cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
A note on increasing the limit of selection through selection within families

It is shown that, in a finite population, by ensuring an equal contribution of offspring from each family we achieve a higher selection limit than by using mass selection, given that the correlation between selection criterion and additive genetic value is sufficiently high. The difference between the selection limits of the two schemes increases with more intense selection. The theoretical results were verified by Monte Carlo Simulation, and the influences of several factors were investigated. It is shown that such a breeding scheme might be useful in dairy cattle.
Asia Is Not One

Asia is not “one,” and there is no singular idea of Asia. Asia is of multiple (although not always mutually exclusive) conceptions, some drawing on material forces, such as economic growth, interdependence, and physical power, and others having ideational foundations, such as civilizational linkages and normative aspirations. Some of these varied conceptions of Asia have shaped in meaningful ways the destinies of its states and peoples. Moreover, they have underpinned different forms of regionalism, which, in turn, has ensured that Asia, despite its fuzziness and incoherence, has remained a durable, if essentially contested, notion.
Threat effects analysis: Applying FMEA to model computer system threats

As the 21st century progresses, computer systems have become a target for a new type of criminal who attacks software with malicious intent. Failure Modes and Effects Analysis, which is normally used to improve system reliability by identifying and mitigating the effects of potential system failures, provides a basic framework that can be applied to counter the threats a computer system will encounter in its operational environment. The process consists of: 1) becoming familiar with the system and system components; 2) developing a threat model by identifying external dependencies and security assumptions; 3) identifying and classifying the types of threats to the system; 4) determining the effects of the threat; and 5) making changes to counter the potential threats. This approach ensures that the assessment of the threat will be done in a systematic and meticulous manner that is more likely to result in a secure and reliable system.
Functional Properties of Edible Mushrooms

Edible mushrooms such as shiitake may have important salutary effects on health or even in treating disease. A mushroom characteristically contains many different bioactive compounds with diverse biological activity, and the content and bioactivity of these compounds depend on how the mushroom is prepared and consumed. It is estimated that approximately 50% of the annual 5 million metric tons of cultivated edible mushrooms contain functional "nutraceutical" or medicinal properties. In order of decreasing cultivated tonnage, Lentinus (shiitake), Pleurotus (oyster), Auricularia (mu-er), Flammulina (enokitake), Tremella (yin-er), Hericium, and Grifola (maitake) mushrooms have various degrees of immunomodulatory, lipid-lowering, antitumor, and other beneficial or therapeutic health effects without any significant toxicity. Although the data for this functional food class are not as strong as those for other functional foods such as cruciferous vegetables, because of their potential usefulness in preventing or treating serious health conditions such as cancer, acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS), and hypercholesterolemia, functional mushrooms deserve further serious investigation. Additionally, there is a need for epidemiological evidence of the role of this functional food class.
Advanced simulation topics on 8-bit microprocessors

Electrical engineering students at Penn State Erie uses two 8-bit microprocessor simulators, the 8085 and the 6800 simulators. Currently they are capable of simulating ROMs, RAMs, stacks, interrupts, I/Os, traps, break points, break times, subroutines, and parallel and serial transmissions. The authors describe some of these topics through examples and projects. The projects can be used as simulation lab experiments for a lab or for homework. >
Bayesian optimal discovery procedure for simultaneous significance testing

In high throughput screening, such as differential gene expression screening, drug sensitivity screening, and genome-wide RNAi screening, tens of thousands of tests need to be conducted simultaneously. However, the number of replicate measurements per test is extremely small, rarely exceeding 3. Several current approaches demonstrate that test statistics with shrinking variance estimates have more power over the traditional t statistic. We propose a Bayesian hierarchical model to incorporate the shrinkage concept by introducing a mixture structure on variance components. The estimates from the Bayesian model are utilized in the optimal discovery procedure (ODP) proposed by Storey in 2007, which was shown to have optimal performance in multiple significance tests. We compared the performance of the Bayesian ODP with several competing test statistics. We have conducted simulation studies with 2 to 6 replicates per gene. We have also included test results from two real datasets. The Bayesian ODP outperforms the other methods in our study, including the original ODP. The advantage of the Bayesian ODP becomes more significant when there are few replicates per test. The improvement over the original ODP is based on the fact that Bayesian model borrows strength across genes in estimating unknown parameters. The proposed approach is efficient in computation due to the conjugate structure of the Bayesian model. The R code (see Additional file 1) to calculate the Bayesian ODP is provided.
Flexible and Efficient In-Vivo Enhancement for Grid Applications

