cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
The Timing and Extent of Activation of Diacylglycerol-Responsive Protein Kinase-Cs Determines Their Ability to Inhibit or Promote Platelet-Derived Growth Factor-Dependent DNA Synthesis

In response to natural agonists, such as platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF), diacylglycerol-responsive protein kinase Cs (PKCs) are activated at two distinct times, early and mid G1, and only the late activity is required for the transition into S phase. Surprisingly, the potent PKC activator phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (PMA) inhibits DNA synthesis when it is added in mid G1. Here we investigated why different PKC agonists had opposing effects on cell proliferation. We found that the magnitude and timing of PKC activation determined their ability to suppress DNA synthesis. Furthermore, potent activation of PKCs resulted in robust Erk activation and elevation of p21(CIP1). Finally, PMA was unable to block PDGF-dependent cell cycle progression in cells that lack p21(CIP1). These findings indicate that only potent activators of PKC were capable of blocking cell cycle progression, and the mechanism appears to involve an elevation of p21(CIP1).
Salmonella typhimurium Persists within Macrophages in the Mesenteric Lymph Nodes of Chronically Infected Nramp1+/+ Mice and Can Be Reactivated by IFNγ Neutralization

Host-adapted strains of Salmonella are capable of establishing a persistent infection in their host often in the absence of clinical disease. The mouse model of Salmonella infection has primarily been used as a model for the acute systemic disease. Therefore, the sites of long-term S. typhimurium persistence in the mouse are not known nor are the mechanisms of persistent infection clearly understood. Here, we show that S. typhimurium can persist for as long as 1 yr in the mesenteric lymph nodes (MLNs) of 129sv Nramp1(+)(/)(+) (Slc11a1(+)(/)(+)) mice despite the presence of high levels of anti-S. typhimurium antibody. Tissues from 129sv mice colonized for 60 d contain numerous inflammatory foci and lesions with features resembling S. typhi granulomas. Tissues from mice infected for 365 d have very few organized inflammatory lesions, but the bacteria continue to persist within macrophages in the MLN and the animals generally remain disease-free. Finally, chronically infected mice treated with an interferon-gamma neutralizing antibody exhibited symptoms of acute systemic infection, with evidence of high levels of bacterial replication in most tissues and high levels of fecal shedding. Thus, interferon-gamma, which may affect the level of macrophage activation, plays an essential role in the control of the persistent S. typhimurium infection in mice.
Soluble and slow-release nitrogen fertilizer effects on grass forage, as influenced by rate and placement

.. SUMMARY Soluble ammonium nitrate (AN) and urea were compared with slow-release oxamido and sulphur-coated urea (SCU) as N sources for clipped annual ryograss (Loliummulti. florum) or common bermuda grass (Cynodon dactylon) in four greenhouse experiments. Mixed and surface applications of a wide range of N rates were evaluated for 9 to 14 cuttings of grass forage. Both granular oxamide and SCU exhibited slow-release N proper­ ties, especially when surface-applied. Uptake distribution of N with high application rates of AN and urea tended to resemble that with the slow-release sources. Slow-release properties of oxamide and SCU were accentuated at high application rates. Lower N recovery from surface-applied urea than from AN indicated volatilization loss of urea N. Volatilization loss also occurred with oxamide, but low N recovery from oxamide and SCU resulted largely from incomplete dissolution of the granules during the 18- to 34-week experimental periods. Very low N recovery was obtained from urea formalde. hyde having an activity index of 42.
Zebrafish pax8 is required for otic placode induction and plays a redundant role with Pax2 genes in the maintenance of the otic placode.

Vertebrate Pax2 and Pax8 proteins are closely related transcription factors hypothesized to regulate early aspects of inner ear development. In zebrafish and mouse, Pax8 expression is the earliest known marker of otic induction, and Pax2 homologs are expressed at slightly later stages of placodal development. Analysis of compound mutants has not been reported. To facilitate analysis of zebrafish pax8 , we completed sequencing of the entire gene, including the 5′ and 3′ UTRs. pax8 transcripts undergo complex alternative splicing to generate at least ten distinct isoforms. Two different subclasses of pax8 splice isoforms encode different translation initiation sites. Antisense morpholinos (MOs) were designed to block translation from both start sites, and four additional MOs were designed to target different exon-intron boundaries to block splicing. Injection of MOs, individually and in various combinations, generated similar phenotypes. Otic induction was impaired, and otic vesicles were small. Regional ear markers were expressed correctly, but hair cell production was significantly reduced. This phenotype was strongly enhanced by simultaneously disrupting either of the co-inducers fgf3 or fgf8 , or another early regulator, dlx3b , which is thought to act in a parallel pathway. In contrast, the phenotype caused by disrupting foxi1 , which is required for pax8 expression, was not enhanced by simultaneously disrupting pax8 . Disrupting pax8, pax2a and pax2b did not further impair otic induction relative to loss of pax8 alone. However, the amount of otic tissue gradually decreased in pax8-pax2a-pax2b -deficient embryos such that no otic tissue was detectable by 24 hours post-fertilization. Loss of otic tissue did not correlate with increased cell death, suggesting that otic cells dedifferentiate or redifferentiate as other cell type(s). These data show that pax8 is initially required for normal otic induction, and subsequently pax8, pax2a and pax2b act redundantly to maintain otic fate.
Application of the Princen-Bradley filter bank to speech and image compression

