cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Improved autocorrelation demodulation receivers based on multiple-symbol detection for UWB communications

The autocorrelation demodulation (ACD) has potential for use in medium-range low-cost UWB communications, however, its weak performance is a bottle neck. To improve ACD's performance, it is proposed to combine the multiple-symbol detection with ACD to form a multiple-symbol-based ACD receiver. In contrast to ordinary ACD scheme that uses symbol-by-symbol decision, the proposed structure uses block-based multiple-symbol joint decision. Performance of the new scheme is evaluated analytically for arbitrary block sizes employing Gaussian approximation approach. The accuracy of the method is verified by computer simulation. The evaluation shows that the proposed scheme offers several dB improvement in performances with only a moderate increase in complexity
Insulin resistance in the horse: Definition, detection, and dietetics12

Specific quantitative methods for de- termining insulin resistance have been applied to obe- sity, activity/inactivity, reproductive efficiency, and exer- cise in horses, but only nonspecific indications have im- plicated insulin resistance as a risk factor or component of equine diseases. Insulin resistance derives from insu- lin insensitivity at the cell surface, which regulates glu- cose availability inside the cell, or from insulin ineffec- tiveness due to disruption of glucose metabolism inside the cell. Interplay of insensitivity and ineffectiveness should be considered in regard to patterns of disease, such as laminitis. Detection of insulin insensitivity is made weakly on the basis of fasting hyperinsulinemia, more strongly with a statistically validated surrogate, such as the logarithm of the reciprocal of basal insuli- nemia, or best by a specific quantitative method. Sub- jects found to be at risk can be managed to improve their insulin sensitivity by dietetics. Claims for dietetic prevention of a disease should be distinguished from claims for avoidance of a dietary risk factor. The evidence required for a claim of prevention is a controlled inter- vention trial as for a therapeutic drug, according to the U.S. FDA. In contrast, the evidence required for a claim of avoidance is association revealed by population stud- ies plus causation shown by mechanistic experiments, as formulated in the Surgeon General of the Public Health Office's (1988) Report on Nutrition and Health. In this view, no appropriate evidence is available for the preven- tion or treatment of insulin resistance in an equine dis- ease. Evidence is available, however, to justify avoidance of high-glycemic feeds, such as high starch intakes in grains, clover, and alfalfa, and high fructan intakes in grasses, to decrease the risk of acute digestive distur- bances associated with rapid fermentation, and chronic metabolic disorders associated with insulin resistance. During submaximal exercise, high-glycemic meals have been shown to increase glucose utilization immediately. On the other hand, chronic adaptation to feeds that ex- change corn oil and fiber sources for sources of sugar and starch confers benefits to athletic performance that may be due to several aspects of fat adaptation, including the regulation of insulin sensitivity, as well as glycolysis and lipid oxidation by signals from insulin receptors. Information regarding insulin resistance suggests meth- ods for protecting health and promoting horse per- formance.
Induction of Airway Mucus Production By T Helper 2 (Th2) Cells: A Critical Role For Interleukin 4 In Cell Recruitment But Not Mucus Production

Airway inflammation is believed to stimulate mucus production in asthmatic patients. Increased mucus secretion is an important clinical symptom and contributes to airway obstruction in asthma. Activated CD4 Th1 and Th2 cells have both been identified in airway biopsies of asthmatics but their role in mucus production is not clear. Using CD4 T cells from mice transgenic for the OVA-specific TCR, we studied the role of Th1 and Th2 cells in airway inflammation and mucus production. Airway inflammation induced by Th2 cells was comprised of eosinophils and lymphocytes; features found in asthmatic patients. Additionally, there was a marked increase in mucus production in mice that received Th2 cells and inhaled OVA, but not in mice that received Th1 cells. However, OVA-specific Th2 cells from IL-4–deficient mice were not recruited to the lung and did not induce mucus production. When this defect in homing was overcome by administration of TNF-α, IL-4 −/− Th2 cells induced mucus as effectively as IL-4 +/+ Th2 cells. These studies establish a role for Th2 cells in mucus production and dissect the effector functions of IL-4 in these processes. These data suggest that IL-4 is crucial for Th2 cell recruitment to the lung and for induction of inflammation, but has no direct role in mucus production.
The Transannular Rearrangement of 5-Cyclodecynone

Abstract The acid catalyzed rearrangement of 5-cyclodecynone to bicyclo[4.4.0]-1(6)-decen-2-one has been shown by carbon thirteen labeling experiments to proceed by a mechanism that does not involve an enol of 5-cyclodecynone
The permanence of the infraciliature in suctoria: an electronmicroscopic study of pattern formation in Tokophrya infusionum.

