cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Molecular dynamics study of cyclohexane interconversion

Abstract Classical molecular dynamics calculations are reported for one C 6 H 12 molecule in a bath of 250 CS 2 molecules at roomtemperature and liquid densities of 1.0, 1.3, 1.4 and 1.5 g/cm 3 . The solvent contribution to the free energy of activation for the chair-boat isomerization has been determined to high accuracy. The transmission coefficient and reactive flux correlation functions have also been computed. The results obtained agree with earlier conclusions drawn from RISM integral equation calculations and stochastic molecular dynamics calculations. Namely, the solvent effect on the rate manifests a qualitative breakdown of transition state theory and the RRKM picture of unimolecular kinetics. Analysis of the activated trajectories indicate a significant degree of quasiperiodicity.
The Recovery of Students’ Autonomy for Future Curriculum; Aesthetics of Conflicts

The purpose of this paper is to seek the possible changes in developing curriculum by shedding light upon recent students’ efforts to advance it. This process is expected to present the future curriculum and the avenue to education and social evolution. In order to achieve the goal, I drew on System Theory and Yin-Yang Dialectic as the frameworks for this paper; these theories may provide some clues to understand the symbiosis relationship between the curriculum and the students. With new attempts to analyze the relationship based on System Theory and Yin-Yang Dialectics, I looked into conflict between the curriculum and the students along with real cases and how they overcome these conflicts. I also sought the methods for students to recover their autonomy by overcoming conflicts in positive ways. Consequently, I suggested that we needed to listen students’ voices and to recognize them as main agents of education in order to lead positive development of the curriculum. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2014.v5n15p219
Analytical solution for irradiance due to inhomogeneous Lambertian polygonal emitters.

We present an analytic solution for the irradiance at a point due to a polygonal Lambertian emitter with radiant exitance that varies with position according to a polynomial of arbitrary degree. This is a basic problem that arises naturally in radiative transfer and more specifically in global illumination, a subfield of computer graphics. Our solution is closed form except for a single nonalgebraic special function known as the Clausen integral. We begin by deriving several useful formulas for high-order tensor analogs of irradiance, which are natural generalizations of the radiation pressure tensor. We apply the resulting tensor formulas to linearly varying emitters, obtaining a solution that exhibits the general structure of higher-degree cases, including the dependence on the Clausen integral. We then generalize to higher-degree polynomials with a recurrence formula that combines solutions for lower-degree polynomials; the result is a generalization of Lambert’s formula for homogeneous diffuse emitters, a well-known formula with many applications in radiative transfer and computer graphics. Similar techniques have been used previously to derive closed-form solutions for the irradiance due to homogeneous polygonal emitters with directionally varying radiance. The present work extends this previous result to include inhomogeneous emitters, which proves to be significantly more challenging to solve in closed form. We verify our theoretical results with numerical approximations and briefly discuss their potential applications.
Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Current Asthma and Emergency Department Visits: Findings from the National Health Interview Survey, 2001–2010

Objectives. Racial/ethnic disparities in current asthma prevalence and medical care are a major public health concern. We examined the differences in asthma prevalence and morbidity among major rac...
Model and heuristic technique for efficient verification of component-based software systems

With the rapid growth of networking and high-computing power, the demand of larger and more complex software systems has increased dramatically. To deal with the complexity in designing large-scale complex software systems, the concept of component-based software design has gained popularity recently. However, in pursuing a component-based approach there are obstacles to be overcome. One of them is the state-explosion problem in the formal verification of large-scale component-based systems. In this paper, we introduce a modeling mechanism and a set of heuristic rules to facilitate the verification of component-based software systems. Our heuristic techniques are much weaker than current theories useful for the compositional verification. More significantly, our technique can eliminate the interleaved behaviors caused by asynchronously sending actions. Therefore, our technique provides a much more powerful means for the compositional verification of asynchronous processes. Our technique can efficiently analyze several state-based properties: deadlock, reachable, and livelock state. The experimental results show a significant improvement in the analysis of large-scale component-based systems.
Vascular Smooth Muscle Notch Signals Regulate Endothelial Cell Sensitivity to Angiogenic Stimulation

The evolutionarily conserved Notch signaling pathway is required for normal vascular development and function, and genetic associations link select Notch receptors and ligands to human clinical syndromes featuring blood vessel abnormalities and stroke susceptibility. A previously described mouse model engineered to suppress canonical Notch signaling in vascular smooth muscle cells (vSMCs) revealed surprising anatomical defects in arterial patterning and vessel maturation, suggesting that vSMCs have the functional capacity to influence blood vessel formation in a Notch signaling-dependent manner. In further analyses using this model system, we now show that explanted aortic ring tissue and Matrigel implants from the smooth muscle Notch signaling-deficient mice yield markedly diminished responses to angiogenic stimuli. Furthermore, cultured Notch signaling-deficient primary vSMCs have reduced proliferation and migration capacities and reveal diminished expression of PDGF receptor β and JAGGED1 ligand. These observations prompted a series of endothelial cell (EC)-vSMC co-culture experiments that revealed a requirement for intact vSMC Notch signals via JAGGED1 for efficient EC Notch1 receptor activation and EC proliferation. Taken together, these studies suggest a heterotypic model wherein Notch signaling in vSMCs provides early instructive cues to neighboring ECs important for optimal postnatal angiogenesis.
Optimal Control of Oversaturated Store-and-Forward Transportation Networks