The authors provide an efficient fast Fourier transform implementation, a set of optimal windows, and a new proof of the perfect reconstruction property for a critically sampled filter bank introduced by Princen and Bradley. Based on the new proof, necessary conditions for perfect reconstruction are also derived for the oversampled case. This filter bank is well suited to compression of speech and images due to its good frequency resolution, overlapped output, computational efficiency, and low delay. The authors evaluated its performance in a 32 band, 16-kb/s adaptive speech compression system, and found both its objective and subjective performance to be comparable to a more complex quadrature mirror filter bank. In image coding experiments, the Princen-Bradley filter bank demonstrated quality similar to DCT-based systems at high rates and reduced blocking artifacts at rates of 0.25-0.5 bpp. A psychophysically based bit allocation algorithm that provides a significant perceptual improvement over a related algorithm that seeks to minimize the mean-square error is introduced. >
The Effects of Presleep Activity on All‐Night Sleep

The effects of different presleep activities on all-night sleep were assessed. Nine young adult males engaged in brief periods of progressive relaxation (Relaxation), light dynamic exercise (Exercise), or a boring monotonous vigilance task (Vigilance) immediately before bed on consecutive nights. Standard electrophysiological data were recorded during the 7.5 hrs of sleep. The latency of sleep onset was shortest after Relaxation and longest after Exercise. Presleep heart rate and electromyograph levels were not related to sleep onset. Sleep stages were not differentiated by condition and no sleep parameter differed from normative data. The results suggest that it is possible to alter sleep latency by manipulating presleep behavior without disrupting the normal steep pattern.
Correlation dimension of optokinetic nystagmus as evidence of chaos in the oculomotor system

The correlation dimension of optokinetic nystagmus (OKN) eye movements from a normal human subject was computed. Results indicate a value of about 2.8, indicating the possibility of chaotic dynamics in OKN. This was found to differ from the dimension of an artificial OKN signal with the same second-order statistics. >
Compressions of liquids. II. Critical evaluation of new n‐alkane data: n‐Heptane to n‐tetracontane

New measurements of the volumes of liquid n-alkanes of 7, 9, 11, 13, 17, 20, 30, and 40 carbon atoms over a range of temperatures from 20° to 300°C. and pressures from 0 to 4,000 kg./sq. cm. have been made. These volume measurements are here reduced to compressions (vol)/(vol°T), and the accuracy of the measurements has been determined. Analysis of the data for n-heptane and n-eicosane shows that the order of accuracy of the compressions of each of these compounds appears to be approximately 3 parts in 10,000. Evaluation of random multiple measurements on the remaining six compounds indicates that their over-all accuracy is likewise of this same order.
Conversational skills of children with cleft lip and palate: a replication and extension.

Abstract Objective: To replicate and to extend a previous study examining the conversational skills of children with cleft lip and palate. Participants: Thirty-four children (33 to 44 months) participated: 17 children with cleft lip and palate and 17 noncleft children. Methods: The children were observed during an interaction with caregivers in their homes. Samples of caregiver-child interactions were coded as assertive or responsive, for type of conversational act, and for discourse level categories. Profiles of conversational activity were determined for each child based on the coding. Correlations were performed to examine the relationship between assertiveness and speech variables (articulation and resonance) for the children with cleft lip and palate. Results: Group comparisons revealed that the children with cleft lip and palate produced fewer assertive utterances, were less likely to respond adequately to comments by caregivers, and produced more topic maintaining and fewer topic extending utteranc...
Less conservative absolute stability criteria using Integral Quadratic Constraints

Lur'e systems, that are described by the feedback interconnection of a linear time invariant system and a nonlinear system, form an important class of nonlinear systems arising in many modern applications. A number of absolute stability criteria are available where the stability is guaranteed with the nonlinearity restricted to a pre-specified set. Most of these criteria provide sufficient conditions for absolute stability, thus lessening the conservativeness remains a challenge. A method of reducing conservativeness is to first estimate the part of the nonlinearity that is appropriate from an asymptotic sense followed by the application of a preferred absolute stability criteria to the more restricted nonlinearity. A comprehensive framework that incorporates the above approach is developed in this paper that employs a methodology based on Integral Quadratic Constraints as a means of describing the nonlinearity. It is shown that the developed framework can be used to conclude absolute stability of Lur'e interconnections where all of the existing criteria fail to be satisfied. Indeed, examples are provided where the nonlinearity does not fall into the classes assumed by existing absolute criteria. Another contribution of the article is the extension of IQC theory.
Functional divergence of antigen-specific T-lymphocyte responses in syngeneic graft-versus-host disease