In a grid application, some requirements may change while the execution is in progress. This paper presents in-vivo enhancement--updating running grid applications to facilitate their perfective maintenance. Because applications in this domain are not only typically long-running, but also time-consuming to deploy, we propose a dynamic update technique that can change a running application flexibly and efficiently. Specifically, this paper presents a novel technique for dynamically updating grid applications deployed on the Java Virtual Machine (JVM). Our technique overcomes constraints of JVM HotSwap, a facility for replacing classes at runtime. While HotSwap precludes the programmer from adding new methods and fields, changing the signatures of existing methods, and has no support for transferring state between old and new objects, our approach effectively removes these constraints by rewriting program bytecode. Further, the rewritten programs incur only minimal performance overhead (less than 2% on average). We demonstrate the efficiency and extensibility of our approach through micro and macro benchmarks, as well as through a case study of dynamically updating a parallel bioinformatics application.
Experimental investigation of water cooled server microprocessors and memory devices in an energy efficient chiller-less data center

Understanding and improving the thermal management and energy efficiency of data center cooling systems is of growing importance from a cost and sustainability perspective. Toward this goal, warm liquid cooled servers were developed to enable highly energy efficient chiller-less data centers that utilize only “free” ambient environment cooling. This approach greatly reduces cooling energy use, and could reduce data center refrigerant and make up water usage. In one exemplary experiment, a rack having such liquid cooled servers was tested on a hot summer day (∼32 °C) with CPU exercisers and memory exercisers running on every server to provide steady heat dissipation from the processors and from the DIMMs, respectively. Compared to a typical air cooled rack, significantly lower DIMM temperatures and CPU thermal values were observed.
PROGRESS IN MESH BASED SPATIO-TEMPORAL RECONSTRUCTION

In this paper, we present a new methodology for calculation of a 2D projection operator for emission tomography using a content-adaptive mesh model (CAMM). A CAMM is an efficient image representation based on adaptive sampling and linear interpolation, wherein non-uniform image samples are placed most densely in regions having fine detail. We have studied CAMM in recent years and shown that a CAMM is an efficient tool for data representation and tomographic reconstruction. In addition, it can also provide a unified framework for tomographic reconstruction of organs (e.g., the heart) that undergo non-rigid deformation. In this work we develop a projection operator model suitable for a CAMM representation such that it accounts for several major degradation factors in data acquisition, namely object attenuation and depth-dependent blur in detector-collimator response. The projection operator is calculated using a ray-tracing algorithm. We tested the developed projection operator by using Monte Carlo simulation for single photon emission tomography (SPECT). The methodology presented here can also be extended to transmission tomography.
Distance-Avoiding Sequences for Extremely Low-Bandwidth Authentication

We develop a scheme for providing strong cryptographic authentication on a stream of messages which consumes very little bandwidth (as little as one bit per message) and is robust in the presence of dropped messages. Such a scheme should be useful for extremely low-power, low-bandwidth wireless sensor networks and "smart dust" applications. The tradeoffs among security, memory, bandwidth, and tolerance for missing messages give rise to several new optimization problems. We report on experimental results and derive bounds on the performance of the scheme.
Limitations of approximate solutions for computing the extracellular potential of single fibers and bundle equivalents

An examination and comparison are made of the rigorous and conventional approximate solutions of Laplace's equation used to evaluate the extracellular potential of a single, cylindrical fiber. The single fiber is considered as both a prototypical element (such as a nerve or muscle fiber) and an elementary model of an entire multicellular preparation (e.g. nerve bundle or Purkinje strand). The effects of the fiber radius, the intracellular and extracellular conductiveness, and the shape and extent of the source function (either the transmembrane potential or the intracellular potential) on the solutions are discussed. The results show that, in general, the approximate solutions are unsatisfactory for computing the surface extracellular potential when the single fiber is used to represent a large bundle (>300 mu m). >
Alterations of chromosome arms 1p and 19q as predictors of survival in oligodendrogliomas, astrocytomas, and mixed oligoastrocytomas

PURPOSE: A recent report suggests that alterations of chromosome arms 1p and 19q are associated with chemotherapeutic response and overall survival in anaplastic oligodendroglioma patients treated with procarbazine, lomustine, and vincristine chemotherapy. We set out to further clarify the diagnostic and prognostic implications of these alterations in a broader set of diffuse gliomas, including astrocytic neoplasms and low-grade oligodendrogliomas. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) signals from DNA probes mapping to 1p and 19q common deletion regions were enumerated in 162 diffuse gliomas (79 astrocytomas, 52 oligodendrogliomas, and 31 mixed oligoastrocytomas), collected as part of an ongoing prospective investigation of CNS tumors. RESULTS: The oligodendroglial phenotype was highly associated with loss of 1p (P = .0002), loss of 19q (P < .0001), and combined loss of 1p and 19q (P < .0001). Combined loss of 1p and 19q was identified as a univariate predictor of prolonged over...
Functional Redundancy of AtFtsH Metalloproteases in Thylakoid Membrane Complexes

