cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Differential influence of dynamic processes on forward and reverse electron transfer across a protein-protein interface

We propose that the forward and reverse halves of a flash-induced protein-protein electron transfer (ET) photocycle should exhibit differential responses to dynamic interconversion of configurations when the most stable configuration is not the most reactive, because the reactants exist in different initial configurations: the flash-photoinitiated forward ET process begins with the protein partners in an equilibrium ensemble of configurations, many of which have little or no reactivity, whereas the reactant of the thermal back ET (the charge-separated intermediate) is formed in a nonequilibrium, “activated” protein configuration. We report evidence for this proposal in measurements on (i) mixed-metal hemoglobin hybrids, (ii) the complex between cytochrome c peroxidase and cytochrome c, and (iii and iv) the complexes of myoglobin and isolated hemoglobin α-chains with cytochrome b5. For all three systems, forward and reverse ET does respond differently to modulation of dynamic processes; further, the response to changes in viscosity is different for each system.
Variations in Grain Growth of Donor-Doped SrTiO3 with Cation Nonstoichiometry

Grain growth in donor-doped strontium titanate varies markedly with Sr/(Ti+Nb) ratio, at temperatures below the Ti-rich eutectic. When the A-site/B-site cation ratio is unity, grain growth in fully dense hot-pressed samples is normal, and the grain boundary mobility is 1–5 × 10−14 cm4/erg. sec at 1200°C. Little variation in the grain growth rate is observed with Nb concentration between 0.3 and 1.0 mol%, or with annealing in reducing atmosphere down to PO2 = 10 −11Pa. STEM analysis reveals large changes in Ti/Sr stoichiometry at grain boundaries, suggesting solute-drag controlled boundary migration. In samples where Sr/(Ti+Nb) < 1, however, at low Nb concentrations greatly increased grain growth rates are observed, with ~10× larger grain sizes for identical thermal history. A continuous thin (~5nm) amorphous film rich in Si is observed at grain boundaries, indicating exsolution of impurity Si (400–700 ppm in all samples regardless of stoichiometry) with decreasing A/B cation ratio, and a transition to liquid-film controlled grain boundary migration. At higher Nb concentration (1 mol %), grain growth is once again slow, apparently due to a change to finite liquid-grain boundary dihedral angles such that grain boundaries are not wet by liquid phase. Contrasts and similarities between grain growth behavior in barium titanate and strontium titanate are discussed.
Saltation in Water Dynamics

An evaluation of the fluid forces exerted on a bed load particle is presented. The study used strobe photography to measure the kinematics of a sphere moving via saltation along the bed of an open channel flow. The experiment showed that the forces of bouyancy, added mass, and drag could predict the particle motion. The added mass force included an unusual component due to the mean shear of the open channel flow.
Comparative utility of time and frequency HRV domains for automated classification of exercise exertion levels

Exercise exertion results in activation of sympathetic nervous system. Heart rate variability (HRV) has been used to analyze activity of sympathetic nervous system (ANS). However, approaches to use HRV for exercise exertion analysis were not explored systematically. The main goal of this study was to develop classification algorithms to determine level of exercise exertion in real time and to compare potential of HRV time domain parameters versus HRV frequency domain parameters versus combined time and frequency parameter set. Discriminant analysis was used to identify optimal parameter sets and to develop algorithms for classification of exercise exertion levels. Time-domain HRV parameters demonstrated higher classification accuracy (95.6%) as compared to frequency-domain parameters (82.2%). Combing HRV parameters from time and frequency domains improves classification accuracy (97.8%). Our results suggested that HRV analysis can be used to automatically classify exercise exertion levels. Future studies should focus on more granular approach in identifying different stages of exercise process. Evaluation of classification algorithms should be based on larger sample of diverse representatives of different age, sex and health condition groups.
Eigenvalues of a matrix in the streaming model

We study the question of estimating the eigenvalues of a matrix in the streaming model, addressing a question posed in [Mut05]. We show that the eigenvalue "heavy hitters" of a matrix can be computed in a single pass. In particular, we show that the φ-heavy hitters (in the e1 or e2 norms) can be estimated in space proportional to 1/φ2. Such a dependence on φ is optimal.We also show how the same techniques may give an estimate of the residual error tail of a rank-k approximation of the matrix (in the Frobenius norm), in space proportional to k2.All our algorithms are linear and hence can support arbitrary updates to the matrix in the stream. In fact, what we show can be seen as a form of a bi-linear dimensionality reduction: if we multiply an input matrix with projection matrices on both sides, the resulting matrix preserves the top eigenvalues and the residual Frobenius norm.
Development of the Ascocarp and Cytology of Lophodermella Morbida

