cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Conventional SLA and chemically modified SLA implants in patients with poorly controlled type 2 diabetes mellitus--a randomized controlled trial.

Objective The objective of this study was to evaluate the potential for a chemically modified Sand blasted, Large grit, Acid etched (SLA) surface, compared with a conventional SLA surface, to enhance implant healing and integration in poorly controlled diabetic patients, a group previously demonstrated to have compromises and delays in implant stabilization during the metabolically active healing period following implant placement. Materials and methods The study enrolled 24 patients with type 2 diabetes, baseline HbA1c levels between 7.5–11.4%, and a minimum of two posterior mandibular tooth sites at least 4 months following extraction and appropriate for implant placement. Each patient, at a randomly selected site, received an implant with the conventional SLA surface; at the second site, the patient received an implant with the chemically modified SLA (modSLA) surface. Thus, 48 study implants were placed. Implant stability was assessed using Resonance Frequency Analysis (RFA). Readings were taken from the buccal and proximal directions for each implant. Implant stability (ISQ) was assessed at the time of surgical placement (baseline) and 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, and 16 weeks following implant placement. Results No significant differences in implant stability were observed between conventional SLA implants and modSLA implants, and the time courses of implant stabilization following implant placement were similar for the two implant types. Baseline ISQ and minimum ISQ was slightly higher in subjects with higher HbA1c levels, but were similar during 12–16 weeks following implant placement. Forty-seven (98%) of the 48 implants were determined to be successfully osseointegrated and continued to restoration. Conclusion Implant stabilization was similar for the conventional SLA and chemically modified SLA implants in type 2 diabetic patients with relatively poor glycemic control. Furthermore, this study demonstrated clinically successful implant placement even in poorly controlled diabetic patients.
Clinical Laboratory Tests as an Aid in Distinguishing Cirrhotic from Noncirrhotic Liver Disease in Alcoholic Patients

Alcoholism-associated liver disease is a potentially preventable hepatic injury. By use of 2.5 routinely ordered clinical laboratory tests, alcoholic cirrhosis was distinguishable from non-cirrhotic alcoholic liver disease in 53 male inpatients with biopsy-verified liver disease (31 diagnosed with alcoholic cirrhosis and 22 diagnosed with fatty liver and/or alcoholic hepatitis). Linear discriminant analysis correctly classified 77% of subjects with cirrhotic liver disease and 68% of subjects with non-cirrhotic liver disease (overall accuracy of 74%). Quadratic discriminant analysis correctly classified 94% of subjects with cirrhotic liver disease and (68% of subjects with non-cirrhotic liver disease (81% overall accuracy). These pattern recognition techniques may allow earlier clinical intervention in alcoholic patients with liver disease.
Design of a Passive Gravity-Balanced Assistive Device for Sit-to-Stand Tasks

A sit-to-stand assist device can serve the needs of people suffering from muscle weakness due to age or disabilities that make sit-to-stand a difficult functional task. The objective of this paper is to design a passive gravity-balancing assist device for sit-to-stand motion. In our study, it has been shown that the contribution to the joint torques by the gravitational torque is dominant during sit-to-stand motion. On the basis of this result, a gravity balanced assistive device is proposed. This passive device uses a hybrid method to identify the center-of-mass of the system using auxiliary parallelograms first. Next, appropriate springs are connected to the device to make the total potential energy of the system due to the gravity and the springs constant during standing up. A demonstration prototype with the underlying principles was fabricated to test the feasibility of the proposed design. The prototype showed gravity balancing and was tested by the authors. This prototype will be modified appropriately for clinical testing.
Health Psychology and Exercise Adherence

The association between vigorous exercise and certain aspects of mental health is well documented. Explanations for this relationship are not well understood, however, and recent developments in sport psychology suggest a renewed interest in health-related topics. Paradoxically, the more fundamental or prerequisite issue of exercise adherence has received little attention from a psychological perspective. Moreover, the research related to adherence has tended ro be atheoretical and unsystematic. The following discussion is designed to reinforce the significance of understanding influences on habitual exercise behavior and to characterize the nature of previous research in this area. An attempt is also made to provide some heuristic advantages which may facilitate future study of the exercise adherence question at both basic and applied levels.
The effects of instructional suggestion and physiological cues on analogue fear

Two studies on the interaction of suggestion and physiological cues are reported. In Study I, female college students (20 fearful and 20 unafraid of snakes) were exposed to repeated approach tests with intervening suggestion of improvement. After the first test, subjects were categorized into four subject characteristic groups: strong vs weak actual pulse rate reactivity and strong vs weak perceived reactivity. Both subject characteristic variables were found to be related to approach and pulse rate improvement. In Study II, 72 college females fearful of snakes, similarly categorized into actual and perceived reactivity groups, were randomly assigned to one of four treatment conditions: repeated approach tests with vs without intervening suggestions of improvement and false heart rate feedback increasing vs decreasing during posttest. Suggestion and feedback interacted with subject characteristics in determining approach changes, while pulse rate improvement was again related to subject characteristics.
Vinyl-type polymerization of norbornene by nickel(II) bisbenzimidazole catalysts

