cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
The R-factors of multiple antibiotic resistant faecal coliforms isolated from a domestic dog

The antibiotic resistant faecal flora of a domestic dog suffering from an acute enteric infection was examined. The flora exhibited overall resistance to a wide variety of antibiotics. However, following restoration of the animal to normal health, overall resistance to ampicillin (Ap), tetracycline (Tc), chloramphenicol (Cm) and streptomycin (Sm) was lost, although low numbers of bacteria resistant to these four antimicrobial agents could still be isolated up to one year later. A total of 11 strains were purified for further study. All 11 were positively identified as Escherichia coli and shown to be resistant to various combinations of the above antibiotics, and additionally to kanamycin (Km). Each strain harboured from one to five plasmids, although only four proved capable of transferring antibiotic resistance to Escherichia coli K-12. One of the strains was found to harbour two conjugal plasmids pNJ101 (60 Md) and pNJ102 (133 Md) which coded for resistance to Cm, Tc, Ap and Cm, Tc, Km respectively. A third plasmid pNJ103 (29 Md) remains cryptic. The possession of the two plasmids pNJ101 and pNJ102 appears to be an unstable situation as variants arose harbouring one or other of the plasmids.
Sports behavior of ADHD children

This study examined differences in sport behavior between boys with and without AttentionDeficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Sport behavior was measured by parent-report on the Sports Behavior Checklist (SBC). The SBC assessed which sports the child had participated in, length of participation, aggression, emotional reactivity, frequency of injury, and frequency of disqualification across both team and individual sports settings. Results from the study showed that boys with ADHD displayed higher levels of aggression, emotional reactivity, and disqualification than did their non-ADHD peers. Additionally, both groups of boys displayed higher levels of aggression, emotional reactivity, and injury in team sports compared to individual sports. Practical implications for the parents of ADHD boys involved in sports are discussed. Results are also considered with respect to current theories of ADHD.
Induction of TCR Vβ-Specific CD8+ CTLs by TCR Vβ-Derived Peptides Bound to HLA-E

Previous studies have identified murine and human regulatory CD8 + T cells specific for TCR-Vβ families expressed on autologous activated CD4 + T cells. In the mouse, these regulatory CD8 + T cells were shown to be restricted by the MHC class Ib molecule, Qa-1. In the present study, we asked whether HLA-E, the human functional equivalent of Qa-1, binds Vβ peptides and whether the HLA-E/Vβ-peptide complex induces and restricts human CD8 + CTLs. We first created stable HLA-E gene transfectants of the C1R cell line (C1R-E). Two putative HLA-E binding nonapeptides identified in human TCR Vβ1 and Vβ2 chains (SLELGDSAL and LLLGPGSGL, respectively) were shown to bind to HLA-E. CD8 + T cells could be primed in vitro by C1R-E cells loaded with the Vβ1 (C1R-E/V1) or Vβ2 (C1R-E/V2) peptide to preferentially kill C1R-E cells loaded with the respective inducing Vβ peptide, compared with targets loaded with the other peptides. Priming CD8 + T cells with untreated C1R-E cells did not induce Vβ-specific CTLs. Of perhaps more physiological relevance was the finding that the CD8 + CTLs primed by C1R-E/V1 also preferentially killed activated autologous TCR Vβ1 + . Similar results were observed in reciprocal experiments using C1R-E/V2 for priming. Furthermore, anti-CD8 and anti-MHC class I mAbs inhibited this Vβ-specific killing of C1R-E and CD4 + T cell targets. Taken together, the data provide evidence that certain TCR-Vβ peptides can be presented by HLA-E to further induce Vβ-specific CD8 + CTLs.
Drainage Impacts on Surficial Water Retention Capacity of a Prairie Pothole Watershed

Wetland restoration has been proposed as a tool to mitigate excess runoff and associated nonpoint source pollution in the Upper Midwestern United States. This study quantified the surficial water retention capacity of existing and drained wetlands for the Greater Blue Earth River Basin (GBERB), an intensively drained agricultural watershed. Using airborne light detection and ranging, the historic depressional storage was determined to be 152 mm. Individual depression analysis suggested that the restoration of most drained areas would have little impact on the storage capacity of the GBERB because the majority (53%) of retention capacity was in large depressions (>40 ha) which comprised only a small proportion ( 40 ha) depressions.
Organic sources and carbon sequestration in Holocene shelf sediments from the western Arctic Ocean