Infection of new leaves of Pinus ponderosa just emerging from their sheath scales occurs in June. Leaf tissue turns brown within a few weeks. Acervuli appear in September and are probably the imperfect state of Lophodermella morbida. The ascostroma is subhypodermal. Paraphyses and ascogenous hyphal initial cells develop in November from the basal pseudoparenchyma. Croziers form in April, asci develop in April or May, and spores are released from June to August. Cytology within the ascus is typical of Ascomycetes: karyogamy, precocious synapsis, elongation of chromosomes to full pachynema and condensation through diplonema and diakinesis. Divisions II and III are also typical. The mature ascus contains eight uninucleate clavate spores. The haploid chromosome number is 8 or 9.
Demands for high defination videoconference system in power system

This paper introduces the demands for high definition videoconference system in power system from the aspects of stability, reliability and image quality. It discusses the integration and back up of multiple access of E1, IP and satellite, and suggests that the most advanced technologies should be used to guarantee the stability of the system and high definition image so as to meet the requirement of emergency.
Influence of Partial Air Pressure on the Growth Characteristics of Electrical Tree in XLPE Cable

In order to study the initiation and growth of electrical trees in XLPE cable influenced by local air pressure, using samples of XLPE cable with artificial defect made with needle and square-cut XLPE slices as examples, we built up a test system to investigate the growth regularity and partial discharge features of the electrical trees in the inner insulation layers or the channels of the trees with local air pressure on. The results show that the air pressure acting on the inner insulation layers has no significant influence on the initiation and early growth of electrical tree, but in the later growth stage, it promotes the trees' growth rate, decreases the trees' dimension and increases the trees' expanding coefficient. On the other hand, the pressure acting on the channels of a tree alters the discharge pattern into streamer discharge while the discharge pulses distribute nearly in all phases. Further analysis indicates that the deformation of softening area at high temperatures under the air pressure is the main factor that promotes the electrical tree growth, and the increased gas density which causes more violent collision ionization will primarily cause the earlier streamer discharge.
A Retroviral CRISPR-Cas9 System for Cellular Autism-Associated Phenotype Discovery in Developing Neurons

Retroviruses expressing a fluorescent protein, Cas9 and a small guide RNA are used to mimic nonsense PTEN mutations from autism patients in developing mouse neurons. We compare the cellular phenotype elicited by CRISPR-Cas9 to those elicited using shRNA or Cre/Lox technologies and find that knockdown or knockout (KO) produced a corresponding moderate or severe neuronal hypertrophy in all cells. In contrast, the Cas9 approach produced missense and nonsense Pten mutations, resulting in a mix of KO-equivalent hypertrophic and wild type-like phenotypes. Importantly, despite this mixed phenotype, the neuronal hypertrophy resulting from Pten loss was evident on average in the population of manipulated cells. Having reproduced the known Pten KO phenotype using the CRISPR-Cas9 system we design viruses to target a gene that has recently been associated with autism, KATNAL2. Katnal2 deletion in the mouse results in decreased dendritic arborization of developing neurons. We conclude that retroviral implementation of the CRISPR-Cas9 system is an efficient system for cellular phenotype discovery in wild-type animals.
Sealing Shales versus Brittle Shales: A Sharp Threshold in the Material Properties and Energy Technology Uses of Fine-Grained Sedimentary Rocks

Fine-grained sedimentary rocks (shale and mudstone) play important roles in global CO2 abatement efforts through their uses in carbon capture and storage (CCS), radioactive waste storage, and shale gas extraction. These different technologies, however, rely on seemingly conflicting premises regarding the sealing properties of shale and mudstone, suggesting that those rocks that lend themselves to hydrocarbon extraction may not be optimal seals for CCS or radioactive waste storage, and vice versa. In this paper, a compilation of experimental data on the properties of well-characterized shale and mudstone formations is used to demonstrate that clay mineral mass fraction, Xclay, is a very important variable the controls key material properties of these formations and that a remarkably sharp threshold at Xclay ∼ 1/3 separates fine-grained rocks with very different properties. This threshold coincides with the predictions of a simple conceptual model of the microstructure of sedimentary rocks and is reflected ...
PriStream: Privacy-preserving distributed stream monitoring of thresholded PERCENTILE statistics

Distributed stream monitoring has numerous potential applications in future smart cities. Communication efficiency, and data privacy are two main challenges for distributed stream monitoring services. In this paper, we propose PriStream, the first communication-efficient and privacy-preserving distributed stream monitoring system for thresholded PERCENTILE aggregates. PriStream allows the monitoring service provider to evaluate an arbitrary function over a desired percentile of i distributed data reports and monitor when the output exceeds a predetermined system threshold. Detailed theoretical analysis and evaluations show that PriStream has high accuracy and communication efficiency, and differential privacy guarantees under a strong adversary model.
Comparing Four Processes

The first three chapters of this book described the system design process, human decision-making, and technical processes that are commonly used in a wide variety of fields. The next three chapters described and discussed three specific applications of these processes (i.e., requirements discovery, trade-off studies, and risk analysis) that employ different vocabularies but share a common underlying structure.
bcl-2 Translocation [t(14;18) (q32;q21)] Does Not Correlate with Poor Clinical Outcome in Multiple Myeloma Patients Treated with Bortezomib.