Administration of cyclosporine after autologous bone marrow transplantation elicits a T-lymphocyte autoaggression syndrome with remarkable similarity to graft-versus-host disease (GVHD). This syndrome, termed syngeneic GVHD (SGVHD), with both acute and chronic phases, is mediated by a restricted repertoire of autoreactive T cells that promiscuously recognize major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class II determinants in association with a peptide from the invariant chain (MHC class II-invariant chain peptide; CLIP). This study evaluated and compared antigen-specific autoreactive T cells during acute and chronic SGVHD ex vivo isolated with a soluble MHC class II immunoglobulin molecular construct. This approach allows for the direct assessment of the functional behavior of the effector T cells without potential modification by in vitro culture. Two major subsets were detected that had overlapping specificity recognizing the MHC class II-binding domain of CLIP but that were differentially dependent on the N- and C-terminal flanking domains of this peptide. The N- and C-terminal subsets were primarily associated with acute and chronic SGVHD, respectively. The cytokine profiles of the CLIP-reactive T cells, however, were most informative and closely correlated with the onset and progression of disease. Levels of type 1 cytokine, particularly interferon-gamma, messenger RNA (mRNA) production, assessed by quantitative polymerase chain reaction, were dominant during acute SGVHD, whereas chronic SGVHD was associated with type 2 cytokine mRNA production. Although there was a dramatic polarization with respect to cytokine production, only subtle changes in antigen specificity could be detected. Unexpectedly, the functional behavior within the antigen-specific effector cell populations is not fixed and seems to change as the disease progresses to the chronic phase. Concordant with the evolution of the effector T-cell response is a differential loss in B7.1 mRNA expression in the N-terminal CLIP-reactive T-cell subset that may reflect the regulation of this autoimmune response. Of additional interest, autoreactive T cells producing interleukin-10 mRNA were detected in both acute and chronic SGVHD, suggesting that this cytokine may play an important but perhaps paradoxical role in both the onset and progression of this experimental autoaggression syndrome.
A new approach for the forward and backward substitutions of parallel solution of sparse linear equations based on dataflow architecture

The authors present a novel parallel computational method for solving the forward and backward substitutions (F/B) of sparse linear equations. The architectural model is a multiprocessor hypertube based on the MIT Tagged Token Dataflow Architecture (TTDA). Communication overhead is considered. Differences of the operating time units with respect to subtraction, multiplication, and division are modeled. A processor scheduling algorithm is introduced. In the algorithm, a highly sparse operational sequence matrix C is developed. From the C matrix, the minimal completion time, the critical path, and the scheduling of the processors for the proposed parallel F/B can be determined. A detailed explanation of the implementation of the TTDA in the proposed method is provided. A number of power systems have been examined, and a number of scenarios have been simulated to test the performance of the proposed method. The results are presented and discussed. >
31P NMR studies of ATP concentrations and Pi–ATP exchange in the rat kidney in Vivo: Effects of inhibiting and stimulating renal metabolism

Previous investigators found that cyanide (CN-) is a potent inhibitor of renal Na+ transport, while the uncoupling agent 2,4-dinitrophenol (DNP) and fructose (both which lower ATP levels) are weak transport inhibitors. To examine the disparate effects of these substances measurements of ATP were performed, using 31P NMR, while simultaneously monitoring renal Na+ transport. Infusion of CN-, DNP, and fructose lowered whole kidney ATP levels by about the same extent (30%) while only CN- inhibited Na+ transport. This may be due to the fact that CN- has a potent action on the thick ascending limb of Henle, while fructose and DNP may have a more proximal action. Alternatively, ATP turnover may be a more important determinant of transport than ATP concentrations. Saturation transfer experiments were performed to measure Pi-ATP flux. Unilateral nephrectomy, high protein feeding, and methylprednisolone were used to stimulate metabolism and transport. The rate of Pi-ATP flux was 20.1 mumol/min/g. However, because oxygen consumption was stimulated, the ATP/O ratio was 0.85, considerably less than the theoretical value of 3. Finally, atrial natriuretic factor, which increased Na+ transport, had no effect on Pi-ATP flux. The results raise the possibility that the saturation transfer technique does not detect all Pi-ATP flux, especially when renal metabolism is stimulated.
High-dose atorvastatin does not negatively influence clinical outcomes among clopidogrel treated acute coronary syndrome patients--a Pravastatin or Atorvastatin Evaluation and Infection Therapy-Thrombolysis in Myocardial Infarction 22 (PROVE IT-TIMI 22) analysis.