Novel nickel(II) bisbenzimidazole complexes were prepared via a three-step synthetic procedure consisting of aniline/diacid condensation, ligand N-alkylation, and metal complexation. The complexes were characterized by X-ray crystallography and found to possess a pseudotetrahedral geometry. Upon activation with methylaluminoxane, these nickel bisbenzimidazoles did not polymerize simple olefins (e.g., ethylene, propylene, and 1-butene) but were found to carry out the rapid and efficient polymerization of norbornene. The polynorbornene products were characterized by gel permeation chromatography/light scattering, 13C NMR, and IR, and their Mark–Houwink and dn/dc parameters were determined. The molecular weights of the polynorbornenes were very high (weight-average molecular weight = 587,000–797,000 g/mol). 13C NMR suggested that the polymerization occurred via vinyl addition (i.e., a 2,3-linked polymer); no ring-opened product was observed. Thermogravimetric analysis indicated that the polynorbornenes were stable up to 400 °C under nitrogen. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 41: 2095–2106, 2003
Sensor applications for structural diagnostics and prognostics in aerospace systems

There are emerging sensor technologies that will be deployed in future rotorcraft or retrofitted to existing rotorcraft and aircraft for structural diagnostics and prognostics. The vehicle health management system is likely to contain heterogeneous sensor arrays. Thus the structural state awareness may require information data fusion from dissimilar sensor (heterogeneous) system. This paper reviews the state of the art commercial of the shelf (COTS) and emerging sensor technologies for structural damage monitoring of rotorcraft and aircraft health.
Oxidation of TD nickel at 1050 and 1200°C as compared to three grades of nickel of different purity

The isothermal oxidation of three nickels of different purity, Ni-200, Ni-270, and JM-Ni, was compared with that of TD-Ni in air at 1050 and 1200 C. The samples were oxidized as ground, as polished, or as annealed and polished. Weight change, metal loss, scale thickness, oxide morphology, and scale texture were determined. In degree of oxidation, TD-Ni was nearly the same as the higher purity materials, Ni-270 and JM-Ni; and less pure Ni-200 oxidized more than the others. However, in microstructure and scale texture the TD-Ni more closely resembled Ni-200. Grinding only charged the texture of the oxides of Ni_200 and TD-Ni.
MAGNETIC SCATTERING OF SLOW NEUTRONS BY GASEOUS OXYGEN

The scattering of neutrons by oxygen was measured as a function of wavelength from 2.5-10 A. By subtracting the calculated nuclear contribution the magnetic scattering is established. The magnitude of the magnetic interaction at long wavelengths is found to be in agreement with the theory of Halpern and Johnson. The measurement is not very sensitive to the details of the spatial distribution of the magnetic electrons. However, the observed wavelength dependence of the magnetic scattering is in agreement with the calculations of Kleiner based on the oxygen wave function derived by Meckler.
Aggressiveness of care in a prospective cohort of patients with advanced NSCLC.

BACKGROUND. Optimal end of life care of patients with terminal cancer is poorly understood. In this study, the aggressiveness of care is described in a cohort of patients with newly diagnosed advanced nonsmall-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). METHODS. Patients within 8 weeks of diagnosis of stage IIIb (with effusions) or IV NSCLC were enrolled in a study to examine the feasibility of involving palliative care services early in the provision of cancer care. Participants received standard oncology treatment and integrated palliative care. All patients were followed prospectively to assess anticancer therapy usage, hospital admissions, hospice utilization, and location of death. RESULTS. At the time of analysis, 40/46 (87%) of enrolled patients had died, with a median length of follow-up of 29.3 months. Aggressive care measures in the final month of life included rates of anticancer therapy (40%), emergency department visits (48%), and hospital admissions (50%). Sixty-five percent of patients received hospice care before death, with a median length of stay of 16 days. Patients with heightened baseline anxiety and mood symptoms were more likely to receive anticancer therapy at the end of life compared with those without such symptoms. CONCLUSIONS. This study demonstrates the frequent use of aggressive measures at the end of life among patients with advanced NSCLC in a tertiary care center, as shown by the number of patients receiving anticancer therapy within 30 days of death and brief utilization of hospice services. Further research is needed to identify predictors of aggressive care and to develop interventions enhancing decision-making at the end of life. Cancer 2008. © 2008 American Cancer Society.
Differential antiviral activities and intracellular metabolism of 3'-azido-3'-deoxythymidine and 2',3'-dideoxyinosine in human cells.

