cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Abstract 2398: Tumor cell-adipocyte gap junctions activate lipolysis in breast cancer

During mammary tumorigenesis, a cell-cell interface exists between adipocytes and cancer cells. Several studies have demonstrated that breast tumor cells can secrete cytokines that induce lipolysis in adjacent adipocytes. However, evidence of tumor-adjacent lipolysis in clinical samples has been lacking. We therefore assayed for lipolysis in normal tissue adjacent to breast tumors (NAT) using (1) the three-component breast composition measure, a radiographic imaging method derived from dual-energy mammography that allows lipid content of a tissue to be quantified, on breast tumors and NAT from 46 patients, (2) a publically available dataset of gene expression in primary breast tumors and NAT from 9 patients, (3) laser capture microdissection and proteomics on primary breast tumors, stroma and NAT from 75 patients, and (4) immunoblot analysis of NAT from several patient-derived and transgenic mouse models of breast cancer. We found strong evidence in all cases that lipolysis is activated in breast cancer-adjacent adipose tissue. We next set out to model the breast cancer-adipocyte interface and determine the contribution of cell-cell contact to induced lipolysis. Gap junctions are cell-cell junctions formed by proteins called connexins, which are known to transport a variety of small molecules ( Citation Format: Roman Camarda, Jeremy Williams, Serghei Malkov, Lisa J. Zimmerman, Suzanne Manning, Dvir Aran, Andrew Beardsley, Daniel Van de Mark, Jeffrey van Haren, Yong Chen, Charles Berdan, Sharon Louie, Celine Mahieu, Juliane Winkler, Elizabeth Willey, John D. Gagnon, Kosaku Shinoda, K. Mark Ansel, Zena Werb, Daniel C. Nomura, Shingo Kajimura, Torsten Wittmann, Atul J. Butte, Melinda E. Sanders, Daniel C. Liebler, Gregor Krings, John A. Shepherd, Andrei Goga. Tumor cell-adipocyte gap junctions activate lipolysis in breast cancer [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2018; 2018 Apr 14-18; Chicago, IL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2018;78(13 Suppl):Abstract nr 2398.
Hardwood Eradication Improves Productivity of Thinned Loblolly Pine Stands

Plots in a 7 year old plantation were treated as follows in December 1971: (a) broadleaved woody and herbaceous vegetation removed; (b) broadleaved woody vegetation removed; (c) herbaceous vegetation removed; or (d) left untreated. Overstorey species removed included Liquidambar styraciflua, Quercus nigra, Q. phellos, Ulmus alata, and Acer rubrum. Pines were thinned to 350 stems per acre in 1971, to 250 stems per acre in 1977 and to 150 stems per acrea in 1982. Trees were measured at intervals. Five year radial increment and periodic annual increment (cubic feet/acre) for ages 7-12 years and 12-17 years, and mean annual increment at 12 and 17 year old were significantly greater with treatments (a) and (b). Diameter at breast height at age 17, merchantable volume at ages 12 and 17, and sawtimber volume at age 18 were also significantly greater in (a) and (b) plots.
Evaluation of Bearing Steel Corrosion in Oil Contaminated with Synthetic Seawater

Lubricant systems in military aircrafts, operating in marine environments, experience corrosion due to seawater contamination.In particular, low chromium martensitic bearing and gear steels are susceptible to pitting corrosion attack in seawater-contaminated lubricants.Therefore, the corrosion performance of two advance bearing steels was assessed in this study.The steels were immersed in oil solutions and the corrosion results were analyzed as a function of seawater content and time.Optical image analysis was used to measure the pit density/size/distribution and an optical profiler was used to measure pit depth.It was found that while the pit surface fraction (pit surface area/total area) and pit depth increased with seawater content and time, the actual chloride content in the oil might have made a greater contribution to the corrosion damage.
Greater inflammation and adiposity are associated with lower bone mineral density in youth with type 1 diabetes.

Abstract Aims The objectives of this study were to investigate relationships of inflammation and adiposity with bone mineral density (BMD) in youth with type 1 diabetes followed prospectively for 18 months. Methods Participants were youth with type 1 diabetes (n = 136, 8–16.9 years) enrolled in an 18-month behavioral nutrition intervention trial. BMD of the total body, subtotal, lumbar spine, pelvis leg, arm and rib, percent body fat and percent trunk fat (by dual energy x-ray absorptiometry) and C-reactive protein (CRP), a marker of inflammation, were assessed at baseline, 12 and 18 months. Linear mixed-effects models estimated associations of time-varying BMD with time-varying CRP, and with percent body and trunk fat. Results CRP was inversely associated with BMD of the total body, pelvis and leg (n = 136). Percent body fat was inversely associated with BMD of the total body and pelvis; whereas percent trunk fat was related only to total body BMD. Conclusions Greater inflammation and adiposity were related to lower BMD in youth with type 1 diabetes. Investigating the impact of inflammation and adiposity on bone turnover markers could provide insights on mechanisms that contribute to this relationship.
Clinical and Health Care Utilization Outcomes of Kidney Transplantation in HIV-Positive Recipients: A Nationwide Analysis From 2008-2013.