Background Clopidogrel is inactive in vitro and is metabolized by hepatic cytochrome P-450-3A4 to produce active metabolites. Unlike pravastatin, atorvastatin is a statin that is subject to metabolism by cytochrome P-450-3A4, and drug-drug interactions with other potent inhibitors of this cytochrome system have been demonstrated. However, the clinical impact of this interaction has created debate. Methods In the PROVE IT–TIMI 22 study, 4162 patients with an acute coronary syndrome within the preceding 10 days were randomly assigned in a 1:1 fashion to pravastatin 40 mg or atorvastatin 80 mg daily. The primary efficacy outcome measure was the time from randomization until the first occurrence of a component of the primary end point: death from any cause, myocardial infarction, documented unstable angina requiring rehospitalization, revascularization with either percutaneous coronary intervention or coronary artery bypass grafting, or stroke. Results At 30 days, there was a trend for less occurrence of the primary end point in patients randomized to atorvastatin compared with pravastatin, irrespective of whether they were taking clopidogrel. This becomes significant at 2-year follow-up in clopidogrel-treated patients (21.66 % vs 26.18% P = .0091). There was no evidence of interaction in the clopidogrel/no clopidogrel subgroup for the primary end point (interaction P = .65) or the components of the composite. Conclusion In conclusion, the beneficial affects of atorvastatin 80 mg in reducing the primary end point at 2 years is independent of coadministration with clopidogrel.
Factor IX:Molecular structure, epitopes, and mutations associated with inhibitor formation

The focus of this overview is the occurrence of inhibitors in hemophilia B. Differences exist between hemophilia A and hemophilia B in terms of disease severity and inhibitor incidence, and these are reviewed. The structure of the Factor IX (F.IX) protein and epitopes of F.IX that have been mapped using monoclonal antibodies are also reviewed. Finally, mutations that have been associated with inhibitor formation in hemophilia B are discussed.
Physiological studies on supercooled killifish (Fundulus heteroclitus). I. Serum inorganic constituents in relation to osmotic and ionic regulation at subzero temperatures.

Physiochemical properties (serum osmolality and blood pH), serum inorganic ions (sodium, potassium, calcium, magnesium, chloride, phosphate and bicarbonate) and tissue water were studied in parallel groups of adult male Fundulus heteroclitus acclimated to various temperatures (30°C, 20°C, 10°C, 4°C, 2°C, −1°C and −1.5°C) in salt water under otherwise constant laboratory conditions. When the acclimation temperature was lowered from 20°C to −1.5°C, serum osmolality increased by 20%. This increase was not indicative of osmoregulatory failure, however, since the proportion of total serum osmolality accounted for by inorganic electrolytes dropped from 98% at 20°C to 93% at −1.5°C. Serum electrolytes such as sodium, chloride, calcium, magnesium and bicarbonate increased in the subzero cold by 12%, 17%, 30%, 33% and 11% respectively whereas serum potassium and inorganic phosphate levels were unchanged. Blood pH was significantly higher at 10°C than at any other temperature. The water content of liver, testes and muscle decreased by 8% in the subzero cold. These changes in serum electrolytes and tissue water did not indicate osmoregulatory failure, however, since the new levels, once established, were maintained as long as the fish were alive. Although osmotic and ionic regulation were not as effective in the cold, they were by no means so poor as to cause death by osmotic imbalance.
Uncoupling binding of substrate CO from turnover by vanadium nitrogenase

Biocatalysis by nitrogenase, particularly the reduction of N2 and CO by this enzyme, has tremendous significance in environment- and energy-related areas. Elucidation of the detailed mechanism of nitrogenase has been hampered by the inability to trap substrates or intermediates in a well-defined state. Here, we report the capture of substrate CO on the resting-state vanadium-nitrogenase in a catalytically competent conformation. The close resemblance of this active CO-bound conformation to the recently described structure of CO-inhibited molybdenum-nitrogenase points to the mechanistic relevance of sulfur displacement to the activation of iron sites in the cofactor for CO binding. Moreover, the ability of vanadium-nitrogenase to bind substrate in the resting-state uncouples substrate binding from subsequent turnover, providing a platform for generation of defined intermediate(s) of both CO and N2 reduction.
Phase II study of RAD001 (everolimus) and depot octreotide (Sandostatin LAR) in patients with advanced low grade neuroendocrine carcinoma (LGNET)

4042 Background: Effective systemic therapy for advanced LGNET is lacking. Patients with mutation in TSC2, an endogenous inhibitor of mTOR develop LGNET. mTOR also mediate signaling downstream of IGF1 and VEGF, pathways important in LGNET. RAD001 inhibits the serine-threonine kinase activity of mTOR. Octreotide may have cytostatic activity and has been described to inhibit VEGF and IGF1 production in solid tumors. Methods: Treatment consisted of depot octreotide 30 mg IM q28 days, and RAD001 5 or 10 mg po daily. Response evaluation is performed every 12 weeks. Results: 32 patients (18 carcinoids, 13 islet cell) were enrolled between 2/05 - 1/06. 20 had prior octreotide. 27 patients have completed 12 weeks of therapy at the 5 mg dose level and undergone response evaluation. By RECIST criteria, response rate was 15%. There were 4 PR, 19 SD (including 4 patients having 18–28% reduction), 4 PD. PR occurred in 2 carcinoids, and 2 islet cell. PFS rate at week 24 was 71%. Of 21 patients with radiological progres...
Recall and Effectiveness of Messages Promoting Smoke-Free Policies in Rural Communities.

