cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Geometric Adaptive Tracking Control of a Quadrotor Unmanned Aerial Vehicle on SE(3) for Agile Maneuvers

This paper presents nonlinear tracking control systems for a quadrotor unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) under the influence of uncertainties. Assuming that there exist unstructured disturbances in the translational dynamics and the attitude dynamics, a geometric nonlinear adaptive controller is developed directly on the special Euclidean group. In particular, a new form of an adaptive control term is proposed to guarantee stability while compensating the effects of uncertainties in quadrotor dynamics. A rigorous mathematical stability proof is given. The desirable features are illustrated by numerical example and experimental results of aggressive maneuvers.
CAMPYLOBACTER JEJUNI: A BACTERIAL PARADOX

Campylobacter jejuni has become recognized worldwide as a leading cause of diarrheal disease and foodborne gastroenteritis. Contaminated water, raw milk, and poultry appear to be the most common vehicles of transmission of C. jejuni in humans. It is estimated that C. jejuni causes between one to seven million cases of enteritis per year in the United States, resulting in 100 to 500 deaths. Although some people believe C. jejuni causes more cases of food poisoning than any other single agent, C. jejuni has been demonstrated to be extremely susceptible to a wide variety of antimicrobial treatments, food processing methods, and environmental stresses, in addition to being difficult to culture and maintain in the laboratory. The focus of this paper is to overview the current status of C. jejuni, its epidemiological aspects, the fundamentals of its virulent capabilities, as well as to address the paradox that presents itself: How can an organism of such limited hardiness and growth capabilities be responsible for an ever-increasing level of human foodborne disease?
Adenoviral virotherapy for malignant brain tumors

Glioblastoma multiforme is the most common form of primary brain cancer. In the past decade, virotherapy of tumors has gained credence, particularly in glioma management, as these tumors are not completely resectable and tend to micro-metastasize. Adenoviral vectors have an advantage over other viral vectors in that they are relatively non-toxic and do not integrate in the genome. However, the lack of coxsackie and adenovirus receptors on surface of gliomas provides for inefficient transduction of wild-type adenoviral vectors in these tumors. By targeting receptors that are overexpressed in gliomas, modified adenoviral constructs have been shown to efficiently infect glioma cells. In addition, by taking advantage of tumor-specific promoter elements, oncolytic adenoviral vectors offer the promise of selective tumor-specific replication. This dual targeting strategy has enabled specificity in both laboratory and pre-clinical settings. This review examines current trends in adenoviral virotherapy of gliomas, with an emphasis on targeting modalities and future clinical applications.
PROCESSING OF SEMANTIC ANOMALY BY RIGHT AND LEFT HEMISPHERES OF COMMISSUROTOMY PATIENTS EVIDENCE FROM EVENT-RELATED BRAIN POTENTIALS

The ability of 5 commissurotomized patients to appreciate semantic anomalies presented to their right and left hemispheres was tested using both electrophysiological and behavioural measures. In all cases, the patients heard sentence fragments that were completed either by semantically congruous or incongruous words briefly flashed to the left visual field, right visual field or to both fields simultaneously. A dissociation between behavioural and event-related brain potential (ERP) measures was observed. All 5 patients were able to indicate by a pointing response with greater than chance accuracy whether the terminal word of a sentence made sense (i.e., appropriate for the context) or was nonsensical. This was true regardless of the hemisphere receiving the terminal word. Likewise, all the patients responded to right visual field anomalies with a cerebral potential (N400) that was typically elicited by such words in control subjects. In contrast, only those 2 patients who developed an overt speech capability under the control of the right hemisphere produced N400 waves in response to left visual field anomalies. These findings were interpreted as suggesting possible relationships within language generation and semantic priming.
Genetics of Affective and Anxiety Disorders

The study of the genetics of complex behaviors has evolved dramatically from the days of the nature versus nurture debates that dominated much of the past century. Here we discuss advances in our understanding of the genetics of affective and anxiety disorders. In particular, we highlight our growing understanding of specific gene-environment interactions that occur during critical periods in development, setting the stage for later behavioral phenotypes. We review the recent literature in the field, focusing on recent advances in our understanding of the role of the serotonin system in establishing normal anxiety levels during development. We emphasize the importance of understanding the effect of genetic variation at the level of functional circuits and provide examples from the literature of how such an approach has been exploited to study novel genetic endpoints, including genetically based variation in response to medication, a potentially valuable phenotype that has not received much attention to date.
Select the Optimized Effective Dose to Reduce Nuclear Radiations in Pediatric Nuclear Medicine

Many techniques and research models on calculating and reducing the nuclear radiation dose on pediatric nuclear medicine procedure have been developed and reported in recent years. However, most those models either utilized simple shapes to present the organs or used more realistic models to estimate the nuclear dose applied on pediatric patients. The former are too simple to provide accurate estimation results, and the latter are too complicated to intensively involve complex calculations. In this study, a simple but practical model is developed to enable physicians to easily and quickly calculate and select the average optimal effective nuclear dose for the given age and body-size of the pediatric patients. This model is built based on one research result reported by Frederic Fahey, et al and it can be easily implemented in most common pediatric nuclear medicine procedures. This is the first research of using fuzzy inference system to calculate the optimal effective dose applied in the nuclear medicine for pediatric patients.
Independent components of magnetoencephalography: Single-trial response onset times

