cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Cytokine profile induced by a primary infection with Ostertagia ostertagi in cattle.

Abstract Changes that occur in the local draining lymph nodes including, changes in cell surface markers and cytokine gene expression were studied over the first 4 weeks of a primary, Ostertagia ostertagi infection of the abomasum. Cells recovered from the abomasal lymph nodes (ABLN) after infection showed a decrease in the percentage of CD3 + cells, and an increase in the percentage of IgM + cells and cells bearing the TcR1 marker. These changes were coincident with an increase in the proportion of activated cells (Il-2R). Analysis of mitogen-stimulated ABLN cells by RNase protection assay (RPA) showed a dramatic reduction in IL-2 and IFN-γ transcription after infection. In addition, analysis of unstimulated ABLN cells by competitive RT-PCR showed a similar decrease in demonstrable levels of IL-2 mRNA, but IL-10, IL-4 and IFN-γ mRNA levels were elevated.
Bacterial and erythrocyte cell surface labeling by methyl picolinimidate.

Abstract The separation of outer and cytoplasmic membrane fractions has been difficult to achieve with pseudomonads. A new procedure is described in which Pseudomonas facilis is treated with methyl picolinimidate, subsequently with buffered sucrose, and finally with lysozyme-EDTA to yield spheroplasts; spheroplast-derived envelopes can then be resolved by density gradient centrifugation into several components only one of which is more dense in the presence of Ni2+. This latter component, corresponding to the cell wall fraction, contains about 2% of the succinate dehydrogenase, a cytoplasmic membrane marker. Analogous experiments with erythrocytes establish that spectrin, a protein known to be located on the inner membrane surface, is not labeled by the methyl picolinimidate.
Mucopolysaccharidase Activity and Glycosaminoglycan Content in Traumatized Resorbing Deciduous Teeth

The periodontal ligaments from traumatized deciduous teeth, while undergoing rapid resorption, were analyzed biochemically for mucopolysaccharidase activity and for total glycosaminoglycan content of dentin and cementum. Enzyme activity was present only in resorbing teeth. A concomitant 65 percent decrease in glycosaminoglycans from these teeth occurred as well.
Electroactive polymer (EAP) mobility device

Ionomeric polymer-metal composites (IPMCs) are a class of electroactive polymers (EAPs) that silently bend and exert force in response to an applied voltage. In this work, a unique design is presented where IPMCs are used to accomplish rotary motion. A novel feature is that EAP actuation is used in conjunction with gravity to cause rotation. This idea could be used to create a self-driven roller device. Such a roller could resemble a wheel with a circular or cylindrical geometry, or a sphere capable of rolling in all directions. Numerical simulations were performed that show a two dimensional roller device can accomplish rolling motion as a result of IPMC actuation. Experimental data on the deformation performance of fabricated IPMCs was used to drive the numerical simulations of the device. A possible application of this mechanism could be a mobility device on the centimeter scale that can transport a payload silently to a target destination.
Management of carcinoma of the right colon--immediate and remote results; review of 93 cases.

The results of the management of 98 patients with carcinoma of the right colon, treated during the period 1950–1969, are presented. Abdominal pain was the most common presenting symptom. Curative procedures were attempted in 57 per cent of the cases, whereas palliative operations were performed in 31 per cent. The five-year survival rate was 35.7 per cent, being in inverse proportion to the degree of extension of the disease at the time of operation. Thus, for carcinomas of stage A of Dukes' classification the rate was 68.7 per cent. Survival may be improved by earlier diagnosis and consequent radical surgery.
Immunosuppression and nitric oxide production induced by parenteral live Salmonella vaccines do not correlate with protective capacity: a phoP::Tn10 mutant does not suppress but does protect.

Abstract Previous work from our laboratory showed that an aroA mutant strain of S. typhimurium , SL3235, induces profound immunosuppression 7 days post-parenteral inoculation, and that the suppression is mediated by nitric oxide. Suppression was measured by the capacity of spleen cells to mount a primary in vitro plaque-forming cell response to sheep red blood cells in Mishell–Dutton cultures. In the present studies, the capacity of a panel of strains of attenuated Salmonella with various genetic lesions was tested. Most of the strains were S. typhimurium , but several were S. dublin . It was found that a variety of Salmonella strains induced suppression, demonstrating that suppressive capacity is not unique to SL3235 or to S. typhimurium . A strong correlation was obtained between the log 10 of the microbial burden (cfu spleen −1 ) on the seventh day post-vaccine inoculation and the degree of immunosuppression. Strains that gave high spleen counts gave greater suppression. Microbial burden also correlated with the size of the spleen and the amount of nitrite produced by spleen-cell cultures, a measure of nitric oxide. Finally, the degree of immunosuppression was found to be linearly related to the log 10 of the amount of nitrite produced. The capacity of the various strains of Salmonella to protect against challenge with virulent S. typhimurium , strain W118-2, was also tested. No correlation was found between suppressive and protective capacities of the various strains. Two strains suppressed, but did not protect. While most strains that protected grew or persisted in vivo, a phoP ::Tn10 mutant of S. typhimurium did not grow or persist; this phoP mutant did not cause immunosuppression, but gave 100% protection against challenge with wild type S. typhimurium , suggesting that such mutants have advantageous properties as live vaccines.
An Alternative Approach to Estimating Who is Most Likely to Respond to Changes in Registration Laws