Abstract Background: Overexpression of bcl-2 gene mediated by t(14;18) (q32;q21) results in increased transcription of the anti-apoptotic bcl-2 protein. This is associated with aggressive clinical behavior, resistance to conventional chemotherapy regimens and poor survival in multiple myeloma (MM) patients. Impact of novel therapeutic agents such as bortezomib has not been studied in context with this adverse molecular marker. Thus we investigated the clinical efficacy of bortezomib in MM patients who were positive for bcl-2 translocation. Methods: All MM patients treated with bortezomib or bortezomib-based therapies were evaluable for this analysis. bcl-2 translocation was studied by a nested PCR-based assay of patient bone marrow samples. The test is reproducibly sensitive to a detection level of 1:100,000 and reported as positive or negative, indicating either the presence or absence of t(14;18). Response to treatment was classified as per EBMT criteria. To study the statistical relationship between pairs of nominal variables, Fisher's exact test was used. To study the statistical relationship between nominal and ordinal variables, exact Wilcoxon test was used. A 0.05 nominal significance level was used in all testing. Results: Sixty six patients met the inclusion criteria of MM diagnosis and treatment with bortezomib-based regimens. Of these, bcl-2 analysis was available for 41 patients. Six patients (14.6%) were bcl-2 positive and 35 (85.4%) were bcl-2 negative. Median age was 61 years (range 40–80 years), with 18 (43.9%) females and 23 (56.1%) males. Twenty three patients (56.1%) had Durie-Salmon (DS) stage IIIA disease. Lytic bony lesions were present in 31 (75.6%) patients and most common Ig type was IgG kappa (43.9%). Seven patients (17%) achieved CR, 14 (34%) had PR, 16 (39%) had stable disease (SD) and 4 (10%) had progressive disease (PD). There was no significant association found between t(14;18) result and patient age (p = 0.4985), gender (p = 0.6786), DS stage (p = 0.6117), ISS stage (p = 0.5541), presence of bony lytic lesions (p = 0.1435), patients being paraprotein secretors or non-secretors (p = 1), Ig type (p = 0.0584), or response to treatment (p = 0.1066). Conclusions: Presence of bcl-2 translocation is associated with aggressive clinical course and suboptimal response to conventional chemotherapy in myeloma patients. Although, the number of patients analyzed in this analysis is small, we did not find the presence of bcl-2 translocation to be an adverse prognostic marker in myeloma patients treated with bortezomib-based regimens.
Association of human neurotropic JC virus with pediatric gangliogliomas.

2085 Background: JC virus (JCV), a member of the Polyomaviridaefamily, is a widespread ubiquitous human pathogen found in greater than 80% of the adult population, where it persists in a latent sta...
A wedge‐of‐the‐edge theorem: analytic continuation of multivariable Pick functions in and around the boundary

In 1956, quantum physicist N. Bogoliubov discovered the edge-of-the-wedge theorem, a theorem used to analytically continue a function through the boundary of a domain under certain conditions. We discuss an analogous phenomenon, a wedge-of-the-edge theorem, for the boundary values of Pick functions, functions from the poly upper half plane into the half plane. We show that Pick functions which have a continuous real-valued extension to a union of two hypercubes with a certain orientation in Rd have good analytic continuation properties. Furthermore, we establish bounds on the behavior of this analytic continuation, which makes normal families arguments accessible on the boundary for Pick functions in several variables. Moreover, we obtain a Hartog's phenomenon type result for locally inner functions.
Diminished injury in hypotransferrinemic mice after exposure to a metal-rich particle

Using the hypotransferrinemic (Hp) mouse model, we studied the effect of altered iron homeostasis on the defense of the lung against a catalytically active metal. The homozygotic (hpx/hpx) Hp mice had greatly diminished concentrations of both serum and lavage fluid transferrin relative to wild-type mice and heterozygotes. Fifty micrograms of a particle containing abundant concentrations of metals (a residual oil fly ash) was instilled into wild-type mice and heterozygotic and homozygotic Hp animals. There was an oxidative stress associated with particle exposure as manifested by decreased lavage fluid concentrations of ascorbate. However, rather than an increase in lung injury, diminished transferrin concentrations in homozygotic Hp mice were associated with decreased indexes of damage, including concentrations of relevant cytokines, inflammatory cell influx, lavage fluid protein, and lavage fluid lactate dehydrogenase. Comparable to other organs in the homozygotic Hp mouse, siderosis of the lung was evident, with elevated concentrations of lavage fluid and tissue iron. Consequent to these increased concentrations of iron, proteins to store and transport iron, ferritin, and lactoferrin, respectively, were increased when assayed by immunoprecipitation and immunohistochemistry. We conclude that the lack of transferrin in Hp mice did not predispose the animals to lung injury after exposure to a particle abundant in metals. Rather, these mice demonstrated a diminished injury that was associated with an increase in the metal storage and transport proteins.
Aerodynamic Design of the Hyperloop Concept

The Hyperloop is a ground-based transportation system concept slated to drastically reduce travel times over medium range distances, for example between San Francisco and Los Angeles. This paper di...
Adjuvant Systemic Therapy in Patients With Early-Stage NSCLC Treated With Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy.