FtsH is an ATP-dependent metalloprotease found in bacteria, mitochondria, and plastids. Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) contains 12 AtFtsH proteins, three in the mitochondrion and nine in the chloroplast. Four of the chloroplast FtsH proteins are encoded by paired members of closely related genes (AtFtsH1 and 5, and AtFtsH2 and 8). We have previously reported that AtFtsH2 and 8 are interchangeable components of AtFtsH complexes in the thylakoid membrane. In this article, we show that the var1 variegation mutant, which is defective in AtFtsH5, has a coordinate reduction in the AtFtsH2 and 8 pair, and that the levels of both pairs are restored to normal in var1 plants that overexpress AtFtsH1. Overexpression of AtFtsH1, but not AtFtsH2/VAR2, normalizes the pattern of var1 variegation, restoring a nonvariegated phenotype. We conclude that AtFtsH proteins within a pair, but not between pairs, are interchangeable and functionally redundant, at least in part. We further propose that the abundance of each pair is matched with that of the other pair, with excess subunits being turned over. The variegation phenotype of var1 (as well as var2, which is defective in AtFtsH2) suggests that a threshold concentration of subunits is required for normal chloroplast function. AtFtsH1, 2, 5, and 8 do not show evidence of tissue or developmental specific expression. Phylogenetic analyses revealed that rice (Oryza sativa) and Arabidopsis share a conserved core of seven FtsH subunit genes, including the AtFtsH1 and 5 and AtFtsH2 and 8 pairs, and that the structure of the present-day gene families can be explained by duplication events in each species following the monocot/dicot divergence.
Pathogenicity of Frog Virus 3-like Virus in Red-eared Slider Turtles (Trachemys scripta elegans) at Two Environmental Temperatures

Ranaviral disease has affected several species of reptiles, but disease progression and mortality in relation to environmental temperature has yet to be determined. In this study, two separate trials challenged adult female red-eared slider turtles (Trachemys scripta elegans) with a ranavirus (frog virus 3-like virus; FV3) isolate at environmental temperatures of 22 °C (n = 4) and 28 °C (n = 4). The mortality rates in the turtles in the 22 °C and 28 °C trials were 100% and 50%, respectively. Median survival time for turtles exposed to FV3 at 22 °C was 24 days, while it was 30 days in the group kept at 28 °C. Consistent microscopical lesions were observed only in the group inoculated at 22 °C and included fibrinoid necrosis of vessels in the spleen, vascular and sinusoidal thrombi in the liver, necrotizing myositis and a mild heterophilic interstitial pneumonia. Quantitative polymerase chain reaction, targeting a conserved portion of the major capsid protein, was able to detect virus copies in whole blood, oral and cloacal swabs, tongue, skeletal muscle, lung, heart, liver, spleen, ovary and kidney. Viral copy number in ante-mortem clinical samples was non-significantly highest in whole blood, while kidney had the highest viral copy number in post-mortem samples. All samples had higher virus copy number in turtles exposed to FV3 at 22 °C compared with 28 °C. This study determined that environmental temperature affects the survival and disease progression in ranavirus-infected red-eared slider turtles, which will aid in managing animals in a clinical or free-ranging setting.
Identification of fat‐cell enhancer regions in Drosophila melanogaster

The insect fat body is a dynamic tissue involved in maintaining homeostasis. It functions not only in energy storage and intermediary metabolism but also in detoxification, communication and the immune response. Some of these functions are confined to distinct groups of fat body cells. In Drosophila melanogaster, discrete precursor-cell clusters populate the fat body [Hoshizaki, D.K., Blackburn, T., Price, C., Ghosh, M., Miles, K., Ragucci, M. and Sweis, R. (1994) Embryonic fat-cell lineage in Drosophila melanogaster. Development 120: 2489-2499; Hoshizaki, D.K., Lunz, R., Ghosh, M. and Johnson, W. (1995) Identification of fat-cell enhancer activity in Drosophila melanogaster using P-element enhancer traps. Genome 38: 497-506; Riechmann, V., Rehorn, K.P., Reuter, R. and Leptin, M. (1998) The genetic control of the distinction between fat body and gonadal mesoderm in Drosophila. Development 125: 713-723]. Whether these clusters populate defined morphological regions or whether they represent the precursors to functionally similar groups of fat-body cells has not been formally demonstrated. We have identified a 2.1 kb enhancer region from serpent (srp), a GATA transcription factor gene that is sufficient to induce fat-cell formation. This enhancer region drives expression in specific groups of precursor-cell clusters, which we show give rise to defined regions of the mature embryonic fat body. We present evidence that srp expression in different precursor fat cells is controlled by independent cis-acting regulatory regions, and we have tested the role of trans-acting factors in the specification of some of these cells. We suggest that the different positional cues regulating srp expression, and therefore general fat-cell specification, might also be involved in the functional specialization of fat cells. This may be a common mechanism in insects to explain the origin of biochemically distinct regions of the larval/adult fat body.
Switching Dynamics and the Stress Process