A general method is developed for the dynamic optimization of multi-commodity flows in an oversaturated, store-and-forward transportation network. The network is characterized by time-varying inputs, and the existence of queues in front of certain nodes where the incoming flows exceed the capacity to discharge them, during a certain period of oversaturation. The method consists of discretizing in time and solving a linear programming LP problem, in order to obtain the order of exhaustion of the various queues and an approximation to their, optimum time variation. The LP solution may be refined to any degree of desired accuracy, or used as a first step in a two-step procedure, where the order of exhaustion of the queues of the LP solution is used in a variational scheme to obtain the exact solution. The method is demonstrated by optimizing the operation of a two-node, four-queue network.
A field-study of inducible molecular defenses, ultraviolet radiation, and melanomagenesis in natural Xiphophorus hybrids

Ultraviolet radiation—the primary natural pollutant affecting melanomagenesis—may represent a widespread ecological stressor for many fishes, and yet the relationship between UV-exposure and stress has not been investigated in natural fish populations. Recent lab-based studies have sought to characterize the relationship between tumorigenesis and the induction of molecular defenses, such as heat shock proteins. Here we show that ultraviolet radiation and heat shock protein gene expression explain a significant amount of the variation in hyper-melanization—the phenotypic precursor to melanoma—in wild hybrids of Xiphophorus, laboratory models in cancer research. Our results suggest exposure to UV radiation causes stress which induces molecular defense mechanisms, which in turn may facilitate tumorigenesis in natural fish populations. Studies of laboratory-based model organisms in natural settings, like this one, may provide important insights into ecological and evolutionary relationships obscured in controlled laboratory environments. We hope that ours is only the first of many studies to investigate the such relationships between environmental stress, stress-induced molecular defenses, and cancer in fishes.
Con: dexmedetomidine should not be used for infants and children during cardiac surgery.

EXMEDETOMIDINE (DEX) IS an 2-adrenergic agonistthat is approved by the Food and Drug Administration forshort-term ( 24 hours) sedation in adults and is not approvedfor use in children. The off-label use of DEX in neonates,infants, and children for sedation and myocardialanalgesia in the pediatricintensive care unit Theand as an adjunct to general anestheticagents during surgery has been reported.An effect of DEX that is often desirable during surgery is thedecrease in sympathetic outﬂow from the brain, resulting indecreases in heart rate and blood pressure. Additional beneﬁtsinclude an opioid-sparing effect and the lack of respiratorydepression associated with DEX. However, there are poten-tially adverse hemodynamic effects of the drug, including bra-dycardia, hypertension, and hypotension. There is a paucity ofpublications describing the use of DEX during cardiac surgery,particularly in pediatric patients.
TNF-α increases endothelial progenitor cell adhesion to the endothelium by increasing bond expression and affinity

Endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) are a rare population of cells that participate in angiogenesis. To effectively use EPCs for regenerative therapy, the mechanisms by which they participate in tissue repair must be elucidated. This study focused on the process by which activated EPCs bind to a target tissue. It has been demonstrated that EPCs can bind to endothelial cells (ECs) through the tumore necrosis factor-α (TNF-α)-regulated vascular cell adhesion molecule 1/very-late antigen 4 (VLA4) interaction. VLA4 can bind in a high or low affinity state, a process that is difficult to experimentally isolate from bond expression upregulation. To separate these processes, a new parallel plate flow chamber was built, a detachment assay was developed, and a mathematical model was created that was designed to analyze the detachment assay results. The mathematical model was developed to predict the relative expression of EPC/EC bonds made for a given bond affinity distribution. EPCs treated with TNF-α/vehicle were allowed to bind to TNF-α/vehicle-treated ECs in vitro. Bound cells were subjected to laminar flow, and the cellular adherence was quantified as a function of shear stress. Experimental data were fit to the mathematical model using changes in bond expression or affinity as the only free parameter. It was found that TNF-α treatment of ECs increased adhesion through bond upregulation, whereas TNF-α treatment of EPCs increased adhesion by increasing bond affinity. These data suggest that injured tissue could potentially increase recruitment of EPCs for tissue regeneration via the secretion of TNF-α.
Time Series Analysis : Univariate and Multivariate Methods