SYNOPSIS. The adult Tokophrya infusionum does not possess cilia, but has 20–30 barren basal bodies arranged in 6 short rows adjacent to the contractile vacuole pore. During reproduction, which is by internal budding, the contractile vacuole sinks into the parent along with the invaginating membranes that form the embryo and the wall of the brood pouch. The 6 rows of basal bodies radiate away from the pore and elongate to form 5 long ciliary rows, that encircle the anterior half of the embryo, and 1 short row at the posterior end. The contractile vacuole pore, along with several barren basal bodies, remains in the parent when the embryo is completed. The pore rises to the surface when the embryo is born. New basal bodies are then formed in the parent to replace those which were incorporated into the embryo, and formation of another embryo may begin. The cilia of the embryo are partially resorbed 10 min after the start of metamorphosis, with depolymerization of the ciliary microtubules. Later, the cilia and most of the basal bodies disappear completely, except for a group of barren basal bodies near the embryo's contractile vacuole pore, which form 6 rows and serve as an anlage for the basal bodies and cilia that arise during embryogenesis. There is, therefore, an organized infraciliature in Suctoria throughout their life cycle, and a distinct continuity of basal bodies across the generations.
Phylogenetic relationships of North American Antirrhinum (Veronicaceae)

Species of the genus Antirrhinum (Veronicaceae) provide excellent opportunities for research on plant evolution given their extensive morphological and ecological diversity. These opportunities are enhanced by genetic and developmental data from the model organism Antirrhinum majus. The genus Antirrhinum includes 15 New World species in section Saerorhinum and 21 Old World species in sections Antirrhinum and Orontium. Phylogenetic analyses of sequences of the internal transcribed spacer region (ITS) of nuclear ribosomal DNA were conducted for 19 Antirrhinum species, including all species from the New World, and 13 related genera in the tribe Antirrhineae. These analyses confirm the monophyly ofAntirrhinum given the inclusion of the small genus Mohavea and exclusion of A. cyathiferum. The New World species, all of which are tetraploid, form a clade that is weakly supported as sister to the Old World sect. Orontium. The Old World species in sect. Antirrhinum form a well-supported clade that is sister to the remainder of the genus. In addition, both molecular and morphological data are used in the most comprehensive effort to date focused on recovering the phylogenetic relationships among the extremely diverse species in section Saerorhinum.
Engineering nanostructured electrodes and fabrication of film electrodes for efficient lithium ion intercalation

Lithium ion batteries have been one of the major power supplies for small electronic devices since the last century. However, with the rapid advancement of electronics and the increasing demand for clean sustainable energy, newer lithium ion batteries with higher energy density, higher power density, and better cyclic stability are needed. In addition, newer generations of lithium ion batteries must meet the requirements of low and easy fabrication cost and be free of toxic materials. There have been many novel approaches to gain high energy storage capacities and charge/discharge rates without sacrificing the battery cyclic life. Nanostructured electrodes are seemingly the most promising candidate for future lithium ion batteries. Modification of the electrode surface chemistry and the control of appropriate crystallinity are also reported to improve the electrode intercalation capabilities. The study of appropriately designed nanostructures, interfaces and crystallinity has also promoted and is accompanied with the development of thin film electrodes without the addition of binders and conductive carbon that are typically used in the fabrication of traditional lithium ion battery electrodes, simplifying the electrode fabrication process and enhancing electrode storage density. In this perspective, we summarize and discuss the efforts of fabricating nanostructures, modifying surface chemistry and manipulating crystallinity to achieve enhanced lithium ion intercalation capacities, rate capabilities and cyclic stability, as well as the direct fabrication of binderless film electrodes with desirable nano- and microstructures.
Dynamic Modelling of Wind Turbine Generators and the Impact on Small Lightly Interconnected Grids

The penetration of wind energy into small, lightly interconnected power systems, as in Ireland, is increasing. It is therefore important to study how wind farms will interact dynamically with conventional generators and loads. For the future, we need to asses the impact this will have on the stability of the whole system. To investigate this interaction, dynamic simulation studies of the system, with the inclusion of wind turbine generators (WTGs), are important. This requires these generators to be represented in power-system simulation studies to at least the same detail as conventional machines. This paper analyses the dynamic models for WTGs available during 2003 to the Irish Transmission system operator, ESB National Grid. The paper focuses on the modelling of Doubly-Fed Induction Generators (DFIGs). A comparison of the models was carried out and the main conclusions drawn are discussed.
Sharing culture shock through a collection of experiences

Culture shock and cultural adaptation are phenomena that international students experience, while crossing boundaries. On their arrival to the U.S., displaced students from the Third World often feel isolated, afraid, inferior, and insecure. Digital collections can serve as a medium for sharing sensations and experiences. They can help overcome the sense of isolation and culture shock, by illustrating to an individual how others have similar experiences. We are building a digital collection to support this exchange of experiences. In collecting experiences, we found that first person ethnographic interviews are more effective as a method for data collection, when they are conducted with a sense of informality. Woezor, a prototype system, was developed to structure and present these collections, using the Greenstone digital libraries software.
Acquisition of 3D structure of selectable quality from image streams