Werecently demonstrated that second-order blind identification (SOBI), an independent component analysis (ICA) method, can separate the mixture of neuronal and noise signals in magnetoencephalographic (MEG) data into neuroanatomically and neurophysiologically meaningful components. When the neuronal signals had relatively higher trial-to-trial variability, SOBI offered a particular advantage in identifying and localizing neuronal source activations with increased source detectability (A. C. Tang et al., 2002, Neural Comput. 14, 1827-1858). Here, we explore the utility of SOBI in the analysis of temporal aspects of neuromagnetic signals from MEG data. From SOBI components, we were able to measure single-trial response onset times of neuronal populations in visual, auditory, and somatosensory modalities during cognitive and sensory activation tasks, with a detection rate as high as 96% under optimal conditions. Comparing the SOBI-aided detection results with those obtained directly from the sensors, we found that with SOBI preprocessing, we were able to measure, among a greater proportion of trials, single-trial response onset times that are above background neuronal activity. We suggest that SOBI ICA can improve our current capability in measuring single-trial responses from human subjects using the noninvasive brain imaging method MEG.
A Safe Approach to Left Ventriculotomy

Left ventriculotomy through an anatomically normal left ventricle is an increasingly frequent clinical necessity. In this regard, it is important to envision the epicardial projection of the papillary muscle in order to avoid injuring it. One should open the ventricle from the base (parallel to the left anterior descending or posterior descending coronary artery) and extend the incision apically while continuously palpating the papillary muscle.
The Quality and Comparability of Survey Data on Charitable Giving

This article examines six major household surveys of charitable giving and attempts to trace differences in estimates to underlying differences in survey methodology. The main result is that surveys that cue respondent recall by directing attention to charities’ outputs and use interviewers experienced in obtaining information about dollar amounts measure larger amounts of giving. Even so, it is very difficult to estimate giving at the top of the distribution without a high-income oversample: Only one of the surveys not containing a high-income oversample produces estimates around the 90th percentile similar to that obtained with a high-income oversample.
Sensitivity of Climate Change Induced by the Weakening of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation to Cloud Feedback

Abstract A variety of observational and modeling studies show that changes in the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC) can induce rapid global-scale climate change. In particular, a substantially weakened AMOC leads to a southward shift of the intertropical convergence zone (ITCZ) in both the Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans. However, the simulated amplitudes of the AMOC-induced tropical climate change differ substantially among different models. In this paper, the sensitivity to cloud feedback of the climate response to a change in the AMOC is studied using a coupled ocean–atmosphere model [the GFDL Coupled Model, version 2.1 (CM2.1)]. Without cloud feedback, the simulated AMOC-induced climate change in this model is weakened substantially. Low-cloud feedback has a strong amplifying impact on the tropical ITCZ shift in this model, whereas the effects of high-cloud feedback are weaker. It is concluded that cloud feedback is an important contributor to the uncertainty in the global response to...
In vitro and in vivo anti-malarial activity of tigecycline, a glycylcycline antibiotic, in combination with chloroquine

Several antibiotics have shown promising anti-malarial effects and have been useful for malarial chemotherapy, particularly in combination with standard anti-malarial drugs. Tigecycline, a semi-synthetic derivative of minocycline with a unique and novel mechanism of action, is the first clinically available drug in a new class of glycylcycline antibiotics. Tigecycline was tested in vitro against chloroquine (CQ)-sensitive (D6) and resistant strains (W2) of Plasmodium falciparum alone and in combination with CQ. Tigecycline was also tested in vivo in combination with CQ in Plasmodium berghei-mouse malaria model for parasitaemia suppression, survival and cure of the malaria infection. Tigecycline was significantly more active against CQ-resistant (W2) than CQ-susceptible (D6) strain of P. falciparum. Tigecycline potentiated the anti-malarial action of CQ against the CQ-resistant strain of P. falciparum by more than seven-fold. Further, treatment of mice infected with P. berghei with tigecycline (ip) produced significant suppression in parasitaemia development and also prolonged the mean survival time. Treatment with as low as 3.7 mg/kg dose of tigecycline, once daily for four days, produced 77-91% suppression in parasitaemia. In vivo treatment with tigecycline in combination with subcurative doses of CQ produced complete cure in P. berghei-infected mice. Results indicate prominent anti-malarial action of tigecycline in vitro and in vivo in combination with CQ and support further evaluation of tigecycline as a potential combination candidate for treatment of drug-resistant cases of malaria.
Efficient Activation of Human T Cells of Both CD4 and CD8 Subsets by Urease-Deficient Recombinant Mycobacterium bovis BCG That Produced a Heat Shock Protein 70-M. tuberculosis-Derived Major Membrane Protein II Fusion Protein

