cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
WLC11-6: Antenna Selection for Compact Dual-Polarized MIMO Systems with Linear Receivers

Antenna selection combined with dual-polarized antennas offers an attractive alternative for realizing higher order multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) configurations in compact, low-complexity devices. In this paper we analyze the performance of antenna selection for narrowband dual- polarized MIMO channels with linear minimum mean square error (MMSE) receiver processing. We analytically study the impact of cross-polar discrimination (XPD) on the achieved selection gain. We use channel measurement data, collected at 2.4 GHz in a typical office environment, to compare the performance of spatial and dual-polarized MIMO channels with respect to antenna selection. Our bit-error-rate (BER) results indicate that antenna selection with dual-polarized antennas can achieve significant performance gains for compact configurations.
Signaling over high-speed optical intersatellite links

Pulse-position modulation (PPM) has long been considered by NASA for some deep-space and intersatellite communication applications. As the demand for increased throughput increases, however, it has become apparent that PPM is rather inefficient, and that alternative modulation schemes should be investigated. The authors investigate the throughput and error-probability performances of various modulation schemes, including PPM, overlapping PPM (OPPM), multi-pulse PPM (MPPM) and on-off keying (OOK). >
ConScript: Specifying and Enforcing Fine-Grained Security Policies for JavaScript in the Browser

Much of the power of modern Web comes from the ability of a Web page to combine content and JavaScript code from disparate servers on the same page. While the ability to create such mash-ups is attractive for both the user and the developer because of extra functionality, code inclusion effectively opens the hosting site up for attacks and poor programming practices within every JavaScript library or API it chooses to use. In other words, expressiveness comes at the price of losing control. To regain the control, it is therefore valuable to provide means for the hosting page to restrict the behavior of the code that the page may include. This paper presents ConScript, a client-side advice implementation for security, built on top of Internet Explorer 8. ConScript allows the hosting page to express fine-grained application-specific security policies that are enforced at runtime. In addition to presenting 17 widely-ranging security and reliability policies that ConScript enables, we also show how policies can be generated automatically through static analysis of server-side code or runtime analysis of client-side code. We also present a type system that helps ensure correctness of ConScript policies. To show the practicality of ConScript in a range of settings, we compare the overhead of ConScript enforcement and conclude that it is significantly lower than that of other systems proposed in the literature, both on micro-benchmarks as well as large, widely-used applications such as MSN, GMail, Google Maps, and Live Desktop.
Moving the Nation: Taking the Smithsonian to Scotland

Temporary exhibitions in national museums provide a window into the ways in which national identity is performed. When one national museum is presented in the space of another nation, the changes of narrative and performance are even more vivid. Looking at a 1984 exhibition of American artefacts in Scotland, Treasures from the Smithsonian Institution at the Royal Scottish Museum, this article examines how material culture can hold ever-changing narratives of nation and identity, and how they alter to suit new contexts and spaces.
Recipient Myeloid-Derived Immunomodulatory Cells Induce PD-1 Ligand–Dependent Donor CD4+Foxp3+ Regulatory T Cell Proliferation and Donor–Recipient Immune Tolerance after Murine Nonmyeloablative Bone Marrow Transplantation

We showed previously that nonmyeloablative total lymphoid irradiation/rabbit anti-thymocyte serum (TLI/ATS) conditioning facilitates potent donor-recipient immune tolerance following bone marrow transplantation (BMT) across MHC barriers via recipient invariant NKT (iNKT) cell-derived IL-4-dependent expansion of donor Foxp3(+) naturally occurring regulatory T cells (nTregs). In this study, we report a more specific mechanism. Wild-type (WT) BALB/c (H-2(d)) hosts were administered TLI/ATS and BMT from WT or STAT6(-/-) C57BL/6 (H-2(b)) donors. Following STAT6(-/-) BMT, donor nTregs demonstrated no loss of proliferation in vivo, indicating that an IL-4-responsive population in the recipient, rather than the donor, drives donor nTreg proliferation. In graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) target organs, three recipient CD11b(+) cell subsets (Gr-1(high)CD11c(-), Gr-1(int)CD11c(-), and Gr-1(low)CD11c(+)) were enriched early after TLI/ATS + BMT versus total body irradiation/ATS + BMT. Gr-1(low)CD11c(+) cells induced potent H-2K(b+)CD4(+)Foxp3(+) nTreg proliferation in vitro in 72-h MLRs. Gr-1(low)CD11c(+) cells were reduced significantly in STAT6(-/-) and iNKT cell-deficient Jα18(-/-) BALB/c recipients after TLI/ATS + BMT. Depletion of CD11b(+) cells resulted in severe acute GVHD, and adoptive transfer of WT Gr-1(low)CD11c(+) cells to Jα18(-/-) BALB/c recipients of TLI/ATS + BMT restored day-6 donor Foxp3(+) nTreg proliferation and protection from CD8 effector T cell-mediated GVHD. Blockade of programmed death ligand 1 and 2, but not CD40, TGF-β signaling, arginase 1, or iNOS, inhibited nTreg proliferation in cocultures of recipient-derived Gr-1(low)CD11c(+) cells with donor nTregs. Through iNKT-dependent Th2 polarization, myeloid-derived immunomodulatory dendritic cells are expanded after nonmyeloablative TLI/ATS conditioning and allogeneic BMT, induce PD-1 ligand-dependent donor nTreg proliferation, and maintain potent graft-versus-host immune tolerance.
Excitation Energy Dependence of Photoinduced Absorption in Intrinsic a-Si:H

