cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
A phase I study of tivantinib in combination with temsirolimus in patients with advanced solid tumors.

Background A wide variety of human cancers exhibit dysregulated c-Met activity that has implications in oncogenesis. Phosphorylation of c-Met results in activation of the PI3K/AKT/mTOR pathway. Combined blockade of c-Met and mTOR pathways has shown efficacy in preclinical studies. Tivantinib is a c-Met inhibitor and temsirolimus is a selective mTOR inhibitor. We aimed to determine the maximum tolerated dose (MTD) and the recommended phase II dose (RP2D), dose-limiting toxicities (DLT), adverse events (AEs), clinical activity and pharmacokinetic (PK) parameters of the combination. Methods This open-label phase I study used a 3 + 3 dose escalation design. Patients (pts) were treated with escalating doses of tivantinib (120–360 mg tablets orally twice daily) and temsirolimus (20 mg IV weekly) followed by dose expansion at the MTD. Separate cohorts were planned for extensive (normal) and poor tivantinib metabolizers based on CYP2C19 genotypes. Cycles were 28 days besides cycle 1 that was 35 days to allow for PK analysis. Results Twenty-nine pts. [median age 58 (range 28–77)] were enrolled (21 in dose escalation and 8 in dose expansion). All were extensive CYP2C19 metabolizers. The most common types of cancer were colorectal, ovarian and non-small cell lung. Sixteen out of 21 and 6 out of 8 pts. were evaluable for DLT evaluation per protocol in the dose escalation and dose expansion phases, respectively. Pts remained on study for a median of 71 days (range 18–296). The MTD and RP2D was tivantinib 240 mg twice daily and temsirolimus 20 mg weekly. DLTs included grade (gr) 4 neutropenia (2 pts.; 1 with gr 3 febrile neutropenia), gr 3 abdominal pain (1 pt) and gr 2 mucositis resulting in inadequate drug delivery. The most common treatment related AEs grade ≥ 2 included: anemia (gr 2 in 9 pts., gr 3 in 3 pts), fatigue (gr 2 in 10 pts), anorexia (gr 2 in 9 pts), hypoalbuminemia (gr 2 in 6 pts., gr 3 in 2 pts), hypophosphatemia (gr 2 in 2 pts., gr 3 in 5 pts) and nausea (gr 2 in 6 pts., gr 3 in 1 pt). One pt. with ovarian cancer had a confirmed partial response and remained on study for 10 months, a second patient with ovarian cancer had stable disease and remained on study for 6 months and a third pt. with squamous cell carcinoma of the tongue had stable disease and remained on study for 7 months. Pharmacokinetic analysis showed that there is no interaction in the plasma concentrations between tivantinib and temsirolimus. Conclusions The combination of tivantinib with temsirolimus appears to be well tolerated with evidence of clinical activity.
2.12 – Neural and Hormonal Control of Birdsong

Birdsong is a complex learned behavior performed by the oscine passerine birds. Birds sing in reproductive and aggressive contexts, but there is a great diversity in song behavior across species, seasons, and sexes. Song learning and production are controlled by a specialized neural circuit, the song control system, that is unique to this group of birds. The growth, maturation, and adult function of this circuit depend on hormonal signals, especially the reproductive steroid hormones. This chapter reviews studies examining the neural control of song and functions of endocrine systems that influence the song control system. They reveal how sex steroids can act to build motor and learning pathways and then stimulate plasticity of these circuits to modify song throughout adult life. Much of the observed behavioral diversity can be accounted for by individual differences in the neural distribution of steroid receptors or in age, sex, or seasonal differences in the gonadal secretion of sex steroids. Songbirds may also synthesize steroids in nongonadal sites and use nontraditional steroids or cellular mechanisms to control song. The evolution in songbirds of multiple mechanisms to synthesize and respond to sex steroids contributes to a growing body of work expanding traditional concepts about the relationship between hormones, brain, and behavior.
Ecocritical Urban Education

For those of us with critical worldviews, our attention is consistently called to the gross injustices witnessed across racial, class, and gender divides as well as the poor health of all life on this planet. However, conversations regarding social injustice seem to happen over here and discussions about environmental crises over there, with little connection between the two.
Ensuring the Quality of Point-of-Care Testing in a Large and Decentralized Ambulatory Care Setting.

Objectives In this project, we assessed the breadth, quality, trends, and outcomes of point-of-care (POC) testing and regulatory compliance in 200 University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Health system outpatient clinics. Methods We retrospectively extracted clinic POC test orders, results, and e-prescription data from the UCLA electronic health record over a 1-year period. Results Over 100,000 total tests were performed, encompassing 10 POC tests. Initially, 40% of clinics did not have complete licensure, but after implementation of the POC team, this metric improved to 100% licensure within 6 months. Most clinics used two or fewer POC tests, resulted fewer than 200 tests per year, and performed little to no external quality control measures. Our data analytics approach showed that peak POC testing occurred in January 2015, driven by influenza and urinalysis testing, and that both the testing and resulting clinical decision making do not routinely follow society guidelines. Conclusions This decentralization of laboratory testing presents challenges to ensuring quality POC testing. Optimization and analysis of informatics data allow for the identification of POC test utilization trends, areas of improvement for clinical workflows, and increased education on national guidelines.
Burn patients with infection-related ventilator associated complications have worse outcomes compared to those without ventilator associated events.