Abstract Background Kidney transplantation (KTxp) provides dialysis independence, improved quality of life, and prolonged life expectancy for patients with end-stage renal disease. Before and during the early antiretroviral therapy era, KTxp was not a consideration for patients with end-stage renal disease who were HIV-positive (HIV+ve) given their short life expectancy and prevailing organ procurement constraints. Recent advancements in antiretroviral therapy and HIV care have overhauled this paradigm and KTxp has now been performed for several years, however, pragmatic studies documenting outcomes are lacking. We herein document the effectiveness of KTxp in patients who are HIV+ve by reporting clinical and health care utilization outcomes in the United States. Methods Utilizing the Inpatient Databases of the Healthcare Cost & Utilization Project spanning 2008-2013, we identified all adult recipients of KTxp by procedural codes and recipients who are HIV+ve by ICD-9 codes. We extracted demographic, clinical, and resource utilization variables and compared recipients who are HIV+ve with those who are HIV-negative (HIV-ve). We then performed descriptive statistics and multivariate analysis using logistic regression to assess the effect of HIV on clinical and utilization outcomes. Results A total of 104,137 patients had kidney transplants during the study period. Of the total, 605 patients were HIV+ve. Infections rates were similar among patients who were HIV+ve and HIV-ve (odds ratio [OR] 1.18, confidence interval [CI] 0.58–2.40; P = .652). In-hospital mortality rates were also similar (OR 0.83, CI 0.18–3.69; P = .80). Hospital charges for patients who were HIV+ve were no different from patients who were HIV-ve ($195,099 ± 1074 vs $186,567 ± 9558; P = .38). Conclusion Clinical and fiscal outcomes are comparable among patients who are HIV+ve and HIV-ve during transplant hospitalization.
Between Hope and Doubt

There are legitimate questions about the African Union’s ability and desire to create functioning institutions. These questions are particularly relevant to its recent adoption of the Malabo Protocol. The Malabo Protocol adds an international criminal law component to the jurisdiction of the African Court of Justice and Human Rights (ACJHR). The addition of criminal jurisdiction to the ACJHR represents a significant increase in the court’s subject matter jurisdiction. It also greatly increases the difficulty of the court’s work and necessitates a more complex organizational structure. But can this new and improved ACJHR be successful? Will the African Union (AU) have the political will to make it a reality? This essay argues that the resources that the AU eventually devotes to the ACJHR will shed light on whether to be hopeful or doubtful about the court’s eventual success.
Challenges of differential placebo effects in contemporary medicine: The example of brain stimulation.

‘Differential placebo effects’ is the concept that different types of placebos (e.g. inert pill versus sham device) may yield different magnitudes of placebo effects. This issue has been pushed into the spotlight by recent clinical trials of new technologies reporting unexpectedly large placebo effects from sham devices/procedures needed to maintain blinding integrity. In this Neurology Grand Rounds, we use transcranial magnetic stimulation as a model to explore the principles and implications of differential placebo effects. We highlight emerging research on the neurobiology of placebo effects and analyze fundamental questions of measuring efficacy in contemporary medicine.
What Slaveholders Think: How Contemporary Perpetrators Rationalize What They Do

In this book, Austin Choi-Fitzpatrick draws on over 150 probing, candid interviews with slaveholders and bonded laborers in rural India that he conducted over 15 years. The purpose of the book was ...
Induction of α cell–restricted Gc in dedifferentiating β cells contributes to stress-induced β cell dysfunction

Diabetic β cell failure is associated with β cell dedifferentiation. To identify effector genes of dedifferentiation, we integrated analyses of histone methylation as a surrogate of gene activation status and RNA expression in β cells sorted from mice with multiparity-induced diabetes. Interestingly, only a narrow subset of genes demonstrated concordant changes to histone methylation and RNA levels in dedifferentiating β cells. Notable among them was the α cell signature gene Gc, encoding a vitamin D–binding protein. Although diabetes was associated with Gc induction, Gc-deficient islets did not induce β cell dedifferentiation markers and maintained normal ex vivo insulin secretion in the face of metabolic challenge. Moreover, Gc-deficient mice exhibited a more robust insulin secretory response than normal controls during hyperglycemic clamp studies. The data are consistent with a functional role of Gc activation in β cell dysfunction and indicate that multiparity-induced diabetes is associated with altered β cell fate.
Flight, Camera, Action! Using Natural Language and Mixed Reality to Control a Drone