This article shows how maintaining social relationships can be a daily hassle that has implications for the stress process, depending on how often individuals transition, or “switch,” between vario...
Diet in the prevention of hidradenitis suppurativa (acne inversa)

Full control of hidradenitis suppurativa requires the prevention of new lesions. These appear to be induced by a complex series of hormonally driven molecular activities that lead to obstruction of the follicular duct, rupture and destruction of the sebaceous glands, the development of deep dermal sinuses that subsequently rupture to the surface, and production of an invasive subcutaneous mass that is resistant to medical therapy. Preliminary observations suggest that the use of a healthy and fully natural zero dairy and low glycemic-load diet may provide relief from progression of the lesions and possibly prevention of new lesions, even when medications fail.
Team Assisted Individualization Cooperative Learning and Individualized Instruction in the Mainstreamed Classroom

This paper summarizes research on a mathematics program that combines cooperative learning and individualized instruction to accommodate the social and academic needs of mainstreamed academically handicapped students and their nonhandicapped classmates. This program, Team Assisted Individualization (TAI), was found to improve the social and academic behavior of these students, and in one of two studies, to increase their mathematics achievement more than traditional methods. Positive effects on the achievement and behavior of nonhandicapped students were also found. The implications of these findings for instruction in mainstreamed classrooms are discussed.
Vitamin A and retinoic acid in T cell–related immunity

Interest in vitamin A as a regulator of immune function goes back to the early 1900s. Recently, several lines of evidence have converged to show that retinoic acid (RA), a major oxidative metabolite of vitamin A, plays a key role in the differentiation of T cell subsets, the migration of T cells into tissues, and the proper development of T cell–dependent antibody responses. This review discusses evidence from experimental studies that RA promotes the differentiation of regulatory T cells, which help to suppress inflammatory reactions, and plays a significant role in normal mucosal immunity by modulating T cell activation and regulating cell trafficking. RA also promotes antibody responses to T cell–dependent antigens. Conversely, in a state of vitamin A deficiency, inflammatory T cell reactions may be inadequately opposed and therefore become dominant. Although data from human studies are still needed, the framework now developed from studies in mice and rat models suggests that adequate vitamin A status, whether derived from ingestion of preformed retinol or β-carotene, is important for maintaining a proper balance of well-regulated T cell functions and for preventing excessive or prolonged inflammatory reactions.
Single Electron Transistor Fabrication using Focused Ion Beam direct write technique

We report on the fabrication of single electron transistors using focused ion beam (FIB) etching technology. Single electron transistors (SETs) are comprised of small conducting islands called the Coulomb blockade islands and tunnel junctions, allowing quantum mechanical tunneling of electrons onto and off of the islands. The typical random deposition of islands makes it difficult to fabricate SETs with the same parameters, because the position of the island strongly impacts the tunnel capacitance and resistance. We report the use of maskless FIB direct write technology to fabricate SETs, producing quantum islands less than 50nm in diameter. The FIB direct writing technique allows the exact placement of islands at a desired location in order to better control the device parameters. The initial characteristics of the devices, at room temperature, show that the Coulomb oscillations are smeared out, as expected for this condition. The conductance displays an asymptotic behavior, which is attributed to the operation of the SET in the strong tunnel regime and to its operation at room temperature
A Generalized Chemical Balance Analysis Tool for Combustion and Catalytic Reactions

Chemical balance analysis between two points such as engine intake and exhaust is widely used to compute air fuel ratio (AFR) from exhaust gas component measurements. The same set of equations can also be used in many other ways depending on the set of known and unknown variables. Balance analysis can be used across a catalyst, for example, or if the AFR is known it can be used to estimate the unknown concentration of a given gas component. Current chemical balance analysis programs do not have this flexibility. Indeed it is often even necessary to modify the underlying code depending upon whether the measured gas concentrations are sampled dry or wet. This paper describes a highly flexible and user-friendly program developed in the Matlab environment for performing chemical balance analysis between gases entering and leaving a reaction system.
Conceptual Development Using 3D Printing Technologies for 8kV SiC Power Module Package

Post-silicon power devices, SiC or GaN for example, have many advantages over traditional silicon devices, particularly for smaller size and higher thermal densities. Although these devices are in the early stage of development, many applications have been identified, such as hybrid vehicles and the smart grid. For power packaging, there is now a greater challenge of much higher voltage, faster switching speed and much smaller package size (higher density). All of these issues call for newer approaches in power packaging. The microelectronics area has been developing stacked 3D technology along with printed 3D circuit technologies. Of been interested are the 3D printing technologies that can implement complicated structures, such as multilevel interconnects and selective dielectric field enhancements, besides introducing rapid prototyping in the early power stage design cycle. The 3D printing technology, introduced in the late 1980's, is now becoming prevalent. Commercial printers can create high-resoluti...
Diabetes Mellitus and Intestinal Niemann-Pick C1–Like 1 Gene Expression