We have studied subgap absorption of intrinsic a-Si:H induced by below- and above-gap photo-excitation. We find very similar photoinduced subgap absorption spectra when excited with 2.4 eV or 1.2 eV light. Both spectra exhibit a power-law dependence on laser intensity ΔT ∼ 1 a , where a is 0.5 and 0.7 for 2.4 and 1.2 eV excitation energy, respectively. This behavior indicates a change in the recombination mechanism as a function of excitation energy. The PA spectrum excited at 1.2 eV shows a strong dependence on bias illumination. Bias illumination bleaches the absorption according to a power-law as ΔT = c(E bias )·I β , where β is approximately 0.85 and independent of probe energy and bias energy. The parameter c(E bias ) increases superlinearly with bias illumination energy for E bias > 1.7 eV.
Power of association tests in the presence of multiple causal variants

We show that the statistical power of a single single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) score test for genetic association reflects the cumulative effect of all causal SNPs that are correlated with the test SNP. Statistical significance of a score test can sometimes be explained by the collective effect of weak correlations between the test SNP and multiple causal SNPs. In a finite population, weak but significant correlations between the test SNP and the causal SNPs can arise by chance alone. As a consequence, when a single-SNP score test shows significance, the causal SNPs contributing to the power of the test are not necessarily located near the test SNP, nor do they have to be in linkage disequilibrium with the test SNP. These findings are confirmed with the Genetic Analysis Workshop 17 mini-exome data. The findings of this study highlight the often overlooked importance of long-range and weak linkage disequilibrium in genetic association studies.
A highly stable quadruply hydrogen-bonded heterocomplex useful for supramolecular polymer blends.

The butyl urea of guanosine (UG) presents an ADDA hydrogen-bonding array that is complementary to the DAAD array of 2,7-diamido-1,8-naphthyridine (DAN). The stability of the DAN·UG complex was measured by fluorimetry using the fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) from the naphthyridine ring to a coumarin 343 moiety linked covalently to the UG unit. The quadruply hydrogen-bonded complex is extremely stable with a measured association constant, Kassoc, of 3 × 108 M-1. Unlike related hydrogen-bonding modules, the guanosine urea, UG, contains a relatively fixed tautomeric form and only weakly self-associates (Kdimer = ca. 200 M-1). The DAN unit was linked to a styrene-based monomer and copolymerized with styrene to form a polymer (PS-DAN) containing a controlled number of the DAAD recognition units. Likewise, a methacrylate monomer containing the UG unit was copolymerized with butyl methacrylate to form a polymer (PBMA-UG). Blends formed from PS-DAN and PBMA-UG were characterized by DSC, SEC, and vis...
Effects of graviton production in inflationary cosmology 1

A quantum derivation of the spectrum of gravitons created in an inflationary cosmology is discussed, and the way in which they can affect the isotropy of the cosmic microwave background is briefly reviewed.
A META‐ANALYSIS OF WORK SAMPLE TEST VALIDITY: UPDATING AND INTEGRATING SOME CLASSIC LITERATURE

Work sample tests have been used in applied psychology for decades as important predictors of job performance, and they have been suggested to be among the most valid predictors of job performance. As we examined classic work sample literature, we found the narrative review by Asher and Sciarrino (1974) to be plagued by many methodological problems. Further, it is possible that data used in this study may have influenced the results (e.g., r= .54) reported by Hunter and Hunter in their seminal work in 1984. After integrating all of the relevant data, we found an observed mean correlation between work sample tests and measures of job performance of .26. This value increased to .33 when measures of job performance (e.g., supervisory ratings) were corrected for attenuation. Our results suggest that the level of the validity for work sample tests may not be as large as previously thought (i.e., approximately one third less than previously thought). Further, our work also summarizes the relationship of work sample exams to measures of general cognitive ability. We found that work sample tests were associated with an observed correlation of .32 with tests of general cognitive ability.
Trait Mindfulness and Cognitive Task Performance

Mindfulness meditation (MM) training has been shown to have positive effects on working memory and focused attention tasks. Clarifying the construct of mindfulness is important so that mindfulness ...
Middleware: middleware challenges and approaches for wireless sensor networks

Using middleware to bridge the gap between applications and low-level constructs is a novel approach to resolving many wireless sensor network issues and enhancing application development. This survey discusses representative WSN middleware, presenting the state of the research
Health Care Access Affects Attitudes About Health Outcomes and Decisions to Apply for Social Security Disability Benefits

