cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Integrating thesaurus relationships into search and browse in an online photograph collection

Purpose – Seeks to share with digital library practitioners the development process of an online image collection that integrates the syndetic structure of a controlled vocabulary to improve end‐user search and browse functionality.Design/methodology/approach – Surveys controlled vocabulary structures and their utility for catalogers and end‐users. Reviews research literature and usability findings that informed the specifications for integration of the controlled vocabulary structure into search and browse functionality. Discusses database functions facilitating query expansion using a controlled vocabulary structure, and web application handling of user queries and results display. Concludes with a discussion of open‐source alternatives and reuse of database and application components in other environments.Findings – Affirms that structured forms of browse and search can be successfully integrated into digital collections to significantly improve the user's discovery experience. Establishes ways in whic...
The use of near-infrared spectroscopy for the quantitation of a drug in hot-melt extruded films

The objective of the study was to demonstrate the utility of near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) for quantitative analysis of a model drug in hot-melt extruded film formulations. Polyethylene oxide (PEO) films with clotrimazole (CT) as a model drug were prepared by hot-melt extrusion (HME) incorporating drug concentrations ranging from 0-20% and analyzed using a Fourier transform near-infrared (FT-NIR) spectrophotometer in the reflectance mode, High performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) was the reference method used for this study. The NIR calibration model derived for CT was composed of 21 frequency ranges that were correlated to the values quantified using the HPLC reference method. The NIR method developed resulted in an assayed CT amount in the film matrix to be within 3.5% of the quantity determined by the reference method. These studies clearly demonstrate that NIRS is a powerful method for the quantitation of active drug substances contained in films produced by HME and warrants further investigation.
The Burden of Psychosocial Stressors and Urgent Mental Health Problems in a Pediatric Weight Management Program

Objective. To systematically screen for behavioral and mental health problems and psychosocial stressors (PS) in newly referred patients and adult caregivers (PACs) in a pediatric weight management program. Methods. We used the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ), the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) for caregivers and patients ≥18 years, and assessed urgent mental health concerns and psychosocial stressors. Results. A total of 243 PACs were screened; data were unavailable for 6. Compared with US normative data for the SDQ–Parent Proxy Version, the proportion of patients in our sample with borderline/abnormal total difficulties and conduct problems scores was greater for all age groups. Among adult caregivers with complete CES-D, 18.4% were at risk for depression. Eleven percent of patients screened positive for urgent mental health problems. Overall, 43% of patients and 57.4% of caregivers had PS. Conclusions. Systematic screening identified untreated symptoms and sign...
Fault-tolerant computing for robot kinematics using linear arithmetic codes

A fault-tolerant parallel processing method based on the linear arithmetic code is proposed for computation of robot kinematics. This method can detect and correct online a single error in the resultant matrix or vector with low hardware and time redundancy. The method also can be extended to multiple errors in computation. It can be applied to various hardware architectures for robot kinematics computation. >
Experiences in the military may impact dual-axis neuroendocrine processes in veterans

Military stressors such as survival training can affect endocrine functioning in the short term, and combat has been associated with endocrine changes linked to psychopathology. However, studies with military samples examining whether there are individual differences in these changes as part of normal development, or as an adaptive mechanism in adulthood are lacking. This study examined whether exposure to combat in a sample of veterans was associated with differential endocrine activity to a laboratory frustration task. Results indicated that Army veterans demonstrated significant testosterone reactivity to frustration and negative coupling between cortisol and testosterone. Alternatively, Navy and Marine veterans demonstrated little testosterone reactivity to frustration and positive coupling between cortisol and testosterone. Positive cortisol-testosterone coupling was stronger among individuals who had more dangerous combat experiences. This latter pattern may better prepare individuals for stressful life experiences and supports the contention that adulthood stressors may calibrate endocrine systems. Results are explained in the context of the Adaptive Calibration Model (Ellis et al., 2012, Developmental Psychology, 48(3), 598-623) which proposes that exposure to key environmental dimensions during endocrinologically malleable life stages (e.g., puberty) can change stress responsivity, resulting in a faster life history trajectory (e.g., increased risk-taking and aggression).
Phenol oxidase, peroxidase and organic matter dynamics of soil