Abstract Background The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) replaced its definition for ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) in 2013. The aim of the current study is to compare the outcome of burn patients with ventilator associated events (VAEs). Methods Burn patients with at least two days of ventilator support were identified from the registry between 2013 and 2016. Kruskal-Wallis and Fisher's exact tests were utilized for continuous and categorical variables, respectively. A logistic regression was used for the association between VAE and in-hospital mortality. Results 243 patients were admitted to our burn center, of whom 208 had no VAE, 8 had a VAC, and 27 had an IVAC or PVAP. There was no difference in hospital length of stay, ICU length of stay and ventilator support days between those with no VAE and a VAC. Those with IVAC-plus had significantly worse outcomes compared to patients with no VAEs. Conclusions Burn patients with IVAC-plus had significantly longer hospital and ICU lengths of stay, days on ventilator compared with patients with no VAEs.
Byzantine Studies in an Age of Environmental Crisis

Byzantine Ecocriticism examines the ways in which the current ecological moment, often called the Anthropocene because its defining feature is anthropogenic climate change, shapes contemporary interpretations of texts written in radically different ecological contexts. An ecocritical analysis of the dozen or so vernacular tales of love and adventure written in Greek in the Byzantine Empire between the twelfth and fifteenth centuries can reveal Byzantine environmental ideologies as well as contemporary ones, thus allowing scholarship in medieval and Byzantine studies to speak to contemporary political and environmental activist movements. The introduction concludes that an ecocritical analysis of this corpus can increase our understanding of Byzantine literature and the ways in which medieval environmental ideology continues to shape the contemporary environmental crisis.
Human L- and M-opsins restore M-cone function in a mouse model for human blue cone monochromacy.

Purpose Blue cone monochromacy (BCM) is an X-linked congenital vision disorder characterized by complete loss or severely reduced L- and M-cone function. Patients with BCM display poor visual acuity, severely impaired color discrimination, myopia, nystagmus, and minimally detectable cone-mediated electroretinogram. Recent studies of patients with BCM with adaptive optics scanning laser ophthalmoscopy (AOSLO) showed that they have a disrupted cone mosaic with reduced numbers of cones in the fovea that is normally dominated by L- and M-cones. The remaining cones in the fovea have significantly shortened outer segments but retain sufficient structural integrity to serve as potential gene therapy targets. In this study, we tested whether exogenously expressed human L- and M-opsins can rescue M-cone function in an M-opsin knockout (Opn1mw-/- ) mouse model for BCM. Methods Adeno-associated virus type 5 (AAV5) vectors expressing OPN1LW, OPN1MW, or C-terminal tagged OPN1LW-Myc, or OPN1MW-HA driven by a cone-specific promoter were injected subretinally into one eye of Opn1mw-/- mice, while the contralateral eye served as the uninjected control. Expression of cone pigments was determined with western blotting and their cellular localization identified with immunohistochemistry. M-cone function was analyzed with electroretinogram (ERG). Antibodies against cone phototransduction proteins were used to study cone outer segment (OS) morphology in untreated and treated Opn1mw-/- eyes. Results We showed that cones in the dorsal retina of the Opn1mw-/- mouse do not form outer segments, resembling cones that lack outer segments in the human BCM fovea. We further showed that AAV5-mediated expression of either human M- or L-opsin individually or combined promotes regrowth of cone outer segments and rescues M-cone function in the treated Opn1mw-/- dorsal retina. Conclusions Exogenously expressed human opsins can regenerate cone outer segments and rescue M-cone function in Opn1mw-/- mice, thus providing a proof-of-concept gene therapy in an animal model of BCM.
Urothelial cancer: Optimizing and integrating cisplatin-based chemotherapy across the disease spectrum.

Data suggest that chemotherapy is a sound treatment option for urothelial cancer across the disease spectrum. However, despite a twofold increase in survival in patients receiving chemotherapy, it does not seem to be offered to all patients.
Fusion mediated by the HIV-1 envelope protein.