Abstract To quantify changes in organic carbon inputs and preservation, sediments from the Northern Chukchi Sea spanning the last 9000 years of the Holocene period were collected during the HOTRAX expedition and analyzed. The multi-proxy approach included molecular organic markers, bulk carbon and isotope measurements plus more recent approaches to terrestrial carbon estimation (the BIT index of Branched and Isoprenoid Tetraethers). The upper 1100 cm of the core, corresponding to the last 7.4 ka, showed a relatively stable total organic carbon content of 1.13–1.38% which decreased below 1100 cm to 0.6%. C:N ratios ranged from 8.4 to 10.83 over the Holocene time period examined. The distribution of n-alcohols and n-alkanes revealed major contributions from long-chain n-alcohols and n-alkanes while minimal contributions were seen from short-chain n-alkanes. The majority of the total fatty acids was comprised of saturated and monounsaturated fatty acids with short-chain and long-chain saturated fatty acids present in similar concentrations throughout most of the core and monounsaturated fatty acids decreasing down-core. Total sterol concentrations showed considerable inputs from marine sterols, C28Δ5,22, C28Δ5,24(28) and dinosterol, as well as C29Δ5, typically considered a terrestrial marker. The BIT indices for core sediments ranged from 0.021 to 0.216 with minor changes seen in older sequences. Overall, organic biomarkers indicate marine sources as the more dominant input of organic matter with lower but continual contributions from terrestrial sources at this location during the Holocene. The remarkable consistency among multiple molecular organic markers of both marine and terrestrial origin over the Holocene period encompassed by the core suggests that sinking material or surface sediments were heavily influenced by bottom currents or other mixing processes prior to their deposition.
Values Expressed in Egyptian Children's Readers

Several hypotheses concerning values and societal development, with special reference to Egypt between 1952 and 1972, were tested. Content analysis of stories in Egyptian children's readers for the pre- 1952 period and the 1972-1973 academic year showed no significant rise in achievement, affiliation, or power imageries and no significant decline in moral teaching in the later period. Two main arguments were offered to explain why the results of this study did not conform to popular "universal" theories. The first suggested that textbook writers in both periods came from similar social backgrounds. The second explanation maintained that motivation is a function of factors other than social and economic changes and that different countries might react differently to such changes.
Crack-Closure Behavior of 7050 Aluminum Alloy near Threshold Conditions for Wide Range in Load Ratios and Constant Kmax Tests

Fatigue-crack-growth rate tests were conducted on compact specimens made of a 7050-T7451 aluminum alloy to study the behavior over a range in load ratios (0.1≤R≤0.9) and constant Kmax test conditions. Previous research had suggested that differences in the threshold regime at high load ratios were attributed to Kmax effects. But recent measurements of crack-closure behavior under high R and constant Kmax test conditions near threshold conditions on a variety of materials have indicated that these tests may not be crack-closure free as suspected. Strain gages were placed near and ahead of the crack tip to measure crack-opening loads from local strain records. In addition, a back-face strain (BFS) gage was used to monitor crack sizes and to measure crack-opening loads from remote strain records during the same tests. The 7050 alloy produced very rough crack-surface profiles. For R=0.1, the BFS and local gages indicated very similar high crack-opening loads. For R≥0.7 and Kmax test results in the threshold regime, the BFS gages indicated lower crack-opening loads than the local gages. Based on local measurements, crack-closure-free fatigue-crack-growth data (ΔKeff against rate) were calculated. These results indicated that the ΔKeff against rate relation is nearly a unique function over a wide range of R values even in the threshold regime, if crack-opening loads were measured from local strain gages. At low R, all three major shielding mechanisms (plasticity, roughness, and fretting debris) are suspected to cause crack closure. But for high R and Kmax tests, roughness and fretting debris are suspected to cause crack closure above the minimum load. A strip-yield model was also used to correlate the data over a wide range in load ratios and rates, but required a very low constraint factor (α=1.3), due to the high crack-opening loads.
Dose tolerance at helium and nitrogen temperatures for whole cell electron tomography

Electron tomography is currently the only method that allows the direct three-dimensional visualization of macromolecules in an unperturbed cellular context. In principle, tomography should enable the identification and localization of the major macromolecular complexes within intact bacteria, embedded in amorphous ice. In an effort to optimize conditions for recording data that would bring us close to the theoretical limits, we present here a comparison of the dose tolerance of Caulobacter crescentus cells embedded in amorphous ice at liquid helium versus liquid nitrogen temperature. The inner and outer cell membranes, and the periodic structure of the S-layer of this Gram-negative bacterium provide ideal features to monitor changes in contrast and order as a function of dose. The loss of order in the S-layer occurs at comparable doses at helium and nitrogen temperatures. Macroscopic bubbling within the cell and the plastic support develops at both temperatures, but more slowly at helium temperature. The texture of the bubbles is finer in initial stages at helium temperature, giving an impression of contrast reversal in some parts of the specimen. Bubbles evolve differently in different organelles, presumably a consequence of their different chemical composition and mechanical properties. Finally, the amorphous ice "flows" at helium temperature, causing changes in the relative positions of markers within the specimen and distorting the cells. We conclude that for cryo-electron tomography of whole cells liquid nitrogen temperature provides better overall data quality.
Direct Drive Rotary Servomotor for Semiconductor Applications

This paper describes the design methodology for a direct drive rotary servo system. The optimisation and coupling between the thermal, mechanical and electromagnetic properties are investigated. The simulated and experimental results are in close agreement. The motion performance is also presented.
Effects of Pressure-Dependent Contact Resistivity on Contact Interfacial Conditions