Extracellular enzymes mediate the degradation, transformation and mineralization of soil organic matter. The activity of cellulases, phosphatases and other hydrolases has received extensive study and in many cases stoichiometric relationships and responses to disturbances are well established. In contrast, phenol oxidase and peroxidase activities, which are often uncorrelated with hydrolase activities, have been measured in only a small subset of soil enzyme studies. These enzymes are expressed for a variety of purposes including ontogeny, defense and the acquisition of carbon and nitrogen. Through excretion or lysis, these enzymes enter the environment where their aggegrate activity mediates key ecosystem functions of lignin degradation, humification, carbon mineralization and dissolved organic carbon export. Phenol oxidases and peroxidases are less stable in the environment than extracellular hydrolases, especially when associated with organic particles. Activities are also affected, positively and negatively, by interaction with mineral surfaces. High spatiotemporal variation obscures their relationships with environmental variables and ecological process. Across ecosystems, phenol oxidase and peroxidase activities generally increase with soil pH, a finding not predicted from the pH optima of purified enzymes. Activities associated with plant litter and particulate organic matter often correlate with decomposition rates and potential activities generally increase with the lignin and secondary compound content of the material. At the ecosystem scale, nitrogen amendment alters the expression of phenol oxidase and peroxidase enzymes more broadly than culture studies imply and these responses correlate with positive and negative changes in litter decomposition rates and soil organic matter content. At the global scale, N amendment of basidiomycete-dominated soils of temperate and boreal forest ecoystems often leads to losses of oxidative enzyme activity, while activities in grassland soils dominated by glomeromycota and ascomycetes show little net response. Land use that leads to loss of soil organic matter tends to increase oxidative activities. Across ecosystems, soil organic matter content is not correlated with mean potential phenol oxidase and peroxidase activities. A multiple regression model that includes soil pH, mean annual temperature, mean annual precipitation and potential phenol oxidase activity accounts for 37% of the variation in soil organic matter (SOM) content across ecosystems (n = 63); a similar model for peroxidase activity describes 32% of SOM variance (n = 43). Analysis of residual variation suggest that suites of interacting factors create both positive and negative feedbacks on soil organic matter storage. Soils with high oxygen availability, pH and mineral activity tend to be substrate limited: high in situ oxidative activities limit soil organic matter accumulation. Soils with opposing characteristics are activity limited: low in situ oxidative activities promote soil organic matter storage.
Backscattering of Scholte waves and near-grazing underwater acoustic waves by a trench at a liquid/solid interface

Ultrasonic modeling results are presented on backscattering of broadband pulsed Scholte waves and grazing underwater acoustic waves from a trench at a liquid/solid interface. The backscattered waves are characterized by interference of diffracted waves reflected from the trench bottom and the trailing steep side. The effects of trench width and depth are demonstrated. >
The anaerobic threshold in cystic fibrosis: comparison of V-slope method, lactate turn points, and Conconi test.

Physical exercise can improve sputum clearance in patients with cystic fibrosis (CF). To set up individual training protocols it is desirable to know the anaerobic threshold (AT). Established methods such as blood lactate measurements and ergometry can only be performed in specialized centers. Conconi showed that the heart rate threshold (HRT), i.e., the deflection point from the linear relationship between work load and heart rate, correlated significantly with the AT in healthy adults. To assess the reliability of the HRT in CF, we performed ergometry in 32 CF patients (mean age, 21.0 ± 5.5 years; mean Shwachman score, 77.8 ± 12.0) according to the Conconi protocol. The HRT was compared with the aerobic threshold (AeT) as determined by the V-slope method and with two turn points in the lactate performance curve (LTP1, LTP2). An HRT could be obtained in only 17 of the 32 patients (53%). In these 17 patients there was a significant correlation between HRT and the other thresholds, but the absolute values for the AT differed considerably: The mean HRT was 132% higher than the AeT according to Beaver, 107% higher than LTP1, and 19% higher than LTP2. Exercise protocols that rely solely on the HRT in CF will lead to excessive exertion during exercise training programs in these patients. According to these results the HRT of Conconi is not a suitable method to determine appropriate exercise levels in CF training programs and might even be harmful in CF patients. These results also indicate the need to test the reliability of a diagnostic procedure that has been developed only for healthy people. © 1998 Wiley-Liss, Inc. Pediatr. Pulmonol. 1998; 25:147–153.
Building an On-line Geospatial Analysis System with AJAX and Web Services

Service Oriented Architecture (SOA), Web Services, Asynchronous JavaScript and XML (AJAX), and other new Web technologies have revolutionized the use of geospatial Web applications. The GeoBrain project has built a powerful online extensible and scalable geospatial analysis system based on SOA. This system utilizes Web Services and AJAX to increase the interactive capabilities of user interfaces and improve the user experience. It provides Geosciences community a highly interoperable way of accessing Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) Web services for geospatial data discovery, retrieval, visualization and analysis. It also leverages Web service standards to enable geospatial services discovery, selection, negotiation and invocation to be used in making more informed decisions.
Bifunctional silane (TESPD) effects on improved mechanical properties of silica containing nitrile‐butadiene rubber/poly(vinyl chloride) compound

Organo bifunctional silane (TESPD) is added into silica containing NBR/PVC blend and its effects are investigated with respect to the vulcanization property, the processability, and the physical property. The addition of the TESPD into silica filled NBR/PVC compound increases the degree of crosslinking by formation of a strong three-dimensional network structure between silica surface and rubber matrix via coupling reaction, which results in improved mechanical properties. It also improves the processability of the compound compared to the Control compound. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2012
Epistasis for Three Grain Yield Components in Rice (Oryza Sativa L.)