With increasing autonomy, robots like drones are increasingly accessible to untrained users. Most users control drones using a low-level interface, such as a radio-controlled (RC) controller. For a wider adoption of these technologies by the public, a much higher-level interface, such as natural language or mixed reality (MR), allows the automation of the control of the agent in a goal-oriented setting. We present an interface that uses natural language grounding within an MR environment to solve high-level task and navigational instructions given to an autonomous drone. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first work to perform fully autonomous language grounding in an MR setting for a robot. Given a map, our interface first grounds natural language commands to reward specifications within a Markov Decision Process (MDP) framework. Then, it passes the reward specification to an MDP solver. Finally, the drone performs the desired operations in the real world while planning and localizing itself. Our approach uses MR to provide a set of known virtual landmarks, enabling the drone to understand commands referring to objects without being equipped with object detectors for multiple novel objects or a predefined environment model. We conducted an exploratory user study to assess users’ experience of our MR interface with and without natural language, as compared to a web interface. We found that users were able to command the drone more quickly via both MR interfaces as compared to the web interface, with roughly equal system usability scores across all three interfaces.
Human Factors Ground Test Assessment and Protocol Development for Space Radiation Protection Concepts

Human factors evaluations and procedures were developed in a series of ground tests in order to assess novel radiation protection concepts developed by industry leaders in aerospace. In addition, N...
Solar Radiation as the Likely Cause of Acid-Soluble Rare-Earth Elements in Sediments of Fresh Water Humic Lakes

We studied photochemically induced precipitation of rare-earth elements (REEs) in water from a tributary to Plesne Lake and a tributary to Jiřicka Pond, Czech Republic. Both tributaries had high co...
Cost-effectiveness of upfront therapeutic options in low-volume de novo metastatic hormone-sensitive prostate cancer.

211Background: Low-volume de novo metastatic hormone-sensitive prostate cancer (mHSPC) has historically been treated with lifelong androgen deprivation therapy (ADT). Recently, however, the additio...
Is vocational education a good alternative to low-performing students in China

Abstract This paper focuses on upper secondary technical and vocational education (TVE), which accounts for 41 % of total enrollment at upper secondary schools in China. Using a nationally representative sample and a propensity score matching research design, this study has found large relative private return to TVE compared with general academic high schools, specifically for academically low-performing students, a group that is particularly vulnerable and in need of attention from policymakers. The difference in private returns is most profound for females. In light of the lower cost of attendance, these results can offer additional support, at least qualitatively to other countries that are contemplating the use of TVE as a viable and sometimes better alternative to academic education for select students.
Effects of Pediatric Early Warning Score nursing record template on pediatric pneumonia

Objective To explore the effects of Pediatric Early Warning Score (PEWS) nursing record template on pediatric pneumonia. Methods The medical records of totally 40 pediatric pneumonia patients admitted between June and December, 2017 in the Department of Respiratory Medicine of a Class Ⅲ Grade A children's hospital were selected into the observation group, while the medical records of another 40 pediatric pneumonia patients admitted between June and December 2016 were selected into the control group by random sampling. The medical records of the control group were written in accordance with the Medical Record Writing Standards of Anhui Province (Version 2013) , whereas the medical records of the observation group were written using the PEWS nursing record template. The nursing document quality scale of the two groups was viewed, and objectivity, expression of the specialty and misuse of medical terms were compared between the nursing records of the two groups; the time used to write the nursing records by nurses with different length of service was compared. Results Totally 35 errors in objectivity, expression of the specialty and use of medical terms were found in the nursing records of the observation group, while those of the control group was 211, and there was statistically significant difference between the two groups (χ2=12.81, P<0.05) . Conclusions The use of PEWS nursing record template can reduce the errors in the nursing records of pediatric inpatients, improve the quality of nursing documents, and save the time of writing nursing records for nurses, which is worth promoting in clinical practice. Key words: Pneumonia; Child; Pediatric Early Warning Score; Nursing document
Retrospective evaluation of the influence of azotemia on plasma lactate concentrations in hypotensive dogs and cats (2008-2018): 337 cases.

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the relationship between azotemia and plasma lactate concentration in hypotensive dogs and cats presented to an emergency department. DESIGN Retrospective case-control study. SETTING University veterinary teaching hospital. ANIMALS The electronic medical record database was searched for dogs and cats presented to the emergency department that had severe azotemia (creatinine ≥ 443.1 μmol/L [5 mg/dL]), hypotension (systolic blood pressure ≤ 90 mm Hg), and a plasma lactate measurement within 2 h of each another. Non-azotemic, normotensive dogs and cats; non-azotemic, hypotensive dogs and cats; and azotemic, normotensive dogs and cats that presented to the emergency department were used as control populations. INTERVENTIONS None. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS Severely azotemic, hypotensive dogs (n = 10) and cats (n = 63) had a lower plasma lactate than non-azotemic, hypotensive dogs and cats (P = 0.031 and P < 0.001, respectively). Median plasma lactate concentrations in hypotensive dogs (1.75 mmol/L) and cats (1.90 mmol/L) with severe azotemia were within reference intervals. CONCLUSIONS Hypotensive dogs and cats with severe azotemia have decreased plasma lactate concentrations as compared to hypotensive, non-azotemic dogs and cats. The median plasma lactate in azotemic, hypotensive dogs and cats was within reference intervals. This may be due to either decreased cellular production of lactate or increased excretion of lactate. Further research is needed to determine which of these mechanisms is responsible and the clinical significance of plasma lactate concentrations in azotemic, hypotensive dogs and cats.
Psychology Students’ Understanding of Ethics and Application of Ethical Principles:

Background:The American Psychological Association (APA) has called on undergraduate psychology programs to embed training in ethics throughout their curricula. Although guidelines and resources exi...
Chip Power-Frequency Scaling in 10/7nm Node

The 10/7nm node has been introduced by all major semiconductor manufacturers (Intel, TSMC, and Samsung Electronics). This article looks at the power-performance benefit of the 10/7nm node as compared to the previous node (14nm). Specifically, we track the power-performance in high performance space, using Intel’s Core-i7 (Intel’s highest performance consumer microprocessor that uses the highest performance CMOS technology node) manufactured in Intel’s 10nm. The paper first looks at the scaling of the device power-performance from the Intel 14++nm node to Intel 10nm, using 3D TCAD simulation with dimensions obtained from actual product cross-sections, and also scaling of the interconnect capacitance node-to-node. Next, the paper does a comparison of industry 10/7nm node technologies (from Intel, TSMC, and Samsung Electronics). The paper argues that for Intel, in the 10nm nodes, the total chip power at constant frequency (energy-per-operation) has scaled by a much lower amount vs. the 14++ node, as compared to the 14++ vs. the previous (22 nm) node. The lack of power scaling can be traced to a reduction in current per device perimeter (caused by the increased device parasitic resistance and the reduced device and fin pitch) and to an increase in capacitance per fin (caused by an increase in the FinFET height). Proper scaling of the device is critical for chip power scaling (energy-per-operation) at upcoming nodes, especially as it applies to high performance microprocessors and for the data analyzed here this is not the case.
8. MENTORSHIP IN RESIDENCY: IS IT PROTECTIVE AGAINST BURNOUT?

Background Burnout in residency is multifactorial. Despite increased awareness of burnout and its risks, there is a paucity of information on how residency programs can mitigate these risks. While there are some reports that multidisciplinary interventions may be protective, there is little literature about mentorship without other interventions. The abbreviated Maslach Burnout Inventory (aMBI) has been validated in assessing burnout. The areas assessed are Personal Accomplishment (PA), Emotional Exhaustion (EE), and Depersonalization (De), with total scores in each area of 18. Lower scores in PA, and higher scores in EE and De are associated with higher burnout. Objective Determine if identifying a mentor is protective against resident burnout. Methods This was a descriptive study that used survey methodology and included pediatric and medicine-pediatric residents. Data was collected anonymously through a REDCap database. The aMBI was utilized. Residents were asked if they were able to identify a mentor. The sums and means of the residents’ scores on the aMBI for PA, EE, and De were calculated. Both the sums and the means of those with and without a mentor were compared using Chi-square testing, with significance indicated by p value Results 72 residents completed the survey. 56 identified at least 1 mentor and 16 did not. All residents scored a 10 or higher in the area of PA with 70% scoring 14 or more. The mean of PA was 14.4 for those with a mentor and 14.3 for those without (p=0.70). 40% scored 10 or greater in De, with 11% scoring 14 or more. The mean of De was 7.8 with a mentor and 8.2 without (p=0.97). 70% scored a 10 or higher in EE with 33% scoring 14 or more. The mean of EE was 9.63 with a mentor and 11.22 for those without (p=0.58). Conclusion There may be factors that prevent burnout; however, the presence of a mentor alone was not correlated with different scores in the areas of PA, EE or De. Residents scored high in the area of PA, which is protective against burnout. Over two thirds of residents scored 10 or higher in the area of EE suggesting that resident burnout is more closely linked to EE than PA or De.
Mediation Effect of Financial Education between Financial Stress and Use of Financial Technology

This study investigated the relationship between financial stress and financial technology and included the mediating role of financial knowledge based on the ABC-X model. This study used the 2018 National Financial Capability Study to construct financial stress and the use of financial technology and tested the proposed model with two subgroups: one group with financial education and the other group without financial education. We used confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling to evaluate our model. Results show that respondents with a greater level of financial stress generally tended to more engage in financial technology. When the role of financial knowledge was considered in the model, the relationship between financial stress and the use of financial technology varied by the type of financial knowledge. Although this study did not identify the onset of the coping process directly, the direct effect of financial stress on the use of financial technology in each subgroup regardless of their financial education experience confirms efforts of looking for coping when facing and responding to financially stressful situations. Thus, this study sheds light on the new technology for financial services as a potential tool for better financial management and as a coping mechanism for those with financial stress. Results from this study provide insights for financial practitioners and educators who help US households manage their financial stress.
Inhomogeneous functionals and approximations of invariant distributions of ergodic diffusions: Central limit theorem and moderate deviation asymptotics