This article reports on qualitative findings from a mixed methods study that explored the efficacy of providing enhanced health benefits and services to people with chronic health conditions to reduce their application rates to federal disability programs. Comparing an intervention and control group, the study found that those who received enhanced benefits had reduced health decline. To explore reasons for this reduction, authors conducted focus groups with a sample of participants from both groups. Four themes emerged: (a) Due to the effects of their conditions, most participants believed their health would worsen over time; (b) Intervention group members said their health deterioration would be slowed or prevented, while control group members worried about more rapid decline and the future; (c) Intervention group members related their beliefs about continued health to their ability to access care; (d) Control group members were more likely than intervention group members to indicate they applied or wer...
Mechanism Design for Capacity Planning Under Dynamic Evolutions of Asymmetric Demand Forecasts

This paper provides a general framework to model the evolutions of forecasts generated by multiple decision makers who forecast demand for the same product. We also model the evolutions of forecasts when decision makers have asymmetric demand information and refer to it as the Martingale Model of Asymmetric Forecast Evolutions (MMAFE). This model helps us to study mechanism design problems in a dynamic environment. In particular, we consider a supplier's (principal's) problem of eliciting credible forecast information from a manufacturer (agent) when both firms obtain asymmetric demand information for the end product over multiple periods. The supplier uses demand information to better plan for a capacity investment decision. When the supplier postpones building capacity and screening the manufacturer's private information, the supplier and the manufacturer can obtain more information and update their forecasts. This delay, however, may increase (resp., or decrease) the degree of information asymmetry between the two firms, resulting in a higher (resp., or lower) cost of screening. The capacity building cost may also increase because of a tighter deadline for building capacity. Considering all such trade-offs, the supplier has to determine (i) when to stop obtaining new demand information and build capacity, (ii) whether to offer a screening contract to credibly elicit private forecast information or to determine the capacity level without information sharing, (iii) how much capacity to build, and (iv) how to design the overall mechanism so that both firms benefit from this mechanism. This paper provides an answer to these questions. It also provides a framework to quantify the option value of time for a strategic investment decision under the dynamic evolutions of asymmetric forecasts.
Target localization with NLOS circularly reflected AOAS

Bearings-only localization with light-of-sight (LOS) propagation is well understood. This paper concentrates on bearing-only localization with non-line-of-sight (NLOS) measurements, where the target radiation arrives at the sensor after a specular reflection. The wrinkle is that the reflecting surface is circular (inner side of a circle), and is assumed known. Since the target-sensor geometry has multiple configurations, the maximum likelihood (ML) solution may not exist. However, if a concentric opaque circle (such as the earth) exists within the reflecting one, the propagation path is unique; a grid search based ML is available for such a circumstance. Since ML is computationally consuming, two suboptimal algorithms based on small angle approximation are developed. Their performances are numerically compared.
Experimental Production of Mallory Bodies in Mice by Diet Containing 3,5-Diethoxycarbonyl-1,4-Dihydrocollidine

The first experimental production of Mallory bodies was reported by Denk et al. in 1975 in mice fed griseofulvin. We discovered a second chemical capable of producing Mallory bodies in the mouse liver in a manner similar to griseofulvin. Male Swiss albino mice were fed a powdered standard diet containing 2.5% of 3,5-diethoxycarbonyl-1,4-dihydrocollidine up to 95 days. The animals were killed at intervals and their livers were examined by light and electron microscopy. In general, the morphologic changes in the liver were similar to, but more marked than, those seen in griseofulvin-fed mice. Mallory bodies were first observed in the livers of mice killed at 40 days. In our previous experiment using griseofulvin, we first observed Mallory bodies in mice killed at 61 days. These observations suggest that 3,5-diethoxycarbonyl-1,4-dihydrocollidine may be more effective than griseofulvin in the production of Mallory bodies in mice.
Coexistence and emergent neutrality generate synchrony among competitors in fluctuating environments

Many competitive communities exhibit a puzzling amount of species diversity. In this study, we model a community of symmetric competitors in a fluctuating environment. We use biologically realistic temperature-dependent growth curves with a widely hypothesized trade-off between maximum growth and nice breadth to control the shapes of the curves of different species. We perform three analyses of the community dynamics to investigate the role of environmental fluctuations in community composition and species diversity. We initiate communities with equal abundances of all species and randomize the temperature fluctuations so that there is no correlation between species responses, only noise. We initiate single populations and allow other species to randomly invade the community. We also knock out extant species one by one from an established community and allow them to reinvade after the remaining species have adjusted. We find that competitors with sufficiently different temperature niches coexist via temporal niche differentiation. We also find long-term persistence of species that are very similar to a dominant competitor. This creates communities with species clumped along a temperature niche axis, with stable coexistence between groups and near neutrality within groups. The near neutrality results in interspecific synchrony within the groups, providing an explanation for the maintenance of high diversity in competitive communities where synchrony is commonly observed.
The Play of Rights