Dideoxynucleosides such as 3'-azido-3'-deoxythymidine (AZT) and 2',3'-dideoxyinosine (ddI) can effectively inhibit the replication of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in T lymphoid cells. There is evidence that HIV can infect and replicate in other cells including monocytoid cells and macrophages. The present study compared the antiretroviral activities of ddI and AZT in three lineages of human cells, i.e., MOLT4 (T lymphocytoid, CD4+), U937 (monocytoid, CD4+), and HT1080 (fibroblastoid, CD4-) cells. Feline leukemia virus, a retrovirus that causes immunodeficiency in cats, was used to infect the cells. The drug concentrations needed to reduce the viral p27 antigen titers in cell lysates by 50% (IC50s) were determined. The data show that AZT and ddI inhibited viral replication in all three cell lines. The IC50s of AZT were 0.02, 1.75, and 2.31 microM in MOLT4, HT1080, and U937 cells, respectively. For ddI, the IC50s were 4.31, 9.52, and 43.5 microM, respectively. These data indicate differential antiviral activities of ddI and AZT in the different cells with the following rank order of drug sensitivity: MOLT4 > HT1080 > U937. A study of the intracellular metabolism of [3H]AZT and [3H]ddI shows that the antiretroviral activities of AZT and ddI in the three cell lines correlated with the levels of their intracellular triphosphate metabolites.
Microarrays in ecology and evolution: a preview.

Microarray technology provides a new tool with which molecular ecologists and evolutionary biologists can survey genome-wide patterns of gene expression within and among species. New analytical approaches based on analysis of variance will allow quantification of the contributions of among individual variation, genotype, sex, microenvironment, population structure, and geography to variation in gene expression. Applications of this methodology are reviewed in relation to studies of mechanisms of adaptation and divergence; delineation of developmental and physiological pathways and networks; characterization of quantitative genetic parameters at the level of transcription (‘quantitative genomics’); molecular dissection of parasitism and symbiosis; and studies of the diversification of gene content. Establishment of microarray resources is neither prohibitively expensive nor technologically demanding, and a commitment to development of gene expression profiling methods for nonmodel organisms could have a tremendous impact on molecular and genetic research at the interface of organismal and population biology.
Measures of Spatial Accessibility to Health Care in a GIS Environment: Synthesis and a Case Study in the Chicago Region:

This article synthesizes two GIS-based accessibility measures into one framework, and applies the methods to examining spatial accessibility to primary healthcare in the Chicago 10-county region. The floating catchment area method defines the service area of physicians by a threshold travel time while accounting for the availability of physicians by their surrounded demands. The gravity-based method considers a nearby physician more accessible than a remote one and discounts a physician's availability by a gravity-based potential. The former is a special case of the latter. Based on the 2000 Census and primary care physician data, this research assesses the variation of spatial accessibility to primary care in the Chicago region, and analyzes the sensitivity of results by experimenting with ranges of threshold travel times in the floating catchment area method and travel friction coefficients in the gravity model. The methods may be used to help the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and state Health Departments improve health professional shortage areas designation.
AN EXAMINATION OF THE COMPETITIVE ATTITUDES OF ENTREPRENEURS: IMPLICATIONS FOR ENTREPRENEURIAL ORIENTATION AT THE INDIVIDUAL LEVEL

This study examined the competitive attitudes of entrepreneurs using the psychological theory of hyper-competitiveness versus personal development competitiveness in data from a cross-section of small business entrepreneurs. Results suggest most entrepreneurs view themselves, and their cohort, as personal development (e. g., growth oriented) competitors rather than as hypercompetitors (e. g., dominant individuals). The analysis suggests that, when applied at the individual level, the entrepreneurial orientation dimension of competitive aggressiveness should be reconceptualized to include not only hyper-competitiveness but also personal development competitiveness. Implications for the theories of entrepreneurial gender, affective engagement, interactional competitiveness and self-actualization are discussed.
HotSpotter: Efficient visualization of driver mutations

Driver mutations are positively selected during the evolution of cancers. The relative frequency of a particular mutation within a gene is typically used as a criterion for identifying a driver mutation. However, driver mutations may occur with relative infrequency at a particular site, but cluster within a region of the gene. When analyzing across different cancers, particular mutation sites or mutations within a particular region of the gene may be of relatively low frequency in some cancers, but still provide selective growth advantage. This paper presents a method that allows rapid and easy visualization of mutation data sets and identification of potential gene mutation hotspot sites and/or regions. As an example, we identified hotspot regions in the NFE2L2 gene that are potentially functionally relevant in endometrial cancer, but would be missed using other analyses. HotSpotter is a quick, easy-to-use visualization tool that delivers gene identities with associated mutation locations and frequencies overlaid upon a large cancer mutation reference set. This allows the user to identify potential driver mutations that are less frequent in a cancer or are localized in a hotspot region of relatively infrequent mutations.
Harnessing human dendritic cell subsets for medicine

Immunity results from a complex interplay between the antigen-non-specific innate immune system and the antigen-specific adaptive immune system. The cells and molecules of the innate system employ non-clonal recognition receptors including lectins, Toll-like receptors, NOD-like receptors, and helicases. B and T lymphocytes of the adaptive immune system employ clonal receptors recognizing antigens or their derived peptides in a highly specific manner. An essential link between innate and adaptive immunity is provided by dendritic cells (DCs). DCs can induce such contrasting states as immunity and tolerance. The recent years have brought a wealth of information on the biology of DCs revealing the complexity of this cell system. Indeed, DC plasticity and subsets are prominent determinants of the type and quality of elicited immune responses. In this article, we summarize our recent studies aimed at a better understanding of the DC system to unravel the pathophysiology of human diseases and design novel human vaccines.
Balanced excitation and its effect on the fortuitous detection of dynamic defects