The Niemann-Pick type C1–like 1 (NPC1L1) protein is pivotal for intestinal absorption of cholesterol. Targeting NPC1L1 by ezetimibe causes a significant reduction in cholesterol absorption and lowers plasma cholesterol. However, treatment with ezetimibe alone may not be sufficient to decrease plasma cholesterol to a stringent low level set as a therapeutic target for individuals with high risk for developing cardiovascular diseases, such as diabetic patients. Indeed, studies showed that NPC1L1 expression is increased in diabetes mellitus, which may contribute to the pathophysiology of cardiovascular diseases associated with diabetes mellitus. Since NPC1L1-mediated cholesterol uptake is crucial for cholesterol homeostasis, there is an emerging interest to understand the molecular basis for its function and to delineate the regulation of its expression. This chapter summarizes the knowledge about the NCP1L1 structure–function relationship, molecular regulation, and the mechanisms by which NPC1L1 mediates cholesterol absorption. The chapter provides on overall evaluation of current understanding of NPC1L1 regulation and attempts to define potential aspects for future research endeavors.
Pronunciation Assessment via a Comparison-based System

In this paper, we present preliminary results on applying a comparison-based framework to the task of pronunciation scoring. The comparison-based system works by aligning a student’s utterance with a teacher’s utterance via dynamic time warping (DTW). Features that describe the degree of mis-alignment are extracted from the aligned path and the distance matrix. We focus on a dataset in Levantine Arabic, a low-resource language for which there is not enough automatic speech recognition (ASR) capability available. Three different speech representations are investigated: MFCCs, Gaussian posteriorgrams, and English phoneme state posteriorgrams decoded on Levantine data. Experimental results show that the system can improve both correlation and mean squared error between machine predicted scores and human ratings compared to a template-based system. Index Terms: pronunciation scoring, dynamic time warping, posteriorgrams
CITRATE TRANSPORT BY BACILLUS SUBTILIS

Abstract A citrate transport system in B. subtilis was studied as the first step in investigation of trans-membrane transport by gram-positive bacteria. The possibility of isolating clean membranes together with genetic methods (transduction and transformation) seems to make B. subtilis an ideal organism for this work. However, no transport system had yet been well characterized in this organism. Citrate was chosen after a preliminary survey because it has an active transport system whose activity could be increased by induction. Induction kinetics were typical, activity of the transport system rising sharply after a few minutes' lag. Furthermore, the system could be gratuitous, that is the cells were unaffected by the consequences of transport in an aconitase-negative mutant growing in rich medium. This mutant formed the transport system at a high level in the absence of added citrate, owing to the accumulation of endogenous citrate. The maximal velocity was high, 145 μmoles/min/g dry weight of cells at 37°C and KM (2.3 mM) was large. An extensive series of inhibitor studies was carried out to determine the specificity of the system. It was found to be limited to several di- and tri-carboxylic acids, fundamentally ones related to malate. The activity of the transport system was largely retained by protoplasts. Membrane vesicles' activity was much reduced (200-fold) but so also was serine transport activity. Hence, citrate transport probably resides in the membrane, and it does not include an essential, easily released component such as a binding protein. The high KM of the system precluded direct binding measurements. The role of phospholipid synthesis in creation of the citrate transport system was studied in a glycerol-requiring mutant deprived of glycerol. Induction continued for at least a half-hour; during this period the cells did not synthesize phospholipids de novo . Thus, B. subtilis does not need net glycerol-lipid synthesis in order to incorporate the citrate transport system into its membrane. Properties of this system are briefly compared with those for transport of di- and tri-carboxylic acids in other organisms.
Temporal and spatial aspects of root and stem sucrose metabolism in loblolly pine trees

We studied root and stem sucrose metabolism in trees excavated from a 9-year-old artificially regenerated loblolly pine (Pinus taeda L.) plantation. Sucrose synthase (SS) activities in stem and taproot vascular cambial tissues followed similar seasonal patterns until they peaked during September. After September, stem SS activity disappeared quickly, whereas taproots exhibited SS activity even in January. Pyrophosphate-dependent phosphofructokinase (PPi-PFK) activity tracked SS activity. The activities of ATP-dependent PFK and several other glycolytic enzymes (e.g., phosphoglucomutase and phosphoglucoisomerase) remained relatively constant in cambial tissues of stem, taproot, and all first-order lateral roots (FOLRs) throughout the year. However, during the growing season, individual FOLRs exhibited variable sucrose metabolic activities that were independent of root diameter or position on the taproot. The FOLRs with low or no SS activity also had low PPi-PFK activity. We propose that when intense competition for sucrose occurs among different organs of a tree, the variable activities of the sucrose metabolic enzymes in FOLRs ensure that enough sucrose is allocated to the stem and taproot for growth. For a tree's long-term survival and growth, second or higher-order roots can be sacrificed, whereas FOLRs, stem and taproot are essential.
Anthropocentric Method o f Flight Simulator Motion System Control Law Synthesis