Scholars often seek to understand which individuals are most responsive to the change in some treatment. Such work inevitably faces issues of identification. When the dependent variable is binary, the assumption that the largest effect occurs where p = 0.5 is also encountered. I apply Manski's ((1995). Identification problems in the social sciences. Cambridge: Harvard University Press) non-parametric Bounds approach, which relaxes the func- tional form and distributional assumptions found in traditional models, in an attempt to resolve the long standing debate on which types of individuals are most affected by changes in registration laws. Under the standard assumption that treats the selection of registration laws as exogenous, the results revise the current understanding. By exploring the power of various behavioral assumptions, new insights into the study of policy changes emerge, calling into question some of the assumptions that are standard in the literature.
A TEST FOR THE HOMOGENEITY OF A MIXTURE

An aggregate is assumed to contain particles of different types and different sizes. The problem is to determine whether or not the various types of particles are thoroughly mixed. A test for homogeneity is presented and the asymptotic distribution of the test statistic is derived.
African-American caregivers’ breast health behavior

This study utilizes a stress and coping framework which includes cognitive appraisal, personal and environmental resources, coping and stress to examine factors related to African-American caregivers' breast cancer screenings, including mammograms, clinical examinations and self-examinations. Using data from the Black Rural and Urban Caregivers Mental Health and Functioning Study, we performed separate logistic regressions for each type of breast cancer screening. Results reveal that having a regular doctor checkup (coping), care recipients having a cancer diagnosis (cognitive appraisal, and living in urban areas (environment resources) are associated with receiving a mammogram. Having greater income, having at least a high school degree (both personal resources) and having a regular doctor checkup (coping) are associated with receiving a clinical examination. Increased caregiver strain (stress), being 40 years old or older, social support (coping) and living in rural areas are associated with performing a self-examination. Targeting African-American caregivers, particularly in rural areas, for increased education on the importance of receiving breast cancer screenings is crucial to addressing health disparities. Making resources available, encouraging caregivers to get a clinical examination and a mammogram and directing public education toward caregivers are important points of intervention.
Vision-based real-time speed tracking

Motion-based features of a human can depict the approximate moving direction of the body while walking or slow running. But nearly all the motion-based features are not robust in capturing the speed of a moving person. In this research, a real-time vision-based method is proposed to compute the speed of a player during a soccer game using the image frames from video cameras placed in all the corners and mid-points of a soccer field. The coach's main concern is to increase the dynamism and aggression among the teammates. Calculating the speed of each player helps the coach in determining a player's performance (while team selection), and for repositioning a player during a game.
Dispersion division multiplexing in subcarrier modulated data transmission using channel-specific RF fading

We demonstrate a novel all-optical multiplexing technique for doubling the usable spectral bandwidth and number of channels in subcarrier-modulated data transmission over optical fiber. By taking advantage of the chromatic-dispersion-induced RF power fading of a given subcarrier frequency, we transmit two subcarrier channels that occupy the same frequency space. This is accomplished by designing the dispersion of each subcarrier channel in a system such that one subcarrier channel can be >99% faded at the same time that another subcarrier can be recovered. We have successfully transmitted and received two 155-Mb/s data channels that are both located at 7.1 GHz and on the same optical carrier wavelength.
Future of toxicogenomics and safety signatures: balancing public access to data with proprietary drug discovery.

Jennifer M Fostel US National Center for Toxicogenomics, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, LMIT ITSS Contract, F1-05,111 Alexander Drive, PO Box 12233, Research Triangle Park, NC 27709-2233, USA Tel.: +1 919 541 5055; Fax: +1 919 541 1460; E-mail: fostel@niehs.nih.gov “As consensus data formats and exchange standards become widely accepted, and data are routinely shared with consortia and regulatory agencies, then it will become increasingly straightforward to share data with the public once it is deemed timely by the owner.”
Von Willebrand's Disease: State of the Art

Von Willebrand's disease is a familial bleeding disorder affecting both sexes and is due to the absence, decrease or abnormality of a plasma protein — the von Willebrand factor. This white paper on the disease was prepared by an international committee of the World Federation of Hemophilia. The clinical features of the disease are discussed and the nomenclature of the factor VIII complex is presented. The variant forms of the disease are classified and there is a detailed discussion of the problems in diagnosis. Finally, an approach to treatment is outlined including use of cryoprecipitate and DDAVP.
''What''—Then—''Where'' in Visual Working Memory: An Event-Related fMRI Study