Retroviruses are a family of enveloped RNA viruses that utilize reverse transcriptase to convert viral RNA into linear double-stranded DNA. All retroviruses contain several key structural elements. These include gag, which encodes the internal structural proteins, pol, which encodes for the reverse transcriptase and integrase, and env which encodes the viral envelope (Env) protein (reviewed in (Trono, 1994; Turner and Summers, 1999). Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), the causative agent of acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS), is a particularly well studied retrovirus and is the subject of this chapter. There are numerous steps involved in the infection process, beginning with receptor binding and membrane fusion. In the case of HIV, the viral Env protein mediates both receptor binding as well as fusion between the viral and cellular membranes. Recent advances in identifying receptors involved in virus entry as well as the elucidation of key structural elements in Env have greatly increased our under-
Neutralization processes of atomic/molecular deuterium ions assisted by ND3 in low density D2-N2 plasmas

The formation mechanisms of ND3+ and ND4+ are investigated in weakly ionized nitrogen-hydrogen plasmas with electron densities ne ∼ 1016 m−3 and electron temperatures Te ∼ 3 eV. The plasmas are created by an inductively coupled RF (13.56 MHz) discharge of 500 W at the total pressure of 10 mTorr in the nitrogen partial pressure ranging from 0.02 to 2.9 mTorr. The ion density fractions are measured by an electrostatic quadrupole plasma analyzer, which is a combination of ion energy analyzer and mass spectrometer, after calibration with neutral gases. A zero-dimensional rate equation model, sometimes called a global model, is used to understand the source and loss processes of each ion and neutral species in the plasma. The ion density fractions calculated by the model show qualitatively good agreement with the experimental results. Model calculations suggest that ND3+ and ND4+ generation is dominated by electron or D+ exchange reactions of deuterium atomic/molecular ions with ND3. These processes are thought to play an important role in the recombination process of D plasma with ammonia formed in the N2 seeded divertor region.The formation mechanisms of ND3+ and ND4+ are investigated in weakly ionized nitrogen-hydrogen plasmas with electron densities ne ∼ 1016 m−3 and electron temperatures Te ∼ 3 eV. The plasmas are created by an inductively coupled RF (13.56 MHz) discharge of 500 W at the total pressure of 10 mTorr in the nitrogen partial pressure ranging from 0.02 to 2.9 mTorr. The ion density fractions are measured by an electrostatic quadrupole plasma analyzer, which is a combination of ion energy analyzer and mass spectrometer, after calibration with neutral gases. A zero-dimensional rate equation model, sometimes called a global model, is used to understand the source and loss processes of each ion and neutral species in the plasma. The ion density fractions calculated by the model show qualitatively good agreement with the experimental results. Model calculations suggest that ND3+ and ND4+ generation is dominated by electron or D+ exchange reactions of deuterium atomic/molecular ions with ND3. These processes are though...
Electric solid propellant ablation in an arc discharge

Electric solid propellants are advanced solid chemical rocket propellants that can be controlled (ignited, throttled, and extinguished) through the application and removal of an electric current. E...
A 4900×m 2 839Mbps Side-Channel Attack Resistant AES-128 in 14nm CMOS with Heterogeneous Sboxes, Linear Masked MixColumns and Dual-Rail Key Addition

A 4900$\mu m^{2}$ side-channel attack (SCA) resistant AES accelerator in 14nm CMOS achieves 1200x higher minimum-time-to-disclosure (MTD) than an unprotected AES. Randomized byte-order shuffling using heterogeneous Sboxes, linear masked MixColumns and dual-rail key addition enable 9. 2x lower correlation between current traces and HD/HW power models. The accelerator achieves 839Mbps throughput with 0.7% performance overhead.
Detecting Frames in News Headlines and Its Application to Analyzing News Framing Trends Surrounding U.S. Gun Violence.

Different news articles about the same topic often offer a variety of perspectives: an article written about gun violence might emphasize gun control, while another might promote 2nd Amendment rights, and yet a third might focus on mental health issues. In communication research, these different perspectives are known as “frames”, which, when used in news media will influence the opinion of their readers in multiple ways. In this paper, we present a method for effectively detecting frames in news headlines. Our training and performance evaluation is based on a new dataset of news headlines related to the issue of gun violence in the United States. This Gun Violence Frame Corpus (GVFC) was curated and annotated by journalism and communication experts. Our proposed approach sets a new state-of-the-art performance for multiclass news frame detection, significantly outperforming a recent baseline by 35.9% absolute difference in accuracy. We apply our frame detection approach in a large scale study of 88k news headlines about the coverage of gun violence in the U.S. between 2016 and 2018.
A Functional Metric Approach to Assess Biosimilarity With Application to Rheumatoid Arthritis Trials

In recent years there has been a lot of interest to test for similarity between biological drug products, commonly known as biologics. Biologics are large and complex molecule drugs that are produc...
Cross-Validation, Risk Estimation, and Model Selection: Comment on a Paper by Rosset and Tibshirani

How best to estimate the accuracy of a predictive rule has been a longstanding question in statistics. Approaches to this task range from simple methods like Mallow’s Cp to algorithmic techniques l...
Report of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute Working Group on Hypertension: Barriers to Translation.

The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute convened a multidisciplinary working group of hypertension researchers on December 6 to 7, 2018, in Bethesda, MD, to share current scientific knowledge...
Interpretation of vulnerability and cumulative disadvantage among unaccompanied adolescent migrants in Greece: A qualitative study.