For the purpose of obtaining Mycobacterium bovis bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) capable of activating human naive T cells, urease-deficient BCG expressing a fusion protein composed of Mycobacterium tuberculosis-derived major membrane protein II (MMP-II) and heat shock protein 70 (HSP70) of BCG (BCG-DHTM) was produced. BCG-DHTM secreted the HSP70-MMP-II fusion protein and effectively activated human monocyte-derived dendritic cells (DCs) by inducing phenotypic changes and enhanced cytokine production. BCG-DHTM-infected DCs activated naive T cells of both CD4 and naive CD8 subsets, in an antigen (Ag)-dependent manner. The T cell activation induced by BCG-DHTM was inhibited by the pretreatment of DCs with chloroquine. The naive CD8(+) T cell activation was mediated by the transporter associated with antigen presentation (TAP) and the proteosome-dependent cytosolic cross-priming pathway. Memory CD8(+) T cells and perforin-producing effector CD8(+) T cells were efficiently produced from the naive T cell population by BCG-DHTM stimulation. Single primary infection with BCG-DHTM in C57BL/6 mice efficiently produced T cells responsive to in vitro secondary stimulation with HSP70, MMP-II, and M. tuberculosis-derived cytosolic protein and inhibited the multiplication of subsequently aerosol-challenged M. tuberculosis more efficiently than did vector control BCG. These results indicate that the introduction of MMP-II and HSP70 into urease-deficient BCG may be useful for improving BCG for control of tuberculosis.
Algebraic lattice alignment for K-user interference channels

This paper develops a new achievable region for the K-user symmetric interference channel using algebraic interference alignment. Our scheme uses lattice codebooks to transform the interference channel into an equivalent noiseless discrete-alphabet additive interference channel. Subsequently, algebraic alignment schemes are used to characterize the achievable rates for this channel.
Origin of the dental lamina in the regenerating salamander jaw.

The origin of the dental lamina (DL) in the regenerating lower jaws of seven species of larval and adult urodeles was examined by various transverse amputation procedures. Collectively the results indicate that jaw and DL regeneration following experimental amputation is a widespread phenomenon in urodeles. In 1/4 and 1/2 amputated jaws of larvae (DL present in the stump), the dental epithelium was replaced from both the anterior and posterior ends of the regenerate area, while in adults it was replaced from the posterior stump tissues only. In 1/4 and 1/2 jaw removals (no DL present in the stump), larval forms exhibited a posterior regrowth of the DL, while in adults DL accumulated at the edge of the regenerate area, resulting in 1/4 and 1/2 edentulous jaws. Removal of all DL in both stumps in larval and adult forms resulted in completely edentulous jaws. The DL does not arise de novo during regeneration, nor is it a direct outgrowth of the DL in the stump. Serial sections made in various planes of the area of the regenerating tip of the DL indicated that DL formation in the regenerate is an epithelio-mesenchymal interaction caused by the inductive influence of remnant DL in the stump on the adjacent regenerating oral epithelium, resulting in a chain of proliferating and invading cells developing serially and sequentially through time. The mechanism involved in the inductive event remains undetermined.
Revealing Structure-Activity Relationships in Model Double-Supported WO3/TiO2/SiO2 Solid Acid Catalysts by Atomic Scale Characterization

Supported tungsten oxide catalysts offer a promising alternative for many practical industrial applications involving acidic catalytic reactions. In the past two decades, significant progress has been made in this field and a better understanding of these materials is now developing. However, revealing the structure-activity relationships in supported tungsten oxide catalyst systems is still a great challenge. Previous studies suggest that the catalytic performance is directly related to the charge transfer that occurs during catalytic reaction, including that (i) between the metal oxide active component and the underlying oxide support material, and (ii) between the reactant molecules and the catalytically active tungstate sites.
Assimilation of Nicotinamide Mononucleotide Requires Periplasmic AphA Phosphatase in Salmonella enterica

Salmonella enterica can obtain pyridine from exogenous nicotinamide mononucleotide (NMN) by three routes. In route 1, nicotinamide is removed from NMN in the periplasm and enters the cell as the free base. In route 2, described here, phosphate is removed from NMN in the periplasm by acid phosphatase (AphA), and the produced nicotinamide ribonucleoside (NmR) enters the cell via the PnuC transporter. Internal NmR is then converted back to NMN by the NmR kinase activity of NadR. Route 3 is seen only in pnuC* transporter mutants, which import NMN intact and can therefore grow on lower levels of NMN. Internal NMN produced by either route 2 or route 3 is deamidated to nicotinic acid mononucleotide and converted to NAD by the biosynthetic enzymes NadD and NadE.
Hepatocellular carcinoma: Gardening strategies and bridges to transplantation

