist in the adult brain. It also discusses the factors that determine whether these cells divide and, if so, what is the fate of their progeny. The production of new neurons in the adult brain has been shown to be regulated by growth factors, neurotransmitters, and hormones. A more detailed understanding of the potential interactions among these modulators of adult neurogenesis may enable the controlled manipulation of neuron production in the damaged brain. Numerous neurological conditions are associated with the loss of neural cells. The key advantage of transplanting cell lines is that they can be genetically engineered, allowing for customization depending upon the specific disease. As an understanding of the factors that regulate stem cell proliferation and neurogenesis in the adult brain deepens, the development of methods directed at repairing the damaged brain through transplantation of cultured cells, or through induction of endogenous neurogenesis in selected neuronal populations, may lead to novel therapeutic strategies.
How AI-Type Uncertainty Ideas Can Improve Inter-Disciplinary Education and Collaboration: Lessons from a Case Study

In many application areas, there is a need for inter-disciplinary collaboration and education. However, such education and collaboration are not easy. On the example of our participation in a cyberinfrastructure project, we show that many obstacles on the path to successful collaboration and education can be overcome if we take into account that each person’s knowledge of a statement is often a matter of degree – and that we can therefore use appropriate degree-based ideas and techniques.
Disentangling the Meaning of STEM: Implications for Science Education and Science Teacher Education

We have a wide variety of teaching experiences, from formal settings in elementary school (Valarie), high school (Alex, Taukir, and Meize), higher education (Steven), and teacher education (all) to...
The Divergency Model: UX Research for and with Stigmatized and Idiosyncratic Populations

In UX research, people with idiosyncratic or stigmatized conditions may go unrecognized, be dismissed as outliers, or be lumped within the larger normative group. This most directly affects persons with disabilities, medical conditions, or differing lifestyle or belief systems. This tendency may over represent the homogenous group while under representing other idiosyncratic groups based on complex factors such as stigma or perceived risk associated with revealing more accurate aspects of conditions, beliefs or lifestyle. This research bias negatively impacts the outcomes of the UX data and impacts the quality of designed products or services. Therefore, there is a critical need to identify the roles of ethnographic research, cultural programming, and cultural relativism with regard to stigmatized and idiosyncratic populations. The Divergency Model is a UX research and design methodology to identify and measure proximal distances in stigma/conformity and apathy/motivation between individual or target groups.
Vision for the future

Over many years, investigators have more accurately defined MCI and early AD, developed diagnostic approaches and clarified the character and stages of pathology and related the findings to clinical signs. They have greatly enhanced our understanding of the mechanisms underlying the biochemistry of Aβ plaques and tau-related pathology. Following leads from human autopsy studies and from investigations of in vitro and in vivo models, investigators are now on the threshold of implementing novel treatments based on an understanding of the neurobiology, neuropathology, biochemistry, and genetics of this illness. Moreover, a variety of tools, including amyloid imaging and measure of Aβ flux between compartments, are now available to assess efficacy of treatment. It is anticipated that exciting discoveries over the next few years will lead to the design of new mechanism-based therapies that can be tested in models, and that these approaches will be introduced into the clinic for the benefit of patients with this devastating illness.
Ewald's Method Revisited: Rapidly Convergent Series Representations of Certain Green's Functions

We propose a justification of Ewald's method of obtaining rapidly convergent series for the Green's function of the 3-dimensional Helmholtz equation. Our point of view enables us to extend the method to Green's functions for the Helmholtz equation in certain domains of ℝd with quite general boundary conditions.
Burning and Hunting in Australia’s Western Desert

Even though the central role of fire in the terrestrial biodiversity of Australia is widely acknowledged, we have a limited understanding of the factors that determine the decisions that Aborigines make in maintaining landscape burning regimes (see review in Bowman 1998, pp. 389-390). Discussions of Aboriginal firing practices have generally focused on three interrelated aspects: (1) possible changes in burning regimes indicated by paleoecological records coincident with the arrival of humans in Australia, and subsequent changes in vegetation demography and distribution; (2) the relationship between firing, the primary extinction of Pleistocene mega fauna, and historic declines and extinctions of small-medium-sized marsupials; and (3) the role of Aboriginal burning as a general land management strategy for increasing food supplies and maintaining wildlife habitats. Our aim is to address the fire management issue with data on the immediate and long-term benefits accruing to Martu Aborigines in the Western Desert of Australia.
Histomorphology, Geometry, and Mechanical Loading in Past Populations