Abstract Introduction Stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) is commonly used to treat nonsurgical patients with early-stage NSCLC. There are no prospective data on the role of adjuvant chemotherapy in this setting. Methods Patients (≥18 years) diagnosed with clinical stages I-II NSCLC from 2004 to 2013 were identified using the National Cancer Database (n = 11,836). The Kaplan-Meier method was used to estimate overall survival (OS) distributions and the log-rank test was used to compare distributions by treatment strategy. Clinical stages I and II were subdivided according to the TNM staging and log-rank tests was used to compare survival distributions by treatment strategy within each subgroup. Results In patients with T2bN0, median OS in the SBRT alone and SBRT plus adjuvant chemotherapy groups were 16.5 months versus 24.2 months, respectively (95% confidence interval [CI]: 14.1–20.1 months and 18.8–33.3 months, respectively; p Conclusions SBRT followed by adjuvant chemotherapy was associated with improved OS in comparison with SBRT alone in patients with T greater than or equal to 4 cm, similar to that seen after surgery.
Interpreting mixing relationships in energetic melts to estimate vapor contribution and composition

Abstract Energetic events such as meteorite impacts or nuclear explosions in silicate-rich environments produce compositionally heterogeneous melts/vapors that quench to glasses such as tektites and fallout. These glassy byproducts constitute a compositional record of an unknown vapor combined with melted, compositionally heterogeneous environmental materials. The energetic formation process often results in incomplete mixing in the melt, being preserved as a glass. While this chemical heterogeneity can theoretically be interpreted to understand the starting conditions of the system, individual source materials may have overlapping element abundances and chemical behaviors that complicate interpretation using tools such as bivariate analysis. This paper develops and compares multivariate linear-least squares approaches to understand major element relationships in compositionally heterogeneous glasses. We compare classical least squares (CLS) and principal component analysis (PCA) with two multivariate curve resolution–alternating least squares (MCR-ALS) optimization techniques that are novel in application. These approaches are tested using synthetic data to understand sensitivities to the resulting determination of the abundances and compositions of the precursor components. We explore the impact of incomplete a priori knowledge of the system prior to an energetic glass formation event on the resulting confidence and accuracy of the modeled solution (i.e., the number, composition, and abundances of the precursor materials). We conclude that a closure and equality constrained MCR-ALS approach is the most robust means of identifying precursor components, and is a suitable alternative to CLS-style approaches when the investigator has incomplete knowledge of the starting precursor chemical compositions. The MCR-ALS approach is then applied to measurements of fallout glass reported in the literature, demonstrating how multivariate approaches can be applied to objectively establish pre-event source term compositions and contributions.
Technology Access, Technical Assistance, and Disparities in Inpatient Portal Use.

Background Disadvantaged populations, including minorities and the elderly, use patient portals less often than relatively more advantaged populations. Limited access to and experience with technology contribute to these disparities. Free access to devices, the Internet, and technical assistance may eliminate disparities in portal use. Objective To examine predictors of frequent versus infrequent portal use among hospitalized patients who received free access to an iPad, the Internet, and technical assistance. Materials and Methods This subgroup analysis includes 146 intervention-arm participants from a pragmatic randomized controlled trial of an inpatient portal. The participants received free access to an iPad and inpatient portal while hospitalized on medical and surgical cardiac units, together with hands-on help using them. We used logistic regression to identify characteristics predictive of frequent use. Results More technology experience (adjusted odds ratio [OR] = 5.39, p = 0.049), less severe illness (adjusted OR = 2.07, p = 0.077), and private insurance (adjusted OR = 2.25, p = 0.043) predicted frequent use, with a predictive performance (area under the curve) of 65.6%. No significant differences in age, gender, race, ethnicity, level of education, employment status, or patient activation existed between the frequent and infrequent users in bivariate analyses. Significantly more frequent users noticed medical errors during their hospital stay. Discussion and Conclusion Portal use was not associated with several sociodemographic characteristics previously found to limit use in the inpatient setting. However, limited technology experience and high illness severity were still barriers to frequent use. Future work should explore additional strategies, such as enrolling health care proxies and improving usability, to reduce potential disparities in portal use.
Words to Meaningful Sentence: Analytics through Game Interface

In this work, we designed an experiment to discover the sentence making process followed by a human. To achieve the goal of meaningful sentence construction with a context by the computer, it requires an efficient algorithm. The computer can identify visual elements of a scene through the convolutional neural network. These visual elements are a few important words in a whole sentence. A human being constructs a meaningful sentence with such visual elements by incorporating connecting words which is not yet plausible by the computer. The typical generative deep models generate sentences which many times does not follow the context because the methods of sentence construction by a human (i.e., interpolation of connecting words) are less studied. This research is an attempt to have a better idea of the words interpolation. This will be useful to devise an efficient algorithm for image description generation especially for the useful application of visually impaired or blind people.
An average-case sublinear forward algorithm for the haploid Li and Stephens model