Adequate contact pressure needs to be applied at electrical contacts to overcome contact separation force due to current constriction effects. In the railgun operation, the initial contact pressure is provided by the interference pressure between the armature and the rail. As the magnetic field is established in the bore, the electromagnetic force provides the contact pressure, as the initial contact pressure reduces due to wear or contact melting. Excessive initial contact pressure may delay the motion of the armature and cause overheating of the armature. On the other hand, insufficient initial pressure would result in contact separation of armature and rail. The contact interface is never perfectly smooth. It only contacts at discrete asperities at micro scale and at discrete points due to deformation of the contact interface at macro scale. The interface characteristics are different from the bulk behavior. A detailed model of contact resistivity is essential to compute the interfacial current density and temperature distributions accurately. A contact resistivity model was developed that is a function of contact pressure, the hardness of the softer contact member, average bulk resistivity, and contact constants. The model was implemented into the code EMAP3D. This paper presents the simulation results of the start-up of a sample railgun with and without contact resistivity.
The scientific method, Nintendo, and Eagle feathers: Rethinking the meaning of "culture-based" curriculum at an Ojibwe tribal school

In this article, the author analyzes the assumptions people make about culture and curriculum and asks what prevents the idea of culture-based curriculum from making radical changes in Native American schooling. She attributes the segregation of "culture" from "academic" curriculum to an internalization of colonial structures. In this scenario, "culture-based" (Native American)curriculum is superimposed on a curriculum that is already based in culture (Western European.) She discusses some of the ways a static notion of culture is played out at one tribal school and what the implications of these hegemonic practices are. Further, she discusses some classroom practices that refuse an essentialist definition of "Ojibwe" culture as a basis for curriculum and instead act to engage students in the process of making meaning in their classroom. It is suggested that by thinking of culture as creating relationships and meaning, we shall be able to move beyond the destructive dichotomy that associates intellectual ...
Daily negative mood affects fasting glucose in type 2 diabetes.

Objective: To examine the relationship between mood and blood glucose in a 21-day daily diary study. Design: During a home visit, information was gathered from 206 persons with Type 2 diabetes regarding demographics, disease characteristics and treatment, and depressive symptoms. They had blood drawn at a laboratory, yielding HbA1C. The participants were then telephoned each evening for 21 days and were asked about their positive and negative mood during the past 24 hours. They also tested their blood glucose upon rising in the morning. Main Outcome Measures: The main outcomes measures were positive and negative affect and fasting glucose. Results: Multilevel analyses revealed a relationship between negative affect on one day and morning glucose on the next day. There was no such relationship between positive affect and glucose, nor was there a comparable effect of glucose on one day and either positive or negative affect on the next day. Conclusion: The observed relationship between mood and blood glucose appears to be because of negative affect, not positive, with no evidence of a lagged effect of glucose on mood.
Effects of Rubberized Flooring on Asian Elephant Behavior in Captivity

Six Asian elephants at the Oregon Zoo were observed to determine the effects of a poured rubber flooring substrate on captive Asian elephant behavior. Room utilization also was evaluated in seven rooms used for indoor housing, including Front and Back observation areas. Data were collected in three phases. Phase I (Baseline Phase) examined elephant behavior on old concrete floors. In Phase II (Choice Phase), elephant behavior was observed in the Back observation area where room sizes were comparable and when a choice of flooring substrates was available. Phase III (Final Phase) examined elephant behavior when all rooms in both observation areas, Front and Back, were converted to rubberized flooring. Room use in both observation areas remained stable throughout the study, suggesting that flooring substrate did not affect room use choice. However, there was a clear pattern of decreased discomfort behaviors on the new rubber flooring. Normal locomotion as well as stereotypic locomotion increased on the new rubber flooring. In addition, resting behavior changed to more closely reflect the resting behavior of wild elephants, which typically sleep standing up, and spend very little time in lateral recumbence. Overall, these findings suggest that the rubber flooring may have provided a more comfortable surface for locomotion as well as standing resting behavior. It is suggested that poured rubber flooring may be a beneficial addition to similar animal facilities. Zoo Biol 0:1-11, 2007. (c) 2007 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
Status of the Cryogenic System Commissioning at SNS

The Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) is under construction at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The cold section of the Linac consists of 81 superconducting radio frequency cavities cooled to 2.1K by a 2400 Watt cryogenic refrigeration system. The major cryogenic system components include warm helium compressors with associated oil removal and gas management, 4.5K cold box, 7000L liquid helium dewar, 2.1K cold box (consisting of 4 stages of cold compressors), gaseous helium storage, helium purification and gas impurity monitoring system, liquid nitrogen storage and the cryogenic distribution transfer line system. The overall system commissioning strategy and status will be presented.
Phase II and pharmacodynamic studies of pyrazine diazohydroxide (NSC 361456) in patients with advanced renal and colorectal cancer.