Dynamic defects are less likely to be fortuitously detected than static defects because they have more stringent detection requirements. We show that (in addition to more site observations) balanced excitation is essential for detection of these defects, and we present a metric for estimating this degree of balance. We also show that excitation balance correlates with the parameter /spl tau/ in the MPG-D defective part level model.
Effects of herbivory and genotype on growth and survivorship of sand-dune willow (Salix cordata)

. 1 The response of different clones of sand-dune willow, Salix cordata, to herbivory by a specialist herbivore, Altica subplicata, was studied in three glasshouse experiments. Plants were caged and exposed to three herbivory treatments: no beetles, low number of beetles, and high number of beetles. 2 Plants consistently had significantly higher growth rates in the absence of herbivory than under conditions of low or high herbivory (1.5–6 times higher). 3 Herbivore treatment influenced mortality from drought stress; more plants from the low and high herbivory treatments (40% and 80%) died from drought stress than did control plants (0%). 4 Clone genotype significantly influenced growth rates and the susceptibility of plants to drought stress. However, clones showed similar growth responses to herbivory, suggesting a lack of genetic variation in tolerance or resistance to herbivory.
Fast barrier synchronization hardware

Many recent studies have considered the importance of barrier synchronization overhead on parallel loop performance, especially for large-scale parallel machines. This paper describes a hardware scheme for supporting fast barrier synchronization. It allows barrier synchronization to be performed within a single instruction cycle for moderately sized systems, and is scalable with logarithmic increase in synchronization time. It supports a large number of concurrent barriers, and can also be used to support a number of different barrier synchronization schemes. Simulation results show that under reasonable assumptions, this hardware can decrease parallel loop execution time significantly, especially for statically scheduled loops.
Plastid-expressed betaine aldehyde dehydrogenase gene in carrot cultured cells, roots, and leaves confers enhanced salt tolerance

Salinity is one of the major factors that limits geographical distribution of plants and adversely affects crop productivity and quality. We report here high-level expression of betaine aldehyde dehydrogenase (BADH) in cultured cells, roots, and leaves of carrot (Daucus carota) via plastid genetic engineering. Homoplasmic transgenic plants exhibiting high levels of salt tolerance were regenerated from bombarded cell cultures via somatic embryogenesis. Transformation efficiency of carrot somatic embryos was very high, with one transgenic event per approximately seven bombarded plates under optimal conditions. In vitro transgenic carrot cells transformed with the badh transgene were visually green in color when compared to untransformed carrot cells, and this offered a visual selection for transgenic lines. BADH enzyme activity was enhanced 8-fold in transgenic carrot cell cultures, grew 7-fold more, and accumulated 50- to 54-fold more betaine (93-101 micromol g(-1) dry weight of beta-Ala betaine and Gly betaine) than untransformed cells grown in liquid medium containing 100 mm NaCl. Transgenic carrot plants expressing BADH grew in the presence of high concentrations of NaCl (up to 400 mm), the highest level of salt tolerance reported so far among genetically modified crop plants. BADH expression was 74.8% in non-green edible parts (carrots) containing chromoplasts, and 53% in proplastids of cultured cells when compared to chloroplasts (100%) in leaves. Demonstration of plastid transformation via somatic embryogenesis utilizing non-green tissues as recipients of foreign DNA for the first time overcomes two of the major obstacles in extending this technology to important crop plants.
Effect of Continuum Removal on Hyperspectral Coastal Vegetation Classification Using a Fuzzy Learning Vector Quantizer

Continuum removal (CR) is often used for geologic mapping; however, more research is needed to better establish the utility of CR for vegetation classification, particularly when used with artificial neural networks (ANNs). In this paper, fuzzy learning vector quantization (FLVQ) was applied to hyperspectral Airborne Visible/Infrared Imaging Spectrometer imagery for coastal vegetation classification. FLVQ performance was compared with that of a multilayer perceptron (MLP), a self-organizing map (SOM), and an endmember-based algorithm [spectral feature fitting (SFF)]. The objective was to assess the effect of CR as an input vector-preprocessing step for ANN model development on classification accuracy. Compared with a related study, continuum intact (CI) reflectance data generally yielded higher classification accuracies than those based on CR. Thus, CR may not be a preferred preprocessing method for coastal vegetation mapping over broad wavelength ranges. MLP slightly outperformed FLVQ when applied to CI data, but FLVQ yielded higher accuracy than MLP with CR. However, there was no significant difference between them for both data treatments at the 95% confidence level. All ANNs tested yielded significantly higher classification accuracies than SFF. For model development, the 588-neuron FLVQ required only 8.2% of MLP training time, 27.8% of the 400-neuron SOM time, and 8.8% of the 729-neuron 3-D SOM time
A review of numerical methods for digital simulation

This review is based on an extended study of the litera ture and experience in the detailed simulation of guided missiles and similar systems. After a brief recapitulation of the main ideas behind ...
Optimum Placement of Heat Sources in Forced Convection

In many practical instances of heat transfer, such as furnaces, a certain minimum temperature must be attained on a given region. Usually the region is heated by forced convection with isolated heat sources upstream. The present note studies the placement of these heat sources such that the minimum temperature requirement is satisfied with the least amount of total thermal energy input. A circular region of radius R{prime} is to be heated to at least temperature T{sub 0}. There are N discrete heat sources forced by a uniform flow of velocity U. The question is, how can the authors place these sources such that the least amount of energy is required Since the thermal wake of a source in nonuniform, the answer is not obvious.
Extrinsic and intrinsic motivation at 30: Unresolved scientific issues.