Hidden Markov models of haplotype inheritance such as the Li and Stephens model allow for computationally tractable probability calculations using the forward algorithm as long as the representative reference panel used in the model is sufficiently small. Specifically, the monoploid Li and Stephens model and its variants are linear in reference panel size unless heuristic approximations are used. However, sequencing projects numbering in the thousands to hundreds of thousands of individuals are underway, and others numbering in the millions are anticipated. To make the forward algorithm for the haploid Li and Stephens model computationally tractable for these datasets, we have created a numerically exact version of the algorithm with observed average case sublinear runtime with respect to reference panel size k when tested against the 1000 Genomes dataset. We show a forward algorithm which avoids any tradeoff between runtime and model complexity. Our algorithm makes use of two general strategies which might be applicable to improving the time complexity of other future sequence analysis algorithms: sparse dynamic programming matrices and lazy evaluation.
Acute Tubular Necrosis from Rhabdomyolysis from Leg Compartment Syndrome: A Case Report.

Case A 31-year-old male sustained acute compartment syndrome to his left leg after a low-energy fall and required a 4-compartment fasciotomy release. His immediate postoperative course was complicated by acute tubular necrosis (ATN) with creatinine elevated to 4.89 mg/dL from rhabdomyolysis. ATN was managed with aggressive hydration, sodium bicarbonate, and alkaline diuresis, and his creatinine levels improved. Conclusions ATN from rhabdomyolysis is a rare complication of compartment syndrome that requires high suspicion and timely treatment to prevent further nephrotoxicity and the resultant increases in mortality. It is imperative for orthopedic surgeons to be aware of this potential complication.
Absent Ureteral Efflux after Hysterectomy Leads to Diagnosis of Ureteral Atresia with Renal Atrophy

Iatrogenic injury to the urinary system is a known complication of gynecologic surgery; therefore, intraoperative cystoscopy is frequently performed to assess for such injuries. However, if an abnormality is seen, the differential diagnosis extends beyond iatrogenic causes. A 42-year-old patient underwent a total abdominal hysterectomy and had absent efflux from the right ureteral orifice on cystoscopy. While iatrogenic injury was initially suspected, the intraoperative workup (including intravenous pyelography (IVP)) that ensued led to an empiric diagnosis of right ureteral atresia with ipsilateral renal atrophy that was then confirmed on postoperative imaging. When an abnormality is seen on cystoscopy following gynecologic surgery, it is important to maintain a broad differential diagnosis and to pursue an intraoperative workup with early involvement and close collaboration with urology.
Compassionate Use of Remdesivir for Patients with Severe Covid-19.

Abstract Background Remdesivir, a nucleotide analogue prodrug that inhibits viral RNA polymerases, has shown in vitro activity against SARS-CoV-2. Methods We provided remdesivir on a compassionate-...
Using Reinforcement Learning to Herd a Robotic Swarm to a Target Distribution

In this paper, we present a reinforcement learning approach to designing a control policy for a "leader" agent that herds a swarm of "follower" agents, via repulsive interactions, as quickly as possible to a target probability distribution over a strongly connected graph. The leader control policy is a function of the swarm distribution, which evolves over time according to a mean-field model in the form of an ordinary difference equation. The dependence of the policy on agent populations at each graph vertex, rather than on individual agent activity, simplifies the observations required by the leader and enables the control strategy to scale with the number of agents. Two Temporal-Difference learning algorithms, SARSA and Q-Learning, are used to generate the leader control policy based on the follower agent distribution and the leader's location on the graph. A simulation environment corresponding to a grid graph with 4 vertices was used to train and validate the control policies for follower agent populations ranging from 10 to 100. Finally, the control policies trained on 100 simulated agents were used to successfully redistribute a physical swarm of 10 small robots to a target distribution among 4 spatial regions.
Quantitative analysis of PAH compounds in DWH crude oil and their effects on Caenorhabditis elegans germ cell apoptosis, associated with CYP450s upregulation

Abstract The Deepwater Horizon (DWH) oil spill marked the largest environmental oil spill in human history, where it was estimated a large amount of the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) were released with crude oil into the environment. In this study, common PAH compounds were quantitatively determined in crude oil from the DWH spill by gas chromatography-mass spectroscopy (GC–MS). Twelve PAH compounds were identified and quantified from a 100× dilution of DWH crude oil: naphthalene (7800 ng/mL), acenaphthylene (590 ng/mL), acenaphtehen (540 ng/mL), fluorene (2550 ng/mL), phenanthrene (2910 ng/mL), anthracene (840 ng/mL), fluoranthene (490 ng/mL), pyrene (290 ng/mL), benzo(k) fluoranthene (1050 ng/mL), benzo(b)fluoranthene (1360 ng/mL), dibenz(a,h)anthracene (2560 ng/mL), and benzo(g, h, i) perylene (630 ng/mL). Toxicity assays using the nematode, Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans), indicated a single PAH compound naphthalene, exposure increased C. elegans germ cell apoptosis which may adversely affect progeny reproduction. The number of apoptotic germ cells significantly increased from 1.4 to 2.5 when worms were treated with 10 μg/mL of naphthalene and from 1.3 to 2.5 and 3.5 cells in presence of 1 μg/mL and 5 μg/mL of benzo(a)pyrene, respectively. Five CYP450 genes (CYP14A3, CYP35A1, CYP35A2, CYP35A5, and CYP35C1) were significantly upregulated following 500× dilution of dispersed crude oil exposure (p
Considering data literacy using Kuhlthau’s Information Search Process: Implications for librarians and data providers