In this paper we present a computational approach for extracting three-dimensional structure of controllable resolution, depth of field, and accuracy, all made available at real-time speeds. This approach utilizes the spatial and the temporal gradients of the streams of images acquired using an actively controlled camera. Depending on the requirements of a particular task, appropriate parameters such as disparity value sought, the inter-frame camera displacement, and number of frames in a stream, are chosen to control the resolution, depth of field, and accuracy. The acquisition and processing of the image stream are done in real-time on a pipeline architecture based processor. Extensive experiments are presented to demonstrate the accuracy, controllability of depth of field and resolution, and ability to perform successfully in a variety of scenes. The system operated with no latency between the image acquisition and processing. The total acquisition and processing time in these experiments is in the range of 0.27 to 1.56 sec. The depth results have an accuracy of 85% to 92%. >
Zinc Absorption and Its Relationship to Intestinal Metallothionein

This study examined the relationship between zinc absorp tion and metallothionein. Mice injected intraperitoneally with ZnCl2 (2 mmoles) were found within 18 hours to have increased levels of in testinal metallothionein but an apparent decrease in 65Znabsorption. Induc tion of metallothionein with lower levels of ZnCl2 (0.2 or 0.5 /uA±A³les) resulted in an apparent increase in 05Znabsorption. Isotope dilution experi ments showed that intraperitoneal injections of 2 /Â?moles of ZnCl2 had resulted in a 500-fold dilution of the available 65Znpool. Mild stress of the animals was shown to increase both or'Znabsorption and intestinal metal lothionein. Actinomycin D administered 4 hours prior to ZnCl2 or stress, prevented the induction of metallothionein and obliterated the increase in ur'Znabsorption. These results indicate that zinc absorption is directly pro portional to intestinal metallothionein levels and imply a significant role for metallothionein in zinc absorption. . J. Nutr. 110: 1391-1397, 1980.
Domain Adaptation for Structure Recognition in Different Building Styles

Many learning-based computer vision algorithms perform poorly when faced with examples that are dissimilar to those on which they were trained. Domain adaptation methods attempt to address this problem, but usually assume that the source domain is specified a priori. We propose a two-step approach for situations where more than one source domain is available. The first step uses a small number of labeled examples to choose the source domain most similar to the target domain, while the second step uses traditional domain adaptation methods to further adapt the chosen source domain to the target data. We demonstrate this two-step domain adaptation algorithm in the context of style-independent building component recognition, which suffers from the problem of inter-domain performance degradation. In this case, different building styles represent the domains, and the task is to reverse engineer a new building of unknown style. We evaluate several variants of the two-step method, and experiments show that the proposed approach outperforms existing single-step methods on a dataset of nine building styles. We demonstrate the generality of the approach on a large, multi-domain dataset with 22 product review categories (i.e., Styles) from the natural language processing field.
Quantification of Photoproducts in Mammalian Cell DNA Using Radioimmunoassay

Over the past 20 yr, the use of polyclonal and monoclonal antibodies to quantify damage in DNA has burgeoned. Immunoassays offer distinct advantages over other anaytical procedures currently used to measure DNA damage including adaptability, sensitivity and selectivity. This combination of attributes allows for the development of powerful analytical techniques to visualize and quantify specific types of DNA damage in cells and organisms exposed to subtoxic levels of xenobiotics with distinct advantages over the other procedures in the analysis of DNA damage in human and environmental samples. Radioimmunoassay (RIA) is readily applied to a variety of biological materials and has typically been used to measure DNA damage in cell and organ cultures, tissue sections and biopsies, buccal cells, bone marrow aspirates, peripheral blood lymphocytes, and urine. Here we describe the use of a very sensitive RIA for the specific quantitation of cyclobutane dimers and (6-4) photoproducts in DNA extracted from mammalian cells and tissues.
New diagnostic methods for esophageal carcinoma.

The increasingly severe problem of esophageal carcinoma on world public health merits the application of new endoscopic methods to assist in early detection and screening. Older methods, such as tissue staining, combined with magnification endoscopy, have shown promising results, while newer techniques capitalize on measurements that discriminate benign from malignant cells based on a wide array of different attributes, ranging from the molecular to the macroscopic level. Instrumentation based on laser-induced fluorescence spectroscopy, ratio fluorescence imaging, elastic scattering spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy, and optical coherence tomography is presently being tested and compared with standard endoscopic techniques. Using pathologic interpretation of pinch biopsies as the “gold standard,” these techniques have shown the ability to identify dysplastic or malignant regions of tissue that would not be visible to the unassisted endoscopist and offer increased sensitivity for detection compared to rigorous random biopsy protocols. The rapid speed of the instruments allows the provision of information to the endoscopist almost instantaneously, potentially allowing therapeutic decisions to be conducted within the confines of the same endoscopic procedure, thereby achieving gains in efficiency and reductions in overall cost. Large, multicenter trials will be necessary to determine the sensitivity and specificity of individual and combined techniques, as well as their ability to favorably influence the early detection, management, and overall outcome of this disease.
The Brazilian Banking Sector and the Effects of Bank Privatization:1980-2012

The Brazilian economy is one of the fastest growing economies in the world and is currently the sixth largest. A contributing factor to recent growth is the reconstruction of the economy specifically privatization of the banking sector during the 1980s. My analysis will examine the effects of privatization of the banking system on the Brazilian economy and present hypotheses regarding future options and outcomes for Brazil’s banks and economy. This study seeks to judge the effects of banking system changes on the Brazilian economy from the early 1980s through 2012. In the end, I will show that privatization appears to be too drastic for the Brazilian situation. However, after some time the economy eventually adjusted proving that changes in the banking sector occurred too quickly and resulting in extreme ups and downs in the market.
The Dualities of Transnational Contention: "Two Activist Solitudes" or A New World Altogether?