The genetic basis for three grain yield components of rice, 1000 kernel weight (KW), grain number per panicle (GN), and grain weight per panicle (GWP), was investigated using restriction fragment length polymorphism markers and F4 progency testing from a cross between rice subspecies japonica (cultivar Lemont from USA) and indica (cv. Tequing from China). Following identification of 19 QTL affecting these traits, we investigated the role of epistasis in genetic control of these phenotypes. Among 63 markers distributed throughout the genome that appeared to be involved in 79 highly significant (P < 0.001) interactions, most (46 or 73%) did not appear to have "main" effects on the relevant traits, but influenced the trait(s) predominantly through interactions. These results indicate that epistasis is an important genetic basis for complex traits such as yield components, especially traits of low heritability such as GN and GWP. The identification of epistatic loci is an important step toward resolution of discrepancies between quantitative trait loci mapping and classical genetic dogma, contributes to better understanding of the persistence of quantitative genetic variation in populations, and impels reconsideration of optimal mapping methodology and marker-assisted breeding strategies for improvement of complex traits.
Unimolecular decomposition of aromatic bicyclic alkoxy radicals and their acyclic radicals

Abstract The unimolecular decomposition of bicyclic alkoxy radicals and their subsequent ring-cleavage acyclic radicals from the OH-initiated reactions of toluene is investigated by means of theoretical quantum chemistry methods. The reaction and activation energies of ring-cleavage of the bicyclic alkoxy radicals are in the ranges of −45.9 to −54.5 kcal mol −1 and 5.5–11.3 kcal mol −1 , respectively. The activation energies of C–C bond cleavage of the acyclic radicals are in the range of 2.5–27.0 kcal mol −1 . Kinetic calculations employing RRKM/ME formalism have been performed to assess the fate of chemically excited acyclic radicals for prompt decomposition or stabilization. The results indicate that the favorable decomposition pathways of the bicyclic alkoxy radicals correspond to the formation of dicarbonyl compounds along with glyoxal and methylglyoxal.
Epitope tagging: a monoclonal antibody specific for recombinant fusion proteins in plants

The easy identification of a recombinant protein in plant material becomes increasingly relevant as more transgenic plants are used for research and commercial applications. Tagging recombinant proteins with a small peptide (epitope) can perform such a task. However, available epitope antibodies will also cross-react with endogenous plant proteins at a level that may be unacceptable. Here we describe the new epitope antibody AcV5. Whether it is attached to the carbooxyl terminal end of enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP) or the Bacillus thuringiensis endotoxin Cry3A, these proteins remain functional. In addition, using less than 250 pg AcV5-tagged EGFP produces a strong signal on Western blots with no cross-reactivity of proteins from a broad range of plants of agronomic importance.
Distribution of acetylated α‐tubulin in retina and in in vitro—assembled microtubules

We have used the mouse monoclonal antibody 6-11 B-1, specific for acetylated alpha-tubulin, to determine the distribution of acetylated alpha-tubulin in in vitro-assembled microtubules and retinal tissue. Analysis by immunoblots revealed that microtubules assembled from bovine brain extracts contain both acetylated and nonacetylated alpha-tubulin. Immunofluorescence, using 6-11 B-1 and antitubulin B-5-1-2, a monoclonal antibody specific for alpha-tubulin, demonstrated the colocalization of both alpha-tubulin species in neurons of the retina and that acetylated microtubules are relatively abundant in neurons. However, analysis at higher resolution revealed that rod photoreceptors contain spatially distinct microtubule arrays which differ in content of acetylated alpha-tubulin and differ in stability. Acetylated microtubules which composed those of the rod outer segment and connecting cilium were resistant to depolymerization in nocodazole or colchicine. In contrast, the nonacetylated microtubules which composed those of the rod-inner segment were depolymerized in nocodazole or colchicine. Therefore, these acetylated microtubules are more resistant to depolymerization than non-acetylated microtubules.
Rare, Miscellaneous Primary Ovarian Neoplasms: Spectrum of Cross-Sectional Imaging

There is a diverse group of rare, primary benign and malignant ovarian tumors that show characteristic histomorphology and natural history. Some of these tumors may demonstrate typical imaging features. However, due to the rarity of these tumors, imaging characteristics of these diverse lesions are not well described in the literature. Knowledge of these select ovarian entities is essential and facilitates optimal management of patients who often manifest with nonspecific symptoms.
Maturation of the Fast Component of Vestibular Nystagmus During Childhood and Young Adulthood