1. Overview. 2. Fundamental Concepts. 3. Stationary Time Series Models. 4. Non-Stationary Time Series Models. 5. Forecasting. 6. Model Identification. 7. Parameter Estimation, Diagnostic Checking, and Model Selection. 8. Seasonal Time Series Models. 9. Intervention Analysis and Outlier Detection. 10. Fourier Analysis. 11. Spectral Theory of Stationary Processes. 12. Estimation of the Spectrum. 13. Transfer Function Models. 14. Vector Time Series Models. 15. State Space Models and the Kalman Filter. 16. Aggregation and Systematic Sampling in Time Series. 17. References. 18. Appendix.
Neural networks for ECG compression and classification

The authors compared neural networks designed for electrocardiogram (ECG) compression and classification with optimum linear methods. It is found that simple neural networks with one hidden layer approach the performance of linear methods, but offer no advantage over them. Suitably constructed networks with more than one hidden layer, however, can perform more efficient ECG compression than is possible using linear methods under the same constraints. >
Convertible Husbandry vs. Regular Common Fields: A Model on the Relative Efficiency of Medieval Field Systems

The existing literature on the economy of medieval England views the practice of convertible husbandry as a more efficient alternative to regular common fields. The article challenges this view by measuring the productivities of the systems, which are found to be approximately equivalent. In interpreting this finding, it is suggested that edaphic conditions and wrongful managerial practices account for the poor performance of convertible husbandry during the Middle Ages, whereas the greater productivity achieved by the system in the early modern period is attributed to the introduction of fodder legumes, such as clover, which were absent in previous centuries.
Reduction in airway epithelial chloride transport in septicaemia related pulmonary oedema reversible by beta agonist application

We thank Dr Eisenhut for his comments about our recent publication that demonstrated an association between inhaled beta-agonist use and improvement in acute lung injury (ALI) [1]. Dr Eisenhut and colleagues' recent work studying children with meningococcal septicemia found that reduced epithelial chloride transport was associated with pulmonary edema in this condition[2]. Interestingly, although only reported in two children, the inactivation of the chloride channel was reversed when the airway epithelium was perfused with the beta-agonist isoprenaline.
Naphthalene-induced respiratory tract toxicity: metabolic mechanisms of toxicity.

The lung, which is in intimate contact with the external environment, is exposed to a number of toxicants both by virtue of its large surface area and because it receives 100% of the cardiac output. Lung diseases are a major disease entity in the U.S. population ranking third in terms of morbidity and mortality. Despite the importance of these diseases, key issues remain to be resolved regarding the interactions of chemicals with lung tissue and the factors that are critical determinants of chemical-induced lung injury. The importance of cytochrome P450 monooxygenase dependent metabolism in chemical-induced lung injury in animal models was established over 25 years ago with the furan, 4-ipomeanol. Since then, the significance of biotransformation and the reasons for the high degree of pulmonary selectivity for a myriad of different chemicals has been well documented, mainly in rodent models. However, with many of these chemicals there are substantial differences in the susceptibility of rats vs. mice. Even within the same species, varied levels of the respiratory tract respond differently. Thus, key pieces of data are still missing when evaluating the applicability of data generated in rodents to primates, and as a result of this, there are substantial uncertainties within the regulatory community with regards to assessing the risks to humans for exposure to some of these chemicals. For example, all of the available data suggest that the levels of cytochrome P450 monooxygenases in rodent lungs are 10-100 times greater than those measured in the lungs of nonhuman primates or in man. At first glance, this suggests that a significant margin of safety exists when evaluating the applicability of rodent studies in the human, but the issues are more complex. The intent of this review is to outline some of the work conducted on the site and species selective toxicity and metabolism of the volatile lung toxic aromatic hydrocarbon, naphthalene. We argue that a complete understanding of the cellular and biochemical mechanisms by which this and other lung toxic compounds generate their effects in rodent models with subsequent measurement of these cellular and biochemical events in primate and human tissues in vitro will provide a far better basis for judging whether the results of studies done in rodent models are applicable to humans.
Knowledge translation: A Nurse Practitioner Clinical Ladder Advancement Program in a university-affiliated, integrated medical center

Purpose A Nurse Practitioner Clinical Ladder (NPCL) Advancement Program was designed to recognize and reward advanced nursing practice and promote nurse practitioner (NP) retention at New York University Hospitals Center (NYUHC). Data sources Search of published and gray literature was conducted. Electronic databases included CINAHL, Medline, PubMed, Cochrane Library of Systematic Reviews, and the Joanna Briggs Institute. Conclusions The NYUHC NPCL Advancement Program incorporated its current Staff Nurse Clinical Ladder, previous NP promotional program literature, and NP role competencies to support the Advanced Practice Nursing Clinical Ladder Program. The NPCL is supportive of professional development, performance evaluation, clinical practice excellence, job satisfaction, and NP retention. Program outgrowths include a progressive model of NP clinical practice, a formal NP mentoring program, NP leadership, and research opportunities. Implications for practice Organizational commitment to a structured NPCL Advancement Program is critical for NP professional development, evolving role responsibilities, and job satisfaction. The NPCL Advancement Program provides requisite structures and processes supportive of clinical excellence. The development of the NPCL has highlighted the need for structured NP orientation and mentorship, knowledge translation, and leadership programs to meet the professional needs of NPs in diverse clinical settings.
The RecF Protein Antagonizes RecX Function via Direct Interaction