Abstract The paper studies asymptotics of inhomogeneous integral functionals of an ergodic diffusion process under the effect of discretization. Convergence to the corresponding functionals of the invariant distribution is shown for suitably chosen discretization steps, and the fluctuations are analyzed through central limit theorem and moderate deviation principle. The results will be particularly useful for understanding accuracy of an Euler discretization based numerical scheme for approximating functionals of invariant distribution of an ergodic diffusion. This is an infinite-time horizon problem, and the accuracy of numerical schemes in this context are comparatively much less studied than the ones used for generating approximate trajectories of diffusions over finite time intervals. The potential applications of these results also extend to other areas including mathematical physics, parameter inference of ergodic diffusions and analysis of multiscale dynamical systems with averaging.
Leukotoxin As a Virulent Factor of Pasteurella Haemolytica

Pasteurella haemolytica biotype A, serotype 1 (Al) has been established as the primary agent responsible for the clinical disease and pathophysiologic events leading to acute lobar fibrinonecrotizing pneumonia associated with bovine pneumonic pasteurellosis(1,2,3). The bacteria produces several potential virulent factors, of which the leukotoxin (LKT) has received the most attention(4). The LKT is a heat-labile proteinaceous exotoxin, that is oxygen-stable, non-dialyzable, water soluble, and is produced in high concentrations by P.haemolytica during the logarithmic phase of growth(5). The genes that code for the synthesis and secretion of this LKT have been cloned(6). All 15 serotypes of P. haemolytica produce LKT(7). It has a molecular weight of 101-105kDa when determined by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoretic analysis(8). Attempts to purify the LKT has been futile because it is tightly bound to the LPS and there is no efficient way to remove the LPS without inactivating the LKT. It is one of a family of RTX(repeat toxins)-pore forming cytolysin which has a unique specificity, in that it is only cytocidal to ruminant leukocytes(9). This cytotoxicity is caused by the formation of pores in the cell membrane which allows the influx of calcium and results in a sequence of cell-damaging events(lO). Since this organism produces disease only in ruminants, this would support the role of LKT as a virulence factor. Indeed, several observations point to the central role that LKT has in the pathogenesis of pneumonic pasteurellosis. For example, in experimental pasteurellosis, the clinical and pathophysiologic events are dose-dependently reproduced by the intatracheal administration of live logarithmic phase P. haemolytica and not by stationary phase organisms(ll). This enhanced pathogenicity may be related to the amount of LKT produced by these different populations. Indeed, we (5) and others(12)* have shown that the logarithmic phase cells produce far greater amounts of this LKT than stationary cells. In other studies, cattle with high LKT neutralizing antibody titers have higher survival rates in the natural disease and experimental pasteurellosis than animals with low antibody titers(13). Although advances have been made in describing the cytolytic properties of the P.haemolytica LKT, the mechanisms by which it brings about lung injury in cattle are poorly understood. Our laboratory has long been interested in elucidating the contributions and mechanisms by which the LKT induce this acute lung injury in pneumonic pasteurellosis. Three experiments were designed to study if the LKT contributed in the genesis of lung injury in pneumonic pasteurellosis.
Seller-Pricing Frictions and Platform Remedies

Many platform sellers struggle to set prices when facing complex market conditions. These difficulties motivate the platform to offer (centralized) algorithmic pricing as a remedy, yet at the expense of sellers’ private information. This paper studies the extent of seller-pricing frictions and explores underlying mechanisms. I use granular data on Airbnb sellers’ demand and pricing strategies to pin down the extent of pricing frictions. Leveraging a price-setting interface change, I disentangle two different mechanisms –sellers’ price-adjustment costs and their use of suboptimal heuristics– and show both are essential drivers of the frictions, but with distinct implications on the optimal platform remedy. I develop a scalable model to characterize the competitive market equilibrium, separately quantify sellers’ price-adjustment costs and use of heuristics, and simulate alternative platform remedies. My results show that a centralized pricing algorithm will distort market outcomes if it cannot fully account for sellers’ private information, suggesting that the platform should let sellers set prices even if their decisions are imperfect. An alternative remedy is to improve the seller-side interface, and I show that reducing sellers’ price-adjustment costs alone can alleviate up to 43% of the total profit loss from frictions.
Modeling human observer detection in undersampled magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)

Task-based assessment of image quality in undersampled magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) using constraints is important because of the need to quantify the effect of the artifacts on task performance. Fluid-attenuated inversion recovery (FLAIR) images are used in detection of small metastases in the brain. In this work we carry out two-alternative forced choice (2-AFC) studies with a small signal known exactly (SKE) but with varying background for reconstructed FLAIR images from undersampled multi-coil data. Using a 4x undersampling and a total variation (TV) constraint we found that the human observer detection performance remained fairly constant for a broad range of values in the regularization parameter before decreasing at large values. Using the TV constraint did not improve task performance. The non- prewhitening eye (NPWE) observer and sparse difference-of-Gaussians (S-DOG) observer with internal noise were used to model human observer detection. The parameters for the NPWE and the internal noise for the S-DOG were chosen to match the average percent correct (PC) in 2-AFC studies for three observers using no regularization. The NPWE model observer tracked the performance of the human observers as the regularization was increased but slightly over-estimated the PC for large amounts of regularization. The S-DOG model observer with internal noise tracked human performace for all levels of regularization studied. To our knowledge this is the first time that model observers have been used to track human observer detection for undersampled MRI.
TUCKER2-based Hybrid Beamforming Design for mmWave OFDM Massive MIMO Communications