Generosity is usually reserved for those to whom we are bound by friendship or warm affection; but even where such ties are absent an effective equivalent is our recognition that others, even casual acquaintances, have a right to these same benefits. If warm affection is joined with the regard that men of moral integrity have for such rights, the disposition to confer such benefits upon others is almost always efficacious. Unfortunately, matters are not always so neatly aligned or so simply resolved. The goods at our disposal are in too short supply to permit us adequately to bestow them whenever they are needed, even upon those to whom we are bound by love and affection; and not infrequently those who are entitled to these goods are persons to whom we are not warmly disposed. In any case our limited opportunities and abilities, together with the unexpected and even unpredictable circumstances that defeat even our best intentions, sometimes compel us to choose which of two competing rights, both of which engage our moral concerns, to honor by what we do-or perhaps to choose between a right and a quite different but no less important sort of consideration which, as reasonable agents, we must also respect-hoping that in acting as we do we shall make the best of an unfortunate situation that has been thrust upon us. Inevitably, even though only occasionally, in the complex and even unforesee able circumstances in which we conduct our affairs with each other, there arises a characteristic play of rights in which one gives way or yields in its moral force in the face of more compelling considera tions.
Management of Hot Flushes Due to Endocrine Therapy for Prostate Carcinoma

Quality of life of patients undergoing androgen deprivation is an issue that has received limited attention in the past but is currently being actively evaluated in clinical trials. This issue becomes more important as patients with longer life expectancy and no metastatic disease are treated for longer durations.
Use of Inhaled Corticosteroids to Treat Stable COPD

Although the use of inhaled corticosteroids for COPD will not reduce mortality or affect long-term disease progression, inhaled corticosteroids can be useful for reducing COPD exacerbations and slowing declines in quality of life.
Single-Electron Activation of CO2 on Graphene-Supported ZnO Nanoclusters: Effects of Doping in the Support

Use of solar energy to convert the greenhouse gas CO2 into useful chemicals or fuels could not only reduce the accumulation of CO2 in the atmosphere but also provide a solution to sustainable energy development. There has been much interest in understanding the mechanistic role of graphene when added to semiconductor nanostructures to reduce CO2 because of the observation of enhanced photocatalytic activities in recent experiments. In this work, we investigate the adsorption and single-electron activation of CO2 on ZnO nanoclusters with and without a modified graphene support using a first-principles approach, with a special focus on the effect of the support. The formation of the CO2– anion is identified under simulated photoexcitation conditions and is energetically more favorable than for previously studied oxide photocatalysts. The calculated results suggest that single-heteroatom doping in graphene has a significant impact on the catalytic activity of ZnO. The electronic coupling between the support ...
Dynamic contrast-enhanced MR studies.

Anti-angiogenic therapy has shown promising results for treating human tumors [for reviews see (1,2)]. The target(s) of this form of therapy is the vasculature of the tumor itself. One of the goals of these treatments is to restrict growth of tumors by choking off their blood flow and supply of nutrients. One of the important challenges in assessing efficacy of therapy is to determine which physiologic and metabolic markers are predictive of treatment response or treatment failure. Conventional metrics such as tumor volume are not sensitive to the actions of anti-angiogenic agents. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has been used extensively to measure a number of parameters such as blood volume, blood flow, permeability, and so on, which are potential surrogate markers for response to treatment (3). The MR methods rely on the injection of a low molecular–weight chelate of gadolinium and the subsequent imaging of the effects of the passage of this agent through the tumor. The signal intensity changes observed on MR can in principle be related to the concentration of the chelate present if the appropriate model for analysis of the tracer kinetics is used (4,5). Several of these low molecular–weight gadolinium chelates have been approved for routine use by the FDA. These are all so-called “first-pass” agents that are cleared rapidly by the kidney. Dynamic contrast-enhanced MR (DCEMR) imaging offers several important features for these kinds of clinical studies. It is safe and minimally invasive, involving the intravenous injection of an agent
Mobilization of Mercury and Arsenic from a Carbonate-hosted Ore Deposit, Central Idaho, U.S.A.☆

Abstract The Cinnabar and Fern mine sites in central Idaho are primary source areas for elevated mercury and arsenic entering the South Fork of the Salmon River, which provides critical spawning habitat for bull trout and Chinook salmon. Mercury mineralization is hosted by carbonate rocks, which generate waters dominated by Ca 2+ and HCO 3 − at pH 7 to 9. A synoptic sampling was conducted on headwater tributaries to determine geologic background concentrations and quantify trace metal concentrations in stream water associated with historical mining. Geologic background concentrations in unfiltered Cinnabar Creek water were 8 - 14 ng Hg L -1 and 4.8 - 9.5 μg As L -1 . Immediately downstream from the mine site, concentrations increased to 257 ng Hg L -1 and 20.6 μg As L -1 . Groundwater inflow diluted these concentrations by approximately half before the confluence of Cinnabar Creek with Sugar Creek. As expected, mercury and arsenic concentrations increased downstream in Sugar Creek below the confluence with Cinnabar Creek. However, the final downstream reach on Sugar Creek showed an increase in unfiltered mercury, methylmercury, and iron concentrations relative to the upstream reach. This increase is associated with historical mining activity in a mineralized area of carbonate rock that intersects the reach.
Low-Temperature Structure of PbTi O 3