The RecX protein inhibits RecA filament extension, leading to net filament disassembly. The RecF protein physically interacts with the RecX protein and protects RecA from the inhibitory effects of RecX. In vitro, efficient RecA filament formation onto single-stranded DNA binding protein (SSB)-coated circular single-stranded DNA (ssDNA) in the presence of RecX occurs only when all of the RecFOR proteins are present. The RecOR proteins contribute only to RecA filament nucleation onto SSB-coated single-stranded DNA and are unable to counter the inhibitory effects of RecX on RecA filaments. RecF protein uniquely supports substantial RecA filament extension in the presence of RecX. In vivo, RecF protein counters a RecX-mediated inhibition of plasmid recombination. Thus, a significant positive contribution of RecF to RecA filament assembly is to antagonize the effects of the negative modulator RecX, specifically during the extension phase.
Normative Ideals, “Alternative” Realities: Perceptions of Interracial Dating among Professional Latinas and Black Women

Family types continue to expand in the U.S., yet normative patterns of endogamy and the privileging of nuclear families persist. To understand how professional women of color navigate endogamy and family ideals, I draw on 40 in-depth interviews of professional Black women and Latinas to ask how they construct partner preferences. I find that professional Latinas and Black women prefer same-race, similarly educated partners but report significant barriers to satisfying these desires. Respondents’ experiences with racism, the rejection of ethno-racial and cultural assimilation, gendered racism from men of color, and the college gender gap emerge as mechanisms for endogamous preferences. These preferences resist and support hegemonic family formation, an ideological and behavioral process that privileges, white, middle class, endogamous, heteronormative ideals for families comprising courtship, marriage, and biological childbearing. By challenging the racial devaluation of people of color while preferring the normativity that endogamy offers, the women in this study underscore the fluidity embedded in endogamy.
Thermal and Electromagnetic Properties

The heat capacity of a metal is made up of the electronic and lattice contributions: c = c el + c 1at. In usual superconductors, the superconducting transition has practically no effect on the lattice. As is known from the theory of normal metals, at low temperatures the dependence of the lattice heat capacity on temperature is given by c lat ~ T 3. The same dependence characterizes C lat s in the superconducting state. In contrast, the electronic contribution changes drastically following the transition. We mentioned earlier (Chapter 1) that C el s is observed to decay exponentially as T → 0. This behavior is explained by the theory of superconductivity as follows.
Can Regulation Evolve? Lessons from a Study in Maladaptive Management

In the active literature on regulatory reinvention, many have pointed to the Endangered Species Act's Habitat Conservation Plan program as a successful example of the potential for collaborative and experimentalist regulatory innovation. Yet, despite its frequent mention as a prototype for fostering public participation and adaptive decision-making, no thorough, systematic evaluation of the program as a form of regulatory innovation exists. By integrating data from recent scientific studies, interviews, surveys of agency officials, newspaper investigations, and even unpublished biological databases, this Article serves as the first cross-disciplinary, comprehensive assessment of this pioneering but ultimately defective program. The Article demonstrates that though a few HCPs have served as truly promising examples of the value of broad participation and adaptation in regulation, the HCP program as implemented largely allows for the proliferation of private, ill-considered agreements between agencies and developers that evade the ESA's otherwise strict prohibitions. More fundamentally, the Article contends that the HCP regulatory experiment is failing because the agencies charged with administering it have never seriously treated it like an experiment. Regulatory programs must themselves be periodically and systematically monitored for agencies to learn from and adjust to regulatory mistakes and successes. As the legislative and executive branches yet again contemplate amending the ESA, the HCP program serves as a crucial lesson in regulatory design. Only by assiduously attending to the incentives of both agency personnel and applicants in order to cultivate meaningful participation and systematic regulatory adaptation can the HCP program - and indeed any regulatory program - ever evolve.
The facile synthesis and enhanced sodium-storage performance of a chemically bonded CuP2/C hybrid anode

A chemically bonded CuP2/C hybrid synthesized using a one-step mechanochemical reaction has been evaluated as an anode in sodium-ion batteries. Due to the synergistic effects of the formation of a strong P–O–C bond and the stable nanoscale conducting framework, it exhibits a high capacity with superior cyclability and rate performance.
A system dynamics model on the reasons of car price shocks after economic sanctions

International Community can decide to establish several types of sanctions on the economy of a country. No matter the reasons of these sanctions, generally, they can have many adverse effects on the economy of the sanctioned country. This depends on the variety and extent of the sanctions. We propose a system dynamics model to capture some of the main reasons behind the economic instability in a sanctioned country. We consider a case study of the car price shocks occurred in Iran after the various economic sanctions that was established on 2012. Iran's economy depends heavily on the oil production and in fact, their main exports consist of the crude oil products. In our model, we combine causal loops for prediction of oil price after sanctions with those on predicting the car price. Our simulation results are consistent with the real data of the most common car's price in Iran.
Maser Astrometry: from Galactic Structure to Local Group Cosmology