Pyrazine diazohydroxide (PZDH) is a novel antitumor agent that forms DNA adducts via the reactive pyrazine diazonium ion. In a recent Phase I study of PZDH, we identified a recommended Phase II dose of 100 mg/m2/day x 5, given as a 5-min i.v. bolus with the cycles repeated every 42 days (N. J. Vogelzang, et al, Cancer Res., 54: 114-119, 1994). There was a moderate negative correlation between serum chloride concentration and logarithm platelet nadir, suggesting the hypothesis that PZDH is activated in an acidic environment, leading to more toxicity in acidotic patients. Therefore, the University of Chicago Phase II cooperative network conducted two Phase II studies of PZDH in renal cancer (15 patients, 2 with liver metastases) and in 5-fluorouracil-refractory colorectal cancer (14 patients, 13 with liver metastases) to determine efficacy in each disease and to correlate safety and tolerance of the drug with PZDH pharmacokinetics/pharmacodynamics and with arterial blood gas measurements. There were no responses seen in either tumor type. The primary toxicity of PZDH was myelosuppression with neutropenia (absolute neutrophil count, < 1000/microl) and thrombocytopenia (<50,000 cells/microl), seen in 41 and 24% of all cycles, respectively. Other grade 3 and 4 toxicities were rare. Pharmacodynamic analysis revealed no significant correlation between plasma levels at 5, 60, and 120 min; WBCs; absolute neutrophil and platelet count nadirs; and initial serum chloride or blood pH levels. The colorectal patients experienced significantly more thrombocytopenia than did the renal cancer patients (median platelet nadir after cycle 1 was 151 x 10(3)/microl for renal patients versus 76 x 10(3)/microl for colon patients; P = 0.04), suggesting either that prior 5-fluorouracil and leucovorin reduced bone marrow reserve or that colorectal patients with liver metastases experienced more PZDH toxicity. Regression analyses revealed a possible relationship (P = 0.06) between serum pH and thrombocytopenia (i.e., for each increase of 0.03 in pH, there was a 34% increase in the platelet nadir), but there was no relationship between serum chloride and thrombocytopenia. Curiously, an increase in alkaline phosphatase was associated with an increase in the platelet nadir (P = 0.02). If PZDH continues to be developed as an antineoplastic agent, further studies of these relationships are suggested.
A generalized delay operator for shift-variant systems

This paper is concerned with the mathematical characterization of linear causal shift-variant systems when these systems are excited by causal inputs. Two fundamental concepts of shift-iavariant systems are generalized to the shift-variant case. The generalizations are in terms of linear differential operators. The transfer function is universalized to the transfer operator, and the delay z is extended to a linear differential operator called the generalized delay operator. Examples of both operators are included within the paper.
Role of Behavior in Meeting Osmotic Challenges1

Biologists must remember that physiology is the product of natural selection on organisms interacting with heterogeneous environments. “Behaving” organisms may alter the osmotic conditions they experience and achieve results unexpected from laboratory studies. Their ability to exploit environmental heterogeneity depends on its temporal/spatial scale relative to that of the organism, and the correspondence between the osmotic differences and the organism's sensory and osmoregulatory physiology. “Behaviors” include evasion of stressful habitats, selection among differing microenvironments, changing body characteristics that affect salt/water uptake/loss, manipulating fluids differing in osmolytes, and modification of osmotic microenvironments (especially for vulnerable offspring). To draw “comparative and integrative” inferences, investigators must strive to understand an organism's actual challenges by “seeing” the world from its perspective, and then making observations and performing experiments in the context of the “real world” experienced by that organism.
An Analysis of the Constitutionality of Arizona's Ethnic Studies Law

On May 2011, the Arizona legislature passed a law that has placed significant restrictions on K-12 ethnic studies programs. The law prohibits any public school district or charter school from conducting classes that, inter alia, are designed primarily for a specific ethnic group. School districts or charter schools that violate the law can lose up to ten percent of their state funding. This article examines the constitutionality of Arizona’s ethnic studies law. Section I provides an overview of the controversy. Section II identifies and analyzes the possible constitutional challenges.
International Trade as a Means to Diverse Ends: Development, Workers, the Environment, and Global Public Goods

Diverse goals which are widely agreed to be important in world society. Nevertheless, discussions on trade policy often refer only to economic objectives, usually still more narrowly conceived in terms of gains in aggregate income through trade. Where other objectives are not simply ignored, it is often assumed either that they can be met through the independent exercise of non-trade policy instruments or that they will be met automatically if only the stated economic objectives are furthered. In contrast, we argue that many such aims will not be promoted automatically by increasing the volume of trade or of global income nor is it generally sufficient to suppose that these other objectives can be promoted satisfactorily by separately applying suitable non-trade policy instruments. As a result, it is necessary to take diverse objectives into account in the design of the world trading system. We sketch the underlying theory and possible practical mechanisms.
Book Review: Disability and Diversity: A sociological approach

Author: Mark Sherry Reviewer: Marjorie McGee Publisher: NY: Nova Science Publishers, Inc., 2008 Paper: ISBN: 978-1-60456-914-8 Cost: $89.10 from the publisher , 105 pages
"The A, B, C’s of Network Resiliency: Adapting, Bouncing Back, and Coping"