Measurements of the perturbed $\ensuremath{\gamma}\ensuremath{-}\ensuremath{\gamma}$ directional correlation have been made for the first excited state of $^{44}\mathrm{Sc}$ in polycrystalline lead titanate at -(189\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}5) \ifmmode^\circ\else\textdegree\fi{}C. A static electric quadrupole interaction was observed, having an interaction strength $|Q{V}_{\mathrm{zz}}|=(4.09\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.09)\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{\ensuremath{-}8}$ V, which is greater than the value obtained at room temperature by a factor of 1.04\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.02. The field gradient at the $^{44}\mathrm{Sc}$-ion site is found to have axial symmetry, indicating a tetragonal structure for lead titanate at -189\ifmmode^\circ\else\textdegree\fi{}C. The axial ratio at this temperature is estimated to be 1.108\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.027, which agrees well with recent x-ray studies indicating a new tetragonal phase formed by a transition at -160\ifmmode^\circ\else\textdegree\fi{}C. Using a recently reported value of ${\ensuremath{\gamma}}_{\ensuremath{\infty}} ({\mathrm{Sc}}^{3+})$, the quadrupole moment of the 68-keV state in $^{44}\mathrm{Sc}$ is found to be (0.109\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.020) b. Using this number it is shown that the room-temperature values of field gradient observed with $^{44}\mathrm{Sc}$ and $^{57}\mathrm{Fe}$ probes differ by a factor of 16.5.
The association between tau PET and retrospective cortical thinning in clinically normal elderly

Tau pathology has been associated with neuronal loss at autopsy, but the temporal evolution of tau pathology and atrophy remains unclear. Here, we investigate the association between cross-sectional AV-1451-PET as a marker of tau pathology and cortical thickness cross-sectionally. We also investigated retrospective rates of cortical thinning over the three years preceding the AV-1451 scan in a clinically normal cohort of 103 older adults from the Harvard Aging Brain Study. Tau measurements were Geometric Transfer Matrix partial volume corrected standardized uptake value ratios (SUVRs) with a cerebellar gray reference region. Thirty-four FreeSurfer-defined cortical regions of interest (ROIs) were used for both thickness and AV-1451 in each hemisphere, with seven additional volumetric ROIs. We examined "local" relationships between AV-1451 and cortical thickness in the same ROI, as well as inferior temporal AV-1451 and all thickness ROIs. All models included baseline age and sex, both interacting with time in retrospective longitudinal models, as covariates. Cross-sectional models controlled for the number of days between the two scans. Cross-sectional local comparisons revealed significant associations between elevated AV-1451 and thinner cortical ROIs predominantly in temporal regions, while analyses associating inferior temporal AV-1451 with all cortical ROIs showed a widespread pattern of significant relationships, which was strongest in temporal and parietal cortices. In our retrospective longitudinal analyses, we saw significant relationships in temporal and parietal regions. Significant local relationships were seen in right superior temporal, middle temporal, temporal pole, and fusiform, as well as the left cuneus and banks of the left superior temporal sulcus. Significant relationships between inferior temporal AV-1451 and faster thinning were observed in right temporal regions (middle temporal and fusiform) and bilateral parahippocampal cortices. We observed significant negative relationships between local and inferior temporal AV-1451 signal and both cross-sectional cortical thickness and rates of thinning in lateral and medial temporal regions. This is an important early step toward elucidating the relationship between tau pathology and retrospective longitudinal atrophy in aging and preclinical AD.
Marine dock pilings foster diverse, native cryptobenthic fish assemblages across bioregions.

Anthropogenic habitats are increasingly prevalent in coastal marine environments. Previous research on sessile epifauna suggests that artificial habitats act as a refuge for nonindigenous species, which results in highly homogenous communities across locations. However, vertebrate assemblages that live in association with artificial habitats are poorly understood. Here, we quantify the biodiversity of small, cryptic (henceforth “cryptobenthic”) fishes from marine dock pilings across six locations over 35° of latitude from Maine to Panama. We also compare assemblages from dock pilings to natural habitats in the two southernmost locations (Panama and Belize). Our results suggest that the biodiversity patterns of cryptobenthic fishes from dock pilings follow a Latitudinal Diversity Gradient (LDG), with average local and regional diversity declining sharply with increasing latitude. Furthermore, a strong correlation between community composition and spatial distance suggests distinct regional assemblages of cryptobenthic fishes. Cryptobenthic fish assemblages from dock pilings in Belize and Panama were less diverse and had lower densities than nearby reef habitats. However, dock pilings harbored almost exclusively native species, including two species of conservation concern absent from nearby natural habitats. Our results suggest that, in contrast to sessile epifaunal assemblages on artificial substrates, artificial marine habitats can harbor diverse, regionally characteristic assemblages of vertebrates that follow macroecological patterns that are well documented for natural habitats. We therefore posit that, although dock pilings cannot function as a replacement for natural habitats, dock pilings may provide cost-effective means to preserve native vertebrate biodiversity, and provide a habitat that can be relatively easily monitored to track the status and trends of fish biodiversity in highly urbanized coastal marine environments.
Immunoaffinity capture coupled with capillary electrophoresis - mass spectrometry to study therapeutic protein stability in vivo