This review summarizes current advances in astrometry of masers as they pertain to large-scale Galactic structure and dynamics and Local Group cosmology. Parallaxes and proper motions have now been measured for more than 60 massive star forming regions using the Japanese VERA array, the EVN and the VLBA. These results provide “gold standard” distances and 3-dimensional velocities for sources across the Milky Way, revealing its spiral structure. Modeling these data tightly constrains the fundamental parameters of the Milky Way: R0 and Θ0. Proper motions of Local Group galaxies have been measured, improving our understanding of the history and fate of the Group.
High-fidelity large-eddy simulation for supersonic rectangular jet noise prediction

Large-eddy simulation is applied to a M = 1.4, under-expanded, isothermal, turbulent jet issuing from a rectangular nozzle of aspect ratio 4:1. To allow for direct comparison with experiment, the nozzle geometry exactly matches that of a nozzle fabricated for laboratory experiments. The entire flow in and around the nozzle is simulated using the CharLES solver, on a unstructured meshes containing up to ≈ 86 million control volumes. The massively parallel code was scaled up to as many as 20,000 processors. The isothermal rectangular jet is observed to exhibit a strong flapping motion in the direction of its minor axis, connected with a strong screech tone of the same frequency. A mesh sensitivity study is performed, and the far-field noise predictions are compared with measurements conducted by Dr. James Bridges at the NASA Glenn Research Center. Mesh isotropy was found to be an important factor in the correct prediction of midto high-frequency upstream noise.
Addressing the Controversial Use of Antipsychotic Drugs for Behavioral and Psychological Symptoms of Dementia

Objective:To review relevant background information on behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia (BPSD) and the antipsychotic drugs used to treat it, describe benefits versus risks of antipsychotic drugs for treatment of BPSD, and describe the latest management guidelines for patients with BPSD.Data Sources:A PubMed literature search (1998–October 2011) was conducted using the following MeSH search terms: dementia, elderly, antipsychotics, behavioral symptoms, and psychological symptoms. Tertiary references and prescribing information for included medications were used for pharmacology, adverse effects, and cost.Data Selection and Data Extraction:English-language reviews, tertiary references, and guidelines were reviewed; only articles that used pharmacotherapy in human models were included.Data Synthesis:There are no FDA-approved medications for treatment of BPSD; several classes of drugs are prescribed off-label, including selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors and certain anticonvulsants. Anti...
Older Adults' Opinions of a Technology-Rich Home Environment: Conditional and Unconditional Device Acceptance

Functional independence remains a key component of the emotional and psychological well being of older adults. One method of aiding older adults in retaining their independence is through the use of technology. While researchers have addressed issues that relate the needs and characteristics of older adults to the design of such an environment, many issues remain unexamined. The matters of acceptance, comfort, and perceived usefulness are crucial to the implementation of the technology. A structured interview with 17 older adults aged 65 to 75 were conducted in a technology-rich home environment, with the aim of examining these concerns first-hand. Two devices are discussed using preliminary qualitative results to compare the conditions of their acceptance.
Metabolic Adjustments of the Kidney Involved in the Adaptation to Potassium Loading

Potassium adaptation involves the development of the ability of the kidneys to secrete large amounts of potassium into the urine. This is accompanied by an adaptive increase in the specific activity of sodium-potassium-ATPase in the kidney, predominantly in the medulla and the papilla, but also involving the cortex. It is likely that these changes are localized to the distal tubule and are especially marked in the collecting ducts although there is no direct evidence bearing on this. Net secretion of potassium in isolated kidneys taken from chronically potassium loaded animals is completely eliminated when ouabain, a specific inhibitor of sodium-potassium-ATPase, is added to the perfusion medium. The secretion of potassium appears also to depend critically on the availability of glucose as substrate.
Highly conductive side chain block copolymer anion exchange membranes

Block copolymers based on poly(styrene) having pendent trimethyl styrenylbutyl ammonium (with four carbon ring–ionic group alkyl linkers) or benzyltrimethyl ammonium groups with a methylene bridge between the ring and ionic group were synthesized by reversible addition-fragmentation radical (RAFT) polymerization as anion exchange membranes (AEMs). The C4 side chain polymer showed a 17% increase in Cl− conductivity of 33.7 mS cm−1 compared to the benzyltrimethyl ammonium sample (28.9 mS cm−1) under the same conditions (IEC = 3.20 meq. g−1, hydration number, λ = ∼7.0, cast from DMF/1-propanol (v/v = 3 : 1), relative humidity = 95%). As confirmed by small angle X-ray scattering (SAXS), the side chain block copolymers with tethered ammonium cations showed well-defined lamellar morphologies and a significant reduction in interdomain spacing compared to benzyltrimethyl ammonium containing block copolymers. The chemical stabilities of the block copolymers were evaluated under severe, accelerated conditions, and degradation was observed by 1H NMR. The block copolymer with C4 side chain trimethyl styrenylbutyl ammonium motifs displayed slightly improved stability compared to that of a benzyltrimethyl ammonium-based AEM at 80 °C in 1 M NaOD aqueous solution for 30 days.
Robust Multi-agent Optimization: Coping with Byzantine Agents with Input Redundancy