Background In settings of mass displacement, unaccompanied minors (UAMs) are recognized as a vulnerable group and consequently prioritized by relief efforts. This study examines how the interpretation of vulnerability by the national shelter system for male UAMs in Greece shapes their trajectories into adulthood. Methods and findings Between August 2018 and April 2019, key informant interviews were carried out with child protection staff from Greek non-governmental organizations that refer UAMs to specialized children’s shelters in Athens to understand how child protection workers interpret vulnerability. In-depth interviews and life history calendars were collected from 44 male migrant youths from Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Iran who arrived in Greece as UAMs but had since transitioned into adulthood. Analysis of in-depth interviews and life history calendars examined how cumulative disadvantage and engagement with the shelter system altered youths’ trajectories into adulthood. Younger adolescents were perceived as more vulnerable and prioritized for shelters over those who were “almost 18” years old. However, a subset of youths who requested shelter at the age of 17 years had experienced prolonged journeys where they spent months or years living on their own in socially isolated environments that excluded them from experiences conducive to adolescent development. The shelter system for UAMs in Greece enabled youths to develop new skills and networks that facilitated integration into society, and transferred them into adult housing when they turned 18 years old so that they could continue developing new skills. Those who were not in shelters by age 18 years could not access adult housing and lost this opportunity. Limitations included possible underrepresentation of homeless youth as well as the inability to capture all nationalities of UAMs in Greece, though the 2 most common nationalities, Afghan and Pakistani, were included. Conclusions Due to the way vulnerability was interpreted by the shelter system for UAMs, youths who had the greatest need to learn new skills to facilitate their integration often had the least opportunity to do so. To avoid creating long-lasting disparities between UAMs who are placed in shelters and those who are not, pathways should be developed to allow young adult males to enter accommodation facilities and build skills and networks that facilitate integration. Furthermore, cumulative disadvantages should be taken into account while assessing UAMs’ vulnerability. Following UAMs’ trajectories into early adulthood was critical for capturing this long-term consequence of the shelter system’s interpretation of vulnerability.
Chapter 95 – Vitamin D and Multiple Sclerosis

Publisher Summary Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a genetically and immunologically complex neurodegenerative disease that often strikes in young adulthood and causes significant disability in individuals who are afflicted. Although there is no doubt that genetic risk factors and other environmental factors contribute to MS etiology, the evidence supporting an inverse association between vitamin D3 and MS risk and severity is sufficiently strong and diverse to nearly satisfy the criteria for asserting that a causal relationship exists between insufficient vitamin D3 and MS disease risk and severity. Vitamin D3 and MS hypothesis provides a coherent explanation for several puzzling facts of MS natural history and biology in women. Specifically, this hypothesis provides some explanation as to why the disease course commonly shows a relapsing–remitting pattern that later becomes progressive, why there is a rapidly increasing female sex bias, and why the disease remits during pregnancy. Seasonal fluctuations in UVL and vitamin D supplies in high latitude regions may contribute to the relapsing–remitting pattern. Moreover, the emerging concept of synergy between the vitamin D3 and E2 endocrine systems suggests that increasing prevalence of vitamin D insufficiency may adversely affect women more than men, contributing to the growing female sex bias. The increases in estriol and 1,25(OH)2D3 during pregnancy may reduce MS disease activity, whereas the decreases in E2 production at menopause may undermine the vitamin D3 protective effects and accelerate MS disease. These insights are banked upon to suggest new approaches to alter the MS disease course in women.
Health Communication as a Community Effort.

As many of you know, I’ve been editing Health Communication for a long time. I began accepting submissions in the fall of 1987; the first issue of the journal came out in January of 1989. We origin...
The MVAPICH project: Transforming research into high-performance MPI library for HPC community

Abstract High-Performance Computing (HPC) research, from hardware and software to the end applications, provides remarkable computing power to help scientists solve complex problems in science, engineering, or even daily business. Over the last decades, Message Passing Interface (MPI) libraries have been powering numerous scientific applications, such as weather forecasting, earthquake simulations, physic, and chemical simulations, to conduct ever-large-scale experiments. However, it is always challenging to practice HPC research. In this article, we use the well-established MVAPICH project to discuss how researchers can transform the HPC research into a high-performance MPI library and translate it to the HPC community.
Radiological approach to cavitary lung lesions

Cavitary lesions in the lung are not an uncommon imaging encounter and carry a broad differential diagnosis that includes a wide range of pathological conditions from cancers, infections/inflammatory processes to traumatic and congenital lung abnormalities. In this review article, we describe a comprehensive approach for evaluation of cavitary lung lesions and discuss the differential diagnosis in the light of radiological findings.
Drug delivery via tattooing: Effect of needle and fluid properties