Behavioral studies indicate that spatial and object working memory are computed by dissociable subsystems. We investigated the neural bases of this dissociation with a whole-brain fMRI design and analysis technique that permitted direct assessment of delay-period activity, uncontaminated by other components of the trial. The task employed a ''what''-then''where'' design, with an object and a spatial delay period incorporated in each trial; within-trial order of delay conditions was balanced across each scan. Our experiment failed to find evidence, at the single-subject level and at the group level, for anatomical segregation of spatial and object working memory function in the frontal cortex. Delay-period activity in the caudate nucleus revealed a sensitivity to position in the trial in the spatial, but not the object, condition. In posterior regions, spatial delay-period activity was associated with preferential recruitment of extrastriate areas falling within Brodmann's area 19 and, less reliably,the superior parietal lobule. Object-specific delay-period activity was found predominantly in ventral regions of the posterior cortex and demonstrated more topographic variability across subjects than did spatial working memory activity.
Stress-mapping sensors for high-power adaptive micro-optics

Continuous deformable membrane mirrors are becoming more attractive for use in adaptive optics because they cause no diffraction in the reflected beam and ensure smooth and continuous phase variations across the mirrors. However, when such mirrors are used to correct a high-power incident wave front, the absorption in the coatings causes the temperature of the membrane to increase, thereby creating in-plane thermal stress due to the rigidly clamped boundaries. We present a technique to measure thermal stress in such nondeforming membrane structures. The directional stress and temperature effects are simultaneously measured and decoupled in micromachined membrane mirrors by using a group of three ion-implanted silicon resistors with different orientations. In stress measurements made with incident power, the sensors measure changes in compressive thermal stress to within 80-90 kPa.
CLASSEQ: Classification of Sequences via Comparative Analysis of Multiple Genomes

CLASSEQ is a Web-based system for the analysis and comparison of uncharacterized protein sequences against multiple genomes. The user sequences are combined with protein sequences from the user-specified genomes and then clustered using our in-house fast clustering algorithm, BAG. The pre-computed genome-to-genome pairwise comparison database, PCDB, makes our service fast enough to be provided on the Web even though the analysis typically involves tens of thousands of sequences. Clusters containing the user input sequences can be further characterized by domain search, multiple sequence alignment, phylogenetic tree analysis, and gene neighborhood analysis. This Web service is a useful resource for characterizing proteins of unknown functions via comparative genomics approach. CLASSEQ is available at http://platcom.org/CLASSEQ.
Financial Strain, Negative Interactions, and Mastery: Pathways to Mental Health Among Older African Americans:

This study examines the impact of financial strain, social support, and negative interactions on depressive symptoms among African Americans and the role of mastery as a mediator in these relationships. Structural equation modeling and baseline data from the Americans' Changing Lives Study were used to test these relationships among a sample of African Americans aged 50 to 96 years (N = 583). Findings illustrate the mechanistic pathways whereby financial strain is associated with depressive symptoms. Moreover, the study findings give further credence to the notion that positive and negative aspects of social relationships are distinctive with respect to social status factors, financial strain, and their relationship to depressive symptoms. This research suggests that mastery is an important mechanism linking negative interaction to mental health. The collection of findings provide a number of provocative departures from research conducted primarily using White samples and identifies important areas of intervention with older African Americans.
Integrating specification of human-computer interface with Jackson system development

Abstract Procedures for integrating task analysis and design of the human-computer interface (HCl) with a structured system development method, Jackson system development (JSD), are described. Process structure diagrams (PSDs), the major modelling notation of JSD, described tasks, and task specifications were evaluated for cognitive complexity. Task complexity analysis helped allocation and design of human tasks and to produce computer task support specifications. The cognitive dimension of task analysis highlighted the need for task support actions, especially information display support for working memory. Dialogue specification for a direct manipulation interface design was based on the JSD entity/event model from which the interaction metaphor, screen design, and permissible manipulations were derived. Further PSDs were constructed to specify interface object management processes. Preliminary evaluation of the method was carried out using JSD analysts. Results showed the method proved easy to learn even for non-HCl specialists.
The safety of multi-dose vials in allergy immunotherapy.