This paper addresses the multi-agent optimization problem in which the agents try to collaboratively minimize \(\frac{1}{k}\sum _{i=1}^k h_i\) for a given choice of k input functions \(h_1, \ldots , h_k\). This problem finds its application in distributed machine learning, where the data set is too large to be processed and stored by a single machine. It has been shown that when the networked agents may suffer Byzantine faults, it is impossible to minimize \(\frac{1}{k}\sum _{i=1}^k h_i\) with no redundancy in the local cost functions.
Salivary Gland Gene Therapy in Experimental and Clinical Trials

Salivary gland gene therapy presents an opportunity to reprogram the organ on the molecular level and achieve unprecedented therapeutic advancements. This chapter will review the basic biology of gene transfer, with emphasis on those vector systems that have performed well in the salivary gland in animal models. Various therapeutic applications of salivary gland gene therapy will be discussed, including radiation-induced xerostomia and Sjogren’s syndrome. The concept of salivary glands as endogenous bioreactors for systemic gene therapeutics in monogenetic and acquired diseases will also be reviewed.
Inviting Everyone to the ACA (Risk) Pool Party: The Problem with Using Advanceable, Income-Based Tax Credits to Subsidize Health Insurance

The year 2014 marked the first opportunity for American taxpayers to receive subsidized health insurance through the Affordable Care Act’s (“ACA”) new Premium Tax Credit (“PTC”). About 4.8 million people enrolled in an ACA plan in 2014 were eligible, and nearly 97% of these claimants were approved for advance payments of the PTC. The year 2015 marked the first tax return where taxpayers received the unpleasant surprise that they must repay excess credits due to reconciliation. Advance PTC estimates turned out to be highly inaccurate, with only 8% of claimants receiving accurate advance payments. A majority, 51%, had to repay some or all of the advance payments.These figures reveal systemic problems in the PTC’s design. While the PTC’s function is to entice the uninsured to purchase insurance (and dive into insurance risk pools), reconciliation lurks as a financial danger for those who make the plunge. A shark is swimming in the pool.While many taxpayers will continue to buy insurance and claim advance PTCs, others may limit financial uncertainty by buying meager coverage and foregoing advance payments, and others may not buy any insurance. Those opting out or choosing to be underinsured are likely to be healthier. Such adverse selection is devastating to an efficient insurance market.This Article examines the PTC’s provisions and compares them with other social welfare benefits to glean lessons from their successes and failures. The Article uses those lessons to develop design goals for making the PTC a more effective program. The Article finishes with a series of concrete legislative and administrative reform proposals that could boost participation and reduce overpayments. This Article is of interest to anyone interested in health insurance reform and those interested in mechanisms for delivering targeted subsidies.
High-contrast, all-optical switching of infrared light using a cadmium oxide perfect absorber

We experimentally demonstrate high-contrast, ultrafast switching of infrared light at 2.1 μm via intraband pumping of a high quality factor perfect absorber made from a highly doped cadmium oxide thin film.
Cancer chemoprevention by polyphenols in green tea and artichoke

Cancer is a major disease accounting for over 7 million deaths per year worldwide.1 Though recent advances in cancer diagnosis, its early detection, and therapy have improved the quality of life for cancer patients, there is little, if any, effect on the mortality rates for most cancers. To reduce cancer related deaths, four strategies are possible. These include: early diagnosis and intervention, improved management of non-localized cancers, successful treatment of localized cancers, and prevention of cancer occurrence in the first place. Development of successful approaches to cancer prevention appears the most practical strategy for reduction in cancer related deaths. One approach is “chemoprevention” in which the progress of this disease can be slowed, completely blocked or reversed by the administration of one or more naturally occurring or synthetic chemical agents. It is increasingly appreciated that an ideal cancer chemopreventive agent for human use must fulfill the following criteria: little or no toxic effects, high efficacy against multiple sites, capability of oral consumption, a known mechanism of action, low cost, and human acceptability. In recent years, considerable efforts have been directed to identify agents that may have the ability to inhibit, retard or reverse one or more stages of multistage carcinogenesis, which is comprised of initiation, promotion and progression.2–4 Since cancer usually evolves in a prolonged manner, agents that inhibit or retard one or more of these stages could affect the overall cancer induction. In this context, a few naturally occurring micronutrients present in human diets have been found to possess potent cancer chemopreventive effects.5-11
Cage-Walking: Vertex Differentiation by Palladium-Catalyzed Isomerization of B(9)-Bromo-meta-Carborane