This article uses Kuhlthau’s Information Search Process (ISP) to illustrate ways that librarians can assist students and collaborate with data providers to improve the data search process. Libraria...
Effect of all-trans retinoic acid and pentagalloyl glucose on smooth muscle cell elastogenesis.

Background The main objective of tissue engineering is to fabricate a tissue construct that mimics native tissue both biologically and mechanically. A recurring problem for tissue-engineered blood vessels (TEBV) is deficient elastogenesis from seeded smooth muscle cells. Elastin is an integral mechanical component in blood vessels, allowing elastic deformation and retraction in response to the shear and pulsatile forces of the cardiac system. Objective The goal of this research is to assess the effect of the vitamin A derivative all-trans retinoic acid (RA) and polyphenol pentagalloyl glucose (PGG) on the expression of elastin in human aortic smooth muscle cells (hASMC). Methods A polycaprolactone (PCL) and the gelatin polymer composite was electrospun and doped with RA and PGG. The scaffolds were subsequently seeded with hASMCs and incubated for five weeks. The resulting tissue-engineered constructs were evaluated using qPCR and Fastin assay for their elastin expression and deposition. Results All treatments showed an increased elastin expression compared to the control, with PGG treatments showing a significant increase in gene expression and elastin deposition.
Maximizing phosphorus recovery as biofertilizer in an algal wastewater treatment system

Abstract Our previous reports have demonstrated an algal pathway for treating settled sewage and recovering its energy-, nitrogen-, and phosphorous-contents via hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL) of the resulting algal biomass. The first part of the current study was to intensify a critical step in the phosphorous (P) recovery process which entails alkaline leaching of the P-rich byproduct of HTL– biochar, to yield a P-rich eluate. The following parameters driving the efficiency and cost of leaching P from biochar were systematically evaluated: leaching time, concentration of base eluent, mixing during leaching, liquid:solid (L:S) ratio in leaching, and temperature. Optimum leaching time, base concentration, L:S ratio, and temperature were found to be 72 h, 0.5 M, 20:1, and 60 °C, respectively. Under these optimal conditions, >86% of P in the biochar could be extracted at an estimated cost of $4.54/kg P. In the second part of this study, a three-step procedure was developed to recover high-purity biofertilizers from the P-rich eluate of biochar. In the first step, impurities along with 24.6% of P in the eluate were precipitated. In the second step, high-quality struvite (comprising 72.7% of P in the eluate) was precipitated from the supernatant of the first step. In the third step, the precipitate from the first step was dissolved and its P-content was re-precipitated as high-quality calcium phosphate. This three-step procedure resulted in 95.4% P-recovery from biochar eluate at $5.29/kg P. Reclaimed struvite and calcium phosphate were shown to be of high chemical purity, complying with US EPA guidelines for metals.
Designing energy-efficient serial production lines: The unpaced synchronous line-balancing problem

Abstract One of the primary elements of a sustainable manufacturing initiative is that of energy efficiency. Line balancing can be used to design efficient manufacturing systems for paced assembly lines when the operation times are known, but may provide inefficient assignments with variable task times. Thus, we propose the use of unpaced synchronous lines as an alternative to paced lines when there is considerable variability in task times. While a great deal of research has been conducted on the line-balancing problem for paced synchronous production lines as well as for unpaced asynchronous lines, relatively little has focused on the unpaced synchronous configuration, despite its practical relevance. This research addresses this type of production line, with stochastic task completion times, by formulating an appropriate model and developing and evaluating a variety of solution methodologies utilizing extreme value theory as well as simulation. Computational results are presented to gain insight into the design and operation of unpaced synchronous systems.
Interventions in Aging and Neurodegenerative Disease: Effects on Adult StemCells

Throughout the entire life span, stem cells are present in many organs of our body and continue to produce new cells which are critical to maintain homeostasis and to repair damaged tissues. In the brain, stem cells generate new neurons through a process called neurogenesis. With age, stem cells lose their ability to generate new cells, although the number of stem cells remains constant over time. This may be due in part to cellular stresses such as inflammation, oxidative stress, and loss of trophic factors that accumulate with age. A better understanding of the regulatory factors which control neurogenesis is necessary in order to utilize the potential of the endogenous adult stem cells to treat the degenerative condition.
Silicon (Amorphous) (a-Si)