Background: Survival after liver transplantation for early hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is worsened by the increasing dropout rate while waiting for a donor. Aims: To assess the cost effectiveness of adjuvant therapy while waiting for liver transplantation in HCC patients. Method: Using a Markov model, a hypothetical cohort of cirrhotic patients with early HCC was considered for: (1) adjuvant treatment-resection was limited to Child-Pugh's A patients with single tumours, and percutaneous treatment was considered for Child-Pugh's A and B patients with single tumours unsuitable for resection or with up to three nodules 10%) and provided gains in life expectancy of 4.8-6.1 months with an acceptable cost ($40,000/ year of life gained) for waiting lists > or = 1 year whereas it was not cost effective ($74,000/life of year gained) for shorter waiting times or high dropout rate scenarios. Percutaneous treatment increased life expectancy by 5.2-6.7 months with a marginal cost of approximately $20,000/year of life gained in all cases, remaining cost effective for all waiting times. Conclusions: Adjuvant therapies for HCC while waiting for liver transplantation provide moderate gains in life expectancy and are cost effective for waiting lists of one year or more. For shorter waiting times, only percutaneous treatment confers a relevant survival advantage. (Gut 2002;50:123-128.)
Accelerated free breathing ECG triggered contrast enhanced pulmonary vein magnetic resonance angiography using compressed sensing.

Background: To investigate the feasibility of accelerated electrocardiogram (ECG)-triggered contrast enhanced pulmonary vein magnetic resonance angiography (CE-PV MRA) with isotropic spatial resolution using compressed sensing (CS). Methods: Nineteen patients (59±13 y, 11 M) referred for MR were scanned using the proposed accelerated free breathing ECG-triggered 3D CE-PV MRA sequence (FOV=340×340×110 mm 3 , spatial resolution= 1.5× 1.5× 1.5 mm 3 , acquisition window=140 ms at mid diastole and CS acceleration factor =5) and a conventional first-pass breath-hold non ECG-triggered 3D CE-PV MRA sequence. CS data were reconstructed offline using low-dimensional-structure self-learning and thresholding reconstruction (LOST) CS reconstruction. Quantitative analysis of PV sharpness and subjective qualitative analysis of overall image quality were performed using a 4-point scale (1: poor; 4: excellent). Results: Quantitative PV sharpness was increased using the proposed approach (0.73±0.09 vs. 0.51±0.07 for the conventional CE-PV MRA protocol, p <0.001). There were no significant differences in the subjective image quality scores between the techniques (3.32±0.94 vs. 3.53± 0.77 using the proposed technique). Conclusions: CS-accelerated free-breathing ECG-triggered CE-PV MRA allows evaluation of PV anatomy with improved sharpness compared to conventional non-ECG gated first-pass CE-PV MRA. This technique may be a valuable alternative for patients in which the first pass CE-PV MRA fails due to inaccurate first pass timing or inability of the patient to perform a 20–25 seconds breath-hold.
Multiscale deformable-layer tomography

Traveltime tomography relies on broad ray-angle coverage to constrain the spatial location of velocity anomalies. When ray-angle coverage is narrow, cell or grid tomography can be plagued by smearing artifacts bearing imprints of the raypaths. Multiscale deformable-layer tomography (DLT), which inverts for the geometry of velocity interfaces instead of velocity, can be more effective than grid-based tomography in mitigating such artifacts, especially when velocity values are known for parts of the model. The DLT model consists of geologically sensible layers represented by triangular prisms. In areas of good ray coverage, DLT can be used to invert simultaneously for layer velocities as well as interface geometry. Tests of synthetic models of crosswell refraction, 2D tomostatics, and 3D vertical seismic profiling (VSP) first-arrival data sets show that DLT can produce solutions superior to those produced by cell- or grid-based tomography.
Studies of waves and swell in the western North Atlantic

Waves and swell have been recorded off western Cape Cod and eastern Bermuda by means of underwater wave meters. The waves and swell recorded off Cape Cod appear to fall into two groups having relatively short and long periods, respectively. The former group (5.5 to 11 sec) is correlated with prevailing southerly winds over east coastal waters. Study of the long-period swell suggests a more distant origin, with indications that ocean swell travels with constant period and group velocity. Some general rules relating to storm positions and observed swell are derived from the wave and weather data associated with two Atlantic storms.
SCRAP TIRE CULVERTS: HYDRAULICS AND DESIGN

Reusing whole scrap tires as a culvert is a cost-effective alternative to draining water from small drainage basins. The complete design of a scrap tire culvert must consider both structural and hydraulic performance. Hydraulic considerations are the focus of this report. The hydraulic capacity of a scrap tire culvert is largely affected by the limited size and the relatively rough barrel formed by scrap tires. In this analysis, the hydraulic capacities of culverts made of truck tires, at various slopes and lengths, were obtained by estimating Manning's roughness coefficient and limiting the maximum flow depth in the culvert to 75 percent of the pipe diameter. The Manning's roughness coefficient of a truck tire culvert was estimated to be 0.05 and 0.075, respectively, with and without sand ballast placed in the bottom of tires. The results show that a truck tire culvert can drain water up to 0.35 m3/s, and its hydraulic efficiency approaches that of conventional pipes of the same diameter when the slope i...
The unexpected benefits of the national piperacillin/tazobactam shortage on antibiotic stewardship