We report the first observed Pd-catalyzed isomerization (“cage-walking”) of B(9)-bromo-meta-carborane during Pd-catalyzed cross-coupling, which enables the formation of B–O and B–N bonds at all boron vertices (B(2), B(4), B(5), and B(9)) of meta-carborane. Experimental and theoretical studies suggest this isomerization mechanism is strongly influenced by the steric crowding at the Pd catalyst by either a biaryl phosphine ligand and/or substrate. Ultimately, this “cage-walking” process provides a unique pathway to preferentially introduce functional groups at the B(2) vertex using B(9)-bromo-meta-carborane as the sole starting material through substrate control.
Music and Militarization: Soca, Space, and Security

Violence and security are ubiquitous issues in the Caribbean and the subject of heated discourse in Trinidad, particularly during Carnival season. Locating music and militarization in the long Caribbean history of slavery and plantations, this paper takes on the relationships of armed violence and mass musical events in Trinidad. Writing against cause and effect narratives, and focusing instead on the necessity of historical and contextual analysis, this paper shows how the promotion of carnival culture in Trinidad entangles the roles of private security forces and the state police with agendas of cultural entrepreneurs and desires of citizens and travelers. The proliferation of “all-inclusive” fetes provides a particular example of this complex entanglement.
Management of Intra-abdominal Complications of Inflammatory Bowel Disease

Complex inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) including fistulizing or penetrating Crohn disease (CD) and fulminant ulcerative colitis (UC) can lead to serious complications including abscess, fistula, perforation, obstruction, and toxic megacolon which require collaboration between the gastroenterologist and surgeon. Prompt diagnosis of these entities will allow for medical optimization and surgical intervention, if required. This chapter will describe the evaluation for patients with suspected intra-abdominal complications of CD and considerations for management, with a focus on intra-abdominal and pelvic abscess resulting from internal penetrating disease. In particular, medical and surgical options for treatment will be compared. Surgical emergencies and elective procedures in CD for the indications of perforation, obstruction, and stricture will be briefly reviewed. The surgical treatment of UC is the focus of Chap. 42, but the complication of toxic megacolon will also be described here.
Short term predictions of occupancy in commercial buildings—Performance analysis for stochastic models and machine learning approaches

Abstract Real-time occupancy predictions are essential components for the smart buildings in the imminent future. The occupancy information, such as the presence states and the occupants’ number, allows a robust control of the indoor environment to enhance the building energy performances. With many current studies focusing on the commercial building occupancy, most researchers modeled either the occupancy presence or the occupants’ number without evaluating the model potentials on both of them. This study focuses on 1) providing a unique data set containing the occupancy for the offices located in the U.S with difference pattern varieties, 2) proposing two methods, then comparing them with four existing methods, and 3) both presence of occupancy and occupancy number are predicted and tested using the approaches proposed in this study. In detail, the paper develops a new moving-window inhomogeneous Markov model based on change point analysis. A hierarchical probability sampling model is modified based on existed models. They are additional compared to well-known models from previous researchers. The study further explores and evaluates the predictive power of the models by various temporal scenarios, including 15-min ahead, 30-min ahead, 1-h ahead, and 24-h ahead forecasts. The final results show that the proposed Markov model outperforms the other methods with a max 22% difference in terms of presence forecasts for 15-min, 30 min and 1-h ahead. The proposed Markov model also outperforms other models in occupancy number prediction for all forecast windows with 0.34 RMSE and 0.23 MAE error respectively. However, there is not much performance difference between models for 24-h ahead predictions of occupancy presence forecast.
Metasurface-enhanced infrared spectroscopy: From protein detection to ceils differentiation

The ability to distinguish between different states of a given cell, as well as between different types of cells, is crucial for a variety of fundamental and clinical life sciences applications. Those include the monitoring of biochemical processes in a living cell and effective early cancer screening, to name just a few. The most common approach to differentiating between different cell types is immunological. However, the specificity of such approaches is limited because different cell types may over-express the same molecules. Therefore, there is.
Unhollowing rural America? Rural human capital flight and the demographic consequences of the oil and gas boom

The USA has recently experienced an unprecedented boom in domestic, on-shore oil and gas production via unconventional drilling technologies like hydraulic fracturing and directional drilling. Community leaders and policy-makers claim that this boom holds much promise to reverse many social and economic challenges faced by rural, non-amenity counties. Chief among these is human capital flight—often called the “rural brain drain”—and the loss of working-age population. This analysis examines the socio-demographic consequences of the oil and gas boom by assessing if the boom can stall or reverse human capital flight and the loss of working-age population from rural, non-amenity counties. Using a large data set of U.S. counties and difference-in-difference models, we find that the oil and gas boom is associated with modest increases in the proportion of county population with a high school education or less and modest losses in the proportion of county population with a college education. The boom likely increased the proportion of working age population, particularly males 20–34. Overall, our results suggest that oil and gas development has a limited effect on human capital and age composition in non-amenity, rural counties. Broadly, we expect that oil and gas development will do little to address long-run, structural demographic challenges facing rural America.
Use of physician-recommended non-pharmacological strategies for hypertension control among hypertensive patients