This paper addresses the question of how an interorganizational network’s self-reinforming dynamics adapt (i.e., modify yet retain core characteristics), bounce back to its original form, or cope (i.e., barely survive at a subsistence level) in response to diminished external financial resources. The paper provides an empirically-based conceptual framework for understanding how different strategies among network administrative organizations (NAOs) relate to the coordination and resiliency of their respective networks. This framework is derived from a synthetic integration of: 1) organizational distinctions associated with government, nonprofit, and for-profit sector-based differences; 2) three basic types of organizational coordination; and 3) three hypothesized responses to change based upon theories of evolutionary adaptation, ecological restoration, and social psychological coping. The conceptual framework is illustrated with three case studies developed from a quasi-natural experiment of three workfor...
Mechanisms of carbohydrate‐fuelled ecological dominance in a tropical rainforest canopy‐foraging ant

1. Canopy-foraging ants have carbohydrate-rich diets and the stoichiometric excess of carbon may result in energetic allocation decisions that facilitate ecological dominance. 2. If dietary carbohydrates facilitate ecological dominance in canopy ants, then the mechanism for this relationship is unknown. 3. Four hypotheses were posit that may explain how a carbohydrate-rich diet might facilitate ecological dominance in canopy ants: Aggressive Defense, Metabolic Fuel, Foraging Success, and Prey Acquisition. 4. To assess these hypotheses, experiments were conducted on the canopy-foraging bullet ant, Paraponera clavata (Fabricius), an omnivorous species that demonstrates high variability in the relative contribution of carbohydrates to the diets of colonies. 5. No support was found for the Aggressive Defense, Metabolic Fuel and Prey Acquisition hypotheses. 6. The Foraging Success hypothesis was supported, as the proportion of nectar in the diet predicted the overall foraging success. 7. It was argued that there is no explicit advantage in the exploitation of nectar over other food resources, other than the fact that it is the most accessible food resource in the rainforest canopy.
Identification of Two Specific Prolactin Binding Sites on Nb2 Rat Lymphoma Cells

Several laboratories have earlier identified and characterized a specific prolactin binding site (receptor) on Nb2 cells which has a Kd of about 2 x 10(-10) M and a binding capacity of about 12,000 receptor sites per cell. Using [I125]-labeled human growth hormone (hGH), we have confirmed the results of these earlier reports. In addition, a second, "high-affinity" receptor site for prolactin has been identified. This site has a Kd of about 2 x 10(-12) M and there are an average of 67 sites per cell. Binding of [125]-hGH to the high-affinity receptor site is saturated by 1 min after incubation at 37 degrees C, whereas saturation of the lower affinity site requires a 1-3 hr incubation at 37 degrees C. Specificity of prolactin binding to both the high- and low-affinity "receptors" was established by the fact that several nonlactogenic hormones, including bovine growth hormone and insulin, do not displace [I125]-hGH from the receptor sites. When Nb2 cells were incubated for 1 hr at 0 degrees C with 100 pg/ml [I125]-hGH, no binding to the high-affinity receptor was detected, thus demonstrating the temperature dependence of binding to this receptor. The kinetics of binding of hGH to the high-affinity binding site correlates well with the dose-response effects of lactogenic hormones on mitogenesis in the Nb2 cells. In addition, the rapid binding of hGH to the high-affinity receptor may be related to specific effects of lactogenic-hormones which occur within seconds or minutes after adding these hormones to Nb2 cells.
Discontinuous Galerkin Turbulent Flow Simulations of NASA Turbulence Model Validation Cases and High Lift Prediction Workshop Test Case DLR-F11

A high-order Discontinuous Galerkin (DG) solver is used to simulate three turbulent flow simulations. Two of these simulations come from the NASA turbulence modeling resource and include turbulent flow over a hemisphere-cylinder and turbulent flow over a 3D bump in a channel. The third simulation is the DLR-F11 from the second high-lift prediction workshop. The flow is simulated by solving the Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes equations closed by the negative Spalart-Allmaras turbulence model. For these simulations, lift, drag, pitching moment, pressure, and skin friction coefficients are provided for multiple grids and discretization orders and compared against other simulation results from well known finite-volume solvers. The simulations give very similar results to these benchmark solvers, pointing towards fully mesh resolved simulations and providing verification evidence of correct and consistent implementation of these discretizations. Results obtained using the high-order DG discretizations show higher accuracy using fewer degrees of freedom compared to the finite-volume discretizations. Also, it is shown for the DG simulations that p-refinement converges quicker to the mesh resolved solutions compared to h-refinement. However, there are still issues with the efficiency of DG and the time to solution is still an order of magnitude slower compared to finite-volumes methods such as NSU3D.
Group brainstorming: When regulatory nonfit enhances performance

In a study investigating motivational factors in group brainstorming, we investigated the impact on performance of regulatory fit/nonfit (based on the group’s focus and task strategy). All members ...
Acute Trauma to the Head: Fundamentals of Management