Abstract The undermining effect of extrinsic reward on intrinsic motivation remains unproven. The key unresolved issues are construct invalidity (all four definitions are unproved and two are illogical); measurement unreliability (the free-choice measure requires unreliable, subjective judgments to infer intrinsic motivation); inadequate experimental controls (negative affect and novelty, not cognitive evaluation, may explain “undermining” effects); and biased metareviews (studies with possible floor effects excluded, but those with possible ceiling effects included). Perhaps the greatest error with the undermining theory, however, is that it does not adequately recognize the multifaceted nature of intrinsic motivation (Reiss, 2004a). Advice to limit the use of applied behavior analysis based on “hidden” undermining effects is ideologically inspired and is unsupported by credible scientific evidence.
Anomalous lattice expansion of metal-hydrogen thin films

We report x-ray diffraction experiments investigating the lattice expansion due to hydrogen in Nb/Ta superlattices and thin Nb films. For low hydrogen concentrations (cH < 0.09 H/metal), the lattice expands only normal to the plane of the film due to the epitaxial constraints imposed by the substrate. At higher concentrations, corresponding to strains on the order of the critical strains expected for the formation of misfit dislocations, we find a structural instability which leads to the formation of two metal-H phases, one of which has a lattice expansion in the plane of the film. These results differ significantly from the expected phase diagram and properties of the bulk metal-H systems.
MUC1 modulates NF-kB-dependent gene expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines by altering their epigenetic regulation (TUM7P.944)

MUC1 is a transmembrane glycoprotein overexpressed and hypoglycosylated in human adenocarcinomas as well as sites of chronic epithelial inflammations. The MUC1 extracellular domain plays an important role in cell-cell communication, protein-protein interaction and signaling pathway activation. We investigated the role of MUC1 in transcriptional regulation of pro-inflammatory cytokines, and whether NF-kB signaling pathway is required. Our results showed that under TNFα treatment the entire molecule MUC1 is translocated to the nucleus and binds cytokine promoters. In particular, ChIP and Real-time PCR experiments revealed that MUC1, in association with p65, up-regulated IL6 and TNFα expression by binding to their promoter regions in both mouse and human cancer cells. Because proteomic analysis showed that MUC1 is able to interact directly with histone proteins, we hypothesized that MUC1 might influence the transcriptional activity of cytokines by inducing epigenetic modification. Consistent with other studies revealing the cross-talk between histone acethylation, methylation and ubiquitination, our preliminary data demonstrated that full length form of MUC1 modulates the expression of several factors involved in chromatin remodeling such as CBP/p300, HDAC1, ubH2A and EZH2. We also found that MUC1 controls their interaction with IL6 and TNFα promoters in breast cancer cells. This is an important finding that may explain the mechanism by which MUC1 regulates cancer progression.
Measuring the progression of foreign-body reaction to silicone implants using in vivo MR microscopy

We used in vivo magnetic resonance (MR) microscopy to follow the growth of fibrous capsule as a foreign body reaction to silicone implants in rats. Anesthetized rats were imaged 1, 7, 14, and 28 days after silicone-coated MR imaging coils were sutured to their neck muscles. On the twenty eighth day, rats were sacrificed and coils and adjacent tissues were removed en bloc and fixed in formalin, reimaged with MR, and sectioned for conventional histology. Three-dimensional (3-D) spin-echo [3DFT] acquisition gave in-plane resolution of 32/spl times/32 /spl mu/m in vivo and 16/spl times/16 /spl mu/m ex vivo. All MR images showed a diffuse band of elevated signal intensity between the silicone of the coil and adjacent tissue. The border of the hyperintense band was thin and not well defined at seven days post-implantation. From 7-28 days, the band showed relatively homogeneous signal intensity and its thickness increased 44% on the rectus muscle side and 78% on the subcutaneous side. The capsule thickness determined either by MR in vivo and ex vivo microscopy or conventional histology was not significantly different, and there was a significant correlation between thickness measurements among those methods. MR in vivo microscopy provides sufficient resolution and spatial information to serially evaluate the growth of the foreign body fibrous capsule over time, thus achieving greater accuracy and consistency in measurements.
A centralized generic protocol for multipoint connections