International protests against global capitalism have focused scholars' attention on the highly visible activities of transnational activists and advocates; but the tough, incremental, and deeply embedded work of grassroots social movements has too often been sublimated under the slogan: "Think globally; act locally!" Are transnational activists isolated from domestic social movements, extensions of domestic contention, or bridges between the local and the global? Three problems in particular will be examined: First, the difficulty of establishing durable transnational coalitions; Second, the problem of bridging the gap between movement protesters and NGO advocates; and, third, that of escaping movement structuration by national cleavages, alignments, and opportunities.
Engineered Stem Cell-Based Scaffolds and Patches for Heart Disorders

According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC) cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in the United States and its prevalence is increasing. During a heart injury, such as myocardial infarction, cardiomyocytes are damaged and cannot be regenerated. Left untreated, this damage can have fatal results. Due to organ shortage, lack of tissue grafts for transplantation, and lack of success from current therapies, stem cell therapy and cardiac tissue engineering have emerged as potential approaches to replace damaged muscle and treat heart injuries. Research efforts in this field focus on the development of innovative biomaterials that can serve as a biomimetic scaffold for growth and differentiation of stem cells into fully functional cardiac tissue. In this chapter, stem cell research, the formation of cardiac tissue from stem cells, cardiac tissue properties, biomimetic material scaffolds, and the convergence of stem cells and biomaterials are explored.
Persistence of symptoms after surgical release of compressive neuropathies and subsequent management

Persistent symptoms following surgical release for entrapment neuropathy are a source of great frustration for both the surgeon and patient. Fundamentals of management require review of the patient's history and examination in an attempt to confirm the initial diagnosis and to rule out elements of the differential diagnosis. Persistent symptomatology may be a reflection of an incorrect diagnosis or double crush syndrome. If the initial diagnosis can be reconfirmed, then it is reasonable to reinstitute conservative management and to objectively re-evaluate the entrapment neuropathy by electrodiagnostic testing. This electrodiagnostic testing must be comprehensive in order to evaluate all potential entrapment neuropathies within the differential diagnosis. Individuals who demonstrate a transient response to conservative management or evidence of further deterioration on electrodiagnostic testing may be considered candidates for revision surgery. These individuals may be found to have had an incomplete release, error of technique, or iatrogenic compression. Persistence of symptoms on the basis of end-stage disease must be recognized to avoid further surgery that is unlikely to be of benefit to the patient. If surgical intervention is chosen, the procedure must address issues of residual compression, preservation of nerve vascularity, prevention of neurodesis, and protective padding in the presence of nerve hypersensitivity.
The surgeon's role in the treatment of acute myocardial infarction.

Salvage of myocardial tissue after acute myocardial infarction is predicated upon expeditious institution of thrombolytic therapy. If viable myocardium is still jeopardized by significant residual stenosis, surgical revascularization is promptly needed to convert this tenuous reperfusion to a state of unrestricted coronary flow.
Refractory ceramic fibers activate alveolar macrophage eicosanoid and cytokine release

Refractory ceramic fiber has been developed for industrial processes requiring materials with high thermal and mechanical stability. To evaluate the biological activity of this fiber, rat alveolar macrophages were exposed for < or = 24 h to 0–1,000 micrograms/ml of refractory ceramic fiber, crocidolite asbestos, silica (fibrogenic particles), or titanium dioxide (a nonfibrogenic particle), and eicosanoid, tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF), and lactate dehydrogenase release were measured. Particle dimensions were determined by electron microscopy. Radioactivity coeluting with leukotriene B4 (LTB4) and immunoreactive LTB4 and TNF release increased after refractory ceramic fiber and were similar in magnitude after asbestos but less than after silica. For example, the total [3H]eicosanoid release increased 3.9-fold after refractory ceramic fiber, 4.6-fold after asbestos, and 8.7-fold after silica. Refractory ceramic fiber and asbestos also have similar particle dimensions (diameter, length, and surface area)....
Trespassing, Animals and Strays

People who cross farm land without permission are all technically guilty of a legal wrong called trespass. The law of trespass has been described as “both exceptionally simple and exceptionally vigorous.” Blackstone, the great oracle of the common law of England, said that every unauthorized entry upon the soil of another was a trespass, “for the law bounds every man’s property and is his fence.” Even if the entry is completely innocent by one who thinks he is on his own land or who is otherwise without fault it is still a technical legal wrong.
Anonymous Action, Anti-Social Affect: Cruising Virtually Queer Political Currents