Objective To prospectively evaluate the risks of vial contamination after routine clinical use of multiple-dose vials for immunotherapy. Study Design Prospective observational study of immunotherapy vial cultures from June 2007 to January 2008. Setting Tertiary care outpatient otolaryngology clinic. Results Over an 8-month period, 136 consecutive vials were cultured for aerobic and anaerobic bacteria at the 3-month expiration date after regular use in an outpatient allergy clinic and dispensation of multiple doses of injection immunotherapy from each vial. All vials had negative cultures. Conclusion Immunotherapy vials are at low risk to undergo contamination in routine use. Important factors include aseptic technique, bacteriostatic agents, and expiration dating.
The elements of style: A tribute to suzanne corkin

When Brad Postle invited me to submit a contribution to this Festschrift for Sue Corkin, I had to mull over what to present. I knew there would be many scientific papers but wanted to do something more personal. What I decided might be meaningful to Sue would be a contribution about her role in the development of women scientists in her lab. I know she was very important to me in this respect. I started with all the women I could think of who had been in Sueʼs lab around my time, contacted them, and asked them to help me find others, especially those who came before and after me. Those who responded are included here. There are 20 women representing many different roles in Sueʼs lab: research scientist, undergraduate student, graduate student, postdoctoral fellow, secretary, research assistant. Their dates and roles in the lab and what they are doing now are presented in Table 1. To provide a little structure but not to constrain their responses too much, I provided some intentionally vague guiding questions and left it up to them as to which ones they wanted to address. My edits have been confined to explaining abbreviations and special terms [in brackets], shortening some responses without changing the meaning (I hope), and offering some grammatical improvements that I believe Sue would have done herself if sheʼd been given the opportunity. Though my name is here as author, I can properly take credit for only one twentieth of the content of this article. I am indebted to these many women who took the time to reminisce in a public forum—the “public” part may not seem extraordinary until you get to the final entry! Needless to say, we are all tremendously indebted to Sue herself, in both predictable and surprising ways. We hope you enjoy the reconstruction of life in the Corkin lab over the years and its reverberations in our lives to the present day.
Supersymmetry breaking by Wilson lines in AdS5

Abstract In the Randall–Sundrum compactification of AdS 5 with detuned brane tensions, supersymmetry can be spontaneously broken by a non-trivial Wilson line for the graviphoton. The supersymmetry breaking vanishes in the tuned limit. This effect is equivalent to supersymmetry breaking by Scherk–Schwarz boundary conditions.
GASTROINTESTINAL HELMINTHS OF PONIES IN LOUISIANA: A COMPARISON OF SPECIES CURRENTLY PREVALENT WITH THOSE PRESENT 20 YEARS AGO

A survey in Louisiana of gastrointestinal helminths recovered at necropsy from 117 ponies with minimal exposure to anthelmintics between 1989 and 2000 is compared with a survey conducted 20 yr earlier in the same region. An objective of this study was to determine whether species diversity has been affected by the advent and use of the macrocyclic lactone (ML) parasiticides and by the increased anthelmintic pressure on the helminth species infecting the general equine population. Twenty-six cyathostome species and 8 strongyle species were recovered. Two cyathostome species that were not found before, Cylicostephanus asymetricus and C. bidentatus, and 1 species of large strongyle, Oesophagodontus robustus, were added to the list of species found in Louisiana. All cyathostome and large strongyle species found previously were still present. But prevalences and intensities were significantly reduced for almost all large and small strongyle species. Prevalences and intensities of Oxyuris equi adults and larvae...
Seismic Response of Uplifting Building Frame

Results are compared to the experimental response of a 9-story steel frame model tested on the Univ. of Calif., Berkeley, Calif., shaking table. The uplifting response is compared to the response for the same excitation with overturning ancharage provided, demonstrating a considerable reduction in the applied loading for the uplifting case. Extrapolation of the test results to a theoretical prototype frame indicate that a significant uplifting response would occur during a moderate, credible earthquake, even though not indicated by even conservative current building code seismic provisions. A rational consideration of the uplifting behavior is shown to be compatible with the concept of dual seismic loading criteria; a service loading that should produce no damage, and a maximum credible loading that should not result in catastrophic failure. A design including a rationally planned uplifting capability should stand a much beetter chancee of surviving a maximum credible earthquake in a functional condition.
Biofuels: An Emerging Industry

Dealing with the nonrenewable nature of fossil fuels, and with the effect of carbon dioxide emissions on global warming, requires transformation of the energy sector toward renewable, carbon neutral resources. This chapter introduces the biofuel industry, which relies on the energy derived from living organisms or from their metabolic products, in the contest of global energy supply.
Fungi of a Long Island Oak-Birch Forest I. Community Organization and Seasonal Occurrence of the Opportunistic Decomposers of the A Horizon