INTRODUCTION Low-cost media campaigns increase demand for smoke-free policies in underserved rural areas. The study examined the impact of loss- and gain-framed smoke-free print ads on recall and perceived effectiveness in rural communities, controlling for personal characteristics. METHODS Following 6- to 9-month print media campaigns in three rural counties, recall and perceived effectiveness of loss-framed (ie, targeting dangers of secondhand smoke [SHS]) and gain-framed (ie, highlighting positive aspects of smoke-free air) ads were assessed using random-digit-dial phone surveys. Respondents were asked if they remembered each ad, whether they liked it, whether they were prompted to contact a smoke-free coalition, whether the ad made them think, and whether it prompted emotion. Mixed modeling assessed whether personal factors predicted ad recall or perceived effectiveness. RESULTS Loss-framed ads were less likely to be recalled but more likely to prompt emotion. For ads of both frame types, females reported greater recall and perceived effectiveness than males. Those with less education reported higher perceived effectiveness of the ads but lower recall. Nonsmokers were more likely than smokers to perceive the ads as effective. Knowledge of SHS risk and support for smoke-free workplaces were positively associated with recall and effectiveness. CONCLUSIONS Ad recall and perceived effectiveness were associated with framing and demographic and personal characteristics. Smoke-free efforts in rural areas may be bolstered by continuing to promote benefits of smoke-free workplace policies and educate on SHS risks. Rural areas may need to provide a combination of ad types and framing strategies to appeal to a wide audience. IMPLICATIONS Rural communities are disproportionately affected by SHS and less likely to be protected by smoke-free policies. This study adds evidence-based guidance for tailoring rural smoke-free media campaigns using different framing: gain-framed messages (ie, benefits of smoke-free environments) to promote recall and loss-framed content (ie, dangers of SHS) to prompt emotion. Further, gain-framed messages that are localized to the rural community may be especially effective. Findings support designing smoke-free campaigns in rural communities with the audience in mind by tailoring messages to age, sex, and education level.
Managerial and Organizational Discourses of Workplace Bullying.

OBJECTIVE: To explore how workplace bullying is addressed by hospital nursing unit managers and organizational policies. BACKGROUND: Although workplace bullying is costly to organizations, nurses report that managers do not consistently address the issue. METHODS: This study used discourse analysis to analyze interview data and policy documents. RESULTS: There were differences in the manner in which managers and the policy documents labeled bullying-type behaviors and discussed the roles and responsibilities of staff and managers. Policies did not clearly delineate how managers should respond to workplace bullying. CONCLUSIONS: These differences can allow management variation, not sanctioned by policy. Unclear policy language can also offer insufficient guidance to managers, resulting in differential enforcement of policies. Language: en
Foreign Policy Analysis Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow

The catalytic shock of the end of the Cold War and the apparent inability of international relations (IR) theory to predict this profound change have raised questions about how we should go about understanding the world of today. Our inherited tools and ways of describing the international arena seem not to work as well as they once did. To explain and predict the behavior of the human collectivities comprising nation-states, IR theory requires a theory of human political choice. Within the study of IR, foreign policy analysis (FPA) has begun to develop such a theoretical perspective. From its inception, FPA has involved the examination of how foreign policy decisions are made and has assumed that human beings, acting individually or in collectivities, are the source of much behavior and most change in international politics. This article reviews the field of foreign policy analysis, examining its research core and its evolution to date. The overview also looks forward, pointing to the future, not only of FPA itself, but to the implications that future developments in FPA may have for the study of international relations.
DOING THE RIGHT THING: ACUTE RIGHT VENTRICULAR FAILURE POST LEFT VENTRICULAR ASSIST DEVICE IMPLANTATION

Acute right ventricular failure (RVF) is a serious complication post left ventricular assist device (LVAD) implantation. Multiple contributory factors are involved and management with a right ventricular assist device (RVAD) may be essential. A 68-year-old woman with non-ischemic cardiomyopathy and
Septal Structures in Apothecial Tissues of the Pezizaceae (Pezizales, Ascomycetes)

Septal structure of asci, ascogenous hyphae, paraphyses, and excipular cells in the apothecia of nine species of Pezizaceae were examined at the ultrastructural level. Electron-opaque, convex and b...
Design of Spatial Non-Anthropomorphic Articulated Systems Based on Arm Joint Constraint Kinematic Data for Human Interactive Robotics Applications