Proposed method of synthesis of the flight simulator motion system control laws came from author ’s 18 year experience in developing, integrating and testing the control laws and their software dedicated to different simulators. During those years, the author had many opportunit ies to perform these tasks at the following simulators: subsonic jet train er full flight simulator, supersonic, swept -wing fighter -bomber Su -22 full mission simulator, electric locomotive research and training simulator, multipurpose, medium size helicopter W-3 “Sokol” full mission simulator. The goal of the simulation motion co ntrol law synthesis at the proposed method is not minimizing a cost function taken a priori at the beginning of that synthesis process but achieving positive assessment by the operator (e.g. pilot) team on the basis of simulator motion perception. The synt hesis method is p resented in the paper. Procedures adopted for those simulators FAT (Final Acceptance Tests) within proposed method were based on standard military testing methods. Performing th e final and the most important tests were by the real device o perators (pilots) w as the new element here . Those tests were performed in the two phases: the initial, company tests, mainly by experienced, test pilots, the final, “state -qualification tests”, mainly by the mono -type pilots flying operationally simulated types of airplane. The other important modification into the classical method was introducing the simulated object acceleration derivative into the filters controlling the simulator motion system. It appeared to be particularly effective in the cases of hi ghly maneuverable airplane simulators. Achieved simulator motion system control law structure proved to be very effective for all listed above types of objects.
IMPROVED FORMULAS FOR ESTIMATING OFFSHORE WINDS

Differences in onshore and offshore wind speeds have long been known to exist [see, e.g., (2), (15), (16)]. Marine meteorologists in the weather services are required to forecast offshore winds. Many studies related to coastal marine sciences and engineering require wind data or estimates for offshore regions. Yet in situ measurements over water are often lacking. Traditionally, wind measurements over land, preferably near coasts, have been used to estimate offshore winds. However, because simultaneous onshore and offshore observations do not always exist, systematic studies such as simple comparisons between these two environments are also lacking. Only recently the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) deployed a network of buoys for longer term measurements over the continental shelf as well as farther offshore. All of these buoys are located in or near U.S. coastal waters. However, there are still vast regions in other parts of the world where such a network does not exist.
A TEN-YEAR HISTORY OF DOLOS MONITORING AT CRESCENT CITY

Ten years of monitoring data are now available from the Crescent City dolos monitoring program. This extensive field data collection program was initiated in 1986, following the rehabilitation of the dolos section of the main stem of the Crescent City Outer Breakwater. The rehabilitation involved the placement of 680, fiber-reinforced, 38-tonne dolosse. Unique field monitoring techniques have been employed to collect data at Crescent City: movement data have been collected with ground-truthed, low-altitude (helicopter) photogrammetric survey techniques and stress data have been derived from strain gages mounted internally in select dolosse grouped together near the center of the dolos field. Results presented in this paper include 10 year histories on: wave climate, dolos movement/breakage, stress build up within dolosse, and concrete strength and fatigue. In addition, internal strain gage instrumentation verification test results are presented.
Research on Tracking Mobile Targets Based on Wireless Video Sensor Networks

The motivation of the paper is to position and track moving targets in real time by means of wireless video sensor networks (WVSNs), and with the aid of selecting and associating information from multi-view videos to obtain the trajectory of targets in the world coordinates system(WCS). The whole process includes camera calibration, target localization, tracking trajectory in WCS, time synchronization calibration of multi-view videos and data fusion. The innovation point of the paper is that aimed at time synchronization phenomenon of multi-view videos while associating data, we propose a new scheme of information selection and recognition. For validating the effectiveness of the scheme, the comparison of the real trajectory and the estimated one is conducted through MATLAB simulation, and the proposed scheme has a satisfactory performance.
Use of hyperbaric oxygen in toxicology

Summary HBO has become recognized as a potential treatment for a variety of toxins. HBO is helpful because it provides an excess of dissolved oxygen, which not only can sustain life in the absence of hemoglobin, but in some cases can actually increase the clearance of toxins. In addition, it is now apparent that HBO serves more complex roles in toxicological injuries, such as modifying PMN-endothelial interactions and preventing oxidative tissue injury. The major drawback of HBO therapy is the lack of controlled clinical trials, partly due to the rarity of most of the toxins discussed. In fact, the field of hyperbaric medicine has come under increasing criticism for this failure.50 There is a physiologic basis for use of HBO in the toxins discussed. Unfortunately, only for CO is patient volume adequate for studies to document efficacy. Regarding the other toxins mentioned, the use of HBO should be reserved for carefully selected cases in which patients have failed routine care or are at risk for delayed effects.
CHAPTER 12 – Mineralization, Structure and Function of Bone