This paper deploys Deleuze and Guattari’s nomadology and Sloterdijk’s genealogy of rage to argue affects connect, stoke, sustain, and orient insurgent Anonymous assemblages. Cruising the memes comprising the image-repertoire of Anonymous allows analytical insight in the tactics, strategies, and ‘governmentality’ of the hacktivists assembled behind virtual Guy Fawkes masks. Taking ACT-UP as an antecedent to Anonymous contentious political action, this paper argues the affective impulsion to act-out(raged) contributes to transvaluing political norms about surveillance, privacy, accessibility, and freedom in contemporary securitized milieus.
The First Experiential Area: Problems of Orality and Deprivation

THE INFANT’S ILLUSORY SENSE of effective aggression (based, as we have seen, upon the alert attention of the mother*) becomes more and more uncertain during the early months of life, in direct proportion, one would suppose, to the increasing frequency and prolongation of her inattention. This increasing inattention is not apt to involve matters related to the infant’s somatic health and survival, such as whether he is wann enough or whether he falls to the floor; it involves, rather, the matter of his hunger and his oral needs and wishes. The mother knows that her child, who is healthy and is growing, is in no immediate danger of illness or death from starvation or dehydration and permits herself, now more and more, whenever her own convenience is at issue, to have the child wait a little for his feeding; as the child grows older, it seems less and less essential to her to still the child’s hunger the instant he evinces it or to anticipate it and feed him before he even feels hungry.
HISPELLUM: DATE, TEXT, AND TRANSLATION

T he best texts of constantine's rescript to hispellum are in ILS 1:158–59, no. 705, and Gascou (1967) 610–12, both derived from the edition of E. Bormann in CIL 11.2.1:768, no. 5265. Gascou's text is printed and translated here. Also included here is a summary of Gascou's important comments about the numerous oddities in grammar and spelling. For photographs, see Andreotti (1964), facing p. 288, and Lenski (2006a), Figure 4, with the comprehensive survey of earlier scholarship in Amann (2002). Constantine himself had insisted that edicts and constitutions that did not include an exact date were invalid: see CTh 1.1.1, issued in 322. Even though his original rescript to Hispellum had undoubtedly included a date, the inscribed copy erected in the town did not. The dating of the rescript hence depends upon interpretation of the college of emperors in its heading. The heading described Constantine as Augustus, mentioned his three sons, Constantine, Constantius, and Constans, but gave them no titles. Constans joined his two older brothers as a Caesar after his investiture on December 25, 333: for the date, see Consularia Constantinopolitana s.a. 333. The younger Dalmatius, Constantine's nephew, joined his three cousins as a Caesar after his investiture on September 18, 335: for the date, see Consularia Constantinopolitana s.a. 335. Grunewald (1990) 150–53, hence dates the rescript between these two dates.
Hemispherical and minimally invasive total hip reamers: a biomechanical analysis of use and design

Abstract Background The purpose of this study was to determine the accuracy of used and new reamer systems for both hemispherical and minimally invasive (MIS) acetabular reamers. Methods New and used hemispherical and MIS acetabular reamers were tested on a computer numerical control machine to ream holes in special machinable wax blocks. Each reamer was tested 3 times in sizes 48 mm through 55 mm. Results The used reamers significantly underreamed by an average of 1.33 vs 0.28 mm compared to new reamers. Hemispherical reamers underreamed significantly more than MIS reamers, with a mean difference of 0.99 vs 0.63 mm, respectively. Used hemispherical reamers showed an average ream undersize of 1.61 vs 0.37 mm, compared to new hemispherical reamers. Used MIS reamers showed an average ream undersize of 1.06 vs 0.20 mm for the new MIS reamers. Conclusions For a manufacturer-specified reamer size, both hemispherical and MIS reamers underream. Newer reamers cut truer to expected values than used ones. MIS reamers performed more accurately than hemispherical reamers. Used acetabular reamer systems may negatively affect the sizing of prepared acetabular beds; therefore, awareness of this potential inaccuracy should be considered when performing total hip arthroplasty.
Assessing Collaboration in One Media Ecosystem

This case study explores relationships among news organizations in one media ecosystem to determine how willing journalists may be to form a more collaborative information network. A three-step, mixed methodological approach is employed: the ecosystem was “mapped”; an ongoing dialogue with journalists was initiated, and in-depth interviews were conducted with journalists and community storytellers to understand existing news flow in this region. Preliminary findings suggest a willingness to collaborate; however, legacy media may have more reservations about collaboration than journalists at community newspapers, public broadcasting stations, and entrepreneurial startups.
The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature

(2004). The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature. Gifted and Talented International: Vol. 19, Special Issue Teacher Competencies, pp. 47-48.
The health and economic implications of the use of tanning devices