Protein engineering is at an all-time high in biopharmaceutics. As a result, absorption, distribution, metabolism and excretion (ADME) of proteins has become more important to understand in the context of engineering strategies to optimize therapeutic properties of potential lead constructs. Immunoaffinity capture coupled with a newly developed capillary electrophoresis - mass spectrometry (CE-MS) system was used to characterize intact protein mass analysis of a wild type Fc-FGF21 construct and a sequence re-engineered Fc-FGF21 construct from an in vivo study. A number of truncated forms were observed and the time courses of the various proteolytic products were identified and compared between the two constructs. The abundances of the intact and truncated forms were used to provide the basis to semi-quantify ADME properties of the two protein forms. The use of this immunoaffinity capture followed by CE-MS based intact mass analysis workflow provided a qualitative and quantitative analysis of the pharmacokinetic profiles of the two proteins. The platform presented here holds great potential in characterization of the ADME properties of proteins.
Technical Advances for the Clinical Genomic Evaluation of Sudden Cardiac Death: Verification of Next-Generation Sequencing Panels for Hereditary Cardiovascular Conditions Using Formalin-Fixed Paraffin-Embedded Tissues and Dried Blood Spots.

Background— Postmortem genetic testing for heritable cardiovascular (CV) disorders is often lacking because ideal specimens (ie, whole blood) are not retained routinely at autopsy. Formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded tissue (FFPET) is ubiquitously collected at autopsy, but DNA quality hampers its use with traditional sequencing methods. Targeted next-generation sequencing may offer the ability to circumvent such limitations, but a method has not been previously described. The primary aim of this study was to develop and evaluate the use of FFPET for heritable CV disorders via next-generation sequencing. Methods and Results— Nineteen FFPET (heart) and blood (whole blood or dried blood spot) specimens underwent targeted next-generation sequencing using a custom panel of 101 CV-associated genes. Nucleic acid yield and quality metrics were evaluated in relation to FFPET specimen age (6 months to 15 years; n=14) and specimen type (FFPET versus whole blood and dried blood spot; n=12). Four FFPET cases with a clinical phenotype of heritable CV disorder were analyzed. Accuracy and precision were 100% concordant between all sample types, with read depths >100× for most regions tested. Lower read depth, as low as 40×, was occasionally observed with FFPET and dried blood spot. High-quality DNA was obtained from FFPET samples as old as 15 years. Genomic analysis of FFPET from the 4 phenotype-positive/genotype unknown cases all revealed putative disease-causing variants. Conclusions— Similar performance characteristics were observed for next-generation sequencing of FFPET, whole blood, and dried blood spot in the evaluation of inherited CV disorders. Although blood is preferable for genetic analyses, this study offers an alternative when only FFPET is available.
Enhanced CO2 Conversion to CO by Silica-Supported Perovskite Oxides at Low Temperatures

Repurposing of CO2 to valuable hydrocarbons is crucial for energy security and a balanced carbon cycle. Reverse water gas shift chemical looping (RWGS-CL) is capable of efficient CO2 to CO conversion at a low temperature of ∼600 °C with unprecedented rates using the La0.75Sr0.25FeO3 (LSF) perovskite-type oxide amalgamated with silica. The LSF/SiO2 composite (25% LSF by mass) promotes a notable extent of oxygen vacancies in the active phase, a key parameter for CO2 conversion. In each of eight RWGS-CL cycles, CO generation yields of LSF/SiO2 surpass those of LSF alone by about 200%, producing 2.6 mmol of CO gLSF–1 at a peak rate of 0.8 mmol CO gLSF–1 min–1. This significant improvement is concomitant with a decreased average LSF crystallite size retained at these low thermochemical reaction temperatures. Evidence of this enhancement points to perovskite particle size reduction by silica, lattice strain induced by the support, and curtailed quantities of secondary phases that limit accessibility to active s...
Exercise in African American and White Colorectal Cancer Survivors: A Mixed Methods Approach.