Publisher Summary The optical properties of amorphous silicon (a-Si) are sensitive to the preparation conditions and doping with hydrogen. Surface conditions and oxide films on the surface affect the optical measurements strongly, especially in the ultraviolet. The optical properties of a-Si are also affected by the amount of disorder in the samples. Disorder is generally determined by substrate temperature, deposition rate, deposition method, impurities, vacuum conditions, annealing conditions, and environmental conditions. The mismatch of the expansion coefficients of the sample and the substrate introduces stress that can cause grain boundaries and voids in the sample. Annealing of the samples can help in reducing the strain, but can generally increase the surface roughness. It is noted that the a-Si samples should never be exposed to air before making the optical measurements. A measurement of the surface roughness should be performed, because specular reflectance measurements need to be corrected for imperfect surfaces. X-ray and low-energy electron-diffraction measurements are made to explore the amorphous and surface properties of the samples.
Preliminary results from Nimbus II

Nimbus II observation in visible and infrared regions to predict development of storms and frontal systems
A Historian Looks Back: The Calculus as Algebra and Selected Writings

Judith Grabiner, the author of A Historian Looks Back, has long been interested in investigating what mathematicians actually do, and how mathematics actually has developed. She addresses the results of her investigations not principally to other historians, but to mathematicians and teachers of mathematics. This book brings together much of what she has had to say to this audience. The centerpiece of the book is The Calculus as Algebra: J.-L. Lagrange, 1736-1813. The book describes the achievements, setbacks, and influence of Lagrange's pioneering attempt to reduce the calculus to algebra. Nine additional articles round out the book describing the history of the derivative; the origin of delta-epsilon proofs; Descartes and problem solving; the contrast between the calculus of Newton and Maclaurin, and that of Lagrange; Maclaurin's way of doing mathematics and science and his surprisingly important influence; some widely held 'myths' about the history of mathematics; Lagrange's attempt to prove Euclid's parallel postulate; and the central role that mathematics has played throughout the history of western civilization.
Behaviour of Technetium in Freshwater Environments

Currently the major sources of 99Tc released to the environment in the United States are gaseous diffusion plants that enrich reprocessed nuclear fuel. At present these facilities are located on freshwater streams into which liquid effluents are released. Of the total amount of 99Tc that escapes these facilities more than 90% may enter the liquid pathway [1]. Information on the behaviour of technetium in aquatic ecosystems is limited; most data on the uptake of technetium by aquatic organisms are restricted to marine environments.
Effort-limited fair (ELF) scheduling for wireless networks

While packet scheduling for wired links is a maturing area, scheduling of wireless links is less mature. A fundamental difference between wired and wireless links is that wireless media can exhibit substantial rates of link errors, resulting in significant and unpredictable loss of link capacity. This capacity loss results in a special challenge for wireless schedulers. For example, a weighted fair queue (WFQ) scheduler assumes an error free link and specifies how flows should share the link capacity. However, this specification is not sufficient to determine the correct outcome when link capacity is sharply reduced, because flows that have been allocated the same weights may differ greatly in their ability to tolerate throughput loss. In this paper, we first describe the wireless scheduling challenge in terms of an effort-outcome disconnection. Next we propose a novel notion of fairness for wireless links, effort-limited fairness (ELF), which extends WFQ via dynamic weight adjustments. ELF guarantees that all flows experiencing an error rate below a per flow threshold receive their expected service, defined as a specified rate for reserved flows or a specified share of best-effort capacity for best effort flows. After motivating and defining ELF, we present a practical approximation algorithm, which we evaluate through both trace-driven simulation and measurement of a prototype wireless radio network based on the WaveLAN physical layer.
Imaging unresolved rotating asteroids

Abstract Most asteroids subtend extremely small angles in the sky so it is impossible to directly discerneither surface reflectivity, shape variations, or the spin axis using existing ground-based telescopesystems. A super-resolution inversion technique relates the lightcurves of a rotating asteroid, whichis represented as a polyhedron with planar surface facets, to the unknown radial vertex distances. Any number of lightcurves at different aspect angles can be incorporated into the formalism.Generalizations to delay-Doppler echo radar imaging are also discussed, as well as some of the issues associated with these inversion methods.Keywords: Imaging, asteroids, super-resolution, inverse problems, meteors, radar imaging Introduction Between Mars and Jupiter reside thousands, perhaps millions, of small worlds that are primitiveremnants of the early solar system (Cunnigham 1988). Because of perturbations from the gas giantplanet Jupiter some of these bodies are cast into orbits that often take them nearer the sun than theEarth. It is desirable to understand as much as possible about these enigmatic entities in order to
Energy-scalable protocols for battery-operated microsensor networks

To maximize battery lifetimes of distributed wireless sensors, network protocols and data fusion algorithms should be designed with low power techniques. Network protocols minimize energy by using localized communication and control and by exploiting computation/communication tradeoffs. In addition, data fusion algorithms such as beamforming aggregate data from multiple sources to reduce data redundancy and enhance signal-to-noise ratios, thus further reducing the required communications. We have developed a sensor network system that uses a localized clustering protocol and beamforming data fusion to enable energy-efficient collaboration. We have implemented two beamforming algorithms, the Maximum Power and the Least Mean Squares (LMS) beamforming algorithms, on the StrongARM (SA-1100) processor. Results from our experiments show that the LMS algorithm requires less than one-fifth the energy required by the Maximum Power beamforming algorithm with only a 3 dB loss in performance. The energy requirements of the LMS algorithm was further reduced through the use of variable-length filters, a variable voltage supply, and variable adaptation time.
Choose Beverages and Foods to Moderate Your Intake of Sugars: The 2000 Dietary Guidelines for Americans—What’s All the Fuss About?