Abstract Objectives We estimated the numbers of cases of health care conditions that are causally associated with exposure to tanning devices in the United States, and calculated the costs of medical care for treating these cases. Methods The principal unit of analysis for this study is the number of individuals living in the United States who sought treatment for basal cell carcinomas (BCC), squamous cell carcinomas (SCC), or melanomas. To estimate the percentage of these cases that are attributable to exposure to tanning devices, we calculated the Population Attributable Risk (PAR) for each disease. We calculated annual medical costs on a per-case basis as well as indirect productivity costs, using Years of Potential Life Lost. Results There were nearly 9000 incident cases of melanoma, and more than 86,600 cases of SCC and 168,000 cases of BCC, attributable to exposure to tanning devices in the U.S. in 2015. The cost of direct medical care for these cases is $343.1 million annually, and they will lead to a total economic loss of $127.3 billion over the lifetime of the individuals affected. Conclusions The use of tanning devices is a significant contributor to illness and premature mortality in the U.S., and also represents a major economic burden in terms of the costs of medical care and lost productivity.
Self-Assembly of Large Gold Nanoparticles for Surface-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy

Performance of portable technologies from mobile phones to electric vehicles is currently limited by the energy density and lifetime of lithium batteries. Expanding the limits of battery technology requires in situ detection of trace components at electrode–electrolyte interphases. Surface-enhance Raman spectroscopy could satisfy this need if a robust and reproducible substrate were available. Gold nanoparticles (Au NPs) larger than 20 nm diameter are expected to greatly enhance Raman intensity if they can be assembled into ordered monolayers. A three-phase self-assembly method is presented that successfully results in ordered Au NP monolayers for particle diameters ranging from 13 to 90 nm. The monolayer structure and Raman enhancement factors (EFs) are reported for a model analyte, rhodamine, as well as the best performing polymer electrolyte salt, lithium bis(trifluoromethane)sulfonimide. Experimental EFs for the most part correlate with predictions based on monolayer geometry and with numerical simula...
Impact of cytoreductive nephretomy on timing of systemic therapy in metastatic kidney cancer.

503Background: High rates of disease control with systemic therapy (ST) in the post-cytokine era for metastatic renal cell carcinoma (mRCC) cause apprehension that cytoreductive nephrectomy (CN) may delay effective therapy. We therefore evaluated factors associated with early mortality and time to ST after CN. We hypothesized markers of poor performance status and morbid CN would be associated with postoperative mortality and therapeutic delays. Methods: The National Cancer Database was screened for adult mRCC cases having CN followed by ST, years 2006-2013. We classified a delay in systemic therapy as interval > 45 days (median time to ST in the cohort). Multivariable logistic regression was performed, identifying factors associated with perioperative mortality and delays to initiation of ST. Results: Of 10,913 patients with initial CN (45% of mRCC), 30- and 90-day mortality were 3% and 11%, respectively. 6,362 later received ST (87% targeted therapy, 13% immunotherapy), median start was 45 days post-ope...
The effect of reducing the variability of length of written recalls on the rank order scale values of the recalls

Two sets of fifteen recalls of two stories were selected so that they exhibited small amounts of variability in length. These two sets of recalls were scaled for accuracy of recall by the method of rank order. Factor analytic treatment of the intercorrelations of seven accuracy of recall measures resulted in a two factor solution for both sets of recalls. Regression analysis indicated, as might be predicted, that the scaled scores were more influenced by nonlength than by length factors although even under these length restrictive conditions length of recalls still influenced judgments of accuracy of recall.
A randomized clinical trial of vitamin D3 (cholecalciferol) in ulcerative colitis patients with hypovitaminosis D3

Aim To prospectively evaluate the effects of vitamin D3 on disease activity and quality of life in ulcerative colitis (UC) patients with hypovitaminosis D. Methods The study was a prospective double-blinded, randomized trial conducted at Community Regional Medical Center, Fresno, CA from 2012-2013. Patients with UC and a serum 25(OH)D level Results Eight UC patients received 2,000 IU/daily and ten UC patients received 4,000 IU/daily of vitamin D3 for 90 days. Vitamin D levels increased after 90 days of oral vitamin D3 in both dose groups. However, the increase in vitamin D levels after 90 days of oral vitamin D3, in the 4,000 IU group was significantly higher 16.80 ± 9.15 (p 30 ng/dl) were achieved in four out of the ten UC patients (40%) in the 4,000 IU group and in one out of the eight UC patients (12%) in the 2,000 IU group. In the group receiving 4,000 IU/day of vitamin D3 the increase in quality life scores (SIBDQ) was significant 1.0 ± 1.0 (p = 0.017) but not in the 2,000 IU vitamin D3 group 0.1 ± 1.0 (p = 0.87). In the 2,000 IU of vitamin D3 group the mean decrease in the Partial Mayo UC Score was -0.5 ± 1.5 (p = 0.38) compared to -1.3 ± 2.9 (p = 0.19) in the 4,000 IU vitamin D3 group but this was not statistically significant. CRP levels decreased after 90 days of daily vitamin D3 in both the 2,000 IU group and 4,000 IU group by -3.0 ± 9.4 (p = 0.4) and -10.8 ± 35.0 (p = 0.36) respectively. Conclusion Vitamin D3 at 4,000 IU/day is more effective than 2,000 IU/day in increasing vitamin D to sufficient levels in UC patients with hypovitaminosis D, however higher doses or treatment beyond ninety days may be required. Vitamin D3 may improve the quality of life in UC patients but clinically significant improvement is not yet established. The effect of vitamin D3 on UC disease activity is still unclear. Further larger studies are needed to investigate the effects of vitamin D in ulcerative colitis.
PHYSICAL AND CHEMICAL CONNECTIVITY OF STREAMS AND RIPARIAN WETLANDS TO DOWNSTREAM WATERS: A SYNTHESIS