Tattooing is a commonplace practice among the general populace in which ink is deposited within dermal tissue. Typically, an array of needles punctures the skin which facilitates the delivery of a fluid within the dermis. Although, a few studies in the past have investigated the potential of tattooing as an intradermal (ID) drug injection technique, an understanding of the fluid dynamics involved in the delivery of fluid into skin is still lacking. Herein, we sought to provide insight into the process via an in vitro study. We utilize a five needle flat array (5F) with a tattoo machine to inject fluids into gelatin gels. High-speed imaging was used to visualize the injection process and estimate the amount of fluid delive red after each injection upto the 50th injection. We investigate the role of reciprocating frequency (f) of the needle array and the physical properties of the fluids on the volume (Vo) and the percentage delivery ({eta}) after injection. In addition, we illustrate the physical mechanism of fluid infusion during tattooing, which has not been reported. An understanding of the injection process via tattooing can be useful in the development of ID tattoo injectors as drug delivery devices.
On Enhancing Throughput Performance of Wi-Fi Networks: Combining Coordinated AP and mmWave Bands

This paper studies the performance of dense Wi-Fi networks, operating in mmWave (60 GHz) bands, implementing a distributed multi-user MIMO architecture (referred to as D-MIMO hereon) and compares it with state-of-the-art wireless access points (AP) with co-located antennas (referred to as baseline). This technique is also known in the current literature as coordinated AP or multi-AP. Results from extensive network simulations reveal an enhancement of up to 395% in average station (STA) throughput and a reduction of 75% in channel access delay with D-MIMO compared to baseline. The simulations further showcase an interesting behavior wherein a STA achieves very high modulation and coding scheme indices more number of times with baseline compared to D-MIMO, especially when the STA is located close to an AP. This phenomenon can be ascribed to two causes: i) a higher probability of line-of-sight of the short distance AP-STA link (that favors baseline), and ii) a ramification of the use of zero-forcing precoding to cancel inter-STA interference in D-MIMO. This observation motivates the design of future networks as hybrids of baseline and D-MIMO arrangements.
Extracellular matrix protein N-glycosylation mediates immune self-tolerance in Drosophila melanogaster.

In order to respond to infection, hosts must distinguish pathogens from their own tissues. This allows for the precise targeting of immune responses against pathogens and also ensures self-tolerance, the ability of the host to protect self tissues from immune damage. One way to maintain self-tolerance is to evolve a self signal and suppress any immune response directed at tissues that carry this signal. Here, we characterize the Drosophila tuSz1 mutant strain, which mounts an aberrant immune response against its own fat body. We demonstrate that this autoimmunity is the result of two mutations: 1) a mutation in the GCS1 gene that disrupts N-glycosylation of extracellular matrix proteins covering the fat body, and 2) a mutation in the Drosophila Janus Kinase ortholog that causes precocious activation of hemocytes. Our data indicate that N-glycans attached to extracellular matrix proteins serve as a self signal and that activated hemocytes attack tissues lacking this signal. The simplicity of this invertebrate self-recognition system and the ubiquity of its constituent parts suggests it may have functional homologs across animals.
Seizure Forecasting: Patient and Caregiver Perspectives.

Abstract Accurate seizure forecasting is emerging as a near-term possibility due to recent advancements in machine learning and EEG technology improvements. Large-scale data curation and new data element collection through consumer wearables and digital health tools such as longitudinal seizure diary data has uncovered new possibilities for personalized algorithm development that may be used to predict likelihood of future seizures. The Epilepsy Foundation recognized the unmet need for development in seizure forecasting following a 2016 survey where an overwhelming majority of respondents across all seizure types and frequencies reported that unpredictability of seizures had the strongest impact on their life living with or caring for someone living with epilepsy. In early 2021, the Epilepsy Foundation conducted an updated survey among those living with the epilepsies and/or their caregivers to better understand the use-cases that best suit the needs of our community as seizure forecast research advances. These results will provide researchers with insight into user-acceptance of using a forecasting tool and incorporation into their daily life. Ultimately, this input from people living with epilepsy and caregivers will provide timely feedback on what the community needs are and ensure researchers and companies first and foremost consider these needs in seizure forecasting tools/product development.
Response to radiation in renal medullary carcinoma.

Renal Medullary Carcinoma (RMC) is a rare and highly aggressive malignancy arising from the renal medulla and found mostly in patients with sickle cell trait. RMC usually presents with widely metastatic disease. We describe a young man diagnosed with RMC who sustained a complete response to systemic chemotherapy but developed brain metastases with leptomeningeal involvement who had a partial response to brain irradiation. We discuss the use of radiation in RMC and propose upfront craniospinal irradiation as a reasonable addition to chemotherapy in order to give patients with metastatic RMC a chance at cure.
Direct laser writing of 3D gratings and diffraction optics

We fabricate 3D gratings and diffraction optics using direct laser writing. Diffraction patterns of gratings agree with Laue theory. We demonstrate zone plates for visible wavelengths. Direct laser writing is promising for integrated diffraction optics.
Capacity Study of Multilateration (MLAT) based Navigation for Alternative Position Navigation and Timing (APNT) Services for Aviation