This paper proposes a novel joint hybrid precoder and combiner design for maximizing the average achievable sum-rate of single-user OFDM millimeter wave massive MIMO systems. The analog precoder and combiner design is formulated as a constrained Tucker2 decomposition and solved using the projected alternate least square method. This formulation allows maximizing the sum of the effective baseband gains over every subcarrier while suppressing the interference among the same subcarrier’s data streams. The digital precoder and combiner are obtained from the effective baseband channel’s singular value decomposition on a per-subcarrier basis. Numerical simulation results show that the proposed method outperforms some of the existing designs while having similar computational complexity.
Widespread effects of dMRI data quality on diffusion measures in children.

Diffusion magnetic resonance imaging (dMRI) datasets are susceptible to several confounding factors related to data quality, which is especially true in studies involving young children. With the recent trend of large-scale multicenter studies, it is more critical to be aware of the varied impacts of data quality on measures of interest. Here, we investigated data quality and its effect on different diffusion measures using a multicenter dataset. dMRI data were obtained from 691 participants (5-17 years of age) from six different centers. Six data quality metrics-contrast to noise ratio, outlier slices, and motion (absolute, relative, translation, and rotational)-and four diffusion measures-fractional anisotropy, mean diffusivity, tract density, and length-were computed for each of 36 major fiber tracts for all participants. The results indicated that four out of six data quality metrics (all except absolute and translation motion) differed significantly between centers. Associations between these data quality metrics and the diffusion measures differed significantly across the tracts and centers. Moreover, these effects remained significant after applying recently proposed harmonization algorithms that purport to remove unwanted between-site variation in diffusion data. These results demonstrate the widespread impact of dMRI data quality on diffusion measures. These tracts and measures have been routinely associated with individual differences as well as group-wide differences between neurotypical populations and individuals with neurological or developmental disorders. Accordingly, for analyses of individual differences or group effects (particularly in multisite dataset), we encourage the inclusion of data quality metrics in dMRI analysis.
Lawyering Wars: Failing Leadership, Risk Aversion, and Lawyer Creep—Should We Expect More Lone Survivors?

INTRODUCTION 935 I. THE HISTORY AND FUTURE OF “LAWYER CREEP” IN WAR 940 A. MILITARY LAWYERS 940 B. INTELLIGENCE LAWYERS 944 C. THE DOMINANCE OF LAWYERS 946 II. RISK AVERSION 947 A. PLAYING IT SAFE 947 B. SELF-DEFENSE 953 III. FEAR OF PERSECUTION AND PROSECUTION 957 A. CASE STUDY 1: PFC EDWARD L. RICHMOND JR. 958 B. CASE STUDY 2: LTC ALLEN WEST 960 C. CASE STUDY 3: OPERATION RED WINGS 962 D. CONSEQUENCES 964 IV. RECOMMENDATIONS 972 CONCLUSION 974
Fiber-Optic Thermometry

A sapphire fiber-optic thermometer which was developed at the National Bureau of Standards (NBS) has been evaluated up to 1600 K. The thermometer operates by emitting radiation from a thin-film metal cup on a sapphire light pipe which is immersed in the hot gas to be measured. Characteristic blackbody emission of the thermometer is transmitted through a controlled optical path to a photodiode. Simultaneous measurements at two wavelengths (596 and 702 nm) were made, and their ratio was used to derive two-color radiation measurements. Several tip geometries and platinum thin-film lengths were investigated to verify blackbody conditions. A reference platinum platinum-rhodium thermocouple was used for calibration and comparison, and a discussion of errors in the two-color ratio method is presented.
Engineering Skin to Study Human Disease – Tissue Models for Cancer Biology and Wound Repair

Recent advances in the engineering of three-dimensional tissues known as skin equivalents, that have morphologic and phenotypic properties of human skin, have provided new ways to study human disease processes. This chapter will supply an overview of two such applications – investigations of the incipient development of squamous cell cancer, and studies that have characterized the response of human epithelium during wound repair. Using these novel tools to study cancer biology, it has been shown that cell-cell interactions inherent in three-dimensional tissue architecture can suppress early cancer progression by inducing a state of intraepithelial dormancy. This dormant state can be overcome and cancer progression enabled by altering tissue organization in response to tumor promoters or UV irradiation or by modifying the interaction of tumor cells with extracellular matrix proteins or their adjacent epithelia. By adapting skin equivalent models of human skin to study wound reepithelialization, it has been shown that several key responses, including cell proliferation, migration, differentiation, growth-factor responsiveness and protease expression, will mimic the response seen in human skin. In this light, these engineered models of human skin provide powerful new tools for studying disease processes in these tissues as they occur in humans.
Potentiation of chemotherapeutic agents following antagonism of nuclear factor kappa B in human gliomas