The design of human interactive robotic systems requires additional considerations compared to conventional robotic designs to take into account human factors. In this paper, a recently developed linkage kinematic synthesis incorporating higher order motion constraints is utilized to the synthesis of a five degree of freedom serial TS linkage for human interactive applications. The T represents a universal two degrees-of-freedom shoulder, while the S defines a spherical three degrees-of-freedom wrist joint. The desired hand kinematics and its time derivatives can be obtained by a motion capture system as well as from the hand-object/environment contact geometries at two task locations. In order to determine the design parameters (i.e., locations of the base/shoulder and moving/wrist pivots, as well as the link length connecting these joints), position, velocity and acceleration constraint equations of the TS linkage are solved in the vicinity of the initial and the final reaching locations. The entire robotic joint trajectories are formulated via minimum jerk theory to closely approximate human natural hand profile with an elbow joint constraint. In this manner, the TS linkage system can be designed to guarantee to reproduce the natural human hand kinematics with the minimum amount of information about the desired hand kinematic specifications. The applicability of the proposed technique was verified by designing a TS linkage system from a captured human data, and then comparing the generated end-effector trajectory with the human hand motion trajectory, which show promising results.Copyright © 2015 by ASME
Pathophysiology of upper airway obstruction: a developmental perspective

The obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS) occurs in patients of all ages, from the premature infant to the elderly. Much remains unknown about the pathophysiology of the syndrome. However, research suggests that OSAS in all age groups is due to a combination of both anatomic airway narrowing and abnormal upper airway neuromotor tone. The anatomic predisposing factors for OSAS differ over the lifespan. However, a smaller upper airway is noted in all age groups and probably predisposes to airway collapse during sleep. Despite the known anatomic factors, such as craniofacial anomalies, obesity, and adenotonsillar hypertrophy, that contribute to OSAS throughout life, a clear anatomic factor cannot always be identified. This suggests that alterations in upper airway neuromotor tone also play an important role in the etiology of OSAS. Infants and children are less likely than adults to arouse in response to upper airway obstruction and do not compensate for prolonged increases in inspiratory resistive load. The overall ventilatory drive is probably normal in patients of all ages with OSAS. However, upper airway neuromotor tone and reflexes during sleep vary with age and are increased in normal infants and children compared to adults, perhaps as a compensatory response for their relatively narrow airway. This compensatory response appears to be blunted in children with OSAS. Further research is needed to fully understand the complexities of upper airway structure and function during both normal development and disease.
Motor axonal injury and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis: risk assessment using a reverse probability analysis technique.

A relationship between antecedent trauma and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) has been clinically suspected for over a century. Nine cases of ALS that occurred over a 14-year period in young U.S. men (age range, 28-43 years) following trauma that produced motor axonal injury that antedated (range, 5-42 months) the onset of ALS have been reported by a single neurologist. After estimating the number of cases of ALS in 28- to 43-year-old American men that would be expected to occur over a 14-year period, a reverse probability analysis technique was used to determine the expected incidence rates of motor axonal injury in a ideally matched control population that would give probabilities of 0.05, 0.01, and 0.001 of observing nine or more instances of motor axonal injury occurring during the previous 5 to 42 months. This analysis was repeated assuming that this one neurologist had only reported 50 and 10% of all instances of ALS that occurred during this 14-year period in American men ages 28 to 43 years who had experienced trauma that produced motor axonal injury that occurred 5 to 42 months before the onset of ALS. Reverse probability analysis is a technique that can be used in performing risk assessments.
Organic Carbon Cycling and the Lithosphere

The cycling of organic carbon between the ocean–atmosphere system, the lithosphere and the mantle is one of the outstanding features of the Earth as a biologically active planet. This chapter reviews some of the available data on the abundance of carbon in the upper crust and sediments. It compares that to the mass balances inferred from carbon isotope data and tries to reconcile apparent discrepancies between the two approaches. While not a review of the evolution of the carbon cycle through time, it concludes by briefly considering aspects of how the organic carbon system may have behaved under different atmospheric conditions in the Precambrian.
Designing agricultural landscapes for biodiversity-based ecosystem services

Abstract Sustainable and resilient agricultural systems are needed to feed and fuel a growing human population. However, the current model of agricultural intensification which produces high yields has also resulted in a loss of biodiversity, ecological function, and critical ecosystem services in agricultural landscapes. A key consequence of agricultural intensification is landscape simplification, where once heterogeneous landscapes contain increasingly fewer crop and non-crop habitats. Landscape simplification exacerbates biodiversity losses which leads to reductions in ecosystem services on which agriculture depends. In recent decades, considerable research has focused on mitigating these negative impacts, primarily via management of habitats to promote biodiversity and enhance services at the local scale. While it is well known that local and landscape factors interact, modifying overall landscape structure is seldom considered due to logistical constraints. I propose that the loss of ecosystem services due to landscape simplification can only be addressed by a concerted effort to fundamentally redesign agricultural landscapes. Designing agricultural landscapes will require that scientists work with stakeholders to determine the mix of desired ecosystem services, evaluate current landscape structure in light of those goals, and implement targeted modifications to achieve them. I evaluate the current status of landscape design, ranging from fundamental ecological principles to resulting guidelines and socioeconomic tools. While research gaps remain, the time is right for ecologists to engage with other disciplines, stakeholders, and policymakers in education and advocacy to foster agricultural landscape design for sustainable and resilient biodiversity services.
Profile Determinants and Factors Predicting Performance of Upper-Division Students in a Two-Campus Setting