United States air traffic is anticipated to increase twofold over the next 15 years. To support those levels, the Federal Aviation Administration is implementing the NextGen. NextGen relies heavily on GPS. However, alternative position navigation and timing (APNT) systems will be necessary to allow users to navigate when GPS is unavailable. One alternative is to use multilateration (MLAT) using automatic dependent surveillance broadcast (ADS-B) signals (currently being implemented for surveillance). The APNT must be capable of supporting the full capacity of future airspace. ADS-B frequencies are shared amongst all aircraft and so MLAT has a finite capacity. Additionally, using MLAT for navigation involves changes from the surveillance MLAT that further stresses capacity. This paper models MLAT capacity for the two ADS-B protocols and uses the model to examine means of improving capacity. Results indicate methods of implementing MLAT that can increase capacity and make it a more viable APNT. Copyright © 2012 Institute of Navigation.
Real World Roles

Abstract The use of the instructional strategy, problem-based learning (PBL), in undergraduate family studies courses is examined. An overview of PBL and a summary of essential features such as problem design guidelines and the faculty facilitator role are examined. A report on a field test of PBL in undergraduate HDFS courses includes detailed descriptions of two family studies PBL learning problems. Analysis of assessment data and student feedback reflects that students had a favorable and engaged experience in PBL courses.
Single‐Molecule Interfacial Electron‐Transfer Dynamics

We apply single-molecule high spatial and temporal resolved techniques to study the complex reaction dynamics associated with electron and energy transfer rate processes. The complexity and inhomogeneity of the interfacial ET dynamics often present a major challenge for a molecular level comprehension of the intrinsically complex systems, which calls for both higher spatial and temporal resolutions at ultimate single-molecule and single-particle sensitivities. Combined single-molecule time resolved spectroscopy, femtosecond ultrafast spectroscopy, and electrochemical atomic force microscopy (E-Chem AFM) approaches are unique for heterogeneous and complex interfacial electron transfer systems because the static and dynamic inhomogeneities can be identified and characterized by studying one molecule at a specific nanoscale surface site at a time. The physical nature of the observed multiexponential or stretched-exponential ET dynamics in the ensemble-averaged experiments, often associated with dynamic and static inhomogeneous ET dynamics, can be identified and analyzed by the single-molecule spectroscopy measurements. Single-molecule spectroscopy reveals statistical distributions correlated with microscopic parameters and their fluctuations, which are often hidden in ensemble-averaged measurements. The interfacial ET activity of individual dye molecules showed fluctuations and intermittency at time scale of milliseconds to seconds. The fluctuation dynamics were found to be inhomogeneous from molecule to molecule and from time to time, showing significant static and dynamic disorders in the dynamics. The inhomogeneous electron transfer rate due to the interaction between a dye molecule and the semiconductor surface depends on the chemical and physical nature of both dye molecule and the semiconductor.
The Role of Ideology and "Habitus" in Educational Media Production.

The notion that embedded meanings exist within media, and are informed by particular ideologies, is far from new. Analyses of curriculum, however, rarely examine empirically the role of these ideologies or the context of production. Instead, the ideologies are attributed to a “producer” representing particular power relationships or societal hegemony. In this case study, data collected as part of a study of an educational media organization are used to examine the role of ideologies in the production of complex multimedia curriculum, and their influences on the decision-making of the production staff and organization. Using activity theory and the concept of habitus in practice, the analysis identifies the complex internal and external role of ideological influences and contradictions that occur during the production of a virtual historical field trip program. The findings provide a nuanced and complicated view of the producer and the role of ideology in the production of educational media. It also provid...
The Rising U.S. Trade Deficit With China And Why It Wont Go Away

During the latter half of 1998, Laura D'Andrea Tyson, former chairwoman of the President's Council of Economic Advisers and economics professor at Berkeley, wrote a highly-publicized commentary that questioned whether China would replace Japan as the antagonist in Americas trade deficit woes. She stated "As the U.S. trade deficit with China continues to increase, concerns mount that China will soon replace Japan as America's major trade headache. Such concerns are fed by an image of China as another Japan - a country pursuing a mercantilist development strategy based on closed markets, an undervalued currency, and a structural trade surplus." Highlighting Japans closed markets, undervalued currency, and perennial trade surplus, Tysons monograph calls into question whether China's trade practices will parallel the manic logic of mercantilism so vehemently practiced by Japan. This paper examines the burgeoning supremacy characteristic of modern Chinas export-oriented trade program and provides useful, suggestive commentary on how U.S. trade policy with China should be handled, drawing conclusively from the Japanese experience. Finally, the causes underpinning the rising U.S. import/export ratio with China will be investigated.
Likelihood of a marine vessel accident from wind energy development in the Atlantic