Streams, riparian areas, floodplains, alluvial aquifers and downstream waters (e.g., large rivers, lakes, oceans) are interconnected by longitudinal, lateral, and vertical fluxes of water, other materials and energy. Collectively, these interconnected waters are called fluvial hydrosystems. Physical and chemical connectivity within fluvial hydrosystems is created by the transport of nonliving materials (e.g., water, sediment, nutrients, contaminants) which either do or do not chemically change (chemical and physical connections, respectively). A substantial body of evidence unequivocally demonstrates physical and chemical connectivity between streams and riparian wetlands and downstream waters. Streams and riparian wetlands are structurally connected to downstream waters through the network of continuous channels and floodplain form that make these systems physically contiguous, and the very existence of these structures provides strong geomorphologic evidence for connectivity. Functional connections between streams and riparian wetlands and their downstream waters vary geographically and over time, based on proximity, relative size, environmental setting, material disparity, and intervening units. Because of the complexity and dynamic nature of connections among fluvial hydrosystem units, a complete accounting of the physical and chemical connections and their consequences to downstream waters should aggregate over multiple years to decades.
Traveling with the Salesman...

The travelling salesman problem is a classic spatial optimization problem: Given a list of cities, the distance between each pair of cities, and a designated origin city, what is the shortest path connecting each city that terminates at the origin city? It is an instance of the quadratic assignment problem, which is one of the fundamental combinatorial optimization generalized Weberian location problems. In part, this chapter addresses common matrix properties of these and affiliated problems.
Women are Taking Over Saudi Arabia’s Workforce with 130% Spike in their Workforce Participation

Occupational segregation is increasingly being recognized as the primary factor contributing to women’s low representation in many fields in Saudi Arabia. Women have experienced numerous difficulties as a result of limited education and employment opportunities and other obstacles related to cultural and religious factors. Rigid gender role expectations stemming from cultural and religious doctrines have had significant impact on the opportunities availed to women to seek employment outside accepted career paths for many years. Despite facing substantial challenges to entering the labor market, the number of Saudi women working in the private sector has jumped by 130%–from 215,000 in 2012 to 496,000 in 2016, an average of 8,500 jobs per month. Based on a previous qualitative study with 30 women working in nontraditional careers, findings revealed many factors influencing women’s commitment and satisfaction on working outside accepted career paths. To validate the finding on a larger population, I have dev...
Environmental Pollution and Toxicity in Invertebrates: An Earthworm Model for Immunotoxicology

Understanding toxic potential and mechanisms of action of environmental chemicals is fundamental for assessing risk to public and environmental health. This is especially important in light of increasing public awareness associated with imprecise information on potential hazards of environmental chemicals. Although numerous methods have been developed for screening chemicals and studying their modes of action on a variety of acute toxic endpoints and subchronic-chronic processes, only relatively recently have scientists become aware of the broad spectrum of chemicals that alter immune function and of the immune system’s potential as n target organ system for use in assessing the toxicity of exposure to chemicals (Dean et al. 1986). Because there is considerable information on the innate, nonspecific, specific, and molecular components of the immune system, immune responses are especially well suited for comparative analyses that emphasize mechanisms of chemical toxicity.
Reverse Two-Hybrid Techniques in the Yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Use of the yeast two-hybrid system has provided definition to many previously uncharacterized pathways through the identification and characterization of novel protein-protein interactions. The two-hybrid system uses the bifunctional nature of transcription factors, such as the yeast enhancer Gal4, to allow protein-protein interactions to be monitored through changes in transcription of reporter genes. Once a positive interaction has been identified, either of the interacting proteins can be mutated by site-specific or randomly introduced changes, to produce proteins with a decreased ability to interact. Mutants generated using this strategy are very powerful reagents in tests of the biological significance of the interaction and in defining the residues involved in the interaction. Such techniques are termed reverse two-hybrid methods. We describe a reverse two-hybrid method that generates loss-of-interaction mutations of the catalytic subunit of the Escherichia coli heat-labile toxin (LTA1) with decreased binding to the active (GTP-bound) form of human ARF3, its protein cofactor. While newer methods are emerging for performing interaction screens in mammalian cells, instead of yeast, the use of reverse two-hybrid in yeast remains a robust and powerful means of identifying loss-of-interaction point mutants and compensating changes that remain among the most powerful tools of testing the biological significance of a protein-protein interaction.
Implications of Ali Sharīatī’s Political Thought for Iranian Revolution