This paper reports the findings of an exploratory investigation of students attending classes at dichoto-mous locations of a university. It compares grade performance, demographic characteristics and other variables of two groups and develops equations to predict academic performance. Differences in all three variable categories were found, and a profile of the off-campus student compared with the main-campus student was developed. Academic performance was predicted by grade point average, hours worked and student status for the main-campus group and hours worked, age, sex and race for the off-campus group. Implications for decision planning for multi-site campuses are discussed
Beyond Metaphysical Instrumentalism in Curriculum Theory: The Poietic and Painterly in Pinar’s “Abstract Expressionist” Scholarship

The argumentation in this chapter unfolds in four sections: (1) I introduce William Pinar’s reading of Jackson Pollack’s abstract painting, The White Cockatoo in its connection to curriculum theorizing. This section unpacks the crucial difference between “representational” scholarship and “abstract expressionist” scholarship. I introduce the understanding of what I term “re-presentational research”; (2) I present a critique of technology found in Martin Heidegger’s later writings (the “Turn”—Kehre) concerned with science and research, which includes a critique of curriculum research grounded in concept empiricism. The analysis of modern technology sets the stage for the understanding of an age where art’s ability to gather and reveal “truth” is impeded; (3) building on the interpretation of Heidegger I turn to Maurice Merleau-Ponty’s phenomenological account of art as a form of expression that dynamically combines the pre-theoretical sectors of bodily experience, i.e., the visual and motor field of the artist, who, through engagement with the canvas, leaves phenomenological “traces” that speak a new (“painterly”) language that is beyond the technical and instrumental language of psychology, anthropology, or the sciences.
Pruning the news feed: Unfriending and unfollowing political content on social media:

Social media allow users some degree of control over the content to which they are exposed, through blocking, unfriending, or hiding feeds from other users. This article considers the extent to which they do so for political reasons. Survey data from Pew Research suggests that political unfriending is relatively rare, with fewer than 10% of respondents engaging in the practice. Analysis finds support for the idea that political unfriending is most common among those who talk about politics, those strongest in ideology, those that see the most politics in social media, and those that perceive the greatest political disagreement in their social networks. This suggests that social media are not exacerbating the political information gap as political information on social media is likely still reaching the least politically engaged, whereas the most politically engaged may opt out of political information within social media but still receive it elsewhere.
Generalization of the variational principle and the Hohenberg and Kohn theorems for excited states of Fermion systems

Abstract Through the entanglement of a collection of K non-interacting replicas of a system of N interacting Fermions, and making use of the properties of reduced density matrices the variational principle and the theorems of Hohenberg and Kohn are generalized to excited states. The generalization of the variational principle makes use of the natural orbitals of an N-particle density matrix describing the state of lowest energy of the entangled state. The extension of the theorems of Hohenberg and Kohn is based on the ground-state formulation of density functional theory but with a new interpretation of the concept of a ground state: It is the state of lowest energy of a system of KN Fermions that is described in terms of the excited states of the N-particle interacting system. This straightforward implementation of the line of reasoning of ground-state density functional theory to a new domain leads to a unique and logically valid extension of the theory to excited states that allows the systematic treatment of all states in the spectrum of the Hamiltonian of an interacting system.
Can Voters Tell When Their Voting Method Is Secure? Effects of End-to-end Security and Security Theater on Perceptions of Voting Systems

The aim of this study was to understand how voters’ perceptions of voting system security might be impacted by the addition of actual security features and fake security features (i.e., security theater) to a voting method. In the context of voting, positive perceptions of security might be more important than security itself because voters must feel voting systems are safe enough to keep their votes secure and anonymous, or else they might choose to avoid participating in an election—potentially impacting election outcomes. To investigate this problem, 90 Rice University undergraduate students participated in a mock election using one of three systems, each associated with differing levels of security: a standard paper ballot, a paper ballot enhanced by end-to-end (e2e) security mechanisms, and a paper ballot that included fake security mechanisms to give the feeling of enhanced security without actually making the system safer. After voting, each participant completed a survey that included questions ab...
Recent Interfaces Between Mass Spectrometry and Art

CHEMISTS have long been aware of the limitations imposed on their studies by the limits of sensitivity of many of those currently available analytical methods which permit a number of elements to be determined in one sample, e. g. optical emission spectrographic techniques, x-ray fluorescence analysis. This has led to the adoption of more sensitive methods for a restricted number of elements, e. g. neutron activation analysis. More recently, spark source mass spectrometry has provided the analytical chemist with the ability to cover the full range of elements in any sample in a single determination and the ability to detect those elements down to very low concentrations, i. e. parts in 109. The advent of this technique was the product of semi-conductor technology where 10 parts per billion (ppb) of copper in germanium or 2 ppb of gold in silicon is reflected in the electrical properties of those semi-conductors.
Time on Task: Perceived and measured time in online courses for students and faculty