Management of acute head trauma is considerably simplified when injuries to brain tissue are viewed as dynamic problems and an effort is made to visualize them in terms of the altered structural relationships and attendant physiologic disturbances. The physician s responsibilities are to maintain an adequate airway and effective respiratory exchange, to support the circulation, to provide adequate nourishment, to insure proper nursing care, and to recognize and initiate speedily the evacuation of intracranial clots.
Environmental surveillance and monitoring—The next frontiers for high‐throughput toxicology

High-throughput toxicity testing technologies along with the World Wide Web are revolutionizing both generation of and access to data regarding the biological activities that chemicals can elicit when they interact with specific proteins, genes, or other targets in the body of an organism. To date, however, most of the focus has been on the application of such data to assessment of individual chemicals. The authors suggest that environmental surveillance and monitoring represent the next frontiers for high-throughput toxicity testing. Resources already exist in curated databases of chemical-biological interactions, including highly standardized quantitative dose-response data generated from nascent high-throughput toxicity testing programs such as ToxCast and Tox21, to link chemicals detected through environmental analytical chemistry to known biological activities. The emergence of the adverse outcome pathway framework and the associated knowledge base for linking molecular-level or pathway-level perturbations of biological systems to adverse outcomes traditionally considered in risk assessment and regulatory decision-making through a series of measurable biological changes provides a critical link between activity and hazard. Furthermore, environmental samples can be directly analyzed via high-throughput toxicity testing platforms to provide an unprecedented breadth of biological activity characterization that integrates the effects of all compounds present in a mixture, whether known or not. Novel application of these chemical-biological interaction data provides an opportunity to transform scientific characterization of potential hazards associated with exposure to complex mixtures of environmental contaminants.
Altered MHC Class I Genes Can Encode Immunogenic Antigens that Cause Tumor Rejection

The C3H UV—induced skin tumor 1591 is highly immunogenic and is rejected when transplanted into immunocompetent syngeneic C3H mice. We have isolated three MHC class I genes from a genomic tumor library and we show that these genes encode novel class I antigens expressed in 1591 tumor cells but not in normal C3H cells. All three genes account for a restriction fragment length polymorphism in the tumor DNA relative to normal C3H DNA, indicating that the genes were not preexistant in the C3H genome but arose by mutation or recombination. We show that one of the tumor class I genes encodes a highly immunogenic class I antigen which is a target antigen for tumor rejection in immunocompetent hosts.
The Consumption Function

The study of the aggregate consumption function is one of the most important areas of macroeconomics, probably because of the interest given to it by the emphasis on the marginal propensity to consume in the multiplier and business cycle models of Keynes and the Keynesians and in the early growth models developed in the Keynesian tradition. This long tra-dition has produced a good deal of shifting about, as both technique and analysis have firmed up over the years, but it is interesting, nonetheless, that the classic studies (e.g., Keynes1s “General Theory”) contain many of the elements of our recent theory, without many of the recent econometric refinements, to be sure. Thus there is a useful continuity to the consumption literature; on the other hand there are also a considerable number of provisional results, especially in the empirical area, and much has been made provisional in recent years on account of the “rational expectations” approach to the traditional problems.
Domain adaptation methods for improving lab-to-field generalization of cocaine detection using wearable ECG

Mobile health research on illicit drug use detection typically involves a two-stage study design where data to learn detectors is first collected in lab-based trials, followed by a deployment to subjects in a free-living environment to assess detector performance. While recent work has demonstrated the feasibility of wearable sensors for illicit drug use detection in the lab setting, several key problems can limit lab-to-field generalization performance. For example, lab-based data collection often has low ecological validity, the ground-truth event labels collected in the lab may not be available at the same level of temporal granularity in the field, and there can be significant variability between subjects. In this paper, we present domain adaptation methods for assessing and mitigating potential sources of performance loss in lab-to-field generalization and apply them to the problem of cocaine use detection from wearable electrocardiogram sensor data.
Lung disease and internalizing disorders: Is childhood abuse a shared etiologic factor?

Abstract Objective: To investigate the role of childhood abuse in the relationship between panic attack, depression and lung disease among adults in the population. Methods: Data were drawn from the National Comorbidity Survey ( n =5877), a representative sample of adults age 15–54 in the United States. Multiple logistic regression analyses were used to determine the association between childhood abuse and lung disease, and to determine whether childhood abuse is an independent predictor of the co-occurrence of lung disease, panic attack and depression. Results: Childhood abuse was associated with significantly increased odds of panic attacks (OR=2.2 (1.5, 3.1)) and depression (OR=1.6 (1.1, 2.3)). Childhood abuse increased likelihood of lung disease (OR=1.5 (1.1, 2.2)). Childhood abuse independently predicted the co-occurrence of lung disease, panic attack and depression (OR=10.7 (2.2, 51.5)). Conclusion: These data are preliminary, but if replicated, suggest that childhood abuse may be associated with increased risk of lung disease during adulthood, and further may reflect a shared vulnerability for the co-occurrence of lung disease, panic attack and depression in the community. Future studies are needed to further explore the mechanism of this association.
An easily-installed hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) inverter system for power electronics teaching