Offshore wind energy development is planned for areas off the Atlantic coast. Many of the planned wind development areas fall within traditional commercial vessel routes. In order to mitigate possible hazards to ships and to wind turbines, it is important to understand the potential for increased risk to commercial shipping from the presence of wind farms. Risk is identified as the likelihood that an occurrence will happen, and the consequences of that occurrence, should it occur. This paper deals with the likelihood of commercial vessel accidents, because of the development of offshore wind energy along the US Atlantic coast. Using Automatic Identification System (AIS) data, historical shipping routes between ports in the Atlantic were identified, from Maine to the Florida Straits. The AIS data were also used as inputs to a numerical model that can simulate cargo, tanker and tug/towing vessel movement along typical routes. The model was used to recreate present day vessel movement, as well as to simulate future routing that may be required to avoid wind farms. By comparing the present and future routing of vessels, an analysis of potential maritime accidents was used to determine the increased marginal risk of vessel collisions, groundings and allisions with stationary objects, because of the presence of wind farms. The outcome of the analysis showed little increase in vessel collisions or allisions, and a decrease in groundings as more vessels were forced seaward by the wind farms. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Applications of a Fundamental Mathematical Equation to Ocular Refraction and Ophthalmic Lenses

The formula here discussed is the one that shows the change in effect of a lens produced by changing its position with reference to another lens or the eye. This is considered with reference to the distance of a correcting lens in front of the cornea, the amount of H. or M. corrected by a given lens, at a certain distance in front of the eye; and the effect of the thickness of the lens in altering spherical or cylindrical effect, when the lenses of the trial frame are to be replaced by the combination to be worn. The paper is contributed from the Section on Physics of the Mayo Clinic.
Early Childhood Inservice and Preservice Teachers' Perceived Levels of Preparedness to Handle Stress in their Students

This article reports a study that investigated preservice and inservice early childhood teachers’ perceived levels of preparedness to handle stress in early childhood and elementary education students. A survey that included vignettes was used to collect data. Data were analyzed both qualitatively and statistically, using one-way ANOVA, t-test, and descriptive statistics. Results showed that, on average, preservice and inservice teachers perceived themselves as moderately prepared to handle stress in their students. There were no statistically significant differences between preservice and inservice teachers perceived levels of preparedness to handle stress. Preservice and inservice teachers felt most prepared to deal with school-related stress and least prepared to deal with society-related stress in their students (statistical significance at .001 level). Participants had two major recommendations: first, preservice and inservice teacher training should include more material on stressors during the early childhood years, and second, that supervised field experiences should do more to prepare future teachers to deal with stress in young children. The study concludes that teacher preparation programs need to prepare their preservice teachers more thoroughly to deal with stress in their students. Suggestions from participants on how to do this are also included.
Gays in the U.S. Military: Reviewing the Research and Conceptualizing a Way Forward

This article contributes to ongoing discussions related to the challenges and opportunities associated with the participation and inclusion of openly gay service personnel within the U.S. military. The article reviews research related to sexual orientation and military service and outlines a theory of the antecedents and outcomes of open integration of gays in the military environment. We discuss implications of this theory for future research in this area.
Effects of added kaolinite on the strength and porosity of freeze-cast kaolinite-silica nanocomposites

This paper examines the effects of kaolinite on the mechanical strength and porosity of freeze-cast kaolinite–silica composites. Measurement of the equibiaxial flexural strength shows that, after sintering at 1250 °C for 1 h, a ceramic containing 10 vol% kaolinite and 8 vol% silica has a strength that is 52 times greater than a ceramic containing only 18 vol% silica and 2.5 times greater than one containing only 18 vol% kaolinite, yet while also being 69 % porous (i.e., the porosity after sintering). It is proposed that this greater strength arises from three mechanisms. First, the kaolinite and silica particles bond together to form a connected network in which the much larger kaolinite platelets distribute the applied stress over a larger region of the sample (this increased strength is even seen in the freeze-cast green bodies before sintering). Second, X-ray diffraction measurements indicate that upon sintering at 1250 °C, new phases are formed when both silica and kaolinite are present, which we postulate contribute greatly to the strength of the composite. Third, the pore walls in samples containing both kaolinite and silica are much more continuous and unbroken than in samples containing only kaolinite.
Cognitive functions and complaints in HIV-1 individuals treated for depression.

Progressive neuropsychological dysfunction and complaints of cognitive difficulty frequently accompany HIV-1 infection. Providing appropriate treatment to HIV-1 patients requires determination of the extent to which the presentation of cognitive complaints reflects HIV-1-associated neuropsychological abnormalities or represents expression of depressive symptomatology. We prospectively treated 75 HIV-1 patients who were not demented but met criteria for major mood disorder with antidepressants for 12 weeks and compared pretreatment and posttreatment measures of depression, cognitive complaints, and neuropsychological performance. Complaints of difficulty with memory and attention were found to be independent of neuropsychological impairment, whereas memory complaints were highly correlated with severity of depression. Cognitive complaints declined significantly across the course of treatment for those patients who responded to antidepressant treatment. All patients, regardless of antidepressant treatment r...
Reduced Interleukin-2 (IL-2) Production in Common Variable Immunodeficiency Is Due to a Primary Abnormality of CD4+ T Cell Differentiation