A centralized protocol, C-GMC, is proposed for the construction and maintenance of multipoint connections (MCs). The operation of the protocol is independent of the MC topology algorithm, which is rendered a "plug-in" module. The C-GMC protocol is targeted at networks based on link state routing and uses the concept of a per-MC server. The problems of server election and migration are modeled as consensus problems in distributed systems, and an efficient solution is proposed. Results of a simulation study show that the C-GMC protocol is able to efficiently handle worst case workloads generated by multiparty communication sessions with thousands of participants.
Reproductive Female Common Watersnakes (Nerodia sipedon sipedon) Are Not Anorexic in the Wild

Abstract The active season of the Common Watersnake (Nerodia sipedon sipedon) in Missouri lasts about 170 days, from mid-April to early October. Females begin vitellogenesis in April, ovulate in June, and give birth in August to September. Reproduction occupies about 130 days (76%) of the active season. Food was present in 71% of vitellogenic snakes, 64% of pregnant snakes, and 43% of postpartum snakes. Coelomic fat mass decreased during vitellogenesis but increased during pregnancy. At parturition, 40% of females had sufficient fat reserves to reproduce the following year. Dry mass of ovulated ova/developing young did not change through pregnancy; however, wet mass increased from 45% in freshly ovulated ova to 78% at parturition. We conclude that reproductive females are not anorexic and that the increase in water content of the embryos adds considerable mass to the mother during pregnancy.
Birth of a Neurogastronomy Nation: The Inaugural Symposium of the International Society of Neurogastronomy

A review of the neuroscientific, clinical medicine, culinary, and food technology and agriculture presentations and demonstrations that were featured at the inaugural symposium of the International Society of Neurogastronomy, held at the University of Kentucky on November 7, 2015.
Welcome to Economic Geography Volume 92

An introduction is presented in which the editor discusses various topics within the issue which includes political economy, economic sociology and gender studies.
Corneal Allograft Rejection

Corneal allograft rejection remains the major impediment to the success of the most commonly performed solid tissue transplant. Immunologic mechanisms, particularly cellular immunity, appear to be responsible for the majority of cases of graft failure. While the prognosis for dystrophic and noninflammatory conditions is highly favorable, the failure rate in vascularized corneas can be as high as 60%. Considerable interest in the HLA system has led to a greater understanding of the distributions of these major histocompatibility antigens in the cornea. It is generally believed that tissue typing and matching class I and class II HLA antigens will result in a higher success rate for corneal transplantation. Other strategies for reducing graft-host disparity, such as decreasing the antigen load, interfering with clonal expansion, and utilizing new forms of immunotherapy, will undoubtedly contribute to better survival of corneal transplants.
Simultaneous Determination of Critical Micelle Temperature and Micelle Core Glass Transition Temperature of Block Copolymer–Solvent Systems via Pyrene-Label Fluorescence

The critical micelle temperature (CMT) and micelle core glass transition temperature (Tg) for a poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA)-poly(tert-butyl methacrylate) (PtBMA) diblock copolymer system were measured by fluorescence via single temperature (T) ramps. Synthesis yielded identical block lengths in unlabeled and pyrene-labeled diblocks, the latter with dye at the PMMA block terminus. Studies were conducted at 5–18 wt % diblock in 2-ethylhexanol (2EH) with a trace of labeled diblock (0.2 wt % of total copolymer). The T dependence of pyrene-label fluorescence intensity yielded the CMT and micelle core Tg in systems where the PMMA-block and the 2EH within the cores constituted 1.9–7.8% of sample mass. While the CMT can be measured by many methods, this is the first direct measurement of micelle core Tg at low core content (e.g., 1.9 wt %) in a block copolymer/solvent system. Differential scanning calorimetry was done on diblock samples, showing severe limitations for sensing and characterizing core Tg. Fluo...
Readmission Following Gastric Cancer Resection: Risk Factors and Survival

This study utilized a multi-institutional database to evaluate risk factors for readmission in patients undergoing curative gastrectomy for gastric adenocarcinoma with the intent of describing both perioperative risk factors and the relationship of readmission to survival. Patients who underwent curative resection of gastric adenocarcinoma from 2000 to 2012 from seven academic institutions of the US Gastric Cancer Collaborative were analyzed. In-hospital deaths and palliative surgeries were excluded, and readmission was defined as within 30 days of discharge. Univariate and multivariable logistic regression analyses were employed and survival analysis conducted. Of the 855 patients, 121 patients (14.2 %) were readmitted. Univariate analysis identified advanced age (p 12 days, p = 0.0256), postoperative complication (p < 0.0001), and total gastrectomy (p = 0.0167) as risk factors for readmission. Multivariable analysis identified cardiac disease (odds ratio (OR) 2.4, 95 % confidence interval (CI) 1.6–3.3, p < 0.0001), postoperative complication (OR 2.3, 95 % CI 1.6–5.4, p < 0.0001), and pancreatectomy (OR 2.2, 95 % CI 1.1–4.1, p = 0.0202) as independent risk factors for readmission. There was an association of decreased overall median survival in readmitted patients (39 months for readmitted vs. 103 months for non-readmitted). This was due to decreased survival in readmitted stage 1 (p = 0.0039), while there was no difference in survival for other stages. Stage I readmitted patients had a higher incidence of cardiac disease than stage I non-readmitted patients (58 vs. 24 %, respectively, p = 0.0002). Within this multi-institutional study investigating readmission in patients undergoing curative resection for gastric cancer, cardiac disease, postoperative complication, and concomitant pancreatectomy were identified as significant risk factors for readmission. Readmission was associated with decreased overall median survival, but on further analysis, this was driven by differences in survival for stage I disease only.
Fusion-neutron measurements for magnetized liner inertial fusion experiments on the Z accelerator