Primary nystagmus was evoked by constant angular acceleration at near-threshold levels (0.2, 0.4, and 0.6°/s2) in 34 normal human subjects (25 children aged 2–11 years and 9 young adults aged 17–21 years). Acceleration was carried out in complete darkness, and with subjects' eyes open. Analysis of response latencies showed that all subjects responded to acceleration magnitude as low as 0.2°/s2. A decrease in response latency was associated with an increase in acceleration magnitude, and there was no significant effect of age on response latency or its relationship to acceleration. However, a relationship was found between age and the percentage of trials showing the presence of a set of three successive beats during acceleration: a significant increase in the frequency of such trials occurred with increasing age. The relationship of these findings to brainstem vestibular modulatory mechanisms is discussed.
5.05 – Principles of Drug Metabolism 1: Redox Reactions

In this chapter the major enzymes that metabolize drugs or other xenobiotics by catalyzing either their oxidation or reduction are profiled in terms of basic structure, co-factors, substrate selectivity and mechanism of action. The enzymes discussed include the cytochrome P450s, the flavin-containing monooxygenase, monoamine oxidase A and monoamine oxidase B, xanthine oxidoreductase, aldehyde oxidase, the aldehyde dehydrogenases, the alcohol dehydrogenases, the aldo-keto reductases and the carbonyl reductases. Specific examples of the metabolic transformations catalyzed by each class of enzyme are presented along with the chemical mechanism if known.
Complexes of Xenon Hexafluoride

It has recently been reported (1) that XeF2 reacts with SbF5 or TaF5 to form complexes with the composition XeF2· (SbF5)2 or XeF2·(TaF5)2. However, BF3 does not appear to form complexes with XeF2 or XeF4 up to 200° (1, 2). Complexes with XeF6 have not yet been described.
Transparency of Rubber Compounds Containing Magnesium Carbonate

Abstract 1. Basic magnesium carbonates of the type 5MgO·4CO2·xH2O will produce transparent vulcanized rubber. 2. Neutral carbonates of the magnesite type result in stocks of poor light transmission, even at low loading. 3. The basic carbonates, although of extremely fine particle size, are definitely crystalline in structure, as revealed by x-ray analysis. 4. The sample of magnesium carbonate producing the best transparency was a Japanese variety. When 25 per cent by weight was compounded in rubber, an over-all transmission of 45 per cent was produced. None of the domestic varieties gave higher than 36 per cent, and only two samples out of the eighteen examined produced this value. 5. The best Japanese carbonate (sample 3) and the best domestic carbonate (sample 9) possessed the same structure— that of a basic magnesium carbonate of the general form type 5MgO·4CO2·xH2O. 6. The Japanese carbonate, corresponding to the formula type 5MgO·4CO2·6H2O, gave higher total light transmissions at low filler concentr...
Diffusion Mechanisms of Entangled Rod–Coil Diblock Copolymers

Mechanisms of entangled rod–coil diblock copolymer diffusion are investigated using tracer diffusion simulations and experiments in a matrix of entangled coil homopolymers, demonstrating that the d...
CIP Treatment of Slip Cast Formed Low Soda Alumina

This study is concerned with the fabrication of engineering ceramics parts with complicated shape by using slip casting process. To improve the density of green body, slip cast formed low soda alumina green body has been CIP treated. The improvement of the density by 150MPa-5min CIP treatment was about 1% for dried body and about 3% for as formed wet body. By the measurement of pore size distribution for CIP treated green bodies, it was shown that large pores (similar size of starting powder of low soda alumina) were smashed and small pores were shrunk. Some cracks were observed in the sintered body that is CIP treated for dried body, and the sample showed low bending strength. From these results, it is thought that high density green body and high strength sintered body is obtained from a green body that is CIP treated for as slip cast formed wet body.
Improved contact resistance in ReSe2 thin film field-effect transistors

We report the fabrication and device characteristics of exfoliated, few-layer, ReSe2 field effect transistors (FET) and a method to improve contact resistance by up to three orders of magnitude using ultra-high-vacuum annealing (UHV). Many devices were studied in the absence of light and we found an average contact of 750 Ω · cm after UHV treatment. The median FET metrics were similar to other transition metal dichalcogenides: field effect mobility ∼6.7 cm2/V · s, subthreshold swing ∼1.2 V/decade, and Ion/Ioff ∼ 105. In devices with low Rc current saturation was observed and is attributed to injection limited transport.
Thinking of health emergency response capacity building of county-level and township-level medical and health institutions

In the establishment of public health system,health emergency response capacity building and development is a highly concerned issue.At this stage,due to the influence of "'past 'epidemic prevention' work mode","inadequate investment in health emergency response capacity building and resource allocation imbalance within the organizations" and other factors,county-level and township-level medical and health institutions in some areas of China,there were problems of lag of health emergency response capacity building,lack of health personnel,and imperfection of health emergency management system and security system.Therefore,in order to change or improve the health emergency capacity of the county-level and township-level medical and health institutions radically,it is necessary to take efforts to strengthen the health emergency response capacity building of the county-level and township-level health institutions,and enhance the overall quality and technical and theoretical level of health emergency personnel through the "system innovation,function change,increase of special investment,building of special health emergency institutions and service facilities" and a series of other supporting measures.
HIV protease inhibitors: pharmacologic and metabolic distinctions.