SUMMARY The soil microfungi of the A horizon of an oak-birch forest on Long Island were isolated by dilution plate from 630 soil samples collected over a period of 40 mo. Because these fungi co-occurred in time and space and showed similarities in their nutritional, reproductive, and survival strategies, they are considered a specific community designated the opportunistic decomposers. Dominance in this community was determined by numerical superiority. A discussion of the factors regulating propagule density in soil and a rationale for using propagule density as the quantitative measure of prominence when large numbers of samples are analyzed is presented. Community composition and structure were based upon analysis of 10,684 isolates from 80 samples collected during the spring, summer, fall, and winter of 1975. This assemblage, reduced to 89 taxa, contained four broad-amplitude species; Penicillium terlikowskii, P. daleae, Trichoderma pseudokoningii and Oidiodendron chlamydosporicum?. These species plus Torulomyces lagena, Acremonium diversisporum and Mortierella ramanniana are the characteristic fungi. Seventy-eight percent of the isolates were mycelial Deuteromycetes; the remainder included Zygomycetes and Ascomycetes (6% and 5% of all isolates, respectively) and asporogenous yeasts. Propagules of the opportunistic decomposers were abundant in the A horizon. They remained constant at approximately 340,000 during most of the year but increased to over one million per g dry soil in April. Species diversity was highest in the spring, lowest in the summer, and essentially constant at 16 species per 100 isolates during the other seasons. Stability characterized the community. Particular combinations of species persisted throughout the course of the study resulting in high coefficients of similarity when populations from different years were compared using a modified Sorensen's Index. Seasonal changes in propagule densities for 25 commonly encountered fungi were studied over a 40-mo period. The following patterns were revealed: (1) five species had essentially constant numbers throughout the year; (2) nine increased significantly in the spring; (3) the oidiodendrons showed a winter peak in density; (4) four species, including Beauzeria bassiana and Metarrhizium anisopliae, appeared only in the spring; and (5), five species had apparently random distributions. An attempt was made to correlate some of these patterns with other changes thought to be occurring in the ecosystem a the same time.
Thermal and Optical Stretched Exponentials in Defect Kinetics in a-Si:H

The dispersive description of defect generation in a-Si:H that leads to stretched-exponential transients is extended by relaxing the assumption that light-induced processes and thermally induced processes have the same dispersive character. This is done by separating the rate equation for the defect density into two parts, one thermal and one optical, each with its own dispersion parameter. The solutions of this new equation — which must be obtained numerically — generally have two distinct parts: there may be a two-part rise or a peak, depending on the relative values of the two stretch parameters. Using this formulation we have readily simulated the recently observed peak in relaxation of a previously heavily degraded solar cell while exposed to a weak light. We find no way to explain other reports in similar two-part experiments that relaxation is faster under weak excitation than without.
Corticosteroids in the treatment of allergic disease: principles and practice.

Corticosteroids have a unique role in allergy therapeutics since they possess pharmacologic properties not shared by other commonly used agents. New studies indicate that glucocorticoids increase the synthesis of beta-adrenergic receptors in tissues, inhibit formation of leukotrienes, and prevent migration of inflammatory cells to the site of allergic injury. While it is not possible to dissociate anti-inflammatory activity from the tendency to cause adverse effects, the latter can be minimized by proper use of the drugs. In particular, alternate-day regimens with prednisone and the availability of a new generation of surface-active inhalation steroids have substantially reduced the prevalence of adverse effects associated with corticosteroid treatment of asthma.
A Cross-Cultural Comparison of a Global Brand's Strategies on Micro-Blogging Sites: Sina Weibo vs. Twitter

Micro-blogging platforms have been used increasingly by multinational companies as a marketing tool. Global corporations utilize platforms such as Twitter and Weio, leading micro-blogging sites, and promote their brand equity and increase engagement with their customers. The question is whether they use these platforms strategically, localizing the content and the structure to meet the needs of their target population. This study uses case study content analysis to begin answering this question. Starbucks posts over a one-month period on Twitter in the U.S. and on Sina Weibo in China were analyzed using three existing validated frameworks: descriptive analysis, content classification, and content customization. The results indicate that Starbucks somewhat localizes its posts to its Chinese consumers, in terms of content, symbols, values, and offerings. In terms of descriptive analysis, the study found that Starbucks underutilizes its Sina Weibo site compared to its Twitter site; posts more community-related information on Sina Weibo than on Twitter; and provides more action-related information on Twitter than on Weibo. This paper goes on to suggest micro-blogging strategies for multinational companies in the Managerial Implications section and concludes with a discussion on the direction of future research for scholars in this field.
Spectrum of quasistable states in a strong infrared field

The stability of highly excited hydrogen and helium atoms subject to an intense infrared laser field is studied, and similarities to the case of microwave driving are discussed.
Relative contributions of environmental and maternal factors to trans‐generational immune priming in T. castaneum