Several magnetized liner inertial fusion (MagLIF) experiments have been conducted on the Z accelerator at Sandia National Laboratories since late 2013. Measurements of the primary DD (2.45 MeV) neutrons for these experiments suggest that the neutron production is thermonuclear. Primary DD yields up to 3e12 with ion temperatures ~2-3 keV have been achieved. Measurements of the secondary DT (14 MeV) neutrons indicate that the fuel is significantly magnetized. Measurements of down-scattered neutrons from the beryllium liner suggest ρRliner ~ 1g/cm2. Neutron bang times, estimated from neutron time-of-flight (nTOF) measurements, coincide with peak x-ray production. Furthermore, plans to improve and expand the Z neutron diagnostic suite include neutron burn-history diagnostics, increased sensitivity and higher precision nTOF detectors, and neutron recoil-based yield and spectral measurements.
Abstract 16: Cardiosphere Derived Cells from Pediatric End-Stage Heart Failure Patients Have Enhanced Functional Activity Due to the Heat Shock Response

Background: The potential of novel cell based therapies using cardiosphere derived cells (CDCs) to replace or repair damaged cardiac tissue is an attractive therapy and Phase I clinical trials in adults report encouraging results. We have previously demonstrated that age plays an important role in controlling the functional activity of CDCs and now we will determine how the heart’s physiology may change the functional activity of pediatric end-stage heart failure (ESHF) derived CDCs when compared to age-match control derived CDCs. Methods and Results: Our results shows that ESFH derived CDCs have significantly increased numbers of CSCs, including c-kit+, ISL-1+ and Sca-1+ cells. They are functionally more potent in an infarcted rodent model as compared to hCDCs derived from congenital heart disease (CHD) age-matched controls which have normal myocardium. The functional recovery was mediated in part by increased secretion of cytokines, SDF-1α and VEGF-A, which stimulated more angiogenesis, recruitment of endogenous stem cells, and proliferation of cardiomyocytes. The possible mechanism for this increased cytokine secretion was due to the activation of heat shock response (HSR), supported by three lines of evidence. First, gain of function studies demonstrated that the HSR induced the low functioning CHD-derived CDCs to significantly recover the injured myocardium, even more than the ESHF-derived CDCs by increasing cytokine secretion. Secondly, loss-of function studies targeting the HSR down regulating the ability of the ESHF-derived CDCs to secrete cytokines and thus functionally recover the injured myocardium. Finally, the HSR alone increased the number of the endogenous cardiac stem cell population and recovered the injured myocardium. We will present the results showing that activation of HSR expands cardiac stem cells (CSCs) without losing their phenotypic characteristics. Conclusion: Collectively, the present work demonstrates a novel biological activity of the HSR in its ability to increase the number of functional CSCs while maintaining the ‘stemness’ of these cells that have direct implications for future clinical trials.
Modeling Differences in Behavior Within and Between Drivers

A new generation of driver assistance systems such as advanced collision warning and intelligent brake assist are now available options for the modern automobile. However, the addition of each new system increases the information load on the driver and potentially detracts from their ability to safely operate the vehicle. Over 10 years ago, we [Pentland A, Liu A (1999) A modeling and prediction of human behavior, Neural Comput 11, 229–242] suggested that a car that could infer the current intent of the driver would be able to appropriately manage the suite of systems and provide task relevant information to the driver in a timely fashion. This “smart car” would observe the driver’s pattern of behaviour in terms of their control of the vehicle then infer their current driving task using a Markov Dynamic Model. The approach could recognize driver actions from their initial behaviour with high accuracy under simulated driving conditions. Since that time new computational approaches and improved in-vehicle technology (e.g., GPS technology, advanced radar and video/computer vision, etc.) have moved the realization of this concept further along. Yet, one fundamental question still needs to be carefully addressed: Can these driver models, built on statistical descriptions of driver behaviour, accurately model the differences between drivers or changes within an individual driver’s behaviour? In this paper, I describe some examples of these differences and discuss their potential impact on a model’s ability to consistently recognize behaviour. To ensure the acceptance of the next generation driver assistance systems, these issues will have to be resolved.
Investigation of Different Gas Sensor-Based Artificial Olfactory Systems for Screening Salmonella typhimurium Contamination in Beef