As a multidisciplinary area in power engineering, power electronics teaching needs a simple and easily-installed laboratory testbed to demonstrate the internal relationships among the power, control and electronics technologies. In this paper, it is introduced that the layout, component, connection, cost and demonstration of a hardware-in-the loop (HIL) inverter system for university/college labs. Particularly, the interactions of components are specified for the system. The HIL system can be established as quickly as in one day to support the course teaching of electric machines, motor drives, power electronics, etc. Also, this HIL system can be used for senior design, professional training and graduate research. In addition, the function of this HIL system might be expanded into a microgrid and a smart grid upon need.
Probing Adhesion of Metallic Nanoparticles on Polymeric Fibrous and Flat Architectures

The exotic characteristics of nanoscopic metallic materials bestows diverse functionalities that are increasingly being utilized for a broad range of applications. Polymer substrates present robust architectures for nanoparticle anchoring as well as modulating attendant size-induced aggregation. However, in principle, interfacial adhesion of a polymer-metal material system is weak, making the susceptibility to delamination a challenge. We have deposited copper particles on model polymer thin film and fibrous architectures to study adhesion behavior on these distinct geometries. The average sizes of copper nanoparticles deposited on electrospun fibers for metallization times of 3 and 5 minutes were 13 and 10 nm, whereas the metal island sizes under same metallization times on thin films was 79nm and 81nm. Scratch tests using a nanoindentation system were unable to generate macroscopic film delamination, but did exhibit apparent removal of individual particles, with adhesion forces of 14.9μN, 36μN, and 28.8μN obtained for films metallized for 1, 3, and 5 minutes respectively. Macroscopic tensile testing of fiber mats showed the metallization maintains conformity with the polymer ligament, albeit, with intermittent fracture of the conformal metal coating, signifying substantial adhesion exists between the metallic layer and the PAN fiber.
Mixing in a Thermohaline Staircase

Abstract The field program C-SALT ( Caribbean - Sheets And Layers Transects ) focused on the strong thermohaline staircase in the western tropical North Atlantic. Large- and small-scale surveys and temporal monitoring found an extensive and persistent sequence of subsurface mixed layers. Good evidence for salt finger activity is found in the thermal microstructure in the interfaces, plumes in the mixed layers, and large scale changes in the temperature and salinity of the layers. Dissipation rates of kinetic energy were lower than expected from the laboratory 4/3 power law, but consistent with a “Stern number”-based flux law, in which the flux is inversely proportional to interface thickness. Observations of thermal microstructure also support a Stern number of order one. Both the dissipation measurements and the Stern number flux law yield estimates for the vertical salt diffusivity of order 1×10 -4 1 m 2 /s. Very thin interfaces found during an earlier survey suggest that higher diffusivities may transiently occur.
Cross-Dialectal Differences in Dynamic Formant Patterns in American English Vowels

This chapter provides evidence that vowel inherent spectral change (VISC) can vary systematically across dialects of the same language. The nature and use of VISC in selected “monophthongs” is examined in three distinct dialect regions in the United States. In each dialect area, the dynamic formant pattern is analyzed for five different age groups in order to observe cross-generational change in relation to specific vowel shifts and other vowel changes currently active in each dialect. The dialect regions examined included central Ohio (representing the Midland dialect), southeastern Wisconsin (representing the Inland North whose vowel system is affected by the Northern Cities Shift) and western North Carolina (representing the South whose vowel system is affected by the Southern Vowel Shift). Following a description of these dialect areas, we first introduce principles of chain shifting and the transmission problem, originally developed in the fields of sound change and sociolinguistics. Selective acoustic data are then presented for each dialect region and cross-generational patterns of vowel change are discussed. The chapter concludes that variation in formant trajectories produced between vowel onset and offset (VISC) is central to what differentiates regional variants of American English in the United States. Furthermore, a systematic variation in VISC is found in cross-generational change in acoustic characteristics of vowels within each dialect. The perceptual relevance of this acoustic variation needs to be addressed in future research.
Variations of Winds of Cool Giants in Hα

I present results of monitoring Hα in eight cool supergiants and in a newer group of ~100 cool giants and supergiants. Preliminary reductions of nine months of data for these latter stars indicate that about 40% of them are variable in Hα, mostly the supergiants and bright giants.
Chiral magnetic photocurrent in Dirac and Weyl materials