The development of bone is a complex process that involves cellular, extracellular, and physicochemical events. This chapter reviews the overall process of bone formation from a biologic and chemical viewpoint. The factors regulating the initial mineralization of ostoid, and those regulating the entire process of mineralization, are the main subjects of this chapter. Attention is paid to new data on the role of matrix proteins in these processes and to the interaction between collagen and matrix proteins, and matrix proteins and cells in regulating bone mineralization. Bones are dynamic tissues, replaced as they age or are damaged with newly deposited bone. These dynamic tissues serve numerous essential functions in humans and other vertebrates. Bone provides mechanical protection for internal organs, allows the animal to direct motion, and facilitates the locomotion process. In addition to these mechanical functions, bone provides a protective housing for blood-forming marrow, and serves as a reservoir for mineral ions.
Empirical mode decomposition based techniques for the estimation of experimental scholte wave dispersion

Extraction of shear wave speed in the sediment based on Scholte wave measurements is a well-established technique in ocean acoustics. One of the problems encountered while processing the Scholte wave data is the effect of higher order modes. Often it becomes hard to identify and separate out the multiple modes when they are present. This could result in incorrect estimation of phase velocities. Empirical Mode Decomposition based techniques are used in this study to explore the possibility of identifying higher order modes. Scholte wave data acquired in shallow water using a geophone array is used in this study.
The dose–response of salvage radiotherapy following radical prostatectomy: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Abstract Purpose/objectives To date neither the optimal radiotherapy dose nor the existence of a dose–response has been established for salvage RT (SRT). Materials/methods A systematic review from 1996 to 2015 and meta-analysis was performed to identify the pathologic, clinical and treatment factors associated with relapse-free survival (RFS) after SRT (uniformly defined as a PSA>0.2ng/mL or rising above post-SRT nadir). A sigmoidal dose–response curve was objectively fitted and a non-parametric statistical test used to determine significance. Results 71 studies (10,034 patients) satisfied the meta-analysis criteria. SRT dose ( p =0.0001), PSA prior to SRT ( p =0.0009), ECE+ ( p =0.039) and SV+ ( p =0.046) had significant associations with RFS. Statistical analyses confirmed the independence of SRT dose–response. Omission of series with ADT did not alter results. Dose–response is well fit by a sigmoidal curve ( p =0.0001) with a TCD 50 of 65.8Gy, with a dose of 70Gy achieving 58.4% RFS vs. 38.5% for 60Gy. A 2.0% [95% CI 1.1–3.2] improvement in RFS is achieved for each Gy. The SRT dose–response remarkably parallels that for definitive RT of localized disease. Conclusions This study provides level 2a evidence for dose-escalated SRT>70Gy. The presence of an SRT dose–response for microscopic disease supports the hypothesis that prostate cancer is inherently radio-resistant.
63. Rapid and Sensitive Detection of Circulating Tumor Cells with Nuclease-Activated Oligonucleotide Probes

Metastatic breast cancer is the second leading cause of female cancer deaths in the United States. Despite substantial progress in its treatment, metastatic breast cancer remains incurable. Early identification of breast cancer patients at greatest risk of developing metastatic disease is thus an important goal that would enable oncologists to aggressively treat these patients while the cancer is still vulnerable. In addition, this would spare patients who do not need or would not benefit from further treatments from having to endure the harmful side-effects of chemotherapeutic drug regimens. Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) are rare cancer cells found in the blood circulation of cancer patients that provide a non-invasively accessible cancer cell specimen (liquid biopsy) from patients. The number of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) in cancer patients has recently been shown to be a valuable diagnostic indicator of the state of metastatic breast cancer. In particular, patients with few or no CTCs were found to have a better overall prognosis compared to patients with high numbers of CTCs.Despite the implications of CTCs as diagnostics for advanced breast cancer treatment, a critical challenge for adopting CTC-based diagnostic tests has been the development of methods with sufficient sensitivity to reliably detect the small number of CTCs that are present in the circulation. Furthermore, current tests for CTC detection are expensive, have high false positives and negatives, have high background noise, are time consuming and require a significant level of expertise to conduct. To overcome the limitations of current CTC detection assays and develop more sensitive, rapid and cost effective CTC detection methods, we explored the potential of detecting CTCs by measuring their nuclease activity with nuclease-activated probes (1). We present data towards the development of a rapid and highly-sensitive CTC detection assay based on nuclease-activated oligonucleotide probes that are selectively digested (activated) by target nucleases expressed in breast cancer cells. We confirm that these probes are not activated by serum nucleases or nucleases from a lymphoblastic cell line (e.g. K-562). Furthermore, we present extensive data towards the optimization of activity and sensitivity of these probes in cell lysates from various breast cancer cell lines and in blood from breast cancer patients. Future studies will focus on developing similar probes for the detection of CTCs in patients with pancreatic and ovarian cancer where early detection would greatly improve survival outcomes. In conclusion, this work describes a robust assay for detection of breast cancer CTCs that will be straightforward to implement in most clinical diagnostic labs.
Investigation into Pseudo-Capacitance Behavior of Glycoside-Containing Hydrogels