Two different electronic nose systems (metal oxide and conducting polymer based) were used to identify Salmonella typhimurium contaminated beef strip loin samples (stored at two temperatures). The sensors present in the two systems were ranked based on their Fisher criteria of ranking to evaluate their importance in discriminant analysis. The most informative sensors were then used to develop linear discriminant analysis and quadratic discriminant analysis-based classification models. Further, sensor signals collected from both the sensor systems were combined to improve the classification accuracies. The developed models classified meat samples based on the Salmonella population into “No Salmonella” (microbial counts < 0.7 log10 cfu/g) and “Salmonella inoculated” (microbial counts ≥ 0.7 log10 cfu/g). The performances of the developed models were validated using leave-1-out cross-validation. Classification accuracies of 80% and above were observed for the samples stored at 10 °C using the sensor fusion approach. However, the classification accuracies were relatively low for the meat samples stored at 4 °C when compared to the samples stored at 10 °C. The results indicate that the electronic nose systems could be effectively used as a first stage screening device to identify the meat samples contaminated with S. typhimurium.
"Tools for bodystorming" an engaging method to improve human condition / interactive exhibition

For an interactive exhibition to be installed during PDC, professor Inna Alesina proposes the "tools for bodystorming"---an engaging multi-sensory experience to address open-ended design challenges. This hands-on and body-on experience highlights the role of confronting the physical world when designing for it. It is not a critique of the digital interaction but rather a reminder that the pleasure of physical participation is a universal phenomenon, even in the era of digital participation.During mini-workshops, Alesina will create experiences where participants will use everyday materials to "sketch" concepts that can be used immediately for bodystorming to gather feedback and develop them further. The techniques will illustrate several unique ways to facilitate divergent creative thinking and will be beneficial for a wide audience and especially enjoyed by non-designers. Participants can include: educators, inventors, entrepreneurs, design students, designers, engineers, UX developers, and artists.
Rhetoric and Ideology

Theoretical investigations into the nature and function of ideology have been dominated for the past two decades by the work of Louis Althusser, indeed by one essay by the French marxist philosopher — ‘Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses’.1 It is not my purpose here to rehearse the numerous critiques of Althusser’s position. I will concentrate instead on offering an alternative way of understanding the practical rhetorical operations of ideology (understood as those modes of experience that promote allegiance to systems of domination) and the political implications of the rhetoric of ideology as it operates in Hollywood film.
The Atomization of Tongan Society

Oliver’s observation rings with considerable truth even today, since Tonga and Tongans project a strong impression of conservatism and traditionalism. Despite Tonga’s apparent continuity in life-style, the structure of Tongan society has been profoundly transformed by the processes of state formation, particularly the centralization and institutionalization of power and authority. George Marcus (1978) has described the consolidation of political power and the movement from traditional chieftaincy to constitutional monarchy. These changes, at the societal level, have also transformed local organization by restructuring the social relations of production. Ethnographers working in Tonga during the last few decades have noted several features of Tongan local organization that suggest a strong trend toward social relations that are individualized, optative, and emphasize horizontal rather than vertical social relations. These observations, presented as absences of expected patterns, have contrasted
High-Field THz Lattice Control Via Anharmonic Vibrational Coupling

Using high-field THz radiation, we drive IR active vibrations in CdWO4 to large amplitudes. This large amplitude excitation allows anharmonic coupling, which leads to coherent energy transfer, exciting a set of Raman active modes.
The Role of MLL in DNA Damage Checkpoint and Its Implication in Leukemogenesis

Cell cycle checkpoints are implemented to safeguard our genome and the deregulation of which results in human cancers. Hence, it is of great significance to discover and investigate novel key constituents of the mammalian DNA damage response network. Human chromosome band 11q23 translocation disrupting the MLL gene leads to poor prognostic leukemias. MLL is a transcription co-activator that maintains HOX gene expression. The importance of HOX gene deregulation in MLL leukemogenesis has been intensively investigated. However, physiological murine MLL leukemia knockin models have indicated that incurred HOX gene aberration alone is insufficient to initiate MLL leukemia. Thus, additional signaling pathway must be involved, which remains to be discovered. Our recent studies demonstrated an intimate relationship between MLL and the cell cycle(Takeda et al. 2006, Genes & Development, 20, 2397–2409; Liu et al. 2007, Genes & Development, 21, 2385–2398). More importantly, our studies uncovered a critical role of MLL in executing the S phase checkpoint. We showed: Over-expression of MLL induces an S phase block. MLL accumulates in the S phase upon DNA damage. MLL deficiency results in radioresistant DNA synthesis (RDS) and chromatid-type chromosomal abnormalities, two signature characteristics of S phase checkpoint defects. We further determined the underlying mechanisms concerning the DNA damage-induced MLL accumulation. Our data showed that MLL is phosphorylated after DNA damage, which in turn blocks its degradation by SCFSkp2 in the S phase and results in the ultimate accumulation. Our data revealed the link between MLL and the S phase checkpoint, which provides novel insights into the mammalian cell cycle checkpoint network and human leukemia pathogenesis. Future studies utilizing murine leukemia models will be performed to examine whether MLL translocation compromises the S phase checkpoint and if the resulted dysfunction contributes to MLL leukemogenesis.