This study aims to evaluate the 4 non-pharmacological strategies adopted by patients for hypertension control and patient characteristics that affect the choice of strategies. Four thousand hypertensive patients aged ≥18 years were selected from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Odds ratios of the choice of strategies were analyzed using weighted logistic models. Clinical recommendations of non-pharmacological strategies for hypertension control were relatively low. More exercise was the least frequent strategy used for hypertension control. More patients reported using ≥3 strategies than using ≤2 strategies (79.1% vs 20.9%, P < .0001). Non-Hispanic blacks were more likely to use each individual strategy and to use ≥3 strategies simultaneously. Patients with obesity and diabetes were less likely to attempt weight control or more exercise, but more likely to use ≥3 strategies than peers. Educational programs should be developed to enhance physician's advice for lifestyle modifications and to increase patient's acceptance of physical activity.
Fighting bacterial resistance: approaches, challenges, and opportunities in the search for new antibiotics. Part 1. Antibiotics used in clinical practice: mechanisms of action and the development of bacterial resistance

Hundreds of thousands of people are dying every year in the world from infections caused by drug resistant bacteria. Antibiotic resistance is a rapidly increasing problem mostly as a result of the worldwide overuse and misuse of antibiotics for conditions that do not require them. The rapid spread of antibiotic resistance in bacteria makes it necessary to intensify the development of new antibiotics and new methods to combat drug resistant bacteria. The goal of this publication is to review the approaches to finding new antibiotics that are active against drug resistant bacteria. The first part of this review is focused on an analysis of the mechanisms of action of antibiotics that are used in clinical practice as well as the mechanisms of bacterial resistance. The molecular structure and modes of action of these antibiotics are reviewed with examples of detailed mechanisms of drugs interaction with the targets in bacteria. General and specific mechanisms of bacterial resistance to these antibiotics are described. Examples of new antibiotics development active against the drug resistant bacteria are presented.
Augmented, Mixed, and Virtual Reality Enabling of Robot Deixis

When humans interact with each other, they often make use of deictic gestures such as pointing to help pick out targets of interest to their conversation. In the field of Human-Robot Interaction, research has repeatedly demonstrated the utility of enabling robots to use such gestures as well. Recent work in augmented, mixed, and virtual reality stands to enable enormous advances in robot deixis, both by allowing robots to gesture in ways that were not previously feasible, and by enabling gesture on robotic platforms and environmental contexts in which gesture was not previously feasible. In this paper, we summarize our own recent work on using augmented, mixed, and virtual-reality techniques to advance the state-of-the-art of robot-generated deixis.
Frequency Dependence of Forearm Muscle Impedance During Isometric Gripping Contractions

Earlier Electrical Impedance Myography (EIM) measurements at 50 kHz have shown that muscle resistance (R) and reactance (X) both increase when generating force via isometric contraction. Measurements have now been extended to the 3 to 100 kHz range, allowing interpretation in terms of circuit models for the muscle. R and X data were obtained using a tetrapolar lock-in amplifier system, together with a very low compliance dynamometer to measure gripping force generated by the finger flexors. Six male subjects were asked to generate 10 kg force pulses lasting 8 to 10 seconds, and analysis in terms of a 5-element resistor-capacitor model showed that the extracellular fluid resistance increased by 3.9±1.4%, while the membrane capacitance increased by 5.6±2%. To study time dependences, five were asked to generate 100 second long, 5 to 17.5 kg pulses. R and X were found to drift monotonically at frequency dependent rates, and similar analysis showed that this was attributable almost entirely to cell membrane and intracellular effects, the extracellular fluid playing virtually no role. Fractional rates of change for the remaining circuit parameters were roughly proportional to pulse strength and roughly same for all five subjects.
The Epinephrine/Norepinephrine/Autoinducer-3 Interkingdom Signaling System in Escherichia coli O157:H7

Epinephrine/norepinephrine/AI-3 signaling is used as an interkingdom chemical signaling system between microbes and their hosts. This system is also exploited by pathogens to regulate virulence traits. In enterohemorrhagic E. coli (EHEC) O157:H7, it is essential for pathogenesis and flagella motility. These three signals activate expression of a pathogenicity island named locus of enterocyte effacement (LEE), Shiga toxin, and the flagella regulon. These signals are sensed by the two-component system QseBC, whereas the bacterial membrane receptor QseC autophosphorylates and phosphorylates the QseB response regulator initiating a complex phosphorelay signaling cascade that activates the expression of a second two-component system, QseEF. The QseEF two-component system is also involved in the expression of the virulence genes, and it senses epinephrine, phosphate, and sulfate. This complex signaling cascade still needs to be completely elucidated.
Behavior and assessment of mobile anchors in cable yarding systems

Cable yarding systems transport logs hoisted off the ground by a system of cables and a carriage that moves along the cable. Ground anchors are used at the end points to maintain sufficient tension...