Dear Editor,The current national shortage of antibiotics implies some therapeutic options are limited.[1] At our institution, piperacillin/tazobactam (Zosyn) shortage had unexpectedly positive effe...
Following in the Footsteps of my Parents

In lieu of an abstract, below is the essay's first paragraph. When I was very little, around the age of 4-5, I was baptized at the Cobleskill Methodist Church on Chapel Street. And my family, which consisted of my mom Theresa, my father Kevin, and my twin sister Kate and I, at the time, were quite devoted to our faith. We were Christian and every Sunday my sister and I would attend Sunday school and we would attend Sunday mass as a family. I would say that we were fairly religious in general because we would always attend our church’s functions and we were strict in our faith. This parent and child is available in Verbum: http://fisherpub.sjfc.edu/verbum/vol13/iss1/12
Convexification techniques for linear complementarity constraints

We develop convexification techniques for linear programs with linear complementarity constraints (LPCC). In particular, we generalize the reformulation-linearization technique of [9] to complementarity problems and discuss how it reduces to the standard technique for binary mixed-integer programs. Then, we consider a class of complementarity problems that appear in KKT systems and show that its convex hull is that of a binary mixed-integer program. For this class of problems, we study further the case where a single complementarity constraint is imposed and show that all nontrivial facet-defining inequalities can be obtained through a simple cancel-and-relax procedure. We use this result to identify special cases where McCormick inequalities suffice to describe the convex hull and other cases where these inequalities are not sufficient
Focus Group Study of Chinese International Students’ Knowledge and Beliefs About HPV Vaccination, Before and After Reading an Informational Pamphlet About Gardasil®

An increasing need for Human Papillomavirus (HPV) vaccines in China remains unmet in the mainland and the knowledge and intentions of Chinese youth regarding vaccination is unknown. In the fall of 2013, 44 Chinese international students (CIS) attending a university in the United States Midwest participated in 10 focus group discussions (five female and five male). Result showed that participants have limited awareness and knowledge about HPV infection and vaccination, participants erroneously believed that the causes of cervical cancer are abortion and miscarriage. Participants rely heavily on informal sources such as Chinese-based social media platforms and personal social networks for information on sexually transmitted infections. Sexual cultures and behaviors are perceived differently between CIS born in the 1990s and 1980s. Interestingly, participants' perceived stigma about HPV infection decreased with improving knowledge level during group discussions. In conclusion, HPV vaccine should be further promoted alongside sex education among CIS.
Fear, coping, and information: a pilot study on motivating a healthy response.

The importance of fear and maladaptive health behavior responses within the ordered protection motivation threat persuasion framework is investigated. By observing the initial creation of maladaptive responses, the results indicate that without adaptive coping response information, high threat information and fear cause avoidance and other maladaptive responses. These influences, in turn, reduce intentions to adopt the recommended adaptive protection behavior. When adaptive coping response information is provided after a threatening fear appeal, maladaptive responses' negative effects are reduced, and adaptive protection behavior intentions are increased. The results of this study have important implications for health and social marketing campaigns (e.g., prevention of AIDS, drug abuse), where maladaptive responses may be responsible for a significant number of program failures.
How recent entrants in the semiconductor industry learn from their first employees.

Using patent data and detailed information on the origins of merchant semiconductor producers we analyze how spinoffs and other recent entrants leverage the previous knowledge of the first inventor...
Solution Deposition of Thin Carbon Coatings on LiFePO4

We report the synthesis of ultrathin carbon coatings on polycrystalline LiFePO4 via solution deposition and subsequent annealing. The annealing temperature was systematically investigated with polymer systems on LiFePO4 nanostructures. The crystal structures, sizes, and morphologies were monitored and analyzed by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Micro-Raman and TEM were used to interrogate the carbon coatings after heat-treatments. Electrochemical performance of coated materials was investigated by cyclic voltammograms (CVs) and galvanostatic charge–discharge analysis. The olivine structured LiFePO4 remained stable up to 600 °C but underwent a rapid reduction reaction from LiFePO4 to Fe2P above 700 °C. The good compatibility between polyethylene glycol (PEG) and the surface of LiFePO4 enabled the formation of core–shell structure, which was transformed into a thin carbon coating on LiFePO4 after annealing. Both PEG and sucrose carbon-based sources yielded high-quality carbon...
Germination and growth inhibition of acylnornicotines from section repandae of the genus Nicotiana and synthetic acylnornicotines.

Ten acylnornicotines (mainly N'-(S-hydroxyisotetradecanoy1)nornicotine) and acylanatabine(N'-(3-hydroxyisotetradecanoyl)anatabine) were identified from the surface lipids of Nicotiana species in the section Repandae. Synthetic acylnornicotines (formyl to linolenyl nornicotine, and acylnornicotines containing hydroxylated fatty acids) were tested in a tobacco seed germination assay to study the structure-activity relationships of acylnornicotines. Among acylnornicotines without hydroxy groups, N'-hexanoyl, N'-octanoyl, and N'-decanoylnornicotine had high inhibiting activity. Among hydroxy acyl nornicotines, N'-(4-hydroxyundecanoyl), N'-(4-hydroxydodecanoyl) and N'-(5-hydroxydodecanoyl)nornicotine had high inhibiting activity.
Interoperability: linking design and tolerancing with metrology.