Future success using chemotherapy against human gliomas may result from exploiting unique molecular vulnerabilities of these tumors. Chemotherapy frequently results in DNA damage. When such damage is sensed by the cell, programmed cell death, or apoptosis, may be initiated. However, chemotherapy-induced DNA damage may activate nuclear factor kappa B (NF-kappaB) and block apoptosis. We inhibited NF-kappaB using a gene therapy approach to determine whether this would render human glioma cells more susceptible to chemotherapy. U87 and U251 glioma cell lines were infected with either treatment adenovirus containing the gene for a mutant non-degradable form of IkappaBalpha, which is an inhibitor of NF-kappaB nuclear translocation, or empty control virus. Following viral infection, cells were treated either with BCNU, carboplatin, tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha), or SN-38. Chemotherapy resulted in a marked increase in active intranuclear NF-kappaB. This response was greatly decreased by insertion of the mutant repressor gene. Similarly, a significant increase in cell killing by all chemotherapy age was demonstrated following infection with treatment virus. Expression of the mutant repressor gene also resulted in increased apoptosis by TUNEL assay following chemotherapy. Numerous genes are responsible for glioma chemoresistance. DNA damage by chemotherapy may induce the antiapoptotic factor NF-kappaB and prevent programmed cell death. Insertion of a mutant inhibitor of NF-kappaB strips cells of this antiapoptotic defense and renders them more susceptible to killing by chemotherapy via increased apoptosis.
An Adaptive Resource Allocation Algorithm for Partitioned Services in Mobile Cloud Computing

Nowadays, much richer functionality of mobile applications encourages mobile devices to leverage the powerful cloud service for fast application execution by using the technology of Mobile Cloud Computing (MCC). To better utilize the computing resource of the cloud server, a novel resource allocation algorithm is proposed in this paper with the consideration of application partition offloading sequence while maintaining the high quality of service (QoS) of mobile users. The resource allocation problem is modeled as a semi-Markov decision process. Through maximizing the long-term discounted system reward, an optimal resource allocation policy is calculated for partitioned mobile applications using policy iteration approach, which makes a latter partition of the application more easily to obtain resource to speed up the application execution. Both theoretical and simulation results show that the system can adaptively adjust the allocation policy of whether to utilize the cloud and how much computing resource to allocate, according to the request traffic of mobile applications, the partition's position in the application, and the availability of system resources. The proposed algorithm outperforms Greedy admission control in terms of system throughput and QoS over a broad range of environments.
On inequalities for normalized Schur functions

We prove a conjecture of Cuttler et?al. (2011) on the monotonicity of normalized Schur functions under the usual (dominance) partial-order on partitions. We believe that our proof technique may be helpful in obtaining similar inequalities for other symmetric functions.
Holding "Hired Guns" Accountable: The Legal Status of Private Serucity Contractors in Iraq

Since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, thousands of armed civilians have worked in that country providing security. The law governing these “private security contractors” (PSCs), however, has never been clear. Despite several instances involving Iraqi civilian deaths, there is still no set procedure for holding PCSs accountable. Several options have been suggested, and trying PSCs in federal district courts in the United States seems to be emerging as the preferred method. This Note argues, however, that military-run courts-martial in Iraq are preferable for several reasons.
Bridging the gap between user and information: A case study of a serious game

Serious games, or games created for purposes beyond entertainment, facilitate communication between educators and learners. By harnessing the lessons prescribed by research and commercial entertainment games, serious games can teach, provide feedback, and evaluate learning, all within a single system. However, development is complex and rife with pitfalls. This paper describes lessons learned from the design, development, and experimentation of a serious game, Medulla, which can be applied to other serious games to improve the development process. Suggestions address positioning of the learning content within the game world, modality of the content, the relationship between the game and the content, and how to cater to a learner-player audience.
Atomistic Simulations of Fracture in Semiconductors

Semiconductors are the materials that underlie nearly all modern electron ics. They include elemental solids, such as silicon and germanium, as well as compounds such as gallium arsenide and silicon carbide. Since their main use is in electronic applications, semiconductors are not usually thought of as structural materials. Nevertheless there are important reasons, both technological and scientific, for the study of mechanical properties of semiconductors. The developing field of micro-machines, from micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) to nanotechnology, relies on fabrication techniques developed for electronic devices to make microscopic mechanical system. To a large extent it is the link between these fabrication techniques, including deposition, masking, and etching, and the materials that has driven the use of semiconductors as structural components. On a more fundamental level, the ability to fabricate extremely pure and nearly defect free samples makes semiconductors excellent model systems for studying the physics of fracture. In this section I will attempt to give an overview of the ways in which atomistic simulations have been applied to fracture in semiconductors using a number of illustrative examples.
Model-based, delay-tolerant teleoperation in unstructured environments