In the earlier era of nucleoside analogue antiretroviral therapy, considerations of pharmacologic drug - drug interactions were only a small factor in choosing optimal therapies for patients with HIV infection. However, pharmacologic considerations are critical for selecting and managing the current multiple-drug antiretroviral regimens that include one or more HIV protease inhibitors (HPls). Each of the available HPls, both those that are licensed and those still under investigation, has distinct pharmacokinetic and metabolic properties that result in different dosing regimens and potential for interactions with food and other drugs. Although drug interactions are usually considered undesirable, some of the drug interactions between HPls have beneficial effects on drug levels and total drug exposure. The non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors also interact with HPls. This article briefly reviews pharmacokinetic and metabolic distinctions among the newer antiretroviral agents, especially HPls, up to the end of 1997, including selected agents that are still under investigation. As current treatment guidelines emphasize, HIV/AIDS patients typically receive several drugs; therefore, the potential for drug interactions, particularly those mediated by the P450 system in patients receiving HPls or non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors or both, must be appreciated by all physicians who care for patients with HIV disease.
Abstract 17818: Are Our Clinical Trials Adequately Powered? an Examination of Randomized Controlled Trial Designs in Cardiovascular Medicine

Introduction: A central component of effective clinical trial design is the detailed calculation of sample size. Sample size estimates are often made based upon preliminary data or historical studies, and inaccuracy of anticipated event rates can lead to trials that are underpowered, particularly in an era of increasing cost-consciousness. Methods: We sought to examine the prevalence of mis-estimation of control group event rates (eCER) in major randomized clinical trials (RCTs) published in major journals of cardiovascular medicine (CV) from 2008-2013. Included trials were those with a superiority design assessing the rate of a primary endpoint in a treatment vs. control group. Abstracted data included positive or negative results, a priori power calculation details, and observed control event rates (oCER). The proportion of eCER mis-estimation was calculated based on the oCER within the completed trials. Mis-estimation was defined as eCER not within 10% of the oCER. The ability of each RCT to detect modest (25%) and large (50%) relative differences between treatment vs. control with adequate power (≥80%) was calculated given the baseline event rate. Results: Of 321 RCTs, 162 (50.4%) used dichotomous endpoints, with 132 (81.4%) utilizing a superiority design. Of these, 4 did not describe an a priori power calculation. Notably, 104 (78.8%) reported eCER. The baseline rate of eCER mis-estimation across studies was 37.5%; however, this did not differ by whether the trial was positive or negative (p=0.96). The number of negative trials was 80 (60.6%), and the actual mean observed relative effect size between study arms was only 7.4%. As a result, only 31% of RCTs were ≥80% powered to detect a 25% relative difference between treatment groups, while 64% had ≥80% power to detect a 50% relative difference between groups. Conclusions: CV trials increasingly face unique challenges such as low event rates and small treatment effects. In this setting, accurate sample size estimates are central to feasibility and/or success of a trial. Given the degree of eCER mis-estimation observed in this analysis, novel methods of study design, such as adaptive trial design, should be more commonly considered.
Microearthquakes at intermediate spreading-rate ridges: The Cleft segment megaplume site on the Juan de Fuca Ridge

We discuss models for earthquake generation at intermediate spreading-rate ridges and present results from an ocean bottom seismograph (OBS) deployment on the Cleft segment of the Juan de Fuca Ridge (JDFR). Although the Cleft segment is spreading at approximately 6 cm/yr, an intermediate spreading rate, it has no seismic activity detectable by land networks, which provide a detection threshold of ML ≧ 4, or by northeast Pacific underwater hydrophone arrays, with a detection threshold of ML ≧ 2. To monitor seismicity, four OBSs were deployed at the Cleft segment for 11 days during August 1990. These OBSs detected 34 regional earthquakes associated with adjacent transform faults. In addition, 10 local microearthquakes ( ML = 0 to 1) were observed over a 10-km segment of the ridge crest. Four local events were detected sufficiently well by multiple instruments to allow their hypocenters to be determined; all these events occurred within the rift valley of the Cleft segment spreading axis. Three events lie directly beneath a linear surface zone of hydrothermal venting. This zone has been identified as the site of a seafloor volcanic eruption, dike injection, and large-scale hydrothermal venting or “megaplume” event that occurred during 1986 and 1987. These earthquakes were located at depths coincident with the dike injection zone. A possible mechanism for earthquake production might be tectonic release of stress acquired during the dike injection, either along the dike zone or along the bounding faults of the rift valley. An alternative mechanism may be stress release associated with hydrothermal activity and cooling of the dike. A fourth event was located southeast of the linear hydrothermal venting and dike injection zone, at a depth coincident with the spreading center crustal melt zone. These observations suggest that the Cleft segment may primarily experience seismic events correlated with periods of volcanic intrusion.
How Many Monomer Repeat Units are Necessary for Reliable Molecular Dynamics Simulation

This study was an attempt to answer the question, “How many monomer repeat units are necessary in molecular dynamics simulation in order to obtain reliable (i.e. repeatable) solutions?” A series of...
Clinical diagnosis of recurrent herpes simplex blepharitis in an adult: a case report.