Abstract On October 30, 2014 the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) approved QIF v 2.0 (Quality Information Framework, version 2.0) as an American National Standard. Subsequently in early 2016 QIF version 2.1 was approved. This paper describes how the QIF standard models the information necessary for quality workflow across the full metrology enterprise. After a brief description of the XML ‘language’ used in the standard, the paper reports on how the standard enables information exchange among four major activities in the metrology enterprise (product definition; measurement planning; measurement execution; and the analysis and reporting of the quality data).
Evolution of pre-treatment stenting and local anesthesia for extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy at a single university center.

AbstractEvolution of the extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy technique involves not just second generation technology but operator innovations and experience. Retrospective analysis of the first 512 treatments at a university medical stone unit using the Dornier HM3 lithotriptor was compared to 3 intervals of 100 consecutive treatments during the next 2-year period (1985 to 1987). Patient referral and selection as well as treatment techniques and rates of endourological interventions were analyzed.Patient demographics, stone types and retreatment rates remained constant during 2,500 treatments. However, the use of local anesthesia and internal ureteral stents became increasingly common. Of the 1987 cohort 29% were treated with the patient under local anesthesia, and 23 of the 44 with a stent (52%) received internal ureteral stents. Other treatment trends identified during the study period included increasing number of large (greater than 2cm.) and multiple stones treated; increasing use of internal and ...
More on molecular excitations: Dark matter detection in ice

Abstract In this paper we investigate di-atomic molecules embedded in ice crystals under strain. In this environment coherent vibrations of many OH-bonds may be generated by one WIMP collision. The detection of such multiple-photon signals may provide a signature of a 100 GeV/c 2 WIMP. To do a proper lab test of “WIMP-induced” multi-photon emission is very difficult. We suggest that Ice Cube make a search for multi-photon events, and investigate whether the rate of such events exhibits yearly modulation.
Discovery and analysis of evolving topical social discussions on unstructured microblogs

Social networks have emerged as hubs of user generated content. Online social conversations can be used to retrieve users interests towards given topics and trends. Microblogging platforms like Twitter are primary examples of social networks with significant volumes of topical message exchanges between users. However, unlike traditional online discussion forums, blogs and social networking sites, explicit discussion threads are absent from microblogging networks like Twitter. This inherent absence of any conversation framework makes it challenging to distinguish conversations from mere topical interests. In this work, we explore semantic, social and temporal relationships of topical clusters formed in Twitter to identify conversations. We devise an algorithm comprising of a sequence of steps such as text clustering, topical similarity detection using TF-IDF and Wordnet, and intersecting social, semantic and temporal graphs to discover social conversations around topics. We further qualitatively show the presence of social localization of discussion threads. Our results suggest that discussion threads evolve significantly over social networks on Twitter. Our algorithm to find social discussion threads can be used for settings such as social information spreading applications and information diffusion analyses on microblog networks.
Distinct cortical and striatal actions of a β-arrestin–biased dopamine D2 receptor ligand reveal unique antipsychotic-like properties

The current dopamine (DA) hypothesis of schizophrenia postulates striatal hyperdopaminergia and cortical hypodopaminergia. Although partial agonists at DA D2 receptors (D2Rs), like aripiprazole, were developed to simultaneously target both phenomena, they do not effectively improve cortical dysfunction. In this study, we investigate the potential for newly developed β-arrestin2 (βarr2)-biased D2R partial agonists to simultaneously target hyper- and hypodopaminergia. Using neuron-specific βarr2-KO mice, we show that the antipsychotic-like effects of a βarr2-biased D2R ligand are driven through both striatal antagonism and cortical agonism of D2R-βarr2 signaling. Furthermore, βarr2-biased D2R agonism enhances firing of cortical fast-spiking interneurons. This enhanced cortical agonism of the biased ligand can be attributed to a lack of G-protein signaling and elevated expression of βarr2 and G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) kinase 2 in the cortex versus the striatum. Therefore, we propose that βarr2-biased D2R ligands that exert region-selective actions could provide a path to develop more effective antipsychotic therapies.
Evolutionary Computation for Community Detection in Networks: A Review

In today’s world, the interconnections among objects in many domains are often modeled as networks, with nodes representing the objects and edges the existing relationships among them. A key feature of complex networks is the tendency of entities to group together to form communities. The detection of communities has been receiving a great deal of interest by researchers. In fact, the knowledge of how objects organize allows a better understanding of a network, and gives a deeper insight of interesting characteristics, that could not be caught if considering the network as a whole. In the last decade, evolutionary computation techniques have given a significant contribution in this context. The aim of this paper is to present the approaches based on evolutionary computation to uncover community structure. Especially, the representation schemes with the genetic operators apt for them are described, and the most popular fitness functions employed by the methods are discussed. The survey covers the most recent proposals optimizing either a single objective or multiple objectives for different types of network models, such as signed, dynamic, and multidimensional.
Age-by-Emotion Interactions in Memory Retrieval Processes: An Event-Related Potential Study