Background African-American (AA) colorectal cancer (CRC) survivors tend to be more obese and less physically active compared to white survivors. Purpose/objective To test the feasibility of an aerobic exercise program as well as explore perceptions about supervised exercise among AA CRC survivors. Methods A prospective supervised exercise intervention performed on a cycle ergometer 2 days/week for 12 weeks. Peak (VO2peak) and sub-maximal exercise (6MWT) along with questionnaires (SF-36, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center Bowel Function Instrument (BFI), Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy Scale-Colorectal (FACT-C) and Fatigue (FACIT-F), Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI). A second group of survivors participated in an interview evaluating perceptions regarding exercise. Design Prospective case series and qualitative interview. Setting Research university and academic medical center. Patients African American and white colorectal cancer survivors. Results Quantitative: A total of 237 letters were mailed to CRC survivors (112 white, 126 AAs). From the letters, 25 white and 15 AAs expressed interest; only five white (4.5%) and four AAs (3.2%) enrolled. Two AAs and five white survivors (7/9) finished the program. There was an improvement in peak exercise (p=0.011) and quality of life (QoL) (SF-36 total, p=0.035) post-training. Qualitative: 30 CRC survivors (12 AA and 18 white) participated in qualitative interviews and selected co-morbidity, motivation and location as primary barriers to exercise. Limitations Small sample size. Conclusions Recruiting CRC survivors (regardless of race) into an exercise program is challenging, however, there are exercise and QoL benefits associated with participation. Barriers to exercise are similar between AA and white CRC survivors.
LSTM Recurrent Neural Networks for Influenza Trends Prediction

Influenza-like illness (ILI) is an acute respiratory infection causes substantial mortality and morbidity. Predict Influenza trends and response to a health disease rapidly is crucial to diminish the loss of life. In this paper, we employ the long short term memory (LSTM) recurrent neural networks to forecast the influenza trends. We are the first one to use multiple and novel data sources including virologic surveillance, influenza geographic spread, Google trends, climate and air pollution to predict influenza trends. Moreover, We find there are several environmental and climatic factors have the significant correlation with ILI rate.
A New Suspension Viscosity Model and Its Application to Asphaltene Association Thermodynamics and Structures

Asphalt cement has been used over a century for roadway construction in United States. Historically, one of the most extensively studied physical properties has been the viscosity of the asphalt binder, in particular, how the viscosity of the asphalt binder changes during a pavement’s lifetime. Many attempts have been made to relate the viscosity of the binder to its chemical composition and molecular structure. One complicating factor to understanding the exact relationship between viscosity and chemical composition arises from the extremely complex chemical composition (an asphalt may contain thousands of individual components). Another complicating factor arises from the ever changing chemical composition of the binder throughout the pavement’s lifetime as a result of low temperature oxidation. As a result, most attempts to correlate a binder’s viscosity to the binder’s chemical composition have been in terms of only a few pseudo-components. The components found to have the greatest influence on the viscosity are referred to collectively as the asphaltenes.
Causes of irradiation-induced softening in peaches

Abstract Acceleration of ripening has been offered as a cause of irradiation-induced loss of firmness in peaches (Prunus persica). This work aimed to correlate softening with biochemical and physiological responses induced by irradiation in fresh peaches during subsequent storage. Freshly harvested and cooled ‘Mid Pride’peaches were treated with gamma irradiation at 1030 Gy, then stored at 1 °C for 7 days, and at 22 °C for another 6 days, during which time ripening and biochemical parameters were measured. The changes in respiration rate, ethylene, firmness, total soluble solids (TSS), titratable acidity (TA), water-soluble pectin (WSP) and activity of polygalacturonase (PG) and pectin methylesterase (PME) due to treatment and storage were evaluated. Firmness was significantly reduced immediately following irradiation treatment, whereas total pectin remained unaltered. WSP, however, increased upon irradiation and also during ripening. Despite an increase in respiration rate, ethylene evolution, TSS and TA were unaffected by irradiation. PG activity was not affected by irradiation, but, both PME and electrolyte leakage increased following irradiation treatment. For early ripe irradiated ‘Mid Pride’ peaches, softening during storage appears to be related to pectin hydrolysis, PME activity and electrolyte leakage, and not associated with ethylene evolution or exo-PG activity.
Diagnosing and Managing Hirschsprung Disease in the Newborn

Hirschsprung disease is characterized by the absence of enteric ganglia in the distal bowel and is caused by the failure of enteric neural crest–derived cells to complete their craniocaudal migration along the intestine during embryogenesis. Neonates typically present with failure to pass meconium within the first 48 hours after birth. Diagnosis relies on rectal biopsy to document the presence of aganglionosis, and management requires surgical resection of the aganglionic segment. Despite advances in the diagnosis and management of the disease, patients remain at risk for long-term gastrointestinal morbidity, including obstructive symptoms, fecal incontinence, and enterocolitis, with negative implications on quality of life. Neuronal stem cell–based therapy is being explored as a novel treatment for this disease.
Porting DMRG++ Scientific Application to OpenPOWER.