The problem of teleoperation in the presence of communication delays is addressed. Because of the delay in obtaining position and force feedback from the remote slave arms, direct teleoperation is not feasible. A combination of computer graphics and manipulator programming is proposed to solve the problem by allowing the operator to kinesthetically, as well as visually, interact with a graphical simulation of the remote environment and to interactively (online) teleprogram the remote manipulator through a sequence of elementary symbolic instructions, which are generated automatically by the operator's station software. The slave robot executes these symbolic commands delayed in time and, should an error occur, reports the relevant information back to the operator's station, where the master environment is reset to the error state. >
Implementing Complete Couplet Care

Poster Presentation Purpose for the Program Recognizing that the best place for a stable newborn is with its mother, a collaborative effort was made to change practices and workflows to eliminate unnecessary separation of mothers and their newborns. This initiative was given the descriptive name of complete couplet care (CCC). Proposed Change To implement the CCC, that is, the mother/infant dyad would remain intact unless separation was indicated for medical or safety reasons. Nursing interventions, pediatrician examinations, and most testing and procedures would occur at the mother's bedside. Implementation, Outcomes, and Evaluation To garner support for CCC, nursing staff attended a brainstorming session and were encouraged to contribute strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats to the proposed practice change. Feedback was reviewed, and recurring themes were identified. Task forces were formed. One group reviewed current literature and implemented skin‐to‐skin contact (SSC) after all appropriate births. Another task force developed a plan for bath at bedside so that initial newborn baths were completed at 6‐ to 12‐hours of life in the mother's room as a teaching tool for parents. The position of newborn assessment nurse (NAN) was created to provide initial care in the delivery room. Task forces combined and began collaborative efforts to implement unit‐wide changes that would facilitate CCC. It was soon recognized that CCC would have far‐reaching implications. Pediatrician buy‐in was imperative as newborn examinations would move to the mother's room. Ancillary departments such as registration, information technology, lab, housekeeping, dietary, and respiratory therapy would be affected by changes in the workflow. Representatives from these departments were involved in planning to assist them in making the transition to CCC. Site visits to other facilities were conducted to generate ideas for best practice. Initiation of CCC occurred on February 4, 2014. Since implementation, there has been a significant improvement in Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) scores, surpassing goals. The time from birth to initial breastfeeding has decreased, especially for cesareans. Based on feedback obtained from daily nurse manager rounding, the patient response to the implementation of CCC has been overwhelmingly positive. Implications for Nursing Practice Implementation of CCC required alterations in routines for maternal and newborn care. Collaborative planning and staged implementation assisted nursing staff, health care providers, and ancillary departments to embrace the concepts of CCC. Now care is brought to the bedside to prevent unnecessary separation of the mother–infant dyad.
AlGaAs/InGaAs 980 nm slab-coupled semiconductor lasers with single-spatial, large diameter mode

We recently proposed a new class of semiconductor diode laser, the slab-coupled optical waveguide laser (SCOWL) that offers several advantages for single-spatial mode, high-output power devices. Mode filtering due to slab coupling of higher-order modes allows for a much larger single mode and a lower density at the facets, and the low loss permits die construction of long devices that reduce beat dissipation in the device at high power operation. In addition, SCOWL devices can be designed such that the spatial mode profile is nearly circular, allowing for high-coupling efficiency butt coupling (without the use of lenses) to single-mode fibers.
The DNA replication-related element-binding factor (DREF) is a transcriptional regulator of the Drosophila myb gene

Drosophila melanogaster possesses a single gene, Dm myb, that is closely related to the vertebrate proto-oncogene c-Myb, and its other family members (A-Myb and B-Myb), all of which encode transcription factors. Dm myb is expressed in all proliferating cells throughout development, and previous studies demonstrate that Dm myb promotes both S-phase and M-phase in proliferating cells, while preserving diploidy by suppressing endoreduplication. We have initiated a characterization of the mechanisms that regulate Dm myb expression, and we report here that the transcriptional activator DREF (the DNA replication-related element binding factor) activates Dm myb transcription via two binding sites located in the 5' flanking region; that the Dm myb promoter lacks a prototypical TATA box sequence and instead appears to use an initiator/downstream promoter element (Inr/DPE) type promoter; and that Dm myb expression is regulated at the translational as well as transcriptional level.
Review: Thalassemia: Molecular Pathology and Management

Recent advances in molecular biology have allowed us to develop an almost complete picture of the molecular pathology of the thalassemia syndromes. The different classes of mutations that are responsible for the thalassemia syndromes will be discussed along with the special insights they have provided into the controls of eukaryotic gene expression. While management of these disorders has not kept pace with our understanding of their cause, there have been notable advances in treatment. Perhaps even more exciting is what the future holds, as the continued march of molecular biology is melded with novel approaches to the definitive treatment of thalassemias.