BACKGROUND: Herpes simplex (HSV) blepharitis occurs usually in children as a primary infection. Though primary HSV blepharitis is also observed in adults, recurrent HSV blepharitis involving the same area of the eyelid is unusual in this group. Two clinical types have been identified, one consisting of vesicular type lesions and a second characterized by erosive-ulcerative insults. Presented in this article is a case of an adult with herpes simplex blepharitis (presumed recurrent at the same generalized eyelid region), manifesting erosive-ulcerative lesions. Review of this ocular condition, treatment modalities, and hypothetical modes of transmission is given.
Erythropoietin Signaling in Tumor Cells: Differential Activation of Mitogen Activated Protein Kineses and Their Effect upon Cell Survival.

Abstract Erythropoietin (EPO) regulates the proliferation and differentiation of erythroid progenitors via its receptor, EPO-R and through various Mitogen activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathways. The role of EPO on other cell types is still unkown. In the present study we have elected to examine this aspect in a transformed pancreatic cell line, AR42J cells. We investigated the activation of two MAPKs, namely extracellular regulated kinase (ERK) and c-jun NH2-terminal kinase (JNK) after exposure of AR42J cells to 1 U/ml EPO using the Western blot analysis. We also examined cell viability during EPO exposure by high sensitivity fluoremetric method using CCK8. We found a rapid activation of ERK-1/2 in AR42J cells reaching the maximum of 3.3 fold in 5 min, while it took 30 min for JNK-1/2 to reach the maximum. In the absence of EPO, addition of specific JNK inhibitor, SP600125, reduced cell viability to 50% at a dose of 20 μM while with ERK inhibitor, UO126, cell viability was not reduced even up to 60 μM of the drug. To examine the effect of induction of MAPK by EPO on AR42J cell survival, cells were treated with inhibitors to ERK or JNK 1h prior to EPO addition and the cumulative cell survival were calculated from day 1 through 4. EPO addition to AR42J cells resulted in significantly higher cumulative cell survival of 1.00 ± 0.04 unit absorption compared to the value of 0.35 ± 0.02 unit absorption seen in controls without EPO. When cells were treated with EPO and ERK inhibitor a significantly higher cumulative cell survival of 1.50 ± 0.04 unit absorption was observed (p
Aquavoltaics: Synergies for dual use of water area for solar photovoltaic electricity generation and aquaculture

Abstract Bodies of water provide essentials for both human society as well as natural ecosystems. To expand the services this water provides, hybrid food-energy-water systems can be designed. This paper reviews the fields of floatovoltaic (FV) technology (water deployed solar photovoltaic systems) and aquaculture (farming of aquatic organisms) to investigate the potential of hybrid floatovoltaic-aquaculture synergistic applications for improving food-energy-water nexus sustainability. The primary motivation for combining electrical energy generation with aquaculture is to promote the dual use of water, which has historically high unused potential. Recent advances in FV technology using both pontoon and thin film structures provides significant flexibility in deployment in a range of water systems. Solar generated electricity provides off-grid aquaculture potential. In addition, several other symbiotic relationships are considered including an increase in power conversion efficiency due to the cooling and cleaning of module surfaces, a reduction in water surface evaporation rates, ecosystem redevelopment, and improved fish growth rates through integrated designs using FV-powered pumps to control oxygenation levels as well as LED lighting. The potential for a solar photovoltaic-aquaculture or aquavoltaic ecology was found to be promising. If a U.S. national average value of solar flux is used then current aquaculture surface areas in use, if incorporated with appropriate solar technology could account for 10.3% of total U.S. energy consumption as of 2016.
Phenomenology as Qualitative Research: A Critical Analysis of Meaning Attribution

John PaleyRoutledge, New YorkISBN: 978-1-138-65281-1 (hbk.)Phenomenological research methodology is frequently used to obtain fresh insights regarding the mystifying and traumatic human experiences...
Evaluating the blue-light hazard from solid state lighting

Purpose. New light sources including light-emitting diodes (LEDs) have elicited questions about retinal damage, including the blue-light hazard. Some organizations have recommended avoiding using LEDs with correlated color temperatures exceeding 3000 K, since they tend to produce greater short-wavelength energy. This article provides quantitative comparisons among light sources and use cases as they affect the blue-light hazard. Methods. The spectral radiant power characteristics of incandescent, fluorescent, LED and daylight sources were evaluated in terms of blue-light hazard using standard procedures for phakic, aphakic and pseudophakic eyes. Results. Under most use cases, LEDs do not exhibit greater risk for the blue-light hazard than other sources (e.g., incandescent). Because they generally produce little to no ultraviolet energy, LEDs often present less risk to aphakic eyes. Conclusions. LEDs present no special concerns for the blue-light hazard over some other common sources in typical use cases b...
Predictions for p+Pb Collisions at sNN=5 TeV: Comparison With Data