Objectives Although research has identified age-by-emotion interactions in memory performance and in neural recruitment during retrieval, it remains unclear which retrieval processes are affected. The temporal resolution of event-related potentials (ERPs) provides a way to examine different component processes that operate during retrieval. Methods In the present study, younger and older adults encoded neutral and emotional images paired with neutral titles. ERPs were assessed during a recognition memory task in which participants viewed neutral titles and indicated whether each had been presented during encoding. Results An age-related posterior-to-anterior shift began in a time window typically associated with recollection-related processes (500-800 ms) while an age-by-emotion interaction occurred only during a later measurement window (800-1,200 ms). Discussion These findings suggest an effect of age on mechanisms supporting retrieval of episodic content, prior to post-retrieval processing. The potential relations to different types of detail retrieval are discussed. Further, the later age-by-emotion interactions suggest that age influences the effect of emotion on post-retrieval processes, specifically.
A 14–31 GHz 1.25 dB NF enhancement mode GaAs pHEMT low noise amplifier

In this paper, we report a wide bandwidth low noise amplifier (LNA) fabricated in a 0.15 μm enhancement mode (Emode) gallium arsenide (GaAs) pseudomorphic high electron mobility transistor (pHEMT) process. The lna employs source degeneration along with a resistive feedback network to achieve low noise figure (NF) over a wide bandwidth. Experimental results show that the LNA exhibits a maximum gain of 30 dB and maintains higher than 25 dB from 14 to 31 GHz. The measured minimum NF is 1.25 dB along with 17.5 dBm output 1-dB compression point (OP1dB) and 28.5 dBm output 3rd order intercept point (OIP3).
Protean Careers at Work: Self-Direction and Values Orientation in Psychological Success

How do self-direction and personal values influence career outcomes? Such questions have been central in research on the protean career—a career process characterized by the exercise of self-direction and an intrinsic values orientation in the pursuit of psychological success. This article provides an integrative review, with a focus on three empirically supported protean processes—identity awareness, adaptability, and agency. In addition, we discuss the role of protean careers in the contemporary work environment, clarify definitional and measurement issues, recommend research directions, and provide practical implications for organizations. Our underlying assumption throughout this discussion is that the elements of a protean career orientation (PCO) are basic elements of human needs for growth and meaning. In addition, we discuss how protean careers can be beneficial for organizations. In particular, we identify the “Protean Paradox” as a phenomenon that merits further investigation. More specifically,...
Dynamic simulation of powder packing structure for powder bed additive manufacturing

Powder packing structure is a critical parameter of powder bed-based additive manufacturing (AM). Experimental characterization of powder is typically limited to measuring bulk properties, whereas many numerical models of AM powder packing are based on geometrical consideration without accounting for particle-to-particle interactions. In the present paper, the powder packing dynamics is simulated using a discrete element method (DEM)-based model that solves the mechanical contact forces and moments between individual particles. As DEM uses explicit time integration, a main challenge in modeling dynamics of metallic powder packing is the need for extremely fine time increment size (e.g., in the order of 1 ns for a 10-μm-diameter particle). The effect of mass scaling, employed for speeding up the calculation, on the simulation results is examined in a test case of powder particles packed inside a box container. The calculated packing density for two different particle size distributions is validated against independent literature data for laser powder bed AM with AISI 316L stainless steel powder. The sensitivity of key input parameters (e.g., friction coefficient) is further evaluated in this test case. The powder packing model is then applied to a practical situation of binder jet AM involving rolling of multiple layers of IN718 powder particles onto a powder bed, for which the calculated packing density is also validated with independent literature data.
A Statewide Program for the Treatment and Education of Autistic and Related Communication Handicapped Children (TEACCH)

This article is a description of the only statewide university-affiliated program for the treatment and education of autistic and communication handicapped children. It includes a summary of program characteristics, priorities, and values. It also provides a comparison of specific treatment techniques currently used for autism with long-term principles and concepts found viable during the program’s 28-year history.
Temperature-sensitive mutants of adenovirus single-stranded DNA-binding protein. Inability to support DNA replication is associated with an altered DNA-binding activity of the protein.