As part of the 2000 Dietary Guidelines for Americans, the public is advised to choose beverages and foods to moderate their intake of sugars. The term sugars is conventionally used to describe the mono- and disaccharides. However, the Dietary Guidelines for Americans distinguish between added sugars and other sources of carbohydrates. The concept of added sugars provides consumers with useful information, especially if they are trying to limit excessive use of caloric sweeteners. Added sugars are defined as sugars that are eaten separately at the table or used as ingredients in processed or prepared foods. Consumption of added sugars has increased steadily as documented by both food supply data and nationwide food consumption survey data. The largest source of added sugars in the U.S. diet is nondiet soft drinks, accounting for one third of total intake. Diets high in sugars have been associated with various health problems, including dental caries, dyslipidemias, obesity, bone loss and fractures, and poor diet quality. Research gaps are identified.
Development of nervous system function in mice: Normative data and gene effects

Conduction velocity in peripheral nerves of mice independently sampled from an 8-way outcross population at 4 ages (30, 60, 90, and 120 days) increases with strong linear and quadratic age effects. Effects of age on peripheral nerve function are similar for the sexes and strong linear tendencies remain after correction for differences in body weight and tail length suggesting that age changes in conduction velocity are not simply associated with body growth. Individuals of the DBA/1J and C3H/HeJ inbred strains sampled at the 4 ages also show substantial linear and quadratic age effects but linear trends are different for the strains. These results demonstrate that gene differences can impose different patterns of development of peripheral nervous system function. Genotype specific changes in nerve function with age persist well beyond sexual maturity.
Verification of quantum effects in the scattering of heavy charged particles by single crystals

Abstract An isotopic effect recently reported by Foti and coworkers in Rutherford scattering from a silicon single crystal is ascribed to the quantum mechanical near-field effects of a positive potential. An experiment further to verify this interpretation is proposed.
Simulation package for multiple intravenous infusions of two compartment pharmacokinetic drugs

Abstract A program is presented to simulate the blood concentrations of two compartment pharmacokinetic drugs following multiple or intermittent constant rate intravenous infusions. The package requires the data input of some two compartment parameters, the rates and lengths of the infusions, and provides blood concentration-time predictions utilizing the principle of superposition. A unique feature of the package is the graphical plotting option, which displays the entire simulation all at once. The package was developed on a 48 000 byte Radio Shack TRS-80 microcomputer ∗ ∗Radio Shack, Division Tandy Corp., Forth Worth, Texas (U.S.A.).. The interpreter used was Radio Shack TRS-80 Level II Basic ∗ . This program is also compatible with TRS-80 Level III Basic ∗∗ ∗∗A G2 Product from GRT, copyright 1979 by Microsoft.. Approximately 5300 bytes of memory are occupied by the program with another 500–1500 bytes being necessary for data and results.
Nonclassic 21-hydroxylase deficiency presenting as endometrial hyperplasia with uterine bleeding in a 67-year-old woman.

Objective To report for the first time a case of postmenopausal endometrial hyperplasia caused by nonclassic 21-hydroxylase deficiency (NC21OHD). The specific combination of mutations associated with this case has never before been reported. Design Case report. Setting Private academic practice. Patient(s) A 67-year-old woman with uterine bleeding due to endometrial hyperplasia was found to have premenopausal gonadotropins with elevated estrogens. Endocrine workup revealed increased 17-hydroxyprogesterone (17-OHP), which led to molecular testing to establish a diagnosis of NC21OHD. Intervention(s) Trial of suppression with low-dose oral dexamethasone. Main Outcome Measure(s) Resolution of postmenopausal bleeding. Result(s) Total estrogens normalized with treatment, and the endometrial stripe became normal. Conclusion(s) This is an unusual case of NC21OHD in which the sole presentation was persistent endometrial hyperplasia, with bleeding past the normal age for menopause. In women with unusual endometrial hyperplasias of this type, we suggest endocrine testing before proceeding to hysterectomy.
Cycloplegic refractions of premature infants.

Cyclopentolate refractions of 146 premature infants disclosed higher incidences of myopia and anisometropia than those reported for full-term infants. Also, more than 70% of the premature infants had 1 diopter or more of astigmatism; 83% of the astigmatism was against-the-rule. Infants with shorter gestational periods had more severe myopia and astigmatism. Infants born very prematurely should undergo follow-up refractions to determine whether they retain refractive errors large enough to interfere with visual function.