Objective : A cross sectional, online survey study examined active course time and activity for students and faculty in online courses compared to their perceptions of time. Methods : Student self-reports of their estimated course time and percentage of time on individual tasks, and faculty estimates of student time as well as their own course activity time were obtained. This was compared to actual individual and course summary activity data as recorded by the learning platform (Blackboard). Descriptive and t tests were analyzed using IBM SPSS Statistics 22. Results : Students and faculty generally agreed on the amount of time spent on task in all areas examined (discussion, assignments, tests and quizzes, messaging and communication, information searches, checking instructions and rubrics), but were significantly different for time spent off-line preparing Discussions and Assignments. Discussions, content materials, messaging and grade records were the most active areas. Students believed that the work in the online courses was more appropriate than did their instructors. There was no correlation between active course time and course grades. Conclusions : Students and faculty generally agreed in the amount of time spent actively in an online class, but grossly overestimated their time online. On line time did not correlate to course grade. The study adds to better understanding of the time sent in online courses.
Abstract 548: Scavenger Receptor Bi-deficiency-induced Hypercholesterolemia Impairs Lymphocyte Homeostasis

Objective- Deficiency in Scavenger receptor BI (SR-BI), an HDL receptor, leads to a specific HDL-c-elevated hypercholesterolemia and impairs lymphocyte homeostasis in mice. However, how SR-BI-deficiency-induced hypercholesterolemia contributes to the adaptive immunity defects remains unknown. Hypothesis- SR-BI-deficiency-induced hypercholesterolemia leads to the impaired lymphocyte homeostasis. Methods and Results- We utilized two animal models combined with cell culture to test our hypothesis. First, in a high fat/high cholesterol (HF) diet mouse model (n>10 per group), we introduced a 2-fold increase in plasma cholesterol concentration. For HF diet SR-BI +/+ mice, the increased cholesterol was distributed in VLDL/LDL fraction, but the lymphocyte homeostasis was not affected. In contrast, for HF diet SR-BI -/- mice, in addition to VLDL/LDL-c, HDL-c was also further elevated. These mice exhibited marked disruption in lymphocyte homeostasis, as characterized by a 1.6-fold increase in T cell number (2.7-fold vs SR-BI +/+ group), a 2.1-fold increase in B cell number (4.2-fold vs SR-BI +/+ group), exacerbated T cell activation and further accelerated B cell proliferation compared with control diet SR-BI -/- mice. Then, in a bone marrow transplantation model (n=5~6 per group), we found that HF diet SR-BI -/- recipients whether receiving SR-BI +/+ or SR-BI -/- BMCs displayed higher lymphocyte numbers, greater lymphocyte activation and more lymphocyte proliferation than respective HF diet SR-BI +/+ controls, indicating that non-hematopoietic SR-BI-deficiency environment was the dominant factor leading to the impaired adaptive immunity. Finally, in a series of in vitro lymphocyte activation experiments (n=4 per group, repeated twice), we found that HDL from control diet or HF diet SR-BI +/+ mice exhibited an inhibitory effect on T cell or B cell proliferation under TCR or BCR stimulation, but HDL from HF diet SR-BI -/- mice completely lost that function, indicating that the dysfunctional HDL in HF diet SR-BI -/- mice was responsible for impaired lymphocyte homeostasis. Conclusion- The SR-BI-deficiency-induced hypercholesterolemia is the leading factor for impaired lymphocyte homeostasis in SR-BI -/- mice.
Advanced Statistical Methods

With the development of medicine and data technologies, modern clinical trials are often situated to address sophisticated therapeutic questions that require advanced statistical techniques. This chapter introduces readers to several advanced statistical topics one may likely encounter in today’s clinical trials. These topics include multiple endpoints, subgroup analysis, site and operator heterogeneity, and time-to-event outcomes. Each topic will be covered in a separate subsection. The subsection on multiple endpoints, which are used to measure multiple aspects of a disease, includes a discussion of advanced multiplicity adjustment and composite endpoints construction. Subgroup analysis introduces methods to evaluate efficacy and conduct hypothesis testing in multiple subpopulations in addition to the overall population. Site and operator heterogeneity can be considered as a case of subgroup analysis of special importance for surgical procedures. Meta-analysis methods and mixed models are discussed. The time-to-event subsection introduces basic concepts of time-to-event derivation, censoring, and common analysis techniques such as Kaplan–Meier curve, proportional hazards regression, and restricted mean survival.
Real-time continuous action detection and recognition using depth images and inertial signals

This paper presents an approach to detect and recognize actions of interest in real-time from a continuous stream of data that are captured simultaneously from a Kinect depth camera and a wearable inertial sensor. Actions of interest are considered to appear continuously and in a random order among actions of non-interest. Skeleton depth images are first used to separate actions of interest from actions of non-interest based on pause and motion segments. Inertial signals from a wearable inertial sensor are then used to improve the recognition outcome. A dataset consisting of simultaneous depth and inertial data for the smart TV actions of interest occurring continuously and in a random order among actions of non-interest is studied and made publicly available. The results obtained indicate the effectiveness of the developed approach in coping with actions that are performed realistically in a continuous manner.