With the rapidly changing microprocessor designs and architectural diversity (multi-cores, many-cores, accelerators) for the next generation HPC systems, scientific applications must adapt to the hardware, to exploit the different types of parallelism and resources available in the architecture. To get the benefit of all the in-node hardware threads, it is important to use a single programming model to map and coordinate the available work to the different heterogeneous execution units in the node (e.g., multi-core hardware threads (latency optimized), accelerators (bandwidth optimized), etc.).
Abstract ES12-2: Link between BRCA1 and Pol II pausing in mammary gland development and tumorigenesis

Breast cancer risk is significantly elevated for women who carry germ-line mutations in the tumor suppressor gene BRCA1. BRCA1-asociated breast tumors are basal-like, yet they originate from luminal progenitor cells. These precancerous cells of origin are defective in luminal differentiation in BRCA1 mutation carriers before any clinical evidence of cancer. While BRCA1 is best known for its functions in double strand break DNA repair and response to DNA replication stress, it is unclear whether loss of these ubiquitously important functions of BRCA1 is sufficient to account for lineage-specific breast tumor development in BRCA1 mutation-carrying women. Filling this longstanding intellectual disconnect could inform more effective risk assessment and disease prevention. Recent discoveries from others and us challenge the prevailing DNA repair/replication-centric paradigm. First, in vitro studies implicate BRCA1 in elimination of R-loops, DNA-RNA hybrid structures involved in transcription and genetic instability. Using breast tissue of cancer-free BRCA1 mutation-carrying women, we show that R-loops accumulate preferentially in breast luminal epithelial cells, not in basal epithelial or stromal cells, of BRCA1 mutation carriers. Furthermore, R-loops are enriched at the 59 end of those genes with promoter-proximal RNA polymerase II (Pol II) pausing. Genetic ablation of Cobra1, which encodes a Pol II-pausing and BRCA1-binding protein, ameliorates R-loop accumulation and reduces tumorigenesis in Brca1 knockout mouse mammary epithelium. Of note, this BRCA1/COBRA1 interaction occurs in a DSB repair-independent manner. Based on these findings, we suggest that as part of its tumor suppressor activity, BRCA1 promotes luminal epithelial differentiation by mitigating Pol II pausing-dependent transcriptional stress at luminal fate genes. We further propose that accumulation of transcriptional stress in BRCA1-deficient luminal cells redirects luminal transcription and alters luminal homeostasis, which ultimately contributes to lineage-specific BRCA1-associated tumorigenesis. Citation Format: Li R. Link between BRCA1 and Pol II pausing in mammary gland development and tumorigenesis [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 2018 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium; 2018 Dec 4-8; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2019;79(4 Suppl):Abstract nr ES12-2.
Multiple Chemical Sensitivity

MCS wird weder bei somatischen Krankheiten noch bei psychischen eingeordnet. Dies erstaunt im Lichte dieses ­Fallberichts nicht, da sich das Syndrom im Zwischenbereich beider ansiedelt. Es bleibt abzuwarten, ob es sich bei weiteren Patienten mit MCS gleich verhalt, wenn die Arzte die Patienten von einem biopsychosozialen ­Gesichtspunkt aus untersuchen.
Creating Standards to Advance Technology Adoption and Address Societal Needs

Earth Observation data, as one element of the rapidly expanding world of Big Data, holds the potential to assist in addressing many of the societal and environmental problems facing humanity. While more and more of these data are being made openly accessible, the capacity of agencies, decision-makers and citizens to make use of Big Data is constrained, especially in less technologically advanced countries, amplifying inequalities across the "digital divide". Standards, especially community-developed open standards, are an important part of the solution to this problem. This paper describes the activities of the IEEE GRSS Standards for Earth Observations Technical Committee in developing standards to improve accessibility and interpretability of data from several kinds of remote sensing technologies.
Materialidades, géneros y muerte: de cómo representar un episodio de la Revolución Mexicana en Pancho Villa toma Zacatecas

Pancho Villa toma Zacatecas (2013), de Paco Ignacio Taibo II i Eko, recupera la batalla de Zapatecas per mitja d’una narrativa grafica que es mou entre allo confessional i allo historic. El seu component visual s’encarrega d’actualitzar diferents tradicions artistiques i culturals, i les estetiques de les quals estableixen referencies directes a la idea de la mort. Aixi mateix, l’us d’aquestes estetiques, per mitja de diferents registres materials i generics, contribueix a representar la revolucio com un proces sistematicament truncat en la historia mexicana.
Using Satellite Estimates of Precipitation for Fire Danger Rating

Fire danger rating systems are cornerstones of forest and land fire management. Different systems are used in different fire prone regions of the world, but all require daily inputs of the weather conditions most important in influencing fuel moisture and potential fire behavior. Because these systems typically have a memory, inaccurate weather data can lead to persistently inaccurate fire danger information. This is particularly the case for precipitation, due to its event-driven nature and complex spatial patterns. This chapter describes different approaches to estimating precipitation for the purposes of fire danger rating, focusing on using satellite precipitation estimates for calculations of the Fire Weather Index System, the most widely used fire danger rating system in the world. Comparisons are made between Fire Weather Index calculations for severe fire events in Canada, Chile, Greece and Indonesia, to illustrate the potential benefits of satellite precipitation for fire management in four very different fire environments.