A common goal of most anthropological research is to gain some understanding of the diversity among human groups, whether it is related to biology, behavior, or beliefs. Physical anthropology is concerned primarily with the first of these three endeavors, though behavior (or environmental conditions in more general terms) is intimately intertwined with the biology. A prime example of this union is the effects of physical activity on skeletal dimensions, proportions, and morphology. There is clear genetic control oskeletal size and shape, but the genetically specified phenotype is modified by local mechanical loads endured by the bones during ontogeny, and less so, during adulthood.
adventures in atmospheric simulation

Laboratory investigations of processes related to atmospheric behavior have long been a resource of fundamental knowledge to workers in meteorology. In fact the history of progress in laboratory si...
Understanding the relative importance of vertical and horizontal flow in ice-wedge polygons

Abstract. Ice-wedge polygons are common Arctic landforms. The future of these landforms in a warming climate depends on the bidirectional feedback between the rate of ice-wedge degradation and changes in hydrological characteristics. This work aims to better understand the relative roles of vertical and horizontal water fluxes in the subsurface of polygonal landscapes, providing new insights and data to test and calibrate hydrological models. Field-scale investigations were conducted at an intensively instrumented location on the Barrow Environmental Observatory (BEO) near Utqiaġvik, AK, USA. Using a conservative tracer, we examined controls of microtopography and the frost table on subsurface flow and transport within a low-centered and a high-centered polygon. Bromide tracer was applied at both polygons in July 2015 and transport was monitored through two thaw seasons. Sampler arrays placed in polygon centers, rims, and troughs were used to monitor tracer concentrations. In both polygons, the tracer first infiltrated vertically until encountering the frost table and was then transported horizontally. Horizontal flow occurred in more locations and at higher velocities in the low-centered polygon than in the high-centered polygon. Preferential flow, influenced by frost table topography, was significant between polygon centers and troughs. Estimates of horizontal hydraulic conductivity were within the range of previous estimates of vertical conductivity, highlighting the importance of horizontal flow in these systems. This work forms a basis for understanding complexity of flow in polygonal landscapes.
An Intelligent, Adaptive, and Flexible Data Compression Framework

The data explosion phenomenon in modern applications causes tremendous stress on storage systems. Developers use data compression, a size-reduction technique, to address this issue. However, each compression library exhibits different strengths and weaknesses when considering the input data type and format. We present Ares, an intelligent, adaptive, and flexible compression framework which can dynamically choose a compression library for a given input data based on the type of the workload and provides an appropriate infrastructure to users to fine-tune the chosen library. Ares is a modular framework which unifies several compression libraries while allowing the addition of more compression libraries by the user. Ares is a unified compression engine that abstracts the complexity of using different compression libraries for each workload. Evaluation results show that under real-world applications, from both scientific and Cloud domains, Ares performed 2-6x faster than competitive solutions with a low cost of additional data analysis (i.e., overheads around 10%) and up to 10x faster against a baseline of no compression at all.
Operative complications and economic outcomes of cholecystectomy for acute cholecystitis.