1. Trans-generational immune priming is a phenomenon in insects in which the offspring of mothers previously challenged with a focal microbe exhibit a survival advantage when challenged with that microbe. 2. Maternal egg provisioning with immune factors such as antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) is widely believed to contribute to the primed phenotype. However, other ‘socially mediated’ environmental factors secreted or excreted by the mother and others in the community, such as the gut microbiota or pheromones, may also affect offspring immune phenotype. 3. The relative contributions of maternal egg provisioning and socially mediated environmental factors to the primed larval phenotype were assessed by performing a cross-fostering survival experiment with Tribolium castaneum, in which the eggs of primed or naive mothers were sterilised, treated with the frass of primed or naive beetles, and challenged as larvae with the maternal pathogen, Bacillus thuringiensis. 4. Larvae from primed mothers showed greater survival than unprimed larvae, regardless of frass treatment; maternal treatment therefore showed a substantially greater contribution to larval priming than frass treatment. 5. Planned contrast tests to quantify the contributions of maternal and environmental matching revealed that maternal treatment mattered more for larvae exposed to primed, rather than unprimed, frass. This suggests that the effects of maternal egg provisioning may be exacerbated or mitigated by environmental factors. 6. Thus, although maternal egg provisioning plays a predominant role in producing the primed phenotype, environmental matching may matter for priming in some contexts.
Efficient multiphysics modelling of vibration and acoustic noise in switched reluctance motor drives

Acoustic noise has been reported as a major problem in Switched Reluctance Machines (SRMs) for noise sensitive applications. This issue has drawn significant attention over the past decades. In this paper, a numerical method used to predict vibration with high computational efficiency is introduced. The accuracy of this method is demonstrated by the comparison of the calculated results and the multiphysics Finite Element Analysis (FEA) simulation. Finally, based on this method, a fast process for the optimal design of the stator frame is proposed to reduce the vibration and acoustic noise in SRMs.
Platelet genomics: the role of platelet size and number in health and disease

Taken together, there is ample evidence of the association of cardiovascular disease, cerebrovascular, and inflammatory disease with single nucleotide variants (SNV) due to their impact on platelet size, number, and function. With the use of electronic medical record (EMR) or other phenotypic-linked bioinformatics sources, the more important "functional" variants are emerging and provide valuable information on their specific role in promoting early onset of disease or poor response to therapeutic measures. This review will focus upon the recognized common polymorphisms or gene variants with small, but functional effects, as it is becoming clear that these contribute to hyper- or hypo-responsive platelet phenotypes. The impact of these gene variants is distinguishable among normal individuals, and they are suspected contributors to increased risk of adverse outcomes in patients with underlying disease. There are thousands of gene variants and environmental factors that may mitigate risk or amplify the potential for disease within each of us. When combined with the environment and epigenetic influences, it is clear that whole-genome sequencing and bioinformatics alone will not be enough to truly predict "risk" or probability, but awareness of their potential influence may be a starting point in selective screening and generating prevention strategies to promote a healthy lifestyle or fine-tune therapeutic choices in the future.
Taxonomy of ' Euconnus complex'. Part XII. Synonymy circle of Psomophus , Spanioconnus , Scydmaenites and Xestophus (Coleoptera, Staphylinidae, Scydmaeninae)

Status of subgenera established for Euconnus Thomson with three-segmented antennal club is clarified. Examination of the type species of Psomophus Casey, Spanioconnus Ganglbauer, Scydmaenites Croissandeau and Xestophus Casey led to the conclusion that differences in morphological structures between all these taxa are minor and represent character variability within one subgenus. Consequently, Spanioconnus is maintained as a junior synonym of Psomophus; Scydmaenites is synonymized with Psomophus; and Xestophus, already placed as a junior synonym of Psomophus by Franz and later resurrected by O'Keefe, is again synonymized with Psomophus. Based on small morphological differences (visible only in the antennal structure), it is suggested that in future Psomophus may be placed as a junior synonym of Euconnus s. str. An emended diagnosis of Psomophus is given, and lectotypes are designated for Euconnus callidus Casey, Euconnus kraatzi Reitter and Scydmaenus salinator LeConte.
Extracting foreground ensemble features to detect abnormal crowd behavior in intelligent video-surveillance systems

Public safety is a matter of national security and people’s livelihoods. In recent years, intelligent video-surveillance systems have become important active-protection systems. A surveillance system that provides early detection and threat assessment could protect people from crowd-related disasters and ensure public safety. Image processing is commonly used to extract features, e.g., people, from a surveillance video. However, little research has been conducted on the relationship between foreground detection and feature extraction. Most current video-surveillance research has been developed for restricted environments, in which the extracted features are limited by having information from a single foreground; they do not effectively represent the diversity of crowd behavior. This paper presents a general framework based on extracting ensemble features from the foreground of a surveillance video to analyze a crowd. The proposed method can flexibly integrate different foreground-detection technologies to adapt to various monitored environments. Furthermore, the extractable representative features depend on the heterogeneous foreground data. Finally, a classification algorithm is applied to these features to automatically model crowd behavior and distinguish an abnormal event from normal patterns. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method’s performance is both comparable to that of state-of-the-art methods and satisfies the requirements of real-time applications.
Navigating ISIS’s Preferred Platform: Telegram1

ABSTRACTIslamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) online recruitment has been the subject of considerable interest by journalists and technology writers, but there has been no scholarly work to date exploring ISIS Telegram channels and chat rooms. Telegram has played an important role in recruitment and coordination in recent ISIS/terror attacks in Europe. Further, Telegram is quickly replacing the group’s online presence on more open platforms such as Facebook and Twitter as these companies aggressively police and shut down ISIS-linked accounts. This research note aims to demystify Telegram, explain how it can be used for research, and discuss some of the addictive qualities associated with user engagement.
A season-long examination of the motivational tone of coach-athlete interactions in youth sport

Coaches are a primary influences on athletes’ experiences in youth sport (Horn, 2008). However, the motivational tone of coaches’ behaviour has not been directly observed, not has its influence on athlete development been examined. The purpose of this short-term longitudinal study was to examine potential associations between the motivational tone exhibited by competitive youth sport coaches in their individualized interactions with athletes and athletes’ developmental trajectories over the course of a competitive season. 55 coach-athlete dyads from five competitive youth volleyball teams were observed at three time points. Athletes in each dyad completed measures of the 4C’s of athlete development at each time point. Cluster analysis revealed the presence of three distinct clusters based on athletes’ developmental trajectories over the course of the season: 1) high and increasing, 2) low and decreasing, and 3) moderate and maintaining. Profile analysis confirmed the longitudinal trajectories were significantly different between all clusters across all 4C’s. Analysis of dyadic interaction profiles revealed significant differences in interactive behaviour between clusters. Athletes in the low and decreasing cluster experienced significantly more performance-related interaction from their coach with a mastery or controlling motivational tone. Athletes in the high and increasing cluster experienced significantly more non-sport related communication from their coach. The present study on motivational tone lends insight into “how” coaches interact with their athletes and the resulting influence on athlete development. The results suggest that even with typically beneficial motivational tone, the relative amount of interaction in relation to other athletes maybe critical to its effectiveness.
2017 Eclipse RFD-900 Still Image System

As part of the NASA Space Grant 2017 Eclipse Ballooning Project, Montana Space Grant Consortium designed a camera system capable of transmitting still images from a balloon borne payload to a remote ground station via a RFD-900 radio. This payload consists of a Raspberry Pi, a Raspberry Pi camera, custom power supply and a RFD 900MHz radio. This system was designed to record pictures at high and low resolution at altitude. The low resolution images could be selected for downlinking back to the ground via the radio, while the high resolution pictures were saved to the Raspberry Pi memory card. This poster describes the full hardware configuration and the communication protocol and graphical user interface used to receive the transmitted images.
Robot-Human Agreements and Financial Transactions Enabled by a Blockchain and Smart Contracts

This paper explores the design of a robot and interaction model that enables a robot to engage in human-like financial transactions, and to enter into agreements with a human counterpart. More explicitly, (1) we bestow the agent with a cryptocurrency wallet and (2) define bilateral and multilateral agreements that can be automated as smart contracts in a distributed ledger. As a use case of a robot with such features, we describe roBU - a traveling robot, that can enter into financial agreements in exchange for assistance in traveling the world. With this effort, we expect to validate the idea of near-future scenarios where autonomous or semi-autonomous agents are endowed with, a type of, social autonomy and the ability to engage in financial transactions. We believe the latter can improve task completion and enable further exploration of robot-human relationships, dependencies and trust.
Chiral Liquid Chromatography

Abstract Over the last decade, chiral liquid chromatography has made tremendous advances in selectivity and efficiency. These developments have been beneficial to many scientific disciplines especially in the field of high-throughput research. In this chapter, we review the fundamentals of chiral separations, classes of stationary phases, new particle morphologies, bonding chemistry of chiral selectors and high-efficiency packing procedures. Special detectors for enantiomeric separations are surveyed. The latest developments in chiral chromatography have culminated in sub-second separations of enantiomers. Instrumental considerations to achieve ultrafast enantiomeric separations are discussed. Unique applications of chiral chromatography such as shape selectivity, formation of “Batman” peaks, peak shapes under overloading conditions, and future developments are highlighted.
Pancreatic panniculitis in active systemic lupus erythematosus.