Common variable immunodeficiency (CVI) is a condition characterized by hypogammaglobulinemia and impaired antibody responses, resulting in recurrent bacterial infections in untreated patients. In addition, affected individuals exhibit an increased incidence of autoimmunity, malignancy, and certain viral infections, suggesting the presence of an underlying generalized immune dysregulation. We have previously described a subgroup of CVI patients in whom T cells within PBMC populations exhibit a selective defect in lymphokine production. IL-2, IL-4, and IL-5 mRNA production was impaired in these patients, while proliferation, IL-2R expression, and c-myc mRNA production were normal. In the present series of experiments, using highly purified CD4+ T cells prepared by negative selection, we show that this lymphokine production defect is a primary abnormality of CVI CD4+ T cells: whereas CD4+ T cells from CVI patients proliferate normally in response to stimulation by PHA, staphylococcal enterotoxin B (SEB), or anti-CD2 antibodies, these stimuli induce significantly less IL-2 production than observed with CD4+ T cells from normal individuals. Furthermore, we show that this IL-2 production defect is not due to an accessory cell abnormality, since it was seen in the presence of normal (allogeneic) accessory cells, and patient accessory cells supported normal amounts of IL-2 production by PHA-stimulated CD4+ T cells obtained from normal individuals. Of interest, we also found that while IL-2 production by CD4+ T cells from CVI patients induced by stimulation with immobilized anti-CD3 antibody was reduced compared to CD4+ T cells from normal control individuals, this reduction was not statistically significant. Furthermore, stimulation of both CVI patient and normal CD4+ T cells with either ionomycin + phorbol myristate acetate or a combination of immobilized anti-CD3 antibody plus anti-CD28 antibody resulted in a 50-fold increase in IL-2 production compared to stimulation with immobilized anti-CD3 antibody alone, and, under these conditions, CVI and normal CD4+ T cells produced equivalent amounts of IL-2. Finally, minor defects in interferon-γ production by CD4+ T cells from CVI donors were observed, but these were less severe than the IL-2 production defects and were not statistically significant. We conclude that a primary abnormality of lymphokine production exists in the CD4+ T cells of a subset of patients with CVI. The fact that the IL-2 production defect is more severe upon stimulation with superantigen as opposed to anti-CD3 antibody, and could be overcome by stimulation with ionomycin + phorbol myristate acetate or by costimulation with immobilized anti-CD3+ anti-CD28 antibodies, implies that this defect is due to impairment of a specific signaling pathway.
Breast cancer: current state and future promise.

Over the past 50 years, deaths from cardiovascular disease, stroke and pneumonia have plummeted as a result of new therapies and preventive strategies based upon a detailed understanding of the causes and pathogenesis of these diseases. Over this same period, deaths from cancer have changed relatively little. Consequently, we have now reached a tipping point in history at which deaths from cancer will soon surpass those from cardiovascular disease. In this regard, breast cancer holds the dubious honor of having become the leading cause of cancer mortality among women worldwide.
Utility of N-peracetylation of proteins for their structure determination by mass spectrometry

Acetylation of the animo groups (N-terminus and lysine) of proteins before enzymatic or chemical cleavage was explored as an approach to provide additional information in the course of the determination of amino acid sequences. The major advantage is the ability to differentiate glutamine from lysine, because only the latter is acetylated and thus increases in mass by 42 Da. Horse heart cytochrome c could be fully N-actetylated and even on prolonged digestion with chymotrypsin underwent very little tryptic cleavage, in contrast to the native protein where this side reaction is extensive. Sperm whale myoglobin is more difficult to acetylate, but even at 40%–50% average acetylation, all 19 lysines could be identified unambiguously. A proteolytic digest of acetylated protein is thus a useful component of strategies for the determination of the primary structure of proteins by tandem mass spectrometry.
A fast numerical method for computing doubly-periodic regularized Stokes flow in 3D

A new numerical method for computing three-dimensional Stokes flow driven by a doubly-periodic array of regularized forces is presented. The method is based on deriving an analytical representation of a regularized [email protected]?s function in Fourier space. Then only an inverse fast Fourier transform (inverse FFT) has to be computed to determine the fluid velocity on a grid in the physical domain. The velocity at other points can be interpolated from this grid. Accuracy is verified by comparing numerical results to a solution that is independent of the method. Although the regularized forces lead to a smooth velocity field, the [email protected]?s function may contain rapid transitions that are not captured properly on a coarse grid. In that case, an Ewald splitting technique is used to compute the grid-resolved part of the flow using an inverse FFT and a sum in physical space for the localized part of the velocity. The splitting parameter can be chosen as small as a few grid cells, which makes the sum in physical space converge extremely fast. We present numerical examples that demonstrate that fact. In some cases, when the grid size is sufficiently small compared to the regularization parameter, the Ewald splitting is not needed.