BACKGROUND Recent management of acute cholecystitis favors same admission (SA) or emergent cholecystectomy based on overall shorter hospital stay and therefore cost savings. We adopted the practice of SA cholecystectomy for the treatment of acute cholecystitis at our tertiary care center and wanted to evaluate the economic benefit of this practice. We hypothesized that the existence of complications, particularly among patients with a higher degree of disease severity, during SA cholecystectomy could negate the cost savings. AIM To compare complication rates and hospital costs between SA vs delayed cholecystectomy among patients admitted emergently for acute cholecystitis. METHODS Under an IRB-approved protocol, complications and charges for were obtained for SA, later after conservative management (Delayed), or elective cholecystectomies over an 8.5-year period. Patients were identified using the acute care surgery registry and billing database. Data was retrieved via EMR, operative logs, and Revenue Cycle Operations. The severity of acute cholecystitis was graded according to the Tokyo Guidelines. TG18 categorizes acute cholecystitis by Grades 1, 2, and 3 representing mild, moderate, and severe, respectively. Comparisons were analyzed with χ2, Fisher's exact test, ANOVA, t-tests, and logistic regression; significance was set at P < 0.05. RESULTS Four hundred eighty-six (87.7%) underwent a SA while 68 patients (12.3%) received Delayed cholecystectomy. Complication rates were increased after SA compared to Delayed cholecystectomy (18.5% vs 4.4%, P = 0.004). The complication rates of patients undergoing delayed cholecystectomy was similar to the rate for elective cholecystectomy (7.4%, P = 0.35). Mortality rates were 0.6% vs 0% for SA vs Delayed. Patients with moderate disease (Tokyo 2) suffered more complications among SA while none who were delayed experienced a complication (16.1% vs 0.0%, P < 0.001). Total hospital charges for SA cholecystectomy were increased compared to a Delayed approach ($44500 ± $59000 vs $35300 ± $16700, P = 0.019). The relative risk of developing a complication was 4.2x [95% confidence interval (CI): 1.4-12.9] in the SA vs Delayed groups. Among eight patients (95%CI: 5.0-12.3) with acute cholecystitis undergoing SA cholecystectomy, one patient will suffer a complication. CONCLUSION Patients with Tokyo Grade 2 acute cholecystitis had more complications and increased hospital charges when undergoing SA cholecystectomy. This data supports a selective approach to SA cholecystectomy for acute cholecystitis.
Collaterals in ischemic stroke

Abstract Collateral flow plays a pivotal role, both in acute and chronic phases of cerebral ischemia. Recruitment of these redundant vascular networks maintains cerebral blood flow to ischemic areas, while primary arterial conduits are obstructed either due to steno-occlusive or acute occlusive lesion. Until recently, a heavy focus had been placed solely on such impaired antegrade flow, while the contribution from primary and secondary collateral pathways has been largely disregarded. Imaging of the brain with focus on delineating the collateral circulation has been critical to interpret the mechanism of vascular remodeling that occurs with ischemic injury. Recent multimodal imaging modalities have encouraged physicians to assess collateral flow and hemodynamics from a temporal perspective, distinguishing individual cases to tailor the treatment. Collateral status varies among individuals, correlating with stroke severity and reperfusion outcomes. While new techniques to enhance collateral flow have been speculative, we provide a comprehensive review on the role of collaterals and its therapeutic applications during cerebral ischemia.
EXCITATION SYSTEM OF ASYNCHRONIZED TURBOGENERATORS

In contrast to conventional synchronous turbogenerators, an asynchronized turbogenerator can operate for a long time with a disabled excitation system and short-circuited longitudinal-lateral rotor windings, which increases substantially the operational reliability. The requirements on the power and information equipment of the excitation system with respect to redundancy are also less strict. Computer simulation of emergency conditions in an asynchronized turbogenerator has made it possible to substantiate the requirements on the speed of response to current reversal in the excitation system and to recommend an algorithm for protection performance upon transition of the turbogenerator to the standby mode.
Boundary-Aware 3D Building Reconstruction From a Single Overhead Image

We propose a boundary-aware multi-task deep-learning-based framework for fast 3D building modeling from a single overhead image. Unlike most existing techniques which rely on multiple images for 3D scene modeling, we seek to model the buildings in the scene from a single overhead image by jointly learning a modified signed distance function (SDF) from the building boundaries, a dense heightmap of the scene, and scene semantics. To jointly train for these tasks, we leverage pixel-wise semantic segmentation and normalized digital surface maps (nDSM) as supervision, in addition to labeled building outlines. At test time, buildings in the scene are automatically modeled in 3D using only an input overhead image. We demonstrate an increase in building modeling performance using a multi-feature network architecture that improves building outline detection by considering network features learned for the other jointly learned tasks. We also introduce a novel mechanism for robustly refining instance-specific building outlines using the learned modified SDF. We verify the effectiveness of our method on multiple large-scale satellite and aerial imagery datasets, where we obtain state-of-the-art performance in the 3D building reconstruction task.