Circularly polarized light (CPL) can induce an asymmetry between the number of left- and right-handed chiral quasiparticles in Dirac and Weyl semimetals. We show that if the photoresponse of the material is dominated by chiral quasiparticles, the total chiral charge induced in the material by CPL can be evaluated in a model-independent way through the chiral anomaly. In the presence of an external magnetic field perpendicular to the incident CPL, this allows us to predict the linear density of the induced photocurrent resulting from the chiral magnetic effect. The predicted effect should exist in any kind of Dirac or Weyl materials, with both symmetric and asymmetric band structure. An estimate of the resulting chiral magnetic photocurrent in a typical Dirac semimetal irradiated by an infrared laser of intensity $\ensuremath{\simeq}5\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{6}\phantom{\rule{4pt}{0ex}}\mathrm{W}/{\mathrm{m}}^{2}$ and a wavelength of $\ensuremath{\lambda}\ensuremath{\simeq}10\phantom{\rule{4pt}{0ex}}\ensuremath{\mu}\mathrm{m}$ in an external magnetic field $B\ensuremath{\simeq}2\phantom{\rule{4pt}{0ex}}\mathrm{T}$ yields a current $J\ensuremath{\simeq}50\phantom{\rule{4pt}{0ex}}\mathrm{nA}$ in the laser spot of size $\ensuremath{\simeq}50\phantom{\rule{4pt}{0ex}}\ensuremath{\mu}\mathrm{m}$. This current scales linearly with the magnetic field and wavelength, opening up possibilities for applications in photonics, optoelectronics, and THz sensing.
416. Culture-Documented Invasive Mold Infections (cIMIs) at MD Anderson Cancer Center (MDACC) in Houston, Texas Pre- and Post-Hurricane Harvey

Background Hurricane Harvey caused record flooding in late August 2017. As flood damage causes mold overgrowth, excess rates of IMIs in immunocompromised cancer patients is of concern.
Meso-mammal behavior and resource use in central Texas caves

Meso-mammals are frequent cave visitors whose role in cave ecology is poorly understood. Determining typical behaviors and motivations of meso-mammal cave use is essential for management of natural resources found within these unique ecosystems. This is especially important at Joint Base San Antonio–Camp Bullis (hereafter Camp Bullis), where many of the caves are actively managed for United States federally endangered arthropods (e.g., Cicurina madla , Rhadine exilis , Rhadine infernalis ). Specifically, we sought to determine what meso-mammal behaviors were performed in caves, according to species, season, and time of day. We set trail cameras to record video throughout the passages of each cave, for one month each season. Our data supports previous studies that suggest herbivorous North American porcupines ( Erethizon dorsatum ) largely use caves for denning and grooming, while omnivorous Virginia opossums ( Didelphis virginianus ) and raccoons ( Procyon lotor ) use caves to feed on arthropods. Two noteworthy behaviors are the consumption of arthropods, which may include endangered species, and the deposits of North American porcupine scat. Meso-mammal scat serves an important function in a cave’s ecosystem by bringing in nutrients that support cave-obligate species. Texas caves likely evolved with raccoons serving this function. Though North American porcupine have only recently expanded their range into central Texas, their scat is far more abundant than relatively uncommon raccoon scat, even in caves with regular raccoon visitation. The additional nutrients of North American porcupine scat into caves could lead to extirpation of the endangered arthropods and other cave-adapted species through the invasion and settlement of more competitive or predatory terrestrial species. We suggest cave managers begin monitoring meso-mammal cave use including changes in the rate of consumption of arthropods and scat deposition to better understand long-term cave system dynamics.
Keynote: Global Trade, Borders, and Technology

Borders demarcate boundaries between regions and serve two, often competing, goals: Facilitating the efficient trade of goods, services, and passage of individuals with minimal friction; and enforcing the policies and regulations of each region on either side of the border. The past twenty years have seen a continued increase in global trade, excepting the 2007-09 recession, and this increase has progressed through the development of policies that are increasingly favorable to cross-border trade. More recent political changes are modifying policies and challenging the minimal friction of globalization and existing border functions. Here, these challenges and the opportunities for technology to mitigate them are examined. Examples include the extension of distributed ledger technologies beyond application to digital assets to provide identifiability and security of physical assets during trans-shipment. Furthermore, AI techniques and low-cost imaging can be combined with distributed ledgers to distinguish the true physical assets from counterfeit goods along the segments of a supply chain. Other examples examine the role of machine learning and knowledge graphs in understanding human migration.
Immersive Communication with Augmented Reality Headset.

The system aims to run an immersive communication environment by mixing synthetic and natural images in real-time using an Augmented Reality (AR) headset. Images captured by a camera are processed to extract the foreground object and then stream it over the web. The foreground object is then mixed with real-time natural images using augmented reality technology that can be viewed from an AR headset.
Asymmetric Rotor Surface Design in Interior Permanent Magnet Synchronous Motors for Torque Ripple Mitigation

Interior permanent magnet synchronous motors (IPMSMs) have broad applications due to their advantages of high torque and power densities. However, torque ripple in IPMSMs brings about undesired byproducts such as vibration and acoustic noise. This paper proposes an optimal asymmetric rotor surface design obtained by grid on/off search method to effectively reduce the torque ripple while maintaining/slightly increasing the average torque in an IPMSM. Genetic Algorithms (GA) has been applied to this method to achieve multi-objective optimization and to save simulation time. A two dimensional (2D) model is built in ANSYS Maxwell and has been analyzed using finite element method (FEM). Simulation results including flux distributions and forces acting on rotor surface, cogging torque, and total torque profiles are presented. Torque ripple of the optimal asymmetric design has been reduced by 77.46% while the average torque has remained unchanged as compared to the original design.