This report documents the case of a 64-year-old African-American female with new end-stage renal disease (ESRD), diagnosed with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) on renal biopsy and serologies including a positive ANA (>1:2560), positive anti-Sm antibodies, low titer anti-RNP antibodies, high titer anti-Ro antibodies, anti-dsDNA antibodies, lupus anticoagulant, and hypocomplementemia. She was also noted to have tender nodules on the bilateral shins. Excisional biopsy of one of the nodules showed marked fat necrosis with "ghost cells" and patchy basophilic granular debris consistent with pancreatic panniculitis. Further examination for pancreatic pathology showed an elevated lipase of 585 U/L (reference range 8-78 U/L) and amylase of 214 U/L (reference range 25-125 U/L). However, computed tomography imaging showed no evidence of pancreatitis or pancreatic tumors. This is very similar to another case recently reported in the literature. Similarities of these two cases (African-American females with lupus nephritis on dialysis) may represent a particular subset of SLE patients at increased risk for pancreatic panniculitis.
Modified Steam Methane Reformation Methods for Hydrogen Production

Over the past few decades, extensive efforts have been made to modify the conventional hydrogen production technologies. In particular, a review of those methods that are intended to reduce the carbon emission and improve the process efficiency for steam methane reformation (SMR) is provided here. So far, several such methods have been proposed based on both fossil and non-fossil energy sources which primarily include the use of membranes, metal oxides as a CO2 sorbent, and nuclear and solar energy. Moreover, this section also includes a brief summary of an innovative process which suggests the inclusion of sodium hydroxide as a reactant to the SMR process. The addition of sodium hydroxide to the SMR process can serve the dual purpose of hydrogen production and CO2 capture. Certainly, these methods have the potential to reduce CO2 emission during hydrogen production. Therefore, here, the status and perspective of all these methods are presented.
O1E.5 Short-term disability leave and employment termination: using marginal structural models to estimate counterfactual risks

Introduction Short-term disability leave can be considered as a measure of not being well enough to work. The American Manufacturing Cohort, followed 1996–2013, consists of employees of a light-metal company that provided short-term disability insurance to all employees: coverage to replace wages for up to 6 months of work absence due to medical issues. We hypothesized that since brief short-term disability leave allows workers time to recover from illness or injury without losing their jobs, it should be protective against employment termination. Methods We analyzed 18 386 (83% male, 80% white) hourly employees. We censored workers once their accumulated disability leave exceeded 6 weeks because longer time spent on short-term disability leave suggests more serious illness or injury that may prevent return to work. To analyze the effect of short-term disability leave on employment termination, we applied a marginal structural pooled logistic model that allowed for a time-varying hazard function. We adjusted for time-varying confounding by occupational exposures and health-related variables using inverse probability weighting. Using the estimated coefficients, we compared the predicted probabilities (by person-month) of terminating employment with the corresponding counterfactual probabilities if the worker had never taken disability leave. These probabilities yielded estimated survival curves under the two scenarios. Results The average worker was followed for 5.5 years. Approximately 42% of the workers took at least one day of disability leave, and 48% terminated employment during follow-up. We estimated that 1058 (29%) more workers would have terminated employment within 5 years from cohort entry if the company had had no disability leave benefit than were predicted under the natural course. Conclusion Short-term disability leave is a potentially relevant health variable for occupational epidemiologists. This analysis suggests that short-term disability leave can help employees retain their jobs when a temporary health issue prevents them from working.
Corporate strategy uniqueness, analyst herding, and financing constraints:

This study is based on the premise that firms pursuing unique corporate strategies impose a high information cost on security analysts. A difficult information environment will foster analyst herdi...
Targeting brain tumor stem cells using a bispecific antibody directed against CD133+ and EGFRvIII+

2022 Background: Using the marker CD133, cancer stem cells (CSCs) have been demonstrated for glioblastomas (GBMs) and medulloblastomas. However, CD133 is also present on normal neural stem cells. E...
Analytical Framework for Homeowner-Focused Computational Cost-Benefit Mitigation Decision Making

As a result of increasing windstorm losses in the United States over the past 50 years, a variety of residential wind hazard mitigation strategies have been recommended. Wind hazard mitigation undoubtedly reduces windstorm losses; however, little customized information is available to support the economic decision-making process for individual stakeholders, especially at the consumer level. Therefore, there is a need for decision support tools to calculate, evaluate, and present the economic benefits of mitigation over variable decision-making time horizons for unique building characteristics in specific geographical locations. This paper presents a cost-benefit computational decision-making recommendation framework that evaluates and presents the cost effectiveness of mitigation, customized based on location, years of interest, and building characteristics. The decision-making framework consists of two cores. The user-independent core and user-dependent core which consists of eight steps, divided into four subprocesses: 1) data acquisition, 2) data evaluation, 3) cost-benefit calculation, and 4) results comparison and decision making. To demonstrate the framework, a wood-framed single-family home in light suburban terrain in Golden Meadow, Louisiana, is used as a case study, considering retrofit mitigation with a $15,000 budget and a decision-making time horizon of 30 years. The case study provides six mitigation options, with cost ranging between approximately $2,000 and $15,000 and net benefit/cost ratios ranging from 2.4 to 13. Once fully implemented in a decision making information tool, the developed mitigation recommendation framework will provide valuable information that can be used by home designers, builders, owners, and other stakeholders to better understand the economic facets of wind hazard mitigation, providing critical information as part of the overall decision-making process.