Dr. Ali Sharīatī emerged on the intellectual horizon of Iran in the 1970’s as a political activist. His political ideas are also considered as a forerunner for the Islamic revolution for having strong resonance within the Iranian society even now. This paper aims at shedding light by critically commenting on how he transformed the political thought of the Iranian people, particularly the youth, who brought about the Iranian revolution. Based on reviewing his political thought in the Iranian context, it is concluded that Sharīatī declared that the self aware academic should strive to achieve such a revolutionary state where any form of imperialism, exploitation and capitalism find no place. It would end poverty, develop the economy and set up a society that is dynamic, just and classless.
Pharmacologic and Environmental Endocrine Disruptors in the Pathogenesis of Hypospadias: a Review

Endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) potentially have a role in causing hypospadias malformation through modifiable in-utero exposure. Considering the emerging literature on the role of potential endocrine disrupting substances on the occurrence of hypospadias and the potential to inform public health efforts to prevent the occurrence of these malformations, we have summarized the current literature, identified areas of consensus, and highlighted areas that warrant further investigation. Pharmaceuticals, such as diethylstilbestrol, progestin fertility treatments, corticosteroids, and valproic acid, have all been associated with hypospadias risk. Data on exposure to dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane and hexachlorobenzene pesticides, as well as non-persistent pollutants, particularly phthalates, is less consistent but still compelling. Improving exposure assessment, standardizing sample timing to relevant developmental windows, using clear case identification and classification schemes, and elucidating dose-response relationships with EDCs will help to provide clearer evidence. Promising directions for future research include identification of subgroups with genetic hypospadias risk factors, measurement of intermediate outcomes, and study of EDC mixtures that will more accurately represent the total fetal environment.
Proceedings of the 2nd international workshop on Ubiquitous crowdsouring

It is our great pleasure to welcome you to the Second International Workshop on Ubiquitous Crowdsourcing. Crowdsourcing, a successful mechanism to harvest knowledge from the masses in domains ranging from healthcare, software development to managing disaster relief effort, offers endless opportunities to engage the networked crowds. With the adoption of mobile, digital and social media the crowds are increasingly reporting and acting upon events in smart environments; and sharing their data and experiences. Building upon First International Workshop on Ubiqitous Crowdsourcing, in this edition we challenge researchers and practitioners to identify requirements for a platform for crowd computing, arising from experiences in deployment crowdsourcing applications, which engage crowd members as sensors, controllers and actuators in smart cities and environments. The call for papers attracted over 10 submissions from Asia, Europe, and the United States. The program committee accepted 9 papers that cover a variety of topics, including crowdsourcing systems that leverage sensing capabilities of crowds.
Labeled Graph Generative Adversarial Networks.

As a new approach to train generative models, \emph{generative adversarial networks} (GANs) have achieved considerable success in image generation. This framework has also recently been applied to data with graph structures. We propose labeled-graph generative adversarial networks (LGGAN) to train deep generative models for graph-structured data with node labels. We test the approach on various types of graph datasets, such as collections of citation networks and protein graphs. Experiment results show that our model can generate diverse labeled graphs that match the structural characteristics of the training data and outperforms all alternative approaches in quality and generality. To further evaluate the quality of the generated graphs, we use them on a downstream task of graph classification, and the results show that LGGAN can faithfully capture the important aspects of the graph structure.
What is the mechanism underlying audience costs? Incompetence, belligerence, and inconsistency:

Audience cost theory posits that concern over the nation’s reputation pushes voters to sanction leaders who make empty threats because they tarnish the nation’s honor. We question the empirical sup...
Identifying eruptive sources of drifting volcanic ash clouds using back-trajectory modeling of spaceborne thermal infrared data

A new approach is presented for determining the source region of disconnected volcanic ash clouds using a combination of orbital thermal infrared (TIR) image data, HYSPLIT-generated backward trajectories, and spatial geostatistics. Interpolated surfaces derived from the TIR data are created to find the most likely ash cloud travel path and the potential source volcanoes identified from that path. The ability to use backward trajectories to determine the ash cloud source region will become an important triggering tool to target high spatial resolution orbital sensors, which normally rely on thermal anomalies for new targeting. During cases where thermal anomalies are not present or masked by meteorological cloud, ash cloud detection and predicted source location become more important. Image data from several well-documented past eruptions are presented to validate and determine the overall accuracy of this technique. Because this is seen as a limited range source region validation tool, the ash clouds examined were < 1000 km from their source vent. The approach and analysis are deemed successful if 80% of the model results produce one or more trajectories that pass within 60 km of the source volcano. This methodology could be improved further with the ability to determine the cloud location more accurately using higher image data frequency, and most importantly, greater accuracy in determining the cloud height in the atmosphere.