Abstract Predictions made in Albacete et al. [J. Albacete et al., Int. J. Mod. Phys. E 22 (2013) 1330007.] prior to the LHC s N N = 5 TeV are compared to the mostly final data from that run. Some predictions shown here have been updated by including the same experimental cuts as the data. Others are additions too late for the initial publication. Comparisons to the available charged hadron, quarkonium, jet and gauge boson production, presented in Ref. [J. Albacete et al., Int. J. Mod. Phys. E 25 (2016) 1630005.], will be discussed.
Unraveling the mysteries of gammadelta T cell recognition.

γδ T cells are the misunderstood siblings of the antigen receptor family. A recent paper in Nature that describes the crystal structure of a γδ TCR should initiate a clearer understanding of these enigmatic cells.
A Cognitive Task Analysis of Safety-Critical Launch Termination Systems

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has been conducting an investigation of human interaction with critical elements of NASA’s Launch Termination System (LTS). This safety-critical system requires quick decision making on the part of highly trained users in order to maintain safe launch operations. A team of NASA evaluators has completed a detailed assessment aimed at improving the Graphical User Interface (GUI) of NASA’s Range Data Display System (RDDS), a key component of the LTS. The RDDS forms the vital man-machine link which ingests high volumes of system data in real-time and displays this data to NASA’s Range Safety personnel to enable them to assess launch vehicle trajectory and performance status. The RDDS displays the real-time state of the launch vehicle and its complex subsystems to users in order to support arm/destruct decisions (made by NASA’s Range Safety personnel) to facilitate safe launch operations. These decisions are highly time-sensitive, and users must act quickly in order to prevent serious injury or death and extensive damage to equipment or property. The NASA assessment team performed a Cognitive Task Analysis (CTA) to derive the user informational requirements needed to develop data driven, user information software requirements in support of a new RDDS software upgrade. The CTA was designed to address the unique aspects of this particular system, while focusing on the operational context within which the system is used by highly specialized personnel. This analysis and the resulting requirements form the first step in providing human factors guidance to software developers throughout the design, development, and fielding of the new RDDS software GUI. This paper will focus on the applied human factors methods and techniques employed, how these methods and techniques were used to derive user information design requirements, the lessons learned from this activity, and areas for future work. The authors intend to provide human factors practitioners with an example of how CTA methods and techniques may be adapted to meet the particular needs of a project, with special consideration given to the design of safety-critical systems.
Nietzsche's notion of amor fati

In this paper I advance an interpretation of Nietzsche's notions of amor fati and eternal recurrence in which they are taken to delimit the project of becoming well-disposed to life and oneself. I argue that interpreted in this way these notions do not have the problematic implications which stand in the way of our adopting them and, in fact, cast light on how we may theoretically understand and practically live our lives.
Inappropriate Prescribing: Beers Criteria, Polypharmacy, and Drug Burden

As adults age, physiological changes associated with aging, along with an increased prevalence in comorbid conditions and polypharmacy, make prescribing for them a particularly daunting task. Oftentimes, prescribing for older adults means using an adjusted dose (usually lower than generally recommended) and a slower pace in adjusting medications. Because of the changing prescribing paradigm in geriatrics, an effort was made to establish a criteria for selecting medications for senior citizens. To this end, Dr. Mark Beers initiated an effort to identify medications that should generally be avoided in older adults. A revision to the criteria took place, and a summation of that revision was published in 2003. This revision identified potentially inappropriate drugs for seniors, in general, but also brought attention to disease processes that deserved particular attention when prescribing for older adults. Understanding these criteria and the increased likelihood of adverse events with polypharmacy and the increased drug burden will facilitate improved care and better outcomes in our rapidly increasing senior population.
Residual Nonaqueous Phase Liquid Dissolution in Micromodels

Nonaqueous phase liquids (NAPLs) such as gasoline and halogenated solvents enter the subsurface after a spill, or from leaking underground storage tanks. NAPLs trapped by capillary forces in subsurface environments pose a long-term threat to drinking water supplies. The main challenge in site remediation lies in dealing with the dissolving NAPL source (Corapcioglu and Baehr 1987). An understanding and quantification of the NAPL dissolution process at pore scale are of utmost importance in estimating the source of existing dissolved compounds and in evaluating the efficiency of in situ remediation of NAPL-contaminated aquifers.
The Natural Immune System and Hematocytopenias