The adenovirus single-stranded DNA-binding protein (DBP) is an essential factor in viral DNA replication. Three temperature-sensitive (ts) adenoviruses (Ad2+ND1ts23, Ad2ts111A, and Ad5ts125) are known to have single amino acid substitutions in their DBPs that result in defective DNA replication at the nonpermissive temperature. To elucidate the mechanism(s) involved in the ts phenotype, we purified the three mutant DBPs and studied their DNA-binding properties and their ability to support DNA replication in an in vitro system. The results confirm that the three ts DBPs were incapable of supporting DNA replication at the nonpermissive temperature (40 degrees C). The defect was found at both the initiation and elongation steps of DNA replication. The 2-fold stimulation of pTP.dCMP formation by the DBP was lost by prior heating of the ts DBPs. The pronounced effect of the DBP on the early elongation process was severely diminished, but not abolished, by prior heating to 40 degrees C. The functional change at 40 degrees C was irreversible, as the ts DBPs preincubated at 40 degrees C were no longer active when assayed at 30 degrees C. Upon heating to 40 degrees C, all three ts DBPs lost their ability to bind to oligonucleotides, although they still retained some binding activity for large single-stranded DNAs such as M13 DNA. Thus, the inability of these three ts DBPs to support DNA replication is attributable to their altered DNA-binding properties.
Requirements for a Long-term Viable, Archive Data Format

Within the vibration technical community, there is a demand for a long-term viable, open definition file format for the archiving of data and results (not to be confused with a database management structure). For many years, the Universal File Format has been the defacto standard in this area. However, as technology has progressed, the aging nature of this FORTRAN card image based format has become problematic. In order to satisfy the increasing legal requirement of long term record keeping, a flexible archive, not dependent upon any particular hardware or operating system environment, is needed. With a discussion of some of the strengths and weaknesses of existing data formats, this paper focuses upon the identified feature set needed for realistic, longterm reliable recovery of information and successful community adoption.
Production of vaccines and vaccine components in corn

Newly emerging infectious agents along with already existing ones, extended life­ span and increased population in the modern age, and the threat of biological warfare increase the demand for high amounts of pharmaceutical/diagnostic recombinant protein production. Plants are safe and cost efficient for production of recombinant pharmaceuticals for humans and livestock. This work investigated potential of corn to serve as a production and delivery vehicle for subunit vaccines and vaccine components. Highly immunogenic antigens LT-B and CT-B from enterotoxigenic strains of Escherichia coli (E. coli) and Vibrio cholera (K cholera) were used in this study as vaccine/component candidates. This study indicated that corn derived LT-B is capable of inducing immune memory formation. Mice were immunized with LT-B corn through feeding when they were young. They showed a rapid immune memory response in the form of elevated levels of LT-B specific IgG and IgA antibodies upon receiving a booster dose 11 months after initial immunization. This work provided evidence that immunization through feeding with antigens produced in palatable parts of plants would be effective as conventional subunit vaccines in terms of immune memory formation. The B subunit of cholera toxin (CT-B) was expressed in transgenic com seeds at high levels. Biochemical and immunological analysis indicated that com derived CT-B, like the bacterial protein, is assembled into pentamers and binds to Gmi gangliosides. Although the bacterial signal peptide of CT-B appears to not cleaved in com seed tissue, unlike its counter part LT-B, it is able to induce murine immune system to produce CT-B specific antibodies. This work also provided evidence that administration of a mixture of com derived CT-B and LT-B together has potential to induce higher levels of specific antibodies than when they
Robust Flutter Margins of the F/A-18 SRA

Robust flutter margins are computed for the F/A-18 Systems Research Aircraft, SRA, which is being flown at NASA Dryden Flight Research Center as Ship 845 [120]. The SRA is a standard two seat F/A-18 with production engines. This aircraft is being used as a testbed for flutter testing, advanced actuator concepts, smart structures, optical sensors and avionics systems [121]. The F/A-18 SRA is shown in flight over the Mojave desert near Edwards, CA in Figure 11.1.
2-Chloro-4-(1H-pyrazol-1-yl)-5-(trifluoro-meth-yl)pyrimidine.

The reaction of 2,4-dichloro-5-(trifluoro­meth­yl)pyrimidine with 1H-pyrazole gave two structural isomers in a 1:1 ratio that were separable by chromatography. The title compound, C8H4ClF3N4, was the first product to elute and was characterized in the present study to confirm that substitution by the pyrazolyl group had occurred at position 4. The mol­ecule (with the exception of the F atoms) is essentially planar, with a mean deviation of 0.034 A from the least-squares plane through all non-H and non-F atoms. The bond angles in the pyrimidine ring show a pronounced alternating pattern with three angles, including those at the two N atoms being narrower, and the remaining three wider than 120°.
Drug Effects on Newborn

This chapter discusses the effects various drugs have on the newborn. It discusses the difference between a preterm and a term infant, and their volume of distribution.
Fluorescence imaging-based methods for single-cell protein analysis

The quantity and activity of proteins in many biological systems exhibit prominent heterogeneities. Single-cell analytical methods can resolve subpopulations and dissect their unique signatures from heterogeneous samples, enabling a clarifying view of the biological process. Over the last 5 years, technologies for single-cell protein analysis have significantly advanced. In this article, we highlight a branch of those technology developments involving fluorescence-based approaches, with a focus on the methods that increase the ability to multiplex and enable dynamic measurements. We also analyze the limitations of these techniques and discuss current challenges in the field, with the hope that more transformative platforms can soon emerge.