Electrochemical pseudocapacitors are an attractive choice for energy storage applications because they offer higher energy densities than electrostatic or electric double layer capacitors. They also offer higher power densities in shorter durations of time, as compared to batteries. Recent efforts on pseudocapacitors include biocompatible hydrogel electrolytes and transition metal electrodes for implantable energy storage applications. Pseudocapacitive behavior in these devices has been attributed to the redox reactions that occur within the electric double layer, which is formed at the electrode–electrolyte interface. In the present study, we describe a detailed investigation on redox reactions responsible for pseudocapacitive behavior in glycoside-containing hydrogel formulations. Pseudocapacitive behavior was compared among various combinations of biocompatible hydrogel electrolytes, using carbon tape electrodes and transition metal electrodes based on fluorine-doped tin oxide. The hydrogels demonstrat...
Controlling insider threats with information security policies.

Over the past decade, several studies, industry reports and surveys have revealed that insider threats constitute a significant role in information security. Following the literature, we categorized insider threats as intentional and unintentional. Computer misuse and fraud are considered as the two most common intentional threats, whereas, user errors and negligence are considered as the two most common unintentional threats. Building on the organizational behavior, psychology and criminology literatures, in this paper, we introduce different socio-behavioral control mechanisms to mitigate insider threats to information security. These mechanisms include employees’ integration and commitment to their job and organization, deterrence measures, management of work related stress, awareness of security issues, and motivation of employees. These socio-behavioral mechanisms are also accompanied by technical aspects such as user interface of security tools and technology-based controls. Lastly, the integrative and reinforcing role of security policies within the proposed framework is discussed.
Severe pulmonary hypertension in aging female apolipoprotein E-deficient mice is rescued by estrogen replacement therapy

Background Apolipoprotein E (ApoE) is a multifunctional protein, and its deficiency leads to the development of atherosclerosis in mice. Patients with pulmonary hypertension (PH) have reduced expression of ApoE in lung tissue. ApoE is known to inhibit endothelial and smooth muscle cell proliferation and has anti-inflammatory and anti-platelet aggregation properties. Young ApoE-deficient mice have been shown to develop PH on high fat diet. The combined role of female sex and aging in the development of PH has not been investigated before. Here, we investigated the development of PH in young and middle-aged (MA) female ApoE-deficient mice and explored the role of exogenous estrogen (E2) replacement therapy for the aging females.
Affect/Emotion Induction Methods

Emotions, and more generally, affective states, have become a crucial part of human–computer interaction (HCI) research. This new wave of research considers users’ emotions explicitly to design interactive artifacts with the ability of estimating and responding to their users’ emotional states. To this end, researchers have looked for a reliable means to elicit emotions in research settings. An experimental approach to elicit emotions originates from either considering emotion as an independent variable that contributes to a phenomenon, or as an outcome. Regardless of the motivation for studying emotion, in this chapter we explain the most reliable emotion elicitation techniques. Some of the techniques are more common in the clinical environments while others are used in experimental designs, especially in HCI research. This chapter will help researchers, designers, and practitioners find the most appropriate technique for their experimental settings.
DEVELOPING ORGANIC AND INORGANIC NANOMEDICINE FOR CANCER THERAPY

The application of nanomedicines has proved to be effective for the therapy of various types of cancer compared to conventional treatments such as chemotherapy and radiation therapy. The nanomedicines can treat various cancers with the precise target without affecting the normal cells. In addition, by utilizing of enhanced permeability and retention (EPR) effect, nanomedicines can selectively targeting disease site and yield very promising therapeutic results for cancer treatment. Among all available nanomedicines, organic materials such as polymers are widely used in recent decades as biomaterials for their favorable properties like excellent biocompatibility, easy design and preparation, several types of structures and interesting biomimetic character, which warrants the further evaluations on these kinds of innovative material. Inorganic nanoparticles such nanogold also demonstrated the ability to target cancer and can be employed as both therapeutic and imaging agents. This mini-review will give a brief discussion of using inorganic and organic nanoparticles for the treatment of cancer.
Community Benefit Practices and Their Relationships to Organizational Performance and Survival

Background: Within the hospital field, hospital organizations seek ways to remain fiscally viable and perform well within their markets. Various studies have connected organizational viability and ...