Major advances have been made in the past two decades in our understanding of cellular differentiation and proliferation in the normal immune and hematopoietic systems. These advances have resulted from the application of continually improving technologies that include clonogenic culture of hematopoietic cells, cell separation techniques, the production of monoclonal antibodies that recognize differentiation-associated cell surface antigens, assays of immunocyte function, chromosomal and DNA analysis methods, and the recent purification and molecular cloning of major proteins that regulate the immunohematopoietic system. To complement and challenge our evolving understanding of normal immune and blood cell formation a variety of significant clinical problems with quantitative deficiencies of red cells, platelets, or granulocytes exists (collectively termed hematocytopenias). Although empiric therapy has been successful for some of these clinical problems, there remains a need for rational therapy which in turn requires an understanding of the mechanisms of pathogenesis in these disorders. In the introductory sections that follow, we will briefly review the current understanding of the structure, function, and humoral and cellular interactions involved in normal hematopoiesis—information that suggests a regulatory role for immunocytes in blood cell formation—and present an overview of mechanisms of pathogenesis of the hematocytopenias.
GUIDELINES AND COMPUTATIONAL RESULTS FOR VECTOR PROCESSING OF NETWORK ASSIGNMENT CODES ON SUPERCOMPUTERS

Supercomputers derive their computational performance form faster processors as well as innovations in their architecture. To take advantage of the vector processing capabilities of supercomputers, such as the CRAY X-MP series, it is necessary to modify the code to enhance its vector processing performance. These modifications can range from simple localized recoding of existing mainframe codes to devising new algorithms with the hardware's architecture in mind. In this paper, codes for the solution of two network equilibrium assignment problem formulations (Frank-Wolfe algorithm for the single-class user equilibrium problem and the diagonalization algorithm for multiple user classes with asymmetric interactions) are vectorized and tested on a CRAY X-MP/24 supercomputer. Only local vectorization by limited recoding of existing programs is performed. Guidelines are given for this purpose, and their application to the assignment codes is illustrated. The computational tests performed indicate an improvement in execution time of about 70 to 80% of the modified code relative to its unvectorized performance on the CRAY supercomputer. Execution of the vectorized code on the CRAY is about 22 times faster than the execution of the unmodified code on a mainframe computer. The significance of the results for research and practice is also discussed.
Automatic Classification of Online Doctor Reviews: Evaluation of Text Classifier Algorithms.

Background: An increasing number of doctor reviews are being generated by patients on the internet. These reviews address a diverse set of topics (features), including wait time, office staff, doctor’s skills, and bedside manners. Most previous work on automatic analysis of Web-based customer reviews assumes that (1) product features are described unambiguously by a small number of keywords, for example, battery for phones and (2) the opinion for each feature has a positive or negative sentiment. However, in the domain of doctor reviews, this setting is too restrictive: a feature such as visit duration for doctor reviews may be expressed in many ways and does not necessarily have a positive or negative sentiment. Objective: This study aimed to adapt existing and propose novel text classification methods on the domain of doctor reviews. These methods are evaluated on their accuracy to classify a diverse set of doctor review features. Methods: We first manually examined a large number of reviews to extract a set of features that are frequently mentioned in the reviews. Then we proposed a new algorithm that goes beyond bag-of-words or deep learning classification techniques by leveraging natural language processing (NLP) tools. Specifically, our algorithm automatically extracts dependency tree patterns and uses them to classify review sentences. Results: We evaluated several state-of-the-art text classification algorithms as well as our dependency tree–based classifier algorithm on a real-world doctor review dataset. We showed that methods using deep learning or NLP techniques tend to outperform traditional bag-of-words methods. In our experiments, the 2 best methods used NLP techniques; on average, our proposed classifier performed 2.19% better than an existing NLP-based method, but many of its predictions of specific opinions were incorrect. Conclusions: We conclude that it is feasible to classify doctor reviews. Automatically classifying these reviews would allow patients to easily search for doctors based on their personal preference criteria.
Who Supports Professional Certification? Insights from Employment Arbitration

Professional certification programmes became commonplace across the occupational structure in recent years, with many emerging and established professions opting to create their own certification programmes for reasons ranging from collective marketing to reducing malpractice litigation risk. Theories of social closure suggest that advantaged and established individual practitioners might want to use certification as a means of distinguishing themselves and enacting barriers to entry, though research on credentials and signalling theory leads to the expectation that certification is most valued by less secure and younger workers seeking to establish themselves in a profession. We use a survey of employment arbitrators as a case study in the dynamics of who supports certification, finding a surprisingly low overall level of support for certification. Arbitrators who are female, racial minorities and those who earn lower hourly rates are most supportive of creating and earning certification, suggesting that the most natural constituency for a new certification programme may be those looking to ‘break in’ to a profession rather than those already well established in their practice.
The Effects of International Experiential Learning on the Cultural Competence of College Students in Communication Sciences and Disorders

Purpose This study addressed a need in the discipline of communication sciences and disorders (CSD) to empirically assess interventions for training students to increase cultural competence. This s...